At first he had experienced a feeling of intense satisfaction upon finding himself on board a friendly ship, but his grief may be imagined when he now heard that Captain Tracy and his daughter had fallen into the power of O’Harrall and his savage crew. Instead of rejoicing at his escape, he regretted having left the island, lest they might retaliate on their hapless prisoners. He trembled at the thought of what might be Norah’s fate. Gerald, of course, shared his feelings; and, indeed, every one sympathised with them both.
As soon as the canoe was hoisted up the sails were filled, and the Research again stood on her course towards the pirate’s island.
Chapter Twenty One.
Voyage of the Research commenced—Norah’s anxieties—A calm—Tropical sea—A gale springs up—The ship runs before it—Again stands to the westward—A dangerous position—Among islands and reefs—A suspicious sail—Chased—The Ouzel Galley—The pirate’s flag—The pirate begins firing—Norah placed in the hold—A fort seen on the island—No boats come off—The island passed—The pirates fore-topsail yard shot away—The second mate and several men of the Research killed or wounded—A calm—Damages repaired—A breeze springs up—The pirate overtakes the Research—Runs her on board—Fearful slaughter of her crew—Captured—The two old captains unhurt—Norah’s interview with the pirate—Taken on board the Ouzel Galley—Courteously treated—A sail in sight—Chased by a frigate—The Ouzel Galley escapes among the reefs—A calm—The frigate’s boats approach to attack her—A breeze springs up—She escapes.
The two old captains were well aware of the numerous perils they might possibly have to encounter when they sailed on their voyage in the Research, but for the sake of Norah they took care to make light of them whenever their prospects of success were discussed in her presence. Norah very naturally would ask questions, and to those questions they were compelled to try and find answers. In what part of the numberless groups of those western islands were they to search for Owen and Gerald? One subject absorbed all their thoughts—on that alone could they converse. Even when Captain O’Brien, as he frequently did, tried to introduce any other, it before long was sure to merge into that one. Norah day after day would unroll the chart of the West Indies, and pore over it for hours, till she knew the form and position and size of every island and key, and reef and sandbank, delineated thereon. The ship had already reached the tropics when a heavy gale sprang up from the westward, before which she was compelled to run for three days. She then had a long beat back, and the weather being unusually thick, no observations could be taken to determine her position. Day after day the two captains and the first mate came on deck at noon with their quadrants, but not a break in the clouds appeared through which they could get a glimpse of the sun.
They calculated at last that they could not be far off the most western of the Bahamas, and, as they hoped, near the entrance of the Windward Passage. At sunset the clouds dispersed, the wind shifted to the northward, the stars shone brightly forth from the clear sky, and it was hoped that the next day they might be able to determine their position. As no land had yet been seen, they stood on for the greater part of the night; but towards morning, Captain Tracy; afraid of running further, hove the ship to, to wait for daylight.
Even before the first streaks of dawn appeared above the eastern horizon, the two mates, followed by Captain O’Brien, went aloft, eager to catch the expected sight of land. What was their surprise to discover it not only to the westward, where they had looked for it, but away to the south-east and over the starboard quarter. The ship had run in during the night among a group of islands, but what islands they were it was difficult to determine. Norah had dressed and appeared from her cabin as her father and Captain O’Brien came below to consult the chart.
“Here is our position, if I mistake not,” said Captain Tracy, placing his finger on the chart. “We are further to the south’ard than I had supposed. An ugly place to have got to, but it might have been worse; the ship would have chanced to run foul of a reef had we stood on. But, Heaven be praised, we’ve escaped that disaster, and we’ll now try to thread our way into the Windward Passage.”