Chapter 10: A Cruise In A Privateer.
Bob was on board the Antelope a quarter of an hour before gunfire.No movement was made until after sunset, for some of the gunboatsover at Algeciras might have put out, had they seen anypreparations for making sail; but as soon as it became dark theanchor was hove, the sails dropped and sheeted home, and the brigbegan to move slowly through the water. As she breasted EuropaPoint, her course was altered to east by north, and the Rock fadedfrom sight in the darkness.
The first mate was on watch, and Bob walked up and down the deckwith him.
"There is no occasion for you to keep up," Joe Lockett said. "Youmay just as well turn."
"Oh no, I mean to keep the watch with you!" Bob said. "The captainsaid that I was to be in your watch, and I want you to treat mejust the same way as if I were a midshipman under you."
"Well, if you were a midshipman, there wouldn't be anything for youto do, now: still, if you like to keep up, of course you can do so.I shall be glad of your company, and you will help keep a sharplookout for ships."
"There is no chance of our coming across any Spanish traderstonight, I suppose, Joe?"
"Not in the least. They would keep a deal farther out than weshall, if they were bound either for Algeciras or through theStraits. We are not likely to meet anything, till we get nearMalaga. After that, of course, we shall be in the line of coasters.There are Almeria, and Cartagena, and Alicante, and a score ofsmall ports between Alicante and Valencia."
"We don't seem to be going through the water very fast, Joe."
"No, not more than two or two and a half knots an hour. However, weare in no hurry. With a light wind like this, we don't want to gettoo close to the shore, or we might have some of their gunboatscoming out after us. I expect that in the morning, if the windholds light, the captain will take in our upper sails, and justdrift along. Then, after it gets dark, he will clap on everything;and run in so as to strike the coast a few miles above Malaga. Thenwe will take in sail, and anchor as close in as we dare. Anythingcoming along, then, will take us for a craft that has come out fromMalaga."
At midnight the second mate, whose name was Crofts, came up torelieve watch; and Bob, who was beginning to feel very sleepy, wasby no means sorry to turn in. It hardly seemed to him that he hadclosed an eye, when he was aroused by a knocking at the cabin door.
"It's two bells, sir, and Mr. Lockett says you are to turn out."
Bob hurried on his things and went up, knowing that he was an hourlate.
"I thought you wanted to keep watch, Bob. You ought to have been ondeck at eight bells."
"So I should have been, if I had been woke," Bob said, indignantly."I am not accustomed to wake up, just after I go to sleep. Itdoesn't seem to me that I have been in bed five minutes. If youwake me, tomorrow morning, you will see I will be up, sharp enough.
"There is hardly any wind."
"No, we have been only crawling along all night. There is Gib, yousee, behind us."
"Why, it doesn't look ten miles off," Bob said, in surprise.
"It is twice that. It is two or three and twenty, I should say.
"Now, the best thing you can do is to go down to the waist, slipoff your togs, and have a few buckets of water poured over you.That will wake you up, and you will feel ever so much morecomfortable, afterwards. I have just told the steward to make us acouple of cups of coffee. They will be ready by the time you havehad your wash."
Bob followed the advice and, after a bath, a cup of coffee, and abiscuit, he no longer felt the effects from the shortness of thenight. The sun had already risen, and there was not a cloud uponthe sky.
"What are those, over there?" he asked, pointing to the southeast."They look like sails."
"They are sails. They are the upper sails of the Spanish fleet. Iexpect they are trying to work back into the bay again, but theywon't do it, unless they get more wind. You see, I have taken thetopgallant sails off the brig, so as not to be seen.
"There is the Spanish coast, you see, twelve or fourteen milesaway, to port. If you like, you can take the glass and go up intothe maintop, and see if you can make anything out on shore."
Bob came down in half an hour.
"There are some fishing boats," he said, "at least, they look likefishing boats, close inshore, just abreast of us."
"Yes, there are two or three little rivers on this side of Malaga.There is not water in them for craft of any size, but the fishingboats use them. There is a heavy swell sets in here, when the windis from the east with a bit south in it, and they run up there forshelter."
Captain Lockett now came up on deck.
"Good morning, Bob! I did not see you here, when watch waschanged."
"No, sir, I wasn't woke; but I mean to be up another morning."
