I had gone aft to see the boat off and to give these orders; and as they were executed I looked to see where the schooner lay, but could not find her.
“Forecastle there! where away is the schooner?” I hailed.
There was a moment’s pause, and then the hesitating reply came from the lookout, “She has drifted out of sight, sir; I can’t make her out!”
I hastened forward, and, sure enough, nothing could be seen of her.
“Schooner ahoy!” I hailed and listened, but no response came back.
A signal was burned, but it only served to show us our second cutter that I had just sent away, pulling aimlessly in the direction where we had last seen the schooner.
It was very evident that we were duped. While we had been lowering our boat she had quietly filled away, and had already such a start as to render a search for her in the darkness well-nigh hopeless, more particularly as two of my boats were now away from the ship.
Thoroughly vexed at the stupidity of the forecastle lookout, whose carelessness had permitted such a ruse to succeed, I recalled the second cutter, and paced my quarter deck, my mind occupied with most unpleasant reflections.
It was evident that I must remain with my ship hove to, or I should probably lose my first cutter, if she had not already gone to the bottom in the squall! It was certainly a remarkably bad quarter of an hour that I was having just then.
“C-r-r-r-a-c-k!” came the sound of firing to leeward, and up shot a rocket, leaving a trail of fire behind it like a meteor.