"I don't know, but I can tell you the name of one; he is my ideal----" She turned away her head to hide her crimson blushes. "What is his name, and I will try to imitate him." Her hand trembled on his arm. "Is it your uncle, the captain?" he asked. She murmured so low that he almost thought he misunderstood her, for the name he heard was his own. "Do you mean it?" he asked eagerly. "You know I do. Have you not known it long, long ago?" "I hoped, and yet I feared----" "You should not fear." "Then, Bertha, dear, will you----" he hesitated for a few moments. Her hand trembled, her face was turned away. "Will you become my wife as soon as we land?" "I am your prisoner, sir, and prisoners are not usually consulted about their future," she answered mischievously. "But I heard a lady say that if, as a prisoner, she was taken to the altar, she would kill herself." "But her captor was English." "Then any American who might capture you----" "You have taken me prisoner, and if you cannot keep me, why--why, the bravest man shall have me. So there!" "I do not fear now; and, Bertha, the first thing we will do when we reach land will be to get married." "What noise is that?" she suddenly asked. "Is it not horrible?" "Hush! you must not say that. It is the men below who are singing. If the hatchways were open you could hear the words." As though one of the watch had heard the officer's words, the hatches were thrown back, and the gruff voices of the men, who were too excited to speak, were heard singing: "'Ye tars of our country, who seek on the main The cause for the wrongs your country sustain, Rejoice and be merry, for bragging John Bull Has got a sound drubbing from brave Captain Hull. Then charge the can cheerily, Send it round merrily! Here's to our country and captains commanding; To all who inherit Of Vernon the spirit Disdaining to strike while a stick is left standing.'" "Who is Vernon?" asked Bertha. "The bravest and truest man who ever wore a blue jacket. The captain of the _Lively Bee_." "But he is a privateer." "So am I. I entered his crew as a man before the mast. He made me first officer. He searched me out, because your brother knew me. Vincent told him my story, and Vernon has given me a chance to win you, my darling." "Hem! Ha! Ugh! Beg parding, sir, but my mate on the lookout says as how he sees a strange sail, which is kinder suspicious." The man had crept up quietly behind the lovers and had tried to attract their attention by his coughing and strange noises. "I will go forward, Smithson." "Ay, ay, sir!" Then to himself he muttered: "He's a good sort, too good for a privateer; he ought to be on a reg'lar man-o'-war, or better'n that, a whaler away down in the Suthern seas. Blow me, but I like whalin' better'n fightin', I do."