566 The King's Own. [MAY, 



" This duty was performed, and the hammocks piped down as the last glim- 

 mering of daylight disappeared. 



" The gale increased rapidly during the first watch. Large drops of rain mingled 

 with the spray, distant thunder rolled to windward, and occasional gleams of 

 lightning pierced through the intense darkness of the night The officers and 

 men of the watches below, with sealed eyes and thoughtless hearts, were in their 

 hammocks, trusting to those on deck for security. But the night was terrific, and 

 the captain, first lieutenant, and master, from the responsibility of their situations, 

 continued on deck, as did many of the officers termed idlers, such as the surgeon 

 and purser, who, although their presence was not required, felt no inclination to 

 sleep. 



" By four o'clock in the morning the gale was at its height. The lightning 

 darted through the sky in every direction, and the thunder-claps for the time over- 

 powered the noise of the wind as it roared through the shrouds. The sea, striking 

 on the fore-channels, was thrown aft with violence over the quarter-deck and 

 waist of the ship as she laboured through the agitated sea. 



" t If this lasts much longer, we must take the foresail off of her, and give her 

 the main-staysail/ said Bully to the master. 



" ' We must, indeed/ replied the captain, who was standing by them. * But 

 the day is breaking. Let us wait a little. Ease her, quarter-master/ 



" ' Ease her it is, sir.' 



" At daylight, the gale having rather increased than shown any symptoms of 

 abating, the captain was giving directions for the foresail to be taken off, when the 

 seaman who was stationed to look out on the lee-gangway, cried out, ' A sail on 

 the lee-beam !' 



" ' A sail on the lee-beam, sir !' retorted the officer of the watch to the captain, 

 as he held on by a rope with one hand, and touched his hat with the other. 



" ' Here, youngster, tell the sentry at the cabin door to give you my deck glass,' 



said Captain M to Merrick, who was one of the midshipmen of the morning 



watch. 



" ' She 's a large ship, sir main and mizen masts both gone,' reported Bully, 

 who had mounted up three or four ratlines of the main rigging. 



" The midshipman brought up the glass ; and the captain, first passing his arm 

 round the fore-brace, to secure himself from falling to leeward with the lurching 

 of the ship, as soon as he could bring the strange vessel into the field of the glass 

 (no easy task under such circumstances, except to the practised eye of a sailor), 

 exclaimed, ' A line-of battle ship, by heavens ! and if I am any judge of a hull, or 

 the painting of a ship, she is no Englishman.' 



" Other glasses were now produced, and the opinion of the captain was corro- 

 borated by that of the officers on deck. 



" ' Keep fast the foresail, Mr. Bully : we 11 edge down to her. Quarter- 

 master, see the signal-haulyards all clear.' 



" The captain went down to his cabin, while the frigate was kept away as he 

 directed, the master standing at the conn. He soon came up again: * Hoist No. 3 

 at the fore, and No. 8 at the main. We '11 see if she can answer the private 

 signal.' 



" It was done ; and the frigate, rolling heavily in the trough of the sea, and im- 

 pelled by the furious elements, rapidly closed with the stranger. 



" In less than an hour they were within half a mile of her; but the private 

 signal remained unanswered. 



" ' -Now, then, bring her to the wind, Mr. Pearce/ said Captain M , who 



had his glass upon the vessel. 



" The frigate was luffed handsomely to the wind not, however, without shipping 

 a heavy sea. The gale, which, during the time that she was kept away before the 

 wind, had the appearance, which it always has, of having decreased in force, now 

 that she presented her broadside to it, roared again in all its fury. 



" Call the gunner clear away the long gun forward try with the rammer 

 whether the shot has started from the cartridge, and then fire across the bows of 

 that vessel.' 



" The men cast loose the gun ; and the gunner, taking out the bed and coin,_to 



