"Do you not find, my beautiful child," said Blanden, "that this conversation is somewhat uncomfortable, and at the same time, dangerous? Our boats are so close together, that they might knock against and upset one another, and I shall not stir from your side any more, after having worked my way into your vicinity by the sweat of my brow." "What is to be done then?" asked Eva, "we shall go down together." "Oh, no, I shall act according to the rights of the sea!" "Have you some kind of right on your side again? Are you an inspector of the sea perhaps, as you were inspector of the forest, and would you ask me again for my passport?" "The right which I have on my side, is one of the oldest and best rights which history knows; it is the right of might! I shall take possession of your boat and declare it, with all that it contains, to be a lawful prize. You are sailing without a flag, you have no ship's papers." "And do we live in time of war?" "Certainly until we have made peace, I see a lovely enemy in you; therefore--board and give no quarter!" And with a rapid bound Blanden had sprung into Eva's violently rocking boat, while he relinquished his own to the waves. The weak minded fisher-girl, with a low cry, pointed to the boat floating away, while she exclaimed-- "Father's boat! Father's boat!" "Indeed," said Eva, as she retired completely to the rudder, "you are not wanting in audacity? This is an attack in pirate fashion!" "Do I look like a corsair?" "I do not know any personally, but why should you not sit for the frontispiece to Byron's poem? You are sun-burnt enough for it, and look as though you would have no fear of adventures!" "Certainly not, if the prize be worth the risk!" "And then--how recklessly you treat the property of others! The poor fisherman's boat drifts upon the waves, without a master." "Excuse me, my Fräulein! That boat is my property; I bought it and can give it up again to the billows." "And why do you do this?" "Is it not worth some sacrifice to be with you? Nor would I appear here as lord and master; no, but as your humble oarsman! Away little one, let me go to the oar." The fisher-girl did not stir; seeing he was about to take the oar from her by force, she prepared to stand upon the defensive. "Let the poor child alone," said Eva, "she will not leave her post." Blanden hesitated; suddenly the girl voluntarily relinquished the oar, cried again twice in a shrieking voice-- "Father's boat! Father's boat!" and then plunged into the sea. Blanden was about to jump after her. "Do not," said Eva, "she is the best swimmer in all the villages on the coast; but she is imbecile, and only seldom has gleams of reason." "And you trust yourself to her?" asked Blanden.