Chapter 31 - Page 2

sea--the hollow sound of the surf on the shore--and this soft
canopy above us form objects on which even a girl might dwell in
admiration, were not her ears still ringing with the roar and cries of the
combat. Did you say the commander of the Frenchman was but a youth?"

"A mere boy in appearance, and one who doubtless owed his rank to the
advantages of birth and family. We know it to be the captain, by his
dress, no less than by the desperate effort he made to recover the false
step taken in the earlier part of the action."

"Perhaps he has a mother, Ludlow!--a sister--a wife--or----"

Alida paused, for, with maiden diffidence, she hesitated to pronounce the
tie which was uppermost in her thoughts.

"He may have had one, or all! Such are the sailor's hazards, and----"

"Such the hazards of those who feel an interest in their safety!" uttered
the low but expressive voice of Seadrift.

A deep and eloquent silence succeeded. Then the voice of Myndert was heard
muttering indistinctly, "twenty of beaver, and three of marten--as per
invoice." The smile which, spite of the train of his thoughts, rose on the
lips of Ludlow, had scarcely passed away, when the hoarse tones of
Trysail, rendered still hoarser by his sleep, were plainly heard in a
stifled cry, saying, "Bear a hand, there, with your stoppers!--the
Frenchman is coming round upon us, again."

"That is prophetic!" said one, aloud, behind the listening group. Ludlow
turned, quick as the flag fluttering on its vane, and through the darkness
he recognized, in the motionless but manly form that stood near him on the
poop, the fine person of the 'Skimmer of the Seas.'

"Call away----!"

"Call none!"--interrupted Tiller, stopping the hurried order which
involuntarily broke from the lips of Ludlow. "Let thy ship feign the
silence of a wreck, but, in truth, let there be watchfulness and
preparation even to her store-rooms! You have done well, Captain Ludlow,
to be on the alert, though I have known sharper eyes than those of some of
your look-outs."

"Whence come you, audacious man, and what mad errand has brought you again
on the deck of my ship?"

"I come from my habitation on the sea. My business here is warning!"

"The sea!" echoed Ludlow, gazing about him at the narrow and empty view.
"The hour for mockery is past, and you would do well to trifle no more
with those who have serious duties to discharge."

"The hour is indeed one for serious duties--duties, more serious than any
you apprehend. But before I enter on explanation, there must be conditions
between us. You have