tly; "if it hadn't been
for that fellow out there we should have been half across the Bay of
Biscay by this time or to-morrow. I only hope, if he comes up with us,
that we'll be after giving him a good drubbing; it will serve him right
if we send him to the bottom."

"What, do you think our father intends to fight the strange ship, should
she prove to be an enemy?" asked Norah, with some natural trepidation in
her voice.

"I'm sure we're not going to be taken, and lose the ship and our cargo,
and be made prisoners and ruined without having a fight for it,"
answered Gerald, "especially as Owen says that he feels pretty sure she
is a privateer. Why he thinks so, I can't quite make out, except that
her masts rake more than those of most men-of-war and her sails are cut
somewhat differently--it is impossible to be certain."

"Grant Heaven that, if there is a fight, our father and you and Owen may
be preserved!" murmured Norah.

"They wouldn't fight without a good hope of success--but we must run our
chance," said Gerald, laughing; "but, you know, we shall stow you down
in the hold among the cargo safe enough."

"Oh no, no! I hope if there is a fight that I may be allowed to remain
on deck, or at least in the cabin, where I may be ready to help any who
are hurt," exclaimed Norah.

"That would never do," answered Gerald; "you might be hit as well as
anybody else, and you wouldn't like to have a leg or an arm shot off."

Poor Norah shuddered at the thoughtless remark of her brother. Gerald
observed the expression of her countenance.

"I didn't intend to frighten you," he said; "I hope that none of us will
be hurt--only of course there's a risk, and we must save you from being
exposed to it. We shall only make a running fight of it, and try to
knock away some of the enemy's spars and prevent her from following us.
If she were to come up with us, she is so much bigger than we are, and
so much more heavily armed, with probably six times as many hands, that
we should have no chance in a broadside fight."

"If we are captured what will happen?" asked Norah.

"I suppose we shall be carried into a French port, and be kept prisoners
till the war is over, and you and I must learn to talk French. It won't
be so very bad, after all, so you needn't look so grave, Norah,"
answered Gerald.

"It will break our poor father's heart, I fear," answered Norah, "and
Owen will be miserable."

"Well, then, though wishing it won'