diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:53 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:53 -0700 |
| commit | 23aa6b84044e24940b86e63963d79a885cdeca39 (patch) | |
| tree | bcd089f0a6e59c08f8bd5331d132ca969a8930d5 /11409-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '11409-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 11409-h/11409-h.htm | 23682 |
1 files changed, 23682 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/11409-h/11409-h.htm b/11409-h/11409-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e345d2f --- /dev/null +++ b/11409-h/11409-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,23682 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Red Rover, by James Fenimore Cooper</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.left {text-align: left; + margin-left: 20%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11409 ***</div> + +<h1>The Red Rover</h1> + +<h3>A Tale.</h3> + +<h2>by James Fenimore Cooper</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Ye speak like honest men: pray God ye prove so” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +Complete in One Volume<br/> +1855 +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto"> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">Preface.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">Chapter I.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">Chapter II.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">Chapter III.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">Chapter IV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">Chapter V.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">Chapter VI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">Chapter VII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">Chapter VIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">Chapter IX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">Chapter X.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">Chapter XI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">Chapter XII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">Chapter XIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">Chapter XIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">Chapter XV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">Chapter XVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">Chapter XVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">Chapter XVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">Chapter XIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">Chapter XX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">Chapter XXI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">Chapter XXII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">Chapter XXIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">Chapter XXIV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">Chapter XXV.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">Chapter XXVI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">Chapter XXVII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">Chapter XXVIII.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap29">Chapter XXIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap30">Chapter XXX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap31">Chapter XXXI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap32">Chapter XXXII.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>Preface.</h2> + +<p> +The Writer felt it necessary, on a former occasion, to state, that, in +sketching his marine life, he did not deem himself obliged to adhere, very +closely, to the chronological order of nautical improvements. It is believed +that no very great violation of dates will be found in the following pages. If +any keen-eyed critic of the ocean, however, should happen to detect a rope rove +through the wrong leading-block, or a term spelt in such a manner as to destroy +its true sound, he is admonished of the duty of ascribing the circumstances, in +charity, to any thing but ignorance on the part of a brother. It must be +remembered that there is an undue proportion of landsmen employed in the +mechanical as well as the more spiritual part of book-making; a fact which, in +itself, accounts for the numberless imperfections that still embarrass the +respective departments of the occupation. In due time, no doubt, a remedy will +be found for this crying evil; and then the world may hope to see the several +branches of the trade a little better ordered. The true Augustan age of +literature can never exist until works shall be as accurate, in their +typography, as a “log book,” and as sententious, in their matter, +as a “watch-bill.” +</p> + +<p> +On the less important point of the materials, which are very possibly used to +so little advantage in his present effort, the Writer does not intend to be +very communicative, if their truth be not apparent, by the manner in which he +has set forth the events in the tale itself, he must be content to lie under +the imputation of having disfigured it, by his own clumsiness. All testimony +must, in the nature of things, resolve itself into three great +classes—the positive, the negative, and the circumstantial. The first and +the last are universally admitted to be entitled to the most consideration, +since the third can only be resorted to in the absence of the two others. Of +the positive evidence of the verity of its contents, the book itself is a +striking proof. It is hoped, also, that there is no want of circumstance to +support this desirable character. If these two opening points be admitted those +who may be still disposed to cavil are left to the full enjoyment of their +negation, with which the Writer wishes them just as much success as the +question may merit. +</p> + +<h2>To W. B. Shubrick, Esquire, U. S. Navy.</h2> + +<p> +In submitting this hastily-composed and imperfect picture of a few scenes, +peculiar to the profession, to your notice, dear Shubrick, I trust much more to +your kind feelings than to any merit in the execution. Such as it may be, +however, the book is offered as another tribute to the constant esteem and +friendship of +</p> + +<p> +The Author. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h1>The Red Rover.</h1> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>Chapter I.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Par. “Mars dote on you for his novices.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>All’s Well that ends Well.</i> +</p> + +<p> +No one, who is familiar with the bustle and activity of an American commercial +town, would recognize, in the repose which now reigns in the ancient mart of +Rhode Island, a place that, in its day, has been ranked amongst the most +important ports along the whole line of our extended coast. It would seem, at +the first glance, that nature had expressly fashioned the spot to anticipate +the wants and to realize the wishes of the mariner. Enjoying the four great +requisites of a safe and commodious haven, a placid basin, an outer harbour, +and a convenient roadstead, with a clear offing, Newport appeared, to the eyes +of our European ancestors, designed to shelter fleets and to nurse a race of +hardy and expert seamen. Though the latter anticipation has not been entirely +disappointed, how little has reality answered to expectation in respect to the +former. A successful rival has arisen, even in the immediate vicinity of this +seeming favourite of nature, to defeat all the calculations of mercantile +sagacity, and to add another to the thousand existing evidences “that the +wisdom of man is foolishness.” +</p> + +<p> +There are few towns of any magnitude, within our broad territories, in which so +little change has been effected in half a century as in Newport. Until the vast +resources of the interior were developed the beautiful island on which it +stands was a chosen retreat of the affluent planters of the south, from the +heats and diseases of their burning climate. Here they resorted in crowds, to +breathe the invigorating breezes of the sea. Subjects of the same government, +the inhabitants of the Carolinas and of Jamaica met here, in amity, to compare +their respective habits and policies, and to strengthen each other in a common +delusion, which the descendants of both, in the third generation, are beginning +to perceive and to regret. +</p> + +<p> +The communion left, on the simple and unpractised offspring of the Puritans, +its impression both of good and evil. The inhabitants of the country, while +they derived, from the intercourse, a portion of that bland and graceful +courtesy for which the gentry of the southern British colonies were so +distinguished did not fail to imbibe some of those peculiar notions, concerning +the distinctions in the races of men, for which they are no less remarkable +Rhode Island was the foremost among the New England provinces to recede from +the manners and opinions of their simple ancestors. The first shock was given, +through her, to that rigid and ungracious deportment which was once believed a +necessary concomitant of true religion, a sort of outward pledge of the +healthful condition of the inward man; and it was also through her that the +first palpable departure was made from those purifying principles which might +serve as an apology for even far more repulsive exteriors. By a singular +combination of circumstances and qualities, which is, however, no less true +than perplexing, the merchants of Newport were becoming, at the same time, both +slave-dealers and gentlemen. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever might have been the moral condition of its proprietors at the precise +period of 1759, the island itself was never more enticing and lovely. Its +swelling crests were still crowned with the wood of centuries; its little vales +were then covered with the living verdure of the north; and its unpretending +but neat and comfortable villas lay sheltered in groves, and embedded in +flowers. The beauty and fertility of the place gained for it a name which, +probably, expressed far more than was, at that early day, properly understood. +The inhabitants of the country styled their possessions the “Garden of +America.” Neither were their guests, from the scorching plains of the +south, reluctant to concede so imposing a title to distinction. The appellation +descended even to our own time; nor was it entirely abandoned, until the +traveller had the means of contemplating the thousand broad and lovely vallies +which, fifty years ago, lay buried in the dense shadows of the forest. +</p> + +<p> +The date we have just named was a period fraught with the deepest interest to +the British possessions on this Continent. A bloody and vindictive war, which +had been commenced in defeat and disgrace, was about to end in triumph. France +was deprived of the last of her possessions on the main, while the immense +region which lay between the bay of Hudson and the territories of Spain +submitted to the power of England. The colonists had shared largely in +contributing to the success of the mother country. Losses and contumely, that +had been incurred by the besotting prejudices of European commanders were +beginning to be forgotten in the pride of success. The blunders of Braddock, +the indolence of Loudon, and the impotency of Abercrombie, were repaired by the +vigour of Amherst, and the genius of Wolfe. In every quarter of the globe the +arms of Britain were triumphant. The loyal provincials were among the loudest +in their exultations and rejoicings; wilfully shutting their eyes to the scanty +meed of applause that a powerful people ever reluctantly bestows on its +dependants, as though love of glory, like avarice, increases by its means of +indulgence. +</p> + +<p> +The system of oppression and misrule, which hastened a separation that sooner +or later must have occurred, had not yet commenced. The mother country, if not +just, was still complaisant. Like all old and great nations, she was indulging +in the pleasing, but dangerous, enjoyment of self-contemplation. The qualities +and services of a race, who were believed to be inferior, were, however, soon +forgotten; or, if remembered, it was in order to be misrepresented and +vituperated. As this feeling increased with the discontent of the civil +dissensions, it led to still more striking injustice, and greater folly. Men +who, from their observations, should have known better, were not ashamed to +proclaim, even in the highest council of the nation, their ignorance of the +character of a people with whom they had mingled their blood. Self-esteem gave +value to the opinions of fools. It was under this soothing infatuation that +veterans were heard to disgrace their noble profession, by boastings that +should have been hushed in the mouth of a soldier of the carpet; it was under +this infatuation that Burgoyne gave, in the Commons of England, that memorable +promise of marching from Quebec to Boston, with a force he saw fit to +name—a pledge that he afterwards redeemed by going over the same ground, +with twice the number of followers, as captives; and it was under this +infatuation that England subsequently threw away her hundred thousand lives, +and lavished her hundred millions of treasure. +</p> + +<p> +The history of that memorable struggle is familiar to every American. Content +with the knowledge that his country triumphed, he is willing to let the +glorious result take its proper place in the pages of history. He sees that her +empire rests on a broad and natural foundation, which needs no support from +venal pens; and, happily for his peace of mind, no less than for his character, +he feels that the prosperity of the Republic is not to be sought in the +degradation of surrounding nations. +</p> + +<p> +Our present purpose leads us back to the period of calm which preceded the +storm of the Revolution. In the early days of the month of October 1759, +Newport, like every other town in America, was filled with the mingled +sentiment of grief and joy. The inhabitants mourned the fall of Wolfe while +they triumphed in his victory. Quebec, the strong-hold of the Canadas, and the +last place of any importance held by a people whom they had been educated to +believe were their natural enemies, had just changed its masters. That loyalty +to the Crown of England, which endured so much before the strange principle +became extinct, was then at its height; and probably the colonist was not to be +found who did not, in some measure, identify his own honour with the fancied +glory of the head of the house of Brunswick. The day on which the action of our +tale commences had been expressly set apart to manifest the sympathy of the +good people of the town, and its vicinity, in the success of the royal arms. It +had opened, as thousands of days have opened since, with the ringing of bells +and the firing of cannon; and the population had, at an early hour, poured into +the streets of the place, with that determined zeal in the cause of merriment, +which ordinarily makes preconcerted joy so dull an amusement. The chosen orator +of the day had exhibited his eloquence, in a sort of prosaic monody in praise +of the dead hero, and had sufficiently manifested his loyalty, by laying the +glory, not only of that sacrifice, but all that had been reaped by so many +thousands of his brave companions also, most humbly at the foot of the throne. +</p> + +<p> +Content with these demonstrations of their allegiance the inhabitants began to +retire to their dwellings as the sun settled towards those immense regions +which then lay an endless and unexplored wilderness but which now are teeming +with the fruits and enjoyments of civilized life. The countrymen from the +environs, and even from the adjoining main were beginning to turn their faces +towards their distant homes, with that frugal care which still distinguishes +the inhabitants of the country even in the midst of their greatest abandonment +to pleasures, in order that the approaching evening might not lead them into +expenditures which were not deemed germain to the proper feelings of the +occasion. In short, the excess of the hour was past, and each individual was +returning into the sober channels of his ordinary avocations, with an +earnestness and discretion which proved he was not altogether unmindful of the +time that had been squandered in the display of a spirit that he already +appeared half disposed to consider a little supererogatory. +</p> + +<p> +The sounds of the hammer, the axe, and the saw were again heard in the place; +the windows of more than one shop were half opened, as if its owner had made a +sort of compromise between his interests and his conscience; and the masters of +the only three inns in the town were to be seen standing before their doors, +regarding the retiring countrymen with eyes that plainly betrayed they were +seeking customers among a people who were always much more ready to sell than +to buy. A few noisy and thoughtless seamen, belonging to the vessels in the +haven, together with some half dozen notorious tavern-hunters were, however, +the sole fruits of all their nods of recognition, inquiries into the welfare of +wives and children, and, in some instances, of open invitations to alight and +drink. +</p> + +<p> +Worldly care, with a constant, though sometimes an oblique, look at the future +state, formed the great characteristic of all that people who then dwelt in +what were called the provinces of New-England. The business of the day, +however, was not forgotten though it was deemed unnecessary to digest its +proceedings in idleness, or over the bottle. The travellers along the different +roads that led into the interior of the island formed themselves into little +knots, in which the policy of the great national events they had just been +commemorating, and the manner they had been treated by the different +individuals selected to take the lead in the offices of the day, were freely +handled, though still with great deference to the established reputations of +the distinguished parties most concerned. It was every where conceded that the +prayers, which had been in truth a little conversational and historical, were +faultless and searching exercises; and, on the whole, (though to this opinion +there were some clients of an advocate adverse to the orator, who were moderate +dissenters) it was established, that a more eloquent oration had never issued +from the mouth of man, than had that day been delivered in their presence. +Precisely in the same temper was the subject discussed by the workmen on a +ship, which was then building in the harbour, and which, in the same spirit of +provincial admiration that has since immortalized so many edifices, bridges, +and even individuals, within their several precincts, was confidently affirmed +to be the rarest specimen then extant of the nice proportions of naval +architecture! +</p> + +<p> +Of the orator himself it may be necessary to say a word, in order that so +remarkable an intellectual prodigy should fill his proper place in our frail +and short-lived catalogue of the worthies of that day. He was the usual oracle +of his neighbourhood, when a condensation of its ideas on any great event, like +the one just mentioned, became necessary. His learning was justly computed, by +comparison, to be of the most profound and erudite character; and it was very +truly affirmed to have astonished more than one European scholar, who had been +tempted, by a fame which, like heat, was only the more intense from its being +so confined, to grapple with him on the arena of ancient literature. He was a +man who knew how to improve these high gifts to his exclusive advantage. In but +one instance had he ever been thrown enough off his guard to commit an act that +had a tendency to depress the reputation he had gained in this manner; and that +was, in permitting one of his laboured flights of eloquence to be printed; or, +as his more witty though less successful rival, the only other lawyer in the +place, expressed it, in suffering one of his <i>fugitive</i> essays to be +<i>caught.</i> But even this experiment, whatever might have been its effects +abroad, served to confirm his renown at home. He now stood before his admirers +in all the dignity of types; and it was in vain for that miserable tribe of +“animalculæ, who live by feeding on the body of genius,” to +attempt to undermine a reputation that was embalmed in the faith of so many +parishes. The brochure was diligently scattered through the provinces, lauded +around the tea-pot, openly extolled in the prints—by some kindred spirit, +as was manifest in the striking similarity of style—and by one believer, +more zealous or perhaps more interested than the rest, actually put on board +the next ship which sailed for “home,” as England was then +affectionately termed, enclosed in an envelope which bore an address no less +imposing than the Majesty of Britain. Its effect on the straight-going mind of +the dogmatic German, who then filled the throne of the Conqueror, was never +known, though they, who were in the secret of the transmission, long looked, +in vain, for the signal reward that was to follow so striking an exhibition of +human intellect. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding these high and beneficent gifts, their possessor was now as +unconsciously engaged in that portion of his professional labours which bore +the strongest resemblance to the occupation of a scrivener, as though nature, +in bestowing such rare endowments had denied him the phrenological quality of +self-esteem. A critical observer might, however, have seen, or fancied that he +saw, in the forced humility of his countenance, certain gleamings of a triumph +that should not properly be traced to the fall of Quebec. The habit of +appearing meek had, however, united with a frugal regard for the precious and +irreclaimable minutes, in producing this extraordinary diligence in a pursuit +of a character that was so humble, when compared with his recent mental +efforts. