Twice Lost | Page 3

she had,
she had possibly taken us for a merchantman. Darkness was coming on,
but we had got her bearings; and unless she was suspicious of us she
would stand on as she was doing, and perhaps shorten sail to allow us
to come up with her; if so, we had no doubt that we should take her. As

it was fully believed that she would not yield without fighting, the ship
was cleared for action; the crew went to their quarters, and all stood
ready should we sight her, which we might do at any moment.
On glided our ship over the dark waters, her masts towering to the sky
like some phantom of the night. A strange feeling came over me as I
thought that in a few minutes we might be hotly engaged in firing away
at the enemy, round shot and bullets flying about us.
"Sail right ahead, sir!" shouted the second lieutenant from forward. I
looked out eagerly, and saw the tall masts and sails of a ship fully as
large as, if not larger than, the Heroine.
"We must speak her before firing, lest we should be engaging a friend,"
I heard the commander observe to Mr Worthy, the first lieutenant. "If
yonder craft is a pirate, she takes us for a merchant vessel, as she
probably knew that no man-of-war of our size was on the station. Don't
fire a shot till I give the order."
After this not a word was spoken. In perfect silence we glided onwards,
rapidly approaching the dark ship, which we could now distinguish
clearly, with her courses brailed up, evidently awaiting us. The
captain's intention was to run up on her starboard quarter, so as to keep
her between us and the land. We were almost within hail, and expected
in another instant to be engaged, when down came her courses, the
yards were braced sharp up, and she stood away on a bowline towards
the coast. On this our helm was immediately put down, and we did the
same, keeping directly after her and firing our bow-chasers. She was
evidently a fast craft, for she rapidly drew ahead of us. The breeze
freshened, and having all sail set, we heeled over till the lee guns
dipped into the water.
"We shall be whipping the masts out of her, if we don't take care," I
heard Mudge observe.
The captain seemed to think the same. "Hand royals and topgallant
sails," he sang out; "be smart, my lads."

The top-men hurried aloft to obey the order, for every one knew there
was no time to be lost. The masts bent like willow wands, and I
expected every moment to see them go over the side. While attending
to shortening sail, the eyes of the officers were withdrawn from the
chase; for some of the ropes getting foul during the operation, we were
obliged to luff up to clear them, thereby allowing her to get still farther
ahead. Still, she could be distinguished standing to the eastward. As
soon as the sails were handed we stood on again after her, staggering
along under such canvas as we could carry, and every eye on board
turned towards her.
"If she runs us out of sight, she'll put her helm up and stand down the
coast," observed Mudge; "and it will be a hard matter to find her
again."
Our chief hope was that our shot might wing her; but only one gun
could be brought to bear, and with the sea there was on, though it was
not very heavy, our aim was uncertain. Still, as we had got her jammed
in between us and the coast, there was little chance of her ultimately
escaping.
We had been running on for some time, the chase still gaining on us,
and becoming dimmer and dimmer to view, when a heavy squall struck
the ship, and heeled her over so much that the captain gave the order to
shorten sail. It cleared off, however, before the sheets were let fly; but
when we again looked ahead the chase was nowhere to be seen. We
accordingly edged away to the southward, in case she should have gone
off before the wind.
Not long after this the morning broke, and the wind went down. As the
chase was not to be seen to the southward, the captain and Mr Worthy
were still convinced that she had continued her course to the eastward,
but that the thick mist hanging over the coast was hiding her from sight.
We had again made all sail, and were standing on as before, when the
look-out at the mast-head shouted, "Land! land!" and shortly afterwards,
as the atmosphere cleared, we could see the wood-covered heights of
the African coast rising above