"Oh! mourn not for them, their grief is o'er,
Oh! weep not for them, they weep no more;
For deep is their sleep, though cold and hard
Their pillow may be in the old kirk-yard."Bayly.
Early on the succeeding morning, the whole household of deacon Pratt,
himself included, were up and doing. It was as the sun came up out of the
waters that Mary and her uncle met in the porch, as if to greet each
other.
"Yonder comes the Widow White, and seemingly in a great hurry," said the
niece, anxiously; "I am afraid her patient is worse!"
"He seemed better when I left him last evening, though a little tired with
talking," returned the uncle. "The man _would_ talk, do all I could to
stop him. I wanted to get but two or three words from him, and he used a
thousand, without once using the few I wished most to hear. A talking man
is that Daggett, I can tell you, Mary!"
"He'll never talk ag'in, deacon!" exclaimed the Widow White, who had got
so near as to hear the concluding words of the last speaker--"He'll never
say good or evil more!"
The deacon was so confounded as to be speechless. As for Mary, she
expressed her deep regrets that the summons should have been so sudden,
and that the previous preparation was so small; matters that gave her far
more concern than any other consideration. They were not long left to
conjectures, the voluble widow soon supplying all the facts that had
occurred. It appeared that Daggett died in the night, the widow having
found him stiff and cold on visiting his bed-side a few minutes before.
That this somewhat unexpected event, as to the time at least, was hastened
by the excitement of the conversation mentioned, there can be little
doubt, though no comment was made on the circumstance. The immediate cause
of death was suffocation from the effects of suppuration, as so often
occurs in rapid consumption.
It would be representing deacon Pratt as a worse man than he actually was,
to say that this sudden death had no effect on his feelings. For a short
time it brought him back to a sense of his own age, and condition, and
prospects. For half an hour these considerations troubled him, but the
power of Mammon gradually resumed its sway, and the unpleasant images
slowly disappeared in others that he found more agreeable. Then he began
seriously to bethink him of what the circumstances required to be done.
As there was nothing unusual in the death of Daggett, the investigations
of the coroner were not required. It was clearly a natural, though a
sudden death. It remained, therefore, only to give directions about the
funeral, and to have an eye to the safe-keeping of the effects of the
deceased. The deacon assumed the duty of taking charge of everything. The
chest of Daggett was removed to his house for safe-keeping, the key having
been taken from the pocket of his vest, and the necessary orders were
given for the final disposition of the body.
The deacon had another serious, and even painful half hour, when he first
looked upon the corpse. There it lay, a senseless shell, deserted by its
immortal tenant, and totally unconscious of that subject which had so
lately and so intensely interested them both. It appeared as if the
ghastly countenance expressed its sense of the utter worthlessness of all
earthly schemes of wealth and happiness. Eternity seemed stamped upon the
pinched and sunken features; not eternity in the sense of imperishable
matter, but in the sense of the fate of man. Had all the gold of the
Indies lain within his reach, the arm of Daggett was now powerless to
touch it. His eye could no longer gloat upon treasure, nor any part of his
corporeal system profit by its possession. A more striking commentary on
the vanity of human wishes could not, just then, have been offered to the
consideration of the deacon. His moral being was very strangely
constituted. From early childhood he had been accustomed to the cant of
religion; and, in many instances, impressions had been made on him that
produced effects that it was easy to confound with the fruits that real
piety brings forth. This is a result that we often find in a state of
society in which appearances are made to take the place of reality. What
is more, it is a result that we may look for equally among the formalists
of established sects, and among the descendants of those who once deserted
the homes of their fathers in order to escape from the impiety of so
meretricious an abuse of the substance of godliness. In the case of the
latter, appearances occupy the mind more than that love of God which is
the one great test of human conversion from sin to an improving state of
that holiness, without which we are told no man shall see his Creator;
without which, indeed, no man could endure to look upon that dread Being
face to face.
The deacon had all the forms of godliness in puritanical perfection. He
had never taken the "name of his God in vain," throughout the course of a
long life; but, he had abstained from this revolting and gratuitous sin,
more because it was a part of the teachings of his youth so to do, and
because the neighbours would have been shocked at its commission, than
because he felt the deep reverence for his Maker, which it became the
insignificant being that was the work of his hand to entertain; and which
would, of itself, most effectually have prevented any wanton use of his
holy name, let the neighbours feel or think as they might on the subject.
