They take it for a gull, or a comb of the sea, for
the moment it is in view."

"And do you thank Heaven for this!" exclaimed Gertrude, regarding the
anxious Wilder with a wonder that her more cautious governess had the
power to restrain.

"Did I thank Heaven for not being seen! I may have mistaken the object of
my thanks: It is an armed ship!"

"Perhaps a cruiser of the King's! We are the more likely to meet with a
welcome reception! Delay not to hoist some signal, lest they increase
their sail, and leave us."

"You forget that the enemy is often found upon our coast. This might prove
a Frenchman!"

"I have no fears of a generous enemy. Even a pirate would give shelter,
and welcome, to females in such distress."

A long and profound silence succeeded. Wilder still stood upon the thwart,
straining his eyes to read each sign that a seaman understands; nor did he
appear to find much pleasure in the task.

"We will drift ahead," he said, "and, as the ship is lying on a different
tack, we may yet gain a position that will leave us masters of our future
movements."

To this his companions knew not well how to make any objections. Mrs
Wyllys was so much struck with the remarkable air of coldness with which
he met this prospect of refuge against the forlorn condition in which he
had just before confessed they were placed, that she was much more
disposed to ponder on the cause, than to trouble him with questions which
she had the discernment to see would be useless. Gertrude wondered, while
she was disposed to think he might be right, though she knew not why.
Cassandra alone was rebellious. She lifted her voice in loud objections
against a moment's delay, assuring the abstracted and perfectly
inattentive young seaman, that, should any evil come to her young mistress
by his obstinacy, General Grayson would be angered; and then she left him
to reflect on the results of a displeasure that to her simple mind teemed
with all the danger that could attend the anger of a monarch. Provoked by
his contumacious disregard of her remonstrances, the negress, forgetting
all her respect, in blindness in behalf of her whom she not only loved,
but had been taught to reverence, seized the boat-hook, and, unperceived
by Wilder, fastened to it, with dexterity, one of the linen cloths that
had been brought from the wreck, and exposed it, far above the diminished
sail, for a couple of minutes, ere her device had caught the eyes of
either of