The singing threw an air of mystery over the little craft, which served to make the major more impatient to know her character.  Had the place of meeting been in the Caribbean Sea, he said, why, there could be no mistaking her character, for the pirates who infested it, as he had read in one of Sims’s novels, made their captive females sing to them at night, whereas on the Sound, there was no record of what pirates and oystermen really did with their female captives, unless it was that they banished them to Blackwell’s Island.  But he was still more surprised and confounded when he heard the words of the song the party in the little craft were singing, and which ran thus: 

    “Beneath the stars, so pure and bright,
    Come let us be merry on the sea to-night! 
    On the sea to-night! on the sea to-night!

    “Let lovers to groves where moonbeams enchant;
    But we have hearts that are free,
    And we’ll woo on the sea to-night! 
    On the sea to-night! on the sea to-night!”

This song, so curious in sentiment and rhyme, was also written by the very learned Dr. Easley, who, in consideration of its being a prize song, had it copyrighted.  I have, therefore been extremely scrupulous only to purloin this small portion of it, (knowing, as I do, the high value he places upon all his literary productions,) lest he hold me amenable to the laws of the country, made and provided for the protection of poor authors.

The little craft had now approached so near, that her low, black hull, with the figures upon deck, was distinctly seen.  It was evident that she espied us, for the singing suddenly ceased as she hauled her wind, which at that moment increased a little, and came dashing down upon us in fine style.  And as those on board were heard keeping up a conversation in French, the major’s fears again returned, and after an ineffectual attempt to get old Battle upon his legs, he ran aft in a state of alarm, and thus addressed Captain Snider, who had taken the helm of the “Two Marys”: 

“I verily believe, sir, these are no friends, for they speak in an unknown tongue, which is that used by pirates when devising infernal plots!”

The Captain, after casting a careless glance upward, as if to count the mast hoops upon his great mainsail, replied, “That as he was not gifted in tongues, and knew but little of his own, he could not be a judge; but this he would say, that they were only a party of yachters, who instead of intending us harm, would pay us the compliment of coming on board to regale us with their ‘good cheer,’ of which they usually had an abundant stock.”

The major’s fears now entirely deserted him, and his thoughts were directed to how he could best appear before such distinguished pleasure seekers.  It has before been described how the major was not a little vain of his military position; and lest the humble character of the craft on which he voyaged might not be regarded in its proper light by the strangers, he thought of mounting his uniform, in which they would not fail to recognize him as a person of distinction.  While, however, he paused in a state of uncertainty, the little craft came within a fathom of us, and a voice cried out, “What sloop is that? and from whence came you?”