nd he felt vexed that he should
have ventured on a proposition that his superior treated as unbecoming.

"Nevertheless, sir, she might think the lugger cheaply sold," he said,
with emphasis, "provided her lover's life was what she got in exchange.
It would be a very different thing were we to ask her to sell her
admirer, instead of a mere privateer."

"No matter, Griffin. We will not meddle with the private feelings of a
young female, that chance has thrown into our hands. As soon as we get
near enough in with the land, I intend to let the old man take his boat,
and carry his niece ashore. That will be getting rid of _them_, at
least, honorably and fairly. God knows what is to become of the
Frenchman."

This terminated the conference. Griffin went on deck, where duty now
called him; and Cuffe sat down to re-peruse, for the ninth or tenth
time, the instructions of the admiral.

CHAPTER XXII.

"I have no dread,
And feel the curse to have no natural fear,
Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes,
Or lurking love of something on the earth"

_Manfred_,

By this time the day had materially advanced, and there were grave
grounds for the uneasiness which Cuffe began so seriously to feel. All
three of the ships were still in the Bay of Salerno, gathering in toward
its northern shore, however; the Proserpine the deepest embayed, the
Terpsichore and the Ringdove having hauled out toward Campanella, as
soon as satisfied nothing was to be seen in-shore of them. The heights
which line the coast, from the immediate vicinity of the town of Salerno
to the headland that ends near Capri, have long been celebrated, not
only for their beauty and grandeur, but in connection with the lore of
the middle ages. As the Proserpine had never been in this bay before, or
never so near its head, her officers found some temporary relief from
the very general uneasiness that was felt on account of their prisoner,
in viewing scenery that is remarkable even in that remarkable section of
the globe. The ship had gone up abreast of Amalfi, and so close in as
to be less than a mile from the shore. This object was to communicate
with some fishermen, which had been done; the information received going
to establish the fact, that no craft resembling the lugger had been in
that part of the Bay. The vessel's head was now laid to the southward
and westward, in waiting for the zephyr, which