The Missing Ship Part 19

"Shorten sail!" shouted the captain, "see the grappling-irons ready! up with the helm!"

The next instant the two ships came in contact. Norman Foley and Gerald were the first to spring on board; the dreadful idea had taken hold of both of them that the vessel attacked was the _Ouzel Galley_. Of this, the moment they reached her deck, they were convinced when they caught sight of Owen Ma.s.sey's figure, cutla.s.s in hand, backed by Dan and Pompey, combating with an overwhelming number of enemies, who appeared already to have gained possession of the greater part of the ship.

Among those who formed the boarding-party was Dillon, who showed as much alacrity as any one. He was soon in the midst of the fight, attacking the boarders of the other ship with desperate fury. The leader of the latter was dressed in a fantastic manner, to give ferocity to his appearance. He was soon crossing blades with Dillon.

"These fellows are pirates!" shouted Captain Olding. "Cut them down; give them no quarter--a reward for the man who gets hold of their leader!"

Dillon and his antagonist had made several cuts at each other, which had been parried with equal skill by both, when the pirate, hearing what Captain Olding shouted out, sprang back apparently to regain his own ship. Dillon, instead of attempting to stop him, warded off a blow aimed at him by another man, and thus enabled the pirate, with a considerable number of his followers, to leap on board his own vessel.

The lashings which held her to the _Ouzel Galley_ were at the same moment cut, and before the British seamen could follow she dropped from alongside. Her helm was then put up, and her head-sails filling, she ran off before the wind.

Gerald grasped Owen's hand. "Faith, you've had a narrow escape!" he exclaimed.

"Indeed, we have," answered Owen; "and, I fear, have lost a large number of our crew. Had you not come up, we should every one of us been killed."

"Where are Miss Ferris and her father?" asked Norman Foley, turning round to Owen, whom he now recognised.

"They are safe, I trust, below, and will be glad to see you and hear that they have no longer cause for apprehension," answered Owen. "I have too many duties on deck to go."

The lieutenant sprang below, just at the moment that Captain Olding ordered the crew of the corvette to return on board and the grappling-irons to be cast loose.

"We must chase the pirate and punish him for his audacity," he exclaimed.

It was some time, however, before the order could be obeyed and the corvette got clear of the merchantman. Gerald had remained on board.

"I ought to tell Mr Foley, or he will be left with you," he said; and he followed his lieutenant below. Before he returned on deck the ships were clear, and the corvette was making sail to go in chase of the pirate.

Owen had persuaded Mr Ferris and Ellen to go into the hold, to which they had been hurried when the first shot had been fired by the pirate.

Owen had for some time before been suspicious of the strange sail, which he saw standing up on his starboard quarter, and, thinking that she was very probably an enemy's privateer, was not taken altogether unprepared.

He had ordered his powder and shot to be brought on deck, and the guns to be loaded and run out ready for action; when, therefore, a shot from the stranger came flying close to his stern, he fired in return, and at the same time making all sail, endeavoured to keep ahead of her. She now fired shot after shot from her foremost guns, and he had no longer any doubt that she was an enemy which had borne down on the fleet, hoping to pick up one or two of the merchant vessels and be off with them before morning.

"The fellow has made a mistake in attacking us," observed Owen to his first mate. "His greediness tempted him to attack a big ship--he might have succeeded had he run alongside some of the brigs astern."

Pompey, who had accompanied Mr Ferris and his daughter below, returned to report that he had seen them safe in the hold. "De gentlemen want to come back and fight, but de young lady no let him--she cry so, and hold his hand, and say he get kill; so at last he sit down and stay quiet,"

remarked Pompey.

"I am very glad to hear it," observed Owen; "he could be of no use in working the guns, and it would be a sad thing to have him injured."

