ed, contriving,
before the daylight faded, to ascertain the name, and approximately the
power, of every ship. They did not deign to take the slightest notice
of us, beyond firing a shot or two at us whenever we ventured within
range. So when darkness set in I bore away to the southward
sufficiently to give the flank ship a berth of about four miles, when I
crowded sail upon the schooner and ran past them, dropping them out of
sight before sunrise next morning.

Despite the fact that we were so short-handed, we continued to carry on,
night and day, arriving at Port Royal on the morning of the eighth day
after sighting the combined fleet.

My first task was to seek out the Admiral, whom I expected to find at
his _Pen_ on the slope of the hill at the back of the town of Kingston;
so no sooner was our anchor down than I engaged a negro boatman to take
me up the harbour. Arrived at Kingston, I procured a vehicle, and,
driving to the Pen, was fortunate enough to catch the great man just as
he was about to sit down to breakfast. The announcement that I was the
bearer of important intelligence relating to the enemy secured my
immediate admission to his presence, and, despite the fact that I was
only a privateersman, the genial old seadog accorded me a hearty
welcome, and insisted upon my sitting down to table with him directly he
had elicited from me the fact that I had not yet broken my fast. He
was, of course, profoundly interested in the intelligence that I was
able to furnish him, relative to the presence of a combined French and
Spanish fleet in the Atlantic, my information being the first that had
reached him of the fact, and he was good enough to say that, in
hastening to him with the news, I had rendered a service of the utmost
importance to my country. Scarcely less interested was he in the
narration of my adventures from the time of the abandonment of the
_Manilla_ to the moment of the capture of the _Jean Bart_. He
complimented me highly upon my conduct throughout, and, while promising
to immediately relieve me of the charge of my prisoners, incidentally
expressed his regret that I had not selected the navy as my profession.
I answered him that I was but an obscure individual, with no influence
or patronage whatever at my command, and that, therefore, had I entered
the navy, I should probably never have been allowed to rise in my
profession, the influence and patronage which I lacked causing other and
more f