In a way this told in favour of the Britishers. The short, heavy Navy
cutlasses were much better adapted for a melee of this sort than the
rifles and bayonets with which the Turks were armed.
Ken found himself up against a tall, brown-faced fellow who looked like an
Arab and was armed with a long sword. He made a fearful slash at Ken, and
though Ken saved his head by a guard with his cutlass, he was beaten to
his knees.
Up went the Arab's sword again, Ken saw the glitter in his savage eyes,
and thought it was all over when, in the very nick of time, a revolver
spat and turned the fierce face into a blood-stained horror.
Struggling up, he saw Roy leap past and fire a second time at a man who
was swinging at him with a rifle butt. The latter, hit in the shoulder,
staggered, caught his heels in the rail, and went backwards into the sea.
On every side revolvers were cracking, there was a confused medley of
blows, yells, and oaths. And all the time the launch, with no one at the
tiller, and the boat fast alongside, charged wildly across the sea.
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