"That's what I couldn't stand, captain."
"I'll have revenge. Besides, I think I have an old quarrel to settle with him, if he be the same Fitzroy who escaped from us. Did I not tell thee then he reminded me of one whom I had known under peculiar circumstances in my boyish days?"
"You did," said the mate, after a moment's thought; "and that you said you would, in the morning, see if your suspicions were true."
"And in the morning the bird had flown. It is this suspicion that, from the first mention of his name last night, added to a new object I have in view (which, if he be the one I suspect he is, cannot be accomplished without his death), that sends me in pursuit of him. 'Tis rumoured that he whom I mean was lost at sea; but, if he escaped us by swimming a league, he may have escaped also at that time."
"Where does he hail from now?"
"He is master of the brig of war that brought the new governor to the province; and, hearing of us, with laudable ambition set sail, directly after his arrival, in pursuit of us. He is now on his return, as his leave of absence has expired. I learn by a skipper of a Carolina schooner I hailed in the harbour as I passed him in my boat, that a vessel answering his description was seen three days ago becalmed off the Capes of Delaware."
"Shiver my mizzen! we will soon fall in with him if he is steering back to port."
"If the 'Silver Arrow' hang not like a sleuth-hound on his track, there is no virtue in wind or canvass."
"What is the name of the chase?" demanded Loff, taking a deliberate survey of the horizon with a weather-beaten spyglass he held in his hand.
"The 'Ger-Falcon,' I am told; and this name, for certain reasons, increases my suspicions that this Fitzroy is he I suspect. If so, I have an old score to balance with him. It is this that adds point to my revenge, and which has led me to seek aid of earth and hell to accomplish my desires."