iest way he knew of, and as
his professional knowledge and experience fitted him for the life, he
took the command of the _Black Joke_. His first officer, Mr Le
Gosselen, was just the man for the sort of work to be done. He was a
strongly-built, short, bull-necked man, and a first-rate seaman; but
whatever human sympathies he might have had in his youth had all
apparently been washed out of him.

The schooner had only left Guernsey, after a refit, the day before I was
taken on board her. I had been a fortnight in her before any prize of
consequence was made. A few coasters had been surprised by means of the
fishing-boat, but their cargoes were of very little value, and only two
or three were worth sending into port. Of the rest, some were sunk, and
others allowed to continue on their voyage, after anything worth having
was taken out of them. The time had at last arrived when Captain Savage
hoped to fall in with a convoy of French ships coming home from the West
Indies. For a week or more we cruised about in the latitude they would
probably be found in, but we saw nothing of them.

At length, at daybreak one morning, several sail were seen hull down to
the northward, and steering east. The wind was about south, so we stood
away close-hauled towards them, in order to reconnoitre them more
perfectly. As the sun rose, and we drew nearer, many more appeared,
their white sails dotting the ocean far and wide.

"That's what we've been looking for, my lads!" cried the captain,
pointing them out to the crew. "If we get hold of two or three of those
fellows, we shall soon line our pockets with gold."

A loud cheer fore and aft showed that the speech suited the taste of his
hearers. Great, indeed, was the contrast in the discipline between a
privateer and a man-of-war. There was plenty of flogging, and swearing,
and rope's-ending, which the officers considered necessary to keep up
their authority; but there was also a free-and-easy swagger, and an
independent air about the men, which showed that they considered
themselves on a par with their officers, and that they could quit the
vessel whenever they fancied a change. At first I did not at all like
it, but by degrees I got accustomed to the life, and imitated the
example of all around.

We stood on cautiously towards the Frenchmen, the officers' glasses
being continually turned towards them, to watch for any suspicious
movement in the fleet. The captain had no do