Part 5 (1/2)

The next thing was to secure the rearrison, and this we did without any difficulty, si in, cutlass and pistol in hand, upon the sleeping soldiers, and seizing theone of the walls There was a terrific outcry and jabber a the astonished Frenchmen for a minute or tith some show of a disposition to resist; but I pointed out to them that there were only thirty of them to twenty-six of us, that ere armed while they were not, and that ere not in the humour to put up with any nonsense whatever; which, with the resolute attitude of ourtheht a hammer and a handful of nails with uns This occupied but a very few uard-roolanced round the rooainst the wall, and, thinking that these azine, the spirit ofthe battery altogether, instead ofit; so I took down the keys, and, lighting another lantern, of which there were several, I proceeded to investigate

It was as I had anticipated The keys were those of thethe former, I soon found that there was an aes, to wreck the entire structure There was also a coil of slow hted it for the purpose of ascertaining the rate at which it burnt This was soon done, whereupon I cut off enough to burn for about twentyone of them in a heap in the middle of the floor, buried one end of the slowthe other end outside I then returned to the guard-room and marched the prisoners, surrounded byassured myself that all hands were safe, I informed the Frenchmen that I was about to blow up the battery, and recom o The French Away they went down the slope like startled deer, tu over each other in their anxiety to escape froreat delight and amusement of our people, and in less than a minute they had vanished in the darkness The Frenchmen thus disposed of, I ordered my own men to make the best of their way down to the boats, there to wait for ed between the skipper andour respective batteries, display a lantern or light of sonal to the other Andto the battery, was to light a lantern and place it where it could be seen from the other battery, and at the same ti this I noted with satisfaction that the captain's signal was already displayed; so, comforted with the assurance that both batteries were now rendered harmless, I descended to the court-yard, and, with so the slow h to ht, and thenmy ht, and perfectly safe, but thefast over the reef of rocks that sheltered the little cove in which they were lying, and a very nasty, aard sea was beginning to roll in, occasioning the boat-keepers a great deal of trouble and anxiety in their endeavours to prevent the boats being stove ”All is well that ends well”, however, the boats had thus far escaped, and we lost no ti off Just as we did so a terrific glare lit up the sky for an instant, accompanied by a violent concussion of the rocks upon which so, and followed by a deep, thunderous boo roar of the sea and thesound of the falling fraguns dislodged fro-places upon the demolished platform

Meanwhile the wind and the sea had both been steadily increasing until it had grown to be what sailors expressively terht”, and ere no sooner clear of our sheltering reef of rocks than ere struck by a comber that pretty nearly half-filled the boat that I happened to be in, the other boat, which was astern of us, faring little or no better The men, however, bent to their oars with a will, and in about tenthe boats steh the broken water and were enabled to head for the harbour, tohich, wet to the skin, and half-dead with the cold of the piercing bitter wind, we made the best of our way Just inside the harbour entrance, and about mid-channel, we fell in with the skipper's two boats, which had arrived a fewfor us Thus reunited, the skipper and I briefly exchanged details of the result of our respective efforts, after which we gave way in line abreast for the spot where we expected to find the barque We pulled for a quarter of an hour but failed to discover her, although the skipper and I were equally confident that we must be close to the spot where we had seen her at anchor Then, after a brief consultation, it was agreed that the boats should separate and search for her, a pistol-shot froed to notify that the search had been successful This plan, or rather the first part of it, was at once put into execution, each boat pulling away in a different direction froently searched in every likely direction, frequently encountering one or another of the other boats, the barque was nowhere to be found, and, not to needlessly spin out this adventure, it may suffice to say that we fruitlessly hunted all over the harbour until daylight, when it became evident that in soive us the slip andthe time that the skipper and I had been busy with the batteries; but the most curious part of it all was that Coe of the schooner, declared that, although he had never relaxed his vigilance for an instant, fro until our return on board, neither he nor any of thewhatever of the craft We thus had an arduous, dangerous, and ; for with the escape of the barque our work upon the batteries becaood-huhed our anchor, shaping a course to the northward and ard, and then went to breakfast

