le the
other vessels do not."

"We want no French to read that signal, sir," put in Greenly; "the
frigates themselves telling us what it means. Monsieur de Vervillin has
no idea of letting the Plantagenet take any thing he has, _alive_."

This was true enough. Just as the captain spoke, the object of the order
was made sufficiently apparent, by all the light vessels to windward of
the French fleet, bearing up together, until they brought the wind abaft
their beams, when away they glided to leeward, like floating objects
that have suddenly struck a swift current. Before this change in their
course, these frigates and corvettes had been struggling along, the seas
meeting them on their weather-bows, at the rate of about two knots or
rather less; whereas, their speed was now quadrupled, and in a few
minutes, the whole of them had sailed through the different intervals in
their main line, and had formed as before, nearly half a league to
leeward of it. Here, in the event of an action, their principal duties
would have been to succour crippled ships that might be forced out of
their allotted stations during the combat. All this Sir Gervaise viewed
with disgust. He had hoped that his enemy might have presumed on the
state of the elements, and suffered his light vessels to maintain their
original positions.

"It would be a great triumph to us, Greenly," he said, "if Denham could
pass without shifting his berth. There would be something manly and
seamanlike in an inferior fleet's passing a superior, in such a style."

"Yes, sir, though it _might_ cost us a fine frigate. The count can have
no difficulty in fighting his weather main-deck guns, and a discharge
from two or three of his leading vessels might cut away some spar that
Denham would miss sadly, just at such a moment."

Sir Gervaise placed his hands behind his back, paced the deck a minute,
and then said decidedly--

"Bunting, make the Chloe's signal to ware--tacking in this sea, and
under that short canvass, is out of the question."

Bunting had anticipated this order, and had even ventured clandestinely
to direct the quarter-masters to bend on the necessary flags; and Sir
Gervaise had scarcely got the words out of his mouth, before the signal
was abroad. The Chloe was equally on the alert; for she too each moment
expected the command, and ere her answering flag was seen, her helm was
up, the mizen-stay-sail down, and her head falling off rapidly towards
the enemy