"Give her the starboard bow gun, Mr Saunders," cried the captain.
The gun being trained as far forward as possible, we yawed slightly to port. We watched the shot as it flew across the water. It was well aimed, for it struck the counter of the chase; but its force must have been nearly expended, for it fell back into the sea.
All the sails of the chase were now drawing, and away she went before the wind.
"She may still lead us a long dance, unless we can knock away some of her spars," observed Nettleship. "She"s evidently a fast craft, or her commander would not attempt to escape. We are, however, as yet gaining on her; and, if we can once get her under our broadside, we shall soon bring down her colours."
While he was speaking, another shot was fired from the Frenchman"s stern. Ricochetting over the surface, it pa.s.sed close to our side.
After this she continued firing shot after shot. Two went through our canvas, others missed us. At last one came on board, and carried off a man"s head.
Captain Macnamara, anxious to get up to her, would not lose way by again yawing to fire; and we had to receive her shot without returning the compliment.
"It"s very annoying to be bothered by a small craft like that," said Tom. "However, we"ll pay her off when we do get up with her."
Fast as she was, our wider spread of canvas enabled us before long to bring our foremost guns to bear. They were fired in rapid succession.
The first discharge produced no apparent damage; but at the second, down came her mizen-yard. On seeing this, our crew cheered l.u.s.tily, and our guns were quickly run in and reloaded. The enemy, however, showed no intention of striking.
Just as we were again about to fire, putting her helm to starboard, she brought the whole of her larboard broadside to bear on us, and a dozen round shot came crashing aboard the frigate.
Three of our men fell, and several others were wounded, mostly by the splinters which flew about the deck. None of our spars, however, were shot away.
Before she could again keep before the wind the whole of our starboard broadside was poured into her. It was better aimed even than hers. The sound of the shrieks and cries rising from her deck told us of its fearful effects. Still her colours were flying.
Again keeping before the wind, she stood on, blazing away at us from two long guns in her stern. The loss of her mizen told on her sailing.
Slowly but surely we got nearer and nearer.
"Shall we not soon be up with her?" I asked Nettleship; for it was trying work to be peppered at without being able to return more than a single shot occasionally.
"As surely as the sun sets and rises again, unless she knocks away one of our masts, or brings down our main or fore-yard; and then it"s possible that she may get off after all."
"I made sure we should have her before many minutes were over," I observed.
I remarked the eager countenances of the men as they stood at their guns, expecting every moment the order to fire. It came at last. Once more we kept away.
"Give it them now!" cried the captain, and every gun sent forth a sheet of flame.
Our shot told with fearful effect on the enemy"s deck. There seemed to be confusion on board, and then a man was seen to spring aft, and down came the colours.
A cheer rose from our men at the sight. We stood on, however, till we were close enough to hail, when the captain ordered through the speaking-trumpet the Frenchman to heave to, threatening to fire another broadside if he failed to do so. The order was obeyed; and we also having hove-to, a boat was lowered to send on board and take possession.
Mr Bramston went in her, and I accompanied him.
On reaching the deck of the prize, a glance showed me the fearful damage our guns had produced. In all directions lay numbers of dead seamen, the deck slippery with gore. The bulwarks were shattered, two of the boats knocked to pieces, and the ship was otherwise severely damaged.
A lieutenant stepped up to us.
"My captain lies there," he said, and he pointed to a body concealed beneath a flag; "another of my brother officers is killed, the rest are wounded, and I alone am unhurt."
Mr Bramston complimented him on his bravery, and told him to prepare for going on board the frigate.
Meantime other boats came alongside and removed the crew of the prize, which proved to be the _Soleil_ carrying eighteen guns and six carronades, with a crew of one hundred and eighty men, upwards of thirty of whom were killed or wounded.
Mr Bramston sent me back with this information. The captain at once decided to remove the prisoners, and send the prize to Port Royal.
As no time was to be lost, the boats were lowered, and the prisoners soon brought on board.
The captain at once sent for Nettleship, Tom, and me.
"I intend to send you in charge of the prize, Mr Nettleship," he said, "and these two youngsters can accompany you. Fifteen men are all I can spare you, so you must make the most of them. All the prisoners will be removed, with the exception of about a dozen, who may volunteer to a.s.sist in working the ship, so that you"ll easily look after them."
"Thank you, sir, for the confidence you place in me," said Nettleship, who would gladly have accepted the command, even if he had had but half a dozen men.
Tom and I promised to do our best, and hurried below to get our traps ready.
