ch it. If not, there remained only the alternative of
"fighting it out."

"Reserve your fire, boys, till I tell you to shoot. There are only six
armed men in that boat. If they shoot, lie down behind the gunwale.
You mustn't shoot till we come to close quarters. Then take good aim,
and make your fire tell. A single wasted bullet may cost us our lives.
Above all, keep perfectly cool. We've work to do that needs coolness
as well as determination."

The boats drew rapidly nearer and nearer the point of meeting, and Sam
saw that he would succeed in passing it first, but narrowly, he
thought.

"We'll beat them, boys," he said. "The sea is rough, and they can't
do much at long range, and they won't get more than one shot close to
us." At that moment the men in the British boat fired a volley, after
the manner which was in vogue with British troops at that day. The two
boats were not a hundred yards apart, but the roughness of the water,
on which the row boat bobbed about like a cork, rendered the volley
ineffective.

"They're good soldiers with an idiot commanding them," said Sam.

"Why?" asked Tom, who was very coolly studying the situation.

"Because he made them fire too soon," replied Sam, "and we can slip by
now while they're loading. Don't shoot, Joe!" he exclaimed to the
black boy who was manifestly on the point of doing so. "Don't shoot,
we've got the best of them now; we are past them and making the
distance greater every second. Give them a cheer to take home with
them. Hurrah!"

It was raining now, and the wind was blowing a gale, so that Sam's
boat was running at a speed which made pursuit utterly hopeless. The
British soldiers fired three or four scattering shots, and then
cheered in their turn, in recognition of the admirable skill and
courage with which their young adversary had eluded them.

Sam's escape was not made yet, however. A war ship lay below, and her
commander seeing the chase, and the firing in the bay, manned a light
boat with marines, and sent her out to intercept Sam's craft, without
very clearly understanding the situation or its meaning.

Sam saw this boat put off from the ship, and knew in an instant what
it meant. He saw, too, that he had no chance to slip by it as he had
done by the other, as it was already very near to him, and almost in
his track.

"Now, boys," he said very calmly, "we've got to fight. There's no
chance to slip by that boat, and we've got to whip her in a fair