Held Fast For England Part 39

As he spoke, a heavy gun boomed out from the bow of one of the gunboats, and the shot went skipping between the two vessels.

Directly after, the other gunboat fired, and the shot struck the quarter of the brig. Then there was a creaking of blocks as the sheets were hauled upon and, as the yards swung round, she came up into the wind, and a broadside was fired at the two gunboats. Then the helm was put down, and she payed off before the wind again.

The gunboats ceased rowing, for a minute. The discharge had staggered them, for they had not given the brig credit for carrying such heavy metal.

Then they began to row again. The swivel gun of the brig kept up a steady fire on them. Two of the guns of the polacre had been, by this time, s.h.i.+fted to the stern; and these opened fire, while the first mate's crew on board the barque were also at work. A fortunate shot smashed many of the oars of one of the gunboats and, while she stopped rowing in disorder, the brig was again rounded to and opened a steady fire, with her broadside guns, upon them.

As the gunboats were now little more than a quarter of a mile away, the effect of the brig's fire, aided by that of the two prizes, was very severe and, in a short time, the Spaniards put round and rowed towards the sh.o.r.e; while a hearty cheer broke from the brig, and her prizes.

There had been no more casualties on board the polacre, the fire of the gunboats having been directed entirely upon the brig; as the Spaniards knew that, if they could but destroy or capture her, they would be able to recover the prizes. The polacre was soon brought close alongside of the brig.

"Have you suffered much, Captain Lockett?"

"I am sorry to say we have had six men killed, and five wounded. We have got a dozen shot in our stern. They were evidently trying to damage the rudder but, beyond knocking the cabin fittings to pieces, there is no more harm done than the carpenter can repair, in a few hours' work.

"You have not been hit again, have you?"

"No, sir; none of their shots came near."

"Well, examine the papers, and have a talk with the officers you made prisoners, and then come on board to report. I shall want you to go on board the barque with me, and see what she is laden with."

Bob went below. The two Spanish mates were unbound.

"I am sorry, senors," Bob said, "that we were obliged to treat you rather roughly; but you see, we were in a hurry, and there was no time for explanations. I shall be obliged if you will show me which is the captain's cabin, and hand me over the s.h.i.+p's papers and manifesto. What is her name?"

"The Braganza."

"Where are you from? And what do you carry?"

"We are from Cadiz, and are laden princ.i.p.ally with wine. We were bound for Barcelona.

"You took us in nicely, senor. Who could have dreamt that you were English, when that frigate chased you under the guns of the battery?"

"She thought we were Spanish, as you did," Bob said.

By this time the other Spaniard had brought the papers out of the captain's cabin. Bob ran his eye down over the bill of lading, and was well satisfied with the result. She contained a very large consignment of wine.

"I am going on board the brig," he said, as he put the papers together. "I must ask you to give me your parole not to leave the cabin, until I return. I do not know whether my captain wishes you to remain here, or will transfer you to his own craft."

"Well, Master Bob, what is your prize?" the captain asked.

"It is a valuable one, sir. The polacre herself is, as I see by her papers, only two years old, and seems a fine craft. She is laden with wine, from Cadiz, to Barcelona."

"Capital, Bob; we are in luck, indeed! How many prisoners have you got?"

"The crew is put down at eighteen, sir; and there are the two mates."

"You had better send them on board here, presently. Where are they now?"

"They are in the cabin, captain. They gave me their promise not to leave it, till I return; but I put a man on sentry, outside, so as to make sure of them."

"Well, perhaps you had better go back again now; and we will shape our course for Gibraltar, at once. All this firing would have attracted the attention of any Spanish war vessel there might be about. We must leave the barque's manifesto till the morning.

"As you have lost the boatswain, I will send one of my best hands back with you, to act as your first mate. He must get that topsail yard of yours repaired, at once. It does not matter about the mizzenmast, but the yard is of importance. We may meet with Spanish cruisers, outside the Rock, and may have to show our heels."

"Yes, I shall be glad of a good man, captain. You see, I know nothing about it, and don't like giving any orders. It was all very well getting on board, and knocking down the crew; but when it comes to sailing her, it is perfectly ridiculous my giving orders, when the men know that I don't know anything about it."

"The men know you have plenty of pluck, Bob; and they know that it was entirely due to your swimming off to that Spanish s.h.i.+p that we escaped being captured, before; and they will obey you willingly, as far as you can give them orders. Still, of course, you do want somebody with you, to give orders as to the setting and taking in of the sails."

As soon as the last gun had been fired, the three vessels had been laid head to wind but, when Bob's boat reached the side of the polacre, they were again put on their course and headed southwest, keeping within a short distance of each other.

Bob's new first mate, an old sailor named Brown, at once set the crew to work to get up a fresh spar, in place of the broken yard.

The men all worked with a will. They were in high spirits at the captures they had made; and the news which Brown gave them, that the polacre was laden with wine, a.s.sured to each of them a substantial sum in prize money.

Before morning the yard was in its place and the sail set and, except for the shortened mizzen, and a ragged hole through the bulwark, forward, the polacre showed no signs of the engagement of the evening before. Two or three men were slung over the stern of the brig; plugs had been driven through the shot holes and, over these, patches of canvas were nailed, and painted black.

Nothing, however, could be done with the sails, which were completely riddled with holes. The crew were set to work to s.h.i.+ft some of the worst; cutting them away from the yards, and getting up spare sails from below. Bob had put a man on the lookout, to give him notice if any signal was made to him from the brig; which was a quarter of a mile ahead of him, the polacre's topgallant sails having been lowered after the main-topsail had been hoisted, as it was found that, with all sail set, she sailed considerably faster than the brig.

Presently the man came aft, and reported that the captain was waving his hat from the taffrail.

"We had better get up the main-topgallant sail, Brown, and run up to her," Bob said.

The sail was soon hoisted and, in a quarter of an hour, they were alongside the brig.

"That craft sails like a witch," Captain Lockett said, as they came abreast of him.

"Yes, sir, she seems very fast."

"It is a pity she is rigged as she is," the captain said. "It is an outlandish fas.h.i.+on. If she were barque rigged, I should be tempted to s.h.i.+ft on board her.

"We will leave the barque alone, at present, Mr. Repton. Our curiosity must keep a bit. I don't want to lose any of this breeze.

We will keep right on, as long as it lasts. If it drops, we will overhaul her."

The barque was the slowest craft of the three, and Joe Lockett had every st.i.tch of canvas set, to enable him to keep up with the others. At noon, a large craft was seen, coming off from the land.

Bob examined her with the telescope, and then handed the gla.s.s to Brown.

"She is a frigate," the sailor said. "It's the same that blazed away at us, yesterday. It's the Brilliant, I think."

"You are sure she is the same that chased us, yesterday?"

"Quite sure."

Captain Lockett was evidently of the same opinion, as no change was made in the course he was steering.

"We may as well speak the captain again," Bob said, and the polacre closed again with the brig.

"Brown says that is the same frigate that fired at us, yesterday, Captain Lockett," Bob said, when they were within hailing distance.

"Yes, there is no doubt about that. I don't want to lose time, or I would stand out and try our speed with her."