CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
THE "MOUETTE", THE "VIGILANT", AND THE "REQUIN."
On reaching the port my first consideration was to discover a suitablecraft in which to make the trip along the coast to the north end of theisland. When it actually came to the point I must confess that the ideaof seizing and carrying off the property of somebody else was extremelyrepugnant to me. Still, I could see no other course open withoutexposing the party to imminent danger of betrayal, and I had resolved inmy own mind that, since necessity seemed to point to the deprivation ofsome unfortunate individual of his property, the deprivation should beonly temporary; I would take the most suitable boat I could find, andwhen done with seek some means of returning her to her owner with ahandsome sum of money as hire.
Having made up my mind so far, I took counsel with Giaccomo, who knewthe place well, and he immediately ran over a list of craft belonging tothe port, any one of which he thought would serve our purpose passablywell. In the midst of his statement, however, he suddenly interruptedhimself with many objurgations upon his own stupidity, to which he addeda statement that he had just that instant thought of a craft which wouldsuit us admirably, one, moreover, which we need not distress ourselvesabout returning.
"That sounds rather promising," said I. "What is she, Giaccomo?"
"She is a pleasure-boat measuring about fifteen tons," replied the man;"she is a very strange-looking craft, but she sails like the wind. Sheis the property of one of the French officers, who built her for his ownamusement."
"Then," said I, "if she is likely to suit us, we will certainly make aprize of her without compunction. Lead on, my man, and let us see if wecan find her."
We went on some distance further until we came to the waterside, notmeeting with a single soul on the way, and there we helped ourselves toa rowing-boat and pulled out into the bay, where, according toGiaccomo's account, we should find her if she then happened to be inport.
We pulled through a large fleet of fishing-boats, coasting feluccas, andother craft, mostly of a size ranging from two to fifty tons, and atlength, just as I was beginning to think our search would be in vain,Giaccomo exclaimed,--
"There she is!"
I looked in the direction indicated, and saw a long low-hulled craft,cutter-rigged, with what struck me as a set of spars altogetherdisproportionate to her size.
"Oh!" I exclaimed in a tone of disappointment, "_she_ will never do.Why, she would capsize with half a capful of wind."
"By no means, signor," replied the Corsican. "Though yew would neverbelieve it, to look at her, she carries her canvas better and longerthan any boat belonging to Ajaccio, and as for working to windward--sheis simply astounding."
"If that be so," said I, "let us paddle up alongside and take a look ather."
We did so, and on a nearer inspection found her to be, according to thethen prevalent ideas concerning naval architecture, quite asextraordinary as Giaccomo had described her to be. She was about fivetimes as long as she was wide, with a bow like a fine wedge, a goodclean run, and very little freeboard; she was in fact a singularforeshadowing of the modern type of racing cutter, and consequently, atthat date, absolutely unique.
I was rather taken with her appearance, and my curiosity, moreover,being strongly excited by the marvellous stories told by Giaccomorespecting her sailing powers,--which, he asserted, he had had frequentopportunities of observing, from having been occasionally engaged toaccompany her owner on his cruises,--I decided forthwith to takepossession of her as a lawful prize. Mooring the boat alongside weaccordingly crept softly on board, and Giaccomo immediately descendedinto the little forecastle to ascertain whether any one happened to beon board. The forecastle proved to be empty, but on going down into thecabin we saw by the feeble glimmer of the cabin lamp a lad of abouteighteen comfortably stretched out on the cushions laid along upon thetop of the lockers.
Drawing his long knife from its sheath, Giaccomo unceremoniously brokein upon the slumbers of this youth, and brandishing the gleaming bladebefore his astonished eyes, while admonishing him in a fierce whispernot to utter a sound above his breath if he placed the slightest valueupon his life, he ordered him to enumerate what stores there were onboard, and to indicate their locality. This the lad did, leading usfirst to a small but well-arranged pantry, and then opening the lockersand exhibiting their contents. A brief survey was sufficient to satisfyme that the craft was amply provisioned for our cruise, and this matterbeing thus satisfactorily settled, we repaired to the deck and proceededto loose the sails and get the cutter under way; the lad whom we had soroughly aroused being persuaded by occasional suggestive exhibitions ofGiaccomo's knife to render his best assistance in the task.
