"
"Sa-a-c-r-r-r-e," muttered Raoul between his teeth; "Etooell, if an
Englishman, he may very well take it into his head to come in here, and
perhaps anchor within half-a-cable's length of us! What think you of
that, _mon brave Americain?_"
"That it may very well come to pass; though one hardly sees, either,
what is to bring a cruiser into such a place as this. Every one hasn't
the curiosity of a Jack-o'-Lantern."
"_Mais que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere!--Bien;_ we must
take the weather as it comes; sometimes a gale, and sometimes a calm. As
he shows his own ensign so loyally, let us return the compliment, and
show ours. Hoist the ensign there aft."
"Which one, Monsieur?" demanded an old, demure-looking quartermaster,
who was charged with that duty, and who was never known to laugh; "the
captain will remember we came into port under the _drapeau_ of Monsieur
Jean Bull."
"_Bien_--hoist the drapeau of Monsieur Jean Bull again. We must brazen
it out, now we have put on the mask. Monsieur Lieutenant, clap on the
hawser, and run the lugger ahead, over her anchor, and see everything
clear for spreading our pocket-handkerchiefs. No one knows when le
Feu-Follet may have occasion to wipe her face. Ah!--now, Etooell, we
can make out his broadside fairly, he is heading more to the westward."
The two seamen levelled their glasses, and renewed their examinations.
Ithuel had a peculiarity that not only characterized the man, but which
is so common among Americans of his class as in a sense to be national.
Pages:
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112