652 The De?non Ship. [DEC 



away by a slow and lingering death. At length her respiration began 

 to partake of the loud and irrepressible character which is so often the 

 precursor of dissolution. She deemed her hour drawing on, yet feebly 

 essayed, for my sake, to stifle those last faint moans of expiring nature 

 which might betray our concealment. I became sensible that the latter 

 could not much longer remain a secret, and, with a strange calmness, 

 made up my mind to the coming decisive hour. I supported Margaret's 

 head, poured a faltering prayer into her dying ear, wiped the death- 

 dews from her face, and essayed to whisper expressions of deep and 

 unutterable affection. Happily for us there was such a tempest of wind 

 and sea, as drowned in its wild warfare the expiring sighs of Margaret. 

 At this moment Girod descended to the hold. He put his finger on his 

 lips significantly, and then whispered in French te Courage Rescue! 

 There is a sail on our weather bow. She is yet in the offing. Our cap- 

 tain marks her not ; but I have watched her some time with a glass, 

 and if she be not a British sloop of war, my eyes and the glass are 

 deceivers together." I grasped Margaret's hand. She faintly returned 

 the pressure, but gently murmured, " Too late." Ere the lapse of a 

 moment it was evident that our possible deliverer was discovered by 

 the Demon crew, for we could hear by the bustle of feet and voices that 

 the ship was being put about ; and the ferocious and determined voice 

 of the buccaneer chief was heard, even above the roar of the tempest, 

 giving prompt and fierce orders to urge on the Demon. Girod promised 

 to bring us more news, and quitted us. The rush of air into the hold 

 seemed to have revived Margaret, and my hopes began to rise. Yet it 

 was too soon evident that the motion of the vessel was increased, and 

 that the crew were straining every nerve to avoid our hoped-for 

 deliverer. After a while, however, the stormy wind abated ; the ship 

 became steadier, and certainly made less way in the w r aves. A voice 

 over our head said distinctly in French " The sea is gone down, and 

 the sloop makes signal to us to lay too." A quarter of an hour elapsed, 

 and the voice again said, " The sloop chaces us !" Oh! what inexpres- 

 sibly anxious moments were those. I felt that aid must come, and come 

 speedily, or it would arrive too late. We could discover from the vary- 

 ing cries on deck that the sloop sometimes gained on the Demon, while 

 at others the pirate got fearful head of her pursuer. At length Girod 

 descended to the hold. " The die is cast !" he said in his native lan- 

 guage. " The sloop gains fast on us. We are about to clear the deck 

 for action." " God be praised," I ejaculated. " Amen !" responded a 

 faint and gentle voice. " Do not praise Him too soon," said Girod, 

 shrugging his shoulders ; " our captain is preparing for a victory. The 

 Demon has mastered her equals, ay, and her superiors, and this sloop is 

 our inferior in size and numbers. The captain does not even care to 

 come to an accommodation with her. He has hoisted the Demon flag, 

 and restored her name to the stern/' < f But has his motley crew," 

 whispered I, anxiously, " ever encountered a British foe of equal 

 strength/' " I cannot tell I cannot tell ; I have been in her but a 

 short time, and will be out of her on the first occasion," said Girod, as he 

 hastily quitted us. We now heard all the noise of preparation for an 

 engagement. The furniture was removed from the cabin above us, and 

 the cabin itself partially thrown open to the deck. Cannon were lashed 

 and primed; concealed port-holes opened, ahd guns placed at them. 

 Seeing ultimate escape impossible, the captain took in sail, and deter- 



