e Audacieuse, and that we might thus be set at liberty.
Consequently, whenever we were on deck we scanned the horizon anxiously,
resolved, if we caught sight of a sail, not to give the Frenchmen too
early a notice of the fact. At last one day we lay becalmed, while a
thick mist had settled down over the ocean. I began to fear that we
were going to have another hurricane. The Frenchmen did not think so,
but took things very easily. The look-out came down from aloft, and,
except the man who was placed as sentry over us, all hands employed
themselves in mending their clothes and in other similar occupations.
The man at the helm stood leaning on the tiller, lazily watching his
companions. Suddenly to the westward I saw the mist lift, and, directly
under the canopy thus formed, I distinctly saw a large ship standing
down under all sail towards us. I was afraid by word or sign to point
her out to McAllister, and dreaded lest the expression of my countenance
might draw the attention of any of the crew towards her. She could not
fail to pass close to us if she continued on the course she was
steering. I only hoped that the mist would lift again, in time to show
the Audacieuse to those on board her. The mist seemed, much to my
satisfaction, to be settling down again, when at that instant Lieutenant
Preville came on deck. His quick eye instantly detected the stranger.
Having uttered some forcible expletives as to his opinion of his crew's
conduct in not keeping a better look-out, he ordered the sails to be
trimmed, and every stitch of canvas the schooner could carry to be set
in readiness for the coming breeze, McAllister's and my eagerness may be
easily conceived. We both had an idea that the ship was English, and
that she would bring up the breeze. What was our disappointment, then,
when we saw the schooner's sails rilling out. Away she glided before
the breeze. The mist soon afterwards entirely cleared away, and
exhibited the stranger about two miles off. By her build and the cut of
her sails she was English. When she saw us, all sail was made on board
her; but the Audacieuse had a fast pair of heels, and it was soon
evident that she was leaving her pursuer far astern. Our hopes sank and
sank, and by nightfall we had run her out of sight. When morning
returned the stranger was nowhere to be seen.

Four days thus passed by. They were far from agreeable ones. Early on
the sixth we found a substantial breakfast