I to
whom the merit actually belongs, but to the ship herself--she works as
handily as a little boat; and I had such perfect confidence in her that
I really longed to try the experiment; although I grant you that I do
not know another ship with which I should care to make the same attempt
under similar conditions."

"No, indeed," agreed the Captain. "Still, it is only by making these
experiments with a new ship that we can learn just how far she may be
depended upon to do a certain thing at a critical moment, and the lesson
is a most useful one to learn. It seems inclined to clear a bit, I
think, for surely that is the French ship I see yonder--there, just
clear of the fore-rigging."

"Yes, sir, that is she, beyond a doubt," answered the first lieutenant.
"And I fancy we shall see her a good deal more distinctly a few minutes
hence, when we bring her more abeam. The driving of a big chap like
that ashore, without so much as a single casualty on our part, ought to
be a feather in our cap, I think, for she is as good as a lost ship; she
will never again leave that berth."

"No," agreed the skipper, "I do not believe she will; indeed it appears
to me that--The glass if you please, Mr Delamere."

I handed him the instrument and he applied it to his eye for a full
minute or more.

"Yes," he continued, handing over the telescope to Mr Howard, "I think
I am not mistaken; take a squint at her yourself, Howard, and tell me
whether she does not look as though her back had already broken."

In his turn the first luff peered long and earnestly through the tube.
At length, lowering it from his eye, he said:

"It is rather difficult to speak with absolute assurance, sir, for the
sea breaks so violently over her that it is almost impossible to get a
sight of the whole of her hull at any given moment; still I am inclined
to say that not only is her back broken, but that she has actually
parted in two amidships. If you will look at her very carefully I think
you will agree with me that her hull shows a distinct twist, and that
her after-end has a much heavier list than her bows."

At this moment eight bells struck, and as the midshipman who was to
relieve me was already on deck, and as I was pretty nearly wet through
with the spray that the frigate was now throwing over herself in
drenching showers, I went below to change and to get a cup of hot
coffee.

The two succeeding hours, constituting the first dog-watch, brought