--Hark! he has bid me enter."
"He did but touch the strings of the guitar, again, boy."
"'Tis his signal, when the weather is fair. When we have the whistling of
the wind, and the roar of the water, then he has a louder call."
Ludlow would have gladly listened longer; but the boy opened a door, and,
pointing the way to those he conducted, he silently vanished himself,
behind a curtain.
The visiters, more particularly the young commander of the Coquette, found
new subjects of admiration and wonder, on entering the main cabin of the
brigantine. The apartment, considering the size of the vessel, was
spacious and high. It received light from a couple of windows in the
stern, and it was evident that two smaller rooms, one on each of the
quarters, shared with it in this advantage. The space between these
state-rooms, as they are called in nautical language, necessarily formed a
deep alcove, which might be separated from the outer portion of the cabin,
by a curtain of crimson damask, that now hung in festoons from a beam
fashioned into a gilded cornice. A luxuriously-looking pile of cushions,
covered with red morocco, lay along the transom, in the manner of an
eastern divan; and against the bulk-head of each state-room, stood an
agrippina of mahogany, that was lined with the same material. Neat and
tasteful cases for books were suspended, here and there; and the guitar
which had so lately been used, lay on a small table of some precious wood,
that occupied the centre of the alcove.
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