towards the shore, leaving the frightened black to steady himself, in his
rocking tenement, in the best manner he could.

The tread and posture of the stranger, when he gained the half-deck of the
periagua, was finely nautical, and confident to audacity. He seemed to
analyze the half-maritime character of the crew and passengers, at a
glance, and to feel that sort of superiority over his companions, which
men of his profession were then a little too wont to entertain towards
those whose ambition could be bounded by terra-firma. His eye turned
upward, at the simple rig and modest sails of the periagua, while his
upper lip curled with the knowing expression of a critic. Then kicking the
fore-sheet clear of its elect, and suffering the sail to fill, he stepped
from one butter-tub to another, making a stepping-stone of the lap of a
countryman by the way, and alighted in the stern-sheets in the midst of
the party of Alderman Van Beverout, with the agility and fearlessness of a
feathered Mercury. With a coolness that did infinite credit to his powers
for commandirg, his next act was to dispossess the amazed schipper of the
helm, taking the tiller into his own hands, with as much composure as if
he were the every-day occupant of the post. When he saw that the boat was
beginning to move through the water, he found leisure to bestow some
observation on his fellow-voyagers. The first that met his bold and
reckless eye was François, the domestic of Alida.

"If it come to blow in squalls, Commodore," observed the intruder, with a
gravity that half deceived the attentive Frenchman, while he pointed to
the bag in which the latter wore his hair, "you'll be troubled to carry
your broad pennant. But so experienced an officer has not put to sea
without having a storm-cue in readiness for foul weather."

The valet did not, or affected not to understand the allusion, maintaining