ngth it gained
sufficient strength to sweep before it the banks of heavy mist, when the
loud sharp cry of the lookouts announced five sail right astern, and
some five or six miles distant. As they could be seen clearly from the
deck, numerous glasses were instantly pointed at them, when they were
pronounced without doubt to be enemy's ships.

They also saw the frigate, and instantly bore up in chase. Had they all
been line-of-battle ships, the swift-footed little _Ruby_ might easily
have escaped from them; but two looked very like frigates, and many of
that class in those days were superior in speed to the fleetest English
frigates.

All sail was made on the _Ruby_, and she was kept due north. "We may
fall in with one of our own squadrons, or we may manage to keep ahead of
the enemy till night, and then I shall have no fear of them," observed
the Captain as he walked the quarterdeck with his first lieutenant.

"We shall soon see how fast the Frenchmen can walk along after us,"
answered Mr Brine. "I hope the _Ruby_ won't prove a sluggard on this
occasion; she has shown that she can go along when in chase of an
enemy."

"Even should the two frigates come up with us, we must manage to keep
them at bay," said the Captain. "I know, Brine, that you will never
strike as long as a hope of escape remains."

"That I will not, sir!" exclaimed the first lieutenant warmly, and Mr
Brine was not the man to neglect such a pledge.

"Never fear, lads," said Paul Pringle; "the Captain carried us clear
with about as great odds against us once before, and he'll do it again
now if the breeze holds fair."

"But suppose it doesn't, and those thundering big Frenchmen manage to
get alongside of us, what are we to do then?" asked a young seaman who
had lately been impressed from a merchantman.

"What do, Dunnage?--why, fight them, man!" answered Paul briskly. "You
don't suppose, do you, that we should do anything else till we have done
that? We may knock away their spars, or maybe a shift of wind may come,
or a gale spring up, or we may give such hard knocks that the enemy may
think us a bad bargain. At all events, the first thing a man-of-war has
to do is to fight."

In a short time it was seen that the two frigates took the lead, and
that one of them was much ahead of the other. "All right," said Paul
when he perceived this, "we shall be able to settle with one before the
other comes on."

The officers, however, knew well