e likened
to an untrimmed racer. There was motion in it, at need, and yet it had the
air of a leisurely Amsterdammer. I have known an Exchequer cruiser hail
him, and ask the news of the famous free-trader, with as little suspicion
as he have in speaking the Lord High Admiral! There were no fooleries in
his time; no unseemly hussies stuck under his bowsprit, to put an honest
man out of countenance; no high-fliers in sail and paint; no singing and
luting--but all was rational and gainful barter. Then, he was a man to
ballast his boat with something valuable. I have known him throw in fifty
ankers of gin, without a farthing for freight, when a bargain has been
struck for the finer articles--ay, and finish by landing them in England
for a small premium, when the gift was made!"

"He deserves thy praise, grateful Alderman; but to what conclusion does
this opening tend?"

"Well, if more gold must pass between us," continued the reluctant
Myndert, "we shall not waste time in counting it; though, Heaven knows,
Master Seadrift, thou hast already drained me dry. Losses have fallen
heavy on me, of late. There is a gelding, dead, that fifty Holland ducats
will not replace on the boom-key of Rotterdam, to say nothing of freight
and charges, which come particularly heavy--"

"Speak to thy offer!" interrupted the other, who evidently wished to
shorten the interview.

"Restore the girl, and take five-and-twenty thin pieces."

"Half-price for a Flemish gelding! La Belle would blush, with honest
pride, did she know her value in the market!"

"Extortion and bowels of compassion! Let it be a hundred, and no further
words between us."

"Harkee, Mr. Van Beverout; that I sometimes trespass on the Queen's
earnings, is not to be denied and least of all to you; for I like neither
this manner of ruling a nation by deputy, nor the principle which says
that one bit of earth is to make laws for another. 'Tis not my humor, Sir,
to wear an English cotton when my taste is for the Florentine; nor to
swallow beer, when I more relish the delicate wines of Gascony Beyond
this, thou knowest I do not trifle, even with fancied rights; and had I
fifty of thy nieces, sacks of ducats should not purchase one!"

The Alderman stared, in a manner that might have induced a spectator to
believe he was listening to an incomprehensible proposition. Still his
companion spoke with a warmth that gave him no small reason to believe he
uttered no more than he felt,