"
Captain Lane asked the Cornish fisherman to be seated and asked:
"What have you seen, Tris?"
"You see, captain, it be like this. I be out at sea beyond the bay, and
I see a great ship beating up in the bay against wind and tide, and I
watch her for a long time as she do go first on one tack and then on the
other, until I make sure she be heading for Mariana, and I hasten to
tell, with all sail."
Burrel explained that from the farthest point of Duck Island the vessel
had been sighted, and that there was no longer any question of her
destination. Captain Lane rose to go down to the village, where the
greatest excitement prevailed. Turning to Morgianna, he asked:
"Will you be afraid to remain here, my gem o' the sea?"
"No, father."
The captain went and quieted the people. A strong breeze was blowing
from the land, and he knew full well that the _Xenophon_ could not
possibly come near enough to harm them for several hours. He gave some
directions concerning the strengthening of the fort, and went home and
retired to bed.
Next morning the ship-of-war, the _Xenophon_ was reported lying without
the harbor, and at noon, being unable, owing to contrary winds, to enter
the harbor, they saw her long-boats landing troops on the northern point
of land. Soldiers to the number of two hundred were landed on the point
of land, which, two miles north of Duck Island, projected far out into
the sea and was called O'Connor's Point.
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