The weather now rapidly became finer, and the ocean, no longer lashed
into fury by the breath of the tempest, subsided once more into long
regular undulations. The wind hauled gradually more round from the
northward too, and blew warm and balmy; a most welcome change after the
raw and chilly weather we had lately experienced.
We once more cracked on sail upon the little _Water Lily_; and on the
morning following that upon which we filled away upon our course,
finding by observation that we were well clear of the Cape, and that we
had plenty of room even should the wind once more back round from
the westward, we hauled close-up, and stood away on a
nor'-west-and-by-westerly course.
Nothing of importance occurred for more than a week. The weather
continued settled, and the glass stood high; the wind was out at about
north, and sufficiently moderate to permit of our carrying our
jib-headed topsail; and day after day we flew forward upon our course,
seldom making less than ten knots in the hour, and occasionally reaching
as high as thirteen.
We were perfectly jubilant; for having rounded the Cape in safety we now
considered our troubles over and our ultimate success as certain. We
were fairly in the Pacific, the region of fine weather; and our little
barkie had behaved so well in the gale that our confidence in her
seaworthiness was thoroughly established; so that all fear of future
danger from bad weather was completely taken off our minds.
One morning, the wind having fallen considerably lighter during the
preceding night, as soon as breakfast was over I roused up our
square-headed topsail, with the intention of setting it in the room of
the small one.
But when I proceeded to take the latter in, I found that the halliards
were somehow jammed aloft, and I shinned up to clear them. No sailor,
if he really be a _seaman_, and not a tinker or a tailor, ever goes
aloft without taking a good look round him; so after I had cleared the
halliards I clung to the slim spar for a minute or two whilst I swept
the horizon carefully around.
"Sail ho!" shouted I, as I caught a glimpse of the royals of a vessel
gleaming snowy white in the brilliant sunshine far away in the
south-western board.
"Where away?" shouted Bob.
"Broad on our lee-bow," I answered, still clinging to the thin wire
topmast shrouds.
"What d'ye make her out to be, Harry, my lad?" was the next question.
"Either a barque or a brig," answered I; "the latter I am inclined to
believe, though he is still too far away for his mizzen-mast to show, if
he has one."
"Why d'ye think it's a brig, Harry?" queried Bob.
"His canvas looks too small for that of a barque," replied I, as I slid
down on deck, having seen all that it was possible to see at present.
"Then it's that--_Albatross_ again, for a thousand," ejaculated Bob in a
tone of deep disgust. "That's just the p'int where he might reasonably
be looked for. He made sail long enough afore we did, a'ter the gale
had blowed itself out, and consequently got a good long leg to the
west'ard of us; but as we've been steering perhaps a couple of p'ints
higher than he has for most of the time since, we've overhauled him; and
now he's come round to go to the nor'ard, and we've fallen in with him
once more."
I was inclined to take the same view of the matter that Bob did. It is
true that when once a ship passes out of sight at sea you can never be
sure of her exact position afterwards; yet, under certain circumstances,
taking the direction of the wind and the state of the weather as data
upon which to base your argument, and, in conjunction with these, the
course the vessel was steering when last seen, or the part of the world
to which you have reason to believe she is bound, it is astonishing how
near a guess may be and is not unfrequently made as to her whereabouts.
Now we knew that the _Albatross_ was bound to the Pacific when we last
saw her, because she was then hove-to, evidently with the intention of
maintaining as weatherly a position as possible. Had she been bound to
the eastward, the weather was not so bad at that time as to have
prevented her scudding before it, which she undoubtedly would have done
under such circumstances, making a fair wind of it.
At the same time there was of course a possibility of our being mistaken
as to the craft in sight being the pirate brig, it being by no means an
unusual thing for vessels as small as she was, or even smaller, to
venture round the Cape.
"Well," said I, "perhaps it will be safest, Bob, to assume for the
present that this brig _is_ the _Albatross_. What, under such
circumstances, is your advice?"
"Which of us has the weather-gage, d'ye think?" queried Bob.
"It is rather difficult to decide at present," I replied. "Much depends
upon which of us is the fastest. If we are both going at about the same
speed, I should say we shall pass extremely close to her."
"How is she heading, Harry?" was the next question.
"To the northward, rather edging down towards us, if anything," I
thought.
"Ay, ay," chuckled Bob, "it ain't _every_ craft as can stick her
bowsprit into the wind's eye like this here little barkie. Now I dare
swear he's jammed hard up upon a taut bowline, and here _we_ are going
as close to the wind as he is, and every thread ramping full. Take hold
of her a minute, Hal, and let's see what these old eyes of mine can tell
us about the stranger."
