eir white canvas was seen ahead, and hopes were
entertained that they would be overtaken before they could reach the
shelter of Dunkirk, towards which they were steering. They, however,
made good use of their heels, and before a shot could reach them they
had run into Dunkirk.

The fleets of England were, however, enabled to punish the French
severely for their audacious project of invading our "tight little
island," and for their still more nefarious plan, which had been hatched
under the sanction of their king, for assassinating the constitutional
and Protestant monarch whom her people had chosen, and imposing on them
in his stead a Papist and a tyrant.

Jack kept his eyes and ears open, and picked up all the information he
could as to what was going forward in all directions. He had resolved
when he joined to become an officer, and he knew very well that the only
way of accomplishing his object was to attend strictly to his duties, to
be obedient to his superiors, and to gain all the information in his
power.

Among the novelties which had lately been introduced into the ships of
the Royal Navy were brass box-compasses. These were placed in front of
the steering-wheels, and were a great improvement upon the former
contrivances for the same object. A large number of ships having been
wrecked on the Eddystone Rock, off Plymouth, an application was made to
the Trinity House to erect a lighthouse on it, which was begun that very
year, and it was supposed that it would be completed in the course of
the next three years. The masters and owners of ships agreed to pay a
penny per ton outwards and inwards to assist in defraying the expense.

A register for thirty thousand seamen was established. They were to be
in readiness at all times for supplying the Royal Navy, and were to
receive a bounty of forty shillings yearly. On the 29th of January of
that year, the "Royal Sovereign," built in the reign of Charles the
First, and at that time the largest ship ever built in England, was by
accident burned at her moorings in Gillingham Reach, in the river
Medway.

"Well, Deane, and how do you like a sea life?" asked Smedley, after Jack
had been some time on board.

"I will tell you when I've been longer afloat," answered Jack. "From
what I have seen of it, I am ready to stick to it; that's what I've got
to say. And how do you like it?"

"To confess the truth, I am getting rather tired of it," answered
Smedley. "I t