These remarks were made in the intervals of firing. The enemy, however, did not leave them long at rest; their shot soon began to tell with fearful effect; several of the crew fell killed or wounded, and the sails and rigging were much cut about. Still Owen's men were staunch, and stood manfully to their guns, running them in and out so rapidly, and pointing them so well, that they inflicted as much damage as they received; and by the way he manoeuvred his ship he kept the stranger at a distance, and prevented her from running up alongside, which it was evidently her intention to do. She, however, it appeared, by possessing a numerous crew, had an immense advantage in being able to repair her damages far more rapidly than could the people of the _Ouzel Galley_ those their ship received. At length, however, the rigging of his ship was so much cut up that Owen could no longer manoeuvre her as he had done, and the pirate, taking advantage of his condition, ran alongside him.

"The enemy are about to board us!" cried Owen; "be ready to repel him-- they'll give no quarter!"

The crew, leaving their guns, seized the boarding pikes which had been placed round the mainmast for their use, and, drawing their cutla.s.ses, stood prepared to defend their ship against the fearful odds opposed to them. So occupied had been the combatants that neither of them had perceived the approach of another ship. Uttering wild shouts and shrieks, a number of dark forms were seen scrambling on board the _Ouzel Galley_. The moment they appeared they were attacked vigorously by her crew, led on by Owen and his mates, and many were hurled into the sea or driven back on board their own ship. His success encouraged him to attempt cutting his ship free from the enemy, but while he and his men were thus engaged, a loud voice from the deck of his opponent was heard shouting, "At them again, lads! We mustn't be beaten in this way. I'll lead you; follow me!" and the next moment, another party of boarders appearing, the crew of the _Ouzel Galley_ were compelled again to stand on the defensive. And now, in overwhelming numbers, the enemy came leaping down on the deck, and Owen, with anguish, saw that his chance of opposing them successfully was small indeed. Still, like a brave man, he determined to fight till the last, urging his mates and crow not to yield as long as one remained alive. At this juncture a loud crashing sound was heard, and a large ship was seen gliding up on his larboard side. The hearty British cheer which greeted his ears a.s.sured him that succour had arrived, and the next instant the crew of the _Champion_ came pouring on board. The subsequent events have already been narrated.

Norman Foley, on going below, soon made his way into the after hold, where he found Miss Ferris and her father. The crashing of the ships together, the shouts and shrieks of the combatants, had greatly alarmed them both. Mr Ferris had been desirous of going on deck to ascertain the state of affairs, and, indeed, had it not been for his daughter, he would have taken a part in the fight. He had done his utmost to calm her terror, but believed that she had too much cause for it, and had found it a difficult task. On hearing Norman Foley approach, she was seized with a not unnatural dread that some of the enemy had made their way below; but on recognising him, forgetting in her joy the reserve she generally exhibited, she sprang forward and threw herself into his arms.

"We are safe--we are safe, father!" she exclaimed; "and you, Norman, have been the means of preserving us. Oh, how we have been longing for you! We thought you were far away, and that that fearful ship would capture us."

Norman, of course, expressed his happiness at having arrived in time to save the _Ouzel Galley_ from the enemy, and in a few words explained what had happened.

"You may now with safety come into the cabin," he said, "for the pirate--such I suspect she is--will not again venture to fire. I must there, however, leave you, to return to the _Champion_, as we shall certainly pursue the fellow and punish him for his audacity."

"We shall be glad to get out of this dark place," said Mr Ferris. "Do you help my daughter, and I will follow."

Just as Norman and Ellen were about to enter the cabin, Gerald appeared to summon him on board the _Champion_. After a hasty farewell, he sprang on deck, just in time to see his ship separated from the _Ouzel Galley_ and making sail in chase of the pirate. Not, however, unhappy at the occurrence, he returned to the cabin.

"I am very glad we shall have your a.s.sistance in getting the ship to rights," said Mr Ferris, "for I fear she is sadly short-handed."

"Tracy and I will give all the aid we can. I wish we had a few of the _Champion's_ hands with us," answered the lieutenant.

"Tell me what to do and I will a.s.sist you," said Mr Ferris.

"Oh, then I too will come on deck--though I am afraid I cannot help you much," exclaimed Ellen.

