Under the Meteor Flag | Page 9

topgallant-sails."
"Thank you, sir," returned the skipper shortly; then turning upon his
heel he went below to his cabin, Patterson having come on deck a

minute or two before, to announce that breakfast was ready.
The news quickly spread through the ship that the sail in sight was
supposed to be a Frenchman; and as the two vessels were approaching
each other, and an action, in the event of Mr Clewline's supposition
proving correct, inevitable, a considerable amount of excitement
prevailed. The men bolted their breakfast in less than half the time
usually devoted to that meal, and returned to the deck the moment they
had disposed of their last morsel; while the officers betrayed at least an
equal amount of eagerness, two or three of them hastily swallowing a
cup of scalding coffee, and munching up a biscuit, without giving
themselves time even to sit down.
"Old Sennitt"--as he was irreverently termed in the midshipmen's
berth-- was one of the earliest to put in an appearance after breakfast,
and his first act was to go straight aloft with his glass. He devoted more
time even than Mr Clewline to the examination of the stranger, and it
was not until Captain Brisac had returned to the deck and hailed him
that he made a move.
As he came aft and joined his superior upon the quarter-deck,
exultation was visible in his face, and in every movement of his body.
"It is all right, sir," he exclaimed; "she is French beyond all possibility
of doubt. The cut of her canvas is alone sufficient evidence of her
nationality; but in order that there may be no room for question of it,
she has furled her royals, and has run up the tricolour to her
main-royal-mast-head. She is a brig, as far as I can make out her rig,
coming end-on to us as she is, and seems about our size, or perhaps a
trifle larger. I suppose we may as well clear for action at once?"
"If you please, Mr Sennitt; and, not to be behindhand with them, let
them see the colour of our bunting before you do anything else."
The order to clear for action was received with enthusiasm; and the
little round ball which immediately soared aloft, breaking abroad and
displaying the naval ensign as it touched the main truck, was greeted
with a rousing cheer. The "green" hands were by this time not quite so

verdant as they had been a few days before, Mr Sennitt having drilled
them most remorselessly at every available opportunity--and as they
had been very judiciously intermingled with the experienced "salts," in
appointing them to their various stations, the work went on with, as
Captain Brisac remarked, "very creditable celerity." In little more than
half an hour, the yards had been slung, bulkheads knocked down, the
magazine opened, guns cast loose, loaded, and run out, and every other
preparation completed.
Meanwhile the two brigs had been slowly drawing together, and by 10
a.m. were within a couple of miles of each other. There had been a little
manoeuvring on each side to secure the weather-gage; but our skipper,
perceiving that the action was likely to be thereby delayed, speedily
yielded the point, and allowed the Frenchman to take the coveted
position.
"It will make very little difference, five minutes after we are engaged,"
he remarked to the first lieutenant, who, after having gone the rounds
and personally seen that everything was ready, had rejoined him aft,
just as the order had been given to the helmsman of the "Scourge" to
"keep away."
"There is one thing which we have not yet done," he continued, "it
seems quite unnecessary, but we may as well avoid all possibility of
mistake by showing the private signal."
The private signal was accordingly shown but evoked, as was expected,
no response. It was consequently hauled down again, and now
everybody made himself finally ready for the impending conflict. My
readers will naturally feel curious to know whether on this, the first
occasion of my "smelling gunpowder," I experienced any sensation of
fear. I am old enough now, and have seen enough of service, to have no
misapprehension of being misunderstood, or rather misjudged; I will
therefore confess the truth, and candidly acknowledge that, for a few
minutes after the completion of our preparations, I felt most horribly
frightened. I knew that I was about to be involved in a scene of death
and destruction, of sickening slaughter, and of even more sickening
physical suffering; I anticipated seeing my fellow-men struck down

right and left, their limbs torn away, and, quite possibly, their bodies
cut in two by the cruel chain-shot; I looked round upon the order and
cleanliness which everywhere prevailed on board our ship, and
contrasted the existent condition of