I took care to apply for Larry, and to remind him to bring his riddle with him, but I didn"t hear what other men were selected to form the prize crew. Ten of the Frenchmen only could be induced to promise their a.s.sistance. Tom and I, without loss of time, accompanied Nettleship on board. As soon as the dead were put overboard, the decks washed down, and the damages the prize had received were repaired, the men who had come from the frigate to a.s.sist us returned to her. She stood to the southward, and we made sail for Port Royal. Among the first men on whom my eyes fell was Dan Hoolan, looking as sulky and morose as ever, though he was going about his work with more activity than he generally displayed. As I caught sight of the rest of the crew, I found that three more of the Irishmen pressed with him were among them.
"I hope that by this time they are content with their lot, and will do their duty like men," I thought to myself; "still I would rather have had any others."
"We are terribly short-handed, I must confess," said Nettleship, as he and I were seated at dinner in the captain"s cabin, while Tom Pim was acting as officer of the watch. "I know I can trust you two fellows, however, and we must make the most of the men we"ve got. There are many of them about the worst on board; but if we have fine weather, they won"t have much to do, and we may hope not to catch a Tartar on the way.
We must take to our heels if we see a suspicious stranger, and the _Soleil_ appears to have a fast pair, at all events, so we may hope to escape. Though I would rather be in a condition to fight than have to run away."
"The Frenchmen only promised to a.s.sist in navigating the ship. We mustn"t trust them to man the guns," I said.
"We"ll see what our own men can do without them, then," said Nettleship in a cheery tone.
We hurried over our dinner to let Tom come down and take his, while Nettleship and I went on deck. The weather looked favourable, and Nettleship was in high spirits at finding himself in command of a fine ship. Should he take her to Port Royal in safety, he might reasonably expect to obtain his long waited-for promotion. Although the majority of the men sent with us were the least reliable of the crew, we had an old quartermaster, Ben Nash, and three other seamen, who were first-rate hands, and we took care to put two of them into each watch. Of course there was plenty of work to do in getting the ship to rights. As soon as the men knocked off we heard Larry"s riddle going. Stepping forward, I found that he had set all the Frenchmen dancing, and some of our own men, too, who were enjoying themselves to their hearts" content. "Larry will take good care to keep the people in good temper," I thought to myself, as I turned aft.
When night came on, Nettleship thought it prudent to shorten sail, as is the custom of careful merchant skippers, who can"t perform that operation in a hurry. We lost nothing by so doing, as for some hours it was a stark calm. Tom and Ben Nash were in one watch, Nettleship and I in another. Night pa.s.sed quickly away. Towards morning we got a breeze, and were once more standing on our course. We kept a bright look-out, not, as we should have liked, to watch for a prize, but to run away should a suspicious sail be sighted. We kept no colours flying, for should a Frenchman see us, we might have a better chance of avoiding an encounter. At daylight, as we had a fair breeze, all sail was again set, and we stood gaily on our course.
"If this weather holds, we shall be safe at anchor in a couple of days in Port Royal," said Nettleship.
"A sail ahead!" shouted the look-out, from aloft.
"We must continue on our course till we see what she is," said Nettleship.
Tom Pim, who went aloft to have a look at her, on his return said that she was a brig, standing to the westward, but too far off at the time to judge of her size. She appeared to be almost becalmed, while we, carrying the breeze along with us, rapidly neared her. At length we could see her clearly from the deck.
"She has hoisted her colours," observed Nettleship. "Though from the cut of her canvas she"s English, as far as I can make out, her flag is French."
We had not yet hoisted our colours; indeed, as we were standing, the Frenchman could not have seen them even if we had.
"There"s no doubt about the flag," observed Tom, who had taken the gla.s.s; "that is French, though she"s an English merchantman, if I ever saw one. The people on board her recognise this ship as one of their own cruisers, and take us for a friend."
"I believe you"re right, Tom," said Nettleship, "and we"ll not undeceive them."
The stranger, having now got a breeze, hove-to, apparently wishing to speak us. We had to luff up a little to reach her.
"Hoist the French ensign," said Nettleship to me; and I ran it up to the peak.
As we got nearer it became necessary to shorten sail, that we might lower a boat to send on board and take possession, should it be found that the brig had been captured by the French. Whether or not it was from the slow way in which we performed the operation, the suspicions of the Frenchmen were aroused, and putting up their helm, they filled their sails and ran off before the wind. We immediately let fall our courses, and hauling down the French flag and hoisting the English, stood away in chase.