_I_ lead out, in the _first_ two-decked ship that lifts her anchor, and _you_ follow in the _last_.

You understand my plan, and will see it executed, as you see every thing executed, in face of the enemy." Admiral Bluewater smiled, and not altogether without irony in his manner; though he managed, at the same time, to get the leg that had been lowest for the last five minutes, raised by an ingenuity peculiar to himself, several inches above its fellow.
"Nature never made you for a conspirator, Oakes," he said, as soon as this change was effected to his mind; "for you carry a top-light in your breast that even the blind can see!" "What crotchet is uppermost in your mind, now, Dick?
Ar'n't the orders plain enough to suit you ?" "I confess it;--as well as the motive for giving them just in this form." "Let's have it, at once.

I prefer a full broadside to your minute-guns.
What is my motive ?" "Simply that you, Sir Jarvy, say to a certain Sir Gervaise Oakes, Bart., Vice-Admiral of the Red, and Member for Bowldero, in your own mind, 'now, if I can just leave that fellow, Dick Bluewater, behind me, with four or five ships, he'll never desert _me_, when in front of the enemy, whatever he might do with _King George_; and so I'll make sure of him by placing the question in such a light that it shall be one of friendship, rather than one of loyalty.'" Sir Gervaise coloured to the temples, for the other had penetrated into his most secret thoughts; and, yet, spite of his momentary vexation, he faced his accuser, and both laughed in the heartfelt manner that the circumstance would be likely to excite.
"Harkee, Dick," said the vice-admiral, as soon as he could command sufficient gravity to speak; "they made a mistake when they sent you to sea; you ought to have been apprenticed to a conjuror.

I care not what you think about it; my orders are given, and they must be obeyed.

Have you a clear perception of the plan ?" "One quite as clear, I tell you, as I have of the motive." "Enough of this, Bluewater; we have serious duties before us." Sir Gervaise now entered more at length into his scheme; explaining to his friend all his wishes and hopes, and letting him know, with official minuteness, what was expected at his hands.