"Thank you, sir!" said Mark, with manly emotion. He could say no more, but turned away to hide his tearful gratitude.
"Hear there, forward. Obey this youth, who fills the place of poor Marston."
"Ay, ay, sir," cried the men, simultaneously; and, as their new officer walked forward, many a cap was respectfully touched to him, and many a gray head uncovered before the stripling—such is the tribute true bravery everywhere receives! so universal is the homage it irresistibly challenges!
"Do you see, my lord! That lad will make his way, mark me. Observe how readily he assumes the duties of his station. He is already in the rigging! going aloft to see that the men are properly fishing the fore-topmast."
"Your protegé shall not want advancement through my forgetfulness, be assured, Kenard. But why are you so anxiously looking through your glass to the windward?"
"For the three-masted frigatoon."
"You are doubtless mistaken in her character!"
"I cannot be, my lord. No honest trader in these waters ever had such a rig. She is a pirate, and, if she is anywhere near us, will be sure to give us a taste of her quality ere long."
"And we are far less prepared to meet him than before."
"Four guns, and a dozen men and two good officers less, my lord; nevertheless, we must do what we can to fight him off. That he is in our neighbourhood somewhere, I am confident. These gentry are like sleuth hounds; once on your track, double and turn as you will, they never lose it till they run you down. I believe I see an object in the wake of the moon, under that cloud to the windward," he suddenly added, looking steadily through his spyglass. "It is gone. It may have been the cap of a wave! There, I think I see it again. By—"