On the 26th the squadron separated in a gale, only the _Vengeance_ and a captured brigantine remaining in sight of the flagship, but on September 1st, while the flagship was chasing a vessel near the Flannen Islands, the _Alliance_ was sighted with a prize she had taken. The prize proved very valuable, for she was well loaded with all sorts of rigging and stores that were in route to Quebec for use in fitting out a fleet on the American lakes. On September 2d the _Pallas_ was sighted, and two days later a Shetland pilot was taken, and Captain Jones called a council of his captains to consider the news obtained from him. Captain Landais refused to attend this, even when a written order to do so was sent him. However, he continued with the squadron that then sailed down the east coast of Scotland, until September 8th, when his vessel disappeared once more. The squadron now consisted of but two vessels beside the flagship--the _Vengeance_ and the _Pallas_. The _Cerf_ had disappeared in the gale. On the 13th the Cheviot Hills were descried, and on nearing the coast next day a ship and a brig were captured. From the crews of these it was learned that there was no land battery to defend Leith, and that the only armed vessel in the firth or bay on which it stands carried but twenty guns. Captain Jones called the captains of the other two ships on board and proposed an attack on Leith. “It is a matter of the utmost importance to teach the enemy humanity by some exemplary stroke of retaliation,” he said. He explained that they could at once capture some people of note to hold as hostages, and could so alarm the nation that public attention would be drawn to the north and away from the south coast, where the French were really preparing to invade. The French captains hesitated and argued half the night away, until Jones proposed to levy a heavy contribution on both Leith and Edinburgh that lay just behind Leith. Then they agreed with enthusiasm, but they had really lost their opportunity. Returning to their ships, the captains made sail for Leith. The little squadron succeeded in entering the firth, and got as far as Kirkcaldy. They had, meantime, been seen from the coasts roundabout, and especially from the heights of Edinburgh, so that the country-side was in a terrible state of alarm. But luck was against the fleet, and the only result of the attempt on Leith that is worth mention is a good story of the parson of the Kirkcaldy Church. [Illustration: Leith Pier and Harbor. _From an old engraving._]