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The two midshipmen with which the admiral had supplied me were quiet, gentlemanly lads, aged fourteen and thirteen respectively; Woodford, the master's mate, was a man of about twenty-five, and a first-rate navigator; Sanderson was again with me as doctor; my old friends Fidd, Tompion, and Pottle occupied the same position on board the Dolphin that they had held on board the Foam; and I had, in addition, a very respectable young man to perform the duty of purser, and a very handy man a Swede as carpenter.
The party then returned to the shed by the beach; and whilst Courtenay with three or four hands gave the place a thorough overhaul, Fidd, with the remainder of the men, turned to and broke up a very large yawl-built boat which was lying alongside the jetty, afterwards carrying her dismembered planking and timbers up to the shed, to be still more effectually destroyed with it by fire.
However, Fidd and his blue-jackets managed to reach terra firma eventually; and it was then the work of only a few minutes to capsize the gun and all its appurtenances over the edge of the bank into the ooze, where the whole was instantly swallowed up.
About this time, too, Fidd, with three or four of his best men, were on the right side of the bulwarks; and in another minute the entire party, or at least all those who were not killed or desperately wounded, were on the felucca's deck, and settling down to their work in grim earnest.
Leaving Fidd with half a dozen hands to the somewhat delicate task of securing the wreck of the mast sufficiently to prevent its prematurely breaking adrift, whilst at the same time taking precautions against the danger of its being dragged down by the ship when she should founder, the rest of the crew came aft and at once commenced an attack upon the mainmast, which it had now become necessary to get rid of with the utmost expedition, as, owing to the fall of the foremast, the ship was in momentary peril of broaching to and capsizing.
It was soon finished and launched, but how to guide it to the rocks was a difficult question. "Before we shove off we must try and get some provisions and water," said Owen, more thoughtful than his companions. "You are right, youngster," answered Mr Fidd.
He had turned to me and was about to speak when a faint crack, like the breaking of a thole-pin, was heard, the sound being accompanied by a very distinct luminous splash of the water. "Ha!" exclaimed Courtenay, "there is a boat over there at no great distance from us!" and at the same moment Fidd came barefooted and noiselessly to my side with the question: "Did ye see and hear that, sir?"
"Mr Fidd and I have been comparing notes together; the boatswain has been a long time on this station, as perhaps you know, sir, and he says he doesn't half like the looks of it; in fact, he remarked to me not five minutes ago that he wouldn't be surprised to find that a hurricane is brewing. Have you looked at the glass lately, sir?"
In the course of the morning, after the Dolphin had been hauled in alongside the wharf and Fidd had set all hands to work overhauling the rigging, I learned from the admiral that it was his intention to send me down on the Venezuelan coast to cruise, in conjunction with my former acquaintance the Dido, on the lookout for a Spanish treasure-ship which, it was rumoured, was about to sail from Cartagena with important despatches.
"Ay, ay, sir," was the reply; and Fidd turned away to execute his mission as I sprang upon the rail and, grasping one of the shrouds of the main rigging to steady myself, hailed in Spanish: "Boat ahoy! who are you, and what do you want? Lay on your oars and answer instantly, or I will fire upon you."
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