Chapter 5: A French Privateer.
As he became more accustomed to the scene around him, and foundthat the waves were more terrible in appearance than reality, Bobbegan to enjoy it, and to take in its grandeur and wildness. Thebareness of the deck had struck him, at once; and he now saw thatfour of the cannon were gone--the two forward guns, on eachside--and he rightly supposed that these must have been run out,and tumbled overboard, to lighten the ship forward, and enable herto rise more easily to the waves.
An hour later, the second mate came along.
"You had better come down and get some breakfast," he said. "I amgoing down first."
Bob threw off the rope, and followed the mate down into the cabin.Mr. Probert had just turned out. He had been lying down for two orthree hours, having gone down as daylight broke.
"The captain says you had better take something before you go ondeck, Mr. Probert," the second mate said. "He will come down,afterwards, and turn in for an hour or two."
"No change, I suppose?"
"No. She goes over it like a duck. The seas are more regular, now,and she is making good weather of it."
Bob wondered, in his own mind, what she would do if she was makingbad weather.
The meal was an irregular one. The steward brought in three largemugs, half filled with coffee; a basket of biscuits, and a ham.From this he cut off some slices, which he laid on biscuits; andeach of them ate their breakfast, holding their mugs in one hand,and their biscuits and ham in the other.
As soon as they had finished, the two officers went on deck and,directly afterwards, the captain came down. Bob chatted with himuntil he had finished his breakfast, and then went up on deckagain, for two or three hours. At the end of that time he felt socompletely exhausted, from the force of the wind and the constantchange of the angle at which he was standing, that he was glad togo below and lie down again.
There was no regular dinner, the officers coming below by turns,and taking a biscuit and a chunk of cold meat, standing. But atteatime the captain and second mate came down together; and Bob,who had again been up on deck for a bit, joined them in taking alarge bowl of coffee.
"I think the wind is blowing harder than ever," he said to thecaptain.
"Yes, the glass has begun to rise a little, and that is generally asign you are getting to the worst of it. I expect it is a threedays' gale, and we shall have it at its worst, tonight. I hope bythis time, tomorrow, we shall be beginning to shake out our reefs.
"You had better not go up, any more. It will be dark in half anhour, and your bunk is the best place for you."
Bob was not sorry to obey the order, for he felt that the scenewould be a very terrible one, after dark. The night, however,seemed to him to be a miserably long one; for he was only able todoze off occasionally, the motion being so violent that he had tojam himself in his berth, to prevent himself from being thrown out.The blows with which the waves struck the ship were tremendous; andso deeply did she pitch that, more than once, he thought that shewould never come up again; but go down, head foremost. Once hethought he heard a crash, and there were orders shouted, on thedeck above him; but he resisted the desire to go up and see what itwas, for he knew that he could do nothing; and that, in thedarkness, he could see but little of what was going on.
With the first gleam of daylight, however, he got out of the bunk.He had not attempted to undress, having taken off his shoes, only,when he lay down. Having put these on again, he went up. There wasbut little change since the previous morning but, looking forward,he saw that the bowsprit was gone, and the fore-topmast had beencarried away. The sea was as high as ever, but patches of blue skyshowed overhead between the clouds, and the wind was blowingsomewhat less violently.
"We have been in the wars, you see, youngster," the captain said,when Bob made his way aft; "but we may thank God it was no worse.We have had a pretty close squeak of it, but the worst is over,now. The wind is going down, and the gale will have blown itselfout by this evening. It was touch-and-go several times during thenight and, if she had had a few more tons of cargo in her, shewould never have risen from some of those waves; but I think, now,we shall see Oporto safely--which was more than I expected, aboutmidnight."
For some hours Bob, himself, had considerable doubts as to this, sodeeply did the brig bury herself in the waves; but after twelveo'clock the wind fell rapidly and, although the waves showed nosigns of decreasing in height, their surface was smoother, and theyseemed to strike the vessel with less force and violence.
"Now, Mr. Probert," said the captain, "do you and Joe turn in, tillfirst watch. I will take charge of the deck. After that, you canset regular watches again."
The main-topsail was already on her and, at six o'clock, thecaptain had two of its reefs shaken out; and the other reef wasalso loosed, when Mr. Probert came up and took charge of the firstwatch, at eight bells. That night Bob lay on the floor, for themotion was more violent than before--the vessel rolling, gunwaleunder--for the wind no longer pressed upon her sails, and kept hersteady, and he would have found it impossible to maintain hisposition in his berth.
