CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
The morning preceding the storm I have described was very lovely, andthe pirate chief had gone out at an early hour; and was standing on theedge of the cliff overlooking the harbour and the sea, while hemeditated on the plan of some future predatory expedition he hadproposed to himself to undertake on board the _Sea Hawk_. He wasinterrupted in a short time by the appearance of one of his followers,who had come up the ravine from the bay below.
"Pardon, chief, for my thus coming on you without warning; but I havetidings of importance to communicate," said the man, making areverential obeisance.
"What is it, Baldo?" asked Zappa. "Haste, I am always impatient ofnews."
"It is this, chief. A boat arrived this morning, soon after break ofday, from the island of Naeiri, and a man, who has come in her,Gerassimo Listi, one of the scouts, states that a British ship of warhas been anchored some days at the farther end of it, and that hesuspects--"
"Where is the man, this Gerassimo Listi?" exclaimed Zappa, interruptinghim suddenly. "I want not to hear his suspicions--I will examine him--where is he, I say?"
"Under the walls of the tower, chief, waiting your return," replied theman.
"Send him hither instantly," said Zappa. "Then go in search of Vlacco,and tell him I would speak with him--I may have need of his counsel."
The man hurried off to obey the orders he had received, while Zappastood, with his arms folded on his bosom, waiting the coming of themessenger.
"A ship of war, and British," he muttered. "There must be some causefor her coming here. She may possibly be in search of me; but yet, howcan it be known where I am to be found? and that English merchantvessel, I took good care that neither she nor any on board should telltales. Well, friend, what news do you bring me?" he asked, turning to aman in the costume of a Greek fisherman, who now approached. "Haste,tell it me."
"Why, chief, for the last six days, in a sheltered bay, to the west endof our island, a brig of war, carrying eighteen guns, has been atanchor. When she first came in, I thought she had come to remain one ortwo nights only, to supply herself with water, for there is a finespring there, and perhaps with fuel; but she hoisted no flag, and seemedto have no intention of communicating with the shore; and, instead ofgoing away, there she remained, day after day, till my suspicions of herintentions were excited. I watched her narrowly for some time, and evenpulled close round her two days ago; and I am convinced, from herappearance, and the language I heard spoken, that she is British. Now,it struck me, knowing what sort of character were the people of thatnation, that she had come there for the purpose of looking out after the_Sea Hawk_, or the mistico; and as soon as I arrived at this conclusion,I hurried off to bring you the information."
"I believe your suspicions are turned in the right direction; and itwill be necessary to be on our guard," replied the pirate, who hadlistened somewhat impatiently to the man's account.
"But here comes Vlacco--we will hear what is his opinion on thesubject."
The consultation between the pirate and his lieutenant-governor--for sowe may designate old Vlacco--was earnest and brief.
The result was that Zappa instantly descended the cliffs, down to thebay, where the loud blast of a horn speedily collected a large number ofhis followers, always ready to undertake any exploits in which he ledthem.
He selected as many as he required for his purpose, and ordered them toprepare for embarking in the mistico, called the _Zoe_, in the space ofa quarter of an hour. Meantime, he despatched a messenger to the towerto bring his arms and some dress, which might serve him as a disguiseshould it be necessary.
The island spoken of lay about thirty miles to the westward of theharbour; and, towards it, the mistico, as she emerged from between thecliffs, shaped her course under all sail, with the wind on the larboardbeam. The little vessel flew across the water at a rapid rate; for,though the sea was smooth, there was a fresh breeze to fill the sails.
All the crew were in high spirits--they invariably were when Zappa ledthem, as they believed he would always show them where plunder was to beobtained; and they were not a little disappointed when he thought fit toinform them that he now required them to perform a service not only ofno profit, but with considerable danger attending it; and yet one whichwas absolutely necessary, as the safety of the island demanded it.
