"Right! right!" cried Colonel Ashburnham. "Hand me that grappling-iron, my man," he continued, speaking to one of the sailors. The man obeyed; and fastening one of the leathern bags he had brought with him to the hook of the iron, Colonel Ashburnham pitched them both into the sea together, just as the boat ran alongside the cutter. CHAPTER XVI. "In the name of fury, you scoundrel!" exclaimed Colonel Ashburnham, addressing the captain of the cutter, as soon as they reached the deck, "what made you strike and reef the sails?" "Because I couldn't help it," replied the man. "They are to windward of us, and will be alongside of us in no time. If you come to that, what made that gentleman stay so long? and who the devil are you who come to give orders here?" He added a number of oaths, which are not necessary to be repeated. But Colonel Ashburnham waved his hand, saying, "Silence, sir! I thought I was known by everybody who even pretends to serve the king. I am Colonel Ashburnham, an officer in his service, and I order you, if there be a chance of getting away, to make sail instantly." "There is no chance," answered the man. "No, sir; not now," said a seaman, who stood near; "for nothing is ready. If we had not reefed the sails indeed----" "Well, well," said Colonel Ashburnham, "what must be must be. Where are the Frenchmen?" "There stands one," said the captain, sullenly, "and the other has gone down below." "If you have anything to destroy, sir," said the colonel, addressing Barecolt in French, "you had better go and do it at once." "I have nothing on earth, sir," replied Barecolt, "but a score or two of crowns, a grey doublet, and two shirts--all of which I would sooner destroy on shore than on the water at any time. I have a grand objection to that element in every shape and in every quantity, from a jugful to the Atlantic." "Your nose vouches for your truth," replied Ashburnham, with a low bow; for he was a man who, notwithstanding the sterner and more devoted points of his character, could understand and appreciate a joke. "You are right, colonel," replied Barecolt, laying his hand upon his proboscis. "An honest man never fears to bear a witness of his actions about with him." "Had you not better," said Ashburnham, in a lower tone, "go down and see if you can help your companion?" "With all my heart," answered Barecolt, "though I think what he is about he can do without help; but I will go and tell him that the big black monster there is coming up more like a swallow than a whale, and that may hasten his proceedings." Thus saying, he descended into the cabin, but speedily returned, laughing, and saying in broken English, "He is mortally sea-sick, poor miserable! I thought he would be so in the boat."