"He that knows how to face his enemies with spirit, may be accounted
sufficiently bold; but he who braves the anger of his friends, is
fool-hardy."

"And he who does neither, is wiser than both," rejoined the reckless hero
of the sash. "Captain Ludlow, we meet on equal terms, at present, and the
parley may be managed with some freedom."

"Equality is a word that ill applies to men of stations so different."

"Of our stations and duties it is not necessary to speak. I hope that,
when the proper time shall come, both may be found ready to be at the
first, and equal to discharge the last. But Captain Ludlow, backed by the
broadside of the Coquette and the cross-fire of his marines, is not
Captain Ludlow alone, on a sea bluff, with a crutch no better than his own
arm, and a stout heart. As the first, he is like a spar supported by
backstays and forestays, braces and standing rigging; while, as the
latter, he is the stick, which keeps its head aloft by the soundness and
quality of its timber. You have the appearance of one who can go alone,
even though it blew heavier than at present, if one may judge of the force
of the breeze, by the manner it presses on the sails of yonder boat in the
bay."

"Yonder boat begins to feel the wind, truly!" said Ludlow, suddenly losing
all other interest in the appearance of the periagua which held Alida and
her friends, and which, at that instant, shot out from beneath the cover
of the hill into the broad opening of Raritan bay. "What think you of the
time, my friend? a man of your years should speak with knowledge of the
weather."