one of the most determined pirates in these seas-manned the case. Of the eleven gentlemen, passengers on board, by a crew of about the biggest ruffians that ever trod a deck."

But, what means of resistance have you? Your vessel is short-manned; you are without guns or ammunition."

"You have not yet seen our means; and such as they are, we must use them against that ruffian"

His eye glanced again in the direction of the pursuing ship. She was a long, low, hermaphrodite sort of craft, evidently very swift. Her foremast and bowsprit were immensely strong, and of great length, both covered with canvas, under a press of which she came bowling along, the now freshening breeze filling her sails. The rapidity with which she gained on us, showed that we had no chance of escape by flight. Our every rag of canvas had been for some time set, and the old lumbering ship, heavily laden as she was, went snorting and groaning through the water. The match was as unequal as between a cart-horse and a thorough-bred racer.

Turning my eyes again towards the deck, I found the men all activity and bustle. One group I observed busily engaged in breaking and sawing old iron hoops and spikes. These were for grape-shot!

"But where are the guns?" I asked of the captain. "You shall see presently," he replied; the men are dragging them from their concealment below, for we carry more than the regulation number. In the meantime, may I ask you to go below, and break the matter to your fellow-passengers. There may be some of the gentlemen not unwilling to aid in the defence of the old ship. At present I cannot leave the deck. My wife!"--a shudder seemed to pass across his face, and he added—“ would to God she had not been here!"

of nearly all nations, the greater number, with praiseworthy alacrity, aided the crew in their preparations for defence. All the guns, rifles, pistols, swords and cutlasses which the ship could muster, were brought on deck, and distributed among the passengers and crew.

The pirate-ship was now rapidly approaching, and was almost within gun-shot. We could see her deck distinctly, and perceived that it was crowded with men; booms and all were filled. She was evidently well armed, for we saw six guns of a side, and a long gun, on pivots, planted in the forecastle. The occasional gleam of steel caught our eye. We saw a man, evidently a person in command, standing in the shrouds, with a polished speaking-trumpet in his hand, closely scanning us. He wore white trowsers, and had a red sash bound round his waist. On his head was a broad Panama sombrero, the now burning sun rendering such a defence highly necessary. Notwithstanding, however, the steadiness of the pursuit, the stranger seemed as yet uncertain what next to do. To be sure, we had a fair show of men on board; and though we still carried a full press of sail, there seemed to be about us no evidence of great haste to get out of his way. Our men were all at their posts, and they evinced that steadiness and resolute bearing, which the English sailor generally displays in moments of trial and danger. The pirate, seemingly undecided, kept off and on; now hauling her wind a little, and keeping away from us-now pressing closer in our wake but as if irresolute whether to attack us or not.

But our attention was suddenly attracted in another direction, by a new object of interest, perhaps of danger.

It must here be observed, that we were now off the coast of Cuba, whose high lands to the west of Cape Maize, rose clear and strongly-defined against the northern sky. One of the old hands on board pointed out, not very far off, a spot which, he assured us, was one of the most noted piratical haunts in Cuba.

"These fellows" said he, "even venture out in their boats to attack and board merchantmen of the first class. I have known".

sung out the man on the look-out.

"Boat ahoy!
"Where away?"
"Under our forefoot!"

And sure enough there was a boat almost in our track, though, at first sight, there seemed nothing in its appearance to excite either suspicion or alarm.

Keep your eye on that ere, captain," was the remark of the old seaman at our side. And the captain, to dó him justice, seemed alive to the necessity of keeping a sharp look-out in all directions.

I pressed his hand, and went below. Need I say what screaming, sobbing, and crying there was, when informed my fellow-passengers of the danger so near at hand., Some fell upon their knees and prayed, who never prayed before; others shrieked, and gave way to the wildest outbreaks of grief; some swooned, and fell down as if dead. One tender girl there was, fair and graceful, beautiful as light, who displayed the most charming courage and self-possession. She was on her way home to England, in search of the health which she had lost amid the hot swamps of the tropics. It might be, that We were soon within hail of the boat, and perceived she felt the hand of death already upon her, and the ties that there was only one man visible on board, who seemed that bound her to life were thus feeble. She tried to as if fishing with a rod and line at the boat's bow. An soothe the shrieking women, cheered those who seemed as immense tarpaulin covered the boat, which was large as a if stricken down by their terror, and she urged upon all jolly. The only circumstance which excited our suspito reflect, that it was their duty rather to aid and encou- cions was an object, very like a carronade on a pivot, rage those who were about to risk their lives for their planted forward, and on which the man sat, as if to conprotection, than to embarrass and distress them by shriek-ceal it. He soon hailed us in Spanishing and clamour. The captain's wife, I found, was more composed than the others, and she suggested that the other females should at once proceed to disguise themselves in ordinary seamen's clothes, and proceed upon deck, so as if possible to escape detection, in event of the ship being boarded by the pirates.

