“I can smell the smoke now. I can see tendrils of it comin' up between the cracks in the shrikin' floorboards. There she is, calmly taking down the framed examples of fine embroideries, samplers, and needlework from teh hallway wall and tucking them under her arm. "Mistress! Come on! You've got to leave!"She calmly turns and faces me. "Why?" she asks. "The British are coming?""Only one, Mistress," I say”

“You've got to think of the fine times you had with your mate, not the moment of his perishin'. Every tear you shed now only wets his windin' sheet and disturbs his rest”

“Why, then?" I demand. "It is because, Miss Faber," says Mr. Peel, smiling one of his very rare smiles. "It is because you can swim." What?”

“I warn't never meant to be a lady, I know that now. I got streaks of wildness in me that trip me up every time, and just like streaks in clothes, there's some dirt that just won't wash out.”

“Davy lets fly an oath and storms out of the hold. We hear his fist hit the wall as he leaves. you really are an evil girl, says Jaimy. I know, I murmur. I shall have to pay.”

“Why did I follow her? If you must know, Sir, it was easy. Pound for pound, Puss-in-Boots was the best commander I ever served under.”

“We clear the harbor and the wind catches her sails and my beautiful ship leans over ever so gracefully, and her elegant bow cuts cleanly into the increasing chop of the waves. I take a deep breath and my chest expands and my heart starts thumping so strongly I fear the others might see it beat through the cloth of my jacket. I face the wind and my lips peel back from my teeth in a grin of pure joy.”