d he is a favourite with all on board."

"I am glad to hear that, though it makes me the more sorry that we
should have missed each other, but I hope before long to fall in with
him," observed Rayner.

A breeze springing up, the officers retired to their respective vessels,
and the _Lily_ and _Ariel_ parted company, the former rejoining the
frigate. While off Antigua, the wind being from the eastward, the
frigate made the signal of three strange sail to the south-west, and
directly afterwards to give chase.

All the canvas they could carry was set. In a short time one of the
strangers was seen to haul up to the northward, and the _Lily_ was
ordered to go in pursuit of her. She was apparently the smallest of the
three, but was still likely to prove no mean antagonist. As the _Lily_
appeared to be gaining on her, the commander gave the order to prepare
for action. The frigate meantime was standing after the other two
vessels. Before long her topsails, and finally her royals, disappeared
beneath the horizon.

"We shall have her all to ourselves, and we'll see how soon we can take
her," observed Mr Horrocks to the second lieutenant. "It is some time
since you smelt powder, Lascelles."

"Last time I smelt a good deal of it, when we were beating off a ship
twice our size, and should have taken her, too, had she not gone down in
the night," answered the second lieutenant, in his usual quiet tone. "I
got my promotion in consequence."

"And wrote an ode to victory, eh?" said Mr Horrocks, who was fond of
bantering his brother lieutenant on his fondness for poetry.

"And it was considered good," responded the young officer.

"You will have an opportunity of exercising your poetical talents before
long on the same subject, I hope," observed the first lieutenant. "We
are gaining fast on the chase."

Just then the look-out from the mast-head shouted, "Sail on the
starboard bow!"

"Go and see what she is like," said the commander to Rayner.

Our hero hurried aloft, his telescope hanging by a strap at his back.
He was quickly joined by the second lieutenant. They were of opinion
that she was a large craft, and that the object of the chase was to draw
the _Lily_ away from the frigate, so that the corvette might have two
opponents to contend with.

"We must manage to take her before she reaches the other, then we shall
have time to prepare for a second action," observed Mr Lascelles.

"Can she be the _Ariel_?" a