In the morning, he went up. The sun was rising in an unclouded sky.There was scarce a breath of wind. The waves came along in high,glassy rollers--smooth mounds of water which extended, right andleft, in deep valleys and high ridges. The vessel was rollingtremendously, the lower yards sometimes touching the water. Bob hadto wait some time before he could make a rush across to the bulwarkand, when he did so, found it almost impossible to keep his feet.He could see that the men forward were no longer crouching forshelter under the break of the fo'castle, but were holding on bythe shrouds or stays, smoking their pipes, and laughing and jokingtogether. Until the motion abated somewhat, it was clearlyimpossible to commence the work of getting things in order.
"Did the bowsprit and mast both go, together?" Bob asked JoeLockett, who was holding on to the bulwark, near him.
"Yes, the bowsprit went with the strain when she rose, havingburied herself halfway up the waist; and the topmast snapped like acarrot, a moment later. That was the worst dive we made. There isno doubt that getting rid of the leverage of the bowsprit, right upin her eyes, eased her a good bit; and as the topmast was a prettyheavy spar, too, that also helped."
"How long will it be before the sea goes down?"
"If you mean goes down enough for us to get to work--a few hours.If you mean goes down altogether, it will be five or six daysbefore this swell has quite flattened down, unless a wind springsup from some other quarter."
"I meant till the mast can be got up again."
"Well, this afternoon the captain may set the men at work; but Idon't think they would do much good, and there would be a goodchance of getting a limb broken. As long as this calm holds thereis no hurry, one way or the other."
"You mean, because we couldn't be sailing, even if we hadeverything set?"
"Well, yes, that is something, but I didn't mean that. I am notthinking so much of our sailing, as of other people's. We are notvery fit, as we are now, either for fighting or running, and Ishould be sorry to see a French privateer coming along; but as longas the calm continues, there is no fear of that; and I expect therehave been few ships out, in this gale, who have not got repairs todo as well as we have."
After dinner, an effort was made to begin the work; but the captainsoon ordered the men to desist.
"It is of no use, Mr. Probert. We shall only be getting some of themen killed. It wouldn't be possible to get half done before darkand, if the sea goes down a bit, tonight, they will get as muchdone in an hour's work, in the morning, as they would if they wereto work from now to sunset.
"The carpenter might get some canvas, and nail it so as to hidethose gaps in the bulwark. That will be something done. The boyscan give it a coat of paint, in the morning. But as for the spar,we must leave it."
All hands were at work, next morning, with the first gleam ofdaylight. The rollers were still almost as high as the day before;but there was now a sl
ight breath of wind, which sufficed to givethe vessel steerage way. She was put head to the rollers, changingthe motion from the tremendous rolling, when she was lyingbroadside to them, for a regular rise and fall that interfered butlittle with the work. A spare spar was fitted in the place of thebowsprit, the stump of the topmast was sent down, and thetopgallant mast fitted in its place and, by midday, the light sparswere all in their places again, and the brig was showing a fairspread of canvas; and a casual observer would, at a distance, havenoticed but slight change in her appearance.
"That has been a good morning's work," the captain said, as theysat down to dinner. "We are a little short of head-sail, but thatwill make no great difference in our rate of sailing, especially ifthe wind is aft. We are ready to meet with another storm again, ifit should come--which is not likely.
"We are ready for anything, in fact, except a heavily-armedprivateer. The loss of four of our guns has crippled us. But therewas no choice about the matter; it went against my heart to seethem go overboard, but it was better to lose four guns than to losethe ship.
"I hope we shall meet with nothing till we get through the Straits.I may be able to pick up some guns, at Gibraltar. Prizes are oftenbrought in there, and condemned, and there are sales of stores; soI hope to be able to get her into regular fighting trim, again,before I clear out from there.
"I should think you won't be sorry when we drop anchor off theMole, youngster?"
"I am in no hurry, now," Bob said. "I would have given a gooddeal--if I had had it--two days ago, to have been on dry land but,now that we are all right again, I don't care how long we are,before we get there. It is very warm and pleasant, a wonderfulchange after what it was when we sailed.
"Whereabouts are we, captain?"
