“What is it, Thornton?” inquired Sir Sidney, coming to his side.
“I am sure I know that lugger, Sir Sidney,” replied our hero. “The light is fading away fast, still I am positive that vessel is the famous privateer, the Vengeance; the craft we fought when in the Babet, and when we took the Bon-Citoyen schooner.”
“The deuce it is! I have heard a great deal of that lugger, which seems to defy all our cruisers, and has taken a number of prizes. I wish it were possible to cut her out, but we should be detected by that man-of-war close alongside her.”
“We should have taken her, sir, the time we were engaged with her and the schooner,” said our hero, “but for the dense fog; as it was, we knocked her main-mast out of her. The crew of the Bon-Citoyen said she belongs to Havre and that there’s not a craft afloat can touch her.”
“A very vain-glorious boast,” said Sir Sidney; “we may chance to catch hold of the fellow some day or other. We must be under weigh by eleven o’clock, for the flood-tide will have made by that time.”
“There’s another large ship, sir, further up; but she is not distinctly visible, being partly behind the point.”
“Oh, we will have a look at her,” returned Sir Sidney.
By twelve o’clock the Diamond was again under weigh, and, with easy sail, continued working up the noble inlet forming the many harbours designated as Brest. On nearing the ship at anchor, they could make her out to be a ship of the line; still they created no suspicion.
“By my conscience,” said O’Loughlin to our hero, as they paced the deck, “we are making free and easy with the enemy’s port; if that big fellow yonder only knew who we were, wouldn’t it wake him out of his sleep!”
“The very daringness of the thing, our so coolly sailing up into the very heart of this vast port, lulls suspicion,” remarked our hero; “for if the slightest idea was entertained, they could blow us out of the water, from the forts on each side.”