being light, and the water perfectly smooth, the sails were clewed up and handed.

About this time a boat was seen to pull from the brig towards the town, for what purpose was not then suspected. Before the Juno's people were all off the yards, a sudden flaw of wind drove the ship astern. To encourage this, and if possible get clear of the shoal, the driver and mizen staysail were hoisted, and their sheets kept to windward. The instant the ship lost her way, the best bower-anchor was let go ; on which she tended head to wind, but the after-part of her keel was still aground, and the rudder, in consequence, motionless. The launch and cutter were now hoisted out, and the kedge anchor, with two hawsers, put in them, in order to warp the ship clear.

Just before the Juno's boats returned from this service, a boat appeared alongside, and, on being hailed, answered as if an officer was in her. The people hurried out of her up the side ; and one of two persons, apparently officers, told Captain Hood he came to inform him, that it was the regulation of the port and the commanding officer's orders, that the ship should go into another branch of the harbour, to perform ten days' quarantine. Captain Hood replied, by asking where Lord Hood's ship lay. An unsatisfactory answer excited some suspicion ; and the exclamation of a midshipman, "They are national cockades," induced the captain to look at the French hats more steadfastly ; when, by the light of the moon, the three colours were distinctly visible. To a second question about Lord Hood, one of the officers, seeing they were now suspected, replied, "Make yourself easy: the English are good people ; we will treat them kindly ; the English admiral has departed some time. *

Captain Hood's feelings at this moment can better be conceived than described. The words, "We are prisoners," ran through the ship like wildfire ; and some of the officers soon came to the captain to learn the truth. A flaw of wind at this moment coming down the harbour, Lieutenant Webley, the third of the ship, said, "I believe, Sir, we shall be able to fetch out, if we can get her under sail." There did, indeed, appear a chance of saving the ship : at all events, the Juno was not to be given up without some contention. The men were ordered to their stations, and the Frenchmen to be sent below. Some of these began to draw their sabres ; but the half-pikes of the Juno's marines were presented to them, and they submitted.

Never was seen such a change in people: every officer and man was already at his post ; and, in about three minutes, all the sails in the ship were set, and the yards braced ready for casting. On the cable's being cut, the head-sails filled, and the ship started from the shore. A favourable flaw of wind, coming

* "Soyez tranquille : les Anglais sont de braves gens ; nous les traitrons biers; l'amiral anglais est sorti il y a quelque terns."