CHAPTER XXI.
"Roll on, thou deep and dark-blue ocean--roll Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain; Man marks the earth with ruin--his control Stops with the shore;--upon the watery plain The wrecks are all thy deed."
CHILDE HAROLD.
It was broad day-light, when Sir Gervaise Oakes next appeared on deck.As the scene then offered to his view, as well as the impression it madeon his mind, will sufficiently explain to the reader the state ofaffairs, some six hours later than the time last included in ouraccount, we refer him to those for his own impressions. The wind nowblew a real gale, though the season of the year rendered it lessunpleasant to the feelings than is usual with wintry tempests. The airwas even bland, and still charged with the moisture of the ocean; thoughit came sweeping athwart sheets of foam, with a fury, at moments, whichthreatened to carry the entire summits of waves miles from their beds,in spray. Even the aquatic birds seemed to be terrified, in the instantsof the greatest power of the winds, actually wheeling suddenly on theirwings, and plunging into the element beneath to seek protection from themaddened efforts of that to which they more properly belonged.
Still, Sir Gervaise saw that his ships bore up nobly against the fiercestrife. Each vessel showed the same canvass; viz.--a reefed fore-sail; asmall triangular piece of strong, heavy cloth, fitted between the end ofthe bowsprit and the head of the fore-top-mast; a similar sail over thequarter-deck, between the mizzen and main masts, and a close-reefedmain-top-sail Several times that morning, Captain Greenly had thought heshould be compelled to substitute a lower surface to the wind than thatof the sail last mentioned. As it was an important auxiliary, however,in steadying the ship, and in keeping her under the command of her helm,on each occasion the order had been delayed, until he now began toquestion whether the canvass could be reduced, without too great a riskto the men whom it would be necessary to send aloft. He had decided tolet it stand or blow away, as fortune might decide. Similar reasoningleft nearly all the other vessels under precisely the same canvass.
The ships of the vice-admiral's division had closed in the night,agreeably to an order given before quitting the anchorage, whichdirected them to come within the usual sailing distance, in the event ofthe weather's menacing a separation. This command had been obeyed by theships astern carrying sail hard, long after the leading vessels had beeneased by reducing their canvass. The order of sailing was thePlantagenet in the van, and the Carnatic, Achilles, Thunderer, Blenheim,and Warspite following, in the order named; some changes having beenmade in the night, in order to bring the ships of the division intotheir fighting-stations, in a line ahead, the vice-admiral leading. Thesuperiority of the Plantagenet was a little apparent, notwithstanding;the Carnatic alone, and that only by means of the most careful watching,being able to keep literally in the commander-in-chief's wake; all theother vessels gradually but almost imperceptibly setting to leeward ofit. These several circumstances struck Sir Gervaise, the moment his foottouched the poop, where he found Greenly keeping an anxious look-out onthe state of the weather and the condition of his own ship; leaning atthe same time, against the spanker-boom to steady himself in the gustsof the gale. The vice-admiral braced his own well-knit and compactframe, by spreading his legs; then he turned his handsome butweather-beaten face towards the line, scanning each ship in succession,as she lay over to the wind, and came wallowing on, shoving aside vastmounds of water with her bows, her masts describing short arcs in theair, and her hull rolling to windward, and lurching, as if boring herway through the ocean. Galleygo, who never regarded himself as a stewardin a gale of wind, was the only other person on the poop, whither hewent at pleasure by a sort of imprescriptibly right.
"Well done, old Planter!" cried Sir Gervaise, heartily, as soon as hiseye had taken in the leading peculiarities of the view. "You see,Greenly, she has every body but old Parker to leeward, and she wouldhave him there, too, but he would carry every stick he has, out of theCarnatic, rather than not keep his berth. Look at Master Morganic; hehas his main course close-reefed on the Achilles, to luff into hisstation, and I'll warrant you will get a good six months' wear out ofthat ship in this one gale; loosening her knees, and jerking her sparslike so many whip-handles; and all for love of the new fashion ofrigging an English two-decker like an Algerian xebec! Well, let him tughis way up to windward, Bond-street fashion, if he likes the fun. Whathas become of the Chloe, Greenly?"
