The Voyage of the Aurora Part 5

The carpenter looked intently astern for a moment, then stretched out his arm, saying--

"There, sir--ah! now you can see her, she is just about to shut out the first of those four lights that you can see all close together. There!

now she has shut it out."

"I see her!" said George. "Whatever does the fellow mean by being without lights on such a pitch-dark night as this; it would serve him right to report him to the commodore in the morning. He has a smart vessel under his feet, though; see how she is overhauling us. Why, it must surely be one of the gun-brigs, judging from her spread of canvas and her lofty spars. But what can she be doing here, in the very middle of the fleet, and without lights, too?"

The stranger was by this time little more than a couple of cables'

lengths from the _Aurora_, drawing up to her fast, and apparently intending to pa.s.s her very closely. George glanced anxiously at his stern light, thinking it might possibly have gone out, but no, it was burning brightly and must be distinctly visible to those on board the other craft.

Gradually the dark, mysterious fabric drew closer and still closer up on the port quarter of the _Aurora_, not the faintest glimmer of light being visible from stem to stern, and not a sound of any kind to be heard on board her.

George began to feel a trifle nervous as he watched the silent, stealthy approach of the stranger; and fetching his speaking-trumpet from the beckets in the companion-way, where it always hung in company with the telescope, he stepped aft to the taffrail and hailed--

"s.h.i.+p ahoy!"

"Hillo!" was the response, in a tone of voice pitched so low that, though it was distinctly audible to those on board the _Aurora_, it would not penetrate the sluggish atmosphere to any great distance.

"What s.h.i.+p is that?" inquired George.

"His Britannic Majesty's brig--" (name unintelligible). "What s.h.i.+p is that?"

"The _Aurora_, of London. Why are you out of your station, and without lights, sir? Is there anything wrong?"

"Yes," was the reply, "but don't hail any more; there are enemies at hand. I will sheer alongside you presently, and tell you what to do."

"Enemies at hand, eh!" muttered George. "What can it mean, I wonder?

And if there _are_ enemies, by which, I suppose, they mean Frenchmen, in our neighbourhood, those man-o'-war fellows must have eyes like owls to be able to see them in the dark. Just step down into the cabin, if you please, Mr Ritson, and give the mate a call; I don't half like this."

In little more than a minute Mr Bowen was on deck and listening to George's statement of what had already pa.s.sed, and of his uneasiness.

George had just finished speaking, when there was a sound as of a falling handspike, or something of the kind, on board the stranger, followed by a loud e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of--

"_Sacr-r-r-r-re nom de_--"

The remainder of the exclamation was promptly suppressed, but it was enough; George's suspicions were now fully aroused, and he whispered to the two men standing by him--

"She is French, beyond a doubt; they intended to surprise us, and very nearly they did it, too. But we will not be caught quite so easily this time. Ritson, go forward, rouse the men, and tell them to creep aft under the shelter of the bulwarks; let not one of them show so much as a hair of his head above the rail; and tell them to look lively. And you, Mr Bowen, be good enough to go below and bring up a cutla.s.s apiece for all hands."

CHAPTER FIVE.

"CHOPPEE FOR CHANGEE--A BLACK DOG FOR A BLUE MONKEY."

By the time that the _Aurora's_ crew were on deck, crouching behind the bulwarks aft on the port side, armed, and instructed by George as to what he required of them, the strange sail was within a dozen fathoms of the _Aurora's_ port quarter.

She could now be seen with tolerable distinctness, the outline of the hull and of the lofty canvas showing black as ebony against the dark background of sea and sky; and any doubts which Captain Leicester might have still entertained concerning her, were completely set at rest as he glanced at the cut of her canvas. It was French all over.

Foot by foot the brig--for such she was--crept up to the _Aurora_, until her bows were in a line with the barque's stern and not more than twenty feet distant. George stood by the main-rigging, watching her, cutla.s.s in hand, calm and determined, his plans already formed for action in the event of his suspicions proving correct.

In the ordinary course of things the two craft were now quite near enough to each other for any communication, however confidential in its nature, to be made without the possibility of its being overheard; but, though George could see that a figure stood on the brig's rail by the main-rigging, not a word was uttered.

Keeping his gaze steadfastly fixed upon the brig, Captain Leicester saw that her helm had suddenly been ported, for she was sheering strongly in toward his own vessel.

"Brig ahoy!" he hailed. "What is it you have to say to me? Do not come too close, sir, or you will be into us."

"Never fear," answered in perfect English the dark figure on board the brig, "we will not carry away so much as a rope-yarn belonging to you.

But I must be on board you before I can venture to give you your instructions."

"Oh! very well," said George. "If you intend boarding us, you had better do so by way of our fore-rigging, or you may get a nasty fall; we are very much littered up here abaft with spars and so on."

"Ah, thank you very much; I will take your advice," was the reply.

George saw the man motion with his arm, and the brig's course was altered sufficiently to put her alongside with her gangway even with the _Aurora's_ fore-mast. Another second or two, and the s.h.i.+ps gently jarred together, the brig's quarter dropping alongside the barque at the same moment.

