Now you
know what is meant by the word _pressed_, and likewise the nautical
signification of the word _press-gang_."
"And you say that Bill Stubbs has been trapped on board this ship by
such means?"
"Yes, at New Orleans."
"According to your story, then, that does not say very much in his
favor?"
"No, not a great deal; still, that proves nothing--the fact of his
calling himself Bob is a worse feature. A man does not generally
change his name without having good, or rather bad, reasons for it."
"What appears to me," remarked Fritz, "as the most singular feature of
your press-gang adventure is, that you are alive to tell it."
"Why so?"
"Because I think it ought to end thus: 'The victims of the press-gang
strangled Willis a few days after,'"
"Aye, aye, but you do not know what a sailor is; our recruits had not
been a fortnight at sea before they entirely forgot the trick I had
played them."
Just as Willis concluded his narrative, the man at the mast-head
called out, "Sail ho!"
"Where away?" bawled the captain.
"Right a-head," replied the voice.
The _Hoboken_ had hitherto pursued her voyage uninterruptedly, and the
Yankee captain now prepared to signalize himself by a capture.
CHAPTER XXIV.
A SEA FIGHT--ANOTHER IDEA OF THE PILOT'S--THE BOUDEUSE.
The captain of the _Hoboken_ was rather pleased than otherwise when
the look-out reported the strange sail to show English colors.
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