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving this gifted favourite of fortune and nature, we shall pass to an +entirely different individual, and to another quarter of the place. The spot, +to which we wish now to transport the reader, was neither more nor less than +the shop of a tailor, who did not disdain to perform the most minute offices of +his vocation in his own heedful person. The humble edifice stood at no great +distance from the water, in the skirts of the town, and in such a situation as +to enable its occupant to look out upon the loveliness of the inner basin, and, +through a vista cut by the element between islands, even upon the lake-like +scenery of the outer harbour. A small, though little frequented wharf lay +before his door, while a certain air of negligence, and the absence of bustle, +sufficiently manifested that the place itself was not the immediate site of the +much-boasted commercial prosperity of the port. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon was like a morning in spring, the breeze which occasionally +rippled the basin possessing that peculiarly bland influence which is so often +felt in the American autumn; and the worthy mechanic laboured at his calling, +seated on his shop board, at an open window, far better satisfied with himself +than many of those whose fortune it is to be placed in state, beneath canopies +of velvet and gold. On the outer side of the little building, a tall, awkward, +but vigorous and well-formed countryman was lounging, with one shoulder placed +against the side of the shop, as if his legs found the task of supporting his +heavy frame too grievous to be endured with out assistance, seemingly in +waiting for the completion of the garment at which the other toiled, and with +which he intended to adorn the graces of his person, in an adjoining parish, on +the succeeding sabbath. +</p> + +<p> +In order to render the minutes shorter, and, possibly in indulgence to a +powerful propensity to talk, of which he who wielded the needle was somewhat +the subject, but few of the passing moments were suffered to escape without a +word from one or the other of the parties. As the subject of their discourse +had a direct reference to the principal matter of our tale, we shall take leave +to give such portions of it to the reader as we deem most relevant to a clear +exposition of that which is to follow. The latter will always bear in mind, +that he who worked was a man drawing into the wane of life; that he bore about +him the appearance of one who, either from incompetency or from some fatality +of fortune, had been doomed to struggle through the world, keeping poverty from +his residence only by the aid of great industry and rigid frugality; and that +the idler was a youth of an age and condition that the acquisition of an entire +set of habiliments formed to him a sort of era in his adventures. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” exclaimed the indefatigable shaper of cloth, with a species +of sigh which might have been equally construed into an evidence of the fulness +of his mental enjoyment, or of the excess of his bodily labours; “yes, +smarter sayings have seldom fallen from the lips of man, than such as the +squire pour’d out this very day. When he spoke of the plains of father +Abraham, and of the smoke and thunder of the battle, Pardon, it stirred up such +stomachy feelings in my bosom, that I verily believe I could have had the heart +to throw aside the thimble, and go forth myself, to seek glory in battling in +the cause of the King.” +</p> + +<p> +The youth, whose Christian or ‘given’ name, as it is even now +generally termed in New-England, had been intended, by his pious sponsors, +humbly to express his future hopes, turned his head towards the heroic tailor, +with an expression of drollery about the eye, that proved nature had not been +niggardly in the gift of humour, however the quality was suppressed by the +restraints of a very peculiar manner, and no less peculiar education. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s an opening now, neighbour Homespun, for an ambitious +man,” he said, “sin’ his Majesty has lost his stoutest +general.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” returned the individual who, either in his youth or in +his age, had made so capital a blunder in the choice of a profession, “a +fine and promising chance it is for one who counts but five-and-twenty; most of +my day has gone by, and I must spend the rest of it here, where you see me, +between buckram and osnaburghs—who put the dye into your cloth, Pardy? it +is the best laid-in bark I’ve fingered this fall.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let the old woman alone for giving the lasting colour to her web; +I’ll engage, neighbour Homespun, provided you furnish the proper fit, +there’ll not be a better dress’d lad on the island than my own +mother’s son! But, sin’ you cannot be a general good-man, +you’ll have the comfort of knowing there’ll be no more fighting +without you. Every body agrees the French won’t hold out much longer, and +then we must have a peace for want of enemies.” +</p> + +<p> +“So best, so best, boy; for one, who has seen so much of the horrors of +war as I, knows how to put a rational value on the blessings of +tranquillity!” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you ar’n’t altogether unacquainted, good-man, with the +new trade you thought of setting up?” +</p> + +<p> +“I! I have been through five long and bloody wars, and I’ve reason +to thank God that I’ve gone through them all without a scratch so big as +this needle would make. Five long and bloody, ay, and I may say glorious wars, +have I liv’d through in safety!” +</p> + +<p> +“A perilous time it must have been for you, neighbour. But I don’t +remember to have heard of more than two quarrels with the Frenchmen in my +day.” + +“You are but a boy, compared to one who has seen the end of his third +score of years. Here is this war that is now so likely to be soon +ended—Heaven, which rules all things in wisdom, be praised for the same! +Then there was the business of ’45, when the bold Warren sailed up and +down our coasts; a scourge to his Majesty’s enemies, and a safeguard to +all the loyal subjects. Then, there was a business in Garmany, concerning which +we had awful accounts of battles fou’t, in which men were mowed down like +grass falling before the scythe of a strong arm. That makes three. The fourth +was the rebellion of ’15, of which I pretend not to have seen much, being +but a youth at the time; and the fifth was a dreadful rumour, that was spread +through the provinces, of a general rising among the blacks and Indians, which +was to sweep all us Christians into eternity at a minute’s +warning!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I had always reckoned you for a home-staying and a peaceable man, +neighbour;” returned the admiring countryman; “nor did I ever dream +that you had seen such serious movings.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have not boasted, Pardon, or I might have added other heavy matters to +the list. There was a great struggle in the East, no longer than the year +’32, for the Persian throne. You have read of the laws of the Medes and +the Persians: Well, for the very throne that gave forth those unalterable laws +was there a frightful struggle, in which blood ran like water; but, as it was +not in Christendom, I do not account it among my own experiences; though I +might have spoken of the Porteous mob with great reason, as it took place in +another portion of the very kingdom in which I lived.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must have journeyed much, and been stirring late and early, +good-man, to have seen all these things, and to have got no harm.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, I’ve been something of a traveller too, Pardy. Twice +have I been over land to Boston, and once have I sailed through the Great Sound +of Long Island, down to the town of York. It is an awful undertaking the +latter, as it respects the distance, and more especially because it is needful +to pass a place that is likened, by its name, to the entrance of Tophet.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have often heard the spot call’d ‘Hell Gate’ spoken +of, and I may say, too, that I know a man <i>well</i> who has been through it +twice; once in going to York, and once in coming homeward.” +</p> + +<p> +“He had enough of it, as I’ll engage! Did he tell you of the pot +which tosses and roars as if the biggest of Beelzebub’s fires was burning +beneath, and of the hog’s-back over which the water pitches, as it may +tumble over the Great Falls of the West! Owing to reasonable skill in our +seamen, and uncommon resolution in the passengers, we happily made a good time +of it, through ourselves; though I care not who knows it, I will own it is a +severe trial to the courage to enter that same dreadful Strait. We cast out our +anchors at certain islands, which lie a few furlongs this side the place, and +sent the pinnace, with the captain and two stout seamen, to reconnoitre the +spot, in order to see if it were in a peaceful state or not. The report being +favourable, the passengers were landed, and the vessel was got through, by the +blessing of Heaven, in safety. We had all reason to rejoice that the prayers of +the congregation were asked before we departed from the peace and security of +our homes!” +</p> + +<p> +“You journeyed round the ‘Gate’ on +foot?”—demanded the attentive boor. +</p> + +<p> +“Certain! It would have been a sinful and a blasphemous tempting of +Providence to have done otherwise, seeing that our duty called us to no such +sacrifice. But all that danger is gone by, and so I trust will that of this +bloody war, in which we have both been actors; and then I humbly hope his +sacred Majesty will have leisure to turn his royal mind to the pirates who +infest the coast, and to order some of his stout naval captains to mete out to +the rogues the treatment they are so fond of giving unto others. It would be a +joyful sight to my old eyes to see the famous and long-hunted Red Rover brought +into this very port, towing at the poop of a King’s cruiser.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is it a desperate villain, he of whom you now make mention?” +</p> + +<p> +“He! There are many he’s in that one, lawless ship, and +bloody-minded and nefarious thieves are they, to the smallest boy. It is +heart-searching and grievous, Pardy, to hear of their evil-doings on the high +seas of the King!” +</p> + +<p> +“I have often heard mention made of the Rover,” returned the +countryman; “but never to enter into any of the intricate particulars of +his knavery.” +</p> + +<p> +“How should you, boy, who live up in the country, know so much of what is +passing on the great deep, as we who dwell in a port that is so much resorted +to by mariners! I am fearful you’ll be making it late home, +Pardon,” he added, glancing his eye at certain lines drawn on his +shop-board, by the aid of which he was enabled to note the progress of the +setting sun. “It is drawing towards the hour of five, and you have twice +that number of miles to go, before you can, by any manner of means, reach the +nearest boundary of your father’s farm.” +</p> + +<p> +“The road is plain, and the people honest,” returned the +countryman, who cared not if it were midnight, provided he could be the bearer +of tidings of some dreadful sea robbery to the ears of those whom he well knew +would throng around him, at his return, to hear the tidings from the port. +“And is he, in truth, so much feared and sought for, as people +say?” +</p> + +<p> +“Is he sought for! Is Tophet sought by a praying Christian? Few there are +on the mighty deep, let them even be as stout for, battle as was Joshua the +great Jewish captain, that would not rather behold the land than see the +top-gallants of that wicked pirate! Men fight for glory, Pardon, as I may say I +have seen, after living through so many wars, but none love to meet an enemy +who hoists a bloody flag at the first blow, and who is ready to cast both +parties into the air, when he finds the hand of Satan has no longer power to +help him.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the rogue is so desperate,” returned the youth straightening +his powerful limbs, with a look of rising pride, “why do not the Island +and the Plantations fit out a coaster in order to bring him in, that he might +get a sight of a wholesome gibbet? Let the drum beat on such a message through +our neighbourhood and I’ll engage that it don’t leave it without +one volunteer at least.” +</p> + +<p> +“So much for not having seen war! Of what use would flails and +pitch-forks prove against men who have sold themselves to the devil? Often has +the Rover been seen at night, or just as the sun has been going down, by the +King’s cruisers, who, having fairly surrounded the thieves, had good +reason to believe that they had them already in the bilboes; but, when the +morning has come, the prize was vanished, by fair means or by foul!” +</p> + +<p> +“And are the villains so bloody-minded that they are called +‘Red?’” +</p> + +<p> +“Such is the title of their leader,” returned the worthy tailor, +who by this time was swelling with the importance of possessing so interesting +a legend to communicate; “and such is also the name they give to his +vessel; because no man, who has put foot on board her, has ever come back to +say that she has a better or a worse; that is, no honest mariner or lucky +voyager. The ship is of the size of a King’s sloop, they say, and of like +equipments and form; but she has miraculously escaped from the hands of many a +gallant frigate; and once, it is whispered for no loyal subject would like to +say such a scandalous thing openly, Pardon, that she lay under the guns of a +fifty for an hour, and seemingly, to all eyes, she sunk like hammered lead to +the bottom. But, just as every body was shaking hands, and wishing his +neighbour joy at so happy a punishment coming over the knaves, a West-Indiaman +came into port, that had been robbed by the Rover on the morning after the +night in which it was thought they had all gone into eternity together. And +what makes the matter worse, boy, while the King’s ship was careening +with her keel out, to stop the holes of cannon balls, the pirate was sailing up +and down the coast, as sound as the day that the wrights first turned her from +their hands!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, this is unheard of!” returned the countryman, on whom the +tale was beginning to make a sensible impression: “Is she a well-turned +and comely ship to the eye? or is it by any means certain that she is an actual +living vessel at all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Opinions differ. Some say, yes; some say, no. But I am well acquainted +with a man who travelled a week in company with a mariner, who passed within a +hundred feet of her, in a gale of wind. Lucky it was for them, that the hand of +the Lord was felt so powerfully on the deep, and that the Rover had enough to +do to keep his own ship from foundering. The acquaintance of my friend had a +good view of both vessel and captain, therefore, in perfect safety. He said, +that the pirate was a man maybe half as big again as the tall preacher over on +the main, with hair of the colour of the sun in a fog, and eyes that no man +would like to look upon a second time. He saw him as plainly as I see you; for +the knave stood in the rigging of his ship, beckoning, with a hand as big as a +coat-flap, for the honest trader to keep off, in order that the two vessels +might not do one another damage by coming foul.” +</p> + +<p> +“He was a bold mariner, that trader, to go so nigh such a merciless +rogue.” +</p> + +<p> +“I warrant you, Pardon, it was desperately against his will! But it was +on a night so dark—” +</p> + +<p> +“Dark!” interrupted the other; by what contrivance then did he +manage to see so well?” +</p> + +<p> +“No man can say!” answered the tailor, “but see he did, just +in the manner, and the very things I have named to you. More than that, he took +good note of the vessel, that he might know her, if chance, or Providence, +should ever happen to throw her again into his way. She was a long, black ship, +lying low in the water, like a snake in the grass, with a desperate wicked +look, and altogether of dishonest dimensions. Then, every body says that she +appears to sail faster than the clouds above, seeming to care little which way +the wind blows, and that no one is a jot safer from her speed than her honesty. +According to all that I have heard, she is something such a craft as yonder +slaver, that has been lying the week past, the Lord knows why, in our outer +harbour.” +</p> + +<p> +As the gossipping tailor had necessarily lost many precious moments, in +relating the preceding history he now set about redeeming them with the utmost +diligence, keeping time to the rapid movement of his needle-hand, by +corresponding jerks of his head and shoulders. In the meanwhile, the bumpkin, +whose wondering mind was by this time charged nearly to bursting with what he +had heard, turned his look towards the vessel the other had pointed out, in +order to get the only image that was now required, to enable him to do fitting +credit to so moving a tale, suitably engraved on his imagination. There was +necessarily a pause, while the respective parties were thus severally occupied. +It was suddenly broken by the tailor, who clipped the thread with which he had +just finished the garment, cast every thing from his hands, threw his +spectacles upon his forehead, and, leaning his arms on his knees in such a +manner as to form a perfect labyrinth with the limbs, he stretched his body +forward so far as to lean out of the window, riveting his eyes also on the +ship, which still attracted the gaze of his companion. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know, Pardy,” he said, “that strange thoughts and +cruel misgivings have come over me concerning that very vessel? They say she is +a slaver come in for wood and water, and there she has been a week, and not a +stick bigger than an oar has gone up her side, and I’ll engage that ten +drops from Jamaica have gone on board her, to one from the spring. Then you may +see she is anchored in such a way that but one of the guns from the battery can +touch her; whereas, had she been a real timid trader, she would naturally have +got into a place where, if a straggling picaroon should come into the port, he +would have found her in the very hottest of the fire.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have an ingenious turn with you, good-man,” returned the +wondering countryman; “now a ship might have lain on the battery island +itself, and I would have hardly noticed the thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis use and experience, Pardon, that makes men of us all. I +should know something of batteries, having seen so many wars, and I served a +campaign of a week, in that very fort, when the rumour came that the French +were sending cruisers from Louisburg down the coast. For that matter, my duty +was to stand sentinel over that very cannon; and, if I have done the thing +once, I have twenty times squinted along the piece, to see in what quarter it +would send its shot, provided such a calamity should arrive as that it might +become necessary to fire it loaded with real warlike balls.” +</p> + +<p> +“And who are these?” demanded Pardon, with that species of sluggish +curiosity which had been awakened by the wonders related by the other: +“Are these mariners of the slaver, or are they idle Newporters?” +</p> + +<p> +“Them!” exclaimed the tailor; “sure enough, they are +new-comers, and it may be well to have a closer look at them in these +troublesome times! Here, Nab, take the garment, and press down the seams, you +idle hussy; for neighbour Hopkins is straitened for time, while your tongue is +going like a young lawyer’s in a justice court. Don’t be sparing of +your elbow, girl; for it’s no India muslin that you’ll have under +the iron, but cloth that would do to side a house with. Ah! your mother’s +loom, Pardy, robs the seamster of many an honest job.” +</p> + +<p> +Having thus transferred the remainder of the job from his own hands to those of +an awkward, pouting girl, who was compelled to abandon her gossip with a +neighbour, she went to obey his injunctions, he quickly removed his own person, +notwithstanding a miserable limp with which he had come into the world, from +the shop-board to the open air. As more important characters are, however, +about to be introduced to the reader, we shall defer the ceremony to the +opening of another chapter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>Chapter II.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Sir Toby. “Excellent! I smell a device.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Twelfth Night.