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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 [1831], The water-witch, volume 2 (Carey & Lea, Philadelphia) [word count] [eaf061v2].
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-- 003 --

THE WATER-WITCH. CHAPTER I.

“I, John Turner,
Am master and owner
Of a high-deck'd schooner,
That's bound to Carolina—”
etc. etc. etc. etc.
Coasting Song.

[figure description] Page 003.[end figure description]

It is not necessary to say, with how mnch interest
Alderman Van Beverout, and his friend the Patroon,
had witnessed all the proceedings on board the Coquette.
Something very like an exclamation of
pleasure escaped the former, when it was known
that the ship had missed the brigantine, and that
there was now little probability of overtaking her that
night.

“Of what use is it to chase your fire-flies, about
the ocean, Patroon?” muttered the Alderman, in the
ear of Oloff Van Staats. “I have no further knowledge
of this `Skimmer of the Seas,' than is decent
in the principal of a commercial house,—but reputation
is like a sky-rocket, that may be seen from afar!
Her Majesty has no ship that can overtake the free-trader,
and why fatigue the innocent vessel for nothing?”

“Captain Ludlow has other desires than the mere
capture of the brigantine;” returned the laconic and
sententious Patroon. “The opinion that Alida de
Barbérie is in her, has great influence with that
gentleman.”

“This is strange apathy, Mr. Van Staats, in one
who is as good as engaged to my niece, if he be not
actually married. Alida Barbérie has great influence
with that gentleman! And pray, with whom,
that knows her, has she not influence?”

-- 004 --

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“The sentiment in favor of the young lady, in
general, is favorable.”

“Sentiment and favors! Am I to understand, Sir,
by this coolness, that our bargain is broken?—that
the two fortunes are not to be brought together, and
that the lady is not to be your wife?”

“Harkee, Mr. Van Beverout; one who is saving
of his income and sparing of his words, can have no
pressing necessity for the money of others; and, on
occasion, he may afford to speak plainly. Your niece
has shown so decided a preference for another, that
it has materially lessened the liveliness of my regard.”

“It were a pity that so much animation should
fail of its object! It would be a sort of stoppage in
the affairs of Cupid! Men should deal candidly, in
all business transactions, Mr. Van Staats; and you
will permit me to ask, as for a final settlement, if
your mind is changed in regard to the daughter of
old Etienne de Barbérie, or not?”

“Not changed, but quite decided;” returned the
young Patroon. “I cannot say that I wish the successor
of my mother to have seen so much of the
world. We are a family that is content with our situation,
and new customs would derange my household.”

“I am no wizard, Sir; but for the benefit of a son
of my old friend Stephanus Van Staats, I will venture,
for once, on a prophecy. You will marry, Mr.
Van Staats—yes, marry—and you will wive, Sir,
with—prudence prevents me from saying with whom
you will wive; but you may account yourself a lucky
man, if it be not with one who will cause you to
forget house and home, lands and friends, manors
and rents, and in short all the solid comforts of life.
It would not surprise me to hear that the prediction of
the Poughkeepsie fortune-teller should be fulfilled!”

“And what is your real opinion, Alderman Van
Beverout, of the different mysterious events we have
witnessed?” demanded the Patroon, in a manner to

-- 005 --

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prove that the interest he took in the subject, completely
smothered any displeasure he might otherwise
have felt at so harsh a prophecy. “This sea-green
lady is no common woman!”

“Sea-green and sky-blue!” interrupted the impatient
burgher. “The hussy is but too common,
Sir; and there is the calamity. Had she been satisfied
with transacting her concerns in a snug and
reasonable manner, and to have gone upon the high
seas again, we should have had none of this foolery,
to disturb accounts which ought to have been considered
settled. Mr. Van Staats, will you allow me
to ask a few direct questions, if you can find leisure
for their answer?”

The Patroon nodded his head, in the affirmative.

“What do you suppose, Sir, to have become of
my niece?”

“Eloped.”

“And with whom?”

Van Staats of Kinderhook stretched an arm towards
the open ocean, and again nodded. The Alderman
mused a moment; and then he chuckled, as if
some amusing idea had at once gotten the better of
his ill-humor.

“Come, come, Patroon,” he said, in his wonted
amicable tone, when addressing the lord of a hundred
thousand acres, “this business is like a complicated
account, a little difficult till one gets acquainted
with the books, and then all becomes plain as
your hand. There were referees in the settlement
of the estate of Kobus Van Klinck, whom I will not
name; but what between the handwriting of the
old grocer, and some inaccuracy in the figures, they
had but a blind time of it until they discovered
which way the balance ought to come; and then by
working backward and forward, which is the true
spirit of your just referee, they got all straight in the
end. Kobus was not very lucid in his statements,

-- 006 --

[figure description] Page 006.[end figure description]

and he was a little apt to be careless of ink. His
leger might be called a book of the black art; for it
was little else than fly-tracks and blots, though the
last were found of great assistance in rendering the
statements satisfactory. By calling three of the biggest
of them sugar-hogsheads, a very fair balance
was struck between him and a peddling Yankee who
was breeding trouble for the estate; and I challenge,
even at this distant day, when all near interests in
the results may be said to sleep, any responsible man
to say that they did not look as much like those
articles as any thing else. Something they must
have been, and as Kobus dealt largely in sugar, there
was also a strong moral probability that they were
the said hogsheads. Come, come, Patroon; we shall
have the jade back again, in proper time. Thy ardor
gets the better of reason; but this is the way with
true love, which is none the worse for a little delay.
Alida is not one to balk thy merriment; these Norman
wenches are not heavy of foot at a dance, or
apt to go to sleep when the fiddles are stirring!”

With this consolation, Alderman Van Beverout saw
fit to close the dialogue, for the moment. How far
he succeeded in bringing back the mind of the Patroon
to its allegiance, the result must show; though
we shall take this occasion to observe again, that the
young proprietor found a satisfaction in the excitement
of the present scene, that, in the course of a
short and little diversified life, he had never before
experienced.

While others slept, Ludlow passed most of the
night on deck. He laid himself down in the hammock-cloths,
for an hour or two, towards morning;
though the wind did not sigh through the rigging
louder than common, without arousing him from his
slumbers. At each low call of the officer of the watch
to the crew, his head was raised to glance around the
narrow horizon; and the ship never rolled heavily,

-- 007 --

[figure description] Page 007.[end figure description]

without causing him to awake. He believed that
the brigantine was near, and, for the first watch, he
was not without expectation that the two vessels
might unexpectedly meet in the obscurity. When
this hope failed, the young seaman had recourse to
artifice, in his turn, in order to entrap one who appeared
so practised and so expert in the devices of
the sea.

About midnight, when the watches were changed,
and the whole crew, with the exception of the idlers,
were on deck, orders were given to hoist out the
boats. This operation, one of exceeding toil and difficulty
in lightly-manned ships, was soon performed on
board the Queen's cruiser, by the aid of yard and
stay-tackles, to which the force of a hundred seamen
was applied. When four of these little attendants
on the ship were in the water, they were entered by
their crews, prepared for serious service. Officers,
on whom Ludlow could rely, were put in command
of the three smallest, while he took charge of the
fourth in person. When all were ready, and each
inferior had received his especial instructions, they
quitted the side of the vessel, pulling off, in diverging
lines, into the gloom of the ocean. The boat of Ludlow
had not gone fifty fathoms, before he was perfectly
conscious of the inutility of a chase; for the
obscurity of the night was so great, as to render the
spars of his own ship nearly indistinct, even at that
short distance. After pulling by compass some ten
or fifteen minutes, in a direction that carried him to
windward of the Coquette, the young man commanded
the crew to cease rowing, and prepared himself
to await, patiently, for the result of his undertaking.

There was nothing to vary the monotony of such
a scene, for an hour, but the regular rolling of a sea
that was but little agitated, a few occasional strokes of
the oars, that were given in order to keep the barge

-- 008 --

[figure description] Page 008.[end figure description]

in its place, or the heavy breathing of some smaller
fish of the cetaceous kind, as it rose to the surface
to inhale the atmosphere. In no quarter of the heavens
was any thing visible; not even a star was peeping
out, to cheer the solitude and silence of that solitary
place. The men were nodding on the thwarts,
and our young sailor was about to relinquish his design
as fruitless, when suddenly a noise was heard, at
no great distance from the spot where they lay. It
was one of those sounds which would have been inexplicable
to any but a seaman, but which conveyed
a meaning to the ears of Ludlow, as plain as that
which could be imparted by speech to a landsman.
A moaning creak was followed by the low rumbling
of a rope, as it rubbed on some hard or distended
substance; and then succeeded the heavy flap of canvas,
that, yielding first to a powerful impulse, was
suddenly checked.

“Hear ye that?” exclaimed Ludlow, a little above
a whisper. “'Tis the brigantine, gybing his mainboom!
Give way, men—see all ready to lay him
aboard!”

The crew started from their slumbers; the plash
of oars was heard, and, in the succeeding moment,
the sails of a vessel, gliding through the obscurity,
nearly across their course, were visible.

“Now spring to your oars, men!” continued Ludlow,
with the eagerness of one engaged in chase.
“We have him to advantage, and he is ours!—a long
pull and a strong pull—steadily, boys, and together!”

The practised crew did their duty. It seemed but
a moment, before they were close upon the chase.

“Another stroke of the oars, and she is ours!”
cried Ludlow.—“Grapple!—to your arms!—away,
boarders, away!”

These orders came on the ears of the men with
the effect of martial blasts. The crew shouted, the
clashing of arms was heard, and the tramp of feet

-- 009 --

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on the deck of the vessel announced the success of
the enterprise. A minute of extreme activity and
of noisy confusion followed. The cheers of the boarders
had been heard, at a distance; and rockets shot
into the air, from the other boats, whose crews answered
the shouts with manful lungs. The whole
ocean appeared in a momentary glow, and the roar
of a gun from the Coquette added to the fracas. The
ship set several lanterns, in order to indicate her position;
while blue-lights, and other marine signals
were constantly burning in the approaching boats, as
if those who guided them were anxious to intimidate
the assailed by a show of numbers.

In the midst of this scene of sudden awakening
from the most profound quiet, Ludlow began to look
about him, in order to secure the principal objects of
the capture. He had repeated his orders about entering
the cabins, and concerning the person of the
`Skimmer of the Seas,' among the other instructions
given to the crews of the different boats; and the instant
they found themselves in quiet possession of the
prize, the young man dashed into the private recesses
of the vessel, with a heart that throbbed even
more violently than during the ardor of boarding.
To cast open the door of a cabin, beneath the high
quarter-deck, and to descend to the level of its floor,
were the acts of a moment. But disappointment and
mortification succeeded to triumph. A second glance
was not necessary to show that the coarse work and
foul smells he saw and encountered, did not belong
to the commodious and even elegant accommodations
of the brigantine.

“Here is no Water-Witch!” he exclaimed aloud,
under the impulse of sudden surprise.

“God be praised!” returned a voice, which was
succeeded by a frightened face from out a state-room.
“We were told the rover was in the offing, and
thought the yells could come from nothing human!”

-- 010 --

[figure description] Page 010.[end figure description]

The blood, which had been rushing through the
arteries and veins of Ludlow so tumultuously, now
crept into his cheeks, and was felt tingling at his fingers'-ends.
He gave a hurried order to his men to
re-enter their boat, leaving every thing as they found
it. A short conference between the commander of
Her Majesty's ship Coquette, and the seaman of the
state-room, succeeded; and then the former hastened
on deck, whence his passage into the barge occupied
but a moment. The boat pulled away from the fancied
prize, amid a silence that was uninterrupted by
any other sound than that of a song, which, to all
appearance, came from one who by this time had
placed himself at the vessel's helm. All that can be
said of the music is, that it was suited to the words,
and all that could be heard of the latter, was a portion
of a verse, if verse it might be called, which had
exercised the talents of some thoroughly nautical
mind. As we depend, for the accuracy of the quotation,
altogether on the fidelity of the journal of the
midshipman already named, it is possible that some
injustice may be done the writer; but, according to
that document, he sang a strain of the coasting song,
which we have prefixed to this chapter as its motto.

The papers of the coaster did not give a more detailed
description of her character and pursuits, than
that which is contained in this verse. It is certain
that the log-book of the Coquette was far less explicit.
The latter merely said, that `a coaster called
the Stately Pine, John Turner, master, bound from
New-York to the Province of North Carolina, was
boarded at one o'clock, in the morning, all well.' But
this description was not of a nature to satisfy the seamen
of the cruiser. Those who had been actually
engaged in the expedition were much too excited to
see things in their true colors; and, coupled with
the two previous escapes of the Water-Witch, the
event just related had no small share in confirming

-- 011 --

[figure description] Page 011.[end figure description]

their former opinions concerning her character. The
sailing-master was not now alone, in believing that
all pursuit of the brigantine was perfectly useless.

But these were conclusions that the people of the
Coquette made at their leisure, rather than those
which suggested themselves on the instant. The boats,
led by the flashes of light, had joined each other,
and were rowing fast towards the ship, before the
pulses of the actors beat with sufficient calmness to
allow of serious reflection; nor was it until the adventurers
were below, and in their hammocks, that
they found suitable occasion to relate what had occurred
to a wondering auditory. Robert Yarn, the
fore-top-man who had felt the locks of the sea-green
lady blowing in his face during the squall, took advantage
of the circumstance to dilate on his experiences;
and, after having advanced certain positions
that particularly favored his own theories, he produced
one of the crew of the barge, who stood ready
to affirm, in any court in Christendom, that he actually
saw the process of changing the beautiful and
graceful lines that distinguished the hull of the smuggler,
into the coarser and more clumsy model of the
coaster.

“There are know-nothings,” continued Robert,
after he had fortified his position by the testimony in
question, “who would deny that the water of the
ocean is blue, because the stream that turns the
parish-mill happens to be muddy. But your real
mariner, who has lived much in foreign parts, is a man
who understands the philosophy of life, and knows
when to believe a truth and when to scorn a lie. As
for a vessel changing her character when hard pushed
in a chase, there are many instances; though having
one so near us, there is less necessity to be roving
over distant seas, in search of a case to prove it. My
own opinion concerning this here brigantine, is much

-- 012 --

[figure description] Page 012.[end figure description]

as follows;—that is to say, I do suppose there was
once a real living hermaphrodite of her build and rig,
and that she might be employed in some such trade
as this craft is thought to be in; and that, in some
unlucky hour, she and her people met with a mishap,
that has condemned her ever since to appear on this
coast at stated times. She has, however, a natural
dislike to a royal cruiser; and no doubt the thing is
now sailed by those who have little need of compass
or observation! All this being true, it is not wonderful
that when the boat's-crew got on her decks, they
found her different from what they had expected.
This much is certain, that when I lay within a boat-hook's
length of her spritsail-yard-arm, she was a half-rig,
with a woman figure-head, and as pretty a show
of gear aloft, as eye ever looked upon; while every
thing below was as snug as a tobacco-box with the
lid down:—and here you all say that she is a high-decked
schooner, with nothing ship-shape about her!
What more is wanting to prove the truth of what
has been stated?—If any man can gainsay it, let him
speak.”

As no man did gainsay it, it is presumed that the
reasoning of the top-man gained many proselytes.
It is scarcely necessary to add, how much of mystery
and fearful interest was thrown around the redoubtable
`Skimmer of the Seas,' by the whole transaction.

There was a different feeling on the quarter-deck.
The two lieutenants put their heads together, and
looked grave; while one or two of the midshipmen,
who had been in the boats, were observed to whisper
with their messmates, and to indulge in smothered
laughter. As the captain, however, maintained his
ordinary dignified and authoritative mien, the merriment
went no farther, and was soon entirely repressed.

While on this subject, it may be proper to add,

-- 013 --

[figure description] Page 013.[end figure description]

that, in course of time, the Stately Pine reached the
capes of North Carolina, in safety; and that, having
effected her passage over Edenton bar, without
striking, she ascended the river to the point of her
destination. Here the crew soon began to throw out
hints, relative to an encounter of their schooner
with a French cruiser. As the British empire, even
in its most remote corners, was at all times alive to
its nautical glory, the event soon became the discourse
in more distant parts of the colony; and in
less than six months, the London journals contained
a very glowing account of an engagement, in which
the names of the Stately Pine, and of John Turner,
made some respectable advances towards immortality.

If Captain Ludlow ever gave any further account
of the transaction than what was stated in the log-book
of his ship, the bienséance, observed by the
Lords of the Admiralty, prevented it from becoming
public.

Returning from this digression, which has no other
connexion with the immediate thread of the narrative,
than that which arises from a reflected interest,
we shall revert to the further proceedings on board
the cruiser.

When the Coquette had hoisted in her boats, that
portion of the crew which did not belong to the
watch was dismissed to their hammocks, the lights
were lowered, and tranquillity once more reigned in
the ship. Ludlow sought his rest, and although there
is reason to think that his slumbers were a little disturbed
by dreams, he remained tolerably quiet in the
hammock-cloths, the place in which it has already
been said he saw fit to take his repose, until the
morning watch had been called.

Although the utmost vigilance was observed among
the officers and look-outs, during the rest of the
night, there occurred nothing to arouse the crew
from their usual recumbent attitudes between the

-- 014 --

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guns. The wind continued light but steady, the sea
smooth, and the heavens clouded, as during the first
hours of darkness.

CHAPTER II.

“The mouse ne'er shunned the cat, as they did budge
From rascals worse than they.”
Coriolanus.

Day dawned on the Atlantic, with its pearly light,
succeeded by the usual flushing of the skies, and the
stately rising of the sun from out the water. The
instant the vigilant officer, who commanded the
morning watch, caught the first glimpses of the returning
brightness, Ludlow was awakened. A finger
laid on his arm, was sufficient to arouse one who
slept with the responsibility of his station ever present
to his mind. A minute did not pass, before the
young man was on the quarter-deck, closely examining
the heavens and the horizon. His first question
was to ask if nothing had been seen during the
watch. The answer was in the negative.

“I like this opening in the north-west,” observed
the captain, after his eye had thoroughly scanned
the whole of the still dusky and limited view.
“Wind will come out of it. Give us a cap-full, and
we shall try the speed of this boasted Water-Witch!—
Do I not see a sail, on our weather-beam?—or is
it the crest of a wave?”

“The sea is getting irregular, and I have often
been thus deceived, since the light appeared.”

“Get more sail on the ship. Here is wind, inshore
of us; we will be ready for it. See every
thing clear, to show all our canvas.”

-- 015 --

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The lieutenant received these orders with the customary
deference, and communicated them to his inferiors
again, with the promptitude that distinguishes
sea discipline. The Coquette, at the moment, was
lying under her three topsails, one of which was
thrown against its mast, in a manner to hold the
vessel as nearly stationary as her drift and the wash
of the waves would allow. So soon, however, as the
officer of the watch summoned the people to exertion,
the massive yards were swung; several light
sails, that served to balance the fabric as well as to
urge it ahead, were hoisted or opened; and the ship
immediately began to move through the water.
While the men of the watch were thus employed,
the flapping of the canvas announced the approach
of a new breeze.

The coast of North America is liable to sudden
and dangerous transitions, in the currents of the air.
It is a circumstance of no unusual occurrence, for a
gale to alter its direction with so little warning, as
greatly to jeopard the safety of a ship, or even to
overwhelm her. It has been often said, that the
celebrated Ville de Paris was lost through one of
these violent changes, her captain having inadvertently
hove-to the vessel under too much after-sail,
a mistake by which he lost the command of his ship
during the pressing emergency that ensued. Whatever
may have been the fact as regards that ill-fated
prize, it is certain that Ludlow was perfectly aware
of the hazards that sometimes accompany the first
blasts of a north-west wind on his native coast, and
that he never forgot to be prepared for the danger.

When the wind from the land struck the Coquette,
the streak of light, which announced the appearance
of the sun, had been visible several minutes. As the
broad sheets of vapor, that had veiled the heavens
during the prevalence of the south-easterly breeze,
were rolled up into dense masses of clouds, like some

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immense curtain that is withdrawn from before its
scene, the water, no less than the sky, became instantly
visible, in every quarter. It is scarcely necessary
to say, how eagerly the gaze of our young
seaman ran over the horizon, in order to observe the
objects which might come within its range. At first
disappointment was plainly painted in his countenance,
and then succeeded the animated eye and
flushed cheek of success.

“I had thought her gone!” he said to his immediate
subordinate in authority. “But here she is,
to leeward, just within the edge of that driving mist,
and as dead under our lee as a kind fortune could
place her. Keep the ship away, Sir, and cover her
with canvas, from her trucks down. Call the people
from their hammocks, and show yon insolent what
Her Majesty's sloop can do, at need!”

This command was the commencement of a general
and hasty movement, in which every seaman in
the ship exerted his powers to the utmost. All hands
were no sooner called, than the depths of the vessel
gave up their tenants, who, joining their force to
that of the watch on deck, quickly covered the
spars of the Coquette with a snow-white cloud. Not
content to catch the breeze on such surfaces as the
ordinary yards could distend, long booms were thrust
out over the water, and sail was set beyond sail,
until the bending masts would bear no more. The low
hull, which supported this towering and complicated
mass of ropes, spars, and sails, yielded to the powerful
impulse, and the fabric, which, in addition to its crowd
of human beings, sustained so heavy a load of artillery,
with all its burthen of stores and ammunition, began to
divide the waves, with the steady and imposing force
of a vast momentum. The seas curled and broke
against her sides, like water washing the rocks, the
steady ship feeling, as yet, no impression from their
feeble efforts. As the wind increased, however, and

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the vessel went further from the land, the surface of
the ocean gradually grew more agitated, until the
highlands, which lay over the villa of the Lust in
Rust, finally sunk into the sea; when the top-gallant-royals
of the ship were seen describing wide segments
of circles against the heavens, and her dark
sides occasionally rose, from a long and deep roll,
glittering with the element that sustained her.

When Ludlow first descried the object which he
believed to be the chase, it seemed a motionless speck
on the margin of the sea. It had now grown into all
the magnitude and symmetry of the well-known
brigantine. Her slight and attenuated spars were
plainly to be seen, rolling, easily but wide, with the
constant movement of the hull, and with no sail
spread, but that which was necessary to keep the
vessel in command on the billows. But when the
Coquette was just within the range of a cannon, the
canvas began to unfold; and it was soon apparent
that the `Skimmer of the Seas' was preparing for
flight.

The first manœuvre of the Water-witch was an
attempt to gain the wind of her pursuer. A short
experiment appeared to satisfy those who governed
the brigantine that the effort was vain, while the
wind was so fresh and the water so rough. She wore,
and crowded sail on the opposite tack, in order to
try her speed with the cruiser; nor was it until the
result sufficiently showed the danger of permitting
the other to get any nigher, that she finally put her
helm aweather, and ran off, like a sea-fowl resting
on its wing, with the wind over her taffrail.

The two vessels now presented the spectacle of a
stern chase. The brigantine also opened the folds
of all her sails, and there arose a pyramid of canvas,
over the nearly imperceptible hull, that resembled a
fantastic cloud driving above the sea, with a velocity
that seemed to rival the passage of the vapor that

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floated in the upper air. As equal skill directed the
movements of the two vessels, and the same breeze
pressed upon their sails, it was long before there was
any perceptible difference in their progress. Hour
passed after hour, and were it not for the sheets of
white foam that were dashed from the bows of the
Coquette, and the manner in which she even out-stripped
the caps of the combing waves, her commander
might have fancied his vessel ever in the
same spot. While the ocean presented, on every
side, the same monotonous and rolling picture, there
lay the chase, seemingly neither a foot nearer, nor
a foot farther, than when the trial of speed began.
A dark line would rise on the crest of a wave, and
then, sinking again, leave nothing visible, but the
yielding and waving cloud of canvas, that danced
along the sea.

“I had hoped for better things of the ship, Master
Trysail!” said Ludlow, who had long been seated on
a night-head, attentively watching the progress of the
chase. “We are buried to the bob-stays; and yet,
there yon fellow lies, nothing plainer than when he
first showed his studding-sails!”

“And there he will lie, Captain Ludlow, while the
light lasts. I have chased the rover in the narrow
seas, till the cliffs of England melted away like the
cap of a wave; and we had raised the sand-banks of
Holland high as the sprit-sail-yard, and yet what
good came of it? The rogue played with us, as your
sportsman trifles with the entangled trout; and when
we thought we had him, he would shoot without the
range of our guns, with as little exertion as a ship
slides into the water, after the spur shoars are knocked
from under her bows.”

“Ay, but the Druid had a little of the rust of antiquity
about her. The Coquette has never got a
chase under her lee, that she did not speak.”

“I disparage no ship, Sir, for character is

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character, and none should speak lightly of their fellow-creatures,
and, least of all, of any thing which follows the
sea. I allow the Coquette to be a lively boat on a
wind, and a real scudder going large; but one should
know the wright that fashioned yonder brigantine,
before he ventures to say that any vessel in Her
Majesty's fleet can hold way with her, when she is
driven hard.”

“These opinions, Trysail, are fitter for the tales of
a top, than for the mouth of one who walks the quarter-deck.”

“I should have lived to little purpose, Captain
Ludlow, not to know that what was philosophy in my
young days, is not philosophy now. They say the
world is round, which is my own opinion—first, because
the glorious Sir Francis Drake, and divers
other Englishmen, have gone in, as it were, at one
end, and out at the other; no less than several seamen
of other nations, to say nothing of one Magellan,
who pretends to have been the first man to make the
passage, which I take to be neither more nor less
than a Portuguee lie, it being altogether unreasonable
to suppose that a Portuguee should do what an
Englishman had not yet thought of doing;—secondly,
if the world were not round, or some such shape, why
should we see the small sails of a ship before her
courses, or why should her truck heave up into the
horizon before the hull? They say, moreover, that
the world turns round, which is no doubt true; and
it is just as true that its opinions turn round with it,
which brings me to the object of my remark—yon
fellow shows more of his broadside, Sir, than common!
He is edging in for the land, which must lie,
hereaway, on our larboard beam, in order to get into
smoother water. This tumbling about is not favorable
to your light craft, let who will build them.”

“I had hoped to drive him off the coast. Could
we get him fairly into the Gulf Stream, he would be

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[figure description] Page 020.[end figure description]

ours, for he is too low in the water to escape us in
the short seas. We must force him into blue water,
though our upper spars crack in the struggle! Go
aft, Mr. Hopper, and tell the officer of the watch to
bring the ship's head up, a point and a half, to the
northward, and to give a slight pull on the braces.”

“What a mainsail the rogue carries! It is as
broad as the instructions of a roving commission, with
a hoist like the promotion of an admiral's son! How
every thing pulls aboard him! A thorough-bred sails
that brigantine, let him come whence he may!”

“I think we near him! The rough water is helping
us, and we are closing. Steer small, fellow; steer
small! You see the color of his mouldings begins to
show, when he lifts on the seas.”

“The sun touches his side—and yet, Captain Ludlow,
you may be right—for here is a man in his foretop,
plainly enough to be seen. A shot, or two, among
his spars and sails, might now do service.”

Ludlow affected not to hear; but the first-lieutenant
having come on the forecastle, seconded this
opinion, by remarking that their position would indeed
enable them to use the chase-gun, without losing
any distance. As Trysail sustained his former assertion
by truths that were too obvious to be refuted,
the commander of the cruiser reluctantly issued an
order to clear away the forward gun, and to shift it
into the bridle-port. The interested and attentive
seamen were not long in performing this service; and
a report was quickly made to the captain, that the
piece was ready.

Ludlow then descended from his post on the night-head,
and pointed the cannon himself.

“Knock away the quoin, entirely;” he said to the
captain of the gun, when he had got the range;
“now mind her when she lifts, forward; keep the
ship steady, Sir—fire!”

Those gentleman `who live at home at ease,' are

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often surprised to read of combats, in which so much
powder, and hundreds and even thousands of shot,
are expended, with so little loss of human life; while
a struggle on the land, of less duration, and seemingly
of less obstinacy, shall sweep away a multitude. The
secret of the difference lies in the uncertainty of
aim, on an element as restless as the sea. The largest
ship is rarely quite motionless, when on the open
ocean; and it is not necessary to tell the reader,
that the smallest variation in the direction of a gun
at its muzzle, becomes magnified to many yards at
the distance of a few hundred feet. Marine gunnery
has no little resemblance to the skill of the fowler;
since a calculating for a change in the position of the
object must commonly be made in both cases, with
the additional embarrassment on the part of the seaman,
of an allowance for a complicated movement
in the piece itself.

How far the gun of the Coquette was subject
to the influence of these causes, or how far the desire
of her captain to protect those whom he believed to
be on board the brigantine, had an effect on the direction
taken by its shot, will probably never be
known. It is certain, however, that when the stream
of fire, followed by its curling cloud, had gushed out
upon the water, fifty eyes sought in vain to trace
the course of the iron messenger among the sails
and rigging of the Water-Witch. The symmetry of
her beautiful rig was undisturbed, and the unconscious
fabric still glided over the waves, with its customary
ease and velocity. Ludlow had a reputation, among
his crew, for some skill in the direction of a gun.
The failure, therefore, in no degree aided in changing
the opinions of the common men concerning the character
of the chase. Many shook their heads, and
more than one veteran tar, as he paced his narrow
limits with both hands thrust into the bosom of his
jacket, was heard to utter his belief of the inefficacy

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[figure description] Page 022.[end figure description]

of ordinary shot, in bringing-to that brigantine. It
was necessary, however to repeat the experiment,
for the sake of appearances. The gun was several
times discharged, and always with the same want
of success.

“There is little use in wasting our powder, at this
distance, and with so heavy a sea,” said Ludlow,
quitting the cannon, after a fifth and fruitless essay.
“I shall fire no more. Look at your sails, gentlemen,
and see that every thing draws. We must conquer
with our heels, and let the artillery rest.—Secure
the gun.”

“The piece is ready, Sir;” observed its captain,
presuming on his known favor with the commander,
though he qualified the boldness by taking off his
hat, in a sufficiently respectful manner—“'Tis a pity
to balk it!”

“Fire it, yourself, then, and return the piece to
its port;” carelessly returned the captain, willing to
show that others could be as unlucky as himself.

The men quartered at the gun, left alone, busied
themselves in executing the order.

“Run in the quoin, and, blast the brig, give her
a point-blanker!” said the gruff old seaman, who
was intrusted with a local authority over that particular
piece. “None of your geometry calculations,
for me!”

The crew obeyed, and the match was instantly
applied. A rising sea, however, aided the object of
the directly-minded old tar, or our narration of the
exploits of the piece would end with the discharge,
since its shot would otherwise have inevitably plunged
into a wave, within a few yards of its muzzle. The
bows of the ship rose with the appearance of the
smoke, the usual brief expectation followed, and then
fragments of wood were seen flying above the top-mast-studding-sail-boom
of the brigantine, which, at
the same time, flew forward, carrying with it, and

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[figure description] Page 023.[end figure description]

entirely deranging, the two important sails that depended
on the spar for support.

“So much for plain sailing!” cried the delighted
tar, slapping the breach of the gun, affectionately.
“Witch or no witch, there go two of her jackets at
once; and, by the captain's good-will, we shall shortly
take off some more of her clothes! In spunge—”

“The order is to run the gun aft, and secure it;”
said a merry midshipman, leaping on the heel of the
bowsprit to gaze at the confusion on board the chase.
“The rogue is nimble enough, in saving his canvas!”

There was, in truth, necessity for exertion, on the
part of those who governed the movements of the
brigantine. The two sails that were rendered temporarily
useless, were of great importance, with the
wind over the taffrail. The distance between the
two vessels did not exceed a mile, and the danger of
lessening it was now too obvious to admit of delay.
The ordinary movements of seamen, in critical moments,
are dictated by a quality that resembles instinct,
more than thought. The constant hazards of
a dangerous and delicate profession, in which delay
may prove fatal, and in which life, character, and
property are so often dependent on the self-possession
and resources of him who commands, beget, in time,
so keen a knowledge of the necessary expedients, as
to cause it to approach a natural quality.

The studding-sails of the Water-Witch were no
sooner fluttering in the air, than the brigantine
slightly changed her course, like some bird whose
wing has been touched by the fowler; and her head
was seen inclining as much to the south, as the moment
before it had pointed northward. The variation,
trifling as it was, brought the wind on the opposite
quarter, and caused the boom that distended her
mainsail to gybe. At the same instant, the studding-sails,
which had been flapping under the lee of this

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[figure description] Page 024.[end figure description]

vast sheet of canvas, swelled to their utmost tension;
and the vessel lost little, if any, of the power which
urged her through the water. Even while this evolution
was so rapidly performed, men were seen aloft,
nimbly employed, as it has been already expressed
by the observant little midshipman, in securing the
crippled sails.

“A rogue has a quick wit,” said Trysail, whose
critical eye suffered no movement of the chase to
escape him; “and he has need of it, sail from what
haven he may! Yon brigantine is prettily handled!
Little have we gained by our fire, but the gunner's
account of ammunition expended; and little has the
free-trader lost, but a studding-sail-boom, which will
work up very well, yet, into top-gallant-yards, and
other light spars, for such a cockle-shell.”

“It is something gained, to force him off the land
into rougher water;” Ludlow mildly answered. “I
think we see his quarter-pieces more plainly, than
before the gun was used.”

“No doubt, Sir, no doubt. I got a glimpse of his
lower dead-eyes, a minute ago; but I have been
near enough to see the saucy look of the hussy under
his bowsprit; yet there goes the brigantine, at
large!”

“I am certain that we are closing;” thoughtfully
returned Ludlow. “Hand me a glass, quarter-master.”

Trysail watched the countenance of his young
commander, as he examined the chase with the aid
of the instrument; and he thought he read strong
discontent in his features, when the other laid it
aside.

“Does he show no signs of coming back to his
allegiance, Sir?—or does the rogue hold out in obstinacy?”

“The figure on his poop is the bold man who ventured
on board the Coquette, and who now seems

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[figure description] Page 025.[end figure description]

quite as much at his ease as when he exhibited his
effrontery here!”

“There is a look of deep water about that rogue;
and I thought Her Majesty had gained a prize, when
he first put foot on our decks. You are right enough,
Sir, in calling him a bold one! The fellow's impudence
would unsettle the discipline of a whole ship's
company, though every other man were an officer,
and all the rest priests. He took up as much room
in walking the quarter-deck, as a ninety in waring;
and the truck is not driven on the head of that top-gallant-mast,
half as hard as the hat is riveted to
his head. The fellow has no reverence for a pennant!
I managed, in shifting pennants at sunset, to
make the fly of the one that came down flap in his
impudent countenance, by way of hint; and he took
it as a Dutchman minds a signal—that is, as a question
to be answered in the next watch. A little
polish got on the quarter-deck of a man-of-war,
would make a philosopher of the rogue, and fit him
for any company, short of heaven!”

“There goes a new boom, aloft!” cried Ludlow,
interrupting the discursive discourse of the master.
“He is bent on getting in with the shore.”

“If these puffs come much heavier,” returned the
master, whose opinions of the chase vacillated with
his professional feelings, “we shall have him at our
own play, and try the qualities of his brigantine
The sea has a green spot to windward, and there
are strong symptoms of a squall on the water. One
can almost see into the upper world, with an air
clear as this. Your northers sweep the mists off
America, and leave both sea and land bright as a
school-boy's face, before the tears have dimmed it,
after the first flogging. You have sailed in the
southern seas, Captain Ludlow, I know; for we
were shipmates among the islands, years that are
past: but I never heard whether you have run the

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[figure description] Page 026.[end figure description]

Gibralter passage, and seen the blue water that lies
among the Italy mountains?”

“I made a cruise against the Barbary states,
when a lad; and we had business that took us to
the northern shore.”

“Ay! 'Tis your northern shore, I mean! There
is not a foot of it all, from the rock at the entrance,
to the Fare of Messina, that eye of mine hath not
seen. No want of look-outs and land-marks in that
quarter! Here we are close aboard of America,
which lies some eight or ten leagues there-away to
the northward of us, and some forty astern; and yet,
if it were not for our departure, with the color of
the water, and a knowledge of the soundings, one
might believe himself in the middle of the Atlantic.
Many a good ship plumps upon America before she
knows where she is going; while in yon sea, you
may run for a mountain, with its side in full view,
four-and-twenty hours on a stretch, before you see
the town at its foot.”

“Nature has compensated for the difference, in
defending the approach to this coast, by the Gulf
Stream, with its floating weeds and different temperature;
while the lead may feel its way in the darkest
night, for no roof of a house is more gradual than
the ascent of this shore, from a hundred fathoms to
a sandy beach.”

“I said many a good ship, Captain Ludlow, and
not good navigator.—No—no—your thorough-bred
knows the difference between green water and blue,
as well as between a hand-lead and the deep-sea.
But I remember to have missed an observation, once,
when running for Genoa, before a mistrail. There
was a likelihood of making our land-fall in the night,
and the greater the need of knowing the ship's position.
I have often thought, Sir, that the ocean was
like human life,—a blind track for all that is ahead,
and none of the clearest as respects that which has

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[figure description] Page 027.[end figure description]

been passed over. Many a man runs headlong to his
own destruction, and many a ship steers for a reef
under a press of canvas. To-morrow is a fog, into
which none of us can see; and even the present time
is little better than thick weather, into which we
look without getting much information. Well, as I
was observing, here lay our course, with the wind as
near aft as need be, blowing much as at present; for
your French mistrail has a family likeness to the
American norther. We had the main-top-gallant-sail
set, without studding-sails, for we began to think of
the deep bight in which Genoa is stowed, and the
sun had dipped more than an hour. As our good
fortune would have it, clouds and mistrails do not
agree long, and we got a clear horizon. Here lay a
mountain of snow, northerly, a little west, and there
lay another, southerly with easting. The best ship
in Queen Anne's navy could not have fetched either
in a day's run, and yet there we saw them, as plainly
as if anchored under their lee! A look at the chart
soon gave us an insight into our situation. The first
were the Alps, as they call them, being as I suppose
the French for apes, of which there are no doubt
plenty in those regions; and the other were the highlands
of Corsica, both being as white, in midsummer,
as the hair of a man of fourscore. You see, Sir, we
had only to set the two, by compass, to know, within
a league or two, where we were. So we ran till
midnight, and hove-to; and in the morning we took
the light to feel for our haven—”

“The brigantine is gybing, again!” cried Ludlow.
“He is determined to shoal his water!”

The master glanced an eye around the horizon,
and then pointed steadily towards the north. Ludlow
observed the gesture, and, turning his head, he
was at no loss to read its meaning.

-- 028 --

CHAPTER III.

“—I am gone, Sir,
And, anon, Sir,
I'll be with you again.”
Clown in Twelfth Night.

[figure description] Page 028.[end figure description]

Although it is contrary to the apparent evidence
of our senses, there is no truth more certain than
that the course of most gales of wind comes from
the leeward. The effects of a tempest shall be felt,
for hours, at a point that is seemingly near its termination,
before they are witnessed at another, that appears
to be nearer its source. Experience has also
shown that a storm is more destructive, at or near its
place of actual commencement, than at that whence
it may seem to come. The easterly gales that so
often visit the coasts of the republic, commit their
ravages in the bays of Pennsylvania and Virginia, or
along the sounds of the Carolinas, hours before their
existence is known in the states further east; and
the same wind, which is a tempest at Hatteras, becomes
softened to a breeze, near the Penobscot.
There is, however, little mystery in this apparent
phenomenon. The vacuum which has been created
in the air, and which is the origin of all winds, must
be filled first from the nearest stores of the atmosphere;
and as each region contributes to produce
the equilibrium, it must, in return, receive other supplies
from those which lie beyond. Were a given
quantity of water to be suddenly abstracted from the
sea, the empty space would be replenished by a torrent
from the nearest surrounding fluid, whose level
would be restored, in succession, by supplies that
were less and less violently contributed. Were the
abstraction made on a shoal, or near the land, the
flow would be greatest from that quarter where the

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[figure description] Page 029.[end figure description]

fluid had the greatest force, and with it would consequently
come the current.

But while there is so close an affinity between
the two fluids, the workings of the viewless winds
are, in their nature, much less subject to the powers
of human comprehension than those of the sister element.
The latter are frequently subject to the
direct and manifest influence of the former, while the
effects produced by the ocean on the air are hid from
our knowledge by the subtle character of the agency.
Vague and erratic currents, it is true, are met in the
waters of the ocean; but their origin is easily referred
to the action of the winds, while we often remain in
uncertainty as to the immediate causes which give
birth to the breezes themselves. Thus the mariner,
even while the victim of the irresistible waves, studies
the heavens as the known source from whence the
danger comes; and while he struggles fearfully, amid
the strife of the elements, to preserve the balance of
the delicate and fearful machine he governs, he well
knows that the one which presents the most visible,
and to a landsman much the most formidable object
of apprehension, is but the instrument of the unseen
and powerful agent that heaps the water on his path.

It is in consequence of this difference in power,
and of the mystery that envelops the workings of the
atmosphere, that, in all ages, seamen have been the
subjects of superstition, in respect to the winds.
There is always more or less of the dependency of
ignorance, in the manner with which they have regarded
the changes of that fickle element. Even the
mariners of our own times are not exempt from this
weakness. The thoughtless ship-boy is reproved if
his whistle be heard in the howling of the gale, and
the officer sometimes betrays a feeling of uneasiness,
if at such a moment he should witness any violation
of the received opinions of his profession. He finds
himself in the situation of one whose ears have drunk

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[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

in legends of supernatural appearances, which a better
instruction has taught him to condemn, and who,
when placed in situations to awaken their recollection,
finds the necessity of drawing upon his reason,
to quiet emotions that he might hesitate to acknowledge.

When Trysail directed the attention of his young
commander to the heavens, however, it was more
with the intelligence of an experienced mariner, than
with any of the sensations to which allusion has just
been made. A cloud had suddenly appeared on the
water, and long ragged portions of the vapor were
pointing from it, in a manner to give it what seamen
term a windy appearance.

“We shall have more than we want, with this
canvas!” said the master, after both he and his commander
had studied the appearance of the mist, for
a sufficient time. “That fellow is a mortal enemy
of lofty sails; he likes to see nothing but naked sticks,
up in his neighbourhood!”

“I should think his appearance will force the
brigantine to shorten sail;” returned the Captain.
“We will hold-on to the last, while he must begin to
take in soon, or the squall will come upon him too
fast for a light-handed vessel.”

“'Tis a cruiser's advantage! And yet the rogue
shows no signs of lowering a single cloth!”

“We will look to our own spars;” said Ludlow,
turning to the lieutenant of the watch. “Call the
people up, Sir, and see all ready, for yonder cloud.”

The order was succeeded by the customary hoarse
summons of the boatswain, who prefaced the effort
of his lungs by a long, shrill winding of his call, above
the hatchways of the ship. The cry of “all hands
shorten sail, ahoy!” soon brought the crew from the
depths of the vessel to her upper deck. Each trained
seaman silently took his station; and after the
ropes were cleared, and the few necessary

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[figure description] Page 031.[end figure description]

preparations made, all stood in attentive silence, awaiting the
sounds that might next proceed from the trumpet,
which the first-lieutenant had now assumed in person.

The superiority of sailing, which a ship fitted for
war possesses over one employed in commerce, proceeds
from a variety of causes. The first is in the
construction of the hull, which in the one is as justly
fitted, as the art of naval architecture will allow, to
the double purposes of speed and buoyancy; while in
the other, the desire of gain induces great sacrifices
of these important objects, in order that the vessel
may be burthensome. Next comes the difference in
the rig, which is not only more square, but more
lofty, in a ship of war than in a trader; because the
greater force of the crew of the former enables them
to manage both spars and sails that are far heavier
than any ever used in the latter. Then comes the
greater ability of the cruiser to make and shorten
sail, since a ship manned by one or two hundred men
may safely profit by the breeze to the last moment,
while one manned by a dozen often loses hours of
a favorable wind, from the weakness of her crew.
This explanation will enable the otherwise uninitiated
reader to understand the reason why Ludlow
had hoped the coming squall would aid his designs
on the chase.

To express ourselves in nautical language, `the
Coquette held on to the last.' Ragged streaks of
vapor were whirling about in the air, within a fearful
proximity to the lofty and light sails, and the
foam on the water had got so near the ship, as already
to efface her wake; when Ludlow, who had
watched the progress of the cloud with singular coolness,
made a sign to his subordinate that the proper
instant had arrived.

“In, of all!” shouted through the trumpet, was
the only command necessary; for officers and crew
were well instructed in their duty.

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[figure description] Page 032.[end figure description]

The words had no sooner quitted the lips of the
lieutenant, than the steady roar of the sea was
drowned in the flapping of canvas. Tacks, sheets,
and halyards, went together; and, in less than a
minute, the cruiser showed naked spars and whistling
ropes, where so lately had been seen a cloud of
snow-white cloth. All her steering-sails came in together,
and the lofty canvas was furled to her topsails.
The latter still stood, and the vessel received
the weight of the little tempest on their broad surfaces.
The gallant ship stood the shock nobly; but,
as the wind came over the taffrail, its force had far
less influence on the hull, than on the other occasion
already described. The danger, now, was only for
her spars; and these were saved by the watchful,
though bold, vigilance of her captain.

Ludlow was no sooner certain that the cruiser felt
the force of the wind, and to gain this assurance
needed but a few moments, than he turned his eager
look on the brigantine. To the surprise of all who
witnessed her temerity, the Water-Witch still showed
all her light sails. Swiftly as the ship was now
driven through the water, its velocity was greatly
outstripped by that of the wind. The signs of the
passing squall were already visible on the sea, for
half the distance between the two vessels; and still
the chase showed no consciousness of its approach.
Her commander had evidently studied its effects on
the Coquette; and he awaited the shock, with the
coolness of one accustomed to depend on his own resources,
and able to estimate the force with which
he had to contend.

“If he hold-on a minute longer, he will get more
than he can bear, and away will go all his kites, like
smoke from the muzzle of a gun!” muttered Trysail.
“Ah! there come down his studding-sails—ha!
settle away the mainsail—in royal, and

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[figure description] Page 033.[end figure description]

top-gallant-sail, with topsail on the cap!—The rascals are nimble
as pickpockets in a crowd!”

The honest master has sufficiently described the
precautions taken on board of the brigantine. Nothing
was furled; but as every thing was hauled
up, or lowered, the squall had little to waste its fury
on. The diminished surfaces of the sails protected
the spars, while the canvas was saved by the aid of
cordage. After a few moments of pause, half-a-dozen
men were seen busied in more effectually securing
the few upper and lighter sails.

