shall put you in Joe's
watch, and then you will learn something. It is always as well to
pick up knowledge, when you get a chance; and if we do take any
prizes it will be your duty, as supercargo, to take an inventory of
what they have on board."

The next morning Bob packed his trunks, the first thing; then he
went round to the professor's, and told him that he was going away,
for a fortnight or so, for a cruise; then he went down to the port,
and met Joe Lockett when he landed, and brought him up to
breakfast, as had been arranged with the captain the night before.
After that, he went with him up the Rock to look at the
Spaniards--whose tents were a good deal more numerous than they had
been, and who were still at work, arming the forts.

"If I were the general," Joe said, "I would go out at night, with
two or three regiments, and spike all those guns, and blow up the
forts. The Dons wouldn't be expecting it; and it would be a good
beginning, and would put the men in high spirits.

"Do you see, the Spanish fleet has drifted away almost out of
sight, to the east. I thought what it would be, at sunset
yesterday, when I saw that they did not enter the bay; for the
current would be sure to drive them away, if the wind didn't spring
up.

"Well, I hope we shall get a little, this evening. And now I must
be going down, for there is a good deal to do, before we sail."

Chapter 10: A Cruise In A Privateer.

Bob was on board the Antelope a quarter of an hour before gunfire.
No movement was made until after sunset, for some of the gunboats
over at Algeciras might have put out, had they seen any
preparations for making sail; but as soon as it became dark the
anchor was hove, the sails dropped and sheeted home, and the brig
began to move slowly through the water. As she breasted Europa
Point, her course was altered to east by north, and the Rock faded
from sight in the darkness.

The first mate was on watch, and Bob walked up and down the deck
with him.

"There is no occasion for you to keep up," Joe Lockett said. "You
may just as well turn."

"Oh no, I mean to keep the watch with you!" Bob said. "The captain
said that I was to be in your watch, and I want you to treat me
just the same way as if I were a midshipman under you."

"Well, if you were a midshipman, there wouldn't be anything for you
to do, now: still, if you like to keep up, of course you can do so.
I shall be glad of your company, and you will hel