"We are a good bit farther to the east than I like," the captainreplied. "We have been blown a long way into the bay. There is agreat set of current, in here. We have drifted nearly fifty milesin, since noon yesterday. We are in 4 degrees 50 minutes westlongitude, and 45 degrees latitude."
"I don't think that means anything to me."
"No, I suppose not," the captain laughed. "Well, it means we arenearly due west of Bordeaux, and about one hundred miles from theFrench coast, and a little more than eighty north of Santander, onthe Spanish coast. As the wind is sou'-sou'west we can lay ourcourse for Cape Ortegal and, once round there, we shall feel morecomfortable."
"But don't you feel comfortable at present, captain?"
"Well, not altogether. We are a good deal too close in to theFrench coast; and we are just on the track of any privateer thatmay be making for Bordeaux, from the west or south, or going out inthose directions. So, although I can't say I am absolutelyuncomfortable, I shall be certainly glad when we are back again onthe regular track of our own line of traffic for the Straits orPortugal. There are English cruisers on that line, and privateerson the lookout for the French, so that the sound of guns mightbring something up to our assistance; but there is not much chanceof meeting with a friendly craft, here--unless it has, likeourselves, been blown out of its course."
A lookout had already been placed aloft. Several sails were seen inthe distance, in the course of the afternoon, but nothing thatexcited suspicion. The wind continued light and, although the brighad every sail set, she was not making more than five and a halfknots an hour through the water. In the evening the wind droppedstill more and, by nine o'clock, the brig had scarcely steerageway.
"It is enough to put a saint out of temper," the captain said, ashe came down into the cabin, and mixed himself a glass of grogbefore turning in. "If the wind had held, we should have beenpretty nearly off Finisterre, by morning. As it is, we haven't mademore than forty knots since we took the observation, at noon."
Bob woke once in the night; and knew, by the rippling sound ofwater, and by the slight inclination of his berth, that the breezehad sprung up again. When he woke again the sun was shiningbrightly, and he got up and dressed leisurely; but as he went intothe cabin he heard some orders given, in a sharp tone, by thecaptain on deck, and quickened his pace up the companion, to seewhat was going on.
"Good morning, Mr. Lockett!" he said to the second mate, who wasstanding close by, looking up at the sails.
"Good morning, Master Repton!" he replied, somewhat more shortlythan usual.
"There is a nice breeze this morning," Bob went on. "We seem goingon at a good rate."
"I wish she were going twice as fast," the mate said. "There is agentleman over there who seems anxious to have a talk with us, andwe don't want to make his acquaintance."
Bob looked round and saw, over the quarter, a large lugger somethree miles away.
"What vessel is that?" he asked.
"That is a French privateer--at least, there is very little doubtabout it. We must have passed each other in the dark for, when wefirst made him out, he was about four miles away, sailingnortheast. He apparently sighted us, just as we made him out; andhauled his wind, at once. He has gained about a mile on us, in thelast two hours. We have changed our course; and are sailing, as yousee, northwest, so as to bring the wind on our quarter; and I don'tthink that fellow has come up much, since. Still, he does come up.We feel the loss of our sail, now."
It seemed to Bob, looking up, that there was already an immenseamount of canvas on the brig. Stunsails had been set on her, andshe was running very fast through the water.
"We seem to have more canvas set than that vessel behind us," hesaid.
"Yes, we have more, but those luggers sail like witches. They aresplendid boats, but they want very big crews to work them. That isthe reason why you scarcely ever see them, with us, except asfishing craft, or something of that sort. I daresay that lugger hasa hundred men on board--eighty, anyhow--so it is no wonder wesometimes get the worst of it. They always carry three hands to ourtwo and, very often, two to our one. Of course we are really atrader, though we do carry a letter of marque. If we were a regularprivateer, we should carry twice as many hands as we do."
Walking to the poop rail, Bob saw that the men were bringing upshot, and putting them in the racks by the guns. The breech covershad been taken off. The first officer was overlooking the work.
"Well, lad," Captain Lockett said, coming up to him, "you see thatunlucky calm has got us into a mess, after all and, unless the winddrops again, we are going to have to fight for it."
"Would the wind dropping help us, sir?"
"Yes, we have more canvas on her than the lugger carries and, ifthe breeze were lighter, should steal away from her. As it is, shedoesn't gain much; but she does gain and, in another two or threehours, she will be sending a messenger to ask us to stop."
"And what will you do, captain?"
