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Lay aft, here, to the main braces, some of you, and stand by to back the mainyard! Down helm, my man, and let her come to the wind!" At this moment Sir Thomas came up to me and said: "Grenvile, my lad, come down on to the main-deck with me a moment, will you? I have a word or two that I should like to say to your men before they leave the ship."
Well done!" as the Spaniard began to come ponderously to the wind again, showing that her helmsman was down "Let the man who did that come to me by and by, and he shall have a noble for that good shot. Swing the mainyard! Musketrymen, clear the enemy's tops of archers, and shoot down any that may attempt to take their places! Trim aft the head sheets! Swing the foreyard!
Notwithstanding this, the Gloucester was the only ship which suffered much, by carrying away her mainyard; but on the 7th of April several guns were heard to leeward, and it was soon seen that the Wager had lost her mizenmast and main-topsail yard, while the Anna Pink had had her bowsprit so injured that there was a risk of her losing her fore-topmast.
And now a roll more frantic than usual, nigh dips her mainyard, and sends the water spouting wildly over her bulwarks. Do you think that because you can see all the scene before you now, because your flesh creeps, and your blood moves as you call it to mind, do you think, I say, that you can describe it?
In one of the last onslaughts of the wind, however, the mainyard truss had been carried away, and the yard swung so violently to and fro after snapping the braces like pack-thread that it seemed as if the main-mast would go; but, fortunately, in one of its mad gyrations, as it moved about like the arms of a semaphore, the yard-arm had caught in the standing rigging on the starboard side, where, through the gallant exertions of Frank Harness and the Norwegian sailor, who performed the task at the peril of their lives, it was firmly lashed and secured from doing further mischief.
I swung the mainyard and waited helplessly. She was perhaps stopped, and her very fate hung in the balance, with the black mass of Koh-ring like the gate of the everlasting night towering over her taffrail. What would she do now? Had she way on her yet?
The Sandwich had eighty shot in her hull, had lost her foremast and mainyard, and had fired 3288 rounds, an average of 73 to each gun of the broadside engaged. Three of her hits being below the water line, she was kept afloat with difficulty during the next twenty-four hours. With the wearing of the French the battle ceased.
They were up on the mainyard together that evening, where they had been helping to carry out an order with the mainsail. The rest had gone down again, but Salvé, who felt a longing to be alone, had remained aloft, and was standing on the foot-rope, with his elbows resting on the yard.
"Now, my little friend," he continued, resuming his conversation with me. "We'll see how smart you can be. Run forruds and tell the bosun I want the sail burton brought aft, and an up and down tackle fitted to the mainyard, if you are able to recollect all that?" "Oh, yes, sir," I replied, touching my cap again, "I know what a sail burton is, sir." "And an up and down tackle, too?"
Seeing the boat coming, Mr Galway had manned the tackle-falls in readiness, and a minute later she was run up to the davits, the boatswain's pipe shrilled out, the mainyard was swung, and away went the beautiful craft, like a hound released from the leash, in pursuit of the vanished Indiaman, leaving us to our own devices.
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