I took hold of the tiller, and Bob went aloft with the deliberation of
the seaman who is in no particular hurry. Having reached the
cross-trees, he stood upon them, with one hand grasping the
peak-halliards to steady himself, whilst with the other he shaded his
eyes.
"I see her, I see her," he exclaimed; "we're raising her fast, Harry, my
boy; and in another half hour or so we shall see her from the deck."
He then went as high as the yard of the topsail, and clung there for a
good five minutes, reading all the signs which a seaman sees in the
almost imperceptible peculiarities of rig, shape of sails, etc. Having
satisfied himself, he descended deliberately to the deck, evidently
ruminating deeply.
"Now I'll tell ye what I think of the matter, Harry," said he, as he
came aft and seated himself beside me. "There's a familiar sort of a
look with that craft away yonder; I seems to recognise her as some'at
I've seen afore; and I've no moral doubt in the world but what it's that
villain Johnson, although we can't be _sartain_ of it until we gets a
nearer look at her. And I've an idee that, if anything, it's _we_
that's got the weather-gage; and if so, by all means keep it, even if we
has to run the gauntlet of her broadside for a minute or two. Once
let's be to wind'ard, and in such weather as this I wouldn't fear the
smartest _square-rigged_ craft that ever was launched. We could lead
'em no end of a dance, and then give 'em the slip a'terwards when we was
tired of the fun. So my advice is to luff up as close as you can; not
_too_ close ye know, lad; let her go through it; but spring your luff
all as you can get, and let's try what our friend yonder is made of. As
long as we're to _leeward_ of him the game is _his_; but let's get to
_wind'ard_ of him and it's _ours_ to do what we like with it."
I had it in my mind to take in all the canvas and lie _perdu_ until the
brig had crossed our course and was well out of our road to the
northward; but that would still be leaving him the weather-gage; and I
saw fully as clearly as Bob did the advantage of obtaining this, if
possible; so on we stood, boldly, lying a good point higher than we had
been before steering, yet keeping every sail a good clean full, and
drawing to perfection.
The wind, however, was dropping fast; and by the time that the sun was
on the meridian we were not going more than five knots. This made me
extremely anxious; more particularly as the stranger proved a remarkably
fast vessel; so much so, that it still remained a matter of doubt which
of us would cross the other.
Bob, on the other hand, was delighted beyond measure, stoutly avowing
that the falling breeze was little, if anything, short of a divine
manifestation in our favour. He declared himself ready to stake all he
was possessed of in the world (and if the brig should turn out to be the
pirate, he actually _was_ staking his life) on our speed as against that
of the stranger in light winds, and was already chuckling in
anticipation over that craft's discomfiture.
She was within about five miles of us, still maintaining her relative
position of about four points on our lee-bow, when Bob served dinner on
deck, as was our custom in fine weather.
We were very busy with the viands, keeping one eye always on the brig
however, when we noticed something fluttering over her taffrail; and the
next moment a flag of some sort floated up to her peak.
I was at the tiller; so Bob took the glass, and levelling it at the
brig, gave her a more thorough scrutiny than we had bestowed upon her at
all hitherto.
"The stars and stripes, and a pennant!" exclaimed he, with his eye still
at the tube.
"Lord bless us for the two pretty innocents he takes us for, Harry; but
there, of course he don't know as we've got his character and all about
him at our fingers' ends. Well, anyhow, we won't be behindhand with him
in the matter of politeness;" and therewith Master Bob dived below,
returning in a moment with our ensign and club burgee in his hand, which
he bent to their respective halliards and ran them up--the one to our
gaff-end, and the other to our mast-head.
As we had by this time finished our meal, Bob cleared the things away,
muttering something about having "plenty to do afore long besides eating
and drinking."
Our colours had not been displayed above a minute, when four small balls
were seen ascending to the brig's main royal-mast-head, where they broke
abroad and waved lazily out in the failing breeze as a signal.
Bob at once assumed the duties of signal-officer, by once more taking a
peep through the glass.
"Commercial code pennant," said he; and then he read out the flags
beneath it.
"Run down and fetch up the signal-book," said I.
He did so; we turned up the signal, and read, "Come under my lee; I wish
to speak you."
