All
that I was conscious of was the fact that Lucy was gone,
irrevocably, as I feared. But by and by order returned to my
confused and gloomy mind, and, observing suddenly that the tide was
running in, and that the breeze was blowing inshore, I felt a
springing of hope within me.
'Twas clear that the brig could not put to sea against both wind
and tide; she must lie where she was for several hours; was it
possible that even now something might be done to rescue Mistress
Lucy? Could we by some means win to the brig and snatch her from
the villainous hands that held her captive? I dashed back to my
companions and put this throbbing question to them. They shook
their heads; we had no boat to convey us to the vessel, nor if we
had could we have overcome the crew by main force. Uncle Moses said
that there were some fifteen or twenty men aboard, well armed; she
carried three brass guns; whereas we were but four, unarmed save
for our two cutlasses. And even supposing our party were ten times
as large, we could do nothing without means of transport; and the
buccaneers could bring their guns to bear upon us if we exposed
ourselves to their view, and with the turn of the tide could mock
us and sail away.
But on a sudden a thought came to me. Might we not at least render
the departure of the brig impossible? Though with any force we
might gather 'twas hopeless to think of capturing her, if we could
but strand her we should at any rate gain time, and maybe bargain
with Vetch for the release of the lady.
Pages:
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341