“And yet, my lord, I have met men who preferred poverty and their opinions, to gold and the wishes of others.”

“The dolts were lusus naturae!” exclaimed the dissolute Cornbury, losing all his reserve in a manner that better suited his known and confirmed character.  “You should have caged them, Skimmer, and profited by their dullness, to lay the curious under contribution.  Don’t mistake me, Sir, if I speak a little in confidence.  I hope I know the difference between a gentleman and a leveller, as well as another; but trust me, this Mr. Hunter is human, and he will yield if proper appliances are used;—­and you expect from me——?”

“The exercise of that influence which cannot fail of success; since there is a courtesy between men of a certain station, which causes them to overlook rivalry, in the spirit of their caste.  The cousin of Queen Anne can yet obtain the liberty of one whose heaviest crime is a free trade, though he may not be able to keep his own seat in the chair of the government.”

“Thus far, indeed, my poor influence may yet extend, provided the fellow be not named in any act of outlawry.  I would gladly enough Mr. Skimmer end my deeds in this hemisphere, with some act of graceful mercy, if—­indeed—­I saw—­the means——­”

“They shall not be wanting.  I know the law is like any other article of great price; some think that Justice holds the balance, in order to weigh her fees.  Though the profits of this hazardous and sleepless trade of mine be much overrated, I would gladly line her scales with two hundred broad pieces, to have that youth again safe in the cabin of the brigantine.”

As the ‘Skimmer of the Seas’ thus spoke, he drew, with the calmness of a man who saw no use in circumlocution, a heavy bag of gold from beneath his frock, and deposited it, without a second look at the treasure, on the table.  When this offering was made, he turned aside, less by design than by a careless movement of the body, and, when he faced his companion again, the bag had vanished.

“Your affection for the lad is touching, Master Skimmer,” returned the corrupt Cornbury; “it were a pity such friendship should be wasted.  Will there be proof to insure his condemnation?”

“It may be doubted.  His dealings have only been with the higher class of my customers, and with but few of them.  The care I now take is more in tenderness to the youth, than with any great doubts of the result.  I shall count you, my lord, among his protectors, in the event that the affair is noised?”

“I owe it to your frankness—­but will Mr. Ludlow content himself with the possession of an inferior, when the principal is so near? and shall we not have a confiscation of the brigantine on our hands?”

“I charge myself with the care of all else.  There was indeed a lucky escape, only the last night, as we lay at a light kedge, waiting for the return of him who has been arrested.  Profiting by the possession of our skiff; the commander of the Coquette, himself, got within the sweep of my hawse—­nay, he was in the act of cutting the very fastenings, when the dangerous design was discovered.  ’Twould have been a fate unworthy of the Water-Witch, to be cast on shore like a drifting log, and to check her noble career by some such a seizure as that of a stranded waif!”