most worthy of remark that the better the seaman, the less his power to
cast loose the knot!"

"If the pennant be so long, it may reach farther than you wish!--But a
bold volunteer has no occasion to dread a press."

"I fear the berth I wish is filled," returned the other, curling his lip:
"let draw the fore-sheet, lad; we will take our departure, leaving the fly
of the pennant well under our lee. Adieu, brave Captain; when you have
need of a thorough rover, and dream of stern-chases and wet sails, think
of him who visited your ship at her lazy moorings."

Ludlow bit his lip, and though his fine face reddened to the temples, he
met the arch glance of Alida, and laughed. But he who had so hardily
braved the resentment of a man, powerful as the commander of a royal
cruiser in a British colony, appeared to understand the hazard of his
situation. The periagua whirled round on her heel, and the next minute it
was bending to the breeze, and dashing through the little waves towards
the shore. Three boats left the cruiser at the same moment. One, which
evidently contained her captain, advanced with the usual dignified
movement of a barge landing an officer of rank, but the others were urged
ahead with all the earnestness of a hot chase.

"Unless disposed to serve the Queen, you have not done well, my friend, to
brave one of her commanders at the muzzles of his guns." observed the
Patroon, so soon as the state of the case became too evident to doubt of
the intentions of the man-of-war's men.

"That Captain Ludlow would gladly take some of us out of this boat, by
fair means or by foul, is a fact clear as a bright star in a cloudless