It was about
the middle of a dark night, though not stormy; the vessel was gliding
along noiselessly; and all on board were asleep except the officer on
watch--and indeed he too perhaps slept, or he would have heard the
noise of the keel cutting the waves as a bird's wing cuts the air,
and he would have cried: 'Ship ahoy!' A ship was indeed quite close
to Desclieux's vessel, and the token it gave of its vicinity was a
cannonade which awoke up every one in a moment, both crew and
passengers. It was a pirate vessel of Tunis, a poor chebeck, but
formidable in the night--a time that magnifies every fear--and
formidable, too, from the desperate bravery of the banditti who
manned her. Believing themselves assailed by superior forces, the
ship's crew prepared for a resistance as vigorous, as desperate as
the attack. Better far to die than to be carried slaves to Africa!
All the passengers were at prayer, distracted, trembling, or half
dead. Louisa alone remained calm, for she was sustained by the
thought that to her Desclieux had entrusted his precious charge.
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