But though the boldness with which the `Skimmer
of the Seas' carried sail to the last, was justified by
the result, still the effects of the increased wind and
rising waves on the progress of the two vessels, grew
more sensible. While the little and low brigantine
began to labor and roll, the Coquette rode the element
with buoyancy, and consequently with less resistance
from the water. Twenty minutes, during
which the force of the wind was but little lessened,
brought the cruiser so near the chase, as to enable
her crew to distinguish most of the smaller objects
that were visible above her ridge-ropes.

“Blow winds, and crack your cheeks!” said Ludlow,
in an under tone, the excitement of the chase
growing with the hopes of success. “I ask but one
half-hour, and then shift at your pleasure!”

“Blow, good devil, and you shall have the cook!”
muttered Trysail, quoting a very different author.
“Another glass will bring us within hail.”

“The squall is leaving us!” interrupted the captain.
“Pack on the ship, again, Mr. Luff, from her
trucks to her ridge-ropes!”

The whistle of the boatswain was again heard
at the hatchways, and the hoarse summons of `all
hands make sail, ahoy!' once more called the people
to their stations. The sails were set, with a rapidity
which nearly equalled the speed with which they

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[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

had been taken in; and the violence of the breeze
was scarcely off the ship, before its complicated volumes
of canvas were spread, to catch what remained.
On the other hand, the chase, even more hardy
than the cruiser, did not wait for the end of the
squall; but, profiting by the notice given by the
latter, the `Skimmer of the Seas' began to sway
his yards aloft, while the sea was still white with
foam.

“The quick-sighted rogue knows we are done
with it,” said Trysail; “and he is getting ready for
his own turn. We gain but little of him, notwithstanding
our muster of hands.”

The fact was too true to be denied, for the brigantine
was again under all her canvas, before the ship
had sensibly profited by her superior physical force.
It was at this moment, when, perhaps, in consequence
of the swell on the water, the Coquette might have
possessed some small advantage, that the wind suddenly
failed. The squall had been its expiring effort;
and, within an hour after the two vessels had again
made sail, the canvas was flapping against the masts,
in a manner to throw back, in eddies, a force as great
as that it received. The sea fell fast, and ere the end
of the last or forenoon watch, the surface of the ocean
was agitated only by those long undulating swells,
that seldom leave it entirely without motion. For
some little time, there were fickle currents of air
playing in various directions about the ship, but always
in sufficient force to urge her slowly through the
water; and then, when the equilibrium of the element
seemed established, there was a total calm.
During the half-hour of the baffling winds, the brigantine
had been a gainer, though not enongh to carry
her entirely beyond the reach of the cruiser's guns.

“Haul up the courses!” said Ludlow, when the
last breath of wind had been felt on the ship, and
quitting the gun where he had long stood, watching

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[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

the movements of the chase. “Get the boats into the
water, Mr. Luff, and arm their crews.”

The young commander issued this order, which
needed no interpreter to explain its object, firmly,
but in sadness. His face was thoughtful, and his whole
air was that of a man who yielded to an imperative
but an unpleasant duty. When he had spoken, he
signed to the attentive Alderman and his friend to
follow, and entered his cabin.

“There is no alternative,” continued Ludlow, as
he laid the glass, which so often that morning had
been at his eye, on the table, and threw himself into
a chair. “This rover must be seized at every hazard,
and here is a favorable occasion to carry him
by boarding. Twenty minutes will bring us to his
side, and five more will put us in possession; but—”

“You think the Skimmer is not a man to receive
such visiters with an old woman's welcome;” pithily
observed Myndert.

“I much mistake the man, if he yield so beautiful
a vessel, peacefully. Duty is imperative on a seaman,
Alderman Van Beverout; and, much as I lament
the circumstance, it must be obeyed.”

“I understand you, Sir. Captain Ludlow has two
mistresses, Queen Anne and the daughter of old
Etienne de Barbérie. He fears both. When the
debts exceed the means of payment, it would seem
wise to offer to compound; and, in this case, Her
Majesty and my niece may be said to stand in the
case of creditors.”

“You mistake my meaning, Sir;” said Ludlow,
proudly. “There can be no composition between a
faithful officer and his duty, nor do I acknowledge
more than one mistress in my ship—but seamen are
little to be trusted in the moment of success, and
with their passions awakened by resistance.—Alderman
Van Beverout, will you accompany the party,
and serve as mediator?”

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[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

“Pikes and hand-grenades! Am I a fit subject for
mounting the sides of a smuggler, with a broadsword
between my teeth! If you will put me into the
smallest and most peaceable of your boats, with a
crew of two boys, that I can control with the authority
of a magistrate, and covenant to remain here
with your three topsails aback, having always a flag
of truce at each mast, I will bear the olive-branch to
the brigantine, but not a word of menace. If report
speaks true, your `Skimmer of the Seas' is no lover
of threats, and Heaven forbid that I should do violence
to any man's habits! I will go forth as your
turtle-dove, Captain Ludlow; but not one foot will I
proceed as your Goliath.”

“And you equally refuse endeavoring to avert hostilities?”
continued Ludlow, turning his look on the
Patroon of Kinderhook.

“I am the Queen's subject, and ready to aid in
supporting the laws;” quietly returned Oloff Van
Staats.

“Patroon!” exclaimed his watchful friend; “you
know not what you say! If there were question of
an inroad of Mohawks, or an invasion from the Canadas,
the case would differ; but this is only a trifling
difference, concerning a small balance in the revenue
duties, which had better be left to your tide-waiter,
and the other wild-cats of the law. If Parliament
will put temptation before our eyes, let the sin light
on their own heads. Human nature is weak, and
the vanities of our system are so many inducements
to overlook unreasonable regulations. I say, therefore,
it is better to remain in peace, on board this
ship, where our characters will be as safe as our
bones, and trust to Providence for what will happen.”

“I am the Queen's subject, and ready to uphold
her dignity;” repeated Oloff, firmly.

“I will trust you, Sir;” said Ludlow, taking his

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rival by the arm, and leading him into his own state-room.

The conference was soon ended, and a midshipman
shortly after reported that the boats were ready for
service. The master was next summoned to the cabin
and admitted to the private apartment of his commander.
Ludlow then proceeded to the deck, where
he made the final dispositions for the attack. The
ship was left in charge of Mr. Luff, with an injunction
to profit by any breeze that might offer, to draw
as near as possible to the chase. Trysail was placed
in the launch, at the head of a strong party of boarders.
Van Staats of Kinderhook was provided with
the yawl, manned only by its customary crew; while
Ludlow entered his own barge, which contained its
usual complement, though the arms that lay in the
stern-sheets sufficiently showed that they were prepared
for service.

The launch, being the soonest ready, and of much
the heaviest movement, was the first to quit the side
of the Coquette. The master steered directly for the
becalmed and motionless brigantine. Ludlow took
a more circuitous course, apparently with an intention
of causing such a diversion as might distract the
attention of the crew of the smuggler, and with the
view of reaching the point of attack at the same
moment with the boat that contained his principal
force. The yawl also inclined from the straight line,
steering as much on one side as the barge diverged
on the other. In this manner the men pulled in silence
for some twenty minutes,—the motion of the
larger boat, which was heavily charged, being slow
and difficult. At the end of this period, a signal was
made from the barge, when all the men ceased rowing
and prepared themselves for the struggle. The
launch was within pistol-shot of the brigantine, and
directly on her beam; the yawl had gained her head
where Van Staats of Kinderhook was studying the

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malign expression of the image, with an interest
that seemed to increase as his sluggish nature became
excited; and Ludlow, on the quarter opposite
to the launch, was examining the condition of the
chase by the aid of a glass. Trysail profited by the
pause, to address his followers:

“This is an expedition in boats,” commenced the
accurate and circumstantial master, “made in smooth
water, with little, or one may say no wind, in the
month of June, and on the coast of North America.
You are not such a set of know-nothings, men, as to
suppose the launch has been hoisted out, and two of
the oldest, not to say best seamen, on the quarter-deck
of Her Majesty's ship, have gone in boats, without
the intention of doing something more than to
ask the name and character of the brig in sight. The
smallest of the young gentlemen might have done
that duty, as well as the captain, or myself. It is the
belief of those who are best informed, that the stranger,
who has the impudence to lie quietly within long
range of a royal cruiser, without showing his colors,
is neither more nor less than the famous `Skimmer
of the Seas;' a man against whose seamanship I will
say nothing, but who has none of the best reputation
for honesty, as relates to the Queen's revenue. No
doubt you have heard many extraordinary accounts
of the exploits of this rover, some of which seem to
insinuate, that the fellow has a private understanding
with those who manage their transactions in a
less religious manner than it may be supposed is done
by the bench of bishops. But what of that? You
are hearty Englishmen, who know what belongs to
church and state; and, d—e, you are not the boys
to be frightened by a little witchcraft. [a cheer] Ay,
that is intelligible and reasonable language, and such
as satisfies me you understand the subject. I shall
say no more, than just to add, that Captain Ludlow
desires there may be no indecent language, nor, for

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[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

that matter, any rough treatment of the people of
the brigantine, over and above the knocking on the
head, and cutting of throats, that may be necessary
to take her. In this particular you will take example
by me, who, being older, have more experience
than most of you, and who, in all reason, should better
know when and where to show his manhood. Lay
about you like men, so long as the free-traders stand
to their quarters—but remember mercy, in the hour
of victory! You will on no account enter the cabins;
on this head my orders are explicit, and I shall make
no more of throwing the man into the sea, who dares
to transgress them, than if he were a dead Frenchman;
and, as we now clearly understand each other,
and know our duty so well, there remains no more
than to do it. I have said nothing of the prize-money,
[a cheer] seeing you are men that love the Queen
and her honor, more than lucre, [a cheer]; but this
much I can safely promise, that there will be the
usual division, [a cheer] and as there is little doubt
but the rogues have driven a profitable trade, why
the sum-total is likely to be no trifle.” [Three hearty
cheers.]

The report of a pistol from the barge, which was
immediately followed by a gun from the cruiser,
whose shot came whistling between the masts of the
Water-Witch, was the signal to resort to the ordinary
means of victory. The master cheered, in his turn;
and in a full, steady, and deep voice, he gave the
order to `pull away!' At the same instant, the barge
and yawl were seen advancing towards the object
of their common attack, with a velocity that promised
to bring the event to a speedy issue.

Throughout the whole of the preparations in and
about the Coquette, since the moment when the
breeze failed, nothing had been seen of the crew of
the brigantine. The beautiful fabric lay rolling on
the heaving and setting waters; but no human form

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[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

appeared to control her movements, or to make the
arrangements that seemed so necessary for her defence.
The sails continued hanging as they had been
left by the breeze, and the hull was floating at the
will of the waves. This deep quiet was undisturbed
by the approach of the boats; and if the desperate
individual, who was known to command the free-trader,
had any intentions of resistance, they had
been entirely hid from the long and anxious gaze of
Ludlow. Even the shouts, and the dashing of the
oars on the water, when the boats commenced their
final advance, produced no change on the decks of
the chase; though the commander of the Coquette
saw her head-yards slowly and steadily changing
their direction. Uncertain of the object of this
movement, he rose on the seat of his boat, and,
waving his hat, cheered the men to greater exertion.
The barge had got within a hundred feet of the
broadside of the brigantine, when the whole of her
wide folds of canvas were seen swelling outwards.
The exquisitely-ordered machinery of spars, sails,
and rigging, bowed towards the barge, as in the act
of a graceful leave-taking, and then the light hull
glided ahead, leaving the boat to plow through the
empty space which it had just occupied. There
needed no second look to assure Ludlow of the inefficacy
of further pursuit, since the sea was already
ruffled by the breeze which had so opportunely come
to aid the smuggler. He signed to Trysail to desist;
and both stood looking, with disappointed eyes, at the
white and bubbling streak which was left by the
wake of the fugitive.

But while the Water-Witch left the boats, commanded
by the captain and master of the Queen's
cruiser, behind her, she steered directly on the course
that was necessary to bring her soonest in contact
with the yawl. For a few moments, the crew of the
latter believed it was their own advance that brought

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[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

them so rapidly near their object; and when the
midshipman who steered the boat discovered his
error, it was only in season to prevent the swift brigantine
from passing over his little bark. He gave
the yawl a wide sheer, and called to his men to pull
for their lives Oloff Van Staats had placed himself
at the head of the boat, armed with a hanger, and
with every faculty too intent on the expected attack,
to heed a danger that was scarcely intelligible to one
of his habits. As the brigantine glided past, he saw
her low channels bending towards the water, and,
with a powerful effort, he leaped into them, shouting
a sort of war-cry, in Dutch. At the next instant, he
threw his large frame over the bulwarks, and disappeared
on the deck of the smuggler.

When Ludlow had caused his boats to assemble
on the spot which the chase had so lately occupied,
he saw that the fruitless expedition had been attended
by no other casualty than the involuntary abduction
of the Patroon of Kinderhook.

-- 042 --

CHAPTER IV.

“What country, friends, is this?”

“—Illyria, lady.”

What you will.

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

Men are as much indebted to a fortuitous concurrence
of circumstances, for the characters they sustain
in this world, as to their personal qualities. The
same truth is applicable to the reputations of ships.
The properties of a vessel, like those of an individual,
may have their influence on her good or evil fortune;
still, something is due to the accidents of life, in both.
Although the breeze, which came so opportunely to
the aid of the Water-Witch, soon filled the sails of
the Coquette, it caused no change in the opinions of
her crew concerning the fortunes of that ship; while
it served to heighten the reputation which the `Skimmer
of the Seas' had already obtained, as a mariner
who was more than favored by happy chances, in
the thousand emergencies of his hazardous profession.
Trysail, himself, shook his head, in a manner that
expressed volumes, when Ludlow vented his humor
on what the young man termed the luck of the smuggler;
and the crews of the boats gazed after the
retiring brigantine, as the inhabitants of Japan would
now most probably regard the passage of some vessel
propelled by steam. As Mr. Luff was not neglectful
of his duty, it was not long before the Coquette approached
her boats. The delay occasioned by hoisting
in the latter, enabled the chase to increase the
space between the two vessels, to such a distance, as
to place her altogether beyond the reach of shot.
Ludlow, however, gave his orders to pursue, the moment
the ship was ready; and he hastened to conceal
his disappointment in his own cabin.

“Luck is a merchant's surplus, while a living

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[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

profit is the reward of his wits!” observed Alderman
Van Beverout, who could scarce conceal the satisfaction
he felt, at the unexpected and repeated escapes
of the brigantine. “Many a man gains doubloons,
when he only looked for dollars; and many a
market falls, while the goods are in the course of
clearance. There are Frenchmen enough, Captain
Ludlow to keep a brave officer in good-humor; and
the less reason to fret about a trifling mischance in
overhauling a smuggler.”

“I know not how highly you may prize your niece,
Mr. Van Beverout; but were I the uncle of such a
woman, the idea that she had become the infatuated
victim of the arts of you reckless villain, would madden
me!”

“Paroxysms and straight-jackets! Happily you
are not her uncle, Captain Ludlow, and therefore
the less reason to be uneasy. The girl has a French
fancy, and she is rummaging the smuggler's silks and
laces; when her choice is made, we shall have her
back again, more beautiful than ever, for a little
finery.”

“Choice! Oh, Alida, Alida! this is not the election
that we had reason to expect from thy cultivated
mind and proud sentiments!”

“The cultivation is my work, and the pride is an
inheritance from old Etienne de Barbérie;” dryly
rejoined Myndert. “But complaints never lowered
a market, nor raised the funds. Let us send for the
Patroon, and take counsel coolly, as to the easiest
manner of finding our way back to the Lust in Rust,
before Her Majesty's ship gets too far from the coast
of America.”

“Thy pleasantry is unseasonable, Sir. Your Patroon
is gone with your niece, and a pleasant passage
they are likely to enjoy, in such company! We
lost him, in the expedition with our boats.”

The Alderman stood aghast.

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[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

“Lost!—Oloff Van Staats lost, in the expedition
of the boats! Evil betide the day when that discreet
and affluent youth should be lost to the colony!
Sir, you know not what you utter when you hazard
so rash an opinion. The death of the young Patroon
of Kinderhook would render one of the best and
most substantial of our families extinct, and leave
the third best estate in the Province without a direct
heir!”

“The calamity is not so overwhelming;” returned
the captain, with bitterness. “The gentleman has
boarded the smuggler, and gone with la belle Barb
érie to examine his silks and laces!”

Ludlow then explained the manner in which the
Patroon had disappeared. When perfectly assured
that no bodily harm had befallen his friend, the
satisfaction of the Alderman was quite as vivid, as
his consternation had been apparent but the moment
before.

“Gone with la belle Barbérie, to examine silks
and laces!” he repeated, rubbing his hands together,
in delight. Ay, there the blood of my old friend,
Stephanus, begins to show itself! Your true Hollander
is no mercurial Frenchman, to beat his head and
make grimaces at a shift in the wind, or a woman's
frown; nor a blustering Englishman (you are of the
colony yourself, young gentleman) to swear a big oath
and swagger; but, as you see, a quiet, persevering,
and, in the main, an active son of old Batavia, who
watches his opportunity, and goes into the very presence
of—”

“Whom?”—demanded Ludlow, perceiving that
the Alderman had paused.

“Of his enemy; seeing that all the enemies of the
Queen are necessarily the enemies of every loyal
subject. Bravo, young Oloff! thou art a lad after
my own heart, and no doubt—no doubt—fortune
will favor the brave! Had a Hollander a proper

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[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

footing on this earth, Captain Cornelius Ludlow, we
should hear a different tale concerning the right to
the Narrow Seas, and indeed to most other questions
of commerce.”

Ludlow arose with a bitter smile on his face,
though with no ill feeling towards the man whose
exultation was so natural.

“Mr. Van Staats may have reason to congratulate
himself on his good fortune,” he said, “though I
much mistake if even his enterprise will succeed,
against the wiles of one so artful, and of an appearance
so gay, as the man whose guest he has now become.
Let the caprice of others be what it may,
Alderman Van Beverout, my duty must be done.
The smuggler, aided by chance and artifice, has
thrice escaped me; the fourth time, it may be our
fortune. If this ship possesses the power to destroy
the lawless rover, let him look to his fate!”

With this menace on his lips, Ludlow quitted the
cabin, to resume his station on the deck, and to renew
his unwearied watching of the movements of the
chase.

The change in the wind was altogether in favor
of the brigantine. It brought her to windward, and
was the means of placing the two vessels in positions
that enabled the Water-Witch to profit the most by
her peculiar construction. Consequently, when Ludlow
reached his post, he saw that the swift and light
craft had trimmed every thing close upon the wind,
and that she was already so far ahead, as to render
the chances of bringing her again within range of
his guns almost desperate; unless, indeed, some of
the many vicissitudes, so common on the ocean, should
interfere in his behalf. There remained little else to
be done, therefore, but to crowd every sail on the
Coquette that the ship would bear, and to endeavor
to keep within sight of the chase, during the hours
of darkness which must so shortly succeed. But

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[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

before the sun had fallen to the level of the water, the
hull of the Water-Witch had disappeared; and
when the day closed, no part of her airy outline
was visible, but that which was known to belong to
her upper and lighter spars. In a few minutes afterwards,
darkness covered the ocean; and the seamen
of the royal cruiser were left to pursue their
object, at random.

How far the Coquette had run during the night
does not appear, but when her commander made his
appearance on the following morning, his long and
anxious gaze met no other reward than a naked
horizon. On every side, the sea presented the same
waste of water. No object was visible, but the seafowl
wheeling on his wide wing, and the summits of
the irregular and green billows. Throughout that
and many succeeding days, the cruiser continued to
plow the ocean, sometimes running large, with every
thing opened to the breeze that the wide booms
would spread, and, at others, pitching and laboring
with adverse winds, as if bent on prevailing over the
obstacles which even nature presented to her progress.
The head of the worthy Alderman had got
completely turned; and though he patiently awaited
the result, before the week was ended, he knew not
even the direction in which the ship was steering.
At length he had reason to believe that the end of
their cruise approached. The efforts of the seamen
were observed to relax, and the ship was permitted
to pursue her course, under easier sail.

It was past meridian, on one of those days of moderate
exertion, that François was seen stealing from
below, and staggering from gun to gun, to a place in
the centre of the ship, where he habitually took the
air, in good weather, and where he might dispose of
his person, equally without presuming too far on the
good-nature of his superiors, and without courting

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[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

too much intimacy with the coarser herd who composed
the common crew.

“Ah!” exclaimed the valet, addressing his remark
to the midshipman who has already been mentioned
by the name of Hopper—“Voilà la terre! Quel
bonheur! I shall be so happy—le batiment be trop
agréable, mais vous savez, Monsieur Aspirant; que
je ne suis point marin—What be le nom du pays?”

“They call it, France,” returned the boy, who
understood enough of the other's language to comprehend
his meaning; “and a very good country it
is—for those that like it.”

“Ma foi, non!”—exclaimed François, recoiling a
pace, between amazement and delight.

“Call it Holland, then, if you prefer that country
most.”

“Dites-moi, Monsieur Hoppair,” continued the
valet, laying a trembling finger on the arm of the
remorseless young rogue; “est-ce la France?”

“One would think a man of your observation could
tell that for himself. Do you not see the church-tower,
with a château in the back-ground, and a
village built in a heap, by its side. Now look into
yon wood! There is a walk, straight as a ship's
wake in smooth water, and one—two—three—ay,
eleven statues, with just one nose among them all!”

“Ma foi—dere is not no wood, and no château,
and no village, and no statue, and no no nose,—mais
Monsieur, je suis agé—est-ce la France?”

“Oh, you miss nothing by having an indifferent
sight, for I shall explain it all, as we go along. You
see yonder hill-side, looking like a pattern-card, of
green and yellow stripes, or a signal-book, with the
flags of all nations, placed side by side—well, that
is—les champs; and this beautiful wood, with all the
branches trimmed till it looks like so many raw marines
at drill, is—la forêt—”

The credulity of the warm-hearted valet could

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[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

swallow no more; but, assuming a look of commiseration
and dignity, he drew back, and left the young
tyro of the sea to enjoy his joke with a companion
who just then joined him.

In the mean time, the Coquette continued to advance.
The château, and churches, and villages, of
the midshipman, soon changed into a low sandy
beach, with a back-ground of stunted pines, relieved,
here and there, by an opening, in which appeared
the comfortable habitation and numerous out-buildings
of some substantial yeoman, or occasionally embellished
by the residence of a country proprietor.
Towards noon, the crest of a hill rose from the sea;
and, just as the sun set behind the barrier of mountain,
the ship passed the sandy cape, and anchored
at the spot that she had quitted when first joined by
her commander after his visit to the brigantine. The
vessel was soon moored, the light yards were struck,
and a boat was lowered into the water. Ludlow
and the Alderman then descended the side, and proceeded
towards the mouth of the Shrewsbury. Although
it was nearly dark before they had reached
the shore, there remained light enough to enable the
former to discover an object of unusual appearance
floating in the bay, and at no great distance from the
direction of his barge. He was led by curiosity to
steer for it.

“Cruisers and Water-Witches!” muttered Myndert,
when they were near enough to perceive the
nature of the floating object. “That brazen hussy
haunts us, as if we had robbed her of gold! Let us
set foot on land, and nothing short of a deputation
from the City Council shall ever tempt me to wander
from my own abode, again!”

Ludlow shifted the helm of the boat, and resumed
his course towards the river. He required no explanation,
to tell him more of the nature of the artifice,
by which he had been duped. The

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[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

nicely-balanced tub, the upright spar, and the extinguished
lantern, with the features of the female of the malign
smile traced on its horn faces, reminded him, at once,
of the false light by which the Coquette had been
lured from her course, on the night she sailed in pursuit
of the brigantine.

CHAPTER V.

“—His daughter, and the heir of his kingdom,
—hath referred herself
Unto a poor but worthy gentleman:—”
Cymbeline.

When Alderman Van Beverout and Ludlow drew
near to the Lust in Rust, it was already dark. Night
had overtaken them, at some distance from the
place of landing; and the mountain already threw
its shadow across the river, the narrow strip of land
that separated it from the sea, and far upon the
ocean itself. Neither had an opportunity of making
his observations on the condition of things in and
about the villa, until they had ascended nearly to its
level, and had even entered the narrow but fragrant
lawn in its front. Just before they arrived at the
gate which opened on the latter, the Alderman
paused, and addressed his companion, with more of
the manner of their ancient confidence, than he had
manifested during the few preceding days of their
intercourse.

“You must have observed, that the events of this
little excursion on the water, have been rather of
a domestic than of a public character;” he said.
“Thy father was a very ancient and much-esteemed
friend of mine, and I am far from certain that there

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[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

is not some affinity between us, in the way of inter-marriages.
Thy worthy mother, who is a thrifty
woman, and a small talker, had some of the blood of
my own stock. It would grieve me to see the good
understanding, which these recollections have created,
in any manner interrupted. I admit, Sir, that
revenue is to the state what the soul is to the body,—
the moving and governing principle; and that, as
the last would be a tenantless house without its inhabitants,
so the first would be an exacting and troublesome
master without its proper products. But
there is no need of pushing a principle to extremities!
If this brigantine be, as you appear to suspect,
and indeed as we have some reason from various
causes to infer, the vessel called the Water-Witch
she might have been a legal prize had she fallen into
your power; but now that she has escaped, I cannot
say what may be your intentions; but were thy excellent
father, the worthy member of the King's
Council, living, so discreet a man would think much
before he opened his lips, to say more than is discreet,
on this or any other subject.”

“Whatever course I may believe my duty dictates,
you may safely rely on my discretion concerning the—
the remarkable—the very decided step which
your niece has seen proper to take;” returned the
young man, who did not make this allusion to Alida
without betraying, by the tremor of his voice, how
great was her influence still over him. “I see no
necessity of violating the domestic feelings to which
you allude, by aiding to feed the ears of the idly
curious, with the narrative of her errors.”

Ludlow stopped suddenly, leaving the uncle to
infer what he would wish to add.

“This is generous, and manly, and like a loyal—
lover, Captain Ludlow,” returned the Alderman;
“though it is not exactly what I intended to suggest.
We will not, however, multiply words, in the night

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air—ha! when the cat is asleep, the mice are seen to
play! Those night-riding, horse-racing blacks have
taken possession of Alida's pavilion; and we may be
thankful the poor girl's rooms are not as large as
Harlaem Common, or we should hear the feet of
some hard-driven beast galloping about in them.”

The Alderman, in his turn, cut short his speech,
and started as if one of the spukes of the colony had
suddenly presented itself to his eyes. His language
had drawn the look of his companion towards la Cour
des Fées; and Ludlow had, at the same moment as
the uncle, caught an unequivocal view of la belle
Barbérie, as she moved before the open window of
her apartment. The latter was about to rush forward,
but the hand of Myndert arrested the impetuous
movement.

“Here is more matter for our wits, than our legs;”
observed the cool and prudent burgher. “That was
the form of my ward and niece, or the daughter of
old Etienne Barbérie has a double.—Francis! didst
thou not see the image of a woman at the window of
the pavilion, or are we deceived by our wishes? I
have sometimes been deluded in an unaccountable
manner, Captain Ludlow, when my mind has been
thoroughly set on the bargain, in the quality of the
goods; for the most liberal of us all are subject to
mental weakness of this nature, when hope is alive!”

“Certainement, oui!” exclaimed the eager valet.
“Quel malheur to be obligé to go on la mèr, when
Mam'selle Alide nevair quit la maison! J'étais sûr,
que nous nous trompions, car jamais la famille de
Barbérie love to be marins!”

“Enough, good Francis; the family of Barbérie is
as earthy as a fox. Go and notify the idle rogues in
my kitchen, that their master is at hand; and remember,
that there is no necessity for speaking of all
the wonders we have seen on the great deep.

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Captain Ludlow, we will now join my dutiful niece, with
as little fracas as possible.”

Ludlow eagerly accepted the invitation, and instantly
followed the dogmatical and seemingly unmoved
Alderman towards the dwelling. As the lawn
was crossed, they involuntarily paused, a moment, to
look in at the open windows of the pavilion.

La belle Barbérie had ornamented la Cour des
Fées, with a portion of that national taste, which she
inherited from her father. The heavy magnificence
that distinguished the reign of Louis XIV. had
scarcely descended to one of the middling rank of
Monsieur de Barbérie, who had consequently brought
with him to the place of his exile, merely those tasteful
usages which appear almost exclusively the property
of the people from whom he had sprung, without the
encumbrance and cost of the more pretending fashions
of the period. These usages had become blended
with the more domestic and comfortable habits of
English, or what is nearly the same thing, of American
life—an union which, when it is found, perhaps
produces the most just and happy medium of the
useful and the agreeable. Alida was seated by a
small table of mahogany, deeply absorbed in the
contents of a little volume that lay before her. By
her side stood a tea-service, the cups and the vessels of
which were of the diminutive size then used, though
exquisitely wrought, and of the most beautiful material.
Her dress was a negligée suited to her years;
and her whole figure breathed that air of comfort,
mingled with grace, which seems to be the
proper quality of the sex, and which renders the
privacy of an elegant woman so attractive and peculiar.
Her mind was intent on the book, and the
little silver urn hissed at her elbow, apparently unheeded.

“This is the picture I have loved to draw,” half-whispered
Ludlow, “when gales and storms have

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kept me on the deck, throughout many a dreary and
tempestuous night! When body and mind have been
impatient of fatigue, this is the repose I have most
coveted, and for which I have even dared to hope!”

“The China trade will come to something, in time;
and you are an excellent judge of comfort, Master
Ludlow;” returned the Alderman. “That girl now
has a warm glow on her cheek, which would seem
to swear she never faced a breeze in her life; and
it is not easy to fancy, that one who looks so comfortable
has lately been frolicking among the dolphins.—
Let us enter.”

Alderman Van Beverout was not accustomed to
use much ceremony in his visits to his niece. Without
appearing to think any announcement necessary,
therefore, the dogmatical burgher coolly opened a
door, and ushered his companion into the pavilion.

If the meeting between la belle Alida and her
guests was distinguished by the affected indifference
of the latter, their seeming ease was quite equalled
by that of the lady. She laid aside her book, with
a calmness that might have been expected had they
parted but an hour before, and which sufficiently
assured both Ludlow and her uncle that their return
was known and their presence expected. She simply
arose at their entrance, and with a smile that betokened
breeding, rather than feeling, she requested
them to be seated. The composure of his niece had
the effect to throw the Alderman into a brown study,
while the young sailor scarcely knew which to admire
the most, the exceeding loveliness of a woman
who was always so beautiful, or her admirable self-possession
in a scene that most others would have
found sufficiently embarrassing. Alida, herself, appeared
to feel no necessity for any explanation; for,
when her guests were seated, she took occasion to
say, while busied in pouring out the tea—

“You find me prepared to offer the refreshment

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of a cup of delicious bohea. I think, my uncle calls
it the tea of the Caernarvon Castle.”

“A lucky ship, both in her passages and her
wares! Yes, it is the article you name; and I can
recommend it to all who wish to purchase. But,
niece of mine, will you condescend to acquaint this
commander in Her Majesty's service, and a poor
Alderman of her good city of New-York, how long
you may have been expecting our company?”

Alida felt at her girdle, and, drawing out a small
and richly-ornamented watch, she coolly examined
its hands, as if to learn the hour.

“We are nine. I think it was past the turn of
the day, when Dinah first mentioned that this
pleasure might be expected. But, I should also tell
you, that packages which seem to contain letters
have arrived from town.”

This was giving a new and sudden direction to
the thoughts of the Alderman. He had refrained
from entering on those explanations which the circumstances
seemed to require, because he well knew
that he stood on dangerous ground, and that more
might be said than he wished his companion to hear,
no less than from amazement at the composure of
his ward. He was not sorry, therefore, to have an
excuse to delay his inquiries, that appeared so much
in character as that of reading the communications
of his business correspondents. Swallowing the contents
of the tiny cup he held, at a gulp, the eager
merchant seized the packet that Alida now offered;
and, muttering a few words of apology to Ludlow,
he left the pavilion.

Until now, the commander of the Coquette had
not spoken. Wonder, mingled with indignation,
sealed his mouth, though he had endeavored to penetrate
the veil which Alida had drawn around her
conduct and motives, by a diligent use of his eyes.
During the first few moments of the interview, he

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thought that he could detect, in the midst of her
studied calmness, a melancholy smile struggling
around her beautiful mouth; but only once had their
looks met, as she turned her full, rich, and dark eyes
furtively on his face, as if she were curious to know
the effect produced by her manner on the mind of
the young sailor.

“Have the enemies of the Queen reason to regret
the cruise of the Coquette?” said la Belle, hurriedly,
when she found her glance detected; “or have they
dreaded to encounter a prowess that has already
proved their inferiority?”

“Fear, or prudence, or perhaps I might say conscience,
has made them wary;” returned Ludlow,
pointedly emphasizing the latter word. “We have
run from the Hook to the edge of the Grand Bank,
and returned without success.”

“'Tis unlucky. But, though the French escaped,
have none of the lawless met with punishment?
There is a rumor among the slaves, that the brigantine
which visited us is an object of suspicion to the
Government?”

“Suspicion!—But I may apply to la belle Barbérie,
to know whether the character her commander
has obtained be merited?”

Alida smiled, and, her admirer thought, sweetly as
ever.

“It would be a sign of extraordinary complaisance,
were Captain Ludlow to apply to the girls of the
colony for instruction in his duty! We may be secret
encouragers of the contraband, but surely we are
not to be suspected of any greater familiarity with
their movements. These hints may compel me to
abandon the pleasures of the Lust in Rust, and to
seek air and health in some less exposed situation.
Happily the banks of the Hudson offer many, that
one need be fastidious indeed to reject.”

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“Among which you count the Manor-House of
Kinderhook?”

Again Alida smiled, and Ludlow thought it was
triumphantly.

“The dwelling of Oloff Van Staats is said to be
commodious, and not badly placed. I have seen
it,—”

“In your images of the future?” said the young
man, observing she hesitated.

Alida laughed downright. But, immediately recovering
her self-command, she replied—

“Not so fancifully. My knowledge of the beauties
of the house of Mr. Van Staats, is confined to
very unpoetical glimpses from the river, in passing
and repassing. The chimneys are twisted in the
most approved style of the Dutch Brabant, and,
although wanting the stork's nests on their summits,
it seems as if there might be that woman's tempter,
comfort, around the hearths beneath. The offices,
too, have an enticing air, for a thrifty housewife!”

“Which office, in compliment to the worthy Patroon,
you intend shall not long be vacant?”

Alida was playing with a spoon, curiously wrought
to represent the stem and leaves of a tea-plant. She
started, dropped the implement, and raised her eyes
to the face of her companion. The look was steady,
and not without an interest in the evident concern
betrayed by the young man.

“It will never be filled by me, Ludlow;” was the
answer, uttered solemnly, and with a decision that
denoted a resolution fixed.

“That declaration removes a mountain!—Oh!
Alida, if you could as easily—”

“Hush!” whispered the other, rising and standing
for a moment in an attitude of intense expectation.
Her eye became brighter, and the bloom on her
cheek even deeper than before, while pleasure and
hope were both strongly depicted on her beautiful

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face—“Hush!” she continued, motioning to Ludlow
to repress his feelings. “Did you hear nothing?”

The disappointed and yet admiring young man
was silent, though he watched her singularly interesting
air, and lovely features, with all the intenseness
that seemed to characterize her own deportment.
As no sound followed that which Alida had
heard or fancied she had heard, she resumed her
seat, and appeared to lend her attention once more
to her companion.

“You were speaking of mountains?” she said,
scarce knowing what she uttered. “The passage
between the bays of Newburgh and Tappan, has
scarce a rival, as I have heard from travelled men.”

“I was indeed speaking of a mountain, but it was
of one that weighs me to the earth. Your inexplicable
conduct and cruel indifference have heaped it on
my feelings, Alida. You have said that there is no
hope for Oloff Van Staats; and one syllable, spoken
with your native ingenuousness and sincerity, has
had the effect to blow all my apprehensions from
that quarter to the winds. There remains only to
account for your absence, to resume the whole of
your power over one who is but too readily disposed
to confide in all you say or do.”

La belle Barbérie seemed touched. Her glance
at the young sailor was kinder, and her voice wanted
some of its ordinary steadiness, in the reply.

“That power has then been weakened?”

“You will despise me, if I say no;—you will distrust
me, if I say yes.”

“Then silence seems the course best adapted to
maintain our present amity.—Surely I heard a blow
struck, lightly, on the shutter of that window?”

“Hope sometimes deceives us. This repeated belief
would seem to say that you expect a visiter?”

A distinct tap on the shutter confirmed the impression
of the mistress of the pavilion. Alida looked at

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her companion, and appeared embarrassed. Her
color varied, and she seemed anxious to utter something
that either her feelings or her prudence suppressed.

“Captain Ludlow, you have once before been an
unexpected witness of an interview in la Cour des
Fées, that has, I fear, subjected me to unfavorable
surmises. But one manly and generous as yourself
can have indulgence for the little vanities of woman.
I expect a visit, that perhaps a Queen's officer should
not countenance.”

“I am no exciseman, to pry into wardrobes and
secret repositories, but one whose duty it is to act
only on the high seas, and against the more open violators
of the law. If you have any without, whose
presence you desire, let them enter without dread of
my office. When we meet in a more suitable place,
I shall know how to take my revenge.”

His companion looked grateful, and bowed her acknowledgments.
She then made a ringing sound, by
using a spoon on the interior of one of the vessels of
the tea equipage. The shrubbery, which shaded a
window, stirred; and presently, the young stranger,
already so well known in the former pages of this
work, and in the scenes of the brigantine, appeared
in the low balcony. His person was scarcely seen,
before a light bale of goods was tossed past him, into
the centre of the room.

“I send my certificate of character as an avant-courier;”
said the gay dealer in contraband, or Master
Seadrift, as he was called by the Alderman,
touching his cap, gallantly, to the mistress of la Cour
des Fées, and then, somewhat more ceremoniously,
to her companion; after which he returned the gold-bound
covering to its seat, on a bed of rich and glossy
curls, and sought his package. Here is one more customer
than I bargained for, and I look to more than

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common gain! We have met before, Captain Ludlow.”

“We have, Sir Skimmer of the Seas, and we shall
meet again. Winds may change, and fortune yet
favor the right!”

“We trust to the sea-green lady's care;” returned
the extraordinary smuggler, pointing, with a species
of reverence, real or affected, to the image that was
beautifully worked, in rich colors, on the velvet of
his cap. What has been will be, and the past gives
a hope for the future. We meet, here, on neutral
ground, I trust.”

“I am the commander of a royal cruiser, Sir;”
haughtily returned the other.

“Queen Anne may be proud of her servant!—
but we neglect our affairs. A thousand pardons,
lovely mistress of la Cour des Fées. This meeting of
two rude mariners does a slight to your beauty, and
little credit to the fealty due the sex. Having done
with all compliments, I have to offer certain articles
that never failed to cause the brightest eyes to grow
more brilliant, and at which duchesses have gazed
with many longings.”

“You speak with confidence of your associations,
Master Seadrift, and rate noble personages among
your customers, as familiarly as if you dealt in offices
of state.”

“This skilful servitor of the Queen will tell you,
lady, that the wind which is a gale on the Atlantic,
may scarce cool the burning cheek of a girl on the
land, and that the links in life are as curiously inter-locked
as the ropes of a ship. The Ephesian temple,
and the Indian wigwam, rested on the same earth.”

“From which you infer that rank does not alter
nature. We must admit, Captain Ludlow, that Master
Seadrift understands a woman's heart, when he
tempts her with stores of tissues gay as these!”

Ludlow had watched the speakers in silence. The

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manner of Alida was far less embarrassed, than when
he had before seen her in the smuggler's company;
and his blood fired, when he saw that their eyes
met with a secret and friendly intelligence. He had
remained, however, with a resolution to be calm,
and to know the worst. Conquering the expression of
his feelings by a great effort, he answered with an
exterior of composure, though not without some of
that bitterness in his emphasis, which he felt at his
heart.

“If Master Seadrift has this knowledge, he may
value himself on his good fortune;” was the reply.

“Much intercourse with the sex, who are my best
customers, has something helped me;” returned the
cavalier dealer in contraband. “Here is a brocade,
whose fellow is worn openly in the presence of our
royal mistress, though it came from the forbidden
looms of Italy; and the ladies of the court return
from patriotically dancing, in the fabrics of home, to
please the public eye, once in the year, to wear these
more agreeable inventions, all the rest of it, to please
themselves. Tell me, why does the Englishman, with
his pale sun, spend thousands to force a sickly imitation
of the gifts of the tropics, but because he pines
for forbidden fruit? or why does your Paris gourmand
roll a fig on his tongue, that a Lazzarone of Naples
would cast into his bay, but because he wishes to enjoy
the bounties of a low latitude, under a watery
sky? I have seen an individual feast on the eau sucré
of an European pine, that cost a guinea, while his
palate would have refused the same fruit, with its
delicious compound of acid and sweet, mellowed to
ripeness under a burning sun, merely because he
could have it for nothing. This is the secret of our
patronage; and as the sex are most liable to its influence,
we owe them most gratitude.”

“You have travelled, Master Seadrift,” returned
la Belle smiling, while she tossed the rich contents

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of the bale on the carpet, “and treat of usages as
familiarly as you speak of dignities.”

“The lady of the sea-green mantle does not permit
an idle servant. We follow the direction of her
guiding hand; sometimes it points our course among
the isles of the Adriatic, and at others on your
stormy American coasts. There is little of Europe
between Gibraltar and the Cattegat, that I have not
visited.”

“But Italy has been the favorite, if one may judge
by the number of her fabrics that you produce.”

“Italy, France, and Flanders, divide my custom;
though you are right, in believing the former most
in favor. Many years of early life did I pass on the
noble coasts of that romantic region. One who protected
and guided my infancy and youth, even left
me for a time, under instruction, on the little plain
of Sorrento.”

“And where can this plain be found?—for the
residence of so famous a rover may, one day, become
the theme of song, and is likely to occupy the leisure
of the curious.”

“The grace of the speaker may well excuse the
irony! Sorrento is a village on the southern shore of
the renowned Naples bay. Fire has wrought many
changes in that soft but wild country, and if, as religionists
believe, the fountains of the great deep were
ever broken up, and the earth's crust disturbed, to
permit its secret springs to issue on the surface, this
may have been one of the spots chosen by him whose
touch leaves marks that are indelible, in which to
show his power. The bed of the earth, itself, in all
that region, appears to have been but the vomitings
of volcanoes; and the Sorrentine passes his peaceable
life in the bed of an extinguished crater. 'Tis curious
to see in what manner the men of the middle
ages have built their town, on the margin of the sea,
where the element has swallowed one-half the ragged

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basin, and how they have taken the yawning crevices
of the tufo, for ditches to protect their walls!
I have visited many lands, and seen nature in nearly
every clime; but no spot has yet presented, in a single
view, so pleasant a combination of natural objects,
mingled with mighty recollections, as that
lovely abode on the Sorrentine cliffs!”

“Recount me these pleasures, that in memory
seem so agreeable, while I examine further into the
contents of the bale.”

The gay young free-trader paused, and seemed
lost in images of the past. Then, with a melancholy
smile, he soon continued. “Though many years are
gone,” he said, “I can recall the beauties of that
scene, as vividly as if they still stood before the eye.
Our abode was on the verge of the cliffs. In front
lay the deep-blue water, and on its further shore
was a line of objects such as accident or design
rarely assembles in one view. Fancy thyself, lady,
at my side, and follow the curvature of the northern
shore, as I trace the outline of that glorious scene!
That high, mountainous, and ragged island, on the
extreme left, is modern Ischia. Its origin is unknown,
though piles of lava lie along its coast, which seems
fresh as that thrown from the mountain yesterday.
The long, low bit of land, insulated like its neighbor,
is called Procida, a scion of ancient Greece. Its
people still preserve, in dress and speech, marks of
their origin. The narrow strait conducts you to a
high and naked bluff. That is the Misenum, of old.
Here Eneas came to land, and Rome held her fleets,
and thence Pliny took the water, to get a nearer
view of the labors of the volcano, after its awakening
from centuries of sleep. In the hollow of the
ridge, between that naked bluff and the next swell
of the mountain, lie the fabulous Styx, the Elysian
fields, and the place of the dead, as fixed by the
Mantuan. More on the height and nearer to the

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sea, lie, buried in the earth, the vast vaults of the
Piscina Mirabile—and the gloomy caverns of the
Hundred Chambers; places that equally denote the
luxury and the despotism of Rome. Nearer to the
vast pile of castle, that is visible so many leagues, is
the graceful and winding Baiæn harbor; and against
the side of its sheltering hills, once lay the city of
villas. To that sheltered hill, emperors, consuls,
poets, and warriors, crowded from the capital, in
quest of repose, and to breathe the pure air of a spot
in which pestilence has since made its abode. The
earth is still covered with the remains of their magnificence,
and ruins of temples and baths are scattered
freely among the olives and fig-trees of the
peasant. A fainter bluff limits the north-eastern
boundary of the little bay. On it, once, stood the
dwellings of emperors. There Cæsar sought retirement,
and the warm springs on its side are yet called
the baths of the bloody Nero. That small conical
hill, which, as you see, possesses a greener and fresher
look than the adjoining land, is a cone ejected by the
caldron beneath, but two brief centuries since. It
occupies, in part, the site of the ancient Lucrine
lake. All that remains of that famous receptacle of
the epicure, is the small and shallow sheet at its base,
which is separated from the sea by a mere thread of
sand. More in the rear, and surrounded by dreary
hills, lie the waters of Avernus. On their banks still
stand the ruins of a temple, in which rites were celebrated
to the infernal deities. The grotto of the
Sybil pierces that ridge on the left, and the Cumæan
passage is nearly in its rear. The town, which is
seen a mile to the right, is Pozzuoli—a port of the
ancients, and a spot now visited for its temples of
Jupiter and Neptune, its mouldering amphitheatre,
and its half-buried tombs. Here Caligula attempted
his ambitious bridge; and while crossing thence to
Baiæ, the vile Nero had the life of his own mother

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assailed. It was there, too, that holy Paul came to
land, when journeying a prisoner to Rome. The
small but high island, nearly in its front, is Nisida,
the place to which Marcus Brutus retired after the
deed at the foot of Pompey's statue, where he possessed
a villa, and whence he and Cassius sailed to
meet the shade and the vengeance of the murdered
Cæsar, at Philippi. Then comes a crowd of sites
more known in the middle ages; though just below
that mountain, in the back-ground, is the famous
subterranean road of which Strabo and Seneca are
said to speak, and through which the peasant still
daily drives his ass to the markets of the modern
city. At its entrance is the reputed tomb of Virgil,
and then commences an amphitheatre of white and
terraced dwellings. This is noisy Napoli itself, crowned
with its rocky castle of St. Elmo! The vast plain,
to the right, is that which held the enervating Capua
and so many other cities on its bosom. To this succeeds
the insulated mountain of the volcano, with
its summit torn in triple tops. 'Tis said that villas
and villages, towns and cities, lie buried beneath the
vineyards and palaces which crowd its base. The
ancient and unhappy city of Pompeii stood on that
luckless plain, which, following the shores of the bay,
comes next; and then we take up the line of the
mountain promontory, which forms the Sorrentine
side of the water!”

