The captain of the Belle Marie stood up in
the stern-sheet of the boat, shouting and waving his hands and
gesticulating to them to get up sail again. Those on board the
schooner looked on in surprise, unable to guess his meaning.
"There are two English cruisers, one coming round each end of the
island!" he shouted as he approached the schooner. "Get out again if
you can, otherwise they must catch us all in here!"
The captain in the schooner at once saw the emergency, and roared out
orders. The boats were all lowered at once, and the men tumbled on
board. Hawsers were lowered from the bows, and they began at once to
tow her head round, for there was not a breath of wind in the
land-locked harbor.
"How much time have we got?" the captain asked as the schooner's head
came slowly round.
"I don't know," the other captain replied. "It's a question of
minutes, anyhow. Ah, here is the brig!" and the boat dashed forward
and he gave similar orders to those that had been given to the
schooner.
"Get them both round!" the captain shouted. "I will row out through
the entrance and give you warning if these accursed cruisers are in
sight."
The boat dashed through the narrow entrance, and at once felt the full
force of the breeze. "Dead on shore," the captain muttered bitterly.
"They will have to work right out into the arms of one or other of
them.
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