mile. Besides, if he had been alive he would have shouted."

Ralph saw, when he understood what the captain said, that there was
truth in his words, and that the chances of discovering Joe would
indeed have been slight even had the vessel headed round.

"May I ask," he said, "what ship this is, and what you are going to do
with me?"

"The ship is La Belle Marie of Dunkirk; as to what we are going to do
with you it is not so easy to say. Of course you can jump overboard
again if you like, but if not you can stay on board until we have an
opportunity of putting you ashore somewhere. How did you come to be on
board a fishing smack? For I suppose it was a smack that we run down."

"I live at Dover," Ralph replied, "and had only come out for a night's
fishing."

"Well, you are out of luck," the captain said. "That will do, Jacques.
Take him forward and sling a hammock for him. Hang up his clothes in
the cook's galley, they will be dry by the time he wakes."

Ralph asked no questions, as he was taken forward, as to the character
of La Belle Marie. Six guns were ranged along on each side of her
decks, and this, and the appearance of the captain's cabin, was
sufficient to inform him that he had fallen into the hands of a French
privateer. The craft had, indeed, left Dunkirk soon after nightfall,
and was making her way down channel with every sail set when she had
run down the unfortunate fishing boat.