by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XI
CAPTIVES AMONG THE MOORS
A week later the _Tartar_ proceeded to the Mediterranean. One morningafter cruising there for some weeks, when the light mist lifted, a vesselwas seen some three miles away. The captain looked at her through histelescope.
"That is a suspicious-looking craft," he said to the first lieutenant, Mr.Roberts. "We will lower a cutter and overhaul her."
The cutter's crew were at once mustered. Will was the midshipman in chargeof her, and took his place by the side of the third lieutenant, Mr.Saxton. The lieutenant ordered the men to take their muskets with them.
"May I take Dimchurch and Stevens?" Will asked.
"Yes, if you like. There is room for them in the bow, and two extramuskets may be useful."
The two men, who were standing close by, took their places when they heardthe permission given.
"I certainly don't like her appearance, Gilmore," the lieutenant said. "Icannot help thinking that she is an Algerine by her rig; and though everyAlgerine is not necessarily a pirate, a very large number of them are. Ifancy a breeze will spring up soon, and in that case we may have a longrow before we overtake her."
The breeze came presently, and the Algerine began to slip away. It was,however, but a puff, and the boat again began to gain on her. When theywere five miles from the ship they were within a quarter of a mile fromthe chase.
"Confound the fellow!" the lieutenant muttered; "but I think I wasmistaken, for there are not more than half a dozen men on her deck."
At length the boat swept up to the side of the craft. As the men leapt totheir feet a couple of round shot were thrown into the boat, one of themgoing through the bottom. The cutter immediately began to fill, and themen as they climbed up were confronted by fully a hundred armed Moors.Lieutenant Saxton was at once cut down, and most of the sailors sufferedthe same fate. As usual, Will, Dimchurch, and Stevens held together andfought back to back. The contest, however, was too uneven to last, and theMoorish captain came up to them and signed to them that they must lay downtheir arms.
"Do it at once," Will said. "They evidently prefer to take us prisoners tokilling us, which they could do without difficulty. We have been caught ina regular trap, and must make the best of it."
So saying he threw down his cutlass, and the others followed his example.
They were taken down below with three other unwounded sailors, and thewounded and dead were at once thrown overboard.
"This is the worst affair we have been in together," said Dimchurch,"since we fell into the hands of those negroes. Unless the _Tartar_overtakes us I am afraid we are in for a bad time."
"I am afraid so, Dimchurch, and I fear that there is little chance indeedof the frigate overtaking us. In such a light wind this craft would runaway from her, and with fully five miles start it would be useless for theboats to try to overtake her."
"What are they going to do with us?"
"There is very little doubt about that. They will make slaves of us, andeither set us to work on the fortifications or sell us to be takenup-country."
"I don't expect they will keep us long," Dimchurch said grimly.
"I don't know; they have great numbers of Christians whom they holdcaptive, and it is rare indeed that one of them escapes. I suppose someday or other we'll send a fleet to root them out, but our hands are fartoo full for anything of that sort at present. If we have a chance ofescape you may be sure that we'll take it, but we had better make up ourminds at once to make the best of things until opportunity offers."
"I only hope we'll be kept together, sir. I could put up with it if thatwere so, but it would be awful if we were separated; for even if one saw achance for escape he could not let the others know."
"You may be sure, Dimchurch, that whatever opportunity I might see I wouldnot avail myself of it unless I could take you both off with me."
"The same here, sir," Dimchurch said; and the words were echoed by Tom.
Six days later they heard the anchor run down, and presently the hatchwaywas lifted and they were told to come on deck. They found, as they hadexpected, that the craft was lying in the harbour of Algiers. At any othertime they might have admired the city, with its mosques and minarets, itsmassive fortifications, and the shipping in the port, but they were in nohumour to do so now. They regarded it as their jail. They and the threesailors were put into a boat and rowed ashore, the captain of the craftgoing with them. They were met at the wharf by a Moor, who was evidentlyan official of rank. He and the captain held an animated conversation, andby their laughter Will had no doubt whatever that the captain was tellingthe clever manner in which he had effected their capture. Then theofficial said something which was not altogether pleasing to the captain,who, however, crossed his hands on his breast and bowed submissively. Theofficial then handed the six prisoners over to some men who hadaccompanied him, and they were immediately marched across to a largebarrack-like building, which was evidently a prison. Two hours afterwardsa great troop of captives came in. These were so worn and wearied thatthey asked but few questions of the new-comers.
