n the dispatches--"

The voice of the master sunk to a whisper, and became inaudible. Ludlow
thought he strove to speak again, and he bent his ear to his mouth.

"I say--the weather-main-swifter and both backstays are gone; Look to the
spars, for--for--there are sometimes--heavy puffs at night--in the
Americas!"

The last heavy respiration succeeded, after which came the long silence of
death. The body was removed to the poop, and Ludlow, with a saddened
heart, turned to duties that this accident rendered still more imperative.

Notwithstanding the heavy loss, and the originally weakened state of her
crew, the sails of the Coquette were soon spread, and the ship moved away
in silence; as if sorrowing for those who had fallen at her anchorage.
When the vessel was fairly in motion, her captain ascended to the poop, in
order to command a clearer view of all around him, as well as to profit
by the situation to arrange his plans for the future. He found he had
been anticipated by the free-trader.

"I owe my ship--I may say my life, since in such a conflict they would
have gone together, to thy succor!" said the young commander, as he
approached the motionless form of the smuggler. "Without it, Queen Anne
would have lost a cruiser, and the flag of England a portion of its
well-earned glory."

"May thy royal mistress prove as ready to remember her friends, in
emergencies, as mine. In good truth, there was little time to lose, and
trust me, we well understood the extremity. If we were tardy, it was
because whale-boats were to be brought from a distance; for the land lies
between my brigantine and the sea."

"He who came so opportunely, and acted so well, needs no apology."

"Captain Ludlow, are we friends?"

"It cannot be otherwise. All minor considerations must be lost in such a
service. If it is your intention to push this illegal trade further, on
the coast, I must seek another station."

"Not so.--Remain, and do credit to your flag, and the land of your birth.
I have long thought that this is the last time the keel of the Water-Witch
will ever plow the American seas. Before I quit you, I would have an
interview with the merchant. A worse man might have fallen, and just now
even a better man might be spared. I hope no harm has come to him?"

"He has shown the steadiness of his Holland lineage, to-day. During the
boarding, he was useful and cool."

"It is well. Let the Alderman be summoned to the deck, for my tim