of their long pendant worsted caps. They wore
large sheepskin coats, coming down to the knee over their worsted
shirts, and high boots of yellow untanned leather. The corvette was
about to shorten sail, but they making signals that that was
unnecessary, the boat shot alongside, and two of them sprang on board.

"Those fellows would be unpleasant customers if they came as enemies to
attack our ship, from the active way in which they leaped up our sides,"
observed the captain. "They would be as difficult to keep out as wild
cats."

One of the two pilots was a man advanced in life, the other was very
much younger, and habited in the quaint costume which has been
described; his dress, though rough, differed much from the rest, while
his easy, unembarrassed manner showed that he was an officer rather than
an ordinary seaman. With a brisk step the men came aft, inquiring, as
they did so, of the officers if any of them could speak English. They
were referred to Don Hernan, who politely returned the salute as they
touched their hats to him.

"Well, my men," said he, "will you take charge of the ship, and bring
her to an anchor in Brassay Sound to-night?"

"That will we, captain, right gladly," answered the younger of the two,
glancing aloft with the eye of a seaman. "She is as pretty a craft as
any one has ever seen in these waters, and well worth taking care of.
What is her name? where are you from? and whither are you bound,
captain? Pardon me for asking, but it is my duty so to do. They are
the questions we always put in these waters."

"As to that, of course you are perfectly right," answered the captain.
"Her name is the `Saint Cecilia,' her commander Don Hernan de Escalante,
and she carries, as you see, twenty guns. We sailed from Cadiz, and
have touched at two or three French ports, and the British port of
Plymouth; after visiting Lerwick, we are bound round the north of your
island, into the Atlantic again. You see that we have nothing to
conceal. The character of this ship is above all suspicion; and you
will find, my friend, that you have lost nothing by navigating her in
safety wherever we may wish to go."

"Very likely, captain," answered the pilot, looking up into the
captain's countenance. "I entertain no doubt about the matter, and if
the provost and bailies of Lerwick are satisfied, I am sure that I shall
be: keep her as she goes now for the Bard of Brassay. The tide will
shoot her into the