Kitabı oku: «The Ruined Cities of Zululand», sayfa 16

“When the Senhor has done with his pleasant memories of the past, perhaps he will deign an answer to a poor maiden’s question.”

The men had strained at the oars until the stout ash staves creaked and bent in the rowlocks. The dark hull of the brig had slowly forged ahead, and at the moment Isabel spoke, the “Halcyon” had passed the entrance of the harbour, and was rising and falling on the long gentle swell outside. She did not feel the wind, being under the shelter of the coast; but slight cat’s-paws were playing on the water about half-a-mile ahead, and so the boats continued towing, while on board the main-topgallant and main-topsails were being sheeted home.

“There is our last sight of the Bay,” said Hughes, sighing. “It must now live only in the memories of the past. Plans—no, dearest Isabel; I have been enjoying the present without care for the future.”

“And now the fairy dream is over, what do you intend to do when we reach the Cape, Enrico? Surely I have a right to ask,” said Isabel.

“If you have eighteen months’ leave of absence, Senhor,” said the noble, “come with us to Portugal for your answer; you can make your arrangements in England.”

The Senhor Enrico could not have wished for a pleasanter invitation, and he eagerly closed with it.

“That topgallant sail is drawing, Mr Lowe; cast off the tow-rope, recall the boats, and hoist them in. Tell off the watch, and send the crew to supper. Let the steward give them an extra ration of grog. Take a pull at the starboard tacks and sheets. Lay her head to the west-south-west.”

The wind, which was very light, was from the eastward, consequently the brig, her yards rounded in, was running free, the boom-mainsail was hauled out, the heavy folds of the mainsail let fall, and the jib hoisted. One by one the studding-sails were set, and the black hull once more supported a towering mass of white canvas. With all this the “Halcyon” only just held steerage way, the wind coming in hot puffs from the distant mountains of the Amboitmena range, at times filling the canvas and making the bubbles fly past as the “Halcyon” felt the breeze, then dying away, while the useless sails flapped heavily with the gentle roll of the waves.

Her captain seemed silent and anxious, and would not leave the deck. Dinner had been announced, but Captain Weber had only dived below to reappear again in a few minutes, and, telescope in hand, was sweeping the coast line with his glass. He bad evinced no signs of anxiety to his guests, but as he paced the lee gangway of the brig, he showed no such reticence to his mate.

“One hour’s good blow from yonder mountains and we should be well clear of this coast,” he said.

“Do you think, Captain Weber, the fellow dare attack us again after the taste he had of our quality last night?” inquired the mate.

“If the scoundrels could get possession of the brig, they would soon find the means to arm her,” replied the captain; “and the west coast of Madagascar is one series of indentations, coves, and bays, fit refuges for these sort of craft.”

“The clouds are resting on the top of the mountain range, sir; I fancy we shall have more wind just now. How far do you reckon we are from land?”

“About ten miles,” replied the captain. “Turn the hands up on deck, Mr Lowe. Haul up the mainsail, the brig has hardly way on her, and send the men aft. We must bury our dead.”

The moon was low on the horizon, shedding a dim light on the ocean, and making the long line of the Madagascar coast look black and indistinct as if seen through a haze.

Soon ranged, side by side, on a grating abaft the main chains, lay five forms covered with the ship’s ensign. On the quarter-deck stood the passengers and the remainder of the crew, while the missionary, in a clear distinct voice, read slowly the impressive burial service. All were uncovered, and the tears streamed down Isabel’s face, as she looked on the inanimate forms of the brave fellows who had died to save her from worse than death. The captain laid his hand on the Union Jack, the mate made a sign, and four sturdy men advanced, placing their shoulders under the grating. “We commit their bodies to the deep, in the sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life,” and as the solemn words rang out on the night air, the splash of the falling bodies in the sea followed. A stillness seemed to gather around, and the service for the dead finished, the crew retired to their different duties, for the time, at least, saddened and depressed, and the quarter-deck was soon left to the captain and his mate.

