A VOYAGE IN THE NORTH SEAS. 395 



anchor in a deep bight within a mile of them. Signals were hoisted 

 and guns fired to attract the attention of the strangers, and in a few 

 minutes they had the pleasure of seeing a boat Jet down the side and 

 come towards them. The vessel proved to be one of a small fleet of 

 French frigates, which, in pursuance of th,e vain attempts of Na- 

 poleon Bonaparte to break the maritime resources of Britain, had 

 been despatched to these seas for the purpose of destroying as many 

 of the whalers ar>d fur-traders as possible. The crews had been 

 ordered direct from the West Indies, where they had formerly been 

 cruising, to Davis' Straits, and were in a wretched state for want of 

 the necessary clothing to resist the rigors of the climate. It is un- 

 necessary to state that the romance and the gallantry of the French 

 officers being interested in the sufferings of Arundel and his com- 

 panion, they received a welcome permission to return to Europe, 

 with the promise of every comfort which the circumstances of their 

 entertainers could procure. 



The sun had been for some time beneath the horizon, when they 

 left the huts, and proceeded to the boat, accompanied by their Indian 

 friends, who seemed much affected at losing their gentle guests. 

 The night was perfectly clear, and a few stars had stolen into the 

 sky after their long banishment during the Polar summer. The old 

 man, observing the distress of his young- friends, spoke to them in a 

 cheerful tone, blessed them, and bade them be happy together. 



On board the French frigate there was a good deal of insubordi- 

 nation on account of the hardships to which the half-clad men were 

 exposed, much blaspheming, and a most abominable smell of garlic. 

 The word " sacre " seemed breathed from every recess in the ship, 

 or rather the surrounding atmosphere seemed spontaneously to utter 

 it. 



The captain was precisely such a personage as is in Love's Labour 

 Lost described in the character of one intituled, nominated, or called 

 *' Don Adriano de Armado." " His humour was lofty, his discourse 

 peremptory, his tongue filed, his eye ambitious, his gait majestical, 

 and his general behaviour vain, ridiculous, and thrasonical. He was 

 too picked, too spruce, too affected, too odd, as it were, too peri- 

 grinate, as I may call it." Nevertheless, though he could scarcely 

 help discovering this character to his guests, whom as English people 

 he hated with all the national hatred which existed between the two 

 nations in the earlier part of the present century, yet he could not 

 but yield to the charms of Flora and the gentlemanly demeanour of 

 Arundel the courtesy which their situation demanded. 



The frigate, called the Blanche, was now about to cross Davis' 

 Straits, keeping as much as possible in the track of the returning 

 whale-ships. After cruising about for some time without success, 

 they at length fell in with two whalers bearing down towards them 

 under a press of sail. These vessels sometimes carried a considerable 

 number of guns, and preparations were therefore made for the struggle 

 which might probably take place. The Blanche was disguised like a 

 free trader, and displayed English colours. The whale-ships there- 

 fore approached without anticipating danger, when a shot struck the 

 water before the bows of one of them, and, skipping from wave to 



