From Powder Monkey to Admiral Part 43

"They must be nice people if they are like him, for Oliver Crofton is a capital fellow. He is as kind-hearted and even-tempered as he is brave and good-looking, and he is a favourite with all on board."

"I am glad to hear that, though it makes me the more sorry that we should have missed each other, but I hope before long to fall in with him," observed Rayner.

A breeze springing up, the officers retired to their respective vessels, and the _Lily_ and _Ariel_ parted company, the former rejoining the frigate. While off Antigua, the wind being from the eastward, the frigate made the signal of three strange sail to the south-west, and directly afterwards to give chase.

All the canvas they could carry was set. In a short time one of the strangers was seen to haul up to the northward, and the _Lily_ was ordered to go in pursuit of her. She was apparently the smallest of the three, but was still likely to prove no mean antagonist. As the _Lily_ appeared to be gaining on her, the commander gave the order to prepare for action. The frigate meantime was standing after the other two vessels. Before long her topsails, and finally her royals, disappeared beneath the horizon.

"We shall have her all to ourselves, and we'll see how soon we can take her," observed Mr Horrocks to the second lieutenant. "It is some time since you smelt powder, Lascelles."

"Last time I smelt a good deal of it, when we were beating off a ship twice our size, and should have taken her, too, had she not gone down in the night," answered the second lieutenant, in his usual quiet tone. "I got my promotion in consequence."

"And wrote an ode to victory, eh?" said Mr Horrocks, who was fond of bantering his brother lieutenant on his fondness for poetry.

"And it was considered good," responded the young officer.

"You will have an opportunity of exercising your poetical talents before long on the same subject, I hope," observed the first lieutenant. "We are gaining fast on the chase."

Just then the look-out from the mast-head shouted, "Sail on the starboard bow!"

"Go and see what she is like," said the commander to Rayner.

Our hero hurried aloft, his telescope hanging by a strap at his back.

He was quickly joined by the second lieutenant. They were of opinion that she was a large craft, and that the object of the chase was to draw the _Lily_ away from the frigate, so that the corvette might have two opponents to contend with.

"We must manage to take her before she reaches the other, then we shall have time to prepare for a second action," observed Mr Lascelles.

"Can she be the _Ariel_?" asked Rayner. "She's very likely to be cruising hereabouts."

Mr Lascelles took another look at her through his gla.s.s.

"I think not," he answered. "The chase must have seen her, and must know her to be a friend, or she would not keep on as she is at present standing."

The two officers descended to make their report.

The _Lily_ was a fast craft, and now rapidly gained on the chase, which, as she drew within range, fired a couple of shot.

Captain Saltwell ordered the two foremost guns to be fired in return.

The second lieutenant took charge of one and Rayner of the other. Both, looking along the sights, gave them the proper elevation, and fired at the same moment. The effect of the shot was beyond all expectation.

Down came the foreyard, shot away in the slings, causing, it was very evident, considerable confusion on board.

"Bravo, Rayner! you did it!" cried Mr Lascelles. "My shot went through the mainsail."

The enemy now opened fire from a broadside of ten guns, but not a shot damaged the _Lily_, which, ranging up on the weather side of her opponent, began blazing away as fast as the crews could run in and load their guns.

The stranger was a large flush-decked vessel, crowded with men, many of whom, stripped to the waist, were working away desperately at their guns, while others opened a heavy fire of musketry.

As Rayner, who had charge of the foremost guns, was watching her, he caught sight of a young man in the uniform of a midshipman, who sprang suddenly up through the companion-hatch, and, making his way aft, seemed to be addressing the captain with energetic action. Rayner got but a glimpse of him, for the next moment there came a fearful roaring sound.

The deck of the enemy's ship rose in the air, rent into a thousand fragments. Her masts and yards and sails shot upwards, and her dark hull seemed suddenly to melt away.

The _Lily_ reeled with the shock, and the crew, astounded by the awful catastrophe, for a moment forgot their discipline. Several of the men were knocked down; indeed, it seemed surprising that any should have escaped. Rayner remained at his station, and although several pieces of burning plank fell close to him, he was uninjured.

The voice of the commander was soon heard recalling the men to their duty, and ordering them to fill the buckets with water, to prevent the blazing fragments which strewed the deck from setting the ship on fire.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

A RESCUE.

While some of the crew were engaged on deck, others, led by the second lieutenant, the boatswain, and Rayner, ascended the rigging with buckets of water to heave over the sails, which in several places had caught fire.

It was a work of extreme peril, but it was quickly accomplished, before much damage had been done. The ship all the time was standing on, her starboard tacks aboard.

Nearly a quarter of an hour had elapsed before any one could look in the direction where their late antagonist had floated.

A few dark fragments of wreck could alone be seen in the far distance, but no one supposed that any human beings could have escaped from the fearful catastrophe. The _Lily_ was quickly put to rights and stood on in chase of the stranger, which was now seen, under a press of sail, standing away to the north-west.

Evening was approaching, and it was feared that if she wished to avoid the risk of an engagement, she might manage to escape in the night.

During the first part of it the atmosphere was tolerably clear, and the chase could dimly be seen in the distance. She was carrying all sail, evidently doing her best to escape. The _Lily_ had all her canvas set, but as at night a squall cannot be seen, as in the daytime, coming across the ocean, all hands were kept on deck, ready to take it in at a moment's notice.

"Are we gaining on the chase?" asked the commander, when the second lieutenant, who had just before gone forward, returned.

"I think so, sir; but unless the breeze freshens, it will be a long time before we can get her within range of our guns."

Everything that could be thought of was done to make the corvette move through the water. The sails were wetted, the hammocks were piped down, and the watch were ordered to turn in, with a couple of round shot with each, under the idea that as the hammocks swung forward with the surge of the ship, her speed would be increased.

The privateers were at that time committing so much havoc among the English merchantmen, that it was of the greatest importance to stop their career.

As the night drew on, the crescent moon, which had before been affording some light, sank beneath the horizon, and the darkness increased, a mist gradually filling the atmosphere, and obscuring all objects around. The chase was thus shut out from view. Still the _Lily_ continued standing in the direction she had last been seen.

Rayner was on the forecastle near Ben Twinch, both endeavouring to pierce the veil which surrounded the supposed privateer.

"We may at any moment run through this mist, and we shall then, I hope, see the chase again," observed Ben. "It won't do for a moment to shut our eyes, for maybe we shall find her much closer than before."

"I fancy that I can even now see her, but my imagination may deceive me," said Rayner. "Can that be her out there?"

"I can't see anything," said the boatswain, putting his hands on either side of his eyes.

"What is that on the lee bow?" suddenly exclaimed Rayner.

Before the boatswain could turn his eyes in the direction the midshipman was pointing, the latter added, "I must have been mistaken. It has disappeared, for I can see nothing. Still I must go aft and report to the commander what I saw, or fancied I saw."

"It could only have been fancy," remarked Captain Saltwell. "The imagination is easily deceived in an atmosphere like this. We'll keep on as we were standing."

Rayner accordingly went forward. He was not sorry at length to be relieved, as he was growing weary from having had so long to keep a strain on his eyes.

At last, awakened by the gruff voice of the boatswain turning up the hands, he went on deck, and found that it was already daylight; but not a sail was in sight, and it was pretty evident that the chase had altered her course.