Lindsay withdrew his head from the skylight to glance over the rail, and then replaced it again to answer, “A bare five, sir, I should say; the wind seems to be growing more scant. Shall I heave the log, sir?”
“No, thank you,” answered the captain; “I have no doubt your judgment is nearly enough correct for all practical purposes, Mr Lindsay. Let a hand be sent aloft to keep an eye on the strangers, and tell him to report anything unusual that he may see. I shall be on deck myself in a few minutes.”
Excusing myself, I slipped up on deck to have a look at the two craft, the upper canvas of which was visible above the horizon directly ahead of us. As Lindsay had said, the one was a full-rigged ship, while the other was a fine big brigantine; both were hove-to, and in such close proximity that the merest tyro might shrewdly guess at what was going on there just beyond the horizon. But, to make assurance doubly sure, I took the ship’s glass, and went up on the topgallant yard, from whence I was able to obtain a full view of them. It was as I had expected; boats were passing rapidly to and fro between the two craft, those which left the ship being heavily laden, while those which left the brigantine were light.
I was still aloft, working away with the telescope, when the captain emerged from the companion-way, and at once catching sight of me, hailed—
“Well, Mr Courtenay, what do you make of them?”
“It is undoubtedly a case of piracy, sir,” I replied. “The brigantine is rifling the ship, and the latter has all the appearance of a British West Indiaman.”
“Whew!” I heard the skipper whistle, as he walked to the rail and looked thoughtfully down at the foam bubbles that were gliding past our bends. “If she is an Indiaman she will have passengers aboard her,” he remarked to the doctor, who at that moment joined him.
The doctor seemed to acquiesce, although he spoke in so low a tone that I could not catch his words. The two stood talking together for a few minutes, and then the captain hailed me again.
“What do you judge our distance from those two craft to be, Mr Courtenay?” he asked.
“A good eight miles, sir, I should say,” answered I.