"At this time there were sitting in the forecastle, apparently
admiring the beautiful appearance of the yawl, four mates and a
captain, who had been brought on board as prisoners a few days
previous, taken in some vessel from a southern port.
"As soon as the sentry had passed these men, in his straightforward
march, they, in a very quiet manner, lowered themselves down into the
yawl, cut the rope, and the four mates taking in hand the oars, while
the captain managed the helm, in less time than I have taken to
describe it, they were under full sweep from the ship. They plied the
oars with such vigor that every stroke they took seemed to take the
boat out of the water. In the meantime the sentry heard nothing and
saw nothing of this transaction, till he had arrived at the end of his
march, when, in wheeling slowly round, he could no longer affect
ignorance, or avoid seeing that the boat was several times its length
from the ship. He immediately fired; but, whether he exercised his
best skill as a marksman, or whether it was on account of the boat's
going ahead its whole length at every pull of the rowers, I could
never exactly ascertain, but the ball fell harmlessly into the
water. The report of the gun brought the whole guard out, who blazed
away at the fugitives, without producing any dimunition in the
rapidity of their progress.
Pages:
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300