"I believe that to be the recall, sir; I told Mr. O'Connor."

"You ought to have reported that same to me," O'Grady said, severely;
"however, we will obey it at once."

The _Sea-horse__ was lying head to wind a mile and a half away, and the
two prizes ran rapidly up to her. They were received with a tremendous
cheer from the men closely packed along her bulwarks. O'Grady at once
lowered a boat and was rowed to the _Sea-horse__, taking Terence with him.

"You have done extremely well, Captain O'Grady," Major Harrison said, as
he reached the deck, "and I congratulate you heartily. You should,
however, have obeyed the order of recall; the brig might have proved too
strong for you, and, bound on service as we are, we have no right to risk
valuable lives except in self-defence."

"Sure I knew nothing about the signal," O'Grady said, with an air of
innocence; "I thought it just meant 'More power to ye! give it 'em hot!'
or something of that kind. It was not until after I had taken the brig
that I was told that it was an order of recall. As soon as I learned that,
we came along as fast as we could to you."

"But Mr. Woods must surely have known."

"Mr. Woods did tell me, Major," Terence put in, "but somehow I forgot to
mention it to Captain O'Grady."

There was a laugh among the officers standing round.

"You ought to have informed him at once, Mr. O'Connor," the major said,