“Pirates! Poor girl, I pity her!—and—I pity you too, Edward. Come, sit down here, and tell me all that has happened.”
Edward knew the admiral’s character so well, that he immediately disclosed all that had passed between him and Clara. He then stated how the Avenger had escaped him by deceiving the frigate, and the agreement made with Clara to meet for the future on the beach, and his conviction that the pirate schooner, so exactly similar in appearance to the Enterprise, must have preceded him at Porto Rico, and have carried off the object of his attachment.
Although Edward might have been severely taken to task, yet the admiral pitied him, and, therefore, said nothing about his visits to Porto Rico. When breakfast was over he ordered the signal to be made for a sloop of war to prepare to weigh, and the Enterprise to be revictualled by the boats of the squadron.
“Now, Edward, you and the Comus shall sail in company after this rascally pirate, and I trust you will give me a good account of her, and also of the governor’s daughter. Cheer up, my boy! depend upon it they will try for ransom before they do her any injury.”
That evening the Enterprise and Comus sailed on their expedition, and having run by Porto Rico and delivered a letter to the governor, they steered to the northward, and early the next morning made the land of the Caicos, just as the Avenger had skirted the reefs and bore up for the narrow entrance.
“There she is!” exclaimed Edward; “there she is, by heavens!” making the signal for the enemy, which was immediately answered by the Comus.