e deck
the Frenchman was chattering away in very broken English in the most
lively manner, and gesticulating with his hands and shoulders as only a
Frenchman can. But notwithstanding the animation with which he was
conversing, I could not help noticing that his eyes were all over the
ship, not in an abstracted fashion, but evidently with the object of
thoroughly "taking stock" of us. It struck me, too, that his English
was too broken to be quite genuine--or rather, to be strictly correct,
that it was not always broken to the same extent. For instance, he once
or twice used the word "the," uttering it as plainly as I could; and at
other times I noticed that he called it "ze" or "dee." And I detected
him ringing the changes in like manner on several other words. From
which I inferred that he was not altogether as fair and above-board with
us as he wished us to believe. I felt half disposed to seize an early
opportunity to mention the matter to Mr Austin; but then, on the other
hand, I reflected that Monsieur Le Breton could hardly have any possible
reason for attempting to deceive us in any way, and so for the moment
the matter passed out of my mind.

At length our visitor bowed himself down over the side, throwing one
last lingering look round our decks as he did so, and in another five
minutes was once more on board his own ship, which, hoisting up her
boat, filled her main topsail, and, with a dip of her ensign by way of
"good-bye," resumed her course.

"Thank Heaven I've got rid of the fellow at last!" exclaimed Captain
Vernon with a laugh, when the brig was once more fairly under weigh.
"He has pumped me dry; such an inquisitive individual I think I never in
my life encountered before. But I fancy I have succeeded in persuading
him that he will do no good by hanging about the coast hereabouts. We
want no Frenchmen to help us with our work; and I gave him so very
discouraging an account of the state of things here, that I expect they
will take a trip northward after looking into the river."

We continued running off the land for the remainder of that day, the
whole of the following night, and up to noon next day, with a breeze
which sent us along, under topsails only, at a rate of about six knots
an hour. On the following day, at six bells in the forenoon watch (11
a.m.), the look-out aloft reported a something which he took to be
floating wreckage, about three points on the port bow; and Mr Smellie,
our s