"That is right, Bob. Joe and I agreed to give you an extra hour,this morning. Four hours are very short measure, to one who is notaccustomed to it; but you will soon find that you can turn in andget a sleep, when your watch is over, whatever the time of day."
"It seems to me that this watch has the worst of it, CaptainLockett. We had from eight to twelve, and now from four to eight;and the other had only four hours on deck."
"Yours is considered the best watch, Bob. The middle watch, as theone that comes on at twelve o'clock is called, is always the mostdisliked. You see, at eight bells you go off and have yourbreakfast comfortably, and can then turn in till twelve o'clock;and you can get another caulk, from five or six till eight in theevening. Of course, if there is anything to do, bad weather oranything of that sort, both watches are on deck, all day."
"Well, I am almost sure I should like the other watch best," Bobsaid.
"You are wrong, lad, especially in summer. You see, it is notfairly dark till nine, and you wouldn't turn in till ten, anyhow;so that, really, you are only kept two hours out of your bunk, atthat watch. It is getting light when you come up, at four; and atfive we begin to wash decks, and there is plenty to occupy you, sothat it doesn't seem long till eight bells. The others have to turnout at twelve o'clock, just when they are most sleepy; and to be onwatch for the four dark hours, and then go down just as it isgetting light.
"On a cold night in winter, in the channel, I think perhaps theadvantage is the other way. But, in fact, men get so accustomed tothe four hours in, and the four hours out, that it makes verylittle difference to them how it goes."
All day the brig kept on the same course, moving very slowlythrough the water, and passing the coast as much by aid of thecurrent as by that of her sails.
"We are pretty well off Malaga," Captain Lockett said, in theafternoon. "If there had been any wind, we should have had a chanceof picking up something making from there to the Straits; but thereis no chance of that, today. People like making quick voyages, whenthere is a risk of falling in with an enemy; and they won't beputting out from port until there is some change in the weather.However, it looks to me as if there is a chance of a little breeze,from the south, when the sun goes down. I have seen a flaw or twoon the water, that way."
"Yes, it seems to me darker over there," the mate said. "I will goup and have a look round.
"Yes, sir, there is certainly a breeze stirring, down to thesouth," he shouted, from aloft.
"That will just suit us," the captain said. "We must be twentymiles off the coast at least and, even if they had noticed us fromabove the town, we are too far off for them to make us out, at all;so it will be safe for us to run in to the land.
"We shall rely upon you, Bob, if we are hailed."
"I will do my best to throw dust in their eyes, captain. You musttell me, beforehand, all particulars; so that I can have the storypat."
"We will wait till we see what sort of craft is likely to hail us.A tale may be good enough, for the skipper of a coaster, that mightnot pass muster with the captain of a gunboat."
"What are the coasters likely to be laden with?"
"There is never any saying. Mostly fruit and wine, grain andolives. Then some of
them would be taking goods, from the largeports, to the small towns and villages along the coast. Some of thecoasters are well worth picking up; but of course, the craft weshall be chiefly on the lookout for will be those from abroad. Someof these have very valuable cargoes. They bring copper and lead,and sometimes silver from the mines of Mexico and South America.Some of them carry a good lot of silver, but it is too much to hopethat we should run across such a prize as that. They bring overhides, too; they are worth money. Then, of course, there are shipsthat have been trading up the Mediterranean with France and Italyor the Levant.
"So, you see, there is a considerable variety in the chances ofwhat we may light upon. Coasters are, of course, the staple, so tospeak. If we have anything like luck, we shall not do badly, withthem. The others we must look upon as the prizes in the lottery."
Before the sun set the breeze came up to them, and the brig was atonce headed for the land. At ten o'clock the lights of Malaga weremade out on the port beam, and the brig bore away a little to theeast. Two hours later the land was looming, not far ahead.
Sail was got off her, and a man placed in the chains, and soundingstaken. This was continued until the water shoaled to eight fathoms,when the brig was brought up, head to wind, and the anchor let go.Then an anchor watch of four men was set, and the rest of the crewallowed to turn in.
At daybreak the officers were out again, and it was found that thebrig was lying within a quarter of a mile of the land, in a slightindentation of the coast. The wind had died away, and the sailswere loosed, and suffered to fall against the masts.
