The looker-out at the mast-head hailed the deck.
“A ship, sir, close to—I see her mast-heads over the fog.”
“What does she look like?” asked Morton. “A large ship, sir, line-of-battle ship, I should say.”
The officers were alert in an instant. Hardman flew aloft. Scarcely had he got there, than he shouted, “There’s another! another!—three of them—line-of-battle ships and enemies.”
The last words had an electric effect. From the movements of the line-of-battle ships, as they were seen over the fog, there was no doubt that their look-outs had discovered the “Pallas.” In an instant the captain was on deck; Morton had already ordered the ship to be kept away, and was again setting topgallant sails and royals; he thought the royal masts would scarcely stand.
“Never mind, we must do everything to preserve our booty and our liberty,” answered Lord Claymore.
The breeze increased almost to a gale. The wind soon dispersed the mist, and the three huge line-of-battles ships were seen rushing on towards the frigate. A broadside from one of them would have sunk her. Her top-gallant masts bent like willow wands. Every moment it appeared that they must go. Lord Claymore stood watching them, and now and then taking a glance at his enemies, and though cool and collected, seeming positively to revel in the excitement of the scene. The wind was abeam; and the frigate, which proved herself but a crank ship, heeled over till her hammock-nettings dipped in the seething, foaming waters, which bubbled and hissed up through the lee scuppers.
On tore the “Pallas.” It was a race for liberty and the preservation of the wealth in which they had been rejoicing.
“What will you take for your prize-money in prospect now, Morton?” asked the pertinacious Hardman. “I told you so, old boy—there’s many a slip between the cup and the lip. It’s the great truth I’ve learned in my life—I shall always stick to it.”
“It may apply equally to our enemies astern, though,” observed the captain, who had overheard the remark, “we will see if we cannot make it so.”