"_Enfans, allons-nous-en_!" exclaimed the voice of the stranger forward, followed by the sound of a leap on to the barque's deck, and a scramble among the spars which littered it there.

"Now is your time, lads; jump for your lives!" exclaimed George in a low, excited tone; and, setting his men the example, he forthwith sprang from his own s.h.i.+p's bulwarks to those of the brig; and das.h.i.+ng at the helmsman, cut him down with his cutla.s.s before the fellow could recover sufficiently from his astonishment to utter a cry. Then, without a moment's pause, he seized the wheel and exerting all his strength, sent it with a single twirl spinning hard over to starboard, where he lashed it.

The shock of collision, slight as it was, caused the two vessels to recoil from each other, and they were barely alongside when they separated again; George's manipulation of the brig's wheel, and a similar manipulation of the _Aurora's_ helm at the last moment before the touching of the two vessels, greatly expediting the separation. By the time, therefore, that George had looked about him, and satisfied himself that the whole of his crew were safely with him on the brig's deck, the two vessels were a dozen feet apart and increasing their distance every second; their bows diverging from each other at almost a right angle.

The Frenchmen, on boarding the _Aurora_, divided into two parties, one of which rushed forward to secure the crew, while the other made a similar rush aft, for the purpose of overpowering the officers and helmsman. In their astonishment and perplexity at finding the decks deserted, they paused for a moment irresolutely, then hurriedly searched the cabin and forecastle, only to find that the s.h.i.+p was utterly deserted. Then, for the first time, a glimmering of the truth presented itself to the mind of the French leader, and his suspicions were instantly confirmed; for Captain Leicester, having at that moment rallied his crew, led them forward, and, finding that, as he had expected, the Frenchmen had boarded the _Aurora_ with all their available strength, leaving only some five-and-twenty men on board the brig to handle her, he, after a short, sharp tussle, drove these men below and secured complete possession of the brig.

The party on board the _Aurora_ distinctly heard the sounds of the conflict, and waited in breathless expectancy for its termination. They had not long to wait; in little over a couple of minutes Captain Leicester's voice was heard giving the order to s.h.i.+ft the helm--the brig having in the meantime gone round until she was head to wind with her canvas flat aback--and to trim over the head-sheets. Then a chorus of curses, both loud and deep, from the deck of the _Aurora_, proclaimed the chagrin of the Frenchmen on board her at the--to them--extraordinary and unforeseen result of the adventure.

But their captain was a man of indomitable pluck, energy, and readiness of resource, and by no means given to a tame and immediate acceptance of defeat. He realised the situation in a moment, and, determining to make the best of a bad bargain, promptly ordered sail to be crowded upon the _Aurora_, in the hope of effecting his escape. The night being dark, however, and his men new to the s.h.i.+p, the work went on but slowly; and by the time that the topgallantsails were sheeted home, his own brig was once more alongside, with two red lights hoisted to her gaff-end (the alarm-signal), her ports open, guns run out, and the men standing by them ready to open fire.

As she drew up abreast the _Aurora_, George hailed--

"Barque ahoy! Let fly your sheets and halliards at once, and surrender, or I will fire into you!"

"All right," was the reply from the French captain; "you have won the game, monsieur, so I will not attempt to rob you of the credit of victory. You managed the affair exceedingly well, _mon ami_, and have taught me a lesson I shall remember for the rest of my life. You may come on board and take possession as soon as you like."

He then gave the necessary orders in French to his crew; the halliards and sheets were let fly on board the _Aurora_, George reducing sail at the same time in the brig, and the two vessels, losing way, began gradually to drop into the rear portion of the convoy.

Captain Leicester did not, however, accept the French captain's invitation to go on board and take possession once more of his own s.h.i.+p; that proceeding would have been just a trifle too risky. He had the game in his own hands, and intended to keep it there; so he quietly waited until one of the men-o'-war should come alongside, as he knew would soon be the case, in response to his signal.

In a short time another brig was seen approaching under a perfect cloud of sail, an unmistakably English gun-brig this time, however. Sweeping up on the port quarter of George's prize, an officer sprang into the main-rigging, and hailed--

"Brig ahoy! What brig is that?"

"The _Jeune Virginie_, French privateer," answered George. "She managed, somehow, to slip in among the fleet un.o.bserved in the darkness, and threw a heavy boarding-party in on the deck of my vessel--the _Aurora_ I suspected her designs just in time, however, and as her crew boarded me, I boarded her, and succeeded in taking possession; the two s.h.i.+ps separating immediately and thus preventing the return of the French to their own craft."

"Ah, I see," remarked the officer. "You effected an exchange of s.h.i.+ps--'choppee for changee--a black dog for a blue monkey,' eh? And now you want us to get your own s.h.i.+p back for you?"

"Not exactly," answered George with a laugh; "I have already forced her to surrender; that is the craft--the barque immediately under my lee.

But I shall feel obliged if you will take charge of the prisoners, and lend me sufficient men to navigate my prize into port."

"Um; well, I really do not quite know about that. I will man your prize for you to-night; but you must see the commodore about the matter in the morning; if he will authorise me to lend you a prize-crew, of course I shall be very happy. By the way, where did the Frenchman come from?"