In this way Deacon Pratt might be said to have respected most of the
commands of the decalogue; not, however, because the spirit of God
impelled him, through love, to reverence and obey, but because he had been
brought up in a part of the country where it was considered seemly and
right to be moral, to the senses, at least, if not to the all-seeing eye
above. It was in this way that the deacon had arrived at his preferment in
the meeting. He had all the usual sectarian terms at the end of his
tongue; never uttered a careless expression; was regular at meeting;
apparently performed all the duties that his church required of its
professors, in the way of mere religious observances; yet was he as far
from being in that state which St. Paul has described succinctly as "for
me to live in Christ, and to die is gain," as if he had been a pagan. It
was not the love of God that was active in his soul, but the love of self;
and he happened to exhibit his passion under these restrained and
deceptive forms, simply because he had been born and educated in a state
of society where they composed an integral part of existence. Covetousness
was the deacon's besetting sin; and, as it is a vice that may be pretty
well concealed, with a little attention to appearances, it was the less
likely to expose him to comments than almost any other sin. It is true,
that the neighbourhood sometimes fancied him 'close,' or, as they
expressed it, "cluss," and men got to look sharply to their own interests
in their dealings with him; but, on the whole, there was perhaps more
reason to apprehend, in such a community, that the example of so good a
man should be accepted as authority, than that his acts should impeach his
character, or endanger his standing.
Very different were the situation, feelings, and motives of the niece. She
devoutly loved God, and, as a consequence, all of those whom he had
created, and placed around her. Her meek and gentle spirit led her to
worship in sincerity and truth; and all that she thought, said, and did,
was under the correction of the principles such motives could best
produce. Her woman's love for Roswell Gardiner, alone troubled her
otherwise happy and peaceful existence. That, indeed, had caused her more
than once to falter in her way; but she struggled with the weakness, and
had strong hopes of being able to overcome it. To accept of any other man
as a husband, was, in her eyes, impossible; with the feelings she was
fully conscious of entertaining towards him, it would have been both
in-delicate and unjust: but, to accept _him_, while he regarded the
Redeemer as only man, however pure and exalted, she felt would be putting
herself willingly, or wilfully, into the hands of the great enemy of her
salvation. Often and often had she prayed for her lover, even more
devoutly, and with hotter tears, than she had ever prayed for herself;
but, so far as she could discover, without any visible fruits. His
opinions remained unchanged, and his frank nature forbade him from
concealing their state from Mary. In this way, then, was unhappiness
stealing on the early and innocent hours of one who might, otherwise, have
been so contented and blessed. It formed a somewhat peculiar feature in
her case, that her uncle favoured the views of her suitor. This rendered
the trials of the niece so much the more severe, as she had no other
judgment to sustain her than her own, fortified as that was, however, by
the consciousness of right, and the support of that great power which
never deserts the faithful.
Such was the state of feeling among some of the principal actors of our
tale, when the sudden death of Daggett occurred. The body was not removed
from the house of the Widow White, but the next morning it was conveyed to
the "grave-yard"--'church-yard' would have sounded too episcopal--and
interred in a corner that was bestowed on the unhonoured and unknown. It
was then, only, that the deacon believed he was the sole depository of the
important secrets. He had the charts in his possession, and no more
revelations could pass the lips of Daggett. Should the friends of the
deceased sailor hear of his death, and come to look after his effects,
there was very little probability of their finding anything among them to
furnish a clue to either the new sealing-ground, or to the buried treasure
of the pirate. In order to be secured, he even went a little beyond his
usual precautions, actually discharging all indebtedness of the deceased
to the Widow White out of his own pocket, by giving to her the sum of ten
dollars. This was handsome compensation in her eyes as well as in his, and
he quieted the suspicions so great and unusual an act of liberality would
be apt to awaken, by saying, "he would look to the friends, or if they
failed him, to the effects, for his returns; for it was better he should
lose by the stranger, than a lone widow." He also paid for the coffin, the
digging of the grave, and the other light expenses of the interment. In a
word, the deacon endeavoured to hush all impertinent inquiries by applying
the salve of silver, wherever it was needed.
