De Vilela was anxious to be gone, having trespassed upon our hospitality, as he said, beyond all measure. And he was the more eager as now he knew for certain that Eva had nothing stronger than a friendship for him. He had not asked her, I imagine, so sure was he that she did not love him, and it was like the man, that, knowing this, he would not vex her even with words.
At the last moment, and unexpectedly, my mistress determined to sail with us, and Eva O’Malley also came, Tibbot being left in charge at Clare Island and Carrickahooley.
With fair winds, and hopes as fair, did we leave Clare Bay behind us, and for two days all went well. On the third day of the voyage, the wind having changed, the watch descried a ship coming up against the line of the sky, and when we had observed her for a short time we saw that she was making towards us. Being much higher out of the water than the galley, she had no doubt seen us first.
We edged in closer to the land, which loomed up some miles away on our left; whereupon she shifted her course as if to cut us off. As she came within nearer view she appeared to be a great ship, carrying many pieces of cannon, and flying the English flag. The morning sun fell upon her, and disclosed her deck covered with men whose armour and weapons sparkled in the light.
It was abundantly evident that she was a ship-of-war of the English, and well prepared in every respect to attack and overwhelm us. Both as regarded her ordnance and the numbers of her crew, that she was vastly superior to us was plain. Should she get the range of us I made no doubt that we should be quickly knocked to pieces.
On the high seas, a galley like The Cross of Blood could not be opposed to such a ship except with the one result, and that the worst. Our case was little short of desperate, but I did not lose heart.
Nor did my mistress give up hope. She and I held a hurried consultation with Calvagh O’Halloran, and determined that we should first try to escape by rowing. There was the land before us, and a rocky cape jutting from it held out, as it were, a friendly beckoning hand.
Once we had made it, and were safely round it, we would be in a shallow bay, into which flowed a river—up which the galley might go, but not so large a ship as the Englishman. We therefore bent our whole energies to this end, but all in vain. It became apparent before we were half-way to the shore that we were completely outsailed, and were at the mercy of the enemy.
When I had fully grasped the extreme peril in which we were, and reflected that my whole world was on board this galley, to say nothing of the fact that every timber of it was dear to me, my heart well-nigh fainted within me. Here was that great woman whom I served; here also the woman whom I loved.