"It could not be better," Captain Lockett said. "We look, now, asif we had been trying to make up or down the coast, and had beenforced to come to anchor here. Fortunately there don't seem to beany villages near, so we are not likely to have anyone coming outto us."
"How far do you think we are from Malaga, captain?"
"About ten miles, I should say, Bob. Why do you ask?"
"I was only thinking whether it would be possible for me to make myway there, and find out what vessels there are in harbour, andwhether any of them are likely to be coming this way. But if it isten miles, I am afraid it is too far. I should have to pass throughvillages; and I might be questioned where I came from, and where Iwas going. I don't know that my Spanish would pass muster, if Iwere questioned like that.
"I should be all right, if I were once in a seaport. No one wouldbe likely to ask me any questions. Then I could stroll about, andlisten to what was said and, certainly, I could talk quite wellenough to go in and get a meal, and all that sort of thing."
"I couldn't let you do that, Bob," the captain said. "It is a veryplucky idea, but it wouldn't be right to let you carry it out. Youwould get hung as a spy, if you were detected."
"I don't think there is the least fear in the world of my beingdetected, in a seaport," Bob said, "and I should think it greatfun; but I shouldn't like to try to cross the country. Perhaps wemay have a better chance, later on."
The captain shook his head.
"You might go on board some ship, if one brings up at anchoranywhere near us, Bob. If you got detected, there, we would takeher and rescue you. But that is a different thing to letting you goashore."
Presently the sails of two fishing boats were seen, coming out frombeyond a low point, three miles to the east.
"I suppose there is a fishing village, there," the mate said. "I amglad they are no nearer."
He examined the boats with a glass.
"They are working out with sweeps. I expect they hope to get alittle wind, when they are in the offing."
Just as they were at breakfast the second mate, who was on deck,called down the skylight:
"There are three craft to the west, sir. They have just come outfrom behind the point there. They are bringing a little breeze withthem."
"What are they like, Mr. Crofts?"
"One is a polacre, another a xebec, and the third looks like afull-rigged craft; but as she is end on, I can't say for certain."
"All right, Mr. Crofts! I will be up in five minutes. We can donothing until we get the wind, anyhow."
Breakfast was speedily finished, and they went on deck. The Spanishflag was already flying from the peak. The three craft were abouttwo miles away.
"How are they sailing, Mr. Crofts?"
"I fancy the xebec is the fastest, sir. She was astern just now,and she is abreast of the polacre now, as near as I can make out.The ship, or brig--whichever it is--seems to me to be droppingastern."
"Heave away at the anchor, Joe. Get in all the slack, so as to beready to hoist, as soon as the breeze reaches us. I don't want themto come up to us. The line they are taking, now, will carry themnearly half a mile outside us, which is fortunate. Run in six ofthe guns, and throw a tarpaulin over the eighteen pounder. Threeguns, on each side, are about enough for us to show."
The breeze caught them when the three Spanish craft were nearlyabeam.
"They have more wind, out there, than we shall have here," thecaptain said; "which is an advantage, for I don't want to run awayfrom them.
"Now, get up the anchor, Joe. Don't take too many hands."
The watch below had already been ordered to sit down on the deck,and half the other watch were now told to do the same.
"Twelve or fourteen hands are quite enough to show," the captainsaid.
"The anchor's up, sir," Joe shouted.
"Let it hang there. We will get it aboard, presently.
"Now haul that fore-staysail across, ease off the spanker sheet.
"Now, as she comes round, haul on the braces and sheets, one byone. Do it in as lubberly a way as you can."
The brig, which had been riding with her head to the west, cameslowly round; the yards being squared in a slow fashion, in strongcontrast to the active way in which they were generally handled.The captain watched the other craft, carefully.
"The xebec and polacre are gaining on us, but we are going as fastthrough the water as the three master. When we get the wind alittle more, we shall have the heels of them all.
"Get a sail overboard, Joe, and tow it under her port quarter.Don't give her too much rope, or they might catch sight of it, onboard the ship. That will bring us down to her rate of sailing.
"I want to keep a bit astern of them. We dare not attack them inthe daylight; they mount too many guns for us, altogether. That bigfellow has got twelve on a side, the polacre has eight, and thexebec six, so between them they have fifty-two guns. We might tryit, if they were well out at sea; but it would never do, here.There may be galleys or gunboats within hearing, so we must bideour time.
