Chapter Twenty Eight.
A rescue.
While some of the crew were engaged on deck, others, led by the second lieutenant, the boatswain, and Rayner, ascended the rigging with buckets of water to heave over the sails, which in several places had caught fire.
It was a work of extreme peril, but it was quickly accomplished, before much damage had been done. The ship all the time was standing on, her starboard tacks aboard.
Nearly a quarter of an hour had elapsed before any one could look in the direction where their late antagonist had floated.
A few dark fragments of wreck could alone be seen in the far distance, but no one supposed that any human beings could have escaped from the fearful catastrophe. The Lily was quickly put to rights and stood on in chase of the stranger, which was now seen, under a press of sail, standing away to the north-west.
Evening was approaching, and it was feared that if she wished to avoid the risk of an engagement, she might manage to escape in the night.
During the first part of it the atmosphere was tolerably clear, and the chase could dimly be seen in the distance. She was carrying all sail, evidently doing her best to escape. The Lily had all her canvas set, but as at night a squall cannot be seen, as in the daytime, coming across the ocean, all hands were kept on deck, ready to take it in at a moment’s notice.