"Don't talk about it," one said in answer to a question from Will. "Thereis not one of us who would not kill himself if he got the chance. It iswork, work, work from daybreak till sunset. We have enough to eat to keepus alive; we are too valuable to be allowed to die. We get food before westart in the morning, again at mid-day, and again when we get back here.Oh, they are very careful of us, but they don't mind how we suffer! Thesun blazes down all day, and not a drop of drink do we get except atmeals. In spite of their care we slip through their hands. Sunstroke andfever are always thinning our ranks. That is the history of it, mate, andif I were to talk till morning I could not tell you more. I suppose byyour cut that you are a man-of-war's-man?"
"You're right," Dimchurch said. "We got caught in a trap, and our ninemates were killed without having a chance to fire a shot."
"Ah!" the man said with a sigh, "I wish I had had their luck, and you willwish so too before you have been here long."
Rough food was served out, and then the slaves, after eating, lay downwithout exchanging a word, anxious only to sleep away the thought of theirmisery. The three friends lay down together. To each prisoner a small rughad been served out, and this was their only bedding.
"We are certainly in a bad corner," Dimchurch said, "but the great pointwill be to keep up our spirits and make the best of it."
"That is so," Will agreed. "I am convinced that, however sharp a watchthey may keep, three resolute men will find some way of escape. We'll knowa little more about it to-morrow. If there are windows to this building weought to be able to get out of them, and if it is surrounded by walls weought to be able to scale them. Besides, if we are set to work in the citywe might find an opportunity of evading the diligence of our guards. Forone thing, we must assume an air of cheerfulness while we work. In time,when they see that we do our work well and are contented and obedient,their watch will relax. Above all, we must not, like these poor fellows,make up our minds that our lot is hopeless. If we once lose hope we shalllose everything. At any rate, for the present we must wait patiently. Wehave still got to find out everything; all we know is that we are confinedin a prison, and that we shall have to do some work or other during theday.
"We have got to find out the plan of the city and its general bearings, tolearn something, if we can, of the surrounding country, and to see how weshould manage to subsist if we got away. Of course the natural idea wouldbe to make for the sea and steal a boat. But we came up from the shorethrough an archway in the wall; it was strongly guarded, and I fear itwould be next to impossible to get down to the port. Our best plan, Ithink, would be to take to the country if we can, and go down to the shoresome distance from the city. We might then light upon a boat belonging tosome fisherman. Of course all this is pure conjecture, and all we canarrange is that we shall keep our eyes about us, and look for an emptyhouse i
n which we might hide and discover how we might leave the town onthe land side, where it is not likely the fortifications will be nearly sostrong as on the sea-face."
The next morning the captives were deprived of their clothes, and in theirplace were given dirty linen jackets and loose trousers. Their shoes werealso taken away. They then fell in with the rest of the captives. Onleaving the prison they were formed into companies, each of which, under astrong guard, marched off in different directions. The three friends keptclose together, and were assigned to a company which was told off to cleanthe streets of a certain quarter of the town. They were furnished withbrooms and brushes, and were soon hard at work. As the morning went on,the heat became tremendous. Several men fell, but the overseers lashedthem until they got upon their feet again.
"My eye! this is like working in an oven," Dimchurch muttered; "the dustis choking me. We must certainly get out of this as soon as we can, sir."
"I agree with you, Dimchurch. I feel as if I were melting away. If I wereto put a bit of food in my mouth I believe the heat would bake it in notime."
"I couldn't swallow anything," Tom said, "not even a mackerel fresh out ofthe sea."
"You know we agreed that we must make the best of everything," Will said."If we work as we are doing we can't but please our overseers, and shallsave ourselves from blows."
"They had better not strike me," Dimchurch said; "the man that did itwould never live to strike another."
