While his men rushed to arms, Roberts stood on his deck in all the glory of his pilfered attire. There came to him one of his men who, a deserter from the Navy, had once sailed aboard the Swallow, and knew her powers.
“She sails best before the wind,” he said; “and we can escape, if we want to, by running for it.”
Roberts thought a while. He knew that he was in a tight corner, for the Swallow’s men were brilliant fighters, and she was a sturdy ship. He decided, after all, he would run for it, making up his mind that, if everything else failed, he would either run the ship ashore, and let his men shift for themselves, or else dash down upon the Swallow, board her, and blow up both ships!
So the orders were given, and the Royal Fortune swooped down upon the Swallow, intending to give her a broadside as she passed. The Swallow opened fire as the black flag fluttered aloft; Roberts returned it, and then swung away. But, just as he thought he was safe, the Royal Fortune failed them. Something went wrong; she did not answer to the helm, and failed to catch the wind. The Swallow drew near!
What Roberts would have done it is impossible to say; what he did, however, was to die at that moment. A grapeshot hurtled across the deck, struck him in the throat, and killed him outright. He dropped to the deck in a sitting posture. The helmsman, thinking he was fooling, cursed him roundly, and tried to get him on his feet, but, finding the pirate chief dead, began to cry, and prayed that the next shot might kill him off too. The remainder of the ruffians seized the captain and pitched him overboard, as he had instructed them to do in case of death.
Then, leaderless, they scarcely knew what to do; they were half drunk most of them, and though they put up a little resistance, and some of them sought to blow up the magazine, they at last struck their flag; and the Swallow had cleared Roberts and his herd off the sea.
So much for some of the pirates of long ago.
BLOCKADE RUNNING
Tales of Adventure in Eluding Watchful Blockaders
THE Great War of 1914-15 showed what the command of the sea really meant. It showed that even although the greatest navy in the world had little opportunity in the early stages to meet its foes in a decisive battle—through the latter lurking in their harbours—yet there was much work to be done: the guarding of the ocean routes, the exertion of silent pressure upon the enemy, who found his shipping held up in harbour, and was unable to import food by the coast even before a blockade had been declared. On the other hand, in another chapter we have shown how German raiding cruisers also played havoc with the Allies’ shipping, and pounced upon outlying places—only at last to be brought to book. Here we are concerned only with ships that have run blockades, slipping through the cordon drawn around coasts, running the risk of being sunk or captured.