Shakespeare's Christmas, and other storiesQuiller-Couch, Arthur
General
Shakespeare's Christmas, and other stories
Quiller-Couch, Arthur
English fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, English
So they tossed till day broke and showed Drake's Island ahead of them,
and the whole Sound running with a tidy send of sea from the south'ard,
grey and forlorn. Some were for turning back, but Pengelly wouldn't
hear of it. "We must make Cawsand Bay," says he, "if it costs us our
lives. Maybe we'll find half-a-dozen ships anchored there and ready for
sea."
So away for Cawsand they pulled, hour after hour, Hancock all the while
wanting to die, and wondering at the number of times an empty man could
answer up to the call of the sea.
The squalls had eased soon after daybreak, and the sky cleared and let
through the sunshine as they opened the bay and spied two sloops-of-war
and a frigate riding at anchor there. Pulling near with the little
strength left in them, they could see that the frigate was weighing for
sea. She had one anchor lifted and the other chain shortened in: her
top-sails and topgallant sails were cast off, ready to cant her at the
right moment for hauling in. An officer stood ready by the crew manning
the capstan, and right aft two more officers were pacing back and forth
with their hands clasped under their coat-tails.
"Lord!" groaned Pengelly, "if my poor Ann's aboard of she, we'll never
catch her!" He sprang up in the stern-sheets and hailed with all his
might.
Small enough chance had his voice of reaching her, the wind being dead
contrary: and yet for the moment it looked as if the two officers aft
had heard; for they both stepped to the ship's side, and one put up a
telescope and handed it to the other. And still the crew of the gig,
staring over their shoulders while they pulled weakly, could see the
men by the capstan standing motionless and waiting for orders.
"Seems a'most as if they were expectin' somebody," says Pengelly with a
sudden hopefulness: and with that Treleaven, that was pulling stroke,
casts his eyes over his right shoulder and gives a gasp.
"Good Lord, look!" says he. "The tender!"
And sure enough, out of the thick weather rolling up away over Bovisand
they spied now a Service cutter bearing across close-hauled, leaning
under her big tops'l and knocking up the water like ginger-beer with
the stress of it. When first sighted she couldn't have been much more
than a mile distant, and, pull as they did with the remains of their
strength, she crossed their bows a good half-mile ahead, taking in
tops'l as she fetched near the frigate.
"Use your eyes--oh, use your eyes!" called out Pengelly: but no soul
could they see on her besides two or three of the crew forward and a
little officer standing aft beside the helmsman. Pengelly ran forward,
leaping the thwarts, and fetched the tailor a rousing kick. "Sit up!"
he ordered, "and tell us if that's the orficer you spoke to last night!"
The poor creature hoisted himself upon his thwart, looking as yellow as
a bad egg. "I--I think that's the man," said he, straining his eyes,
and dropped his head overside.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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