At this moment, three or four muskets were fired from the boat, and the balls whistled among the sails or spattered in the water. Should they meet with one of those sudden calms which frequently overtook vessels off the bay, they knew they would be lost. The British marines were laying to their oars right lustily, and the boat flew over the waves. "Have you no arms in the boat?" asked Fernando. "Nothin' but a fowlin' piece and some goose shot." "Just the thing for me!" declared Sukey. "I was always good at killin' geese on the wing." Sukey hunted up the gun and loaded both barrels heavily with shot and slugs. Then he took up his post in the stern, ready to rake the long boat fore and aft, should it come within range of his formidable gun. The officer and three or four marines continued to load and fire, until the boat was out of the harbor, when a strong breeze struck her sails and sent her spinning over the water. "Huzzah! huzzah! we are gainin' on' em now!" cried Sukey, flourishing his gun in the air. The British fired half a dozen more shots at the fleeing boat; but the bullets began dropping behind. They were out of reach of their longest range muskets. "There ain't no danger now," declared Sukey. "They are not in the game." The breeze continued strong, and the little craft boldly cleft the waters, as it sped forward over the bounding waves. "It's no use to be wearing ourselves out, Fernando," said Terrence. "The good breeze is doin' more for us than a hundred oars could do." They put in their sweeps and, mounting the rail aft, clung to rigging, and shouted derision and defiance at their pursuers. Although the Britons had little hope or expectation of overtaking them, yet, with that bull-dog tenacity characteristic of Englishmen, they continued the chase. "That danger is over," said Terrence, as they once more resumed their seats in the boat. "What would they have done with us, Terrence, had they captured us?" "Faith, it's hard telling; but I think we'd found it unpleasant." "Wasn't the fight fair?" "As fair as iver one saw; but, begorra, it didn't turn out the way they expected." "Why, la sakes, they didn't think Fernando was goin' to miss, did they?" said Sukey. "He ain't been shootin' squirrels out o' the tallest trees in Ohio for nothin'." "This lieutenant thought he was going to have some sport with a greenhorn." "Can you see them yet?" asked Fernando of Williams, who sat well up in the stern holding the helm. "Yes." "How far are they away?" "Two or three miles." "And still a-coming?" "Yes." "Plague take 'em!" growled Sukey, "why do they follow us so persistently?" "May be they think to get us when we go ashore; but, bad luck to thim, they'll find it tough if they come afther us." "Fernando, I wish we had our rifles," growled Sukey. "Wouldn't we make it unprofitable for the redcoats!"