"We shall all expect great things from you, Mr. Repton. As you managed to capture some fifty thousand pounds' worth of prizes, when you were on board that privateer brig, you ought to put the frigate into the way of taking at least four times as much."
"It is easy to turn a brig into anything, Captain Langton; but there is no making one of His Majesty's frigates look other but what she is. The mere sight of your topsails is enough to send every Spanish craft into port."
For three or four days the frigate sailed along the coast; keeping well out during the day, and closing with the land in the evening. Two or three small coasters were picked up by the boats, but they were scarcely worth sending into Gibraltar. On the fifth day a large barque was seen, making in from the south. All sail was made, but the barque had the weather gage and, crossing her, ran into the shore and anchored under the shelter of a battery.
"That would be a prize worth having, Bob," Jim Sankey said. "I wonder what she has got on board? Perhaps she is like that craft you captured, choke-full of lead and silver, from Lima."
"I think I can tell you what she is full of," Bob, who had been examining her through a glass he had borrowed from the third lieutenant, replied.
"How do you mean you can tell, Bob? She has not got her bill of lading stuck upon her broadside, I suppose?"
"She has not, Jim. But I can tell you, without that."
"Well, what has she got on board?"
"She has got a very strong crew, Jim, and twenty-four guns."
"Why, how on earth did you know that, Bob?" he asked, staring at his friend in surprise.