air France" lay--fair France that many a poor
fellow on Johnny's ship would never see again.

It was the _Tonneraire_. She had made a detour with every stitch of
canvas set, and was now almost close aboard of the enemy.

Ah! at last they perceive her; and the noise on board the enemy is
indescribable--the shrieking of orders, the rattle of arms and cordage,
the trampling of feet, the stamping and unlimbering of guns. But
against her stern windows, which are all ablaze with light, the
_Tonneraire_ concentrates her whole starboard broadside. The effect is
startling and terrible. Confusion prevails on board the enemy--almost
panic, indeed; and this lasts long enough for the frigate to sail back
on the other tack. Jack's object is to cripple her, and with this object
in view he concentrates his larboard broadside again in the stern of the
seventy-four, and her rudder is a thing of the past.

Away glides the _Tonneraire_. _She_ is the phantom now. She loads her
guns, and is coming down with the wind again--like the wind, too--when
the seventy-four gets in her first broadside. It does but little harm.
It does not stop the onward rush of the swift bold frigate even for a
moment; and Jack's next broadside is a telling one, for the Frenchman's
sails are not only ashiver, but aflap, awry, anyhow and everyhow; and
just as the moon throws her first faint light athwart the waves, once
more the helpless merchantmen tremble to hear the thunder of twenty
cannon. For the _Tonneraire_ has crossed the enemy's hawse, and raked
him fore and aft.

Now down comes the Frenchman's foremast; and shortly after, a wild
triumphant shout echoes from stem to stern and stern to stem of brave
young Jack's ship, for the enemy has surrendered.

A French seventy-four striking her flag to a British frigate of forty
guns! Yes; but far more daring deeds than that which I now record
happened in the dashing days of old.

Captain Jack Mackenzie would have gone right straight on board the
enemy, but the master cautioned him.

"Nay, nay, sir," he said. "There is such a thing as French treachery; I
have known it before. Wait till the moon gets higher, and we will board
in force. Remember, they may have about five hundred men still alive on
that ship."

Jack took the advice thus vouchsafed; but in half-an-hour's time the
_Tonneraire_ rasped alongside the seventy-four, and a rush was made up
the sides of the battle-ship.

But all was safe.

And stark an