"While the Queen's captain closed all the outlets, my
little craft was floating quietly under the hills of Staten. Before the
morning watch was set, she passed these wharves; and she now awaits her
captain, in the broad basin that lies beyond the bend of yonder
head-land."
"This is a hardiness to be condemned! A failure of wind, a change of tide,
or any of the mishaps common to the sea, may throw you on the mercy of the
law, and will greatly embarrass all who feel an interest in your safety."
"So far as this apprehension is connected with my welfare, I thank you
much, my lord; but, trust me, many hazards have left me but little to
learn in this particular. We shall run the Hell-Gate, and gain the open
sea by the Connecticut Sound."
"Truly, Master Skimmer, one has need of nerves to be your confidant! Faith
in a compact constitutes the beauty of social order; without it, there is
no security for interests, nor any repose for character. But faith may be
implied, as well as expressed; and when men in certain situations place
their dependence on others who should have motives for being wary, the
first are bound to respect, even to the details of a most scrupulous
construction, the conditions of the covenant. Sir, I wash my hands of this
transaction, if it be understood that testimony is to be accumulated
against us, by thus putting your Water-Witch in danger of trial before the
Admiralty."
"I am sorry that this is your decision," returned the Skimmer.
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