o get up, I tell you," said the mate; "we're getting
under way in ten minutes."

"And what might that be?" asked the lady.

"Why, we make a start. You'd better go ashore unless you want to be
carried off."

"I sha'n't move," repeated the visitor.

"Well, I'm sorry to be rude," said the mate. "George."

"Sir," said the watchman from above.

"Bring down a couple o' men and take this lady ashore," said the mate
sternly.

"I'll _send_ a couple down, sir," said the watchman, and moved off to
make a selection.

"I shall scream 'murder and thieves,'" said the lady, her eyes
gleaming. "I'll bring the police up and cause a scandal. Then perhaps I
shall see into that room."

In the face of determination like this the mate's courage gave way, and
in a voice of much anxiety he called upon his captain for instruction.

"Cast off," bellowed the mighty voice. "If your sweetheart won't go
ashore she must come, too. You must pay her passage."

"Well, of all the damned impudence," muttered the incensed mate. "Well,
if you're bent on coming," he said, hotly, to the visitor, "just go on
deck while I dress."

The lady hesitated a moment and then withdrew. On deck the men eyed her
curiously, but made no attempt to interfere with her, and in a couple of
minutes the mate came running up to take charge.

"Where are we going?" enquired the lady with a trace of anxiety in her
voice.

"France," said Fraser, turning away.

The visitor looked nervously round. At the adjoining wharf a sailing
barge was also getting under way, and a large steamer was slowly turning
in the middle of the river. She took a pace or two towards the side.

"Cast off," said Fraser, impatiently, to the watchman.

"Wait a minute," said the visitor, hastily, "I want to think."

"Cast off," repeated the mate.

The watchman obeyed, and the schooner's side moved slowly from the
wharf. At the sight the visitor's nerve forsook her, and with a frantic
cry she ran to the side and, catching the watchman's outstretched hand,
sprang ashore.

"Good-bye," sang out the mate; "sorry you wouldn't come to _France_
with us. The lady was afraid of the _foreigners_, George. If it had been
_England_ she wouldn't have minded."

"Aye, aye," said the watchman, significantly, and, as the schooner
showed her stern, turned to answer, with such lies as he thought the
occasion demanded, the eager questions of his fair companion.

CHAPTER III.

Captain Flower, learning