the young officer who controlled the
movements of the ship.

Ludlow himself paced the deck, with all his usual composure, so far as
might be seen by external signs; though, in reality, his mind was agitated
by feelings that were foreign to the duties of his station. He too had
thrown occasional glances at the approaching squall, but his eye was far
oftener riveted on the motionless brigantine, which was now distinctly to
be seen from the deck of the Coquette, still riding at her anchor. The cry
of 'a stranger in the cove!' which, a few moments before, came out of one
of the tops, caused no surprise in the commander; while the crew,
wondering but obedient, began, for the first time, to perceive the object
of their strange manoeuvres. Even the officer, next in authority to the
captain, had not presumed to make any inquiry, though, now that the object
of their search was so evidently in view, he felt emboldened to presume on
his rank, and to venture a remark.

"It is a sweet craft!" said the staid lieutenant, yielding to an
admiration natural to his habits, "and one that might serve as a yacht for
the Queen! This is some trifler with the revenue, or perhaps a buccaneer
from the islands. The fellow shows no ensign!"

"Give him notice, Sir, that he has to do with one who bears the royal
commission," returned Ludlow, speaking from habit, and half-unconscious of
what he said. "We must teach these rovers to respect a pennant."

The report of the cannon startled the absent man and caused him to
remember the order.

"Was that gun shotted?" he asked, in a tone that sounded like rebuke.

"Shotted, but pointed wide, Sir; merely a broad hint. We are no dealers
in dumb show, in the Coquette, Captain Ludlow."

"I would not injure the vessel, even should it prove a buccaneer. Be
careful, that nothing strikes her, without an order."

"Ay, 'twill be well to take the beauty alive, Sir; so pretty a boat should
not be broken up, like an old hulk. Ha! there goes his bunting, at last!
He shows a white field--can the fellow be a Frenchman, after all?"

The lieutenant took a glass, and for a moment applied it to his eye, with
the usual steadiness. Then he suffered the instrument to fall, and it
would seem that he endeavored to recall the different flags that he had
seen during the experience of many years.

"This joker should come from some terra incognita;" he said. "Here is a
woman in his field, with an ugly countenance, too, unless