“Sail, ho!—to leeward.”
The captain stopped, and ordered his telescope; with that he discerned a speck in the distance, but far away.
“Keep her away,” he cried, to the man who was steering:—“ease your jib, foresail, and mainsail sheets, Gregoire;”—to the officer on duty; and the schooner edged off.
She sailed so fast that by midnight she was near the object that had appeared in the horizon, and which was now found to be a large ship gallantly careering over the ocean. Her white canvass shone in the moonlight, and the foam that gathered at her bows was brilliant with the phosphorescence of the Caribean Sea.
“Take in the fore-sail,” the captain cried; and that sail was immediately lowered.
The sailors were now all armed with pistols, poniards, and boarding pikes. As they stood grimly gazing on the ship before them, their black beards, red caps, and weapons, looked terribly dreadful, and the idea of some bloody deed could not but be suggested by their appearance.
The fife sounded a peculiar note, and all the sailors gathered at the foot of the schooner’s mainmast. Here may have been heard the low whisperings of comrade to comrade: there may have been seen the fierce eyes of some, flashing, as it were, in anticipation of something congenial. Some may have been observed to stroke their raven beards as if out of patience; others, leaned carelessly on their pikes. When they had properly formed, the captain stopped in his nervous walk, and, drawing himself up to the full height of his lofty and commanding person, said:—
“Associates, you have now another opportunity to revenge yourselves on the world. There,” and he pointed to the ship, “there you have the wealth of some trader, that has neither capacity to enjoy it, nor heart to use it. Remember how frequently you have wanted the morsel which he could so easily have spared, but which you never found. Remember your wrongs and now redress them; take what the world would not afford you. By the dawn of day we shall attack that ship. I expect nothing less than that which I have always found in you, give but your valour, and you shall have the booty—the reward of bravery. Go, rest yourselves until the morning.”
This short speech, he spoke in a clear, deep, and sonorous voice; while the features of the speaker seemed more eloquent than his tongue. The bitterest hatred curled his lip, when he delivered the first part, and animation glowed on his countenance, when he spoke of the bravery of his men.