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Three days passed utterly devoid of incident, except that the wind gradually hauled far enough aft to enable us to shift our spinnaker from the bowsprit-end to the starboard side; and once more we were flying along upon our course with the wind nearly dead fair, and every stitch of canvas spread that we had the means of packing upon the little craft.
"Square away the main braces, my hearties!" I called. "Break out the spinnaker and set the jibs. It's a wet sheet and a flowing sea, and let any stop us at their peril!" "Aye! Aye! Sir," came the response of Jean Lafitte in a voice almost bass, and "Aye! Aye! Sir," piped the blue-eyed Lieutenant L'Olonnois.
The gunners' cheer as they saw their handiwork rose to a deafening yell, taken up by all hands, when, a moment later, the British colors came fluttering down aboard the other ship. Herriot ordered the improvised spinnaker and the flying-jib taken in, then brought the buccaneer sloop around and came up beside the newly captured prize.
Priscilla hurriedly turned over the corner of the spinnaker and got out the jam pot. She glanced at its paper cover. "Inishbawn is an inviolable sanctuary," she said. "What a mercy it is that I wrote down that word last night. I had forgotten it again. It's a desperately hard word to remember." "It's a very good word," said Miss Rutherford. "It's useful anyhow," said Priscilla.
Leave the tiller to take care of itself, Bob, and in with the gaff-topsail, whilst I hand the spinnaker. Never mind about rolling them up; we can do that by-and-bye, if we have time. So; that's well. Now settle away the peak-halliards, or here, let me have them, and I will lower away both peak and throat, whilst you gather in the sail.
"I asked him what put it into his head that I could sail a boat, and he said O'Meara told him. O'Meara is a man I sail with occasionally, and I thought it nice of him to mention my name to this old boy. I can hoist a spinnaker all right and shift a jib, but I'm no good at navigation. Always did hate sums and always will. I told him that, and he said he could do the navigation himself.
But that little craft, her big spinnaker filled by the southeast trade, was making a good race of it. Cape Martin, the southeasternmost point of Nuku-hiva, was abeam, and Comptroller Bay was opening up as we fled past its wide entrance, where Sail Rock, for all the world like the spritsail of a Columbia River salmon-boat, was making brave weather of it in the smashing southeast swell.
Then the great idea locked in Parker's head became apparent to the population of Sunkhaze. "Gorry!" said the postmaster. "If that young feller hain't got a horse there that'll beat anything that even Colonel Gid Ward himself ever sent across Spinnaker Lake!"
Jean Bart hastily hauled up the jib, and the triangle of canvas, full of wind, looked like a wing; then, with two strides to the stern, he let out the spinnaker, which was close-reefed against his mast. Then, along the hull of the boat, which suddenly heeled over and was running at top speed, there was a soft, crisp sound of water hissing and rushing past.
There was just enough wind to barely ruffle the surface of the gently-swelling ocean, yet our patent log told us we were going rather over six knots, mainly through the persuasive influence of our spinnaker and gigantic balloon-topsail.
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