“Last time I smelt a good deal of it, when we were beating off a ship twice our size, and should have taken her, too, had she not gone down in the night,” answered the second lieutenant, in his usual quiet tone. “I got my promotion in consequence.”
“And wrote an ode to victory, eh?” said Mr Horrocks, who was fond of bantering his brother lieutenant on his fondness for poetry.
“And it was considered good,” responded the young officer.
“You will have an opportunity of exercising your poetical talents before long on the same subject, I hope,” observed the first lieutenant. “We are gaining fast on the chase.”
Just then the look-out from the mast-head shouted, “Sail on the starboard bow!”
“Go and see what she is like,” said the commander to Rayner.
Our hero hurried aloft, his telescope hanging by a strap at his back. He was quickly joined by the second lieutenant. They were of opinion that she was a large craft, and that the object of the chase was to draw the Lily away from the frigate, so that the corvette might have two opponents to contend with.
“We must manage to take her before she reaches the other, then we shall have time to prepare for a second action,” observed Mr Lascelles.
“Can she be the Ariel?” asked Rayner. “She’s very likely to be cruising hereabouts.”
Mr Lascelles took another look at her through his glass.