Fox of France

Although the ship still swayed violently, Captain Morel, who had just been on the night watch, fell asleep in his hammock quickly. This is already the basic skill of a seaman. However, his eyelids had barely closed for a moment when a sharp bell rang and lifted him from the hammock.

"What's the matter?" Captain Morel climbed up the ladder, stretched out his hand and pushed away the cover of the stairs, the strong sunlight shone down, making Captain Morel, who was used to the darkness in the cabin, unable to open his eyes for a while. open your eyes.

Morrel put his hand in front of his eyes, and cried, "What's the matter?"

"Captain, a strange English ship has been spotted!" cried Big Fleckler, who was on watch at the wheel.

"Where?" asked Morrel, now that his eyes had adjusted to the light outside, and he strode towards Leclere on the swaying wet deck.

Leclere handed the brass telescope in his hand to Morrell: "Captain, look over there, where the smoke is coming out, that boat is really ugly!"

By this time Morrel had also seen the thick smoke yonder.

"Is their ship on fire? Or by our Greek fire?" said Morel, bringing the glass to his eye.

"This boat is really ugly!" Morrel couldn't help exclaiming.

It was a gray boat with a big funnel that was belching thick black smoke. On both sides of the ship, there were two large paddle wheels, which were turning. Judging from the waves stirred up at the bow, the speed of the ship was not slow. On the bow of this ship, the Union Jack is clearly flying.

"From us," said Morrel. "I'd like to see if it's faster, or we."

Morrel looked up at the sails--all sails were hoisted. But because there is only a little breeze on the sea at this time, the speed of the ship is not fast.

If it is facing other sailboats, this problem is not a problem, because if the wind is insufficient and the clipper boat cannot run fast, then other sailboats will also not be able to run fast. But the boat that was chasing them now was obviously a special case—the boat had no sails at all, but it was running very fast.

"I'll take the helm," said Morel, and Leclere stepped aside.

Morell controlled the steering wheel and adjusted the direction of the ship slightly, but the speed of the ship did not improve much. Leclere is also a veteran at steering the ship, and Morrel is not necessarily better than him. Changing people at this time is actually just a superstitious idea, changing people to change luck. Maybe if you change someone, the wind will blow up?

However, Morel's luck did not seem to be much stronger than Leclere's, and the wind was still blowing like that. The speed of the boat still couldn't get up, and the boat behind seemed to be chasing a little closer.

"Lechler, it looks like we'll have to get rid of some goods now," said Morel to Lechler.

"Captain, if we lose the cargo, we will lose a lot of money." Lechler said, "If we lose the cargo and then there is a gust of wind, isn't it... Besides, the ship is still far away from us, as long as we can hold on until night……"

Chases between ships at sea are often very time-consuming. If there is not much difference in speed between the two sides, it is normal for a chase to take several hours, or even a few days. According to the contract signed between Morell and the "Military-Industrial Complex", compensation must be paid for the loss of goods.

The route from France to Ireland is very profitable. As long as you run a dozen times, you can buy a new boat. And this route is not long, so it won't take too much time to run a dozen times. But the reason why this route has such a high profit is largely due to the risk of this route. Once the goods are lost, the payment for the goods needs to be compensated by the ship owner. The reason Morrell had only one boat was that he had lost one on a rock not so long ago.

"Lechler, this time we have insurance," replied Morel.

"But the guys from the insurance company may not necessarily agree that we have to abandon the cargo. Last time Captain Le Thierry lost his cargo due to a storm. After returning, the guy from the insurance company said he'd mishandled it, so he only paid for it. Minimum compensation—that’s a little more? Besides, did you really read every word of the contract that the insurance company signed with us? Including the exemption clause in the attachment?”

Morel froze for a moment, and then said, "That thing has dozens of pages..."

"So are you sure that if we lose the goods now, the Amordia Insurance Company will compensate us?"

"Unless my ship has a hole in it from the British shells, these guys... well, let's run like this first. If the British ship approaches more than a kilometer in an hour, we will throw it away." Lost part of the goods... We have made enough money to lose after so many trips. Our own safety is always more important than money at any time. Lechler. You know, one of the tragedies in life is to lose money. I got a lot of money, but I died before I could enjoy it."

