Chapter 24 - Page 2

reserve. Little else was wanting to assure his former friends of the
nature of his pursuits; for even Mrs Wyllys admitted to her charge, that
he acted like one in whom depravity had not yet made such progress as to
have destroyed that consciousness which is ever the surest test of
innocence.

We shall not detain the narrative, to dwell upon the natural regrets in
which Gertrude indulged, as this sad conviction forced itself upon her
understanding, nor to relate the gentle wishes in which she did not think
it wrong to indulge, that one, who certainly was master of so many manly
and generous qualities, might soon be made to see the error of his life,
and to return to a course for which even her cold and nicely judging
governess allowed nature had so eminently endowed him. Perhaps the kind
emotions that had been awakened in her bosom, by the events of the last
fortnight, were not content to exhibit themselves in wishes alone, and
that petitions more personal, and even more fervent than common, mingled
in her prayers; but this is a veil which it is not our province to raise,
the heart of one so pure and so ingenuous being the best repository for
its own gentle feelings.

For several days the ship had been contending with the unvarying winds of
those regions. Instead of struggling, however, like a cumbered trader, to
gain some given port, the "Rover" suddenly altered her course, and glided
through one of the many passages that offered, with the ease of a bird
that is settling swiftly to its nest. A hundred different sails were seen
steering among the islands, but all were avoided alike; the policy of the
freebooters teaching them the necessity of moderation, in a sea so crowded
with vessels of war. After the vessel had shot through one of the straits
which divide the chain of the Antilles, she issued in safety on the more
open sea which separates them from the Spanish Main. The moment the
passage was effected, and a broad and clear horizon was seen stretching on
every side of them, a manifest alteration occurred in the mien of every
individual of the crew. The brow of the Rover himself lost its
contraction; and the look of care, which had wrapped the whole man in a
mantle of reserve, disappeared, leaving him the reckless wayward being we
have more than once described. Even the men, whose vigilance had needed no
quickening in running the gauntlet of the cruisers which were known to
swarm in the narrower seas, appeared to breathe a freer air, and sounds of
merriment and thoughtless gaiety were once more heard in a place over
which the gloom of distrust had been so long and so heavily cast.

On the other hand, the governess saw new ground for uneasiness in the
course the vessel was taking. While the