ay toll. His report was that the Atlantic was absolutely empty
of shipping, he having sighted nothing but a British line-of-battle ship
and three frigates during his passage across.

Finally, we reached the cruising-ground that I had selected as being the
most likely spot in which to meet Morillo; and there we cruised for a
full fortnight, just reaching to and fro athwart the wind, under
mainsail, topsail, and jib, and still there was no sign of the
_Guerrilla_ or of any other craft. At length I became so thoroughly
discouraged that one night, soon after sundown, I went below, got out my
chart, and proceeded to study it afresh, with a view to the selection of
some other cruising-ground; and at length, after long and anxious
consideration, I fixed upon a new spot, for which I determined to bear
up next day if by noon nothing had hove in sight.

It chanced, however, that at dawn next morning a craft was made out some
ten miles to windward of us, and the officer of the watch at once came
down below and called me. I went on deck immediately, to find that the
day was just breaking, and the stranger even then only barely visible
against the faint light that was spreading along the eastern horizon.
As we stood looking, we made her out to be a square-rigged vessel,
apparently of no great size, running down toward us under easy canvas;
and the thought came to me that here was the _Guerrilla_ at last, and
that my patience was about to meet its reward. But a few minutes
later--by which time, as I supposed, it had grown light enough to reveal
our canvas to the approaching stranger--the craft suddenly hauled her
wind; and I then saw that she was a brig. That she was not a
merchantman was obvious from the fact that she was under such short
canvas, all she showed being her two topsails, spanker, and jib--just
such canvas as a privateer or gun-brig would show, in fact, on her
cruising-ground; and I at once set her down for one or the other. Of
her nationality, however, it was impossible to correctly judge at that
distance and in the still imperfect light; but there was a certain
subtle something in her appearance that suggested France as the land of
her birth. Meanwhile, as she had rounded-to on the same tack as
ourselves, evidently with the intention of taking a good look at us
before approaching too near, we held on as we were going, taking no
notice whatever of her. In about a quarter of an hour, however, it
became apparent