The gun-deck barnacles were positive, according to Master Hackett, that at least two of the marines had been detected in favoring the prisoner more than was allowable, and some of them went so far as to say with assurance that a plot to liberate him when the first port was made had been discovered. Not until the new year had begun did we learn anything of the outside world, and then Master Hackett reported that we were lying at San Maria, on the coast of South America, taking in water. No sail had been sighted during all this time; but information was given us at this port that the British frigate _Phoebe_, 36, Captain Hillyar, had weathered the Horn searching for the _Essex_. One week after this, Master Hackett reported that we were entering the port of Conception; and before the day had come to an end we learned that no vessels had been found, but that the news regarding the _Phoebe_ was confirmed. "We're now under way for Valparaiso," the old man said, "an' unless I'm way off in my reckonin', we'll find there that the Chilian authorities have had a change of heart so far as we Yankees are concerned." "Are you of the mind that they'll make trouble for us?" Phil asked. "I ain't reckonin' they'll go quite so far as that, but it'll stand us in hand to be prepared for anything while we're lyin' there." "Why doesn't the captain give that port the go-by?" I asked. "Why should we put in there if the Chilians are like to be disagreeable to us?" "Captain Porter isn't the kind of a man to run away from an enemy, lad, an' that's what it would look like if we tried to slip around the Horn just now. His plan, accordin' to my way of reckonin', an' I've said it before, is to take the Britishers one by one as they come along, until we've given the whole boilin' of 'em a floggin'. If we didn't look in at Valparaiso, the enemy would say we were afraid to tackle anything but a whaler." "How much heavier than our frigate is a 36-gun ship?" "She'd be about the same in weight of metal, though there might be considerable difference in the way it was distributed. Now, a regular 36-gun ship should carry twenty-six long eighteens below, with sixteen 32-pound carronades an' two chase guns above, makin' forty-four in all. We've got, as you know, forty 32-pound carronades, an' six long twelves, which would make the _Phoebe_ heavier than the _Essex_, even though our craft has two guns more. Now, there isn't a man aboard this 'ere frigate who wouldn't kick, an' kick hard, if Captain Porter should try to run away from the Britisher. Give us half a show, an' we'll prove that whalers are only taken by us in order to replenish stores an' protect our own merchantmen." "That's brave talk; but you'll sing a different tune when we're alongside the _Phoebe_!" Benson cried from his cage; and this taunt threw Master Hackett into a towering passion.