does
that mean? Surely they are not going to endeavour to tow the brig
within gunshot of us, are they? They could never do it; for, although
there is scarcely a breath of wind stirring, this little beauty is still
moving through the water; and so long as she has steerage way on her we
ought to be able--"

"No, sir, no; no such luck as that, I'm afraid," answered the man. "May
I have that glass for a moment? Thank you, sir!"

He placed the telescope to his eye, adjusted it to his focus, and looked
through it long and intently.

"Just as I thought, Mr Grenvile," he said, handing back the instrument.
"If you'll take another squint, sir, you'll see that they're getting up
tackles on their yard-arms. That means--unless I'm greatly mistaken--
that they're about to hoist out their longboat; and that again means
that they'll stick a gun into the eyes of her, and attack us with the
boats in regular man-o'-war fashion. But they ain't alongside of us
yet, and won't be for another hour and a half if the wind don't die away
altogether--and, somehow, I don't fancy it's going to do that. No, what
I'm most afraid of is"--and he took a long careful look round--"that in
this flukey weather the brig may get a breeze first, and bring it down
with her, when--ay, and there it is, sure enough! There's blue water
all round her, and I can see her canvas filling to it, even with my
naked eye. And there she swings her yards to it. It'll be `keep all
fast with the boats' now! If that little air o' wind only sticks to her
for half an hour she'll have us under her guns, safe enough!"

It was as Pringle said. A light draught of air had suddenly sprung up
exactly where the brig happened to lie; and by the time I had got my
telescope once more focused upon her, she was again heading up for us,
with her weather braces slightly checked, and quite a perceptible curl
of white foam playing about her sharp bows. But it only helped her for
about half a mile, and then left her completely becalmed, as before,
while we were still stealing along at the rate of perhaps a knot and a
quarter per hour. The skipper of the brig allowed some ten minutes or
so to elapse, possibly waiting for another friendly puff of wind to come
to his assistance, but, seeing no sign of any such thing, he hoisted out
his longboat, lowered a small gun--to me it looked like a 6-pounder--
into her, and dispatched her, with two other boats, in chase of us. The
dogged dete