Stand by the braces,
lads; let go, and haul the yards round, and be lively about it; we
cannot spare the time to be taken aback just now; that's right, men;
well there with the fore-braces; well with the main; brail in the mizzen
and stow it; haul down the mizzen-topmast staysail. Now she feels the
breeze. Hard up with your helm, my man, and let her wear short round.
Let go your lee main-braces and round in to windward--gently now; not
too quick; that's well; catch a turn with your after-braces and then
square the fore-yard; well with the fore-braces; belay all and coil up.
Ah! I expected that."

The latter exclamation was evoked by the boom of a gun from the
schooner; and, turning his eyes in her direction, George saw the white
smoke floating lazily away from her to leeward, and then a white jet of
water started up as the shot came flying towards the barque, then
another--another--and another, and finally a scurrying splash as the
iron messenger swept along the surface of the water and sank, falling
short by about a hundred yards. At the same moment the heavy sweeps
were laid in; the schooner's sails were trimmed as if by magic to the
coy breeze; her head paid off; and as she swept gracefully round upon a
course which would enable her to intercept the _Aurora_, a tiny ball
went soaring aloft to her main-topmast-head and, breaking abroad as it
reached the truck, a square _black_ flag fluttered threateningly out, a
fit emblem of the character of those who sailed beneath it.

"Not quite close enough, Mr Rover," remarked Bowen, cheerfully, as the
shot sank into the placid depths of the ocean, now gently ruffled by the
increasing breeze. "Shall we return the compliment, sir?"

"Not just yet," answered George; "she is still a long way off; and we
cannot afford to waste a single ounce of powder or shot. But it is time
that we should have everything ready to carry on the fight in earnest,
so I must ask _you_, Mr Bowen--as the most reliable man I have on
board--to go below and see to the passing up of the powder; it will
never do to run the risk of having an explosion in the powder-magazine."

"Very well, sir; I'd have greatly preferred to have been on deck, to
take my fair share in the fighting; but I'm ready to do my duty wherever
you may choose to order me," said the chief mate, as he walked away aft
with a rather rueful face, on his way below to the magazine.

The schooner, finding that she was not yet within ran