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"Heave!" shouted Sennitt to the men with the grappling irons, "Fire!" roared the skipper; and away went our double broadside crash into the Frenchman, eliciting such a chorus of shrieks and yells as might lead one to suppose that Pandemonium had broken loose.
"We shall catch her, Mr Sennitt, never fear," was the cheery response; "she cannot be above half our size, and will have no chance with us in such a breeze as this. And I do not anticipate that she is any more heavily armed than we are, though she may possibly carry a few more men.
I was not too frightened, however, to notice and admire the perfect sang-froid with which Captain Brisac and Mr Sennitt contemplated the approach of our antagonist.
The stipulated half-hour passed away; and at the end of that period the unwelcome conviction forced itself upon every one that the lugger was having the best of it. "There is no help for it, Mr Sennitt," said the skipper, "shake that reef out of the topsails, and set the flying-jib; she must bear it."
At last "I think we are within range now, sir; shall we try a shot from our bow-chasers?" said Mr Sennitt. "We can scarcely reach him yet, I am afraid," said the skipper; "but there will be no harm in trying." The order was given, and old Tompion, the gunner, undertook in person the task of levelling the gun.
Sennitt pondered deeply for a minute, then he looked up and said, "Upon my word, sir, I think it would. Our lads are rather raw, but they behaved splendidly in the case of the privateer, and so, I believe, they would now. Yes, I think it might have just a chance of success; a bold rush often does wonders." "You are right, Sennitt.
It was even so, for when I went aft to the cabin, in compliance with the captain's invitation, a glance aloft revealed him comfortably perched on the crosstrees, from which commanding position he reminded me pantomimically of the potent charm to be found in a comic song. The dinner-party, that evening, consisted of Captain Brisac, Mr Sennitt, old Bolus the doctor, and myself.
"A miss is as good as a mile," remarked the skipper to Sennitt, after he had glanced round, and noted the trifling damage done. "Hillo, Chester, are you hurt, my lad?" he added, addressing me, as he observed my gory visage. "Slip down to the doctor, and get him to clap a plaster over your mast-head, and then turn in, if you like.
At length the mist lifted for a moment to such an extent that it became possible to see to a distance of perhaps a couple of miles, and as it did so there was a simultaneous hail from the lookout aloft and five or six of the hands on deck of "Sail ho!" "Sail ho! sure enough," exclaimed the skipper and Mr Sennitt, as both caught sight of the stranger at the same moment. "A frigate!
The men stood at their guns, with their cutlasses drawn, the captains with the trigger- lines in their hands, ready to fire at the instant of collision. Harvey was forward with Mr Sennitt; while little Markham and I stood by to follow in the skipper's wake.
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