Hunting the Skipper: The Cruise of the "Seafowl" Sloop

"No, sir, only them as rowed, sir, and I was wondering where they got to. They seemed to go out, boat and all, like a match. I see 'em one minute, and the next they'd gone in am...

The summons given in hearty English was responded to by a ragged volley of so many muskets, whose flashes came faintly from the edge of the amphitheatre, and wondering what it m...

The first cutter had the wind in her favour and glided northward mile after mile along a shore thickly covered with the peculiar growth of the mangrove, those dense bird-affecti...

"Now, Mr Murray," said the lieutenant, "I don't want to expose the lads to more of this unwholesome place than I can help, so you must use your brains as soon as we get word fro...

"I didn't expect this," said Murray to himself, as after sweeping the shore of the bay he once more fixed his eyes upon the well-manned boat in front; and then he started in won...

"This man is a puzzle," said the lieutenant. "One hour he is a shivering cowardly slave, the next he plays the part of a hero; and now he is like a clever household servant who...

A month passed swiftly away, during which the _Seafowl_ sighted and chased vessel after vessel, each of which had been forced to lie to in response to a shot fired across her bo...

The captain had too much to say when the first cutter's crew went on board and learned that matters had taken place just as had been anticipated, the lugger having suddenly glid...

"Ahoy-y-y! _Seafowls_ ahoy-y!" came again after a pause, and though he felt that he ought to have hailed in reply, Frank Murray's lips remained closed, and he still clung there...

Before the two middies had completed their change there was a tap at the cabin door, and in answer to the "Come in" Tom May's head was thrust through the opening, his face pucke...

"Don't get in a fuss, mister," said the Yankee coolly. "We don't deal in King's officers here, and don't want to. Here, Mr Allen, you're an Englishman; these people are more in...

Roberts kept his word that same evening, for just as the darkness was setting in and the two lads had walked forward to lean over the side and gaze down at the unruffled transpa...

Julius Caesar, after getting over his first fear of the white strangers and a natural dread of the fierce American slaver, whose threats seemed to dominate his life, threw himse...

"Hah! I did not mean this," cried the lieutenant; and his eyes lit upon Murray, who winced and felt guilty as he stood dirk in hand panting and waiting for his superior officer'...

For the most part of that night all thought of sleep had passed away, and a feeling of wonder filled the middy's brain at the ease with which the black forced his way through th...

"What!" said the first lieutenant sharply. "Now, look here, Mr Roberts--and you too, Mr Murray, for you are just as bad. You both give yourselves airs, and though you say nothin...

The crew of the _Seafowl_ had a busy day's work after a good refresher, during which officers and men had been discussing in low tones the way in which "the skipper," as they ca...

Murray lost no time in making for the spot where the two men were in charge of the boat; but simple as the task appeared on the surface, it proved to be far otherwise.

"So'm I, sir," said the man; "but what a toucher! Just think of his bungling off that old musket and scaring the lot! He may think himself lucky that he didn't shoot some of 'em."

Murray thought that the American screwed up his eyes in a peculiar way when he found that the two boats were to go in advance of the sloop, but he had no opportunity for telling...

It was at the end of a desperate struggle, during which the brave little party of sailors had again and again driven their assailants back and repaired the defences of the two w...

"That's your sort, my lads! Let 'em have it!" came in the boatswain's gruff voice, as Murray reached the wide corridor-like landing of the planter's house; and directly after on...

Fever? Brain heat? The poor fellow turned cold with horror, and hurried back, careless of any impending danger that there might be, into the rough hut within whose shades he cou...

"I'd make that chap lead the way back to the cottage place, sir. He knows all the ins and outs, and he'll show us in half the time we could do it."

It was the very next morning just at daybreak that the lookout on the fore-top hailed the deck with the inspiriting cry that sent a thrill through all who heard, and brought the...

"Upon my word, Mr Anderson," said the captain, as he had the men drawn up before him as soon as they reached the _Seafowl_--"Upon my word, sir, I am delighted. I entrust you wit...

