ear-admiral's--little Nel., as ye'll be calling him, I suppose, Sir
Frederick Dashwood?"

"Nay, it's you old Agamemnons, or old fellows, who gave him that name--"

"Ye'll please to excuse me, sir," interrupted Lyon, a little
dogmatically--"ye've never heard me call him anything but my lord, since
His Majesty, God bless him! was graciously pleased to elevate him to the
peerage--nothing but 'my lord,' and the 'rear-admiral'; naval rank being
entitled to its privileges even on the throne. Many a king has been a
colonel, and I see no disparagement in one's being an admiral. Won't ye
be thinking, Captain Cuffe, that since my lord is made Duke of Bronte,
he is entitled to be called 'Your Grace'--all the Scottish dukes are so
designated, and I see no reason why the rear-admiral should not have his
just dues as well as the best of them."

"Let him alone for that," said Cuffe, laughing; "Nel. will look out for
himself, as well as for the king. But, gentlemen, I suppose you have not
come down here merely for a morning walk--have I any reports to hear?"

"I beg your pardon, Captain Cuffe, but I was really forgetting my
errand," answered Dashwood. "Here are your orders, and we are both
directed to report to you. The lieutenant who brought the package aboard
_me_ said there would be a spy to try, and a lugger to catch. Did they
tell you anything of this matter, Lyon?"

"No, Sir Frederick; not being inquisitive, I hear but little of what is
going on in the fleet. My orders are to report myself and ship to
Captain Cuffe, for service, which I have the honor now to do."

"Well, gentlemen, here are further instructions for you. This is an
order to hold a court, composed of Captain Richard Cuffe, of the
Proserpine, president; Captain Sir Frederick Dashwood, Bart., of the
Terpsichore, etc., etc.; and Lyon, Winchester, and Spriggs, your
first-lieutenant, Sir Frederick, for the trials of Raoul Yvard, a French
citizen, on the charge of being a spy, and Ithuel Bolt, seaman, etc., on
the charge of being a deserter. Here is everything in rule, and there
are your respective orders, gentlemen."

"Bless me, I'd no notion of this!" exclaimed Lyon, who was greatly
averse to this part of an officer's duty. "I'd thought it altogether a
trial of speed after a Frenchman, for which purpose the rear-admiral, or
my lord, or his grace, whichever it may be right to call him, had seen
fit to bring three of his fastest ships together."

"I wish it was n