be seen from the shore.

To the northward, however, they caught sight of a sail just rising above
the horizon, and soon afterwards another was seen to the eastward, but
which way she was standing they could not determine.

As the sun rose the wind decreased, and before long it became perfectly
calm.

"We must lower the sail and take to our oars again," said Bill. "It
won't do to stop where we are."

"I am ready to pull on as long as I have any strength in me," answered
Jack, as he stowed the sail, and got out his oar.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

A NARROW ESCAPE--THE FUGITIVES PICKED UP BY A FRIGATE.

The rest Jack and Bill had obtained while their raft was under sail
enabled them to row with as much vigour as at first; and row they did
with might and main, knowing that their liberty might depend upon their
exertions.

The calm was very trying, for they had expected to be wafted quickly
across the Channel, and row as hard as they could, their progress must
be slow. After rowing for a couple of hours or more, they found
themselves apparently no nearer the ship ahead than they had been at
first.

At length hunger compelled them to lay in their oars and take some
breakfast. They ate a hearty one, for they had plenty of provisions;
but on examining their stock of water they found that they must be very
economical, or they might run short of that necessary of life.

After a short rest, Bill sprang to his feet.

"It won't do to be stopping," he observed. "If we only make a couple of
miles an hour it will be something, and we shall be so much nearer home,
and so much farther away from the French shore."

"I'm afraid that when the mounseers find out that we have escaped, they
will be sending after us," said Jack. "They will be ashamed of being
outwitted by a couple of English boys, and will do all they can to bring
us back."

"I believe you are right, Jack," replied Bill; "only, as they certainly
will not be able to see us from the shore, they won't know in what
direction to pull, and may fancy that we are hid away somewhere along
the coast."

"They'll guess well enough that we should have pulled to the nor'ard,
and will be able to calculate by the set of the tide whereabouts to find
us," said Jack. "We mustn't trust too much to being safe as yet. I
wonder what that vessel to the eastward is. She's a ship, for I can see
her royals above the horizon, and she's certainly nearer than when we
first made her