ey are to serve in future
under your orders."

The Rover suffered him to leave the cabin, following to the quarter-deck,
with a careless step, as if he had come abroad to breathe the open air of
the night.

The weather had not changed, but it still continued dark, though mild.
The same stillness as before reigned on the decks of the ship; and
nowhere, with a solitary exception, was a human form to be seen, amid the
collection of dark objects that rose on the sight, all of which Wilder
well understood to be necessary fixtures in the vessel. The exception was
the same individual who had first received our adventurer, and who still
paced the quarter-deck, wrapped, as before, in a watch-coat. To this
personage the youth now addressed himself, announcing his intention
temporarily to quit the vessel. His communication was received with a
respect that satisfied him his new rank was already known, although, as it
would seem, it was to be made to succumb to the superior authority of the
Rover.

"You know, sir, that no one, of whatever station, can leave the ship at
this hour, without an order from the Captain," was the calm, but steady
reply.

"So I presume; but I have the order, and transmit it to you. I shall land
in my own boat."

The other, seeing a figure within hearing, which he well knew to be that
of his Commander, waited an instant, to ascertain if what he heard was
true. Finding that no objection was made, nor any sign given, to the
contrary, he merely indicated the place where the other would find his
boat.

"The men have left it!" exclaimed Wilder, stepping back in surprise, as he
was about to descend the vessel's side.

"Have the rascals run?"

"Sir, they have not run; neither are they rascals They are in this ship,
and must be found."

The other waited, to witness the effect of these authoritative words, too,
on the individual, who still lingered in the shadow of a mast. As no
answer was, however, given from that quarter, he saw the necessity of
obedience. Intimating his intention to seek the men, he passed into the
forward parts of the vessel, leaving Wilder, as he thought, in the sole
possession of the quarter-deck. The latter was, however, soon undeceived.
The Rover, advancing carelessly to his side, made an allusion to the
condition of his vessel, in order to divert the thoughts of his new
lieutenant, who, by his hurried manner of pacing the deck, he saw, was
beginning to indulge in uneasy meditati