t the
enemy's forts and lines. He often spent the day on board the
Brilliant. At the end of June the frigate went away for a
fortnight's cruise, and the captain invited Bob to accompany them.

"We shall all expect great things from you, Mr. Repton. As you
managed to capture some fifty thousand pounds' worth of prizes,
when you were on board that privateer brig, you ought to put the
frigate into the way of taking at least four times as much."

"It is easy to turn a brig into anything, Captain Langton; but
there is no making one of His Majesty's frigates look other but
what she is. The mere sight of your topsails is enough to send
every Spanish craft into port."

For three or four days the frigate sailed along the coast; keeping
well out during the day, and closing with the land in the evening.
Two or three small coasters were picked up by the boats, but they
were scarcely worth sending into Gibraltar. On the fifth day a
large barque was seen, making in from the south. All sail was made,
but the barque had the weather gage and, crossing her, ran into the
shore and anchored under the shelter of a battery.

"That would be a prize worth having, Bob," Jim Sankey said. "I
wonder what she has got on board? Perhaps she is like that craft
you captured, choke-full of lead and silver, from Lima."

"I think I can tell you what she is full of," Bob, who had been
examining her through a glass he had borrowed from the third
lieutenant, replied.

"How do you mean you can tell, Bob? She has not got her bill of
lading stuck upon her broadside, I suppose?"

"She has not, Jim. But I can tell you, without that."

"Well, what has she got on board?"

"She has got a very strong crew, Jim, and twenty-four guns."

"Why, how on earth did you know that, Bob?" he asked, staring at
his friend in surprise.

"Because, Jim, I have been on board, and counted the guns. That is
the craft I swam off to, nearly two years ago. You hunted for her,
then, you know; but I suppose she had gone into one of the ports.
But that is her, I can almost swear.

"I don't know whether there is a better glass than this on board
but, if there is, I should be glad to have a look through it. Yet I
feel certain, without that. Her stern is of rather peculiar shape,
and that stern gallery looks as if it was pinched out of her,
instead of being added on. We particularly noticed that, when we
were sailing with her. I can't be mistaken about it."

"I think the capta