k-rigged, bluff in the bow, square in
the stern, unpainted and leaky--on the whole as unkempt and
disreputable-looking a craft as ever flew the black flag; and with the
clank of the pumps marking time to the wailing squeak of the
tiller-ropes, she wallowed through the waves like a log in an eddying
tideway.

Even the black flag at the gaff-end wore a makeshift, slovenly air. It
was a square section of the bark's foreroyal, painted black around the
skull-and-cross-bones design, which had been left the original hue of
the canvas. The port-holes were equally slovenly in appearance, being
cut through between stanchions with axes instead of saws; and the
bulwarks were further disfigured by extra holes smashed through at the
stanchions to take the lashings of the gun-breechings. But the guns
were bright and cared for, as were the uniforms of the crew; for they
had been lately transhipped. Far from home, with a general cargo, this
ancient trader had been taken in a fog by Captain Swarth and his men an
hour before their own well-found vessel had sunk alongside--which gave
them just time to hoist over guns and ammunition. When the fog shifted,
the pursuing English war-brig that had riddled the pirate saw nothing
but the peaceful old tub ahead, and went on into the fog, looking for
the other.

"Any port in a storm, Angel," remarked Captain Swarth, as he flashed
his keen eyes over the rickety fabric aloft; "but we'll find a better
one soon. How do the boys stand the pumping?"

Mr. Angel Todd, first mate and quartermaster, filled a black pipe
before answering. Then, between the first and second deep puffs, he
said: "Growlin'--dammum."

"At the work?"

"Yep, and the grub. And they say the 'tween-deck and forecastle smells
o' bedbugs and bilge-water, and they want their grog. 'An ungodly
witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth
iniquity.'" Mr. Todd had been educated for the pulpit; but, going out
as a missionary, he had fallen into ungodly ways and taken to the sea,
where he was more successful. Many of his old phrasings clung to him.

"Well," drawled the captain, "men get fastidious and high-toned in this
business,--can't blame them,--but we've got to make the coast, and if
we don't pick up something on the way, we must careen and stop the
leak. Then they'll have something to growl about."

"S'pose the brig follows us in?"

"Hope she will," said Captain Swarth, with a pleasant smile and a
lightenin