head, and exclaimed in accents, trembling and faltering as any woman's

"Do not, for the love of the virgin mother of Jesus, turn your head an inch! keep it just where it is a minute! it is-it must be her look! The same-and no other-I could not mistake it! and yet—and yet—”

He staggered back from Clinton like one distracted, and hid his face with his arm.

Clinton knew not what to make of a conduct so extraordinary. While he was in doubt, he perceived another person within call, whom, notwithstanding what had just occurred, he was about to call to his assistance, in order to apprehend the Pirate, when the latter prevented him.

"Hush! as you value your life or your peace," said he.There is a secret of vast importance to you bound up in the present moment. It rests with you to render, not me, but yourself, wretched or otherwise for the residue of your days. You know this picture."

The Pirate took from a concealed pocket the likeness of Clinton's mother, which the latter had lost on board the Antelope.

"Know it!" exclaimed Clinton, in a sudden transport of indignation, "Know it! villain! murderer! dare you ask me the question here-where the avengers of the deed which you acted at the time when I lost this precious article, stand with open prison-doors ready to award to you that punishment you so richly merit? Still, if you have one spark of honour left in your breast, return me that picture."

"Return it!—no, never!" said the Pirate, replacing the portrait quietly in the pocket from which he had taken it, but still surveying the features of Clinton with

scrutinising looks.

"No-never! Tell me who was the

female whose features are traced so well on this bit of

wood which you lost was she your

she an English woman?"

mother? and was

The question was put in a tone so peculiar, and so manifestly unfeigned, that Clinton felt constrained instantly to reply.

"She was my mother; but you are strangely impertinent to put these questions to me."

The Pirate covered his face again, but his frame showed distinctly enough the vehemence of his emotions. He grasped the arm of the astonished Clinton, and whispered in his ear three words that electrified the hearer. Now, in his turn, Clinton gazed on the Pirate, and trembled with speechless sensations.

A whistle was raised to the Pirate's lips, and a low shrill sound passed over the pond. It was answered by three pirate seamen, who one by one sprang up from the thick bushes of the pond in which they had been concealed.

"Draw the boat to the outside of the harbour, and take us in directly," was the command they received.

Aye-aye, captain," was the brief response ; and in five minutes a small trim boat floated into sight close to the borders of the solitary beach. Without speaking a word the Pirate stepped into it, and motioned to Clinton to join him, which the latter did.

"Are we to paddle her to the ship, captain ?" asked one of the seamen.

"To the ship," was the Pirate's laconic reply; and after this he remained standing in the centre of the boat in earnest thought, while it glided swiftly outwards, from the

harbour, on Lake Ontario, near the head of which, Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada, is situated. The waters were almost at a dead stillness, and the keel of the boat ran on a surface smooth and equal, while a gentle breeze, blowing now and then from the shore, rendered the heated air delightful. A ship soon appeared in sight; it was lying on its anchor without motion, its top sails were partly fastened down, and its dark hull had a very strong and capacious appearance.

Clinton, as the boat approached toward the ship, surveyed it with curiosity, and asked the Pirate

"What flag do you exhibit?"

"Only that of a fresh-water trader," replied the Pirate, pointing with a smile to one which was hanging with scarce a movement from the top of the mast.

The boat was soon under the ship's side, and the ease and celerity with which the Pirate mounted to the deck, at once convinced Clinton that the former was here in his proper element. Two men on deck had been singing as they examined some cables, while they were sitting on the planks of the floor with their backs against a gun. One verse had been concluded, and a chorus, in which their comrades joined, was now roared out, loud as a north-western blast.

"Silence, rascals!" shouted the Pirate, in stentorian 66 Haverstraw, accents, as he assisted Clinton to ascend. is this obeying my directions? I thought I commanded you to preserve strict silence and order above board while I was absent?"

The ancient sailor to whom he addressed himself, was sitting with his head between his hands at the foot of the mainmast.

1

"It's no use in the world, captain, to leave me to order the men, for there's no such thing as doing any thing with them," said the old sailor, without stirring from his dejected posture.

"What is that you say, Toby ?" said the Pirate, his eyes gleaming fiercely as they ranged around the vessel. "I say, captain, and I will maintain it, it's no use leaving me to keep order, for no one minds me."

"Who has dared to disobey you, or slight your directions, Toby Haverstraw? Tell me--and tell me without disguise or evasion, as you love your own life."

"I do not matter my poor worn out life much," said the old man, "but I'll tell no lie to you-for why should I, seeing I have one leg in the grave, and the other ready to follow it, captain? Michael and Jonas, yonder, are the two men who have told me they will not obey me; they are as good buccaneers as I or you, they say, and they will do as they like."

"Will they so-ha, indeed!" cried the captain, dislodging from his belt two pistols, which he took one in each hand and presented close to the temples of the two offenders. "How say you, Michael and Jonas, shall I or you govern this vessel ?"

To a question thus put, the answer was not likely to be very bold; yet the hardened fellows so fearfully threatened, gave no tokens of submission.

"You are captain, we don't deny it—keep your captainship-but we want to have no other captain," were the grumbled words of one of the two men.

"This is not the first time you have attempted to spread disorder and mutiny in the ship," said the Pirate ; "I will not say more to you now, but if I hear of a

whisper of this sort again, some of your lives shall answer it-you hear me."

Clinton was now conducted by the captain down into the interior of the ship, where he noticed, as he had done above, how strictly every thing was arranged, and how well all was prepared for defence. To a remark which he made, the Pirate replied—

66

Yes, I am not a little proud of my weather-tight cruiser. I must say, I have seldom seen a better built, or better furnished, lady of the waters, than this vessel. But you should see her sailing-you should see her sailing! she can skim the waters like a swallow; if she were built of cork, she could not swim through troubled seas lighter or more buoyantly. These are my private cabins-enter."

Clinton followed his conductor into a room of good size, furnished in the style of an English drawing-room, with a rich carpet, chairs of fine polished wood, rosewood sofa and tables, and ornamented fire-place.

"This excites your surprise, I see," said the Pirate, locking the door, and drawing against it a handsome painted screen.

Certainly it does," said Clinton, viewing an oil painting that hung on the wall. "I little expected to see a place so fitted up in a-"

"Pirate's vessel, you were going to say," said the captain. "You may speak out plainly, I can bear it. Besides, there must be henceforth no secrets between us two, if I can succeed in proving to you, now you are here, the reality of what I told you on Gibraltar Point."

"If you can indeed prove it," said Clinton," there shall be no secrets between us.”