she was able to signal the admiral that the enemy was in sight to
leeward with seventeen of-the-line; but that the latter, instead of
being between the British and the transports, were on the far side.
Kempenfelt, an able tactician as well as seaman, seized his advantage,
pushed between the men-of-war and the convoy, and carried off fifteen
sail laden with military and naval stores, of great money value and
greater military importance. More could not be done without risking a
battle with a too superior force. It was essential, therefore, to
apprise the British commander in the West Indies of the approach of the
French reinforcements as well as of Kempenfelt's successes, and the
_Tisiphone_ was the same day despatched on this errand.

Although he knew it not, Saumarez was now being borne by the tide which
leads on to fortune. The next step in promotion then fixed, and still
fixes, the seniority of a British officer, and the _Tisiphone's_
mission led him straight to it. Easily outsailing the unwieldy mass of
enemies, he reached Barbados, and there learned that the British fleet,
under Sir Samuel Hood, was anchored off the island of St. Christopher,
then invaded by a French army supported by De Grasse's fleet. The tenure
of the island depended upon a fort on Brimstone Hill, still held by the
British; and Hood, though much inferior in force, had by a brilliant
tactical move succeeded in dislodging De Grasse from his anchorage
ground, taking it himself, and establishing there his fleet in such
order that its position remained impregnable. The French, however,
continued cruising to the southward, off the adjoining island of Nevis,
where they interposed between Hood and Saumarez; and the latter could
reach his commander only by threading the reefs lining the passage
between the two islands,--a feat considered hazardous, if not
impracticable. Nevertheless, the _Tisiphone_ effected it by diligent
care and seamanship, joining the fleet on January 31st, 1782.

Saumarez now found himself in the midst of the most active operations,
at the opening of a campaign which promised to be of singular and
critical importance. But in the midst of his rejoicing at the good
fortune which had transferred him from the comparative inactivity of the
Channel fleet, a momentary reverse befell. Called by signal on board the
flag-ship, he received a bag of despatches, with orders to sail that
night for England. As he went dejectedly down the ship's sid