CHAPTER EIGHT

WE FALL IN WITH A CONVOY

The next three days were spent in dodging about the chops of the Channel, during whichnothing except a few homeward-bound Britishcare of themselves--and a British line-of-battle shi+p, by which ere chased for six hours, but which we had little difficulty in escaping by ja the schooner close upon a wind The unsophisticated reader may perhaps be inclined to wonder e should have been chased by one of our ownchased, we should have taken any trouble to escape froether too rakish-looking a craft to be , low, bea spars, and broad spread of superbly-cut canvas proclaiuish her; and, as the ensign carried was at that tiuarantee of a vessel's nationality, it was the i in with such a craft, to er to our commerce Our friend the two-decker was therefore quite justified in her endeavour to get alongside us and obtain a sight of our papers; and had we possessed any assurance that her delicate attentions would have ended there, her people would have been quite welcome to come aboard us, and overhaul the schooner and her papers to their heart's content But, unfortunately, we had no such assurance There was, at the tireat difficulty in procuring h to adequately man our shi+ps of war, and there was therefore no alternative left to the government but to resort to the process of impressment, a process which naval officers were too often apt to adopt with scant discrimination In their anxiety to secure a full complement for their shi+ps they deethe h seas and i so many men out of the subsequently lost through being thus made so short-handed that their creere insufficient in nuainst bad weather The crews of vessels furnished with letters of marque were nominally protected from impressment; but ere fully aware that the protection was only noether insufficient; hence it came about that a British privateer was always verythe colours of her own country than she was to avoid a shi+p flying those of the enemy

And now, to return to my story On the fourth day after our abortive adventure in Abervrach harbour the wind hauled round frousted with our ill-luck, we gladly squared away before it to seek a better fortune on the bosoht we stretched away to the southward and ard, e sighted and passed the lofty heights and precipitous cliffs of Flores and Corvo, in the neighbourhood of which Captain Winter deter customary for homeward-bound shi+ps from the southward to endeavour toThe wind,a very ht sunshi+ne, and a pleasantly ht days off the Azores, sighting only three vessels during the whole of that time; and as they were all British they were of course of no use to us Then, intensely disappointed at our continued ill-luck, we hauled our wind and, with a freshening breeze from the south-west, stretched away to the ard on the larboard tack, Captain Winter having determined to look for better fortune in the West Indian waters

For the first two days after quitting the neighbourhood of the Azores webaro sky and a rapid increase in the strength of the wind, warned us to prepare for bad weather Up to this ti-jib, and s of the wind, the approach of night, and the threatening aspect of the sky, the skipper deeht canvas and to take down a reef in the mainsail and topsail

It ell that this precaution was taken; for during the night the wind increased to the strength of a gale, with a very heavy, dangerous sea; and when ed down to the jib--with the bonnet off,--reefed foresail, and close-reefedvery black and wild to ard; the sky all along the south-western horizon being of a deep slaty, indigo hue, swept by swift- flying strearey sea, scourged into a waste of steep, foa, wind-furrowed valleys, had already risen to such a height as to completely becalm our low canvas every tih The time was evidently at hand when it would be necessary for us to heave-to; the schooner was therefore got round upon the starboard tack, with her head to the southward; and, as the baro, the hands were set to work to send down the yards and house the topmasts while it was still possible to do so The task was a dangerous one; but we had plenty of strength, and, thewith a will, it was accomplished within an hour; and the schooner was then ready, as we hoped, to face the worst that could happen By noon it was blowing so furiously, and the sea had increased to such an extent, that the skipper deter to sail her, and she was accordingly hove-to under a close-reefed foresail, when everybody but the officer in charge of the deck, and the man at the wheel, went below

As the day wore on the weather greorse, and by nightfall it was blowing a perfect hurricane, the force of the wind being so great that, even under the s of a close-reefed foresail, the schooner was bowed down to her water-ways, and her lee scuppers were all afloat Yet the little craft wasthewell up into the wind, and fore-reaching at the rate of fully three knots in the hour

