There, with his naked feet on the bulwarks and one hand against the house-wall, in the shadow of which he leaned out-board, stood a man. His other hand grasped a short stick; and with it he was reaching up to the window above him--her bedroom window. The window, she remembered, was open at the bottom--an inch or two, no more. The man slipped the end of his stick under the sash and prised it up quietly. Next he raised himself on tiptoe, and thrust the stick a foot or so through the opening; worked it slowly along the window-ledge, and hesitated; then pulled with a light jerk, as an angler strikes a fish. And Hester, holding her breath, saw the stick withdrawn, inch by inch; and at the end of it a garment--her petticoat! "How dare you!" The thief whipped himself about, jumped back upon deck, and stood smiling up at her, with the petticoat in his hand. It was the young sailor she had danced with. "How dare you? Oh, I'd be ashamed!" "Midsummer Eve!" said he, and laughed. "Give it up at once!" She dared not speak loudly, but felt herself trembling with wrath. "That's not likely." He unhitched it from the fish-hook he had spliced to the end of his stick. "And after the trouble I've taken!" "I'll call your captain, and he'll make you give it up." "The old man's sleeping ashore, and won't be down till nine in the morning. I'm alone here." He stepped to the fore-halliards. "Now I'll just hoist this up to the topmast head, and you'll see what a pretty flag it makes in the morning." "Oh, please...!" He turned his back and began to bend the petticoat on the halliards. "No, no ... please ... it's cruel!" He could hear that she was crying softly; hesitated, and faced round again. "There now ... if it teases you so. There wasn' no harm meant. You shall have it back--wait a moment!" He came forward and clambered out on the bowsprit, and from the bowsprit to the jib-boom beneath her. She was horribly afraid he would fall, and broke off her thanks to whisper him to be careful, at which he laughed. Standing there, and holding by the fore-topmast stay, he could just reach a hand up to the parapet, and was lifting it, but paused. "No," said he, "I must have a kiss in exchange." "Please don't talk like that. I thank you so much. Don't spoil your kindness." "You've spoilt my joke. See, I can hoist myself on the stay here. Bend over as far as you can, I swear you shall have the petticoat at once, but I won't give it up without." "I can't. I shall never think well of you again." "Oh, yes, you will. Bend lower." "Don't!" she murmured, but the moonlight, refracted from the water below, glimmered on her face as she leaned towards him.