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The strangers were three in number; for strangers the good-man Homespun, who +knew not only the names but most of the private history of every man and woman +within ten miles of his own residence immediately proclaimed them to be, in a +whisper to his companion; and strangers, too, of a mysterious and threatening +aspect. In order that others may have an opportunity of judging of the +probability of the latter conjecture, it becomes necessary that a more minute +account should be given of the respective appearances of these individuals, +who, unhappily for their reputations, had the misfortune to be unknown to the +gossipping tailor of Newport. +</p> + +<p> +The one, by far the most imposing in his general mien, was a youth who had +apparently seen some six or seven-and-twenty seasons. That those seasons had +not been entirely made of sunny days, and nights of repose, was betrayed by the +tinges of brown which had been laid on his features, layer after layer in such +constant succession, as to have changed, to a deep olive, a complexion which +had once been fair, and through which the rich blood was still mantling with +the finest glow of vigorous health. His features were rather noble and manly, +than distinguished for their exactness and symmetry; his nose being far more +bold and prominent than regular in its form, with his brows projecting, and +sufficiently marked to give to the whole of the superior parts of his face that +decided intellectual expression which is already becoming so common to American +physiognomy. The mouth was firm and manly; and, while he muttered to himself, +with a meaning smile, as the curious tailor drew slowly nigher, it discovered a +set of glittering teeth, that shone the brighter from being cased in so dark a +setting. The hair was a jet black, in thick and confused ringlets; the eyes +were very little larger than common, gray, and, though evidently of a changing +expression, rather leaning to mildness than severity. The form of this young +man was of that happy size which so singularly unites activity with strength. +It seemed to be well knit, while it was justly proportioned, and strikingly +graceful. Though these several personal qualifications were exhibited under the +disadvantages of the perfectly simple, though neat and rather tastefully +disposed, attire of a common mariner, they were sufficiently imposing to cause +the suspicious dealer in buckram to hesitate before he would venture to address +the stranger, whose eye appeared riveted, by a species of fascination, on the +reputed slaver in the outer harbour. A curl of the upper lip, and another +strange smile, in which scorn was mingled with his mutterings, decided the +vacillating mind of the good-man. Without venturing to disturb a reverie that +seemed so profound, he left the youth leaning against the head of the pile +where he had long been standing, perfectly unconscious of the presence of any +intruder, and turned a little hastily to examine the rest of the party. +</p> + +<p> +One of the remaining two was a white man, and the other a negro. Both had +passed the middle age, and both in their appearances, furnished the strongest +proofs of long exposure to the severity of climate, and to numberless tempests. +They were dressed in the plain, weather-soiled, and tarred habiliments of +common seamen, and bore about their several persons all the other unerring +evidences of their peculiar profession. The former was of a short, thick-set +powerful frame, in which, by a happy ordering of nature, a little confirmed +perhaps by long habit, the strength was principally seated about the broad and +brawny shoulders, and strong sinewy arms, as if, in the construction of the +man, the inferior members had been considered of little other use than to +transfer the superior to the different situations in which the former were to +display their energies. His head was in proportion to the more immediate +members; the forehead low, and nearly covered with hair; the eyes small, +obstinate, sometimes fierce, and often dull; the nose snub, coarse, and vulgar; +the mouth large and voracious; the teeth short, clean, and perfectly sound; and +the chin broad, manly, and even expressive. This singularly constructed +personage had taken his seat on an empty barrel, and, with folded arms, he sat +examining the often-mentioned slaver, occasionally favouring his companion, the +black, with such remarks as were suggested by his observation and great +experience. +</p> + +<p> +The negro occupied a more humble post; one better suited to his subdued habits +and inclinations. In stature, and the peculiar division of animal force, there +was a great resemblance between the two, with the exception that the latter +enjoyed the advantage in height, and even in proportions. While nature had +stamped on his lineaments those distinguishing marks which characterize the +race from which he sprung, she had not done it to that revolting degree to +which her displeasure against that stricken people is often carried. His +features were more elevated than common; his eye was mild, easily excited to +joy, and, like that of his companion, sometimes humorous. His head was +beginning to be sprinkled with gray, his skin had lost the shining jet colour +which had distinguished it in his youth, and all his limbs and movements +bespoke a man whose frame had been equally indurated and stiffened by +unremitted toil. He sat on a low stone, and seemed intently employed in tossing +pebbles into the air, and shewing his dexterity by catching them in the hand +from which they had just been cast; an amusement which betrayed alike the +natural tendency of his mind to seek pleasure in trifles, and the absence of +those more elevating feelings which are the fruits of education. The process, +however, furnished a striking exhibition of the physical force of the negro. In +order to conduct this trivial pursuit without incumbrance, he had rolled the +sleeve of his light canvas jacket to the elbow, and laid bare an arm that might +have served as a model for the limb of Hercules. +</p> + +<p> +There was certainly nothing sufficiently imposing about the persons of either +of these individuals to repel the investigations of one as much influenced by +curiosity as our tailor. Instead, however, of yielding directly to the strong +impulse, the honest shaper of cloth chose to conduct his advance in a manner +that should afford to the bumpkin a striking proof of his boasted sagacity. +After making a sign of caution and intelligence to the latter, he approached +slowly from behind, with a light step, that might give him an opportunity of +overhearing any secret that should unwittingly fall from either of the seamen. +His forethought was followed by no very important results, though it served to +supply his suspicions with all the additional testimony of the treachery of +their characters that could be furnished by evidence so simple as the mere +sound of their voices. As to the words themselves, though the good-man they +might well contain treason, he was compelled to acknowledge to himself that it +was so artfully concealed as to escape even his acute capacity We leave the +reader himself to judge of the correctness of both opinions. +</p> + +<p> +“This is a pretty bight of a basin, Guinea,” observed the white, +rolling his tobacco in his mouth and turning his eyes, for the first time in +many minutes, from the vessel; “and a spot is it that a man, who lay on a +lee-shore without sticks, might be glad to see his craft in. Now do I call +myself something of a seaman, and yet I cannot weather upon the philosophy of +that fellow, in keeping his ship in the outer harbour, when he might warp her +into this mill-pond in half an hour. It gives his boats hard duty, dusky +S’ip; and that I call making foul weather of fair!” +</p> + +<p> +The negro had been christened Scipio Africanus, by a species of witticism which +was much more common to the Provinces than it is to the States of America, and +which filled so many of the meaner employments of the country, in name at +least, with the counterparts of the philosophers, heroes, poets, and princes of +Rome. To him it was a matter of small moment, whether the vessel lay in the +offing or in the port; and, without discontinuing his childish amusement, he +manifested the same, by replying, with great indifference of manner,— +</p> + +<p> +“I s’pose he t’ink all the water inside lie on a top.” +</p> + +<p> +“I tell you, Guinea,” returned the other, in a harsh, positive +tone, “the fellow is a know-nothing! Would any man, who understands the +behaviour of a ship, keep his craft in a roadstead, when he might tie her, head +and stern, in a basin like this?” +</p> + +<p> +“What he call roadstead?” interrupted the negro, seizing at once, +with the avidity of ignorance, on the little oversight of his adversary, in +confounding the outer harbour of Newport with the wilder anchorage below, and +with the usual indifference of all similar people to the more material matter +of whether the objection was at all germain to the point in controversy; +“I never hear ’em call anchoring ground, with land around it, +roadstead afore!” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, mister Gold-coast,” muttered the white, bending his head +aside in a threatening manner, though he still disdained to turn his eyes on +his humble adversary, “if you’ve no wish to wear your shins +parcelled for the next month, gather in the slack of your wit, and have an eye +to the manner in which you let it run again. Just tell me this; isn’t a +port a port? and isn’t an offing an offing?” +</p> + +<p> +As these were two propositions to which even the ingenuity of Scipio could +raise no objection, he wisely declined touching on either, contenting himself +with shaking his head in great self-complacency, and laughing as heartily, at +his imaginary triumph over his companion, as though he had never known care, +nor been the subject of wrong and humiliation, so long and so patiently +endured. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” grumbled the white, re-adjusting his person in its former +composed attitude, and again crossing the arms, which had been a little +separated, to give force to the menace against the tender member of the black, +“now you are piping the wind out of your throat like a flock of +long-shore crows, you think you’ve got the best of the matter. The Lord +made a nigger an unrational animal; and an experienced seaman, who has doubled +both Capes, and made all the head-lands atween Fundy and Horn, has no right to +waste his breath in teaching any of the breed! I tell you, Scipio, since Scipio +is your name on the ship’s books, though I’ll wager a month’s +pay against a wooden boat-hook that your father was known at home as Quashee, +and your mother as Quasheeba—therefore do I tell you, Scipio +Africa—which is a name for all your colour, I believe—that yonder +chap, in the outer harbour of this here sea-port is no judge of an anchorage, +or he would drop a kedge mayhap hereaway, in a line with the southern end of +that there small matter of an island, and hauling his ship up to it, fasten her +to the spot with good hempen cables and iron mud-hooks. Now, look you here, +S’ip, at the reason of the matter,” he continued, in a manner which +shewed that the little skirmish that had just passed was like one of those +sudden squalls of which they had both seen so many, and which were usually so +soon succeeded by corresponding seasons of calm; “look you at the whole +rationality of what I say. He has come into this anchorage either for something +or for nothing. I suppose you are ready to admit that. If for nothing, he might +have found that much outside, and I’ll say no more about it; but if for +something, he could get it off easier, provided the ship lay hereaway, just +where I told you, boy, not a fathom ahead or astern, than where she is now +riding, though the article was no heavier than a fresh handful of feathers for +the captain’s pillow. Now, if you have any thing to gainsay the reason of +this, why, I’m ready to hear it as a reasonable man, and one who has not +forgotten his manners in learning his philosophy.” +</p> + +<p> +“S’pose a wind come out fresh here, at nor-west,” answered +the other, stretching his brawny arm towards the point of the compass he named, +“and a vessel want to get to sea in a hurry, how you t’ink he get +her far enough up to lay through the weather reach? Ha! you answer me dat; you +great scholar, misser Dick, but you never see ship go in wind’s teeth, or +hear a monkey talk.” +</p> + +<p> +“The black is right!” exclaimed the youth, who, it would seem, had +overheard the dispute, while he appeared otherwise engaged; “the slaver +has left his vessel in the outer harbour, knowing that the wind holds so much +to the westward at this season of the year; and then you see he keeps his light +spars aloft, although it is plain enough, by the manner in which his sails are +furled, that he is strong-handed. Can you make out, boys, whether he has an +anchor under foot, or is he merely riding by a single cable?” +</p> + +<p> +“The man must be a driveller, to lie in such a tides-way, without +dropping his stream, or at least a kedge, to steady the ship,” returned +the white, with out appearing to think any thing more than the received +practice of seamen necessary to decide the point. “That he is no great +judge of an anchorage, I am ready to allow; but no man, who can keep things so +snug aloft, would think of fastening his ship, for any length of time, by a +single cable, to sheer starboard and port, like that kicking colt, tied to the +tree by a long halter, that we fell in with, in our passage over land from +Boston.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Em got a stream down, and all a rest of he anchors stowed,” +said the black, whose dark eye was glancing understandingly at the vessel, +while he still continued to east his pebbles into the air: “S’pose +he jam a helm hard a-port, misser Harry, and take a tide on he larboard bow, +what you t’ink make him kick and gallop about! Golly! I like to see Dick, +without a foot-rope, ride a colt tied to tree!” +</p> + +<p> +Again the negro enjoyed his humour, by shaking his head, as if his whole soul +was amused by the whimsical image his rude fancy had conjured, and indulged in +a hearty laugh; and again his white companion muttered certain exceedingly +heavy and sententious denunciations. The young man, who seemed to enter very +little into the quarrels and witticisms of his singular associates, still kept +his gaze intently fastened on the vessel, which to him appeared for the moment, +to be the subject of some extraordinary interest. Shaking his own head, though +in a far graver manner, as if his doubts were drawing to a close, he added, as +the boisterous merriment or the negro ceased,— +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Scipio, you are right: he rides altogether by his stream, and he +keeps every thing in readiness for a sudden move. In ten minutes he would carry +his ship beyond the fire of the battery, provided he had but a capful of +wind.” +</p> + +<p> +“You appear to be a judge in these matters,” said an unknown voice +behind him. +</p> + +<p> +The youth turned suddenly on his heel, and then for the first time, was he +apprised of the presence of any intruders. The surprise, however, was not +confined to himself; for, as there was another newcomer to be added to the +company, the gossipping tailor was quite as much, or even more, the subject of +astonishment, than any of that party, whom he had been so intently watching as +to have prevented him from observing the approach of still another utter +stranger. +</p> + +<p> +The third individual was a man between thirty and forty, and of a mien and +attire not a little adapted to quicken the already active curiosity of the +good-man Homespun. His person was slight, but afforded the promise of exceeding +agility, and even of vigour, especially when contrasted with his stature which +was scarcely equal to the medium height of man. His skin had been dazzling as +that of woman though a deep red, which had taken possession of the lower +lineaments of his face, and which was particularly conspicuous on the outline +of a fine aquiline nose, served to destroy all appearance of effeminacy. His +hair was like his complexion, fair and fell about his temples in rich, glossy, +and exuberant curls; His mouth and chin were beautiful in their formation; but +the former was a little scornful and the two together bore a decided character +of voluptuousness. The eye was blue, full without being prominent, and, though +in common placid and even soft, there were moments when it seemed a little +unsettled and wild. He wore a high conical hat, placed a little on one side, so +as to give a slightly rakish expression to his physiognomy, a riding frock of +light green, breeches of buck-skin, high boots, and spurs. In one of his hands +he carried a small whip, with which, when first seen, he was cutting the air +with an appearance of the utmost indifference to the surprise occasioned by his +sudden interruption. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, sir, you seem to be a judge in these matters,” he repeated, +when he had endured the frowning examination of the young seaman quite as long +as comported with his own patience; “you speak like a man who feels he +has a right to give an opinion!” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you find it remarkable that one should not be ignorant of a +profession that he has diligently pursued for a whole life?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! I find it a little remarkable, that one, whose business is that of +a handicraft, should dignify his trade with such a sounding name as +<i>profession,</i> We of the learned science of the law, and who enjoy the +particular smiles of the learned universities, can say no more!” +</p> + +<p> +“Then call it trade; for nothing in common with gentlemen of your craft +is acceptable to a seaman,” retorted the young mariner, turning away from +the intruder with a disgust that he did not affect to conceal. +</p> + +<p> +“A lad of some metal!” muttered the other, with a rapid utterance +and a meaning smile. “Let not such a trifle as a word part us, friend. I +confess my ignorance of all maritime matters, and would gladly learn a little +from one as skilful as yourself in the noble—<i>profession</i>. I think +you said something concerning the manner in which yonder ship has an chored, +and of the condition in which they keep things alow and aloft?” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Alow</i> and aloft!” exclaimed the young sailor, facing his +interrogator with a stare that was quite as expressive as his recent disgust. +</p> + +<p> +“Alow and aloft!” calmly repeated the other. +</p> + +<p> +“I spoke of her neatness aloft, but do not affect to judge of things +below at this distance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then it was my error; but you will have pity on the ignorance of one who +is so new to the <i>profession</i>. As I have intimated, I am no more than an +unworthy barrister, in the service of his Majesty, expressly sent from home on +a particular errand. It it were not a pitiful pun, I might add, I am not +yet—judge.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt you will soon arrive at that distinction,” returned the +other, “if his Majesty’s ministers have any just conceptions of +modest merit; unless, indeed you should happen to be +prematurely”—— +</p> + +<p> +The youth bit his lip, made a haughty inclination of the head, and walked +leisurely up the wharf, followed with the same appearance of deliberation, by +the two seamen who had accompanied him in his visit to the place. The stranger +in green watched the whole movement with a calm and apparently an amused eye, +tapping his boot with his whip, and seeming to reflect like one who would +willingly find means to continue the discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“Hanged!” he at length uttered, as if to complete the sentence the +other had left unfinished. “It is droll enough that such a fellow should +dare to foretel so elevated a fate for <i>me</i>!” +</p> + +<p> +He was evidently preparing to follow the retiring party, when he felt a hand +laid a little unceremoniously on his arm, and his step was arrested. +</p> + +<p> +“One word in your ear, sir,” said the attentive tailor, making a +significant sign that he had matters of importance to communicate: “A +single word, sir, since you are in the particular service of his Majesty. +Neighbour Pardon,” he continued, with a dignified and patronising air, +“the sun is getting low, and you will make it late home, I fear. The girl +will give you the garment, and—God speed you! Say nothing of what you +have heard and seen, until you have word from me to that effect; for it is +seemly that two men, who have had so much experience in a war like this, should +not lack in discretion. Fare ye well, lad!—pass the good word to the +worthy farmer, your father, not forgetting a refreshing hint of friendship to +the thrifty housewife, your mother. Fare ye well, honest youth; fare ye +well!” +</p> + +<p> +Homespun, having thus disposed of his admiring companion, waited, with much +elevation of mien, until the gaping bumpkin had left the wharf, before he again +turned his look on the stranger in green. The latter had continued standing in +his tracks, with an air of undisturbed composure, until he was once more +addressed by the tailor, whose character and dimensions he seemed to have taken +in, at a single glance of his rapid eye. +</p> + +<p> +“You say, sir, you are a servant of his Majesty?” demanded the +latter, determined to solve all doubts as to the other’s claims on his +confidence, before he committed himself by any precipitate disclosure. +</p> + +<p> +“I may say more;—his familiar confident!