as only when he found us off guard that the
idea of seizing the vessel occurred to him.

McAllister did not get off as easily as I did. Wherever he went he was
quizzed for having been tricked by the Frenchman and losing his prize.
He unfortunately could not stand quizzing, and, taking what was said too
seriously, he became at times quite sulky and morose.

As the Doris had no hands to spare, the tender was laid up, and once
more the frigate put to sea in search of the enemies of our country. We
knew that several of their frigates were at sea, and we hoped to fall in
with one of them. If we missed them, we were not likely to object to
pick up a few rich merchantmen.

Soon after I rejoined, I was invited to the gun-room to give an account
of my adventures on board the Audacieuse. Thinking he was going to be
quizzed McAllister would not say a word on the subject. I was not so
particular, and amused the officers very much with an account of the way
in which the polite lieutenant used to dress our dinners for us, and
used to sing and play for our amusement. Mr Fitzgerald seemed highly
entertained.

"He must be a broth of a boy, indeed! If we ever catch him, we'll make
him dress our dinners," he exclaimed, laughing.

He was himself stranger than ever, and, with his curious performances, I
used to wonder how he managed not to get into more scrapes than he did.
Our captain was much of the same opinion, for I heard him remark that he
really was glad to get to sea, for fear Mr Fitzgerald should do
something to bring himself into difficulty on shore. The words were
reported to Mr Fitzgerald, who remarked--

"Och! where there's a will there's a way. We'll see what we can do,
even out here on the big salt sea!"

Not long after this, during a light breeze, we chased a vessel to the
southward. We came up with her hand over hand. When, however, we were
about five miles off, it fell a dead calm. What she was we could not
ascertain, though she did not look like an armed vessel. It was
necessary to overhaul her, so Mr Fitzgerald volunteered to take the gig
and six hands to board her, and Grey and I got leave to accompany him.
We had a hot pull, the sun coming down full on our heads, and as we had
come away without any water, the men were anxious to get on board the
stranger, that they might quench their thirst. She was rigged as a
barque, and she proved as we guessed; she was a Yankee, and a neutral.
Though undoubted