_ CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. WHERE IS THE SLAVER'S LUGGER?
"Murray!" came from the _Seafowl's_ boat, as Murray gave orders for the men to let it float down from beneath the trees where he had kept it moored with his men, partly screened by the overhanging boughs, while lying down in the bottom firing from behind the bulwark.
"Thankye, sir," cried the lad excitedly. "We have been longing for you."
"But the enemy, my lad?"
"Place four men behind the trees there, sir, ready to fire. You'll see their boat come stealing out from round the bend, sir, directly. We have driven them back for the moment."
"A boat attacking from below?"
"Yes, sir; a lugger, full of men. We were quiet for some time;" and the lad hurriedly explained to his chief how that the enemy must have cleared away the tree-trunk with which the river had been dammed, and brought up a boat, from which for quite an hour they had been firing, after making one fierce attack, and being met with a steady fire which drove them back.
"Bravo! Well done, my lad!" said the lieutenant warmly.
"But it was quite time you came, sir. We couldn't have held out much longer."
"Nonsense!" said the lieutenant, laughing encouragement. "You would never have given up. Why, you had plenty of water."
"Yes, sir," said Murray, with a grim smile; "but the cartridges had nearly run out."
"Ours have not, Murray," said the lieutenant, for the men whom he had posted according to the middy's advice just then opened fire upon a boat, which looked at the first glance uncommonly like the dismasted lugger which had been seen lying in the mouth of the little river when the _Seafowl_ first entered the river.
A shot or two came in reply from the enemy before the lugger drew back round the bend, to be followed by the cutter, which came in sight of the enemy at last in time to see that the lugger's masts had been stepped and her sails hoisted, to be filled out by the breeze, which sent the boat rapidly gliding down stream.
The men looked sharply at their commander, as if fully expecting to receive orders to row with all their might; and Mr Anderson noticed it, for he turned to the two middies, and by way of answering the silent question--
"No," he said; "we're all fagged as it is, and no pulling on our part will bring us alongside of a boat that can sail like that. Pull steadily, my lads, and let the stream do the rest. The chances are that the captain has sent a boat up the river to look after us, and that we shall catch the lugger between two fires, if Mr Munday has not been first."
A good lookout was kept as the cutter dropped down the stream, and at every bend the men were ready to fire, but they searched with eager eyes in vain, and a general feeling of disappointment had attacked the hungry and exhausted party, while the lieutenant's countenance was over-clouded by a stern look which betokened the bent of his thoughts in connection with the coming meeting with his chief, when a glimpse was seen through the trees at a sharp curve which sent a thrill of excitement through the boat and made Murray spring to his feet.
"What's that?" cried the lieutenant.
"The lugger, I think, sir," whispered the middy. "I just caught sight of one of her masts."
"Hist! Silence!" said the lieutenant. "Dip as quietly as you can, my lads. Two of you there, Titely and Lang, be ready to fire, and drop the steersman if they don't lower their sails."
"Ay, ay, sir!" came back, in a whisper, followed by the clicking of musket locks, and the oars dipped into the water with scarcely a sound.
"I can't make her out, Mr Murray," whispered the lieutenant. "Are you sure that you were not deceived?"
"Certain, sir," was the reply.
"I saw her too, sir," put in Roberts, "but the trees were very thick and there's a big bend there."
"Humph! Yes; the stream winds and doubles upon itself like a snake. You, Tom May, you've got a voice like a speaking trumpet; be ready to hail them, and if they don't lower their sail directly, fire, as I said before, at their steersman."
The minutes which followed were full of excitement, and then a low murmur arose, for one of the men forward turned to draw the attention of the officers in the stern sheets to the head of a mast which was seen for a few moments passing along above the bushes apparently at the edge of the river, and only some five hundred yards from where the cutter was gliding swiftly down.
"We shall do it, my lads," whispered the lieutenant to the middies.
"But they've altered their course, sir," said Roberts softly. "They're coming to attack."
"No, no; that's only because the stream winds so; or else--yes, that's it. They've caught sight of one of our boats coming up, and, bravo! we shall take the scoundrels, as I expected, between two fires."
The lieutenant sprang to his feet and clapped his hand to his sword, for a clean white lug sail came fully into sight. But he thrust his sword back into its sheath before dropping into his seat, for Tom May growled out in his siren-like voice--
"Second cutter, sir, and yon's Mr Munday, sir, in the starn sheets."
"Then where's the slaver's lugger?" cried the first lieutenant, and a voice from the man-o'-war boat which was coming up stream under oars and a couple of lug sails shouted--
"_Seafowls_ ahoy!"
"Bah!" cried Mr Anderson. "Then we must have passed some branch of the river; and I'm sure we kept a sharp lookout. How stupidly blind!"
"Perhaps Mr Munday's lads passed a branch, sir," cried Murray eagerly.
"Thank you, Mr Murray," said the lieutenant, clapping the lad on the shoulder. "I hope you're right, for I could never have forgiven myself if we had been met by this fresh misfortune." _