ents, for they said that if we had not made prize of their
vessel, they should have been quietly continuing their voyage.

Including the blacks, there were eight Frenchmen on board, while, with
Mr Randolph, we only mustered seven in all. We had therefore to keep a
very constant look-out over them, lest they should attempt to take the
vessel from us, a trick which more than once had before been played, and
sometimes with success.

I had always thought Mr Randolph a good-natured, merry, skylarking
youngster; but the moment he took charge of the prize, he became a most
diligent, careful officer. He was always on deck, always on the
look-out, at all hours of the day and night.

I cannot say so much in favour of the officer who had charge of the
_Nautile_. He was a mate, and consequently superior in rank to Mr
Randolph. Unfortunately they had had some dispute of long standing, and
Mr Simon, the mate I speak of, never lost an opportunity of showing his
enmity and dislike to his younger brother officer. Here we had a
practical example of how detrimental to the interest of the service are
any disputes between officers.

To return, however, to the time when we first got on board our
respective prizes, as they lay hove-to close to the _Albion_. The
signal to us to make sail to the northward was hoisted from her
masthead, and while she stood away after the tea-chests, we shaped a
course for England.

How different must our feelings have been to those of the unfortunate
Frenchmen, who saw the ships sailing away from them, while they had to
go back to be landed they could not tell where, many months elapsing
before they would again return to their families!

The trade winds were at this time blowing across our course,--indeed
almost ahead, so that we made but very slow progress. At first we kept
close enough together, though there was no interchange of civilities
between the two crews. When we were within hail, and the _Nautile_ was
going along with her main-topsail yard on the cap, while we had every
sail set, and our yards braced sharp up, her people jeered and laughed
at us, and called us slow coaches, and offered to give us a tow, and
asked what messages they should take to our wives and families in
England. This they only did when the officers were below. We replied
that it was no fault of ours, that if they liked to exchange ships, we
could say the same to them, but that we would not, for we could tell
them th