y fathoms under water, and when I reached it I fainted dead
away."

"And then?"

"Well, when I came to, it was calm, and there was the dead shark
floatin' beside me. I paddled my spar over to him and I got loose a few
yards of halliard that were hangin' from one end of it. I made a
clove-hitch round his tail, d'ye see, and got the end of it slung over
the spar and fastened, so as I couldn't lose him. Then I set to work
and I ate him in a week right up to his back fin, and I drank the rain
that fell on my coat, and when I was picked up by the _Gracie_ of
Gloucester, I was that fat that I could scarce climb aboard.
That's what Ephraim Savage means, my lad, when he says that he is a
baddish man to beat."

Whilst the Puritan seaman had been detailing his reminiscence, his eyes
had kept wandering from the clouds to the flapping sails and back.
Such wind as there was came in little short puffs, and the canvas either
drew full or was absolutely slack. The fleecy shreds of cloud above,
however, travelled swiftly across the blue sky. It was on these that
the captain fixed his gaze, and he watched them like a man who is
working out a problem in his mind. They were abreast of Honfleur now,
and about half a mile out from it. Several sloops and brigs were lying
there in a cluster, and a whole fleet of brown-sailed fishing-boats were
tacking slowly in. Yet all was quiet on the curving quay and on the
half-moon fort over which floated the white flag with the golden
_fleur-de-lis_. The port lay on their quarter now and they were drawing
away more quickly as the breeze freshened. De Catinat glancing back had
almost made up his mind that their fears were quite groundless when they
were brought back in an instant and more urgently than ever.

Round the corner of the mole a great dark boat had dashed into view,
ringed round with foam from her flying prow, and from the ten pairs of
oars which swung from either side of her. A dainty white ensign drooped
over her stern, and in her bows the sun's light was caught by a heavy
brass carronade. She was packed with men, and the gleam which twinkled
every now and again from amongst them told that they were armed to the
teeth. The captain brought his glass to bear upon them and whistled.
Then he glanced up at the clouds once more.

"Thirty men," said he, "and they go three paces to our two. You, sir,
take your blue coat off this deck or you'll bring trouble upon us.
The Lord will