The first faint pallor of the coming dawn was insidiously extending
along the horizon ahead as H.M. gun-brig _Shark_--the latest addition to
the slave-squadron--slowly surged ahead over the almost oil-smooth sea,
under the influence of a languid air breathing out from the south-east.
She was heading in for the mouth of the Congo, which was about forty
miles distant, according to the master's reckoning.
The night had been somewhat squally, and the royals and topgallant-sails
were stowed; but the weather was now clearing, and as "three bells"
chimed out musically upon the clammy morning air, Mr Seaton, the first
lieutenant, who was the officer of the watch, having first scanned the
heavens attentively, gave orders to loose and set again the light upper
canvas.
By the time that the men aloft had cast off the gaskets that confined
the topgallant-sails to the yards, the dawn--which comes with startling
rapidity in those latitudes--had risen high into the sky ahead, and
spread well along the horizon to north and south, causing the stars to
fade and disappear, one after another, until only a few of the brightest
remained twinkling low down in the west.
As I wheeled at the stern-grating in my monotonous promenade of the lee
side of the quarter-deck, a hail came down from aloft--
"Sail ho! two of 'em, sir, broad on the lee beam. Look as if they were
standin' out from the land."
"What are they like? Can you make out their rig?" demanded the first
luff, as he halted and directed his gaze aloft at the man on the main-
royal-yard, who, half-way out to the yard-arm, was balancing himself
upon the foot-rope, and steadying himself with one hand upon the yard as
he gazed away to leeward under the shade of the other.
"I can't make out very much, sir," replied the man. "They're too far
off; but one looks like a schooner, and t'other like a brig."
"And they are heading out from the land, you say?" demanded the
lieutenant.
"Looks like it, sir," answered the man; "but, as I was sayin', they're a
long way off; and it's a bit thick down to leeward there, so--"
"All right, never mind; cast off those gaskets and come down,"
interrupted Mr Seaton impatiently. Then, turning to me, he said:
"Mr Grenvile, take the glass and lay aloft, if you please, and see what
you can make of those strangers. Mr Keene"--to the other midshipman of
the watch--"slip down below and call the captain, if you please. Tell
him that two strange sail have been sighted from aloft, apparently
coming out from the Congo."
By the time he had finished speaking I had snatched the glass from its
beckets, and was half-way up the weather main rigging, while the watch
was sheeting home and hoisting away the topgallant-sails and royals.
When Keene reappeared on deck, after calling the skipper, I was
comfortably astride the royal-yard, with my left arm round the spindle
of the vane--the yard hoisting close up under the truck. With my right
hand I manipulated the slide of the telescope and adjusted the focus of
the instrument to suit my sight.
By this time the dawn had entirely overspread the firmament, and the sky
had lost its pallor and was all aglow with richest amber, through which
a long shaft of pale golden light, soaring straight up toward the
zenith, heralded the rising of the sun. The thickness to leeward had by
this time cleared away, and the two strange sail down there were now
clearly visible, the one as a topsail schooner, and the other as a brig.
They were a long way off, the topsails of the brig--which was leading--
being just clear of the horizon from my elevated point of observation,
while the head of the schooner's topsail just showed clear of the sea.
The brig I took to be a craft of about our own size, say some three
hundred tons, while the schooner appeared to be about two hundred tons.
I had just ascertained these particulars when the voice of the skipper
came pealing up to me from the stern-grating, near which he stood, with
Mr Seaton alongside of him.
"Well, Mr Grenvile, what do you make of them?"
I replied, giving such information as I had been able to gather; and
added: "They appear to be sailing in company, sir."
"Thank you, that will do; you may come down," answered the skipper.
Then, as I swung myself off the yard, I heard the lieutenant give the
order to bear up in chase, to rig out the port studding-sail booms, and
to see all clear for setting the port studding-sails--or stu'n'sails, as
they are more commonly called. I had reached the cross-trees, on my way
down, when Captain Bentinck again hailed me.
"Aloft there! just stay where you are for a little while, Mr Grenvile,
and keep your eye on those sail to leeward. And if you observe any
alteration in the course that they are steering, report the fact to me
at once."
"Ay, ay, sir!" I answered, and settled myself down comfortably for what
I anticipated might be a fairly long wait.
For a few minutes all was now bustle and confusion below and about me;
the helm was put up and the ship wore short round, the yards were swung,
and then several hands came aloft to reeve the gear, rig out the booms,
and set the larboard studding-sails, from the royals down. We rather
prided ourselves upon being a smart ship, and in less than five minutes
from the moment the order was given we were sliding away upon our new
course, at a speed of some five and a half knots, with all our studding-
sails set on the port side, and all ropes neatly coiled down once more.
But ere this had happened I had returned to my former post on the main-
royal-yard, for I quickly discovered that the shift of helm had caused
the head-sails to interpose themselves between me and the objects which
it was my duty to watch, and this was to be remedied only by returning
to the royal-mast-head.
