“They’ll guess well enough that we should have pulled to the nor’ard, and will be able to calculate by the set of the tide whereabouts to find us,” said Jack. “We mustn’t trust too much to being safe as yet. I wonder what that vessel to the eastward is. She’s a ship, for I can see her royals above the horizon, and she’s certainly nearer than when we first made her out.”
“She must be standing to the westward, then, and will, I hope, pass inside of us, should the breeze spring up again from the same quarter,” observed Bill. “She’s probably French, or she would not be so close in with the coast.”
“As to that, our cruisers stand in close enough at times, and she may be English notwithstanding,” answered Jack.
“Unless we are certain that she’s English we shall be wiser to avoid her,” remarked Bill, “so we’ll pull away to the nor’ard.”
“But what do you think of the ship out there?” asked Jack, pointing ahead.
“I cannot help believing that she’s English,” said Bill. “We must run the chance of being seen by her. We shall have to pull on a good many hours, however, first, and when the breeze springs up, she’ll pretty quickly run either to the eastward or westward.”
The boys, however, after all their remarks, could arrive at no conclusion. They rowed and rowed, but still appeared not to have moved their position with regard either to the shore or the two vessels in sight.
The sun rose high above their heads and struck down with considerable force; but they cared little for the heat, though it made them apply more frequently than they otherwise would have done to their water-cask. Bill had more than once to warn Jack not to drink too much.
The day was drawing on, and at last Jack proposed that they should have another rest and take some dinner. “There’s no use starving ourselves, and the more we eat the better we shall be able to pull,” he said.
Bill was not quite of this opinion. At the same time he agreed to Jack’s proposal, as his arms were becoming very weary.