racters and descriptions
of _me_, that your honour has seen fit to put abroad, this is the most
unjustest; chickens being a food I never thinks on, off soundings.
Pig-headed you might in reason call me, Sir Jarvy; for I _do_ looks
arter the pigs, which is the only real stand-by in a ship; but I never
dreams of a chicken, except for _your_ happetite. When they was eight on
'em--"

"Was the prize in sight?" demanded Sir Gervaise, a little sharply.

"No, Sir Jarvy; she had disappeared, and the Druid with her. But this
isn't all, sir; for they does say, some'at has befallen the Carnatic,
she having gone out of our line, like a binnacle-lamp at eight bells."

"Ay, _she_ is not visible, either."

"Not so much as a hen-coop, Sir Jarvy! We all wonders what has become of
Captain Parker; no sign of him or of his ship is to be found on the
briny ocean. The young gentlemen of the watch laugh, and say she must
have gone up in a waterspout, but they laughs so much at misfortins,
generally, that I never minds 'em."

"Have you had a good look-out at the ocean, this morning, Master
Galleygo," asked Sir Gervaise, drawing his head out of a basin of water,
for, by this time, he was half-dressed, and making his preparations for
the razor. "You used to have an eye for a chase, when we were in a
frigate, and ought to be able to tell me if Bluewater is in sight."

"Admiral Blue!--Well, Sir Jarvy, it _is_ remarkable, but I had just
rubbed his division out of my log, and forgotten all about it. There
_was_ a handful of craft, or so, off here to the nor'ard, at day-light,
but I never thought it was Admiral Blue, it being more nat'ral to
suppose him in his place, as usual, in the rear of our own line. Let me
see, Sir Jarvy, how many ships has we absent under Admiral Blue?"

"Why, the five two-deckers of his own division, to be sure, besides the
Ranger and the Gnat. Seven sail in all."

"Yes, that's just it! Well, your honour, there _was_ five sail to be
seen, out here to the nor'ard, as I told you, and, sure enough, it may
have been Admiral Blue, with all his craft."

By this time, Sir Gervaise had his face covered with lather, but he
forgot the circumstance in a moment. As the wind was at the north-west,
and the Plantagenet was on the larboard tack, looking in the direction
of the Bill of Portland, though much too far to the southward to allow
the land to be seen, his own larboard quarter-gallery window commanded a
good view of the whol