Slowly they paced it to and fro in eager but low conversation. The puffs of wind came down a little steadier, and the “Halcyon” was moving through the water once more. The night was beautifully fine, the stars shining brilliantly, but the moon just sinking behind a distant spit of land broad on the larboard bow. From time to time the sound of the ship’s bell, tolling the hour, was heard, the creaking of the blocks and ropes, and the mournful flap of the sails as the brig rolled lazily on the long swell. All at once the mate stopped suddenly in his walk, looked earnestly towards the coast line, and then, without speaking, raised his finger and pointed towards the setting moon. It was just sinking behind a patch of forest trees, their long tapering fan-like leaves distinctly marked against the light, while, sweeping past, the spars of a small vessel could be seen, the thin whip-like sticks plainly visible against the sky. Next, the long, low black hull drew clear of the land, and distinctly revealed against the light the spars and rigging of a small schooner. Not a rag of canvas was shown, and yet slowly and with a gentle caption the dark mass glided on into the night, right on the path which the brig was taking.

The two seamen looked at each other.

“I thought as much. It is the pirate!” ejaculated the captain, with a deep sigh.

“If they had chosen their weather, it could not suit them better.”

Stepping aft, the captain glanced at the compass.

“Round in the weather-braces and sheets, Mr Lowe. Port, you may, Hutchins; keep her dead to the west.”

“Ay, ay, sir,” replied the man, as the spokes flew through his fingers; and the ship’s head falling off, the wind was brought nearly aft, the two vessels thus moving on almost parallel lines.

“Can you make him out now?” asked the captain, as his mate rejoined him on the quarter-deck.

Long and anxiously did the officer addressed peer into the night. The missionary joined the group, and was made acquainted with what was passing.

“There she is,” said the mate, “right on our quarter. Look! in go her sweeps, for she has made sail, and is standing on the same course as ourselves, keeping way with us under her foresail, mainsail, and jib. That craft could close with us any moment, sir. Shall I rouse the crew?”

The captain did not speak; but stood, his elbows leaning on the weather bulwarks, looking in the direction of the schooner.

“If it is the vessel you suppose, she knows we carry guns,” remarked Wyzinski; “but does not know how many. She will wait for daylight.”

“You are quite right,” replied the captain. “Leave the men quiet, Mr Lowe. We will keep the watch together, and may God send us wind,” and here the old seaman reverently lifted his cap, “for yonder is a dreadful foe.”

The sound of the bell tolled out the hours, the wind, which had freshened, towards morning died away; but all night long the three anxious watchers paced the narrow limits of the brig’s quarter-deck. Time after time did the captain turn to the compass and take the schooner’s bearings. It was useless, for there, under easy sail, exactly where she had first been made out, on the brig’s weather quarter, the white canvas of the pirate could be seen, never varying a point. It was evident she was waiting for daylight to close with her prey.

The Pirate Schooner

Day dawned slowly, the breeze having slightly freshened towards morning, but still the long, low line of the Madagascar coast lay astern. The ocean was quite calm.

“Sail ho!” shouted one of the crew. On the quarter-deck, the captain, the mate, and Wyzinski still kept their anxious watch.

“What do you make her out, Williams?” asked Captain Weber.

“A schooner, sir, under easy sail, standing to the westward.”

Again the captain took the bearings of the dangerous-looking vessel, but with exactly the same result. There she was still on the brig’s weather quarter, and apparently in no sort of a hurry.

“The wicked-looking craft has the heels of us.” remarked the mate; “but we shall have a cap full of wind before long, and then we may tell a different tale.”

“She sees it too; there goes her fore-topsail. She is making sail,” said the captain; then, addressing a man who happened to be passing at the moment, “tell Captain Hughes and the foreign Don I should be glad to speak to them,” he added.

The schooner showed no flag, but setting her fore-topsail, edged a little nearer the wind, so as no longer to be running on a line parallel to the brig, but on one which would eventually bring them to the same spot. The two passengers soon stood on the deck.

“I have sent for you, gentlemen,” said the captain, raising his tarpaulin as he spoke, “to decide on our course. You see yonder schooner?”

All eyes were turned to the long, low black hull and the white canvas.

“Well, I have every reason to suppose she is a pirate, whose crew have committed great ravages in these seas. Several vessels have been chased by her, and one or two having a great number of passengers on board, the little craft, which sails like a witch, has neared them sufficiently to make this out, and has then put up her helm and made sail. But several vessels which are over due at different ports have never been heard of, not a vestige of them and their crews ever having been found. They have simply disappeared.”

“But we are armed,” replied Hughes, “and are double yonder schooner’s tonnage.”