“One who has had such schooling, should know
better how to turn it to a good account;” said Ludlow,
sternly, when the excited smuggler ceased to speak.

“In other lands, men derive their learning from
books; in Italy, children acquire knowledge by the
study of visible things;” was the undisturbed answer.

“Some from this country are fond of believing
that our own bay, these summer skies, and the climate
in general, should have a strict resemblance to
those of a region which lies precisely in our own

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latitude;” observed Alida, so hastily, as to betray a desire
to preserve the peace between her guests.

“That your Manhattan and Raritan waters are
broad and pleasant, none can deny, and that lovely
beings dwell on their banks, lady,” returned Seadrift,
gallantly lifting his cap, “my own senses have witnessed.
But 't were wiser to select some other point
of your excellence, for comparison, than a competition
with the glorious waters, the fantastic and mountain
isles, and the sunny hill-sides of modern Napoli!
'Tis certain the latitude is even in your favor, and
that a beneficent sun does not fail of its office in one
region more than in the other. But the forests of
America are still too pregnant of vapors and exhalations,
not to impair the purity of the native air. If I
have seen much of the Mediterranean, neither am I
a stranger to these coasts. While there are so many
points of resemblance in their climates, there are
also many and marked causes of difference.”

“Teach us, then, what forms these distinctions,
that, in speaking of our bay and skies, we may not
be led into error.”

“You do me honor, lady; I am of no great schooling,
and of humble powers of speech. Still, the little
that observation may have taught me, shall not be
churlishly withheld. Your Italian atmosphere, taking
the humidity of the seas, is sometimes hazy. Still
water in large bodies, other than in the two seas, is
little known in those distant countries. Few objects
in nature are drier than an Italian river, during
those months when the sun has most influence. The
effect is visible in the air, which is in general elastic,
dry, and obedient to the general laws of the climate.
There floats less exhalation, in the form of fine and
nearly invisible vapor, than in these wooded regions.
At least, so he of whom I spoke, as one who guided
my youth, was wont to say.”

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“You hesitate to tell us of our skies, our evening
light, and of our bay?”

“It shall be said, and said sincerely—Of the bays,
each seems to have been appropriated to that for
which nature most intended it.—The one is poetic,
indolent, and full of graceful but glorious beauty;
more pregnant of enjoyment than of usefulness. The
other will, one day, be the mart of the world!”

“You still shrink from pronouncing on their beauty;”
said Alida, disappointed, in spite of an affected
indifference to the subject.

“It is ever the common fault of old communities
to overvalue themselves, and to undervalue new actors
in the great drama of nations, as men long successful
disregard the efforts of new aspirants for
favor;” said Seadrift, while he looked with amazement
at the pettish eye of the frowning beauty. “In
this instance, however, Europe has not so greatly
erred. They who see much resemblance between
the bay of Naples and this of Manhattan, have fertile
brains; since it rests altogether on the circumstance
that there is much water in both, and a passage
between an island and the main-land, in one, to
resemble a passage between two islands in the other.
This is an estuary, that a gulf; and while the former
has the green and turbid water of a shelving shore
and of tributary rivers, the latter has the blue and
limpid element of a deep sea. In these distinctions,
I take no account of ragged and rocky mountains,
with the indescribable play of golden and rosy light
upon their broken surfaces, nor of a coast that teems
with the recollections of three thousand years!”

“I fear to question more. But surely our skies
may be mentioned, even by the side of those you
vaunt?”

“Of the skies, truly, you have more reason to be
confident. I remember that standing on the Capo di
Monte, which overlooks the little, picturesque, and

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crowded beach of the Marina Grande, and Sorrento,
a spot that teems with all that is poetic in the fisherman's
life, he of whom I have spoken, once pointed
to the transparent vault above, and said, `There is
the moon of America!' The colors of the rocket
were not more vivid than the stars that night, for a
Tramontana had swept every impurity from the air,
far upon the neighboring sea. But nights like that
are rare, indeed, in any clime! The inhabitants of
low latitudes enjoy them occasionally; those of higher,
never.”

“And then our flattering belief, that these western
sunsets rival those of Italy, is delusion?”

“Not so, lady. They rival, without resembling.
The color of the étui, on which so fair a hand is
resting, is not softer than the hues one sees in the
heavens of Italy. But if your evening sky wants the
pearly light, the rosy clouds, and the soft tints which,
at that hour, melt into each other, across the entire
vault of Napoli, it far excels in the vividness of the
glow, in the depth of the transitions, and in the richness
of colors. Those are only more delicate, while
these are more gorgeous! When there shall be less
exhalation from your forests, the same causes may
produce the same effects. Until then, America must
be content to pride herself on an exhibition of nature's
beauty, in a new, though scarcely in a less
pleasing, form.”

“Then they who come among us from Europe,
are but half right, when they deride the pretensions
of our bay and heavens?”

“Which is much nearer the truth than they are
wont to be, on the subject of this continent. Speak
of the many rivers, the double outlet, the numberless
basins, and the unequalled facilities of your Manhattan
harbor; for in time, they will come to render all
the beauties of the unrivalled bay of Naples vain:
but tempt not the stranger to push the comparison

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beyond. Be grateful for your skies, lady, for few
live under fairer or more beneficent—But I tire you
with these opinions, when here are colors that have
more charms for a young and lively imagination, than
even the tints of nature!”

La belle Barbérie smiled on the dealer in contraband,
with an interest that sickened Ludlow; and
she was about to reply, in better humor, when the
voice of her uncle announced his near approach.

CHAPTER VI.

“There shall be, in England, seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny. The
three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops; and I will make it felony, to drink
small bee.”

Jack Cade.

Had Alderman Van Beverout been a party in the
preceding dialogue, he could not have uttered words
more apposite, than the exclamation with which he
first saluted the ears of those in the pavilion.

“Gales and climates!” exclaimed the merchant,
entering with an open letter in his hand. “Here
are advices received, by way of Curaçoa, and the
coast of Africa, that the good ship Musk-Rat met
with foul winds off the Azores, which lengthened
her passage home to seventeen weeks—this is too
much precious time wasted between markets, Captain
Cornelius Ludlow, and 'twill do discredit to the
good character of the ship, which has hitherto always
maintained a sound reputation, never needing
more than the regular seven months to make the
voyage home and out again. If our vessels fall into
this lazy train, we shall never get a skin to Bristol,
till it is past use. What have we here, niece? Merchandise!
and of a suspicious fabric!—who has the

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invoice of these goods, and in what vessel were they
shipped?”

“These are questions that may be better answered
by their owner;” returned la Belle, pointing gravely,
and not without tremor in her voice, towards the
dealer in contraband, who, at the approach of the
Alderman, had shrunk back as far as possible from
view.

Myndert cast an uneasy glance at the unmoved
countenance of the commander of the royal cruiser,
after having bestowed a brief but understanding
look at the contents of the bale. “Captain Ludlow,
the chaser is chased!” he said. “After sailing about
the Atlantic, for a week or more, like a Jew broker's
clerk running up and down the Boom Key at Rotterdam,
to get off a consignment of damaged tea, we
are fairly caught ourselves! To what fall in prices,
or change in the sentiments of the Board of Trade,
am I indebted for the honor of this visit, Master a—
a—a—gay dealer in green ladies and bright tissues?”

The confident and gallant manner of the free-trader
had vanished. In its place, there appeared a
hesitating and embarrassed air, that the individual
was not wont to exhibit, blended with some apparent
indecision, on the subject of his reply.

“It is the business of those who hazard much,
in order to minister to the wants of life,” he said,
after a pause that was sufficiently expressive of the
entire change in his demeanor, “to seek customers
where there is a reputation for liberality. I hope
my boldness will be overlooked, on account of its
motive, and that you will aid the lady in judging of
the value of my articles, and of their reasonableness
as to price, with your own superior experience.”

Myndert was quite as much astonished, by this
language, and the subdued manner of the smuggler,
as Ludlow himself. When he expected the heaviest

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demand on his address, in order to check the usual
forward and reckless familiarity of Seadrift, in order
that his connexion with the `Skimmer of the Seas'
might be as much as possible involved in ambiguity,
to his own amazement, he found his purpose more
than aided by the sudden and extraordinary respect
with which he was treated. Emboldened, and perhaps
a little elevated in his own esteem, by this unexpected
deference, which the worthy Alderman,
shrewd as he was in common, did not fail, like other
men, to impute to some inherent quality of his own,
he answered with a greater depth of voice, and a
more protecting air, than he might otherwise have
deemed it prudent to assume to one who had so frequently
given him proofs of his own fearless manner
of viewing things.

“This is being more eager as a trader, than prudent
as one who should know the value of credit;”
he said, making, at the same time, a lofty gesture to
betoken indulgence for so venial an error. “We
must overlook the mistake, Captain Ludlow; since,
as the young man truly observes in his defence, gain
acquired in honest traffic is a commendable and
wholesome pursuit. One who appears as if he might
not be ignorant of the laws, should know that our
virtuous Queen and her wise counsellors have decided
that Mother England can produce most that a
colonist can consume! Ay! and that she can consume,
too, most that the colonist can produce!”

“I pretend not to this ignorance, Sir; but, in pursuing
my humble barter, I merely follow a principle
of nature, by endeavoring to provide for my own
interests. We of the contraband do but play at
hazard with the authorities. When we pass the
gauntlet unharmed, we gain; and when we lose, the
servants of the crown find their profit. The stakes
are equal, and the game should not be stigmatized
as unfair. Would the rulers of the world once

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remove the unnecessary shackles they impose on commerce,
our calling would disappear, and the name
of free-trader would then belong to the richest and
most esteemed houses.”

The Alderman drew a long, low whistle. Motioning
to his companions to be seated, he placed his
own compact person in a chair, crossed his legs with
an air of self-complacency, and resumed the discourse.

“These are very pretty sentiments, Master—a—a—
a—, you bear a worthy name, no doubt, my ingenious
commentator on commerce?”

“They call me Seadrift, when they spare a harsher
term;” returned the other, meekly declining to
be seated.

“These are pretty sentiments, Master Seadrift,
and they much become a gentleman who lives by
practical comments on the revenue-laws. This is a
wise world, Captain Cornelius Ludlow, and in it
there are many men whose heads are filled, like bales
of goods, with a general assortment of ideas.—Horn-books
and primers! Here have Van Bummel, Schoenbroeck,
and Van der Donck, just sent me a very
neatly-folded pamphlet, written in good Leyden
Dutch, to prove that trade is an exchange of what
the author calls equivalents, and that nations have
nothing to do but to throw open their ports, in order
to make a millennium among the merchants!”

“There are many ingenious men who entertain
the same opinions;” observed Ludlow, steady in his
resolution to be merely a quiet observer of all that
passed.

“What cannot a cunning head devise, to spoil
paper with! Trade is a racer, gentlemen, and merchants
the jockeys who ride. He who carries most
weight may lose; but then nature does not give all
men the same dimensions, and judges are as necessary
to the struggles of the mart as to those of the course.

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Go, mount your gelding, if you are lucky enough
to have one that has not been melted into a weasel
by the heartless blacks, and ride out to Harlaem
Flats, on a fine October day, and witness the manner
in which the trial of speed is made. The rogues of
riders cut in here, and over there; now the whip,
and now the spur; and though they start fair, which
is more than can always be said of trade, some one
is sure to win. When it is neck and neck, then the
heat is to be gone over, until the best bottom gains
the prize.”

“Why is it then that men of deep reflection so
often think that commerce flourishes most when least
encumbered?”

“Why is one man born to make laws, and another
to break them?—Does not the horse run faster with
his four legs free, than when in hopples? But in trade,
Master Seadrift, and Captain Cornelius Ludlow, each
of us is his own jockey; and putting the aid of custom-house
laws out of the question, just as nature
has happened to make him. Fat or lean, big bones
or fine bones, he must get to the goal as well as he
can. Therefore your heavy weights call out for sandbags
and belts, to make all even. That the steed
may be crushed with his load, is no proof that his
chance of winning will not be better by bringing all
the riders to the same level.”

“But to quit these similies,” continued Ludlow,
“if trade be but an exchange of equivalents—”

“Beggary and stoppages!” interrupted the Alderman,
who was far more dogmatical than courteous
in argument. “This is the language of men who
have read all sorts of books, but legers. Here have
I advices from Tongue and Twaddle, of London,
which state the nett proceeds of a little adventure,
shipped by the brig Moose, that reached the river
on the 16th of April, ultimo. The history of the
whole transaction can be put in a child's muff—you

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are a discreet youth, Captain Cornelius; and as to
you, Master Seadrift, the affair is altogether out of
your line—therefore, as I was observing, here are
the items, made out only a fortnight since, in the
shape of a memorandum;” while speaking, the Alderman
had placed his spectacles and drawn his
tablets from a pocket. Adjusting himself to the
light, he continued: “Paid bill of Sand, Furnace, and
Glass, for beads, L. 3. 2. 6.—Package and box, 1.
10½—Shipping charges, and freight, 11. 4.—Insurance,
averaged at, 1. 5.—Freight, charges, and
commission of agent among Mohawks, L. 10.—Do.
do. do. of shipment and sale of furs, in England,
L. 7. 2. Total of costs and charges, L. 20. 18. 8½, all
in sterling money. Note, sale of furs, to Frost and
Rich, nett avails, L. 196. 11. 3.—Balance, as per
contra, L. 175. 12. 5½.—a very satisfactory equivalent
this, Master Cornelius, to appear on the books
of Tongue and Twaddle, where I stand charged with
the original investment of L. 20. 19. 8½! How much
the Empress of Germany may pay the firm of Frost
and Rich for the articles, does not appear.”

“Nor does it appear that more was got for your
beads, in the Mohawk country, than they were valued
at there, or was paid for the skins than they were
worth where they were produced.”

“Whe—w—w—w!” whistled the merchant, as
he returned the tablets to his pocket.

“One would think that thou hadst been studying
the Leyden pamphleteer, son of my old friend! If
the savage thinks so little of his skins, and so much
of my beads, I shall never take the pains to set him
right; else, always by permission of the Board of
Trade, we shall see him, one day, turning his bark
canoe into a good ship, and going in quest of his own
ornaments. Enterprise and voyages! Who knows
but that the rogue would see fit to stop at London,
even; in which case the Mother Country might lose

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the profit of the sale at Vienna, and the Mohawk set
up his carriage, on the difference in the value of markets!
Thus, you see, in order to run a fair race, the
horses must start even, carry equal weights, and,
after all, one commonly wins. Your metaphysics
are no better than so much philosophical gold leaf,
which a cunning reasoner beats out into a sheet as
large as the broadest American lake, to make dunces
believe the earth can be transmuted into the precious
material; while a plain practical man puts the
value of the metal into his pocket, in good current
coin.”

“And yet I hear you complain that Parliament
has legislated more than is good for trade, and speak
in a manner of the proceedings at home, that, you
will excuse me for saying, would better become a
Hollander than a subject of the crown.”

“Have I not told you, that the horse will run
faster without a rider, than with a pack-saddle on
his back? Give your own jockey as little, and your
adversary's as much weight as you can, if you wish
to win. I complain of the borough-men, because
they make laws for us, and not for themselves. As
I often tell my worthy friend, Alderman Gulp, eating
is good for life, but a surfeit makes a will necessary.”

“From all which I infer, that the opinions of your
Leyden correspondent are not those of Mr. Van Beverout.”

The Alderman laid a finger on his nose, and looked
at his companions, for a moment, without answering.

“Those Leydeners are a sagacious breed! If the
United Provinces had but ground to stand on, they
would, like the philosopher who boasted of his lever,
move the world! The sly rogues think that the Amsterdammers
have naturally an easy seat, and they
wish to persuade all others to ride bare-back. I

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shall send the pamphlet up into the Indian country,
and pay some scholar to have it translated into the
Mohawk tongue, in order that the famous chief
Schendoh, when the missionaries shall have taught
him to read, may entertain right views of equivalents!
I am not certain that I may not make the
worthy divines a present, to help the good fruits to
ripen.”

The Alderman leered round upon his auditors, and,
folding his hands meekly on his breast, he appeared
to leave his eloquence to work its own effects.

“These opinions favor but little the occupation of
the—the gentleman—who now honors us with his
company,” said Ludlow, regarding the gay-looking
smuggler with an eye that showed how much he was
embarrassed to find a suitable appellation for one
whose appearance was so much at variance with his
pursuits. “If restrictions are necessary to commerce,
the lawless trader is surely left without an excuse for
his calling.”

“I as much admire your discretion in practice, as
the justice of your sentiments in theory, Captain Ludlow;”
returned the Alderman. “In a rencontre on
the high seas, it would be your duty to render captive
the brigantine of this person; but, in what may
be called the privacy of domestic retirement, you
are content to ease your mind in moralities! I feel it
my duty, too, to speak on this point, and shall take
so favorable an occasion, when all is pacific, to disburthen
myself of some sentiments that suggest themselves,
very naturally, under the circumstances.”
Myndert then turned himself towards the dealer in
contraband, and continued, much in the manner of
a city magistrate, reading a lesson of propriety to
some disturber of the peace of society. “You appear
here, Master Seadrift,” he said, “under what,
to borrow a figure from your profession, may be called
false colors. You bear the countenance of one who

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might be a useful subject, and yet are you suspected
of being addicted to certain practices which—I will
not say they are dishonest, or even discreditable—for
on that head the opinions of men are much divided,
but which certainly have no tendency to assist Her
Majesty, in bringing her wars to a glorious issue, by
securing to her European dominions that monopoly
of trade, by which it is her greatest desire to ease us
of the colonies of looking any further after our particular
interests, than beyond the doors of her own
custom-houses. This is an indiscretion, to give the
act its gentlest appellation; and I regret to add, it is
accompanied by certain circumstances which rather
heighten than lessen the delinquency.” The Alderman
paused a moment, to observe the effect of his
admonition, and to judge, by the eye of the free-trader,
how much farther he might push his artifice;
but perceiving, to his own surprise, that the other
bent his face to the floor, and stood like one rebuked,
he took courage to proceed. “You have introduced
into this portion of my dwelling, which is exclusively
inhabited by my niece, who is neither of a sex nor
of years to be legally arraigned for any oversight of
this nature, sundries of which it is the pleasure of
the Queen's advisers that her subjects in the colonies
should not know the use, since, in the nature of fabrications,
they cannot be submitted to the supervising
care of the ingenious artisans of the mother island.
Woman, Master Seadrift, is a creature liable to the
influence of temptation, and in few things is she
weaker than in her efforts to resist the allurements
of articles which may aid in adorning her person.
My niece, the daughter of Etienne Barbérie, may
also have an hereditary weakness on this head, since
the females of France study these inventions more
than those of some other countries. It is not my intention,
however, to manifest any unreasonable severity;
since, if old Etienne has communicated any

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hereditary feebleness on the subject of fancy, he has
also left his daughter the means of paying for it.
Hand in your account, therefore, and the debt shall
be discharged, if debt has been incurred. And this
brings me to the last and the gravest of your offences.

“Capital is no doubt the foundation on which a
merchant builds his edifice of character,” continued
Myndert, after taking another jealous survey of the
countenance of him he addressed; “but credit is the
ornament of its front. This is a corner-stone; that
the pilasters and carvings, by which the building is
rendered pleasant; sometimes, when age has undermined
the basement, it is the columns on which the
superstructure rests, or even the roof by which the
occupant is sheltered. It renders the rich man safe,
the dealer of moderate means active and respectable,
and it causes even the poor man to hold up his
head in hope: though I admit that buyer and seller
need both be wary, when it stands unsupported by
any substantial base. This being the value of credit,
Master Seadrift, none should assail it without sufficient
cause, for its quality is of a nature too tender
for rude treatment. I learned, when a youth, in my
travels in Holland, through which country, by means
of the Trekschuyts, I passed with sufficient deliberation
to profit by what was seen, the importance of
avoiding, on all occasions, bringing credit into disrepute.
As one event that occurred offers an apposite
parallel to what I have now to advance, I shall make
a tender of the facts in the way of illustration. The
circumstances show the awful uncertainty of things
in this transitory life, Captain Ludlow, and forewarn
the most vigorous and youthful, that the strong of arm
may be cut down, in his pride, like the tender plant
of the fields! The banking-house of Van Gelt and
Van Stopper, in Amsterdam, had dealt largely in securities
issued by the Emperor for the support of his

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wars. It happened, at the time, that Fortune had
favored the Ottoman, who was then pressing the city
of Belgrade, with some prospects of success. Well,
Sirs, a headstrong and ill-advised laundress had taken
possession of an elevated terrace in the centre of the
town, in order to dry her clothes. This woman was
in the act of commencing the distribution of her
linens and muslins, with the break of day, when the
Mussulmans awoke the garrison by a rude assault.
Some, who had been posted in a position that permitted
of retreat, having seen certain bundles of
crimson, and green, and yellow, on an elevated parapet,
mistook them for the heads of so many Turks;
and they spread the report, far and near, that a
countless band of the Infidels, led on by a vast number
of sherriffes in green turbans, had gained the heart
of the place, before they were induced to retire.
The rumor soon took the shape of a circumstantial
detail, and, having reached Amsterdam, it caused the
funds of the Imperialists to look down. There was
much question, on the Exchange, concerning the
probable loss of Van Gelt and Van Stopper in consequence.
Just as speculation was at its greatest
height on this head, the monkey of a Savoyard escaped
from its string, and concealed himself in a nut-shop,
a few doors distant from the banking-house of
the firm, where a crowd of Jew boys collected to
witness its antics. Men of reflection, seeing what
they mistook for a demonstration on the part of the
children of the Israelites, began to feel uneasiness for
their own property. Drafts multiplied; and the
worthy bankers, in order to prove their solidity, disdained
to shut their doors at the usual hour. Money
was paid throughout the night; and before noon, on
the following day, Van Gelt had cut his throat, in a
summer-house that stood on the banks of the Utrecht
canal; and Van Stopper was seen smoking a pipe,
among strong boxes that were entirely empty. At

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two o'clock, the post brought the intelligence that
the Mussulmans were repulsed, and that the laundress
was hanged; though I never knew exactly for what
crime, as she certainly was not a debtor of the unhappy
firm. These are some of the warning events
of life, gentlemen; and as I feel sure of addressing
those who are capable of making the application, I
shall now conclude by advising all who hear me to
great discretion of speech on every matter connected
with commercial character.”

When Myndert ceased speaking, he threw another
glance around him, in order to note the effect his
words had produced, and more particularly to ascertain
whether he had not drawn a draft on the forbearance
of the free-trader, which might still meet
with a protest. He was at a loss to account for the
marked and unusual deference with which he was
treated, by one who, while he was never coarse,
seldom exhibited much complaisance for the opinions
of a man he was in the habit of meeting so familiarly,
on matters of pecuniary interest. During the
whole of the foregoing harangue, the young mariner
of the brigantine had maintained the same attitude
of modest attention; and when his eyes were permitted
to rise, it was only to steal uneasy looks at
the face of Alida. La belle Barbérie had also listened
to her uncle's eloquence, with a more thoughtful air
than common. She met the occasional glances of the
dealer in contraband, with answering sympathy;
and, in short, the most indifferent observer of their
deportment might have seen that circumstances had
created between them a confidence and intelligence
which, if it were not absolutely of the most tender,
was unequivocally of the most intimate, character.
All this Ludlow plainly saw, though the burgher had
been too much engrossed with the ideas he had so
complacently dealt out, to note the fact.

“Now that my mind is so well stored with maxima

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on commerce, which I shall esteem as so many commentaries
on the instructions of my Lords of the
Admiralty,” observed the Captain, after a brief interval
of silence, “it may be permitted to turn our
attention to things less metaphysical. The present
occasion is favorable to inquire after the fate of the
shipmate we lost in the last cruise; and it ought not
to be neglected.”

“You speak truth, Mr. Cornelius—The Patroon
of Kinderhook is not a man to fall into the sea, like
an anker of forbidden liquor, and no questions asked.
Leave this matter to my discretion, Sir; and trust
me, the tenants of the third best estate in the colony
shall not long be without tidings of their landlord.
If you will accompany Master Seadrift into the other
part of the villa for a reasonable time, I shall possess
myself of all the facts that are at all pertinent to
the right understanding of the case.”

The commander of the royal cruiser, and the
young mariner of the brigantine, appeared to think
that a compliance with this invitation would bring
about a singular association. The hesitation of the
latter, however, was far the most visible, since Ludlow
had coolly determined to maintain his neutral
character, until a proper moment to act, as a faithful
servitor of his royal mistress, should arrive. He
knew, or firmly believed, that the Water-Witch
again lay in the Cove, concealed by the shadows of
the surrounding wood; and as he had once before
suffered by the superior address of the smugglers, he
was now resolved to act with so much caution, as to
enable him to return to his ship in time to proceed
against her with decision, and, as he hoped, with
effect. In addition to this motive for artifice, there
was that in the manner and language of the contraband
dealer to place him altogether above the ordinary
men of his pursuit, and indeed to create in his
favor a certain degree of interest, which the officer

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of the crown was compelled to admit. He therefore
bowed with sufficient courtesy, and professed his
readiness to follow the suggestions of the Alderman.

“We have met on neutral ground, Master Scadrift,”
said Ludlow to his gay companion, as they
quitted the saloon of la Cour des Fées; “and though
bent on different objects, we may discourse amicably
of the past. The `Skimmer of the Seas' has a reputation
in his way, that almost raises him to the level
of a seaman distinguished in a better service. I will
ever testify to his skill and coolness as a mariner,
however much I may lament that those fine qualities
have received so unhappy a direction.”

“This is speaking with a becoming reservation for
the rights of the crown, and with meet respect for
the Barons of the Exchequer!” retorted Seadrift,
whose former, and we may say natural, spirit seemed
to return, as he left the presence of the burgher.
“We follow the pursuit, Captain Ludlow, in which
accident has cast our fortunes. You serve a Queen
you never saw, and a nation who will use you in her
need and despise you in her prosperity; and I serve
myself. Let reason decide between us.”

“I admire this frankness, Sir, and have hopes of
a better understanding between us, now that you
have done with the mystifications of your sea-green
woman. The farce has been well enacted; though,
with the exception of Oloff Van Staats and those
enlightened spirits you lead about the ocean, it has
not made many converts to necromancy.”

The free-trader permitted his handsome mouth to
relax in a smile.

“We have our mistress, too,” he said; “but she
exacts no tribute. All that is gained goes to enrich
her subjects, while all that she knows is cheerfully
imparted for their use. If we are obedient, it is because
we have experienced her justice and wisdom.

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I hope Queen Anne deals as kindly by those who
risk life and limb in her cause?”

“Is it part of the policy of her you follow, to reveal
the fate of the Patroon; for though rivals in
one dear object—or rather I should say, once rivals
in that object—I cannot see a guest quit my ship
with so little ceremony, without an interest in his
welfare.”

“You make a just distinction,” returned Seadrift,
smiling still more meaningly—“Once rivals is indeed
the better expression. Mr. Van Staats is a brave
man, however ignorant he may be of the seaman's
art. One who has showed so much spirit will be
certain of protection from personal injury, in the
care of the `Skimmer of the Seas.”'

“I do not constitute myself the keeper of Mr. Van
Staats; still, as the commander of the ship whence
he has been—what shall I term the manner of his
abduction?—for I would not willingly use, at this
moment, a term that may prove disagreeable—”

“Speak freely, Sir, and fear not to offend. We of
the brigantine are accustomed to divers epithets that
might startle less practised ears. We are not to
learn, at this late hour, that, in order to become
respectable, roguery must have the sanction of government.
You were pleased, Captain Ludlow, to
name the mystifications of the Water-Witch; but
you seem indifferent to those that are hourly practised
near you in the world, and which, without the
pleasantry of this of ours, have not half its innocence.”

“There is little novelty in the expedient of seeking
to justify the delinquency of individuals, by the
failings of society.”

“I confess it is rather just than original. Triteness
and Truth appear to be sisters! And yet do we find
ourselves driven to this apology, since the refinement
of us of the brigantine has not yet attained to the

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point of understanding all the excellence of novelty
in morals.”

“I believe there is a mandate of sufficient antiquity,
which bids us to render unto Cæsar the things
which are Cæsar's.”

“A mandate which our modern Cæsars have most
liberally construed! I am a poor casuist, Sir; nor do
I think the loyal commander of the Coquette would
wish to uphold all that sophistry can invent on such
a subject. If we begin with potentates, for instance,
we shall find the Most Christian King bent on appropriating
as many of his neighbors' goods to his
own use, as ambition, under the name of glory, can
covet; the Most Catholic, covering with the mantle
of his Catholicity, a greater multitude of enormities
on this very continent, than even charity itself could
conceal; and our own gracious Sovereign, whose
virtues and whose mildness are celebrated in verse
and prose, causing rivers of blood to run, in order
that the little island over which she rules may swell
out, like the frog in the fable, to dimensions that nature
has denied, and which will one day inflict the
unfortunate death that befell the ambitious inhabitant
of the pool. The gallows awaits the pickpocket;
but your robber under a pennant is dubbed a knight!
The man who amasses wealth by gainful industry is
ashamed of his origin; while he who has stolen from
churches, laid villages under contribution, and cut
throats by thousands, to divide the spoils of a galleon
or a military chest, has gained gold on the highway
of glory! Europe has reached an exceeding pass of
civilization, it may not be denied; but before society
inflicts so severe censure on the acts of individuals,
notwithstanding the triteness of the opinion, I must
say it is bound to look more closely to the example
it sets, in its collective character.”

“These are points on which our difference of
opinion is likely to be lasting;” said Ludlow, assuming

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the severe air of one who had the world on his side.
“We will defer the discussion to a moment of greater
leisure, Sir. Am I to learn more of Mr. Van Staats,
or is the question of his fate to become the subject
of a serious official inquiry?”

“The Patroon of Kinderhook is a bold boarder!”
returned the free-trader, laughing. “He has carried
the residence of the lady of the brigantine by a
coup-de-main; and he reposes on his laurels! We of
the contraband are merrier in our privacy than is
thought, and those who join our mess seldom wish to
quit it.”

“There may be occasion to look further into its
mysteries—until when, I wish you adieu.”

“Hold!” gaily cried the other, observing that
Ludlow was about to quit the room—“Let the time
of our uncertainty be short, I pray thee. Our mistress
is like the insect, which takes the color of the
leaf on which it dwells. You have seen her in her
sea-green robe, which she never fails to wear when
roving over the soundings of your American coast;
but in the deep waters, her mantle vies with the
blue of the ocean's depths. Symptoms of a change,
which always denote an intended excursion far beyond
the influence of the land, have been seen!”

“Harkee, Master Seadrift! This foolery may do,
while you possess the power to maintain it. But remember,
that though the law only punishes the illegal
trader by confiscation of his goods when taken,
it punishes the kidnapper with personal pains, and
sometimes with—death!—And, more—remember
that the line which divides smuggling from piracy is
easily past, while the return becomes impossible.”

“For this generous counsel, in my mistress's name,
I thank thee;” the gay mariner replied, bowing
with a gravity that rather heightened than concealed
his irony—“Your Coquette is broad in the reach of
her booms, and swift on the water, Captain Ludlow;

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but let her be capricious, wilful, deceitful, nay powerful,
as she may, she shall find a woman in the brigantine
equal to all her arts, and far superior to all
her threats!”

With this prophetic warning on the part of the
Queen's officer, and cool reply on that of the dealer
in contraband, the two sailors separated. The latter
took a book, and threw himself into a chair, with
a well-maintained indifference; while the other left
the house, in a haste that was not disguised.

In the mean time, the interview between Alderman
Van Beverout and his niece still continued.
Minute passed after minute, and yet there was no
summons to the pavilion. The gay young seaman
of the brigantine had continued his studies for some
time after the disappearance of Ludlow, and he
now evidently a waited an intimation that his presence
was required in la Cour des Fées. During these moments
of anxiety, the air of the free-trader was sorrowful
rather than impatient; and when a footstep
was heard at the door of the room, he betrayed
symptoms of strong and uncontrollable agitation. It
was the female attendant of Alida, who entered,
presented a slip of paper, and retired. The eager
expectant read the following words, hastily written
in pencil:—

“I have evaded all his questions, and he is more
than half-disposed to believe in necromancy. This
is not the moment to confess the truth, for he is not
in a condition to hear it, being already much disturbed
by the uncertainty of what may follow the
appearance of the brigantine on the coast, and so
near his own villa. But, be assured, he shall and
will acknowledge claims that I know how to support,
and which, should I fail of establishing, he would
not dare to refuse to the redoubtable `Skimmer of
the Seas.' Come hither, the moment you hear his
foot in the passage.”

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The last injunction was soon obeyed. The Alderman
entered by one door, as the active fugitive retreated
by another; and where the weary burgher
expected to see his guests, he found an empty apartment.
This last circumstance, however, gave Myndert
Van Beverout but little surprise and no concern,
as would appear by the indifference with which he
noted the circumstance.

“Vagaries and womanhood!” thought, rather than
muttered, the Alderman. “The jade turns like a fox
in his tracks, and it would be easier to convict a
merchant who values his reputation, of a false invoice,
than this minx of nineteen of an indiscretion!
There is so much of old Etienne and his Norman
blood in her eye, that one does not like to provoke
extremities; but here, when I expected Van Staats
had profited by his opportunity, the girl looks like a
nun, at the mention of his name. The Patroon is no
Cupid, we must allow; or, in a week at sea, he would
have won the heart of a mermaid!—Ay—and here
are more perplexities, by the return of the Skimmer
and his brig, and the notions that young Ludlow has
of his duty. Life and mortality! One must quit trade,
at some time or other, and begin to close the books
of life. I must seriously think of striking a final balance.
If the sum-total was a little more in my favor,
it should be gladly done to-morrow!”

-- 087 --

CHAPTER VII.

“—Thou, Julia, thou hast metamorphosed me;
Made me neglect my studies, lose my time,
War with good counsel, set the world at nought.”
Two Gentlemen of Verona.

[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]

Ludlow quitting the Lust in Rust with a wavering
purpose. Throughout the whole of the preceding interview,
he had jealously watched the eye and features
of la belle Barbérie; and he had not failed to
draw his conclusions from a mien that too plainly
expressed a deep interest in the free-trader. For a
time, only, had he been induced, by the calmness
and self-possession with which she received her uncle
and himself, to believe that she had not visited the
Water-Witch at all; but when the gay and reckless
being who governed the movements of that extraordinary
vessel, appeared, he could no longer flatter
himself with this hope. He now believed that her
choice for life had been made; and while he deplored
the infatuation which could induce so gifted a woman
to forget her station and character, he was himself
too frank not to see that the individual who had in
so short a time gained this ascendency over the feelings
of Alida, was, in many respects, fitted to exercise
a powerful influence over the imagination of a
youthful and secluded female.

There was a struggle in the mind of the young
commander, between his duty and his feelings. Remembering
the artifice by which he had formerly
fallen into the power of the smugglers, he had taken
his precautions so well in the present visit to the
villa, that he firmly believed he had the person of
his lawless rival at his mercy. To avail himself of this
advantage, or to retire and leave him in possession of
his mistress and his liberty, was the point mooted in

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his thoughts Though direct and simple in his habits,
like most of the seamen of that age, Ludlow had all
the loftier sentiments that become a gentleman. He
felt keenly for Alida, and he shrunk, with sensitive
pride, from incurring the imputation of having acted
under the impulses of disappointment. To these
motives of forbearance, was also to be added the
inherent reluctance which, as an officer of rank,
he felt to the degradation of being employed in a
duty that more properly belongs to men of less elevated
ambition. He looked on himself as a defender
of the rights and glory of his sovereign, and not as
a mercenary instrument of those who collected her
customs; and though he would not have hesitated
to incur any rational hazard, in capturing the vessel
of the smuggler, or in making captives of all or any
of her crew on their proper element, he disliked the
appearance of seeking a solitary individual on the
land. In addition to this feeling, there was his own
pledge that he met the proscribed dealer in contraband
on neutral ground. Still the officer of the Queen
had his orders, and he could not shut his eyes to the
general obligations of duty. The brigantine was
known to inflict so much loss on the revenue of the
crown, more particularly in the other hemisphere,
that an especial order had been issued by the Admiral
of the station, for her capture. Here then was
an opportunity of depriving the vessel of that master-spirit
which, notwithstanding the excellence of its
construction, had alone so long enabled it to run the
gauntlet of a hundred cruisers with impunity. Agitated
by these contending feelings and reflections,
the young sailor left the door of the villa, and came
upon its little lawn, in order to reflect with less interruption,
and, indeed, to breathe more freely.

The night had advanced into the first watch of
the seaman. The shadow of the mountain, however,
still covered the grounds of the villa, the river, and

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[figure description] Page 089.[end figure description]

the shores of the Atlantic, with a darkness that was
deeper than the obscurity which dimmed the surface
of the rolling ocean beyond. Objects were so indistinct
as to require close and steady looks to ascertain
their character, while the setting of the scene might
be faintly traced by its hazy and indistinct outlines.
The curtains of la Cour des Fées had been drawn,
and, though the lights were still shining within, the
eye could not penetrate the pavilion. Ludlow gazed
about him, and then held his way reluctantly towards
the water.

In endeavoring to conceal the interior of her
apartment from the eyes of those without, Alida had
suffered a corner of the drapery to remain open.
When Ludlow reached the gate that led to the
landing, he turned to take a last look at the villa;
and, favored by his new position, he caught a glimpse,
through the opening, of the person of her who was
still uppermost in his thoughts.

La belle Barbérie was seated at the little table,
by whose side she had been found, earlier in the
evening. An elbow rested on the precious wood, and
one fair hand supported a brow that was thoughtful
far beyond the usual character of its expression, if
not melancholy. The commander of the Coquette
felt the blood rushing to his heart, for he fancied that
the beautiful and pensive countenance was that of a
penitent. It is probable that the idea quickened his
drooping hopes; for Ludlow believed it might not
yet be too late to rescue the woman, he so sincerely
loved, from the precipice over which she was suspended.
The seemingly irretrievable step, already
taken; was forgotten; and the generous young sailor
was about to rush back to la Cour des Fées, to implore
its mistress to be just to herself, when the hand
fell from her polished brow, and Alida raised her
face, with a look which denoted that she was no

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[figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]

longer alone. The captain drew back, to watch the
issue.

When Alida lifted her eyes, it was in kindness,
and with that frank ingenuousness with which an
unperverted female greets the countenance of those
who have her confidence. She smiled, though still
in sadness rather than in pleasure; and she spoke,
but the distance prevented her words from being
audible. At the next instant, Seadrift moved into
the space visible through the half-drawn drapery,
and took her hand. Alida made no effort to withdraw
the member; but, on the contrary, she looked
up into his face with still less equivocal interest, and
appeared to listen to his voice with an absorbed attention.
The gate was swung violently open, and
Ludlow had reached the margin of the river before
he again paused.

The barge of the Coquette was found where her
commander had ordered his people to lie concealed,
and he was about to enter it, when the noise of the
little gate, again shutting with the wind, induced him
to cast a look behind. A human form was distinctly
to be seen, against the light walls of the villa,
descending towards the river. The men were commanded
to keep close, and, withdrawing within the
shadow of a fence, the captain waited the approach
of the new-comer.

As the unknown person passed, Ludlow recognized
the agile form of the free-trader. The latter advanced
to the margin of the river, and gazed warily
about him for several minutes. A low but distinct
note, on a common ship's-call, was then heard. The
summons was soon succeeded by the appearance of
a small skiff, which glided out of the grass on the
opposite side of the stream, and approached the spot
where Seadrift awaited its arrival. The free-trader
sprang lightly into the little boat, which immediately
began to glide out of the river. As the skiff passed

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[figure description] Page 091.[end figure description]

the spot where he stood, Ludlow saw that it was
pulled by a single seaman; and, as his own boat was
manned by six lusty rowers, he felt that the person
of the man whom he so much envied was at length
fairly and honorably in his power. We shall not attempt
to analyze the emotion that was ascendant in
the mind of the young officer. It is enough for our
purpose to add, that he was soon in his boat and in
full pursuit.

As the course to be taken by the barge was diagonal
rather than direct, a few powerful strokes of
the oars brought it so near the skiff, that Ludlow,
by placing his hand on the gunwale of the latter,
could arrest its progress.

“Though so lightly equipped, fortune favors you
less in boats than in larger craft, Master Seadrift;”
said Ludlow, when, by virtue of a strong arm, he
had drawn his prize so near, as to find himself seated
within a few feet of his prisoner. “We meet on our
proper element, where there can be no neutrality
between one of the contraband and a servant of the
Queen.”

The start, the half-repressed exclamation, and the
momentary silence, showed that the captive had been
taken completely by surprise.

“I admit your superior dexterity,” he at length
said, speaking low and not without agitation. “I
am your prisoner, Captain Ludlow; and I would now
wish to know your intentions in disposing of my person.”

“That is soon answered. You must be content to
take the homely accommodations of the Coquette,
for the night, instead of the more luxurious cabin of
your Water-Witch. What the authorities of the
Province may decide, to-morrow, it exceeds the
knowledge of a poor commander in the navy to say.”

“The lord Cornbury has retired to—?”

“A gaol,” said Ludlow, observing that the other

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[figure description] Page 092.[end figure description]

spoke more like one who mused than like one who
asked a question. “The kinsman of our gracious
Queen speculates on the chances of human fortune,
within the walls of a prison. His successor, the
brigadier Hunter, is thought to have less sympathy
for the moral infirmities of human nature!”

“We deal lightly with dignities!” exclaimed the
captive, with all his former gaiety of tone and manner.
“You have your revenge for some personal
liberties that were certainly taken, not a fortnight
since, with this boat and her crew; still, I have much
mistaken your character, if unnecessary severity
forms one of its features. May I communicate with
the brigantine?”

“Freely—when she is once in the care of a
Queen's officer.”

“Oh, Sir, you disparage the qualities of my mistress,
in supposing there exists a parallel with your
own! The Water-Witch will go at large, till a far
different personage shall become your captive.—May
I communicate with the shore?”

“To that there exists no objection—if you will
point out the means.”

“I have one, here, who will prove a faithful messenger.”

“Too faithful to the delusion which governs all
your followers! Your man must be your companion
in the Coquette, Master Seadrift, though;” and Ludlow
spoke in melancholy, “if there be any on the
land, who take so near an interest in your welfare
as to find more sorrow in uncertainty than in the
truth, one of my own crew, in any of whom confidence
may be placed, shall do your errand.”

“Let it be so;” returned the free-trader, as if
satisfied that he could, in reason, expect no more.
“Take this ring to the lady of yonder dwelling,” he
continued, when Ludlow had selected the messenger,
“and say that he who sends it is about to visit the

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[figure description] Page 093.[end figure description]

cruiser of Queen Anne in company with her commander.
Should there be question of the motive,
you can speak to the manner of my arrest.”

“And, mark me, fellow—” added his captain;
“that duty done, look to the idlers on the shore, and
see that no boat quits the river, to apprize the smugglers
of their loss.”

The man, who was armed in the fashion of a seaman
on boat duty, received these orders with the
customary deference; and the barge having drawn
to the shore for that purpose, he landed.

“And now, Master Seadrift, having thus far complied
with your wishes, I may expect you will not be
deaf to mine. Here is a seat at your service in my
barge, and I confess it will please me to see it occupied.”

As the captain spoke, he reached forth an arm,
partly in natural complaisance, and partly with a
carelessness that denoted some consciousness of the
difference in their rank, both to aid the other to
comply with his request, and, at need, to enforce it.
But the free-trader seemed to repel the familiarity;
for he drew back, at first, like one who shrunk sensitively
from the contact, and then, without touching
the arm that was extended with a purpose so equivocal,
he passed lightly from the skiff into the barge,
declining assistance. The movement was scarcely
made, before Ludlow quitted the latter, and occupied
the place which Seadrift had just vacated. He
commanded one of his men to exchange with the
seaman of the brigantine; and, having made these
preparations, he again addressed his prisoner.

“I commit you to the care of my cockswain and
these worthy tars, Master Seadrift. We shall steer
different ways. You will take possession of my cabin,
where all will be at your disposal; ere the middle
watch is called, I shall be there to prevent the

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[figure description] Page 094.[end figure description]

pennant from coming down, and your sea-green flag
turning the people's heads from their allegiance.”

Ludlow then whispered his orders to his cockswain,
and they separated. The barge proceeded to the
mouth of the river, with the long and stately sweep
of the oars, that marks the progress of a man-of-war's
boat; while the skiff followed, noiselessly,
and, aided by its color and dimensions, nearly invisible.

When the two boats entered the waters of the
bay, the barge held on its course towards the distant
ship; while the skiff inclined to the right, and steered
directly for the bottom of the Cove. The precaution
of the dealer in contraband had provided his
little boat with muffled sculls; and Ludlow, when
he was enabled to discover the fine tracery of the
lofty and light spars of the Water-Witch, as they
rose above the tops of the dwarf trees that lined
the shore, had no reason to think his approach was
known. Once assured of the presence and position
of the brigantine, he was enabled to make his advances
with all the caution that might be necessary.

Some ten or fifteen minutes were required to bring
the skiff beneath the bowsprit of the beautiful craft,
without giving the alarm to those who doubtless were
watching on her decks. The success of our adventurer,
however, appeared to be complete; for he
was soon holding by the cable, and not the smallest
sound, of any kind, had been heard in the brigantine.
Ludlow now regretted he had not entered the Cove
with his barge; for, so profound and unsuspecting
was the quiet of the vessel, that he doubted not of
his ability to have carried her by a coup-de-main.
Vexed by his oversight, and incited by the prospects
of success, he began to devise those expedients which
would naturally suggest themselves to a seaman in
his situation.

