ee what tarms could be made."

I laughed at this conceit, telling Marble he would be wise to remain where
he was. I would give the Speedy four hours to get herself in tolerable
sailing trim again, supposing her bent on pursuit. If in no immediate
hurry, it might occupy her four-and-twenty hours.

"I think she may be disposed to follow the other French frigate, which is
clearly making her way towards Brest," I added, "in which case we have
nothing to fear. By George! there goes a gun, and here comes a shot in our
direction--you can see it, Moses, skipping along the water, almost in a
line between us and the frigate.--Ay, here it comes!"

All this was literally true. The Speedy lay with her bows towards us, and
she had suddenly fired the shot to which I alluded, and which now came
bounding from wave to wave, until it struck precisely in a line with the
ship, about a hundred yards distant.

"Halloo!" cried Marble, who had levelled his glass towards the
frigates.--"There's the deuce to pay down there, Miles--one boat pulling
this-a-way, for life or death, and another a'ter it. The shot was intended
for the leading boat, and not for us."

This brought my glass down, too. Sure enough, there was a small boat
pulling straight for us, and of course directly to windward of the
frigate; the men in it exerting every nerve. There were seven seamen in
this boat; six at the oars, and one steering. The truth flashed on me in
a moment. These were some of our own people, headed by the second-mate,
who had availed themselves of the circumstance of one of the Speedy's
boats being in the water, without a crew, to run away with it in the
confusion of the moment. The Black Prince had taken possession of the
prize, as we had previously noted, and that with a single boat, and the
cutter in pursuit appeared to me to be coming from the Frenchman. I
immediately acquainted Marble with my views of the matter, and he seized
on the idea eagerly, as one probable and natural.

"Them's our fellows, Miles!" he exclaimed; "we must fill, and meet 'em
half-way!"

It was certainly in our power to lessen the distance the fugitives had to
run, by standing down to meet the leading boat. This could not be done,
however, without going within reach of the English guns; the late
experiment showing unanswerably, that we lay just without the drop of
their shot, as it was. I never saw men in a greater excitement, than that
which now came over us all in the Dawn.