Jacques speaks English very
well. He was a prisoner in England for three years, and learned it
there, and it was that which caused him to speak to me directly he had
got me on board, for no one else understood me. So he set to work at
once to help me in my French, so that I could get along. The captain
was very kind too. He said that as I had been picked up in that way he
should not treat me as a prisoner; but he expected me to make myself
useful, and, of course, I did so. It was the only way of having a
comfortable life."
"Is this the only place the privateers had on shore here?" the captain
asked, looking round. "I only see one or two huts."
"The storekeepers lived in them, sir. They stopped behind to look
after things when the privateers were away. The men slept on board
their vessels, only landing to disembark the cargoes they had
captured, and for a drunken spree when they first returned. I am sure
they have no other place."
"So your brig only arrived here four days ago? I was puzzled in the
morning when I saw there were two brigs and a schooner when we had
only expected one brig. Of course your arrival accounts for that. What
was her name, and how many guns and men did she carry?"
"She was La Belle Marie of Dunkirk," Ralph replied. "She carried
fourteen guns, mostly eighteen-pounders, and a thirty-two-pounder on a
pivot.
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