me
upon quite a different footing in the ship from that which I had
occupied before. The men treated me with real respect, instead of the
good-humoured burlesque thereof which they had accorded me hitherto; and
my fellow-mids at once received me into the berth upon a footing of
perfect equality with themselves, each one striving to do me some little
kindness or show me some little attention, in place of playing off
disagreeable practical jokes upon me. They would not have been
midshipmen had they not had a jocular remark or two to make upon the
subject, but it was all said in good part. The wind continued to blow
hard during the whole of that day, but toward sunset it moderated
somewhat, and veered a point or two to the northward. The ship had been
under close-reefed topsails and fore-topmast staysail ever since
midnight of the night before.

CHAPTER TWO.

HOW WE LOST HER.

The sun was just sinking below the horizon, his parting beams lighting
up gorgeously a heavy bank of clouds which hung low down in the western
quarter, when the lookout man aloft hailed, "A sail on the weather bow!"

Everybody was instantly on the alert.

"What do you make her out to be?" hailed Mr Sennitt, the first
lieutenant; while the skipper turned to me and said,--

"Mr Chester, be good enough to slip down into my cabin, and bring up my
telescope, if you please."

As I made a dive down the companion, I heard the lookout hail again:
"She is a large lugger, sir; I can make her out quite plainly; she is
just in the wake of the sun."

"All hands make sail," was the next order, given as quick as lightning.

I got the glass, and hurrying on deck with it, placed it in the
skipper's hands. The men were by this time lying out on the yards,
shaking a couple of reefs out of the topsails, and loosing the courses.
Captain Brisac slung the telescope over his shoulder, and, springing
into the rigging, made his way aloft to the crosstrees, where the
lookout still sat, with one hand grasping the topgallant shrouds, and
the other shading his eyes. The skipper braced himself firmly against
the topmost head, raised the telescope to his eye, and took a good long
look at the stranger, closed the glass sharply, and descended to the
deck again with all the agility of a monkey--or a midshipman.

"She _is_ a lugger, sure enough; and a large one too," he remarked, as
he rejoined the first lieutenant. "There can be no doubt that she is
French; and