“I fear it will not do, sir,” said the mate, in reply to Ethelston’s last words; “she can pepper away at us, and yet make her offing good.”
“Then there remains but one chance for us,” said the captain; “answer her signal, show your colours, ‘bout ship, and stand for the frigate.”
The mate was, if possible, more surprised at this order than he had been before at the proposal to try and cast both vessels ashore; but he was too good a seaman to hesitate or to ask any questions; and in a few minutes the gallant little brig had answered the signal, and was standing out towards the frigate on the starboard tack.
We will now transport the reader for a few minutes on board The Epervier, and make him acquainted with the captain, into whose clutches the poor little brig seemed destined to fall. L’Estrange was a fine–looking, middle–aged man, who had spent the greater part of his life at sea, and had married, when very young, a Spanish creole, whose beauty was her only dower; he had several children by this marriage, the eldest of whom was now a lieutenant on board his ship; the remainder of the family resided at Point à Pitre, in Guadaloupe, for the captain was in truth rather of the “ancien régime;” he loved his country, but he hated the Directory and other fruits of the French revolution; so that he never went to Europe, and would have been but rarely employed, had he not been known to be one of the most skilful and experienced officers in the French navy. Such was the man who now stood on the frigate’s quarter–deck; and after examining The Pride again through his glass, turned to his first lieutenant and desired him to cease firing. “That obstinate trader,” added he, “seemed very anxious to escape, and thought but little of the risk she ran of going ashore, or of being riddled by our shot!”
“She’s one of those saucy Americans,” said the lieutenant, “that think nothing afloat can match ‘em; however, she’s made a mistake this time; and I hope, sir, when she’s overhauled, she’ll prove worth the trouble she’s given.”
The frigate, by this time, finding herself too close in on a lee shore, hauled to the wind; and, disliking the broken and rugged appearance of the coast, determined not to lie–to for the brig until she had made sufficient offing. This was precisely the calculation that Ethelston had made; and he now paced his deck with a calm and satisfied countenance; whilst his men, grouped on the forecastle, were quite at a loss to discover his intentions: the mate, however, was clearer sighted, and could not withhold his admiration from the decision and boldness of a manœuvre, the success of which must soon be tested.
The captain of the frigate went below to dinner, having given orders to the lieutenant to stand out on the same tack for another half–hour, then to lie–to, until the brig should come alongside.
Meantime, Ethelston, who had kept his eye fixed upon the headland so often mentioned, muttering to himself, “she will fetch it now,” desired the man at the helm to yaw the brig about, to throw her up now and then in the wind, so as to fall astern of the frigate as much as possible, yet not apparently varying the course. Having done so as long as he judged it practicable without awakening the enemy’s suspicion, he saw, to his inexpressible delight, the frigate shorten sail to enable him to come up; instantly seizing this advantage, he ordered his mate to put the brig about, and run for the Isle of Pines. It may well be imagined that this bold manœuvre was not many moments unperceived on board the frigate; and L’Estrange’s astonishment was great, when, from the noise overhead, and from the heeling of the ship, he found that her course was being altered. Springing on deck, he saw that he had been outwitted by the saucy brig, which was crowding all sail, and seemed not unlikely to effect her escape. The old captain chafed, and stormed, and swore that the obstinate little trader should pay dearly for her insolence.
The Epervier was a fast sailer, and, as she now dashed the spray from her bows under a press of canvass, it was soon evident that the brig could not yet round the point without coming within range of her guns.