“Mr Futlock took the glass, and with his lack-lustre eye had a long look at the cutter, which was bobbing away into the seas, while she kept her course on a wind as if in no manner of a hurry.
“‘She is honest, I believe,’ he observed, with a wise nod. ‘Probably a Poole or Exmouth trader; but we must overhaul her notwithstanding. Shake a reef out of the mainsail, my lads.’
“This was quickly done, and the sail hoisted up. ‘Now, keep her away a couple of points more, and we shall about fetch her.’
“Our mate’s orders being executed, away we went tearing through the foaming, hissing water, now looking, in the morning’s pale light, of a dark, melancholy hue. The stranger continued on as steady as before.
“‘Oh, there’s no use in the world giving ourselves the trouble of boarding her,’ muttered Mr Futlock; and he was just going to order the cutter to be kept on a wind, when we saw the stranger haul up his foresail, and let fly his jib sheets, evidently intending to wait our coming.
“‘What cutter is that?’ shouted old Futlock.
“‘The Polly of London, bound for Weymouth,’ answered a man, who stood at the taffrail, through a speaking-trumpet. ‘We hove-to, sir, that we might tell you we have just run over a large number of tubs away there to the southward.’
“‘Thank you, thank you,’ shouted Mr Futlock in return, as we ran by and were soon out of speaking distance. ‘I knew that fellow was honest,’ he observed to me, rubbing his hands at the thought of making some prize-money. ‘Come, rouse aft the main-sheet. We must haul up a little again. Can any one see the tubs?’
“There were plenty of busy eyes looking out for the prize, and it was not long before we discovered them on the weather bow. By keeping our luff we were quickly up to them.
“The commander was by this time called, and now came a difficulty. With the heavy sea there was running, it was a work not free from danger to lower a boat. We first shortened sail; the helm was put down, and the cutter hove-to, and then, after several attempts by waiting for a lull, we got the boat with a crew safe in water.