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is an honour to converse with such a man, that I feel in every bone +in my body,” returned the cripple, smoothing his scanty hairs, and bowing +nearly to the earth; “a high and loyal honour do I feel this gracious +privilege to be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such as it is, my friend, I take on myself in his Majesty’s name, +to bid you welcome.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such munificent condescension would open my whole heart, though treason, +and all other unrighteousness was locked up in it. I am happy, honoured and I +doubt not, honourable sir, to have this opportunity of proving my zeal to the +King, before one who will not fail to report my humble efforts to his royal +ears.” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak freely,” interrupted the stranger in green, with an air of +princely condescension; though one, less simple and less occupied with his own +budding honours than the tailor, might have easily discovered that he began to +grow weary of the other’s prolix loyalty: “Speak without reserve, +friend; it is what we always do at court.” Then, switching his boot with +his riding whip, he muttered to himself, as he swung his light frame on his +heel, with an indolent, indifferent air, “If the fellow swallows that, he +is as stupid as his own goose!” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall, sir, I shall; and a great proof of charity is it in one like +your noble self to listen. You see yonder tall ship, sir, in the outer harbour +of this loyal sea-port?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do; she seems to be an object of general attention among the worthy +lieges of the place.” +</p> + +<p> +“Therein I conceive, sir, you have over-rated the sagacity of my +townsmen. She has been lying where you now see her for many days, and not a +syllable have I heard whispered against her character from mortal man, except +myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed!” muttered the stranger, biting the handle of his whip, and +fastening his glittering eyes intently on the features of the good-man, which +were literally swelling with the importance of his discovery; “and what +may be the nature of <i>your</i> suspicions?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir, I maybe wrong—and God forgive me if I am—but this +is no more nor less than what has arisen in my mind on the subject. Yonder +ship, and her crew, bear the reputation of being innocent and harmless slavers, +among the good people of Newport and as such are they received and welcomed in +the place, the one to a safe and easy anchorage, and the others among the +taverners and shop-dealers. I would not have you imagine that a single garment +has ever gone from my fingers for one of all her crew; no, let it be for ever +remembered that the whole of their dealings have been with the young tradesman +named Tape, who entices customers to barter, by backbiting and otherwise +defiling the fair names of his betters in the business: not a garment has been +made by my hands for even the smallest boy.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are lucky,” returned the stranger in green, “in being so +well quit of the knaves! and yet have you forgotten to name the particular +offence with which I am to charge them before the face of the King.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am coming as fast as possible to the weighty matter. You must know, +worthy and commendable sir, that I am a man that has seen much, and suffered +much, in his Majesty’s service. Five bloody and cruel wars have I gone +through, besides other adventures and experiences, such as becomes a humble +subject to suffer meekly and in silence.” +</p> + +<p> +“All of which shall be directly communicated to the royal ear. And now, +worthy friend, relieve your mind, by a frank communication of your +suspicions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks, honourable sir; your goodness in my behalf cannot be forgotten, +though it shall never be said that any impatience to seek the relief you +mention hurried me into a light and improper manner of unburthening my mind. +You must know, honoured gentleman, that yesterday, as I sat alone, at this very +hour, on my board, reflecting in my thoughts—for the plain reason that my +envious neighbour had enticed all the newly arrived customers to his own +shop—well, sir, the head will be busy when the hands are idle; there I +sat, as I have briefly told you, reflecting in my thoughts, like any other +accountable being, on the calamities of life, and on the great experiences that +I have had in the wars. For you must know, valiant gentleman, besides the +affair in the land of the Medes and Persians, and the Porteous mob in +Edinbro’, five cruel and bloody”—— +</p> + +<p> +“There is that in your air which sufficiently proclaims the +soldier,” interrupted his listener, who evidently struggled to keep down +his rising impatience; “but, as my time is so precious, I would now more +especially hear what you have to say concerning yonder ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, one gets a military look after seeing numberless wars; and so, +happily for the need of both, I have now come to the part of my secret which +touches more particularly on the character of that vessel. There sat I, +reflecting on the manner in which the strange seamen had been deluded by my +tonguey neighbour—for, as you should know, sir, a desperate talker is +that Tape, and a younker who has seen but one war at the +utmost—therefore, was I thinking of the manner in which he had enticed my +lawful customers from my shop, when, as one thought is the father of another, +the following concluding reasoning, as our pious priest has it weekly in his +reviving and searching discourses, came uppermost in my mind: If these mariners +were honest and conscientious slavers, would they overlook a labouring man with +a large family, to pour their well-earned gold into the lap of a common +babbler? I proclaimed to myself at once, sir, that they would not. I was bold +to say the same in my own mind, and, thereupon, I openly put the question to +all in hearing, If they are not slavers, what are they? A question which the +King himself would, in his royal wisdom, allow to be a question easier asked +than answered; upon which I replied, If the vessel be no fair-trading slaver, +nor a common cruiser of his Majesty, it is as tangible as the best man’s +reasoning, that she may be neither more nor less than the ship of that +nefarious pirate the Red Rover.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Red Rover!” exclaimed the stranger in green, with a start so +natural as to evidence that his dying interest in the tailor’s narrative +was suddenly and powerfully revived. “That indeed would be a secret worth +having!—but why do you suppose the same?” +</p> + +<p> +“For sundry reasons, which I am now about to name, in their respective +order. In the first place, she is an armed ship, sir. In the second, she is no +lawful cruiser, or the same would be publicly known, and by no one sooner than +myself, inasmuch as it is seldom that I do not finger a penny from the +King’s ships. In the third place, the burglarious and unfeeling conduct +of the few seamen who have landed from her go to prove it; and, lastly, what is +well proved may be considered as substantially established These are what, sir, +I should call the opening premises of my inferences, all of which I hope you +will properly lay before the royal mind of his Majesty.” +</p> + +<p> +The barrister in green listened to the somewhat wire-drawn deductions of +Homespun with great attention notwithstanding the confused and obscure manner +in which they were delivered by the aspiring tradesman. His keen eye rolled +quickly, and often, from the vessel to the countenance of his companion; but +several moments elapsed before he saw fit to make any reply. The reckless +gayety with which he had introduced himself, and which he had hitherto +maintained in the discourse, was entirely superseded by a musing and abstracted +air, which sufficiently proved, that, whatever levity he might betray in +common, he was far from being a stranger to deep and absorbing thought. +Suddenly throwing off his air of gravity, however, he assumed one in which +irony and sincerity were singularly blended and, laying his hand familiarly on +the shoulder of the expecting tailor, he replied— +</p> + +<p> +“You have communicated such matter as becometh a faithful and loyal +servant of the King. It is well known that a heavy price is set on the head of +the meanest follower of the Rover, and that a rich, ay, a splendid reward will +be the fortune of him who is the instrument of delivering the whole knot of +miscreants into the hands of the executioner. Indeed I know not but some marked +evidence of the royal pleasure might follow such a service. There was Phipps, a +man of humble origin, who received knighthood—” +</p> + +<p> +“Knighthood!” echoed the tailor, in awful admiration. +</p> + +<p> +“Knighthood,” coolly repeated the stranger; “honourable and +chivalric knighthood. What may have been the appellation you received from your +sponsors in baptism?” +</p> + +<p> +“My given name, gracious and grateful sir, is Hector.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the house itself?—the distinctive appellation of the +family?” +</p> + +<p> +“We have <i>always</i> been called Homespun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir Hector Homespun will sound as well as another! But to secure these +rewards, my friend, it is necessary to be discreet. I admire your ingenuity, +and am a convert to your logic. You have so entirely demonstrated the truth of +your suspicions, that I have no more doubt of yonder vessel being the pirate, +than I have of your wearing spurs, and being called sir Hector. The two things +are equally established in my mind: but it is needful that we proceed in the +matter with caution. I understand you to say, that no one else has been +enlightened by your erudition in this affair?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a soul. Tape himself is ready to swear that the crew are +conscientious slavers.” +</p> + +<p> +“So best. We must first render conclusions certain; then to our reward. +Meet me at the hour of eleven this night, at yonder low point, where the land +juts into the outer harbour. From that stand will we make our observations; +and, having removed every doubt, let the morning produce a discovery that shall +ring from the Colony of the Bay to the settlements of Oglethorpe. Until then we +part; for it is not wise that we be longer seen in conference. Remember +silence, punctuality, and the favour of the King. These are our +watch-words.” +</p> + +<p> +“Adieu, honourable gentlemen,” said his companion making a +reverence nearly to the earth, as the other slightly touched his hat in +passing. +</p> + +<p> +“Adieu, sir Hector,” returned the stranger in green, with an +affable smile and a gracious wave of the hand. He then walked slowly up the +wharf, and disappeared behind the mansion of the Homespuns; leaving the head of +that ancient family, like many a predecessor and many a successor, so rapt in +the admiration of his own good fortune, and so blinded by his folly, that, +while physically he saw to the right and to the left as well as ever, his +mental vision was completely obscured in the clouds of ambition. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>Chapter III.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Alonzo. “Good boatswain, have care.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Tempest.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The instant the stranger had separated from the credulous tailor, he lost his +assumed air in one far more natural and sedate. Still it would seem that +thought was an unwonted, or an unwelcome tenant of his mind; for, switching his +boot with his little riding whip, he entered the principal street of the place +with a light step and a wandering eye. Though his look was unsettled, few of +the individuals, whom he passed, escaped his quick glances; and it was quite +apparent, from the hurried manner in which he began to regard objects, that his +mind was not less active than his body. A stranger thus accoutred, and one +bearing about his person so many evidences of his recent acquaintance with the +road, did not fail to attract the attention of the provident publicans we have +had occasion to mention in our opening chapter. Declining the civilities of the +most favoured of the inn-keepers, he suffered his steps to be, oddly enough, +arrested by the one whose house was the usual haunt of the hangers-on of the +port. +</p> + +<p> +On entering the bar-room of this tavern, as it was called, but which in the +mother country would probably have aspired to be termed no more than a +pot-house he found the hospitable apartment thronged with its customary +revellers. A slight interruption was produced by the appearance of a guest who +was altogether superior, in mien and attire, to the ordinary customers of the +house, but it ceased the moment the stranger had thrown himself on a bench, and +intimated to the host the nature of his wants. As the latter furnished the +required draught, he made a sort of apology, which was intended for the ears of +all his customers nigh the stranger, for the manner in which an individual, in +the further end of the long narrow room, not only monopolized the discourse, +but appeared to extort the attention of all within hearing to some portentous +legend he was recounting. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the boatswain of the slaver in the outer harbour, squire,” +the worthy disciple of Bacchus concluded; “a man who has followed the +water many a day, and who has seen sights and prodigies enough to fill a smart +volume. Old Bor’us the people call him, though his lawful name is Jack +Nightingale. Is the toddy to the squire’s relish?” +</p> + +<p> +The stranger assented to the latter query, by smacking his lips, and bowing, as +he put down the nearly untouched draught. He then turned his head, to examine +the individual who might, by the manner in which he declaimed, have been +termed, in the language of the country, the second “orator of the +day.” +</p> + +<p> +A stature which greatly exceeded six feet; enormous whiskers, that quite +concealed a moiety of his grim countenance; a scar, which was the memorial of a +badly healed gash, that had once threatened to divide that moiety in quarters; +limbs in proportion; the whole rendered striking by the dress of a sea man; a +long, tarnished silver chain, and a little whistle of the same metal, served to +render the individual in question sufficiently remarkable. Without appearing to +be in the smallest decree aware of the entrance of one altogether so superior +to the class of his usual auditors, this son of the Ocean continued his +narrative as follows, and in a voice that seemed given to him by nature as if +in very mockery of his musical name; indeed, so very near did his tones +approach to the low murmurings of a bull, that some little practice was +necessary to accustom the ear to the strangely uttered words. +</p> + +<p> +“Well!” he continued, thrusting his brawny arm forth, with the fist +clenched, indicating the necessary point of the compass by the thumb; +“the coast of Guinea might have lain hereaway, and the wind you see, was +dead off shore, blowing in squalls, as a cat spits, all the same as if the old +fellow, who keeps it bagged for the use of us seamen, sometimes let the stopper +slip through his fingers, and was sometimes fetching it up again with a double +turn round the end of his sack.—You know what a sack is, brother?” +</p> + +<p> +This abrupt question was put to the gaping bumpkin, already known to the +reader, who, with the nether garment just received from the tailor under his +arm, had lingered, to add the incidents of the present legend to the stock of +lore that he had already obtained for the ears of his kinsfolk in the country. +A general laugh, at the expense of the admiring Pardon succeeded. Nightingale +bestowed a knowing wink on one or two of his familiars, and, profiting by the +occasion, “to freshen his nip,” as he quaintly styled swallowing a +pint of rum and water, he continued his narrative by saying, in a sort of +admonitory tone,— +</p> + +<p> +“And the time may come when you will know what a round-turn is, too, if +you let go your hold of honesty. A man’s neck was made, brother, to keep +his head above water, and not to be stretched out of shape like a pair of badly +fitted dead-eyes. Therefore have your reckoning worked up in season, and the +lead of conscience going, when you find yourself drifting on the shoals of +temptation.” Then, rolling his tobacco in his mouth, he looked boldly +about him, like one who had acquitted himself of a moral obligation, and +continued: “Well, there lay the land, and, as I was saying, the wind was +here, at east-and-by-south or mayhap at east-and-by-south-half-south, sometimes +blowing like a fin-back in a hurry, and sometimes leaving all the canvas +chafing ag’in the rigging and spars, as if a bolt of duck cost no more +nor a rich man’s blessing. I didn’t like the looks of the weather, +seeing that there was altogether too much unsartainty for a quiet watch, so I +walked aft, in order to put myself in the way of giving an opinion if-so-be +such a thing should be asked. You must know, brothers, that, according to my +notions of religion and behaviour, a man is not good for much, unless he has a +full share of manners; therefore I am never known to put my spoon into the +captain’s mess, unless I am invited, for the plain reason, that my berth +is for’ard, and his’n aft. I do not say in which end of a ship the +better man is to be found; that is a matter concerning which men have different +opinions, though most judges in the business are agreed. But aft I walked, to +put myself in the way of giving an opinion, if one should be asked; nor was it +long before the thing came to pass just as I had foreseen. ‘Mister +Nightingale,’ says he; for our Captain is a gentleman, and never forgets +his behaviour on deck, or when any of the ship’s company are at hand, +‘<i>Mister</i> Nightingale,’ says he, ‘what do you think of +that rag of a cloud, hereaway at the north-west?’ says he. ‘Why, +sir,’ says I, boldly, for I’m never backward in speaking, when +properly spoken to, so, ‘why, sir,’ says I, ‘saving your +Honour’s better judgment,’—which was all a flam, for he was +but a chicken to me in years and experience, but then I never throw hot ashes +to windward, or any thing else that is warm—so, ‘sir,’ says +I, ‘it is my advice to hand the three topsails and to stow the jib. We +are in no hurry; for the plain reason, that Guinea will be to-morrow just where +Guinea is to-night. As for keeping the ship steady in these matters of squalls, +we have the mainsail on her—’” +</p> + +<p> +“You should have furl’d your mainsail too,” exclaimed a voice +from behind, that was quite as dogmatical, though a little less grum, than that +of the loquacious boatswain. +</p> + +<p> +“What know-nothing says that?” demanded Nightingale fiercely, as if +all his latent ire was excited by so rude and daring an interruption. +</p> + +<p> +“A man who has run Africa down, from Bon to Good-Hope, more than once, +and who knows a white squall from a rainbow,” returned Dick Fid, edging +his short person stoutly towards his furious adversary, making his way through +the crowd by which the important personage of the boatswain was environed by +dint of his massive shoulders; “ay, brother, and a man, know-much or +know-nothing, who would never advise his officer to keep so much after-sail on +a ship, when there was the likelihood of the wind taking her aback.” +</p> + +<p> +To this bold vindication of an opinion which all present deemed to be so +audacious, there succeeded a general and loud murmur. Encouraged by this +evidence of his superior popularity, Nightingale was not slow, nor very meek, +with his retort; and then followed a clamorous concert, in which the voices of +the company in general served for the higher and shriller notes, through which +the bold and vigorous assertions, contradictions, and opinions of the two +principal disputants were heard running a thorough-bass. +</p> + +<p> +For some time, no part of the discussion was very distinct, so great was the +confusion of tongues; and there were certain symptoms of an intention, on the +part of Fid and the boatswain, to settle their controversy by the last appeal. +During this moment of suspense, the former had squared his firm-built frame in +front of his gigantic opponent, and there were very vehement passings and +counter-passings, in the way of gestures from four athletic arms, each of which +was knobbed, like a fashionable rattan, with a lump of bones, knuckles, and +sinews, that threatened annihilation to any thing that should oppose them. As +the general clamour, however, gradually abated, the chief reasoners began to be +heard; and, as if content to rely on their respective powers of eloquence, each +gradually relinquished his hostile attitude, and appeared disposed to maintain +his ground by a member scarcely less terrible than his brawny arm. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a bold seaman, brother,” said Nightingale resuming his +seat, “and, if saying was doing, no doubt you would make a ship talk. But +I, who have seen fleets of two and three deckers—and that of all nations, +except your Mohawks, mayhap, whose cruisers I will confess never to have fallen +in with—lying as snug as so many white gulls, under reefed mainsails, +know how to take the strain off a ship, and to keep my bulkheads in their +places.” +</p> + +<p> +“I deny the judgment of heaving-to a boat under her after +square-sails,” retorted Dick. “Give her the stay-sails, if you +will, and no harm done; but a true seaman will never get a bagful of wind +between his mainmast and his lee-swifter, if-so-be he knows his business. But +words are like thunder, which rumbles aloft, without coming down a spar, as I +have yet seen; let us therefore put the question to some one who has been on +the water, and knows a little of life and of ships.