f it."

So saying, Fid very coolly doffed his jacket, and laid bare, to the elbow,
one of his brawny arms, on which the blue impression was still very
plainly visible Although the letters were rudely imitated, it was not
difficult to read, in the skin, the words "Ark, of Lynnhaven."

"Here, then, you had a clue at once to find the relatives of the boy,"
observed the Rover, after he had deciphered the letters.

"It seems not, your Honour; for we took the child with us aboard the
'Proserpine,' and our worthy Captain carried sail hard after the people;
but no one could give any tidings of such a craft as the 'Ark, of
Lynnhaven;' and, after a twelvemonth, or more, we were obliged to give up
the chase."

"Could the child give no account of his friends?" demanded the governess.

"But little, my Lady; for the reason he knew but little about himself. So
we gave the matter over altogether; I, and Guinea, and the Captain, and
all of us, turning-to to educate the boy. He got his seamanship of the
black and myself, and mayhap some little of his manners also; and his
navigation and Latin of the Captain, who proved his friend till such a
time as he was able to take care of himself, and, for that matter, some
years afterwards."

"And how long did Mr Wilder continue in a King's ship?" asked the Rover,
in a careless and apparently indifferent manner.

"Long enough to learn all that is taught there, your Honour," was the
evasive reply.

"He came to be an officer, I suppose?"

"If he didn't, the King had the worst of the bargain.--But what is this I
see hereaway, atween the backstay and the vang? It looks like a sail; or
is it only a gull flapping his wings before he rises?"

"Sail, ho!" called the look-out from the mast head. "Sail, ho!" was echoed
from a top and from the deck; the glittering though distant object having
struck a dozen vigilant eyes at the same instant. The Rover was compelled
to lend his attention to a summons so often repeated; and Fid profited by
the circumstance to quit the poop, with the hurry of one who was not sorry
for the interruption. Then the governess arose too, and, thoughtful and
melancholy she sought the privacy of her cabin.

Chapter XXV.

"Their preparation is to-day by sea." _--Anthony and Cleopatra._

"Sail, ho!" in the little frequented sea in which the "Rover" lay, was a
cry that quickened every dull pulsation in the bosoms of her crew. Many
weeks had now, according to thei