Taken by the Enemy, the Enemy by Oliver Optic [the beach read TXT] 📗

craft is finished for to-day, and we needn't worry any more about her," said the captain. "She will not get that hole stopped 318 up for an hour or longer, and I hope this affair will be over before this can be done. Shall we give them another shot? What do you think, Christy? She holds still now, and I believe I can hit her every time."

"Decidedly not: she is disabled for the present, and that is all I care for. We are not in war trim," replied Christy, as he turned his attention in the direction of the other vessels.

"As I told you, the Dauphine is fast; and she will be down upon us in less than five minutes more," said Captain Pecklar.

"I wonder that she don't fire upon us," added Christy.

"I doubt if she has any guns on board, though she may have a field-piece or two."

"The Bellevite is waking up, I think," said Christy.

"She is getting into deeper water."

"But the Dauphine is coming right between the Leopard and the Bellevite," continued Christy, as he brought the glass to bear upon her, though she was near enough to be distinctly seen with the naked eye. "Whether she had any guns or not, she has plenty of men on 319 board; and it is easy enough to see what she intends to do."

"What do you think she intends to do?" asked the captain.

"Of course she came out here after the Bellevite, as the Belle did also; but her people have seen what the Leopard has been about for the last hour, and they intend to dispose of us before they hunt for the bigger game."

"She may capture the Bellevite after she has finished her business with us," said the captain, looking very anxious.

"She may, but I don't believe she will. You have proved that you are all right, Captain Pecklar, and I don't mind telling you now that the Bellevite is heavily armed. Captain Breaker was a lieutenant in the navy, and he knows how to handle a ship," replied Christy.

"Then, if we escape the Dauphine, we shall be all right."

"The Dauphine will come down, and throw a few men on board of us; boarding us, in fact, as we have no force with which to help ourselves," added Christy, as he took a small American flag from his pocket.

320 It had been made by his mother on the late cruise of the steamer, and it was a sort of talisman with him, which he had often displayed in foreign lands. He found a pole on the deck, to which he attached the emblem of his whole country, and displayed it at the bow of the tug. He hoped that his father or the captain might see it, and recognize it as the one he had so often seen on board and ashore.

"That's a handsome flag, Christy; and it does me good to see it again," said Captain Pecklar, as he took off his hat, and bowed reverently to it.

"Percy, hard-a-starboard the helm!" shouted Christy to the helmsman. "Head her for the Belle."

"All right."

"I think we can increase the distance a little between us and the Dauphine," added Christy.

"That's a good move; for we have been putting ourselves nearer to her when there was no need of it, as there has not been since the Belle was disabled."

He had hardly spoken the words before a tremendous cheer came from the Bellevite, and her fore-rigging appeared to be filled with men. The 321 cheer was repeated till it had been given at least "three times three."

"What does that mean, Christy?" asked Captain Pecklar.

"It means that my father or some one on board has recognized my flag. I should have set it before if we had been near enough for them to make it out. But they have seen it, and I feel sure that all the steamers in the bay could not capture us now. Look at the Bellevite!"

She seemed suddenly to have taken the bit in her teeth, and she was rushing forward at a speed which she had not before exhibited. Paul Vapoor was evidently wide awake.

A little later her port-holes flew open.

322 CHAPTER XXIX ON BOARD OF THE BELLEVITE

The crisis was at hand; for the Dauphine was darting in between the Leopard and the Bellevite, between father and son. On the port rail of the former, as if ready to leap upon the deck of the tug, were at least twenty men; and, for the first time, the plan of the enemy became apparent to Christy Passford.

He hastened to the hurricane deck of the Leopard, where he could see more clearly; and it was evident to him that the question before them would be settled within a very few minutes. If he and his companions fell into the hands of the enemy, nothing less than a severe fight with the Dauphine, perhaps aided by the Belle, on the part of the Bellevite could undo the mischief.

Christy was disposed to leave nothing to be undone. Rushing into the pilot-house, he seized 323 the wheel, and threw it over, determined to redeem the fate of the tug while he could. Captain Pecklar had crowded on all the steam he could, and doubtless the boat was doing her very best. She flew round like a top, careening till her rail was under water.

"Hard up, Percy!" cried he, while the tug was still whirling. "Those men will drop on board of us if we don't get out of the Dauphine's way."

"The Bellevite is almost into her," added the volunteer pilot.

Paul Vapoor evidently understood the situation, and must have been preparing for it for some time, though the shoal-water had prevented the steamer from taking advantage of his effort. She had suddenly begun to dart ahead as though she had been an object shot from one of her biggest guns; and she seemed almost to leap out of the water in her struggle to come between the Leopard and the Dauphine.

The Bellevite was certainly making two miles to her rival's one in the race, and it looked as though she would strike her sharp bow into the broadside of the enemy. She seemed to rely on a vigorous blow with her stem rather than on 324 her guns; for as yet she had not fired a shot, though she was fully prepared to do so.