The wind was southerly, and, though not strong,

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[figure description] Page 095.[end figure description]

it was charged with the dampness and heaviness of
the night air. As the brigantine lay protected from
the influence of the tides, she obeyed the currents
of the other element; and, while her bows looked
outward, her stern pointed towards the bottom of
the basin. The distance from the land was not fifty
fathoms, and Ludlow did not fail to perceive that
the vessel rode by a kedge, and that her anchors,
of which there was a good provision, were all snugly
stowed. These facts induced the hope that he might
separate the hawser that alone held the brigantine,
which, in the event of his succeeding, he had every
reason to believe would drift ashore, before the alarm
could be given to her crew, sail set, or an anchor let
go. Although neither he nor his companion possessed
any other implement to effect this object, than the
large seaman's knife of the latter, the temptation
was too great not to make the trial. The project
was flattering; for, though the vessel in that situation
would receive no serious injury, the unavoidable
delay of heaving her off the sands would enable his
boats, and perhaps the ship herself, to reach the
place in time to secure their prize. The bargeman
was asked for his knife, and Ludlow himself made
the first cut upon the solid and difficult mass. The
steel had no sooner touched the compact yarns, than
a dazzling glare of light shot into the face of him
who held it. Recovering from the shock, and rubbing
his eyes, our startled adventurer gazed upwards,
with that consciousness of wrong which assails us
when detected in any covert act, however laudable
may be its motive;—a sort of homage that nature,
under every circumstance, pays to loyal dealings.

Though Ludlow felt, at the instant of this interruption,
that he stood in jeopardy of his life, the concern
it awakened was momentarily lost in the spectacle
before him. The bronzed and unearthly features
of the image were brightly illuminated; and, while

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[figure description] Page 096.[end figure description]

her eyes looked on him steadily, as if watching his
smallest movement, her malign and speaking smile
appeared to turn his futile effort into scorn! There
was no need to bid the seaman at the oars to do his
duty. No sooner did he catch the expression of that
mysterious face, than the skiff whirled away from
the spot, like a sea-fowl taking wing under alarm.
Though Ludlow, at each moment, expected a shot,
even the imminence of the danger did not prevent
him from gazing, in absorbed attention, at the image.
The light by which it was illumined, though condensed,
powerful, and steadily cast, wavered a little, and
exhibited her attire. Then the captain saw the
truth of what Seadrift had asserted; for, by some
process of the machine into which he had not leisure
to inquire, the sea-green mantle had been changed
for a slighter robe of the azure of the deep waters.
As if satisfied with having betrayed the intention
of the sorceress to depart, the light immediately
vanished.

“This mummery is well maintained!” muttered
Ludlow, when the skiff had reached a distance that
assured him of safety. “Here is a symptom that the
rover means soon to quit the coast. The change of
dress is some signal to his superstitious and deluded
crew. It is my task to disappoint his mistress, as he
terms her, though it must be confessed that she does
not sleep at her post.”

During the ten succeeding minutes, our foiled adventurer
had leisure, no less than motive, to feel how
necessary is success to any project whose means admit
of dispute. Had the hawser been cut and the
brigantine stranded, it is probable that the undertaking
of the captain would have been accounted
among those happy expedients which, in all pursuits,
are thought to distinguish the mental efforts of men
particularly gifted by Nature; while, under the actual
circumstances, he who would have reaped all

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[figure description] Page 097.[end figure description]

the credit of so felicitous an idea, was mentally chafing
with the apprehension that his unlucky design might
become known. His companion was no other than
Robert Yarn, the fore-top-man, who, on a former occasion,
had been heard to affirm, that he had already
enjoyed so singular a view of the lady of the brigantine,
while assisting to furl the fore-top-sail of the
Coquette.

“This has been a false board, Master Yarn,” observed
the captain, when the skiff was past the entrance
of the Cove, and some distance down the bay;
“for the credit of our cruise, we will not enter the
occurrence in the log. You understand me, Sir: I
trust a word is sufficient for so shrewd a wit?”

“I hope I know my duty, your Honor, which is to
obey orders, though it may break owners,” returned
the top-man. “Cutting a hawser with a knife is but
slow work in the best of times; but though one who
has little right to speak in the presence of a gentleman
so well taught, it is my opinion that the steel is
not yet sharpened which is to part any rope aboard
yon rover, without the consent of the black-looking
woman under her bowsprit.”

“And what is the opinion of the berth-deck concerning
this strange brigantine, that we have so long
been following without success?”

“That we shall follow her till the last biscuit is
eaten, and the scuttle-butt shall be dry, with no better
fortune. It is not my business to teach your
Honor; but there is not a man in the ship, who ever
expects to be a farthing the better for her capture.
Men are of many minds concerning the `Skimmer
of the Seas;' but all are agreed that, unless aided
by some uncommon luck, which may amount to the
same thing as being helped by him who seldom lends
a hand to any honest undertaking, that he is altogether
such a seaman as another like him does not
sail the ocean!”

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[figure description] Page 098.[end figure description]

“I am sorry that my people should have reason to
think so meanly of our own skill. The ship has not
yet had a fair chance. Give her an open sea, and a
cap-full of wind, and she 'll defy all the black women
that the brigantine can stow. As to your `Skimmer
of the Seas,' man or devil, he is our prisoner.”

“And does your Honor believe that the trim-built
and light-sailing gentleman we overhauled in this skiff,
is in truth that renowned rover?” asked Yarn, resting
on his sculls, in the interest of the moment. “There
are some on board the ship, who maintain that the
man in question is taller than the big tide-waiter at
Plymouth, with a pair of shoulders—”

“I have reason to know they are mistaken. If we
are more enlightened than our shipmates, Master
Yarn, let us be close-mouthed, that others do not steal
our knowledge—hold, here is a crown with the face
of King Louis; he is our bitterest enemy, and you
may swallow him whole, if you please, or take him
in morsels, as shall best suit your humor. But remember
that our cruise in the skiff is under secret
orders, and the less we say about the anchor-watch
of the brigantine, the better.”

Honest Bob took the piece of silver, with a gusto
that no opinions of the marvellous could diminish;
and, touching his hat, he did not fail to make the
usual protestations of discretion. That night the
messmates of the fore-top-man endeavored, in vain,
to extract from him the particulars of his excursion
with the captain; though the direct answers to their
home questions were only evaded by allusions so dark
and ambiguous, as to give to that superstitious feeling
of the crew, which Ludlow had wished to lull,
twice its original force.

Not long after this short dialogue, the skiff reached
the side of the Coquette. Her commander found his
prisoner in possession of his own cabin, and, though
grave if not sad in demeanor, perfectly self-possessed.

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His arrival had produced a deep effect on the officers
and men, though, like Yarn, most of both classes
refused to believe that the handsome and gayly-at-tired
youth they had been summoned to receive, was
the notorious dealer in contraband.

Light observers of the forms under which human
qualities are exhibited, too often mistake their outward
signs. Though it is quite in reason to believe,
that he who mingles much in rude and violent scenes
should imbibe some of their rough and repelling aspects,
still it would seem that, as the stillest waters
commonly conceal the deepest currents, so the powers
to awaken extraordinary events are not unfrequently
cloaked under a chastened, and sometimes under
a cold, exterior. It has often happened, that the
most desperate and self-willed men are those whose
mien and manners would give reason to expect the
mildest and most tractable dispositions; while he who
has seemed a lion sometimes proves, in his real nature,
to be little better than a lamb.

Ludlow had reason to see that the incredulity of
his top-man had extended to most on board; and, as
he could not conquer his tenderness on the subject of
Alida and all that concerned her, while on the other
hand there existed no motive for immediately declaring
the truth, he rather favored the general impression
by his silence. First giving some orders of
the last importance at that moment, he passed into
the cabin, and sought a private interview with his
captive.

“That vacant state-room is at your service, Master
Seadrift,” he observed, pointing to the little
apartment opposite to the one he occupied himself.
“We are likely to be shipmates several days, unless
you choose to shorten the time, by entering into a capitulation
for the Water-Witch; in which case—”

“You had a proposition to make.”

Ludlow hesitated, cast an eye behind him, to be

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certain they were alone, and drew nearer to his
captive.

“Sir, I will deal with you as becomes a seaman.
La belle Barbérie is dearer to me than ever woman
was before;—dearer, I fear, than ever woman will
be again. You need not learn that circumstances
have occurred,—Do you love the lady?”

“I do.”

“And she—fear not to trust the secret to one who
will not abuse the trust—returns she your affection?”

The mariner of the brigantine drew back with
dignity; and then, instantly recovering his ease, as if
fearful he might forget himself, he said with warmth,

“This trifling with woman's weakness is the besetting
sin of man! None may speak of her inclinations,
Captain Ludlow, but herself. It never shall
be said, that any of the sex had aught but fitting
reverence for their dependent state, their constant
and confiding love, their faithfulness in all the world's
trials, and their singleness of heart, from me.”

“These sentiments do you honor; and I could
wish, for your own sake, as well as that of others,
there was less of contrariety in your character. One
cannot but grieve—”

“You had a proposition, for the brigantine?”

“I would have said, that were the vessel yielded
without further pursuit, means might be found to
soften the blow to those who will otherwise be most
wounded by her capture.”

The face of the dealer in contraband had lost
some of its usual brightness and animation; the color
of the cheek was not as rich, and the eye was less at
ease, than in his former interviews with Ludlow.
But a smile of security crossed his fine features, when
the other spoke of the fate of the brigantine.

“The keel of the ship that is to capture the Water-Witch
is not yet laid,” he said, firmly; “nor is the
canvas that is to drive her through the water, wove!

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Our mistress is not so heedless as to sleep, when there
is most occasion for her services.”

“This mummery of a supernatural aid may be of
use in holding the minds of the ignorant beings who
follow your fortunes, in subjection, but it is lost when
addressed to me. I have ascertained the position of
the brigantine—nay, I have been under her very
bowsprit, and so near her cut-water, as to have examined
her moorings. Measures are now taking to
improve my knowledge, and to secure the prize.”

The free-trader heard him without exhibiting
alarm, though he listened with an attention that
rendered his breathing audible.

“You found my people vigilant?” he rather carelessly
observed, than asked.

“So much so, that I have said the skiff was pulled
beneath her martingale, without a hail! Had there
been means, it would not have required many moments
to cut the hawser by which she rides, and to
have laid your beauteous vessel ashore!”

The gleam of Seadrift's eye was like the glance
of an eagle. It seemed to inquire, and to resent, in
the same instant. Ludlow shrunk from the piercing
look, and reddened to the brow,—whether with his
recollections, or not, it is unnecessary to explain.

“The worthy device was thought of!—nay, it was
attempted!” exclaimed the other, gathering confirmation
in the consciousness of his companion.—“You
did not—you could not succeed!”

“Our success will be proved in the result.”

“The lady of the brigantine forgot not her charge!
You saw her bright eye—her dark and meaning
face! Light shone on that mysterious countenance—
my words are true, Ludlow; thy tongue is silent, but
that honest countenance confesses all!”

The gay dealer in contraband turned away, and
laughed in his merriest manner.

“I knew it would be so,” he continued; “what

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is the absence of one humble actor from her train?
Trust me, you will find her coy as ever, and ill-disposed
to hold converse with a cruiser who speaks
so rudely through his cannon. Ha!—here are auditors!”

An officer, to announce the near approach of a
boat, entered. Both Ludlow and his prisoner started
at this intelligence, and it was not difficult to fancy
both believed that a message from the Water-Witch
might be expected. The former hastened on deck;
while the latter, notwithstanding a self-possession that
was so much practised, could not remain entirely at
his ease. He passed into the state-room, and it is
more than probable that he availed himself of the
window of its quarter-gallery, to reconnoitre those
who were so unexpectedly coming to the ship.

But after the usual hail and reply, Ludlow no
longer anticipated any proposal from the brigantine.
The answer had been what a seaman would call
lubberly; or it wanted that attic purity that men of
the profession rarely fail to use on all occasions, and
by the means of which they can tell a pretender to
their mysteries, with a quickness that is almost instinctive.
When the short, quick “boat-ahoy!” of
the sentinel on the gangway, was answered by the
“what do you want?” of a startled respondent in
the boat, it was received among the crew of the
Coquette with such a sneer as the tyro, who has
taken two steps in any particular branch of knowledge,
is apt to bestow on the blunders of him who
has taken but one.

A deep silence reigned, while a party consisting
of two men and as many females mounted the side
of the ship, leaving a sufficient number of forms
behind them in the boat to man its oars. Notwithstanding
more than one light was held in such a
manner as would have discovered the faces of the

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strangers had they not all been closely muffled, the
party passed into the cabin without recognition.

“Master Cornelius Ludlow, one might as well put
on the Queen's livery at once, as to be steering in
this uncertain manner, between the Coquette and
the land, like a protested note sent from endorser to
endorser, to be paid,” commenced Alderman Van
Beverout, uncasing himself in the great cabin with
the coolest deliberation, while his niece sunk into a
chair unbidden, her two attendants standing near in
submissive silence. “Here is Alida, who has insisted
on paying so unseasonable a visit, and, what is worse
still, on dragging me in her train, though I am past
the day of following a woman about, merely because
she happens to have a pretty face. The hour is unseasonable,
and as to the motive—why, if Master
Seadrift has got a little out of his course, no great
harm can come of it, while the affair is in the hands
of so discreet and amiable an officer as yourself.”

The Alderman became suddenly mute; for the
door of the state-room opened, and the individual he
had named entered in person.

Ludlow needed no other explanation than a
knowledge of the persons of his guests, to understand
the motive of their visit. Turning to Alderman Van
Beverout, he said, with a bitterness he could not
repress—

“My presence may be intrusive. Use the cabin
as freely as your own house, and rest assured that
while it is thus honored, it shall be sacred to its
present uses. My duty calls me to the deck.”

The young man bowed gravely, and hurried from
the place. As he passed Alida, he caught a gleam
of her dark and eloquent eye, and he construed the
glance into an expression of gratitude.

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CHAPTER VIII.

“If it were done when 't is done, then 't were well
It were done quickly—”
Macbeth.

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The words of the immortal poet, with which, in
deference to an ancient usage in the literature of the
language, we have prefaced the incidents to be related
in this chapter, are in perfect conformity with
that governing maxim of a vessel, which is commonly
found embodied in its standing orders, and which
prescribes the necessity of exertion and activity in
the least of its operations. A strongly-manned ship,
like a strong-armed man, is fond of showing its physical
power, for it is one of the principal secrets of
its efficiency. In a profession in which there is an
unceasing contest with the wild and fickle winds,
and in which human efforts are to be manifested in
the control of a delicate and fearful machinery on
an inconstant element, this governing principle becomes
of the last importance. Where `delay may so
easily be death,' it soon gets to be a word that is expunged
from the language; and there is perhaps no
truth more necessary to be known to all young aspirants
for naval success, than that, while nothing
should be attempted in a hurry, nothing should be
done without the last degree of activity that is compatible
with precision.

The commander of the Coquette had early been
impressed with the truth of the foregoing rule, and
he had not neglected its application in the discipline
of his crew. When he reached the deck, therefore,
after relinquishing the cabin to his visiters, he found
those preparations which he had ordered to be commenced
when he first returned to the ship, already
far advanced towards their execution. As these

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movements are closely connected with the future
events it is our duty to explain, we shall relate them
with some particularity.

Ludlow had no sooner given his orders to the officer
in charge of the deck, than the whistle of the
boatswain was heard summoning all hands to their
duty. When the crew had been collected, tackles
were hooked to the large boats stowed in the centre
of the ship, and the whole of them were lowered
into the water. The descent of those suspended on
the quarters, was of course less difficult and much
sooner effected. So soon as all the boats, with the
exception of one at the stern, were out, the order
was given to `cross top-gallant-yards.' This duty had
been commenced while other things were in the
course of performance, and a minute had scarcely
passed before the upper masts were again in possession
of their light sails. Then was heard the usual
summons of, `all hands up anchor, ahoy!' and the
rapid orders of the young officers to `man capstanbars,
' to `nipper,' and finally to `heave away.' The
business of getting the anchor on board a cruiser,
and on board a ship engaged in commerce, is of very
different degrees of labor, as well as of expedition.
In the latter, a dozen men apply their powers to a
slow-moving and reluctant windlass, while the untractable
cable, as it enters, is broken into coils by
the painful efforts of a grumbling cook, thwarted,
perhaps, as much as he is aided by the waywardness
of some wilful urchin who does the service of the
cabin. On the other hand, the upright and constantly-moving
capstan knows no delay. The revolving
`messenger' is ever ready to be applied, and skilful
petty officers are always in the tiers, to dispose
of the massive rope, that it may not encumber the
decks.

Ludlow appeared among his people, while they
were thus employed. Ere he had made one hasty

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turn on the quarter-deck, he was met by the busy
first-lieutenant.

“We are short, Sir,” said that agent of all work.

“Set your topsails.”

The canvas was instantly permitted to fall, and it
was no sooner stretched to the yards, than force was
applied to the halyards, and the sails were hoisted.

“Which way, Sir, do you wish the ship cast?”
demanded the attentive Luff.

“To seaward.”

The head-yards were accordingly braced aback
in the proper direction, and it was then reported to
the captain that all was ready to get the ship under
way.

“Trip the anchor at once, Sir; when it is stowed,
and the decks are cleared, report to me.”

This sententious and characteristic communication
between Ludlow and his second in command, was
sufficient for all the purposes of that moment. The
one was accustomed to issue his orders without explanation,
and the other never hesitated to obey,
and rarely presumed to inquire into their motive.

“We are aweigh and stowed, Sir; every thing
clear,” said Mr. Luff, after a few minutes had been
allowed to execute the preceding commands.

Ludlow then seemed to arouse himself from a deep
reverie. He had hitherto spoken mechanically,
rather than as one conscious of what he uttered, or
whose feelings had any connexion with his words.
But it was now necessary to mingle with his officers,
and to issue mandates that, as they were less in routine,
required both thought and discretion. The
crews of the different boats were `called away,' and
arms were placed in their hands. When nearly or
quite one-half of the ship's company were in the
boats, and the latter were all reported to be ready,
officers were assigned to each, and the particular

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service expected at their hands was distinctly explained.

A master's mate in the captain's barge, with the
crew strengthened by half-a-dozen marines, was ordered
to pull directly for the Cove, into which he
was to enter with muffled oars, and where he was to
await a signal from the first-lieutenant, unless he met
the brigantine endeavoring to escape, in which case
his orders were imperative to board and carry her
at every hazard. The high-spirited youth no sooner
received this charge, than he quitted the ship and
steered to the southward, keeping inside the tongue
of land so often named.

Luff was then told to take command of the launch.
With this heavy and strongly-manned boat, he was
ordered to proceed to the inlet, where he was to
give the signal to the barge, and whence he was to
go to the assistance of the latter, so soon as he was
assured the Water-Witch could not again escape by
the secret passage.

The two cutters were intrusted to the command
of the second-lieutenant, with orders to pull into the
broad passage between the end of the cape, or the
`Hook,' and that long narrow island which stretches
from the harbor of New-York for more than forty
leagues to the eastward, sheltering the whole coast
of Connecticut from the tempests of the ocean. Ludlow
knew, though ships of a heavy draught were
obliged to pass close to the cape, in order to gain the
open sea, that a light brigantine, like the Water-Witch,
could find a sufficient depth of water for her
purposes further north. The cutters were, therefore,
sent in that direction, with orders to cover as much
of the channel as possible, and to carry the smuggler
should an occasion offer. Finally, the yawl was to
occupy the space between the two channels, with
orders to repeat signals, and to be vigilant in reconnoitring.

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While the different officers intrusted with these
duties were receiving their instructions, the ship,
under the charge of Trysail, began to move towards
the cape. When off the point of the Hook, the two
cutters and the yawl `cast off,' and took to their
oars, and when fairly without the buoys, the launch
did the same, each boat taking its prescribed direction.

If the reader retains a distinct recollection of the
scene described in one of the earlier pages of this
work, he will understand the grounds on which Ludlow
based his hopes of success. By sending the launch
into the inlet, he believed he should inclose the brigantine
on every side; since her escape through either
of the ordinary channels would become impossible,
while he kept the Coquette in the offing. The service
he expected from the three boats sent to the
northward, was to trace the movement of the smuggler,
and, should a suitable opportunity offer, to attempt
to carry him by surprise.

When the launch parted from the ship, the Coquette
came slowly up to the wind, and with her fore-topsail
thrown to the mast, she lay, waiting to allow
her boats the time necessary to reach their several
stations. The different expeditions had reduced the
force of the crew quite one-half, and as both the lieutenants
were otherwise employed, there now remained
on board no officer of a rank between those
of the captain and Trysail. Some time after the vessel
had been stationary, and the men had been ordered
to keep close, or, in other words, to dispose of
their persons as they pleased, with a view to permit
them to catch `cat's naps,' as some compensation for
the loss of their regular sleep, the latter approached
his superior, who stood gazing over the hammock-cloths
in the direction of the Cove, and spoke.

“A dark night, smooth water, and fresh hands,
make boating agreeable duty!” he said. “The

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gentlemen are in fine heart, and full of young men's
hopes; but he who lays that brigantine aboard, will,
in my poor judgment, have more work to do than
merely getting up her side. I was in the foremost
boat that boarded a Spaniard in the Mona, last war;
and though we went into her with light heels, some
of us were brought out with broken heads.—I think
the fore-top-gallant-mast has a better set, Captain
Ludlow, since we gave the last pull at the rigging?”

“It stands well;” returned his half-attentive commander.
“Give it the other drag, if you think best.”

“Just as you please, Sir; 'tis all one to me. I
care not if the mast is hove all of one side, like the
hat on the head of a country buck; but when a thing
is as it ought to be, reason would tell us to let it
alone. Mr. Luff was of opinion, that by altering the
slings of the main-yard, we should give a better set
to the topsail sheets; but it was little that could be
done with the stick aloft, and I am ready to pay Her
Majesty the difference between the wear of the
sheets as they stand now, and as Mr. Luff would
have them, out of my own pocket, though it is often
as empty as a parish church in which a fox-hunting
parson preaches. I was present, once, when a real
tally-ho was reading the service, and one of your godless
squires got in the wake of a fox, with his hounds,
within hail of the church-windows! The cries had
some such effect on my roarer, as a puff of wind would
have on this ship; that is to say, he sprung his luff,
and though he kept on muttering something I never
knew what, his eyes were in the fields the whole
time the pack was in view. But this wasn't the
worst of it; for when he got fairly back to his work
again, the wind had been blowing the leaves of his
book about, and he plumped us into the middle of
the marriage ceremony. I am no great lawyer, but
there were those who said it was a god-send that half

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the young men in the parish weren't married to their
own grandmothers!”

“I hope the match was agreeable to the family;”
said Ludlow, relieving one elbow by resting the
weight of his head on the other.

“Why, as to that, I will not take upon me to say,
since the clerk corrected the parson's reckoning before
the mischief was entirely done. There has been
a little dispute between me and the first-lieutenant,
Captain Ludlow, concerning the trim of the ship.
He maintains that we have got too much in forward
of what he calls the centre of gravity; and he is of
opinion that had we been less by the head, the smuggler
would never have had the heels of us, in the
chase; whereas I invite any man to lay a craft on
her water-line—”

“Show our light!” interrupted Ludlow. “Yonder
goes the signal of the launch!”

Trysail ceased speaking, and, stepping on a gun,
he also began to gaze in the direction of the Cove.
A lantern, or some other bright object, was leisurely
raised three times, and as often hid from view. The
signal came from under the land, and in a quarter
that left no doubt of its object.

“So far, well;” cried the Captain, quitting his
stand, and turning, for the first time, with consciousness,
to his officer. “ 'Tis a sign that they are at
the inlet, and that the offing is clear. I think, Master
Trysail, we are now sure of our prize. Sweep the
horizon thoroughly with the night-glass, and then
we will close upon this boasted brigantine.”

Both took glasses, and devoted several minutes to
this duty. A careful examination of the margin of
the sea, from the coast of New-Jersey to that of
Long-Island, gave them reason to believe that nothing
of any size was lying without the cape. The
sky was more free from clouds to the eastward than
under the land, and it was not difficult to make

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certain of this important fact. It gave them the assurance
that the Water-Witch had not escaped by the
secret passage, during the time lost in their own
preparations.

“This is still well;” continued Ludlow. “Now,
he cannot avoid us—show the triangle.”

Three lights, disposed in the form just named,
were then hoisted at the gaff-end of the Coquette.
It was an order for the boats in the Cove to proceed.
The signal was quickly answered from the launch,
and then a small rocket was seen sailing over the
trees and shrubbery of the shore. All on board the
Coquette listened intently, to catch some sound that
should denote the tumult of an assault. Once Ludlow
and Trysail thought the cheers of seamen came on
the thick air of the night; and once, again, either
fancy or their senses told them they heard the menacing
hail which commanded the outlaws to submit.
Many minutes of intense anxiety succeeded. The
whole of the hammock-cloths on the side of the ship
nearest to the land were lined with curious faces,
though respect left Ludlow to the sole occupation of
the short and light deck which covered the accommodations;
whither he had ascended, to command a
more perfect view of the horizon.

“'Tis time to hear their musketry, or to see the
signal of success!” said the young man to himself, so
intently occupied by his interest in the undertaking,
as to be unconscious of having spoken.

“Have you forgotten to provide a signal for failure?”
said one at his elbow.

“Ha! Master Seadrift;—I would have spared
you this spectacle.”

“'Tis one too often witnessed, to be singular. A
life passed on the ocean has not left me ignorant of
the effect of night, with a view seaward, a dark
coast, and a back-ground of mountain!”

“You have confidence in him left in charge of

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your brigantine! I shall have faith in your sea-green
lady, myself, if he escape my boats, this time.”

“See!—there is a token of her fortune;” returned
the other, pointing towards three lanterns that
were shown at the inlet's mouth, and over which
many lights were burnt in rapid succession.

“'Tis of failure! Let the ship fall-of, and square
away the yards! Round in, men, round in. We will
run down to the entrance of the bay, Mr. Trysail.
The knaves have been aided by their lucky star!”

Ludlow spoke with deep vexation in his tones, but
always with the authority of a superior and the
promptitude of a seaman. The motionless being,
near him, maintained a profound silence. No exclamation
of triumph escaped him, nor did he open his
lips either in pleasure or in surprise. It appeared as
if confidence in his vessel rendered him as much superior
to exultation as to apprehension.

“You look upon this exploit of your brigantine,
Master Seadrift, as a thing of course;” Ludlow observed,
when his own ship was steering towards the
extremity of the cape, again. “Fortune has not
deserted you, yet; but with the land on three sides,
and this ship and her boats on the fourth, I do not
despair yet of prevailing over your bronzed goddess!”

“Our mistress never sleeps;” returned the dealer
in contraband, drawing a long breath, like one who
had struggled long to repress his interest.

“Terms are still in your power. I shall not conceal
that the Commissioners of Her Majesty's customs
set so high a price on the possession of the Water-Witch,
as to embolden me to assume a responsibility
from which I might, on any other occasion, shrink.
Deliver the vessel, and I pledge you the honor of an
officer that the crew shall land without question.—
Leave her to us, with empty decks and a swept
hold, if you will,—but, leave the swift boat in our
hands.”

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“The lady of the brigantine thinks otherwise.
She wears her mantle of the deep waters, and, trust
me, spite of all your nets, she will lead her followers
beyond the offices of the lead, and far from soundings;—
ay! spite of all the navy of Queen Anne!”

“I hope that others may not repent this obstinacy!
But this is no time to bandy words; the duty of the
ship requires my presence.”

Seadrift took the hint, and reluctantly retired to
the cabin. As he left the poop, the moon rose above
the line of water in the eastern board, and shed its
light along the whole horizon. The crew of the
Coquette were now enabled to see, with sufficient
distinctness, from the sands of the Hook to the distance
of many leagues to seaward. There no longer
remained a doubt that the brigantine was still
within the bay. Encouraged by this certainty, Ludlow
endeavored to forget all motives of personal
feeling, in the discharge of a duty that was getting
to be more and more interesting, as the prospect of
its successful accomplishment grew brighter.

It was not long before the Coquette reached the
channel which forms the available mouth of the
estuary. Here the ship was again brought to the
wind, and men were sent upon the yards and all her
more lofty spars, in order to overlook, by the dim
and deceitful light, as much of the inner water as
the eye could reach; while Ludlow, assisted by the
master, was engaged in the same employment on the
deck. Two or three midshipmen were included,
among the common herd, aloft.

“There is nothing visible within,” said the captain,
after a long and anxious search, with a glass. “The
shadow of the Jersey mountains prevents the sight
in that direction, while the spars of a frigate might
be confounded with the trees of Staten Island, here,
in the northern board.—Cross-jack-yard, there!”

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The shrill voice of a midshipman answered to the
hail.

“What do you make within the Hook, Sir?”

“Nothing visible. Our barge is pulling along the
land, and the launch appears to be lying off the inlet;
ay—here is the yawl, resting on its oars without
the Romar; but we can find nothing which looks
like the cutter, in the range of Coney.”

“Take another sweep of the glass more westward,
and look well into the mouth of the Raritan,—mark
you any thing in that quarter?”

“Ha!—here is a speck on our lee quarter!”

“What do you make of it?”

“Unless sight deceives me greatly, Sir, there is a
light boat pulling in for the ship, about three cables'length
distant.”

Ludlow raised his own glass, and swept the water
in the direction named. After one or two unsuccessful
trials, his eye caught the object; and as the moon
had now some power, he was at no loss to distinguish
its character. There was evidently a boat, and one
that, by its movements, had a design of holding communication
with the cruiser.

The eye of a seaman is acute on his element, and
his mind is quick in forming opinions on all things
that properly appertain to his profession. Ludlow
saw instantly, by the construction, that the boat was
not one of those sent from the ship; that it approached
in a direction which enabled it to avoid the Coquette,
by keeping in a part of the bay where the
water was not sufficiently deep to admit of her passage;
and that its movements were so guarded as to
denote great caution, while there was an evident
wish to draw as near to the cruiser as prudence might
render advisable. Taking a trumpet, he hailed in
the well-known and customary manner.

The answer came up faintly against the air, but

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it was uttered with much practice in the implement,
and with an exceeding compass of voice.

“Ay, ay!” and, “a parley from the brigantine!”
were the only words that were distinctly audible.

For a minute or two, the young man paced the
deck in silence. Then he suddenly commanded the
only boat which the cruiser now possessed, to be lowered
and manned.

“Throw an ensign into the stern-sheets,” he said,
when these orders were executed; “and let there be
arms beneath it. We will keep faith while faith is
observed, but there are reasons for caution in this
interview.”

Trysail was directed to keep the ship stationary,
and after giving to his subordinate private instructions
of importance in the event of treachery, Ludlow
went into the boat in person. A very few minutes
sufficed to bring the jolly-boat and the stranger
so near each other, that the means of communication
were both easy and sure. The men of the former
were then commanded to cease rowing, and,
raising his glass, the commander of the cruiser took
a more certain and minute survey of those who
awaited his coming. The strange boat was dancing
on the waves, like a light shell that floated so buoyantly
as scarce to touch the element which sustained
it, while four athletic seamen leaned on the oars
which lay ready to urge it ahead. In the sternsheets
stood a form, whose attitude and mien could
not readily be mistaken. In the admirable steadiness
of the figure, the folded arms, the fine and
manly proportions, and the attire, Ludlow recognized
the mariner of the India-shawl. A wave of the
hand induced him to venture nearer.

“What is asked of the royal cruiser?” demanded
the captain of the vessel named, when the two boats
were as near each other as seemed expedient.

“Confidence!” was the calm reply.—“Come nearer,

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Captain Ludlow; I am here with naked hands! Our
conference need not be maintained with trumpets.”

Ashamed that a boat belonging to a ship of war
should betray doubts, the people of the yawl were
ordered to go within reach of the oars.

“Well, Sir, you have your wish. I have quitted
my ship, and come to the parley, with the smallest
of my boats.”

“It is unnecessary to say what has been done with
the others!” returned Tiller, across the firm muscles
of whose face there passed a smile that was scarcely
perceptible. “You hunt us hard, Sir, and give but
little rest to the brigantine. But again are you
foiled!”

“We have a harbinger of better fortune, in a
lucky blow that has been struck to-night.”

“You are understood, Sir; Master Seadrift has
fallen into the hands of the Queen's servants—but
take good heed! if injury, in word or deed, befall
that youth, there live those who well know how to
resent the wrong!”

“These are lofty expressions, to come from a proscribed
man; but we will overlook them, in the motive.
Your brigantine, Master Tiller, lost its master-spirit
in the `Skimmer of the Seas,' and it may be
wise to listen to the suggestions of moderation. If
you are disposed to treat, I am here with no disposition
to extort.”

“We meet in a suitable spirit, then; for I come
prepared to offer terms of ransom, that Queen Anne,
if she love her revenue, need not despise;—but, as
in duty to Her Majesty, I will first listen to her royal
pleasure.”

“First, then, as a seaman, and one who is not ignorant
of what a vessel can perform, let me direct
your attention to the situation of the parties. I am
certain that the Water-Witch, though for the moment
concealed by the shadows of the hills, or

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favored perhaps by distance and the feebleness of this
light, is in the waters of the bay. A force, against
which she has no power of resistance, watches the
inlet; you see the cruiser in readiness to meet her
off the Hook. My boats are so stationed as to preclude
the possibility of escape, without sufficient notice,
by the northern channel; and, in short, the outlets
are all closed to your passage. With the morning
light, we shall know your position, and act accordingly.”

“No chart can show the dangers of rocks and
shoals more clearly!—and to avoid these dangers—?”

“Yield the brigantine, and depart. Though outlawed,
we shall content ourselves with the possession
of the remarkable vessel in which you do your mischief,
and hope that, deprived of the means to err,
you will return to better courses.”

“With the prayers of the church for our amendment!
Now listen, Captain Ludlow, to what I offer.
You have the person of one much loved by all who
follow the lady of the sea-green mantle, in your
power; and we have a brigantine that does much
injury to Queen Anne's supremacy in the waters of
this hemisphere;—yield you the captive, and we
promise to quit this coast, never to return.”

“This were a worthy treaty, truly, for one whose
habitation is not a mad-house! Relinquish my right
over the principal doer of the evil, and receive the
unsupported pledge of a subordinate's word! Your
happy fortune, Master Tiller, has troubled your reason.
What I offer, was offered because I would not
drive an unfortunate and remarkable man, like him
we have, to extremities, and—there may be other
motives, but do not mistake my lenity. Should force
become necessary to put your vessel into our hands,
the law may view your offences with a still harsher
eye. Deeds which the lenity of our system now considers
as venial, may easily turn to crime!”

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“I ought not to take your distrust, as other than
excusable,” returned the smuggler, evidently suppressing
a feeling of haughty and wounded pride.
“The word of a free-trader should have little weight
in the ears of a queen's officer. We have been trained
in different schools, and the same objects are seen
in different colors. Your proposal has been heard,
and, with some thanks for its fair intentions, it is refused
without a hope of acceptation. Our brigantine
is, as you rightly think, a remarkable vessel! Her
equal, Sir, for beauty or speed, floats not the ocean.
By heaven! I would sooner slight the smiles of the
fairest woman that walks the earth, than entertain
a thought which should betray the interest I feel in
that jewel of naval skill! You have seen her, at
many times, Captain Ludlow—in squalls and calms;
with her wings abroad, and her pinions shut; by day
and night; near and far; fair and foul;—and I ask
you, with a seaman's frankness, is she not a toy to
fill a seaman's heart?”

“I deny not the vessel's merits, nor her beauty—
'tis a pity she bears no better reputation.”

“I knew you could not withhold this praise! But
I grow childish when there is question of that brigantine!
Well Sir, each has been heard, and now
comes the conclusion. I part with the apple of my
eye, ere a stick of that lovely fabric is willingly deserted.
Shall we make other ransom for the youth?—
What think you of a pledge in gold, to be forfeited
should we forget our word.”

“You ask impossibilities. In treating thus at all,
I quit the path of proud authority, because, as has
been said, there is that about the `Skimmer of the
Seas' that raises him above the coarse herd who in
common traffic against the law. The brigantine, or
nothing!”

“My life, before that brigantine! Sir, you forget
our fortunes are protected by one who laughs at the

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efforts of your fleet. You think that we are inclosed,
and that, when light shall return, there will remain
merely the easy task to place your iron-mounted
cruiser on our beam, and drive us to seek mercy.
Here are honest mariners, who could tell you of the
hopelessness of the expedient. The Water-Witch
has run the gauntlet of all your navies, and shot has
never yet defaced her beauty.”

“And yet her limbs have been known to fall before
a messenger from my ship!”

“The stick wanted the commission of our mistress,”
interrupted the other, glancing his eye at the credulous
and attentive crew of the boat. “In a thoughtless
moment, 't was taken up at sea, and fashioned to
our purpose without counsel from the book. Nothing
that touches our decks, under fitting advice, comes
to harm.—You look incredulous, and 'tis in character
to seem so. If you refuse to listen to the lady of the
brigantine, at least lend an ear to your own laws. Of
what offence can you charge Master Seadrift, that
you hold him captive?”

“His redoubted name of `Skimmer of the Seas'
were warranty to force him from a sanctuary,” returned
Ludlow, smiling. “Though proof should fail
of any immediate crime, there is impunity for the
arrest, since the law refuses to protect him.”

“This is your boasted justice! Regues in authority
combine to condemn an absent and a silent man.
But if you think to do your violence with impunity,
know there are those who take deep interest in the
welfare of that youth.”

“This is foolish bandying of menaces,” said the
captain, warmly. “If you accept my offers, speak;
and if you reject them, abide the consequences.”

“I abide the consequences. But since we cannot
come to terms, as victor and the submitting party,
we may part in amity. Touch my hand, Captain
Ludlow, as one brave man should salute another,

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though the next minute they are to grapple at the
throat.”

Ludlow hesitated. The proposal was made with
so frank and manly a mien, and the air of the free-trader,
as he leaned beyond the gunwale of his boat,
was so superior to his pursuit, that, unwilling to seem
churlish, or to be outdone in courtesy, he reluctantly
consented, and laid his palm within that the other
offered. The smuggler profited by the junction to
draw the boats nearer, and, to the amazement of all
who witnessed the action, he stepped boldly into the
yawl, and was seated, face to face, with its officer,
in a moment.

“These are matters that are not fit for every ear,”
said the decided and confident mariner, in an under
tone, when he had made this sudden change in the
position of the parties. “Deal with me frankly, Captain
Ludlow:—is your prisoner left to brood on his
melancholy, or does he feel the consolation of knowing
that others take an interest in his welfare?”

“He does not want for sympathy, Master Tiller—
since he has the pity of the finest woman in
America.”

“Ha! la belle Barbérie owns her esteem!—is the
conjecture right?”

“Unhappily, you are too near the truth. The infatuated
girl seems but to live in his presence. She
has so far forgotten the opinions of others, as to follow
him to my ship!”

Tiller listened intently, and, from that instant, all
concern disappeared from his countenance.

“He who is thus favored may, for a moment, even
forget the brigantine!” he exclaimed, with all his
natural recklessness of air. “And the Alderman—?”

“Has more discretion than his niece, since he did
not permit her to come alone.”

“Enough.—Captain Ludlow, let what will follow,
we part as friends. Fear not, Sir, to touch the hand

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of a proscribed man, again; it is honest after its own
fashion, and many is the peer and prince who keeps
not so clean a palm. Deal tenderly with that gay and
rash young sailor; he wants the discretion of an
older head, but the heart is kindness itself—I would
hazard life, to shelter his—but at every hazard the
brigantine must be saved.—Adieu!”

There was strong emotion in the voice of the
mariner of the shawl, notwithstanding his high bearing.
Squeezing the hand of Ludlow, he passed back
into his own barge, with the ease and steadiness of
one who made the ocean his home.

“Adieu!” he repeated, signing to his men to pull
in the direction of the shoals, where it was certain
the ship could not follow. “We may meet again;
until then, adieu.”

“We are sure to meet, with the return of light.”

“Believe it not, brave gentleman. Our lady will
thrust the spars under her girdle, and pass a fleet unseen.—
A sailor's blessing on you—fair winds and a
plenty; a safe landfall, and a cheerful home! Deal
kindly by the boy, and, in all but evil wishes to my
vessel, success light on your ensign!”

The seamen of both boats dashed their oars into
the water at the same instant, and the two parties
were quickly without the hearing of the voice.

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CHAPTER IX.

“—Did I tell this,
Who would believe me?”
Measure for Measure.

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The time of the interview related in the close of
the preceding chapter, was in the early watches of
the night. It now becomes our duty to transport the
reader to another, that had place several hours later,
and after day had dawned on the industrious burghers
of Manhattan.

There stood, near one of the wooden wharves
which lined the arm of the sea on which the city is
so happily placed, a dwelling around which there
was every sign that its owner was engaged in a retail
commerce, that was active and thriving, for that age
and country. Notwithstanding the earliness of the
hour, the windows of this house were open; and an
individual, of a busy-looking face, thrust his head so
often from one of the casements, as to show that he
already expected the appearance of a second party,
in the affair that had probably called him from
his bed, even sooner than common. A tremendous
rap at the door relieved his visible uneasiness; and,
hastening to open it, he received his visiter, with
much parade of ceremony, and many protestations
of respect, in person.

“This is an honor, my lord, that does not often
befall men of my humble condition,” said the master
of the house, in the flippant utterance of a vulgar
cockney; “but I thought it would be more agreeable
to your lordship, to receive the a—a—here, than
in the place where your lordship, just at this moment,
resides. Will your lordship please to rest
yourself, after your lordship's walk?”

“I thank you, Carnaby,” returned the other,

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taking the offered seat, with an air of easy superiority.
“You judge with your usual discretion, as respects
the place, though I doubt the prudence of seeing him
at all. Has the man come?”

“Doubtless, my lord; he would hardly presume to
keep your lordship waiting, and much less would I
countenance him in so gross a disrespect. He will
be most happy to wait on you, my lord, whenever
your lordship shall please.”

“Let him wait: there is no necessity for haste. He
has probably communicated some of the objects of
this extraordinary call on my time, Carnaby; and
you can break them, in the intervening moments.”

“I am sorry to say, my lord, that the fellow is as
obstinate as a mule. I felt the impropriety of introducing
him, personally, to your lordship; but as he
insisted he had affairs that would deeply interest you,
my lord, I could not take upon me to say, what
would be agreeable to your lordship, or what not;
and so I was bold enough to write the note.”

“And a very properly expressed note it was,
Master Carnaby. I have not received a better
worded communication, since my arrival in this colony.”

“I am sure the approbation of your lordship might
justly make any man proud! It is the ambition of my
life, my lord, to do the duties of my station in a proper
manner, and to treat all above me with a suitable
respect, my lord, and all below me as in reason
bound. If I might presume to think in such a matter,
my lord, I should say, that these colonists are no
great judges of propriety, in their correspondence, or
indeed in any thing else.”

The noble visiter shrugged his shoulder, and threw
an expression into his look, that encouraged the retailer
to proceed.

“It is just what I think myself, my lord,” he continued,
simpering; “but then,” he added, with a

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condoling and patronizing air, “how should they know
any better? England is but an island, after all; and
the whole world cannot be born and educated on
the same bit of earth.”

“'Twould be inconvenient, Carnaby, if it led to no
other unpleasant consequence.”

“Almost, word for word, what I said to Mrs. Carnaby
myself, no later than yesterday, my lord, only
vastly better expressed. 'Twould be inconvenient,
said I, Mrs. Carnaby, to take in the other lodger, for
every body cannot live in the same house; which
covers, as it were, the ground taken in your lordship's
sentiment. I ought to add, in behalf of the
poor woman, that she expressed, on the same occasion,
strong regrets that it is reported your lordship
will be likely to quit us soon, on your return to old
England.”

“That is really a subject on which there is more
cause to rejoice than to weep. This imprisoning, or
placing within limits, so near a relative of the crown,
is an affair that must have unpleasant consequences,
and which offends sadly against all propriety.”

“It is awful, my lord! If it be not sacrilege by the
law, the greater the shame of the opposition in Parliament,
who defeat so many other wholesome regulations,
intended for the good of the subject.”

“Faith, I am not sure I may not be driven to join
them myself, bad as they are, Carnaby; for this neglect
of ministers, not to call it by a worse name,
might goad a man to even a more heinous measure.”

“I am sure nobody could blame your lordship,
were your lordship to join any body, or any thing,
but the French! I have often told Mrs. Carnaby as
much as that, in our frequent conversations concerning
the unpleasant situation in which your lordship
is just now placed.”

“I had not thought the awkward transaction

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attracted so much notice,” observed the other, evidently
wincing under the allusion.

“It attracts it only in a proper and respectful way,
my lord. Neither Mrs. Carnaby, nor myself, ever
indulges in any of these remarks, but in the most
proper and truly English manner.”

“The reservation might palliate a greater error.
That word proper is a prudent term, and expresses
all one could wish. I had not thought you so intelligent
and shrewd a man, Master Carnaby: clever in
the way of business, I always knew you to be; but so
apt in reason, and so matured in principle, is what I
will confess I had not expected. Can you form no
conjecture of the business of this man?”

“Not in the least, my lord. I pressed the impropriety
of a personal interview; for, though he alluded
to some business or other, I scarcely know what,
with which he appeared to think your lordship had
some connexion, I did not understand him, and we
had like to have parted without an explanation.”

“I will not see the fellow.”

“Just as your lordship pleases—I am sure that,
after so many little affairs have passed through my
hands, I might be safely trusted with this; and I said
as much,—but as he positively refused to make me
an agent, and he insisted that it was so much to your
lordship's interests—why, I thought, my lord, that
perhaps—just now—”

“Show him in.”

Carnaby bowed low and submissively, and after
busying himself in placing the chairs aside, and adjusting
the table more conveniently for the elbow of
his guest, he left the room.

“Where is the man I bid you keep in the shop?”
demanded the retailer, in a coarse, authoritative
voice, when without; addressing a meek and humble-looking
lad, who did the duty of clerk. “I warrant
me, he is left in the kitchen, and you have been

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idling about on the walk! A more heedless and
inattentive lad than yourself is not to be found in
America, and the sun never rises but I repent having
signed your indentures. You shall pay for this,
you—”

The appearance of the person he sought, cut short
the denunciations of the obsequious grocer and the
domestic tyrant. He opened the door, and, having
again closed it, left his two visiters together.

