The Log of a Privateersman | Page 8

what has happened. Starboard, my man!" to the
man at the wheel; "starboard, and let her come up to full and by. Hands
to the sheets and braces, Mr Bowen. Brace sharp up on the larboard
tack; and then let the men cast loose the guns and load them. Call all
hands quietly, and let them go to quarters."
The skipper peered into the binnacle again.
"Nor'-east, half east!" he continued, referring to the direction in which
the schooner was now heading: "If we are in luck we ought to come
athwart the Indiaman again in about twenty minutes--that is to say, if
they have hove her to in order to transfer the prisoners."
He pulled out his watch, noted the time, and replaced the watch in his
pocket. "Just slip for'ard, Mr Bowen, and caution the hands to be as
quiet as possible over their work," said he. "And give the look-out men
a hint to keep their eyes skinned. The French have undoubtedly taken
the Indiaman by surprise; now we must see if we cannot give the
Frenchmen a surprise in turn."
I went forward to execute my orders; and upon my return found the
skipper, watch in hand, talking to the chief mate, who, with the rest of
the watch below, had been called. Meanwhile the crew were at quarters,
and, having cast loose the guns, were busily loading them, the work
being carried on as quietly as possible. As I rejoined the skipper, the
arms-chest was brought on deck; and in a few minutes each man was
armed with a cutlass and a brace of pistols.
By the time that these preparations were completed, the twenty minutes
allowed us by Captain Winter to reach the scene of the recent
disturbance had elapsed, and our topsail was laid to the mast, the word
being passed along the deck for absolute silence to be maintained, and
for each man to listen with all his ears, and to come aft and report if he
heard any sound. Then we all fell to listening with bated breath; but not
a sound was to be heard save the gurgle and wash of the water about

the rudder as the schooner rose and fell gently to the lift of the sea.
In this way a full quarter of an hour was allowed to elapse, at the
expiration of which the skipper remarked:
"Well, it is clear that, wherever the Indiaman may be, she is not
hereabout. If, as I believe, she has been attacked, and has beaten the
Frenchman off, she has of course proceeded on up channel; but if she
has been taken, her captors have evidently headed at once for some
French port, possibly having been near enough to have heard the hails
that passed between us. If that was the case they would naturally be
anxious to get away from the neighbourhood of their exploit as quickly
as possible, for fear of being interfered with. And, assuming this
supposition of mine to be correct, they will be certain to make for the
nearest French port; which, in this case, is Cherbourg. We will
therefore resume our course toward Cherbourg, when, if we are lucky,
we may get a sight of both the Indiaman and the privateer at daybreak,
if this confounded fog will only lift."
We accordingly squared away once more upon our former course,
which we followed until morning without hearing or seeing anything of
the vessels for which we were looking.
This being our first night out, and my watch being the starboard watch,
I was relieved by Lovell at four o'clock a.m., and under ordinary
circumstances should not have been called until seven bells, or half-
past seven. But I was not greatly surprised when, on being called, I
found that it was still dark, the time being five bells. It was Lovell who
called me.
"George!" he exclaimed, shaking me by the shoulder. "George! rouse
and bitt, my lad; tumble out! The fog is clearing away, and the cap'n
expects to make out the Indiaman at any moment, so it's `all hands'.
Hurry up, my hearty!"
"Ay, ay," grumbled I, only half awake; "I'll be up in a brace of shakes."
And as Lovell quitted my cabin and returned to the deck, I rolled out of

my bunk and hurriedly began to dress by the lamp that the chief mate
had been considerate enough to light for my convenience.
When I went on deck I found that, as Lovell had stated, the fog was
clearing away, a few stars showing out here and there overhead;
moreover the wind had hauled round from the eastward and was now
blowing a fresh topgallant breeze that had already raised a short choppy
sea, over which the Dolphin was plunging as