"
He and his officers kneeled on the quarter-deck. When they rose, Dodd
stood rapt about a minute; his great thoughtful eye saw no more the
enemy, the sea, nor anything external; it was turned inward. His
officers looked at him in silence.
"Sharpe," said he, at last, "there must be a way out of them with such a
breeze as this is now; if we could but see it."
"Ay, _if_," groaned Sharpe.
Dodd mused again.
"About ship!" said he, softly, like an absent man.
"Ay, ay, sir!"
"Steer due north!" said he, still like one whose mind was elsewhere.
While the ship was coming about, he gave minute orders to the mates and
the gunner, to ensure co-operation in the delicate and dangerous
manoeuvres that were sure to be on hand.
The wind was W.N.W.: he was standing north: one pirate lay on his lee
beam stopping a leak between wind and water, and hacking the deck clear
of his broken masts and yards. The other fresh, and thirsting for the
easy prey, came up to weather on him and hang on his quarter, pirate
fashion.
When they were distant about a cable's length, the fresh pirate, to meet
the ship's change of tactics, changed his own, luffed up, and gave the
ship a broadside, well aimed but not destructive, the guns being loaded
with ball.
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