"Here she is, sir, quite a league on our lee-bow, looking out, accordingto orders."
"Ay, that is her work, and she'll do it effectually.--But I don't seethe Driver!"
"She's dead ahead sir," answered Greenly, smiling; "_her_ orders beingrather more difficult of execution. Her station would be off yonder towindward, half a league ahead of us; but it's no easy matter to get intothat position, Sir Gervaise, when the Plantagenet is really in earnest."
Sir Gervaise laughed, and rubbed his hands, then he turned to look forthe Active, the only other vessel of his division. This little cutterwas dancing over the seas, half the time under water, notwithstanding,under the head of her main-sail, broad off, on the admiral'sweather-beam; finding no difficulty in maintaining her station there, inthe absence of all top-hamper, and favoured by the lowness of her hull.After this he glanced upward at the sails and spars of the Plantagenet,which he studied closely.
"No signs of _de Vervillin_, hey! Greenly?" the admiral asked, when hissurvey of the whole fleet had ended. "I was in hopes we might seesomething of _him_, when the light returned this morning."
"Perhaps it is quite as well as it is, Sir Gervaise," returned thecaptain. "We could do little besides look at each other, in this gale,and Admiral Bluewater ought to join before I should like even to do_that_."
"Think you so, Master Greenly!--There you are mistaken, then; for I'dlie by him, were I alone in this ship, that I might know where he was tobe found as soon as the weather would permit us to have something to sayto him."
These words were scarcely uttered, when the look-out in the forwardcross-trees, shouted at the top of his voice, "sail-ho!" At the nextinstant the Chloe fired a gun, the report of which was just heard amidthe roaring of the gale, though the smoke was distinctly seen floatingabove the mists of the ocean; she also set a signal at her nakedmizzen-top-gallant-mast-head.
"Run below, young gentleman," said the vice-admiral, advancing to thebreak of the poop and speaking to a midshipman on the quarter-deck; "anddesire Mr. Bunting to make his appearance. The Chloe signals us--tellhim not to look for his knee-buckles."
A century since, the last injunction, though still so much in use onship-board, was far more literal than it is to-day, nearly all classesof men possessing the articles in question, though not invariablywearing them when at sea. The midshipman dove below, however, as soon asthe words were out of his superior's mouth; and, in a very few minutes,Bunting appeared, having actually stopped on the main-deck ladder toassume his coat, lest he might too unceremoniously invade the sacredprecincts of the quarter-deck, in his shirt-sleeves.
"There it is, Bunting," said Sir Gervaise, handing the lieutenant theglass; "two hundred and twenty-seven--'a large sail ahead,' if Iremember right."
"No, Sir Gervaise, '_sails_ ahead;' the number of them to follow. Hoistthe answering flag, quarter-master."
"So much the better! So much the better, Bunting! The number to follow?Well, _we'll_ follow the number, let it be greater or smaller. Come,sirrah, bear a hand up with your answering flag."
The usual signal that the message was understood was now run up betweenthe masts, and instantly hauled down again, the flags seen in the Chloedescending at the same moment.
"Now for the number of the sails, ahead," said Sir Gervaise, as he,Greenly, and Bunting, each levelled a glass at the frigate, on boardwhich the next signal was momentarily expected. "Eleven, by George!"
"No, Sir Gervaise," exclaimed Greenly, "I know better than _that_. Redabove, and blue beneath, with the distinguishing pennant _beneath_, make_fourt
een_, in our books, now!"
"Well, sir, if they are _forty_, we'll go nearer and see of what sort ofstuff they are made. Show your answering flag, Bunting, that we may knowwhat else the Chloe has to tell us."
This was done, the frigate hauling down her signals in haste, andshowing a new set as soon as possible.
"What now, Bunting?--what now, Greenly?" demanded Sir Gervaise, a seahaving struck the side of the ship and thrown so much spray into hisface as to reduce him to the necessity of using his pocket-handkerchief,at the very moment he was anxious to be looking through his glass. "Whatdo you make of _that_, gentlemen?"
