Griffith."
"You have seen the true man, I trust, or we incur this hazard to an evil
purpose."
"Ay, I have seen him that is a true man, and him that is not," replied
Barnstable, bitterly; "you have the boy with you, Griffith--ask him what
his young eyes have seen."
"Shall I!" cried the young midshipman, laughing; "then I have seen a
little clipper, in disguise, out sail an old man-of-war's man in a hard
chase, and I have seen a straggling rover in long-togs as much like my
cousin----"
"Peace, gabbler!" exclaimed Barnstable in a voice of thunder; "would you
detain the boats with your silly nonsense at a time like this? Away into
the barge, sir, and if you find him willing to hear, tell Mr. Griffith
what your foolish conjectures amount to, at your leisure."
The boy stepped lightly from the whale-boat to the barge, whither the
pilot had already preceded him, and, as he sunk, with a mortified air,
by the side of Griffith, he said, in a low voice:
"And that won't be long, I know, if Mr. Griffith thinks and feels on the
coast of England as he thought and felt at home."
A silent pressure of his hand was the only reply that the young
lieutenant made, before he paid the parting compliments to Barnstable,
and directed his men to pull for their ship.
The boats were separating, and the plash of the oars was already heard,
when the voice of the pilot was for the first time raised in earnest.
"Hold!" he cried; "hold water, I bid ye!"
The men ceased their efforts at the commanding tones of his voice, and
turning toward the whale-boat, he continued:
"You will get your schooner under way immediately, Captain Barnstable,
and sweep into the offing with as little delay as possible.
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