And with a rapid bound Blanden had sprung into Eva's violently rocking boat, while he relinquished his own to the waves.
The weak minded fisher-girl, with a low cry, pointed to the boat floating away, while she exclaimed--
"Father's boat! Father's boat!"
"Indeed," said Eva, as she retired completely to the rudder, "you are not wanting in audacity? This is an attack in pirate fashion!"
"Do I look like a corsair?"
"I do not know any personally, but why should you not sit for the frontispiece to Byron's poem? You are sun-burnt enough for it, and look as though you would have no fear of adventures!"
"Certainly not, if the prize be worth the risk!"
"And then--how recklessly you treat the property of others! The poor fisherman's boat drifts upon the waves, without a master."
"Excuse me, my Fräulein! That boat is my property; I bought it and can give it up again to the billows."
"And why do you do this?"