In another five minutes the pathway to the Thames would be blocked and all the merchant vessels at their mercy.
M.de la Pailletine hoisted the flag of distress.

He called them to his help.
A wild hurrah broke out from the crew of the frigate.

The order meant their destruction: for how could the _Merry Maid_ contend against six galleys?
Yet they cheered, for they had guessed what their captain had in his mind.

And the little man's greenish eyes sparkled as he heard.
"Good boys!" he said briefly, turning to his friend.

"The convoy is saved, my lad: and O! but Jemmy, you did it prettily!" _V .-- The Galley (in the hold)._ Let us go back for a minute or two to Tristram.
The oar at which he tugged was one of the starboard tier; and when _L'Heureuse_ missed her stroke, as we have told, it went like a sugar-stick, flinging him and his companions back across the bench.
Farther than this they could not fly, because the stout chains which fastened them were but ten feet long.