The Gannet brought up on her shortened cable, sail was hastily made, and away we went southward in chase of the buccaneers.
As we cleared the mouth of the harbour we perceived their ships nearly hull down; but with every stitch of canvas set, and withal a newly cleaned hull, we rapidly lessened the distance between us.
That they suspected not the presence of a king's ship in Port Royal was evident in that they made no attempt to sheer off; instead, they beat up towards us till we could clearly make them out.
Then, as if aware of our formidable character, they turned, two making away to the north-west, two to the south-east, while the fifth, though she showed her heels for a time, backed her main-topsail and hove to.
She was a long, rakish, yellow-sided craft, evidently built for speed, and her audacity puzzled us mightily; but knowing the diabolical cunning of these freebooters, we were determined to take no chance of a surprise.
We were almost within range when her maintopsail filled and she was off, following the direction of her two consorts who had made towards Hispaniola.
As we watched her there were signs of a struggle taking place on board--pistol-shots rang out, and a heavy form plunged over her taffrail. Instantly several men rushed to the stern and opened fire on the object, which, so many of our crew declared, was a man swimming. This it turned out to be. Amid a hail of shots that churned up the placid water all around him a man's head appeared, and the swimmer, using powerful strokes, made directly towards us.
"It seemeth strange that he escapes their fire," remarked the bos'n, as the swimmer bobbed up and down amid the splash of the shot. "We may pick him up. Away there--prepare a bowline."
"I believe they do not try to hit him," replied the master; "or their gunnery is far worse than yesterday, when they hulled the Whitby. But he will never reach this ship alive. Look!"
Following the direction of his finger, we perceived the dorsal fins of two enormous sharks as they cleft their way towards the swimmer; but, frightened by the splash of the shots, they contented themselves by swimming in large semicircles between us and the fugitive.