"Do you think we shall see anything of that brig again, doctor?" Dick
asked, as, for the first time since the wind sprang up, the passengers
sat down to a comfortable breakfast.
"There is no saying, Dick. If we gained two knots an hour during the
blow (and I don't suppose we gained more than one and a half), they
must be a hundred and twenty miles or so astern of us; after all, that
is only half a day's run. I think they are pretty sure to follow us
for a bit, for they will know that, in light winds, they travel faster
than we do; and if we get becalmed, while they still hold the breeze,
they will come up hand over hand. It is likely enough that, in another
three days or so, we may get a sight of them behind us."
This was evidently the captain's opinion also, for during the day the
guns were overhauled, and their carriages examined, and the muskets
brought up on deck and cleaned. On the following day the men were
practised at the guns, and then had pike and cutlass exercise.
None of the passengers particularly noticed these proceedings, for
Dick had been warned by the captain to say nothing about the brig; and
as he was the only passenger on deck at the time, no whisper of the
privateers had come to the ears of the others.
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