ued, that they either quitted their
quarters, or, afraid to stand behind the guns when they were fired, no
aim was taken, and the shots were thrown away. Had the two ships been
equally manned, the disadvantage, under all the misfortunes of the
Frenchman, would have been on the side of the frigate; but the gale
itself was more than sufficient employment for the undisciplined crew of
the line-of-battle ship.

The fire from the frigate was kept up with vigour, although the vessel
lurched so heavily as often to throw the men who were stationed at the
guns into the lee scuppers, rolling one over the other in the water with
which the decks were floated; but this was only a subject of merriment,
and they resumed their task with the careless spirit of British seamen.
The fire, difficult as it was to take any precise aim, had the effect
intended, that of preventing the French vessel from rigging anything
like a jury-mast. Occasionally the line-of-battle ship kept more away,
to avoid the grape, by increasing her distance; but the frigate's course
was regulated by that of her opponent, and she continued her galling
pursuit.

CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.

Heaven's loud artillery began to play,
And wrath divine in dreadful peals convey;
Darkness and raging winds their terrors join,
And storms of rain with storms of fire combine.
Some run ashore upon the shoaly land.
BLACKMORE.

It was no time for man to war against man. The powers of heaven were
loose, and in all their fury. The wind howled, the sea raged, the
thunder stunned, and the lightning blinded. The Eternal was present in
all his majesty; yet pigmy mortals were contending. But Captain
M--- was unmoved, unawed, unchecked; and the men, stimulated by his
example, and careless of everything, heeded not the warring of the
elements.

"Sit on your powder-box, and keep it dry, you young monkey," said the
quarter-master, who was captain of the gun, to the lad who had the
cartridge ready for reloading it. The fire upon the French vessel was
warmly kept up, when the master again came on deck, and stated to the
captain, that they could not be more than four leagues from a dead
lee-shore, which, by keeping away after the French vessel, they must be
nearing fast.

"She cannot stand this long, sir. Look to windward--the gale
increases--there is a fresh hand at the `bellows.'"

The wind now redoubled its fury, and the rain, that took a horizontal,
instead of a perp