The pirate attack continued, with the Ssassafrash’s Followers of Fogg bringing havoc to the pirates in savage hand-to-hand combat while Phipps, Forsyth and Jones gave good account with their small arms and Hartwell fired the machine gun … to little effect it has to be said.
It took only a short while to dispatch the entire pirate fleet and capture their skiffs.
No sooner were the pirates turned into food for whatever swims in the swamp than the team heard moans coming from a small islet where they discovered a British soldier in very poor condition indeed. He had apparently given good account of himself; he was surrounded by the bodies of slain eight-legged lizards. Phipps took one look and identified the things as the dread Cissawaans, known to inhabit aquatic environments and to hunt in very large packs. This worthy was either very lucky or a tiger in combat.
Bringing the poor lad aboard the Krahaanik’s Folly, Phipps gave him whatever help he could and made him comfortable, and the team pressed on.
Not long after rescuing the soldier, the heroes found the wreckage of the bow-mounted steam Gatling gun from the Persephone, all-but submerged in the filthy waters of the swamp. It was clear that the gun had been smashed by heavy gun fire and torn from the deck.
The chart room was also found. It had also been torn from the hull of the Persephone by heavy gunfire. It was riddled by small arms impacts, suggesting a pitched battle had taken place. Broken trees suggested where to look for the rest of the ship.
The hull, when found, was badly damaged by cannon fire from both sides. Impacts from sweepers were also noticed. All surviving liftwood had been salvaged, as has every piece of metal, from the engine and boiler to the captain’s silver cruet. It was obvious to all that the Persephone had been ambushed by at least two aerial ships and enfiladed with cannon-fire - a typical pirate tactic.
While searching below decks in the knee-deep, filthy water, Forsyth was attacked by the dread Green Koko - a very large Martian constrictor, not unlike the giant anaconda rumoured to inhabit the upper reaches of the Amazon river! A desperate battle ensued as Forsyth was pushed face-first into the water and bound tightly in the coils of the monstrous snake. After what seemed an eternity, Forsyth was able to break free and gasp lung-fulls of life-giving air. Raising the alarm he was able to hold off the beast until Phipps and Hartwell could join the struggle, whereupon the Green Koko was dispatched and became a collection of preserved specimens in Dr Phipps’ growing collection of bottles and vials.
Suddenly, the air was split by a female scream.
Ssassafrash’s Lizardmen were able to ‘taste’ the air for human and martian scent and direct the team to the location of the hostages. Phipps, Hartwell, Forsyth and Jones along with Ssassafrash and several of his Followers of Fogg boarded the captured skiffs and made their way to the pirate base, with a token force left to guard the Krahaanik’s Folly.
A large island, covered in thick, impenetrable jungle featured a clearing in which had been set up a fortified camp. Guard towers loomed in the air. A wire fence served to keep swamp denizens out. In the clearing two large huts could be seen, and two pirates guarded the gate.
Inside, chained and helpless and looking much the worse for wear, were two hostages - Dr Grant and Miss White!
The team rowed ashore and made their way through the thick jungle. Some of the Venusian braves swam to the small harbour fronting the fenced compound. Then Jones was spotted and the guards fired on him with their black powder weapons but their aim was - luckily - bad. One of the guards in a tower spotted the amphibious assault team and fired on them, but missed. And battle proper was joined.
Fortunately for our heroes the Martian pirates were very poor marksmen indeed, missing with most of their shots. That isn’t to say the day went easily to the Earthmen and their Venusian allies, for the heat and humidity made poor shots of the Earthmen too, and lucky hits dealt Forsyth and Hartwell punishing wounds they could ill-afford. Several Followers of Fogg were also taken down in the heated hand-to-hand fighting between them and the Martians.
Two very lucky shots early in the battle caught the guards at the gate as they were reloading their black powder muskets, igniting and exploding their powder in two spectacular explosions that demolished the gate itself and the guards too. The Lizardmen were quick to exploit this sudden development, invading the compound in a frenzy of close combat.
The heroes were slowly turning the tide of battle their way when the pirate leader emerged from hiding, taking Miss White as a personal prisoner and human shield. Placing his short sword at her throat he barked something at the attackers, which no-one understood. Whatever vile, debased Martian dialect this vile bounder was speaking, no-one on the side of law and order understood. As more Venusian warriors spilled into the compound, the pirate leader snarled and, in a move of sheer savage cruelty, cut the poor woman’s throat, throwing her lifeless body to the stinking ground!
This swine then made his way into combat with some Venusians near Dr Grant’s position, and, gaining a brief upper hand, with a vicious slash of his bloody sword, slew the helpless and unarmed Earthman too!
After that the Lizardmen and Earthmen made short work of the last of the pirates and cornered the pirate leader - who suddenly found the wherewithal to fight like a demon but was cut to ribbons by the Followers of Fogg for all that
But this was a Pyhrric victory at best. The hostages were both dead, vilely slaughtered by the cowardly Martian pirate swine. Fully half of Ssassafrash’s brave Lizardmen had journeyed from Venus to honour Fogg only to lose their lives under volleys of musket fire and savage hand-to-hand fighting in the Martian swamp.
Jones had narrowly avoided death after stopping a lucky - some might say “extremely unlucky” - round from a musket. Fortunately help was at hand and somehow Jones was able to rally enough for Phipps to stabilize him, though he would have been unable to rejoin hostilities had they not been brought to a close.
Forsyth, Phipps and Hartwell were devastated by their failure to save the hostages, and by Ssassafrash who declared his intention to remain at the pirate island base with the remainder of the Followers of Fogg, clearly implying he and his tribal brothers were under-whelmed by the Earthman tactics of firing from cover rather than engaging the enemy in close combat. Such tactics did not “honour Fogg” it seems.
The team returned to Krahaanik’s Folly with the bodies of Dr Grant and Miss White and the Followers of Fogg left to crew the barge left to join Ssassafrash’s band. The bodies were wrapped in sailcloth and stowed.
Under-crewed and heart-sore, the team began the journey home and wondered how they would explain events to the Governor.
