rld is
achieved. The seamen listened with admiration, for they understood no part
of the appeal; and, next to a statement which shall be so lucid as to
induce every hearer to believe it is no more than a happy explanation of
his own ideas, that which is unintelligible is apt to unite most suffrages
in its favor.

"You see your enemy, and you know your work!" said the clear, deep, manly
voice of Ludlow, who, as he passed among the people of the Coquette, spoke
to them in that steady unwavering tone which, in moments of danger, goes
to the heart. "I shall not pretend that we are as strong as I could wish;
but the greater the necessity for a strong pull, the readier a true seaman
will be to give it. There are no nails in that ensign. When I am dead, you
may pull it down if you please; but, so long as I live, my men, there it
shall fly! And now, one cheer to show your humor, and then let the rest of
your noise come from the guns."

The crew complied, with a full-mouthed and hearty hurrah!--Trysail assured
a young, laughing, careless midshipman, who even at that moment could
enjoy an uproar, that he had seldom heard a prettier piece of
sea-eloquence than that which had just fallen from the captain; it being
both 'neat and gentleman-like.'

Chapter XXX.

"Sir, it is
A charge too heavy for my strength; but yet
We'll strive to bear it for your worthy sake,
To the extreme edge of hazard."

All's Well That End's Well.

The vessel, which appeared so inopportunely for the safety of the
ill-manned British cruiser, was, in truth, a ship that had roved from
among the islands of the Caribean sea, in quest of some such adventure as
that which now presented itself. She was called la belle Fontange, and her
commander, a youth of two-and-twenty, was already well known in the salons
of the Marais, and behind the walls of the Rue Basse des Remparts, as one
of the most gay and amiable of those who frequented the former, and one of
the most spirited and skilful among the adventurers who sometimes trusted
to their address in the latter. Rank, and influence at Versailles, had
procured for the young Chevalier Dumont de la Rocheforte a command to
which he could lay no claim either by his experience or his services. His
mother, a near relative of one of the beauties of the court, had been
commanded to use sea-bathing, as a preventive against the consequences of
the bite of a rabid la