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power of the elements!
 I was in the hurricane, and so was the brigantine; and there you see how
taut and neat she is aloft, as if nothing had happened!
 And you saw us yesterday floating on the open sea, while a few ill-fastened
spars kept us from going into its depths!
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 The spars floated, and you were not drowned; else, I should have wept
bitterly, Eudora.
 But thou wilt go deeper into the country, and see more of its beauties--its
rivers, and its mountains --its caverns, and its woods. Here all is change,
while the water is ever the same.
 Surely, Eudora, you forget strangely!--Here it is all America. This mountain
is America; yonder land across the bay is America, and the anchorage of
yesterday was America. When we shall run off the coast, the next land-fall
will be England, or Holland, or Africa; and with a good wind, we may run down
the shores of two or three countries in a day.
 And on them, too, thoughtless boy! If you lose this occasion, thy life will
be wedded to hazard!
 Farewell, Eudora! said the urchin, raising his mouth to give and receive
the parting kiss.
 Eudora, adieu! added a deep and melancholy voice, at her elbow.  I can
delay no longer, for my people show symptoms of impatience. Should this be the
last of my voyages to the coast, thou wilt not forget those with whom thou
hast so long shared good and evil!
 Not yet--not yet--you will not quit us yet! Leave me the boy--leave me some
other memorial of the past, besides this pain!
 My hour has come. The wind is freshening, and I trifle with its favor.
 Twill be better for thy happiness that none know the history of the
brigantine; and a few hours will draw a hundred curious eyes, from the town,
upon us.
 What care I for their opinions?--thou wilt not --cannot--leave me, yet!
 Gladly would I stay, Eudora, but a seaman s home is his ship. Too much
precious time is already wasted. Once more, adieu!
The dark eye of the girl glanced wildly about her. It seemed, as if in that
one quick and hurried look, it drank in all that belonged to the land and its
enjoyments.
 Whither go you? she asked, scarce suffering her voice to rise above a
whisper.  Whither do you sail, and when do you return?
 I follow fortune. My return may be distant-- never!--Adieu then, Eudora--be
happy with the friends that Providence hath given thee!
The wandering eyes of the girl of the sea became still more unsettled. She
grasped the offered hand of the free-trader in both her own, and wrung it in
an impassioned and unconscious manner. Then releasing her hold, she opened
wide her arms, and cast them convulsively about his unmoved and unyielding
form.
 We will go together!--I am thine, and thine only!
 Thou knowest not what thou sayest, Eudora! gasped the Skimmer-- Thou hast a
father--friend --husband--
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 Away, away! cried the frantic girl, waving her hand wildly towards Alida
and the Patroon, who advanced as if hurrying to rescue her from a
precipice-- Thine, and thine only!
The smuggler released himself from her frenzied grasp, and, with the strength
of a giant, he held the struggling girl at the length of his arm, while he
endeavored to control the tempest of passion that struggled within him.
 Think, for one moment, think! he said.  Thou wouldst follow an outcast--an
outlaw--one hunted and condemned of men!
 Thine, and thine only!
 With a ship for a dwelling--the tempestuous ocean for a world!--
 Thy world is my world!--thy home, my home! --thy danger, mine!
The shout which burst out of the chest of the  Skimmer of the Seas was one
of uncontrollable exultation.
 Thou art mine! he cried.  Before a tie like this, the claim of such a
father is forgotten! Burgher, adieu!--I will deal by thy daughter more
honestly than thou didst deal by my benefactor s child!
Eudora was lifted from the ground as if her weight had been that of a
feather; and, spite of a sudden and impetuous movement of Ludlow and the
Patroon, she was borne to the boat. In a moment, the bark was afloat, with the
gallant boy tossing his seacap upward in triumph. The brigantine, as if
conscious of what had passed, wore round like a whirling chariot; and, ere the
spectators had recovered from their confusion and wonder, the boat was hanging
at the tackles. The free-trader was seen on the poop, with an arm cast about
the form of Eudora, waving a hand to the motionless group on the shore, while
the still half-unconscious girl of the ocean signed her faint adieus to Alida [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]