The Leopard came about in double-quick time; and as soon as her keel was at right angles with that of the Dauphine, Christy righted the helm, and let her go in the direction of the disabled Belle. She rolled, pitched, and plunged in the sea, which had been increasing very sensibly within a short time; but she went ahead at her best speed, and that was all Christy wanted of her.

The Bellevite was still rushing down upon the Dauphine as though she intended to annihilate her when the crash came, as come it must within a minute or two. Christy's heart was in his throat, for he felt that his own safety depended upon the events of the next two minutes. A tremendous collision was impending, and thus far the Dauphine had done nothing to avoid it. Doubtless her commander had gauged the speed of the Bellevite by what she had been doing in the shoal water, and had not believed she could overhaul him before he had thrown a force on board of the Leopard.

"Now, keep her as she is, Percy, and we shall 325 soon know what is going to happen," said Christy, when the tug had come about so that he could not readily see the movements of the other steamers.

"We are running right into the Belle," suggested Percy.

"This thing will be settled before we can come within hail of her, and I don't think she wants any thing more of us at present," replied Christy, as he left the pilot-house, and hastened aft, where he could get a better view of the situation.

"There is a row on board of the Dauphine," said Captain Pecklar, who had come to the stern for the same purpose as Christy. "Those men are leaping down from the rail."

"What has happened on board of her?" asked Christy.

"Nothing; but the Bellevite is coming into her full tilt, and they know that the shock will knock all those men overboard; and I think they don't want to have to stop to pick them up," answered the captain.

At this moment several sharp orders were given on board of the Dauphine, and her head began to swing around to the northward.

326 "That's what's the matter!" exclaimed the captain. "They think they won't wait for the rap the Bellevite is ready to give them."

The helm of the enemy's steamer had been put hard-a-port; and as she promptly came about, the sharp bow of the Bellevite shot past her quarter, and she barely escaped the blow. It look as though those on board of either vessel could have leaped to the deck of the other.

"What is the reason she don't fire upon the Bellevite?" asked Christy, when he felt that the crisis was past.

"I don't believe she has any guns on board yet, though I don't know," replied the captain.

"What is she going to do now, I wonder."

"I think she will come about and try to board the Bellevite now. It seems to me that if she had any guns on board, she would have opened fire before this time."

"We must look out, or the Bellevite will run into us," added Christy, as he went forward to the pilot-house.

"That steamer has come about," said Percy, as he joined him.

"If she had not come about, the Bellevite 327 would have cut through her starboard quarter," replied Christy. "But we are all right now, and I think the excitement is about over."

By this time the Bellevite was abreast of the Leopard, and not half a cable's length from her; but there was no demonstration at all of any sort on board of her. Her high bulwarks concealed the whole ship's company; and no one could be seen but the lookouts forward, and a couple of officers in the rigging of the mainmast.

"Now we will get a little nearer to her," said Christy, as he threw the wheel over. "She is coming about."

The Bellevite was blowing off steam, and she had reduced her speed as soon as she went clear of the Dauphine. In a minute more, when she had come a little nearer to the Leopard, she stopped her screw.

"Tug, ahoy!" shouted some one, in whose voice Christy recognized that of Captain Breaker.

"On board the Bellevite!" responded Christy.

"Come alongside!" added the commander of the steamer.

"That's just what I was going to do," added Christy to his companion.

328 "I suppose we are all right now, are we not, Christy?" asked Percy.

"I don't know what will come up next. The Dauphine is still afloat, and in good condition; and I don't believe she is going to let the Bellevite off without doing something."

Captain Pecklar was letting off steam also; for he realized that the battle, so far as the Leopard was concerned, was finished. Christy steered the tug alongside of the steamer; and when he rang the bell finally to stop her, after a rope had been heaved on board of her, he left the engine, with the steam still escaping from the boiler, and the furnace-door wide open, and went to the pilot-house.

"Hurry up!" shouted Captain Breaker, appearing on the rail of the Bellevite, at the gangway.

Captain Pecklar looked astern of the tug, and saw that the Dauphine was rapidly approaching. She had come about, and her captain did not appear to be satisfied with saving his own vessel from the collision, and intended to make another movement. But he had gone some distance before he came about, though he was now rather 329 too near for the comfort of the Bellevite after she had stopped her screw.

"What shall we do with this tug?" asked Christy, who had some doubts whether or not he ought to leave the Leopard in condition for further use by the enemy.

"We have no time to bother with her, and she don't amount to any thing. Come on board as quick as you can," replied Captain Breaker.

"Go on board, Captain Pecklar," said Christy, pointing to the gangway. "Come, Percy, your troubles are over for the present."

The captain went up the ladder, followed by Percy, and Christy went the last; for he felt that he must see his friends through before he abandoned the Leopard himself. The moment the owner's son showed himself on the rail, a burst of cheers came from