comes; stand by for
another."

After the necessary pause, the signal to denote the point of the compass
was shown from the Chloe.

"Heading how, Bunting?" the vice-admiral eagerly inquired. "Heading how,
sir?"

"North-west-and-by-north," or as Bunting pronounced it
"nor-west-and-by-loathe, I believe, sir,--no, I am mistaken, Sir
Gervaise; it is nor-nor-west."

"Jammed up like ourselves, hard on a wind! This gale comes directly from
the broad Atlantic, and one party is crossing over to the north and the
other to the south shore. We _must_ meet, unless one of us run
away--hey! Greenly?"

"True enough, Sir Gervaise; though fourteen sail is rather an awkward
odds for seven."

"You forget the Driver and Active, sir; we've _nine_; nine hearty,
substantial British cruisers."

"To wit: six ships of the line, one frigate, a _sloop_, and a _cutter_,"
laying heavy emphasis on the two last vessels.

"What does the Chloe say now, Bunting? That we're enough for the French,
although they _are_ two to one?"

"Not exactly that, I believe, Sir Gervaise. 'Five more sail ahead.' They
increase fast, sir."

"Ay, at that rate, they may indeed grow too strong for us," answered Sir
Gervaise, with more coolness of manner; "nineteen to nine are rather
heavy odds. I wish we had Bluewater here!"

"That is what I was about to suggest, Sir Gervaise," observed the
captain. "If we had the other division, as some of the Frenchmen are
probably frigates and corvettes, we might do better. Admiral Bluewater
cannot be far from us; somewhere down here, towards north-east--or
nor-nor-east. By warring round, I think we should make his division in
the course of a couple of hours."

"What, and leave to Monsieur de Vervillin the advantage of swearing he
frightened us away! No--no--Greenly; we will first _pass_ him fairly and
manfully, and that, too, within reach of shot; and then it will be time
enough to go round and look after our friends."

"Will not that be putting the French exactly between our two divisions,
Sir Gervaise, and give him the advantage of dividing our force. If he
stand far, on a nor-nor-west course, I think he will infallibly get
between us and Admiral Bluewater."

"And what will he gain by that, Greenly?--What, according to your
notions of matters and things, will be the great advantage of having an
English fleet on each side of him?"

"Not much, certainly, Sir Gervaise," answered Greenly, laughing; "if
these fleets were