Of course, it is difficult to describe the sensations which alternately filled Ada’s bosom, as the boat progressed round the harbour; hope, joy, gratitude, love, and fear, all were there; and those who would understand what they were, must either have been placed in a similar position, or must endeavour to fancy themselves so placed. At length the eastern point of the harbour was passed, and with the towering cliffs of the entrance rising above them on either side, the clear boundless sea appeared ahead. Jack Raby, with the natural impulse of his age, forgetting his own lessons to Marianna, was very nearly giving way to a shout of joy as he found the boat floating freely on the ocean he had learned to love and to confide in; but he recollected himself in time, and merely uttered a whispered “hurra,” which could not have been heard above the splash of the water on the rocks close above them.
“Port your helm, Raby, and let us shut out the bay as fast as we can,” whispered his captain. “We shall still keep under the shadow of the cliffs for a short distance, to avoid the risk of being seen from the eastern towers. That will do, steady.
“Keep up your courage, my sweet Ada, for a few minutes more,” he said, turning his eyes to her countenance, from which, indeed, his glance had never been absent longer than was necessary to watch for their safety. “We may now congratulate ourselves on having every chance of escape. In less than half an hour we shall fall in with the Ione’s boats, and then we may defy the whole nest of pirates to stop us.”
“I shall have no further fear when we have lost sight of that dreadful vessel, which looks even now like some slumbering monster about to awake and rush after us,” she answered, pointing to the Sea Hawk, which lay still open inside the harbour’s mouth.
She had scarcely uttered these words when a loud shout was heard, which seemed to proceed from some one on board her, and a musket was discharged at them. The shouting was repeated, and words were clearly distinguished.
“We are discovered,” exclaimed the Greek captain. “Pull, pull, as hard as we can, the watch on deck is calling on us to come into the harbour. He has evidently just woke up, and is yet uncertain what we are, though he suspects us. He threatens to fire the guns at us if we do not obey him, and that will have the effect, though we escape the shot, of waking up the rascals in all quarters, and we shall have a whole fleet of boats after us: stay, I will hail in return, and pretend we are fishermen.”
On this he stood boldly up in the boat, and cried out in Romaic, at the top of his voice—
“What fool is that on board the Sea Hawk, who has been sleeping on his watch these four hours past, and now makes so much noise, because others more industrious get up early in the morning to follow their avocations? We should have little fish to eat if we were to trust to you for the supply.”
“Who is it?” exclaimed the same voice. “Is it you, Balbo?”
“Yes, yes,” answered Captain Vassilato; “I should have thought you would have known my voice.”