e that might dare
even to watch our movements, until we were pleased ourselves to throw off
the authority with which we are clothed? Ere the middle watch was set, all
might be done."

"Alone! Would you go alone?"

"No--not entirely--that is--it would scarcely become us, as men, to desert
the females to the brutal power of those we should leave behind."

"And would it become us, as men, to desert those who put faith in our
fidelity? Mr Wilder, your proposal would make me a villain! Lawless, in
the opinion of the world, have I long been; but a traitor to my faith and
plighted word, never! The hour may come when the beings whose world is in
this ship shall part; but the separation must be open, voluntary, and
manly. You never knew what drew me into the haunts of man, when we first
met in the town of Boston?"

"Never," returned Wilder, in a tone of deep disappointment

"Listen, and you shall hear. A sturdy follower had fallen into the hands
of the minions of the law. It was necessary to save him. He was a man I
little loved, but he was one who had ever been honest, after his opinions.
I could not desert the victim; nor could any but I effect his escape. Gold
and artifice succeeded; and the fellow is now here, to sing the praises of
his Commander to the crew. Could I forfeit a good name, obtained at so
much hazard?"

"You would forfeit the good opinions of knaves, to gain a reputation among
those whose commendations are an honour."

"I know not. You little understand the nature of man, if you are now to
learn that he has pride in maintaining a reputation for even vice, when
he has once purchased notoriety by its exhibition. Besides, I am not
fitted for the world, as it is found among your dependant colonists."

"You claim your birth, perhaps, in the mother country?"

"I am no better than a poor provincial, sir; an humble satellite of the
mighty sun. You have seen my flags, Mr Wilder:--but there was one wanting
among them all; ay, and one which, had it existed, it would have been my
pride, my glory, to have upheld with my heart's best blood!"

"I know not what you mean."

"I need not tell a seaman, like you, how many noble rivers pour their
waters into the sea along this coast of which we have been speaking--how
many wide and commodious havens abound there--or how many sails whiten the
ocean, that are manned by men who first drew breath on that spacious and
peaceful soil."

"Surely I know the advantages of the c