Part 59 (2/2)
”Then isn't it possible for them to have held on, sailing all they knew, and made for some other river or creek running into the sh.o.r.e right up perhaps into some lagoon or lake known only to themselves, and where we could not follow, knowing so little as we do of the country?”
”Oh, I say,” cried Roberts, ”what a miserable old prophet of ill you are, Frank! You shouldn't go on like that. Haven't we been disappointed enough, without coming in for worse things still? You might as well stick to it that the lugger has been sunk.”
”I can't, old fellow,” said Murray, ”for I honestly believe--”
”Oh, bother your honest beliefs!” cried Roberts pettishly. ”Be dishonest for once in a way. You might give us a bit of suns.h.i.+ne to freshen us up. Haven't we got enough to go through yet, with the captain fuming over our failure and being ready to bully us till all's blue?”
”Can't help it, old fellow; I must say what I feel. But there, we needn't talk, for we shall soon know now.”
The lieutenant was of the same opinion, for he suddenly rose from where he was seated, and pressing the sheets on one side as he went forward he made for the bows, where he stood looking out where the mouth of the river became a wide estuary, and then came back to his place in the stern sheets, and as he sat down he pointed past the sails.
”There, gentlemen,” he said; ”there lies the _Seafowl_, in quite a different position; but there is no lugger.”
”No, sir, but there lies the second cutter,” cried Roberts; and he pointed to where their fellow boat was sailing far away and close in sh.o.r.e. ”That means she had been chasing the _lugger_ until a lucky shot from the sloop sunk her.”
”No, my lad,” said the officer gravely. ”I hold to Mr Murray's idea-- that the second cutter chased the scoundrels till they dodged into one of their lairs, and they have by this time penetrated far up the country, perhaps been able to get round by some back way through some forest labyrinth to where the plantation house is.”
”Well, sir, we know our way better now,” said Murray, ”and we must go again. Better luck next time.”
”Thank you, Mr Murray. Better luck next time. Now to hear what the captain has to say!”
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
MR ALLEN'S VISIT.
The captain had too much to say when the first cutter's crew went on board and learned that matters had taken place just as had been antic.i.p.ated, the lugger having suddenly glided out of what had seemed to those on board the sloop to be a patch of dense tropical forest, and then sailed away as if to reach the open sea, paying not the slightest heed to the repeated summonses which she received from the _Seafowl_.
More stringent commands in the shape of shot would have followed, but for the fact that the second cutter, which had been despatched up the river in search of Mr Anderson's expedition, suddenly, to the surprise of all on board, glided out of the same patch of forest as the lugger had appeared from some little time before, and upon catching sight of the sails of the craft they had followed, had continued the pursuit as rapidly as the crew could force their boat along.
”The place is a regular maze, Mr Anderson,” said the captain, as he described all that had taken place, ”and the scoundrel who commands the lugger--I'll hang him to the yard-arm, Mr Anderson, whether he's a Yankee or English born, and the bigwigs of the United States and in Parliament at home may settle among themselves whether I've done right or not, for he has got the wrong man to deal with if he thinks he is going to play with me. He played with me, Mr Anderson, and tricked me into the belief that he had surrendered, so that I should not fire upon him, and manoeuvred his lugger so as to keep Mr Munday with the second cutter between us. Bah! I'll never forgive Mr Munday for letting himself be so out-manoeuvred. He has been as bad as you have, sir.”
”I'm very sorry, sir,” said the first lieutenant meekly.
”And so you ought to be, sir! But, as I was telling you, the scoundrel led the second cutter a pretty dance, Munday following him till from the deck here it seemed that all he had to do was to tell his c.o.xswain to put his boat-hook on board the lugger and bring his prisoners alongside here.”
”Well, sir, and he did not?” asked the chief officer.
”No, sir, he did not!” cried the captain angrily; and then he stopped short for a few moments. ”Well,” he continued then, ”aren't you going to ask why he didn't take the lugger a prize?”
”I was not going to interrupt you, sir, but I should be glad to hear.”
”Very good, then, Mr Anderson, I will tell you. It was because the scoundrel played a regular pantomime trick upon us--yes, sir, a regular pantomime trick. Look yonder,” continued the captain, pointing towards the sh.o.r.e. ”What can you see there?”
”The edge of the forest that comes down to the bay nearly all round as far as I can make out, sir.”
”Exactly. Well, somewhere over yonder the lugger suddenly sailed out, and of course we were astonished, for no gla.s.s that we have on board shows the slightest sign of an opening, while before we had got over our surprise, all of a sudden the second cutter, which went up the river to follow you, popped out of the same place as the lugger. Now, sir, how do you explain? Could you come out of the mouth of the river where you went in, while the second cutter, which I sent up the river after you, came out at the same spot as the lugger? Explain that, if you please.”
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