All this time the man-of-war’s cutter had been rushing as madly through the breakers, in chase, as the yawl had done in the attempt to escape.  Mulford was, in fact, on board it; and his now fast friend, Wallace, was in command.  The latter wished to seize a traitor, the former to save the aunt of his weeping bride.  Both believed that they might follow wherever Spike dared to lead.  This reasoning was more bold than judicious notwithstanding, since the cutter was much larger, and drew twice as much water as the yawl.  On it came, nevertheless, faring much better in the white water than the little craft it pursued, but necessarily running a much more considerable risk of hitting the coral, over which it was glancing almost as swiftly as the waves themselves; still it had thus far escaped—­and little did any in it think of the danger.  This cutter pulled ten oars; was an excellent sea boat; had four armed marines in it, in addition to its crew, but carried all through the breakers, receiving scarcely a drop of water on board, on account of the height of its wash-boards, and the general qualities of the craft.  It may be well to add here, that the Poughkeepsie had shaken out her reefs, and was betraying the impatience of Captain Mull to make sail in chase, by firing signal-guns to his boats to bear a hand and return.  These signals the three boats under their oars were endeavouring to obey, but Wallace had got so far to leeward as now to render the course he was pursuing the wisest.

Mrs. Budd and Biddy had seen the struggle in which the Senor Montefalderon had been lost, in a sort of stupid horror.  Both had screamed, as was their wont, though neither probably suspected the truth.  But the fell designs of Spike extended to them, as well as to those whom he had already destroyed.  Now the boat was in deep water, running along the margin of the reef, the waves were much increased in magnitude, and the comb of the sea was far more menacing to the boat.  This would not have been the case had the rocks formed a lee; but they did not, running too near the direction of the trades to prevent the billows that got up a mile or so in the offing, from sending their swell quite home to the reef.  It was this swell, indeed, which caused the line of white water along the northern margin of the coral, washing on the rocks by a sort of lateral effort, and breaking, as a matter of course.  In many places, no boat could have lived to pass through it.

Another consideration influenced Spike to persevere.  The cutter had been overhauling him, hand over hand, but since the yawl was relieved of the weight of no less than eight men, the difference in the rate of sailing was manifestly diminished.  The man-of-war’s boat drew nearer, but by no means as fast as it had previously done.  A point was now reached in the trim of the yawl, when a very few hundreds in weight might make the most important change in her favour; and this change the captain was determined to produce.  By this time the cutter was in deep water, as well as himself, safe through all the dangers of the reef, and she was less than a quarter of a mile astern.  On the whole, she was gaining, though so slowly as to require the most experienced eye to ascertain the fact.