Though the degenerate descendant of the great
Clarendon had not hesitated to lend his office to
cloak the irregular and unlawful trade that was then
so prevalent in the American seas, he had paid the
sickly but customary deference to virtue, of refusing,
on all occasions, to treat personally with its agents.
Sheltered behind his official and personal rank, he
had soothed his feelings, by tacitly believing that cupidity
is less venal when its avenues are hidden, and
that in protecting his station from an immediate
contact with its ministers, he had discharged an important,
and, for one in his situation, an imperative,
duty. Unequal to the exercise of virtue itself, he
thought he had done enough in preserving some of
its seemliness. Though far from paying even this
slight homage to decency, in his more ordinary
habits, his pride of rank had, on the subject of so
coarse a failing, induced him to maintain an appearance
which his pride of character would not have
suggested. Carnaby was much the most degraded
and the lowest of those with whom he ever condescended
to communicate directly; and even with
him there might have been some scruple, had not his
necessities caused him to stoop so far as to accept
pecuniary assistance from one he both despised and
detested.

When the door opened, therefore, the lord Cornbury
rose, and, determined to bring the interview to
a speedy issue, he turned to face the individual who

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entered, with a mien, into which he threw all the
distance and hauteur that he thought necessary for
such an object. But he encountered, in the mariner
of the India-shawl, a very different man from the
flattering and obsequious grocer who had just quitted
him. Eye met eye; his gaze of authority receiving
a look as steady, if not as curious, as his own. It was
evident, by the composure of the fine manly frame
he saw, that its owner rested his claims on the aristocracy
of nature. The noble forgot his acting under
the influence of surprise, and his voice expressed
as much of admiration as command when he said—

“This, then, is the Skimmer of the Seas!”

“Men call me thus: if a life passed on oceans
gives a claim to the title, it has been fairly earned.”

“Your character—I may say that some portions
of your history, are not unknown to me. Poor Carnaby,
who is a worthy and an industrious man, with
a growing family dependent on his exertions, has
entreated me to receive you, or there might be less
apology for this step than I could wish. Men of a
certain rank, Master Skimmer, owe so much to their
station, that I rely on your discretion.”

“I have stood in nobler presences, my lord, and
found so little change by the honor, that I am not
apt to boast of what I see. Some of princely rank
have found their profit in my acquaintance.”

“I do not deny your usefulness, Sir; it is only the
necessity of prudence, I would urge. There has
been, I believe, some sort of implied contract between
us—at least, so Carnaby explains the transaction, for
I rarely enter into these details, myself—by which
you may perhaps feel some right to include me in
the list of your customers. Men in high places must
respect the laws, and yet it is not always convenient,
or even useful, that they should deny themselves
every indulgence, which policy would prohibit to
the mass. One who has seen as much of life as

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yourself, needs no explanations on this head; and I
cannot doubt, but our present interview will have a
satisfactory termination.”

The Skimmer scarce deemed it necessary to conceal
the contempt that caused his lip to curl, while
the other was endeavoring to mystify his cupidity;
and when the speaker was done, he merely expressed
an assent by a slight inclination of the head. The
ex-governor saw that his attempt was fruitless, and,
by relinquishing his masquerade, and yielding more
to his natural propensities and tastes, he succeeded
better.

“Carnaby has been a faithful agent,” he continued,
“and by his reports, it would seem that our confidence
has not been misplaced. If fame speaks true,
there is not a more dexterous navigator of the narrow
seas than thyself, Master Skimmer. It is to be
supposed that your correspondents on this coast, too,
are as lucrative as I doubt not they are numerous.”

“He who sells cheap can never want a purchaser.
I think your lordship has no reason to complain
of prices.”

“As pointed as his compass! Well, Sir, as I am
no longer master here, may I ask the object of this
interview?”

“I have come to seek your interest in behalf of
one who has fallen into the grasp of the Queen's
officers.”

“Hum—the amount of which is, that the cruiser
in the bay has entrapped some careless smuggler.
We are none of us immortal, and an arrest is but
a legal death to men of your persuasion in commerce.
Interest is a word of many meanings. It is the interest
of one man to lend, and of another to borrow;
of the creditor to receive, and of the debtor to
avoid payment. Then there is interest at court, and
interest in court—in short, you must deal more frankly,
ere I can decide on the purport of your visit.”

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“I am not ignorant that the Queen has been
pleased to name another governor over this colony,
or that your creditors, my lord, have thought it prudent
to take a pledge for their dues, in your person.
Still, I must think, that one who stands so near the
Queen in blood, and who sooner or later must enjoy
both rank and fortune in the mother country, will
not solicit so slight a boon as that I ask, without success.
This is the reason I prefer to treat with you.”

“As clear an explanation as the shrewdest casuist
could desire! I admire your succinctness, Master
Skimmer, and confess you for the pink of etiquette.
When your fortune shall be made, I recommend the
court circle as your place of retirement. Governors,
creditors, Queen, and imprisonment, all as compactly
placed, in the same sentence, as if it were the creed
written on a thumb-nail! Well, Sir, we will suppose
my interest what you wish it.—Who and what is the
delinquent?”

“One named Seadrift,—a useful and a pleasant
youth, who passes much between me and my customers;
heedless and merry in his humors, but dear
to all in my brigantine, because of tried fidelity and
shrewd wit. We could sacrifice the profits of the
voyage, that he were free. To me he is a necessary
agent, for his skill in the judgment of rich tissues,
and other luxuries that compose my traffic, is exceeding;
and I am better fitted to guide the vessel
to her haven, and to look to her safety amid shoals
and in tempests, than to deal in these trifles of female
vanity.”

“So dexterous a go-between should not have mistaken
a tide-waiter for a customer—how befell the
accident?”

“He met the barge of the Coquette at an unlucky
moment, and as we had so lately been chased off the
coast by the cruiser, there was no choice but to arrest
him.”

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“The dilemma is not without embarrassment.
When once his mind is settled, it is no trifle that will
amuse this Mr. Ludlow. I do not know a more
literal construer of his orders in the fleet;—a man,
Sir, who thinks words have but a single set of meanings,
and who knows as little as can be imagined of
the difference between a sentiment and a practice.”

“He is a seaman, my lord, and he reads his instructions
with a seaman's simplicity. I think none
the worse of him, that he cannot be tempted from
his duty; for, let us understand the right as we will,
our service once taken, it becomes us all to do it
faithfully.”

A small red spot came and went on the cheek of
the profligate Cornbury. Ashamed of his weakness,
he affected to laugh at what he had heard, and continued
the discourse.

“Your forbearance and charity might adorn a
churchman, Master Skimmer!” he answered. “Nothing
can be more true, for this is an age of moral
truths, as witness the Protestant succession. Men
are now expected to perform, and not to profess. Is
the fellow of such usefulness that he may not be
abandoned to his fate?”

“Much as I dote on my brigantine, and few men
set their affections on woman with a stronger love, I
would see the beauteous craft degenerate to a cutter
for the Queen's revenue, before I would entertain the
thought! But I will not anticipate a long and painful
imprisonment for the youth, since those who are not
altogether powerless already take a deep and friendly
concern in his safety.”

“You have overcome the Brigadier!” cried the
other, in a burst of exultation, that conquered the
little reserve of manner he had thought it necessary
to maintain; “that immaculate and reforming
representative of my royal cousin has bitten of

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the golden bait, and proves a true colony governor
after all!”

“Lord Viscount, no. What we have to hope or
what we have to fear from your successor, is to me
a secret.”

“Ply him with promises, Master Skimmer—set
golden hopes before his imagination; set gold itself
before his eyes, and you will prosper. I will pledge
my expected earldom that he yields! Sir, these distant
situations are like so many half-authorized mints,
in which money is to be coined; and the only counterfeit
is your mimic representative of Majesty. Ply
him with golden hopes; if mortal, he will yield!”

“And yet, my lord, I have met men who preferred
poverty and their opinions, to gold and the wishes of
others.”

“The dolts were lusus naturæ!” exclaimed the
dissolute Cornbury, losing all his reserve in a manner
that better suited his known and confirmed character.
“You should have caged them, Skimmer, and
profited by their dullness, to lay the curious under
contribution. Don't mistake me, Sir, if I speak a
little in confidence. I hope I know the difference
between a gentleman and a leveller, as well as another;
but trust me, this Mr. Hunter is human, and
he will yield if proper appliances are used;—and
you expect from me—?”

“The exercise of that influence which cannot fail
of success; since there is a courtesy between men
of a certain station, which causes them to overlook
rivalry, in the spirit of their caste. The cousin of
Queen Anne can yet obtain the liberty of one whose
heaviest crime is a free trade, though he may not be
able to keep his own seat in the chair of the government.”

“Thus far, indeed, my poor influence may yet extend,
provided the fellow be not named in any act
of outlawry. I would gladly enough Mr. Skimmer,

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end my deeds in this hemisphere, with some act of
graceful mercy, if—indeed—I saw—the means—”

“They shall not be wanting. I know the law is
like any other article of great price; some think that
Justice holds the balance, in order to weigh her fees.
Though the profits of this hazardous and sleepless
trade of mine be much overrated, I would gladly line
her scales with two hundred broad pieces, to have
that youth again safe in the cabin of the brigantine.”

As the `Skimmer of the Seas' thus spoke, he
drew, with the calmness of a man who saw no use
in circumlocution, a heavy bag of gold from beneath
his frock, and deposited it, without a second look at
the treasure, on the table. When this offering was
made, he turned aside, less by design than by a careless
movement of the body, and, when he faced his
companion again, the bag had vanished.

“Your affection for the lad is touching, Master
Skimmer,” returned the corrupt Cornbury; “it were
a pity such friendship should be wasted. Will there
be proof to insure his condemnation?”

“It may be doubted. His dealings have only been
with the higher class of my customers, and with but
few of them. The care I now take is more in tenderness
to the youth, than with any great doubts of
the result. I shall count you, my lord, among his
protectors, in the event that the affair is noised?”

“I owe it to your frankness—but will Mr. Ludlow
content himself with the possession of an inferior,
when the principal is so near? and shall we not have
a confiscation of the brigantine on our hands?”

“I charge myself with the care of all else. There
was indeed a lucky escape, only the last night, as we
lay at a light kedge, waiting for the return of him
who has been arrested. Profiting by the possession
of our skiff, the commander of the Coquette, himself,
got within the sweep of my hawse—nay, he was
in the act of cutting the very fastenings, when the

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dangerous design was discovered. 'T would have
been a fate unworthy of the Water-Witch, to be
cast on shore like a drifting log, and to check her
noble career by some such a seizure as that of a
stranded waif!”

“You avoided the mischance?”

“My eyes are seldom shut, lord Viscount, when
danger is nigh. The skiff was seen in time, and
watched; for I knew that one in whom I trusted was
abroad.—When the movement grew suspicious, we
had our means of frightening this Mr. Ludlow from
his enterprise, without recourse to violence.”

“I had not thought him one to be scared from following
up a business like this.”

“You judged him rightly—I may say we judged
him rightly. But when his boats sought us at our anchorage,
the bird had flown.”

“You got the brigantine to sea, in season?” observed
Cornbury, not sorry to believe that the vessel
was already off the coast.

“I had other business. My agent could not be thus
deserted, and there were affairs to finish in the city.
Our course lay up the bay.”

“Ha! Master Skimmer, 't was a bold step, and one
that says little for your discretion!”

“Lord Viscount, there is safety in courage,” calmly
and perhaps ironically returned the other. “While
the Queen's captain closed all the outlets, my little
craft was floating quietly under the hills of Staten.
Before the morning watch was set, she passed these
wharves; and she now awaits her captain, in the
broad basin that lies beyond the bend of yonder
head-land.”

“This is a hardiness to be condemned! A failure
of wind, a change of tide, or any of the mishaps common
to the sea, may throw you on the mercy of the
law, and will greatly embarrass all who feel an interest
in your safety.”

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“So far as this apprehension is connected with my
welfare, I thank you much, my lord; but, trust me,
many hazards have left me but little to learn in this
particular. We shall run the Hell-Gate, and gain
the open sea by the Connecticut Sound.”

“Truly, Master Skimmer, one has need of nerves
to be your confidant! Faith in a compact constitutes
the beauty of social order; without it, there is
no security for interests, nor any repose for character.
But faith may be implied, as well as expressed;
and when men in certain situations place their dependence
on others who should have motives for
being wary, the first are bound to respect, even to
the details of a most scrupulous construction, the conditions
of the covenant. Sir, I wash my hands of this
transaction, if it be understood that testimony is to
be accumulated against us, by thus putting your
Water-Witch in danger of trial before the Admiralty.”

“I am sorry that this is your decision,” returned
the Skimmer. “What is done, cannot be recalled,
though I still hope it may be remedied. My brigantine
now lies within a league of this, and 't would be
treachery to deny it. Since it is your opinion, my
lord, that our contract is not valid, there is little use
in its seal—the broad pieces may still be serviceable,
in shielding that youth from harm.”

“You are as literal in constructions, Master Skimmer,
as a school-boy's version of his Virgil. There is
an idiom in diplomacy, as well as in language, and
one who treats so sensibly should not be ignorant of
its phrases. Bless me, Sir; an hypothesis is not a conclusion,
any more than a promise is a performance.
That which is advanced by way of supposition, is but
the ornament of reasoning, while your gold has the
more solid character of demonstration. Our bargain
is made.”

The unsophisticated mariner regarded the noble

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casuist a moment, in doubt whether to acquiesce in
this conclusion, or not; but ere he had decided on
his course, the windows of the room were shaken violently,
and then came the heavy roar of a piece of
ordnance.

“The morning gun!” exclaimed Cornbury, who
started at the explosion, with the sensitiveness of one
unworthily employed.—“No! 'tis an hour past the
rising of the sun!”

The Skimmer showed no yielding of the nerves,
though it was evident, by his attitude of thought and
the momentary fixedness of his eye, that he foresaw
danger was near. Moving to the window, he looked
out on the water, and instantly drew back, like one
who wanted no further evidence.

“Our bargain then is made,” he said, hastily approaching
the Viscount, whose hand he seized and
wrung in spite of the other's obvious reluctance to
allow the familiarity; “our bargain then is made.
Deal fairly by the youth, and the deed will be remembered—
deal treacherously, and it shall be revenged!”

For one instant longer, the Skimmer held the
member of the effeminate Cornbury imprisoned; and
then, raising his cap with a courtesy that appeared
more in deference to himself than his companion, he
turned on his heel, and with a firm but quick step
he left the house.

Carnaby, who entered on the instant, found his
guest in a state between resentment, surprise, and
alarm. But habitual levity soon conquered other feelings;
and, finding himself freed from the presence of
a man who had treated him with so little ceremony,
the ex-governor shook his head, like one accustomed
to submit to evils he could not obviate, and assumed
the ease and insolent superiority he was accustomed
to maintain in the presence of the obsequious grocer.

“This may be a coral or a pearl, or any other

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precious gem of the ocean, Master Carnaby,” he said,
unconscious himself that he was in a manner endeavoring
to cleanse his violated hand from the touch it
had endured, by the use of his handkerchief, “but it
is one on which the salt water hath left its crust.
Truly it is to be hoped that I am never again to be
blockaded by such a monster, or I may better say,
harpooned; for the familiarity of the boatswain is
more painful than any inventions of his brethren of
the deep can prove to their relative the leviathan.
Has the clock told the hour?”

“'Tis not yet six, my lord, and there is abundant
leisure for your lordship to return in season to your
lordship's lodgings. Mrs. Carnaby has dared to flatter
herself, that your lordship will condescend to
honor us so far as to taste a dish of bohea under our
humble roof.”

“What is the meaning of that gun, Master Carnaby?
It gave the alarm to the smuggler, as if it
had been a summons from Execution Dock, or a groan
from the ghost of Kidd.”

“I never presumed to think, my lord. I suppose
it to be some pleasure of Her Majesty's officers in the
fort; and when that is the case, one is quite certain
that all is proper, and very English, my lord.”

“'Fore George, Sir, English or Dutch, it had the
quality to frighten this sea-fowl—this curlew—this
albatross, from his perch!”

“Upon my duty to your lordship, your lordship
has the severest wit of any gentleman in Her Majesty's
kingdom! But all the nobility and gentry are so
witty, that it is quite an honor and an edification to
hear them! If it is your lordship's pleasure, I will
look out of the window, my lord, and see if there be
any thing visible.”

“Do so, Master Carnaby—I confess a little curiosity
to know what has given the alarm to my

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sealion—ha! do I not see the masts of a ship, moving
above the roofs of yonder line of stores?”

“Well, your lordship has the quickest eye!—and
the happiest way of seeing things, of any nobleman
in England! Now I should have stared a quarter of
an hour, before I thought of looking over the roofs
of those stores, at all; and yet your lordship looks
there at the very first glance.”

“Is it a ship or a brig, Master Carnaby—you have
the advantage of position, for I would not willingly
be seen—speak quickly, dolt;—is it ship, or brig?”

“My lord—'tis a brig—or a ship—really I must
ask your lordship, for I know so little of these
things—”

“Nay, complaisant Master Carnaby—have an
opinion of your own for one moment, if you please—
there is smoke curling upward, behind those
masts—”

Another rattling of windows, and a second report,
removed all doubts on the subject of the firing. At
the next instant, the bows of a vessel of war appeared
at the opening of a ship-yard, and then came
gun after gun in view, until the whole broadside and
frowning battery of the Coquette were visible.

The Viscount sought no further solution of the
reason why the Skimmer had left him so hurriedly.
Fumbling a moment in a pocket, he drew forth a
hand filled with broad pieces of gold. These he appeared
about to lay upon the table; but, as it were
by forgetfulness, he kept the member closed, and
bidding the grocer adieu, he left the house, with as
firm a resolution as was ever made by any man,
conscious of having done both a weak and a wicked
action, of never again putting himself in familiar
contact with so truckling a miscreant.

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CHAPTER X.

“—What care these roarers for the name of king?”

Tempest.

[figure description] Page 138.[end figure description]

The Manhattanese will readily comprehend the
situation of the two vessels; but those of our countrymen
who live in distant parts of the Union, may
be glad to have the localities explained.

Though the vast estuary, which receives the Hudson
and so many minor streams, is chiefly made by
an indentation of the continent, that portion of it
which forms the port of New-York is separated from
the ocean by the happy position of its islands. Of
the latter, there are two, which give the general
character to the basin, and even to a long line of
coast; while several, that are smaller, serve as useful
and beautiful accessories to the haven and to the
landscape. Between the bay of Raritan and that of
New-York there are two communications, one between
the islands of Staten and Nassau, called the
Narrows, which is the ordinary ship-channel of the
port, and the other between Staten and the main,
which is known by the name of the Kilns. It is by
means of the latter, that vessels pass into the neighboring
waters of New-Jersey, and have access to so
many of the rivers of that state. But while the island
of Staten does so much for the security and facilities of
the port, that of Nassau produces an effect on a great
extent of coast. After sheltering one-half of the harbor
from the ocean, the latter approaches so near
the continent as to narrow the passage between them
to the length of two cables, and then stretching away
eastward for the distance of a hundred miles, it forms
a wide and beautiful sound. After passing a cluster
of islands, at a point which lies forty leagues from

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the city, by another passage, vessels can gain the
open sea.

The seaman will at once understand, that the
tide of flood must necessarily flow into these vast
estuaries from different directions. The current
which enters by Sandy-Hook (the scene of so much
of this tale) flows westward into the Jersey rivers,
northward into the Hudson, and eastward along the
arm of the sea that lies between Nassau and the
Main. The current, that comes by the way of
Montauk, or the eastern extremity of Nassau, raises
the vast basin of the Sound, fills the streams of Connecticut,
and meets the western tide at a place called
Throgmorton, and within twenty miles of the city.

As the size of the estuaries is so great, it is scarcely
necessary to explain that the pressure of so wide
sheets of water causes the currents, at all the narrow
passes, to be exceedingly rapid; since that equal diffusion
of the element, which depends on a natural law,
must, wherever there is a deficiency of space, be obtained
by its velocity, There is, consequently, a
quick tide throughout the whole distance between
the harbor and Throgmorton; while it is permitted
to poetic license to say, that at the narrowest part of
the channel, the water darts by the land like an arrow
parting from its bow. Owing to a sudden bend
in the course of the stream, which makes two rightangles
within a short distance, the dangerous position
of many rocks that are visible and more that
are not, and the confusion produced by currents,
counter-currents, and eddies, this critical pass has
received the name of “Hell-Gate.” It is memorable
for causing many a gentle bosom to palpitate with
a terror that is a little exaggerated by the boding
name, though it is constantly the cause of pecuniary
losses, and has in many instances been the source
of much personal danger. It was here, that a
British frigate was lost, during the war of the

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Revolution, in consequence of having struck a rock called
`the Pot,' the blow causing the ship to fill and to
founder so suddenly, that even some of her people
are said to have been drowned. A similar but a
greatly lessened effect is produced in the passage
among the islands, by which vessels gain the ocean at
the eastern extremity of the sound; though the magnitude
of the latter sheet of water is so much greater
than that of Raritan-bay and the harbor of New-York,
that the force of its pressure is diminished by a corresponding
width in the outlets. With these explanations,
we shall return to the thread of the narrative.

When the person, who has so long been known in
our pages by the nom de guerre of Tiller, gained the
open street, he had a better opportunity of understanding
the nature of the danger which so imminently
pressed upon the brigantine. With a single
glance at the symmetrical spars and broad yards of
the ship that was sweeping past the town, he knew
her to be the Coquette. The little flag at her fore-top-gallant
mast sufficiently explained the meaning
of the gun; for the two, in conjunction with the direction
the ship was steering, told him, in language
that any seaman could comprehend, that she demanded
a Hell-Gate pilot. By the time the Skimmer
reached the end of a lone wharf, where a light
and swift-rowing boat awaited his return, the second
report bespoke the impatience of his pursuers
to be furnished with the necessary guide.

Though the navigation in this Republic, coastwise,
now employs a tonnage equalling that used in all the
commerce of any other nation of Christendom, England
alone excepted, it was of no great amount at
the commencement of the eighteenth century. A
single ship, lying at the wharves, and two or three
brigs and schooners at anchor in the rivers, composed
the whole show of sea vessels then in port. To these
were to be added some twenty smaller coasters and

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river-craft, most of whom were the shapeless and
slow-moving masses which then plied, in voyages of a
month's duration, between the two principal towns
of the colony. The appeal of the Coquette, therefore,
at that hour and in that age, was not likely to
be quickly answered.

The ship had got fairly into the arm of the sea
which separates the island of Manhattan from that
of Nassau, and though it was not then, as now, narrowed
by artificial means, its tide was so strong as,
aided by the breeze, to float her swiftly onward. A
third gun shook the windows of the city, causing
many a worthy burgher to thrust his head through
his casement; and yet no boat was seen pulling from
the land, nor was there any other visible sign that
the signal would be speedily obeyed. Still the royal
cruiser stood steadily on, with sail packed above sail,
and every sheet of canvas spread, that the direction
of a wind, which blew a little forward of the beam,
would allow.

“We must pull for our own safety, and that of the
brigantine, my men;” said the Skimmer, springing
into his boat and seizing the tiller—“A quick stroke,
and a strong!—here is no time for holiday feathering,
or your man-of-war jerk! Give way, boys; give way,
with a will, and together!”

These were sounds that had often saluted the ears
of men engaged in the hazardous pursuit of his crew.
The oars fell into the water at the same moment,
and, quick as thought, the light bark was in the
strength of the current.

The short range of wharves was soon passed, and,
ere many minutes, the boat was gliding up with the
tide, between the bluffs of Long Island and the projection
which forms the angle on that part of Manhattan.
Here the Skimmer was induced to sheer
more into the centre of the passage, in order to avoid
the eddies formed by the point, and to preserve the

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whole benefit of the current. As the boat approached
Coerlær's, his eye was seen anxiously examining
the wider reach of the water, that began to open
above, in quest of his brigantine. Another gun was
heard. A moment after the report, there followed
the whistling of a shot; and then succeeded the rebound
on the water, and the glittering particles of
the spray. The ball glanced a few hundred feet
further, and, skipping from place to place, it soon
sunk into the element.

“This Mr. Ludlow is disposed to kill two birds with
the same stone,” coolly observed the Skimmer, not
even bending his head aside, to note the position of
the ship. “He wakes the burghers of the town with
his noise, while he menaces our boat with his bullets.
We are seen, my friends, and have no dependence
but our own manhood, with some assistance from the
lady of the sea-green mantle. A quicker stroke, and
a strong! You have the Queen's cruiser before you,
Master Coil; does she show boats on her quarters, or
are the davits empty?”

The seaman addressed pulled the stroke-oar of the
boat, and consequently he faced the Coquette. Without
in the least relaxing his exertions, he rolled his
eyes over the ship, and answered with a steadiness
that showed him to be a man accustomed to situations
of hazard.

“His boat-falls are as loose as a mermaid's locks,
your Honor, and he shows few men in his tops; there
are enough of the rogues left, however, to give us
another shot.”

“Her Majesty's servants are early awake, this
morning. Another stroke or two, hearts of oak, and
we throw them behind the land!”

A second shot fell into the water, just without the
blades of the oars; and then the boat, obedient to its
helm, whirled round the point, and the ship was no
longer visible. As the cruiser was shut in by the

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formation of the land, the brigantine came into view
on the opposite side of Coerlær's. Notwithstanding
the calmness that reigned in the features of the
Skimmer, one who studied his countenance closely
might have seen an expression of concern shadowing
his manly face, as the Water-Witch first met his eye.
Still he spoke not, concealing his uneasiness, if in
truth he felt any, from those whose exertions were
at that moment of the last importance. As the crew
of the expecting vessel saw their boat, they altered
their course, and the two were soon together.

“Why is that signal still flying?” demanded the
Skimmer, the instant his foot touched the deck of his
brigantine, and pointing, as he spoke, at the little flag
that fluttered at the head of the forward mast.

“We keep it aloft, to hasten off the pilot,” was
the answer.

“Has not the treacherous knave kept faith?” exclaimed
the Skimmer, half recoiling in surprise. “He
has my gold, and in return I hold fifty of his worthless
promises—ha!—the laggard is in yon skiff; ware
the brig round, and meet him, for moments are as
precious now as water in a desert.”

The helm was a-weather, and the lively brigantine
had already turned more than half aside, when another
gun drew every eye towards the point. The
smoke was seen rising above the bend of the land,
and presently the head-sails, followed by all the hull
and spars of the Coquette, came into view. At that
instant, a voice from forward announced that the
pilot had turned, and was rowing with all his powers
towards the shore. The imprecations that were
heaped on the head of the delinquent were many
and deep, but it was no time for indecision. The two
vessels were not half a mile apart, and now was the
moment to show the qualities of the Water-Witch.
Her helm was shifted; and, as if conscious herself of
the danger that threatened her liberty, the beautiful

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fabric came sweeping up to her course, and, inclining
to the breeze, with one heavy flap of the canvas, she
glided ahead with all her wonted ease. But, the
royal cruiser was a ship of ten thousand! For twenty
minutes, the nicest eye might have been at a loss to
say which lost or which gained, so equally did the
pursuer and the pursued hold on their way. As the
brigantine was the first, however, to reach the narrow
passage formed by Blackwell's, her motion was
favored by the increasing power of the stream. It
would seem that this change, slight as it was, did not
escape the vigilance of those in the Coquette; for
the gun, which had been silent so long, againt sent
forth its flame and smoke. Four discharges, in less
than so many minutes, threatened a serious disadvantage
to the free-traders. Short after shot passed
among their spars, and opened wide rents in the canvas.
A few more such assaults would deprive them
of their means of motion. Aware of the crisis, the
accomplished and prompt seaman who governed her
movements needed but an instant to form his decision.

The brigantine was now nearly up with the head
of Blackwell's. It was half-flood, on a spring tide.
The reef that projects from the western end of the
island far into the reach below, was nearly covered;
but still enough was visible to show the nature of
the barrier it presented to a passage from one shore
to the other. There was one rock, near the island
itself, which lifted its black head high above the
water. Between this dark mass of stone and the
land, there was an opening of some twenty fathoms
in width. The Skimmer saw, by the even and unbroken
waves that rolled through the passage, that
the bottom lay less near to the surface of the water,
in that opening, than at any other point along the
line of reef. He commanded the helm a-weather,
once more, and calmly trusted to the issue.

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Not a man on board that brigantine was aware
that the shot of the royal cruiser was whistling
between their masts, and damaging their gear, as
the little vessel glided into the narrow opening. A
single blow on the rock would have been destruction,
and the lesser danger was entirely absorbed in the
greater. But when the passage was cleared, and
the true stream in the other channel gained, a common
shout proclaimed both the weight of their apprehension
and their relief. In another minute, the
head of Blackwell's protected them from the shot of
their pursuers.

The length of the reef prevented the Coquette
from changing her direction, and her draught of
water closed the passage between the rock and the
island. But the deviation from the straight course,
and the passage of the eddies, had enabled the ship,
which came steadily on, to range up nearly abeam
of her chase. Both vessels, though separated by the
long narrow island, were now fairly in the force of
those currents which glide so swiftly through the
confined passages. A sudden thought glanced on the
mind of the Skimmer, and he lost no time in attempting
to execute its suggestion. Again the helm
was put up, and the image of the sea-green lady
was seen struggling to stem the rapid waters. Had
this effort been crowned with success, the triumph
of her followers would have been complete; since
the brigantine might have reached some of the eddies
of the reach below, and leaving her heavier pursuer
to contend with the strength of the tide, she would
have gained the open sea, by the route over which
she had so lately passed. But a single minute of trial
convinced the bold mariner that his decision came
too late. The wind was insufficient to pass the gorge,
and, environed by the land, with a tide that grew
stronger at each moment, he saw that delay would
be destruction. Once more the light vessel yielded

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to the helm, and, with every thing set to the best advantage,
she darted along the passage.

In the mean time, the Coquette had not been idle.
Borne on by the breeze, and floating with the current,
she had even gained upon her chase; and as
her lofty and light sails drew strongest over the land,
there was every prospect of her first reaching the
eastern end of Blackwell's. Ludlow saw his advantage,
and made his preparations accordingly.

There needs little explanation to render the circumstances
which brought the royal cruiser up to
town, intelligible to the reader. As the morning approached,
she had entered more deeply into the bay;
and when the light permitted, those on board her
had been able to see that no vessel lay beneath the
hills, nor in any of the more retired places of the
estuary. A fisherman, however, removed the last of
their doubts, by reporting that he had seen a vessel,
whose description answered that of the Water-Witch,
passing the Narrows in the middle watch.
He added that a swiftly-rowing boat was, shortly
after, seen pulling in the same direction. This clue
had been sufficient. Ludlow made a signal for his
own boats to close the passages of the Kilns and the
Narrows, and then, as has been seen, he steered directly
into the harbor.

When Ludlow found himself in the position just
described, he turned all his attention to the double
object of preserving his own vessel, and arresting
that of the free-trader. Though there was still a
possibility of damaging the spars of the brigantine
by firing across the land, the feebleness of his own
crew, reduced as it was by more than half its numbers,
the danger of doing injury to the farm-houses
that were here and there placed along the low cliffs,
and the necessity of preparation to meet the critical
pass ahead, united to prevent the attempt. The
ship was no sooner fairly entered into the pass,

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between Blackwell's and Nassau, than he issued an
order to secure the guns that had been used, and to
clear away the anchors.

“Cock-bill the bowers, Sir,” he hastily added, in
his orders to Trysail. “We are in no condition to
sport with stock-and-fluke; have every thing ready
to let go at a word; and see the grapnels ready,—
we will throw them aboard the smuggler as we close,
and take him alive. Once fast to the chain, we are
yet strong enough to haul him in under our scuppers,
and to capture him with the pumps! Is the signal
still abroad, for a pilot?”

“We keep it flying, Sir, but 'twill be a swift boat
that overhauls us in this tide's-way. The Gate begins
at yonder bend in the land, Captain Ludlow!”

“Keep it abroad; the lazy rogues are sometimes
loitering in the cove this side the rocks, and chance
may throw one of them aboard us, as we pass. See
to the anchors, Sir; the ship is driving through this
channel, like a race-horse under the whip!”

The men were hurriedly piped to this duty, while
their young commander took his station on the poop,
now anxiously examining the courses of the tides
and the positions of the eddies, and now turning his
eyes towards the brigantine, whose upper spars and
white sails were to be seen, at the distance of two
hundred fathoms, glancing past the trees of the island.
But miles and minutes seemed like rods and
moments, in that swift current. Trysail had just reported
the anchors ready, when the ship swept up
abreast of the cove, where vessels often seek an anchorage,
to await favorable moments for entering
the Gate. Ludlow saw, at a glance, that the place
was entirely empty. For an instant he yielded to
the heavy responsibility—a responsibility before
which a seaman sooner shrinks than before any
other—that of charging himself with the duty of
the pilot; and he thought of running into the

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anchorage for shelter. But another glimpse at the spars
of the brigantine caused him to waver.

“We are near the Gate, Sir!” cried Trysail, in a
voice that was full of warning.

“Yon daring mariner stands on!”

“The rogue sails his vessel without the Queen's
permission, Captain Ludlow. They tell me, this is a
passage that has been well named!”

“I have been through it, and will vouch for its
character—he shows no signs of anchoring!”

“If the woman who points his course can carry
him through safely, she deserves her title. We are
passing the Cove, Captain Ludlow!”

“We are past it!” returned Ludlow, breathing
heavily. “Let there be no whisper in the ship—
pilot or no pilot, we now sink or swim!”

Trysail had ventured to remonstrate, while there
was a possibility of avoiding the danger; but, like
his commander, he now saw that all depended on
their own coolness and care. He passed busily among
the crew; saw that each brace and bowline was
manned; cautioned the few young officers who continued
on board to vigilance, and then awaited the
orders of his superior, with the composure that is so
necessary to a seaman in the moment of trial. Ludlow
himself, while he felt the load of responsibility
he had assumed, succeeded equally well in maintaining
an outward calm. The ship was irretrievably
in the Gate, and no human power could retrace
the step. At such moments of intense anxiety, the
human mind is wont to seek support in the opinions
of others. Notwithstanding the increasing velocity
and the critical condition of his own vessel, Ludlow
cast a glance, in order to ascertain the determination
of the `Skimmer of the Seas.' Blackwell's was already
behind them, and as the two currents were
again united, the brigantine had luffed up into the
entrance of the dangerous passage, and now followed

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within two hundred feet of the Coquette, directly in
her wake. The bold and manly-looking mariner,
who controlled her, stood between the night-heads,
just above the image of his pretended mistress, where
he examined the foaming reefs, the whirling eddies,
and the varying currents, with folded arms and a
riveted eye. A glance was exchanged between the
two officers, and the free-trader raised his sea-cap.
Ludlow was too courteous not to return the salutation,
and then all his senses were engrossed by the
care of his ship. A rock lay before them, over
which the water broke in a loud and unceasing roar.
For an instant it seemed that the vessel could not
avoid the danger, and then it was already past.

“Brace up!” said Ludlow, in the calm tones that
denote a forced tranquillity.

“Luff!” called out the Skimmer, so quickly as to
show that he took the movements of the cruiser for
his guide. The ship came closer to the wind, but
the sudden bend in the stream no longer permitted
her to steer in a direct line with its course. Though
drifting to windward with vast rapidity, her way
through the water, which was greatly increased by
the contrary actions of the wind and tide, caused the
cruiser to shoot across the current; while a reef,
over which the water madly tumbled, lay immediately
in her course. The danger seemed too imminent
for the observances of nautical etiquette, and
Trysail called aloud that the ship must be thrown
aback, or she was lost.

“Hard-a-lee!” shouted Ludlow, in the strong
voice of authority.—“Up with every thing—tacks,
and sheets!—main-top-sail haul!”

The ship seemed as conscious of her danger as any
on her decks. The bows whirled away from the
foaming reef, and as the sails caught the breeze on
their opposite surfaces, they aided in bringing her
head in the contrary direction. A minute had

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scarcely passed ere she was aback, and in the next she
was about and full again. The intensity of the brief
exertion kept Trysail fully employed; but no sooner
had he leisure to look ahead, than he again called
aloud—

“Here is another roarer under her bows;—luff,
Sir, luff, or we are upon it!”

“Hard down your helm!” once again came in
deep tones from Ludlow—“Let fly your sheets—
throw all aback, forward and aft—away with the
yards, with a will, men!”

There was need for all of these precautions.
Though the ship had so happily escaped the dangers
of the first reef, a turbulent and roaring caldron
in the water, which, as representing the element
in ebullition, is called `the Pot,' lay so directly
before her, as to render the danger apparently inevitable.
But the power of the canvas was not lost on
this trying occasion. The forward motion of the ship
diminished, and as the current still swept her swiftly
to windward, her bows did not enter the rolling
waters until the hidden rocks which caused the commotion
had been passed. The yielding vessel rose
and fell in the agitated water, as if in homage to
the whirlpool; but the deep keel was unharmed.

“If the ship shoot ahead twice her length more,
her bows will touch the eddy!” exclaimed the vigilant
master.

Ludlow looked around him, for a single moment,
in indecision. The waters were whirling and roaring
on every side, and the sails began to lose their power,
as the ship drew near the bluff which forms the
second angle in this critical pass. He saw, by objects
on the land, that he still approached the shore,
and he had recourse to the seaman's last expedient.

“Let go both anchors!” was the final order.

The fall of the massive iron into the water, was
succeeded by the rumbling of the cable. The first

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effort to check the progress of the vessel, appeared
to threaten dissolution to the whole fabric, which
trembled under the shock from its mast-heads to the
keel. But the enormous rope again yielded, and
smoke was seen rising round the wood which held it.
The ship whirled with the sudden check, and sheered
wildly in towards the shore. Met by the helm, and
again checked by the efforts of the crew, she threatened
to defy restraint. There was an instant when
all on board expected to hear the cable snap; but
the upper sails filled, and as the wind was now
brought over the taffrail, the force of the current
was in a great degree met by that of the breeze.

The ship answered her helm and became stationary,
while the water foamed against her cut-water,
as if she were driven ahead with the power of a brisk
breeze.

The time, from the moment when the Coquette
entered the Gate, to that when she anchored below
`the Pot,' though the distance was near a mile, seemed
but a minute. Certain however that his ship was
now checked, the thoughts of Ludlow returned to
their other duties with the quickness of lightning.

“Clear away the grapnels!” he eagerly cried—
“Stand by to heave, and haul in!—heave!”

But, that the reader may better comprehend the
motive of this sudden order, he must consent to return
to the entrance of the dangerous passage, and
accompany the Water-Witch, also, in her hazardous
experiment to get through without a pilot.

The abortive attempt of the brigantine to stem
the tide at the western end of Blackwell's, will be
remembered. It had no other effect than to place
her pursuer more in advance, and to convince her
own commander that he had now no other resource
than to continue his course; for, had he anchored,
boats would have insured his capture. When the
two vessels appeared off the eastern end of the island,

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the Coquette was ahead,—a fact that the experienced
free-trader did not at all regret. He profited by the
circumstance to follow her movements, and to make
a favorable entrance into the uncertain currents. To
him, Hell-Gate was known only by its fearful reputation
among mariners; and unless he might avail
himself of the presence of the cruiser, he had no
other guide than his own general knowledge of the
power of the element.

When the Coquette had tacked, the calm and observant
Skimmer was satisfied with throwing his
head-sails flat to the mast. From that instant, the
brigantine lay floating in the current, neither advancing
nor receding a foot, and always keeping her
position at a safe distance from the ship, that was so
adroitly made to answer the purpose of a beacon.
The sails were watched with the closest care; and
so nicely was the delicate machine tended, that it
would have been, at any moment, in her people's
power to have lessened her way, by turning to the
stream. The Coquette was followed till she anchored,
and the call on board the cruiser to heave the grapnels
had been given, because the brigantine was apparently
floating directly down on her broadside.

When the grapnels were hove from the royal
cruiser, the free-trader stood on the low poop of his
little vessel, within fifty feet of him who had issued
the order. There was a smile of indifference on his
firm mouth, while he silently waved a hand to his
own crew. The signal was obeyed by bracing round
their yards, and suffering all the canvas to fill. The
brigantine shot quickly ahead, and the useless irons
fell heavily into the water.

“Many thanks for your pilotage, Captain Ludlow!”
cried the daring and successful mariner of the
shawl, as his vessel, borne on by wind and current,
receded rapidly from the cruiser—“You will find
me off Montauk; for affairs still keep us on the

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coast. Our lady has, however, put on the blue
mantle; and ere many settings of the sun, we shall
look for deep water. Take good care of Her Majesty's
ship, I pray thee, for she has neither a more
beautiful nor a faster!”

One thought succeeded another with the tumult
of a torrent, in the mind of Ludlow. As the brigantine
lay directly under his broadside, the first impulse
was to use his guns; but at the next moment he was
conscious, that before they could be cleared, distance
would render them useless. His lips had nearly
parted with intent to order the cables cut, but he
remembered the speed of the brigantine, and hesitated.
A sudden freshening of the breeze decided
his course. Finding that the ship was enabled to
keep her station, he ordered the crew to thrust the
whole of the enormous ropes through the hawseholes;
and, freed from the restraint, he abandoned
the anchors, until an opportunity to reclaim them
should offer.

The operation of slipping the cables consumed
several minutes; and when the Coquette, with
every thing set, was again steering in pursuit, the
Water-Witch was already beyond the reach of her
guns. Both vessels, however, held on their way,
keeping as near as possible to the centre of the
stream, and trusting more to fortune, than to any
knowledge of the channel, for safety.

When passing the two small islands that lie at no
great distance from the Gate, a boat was seen moving
towards the royal cruiser. A man in it pointed to
the signal, which was still flying, and offered his
services.

“Tell me,” demanded Ludlow eagerly, “has yonder
brigantine taken a pilot?”

“By her movements, I judge not. She brushed
the sunken rock, off the mouth of Flushing-bay;
and as she passed, I heard the song of the lead. I

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should have gone on board myself, but the fellow
rather flies than sails; and as for signals, he seems
to mind none but his own!”

“Bring us up with him, and fifty guineas is thy
reward!”

The slow-moving pilot, who in truth had just awoke
from a refreshing sleep, opened his eyes, and seemed
to gather a new impulse from the promise. When
his questions were asked and answered, he began
deliberately to count on his fingers all the chances
that still existed of a vessel, whose crew was ignorant
of the navigation, falling into their hands.

“Admitting that, by keeping mid-channel, she
goes clear of White Stone and Frogs,” he said, giving
to Throgmorton's its vulgar name, “he must be a
wizard, to know that the Stepping-Stones lie directly
across his course, and that a vessel must steer away
northerly, or bring up on rocks that will as surely
hold him as if he were built there. Then he runs
his chance for the Executioners, which are as prettily
placed as needs be, to make our trade flourish;
besides the Middle Ground further east, though I
count but little on that, having often tried to find it
myself, without success. Courage, noble captain! if
the fellow be the man you say, we shall get a nearer
look at him before the sun sets; for certainly he who
has run the Gate without a pilot in safety, has had
as much good luck as can fall to his share in one
day.”

The opinion of the East River Branch proved erroneous.
Notwithstanding the hidden perils by which
she was environed, the Water-Witch continued her
course, with a speed that increased as the wind rose
with the sun, and with an impunity from harm that
amazed all who were in the secret of her situation.
Off Throgmorton's there was, in truth, a danger that
might even have baffled the sagacity of the followers
of the mysterious lady, had they not been aided by

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accident. This is the point where the straitened
arm of the sea expands into the basin of the Sound.
A broad and inviting passage lies directly before the
navigator, while, like the flattering prospects of life,
numberless hidden obstacles are in wait to arrest the
unheeding and ignorant.

The `Skimmer of the Seas' was deeply practised
in all the intricacies and dangers of the shoals and
rocks. Most of his life had been passed in threading
the one, or in avoiding the other. So keen and quick
had his eye become, in detecting the presence of any
of those signs which forewarn the mariner of danger,
that a ripple on the surface, or a deeper shade in the
color of the water, rarely escaped his vigilance.
Seated on the topsail-yard of his brigantine, he had
overlooked the passage from the moment they were
through the Gate, and issued his mandates to those
below with a precision and promptitude that were
not surpassed by the trained conductor of the Coquette
himself. But when his sight embraced the
wide reach of water that lay in front, as his little
vessel swept round the head-land of Throgmorton,
he believed there no longer existed a reason for so
much care. Still there was a motive for hesitation.
A heavily-moulded and dull-sailing coaster was going
eastward not a league ahead of the brigantine, while
one of the light sloops of those waters was coming
westward still further in the distance. Notwithstanding
the wind was favorable to each alike, both vessels
had deviated from the direct line, and were steering
towards a common centre, near an island that was
placed more than a mile to the northward of the
straight course. A mariner, like him of the India-shawl,
could not overlook so obvious an intimation of
a change in the channel. The Water-Witch was
kept away, and her lighter sails were lowered, in
order to allow the royal cruiser, whose lofty canvas
was plainly visible above the land, to draw near.

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When the Coquette was seen also to diverge, there
no longer remained a doubt of the direction necessary
to be taken; and every thing was quickly set upon
the brigantine, even to her studding-sails. Long
ere she reached the island, the two coasters had met,
and each again changed its course, reversing that
on which the other had just been sailing. There
was, in these movements, as plain an explanation as
a seaman could desire, that the pursued were right.
On reaching the island, therefore, they again luffed
into the wake of the schooner; and having nearly
crossed the sheet of water, they passed the coaster,
receiving an assurance, in words, that all was now
plain sailing, before them.

Such was the famous passage of the `Skimmer of
the Seas' through the multiplied and hidden dangers
of the eastern channel. To those who have thus accompanied
him, step by step, though its intricacies
and alarms, there may seem nothing extraordinary
in the event; but, coupled as it was with the character
previously earned by that bold mariner, and
occurring, as it did, in an age when men were more
disposed than at present to put faith in the marvellous,
the reader will not be surprised to learn that it
greatly increased his reputation for daring, and had
no small influence on an opinion, which was by no
means uncommon, that the dealers in contraband
were singularly favored by a power which greatly
exceeded that of Queen Anne and all her servants.

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CHAPTER XI.

“—Thou shalt see me at Philippi.”

Shakspeare.

