wart,'
she said, with an arch smile, 'you treated my poor guardian
shamefully, I am told.'

"'Yes,' cried Pedro, 'and just to let you know what a truculent person
he is, know that yesterday he more than insinuated that he would serve
me in the same way that he did Don Carlos.'"

"Land ho!" sung out the man on the look-out.

"Where away?" shouted Langley, walking forward.

"Pretty near ahead, sir; perhaps a point on our starboard bow, sir."

"Land ho!" bellowed the man at the wheel, "just abeam, sir, to
loo-ard."

"What had I better do, sir?" inquired Langley, of the mate.

"I was looking at the chart just at night, and I should reckon the
land ahead might be Mayaguana, and the Little Caycos under our lee."

"Head her about west, then; but we shall have the lead going soon."

We filled away before the wind, which had now veered again to the
eastward, and in a few moments were dashing bravely on, sailing right
up the moon's wake toward the Pass, the land lying on each side of us
like blue clouds resting on the horizon. We settled ourselves again on
the hatch, lighted fresh cigars, and the mate resumed his broken yarn.

"It is getting late, boys, almost six bells, and I must cut my story a
little short. I will pass over the dinner, the invitation to stay
longer, Captain Hopkins' consent, the undisguised pleasure and the
repressed delight of Clara at this arrangement, and I will pass over
the next two days, only saying that the memory of them haunts me yet;
and that though at the time they seemed short enough, yet when I look
back upon them, it is hard to realize they were not months instead of
days, so much of heart experience did I acquire in the time. I found
Clara to be every thing which the most exacting wife-hunter could
wish--beautiful as a dream. Believe me, boys, I do not now speak with
the enthusiasm of a lover, but such beauty is seldom seen on the
earth. Added to this, she was intellectual, refined, accomplished, and
highly educated. I went back four years in life, and with all the
enthusiasm of a college student I raved of poetry and romance. We read
German together, and we talked of love in French; and the musical
tongue of Italy, it seemed to me, befitted her mouth better than her
own sonorous native language, and when in conversation she would look
me one of those dreamy glances which had at the first set my heart in
agitation, it perfectly bewildered me. You needn't smile, Langley,
(poor Bill's