possible fight. Young Hudson--a smart little
fellow, barely fourteen years old, and the most juvenile member of our
mess--was soon on deck again with the second lieutenant's telescope; but
by this time the fog had shut the stranger in again, so, for the moment,
friend Hennesey's curiosity had to remain unsatisfied. Not for long,
however; the presumably French frigate had not been lost sight of more
than two or three minutes when I caught a second glimpse of the other
craft--the one first sighted--on our starboard quarter.

"There is the other fellow, sir!" I shouted. "You can see her
distinctly now. And she too is a frigate, and French, unless I am
greatly mistaken."

"By the powers, Mr Courtenay, I hope you may be right," answered
Hennesey. "Ay, there she is," he continued, "as plain as mud in a
wineglass! And if she isn't French her looks belie her. Mr Hudson,
you spalpeen, slip down below and tell the captain that there are a
brace of suspicious-looking craft within a mile of us. And ye may call
upon Misther Dawson and impart the same pleasant information to him."
Then, turning his beaming phiz up to me, he continued--

"Mr Courtenay, it's on the stroke of eight bells, but all the same
you'd better stay where you are for the present, until the fog clears,
since you know exactly the bearings of those two craft. And I'll thank
ye to keep your weather eye liftin', young gentleman; there may be a
whole fleet of Frenchmen within gun-shot of us, for all that we can
tell."

"Ay, ay, sir!" I cheerfully answered, my curiosity having by this time
got the better of my keen appetite for breakfast; moreover, having been
the discoverer of the two sail already sighted, I was anxious to add to
the prestige thus gained by being the first to sight any other craft
that might happen to be in our neighbourhood.

My stay aloft, however, was not destined to be a long one, for the fog
was now clearing fast, and within ten minutes it had all driven away to
leeward of us, revealing the fact that there were but the two sail
already discovered in sight--unless there might happen to be others so
far ahead as to be still hidden in the fog-bank to leeward. But before
I left the royal yard I had succeeded in satisfying myself, by means of
my glass--which had been sent up to me bent on to the signal halliards--
that the two strangers were frigates, and almost certainly French. They
were exchanging signals at a great rate, but we co