Boldness meant prudence in the affair Paul Jones had undertaken, and therefore, not wishing to remain too long in any locality, he again stood across the Irish Sea, and entered the Lough of Belfast, off which lay the town of Carrickfergus.
It was on the afternoon of the 21st of April. The Ranger, sailing with a long leg and a short one, cautiously approached the roadstead. Never was there a lovelier scene. The harbor was of a deep ultramarine blue, and a faint golden haze enveloped sky and sea and castle and ships. Upon a grandly projecting cliff stood the stern gray castle, with its twenty-two great guns, frowning upon the rippling water. Out in the soft, yet dazzling, afternoon light lay a sloop of war, about the size of the Ranger. A gentle breeze fanned the Union Jack that floated from her mizzen peak. Over the whole scene was the still beauty of “a painted ship upon a painted ocean.”
The officers of the Ranger were all on deck, for in that perilous cruise neither officers nor men went below except for necessary food and sleep. Paul Jones, with his glass, carefully examined the ship, and then, turning to his officers, said quietly:
“Gentlemen, here is the chance we have all longed for. Yonder is a ship of war of a rate that we can give battle to. We will fight that ship, and we will take her.”
Scarcely were the words out of the captain’s mouth when “Ahoy!” sounded from the port side of the Ranger. A fishing boat had come alongside, with three fishermen in it. One of them held up a string of beautiful fish.
“Yes, we want your fish, and you, too,” cried Stacy, the sailing master, at Captain Jones’s orders; and in a few moments, to the astonishment of the fishermen, they were on the Ranger’s deck, and their boat was hanging astern.
The Ranger and the Drake.
“What is that vessel yonder?” asked Captain Jones of the elder man, for they proved to be a father and two sons.
The man looked about him dazed for a moment. He did not recognize Captain Jones’s uniform, nor did he understand the character of the vessel that looked so peaceable, but which a close inspection proved was well able to take care of herself in a fight. He hesitated a moment, but one commanding look from Paul Jones brought the truth out.