While the two were thus engaged, I conducted Francesca below, and havingindicated to her the small but luxuriously-furnished sleeping cabin ofthe owner, proposed that she should take possession thereof, andendeavour to recruit her somewhat exhausted energies by procuring, ifpossible, a few hours' sleep. I then returned to the deck, and found my"crew" in the act of getting up the anchor. This was soon done, thehead-sails were trimmed, and under a gentle westerly breeze we proceededto work out of the bay.
As the cutter had a boat of her own towing astern, I cast adrift the onewe had "borrowed," and left her to take her chance of drifting ashoreand finding her way once more into her proper owner's hands.
Shortly after leaving our anchorage we passed close to leeward of a longrakish-looking lateener, on board which, as ill-luck would have it, ananchor-watch was being kept. I suppose the circumstance of our gettingunder way at so unusual an hour must have attracted attention on boardthis craft, at all events the casting adrift of the shore-boat had beenobserved; and as we approached we were hailed from her deck with aninquiry as to whether we were aware that one of our boats had goneadrift.
"Ay, ay," replied Giaccomo, "we know it; it is all right: we shall pickher up presently, but we do not care to tack just now in this light windfor fear of-- Diavolo! hold your tongue, you son of a boiled monkey, orI will let daylight into you on one side and out on the other."
The latter part of this speech had been addressed to our prisoner, who,encouraged by the close proximity of the two vessels, had without a signof warning lifted up his voice and shouted with all the power of hislungs,--
"_Perfidie! nous som--_" The remainder of the sentence had been chokedback by the iron grasp of Giaccomo's hand upon the lad's throat, thedagger being flashed before his eyes and the threat hissed into his earsat the same moment.
But it was enough, the mischief had been done. As we glided past thecraft's stern we saw the man on watch dart to the companion anddisappear, returning to the deck in less than a minute, accompanied byanother individual, whose fluttering white garment sufficientlyindicated that he had come direct from his berth without waiting toobserve the decencies of ordinary life. He, too, hailed us, but wewasted no breath in attempting to reply, fully aware that nothing wecould say would allay the suspicion which had been aroused. Insteadtherefore of shouting back, and possibly attracting the attention ofother craft, we devoted all our energies to trimming our canvas to thebest advantage, and packing upon the cutter every rag we could set.
"Per Baccho!" ejaculated Giaccomo between his set teeth, addressing theauthor of the mischief, and emphasising his remarks with a smart prod ofthe knife in the most fleshy part of that misguided individual's person,"I have a great mind to slash your throat open, and then launch youoverboard as a breakfast to the sharks. You have drawn upon us theattention of that rascally guarda-costa, the captain of which will notbe satisfied until he has received a full explanation of your remark.But, maledetto! remember this, the moment our capture seems certain Iwill slit you up as I would a sardine,"--appropriate gesture with theknife,--"so if you object to being slit open like a sardine you willgive me all the help you can. You comprehend?"
The lad comprehended so well that he was frightened half out of hiswits, and went round the deck, taking an ext
ra pull here, easing offhalf an inch of sheet there, shifting the water-casks, and, in short,doing all he knew to increase the speed of the cutter, glancinganxiously astern at the guarda-costa in the intervals, and from her tohis dreaded shipmate.
Of course I am aware that I ought to have interfered and put a stop tothis terrorism on the part of the hot-blooded Corsican, and I _should_have done so, had there appeared any probability of his executing hissanguinary threats; but I had already seen enough of him to believe thathis bark was a great deal worse than his bite, and so, as the prisonerhad evidently got us into what might prove a very awkward scrape, I waswilling that he should not be allowed to go altogether unpunished.
It was even as Giaccomo had foreseen. We were scarcely a mile from theguarda-costa when we saw her canvas drooping in heavy festoons from herlong tapering yards, and by the time that we had increased our distanceto a couple of miles her anchor was a-trip, and she was sweeping roundon her way out after us.
I called my aide aft and asked him whether he knew the craft.
"Too well, signor," he replied. "It has been my lot to be chased by heroften, and many an anxious moment has she caused me. She has the nameof being the fastest sailer inside the Gut, and she is the terror ofevery honest smuggler round the coast here."
"Ho, ho!" said I. "So that is how the land lies, is it, masterGiaccomo? You have been a bit of a smuggler in your time, eh?"
"Yes," he frankly returned, "and not so very long ago either. And Ishould have been taken to a certainty, had not a shot from one of yourcruisers turned yonder inquisitive gentleman back."
"Let us hope we may meet with a similar slice of luck this time," saidI. "Do you think we stand any chance of getting away from her?"
