A suppressed cheer from those on deck showed that Green was right, and the Tornado stood away after the stranger. The latter was no laggard, and it was soon evident that the Tornado must do her best if she was to come up with her. The chase, though a vessel of some size, showed no inclination to come to close quarters with her pursuer.
“If we can but keep her in sight, we shall catch her at last,” said Jack; “and if she runs into any harbour, we must follow her, or send the boats in after her.”
“We haven’t had anything so exciting for a long time,” said Tom; “I hope that we may have to cut her out with the boats.”
“Her crew will blow her up sooner than let us do that,” observed Archie; “the Russians seem to be fonder of that sort of thing than fighting.”
The chase, however, kept well ahead, and there seemed a good prospect, should night come on, of her escaping altogether. Still the Tornado was really going faster than the Russian vessel, though so slight was the difference of speed, that at first it was scarcely discernible. At length, however, Jack considered that he had got the Russian vessel within range of his long guns, and was on the point of issuing the order to fire, when a shot from her came flying across the intervening space, but fell some twenty fathoms or so short of its mark.
“And now, let’s see what we can do,” cried Jack; “starboard the helm—steady—now, fire!” The Tornado’s shot struck the Russian’s counter, apparently committing a considerable amount of damage. This first specimen of the power of his pursuer’s guns seemed to satisfy him that he had better not engage at close quarters. The dense volumes of smoke which issued from his funnel proved that he was endeavouring to get more steam, in the hopes of still keeping ahead. As the Tornado could not be made to move faster than she was then going, Jack had to content himself with the prospect of the chase’s getting on shore, running short of coal, or of some accident happening to her machinery. Another shot was tried, but it fell short, showing that she had again drawn ahead. Some miles more had been run, when Green brought the chart on deck, and pointed out a fort situated on the shores of a bay a short distance off.
“The chase has evidently been making for that, and thinks that she will be secure under its guns,” he observed.
“We’ll stand on, and attack both ship and fort together,” said Jack; “we’ll sink the ship first, and then knock the fort to pieces.”
In about ten minutes more the chase rounded a point, when a bay opened out, on the farther side of which appeared a strong-looking fort, guarding the mouth of a river which ran into the bay.
“She may escape us after all if she runs up that river,” observed Higson, “unless we can first silence the guns of the fort, and then follow her.”