y. When I came near him, he made all the sail
he could. At dusk I was near enough almost to hail him, but he stood
on; and I, having a couple of small three-pounders on board, with some
powder, fired one of them as a signal. This I repeated again and again;
but he would not bring-to; and when it was dark, I lost sight of him,
and saw him no more until we met at Gibraltar.

Next morning I fell in with three Spanish fishing-boats. They took me
for a French privateer, pulled up their lines, and made sail. I came up
with them, and, firing a gun, they hove-to and surrendered. I ordered
them alongside; and, finding they had each a keg of wine on board, I
condemned that part of their cargo as contraband; but I honestly offered
payment for what I had taken. This they declined, finding I was
"_Ingles_," too happy to think they were not in the hands of the French.
I then gave each of them a pound of tobacco, which not only satisfied
them, but confirmed them in the newly-received opinion among their
countrymen, that England was the bravest as well as the most generous of
nations. They offered everything their boat contained; but I declined
all most nobly, because I had obtained all I wanted; and we parted with
mutual good will, they shouting, "Viva Inglaterra!" and we drinking them
a good passage in their own wine.

Many days elapsed before we reached Gibraltar: the winds were light, and
the weather fine; but as we had discovered that the fishing-boats had
wine, we took care to supply our cellar without any trouble from the
excise; and, from our equitable mode of barter, I had no reason to think
that His Majesty King George lost any of his deserved popularity by our
conduct. When we reached Gibraltar, I had still a couple of good kegs
wherewith to regale my mess-mates; though I was sorry to find the
frigate and the rest of her prizes had got in before us. Murphy,
indeed, did not arrive till the day after me.

I was on the quarter-deck when he came in; and, to my astonishment, he
reported that he had been chased by a French privateer, and had beaten
her off after a four hours' action--that his rigging had suffered a good
deal, but that he had not a man hurt. I let him run on till the
evening. Many believed him; but some doubted. At dinner in the
gun-room, his arrogance knew no bounds; and when half drunk, my three
men were magnified into a well manned brig, as full of men and guns as
she could stuff!

Sick of all t