uence of a pretty woman
and a round sum of money. Mrs. Lascelles, too, was unquestionably just
the woman to marry Pickersgill. Having married an old man to please her
parents, and having inherited his money, she had decided both to marry
again and to please herself in her second husband. Experience shows that
the Mrs. Lascelles of real life not uncommonly fall into the hands of a
ruffian or an adventurer. Marryat was not making a study of real life,
and he was too fond of his puppets; and besides that would have been
another story, which would have been superfluous, considering that
Marryat wanted to end this one. So Mrs. Lascelles had her fine dashing
seaman, who stood six feet odd in his stockings, and was also a
gentleman in disguise. Of course she was happy ever after. One has a
haunting suspicion that the story was not only written to fill out the
volume, but also to accompany Clarkson Stanfield's three very pretty
plates of Plymouth, Portsmouth, and St. Malo. If so, that only proves
that when a man is a born storyteller he can write good stories for very
humble business reasons.

CONTENTS

THE PIRATE

PAGE

CHAPTER I

THE BAY OF BISCAY 3

CHAPTER II

THE BACHELOR 11

CHAPTER III

THE GALE 20

CHAPTER IV

THE LEAK 26

CHAPTER V

THE OLD MAID 34

CHAPTER VI

THE MIDSHIPMAN 43

CHAPTER VII

SLEEPER'S BAY 50

CHAPTER VIII

THE ATTACK 60

CHAPTER IX

THE CAPTURE 69

CHAPTER X

THE SAND-BANK 87

CHAPTER XI

THE ESCAPE 93

CHAPTER XII

THE LIEUTENANT 104

CHAPTER XIII

THE LANDING 111

CHAPTER XIV

THE MEETING 124

CHAPTER XV

THE MISTAKE 135

CHAPTER XVI

THE CAICOS 145

CHAPTER XVII

THE TRIAL 158

CHAPTER XVIII

CONCLUSION 173

THE THREE CUTTERS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

CUTTER THE FIRST 185

CHAPTER II

CUTTER THE SECOND 199

CHAPTER III

CUTTER THE THIRD 208

CHAPTER IV

PORTLAND BILL 216

CHAPTER V

THE TRAVESTIE 227

CHAPTER VI

THE SMUGGLING YACHT 239

CHAPTER VII

CONCLUSION 247

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE PIRATE