whole coast from sight. Notwithstanding the fog, a
fresh breeze was blowing. We were steering on our usual course under
easy sail, when, as I was on deck, with Martin pacing a short distance
from me, he exclaimed--

"There's a tall ship close to us," and looking in the direction he
pointed, I could dimly see through the fog a dark mass of canvas. The
sound of the rattling and creaking of blocks, too, reached our ears.

"She's an enemy; to your guns, lads!" he shouted. "Go and tell the
captain, Master Ben."

I ran aft to tell the commander, who, followed by the admiral, appeared
on deck.

"Silence!" he cried; "go to your quarters without beat of drum."

The guns were cast loose, and powder and shot brought from below, and
our men stood ready for the next order. The phantom ship, for such she
appeared, loomed larger and larger. The admiral divined her object--to
run us on board.

"She's either the Portugale flag-ship or maybe that of Prince Rupert's
himself," whispered Martin to me.

One thing was certain, that she was not one of our squadron. Silently
she glided up under our lee.

"Now give it her, my lads," cried the admiral, and every gun from the
starboard broadside was fired into the stranger.

Down came her fore-topmast by the run. Silence being no longer
necessary, our crew gave a hearty cheer, hoping that we were about to
tackle the stranger, but being under a press of sail, she shot past
ahead, and so dense was the fog, that in a few seconds she had
disappeared. We eagerly sought for her, but we searched in vain.

Next day, the fog having cleared away, the united fleets were
discovered, but our admiral's object was to avoid a regular engagement,
as no good could thereby be attained, and he contented himself with
cutting off first one and then another of the enemy's ships.

"I know who tried to surprise us yesterday evening," exclaimed Martin.
"The tall ship with the Prince's flag flying, and her fore-topmast gone,
but she would have been surprised herself had she not slipped out of the
way."

At length the admiral gained information that another large Brazilian
fleet was at sea, which, being of far more value than the empty hulls of
the Prince's squadron, we sailed in search of. After cruising about for
several weeks, we heard that some of the Brazilian ships had taken
refuge in Spanish ports, and that others were at the Azores. We
accordingly sailed back to the Tagus. Scarcely had we