From Powder Monkey to Admiral Part 27

The rest Jack and Bill had obtained while their raft was under sail enabled them to row with as much vigour as at first; and row they did with might and main, knowing that their liberty might depend upon their exertions.

The calm was very trying, for they had expected to be wafted quickly across the Channel, and row as hard as they could, their progress must be slow. After rowing for a couple of hours or more, they found themselves apparently no nearer the ship ahead than they had been at first.

At length hunger compelled them to lay in their oars and take some breakfast. They ate a hearty one, for they had plenty of provisions; but on examining their stock of water they found that they must be very economical, or they might run short of that necessary of life.

After a short rest, Bill sprang to his feet.

"It won't do to be stopping," he observed. "If we only make a couple of miles an hour it will be something, and we shall be so much nearer home, and so much farther away from the French sh.o.r.e."

"I'm afraid that when the mounseers find out that we have escaped, they will be sending after us," said Jack. "They will be ashamed of being outwitted by a couple of English boys, and will do all they can to bring us back."

"I believe you are right, Jack," replied Bill; "only, as they certainly will not be able to see us from the sh.o.r.e, they won't know in what direction to pull, and may fancy that we are hid away somewhere along the coast."

"They'll guess well enough that we should have pulled to the nor'ard, and will be able to calculate by the set of the tide whereabouts to find us," said Jack. "We mustn't trust too much to being safe as yet. I wonder what that vessel to the eastward is. She's a ship, for I can see her royals above the horizon, and she's certainly nearer than when we first made her out."

"She must be standing to the westward, then, and will, I hope, pa.s.s inside of us, should the breeze spring up again from the same quarter,"

observed Bill. "She's probably French, or she would not be so close in with the coast."

"As to that, our cruisers stand in close enough at times, and she may be English notwithstanding," answered Jack.

"Unless we are certain that she's English we shall be wiser to avoid her," remarked Bill, "so we'll pull away to the nor'ard."

"But what do you think of the ship out there?" asked Jack, pointing ahead.

"I cannot help believing that she's English," said Bill. "We must run the chance of being seen by her. We shall have to pull on a good many hours, however, first, and when the breeze springs up, she'll pretty quickly run either to the eastward or westward."

The boys, however, after all their remarks, could arrive at no conclusion. They rowed and rowed, but still appeared not to have moved their position with regard either to the sh.o.r.e or the two vessels in sight.

The sun rose high above their heads and struck down with considerable force; but they cared little for the heat, though it made them apply more frequently than they otherwise would have done to their water-cask.

Bill had more than once to warn Jack not to drink too much.

The day was drawing on, and at last Jack proposed that they should have another rest and take some dinner. "There's no use starving ourselves, and the more we eat the better we shall be able to pull," he said.

Bill was not quite of this opinion. At the same time he agreed to Jack's proposal, as his arms were becoming very weary.

They had just finished their dinner when Jack, getting up on the chest in which the mast was stepped, so that he might have a better look-out, exclaimed, "I see a sail between us and the land. The sun just now glanced on it. There's a breeze in sh.o.r.e, depend on it, and it will reach us before long."

Bill jumped up to have a look-out also. He could not distinguish the sail, but he thought by the darker colour of the water to the southward that a breeze was playing over it, though it had not as yet got as far as they were. They again took to their oars and pulled on. Jack, however, occasionally turned round to look to the southward, for he entertained the uncomfortable idea that they were pursued.

They were now, they agreed, nearer the ship to the northward. Her lofty sails must have caught a light westerly air, which did not reach close down to the water, and had sent her along two or three knots an hour.

They could see half-way down her courses, and Jack declared his belief that she was a frigate, but whether English or French he could not determine.

Unless, however, they were to hoist their sail, they might pa.s.s very close to her without being discovered, and the course she was steering would take her somewhat to the eastward of them.

They would have to settle the point as to whether she was a friend or foe, and in the former case whether it would be advisable to hoist their sail, and made every signal in their power to attract her attention, or to keep the sail lowered until she was at a distance from them. Bill had not been convinced that Jack had seen a sail to the southward.