"Everything depends on the weather," was the reply. "In light winds,such as this, I have never seen anything to approach this cutter forspeed; but should it come on to blow, the `Vigilant' will run us underwater."
This was a singularly agreeable piece of information to receive just atthat moment, for the sky had gradually become flecked with fast-flyingpatches of scud, and a dark threatening bank of cloud was working up towindward. So far, however, the breeze remained light, and while we weregliding through the water at the rate of something like five knots, withscarcely a ripple under our bows to indicate the fact, the guarda-costaappeared to have little beyond bare steerage-way.
At first I was sanguine enough to hope that, seeing how we slipped awayfrom her, the lateener would 'bout ship, and return to her moorings; butnothing of the kind: she held on like grim death, her skipper, no doubt,being seaman enough to read in the increasingly-threatening aspect ofthe heavens a promise that his turn should come by-and-by.
In the meantime the wind grew rapidly lighter until it became"breathless" calm; and there we both lay, heaving sluggishly on the longswell, our sails flapping idly from side to side, and our bows boxingthe compass.
The cloud-bank meanwhile had been steadily rising, and at length itcompletely veiled the sky, obscuring first the stars, and finally themoon, and enveloping the whole face of nature in a mantle of inkyblackness. So intense was this darkness that we lost sight of theguarda-costa, the land, and in fact everything save the two or threeriding-lights which the more prudent of the skippers had chosen todisplay on board their craft in the roadstead.
A breathless hush prevailed, broken only by the loud creak of our boomand the flap of the sails. Giaccomo and his shipmate, or prisoner--whichever the reader likes--were somewhere forward, probably sittingdown; but it was impossible to see them in the impenetrable darkness.
I called Giaccomo aft, and his voice, when he spoke in reply, soundedstrange, weird, and unnatural. I considered the aspect of the skyportentous in the extreme, but I wished to have his opinion, as that ofa man accustomed to the weather of that region, and I asked him what hethought of it.
"We shall have it down upon us very heavily before long," he replied;"but I do not think it will last above three or four hours."
"Then we had better bear a hand and shorten sail," said I. "You take inthe gaff-topsail, and bowse down a double reef in the mainsail, and Iwill in foresail and shift the jib. I suppose there is a storm-jibsomewhere on board?"
"Down in the locker, forward," said he. "Be careful to close the hatchsecurely when you come up, signor, or we shall be swamped in less thanten minutes; she will bury herself in the breeze that we are going tohave."
We all three worked like Trojans, and in a remarkably short space oftime had the "Mouette"--as I found the cutter was named--under double-reefed mainsail and storm-jib, the latter well in along the bowsprit,with topmast lowered as far as it would come, the fore-hatch and cabinskylight battened down, and everything made snug and ready for a regularstand-up fight with the elements.
While we were busy with these preparations, I admonished Giaccomo tokeep a smart lookout, and I was careful also to do the same myself, incase the guarda-costa should endeavour to cut matters short by sendingaway a boat after us; but the man assured me that the skipper of thecraft knew too well what he was about to risk the loss of a boat's crewby sending them away under such threatening conditions of weather.
Smart as we had been in making our preparations, we were only barely intime. We had just comfortably completed our work, and I had establishedmyself at the tiller, with Giaccomo at the mainsheet, and Francois--asthe French lad called himself--at the jib-sheet, when there came aterrific flash of lightning, green and baleful, illumining for a singleinstant the entire scene, and revealing our pertinacious friend, the"Vigilant," in her old berth astern, with her long tapering yardslowered to the deck, and two stumpy lugs and a pocket-handkerchief of ajib hoisted in their place. Then, as the opaque darkness closed downupon us again, there followed the long deep reverberating roll of thethunder. Another vivid flash quickly succeeded, the thunder this timebeing much louder and nearer; and then, after a pause of about a minute,there came a perfect _blast_ of lightning, so intensely bright that thewhole atmosphere appeared for one brief moment to be literally on fire.Simultaneously with the flash came the awful deafening crackling crashof the thunder, the terrific detonations of which completely stunned andunnerved me while they lasted, so overpowering were they in comparisonwith anything of the kind which I had before heard. We had scarcelytime to recover our hearing before we became conscious of a hissingroaring sound in the atmosphere, momentarily increasing in intensity,and, looking to windward, there appeared in startling relief against thesable background a long line of luminous milky foam rushing down towardus from the horizon. In an incredibly short time the squall was uponus. On it came, like a howling fiend, over the tortured surface of theocean, causing it to hiss and seethe like the contents of a boilingcauldron, and striking the cutter with such resistless fury that shewent over helplessly before it, burying her lee-rail so deeply in thebrine that her sails lay prostrate upon the surface of the water.