“I know nothing of her armament; no one does,” replied the seaman. “The vessels she has boarded, whose crews could tell, have, I repeat, mysteriously disappeared from the face of the ocean. The captain of the ‘Dawn’ told that when off the island of Mayotte, away to the northward here, a brig was in his company. The two sailed about equally. One night pistol shots were heard, and when morning broke there was no brig, but where she should have been a low, rakish-looking schooner was seen.”

“But what had become of the other?” asked Hughes.

“The pirate had carried her, taken all that she wanted, and scuttled her, making the hull serve as a coffin for her crew.”

“And this you think is the fate the wretches in yonder craft reserve for us?”

“No, I think that they are quite aware of the value of my cargo, which consists of ivory, gold dust, and ostrich feathers. If they can get the brig, they will doubtless fit her out as a sister scourge of the ocean, selling her cargo.”

“And the crew?” asked Hughes.

“Will walk the plank one and all. For the lady, such a fate would be too great a mercy.”

The captain’s weather-beaten countenance looked pale and anxious; Hughes covered his face with his hands, and his strong frame shook as he thought of Isabel at that very moment quietly sleeping below. The missionary was explaining the situation to the Portuguese.

“And now, gentlemen, your advice. But this I must premise. Yonder piratical curs shall never have the brig. I have, several kegs of powder aboard for trading purposes, and so sure as my name is Andrew Weber, I blow her to pieces rather than she turns pirate.”

The soldier dropped the hands which had shaded his face. He gazed long and earnestly at the white sails of the wicked-looking craft, which was now fast creeping up with them. His look was one of high determination and courage.

“There can be but one way, Captain Weber. Haul your brig up to her proper course, arm your crew, load your guns, and let us meet yonder pirate. We cannot fly. Your powder will be a last resource.”

“And you, gentlemen,” inquired the captain, “are of the same advice?”

“There can be no other course,” was the reply.

“Mr Lowe, send the crew aft, one and all.”

“Ay, ay, sir,” said the mate, cheerily.

The captain paced his quarter-deck moodily and in silence. Dom Maxara went below, while Hughes and the missionary looked gloomily over the ocean.

“My lads,” said the captain, “yonder schooner is a pirate. For months her people have plundered and massacred inoffensive ships and their crews. They are the same Malays we met in Saint Augustine’s Bay, and we purged the old barky’s deck of the rapscallions. We have lost five of ours, but their death was avenged. Yonder blackguard comes with murder and piracy in his hold. He has a full cargo of both, but so long as Andrew Weber lives, this brig shall never be his. We will fight to the last man, and that last man, mark me my lads well, that last man, or boy, no matter which, fires the powder in the magazine!”

A loud cheer burst from the crew.

“And now, my lads, to your arms! Mr Lowe, in with the studding-sails, take a pull at the lee sheets and braces, starboard you may, bring her head west-south-west!”

The wind at last was freshening, the sea was calm, and the “Halcyon” was making some four knots an hour; but the very smoothness of the ocean was against her, for her breadth of beam, rounded sides, and greater tonnage would have told in her favour hod the waves been rough; the schooner naturally labouring more in such a case.

As it was, everything favoured the latter, save that over the land hung a heavy cloud, which had been growing denser and denser. Its edges were ragged, and the captain often looked towards that quarter, conscious that in it lay his only hope.

The two vessels were now rapidly approaching each other, the black hull of the schooner becoming every moment more and more distinctly visible.

“Show our colours,” said the captain, and the Union Jack streamed out from the peak halyards.

“She makes no reply,” remarked the mate. “The bloody-minded villains have no flag to fight under.”

“Look here, Mr Lowe,” said the captain, “that craft is in no hurry; she is handing her fore-topsail again, and there goes her flag!”

“Fiery red, by George!—nothing less than blood will satisfy them.”

Half an hour would bring the two vessels within hailing distance, and Captain Weber made all his dispositions. The arm-chest which had been sent below had been again hoisted up on deck, and placed under the charge of Captain Hughes.

The two nine-pounders were heavily loaded, and the men had breakfasted.

“Mr Lowe, I intend, if yonder villain will allow me, to pass under his stern, giving him the contents of our two guns, and then luff right up into the wind, and away on the other tack.”

“Ay, ay, sir,” replied the mate; “a stern chase is a long one.”

“If we had the good fortune to cripple him, we should be safe; but have the men ready to run the two guns over, and fire as I go about. Send Adams to the wheel, and let the men stand by the sheets and braces.”

