ship of war."

"Heaven forbid it," exclaimed Nina. "But should she be, still the raft
is so low in the water, that, at the distance we are off from her, we
surely shall scarcely be recognised."

"I wish that I could think so," said Zappa; "but on board that craft
there are numerous sharp eyes on the look out, and our sail may long
since have been seen from her mast-heads. She is also, I well know, one
of the very ships sent in chase of the _Sea Hawk_, and will not allow us
to pass unquestioned."

"Even should she be an enemy, are we not so near the shore that you may
easily escape thither?" asked Nina, who was unwilling to acknowledge,
even to herself, the danger to which Zappa was exposed.

"She is standing this way, and, by the manner in which her sails rise
from the water, she is making rapid progress towards us," murmured the
pirate, speaking to himself rather than answering Nina's question. "Ah!
I know her now; and long ere we can reach the shore she will be upon
us. Well, we will strive to the last. Fate may, for this once, favour
us. The wind may fail, or, by chance, we may not be seen; and if, when
I have done all that I can to escape, rather than be captured, to hang
alongside those wretches I saw not long ago on the fortifications of
Malta, I have but the brave man's last resource to fly to, and the wave
on which I have so long loved to float shall be my grave."

Ada Garden had heard the previous part of the conversation with feelings
between hope and fear. She trusted that the ship in sight was a friend;
and yet she could not tell what effect it might have on the pirates when
they discovered that such was the case. She deeply regretted, also, the
fate which she feared might await Zappa, were he captured,
notwithstanding the efforts she purposed to make to preserve his life,
more certainly for Nina's sake than for his own; yet she was grateful to
him for the forbearance he had shown towards her.

It was an anxious time for her--indeed, the joy and satisfaction she
would otherwise have felt at the thoughts of her own deliverance was
much alloyed by grief for poor Nina, who, at the moment of realising her
fondest hopes of reclaiming her husband, found them rudely torn from
her.

The crew had not yet observed the stranger, as they were occupied at the
oars, or tending the sail, and Zappa was unwilling to alarm them before
it was necessary; for he knew their caitiff nature, and though ferocious
en