“She’s heading as straight for us as she can steer, sir, with six sweeps out—three of a side. That means, sir, that her skipper wants so badly to get alongside of us, that he’s noways particular about the trouble he takes to bring him here.”
George gave a low involuntary whistle of astonishment.
“That is queer news indeed,” he remarked after a contemplative pause. “And you think then, Ritson, that the craft is a—”
“A rover, sir; neither more nor less,” answered the second mate. “She ain’t French, I’m certain; she ain’t got the look of it; besides, the Johnnies wouldn’t ventur so far as this in a craft of that size—why she ain’t more than about a hundred and twenty tons at the very outside. No; she’s a rover, that’s what she is; a craft with a low beamy hull painted all black, tremendous long spars, and canvas with just no end of a h’ist to it.”
“Give me the glass,” said George; “I’ll go as far as the cross-trees and take a look at her myself.”
The second mate handed over the telescope, and the skipper, proceeding aloft, soon saw quite enough to satisfy him that Ritson’s conjectures as to the character and intentions of the schooner were only too likely to prove correct.
Descending once more to the deck, he held a hurried consultation with his two officers, the result of which was a determination to fight to the last gasp, if the crew were only willing to stand by them. It would be necessary to ascertain their feeling upon the subject before anything could be done; so, it being then within a quarter of an hour of noon, George and the chief mate went below for their quadrants, took the sun’s meridian altitude, and, on the bell being struck to denote the hour of noon and the termination of the morning watch, Captain Leicester gave the word for all hands to muster aft.
“My lads,” said George, when the men were all standing before him in obedience to his summons, “I have called you here in order that I may communicate to you a very disagreeable piece of intelligence. Briefly, it is this. The strange schooner yonder is a very suspicious-looking craft; Mr Ritson and I, who have both carefully examined her through the glass, are quite of the same opinion about her, namely, that she is a pirate. She has all the look of one; and her conduct tends greatly to confirm us in our suspicions, for she has rigged out half a dozen sweeps and is sweeping as straight down for us as she can come. Now, lads, I want to know what you propose to do in the event of our suspicions proving correct. Will you allow her to come alongside and throw her bloodthirsty crew in on our deck to cut our throats as if we were so many sheep! Or will you fight for your lives, and take your chance of being able to beat her off?”
There was a few minutes of anxious consultation among the men; and then Ned stepped forward as spokesman of the party, and asked—
“What would you advise us to do, sir? What do you think of doin’ yourself, sir, if we may make so bold as to axe?”