"That might be," Will said, "but it would be a small satisfaction to youif you were to be flogged to death afterwards."
"No, I suppose not, sir; but flesh and blood can't stand such a thing asbeing struck by one of these yellow hounds."
At twelve o'clock the gang returned, and the men drank eagerly from afountain in the courtyard of the prison.
"Take as little as you can," Will said; "if you drink much it will do youharm. You can drink often if you like, provided that you only take a sipat a time."
"It is easy to say, Mr. Gilmore, but it is not so easy to do. I feel as ifI could drink till I burst."
"I dare say you do; I feel the same myself; but I am sure that to take alot of water just now would do us harm instead of good."
Their abstinence so far benefited them that they felt their work in theafternoon less than they had done in the morning, though the heat was, ifanything, greater.
That evening they examined their prison. It consisted of one great hallsupported by rows of pillars. Here the whole of the prisoners wereconfined. It was lighted by windows five-and-twenty feet from the ground.There was no guard inside, but fifty men, some of whom were always onsentry, slept outside the hall. It was clear to them, therefore, that noescape could be made after they were once locked up, and that if they wereto get away at all they must make the attempt when they were employedoutside.
On the third day one of the sailors from the _Tartar_, who had disregardedWill's advice to drink sparingly, fell down dead after drinking till hecould drink no more. Scarcely a day passed without one or more of thecaptives succumbing; some of them went mad and were at once despatched bytheir guards.
After working for a fortnight in the streets the gang were marched inanother direction, and were put to labour on the fortifications. This wasa great relief. They were now free from the choking dust of the streets,and obtained a view of the surrounding country. The three, as usual,laboured together, and showed so much zeal and activity that they pleasedthe head of their guard. They had the great advantage that they wereaccustomed to work together, while the majority of the gang had no suchexperience. There were men of all nationalities--French, Spanish, Italians,Maltese, and Greeks, and though most of them were accustomed to a warmclimate, they had nothing like the strength of the three Englishmen. Inmoving heavy stones, therefore, the three friends were able to perform asmuch work as any dozen other prisoners. They were the only Englishmen inthe gang, for the other two sailors had been from the first placed withanother party.
On the march to their work they passed by a palace of considerable extent,surrounded by grounds which were entered on that side by a small posterngate. "I would give a good deal to know if that gate is locked," Willsaid.
"What good would that do, sir?"
"Well, if we could get in there we might hide in the shrubbery, and stopthere till the first pursuit was over. No one would think of searchingthere. I should say we might, if we had luck, seize and bind three of thegardeners or attendants, and so issue from one of the gates dressed intheir clothes without exciting suspicion."
"What should we do for grub, sir?"
"Well, for that we must trust to chance. There are houses that might berobbed, and travellers who might be lightened of their belongings. I can'tthink that three active men, though they might be unarmed, would allowthemselves to starve. Of course we should want to get rid of theseclothes, and find some weapons; but the great point of all is to discoverwhether that door is locked."
"All right, sir! I am ready to try anything you may suggest, for I am sickto death of this work, and the heat, and the food, and the guard, andeverything connected with it."
They looked at the door with longing eyes each time they passed it. Atlast one day a man came out of the gateway just as they were passing, and,pulling the gate to behind him, walked away without apparently thinking oflocking it.
"That settles that point," Will said. "The next most important questionis, Are there people moving about inside? Then how are we to slip awayunseen? To begin with, we will manage always to walk in the rear of thegang. There are often rows; if some poor wretch goes mad and attacks theguard there is generally a rush of the others to his assistance. If such athing were to happen near this gate we might manage to slip in unnoticed.Still, I admit the chances are against anything of the sort taking placejust at that point, and I expect we must try and think of somethingbetter."
A fortnight later, just as they were passing the door, a small party ofcavalry, evidently the escort to some great chief, came dashing along atfull speed. The road being somewhat narrow the slaves and guards scatteredin all directions, several of them being knocked down.
