Part 46 (2/2)

His example, in the latter respect, was imitated by the hostile cruisers.

They had soon joined, and boats were seen pa.s.sing from one to the other, so long as there was light. When the sun fell behind the western margin of the ocean, their dusky outlines, distant about a league, gradually grew less and less distinct, until the darkness of night enveloped sea and land in its gloom.

Chapter x.x.xI.

”Now; the business!”

Oth.e.l.lo.

Three hours later, and every noise was hushed on board the royal cruiser.

The toil of repairing damages had ceased, and most of the living, with the dead, lay alike in common silence. The watchfulness necessary to the situation of the fatigued mariners, however, was not forgotten, and though so many slept, a few eyes were still open, and affecting to be alert. Here and there, some drowsy seaman paced the deck, or a solitary young officer endeavored to keep himself awake, by humming a low air, in his narrow bounds. The ma.s.s of the crew slept heavily, with pistols in their belts and cutla.s.ses at their sides, between the guns. There was one figure-extended upon the quarter-deck, with the head resting on a shot-box. The deep breathing of this person denoted the unquiet slumbers of a powerful frame, in which weariness contended with suffering. It was the wounded and feverish master, who had placed himself in that position to catch an hour of the repose that was necessary to his situation. Oh an arm-chest, which had been emptied of its contents, lay another but a motionless human form, with the limbs composed in decent order, and with the face turned towards the melancholy stars. This was the body of the young Dumont, which had been kept, with the intention of consigning it to consecrated earth, when the s.h.i.+p should return to port. Ludlow, with the delicacy of a generous and chivalrous enemy had with his own hands spread the stainless ensign of his country over the remains of the inexperienced but gallant young Frenchman.

There was one little group on the raised deck in the stern of the vessel, in which the ordinary interests of life still seemed to exercise their influence. Hither Ludlow had led Alida and her companions, after the duties of the day were over, in order that they might breathe an air fresher than that of the interior of the vessel. The negress nodded near her young mistress; the tired Alderman sate with his back supported against the mizen-mast, giving audible evidence of his situation; and Ludlow stood erect, occasionally throwing an earnest look on the surrounding and unruffled waters, and then lending his attention to the discourse of his companions. Alida and Seadrift were seated near each other, on chairs. The conversation was low, while the melancholy and the tremor in the voice of la belle Barberie denoted how much the events of the day had shaken her usually firm and spirited mind.

”There is a mingling of the terrific and the beautiful, of the grand and the seducing, in this unquiet profession of yours!” observed, or rather continued Alida, replying to a previous remark of the young sailor. ”That tranquil sea--the hollow sound of the surf on the sh.o.r.e--and this soft canopy above us form objects on which even a girl might dwell in admiration, were not her ears still ringing with the roar and cries of the combat. Did you say the commander of the Frenchman was but a youth?”

”A mere boy in appearance, and one who doubtless owed his rank to the advantages of birth and family. We know it to be the captain, by his dress, no less than by the desperate effort he made to recover the false step taken in the earlier part of the action.”

”Perhaps he has a mother, Ludlow!--a sister--a wife--or----”

Alida paused, for, with maiden diffidence, she hesitated to p.r.o.nounce 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, spite of the train of his thoughts, rose on the lips of Ludlow, had scarcely pa.s.sed away, when the hoa.r.s.e tones of Trysail, rendered still hoa.r.s.er 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 p.o.o.p, the fine person of the 'Skimmer of the Seas.'

”Call away----!”

”Call none!”--interrupted Tiller, stopping the hurried order which involuntarily broke from the lips of Ludlow. ”Let thy s.h.i.+p feign the silence of a wreck, but, in truth, let there be watchfulness and preparation even to her store-rooms! You have done well, Captain Ludlow, to be on the alert, though I have known sharper eyes than those of some of your look-outs.”

”Whence come you, audacious man, and what mad errand has brought you again on the deck of my s.h.i.+p?”

”I come from my habitation on the sea. My business here is warning!”

”The sea!” echoed Ludlow, gazing about him at the narrow and empty view.

”The hour for mockery is past, and you would do well to trifle no more with those who have serious duties to discharge.”

”The hour is indeed one for serious duties--duties, more serious than any you apprehend. But before I enter on explanation, there must be conditions between us. You have one of the sea-green lady's servitors, here; I claim his liberty, for my secret.”

”The error into which I had fallen exists no longer;” returned Ludlow, looking for an instant towards the shrinking form of Seadrift. ”My conquest is worthless, unless you come to supply his place.”

”I come for other purposes--here is one who knows I do not trifle when urgent affairs are on hand. Let thy companions retire, that I may speak openly.”

Ludlow hesitated, for he had not yet recovered from the surprise of finding the redoubtable free-trader so unexpectedly on the deck of his s.h.i.+p. But Alida and her companion arose, like those who had more confidence in their visiter, and, arousing the negress from her sleep, they descended the ladder and entered the cabin. When Ludlow found himself alone with Tiller, he demanded an explanation.

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