Читать книгу The Captain from Connecticut онлайн

48 страница из 86

It was a comforting sensation to have an ample crew, with every man an able seaman, and even the ship's boys seventeen years old and upward; there had been no difficulty whatever in enlisting a crew in New York when the Delaware commissioned. And yet the captain of the two-decker, if he knew his business, would be able to nullify all these arrangements at his will. He could lie three cables' lengths from the Delaware, beyond the effective range of her carronades, and pound her to pieces with the long guns on his upper deck. Probably that English captain knew his business, too--he had proved it by bringing his big ship through Plum Gut in the night and guessing the Delaware's future course, Peabody allowed the hatred he felt for his implacable foe to well up freely within him.

He went back to where the stern chasers were still banging away. "We've hit her eight times, sir," said Murray, in a sort of ecstasy. Powder smoke and the din of the guns were like drink to him.

"Aim high and try to wing him," said Peabody.