The watch on deck was busy bringing the sloop into stays and the men off watch were sleeping soundly in their hammocks below decks. Barclugh slept well until the Narrows were passed, and the Albatross began to pound her nose into the sea-way, then he awoke and peered out of the cabin to see where this commotion came from. Greatly refreshed, Barclugh’s mind was active and alert. Whether the change from the shore to the realm of Neptune had caused an undue influence upon his affairs, only time could tell; however, there seems to be a weak point in the affairs of all men; as though a farmer were to sell his land and buy a ship to go to sea; or as though each realm of nature had deities that rebelled upon the invasion of their particular sphere by the patrons of the others. At all events, Barclugh felt a restlessness from the influence of the sea as he sat in the cabin and pondered upon the working of his plot. He now had time to think about Captain Risk and the Holker. He wondered where she could be and what would he do with Captain Risk, who was the sole Colonist acquainted with his dealings with Arnold. He reasoned thus: “Captain Risk is devoted to the fickle fortunes of privateering.” (And so he was.) “After Risk’s present enterprise shall have been closed, he could take another ship and probably would be captured by a British cruiser. Thus I do not need to fear on that score.” Neptune loves a true sailor. But when a land-lubber enters nautical enterprises to carry out plots, the old Sea-god sets his Nereides upon the novice to give him a taste of wind and wave. Only the true and tried presume to propitiate the nymphs of Father Neptune. Neither gold nor titles influences the Nereides of wind and wave. The hurricane in its mighty wrath levels the potentate to the same sphere as the peasant. When the ship sinks, both exclaim in anguish: “Lord, have mercy upon us!” The Albatross made but slow progress against the sou’east gale. The night of the second day she was abreast of Barnegat inlet. Before morning Little Egg Harbor inlet was reached, but since the moon did not rise clear after midnight, Captain Sutherland stood on and off until daylight. In the daytime he could make the channel and go over the bar. Early that morning the lookout forward sang out: “Sail, ho!” “Where away?” “Two points on the weather bow, sir.” Captain Sutherland took his glass and made out a full-rigged frigate bearing down upon him. He had no fears, however, for he knew that the Roebuck was in these waters, and no cruiser of the enemy would likely be around. As the frigate bore down alongside, within close range, a voice from a trumpet out of the mizzen shrouds was heard to say: “What ship is that and where away?” Captain Sutherland trumpeted back: “His Majesty’s sloop, the Albatross, bound for Little Egg Harbor inlet.”