Fox of France

Everyone was startled by the loud noise, including Captain Morrel who was about to cut the cable. They turned their heads, only to see that the British ship had been shrouded in a white mist.

"What's the matter?" thought Morrel.

But he didn't slow down, he raised the ax and cut the cable. The fallen mast floated away with the waves. The clipper boat has regained its power. Although the speed has dropped further compared to before, it can move anyway, right?

Morrel did not care what was wrong with the English ship. Anyway, as long as they have problems, it is a good thing. As for what is going on, at least we have to escape the range of the British artillery.

The clipper ship slowly moved away from the British ship at an anxiously slow speed. The British ship did not fire during this process, and at the same time began to slow down rapidly, and the white fog that originally surrounded it gradually dispersed. opened. It can be seen that half of the ship building collapsed, the mast was broken, and the paddle wheels on both sides of the ship stopped turning. Although the British ship was still moving, it was entirely due to inertia and the influence of currents.

"What happened to that boat?" Leclere asked.

"How do I know? Anyway, it's a good thing!" Morel said.

"What are we doing now?"

"Look first, don't come near," said Morrel. "Maybe we'll get shot if we lean over it. God has blessed us once. I don't want to trouble His old man any more."

"That's right. If it weren't for God's blessing this time...but God, the old man is really naughty. Before letting their boat go wrong, let them break our mast. I was almost scared to death at that time." A sailor way.

"What nonsense are you talking about? After getting off the boat, you must go to the church to apologize to the old man God and ask His forgiveness!" Morel hurriedly said.

"I know, I know, God is the most merciful old man. My former captain said that we are all God's children. No matter what we do, the merciful God will forgive us."

"So your captain went to God to ask Him to forgive you for being pirates?" Leclere laughed.

"Yes, you see, God also forgave me and gave me a way to reform myself." The sailor said, "I guess, just now, there must be a guy on that boat praying to God, asking God helped them to break our masts. And his prayers must be as sincere as ours. So God could not fail to satisfy them, first let them break our masts, and satisfy them; They exploded and saved us. God is so merciful, amen!"

"Amen!" Everyone said together.

At this time, the British ship gradually stopped. Floating on the water like a dead fish.

"Hey, Captain, if we can tow this boat back, we will definitely make a lot of money, and we will recover all the losses this time," Leclere said.

"Don't be in a hurry, let's see first, and then we'll talk later," said Captain Morrel. "At any rate, it can't move now."

"Yes, don't be in a hurry. My previous captain said that before boarding another ship, you must first pray and repent to the merciful God." The sailor interrupted.

"Very well, Louis, please pray to God first, we will lower the boat in a while, and you go on that boat to capture them." Captain Morrell said.

"Okay...wait...Captain...you won't let me go alone? That boat is..."

"Don't worry, child, God is with you," said Captain Morrel.

"But……"

"Don't worry, you're the only one of us with this kind of experience. Didn't you often say that you were alone with a machete and cut down the ship from the bow to the stern? There was just an explosion on that ship, and the sailors on it Most of them are injured, and you are blessed by God, you will definitely be able to do it! We all believe in you!" Lechler also said seriously

"captain……"

"Well, I'm not joking with you," said Captain Morrell. "We've been out of course in the chase just now, and there will be no ships passing here. They have no power now-I don't think they can fix it." That thing. And their masts are broken. They're left with the current. But the direction of the current will only take them farther and farther away from the land and the course. If we go like this, they're floating here At sea, they are almost doomed. So, as long as they have a little brain, you are really all you need to make them surrender."

"And what if they have no brains?"

"Then you're dead. But that's why we're going to let you go alone. If you go, Louis, I'll give you fifteen francs."

"Thirty francs!"

"Twenty, twenty at the most! No matter how high it is, Lechler will definitely be willing to go."

"Okay, twenty is twenty..."

