Captain Sam Part 21
"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam.
"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation.
"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip by now while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to the black boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot, we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making the distance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home with them. Hurrah!"
It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam's boat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. The British soldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and then cheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill and courage with which their young adversary had eluded them.
Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and her commander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a light boat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, without very clearly understanding the situation or its meaning.
Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant what it meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he had done by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost in his track.
"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's no chance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fair fight, or get whipped. Keep your wits about you, and listen for orders. Cover your gun pans to keep your priming dry. Here, Tom, take the tiller. I must go to the bow."
Tom took the helm, and as he did so Sam said to him:--
"Keep straight ahead till I give you orders to change your course, and then do it instantly, no matter what happens. I've an idea that I know how to manage this affair now. You have only to listen for orders, and obey them promptly."
"I'll do what you order, no matter what it is," said Tom, and Sam went at once to the bow of his boat.
His boys were crouching down on their knees to keep themselves as steady as they could, and their guns, which they were protecting from the rain, were not visible to the men in the other boat, who were astonished to find that they had, as they supposed, only to arrest a boat's crew of unarmed boys.
The boats were now within a stone's throw of each other, the English boat lying a little to the left of Sam's track, but the officer in command of it, supposing that the party would surrender at the word of command, ordered his men not to open fire.
"They's a mighty heap on 'em for sich a little boat," whispered Sid Russell.
"So much the better," said Sam. "They're badly crowded."
Then, turning to his companions, he said:--
"Lie down, quick, they'll fire in a moment."
The boys could see no indication of any such purpose on the part of the British marines, but Sam knew what he was about and he knew that his next order to his boys would draw a volley upon them.
Turning to Tom, and straightening himself up to his full height, while the British officer was loudly calling to him to lie to and surrender, Sam cried out:
"Jam your helm down to larboard, Tom, quick and hard, and ram her into 'em!"
Tom was on the point of hesitating, but remembering Sam's previous injunction and his own promise, he did as he was ordered, suddenly changing the boat's course and running her directly toward the British row boat, which was now not a dozen yards away. The speed at which she was going was fearful. The British, seeing the manoeuvre, fired, but wildly, and the next moment Sam's great solid hulk of a boat struck the British craft amidships, crushed in her sides, cut her in two, and literally ran over her.
"Now, bring her back to the wind," cried Sam, "and hold your course."
The boat swung around and was flying before the wind again in a second. Boats were rapidly lowered from the war ship to rescue the struggling marines from the water into which Sam had so unceremoniously thrown them.
"Three cheers for our naval victory, and three more for our commodore!" called out Billy Bowlegs, and the response came quickly.
"It's too soon to cheer," said Sam. "We're not out of the sc.r.a.pe yet."
The next moment a puff of smoke showed itself on the side of the war ship and a shower of grape shot whizzed angrily around the boat. A second and a third discharge followed, and then came solid shot, sixty-four pounders, howling like demons over the boys' heads, and plowing the water all around them. Their speed quickly took them out of range, however, and the firing ceased.
They now had time to look about them and estimate damages. None of the solid shot had taken effect, but three of the grape shot had struck the boat, greatly marring her beauty, but doing her no serious damage.
"Are any of you hurt?" asked Sam. All the boys reported themselves well.
"Then make a place for me in the middle of the boat, where I can lie down," replied Sam, "I'm wounded."
"Where?"
"How?"
"Not badly, I hope, Sam?" the boys answered quickly.
"I'm hurt in two places. They shot me as we ran over that boat," said Sam, "but not very badly, I think. I'm faint, however," and as he lay down in the boat he lost consciousness.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CAPTAIN SAM.
The boys were now badly frightened, and the more so because they did not know what to do for their chief, who lay dying, as they supposed.
His left hand and shoulder were bleeding profusely, and Tom, remembering some instructions that Sam had once given him[3] with respect to the stopping of a flow of blood, at once examined the wounds, to discover their nature. Two fingers of Sam's left hand had been carried away, and a deep flesh wound showed itself in his shoulder. By the use of a handkerchief or two Tom soon succeeded in staunching the flow of blood, while one of the other boys sailed the boat. After a little while the dashing rain revived the wounded boy, and while he was still very weak, he was able, within an hour, to take the direction of affairs into his own hands again.
[Footnote 3: See "The Big Brother" Chapter 3.]
But what mischief maybe done in an hour! The boys had never once thought of anything but Sam, during all that time, and they had been sailing for an hour straight out into the Gulf of Mexico, at a furious rate of speed! It was pouring down rain, and land was nowhere visible!
When Sam's questions drew out these facts, the boys were disposed to be very much frightened.
"There's no cause for alarm, I think," said Sam, rea.s.suringly. "I think I know how to manage it, and perhaps it is better so."
"Of course you know how to manage," said Sid Russell, admiringly. "I'm prepared to bet my hat an' boots on that, now or any other time. You always do know how to manage, whatever turns up. That long head o'
your'n's got more'n a little in it."
Sam smiled rather feebly and replied:--
"Wait till I get you out of the sc.r.a.pe we're in, Sid, before you praise me."
"Well, I'll take it on trust," said Sid, "an' back my judgment on it, too."
"Let me have your compa.s.s, Tom," he said; and taking the instrument which he had confided to Tom's hands at starting on the voyage, he opened his map just enough to catch a glimpse of the coast lines marked on it, having one of the boys hold a hat over it, to protect it from the rain as he did so. After a little while he said:--
"Take the helm, Tom, and hold the boat due west. There, that will do.
Now let her go, and keep her at that. The wind is north-east, and she'll make good time in this direction."
"Where are you aiming for, Sam?" asked Tom.
"The mouth of Mobile Bay."