Part 36 (1/2)
”There is more of it, here, than we had insh.o.r.e. I should say there must be nearly a knot an hour, which will take us a good distance away from those gentlemen, before morning.
”Now, Bob, you had better have a gla.s.s of grog, and then turn in.
Joe will excuse you keeping watch, tonight.”
”Oh, I feel all right!” Bob said. ”The water was quite warm, and I slipped down and changed my clothes, directly they left off firing.”
”Never mind, you turn in as you are told. You have done us good service, tonight; and have earned your keep on board the brig, if you were to stop here till she fell to pieces of old age.”
When Bob went up in the morning, at five o'clock, the three Spanish vessels were still lying at anchor under the land, seven or eight miles away.
”There is a breeze coming,” Joe said, ”and it is from the south, so we shall get it long before they do. We shall see no more of them.”
As soon as the breeze reached them, the sails were braced aft; and the brig kept as close to the wind as she would sail, lying almost directly off from the land.
”I want them to think that we are frightened,” Captain Lockett said, in answer to a question from Bob as to the course, ”and that we have decided to get away from their neighbourhood, altogether. I expect they are only going as far as Alicante. We will run on till we are well out of sight, then hold on for the rest of the day east and, in the night, head for land again, beyond Alicante. It would never do to risk those fellows coming upon us, again, when we are quietly at anchor. We might not be so lucky, next time.”
An hour later the lookout in the top hailed the deck, and said that there was a sail in sight.
”What does she look like, Halkett?” Joe Lockett shouted, for the captain was below.
”As far as I can make out she is a two master--I should say, a brig.”
”How is she heading?”
”About northeast, sir. I should say, if we both hold on our courses, she will pa.s.s ahead of us.”
The captain was now on deck, and he and the first mate went up to the top.
”Starboard your helm a bit!” the captain shouted, after examining the distant sail through his telescope. ”Keep her about east.”
”What do you think she is, captain?” Bob asked, when the two officers came down again to the p.o.o.p.
”I should say that she was a craft about our own size, Bob; and I fancy she has come through the Straits, keeping well over the other side, so as to avoid our cruisers from Gib; and is now heading for Alicante. Now we are on our course again, parallel to the coast, there is no reason why she should suspect us of being anything but a trader. If she doesn't take the alarm, I hope we shall be alongside her in a few hours.”
Chapter 11: Cutting Out A Prize.
The distant sail was anxiously watched from the Antelope. It closed in with them fast, running almost before the wind. In two hours, her hull could be seen from the deck.
Efforts had been made, by slacking the ropes and altering the set of the sails, to give the brig as slovenly an appearance as possible. The guns had been run in and the portholes closed and, as the Spaniard approached, the crew--with the exception of five or six men--were ordered to keep below the bulwarks.
The course that the Spaniard was taking would have brought her just under the stern of the Antelope when, suddenly, she was seen to change her course, and to bear up into the wind.
”Too late, my lady,” the captain said; ”you have blundered on too long.
”There is something in our cut that she doesn't like. Haul down that Spanish flag, and run the Union Jack up.
”Open ports, lads, and show them our teeth. Fire that bow gun across her forefoot!”
The guns were already loaded; and as soon as they were run out a shot was fired, as a message to the Spaniard to heave to. A minute later, as she paid no attention, a broadside followed. Three of the shots went cras.h.i.+ng into the side of the Spaniard, and one of her boats was smashed.