the "Cerf" with eighteen guns, and the
"Vengeance" with twelve. Though not a very formidable armada, this
little fleet might have done great good to the American cause, had
Paul Jones been given proper authority, and had his daring plans been
countenanced by the French authorities. But, though nominally
commander-in-chief, Jones soon found that he had no means of enforcing
his authority. He found that the three Frenchmen in command of the
other vessels of the squadron looked upon him as a partner in the
enterprise, rather than as a leader with absolute authority. They paid
no heed to the signals set at the fore of the flag-ship. They wilfully
disobeyed orders. Worse than all, they proved to be poor seamen; and
the squadron had hardly got into blue water before the "Alliance" was
run foul of the "Richard," losing her own mizzen-mast, and tearing
away the head and bowsprit of the flag-ship. Thus, after long months
of preparation for sea, Jones found himself forced to return to port
to refit. It has been charged that this accident was not altogether
accidental, so far as the "Alliance" was concerned. Landais, the
commander of that vessel, hated Jones, and was insanely jealous of the
man who outranked him. The collision was only the first of a series of
mishaps, all of which Landais ascribed to accident, but which
unprejudiced readers must confess seem to have been inspired by malice
or the results of gross incompetence.

A few days sufficed to repair all damage, and again the vessels sought
the open sea. When two days out, a strange sail was sighted. Jones
crowded all sail on the "Richard," and set out in hot pursuit, but
found, to his bitter disappointment, that his ship was a wretchedly
slow sailer. Therefore, signalling to the swift-sailing "Cerf" to
follow the stranger, he abandoned the chase to the smaller craft. All
night long the cutter followed in the wake of the stranger, and when
day broke the two vessels were near enough to each other to readily
make out each other's character. The stranger proved to be a small
English cruiser of fourteen guns. Her captain was no poltroon; for as
soon as he discovered that the ship from which he had been trying to
escape was but little larger than his own, he came about, and, running
down upon the "Cerf," opened fire. The action was a sharp one. The two
vessels were fairly matched and well fought. The thunder of their
broadsides resounded far and wide over the ocean. For an hou