he would treat them as a friend.

It was not long before both vessels had rounded-to, and preparations were
made to hail.

"What sheep's zat?" demanded one in good broken English.

"The Dawn, of New-York--may I ask the name of your lugger?"

"Le Polisson--corsair Francois--what you load, eh?"

"Sugar and coffee, with cochineal, and a few other articles."

"Peste!--Vere you boun', Monsieur, s'il vous plait."

"Hamburg."

"Diable!--zis is _non_ ze _chemin_.--How you come her, sair, viz ze vin'
at sow-vess?"

"We are going in to Brest, being in need of a little succour."

"You vish salvage, eh! Parbleu, we can do you zat mosh good, as veil as
anodair."

I was then ordered, privateer fashion, to lower a boat, and to repair on
board the lugger with my papers. When old I had no stern or quarter-boat
to lower, the Frenchman Manifested surprise; but he sent his own yawl for
me. My reception on board the Polisson was a little free for Frenchmen.
The captain received me in person, and I saw, at a glance, I had to deal
with men who were out on the high seas, with the fear of English
prison-ships constantly before their eyes, in quest of gold. I was not
invited into the cabin, a crowded, dark and dirty hole, for, in that day,
the French were notoriously foul in their vessels, but was directed to
show my papers seated on a hen-coop.

As everything was regular about the register, manifest and clearance, I
could see that Monsieur Gallois was not in a particularly good humour. He
had one, whom I took to be a renegade Englishman, with him, to aid in the
examination, though, as this man never spoke in my presence, I was unable
precisely to ascertain who he was. The two had a long consultation in
private, after the closest scrutiny could detect no flaw in the papers.
Then Monsieur Gallois approached and renewed the discourse.

"Vy you have no boat, sair?" he asked.

"I lost my boat, three days since, about a hundred leagues to the
southward and westward."

"It is not have bad veddair!--Why you got no more _marins_ in your
sheep?--eh!"

I saw it would be best to tell the whole truth, at once; for, were I to
get any aid from this lugger, the facts, sooner or later, must be made
known. Accordingly, I gave the Frenchman, and his English-looking
companion, a full account of what had occurred between us and the Speedy.
After this narrative, there was another long conference between Mons.
Gallois and his friend. Then the boat