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We're pretty well provisioned, and we'll not starve you, at all events," said Captain Tracy. "Thank you, captain, I have no fear about the matter," answered the stranger; "and as to my name, I quite forgot to give it. Indeed, you are not likely to have heard of me before, for I have been knocking about in distant seas for most of my life it is Lancelot Carnegan.
"We shall soon see which has, notwithstanding, the faster pair of heels the Ouzel Galley is no sluggard, Mr Carnegan, and we may still hope to run the stranger out of sight.
"I tell you your hopes are vain; yonder ship is as fast a craft as any out of a French port we haven't a chance of escaping her," replied Mr Carnegan. "You know her, then?" answered Owen. "I have seen her more than once before the war broke out, of course and, from her size and the weight of her metal, if we attempt to fight her we shall be sent to the bottom," was the answer.
"Come, my friend," said the French officer to Carnegan; "as you are not from the West Indies, we shall have no fear of your giving us the fever. I must therefore beg for your company you will require the attendance of the surgeon, and one wounded man is enough for that young lady to look after."
Among them was the man captured in the Dublin lodging-house, who had entered under the name of Michael Dillon. When Gerald came to see him oftener, the supposed likeness to Carnegan wore off, though still there was a wonderful similarity in the voice and manner.
He was proceeding along a narrow lane which offered a shorter cut than the high road, when he heard the footsteps of a person running at full speed, and directly afterwards a man rushed by him whose countenance he could not see; but it struck him at the time that the figure greatly resembled that of Carnegan, the second mate of the Ouzel Galley.
"I trust we may, sir," said Owen, in a tone of some doubt; "we have the advantage of being well to windward, though, as Mr Carnegan was observing, if she has a strong crew she can tack in half the time we can, and we couldn't do better than to stand on till nightfall, as you propose, and then try to give her the slip." The eyes of all on board were naturally turned towards the stranger.
"I should certainly not have suspected that the Carnegan we had as second mate on board the Ouzel Galley could have been a murderer and pirate," said Gerald. "The men, however, were inclined to believe from the way he was saved that he was in league with the Evil One, and they will now be convinced that such was the case."
"I might have guessed that you came from the old country and now you'll have an opportunity, if you wish to remain when we reach harbour, of renewing your acquaintance with it and any friends you may have." "There are few, if any, who know me," answered Mr Carnegan. "I played truant at an early age, and have seldom since then set foot on my native shore."
His countenance had been too deeply impressed upon her memory for her ever to forget it. She recognised in him the once second mate of the Ouzel Galley, when he had gone under the name of Carnegan the man who had attempted to carry her off, and who had afterwards audaciously presented himself, when an officer on board the French privateer under the command of Thurot.
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