ome blood shed in passing; but, on the whole, when the Warspite,
the last of the English ships, ceased her fire, on account of the
distance of the enemy abreast of her, it would have been difficult to
tell that any vessel but le Foudroyant, had been doing more than
saluting. At this instant Greenly re-appeared on the poop, his own ship
having ceased to fire for several minutes.

"Well, Greenly, the main-deck guns are at least scaled," said Sir
Gervaise, smiling; "and _that_ is not to be done over again for some
time. You keep every thing ready in the batteries, I trust?"

"We are all ready, Sir Gervaise, but there is nothing to be done. It
would be useless to waste our ammunition at ships quite two miles under
our lee."

"Very true--very true, sir. But _all_ the Frenchmen are not quite so far
to leeward, Greenly, as you may see by looking ahead. Yonder two, at
least, are not absolutely out of harm's way!"

Greenly turned, gazed an instant in the direction in which the
commander-in-chief pointed, and then the truth of what Sir Gervaise had
really in view in keeping away, flashed on his mind, as it might be, at
a glance. Without saying a word, he immediately quitted the poop, and
descending even to the lower deck, passed through the whole of his
batteries, giving his orders, and examining their condition.

CHAPTER XXIII.

"By Heaven! it is a splendid sight to see,
(For one who hath no friend, nor brother there,)
Their rival scarfs of mixed embroidery--
Their various arms that glitter in the air!"

CHILDE HAROLD.

The little conflict between the English ships and the head of the French
line, the evolutions that had grown out of it, the crippling of le
Foudroyant, and the continuance of the gale, contributed to produce
material changes in the relative positions of the two fleets. All the
English vessels kept their stations with beautiful accuracy, still
running to the southward in a close line ahead, having the wind a trifle
abaft the beam, with their yards braced in. Under the circumstances, it
needed but some seven or eight minutes for these ships to glide a mile
through the troubled ocean, and this was about the period the most
exposed of them all had been under the random and slow fire that the
state of the weather permitted. The trifling damages sustained were
already repaired, or in a way soon to be so. On the other hand,
considerable disorder prevailed among the French.