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Virginia was watching the prahu from one of the cabin ports. She saw the

momentary hesitation and confusion which followed Sing's first shot, and then to

her dismay she saw the rowers bend to their oars again and the prahu move

swiftly in the direction of the Ithaca.

It was apparent that the pirates had perceived the almost defenseless condition of

the schooner. In a few minutes they would be swarming the deck, for poor old

Sing would be entirely helpless to repel them. If Dr. von Horn were only there,

thought the distracted girl. With the machine gun alone he might keep them off.

At the thought of the machine gun a sudden resolve gripped her. Why not man it

herself? Von Horn had explained its mechanism to her in detail, and on one

occasion had allowed her to operate it on the voyage from Singapore. With the

thought came action. Running to the magazine she snatched up a feed-belt, and

in another moment was on deck beside the astonished Sing.

The pirates were skimming rapidly across the smooth waters of the harbor,

answering Sing's harmless shots with yells of derision and wild, savage war cries.

There were, perhaps, fifty Dyaks and Malays--fierce, barbaric men; mostly naked

to the waist, or with war-coats of brilliant colors. The savage headdress of the

Dyaks, the long, narrow, decorated shields, the flashing blades of parang and kris

sent a shudder through the girl, so close they seemed beneath the schooner's

side.

What do? What do?" cried Sing in consternation. "Go b'low. Klick!" But before

he had finished his exhortation Virginia was racing toward the bow where the

machine gun was mounted. Tearing the cover from it she swung the muzzle

toward the pirate prahu, which by now was nearly within range above the vessel's

side--a moment more and she would be too close to use the weapon upon the

pirates.

Virginia was quick to perceive the necessity for haste, while the pirates at the

same instant realized the menace of the new danger which confronted them. A

score of muskets belched forth their missiles at the fearless girl behind the scant

shield of the machine gun. Leaden pellets rained heavily upon her protection, or

whizzed threateningly about her head--and then she got the gun into action.

At the rate of fifty a minute, a stream of projectiles tore into the bow of the prahu

when suddenly a richly garbed Malay in the stern rose to his feet waving a white

cloth upon the point of his kris. It was the Rajah Muda Saffir--he had seen the

girl's face and at the sight of it the blood lust in his breast had been supplanted

by another.

The Monster Men