The chest had been removed to a large, light closet, that communicated
with the deacon's own room. When all his accounts were settled, thither he
repaired, armed with the key that was to expose so much treasure to his
longing eyes. Some slight qualms arose, after he had locked himself in the
room, touching the propriety of his opening the chest. It was not his,
certainly; but he put such a construction on the nature of the revelations
of Daggett, as he thought would fully justify him in proceeding. He had
purchased the schooner expressly to go in quest of the seals and the
treasure. This he had done with Daggett's knowledge and acquiescence; nor
did he conceive that his own rights were lessened by the mariner's
decease. As for himself, the deacon had never believed that the Martha's
Vineyard man could accompany the expedition, so that his presence or
absence could have no influence on his own rights. It is true, the deacon
possessed no direct legal transfer of the charts; but he inferred that all
the previous circumstances gave him sufficient claims to justify him in,
at least, looking, into their contents.
It was a solemn, as well as an anxious moment to the deacon, when he first
raised the lid of the chest. Solemn, because it was not possible to forget
the recent decease of its late owner; and anxious, inasmuch as he had no
certainty that he should find even on the charts, the places of which he
sought the latitudes and longitudes. Certainly, nothing like treasure
presented itself to his eyes, when all that Daggett had left behind him
lay exposed to view. The chest of a common sailor is usually but
ill-furnished unless it may be just after his return from a long and
well-paid voyage, and before he has had time to fall back on his purchases
of clothes, as a fund to supply his cravings for personal gratification.
This of Daggett's formed no exception to the rule. The few clothes it
contained were of the lightest sort, having been procured in warm
climates, and were well worn, in addition. The palms, needles, and shells,
and carving in whale-bone, had all been sold, to meet their owner's wants,
and nothing of that sort remained. There were two old, dirty, and ragged
charts, and on these the deacon laid his hands, much as the hawk, in its
swoop, descends on its prey. As it did, however, a tremor came over him,
that actually compelled him to throw himself into a chair, and to rest for
a moment.
The first of the charts opened, the deacon saw at a glance, was that of
the antarctic circle. There, sure enough, was laid down in ink, three or
four specks for islands, with lat. --°, --", and long. --°, --", written
out at its side. We are under obligations not to give the figures that
stand on the chart, for the discovery is deemed to be important, by those
who possess the secret, even to the present hour. We are at liberty to
tell the whole story, with this one exception; and we shall proceed to do
so, with a proper regard to the pledges made in the premises.
The deacon scarcely breathed as he assured himself of the important fact
just mentioned, and his hands trembled to such a degree as to fairly cause
the paper of the chart to rattle. Then he had recourse to an expedient
that was strictly characteristic of the man. He wrote the latitude and
longitude in a memorandum-book that he carried on his person; after which
he again sat down, and with great care erased the island and the writing
from the chart, with the point of a penknife. This done, his mind felt
infinitely relieved. Nor was this all. Charts purchased for the schooner
were lying on a table in his own room, and he projected on one of them, as
well as his skill would allow, the sealing-islands he had just removed
from the chart left by Daggett. There he also wrote, in pencil, the
important figures that we are commanded not to reveal.
The second chart was then opened. It was of the West Indies, and
particularly of certain keys. One of these last was pointed out in a way
to leave no doubt that it was meant for the key indicated by the pirate.
The same prohibition existing as to this key that exists in respect to the
sealing-island, we cannot be more explicit. The writing near this key
being in pencil, it was effectually removed by means of India-rubber. When
this was done, the deacon used the precaution to rub some material on the
clean place made by his knife, on the other chart, when he believed no eye
could detect what had just been done. Having marked the proper key, on his
own chart of the West Indies, he replaced the charts of Daggett in the
chest, and locked all up again. The verbal accounts of the sick mariner he
had already transferred to paper, and he now believed himself secure of
all the information that was necessary to render him the richest man in
Suffolk!
When they next met, Mary was surprised at the gaiety of her uncle, and
that so soon after a funeral. He had a lightened heart, however; for after
leading him on, step by step, until he had gone so far as to purchase and
fit out the schooner, Daggett had pertinaciously refused to enter into
those minute particulars which it is even now forbidden us to state, and a
want of which would have rendered his previous expenditures useless.
Death, however, had lifted the veil, and the deacon now believed himself
secure in his knowledge.
