mply. "Out of sight, out of
mind," I thought;--it would be time enough to go below, when I had seen
the beginning of the affair! In the waist I passed the marines, drawn up
in military array, with their officer as attentive to dressing them in
line as if the victory depended on its accuracy. On the forecastle I found
Neb, with his hands in his pockets, watching the manoeuvres of the French
as the cat watches those of the mouse. The fellow's eye was alive with
interest; and I saw it was useless to think of sending him below. As for
the officers, they had taken their cue from the captain, and only smiled
good-naturedly as I passed them. The first-lieutenant, however, was an
exception. He never had appeared well-disposed towards us, and, I make no
doubt, had I not been so hospitably taken into the cabin, we should all
have got an earlier taste of his humour.

"There is too much good stuff in that fellow," he drily remarked, in
passing, pointing towards Neb at the same time, "for him to be doing
nothing, at a moment like this."

"We are neutrals, as respects France, Mr. Clements," I answered, "and it
would not be right for us to take part in your quarrels. I will not
hesitate to say, however, that I have received so much kindness on board
the Briton, that I should feel miserable in not being permitted to share
your danger. Something may turn up, that will enable me to be of
assistance--ay, and Neb, too."

The man gave me a keen look, muttered something between his teeth, and
walked aft, whither he was proceeding when we met. I looked in the
direction in which he went, and could see he was speaking in a surly way
to Captain Rowley. The old gentleman cast a look forward, shook a finger
at me, then smiled in his benevolent way, and turned, as I thought, to
look for one of the midshipmen who acted as his aids. At that moment, the
Frenchman went in stays, delivering his whole broadside, from aft forward,
as the guns bore. The shot told on the British spars smartly, though only
two hulled her. As a matter of course, this turned the thoughts of Captain
Rowley to the main business in hand, and I was forgotten. As for Neb, he
immediately made himself useful. A shot cut the main-spring-stay, just
above his head; and before I had time to speak, the fellow seized a
stopper, and caught one of the ends of the stay, applied the stopper, and
was hard at work in bringing the rope into its proper place, and in
preparing it again to bear a