Each of us instinctively shouted to the others to "hold on," grasping atthe same moment whatever came nearest. I managed somehow to clamber upthe deck, as the cutter went over, and, passing out over the lowbulwarks, established myself on the upturned side of the little craft.Giaccomo had done the same, while Francois was standing on the side ofthe cabin-companion, and clinging convulsively with both hands to theweather-rail.
Crawling up to the side of the Corsican, I placed my mouth to his earand shouted,--
"Do you think you can cut away the mast?"
"No! no! no!" he earnestly returned. "See, signor, her head is paying-off, and she will come up again in a minute or two; she _cannot_ turnover altogether, her ballast is too well secured for that, and she willnot fill even if she remains thus for half an hour yet; no water can getbelow except through the companion, and the doors fit so well that verylittle will get down even through them. See there, she is coming upagain already."
It was even so. While the man was speaking, the cutter's bows had beenrapidly paying-off, until we headed, as nearly as we could gue
ss,straight for the shore; when, the pressure of the wind being no longerupon her broadside, the heavy ballast had gradually dragged the yachtinto an upright position, and we had, somewhat precipitately, toscramble inboard again.
The moment that the yacht recovered herself, the wind of course caughther sails, and away we at once started to leeward with the speed of ahunted stag. This, however, would never do; the shore was straightahead, and, at the rate at which we were travelling, twenty minuteswould have seen us dashed into matchwood upon the rocks.
Very cautiously, therefore, we brought her upon a wind, and though, whenwe again got broadside-to, she threatened to go over once more with us,we managed by careful manipulation of the sheets to avoid such acatastrophe; and when we had got her once fairly jammed close upon awind, some former experience of mine in cutter sailing enabled me tokeep her right side uppermost. But it was perilous work for a good hourafter the squall struck us. I have occasionally seen in my later dayssome bold and even reckless match-sailing, but I have never yet seen acraft so desperately overdriven as was, perforce, the little "Mouette"on that memorable night. While the first strength of the gale lasted wewere literally under water the whole time, the sea boiling and foamingin over our bows, and sweeping away aft and out over the taffrail in acontinuous flood.
I believe we should have sailed faster, and we should assuredly havemade much better weather of it, had we been able to get a close reefdown in the mainsail; but under the circumstances this was impossible,since, being so short-handed, it would have delayed us long enough toallow the "Vigilant" to get alongside us before we had got through withthe work. There was, therefore, nothing for it, but to keep on as wewere, the cutter heeling over to an angle of quite 50 deg., so that we werereally standing upon the inside of the lee bulwark, with our backsresting against the steeply-inclined deck, up above our knees in thesea, beneath which the little craft's lee-rail was deeply buried; while,owing to our great speed, we rushed _through_ instead of riding over thesea which was rapidly getting up, so that, when an unusually heavy"comber" met us, we were literally _buried_ for the moment, while itswept over us.
Luckily the first mad fury of the blast lasted only for two or threeminutes, or our mast could never have resisted the tremendous strainupon it; as it was, stout though the spar--absurdly disproportionate tothe size of the craft, I then considered it--it swayed and bent like afishing-rod, causing the lee-rigging to blow out quite in bights, whilethat to windward was strained as taut as harp-strings, the resemblanceto which was increased by the weird sound of the wind as it shriekedthrough it.
Scarcely had the tempest burst upon us before the veil of cloud whichhad obscured the heavens was rent to shreds by its fury, the sky wascleared as if by magic, the moon and stars reappeared--the former lowdown upon the horizon,--and we had an uninterrupted view of the wildscene around us.
We were heading straight out from the land, and sailing so close to thewind that we were taking the seas nearly stem-on; and I frankly confessthat my heart was, metaphorically speaking, in my mouth for the greatestpart of that night, while watching the little craft rush bodily into thesteep slope of wave after wave, and felt her quiver like a frightenedthing as they swept hissing and seething over our heads. My admirationfor the skill of her builder was boundless; for, had I not witnessed thecutter's achievements, I could never have credited the power of wood andiron to successfully resist such a terrific strain and battering as shereceived.
