He had divested himself of his huge cloak, as well as of his low slouched hat, and, with a speed which nothing but the most absolute desperation could have enabled him to exert, he rushed onward, beating down before him every obstacle, and bounding over the meadows at a rate that, if he could have continued it for any length of time, would have set pursuit at defiance.
"Bravo!" shouted the admiral, "a stern chase is a long chase, and I wish them joy of it—d——e, Jack, did you ever see anybody get along like that?"
"Ay, ay, sir."
"You never did, you scoundrel."
"Yes, I did."
"When and where?"
"When you ran away off the sound."
The admiral turned nearly blue with anger, but Jack looked perfectly imperturbable, as he added,—
"You know you ran away after the French frigates who wouldn't stay to fight you."
"Ah! that indeed. There he goes, putting on every stitch of canvass, I'll be bound."