"You must understand, my friends, that, if the brig we have heard of,is, as I have every reason to believe, a British man-of-war, her purposeis either to watch for our _Sea Hawk_, and to attack her the next timeshe goes out of harbour, or to destroy our strongholds on shore. How,though, in the latter point, I do not think she would have any chance ofsuccess, we should find her a remarkably disagreeable antagonist to thebrig; in fact, to confess the truth, it would be wiser to run away thanto fight her. Those English are determined fellows; they will tight aslong as their own ship is afloat; and, on your decks afterwards, if theycan manage to get there. Now, if I find that my suspicions arecorrect--and I shall venture on board even to ascertain their purpose--my proposal is, that we treat the enemy as we treated the Turks; we willwatch our opportunity; and, during some dark night, we will let afire-ship float down across their bows when they are not dreaming of anysuch thing--and we will blow them all up together. We must be near toknock on the head any stragglers, who are not killed at once by theexplosion; and then, as no one will survive to say how the accidenthappened, it will be supposed her magazine caught fire; and we shallescape all suspicion."
This speech which was made in choice Romaic--and which, doubtless,sounded much more heroic and elegant in that idiom than in simpleEnglish, was highly applauded by his followers--indeed, had they everheard of Homer, they would have considered it equal in substance andtalent to anything ever uttered by the most valiant of the heroes hespeaks of. It was scarcely concluded, however--and they were stilldiscussing the subject, when the man at the helm, who had kept his eyeto windward, exclaimed that he saw a black cloud to the south-east,which he was certain betokened a sudden storm, and would advise thepostponement of all discussions till they got safely into port. He wasan old Levant mariner, who, unlike his race in general, was ratherfonder of action than words; and, though he had no objection to cut athroat, or plunder a ship, he did not approve of talking about it.Though he was a sulky old rascal, Zappa had great confidence in hissagacity, and accordingly turned his eye in the direction to which hepointed. He there saw, too certainly, a mass of black clouds which had,by this time collected, and which, every moment adding others to theirnumber, came sweeping towards them.
"We must look out for ourselves, my men," he exclaimed. "Lower thesails while we have smooth water, and close reef them. We will try toget under the lee of the land, till the fury of the tempest has passed."
The order was no sooner given than obeyed; and the sails were closelyreefed and hoisted again before the first blast of the tempest struckthe vessel. She had by this time performed rather more than two-thirdsof her voyage, so that she had some eight miles more to go over beforeshe could get under shelter of the land. If she could succeed in doingthis before the height of the storm came on, she would be in comparativesafety; and if not, she might be driven far up the gulf, before shecould get under the lee of any other shore. The safest plan would be atonce to run back for their own port, which there was every probabilityof their reaching, though not quite a certainty, as a shift of the windmight possibly drive them to the northward of it. As, however, Zappawas anxious to ascertain all about the English ship, he determined topersevere. I have already described one or two storms, and may probablyhave to introduce two or three more, so I will not weary my readers bytelling them how the waves leaped and tumbled, and foamed; and the windroared and the vessel struggled madly through them. It is enough to saythat it blew a very hard gale, and that the oldest mariners on boardnever wished to be out in a harder. Even Zappa himself, who wasaccustomed to take things very philosophically, began to think, when itwas too late, that it
would have been wiser to have gone quietly homeagain.
They had, fortunately, kept well to windward of their course, and werethus able to keep well away to fetch the north of the island; thusbringing the wind and the sea abaft the beam. Two or three seas camerolling up after them, just before they got well in with the land, andvery nearly swamped the _Zoe_, and drowned Zappa and all his crew; whichevent would, doubtless, have been a very great benefit to society ingeneral, although, fortunately for the interest of my history, which itwould have materially injured, it did not occur; but the pirate and hisfollowers got safely into a little bay, where they dropped their anchor,and offered up their thanksgivings to their patron saints, for havingpreserved them from the great danger they had just encountered.
After having thus piously performed their religious duties, they set towork to prepare the materials for a fire-ship, with which they purposedto blow the English brig and all her crew to the devil. The storm hadsoon spent its fury, and in the evening they again got under weigh, andbeat round to the south side of the island to the bay, where they had atfirst intended anchoring, it being, by far the safest, as the wind wasvery likely to shift round, and blow with almost equal violence down thegulf. Among the islands of the Archipelago, the gales generally comefrom the northward, and it is consequently considered always moreprudent to anchor under a southern shore. The pirates now recollected,as they were congratulating themselves on their own escape, that theEnglish brig had been seen anchored in a bay to the south-west of theisland; and they began piously to hope that she might have been drivenon shore, and lost with all her hands, which would have saved them theexpense and trouble of fitting up their fire-ship, and the risk ofattempting to use it. Before, however, they took any steps in thatdirection, Zappa determined to pull up into the bay, where she wasreported to have been, and to ascertain what she was, and her purpose incoming there. By daylight next morning, for he was an early man whenwork was to be done, he was prepared to set out on his expedition.