When the first wild struggle for existence was over, and we had fairlysettled down to our work in that mad life-or-death race, we had time tolook round and see how our opponent had come out of the struggle. Wehad not far to look. There she was, about three miles to leeward, andwell on our quarter, dashing gallantly on; now rushing upward upon thecrest of a wave, amid a deluge of spray, and lifting her fore-foot outof the water as though about to leave the element altogether and takeflight into the air, like a startled sea-bird; and anon plunging downinto the trough until only a small portion of the heads of her sails wasvisible. She was evidently making much better weather of it than wewere; but on the other hand half-an-hour's patient observation revealedto us the comforting fact that, notwithstanding her vaunted speed, wewere both head-reaching and weathering upon her.
Satisfied at length that this was actually the case, I asked Giaccomowhat he now thought of our chances of escape.
"We shall get away from her," he replied exultingly. "I have no longerany fear of _her_; what I now dread is the possibility of the cutterfoundering from under us. There must be a considerable amount of watermaking its way into her interior, with the sea sweeping over us thusincessantly; indeed, I am convinced that we are sensibly deeper in thewater than we were."
"Do you think you could manage to get the pump under way?" I asked.
"I would _try_," he replied; "but the well is on the larboard side,close by my feet, and deep under water."
"Then," said I, "we must endeavour to get her round upon the other tack.We will watch for a `smooth,' and directly it comes, you and Francoismust round-in upon the mainsheet. Are you both ready?"
They replied in the affirmative, and after watching in vain for somefive minutes, a terrific sea burst over us, burying the craft--as itseemed to me--nearly half-way up her mast, and beyond it the water wascomparatively smooth.
"In with it!" I gasped, as we came out on the other side of this liquidhill. They gathered in the sheet as though their lives depended on it,and at the same moment I eased off the weather tiller-rope, and gave thecraft her head. She surged up into the wind, her canvas flapping sofuriously that it threatened to shake the mast out of her; her lee-gunwale appeared above the surface, and placing my feet against thetiller I pressed it gradually over, helping her round while stopping herway as little as possible; a sea rushed up and struck her on the port-bow, sending her head well off on the other tack, the jib-sheet waspromptly hauled over, the mainsail filled, and as we hurriedly scrambledover to the other side of the deck and secured ourselves anew withlashings round our waists, the "Mouette" plunged forward on the larboardtack, looking well up to windward and heading about due north.
The fixing and rigging of the pump was a work of considerable difficultyand danger, but it was eventually done; and then Giaccomo and Francois,placing themselves one on each side, set resolutely to work, with thedetermination of not leaving off as long as a drop of water would flowfrom the spout.
The clear stream which gushed out as soon as the brake was set goingshowed us unmistakably that we had not begun a moment too soon, and hadwe still entertained any doubt upon this point, it would have beendispelled by the length of time it took to clear the little craft ofwater. It was broad daylight when at length Giaccomo pantedtriumphantly,--
"There she sucks!"
Just before sun-rise we noticed the first indications of a break in thegale, and by eight o'clock it had so far moderated that our lee-rail wasjust awash, and instead of diving through the seas, as we had been eversince the gale struck us, the cutter managed to rise over everything butthe heaviest. It was still too wet forward to permit of taking off theforecastle-hatch, but communication between cabin and forecastle couldbe effected by means of a sliding door in the bulkhead; so Francois wassent below with instructions to prepare a thorough good breakfast, withplenty of hot coffee--which, let me say, I have found infinitely morecomforting and refreshing than spirits, after long exposure to wet orcold, or both combined.
After the setting of the moon we had lost sight of the guarda-costauntil dawn once more betrayed her whereabouts. When first seen she washull-down and about three points on our lee quarter, still under her twolugs and jib. So far, this was satisfactory; we had walked fairly awayfrom her in her own weather, and Giaccomo was in ecstasies.
"Ah!" he chuckled, "Monsieur Leroux would have almost forgiven us forrunning away with his `Mouette,' had he been here to see what a shamefulbeating she has given the `Vigilant.' The story is sure to leak outthrough some of the lateener'
s people, and poor old Lieutenant Durand,who commands her, will not dare to show himself ashore at Ajaccio, hewill be so laughed at."
