Page:The Dark Frigate (Hawes).djvu/199

ropes! Ropes! Bind fast this bird we’ve caught and trice him up! Now, my hearts, swing him aloft — there he swings and up he goes! Well done! I’ll keep him though I risk my neck in doing it. Make fast a rope at bow and at stern! Good! Every man for himself! Up, thou! And thou! Up go we all! Come, tally on and hoist the boat on board! And the men are aloft? Well done, Jacob! Haul up the anchor and let fall the courses!”

It was plain from their manner that those who came swarming up the sides had a story to tell, but there was little time then for story-telling. The pursuing boats lifted their oars and swung at a distance with the tide, since it was plain for all to see that they were too late to overhaul the fugitives. Although on board the stranger ship there were signs and sounds of warlike activity, she too refrained from aggression; and the Old One, having no mind to traffic with them further, paced the deck with a rumble of oaths and drove the men alow and aloft to make sail and be gone.

It was “Haul, you swine!”

And ‘‘Heave, you drunken dogs!”

And ‘‘Slacken off the weather braces! Leap for your lives!” And “Haul, there, haul! A touch of the rope’s end, boatswain, to stir their spirits!”

And “Come, clear the main topsail! Up aloft to the topsail yard, young men! A knife, you dog, a knife! Slash the gaskets clear! A touch of the helm, there! Harder! Harder! There she holds! Steady!”

Then Harry Malcolm called from the quarter-deck in his quiet, quick voice, ‘‘The swivel gun is loaden, Tom. I’ll chance a shot upon the advantage.”