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the oldest admiral in his Majesty’s fleet was here, he +wouldn’t be backward in saying who is right and who is wrong. I say, +brothers, if there is a man among you all who has had the advantage of a sea +education, let him speak, in order that the truth of this matter may not be +hid, like a marling-spike jammed between a brace-block and a blackened +yard.” +</p> + +<p> +“Here, then, is the man,” returned Fid; and, stretching out his +arm, he seized Scipio by the collar, and drew him, without ceremony, into the +centre of the circle, that had opened around the two disputants “There is +a man for you, who has made one more voyage between this and Africa than +myself, for the reason that he was born there. Now, answer as if you were +hallooing from a lee-earing, S’ip, under what sail would you heave-to a +ship, on the coast of your native country, with the danger of a white squall at +hand?” +</p> + +<p> +“I no heave-’em-to,” said the black, “I make ’em +scud.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, boy; but, to be in readiness for the puff, would you jam her up +under a mainsail, or let her lie a little off under a fore course?” +</p> + +<p> +“Any fool know dat,” returned Scipio, grumly and evidently tired +already of being thus catechised. +</p> + +<p> +“If you want ’em fall off, how you’m expect, in reason, he do +it under a main course? You answer me dat, misser Dick.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gentlemen,” said Nightingale, looking about him with an air of +great gravity, “I put it to your Honours, is it genteel behaviour to +bring a nigger, in this out-of-the-way fashion, to give an opinion in the teeth +of a white man?” +</p> + +<p> +This appeal to the wounded dignity of the company was answered by a common +murmur. Scipio, who was prepared to maintain, and would have maintained, his +professional opinion, after his positive and peculiar manner, against any +disputant, had not the heart to resist so general an evidence of the +impropriety of his presence. Without uttering a word in vindication or apology, +he folded his arms, and walked out of the house, with the submission and +meekness of one who had been too long trained in humility to rebel. This +desertion on the part of his companion was not, however, so quietly acquiesced +in by Fid, who found himself thus unexpectedly deprived of the testimony of the +black. He loudly remonstrated against his retreat; but, finding it in vain, he +crammed the end of several inches of tobacco into his mouth, swearing, as he +followed the African, and keeping his eye, at the same time, firmly fastened on +his adversary, that, in his opinion, “the lad, if he was fairly skinned, +would be found to be the whiter man of the two.” +</p> + +<p> +The triumph of the boatswain was now complete; nor was he at all sparing of his +exultation. +</p> + +<p> +“Gentlemen,” he said, addressing himself, with an air of increased +confidence, to the motley audience who surrounded him, “you see that +reason is like a ship bearing down with studding-sails on both sides, leaving a +straight wake and no favours. Now, I scorn boasting, nor do I know who the +fellow is who has just sheered off, in time to save his character, but this I +will say, that the man is not to be found, between Boston and the West Indies, +who knows better than myself how to make a ship walk, or how to make her stand +still, provided I”— +</p> + +<p> +The deep voice of Nightingale became suddenly hushed, and his eye was riveted, +by a sort of enchantment on the keen glance of the stranger in green, whose +countenance was now seen blended among the more vulgar faces of the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap,” continued the boatswain, swallowing his words, in the +surprise of seeing himself so unexpectedly confronted by so imposing an eye, +“mayhap this gentleman has some knowledge of the sea, and can decide the +matter in dispute.” +</p> + +<p> +“We do not study naval tactics at the universities,” returned the +other briskly, “though I will confess, from the little I have heard, I am +altogether in favour of <i>scudding.</i>” +</p> + +<p> +He pronounced the latter word with an emphasis which rendered it questionable +if he did not mean to pun; the more especially as he threw down his reckoning +and instantly left the field to the quiet possession of Nightingale. The +latter, after a short pause, resumed his narrative, though, either from +weariness or some other cause, it was observed that his voice was far less +positive than before, and that his tale was cut prematurely short. After +completing his narrative and his grog, he staggered to the beach, whither a +boat was shortly after despatched to convey him on board the ship, which, +during all this time, had not ceased to be the constant subject of the +suspicious examination of the good-man Homespun. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean while, the stranger in green had pursued his walk along the main +street of the town. Fid had given chase to the disconcerted Scipio, grumbling +as he went, and uttering no very delicate remarks on the knowledge and +seamanship of the boatswain. They soon joined company again, the former +changing his attack to the negro, whom he liberally abused, for abandoning a +point which he maintained was as simple, and as true, as “that yonder bit +of a schooner would make more way, going wing-and-wing, than jammed up on a +wind.” +</p> + +<p> +Probably diverted with the touches of peculiar character he had detected in +this singular pair of confederates, or possibly led by his own wayward humour, +the stranger followed their footsteps. After turning from the water, they +mounted a hill, the latter a little in the rear of his pilots, until he lost +sight of them in a bend of the street, or rather road; for by this time, they +were past even the little suburbs of the town. Quickening his steps, the +barrister, as he had announced himself to be, was glad to catch a glimpse of +the two worthies, seated under a fence several minutes after he had believed +them lost. They were making a frugal meal, off the contents of a little bag +which the white had borne under his arm and from which he now dispensed +liberally to his companion, who had taken his post sufficiently nigh to +proclaim that perfect amity was restored, though still a little in the back +ground, in deference to the superior condition which the other enjoyed through +favour of his colour. Approaching the spot, the stranger observed,— +</p> + +<p> +“If you make so free with the bag, my lads, your third man may have to go +supperless to bed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who hails?” said Dick, looking up from his bone, with an +expression much like that of a mastiff when engaged at a similar employment. +</p> + +<p> +“I merely wished to remind you that you had another messmate,” +cavalierly returned the other. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you take a cut, brother?” said the seaman, offering the bag, +with the liberality of a sailor, the moment he fancied there was an indirect +demand made on its contents. +</p> + +<p> +“You still mistake my meaning; on the wharf you had another +companion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay; he is in the offing there, overhauling that bit of a +light-house, which is badly enough moored unless they mean it to shew the +channel to your ox-teams and inland traders; hereaway, gentlemen, where you see +that pile of stones which seems likely to be coming down shortly +by-the-run.” +</p> + +<p> +The stranger looked in the direction indicated by the other, and saw the young +mariner, to whom he had alluded, standing at the foot of a ruined tower, which +was crumbling under the slow operations of time, at no great distance from the +place where he stood. Throwing a handful of small change to the seamen, he +wished them a better meal, and crossed the fence, with an apparent intention of +examining the ruin also. +</p> + +<p> +“The lad is free with his coppers,” said Dick, suspending the +movements of his teeth, to give the stranger another and a better look; +“but, as they will not grow where he has planted them, S’ip, you +may turn them over to my pocket. An off-handed and a free-handed chap that, +Africa; but then these law-dealers get all their pence of the devil, and they +are sure of more, when the shot begins to run low in the locker.” +</p> + +<p> +Leaving the negro to collect the money, and to transfer it, as in duty bound, +to the hands of him who, if not his master, was at all times ready and willing +to exercise the authority of one, we shall follow the stranger in his walk +toward, the tottering edifice. There was little about the ruin itself to +attract the attention of one who, from his assertions, had probably often +enjoyed the opportunities of examining far more imposing remains of former +ages, on the other side of the Atlantic. It was a small circular tower, which +stood on rude pillars, connected by arches, and might have been constructed, in +the infancy of the country, as a place of defence, though it is far more +probable that it was a work of a less warlike nature. More than half a century +after the period of which we are writing, this little edifice, peculiar in its +form, its ruinous condition, and its materials, has suddenly become the study +and the theme of that very learned sort of individual the American antiquarian. +It is not surprising that a ruin thus honoured should have become the object of +many a hot and erudite discussion. While the chivalrous in the arts and in the +antiquities of the country have been gallantly breaking their lances around the +mouldering walls, the less instructed and the less zealous have regarded the +combatants with the same species of wonder as they would have manifested had +they been present when the renowned knight of La Mancha tilted against those +other wind-mills so ingeniously described by the immortal Cervantes. +</p> + +<p> +On reaching the place, the stranger in green gave his boot a smart blow with +the riding whip, as if to attract the attention of the abstracted young sailor, +and freely remarked,— +</p> + +<p> +“A very pretty object this would be, if covered with ivy, to be seen +peeping through an opening in a wood. But I beg pardon; gentlemen of your +<i>profession</i> have little to do with woods and crumbling stones. Yonder is +the tower,” pointing to the tail masts of the ship in the outer harbour, +“you love to look on; and your only ruin is a wreck!” +</p> + +<p> +“You seem familiar with our tastes, sir,” coldly returned the +other. +</p> + +<p> +“It is by instinct, then; for it is certain I have had but little +opportunity of acquiring my knowledge by actual communion with any of +the—cloth; nor do I perceive that I am likely to be more fortunate at +present. Let us be frank, my friend, and talk in amity: What do you see about +this pile of stones, that can keep you so long from your study of yonder noble +and gallant ship?” +</p> + +<p> +“Did it then surprise you that a seaman out of employment should examine +a vessel that he finds to his mind, perhaps with an intention to ask for +service?” +</p> + +<p> +“Her commander must be a dull fellow, if he refuse it to so proper a lad! +But you seem to be too well instructed for any of the meaner births.” +</p> + +<p> +“Births!” repeated the other, again fastening his eyes, with a +singular expression, on the stranger in green. +</p> + +<p> +“Births! It is your nautical word for ‘situation, or; +station;’ is it not? We know but little of the marine vocabulary, we +barristers; but I think I may venture on that as the true Doric. Am I justified +by your authority?” +</p> + +<p> +“The word is certainly not yet obsolete; and, by a figure, it is as +certainly correct in the sense you used it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Obsolete!” repeated the stranger in green, returning the meaning +look he had just received: “Is that the name of any part of a ship? +Perhaps, by <i>figure</i>, you mean figure-head; and, by <i>obsolete</i>, the +long-boat!” +</p> + +<p> +The young seaman laughed; and, as if this sally had broken through the barrier +of his reserve, his manner lost much of its cold restraint during the remainder +of their conference. +</p> + +<p> +“It is just as plain,” he said, “that you have been at sea, +as it is that I have been at school. Since we have both been so fortunate, we +may afford to be generous and cease speaking in parables. For instance, what +think you has been the object and use of this ruin, when it was in good +condition?” +</p> + +<p> +“In order to judge of that,” returned the stranger in green, +“it may be necessary to examine it more closely. Let us ascend.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the barrister mounted, by a crazy ladder, to the floor which lay +just above the crown of the arches, through which he passed by an open trapdoor +His companion hesitated to follow; but, observing that the other expected him +at the summit of the ladder, and that he very kindly pointed out a defective +round, he sprang forward, and went up the ascent with the agility and +steadiness peculiar to his calling. +</p> + +<p> +“Here we are!” exclaimed the stranger in green, looking about at +the naked walls, which were formed of such small and irregular stones as to +give the building the appearance of dangerous frailty, “with good oaken +plank for our deck, as you would say, and the sky for our roof, as we call the +upper part of a house at the universities. Now let us speak of things on the +lower world. A—a—; I forget what you said was your usual +appellation—” +</p> + +<p> +“That might depend on circumstances. I have been known by different names +in different situations However, if you call me Wilder, I shall not fail to +answer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wilder!” a good name; though, I dare say, it would have been as +true were it Wildone. You young ship-boys have the character of being a little +erratic in your humours at times. How many tender hearts have you left to sigh +for your errors, amid shady bowers, while you have been ploughing—that is +the word, I believe—ploughing the salt-sea ocean?” +</p> + +<p> +“Few sigh for me,” returned Wilder, thoughtfully, though he +evidently began to chafe a little under this free sort of catechism. “Let +us now return to our study of the tower. What think you has been its +object?” +</p> + +<p> +“Its present use is plain, and its former use can be no great mystery. It +holds at this moment two light hearts; and, if I am not mistaken, as many light +heads, not overstocked with the stores of wisdom. Formerly it had its granaries +of corn, at least, and, I doubt not, certain little quadrupeds, who were quite +as light of fingers as we are of head and heart. In plain English, it has been +a mill” +</p> + +<p> +“There are those who think it had been a fortress.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! The place might do, at need,” returned he in green, casting a +rapid and peculiar glance around him. “But mill it has been, +notwithstanding one might wish it a nobler origin. The windy situation the +pillars to keep off the invading vermin, the shape, the air, the very +complexion, prove it. Whir-r-r, whir-r-r; there has been clatter enough here in +time past, I warrant you. Hist! It is not done yet!” +</p> + +<p> +Stepping lightly to one of the little perforations which had once served as +windows to the tower, he cautiously thrust his head through the opening; and, +after gazing there half a minute, he withdrew it again, making a gesture to the +attentive Wilder to be silent. The latter complied; nor was it long before the +nature of the interruption was sufficiently explained. +</p> + +<p> +The silvery voice of woman was first heard at a little distance; and then, as +the speakers drew nigher the sounds arose directly from beneath, within the +very shadow of the tower. By a sort of tacit consent, Wilder and the barrister +chose spots favourable to the execution of such a purpose; and each continued, +during the time the visiters remained near the ruin, examining their persons, +unseen themselves, and we are sorry we must do so much violence to the breeding +of two such important characters in our legend, amused and attentive listeners +also to their conversation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>Chapter IV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“They fool me to the top of my bent.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Hamlet.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The party below consisted of four individuals all of whom were females. One was +a lady in the decline of her years; another was past the middle age the third +was on the very threshold of what is called “life,” as it is +applied to intercourse with the world; and the fourth was a negress, who might +have seen some five-and-twenty revolutions of the seasons. The latter, at that +time, and in that country, of course appeared only in the character of a +humble, though perhaps favoured domestic. +</p> + +<p> +“And now, my child, that I have given you all the advice which +circumstances and your own excellent heart need,” said the elderly lady, +among the first words that were distinctly intelligible to the listeners, +“I will change the ungracious office to one more agreeable. You will tell +your father of my continued affection, and of the promise he has given, that +you are to return once again, before we separate for the last time.” +</p> + +<p> +This speech was addressed to the younger female, and was apparently received +with as much tenderness and sincerity as it was uttered. The one who was +addressed raised her eyes, which were glittering with tears she evidently +struggled to conceal, and answered in a voice that sounded in the ears of the +two youthful listeners like the notes of the Syren, so very sweet and musical +were its tones. +</p> + +<p> +“It is useless to remind me of a promise, my beloved aunt, which I have +so much interest in remembering,” she said. “I hope for even more +than you have perhaps dared to wish; if my father does not return with me in +the spring, it shall not be for want of urging on my part.” +</p> + +<p> +“Our good Wyllys will lend her aid,” returned the aunt, smiling and +bowing to the third female, with that mixture of suavity and form which was +peculiar to the stately manners of the time, and which was rarely neglected, +when a superior addressed an inferior. “She is entitled to command some +interest with General Grayson, from her fidelity and services.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is entitled to everything that love and heart can give!” +exclaimed the niece, with a haste and earnestness that proclaimed how willingly +she would temper the formal politeness of the other by the warmth of her own +affectionate manner; “my father will scarcely refuse <i>her</i> any +thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“And have we the assurance of Miss Wyllys that she will be in our +interests?” demanded the aunt, without permitting her own sense of +propriety to be overcome by the stronger feelings of her niece; “with so +powerful an ally, our league will be invincible.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am so entirely of opinion, that the salubrious air of this healthful +island is of great importance to my young charge, Madam, that, were all other +considerations wanting, the little I can do to aid your wishes shall be sure to +be done.” +</p> + +<p> +Wyllys spoke with dignity, and perhaps with some portion of that reserve which +distinguished all the communications between the wealthy and high-born aunt and +the salaried and dependent governess of her brother’s heiress. Still her +manner was gentle, and the voice, like that of her pupil, soft and strikingly +feminine. +</p> + +<p> +“We may then consider the victory as achieved, as my late husband the +Rear-Admiral was accustomed to say. Admiral de Lacey, my dear Mrs Wyllys, +adopted it in early life as a maxim, by which all his future conduct was +governed, and by adhering to which he acquired no small share of his +professional reputation, that, in order to be successful, it was only necessary +to be determined one would be so;—a noble and inspiriting rule, and one +that could not fail to lead to those signal results which, as we all know them, +I need not mention.” +</p> + +<p> +Wyllys bowed her head, in acknowledgment of the truth of the opinion, and in +testimony of the renown of the deceased Admiral; but did not think it necessary +to make any reply. Instead of allowing the subject to occupy her mind any +longer, she turned to her young pupil, and observed, speaking in a voice and +with a manner from which every appearance of restraint was banished,— +</p> + +<p> +“Gertrude, my love, you will have pleasure in returning to this charming +island, and to these cheering sea breezes.” +</p> + +<p> +“And to my aunt!” exclaimed Gertrude. “I wish my father could +be persuaded to dispose of his estates in Carolina, and come northward, to +reside the whole year.