"Now is our chance!" Will exclaimed; and the three ran to the gate andentered the garden. There was no one in sight; evening was coming on, andany men who might have been working in the garden had left. They closedthe gate behind them and turned the key in the lock, then ran into ashrubbery and threw themselves down. They trusted that in the confusiontheir absence would not be noticed, and this seemed to be the case, forthey heard loud orders given and then all was quiet.
"So far so good," Will said. "The first step is taken, and the mostdifficult one. To-morrow, when the gardeners come, we will spring uponthree of them and bind them. I should not think that there will be morethan that."
Fortune favoured them, however, for an hour later three servants camealong, laughing and talking together. The sailors prepared to act, and asthe men passed their hiding-place Will gave the word, and, leaping outupon them, they hurled them to the ground. Tom and Dimchurch both stunnedtheir men, and then aided Will to secure the one he had knocked down.Without ceremony they stripped off the clothes of the fallen men, tore uptheir own rags, and bound the captives securely, shoving a ball of thematerial between the teeth of each, and then secured them to three trees ashort distance apart.
"That is good," said Will, as they put on the servants' clothes; "they aresafe till they are found in the morning. In these clothes we can boldlyventure out from the town gate as soon as it is opened. There is alwaysthe risk that our colour may betray us, but we are all burnt nearly asdark as mahogany and may very well pass."
"Shall we start now, sir?"
"No, they will find out when they get to the prison that we are missing,and there will be a keen hunt for us. And now I come to think of it, theguards at the gate will be warned of our escape, and will probablyquestion us, particularly as these bright-coloured garments would attracttheir attention. I really think our best plan would be to go out in
to thetown at once and try to get hold of other disguises."
"It would be a good thing if we could do so, sir."
"Dear me, how stupid I am!" exclaimed Will after a pause. "You know thatwall we were repairing to-day? It was only about fourteen feet above theground outside, so we should have no difficulty in dropping down."
"That is so, sir. It is an easy drop, and by leaving in that way we'llavoid being questioned, and get well away before the alarm is given."
"Then we will lose no time," said Will. "We have to pass through a busyquarter, but if we go separately we shall attract no notice, though nodoubt by this time the search will have begun. They will be looking,however, for three men together. Of course they will not so much as castan eye upon the servants of this palace, for they will know nothing of ourdoings here till to-morrow morning. I will go first when we get into thestreet. You, Dimchurch, follow me forty or fifty yards behind, and Tom thesame distance behind you."
"I hardly think they will be in search of us yet," Dimchurch said. "It islittle more than an hour since we escaped, and they won't find out tillthey get to the prison and count the gang. When they have done that theywould have to see who it was that was missing, and then they would takesome time to organize the search."
"That is so, Dimchurch; still, we will take every precaution."
So saying they started. When they were half-way to the wall they saw anumber of soldiers and convict guards come running along, questioning manypeople as they passed. They trembled lest they should be discovered, butfortunately no question was put to any of them, and they kept on theirway. Presently Will emerged upon the open space of ground between the walland the houses, and when Dimchurch and Tom had come up they went togetheralong the foot of the wall until they came to the place where they hadbeen working.
"Keep your eyes open," Will said as they climbed up, "there are crowbarsand hammers lying about, and, where the stone-cutters were working,chisels. A crowbar or a heavy hammer is a weapon not to be despised."
In a few minutes each was armed with a chisel and a light crowbar. Theythen went to the edge of the wall, and, throwing these weapons down,lowered themselves as far as they could reach and dropped to the ground.
"Thank God we are out of that place!" Will said fervently; "we won't enterit again alive. Now, the first thing is to get as far away as possible,keeping as nearly parallel to the line of the coast as we can, but four orfive miles back, for we may be sure that when they cannot find us in thetown they will suspect that we have made for the coast, and a dozenhorsemen will be sent out to look for us along the shore. It is no use ourthinking of trying to get to sea until the search has been given up. Ourprincipal difficulty will be to live. From the walls the country lookedwell cultivated in parts, and even if we have to exist on raw grain weshall not be much worse off than when we were in prison."
"I don't care what it is," Tom said, "so long as there is enough of it tokeep us alive; but we must have water."
