, as in eluding the
utmost address and industry of his open enemies.

When the watch was set for the night, however, and the ship lay in the
customary silence of the hour, the form of the Rover was again seen
walking swiftly to and fro across the poop, of which he was now the
solitary occupant. The vessel had drifted in the stream of the Gulf so far
to the northward, that the little mound of blue had long sunk below the
edge of the ocean; and she was again surrounded, so far as human eye
might see, by an interminable world of water. As not a breath of air was
stirring, the sails had been handed, the tall and naked spars rearing
themselves, in the gloom of the evening, like those of a ship which rested
at her anchors. In short, it was one of those hours of entire repose that
the elements occasionally grant to such adventurers as trust their
fortunes to the capricious government of the treacherous and unstable
winds.

Even the men, whose duty it was to be on the alert, were emboldened, by
the general tranquillity, to become careless on their watch, and to cast
their persons between the guns, or on different portions of the vessel,
seeking that rest which the forms of discipline and good order prohibited
them from enjoying in their hammocks. Here and there, indeed, the head of
a drowsy officer was seen nodding with the lazy heaving of the ship, as he
leaned against the bulwarks, or rested his person on the carriage of some
gun that was placed beyond the sacred limits of the quarter-deck One form
alone stood erect, vigilant, and evidently maintaining a watchful eye over
the whole This was Wilder, whose turn to keep the deck had again arrived,
in the regular division of the service of the officers.

For two hours, not the slightest communication occurred between the Rover
and his lieutenant. Both rather avoided than sought the intercourse; for
each had his own secret sources of serious meditation At the end of that
period of silence, the former stopped short in his walk, and looked long
and steadily at the still motionless figure on the deck beneath him.

"Mr Wilder," he at length said, "the air is fresher on this poop, and more
free from the impurities of the vessel: Will you ascend?"

The other complied; and, for several minutes they walked silently, and
with even steps, together, as seamen are wont to move in the hours of
deep night.

"We had a troublesome morning, Wilder," the Rover resumed, unconsciously
betraying