ing past the stern of her
enemy, just clearing the end of her spanker-boom with her own lower
yard.

The young Frenchman who commanded the _Montcalm_ leaped on the taffrail;
and, with that high-toned courtesy which relieves even the worst acts of
his countrymen, he raised his cap and smiled a salutation as the _Scud_
shot past. There were _bonhomie_ and good taste in this act of courtesy,
when circumstances allowed of no other communications; but they were
lost on Cap, who, with an instinct quite as true to his race, shook his
fist menacingly, and muttered to himself,--

"Ay, ay, it's d----d lucky for you I've no armament on board here,
or I'd send you in to get new cabin-windows fitted. Sergeant, he's a
humbug."

"'Twas civil, brother Cap," returned the other, lowering his hand from
the military salute which his pride as a soldier had induced him to
return,--"'twas civil, and that's as much as you can expect from a
Frenchman. What he really meant by it no one can say."

"He is not heading up to this sea without an object, neither. Well,
let him run in, if he can get there, we will keep the lake, like hearty
English mariners."

This sounded gloriously, but Cap eyed with envy the glittering black
mass of the _Montcalm's_ hull, her waving topsail, and the misty
tracery of her spars, as she grew less and less distinct, and finally
disappeared in the drizzle, in a form as shadowy as that of some unreal
image. Gladly would he have followed in her wake had he dared; for, to
own the truth, the prospect of another stormy night in the midst of
the wild waters that were raging around him brought little consolation.
Still he had too much professional pride to betray his uneasiness, and
those under his care relied on his knowledge and resources, with the
implicit and blind confidence that the ignorant are apt to feel.

A few hours succeeded, and darkness came again to increase the perils of
the _Scud_. A lull in the gale, however, had induced Cap to come by
the wind once more, and throughout the night the cutter was lying-to as
before, head-reaching as a matter of course, and occasionally wearing to
keep off the land. It is unnecessary to dwell on the incidents of this
night, which resembled those of any other gale of wind. There were the
pitching of the vessel, the hissing of the waters, the dashing of spray,
the shocks that menaced annihilation to the little craft as she plunged
into the seas, the undying howl of the wind,