uld have dealt with the enemy's fleet and be landed at
Dover. This Don Alonzo, it is said, will be appointed governor of
London, till the King arrive. He is a prime favourite at the Spanish
Court, in proof whereof the _Rata_ carries a crew of the noblest youth
of Spain, committed to his care for this great venture. They are hungry
for battle, but, alack! I fear we shall none of us get more than will
whet our appetite. As for you and me, McDonnell, this business is like
to settle scores between our houses and the vixen--"

"Stay, Captain Desmond," said Ludar, interposing suddenly betwixt me and
this blasphemer. "My comrade here is a servant of Elizabeth, and has no
sword. As for me, my queen is dead--dead on the scaffold. I hate the
English Queen as you do; but, if I fight against her, it shall be in my
own quarrel, and no man else's. Therefore appoint us a duty whereby we
may repay the Spanish King his hospitality, without fighting his
battles."

The Irishman shrugged his shoulders.

"I understand not these subtleties," said he: "whom I hate I slay.
However, as you will. This voyage will soon be over; but if you choose,
while it lasts, to keep the forecastle deck clean, none shall interfere
with you; and perchance, when we get into action, you may find it an
honourable and even a perilous post."

So we were installed in our ignoble office on board the _Rata_, and
since Captain Desmond's duties never brought him before the foremast,
and since Don Alonzo, whenever he went his rounds, never looked at us,
and since not a man on the forecastle comprehended a word of English, or
could speak a Spanish which Ludar was able to follow, we were left
pretty much to ourselves, except that the sentry kept a close eye on our
movements.

All day long the soldiers paraded, the trumpets played, the pennons
waved, and the blazoned sails swelled with the favouring breeze, so that
towards afternoon Ushant was far behind, and every eye was strained
forward for the first glimpse of the English, shore. The other vessels
of the fleet, which had spread out somewhat in the mist, now gradually
closed in at nearer distance, and passed signals which I could not
understand. Some were so near we could hear their trumpets and bells,
and see the glitter of the sun on the muzzles of their guns. Then about
sundown, with great ceremony, a priest came forward, and recited what I
took to be a mass; and after him, at the sound of three bells