e was surprised and considerably
alarmed, till I discharged one of my set speeches at him, pointing out
that my men already had his crew under hatchways, that his vessel was
even then being towed out of harbour, and that, on his accepting the
situation with a good grace, his person and private property would be
treated with all the respect due to the representative of a great nation
for which I entertained feelings of the profoundest admiration and
regard and all that sort of thing. It was a beautiful speech. The
Frenchman at once presented me with his parole, in the usual way, and,
in a reply of some power and pathos, only begged that I would retire a
moment while he put on his trousers. This I gracefully consented to do,
and the incident ended.

Two of my boats were sunk by the fire from the forts on the shore, and
several brave fellows were severely wounded in the hand-to-hand struggle
with the French crew for the possession of the frigate. But the bo'sun's
admirable strategy, and my own reckless gallantry in securing the French
captain at the outset, had the fortunate result of keeping down the
death-rate. It was all for the sake of the Princess that I had arranged
so comparatively tame a victory. For myself, I rather liked a fair
amount of blood-letting, red-hot shot, and flying splinters. But when
you have girls about the place, they have got to be considered to a
certain extent.

There was another supper-party that night, in my cabin, as soon as we
had got well out to sea; and the French captain, who was the guest of
the evening, was in the greatest possible form. We became sworn friends,
and exchanged invitations to come and stay at each other's homes, and
really it was quite difficult to induce him to take his leave. But at
last he and his crew were bundled into their boats; and after I had
pressed some pirate bullion upon them--delicately, of course, but in a
pleasant manner that admitted of no denial--the gallant fellows quite
broke down, and we parted, our bosoms heaving with a full sense of each
other's magnanimity and good fellowship.

The next day, which was nearly all taken up with shifting our quarters
into the new frigate, so honourably and easily acquired, was a very
pleasant one, as everyone who has gone up in the world and moved into a
larger house will readily understand. At last I had grim, black guns all
along each side, instead of a rotten brass carronade: at last I had a
square-rigged ship,