the captain. "Should the boats get up with us, we must try and
beat them off; we were not afraid of the ship herself, and those
Frenchmen, though brave enough, are not like our own fellows in
cutting-out affairs. See to the guns, however, and get ammunition up on
deck, for, should they come, we mayn't have much time to spare."

The _Ouzel Galley_ stood on in mid-channel; the well-known landmarks,
church steeples, country-seats, and castles on either side were
recognised; Credda Head, a long, high point at the entrance of the
harbour, was neared, when Duncannon Fort came into view. Still the
daring privateer followed as if her bold captain did not yet despair of
overtaking the chase. The wind, as the captain had hoped it would do,
held fair, blowing over the low land on the east side of the harbour;
once up with Duncannon Fort the _Ouzel Galley_ would be safe, both from
the privateer herself and from an attack by her boats. At length Credda
Head was rounded.

"Hurrah!" cried Gerald, who, not having to attend to the navigation of
the ship, was watching the privateer, "she's afraid of standing on
further--she's about; but, hillo!--she has hoisted English colours."

"No proof that she is not French, though," answered the captain; "it is
simply to deceive the people on shore."

"At all events, she's standing out of the harbour again, and won't do us
any mischief," cried Gerald.

"Thank Heaven!" exclaimed the captain, "we're safe at last." And the
long breath he drew clearly showed how anxious he had been.

"A boat coming off from under the Head!" sang out Dan from forward. The
topsail sheets were let fly, the courses trailed up to allow the boat to
come alongside, and a river pilot stopped on deck.

"Welcome back to Old Ireland!" he exclaimed, as he shook the captain's
hand. "Shure, it's a pleasure to see the _Ouzel Galley_ again, for it's
long we've been looking for her, and many began to say that she was
lost, or taken by the French."

"We very nearly were so, but we managed to take some of these same
gentlemen instead," answered the captain with a laugh, to which he could
now give vent; "and only just now we had a narrow squeak for it. What
do you think of yonder ship, Pat?"

"Of course, she's an English man-of-war," answered the pilot; "we've
been expecting one in here for some days past, and we thought that craft
was her. To say the truth, we were going on board her; for, shure, the
_Ouzel Galley_ kn