After a minute or two the patience of the pirates appeared to have been exhausted.  There was a report, and a musket-ball came whistling through our sails.  Jerry and I bobbed our heads, for it felt so terribly near our ears.  Jerry looked up indignantly.  "I have a great mind to have a crack at them in return," he exclaimed; and before any one saw what he was about, he had seized his rifle from the cabin, and sent a shot back at them in return.