The skipper, in setting the new course, had displayed what commended
itself to me as sound judgment. We were at such a distance from the
strangers of whom we were now in chase that even our most lofty canvas
was--and would, for some little time longer, remain--invisible from
their decks. This was highly desirable, since the nearer we could
approach them without being discovered, the better would be our chance
of ultimately getting alongside them. The only likelihood of a
premature discovery of our proximity lay in the possible necessity, on
the part of one or the other of them, to send a hand aloft; but this we
could not guard against. Captain Bentinck, therefore, hoping that _no_
such necessity would arise, had shaped a course not directly for them,
but at an intercepting angle to their own course, by which means he
hoped not only to hold way with them, but also to lessen very
considerably the distance between them and ourselves before the sight of
our canvas, rising above the horizon, would reveal our unwelcome
presence to the two slavers, as we believed the strange craft to be. It
was also of the utmost importance that we should have instant knowledge
of their discovery of our presence in their neighbourhood, and of the
action that they would thereupon take; hence the necessity for my
remaining aloft to maintain a steady and careful watch upon their
movements.
I had been anticipating--and, indeed, hoping--that my sojourn aloft
would be a lengthy one, for I knew that, so long as the strangers
continued to steer their original course, it would mean that they
remained in ignorance of our proximity to them. But this was not to be,
for I had but regained my original position on the royal-yard some ten
minutes, when, as I kept the telescope steadily fixed upon them, I saw
the brig bear up and run off square before the wind. The schooner
promptly followed her example, and both of them immediately proceeded to
rig out studding-sail booms on both sides.
"Deck ahoy!" hailed I. "The two strange sail to leeward have this
instant put up their helms, and are running square off before the wind;
they are also rigging out their studding-sail booms on both sides."
"Thank you, Mr Grenvile," replied the skipper. "How do they bear from
us now?"
"About four points before the beam, sir," answered I.
"Very good. Stay where you are a minute or two longer, for I am about
to bear up in chase, and I want you to tell me when they are directly
ahead of us," ordered the skipper.
"Ay, ay, sir!" shouted I, giving the stereotyped answer to every order
issued on board ship; and the next instant all was bustle and activity
below me, as the helm was put up and preparations were made to set our
studding-sails on the starboard side. As I glanced down on deck I saw
the captain step to the binnacle, apparently watching the motion of the
compass-card as the ship paid off, so I at once directed my gaze toward
the strangers, and the moment they were brought in line with the fore-
royal-mast-head I sang out:
"Steady as you go, sir; the strangers are now dead ahead of us!"
"Thank you, Mr Grenvile; you may come down now," replied the captain.
And as I swung off the yard I saw the skipper and the first lieutenant,
with their heads together over the binnacle, talking earnestly.
Meanwhile the wind, scant as it was, seemed inclined to become more
scanty still, until at length, by "six bells"--that is to say, seven
o'clock--our courses were drooping motionless from the yards, the
maintop-sail was wrinkling ominously, with an occasional flap to the
mast as the brig hove lazily over the long low undulations of the
swell--and only the light upper canvas continued to draw, the ship's
speed having declined to a bare two knots, which gave us little more
than mere steerage way. And loud was the grumbling, fore and aft, when,
a little later, as the hands were piped to breakfast, the breeze died
away altogether, and the _Shark_, being no longer under the control of
her helm, proceeded to "box the compass"--that is to say, to swing first
this way and then that, with the send of the swell. Our only
consolation was that the strangers to leeward were in the same awkward
fix as ourselves; for if we had no wind wherewith to pursue them, they,
in their turn, had none wherewith to run away from us.
Nobody dawdled very long over breakfast that morning; for, in the first
place, the heat below was simply unbearable, and, in the next, we were
all far too anxious to allow of our remaining in our berths while we
knew that every conceivable expedient would be adopted by the captain to
shorten the distance between us and the chase. It was my watch below
from eight o'clock until noon, and I was consequently off duty; but
although I had been on deck for eight hours of the twelve during the
preceding night, I was much too fidgety to turn in and endeavour to get
a little sleep; I therefore routed out a small pocket sextant that had
been presented to me by a friend, and, making my way up into the fore-
topmast cross-trees--from which the strangers could be seen--I very
carefully measured with the instrument the angle subtended by the mast-
head of the brig and the horizon, so that I might be able to ascertain
from time to time whether or not that craft was increasing the distance
between her and ourselves. I decided to measure this angle every half-
hour; and, having made my first and second observations without
discovering any appreciable difference between them, I employed the
interval in looking about me, and watching the movements of two large
sharks which were dodging off and on close alongside the ship, and which
were clearly visible from my post of observation. At length, as "three
bells"--half-past nine-o'clock--struck, I cast a glance all round the
ship before again measuring my angle, when, away down in the south-
eastern quarter, I caught a glimpse of very pale blue stretching along
the horizon that elsewhere was indistinguishable owing to the glassy
calm of the ocean's surface.
"Deck ahoy!" shouted I; "there is a small air of wind creeping up out of
the south-eastern quarter."
"Thank you, Mr Grenvile," replied the captain, who was engaged in
conversation with Mr Fawcett, the officer of the watch. "Is it coming
along pretty fast?" he continued.