Mr. Bludsoe turned to the crew. "Murad made such an attempt. I found him fooling with the cannon and scared him off. I suspected him after that, and gave him no chance. He's sold us in advance to the pirates of Morocco. They'll be putting out in pursuit of us as soon as they learn of the failure!"
He had scarcely spoken when two lateen sails could be seen moving out from shore. We were becalmed, and capture seemed certain.
"We can't beat off their warships! Man the longboat!" Mr. Bludsoe ordered, "We'll have to trust to yonder mist to hide us. We ought to be able to reach the Spanish coast if it holds!"
The moon had been clouded by a fog. We could feel the haze settling upon us. The change seemed to precede a storm.
With the war-ships nearly upon us, we rowed off into the haze, taking the prisoners with us.
When we were a league from the shore, we heard a gun fired. I thought that the corsairs, who by this time had doubtless found that we had deserted the ship, were cruising in search of us and had fired the gun in our direction. No balls struck the water near us, however, and we rowed on desperately.
Mr. Bludsoe questioned Mustapha. "It is the hurricane signal on shore," the youth explained. "It means that the barometer has fallen tremendously, and that a storm's on the way. You need have no fear of pursuit. The ships that came out to attack you will seek shelter now. We shall all sink if you do not make for the beach!"
Mr. Bludsoe ordered us to row towards the Moroccan shore, in a direction that would take us clear of the harbor. Heavy gusts of wind beat down upon us and floods of rain poured over our straining muscles. The wind became a gale and threatened to come with greater intensity. Furious waves leaped up on every side to swallow our boat. We gave up hope of reaching the shore, and rowed on expecting every uncertain stroke of our oars to be the last.
Suddenly Mr. Bludsoe's voice rang out calm and strong through the tempest. "There's a ship ahead. It must be one of those that came out to attack us. Yet it's better to take our chances aboard her than to stay in this sea. Pull towards her!"