As Captain Ratlin said this, his eyes met those of his companion for a
moment, which were bent anxiously upon his face, as though she would
read his inmost thoughts. He noted the expression, and replied at once:

"Whatever suspicion or fear may have entered Miss Huntington's mind, I
beg of her to dispel, as it regards her own and her mother's safety and
comfort. Both shall be my sole care until you are safely landed upon
shore, where I shall at the earliest moment place you in a situation to
reach your homes in England."

"I know you will do this," she replied, "and if my looks betrayed any
anxiety, it was not for our safety, but for your own, Captain Ratlin."

"My safety, lady? do you then consider that worth your anxiety?" he
asked, with unmistakable earnestness in his voice.

"You have been more than kind to us, sir," she continued, "you have been
preserver, protector, and friend, and it were strange if I did not feel
an interest for your welfare."

This she uttered so ingenuously, so frankly, that it seemed not in the
least indelicate or forward, while it thrilled the young commander's
heart.

"Lady, since the moment you came on board, and I heard the tones of your
voice, a strange interest sprang up in my heart, an indescribable one,
and now that you express an interest in a poor wanderer's fate, you
attach to it a value that he himself has never regarded it as
possessing. But I read your suspicions, you have feared the worst--your
looks have betrayed it, and you were ready to believe that I am a--"

"Pirate!" almost groaned his companion, "You are not, pray say you are
not."

"Not so bad as that, lady."

"But you are then--"

"A slaver!" said the young commander, turning from her and moodily
walking the deck; with a contracted brow and uneven step.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE QUADROON.

FOR several days succeeding that upon which Captain Ratlin had avowed
himself to his fair young companion to be engaged in the slave trade
upon the coast of Africa, the "Sea Witch" was occupied in running in
towards the land and exchanging signals with friends on shore, and then
standing off and on to watch a favorable moment for running to an
anchorage, without encountering one of the English or American cruisers
stationed on the coast. During this time the young commander and his
fair passenger found much time for conversation, and she strove with all
that power of persuasion and delicacy of tact peculiar to he