Terence was so much overpowered at the praise he had received that, beyond
protesting that it was quite undeserved, he had no reply to make to the
congratulations that he received from the captain. O'Driscol, seeing that
he was on the verge of breaking down, at once called upon him to take his
place in the boat, and rowed with him to the lugger.

A few minutes later all sail was set on the _Sea-horse__, and with her
yards braced tautly aft she laid her course south, close-hauled; a fresh
breeze was now blowing, and she ploughed her way through the water at a
rate that almost justified O'Grady's panegyrics upon her. In another three
days she entered the port of Vigo, where the convoy was to rendezvous, and
all were glad to find that the whole fleet were still there. On anchoring,
the major went on board the _Dauphin__, which had brought the
headquarters, and the other wing of the regiment. He was heartily greeted
by the colonel.

"We were getting very uneasy about you, Harrison," he said. "The last ship
of the convoy came in three days ago, and we began to fear that you must
have been either dismasted or sunk in the gale. I saw the senior naval
officer this morning, and he said that if you did not come in during the
day he would send a frigate out in search of you; but I could see by his
manner that he thought it most likely that you had gone down. So you may
imagine how pleased we were when we made out your number, though we could
not for the life of us make out what those two craft flying the English
colours over the French, that came in after you, were. But of course they
had nothing to do with you. I suppose they were two privateers that had
been captured by one of our frigates, and sent in here with prize crews to
refit before going home. They have both of them been knocked about a bit."

"I will tell you about them directly, Colonel; it is rather a long story.