[figure description] Page 157.[end figure description]

The commander of Her Britannic Majesty's ship
Coquette slept that night in the hammock-cloths. Before
the sun had set, the light and swift brigantine,
by following the gradual bend of the land, had disappeared
in the eastern board; and it was no longer
a question of overtaking her by speed. Still, sail
was crowded on the royal cruiser; and, long ere the
period when Ludlow threw himself in his clothes between
the ridge-ropes of the quarter-deck, the vessel
had gained the broadest part of the Sound, and was
already approaching the islands that form the `Race.'

Throughout the whole of that long and anxious
day, the young sailor had held no communication
with the inmates of the cabin. The servants of the
ship had passed to and fro; but, though the door seldom
opened that he did not bend his eyes feverishly
in its direction, neither the Alderman, his niece, the
captive, nor even François or the negress, made their
appearance on the deck. If any there felt an interest
in the result of the chase, it was concealed in
a profound and almost mysterious silence. Determined
not to be outdone in indifference, and goaded
by feelings which with all his pride he could not
overcome, our young seaman took possession of the
place of rest we have mentioned, without using any
measures to resume the intercourse.

When the first watch of the night was come, sail
was shortened on the ship, and from that moment till
the day dawned again, her captain seemed buried
in sleep. With the appearance of the sun, however,
he arose, and commanded the canvas to be spread,

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once more, and every exertion made to drive the
vessel forward to her object.

The Coquette reached the Race early in the day,
and, shooting through the passage on an ebb-tide, she
was off Montauk at noon. No sooner had the ship
drawn past the cape, and reached a point where she
felt the breeze and the waves of the Atlantic, than
men were sent aloft, and twenty eyes were curiously
employed in examining the offing. Ludlow remembered
the promise of the Skimmer to meet him at that
spot, and, notwithstanding the motives which the latter
might be supposed to have for avoiding the interview,
so great was the influence of the free-trader's manner
and character, that the young captain entertained
secret expectations the promise would be kept.

“The offing is clear!” said the young captain, in
a tone of disappointment, when he lowered his glass;
“and yet that rover does not seem a man to hide his
head in fear—”

“Fear—that is to say, fear of a Frenchman—and
a decent respect for Her Majesty's cruisers, are very
different sorts of things,” returned the master. “I
never got a bandanna, or a bottle of your Cogniac
ashore, in my life, that I did not think every man
that I passed in the street, could see the spots in the
one, or scent the flavor of the other; but then I
never supposed this shyness amounted to more than
a certain suspicion in my own mind, that other people
know when a man is running on an illegal course.
I suppose that one of your rectors, who is snugly anchored
for life in a good warm living, would call this
conscience; but, for my own part, Captain Ludlow,
though no great logician in matters of this sort, I
have always believed that it was natural concern of
mind lest the articles should be seized. If this `Skimmer
of the Seas' comes out to give us another chase
in rough water, he is by no means as good a judge
of the difference between a large and a small vessel,

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as I had thought him—and I confess, Sir, I should
have more hopes of taking him, were the woman
under his bowsprit fairly burnt.”

“The offing is clear!”

“That it is, with a show of the wind holding here
at south-half-south. This bit of water that we have
passed, between yon island and the main, is lined
with bays; and while we are here looking out for
them on the high seas, the cunning varlets may be
trading in any one of the fifty good basins that lie
between the cape and the place where we lost him.
For aught we know, he may have run westward
again in the night-watches, and be at this moment
laughing in his sleeve at the manner in which he
dodged a cruiser.”

“There is too much truth in what you say, Trysail;
for if the Skimmer be now disposed to avoid us,
he has certainly the means in his power.”

“Sail, ho!” cried the look-out on the main-top-gallant-yard.

“Where-a-way?”

“Broad on the weather-beam, Sir; here, in a range
with the light cloud that is just lifting from the
water.”

“Can you make out the rig?”

“'Fore George, the fellow is right!” interrupted
the master. “The cloud caused her to be unseen;
but here she is, sure enough,—a full-rigged ship, under
easy canvas, with her head to the westward!”

The look of Ludlow through the glass was long,
attentive, and grave.

“We are weak-handed to deal with a stranger;”
he said, when he returned the instrument to Trysail.
“You see he has nothing but his topsails set,—a show
of canvas that would satisfy no trader, in a breeze
like this!”

The master was silent, but his look was even longer
and more critical than that of his captain. When

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it had ended, he cast a cautious glance towards the
diminished crew, who were curiously regarding the
vessel that had now become sufficiently distinct by a
change in the position of the cloud, and then answered,
in an under tone:—

“'Tis a Frenchman, or I am a whale! One may
see it, by his short yards, and the hoist of his sails;
ay, and 'tis a cruiser, too, for no man who had a
profit to make on his freight, would be lying there
under short canvas, and his port within a day's run.”

“Your opinion is my own; would to Heaven our
people were all here! This is but a short complement
to take into action with a ship whose force
seems equal to our own. What number can we
count?”

“We are short of seventy,—a small muster for
four-and-twenty guns, with yards like these to handle.”

“And yet the port may not be insulted! We are
known to be on this coast—”

“We are seen!” interrupted the master—“The
fellow has worn ship, and he is already setting his
top-gallant-sails.”

There no longer remained any choice between
downright flight and preparations for combat. The
former would have been easy, for an hour would
have taken the ship within the cape; but the latter
was far more in consonance with the spirit of the
service to which the Coquette belonged. The order
was therefore given for “all hands to clear ship for
action!” It was in the reckless nature of sailors, to
exult in this summons; for success and audacity go
hand in hand, and long familiarity with the first had,
even at that early day, given a confidence that often
approached temerity to the seamen of Great Britain
and her dependencies. The mandate to prepare for
battle was received by the feeble crew of the Coquette,
as it had often been received before, when

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her decks were filled with the number necessary to
give full efficiency to her armament; though a few
of the older and more experienced of the mariners,
men in whom confidence had been diminished by
time, were seen to shake their heads, as if they
doubted the prudence of the intended contest.

Whatever might have been the secret hesitation
of Ludlow when the character and force of his enemy
were clearly established, he betrayed no signs
of irresolution from the moment when his decision
appeared to be taken. The necessary orders were
issued calmly, and with the clearness and readiness
that perhaps constitute the greatest merit of a naval
captain. The yards were slung in chains; the booms
were sent down; the lofty sails were furled, and, in
short, all the preparations that were then customary
were made with the usual promptitude and skill.
Then the drum beat to quarters, and when the people
were at their stations, their young commander
had a better opportunity of examining into the true
efficiency of his ship. Calling to the master, he ascended
the poop, in order that they might confer together
with less risk of being overheard, and at the
same time better observe the manœuvres of the
enemy.

The stranger had, as Trysail perceived, suddenly
worn round on his heel, and laid his head to the
northward. The change in the course brought him
before the wind, and, as he immediately spread all
the canvas that would draw, he was approaching
fast. During the time occupied in preparation on
board the Coquette, his hull had risen as it were from
out of the water; and Ludlow and his companion
had not studied his appearance long, from the poop,
before the streak of white paint, dotted with ports,
which marks a vessel of war, became visible to the
naked eye. As the cruiser of Queen Anne continued
also to steer in the direction of the chase, half an

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hour more brought them sufficiently near to each
other, to remove all doubts of their respective characters
and force. The straner then came to the
wind, and made his preparations for combat.

“The fellow shows a stout heart, and a warm
battery,” observed the master, when the broadside
of their enemy became visible, by this change in his
position. “Six-and-twenty teeth, by my count
though the eye-teeth must be wanting, or he would
never be so fool-hardy as to brave Queen Anne's
Coquette in this impudent fashion! A prettily turned
boat, Captain Ludlow, and one nimble enough in
her movements. But look at his toenails! Just like
his character, Sir, all hoist; and with little or no
head to them. I'll not deny but that the hull is well
enough, for that is no more than carpenter's work;
but when it comes to the rig, or trim, or cut of a sail,
how should a l'Orient or a Brest man understand
what is comely? There is no equalling, after all, a
good, wholesome, honest English topsail; which is
neither too narrow in the head, nor too deep in the
hoist; with a bolt-rope of exactly the true size, robands
and earings and bowlines that look as if they
grew there, and sheets that neither nature nor art
could alter to advantage. Here are these Americans,
now, making innovations in ship-building, and in the
sparring of vessels, as if any thing could be gained
by quitting the customs and opinions of their ancestors!
Any man may see that all they have about
them, that is good for any thing, is English; while
all their nonsense, and new-fangled changes, come
from their own vanity.”

“They get along, Master Trysail, notwithstanding,”
returned the captain, who, though a sufficiently
loyal subject, could not forget his birth-place;
“and many is the time this ship, one of the finest
models of Plymouth, has been bothered to overhaul
the coasters of these seas. Here is the brigantine,

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that has laughed at us, on our best tack, and with
our choice of wind.”

“One cannot say where that brigantine was built,
Captain Ludlow. It may be here, it may be there;
for I look upon her as a nondescript, as old Admiral
Top used to call the galliots of the north seas—but,
concerning these new American fashions, of what use
are they, I would ask, Captain Ludlow? In the first
place, they are neither English nor French, which
is as much as to confess they are altogether outlandish;
in the second place, they disturb the harmony
and established usages among wrights and sail-makers,
and, though they may get along well enough
now, sooner or later, take my word for it, they will
come to harm. It is unreasonable to suppose that a
new people can discover any thing in the construction
of a ship, that has escaped the wisdom of seamen
as old—the Frenchman is cluing up his top-gallant-sails,
and means to let them hang; which is
much the same as condemning them at once,—and,
thesefore, I am of opinion that all these new fashions
will come to no good.”

“Your reasoning is absolutely conclusive, Master
Trysail.” returned the captain, whose thoughts were
differently employed. “I agree with you, it would
be safer for the stranger to send down his yards.”

“There is something manly and becoming in seeing
a ship strip herself, as she comes into action, Sir!
It is like a boxer taking off his jacket, with the intention
of making a fair stand-up fight of it.—That
fellow is filling away again, and means to manœuvre
before he comes up fairly to his work.”

The eye of Ludlow had never quitted the stranger.
He saw that the moment for serious action was not
distant; and, bidding Trysail keep the vessel on her
course, he descended to the quarter-deck. For a
single instant, the young commander paused, with his

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hand on the door of the cabin, and then, overcoming
his reluctance, he entered the apartment.

The Coquette was built after a fashion much in
vogue a century since, and which, by a fickleness
that influences marine architecture as well as less
important things, is again coming into use, for vessels
of her force. The accommodations of the commander
were on the same deck with the batteries of the
ship, and they were frequently made to contain two
or even four guns of the armament. When Ludlow
entered his cabin, therefore, he found a crew stationed
around the gun which was placed on the side next
the enemy, and all the customary arrangements
made which precede a combat. The state-rooms
abaft, however, as well as the little apartment which
lay between them, were closed. Glancing his eye
about him, and observing the carpenters in readiness,
he made a signal for them to knock away the
bulk-heads, and lay the whole of the fighting part of
the ship in common. While this duty was going on,
he entered the after-cabin.

Alderman Van Beverout and his companions were
found together, and evidently in expectation of the
visit they now received. Passing coolly by the former,
Ludlow approached his niece, and, taking her
hand, he led her to the quarter-deck, making a sign
for her female attendant to follow. Descending into
the depths of the ship, the captain conducted his
charge into a part of the berth-deck, that was below
the water line, and as much removed from danger
as she could well be, without encountering a foul
air, or sights that might be painful to one of her sex
and habits.

“Here is as much safety as a vessel of war affords,
in a moment like this,” he said, when his companion
was silently seated on a mess-chest. “On no account
quit the spot, till I—or some other, advise you
it may be done without hazard.”

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Alida had submitted to be led thither, without a
question. Though her color went and came, she
saw the little dispositions that were made for her
comfort, and without which, even at that moment,
the young sailor could not quit her, in the same
silence. But when they were ended, and her conductor
was about to retire, his name escaped her
lips, by an exclamation that seemed hurried and involuntary.

“Can I do aught else to quiet your apprehensions?”
the young man inquired, though he studiously
avoided her eye, as he turned to put the question.
“I know your strength of mind, and that you have a
resolution which exceeds the courage of your sex;
else I would not venture so freely to point out the
danger which may beset one, even here, without a
self-command and discretion that shall restrain all
sudden impulses of fear.”

“Notwithstanding your generous interpretation
of my character, Ludlow, I am but woman after
all.”

“I did not mistake you for an amazon,” returned
the young man smiling, perceiving that she checked
her words by a sudden effort. “All I expect from
you is the triumph of reason over female terror. I
shall not conceal that the odds—perhaps I may say
that the chances, are against us; and yet the enemy
must pay for my ship, ere he has her! She will be
none the worse defended, Alida, from the consciousness
that thy liberty and comfort depend in some
measure on our exertions.—Would you say more?”

La belle Barbérie struggled with herself, and she
became calm, at least in exterior.

“There has been a singular misconception between
us, and yet is this no moment for explanations!
Ludlow, I would not have you part with me,
at such a time as this, with that cold and reproachful
eye!”

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She paused. When the young man ventured to
raise his look, he saw the beautiful girl standing with
a hand extended towards him, as if offering a pledge
of amity; while the crimson on her cheek, and her
yielding but half-averted eye, spoke with the eloquence
of maiden modesty. Seizing the hand, he
answered, hastily—

“Time was, when this action would have made
me happy—”

The young man paused, for his gaze had unconsciously
become riveted on the rings of the hand he
held. Alida understood the look, and, drawing one
of the jewels, she offered it with a smile that was as
attractive as her beauty.

“One of these may be spared,” she said. “Take
it, Ludlow; and when thy present duty shall be performed,
return it, as a gage that I have promised
thee that no explanation which you may have a
right to ask shall be withheld.”

The young man took the ring, and forced it on the
smallest of his fingers, in a mechanical manner, and
with a bewildered look, that seemed to inquire if
some one of those which remained was not the token
of a plighted faith. It is probable that he might
have continued the discourse, had not a gun been
fired from the enemy. It recalled him to the more
serious business of the hour. Already more than
half disposed to believe all he could wish, he raised
the fair hand, which had just bestowed the boon, to
his lips, and rushed upon deck.

“The Monsieur is beginning to bluster;” said Trysail,
who had witnessed the descent of his commander,
at that moment and on such an errand, with
great dissatisfaction. “Although his shot fell short,
it is too much to let a Frenchman have the credit of
the first word.”

“He has merely given the weather gun, the signal

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of defiance. Let him come down, and he will not
find us in a hurry to leave him!”

“No, no: as for that, we are snug enough!” returned
the master, chuckling as he surveyed the
half-naked spars, and the light top-hamper, to which
he had himself reduced the ship. “If running is to
be our play, we have made a false move at the beginning
of the game. These topsails, spanker, and
jib, make a show that says more for bottom than for
speed. Well, come what will of this affair, it will
leave me a master, though it is beyond the power of
the best duke in England to rob me of my share of
the honor!”

With this consolation for his perfectly hopeless
condition as respects promotion, the old seaman
walked forward, examining critically into the state
of the vessel; while his young commander, having
cast a look about him, motioned to his prisoner and
the Alderman to follow to the poop.

“I do not pretend to inquire into the nature of the
tie which unites you with some in this ship,” Ludlow
commenced, addressing his words to Seadrift, though
he kept his gaze on the recent gift of Alida; “but,
that it must be strong, is evident by the interest they
have taken in your fate. One who is thus esteemed
should set a value on himself. How far you have
trifled with the laws, I do not wish to say; but here
is an opportunity to redeem some of the public favor.
You are a seaman, and need not be told that my ship
is not as strongly manned as one could wish her at
this moment, and that the services of every Englishman
will be welcome. Take charge of these six
guns, and depend on my honor that your devotion to
the flag shall not go unrequited.”

“You much mistake my vocation, noble captain;”
returned the dealer in contraband, faintly laughing.
“Though one of the seas, I am one more used to the
calm latitudes than to these whirlwinds of war. You

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have visited the brigantine of our mistress, and must
have seen that her temple resembles that of Janus
more than that of Mars. The deck of the Water-Witch
has none of this frowning garniture of artillery.”

Ludlow listened in amazement. Surprise, incredulity,
and scorn, were each, in turn, expressed in
his frowning countenance.

“This is unbecoming language for one of your
calling,” he said, scarce deeming it necessary to conceal
the contempt he felt. “Do you acknowledge
fealty to this ensign—are you an Englishman?”

“I am such as Heaven was pleased to make me—
fitter for the zephyr, than the gale—the jest, than
the war-shout—the merry moment, than the angry
mood.”

“Is this the man whose name for daring has passed
into a proverb?—the dauntless, reckless, skilful `Skimmer
of the Seas!' ”

“North is not more removed from south, than I
from him in the qualities you seek! It was not my
duty to undeceive you as to the value of your captive,
while he whose services are beyond price to our
mistress was still on the coast. So far from being
him you name, brave captain, I claim to be no more
than one of his agents, who, having some experience
in the caprices of woman, he trusts to recommend
his wares to female fancies. Though so useless in
inflicting injuries, I may make bold however to rate
myself as excellent at consolation. Suffer that I appease
the fears of la belle Barbérie during the coming
tumult, and you shall own that one more skilful
in that merciful office is rare indeed!”

“Comfort whom, where, and what thou wilt, miserable
effigy of manhood!—but hold, there is less
of terror than of artifice in that lurking smile and
treacherous eye!”

“Discredit both, generous captain! On the faith

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of one who can be sincere at need, a wholesome fear
is uppermost, whatever else the disobedient members
may betray. I could fain weep rather than be
thought valiant, just now!”

Ludlow listened in wonder. He had raised an
arm to arrest the retreat of the young mariner, and
by a natural movement his hand slid along the limb
it had grasped, until it held that of Seadrift. The
instant he touched the soft and ungloved palm, an
idea, as novel as it was sudden, crossed his brain.
Retreating a step or two, he examined the light and
agile form of the other, from head to feet. The
frown of displeasure, which had clouded his brow,
changed to a look of unfeigned surprise; and for the
first time, the tones of the voice came over his recollection
as being softer and more melodious than is
wont in man.

“Truly, thou art not the `Skimmer of the Seas!' ”
he exclaimed, when his short examination was ended.

“No truth more certain. I am one of little account
in this rude encounter, though, were that
gallant seaman here,” and the color deepened on the
cheeks of Seadrift as he spoke, “his arm and counsel
might prove a host! Oh! I have seen him in scenes
far more trying than this, when the elements have
conspired with other dangers. The example of his
steadiness and spirit has given courage even to the
feeblest heart in the brigantine! Now, suffer me to
offer consolation to the timid Alida.”

“I should little merit her gratitude, were the request
refused,” returned Ludlow. “Go, gay and gallant
Master Seadrift! if the enemy fears thy presence
on the deck as little as I dread it with la belle Barb
érie, thy services here will be useless!”

Seadrift colored to the temples, crossed his arms
meekly on his bosom, sunk in an attitude of leave-taking,
that was so equivocal as to cause the attentive

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and critical young captain to smile, and then glided
past him and disappeared through a hatchway.

The eye of Ludlow followed the active and graceful
form, while it continued in sight; and when it
was no longer visible, he faced the Alderman with a
look which seemed to inquire how far he might be
acquainted with the true character of the individual
who had been the cause of so much pain to himself.

“Have I done well, Sir, in permitting a subject
of Queen Anne to quit us at this emergency?” he
demanded, observing that either the phlegm or the
self-command of Myndert rendered him proof to
scrutiny.

“The lad may be termed contraband of war,” returned
the Alderman, without moving a muscle; “an
article that will command a better price in a quiet
than in a turbulent market. In short, Captain Cornelius
Ludlow, this Master Seadrift will not answer
thy purpose at all in combat.”

“And is this example of heroism to go any farther,
or may I count on the assistance of Mr. Alderman
Van Beverout?—He has the reputation of a loyal
citizen.”

“As for loyalty,” returned the Alderman, “so far
as saying God bless the Queen, at city feasts, will go,
none are more so. A wish is not an expensive return
for the protection of her fleets and armies, and I
wish her and you success against the enemy, with
all my heart. But I never admired the manner in
which the States General were dispossessed of their
territories on this continent, Master Ludlow, and
therefore I pay the Stuarts little more than I owe
them in law.”

“Which is as much as to say, that you will join
the gay smuggler, in administering consolation to one
whose spirit places her above the need of such succor.”

“Not so fast, young gentleman.—We mercantile

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men like to see offsets in our books, before they are
balanced. Whatever may be my opinion of the
reigning family, which I only utter to you in confidence,
and not as coin that is to pass from one to another,
my love for the Grand Monarque is still less.
Louis is at loggerheads with the United Provinces,
as well as with our gracious Queen; and I see no
harm in opposing one of his cruisers, since they certainly
annoy trade, and render returns for investments
inconveniently uncertain. I have heard artillery
in my time, having in my younger days led a
band of city volunteers in many a march and countermarch
around the Bowling-Green; and for the
honor of the second ward of the good town of Manhattan,
I am now ready to undertake to show, that
all knowledge of the art has not entirely departed
from me.”

“That is a manly answer, and, provided it be sustained
by a corresponding countenance, there shall
be no impertinent inquiry into motives. 'Tis the
officer that makes the ship victorious; for, when he
sets a good example and understands his duty, there
is little fear of the men. Choose your position among
any of these guns, and we will make an effort to disappoint
yon servants of Louis, whether we do it as
Englishmen, or only as the allies of the Seven Provinces.”

Myndert descended to the quarter-deck, and having
deliberately deposited his coat on the capstan,
replaced his wig by a handkerchief, and tightened the
buckle that did the office of suspenders, he squinted
along the guns, with a certain air that served to assure
the spectators he had at least no dread of the
recoil.

Alderman Van Beverout was a personage far too
important, not to be known by most of those who
frequented the goodly town of which he was a civic
officer. His presence, therefore, among the men, not

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a few of whom were natives of the colony, had a salutary
effect; some yielding to the sympathy which is
natural to a hearty and encouraging example, while
it is possible there were a few that argued less of the
danger, in consequence of the indifference of a man
who, being so rich, had so many motives to take good
care of his person. Be this as it might, the burgher
was received by a cheer which drew a short but
pithy address from him, in which he exhorted his
companions in arms to do their duty, in a manner
which should teach the Frenchmen the wisdom of
leaving that coast in future free from all the commonplace
allusions to king and country, —a subject to which he
felt his inability to do proper justice.

“Let every man remember that cause for courage,
which may be most agreeable to his own habits and
opinions,” concluded this imitator of the Hannibals
and Scipios of old; “for that is the surest and the
briefest method of bringing his mind into an obstinate
state. In my own case, there is no want of motive;
and I dare say each one of you may find some
sufficient reason for entering heart and hand into
this battle. Protests and credit! what would become
of the affairs of the best house in the colonies, were
its principal to be led a captive to Brest or l'Orient?
It might derange the business of the whole city. I'll
not offend your patriotism with such a supposition,
but at once believe that your minds are resolved,
like my own, to resist to the last; for this is an interest
which is general, as all questions of a commercial
nature become, through their influence on the happiness
and prosperity of society.”

Having terminated his address in so apposite and
public-spirited a manner, the worthy burgher hemmed
loudly, and resumed his accustomed silence, perfectly
assured of his own applause. If the matter of
Myndert's discourse wears too much the air of an

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unvided attention to his own interests, the reader will
not forget it is by this concentration of individuality
that most of the mercantile prosperity of the world
is achieved. The seamen listened with admiration,
for they understood no part of the appeal; and, next
to a statement which shall be so lucid as to induce
every hearer to believe it is no more than a happy
explanation of his own ideas, that which is unintelligible
is apt to unite most suffrages in its favor.

“You see your enemy, and you know your work!”
said the clear, deep, manly voice of Ludlow, who, as
he passed among the people of the Coquette, spoke
to them in that steady unwavering tone which, in
moments of danger, goes to the heart. “I shall not
pretend that we are as strong as I could wish; but
the greater the necessity for a strong pull, the readier
a true seaman will be to give it. There are no
nails in that ensign. When I am dead, you may pull
it down if you please; but, so long as I live, my men,
there it shall fly! And now, one cheer to show your
humor, and then let the rest of your noise come from
the guns.”

The crew complied, with a full-mouthed and
hearty hurrah!—Trysail assured a young, laughing,
careless midshipman, who even at that moment could
enjoy an uproar, that he had seldom heard a prettier
piece of sea-eloquence than that which had just
fallen from the captain; it being both `neat and
gentleman-like.'

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CHAPTER XII.

“Sir, it is
A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet
We'll strive to bear it for your worthy sake,
To the extreme edge of hazard.”
All's well that end's well.

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The vessel, which appeared so inopportunely for
the safety of the ill-manned British cruiser, was, in
truth, a ship that had roved from among the islands
of the Caribean sea, in quest of some such adventure
as that which now presented itself. She was called
la belle Fontange, and her commander, a youth of
two-and-twenty, was already well known in the
salons of the Marais, and behind the walls of the
Rue Bass des Remparts, as one of the most gay and
amiable of those who frequented the former, and
one of the most spirited and skilful among the adventurers
who sometimes trusted to their address in
the latter. Rank, and influence at Versailles, had
procured for the young Chevalier Dumont de la
Rocheforte a command to which he could lay no
claim either by his experience or his services. His
mother, a near relative of one of the beauties of the
court, had been commanded to use sea-bathing, as a
preventive against the consequences of the bite of a
rabid lap-dog. By way of a suitable episode to the
long descriptions she was in the daily habit of writing
to those whose knowledge of her new element was
limited to the constant view of a few ponds and
ditches teeming with carp, or an occasional glimpse
of some of the turbid reaches of the Seine, she had
vowed to devote her youngest child to Neptune! In
due time, that is to say, while the poetic sentiment
was at the access, the young chevalier was duly enrolled,
and, in a time that greatly anticipated all

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regular and judicious preferment, he was placed in
command of the corvette in question, and sent to
the Indies to gain glory for himself and his country.

The Chevalier Dumont de la Rocheforte was
brave, but his courage was not the calm and silent
self-possession of a seaman. Like himself, it was
lively, buoyant, thoughtless, bustling, and full of
animal feeling. He had all the pride of a gentleman,
and, unfortunately for the duty which he had now
for the first time to perform, one of its dictates taught
him to despise that species of mechanical knowledge
which it was, just at this moment, so important to
the commander of la Fontange to possess. He could
dance to admiration, did the honors of his cabin with
faultless elegance, and had caused the death of an
excellent mariner, who had accidentally fallen overboard,
by jumping into the sea to aid him, without
knowing how to swim a stroke himself,—a rashness
that had diverted those exertions which might have
saved the unfortunate sailor, from the assistance of
the subordinate to the safety of his superior. He
wrote sonnets prettily, and had some ideas of the
new philosophy which was just beginning to dawn
upon the world; but the cordage of his ship, and the
lines of a mathematical problem, equally presented
labyrinths he had never threaded.

It was perhaps fortunate for the safety of all in
her, that la belle Fontange possessed an inferior officer,
in the person of a native of Boulogne-sur-Mer,
who was quite competent to see that she kept the
proper course, and that she displayed none of the
top-gallants of her pride, at unpropitious moments.
The ship itself was sufficiently and finely moulded,
of a light and airy rig, and of established reputation
for speed. If it was defective in any thing, it had
the fault, in common with its commander, of a want
of sufficient solidity to resist the vicissitudes and

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dangers of the turbulent element on which it was
destined to act.

The vessels were now within a mile of each other.
The breeze was steady, and sufficiently fresh for all
the ordinary evolutions of a naval combat; while the
water was just quiet enough to permit the ships to
be handled with confidence and accuracy. La Fontange
was running with her head to the eastward,
and, as she had the advantage of the wind, her tall
tracery of spars leaned gently in the direction of her
adversary. The Coquette was standing on the other
tack, and necessarily inclined from her enemy. Both
vessels were stripped to their topsails, spankers, and
jibs, though the lofty sails of the Frenchman were fluttering
in the breeze, like the graceful folds of some
fanciful drapery. No human being was distinctly
visible in either fabric, though dark clusters around
each mast-head showed that the ready top-men were
prepared to discharge their duties, even in the confusion
and dangers of the impending contest. Once
or twice, la Fontange inclined her head more in the
direction of her adversary; and then, sweeping up
again to the wind, she stood on in stately beauty.
The moment was near when the ships were about
to cross each other, at a point where a musket would
readily send its messenger across the water that lay
between them. Ludlow, who closely watched each
change of position, and every rise and fall of the
breeze, went on the poop, and swept the horizon with
his glass, for the last time before his ship should be
enveloped in smoke. To his surprise, he discovered
a pyramid of canvas rising above the sea, in the direction
of the wind. The sail was clearly visible to
the naked eye, and had only escaped earlier observation
in the duties of so urgent a moment. Calling
the master to his side, he inquired his opinion concerning
the character of the second stranger. But
Trysail confessed it exceeded even his long-tried

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powers of observation, to say more than that it was a
ship running before the wind, with a cloud of sail
spread. After a second and a longer look, however,
the experienced master ventured to add that the
stranger had the squareness and symmetry of a cruiser,
but of what size he would not yet presume to declare.

“It may be a light ship, under her top-gallant and
studding-sails, or it may be, that we see only the lofty
duck of some heavier vessel, Captain Ludlow;—ha!
he has caught the eye of the Frenchman, for the corvette
has signals abroad!”

“To your glass!—If the stranger answer, we have
no choice but our speed.”

There was another keen and anxious examination
of the upper spars of the distant ship, but the
direction of the wind prevented any signs of her
communicating with the corvette from being visible.
La Fontange appeared equally uncertain of the character
of the stranger, and for a moment there was
some evidence of an intention to change her course.
But the moment for indecision had past. The ships
were already sweeping up abreast of each other,
under the constant pressure of the breeze.

“Be ready, men!” said Ludlow, in a low but firm
voice, retaining his elevated post on the poop, while
he motioned to his companion to return to the main-deck.
“Fire at his flash!”

Intense expectation succeeded. The two graceful
fabrics sailed steadily on, and came within hail. So
profound was the stillness in the Coquette, that the
rushing sound of the water she heaped under her
bows was distinctly audible to all on board, and might
be likened to the deep breathing of some vast animal,
that was collecting its physical energies for some unusual
exertion. On the other hand, tongues were loud
and clamorous among the cordage of la Fontange.
Just as the ships were fairly abeam, the voice of

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young Dumont was heard, shouting through a trumpet,
for his men to fire. Ludlow smiled, in a seaman's
scorn. Raising his own trumpet, with a quiet gesture
to his attentive and ready crew, the whole discharge
of their artillery broke out of the dark side of the
ship, as if it had been by the volition of the fabric.
The answering broadside was received almost as soon
as their own had been given, and the two vessels
passed swiftly without the line of shot.

The wind had sent back their own smoke upon the
English, and for a time it floated on their decks,
wreathed itself in the eddies of the sails, and passed
away to leeward, with the breeze that succeeded to
the counter-current of the explosions. The whistling
of shot, and the crash of wood, had been heard amid
the din of the combat. Giving a glance at his enemy,
who still stood on, Ludlow leaned from the poop, and,
with all a sailor's anxiety, he endeavored to scan the
gear aloft.

“What is gone, Sir?” he asked of Trysail, whose
earnest face just then became visible through the
drifting smoke. “What sail is so heavily flapping?”

“Little harm done, Sir—little harm—bear a hand
with the tackle on that fore-yard-arm, you lubbers!
you move like snails in a minuet! The fellow has
shot away the lee fore-top-sail-sheet, Sir; but we
shall soon get our wings spread again. Lash it down,
boys, as if it were butt-bolted;—so; steady out your
bowline, forward.—Meet her, you can; meet her,
you may—meet her!”

The smoke had disappeared, and the eye of the
captain rapidly scanned the whole of his ship. Three
or four top-men had already caught the flapping
canvas, and were seated on the extremity of the
fore-yard, busied in securing their prize. A hole or
two was visible in the other sails, and here and
there an unimportant rope was dangling in a manner
to show that it had been cut by shot. Further than

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this, the damage aloft was not of a nature to attract
his attention.

There was a different scene on deck. The feeble
crew were earnestly occupied in loading the guns,
and rammers and spunges were handled, with all
the intenseness which men would manifest in a moment
so exciting. The Alderman was never more
absorbed in his leger than he now appeared in his
duty of a cannoneer; and the youths, to whom the
command of the batteries had necessarily been confided,
diligently aided him with their greater authority
and experience. Trysail stood near the capstan,
coolly giving the orders which have been related,
and gazing upward with an interest so absorbed as
to render him unconscious of all that passed around
his person. Ludlow saw, with pain, that blood discolored
the deck at his feet, and that a seaman lay
dead within reach of his arm. The rent plank and
shattered ceiling showed the spot where the destructive
missile had entered.

Compressing his lips like a man resolved, the commander
of the Coquette bent further forward, and
glanced at the wheel. The quarter-master, who
held the spokes, was erect, steady, and kept his eye
on the leech of the head-sail, as unerringly as the
needle points to the pole.

These were the observations of a single minute.
The different circumstances related had been ascertained
with so many rapid glances of the eye, and
they had even been noted without losing for a moment
the knowledge of the precise situation of la
Fontange. The latter was already in stays. It became
necessary to meet the evolution by another as
prompt.

The order was no sooner given, than the Coquette,
as if conscious of the hazard she ran of being raked,
whirled away from the wind, and, by the time her
adversary was ready to deliver her other broadside,

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she was in a position to receive and to return it,
Again the ships approached each other, and once
more they exchanged their streams of fire when
abeam.

Ludlow now saw, through the smoke, the ponderous
yard of la Fontange swinging heavily against
the breeze, and the main-topsail come flapping
against her mast. Swinging off from the poop by a
backstay that had been shot away a moment before,
he alighted on the quarter-deck by the side of the
master.

“Touch all the braces!” he said, hastily, but still
speaking low and clearly; “give a drag upon the
bowlines—luff, Sir, luff; jam the ship up hard
against the wind!”

The clear, steady answer of the quarter-master,
and the manner in which the Coquette, still vomiting
her sheets of flame, inclined towards the breeze, announced
the promptitude of the subordinates. In
another minute, the vast volumes of smoke which
enveloped the two ships joined, and formed one
white and troubled cloud, which was rolling swiftly
before the explosions, over the surface of the sea,
but which, as it rose higher in the air, sailed gracefully
to leeward.

Our young commander passed swiftly through the
batteries, spoke encouragingly to his people, and resumed
his post on the poop. The stationary position
of la Fontange, and his own efforts to get to windward,
were already proving advantageous to Queen
Anne's cruiser. There was some indecision on the
part of the other ship, which instantly caught the
eye of one whose readiness in his profession so much
resembled instinct.

The Chevalier Dumont had amused his leisure by
running his eyes over the records of the naval history
of his country, where he had found this and that
commander applauded for throwing their topsails to

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the mast, abreast of their enemies. Ignorant of the
difference between a ship in line and one engaged
singly, he had determined to prove himself equal to
a similar display of spirit. At the moment when
Ludlow was standing alone on the poop, watching
with vigilant eyes the progress of his own vessel, and
the position of his enemy, indicating merely by a
look or a gesture to the attentive Trysail beneath,
what he wished done, there was actually a wordy
discussion on the quarter-deck of the latter, between
the mariner of Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the gay favorite
of the salons. They debated on the expediency
of the step which the latter had taken, to
prove the existence of a quality that no one doubted.
The time lost in this difference of opinion was of the
last importance to the British cruiser. Standing gallantly
on, she was soon out of the range of her adversary's
fire; and, before the Boulognois had succeeded
in convincing his superior of his error, their
antagonist was on the other tack, and luffing across
the wake of la Fontange. The topsail was then tardily
filled, but before the latter ship had recovered
her motion, the sails of her enemy overshadowed her
deck. There was now every prospect of the Coquette
passing to windward. At that critical moment, the
fair-setting topsail of the British cruiser was nearly
rent in two by a shot. The ship fell off, the yards
interlocked, and the vessels were foul.

The Coquette had all the advantage of position.
Perceiving the important fact at a glance, Ludlow
made sure of its continuance by throwing his grapnels.
When the two ships were thus firmly lashed
together, the young Dumont found himself relieved
from a mountain of embarrassment. Sufficiently justified
by the fact that not a single gun of his own
would bear, while a murderous discharge of grape
had just swept along his decks, he issued the order to
board. But Ludlow, with his weakened crew, had

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not decided on so hazardous an evolution as that
which brought him in absolute contact with his
enemy, without foreseeing the means of avoiding all
the consequences. The vessels touched each other
only at one point, and this spot was protected by a
row of muskets. No sooner, therefore, did the impetuous
young Frenchman appear on the taffrail of
his own ship, supported by a band of followers, than
a close and deadly fire swept them away to a man.
Young Dumont alone remained. For a single moment,
his eye glared wildly; but the active frame,
still obedient to the governing impulse of so impetuous
a spirit, leaped onward. He fell, without life, on
the deck of his enemy.

Ludlow watched every movement, with a calmness
that neither personal responsibility, nor the uproar
and rapid incidents of the terrible scene, could
discompose.

“Now is our time to bring the matter hand to
hand!” he cried, making a gesture to Trysail to
descend from the ladder, in order that he might pass.

His arm was arrested, and the grave old master
pointed to windward.

“There is no mistaking the cut of those sails, or
the lofty rise of those spars! The stranger is another
Frenchman!”

One glance told Ludlow that his subordinate was
right; another sufficed to show what was now necessary.

“Cast loose the forward grapnel—cut it—away
with it, clear!” was shouted, through his trumpet,
in a voice that rose commanding and clear amid the
roar of the combat.

Released forward, the stern of the Coquette yielded
to the pressure of her enemy, whose sails were all
drawing, and she was soon in a position to enable her
head-yards to be braced sharp aback, in a direction
opposite to the one in which she had so lately lain.

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The whole broadside was then delivered into the
stern of la Fontange, the last grapnel was released,
and the ships separated.

The single spirit which presided over the evolutions
and exertions of the Coquette, still governed her
movements. The sails were trimmed, the ship was
got in command, and, before the vessels had been
asunder five minutes, the duty of the vessel was in
its ordinary active but noiseless train.

Nimble top-men were on the yards, and broad
folds of fresh canvas were flapping in the breeze, as
the new sails were bent and set. Ropes were spliced,
or supplied by new rigging, the spars examined, and
in fine all that watchfulness and sedulous care were
observed, which are so necessary to the efficiency and
safety of a ship. Every spar was secured, the pumps
were sounded, and the vessel held on her way, as
steadily as if she had never fired nor received a shot.

On the other hand, la Fontange betrayed the indecision
and confusion of a worsted ship. Her torn
canvas was blowing about in disorder, many important
ropes beat against her masts unheeded, and the
vessel itself drove before the breeze in the helplessness
of a wreck. For several minutes, there seemed
no controlling mind in the fabric; and when, after so
much distance was lost as to give her enemy all the
advantage of the wind, a tardy attempt was made
to bring the ship up again, the tallest and most important
of her masts was seen tottering, until it finally
fell, with all its hamper, into the sea.

Notwithstanding the absence of so many of his
people, success would now have been certain, had not
the presence of the stranger compelled Ludlow to
abandon his advantage. But the consequences to his
own vessel were too sure, to allow of more than a
natural and manly regret that so favorable an occasion
should escape him. The character of the stranger
could no longer be mistaken. The eye of every

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seaman in the Coquette as well understood the country
of the high and narrow-headed sails, the tall
taper masts and short yards of the frigate whose
hull was now distinctly visible, as a landsman recognizes
an individual by the distinguishing marks of
his features or attire. Had there been any lingering
doubts on the subject, they would have all given
place to certainty, when the stranger was seen exchanging
signals with the crippled corvette.

It was now time for Ludlow to come to a speedy
determination on his future course. The breeze still
held to the southward, but it was beginning to lessen,
with every appearance that it would fail before
nightfall. The land lay a few leagues to the northward,
and the whole horizon of the ocean, with the
exception of the two French cruisers, was clear. Descending
to the quarter-deck, he approached the
master, who was seated in a chair, while the surgeon
dressed a severe hurt in one of his legs. Shaking
the sturdy veteran cordially by the hand, he expressed
his acknowledgments for his support in a moment
so trying.

“God bless you! God bless you! Captain Ludlow;”
returned the old sailor, dashing his hand equivocally
across his weatherbeaten brow. “Battle is certainly
the place to try both ship and friends, and Heaven
be praised! Queen Anne has not failed of either
this day. No man has forgotten his duty, so far as
my eyes have witnessed; and this is saying no trifle,
with half a crew and an equal enemy. As for the
ship, she never behaved better! I had my misgivings,
when I saw the new main-topsail go, which it
did, as all here know, like a bit of rent muslin between
the fingers of a seamstress. Run forward, Mr.
Hopper, and tell the men in the fore rigging to take
another drag on that swifter, and to be careful and
bring the strain equal on all the shrouds.—A lively
youth, Captain Ludlow, and one who only wants a

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little reflection, with some more experience, and a
small dash of modesty, together with the seamanship
he will naturally get in time, to make a very tolerable
officer.”

“The boy promises well; but I have come to ask
thy advice, my old friend, concerning our next movements.
There is no doubt that the fellow who is
coming down upon us is both a Frenchman and a
frigate.”

“A man might as well doubt the nature of a fish-hawk,
which is to pick up all the small try, and to
let the big ones go. We might show him our canvas
and try the open sea, but I fear that fore-mast is too
weak, with three such holes in it, to bear the sail
we should need!”

“What think you of the wind?” said Ludlow,
affecting an indecision he did not feel, in order
to soothe the feelings of his wounded companion.
“Should it hold, we might double Montauk, and return
for the rest of our people; but should it fail, is
there no danger that the frigate should tow within
shot!—We have no boats to escape her.”

“The soundings on this coast are as regular as the
roof of an out-house,” said the master, after a moment
of thought, “and it is my advice, if it is your
pleasure to ask it, Captain Ludlow, that we shoal
our water as much as possible, while the wind lasts.
Then, I think, we shall be safe from a very near
visit from the big one:—as for the corvette, I am of
opinion, that, like a man who has eaten his dinner,
she has no stomach for another slice.”

Ludlow applauded the advice of his subordinate,
for it was precisely what he had determined on
doing; and after again complimenting him on his coolness
and skill, he issued the necessary orders. The
helm of the Coquette was now placed hard a-weather,
the yards were squared, and the ship was put before
the wind. After running, in this direction for a

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few hours, the wind gradually lessening, the lead announced
that the keel was quite as near the bottom
as the time of the tide, and the dull heaving and setting
of the element, rendered at all prudent. The
breeze soon after fell, and then our young commander
ordered an anchor to be dropped into the sea.

His example, in the latter respect, was imitated
by the hostile cruisers. They had soon joined, and
boats were seen passing from one to the other, so
long as there was light. When the sun fell behind
the western margin of the ocean, their dusky outlines,
distant about a league, gradually grew less and
less distinct, until the darkness of night enveloped
sea and land in its gloom.

CHAPTER XIII.

“Now; the business!”

Othello.

Three hours later, and every noise was hushed
on board the royal cruiser. The toil of repairing
damages had ceased, and most of the living, with
the dead, lay alike in common silence. The watchfulness
necessary to the situation of the fatigued
mariners, however, was not forgotten, and though so
many slept, a few eyes were still open, and affecting
to be alert. Here and there, some drowsy seaman
paced the deck, or a solitary young officer endeavored
to keep himself awake, by humming a low
air, in his narrow bounds. The mass of the crew
slept heavily, with pistols in their belts and cutlasses
at their sides, between the guns. There was one
figure extended upon the quarter-deck, with the head
resting on a shot-box. The deep breathing of this

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person denoted the unquiet slumbers of a powerful
frame, in which weariness contended with suffering.
It was the wounded and feverish master, who had
placed himself in that position to catch an hour of
the repose that was necessary to his situation. On
an arm-chest, which had been emptied of its contents,
lay another but a motionless human form, with
the limbs composed in decent order, and with the
face turned towards the melancholy stars. This was
the body of the young Dumont, which had been
kept, with the intention of consigning it to consecrated
earth, when the ship should return to port.
Ludlow, with the delicacy of a generous and chivalrous
enemy, had with his own hands spread the
stainless ensign of his country over the remains of
the inexperienced but gallant young Frenchman.

There was one little group on the raised deck in
the stern of the vessel, in which the ordinary interests
of life still seemed to exercise their influence.
Hither Ludlow had led Alida and her companions,
after the duties of the day were over, in order that
they might breathe an air fresher than that of the
interior of the vessel. The negress nodded near her
young mistress; the tired Alderman sate with his
back supported against the mizen-mast, giving audible
evidence of his situation; and Ludlow stood
erect, occasionally throwing an earnest look on the
surrounding and unruffled waters, and then lending
his attention to the discourse of his companions.
Alida and Seadrift were seated near each other, on
chairs. The conversation was low, while the melancholy
and the tremor in the voice of la belle Barb
érie denoted how much the events of the day had
shaken her usually firm and spirited mind.

“There is a mingling of the terrific and the beautiful,
of the grand and the seducing, in this unquiet
profession of yours!” observed, or rather continued
Alida, replying to a previous remark of the young

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sailor. “That tranquil sea—the hollow sound of the
surf on the shore—and this soft canopy above us,
form objects on which even a girl might dwell in
admiration, were not her ears still ringing with the
roar and cries of the combat. Did you say the commander
of the Frenchman was but a youth?”

“A mere boy in appearance, and one who doubtless
owed his rank to the advantages of birth and
family. We know it to be the captain, by his dress,
no less than by the desperate effort he made to recover
the false step taken in the earlier part of the
action.”

“Perhaps he has a mother, Ludlow!—a sister—a
wife—or—”

Alida paused, for, with maiden diffidence, she
hesitated to pronounce the tie which was uppermost
in her thoughts.

“He may have had one, or all! Such are the sailor's
hazards, and—”

“Such the hazards of those who feel an interest
in their safety!” uttered the low but expressive
voice of Seadrift.

A deep and eloquent silence succeeded. Then the
voice of Myndert was heard muttering indistinctly,
“twenty of beaver, and three of marten—as per
invoice.” The smile which, spite of the train of his
thoughts, rose on the lips of Ludlow, had scarcely
passed away, when the hoarse tones of Trysail, rendered
still hoarser by his sleep, were plainly heard
in a stifled cry, saying, “Bear a hand, there, with
your stoppers!—the Frenchman is coming round
upon us, again.”

“That is prophetic!” said one, aloud, behind the
listening group. Ludlow turned, quick as the flag
fluttering on its vane, and through the darkness he
recognized, in the motionless but manly form that
stood near him on the poop, the fine person of the
`Skimmer of the Seas.'

