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Superior as the enemy might be in guns and in number of men, Captain Denham resolved to attack her. The engagement he knew would be a severe one; but he trusted for victory to the tried gallantry of his officers and crew, and the resolution with which they would work the guns. He had the weather-gauge, and he hoped by skilful manoeuvring to retain it.
'The more room for those who are left, said he lightly. 'Mark over yonder the glow of their camp-fires amidst the fog. What was it that your seaman friend did recommend? Get the weather-gauge of them and board eh? Have you told that to the Colonel? 'Nay, this is no time for quips and cranks, I answered gravely; 'the chances are that few of us will ever see to-morrow's sun rise.
If she takes us, we shall have our throats cut, or be carried into slavery." "We will fight her, and beat her," cried the men, and they gave utterance to a loud cheer. "Brace round the main-yard, then," cried the captain, and the ship stood on close-hauled, ready to tack, so that if possible we might gain the weather-gauge.
Had they kept close order of sailing, and had all fought as well as those who were captured, it would not have been a very easy matter for fifteen ships to gain a victory over twenty-six. That's long odds, even when backed by British seamen." "Well, how did you separate?" "Why, the next morning the Spaniards had the weather-gauge, so they had the option whether to fight or not.
When the breeze got up again on Tuesday, the Spaniards were to windward, off Portland, and challenged an engagement. In manoeuvring to recover the weather-gauge, Frobisher, with some other vessels, was for a time cut off, and fought a very valiant fight, till a change in the wind enabled them to extricate themselves, and there was more sharp fighting in which the Spaniards suffered most.
"Guida," he cried, springing to his feet, "when you sing like that it seems to me I live in a world that has nothing to do with the sordid business of life, with my dull trade with getting the weather-gauge or sailing in triple line. You're a planet all by yourself, Mistress Guida! Are you ready to come into the garden?" "Yes, yes, in a minute," she answered.
With ships built and rigged for speed and for manoeuvring, with men who had learnt how to handle them in many a storm, with captains whose seamanship was trusted by every sailor, the Englishmen repeatedly secured the weather-gauge, joining battle or refusing it as they liked; and the final result was never seriously in doubt.
I was with the brave Captain Harman, aboard the twenty-six-gun ship Guernsey, with a crew of a hundred and ten men all told, when we fell in up the Straits with an Algerine man-of-war, carrying fifty guns and five hundred men, called the White Horse. She stood down upon us, under all sail, having the weather-gauge, and as soon as she got within gunshot began blazing away.
"That fellow by the cut of his canvas is a Frenchman," observed Lord Claymore; "what think you, Captain Alvarez?" "No doubt about it," answered Pedro Alvarez. "But I know of no French ship in these seas." "See see! there goes up the French flag!" exclaimed Lord Claymore; "she is going about to, as she does not wish to commence the fight while the `Scorpion' has the weather-gauge.
The old whaler chuckled, in the way he always did when he had got, what he called, the weather-gauge of me. "Now I tell you it would take you three good hours, with the best crew that ever laid hand on oar, and the fastest boat, too, to get from this ship to that shore." "Come now, David, you are passing your jokes off on a greenhorn," I replied.
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