hing.

"Thank you, Mr Delamere," the skipper said when I had finished; "you
seem to have brought me a very full and complete report--complete
enough, at all events, to give me a pretty clear idea of the state of
affairs aboard the prize. From what you tell me, I judge that Mr
Percival will have his hands full for some hours to come; is not that
so?"

I answered that that was precisely how the matter appeared to me.

"Very well," he said. "Then as soon as the carpenter has finished here
he must go aboard the prize, taking with him as many men as Mr Howard
can spare. You shall go with him, remaining aboard the _Gelderland_
until the able-bodied portion of her crew can be transferred to this
ship, when you will undertake that piece of work, using, if need be, to
facilitate the operation, such of the prize's boats as will float. You
had better find Mr Howard and acquaint him with this arrangement, and
then tell the carpenter what I want him to do. It appears to me that
Mr Lucas is now almost, if not quite, ready to turn over to the prize.
If so, you had better take him across."

Away I trotted, and presently found the first lieutenant on the
forecastle, supervising the labours of the boatswain and the carpenter,
the latter of whom was just putting the finishing touches to his part of
the work. I delivered both my messages, picked out fifteen more men to
go aboard the prize,--that being all that Mr Howard could spare,--
hustled them, with the carpenter and his crew, down the side, and
presently found myself again aboard the prize.

Here, short as had been the duration of my absence, I found a great
improvement in the appearance of things. Mr Percival and his gang had
been working like demons, and had made great advances toward a general
clearance of the wreckage--so much so, indeed, that he was quite ready
for the Carpenter to start work at once; while, as for the Dutch crew,
they had completed their task of carrying below their killed and
wounded, and were busily engaged in washing down the main-deck and
otherwise obliterating, as far as might be, the evidences of the recent
battle. I allowed them to finish this job--although I knew the skipper
to be very anxious to be off in chase of the two Indiamen--for I had
noticed, while crossing over to the prize on the last occasion, that the
wind had fined away to a mere zephyr, and that the Indiamen were still
hull-up; while there was every appearance of the weather f