"Thank 'ee!" ejaculated Bob, "not if we can help it, Mister Johnson. I
reckon 'twould be about the most onprofitable conwersation as ever the
crew of this here cutter took a part in. We've got our own wholesome
planks to walk, aboard here, when we wants any of that sort of exercise;
and though there's not much to boast of in the way of room, I dare say
there's more of _that_ than we'd find on the plank _you'd_ give us for a
parade ground. Seems to me, Hal, as we're bringing him nearer abeam
than he was a while ago; ain't it so?"
"You are right, Bob," I replied, glancing at the compass; "he is more
than a point farther aft than he was a quarter of an hour ago; but is it
not possible that we are giving ourselves needless uneasiness? That
craft certainly has a look of the _Albatross_; but we are not sure that
it is her after all."
"D'ye notice his maintopmast-staysail, Harry?" returned he; "cut like a
trysail, and set on a stay that leads down just clear of his fore-top
and into the slings of his fore-yard. How many vessels will ye see with
a sail shaped like that? Yet I noticed that _his_ was the other day.
And there's the red ribbon round him too; in fact, it's the _Albatross_
all over," concluded he, with the glass once more at his eye.
It was but too evident that Bob was right. I had been hoping that the
general resemblance of the brig in sight to the _Albatross_ was purely
accidental; but she was now within less than three miles of us; and,
even without the aid of the telescope, certain features, if I may so
term them, were recognisable, which identified her beyond all question
as the pirate brig.
"What shall we do about answering his signal, Bob?" said I.
"Let it fly as it is, _un_-answered," he replied composedly. "Look
where we're dropping him to; in another quarter of an hour we shall have
him fairly on our lee-beam, and that too out of gun-shot, unless, as is
most likely the case, he's got a long gun; but if he _has_, we're a
small mark to fire at, and we'll soon slip out of range even of that."
It was by this time perfectly manifest that whatever he might be able to
do in a breeze, he had no chance with us in a light air like the
present; and I entertained strong hopes of being able to slip past him
unscathed, when I felt sanguine of our ability to get fairly away from
him in a chase dead to windward.
But he evidently had no notion of letting us have our own way in this
matter, without a pretty vigorous protest on his part; for as we were
still watching him, we saw the brig slowly luff into the wind; his
fore-sheet was raised for a moment, a flash of flame and a puff of white
smoke darted suddenly from his forecastle, and then we saw the jets
spouting up where the shot struck the water, as it came ricocheting
towards us. He had aimed apparently so as to throw the shot across our
fore-foot; but it fell short by about fifty feet.
"Do that again, you lubber!" exclaimed Bob, contemptuously
apostrophising the brig. "Three more such fool's tricks as that, and
we'll say good-bye t'ye without ever having been within range. See how
long it takes him to pay off ag'in, Harry; very near lost his way
altogether, when he'd a had to box her off with his head-yards; and by
the time he'd done that we should be well clear of him. Well, I _did_
think the man had more sense than to do the like of that."
Friend Johnson evidently saw his mistake as clearly as we did, for he
fired no more until we had crept up fairly ahead of him. Just as we
were crossing his bows, however, and had got his masts in one--by which
time he had drawn considerably nearer us--the brig _fell off_ a little,
not to repeat her former error, and again came the flash, the smoke, and
the ringing report.
"Here it comes straight for us this time, and no mistake," exclaimed
Bob, as the water-jets again marked the course of the shot. "Scaldings!
out of the road all of us that's got thin skulls," continued he, as the
shot came skipping across the water in such long bounds as showed we
were within range. "Well missed!" added he, as the shot struck the
water close to us, and bounded fairly over the boat, passing close
beneath the main-boom and the foot of the mainsail, without injuring so
much as a rope-yarn.
"That's his long gun, Bob," said I; "his broadside guns would never
reach so far as this, and though we're just now in rather warm quarters,
we shall be out of range again very soon; and then, I think, we need
give ourselves no further trouble concerning him. Any way, you've got
something very like the fulfilment of the wish you expressed the other
day."
"Ay, ay, that's true, Hal, I have," answered he, with a quiet laugh;
"and I _do_ own it's a great satisfaction to me that we're carcumventin'
the chap this 'a way. I'll warrant he's walking the quarter-deck at
this minute fit to bite his fingers off wi' vexation at our slipping
past him in this style."
Here another shot from the brig came bounding after us; but we offered
him a much smaller mark than before, inasmuch as he was now nearly dead
astern of us, and we consequently presented an _end_ instead of a
broadside view to him.
The shot shaved us pretty close to windward nevertheless, striking the
water for the last time just short of our taffrail, and scurrying along
and ploughing up the surface close enough to give us a pretty copious
shower-bath of spray ere it finally sank just ahead of us.
