"Boom!... Boom!..."
The muffled sound of cannon fire rang out over the boundless sea, spreading across the waters off Lisbon. The shots came intermittently, once every two quarters of an hour, and only a single boom each time. Rather than a battle, it seemed more like some kind of warning and message sent across the sea.
"Boom!..."
Follow the cannon fire on the wind to the source of the "battle," and it was clear that this was exactly the case. A battered, flagless great carrack was slanting its triangular auxiliary sail, desperately fleeing toward the deep sea. Behind the great ship, a nimble caravel flew the banner of the Portuguese royal house and pursued relentlessly, firing into the air from time to time.
But the distance between the two ships was at least eight or nine nautical miles, far beyond the limit of any cannon. Clearly, the Portuguese sailing ship was using cannon fire to notify other nearby vessels to come and support it, so they could surround this "suspicious great ship" together.
"Boom!..."
The ear-splitting cannon fire rang out from the stern once again, making Bruno's ears buzz where he stood at the bow. He did not plug them. He merely narrowed his eyes and stared fixedly at the great ship fleeing ahead, calculating how long it would take to catch up.
"Lord bless us! We discovered this great ship around twelve noon... It was eighteen to twenty nautical miles away then. Their masts are higher, so they must have spotted us first, then turned their bow toward the downwind southwest, trying to speed up and slip away from us..."
"That flagless great ship seems to be damaged somehow? The wind is ordinary today. Their downwind speed is probably only seven knots, while ours is at least ten. We