He rather wondered that, instead of running off the wind, the captain had not put her about so as to take her position to windward instead of to leeward of the vessel behind; but he soon arrived at the object of the maneuver.

There were no stars to be seen, and the bank of clouds overhead stretched away to the east, and the horizon there was entirely obscured; but to the west the sky was lighter, and a vessel would be clearly visible to the eye.

The brig, therefore, in the position she had taken up could not be seen, while she herself would obtain a full view of the other as she passed her.
In an hour the other ship came along.

She was a large ship, full rigged, and the French sailors, who had all come on deck, now clustered against the bulwarks and eagerly discussed her.

She was about two miles to windward, and opinions differed as to whether she was a man-of-war or an Indiaman.