"I think we are in luck, this time, Joe. That ship must have comeforeign; at least, I should say so by her appearance, though shemay be from Cadiz. As to the other two, they may be anything. Thexebec, no doubt, is a coast trader. The polacre may be one thing,or another, but I should hardly think she has come across theAtlantic. Likely enough she is from Bilbao or Santander. The shipis the fellow to get hold of, if we get a chance. I shall be quitecontent to leave the others alone."
"I should think so," Joe agreed. "The ship ought to be a valuableprize, wherever she comes from. If she is sound, and pretty new,she would fetch a good sum, if we can get her into an Englishport."
The wind continued to hold light, and the four vessels made butslow progress through the water. The two leaders, however,gradually improved their position. They were nearly matched, inpoint of sailing; and their captains were evidently making a raceof it, hoisting every stitch of canvas they were able to show. Bythe afternoon they were fully two miles ahead of the ship, whichwas half a mile on the starboard bow of the brig.
The wind died away to nothing, as the sun set. The three Spanishvessels had all been edging in towards shore, and the polacreanchored just before sunset. The ship held on for another hour, butwas a mile astern of the other two when she, also, dropped heranchor.
The sail, that had been towing overboard from the brig, had beengot on board again when
the wind began to drop; and she had come upto within little more than a quarter of a mile of the ship. Theanchor was let go, as soon as it was seen that the crew of the shipwere preparing to anchor, so that the brig should be first to doso. Whether there had been any suspicions, on board the Spaniards,as to the character of the brig, they could not tell but, watchingher closely, Captain Lockett saw that the order to anchor wascountermanded, as soon as it was seen that the brig had done so.
A few minutes after the men again went forward, and the anchor wasdropped; for the vessel was making no way whatever, through thewater.
"Well, Joe, there we are, close to her, now. The question is, whatare we to do next? If there was any wind, it would be simpleenough. We would drop alongside, in the middle watch; and carry herby boarding, before the Dons had time to get out of their hammocks.But as it is, that is out of the question and, of course, we can'tthink of towing her up. On such a still night as this will be, theywould hear the slightest noise."
"We might attack her in the boats," the mate said.
"Yes, that would be possible; but their watch would hear the oars,the instant we began to row. You see, by the number of guns shecarries, she must be strongly manned."
"I expect most of them are small," Joe said, "and meant for show,rather than use. It is likely enough she may have taken half ofthem on board at Cadiz, or Malaga, so as to give her a formidableappearance, in case she should fall in with any craft of ourdescription. If she has come across the Atlantic, she would neverhave carried anything like that number of guns, for Spain was notat war with anyone."
"No; but craft flying the black flag are still to be found in thosewaters, Joe, and she might carry her guns for defence against them.But it is not a question of guns, at present, it is a question ofthe crew. It isn't likely that she carries many more than we doand, if we could but get alongside her, there would be no fearabout it, at all; but I own I don't like the risk of losing half mymen, in an attack on a craft like that, unless we can have theadvantage of a surprise."
"What do you say to my swimming off to her, as soon as it getsquite dark, captain?" Bob said. "I am a very good swimmer. We usedto bathe regularly at Putney, where I was at school; and I haveswum across the Thames and back, lots of times. There is sure to bea little mist on the water, presently, and they won't be keeping avery sharp lookout till it gets later. I can get hold of a cableand climb up; and get in over the bow, if there is no lookoutthere, and see what is going on. There is no danger in the thingfor, if I am discovered, I have only got to dive and swim backagain. There is no current to speak of, here; and there wouldn't bethe least chance of their hitting me, in the dark. I shouldcertainly be able to learn something, by listening to their talk."
"It would be a very risky thing, Bob," Captain Lockett said,shaking his head. "I shouldn't like to let you do it; though ofcourse it would be a great thing, if we could learn something abouther. I own I don't like her appearance, though I can't say why.Somehow or other, I don't think she is all right. Either all thoseguns are a mere pretence, and she is weak handed, or she must carrya very big crew."
"Well, I don't see there can be any possible harm in my trying toget on board her, captain. Of course, if I am hailed as I approachher, I shall turn and come back again. The night will be dark, butI shall have no difficulty in finding her, from the talking andnoise on board.
