ght be done in a quarter of an hour;
we should then know whether to carry the ship in, or to run on the rocks
and save what we could of the cargo, by means of lighters.

Order on board ship is out of the question without coolness, silence and
submission. A fussy sailor is always a bad sailor; calmness and quiet
being the great requisites for the profession, after the general knowledge
is obtained. No really good officer ever makes a noise except when the
roar of the elements renders it indispensable, in order to be heard. In
that day, French ships of war did not understand this important secret,
much less French privateers. I can only liken the clamour that was now
going on in the Dawn's lee-gangway, to that which is raised by Dutch
fish-women, on the arrival of the boats from sea with their cargoes. To
talk of Billingsgate in comparison with these women, is to do the Holland
and Flemish ladies gross injustice, English phlegm being far more silent
than Dutch phlegm. No sooner was my proposition made than it was accepted
by acclamation, and the privateersmen began to pour into the boat, heels
over head, without order, and I may say without orders. Monsieur Le Gros
was carried off in the current, and, when the fishermen cast off, but
three Frenchmen were left in the ship; all the others had been swept away
by a zeal to be useful, that was a little quickened, perhaps, by the
horrors of an English prison-ship.

Even Diogenes laughed at the random manner in which we were thus left in
possession of our own. There is no question that the French intended to
return; while there is no question it was also their intention to go. In
short, they were in a tumult, and acted under an impulse, instead of under
the government of their reasons.

"You will have the complaisance, Mons. Wallingford," cried Le Gros, as the
boat started away from the ship's side, "to fill the top-sail, and run for
the passage, when we wave our hats."

"Ay--ay," I answered; "leave it to me to fill the top-sails, and to give
the John Bulls the slip."

This was said in French, and it drew cries of "Bon!" and of "Vive la
France!" from all in the boat. What the fellows thought, I will not
pretend to say; but if they thought they were to get on board the Dawn
again, they did not know the men they left behind them. As for the
Frenchmen who remained, Marble and I could have managed them alone; and I
was glad they were with us, since they could be made to pull and