She was light in the water, and bore little except ballast. He
could not be sure at that distance, but he thought that the sailors must
be Englishmen, especially the man at the helm, who was beyond reasonable
doubt the captain.
Then two long sweeps were manned amidship, with two sturdy fellows to
tug at each; and the quiet evening air led through the soft rehearsal of
the water to its banks the creak of tough ash thole-pins, and the groan
of gunwale, and the splash of oars, and even a sound of human staple,
such as is accepted by the civilized world as our national diapason.
The captive Scuddy, who observed all this, was thoroughly puzzled at
that last turn. Though the craft was visibly English, the crew might
still have been doubtful, if they had held their tongues, or kept them
in submission. But that word stamped them, or at any rate the one who
had been struck in the breast by the heavy timber, as of genuine British
birth. Yet there was no sign that these men were prisoners, or acting by
compulsion. No French boat was near them, no batteries there commanded
their course, and the pilot-boat carried no prize-crew to direct
reluctant labours. At the mouth of the river was a floating bridge, for
the use of the forces on either side, and no boat could have passed it
without permission. Therefore these could be no venturesome Britons,
spying out the quarters of the enemy; either they must have been allowed
to pass for some special purpose, under flag of truce, or else they
were traitors, in league with the French, and despatched upon some dark
errand.
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