An hour or two later, Deacon Pratt and his niece were seated, in company
with two others, at the dinner-table. The fare was simple, but good. Fish
enters largely into the domestic consumption of all those who dwell near
the water, in that part of the country; and, on that particular occasion,
the uncle had, in the lightness of his heart, indulged in what, for him,
was a piece of extravagance. In all such regions there are broken-down,
elderly men, who live by taking fish. Liquor has usually been their great
enemy, and all have the same generic character of laziness, shiftless and
ill-regulated exertions, followed by much idleness, and fits of
intemperance, that in the end commonly cause their deaths. Such a man
fished between Oyster Pond and Shelter Island, being known to all who
dwelt within his beat, by the familiar appellation of Baiting Joe.
Shortly after the discovery of the latitudes and longitudes on the charts,
the deacon had gone to the wharf, in his impatience to see how Roswell
Gardiner got on with the Sea Lion. The young man, with his gang of hands,
was hard at work, and a very material difference was to be observed in the
state of the schooner, from that in which she was described in our opening
chapter. Her rigging had all been set up, every spar was in its place, and
altogether she had a look of preparation and completeness. Her water was
taking in, and from time to time a country wagon, or an ox-cart, delivered
alongside articles belonging to her stores. Of cargo, proper, there was
none, or next to none; a sealer carrying little besides salt, and her
stores. In a word, the work was rapidly advancing, and "Captain Gar'ner"
told his impatient owner that the craft would be ready to put to sea in
all that week.
"I have succeeded in engaging the first officer I wanted," added the young
man, "and he is now busy in looking up and shipping hands, at Stonington.
We must get half-a-dozen reliable men on the main, and then we can take
some of our neighbours here, as beginners, just to please them."
"Yes; ship a goodly number of green hands," said the deacon, zealously.
"They work at cheap 'lays,' and leave the owners the greater profits.
Well, well, Captain Gar'ner, things seem to be doing well in your hands,
and I will leave you. About two hours after dinner, I shall want to have a
word with you in private, and will thank you just to step across to the
house, where you will be certain to find me. Baiting Joe seems to have
hooked something there, in 'arnest."
"That has he! I'll answer for it that he has a sheepshead at the end of
his line that will weigh eight or ten pounds."
The words of Gardiner proved true, for Joe actually pulled in a fish of
the description and weight he had just mentioned. It was this sight that,
in the lightness of his heart, tempted the deacon to a little
extravagance. Joe was called ashore, and after a good deal of chaffering,
the deacon bought the prize for half a dollar. As Mary was celebrated for
her skill in preparing this particular fish, the deacon, before he left
the wharf, with the sheepshead hanging from one hand, fairly invited
"Captain Gar'ner" so to time his visit to the house, as to be present at
the feast.
Nor was this all. Before the deacon had settled with Joe, the Rev. Mr.
Whittle came on the wharf, confessedly in quest of something to eat. The
regular occupations of this divine were writing sermons, preaching,
holding conferences, marrying, christening and burying, and hunting up
"something to eat." About half of his precious time was consumed in the
last of these pursuits. We do not wish to represent this clergyman as
having an undue gastronomic propensity; but, as having a due one, and a
salary that was so badly paid as quite to disable him from furnishing his
larder, or cellar, with anything worth mentioning, in advance. Now, he was
short of flour; then, the potatoes were out; next, the pork was consumed;
and always there was a great scarcity of groceries, and other necessaries
of that nature. This neglect on the part of the parishioners, coupled with
a certain improvidence on that of the pastor, left the clergyman's family
completely in that state which is usually described as being in the "from
hand to mouth" condition, and which consequently occupied so large a
portion of the good man's time in "providing."
Deacon Pratt felt a little conscious and awkward, at encountering the Rev.
Mr. Whittle. It was not the fish that caused the first any concern. Fifty
times had he met and gone by his pastor, running about with a perplexed
and hungry look, when his own hands, or chaise, or wagon, as the case
might be, contained enough to render the divine's family happy and
contented for a week. No compunctions of that sort ever troubled the
deacon's breast. But, he had missed the afternoon's meeting the last
Sabbath, a delinquency for which he felt an awkwardness in accounting,
while he saw its necessity. The salutations passed as usual, the one party
thinking intently on the absence from service, and the other of the
sheepshead. Now, it happily occurred to the deacon to invite his pastor
also to partake of the fish. There was enough for all; and, though no one
on Oyster Pond was much in the habit of entertaining at dinner, it was by
no means unusual for the parishioners to have their pastor for a guest.
