I have seen two or three fights between fishwomen in Dover, and even they did not go on like that.

If that's the way French boys fight, no wonder our soldiers and sailors--" But here it struck Ralph that the remark he was about to make would be altogether out of place under present circumstances.
He was therefore seized with an opportune fit of coughing, and then turned the conversation by asking Jacques at what rate he thought the vessel was slipping through the water.
A few minutes later the first mate came up and told Jacques to inform Ralph that the captain had ordered him to be supplied with clothes similar to those worn by the rest of the crew, and that he was to be told off to take his post regularly as a boy in the starboard watch.
Ralph was well pleased at the news.

He felt that his best chance was to make himself useful on board, and to become one of the crew as soon as possible, so that in case an English merchantman was met with and captured he should not be sent with her crew as a prisoner to a French port.

As long as he was on board various opportunities of escape might present themselves.

He might slip away in port, or the brig might be captured by an English cruiser or privateer; whereas, once lodged in a French prison, the chances of such good fortune as had befallen Jacques were slight indeed.