"If Monsieur the Englishman does not strike within two minutes, down he goes to the bottom."
"The idiot, to expose his stern!"
"On the whole, it is just as well that La Merveille is so far behind. We shall have all the glory to ourselves—eh, my children?"
On board the frigate Captain Barker said four words only:
"Take the wheel, Jemmy."
Captain Runacles stepped to it and the steersman gave place.
In truth the hunchback, though this was his first acquaintance with a galley, knew well enough that she would strike for the frigate's stern as the weakest point. This was precisely what he wished her to do.
Captain Runacles stood with his hand on the wheel and waited, glancing back over his shoulder.
Captain Barker stood by the taffrail with one eye upon the galley and his face turned in profile to his friend. His right hand was lifted.
The Commodore had made all his dispositions. The galley was to plunge her beak straight into the Merry Maid's stern, and its crew, after one discharge of cannon to clear the frigate's poop, were to board at once. The men stood ready with their hatchets and cutlasses and set up a wild yell as they drove straight for her. From below the slaves echoed it with a melancholy wail.