Fitz the Filibuster | Page 3

yesterday."
"Contraband, sir?"
"Yes; guns and ammunition which ought not to be allowed to be
shipped from an English port against a friendly state.--Give way, my
men!"
The rowers responded by making their stout ashen blades bend, and the
cutter went forward in jerks through the rather choppy sea.

"Then we shall take the schooner, sir?"
"Yes, my lad, if we can."
"Then that means prize-money."
"Why, Burnett, are you as avaricious as that?"
"No, sir; no, sir; I was thinking about the men."
"Oh, that's right. But don't count your chickens before they are
hatched."
"No, sir."
"We mayn't be able to board that vessel, and if we do, possibly it isn't
the one we want. It's fifty to one it isn't. Or it may be anything-- some
trading brig or another going down south."
"Of course, sir. There are so many that pass."
"At the same time it may be the one we want."
"Yes, sir."
"And then we shall be in luck."
"Yes, sir."
"They must surrender to our armed boat."
Fitz Burnett had had little experience of the sea, but none as connected
with an excursion in a boat on a dark night, to board a vessel whose
sailing light could be seen in the distance.
They had not gone far before the lieutenant tabooed all talking.
"Still as you can, my lads," he said. "Sound travels far over the sea, and
lights are very deceptive."

The midshipman had already been thinking the same thing. He had
often read of Will-o'-the-Wisps, but never seen one, and this light
seemed to answer the description exactly, for there it was, dimly-seen
for a few moments, then brightening, and slowly going up and down.
But the great peculiarity was that now it seemed quite close at hand,
now far distant, and for the life of him he could not make out that they
got any nearer. He wanted to draw his companion's attention to that fact,
but on turning sharply to the lieutenant as if to speak, he was met by a
low "Hist!" which silenced him directly, while the men rowed steadily
on for quite a quarter of an hour longer, when all at once the lieutenant
uttered in an angry whisper--
"What are you doing, you clumsy scoundrel?"
For there was a sudden movement behind where they sat in the
stern-sheets, as if the man in charge of the lantern had slipped, with the
result that a dull gleam of light shone out for a few moments, before its
guardian scuffled the piece of sail-cloth by which it had been covered,
back into its place, and all was dark once more.
"Why, what were you about?" whispered the lieutenant angrily.
"Beg pardon, sir. Slipped, sir."
"Slipped! I believe you were asleep."
The man was silent.
"You were nodding off, weren't you?"
"Don't think I was, sir," was the reply.
But the man's officer was right, and the rest of the crew knew it, being
ready to a man, as they afterwards did, to declare that "that there Bill
Smith would caulk," as they termed taking a surreptitious nap, "even if
the gunboat were going down."
"Put your backs into it, my lads," whispered the lieutenant. "Now then,

with a will; but quiet, quiet!"
As he spoke the speed of the boat increased and its progress made it
more unsteady, necessitating his steadying himself by gripping Fitz by
the collar as he stood up, shading his eyes and keeping a sharp look-out
ahead.
A low hissing sound suggestive of his vexation now escaped his lips,
for to his rage and disgust he saw plainly enough that their light must
have been noticed.
Fitz Burnett had come to the same conclusion, for though he strained
his eyes with all his power, the Will-o'-the-Wisp-like light that they
were chasing had disappeared.
"Gone!" thought the boy, whose heart was now beating heavily. "They
must have seen our light and taken alarm. That's bad. No," he added to
himself, "it's good--capital, for it must mean that that was the light of
the vessel we were after. Any honest skipper wouldn't have taken the
alarm."
"Use your eyes, Burnett, my lad," whispered the lieutenant, bending
down. "We must have been close up to her when that idiot gave the
alarm. See anything?"
"No, sir."
"Oh, tut, tut, tut, tut!" came in a low muttering tone.
"Look, boy, look; we must see her somehow. How are we to go back
and face the captain if we fail like this?"
The boy made no reply, but strained his eyes again, to see darkness
everywhere that appeared to be growing darker moment by moment,
except in one spot, evidently where the land lay, and there a dull
yellowish light glared out that seemed to keep on winking at them