“No; I agree with you. I did not examine it so closely before; and at any rate, underhanded as we are, we could not spare enough men for the business. We may as well, however, row a bit along the shore. I am convinced that if we could land three or four hundred men within five or six miles of the town, and attack it simultaneously on both sides, we should carry it without much trouble. The French have been fighting well, but they must have been losing heart for some time. A Frenchman hates to be cornered, and as they see our batteries rising they cannot but feel that sooner or later they must give in. I fancy by this time they are asking each other what use it is to keep on being killed when they must surrender in the end.” They had rowed on for a couple of hours without fixing on a suitable place, when Nelson exclaimed: “We are going to be caught in a fog. That is distinctly unpleasant. Have we a compass in the boat?” he said, turning to the coxswain. “No, sir. I thought you were only going to row out to the ship, and did not think of bringing one with me.” “Never forget a compass, my man,” Nelson said, “for though the sky may be blue when you start, a sudden storm may overtake you and blow you far from your ship. However, it can’t be helped now.” In less than ten minutes the boat was enveloped in a dense fog. The position was decidedly awkward. Had there been any wind they could have steered by the sound of the surf breaking at the foot of the cliffs, but the sea was absolutely calm, and they could hear nothing. They rowed on for some time, and then Nelson said: “Lay in your oars, men, we may be pulling in the wrong direction for all we know. We’ll have to remain here till this fog lifts, even if it takes a week to clear. This is a northerly fog,” he said to Will. “Cold wind comes down from the Alps and condenses when it reaches the sea. These fogs are not very common, but they sometimes last for a considerable time.” The afternoon passed, and presently night fell. There was no food of any kind in the boat. The men chewed their quids, but the two officers could not indulge in that relief. At night Nelson and Will wrapped themselves in their boat-cloaks and made themselves as comfortable as they could, getting uneasy snatches of sleep. Morning broke and there was no change; a white wall of fog rose all round the boat. “This is awkward,” Nelson said. “I wish one of the batteries would fire a few guns; that might give us some indication as to our position, though I am by no means sure that in this thick atmosphere the sound would reach so far. I think we were about eleven miles away when the fog caught us.” In the afternoon a breeze sprang up. “God grant that it may continue!” Nelson said. “Slight as it is, two or three hours of it might raise a swell, and we might then hear the wash of the waves on the rocks.” Hour after hour passed, but at last the coxswain said: “I think I hear a faint sound over on the right.”