This lucky invitation so occupied the parties that nothing was said about
an occurrence so very unusual as the deacon's absence from "meeting" the
"last Sabba' day afternoon."
By these simple means the party at table consisted of the deacon himself,
Mary, Roswell Gardiner, and the Rev. Mr. Whittle. The fish was excellent,
being so fresh and so skilfully prepared; and Mary was highly complimented
by all who ate of it, for her share in the entertainment. But Mary Pratt
seemed sad. She had not yet recovered from the melancholy feelings
awakened by the recent death and funeral; and then her thoughts recurred,
with few interruptions, to the long voyage of Roswell, and most especially
to the unhappy state of religious belief in which he would undertake so
hazardous an expedition. Several times had she hinted to the clergyman her
desire that he would 'talk to Roswell;' but the good man, though
well-enough inclined, had really so much to do in 'providing,' that it was
not a very easy matter for him to go beyond the beaten track, in order to
probe the consciences of particular individuals. He promised fairly, but
always forgot to perform; and in this he imitated closely the example set
him by his parishioners, in reference to his own salary.
Roswell Gardiner, therefore, remained in his unbelief; or, what was
tantamount to it, under the influence of a set of opinions that conflicted
with all that the church had taught since the time of the apostles--at
least so thought Mary, and so think we.
On the contrary, the pastor and the deacon were particularly gay, for men
of their habitual sobriety. Although those were not the days of
temperance, _par excellence_, neither of the guests was what might be
termed even a moderate drinker. For a novelty in a sailor, Roswell
Gardiner seldom touched anything but water, while the other two took their
rum and water; but it was in moderation, as all the gifts of God should be
used. As for the intemperate cry which makes it a sin to partake of any
liquor, however prudently, it was then never heard in the land. On the
whole, the clergy of all denominations might be set down as
brandy-and-water men, a few occasionally carrying out their principle to
exaggeration. But the Rev. Mr. Whittle was a sober man, and, though he saw
no great harm in enlivening his heart and cheering his spirits with brandy
taken in small quantities, he was never known to be any the worse for his
libations. It was the same with the deacon, though _he_ drank
rum-and-water of choice; and no other beverage, Mary's currant-wine and
cider excepted, was ever seen on his table.
One thing may be said of liquor, whether it be in its favour or not; it
usually brings out all there is of the facetious in a man, rendering him
conversable and pleasant; for the time being, at least. This was apt to be
peculiarly the case with the Rev. Mr. Whittle and his deacons. In their
ordinary intercourse with their fellow-creatures, these good people had
taken up the idea that, in order to be religious, their countenances must
be sombre, and that care and anxiety should be stamped on their faces,
just as if they had no confidence in the efficacy of the redemption. Few,
indeed, are they who vindicate their professions by living at peace with
God and man! At Oyster Pond, it was much the fashion to imagine that the
more a person became impressed with the truths of _his_, and articularly
with those of _her_, lost condition, the more it became the party to be
cynical, and to pry into, and comment, on the backslidings of the entire
community. This weakness, however, was characteristic of neither the
pastor nor the deacon, each of whom regarded his professions too much in
the light of a regular "business transaction," to descend into these
little abuses. As for Mary, good creature, her humility was so profound as
to cause her to believe herself among the weakest and least favoured of
all who belonged to meeting.
"I was sorry that my late journey into Connecticut prevented my seeing the
poor man who was so suddenly taken away from the house of Widow White,"
observed the Rev. Mr. Whittle, some little time after he had made his
original attack on the sheepshead. "They tell me it was a hopeless case
from the first?"
"So Dr. Sage considered it," answered the deacon. "Captain Gar'ner
volunteered to go across for the doctor in _my_ boat--" with a heavy
emphasis on the possessive pronoun--"and we had him to look at the
patient. But, if the salt-water _be_ good for consumptive people, as some
pretend, I think there is generally little hope for seamen whose lungs
once give way."
"The poor man was a mariner, was he? I did not know his calling, but had
rather got the impression that he was a husbandman. Did he belong to
Oyster Pond?"
"No; we have none of the name of Daggett here, which is a tribe on the
Vineyard. Most of the Daggetts are seafaring folks (folk, _Anglice_) and
this man was one of that class, _I believe_; though I know nothing of him,
or of his pursuits, except by a word, here and there, dropped in
discourse."
