On our way we passed through the dockyard, where a fifty-gun ship was building, and several smaller vessels of war. We were looking at one repairing alongside the quay, when I saw O’Carroll start, and look eagerly at the people on board.
“That’s her, I’m certain of it!” he exclaimed. “She has got into trouble since she parted from you, or you may have done her more harm than you thought for, and she has put in here with false papers and under false colours to repair damages.”
“What vessel do you mean?” I asked.
“Why, the Mignonne to be sure, or by what other name she may go,” he answered. “Probably she is now the San Domingo, or some other saint under Spanish colours, and hailing from some port on the other side of the Horn. Our friend, Captain Brown, of the whaler, had better make haste, or she will be after him and his prize.”
“Why not after us then?” I asked.
“Because Captain La Roche has had enough of your quality, I suspect,” he replied. “He is a fellow who only fights when he is sure of booty, and though I daresay that he would like to send you to the bottom, he would not go out of his way either for revenge or glory.”
To satisfy ourselves we examined the stranger as narrowly as we could, and O’Carroll was thoroughly convinced that he was right in his suspicions. While thus employed a man appeared at the companion watch.
“Why, there is La Roche himself!” he cried out. Scarcely had he spoken than a bullet whizzed by his head. “That settles the matter,” he said, quite coolly. “Let us be out of this, or he will be following up this compliment.” We hurried out of the dockyard. I proposed making a complaint to the authorities.
“And be detained here several weeks and gain nothing in the end,” he answered, shaking his head. “My advice is, get ready for sea as fast as you can, and if you wish to serve Captain Brown see him safe out of sight of land before the Mignonne can follow. We’ll keep a watch on him in the meantime, or he’ll play us some trick or other. Above all things, don’t be on shore after dark. La Roche has plenty of friends here, depend on that, and he will find means to pick us off if he thinks that we are likely to inconvenience him.”
Following O’Carroll’s suggestions I immediately returned on board. Captain Hassall at first scarcely credited the account we gave him—indeed, he did not, I saw, put thorough confidence in O’Carroll. However, he agreed that we ought to warn Captain Brown, and that it would be well for us also to sail before the supposed privateer was ready for sea.