ages to us, elapsed; and then,
all in a moment, his stunsails (or _studding-sails_, as I ought more
correctly to spell the word) collapsed, and fluttered wildly for a few
seconds in the breeze, and disappeared; his royal-halliards were let go,
and the sails rolled up and furled; and as he hauled up to follow the
barque, his foresail lifted and there was a flash, a puff of white
smoke, and before the report had time to drive down to us we saw the
shot skipping along from wave to wave, as a polite intimation to the
barque to heave-to. But the whaling skipper was not the man to give up
without a struggle. He had no studding-sails, but he was heading in
such a direction that the brig could not use hers while following him,
and it seemed that he trusted to his light trim to enable him to get
clear.

Gun after gun was now rapidly fired by the pirates, but they were not
yet within range, though it was only too evident that they would be
before very long, and I greatly feared that the barque's chances of
escape were remarkably small.

In about an hour they both disappeared in the north-western board; but,
when last seen, the barque was still carrying on, with the pirate
banging away at her most perseveringly with his long gun.

"Thank goodness, we're shut of the blackguards at last!" exclaimed Bob,
as the sails of the two craft sank below the horizon; "though I'm
duberous it's a poor look-out for them whalin' chaps. If the poor
beggars gets caught, it's small marcy as they'll have showed 'em, unless
there's any on 'em white-livered enough to jine the brig to save their
lives. Skipper Johnson won't be partic'lar amiable, I reckon, a'ter the
loss of his two boats' crews yesterday--two-and-twenty hands, all told;
and I don't suppose as he's the man to mind much _who_ he has his
revenge upon, so long's he _gets_ it. But what's to be our next move,
lad, now we're once more all alone by ourselves?"

"I've been thinking about that," I replied. "I do not expect the
pirates will trouble their heads about us any more, now that they have
lost sight of us; but they _way_, and it will be just as well to provide
against any such contingency. If they resume the chase, they will most
probably look for us somewhere on the course we were steering when last
seen, or else to the northward. There is nothing to take us to the
southward, so that is the most improbable direction, in my opinion, in
which they are likely to look for us; and