The cabin was very handsomely furnished, with a long couch down one side, a handsome table under a fine swinging lamp in the centre, and a desk with many drawers off in a corner, lighted by a handsome sconce. A number of books were thrown about on the couch, and suspended from hooks against the white panels were a half-dozen beautifully executed miniatures; the door to a little cupboard was open, and I saw, hanging up inside, a number of uniforms.
I walked over to the desk and picked up a leather-covered volume that had "Log-book of the Bat" on the cover in red letters, very beautifully done. I turned to the first page, and here is where I got my surprise.
"A journal kept on board H. M. Revenue Cutter Bat, of four guns, commanded by Lieutenant John Hurdis, R.N."
There was my own name staring me in the face. I did not know that Hurdiss was a name well known in the English navy. But I recovered my wits at last, and regarded the coincidence of names as a very lucky omen. I had to take but one step up the little ladder to have my head above the level of the deck. Standing there I called Chips to me, and showed him the entry in the book.
"It's witchcraft," he said, "and nothing less."
The cutter was a little bit larger than our single-gun boats, and perfectly able to go across the Atlantic, or to sail anywhere, provided her provisions held out. We found by an inspection of the hold that there was more than enough to last ten men for a month and a few days over, although we would have to go light in the drinking line.
At once Chips and I set about preparing a routine. The crew were divided into three watches, and I laid out a course that would fetch us somewhere in the vicinity of Boston. On we sailed; everything was fine. For three days I had a most delightful experience, reading the well-chosen books in the cabin, and seeing that the men were kept employed polishing the brass-work and overhauling the forward hold, and so forth.
On the fourth day the fine breeze, that had held from the same direction almost continually, stopped as suddenly as if it had been shut off by the intervention of a great wall.
Before dawn a slight wind came out of the west, dead against us; and at five bells a large ship was seen coming down before the wind with all sail set. I got upon the opposite tack to that I had been holding, and at this the large vessel changed her course, evidently intending to speak me. There was no way of my escaping, for if I had started to run she would soon have overhauled us in two hours. I could see her ports and make out she was a 44-gun frigate, and was not surprised when she displayed the English flag.
I answered in the same manner, and at Chips's suggestion I got out the signal-book that I had found, and the little flags also, hoping that this would be all that it would amount to.