ort seas so quickly aroused would fly high above her
bows, and come in showers down on her forecastle, little of it found its
way aft, and not a sea which struck her came over her bulwarks. Bowse
looked delighted and proud at the behaviour of his brig, as he pointed
out her good qualities to his passengers.

"There's many a craft, which is looked upon as a clipper, won't behave
as she does, that I'll answer for," he observed.

He was going on with his panegyrics when his voice became silent, and
his eye riveted ahead. The atmosphere, which, when the gale first came
on, had been somewhat thick, had now partially cleared, and revealed to
him, at the distance of little more than a mile, a large polacca brig
hove to on the starboard tack. He instantly summoned his first officer
to his side, and pointed out the stranger to him.

"What think you of that fellow, Timmins?" he asked.

The mate took a look at the stranger through his glass.

"A fine polacca brig, sir, as one can see with half an eye," he answered
deliberately; "but more of her I cannot say, as she shows no colours.
We must keep away a little though, sir, or we shall be right down upon
her."

"We should--starboard the helm a point my lads," exclaimed the master.
"Steady, that will take us clear, and we shall be near enough to have a
look at him. Ah! there goes some buntin' aloft. What colours are they,
Timmins?"

"The Austrian ensign, sir," replied the mate. "A black eagle on a white
ground, and there flies a pennant at his mast head."

"That's extraordinary indeed," exclaimed the master. "Hoist the ensign
there," he shouted. "Austrian or devil, we'll show him that we are not
ashamed of our flag, and will not strike it either in a hurry. Come
here, Timmins, we mustn't frighten the young lady by what we say. You
know the paper dropped on board here last night; now it's my opinion
that that's the very brig it speaks about, and the one the felucca's two
men tried to persuade us was an Austrian man-of-war. To my eye, she
looks fifty times more like a Greek than an Austrian, for all that her
colours say. Well, what's your opinion that we ought to do?"

"With respect to her being a Greek, I think she is," answered the mate.
"And if she's a pirate, we ought to do our best to stand clear of her,
seeing that we were commissioned to carry merchandise, and not to look
after such gentry; but if she comes after us, and we can't get clear of
her, that alte