not have done to start the water, or lighten the ship
in any way; and, in a smooth sea, the common expedient of slinging the
hammocks, and making the watch below turn in with round shot in their
arms, would have been of no avail. The breeze, however, favoured them;
for while the _Ione_ was heeling over with it almost to her bearings,
the chase lay nearly becalmed. She had no royals set, and her foresail
was hauled up, so that they neared her rapidly.

"I suspect our friend there keeps a bad look-out; for I don't think he
has seen us yet," observed Mr Saltwell to the master.

"If that is the case, he is not the fellow we are in search of,"
answered Mr Norton. "A pirate would have his eyes about him."

"Perhaps, as he is becalmed and cannot get away, he hopes, by apparent
indifference to our approach, to deceive us as to his character,"
suggested Linton; "or he may have mistaken us for a merchantman, and
expects to make a prize of us."

"He'll find he's caught a Tartar," said Saltwell; "but he must be blind
not to see by the cut of our canvas what we are, even at this distance."

"Perhaps, he trusts to a fleet pair of heels, and we shall have him
showing them to us before long," said Linton. "I do not think there is
anything yet to prove that he is not the pirate we are looking for.
That fellow Zappa is a bold and crafty scoundrel, as his late visit to
Malta and his successful attack on the Austrian brig sufficiently
proves. He may have a mind to engage us, perhaps."

"You don't know the Greeks, if you think so," said Saltwell. "Why, you
must have pictured him to yourself like one of the heroes in the
romances you are so fond of, who fight alone for love and glory, and
whose greatest delight is to lay their ships alongside an enemy of
greater force, in order to prove how superior knaves are to honest men.
Depend upon it, Signor Zappa will keep clear of us, if he can."

"Well, but what do you say to his attacking an Austrian man-of-war, and
capturing her?" urged Linton. "That looks something like the chivalry
of piracy."

"As to that, in the first place, he discovered, by some means or other,
that she had specie on board; and she was also of much less force than
his vessel. He carries, it is said, sixteen guns, and she had but
eight," answered Saltwell. "So he followed her for some time, till he
surprised her one dark night, and captured her before her crew had time
to go to quarters. It did not say much