"I'll answer for it that our comrades hold those two Britishers in check until we can get back," Master Hackett said in a tone of satisfaction, and again we cheered until those on the ship we were overhauling so rapidly must have heard and wondered why we were making such a fuss about the capture of a whaler.
Well, we bore down on the chase hand over hand, and when we were so near that a shot might have been pitched into any part of her, the ship hove to without the slightest show of resistance.
Captain Porter hailed as the British colors were hauled down, and then we learned that this last prize was the English whaler Charlton, two hundred and seventy-four tons, with ten guns and twenty-one men.
Her officers were transferred to the Essex, a prize crew was thrown on board in a twinkling, and the frigate hauled her wind to take care of the others.
Captain Porter was so eager for information that he questioned the captain of the Charlton on the quarter-deck, and many of the gun-deck inquisitives heard the whole story.
By this means our commander learned that the largest of the ships we now counted on taking was the Seringapatam, three hundred and fifty-seven tons, carrying fourteen guns and forty men. It was this craft which had been manœuvring to cut out the Georgiana, and unless we had been near at hand to lend assistance the job might have been done.
The other Britisher was the New Zealander, of two hundred and fifty-nine tons, eight guns, and twenty-three men.
The Seringapatam had been built for a cruiser, so our prisoners said, and was the most dangerous ship, so far as the American trade was concerned, of any craft west of Cape Horn.
There was not one of us who did not feel the most intense desire to capture this craft, and particularly to do so before she could work any serious damage to our consorts.
We could see that the Greenwich had already gone into action with the Britisher, and we cheered ourselves hoarse by way of encouragement to the brave fellows who had tackled a craft heavier than themselves, although there was not the slightest chance they would hear our cries.