fing. As, at the moment, the boats were about to effect a landing to
capture a fort from which the Spaniards had been driven by the fire of the
ships, the admiral turned to Stephen and said:

"Mr. Embleton, please to take command of the second cutter. She is a fast
sailer, and I have no doubt that you can overhaul that brig in a couple of
hours. The boat's crew are already on board and armed, but I don't suppose
you will meet with any resistance. When you have boarded her you will take
command of her and navigate her to Valparaiso. I shall be returning there
in the course of two or three days."

Stephen touched his hat and ran below. He was delighted at the prospect of
his first command, though it was not a very important one. He had brought
the best of his chronometers with him, and snatching up this, his
quadrant, and a pocket compass, he at once descended the ladder to the
boat, which had been hailed by the admiral and ordered to lie there, the
petty officer who commanded being transferred to another boat. The crew
consisted of twelve men. As the breeze was off shore Stephen ordered the
masts to be stepped at once, and the two lug-sails hoisted. The crew were
glad to escape the labour of carrying down stores from the fort and
transporting them to the ship, and sat down contentedly in the bottom of
the boat, while Stephen himself took the tiller. The brig was hull-down
when seen from the boat, and Stephen calculated that she was six or seven
miles out. She was steering south and had evidently less wind than that
which was taking the cutter fast through the water. He made his course to
a point some four miles south of the brig, so as to cut her off, and it
was not long before it was evident to him that he should succeed in doing
so.

They were within two miles of the ship when he saw the sailors talking
earnestly together and looking towards the shore. Glancing round he saw
that the tops of the hills were enveloped in clouds, a sign, as experience
had already taught him, of the approach of a gale. The brig, which had
evidently not noticed the boat, had also observed the threatening aspect
of the clouds, and as Stephen again looked ahead, began to shorten sail.

"Had we not better return?" one of the Chilians asked.

"Certainly not," Stephen said. "The wind is against us, and the storm will
burst before we could get back, so that we should be much better off in
that brig than we should be in this open boat. Get out o