`` If you please , sir , '' said Joyce , `` if I see anyone , am I to fire ? '' `` I told you so ! '' cried the captain . `` Thank you , sir , '' returned Joyce with the same quiet civility . Nothing followed for a time , but the remark had set us all on the alert , straining ears and eyes -- the musketeers with their pieces balanced in their hands , the captain out in the middle of the block house with his mouth very tight and a frown on his face . So some seconds passed , till suddenly Joyce whipped up his musket and fired . The report had scarcely died away ere it was repeated and repeated from without in a scattering volley , shot behind shot , like a string of geese , from every side of the enclosure . Several bullets struck the log-house , but not one entered ; and as the smoke cleared away and vanished , the stockade and the woods around it looked as quiet and empty as before . Not a bough waved , not the gleam of a musket-barrel betrayed the presence of our foes . `` Did you hit your man ? '' asked the captain . `` No , sir , '' replied Joyce . `` I believe not , sir . '' `` Next best thing to tell the truth , '' muttered Captain Smollett . `` Load his gun , Hawkins . How many should say there were on your side , doctor ? '' `` I know precisely , '' said Dr. Livesey . `` Three shots were fired on this side . I saw the three flashes -- two close together -- one farther to the west . '' `` Three ! ''
XXXXX the captain .
asked believe cried entered know looked please repeated scattering vanished