As he passed up
through the main deck to report, Terence saw that the destruction here was
great indeed. The woodwork of the cabins had been knocked into fragments,
there was a great gaping hole in the stern, and it seemed to him that
before long the vessel would be knocked to pieces. He returned to the
deck, and reported the state of things.
"It looks bad," the major said to O'Driscol. "This is but half an hour's
work, and when the fellows come to the conclusion that they cannot make us
strike, they will aim lower, and there will be nothing to do but to choose
between sinking and hauling down our flag."
After delivering his report, Terence went to the side of the ship and
looked down on the lugger. The attraction of the ship had drawn her closer
to it, and she was but a few feet away. A thought struck him, and he went
to O'Grady.
"Look here, O'Grady," he said, "that fellow will smash us up altogether if
we don't do something."
"You must be a bright boy to see that, Terence; faith, I have been
thinking so for the last ten minutes. But what are we to do? The muskets
won't carry so far, at least not to do any good. The cannon are next to
useless. Two of that lot you fired burst, though the ropes prevented any
damage being done."
"Quite so, but there are plenty of guns alongside. Now, if you go to the
major and volunteer to take your company and gain possession of the
lugger, with one of the mates and half a dozen sailors to work her, we can
get up the main-sail and engage the brig.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52