Under the Meteor Flag: Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War Read online

  CHAPTER TWO.

  HOW WE LOST HER.

  The sun was just sinking below the horizon, his parting beams lightingup gorgeously a heavy bank of clouds which hung low down in the westernquarter, when the lookout man aloft hailed, "A sail on the weather bow!"

  Everybody was instantly on the alert.

  "What do you make her out to be?" hailed Mr Sennitt, the firstlieutenant; while the skipper turned to me and said,--

  "Mr Chester, be good enough to slip down into my cabin, and bring up mytelescope, if you please."

  As I made a dive down the companion, I heard the lookout hail again:"She is a large lugger, sir; I can make her out quite plainly; she isjust in the wake of the sun."

  "All hands make sail," was the next order, given as quick as lightning.

  I got the glass, and hurrying on deck with it, placed it in theskipper's hands. The men were by this time lying out on the yards,shaking a couple of reefs out of the topsails, and loosing the courses.Captain Brisac slung the telescope over his shoulder, and, springinginto the rigging, made his way aloft to the crosstrees, where thelookout still sat, with one hand grasping the topgallant shrouds, andthe other shading his eyes. The skipper braced himself firmly againstthe topmost head, raised the telescope to his eye, and took a good longlook at the stranger, closed the glass sharply, and descended to thedeck again with all the agility of a monkey--or a midshipman.

  "She _is_ a lugger, sure enough; and a large one too," he remarked, ashe rejoined the first lieutenant. "There can be no doubt that she isFrench; and I have a strong suspicion that she is a privateer on thelookout for some of our homeward-bound vessels. I do not think theyhave made us out yet; when I saw her she was jogging easily along underher fore and mizzen lugs and a small jib. If she does not see us withinthe next five minutes, the chances are that she will not make us out atall until the moon rises, which will not be for quite another hour; bywhich time I hope we shall have drawn pretty close up to her."

  The lookout was hailed from time to time, to inquire whether the luggerhad made any more sail or not; and each time the cheering reply was,"Not yet, sir." At length the reply was, "It is too dark to see hernow, sir; but she had not when I lost sight of her."

  The brig was now tearing along under single-reefed topsails, courses,fore-topmast staysail, jib, and spanker, her lee side buried deep in thefoaming brine, and the sea coming bodily in over her bows by tons at atime. She no longer rose lightly over the opposing waves, but dashedheadlong into them; rushing forward upon her way like a startledcourser.

  Every night-glass in the ship was brought into requisition by the eagerofficers, in their endeavours to catch an occasional glimpse of thestranger; but the night had settled down pitchy dark, the sky havingrapidly become obscured by a thick veil of clouds immediately after thedisappearance of the sun below the horizon, so that not so much as asolitary star was visible; all efforts to get a sight of the chase wereconsequently quite in vain. _So_ dark was it that, standing by thetaffrail, it was impossible to see as far as the bows of the ship. Nota light of any description was permitted on board the "Scourge;" eventhe binnacle lights were carefully masked, and Captain Brisac soon beganto manifest a great deal of anxiety at the risk which he was undoubtedlyincurring in thus driving his ship at racing speed through the thickdarkness, without a warning light of any description to indicate herpresence to other craft. He contented himself, however, with placingfive of the sharpest-sighted men on the lookout; namely, one on theflying-jibboom-end, one on each cat-head, and one on each of the fore-yardarms.

  The bearings of the chase had of course been very accurately taken thelast thing before losing sight of her, when she was estimated to be tenmiles distant, and about two points on the weather bow, going along uponan easy bowline.

  The "Scourge" was an exceedingly smart little brig under her canvas; andwhen the additional sail had been set and every brace, sheet, tack, andbowline trimmed with the utmost nicety, it was the general opinion thatshe was going a good honest eleven knots. The chase was thought to betravelling at the rate of four knots at most; it was hoped, therefore,that when the moon rose we should find ourselves within three or fourmiles of her.

  The suspense, which we were compelled to endure as best we might, causedthe time to drag heavily on; at length, however, a brightening of thesky in the eastern quarter proclaimed the welcome approach of the moon.Slowly--very slowly--the brightness increased, the veil of cloudbreaking up before it, and revealing the sky beyond, all luminous withsilvery radiance. A few more anxious minutes, and the round white discof the moon rose slowly upwards into view, flinging a broad path oflight across the tumbling billows, and gleaming pale and ghostly on thesails of the lugger, which now appeared directly ahead of us, and aboutfive miles distant.

  Instantly every glass in the ship was levelled at the chase; and ageneral exclamation of annoyance arose, as, while still engaged intaking their first long look at her, the pursuers observed a suddenfluttering of canvas about the mainmast which speedily resolved itselfunmistakably into a lofty well-set mainsail.

  "Ah!" ejaculated the skipper, stamping his foot impatiently on the deck,"they evidently have sharp eyes on board yonder lugger; they must haveseen us the moment that the moon rose."

