"That's rather too close for comfort, and I shouldn't be surprised if
the next one made splinters fly. However, it will soon be dark, and
then, if we are not disabled, we may be able to give them the slip."
"I don't believe there's going to be another shot," cried Cabot, who
was gazing eagerly astern. "No--yes--hurrah! They are turning back.
They have given it up, old man, and we are safe. Bully for us! I
wonder what possesses them to do such a thing, though, when they had so
nearly caught us?"
"Can't imagine," replied White, who was also staring at the launch,
which certainly had circled back and was making towards the place
whence she had come. "They are afraid to be caught out at sea after
dark perhaps. I always understood that Frenchmen made mighty poor
sailors. Lucky thing for us she wasn't a British launch, for they'd
have kept on around the world but what they'd had us."
In justice to the Frenchmen it should be said that their reason for
turning back, which our lads did not learn until long afterwards, was
the imminent exhaustion of their coal supply, which, not calculated for
a long cruise, would barely serve to carry them back to the Bay of
Islands.
By the time the launch was lost to sight in the growing dusk the "Ruth"
had also disappeared. She was headed southward when last seen, and now
White said it was time that they, too, were turning towards their
ultimate destination.
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