stranger, who had not entered with the others, and who, of course, had not partaken of the customary libations, was standing at a little distance, with a hand thrust into the bosom of his vest, as if he were chiefly occupied with his own reflections.  This figure caught the understanding eye of the publican who instantly conceived that no man, who had had recourse to the proper morning stimulants, could wear so meditative a face at that early period in the cares of the day, and that consequently something was yet to be gained, by opening the path of direct communication between them.

“A clean air this, friend, to brush away the damps of the night,” he said, snuffing the really delicious and invigorating breathings of a fine October morning.  “It is such purifiers as this, that gives our island its character, and makes it perhaps the very healthest as it is universally admitted to be the beautifullest spot in creation.—­A stranger here, ’tis likely?”

“But quite lately arrived, sir,” was the reply.

“A sea-faring man, by your dress? and one in search of a ship, as I am ready to qualify to;” continued the publican, chuckling, perhaps, at his own penetration.  “We have many such that passes hereaway; but people mustn’t think, because Newport is so flourishing a town, that births can always be had for asking.  Have you tried your luck yet in the Capital of the Bay Province?”

“I left Boston no later than the day before yesterday.”

“What, couldn’t the proud townsfolk find you a ship!  Ay, they are a mighty people at talking, and it isn’t often that they put their candle under the bushel; and yet there are what I call good judges, who think Narraganset Bay is in a fair way, shortly, to count as many sail as Massachusetts.  There, yonder, is a wholesome brig, that is going, within the week, to turn her horses into rum and sugar; and here is a ship that hauled into the stream no longer ago than yesterday sun-down.  That is a noble vessel and has cabins fit for a prince!  She’ll be off with the change of the wind; and I dare say a good hand wouldn’t go a-begging aboard her just now.  Then yonder is a slaver, off the fort, if you like a cargo of wool-heads for your money.”

“And is it thought the ship in the inner harbour will sail with the first wind?” demanded the stranger.

“It is downright.  My wife is a full cousin to the wife of the Collector’s clerk; and I have it straight that the papers are ready, and that nothing but the wind detains them.  I keep some short scores, you know, friend, with the blue-jackets, and it behoves an honest man to look to his interests in these hard times.  Yes, there she lies; a well-known ship, the ‘Royal Caroline.’  She makes a regular v’yage once a year between the Provinces and Bristol, touching here, out and home, to give us certain supplies, and to wood and water; and then she goes home, or to the Carolinas, as the case may be.”

“Pray, sir, has she much of an armament?” continued the stranger, who began to lose his thoughtful air, in the more evident interest he was beginning to lake in the discourse.