The next shot, which quickly followed, passed almost as close to
leeward; and the third came straight enough, but fell just short of us.
After this he fired no more.
"Very cleverly managed, I call that, Harry," said Bob, as soon as we
found ourselves once more out of range. "We can now take things
quietly; and as it's your watch below, I'd recommend you to turn in and
get a bit of a snooze. It's your eight hours out to-night, my lad, and
if the breeze should happen to freshen about sundown, and that chap
comes after us--and, by the piper, he means that same, for I'm blest if
he isn't in stays--you'll need to keep both eyes open all your watch."
This was good advice, and I at once proceeded to adopt it, cautioning
Bob to be sure to call me without delay in the event of any further
complication arising.
I had not been below above two minutes when I heard his voice shouting
to me to come on deck again. Wondering what was now in the wind, I
sprang up the short companion-ladder, and my eye at once falling upon
the brig (which was now dead astern of us, heading in the same direction
as ourselves, though not lying so close to the wind), I saw in a moment
that our troubles were not yet by any means over.
The wind had by this time fallen so light that we were not making above
three knots' way through the water, whilst the pirate appeared barely to
have steerage-way--in fact, his canvas was flapping to the mast with
every sluggish roll which the vessel took over the long, scarcely
perceptible swell.
Friend Johnson was evidently greatly nettled at our having slipped so
handsomely through his fingers as we had, and seemed determined to have
a word or two with us yet, whether we would or no; for he had lowered
one of his boats, and she was just leaving the vessel in chase.
I took the glass, and counted six men at the oars, besides one or two (I
could not be sure which) in the stern-sheets.
This was serious indeed; for a light boat, propelled by six good
oarsmen, would go about two feet to our one at our then rate of sailing,
and must necessarily soon overhaul us.
Our case appeared pretty nearly desperate; but a seaman never gives up
"whilst there is a shot in the locker," or a fresh expedient to be
tried. So I directed Bob to keep the cutter away about three points,
and then lash the tiller, and lend me a hand to get our balloon canvas
set.
The topsail was shifted in next to no time, and then we got the
spinnaker to the bowsprit-end, leading the sheet aft to the main-boom;
after which we took in our jib and stopped it along the bowsprit, ready
for setting again at a moment's notice, and hauled down our staysail.
This additional spread of canvas, coupled with the fact that we were
running far enough off the wind to permit of its drawing well, made a
perceptible difference in our speed--quite a knot, I considered, and Bob
agreed with me.
"Now, what's the next thing to be done, Harry?" inquired he, as soon as
we had completed our task of shifting the sails. "This is all very well
as far as it goes, but yon boat is overhauling us at every stroke of the
oars, and we've only _postponed_ the pleasure of an introduction to the
chaps, unless the breeze happens to freshen up a trifle, of which I sees
no signs just at present."
"I've made up my mind," I replied. "We _must not_ be taken, Bob. I
feel convinced that our lives would not be worth an hour's purchase, if
we fell into the hands of that villain; but, even supposing he _were_ to
stop short of murder, his malignity would doubtless prompt him to
destroy the little _Lily_; and by such an act all our past efforts would
be nullified, and our future success rendered extremely doubtful. We
must _fight_ Robert, my man, now that we can no longer run; so let's get
our gun up and rigged without further delay. By the time that we have
it ready, they will be within range; and I think we may persuade them to
turn back yet."
"So be it," replied Bob gleefully. "I'd always rather fight than run
away, Harry, lad--at least, when it's anything like a fair match; so
let's rouse up the pop-gun and have a shy at 'em."
This gun was, as I think I have mentioned before, a four-pound rifled
piece, which was specially made to my order by an eminent firm. It was
a most beautiful little weapon, exquisitely finished; was a
breech-loader, and threw a solid shot about a mile, and a shell nearly
half as far again. It was mounted on a swivel or pivot, which we had
the means of firmly fixing to the deck.
We got it out and upon deck, and soon had it mounted and ready for
service. Bob took the tiller, desiring me to work the gun, as I was not
only a more practised artillerist than he, but knew also how to handle a
breech-loader, and I had the knack somehow of shooting straight.