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not quite as easy for an affluent proprietor to remove as you may +imagine, my child,” returned Mrs de Lacey. “Much as I wish that +some such plan could be adopted, I never press my brother on the subject. +Besides, I am not certain, that, if we were ever to make another change in the +family, it would not be to return <i>home</i> altogether. It is now more than a +century, Mrs Wyllys, since the Graysons came into the colonies, in a moment of +dissatisfaction with the government in England. My great-grandfather sir +Everard, was displeased with his second son, and the dissension led my +grandfather to the province of Carolina. But, as the breach has long since been +healed, I often think my brother and myself may yet return to the halls of our +ancestors. Much will, however, depend on the manner in which we dispose of our +treasure on this side of the Atlantic.” +</p> + +<p> +As the really well-meaning, though, perhaps, a little too much self-satisfied +lady concluded her remark, she glanced her eye at the perfectly unconscious +subject of the close of her speech. Gertrude had, as usual, when her aunt chose +to favour her governess with any of her family reminiscences, turned her head +aside, and was now offering her cheek, burning with health, and perhaps a +little with shame, to the cooling influence of the evening breeze. The instant +the voice of Mrs de Lacey had ceased, she turned hastily to her companions; +and, pointing to a noble-looking ship, whose masts, as it lay in the inner +harbour, were seen rising above the roofs of the town, she exclaimed, as if +glad to change the subject in any manner,— +</p> + +<p> +“And yonder gloomy prison is to be our home, dear Mrs Wyllys, for the +next month!” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope your dislike to the sea has magnified the time,” mildly +returned her governess; “the passage between this place and Carolina has +been often made in a shorter period.” +</p> + +<p> +“That it has been so done, I can testify,” resumed the +Admiral’s widow, adhering a little pertinaciously to a train of thoughts, +which, once thoroughly awakened in her bosom, was not easily diverted into +another channel, “since my late estimable and (I feel certain all who +hear me will acquiesce when I add) gallant husband once conducted a squadron of +his Royal Master, from one extremity of his Majesty’s American dominions +to the other, in a time less than that named by my niece: It may have made some +difference in his speed that he was in pursuit of the enemies of his King and +country, but still the fact proves that the voyage can be made within the +month.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is that dreadful Henlopen, with its sandy shoals and shipwrecks on +one hand, and that stream they call the Gulf on the other!” exclaimed +Gertrude, with a shudder, and a burst of natural female terror, which makes +timidity sometimes attractive, when exhibited in the person of youth and +beauty. “If it were not for Henlopen, and its gales, and its shoals, and +its gulfs, I could think only of the pleasure of meeting my father.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys, who never encouraged her pupil in those, natural weaknesses, +however pretty and be coming they might appear to other eyes, turned with a +steady mien to the young lady, as she remarked, with a brevity and decision +that were intended to put the question of fear at rest for ever,— +</p> + +<p> +“If all the dangers you appear to apprehend existed in reality, the +passage would not be made daily or even hourly, in safety. You have often, +Madam, come from the Carolinas by sea, in company with Admiral de Lacey?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never,” the widow promptly and a little drily remarked. “The +water has not agreed with my constitution, and I have never neglected to +journey by land. But then you know, Wyllys, as the consort and relict of a +flag-officer, it was not seemly that I should be ignorant of naval science. I +believe there are few ladies in the British empire who are more familiar with +ships, either singly or in squadron particularly the latter, than myself. This +in formation I have naturally acquired, as the companion of an officer, whose +fortune it was to lead fleets. I presume these are matters of which you are +profoundly ignorant.” +</p> + +<p> +The calm, dignified countenance of Wyllys, on which it would seem as if long +cherished and painful recollections had left a settled, but mild expression of +sorrow, that rather tempered than destroyed the traces of character which were +still remarkable in her firm collected eye, became clouded, for a moment, with +a deeper shade of melancholy. After hesitating, as if willing to change the +subject, she replied,— +</p> + +<p> +“I have not been altogether a stranger to the sea. It has been my lot to +have made many long, and some perilous voyages.” +</p> + +<p> +“As a mere passenger. But we wives of sailors only, among our sex, can +lay claim to any real knowledge of the noble profession! What natural object is +there, or can there be,” exclaimed the nautical dowager, in a burst of +professional enthusiasm, “finer than a stately ship breasting the +billows, as I have heard the Admiral say a thousand times, its taffrail +ploughing the main, and its cut-water gliding after, like a sinuous serpent +pursuing its shining wake, as a living creature choosing its path on the land, +and leaving the bone under its fore-foot, a beacon for those that follow? I +know not, my dear Wyllys, if I make myself intelligible to you, but, to my +instructed eye, this charming description conveys a picture of all that is +grand and beautiful!” +</p> + +<p> +The latent smile, on the countenance of the governess might have betrayed that +she was imagining the deceased Admiral had not been altogether devoid of the +waggery of his vocation, had not a slight noise, which sounded like the +rustling of the wind, but which in truth was suppressed laughter, proceeded +from the upper room of the tower. The words, “It is lovely!” were +still on the lips of the youthful Gertrude, who saw all the beauty of the +picture her aunt had essayed to describe, without descending to the humble +employment of verbal criticism. But her voice became hushed, and her attitude +that of startled attention:— +</p> + +<p> +“Did you hear nothing?” she said. +</p> + +<p> +“The rats have not yet altogether deserted the mill,” was the calm +reply of Wyllys. +</p> + +<p> +“Mill! my dear Mrs Wyllys, will you persist in calling this picturesque +ruin <i>a mill</i>?” +</p> + +<p> +“However fatal it may be to its charms, in the eyes of eighteen, I must +call it <i>a mill</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ruins are not so plenty in this country, my dear governess,” +returned her pupil, laughing, while the ardour of her eye denoted how serious +she was in defending her favourite opinion, “as to justify us in robbing +them of any little claims to interest they may happen to possess.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, happier is the country! Ruins in a land are, like most of the +signs of decay in the human form, sad evidences of abuses and passions, which +have hastened the inroads of time. These provinces are like yourself, my +Gertrude, in their freshness and their youth, and, comparatively, in their +innocence also. Let us hope for both a long, an useful, and a happy +existence.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you for myself, and for my country; but still I can never admit +this picturesque ruin has been <i>a mill</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Whatever it may have been, it has long occupied its present place, and +has the appearance of continuing where it is much longer, which is more than +can be said of our prison, as you call yonder stately ship, in which we are so +soon to embark. Unless my eyes deceive me, Madam, those masts are moving slowly +past the chimnies of the town.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very right, Wyllys. The seamen are towing the vessel into the +outer harbour, where they will warp her fast to the anchors, and thus secure +her, until they shall be ready to unmake their sails, in order to put to sea in +the morning. This is a manoeuvre often performed, and one which the Admiral has +so clearly explained, that I should find little difficulty in superintending it +in my own person, were it suitable to my sex and station.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is, then, a hint that all our own preparations are not completed. +However lovely this spot may seem, Gertrude, we must now leave it, for some +months at least.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” continued Mrs de Lacey, slowly following the footsteps of +the governess, who had already moved from beneath the ruin; “whole fleets +have often been towed to their anchors, and there warped, waiting for wind and +tide to serve. None of our sex know the dangers of the Ocean, but we who have +been bound in the closest of all ties to officers of rank and great service; +and none others can ever truly enjoy the real grandeur of the ennobling +profession. A charming object is a vessel cutting the waves with her taffrail, +and chasing her wake on the trackless waters, like a courser that ever keeps in +his path, though dashing madly on at the very top of his speed!—” +</p> + +<p> +The reply of Mrs Wyllys was not audible to the covert listeners. Gertrude had +followed her companions; but, when at some little distance from the tower, she +paused, to take a parting look at its mouldering walls. A profound stillness +succeeded for more than a minute. +</p> + +<p> +“There is something in that pile of stones, Cassandra,” she said to +the jet-black maiden at her elbow, “that could make me wish it had been +something more than a mill.” +</p> + +<p> +“There rat in ’em,” returned the literal and simple-minded +black; “you hear what Misse Wyllys say?” +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude turned, laughed, patted the dark cheek of her attendant with fingers +that looked like snow by the contrast, as if to chide her for wishing to +destroy the pleasing illusion she would so gladly harbour and then bounded down +the hill after her aunt and governess, like a joyous and youthful Atalanta. +</p> + +<p> +The two singularly consorted listeners in the tower stood gazing, at their +respective look-outs, so long as the smallest glimpse of the flowing robe of +her light form was to be seen and then they turned to each other, and stood +confronted, the eyes of each endeavouring to read the expression of his +neighbour’s countenance. +</p> + +<p> +“I am ready to make an affidavit before my Lord High Chancellor,” +suddenly exclaimed the barrister, “that this has never been a +mill!” +</p> + +<p> +“Your opinion has undergone a sudden change!” +</p> + +<p> +“I am open to conviction, as I hope to be a judge. The case has been +argued by a powerful advocate, and I have lived to see my error.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet there are rats in the place.” +</p> + +<p> +“Land rats, or water rats?” quickly demanded the other, giving his +companion one of those startling and searching glances, which his keen eye had +so freely at command. +</p> + +<p> +“Both, I believe,” was the dry and caustic reply; “certainly +the former, or the gentlemen of the long robe are much injured by +report.” +</p> + +<p> +The barrister laughed; nor did his temper appear in the slightest degree +ruffled at so free an allusion at his learned and honourable profession. +</p> + +<p> +“You gentlemen of the Ocean have such an honest and amusing frankness +about you,” he said, “that I vow to God you are overwhelming. I am +a downright admirer of your noble calling, and something skilled in its terms. +What spectacle, for instance, can be finer than a noble ship ‘stemming +the waves with her taffrail,’ and chasing her wake, like a racer on the +course!” +</p> + +<p> +“Leaving the ‘bone in her mouth’ under her stern, as a +light-house for all that come after!” +</p> + +<p> +Then, as if they found singular satisfaction in dwelling on these images of the +worthy relict of the gallant Admiral, they broke out simultaneously into a fit +of clamorous merriment, that caused the old ruin to ring, as in its best days +of windy power. The barrister was the first to regain his self-command, for the +mirth of the young mariner was joyous, and without the least restraint. +</p> + +<p> +“But this is dangerous ground for any but a seaman’s widow to +touch,” the former observed, as suddenly causing his laughter to cease as +he had admitted of its indulgence. “The younger, she who is no lover of a +mill, is a rare and lovely creature! it would seem that she is the niece of the +nautical critic.” +</p> + +<p> +The young manner ceased laughing in his turn, as though he were suddenly +convinced of the glaring impropriety of making so near a relative of the fair +vision he had seen the subject of his merriment. Whatever might have been his +secret thoughts, he was content with replying,— +</p> + +<p> +“She so declared herself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me,” said the barrister, walking close to the other, like one +who communicated an important secret in the question, “was there not +something remarkable searching, extraordinary, heart-touching, in the voice of +her they called Wyllys?” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you note it?” +</p> + +<p> +“It sounded to me like the tones of an oracle—the whisperings of +fancy—the very words of truth! It was a strange and persuasive +voice!” +</p> + +<p> +“I confess I felt its influence, and in a way for which I cannot +account!” +</p> + +<p> +“It amounts to infatuation!” returned the barrister pacing up and +down the little apartment, every trace of humour and irony having disappeared +in a look of settled and abstracted care. His companion appeared little +disposed to interrupt his meditations, but stood leaning against the naked +walls, himself the subject of deep and sorrowful reflection. At length the +former shook off his air of thought, with that startling quickness which seemed +common to his manner; he approached a window, and, directing the attention of +Wilder to the ship in the outer harbour, abruptly demanded,— +</p> + +<p> +“Has all your interest in yon vessel ceased?” +</p> + +<p> +“Far from it; it is just such a boat as a seaman’s eye most loves +to study!” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you venture to board her?” +</p> + +<p> +“At this hour? alone? I know not her commander, or her people.” +</p> + +<p> +“There are other hours beside this, and a sailor is certain of a frank +reception from his messmates.” +</p> + +<p> +“These slavers are not always willing to be boarded; they carry arms, and +know how to keep strangers at a distance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are there no watch-words, in the masonry of your trade, by which a +brother is known? Such terms as ‘stemming the waves with the +taffrail,’ for instance, or some of those knowing phrases we have lately +heard?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder kept his own keen look on the countenance of the other, as he thus +questioned him, and seemed to ponder long before he ventured on a reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you demand all this of me?” he coldly asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Because, as I believe that ‘faint heart never won fair +lady,’ so do I believe that indecision never won a ship. You wish a +situation, you say; and, if I were an Admiral, I would make you my +flag-captain. At the assizes, when we wish a brief, we have our manner of +letting the thing be known. But perhaps I am talking too much at random for an +utter stranger. You will however remember, that, though it is the advice of a +lawyer, it is given gratuitously.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is it the more to be relied on for such extraordinary +liberality?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of that you must judge for yourself,” said the stranger in green, +very deliberately putting his foot on the ladder, and descending, until no part +of his person but his head was seen. “Here I go, literally cutting the +waves with my taffrail,” he added, as he descended backwards, and seeming +to take great pleasure in laying particular emphasis on the words. +“Adieu, my friend; if we do not meet again, I enjoin you never to forget +the rats in the Newport ruin.” +</p> + +<p> +He disappeared as he concluded, and in another instant his light form was on +the ground. Turning with the most admirable coolness, he gave the bottom of the +ladder a trip with one of his feet, and laid the only means of descent +prostrate on the earth. Then, looking up at the wondering Wilder, he nodded his +head familiarly, repeated his adieu, and passed with a swift step from beneath +the arches. +</p> + +<p> +“This is extraordinary conduct,” muttered Wilder who was by the +process left a prisoner in the ruin. After ascertaining that a fall from the +trap might endanger his legs, the young sailor ran to one of the windows of the +place, in order to reproach his treacherous comrade, or indeed to assure +himself that he was serious in thus deserting him. The barrister was already +out of hailing distance, and, before Wilder had time to decide on what course +to take, his active footsteps had led him into the skirts of the town, among +the buildings of which his person became immediately lost to the eye. +</p> + +<p> +During all the time occupied by the foregoing scenes and dialogue, Fid and the +negro had been diligently discussing the contents of the bag, under the fence +where they were last seen. As the appetite of the former became appeased, his +didactic disposition returned, and, at the precise moment when Wilder was left +alone in the tower, he was intently engaged in admonishing the black on the +delicate subject, of behaviour in mixed society. +</p> + +<p> +“And so you see, Guinea,” he concluded, “in or der to keep a +weather-helm in company, you are never to throw all aback, and go stern +foremost out of a dispute, as you have this day seen fit to do According to my +l’arning, that Master Nightingale is better in a bar-room than in a +squall; and if you had just luffed-up on his quarter, when you saw me laying +myself athwart his hawse in the argument, you see we should have given him a +regular jam in the discourse, and then the fellow would have been shamed in the +eyes of all the by-standers. Who hails? what cook is sticking his +neighbour’s pig now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lor’! Misser Fid,” cried the black, “here masser +Harry, wid a head out of port-hole, up dereaway in a light-house, singing-out +like a marine in a boat wid a plug out!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, let him alone for hailing a top-gallant yard, or a +flying-jib-boom! The lad has a voice like a French horn, when he has a mind to +tune it! And what the devil is he manning the guns of that weather-beaten wreck +for? At all events, if he has to fight his craft alone, there is no one to +blame but himself, since he has gone to quarters without beat of drum, or +without, in any other manner, seeing fit to muster his people.” +</p> + +<p> +As Dick and the negro had both been making the best of their way towards the +ruin, from the moment they discovered the situation of their friend, by this +time they were within speaking distance of the spot itself. Wilder, in those +brief, pithy tones that distinguish the manner in which a sea officer issues +his orders, directed them to raise the ladder. When he was liberated, he +demanded, with a sufficiently significant air, if they had observed the +direction in which the stranger in green had made his retreat? +</p> + +<p> +“Do you mean the chap in boots, who was for shoving his oar into another +man’s rullock, a bit ago, on the small matter of wharf, hereaway, in a +range, over yonder house, bringing the north-east chimney to hear in a line, +with the mizen-top-gallant-mast-head of that ship they are warping into the +stream?” +</p> + +<p> +“The very same.” +</p> + +<p> +“He made a slant on the wind until he had weathered yonder bit of a barn, +and then he tacked and stretched away off here to the east-and-by-south, going +large, and with studding sails alow and aloft, as I think, for he made a devil +of a head-way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Follow,” cried Wilder, starting forward in the direction indicated +by Fid, without waiting to hear any more of the other’s characteristic +explanations. +</p> + +<p> +The search, however, was vain. Although they continued their inquiries until +long after the sun had set, no one could give them the smallest tidings of what +had become of the stranger in green. Some had seen him, and marvelled at his +singular costume, and bold and wandering look; but, by all accounts, he had +disappeared from the town as strangely and mysteriously as he had entered it. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>Chapter V.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Are you so brave! I’ll have you talked with anon.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Coriolanus.