Just as Lechler predicted, the ship was severely damaged in the explosion. Their captain was directly scalded to death by the high-temperature steam. Seven or eight other sailors died, and the remaining dozens of people were also affected to varying degrees. hurt. At least one third of them were thrown into the sea to feed the fish because of their serious injuries.

The Britons on board knew that if the Frenchmen turned away without power, they would all be dead. So they honestly surrendered to the French under the leadership of a lieutenant on board.

In order to ensure the safety of the French, the British took the initiative to hand over other weapons—guns, melons and so on—under the supervision of the French sailors. The French got on the boat, and first inspected the boat up and down carefully to determine whether the boat could be towed back.

It seems that although the explosion just now caused a lot of damage, the hull of the ship was not damaged, and the ship did not appear to be flooded. It seems that there is still a considerable possibility that it can be towed back. So they bundled up the British who seemed likely to survive, sent them back to the clipper ship, and locked them in the warehouse that had been emptied. At last the British ship was dragged behind by a cable, and turned around towards France.

Along the way, Morrell and Leclere counted whether they made a profit or a loss on this trip.

"We've lost all our cargo, and we're contracted to... well, how many guns are there on that British ship?" asked Morel.

"Two 24-pounders. Four 12-pounders."

"so little?"

"The two paddle wheels on that ship blocked the boss, so that the artillery could not be placed there. In addition to the space occupied by the power compartment and the coal compartment, there was no room for many cannons." Lechler explained, "Anyway, they What we have to deal with is us, we don't even have cannons. And those cannons are all iron cannons. If you say that bronze cannons would be better, then we will really make a lot of money."

Compared with bronze cannons, cast iron cannons are much cheaper.

"Okay, don't be greedy and dissatisfied. God has taken care of us very much. Even if you don't count the cannons, just the hull is enough to make up for our losses. After all, the keel of the boat was not damaged. Repairs After a while, it should still be useful. Well, there is also the record of the voyage, and the technician with the burnt leg. They should be worth a lot of money. Well, talk to our doctor and ask him to find a way to keep the technician His life. Because his life might be very valuable."

If it is normal, it will take less than two days to return to Roscoff from their current position. But now their ship lost a mast, which made them have a lot less sails to hang, and almost lost a third of their power. And behind them, a boat bigger than them was towed. So their speed immediately dropped to about one-third of their original speed.

At this speed, if they encountered a British patrol boat, they would really have no choice but to lose what was captured and escape for their lives. Considering that they lacked a mast, it would not be particularly easy for them to escape the British patrol ship even if they lost the capture behind them.

Today, most of the smuggling ships heading to Ireland use Roscoff as their home port, and Morrell's ship is no exception. But because of this, there are quite a few British patrol ships in that sea area. So after discussing with the first mate, Lechler, they decided to choose a safe route, make a big circle on the sea, and head to Kamare.

But such a channel arrangement means that they have to sail at sea for a longer time. They don't actually have much supplies on board. It is not far from Roscoff to Ireland, and the speed of the clipper ship is fast, so there is no need to bring too many supplies. Besides, the cargo hold on the clipper ship is smaller than that of other ships of the same weight. The cargo hold is inherently limited, and every extra supply means less cargo.

As for the British, the supplies on the British ship were even smaller, because although the British had a lot of people on board, they had no intention of going far from Ireland at all. Therefore, if you want to make a detour, what you eat and drink becomes a big problem.

"Fortunately, that British ship is powered by steam and needs to boil water. Although their boiler blew up, there is still a lot of fresh water left. There should be enough fresh water on the way back. As for other things, we can't Enough."

"Then let's get rid of that... what's that British technician?" asked Morel.

"It's Anderson," Lechler added.

"Well, except for that Anderson, the rations of the other British people are all reduced to a piece of bread every two days." Morel said, "Also, don't waste fresh water and food on the seriously wounded British. Our rations are also Reduced to half of the original. That Anderson can't die, the steam engine on that ship has blown up, maybe the guy from the military-industrial complex is willing to give us more money for this technician."