e the chase lies here in
the eastern board!"

"Who can say, how long she will lie there? They told us, in York, that
there was a Frenchman, of our burthen and metal, rummaging about among
the fishermen, lower down on the coast. Now, Sir, no man knows that the
war is half over better than myself, for not a ha'penny of prize-money has
warmed my pocket, these three years;--but, as I was saying, if a Frenchman
will come off his ground, and will run his ship into troubled water,
why--whose fault is it but his own? A pretty affair might be made out of
such a mistake, Captain Ludlow; whereas running after yonder brigantine,
is napping out the Queen's canvas for nothing. The vessel's bottom will
want new sheathing, in my poor opinion, before you catch him."

"I know not, Trysail," returned his captain, glancing an eye aloft; "every
thing draws, and the ship never went along with less trouble to herself.
We shall not know which has the longest legs, till the trial is made."

"You may judge of the rogue's speed by his impudence. There he lies,
waiting for us, like a line-of-battle ship lying-to for an enemy to come
down. Though a man of some experience in my way, I have never seen a
lord's son more sure of promotion, than that same brigantine seems to be
of his heels! If this old Frenchman goes on with his faces much longer, he
will turn himself inside-out, and then we shall get an honest look at him,
for these fellows never carry their true characters above-board, like a
fair-dealing Englishman. Well, Sir, as I was remarking, yon rover, if
rover he be, has more faith in his canvas than in the church. I make no
doubt, Captain Ludlow, that the brigantine went through the inlet, while
we were handing our top-sails yesterday; for I am none of those who are in
a hurry to give credit to any will-o'-the-wisp tale; besides which, I
sounded the passage with my own hands, and know the thing to be possible,
with the wind blowing heavy over the taffrail; still, Sir, human nature
is human nature, and what is the oldest seaman after all, but a man?--And
so to conclude, I would rather any day chase a Frenchman, whose
disposition is known to me, than have the credit of making traverses, for
eight-and-forty hours, in the wake of one of these flyers, with little
hope of getting him within hail."

"You forget, Master Trysail, that I have been aboard the chase, and know
something of his build and character."

"They say as much aboard, here," re