The bay where the _Zoe_ had anchored, was about five miles from where hebelieved the British vessel was to be found, so he had a long pullbefore him. His boat pulled eight oars, and he selected as many of thestrongest of his hands to man them. She was a clumsy-looking craft, anddid not appear as if any amount of force could drive her through thewater; indeed, she seemed to be a mere fishing-boat, such as are used inthose waters. He had the precaution also to pile up a couple of nets inher bow and stern, and also to take on board a large supply of fish,which he got from some fisherman of the place, so that nothing waswanting to complete the deception; for he had taken care that all hismen should be habited in the ordinary fisherman's dress as he washimself.
As the boat left the side of the mistico, she had, in every respect, theappearance of one belonging to a harmless fisherman just returned fromhis day's avocation. Although Zappa had with justice full confidence inhis own masquerading talents, he wisely did not wish to run anyunnecessary risk, and he, therefore, ordered the mistico to get underweigh, and to sweep close in shore after him, that he might, in case ofnecessity, have some support at hand; she was, however, not to comenearer than a mile from the harbour, where he expected to find the brig,for fear of causing his character to be suspected. Every arrangementbeing made, the boat shoved off--away she pulled, while he quietly saton the top of the nets, smoking his pipe with perfect unconcern, as ifhe had nothing else to think of besides where he should find the bestmarket for his fish.
For about four miles the men pulled on at a rapid pace, laughing andjoking as they toiled at their oars. A headland, from which a reef ofrock projected some way out into the sea, then presented itself, and, asthey pulled round it, the mouth of a harbour gradually opened on them.It was a secure and landlocked place, and some way up it Zappa discernedthe tall masts of the brig he was looking for. His practised eye atonce recognised her as a brig-of-war, and, as he drew nearer, he hadlittle doubt from her build that she was British. He had, however, madeup his mind to run every risk, so he pulled boldly up the harbourtowards her.
"Now, my men," he said, addressing his crew, "remember, everythingdepends on your coolness and courage. We are going to put our headsinto the lion's mouth, and, by all the gods of our ancestors, if we givehim cause he will bite them off without the slightest ceremony. Do notstir from your seats, and pretend not to understand a word which is saidto you, which it is not very likely you will do; but should any on boardspeak Romaic, make any excuse which occurs to you for not leaving yourboat while I am on board."
By the time he had finished this address, they were within a cable'slength of the brig.
"What boat is that?" hailed the sentry on the poop.
On which Zappa, concluding that the hail was intended for him, held up alarge fish in his hand.
"A fishing-boat coming up astern, sir," said the sentry to the officerof the watch.
"Let her come alongside, then--we want some fish," said the officer inreturn.
"Ah! I think I know that brig!" exclaimed Zappa--"I am certain of it--she is no other than the one which lay in Valetta harbour when I waslast there; and her captain, too, was, I learnt, the very officer I metat the ball, who was dancing so frequently with my fair prisoner. Now,by some wonderful chance or other, he has discovered that she was notlost in the _Zodiac_, and has come here to look for her--I see it all atonce, and if I am right--good luck befriend me; for, should he discoverme, I have not a chance of escape. It would be wiser not to venture onboard, but to pull quietly back to the mistico, and to wait till night,when we may try the effect of our fire-ship; but, then again, it is notlikely that any one but he should know me at all, and my dress is sodifferent to what it was when he saw me, and my beard is so grown, thateven, should I be brought into his presence, he will not probablyrecognise me. I may gain something of what they are about, and theventure is, at at events, worth making."
