A vessel so small required no steps to ascend her sides, and the occupants of the row-boat soon leaped upon the deck. They were there met by a young man about five feet and a half in height, with blue eyes, light flaxen hair, and cheeks which, originally fair, were somewhat tanned by exposure to sun, wind, and weather. He was dressed in roundabout and pantaloons of light blue cloth, pumps, and light straw hat. "How are you, John? how are you, Harry?" he exclaimed, shaking hands with Coe and Marston, with much appearance of cordiality. "I am very glad to see you. I hope that you are not offended with the _ruse_ which I used to bring you to see me for a short time? I feared that, if you knew who it was, you would not take the trouble to come to see me." Both of the young men assured him that a _ruse_ was not at all necessary; it was nearly preventing them from coming, and that, had they only known at once that it was their old school-friend, George Dempster, who wanted to see them, there would have been no hesitation on their part in coming to visit him. John Coe was much surprised at finding George Dempster--who had been his classmate at Princeton, and who was the oldest son of a planter in good circumstances on the eastern shore of Maryland--occupying the position of skipper of a small bay-craft; politeness, however, prevented him from making any allusion to what seemed to him so singular. Captain Dempster--to give him the title generally bestowed in courtesy upon the commander of the smallest trading craft, on the Chesapeake Bay, at least--invited his old friends to come at once into his cabin. Here a mahogany table was handsomely set out, being spread with a fine linen diaper cloth, and being covered with a porcelain breakfast-set. Cushioned mahogany seats for four surrounded the table. The steward--or he who in a vessel so small generally performs the duties of both that officer and of cook--had apparently already received his orders, for scarcely had the captain, his mate, and his two friends entered the cabin, when breakfast was placed on the table. Fragrant coffee, light rolls, fresh butter, ham and eggs, fried crocuses and soft crabs, formed the repast.