e to be maintained, and
for each man to listen with all his ears, and to come aft and report if
he heard any sound. Then we all fell to listening with bated breath;
but not a sound was to be heard save the gurgle and wash of the water
about the rudder as the schooner rose and fell gently to the lift of the
sea.

In this way a full quarter of an hour was allowed to elapse, at the
expiration of which the skipper remarked:

"Well, it is clear that, wherever the Indiaman may be, she is not
hereabout. If, as I believe, she has been attacked, and has beaten the
Frenchman off, she has of course proceeded on up channel; but if she has
been taken, her captors have evidently headed at once for some French
port, possibly having been near enough to have heard the hails that
passed between us. If that was the case they would naturally be anxious
to get away from the neighbourhood of their exploit as quickly as
possible, for fear of being interfered with. And, assuming this
supposition of mine to be correct, they will be certain to make for the
nearest French port; which, in this case, is Cherbourg. We will
therefore resume our course toward Cherbourg, when, if we are lucky, we
may get a sight of both the Indiaman and the privateer at daybreak, if
this confounded fog will only lift."

We accordingly squared away once more upon our former course, which we
followed until morning without hearing or seeing anything of the vessels
for which we were looking.

This being our first night out, and my watch being the starboard watch,
I was relieved by Lovell at four o'clock a.m., and under ordinary
circumstances should not have been called until seven bells, or half-
past seven. But I was not greatly surprised when, on being called, I
found that it was still dark, the time being five bells. It was Lovell
who called me.

"George!" he exclaimed, shaking me by the shoulder. "George! rouse and
bitt, my lad; tumble out! The fog is clearing away, and the cap'n
expects to make out the Indiaman at any moment, so it's `all hands'.
Hurry up, my hearty!"

"Ay, ay," grumbled I, only half awake; "I'll be up in a brace of
shakes."

And as Lovell quitted my cabin and returned to the deck, I rolled out of
my bunk and hurriedly began to dress by the lamp that the chief mate had
been considerate enough to light for my convenience.

When I went on deck I found that, as Lovell had stated, the fog was
clearing away, a few stars showing out here