The _Clyde_ was a cruiser somewhat noted for her speed. She had been of the convoy of the fleet through which the _Noank_ had so cunningly worked her way, and had been at once detailed to chase the saucy privateer. This was decidedly pleasanter than guarding slow merchantmen, and the frigate's commander had congratulated himself heartily. "If we don't strike her, we may pick up something else," he had remarked, adding: "I think I can make out the course she's most likely to take. Two to one, she's bound for the Havana, to harry our West India trade. We'll keep a sharp lookout." So he did, and he had been rewarded even sooner than he had expected. "Right under our noses," he had said, when the discovery of the schooner was announced. "We can outsail her." "Captain!" interrupted his next in command, excitedly. "If she isn't taking in sail! What can that mean?" "She may take us for something else," said the captain. "It's a fine breeze. She couldn't think of fighting us." "Not a bit of it," said the officer; but his commander was an old, experienced sea-captain, and the queer conduct of his intended prize set him to thinking. He walked up and down the deck during about half a minute, and then he began to look up curiously at the sky. "That's it!" he shouted, his whole manner changing suddenly. "The Yankees are right! All hands! Shorten sail!" He poured rapid orders through his trumpet, while his lieutenants and other officers sprang away to their duties, leaving him almost alone upon the quarter-deck. "It's plain enough what it means," he said aloud. "There's trouble coming; we must in with every rag. This ship's too light, anyhow, for a hurricane. The men don't know it, but they may be working for their lives. All right! Things are coming in fast enough. I'll get that schooner, too, wind or no wind." As yet, there was only a fresh breeze to take note of, so far as a landsman could have discerned. There was no actual excitement among the sailors of the _Clyde_, merely because of a change in the color of the sky. Some of them, however, had sailed as many seas as had their captain or the whalers of the _Noank_, and they were freely expressing to their comrades their approval of his prudence. All were working, therefore, with an uncommon degree of energy. Their ways and their performances would have been, if he could have seen them, a very instructive lesson to Guert Ten Eyck. He would have learned much concerning the differences between a square-rigged three-master and a schooner like the _Noank_. During this somewhat brief and exceedingly busy time, the two vessels had steadily approached each other. The first officer of the _Clyde_ had attended to his taking in and reefing, and he now stood once more before his captain. "The prize is within long range, sir." "All right, Mr. Watson. Give her a gun. We must take her or sink her."