y eye on him. When a man has found a good
captain, if he's wise he will follow him whenever he can.

"I can't now remember all the places we went to. First, we were one of
the Channel fleet. Then we were sent out to the Mediterranean, where
our captain astonished the admirals, and made the soldier-generals
almost tear their eyes out by the way he did things. He took care that
the weeds should not grow to the bottom of the ship he commanded. First
we had to conquer the island of Corsica [Note 1]. We drove the French
out of every place but the strong fort of Bastia, so we landed, and
hauled our guns up the heights, and kept up such a hot fire on the place
that it gave up, and then the soldiers marched in and gained the glory.
Then we took a place called Calvi. Here it was that a shot, striking
the ground, threw up some sand in the captain's eye, and though we
thought but little of it at the time, he never saw again with that eye.
It was very hard work, and the country was unhealthy, and many of us
grew sick, so that we were heartily glad when it was over. There was
something better in store for us too. News was brought us that the
French fleet, nearly twice as strong as ours, was on the look-out for
us. Our fleet was under the command of Admiral Hotham. You may be sure
that we kept a bright look-out for the enemy. At last they hove in
sight, and one of our frigates, the `Inconstant,' got so close that she
brought to action the `Ca Ira,' a French eighty-four, which had carried
away her main and foretop masts. The `Inconstant,' however, was obliged
to bear away, and a French frigate came up and took the line-of-battle
ship in tow, while two other line-of-battle ships guarded her on her
weather bow.

"Our captain had been watching all that took place, and, though we had
no line-of-battle ship to support us, we made all sail in chase. There
was not a man on board whose heart didn't beat high with pride at the
way we went into action against odds so great; but we Agamemnons knew
well enough what our captain could do and would do. As soon as the
enemy could bring their guns to bear, they kept firing away their
stern-chasers at us. We stood on, without answering a shot, till we
were within a hundred yards of them. `Starboard the helm!' cried the
captain. The after-sails were brailed up, and the ship falling off, our
broadside was brought to bear on the retreating enemy. Now we opened a
tremendous fire on them