"
But the minute passed, and another, and yet a third, and the English
flag still flew.
By this time they were within musket-shot. One by one the four guns
had spoken from the galley's prow and still there was no answer.
On the brink of the tragedy there was silence for an instant.
Then a few of the French musketeers seemed to find this intolerable
and fired without receiving the order. Followed a silence again, and
still the _Merry Maid_ came on as if to impale herself on the
galley's beak.
And then, suddenly, when in five minutes the vessels must have
collided, round flew the frigate's wheel. For a minute and a half
she fetched up as if awaking to the consequences of her folly;
shuddered and shook against the wind; and, as her sails filled again,
fetched away on the westerly tack for her life.
For a full two minutes the French were taken aback.
"Fools, fools!" shouted M. de la Pailletine, beside himself with joy.
The order flew for the slaves on the larboard benches to hold water
for a minute and the galley's head came round. Nothing gives more
spirit than a flying enemy. From mouth to mouth ran the whisper that
the English were showing their heels; and in a moment these poor
devils, who owed all their misery to France, were pulling like
madmen.
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