request that a twelve-pounder, that was mounted on a travelling
carriage, might be put on board the boat, and sent to a landing, whence
it might easily be dragged by hand to the narrow passage so often
mentioned. This done, he took the way into the false channel himself.

The governor, as a matter of course, kept at a safe distance ahead of
the pirates in the Anne and the Martha. This he was enabled to do quite
easily, since fore-and-aft vessels make much quicker tacks than those
that are square-rigged. As respects water, there was enough of that
almost everywhere; it being rather a peculiarity of the group, that
nearly every one of its passages had good channels and bold shores.
There was one shoal, however, and that of some extent, in the long reach
of the false channel named; and when the governor resolved to venture in
there, it was not without the hope of leading the pirate ship on it. The
water on this shoal was about sixteen feet deep, and there was scarce a
hope of either of the brigs fetching up on it; but, could the ship be
enticed there, and did she only strike with good way on her, and on a
falling tide, her berth might be made very uncomfortable. Although this
hope appeared faintly in the background of the governor's project, his
principal expectation was that of being able to decoy the strangers into
a _cul-de-sac_, and to embarrass them with delays and losses. As soon as
the Neshamony was out of sight, the Anne and Martha, therefore,
accompanied by the other boats, stood into the false channel, and went
off to the northward merrily, with a leading wind. When the enemy
reached the point, they did not hesitate to follow, actually setting
studding sails in their eagerness not to be left too far behind. It is
probable, that Waally was of but little service to his allies just then,
for, after all, the knowledge of that chief was limited to a very
imperfect acquaintance with such channels as would admit of the passage
of even canoes. The distances were by no means trifling in these
crooked passages. By the true channel, it was rather more than seven and
twenty miles from the western roads to the Reef; but, it was fully ten
more by this false channel, even deducting the half league where there
was no passage at all, or the bottom of the _bag_. Now, it required time
to beat up such a distance, and the sun was setting when the governor
reached the shoal already mentioned, about which he kept working for
some time