CHAPTER XXII.
THE SEA FIGHT.
When Jake entered the camp it was fairly light, and as Sam looked athim he caught a glimpse of the file of soldiers in the thicket, threeor four hundred yards away.
He knew what it meant.
"We're about to leave this place, Jake," said Sam, as the boys stowedthe last of their things in the boat, "we're about to leave thisplace, and you're just in time. Get in."
"Well, but where--" began the culprit.
"Get in," interrupted Sam, who stood with one of the rifles in hishands.
Jake hesitated, and was indeed upon the point of running away, whenSam, placing the muzzle of his gun almost against Jake's breast,said:--
"Get into the boat instantly, or I'll let daylight through you, sir."
There was no help for it, and Jake obeyed.
Sam quickly cast the boat loose, and as he did so, the Lieutenantdiscovered his purpose, and started his men at a full run toward thecamp.
Sam pushed the boat off and, taking his place in the stern, took thehelm.
"Hoist the sail, quick!" he said; and the sail went up in a moment. Astrong breeze was blowing and the sail quickly bellied in the wind.
"Lie down, every man of you," cried Sam, but without setting theexample. A moment later a shower of bullets whistled around his ears.He had seen that the soldiers were about to fire upon him, and hadordered his companions to lie down, confident that the thick solidsides of the boat would pretty effectually protect them.
As for himself, he must take the chances and navigate his boat. Thesoldiers were not move than fifty yards from him when they fired butluckily they failed to hit him.
"Now for a run!" he exclaimed. "Before they can load again, I'll beout of range, or pretty nearly."
The breeze was very fresh, almost high, and as the boat got out fromunder the lee of the shore timber, she heeled over upon one side, andsped rapidly through the water. The Lieutenant made his men fireagain, but the distance was now so great that their bullets flew wideof the mark.
"We're off boys at last. Look out for Jake Elliott and don't let himjump overboard, or he'll swim ashore. He is a prisoner."
"Is he? what for?" asked Billy Bowlegs.
"For betraying us to the British."
At this moment a boat pushed out from the dock at the fort, and SidRussell, who was Sam's most efficient lieutenant, and was scanning thewhole bay for indications of pursuit, cried:
"There goes a row boat out from the fort, Sam, an' they's soldiers onboard 'n her. I see their guns."
"Arm yourselves, boys," was Sam's reply. "I want to say a word first.Jake Elliott has betrayed us to these people, and they are trying toarrest us. If they catch us, we shall be treated as spies; that is tosay, we shall be hanged to the most convenient tree. I believe we'reall the sons of brave men, and ready to die, if we must, but I, forone, don't mean to die like a dog, and for that reason I'll never betaken alive."
"Nor me," "nor me," "nor me," answered the boys, neglectful ofgrammar, but very much in earnest.
"Very well, then," replied Sam. "It is understood that we're not goingto surrender, whatever happens."
"It's agreed," answered every boy there except the wretched prisoner,who was no longer counted one of them.
"That boat has no sail," said Sam, "and she's got half a mile to rowthrough rough water before she crosses our track half a mile ahead. Ithink I can give her the slip. If I can't we'll fight it out, righthere in the boat. Now, then, one cheer for the American flag!" and ashe said it, Sam drew forth a little flag which he had carried in allhis wanderings, for use if he should need it, and ran it up to hismast head by a rude halyard which he had arranged in anticipation ofsome such adventure as this.
The boys gave the cheer from the bottom of their broad chests, andevery one took the place which Sam assigned him, with gun in hand.Meantime Sam tacked the boat in such a way as to throw the point ofmeeting between her and the British boat as far from the fort aspossible. It was very doubtful whether he could pass that point beforethe row boat, propelled by six oars in the hands of skilled oarsmen,should reach it. If not, there remained only the alternative of"fighting it out."
"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only sixarmed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale.You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim,and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives.Above all, keep perfectly cool. We've work to do that needs coolnessas well as determination."