But the guarda-costa's people had no idea of tamely accepting theirdefeat as final. No sooner was it light enough for them to fairly makeus out, than they shifted their sails, substituting single-reefedlateens for the lugs, and taking in their storm-jib out of the way.Their increased spread of canvas soon told a tale, for before half anhour had passed it became evident that they were gaining upon us, goingfaster through the water, that is; but she did not appear to weather onus much, if at all. The fact that the "Vigilant" was overhauling us,however, gave me very little uneasiness, for I calculated that, as wewere both then sailing, it would take her quite three hours to getwithin gunshot of us, and probably another half-hour before there wouldbe much probability of her hitting us, and by that time I expected weshould be within four hours' sail of San Fiorenzo, where I fullyexpected to find the old "Juno," and probably a few more of our ownships; and I thought it very doubtful whether the Frenchmen would keepup the chase so far as that, for fear of running into a trap and beingthemselves caught.
We therefore went to breakfast with tolerably easy minds, to say nothingof good appetites, and thoroughly enjoyed the meal,--a most sumptuousone, considering the place and the circumstances of its preparation,--Giaccomo condescending so far to relax the sternness of his demeanour toFrancois as to pat that individual approvingly on the shoulder, and toassure him that such cookery went far to atone for his extraordinaryindiscretion of the night before.
Francesca sat down to breakfast with us, having quite unexpectedly madeher appearance on deck, fresh, blooming, and cheerful, about half anhour before. To my unbounded surprise, she assured me that she hadpassed a very tolerable night, having indeed been sound asleep for thegreater portion of the time. She had been somewhat alarmed when thecutter was thrown upon her beam-ends, but had not been in the leastincommoded by the accident, nor indeed aware of its full extent, the cotupon which she was lying being a very ingenious affair, so contrivedthat it always maintained a perfectly horizontal position, no matter howmuch the cutter rolled and pitched, nor how greatly she heeled over.This was very gratifying news to me, for I fully expected to see herappear in the morning excessively frightened, and possibly veryseriously bruised by the violent motion of the little craft in which shehad passed so adventurous a night.
By the time that we had all breakfasted the wind had so far moderatedthat it became necessary to make sail upon the cutter; the "Vigilant"having crept up well abeam of us, though still hull-down and apparentlyclose in with the land. We accordingly shook both reefs out of themainsail, and got the foresail and working-jib set, with which canvas werushed along in true racing style, our lee-rail well buried, and thecraft taking just enough weather-helm to allow of her being steered to ahair's-breadth. Her performance perfectly enchanted me; I had neverseen anything like it before, and to my unaccustomed eyes she seemedfairly to fly. Even Giaccomo and Francois, both of whom had repeatedlysailed in her, asserted that they had never seen her do so well before.
When we again had time to take a glance to leeward at the "Vigilant," wediscovered that well-named craft bowling along under whole canvas, andevidently trying her hardest to head-reach upon us. For the first half-hour we endeavoured to flatter ourselves that we were still holding ourown, but at the end of that time such self-deception was no longerpossible; the breeze suited us admirably, but there was still too muchsea for the little "Mouette," and the "Vigilant's" superior power atlength began to tell. Had they carried sail as recklessly through thenight as we had, there can be no doubt they would have been alongside ofus by daylight. By this time, too, we were abreast of Calvi, and wereable to bear away with a beam wind for Acciajola Point, round which, andat the bottom of the bay, lay San Fiorenzo, our destination. Ouraltered course gave our opponent a further advantage by bringing her acouple of points before our beam, and we had the mortification of seeingthat the craft was edging out to intercept us, and would, to a moralcertainty, cut us off before we could reach the headland.
Still, I resolved to stand on, and trust to the chapter of accidents forour ultimate escape. If the change in our course had given the"Vigilant" one important advantage, it had given us another, to which Iattached quite as much weight; it had brought the wind and sea abeam,and permitted us to ease up our sheets, while the sea no longer retardedus: it also permitted us to set a little extra canvas, and weaccordingly lost no time in getting our topmast on end and setting thegaff-topsail, after which we could do nothing but sit still andanxiously watch the result.
Meanwhile the two vessels were rapidly converging upon a point distantabout a mile from Cape Acciajola. The wind continued to drop, the seagoing down at the same time; and as the morning advanced and the weatherbecame lighter, we appeared to be once more getting rather the advantageof our pertinacious antagonist. So completely was our attention engagedby the "Vigilant," that it was not until that craft had hoisted hercolours that we became aware of the fact that a new actor had appearedupon the scene, and was within seven miles of us. This was a brig,which when we first caught sight of her was running in for the land fromthe W.S.W., with every stitch of canvas set that would draw, includinglower, topmast, and topgallant studding-sails on her port side. She layabout three points on our weather quarter, and was steering for the Gulfof San Fiorenzo.
