I looked down for a moment or two at the deck which lay beneath, giving me a bird's-eye view through the rigging of the white decks dotted with officers and men, and the guns glistening in the sunshine.  There were several faces staring up at me, and I made out Barkins and Smith, and waved my hand.  But these were only momentary glances; I had too much to see of far more importance.  For there, spread out round me, was a grand view of the low, flat, marshy country, through which the river wound like a silver snake.  Far away in the distance I could see villages, and what seemed to be a tower of some size.  Beyond it, cultivated land and patches of forest; behind me, and to right and left, the shimmering sea, and straight in front the two junks; while almost at my feet, in spite of their hard rowing, there were our four boats, with the oars dipping with glorious regularity, and making the water flash and glitter, but not so brightly as did the bayonets of the few marines in each, as they sat in the stern-sheets with their rifles upright between their legs, and the keen triangular blades at the tops of the barrels twinkling at every movement of the boats.