They had not a search-light ready, and we never ran into a rock, but in two minutes knew by the dancing of the steam-boat and the wall of blackness that appeared behind us that we were clear of the channel and out at sea.
Suddenly the darkness was lit by vivid flashes and with horrid ear-splitting bangings—the batteries commenced firing at us from both sides of the entrance.
I was horribly frightened at first, for I thought that they must be able to see us, but I was quite wrong—they were simply firing blindly. One little shell hit the water behind us, and, bursting, showed us up for a second, but nothing else came near, and in a minute or two they ceased firing. The Commander opened out the steam, and the little steam-boat jumped nimbly along, dancing about like a duck, and taking in a lot of spray over her bows as she breasted a tide rip[#].
[#] Tide rip. This is a jumbling sea caused by the wind blowing against a strong tide.
We ran out of the tide rip in a short time, and then the stoker began groaning again, so we bound his legs and arms with rope so that he should not jump overboard. As we were doing this a search-light began sweeping the sea, then another from quite a different quarter, and we knew that Mr. Parker and Mr. Lang were looking for us.
The lights swept past us once or twice, lighting us up sufficiently for us to see each other's faces, but they were too far off for the destroyers to spot us, and presently they switched off and we were in darkness again.
With the danger over I began to feel how frightfully hungry and thirsty I was, and how cold. My feet and legs were warmed by the furnace fires, but the cold spray had soaked me through and through.
Perhaps the Commander was feeling the same, for at length he said, "I'm not going' to stay out here all night," and told Jones to steer towards where we had seen the nearer search-light.
I threw on some more coal. The glow of the fires did not matter now, and we rummaged round and found a lantern, but there was no candle in it.
Then the Commander handed me an oil-can, and I threw some of it through the furnace door, shutting it again very quickly. There was a great rush of smoke, and a flame shot out of the funnel three or four feet high.