"Well, Joe, what do you think?" the captain said, doubtfully.
"I think you might let Bob try," Joe said. "I should not mindtrying at all but, as I can't speak Spanish, I should be able tolearn nothing. They are not likely to be setting a watch, andkeeping a sharp lookout, for some time; and I should think that hemight, possibly, get on board unobserved. If they do make him out,he has only to keep on diving and, in the dark, there would belittle chance of their hitting him. Besides, they certainlycouldn't make out that it was a swimmer. If they noticed a ripplein the water, they would be sure to think it was a fish of somesort."
Bob continued to urge that he should be allowed to try it and, atlast, Captain Lockett agreed to his doing so. It was already almostdark enough for the attempt to be made, and Bob prepared at oncefor the swim. He took off his coat, waistcoat, and shirt; and puton a dark knitted jersey, fastened a belt tightly round his waist,over his breeches, and took off his shoes.
"If I am seen," he said, "you are sure to hear them hailing, orshouting; and then please show a lantern over the stern," for,slight as the current was, it sufficed to make the vessel swinghead to west.
A rope was lowered over the side and, by this, he slipped downquietly into the water, which was perfectly warm. Then he struckoff noiselessly, in the direction of the ship. He kept the twomasts of the brig in one, as long as he could make them out but,owing to the mist on the water, he soon lost sight of her; but hehad no difficulty in keeping a straight course, as he could plainlyhear the sound of voices, ahead of him. Taking the greatest painsto avoid making the slightest splash, and often pausing to listen,Bob swam on until he saw a dark mass looming up in front of him.
Illustration: Bob swims off to the Spanish Warship.
He now did little more than float, giving a gentle stroke,occasionally, and drifting towards it until he grasped the cable.
He now listened intently. There were voices on the fo'castle, abovehim; and he determined, before trying to climb up there, to swimround the vessel--keeping close to her side, so that he could notbe seen, unless someone leaned far over the bulwark. Halfway alonghe came upon a projection and, looking up, saw that slabs of wood,three inches wide, were fixed against the side, at intervals of afoot apart; so as to form an accommodation ladder, when it was notconsidered necessary to lower a gangway. Two hand ropes hung by theside of it.
His way was now easy. He drew himself out of the water by theropes, and ascended the ladder; then crawled along outside thebulwark until he came to a porthole, from which a gun projected;then he crawled in there, and lay under the cannon.
Two or three lanterns were suspended above the deck and, by theirlight, Bob could at once see that he was on board a ship of war.Groups of sailors were sitting on the deck, among the guns; and hesaw that most of these were run in, and that they were of heavycalibre, several of them being 32-pounders.
As the captain and Joe had both agreed that the guns were only14-pounders, Bob had no difficulty in arriving at the fact thatthese must have been mere dummies, thrust out of the portholes todeceive any stranger as to her armament. He lay listening, for sometime, to the talk of the sailors; and gathered that the ship hadbeen purposely disguised, before putting out from Malaga, in orderto deceive any English privateers she might come across as to herstrength. He learned also that considerable doubts wereentertained, as to the brig; and that the xebec and polacre hadbeen signalled to go on ahead, so as to induce the brig--if sheshould be an enemy--to make an attack.
The reason why she had not been overhauled, during the day, wasthat the captain feared she might escape him in a light wind; forthe watch had been vigilant, and had made out that she was towingsomething, to deaden her way. It was considered likely that, takingthe ship for a merchantman, an attack would be made in boats duringthe night; and the men joked as to the surprise their assailantswould get. Boarding pikes were piled in readiness; shot had beenplaced in the racks, ready to throw down into the boats as theycame alongside; and the ship's boats had been swung out, inreadiness for lowering--as it was intended to carry the brig, byboarding, after the repulse and destruction of her boats.
"We have had a narrow escape of catching a tartar," Bob said, tohimself. "It is very lucky I came on board to reconnoitre. TheSpaniards are not such duffers as we thought them. We fancied wewere taking them in, and very nearly fell into a trap, ourselves."
