.
“Down with the helm!” cried Big Bill. “Run out the cannon, take careful aim, I will touch the fuse, and we will put a round shot across their bow, that will make them stop, I think. Then we can run alongside and board their vessel. Every man to his post! There now, are you ready?”
“All ready!” yelled the two Buccaneers. “Fire!”
No sooner was the word uttered than there sprang from the mouth of the cannon a flash of flame, followed by a great puff of black smoke and a mighty rumbling roar, like thunder. Then skipping through the water, not ten feet before the bow of the
went the big ball, sending up sheets of spray which spattered the deck of the yacht and even reached the little group seated in the cockpit.
The Queen and her Ladies screamed with fright, which certainly was no more than natural, for they were taken very much by surprise. Before any of them could utter one single word, Long Jim threw over the helm and headed the yacht into the wind so that in a moment it lost headway and drifted with the sail flapping useless in the breeze.