Half an hour later the boats were ordered in, sail was being set, and the cutter was again moving swiftly through the water.
But the wind was dead ahead now, and though the White Hawk could use her wings well even in such a breeze, and sail very close, it was far different work getting back to coming away.
The men were not forbidden to talk, and they were not long in grasping the situation, while their commanding officer went up and down the deck, fuming and taking himself to task more seriously than any captain had done since he first went to sea.
“Only to think of me, after what I have learned of their shifts and tricks, letting myself be taken in by such a transparent dodge. Oh, it’s maddening!”
He looked up at the sails, and longed to clap on more, but it was useless. The little craft was doing her best, and the water surged under her bow as she took a long stretch seaward, before tacking for the land.
“There’s not a doubt of it,” muttered the lieutenant. “I know it—I’m sure of it. I deserve to lose my rank. How could I have been such a blind, idiotic baby!”
He was obliged to confess, though, that the trick, if such it proved to be, had been well planned and executed, and the stipulation of the man that he should be paid fifty pounds if the boat was captured had completely thrown dust into his eyes.
More than once, as the cutter rushed on through the darkness, he found himself wondering whether, after all, he was wrong, and that the man had slipped away, so as to avoid being recognised when the smuggling vessel was captured, for, if seen, he would be a marked man.
“And, perhaps, in a few minutes, the smuggler would have been coming into the little bay, I should have taken her, redeemed my reputation, been looked upon as a smart officer, my crew would have got a nice bit of prize money, and the fellow would have come stealthily some night for his reward.—I’ve done wrong. Would there be time to go back?”
He was on the point of bidding the men “’bout ship,” when a firm belief in his having been cheated came over him, and he kept on.