Fitz the Filibuster | Page 4

derisively, now fairly bright, now disappearing all at once, as the
lantern revolved.

"Hold hard!" whispered the lieutenant, and the men lay on their oars,
with the boat gradually slackening its speed till it rose and fell, rocking
slowly on the choppy sea, and the eye-like lantern gave another
derisive wink twice, and then seemed to shut itself up tight.
"It's of no use to pull, Burnett," whispered the lieutenant. "We may be
going right away. See anything, my lads?"
"No, sir," came in a low murmur, and the culprit who had gone to sleep
sat and shivered as he thought of the "wigging," as he termed it, that
would be his when he went back on board the gunboat; and as the boat
rocked now in regular motion the darkness seemed to grow more
profound, while the silence to the midshipman seemed to be awful.
He was miserable too with disappointment, for he felt so mixed up with
the expedition that it seemed to him as if he was in fault, and that when
they returned he would have to share in the blame that Captain Glossop
would, as he termed it, "lay on thick."
"Oh, Mr Bill Smith," he said to himself, "just wait till we get back!"
And then a reaction took place.
"What's the good?" he thought. "Poor fellow! He'll get it hot enough
without me saying a word. But how could a fellow go to sleep at a time
like this?"
"It's all up, Burnett," came in a whisper, close to his ear. "The milk's
spilt, and it's no use crying over it, but after all these preparations who
could have expected such a mishap as that?--What's the matter with
you?" he added sharply. "You'll have me overboard."
For the midshipman had suddenly sprung up from where he sat, nearly
overbalancing his superior officer as he gripped him tightly by the
chest with the right hand, and without replying stood rigidly pointing
over the side with his left, his arm stretched right across the lieutenant's
breast.

"You don't mean--you can see--Bravo, boy!--Pull, my lads, for all you
know."
As he spoke he dropped back into his seat, tugging hard with his right
hand at one of the rudder-lines, with the result that as the cutter glided
once more rapidly over the little waves she made a sharp curve to
starboard, and then as the line was once more loosened, glided on
straight ahead for something dim and strange that stood out before
them like a blur.
As the men bent to their stout ash-blades, pulling with all their might, a
great thrill seemed to run through the cutter, which, as it were,
participated in the excitement of the crew, boat and men being for the
time as it were one, while the dark blur now rapidly assumed form,
growing moment by moment more distinct, till the occupants of the
stern-sheets gradually made out the form of a two-masted vessel
gliding along under a good deal of sail.
She had so much way on, as the cutter was coming up at right angles
that instead of beating fast, Fitz Burnett's heart now continued its
pulsations in jerks in his excitement lest the schooner should glide by
them and leave them behind.
It was a near thing, but the lieutenant had taken his measures correctly.
He was standing up once again grasping the rudder-lines till almost the
last moment, before dropping them and giving two orders, to the
coxswain to hook on, and to the crew to follow--unnecessary orders, for
every man was on the qui vive, knew his task, and meant to do it in the
shortest possible time.
And now a peculiar sense of unreality attacked the young midshipman,
for in the darkness everything seemed so dream-like and unnatural. It
was as if they were rowing with all their might towards a phantom ship,
a misty something dimly-seen in the darkness, a ship-like shape that
might at any moment die right away; for all on board was black, and
the silence profound. There was nothing alive, as it were, but the
schooner itself, careening gently over in their direction, and passing
silently before their bows.

One moment this feeling strengthened as Fitz Burnett dimly made out
the coxswain standing ready in the bows prepared to seize hold with the
boat-hook he wielded, while the men left their oars to swing, while they
played another part.
"The boat-hook will go through it," thought the lad, as, following the
lieutenant's example, he stood ready to spring up the side. The next
moment all was real, for the cutter in response to a jerk as the coxswain
hooked on, grated against the side and changed its course, gliding along
with the schooner, while, closely following, their officers, who sprang
on board,