do, more generous to forgive the vagaries of men who are given to imagining themselves great, as they, rightly viewed, can do no harm, and, indeed, afford much of that amusement so necessary to good digestion, I replied, that I had always considered his claims to public favor as superior to my own.  And this so pleased him, that he declared it the first time, notwithstanding his great experience in life, that he had found a politician willing to sacrifice himself for the benefit of another, which he swore to remember until the day of his death.  We now sat down together, and continued consulting upon various matters appertaining to our journey, and in which the major took great delight, especially as I acquiesced in all his opinions.

Night had now overtaken us, and the “Two Marys” was proceeding slowly on her course, close in shore.  It was impossible the mind could conceive a finer night, for not a cloud was visible in the heavens, which formed over us a gorgeous arch of azure blue, hung with what poets call liquid pearls, now casting shadows like frolicking fairies over the broad sea plane below; and then, after flitting and coquetting, passed away into the mysterious distance.  In truth, so seductive was the scene, that it excited in my breast a few of those fancies of heaven that give so much employment to the brains of young lovers.  Yonder, tall light houses ranged along the shore, like stately giants in their night robes, filling the horizon to the right with a halo of pale light.  Then a noise as of the rilling of distant brooks came floating in sweet cadences through the air, which seemed laden with the perfumes of new made hay; and the hollow echo of the watch dog’s bark mingled in the soul inspiring chorus.  And as I turned thinking of Hervey and his Meditations, my eye caught the ripe moon rising to invest all with that reposing softness poets and painters have so long in vain attempted to describe.

A streak of bright light trailed along the heavens in the west, and beneath it were steamboats so gigantic in proportions that they resembled illuminated palaces vaulting over the sea; while close off our starboard bow, there appeared advancing toward us a fairy like fleet, with low, rakish hulls, taut rig, and sails made whiter by the moonbeams playing upon them.  The whole fleet seemed to skim over the sea, though the “Two Marys” scarce moved.  One, more tiny than the rest, and which appeared to have made an offing, bore down for us, and seemed intent upon crossing our bows.  The major, whose attention had been directed to them for some minutes, and who seemed always to have a pirate haunting his mind, rose quickly to his feet, swearing that he could not this time be mistaken in the character of the craft advancing upon us, since pirates always stole upon the objects of their plunder, and were, as he had read in various novels, just the sort of craft there seen.  So disturbed was he in his feelings, that he demanded of Captain Luke Snider that he make a