"We shall send another messenger back, to tell her to mind her ownbusiness. Then it will be a question of good shooting. If we canknock out one of her masts, we shall get off; if we can't, thechances are we shall see the inside of a French prison.
"If she once gets alongside, it is all up with us. She can carryus, by boarding; for she can throw three times our strength of menon to our deck."
There was but little talking on board the brig. When the men hadfinished their preparations, they stood waiting by the bulwarks;watching the vessel in chase of them, and occasionally speakingtogether in low tones.
"You may as well pipe the hands to breakfast, Mr. Probert. I havetold the cook to give them an extra good meal. After that, I willsay a few words to them.
"Now, Master Repton, we may as well have our meal. We mayn't getanother good one, for some time; but I still hope that we shall beable to cripple that fellow. I have great faith in that longeighteen. The boatswain is an old man-o'-war's-man, and is acapital shot. I am a pretty good one, myself and, as the sea issmooth, and we have a good steady platform to fire from, I havegood hope we shall cripple that fellow before he comes up to us."
There was more talking than usual, at breakfast. Captain Lockettand the second mate both laughed, and joked, over the approachingfight. Mr.
Probert was always a man of few words, and he said butlittle, now.
"The sooner they come up, the better," he growled. "I hate thisrunning away, especially when you can't run fastest."
"The men will all do their best, I suppose, Probert? You have beendown among them."
The first mate nodded.
"They don't want to see the inside of a prison, captain, no morethan I do. They will stick to the guns; but I fancy they know, wellenough, it will be no use if it comes to boarding."
"No use at all, Probert. I quite agree with you, there. If shecomes up alongside, we must haul down the flag. It is of no usethrowing away the men's lives, by fighting against such odds asthat. But we mustn't let her get up."
"That is it, sir. We have got to keep her off, if it can be done.We shall have to haul our wind a little, when we begin, so as toget that eighteen to bear on her."
"Yes, we must do that," the captain said. "Then we will get theother four guns over on the same side."
After breakfast was over, the captain went up and took his stationat the poop rail. The men had finished their breakfast and, onseeing that the captain was about to address them, moved aft.
"My lads," he said, "that Frenchman behind will be within range, inthe course of another hour. What we have got to do is to knock someof her spars out of her and, as she comes up slowly, we shall haveplenty of time to do it. I daresay she carries a good many moreguns than we do, but I do not suppose that they are heavier metal.If she got alongside of us, she would be more than our match; but Idon't propose to let her get alongside and, as I don't imagine anyof you wish to see the inside of a French prison, I know you willall do your best.
"Let there be no hurrying in your fire. Aim at her spars, and don'tthrow a shot away. The chances are all in our favour; for we canfight all our guns, while she can fight only her bow chasers--atany rate, until she bears up. She doesn't gain on us much now and,when she comes to get a few shot holes in her sails, it will makethe difference. I shall give ten guineas to be divided among themen at the first gun that knocks away one of her spars; and fiveguineas, besides, to the man who lays the gun."
The men gave a cheer.
"Get the guns all over to the port side. I shall haul her wind, alittle, as soon as we are within range."
By five bells, the lugger was within a mile and a half. The menwere already clustered round the pivot gun.
"Put her helm down, a little," the captain ordered. "That isenough.
"Now, boatswain, you are well within range. Let us see what you cando. Fire when you have got her well on your sights."
A few seconds later there was a flash, and a roar. All eyes weredirected on the lugger, which the captain was watching through hisglass. There was a shout from the men. The ball had passed throughthe great foresail, a couple of feet from the mast.
"Very good," the captain said. "Give her a trifle more elevation,next time. If you can hit the yard, it will be just as good ashitting the mast.
"Ah! There she goes!"
Two puffs of white smoke broke out from the lugger's bow. One shotstruck the water nearly abreast of the brig, at a distance of tenyards. The other fell short.
"Fourteens!" the captain said. "I thought she wouldn't haveeighteens, so far forward."
Shot after shot was fired but, so far, no serious damage had beencaused by them. The brig had been hulled once, and two shots hadpassed through her sails.
The captain went, himself, to the pivot gun; and laid it carefully.Bob stood watching the lugger intently, and gave a shout as he sawthe foresail run rapidly down.
"It is only the slings cut," the second mate--who was standing byhim--said. "They will have it up again, in a minute. If the shothad been the least bit lower, it would have smashed the yard."