"I don't think there will be much difficulty about that, Tom, as every oneof the houses scattered over the plain will have wells and fountains intheir gardens. Thank goodness, they won't miss any we take, and we couldgo every night and fetch water without exciting any suspicion that we hadbeen there!"
"One of the first things we must do," said Will, "is to dirty these whitejackets and trousers so that we may look like field labourers, for then ifanyone should catch sight of us in the distance we should attract noattention."
They walked all night, and just as morning was breaking they saw a largecountry house with the usual garden. They climbed over the wall, which wasnot high, and drew some water in a bucket which they found standing at themouth of the well.
"This bucket we will confiscate," Will said; "we can hardly lie hidden allday without having a drink. Of course they will miss it; but when theycannot find it they will suppose that it has been mislaid or stolen. Oneof the gardeners will probably get the blame, but we can't help that. Nowwe will go another mile and then look for a hiding-place. There are a lotof sand-hills scattered about, and if we can't find a hole that will suitus we must scoop one out. I believe they are pretty hard inside, but ourcrowbars will soon make a place large enough."
After an hour's walk they fixed upon a spot on the shady side of a hilland began to make a cave that would allow the three to lie side by side.The work was completed in less than an hour, and they crawled in andscraped up some of the fallen sand so as partially to close the mouthbehind them.
"Thank goodness, we have got shelter and water!" Will said. "As for food,we must forage for it to-night."
"I am quite content to go without it for to-day," Dimchurch said, "and tolie here and sleep and do nothing. I don't think anything would tempt meto get up and walk a mile farther, not even the prospects of a gooddinner."
"Well, as we are all so tired we shall probably sleep till evening."
In a few minutes all were asleep. Once or twice in the course of the daythey woke up and took a drink from the bucket and then fell off again. Atsunset all sat up quite refreshed.
"I begin to feel that I have an appetite," Will said; "now I think, forto-night, we will content ourselves with going into one of the fields andplucking a lot of the ears of maize. Messages may have been sent out allover the country, and the people may be watchful. It will be wise to avoidall risk of discovery. We can gather a few sticks and make a fire in thereto roast the maize; there are sand-hills all round, so what little flamewe make would not be noticed."
"But how about a light?" Dimchurch asked.
"I picked up a piece of flint as we came along this morning," Will said,"and by means of one of these chisels we ought to be able to strike alight; a few dead leaves, finely crumbled up, should do instead oftinder."
"It is a good thing to keep one's eyes open," Dimchurch remarked. "Now ifI had seen that piece of stone I should not have given it a thought, andhere it is going to give us a hot dinner!"
As there were numbers of fields in the neighbourhood they soon returnedwith an armful of maize each. Dried weeds and sticks were then collected,and after repeated failures a light was at last obtained, and soon thegrain was roasted. A jacket was stretched across the entrance of their denso that, should anyone be passing near, they would not observe the light.
"Now," Will said as they munched some maize the next evening, "we muststart foraging. We will go in opposite directions, and each must take hisbearing accurately or we'll never come together again."
They were out for some hours, and when they returned it was found thatWill had come across four fowls, Tom had gathered a variety of fruit,consisting chiefly of melons and peaches, while Dimchurch, who was thelast to come in, brought a small sheep.
"We only want one thing to make us perfect," Will said, "and that is apipe of 'bacca."
"Well, that would be a welcome addition," Tom admitted, "but it does notdo to expect too much. I should not be at all surprised if we were tolight upon some tobacco plants in one of the gardens, but of course itcould hardly be like a properly dried leaf. I dare say, though, we couldmake something of it."
So they lived for a month, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but withsufficient food of one sort or another. So far as they knew no suspicionof their presence had been excited, though their petty robberies must havebeen noticed. One evening, however, Will, on going to the top of thesand-hill, as he generally did, saw a large detachment of soldiers comingalong, searching the ground carefully. He ran down at once to hiscompanions.
"Take your weapons, lads," he said, "and make off; a strong party ofsoldiers are searching the country, and they are coming this way. No doubtthey are looking for us."
