"Why, I can't see a soul on board the _Sally_, uncle, and the people on
the other schooners must be asleep. They haven't seen us yet--Yes, they
have!" he cried. "The men are hurrying up on our vessel from below,
but--"
"But what, my boy?"
"I--I don't quite know, uncle. Something isn't right. Oh, Morny, what
have I said?"
As the boy spoke he let the glass drop to the full length of his arm,
and in all probability it would have fallen to the bottom of the boat
had not Joe Cross caught it in his hand.
"May I look, sir?" he said sharply, and without waiting for consent, he
raised it to his eyes and quickly scanned all three of the schooners in
turn.
"It's no use beating about, gentlemen," he said sharply. "Something is
wrong, for all three decks are swarming now with men like bees--wasps, I
ought to say," he muttered, as he concentrated his gaze upon the _Maid
of Salcombe_. "Our vessel, doctor, is in the hands of pirates, or
slavers, and they are making ready the long gun. Now, my lads, look
alive. Every man buckle on his arms and then load."
The oars were allowed to swing from the tholes, and the boat was left to
glide slowly downwards, while in their smart orderly way her crew
prepared for action.
"You will load too, gentlemen--with ball. Now, doctor, will you take
command and lead us?"
"What to do?" asked the doctor.
"Why, to take our schooner again, sir. She's in the hands of an enemy."
"But is it possible that we can do this, Cross?" cried the doctor.
"I don't know, sir, for she's got a lot of men on board; but we have got
to try."
"Stop. Let me think," said the doctor. "I am no man of war, and this
is not in my way. If any unfortunate fellow were wounded I could do my
best. But look here, my lads; you are nearly all men-of-war's men, and
you, Morny, you are a naval officer. Seeing the odds before us, what is
our duty here?"
"To fight," cried the young man passionately, through his clenched
teeth.
"Ay, ay, sir!" came heartily from the men; and as the doctor turned his
eyes inquiringly upon Rodd, who was fiercely ramming the second bullet
upon the small shot already in the two barrels of his gun, he saw a look
in the lad's face that he had never seen there before, and in spite of
the pain of the situation, he felt a thrill of satisfaction running
through his breast at the thought that, young as his nephew was, he was
English to the core.
"Yes," said the doctor, "we must fight; but with such odds against us we
must bring cunning to bear."
"Ay, ay, sir! That's right," cried Cross. "But perhaps, as we've got
right on our side and only a set of mongrels before us, a good bold dash
to board them will make us as strong as they. I say, sir, if you will
let me lead, we will try and take our schooner, give them a broadside of
bullets when we get close up, and then out steel and board her like men.
Once over her side, there won't be many of them left on deck at the end
of five minutes; and as soon as we have got her and the use of her guns,
if we don't sink them other two pirates I have never been to sea."
"That's right, Joe," came in chorus, as, standing in the bows with one
hand upon his gun, the other upon his right hip, he looked the very
perfection of a British man-of-war's man, ready to lead or be led,
wherever duty called.
Then, as if inspired by his appearance, the crew burst out into a
ringing cheer, helped by the two lads, while the doctor took off and
waved his straw hat as he joined in. _Bang_--_thud_!
A great grey puff of smoke started from the schooner's deck and a ball
came skipping in their direction over the smooth stream.
"Well, I do call that too bad," cried Joe, as the men uttered a
deep-toned "Yah-h-h!"
"Arter the way in which I cared for you and kept you clean, to go and
behave like that!"
"Well, poor dumb beast," growled Briggs, "she don't know no better."
"Do you call that dumb?" cried Joe, merrily enough. "Well, I s'pose she
was obliged; but I don't think much of their gunnery, messmates,"
continued the man, as he made use of the glass again. "Oh, they're all
at work, sir, re-loading, and it will soon be our turn. I propose, sir,
that we let them give us another shot, and then dash in before they have
time to re-load. They won't hit us; will they, boys?"
"Not they!" came in chorus; but the next moment there was another
report, and a smaller ball struck the water so near the boat that the
spray was sent flying over them.
"They've got the two small guns to bear, sir," said Joe quietly, "and
there's somebody aboard as knows how to aim."
He had hardly ceased speaking when there was another puff of smoke from
the schooner's deck, accompanied by a whizzing, shrieking sound through
the air just above their heads, while before they had glided with the
stream another dozen yards there was a puff of smoke from the
three-master's deck, followed directly after by a puff from the strange
schooner, and as the reports of the two heavy guns were echoed from the
great walls of verdure upon the river's bank, the air over their heads
seemed full of shrieking missiles.
"Grape and broken iron," growled Joe Cross. "Take the tiller, Harry
Briggs. Step the mast, my lads, and run up the sail. Don't take no
notice of their shot. It don't do to go mad, even if we do want to
fight. Don't go to sleep over it, boys. We are in the breeze again,
and we must run into shelter and think."
A low growl came from the men as they rapidly obeyed orders, and not a
man seemed to flinch as the long gun of the English schooner sent forth
its heavy missile again, this time to strike the water some distance
ahead and then rise and go crashing amongst the trees, whose leaves
could be seen to come pattering down.
Three more shots came skipping over the river before the boat began to
glide swiftly, under the pressure of her sail, and yells of derision
came ringing from the enemy as they saw the effect of their fire and the
effort being made to escape.
"Ah!" half sighed Rodd. "They've left off."
"Ay, sir," said the coxswain. "They know they can't hit us now we are
flying through the water; and the worst of it is, they think we are
afraid and that we English dogs are running away as hard as we can, with
our tails between our legs. But they aren't, sir; they're a-standing up
stiff and at right angles, as our old man calls it, to our backs; eh,
messmates?"
"Ay, ay, Joe!" came from the crew, with a roar of laughter.
"And as for my teeth--our teeth, I mean--they are about as sharp as
sharp. But we have got the wind with us, gentlemen, and we will just
run up-stream and round the bend yonder, so as to get behind the trees
just somewhere where we can keep watch with that there little spy-glass,
and by and by we will have another try. This go they a'n't played fair,
but next time we'll make 'em."
"How, Joe?" cried Rodd.
"Well, sir, my idea is to tackle 'em man to man when they can't use
their guns. I mean when it's too dark for them to aim; and then we can
drop down upon them, or sail up to them fore or aft or either side, and
them not know where to have us. It won't be shooting then, but cold
steel, as we know how to use. Well, think of that now!" cried the man,
as the boat was now literally skimming over the surface. "Call myself a
leader! Why, as true as I am here, I never once thought of firing a
shot. Why, we might have given them one volley, messmates. I don't
suppose we should have hit, with them behind the bulwarks, but we might
have startled the beggars at the guns. Never mind; we have saved our
gunpowder. A man must miss sometimes, and this has been a bad 'un.
Next time, though, my lads, we must make it a hit."
The sailor ceased speaking, for his eyes had suddenly lighted upon
Morny's face, and, as he afterwards said to Rodd, "Blest, sir, it sent a
regular chill through me, for in all the hooroar of that job I forgot
all about his father and our old man. But never say die, sir. They may
have got away in one of the boats and be coasting along out to sea."