I had given up the
thoughts of resisting.

I was not a little amazed and delighted when we came out upon the
shore, and I caught sight of the _Talisman_, as she was called, riding
at her anchor. For she was a great line-of-battle ship, such as I had
never yet seen, carrying seventy-four guns upon her three decks, which
rose above the water like a huge wall, with the muzzles of the cannon
plainly visible through the opening of her portholes. This majestic
mass lay like a floating fortress upon the waves, and overhead her
three masts towered up into the very clouds, with their yards set in
order, and the ropes crossing from one to the other as intricate as a
spider's web. Last of all, from a flagstaff on the stern, brandished
the ensign of Great Britain, in defiance of her enemies. And my heart
swelled as I gazed upon it, and remembered how that banner had struck
terror into the Frenchmen, and Dutch, and Spaniards, in so many great
and memorable fights. Perhaps in that moment I had a foretaste of
those glorious triumphs of the British arms in which I was hereafter
to take a part.

As soon as we were brought on board this fine vessel--and by this time
we had pressed two or three others of the Yarmouth men--we were
presented to the captain for his inspection.

The captain, it was easy to perceive, was a man of great quality,
being, as I learned before long, a nephew of Lord Saxmundham, in
Suffolk, who at that time sat upon the Board of Admiralty. He had the
most elegant hands and feet of any man I ever saw, and was dressed
with great care, having long ruffles of the finest lace to his neck
and wrists, and a gold-hilted small-sword by his side. Even my cousin
Rupert beside him would have looked but a country boor.

He spoke to the lieutenant who had headed our party, drawling out his
words in a fashion absurd in a London fop, but disgusting in the
commander of a man-o'-war.

"Well, Mr. Griffiths, what sort of scum have you got hold of this
time? Faugh!" he continued, taking out a pocket napkin to wipe his
nose, "I declare the fellows all stink of herrings!"

This last was a downright lie, for I had never so much as stepped into
a fishing smack. And besides, the herring fishery was not yet begun.

"Sir, that is a fault which can soon be amended," returned the
lieutenant, biting his lip at the other's insolence. "For the rest,
they looked to me to be sturdy rascals enough, and, I doubt, will make
good seamen."

"Yes