“'No, no,' said he, impatiently. 'She's coming handover-hand now. Clear the deck, and prepare for action.' “My heart jumped to my throat as I heard the words; and waiting until the lieutenant's back was turned, I stole my eyes above the bulwark, and beheld the tall masts and taper spars of a frigate, all covered with canvas, about two miles astern of us. She was a good-sized craft, apparently of thirty-eight guns; but what I liked best about her was the broad tricolor that fluttered from her masthead. Every curl that floated on the breeze whispered liberty to my heart. “'You know her?' said the lieutenant, laying his hand on my shoulder, before I was aware he was behind me. 'What is she?' “'Lend me your glass, Lieutenant, and perhaps I can tell you,' said I; and with that he gave the telescope into my hand, and leaned on the bulwark beside me. 'Ha!' said I, as soon as I caught the side of her hull, 'I ought to know her well; I sailed in her for two years and a half. She's the “Créole,” of thirty-eight guns, the fastest frigate in our navy; she has six carronades on her quarterdeck, and never goes to sea without three hundred and twenty men.' “'If she had three tiers of them we 'd not flinch from her,' said a voice behind. It was the commander himself, who was now in full uniform, and wore a belt with four pistols stuck around it. “There is no use in denying it,--the English prepared for action like brave fellows, and soon cleared the deck of everything in the way of the guns. But what use was it? In less than an hour the 'Créole' worked to windward, and opened a fire from her long guns to which the other could make no reply. There they came plumping in,--some into the hull, some splintering through the bulwarks, and some crashing away through the rigging; and all the crew could do was to repair the mischief the distant cannonade was making. “'It's a cowardly way your countrymen come into action, after all,' said the lieutenant, as he watched the shot hopping and skipping along the water to leeward. 'With four times our strength, they don't bear down and encourage us.' “As he spoke, a shot cut the peak halyards in two, and down came the spar with a crash, carrying with it in its fall that ensign they 're so proud of. It was all we could do, prisoners as we were, not to cheer at this; but the faces around us did not encourage us to such a course, and we sat silently watching them. “The moment the accident happened, twenty stout fellows were clambering up the rigging, and as many more engaged to repair the mischief. But suddenly the commander whispered something to the lieutenant; the men were called down again, and the craft was let fall off the wind, trailing the sails and the tangled rigging over her sides. “'And the prisoners, sir?' said the lieutenant, at the close of something I could not hear. “'Send them below,' was the short reply.