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The operation, however, was somewhat slow, for it was necessary to overhaul and inspect every pack to prevent imposition, and the peltries had then to be conveyed in large boats, made of skins, to the ship, which was some little distance from the shore, standing off and on. One night, while Mr. Hunt was on shore, with some others of the crew, there arose a terrible gale.
"UP, and let fall the foresail, men down with the fore tack cheerily now get way on the brig, and overhaul the Wave promptly, or we are lost," cried I. It was done with all the coolness of desperate men. I took the helm, and presently we were once more alongside of our own vessel.
The doctor stopped outright, although he did not speak, and it was some seconds before he seemed able to move on. "Well, well," he said at last, "duty first and pleasure afterwards, as you might have said yourself, Silver. Let us overhaul these patients of yours." A moment afterwards he had entered the blockhouse, and, with one grim nod to me, proceeded with his work among the sick.
But they must speedily have recognised the impossibility of escape, for now, with carefully-cleaned furnace fires and a full head of steam, our ships were racing along through the fast-rising sea at a speed which would enable us to rapidly overhaul the chase, notwithstanding that they were plunging until they were buried to the hawse-pipes, and their fore-decks were smothered with spray.
Elfreda Briggs and Grace Harlowe did not give way to the panic that had seized their companions. Both had seen the mirage, each knew instinctively what it was, but when they saw Hi Lang overhaul the two leaders, Grace and Elfreda hurried in from their positions and joined their companions. "Grace! Oh, Grace," moaned Emma as her friend rode up to them. "Give me water or I shall die."
It was his purpose to give this part of the brig a thorough overhaul prior to attempting anything else; hoping that he might find therein something that would enable him to construct a raft without having recourse to the timber of the ship.
We soon had the topsails loosed; and one hand remaining, as usual, in each top, to overhaul the rigging and light the sail out, the rest of us laid down to man the sheets. While sheeting home, we saw the Ayacucho standing athwart our bows, sharp upon the wind, cutting through the head sea like a knife, with her raking masts and sharp bows running up like the head of a greyhound.
"Will she get away?" asked Dick, who was standing near Ben Rudall at one of the bow-ports on the maindeck, through which they could dimly see the chase rising like some phantom giant stalking over the deep. "Not if we continue to overhaul her as we are now doing," answered Ben. "Will she fight?" inquired Dick. "Ay, and fight hard, too, just as a rat does when caught in a corner.
"Yes?" she answered, and it struck him that perhaps he had imagined her terror greater than it actually was; for her voice was quite clear and even sounded untroubled. "What is it?" "In ten minutes or so they'll overhaul us. They know the way and we don't. Further, we're apt to get a spill over a pile of rocks." "Yes, Jim," she answered.
We'll overhaul it at once, and if it should prove as I strongly suspect to be a true emerald mine, we'll work it for a few days and ascertain something like its probable worth." "But," protested Dick, "I didn't know that emeralds were found in South America." "What!" ejaculated Earle, in amazement. "You ignorant sailorman!
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