She carried a heavy spread of canvas on
her yards, and lay very low in the water."
The pilot nodded.
"Me remember him, sar; could not make out de craft nohow. Some
people said she pirate, but dar ain't no pirates now."
"That is so, Dominique. Still there may be reasons sometimes for
wanting to overhaul a vessel, and I have such a reason. What it is,
is of no consequence. Pedro tells me that when she got under sail
she went west, but as it was just dark when she sailed, she may
very well have turned as soon as she was hidden from sight and have
gone east; and it seems to me likely that she would, in the first
place, have made for one of the Virgin Islands."
"It depends, sar, upon the trade that he wanted to do. Not much
trade dere, sar. The trade is done at Tortola, dat English island;
and at Saint Thomas or Santa Cruz, dem Danish islands; all de oders
do little trade."
"Yes, Dominique, but I don't think that she wants to trade at all.
What she wants to do is to lie up quietly, where she would not be
noticed."
"Plenty of places in the islands for dat, sar."
"Did they take a pilot here?"
Dominique shook his head.
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