ht in
England. By this means you never lose sight of land, either by
night or day, as long as your course lies between Cuba and St.
Domingo; whilst the delicious coolness, which follows the setting
of the sun, tempts you, in spite of all the whispers of prudence,
to expose yourself to dews and damps, rather than forego the
pleasures of which they are the bane. Besides, you have
constantly the satisfaction of observing yourself move steadily
on at the most agreeable of all rates, about five or six miles an
hour; a satisfaction far from trifling in a sea-life. Then the
ocean is so smooth, that scarcely a ripple is seen to break the
moon-beams as they fall; whilst the quiet dash of little waves
against the ship's side, and the rushing noise occasioned by the
moving of her bow through the water, produce altogether an effect
which may, without affectation, be termed absolutely refreshing.
It was my common practice to sit for hours after night-fall upon
the tafferel, and strain my eyes in the attempt to distinguish
objects on shore or strange sails in the distance.

It happened that, on the 30th, I was tempted to indulge in this
idle but bewitching employment, even beyond my usual hour for
retiring, and did not quit the deck till towards two o'clock in
the morning of the 31st. I had just entered my cabin, and was
beginning to undress, when a cry from above, of an enemy in
chase, drew me instantly to the quarter-deck. On looking astern,
I perceived a vessel making directly after us, and was soon
convinced of the justice of the alarm, by a shot which whistled
over our heads. All hands were now called to quarters, the small
sails were taken in, and having spoken to our companion, and made
an agreement as to position, both ships cleared for action. But
the stranger, seeing his signal obeyed with so much alacrity,
likewise slackened sail, and, continuing to keep us in view,
followed our wake without approaching nearer. In this state
things continued till daybreak, we still holding our course, and
he hanging back; but as soon as it was light, he set more sail
and ran to windward, moving just out of gun-shot, in a parallel
direction with us. It was now necessary to fall upon some plan
of deceiving him, otherwise there was little probability that he
would attack. In the bomb, indeed, the height of the bulwark
served to conceal some of the men; but in the transport no such
screen existed. The troops were, therefore, orde