She seemed, to Charlie's eyes, quite a small vessel, and he was surprised to see how often the captain and officers turned their glasses towards her.
"I fancy our friend over there is a French privateer," the doctor remarked to him; "and I should not be surprised if we found ourselves exchanging shots with her, before many hours are over." "But she's a little bit of a thing," Charlie said.

"Surely she would never venture to attack a ship like ours." "It's the size of the guns, not the size of the ship, that counts, my boy.

She has the advantage of being able to sail three feet to our two; and probably, small as she is, she carries half as many men again as we do.

However, we carry heavy metal, and can give a good account of ourselves.

Those thirty-twos will astonish our friend, if she comes within range." The stranger was a large schooner, and the tautness of the spars and rigging showed that she was in beautiful order.