They had run but a few hundred yards when they heard shouts, and, lookinground, they saw a Moorish officer waving his hands and gesticulating. Thiswas alarming, but they reckoned that they had fully five hundred yardsstart.
"Keep up a steady pace," Will said; "I don't expect the beggars can runfaster than we can. It will be pitch da
rk in half an hour, and as,fortunately, there is no moon, I expect we'll be able to give them theslip."
As they advanced they found that the vegetation became scarcer andscarcer.
"I am afraid we are on the edge of a desert," Will said, "which means thatthere are no more fowls and fruit for us. I see, Dimchurch, that you havebeen the most thoughtful this time. That half sheep and those cakes willbe very valuable to us."
"I wasn't going to leave them for the soldiers if I knew it, sir; theywouldn't have gone far among them, while they will last us some time withcare."
They changed their course several times as soon as it became quite dark,and presently had the satisfaction of hearing the shouts of their pursuersfade away behind them.
"Now we can take it quietly, lads. We can guide ourselves towards the seaby means of the stars. I fancy it must be fully twenty miles away. We musthold on till we get to it, and then gradually work our way along among thesand-hills or clumps of bush bordering it till we come to a village. Thenwe must contrive to get a good supply of food and water, steal a boat, andmake off. If galleys were sent out to search for us they must have givenit up long ago. As for other craft, we'll have to take our chance withthem."
They kept steadily north and at last came down to the coast. As it wasstill dark they lay down till morning. When the sun rose they thought theycould make out a village some eight miles away.
"Now it will be quite safe to cook our breakfast," Dimchurch said.
"Yes, I think so," Will answered, "but we must be sparing with the mutton;that is our only food at present, and it may be some little time before weget hold of anything else."
After breakfast they lay down among the bushes and slept till evening.Then they started along the shore towards the village. When they gotwithin half a mile of it they halted. They could see some boats on theshore, so they felt that the only difficulty in their way was the questionof provisions. When it was quite dark they went into the village andstarted to forage, but on meeting again they had very little to show.Between them they had managed to take five fowls; but the village wasevidently a poor place, for with the exception of a few melons there wasno fruit.
"The beggars must have grain somewhere," said Will. "They can't live onfowls and melons."
"I expect, sir, they live very largely on fish."
"That is likely enough," Will agreed. "Let us put down these fowls andmelons under this bush, and have a nap for a couple of hours, till we aresure that everyone is asleep. We can then go down and have a look at theboats. Those of them that come in late may probably leave some of theircatch on board."
When they went down to the boats they found that three of them contained afair quantity of fish. They helped themselves to some of these, and thenretreated some distance from the village, picking up the other provisionson the way, and then, going into a clump of bushes, cooked a portion ofthe fish.
"That pretty well settles the question of provisions," Will said. "We mustchoose a night when there is a good wind blowing offshore, so that we mayrun a good many miles before morning. Then we must trust to falling inwith one of our cruisers."
"Fish won't keep long in this climate," suggested Tom.
"No," said Will, "but we can dry some of them in the sun and they willthen keep good for some time. Then we might clean half a dozen fowls andcook them before we start."
"The great difficulty will be water."
"Yes, but we can get over that by stripping the gardens clean of theirmelons. They weigh four or five pounds apiece and would supply us withfluid for a week easily."
The next evening they went down and made a more careful examination of theboats. One in particular attracted their attention. She was nearly new,and looked likely to be faster than the rest. She was anchored some fiftyyards from the shore. Three more evenings were spent in prowling about thevillage collecting food. It was evident that the villagers were alarmed attheir depredations, for on the third evening they were fired at by severalmen. In consequence of this they moved a mile farther away, in case asearch should be made, and the next night carried the provisions down tothe shore. As they were all expert swimmers they were soon alongside thechosen craft. They pushed the provisions before them on a small raft, andwhen they had put them on board they made a trip to one or two of theother boats and brought away some twenty pounds of fish. Then they cut thehawser and hoisted sail. As they did so they heard a great tumult onshore, and the villagers ran down to the water's edge and opened fire uponthem. The shooting, however, was wild, and they were very soon out ofrange. Several boats put off in pursuit. This caused them some uneasiness,and they watched them somewhat anxiously, for the wind, though favourable,was light, and they felt by no means certain that they would be able tokeep ahead of the rowers. The stolen craft, however, proved unexpectedlyfast, and the boats, after following fifteen miles without sensiblygaining, at last gave up the chase. About this time, too, the wind, totheir great relief, became stronger, and the little vessel flew more andmore rapidly over the sea.
