tunately of a very
trifling character, so much so indeed that not one of the wounded was
put on the sick list for even a single day.

The _Hermione_ remained at anchor all night; and on the following
morning Mr Douglas, with a boat's crew, went on shore, drove the small
garrison out of the fort, and spiked and dismounted the guns.

Thus, harmlessly, so far at least as I was concerned, ended my first
brush with the enemy; and though I never heard anything further of the
affair, I received the gratifying information that the first lieutenant
had spoken very highly of my conduct on the occasion when making his
report to Captain Pigot.

CHAPTER FOUR.

AN UNSUCCESSFUL CHASE.

A fortnight later we fell in with and were ordered to join the squadron
of Vice-admiral Parker.

This arrangement was, to the _Hermione's_ officers at least, a source of
intense gratification. For whereas, whilst we were cruising alone, our
opportunities for social intercourse were limited to an occasional
invitation to dine with the captain--and that, Heaven knows, was poor
entertainment enough!--we now had frequent invitations to dine with the
officers of the other ships, or entertained them in return in our own
ward-room. But, though matters were thus made more pleasant for the
officers of the _Hermione_, I cannot say that the change wrought any
improvement in the condition of the ship's company--quite the reverse,
indeed. For, so anxious was Captain Pigot that his ship should be the
smartest in the fleet, that when reefing topsails at night, if any other
ship happened to finish before us, the last man of the yard of the
dilatory topsail was infallibly booked for a flogging next day. And so
with all other evolutions. The result of which was, that while our crew
became noted for their smartness, they daily grew more sullen, sulky,
and discontented in their dispositions, shirking their work whenever
there was a possibility of doing so undetected, and performing their
duties with an ill-will which they took little pains to conceal. This,
of course, only tended to make matters still worse. The skipper could
not fail to notice his increasing unpopularity, and this wounded his
self-love; added to which he soon got the idea into his head--and
certainly not altogether without reason--that the men were combining
together to thwart and annoy him. And this only made him still more
irritable and severe. It seemed at length as though matters w