The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Samsaw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, hethought.
"We'll beat them, boys," he said. "The sea is rough, and they can'tdo much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close tous." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, afterthe manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The twoboats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water,on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volleyineffective.
"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam.
"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation.
"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip bynow while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to theblack boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot,we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making thedistance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home withthem. Hurrah!"
It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam'sboat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. TheBritish soldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and thencheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill andcourage with which their young adversary had eluded them.
Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and hercommander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a lightboat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, withoutvery clearly understanding the situation or its meaning.
Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant whatit meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he haddone by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost inhis track.
"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's nochance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fairfight, or get whipped. Keep your wits about you, and listen fororders. Cover your gun pans to keep your priming dry. Here, Tom, takethe tiller. I must go to the bow."
Tom took the helm, and as he did so Sam said to him:--
"Keep straight ahead till I give you orders to change your course, andthen do it instantly, no matter what happens. I've an idea that I knowhow to manage this affair now. You have only to listen for orders, andobey them promptly."
"I'll do what you order, no matter what it is," said Tom, and Sam wentat once to the bow of his boat.
His boys were crouching down on their knees to keep themselves assteady as they could, and their guns, which they were protecting fromthe rain, were not visible to the men in the other boat, who wereastonished to find that they had, as they supposed, only to arrest aboat's crew of unarmed boys.
The boats were now within a stone's throw of each other, the Englishboat lying a little to the left of Sam's track, but the officer incommand of it, supposing that the party would surrender at the word ofcommand, ordered his men not to open fire.
"They's a mighty heap on 'em for sich a little boat," whispered SidRussell.
"So much the better," said Sam. "They're badly crowded."
Then, turning to his companions, he said:--
"Lie down, quick, they'll fire in a moment."
The boys could see no indication of any such purpose on the part ofthe British marines, but Sam knew what he was about and he knew thathis next order to his boys would draw a volley upon them.
Turning to Tom, and straightening hims
elf up to his full height, whilethe British officer was loudly calling to him to lie to and surrender,Sam cried out:
"Jam your helm down to larboard, Tom, quick and hard, and ram her into'em!"
Tom was on the point of hesitating, but remembering Sam's previousinjunction and his own promise, he did as he was ordered, suddenlychanging the boat's course and running her directly toward the Britishrow boat, which was now not a dozen yards away. The speed at which shewas going was fearful. The British, seeing the manoeuvre, fired, butwildly, and the next moment Sam's great solid hulk of a boat struckthe British craft amidships, crushed in her sides, cut her in two, andliterally ran over her.
"Now, bring her back to the wind," cried Sam, "and hold your course."
The boat swung around and was flying before the wind again in asecond. Boats were rapidly lowered from the war ship to rescue thestruggling marines from the water into which Sam had sounceremoniously thrown them.
"Three cheers for our naval victory, and three more for ourcommodore!" called out Billy Bowlegs, and the response came quickly.
"It's too soon to cheer," said Sam. "We're not out of the scrape yet."
The next moment a puff of smoke showed itself on the side of the warship and a shower of grape shot whizzed angrily around the boat. Asecond and a third discharge followed, and then came solid shot,sixty-four pounders, howling like demons over the boys' heads, andplowing the water all around them. Their speed quickly took them outof range, however, and the firing ceased.
They now had time to look about them and estimate damages. None of thesolid shot had taken effect, but three of the grape shot had struckthe boat, greatly marring her beauty, but doing her no serious damage.
"Are any of you hurt?" asked Sam. All the boys reported themselveswell.
"Then make a place for me in the middle of the boat, where I can liedown," replied Sam, "I'm wounded."
"Where?"
"How?"
"Not badly, I hope, Sam?" the boys answered quickly.
"I'm hurt in two places. They shot me as we ran over that boat," saidSam, "but not very badly, I think. I'm faint, however," and as he laydown in the boat he lost consciousness.