--"

Alida paused, for, with maiden wordnetfear, she hesitated to pronounce the
tie which was uppermost in her thoughts.

"He may have had one, or all! Such are the sailor's hazards, and----"

"Such the hazards of those who feel an interest in their safety!" uttered
the low but expressive voice of Seadrift.

A deep and eloquent silence succeeded. Then the voice of Myndert was heard
muttering indistinctly, "twenty of beaver, and three of marten--as per
invoice." The smile which,  of the train of his thoughts, rose on the
lips of Ludlow, had scarcely passed away, when the hoarse tones of
Trysail, rendered still hoarser by his sleep, were plainly heard in a
stifled cry, saying, "Bear a hand, there, with your stoppers!--the
Frenchman is coming round upon us, again."

"That is prophetic!" said one, aloud, behind the listening group. Ludlow
turned, quick as the flag fluttering on its vane, and through the darkness
he recognized, in the motionless but manly form that stood near him on the
poop, the fine person of the 'Skimmer of the Seas.'

"Call away----!"

"Call none