I had it loaded, and was in the act of levelling it, when Bob said,
"Suppose we was to let them chaps get a bit nearer, Hal, afore we opens
fire. I've a notion that if we gets 'em well away from the brig, and
well within range of our little barker there, we might give 'em such a
peppering afore they could get clear of us ag'in as would sicken 'em of
having any more to do with us. Perhaps it mightn't be quite onpossible
to destr'y the boat altogether, and then there's seven or eight good
hands wiped off the chap's books. This here ain't like a ordinary
enemy, you see, lad--he's a sort of general enemy to all mankind; and
the more harm we can do to _him_, the more good we'll be doing the rest
of the world."
It sounded rather like cold-blooded barbarity, this proposal of Bob's to
attempt the _destruction_ instead of the _repulse_ of the boat in
pursuit of us, but every word he said in support of his proposition was
strictly true; and indeed some such idea had been present in my own
mind, so I withheld my fire for a time.
At length, however, they were within half a mile of us, and I thought we
might now fairly commence operations. I carefully levelled the piece
accordingly, and desiring Bob to sit well out of the line of fire and
steer as steadily as possible, I watched the heave of the cutter, and
pulled the trigger-line.
The shot sped straight for the boat, but, striking the water just before
it reached her, bounded dear over her and into the sea beyond. There
was a shout from the people in the boat, and we could see that they
stretched to their oars with doubled exertion.
"Straight as it could go, Harry, lad, but _rather_ too much elevation;
try 'em again, boy, and look smart about it too, for they're giving way
as if the devil was behind 'em."
"Which he probably _is_, if they did but know it, Bob," returned I.
"Keep cool, old man; there's no hurry; you attend to the steering of the
craft, I'll undertake to cool their courage for them before they're very
much older."
"Ay, ay," retorted Bob, "keep cool it is; but it's getting to be rather
ticklish work, lad, ain't it?"
I was too busy with the gun to reply just then, and in another moment I
fired once more. This time we saw the splinters fly from the bows of
the boat, and one of the oarsmen sprang from his seat and fell back into
the arms of the man behind him.
There was a moment of confusion with them, and then we saw one of the
men in the stern-sheets (there _were_ two of them) step along the
thwarts and take the injured man's place. This looked like a fixed
determination to come alongside at any price, so I this time inserted a
shell instead of a solid shot, which I had before been firing.
Once more, after a very careful aim, the little piece rang out, and
again the shot reached its mark; this time with terrible effect, for the
shell exploded as it passed through the boat's thin planking, and the
fragments, continuing their flight forward, told so severely, among the
crew that it appeared as if they were _all_ more or less hurt. We saw
four fall from the thwarts, at all events, and all hands ceased pulling,
whilst three of the oars slipped unnoticed overboard.
I unrove the spinnaker-sheet from the main-boom before the astonished
Bob knew what I was about, let go the halliards, and let the sail down
by the run; and then jumped to the jib halliards and hoisted the sail
like lightning.
"Now," shouted I, "luff you may, Bob, and let's heave the craft to, and
finish the job for them."
As I said this, Bob put his helm down, whilst I hauled the jib sheet to
windward, and then I sprang aft again to the gun.
By this time they had taken to their oars again, but there were only two
of them pulling: a sure indication of the extent to which our last shot
had told. They were turning the boat round to pull back to the ship,
and seeing this I felt some compunction about firing on them again, and
said so.
"Don't be such a soft-hearted donkey, Harry lad," retorted Bob. "Settle
the whole lot if you can, boy; it'll only be so many skulking cutthroats
the less in the world. _My_ idee is that every one of them chaps as we
can finish off is one honest man's life saved; so give 'em another of
them shells, my boy. They _do_ seem wonderful persuaders, small as they
be."
I accordingly loaded again, and fired; but, probably from excitement,
fired too high, and the missile flew harmlessly over the boat.
The next time I was more careful, aiming with the utmost deliberation.
At length I pulled the trigger-line, and immediately leapt to my feet to
watch for the result.
The shell struck the boat's stern fairly amidships, and close to the
water-line; there was an explosion, but both the oarsmen appeared to be
unhurt. Almost immediately, however, one of them sprang aft and
crouched down, doing something that we could not make out.
I took the glass, and then saw that a large gap had been made by the
explosion of the shell, through which the water was doubtless pouring
rapidly.
There was a movement among the wounded men; and one man jumped upon a
thwart and waved his hat to the brig, evidently as a signal of distress.
Her captain had of course been watching us all this time, and seemed to
have conjectured that his people were getting the worst of it, for we
now saw that he had a second boat in the water; and on taking a look at
the brig through the glass, we observed that he had a tackle on his main
yard-arm, with which he was hoisting out a gun to put into the boat.
