On reaching the place, the stranger in green gave his boot a smart blow with the riding whip, as if to attract the attention of the abstracted young sailor, and freely remarked,—­

“A very pretty object this would be, if covered with ivy, to be seen peeping through an opening in a wood.  But I beg pardon; gentlemen of your profession have little to do with woods and crumbling stones.  Yonder is the tower,” pointing to the tail masts of the ship in the outer harbour, “you love to look on; and your only ruin is a wreck!”

“You seem familiar with our tastes, sir,” coldly returned the other.

“It is by instinct, then; for it is certain I have had but little opportunity of acquiring my knowledge by actual communion with any of the—­cloth; nor do I perceive that I am likely to be more fortunate at present.  Let us be frank, my friend, and talk in amity:  What do you see about this pile of stones, that can keep you so long from your study of yonder noble and gallant ship?”

“Did it then surprise you that a seaman out of employment should examine a vessel that he finds to his mind, perhaps with an intention to ask for service?”

“Her commander must be a dull fellow, if he refuse it to so proper a lad!  But you seem to be too well instructed for any of the meaner births.”

“Births!” repeated the other, again fastening his eyes, with a singular expression, on the stranger in green.

“Births!  It is your nautical word for ‘situation, or; station;’ is it not?  We know but little of the marine vocabulary, we barristers; but I think I may venture on that as the true Doric.  Am I justified by your authority?”

“The word is certainly not yet obsolete; and, by a figure, it is as certainly correct in the sense you used it.”

“Obsolete!” repeated the stranger in green, returning the meaning look he had just received:  “Is that the name of any part of a ship?  Perhaps, by figure, you mean figure-head; and, by obsolete, the long-boat!”

The young seaman laughed; and, as if this sally had broken through the barrier of his reserve, his manner lost much of its cold restraint during the remainder of their conference.

“It is just as plain,” he said, “that you have been at sea, as it is that I have been at school.  Since we have both been so fortunate, we may afford to be generous and cease speaking in parables.  For instance, what think you has been the object and use of this ruin, when it was in good condition?”

“In order to judge of that,” returned the stranger in green, “it may be necessary to examine it more closely.  Let us ascend.”

As he spoke, the barrister mounted, by a crazy ladder, to the floor which lay just above the crown of the arches, through which he passed by an open trapdoor His companion hesitated to follow; but, observing that the other expected him at the summit of the ladder, and that he very kindly pointed out a defective round, he sprang forward, and went up the ascent with the agility and steadiness peculiar to his calling.