The pinnace was on the point of shoving off.
“Wait till we see what she is,” said the commander, who had come down, as had all the officers and men, to bid farewell to their shipmates.
The sun now quickly rising, shed its rays on the stranger, towards which several telescopes were turned.
“She is the very merchantman we saw yesterday, or I am much mistaken,” observed the commander.
“No doubt about it, sir,” said Mr Tarwig.
“Foley, you will be saved a voyage in the boat. We must board her without delay, or she may be getting under way, although it seems strange that she should not have noticed our flag,” said Commander Olding. “Can she have beaten off the pirate?”
“It looks like it, sir,” answered the first lieutenant. “Either the pirate must have escaped or been sent to the bottom.”
“We shall soon hear all about it, I hope; and we must get her to take us off,” said the commander.
“As the pinnace is ready, I will pull on board at once, sir, if you will allow me,” said Mr Foley.
The commander hesitated for a moment. “We will run no unnecessary risk,” he observed. “She may have beaten off the pirate, or she may have become her prize, and if so, it will be safer for all the boats to proceed together well armed.”