ranger, 'where we are to go to?'

'We are going down Langston Bay,' I answered.

'Oh, we are, are we?' he cried, in a mocking voice; 'you are sure of it
eh? You are certain we are not going to France? We have a mast and sail
there, I see, and water in the beaker. All we want are a few fish,
which I hear are plentiful in these waters, and we might make a push for
Barfleur.'

'We are going down Langston Bay,' I repeated coldly.

'You see might is right upon the waters,' he explained, with a smile
which broke his whole face up into crinkles. 'I am an old soldier, a
tough fighting man, and you are two raw lads. I have a knife, and you
are unarmed. D'ye see the line of argument? The question now is, Where
are we to go?'

I faced round upon him with the oar in my hand. 'You boasted that you
could swim to Portsmouth,' said I, 'and so you shall. Into the water
with you, you sea-viper, or I'll push you in as sure as my name is Micah
Clarke.'

'Throw your knife down, or I'll drive the boat hook through you,' cried
Reuben, pushing it forward to within a few inches of the man's throat.

'Sink me, but this is most commendable!' he said, sheathing his weapon,
and laughing softly to himself. 'I love to draw spirit out of the young
fellows. I am the steel, d'ye see, which knocks the valour out of your
flint. A notable simile, and one in every way worthy of that most witty
of mankind, Samuel Butler. This,' he continued, tapping a protuberance
which I had remarked over his chest, 'is not a natural deformity, but is
a copy of that inestimable "Hudibras," which combines the light touch
of Horace with the broader mirth of Catullus. Heh! what think you of the
criticism?'

'Give up that knife,' said I sternly.

'Certainly,' he replied, handing it over to me with a polite bow. 'Is
there any other reasonable matter in which I can oblige ye? I will
give up anything to do ye pleasure-save only my good name and soldierly
repute, or this same copy of "Hudibras," which, together with a Latin
treatise upon the usages of war, written by a Fleming and printed in
Liege in the Lowlands, I do ever bear in my bosom.'

I sat down beside him with the knife in my hand. 'You pull both oars,'
I said to Reuben; 'I'll keep guard over the fellow and see that he plays
us no trick. I believe that you are right, and that he is nothing better
than a pirate. He shall be given over to the justices when we get to
Havant.'

I thought that our passenger's coo