I left them engaged in these preparations, and hastened upon deck. I found that the men had now dragged from their concealment nine eighteen-pound carronades, which were mounted and ready for action. Some were busily engaged in loading them, each with a round shot and a bag of iron-cuttings, broken nails, and musket-bulletsthe most destructive kind of grape. They worked as if life and death depended on their efforts, which was indeed

Hay algo de bueno, para los pobres pescadores?" Our captain, not understanding Spanish, hailed in English. Hilloa, sir, what are you about there?" "Feeshin," was the man's reply. "Will buy feesh?” "And what kind of fish do you catch here, so far out at sea?"

black cook), see that the poker is kept red-hot, and be ready to hand it up!"

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Ay, ay, Sa!" said Sambo, showing his ivories: for Sambo's poker had been appointed to do the duty of portfire or match.

lowances of grog were served out to the men; and the captain and passengers also indulged themselves in more than usually heavy potations that night. Had the pirates then come upon us, we must have fallen an easy prey.

For ourselves, we reached port in safety, without further incident, about three weeks after this adventure with

We were within less than pistol-shot of the boat, when A few days after, the two pirates we had taken on we observed a sudden bustle under the tarpaulin. The board were got rid of. When off one of the Bahama man at the bows changed his position, pointed the carro- islands, about a mile from the shore, they were made nade in the direction of our brig, and, bang!. -a round- to "walk the plank." They were both good swimshot went whistling through our foresail. At the same 'mers, and we watched them buffeting through the waves instant, the tarpaulin was thrown off, with a loud shout, for a long time. The captain said there was little and some thirty half-naked, fierce, and savage-looking fear of their reaching the shore, unless picked off by ruffians displayed themselves to view. They were of all the sharks. shades of colours, from the black African to the fair Biscayan; and they were of all tongues, if one might judge from the howling and discordant voices which rose the pirates. from among them. But we had little time to think of this, for the scoundrels immediately saluted us with a volley of their small arms, which, however, did but little damage, though I saw one of our men fall. The others were with difficulty restrained from firing upon them-ONE cold, damp night in November, about forty years the black cock now brandishing his heated poker. But the captain shouted out-" Forbear! not a shot till I give

the word!"

The pirate-boat rapidly approached, and her crew fired another volley upon us; but firing upwards, and our men being sheltered by the bulwarks, no damage was this time done. The ruffians were now close upon us, and I could see their gleaming pikes and cutlasses; the pistols and long knives in their belts: and their fiendish and revolting looks. There was a faint scream of the females on deck. We seemed as if already in the pirates' power!

But our turn for action had now come! The boat had almost struck the ship's side, when the clear voice of the captain was heard

"Now, men, steady! Run out the guns! mind your aim! Now, blacky, with your poker!"

The guns were run out through the port-holes in an instant, and one fiery stream of death after another was poured down upon our assailants.

At least three or four heavy shot went slap through the boat's bottom, when she almost instantly filled and sank, leaving the crew in the water, struggling and swimming for life. A cry of horror rose from among them, when the first volley of grape and round-shot crashed into their midst, and they howled for pity and mercy! But there was little time for consideration now; and the piercing cry of " Misericordia, por amor de Dios," was little heeded. One by one the swimmers disappeared. Some sunk; others seemed to be suddenly dragged under water. Two sharks, which had followed in the ship's wake for some days, now enjoyed a high carouse. There was an occasional splash, an upturned belly, a crunching of bones, and in a moment all was over with the victim. At last, the captain, implored by the passengers, took pity on the only two who continued to swim after the ship, beseeching our mercy. A boat was lowered, and two ruffian-looking Spaniards were dragged in by the neck, and firmly pinioned to the main-mast.

And what of the pirate-ship-the first object of our fears? What was our surprise to find the stranger gradually sheering off? Most probably our warm reception of the Cuba "fishermen" had shown them that we were fully prepared for resistance, and pirates don't like coming to blows when they can avoid them; nor, probably, did they like the sound of our heavy metal. However this might be, certain it is that they parted company with us forthwith, and troubled us no more.

