companion.
"Should it hold, we might double Montauk, and return for the rest of our
people; but should it fail, is there no danger that the frigate should tow
within shot!--We have no boats to escape her."

"The soundings on this coast are as regular as the roof of an out-house,"
said the master, after a moment of thought, "and it is my advice, if it is
your pleasure to ask it, Captain Ludlow, that we shoal our water as much
as possible, while the wind lasts. Then, I think, we shall be safe from a
very near visit from the big one:--as for the corvette, I am of opinion,
that, like a man who has eaten his dinner, she has no stomach for another
slice."

Ludlow applauded the advice of his subordinate, for it was precisely what
he had determined on doing; and after again complimenting him on his
coolness and skill, he issued the necessary orders. The helm of the
Coquette was now placed hard a-weather, the yards were squared, and the
ship was put be fore the wind. After running, in this direction for a few
hours, the wind gradually lessening, the lead announced that the keel was
quite as near the bottom as the time of the tide, and the dull heaving and
setting of the element, rendered at all prudent. The breeze soon after
fell, and then our young commander ordered an anchor to be dropped into
the sea.

His example, in the latter respect, was imitated by the hostile cruisers.
They had soon joined, and boats were seen passing from one to the other,
so long as there was light. When the sun fell behind the western margin of
the ocean, their dusky outlines, distant about a league, gradually grew
less and less distinct, until the darkness of night enveloped sea and land
in its gloom.

Chapter XXXI.

"Now; the business!"

Othello.

Three hours later, and every noise was hushed on board the royal cruiser.
The toil of repairing damages had ceased, and most of the living, with the
dead, lay alike in common silence. The watchfulness necessary to the
situation of the fatigued mariners, however, was not forgotten, and though
so many slept, a few eyes were still open, and affecting to be alert. Here
and there, some drowsy seaman paced the deck, or a solitary young officer
endeavored to keep himself awake, by humming a low air, in his narrow
bounds. The mass of the crew slept heavily, with pistols in their belts
and cutlasses at their sides, between the guns. There was one
figure-extended upon the quarter-deck, wit