"Whether or not I saw one before, there's one now," cried Jack, "and pretty near, too, and what's worse, it's a boat, so that they have oars, and will be coming up with us in spite of the calm."

"They must have had a breeze to get thus far," remarked Bill.

"Yes, but it has failed them now; see, they are lowering down the sail."

As Jack spoke, a light patch of white like the wing of a wild-fowl was seen for a moment glancing above the water landward.

"Yes, there's no doubt that was a sail, which must have come from the sh.o.r.e; but it is a question whether the Frenchmen will have the pluck to pull on in the hopes of finding us, or will turn back. One thing is certain, that we had better try to keep ahead, when they will have farther to come if they still pursue us."

Once more the boys got their oars out, and laboured away as energetically as before. They every now and then, however, looked back to ascertain if the boat were coming after them. Meantime a light breeze played occasionally over the water, but it was so light that it would not have helped them much, and they thought it wiser not to hoist their sail, as it would betray their position should a French boat really be in pursuit of them.

The ship, which they supposed to be a frigate, was in in the meantime drawing nearer to them from the north-east.

"I cannot help thinking that the boat is still coming after us," cried Jack. "I fancy I caught sight of the gleam of the sun on the men's hats; if I were to swarm up the mast I should be more certain."

"You will run the chance of capsizing the raft if you do," observed Bill.

"I'll just go a little way up," retorted Jack; and he jumped on the chest, and hoisted himself three or four feet only up the mast, while Bill sat down on the deck to counterbalance his weight.

"Yes, I was right," said Jack, coming down. "I made out a boat, as sure as we are here, and a large one, too, or I should not have seen her so clearly. She's a good way off still, so that it will be some time before she can get up with us. The French fellows in her must take yonder ship to be a countryman, or they would not pull on so boldly."

"They may think that they have time to pick us up and be off again before the ship can get near them," said Bill; "but whatever they think, we must try to disappoint them, so we'll pull away as long as we can stand, and then we'll row on our knees."

The sun was by this time sinking towards the west; and should darkness come on, their chances of escape would be increased. The wind had shifted slightly to the south-west, and should it freshen sufficiently to make it worth while hoisting the sail, they might stand away to the north-east. It still, however, wanted two or three hours before it would be perfectly dark, while the boat would be up to them before that time. After rowing for the greater part of an hour, Jack again took a look-out, and reported that he could distinctly see the boat.

"So I suspect by this time can the people on board the ship," observed Bill, "and probably they can see us also; but the crew of the boat well know that with this light wind they can easily row away from the ship should she prove to be English."

In a short time they could both see the boat when only standing up on the raft. They had now too much reason to fear that, in spite of all their efforts, they should be overtaken. Still, like brave boys, they pulled on, though their arms and backs were aching with their exertions.

The Frenchmen, who must by this time have seen the raft, appeared determined to re-take them.

Presently a report was heard, and a bullet flew skimming over the water, but dropped beneath the surface somewhere astern.

Another and another followed.

"Their shot won't hurt us as yet," observed Bill. "They fancy that they can frighten us, but we'll show them that they are mistaken;" and he pulled on as steadily as he had before been doing.

Jack, however, could not resist jumping up once more on the chest, and looking towards the ship.

"Hurrah! there's a boat coming off from the ship!" he cried out. "If she's English, she'll soon make the Frenchmen put about."

Jack was right as to a boat coming from the ship, but the Frenchmen still pulled on. Perhaps they did not see the boat, or if they did, thought that she also was French.

Again and again the pursuers fired, the bullets now falling close to the raft.

"A miss is as good as a mile," cried Bill, rowing on.

But the French boat was evidently getting terribly near.

If any tolerable marksman were on board, he could easily pick off the two occupants of the raft. They knew that well enough, but they kept to their resolution of pulling on till the last.

They were encouraged, too, by seeing the boat from the stranger making towards them. Presently three or four bullets together flew close to their ears, and fell into the water ahead.