The appearance of this stranger naturally added very greatly to myanxiety. I could not in the least make up my mind as to hernationality, for she hoisted no colours in response to the "Vigilant's"display of her ensign, and though she struck me as being thoroughlyFrench, both in build and rig, I could not understand why she should berunning for San Fiorenzo, if our fleet was there; while if it was not,it seemed pretty certain that I had run into what old Rawlings, thesailing-master, was wont to designate "the centre of a hobble," in otherwords--a decided predicament. How to act, under the circumstances, Iknew not; I was thoroughly embarrassed.
Away to leeward was the "Vigilant," in such a position that if we boreup we should be simply running straight into her clutches; up there towindward was this mysterious brig, from which there was no possibilityof escape if we hauled our wind, while if we kept straight on we werestill almost certain to fall into her hands, assuming that we were luckyenough to escape the "Vigilant." Of course there was just a barepossibility of her being English, but if so her appearance strangelybelied her.
It seemed to me that the least imprudent thing to do would be to keepstraight on as we were going, and this I accordingly did. I still feltvery anxious to know for certain who and what this brig really was, andat last I determined to hoist the English flag over the French at ourgaff-end, hoping that this signal would evoke some response; but as faras the brig was concerned it was entirely without effect.
Not so, however, with regard to the "Vigilant;" the sight appeared togreatly irritate her worthy skipper, for he immediately hauled his wind,and very soon afterwards tried the effect of his long brass nine uponus. The shot fell short some sixty or seventy fathoms, but it was wellaimed, and pretty conclusively demonstrated that Monsieur Durand wasgrowing angry. Finding that we were as yet out of range, the lateeneronce more kept away upon her former course, evidently recognising thepossibility that, if she did not, we might still slip past her.
Another quarter of an hour brought us abreast of the Cape, and in aboutten minutes more we had opened the town of San Fiorenzo. Well out inMortella Bay a large fleet of ships lay at anchor, while much nearer theshore a 74-gun ship and a frigate were visible, also apparently atanchor, and briskly engaging a battery of some sort, which appeared tobe built on a projecting point of land. At the same time the roar ofthe distant cannonade, which had been shut off from us by theintervening high land, was borne distinctly to our ears. Meanwhile theinscrutable brig had steadily pursued her course, without appearing totake the slightest notice of the little drama which was being enactedahead of her, and now came foaming u
p upon our weather quarter, steeringso as to shave close past our taffrail.
I had by this time lost all doubt as to her nationality, though shestill kept her bunting well out of sight; she was unmistakably Frenchall over, from keel to truck. And though she was an enemy I could nothelp admiring the beautiful order and neatness which characterised herappearance: two qualities which were rarely to be witnessed on boardFrench ships at that period. I was rather surprised that she had notpitched a shot across our fore-foot before this, as a delicateintimation that the time had arrived for us to heave-to; but as she hadnot, I began to entertain a faint glimmer of hope that she was engagedupon some special service of such importance that she could not sparetime to interfere with us.
It was evident that she had no intention of rounding-to, for there stillstood her studding-sails without a sign of any preparation for takingthem in. Our attention was now of course, for the moment, givenexclusively to her; our curiosity being strongly roused as to herintentions. In another moment she swept magnificently across our stern,so closely that a bold leap would have carried a man from her weathercat-head down upon our deck; and as she did so we became aware of sundrytanned and bearded faces, some of which seemed familiar to me, peeringcuriously down upon us through her open half-ports. At the same momenta dapper young fellow in the uniform of a British midshipman sprang intothe main-rigging, speaking-trumpet in hand, and hailed us somewhat inthe following fashion,--
"Cutter ahoy! who are you, and whither bound? and what is thatpiratical-looking craft down to leeward? If he is interfering with you,you had better bear up and follow in my wake; I'll take care that--hilloa! if that isn't Chester may I never--ahoy! Chester, old boy!don't you know _me_?--Bob Summers, you know. Up helm, old fellow; the`Juno' is in there, and--"
The rest was unintelligible, the brig being by this time too far away toallow of further conversation. Of course I bore up at once, for thebrig being in English hands, I had no further occasion for anxiety withregard to the "Vigilant." That craft, true to her name, had evidentlybeen on the watch to see what would come of the meeting which had justtaken place, and had already arrived at the conclusion that what hadpassed boded her no good, for the moment we bore up, she did the same,wearing short round upon her heel, and shaping a course, as nearly as wecould judge, for Calvi. Bob, however, who was evidently burning todistinguish himself, seemed to regard this as a favourable opportunityfor so doing, and promptly squared away, steering a course which wouldenable him to intercept the guarda-costa; we following steadily in hiswake to witness the fun. Almost immediately afterwards we heard theshrill notes of the bo'sun's whistle, followed by the hoarse bellowingsound in which that functionary is wont to transmit the commandingofficer's orders to the ship's company. And occasionally we weregratified with the sight of Mr Bob Summers squinting curiously at usthrough his telescope, out of one of the stern-ports.
