pent with running,
when, coming to the top of a dune, we saw we were again cut off by
another ramification of the bay. This was a creek, however, very
different from those that had arrested us before; being set in rocks,
and so precipitously deep that a small vessel was able to lie alongside,
made fast with a hawser; and her crew had laid a plank to the shore.
Here they had lighted a fire, and were sitting at their meal. As for the
vessel herself, she was one of those they build in the Bermudas.

The love of gold and the great hatred that everybody has to pirates were
motives of the most influential, and would certainly raise the country
in our pursuit. Besides, it was now plain we were on some sort of
straggling peninsula, like the fingers of a hand; and the wrist, or
passage to the mainland, which we should have taken at the first, was by
this time not improbably secured. These considerations put us on a
bolder counsel. For as long as we dared, looking every moment to hear
sounds of the chase, we lay among some bushes on the top of the dune;
and having by this means secured a little breath and recomposed our
appearance, we strolled down at last, with a great affectation of
carelessness, to the party by the fire.

It was a trader and his negroes, belonging to Albany, in the province
of New York, and now on the way home from the Indies with a cargo; his
name I cannot recall. We were amazed to learn he had put in here from
terror of the _Sarah_; for we had no thought our exploits had been so
notorious. As soon as the Albanian heard she had been taken the day
before, he jumped to his feet, gave us a cup of spirits for our good
news, and sent his negroes to get sail on the Bermudan. On our side, we
profited by the dram to become more confidential, and at last offered
ourselves as passengers. He looked askance at our tarry clothes and
pistols, and replied civilly enough that he had scarce accommodation for
himself; nor could either our prayers or our offers of money, in which
we advanced pretty far, avail to shake him.

"I see, you think ill of us," says Ballantrae, "but I will show you how
well we think of you by telling you the truth. We are Jacobite
fugitives, and there is a price upon our heads."

At this the Albanian was plainly moved a little. He asked us many
questions as to the Scots war, which Ballantrae very patiently answered.
And then, with a wink, in a vulgar manner, "I guess you and your Prince
Charlie got