ir Gervaise, drily; "whatever you do yourself, my
lord, don't let the Achilles get asleep on duty; I may have need of her
to-morrow. Give way, Wychecombe, give way, and let us get home again."

In fifteen minutes from that instant, Sir Gervaise was once more on the
poop of the Plantagenet, and the barge in its place on deck. Greenly was
attending to the duties of his ship, and Bunting stood in readiness to
circulate such orders as it might suit the commander-in-chief to give.

It was now nine o'clock, and it was not easy to distinguish objects on
the ocean, even as large as a ship, at the distance of half a league. By
the aid of the glasses, however, a vigilant look-out was kept on the
French vessels, which, by this time, were quite two leagues distant,
drawing more ahead. It was necessary to fill away, in order to close
with them, and a night-signal was made to that effect. The whole British
line braced forward their main-yards, as it might be, by a common
impulse, and had there been one there of sufficiently acute senses, he
might have heard all six of the main-top-sails flapping at the same
instant. As a matter of course the vessels started ahead, and, the order
being to follow the vice-admiral in a close line ahead, when the
Plantagenet edged off, so as to bring the wind abeam, each vessel did
the same, in succession, or as soon as in the commander-in-chief's wake,
as if guided by instinct. About ten minutes later, the Carnatic, to the
surprise of those who witnessed the man[oe]uvre in the Achilles, wore
short round, and set studding-sails on her starboard side, steering
large. The darkest portion of the horizon being that which lay to the
eastward, or, in the direction of the continent, in twenty minutes the
pyramid of her shadowy outline was swallowed in the gloom. All this
time, la Victoire, with the Druid leading and towing, kept upon a
bowline; and an hour later, when Sir Gervaise found himself abeam of the
French line again, and half a league to windward of it, no traces were
to be seen of the three ships last mentioned.

"So far, all goes well, gentlemen," observed the vice-admiral to the
group around him on the poop; "and we will now try to count the enemy,
to make certain _he_, too, has no stragglers out to pick up waifs.
Greenly, try that glass; it is set for the night, and your eyes are the
best we have. Be particular in looking for the fellow under jury-masts."

"I make out but ten ships in the line, S