Mr Lowe was a steady, cool, courageous officer, and his dispositions were soon made. All was quiet on board the brig as she slipped through the water; while the schooner, her decks literally covered with men, came up rapidly, evidently intending to board.

Captain Weber stood on the weather quarter, as the wicked little craft came sweeping up, her enormous mainsail well filled, and her sharp bows cutting the water like a knife. She had a flush deck fore and aft, and forward was built like a wedge. There appeared to be no ports.

“Schooner, ahoy!” shouted he, as the two craft neared each other.

A musket-shot was the reply, which missed. The captain raised his hand, and the roar of the two nine-pounders was heard. Down came the schooner’s foresail, as she flew up into the wind, and a yell of vengeance, mingled with cries of pain, rose from her crowded decks.

“Run the guns over!” shouted the captain. “Man the starboard head-braces! Tend the boom-sheet! Haul on the weather-braces and jib-sheet! Hard a-port, Adams, hard a-port!”

Shooting up into the wind, the brig payed round on her heel, the two guns being again fired into the schooner’s bows, as the sails filled, and the “Halcyon” stood on the other tack.

“Hurrah, my lads!” shouted the delighted captain. “We’ve given her a taste of our metal.”

A spattering fire ran along the schooner’s decks, the balls striking the brig’s bulwarks, but without doing any damage.

All seemed confusion on board the smaller vessel, the halyards of whose foresail having been shot away, and nothing save the jib counteracting forward the overpowering pressure of the enormous mainsail aft, she had flown up into the wind, with her sails flapping and shivering. The crew were shouting, gesticulating, and running here and there.

The “Halcyon,” on the contrary, stood steadily on her course, from time to time firing the nine-pounder from her quarter-deck, but, from want of practice of her crew, without doing any apparent damage.

The shot soon began to fall short, and the “Halcyon,” tacking once more, lay her course with a gentle wind from the eastward, and a smooth sea. Three miles of salt-water were between her and her antagonist, before the schooner’s foresail was again set, when the vessel once more made sail on a wind and with her gaff topsails, fore and mainsail, fore-topmast staysail, and jib, seeming to fly through the water, making three feet for the “Halcyon’s” one, going well to windward. The glass, however, still showed a vast amount of bustle and disorder on her decks; and Captain Weber, rubbing his hands, dived down below into the cabin to breakfast.

“Call me at once if there is any change on deck, Mr Lowe; but I think that fellow’s had enough of us,” said the jubilant master.

“Ay, ay, sir,” said the mate, taking charge of the deck.

“Keep a bright look out on yonder jagged cloud; it will take in our flying kites for us before sunset,” were the captain’s last words as he disappeared down the hatchway.

Below, the table had been laid for breakfast by the steward, who, with all a sailor’s carelessness, had proceeded with his ordinary duty, just as though nothing out of the common way had happened. In the cabin the passengers were gathered, if such they may be termed, for the scenes of peril through which they had passed had so identified them with the brig, that they seemed to look upon her as their home, while the captain, quite unused to carry passengers, and having seen the men of the party fighting as if under his orders, and Isabel wounded on his decks, had got quite to consider them as part and parcel of his crew.

Captain Hughes appeared thoughtful and preoccupied; but the rest, the master included, revelled in the idea of danger past.

“We lie our course, and shall soon have plenty of wind,” he remarked, drawing towards himself a massive English ham, which he proceeded to carve. “I only wish I had a few more guns, and I would not let that blackguard off so easily.”

“You think we shall have a storm?” asked Wyzinski.

“It is just the season for it in these seas,” replied the captain, “and yonder cloud over the land will make itself felt before long. The mercury is falling in the barometer rapidly.”

“Do you think our guns did much damage among the Malays?”

“No. It was a lucky shot that brought the villains’ foresail on deck; but even in this smooth sea it needs practice to make gunners, and my lads have had none.”

“But you think the pirate has left us?” It was Captain Hughes who put the question, anxiously.

“The fellow is hugging the wind instead of running down to us; and as he completely outsails us, it is a proof that he does not wish to close.”

“How do you account for the great confusion on board her? With so strong a crew, the foresail should have been hoisted directly.”

“The lubbers can fight like savages, but can’t sail their ship, that’s all,” said the captain, laughing.

Steps were heard coming down the hatchway, and the mate opened the cabin-door.

