Although this being made a target for cannon-balls was a thrillingly novel sensation to our young hunter, his state of mind was such that it caused him neither fear nor anxiety. After standing still a minute or so longer, he walked slowly forward to find Serge, and ask him how he was enjoying the experience.
Ere the cutter could fire another shot darkness had so set in that neither vessel was visible from the other, and only a red glow at the top of her funnel marked the pursuer’s position.
Little by little Captain Duff altered his course by hugging the wind a trifle more closely, until at length even the glow above the cutter’s funnel was no longer to be seen, nor the beat of her screw heard. Then the red-faced master of the Seamew, realizing that he had escaped the clutches of the law, gave a hoarse chuckle of satisfaction.
Phil found Serge quite as indifferent to the result of the chase as himself, though somewhat more nervous concerning the shots, and much relieved when he found there were to be no more. When, an hour later, supper was served aboard the schooner, the lads ate theirs together on deck. Then when Serge was relieved from watch, Phil crept into the narrow forecastle bunk with him, and they shared it together for the rest of the night.
While our lad was not willing to trust himself within reach of Captain Duff’s arm during the hours of darkness, he was so ready to defy him by daylight that in the morning he returned to the cabin for breakfast, during which meal both he and his table companions, including the captain, preserved an unbroken silence.
The schooner, having been kept under full sail all night, was felt by all hands to have placed many miles of safety between herself and her pursuer by sunrise, or at least by the time the sun was supposed to have risen beyond the dense fog-bank in which the Seamew was again enveloped. So confident was Captain Duff that he was beyond his enemy’s reach that, his cupidity being aroused by the sight of a sleeping seal, he determined to have one more day of slaughter before leaving those waters. He therefore ordered out the boats, and charged the hunters to do their best, as this would be their last chance of that season to make any money by seal-killing.
To the amazement and consternation of the entire crew, the youngest of the hunters, boldly facing the bully, of whom they stood so greatly in awe, refused point-blank to fire a shot at a seal.
“I said last evening, when I discovered the crime of which I had been guilty, that I would never shoot another seal, and I never will,” said Phil, with all the decision of which his voice was capable.
“Mr. Coombs,” said the captain, in the blandest of tones, stepping to the rail and addressing the mate, who had already entered his boat, “will you oblige me by passing up that water-breaker? Thank you. And that bag of biscuit, if you please? Now, ye mutinous young swab!” he roared, turning to Phil with an abrupt change of voice and manner, “get into that boat, quick! afore I throw ye in!”
“Certainly, sir, I will get into the boat, for I do not intend to be mutinous, but I have promised myself not to shoot any more seals, and I cannot break a promise.”