"I make out the number to be 382," answered Greenly; "but what it means,I know not."
"'Strange sails, _enemies_,'" read Bunting from the book. "Show theanswer, quarter-master."
"We hardly wanted a signal for _that_, Greenly, since there can be nofriendly force, here away; and fourteen sail, on this coast, alwaysmeans mischief. What says the Chloe next?"
"'Strange sails on the larboard tack, heading as follows.'"
"By George, crossing our course!--We shall soon see them from deck. Dothe ships astern notice the signals?"
"Every one of them, Sir Gervaise," answered the captain; "the Thundererhas just lowered her answering flag, and the Active is repeating. I havenever seen quarter-masters so nimble!"
"So much the better--so much the better--down he comes; stand by foranother."
After the necessary pause, the signal to denote the point of the compasswas shown from the Chloe.
"Heading how, Bunting?" the vice-admiral eagerly inquired. "Heading how,sir?"
"North-west-and-by-north," or as Bunting pronounced it"nor-west-and-by-loathe, I believe, sir,--no, I am mistaken, SirGervaise; it is nor-nor-west."
"Jammed up like ourselves, hard on a wind! This gale comes directly fromthe broad Atlantic, and one party is crossing over to the north and theother to the south shore. We _must_ meet, unless one of us runaway--hey! Greenly?"
"True enough, Sir Gervaise; though fourteen sail is rather an awkwardodds for seven."
"You forget the Driver and Active, sir; we've _nine_; nine hearty,substantial British cruisers."
"To wit: six ships of the line, one frigate, a _sloop_, and a _cutter_,"laying heavy emphasis on the two last vessels.
"What does the Chloe say now, Bunting? That we're enough for the French,although they _are_ two to one?"
"Not exactly that, I believe, Sir Gervaise. 'Five more sail ahead.' Theyincrease fast, sir."
"Ay, at that rate, they may indeed grow too strong for us," answered SirGervaise, with more coolness of manner; "nineteen to nine are ratherheavy odds. I wish we had Bluewater here!"
"That is what I was about to suggest, Sir Gervaise," observed thecaptain. "If we had the other division, as some of the Frenchmen areprobably frigates and corvettes, we might do better. Admiral Bluewatercannot be far from us; somewhere down here, towards north-east--ornor-nor-east. By warring round, I think we should make his division inthe course of a couple of hours."
"What, and leave to Monsieur de Vervillin the advantage of swearing hefrightened us away! No--no--Greenly; we will first _pass_ him fairly andmanfully, and that, too, within reach of shot; and then it will be timeenough to go round and look after our friends."
"Will not that be putting the French exactly between our two divisions,Sir Gervaise, and give him the advantage of dividing our force. If hestand far, on a nor-nor-west course, I think he will infallibly getbetween us and Admiral Bluewater."
"And what will he gain by that, Greenly?--What, according to yournotions of matters and things, will be the great advantage of having anEnglish fleet on each side of him?"
"Not much, certainly, Sir Gervaise," answered Greenly, laughing; "ifthese fleets were at all equal to his own. But as they will be muchinferior to him, the Comte may manage to close with one division, whilethe other is so far off as to be unable to assist; and one hour of a hotfire may dispose of the victory."
"All this is apparent enough, Greenly; yet I could hardly brook lettingthe enemy go scathe less. So long as it blows as it does now, there willnot be much fighting, and there can be no harm in taking a near look atM. de Vervillin. In half an hour, or an hour at most, we must get asight of him from off deck, even with this slow headway of the twofleets. Let them heave the log, and ascertain how fast we go, sir."
"Should we engage the French in such weather, Sir Gervaise," answeredGreenly, after giving the order just mentioned; "it would be giving themthe very advantage they like. They usually fire at the spars, and oneshot would do more mischief, with such a strain on the masts, thanhalf-a-dozen in a moderate blow."
"That will do, Greenly--that will do," said the vice-admiral,impatiently; "if I didn't so well know you, and hadn't seen you so oftenengaged, I should think you were afraid of these nineteen sail. You havelectured long enough to render me prudent, and we'll say no more."
