A few days afterwards, _La Belle Susanne_ sailed, amidst the shouts and vivas of the multitude collected on the pier, and a thousand wishes for "_succes_," and "_bon voyage_"--the builder clapping his hands, and skipping with all the simial ecstasy of a Frenchman, at the encomiums lavished upon his vessel, as she cleaved through the water with the undeviating rapidity of a barracouta. But the _vivas_, and the shouts, and the builder, and the pier that he capered on, were soon out of sight; and our hero was once more confiding in the trackless and treacherous ocean. "Well, she _does_ walk," said Phillips, who had followed the fortunes of his captain, and was now looking over the quarter of the vessel. "She must be a clipper as catches us with the tacks on board! Right in the wind's eye too; clean full. By the powers, I believe if you were to lift her, she would lay a point on the other side of the wind." "Get another pull of the fore-halyards, my lads," cried McElvina. "These new ropes stretch most confoundedly. There, belay all that; take a _severe_ turn, and don't come up an inch." The breeze freshened, and the lugger flew through the water, dashing the white spray from her bows into the air, where it formed little rainbows, as it was pierced by the beams of the setting sun. "We shall have a fine night, and light weather towards the morning, I think," said the first mate, addressing McElvina. "I think so too. Turn the hands up to muster by the quarter-bell. We'll load the guns as soon as the lights are out; let the gunner fill forty rounds, and desire the carpenter to nail up the hatchway-screens. Let them be rolled up and stopped. We'll keep them up for a _full due_, till we return to Havre." The crew of the lugger were now summoned on deck by the call of the boatswain, and having been addressed by Captain McElvina upon the absolute necessity of activity and preparation, in a service of such peculiar risk, they loaded the guns, and secured them for the night.