the helm."

Montague uttered the latter part of his speech in a subdued, earnest
voice, and the matter-of-fact Ole turned his eyes slowly towards the man
at the wheel; but observing that he who presided there was a short, fat,
commonplace, and uncommonly jolly-looking seaman, he merely uttered a
grunt, and looked at Montague inquiringly.

"Nay: I mean not the man who actually holds the spokes of the wheel, but
he who guides the ship."

Thorwald glanced at Gascoyne, whose figure was dimly visible in the fore
part of the ship, and then looking at Montague in surprise, shook his
head gravely, as if to say, "I'm still in the dark; go on."

"Can Mr. Thorwald put out his pipe for a few minutes, and accompany me
to the cabin? I would have a little converse on this matter in private."

Ole hesitated.

"Well, then," said the other, smiling, "you may take the pipe with you,
although it is against rules to smoke in my cabin; but I'll make an
exception in your case."

Ole smiled, bowed, and thanking the captain for his courtesy, descended
to the cabin along with him, and sat down on a sofa in the darkest
corner of it. Here he smoked vehemently, while his companion, assuming
rather a mysterious air, said, in an undertone:

"You have heard, of course, that the pirate Durward has been seen, or
heard of, in these seas?"

Ole nodded.

"Has it ever struck you that this Gascoyne, as he calls himself, knows
more about the pirate than he chooses to tell?"

"Never," replied Ole. Indeed, nothing ever did _strike_ the stout
commander-in-chief of the forces. All new ideas came to him by slow
degrees, and did not readily find admission to his perceptive faculties.
But when they did gain an entrance into his thick head, nothing was ever
known to drive them out again. As he did not seem inclined to comment on
the hint thrown out by his companion, Montague continued, in a still
more impressive tone:

"What would you say, if this Gascoyne himself turned out to be the
pirate?"

The idea being a simple one, and the proper course to follow being
rather obvious, Ole replied, with unwonted promptitude: "Put him in
irons, of course, and hang him as soon possible."

Montague laughed. "Truly that would be a vigorous way of proceeding; but
as I have no proof of the truth of my suspicions, and as the man is my
guest at present, as well as my pilot, it behooves me to act more
cautiously."

"Not at all; by no means; you're quite wrong, capta