"The Martinique, 800 tons burden, laden with coffee and other colonial produce."
"Thank you, captain. She is a prize worth taking; she looks a new vessel."
"It is her first voyage," the captain said.
"How many hands do you carry?"
"Forty-five all told, and, as you see, twelve guns. Ah, monsieur, if we had had time to load and arm ourselves you would have had a different reception."
"No doubt, no doubt; but you see we sail three feet to your two, which more than counterbalances the difference in strength, and it would have been a pity indeed to have knocked such a fine ship about and to have killed a good many of your men when it would have come to the same thing at last. Now, I should like to have a look at your papers."
The prize was indeed a valuable one, for although she had filled up at the French islands, she had previously traded along the South American coast, and was laden to her utmost capacity. The crew had been ordered into the forecastle, and a heavy cable had been coiled against the door.
"We will run in, Harding, to within ten or fifteen miles of the land, then we will lay her to. It will be dark by that time. I will leave you with twelve men in charge of her. You will, of course, bring up ammunition and load the guns. I shall run in and anchor as close as I can to the land—of course showing no lights—and then make my way up to the château. It will take me an hour to go there and an hour to return. I may have some little difficulty in getting speech with them, but certainly in two hours I shall be on my way back. With this wind I ought to get ashore by half-past eight, and by half-past twelve shall be on board again. Show no lights till two o'clock, and then hoist one above another. I shall know by looking at the list the captain gave me, where the Tartar is likely to be to-morrow, and shall make straight for her, and cruise about until she comes up. The ship and her contents are worth, I should say, from twenty to twenty-five thousand pounds. I shall hand her over to the Tartar, and let them put a prize crew in her. It would never do to weaken ourselves by sending ten or twelve men in her to Gib. No doubt the Tartar will convoy her till she is off the coast of Spain."
Consulting the list that his captain had given him, he found that the Tartar was to put in for fresh provisions at Genoa, and intended to be back on the following day and take up her station outside the southernmost of the Isles of Hyères.
"It could not be better," he said to Harding. "I doubt with this wind whether she will be there, but we shall only have to keep on east till we meet her."