His sportsman's blood was up; and for the first time for many a day the care had vanished from his face, and left there a glow of sheer enjoyment.
"A cow might as well try to board a cat," said he.
And he was right.

For as the _Ark_ bore down our way, blazing out at every galleon she passed, Don Alonzo, dropping clear of the line, put his nose in her course, and, so to say, bade her stand and answer him.
Then, for the first time that day, the _Ark_ swerved on her tack and put out her nose too, so that presently we two lay well astern of the line, closing in on one another's course.

Then there was great joy on board the _Rata_.

The noble youths shook their lovelocks and gripped their swords.

The gunners lay with their eyes on the captain, waiting his signal to fire; and the men on the tops and in the rigging got ready their grappling tackle, and held their cutlasses betwixt their teeth, ready for a spring.
Ludar and I on the forecastle watched the _Ark_, as, half in the wind, she bore down our way.