“Ay, and I might e’en ha’ ta’en the lass Judith for a ghaist, if I hadna’ been tauld by the sailor lads of the castaways lost from the _Sultana_, and ta’en off the Desert Island by their captain.” “Oh, then you were prepared to see us,” laughed Miss Conyers. “But still, I don’t see how you should be here?” “I was taken prisoner from the _Sea Scourge_.” “Oh, ye were, were ye, ye born divil!” exclaimed Judith, uncovering her face, and speaking for the first time. “And so ye turned pirate and murtherer, did ye? Troth, I’d rather ye’ed been dhrowned in the say, so I had, than ye should have turned cutthroat on me hands.” “Ay! that’s the way she’s guided me, ever sin’ I met her on the deck,” grumbled the Scotchman. “Will ye hear a mon speak for himsel’ before you accuse him, lass?” “And sure what can ye say for yourself at all at all, afther being found upon the _Sea Scourge_ among a lot iv divels?” “Young leddy,” said the Scotchman, appealing to Miss Conyers, “will you condescend to speak to the lass and bid her be reasonable?” “Indeed, McAlpine, I am so pained to hear that you were one of the crew of the _Sea Scourge_, that I have nothing to say against Judith’s natural indignation,” said Miss Conyers. “Ou, ay! a mon gets it on baith sides! May be, young leddy, ye’ll let me expleen before you judge me.” “If you can explain to Judith’s satisfaction, I should like to hear you do it, McAlpine,” said Miss Conyers, gravely. “Aweel then, after our boat was picked up by the Dutchman, I took service with the captain and went the voyage to Calcutta, and then back to England. After whilk I shipped on a merchantman in St. Catherine’s docks, calling hersel’ the _Sea Scourge_, bound for the Indies, and sailing under the Stars and Stripes. And here I will take leave to say that being a native of Ayrshire in Scotland, I owe nae mair allegiance to the Stars and Stripes than I do to the Stars and Garters or to the Stars and Crescent—whilk last I take to be the emblem of the Turk; or to the Stars and Bars, whatever they may represent, or to the stars in conjunction with ony ither creature. It was na, however, until we overhauled a Baltimore clipper that the _Sea Scourge_ ran up the Stars and Bars, and I kenned for the first time that I was shipped on board a preevateer. I had nae choice but to bide where I was, whilk I did until the engagement wi’ the _Xyphias_, when the preevateer was captured.” “And ye fought ag’inst us, ye murthering divil,” put in Judith. “Nay, lass, that was na my duty; I was on the foretop, and na at the guns. I helped to work the ship, that was a’; and e’en that’ wi’ nae guid will; for I aye argued wi’ mysel’ that I had been entrapped intil the service of the preevateer; but I could na help mysel’ till the fight was over. I was wounded, as ye see, by a bit splinter that struck my head, and I fell to the deck, breaking my arm and spraining my ankle.”