The recently appointed first mate of the _Noank_, taking Sam Prentice's place and responsibilities, broke up the study of civil war evils.
"Where away now, Captain?" he inquired. "Our being here'll be known wide enough."
"We won't be here, Morgan," replied the captain. "We are goin' right up St. George's Channel. We may run all the way around the islands and reach Amsterdam from the north."
"That is," said Morgan, "if we get there at all. It's just as that dragoon said: there are a good many king's cruisers hereaway. Big ones, too."
"We are safest in a crowd," replied the captain. "Our best plan is to be where they won't dream of our darin' to go."
"No doubt about that," said Morgan. "I'm agreed we're likely to pick up something worth taking if we watch, while we're making such a run as that."
"We'll go ashore, here and there, too," laughed the captain, "and show 'em the flag."
"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, in the kitchen of the Avery house, "I am glad for thee. Thy brave son's share of the prize-money taketh thee out of thy distresses. Thou wilt have more, if he continueth to serve our good king after this fashion. Thee may be proud of him."
"Rachel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, "you know I'm glad to have the money and to pay my debts with it, but I wish it didn't come from plunder. I can't help pitying all the people that have lost their ships and their property."
"I also am sorry for them," said Rachel. "Doubtless, war is a sin and an evil. I pray much for the return of peace. Thee should bear in mind, though, that both sides have sinned, and that therefore both must suffer while the war lasteth."
"Our American people are suffering terribly," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "I wish I could send something to Washington's army. I have heard say that the colonies are becoming exhausted, while England is as rich as ever."
"She may be so," said Rachel, "but I have been at a Friends' meeting, and some of the elderly men are good accountants. They had somewhat to say concerning the matter of exhaustion."
"Oh, what did they say?" asked Mrs. Avery, at the ironing-board. "Nobody can beat a lot of old Quakers at arithmetic."
"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "This was their testimony concerning this dark and dreadful year, and concerning last year also. They computed that for every American who fell in battle or died in camp, fifteen more young men became of age, ready to take his place. The army is not dying out. For every acre of land really laid waste by the British, one hundred fresh acres of newly opened farms were put under cultivation. For every ton of American shipping captured by the British, five tons of new shipping were built in American shipyards, and ten tons of English shipping were captured or destroyed by our cruisers. Our commerce, therefore, dieth not rapidly. Thee should not forget, too, that our girls who are coming of age are worth something for the future prosperity of the country. None of them are killed in battles, and nearly all of them get married soon. The elders testified, moreover, that while we have lost the right to send all of our productions to England, we have gained the right to trade with all the rest of the world. We wax richer and more numerous, they said, and the timid and the unbelieving boweth his head, and weepeth, and declareth that this is our exhaustion."