"CHOPPEE FOR CHANGEE--A BLACK DOG FOR A BLUE MONKEY."
By the time that the _Aurora's_ crew were on deck, crouching behind the
bulwarks aft on the port side, armed, and instructed by George as to
what he required of them, the strange sail was within a dozen fathoms of
the _Aurora's_ port quarter.
She could now be seen with tolerable distinctness, the outline of the
hull and of the lofty canvas showing black as ebony against the dark
background of sea and sky; and any doubts which Captain Leicester might
have still entertained concerning her, were completely set at rest as he
glanced at the cut of her canvas. It was French all over.
Foot by foot the brig--for such she was--crept up to the _Aurora_, until
her bows were in a line with the barque's stern and not more than twenty
feet distant. George stood by the main-rigging, watching her, cutlass
in hand, calm and determined, his plans already formed for action in the
event of his suspicions proving correct.
In the ordinary course of things the two craft were now quite near
enough to each other for any communication, however confidential in its
nature, to be made without the possibility of its being overheard; but,
though George could see that a figure stood on the brig's rail by the
main-rigging, not a word was uttered.
Keeping his gaze steadfastly fixed upon the brig, Captain Leicester saw
that her helm had suddenly been ported, for she was sheering strongly in
toward his own vessel.
"Brig ahoy!" he hailed. "What is it you have to say to me? Do not come
too close, sir, or you will be into us."
"Never fear," answered in perfect English the dark figure on board the
brig, "we will not carry away so much as a rope-yarn belonging to you.
But I must be on board you before I can venture to give you your
instructions."
"Oh! very well," said George. "If you intend boarding us, you had
better do so by way of our fore-rigging, or you may get a nasty fall; we
are very much littered up here abaft with spars and so on."
"Ah, thank you very much; I will take your advice," was the reply.
George saw the man motion with his arm, and the brig's course was
altered sufficiently to put her alongside with her gangway even with the
_Aurora's_ fore-mast. Another second or two, and the ships gently
jarred together, the brig's quarter dropping alongside the barque at the
same moment.
"_Enfans, allons-nous-en_!" exclaimed the voice of the stranger forward,
followed by the sound of a leap on to the barque's deck, and a scramble
among the spars which littered it there.
"Now is your time, lads; jump for your lives!" exclaimed George in a
low, excited tone; and, setting his men the example, he forthwith sprang
from his own ship's bulwarks to those of the brig; and dashing at the
helmsman, cut him down with his cutlass before the fellow could recover
sufficiently from his astonishment to utter a cry. Then, without a
moment's pause, he seized the wheel and exerting all his strength, sent
it with a single twirl spinning hard over to starboard, where he lashed
it.
The shock of collision, slight as it was, caused the two vessels to
recoil from each other, and they were barely alongside when they
separated again; George's manipulation of the brig's wheel, and a
similar manipulation of the _Aurora's_ helm at the last moment before
the touching of the two vessels, greatly expediting the separation. By
the time, therefore, that George had looked about him, and satisfied
himself that the whole of his crew were safely with him on the brig's
deck, the two vessels were a dozen feet apart and increasing their
distance every second; their bows diverging from each other at almost a
right angle.
The Frenchmen, on boarding the _Aurora_, divided into two parties, one
of which rushed forward to secure the crew, while the other made a
similar rush aft, for the purpose of overpowering the officers and
helmsman. In their astonishment and perplexity at finding the decks
deserted, they paused for a moment irresolutely, then hurriedly searched
the cabin and forecastle, only to find that the ship was utterly
deserted. Then, for the first time, a glimmering of the truth presented
itself to the mind of the French leader, and his suspicions were
instantly confirmed; for Captain Leicester, having at that moment
rallied his crew, led them forward, and, finding that, as he had
expected, the Frenchmen had boarded the _Aurora_ with all their
available strength, leaving only some five-and-twenty men on board the
brig to handle her, he, after a short, sharp tussle, drove these men
below and secured complete possession of the brig.
The party on board the _Aurora_ distinctly heard the sounds of the
conflict, and waited in breathless expectancy for its termination. They
had not long to wait; in little over a couple of minutes Captain
Leicester's voice was heard giving the order to shift the helm--the brig
having in the meantime gone round until she was head to wind with her
canvas flat aback--and to trim over the head-sheets. Then a chorus of
curses, both loud and deep, from the deck of the _Aurora_, proclaimed
the chagrin of the Frenchmen on board her at the--to them--extraordinary
and unforeseen result of the adventure.
But their captain was a man of indomitable pluck, energy, and readiness
of resource, and by no means given to a tame and immediate acceptance of
defeat. He realised the situation in a moment, and, determining to make
the best of a bad bargain, promptly ordered sail to be crowded upon the
_Aurora_, in the hope of effecting his escape. The night being dark,
however, and his men new to the ship, the work went on but slowly; and
by the time that the topgallantsails were sheeted home, his own brig was
once more alongside, with two red lights hoisted to her gaff-end (the
alarm-signal), her ports open, guns run out, and the men standing by
them ready to open fire.