“The schooner is edging nearer us, Captain Weber,” he said, “and there is some long black object on her decks I can’t quite make out.”

“I’ll be on deck in a moment, Mr Lowe. Steward, give me a small glass of brandy to finish with.”

“Well, gentlemen,” said the seaman, as he raised the glass, “here’s to our voyage, and—”

The word was never spoken, for a distant but loud report, followed by the rending of wood, interrupted him. For a moment the old seaman stood like a statue, the next he was on deck.

The first glance explained to him the reason of the continued confusion on board the schooner, which a moment before he had sneered at as a proof of incapacity. The pirate had gone to windward, and now lay on the brig’s weather quarter, the tack of her mainsail hauled up, quite out of the reach of her fire. Her crew had been busy getting up from her hold a long eighteen-pounder, which was shipped amidships, and worked on a swivel. The first shot had struck the “Halcyon’s” bulwarks, just abaft the foremast, leaving a long white strip, where the wood had been torn away.

Both captain and mate looked at each other, for here seamanship was powerless.

“The bloody-minded villains!” ejaculated the mate.

“They have us at their mercy,” sighed the master. “Sailing more than three feet for our one, there they can stick and pound away at us as they like.”

“Shall we try our range, Captain Weber?”

“Do so, but it is quite useless,” was the reply, as the seaman leaned his elbows on the weather bulwarks, and gazed steadily at the schooner.

“Take good aim, my lads, and fire when you are ready.”

The light report of the gun, differing so greatly from the loud heavy thud of the eighteen-pounder, was heard, and the master noted the hall as it flew from wave to wave, scattering the spray, but finally dropping with a splash into the sea, a few hundred yards short of the schooner.

“I thought as much,” growled the captain. “The scoundrels have well calculated their distance.”

A puff of white smoke from the schooner’s deck was followed by the heavy boom of the eighteen-pound gun as the ball came whistling through the air. Captain Weber held his breath for a moment, looking anxiously at his spars, but the projectile, being aimed too high, passed between the masts, pitching into the sea beyond.

“It’s hard lines, Lowe, to serve as a target to those scoundrels,” he said; “and yet I see nothing for it.”

“Our only hope is in yonder cloud. If it would but come on to blow, the sea would get up quickly, and that craft would have her aim spoiled.”

“Could you not tack and stand towards her?” asked the missionary, who at that moment came upon deck with Dom Maxara.

“It would be useless. Yonder schooner lies up to the wind a couple of points nearer than we can do. It is the advantage her fore and aft sails give her; besides, she has the heels of us, and can choose her distance and position. We have nothing to do but to hold on and trust to chance.”

Again the white cloud of smoke on the schooner’s decks, and once more the iron messenger came flying over the wave on its deadly mission. The ball struck the brig’s quarter, and glancing upwards, broke its way through the deck, covering it with splinters. The man, Adams, was at the helm, and the spokes flew through his hands as he tottered for a moment, and then fell heavily forward. The mate sprang to his place, and, seizing the wheel, brought the brig rapidly on to her course, while two seamen hurrying aft bore away the wounded man, a dark stain on the white deck marking the spot where he had fallen, a large splinter having struck him on the temple.

“We must think of your daughter, Dom Maxara,” said Captain Weber. “The brig is utterly powerless; but it is better that these fellows sink us, than that they put foot on her decks.”

Dona Isabel sat in the cabin, where the breakfast things yet lay on the table, while beside her was Captain Hughes, his arm passed round her waist. The tears were standing in her eyes, and her cheek was pale, for the soldier had been telling her what sort of people the schooner’s crew were, and what fate would be theirs if captured. The tale had been as delicately worded as possible, for it was a hard one even from a lover’s mouth.

“Cheer up, Isabel,” he continued; “there is always hope so long as we keep the Malays at a distance; and if we could only have wind we might yet escape.”

“I had hoped to have lived for you, Enrico,” replied Isabel, her head resting on her lover’s shoulder. “I can, at least, die with you.”

Dom Maxara entered the cabin, seating himself beside his daughter. Placing her hand in his, she repeated—

“We can at least die together.”

“There is still a little hope,” said the anxious father; “the breeze is freshening, and with it the sea is getting up, disturbing the schooner’s aim. The wind may yet save us. Should it fail us, there is one thing remaining.”

“And what is that, father?”

