Norah and Captain Tracy were on board the Ouzel Galley before noon the next day, accompanied by Owen. They had gone round to bid Mrs Massey good-bye; it cost her much to part again so soon with her son, but she was proud of seeing him captain of so fine a ship, and had learnt to bear many trials with fortitude.
As the breeze blew up the harbour, the Ouzel Galley had to beat out, which, with a favourable tide, she succeeded in doing in a few tacks, after which she had a fair wind for Dublin. Dan, coming aft, hat in hand, welcomed Miss Norah, and wished she was going to sail with them the next voyage—Pompey, who presumed on long service with Captain Massey, imitating his example, and making an appropriate speech. Norah thanked them, and, it is just possible, secretly wished that she was to remain on board.
A bright look-out was kept for any sail which might heave in sight; for, though Owen believed that there was no risk of encountering an enemy, it was still possible that a French privateer might be on the watch to pick up any merchant vessel which might come within her grasp. The wind fell, and the Ouzel Galley made but little progress during the night. Whatever others might have done, Norah did not complain; she was in no hurry to have the trip over. Dawn had just broken, when, as a mist which had for some hours hung over the ocean began to clear away, a hand who had been sent aloft shouted out, “A sail to the southward!” Owen, who was on deck, at once went to the mast-head to take a look at the stranger. She was a large ship under all sail, but the mist prevented him from making out very clearly what she was.
“She is bringing up the breeze,” observed Captain Massey, when he returned on deck; “but as we shall probably get it before long, we may keep ahead of her.”
“We’ll try our best to do that same,” said the old captain; “it would be hard to be trapped just as we are going into port.”
“I should never forgive myself for having allowed you and Norah to come on board,” said Owen, feeling much more anxious than he would have done had he been alone.
“Don’t trouble yourself about that, lad,” answered the captain; “she is more likely to be a British ship than a Frenchman, and she hasn’t got up to us yet, nor will she, I trust, before we are safe in the Liffey. I shall be glad, however, when we get the breeze.”
They had not long to wait before cat’s-paws were seen playing over the surface of the ocean. The sails were trimmed, and the ship began to glide through the water; faster and faster she moved, but the stranger astern still gained on her. Norah soon followed her father on deck, and the rising sun shining on the white canvas of the ship astern revealed her more clearly to view.
“Is that ship chasing us?” she asked, with a little trepidation in her voice.
“She is following in our wake, but she may be a friend for all that,” answered Owen, anxious not to alarm Norah. “Should she prove to be a foe, we’ll do our best to keep ahead of her. Fortunately, we have a port to run for, and have every chance of gaining it before she comes up with us. See, we have the Wicklow mountains already in sight, and it will not take us many hours to reach Dublin if the wind holds as it does now.”