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The good people of the town of Newport sought their rest at an early hour. They +were remarkable for that temperance and discretion which, even to this day, +distinguish the manners of the inhabitants of New-England. By ten, the door of +every house in the place was closed for the night; and it is quite probable, +that, before another hour had passed, scarcely an eye was open, among all those +which, throughout the day, had been sufficiently alert, not only to superintend +the interests of their proper-owners, but to spare some wholesome glances at +the concerns of the rest of the neighbourhood. +</p> + +<p> +The landlord of the “Foul Anchor,” as the inn, where Fid and +Nightingale had so nearly come to blows, was called, scrupulously closed his +doors at eight; a sort of expiation, by which he endeavoured to atone, while he +slept, for any moral peccadillos that he might have committed during the day. +Indeed it was to be observed as a rule, that those who had the most difficulty +in maintaining their good name, on the score of temperance and moderation, were +the most rigid in withdrawing, in season, from the daily cares of the world. +The Admiral’s widow had given no little scandal, in her time, because +lights were so often seen burning in her house long after the hour prescribed +by custom for their extinction. Indeed, there were several other little +particulars in which this good lady had rendered herself obnoxious to the +whispered remarks of some of her female visitants. An Episcopalian herself, she +was always observed to be employed with her needle on the evenings of +Saturdays, though by no means distinguished for her ordinary industry. It was, +however, a sort of manner the good lady had of exhibiting her adherence to the +belief that the night of Sunday was the orthodox evening of the Sabbath. On +this subject there was, in truth, a species of silent warfare between herself +and the wife of the principal clergyman of the town. It resulted, happily, in +no very striking marks of hostility. The latter was content to retaliate by +bringing her work, on the evenings of Sundays to the house of the dowager, and +occasionally interrupting their discourse, by a diligent application of the +needle for some five or six minutes at a time. Against this contamination Mrs +de Lacey took no other precaution than to play with the leaves of a prayer +book, precisely on the principle that one uses holy water to keep the devil at +that distance which the Church has considered safest for its proselytes. +</p> + +<p> +Let these matters be as they would, by ten o’clock on the night of the +day our tale commences, the town of Newport was as still as though it did not +contain a living soul. Watchmen there were none; for roguery had not yet begun +to thrive openly in the provinces. When, therefore, Wilder and his two +companions issued, at that hour, from their place of retirement into the empty +streets, they found them as still as if man had never trod there. Not a candle +was to be seen, nor the smallest evidence of human life to be heard. It would +seem our adventurers knew their errand well; for, instead of knocking up any of +the drowsy publicans to demand admission, they held their way steadily to the +water’s side; Wilder leading, Fid coming next, and Scipio, in conformity +to all usage, bringing up the rear, in his ordinary, quiet, submissive manner. +</p> + +<p> +At the margin of the water they found several small boats, moored under the +shelter of a neighbouring wharf. Wilder gave his companions their directions, +and walked to a place convenient for embarking. After waiting the necessary +time, the bows of two boats came to the land at the same moment, one of which +was governed by the hands of the negro, and the other by those of Fid. +</p> + +<p> +“How’s this?” demanded Wilder; “Is not one enough? +There is some mistake between you.” +</p> + +<p> +“No mistake at all,” responded Dick, suffering his oar to float on +its blade, and running his fingers into his hair, as if he was content with his +achievement “no more mistake than there is in taking the sun on a clear +day and in smooth water. Guinea is in the boat you hired; but a bad bargain you +made of it, as I thought at the time; and so, as ‘better late than +never’ is my rule, I have just been casting an eye over all the craft; if +this is not the tightest and fastest rowing clipper of them all, then am I no +judge; and yet the parish priest would tell you, if he were here, that my +father was a boat-builder, ay, and swear it too; that is to say, if you paid +him well for the same.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fellow,” returned Wilder, angrily, “you will one day induce +me to turn you adrift. Return the boat to the place where you found it, and see +it secured in the same manner as before.” +</p> + +<p> +“Turn me adrift!” deliberately repeated Fid, “that would be +cutting all your weather lanyards at one blow, master Harry. Little good would +come of Scipio Africa and you, after I should part company. Have you ever +fairly logg’d the time we have sailed together?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, have I; but it is possible to break even a friendship of twenty +years.” +</p> + +<p> +“Saving your presence, master Harry, I’ll be d——d if I +believe any such thing. Here is Guinea, who is no better than a nigger, and +therein far from being a fitting messmate to a white man; but, being used to +look at his black face for four-and-twenty years, d’ye see, the colour +has got into my eye, and now it suits as well as another. Then, at sea, in a +dark night, it is not so easy a matter to tell the difference. No, no, I am not +tired of you yet, master Harry; and it is no trifle that shall part us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, abandon your habit of making free with the property of +others.” +</p> + +<p> +“I abandon nothing. No man can say he ever knowed me to quit a deck while +a plank stuck to the beams; and shall I abandon, as you call it, my rights? +What is the mighty matter, that all hands must be called to see an old sailor +punished? You gave a lubberly fisherman, a fellow who has never been in deeper +water than his own line will sound you gave him, I say, a glittering Spaniard, +just for the use of a bit of a skiff for the night, or, mayhap, for a small +reach into the morning. Well, what does Dick do? He says to himself—for +d——e if he’s any blab to run round a ship grumbling at his +officer—so he just says to himself, ‘That’s too much;’ +and he looks about, to find the worth of it in some of the fisherman’s +neighbours. Money can be eaten; and, what is better, it may be drunk; +therefore, it is not to be pitched overboard with the cook’s ashes. +I’ll warrant me, if the truth could be fairly come by, it would be found +that, as to the owners of this here yawl, and that there skiff, their mothers +are cousins, and that the dollar will go in snuff and strong drink among the +whole family—so, no great harm done, after all.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder made an impatient gesture to the other to obey, and walked up the bank, +while he had time to comply. Fid never disputed a positive and distinct order, +though he often took so much discretionary latitude in executing those which +were less precise. He did not hesitate, therefore, to return the boat; but he +did not carry his subordination so far as to do it without complaint. When this +act of justice was performed, Wilder entered the skiff; and, seeing that his +companions were seated at their oars, he bade them to pull down the harbour, +admonishing them, at the same time, to make as little noise as possible. +</p> + +<p> +“The night I rowed you into Louisbourg, a-reconnoitring,” said Fid, +thrusting his left hand into his bosom, while, with his right, he applied +sufficient force to the light oar to make the skiff glide swiftly over the +water—“that night we muffled every thing even to our tongues. When +there is occasion to put stoppers on the mouths of a boat’s crew, why, +I’m not the man to gainsay it; but, as I am one of them that thinks +tongues were just as much made to talk with, as the sea was made to live on, I +uphold rational conversation in sober society. S’ip, you Guinea where are +you shoving the skiff to? hereaway lies the island, and you are for going into +yonder bit of a church.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lay on your oars,” interrupted Wilder; “let the boat drift +by this vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +They were now in the act of passing the ship, which had been warping from the +wharfs to an anchorage and in which the young sailor had so clandestinely heard +that Mrs Wyllys and the fascinating Gertrude were to embark, on the following +morning, for the distant province of Carolina. As the skiff floated past, +Wilder examined the vessel, by the dim light of the stars, with a +seaman’s eye. No part of her hull, her spars, or her rigging, escaped his +notice, and, when the whole became confounded, by the distance, in one dark +mass of shapeless matter, he leaned his head over the side of his little bark, +and mused long and deeply with himself. To this abstraction Fid presumed to +offer no interruption. It had the appearance of professional duty; a subject +that, in his eyes, was endowed with a species of character that might be called +sacred. Scipio was habitually silent. After losing many minutes in the manner, +Wilder suddenly regained his recollection and abruptly observed,— +</p> + +<p> +“It is a tall ship, and one that should make a long chase!” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s as may be,” returned the ready Fid. “Should +that fellow get a free wind, and his canvas all abroad, it might worry a +King’s cruiser to get nigh enough to throw the iron on his decks; but +jamm’d up close hauled, why, I’d engage to lay on his weather +quarter, with the saucy He—” +</p> + +<p> +“Boys,” interrupted Wilder, “it is now proper that you dhould +know something of my future movements. We have been shipmates, I might almost +say messmates, for more than twenty years. I was better than an infant, Fid, +when you brought me to the commander of your ship, and not only was +instrumental in saving my life, but in putting me into a situation to make an +officer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, you were no great matter, master Harry as to bulk; and a short +hammock served your turn as well as the captain’s birth.” +</p> + +<p> +“I owe you a heavy debt, Fid, for that one generous act, and something, I +may add, for your steady adherence to me since.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, yes, I’ve been pretty steady in my conduct master Harry, in +this here business, more particularly seeing that I have never let go my +grapplings, though you’ve so often sworn to turn me adrift. As for +Guinea, here, the chap makes fair weather with you, blow high or blow low, +whereas it is no hard matter to get up a squall between us, as might be seen in +that small affair about the boat;”— +</p> + +<p> +“Say no more of it,” interrupted Wilder, whose feelings appeared +sensibly touched, as his recollections ran over long-past and +bitterly-remembered scenes: “You know that little else than death can +part us, unless indeed you choose to quit me now. It is right that you should +know that I am engaged in a desperate pursuit, and one that may easily end in +ruin to myself and all who accompany me. I feel reluctant to separate from you, +my friends, for it may be a final parting, but, at the same time, you should +know all the danger.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there much more travelling by land?” bluntly demanded Fid. +</p> + +<p> +“No; the duty, such as it is, will be done entirely in the water.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then bring forth your ship’s books, and find room for such a mark +as a pair of crossed anchors, which stand for all the same as so many letters +reading ‘Richard Fid.’” +</p> + +<p> +“But perhaps, when you know”—— +</p> + +<p> +“I want to know nothing about it, master Harry Haven’t I sailed +with you often enough under sealed orders, to trust my old body once more in +your company without forgetting my duty? What say you Guinea? will you ship? or +shall we land you at once, on yonder bit of a low point, and leave you to +scrape acquaintance with the clams?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Em berry well off, here,” muttered the perfectly contented +negro. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, Guinea is like the launch of one of the coasters, always towing +in your wake, master Harry; whereas I am often luffing athwart your hawse, or +getting foul, in some fashion or other, on one of your quarters. Howsomever, we +are both shipped, as you see, in this here cruise, with the particulars of +which we are both well satisfied. So pass the word among us, what is to be done +next, and no more parley.” +</p> + +<p> +“Remember the cautions you have already received returned Wilder, who saw +that the devotion of his followers was too infinite to need quickening, and who +knew, from long and perilous experience, how implicitly he might rely on their +fidelity, notwithstanding certain failings, that were perhaps peculiar to their +condition; remember what I have already given in charge; and now pull directly +for yon ship in the outer harbour.” +</p> + +<p> +Fid and the black promptly complied; and the boat was soon skimming the water +between the little island and what might, by comparison, be called the main. As +they approached the vessel, the strokes of the oars were moderated, and finally +abandoned altogether, Wilder preferring to let the skiff drop down with the +tide upon the object he wished well to examine before venturing to board. +</p> + +<p> +“Has not that ship her nettings triced to the rigging?” he +demanded, in a voice that was lowered to the tones necessary to escape +observation, and which betrayed, at the same time, the interest he took in the +reply. +</p> + +<p> +“According to my sight, she has,” returned Fid; “your slavers +are a little pricked by conscience, and are never over-bold, unless when they +are chasing a young nigger on the coast of Congo. Now, there is about as much +danger of a Frenchman’s looking in here to-night, with this land breeze +and clear sky, as there is of my being made Lord High Admiral of England; a +thing not likely to come to pass soon, seeing that the King don’t know a +great deal of my merit.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are, to a certainty, ready to give a warm reception to any +boarders!” continued Wilder, who rarely paid much attention to the +amplifications with which Fid so often saw fit to embellish the discourse. +“It would be no easy matter to carry a ship thus prepared, if her people +were true to themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“I warrant ye there is a full quarter-watch at least sleeping among her +guns, at this very moment, with a bright look-out from her cat-heads and +taffrail. I was once on the weather fore-yard-arm of the Hebe, when I made, +hereaway to the south-west, a sail coming large upon us,”— +</p> + +<p> +“Hist! they are stirring on her decks!” +</p> + +<p> +“To be sure they are. The cook is splitting a log; the captain has sung +out for his night-cap.” +</p> + +<p> +The voice of Fid was lost in a summons from the ship, that sounded like the +roaring of some sea monster which had unexpectedly raised its head above the +water. The practised ears of our adventurers instantly comprehended it to be, +what it truly was, the manner in which it was not unusual to hail a boat. +Without taking time to ascertain that the plashing of oars was to be heard in +the distance. Wilder raised his form in the skiff, and answered. +</p> + +<p> +“How now?” exclaimed the same strange voice; “there is no one +victualled aboard here that speaks thus. Whereaway are you, he that +answers?” +</p> + +<p> +“A little on your larboard bow; here, in the shadow of the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what are ye about, within the sweep of my hawse?” +</p> + +<p> +“Cutting the waves with my taffrail,” returned Wilder, after a +moment’s hesitation. +</p> + +<p> +“What fool has broke adrift here!” muttered his interrogator. +“Pass a blunderbuss forward, and let us see if a civil answer can’t +be drawn from the fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold!” said a calm but authoritative voice from the most distant +part of the ship; “it is as it should be, let them approach.” +</p> + +<p> +The man in the bows of the vessel bade them come along side, and then the +conversation ceased. Wilder had now an opportunity to discover, that, as the +hail had been intended for another boat, which was still at a distance, he had +answered prematurely. But, perceiving that it was too late to retreat with +safety, or perhaps only acting in conformity to his original determination, he +directed his companions to obey. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Cutting the waves with the taffrail,’ is not the civillest +answer a man can give to a hail,” muttered Fid, as he dropped the blade +of his oar into the water; “nor is it a matter to be logged in a +man’s memory, that they have taken offence at the same. Howsomever, +master Harry, if they are so minded as to make a quarrel about the thing, give +them as good as they send, and count on manly backers.” +</p> + +<p> +No reply was made to this encouraging assurance for, by this time, the skiff +was within a few feet of the ship. Wilder ascended the side of the vessel amid +a deep, and, as he felt it to be, an ominous silence. The night was dark, +though enough light fell from the stars, that were here and there visible, to +render objects sufficiently distinct to the practised eyes of a seaman. When +our young adventurer touched the deck, he cast a hurried and scrutinizing look +about him, as if doubts and impressions, which had long been harboured, were +all to be resolved by that first view. +</p> + +<p> +An ignorant landsman would have been struck with the order and symmetry with +which the tall spars rose towards the heavens, from the black mass of the hull, +and with the rigging that hung in the air, one dark line crossing another, +until all design seemed confounded in the confusion and intricacy of the +studied maze. But to Wilder these familiar objects furnished no immediate +attraction. His first rapid glance had, like that of all seamen, it is true, +been thrown upward, but it was instantly succeeded by the brief, though keen, +examination to which we have just alluded. With the exception of one who, +though his form was muffled in a large sea-cloak, seemed to be an officer, not +a living creature was to be seen on the decks. On either side there was a dark, +frowning battery, arranged in the beautiful and imposing order of marine +architecture; but nowhere could he find a trace of the crowd of human beings +which usually throng the deck of an armed ship, or that was necessary to render +the engines effective. It might be that her people were in their hammocks, as +usual at that hour, but still it was customary to leave a sufficient number on +the watch, to look to the safety of the vessel. Finding himself so unexpectedly +confronted with a single individual, our adventurer began to be sensible of the +awkwardness of his situation, and of the necessity of some explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“You are no doubt surprised, sir,” he said, “at the lateness +of the hour that I have chosen for my visit.” +</p> + +<p> +“You were certainly expected earlier,” was the laconic answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Expected!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, expected. Have I not seen you, and your two companions who are in +the boat, reconnoitring us half the day, from the wharfs of the town, and even +from the old tower on the hill? What did all this curiosity foretel, but an +intention to come on board?” +</p> + +<p> +“This is odd, I will acknowledge!” exclaimed Wilder, in some secret +alarm. “And, then, you had notice of my intentions?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, friend,” interrupted the other, indulging in a short, low +laugh; “from your outfit and appearance I think I am right in calling you +a seaman: Do you imagine that glasses were forgotten in the inventory of this +ship? or, do you fancy that we don’t know how to use them?” +</p> + +<p> +“You must have strong reasons for looking so deeply into the movements of +strangers on the land.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! Perhaps we expect our cargo from the country. But I suppose you +have not come so far in the dark to look at our manifest. You would see the +Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do I not see him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Where?” demanded the other, with a start that manifested he stood +in a salutary awe of his superior. +</p> + +<p> +“In yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“I! I have not got so high in the books, though my time may come yet, +some fair day. Hark ye, friend; you passed under the stern of yonder ship, +which has been hauling into the stream, in coming out to us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly; she lies, as you see, directly in my course.” +</p> + +<p> +“A wholesome-looking craft that! and one well found, I warrant you. She +is quite ready to be off they tell me.” +</p> + +<p> +“It would so seem: her sails are bent, and she floats like a ship that is +full.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of what?” abruptly demanded the other. +</p> + +<p> +“Of articles mentioned in her manifest, no doubt. But you seem light +yourself: if you are to load at this port, it will be some days before you put +to sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! I don’t think we shall be long after our neighbour,” +the other remarked, a little drily. Then, as if he might have said too much, he +added hastily, “We slavers carry little else, you know, than our shackles +and a few extra tierces of rice; the rest of our ballast is made up of these +guns, and the stuff to put into them.