ttack the Dutch. For the whole of that winter's day the two admirals
watched each other, each endeavouring to obtain the weather-gauge.

"A dark and tempestuous night then coming on separated the fleets of
both ships. The following day the weather moderated. Still for some
hours the _Triumph_ and Tromp's flag-ship the _Brederode_ kept
manoeuvring, until late in the afternoon the Dutchman made a sudden
attempt to take the English admiral at a disadvantage. Blake, however,
by suddenly luffing-up crossed the bow of the _Brederode_, followed by
the _Garland_, against which ship the _Brederode_ ran with a tremendous
crash, when both became hotly engaged. The _Bonaventura_, a trader of
only thirty guns, gallantly came up to the rescue of the _Garland_.
While thus fighting, Admiral Evertz attacked the latter ship, the whole
four being alongside each other, when after a desperate struggle, more
than half the crews of the two English ships being killed and wounded,
they were boarded and carried by the Dutchmen. Meanwhile the _Triumph,
Vanguard_, and _Victory_ were fighting desperately with twenty of the
enemy's ships, frequently almost surrounded before many of the rest of
the fleet had gone into action. The men stood bravely to their guns,
although numbers were falling on their decks, and fought their way on,
until the night coming down put an end to the battle.

"The following morning a thick fog prevented the enemy being seen, and
with his shattered fleet Admiral Blake thought it wise to retire up the
Thames to repair damages and collect his ships in readiness again to
encounter the enemy. Such was the last action which was fought before
we left England," continued the officer; "but I am ashamed to say that
Tromp was seen vauntingly sailing up and down the Channel with a broom
at his mast-head, as if he had swept the English from the sea."

CHAPTER TEN.

A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT.

The news brought by the _Diamond_ made the officers and crews of the
squadron eager to return to England to avenge the insult put upon the
English flag by Van Tromp. The crew of the _Good Hope_, Royalists as
many of them had been, shared equally in the feeling. So would Lancelot
and I, had we not had a more sacred duty to perform; but when we
mentioned our plan to the commodore, he positively forbade our making
the attempt.

"It would be the height of madness to venture in your small ship on the
Barbary coast," he repeated. "Befo