to find that
the ship had escaped, but he was afraid that it might be long before she
would return, and his hopes of going to sea on board her would be
realised.

The gale lasted scarcely the usual three days, when the weather became
as fine as before, and Roger paid many a visit to the shore in the hopes
of seeing the _Benbow_ frigate coming once more to an anchorage. Though
many ships passed by, they were bound up or down Channel, and none came
near the land.

It was the first great disappointment Roger had ever had. Day after day
went by, but still the _Benbow_ frigate did not make her appearance.
Sometimes he hoped that he should receive a letter from her captain,
telling him to come to some port farther west; where he might go on
board, but no letter was received. The thought occurred to him that the
vessel had been wrecked or had gone down during that dreadful night, but
old Ben assured him that she had got under weigh while the wind was
sufficiently to westward to enable her to weather Portland Bill and its
dreaded Race, and that she was well out at sea before the worst of it
commenced.

"All a sailor wishes for is a stout ship and plenty of sea-room, you
should know, Master Roger, and if he gets that he is content, as I have
a notion Captain Benbow was on that night," observed the old man.

Roger often looked at his chest of clothes, and at length he did up
those Stephen had brought him, and took them back to Langton Park, but
his friend begged him to keep them.

"You may want them still, I hope, and you will not refuse to oblige an
old friend by accepting them," he said.

Meantime Mr Handscombe accompanied Mr Willoughby to pay a visit to
Squire Battiscombe at Langton Park; his object he did not explain.

"I have a notion that your worthy friend has some other object besides
attending to his mercantile affairs in his visit to the west country,"
observed the Colonel to his brother-in-law, who came back to the
manor-house without his companion.

"If you do not insist on knowing, it were as well that I should not tell
you," answered Mr Willoughby. "All I can say is that he is much
touched by the Duke of Monmouth, Lord Shaftesbury, and others, and that
he is a true Protestant and right honest man. He is bound for Bristol,
from which place he promises to write to me, though it may be some time
before I shall hear from him."

The Colonel was satisfied with this explanation; it did not occur to him
tha