of vegetables in it which they called soup, and that upon the sea
especially they were almost contemptible. Certainly the long
succession of naval victories that our fleets had won afforded some
justification for our sailors' opinion of the enemy. But in fights
between detached vessels the French showed many times that in point of
courage they were in no way inferior to our own men; and indeed our
victories were mainly due to two causes. In the first place, the
superior physique and stamina of our men, the result partly of race
and partly of feeding; they were consequently able to work their guns
faster and longer than could their adversaries. In the second place
the British sailor went into battle with an absolute conviction that
he was going to be victorious; while the Frenchman, on the other hand,
although determined to do his best to win, had from the first doubts
whether the British would not be as usual victorious.

It is probable that the French sailors hated us far more than our men
did them. We had lowered their national prestige, had defeated them
whenever we met them, had blockaded their ports, ruined their trade,
inflicted immense damage upon their fisheries, and subsidized other
nations against them, and were the heart and center of the coalition
against which France was struggling to maintain herself. It was not
therefore surprising that among the hundred and ten men on board La
Belle Marie there were many who viewed Ralph with hostile eyes and who
only refrained from personal violence owing to the strict order the
captain had given that he should be well treated.

Toward midday the fog lifted suddenly and the wind freshened, and
lookouts were stationed in the tops. There was little hope indeed of
any English merchantmen having come over so far toward the French
coast, but British cruisers might be anywhere. A few distant sails
could be seen far out on the horizon proceeding up or down channel;
but the captain of La Belle Marie had no idea of commencing operations
until very much further away from the shores of England. All day the
vessel ran down the French coast; and although he was a captive, and
every mile reeled off the log took him further from home, Ralph could
not help admiring the speed at which the brig slipped through the
water, cutting the waves with her sharp bow and leaving scarcely a
ripple behind her, so fine and clean was her run. Very different was
this smooth, gliding motion from the qu