Some minutes were occupied in unloading the pinnace, that more men might go in her; and in the mean time the crews of the other boats hurried back to the fort to obtain their arms. Mr Tarwig and the master taking charge of them, as soon as all were ready they shoved off, and pulled as fast as the men could lay their backs to the oars towards the stranger. As they got from under the shelter of some of the higher reefs, which had at first concealed them, they must have been seen from her deck, as the British ensign was run up at her peak.
“Hurrah! after all, she must have beaten off the pirate!” exclaimed Gerald.
“I am not quite so sure of that,” answered Mr Foley. “If she is a prize to the pirates, they would hoist the flag to deceive us, and as they see only three boats, they may hope to beat us off. Don’t let us be quite sure that yonder vessel is not in the hands of the pirates,” he shouted out to Mr Tarwig, whose boat was astern of the pinnace.
“I agree with you,” was the answer. “We will be on our guard.”
The first lieutenant, as the senior officer, now took the lead, and the other two boats followed a little more than an oar’s length apart. Mr Tarwig’s boat carried an ensign, and as he approached the stranger he unshipped the flagstaff and waved it so that it might clearly be seen. The boats had now got within hail of the merchant vessel. The British colours were still hoisted at her peak.
“Who are you?” shouted a man who just then appeared on the poop of the merchant vessel. “Keep off, or we shall fire at you.”
“We are British—the officers and men lately belonging to his Majesty’s sloop of war Champion,” answered Mr Foley. “If you are English we are your friends, and we intend to come on board.”
“You may be, or you may be buccaneering rascals, and we don’t intend to trust you; so stand off, or we shall fire and sink all your boats,” shouted the man who had before spoken.
“I repeat that we are British, and you fire at your own risk,” answered Mr Tarwig.
“There is no doubt that the pirates have possession of the vessel,” observed Mr Foley to Gerald.