“For sundry reasons, which I am now about to name, in their respective order.  In the first place, she is an armed ship, sir.  In the second, she is no lawful cruiser, or the same would be publicly known, and by no one sooner than myself, inasmuch as it is seldom that I do not finger a penny from the King’s ships.  In the third place, the burglarious and unfeeling conduct of the few seamen who have landed from her go to prove it; and, lastly, what is well proved may be considered as substantially established These are what, sir, I should call the opening premises of my inferences, all of which I hope you will properly lay before the royal mind of his Majesty.”

The barrister in green listened to the somewhat wire-drawn deductions of Homespun with great attention notwithstanding the confused and obscure manner in which they were delivered by the aspiring tradesman.  His keen eye rolled quickly, and often, from the vessel to the countenance of his companion; but several moments elapsed before he saw fit to make any reply.  The reckless gayety with which he had introduced himself, and which he had hitherto maintained in the discourse, was entirely superseded by a musing and abstracted air, which sufficiently proved, that, whatever levity he might betray in common, he was far from being a stranger to deep and absorbing thought.  Suddenly throwing off his air of gravity, however, he assumed one in which irony and sincerity were singularly blended and, laying his hand familiarly on the shoulder of the expecting tailor, he replied—­

“You have communicated such matter as becometh a faithful and loyal servant of the King.  It is well known that a heavy price is set on the head of the meanest follower of the Rover, and that a rich, ay, a splendid reward will be the fortune of him who is the instrument of delivering the whole knot of miscreants into the hands of the executioner.  Indeed I know not but some marked evidence of the royal pleasure might follow such a service.  There was Phipps, a man of humble origin, who received knighthood—­”

“Knighthood!” echoed the tailor, in awful admiration.

“Knighthood,” coolly repeated the stranger; “honourable and chivalric knighthood.  What may have been the appellation you received from your sponsors in baptism?”

“My given name, gracious and grateful sir, is Hector.”

“And the house itself?—­the distinctive appellation of the family?”

“We have always been called Homespun.”

“Sir Hector Homespun will sound as well as another!  But to secure these rewards, my friend, it is necessary to be discreet.  I admire your ingenuity, and am a convert to your logic.  You have so entirely demonstrated the truth of your suspicions, that I have no more doubt of yonder vessel being the pirate, than I have of your wearing spurs, and being called sir Hector.  The two things are equally established in my mind:  but it is needful that we proceed in the matter with caution.  I understand you to say, that no one else has been enlightened by your erudition in this affair?”