Here Sir Gervaise turned on his heel, and began to pace the poop, for hewas slightly vexed, though not angered. Such little dialogues oftenoccurred between him and his captain, the latter knowing that hiscommander's greatest professional failing was excess of daring, while hefelt that his own reputation was too well established to be afraid toinculcate prudence. Next to the honour of the flag, and his own perhaps,Greenly felt the greatest interest in that of Sir Gervaise Oakes, underwhom he had served as midshipman, lieutenant, and captain; and this hissuperior knew, a circumstance that would have excused far greaterliberties. After moving swiftly to and fro several times, thevice-admiral began to cool, and he forgot this passing ebullition ofquick feelings. Greenly, on the other hand, satisfied that the just mindof the commander-in-chief would not fail to appreciate facts that hadbeen so plainly presented to it, was content to change the subject. Theyconversed together, in a most friendly manner, Sir Gervaise being evenunusually frank and communicative, in order to prove he was notdispleased, the matter in discussion being the state of the ship and thesituation of the crew.
"You are always ready for battle, Greenly," the vice-admiral said,smilingly, in conclusion; "when there is a necessity; and always just asready to point out the inexpediency of engaging, where you fancy nothingis to be gained by it. You would not have me run away from a shadow,however; or a signal; and that is much the same thing: so we will standon, until we make the Frenchmen fairly from off-deck, when it will betime enough to determine what shall come next."
"Sail-ho!" shouted one of the look-outs from aloft, a cry thatimmediately drew all eyes towards the mizzen-top-mast-cross-trees,whence the sound proceeded.
The wind blew too fresh to render conversation, even by means of atrumpet, easy, and the man was ordered down to give an account of whathe had seen. Of course he first touched the poop-deck, where he was metby the admiral and captain, the officer of the watch, to whom heproperly belonged, giving him up to the examination of his twosuperiors, without a grimace.
"Where-away is the sail you've seen, sir?" demanded Sir Gervaise alittle sharply, for he suspected it was no more than one of the shipsahead, already signaled. "Down yonder to the southward andeastward--hey! sirrah?"
"No, Sir Jarvy," answered the top-man, hitching his trowsers with onehand, and smoothing the hair on his forehead with the other; "but outhere, to the forward and westward, on our weather-quarter. It's none o'them French chaps as is with the County of Fairvillian,"--for so all thecommon men of the fleet believed their gallant enemy to be rightlynamed,--"but is a square-rigged craft by herself, jammed up on a wind,pretty much like all on us."
"That alters the matter, Greenly! How do you know she is square-rigged,my man?"
"Why, Sir Jarvy, your honour, she's under her fore and main-taw-sails,close-reefed, with a bit of the main-sail set, as well as I can make itout, sir."
"The devil she is! It must be some fellow in a great hurry, to carrythat canvass in this blow! Can it be possible, Greenly, that the leadingvessel of Bluewater is heaving in sight?"
"I rather think not,
Sir Gervaise; it would be too far to windward forany of his two-deckers. It may turn out to be a look-out ship of theFrench, got round on the other tack to keep her station, and carryingsail hard, because she dislikes our appearance."
"In that case she must claw well to windward to escape us! What's yourname, my lad--Tom Davis, if I'm not mistaken?"
"No, Sir Jarvy, it's Jack Brown; which is much the same, your honour.We's no ways partic'lar about names."
"Well, Jack, does it blow hard aloft? So as to give you any trouble inholding on?"
"Nothing to speak on, Sir Jarvy. A'ter cruising a winter and spring inthe Bay of Biscay, I looks on this as no more nor a puff. Half a handwill keep a fellow in his berth, aloft."
"Galleygo--take Jack Brown below to my cabin, and give him a fresh nipin his jigger--he'll hold on all the better for it."
