United States or Croatia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
After all arrangements had been made, he went back to spend the rest of the evening with his mother, while Norah and the captain, with Biddy's help, prepared for their departure. Norah and Captain Tracy were on board the Ouzel Galley before noon the next day, accompanied by Owen.
"We shall have no difficulty in tackling those two fellows," he thought. The Frenchmen were berthed on the starboard side of the forecastle, the Ouzel Galley's people on the larboard side; Gerald was thus easily able to find his friends. He had previously made all the arrangements with Dan and Pompey they had communicated them to the rest of the crew, who only waited his arrival to carry them out.
It is also indubitable that certain combinations of words have a more beautiful sound than certain other combinations. Thus Tennyson held that the most beautiful line he ever wrote was: The mellow ouzel fluting in the elm. Perhaps, as sound, it was. Assuredly it makes a beautiful succession of sounds, and recalls the bird-sounds which it is intended to describe.
Though the two old captains were thus of one mind, no one else agreed with them. The house of Ferris, Twigg, and Cash would have nothing to do with the matter; they were not inclined to send good money after bad, and unless they could gain some information, however slight, that the Ouzel Galley was really in existence, they should consider it folly to send another vessel to look for her.
Whatever might have been the intentions of the men, they one and all agreed to re-enter for the next voyage on board the Ouzel Galley, and Owen thus secured an experienced crew instead of the untried hands he might afterwards have picked up.
Should the attacking party succeed, at I have no doubt they will, we shall then avoid the risk of being shot by friends or foes." The advice was too sensible not to be followed. Scarcely had they gained the shelter which Captain O'Brien advised, than both the broadsides of the Ouzel Galley were discharged, succeeded by a rapid fire of musketry, and a loud cheer from the crews of the boats.
He guessed at once that they had come out in search of the Ouzel Galley, which, if she had been captured by the pirates, could not have returned home; and now they themselves had fallen into the power of the miscreant who had taken her.
Commander Olding hailed, and her master, in reply, gave her name. "What do those guns mean?" asked Captain Olding. "Can't say, sir," was the answer. "Whereabouts in the fleet is the Ouzel Galley?" inquired Norman Foley. "She was among the leading vessels at sundown, and to the northward of most of them," answered the master.
"I believe we would shrink from saying it, but it's quite correct," Millicent replied. "Still, since you have mentioned the drawings, I'd like your opinion about this ouzel." She took up the sketch and explained the difficulty, as she had done to Mrs. Gladwyne. "It's right; don't alter it," advised Lisle.
By a letter from my son, I hear that there are still some picarooning villains infesting those seas, but they generally attack smaller fry than the Ouzel Galley.
Word Of The Day