Zappa arrived at this conclusion as his boat ran alongside the _Ione_,when it was rather too late to think of turning back; indeed, he feltthat his attempting to do so would at once bring suspicion on him. Itnow occurred to him, that to gain any information, it would be necessaryto employ some means of exchanging ideas, and for that purpose, he mustspeak a little of the _lingua Franca_ so generally made use of. With adauntless air, therefore, he sprang up the side, and, as he stood at thegangway, he ordered his men to hand him up some of the finest of thefish. While they were doing so, his eye ranged over the decks, fore andaft, and he was glad to see that Captain Fleetwood was not among theofficers who were collected on the poop, watching him and his boat. Thegun-room steward was the first to become the purchaser of a fine dish offish for his master, at a very low price, too, which much astonishedhim. He smelt at them, and examined their gills, and turned them overmost critically; for he could not help fancying that there must be somedefect.
The fact was, Zappa had entirely forgotten to learn what price to ask;for, as he had seldom before acted the part of a fishmonger, he had notthe slightest conception of what was their value, and was very nearlybetraying himself thereby. He saw, however, with his usual acuteness,that he had made a mistake, and took care to correct it with the nextpurchaser, who was the midshipmen's steward, and who came accompanied bytheir caterer; but though they had to pay more, the price was still solow as to induce them to lay in a stock for future consumption. Thewarrant-officers and ship's company next commenced purchasing, and allsuffered as Zappa gained experience in his new calling.
"But does not the captain eat fish?" he asked of a Maltese seaman, whohad been acting the part of interpreter. "Has his servant come topurchase?"
"The captain does not want any fish, he is not on board to eat it,"answered the Maltese carelessly. "I wish he were; for he must have beenout in that storm yesterday, in one of your little feluccas, and Heavenknows what may have become of him."
"Where has he gone, then?" asked the pirate. "It would have been wiserto have trusted himself in your fine brig here, than in one of o
urnative boats, which our seamen only know how to handle."
"Oh! don't ask me, my friend; we seamen have no business to talk of ourcaptain's doings," replied the Maltese, laughing. "But let me knowwhere you have learned to speak the _lingua Franca_ so well. It is notoften that I can understand ten words uttered by the fishermen of theseparts."
"I will reply to your question, friend, though you do not answer mine,"returned Zappa. "I sailed as a boy to all parts of the coast of theMediterranean, till my father died, and I came home and married. I havenow a mother and sisters, besides a wife and family to support; so I cango roving no longer. And so your captain has gone on an expedition, hashe? Have many people accompanied him, for I suppose he did not goalone?"
"As many went as he chose to take with him," replied the Maltese. "Ifhe had ordered them, the whole ship's company would have gone."
"A clear answer, friend. Does anybody else wish to buy more of my fish.Just ask them; for I must be off again to catch a fresh supply for thesupport of my young family," said the pirate carelessly. "And can younot tell me then where your captain has gone to?"
"I shall begin to think you have some reason for your curiosity, if youask so many questions," observed the shrewd Maltese. "I was jokingabout our captain, and, if you want to see him, I can take you to him."
"Is it so?" answered Zappa, who easily divined the reason of the man'sanswer, and was far too keen to be deceived by it, or to want a reply.
"I care nothing about your captain, further than that I thought I mightsell him some fish if I met him. But you can do me a service, bytelling me if I am likely to fall in with any other ships of war, ormerchantmen, with whom I may drive my trade?"
"Ah, padrone, I cannot assist you there either; for we seamen knowlittle of what happens outside the ship's planks," returned the Maltese."It is not often, though, one goes long in these seas without meetingwith a cruiser of our own country, and as for merchantmen they are thickenough; but neither one nor the other are likely to come to suchout-of-the-way islands as these are."
"When will that man have finished selling his fish there?" sang out theofficer of the watch. "Manuel, there--Tell him, as soon as he's done,to shove off. We ought not to hold any communication with the natives,"he muttered to himself, as he continued his quarter-deck walk. "Thesefellows are as sharp as knives, and, if we let them near us, they'll beferreting out something they ought not to know to a certainty."
"Ay, ay, sir," replied Manuel. "Come, Mister Fisherman, the officersays you must not be standing talking here all day, so I'll wish youfarewell, and a good haul the next time you let down your nets."
