The descendant of the king-hating Ludlows, as the Lord Cornbury had styled the race of the commander of the Coquette, was quite as much surprised by the appearance of him who put this question, as he was by the coolness with which a mariner of ordinary condition presumed to address an officer who bore so high a commission as his own.  He had, how ever, sufficient time to recollect in whose presence he stood, ere he replied, for the stranger had again placed the helm a-lee, and caused the foresail to be thrown aback;—­a change that made the periagua stationary.

“The Queen will always receive a bold mariner in her pay, if he come prepared to serve with skill and fidelity,” he said; “as a proof of which, let a rope be thrown the periagua; we shall treat more at our ease under Her Majesty’s pennant.  I shall be proud to entertain Alderman Van Beverout, in the mean time:  and a cutter will always be at his command, when he shall have occasion to quit us.”

“Your land-loving Aldermen find their way from a Queen’s cruiser to the shore, more easily than a seaman of twenty years’ experience;” returned the other, without giving the burgher time to express his thanks for the polite offer of the other.  “You have gone through the Gibraltar passage, without doubt, noble captain, being a gentleman that has got so fine a boat under his orders?”

“Duty has taken me into the Italian seas, more than once,” answered Ludlow, half disposed to resent this familiarity, though too anxious to keep the periagua near, to quarrel with him who so evidently had produced the unexpected pleasure.

“Then you know that, though a lady might fan a ship through the straits eastward, it needs a Levant breeze to bring her out again.  Her Majesty’s pennants are long, and when they get foul around the limbs of a thoroughly-bred sea-dog, it passes all his art to clear the jam.  It is most worthy of remark that the better the seaman, the less his power to cast loose the knot!”

“If the pennant be so long, it may reach farther than you wish!—­But a bold volunteer has no occasion to dread a press.”

“I fear the berth I wish is filled,” returned the other, curling his lip:  “let draw the fore-sheet, lad; we will take our departure, leaving the fly of the pennant well under our lee.  Adieu, brave Captain; when you have need of a thorough rover, and dream of stern-chases and wet sails, think of him who visited your ship at her lazy moorings.”

Ludlow bit his lip, and though his fine face reddened to the temples, he met the arch glance of Alida, and laughed.  But he who had so hardily braved the resentment of a man, powerful as the commander of a royal cruiser in a British colony, appeared to understand the hazard of his situation.  The periagua whirled round on her heel, and the next minute it was bending to the breeze, and dashing through the little waves towards the shore.  Three boats left the cruiser at the same moment.  One, which evidently contained her captain, advanced with the usual dignified movement of a barge landing an officer of rank, but the others were urged ahead with all the earnestness of a hot chase.