The lugger came into the wind and, as she did so, eight gunsflashed out from her side while, almost at the same moment, thefour broadside guns of the Antelope were, for the first time,discharged. Bob felt horribly uncomfortable, for a moment, as theshot hummed overhead; cutting one of the stunsail booms in two, andmaking five fresh holes in the sails.
"Take the men from the small guns, Joe, and get that sail in," thecaptain said. "Its loss is of no consequence."
In half a minute, the lugger's foresail again rose; and shecontinued the chase, heading straight for the brig.
"He doesn't like this game of long bowls, Probert," the captainsaid. "He intends to come up to board, instead of trusting to hisguns.
"Now, boatswain, you try again."
The brig was now sailing somewhat across the lugger's bows, so thather broadside guns--trained as far as possible aft--could all playupon her; and a steady fire was kept up, to which she only repliedby her two bow chasers. One of the men had been knocked down, andwounded, by a splinter from the bulwark; but no serious damage hadso far been inflicted, while the sails of the lugger were spottedwith shot holes.
Bob wished, heartily, that he had something to do; and would havebeen glad to have followed the first mate's example--that officerhaving thrown off his coat, and taken the place of the wounded manin working a gun--but he felt that he would only be in the way, didhe try to assist. Steadily the lugger came up, until she was littlemore than a quarter of a mile behind them.
"Now, lads," the captain shouted, "double shot the guns--this isyour last chance. Lay your guns carefully, and all fire together,when I give the word.
"Now, are you all ready? Fire!"
The five guns flashed out together, and the ten shot sped on theirway. The splinters flew from the lugger's foremast, in two places;but a cry of disappointment rose, as it was seen that it waspractically uninjured.
"Look, look!" the captain shouted. "Hurrah, lads!" and a cloud ofwhite canvas fell over, to leeward of the lugger.
Her two masts were nearly in line, and the shot that had narrowlymissed the foremast, and passed through the foresail, had struckthe mainmast and brought it, and its sail, overboard. The crew ofthe brig raised a general cheer. A minute before a French prisonhad stared them in the face, and now they were free. The helm wasinstantly put up, and the brig bore straight away from her pursuer.
"What do you say, Probert? Shall we turn the tables, now, and giveher a pounding?"
"I should like to, sir, nothing better; but it would be dangerouswork. Directly she gets free of that hamper, she will be undercommand, and will be able to bring her broadside to play on us; andif she had luck, and knocked away one of our spars, she would turnthe tables upon us. Besides, even if we made her strike hercolours, we could never take her into port. Strong handed as sheis, we should not dare to send a prize crew on board."
"You are right, Probert--though it does seem a pity to let her goscot free, when we have got her almost at our mercy."
"Not quite, sir. Look there."
The lugger had managed to bring her head sufficiently up into thewind for her broadside guns to bear, and the shot came hurtlingoverhead. The yard of the main-topsail was cut in sunder, and thepeak halliard of the spanker severed, and the peak came down with arun. They could hear a faint cheer come across the water from thelugger.
"Leave the guns, lads, and repair damages!" the captain shouted.
"Throw off the throat halliards of the spanker, get her down, andsend a hand up to reef a fresh rope through the blocks, Mr.Probert.
"Joe, take eight men with you, and stow away the topsail. Send thebroken yard down.
"Carpenter, see if you have got a light spar that will do, insteadof it. If not, get two small ones, and lash them so as to make asplice of it."
In a minute the guns of the lugger spoke out again but, although afew ropes were cut away, and some more holes made in the sails, noserious damage was inflicted and, before they were again loaded,the spanker was rehoisted. The lugger continued to fire, but thebrig was now leaving her fast. As soon as the sail was up, thepivot gun was again set to work; and the lugger was hulled severaltimes but, seeing that her chance of disabling the brig was small,she was again brought befo
re the wind.
In half an hour a new topsail yard was ready, and that sail wasagain hoisted. The Antelope had now got three miles away from thelugger. As the sail sheeted home, the second mate shouted, fromaloft:
"There is a sail on the weather bow, sir! She is close hauled, andsailing across our head."
"I see her," the captain replied.
"We ought to have noticed her before, Mr. Probert. We have all beenso busy that we haven't been keeping a lookout.
"What do you make her to be, Joe?" he said to the second mate.
"I should say she was a French frigate, sir."
The captain ascended the shrouds with his glass, remained there twoor three minutes watching the ship, and then returned to the deck.
