The officer arose, and, as the periagua drew near, it was evident his hand
held a pistol, though he seemed reluctant to exhibit the weapon. The
mariner stepped aside, in a manner to offer a full view of all in his
group, as he sarcastically observed--
"Choose your object, Sir; in such a party, a man of sentiment may have a
preference."
The young man colored, as much with shame at, the degrading duty he had
been commissioned to perform, as with vexation at his failure. Recovering
his self-composure, however, he lifted his hat to la belle Barberie, and
the periagua dashed on, in triumph. Still the leading cutter was near the
shore, where it soon arrived, the crew lying on their oars at the end of
the wharf, in evident expectation of the arrival of the ferry-boat. At
this sight, the schipper shook his head, and looked up in the bold face of
his passenger, in a manner to betray how much his mind misgave the result.
But the tail mariner maintained his coolness, and began to make merry
allusions to the service which he had braved with so much temerity, and
from which no one believed he was yet likely to escape. By the former
manoeuvres, the periagua had gained a position well to windward of the
wharf; and she was now steered close upon the wind, directly for the
shore. Against the consequences of a perseverance in this course, however,
the schipper saw fit to remonstrate.
"Shipwrecks and rocky bottoms!" exclaimed the alarmed waterman.
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