"Captain," Leclere replied, "I think there is a greater tragedy in life, that is, you have no money, but you still don't die..."

"Come on, Leclere, I'm sure you'll have a lot of money before you die," said Morel. "You will hold the helm for me, and I'll go down and get the rangefinder."

Leclere took the helm, and Morrel went below decks, and after a while of tinkering, came up with a brass stick. This is a combined image rangefinder that can be used to measure the distance between objects. However, this size is too small, and the measurement accuracy is very general. But for Morel, it was enough.

The wind at sea not only did not increase, but became weaker. Not only did the speed of the flying shear ship not increase, but it became slower and slower. However, the British ship behind was not affected at all, and was still chasing closer and closer.

Morrell put down the rangefinder in his hand, sighed and said, "Let's lose the goods, it's too fast. If we don't lose things, we won't be able to survive until it gets dark."

"How about we fight with 'Greek Fire'?" Lecler was still a little bit reluctant to part with those goods, because he also had his investment in this ship.

"Lechler, wake up!" Morel said, "Look at the shape of that ship, look at their freeboard height, it's not a clipper ship, there must be cannons on it! They still have the advantage of speed, They can completely control the distance, and then use cannons to send us all to the bottom of the sea at a safe distance! Lechler, it is a very risky business to make a fortune at sea, with a lot of gamble in it. But the bet on this Come on, you won't be able to gamble casually in the future, because your wealth and life have already been bet here."

Lechler was still persuaded by Morel. So the sailors began to move boxes of goods out of the cabin and threw them into the sea.

As more cargo was thrown overboard, the ship got lighter and gained some speed. But there was still no wind at sea, so the British ship continued to approach. Even without binoculars, you can clearly see the huge paddle wheel on the side of the ship constantly churning the sea water and creating waves.

Morrell has thrown all the cargo into the sea, but he still can't get rid of the British ship, and as far as the current situation is concerned, unless there is a sudden strong wind, they will never be chased by the British before sunset superior.

"Enemy bombardment!" shouted the lookout post on the mast. Everyone looked back and saw a puff of blue smoke rising from the bow of the British ship. After a while, the rumble of cannons was heard, and then the whistling sound of shells breaking through the air.

"Boom", a water column emerged from the starboard side of Morrell's ship, but it was several hundred meters away from the ship. If it weren't for the relatively calm sea at this time, such a small water column would not be easily noticed.

It is actually very difficult to hit the target when firing at such a long distance. This kind of shelling, apart from trying luck, is actually more of a warning and a demonstration. The basic meaning is: "You can't run anymore, surrender now!"

But for Morrell and the others, once they surrendered, the ship would be gone, and they would really fall into the tragic state of "there is no penny, but they are still alive". So unless there is really no hope, Morrell and the others will never surrender.

So Morrell and the others continued to run, and the British continued to chase and continue to shoot at them.

The British chased closer and closer, and the impact of the shells was getting closer and closer to Morel's ship. At this time, without binoculars at all, everyone could already see the British ship and the very thick cannon on the bow with the naked eye.

As they fled, the French prayed, cried out for help, and made promises to God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. John, and every other saint they could think of: "If it will get us out, We must go to church and pray to God every day." Although the French government has not had time to reconcile with the Holy See, there is not even a "legal" pastor in those churches.

But the facts once again proved that the Frenchman is indeed the son of God - and his own. A 24-pound shell accurately hit the clipper ship's mast, splitting the mast in two.

The mast fell into the water with the sails, but the ropes on the mast were still attached to the ship. The mast that fell into the water immediately became a de facto anchor, dragging the ship firmly, causing the speed of the clipper to drop sharply.

"Quick! Cut the cable!" cried Morrel, throwing away the wheel, and, taking an ax himself, threw himself upon the cable. And Leclerc was pale and lost - without a mast, it was impossible for them to outrun the British anyway.

"My God!" Lechler exclaimed. At the same moment there was a loud bang from the English ship behind.