"Thanks, friend, I am generally tolerably successful in that way,"answered the pretended fisherman. "Farewell, I shall come alongsideagain to-morrow, and I hope to find plenty of buyers. I live a littleway down the coast, and shall sure to be back, so do not buy of any oneelse. Caralambro Boboti is my name. Don't forget it. Farewell,again--"
Just as he was uttering these words, and making the usual salaam to thepoop, or rather to the officers walking on it, his eye lighted on thecountenance of a man ascending the companion-ladder which made even himfor an instant turn pale. At first the idea glanced across his mindthat he saw an apparition, but the shoulders and the body and legs camenext, and he was soon convinced that the person before him was realflesh and blood. No less a person, indeed, than Colonel Gauntlettascended from below closely followed by his man Mitchell, and stood onthe deck of the _Ione_, glaring at him with a look which convinced himthat he was recognised through his disguise. There was not a moment tobe lost. If he remained where he stood, the probability was that hewould be seized; if he exhibited any fear or hurry, it would beequivalent to condemning himself, and he and his companions would beshot without mercy, as they attempted to escape. He felt at once thathis only chance depended on his own coolness so as to make the oldofficer fancy that he was mistaken in his identity. With the mostperfect self-possession, therefore, he repeated his farewell to theMaltese, and was about deliberately to lower himself into his boat, whenthe colonel threw the whole ship into commotion, by exclaiming in avoice of thunder--
"That's him!--The scoundrel--the pirate--stop him--fire at him. I'mright, Mitchell, am I not? That's the villain who attacked the_Zodiac_, and carried off my poor niece?"
"Not a doubt of it your honour. It's the thief of the world whomurdered us all, and by the holy poker I'll have him."
As he uttered these words he sprang towards the gangway, nearlycapsizing his master, and almost grasped Zappa by the croup of the neckbefore anybody else understood what the commotion was all about. Hemissed him, however, and the pirate, with a spring, which the imminenceof his danger would alone have enabled him to take, leaped into hisboat, and as he did so, he exclaimed to his crew, who saw that somethingwas wrong--
"Shove off, or we are dead men!"
The pirates waited no further words to excite them to exertion, and afew strokes sent the boat clear off the brig's side.
So great, mean time, was the impetus Mitchell had gained, that when hemissed catching Zappa, he could not again bring himself up, and souseoverboard in the water he went, his head fortunately escaping the gunnelof the pirate's boat by a few inches. In revenge, an old pirateattempted to give him his _coup de grace_ with the blade of his oar, butmissed him.
"Arrah, ye cowardly thief to hit a man like that in the water, but I'llmark ye--remember--bad luck to ye," exclaimed Mitchell, as after hisfirst immersion he rose to the surface, where his spluttering and criesdrew the attention of the sentry off from the pirates.
"A man overboard," was the first intelligible cry which was heard, andscarcely was it uttered, when three or four men, headed by a midshipman,were overboard to attempt to pick him up. Mitchell's own eagerness tostop the pirates, very nearly prevented them from saving him, for thoughhe had little enough notion of swimming, he struck out manfully afterthe boat, which the confusion had enabled to gain a good distance fromthe vessel before any means had been taken to stop her progress. Atthis juncture the first lieutenant, hearing a noise, came on deck, andsoon brought matters into order.
"Silence there, fore and aft," he exclaimed. "Let the proper crewsstand by the falls of their boats. Lower the starboard quarter boat,and pick up the man in the water. What is it all about?"
"The pirate, sir--the villain, Zappa was in that boat. Shoot him--stophim, Mr Saltwell, I say!" exclaimed the colonel, scarcely able to speakfrom his agitation and rage.
"Sentries, fire at the men in that boat," said Mr Saltwell, in a calmtone, which sobered down all who heard him to the proper pitch forcomprehending orders. "Hand up a dozen muskets from below, and someammunition. Lower the larboard quarter boat, and give chase after thatfellow."
Each order was obeyed with the rapidity with which it was given; but inlowering the starboard gig, the after falls got jammed, and her headcame right into the water, and almost filled her. This delay preventedthe other gig from going in chase, till she had picked up the people inthe water, and taken them on board; but all caused delay, and both boatsset off in chase nearly together.
Meantime Zappa heard the noise on deck, and guessed that the colonel wasexplaining who he was, and that he should soon have the boats sent afterhim.
