He grasped the Captain's extended hand, and shook it warmly.

"I shall never forget this noble offer," he exclaimed.

And he never did forget it; for from that moment the two were life-long friends.
"What is your plan ?" said the Captain.
"A peaceable escape if possible.

If not, what you propose to Captain Alden." "I should like the last the best," said the Captain.
"Why, it would expose you to penalties--and keep your vessel hereafter out of Boston harbor." "You see that I have an old grudge of my own," replied the Captain.
"These Puritan rascals once arrested me for bringing some Quakers from Barbados--good, honest, innocent people, a little touched here, you know,"-- and the Captain tapped his broad, brown brow with his finger.
"They caught me on shore, fined me, and would have put me in the stocks; but my mate got word of it, we were lying out in the storm, trained two big guns to bear upon the town, and gave them just fifteen minutes to send me on board again.

That was twenty years ago, and I have not been here since." "They sent you on board, I suppose ?" "Oh, the Saints are not fools," replied the Captain, laughing.