The stranger turned his large spectacles upon him, and then looked blandly at me.

Suddenly I had a notion that I had seen that turn of the neck and poise of the head before.
"Woe is me," he cried in a stricken voice.

"The French have two fair vessels of mine since March, and a third is missing.

Some say it ran for a Virginian port, and I am here to seek it.

Heard thee ever, friend, of a strange ship in the James or the Potomac ?" "There be many strange ships," said the Receiver, "for this dominion is the goal for all the wandering merchantmen of the earth.