length a sail
appeared standing towards the fleet. She was not one of the convoy, for
all were together. Every glass on board was turned towards her. As the
stranger drew nearer and nearer we were more and more puzzled to make
out what she was.

"I see, I see!" exclaimed O'Driscoll at last. "She is a frigate and
under jury-top-masts. She has been in a smart action. I see the
shot-holes through her canvas. There can be no mistake about the
matter. She is the `Hussar,' I believe, after all."

On she came towards us, and the Hussar she proved to be; but the trim
little frigate which she had been when she left us a week before was now
sadly shorn of her beauty. As soon as she came up with the fleet
Captain Symonds sent me on board to inquire what had happened. The
story was soon told. She had fought a very desperate and gallant
action, which, by-the-bye, I have never seen recorded in any naval
history. She, it must be remembered, was only an eight-and-twenty gun
frigate. The stranger after which she had been sent in chase, when she
had drawn her completely away from the squadron, backed his main-topsail
to the mast and waited, prepared for battle, till she came up. The
enemy was soon made out to be a French forty-gun frigate, but that
disparity of fores did not deter her gallant captain from proceeding to
the attack. Ranging up within pistol-shot she opened her broadside, to
which the Frenchman quickly replied in the same way with equal spirit.
As was the case in our action with the Compte D'Artois, the Frenchmen
fired high, evidently with the idea that, by crippling their opponent,
they might have her at their mercy. This system might under some
instances be very good, but, unfortunately for them, they frequently
themselves got so completely thrashed before they had succeeded in
accomplishing their purpose, that they had to cry peccavi and haul down
their flags. The gallant little Hussar had no intention of running
away, and therefore poured her broadsides into the hull of the
Frenchman, committing great havoc along his decks. The action was
continued for some time with great guns and musketry, every man in the
English frigate striving his utmost to gain the victory. Numbers of the
gallant fellows were struck down--some never to rise again, others
desperately wounded. Each attempt of the Frenchman was bravely
repulsed, and every shot fired was responded to with still greater
vigour. Still the captain