"Look!" she involuntarily exclaimed, pointing towards it; "see those lines on the sun."
The earl threw aside his book and sprung to his feet, so sudden and energetic was her exclamation. The captain and his officer both started, and also looked in the direction indicated by her finger.
"What?" cried the former, after looking an instant, "lines on the sun? Ropes, lady! By the rood, 'tis a ship!" he exclaimed.
The upper portion of the luminary was yet above the horizon, and the practised eye of the seaman detected in the delicate tracery, that had struck and pleased the eye of Grace, the outlines of a distant vessel lying under bare poles. He looked a little longer, and distinctly saw her hull rise on the swell in bold, black relief against the sun.
"My glass!" he hastily demanded.
It was placed in his hand by an under officer, when, directing it towards the object, he looked steadily for an instant, and then, turning to his noble passenger, gave him the spyglass, saying,
"Tis a pirate, my lord! Doubtless the same I have been advised to look out for, as having been seen in these seas."
"What cause have you to suspect it?" asked the earl, surveying the stranger through the telescope.
"His wish to avoid observation; his lowering his sails; his peculiar rig—three straight sticks for masts—and the knowledge that they swarm in these waters," was the confident reply.
"They have disappeared!" exclaimed Grace, as the upper rim of the sun sunk beneath the watery waste, leaving all the sky cold and cheerless.