“We shall do well, I hope, and carry the brig safely into Port Royal,” I observed to La Touche.
He shrugged his shoulders, and answered—
“For your sake I may wish it, though I shall not be sorry if we fall in with one of our own cruisers before the voyage is ended.”
“Very naturally; but should she appear, we will try our best to get away from her,” I said, laughing.
At length daylight broke. A wild scene the ocean presented; the foaming seas dancing up on all sides, through which the brig was struggling onwards. It seemed to me that the wind was blowing stronger than ever, and I began to fear that we should be driven over towards the reefs and shoals upon the American coast before it had ceased. If so, shipwreck was almost certain, and the chance of saving our lives would be small indeed. Still I kept up my spirits, and took care not to express my fears to my shipmates.
Suddenly about noon the wind dropped, but whether or not it was gaining strength for a fresh blow I was not certain. I asked La Touche. He replied that he could not tell, but that it might be so, and that it would be wise to be prepared for it. The seas tumbled about so much that I could not bring the brig to the wind. I, however, first set the fore, and then the main-topsail, and kept her before it to avoid the risk of the seas pooping us. The clouds at length began to disperse, and in a short time the sea itself went down.
I lost no time in bringing the brig to the wind, making more sail, and shaping a course for Jamaica. Before nightfall the clouds had entirely disappeared; and the setting sun cast a radiant glow over the sky and sea, as the brig, heeling over to the breeze, sped on her way.
“I congratulate you, monsieur, on the change of weather, for I should have been grieved as much as you would, had the brig been lost,” said La Touche, coming up to me. “Still there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip,”—he gave an equivalent proverb in French. “If one of our cruisers appears, you’ll have to congratulate me, though I hope you’ll receive the same courteous treatment that I have enjoyed from you, and for which I have to thank you.”
“I have no fear of that,” I replied. “Your cruiser has not yet appeared. The Good Luck is fortunately a fast craft, and we’ll do all we can to put her at her best speed.”
We had been unable to sit down to table during the hurricane, and had had no time to take a regular meal since; but me of the French seamen, who acted as steward, now placed a very substantial one on the table. I played the part of host, and La Touche that of guest. His messmate was too ill to get up, he said, but notwithstanding, though a sick man, he managed to consume a fair quantity of the viands La Touche took to him.