carried to France, or detained as a prisoner in one of the French West
India islands; while Ellen must be exposed to much annoyance and
suffering. He himself had no coward fears for his own life; but he knew
full well, should he fall, the grief and anguish it would cause her.

All such thoughts were, however, put to flight as the two squadrons
approached each other, the _Thisbe_ leading and the _Champion_,
according to orders received from the commodore, bringing up the rear.
Old Blowhard's object was to disable one of the French frigates before
he attacked the other two, so that she might become a more equal
antagonist for the _Champion_. As the squadrons approached, it was seen
that each of the French frigates carried more guns than the _Thisbe_ and
_Druid_, and nearly twice as many as the _Champion_. Old Blowhard,
however, nothing daunted, stood on, firm to his purpose of attacking the
enemy and leaving the convoy time to escape. The leading French frigate
was a considerable way ahead of her consorts; on seeing the determined
bearing of the English, she shortened sail, while they spread all the
canvas they could to come up with her--the _Thisbe_ carrying all she
could set, in order to attack her before they could accomplish their
object. Just as the _Thisbe_ brought the enemy on her lee bow, the
commodore threw out a signal to the _Druid_ to keep away and to rake the
French frigate, while he poured his whole broadside into her. He also
ordered the _Champion_ to imitate his example, and then to come about
and fire her larboard broadside. The French captain might, of course,
defeat these various manoeuvres by either keeping away or hauling his
wind.

Every person on board was watching anxiously to see what he would do.
No moments in a seaman's life are so intensely exciting as those when,
before a shot is fired, his ship is standing into action. The wind was
moderate, the sky of a cerulean hue, and the sea tolerably calm, the
rays of the sun glittering on the snowy crests of the waves. The
looked-for moment at length arrived. The _Thisbe's_ foremost gun broke
the deep silence which had hitherto reigned over the ocean. It was
rapidly followed by her broadside guns, to which the Frenchman replied
with spirit. The _Druid_, suddenly putting up her helm, fired the whole
of her larboard broadside into the Frenchman's bows, then again luffing
up in time to fire her starboard guns, trained well aft, before the
_Ch