two bells in the first dog-watch we were within gunshot
of our quarry, when a shot was pitched across his forefoot as a gentle
hint to him to heave-to. But he declined to take the hint, and it was
not until we sent a shot whistling between his masts that the sturdy old
Mynheer could be convinced of the impossibility of escape, when he
hoisted his colours to the peak only to instantly haul them down again
and back his mainyard in token of surrender.

"Mr Delamere," said the Captain, "I shall be obliged to send you to
take possession of that ship. Take the cutter, therefore, with a dozen
men--armed, of course--and proceed on board at once. You may take Mr
Millet (another midshipman) with you, who, with a couple of hands, can
bring back the boat and any message which you may find it necessary to
send. You will have to depend upon the Dutch crew, principally, to work
the ship for you until I can make further arrangements. As soon as you
have shoved off I shall proceed in pursuit of the other ship, and you
had better follow me, so long as there is wind enough for you to do so;
and you must use your own judgment as to the most opportune moment for
sending away Mr Millet and the boat."

A quarter of an hour later, followed by Jack Millet and my crew of
twelve, I clambered in over the bulwarks of the motherly old craft that
we had brought-to, and formally took possession of the _Haarlem_, Dutch
East Indiaman, of 965 tons, homeward-bound from Batavia, full to the
hatches with a rich cargo of Eastern produce, and a cuddy-full of
passengers who seemed to take their capture very philosophically,
especially when I explained to them that they might rely upon being left
in undisturbed possession of all their strictly personal effects. With
the skipper, however,--a most dignified old fellow, white-haired, and
bronzed by nearly half a century of the sea life,--it was different. It
appeared that he was part-owner of the ship, having sunk the entire
savings of a lifetime in the purchase of fifty shares and a quantity of
the cargo in her hold; and although he did his utmost to face his
misfortune as a brave man should, the tears started to his eyes as he
explained to me that the capture of the ship would leave him and his
_frau_ absolutely penniless in their old age. I endeavoured to soften
the blow to him as much as possible by sympathetically murmuring some
idiotic platitude about "the fortune of war," but of course it was no
go