The joy of the crew and the passengers, thus rescued from perils so imminent, need scarcely be described. The captain was quite beside himself with joy, and seemed almost disposed to embrace the black cook, Sambo, for his gallant handling of the poker. Double, if not treble al

THE DOCTOR.

since, Mr. J, the newly-appointed curate of Št. Michael's parish, Dublin, was treading the lone churchyard, for the first time, which led to the vestry-rooms, which were to be his abode. They had been the lodgings time out of mind of his predecessors, and their last occupant had recently died there, by which event, by the interest of an uncle, he had succeeded to the curacy, and become proprietor of the apartments adjoining the church: in truth, their situation was anything but agreeable to a nervous man like Mr. J; we might alinost use the epithet, superstitious,-for in those days it was not so disgraceful as it would be in our more enlightened era. Being a short man, Mr. J could not get over the ground with long strides, but he certainly made them as long and as rapid as he could; the heavy fall of his footsteps sounded drearily in his ears, and to some, his hurried breathing might perhaps have appeared indicative of alarm; the damp vapours which he saw among the tombs seemed to his bewildered fancy to bear the semblance of sheeted spectres. It was a great relief to him to find himself at the door of his new abode, and he knocked loud and fast, but with a degree of trepidation, as if he feared disturbing the inhabitants of the dreary mansions among which he had passed, at the unseasonable hour at which he was now entering on his possession,-for it was eleven o'clock; he had purposely lingered till the last moment at the place where he had dined, to put off as long as he could entering his lonely dwelling. The door was slowly opened by the old woman, whose province it had been to attend on all the curates, time out of mind, letting herself in with a latch-key, early in the morning, to light the fire and to make all ready for breakfast, and vanishing at night, when all her household duties were done. She stood at the door, shading with her hand the flickering light which she held, as she welcomed her master to the premises. To give Molly her due, she might have taken her degree for age and ugliness in Trinity College, where the attendants are proverbial for such attributes. As she ushered Mr. J- in, Molly flung open a side-door to give him "the view," as she said; it was of the interior of the church, with its grand aisle, and side-aisles, which seemed the very abode of gloom; the dim light afforded but an imperfect view, and the extent might have been interminable, for all in the distance was lost.

"Doctor Luscomb," said she, "never went to bed without taking a look through the aisles, and it's my opinion that he often maundered about the pews, and even through the graves, in the dead hour of the night." Mr. J- turned aside, with a shudder, and proceeded to the inner room, which was fitted up as his sleeping apartment. Old Molly had prudently determined that it should be his sitting-room for that night, if he was not 1

disposed to go to his bed immediately. A table and chair were placed close to the blazing fire, on which a kettle sat composedly, singing its cheerful song, which was indeed quite out of keeping with the gloom which had marked Mr. J's way.

"Is it a cup of tay you'd like, or a tumbler of punch, before you go to bed, Sir?"

itself has ever been the same since, I sometimes consate that I feel a cold breath close up to me, and somethin has passed by me that I could neither see nor touch, and go off, I don't know where. It was in the dusk one evenin-by the same token it was the evenin but one after the funeral-that I got a glimmer of the Doctor as I looked down the aisle; but he was far off, and sloped away out of my sight among the arches, without as much as sayin one word to me. At any rate, though he was good master, I wouldn't live with the likes of him again for my apron-full of gold; there would be no look (luck) in it."

