of preparing his things for a
removal, had retired to his apartment to conceal his feelings;--and the
captain of the ship was above, superintending the approach of the vessel
to her anchorage. Two or three well emptied bottles of wine yet remained;
but as the healths of all the branches of the House of Brunswick had been
propitiated from their contents, with a polite remembrance of Louis XVI.
and Marie Antoinette from General Denbigh, neither of the superiors was
much inclined for action.

"Is the Thunderer in her station?" said the admiral to the signal
lieutenant, who at that moment came below with a report.

"Yes, sir, and has answered."

"Very well; make the signal to prepare to anchor."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"And here, Bennet," to the retiring lieutenant--"call the transports all
in shore of us."

"Three hundred and eighty-four, sir," said the officer, looking at his
signal-book.

The admiral cast his eye at the book, and nodded an assent.

"And let the Mermaid--Flora--Weasel--Bruiser, and all the sloops lie well
off, until we have landed the soldiers: the pilot says the channel is full
of luggers, and Jonathan has grown very saucy."

The lieutenant made a complying bow, and was retiring to execute these
orders, as Admiral Howell, taking up a bottle not yet entirely deserted by
its former tenant, cried stoutly--"Here, Bennet--I forgot--take a glass of
wine; drink success to ourselves, and defeat to the French all over the
world."

The general pointed significantly to the adjoining cabin of the French
admiral, as he pressed his hand on his lips for silence.

"Oh!" cried Admiral Howell, recollecting himself, continuing in a whisper,
"you can drink it in your heart, notwithstanding."

The signal officer nodded, and drank the liquor. As he smacked his lips
while going on deck, he thought to himself, these nabobs drink famous good
wine.

Although the feelings of General Denbigh were under much more command and
disciplined obedience than those of his friend, yet was he too unusually
elated with his return to home and expected honors. If the admiral had
captured a fleet, _he_ had taken an island;--and hand in hand they had
co-operated in unusual harmony through the difficulties of an arduous
campaign. This rather singular circumstance was owing to their personal
friendship. From their youth they had been companions, and although of
very different characters and habits, chance had cemented their intimacy
in