The moment that the brig was fairly within range of the "Vigilant," Bobbowled a 9-pound shot across that craft's fore-foot, as an invitation toher to heave-to. Monsieur Durand, however, seemed in no humour foraccepting any such invitation just then, for he immediately returned adecided negative from his long brass 9-pounder, sending the shot verycleverly through both Bob's topsails, and narrowly missing the mainmast-head. I expected to see Master Bob round-to and deliver his wholebroadside in retaliation--it would have been quite like him to do so;instead of this, however, he maintained a grim silence, notwithstandingthat Monsieur Durand continued his efforts to cripple the brig. Atlength, however, Bob got within short pistol-shot of his adversary, andthen in came his studding-sails, all together, down went his helm, and_crash_! went his broadside of four 9-pounders into the devotedFrenchman, bringing his sails and his flag down by the run, together.
As the brig rounded-to, her main-topsail was thrown aback, bringing herto a standstill directly to windward of the "Vigilant," and within easyhailing distance. Then Master Bob hove into view in the main-riggingonce more, still with the precious speaking-trumpet in his hand, and theguarda-costa was sternly ordered to surrender--as I afterwards learned,we being at the moment rather too far astern to hear what passed,--whichshe forthwith did. The cutter was thereupon lowered and manned, and aprize crew went on board to take possession, little Summers himself alsogoing with the party.
In the meantime we in the "Mouette" joined company, heaving-to closeunder the brig's quarter, and making out for the first time the word"Requin" (Shark), which was painted on her stern in small red letters.
After the lapse of perhaps a quarter of an hour the brig's cutter shovedoff from the side of the "Vigilant," and in another minute Bob and Iwere shaking hands as vigorously as though we had not seen each otherfor years. As soon as he had done with me, the young rascal turned toFrancesca, whereupon I introduced him in due form in French. Francescaat once frankly gave him her hand, and made a pretty little speech as tothe happiness which it afforded her to make the acquaintance of anyfriend of her "cher Ralph," etcetera, etcetera.
Master Bob, whose knowledge of French was of the slenderest and mostflimsy description, was in no wise disconcerted by being addressed inwhat was to him practically an unknown tongue. He bowed with all theelegance and grace he could muster, smiling meanwhile as suavely as heknew how, and finally responding somewhat in this style,--
"_Je suis_ most happy _a avez le plaisir a-makez votre_ acquaintance,Mile. Paoli. _J'ai_ already _l'honneur de_ being partially acquaintedwith _votre oncle_, General di Paoli, and a fine fellow he is. And--myeye! won't he be surprised to see you? I only wish you could stay onboard _le_ `Juno,' or, better still, take up your quarters aboard thebrig, the skipper giving her of course to Chester and me with a rovingcommission. That _would_ be jolly; but there--what's the use ofthinking of such a thing? Of course it is ever so much too good to betrue. By the way, Chester,"--turning to me--"have you dined yet?Neither have I. Now suppose we all go aboard the brig then; I'll leavea couple of hands to help your crew here, and we can then make sail incompany. I say, we shall present quite an imposing appearance as webring-up in the roadstead. I expect the skipper will send for us on thequarter-deck, and thank us before all hands for our gallantry andimportant services."
Bob jumped into the boat alongside, as he concluded; I followed, andthen Francesca stepped daintily down into the dancing craft, where thegallant Bob established her snugly in the stern-sheets, close alongsidehimself. He then seized the yoke-lines, gave the order to "shove offand give way" in his most authoritative manner, and in ten minutes morewe were all three comfortably established in the cosy little cabin ofthe brig, with a very tolerable dinner on the table before us.
Under the Meteor Flag: Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War Page 16