"She is a fine craft," Dimchurch said; "these Moors certainly know how tobuild boats. It would require a smart cutter to hold her own with us."
Dimchurch kept at the helm and the other two investigated their capture.She was three parts decked. In the cabin they came upon a lantern andflint and steel, and soon had light, which helped them greatly in theirwork. In the bow ropes were stored away, while in a locker they found somebread, which, although stale, was very acceptable. They also unearthed twoor three suits of rough sea clothes with which they were glad to replacethe light clothes they had carried away with them from the palace grounds,for though the weather on shore was warm the sea-breeze was chilly. Amongother useful things they also discovered several long knives, and axes,and a flat stone for cooking upon.
"Now it is all a question of luck," Will said; "the danger will be greaterwhen we get a bit farther out. All vessels going up and down theMediterranean give the Barbary coast a wide berth. Of course those piratefellows are most numerous along the line of traffic, but they are to befound right up to the Spanish, French, and Italian coasts, though of late,I fancy, they have not been so active. There are too many of our cruisersabout for their taste, and the Spaniards, when they get a chance, show thescoundrels no mercy."
When morning broke not a sail was visible.
"I think, sir," Dimchurch said, "that there is going to be a change ofweather, and that we are in for a gale."
"It does not matter much. I fancy this boat would go through it howeversevere it might be."
"Yes, sir, but it would check our progress, and we want to run north asfast as we can. I see, by the line you are making, that you are aiming atToulon, and at our present pace it would take us something like four daysto get there. If we are caught in a gale we may take two days longer."
"That is so," Will agreed; "but on the other hand, if the wind becomesmuch stronger we'll have to take in sail, and in that case we should havemore chance of escaping notice if we come near any of those Moorish craft.Besides, if the sea were really rough it would be difficult for them toboard us even if they did come up with us."
"You are right, sir; still, for myself, I should prefer a strong southerlywind and a clear sky."
"Well, I am afraid you will not get your wish, for the clouds certainlyseem to be banking up from the north, and we'll get a change of wind erelong."
By night the wind was blowing fiercely and the sea rapidly rising. Thesails were closely reefed, and even then they felt with pleasure that thelittle craft was making good way. The wind increased during the night, andwas blowing a gale by morning. Just at twelve o'clock a craft was seenapproaching which all were convinced was an Algerine. She changed hercourse at once and bore down upon them, firing a gun as a signal for themto stop.
"She is rather faster than we are," Dimchurch said, "but we'll lead her agood dance before she gets hold of us. She could not work her guns in thissea, and if she is the faster, at least we are the handier."
For three hours the chase continued. Again and again the Algerine came upon them, but each time the little boat, turning almost on her heel, socleverly was she handled, glided away from underneath the enemy's bows.Each time, when they saw the chase slipping away from them, the angryMoors sent a volley of musketry after her, but the fugitives took refugein the cabin, or lay down on the deck close under the bulwarks, and soescaped.
Soon the Moors were so intent on the chase that they began to take greatrisks with their own vessel. In fact, they became positively reckless. Forthis they paid very heavily. After many disappointments they felt that thefugitives were at last in their clutches, and were preparing to board herwhen suddenly Dimchurch put down his helm sharply. He nearly capsized thelittle craft, and indeed they would rather have gone down with her thanfall into the hands of the Moors again, but she righted immediately, andonce more skimmed away from her pursuers. In the excitement of the momentthe Moorish steersman attempted the same manoeuvre. If he had succeeded hewould probably have run down the cockle-shell that had baffled him solong. But at that moment a violent squall struck his ship with its fullforce, and her mainmast snapped a few feet above the deck. The threefugitives jumped to their feet and cheered, and then calmly proceeded ontheir way.