ed a sail. She was a large
merchant brig, heading any way, and bobbing about, as we were, in the
calm. Toward noon, however, a light air sprang up, and we got within
hail, and I went on board to say a word or two to the skipper, for we
had news before leaving Kingston that that infamous pirate Brand, in his
long-legged schooner 'Centipede,' had been seen off Guadaloupe; and, in
fact, we had actually chased him off Matanzas three months before; so I
was ordered to give the brig a warning, particularly as she had reported
a suspicious craft in sight that same morning at sunrise. When I got on
board of her I saw--"

Here Piron placed both hands to his face as he leaned his elbows on the
table, and the commodore, checking himself, hurried on:

"Ah! well, we kept the brig in sight all day, and ran round her once or
twice in the evening, but toward midnight the trade wind freshened, and,
as the coast seemed clear, and we were anxious to make up for lost time
in the calm, we gradually came up to our course, and went bowling away
to windward.

"I remember going below at the time, and just as I was about to turn in,
I heard a quarter-master sing out to Hardy there, who was junior
lieutenant of the ship, and who had the middle watch, that he saw a
light going up to the brig's gaff. In five seconds I was on the poop,
where I met the captain.

"This is his only son, gentlemen, and a braver or more skillful seaman
never trod a ship's deck," said the commodore, as he passed his hand
affectionately over the boy's head, who was sitting beside him.

But he forgot, perhaps, to say that he, Cleveland, had stood by the
father when he was struck dead by a cannon-shot, and that afterward he
had the boy appointed a reefer, and, out of his own means, helped the
widow to eke out her pittance of a pension. Yes, Cleveland forgot all
that as he smoothed the youngster's soft hair, while, with the men
around him, he drained his glass in silence to the memory of his
departed friend and chief. Then resuming, he went on:

"In less than no time after the light was seen--for you must know,
gentlemen, that it was an understood signal between us--the 'Scourge'
was flying off with a stiff breeze abaft the beam, the crew at quarters,
and the boats ready to be lowered from the davits. When we ranged up
alongside the brig, and even before, we felt certain that our misgivings
would prove true, and so they did; and merely slamming a shot over her,
and dro