d into the pass, be tween Blackwell's and Nassau,
than he issued an order to secure the guns that had been used, and to
clear away the anchors.

"Cock-bill the bowers, Sir," he hastily added, in his orders to Trysail.
"We are in no condition to sport with stock-and-fluke; have every thing
ready to let go at a word; and see the grapnels ready,--we will throw them
aboard the smuggler as we close, and take him alive. Once fast to the
chain, we are yet strong enough to haul him in under our scuppers, and to
capture him with the pumps! Is the signal still abroad, for a pilot?"

"We keep it flying, Sir, but 'twill be a swift boat that overhauls us in
this tide's-way. The Gate begins at yonder bend in the land, Captain
Ludlow!"

"Keep it abroad; the lazy rogues are sometimes loitering in the cove this
side the rocks, and chance may throw one of them aboard us, as we pass.
See to the anchors, Sir; the ship is driving through this channel, like a
race-horse under the whip!"

The men were hurriedly piped to this duty while their young commander took
his station on the poop, now anxiously examining the courses of the tides
and the positions of the eddies, and now turning his eyes towards the
brigantine, whose upper spars and white sails were to be seen, at the
distance of two hundred fathoms, glancing past the trees of the island.
But miles and minutes seemed like rods and moments, in that swift current.
Trysail had just reported the anchors ready, when the ship swept up
abreast of the cove, where vessels often seek an anchorage, to await
favorable moments for entering the Gate. Ludlow saw, at a glance, that the
place was entirely empty. For an instant he yielded to the heavy
responsibility--a responsibility before which a seaman sooner shrinks than
before any other--that of charging himself with the duty of the pilot; and
he thought of running into the anchorage for shelter. But another glimpse
at the spars of the brigantine caused him to waver.

"We are near the Gate, Sir!" cried Trysail, in a voice that was full of
warning.

"Yon daring mariner stands on!"

"The rogue sails his vessel without the Queen's permission, Captain
Ludlow. They tell me, this is a passage that has been well named!"

"I have been through it, and will vouch for its character--he shows no
signs of anchoring!"

"If the woman who points his course can carry him through safely, she
deserves her title. We are passing, the Cove, Captain Ludlow!"

"W