"Yes, I see they are, Harding. If I had known that the wind was going to drop so light I would have kept farther off. The worst of it is, that what tide there is, has just turned against us, and the wind is dropping every minute. In half-an-hour it will be a stark calm, and I should not be surprised if they send gunboats out from Toulon when they hear that a schooner and a barque, the latter probably a prize, are lying here becalmed. If so, we shall have to fight for it. Johnson, take my glass, and go up to the mast-head and see if you can make out the Tartar."

"I can see the top-sails of a square-rigged craft some twenty miles away, sir; I have no doubt that it is the Tartar."

"Is there any sign of wind?"

"No, sir, there does not seem to be a cat's-paw on the water anywheres."

"This is an awkward place to be becalmed, Harding," Peter said to the midshipman, who had just rowed on board from the barque. "If it were not for the prize we might get all the men in the boats and tow the schooner. We could get two and a half knots out of her, I should say, with the three boats ahead, but we can't tow her and the barque too; and I don't suppose that all hands would take that craft through the water more than a knot an hour, and divided between us the gain would be so little that it would not be worth while fatiguing the men. There is one thing, it is some thirty miles from where we are lying to Toulon, and as likely as not the naval people there won't think it worth while to send a gunboat out here when a breeze may spring up before they are half-way out. It is not as if it were in summer, when a calm will last for a week. Before an hour has passed we may have the wind coming down from the north with strength enough to take our mast out of us. No, I should say that the chances are that they will leave us alone, unless there happens to be a gunboat or two lying somewhere in shelter among these islands."

Half-an-hour later the look-out at the mast-head hailed again—

"It seems to me that there is a dark line coming across the water from the north, sir, and some fishing-boats close in shore have just lowered some of their sails."

"You had better go on board again at once, Harding; take five more men with you; we can manage very well with fifteen here. Get her royals and topgallant-sails furled, and it will be as well if you take a reef in your top-sails too. These squalls come down desperately hard, though they don't last long. We will keep together. If by any chance we get separated, make for Genoa—that is, if you cannot join the Tartar. However, I hope that it is not going to blow as hard as all that. I want to hand her over as soon as I can."

Five men were ordered into the boat, and in a couple of minutes they were on board the barque, which was lying only a few lengths away. Sail was shortened on board both vessels, and in a quarter of an hour they were under very reduced canvas. Peter ran up the ratlines for some distance.

"It is coming along like a racehorse, Mr. Harding," he shouted. "You had better put two or three men in a boat alongside, and get her head round, so that it will take her aft."

The vessels were still becalmed, and although the white line of water was still a mile away, the sound of the ripple was plainly perceptible. The schooner's head was also taken round, and both craft were ready for the squall when it struck them. It was well that they had been got round in time, for lying motionless they might have been capsized before they could get way on them, had they been caught broadside to the wind. As it was, both were driven down until the water almost came over the bows; then as they gathered way they sprang forward.

"I don't think that it is going to last long, Jamieson," Peter said to the gunner's mate.

"No, I don't think so, sir; these squalls which begin so hard generally blow themselves out in half-an-hour, or else settle down into a steady breeze."

After running for half-an-hour the squall had so far abated that they were put on their course again, and ran rapidly down to the frigate, the wind dropping gradually, until when within a mile of the Tartar, which was still lying becalmed, it left them altogether. Peter ordered eight men into the cutter with the tow-rope, Harding did the same, and after an hour's rowing the craft were within hailing distance of the Tartar. Peter got into the boat and was rowed on board.

"So you have taken a prize I see, Mr. Vignerolles," the captain said.

"Yes, sir, and she is a valuable one; she is loaded with colonial products, coffee, sugar, tobacco, and so on. I thought that I had better bring her straight to you, for I should have weakened my crew too much if I had sent her down to Gibraltar. I have brought her manifest on board. She is a new vessel, and carries twelve guns. We took her by surprise without a blow being struck. This is the report of her capture," and he handed the document that he had written out, together with the ship's papers, to the captain. The latter glanced down both papers.

"Very smartly done, Mr. Vignerolles, the surprise was very well managed; for had they had a suspicion that you were an enemy, it might have cost you some hard fighting before you took her, as her guns are heavier than yours are, and her crew stronger; besides, you might have knocked her about, and as she is a new vessel that would have been a pity. She is a very valuable prize. I suppose you want me to take her in charge, and to let you have your crew again?"

"If you please, sir; we are not very strong-handed now, and if I had to put men on board another prize I should be quite crippled—even now I can hardly work all my guns."

The captain smiled. "That is to say that you would like ten more men, Mr. Vignerolles?"

"I should indeed, sir, if you would be kind enough to give them to me."

"Well, as you have brought us in a prize worth, I should say at least, twenty thousand pounds, I think that I must let you have them. How about your prisoners?"

"They are shut up in the fo'castle, sir; we have a heavy coil of rope against the door. Mr. Harding tells me that they have tried to break out twice, and that he has had to threaten to fire upon them."

"We will take charge of them."

The master and mate with fifteen men were at once sent on board the prize. Harding with his crew returned to the schooner, and ten more men from the frigate were sent on board her. Then the Alert dipped her ensign and laid her course west; while the frigate, escorting the prize, headed south-west, as the captain intended to see her well past the French coast before he left her; for although no French men-of-war had, so far as he had learned, put out from Toulon, it was certain that French privateers would very soon be fitted out to prey upon British commerce. The breeze had sprung up again, and the schooner, slipping fast through the water, soon drew away from the others. A large ship was seen coming out from Toulon, but the Alert, sailing much faster, soon lost sight of her. Four days later, returning from the westward, the Alert, rounding a headland, came in sight of the château. Peter uttered an exclamation as his eye fell upon her, and he caught up the glass.

"Good Heavens, Harding, the château is on fire, there is smoke pouring out of two of the lower windows, and—Yes, I can make out a white sheet or something outside the window where the signal was to be shown. I am afraid the château is in the hands of those ruffians of Marseilles. No doubt, directly they were seen coming the girls hung it out, though they would know that we should not be along here until eleven o'clock. Probably the place was taken some hours ago. You may be sure that the scoundrels would not