. His adventure with the sea
monster had evidently roused his wits, for he had, besides this, done
good service in boarding, and several of the foe owed their fall to his
sturdy arm. In less than five minutes from the time we sprang on board,
Grey and I were shaking hands, as we stood on the hatch, with the
Frenchmen below us.

"I hope, though, that the Monsieurs won't blow up the ship," he
observed; "they must begin to feel heartily ashamed of the way they have
allowed us to take her from them."

"No fear of it; they are not the fellows for that," I answered: "but it
is just possible that they may attempt to take her back again, so we
must keep a very bright look-out to prevent them."

Grey agreed with me.

"I wish that I could talk to them, though," he remarked; "I don't
suppose that one of our party knows a word of French."

"No; we must learn, however, on the first opportunity," said I. "It
would be very convenient, and very likely useful. If the captain had
not known it, we should probably have been caught by the enemy's fleet
when we got among them."

The puzzle was now to settle how to manage with these prisoners. As we
had only seven effectives, and they had more than forty, it was no
slight task. Billy Wise, touching his hat, suggested that we should
shoot them, or send them overboard with round-shots at their heels, to
swim ashore if they could; but as that mode of procedure was somewhat
contrary to the customs of civilised warfare, we declined to adopt it,
though undoubtedly it would have solved our difficulties. We ultimately
agreed that our best plan would be to get hold of all those on deck, and
to lash their hands behind them, and then to summon a few at a time of
those below to be treated in the same way. We soon had all those above
deck secured. It seemed extraordinary that men should submit in so
abject a manner to a party of men and boys. They appeared, indeed,
entirely to have lost their wits. It shows what boldness and audacity
will accomplish. However, it might have been the other way, and we
might all have been knocked on the head, or tumbled down as prisoners
into the Frenchman's hold. Having accomplished this, we sent a hand to
the helm, trimmed sails, though there was not much wind to fill them,
and steered in the direction in which we hoped to fall in with the
frigate. I must own that it was not till then that we thought of poor
Ned Dawlish. We drew the boat alongside, an