"She is a frigate, certainly, Mr. Probert, and by the cut of hersails I should say a Frenchman. We are in an awkward fix. She hasgot the weather gage of us. Do you think, if we put up helm and randue north, we should come out ahead of her?"
The mate shook his head.
"Not if the wind freshens, sir, as I think it will. I should say wehad best haul our wind, and make for one of the Spanish ports. Wemight get into Santander."
"Yes, that would be our best chance.
"All hands 'bout ship!"
The vessel's head was brought up into the wind, and payed off onthe other tack, heading south--the frigate being, now, on herweather quarter. This course took the brig within a mile and a halfof the lugger, which fired a few harmless shots at her. When shehad passed beyond the range of her guns, she shaped her coursesoutheast by east for Santander, the frigate being now dead astern.The men were then piped to dinner.
"Is she likely to catch us, sir?" Bob asked, as they sat down totable.
"I hope not, lad. I don't think she will, unless the wind freshensa good deal. If it did, she would come up hand over hand.
"I take it she is twelve miles off, now. It is four bells, and shehas only got five hours' daylight, at most. However fast she is,she ought not to gain a knot and a half an hour, in this breezeand, if we are five or six miles ahead when it gets dark, we canchange our course. There is no moon."
They were not long below.
"The lugger is under sail again, sir," the second mate, who was onduty, said as they gained the deck.
"They haven't been long getting up a jury mast," Captain Lockettsaid. "That is the best of a lug rig. Still, they have a smart crewon board."
He directed his glass towards the lugger, which was some five milesaway.
"It is a good-sized spar," he said, "nearly as lofty as theforemast. She is carrying her mainsail with two reefs in it and,with the wind on her quarter, is travelling pretty nearly as fastas she did before. Still, she can't catch us, and she knows it.
"Do you see, Mr. Probert, she is bearing rather more to the north.She reckons, I fancy, that after it gets dark we may try to throwthe frigate out; and may make up that way, in which case she wouldhave a good chance of cutting us off. That is awkward, for thefrigate will know that; and will guess that, instead of wearinground that way, we shall be more likely to make the other."
"That is so," the mate agreed. "Still, we shall have the choice ofeither hauling our wind and making south by west, or of running on,and she can't tell which we shall choose."
"That is right enough. It is just a toss up. If we run, and sheruns, she will overtake us; if we haul up close into the wind, andshe does the same, she will overtake us, again; but if we do onething, and she does the other, we are safe.
"Then again, we may give her more westing, after it gets dark, andbear the same course the lugger is taking. She certainly won't gainon us, and I fancy we shall gain a bit on her. Then in the morning,if the frigate is out of sight, we can make for Santander, whichwill be pretty nearly due south of us, then; or, if the lugger isleft well astern we can make a leg north, and then get on our oldcourse again, for Cape Ortegal. The lugger would see it was of nouse chasing us, any further."
"Yes, I think that is the best plan of the three, captain.
"I see the frigate is coming up. I can just make out the line ofher hull. She must be a fast craft."
The hours passed on slowly. Fortunately the wind did not freshen,and the vessels maintained their respective positions towards eachother. The frigate was coming up, but, when it began to get dusk,she was still some six miles astern. The lugger was five milesaway, on the lee quarter, and three miles northeast of the frigate.She was still pursuing a line that would take her four miles to thenorth of the brig's present position. The coast of Spain could beseen stretching along to the southward. Another hour and it wasperfectly dark and, even with the night glasses, the frigate couldno longer be made out.
"Starboard your helm," the captain said, to the man at the wheel."Lay her head due east."
"I fancy the wind is dying away, sir," Mr. Probert said.
"So long as it don't come a stark calm, I don't care," the captainreplied. "That would be the worst thing that could happen, for weshould have the frigate's boats after us; but a light breeze wouldsuit us, admirably."
Two hours later, the wind had almost died out.
"We will take all the sails off her, Mr. Probert. If the frigatekeeps on the course she was steering when we last saw her, she willgo two miles to the south of us; and the lugger will go more thanthat to the north. If they hold on all night, they will be hulldown before morning; and we shall be to windward of them and, withthe wind light, the frigate would never catch us; and we know thelugger wouldn't, with her reduced sails."
In a few minutes all the sails were lowered, and the brig laymotionless. For the next two hours the closest watch was kept, butnothing was seen of the pursuing vessels.