Very quietly he crawled back under the porthole, made his way alongoutside the bulwark until his hand touched the rope, and then sliddown by it into the water. As he knew there was more chance of asharp watch being kept, in the eyes of the ship, than elsewhere, heswam straight out fro
m her side until she became indistinct, andthen headed for the brig. The lights on board the Spaniard servedas a guide to him, for some time; but the distance seemed longer tohim than it had before, and he was beginning to fancy he must havemissed the brig, when he saw her looming up on his right. In threeor four minutes he was alongside.
"The brig there!" he hailed. "Drop me a rope overboard."
There was a stir overhead, at once.
"Where are you, Bob?" Captain Lockett asked, leaning over the side.
"Just below you, sir."
A rope was dropped. Bob grasped it, and was hauled up.
"Thank God you are back again!" the captain said. "I have beenblaming myself, ever since you started; though, as all was quiet,we felt pretty sure they hadn't made you out. Well, have you anynews? Did you get on board?"
"You will get no prize money this time, captain. The Spaniard is aship of war, mounting twenty-four guns; none of them smaller thaneighteens, and ten of them thirty-twos."
"Impossible, Bob! We could not have been so mistaken. Joe and Iwere both certain that they were fourteens."
"Yes, sir; but those things you saw were dummies. The guns,themselves, are almost all drawn in. All the thirty-twos are, andmost of the eighteens. She has been specially disguised, at Malaga,in hopes of tempting a craft like yours to attack her and, what ismore, she has a shrewd suspicion of what you are;" and he relatedthe whole of the conversation he had heard, and described thepreparations for repulsing a boat attack and, in turn, carrying thebrig in the ship's boats.
Captain Lockett was thunderstruck.
"The Spanish officer who commands her must be a smart fellow," hesaid, "and we have had a narrow escape of running our head into anoose--thanks to you, Bob; for Joe and I had quite made up ourminds to attack her, in the middle watch.
"Well, the only thing for us to do is to get away from here, assoon as we can. If she finds we don't attack her, tonight, she issure to send a boat to us, in the morning; and then, if we have anengagement, we could hardly hope to get off without losing some ofour spars--even if we were not sunk--with such heavy metal as shecarries. We should have the other two craft down on us, too, andour chances of getting away would be worth nothing.
"Well, I suppose, Joe, our best plan will be to tow her away?"
"I should think so, sir. When they hear us at it, they may sendtheir boats out after us, but we can beat them off; and I shouldhardly think that they would try it, for they will be sure that, ifwe are a privateer, we have been playing the same game as theyhave, and hiding our guns, and will guess that we carry a strongcrew."
"Send the crew aft, Joe. I will tell them how matters stand.
"We have had a narrow escape of catching a tartar, my lads," hesaid, when the men went aft. "You all know Mr. Repton swam off, anhour ago, to try and find out what the ship was like. Well, he hasbeen on board, and brings back news that she is no trader, but aship of war, disguised; and that she carries twenty-fourguns--eighteen-pounders and thirty-twos. If we met while out atsea, we might make a fight of it; but it would never do, here,especially as her two consorts would be down upon us. She suspectswhat we are, although she is not certain; and everything is inreadiness to repel a boat attack--her captain's intention being, ifwe tried, to sink or cripple the boats, and then to attack us withher guns.
"So you may thank Mr. Repton that you have had a narrow escape ofseeing the inside of a Spanish prison.
"Now, what I propose to do is to tow her out. Get the four boats inthe water, as quietly as you can. We have greased the falls,already. We will tow her straight ahead, at any rate for a bit.That craft won't be able to bring any guns to bear upon us, exceptperhaps a couple of bow chasers; and as she won't be able to seeus, there is not much chance of our being hit. Pass the hawseralong, from boat to boat, and row in a line ahead of her. The hullwill shelter you. Then lay out heartily; but be ready, if you arehailed, to throw off the hawser and get back on board again, assoon as you can, for they may send their boats out after us. Weshall get a start anyhow for, when they hear you rowing, they willthink you are putting off to attack them; and it will be someminutes before they will find out their mistake.
"Joe, do you go in charge of the boats. I will take the helm. Youmust cut the cable. They would hear the clank of the windlass."
The operation of lowering boats was conducted very silently. Bobhad taken his place at the taffrail, and stood listening for anysound that would show that the Spaniards had heard what was doing.The oars were scarcely dipped in the water, when he heard a suddenlull in the distant talking. A minute later, it broke out again.
