"What is it, Benjamin, that amuses you so vastly?" asked Willet.
"A brave epistle from one of my captains, James Dunbar, a valiant man
and a great mariner. In command of the schooner, _Good Hope_, he was
sailing from the Barbados with a cargo of rum and sugar for Boston,
which furnishes a most excellent market for both, when he was
overhauled by the French privateer, _Rocroi_."
"What do you find to laugh at in the loss of a good ship and a fine
cargo?"
"Did I say they were lost? Nay, David, I said nothing of the kind. You
don't know Dunbar, and you don't know the _Good Hope_, which carries a
brass twelve-pounder and fifteen men as valiant as Dunbar himself. He
returned the attack of the _Rocroi_ with such amazing skill and
fierceness that he was able to board her and take her, with only three
of his men wounded and they not badly. Moreover, they found on board
the privateer a large store of gold, which becomes our prize of
war. And Dunbar and his men shall have a fair share of it, too. How
surprised the Frenchies must have been when Dunbar and his sailors
swarmed aboard."
"'Tis almost our only victory," said Willet, "and I'm right glad,
Benjamin, it has fallen to the lot of one of your ships to win it.
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