other, and once more they exchanged their streams of fire when abeam.

Ludlow now saw, through the smoke, the ponderous yard of la Fontange
swinging heavily against the breeze, and the main-top-sail come flapping
against her mast. Swinging off from the poop by a backstay that had been
shot away a moment before, he alighted on the quarter-deck by the side of
the master.

"Touch all the braces!" he said, hastily, but still speaking low and
clearly; "give a drag upon the bowlines--luff, Sir, luff; jam the ship up
hard against the wind!"

The clear, steady answer of the quarter-master, and the manner in which
the Coquette, still vomiting her sheets of flame, inclined towards the
breeze, announced the promptitude of the subordinates. In another minute,
the vast volumes of smoke which enveloped the two ships joined, and formed
one white and troubled cloud, which was rolling swiftly before the
explosions, over the surface of the sea, but which, as it rose higher in
the air, sailed gracefully to leeward.

Our young commander passed swiftly through the batteries, spoke
encouragingly to his people, and resumed his post on the poop. The
stationary position of la Fontange, and his own efforts to get to
windward, were already proving advantageous to Queen Anne's cruiser. There
was some indecision on the part of the other ship, which instantly caught
the eye of one whose readiness in his profession so much resembled
instinct.

The Chevalier Dumont had amused his leisure by running his eyes over the
records of the naval history of his country, where he had found this and
that commander applauded for throwing their top-sails to the mast,
abreast of their enemies. Ignorant of the difference between a ship in
line and one engaged singly, he had determined to prove himself equal to a
similar display of spirit. At the moment when Ludlow was standing alone on
the poop, watching with vigilant eyes the progress of his own vessel, and
the position of his enemy, indicating merely by a look or a gesture to the
attentive Trysail beneath, what he wished done, there was actually a wordy
discussion on the quarter-deck of the latter, between the mariner of
Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the gay favorite of the salons. They debated on the
expediency of the step which the latter had taken, to prove the existence
of a quality that no one doubted The time lost in this difference of
opinion was of the last importance to the British cruiser. Standing
gallant