Commodore Barney's Young Spies

"Yes, by stoopin' low so's to sight the sky over the tree-tops, you can contrive to get an idee of whether we're in the middle of the stream; but you can't do much more."

"I might stand on my head without being able to tell which was land and which water."

"I reckon that's true," Bill said with a laugh; "but when you've knocked around at sea as long as I have, you'll learn to see through ink, bottle an' all."

"Stop that noise!" Darius whispered harshly. "You're not even to breathe loud from this out, an' walkin' across the deck will make trouble with me for the man or lad who does it."

Thus it was that each fellow felt obliged to remain wherever he stood when the order had been given. We could well understand the reason for such caution, and were not disposed to go contrary to the command.

I peered into the gloom intently, hoping I might distinguish the shadows of the trees ashore; but it was impossible, and from that moment I remained with my eyes shut, as one involuntarily does when the blackness is intense.

How slowly the time passed! I tried to get some idea of the minutes by counting up to sixty, allowing that number of seconds had gone by; but failed in so doing because my anxiety was so great that I did not keep the reckoning.

It seemed as if an hour had fled, although the current should have carried us among the fleet in less than half that time, when I was startled by hearing a voice close by my side, apparently.

"It's a bloomin' nasty night, matey."

"Right you are," was the reply. "It's jest my luck to be muckin' 'round here when the lads from the other ships are havin' high jinks in one of the Yankee cities."

Then it was that I realized we were within a few yards of a ship, and by some stroke of good fortune had missed fowling her.

It surely seemed as if they must see us, although I could not make out even a shadow of her, strain my eyes as I might, and in case we were discovered, the end would come very rapidly, as I then believed.

From that moment it was as if I did not breathe, so fearful was I of giving some alarm which would betray our whereabouts.

The pattering of the rain on the water raised no slight noise, and this was favorable to us. Our tiller had been lashed, so that there might be no possibility the rudder-head would creak in its socket, and every rope was brailed to guard against its flapping.

Had ours been the ghost of a ship and those on board a phantom crew, we could not have glided down stream more silently; but the danger which had been ever present in my thoughts was that of coming in collision with one of the ships.

We had already passed the first in safety; but there were three others, and in fear and trembling I admitted to myself that we could not hope to slip by them all.

CHAPTER XXI.

IN PORT

The moments passed in silence, save for the hissing of the rain-drops as they mingled with the water of the river, and I was saying to myself that of a verity we must have drifted safely through the fleet without touching a ship, when that came which I had been fearing.

Suddenly I felt a shock; then a noise as of wood grinding against wood, and I knew we had fouled the enemy!

While one might have counted five the pungy rubbed against the side of the ship, and then came the hail:

"Ahoy there! Ahoy!"

"What are you hailing?" a strange voice cried, and he who had first broken the silence replied:

"There's a craft of some kind alongside, sir!"

Then it was as if a swarm of bees had been let loose. The enemy's ship was alive with moving, buzzing beings, some of whom cried out this or that order, and others called down maledictions on the head of the man who had needlessly aroused them.

"There's nothin' here, sir. Sam was dreamin'," I heard the voice of a sailor cry, and almost at the same instant came the rattling of fire-arms as they were being handled, sounding so near aboard that it seemed as if a portion of the enemy had leaped upon our decks.

"Make ready! Fire!" sounded the command, sharp and quick.

Then came a sheet of flame which lighted up surrounding objects until we could distinctly see the deck of the bomb-vessel, and the eager men thronging her deck.

This illumination was but as the lightning's flash, and then we could hear the angry hum of the bullets as they swarmed above our heads.

We had been seen, and I believed that a broadside would follow in short order, yet at the same time I realized that our good fortune had followed us when it sent the pungy afoul of a bomb-vessel, instead of a craft which had her guns ready trained for service.

Now had come the time, however, when we were to remain idle no longer.

I heard Darius call Bill Jepson, and knew by the noises which followed that the two sailors were taking to the canoe in order to tow the pungy, and at the same time Captain Hanaford cast off the lashing of the tiller as he ordered us to run up the canvas.

Work? I have never moved so lively before nor since, as I did then when I felt positive that within a very few seconds our deck would be swept by grape and cannister.

At such moments of supreme danger one's senses are unnaturally acute, and while I gave strict attention to all that was taking place aboard the pungy, it became possible to understand what the enemy was about.

The other vessels of the fleet were making ready to take a hand in our destruction. From every quarter we could hear cries of command, mingled with the noise of men running to and fro, and just when the pungy began to feel the effect of the canvas which was clapped on her in such a hurry, a rocket went up, illumining the scene for ten seconds or more.

Then it was I saw that we had passed three of the ships, having come to grief on the last in the line, and had no time to take further note of the surroundings when the guns of all four craft belched forth with a mighty roar that caused the pungy to tremble, but the impact of the shot did not follow.

Thus suddenly aroused, and in the intense darkness which had been dispelled only long enough to dazzle a fellow's eyes, the gunners had not been able to take accurate aim, otherwise we must have gone to the bottom like a stone.

"They won't have time to try that game more than once again before we'll be well out of their way," I heard Darius say, and I knew we had sufficient speed to render useless the work of towing, otherwise the two sailors would not have come aboard.

Now three rockets were sent up in rapid succession, and while the light lasted I knew that the British gunners were taking aim at us; but we had slipped so far down the river by this time that there were some few chances in our favor, however closely they might shoot.

"Down on your faces!" Darius cried, and I dropped like a stone, understanding that such an order had been given to lessen the chances of our being hit; but at the same time the thought came to me that it was better to be killed by a round-shot which would cut a man's life short instantly, than mangled by a splinter.

Then came the flash of burning powder; the mighty roar of big guns; the hurtling shot striking the water on every side, and the pungy reeled and quivered as if she had struck a rock.

"One ball went home that time!" Darius cried, and I knew by the sound that he had leaped to his feet, running with all speed into the cuddy.

From below I made out the tiny gleam of the match as Darius lighted a lantern, and did not need to be told that he was gone to learn what injury our vessel had received.

Immediately the cannon had been discharged Captain Hanaford was on his feet, grasping the tiller as if it was possible to steer the pungy while the blackness continued so dense that one might fancy he could feel it, and then came the glare of more rockets.

This aided the helmsman of ours more than it did the British gunners, since it gave him an opportunity to see exactly where his vessel was; but as to that I gave no heed. All my mind was centered on the distance between us and the enemy.

I could have cried aloud with joy, and am not certain but that I did, on seeing that we were drawing away with more speed than I had believed was in the clumsy craft, and, what was of greater importance, the pungy was rounding a bend which, once passed, would put us beyond reach of the guns.

The rockets had been fired just in the nick of time, otherwise we would have gone ashore on the western bank.

For the third time we heard the thunder of the guns; but the shot must have passed astern of us, for I did not hear either the splashing of water or the splintering of our wood-work to tell where they struck.

Then Darius came on deck with an announcement that relieved me of nearly all my fears.

"The pungy has a solid shot above the water-line well forward; but there's no need of pluggin' it, for the ball didn't get through the timber. I reckon we've done the trick, eh, captain?"