THE CHASE.
When O'Brien gave up his wheel to Zeke he also took off his hat and
moved a step or two nearer to his men. Then followed an outcry from the
crew which anybody has heard who has been tempted to attend a political
meeting in America, to-wit--
"Speech, speech!" chorused all hands!
"I have not much to say to you beyond this," said the captain. "We have
come out here to capture that schooner, and we are not going back with
that flag flying at her peak."
"Hear, hear!" shouted Zeb Short.
"We haven't got any guns, so we will run afoul of her and board her the
first good chance we get," continued the captain. "If any man tells you
that he surrenders--I never expect to hear any such cry from any man now
before me--let him go and help him up and treat him as you would like
to be treated if you were a prisoner. When we get aboard that boat, if
none of her company pull down her flag, Wheaton is the man to attend to
it. He proposed this thing, has suggested me for captain and he ought to
have the privilege of handling the flag. That ensign has floated the
'mistress of the sea' and I don't believe that any body of men has ever
pulled it down before. We will show them before we get through with them
that it can't stand up before a 'flock of Yankees.'"
The cheers which greeted this little speech seemed to have raised the
sloop fairly out of the water. When she came down again she settled to
her work and went ahead faster than ever. By this time she had rounded
the point of land behind which the schooner had run for safety the day
before, but to the surprise of everybody her berth was empty. The
schooner during the night had pulled out and chosen another place of
refuge. It looked as though she had abandoned the sloops and left them
to watch out for themselves.
"Well, Zeke, what do you think of this?" asked Captain O'Brien, seeking
advice of his steersman. That was not exactly the proper thing to do,
but this was a household matter, everybody in the village was bent on
capturing the schooner, every man in his crew knew as much about
handling a vessel as he knew himself, and he did not see why he
shouldn't go for help where he was most likely to get it.
"They are afraid of us, Cap," replied Zeke. "There isn't any other place
that I know of where she can run for refuge, except it is that little
harbor about five miles up the bay. She may have gone in there."
"Why, she could not get in," replied the captain. "She draws too much
water."
"She can go in there if the tide is up, and she will have to come out
pretty soon or we will catch her, sure," said Zeke. "If I was you I
would go up and take a look at that place."
The crew had by this time found out that the schooner's berth was empty,
and they all crowded around their captain to see what he thought about
it. Contrary to the custom in these days, the captain explained his
movements when he brought the sloop about and headed her up the bay,
and the men all agreed that that was the place to find her.
Up to this time Enoch had found so much else to occupy his mind that he
had not thought to take notice of the crew, but he proceeded to do it
now; and the conclusion he came to was that the schooner was never in so
dangerous a position as she was at that moment. There were thirty of the
company, as we have said, and upon the face of every one Enoch saw an
expression of calmness, not unmixed with firmness, which showed that
they were fully alive to a sense of the peril they were about to
encounter. There were no signs of giving up. They had come out there
with a purpose in view, and that purpose must be accomplished before
they went back. Everybody expected, to quote from Caleb Young, that
there would be mourning in Machias when they got through, but every one
hoped that _he_ would get through. Remember that they had no discipline,
they knew nothing of that 'shoulder to shoulder' drill which caused men
to do their duty wherever they may be, but they simply went into it to
let those men, who had been engaged at Lexington, see that they were
not the only ones who believed in nipping British tyranny in the bud.
"I believe we are going to capture that schooner," said Enoch, moving
aft till he could talk to the man at the wheel.
"Oh, you do, do you?" said Zeke, letting go of the wheel with one hand
and pushing his hat on the back of his head. "Course we are. If you see
anybody in this crew who dares to say that we ain't a-going to capture
her, just take him by the scuff of the neck and drop him overboard. He
ain't got any business to travel in this party."
When they had accomplished about two miles and a half of the distance
they had to sail, an electric spark seemed to shoot through all the
company when somebody descried the schooner coming out of that harbor
and drawing a bee-line for sea. Captain Moore had not neglected to take
particular pains to insure the safety of his vessel. The tops of her
masts were higher than the surrounding headlands, and the first thing he
did when he came to an anchor there, was to send a man up to the
mast-head to act as lookout. He saw the sloop when she was coming out
of the harbor of Machias, and forthwith informed the deck; whereupon an
officer ascended to his side, and with a glass distinctly made out the
company of hostile men on board of her, and he could even see the guns
and pitchforks with which they were armed. Captain Moore instantly saw
that he must not be caught in that narrow harbor, for if he was, his
capture was certain. He must slip his anchor and get to sea; and the
sloop's company saw her when she was two miles and a half away. A cheer
long and loud greeted her appearance, and Zeke, who had been crowding
the sloop all along so that a man standing in her lee rail could have
dipped up a cup of water at any time, strove, if possible, to crowd her
still more. The sloop responded nobly, and seemed to have reserved some
of her speed for just this occasion, for she went ahead faster than
ever.
"I tell you, boy, it is coming now," said Zeke, and for fear that his
hat might bother him he took it off and pitched it overboard. "We will
soon see how much pluck they have got."
