"
"Have you been here before, with a convoy, Swinburne?"
"To be sure I have; and it's sharp work that I've seen here, Mr Simple--
work that I've an idea our captain won't have much stomach for."
"Swinburne, I beg you will keep your thoughts relative to the captain to
yourself; recollect the last time. It is my duty not to listen to them."
"And I should rather think to report them also, Mr Simple," said Captain
Hawkins, who had crept up to us, and overheard our conversation.
"In this instance there is no occasion for my reporting them, sir,"
replied I, "for you have heard what has passed."
"I have, sir," replied he; "and I shall not forget the conversation."
I turned forward. Swinburne had made his retreat the moment that he
heard the voice of the captain. "How many sails are there in sight,
sir?" inquired the captain.
"One hundred and sixty-three, sir," replied I.
"Signal for convoy to close from the _Acasta_" reported the midshipman
of the watch.
We repeated it, and the captain descended to his cabin. We were then
running about four miles an hour, the water very smooth, and Anholt
lighthouse hardly visible on deck, bearing N.N.W. about twenty miles. In
fact, we were near the entrance of the Sound, which, the reader may be
aware, is a narrow passage leading into the Baltic Sea. We ran on,
followed by the convoy, some of which were eight or ten miles astern of
us, and we were well into the Sound, when the wind gradually died away,
until it fell quite calm, and the heads of the vessels were laid round
the compass.
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