"Good, my man," returned the captain, approvingly. "You've read that pretty smartly! Now, hoist the answering pennant; though, I suppose we'll have to wait another month of Sundays for their longitude. No, by Jove! Messieurs les Francais are a trifle quicker this time. `F N J' and `G V L.' How do you make them out, signalman? See if you can be as smart again as you were just now." "Ay, ay, sir," returned the yeoman, all on his mettle and his eye the quicker to scan the alphabetical pages of his flag lexicon where the signals were catalogued in groups according to their subjects, this one being a numeral and, therefore, all the easier to read. "It's longitude 9 degrees 15 minutes west, sir." "All right, put it down correctly, signalman," said Captain Farmer; and, turning to the commander, he added, "Why, Nesbitt, it's nearly in our direct course across the Bay, only we shall have a tighter squeeze, perhaps, in weathering Finisterre." "But, we can go a couple of points more free, sir," observed Mr Quadrant, who had busied himself shaping a course on a chart by the binnacle as soon as he heard the latitude and longitude given. "That'll be better than going about on the port tack, as I thought we should have to do, sir." "Yes--ha--humph! But I don't like going too near Finisterre, though, Mr Quadrant, with a westerly gale threatening," said the captain. "We cannot help ourselves, however, at present, for we must go after this wreck and see if there're any unfortunate people aboard; though, I think those Frenchmen might have overhauled her themselves, instead of leaving it for us to do! Hoist `H V L,' signalman! That will serve, Nesbitt, to tell them we'll attend to the wreck. Let us fill and bear away again. We can't afford to waste any more time palavering with our friend over yonder, who keeps us bowing and scraping like a veritable Frenchman as he is! Run up the signal now, signalman; and, Nesbitt, give him a parting dip of the ensign, and then brace round the yards and bear up!" "Very good, sir," replied the commander; and, as soon as the Frenchmen had hoisted their answering pennant to show that our signal had been taken in and understood, he turned to the poop-rail and sang out, "Bosun's mate, pipe the watch to trim sails!" The braces were then manned and the main yard swung, while our helm put hard a-starboard; when, the upper sails now filling and drawing again, our courses were dropped and the tacks hauled aboard, the clew garnets rattling as they were brought aft, and the ship put on her course. We bore away, though, a couple of points more to the southward than before, steering sou'-sou'-west, towards the position of the wreck, as pointed out to us by our communicative friends, the strange ship.