ust be scored on the back of
Richard Fid, as you would put any other misfortune into the log."
"I would he might be pardoned. I can venture to promise, in his name,
'twill be the last offence"--
"Let it be forgotten," returned the Rover, struggling powerfully to
conquer his passion. "I will not disturb our harmony at such a moment, Mr
Wilder, by refusing so small a boon: but you need not be told to what evil
such negligence might lead. Give me the glass again; I will see if the
fluttering canvas has escaped the eye of the stranger."
The topman bestowed a stolen but exulting glance on Wilder, and then the
latter motioned the other hastily away, turning himself to join his
Commander in the examination.
Chapter XXVI.
"As I am an honest man, he looks pale: Art thou sick, or angry?"
_Much ado about Nothing._
The approach of the strange sail was becoming rapidly more and more
visible to the naked eye. The little speck of white, which had first been
seen on the margin of the sea, resembling some gull floating on the summit
of a wave, had gradually arisen during the last half hour, until a tall
pyramid of canvas was reared on the water. As Wilder bent his look again
on this growing object, the Rover put a glass into his hands, with an
expression of feature which the other understood to say, "You may perceive
that the carelessness of your dependant has already betrayed us!" Still
the look was one rather of regret than of reproach; nor did a single
syllable of the tongue confirm the meaning language of the eye. On the
contrary, it would seem that his Commander was anxious to preserve their
recent amicable compact inviolate; for, when the young mariner attempted
an awkward explanation of the probable causes of the blunder of Fid, he
was met by a quiet gesture, which said, in a sufficiently intelligible
language, that the offence was already pardoned.
"Our neighbour keeps a good look-out, as you may see," observed the other.
"He has tacked, and is laying boldly up across our fore-foot. Well, let
him come on; we shall soon get a look at his battery, and then may we come
to our conclusion as to the nature of the intercourse we are to hold."
"If you permit the stranger to near us, it might be difficult to throw him
off the chase, should we be glad to get rid of him."
"It must be a fast-going vessel to which the 'Dolphin' cannot spare a
top-gallant-sail."
"I know not, sir. The sail in sight is swi
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