It was with a peculiar feeling of relief that all on board the sloop passed out into the open and saw the dull green banks of the mangrove forest fading away astern. For there h...

It was sooner than they expected that the darkness came on--thick, black, dense darkness, which in spite of its gradual approach seemed strange and full of suggestions of being...

Murray made a dash at the black and caught him by the arm, while Tom May sprang to the other side, for, startled by the sudden movement of the midshipman, the poor fellow winced...

Long hours of weary waiting and expectation of being discovered, for at intervals movements could be detected amongst the tall swaying canes and patches of maize that could be m...

A minute before those words were shouted from the main-top, the low-toned conversation carried on by the two young officers, with an occasional creak or rattle from a swinging s...

The horrible dank odour of exploded gunpowder; a blinding smoke; thick darkness; a strange singing in the ears, and then, in connection with a sensation as of having been struck...

Roberts and Titely lay close by, breathing heavily, but to Murray's horror it seemed as if, faintly spoken as it was, the big sailor's warning had reached the sensitive nerves o...

"Poor fellow! Liver, decidedly," said the first speaker, in a mock sympathetic tone. "Look here, old chap, if I were you, I'd go and ask Jones to give me a blue pill, to be foll...

Desperate, but ready for action in defence of his comrade, Murray gripped his cutlass hard, and in those exciting moments found time, oddly enough, to congratulate himself upon...

For orders were given, the capstan manned, and the sloop glided towards the anchor by which they now swung, the sails began to fill and help the men in their task, and soon afte...

"Grand, Mr Anderson," said the captain, after a time. But his first words had come pouring out like a storm of blame, which gave the first lieutenant no opportunity to report wh...

The two lads made for where they could get a good view of the lugger swinging by a rope abreast of the starboard gangway, and as they passed along the quarter-deck, the shrill s...

"More did I, sir. I wouldn't ha' believed I could ha' been in such a shiver and shake. I supposed it'd be for fear we shouldn't be ready for the warmint; but it don't look like...

"Well, Mr Anderson," said the captain, as the latter briefly related the last sayings of the American, "that's all plain enough, and in a few minutes we ought to be alongside."

"Don't stop to talk. Run on back and find the lugger if you can, while I keep on down the main stream. We may overtake the wretches after all, and if either of us sees the enemy...

"But I shall worry about you, Tom May," said the lad, "especially when I make my report. You saved us all when it seemed all over with our chance of escape."

Murray leaned over the side, looking down at the dimly seen figure of his companion, hardly visible in the disturbed water, and full of the expectation of seeing him come up aga...

"Don't get up, sir, till they close in; then make one jump for it and stand back to hit, but take distance and give me plenty of room for a good swing."

It was, quite, for the rustling behind seemed to be terribly near, and it was with a feeling of intense relief that the lad felt his arm pressed, and fell into step with his off...

It was a little later on that, during a quiet interval and while in obedience to his officer Murray had been seeing to the men and taking care they were well refreshed ready for...

"Tut, tut, tut! Whatever has Mr Murray been about to go astray like that? I did think I could trust him! And now it is quite open to his being taken, boat and men, by these scou...

Murray raised his hand, and it was taken directly between those of the black speaker; and the midshipman started, for one of these was bandaged up as if the poor fellow had been...

Murray proved to be right, for the distant reports which came from somewhere on the far side of the island proved to be the last fired by the man-o'-war, which, shorthanded thou...

"Murray!" came from the _Seafowl's_ boat, as Murray gave orders for the men to let it float down from beneath the trees where he had kept it moored with his men, partly screened...

As the suffering party gathered together upon the river shore preparatory to embarking in the boats, Murray's first care was to see that A.B. Titely was placed where he could li...

Murray's movements were cautious in the extreme, and as he crept almost inch by inch he grew more confident of his power to do so without being heard, for the movements made by...

"You're holloaing before you're out of the wood, my lads," he said. "Ah, there they go again--nearer too. Those must be Mr Munday's or Mr Dempsey's men. Halt, and stand fast, my...