Chapter 29

"Let them achieve me, and then sell my bones."--_Henry V._

The Commander of the "Dart," and his bewildered lieutenant, had gained the
quarter-deck before either spoke again. The direction first taken by the
eyes of the latter was in quest of the neighbouring ship; nor was the look
entirely without that unsettled and vague expression which seems to
announce a momentary aberration of the faculties. But the vessel of the
Rover was in view, in all the palpable and beautiful proportions of her
admirable construction Instead of lying in a state of rest, as when he
left her, her head-yards had been swung, and, as the sails filled with the
breeze, the stately fabric had he gun to Marve gracefully, though with no
great velocity along the water. There was not the slightest appearance
however, of any attempt at escape in the evolution. On the contrary, the
loftier and lighter sails had all been furled, and men were at the moment
actively employed in sending to the deck those smaller spars which were
absolutely requisite in spreading the canvas that would be needed in
facilitating her flight. Wilder turned from the sight with a sickening
apprehension; for he well knew that these were the preparations that
skillful mariners are wont to make, when bent on desperate combat.

"Ay, yonder goes your St. James's seaman, with his three topsails full,
and his mizzen out, as if he had already forgotten he is to dine with me,
and that his name is to be found at one end of the list of Commanders and
mine at the other," grumbled the displeased Bignall. "But we shall have
him coming round all in good time, I suppose, when his appetite tells him
the dinner hour. He might wear his colours in presence of a senior, too,
and no disgrace to his nobility. By the Lord, Harry Ark, he handles those
yards beautifully! I warrant you, now, some honest man's son is sent
aboard his ship for a dry nurse, in the shape of a first lieutenant, and
we shall have him vapouring, all dinner time, about 'how my ship does
this,' and 'I never suffer that.' Ha! is it not so, sir? He has a thorough
seaman for his First?"

"Few men understand the profession better than does the Captain of yonder
vessel himself," returned Wilder.

"The devil he does! You have been talking with him, Mr Ark, about these
matters, and he has got some of the fashions of the 'Dart.' I see into a
mystery as quick as another!"

"I do assure you, Captain Bignall, there is no safety in confiding in the
ignorance of yonder extra ordinary man."

"Ay, ay, I begin to overhaul his character. The young dog is a quiz, and
has been amusing himself with a sailor of what he calls the old school. Am
I right,