rberus_ had been somewhat dull of late, except when
the little Mounseer, as they called Alphonse, scraped his fiddle. They
were animated enough at present. Even the sick and wounded were eager
to come on deck. Devereux especially insisted that he was able to
return to his duty. Mr Lancet said that he might not suffer much, but
that he had better remain out of harm's way, as even a slight wound
might prove fatal. He would listen to no such reasoning, and getting
Paul to help him on with his uniform, he crawled on deck.

"Gerrard," he said as he was dressing, "if I am killed, you are to be my
heir as regards my personal effects. I have written it down, and given
the paper to Mr Lancet, witnessed by Mr Bruff, so it's all right. I
have an idea who you are, though you never told me."

Captain Walford was surprised at seeing Devereux on deck, and though he
applauded his zeal, he told him that he had better have remained below.

As soon as the stranger discovered the _Cerberus_, she made all sail to
escape. It was questioned whether or not she was the _Alerte_, but one
thing was certain, that the _Cerberus_ was overhauling her, and had soon
got near enough to see her hull from aloft. It was now seen, that
though she was a large ship, she was certainly not a frigate; it was
doubted, indeed, whether she was French. The opinion of Alphonse was
asked.

"She is not the _Alerte_, she is a merchantman and French; she will
become your prize. I am sorry for my poor countrymen, but it is the
fortune of war," he answered as he turned away with a sigh.

A calm, of frequent occurrence in those latitudes, came on, and there
lay the two ships, rolling their sides into the water, and unable to
approach each other.

"If the stranger gets a breeze before us she may yet escape," observed
the captain. "Out boats, we must attack her with them."

The sort of work proposed has always been popular among seamen. There
was no lack of volunteers. The boats were speedily manned; the
second-lieutenant went in one boat; old Noakes, though badly wounded,
was sufficiently recovered to take charge of another; Peter Bruff had a
third. Paul was seized with a strong desire to go also. In the hurry
of lowering the boats, he was able to slip into the bows of the last
mentioned, and to hide himself under a sail thrown in by chance. Reuben
Cole went in the same boat. Devereux watched them away, wishing that he
could have gone also. The boat