the vessel went further from the land, the surface of the ocean gradually
grew more agitated, until the highlands, which lay over the villa of the
Lust in Rust, finally sunk into the sea; when the top-gallant-royals of
the ship were seen describing wide segments of circles against the
heavens, and her dark sides occasionally rose, from a long and deep roll,
glittering with the element that sustained her.

When Ludlow first descried the object which he believed to be the chase,
it seemed a motionless speck on the margin of the sea. It had now grown
into all the magnitude and symmetry of the well-known brigantine. Her
slight and attenuated spars were plainly to be seen, rolling, easily but
wide, with the constant movement of the hull, and with no sail spread, but
that which was necessary to keep the vessel in command on the billows. But
when the Coquette was just within the range of a cannon, the canvas began
to unfold; and it was soon apparent that the "Skimmer of the Seas" was
preparing for flight.

The first manoeuvre of the Water-witch was an attempt to gain the wind of
her pursuer. A short experiment appeared to satisfy those who governed the
brigantine that the effort was vain, while the wind was so fresh and the
water so rough. She wore, and crowded sail on the opposite tack, in order
to try her speed with the cruiser; nor was it until the result
sufficiently showed the danger of permitting the other to get any nigher,
that she finally put her helm aweather, and ran off, like a sea-fowl
resting on its wing, with the wind over her taffrail.

The two vessels now presented the spectacle of a stern chase. The
brigantine also opened the folds of all her sails, and there arose a
pyramid of canvas, over the nearly imperceptible hull, that resembled a
fantastic cloud driving above the sea, with a velocity that seemed to