"Hugh, I want to be up here, with you." She grabbed onto a shroud to keep her balance. "They're planning to try and sink us, aren't they?"
"Unless we heave-to. Which I have no intention of doing. So they'll have to do just that if they expect to stop us. And I'd say they have every intention of making the effort. Look." He pointed through the rain. Now the line of gunport covers along the upper gun deck were being raised. "They're making ready to start running out their eighteen-pounders."
"What can we do?"
"First put on all the canvas we've got. Then get our own guns in order. If we can't outrun them, we'll have to fight."
"Do you think we have a chance?" She studied the ship more closely. It seemed to have twice the sail of the Defiance, but then it was heavier and bulkier. Except for the Rainbowe, Cromwell had not sent his best warships to the Americas. This one could be as old as Hugh's.
"I've outrun a few men-of-war before. But not in weather like this."
"Then I want to stay up here. And that mulatto woman you took on board frightens me, almost as much as this."
"Then stay. For now. But if they get us in range, I want you below." He glanced aloft, where men clinging to the swaying yards had just secured the main tops'ls. As the storm worsened, more lightning flashed in the west, bringing prayers and curses from the seamen. "The weather's about as bad as it could be. I've never had the Defiance under full sail when it's been like this. I never want to again."
After the topgallants were unfurled and secured, they seemed to start picking up momentum. The Gloucester was still off their portside, but far enough astern that she could not use her guns. And she was no longer gaining.
"Maybe we can still outrun them?" She moved alongside Winston.