n endeavour to escape. The chase was a
large and fast vessel of her class, for it was not till some time after
breakfast that we could see half-way down her mainsail from the deck.
Still, we were gaining on her. She, meantime, was edging away in for
the land, so that there was little doubt that she was an enemy's
vessel--probably, from the way she made sail, a privateer with a number
of hands on board, if not a man-of-war. Hour after hour we continued
the chase, till the French coast rose clear and distinct on our
starboard-bow.

Jacob Lyal and I were at this time stationed in the foretop, of which
Peter Poplar was captain, though he was shortly afterwards made a
quarter-master. We thus saw every movement of the chase. She, by
degrees, edged away again more to the northward, as if wishing to avoid
the coast thereabout. We had begun the chase soon after daylight, and
the evening was now drawing on, when, close in with the land, we made
out a large ship standing along-shore, the rays of the sinking sun
shining brilliantly on her snowy canvas. The schooner hauled up towards
her, and then kept away again, as if she did not like her appearance.

"What do you make her out to be?" said I to Peter, pointing to the ship.

"Why, Jack, from the squareness of her yards and the whiteness of her
canvas, I should say she is a man-of-war--probably a frigate, and a
thundering big frigate, too, if I am not much mistaken."

"I suppose, from the French schooner keeping away from her, she is an
English frigate," said I.

"Not so sure of that either, Jack," he answered. "We don't know that
the schooner is French, in the first place; and even if she is, she may
be mistaken as to the character of the frigate, or she may have altered
her course just to deceive us, so as to let the frigate come up with us
without our taking alarm about her. Never fancy that you have made a
right guess and neglect to take precautions, in case you should be
wrong."

"Why, if she is an enemy's frigate, she'll sink us," said Lyal. "We
shall have to up stick and run for it!"

"Never do you fear that, lad," answered Peter, somewhat sternly, I
thought. "Run?--no! If that is a French frigate it will just give us
an opportunity of showing what British pluck can do. Our lads know how
to handle their guns and small-arms--thanks to the practice some of the
grumblers complained of--and if we don't give a good account of that
ship out there, my name is no