He removed the instrument from his eye, and, seeing me at his elbow, handed it back to me.  "Thank you, Mr Delamere," he said.  "I shall not require you again, so you had better go below, especially as there is a probability that we may have a busy afternoon."  Then he descended to the quarter-deck, where the second lieutenant and the master were standing talking together near the capstan, and gave the quartermaster the order to keep away a point to the eastward, which would have the effect of causing us to converge gradually upon the Frenchman.