"Pull till your sinews crack, my friends," he shouted to his men. "Wehave no child's play now; but keep a good heart, and we shall getclear."
Just as he spoke, he looked back at the brig, he saw the barrel of amusket glancing in the sun, and a shot came flying over his head.Another followed, and buried itself in the pile of nets against which heleaned.
"If they have no better shot among them we need not fear," he shouted."Keep a good heart, my men. The _Zoe_ will be close outside, and, whenwe reach her, we may set the boat at defiance."
He was, by this time, nearly an eighth of a mile from the _Ione_, andpulling directly out towards the mouth of the harbour. Several othermusket-shots had been fired at him, and hit a man i
n the side, andseverely hurt him, but he still declared himself able to keep at hisoar.
A long brass gun had, however, been got up on the poop, which, loadedwith musket-balls, was let fly at them. The shower fell thick aroundthem, and had it not been for the shelter of the nets, more than oneshot might have proved fatal to Zappa.
Another pirate was wounded, but, fortunately, not enough to disable him,or their prospect of escape would have been much diminishes. The manturned pale as he tried to bind a handkerchief round his arm to stop thebleeding; but he still continued tugging at his oar.
"Never fear, my chief, we will all be pierced through and through beforewe give in," he exclaimed. "Row on bravely, my comrades, row on."
The two gigs were now in full chase, rather more than a quarter of amile astern, and the brig had ceased firing, leaving all the work to beperformed by them. Linton had command of the first gig, Tompion of thesecond, and both had some loaded muskets in their stern sheets, and allthe men had their cutlasses and pistols; all these necessaryarrangements having considerably delayed the boats, but Saltwell judgedrightly, that it would be worse than folly to send unarmed men againstsuch desperate characters as the pirates. There was a strong breezeblowing nearly across the harbour, from the north-west, and, as soon asZappa had got from under the lee of the land, and felt the full force ofit, he considered that he should be able to make more way under sailthan by pulling. Two of the people were obliged to lay on their oarsfor the purpose of hoisting it, and, as soon as the English saw this,they set up a loud shout, thinking the chase was going to give in. Theysoon saw their mistake, and, as the large lateen sail rose above thelittle stump of a mast, the boat felt the force with which she waspressed onward, and away she darted over the water. The English bent totheir oars till the good ash sticks almost cracked, each boat vying withthe other to get ahead. Do all they could, however, they could notovertake the Greek. Linton saw that, if they were to catch the pirate,they must kill each man who came to the helm, so as to keep the boatluffed up in the wind. He accordingly raised a musket and fired. Itwas a good shot, and, though Zappa escaped, the man next him receivedthe ball in his bosom. He fell back with a deep groan, a convulsiveshudder passed through his frame, and he was dead.
"If that is to be the game," exclaimed the pirate, grinding his teethwith passion till now not expressed. "I must try which of us is thebest shot."
And forthwith he drew from under the nets two rifles which had beenconcealed there.
"Steady the helm here, Baldo, while I try to punish our pursuers."
He fired. His first shot seemed to take no effect. He raised thesecond; a wild shriek came across the waters, uttered by the poor fellowwho pulled the stroke oar of Linton's boat, on whom his too sure aim hadtaken effect. Both boats now, in revenge, began firing as fast as themuskets could be loaded, and the Greeks were compelled to crouch down inthe bottom of their boat to avoid the shot. Zappa kept his seat boldlyat the helm. A reef, as I said, ran off the mouth of the harbour on theeastern side, and, to double it, so as to regain the mistico, it wouldbe necessary to make one if not more tacks, and here the light gigswould have an immense advantage over him. The distance to the pointround which he must go was about three-quarters of a mile, but healready had a good start, and, if no other accident happened, he mighthope to beat round it before the gigs could come up with him. He mustnow, however, depend entirely on his sail, for neither of the twowounded men were fit to pull an oar, and, with a diminished crew, thechances would be against him, should the wind fail. It was an animatingstruggle, and equally exciting to pursuers and pursued. Zappaencouraged his followers, and urged them to persevere to the last,hinting at the certainty of a rope and running noose, as thealternative, if they were caught. Linton, on his part, cheered on hismen, and told them the safety of their beloved captain, as well as thatof a young countrywoman, depended on their overtaking the pirate.