  "Yes," returned the first lieutenant, with his eye still glued to hisglass; "and the sharp eyes appear to belong to an equally sharp crew;they are shaking out their reefs fore and aft and shifting their jib,all at the same time. Depend upon it, sir, we shall have to work forthat craft before we get her."

  "We shall catch her, Mr Sennitt, never fear," was the cheery response;"she cannot be above half our size, and will have no chance with us insuch a breeze as this. And I do not anticipate that she is any moreheavily armed than we are, though she may possibly carry a few more men.Her skipper will of course escape if he can! and when he finds thatimpossible, he will, equally of course, fight, and very likely fightwell. Still, I do not think we shall have much difficulty in takinghim."

  "In the meantime, however," remarked Sennitt, who had his glassconstantly at his eye, "unless I am greatly mistaken, he is graduallycreeping away from us; his rigging does not show out as plainly as itdid ten minutes ago, yet there is more light."

  Another long and anxious observation of the chase by both officersfollowed; and, imitating their example, I also brought my glass to bearupon the flying craft. Flying she literally seemed to be rather thansailing. At one moment her hull was completely hidden by an interveningwave-crest, her sails only being visible; the next she would rush intoview, her low hull deluged with spray which glanced in the moonlightlike a shower of diamonds as it flew over her almost to the height ofher low mast-heads and dissipated itself in the sea to leeward; whileher masts bent like willow wands, inclining at what seemed to me afearfully perilous angle with the horizon.

  "Upon my word, Sennitt, I fear you are right," at last said the skipper,bringing his glass reluctantly down into the hollow of his arm. "Let uslay our glasses aside for half an hour, we shall then be better able tojudge which ship is gaining upon the other, and if we find that we arelosing ground, there will be nothing for it but to shake the remainingreef out of our topsails, and get the flying-jib on her; our spars aregood, and the rigging new; both ought to be quite capable of standing alittle extra strain."

  "It will be rather a risky business to increase the strain already laidupon the spars," said the first lieutenant, glancing anxiously aloft atthe topmasts, which were springing and buckling at every plunge of theship, with the enormous pressure of the tightly distended topsails;"still it is perhaps worth trying; it would be a fine feather in ourcaps if we could send into port the first prize of the war."

  The stipulated half-hour passed away; and at the end of that period theunwelcome conviction forced itself upon every one that the lugger washaving the best of it.

  "There is no help for it, Mr Sennitt," said the skipper, "shake thatreef out of the topsails, and set the flying-jib; she _must_ bear it
."

  Excited by the exhilarating influence of the chase, the hands sprangaloft with the utmost alacrity, and in an incredibly short space of timehad the reel out and the topsails distended to their fullest extent; theflying-jib flapped wildly in the wind for a moment or two, and thenyielded to the restraint of the sheet, at which it tugged as though itwould tear away the cleat to which it was secured.

  The effect of these additions to the before heavy pressure of canvasupon the ship was immediate, and, to my inexperience, highly alarming.The brig now lay over upon her side to such an extent that it was withthe utmost difficulty I could retain my footing upon the steeply-inclined and slippery plane of the deck. The lee sail was completelyburied in the sea, which boiled in over the lee bow and surged aft alongthe deck like a mill-race; while ever and anon an ominous _crack_ alofttold of the severity of the strain upon the overtaxed spars.

  Mr Sennitt kept glancing uneasily upward, as these portentous soundssmote upon his ear; which Captain Brisac observing, he turned to thefirst lieutenant and said,--

  "Do not be alarmed, Sennitt; it is only the spars settling into theirberths; they--"

  _Crash_! I sprang instinctively aft to the taffrail, out of the way ofthe wreck, and then looked up to see both topmasts, snapped off likecarrots just above the caps, go swooping over to leeward, to hang bytheir rigging under the lee of the courses; while the ship, with a sharpshock, as though she had touched upon some unseen rock, recoveredherself and floated once more upon an almost even keel.

  Captain Brisac was much too gentlemanly to swear. He simply turned tothe first lieutenant and said, "We have rather overdone it this time,Sennitt; however, it is no use crying over spilt milk, so turn the handsup, please, and let them clear away the wreck, and repair damages assoon as possible."

  The boom of a distant gun told us that the crew of the lugger had notbeen unobservant of our misfortune, and that they were willing to expenda charge of powder in acquainting us with their exultation thereat.

  By daybreak next morning we had everything ataunt again; the chase,however, had run completely out of sight, hours before, and was, at allevents for the present, hopelessly lost to us.

  The wind had gone down very considerably during the night, and hadhauled round to about due north; the sea went rapidly down; the sky wascloudless and intensely blue; the air became keen and frosty; and whenthe sun rose, it found us standing to the westward under topgallant-sails, without a single sail of any kind in sight.