ear up upon a course evidently intended to cut us off. The
"Vigilant," however, continued to steer the same course as before; my
intention being to try the same trick with him--in the event of his
being a Frenchman--which had succeeded so well with "Le Narcisse"; and
if he was an Englishman, I had of course nothing to fear.

In about another hour we had neared each other sufficiently to permit of
our colours being seen; and no sooner was this the case than the
stranger flew her ensign--the English--and fired a gun for us to heave-
to. I at once obeyed; and in about twenty minutes afterwards she
rounded-to within pistol-shot to windward of us and lowered a boat.

The day being fine I was of course in my ordinary uniform; and I could
not wholly conceal a smile at the look of disappointment and disgust
which overspread the features of the officer in charge, as the boat
approached sufficiently near to permit of his seeing that, whatever the
ship might be, the crew were English.

I awaited him at the lee gangway; and on his stepping up out of the
boat, raised my hat in due form, a salute which he very gracefully
returned.

"Well, young gentleman," said he, "what craft have you here, pray, and
where are you bound to?"

I told him briefly what we were, and so on; and in reply to his
questions, gave him a short account of the way in which the "Vigilant"
had come into our hands, at which he seemed much interested.

"Well," said he, when I had finished the story, "I must say I am sorry
you are not French; for we should then have had an opportunity of making
a prize of some sort, even though you would have been but very small
fry; but _anything_ will be fish which comes to our net now. We have
been knocking about here for nearly a month, and never a sign of a
Frenchman have we seen during the whole time."

"Indeed!" said I, "you _have_ been unlucky; but I hope your luck has now
changed at last. Though you cannot make a prize of us, I think I can
put you on the track of one."

"Ah! do you indeed? Come, that's a great deal better," said he, in a
very different tone from that which had characterised his conversation
hitherto. "My dear boy, pray let us have your news without further
ado."

I accordingly described to him our meeting with "Le Narcisse," and
mentioned Captain Alphonse Latour's enthusiastic and patriotic
determination to await on that spot the approach of the "accursed
English;" concluding my story by giv