lloa and bawl at their shipmates to come and help them,
but it was often long before their places were taken. On looking aloft
he saw, too, that the masts were wounded in several places, and though
the ship was placed in much greater peril by the way she had been
knocked about, it was with no little satisfaction that he observed the
battering she had received from the "Thisbe's" and "Concorde's" guns.
Before long he encountered Mr Calder, whose eyes were engaged as his
had been.

"What do you think, sir, of the state of affairs?" he asked.

"That they are as bad, Morton, as well can be," was the answer.
"Neither captain nor officers know what they are about, and it will be a
miracle if they do not cast the ship away."

"Of course they will," observed Rawson, who had just then joined them;
"I said from the first that we should have no good luck, and what I said
has come true."

"But other chaps among us said that we should have good luck," remarked
Twigg, the master's assistant, who was always fond of putting Rawson in
the wrong. "Now, you see, old fellow, it was just heads or tails--even,
you'll understand--and as ill-luck would have it, you happened to win."

"It's the only thing I ever did win, then," answered poor Rawson, in a
melancholy tone.

"Well, well, Rawson, the next time you prophesy ill, we'll all pray that
you may prove a false prophet," observed Mr Calder. "But, my lads, it
may before long be of very little consequence to most of us who is right
and who is wrong; unless these Frenchmen are steering for some shelter,
and know the coast perfectly, they will run us hard and fast on it
before the world is many hours older."

Ronald on this said he would go and learn what he could from young
Gerardin, who would probably be able to ascertain what the Frenchmen
proposed doing.

Ronald found his way to the sick-bay, where Alfonse was in his cot, able
to sit up and talk without difficulty.

"What we are going to do, you demand?" he answered. "Why, let the ship
drive and go to destruction, for what I can tell; all on board seem to
have lost their wits, from the captain downwards. They would pitch me
out of the ship if they heard my remarks, so do not repeat them."

When Ronald returned on deck he found things in no way mended. The
French crew appeared to be obeying their officers very slowly and
unwillingly; indeed, the ship was already in a state of semi-mutiny.
The officers, too, seemed to be iss