cup. We are not like
shore-men, we old, tough tarry-Johns!"

"It is well meant," returned the skipper. "Ye can go, boy; for I will
keep your good friend and my good gossip company till curfew--ay, and by
St. Mary, till the sun get up again! For, look ye, when a man hath been
long enough at sea, the salt getteth me into the clay upon his bones;
and let him drink a draw-well, he will never be quenched."

Thus encouraged upon all hands, Dick rose, saluted his company, and
going forth again into the gusty afternoon, got him as speedily as he
might to the Goat and Bagpipes. Thence he sent word to my Lord Foxham
that, so soon as ever the evening closed, they would have a stout boat
to keep the sea in. And then leading along with him a couple of outlaws
who had some experience of the sea, he returned himself to the harbour
and the little sandy creek.

The skiff of the _Good Hope_ lay among many others, from which it was
easily distinguished by its extreme smallness and fragility. Indeed,
when Dick and his two men had taken their places, and begun to put forth
out of the creek into the open harbour, the little cockle dipped into
the swell and staggered under every gust of wind, like a thing upon the
point of sinking.

The _Good Hope_, as we have said, was anchored far out, where the swell
was heaviest. No other vessel lay nearer than several cables' length;
those that were the nearest were themselves entirely deserted; and as
the skiff approached, a thick flurry of snow and a sudden darkening of
the weather further concealed the movements of the outlaws from all
possible espial. In a trice they had leaped upon the heaving deck, and
the skiff was dancing at the stern. The _Good Hope_ was captured.

[Illustration: _The little cockle dipped into the swell and staggered
under every gust of wind_]

She was a good stout boat, decked in the bows and amid-ships, but open
in the stern. She carried one mast, and was rigged between a felucca and
a lugger. It would seem that Skipper Arblaster had made an excellent
venture, for the hold was full of pieces of French wine; and in the
little cabin, besides the Virgin Mary in the bulkhead which proved
the captain's piety, there were many lock-fast chests and cupboards,
which showed him to be rich and careful.

A dog, who was the sole occupant of the vessel, furiously barked and bit
the heels of the boarders; but he was soon kicked into the cabin, and
the door shut upon his just resentme