fleet no longer existed, in fact,
the ships of which it was composed having been pretty effectually
dispersed; as soon, therefore, as he could make sail again, Captain
Barnes, the master of the _Truxillo_, determined to shape a course for
Jamaica, and take his chance of being able to reach it unmolested. This
determination he had put into effect with most satisfactory results up
to the moment of his capture, only two sail having been sighted in the
interim, neither of which had taken the slightest notice of him. Nor
when, on the preceding evening just before sunset, the lookout had
sighted and reported the _Clarice_, did her appearance excite the least
uneasiness. She was so small a vessel compared with the _Truxillo_,
that nobody condescended to honour her with more than a glance of the
most cursory description. Moreover, being discovered on the starboard
bow, reaching out from the direction wherein land was known to be, with
her yards artfully ill braced, her canvas badly set, her running gear
hanging all in bights, and her speed--retarded by a topmast studding-
sail being dropped overboard and towed from her lee quarter--less than
that of the veriest Noah's ark of a north-country collier, she was at
once set down as a harmless coaster, and no further notice taken of her.
So skilfully, indeed, had the French skipper managed his approach that
even when, shortly after midnight, his vessel dropped alongside the
Indiaman, the occurrence was regarded as nothing more than an accident
of the most trivial character; and it was not until his crew were
actually swarming up the _Truxillo's_ lofty sides that the alarm was
given, and the crew, snatching handspikes, belaying-pins, billets of
wood from the galley, or any other weapon which they could first lay
hands on, too late bestirred themselves in the defence of their ship.
Notwithstanding their total lack of preparation the English made a
sturdy and protracted resistance, affording the passengers ample time to
arm themselves; and when at length the Indiaman's crew were driven
below, the captain and chief mate retreated to the cabin, which, with
the assistance of the male passengers, they successfully held for fully
twenty minutes after every other part of the ship was in possession of
the enemy. It was during this resistance that the two officers named
received such serious wounds as prostrated them on the saloon floor
apparently lifeless, and it was only with their fall t