"
"Still, we have gained a good bit on them, sir."
"If the wind were to change round, say to the northeast, and they
brought it along with them, they would soon make up for lost time, for
it would not take them three days to run here. However, we shall begin
to do better, soon. I heard the captain say that he should change his
course tomorrow. We are somewhere off Cork, and when he makes a few
miles more westing, he will bear away south. If we had had a
favourable wind, we should have taken our departure from the Start,
but with it in this quarter we are obliged to make more westing,
before we lay her head on her course, or we should risk getting in too
close to the French coast; and their privateers are as thick as peas,
there."
"But we should not be afraid of a French privateer, doctor?"
"Well, not altogether afraid of one, but they very often go in
couples; and sometimes three of them will work together. I don't think
one privateer alone would venture to attack us, though she might
harass us a bit, and keep up a distant fire, in hopes that another
might hear it and bear down to her aid. But it is always as well to
keep free of them, if one can. You see, an unlucky shot might knock
one of our sticks out of us, which would mean delay and trouble, if no
worse.
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