At this alarming news, the captain himself went aloft and keenly examined the movements of the stranger for a few minutes, and then said--
"She's a French cruiser, Mr. Rogers, and a fast one too. We must either fight her or show her a clean pair of heels."
In a few minutes the Duncan's course was altered. Every stitch of canvas that she could carry was flung out. Royals and stuns'ls were set, and with the foam surging under her bows she fairly bounded through the water, leaving a wake astern that was a mile long.
CHAPTER V
THE FIGHT WITH THE FRIGATE
There was no little excitement aboard when it became known that the distant sail, "hull down" upon the horizon, was probably a French frigate.
"Look at her white canvas, and her large, square yards!" exclaimed Jamie. "She must be a man-of-war, and even if she's only a frigate she'll carry thirty guns against our ten, and treble the number of men."
"If she is a Frenchman she'll sink us, that's certain, though I hope Captain Forbes will make a fight of it," replied Jack, who could not entirely suppress a feeling akin to dread, as he watched the approaching ship.
"There's just a chance that she may be a friend, after all, for even the English cruisers do not always show their colours to the quarry until all chance of escape is cut off."
"It's just possible, of course, for there should be plenty of them hereabouts. Mr. Rogers tells me that last year they brought no less than three hundred French ships and their crews into English ports."