"It is time we were off once more, Bob," I remarked, as soon as I saw
this; "so another shot at our friends here, and then we'll fill away."
The boat was very much disabled, and appeared to be sinking gradually,
notwithstanding their efforts to keep her afloat, for they were now
baling rapidly; but I thought it best to make sure of her, so once more
loaded and fired.
The shell passed through her stern this time also, and exploded; there
was a shrill scream from more than one agonised throat, and the baling
and pulling ceased altogether; every man in her was wounded, if not
killed outright.
Satisfied with our work of destruction, and not particularly caring to
expose ourselves to the fire of the gun in the other boat, which was no
doubt much heavier than our own toy of a weapon, we filled away; and I
once more swayed up the spinnaker forward, desiring Bob to keep just
sufficiently away to permit of our balloon canvas fully drawing, but no
more.
As soon as I had got the spinnaker set, I took the glass and had a good
look at the boat we had beaten off. She was nearly full of water, her
gunwale being but an inch or two above the surface.
I saw three or four figures rouse themselves on board her, and
recommence baling feebly; but their efforts were useless; she sank lower
and lower, and at length rolled heavily bottom upwards, throwing her
wounded crew into the water.
Almost immediately there was a furious splashing, and by the aid of the
glass I distinctly saw the dorsal fins of several sharks darting here
and there among them, whilst over the glassy surface of the water a
shriek or two came faintly towards us.
In less than a minute all was over with the miserable wretches; the
voracious sharks made short work of it with them, tearing living and
dead alike to pieces in their eagerness to obtain a share of the prey.
At the moment that this tragic scene was enacting, the second boat was
about half way between the brig and those to whose assistance she was
hastening; and her crew had a nearer and more distinct view of the
horrible details of the catastrophe than we had.
They paused for a moment on their oars as though paralysed with horror;
and then with a vengeful shout gave way more energetically than before.
But I felt little apprehension on their account; the dying breeze had
revived somewhat, and the _Lily_ was now stealing along, though with
scarcely a ripple at her sharp bows, about five knots; and the water
looked rather darker to windward, as though the wind was inclined to
come still stronger.
The pirates tugged at their oars with might and main, passing within
oar's length of the wreck of the first boat, when they again raised a
furious yell, straining away at their stout ash blades until they made
them bend like willow wands.
They gained on us considerably within the first ten minutes or quarter
of an hour; and I saw some of the crew preparing to fire the gun which
was mounted in the boat's bows. Judging that more powder would have to
be burned after all, I once more loaded our little piece, charging with
shell as before; and whilst I was doing this our pursuers opened fire
upon us.
They miscalculated their distance, however, or the powers of their gun;
for the shot fell considerably short of us, much to Bob's delight, to
which he gave expression by the utterance of a few remarks of such
biting sarcasm and raillery that they would infallibly have still
further incensed the individuals to whom they were addressed could they
but have heard them.
I too was _very_ glad to see the shot fall short, for it placed us on
somewhat more equal terms than I had dared to hope. The boat was a
large one, probably their launch, and pulled ten oars; and there were
three men in the bows working the gun, and the coxswain aft steering,
making altogether fourteen hands--very heavy odds.
But then, on the other hand, the boat was heavy, and her crew, after
their already long pull, could not maintain the violent exertions they
were now putting forth very much longer; and a very trifling abatement
in that direction would enable us to slip away from them after all; and,
moreover, as they were now within range of our gun (which, being rifled,
threw a shot much farther than their smooth-bore), there was a
possibility of our being able so far to disable them as to compel them
to give up the chase.
I accordingly levelled the breech-loader, and then waited for a
favourable opportunity to fire. At length it came. The shell entered
the starboard bow of the pursuing boat, about midway between her gunwale
and her water-line; and immediately, to our great surprise, there was a
violent explosion on board her.
A vivid flash of flame darted upward and outward; the sides of the boat
appeared to be violently wrenched apart at their junction with the stem;
the gun and its carriage rose heavily in the air about ten feet, and
fell with a tremendous splash into the sea; and oars and men were flung
wildly about, many of them being blown fairly overboard, whilst a dense
cloud of smoke arose, and for a moment hid everything from our view.
When it cleared away, there floated the wreck of the boat, just awash;
and there too, among the struggling crew in the water, darted to and fro
the fins of the terrible sharks, very probably the same monsters who had
so recently feasted on their shipmates. Our shell had taken most
fearful effect, igniting their ammunition, and thus blowing their boat
to pieces at our first discharge.
Volume One, Chapter XI.