“Idlers below,” MacLean ordered. “Freelady, Professor Longway, Mr. Kleinst — go below and stay until you’re called, if you please. Mr. Loholo, I can spare you from the tiller until you get your men under arms.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Loholo padded forward to the waist to arm his men.
MacKinnie watched Hal break out crossbows, handing one to each of his Samualite guards and posting them along the waist. The pirates had noted that Subao was going to windward without oars, and adjusted their courses to intercept well forward of their present position, so the ships were not closing as rapidly now, but slowly they drew up to three crossbow shots away to port and as many forward.
“I doubt there will be a battle,” MacLean said quietly. “Unless they are very much faster with those oars than I think, they cannot possibly catch us.”
As if to make his captain a liar, the lookout shouted, “Three sails off the starboard bow. Three sails ahead, sir.”
MacLean shook his head. “If they adjust to our strange antics as quickly as these did, we’ll have to fight after all.” He eyed the distance to the nearest pirate ship. “Mr. Stark, I’ll thank you to go forward and stand ready to bring the ship about again. Don’t cast off that jibsheet until I tell you. And give me five men on the leeboards.”
“Aye, sir.” Hal took his men forward, carefully seeing that each man stowed his crossbow along the rail on the low side. MacLean shook his head. “Put them on the starboard side, Stark. I don’t need loaded weapons clattering about my decks when we go about.
“Stand by, Todd. I want to cut this as close as possible without letting them ram us.” The pirate ships drew closer now, angling in toward Subao’s bows in a staggered line. “Fall away a point,” MacLean said softly. The ship gathered way, leaping through the water. “Stand by … Put the helm over!”
Subaobrought up into the wind sharply, hung for a moment, and fell off to the starboard tack. “Let go the jibsheets. Now get them sheeted in. Haul those leeboards, you sons!” MacLean was icy calm as he watched the armored prow of the nearest pirate approaching. The sweeps on the enemy vessel were moving faster and faster, and they could hear a drum amidship beating the count.
Zing!MacKinnie heard something snap over his head, and looked up to see a round hole in the mizzensail. Then there was a chorus of sounds, the bolts thudding into the bulwarks. “Get down!” MacKinnie called. Stark, crouching low, half ran the length of the ship to seize his crossbow. All they could see was the great bow of the enemy thirty yards away, white water curling from each side and the beak of the ram protruding slightly from the water in front of it.
The pirate ship bore ahead. MacKinnie stood in silence. There was nothing to do but wait. The iron ram grew larger and larger. Then it seemed to slip behind slightly.
Subaogathered more way, and the pirate ship was no longer aimed amidships. “Hold your course,” MacLean said quietly. As MacKinnie watched, the pirate ram fell further behind, tried to turn more toward Subao, and caught her sail aback. “Steady as she goes,” MacLean murmured.
The pirate ship passed astern so close they almost touched the oars. A cloud of arrows flew from it toward them, and Stark replied with his own volley of steel bolts. There was a shout from the pirate, then it was gone.
“He’ll have to get that sail down before he can row to windward,” MacLean remarked casually. “Never catch us now. Masthead! Where are those other ships?”
“Off the port bow ahead, sir!”
“They’re directly to windward,” MacLean said. “Let’s see if they have any sense. Mr. Loholo, you can come back to the quarterdeck now.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” As Loholo approached, they could see blood on his hands. “One crewman dead, sir. Arrow in his throat. Some holes in your sails, too.”
“Yes. Where are those reefs of yours, and when will the tide be out?”
Loholo pointed to a cleft in the hills along the shoreline. “Right off there, sir. Tide’s full now. Going out starting in an hour.”
“Excellent. Todd, steer for those reefs and get the picture of them from Loholo. We may make use of them yet. Mr. Loholo, how many men does one of those pirate vessels carry?”
“Seventy, maybe a few more, sir. Not all of them sailors.”
“How many of them can fight?”
“Most all, sir. That’s why they’re aboard.”
MacLean nodded. “As well they can’t board us. Mind your luff there, Mr. Todd, you’re too close.” MacLean looked along the coast, then thoughtfully tossed a light line over the stern and watched the angle it made with the centerline of Subao. “Making more leeway than I like,” he remarked to MacKinnie. “And that fellow out there seems to have some sense. The others are trying to close with us, but he’s standing well out to keep to windward of where we’ll be. This could be rather interesting.”
They sailed on. The afternoon sea breeze brought a shift in the wind, backing it around to nearly directly offshore, as the tide turned, running little trails of bubbles out to sea. The first group of pirate vessels was lost behind them, and they were easily outdistancing the second, which made the mistake of closing with Subao and ended up under her lee before trying to stroke back to her in the heightening seas. Although they gained at first, the effort was too great for them, and they soon fell farther and farther behind. Now only one enemy vessel remained between Subao and open water.
As the chase went on, the shoreline fell away to northward, bringing the wind more directly off Subao’s beam, and increasing her heel. The animals in the hold below screamed their protest, a shrill, keening sound unnerving to anyone not familiar with it, causing Brett to rush below to comfort his horses. The pirate ship ran along the shoreline parallel to Subao, slowly drawing closer but taking no chances of losing her prey as the others had done. Her captain had trimmed the great lateen sails the boat carried, and kept only a few men at the oars. MacLean stood anxiously at his post, with Loholo now holding the tiller. The crew master learned the task far more easily than MacLean had thought he would, and now held the huge wooden bar easily, balancing himself against the rolling of the ship and watching the shoreline.
“Where are we now, Mr. Loholo?” MacLean asked.
“In shoal waters, Captain. With the tide running out, we’ll come to ground in a quarter hour.”
“Yes.” MacLean looked out at the pirate vessel. “Nothing for it but to work out some more, even if it lets him get closer. Hands forward to trim sheets,” he called. “Take her a point closer to the wind if you would, Mr. Loholo.”
“Aye.”
On the new course they closed more rapidly with the pirate ship, the tide helping to cancel their leeway. In minutes, the current was running so strongly that the line over the taffrail stood off to a sixty-degree angle from Subao’s stern.
“Going out fast, Captain,” Loholo remarked.
“Mr. Todd,” Mac Lean ordered, “get forward with a lead to call soundings.”
The cadet perched himself at the shrouds, leaning out to cast the lead line and calling back in a clear voice. “Three meters… and a half two … three meters…”
“He’s closing with us now, Trader.” MacLean looked at the pirate thoughtfully. “Guards in armor, please. He may be able to board.” Subao’s ability to point higher than the pirate vessel was almost negated by the strong tide of the lee bow, and the longer waterline of the enemy ship gave her an advantage in hull speed. MacKinnie looked around the horizon. There were no other ships in evidence.