This was Sir Gervaise's mode of atoning for the error in doing the maninjustice, by supposing he was mistaken about the new sail, and JackBrown went aloft devoted to the commander-in-chief. It costs the greatand powerful so little to become popular, that one is sometimessurprised to find that any are otherwise; but, when we remember that itis also their duty to be just, astonishment ceases; justice beingprecisely the quality to which a large portion of the human race aremost averse.
Half an hour passed, and no further reports were received from aloft. Ina few minutes, however, the Warspite signalled the admiral, to reportthe stranger on her weather-quarter, and, not long after, the Active didthe same. Still neither told his character; and the course beingsubstantially the same, the unknown ship approached but slowly,notwithstanding the unusual quantity of sail she had set. At the end ofthe period mentioned, the vessels in the south-eastern board began to bevisible from the deck. The ocean was so white with foam, that it was noteasy to distinguish a ship, under short canvass, at any great distance;but, by the aid of glasses, both Sir Gervaise and Greenly satisfiedthemselves that the number of the enemy at the southward amounted tojust twenty; one more having hove in sight, and been signalled by theChloe, since her first report. Several of these vessels, however, weresmall; and, the vice-admiral, after a long and anxious survey, loweredhis glass and turned to his captain in order to compare opinions.
"Well, Greenly," he asked, "what do you make of them, now?--According tomy reckoning, there are thirteen of the line, two frigates, fourcorvettes, and a lugger; or twenty sail in all."
"There can be no doubt of the twenty sail, Sir Gervaise, though thevessels astern are still too distant to speak of their size. I ratherthink it will turn out _fourteen_ of the line and only three frigates."
"That is rather too much for us, certainly, without Bluewater. His fiveships, now, and this westerly position, would make a cheering prospectfor us. We might stick by Mr. de Vervillin until it moderated, and thenpay our respects to him. What do you say to _that_, Greenly?"
"That it is of no great moment, Sir Gervaise, so long as the otherdivision is _not_ with us. But yonder are signals flying on board theActive, the Warspite, and the Blenheim."
"Ay, they've something to tell us of the chap astern and to windward.Come, Bunting, give us the news."
"'Stranger in the north-west shows the Druid's number;'" thesignal-officer read mechanically from the book.
"The deuce he does! Then Bluewater cannot be far off. Let Dick alone forkeeping in his proper place; he has an instinct for a line of battle,and I never knew him fail to be in the very spot I could wish to havehim, looking as much at home, as if his ships had all been built there!The Druid's number! The Caesar and the rest of them are in a line ahead,further north, heading up well to windward even of our own wake. Thisputs the Comte fairly under our lee."
But Greenly was far from being of a temperament as sanguine as that ofthe vice-admiral's. He did not like the circumstance of the Druid'sbeing alone visible, and she, too, under what in so heavy a gale, mightbe deemed a press of canvass. There was no apparent reason for thedivision's carrying sail so hard, while the frigate would he obliged todo it, did she wish to overtake vessels like the Plantagenet and herconsorts. He suggested, therefore, the probability that the ship wasalone, and that her object might be to speak them.
"There is something in what you say, Greenly," answered Sir Gervaise,after a minute's reflection; "and we must look into it. If Denhamdoesn't give us any thing new from the Count to change our plans, it maybe well to learn what the Druid is after."
