“Fired at the Frenchman, of course,” replied he, somewhat disconcerted. “I understood that you agreed we should have a shot at him, so we gave him one from long Tom. I pointed the gun myself; and—only fancy!—knocked away his mizzen-topmast, which brought down his main-topgallant-mast with it; and there he is now in a pretty mess. My eye! that was a close one,” he added, as a twelve-pound shot sung close over our heads, without hitting anything however.
“It sounds remarkably as though he were anxious to return the compliment, if he can,” said I. “You had better go on deck again and hurry the men up with that mizzen; and round-to as soon as you possibly can. If one of those shot happen to plump on board us we shall probably have cause to remember the circumstance.”
The lad darted up the companion-way again, three stairs at a time; and very shortly afterwards I heard him shout down to me,—
“I say, Chester, the mizzen is bent and all ready for setting; shall we hoist away?”
“Watch for a good opportunity,” I shouted back, “and as soon as it comes, down with your helm, and sway up the sail at the same time.”
“Ay, ay; we will do so,” was the response.
A few minutes elapsed; and then I felt the little craft rising up, up, up, until it seemed as though she were about to turn a summersault with us; there was a thud at her stern, and a heavy swish of water on her deck as the crest of the sea struck her and broke over the taffrail, and then Tom Hardy’s voice exclaimed,—
“Now—now’s your time, sir! Jam your helm hard-a-port, you Dick! hard over with it, man; that’s your sort. Now, sway away upon these here mizzen halliards; down with your fore-lug; ease up the fore-sheet there, for’ard; up with the mizzen, lads; bowse it well up; that’s well; belay. Haul your fore-sheet over to wind’ard, and make fast. There! that’s capital. Now let’s see what we can do to these here shrouds.”
From all of which, and the altered character of the little craft’s motion, I learned that the ticklish manoeuvre of rounding-to had been safely executed.
A quarter of an hour afterwards the medico finished me off, and I was able, with Hardy’s assistance, to go on deck again and take a look round before turning into my hammock to nurse my wounded arm.