Chapter 26

"As I am an honest man, he looks pale: Art thou sick, or angry?"

_Much ado about Nothing._

The approach of the strange sail was becoming rapidly more and more
visible to the naked eye. The little speck of white, which had first been
seen on the margin of the sea, resembling some gull floating on the summit
of a wave, had gradually arisen during the last half hour, until a tall
pyramid of canvas was reared on the water. As Wilder bent his look again
on this growing object, the Rover put a glass into his hands, with an
expression of feature which the other understood to say, "You may perceive
that the carelessness of your dependant has already betrayed us!" Still
the look was one rather of regret than of reproach; nor did a single
syllable of the tongue confirm the meaning language of the eye. On the
contrary, it would seem that his Commander was anxious to preserve their
recent amicable compact inviolate; for, when the young mariner attempted
an awkward explanation of the probable causes of the blunder of Fid, he
was met by a quiet gesture, which said, in a sufficiently intelligible
language, that the offence was already pardoned.

"Our neighbour keeps a good look-out, as you may see," observed the other.
"He has tacked, and is laying boldly up across our fore-foot. Well, let
him come on; we shall soon get a look at his battery, and then may we come
to our conclusion as to the nature of the intercourse we are to hold."

"If you permit the stranger to near us, it might be difficult to throw him
off the chase, should we be glad to get rid of him."

"It must be a fast-going vessel to which the 'Dolphin' cannot spare a
top-gallant-sail."

"I know not, sir. The sail in sight is swift on the wind, and it is to be
believed that she is no duller off. I have rarely known a vessel rise so
rapidly as she has done since first we made her."

The youth spoke with such earnestness, as to draw the attention of his
companion from the object he was studying to the countenance of the
speaker.

"Mr Wilder," he said quickly, and with an air of decision, "you know the
ship?"

"I'll not deny it. If my opinion be true, she will be found too heavy for
the 'Dolphin,' and a vessel that offers little inducement for us to
attempt to carry."

"Her size?"

"You heard it from the black."

"Your followers know her also?"

"It would be difficult to deceive a topman in the cut and trim of sails
among which he has passed months, nay years."

"I understand the 'new cloths' in her top-gallant-royal! Mr Wilder, your
departure from that