Denham was the commander of the Chloe, which ship, a neatsix-and-thirty, was pitching into the heavy seas that now came rollingin heavily from the broad Atlantic, the water streaming from herhawse-holes, as she rose from each plunge, like the spouts of a whale.This vessel, it has been stated, was fully a league ahead and to leewardof the Plantagenet, and consequently so much nearer to the French, whowere approaching from that precise quarter of the ocean, in a longsingle line, like that of the English; a little relieved, however, bythe look-out vessels, all of which, in their case, were sailing along onthe weather-beam of their friends. The distance was still so great, asto render glasses necessary in getting any very accurate notions of theforce and the point of sailing of Monsieur de Vervillin's fleet, theships astern being yet so remote as to require long practice to speakwith any certainty of their characters. In nothing, notwithstanding, wasthe superior practical seamanship of the English more apparent, than inthe manner in which these respective lines were formed. That of SirGervaise Oakes was compact, each ship being as near as might be acable's length distant from her seconds, ahead and astern. This was apoint on which the vice-admiral prided himself; and by compelling hiscaptains rigidly to respect their line of sailing, and by keeping thesame ships and officers, as much as possible, under his orders, eachcaptain of the fleet had got to know his own vessel's rate of speed, andall the other qualities that were necessary to maintain her preciseposition. All the ships being weatherly, though some, in a slightdegree, were more so than others, it was easy to keep the line inweather like the present, the wind not blowing sufficiently hard torender a few cloths more or less of canvass of any very great moment. Ifthere was a vessel sensibly out of her place, in the entire line, it wasthe Achilles; Lord Morganic not having had time to get all his forwardspars as far aft as they should have been; a circumstance that hadknocked him off a little more than had happened to the other vessels.Nevertheless, had an air-line been drawn at this moment, from themizzen-top of the Plantagenet to that of the Warspite, it would havebeen found to pass through the spars of quite half the intermediatevessels, and no one of them all would have been a pistol-shot out of theway. As there were six intervals between the vessels, and each intervalas near as could be guessed at was a cable's length, the extent of thewhole line a little exceeded three-quarters of a mile.
On the other hand, the French, though they preserved a very respectabledegree of order, were much less compact, and by no means as methodicalin their manner of sailing. Some of their ships were a quarter of a mileto leeward of the line, and the intervals were irregular andill-observed. These circumstances arose from several causes, neither ofwhich proceeded from any fault in the commander-in-chief, who was bothan experienced seaman and a skilful tactician. But his captains were newto each other, and some of them were recently appointed to their ships;it being just as much a matter of course that a seaman should ascertainthe qualities of his vessel, by familiarity, as that a man should learnthe character of his wife, in the intimacy of wedlock.
At the precise moment of which we are now writing, the Chloe might havebeen about a league from the leading vessel of the enemy, and herposition to leeward of her own fleet threatened to bring her, half anhour later, within range of the Frenchmen's guns. This fact was apparentto all in the squadron; still the frigate stood on, having been placedin that station, and the whole being under the immediate supervision ofthe commander-in-chief.
"Denham will have a warm berth of it, sir, should he stand on muchlonger," said Greenly, when ten minutes more had passed, during whichthe ships had gradually drawn nea
rer.
"I was hoping he might get between the most weatherly French frigate andher line," answered Sir Gervaise; "when I think, by edging rapidly away,we could take her alive, with the Plantagenet."
"In which case we might as well clear for action; such a man[oe]uvrebeing certain to bring on a general engagement."
"No--no--I'm not quite mad enough for that, Master Telemachus; but, wecan wait a little longer for the chances. How many flags can you makeout among the enemy, Bunting?"
"I see but two, Sir Gervaise; one at the fore, and the other at themizzen, like our own. I can make out, now, only twelve ships of theline, too; neither of which is a three-decker."
"So much for rumour; as flagrant a liar as ever wagged a tongue! Twelveships on two decks, and eight frigates, sloops and luggers. There can beno great mistake in this."
"I think not, Sir Gervaise; their commander-in-chief is in the fourthship from the head of the line. His flag is just discernible, by meansof our best glass. Ay, there goes a signal, this instant, at the end ofhis gaff!"
"If one could only read French now, Greenly," said the vice-admiral,smiling; "we might get into some of Mr. de Vervillin's secrets. Perhapsit's an order to go to quarters or to clear; look out sharp, Bunting,for any signs of such a movement. What do you make of it?"
"It's to the frigates, Sir Gervaise; all of which answer, while theother vessels do not."
"We want no French to read that signal, sir," put in Greenly; "thefrigates themselves telling us what it means. Monsieur de Vervillin hasno idea of letting the Plantagenet take any thing he has, _alive_."
