11Lizbeth could hear them now and they seemed for a moment an echo of those which had rung in her ears a few hours ago.
“It’s the Sea Hawk!” Rodney exclaimed. “I would know the sound of her thirty-pounders anywhere. ’Tis the Sea Hawk and she is finishing off the Spanish galleons.”
It was a guess of course, but a guess that was proved right when just before dusk fell the Sea Hawk caught up with them. Rodney had heaved to and waited with an anxiety which he had managed to conceal from everyone but Lizbeth, who knew only too well the signs of strain around his eyes and mouth.
The men were not so controlled, and despite the bad weather most of them were on deck when the Sea Hawk finally appeared.
“Ship ho!” yelled the look-out, and a moment later came the cry that Rodney was waiting for –
