ke a light shell that
floated so buoyantly as scarce to touch the element which sustained it,
while four athletic seamen leaned on the oars which lay ready to urge it
ahead. In the stern-sheets stood a form, whose attitude and mien could not
readily be mistaken. In the admirable steadiness of the figure, the folded
arms, the fine and manly proportions, and the attire, Ludlow recognized
the mariner of the India-shawl. A wave of the hand induced him to venture
nearer.

"What is asked of the royal cruiser?" demanded the captain of the vessel
named, when the two boats were as near each other as seemed expedient.

"Confidence!" was the calm reply.--"Come nearer Captain Ludlow; I am here
with naked hands! Our conference need not be maintained with trumpets."

Ashamed that a boat belonging to a ship of war should betray doubts, the
people of the yawl were ordered to go within reach of the oars.

"Well, Sir, you have your wish. I have quitted my ship, and come to the
parley, with the smallest of my boats."

"It is unnecessary to say what has been done with the others!" returned
Tiller, across the firm muscles of whose face there passed a smile that
was scarcely perceptible. "You hunt us hard, Sir, and give but little rest
to the brigantine. But again are you foiled!"

"We have a harbinger of better fortune, in a lucky blow that has been
struck to-night."

"You are understood, Sir; Master Seadrift has fallen into the hands of the
Queen's servants--but take good heed! if injury, in word or deed, befall
that youth, there live those who well know how to resent the wrong!"

"These are lofty expressions, to come from a proscribed man; but we will
overlook them, in the motive. Your brigantine, Master Tiller, lost its
master spirit in the 'Skimmer of the Seas,' and it may be wise to listen
to the suggestions of moderation. If you are disposed to treat, I am here
with no disposition to extort."

"We meet in a suitable spirit, then; for I come prepared to offer terms of
ransom, that Queen Anne, if she love her revenue, need not despise;--but,
as in duty to Her Majesty, I will first listen to her royal pleasure."

"First, then, as a seaman, and one who is not ignorant of what a vessel
can perform, let me direct your attention to the situation of the parties.
I am certain that the Water-Witch, though for the moment concealed by the
shadows of the hills, or favored perhaps by distance and the feebleness
of this light, is in the wa