"The punch, Molly, if you please." "Well, maybe it's the best, at this time of the night; if it had been airlier I'd have said the tay," added she, for she had been long in the habit of regulating the curates of the parish, and would have considered herself sorely wronged if her sanction had not been obtained It was thus Molly ran on, descanting on the habits of for everything connected with the creature comforts. her late master; what she said tallied with the myste"Well, punch it must be, and here are all the immat-rious hints dropped by the parish-clerk, and by some of erials," said she, laying all things necessary for the com- the old women whose names were in the church poorpound before him. "I thought it might have been the list. Electrifying machines, and other philosophical cup of tay you'd have liked,-for Doctor Luscomb (the instruments, were calculated to awaken superstitions in heavens be his bed!) was always for the tay; he was the ignorant, who have a natural leaning towards the seldom without it three times, and maybe four times in marvellous; and, though much that Molly repeated was the coorse of the day-and strong it used to be, easily accounted for, there was still in the recluse habits Here, Molly, take the taypot,' he'd say to me, when and uncouth appearance of his predecessor something he had taken as good as four or five cups, I think there's to excite feelings, which Mr. J- could not easily a cup in it still,'-and it's no matter if it wasn't the black define; and which were, no doubt, strengthened by that cup-my heart was fairly riz with the strength of it; not sympathy which is sure to be evoked by the narrator, but that I sometimes consated it had a mighty quare tang, who is thoroughly impressed with a belief in what he and a scent that I didn't like all out; but that was no details, be it ever so improbable. However, as we wonder, with all his out of the way doins. I was often acknowledged before, Mr. J— was not without a tincin dread to taste it." ture of superstition, which his present situation was but too likely to increase. When he heard Molly shut herself out for the night, and when he heard the faint echoes of her footsteps die away upon the distant pavement, he felt that he was indeed alone-utterly alone! Placed at the extremity of a gloomy churchyard, dotted with its tombstones and grave-mounds; where no step would pass the whole long night! When he thought of those dark, deep aisles, into which his outward apartment opened, all cold, and utterly deserted as they were, he felt an internal shudder, and he wished most fervently that his uncle had not pressed on him a curacy so circumstanced: he tried to rally his spirits, and mixed a potent tumbler of punch; he drew his chair still closer to the fire, and, taking up the poker, gave it an energetic stir, that produced a blaze which lit up the whole apartment for a moment; he was just about to raise the exhilarating beverage to his lips, when a strange sound broke upon his ear. Was it fancy? No; it became louder, and boomed through the air, like all the witches galloping on their broomsticks. Was it within the range of possibility that it might be Doctor Luscomb's attendant sprites? Whatever it might be, it was a most unearthly sound, and came whirring loud and strong: sometimes it died away, and then would burst out more obstreperously than ever. Poor Mr. Jfor a moment, unable to move; the punch lay untasted on the table; a cold perspiration bedewed his forehead: but something must be done,-a desperate effort,-and he rushed forward to the bed, and plunged among the bed-clothes, covering up his face and head to shut out the sounds; but they were too loud for that, and ever and anon the whirr-whirr, broke through the silence of night. Long and drear was that night; but daylight came at last, and with it Molly, who immediately applied herself vigorously to Mr. J- 's fire.

On being questioned as to the grounds of her dread, she let Mr.Jinto the habits of Doctor Luscomb's every-day life. "I don't say but that the Doctor was all out a good man; maybe so; he was good to the poor, and I never heard anything but a civil word from him; but he was as crooked a little body as ever screwed into a doore; there wasn't a straight limb about him; his legs and his arms bowed out from him ever so far, as if they weren't sure that they belonged to him, and there wasn't a finger that wasn't crooked; you'd think they'd catch you for all the world like hooks; with that he had a head as black as the back of the chimbley, and such a pair of eyes as was never seen in a mortial's head; they shone out like two blazin coals of fire; you'd think they'd give light the darkest night that ever came; and thin the look they had with thim-they'd look you through and through, 'till they'd cut fairly into the very cinter of your heart. I never liked the look of them anyhow; and it often crossed my mind that he wasn't all out the right thing after all. He never would go out if he could help it, except mopin and philanderin among the ould tombstones in the churchyard, and tossin about his arms like a wild Indian, and romancin to himself. Sometimes, in the long winter nights, I consaved that some one was holdin parley with him, but I could never get in to see, for he locked and double-locked, and bolted himself up into his room. Some say that he read his prayers backwards, but I can't say for sartin; but at any rate he had the quarest machines I ever seen (and it wasn't yesterday I come into the world); he used to draw fire out of one of them, and you'd hear it cracklin all about you. One day he made me hould a bit of a jack-chain out of it, and if I did, with a twirl that he gave it with a bed-key was in in his hand, I thought my arms was fairly wrenched out, and a wakeness was over me for the whole blessed day; and often sparks of fire would fly out of his knuckles, and from under the roots of his nails, Lord save us! At any rate, I hope I'll never see the likes again. I often consated that I scented brimstone; sure enough he went mighty suddent; kith or kin never come nigh him till he was dead; then they came and took all his combustibles. The night before, there were quare noises in the walls, and all about, and such a blast of wind as I never heard; and quare things happened the day of the funeral, and every-visits. thing seemed to go contrairy. I don't think the vestry After a hurried toilet and a hasty breakfast, Mr. J.

was,

"Molly," said he, as he stealthily uncovered his face; " Molly, I have heard strange sounds"'Lord bless us!" ejaculated Molly.

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"As if up in the air, Molly-strange sounds, Molly; they came whirr-whirr, very often and very loud—”

"It was only the Doctor, Sir," returned Molly, with perfect nonchalance, as she went on poking at the embers. Her whole manner and tone at once indicated that she was well accustomed to the Doctor's nocturnal