go so much by appearances that I do n't like to trust the brig too
much afore their eyes. Now, should we be seen in the lower bay,
waiting for a wind, or for the ebb tide to make, to carry us over
the bar, ten to one but some philotropic or other would be off with
a complaint to the District Attorney that we looked like a slaver,
and have us all fetched up to be tried for our lives as pirates. No,
no--I like to keep the brig in out-of-the-way places, where she can
give no offence to your 'tropics, whether they be philos, or of any
other sort."

"Well, sir, we are to the eastward of the Gate, and all's safe. That
boat cannot bring us up."

"You forget, Mr. Mulford, the revenue-craft that steamed up, on the
ebb. That vessel must be off Sands' Point by this time, and she may
hear something to our disparagement from the feller in the boat, and
take it into her smoky head to walk us back to town. I wish we were
well to the eastward of that steamer! But there's no use in
lamentations. If there is really any danger, it's some distance
ahead yet, thank Heaven!"

"You have no fears of the man who calls himself Jack Tier, Capt.
Spike?"

"None in the world. That feller, as I remember him, was a little
bustlin' chap that I kept in the cabin, as a sort of steward's mate.
There was neither good nor harm in him, to the best of my
recollection. But Josh can tell us all about him--just give Josh a
call."