Roving Jack, The Pirate Hunter — page 83: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

- ROVING JACK, THE PIRATE HUNTER. They saw her bending over the-hammock nettings, her hands’ raised to heaven, and heard her voice through the roaring of the gale, as she fervently exclaimed, in a tone never to be forgotten till their dying hour by those who heard it— “Bless ye! bless ye! The Father o’ the father- less preserve ye in his mercy! Bless ye! bless e ag ; Whether the prayers of the widowed mother were heard aloft or not, this much ‘1s’certain, that had not another and a mightier arm than’ theirs been stretched forth upon 'the waters, vain would have been the courage or seamanship of the best amoiigst them, officer oy man, | There being ‘six’ hands in tke cutter, besides Peverill’ and O’Kasey, Roving Jack let the latter take the bow-oar. Coiling up his legs, he stowed himself away in the ‘head-sheets as: comfortably’ as circumstances would allow. They were now within a couple of ships’ lengths from the transport. Her mainmast, which was more than half burned through, and entirely unsupported, went with a tremendous crash. Its scathed and scorched top-mast, entirely bare of rigging, save a mass of burning cordage just below the cross-trees—the flames of which were extinguished in their passage through the air—was still on end ; and as the spar fell with its head aft, bearing a little to the larboard hand, it regularly cut asunder the mizen topsail-yard, shattering the top, ‘striking the cross rick-yard with such Violence as to carry away the slings and bring it down with a run athwart the deck, and breaking through the old, chafed, and worn mizen rigging, like so much pack- -thread, it lighted on the taffsail, which was ground and crushed in an instant level with the deck, and there rested quietly with its head pro- jecting’ some few feet over the stern. Not ten seconds after, a pale, blue, phosphoric light, similar to what is seenlsettling on the flying jib- boom end or mast-heads of ships within the tropics, sailed flickering along above the deck, and gradually descending as it travelled aft, finally took up its station on the main-top mast- head, and remaining stationary there, shone steadily out, as if to direct where to pull. They" were now rapidly nearing the ‘“ Georgian.” Peyeril, who was steering, sang out to old Clem Cleats to stand by with the boat-hook, and stave off any floating pieces of wreck, lest we might get a hole knocked in the cutter’s bows, at the satne time remarking she was pretty full of water as'it was. ‘Sure, thin; sir, hadn’t we better be afther taking out the plug, and letting it-all rin?” exclaimed one of the men, acountryman of O’Kasey’s, actually put- ting his hand down and feeling for the cork. “Take the devil ont of h—l, and let him run if you like, sir; but leave that plug alone!” hastily roared out the choleric old Cleats, It required a quick e¢ye anda steady hand on the part of the coxswains to avoid a bumping match, in which case Roving Jack’s boat would; most in- evitably, have come second best off. Our hero seized the tiller, and handled the cutter beautifully, although more than once she was very nearly thrown broadside on to the sea, which they fully pxpecied was going to make a clean breach over all, O’ Kasey volunteered to board the transport, if the boat's head was brought right under the fallen spar, so as he could scramble up by the tangled maze of rigging that remaived, 3 Roving Jack insisted upon following him. The Irishman kicked off his shoes. Roving Jack tried to do the same. But they were originally a tight fit, and from being successively soaked, scorched, and wetted again, stuck to his feet as though they had been nailed on, and, something like the negro’s pig, the more he pulled the more they wouldn’t come, *T’ll cut ’ém for ye,”’ said O’Kasey, Suiting the action to the word,, he; divested him of these dangérous:appendages, at the expense of having the pointeof the knife run; about,half an inch into poor Jack’s great toe. It was no time, to'stand upon trifles, panes ‘There you are, boys,) Jump while. you: may, and catch like cats !” ‘shouted Roving Jack, “Hurrah !” responded his gallant crew. O’Kasey shut his eyes. He stepped on to the gunwale. Then he bound lichtly off like a Dublin harlequin, Roving Jack kept his wide open, and, singling out a rope, made a desperate spring upwards, One convulsive, a strenuous exertion of his arms, and he was astride of the spar, and on) the .trans- port’s deck in the course of half a minute. A great oversight had,been committed. They had not ascertained before | they left thie ship where they were likely to find ‘the child, Luckily they spied it under the lee of one of the carronades, where it had been left, and RODE Ob in the hurry of the moment. Wrapped in a blanket, unhurt by the falling of the mast, and soundly sleeping in his innocence, amid the roaring of a gale which blew loud enough to wake the dead. “Can you swim, yer honour?” addressing Roving Jack, « Yes,” returned our hero, Arrah, hould the baby, thin |” “Can you?” “ Divil a stroke !’’ he replied, and running out to the mast-head, he fearlessly flung himself over- board, trusting to the men in the cutter to pick him up. Roving Jack looked round for a grating to lash the child to, in case of SUYUHDS happening to, him- self, None was to be found. He was nearly scorched to death PY the flames and suffocated by the smoke, He lost no time in ge eS pas young Trish. man’s example. Providentially, he, the child, and QO’ Kasey were all three hooked out, and! hauled: into*ithe cutter without any material damage; * said O’Kase y How they ever got near the Indiaman again was a wonder. Even as it was, they fetched a aah half cable’ S length astern of her. The other ships were still further to windward, so she was their only chance, and avery poor one too ; at least our hero thought so. The men were terribly winded. The boat was half full of water. This, of course, made it so much the heavier to pull, It was perfectly impossible to bale any ‘of it out, for the biggin was anywhere but where it ought to have been, and, as to hats, it was a matter for thankfulness that thé hair was not blown off thei heads. : In this dilemma, the same bright idea struck the econnicoooks (CO)