she was
concealed from sight. We promised, however, to stand to the northward
with Captain Brown during the night, and in the morning, should no enemy
be in sight, let him and his consorts proceed on their voyage homewards,
while we kept on our course for the Cape of Good Hope. Nothing could
have given our people greater satisfaction than to have found the
Frenchman close to us at daybreak. I spent most of the night in writing
letters home, to send by the whaler. When morning dawned, not a sail,
except our own little squadron, was to be seen. We kept company till
noon, and then, with mutual good wishes, stood away on our respective
courses. We hoped that the _Mignonne_ would follow the _Barbara_ rather
than our friends, should she really have sailed in chase of any of us.
The possibility of our being pursued created much excitement on board.
At early dawn, till the evening threw its mantle over the ocean, we had
volunteers at the mastheads looking out for a strange sail. At the end
of four or five days all expectation of again meeting with the
_Mignonne_ ceased, somewhat to the disappointment of most of the crew,
who were wonderfully full of fight. Having beaten the Frenchman once,
they were very sure that they could beat him again. We had other good
reasons for having our eyes about us--first, to avoid in time any foe
too big to tackle; and then, as we had the right to capture any Spanish
vessels we might fall in with, to keep a look-out for them. However,
the ocean is very broad, and though we chased several vessels, they all
proved to be Portuguese. After sighting the little rocky and then
uninhabited island of Tristan da Cunha, we made the Cape of Good Hope,
and, entering Table Bay, dropped our anchor off Capetown.

The colony had lately been recaptured from the Dutch by Sir David Baird
and Sir Home Popham, with a well-appointed force of 5,000 men. The two
armies met on the plain at the foot of Table Mountain; but scarcely had
the action been commenced by General Ferguson, at the head of the
Highland brigade, than the wise Hollanders, considering that the English
were likely to prove as good masters as the French, retreated, and soon
after offered to capitulate, which they were allowed to do with all the
honours of war. The Dutch, French, and English were now living on very
friendly terms with each other. The Cape colony, with its clean,
well-laid-out English capital, its Table Mountain and Table Cloth,