an's crew knew what was happening,
a final broadside from the whaler brought down her two topsails and did
other damage aloft. That practically ended the battle.

So thought Captain Portveldt, who now hailed the _Policy_ in not quite
so boastful a voice as when the vessels met earlier in the day.

"Captain Voster, I haf hauled down mein flag. Mein grew will vight no
more, and I must surrender."

A cheer broke from the whaler's crew.

"Very well, Captain Portveldt," called out Foster; "lower a boat, and
come on board with half your crew. But don't try on any boarding tricks,
or you will be the worse for it."

The meeting between the two skippers, notwithstanding the cause, was
good-humoured enough, for Portveldt, apart from his boastfulness, was
not a bad fellow.

"Veil, Captain Voster," he said as he stepped on board the _Policy's_
deck, followed by his big boatswain (who was wounded in the face by a
splinter) and half his crew, "you haf broved der besd mans; und now I
suppose you vill lead me like a liddle dog mit a sdring, und dake me to
Sydney und make vun mit der young lady about me."

"No, no," answered Foster, "I am not so bad as all that Come below and
have a glass of grog."

*****

At daylight one morning some weeks later two ships appeared in sight off
Sydney Heads. Those who were on the look-out were alarmed, for it was
seen that both vessels were armed, and it was conjectured that the ships
must be part of an enemy's squadron which had determined to make an
attack upon the settlement of Port Jackson.

In a very short time an excited crowd gathered together along the line
of cliffs of the outer South Head, each one asking his fellow what was
to be done. Horsemen carried the news into Sydney, and every moment
fresh numbers arrived to swell the crowd of spectators on the cliffs.
A strange sight they must have presented, comprising, as they did, all
sorts and conditions of men--settlers, naval and military officers,
soldiers of the New South Wales Regiment, and a number of the better
class of convicts.

Of course the Deputy Acting Assistant Commissary-General was among the
officers anxiously watching the ships from the heights that overlooked
the harbour, and with him were Dolly and her mother.

Presently Dolly, catching sight of her father's anxious face, began to
cry, and turned to her mother. "Ah!" she said "it has all come true, and
he has come to destroy the settlement!"

"What has come true