"They have orders to pay no attention to the noises," CaptainLockett said, "so as to lead us to think that we shall take themunawares.
"There, she is moving now," he added, as he looked down into thewater.
Four or five minutes elapsed; and then, in the stillness of theevening, they could hear a loud hail, in Spanish:
"What ship is that? Cease rowing, or we will sink you!"
"Don't answer," Captain Lockett said. "They have nothing but theconfused sound of the oars to tell them where we are."
The hail was repeated and, a minute later, there was the flash of agun in the darkness, and a shot hummed through the air.
"Fire away!" the captain muttered. "You are only wastingammunition."
For some minutes the Spaniard continued to fire her two bow guns.Then, after a pause, there was a crash; and twelve guns weredischarged, together.
"We are getting farther off, every minute," the captain said, "andunless an unlucky shot should strike one of her spars, we aresafe."
The broadside was repeated four times, and then all was silent.
"We are a mile away from them now, Bob; and though, I daresay, theycan hear the sound of the oars, it must be mere guesswork as to ourposition."
He went forward to the bows, and hailed the boats.
"Take it easy now, Mr. Lockett. I don't think she will fire anymore. When the men have got their wind, row on again. I shall headher out, now. We must give her a good three miles offing, before westop."
The men in the four boats had been exerting themselves to theirutmost, and it was five minutes before they began rowing again. Foran hour and a half they continued their work, and then CaptainLockett said to the second mate:
"You can go forward, and hail them to come on board. I think wehave been moving through the water about two knots an hour, so wemust be three miles seaward of him."
As soon as the men came on board, a tot of grog was served out, allround. Then the watch below turned in.
"You won't anchor, I suppose, captain?"
"No, there is a considerable depth of water here, and a rockybottom. I don't want to lose another anchor, and it would take ussomething like half an hour to get it up again; besides, whatcurrent there is will drift us eastward.
"There is more of it, here, than we had inshore. I should say theremust be nearly a knot an hour, which will take us a good distanceaway from those gentlemen, before morning.
"Now, Bob, you had better have a glass of grog, and then turn in.Joe will excuse you keeping watch, tonight."
"Oh, I feel all right!" Bob said. "The water was quite warm, and Islipped down and changed my clothes, directly they left offfiring."
"Never mind, you turn in as you are told. You have done us goodservice, tonight; and have earned your keep on board the brig, ifyou were to stop here till she fell to pieces of old age."
When Bob went up in the morning, at five o'clock, the three Spanishvessels were still lying at anchor under the land, seven or eightmiles away.
"There is a breeze coming," Joe said, "and it is from the south, sowe shall get it long before they do. We shall see no more of them."
As soon as the breeze reached them, the sails were braced aft; andthe brig kept as close to the wind as she would sail, lying almostdirectly off from the land.
"I want them to think that we are frightened," Captain Lockettsaid, in answer to a que
stion from Bob as to the course, "and thatwe have decided to get away from their neighbourhood, altogether. Iexpect they are only going as far as Alicante. We will run on tillwe are well out of sight, then hold on for the rest of the day eastand, in the night, head for land again, beyond Alicante. It wouldnever do to risk those fellows coming upon us, again, when we arequietly at anchor. We might not be so lucky, next time."
An hour later the lookout in the top hailed the deck, and said thatthere was a sail in sight.
"What does she look like, Halkett?" Joe Lockett shouted, for thecaptain was below.
"As far as I can make out she is a two master--I should say, abrig."
"How is she heading?"
"About northeast, sir. I should say, if we both hold on ourcourses, she will pass ahead of us."
The captain was now on deck, and he and the first mate went up tothe top.
"Starboard your helm a bit!" the captain shouted, after examiningthe distant sail through his telescope. "Keep her about east."
"What do you think she is, captain?" Bob asked, when the twoofficers came down again to the poop.
"I should say that she was a craft about our own size, Bob; and Ifancy she has come through the Straits, keeping well over the otherside, so as to avoid our cruisers from Gib; and is now heading forAlicante. Now we are on our course again, parallel to the coast,there is no reason why she should suspect us of being anything buta trader. If she doesn't take the alarm, I hope we shall bealongside her in a few hours."