t he does, he is not
going to allow me to carry him off in the Maud through this channel
without doing some kicking and some barking with his twelve-pounders. He
remains there as quietly as though he had you in his cabin already.
Mazagan is a sea-captain, and probably has spent most of his life
sailing in these waters. I am afraid he knows more about this channel
than I do, or has a more detailed chart of this bay than mine."

The Maud passed the cone, and continued on her course for a short time
longer. Half a mile more would take her into twenty fathoms of water.

"It would look very hopeful, Louis, if the Fatime were only doing her
best to overhaul us in a chase; but she is like an alligator sunning
himself on the water, she don't move a muscle," said the captain.

"Well, if we have to go back, we shall still have the chance of a race
before us," suggested Louis.

"I hope so," added Scott.

"Only hope so?" queried Louis.

"That's all," answered the captain, with something like despondency in
his tones and expression.

"Twelve feet and a half!" shouted Morris with emphasis.

"By the mark two! Twelve feet!" shouted Felix.

"Eleven and a half feet!" said Morris.

"Eleven feet!" yelled the Milesian.

Captain Scott rang one bell on the gong to stop her, and then three more
to back her. The boat was lowered into the water, and only seven feet of
water could be found half a cable's length ahead of the Maud. She could
go no farther in this direction.

CHAPTER XII

THE BATTLE FOUGHT, THE VICTORY WON

Whatever doubts Louis had in the first instance about Captain Scott's
management of the defence of the Maud, he now believed that he honestly
and sincerely desired to escape from the difficult and trying situation
without an encounter with the pirate. He had feared the temptation to
make a hero of himself would lead him into a conflict with the enemy
when it might be avoided.

Without "showing the white feather," he had conducted himself with quite
as much prudence as resolution. He had done his best to escape from the
bay without any fighting. Before his reformation he was generally
"spoiling for a fight" when there was any dispute or difficulty; but on
the present occasion he had done his best to avoid one.

He had tried to do just as he believed Louis, his model in morals and
conduct, would have done if he had been in command of the Maud. The
hearty approval which his mentor had expressed of all he