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“Call away—!”

“Call none!”—interrupted Tiller, stopping the
hurried order which involuntarily broke from the
lips of Ludlow. “Let thy ship feign the silence of a
wreck, but, in truth, let there be watchfulness and
preparation even to her store-rooms! You have done
well, Captain Ludlow, to be on the alert, though I
have known sharper eyes than those of some of your
look-outs.”

“Whence come you, audacious man, and what
mad errand has brought you again on the deck of
my ship?”

“I come from my habitation on the sea. My business
here is warning!”

“The sea!” echoed Ludlow, gazing about him at
the narrow and empty view. “The hour for mockery
is past, and you would do well to trifle no more
with those who have serious duties to discharge.”

“The hour is indeed one for serious duties—duties
more serious than any you apprehend. But before
I enter on explanation, there must be conditions
between us. You have one of the sea-green lady's
servitors, here; I claim his liberty, for my secret.”

“The error into which I had fallen exists no
longer;” returned Ludlow, looking for an instant towards
the shrinking form of Seadrift. “My conquest
is worthless, unless you come to supply his
place.”

“I come for other purposes—here is one who
knows I do not trifle when urgent affairs are on
hand. Let thy companions retire, that I may speak
openly.”

Ludlow hesitated, for he had not yet recovered
from the surprise of finding the redoubtable free-trader
so unexpectedly on the deck of his ship. But
Alida and her companion arose, like those who had
more confidence in their visiter, and, arousing the
negress from her sleep, they descended the ladder

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and entered the cabin. When Ludlow found himself
alone with Tiller, he demanded an explanation.

“It shall not be withheld, for time presses, and
that which is to be done must be done with a seaman's
care and coolness;” returned the other.—
“You have had a close brush with one of Louis's rovers,
Captain Ludlow, and prettily was the ship of
Queen Anne handled! Have your people suffered,
and are you still strong enough to make good a defence
worthy of your conduct this morning?”

“These are facts you would have me utter to the
ear of one who may be false;—even a spy!”

“Captain Ludlow—but circumstances warrant thy
suspicions!”

“One whose vessel and life I have threatened—
an outlaw!”

“This is too true,” returned the `Skimmer of the
Seas,' suppressing a sudden impulse of pride and resentment.
“I am threatened and pursued—I am a
smuggler and an outlaw: still am I human! You see
that dusky object, which borders the sea to the
northward!”

“It is too plainly land, to be mistaken.”

“Land, and the land of my birth!—the earliest,
perhaps I may say the happiest of my days, were
passed on that long and narrow island.”

“Had I known it earlier, there would have been
a closer look among its bays and inlets.”

“The search might have been rewarded. A cannon
would easily throw its shot from this deck to the
spot where my brigantine now lies, snug at a single
anchor.”

“Unless you have swept her near since the setting
of the sun, that is impossible! When the night drew
on, nothing was in view but the frigate and corvette
of the enemy.”

“We have not stirred a fathom; and yet, true as
the word of a fearless man, there lies the vessel of

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the sea-green lady. You see the place where the
beach falls—here, at the nearest point of the land—
the island is nearly severed by the water at that
spot, and the Water-Witch is safe in the depths of
the bay which enters from the northward. There
is not a mile between us. From the eastern hill, I
witnessed your spirit this day, Captain Ludlow, and
though condemned in person, I felt that the heart
could never be outlawed. There is a fealty here,
that can survive even the persecutions of the custom-houses!”

“You are happy in your terms, Sir. I will not
conceal that I think seaman, even as skilful as
yourself, must allow that the Coquette was kept
prettily in command!”

“No pilot-boat could have been more sure, or
more lively. I knew your weakness, for the absence
of all your boats was no secret to me; and I confess
I could have spared some of the profits of the voyage,
to have been on your decks this day with a dozen of
my truest fellows!”

“A man who can feel this loyalty to the flag,
should find a more honorable occupation for his usual
life.”

“A country that can inspire it, should be cautious
not to estrange the affections of its children, by monopolies
and injustice. But these are discussions unsuited
to the moment. I am doubly your countryman
in this strait, and all the past is no more than
the rough liberties which friends take with each
other. Captain Ludlow, there is danger brooding
in that dark void which lies to seaward!”

“On what authority do you speak thus?”

“Sight.—I have been among your enemies, and
have seen their deadly preparations. I know the
caution is given to a brave man, and nothing shall be
extenuated. You have need of all your resolution,

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and of every arm—for they will be upon you, in
overwhelming numbers!”

“True or false, thy warning shall not be neglected.”

“Hold!” said the Skimmer, arresting a forward
movement of his companion, with his hand. “Let
them sleep to the last moment. You have yet an
hour, and rest will renew their strength. You may
trust the experience of a seaman who has passed
half of the life of man on the ocean, and who has
witnessed all its most stirring scenes, from the conflict
of the elements to every variety of strife that
man has invented to destroy his fellows. For another
hour, you will be secure.—After that hour, God protect
the unprepared! and God be merciful to him
whose minutes are numbered!”

“Thy language and manner are those of one who
deals honestly;” returned Ludlow, struck by the apparent
sincerity of the free-trader's communication.
“In every event, we shall be ready, though the manner
of your having gained this knowledge is as great
a mystery as your appearance on the deck of my
ship.”

“Both can be explained,” returned the Skimmer,
motioning to his companion to follow to the taffrail.
Here he pointed to a small and nearly imperceptible
skiff, which floated at the bottom of a stern-ladder,
and continued—“One who so often pays secret visits
to the land, can never be in want of the means. This
nut-shell was easily transported across the narrow
slip of land that separates the bay from the ocean,
and though the surf moans so hoarsely, it is easily
passed by a steady and dexterous oarsman. I have
been under the martingale of the Frenchman, and
you see that I am here. If your look-outs are less
alert than usual, you will remember that a low gunwale,
a dusky side, and a muffled oar, are not readily
detected, when the eye is heavy and the body

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wearied. I must now quit you—unless you think it more
prudent to send those who can be of no service, out
of the ship, before the trial shall come?”

Ludlow hesitated. A strong desire to put Alida in
a place of safety, was met by his distrust of the
smuggler's faith. He reflected a moment, ere he answered.

“Your cockle-shell is not sufficiently secure for
more than its owner.—Go, and as you prove loyal,
may you prosper!”

“Abide the blow!” said the Skimmer, grasping his
hand. He then stepped carelessly on the dangling
ropes, and descended into the boat beneath. Ludlow
watched his movements, with an intense and possibly
with a distrustful curiosity. When seated at the
sculls, the person of the free-trader was nearly indistinct;
and as the boat glided noiselessly away, the
young commander no longer felt disposed to censure
those who had permitted its approach without a warning.
In less than a minute, the dusky object was confounded
with the surface of the sea.

Left to himself, the young commander of the Coquette
seriously reflected on what had passed. The
manner of the Skimmer, the voluntary character of
his communication, its probability, and the means by
which his knowledge had been obtained, united to
confirm his truth. Instances of similar attachment
to their flag, in seamen whose ordinary pursuits were
opposed to its interests, were not uncommon. Their
misdeeds resemble the errors of passion and temptation,
while the momentary return to better things is
like the inextinguishable impulses of nature.

The admonition of the free-trader, who had enjoined
the captain to allow his people to sleep, was
remembered. Twenty times, within as many minutes,
did our young sailor examine his watch, to note
the tardy passage of the time; and as often did he
return it to his pocket, with a determination to

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forbear. At length he descended to the quarter-deck,
and drew near the only form that was erect. The
watch was commanded by a youth of sixteen, whose
regular period of probationary service had not passed,
but who, in the absence of his superiors, was intrusted
with this delicate and important duty. He
stood leaning against the capstan, one hand supporting
his cheek, while the elbow rested against the
drum, and the body was without motion. Ludlow
regarded him a moment, and then lifting a lighted
battle-lantern to his face, he saw that he slept. Without
disturbing the delinquent, the captain replaced
the lantern and passed forward. In the gangway
there stood a marine, with his musket shouldered, in
an attitude of attention. As Ludlow brushed within
a few inches of his eyes, it was easy to be seen that
they opened and shut involuntarily, and without consciousness
of what lay before them. On the top-gallant-forecastle
was a short, square, and well-balanced
figure, that stood without support of any kind, with
both arms thrust into the bosom of a jacket, and a
head that turned slowly to the west and south, as if
it were examining the ocean in those directions.

Stepping lightly up the ladder, Ludlow saw that
it was the veteran seaman who was rated as the
captain of the forecastle.

“I am glad, at last, to find one pair of eyes open,
in my ship,” said the captain. “Of the whole watch,
you alone are alert.”

“I have doubled cape fifty, your Honor, and the
seaman who has made that voyage, rarely wants the
second call of the boatswain. Young heads have
young eyes, and sleep is next to food, after a heavy
drag at gun-tackles and lanyards.”

“And what draws your attention so steadily in
that quarter? There is nothing visible but the haze
of the sea.”

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“'Tis the direction of the Frenchmen, Sir—does
your Honor hear nothing?”

“Nothing;” said Ludlow, after intently listening
for half a minute. “Nothing, unless it be the wash
of the surf on the beach.”

“It may be only fancy, but there came a sound
like the fall of an oar-blade on a thwart, and 'tis but
natural, your Honor, to expect the mounsheer will
be out, in this smooth water, to see what has become
of us.—There went the flash of a light, or my name
is not Bob Cleet!”

Ludlow was silent. A light was certainly visible
in the quarter where the enemy was known to be
anchored, and it came and disappeared like a moving
lantern. At length it was seen to descend slowly, and
vanish as if it were extinguished in the water.

“That lantern went into a boat, Captain Ludlow,
though a lubber carried it!” said the positive old
forecastle-man, shaking his head and beginning to
pace across the deck, with the air of a man who
needed no further confirmation of his suspicions.

Ludlow returned towards the quarter-deck,
thoughtful but calm. He passed among his sleeping
crew, without awaking a man, and even forbearing
to touch the still motionless midshipman, he entered
his cabin without speaking.

The commander of the Coquette was absent but
a few minutes. When he again appeared on deck,
there was more of decision and of preparation in his
manner.

“'Tis time to call the watch, Mr. Reef;” he whispered
at the elbow of the drowsy officer of the deck,
without betraying his consciousness of the youth's
forgetfulness of duty. “The glass is out.”

“Ay, ay, Sir.—Bear a hand, and turn the glass!”
muttered the young man. “A fine night, Sir, and
very smooth water.—I was just thinking of—”

“Home and thy mother! 'Tis the way with us all

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in youth. Well, we have now something else to occupy
the thoughts. Muster all the gentlemen, here,
on the quarter-deck, Sir.”

“When the half-sleeping midshipman quitted his
captain to obey this order, the latter drew near the
spot where Trysail still lay in an unquiet sleep. A
light touch of a single finger was sufficient to raise
the master on his feet. The first look of the veteran
tar was aloft, the second at the heavens, and the last
at his captain.

“I fear thy wound stiffens, and that the night air
has added to the pain?” observed the latter, speaking
in a kind and considerate tone.

“The wounded spar cannot be trusted like a sound
stick, Captain Ludlow; but as I am no foot-soldier
on a march, the duty of the ship may go on without
my calling for a horse.”

“I rejoice in thy cheerful spirit, my old friend, for
here is serious work likely to fall upon our hands.
The Frenchmen are in their boats, and we shall
shortly be brought to close quarters, or prognostics
are false.”

“Boats!” repeated the master. “I had rather it
were under our canvas, with a stiff breeze! The
play of this ship is a lively foot, and a touching leech;
but, when, it comes to boats, a marine is nearly as
good a man as a quarter-master!”

“We must take fortune as it offers.—Here is our
council!—It is composed of young heads, but of
hearts that might do credit to gray hairs.”

Ludlow joined the little group of officers that was
by this time assembled near the capstan. Here, in a
few words, he explained the reason why he had summoned
them from their sleep. When each of the
youths understood his orders, and the nature of the
new danger that threatened the ship, they separated,
and began to enter with activity, but in guarded
silence, on the necessary preparations. The sound

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of footsteps awoke a dozen of the older seamen, who
immediately joined their officers.

Half an hour passed like a moment, in such an
occupation. At the end of that time, Ludlow deemed
his ship ready. The two forward guns had been run
in, and the shot having been drawn, their places
were supplied with double charges of grape and
canister. Several swivels, a species of armament
much used in that age, were loaded to the muzzles,
and placed in situations to rake the deck, while the
fore-top was plentifully stored with arms and ammunition.
The matches were prepared, and then the
whole of the crew was mustered, by a particular
call of each man. Five minutes sufficed to issue the
necessary orders, and to see each post occupied.
After this, the low hum ceased in the ship, and the
silence again became so deep and general, that the
wash of the receding surf was nearly as audible as
the plunge of the wave on the sands.

Ludlow stood on the forecastle, accompanied by
the master. Here he lent all his senses to the appearance
of the elements, and to the signs of the
moment. Wind there was none, though occasionally
a breath of hot air came from the land, like the first
efforts of the night-breeze. The heavens were
clouded, though a few thoughtful stars glimmered
between the masses of vapor.

“A calmer night never shut in the Americas!”
said the veteran Trysail, shaking his head doubtingly,
and speaking in a suppressed and cautious tone. “I
am one of those, Captain Ludlow, who think more
than half the virtue is out of a ship when her anchor
is down!”

“With a weakened crew, it may be better for us
that the people have no yards to handle, nor any
bowlines to steady. All our care can be given to
defence.”

“This is much like telling the hawk he can fight

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the better with a clipped wing, since he has not the
trouble of flying! The nature of a ship is motion,
and the merit of a seaman is judicious and lively
handling;—but of what use is complaining, since it
will neither lift an anchor nor fill a sail? What is
your opinion, Captain Ludlow, concerning an after
life, and of all those matters one occasionally hears
of if he happens to drift in the way of a church?”

“The question is broad as the ocean, my good
friend, and a fitting answer might lead us into abstrusities
deeper than any problem in our trigonometry.—
Was that the stroke of an oar?”

“'Twas a land noise. Well, I am no great navigator
among the crooked channels of religion. Every
new argument is a sand-bar, or a shoal, that obliges
me to tack and stand off again; else I might have
been a bishop, for any thing the world knows to the
contrary. 'Tis a gloomy night, Captain Ludlow, and
one that is sparing of its stars. I never knew luck
come of an expedition on which a natural light did
not fall!”

“So much the worse for those who seek to harm
us.—I surely heard an oar in the row-lock!”

“It came from the shore, and had the sound of
the land about it;” quietly returned the master, who
still kept his look riveted on the heavens. “This
world, in which we live, Captain Ludlow, is one of
extraordinary uses; but that, to which we are
steering, is still more unaccountable. They say that
worlds are sailing above us, like ships in a clear sea;
and there are people who believe, that when we
take our departure from this planet, we are only
bound to another, in which we are to be rated according
to our own deeds here; which is much the
same as being drafted for a new ship, with a certificate
of service in one's pocket.”

“The resemblance is perfect;” returned the
other, leaning far over a timber-head, to catch the

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smallest sound that might come from the ocean.
“That was no more than the blowing of a porpoise!”

“It was strong enough for the puff of a whale.
There is no scarcity of big fish on the coast of this
island, and bold harpooners are the men who are
scattered about on the sandy downs, here-away, to
the northward. I once sailed with an officer who
knew the name of every star in the heavens, and
often have I passed hours in listening to his history
of their magnitude and character, during the middle
watches. It was his opinion, that there is but one
navigator for all the rovers of the air, whether meteors,
comets, or planets.”

“No doubt he must be right, having been there.”

“No, that is more than I can say for him, though
few men have gone deeper into the high latitudes
on both sides of our own equator, than he. One
surely spoke—here, in a line with yonder low star!”

“Was it not a water-fowl?”

“No gull—ha! here we have the object, just
within the starboard jib-boom-guy. There comes
the Frenchman in his pride, and 'twill be lucky for
him who lives to count the slain, or to boast of his
deeds!”

The master descended from the forecastle, and
passed among the crew, with every thought recalled
from its excursive flight to the duty of the moment.
Ludlow continued on the forecastle, alone. There
was a low, whispering sound in the ship, like that
which is made by the murmuring of a rising breeze,—
and then all was still as death.

The Coquette lay with her head to seaward, the
stern necessarily pointing towards the land. The
distance from the latter was less than a mile, and
the direction of the ship's hull was caused by the
course of the heavy ground-swell, which incessantly
rolled the waters on the wide beach of the island.

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The head-gear lay in the way of the dim view, and
Ludlow walked out on the bowsprit, in order that
nothing should lie between him and the part of the
ocean he wished to study. Here he had not stood
a minute, when he caught, first a confused and then
a more distinct glimpse of a line of dark objects, advancing
slowly towards the ship. Assured of the
position of his enemy, he returned in-board, and descended
among his people. In another moment he
was again on the forecastle, across which he paced
leisurely, and, to all appearance, with the calmness
of one who enjoyed the refreshing coolness of the
night.

At the distance of a hundred fathoms, the dusky
line of boats paused, and began to change its order.
At that instant the first puffs of the land breeze
were felt, and the stern of the ship made a gentle
inclination seaward.

“Help her with the mizen! Let fall the topsail!”
whispered the young captain to those beneath him.
Ere another moment, the flap of the loosened sail
was heard. The ship swung still further, and Ludlow
stamped on the deck.

A round fiery light shot beyond the martingale,
and the smoke rolled along the sea, outstripped by a
crowd of missiles that were hissing across the water.
A shout, in which command was mingled with shrieks,
followed, and then oar-blades were heard dashing the
water aside, regardless of concealment. The ocean
lighted, and three or four boat-guns returned the
fatal discharge from the ship. Ludlow had not spoken.
Still alone on his elevated and exposed post, he
watched the effects of both fires, with a commander's
coolness. The smile that struggled about his compressed
mouth, when the momentary confusion among
the boats betrayed the success of his own attack,
had been wild and exulting; but when he heard the
rending of the plank beneath him, the heavy groans

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that succeeded, and the rattling of lighter objects
that were scattered by the shot, as it passed with
lessened force along the deck of his ship, it became
fierce and resentful.

“Let them have it!” he shouted, in a clear animating
voice, that assured the people of his presence
and his care. “Show them the humor of an Englishman's
sleep, my lads! Speak to them, tops and
decks!”

The order was obeyed. The remaining bow-gun
was fired, and the discharge of all the Coquette's
musketry and blunderbusses followed. A crowd of
boats came sweeping under the bowsprit of the ship
at the same moment, and then arose the clamor and
shouts of the boarders.

The succeeding minutes were full of confusion,
and of devoted exertion. Twice were the head and
bowsprit of the ship filled with dark groups of men,
whose grim visages were only visible by the pistol's
flash, and as often were they cleared by the pike
and bayonet. A third effort was more successful, and
the tread of the assailants was heard on the deck of
the forecastle. The struggle was but momentary,
though many fell, and the narrow arena was soon
slippery with blood. The Boulognese mariner was
foremost among his countrymen, and at that desperate
emergency Ludlow and Trysail fought in the
common herd. Numbers prevailed, and it was fortunate
for the commander of the Coquette, that the
sudden recoil of a human body that fell upon him,
drove him from his footing to the deck beneath.

Recovering from the fall, the young captain cheered
his men by his voice, and was answered by the
deep-mouthed shouts, which an excited seaman is
ever ready to deliver, even to the death.

“Rally in the gangways, and defy them!” was the
animated cry—“Rally in the gangways, hearts of
oak,” was returned by Trysail, in a ready but

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weakened voice. The men obeyed, and Ludlow saw that
he could still muster a force capable of resistance.

Both parties for a moment paused. The fire of the
top annoyed the boarders, and the defendants hesitated
to advance. But the rush from both was common,
and a fierce encounter occurred at the foot of
the foremast. The crowd thickened in the rear of
the French, and one of their number no sooner fell
than another filled his place. The English receded,
and Ludlow, extricating himself from the mass, retired
to the quarter-deck.

“Give way, men!” he again shouted, so clear and
steady, as to be heard above the cries and execrations
of the fight. “Into the wings; down,—between
the guns—down—to your covers!”

The English disappeared, as if by magic. Some
leaped upon the ridge-ropes, others sought the protection
of the guns, and many went through the
hatches. At that moment Ludlow made his most
desperate effort. Aided by the gunner, he applied
matches to the two swivels, which had been placed
in readiness for a last resort. The deck was enveloped
in smoke, and, when the vapor lifted, the forward
part of the ship was as clear as if man had never
trod it. All who had not fallen, had vanished.

A shout, and a loud hurrah! brought back the
defendants, and Ludlow headed a charge upon the
top-gallant-forecastle, again, in person. A few of
the assailants showed themselves from behind covers
on the deck, and the struggle was renewed. Glaring
balls of fire sailed over the heads of the combatants,
and fell among the throng in the rear. Ludlow saw
the danger, and he endeavored to urge his people
on to regain the bow-guns, one of which was known
to be loaded. But the explosion of a grenade on
deck, and in his rear, was followed by a shock in the
hold, that threatened to force the bottom out of the
vessel. The alarmed and weakened crew began to

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waver, and as a fresh attack of grenades was followed
by a fierce rally, in which the assailants
brought up fifty men in a body from their boats,
Ludlow found himself compelled to retire amid the
retreating mass of his own crew.

The defence now assumed the character of hopeless
but desperate resistance. The cries of the enemy
were more and more clamorous; and they succeeded
in nearly silencing the top, by a heavy fire of musketry
established on the bowsprit and sprit-sail-yard.

Events passed much faster than they can be related.
The enemy were in possession of all the forward
part of the ship to her fore-hatches, but into
these young Hopper had thrown himself, with half-a-dozen
men, and, aided by a brother midshipman in
the launch, backed by a few followers, they still held
the assailants at bay. Ludlow cast an eye behind
him, and began to think of selling his life as dearly
as possible in the cabins. That glance was arrested
by the sight of the malign smile of the sea-green
lady, as the gleaming face rose above the taffrail.
A dozen dark forms leaped upon the poop, and then
arose a voice that sent every tone it uttered to his
heart.

“Abide the shock!” was the shout of those who
came to the succor; and “abide the shock!” was
echoed by the crew. The mysterious image glided
along the deck, and Ludlow knew the athletic frame
that brushed through the throng at its side.

There was little noise in the onset, save the groans
of the sufferers. It endured but a moment, but it
was a moment that resembled the passage of a whirlwind.
The defendants knew that they were succored,
and the assailants recoiled before so unexpected a
foe. The few that were caught beneath the forecastle
were mercilessly slain, and those above were
swept from their post like chaff drifting in a gale.
The living and the dead were heard falling alike

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into the sea, and in an unconceivably short space of
time, the decks of the Coquette were free. A solitary
enemy still hesitated on the bowsprit. A powerful
and active frame leaped along the spar, and though
the blow was not seen, its effects were visible, as the
victim tumbled helplessly into the ocean.

The hurried dash of oars followed, and before the
defendants had time to assure themselves of the
completeness of their success, the gloomy void of the
surrounding ocean had swallowed up the boats.

CHAPTER XIV.

“That face of his I do remember well;
Yet, when I saw it last, it was besmear'd
As black as Vulcan, in the smoke of war.”
What you will.

From the moment when the Coquette fired her
first gun, to the moment when the retiring boats became
invisible, was just twenty minutes. Of this
time, less than half had been occupied by the incidents
related, in the ship. Short as it was in truth,
it seemed to all engaged but an instant. The alarm
was over, the sound of the oars had ceased, and still
the survivors stood at their posts, as if expecting the
attack to be renewed. Then came those personal
thoughts, which had been suspended in the fearful
exigency of such a struggle. The wounded began
to feel their pain, and to be sensible of the danger
of their injuries; while the few, who had escaped
unhurt, turned a friendly care on their shipmates.
Ludlow, as often happens with the bravest and most
exposed, had escaped without a scratch; but he saw
by the drooping forms around him, which were no

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longer sustained by the excitement of battle, that
his triumph was dearly purchased.

“Send Mr. Trysail to me;” he said, in a tone that
had little of a victor's exultation. “The land breeze
has made, and we will endeavor to improve it, and
get inside the cape, lest the morning light give us
more of these Frenchmen.”

The order for `Mr. Trysail!' `the captain calls
the master!' passed in a low call from mouth to
mouth, but it was unanswered. A seaman told the
expecting young commander, that the surgeon desired
his presence forward. A gleaming of lights and
a little group at the foot of the foremast, was a beacon
not to be mistaken. The weatherbeaten master
was in the agony; and his medical attendant had just
risen from a fruitless examination of his wounds, as
Ludlow approached.

“I hope the hurt is not serious?” hurriedly whispered
the alarmed young sailor to the surgeon, who
was coolly collecting his implements, in order to administer
to some more promising subject. “Neglect
nothing that your art can suggest.”

“The case is desperate, Captain Ludlow,” returned
the phlegmatic surgeon; “but if you have a taste
for such things, there is as beautiful a case for amputation
promised in the fore-topman whom I have
had sent below, as offers once in a whole life of active
practice!”

“Go, go—” interrupted Ludlow, half pushing the
unmoved man of blood away, as he spoke; “go, then,
where your services are needed.”

The other cast a glance around him, reproved his
attendant, in a sharp tone, for unnecessarily exposing
the blade of some ferocious-looking instrument to the
dew, and departed.

“Would to God, that some portion of these injuries
had befallen those who are younger and
stronger!” murmured the captain, as he leaned over

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the dying master. “Can I do aught to relieve thy
mind, my old and worthy shipmate?”

“I have had my misgivings, since we have dealt
with witchcraft!” returned Trysail, whose voice the
rattling of the throat had already nearly silenced.
“I have had misgivings—but no matter. Take care
of the ship—I have been thinking of our people—
you'll have to cut—they can never lift the anchor—
the wind is here at north.”

“All this is ordered. Trouble thyself no further
about the vessel; she shall be taken care of, I promise
you.—Speak of thy wife, and of thy wishes in England.”

“God bless Mrs. Trysail! She'll get a pension, and
I hope contentment! You must give the reef a good,
berth, in rounding Montauk—and you'll naturally
wish to find the anchors again, when the coast is
clear—if you can find it in your conscience, say a
good word of poor old Ben Trysail, in the dispatches—”

The voice of the master sunk to a whisper, and
became inaudible. Ludlow thought he strove to
speak again, and he bent his ear to his mouth.

“I say—the weather-main-swifter and both backstays
are gone; look to the spars, for—for—there are
sometimes—heavy puffs at night—in the Americas!”

The last heavy respiration succeeded, after which
came the long silence of death. The body was removed
to the poop, and Ludlow, with a saddened
heart, turned to duties that this accident rendered
still more imperative.

Notwithstanding the heavy loss, and the originally
weakened state of her crew, the sails of the Coquette
were soon spread, and the ship moved away in silence,
as if sorrowing for those who had fallen at her anchorage.
When the vessel was fairly in motion, her
captain ascended to the poop, in order to command
a clearer view of all around him, as well as to profit

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by the situation to arrange his plans for the future.
He found he had been anticipated by the free-trader.

“I owe my ship—I may say my life, since in such
a conflict they would have gone together, to thy
succor!” said the young commander, as he approached
the motionless form of the smuggler. “Without
it, Queen Anne would have lost a cruiser, and the
flag of England a portion of its well-earned glory.”

“May thy royal mistress prove as ready to remember
her friends, in emergencies, as mine. In good
truth, there was little time to lose, and trust, me, we
well understood the extremity. If we were trady,
it was because whale-boats were to be brought from
a distance; for the land lies between my brigantine
and the sea.”

“He who came so opportunely, and acted so well,
needs no apology.”

“Captain Ludlow, are we friends?”

“It cannot be otherwise. All minor considerations
must be lost in such a service. If it is your intention
to push this illegal trade further, on the coast,
I must seek another station.”

“Not so.—Remain, and do credit to your flag, and
the land of your birth. I have long thought that
this is the last time the keel of the Water-Witch
will ever plow the American seas. Before I quit
you, I would have an interview with the merchant.
A worse man might have fallen, and just now even a
better man might be spared. I hope no harm has
come to him?”

“He has shown the steadiness of his Holland lineage,
to-day. During the boarding, he was useful and
cool.”

“It is well. Let the Alderman be summoned to
the deck, for my time is limited, and I have much to
say—”

The Skimmer paused, for at that moment a fierce
light glared upon the ocean, the ship, and all in it.

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The two seamen gazed at each other in silence, and
both recoiled, as men recede before an unexpected
and fearful attack. But a bright and wavering light,
which rose out of the forward hatch of the vessel,
explained all. At the same moment, the deep stillness
which, since the bustle of making sail had ceased,
pervaded the ship, was broken by the appalling cry
of “Fire!”

The alarm which brings the blood in the swiftest
current to a seaman's heart, was now heard in the
depths of the vessel. The smothered sounds below,
the advancing uproar, and the rush on deck, with the
awful summons in the open air, succeeded each other
with the rapidity of lightning. A dozen voices repeated
the word `the grenade!' proclaiming in a
breath both the danger and the cause. But an instant
before, the swelling canvas, the dusky spars,
and the faint lines of the cordage, were only to be
traced by the glimmering light of the stars; and now
the whole hamper of the ship was the more conspicuous,
from the obscure back-ground against which it
was drawn in distinct lines. The sight was fearfully
beautiful;—beautiful, for it showed the symmetry
and fine outlines of the vessel's rig, resembling the
effect of a group of statuary seen by torch-light,—
and fearful, since the dark void beyond seemed to declare
their isolated and helpless state.

There was one breathless, eloquent moment, in
which all were seen gazing at the grand spectacle in
mute awe,—and then a voice rose, clear, distinct,
and commanding, above the sullen sound of the torrent
of fire, which was roaring among the avenues
of the ship.

“Call all hands to extinguish fire! Gentlemen, to
your stations. Be cool, men; and be silent!”

There was a calmness and an authority in the
tones of the young commander, that curbed the impetuous
feelings of the startled crew. Accustomed

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to obedience, and trained to order, each man broke
out of his trance, and eagerly commenced the discharge
of his allotted duty. At that instant, an erect
and unmoved form stood on the combings of the mainhatch.
A hand was raised in the air, and the call,
which came from the deep chest, was like that of
one used to speak in the tempest.

“Where are my brigantines?” it said—“Come
away there, my sea-dogs; wet the light sails, and
follow!”

A group of grave and submissive mariners gathered
about the `Skimmer of the Seas,' at the sound
of his voice. Glancing an eye over them, as if to
scan their quality and number, he smiled, with a look
in which high daring and practised self-command
was blended with a constitutional gaîté de cœur.

“One deck, or two!”—he added; “what avails a
plank, more or less, in an explosion?—Follow!”

The free-trader and his people disappeared in the
interior of the ship. An interval of great and resolute
exertion succeeded. Blankets, sails, and every
thing which offered, and which promised to be of
use, were wetted and cast upon the flames. The
engine was brought to bear, and the ship was deluged
with water. But the confined space, with the heat
and smoke, rendered it impossible to penetrate to
those parts of the vessel where the conflagration
raged. The ardor of the men abated as hope lessened,
and after half an hour of fruitless exertion, Ludlow
saw, with pain, that his assistants began to yield to
the inextinguishable principle of nature. The appearance
of the Skimmer on deck, followed by all
his people, destroyed hope, and every effort ceased
as suddenly as it had commenced.

“Think of your wounded;” whispered the free-trader,
with a steadiness no danger could disturb.
“We stand on a raging volcano!”

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“I have ordered the gunner to drown the magazine.”

“He was too late. The hold of the ship is a fiery
furnace. I heard him fall among the store-rooms,
and it surpassed the power of man to give the wretch
succor. The grenade has fallen near some combustibles,
and, painful as it is to part with a ship so loved,
Ludlow, thou wilt meet the loss like a man! Think
of thy wounded; my boats are still hanging at the
stern.”

Ludlow reluctantly, but firmly, gave the order to
bear the wounded to the boats. This was an arduous
and delicate duty. The smallest boy in the ship
knew the whole extent of the danger, and that a
moment, by the explosion of the powder, might precipitate
them all into eternity. The deck forward
was getting too hot to be endured, and there were
places even in which the beams had given symptoms
of yielding.

But the poop, elevated still above the fire, offered
a momentary refuge. Thither all retired, while the
weak and wounded were lowered, with the caution
circumstances would permit, into the whale-boats of
the smugglers.

Ludlow stood at one ladder and the free-trader at
the other, in order to be certain that none proved
recreant in so trying a moment. Near them were
Alida, Seadrift, and the Alderman, with the attendants
of the former.

It seemed an age, before this humane and tender
duty was performed. At length the cry of “all in!”
was uttered, in a manner to betray the extent of
the self-command that had been necessary to effect it.

“Now, Alida, we may think of thee!” said Ludlow,
turning to the spot occupied by the silent heiress.

“And you!” she said, hesitating to move.

“Duty demands that I should be the last—

A sharp explosion beneath, and fragments of fire

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flying upwards through a hatch, interrupted his
words. Plunges into the sea, and a rush of the people
to the boats, followed. All order and authority were
completely lost, in the instinct of life. In vain did
Ludlow call on his men to be cool, and to wait for
those who were still above. His words were lost, in
the uproar of clamorous voices. For a moment, it
seemed, however, as if the Skimmer of the Seas would
overcome the confusion. Throwing himself on a
ladder, he glided into the bows of one of the boats,
and, holding by the ropes with a vigorous arm, he
resisted the efforts of all the oars and boat-hooks,
while he denounced destruction on him who dared to
quit the ship. Had not the two crews been mingled,
the high authority and determined mien of the free-trader
would have prevailed; but while some were
disposed to obey, others raised the cry of “throw the
dealer in witchcraft into the sea!”—Boat-hooks were
already pointed at his breast, and the horrors of the
fearful moment were about to be increased by the
violence of a mutinous contention, when a second explosion
nerved the arms of the rowers to madness.
With a common and desperate effort, they overcame
all resistance. Swinging off upon the ladder, the
furious seaman saw the boat glide from his grasp,
and depart. The execration that was uttered, beneath
the stern of the Coquette, was deep and powerful;
but, in another moment, the Skimmer stood
on the poop, calm and undejected, in the centre of
the deserted group.

“The explosion of a few of the officers' pistols has
frightened the miscreants;” he said, cheerfully.
“But hope is not yet lost!—they linger in the distance,
and may return!”

The sight of the helpless party on the poop, and
the consciousness of being less exposed themselves,
had indeed arrested the progress of the fugitives.
Still, selfishness predominated; and while most

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regretted their danger, none but the young and unheeded
midshipmen, who were neither of an age nor
of a rank to wield sufficient authority, proposed to
return. There was little argument necessary to
show that the perils increased at each moment; and,
finding that no other expedient remained, the gallant
youths encouraged the men to pull towards the land;
intending themselves to return instantly to the assistance
of their commander and his friends. The
oars dashed into the water again, and the retiring
boats were soon lost to view in the body of darkness.

While the fire had been raging within, another
element, without, had aided to lessen hope for those
who were abandoned. The wind from the land had
continued to rise, and, during the time lost in useless
exertion, the ship had been permitted to run nearly
before it. When hope was gone, the helm had been
deserted, and as all the lower sails had been hauled
up to avoid the flames, the vessel had drifted, many
minutes, nearly dead to leeward. The mistaken
youths, who had not attended to these circumstances,
were already miles from that beach they hoped to
reach so soon; and ere the boats had separated from
the ship five minutes, they were hopelessly asunder.
Ludlow had early thought of the expedient of stranding
the vessel, as the means of saving her people;
but his better knowledge of their position, soon showed
him the utter futility of the attempt.

Of the progress of the flames beneath, the mariners
could only judge by circumstances. The Skimmer
glanced his eye about him, on regaining the
poop, and appeared to scan the amount and quality
of the physical force that was still at their disposal.
He saw that the Alderman, the faithful François,
and two of his own seamen, with four of the petty
officers of the ship, remained. The six latter, even
in that moment of desperation, had calmly refused to
desert their officers.

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“The flames are in the state-rooms!” he whispered
to Ludlow.

“Not further aft, I think, than the berths of the
midshipmen—else we should hear more pistols.”

“True—they are fearful signals to let us know
the progress of the fire!—our resource is a raft.”

Ludlow looked as if he despaired of the means;
but, concealing the discouraging fear, he answered
cheerfully in the affirmative. The orders were instantly
given, and all on board gave themselves to
the task, heart and hand. The danger was one that
admitted of no ordinary or half-conceived expedients;
but, in such an emergency, it required all the
readiness of their art, and even the greatness of that
conception which is the property of genius. All distinctions
of rank and authority had ceased, except
as deference was paid to natural qualities and the
intelligence of experience. Under such circumstances,
the `Skimmer of the Seas' took the lead;
and though Ludlow caught his ideas with professional
quickness, it was the mind of the free-trader that
controlled, throughout, the succeeding exertions of
that fearful night.

The cheek of Alida was blanched to a deadly
paleness; but there rested about the bright and wild
eyes of Seadrift, an expression of supernatural resolution.

When the crew abandoned the hope of extinguishing
the flames, they had closed all the hatches,
to retard the crisis as much as possible. Here and
there, however, little torch-like lights were beginning
to show themselves through the planks, and the whole
deck, forward of the main-mast, was already in a
critical and sinking state. One or two of the beams
had failed, but, as yet, the form of the construction
was preserved. Still the seamen distrusted the
treacherous footing, and, had the heat permitted the
experiment, they would have shrunk from a risk

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which at any unexpected moment might commit
them to the fiery furnace beneath.

The smoke ceased, and a clear, powerful light
illuminated the ship to her trucks. In consequence
of the care and exertions of her people, the sails
and masts were yet untouched; and as the graceful
canvas swelled with the breeze, it still urged the
blazing hull through the water.

The forms of the Skimmer and his assistants were
visible, in the midst of the gallant gear, perched on
the giddy yards. Seen by that light, with his peculiar
attire, his firm and certain step, and his resolute
air, the free-trader resembled some fancied sea-god,
who, secure in his immortal immunities, had come to
act his part in that awful but exciting trial of hardihood
and skill. Seconded by the common men, he
was employed in cutting the canvas from the yards.
Sail after sail fell upon the deck, and, in an incredibly
short space of time, the whole of the fore-mast
was naked to its spars and rigging.

In the mean time, Ludlow, assisted by the Alderman
and François, had not been idle below. Passing
forward between the empty ridge-ropes, lanyard after
lanyard parted under the blows of their little boarding-axes.
The mast now depended on the strength
of the wood and the support of a single back-stay.

“Lay down!” shouted Ludlow. “All is gone aft,
but this stay!”

The Skimmer leaped upon the firm rope, followed
by all aloft, and, gliding downwards, he was instantly
in the hammock-cloths. A crash followed their descent,
and an explosion, which caused the whole of
the burning fabric to tremble to its centre, seemed
to announce the end of all. Even the free-trader
recoiled before the horrible din; but when he stood
near Seadrift and the heiress again, there was cheerfulness
in his tones, and a look of high, and even of
gay resolution, in his firm countenance.

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“The deck has failed forwards,” he said, “and our
artillery is beginning to utter fearful signal-guns! Be
of cheer!—the magazine of a ship lies deep, and
many sheathed bulk-heads still protect us.”

Another discharge from a heated gun, however,
proclaimed the rapid progress of the flames. The
fire broke out of the interior anew, and the fore-mast
kindled.

“There must be an end of this!” said Alida,
clasping her hands in a terror that could not be controlled.
“Save yourselves, if possible, you who have
strength and courage, and leave us to the mercy of
him whose eye is over all!”

“Go;” added Seadrift, whose sex could no longer
be concealed. “Human courage can do no more:
leave us to die!”

The looks, that were returned to these sad requests,
were melancholy but unmoved. The Skimmer
caught a rope, and still holding it in his hand,
he descended to the quarter-deck, on which he at
first trusted his weight with jealous caution. Then
looking up, he smiled encouragingly, and said,—
“Where a gun still stands, there is no danger for the
weight of a man!”

“It is our only resource;” cried Ludlow, imitating
his example. “On, my men, while the beams will
still hold us.”

In a moment, all were on the quarter-deck, though
the excessive heat rendered it impossible to remain
stationary an instant. A gun on each side was run
in, its tackles loosened, and its muzzle pointed towards
the tottering, unsupported, but still upright
foremast.

“Aim at the cleets!” said Ludlow to the Skimmer,
who pointed one gun, while he did the same office at
the other.

“Hold!” cried the latter “Throw in shot—it is

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but the chance between a bursting gun and a lighted
magazine!”

Additional balls were introduced into each piece,
and then, with steady hands, the gallant mariners
applied burning brands to the priming. The discharges
were simultaneous, and, for an instant, volumes
of smoke rolled along the deck and seemed to
triumph over the conflagration. The rending of
wood was audible. It was followed by a sweeping
noise in the air, and the fall of the fore-mast, with
all its burden of spars, into the sea. The motion of
the ship was instantly arrested, and, as the heavy
timbers were still attached to the bowsprit by the
forward stays, her head came to the wind, when
the remaining topsails flapped, shivered, and took
aback.

The vessel was now, for the first time during the
fire, stationary. The common mariners profited by
the circumstance, and, darting past the mounting
flame along the bulwarks, they gained the top-gallant-forecastle,
which though heated was yet untouched.
The Skimmer glanced an eye about him,
and seizing Seadrift by the waist, as if the mimic
seaman had been a child, he pushed forward between
the ridge-ropes. Ludlow followed with Alida, and
the others intimated their example in the best manner
they could. All reached the head of the ship in
safety; though Ludlow had been driven by the
flames into the fore-channels, and thence nearly into
the sea.

The petty officers were already on the floating
spars, separating them from each other, cutting away
the unnecessary weight of rigging, bringing the
several parts of the wood in parallel lines, and lashing
them anew. Ever and anon, these rapid movements
were quickened by one of those fearful signals
from the officers' berths, which, by announcing the
progress of the flames beneath, betrayed their

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increasing proximity to the still-slumbering volcano.
The boats had been gone an hour, and yet it seemed,
to all in the ship, but a minute. The conflagration
had, for the last ten minutes, advanced with renewed
fury; and the whole of the confined flame, which
had been so long pent in the depths of the vessel,
now glared high in the open air.

“This heat can no longer be borne,” said Ludlow;
“we must to our raft, for breath.”

“To the raft then!” returned the cheerful voice
of the free-trader. “Haul in upon your fasts, men,
and stand by to receive the precious freight.”

The seamen obeyed. Alida and her companions
were lowered safely to the place prepared for their
reception. The fore-mast had gone over the side, with
all its spars aloft; for preparation had been made,
before the fire commenced, to carry sail to the utmost,
in order to escape the enemy. The skilful and
active seamen, directed and aided by Ludlow and
the Skimmer, had made a simple but happy disposition
of those boyant materials on which their all
now depended. In settling in the water, the yards,
still crossed, had happily fallen uppermost. The
booms and all the light spars had been floated near
the top, and laid across, reaching from the lower to
the topsail-yard. A few light spars, stowed outboard,
had been cut away and added to the number, and
the whole were secured with the readiness and ingenuity
of seamen. On the first alarm of fire, some
of the crew had seized a few light articles that
would float, and rushed to the head, as the place
most remote from the magazine, in the blind hope
of saving life by swimming. Most of these articles
had been deserted, when the people were rallied to
exertion by their officers. A couple of empty shot-boxes
and a mess-chest were among them, and on
the latter were seated the females, while the former
served to keep their feet from the water. As the

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arrangement of the spars forced the principal mast
entirely beneath the element, and the ship was so
small as to need little artificial work in her masting,
the part around the top, which contained the staging,
was scarcely submerged. Although a ton in weight
was added to the inherent gravity of the wood, still,
as the latter was of the lightest description, and
freed as much as possible of every thing that was
unnecessary to the safety of those it supported, the
spars floated sufficiently buoyant for the temporary
security of the fugitives.

“Cut the fast!” said Ludlow, involuntarily starting
at several explosions in the interior, which followed
each other in quick succession, and which
were succeeded by one which sent fragments of burning
wood into the air. “Cut, and bear the raft off the
ship!—God knows, we have need to be further
asunder!”

“Cut not!” cried the half-frantic Seadrift—“My
brave!—my devoted!—”

“Is safe;—” calmly said the Skimmer, appearing
in the rattlings of the main-rigging, which was still
untouched by the fire—“Cut off all! I stay to brace
the mizen-topsail more firmly aback.”

The duty was done, and for a moment the fine
figure of the free-trader was seen standing on the
edge of the burning ship, looking with regret at the
glowing mass.

“'Tis the end of a lovely craft!” he said, loud
enough to be heard by those beneath. Then he appeared
in the air, and sunk into the sea—“The last
signal was from the ward-room,” added the dauntless
and dexterous mariner, as he rose from the water,
and, shaking the brine from his head, he took his
place on the stage—“Would to God the wind would
blow, for we have need of greater distance!”

The precaution the free-trader had taken, in adjusting
the sails, was not without its use. Motion

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the raft had none, but as the topsails of the Coquette
were still aback, the flaming mass, no longer arrested
by the clogs in the water, began slowly to separate
from the floating spars, though the tottering and half-burnt
masts threatened, at each moment, to fall.

Never did moments seem so long, as those which
succeeded. Even the Skimmer and Ludlow watched,
in speechless interest, the tardy movements of the
ship. By little and little, she receded; and, after ten
minutes of intense expectation, the seamen, whose
anxiety had increased as their exertions ended, began
to breathe more freely. They were still fearfully
near the dangerous fabric, but destruction from
the explosion was no longer inevitable. The flames
began to glide upwards, and then the heavens appeared
on fire, as one heated sail after another kindled
and flared wildly in the breeze.

Still the stern of the vessel was entire. The body
of the master was seated against the mizen-mast,
and even the stern visage of the old seaman was
distinctly visible, under the broad light of the conflagration.
Ludlow gazed at it in melancholy, and
for a time he ceased to think of his ship, while
memory dwelt, in sadness, on those scenes of boyish
happiness, and of professional pleasures, in which his
ancient shipmate had so largely participated. The
roar of a gun, whose stream of fire flashed nearly to
their faces, and the sullen whistling of its shot, which
crossed the raft, failed to awaken him from his trance.

“Stand firm to the mess-chest!” half-whispered
the Skimmer, motioning to his companions to place
themselves in attitudes to support the weaker of their
party, while, with sedulous care, he braced his own
athletic person in a manner to throw all of its
weight and strength against the seat. “Stand firm,
and be ready!”