But it was a dreary and unco so full of scud-water that it was like being exposed to a continuous torrent of driving rain; despite our oil-skins and sou'-westers half an hour on deck was sufficient to secure one a drenching to the skin, while the spray, driven into one's face by the furious sweep of the hurricane, cut and stung like the lash of a whip The schooner, being but a sing, rolling and pitching to such an extent and with so quick awithout holding on to so; while to secure a meal demanded a series of feats of dexterity that would have turned a professional acrobat green with envy And all this disco and shrieking of the wind aloft, the roar of the angry sea, and the heavy, perpetual swish of spray upon the deck

It was about three bells in the first watch that night, when--I being in charge of the deck, and the skipper keeping ht was made out upon our lee bow, quickly followed by another, and another, and still another, until the whole of the horizon ahead was lighted up like a town, there being probably over two hundred lights in sight It was evident that ere approaching a large concourse of shi+ps; and in about an hour's ti into the very heart of the fleet The night was altogether too dark for us to be enabled to make out who and what they were; but the skipper was of opinion that we had encountered a large convoy, and as it was impossible to tell whether they were friends or foes, he determined to wear the schooner round, as soon as we could find room, and heave her to with her head to the ard, like the rest of the fleet, when thewould enable us to ascertain the nationality of our neighbours and decide whether anything was likely to be gained by keeping theht bells, therefore, by which tiot the schooner round and waited i of blank cartridge, throughout the night, as also of signalling with coloured lanterns; but we could, of course,of it, and took it sie of the convoy were doing their best to keep the fleet froale

When h the thick pall of murky, storm-torn vapour that overspread the sky, it became apparent that the skipper's surmise as to the character of the fleet had been correct: the _Dolphin_ being in the midst of sos, froe of two seventy-fours, a fifty-gun shi+p, a frigate, and four eighteen-gun-brigs The allant yards on deck, topgallant-masts struck, and not an ounce of unnecessary top-ha standing, even to their royal-yards There were a feever--er craft,--who had sent down their top-haate-built shi+p--that had lost one or reat difficulties, with the wreck thrashi+ng about aloft and not only threatening the re spars, but also the lives of the creho could be seen endeavouring to cut the raffle adrift That the convoy was British becah to enable us to distinctly hbours

It strucktheir eyes quite so wide open as they ht have done; for there were only four other schooners beside ourselves in the whole fleet, and one would have supposed that the presence of a fifth would instantly have been noticed--especially when that fifth wore so very roguish an appearance as the _Dolphin_,--yet throughout the whole of that day no effort was made to ascertain our nationality, where we ca about us! Of course, under ordinary circu ascertained that the convoy was British, and, therefore, of no especial interest to us, we should have parted co the schooner round with her head to the southward There was, however, one circumstance that decided the skipper to keep coer, and it was this: As has already been ate-builtdawned, was seen to be in a situation of considerable difficulty, her fore andover the side, having apparently been carried away during the night by the tre of the shi+p And near her was an exceedingly sallant-mast housed This vessel joined the convoy about daybreak and was now hove- to under a close-reefed ht to have enabled her to easily forge ahead and eat out to ard of the disabled shi+p And, as a matter of fact, she did so; yet soain into her old place, just to leeward of the shi+p; and after observing her motions for some time, I became impressed with the idea that this was the result of deliberate design, rather than of accident For so with her trysail sheet, necessitating a te which she would pay off and go ing away to leeward for a distance of three or four miles, when the sail would be reset, and she would co stealthily and iain And this was done so naturally that, had it not occurred more than once, I do not know that I should have taken any notice of it To me, however, the circumstance wore a rather suspicious appearance; and when I had mentioned it to the skipper he seeh apparently British built, was in reality an enens upon the disabled shi+p as soon as a favourable opportunity should occur for carrying theh probability in the hypothesis to induce Captain Winter to reress of events, instead of wearing round and resuale continued to blow all day with unabated fury, and the convoy, of course, reradually becameaway to leeward, until, by the tiloomy day dreard its close, the fleet was spread out over a surface of ocean e, nearly or quite twelve e aloft naturally for the reater rate than the rest, since they were unable to dispose their canvas so advantageously as the others for the purpose of lying-to The frigate and gun-brigs were kept busy all day watching these stragglers, urging theuns, to close with thethe part of sheep- dogs; while the crews of the la away the wreck of their broken spars, unbending their split sails and bending others in place, and, in fact, doing their utmost to comply with the orders of the men-o'-war But, after all, their uthtly manned to be able to do really effective work in the face of such a gale as was then blowing

