Ronald, in a cheerful tone. "You are wounded and
ill; when you recover you will be in better spirits; but tell me, who is
the friend whose loss you mourn?"

"He was the second lieutenant of this ship, and he was killed early in
the action with you," answered young Gerardin, with a sigh. "He was a
brave man. I loved him as a son loves his father, and for long I
thought he was my father. Only just before we were going into action
did he tell me that I should find all the particulars about myself in a
box, in a house where we lived when we were on shore, near Brest. I
thought at first that he was jesting, and asked no questions, and it was
only after he was killed that I believed he spoke the truth. Poor dear
Pierre Gerardin! you were always kind and good to me, and I shall never
see you again."

The young foreigner gave way to his grief with a vehemence which
somewhat astonished Ronald, accustomed to the more phlegmatic
temperaments of the north. He tried to comfort him, but in vain, and
when the surgeon came he intimated to Ronald that he had better leave
him, as talking to a stranger seemed to agitate him in an extraordinary
degree.

"He seems very sorry for the loss of his guardian, but he is an odd
fellow, and I don't quite like the look of his countenance," said Ronald
to himself, as he left the cabin.

As soon as he reached the deck he looked out to ascertain what progress
the stranger had made. Her courses were already seen from the deck,
appearing above the horizon. The work on board the two frigates was
going forward as energetically as ever. Still there was yet much to be
done before they could be put in good fighting order. The "Thisbe" was
by far the most advanced of the two, still the bravest on board would
rather have avoided than sought a fight just then. On came the
stranger.

"Well, Morton, just say what you think of her?" said Dicky Glover,
handing a telescope to Ronald; "there's a mighty Frenchified look about
those topsails."

"I have not much experience in the matter," answered Ronald, modestly;
"but she looks very like the `Concorde,' as she appeared when standing
out toward us."

"That's what Mr Calder and the rest think," observed Glover. "Well, we
are ready for the fellow whoever he may be; and for my part, I'd sooner
blow our prize up into the sky than let her be taken from us; wouldn't
you, Morton?"

Ronald was not quite so sure of that, and he suspected that Dicky
hims