seven o'clock
Off she went under a rattling shower from the enemy 's bow-chasers and musketry , and was out of range without a man hurt , and with no more damage than a hole or two in the mizzen-lug . The Frenchmen were a good ten minutes trimming sails and bracing their yards for the chase ; and by that time Cap'n Dick had slanted up well on their weather bow . Before breakfast-time he was shaking his sides at the sight of seven hundred-odd Johnnies vainly spreading and trimming more canvas to catch up their lee-way -LRB- for at first the lazy dogs had barely unreefed courses after the gale , and still had their topgallant masts housed -RRB- . Likely enough they had work on hand more important than chasing a small lugger all day ; for at seven o'clock they gave up and stood away to the south-east , and left the _ Unity _ free to head back homeward on her old course . 'T was a surprising feat , to slip out of grasp in this way , and past two broadsides , any gun of which could have sent him to the bottom ; and Cap'n Dick was n't one to miss boasting over it . Even during the chase he could n't help carrying on in his usual loud and cheeky way , waving good-bye to the Mossoos , offering them a tow-rope , and the like ; but now the deck was n't big enough to hold his swagger , and in their joy of escaping a French prison , the men encouraged him , so that to hear them talk you 'd have thought he was Admiral Nelson and Sir Sidney Smith rolled into one . By nine o'clock they made out the Eddystone on their starboard bow ; and a little after -- the morning being bright and clear , with a nice steady breeze -- they saw a sail right ahead of them , making in for Plymouth Sound .