d not pause or pay any heed to the other ship.

This news brought with it consternation, and every town and village
along the Fundy was a-hum with stories and theories about the pirate
ship. The interest, instead of being abated, was augmented as the days
went by with no further report. In the public-houses and along the quays
it was almost the only topic of conversation. The excitement became
almost feverish when it was known that several captains, outward bound,
had taken with them a supply of rifles and ammunition. The prospect of a
fight seemed imminent.

About a week after the adventure of the Boston packet Her Majesty's ship
_Buzzard_ appeared off Yarmouth harbor. The news of the _Kanawha_ had
come to the Admiral at Halifax, and he had dispatched the warship to
cruise about the troubled coast.

"That'll be the end of old Mogul Mackenzie, now that he's got an English
ship on his trail," averred a Canadian as he sat drinking in the
"Yarmouth Light" with a group of seafaring men of various nationalities.
"It takes the British jack-tar to put the kibosh on this pirate game.
One of them is worth a shipload of Yankees at the business."

"Well, don't you crow too loud now," replied a Boston skipper. "I reckon
that that Nova Scotian booze-artist, who ran into Portland the other day
scared of his shadow, would not do you fellows much credit."

"Yes; but what about your gunboats that have had the job of fixing the
_Kanawha_ for the last three years, and haven't done it yet?" The
feelings between Canada and the United States were none too good just
after the Civil War, and the Canadian was bound not to lose this
opportunity for horse-play. "You're a fine crowd of sea-dogs, you are,
you fellows from the Boston Tea-Party. Three years after one little
half-drowned rat, and haven't got him yet. Wouldn't Sir Francis Drake or
Lord Nelson be proud of the record that you long-legged, slab-sided
Yankees have made on the sea!"

"Shut your mouth! you blue-nosed, down-East herring-choker!" roared the
Yankee skipper. "I reckon we've given you traitors that tried to stab us
in the back a good enough licking; and if any more of your dirty dogs
ever come nosing about down south of Mason and Dixon's Line, I bet
they'll soon find out what our record is."

"Well, you fools can waste your tongue and wind," said a third man,
raising his glass, "but for me here's good luck to the _Buzzard_."

"So say we all of us," chimed in the others, a