asleep, she is up, gazing at the stars, and disconcerting a burgher's
speculations--But fear thee not, Master Seadrift; my niece has discretion,
and if we have no better pledge for her silence, there is that of
necessity; since there is no one here for a confidant, but her old Norman
valet, and the Patroon of Kinderhook, both of whom are dreaming of other
matter than a little gainful traffic."

"Fear thee not, Alderman;" returned the other, still maintaining his air
of mockery. "We have the pledge of character, if no other; since the uncle
cannot part with reputation, without the niece sharing in the loss."

"What sin is there in pushing commerce a step beyond the limits of the
law? These English are a nation of monopolists; and they make no scruple
of tying us of the colonies, hand and foot, heart and soul, with their
acts of Parliament, saying 'with us shalt thou trade, or not at all.' By
the character of the best burgomaster of Amsterdam, and they came by the
province, too, in no such honesty, that we should lie down and obey!"

"Wherein there is much comfort to a dealer in the contraband. Justly
reasoned, my worthy Alderman. Thy logic will, at any time, make a smooth
pillow, especially if the adventure be not without its profit. And now,
having so commendabiy disposed of the moral of our bargain, let us
approach its legitimate, if not its lawful, conclusion. There," he added,
drawing a small bag from an inner pocket of his frock, and tossing it
carelessly on a table; "there is thy gold. Eighty broad Johannes is no bad
return for a few packages of furs; and even avarice itself will own, that
six months is no long investment for the usury."

"That boat of thine, most lively Seadrift, is a marine humming-bird!"
returned Myndert, with a joyful tremor of the voice, that betrayed his
deep and entire satisfaction. "Didst say just eighty? But spare thyself
the trouble of looking for the memorandum; I will tell the gold myself, to
save thee the trouble. Truly, the adventure hath not been bad! A few kegs
of Jamaica, with a little powder and lead, and a blanket or two, with now
and then a penny bauble for a chief, are knowingly, ay! and speedily
transmuted into the yellow metal, by thy good aid.--This affair was
managed on the French coast?"

"More northward, where the frost helped the bargain. Thy beavers and
martens, honest burgher, will be flaunting in the presence of the Emperor,
at the next holidays. What is there in