"I fancy the frigate must have altered her course more to thesouth," the captain said, "thinking that, as the lugger was upnorth, we should be likely to haul our wind in that direction. Wewill wait another hour, and then get up sail again, and lay herhead for Cape Ortegal."
When the morning broke, the brig was steering west. No sign of thelugger was visible but, from the tops, the upper sails of thefrigate could be seen, close under the land, away to the southeast.
"Just as I thought," the captain said, rubbing his hands in highglee. "She hauled her wind, as soon as it was dark, and stood infor the coast, thinking we should do the same.
"We are well out of that scrape."
Two days later the brig dropped her anchor in the Tagus, wherethree English ships of war were lying. A part of the cargo had tobe discharged, here; and the captain at once went ashore, to get aspar to replace the topmast carried away in the gale.
"We may fall in with another Frenchman, before we are through theStraits," he said, "and I am not going to put to sea again like alame duck."
Bob went ashore with the captain, and was greatly amused at thescenes in the streets of Lisbon.
"You had better keep with me, as I shall be going on board, in anhour. Tomorrow you can come ashore and see the sights, and spendthe day. I would let Joe come with you, but he will be too busy tobe spared, so you will have to shift for yourself."
Before landing in the morning, the captain advised him not to gooutside the town.
"You don't know the lingo, lad, and might get into trouble. Yousee, there are always sailors going ashore from our ships of war,and they get drunk and have sprees; and I don't fancy they arefavourites with the lower class, here, although the shopkeepers, ofcourse, are glad enough to have their money--but I don't think itwould be safe for a lad like you, who can't speak a word of thelanguage, to wander about outside the regular streets. There willbe plenty for you to see, without going further."
As Bob was a good deal impressed with the narrow escape he had hadfrom capture, he was by no means inclined to run any risk ofgetting into a scrape, and perhaps missing his passage out. Hetherefore strictly obeyed the captain's instructions; andwhen--just as he was going down to the landing stage, where theboat was to come ashore for him--he came upon a party of halfdrunken sailors, engaged in a v
igorous fight with a number ofPortuguese civil guards, he turned down a side street to avoidgetting mixed up in the fray--repressing his strong impulse to joinin by the side of his countrymen.
On his mentioning this to the captain, when he reached the brig,the latter said:
"It is lucky that you kept clear of the row. It is all nonsense,talking about countrymen. It wasn't an affair of nationality, atall. Nobody would think of interfering, if he saw a party ofdrunken sailors in an English port fighting with the constables. Ifhe did interfere, it ought to be on the side of the law. Why, then,should anyone take the part of drunken sailors, in a foreign port,against the guardians of the peace? To do so is an act of thegrossest folly.
"In the first place, the chances are in favour of getting your headlaid open with a sword cut. These fellows know they don't stand achance against Englishmen's fists, and they very soon whip outtheir swords. In the second place, you would have to pass the nightin a crowded lockup, where you would be half smothered beforemorning. And lastly, if you were lucky enough not to get a week'sconfinement in jail, you would have a smart fine to pay.
"There is plenty of fighting to be done, in days like these; butpeople should see that they fight on the right side, and not betaking the part of every drunken scamp who gets into trouble,simply because he happens to be an Englishman.
"You showed plenty of pluck, lad, when the balls were flying aboutthe other day; and when I see your uncle, I am sure he will bepleased when I tell him how well you behaved, under fire; but I amequally certain he would not have been, by any means, gratified athearing that I had had to leave you behind at Lisbon, either with abroken head or in prison, through getting into a street row, inwhich you had no possible concern, between drunken sailors and thePortuguese civil guards."
Bob saw that the captain was perfectly right, and said so, frankly.
"I see I should have been a fool, indeed, if I had got into therow, captain; and I shall remember what you say, in future. Still,you know, I didn't get into it."
"No, I give you credit for that, lad; but you acknowledge yourstrong impulse to do so. Now, in future you had better have animpulse just the other way and, when you find yourself in the midstof a row in which you have no personal concern, let your firstthought be how to get out of it, as quickly as you can. I got intomore than one scrape, myself, when I was a young fellow, from theconduct of messmates who had got too much liquor in them; but itdid them no good, and did me harm.
"So, take my advice: fight your own battles, but never interfere tofight other people's, unless you are absolutely convinced that theyare in the right. If you are, stick by them as long as you have aleg to stand upon."