port beam,
steering west, a course which brought her gradually nearer to the
convoy. She was brig-rigged, and she continued to approach until she
had reached a point some six miles from the fleet; when she suddenly
hauled her wind, and, without showing any colours, stood away to the
southward and eastward, close-hauled, under a heavy press of canvas.
There had been a considerable amount of signalling going on between the
various men-o'-war from the moment of her first appearance, and now
there was still more; but it soon ceased; the last string of flags
displayed by the _Tremendous_ was acknowledged by the _Andromeda_, the
weathermost frigate, and the excitement appeared to be at an end.

"I'm afraid that means trouble for some of us, unless the men-o'-war
keep a good sharp lookout," observed Mr Bowen to George, jerking his
thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the rapidly receding brig,
as the two men walked the deck together, criticising the appearance and
sailing powers of the various craft in company.

"Ah, indeed?" remarked George. "I see you have come to the same
conclusion as myself with regard to the stranger, which is that she is a
French privateer."

"Just that, sir, and nothing else," was the reply. "She is French all
over; no need for her to show her colours; her rig speaks her
nationality plain enough for a blind man to read it. She's been on the
watch for this fleet for the last week or more, you may depend on it,
and now she has gone back to report the news to her consorts that the
West India convoy has sailed. Mark my words, sir; we shall all have to
keep a good sharp lookout, or a few of us will be snapped up yet, in
spite of the men-o'-war, before we sight the next land."

"Well," said George, "we must take care that the _Aurora_ is not one of
the few, that is all. Luckily, we are not exactly the dullest sailer in
the fleet; and we must manage to keep well in the body of it. It is the
outsiders that will run the greatest risk."

For the next three or four days an unusual amount of vigilance was
observable on board the men-o'-war, especially the frigates and
gun-brigs, all of which kept well in the offing during the day,
evidently on the lookout for prowling picaroons, and closing in again
upon the convoy at night; but nothing was seen to keep alive suspicion;
no ships of any description were encountered, save a couple of English
frigates, each of which replied to the private signal a