"Captain Ludlow, the chaser is chased!" he
said. "After sailing about the Atlantic, for a week or more, like a Jew
broker's clerk running up and down the Boom Key at Rotterdam, to get off a
consignment of damaged tea, we are fairly caught ourselves! To what fall
in prices, or change in the sentiments of the Board of Trade, am I
indebted for the honor of this visit, Master a--a--a--gay dealer in green
ladies and bright tissues?"
The confident and gallant manner of the free-trader had vanished. In its
place, there appeared a hesitating and embarrassed air, that the
individual was not wont to exhibit, blended with some apparent indecision,
on the subject of his reply.
"It is the business of those who hazard much, in order to minister to the
wants of life," he said, after a pause that was sufficiently expressive of
the entire change in his demeanor, "to seek customers where there is a
reputation for liberality. I hope my boldness will be overlooked, on
account of its motive, and that you will aid the lady in judging of the
value of my articles, and of their reasonableness as to price, with your
own superior experience."
Myndert was quite as much astonished, by this language, and the subdued
manner of the smuggler, as Ludlow himself. When he expected the heaviest
demand on his address, in order to check the usual forward and reckless
familiarity of Seadrift, in order that his connexion with the 'Skimmer of
the Seas' might be as much as possible involved in ambiguity, to his own
amazement, he found his purpose more than aided by the sudden and
extraordinary respect with which he was treated.
Pages:
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385