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themselves every indulgence, which policy would prohibit to the mass. One who
has seen as much of life as yourself, needs no explanations on this head; and
I cannot doubt, but our present interview will have a satisfactory
termination.
The Skimmer scarce deemed it necessary to conceal the contempt that caused
his lip to curl, while the other was endeavoring to mystify his cupidity; and
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when the speaker was done, he merely expressed an assent by a slight
inclination of the head. The ex-governor saw that his attempt was fruitless,
and, by relinquishing his masquerade, and yielding more to his natural
propensities and tastes, he succeeded better.
Carnaby has been a faithful agent, he continued, and by his reports, it
would seem that our confidence has not been misplaced. If fame speaks true,
there is not a more dexterous navigator of the narrow seas than thyself,
Master Skimmer. It is to be supposed that your correspondents on this coast,
too, are as lucrative as I doubt not they are numerous.
He who sells cheap can never want a purchaser. I think your lordship has no
reason to complain of prices.
As pointed as his compass! Well, Sir, as I am no longer master here, may I
ask the object of this interview?
I have come to seek your interest in behalf of one who has fallen into the
grasp of the Queen s officers.
Hum--the amount of which is, that the cruiser in the bay has entrapped some
careless smuggler. We are none of us immortal, and an arrest is but a legal
death to men of your persuasion in commerce. Interest is a word of many
meanings. It is the interest of one man to lend, and of another to borrow; of
the creditor to receive, and of the debtor to avoid payment. Then there is
interest at court, and interest in court--in short, you must deal more
frankly, ere I can decide on the purport of your visit.
I am not ignorant that the Queen has been pleased to name another governor
over this colony, or that your creditors, my lord, have thought it prudent to
take a pledge for their dues, in your person. Still, I must think, that one
who stands so near the Queen in blood, and who sooner or later must enjoy both
rank and fortune in the mother country, will not solicit so slight a boon as
that I ask, without success. This is the reason I prefer to treat with you.
As clear an explanation as the shrewdest casuist could desire! I admire your
succinctness, Master Skimmer, and confess you for the pink of etiquette. When
your fortune shall be made, I recommend the court circle as your place of
retirement. Governors, creditors, Queen, and imprisonment, all as compactly
placed, in the same sentence, as if it were the creed written on a thumb-nail!
Well, Sir, we will suppose my interest what you wish it.--Who and what is the
delinquent?
One named Seadrift,--a useful and a pleasant youth, who passes much between
me and my customers; heedless and merry in his humors, but dear to all in my
brigantine, because of tried fidelity and shrewd wit. We could sacrifice the
profits of the voyage, that he were free. To me he is a necessary agent, for
his skill in the judgment of rich tissues, and other luxuries that compose my
traffic, is exceeding; and I am better fitted to guide the vessel to her
haven, and to look to her safety amid shoals and in tempests, than to deal in
these trifles of female vanity.
So dexterous a go-between should not have mistaken a tide-waiter for a
customer--how befell the accident?
He met the barge of the Coquette at an unlucky moment, and as we had so
lately been chased off the coast by the cruiser, there was no choice but to
arrest him.
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The dilemma is not without embarrassment. When once his mind is settled, it
is no trifle that will amuse this Mr. Ludlow. I do not know a more literal
construer of his orders in the fleet;--a man, Sir, who thinks words have but a
single set of meanings, and who knows as little as can be imagined of the
difference between a sentiment and a practice.
He is a seaman, my lord, and he reads his instructions with a seaman s
simplicity. I think none the worse of him, that he cannot be tempted from his
duty; for, let us understand the right as we will, our service once taken, it
becomes us all to do it faithfully.
A small red spot came and went on the cheek of the profligate Cornbury.
Ashamed of his weakness, he affected to laugh at what he had heard, and
continued the discourse.
Your forbearance and charity might adorn a churchman, Master Skimmer! he
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