“As you said, to die together, Isabel, sooner than that a daughter of the Guzmans of Castillo should become the cast-off slave of a Malay pirate.”

The tears had been standing in Isabel’s eyes, and as she now turned them on her lover, there was a look of ineffable tenderness in the large black orbs.

“A strange meeting ours has been, Enrico; a strange life we have led together, living years in weeks; but you were quite as near death, my promised husband, when first we met, and yet you stand here by my side.”

“There is still hope, Isabel; every moment it increases with the rising sea,” replied Hughes.

“Hope or not,” continued the excited Isabel, speaking hysterically, “they shall see that the daughter of sunny Portugal knows how to die. We shall never tread our dear land again.”

The loud thud of the pirate’s long eighteen-pounder was here heard, and all held their breath, listening for the crashing of the timbers, but no such sound followed.

“And I who thought to show you, Enrico, the vineyards and the orange blossoms of fair Portugal. It is hard, father, to die so young.”

The old noble’s face worked convulsively, but his eyes were dry. Isabel had once more sat down between her father and her lover, her head resting on his shoulder; but one hand clasped in that of the noble. The soldier’s face wore a sad and dejected appearance; but there was determination in the firm lines of the closed mouth and contracted brow.

“Isabel, this is foolish. What men could do we will do, and have done. I would give what remains to me of life that you were not in this ship. What was a few short hours since the joy and pleasure of my existence, is now turned to bitterness and grief. We have done all men can do, I repeat, and, if needs be, we must perish together sooner than that worse befall us.”

Again the loud thud came down on the wind, followed by several sharp cracks like rifle reports, with the crashing of wood and the tramp of men, Captain Weber’s voice dominating the confusion.

Isabel was engaged in prayer, her eyes were closed, for the riot above, produced by the tumbling masts, was something fearful. The tramp of feet on the deck, and the hurrying to and fro as the captain shouted to his men to clear away the wreck of the brig’s spars which she had lost from the fire of the enemy, added to what for a few minutes seemed inextricable confusion.

Dejected and discouraged, Hughes had remained below, taking no notice of what was passing on deck, and perfectly aware that his presence was useless. He sat looking into Isabel’s face, and quietly waiting for the time when the schooner should bear down on the helpless brig to take possession, and the moment for the closing actions of life should come. Beside them sat the old noble, his face showing signs of deep emotion, as he too grieved, not for himself, but for his daughter. She looked very beautiful as she lay back, her head supported on her lover’s shoulder, her lips parted showing the white teeth, the eyes closed, and the long dark lashes wet with tears, with one hand clasped in her father’s.

“Captain Weber would be glad to speak to you, sir,” said the steward Masters, touching his cap.

“I will come,” replied Hughes.

Gently placing Isabel in her father’s arms, the soldier leaned over the half unconscious girl, and pressed his lips to her forehead, then turned to go.

The action seemed to rouse her, for rising suddenly, she threw her arms round him. “Enrico mio, do not leave me. If die we must, let us die together.” A flood of tears came to her relief, and she sobbed hysterically.

“I will return, Isabel—fear not,” he said, as he gently unloosed the arms which held him, and led her back to her father. “There may be some better prospect in store for us. I will return.”

When Captain Hughes reached the deck, he at once saw that if their chance of escape before was small, it had greatly diminished. An eighteen-pound shot had buried itself in the heart of the main-topmast, the wind was coming in hot puffs from the land, and the sails just at that moment feeling a heavier strain than usual, the wounded mast had gone over the side with a loud crash, carrying with it sails and yards, and now floated astern clear of the brig, leaving her running before the wind, with only her main fore and fore-topmast standing, the stump of a splintered spar marking what had been a stout main-topmast.

To windward lay the wicked-looking schooner which had done all the mischief, and astern the dark, dense, ragged mass of clouds from which the heavy puffs came now and then moaning over the sea. A hot haze had crept over the ocean, not having the appearance of clouds, but still veiling the sun.

“See,” said Captain Weber, laying his hand on Hughes’ shoulder, pointing to the schooner as he did so; “see, she hauls down her main tack, and is running down to us; she has us completely at her mercy.”

“Can we do nothing with our guns, Captain Weber?”

“Yes, we may fire them once as the villains board. You see all is ready.”

The captain pointed to the two nine-pounders, which were loaded to the muzzle. The men were armed, and went about their duties with a dogged sullenness which showed their stern determination.