This was true enough. Just as the captain spoke, the object of the orderwas made sufficiently apparent, by all the light vessels to windward ofthe French fleet, bearing up together, until they brought the wind abafttheir beams, when away they glided to leeward, like floating objectsthat have suddenly struck a swift current. Before this change in theircourse, these frigates and corvettes had been struggling along, the seasmeeting them on their weather-bows, at the rate of about two knots orrather less; whereas, their speed was now quadrupled, and in a fewminutes, the whole of them had sailed through the different intervals intheir main line, and had formed as before, nearly half a league toleeward of it. Here, in the event of an action, their principal dutieswould have been to succour crippled ships that might be forced out oftheir allotted stations during the combat. All this Sir Gervaise viewedwith disgust. He had hoped that his enemy might have presumed on thestate of the elements, and suffered his light vessels to maintain theiroriginal positions.
"It would be a great triumph to us, Greenly," he said, "if Denham couldpass without shifting his berth. There would be something manly andseamanlike in an inferior fleet's passing a superior, in such a style."
"Yes, sir, though it _might_ cost us a fine frigate. The count can haveno difficulty in fighting his weather main-deck guns, and a dischargefrom two or three of his leading vessels might cut away some spar thatDenham would miss sadly, just at such a moment."
Sir Gervaise placed his hands behind his back, paced the deck a minute,and then said decidedly--
"Bunting, make the Chloe's signal to ware--tacking in this sea, andunder that short canvass, is out of the question."
Bunting had anticipated this order, and had even ventured clandestinelyto direct the quarter-masters to bend on the necessary flags; and SirGervaise had scarcely got the words out of his mouth, before the signalwas abroad. The Chloe was equally on the alert; for she too each momentexpected the command, and ere her answering flag was seen, her helm wasup, the mizen-stay-sail down, and her head falling off rapidly towardsthe enemy. This movement seemed to be expected all round--and itcertainly had been delayed to the very last moment--for the leadingFrench ship fell off three or four points, and as the frigate wasexactly end-on to her, let fly the contents of all the guns on herforecastle, as well as of those on her main-deck, as far aft as theycould be brought to bear. One of the top-sail-sheets of the frigate wasshot away by this rapid and unexpected fire, and some little damage wasdone to the standing rigging; but luckily, none of immediate moment.Captain Denham was active, and the instant he found his top-sailflapping, he ordered it clewed up, and the main-sail loosed. The latterwas set, close-reefed, as the ship came to the wind on the larboardtack, and by the time every thing was braced up and hauled aft, on thattack, the main-top-sail was ready to be sheeted home, anew. During thefew minutes that these evolutions required, Sir Gervaise kept his eyeriveted on the vessel; and when he saw her fairly round, and trimmed bythe wind, again, with the main-sail dragging her ahead, to own the truth,he felt mentally relieved.
"Not a minute too soon, Sir Gervaise," observed the cautious Greenly,smiling. "I should not be surprised if Denham hears more from thatfellow at the head of the French line. His weather chase-guns areexactly in a range with the frigate, and the two upper ones might beworked, well enough."
"I think not, Greenly. The forecastle gun, possibly; scarcely any thingbelow it."
Sir Gervaise proved to be partly right and partly wrong. The Frenchman_did_ attempt a fire with his main-deck gun; but, at the first plunge ofthe ship, a sea slapped up against her weather-bow, and sent a column ofwater through the port, that drove half its crew into the lee-scuppers.In the midst of this waterspout, the gun exploded, the loggerhead havingbeen applied an instant before, giving a sort of chaotic wildness to thescene in-board. This satisfied the party below; though that on theforecastle fared better. The last fired their gun several times, andalways without success. This failure proceeded from a cause that isseldom sufficiently estimated by nautical gunners; the shot havingswerved from the line of sight, by the force of the wind against whichit flew, two or three hundred feet, by the time it had gone the milethat lay between the vessels. Sir Gervaise anxiously watched the effectof the fire, and perceiving that all the shot fell to leeward of theChloe, he was no longer uneasy about that vessel, and he began to turnhis attention to other and more important concerns.
As we are now approaching a moment when it is necessary that the readershould receive some tolerably distinct impression of the relativepositions of the two entire fleets, we shall close the present chapter,here; reserving the duty of explanation for the commencement of a newone.