"Fire!" shouted he, with more voice than he was supposed to have in the feeble condition of his lungs.

The gunner had loaded the piece himself, and it made a tremendous report when Christy pulled the lock-string. The Leopard shook under the concussion of the discharge, and she was completely enveloped in smoke; so that they could not see whether the Belle had been hit or not. But in the distance they could hear hoa.r.s.e shouts in the direction of the Belle, and they concluded that something had happened in that quarter.

Christy had brought down the gla.s.s with him; and he directed it towards the steamer aimed at as soon as the smoke began to blow out of the way, though it was some time before he could get a clear view of her.

"By the great Const.i.tution!" exclaimed Captain Pecklar, before Christy could cover the Belle with his gla.s.s. "I have hit her!"

"Where?" asked the other, elated at the intelligence.

"Right on the bow! There is a hole big enough to roll a wheelbarrow through," replied the captain, greatly excited. "She has stopped her wheels."

"That's a nice hole!" added Christy, as he got the gla.s.s to bear on it, and his hopes began to rise again. "It is just about big enough for a small wheelbarrow. But they have gone to work on it, and are putting mattresses over it."

"That craft is finished for to-day, and we needn't worry any more about her," said the captain. "She will not get that hole stopped up for an hour or longer, and I hope this affair will be over before this can be done. Shall we give them another shot? What do you think, Christy? She holds still now, and I believe I can hit her every time."

"Decidedly not: she is disabled for the present, and that is all I care for. We are not in war trim," replied Christy, as he turned his attention in the direction of the other vessels.

"As I told you, the Dauphine is fast; and she will be down upon us in less than five minutes more," said Captain Pecklar.

"I wonder that she don't fire upon us," added Christy.

"I doubt if she has any guns on board, though she may have a field-piece or two."

"The Bellevite is waking up, I think," said Christy.

"She is getting into deeper water."

"But the Dauphine is coming right between the Leopard and the Bellevite," continued Christy, as he brought the gla.s.s to bear upon her, though she was near enough to be distinctly seen with the naked eye.

"Whether she had any guns or not, she has plenty of men on board; and it is easy enough to see what she intends to do."

"What do you think she intends to do?" asked the captain.

"Of course she came out here after the Bellevite, as the Belle did also; but her people have seen what the Leopard has been about for the last hour, and they intend to dispose of us before they hunt for the bigger game."

"She may capture the Bellevite after she has finished her business with us," said the captain, looking very anxious.

"She may, but I don't believe she will. You have proved that you are all right, Captain Pecklar, and I don't mind telling you now that the Bellevite is heavily armed. Captain Breaker was a lieutenant in the navy, and he knows how to handle a ship," replied Christy.

"Then, if we escape the Dauphine, we shall be all right."

"The Dauphine will come down, and throw a few men on board of us; boarding us, in fact, as we have no force with which to help ourselves,"

added Christy, as he took a small American flag from his pocket.

It had been made by his mother on the late cruise of the steamer, and it was a sort of talisman with him, which he had often displayed in foreign lands. He found a pole on the deck, to which he attached the emblem of his whole country, and displayed it at the bow of the tug. He hoped that his father or the captain might see it, and recognize it as the one he had so often seen on board and ash.o.r.e.

"That's a handsome flag, Christy; and it does me good to see it again,"

said Captain Pecklar, as he took off his hat, and bowed reverently to it.

"Percy, hard-a-starboard the helm!" shouted Christy to the helmsman.

"Head her for the Belle."

"All right."

"I think we can increase the distance a little between us and the Dauphine," added Christy.

"That's a good move; for we have been putting ourselves nearer to her when there was no need of it, as there has not been since the Belle was disabled."

He had hardly spoken the words before a tremendous cheer came from the Bellevite, and her fore-rigging appeared to be filled with men. The cheer was repeated till it had been given at least "three times three."

"What does that mean, Christy?" asked Captain Pecklar.

"It means that my father or some one on board has recognized my flag.

I should have set it before if we had been near enough for them to make it out. But they have seen it, and I feel sure that all the steamers in the bay could not capture us now. Look at the Bellevite!"

She seemed suddenly to have taken the bit in her teeth, and she was rushing forward at a speed which she had not before exhibited. Paul Vapoor was evidently wide awake.

A little later her port-holes flew open.

CHAPTER XXIX

ON BOARD OF THE BELLEVITE

The crisis was at hand; for the Dauphine was darting in between the Leopard and the Bellevite, between father and son. On the port rail of the former, as if ready to leap upon the deck of the tug, were at least twenty men; and, for the first time, the plan of the enemy became apparent to Christy Pa.s.sford.

He hastened to the hurricane deck of the Leopard, where he could see more clearly; and it was evident to him that the question before them would be settled within a very few minutes. If he and his companions fell into the hands of the enemy, nothing less than a severe fight with the Dauphine, perhaps aided by the Belle, on the part of the Bellevite could undo the mischief.

Christy was disposed to leave nothing to be undone. Rushing into the pilot-house, he seized the wheel, and threw it over, determined to redeem the fate of the tug while he could. Captain Pecklar had crowded on all the steam he could, and doubtless the boat was doing her very best. She flew round like a top, careening till her rail was under water.

"Hard up, Percy!" cried he, while the tug was still whirling. "Those men will drop on board of us if we don't get out of the Dauphine's way."

"The Bellevite is almost into her," added the volunteer pilot.

Paul Vapoor evidently understood the situation, and must have been preparing for it for some time, though the shoal-water had prevented the steamer from taking advantage of his effort. She had suddenly begun to dart ahead as though she had been an object shot from one of her biggest guns; and she seemed almost to leap out of the water in her struggle to come between the Leopard and the Dauphine.

The Bellevite was certainly making two miles to her rival's one in the race, and it looked as though she would strike her sharp bow into the broadside of the enemy. She seemed to rely on a vigorous blow with her stem rather than on her guns; for as yet she had not fired a shot, though she was fully prepared to do so.

The Leopard came about in double-quick time; and as soon as her keel was at right angles with that of the Dauphine, Christy righted the helm, and let her go in the direction of the disabled Belle. She rolled, pitched, and plunged in the sea, which had been increasing very sensibly within a short time; but she went ahead at her best speed, and that was all Christy wanted of her.

The Bellevite was still rushing down upon the Dauphine as though she intended to annihilate her when the crash came, as come it must within a minute or two. Christy's heart was in his throat, for he felt that his own safety depended upon the events of the next two minutes.

A tremendous collision was impending, and thus far the Dauphine had done nothing to avoid it. Doubtless her commander had gauged the speed of the Bellevite by what she had been doing in the shoal water, and had not believed she could overhaul him before he had thrown a force on board of the Leopard.

"Now, keep her as she is, Percy, and we shall soon know what is going to happen," said Christy, when the tug had come about so that he could not readily see the movements of the other steamers.

"We are running right into the Belle," suggested Percy.