We'll come back
for it anon."
When the vessel was about a mile distant, our captain gave the
order to fling the cable overboard, then shouted:
"Hard up, wear ship."
We sprang to the braces, the ship spun round, and there we were on
the starboard tack heading straight for the stranger. 'Twas clear
then that she thought something was amiss, for she tried to put
about and run for it; but being greatly hampered by her stern sails
and the press of canvas she was carrying, by the time she had come
round we had gained a good quarter mile upon her. The wind had
freshened, and in some ten minutes our captain gave the order to
haul the tarpaulin off Long Tom, the biggest of eight guns we
carried, and give the Frenchman a pill. The gun was already loaded,
and Bill Garland, the best shot aboard, of whose skill I had heard
not a little from his messmates, laid it carefully and took aim,
and then for a minute I could see nothing for the cloud of smoke. I
sprang up in my excitement; 'twas the first shot I had ever seen
fired, and the roar of it made me tingle and throb. But old Dilly
pulled me down.
"Not so fast, long shanks," he said. "Our turn's a-coming."
"Did he hit her?" I asked, dropping down beside him.
"Clean through the mizzen topsail," he replied, "but done no more
harm than blowing your nose."
The gun was reloaded, and Bill was about to fire again when the
captain sang out to him to wait a little, for we were sailing two
feet to the Frenchman's one, and drawing rapidly within point-blank
range.
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