had died away to the
merest zephyr when we arrived within gun-shot of the chase; and Ryan at
once ordered the long eighteen between the masts to be cleared away and
a shot fired as close to the barque as possible without hitting her,
just by way of a gentle hint that we were disposed to stand no more
nonsense, and that the time had now arrived for her to surrender without
giving us any further trouble. But evidently the last thought in the
mind of her skipper was to yield, for instead of hauling down his
colours like a good sensible man, he blazed away at us in return with a
couple of twelve-pounders that he had run out through his stern-ports.
The shots were well aimed, but did not quite reach us, striking the
water twice fair in line with us, and then making their final scurry,
and sinking within about thirty yards of our bows.

"By the piper, I believe the fellow intends to fight us!" exclaimed
Ryan. "As a rule these gentlemen are particularly careful of their
skins, and have no fancy for hard knocks, giving in when they find that
their only choice lies between a fight and surrendering, but there are
occasional exceptions to this rule, and I fancy that this fellow will
prove to be one of them. Now, Harry, me bhoy, we must be careful what
we are after when it comes to boarding and carrying yonder gintleman;
for if he happen to be one of the reckless desperado kind he may play us
a scurvy trick. I have heard of men who blew their ship and everybody
in her into the air rather than allow her to be captured; and, for aught
that we can tell to the contrary, the fellow who commands the barque may
be one of that stamp. Now, if he is, we may rest assured that he will
do nothing desperate until the capture of the ship is certain; until
then he will be the foremost man in the fray; so we must both keep a
sharp look-out for him and put him _hors de combat_ before he has the
chance to do any harm. I hope this breeze will hold long enough to
enable us to get alongside; should we be becalmed and have to attack him
with the boats, it will give him an important advantage, and perhaps
result in the loss of some of our men."

This hope of Ryan's was destined to disappointment; for the wind
continued to dwindle after sunset until it finally died away altogether,
and left both craft without steerage-way. By this time, however, we had
drifted within range of the barque's guns, and she had opened a rather
desultory but well-directe