Held Fast For England Part 18

A few seconds later there was a flash, and a roar. All eyes were directed on the lugger, which the captain was watching through his gla.s.s. There was a shout from the men. The ball had pa.s.sed through the great foresail, a couple of feet from the mast.

"Very good," the captain said. "Give her a trifle more elevation, next time. If you can hit the yard, it will be just as good as. .h.i.tting the mast.

"Ah! There she goes!"

Two puffs of white smoke broke out from the lugger's bow. One shot struck the water nearly abreast of the brig, at a distance of ten yards. The other fell short.

"Fourteens!" the captain said. "I thought she wouldn't have eighteens, so far forward."

Shot after shot was fired but, so far, no serious damage had been caused by them. The brig had been hulled once, and two shots had pa.s.sed through her sails.

The captain went, himself, to the pivot gun; and laid it carefully.

Bob stood watching the lugger intently, and gave a shout as he saw the foresail run rapidly down.

"It is only the slings cut," the second mate--who was standing by him--said. "They will have it up again, in a minute. If the shot had been the least bit lower, it would have smashed the yard."

The lugger came into the wind and, as she did so, eight guns flashed out from her side while, almost at the same moment, the four broadside guns of the Antelope were, for the first time, discharged. Bob felt horribly uncomfortable, for a moment, as the shot hummed overhead; cutting one of the stunsail booms in two, and making five fresh holes in the sails.

"Take the men from the small guns, Joe, and get that sail in," the captain said. "Its loss is of no consequence."

In half a minute, the lugger's foresail again rose; and she continued the chase, heading straight for the brig.

"He doesn't like this game of long bowls, Probert," the captain said. "He intends to come up to board, instead of trusting to his guns.

"Now, boatswain, you try again."

The brig was now sailing somewhat across the lugger's bows, so that her broadside guns--trained as far as possible aft--could all play upon her; and a steady fire was kept up, to which she only replied by her two bow chasers One of the men had been knocked down, and wounded, by a splinter from the bulwark; but no serious damage had so far been inflicted, while the sails of the lugger were spotted with shot holes.

Bob wished, heartily, that he had something to do; and would have been glad to have followed the first mate's example--that officer having thrown off his coat, and taken the place of the wounded man in working a gun--but he felt that he would only be in the way, did he try to a.s.sist. Steadily the lugger came up, until she was little more than a quarter of a mile behind them.

"Now, lads," the captain shouted, "double shot the guns--this is your last chance. Lay your guns carefully, and all fire together, when I give the word.

"Now, are you all ready? Fire!"

The five guns flashed out together, and the ten shot sped on their way. The splinters flew from the lugger's foremast, in two places; but a cry of disappointment rose, as it was seen that it was practically uninjured.

"Look, look!" the captain shouted. "Hurrah, lads!" and a cloud of white canvas fell over, to leeward of the lugger.

Her two masts were nearly in line, and the shot that had narrowly missed the foremast, and pa.s.sed through the foresail, had struck the mainmast and brought it, and its sail, overboard. The crew of the brig raised a general cheer. A minute before a French prison had stared them in the face, and now they were free. The helm was instantly put up, and the brig bore straight away from her pursuer.

"What do you say, Probert? Shall we turn the tables, now, and give her a pounding?"

"I should like to, sir, nothing better; but it would be dangerous work. Directly she gets free of that hamper, she will be under command, and will be able to bring her broadside to play on us; and if she had luck, and knocked away one of our spars, she would turn the tables upon us. Besides, even if we made her strike her colours, we could never take her into port. Strong handed as she is, we should not dare to send a prize crew on board."

"You are right, Probert--though it does seem a pity to let her go scot free, when we have got her almost at our mercy."

"Not quite, sir. Look there."

The lugger had managed to bring her head sufficiently up into the wind for her broadside guns to bear, and the shot came hurtling overhead. The yard of the main-topsail was cut in sunder, and the peak halliard of the spanker severed, and the peak came down with a run. They could hear a faint cheer come across the water from the lugger.

"Leave the guns, lads, and repair damages!" the captain shouted.

"Throw off the throat halliards of the spanker, get her down, and send a hand up to reef a fresh rope through the blocks, Mr.

Probert.

"Joe, take eight men with you, and stow away the topsail. Send the broken yard down.

"Carpenter, see if you have got a light spar that will do, instead of it. If not, get two small ones, and lash them so as to make a splice of it."

In a minute the guns of the lugger spoke out again but, although a few ropes were cut away, and some more holes made in the sails, no serious damage was inflicted and, before they were again loaded, the spanker was rehoisted. The lugger continued to fire, but the brig was now leaving her fast. As soon as the sail was up, the pivot gun was again set to work; and the lugger was hulled several times but, seeing that her chance of disabling the brig was small, she was again brought before the wind.

In half an hour a new topsail yard was ready, and that sail was again hoisted. The Antelope had now got three miles away from the lugger. As the sail sheeted home, the second mate shouted, from aloft:

"There is a sail on the weather bow, sir! She is close hauled, and sailing across our head."

"I see her," the captain replied.

"We ought to have noticed her before, Mr. Probert. We have all been so busy that we haven't been keeping a lookout.

"What do you make her to be, Joe?" he said to the second mate.

"I should say she was a French frigate, sir."

The captain ascended the shrouds with his gla.s.s, remained there two or three minutes watching the s.h.i.+p, and then returned to the deck.

"She is a frigate, certainly, Mr. Probert, and by the cut of her sails I should say a Frenchman. We are in an awkward fix. She has got the weather gage of us. Do you think, if we put up helm and ran due north, we should come out ahead of her?"

The mate shook his head.

"Not if the wind freshens, sir, as I think it will. I should say we had best haul our wind, and make for one of the Spanish ports. We might get into Santander."

"Yes, that would be our best chance.

"All hands 'bout s.h.i.+p!"

The vessel's head was brought up into the wind, and payed off on the other tack, heading south--the frigate being, now, on her weather quarter. This course took the brig within a mile and a half of the lugger, which fired a few harmless shots at her. When she had pa.s.sed beyond the range of her guns, she shaped her course southeast by east for Santander, the frigate being now dead astern.

The men were then piped to dinner.

"Is she likely to catch us, sir?" Bob asked, as they sat down to table.

"I hope not, lad. I don't think she will, unless the wind freshens a good deal. If it did, she would come up hand over hand.

"I take it she is twelve miles off, now. It is four bells, and she has only got five hours' daylight, at most. However fast she is, she ought not to gain a knot and a half an hour, in this breeze and, if we are five or six miles ahead when it gets dark, we can change our course. There is no moon."

They were not long below.

"The lugger is under sail again, sir," the second mate, who was on duty, said as they gained the deck.