Sustained honor Part 15

"Niver mind him, me frind," said Terrence to the man at the rudder.

"I'll tell ye when to lay low."

They were in long musket shot distance, and Williams a.s.sured them that if they could round a headland, they would get a stiffer breeze and outsail their pursuer.

"Are they gaining on us?" Fernando asked.

"Not much, if any," was the response.

Again the officer in the bow, making a speaking trumpet of his hands, shouted:

"Heave to, or I swear I'll fire on you!"

"To the divil with you," roared Terrence. "We've downed one redcoat in fair light; what more do ye want, bad luck to ye?"

The officer spoke to some one behind him, and a musket was handed him.

Terrence sprang to the stern saying:

"Now look out! lay low, ye lubbers! the blackguard's goin' to shoot!"

The officer raised his musket, and a moment later a puff of smoke issued from the muzzle.

"Down!" cried Terrence. All laid low, and the next second the report of a musket came on the air, and a bullet dropped in the water, a little to the larboard.

"They are coming agin," cried Terrence.

"Haven't you sweeps which we could work?" asked Fernando.

There was a pair of sweeps in the craft, and Terrence and Fernando manned them. Though Fernando was a little awkward at first, he soon came to use the sweep quite effectively and helped the little craft along.

"Do we gain on them?" asked Fernando.

"Not much, if any;" the helmsman answered.

At this moment, three or four muskets were fired from the boat, and the b.a.l.l.s whistled among the sails or spattered in the water. Should they meet with one of those sudden calms which frequently overtook vessels off the bay, they knew they would be lost. The British marines were laying to their oars right l.u.s.tily, and the boat flew over the waves.

"Have you no arms in the boat?" asked Fernando.

"Nothin' but a fowlin' piece and some goose shot."

"Just the thing for me!" declared Sukey. "I was always good at killin'

geese on the wing."

Sukey hunted up the gun and loaded both barrels heavily with shot and slugs. Then he took up his post in the stern, ready to rake the long boat fore and aft, should it come within range of his formidable gun.

The officer and three or four marines continued to load and fire, until the boat was out of the harbor, when a strong breeze struck her sails and sent her spinning over the water.

"Huzzah! huzzah! we are gainin' on' em now!" cried Sukey, flouris.h.i.+ng his gun in the air.

The British fired half a dozen more shots at the fleeing boat; but the bullets began dropping behind. They were out of reach of their longest range muskets.

"There ain't no danger now," declared Sukey. "They are not in the game."

The breeze continued strong, and the little craft boldly cleft the waters, as it sped forward over the bounding waves.

"It's no use to be wearing ourselves out, Fernando," said Terrence. "The good breeze is doin' more for us than a hundred oars could do."

They put in their sweeps and, mounting the rail aft, clung to rigging, and shouted derision and defiance at their pursuers.

Although the Britons had little hope or expectation of overtaking them, yet, with that bull-dog tenacity characteristic of Englishmen, they continued the chase.

"That danger is over," said Terrence, as they once more resumed their seats in the boat.

"What would they have done with us, Terrence, had they captured us?"

"Faith, it's hard telling; but I think we'd found it unpleasant."

"Wasn't the fight fair?"

"As fair as iver one saw; but, begorra, it didn't turn out the way they expected."

"Why, la sakes, they didn't think Fernando was goin' to miss, did they?"

said Sukey. "He ain't been shootin' squirrels out o' the tallest trees in Ohio for nothin'."

"This lieutenant thought he was going to have some sport with a greenhorn."

"Can you see them yet?" asked Fernando of Williams, who sat well up in the stern holding the helm.

"Yes."

"How far are they away?"

"Two or three miles."

"And still a-coming?"

"Yes."

"Plague take 'em!" growled Sukey, "why do they follow us so persistently?"

"May be they think to get us when we go ash.o.r.e; but, bad luck to thim, they'll find it tough if they come afther us."

"Fernando, I wish we had our rifles," growled Sukey. "Wouldn't we make it unprofitable for the redcoats!"

Fernando was rather non-communicative, and sat in the bow of the boat lost in painful meditation. He had shed blood. It was the first, and, although in that age it was thought highly honorable, he felt an inward consciousness that dueling was both cowardly and brutal. Fear of being branded a coward had nerved him to face the pistol of his antagonist. It is not true courage that makes the duelist. There is no more honor, gentility, or courage in dueling than in robbing a safe. The greatest coward living may be a burglar, so he may, from fear of public scorn, fight a duel. Fernando had much to regret. He felt that his social standing had been lowered; yet he was happy in the thought that the duel had had no fatal results. Could he ever return to the school? Could he ever return to his home and face his Christian mother? He was roused from his painful reverie by a loud laugh on the part of Terrence. He turned his eyes toward the jolly fellow and found him convulsed with mirth.

"What ails you, Terrence?" he asked.

"Did you aim at the spot you hit?"