The deacon thought himself safe in venturing this little departure from
the literal truth, inasmuch as no one had been present, or he _thought_ no
one had ever been present at his many secret conferences with the deceased
mariner. Little, however, did he understand the character of the Widow
White, if he flattered himself with holding any discourse under her roof,
in which she was not to participate in its subject. So far from this
having been the case, the good woman had contrived to obtain, not only a
listening-place, but a peeping-hole, where she both heard and saw most of
that which passed between her guest and the deacon. Had her powers of
comprehension been equal to her will, or had not her mind been
prepossessed with the notion that the deacon _must_ be after herself, old
Suffolk would have rung with the marvels that were thus revealed. Not only
would an unknown sealing-island been laid before the East-enders, but
twenty such islands, and keys without number, each of which contained more
hidden treasure than 'Gar'ner's Island,' Oyster Pond, the Plumb and
Fisher's, and all the coasts of the Sound put together; enriched as each
and all of these places were thought to be, by the hidden deposits of
Kidd.
Nothing but an accident had prevented these rumours from being circulated.
It happened that on only one occasion Daggett was explicit and connected
in his narrative. At all other times his discourse was broken, consisting
more in allusions to what had been previously said than in direct and
clear revelations. The widow, most unfortunately for her means of
information, was with "neighbour Stone" when the connected narrative was
given, and all that she knew was disjointed, obscure, and a little
contradictory. Still, it was sufficient to set her thinking intensely and
sufficient to produce a material influence on the future fortunes of the
Sea Lion, as will appear in the sequel.
"It is always a misfortune for a human being to take his departure away
from home and friends," observed the Rev. Mr. Whittle. "Here was an
immortal soul left to take its last great flight, unsupported, I dare say,
except by the prayers of a few pious neighbours. I regret having been
absent during the time he was here. Getting home of a Friday only, I was
compelled to devote Saturday to preparations for the Sabbath; and
Sabbath-night, as I understand it, he departed."
"We are all in the hands of Divine Providence," said the deacon, with a
sober mien, "and it is our duty to submit. To my thinking, Oyster Pond
catches more of its share of the poor and needy, who are landed from
vessels passing east and west, and add considerably to our burthens."
This was said of a spot as much favoured by Divine Providence, in the way
of abundance, as any other in highly-favoured America. Some eight or ten
such events as the landing of a stranger had occurred within the last
half-century, and this was the only instance in which either of them had
cost the deacon a cent. But, so little was he accustomed, and so little
was he disposed, to give, that even a threatened danger of that sort
amounted, in his eyes, nearly to a loss.
"Well," exclaimed the literal Roswell Gardiner, "I think, deacon, that we
have no great reason to complain. Southold, Shelter Island, and all the
islands about here, for that matter, are pretty well off as to poor, and
it is little enough that we have to pay for their support."
"That's the idea of a young man who never sees the tax-gatherers,"
returned the deacon. "However, there are islands, captain Gar'ner, that
are better off still, and I hope you will live to find them."
"Is our young friend to sail in the Sea Lion in quest of any such?"
inquired the pastor, a little curiously.
The deacon now repented him of the allusion. But his heart had warmed
with the subject, and the rum-and-water had unlocked some of its wards. So
timid and nervous had he become, however, that the slightest indication of
anything like a suspicion that his secrets were known, threw him into a
sweat.
"Not at all--not at all--the captain goes on well-known and beaten
ground--Sam, what is wanting, now?"
"Here is Baiting Joe comed up from the wharf, wanting to see master,"
returned a grey-headed negro, who had formerly been a slave, and who now
lived about the place giving his services for his support.
"Baiting Joe! He is not after his sheepshead, I hope--if he is, he is
somewhat late in the day."
"Ay, ay," put in the young sailor, laughing--"tell him Sam, that no small
part of it is bound to the southward meaning to cross the line in my
company, and that right soon."
"I paid Joe his half-dollar, certainly--_you_ saw me pay him, captain
Gar'ner."
"I don't think it's any sich thing, master. There is a stranger with Joe,
that he has ferried across from Shelter Island, and _he's_ comed up from
the wharf too. Yes--that's it, master."
A stranger! Who could it be? A command was given to admit him, and no
sooner did Mary get a sight of his person, than she quietly arose to
procure a plate, in order that he, too, might have his share of the fish.