“Away with him!” was the stern and startling interruption.

Homespun vanished, as though magic had been employed in transporting him, and the Rover was again left to himself.  His meditations were not interrupted, for a long time, by human footstep or voice.  That breathing stillness, which unbending and stern discipline can alone impart, pervaded the ship.  A landsman, seated in the cabin, might have fancied himself, although surrounded by a crew of lawless and violent men, in the solitude of a deserted church, so suppressed, and deadened, were even those sounds that were absolutely necessary.  There were heard at times, it is true, the high and harsh notes of some reveller who appeared to break forth in the strains of a sea song, which, as they issued from the depths of the vessel, and were not very musical in themselves, broke on the silence like the first discordant strains of a new practitioner on a bugle.  But even these interruptions gradually grew less frequent, and finally became inaudible.  At length the Rover heard a hand fumbling about the handle of the cabin door, and then his military friend once more made his appearance.

There was that in the step, the countenance, and the whole air of the General, which proclaimed that his recent service, if successful, had not been achieved entirely without personal hazard.  The Rover, who had started from his seat the moment he saw who had entered, instantly demanded his report.

“The white is so drunk, that he cannot lie down without holding on to the mast; but the negro is either a cheat, or his head is made of flint.”

“I hope you have not too easily abandoned the design.”

“I would as soon batter a mountain! my retreat was not made a minute too soon.”

The Rover fastened his eyes on the General, for a moment, in order to assure himself of the precise condition of his subaltern, ere he replied,—­

“It is well.  We will now retire for the night.”

The other carefully dressed his tall person, and brought his face in the direction of the little hatchway so often named.  Then, by a sort of desperate effort, he essayed to march to the spot, with his customary upright mien and military step.  As one or two erratic movements, and crossings of the legs, were not commented on by his Captain, the worthy martinet descended the stairs, as he believed, with sufficient dignity; the moral man not being in the precise state which is the best adapted to discover any little blunders that might be made by his physical coadjutor.  The Rover looked at his watch; and after allowing sufficient time for the deliberate retreat of the General, he stepped lightly on the stairs, and descended also.