ip were given to understand that the
moment of serious strife was at hand; but, as yet, that never-failing
evidence of the hostile intention of their leader was unnoticed.

In the mean time, each officer had examined into, and reported, the state
of his division; and then, by a sort of implied permission on the part of
their superiors, the death-like calm, which had hitherto reigned among the
people, was allowed to be broken by suppressed but earnest discourse; the
calculating chief permitting this departure from the usual rules of more
regular cruisers, in order to come at the temper of the crew, on which so
much of the success of his desperate enterprises so frequently depended.

Chapter XXVII.

----"For he made me mad,
To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet,
And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman."----

_King Henry IV_

The moment was now one of high and earnest excitement. Each individual,
who was charged with a portion of the subordinate authority of the ship,
had examined into the state of his command, with that engrossing care
which always deepens as responsibility draws nigher to the proofs of its
being worthily bestowed. The voice of the harsh master had ceased to
inquire into the state of those several ropes and chains that were deemed
vital to the safety of the vessel; each chief of a battery had assured and
re-assured himself that his artillery was ready for instant, and the most
effective, service; extra ammunition had already issued from its dark and
secret repository; and even the hum of dialogue had ceased, in the more
engrossing and all-absorbing interest of the scene. Still the quick and
ever-changing glance of the Rover could detect no reason to distrust the
firmness of his people. They were grave, as are ever the bravest and
steadiest in the hour of trial; but their gravity was mingled with no
signs of concern. It seemed rather like the effect of desperate and
concentrated resolution, such as braces the human mind to efforts which
exceed the ordinary daring of martial enterprise. To this cheering
exhibition of the humour of his crew the wary and sagacious leader saw but
three exceptions; they were found in the persons of his lieutenant and his
two remarkable associates.

It has been seen that the bearing of Wilder was not altogether such as
became one of his rank in a moment of great trial. The keen, jealous
glances of the Rover had studied and re-stud