Evening star., 1933-01-01
refuge to the south was so far OF that
the ship could not make it before his
own vessel could overhaul her.


pursuit Of the fat-bellied galleon, De
Lussan continued on his way and broke
out the Spanish colors. But little by little
he edged inshore, and, as his ship could
sail two knots to the galleon's one, he
soon forged ahead and, as he had plan
ned to do, gained position to intercept
the other vessel If she continued on her
course De Lussan fiattered himself that
the Spaniard was very neatly trapped.
But De Lussan was ignorant of the
fact that the Todos Santos was in COM
mand of seaman as cleve~ and willy as
himself-a renegade EngliShman, one
Thomas Gage, an expifate, who was as
familiar with the buccaneers tricks as
! any hairy-chested old tar who ever sailed
out of Bristol. De Lussan might hood
wink the Dons by hoisting Spanish
flag and nonchalantly sailing on his
course; but he could not fool Gage who
had read Sieur Raveneau's intentions
the instant he saw the vessel edging
toward the land. He realized that he
could not hope to run away, nor could
he pass the pirate craft without battle
in which he was certain to be the loser.
But he still had an ace up his sleeve as
one might say; an ace of which De Lus-
san was ignorant; for, although De
Lussan knew the coast, he did not know
there was deep water between the main
land and an island which, from the sea,
appeared like a portion of the shoreline
itself.
Having waited for the approaching
galleon to appear from behind an OUT
jutting cape, Sieur Raveneau became
troubled and suspicious when she failed
to materialize. Perhaps, he thought, the
Dons had recognized his ship and had
turned about while he had been lying
in wait, hidden from them by the point
of land. The more he thought of it the
more certain he became that this had
occurred. At last. fearing he would be
too late to overtake the retreating gal
leon, he crowded on sail and went DASH
ing southwark.
cape he stared astounded, almost unable
to believe his eyes. The other ship had
vanished completely. To the pious and
superstitious Frenchman it savored OF a
miracle or the supernatural. But, being
practical chap, he sent men aloft, and
presently shout from one lookout drew
all eyes astern. Above the guano-coated
rocks of the islet loomed the topsails of
the galleon, appearing as though she
were sailing over dry land.
Here was a pretty how-do-you-do.
While the Frenchman had been looking
for the Dons they had slipped by, and
now were dozen miles farther on their
course and that much nearer safety. De
Lussan saw the channel, but he dared
not risk his ship in waters he knew moth
ing about.
PUT he was not one to give up without
struggle. There was one other
chance remaining. He might be able to
cripple her by shooting across the mar
row island, and then sail around, come
alongside and have things all his own
way. So, ordering his gunnerS to aim
high and shoot away the galleon's rig
ging, he fired broadside at the rapidly
retreating ship. But the old-fashioned,
smooth-bore guns were far from accu-
rate. The round shot, instead of slash
ing through sails and rigging, crashed
into the galleon's hull and riddled her
between wind and water.
Ignorant of what damage he had done,
De Lussan squared away and bore around
the island again. Then he rubbed his
eyes in bewilderment. No drifting, Grip
pied ship awaited him! Once more the
Todos Santos had vanished! But this
time there was nothing mysterious about
her disappearance; her masts, with rent
sails and wards aSkeur rising lilo crocSos