Ludlow complied, though his eye scarce changed
its direction. He saw the bright flame that was

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rising above the arm-chest, and he fancied that it
came from the funeral pile of the young Dumont,
whose fate, at that moment, he was almost disposed
to envy. Then his look returned to the grim countenance
of Trysail. At moments, it seemed as if the
dead master spoke; and so strong did the illusion
become, that our young sailor more than once bent
forward to listen. While under this delusion, the
body rose, with the arms stretched upwards. The
air was filled with a sheet of streaming fire, while
the ocean and the heavens glowed with one glare
of intense and fiery red. Notwithstanding the precaution
of the `Skimmer of the Seas,' the chest was
driven from its place, and those by whom it was
held were nearly precipitated into the water. A
deep, heavy detonation proceeded as it were from
the bosom of the sea, which, while it wounded the
ear less than the sharp explosion that had just before
issued from the gun, was audible at the distant capes
of the Delaware. The body of Trysail sailed upward
for fifty fathoms, in the centre of a flood of
flame, and, describing a short curve, it came towards
the raft, and cut the water within reach of the captain's
arm. A sullen plunge of a gun followed, and
proclaimed the tremendous power of the explosion;
while a ponderous yard fell athwart a part of the
raft, sweeping away the four petty officers of Ludlow,
as if they had been dust driving before a gale.
To increase the wild and fearful grandeur of the
dissolution of the royal cruiser, one of the cannon
emitted its fiery contents while sailing in the void.

The burning spars, the falling fragments, the
blazing and scattered canvas and cordage, the glowing
shot, and all the torn particles of the ship, were
seen descending. Then followed the gurgling of
water, as the ocean swallowed all that remained of
the cruiser which had so long been the pride of the
American seas. The fiery glow disappeared, and a

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gloom like that which succeeds the glare of vivid
lightning, fell on the scene.

CHAPTER XV.

“—Please you, read.”

CYMBELINE.

It is past!” said the `Skimmer of the Seas,'
raising himself from the attitude of great muscular
exertion, which he had assumed in order to support
the mess-chest, and walking out along the single
mast, towards the spot whence the four seamen of
Ludlow had just been swept. “It is past! and those
who are called to the last account, have met their
fate in such a scene as none but a seaman may witness;
while those who are spared, have need of all
a seaman's skill and resolution for that which remains!
Captain Ludlow, I do not despair; for, see,
the lady of the brigantine has still a smile for her
servitors!”

Ludlow, who had followed the steady and daring
free-trader to the place where the spar had fallen,
turned and cast a look in the direction that the other
stretched his arm. Within a hundred feet of him,
he saw the image of the sea-green lady, rocking in
the agitated water, and turned towards the raft,
with its usual expression of wild and malicious intelligence.
This emblem of their fancied mistress had
been borne in front of the smugglers, when they
mounted the poop of the Coquette; and the steeled
staff on which the lantern was perched, had been
struck into a horse-bucket by the standard-bearer
of the moment, ere he entered the mêlée of the combat.
During the conflagration, this object had more

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than once met the eye of Ludlow; and now it appeared
floating quietly by him, in a manner almost
to shake even his contempt for the ordinary superstitions
of seamen. While he hesitated in what manner
he should reply to his companion's remark, the
latter plunged into the sea, and swam towards the
light. He was soon by the side of the raft again,
bearing aloft the symbol of his brigantine. There
are none so firm in the dominion of reason, as to be
entirely superior to the secret impulses which teach
us all to believe in the hidden agency of a good or
an evil fortune. The voice of the free-trader was
more cheerful, and his step more sure and elastic, as
he crossed the stage and struck the armed end of the
staff into that part of the top-rim of the Coquette,
which floated uppermost.

“Courage!” he gaily cried. “While this light
burns, my star is not set! Courage, lady of the land;
for here is one of the deep waters, who still looks
kindly on her followers! We are at sea, on a frail
craft it is certain, but a dull sailer may make a sure
passage.—Speak, gallant Master Seadrift: thy gaiety
and spirit should revive under so goodly an omen!”

But the agent of so many pleasant masquerades,
and the instrument of so much of his artifice, had not
a fortitude equal to the buoyant temper of the smuggler.
The counterfeit bowed his head by the side
of the silent Alida, without reply. The `Skimmer of
the Seas' regarded the group, a moment, with manly
interest; and then touching the arm of Ludlow, he
walked, with a balancing step, along the spars, until
they had reached a spot where they might confer
without causing unnecessary alarm to their companions.

Although so imminent and so pressing a danger as
that of the explosion had passed, the situation of
those who had escaped was scarcely better than that
of those who had been lost. The heavens showed a

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few glimmering stars in the openings of the clouds;
and now, that the first contrast of the change had
lessened, there was just enough light to render all the
features of their actual state gloomily imposing.

It has been said, that the fore-mast of the Coquette
went by the board, with most of its hamper
aloft. The sails, with such portion of the rigging as
might help to sustain it, had been hastily cut away
as related; and after its fall, until the moment of the
explosion, the common men had been engaged, either
in securing the staging, or in clearing the wreck of
those heavy ropes which, useless as fastenings, only
added to the weight of the mass. The whole wreck
lay upon the sea, with the yards crossed and in their
places, much as the spars had stood. The large
booms had been unshipped, and laid in such a manner
around the top, with the ends resting on the
lower and top-sail yards, as to form the foundation of
the staging. The smaller booms, with the mess-chest
and shot-boxes, were all that lay between the group
in the centre, and the depths of the ocean. The
upper part of the top-rim rose a few feet above the
water, and formed an important protection against
the night-breeze and the constant washing of the
waves. In this manner were the females seated, cautioned
not to trust their feet on the frail security of
the booms, and supported by the unremitting care of
the Alderman. Francois had submitted to be lashed
to the top by one of the brigantine's seamen, while
the latter, all of the common herd who remained,
encouraged by the presence of their standard-light,
began to occupy themselves in looking to the fastenings
and other securities of the raft.

“We are in no condition for a long or an active
cruise, Captain Ludlow,” said the Skimmer, when he
and his companion were out of hearing. “I have
been at sea in all weathers, and in every description

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of craft; but this is the boldest of my experiments on
the water.—I hope it may not be the last!”

“We cannot conceal from ourselves the frightful
hazards we run,” returned Ludlow, “however much
we may wish them to be a secret to some among
us.”

“This is truly a deserted sea, to be abroad in, on
a raft! Were we in the narrow passages between
the British islands and the Main, or even in the Biscay
waters, there would be hope that some trader
or roving cruiser might cross our track; but our
chance here lies much between the Frenchman and
the brigantine.”

“The enemy has doubtless seen and heard the explosion,
and, as the land is so near, they will infer
that the people are saved in the boats. Our chance
of seeing more of them is much diminished by the
accident of the fire, since there will no longer be a
motive for remaining on the coast.”

“And will your young officers abandon their captain
without a search?”

“Hope of aid from that quarter is faint. The ship
ran miles while in flames, and, before the light returns,
these spars will have drifted leagues, with the
ebbing tide, to seaward.”

“Truly, I have sailed with better auguries!” observed
the Skimmer—“What are the bearings and
distance of the land?”

“It still lies to the north, but we are fast setting
east and southerly. Ere morning we shall be abeam
of Montauk, or even beyond it; we must already be
some leagues in the offing.”

“That is worse than I had imagined!—but there
is hope on the flood?”

“The flood will bear us northward again—but—
what think you of the heavens?”

“Unfavorable, though not desperate. The seabreeze
will return with the sun.”

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“And with it will return the swell! How long will
these ill-secured spars hold together, when agitated
by the heave of the water? Or, how long will those
with us bear up against the wash of the sea, unsupported
by nourishment?”

“You paint in gloomy colors, Captain Ludlow,”
said the free-trader, drawing a heavy breath, in
spite of all his resolution. “My experience tells me
you are right, though my wishes would fain contradict
you. Still, I think we have the promise of a
tranquil night.”

“Tranquil for a ship, or even for a boat; but hazardous
to a raft like this. You see that this top-mast
already works in the cap, at each heave of the water,
and as the wood loosens, our security lessens.”

“Thy council is not flattering!—Captain Ludlow,
you are a seaman and a man, and I shall not attempt
to trifle with your knowledge. With you, I think the
danger imminent, and almost our only hope dependent
on the good fortune of my brigantine.”

“Will those in her think it their duty to quit their
anchorage, to come in quest of a raft whose existence
is unknown to them?”

“There is hope in the vigilance of her of the sea-green
mantle! You may deem this fanciful, or even
worse, at such a moment; but I, who have run so
many gauntlets under her favor, have faith in her
fortunes. Surely, you are not a seaman, Captain
Ludlow, without a secret dependence on some unseen
and potent agency!”

“My dependence is placed in the agency of him
who is all-potent, but never visible. If he forget us,
we may indeed despair!”

“This is well, but it is not the fortune I would express.
Believe me, spite of an education which teaches
all you have said, and of a reason that is often too
clear for folly, there is a secret reliance on hidden
chances, that has been created by a life of activity

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and hazard, and which, if it should do nothing better,
does not abandon me to despair. The omen of
the light and the smile of my mistress would cheer
me, spite of a thousand philosophers!”

“You are fortunate in purchasing consolation so
cheaply;” returned the commander of Queen Anne,
who felt a latent hope in his companion's confidence
that he would have hesitated to acknowledge. “I
see but little that we can do to aid our chances, except
it be to clear away all unnecessary weight, and
to secure the raft as much as possible by additional
lashings.”

The `Skimmer of the Seas' assented to the proposal.
Consulting a moment longer, on the details
of their expedients, they rejoined the group near the
top, in order to see them executed. As the seamen
on the raft were reduced to the two people of the
brigantine, Ludlow and his companion were obliged
to assist in the performance of the duty.

Much useless rigging, that added to the pressure
without aiding the buoyancy of the raft, was cut
away; and all the boom-irons were knocked off the
yards, and suffered to descend to the bottom of the
ocean. By these means a great weight was taken
from the raft, which in consequence floated with so
much additional power to sustain those who depended
on it for life. The Skimmer, accompanied by his
two silent but obedient seamen, ventured along the
attenuated and submerged spars to the extremity of
the tapering masts, and after toiling, with the dexterity
of men accustomed to deal with the complicated
machinery of a ship in the darkest nights, they
succeeded in releasing the two smaller masts with
their respective yards, and in floating them down to
the body of the wreck, or the part around the top.
Here the sticks were crossed in a manner to give
great additional strength and footing to the stage.

There was an air of hope, and a feeling of

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increased security, in this employment. Even the Alderman
and Francois aided in the task, to the extent
of their knowledge and force. But when these alterations
were made, and additional lashings had
been applied to keep the topmast and the larger
yards in their places, Ludlow, by joining those who
were around the mast-head, tacitly admitted that
little more could be done to avert the chances of the
elements.

During the few hours occupied in this important
duty, Alida and her companion addressed themselves
to God, in long and fervent petitions. With woman's
faith in that divine being who alone could avail them,
and with woman's high mental fortitude in moments
of protracted trial, they had both known how to control
the exhibition of their terrors, and had sought
their support in the same appeal to a power superior
to all of earth. Ludlow was therefore more than
rewarded by the sound of Alida's voice, speaking to
him cheerfully, as she thanked him for what he had
done, when he admitted that he could now do no
more.

“The rest is with Providence!” added Alida. “All
that bold and skilful seamen can do, have ye done;
and all that woman in such a situation can do, have
we done in your behalf!”

“Thou hast thought of me in thy prayers, Alida!
It is an intercession that the stoutest needs, and
which none but the fool derides.”

“And thou, Eudora! thou hast remembered him
who quiets the waters!” said a deep voice, near the
bending form of the counterfeit Seadrift.

“I have.”

“'Tis well.—There are points to which manhood
and experience may pass, and there are those where
all is left to one mightier than the elements!”

Words like these, coming from the lips of one of
the known character of the `Skimmer of the Seas,'

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were not given to the winds. Even Ludlow cast an
uneasy look at the heavens, when they came upon
his ear, as if they conveyed a secret notice of the
whole extremity of the danger by which they were
environed. None answered; and a long silence succeeded,
during which some of the more fatigued
slumbered uneasily, spite of their fearful situation.

In this manner did the night pass, in weariness and
anxiety. Little was said, and for hours scarce a limb
was moved, in the group that clustered around the
mess-chest. As the signs of day appeared, however,
every faculty was keenly awake, to catch the first
signs of what they had to hope, or the first certainty
of what they had to fear.

The surface of the ocean was still smooth, though
the long swells in which the element was heaving and
setting, sufficiently indicated that the raft had floated
far from the land. This fact was rendered sure, when
the light, which soon appeared along the eastern
margin of the narrow view, was shed gradually over
the whole horizon. Nothing was at first visible, but
one gloomy and vacant waste of water. But a cry
of joy from Seadrift, whose senses had long been
practised in ocean sights, soon drew all eyes in the
direction opposite to that of the rising sun, and it was
not long before all on the low raft had a view of the
snowy surfaces of a ship's sails, as the glow of morning
touched the canvas.

“It is the Frenchman!” said the free-trader. “He
is charitably looking for the wreck of his late enemy!”

“It may be so, for our fate can be no secret to
him;” was the answer of Ludlow. “Unhappily, we
had run some distance from the anchorage, before
the flames broke out. Truly, those with whom we
so lately struggled for life, are bent on a duty of
humanity.”

“Ah, younder is his crippled consort!—to leeward
many a league. The gay bird has been too sadly

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stripped of its plumage, to fly so near the wind!
This is man's fortune! He uses his power, at one
moment, to destroy the very means that become necessary
to his safety, the next.”

“And what think you of our hopes?” asked Alida,
searching in the countenance of Ludlow a clue to
their fate. “Does the stranger move in a direction
favorable to our wishes?”

Neither Ludlow nor the Skimmer replied. Both
regarded the frigate intently, and then, as objects
became more distinct, both answered, by a common
impulse, that the ship was steering directly towards
them. The declaration excited general hope, and
even the negress was no longer restrained by her
situation from expressing her joy in vociferous exclamations
of delight.

A few minutes of active and ready exertion succeeded.
A light boom was unlashed from the raft,
and raised on its end, supporting a little signal, made
of the handkerchiefs of the party, which fluttered in
the light breeze, at the elevation of some twenty
feet above the surface of the water. After this precaution
was observed, they were obliged to await the
result in such patience as they could assume. Minute
passed after minute, and, at each moment, the form
and proportions of the ship became more distinct,
until all the mariners of the party declared they could
distinguish men on her yards. A cannon would have
readily sent its shot from the ship to the raft, and
yet no sign betrayed the consciousness of those in
the former of the proximity of the latter.

“I do not like his manner of steering!” observed
the Skimmer to the silent and attentive Ludlow. “He
yaws broadly, as if disposed to give up the search.
God grant him the heart to continue on his course
ten minutes longer!”

“Have we no means of making ourselves heard?”
demanded the Alderman. “Methinks the voice of a

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strong man might be sent thus far across the water,
when life is the stake.”

The more experienced shook their heads; but, not
discouraged, the burgher raised his voice with a
power that was sustained by the imminency of the
peril. He was joined by the seamen, and even Ludlow
lent his aid, until all were hoarse with the fruitless
efforts. Men were evidently aloft, and in some
numbers, searching the ocean with their eyes, but
still no answering signal came from the vessel.

The ship continued to approach, and the raft was
less than half a mile from her bows, when the vast
fabric suddenly receded from the breeze, showed the
whole of its glittering broadside, and, swinging its
yards, betrayed by its new position that the search
in that direction was abandoned. The instant Ludlow
saw the filling-off of the frigate's bows, he cried—

“Now, raise your voices together;—this is the
final chance!”

They united in a common shout, with the exception
of the `Skimmer of the Seas.' The latter leaned
against the top with folded arms, listening to their
impotent efforts with a melancholy smile.

“It is well attempted,” said the calm and extraordinary
seaman when the clamor had ceased, advancing
along the raft and motioning for all to be
silent; “but it has failed. The swinging of the yards,
and the orders given in waring ship, would prevent
a stronger sound from being audible to men so actively
employed. I flatter none with hope, but this
is truly the moment for a final effort.”

He placed his hands to his mouth, and, disregarding
words, he raised a cry so clear, so powerful, and yet
so full, that it seemed impossible those in the vessel
should not hear. Thrice did he repeat the experiment,
though it was evident that each successive exertion
was feebler than the last.

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“They hear!” cried Alida. “There is a movement
in the sails!”

“'Tis the beeeze freshening;” answered Ludlow,
in sadness, at her side. “Each moment takes them
away!”

The melancholy truth was too apparent for denial,
and for half an hour the retiring ship was
watched in the bitterness of disappointment. At the
end of that time, she fired a gun, spread additional
canvas on her wide booms, and stood away before
the wind, to join her consort, whose upper sails were
already dipping to the surface of the sea, in the
southern board. With this change in her movements,
vanished all expectation of succor from the cruiser
of the enemy.

Perhaps, in every situation of life, it is necessary
that hope should be first lessened by disappointment,
before the buoyancy of the human mind will permit
it to descend to the level of an evil fortune. Until a
frustrated effort teaches him the difficulty of the attempt,
he who has fallen may hope to rise again;
and it is only when an exertion has been made with
lessened means, that we learn the value of advantages,
which have perhaps been long enjoyed, with a
very undue estimate of their importance. Until the
stern of the French frigate was seen retiring from the
raft, those who were on it had not been fully sensible
of the extreme danger of their situation. Hope had
been strongly excited by the return of dawn; for
while the shadows of night lay on the ocean, their
situation resembled that of one who strove to pierce
the obscurity of the future, in order to obtain a
presage of better fortunes. With the light had
come the distant sail. As the day advanced, the ship
had approached, relinquished her search, and disappeared,
without a prospect of her return.

The stoutest heart among the group on the raft,

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began to sink at the gloomy fate which now seemed
inevitable.

“Here is an evil omen!” whispered Ludlow, directing
his companion's eyes to the dark and pointed
fins of three or four sharks, that were gliding above
the surface of the water, and in so fearful a proximity
to their persons, as to render their situation on
the low spars, over which the water was washing
and retiring at each rise and fall of the waves,
doubly dangerous.—“The creature's instinct speaks
ill for our hopes!”

“There is a belief among seamen, that these
animals feel a secret impulse, which directs them to
their prey;” returned the Skimmer. “But fortune
may yet balk them.—Rogerson!” calling to one of
his followers;—“thy pockets are rarely wanting in
a fisherman's tackle. Hast thou, haply, line and hook,
for these hungry miscreants? The question is getting
narrowed to one, in which the simplest philosophy is
the wisest. When eat or to be eaten, is the mooted
point, most men will decide for the former.”

A hook of sufficient size was soon produced, and
a line was quietly provided from some of the small
cordage that still remained about the masts. A piece
of leather, torn from a spar, answered for the bait;
and the lure was thrown. Extreme hunger seemed
to engross the voracious animals, who darted at the
imaginary prey with the rapidity of lightning. The
shock was so sudden and violent, that the hapless
mariner was drawn from his slippery and precarious
footing, into the sea. The whole passed with a frightful
and alarming rapidity. A common cry of horror
was heard, and the last despairing glance of the fallen
man was witnessed. The mutilated body floated for
an instant in its blood, with the look of agony and
terror still imprinted on the conscious countenance.
At the next moment, it had become food for the
monsters of the sea.

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All had passed away, but the deep dye on the
surface of the ocean. The gorged fish disappeared;
but the dark spot remained near the immovable raft,
as if placed there to warn the survivors of their
fate.

“This is horrible!” said Ludlow.

“A sail!” shouted the Skimmer, whose voice and
tone, breaking in on that moment of intense horror
and apprehension, sounded like a cry from the
heavens. “My gallant brigantine!”

“God grant she come with better fortune than
those who have so lately left us!”

“God grant it, truly! If this hope fail, there is
none left. Few pass here, and we have had sufficient
proof that our top-gallants are not so lofty as to catch
every eye.”

All attention was now bestowed on the white speck
which was visible on the margin of the ocean, and
which the `Skimmer of the Seas' confidently pronounced
to be the Water-Witch. None but a seaman
could have felt this certainty; for, seen from
the low raft, there was little else to be distinguished
but the heads of the upper sails. The direction too
was unfavorable, as it was to leeward; but both
Ludlow and the free-trader assured their companions,
that the vessel was endeavoring to beat in with
the land.

The two hours that succeeded lingered like days
of misery. So much depended on a variety of events,
that every circumstance was noted by the seamen
of the party, with an interest bordering on agony.
A failure of the wind might compel the vessel to
remain stationary, and then both brigantine and raft
would be at the mercy of the uncertain currents of
the ocean; a change of wind might cause a change
of course, and render a meeting impossible; an increase
of the breeze might cause destruction, even
before the succor could come. In addition to these

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obvious hazards, there were all the chances which
were dependent on the fact that the people of the
brigantine had every reason to believe the fate of
the party was already sealed.

Still, fortune seemed propitious; for the breeze,
though steady, was light, the intention of the vessel
was evidently to pass somewhere near them, and the
hope that their object was search, so strong and
plausible, as to exhilarate every bosom.

At the expiration of the time named, the brigantine
passed the raft to leeward, and so near as to
render the smaller objects in her rigging distinctly
visible.

“The faithful fellows are looking for us!” exclaimed
the free-trader, with strong emotion in his
voice. “They are men to scour the coast, ere they
abandon us!”

“They pass us—wave the signal—it may catch
their eyes!”

The little flag was unheeded, and, after so long
and so intense expectation, the party on the raft had
the pain to see the swift-moving vessel glide past
them, and drawing so far ahead as to leave little
hope of her return. The heart of even the `Skimmer
of the Seas' appeared to sink within him, at the
disappointment.

“For myself, I care not;” said the stout mariner
mournfully. “Of what consequence is it, in what sea,
or on what voyage, a seaman goes into his watery
tomb?—but for thee, my hapless and playful Eudora,
I could wish another fate—ha!—she tacks!—the
sea-green lady has an instinct for her children, after
all!”

The brigantine was in stays.—In ten or fifteen
minutes more, the vessel was again abeam of the
raft, and to windward.

“If she pass us now, our chance is gone, without
a shadow of hope;” said the Skimmer, motioning

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solemnly for silence. Then, applying his hands to
his mouth, he shouted, as if despair lent a giant's
volume to his lungs—

“Ho! The Water-Witch!—ahoy!”

The last word issued from his lips with the clear,
audible cry, that the peculiar sound is intended to
produce. It appeared as if the conscious little bark
knew its commander's voice; for its course changed
slightly, as if the fabric were possessed of the consciousness
and faculties of life.

“Ho! The Water-Witch!—ahoy!” shouted the
Skimmer, with a still mightier effort.

“—Hilloa!” came down faintly on the breeze,
and the direction of the brigantine again altered.

“The Water-Witch!—the Water-Witch!—ahoy!”
broke out of the lips of the mariner of the shawl,
with a supernatural force,—the last cry being drawn
out, till he who uttered it sunk back exhausted with
the effort.

The words were still ringing in the ears of the
breathless party on the raft, when a heavy shout
swept across the water. At the next moment the boom
of the brigantine swung off, and her narrow bows
were seen pointing towards the little beacon of white
that played above the sea. It was but a moment,
but it was a moment pregnant with a thousand hopes
and fears, before the beautiful craft was gliding
within fifty feet of the top. In less than five minutes,
the spars of the Coquette were floating on the wide
ocean, unpeopled and abandoned.

The first sensation of the `Skimmer of the Seas,'
when his foot touched the deck of his brigantine,
might have been one of deep and intense gratitude.
He was silent, and seemingly oppressed at the throat.
Stepping along the planks, he cast an eye aloft, and
struck his hand powerfully on the capstan, in a manner
that was divided between convulsion and affection.
Then he smiled grimly on his attentive and

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obedient crew, speaking with all his wonted cheerfulness
and authority.

“Fill away the topsail—brace up and haul aft!
Trim every thing flat as boards, boys;—jam the
hussy in with the coast!”

CHAPTER XVI.

“Beseech you, Sir, were you present at this relation?”

Winter's Tale.

On the following morning, the windows of the
Lust in Rust denoted the presence of its owner.
There was an air of melancholy, and yet of happiness,
in the faces of many who were seen about the
buildings and the grounds, as if a great good had
been accompanied by some grave and qualifying
circumstances of sorrow. The negroes wore an air
of that love of the extraordinary which is the concomitant
of ignorance, while those of the more fortunate
class resembled men who retained a recollection
of serious evils that were past.

In the private apartment of the burgher, however,
an interview took place which was characterized by
an air of deep concern. The parties were only the
free-trader and the Alderman. But it was apparent,
in the look of each, that they met like men who
had interesting and serious matters to discuss. Still,
one accustomed to the expressions of the human
countenance might have seen, that while the former
was about to introduce topics in which his feelings
were powerfully enlisted, the other looked only to
the grosser interests of his commerce.

“My minutes are counted;” said the mariner,
stepping into the centre of the room, and facing his

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companion. “That which is to be said, must be said
briefly. The inlet can only be passed on the rising
water, and it will ill consult your opinions of prudence,
were I to tarry, till the hue and cry, that
will follow the intelligence of that which has lately
happened in the offing, shall be heard in the
Province.”

“Spoken with a rover's discretion! This reserve
will perpetuate friendship, which is nought weakened
by your activity in our late uncomfortable voyage
on the yards and masts of Queen Anne's late cruiser.
Well! I wish no ill-luck to any loyal gentleman in
Her Majesty's service; but it is a thousand pities
that thou wert not ready, now the coast is clear,
with a good heavy inward cargo! The last was altogether
an affair of secret drawers, and rich laces;
valuable in itself, and profitable in the exchange:
but the colony is sadly in want of certain articles
that can only be landed at leisure.”

“I come on other matters. There have been
transactions between us, Alderman Van Beverout,
that you little understand.”

“You speak of a small mistake in the last invoice?—
'Tis all explained, Master Skimmer, on a
second examination; and thy accuracy is as well
established as that of the bank of England.”

“Established or not, let him who doubts cease to
deal.—I have no other motto than `confidence,' nor
any other rule but `justice.”'

“You overrun my meaning, friend of mine. I
intimate no suspicions; but accuracy is the soul of
commerce, as profit is its object. Clear accounts,
with reasonable balances, are the surest cements of
business intimacies. A little frankness operates, in a
secret trade, like equity in the courts; which reestablishes
the justice that the law has destroyed.—
What is thy purpose?”

“It is now many years, Alderman Van Beverout,

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since this secret trade was commenced between you
and my predecessor,—he, whom you have thought
my father, but who only claimed that revered appellation
by protecting the helplessness and infancy of
the orphan child of a friend.”

“The latter circumstance is new to me;” returned
the burgher, slowly bowing his head. “It may
explain certain levities which have not been without
their embarrassment. 'Tis five-and-twenty years,
come August, Master Skimmer, and twelve of them
have been under thy auspices. I will not say that
the adventures might not have been better managed;
as it is, they are tolerable. I am getting old, and
think of closing the risks and hazards of life—two
or three, or, at the most, four or five, lucky voyages,
must, I think, bring a final settlement between us.”

“'T will be made sooner. I believe the history of
my predecessor was no secret to you. The manner
in which he was driven from the marine of the
Stuarts, on account of his opposition to tyranny; his
refuge with an only daughter, in the colonies; and
his final recourse to the free-trade for a livelihood,
have often been alluded to between us.”

“Hum—I have a good memory for business, Master
Skimmer, but I am as forgetful as a new-made
lord of his pedigree, on all matters that should be
overlooked. I dare say, however, it was as you have
stated.”

“You know, that when my protector and predecessor
abandoned the land, he took his all with him
upon the water.”

“He took a wholesome and good-going schooner,
Master Skimmer, with an assorted freight of chosen
tobacco, well ballasted with stones from off the seashore.
He was no foolish admirer of sea-green
women, and flaunting brigantines. Often did the
royal cruisers mistake the worthy dealer for an in
dustrious fisherman!”

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“He had his humors, and I have mine. But you
forget a part of the freight he carried;—a part that
was not the least valuable.”

“There might have been a bale of marten's furs—
for the trade was just getting brisk in that article.”

“There was a beautiful, an innocent, and an affectionate
girl—”

The Alderman made an involuntary movement,
which nearly hid his countenance from his companion.

“There was, indeed, a beautiful, and, as you say,
a most warm-hearted girl, in the concern!” he uttered,
in a voice that was subdued and hoarse. “She
died, as I have heard from thyself, Master Skimmer,
in the Italian seas. I never saw the father, after the
last visit of his child to this coast.”

“She did die, among the islands of the Mediterranean.
But the void she left in the hearts of all who
knew her, was filled, in time, by her—daughter.”

The Alderman started from his chair, and, looking
the free-trader intently and anxiously in the face,
he slowly repeated the word—

“Daughter!”

“I have said it.—Eudora is the daughter of that
injured woman—need I say, who is the father?”

The burgher groaned, and, covering his face with
his hands, he sunk back into his chair, shivering convulsively.

“What evidence have I of this?” he at length
muttered—“Eudora is thy sister!”

The answer of the free-trader was accompanied
by a melancholy smile.

“You have been deceived. Save the brigantine,
my being is attached to nothing. When my own
brave father fell by the side of him who protected
my youth, none of my blood were left. I loved him
as a father, and he called me son, while Eudora was
passed upon you as the child of a second marriage.
But here is sufficient evidence of her birth.”

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The Alderman took a paper, which his companion
put gravely into his hand, and his eyes ran eagerly
over its contents. It was a letter to himself from the
mother of Eudora, written after the birth of the
latter, and with the endearing affection of a woman.
The love between the young merchant and the fair
daughter of his secret correspondent had been less
criminal on his part than most similar connexions.
Nothing but the peculiarity of their situation, and
the real embarrassment of introducing to the world
one whose existence was unknown to his friends, and
their mutual awe of the unfortunate but still proud
parent, had prevented a legal marriage. The simple
forms of the colony were easily satisfied, and there
was even some reason to raise a question whether
they had not been sufficiently consulted to render
the offspring legitimate. As Myndert Van Beverout,
therefore, read the epistle of her whom he had once
so truly loved, and whose loss had, in more senses
than one, been to him an irreparable misfortune,
since his character might have yielded to her gentle
and healthful influence, his limbs trembled, and his
whole frame betrayed the violence of extreme agitation.
The language of the dying woman was kind
and free from reproach, but it was solemn and admonitory.
She communicated the birth of their
child; but she left it to the disposition of her own
father, while she apprized the author of its being of
its existence; and, in the event of its ever being
consigned to his care, she earnestly recommended it
to his love. The close was a leave-taking, in which
the lingering affections of this life were placed in
mournful contrast to the hopes of the future.

“Why has this so long been hidden from me?”
demanded the agitated merchant—“Why, oh reckless
and fearless man! have I been permitted to expose
the frailties of nature to my own child?”

The smile of the free-trader was bitter, and proud.

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“Mr. Van Beverout, we are no dealers of the
short voyase. Our trade is the concern of life;—
our world, the Water-Witch. As we have so little
of the interests of the land, our philosophy is above
its weaknesses. The birth of Eudora was concealed
from you, at the will of her grandfather. It might
have been resentment;—it might have been pride.—
Had it been affection, the girl has that to justify the
fraud.”

“And Eudora, herself?—Does she—or has she
long known the truth?”

“But lately. Since the death of our common
friend, the girl has been solely dependent on me for
counsel and protection. It is now a year since she
first learned she was not my sister. Until then, like
you, she supposed us equally derived from one who
was the parent of neither. Necessity has compelled
me, of late, to keep her much in the brigantine.”

“The retribution is righteous!” groaned the Alderman.
“I am punished for my pusillanimity, in
the degradation of my own child!”

The step of the free-trader, as he advanced nearer
to his companion, was full of dignity; and his keen
eye glowed with the resentment of an offended man.

“Alderman Van Beverout,” he said, with stern
rebuke in his voice, “you receive your daughter,
stainless as was her unfortunate mother, when necessity
compelled him whose being was wrapped up in
hers, to trust her beneath your roof. We of the contraband
have our own opinions of right and wrong,
and my gratitude, no less than my principles, teaches
me that the descendant of my benefactor is to be
protected, not injured. Had I, in truth, been the
brother of Eudora, language and conduct more innocent
could not have been shown her, than that she
has both heard and witnessed while guarded by my
care.”

“From my soul, I thank thee!” burst from the lips

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of the Alderman, “The girl shall be acknowledged;
and with such a dowry as I can give, she may yet
hope for a suitable and honorable marriage.”

“Thou may'st bestow her on thy favorite Patroon;”
returned the Skimmer, with a calm but sad
eye. “She is more than worthy of all he can
return. The man is willing to take her, for he is
not ignorant of her sex and history. That much I
thought due to Eudora herself, when fortune placed
the young man in my power.”

“Thou art only too honest for this wicked world,
Master Skimmer! Let me see the loving pair, and
bestow my blessing, on the instant!”

The free-trader turned slowly away, and, opening
a door, he motioned for those within to enter. Alida
instantly appeared, leading the counterfeit Seadrift,
clad in the proper attire of her sex. Although the
burgher had often seen the supposed sister of the
Skimmer in her female habiliments, she never before
had struck him as a being of so rare beauty as at
that moment. The silken whiskers had been removed,
and in their places were burning cheeks, that
were rather enriched than discolored by the warm
touches of the sun. The dark glossy ringlets, that
were no longer artfully converted to the purposes of
the masquerade, fell naturally in curls about the
temples and brows, shading a countenance which in
general was playfully arch, though at that moment
it was shadowed by reflection and feeling. It is seldom
that two such beings are seen together, as those
who now knelt at the feet of the merchant. In the
breast of the latter, the accustomed and lasting love
of the uncle and protector appeared, for an instant,
to struggle with the new-born affection of a parent.
Nature was too strong for even his blunted and perverted
sentiments; and, calling his child aloud by
name, the selfish and calculating Alderman sunk
upon the neck of Eudora, and wept. It would have

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been difficult to trace the emotions of the stern but
observant free-trader, as he watched the progress of
this scene. Distrust, uneasiness, and finally melancholy,
were in his eye. With the latter expression
predominant, he quitted the room, like one who felt
a stranger had no right to witness emotions so sacred.

Two hours later, and the principal personages of
the narrative were assembled on the margin of the
Cove, beneath the shade of an oak that seemed
coeval with the continent. The brigantine was
aweigh; and, under a light show of canvas, she was
making easy stretches in the little basin, resembling,
by the ease and grace of her movements, some beautiful
swan sailing up and down in the enjoyment of
its instinct. A boat had just touched the shore, and
the `Skimmer of the Seas' stood near, stretching out
a hand to aid the boy Zephyr to land.

We subjects of the elements are slaves to superstition;”
he said, when the light foot of the child
touched the ground. “It is the consequence of lives
which ceaselessly present dangers superior to our
powers. For many years have I believed that some
great good, or some greater evil, would accompany
the first visit of this boy to the land. For the first
time, his foot now stands on solid earth. I await the
fulfilment of the augury!”

“It will be happy;” returned Ludlow—“Alida
and Eudora will instruct him in the opinions of this
simple and fortunate country, and he seemeth one
likely to do early credit to his schooling.”

“I fear the boy will regret the lessons of the sea-green
lady!—Captain Ludlow, there is yet a duty to
perform, which, as a man of more feeling than you
may be disposed to acknowledge, I cannot neglect.
I have understood that you are accepted by la belle
Barbérie?”

“Such is my happiness.”

“Sir, in dispensing with explanation of the past,

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you have shown a noble confidence, that merits a
return. When I came upon this coast, it was with
a determination of establishing the claims of Eudora
to the protection and fortune of her father. If I distrusted
the influence and hostility of one so placed,
and so gifted to persuade, as this lady, you will remember
it was before acquaintance had enabled me
to estimate more than her beauty. She was seized
in her pavilion by my agency, and transported as a
captive to the brigantine.”

“I had believed her acquainted with the history
of her cousin, and willing to aid in some fantasy
which was to lead to the present happy restoration
of the latter to her natural friends.”

“You did her disinterestedness no more than justice.
As some atonement for the personal wrong, and
as the speediest and surest means of appeasing her
alarm, I made my captive acquainted with the facts.
Eudora then heard, also for the first time, the history
of her origin. The evidence was irresistible, and
we found a generous and devoted friend where we
had expected a rival.”

“I knew that Alida could not prove less generous!”
cried the admiring Ludlow, raising the hand
of the blushing girl to his lips. “The loss of fortune
is a gain, by showing her true character!”

“Hist—hist—”interrupted the Alderman—“there
is little need to proclaim a loss of any kind. What
must be done in the way of natural justice, will
doubtless be submitted to; but why let all in the
colony know how much, or how little, is given with
a bride?”

“The loss of fortune will be amply met;” returned
the free-trader. “These bags contain gold. The
dowry of my charge is ready at a moment's warning,
whenever she shall make known her choice.”

“Success and prudence!” exclaimed the burgher.
“There is no less than a most commendable

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forethought in thy provision, Master Skimmer; and whatever
may be the opinion of the Exchequer Judges
of thy punctuality and credit, it is mine that there
are less responsible men about the bank of England
itself!—This money is, no doubt, that which the
girl can lawfully claim in right of her late grandfather!”

“It is.”

“I take this to be a favorable moment to speak
plainly on a subject which is very near my heart,
and which may as well be broached under such favorable
auspices as under any other. I understand,
Mr. Van Staats, that, on a further examination of
your sentiments towards an old friend, you are of
opinion that a closer alliance than the one we had
contemplated will most conduce to your happiness?”

“I will acknowledge that the coldness of la belle
Barbérie has damped my own warmth;” returned
the Patroon of Kinderhook, who rarely delivered
himself of more, at a time, than the occasion required.

“And, furthermore, I have been told, Sir, that an
intimacy of a fortnight has given you reason to fix
your affections on my daughter, whose beauty is hereditary,
and whose fortune is not likely to be diminished
by this act of justice on the part of that upright
and gallant mariner.”

“To be received into the favor of your family,
Mr. Van Beverout, would leave me little to desire in
this life.”

“And as for the other world, I never heard of a
Patroon of Kinderhook who did not leave us with
comfortable hopes for the future; as in reason they
should, since few families in the colony have done
more for the support of religion than they. They
gave largely to the Dutch churches in Manhattan;
have actually built, with their own means, three
very pretty brick edifices on the Manor, each

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having its Flemish steeple and suitable weather-cocks,
besides having done something handsome towards the
venerable structure in Albany. Eudora, my child;
this gentleman is a particular friend, and as such I
can presume to recommend him to thy favor. You
are not absolutely strangers; but, in order that you
may have every occasion to decide impartially, you
will remain here together for a month longer, which
will enable you to choose without distraction and
confusion. More than this, for the present, it is unnecessary
to say; for it is my practice to leave all
matters of this magnitude entirely to Providence.”

The daughter, on whose speaking face the color
went and came like lights changing in an Italian sky,
continued silent.

“You have happily put aside the curtain which
concealed a mystery that no longer gave me uneasiness;”
interrupted Ludlow, addressing the free-trader.
“Can you do more, and say whence came this latter?”

The dark eye of Eudora instantly lighted. She
looked at the `Skimmer of the Seas,' and laughed.

“'Twas another of those womanly artifices which
have been practised in my brigantine. It was thought
that a young commander of a royal cruiser would be
less apt to watch our movements, were his mind
bent on the discovery of such a correspondent.”

“And the trick has been practised before?”

“I confess it.—But I can linger no longer. In a
few minutes, the tide will turn, and the inlet become
impassable. Eudora, we must decide on the fortunes of
this child. Shall he to the ocean again?—or shall he
remain, to vary his life with a landsman's chances?”

“Who and what is the boy?” gravely demanded
the Alderman.

“One dear to both,” rejoined the free-trader.
“His father was my nearest friend, and his mother
long watched the youth of Eudora. Until this

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moment, he has been our mutual care;—he must now
choose between us.”

“He will not quit me!” hastily interrupted the
alarmed Eudora—“Thou art my adopted son, and
none can guide thy young mind like me. Thou hast
need of woman's tenderness, Zephyr, and wilt not
quit me?”

“Let the child be the arbiter of his own fate. I
am credulous on the point of fortune, which is, at
least, a happy belief for the contraband.”

“Then let him speak. Wilt remain here, amid
these smiling fields, to ramble among yonder gay and
sweetly-scented flowers?—or wilt thou back to the
water, where all is vacant and without change?”

The boy looked wistfully into her anxious eye,
and then he bent his own hesitating glance on the
calm features of the free-trader.

“We can put to sea,” he said; “and when we
make the homeward passage again, there will be
many curious things for thee, Eudora!”

“But this may be the last opportunity to know
the land of thy ancestors. Remember how terrible
is the ocean in its anger, and how often the brigantine
has been in danger of shipwreck!”

“Nay, that is womanish!—I have been on the
royal-yard in the squalls, and it never seemed to me
that there was danger.”

“Thou hast the unconsciousness and reliance of a
ship-boy! But those who are older, know that the
life of a sailor is one of constant and imminent
hazard.—Thou hast been among the islands in the
hurricane, and hast seen the power of the elements!”

“I was in the hurricane, and so was the brigantine;
and there you see how taut and neat she is
aloft, as if nothing had happened!”

“And you saw us yesterday floating on the open
sea, while a few ill-fastened spars kept us from going
into its depths!”

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“The spars floated, and you were not drowned;
else, I should have wept bitterly, Eudora.”

“But thou wilt go deeper into the country, and
see more of its beauties—its rivers, and its mountains—
its caverns, and its woods. Here all is change,
while the water is ever the same.”

“Surely, Eudora, you forget strangely!—Here it
is all America. This mountain is America; yonder
land across the bay is America, and the anchorage
of yesterday was America. When we shall run off
the coast, the next land-fall will be England, or Holland,
or Africa; and with a good wind, we may run
down the shores of two or three countries in a day.”

“And on them, too, thoughtless boy! If you lose
this occasion, thy life will be wedded to hazard!”

“Farewell, Eudora!” said the urchin, raising his
mouth to give and receive the parting kiss.

“Eudora, adieu!” added a deep and melancholy
voice, at her elbow. “I can delay no longer, for my
people show symptoms of impatience. Should this
be the last of my voyages to the coast, thou wilt not
forget those with whom thou hast so long shared
good and evil!”

“Not yet—not yet—you will not quit us yet!
Leave me the boy—leave me some other memorial
of the past, besides this pain!”

“My hour has come. The wind is freshening,
and I trifle with its favor. 'Twill be better for thy
happiness that none know the history of the brigantine;
and a few hours will draw a hundred curious
eyes, from the town, upon us.”

“What care I for their opinions?—thou wilt not—
cannot—leave me, yet!”

“Gladly would I stay, Eudora, but a seaman's
home is his ship. Too much precious time is already
wasted. Once more, adieu!”

The dark eye of the girl glanced wildly about
her. It seemed, as if in that one quick and hurried

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look, it drank in all that belonged to the land and its
enjoyments.

“Whither go you?” she asked, scarce suffering
her voice to rise above a whisper. “Whither do
you sail, and when do you return?”

“I follow fortune. My return may be distant—
never!—Adieu then, Eudora—be happy with the
friends that Providence hath given thee!”

The wandering eyes of the girl of the sea became
still more unsettled. She grasped the offered hand
of the free-trader in both her own, and wrung it in
an impassioned and unconscious manner. Then releasing
her hold, she opened wide her arms, and
cast them convulsively about his unmoved and unyielding
form.

“We will go together!—I am thine, and thine
only!”

“Thou knowest not what thou sayest, Eudora!”
gasped the Skimmer—“Thou hast a father—friend—
husband—”

“Away, away!” cried the frantic girl, waving
her hand wildly towards Alida and the Patroon, who
advanced as if hurrying to rescue her from a precipice—
“Thine, and thine only!”

The smuggler released himself from her frenzied
grasp, and, with the strength of a giant, he held the
struggling girl at the length of his arm, while he endeavored
to control the tempest of passion that
struggled within him.

“Think, for one moment, think!” he said. “Thou
wouldst follow an outcast—an outlaw—one hunted
and condemned of men!”

“Thine, and thine only!”

“With a ship for a dwelling—the tempestuous
ocean for a world!—”

“Thy world is my world!—thy home, my home!—
thy danger, mine!”

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The shout which burst out of the chest of the
`Skimmer of the Seas' was one of uncontrollable
exultation.

“Thou art mine!” he cried. “Before a tie like
this, the claim of such a father is forgotten! Burgher,
adieu!—I will deal by thy daughter more honestly
than thou didst deal by my benefactor's child!”

Eudora was lifted from the ground as if her weight
had been that of a feather; and, spite of a sudden
and impetuous movement of Ludlow and the Patroon,
she was borne to the boat. In a moment, the
bark was afloat, with the gallant boy tossing his seacap
upward in triumph. The brigantine, as if conscious
of what had passed, wore round like a whirling
chariot; and, ere the spectators had recovered
from their confusion and wonder, the boat was
hanging at the tackles. The free-trader was seen
on the poop, with an arm cast about the form of
Eudora, waving a hand to the motionless group on
the shore, while the still half-unconscious girl of the
ocean signed her faint adieus to Alida and her father.
The vessel glided through the inlet, and was immediately
rocking on the billows of the surf. Then,
taking the full weight of the southern breeze, the
fine and attenuated spars bent to its force, and the
progress of the swift-moving craft was apparent by
the bubbling line of its wake.

The day had begun to decline, before Alida and
Ludlow quitted the lawn of the Lust in Rust. For
the first hour, the dark hull of the brigantine was
seen supporting the moving cloud of canvas. Then
the low structure vanished, and sail after sail settled
into the water, until nothing was visible but a speck
of glittering white. It lingered for a minute, and
was swallowed in the void.

The nuptials of Ludlow and Alida were touched
with a shade of melancholy. Natural affection in

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one, and professional sympathy in the other, had
given them a deep and lasting interest in the fate of
the adventurers.

Years passed away, and months were spent at the
villa, in which a thousand anxious looks were cast
upon the ocean. Each morning, during the early
months of summer, did Alida hasten to the windows
of her pavilion, in the hope of seeing the vessel of
the contraband anchored in the Cove:—but always
without success. It never returned;—and though
the rebuked and disappointed Alderman caused
many secret inquiries to be made along the whole
extent of the American coast, he never again heard
of the renowned `Skimmer of the Seas,' or of his
matchless Water-Witch.

THE END.
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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 [1831], The water-witch, volume 2 (Carey & Lea, Philadelphia) [word count] [eaf061v2].
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