ated themselves to their surroundings
and fell asleep; but I was in too great a ferment to take matters
so equably. I had no love for the buccaneers who had kidnapped me
at Bristowe, to be sure: but my English pride was hurt at our
capture by the French, and I quailed at the prospect of a long
imprisonment in France. Surely, thought I, I must have been born
under an unlucky star, for misfortune has dogged me ever since I
left my native town.

The old seaman brought us some food by and by. He knew a little
English, and in answer to a question from the mate explained that
his captain was now hotly chasing the vessel which had run away,
and if he caught it, the dogs of English would be sorry they ever
showed their noses off the French coast. The captain being
Duguay-Trouin, we knew that if it came to an action his ship would
be well handled, and we had noticed that she carried far heavier
metal than our own vessel. But the Dolphin had got a good start of
her, and we did not suppose it possible that she could be
overtaken.

I had never spent a more uncomfortable night than those hours in
the hold. I could not sleep; the light went out; and in the
darkness rats scurried hither and thither, and I had to keep my
legs and arms in motion to ward them off. There was no glimmer of
light from the outside, and it was only when the seaman again
appeared with food that we knew morning had dawned. He told us with
a grin that our vessel was fast being overhauled, and assured us
that she had certainly made her last privateering voyage under the
English flag. The mate cursed him vigorously, rather from habit
than from ill temper, and the seaman shut us in, leaving us once
more in total darkness.

My fellow prisoners talked among themselves, using language that
made me shudder. I rested my head on my hands, stopping my ears and
giving myself up to a dismal reverie. From this I was suddenly
startled by a dull report overhead, and a slight trembling of the
vessel.

"Ads my life!" cried the mate: "they've caught her."

"Maybe 'tis another vessel," said one of the men.

"Shut your mouth!" was the reply, "and list for an answer."

In a few moments there came a muffled report through the timbers.

"There's to be a fight, sure enough," said the mate, "though what
the captain can be a-thinkin' of beats me altogether."

"I would do the same," I said, "and so would any Englishman worth
his salt."

"Then you'd be as big a fool as he is