To Enoch, had the contest been a friendly one, it would have been worth
going miles to see the race between those two vessels. It seemed
strange, too, for an armed boat to run away from a vessel that had
nothing bigger than a flint-lock aboard of her, but the thought of what
was in store for them should they succeed in coming up with the schooner
brought many an anxious face. But there was no sign of backing out. The
men having had their cheer out began stripping themselves, and in a
little while Enoch could see nothing but sailors with a pair of overalls
on. Everything else had been discarded, and the men lay along the rail
and waited for Zeke to lay her alongside.
"I just wish we had another sail," said Captain O'Brien, closely
watching the distance between the two vessels. "I am afraid she is going
to get away from us, but I will follow her clear to England before I
will give her up."
"No need of doing that," said Zeke, crowding the sloop until a wave came
in over the starboard bow. "She is gaining a little--a little, to be
sure, but you will be aboard of her in less than two hours."
For an hour the schooner and sloop remained about the same, one trying
her best to escape, and the other striving by every means in her power
to lessen the distance between the two. Captain O'Brien kept a close
lookout with his glass, and finally uttered an exclamation indicative of
surprise and joy.
"Captain Moore knows that the jig is nearly up," said he, passing his
glass to one of his men. "He is going to cut away his boats."
Another cheer broke out from the men who heard this, but they kept watch
of the schooner, and very shortly saw, one of her boats fall into the
sea. Another and another followed it, until four boats, which were just
so much dead weight on the schooner, were following in her wake behind
her. Up to this time the sloop had gained half a mile, but before she
had gained a mile, Captain O'Brien, who had the glass again, told his
men something else.
"They are going to shoot," said he. "All you men forward lie down."
This was what the captain was afraid of. The schooner could bring one
gun to bear upon her, and if she kept up the shooting long enough, she
might hit the sloop's mast and that would end the chase in a hurry. But
the schooner did not shoot right away. She wanted to be sure that her
pursuer was in good range before she expended a shot upon her, and so
beyond training the gun the crew stood about awaiting the order from the
captain to fire.
"He is going to make sure work of us when he does shoot," remarked Zeke,
as he looked up at the sails to see that they were kept full. "I wish he
would go a little bit faster--Hal--lo! That's in our favor."
While Zeke was talking there came a sudden gust of wind, stronger than
any that had preceded it, and the schooner's main-topsail went by the
board. Of course that did away with two sails, the main gaff-topsail and
the main trysail, and her speed was lessened materially. The sloop began
to gain at once, and while a portion of the schooner's crew went aloft
to clear away the wreck, the rest gathered about the gun and seemed
disposed to risk a shot at the sloop.
"Lie down forward!" said Captain O'Brien, sharply. "You don't obey
orders any better than a merchantman's crew. Some of you will have your
heads blown off directly."
Some of the company obeyed and some did not; but the moment there was a
puff of smoke from the schooner's stern they laid themselves out flat on
deck.
"It is no use telling us to lie down for such shooting as that," said
one of the crew, raising himself on his knees and looking aft to see
where the shell exploded. "I would stand in front of a barn door and let
them shoot at me all day."
"They have not got the range yet," said Captain O'Brien. "And besides
they want to scare us."
"There is some men in this party who don't scare," replied Zeke, trying
to crowd his vessel a little more.
"I know that. I should be sorry to think that any of us would scare; but
they will get the range pretty soon, and you will see blood on this
deck."
Shot after shot continued to pour upon the sloop from the stern gun of
the schooner, and every one exploded nearer her than the preceding one.
Finally a shot passed through her mainsail, leaving a big rent behind
it, and before the crew had fairly comprehended it, another came,
passed through the port rail and exploded just as it got on deck. What a
moment that was for Enoch! He lay right where he could see the effect of
the shell, and two of the men jumped to their feet, gasped for a moment
or two and then fell prostrate back again, and one other man set up a
shriek.
"I have got it, boys, and we have not got a doctor aboard," said he, in
a voice that sounded as though there were tears behind it. "Now what am
I going to do?"
"Hold your jaw for one thing," said another, sitting up and beginning to
pull up his overalls. "Do you think there is no body hurt but yourself?
Look at that."
This man was much more to be pitied than the other one, for a piece of
shell had cut his calf entirely away; while the one that made so much
fuss about it had simply a crease on the top of his head. The second one
made all haste to get below, while the other accepted some pieces of the
shirt which Captain O'Brien speedily took off for him and coolly
proceeded to tie up his wound.
"Say, Cap, I can stop that fellow shooting that gun," said one of the
crew. "I can take his head off easy enough."
"Take it off then," said the captain.
All became silent expectation as the sailor crept up to a convenient
place behind the bulwarks, rested his long flint-lock over it and drew a
bead on several men who were working about the gun on the schooner's
deck. One man was engaged in swabbing out the gun. He had run the swab
in, took it out and was rapping it on the edge of a bucket to get off
any particles of fire that might adhere to it, when the flint-lock
spoke. The man stood for an instant as if overcome with astonishment,
then dropped his swab, threw his arms over his head and sank out of
sight.
"I did it, Cap, didn't I?" shouted the sailor, who, like all the rest,
was surprised at the accuracy of his discharge.
Enoch was greatly excited at the outcome of this shot, so much so that
he got upon his feet. He told himself that if one flint-lock would
strike a man at that distance another might do it, too, and when the man
fell he ran forward and knelt beside the sailor who had performed such a
wonderful exploit.