Her father would not have prevented her, but Norman begged that he would be content to remain below.

"I regret to say that the deck of the ship presents a scene too dreadful for Miss Ferris to contemplate; and the rigging has been so much cut about that there is still danger from falling blocks or ropes--you might at any moment meet with a serious accident."

Ellen was at length persuaded to retire to her cabin, Norman promising not to leave the ship without coming to bid her farewell. The deck of the _Ouzel Galley_ did indeed present a fearful scene. Several of the pirates lay dead between the guns, while five of her own crew had been killed, and many more badly wounded; every plank was slippery with gore, the rigging hung in festoons, the sails were rent and full of holes.

Here and there the bulwarks appeared shattered by the shot, which had also damaged the boats and caboose, the masts and spars.

As now and then other vessels of the fleet came pa.s.sing by, inquiries were made as to what had occurred. "Attacked by a pirate--beaten off--_Champion_ gone in chase," was the only answer Owen had time to give.

"No thanks to those who, by clapping on more sail, might have come to our aid, but did not," he could not help remarking to Mr Ferris.

The first thing to be done was to attend to the wounded, who were carried to their berths, where Mr Ferris offered to a.s.sist in binding up their hurts and watching them; the next was to heave the dead overboard. This sad office was quickly performed, as there was no time for even the pretence of a service; the dead would not be the worse for going without it, and the attention of the living was too much occupied to listen to a word spoken. Before committing the bodies of the pirates to the deep, however, they were examined by the light of a lantern, to be sure that no spark of life existed in them, and to ascertain to what country they belonged. Two were men of colour, and the others white men, rough, savage-looking fellows; but it was difficult to decide as to their nationality.

"It matters little what they were," said the second mate, who was attending to that duty; "they were pirates, and have escaped the rope they deserved--of that there's no doubt. Heave them overboard."

Not a moment was to be lost in repairing damages. All hands now set to work to fish the masts and spars, and repair and splice the standing and running rigging. Scarcely had they commenced than day broke, and as the light increased the _Champion_ could be seen in chase of their late opponent, who was running under all sail to the north-west.

"That fellow is well acquainted with these seas, or he wouldn't be steering as he now is. Reefs and rocks abound in that direction, but he knows his way among them, and intends, if he can, to lead his pursuer into a sc.r.a.pe," observed Owen.

"Our master is too wide awake to be so caught," answered Gerald, "and the chances are that the pirate escapes. She must be a fast craft; for see, she continues well ahead of our ship, if she isn't gaining on her."

A look-out was now kept for the two islands which are found on either side of the Windward Pa.s.sage--that known as Long Island being to the west, Crooked Island to the east, both thickly surrounded with rocks and reefs, so that it is necessary to avoid hugging the sh.o.r.es of either one or the other. Crooked Island was first sighted, on the larboard hand.

It being some time, however, before the _Ouzel Galley_ could again make sail, the greater part of the fleet pa.s.sed by her, though no one offered to send a.s.sistance. The _Champion_ could still be seen, hull down, but the chase was lost sight of. Norman Foley and Gerald were frequently watching their ship through the gla.s.s.

"The fellow has escaped, after all," cried the former, as he handed the telescope to Gerald; "our ship has kept away, and is steering for the pa.s.sage."

"Can the commander suppose that we were killed, that he doesn't come back to inquire for us?" observe Gerald.

"I conclude that such must be the case," said the lieutenant.

"Then, sir, I suspect old Crowhurst will be bitterly disappointed when he finds that he isn't to step into your shoes," said Gerald; "he'll complain that he has lost another chance of getting promoted."

"I hope that he may obtain his promotion some other way," answered Mr Foley, laughing. "It is so commonly the wish of old mates, that lieutenants should not find fault with them, as they don't wish us any ill."

"I should think, sir, that that was the worst they could wish a man,"

said Gerald.

"Not at all, provided they don't take any steps to carry out their wishes," answered the lieutenant. "However, your messmate will not long be allowed to indulge in his dream."