The body of poor Knox, who had been killed, was laid down at the bottomof the boat, and Togle, who was midshipman of the gig, took his place,so that they very soon recovered the ground which had been lost. Asthey cleared the western shore of the harbour, the wind was found todraw more up its coast, and fresh off the water, and a slight sea camerolling in, sparkling brightly in the sunshine, adding a life and beautyto the scene, with which the work of death going on was sadlydisconsonant. The British seamen cheered, and bent to their oars withrenewed vigour, making the spray fly in showers, full of rainbow hues,over the bows, as Linton spoke to them, though they wanted no freshstimulus to urge them to exertion.
"They will have to tack presently, and we shall soon be alongside them,"he exclaimed. "We will pay them off, my men, and, if we do not catchthem the first tack, we will the second."
Meantime Zappa held on his course, firing occasionally at the boats, butwith less success than at first. When also he round that the windheaded him, he began to calculate that the enemy would, to a certainty,be alongside him before he could weather the point, and that if theyonce got there, his chance of escaping was small indeed. He felt, intruth, that he had put his head into the lion's mouth, and that the lionwas wagging his tail.
"Curses on the wind, to fail me just as I wanted it the most," heexclaimed, measuring with his eye the distance between him and hispursuers. "If it was not for the reef, we should have done well, andthere comes the _Zoe_, beating up to our assistance. They have heardthe firing, and guessed that something has gone wrong. Does any oneknow if there is a passage through the reef? It struck me, as we camein, that there was a spot free from sea-weed, where the water lookeddeep, which should be just now on our larboard bow. Per Bacco, I seeit, and will try it. If we strike, we shall fight there to betteradvantage than under weigh, and the mistico will be, soon up to ourassistance."
None of the pirates had been through the passage, if passage there were,but all expressed the wish to try it, instead of having to beat roundthe point. The helm was accordingly kept up, and, to the surprise ofthe pursuers, away the Greek boat darted directly towards the rocks.There was, as I have said, some little sea, sufficient, as it met theimpediments of the reef, to make a long line of breakers. There was onesmall spot where it could not be said that there was no foam, but wherethe water was rather less agitated than elsewhere. It was here that thepirates expected to find an opening, but, as they drew near it, theyalmost doubted the wisdom of making the attempt, so little prospect wasthere of their being able to cross it. The English, meantime, wererather divided in their opinions. Some thought that, driven todesperation, they had resolved to destroy themselves and their boats;while others were as far wrong on the opposite side, and fancied thatthey were well acquainted with some passage through which they intendedto pass. Another minute would decide the question.
On the Greek boat flew with redoubled speed, as she was kept more away.She was already among the broken water. Zappa, his nerves unshaken,stood up to steer, while a man, leaning over the bow, tried to make outthe channel. As soon as the pirate showed himself, both the Englishboats opened their fire on him; but, though several shot whistled roundhis head he remained unharmed. Sea after sea, huge masses of glitteringfoam came rolling in on them, threatening to fill the boat, should shefor one instant meet with any impediment.
Every man held his breath, and looked with an anxious glance ahead. Oneither side, the water came dancing up and lapping over the gunnel, andbeyond, the heads of the black rocks appeared amidst the frothy cauldronthrough which they sailed. Now the side of the boat almost grazed arock, which, had she struck, would have sent her into a thousandsplinters. A short distance more and they would be safe. The _Zoe_ hadobserved them, and was standing towards them to render them assistance.Even their enemies forbore to fire, so perilous was their situation, andso certain appeared their destruction. On they rushed.
"I can see no passage," exclaimed the man in the bows. "We are alllost! Ah, no! Starboard the helm--starboard! Haul off the sheet alittle! Up with the helm ag
ain! Ease off the sheet. Huzza! huzza! Weare safe!"
The last great danger was past; a bend in the channel had beendiscovered, through which the boat glided; and now she floated in clearwater, and held her rapid course towards the mistico. No sooner was thechief on board the _Zoe_, than the helm was put up, and off she ranunder all sail, with her head to the island of Lissa.