The brigantine that had excited our suspicions had cos, and it was noticeable that, after the man-o'-war had run down and hailed her, no further accidents appeared to have happened aboard her, so that the disabled shi+p had gradually settled away some five miles astern and to leeward of her

Just as the darkness was closing down upon us, however, she took in her trysail and fore-topmast-staysail, and set aabout it that, when at length the change had been effected, the shi+p had drawn up to within about half a antine's lee quarter I directed Captain Winter's attention to this, and he agreed with ly suspicious appearance

”The shi+p, however, is quite safe for the present,” he reantine to be a French as it continues to blow so heavily as at present But directly that the wind shows signs of dropping we may look out; and if we observe any further suspicious manoeuvres we may safely conclude that she is French, and, if the men-o'-war do not forestall us, ill have a slap at her; for she appears to be a wonderfully fast and weatherly craft and is certainly a nificent sea-boat”

I determined that I would keep a sharp eye upon the antine--for I could not ridsuspicion that her people ly watched her until she had displayed her light, which I then pointed out to ahis eye on it; it being my intention to persuade the skipper, if possible, to run down a little closer to her when it had become sufficiently dark to conceal our movements from observation Captain Winter offered no objection to -watch, when the deck was relieved, our helht which was stated to be that of the brigantine But when at length, by careful , we had contrived to approach within biscuit-toss of the vessel displaying it, it was discovered, to e barque, the skipper of which appeared to be greatly frightened at our sudden appearance near him; for he hailed us, in execrable French, that he was armed, and that if we did not sheer off forthwith he would fire into us I replied, in English, that he need not be afraid of us, as ere British, like hiantine in his neighbourhood I got a reply to my question, it is true, but it was utterly incomprehensible; and I doubt very much whether the man understood what I had said to him; for the wind rendered it almost impossible for the most powerful voice to make itself heard, unless at a very short distance and dead to ard, as was the barque when her skipper hailed us We ht, but somehow failed to stumble across either her or the disabled shi+p upon which we suspected her of entertaining designs

CHAPTER NINE

A NARROW ESCAPE, AND A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY

About ale had pretty well blown itself out There was a distinct, if not very strongly-th of the wind, and about an hour before dawn the veil of i, first of all, a small patch of clear sky, with half a dozen stars or so blinking out of it, and then other and larger patches, with more stars; until, by the time of sunrise, the sky was clear, save for the thin detached tatters of fleecy vapour that still swept scurrying away to the northward and eastward

It was ht of early dawn I indulged in a thoroughly searching scrutiny of the fleet--or as ht,--on the look-out for the brigantine; but I failed to discover any traces either of her or of the disabled shi+p This I considered not only surprising but exceedingly suspicious; as the crew of the shi+p had contrived, during the previous day, to clear away the wreck of their top-haet their craft oncetheir fore and main-topsails and a make-shi+ft fore-staysail, under which the vessel appeared to be doing exceedingly hen the darkness of the preceding night had closed down upon the convoy Indeed, so well had she been doing that it occurred to ed to work herself into a tolerably weatherly position, relatively to the rest of the fleet; and I therefore took the shi+p's telescope and went up as far as the cross-trees, to see whether, fro of her to ard But although I spent a long half-hour aloft, carefully scrutinising every craft in sight, I was quite unable to pick up either the shi+p or the brigantine I was still aloft when the skipper made his appearance on deck; and, as I had by that ti up at lance round the horizon, and then descended to ly odd,” remarked the skipper, when I had assured him that both vessels had vanished ”What can have becoantine can scarcely have taken the shi+p; for there has been, and still is, far too much sea for boats to live in; and nobody but aa shi+p aboard in such weather; it would simply mean the destruction of both craft I wonder, nohether that actually is the explanation of their disappearance? But, no; thehe may have sailed under, and no sailor would even sosuch a foolhardy trick! What is your opinion, George?”