“Another gun, sir!”
I took the time. Not quite a minute had elapsed when he again reported:
“Another gun, sir, but not so loud this time. I think it was a lighter piece than the last.”
It was nearly five minutes before the next report was made, so I concluded that it must be a running fight—a chase, in fact—which was going forward.
An interval of perhaps a minute passed, when I distinctly caught the sound of a faint boom! and at the same moment the hail came down:
“Another gun, sir—a heavier one than the last; and sail ho! three points on the weather bow.”
“That will do,” I replied; “you need not report the firing any further, but keep a sharp lookout for another sail. What is the one in sight like?”
“I can hardly tell at this distance, sir; the heads of her royals are only just showing above the horizon, but they don’t appear to be of any great size.”
Some four minutes later a second sail was reported, as I had expected; the lookout now expressing an opinion that the new-comer was probably a frigate, whilst the smaller craft, the leader in the race, was either a ship-sloop or a brig. My other midshipman, a lad named Boyne, was now on deck, having relieved Marchmont at noon, and this youngster, who had taken the precaution to bring his telescope on deck with him, now started forward and, with the agility of a monkey, soon placed himself alongside the lookout. He immediately raised the telescope to his eye, but we were by this time jumping into a short but lumpy sea, which made the motion aloft very considerable; moreover, the position was not one very favourable for observation, so he was rather a long time bringing his glass to bear. At length, however, with the assistance of the lookout, he managed to get both craft, one after the other, into his field of vision, and after a good long look he reported:
“We are raising the strangers very fast, sir; I can see the royals and half-way down the topgallant-sails of both. They are running dead before the wind, with royal studding-sails set on both sides; the leading ship is a brig, apparently British, and the one in chase seems to be a frigate.”