through La Teignouse to the north of Belleisle. But to beat through that channel, all scarred as it is with rocks, in the face of a gale blowing right down from the W.N.W., was a feat which only one of his ships could achieve. The others were compelled to take the frightfully perilous course of running down the east side of Belleisle and rounding it to the south. Every yard of the road brought them nearer to the French fleet, which was coming up from the west and south. It was a question of minutes whether Conflans’ ships would or would not cut the path of escape. Never since the fleet of Bazan was seen stretching across the roadstead of Flores in the Azores had an English squadron been in greater peril than Duff’s, and the men knew it well. Therefore it was that when the lookout-man at the masthead of the =Rochester= hailed to report that he saw Hawke’s sails to windward of the enemy, a wild shout of joy went up, and the men threw their hats into the sea at the French, in a horseplay of defiance. It was the gesture of the boxer or single-stick player at a country fair who gave a challenge. It was now about eight o’clock in the morning. The reader will bear in mind that Duff’s ships were just about to be pinned to the south coast of Belleisle, that the French ships were closing in on them from the sea, and that the topsails of Hawke were rising over the horizon against the grey November sky. The clouds were driving furiously overhead. The Norsemen, whose descendants were numerous in the English fleet, and not absent from the French, would have seen the Valkyries riding, and would have heard the voices of the “choosers of the slain.” Here is the list of the ships and the captains:— THE FLEET OF HAWKE =The Royal George= 100 { Sir E. Hawke. { Capt. Campbell. =Union= 90 { Sir C. Hardy. { Capt. J. Evans. =Duke= 90 T. Graves. =Namur= 90 M. Buckle. =Mars= 74 Commodore James Young. =Warspight= 74 Sir John Bentley. =Hercules= 74 E. Fortescue. =Torbay= 74 Hon. A. Keppel. =Magnanime= 74 Lord Howe. =Resolution= 74 H. Speke. =Hero= 74 Hon. G. Edgecumbe. =Swiftsure= 70 Sir T. Stanhope. =Dorsetshire= 70 P. Denis. =Burford= 70 J. Gambier. =Chichester= 70 E. S. Willet. =Temple= 70 Hon. W. Shirley. =Revenge= 64 J. Storr. =Essex= 64 L. O’Brien. =Kingston= 60 T. Shirley. =Intrepid= 60 J. Maplesden. =Montagu= 60 J. Rowley. =Dunkirk= 60 R. Digby. =Defiance= 60 P. Baird. Duff’s Ships and the Frigates