MEMOIR. 15 



aloft. In a moment the hands were turned up. " Shorten 

 sail ! " " Every man at his station." " Trip up the lower stu'n- 

 sails ! " " Lower away ! " " Eig in your booms ! " And the vast 

 expanse of stu'nsails were rapidly folded in, the ship's speed 

 gradually decreased, till at length, with the maintopsail laid 

 aback, she remains stationary, though pitching and tossing over 

 the waves like an impatient courser curvetting and plunging 

 when he is reined in by his rider. In the meanwhile, though, 

 where's the brig ? We had shot nearly a mile beyond her, and 

 in the bustle of the moment no one had been watching her 

 motions. She had turned her head inshore, and was crowding 

 all sail to get within the range of the land batteries' guns. 

 However, we were not long in following her, and a good shot 

 from the bow-guns tore off one half of her maintop-gallant mast, 

 and she was again reduced to surrender herself. We were sur- 

 prised on Hearing her to see the crew all dressed in blue and 

 white in the man-of-war fashion, as well as their smartness aloft, 

 and we soon discovered that the brig had already been taken by 

 the ' Hydra,' and the mid who had been put in charge of her had 

 been leading us this long wild-goose chase for his own private 

 amusement. Our captain, of course, was very angry, but he let 

 him go with a slight reprimand. I believe he got off so well 

 from the captain's admiration of his adroitness. 



At last the sulphur question was settled, and we went into 

 Naples Bay, where we remained at anchor for about a month. 

 Our ship was continually crowded with visitors, and regattas, 

 balls, and parties, on board and ashore, succeeded one another in 

 rapid succession. 