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is it usual for ships in the trade to carry so heavy an +armament?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps it is, perhaps not. To own the truth, there is not much law on +the coast, and the strong arm often does as much as the right. Our owners, +therefore, I believe, think it quite as well there should be no lack of guns +and ammunition on board.” +</p> + +<p> +“They should also give you people to work them.” +</p> + +<p> +“They have forgotten that part of their wisdom, certainly.” +</p> + +<p> +His words were nearly drowned by the same gruff voice that had brought-to the +skiff of Wilder, which sent another hoarse summons across the water, rolling +out sounds that were intended to say,— +</p> + +<p> +“Boat, ahoy!” +</p> + +<p> +The answer was quick, short, and nautical; but it was rendered in a low and +cautious tone. The individual, with whom Wilder had been holding such +equivocating parlance, seemed embarrassed by the sudden interruption, and a +little at a loss to know how to conduct himself. He had already made a motion +towards leading his visiter to the cabin, when the sounds of oars were heard +clattering in a boat along side of the ship, announcing that he was too late. +Bidding the other remain where he was, he sprang to the gangway, in order to +receive those who had just arrived. +</p> + +<p> +By this sudden desertion, Wilder found himself in entire possession of that +part of the vessel where he stood. It gave him a better opportunity to renew +his examination, and to cast a scrutinizing eye also over the new comers. +</p> + +<p> +Some five or six athletic-looking seamen ascended from the boat, in profound +silence. A short and whispered conference took place between them and their +officer, who appeared both to receive a report, and to communicate an order. +When these preliminary matters were ended, a line was lowered, from a whip on +the main-yard, the end evidently dropping into the newly-arrived boat. In a +moment, the burthen it was intended to transfer to the ship was seen swinging +in the air, midway between the water and the spar. It then slowly descended, +inclining inboard until it was safely, and somewhat carefully, landed on the +decks of the vessel. +</p> + +<p> +During the whole of this process, which in itself had nothing extraordinary or +out of the daily practice of large vessels in port, Wilder had strained his +eyes, until they appeared nearly ready to start from their sockets. The black +mass, which had been lifted from the boat, seemed, while it lay against the +background of sky, to possess the proportions of the human form. The seamen +gathered about this object After much bustle, and a good deal of low +conversation, the burthen or body, whichever it might be called, was raised by +the men, and the whole disappeared together, behind the masts, boats, and guns +which crowded the forward part of the vessel. +</p> + +<p> +The whole event was of a character to attract the attention of Wilder. His eye +was not, however, so intently riveted on the groupe in the gangway, as to +prevent his detecting a dozen black objects, that were suddenly thrust forward, +from behind the spars and other dark masses of the vessel. They might be blocks +swinging in the air, but they bore also a wonderful resemblance to human heads. +The simultaneous manner in which they both appeared and disappeared, served to +confirm this impression; nor, to confess the truth, had our adventurer any +doubt that curiosity had drawn so many inquiring countenances from their +respective places of concealment. He had not much leisure, however, to reflect +on all these little accompaniments of his situation, before he was rejoined by +his former companion, who, to all appearance, was again left, with himself, to +the entire possession of the deck. +</p> + +<p> +“You know the trouble of getting off the people from the shore,” +the officer observed, “when a ship is ready to sail.” +</p> + +<p> +“You seem to have a summary method of hoisting them in,” returned +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you speak of the fellow on the whip? Your eyes are good, friend, to +tell a jack-knife from a marling-spike, at this distance. But the lad was +mutinous; that is, not absolutely mutinous—but, drunk. As mutinous as a +man can well be, who can neither speak, sit, nor stand.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, as if as well content with his humour as with this simple explanation, +the other laughed and chuckled, in a manner that showed he was in perfect good +humour with himself. +</p> + +<p> +“But all this time you are left on deck,” he quickly added, +“and the Captain is waiting your appearance in the cabin: Follow; I will +be your pilot.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold,” said Wilder; “will it not be as well to announce my +visit?” +</p> + +<p> +“He knows it already: Little takes place aboard, here, that does not +reach his ears before it gets into the log-book.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder made no further objection, but indicated his readiness to proceed. The +other led the way to the bulkhead which separated the principal cabin from the +quarter-deck of the ship; and, pointing to a door, he rather whispered than +said aloud,— +</p> + +<p> +“Tap twice; if he answer, go in.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder did as he was directed. His first summons was either unheard or +disregarded. On repeating it, he was bid to enter. The young seaman opened the +door, with a crowd of sensations, that will find their solution in the +succeeding parts of our narrative and instantly stood, under the light of a +powerful lamp, in the presence of the stranger in green. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>Chapter VI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“The good old plan,<br/> +That they should get, who have the power,<br/> +And they should keep, who can.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Wordsworth.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The apartment, in which our adventurer now found himself, afforded no bad +illustration of the character of its occupant. In its form, and proportions it +was a cabin of the usual size and arrangements; but, in its furniture and +equipments, it exhibited a singular admixture of luxury and martial +preparation. The lamp, which swung from the upper deck, was of solid silver; +and, though adapted to its present situation by mechanical ingenuity, there was +that, in its shape and ornaments, which betrayed it had once been used before +some shrine of a far more sacred character. Massive candlesticks of the same +precious metal, and which partook of the same ecclesiastical formation, were on +a venerable table, whose mahogany was glittering with the polish of half a +century, and whose gilded claws, and carved supporters, bespoke an original +destination very different from the ordinary service of a ship. A couch, +covered with cut velvet, stood along the transom; while a divan, of blue silk, +lay against the bulkhead opposite, manifesting, by its fashion, its materials, +and its piles of pillows, that even Asia had been made to contribute to the +ease of its luxurious owner. In addition to these prominent articles, there +were cut glass, mirrors, plate, and even hangings; each of which, by something +peculiar in its fashion or materials, bespoke an origin different from that of +its neighbour. In short, splendour and elegance seemed to have been much more +consulted than propriety, or conformity in taste, in the selection of most of +those articles, which had been, oddly enough, made to contribute to the caprice +or to the comfort of their singular possessor. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of this medley of wealth and luxury, appeared the frowning +appendages of war. The cabin included four of those dark cannon whose weight +and number had been first to catch the attention of Wilder. Notwithstanding +they were placed in such close proximity to the articles of ease just +enumerated, it only needed a seaman’s eye to perceive that they stood +ready for instant service, and that five minutes of preparation would strip the +place of all its tinsel, and leave it a warm and well protected battery. +Pistols, sabres, half-pikes, boarding-axes and all the minor implements of +marine warfare, were arranged about the cabin in such a manner as to aid in +giving it an appearance of wild embellishment, while, at the same time, each +was convenient to the hand. +</p> + +<p> +Around the mast was placed a stand of muskets, and strong wooden bars, that +were evidently made to fit in brackets on either side of the door, sufficiently +showed that the bulkhead might easily be converted into a barrier. The entire +arrangement proclaimed that the cabin was considered the citadel of the ship. +In support of this latter opinion, appeared a hatch, which evidently +communicated with the apartments of the inferior officers, and which also +opened a direct passage into the magazine. These dispositions, a little +different from what he had been accustomed to see, instantly struck the eye of +Wilder, though leisure was not then given to reflect on their uses and objects. +</p> + +<p> +There was a latent expression of satisfaction, something modified, perhaps, by +irony, on the countenance of the stranger in green, (for he was still clad as +when first introduced to the reader,) as he arose, on the entrance of his +visiter. The two stood several moments without speaking, when the pretended +barrister saw fit to break the awkward silence. +</p> + +<p> +“To what happy circumstance is this ship indebted for the honour of such +a visit?” he demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe I may answer, To the invitation of her Captain,” Wilder +answered, with a steadiness and calmness equal to that displayed by the other. +</p> + +<p> +“Did he show you his commission, in assuming that office? They say, at +sea, I believe, that no cruiser should be found without a commission.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what say they at the universities on this material point?” +</p> + +<p> +“I see I may as well lay aside my gown, and own the marling-spike!” +returned the other, smiling, “There is something about the +trade—<i>profession</i>, though, I believe, is your favourite +word—there is something about the profession, which betrays us to each +other. Yes, Mr Wilder,” he added with dignity motioning to his guest to +imitate his example, and take a seat, “I am, like yourself, a seaman bred +and happy am I to add, the Commander of this gallant vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, must you admit that I have not intruded without a sufficient +warrant.” +</p> + +<p> +“I confess the same. My ship has filled your eye agreeably; nor shall I +be slow to acknowledge, that I have seen enough about your air, and person, to +make me wish to be an older acquaintance. You want service?” +</p> + +<p> +“One should be ashamed of idleness in these stirring times.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well. This is an oddly-constructed world in which we live, Mr +Wilder! Some think themselves in danger, with a foundation beneath them no less +solid than <i>terra firma</i>, while others are content to trust their fortunes +on the sea. So, again, some there are who believe praying is the business of +man; and then come others who are sparing of their breath, and take those +favours for themselves which they have not always the leisure or the +inclination to ask for. No doubt you thought it prudent to inquire into the +nature of our trade, before you came hither in quest of employment?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are said to be a slaver, among the townsmen of Newport.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are never wrong, your village gossips! If witchcraft ever truly +existed on earth, the first of the cunning tribe has been a village innkeeper; +the second, its doctor; and the third, its priest. The right to the fourth +honour may be disputed between the barber and the +tailor.—Roderick!” +</p> + +<p> +The Captain accompanied the word by which he so unceremoniously interrupted +himself, by striking a light blow on a Chinese gong, which, among other +curiosities, was suspended from one of the beams of the upper deck, within +reach of his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Roderick, do you sleep?” +</p> + +<p> +A light and active boy darted out of one of the two little state-rooms which +were constructed on the quarters of the ship, and answered to the summons by +announcing his presence. +</p> + +<p> +“Has the boat returned?” +</p> + +<p> +The reply was in the affirmative. +</p> + +<p> +“And has she been successful?” +</p> + +<p> +“The General is in his room, sir, and can give you an answer better than +I.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, let the General appear, and report the result of his +campaign.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder was by far too deeply interested, to break the sudden reverie into which +his companion had now evidently fallen, even by breathing as loud as usual. The +boy descended through the hatch like a serpent gliding into his hole, or, +rather, a fox darting into his burrow, and then a profound stillness reigned in +the cabin. The Commander of the ship leaned his head on his hand, appearing +utterly unconscious of the presence of any stranger. The silence might have +been of much longer duration, had it not been interrupted by the appearance of +a third person. A straight, rigid form slowly elevated itself through the +little hatchway, very much in the manner that theatrical spectres are seen to +make their appearance on the stage, until about half of the person was visible, +when it ceased to rise, and turned its disciplined countenance on the Captain. +</p> + +<p> +“I wait for orders,” said a mumbling voice, which issued from lips +that were hardly perceived to move. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder started as this unexpected individual appeared; nor was the stranger +wanting in an aspect sufficiently remarkable to produce surprise in any +spectator. The face was that of a man of fifty, with the lineaments rather +indurated than faded by time. Its colour was an uniform red, with the exception +of one of those expressive little fibrous tell-tales on each cheek, which bear +so striking a resemblance to the mazes of the vine, and which would seem to be +the true origin of the proverb which says that “good wine needs no +bush.” The head was bald on its crown; but around either ear was a mass +of grizzled hair, pomatumed and combed into formal military bristles. The neck +was long, and supported by a black stock; the shoulders, arms, and body were +those of a man of tall stature; and the whole were enveloped in an over-coat, +which, though it had something methodical in its fashion, was evidently +intended as a sort of domino. The Captain raised his head as the other spoke, +exclaiming,— +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! General, are you at your post? Did you find the land?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the point?—and the man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Both.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what did you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Obey orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“That was right.—You are a jewel for an executive officer, General; +and, as such, I wear you near my heart. Did the fellow complain?” +</p> + +<p> +“He was gagged.” +</p> + +<p> +“A summary method of closing remonstrance. It is as it should be, +General; as usual, you have merited my approbation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then reward me for it.” +</p> + +<p> +“In what manner? You are already as high in rank as I can elevate you. +The next step must be knighthood.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pshaw! my men are no better than militia. They want coats.” +</p> + +<p> +“They shall have them. His Majesty’s guards shall not be half so +well equipt. General, I wish you a good night.” +</p> + +<p> +The figure descended, in the same rigid, spectral manner as it had risen on the +sight, leaving Wilder again alone with the Captain of the ship. The latter +seemed suddenly struck with the fact that this odd interview had occurred in +the presence of one who was nearly a stranger, and that, in his eyes at least, +it might appear to require some explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“My friend,” he said, with an air something explanatory while it +was at the same time not a little naughty, “commands what, in a more +regular cruiser, would be called the ‘marine guard.’ He has +gradually risen, by service, from the rank of a subaltern, to the high station +which he now fills. You perceive he smells of the camp?” +</p> + +<p> +“More than of the ship. Is it usual for slavers to be so well provided +with military equipments? I find you armed at all points.” +</p> + +<p> +“You would know more of us, before we proceed to drive our +bargain?” the Captain answered, with a smile. He then opened a little +casket that stood on the table, and drew from it a parchment, which he coolly +handed to Wilder, saying, as he did so, with one of the quick, searching +glances of his restless eye, “You will see, by that, we have +‘letters of marque,’ and are duly authorized to fight the battles +of the King, while we are conducting our own more peaceable affairs.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is the commission of a brig!” +</p> + +<p> +“True, true. I have given you the wrong paper. I believe you will find +this more accurate.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is truly a commission for the ‘good ship Seven +Sisters;’ but you surely carry more than ten guns, and, then, these in +your cabin throw nine instead of four pound shot!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you are as precise as though you had been the barrister, and I the +blundering seaman. I dare say you have heard of such a thing as stretching a +commission,” continued the Captain drily, as he carelessly threw the +parchment back among a pile of similar documents. Then, rising from his seat, +he began to pace the cabin with quick steps, as he continued, “I need not +tell you, Mr Wilder, that ours is a hazardous pursuit. Some call it lawless. +But, as I am little addicted to theological disputes, we will wave the +question. You have not come here without knowing your errand.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am in search of a birth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless you have reflected well on the matter and know your own mind +as to the trade in which you would sail. In order that no time may be wasted +and that our dealings may be frank, as becomes two honest seamen, I will +confess to you, at once, that I have need of you. A brave and skilful man, one +older, though, I dare say, not better than yourself occupied that larboard +state-room, within the month; but, poor fellow, he is food for fishes ere +this.” +</p> + +<p> +“He was drowned?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not he! He died in open battle with a King’s ship!” +</p> + +<p> +“A King’s ship! Have you then stretched your commission so far as +to find a warranty for giving battle to his Majesty’s cruisers?” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there no King but George the Second! Perhaps she bore the white flag, +perhaps a Dane. But he was truly a gallant fellow; and there lies his birth, as +empty as the day he was carried from it, to be cast into the sea. He was a man +fit to succeed to the command, should an evil star shine on my fate, I think I +could die easier, were I to know this noble vessel was to be transmitted to one +who would make such use of her as should be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless your owners would provide a successor in the event of such a +calamity.” +</p> + +<p> +“My owners are very reasonable,” returned the other, with a meaning +smile, while he cast another searching glance at his guest, which compelled +Wilder to lower his own eyes to the cabin floor; “they seldom trouble me +with importunities, or orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are indulgent! I see that flags were not forgotten in your +inventory: Do they also give you permission to wear any one of all those +ensigns, as you may please?” +</p> + +<p> +As this question was put, the expressive and understanding looks of the two +seamen met. The Captain drew a flag from the half-open locker, where it had +caught the attention of his visiter, and, letting the roll unfold itself on the +deck, he answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“This is the Lily of France, you see. No bad emblem of your stainless +Frenchman. An escutcheon of pretence without spot, but, nevertheless, a little +soiled by too much use. Here, you have the calculating Dutchman; plain, +substantial, and cheap. It is a flag I little like. If the ship be of value, +her owners are not often willing to dispose of her without a price. This is +your swaggering Hamburgher. He is rich in the possession of one town, and makes +his boast of it, in these towers. Of the rest of his mighty possessions he +wisely says nothing in his allegory These are the Crescents of Turkey; a +moon-struck nation, that believe themselves the inheritors of heaven. Let them +enjoy their birthright in peace; it is seldom they are found looking for its +blessings on the high seas—and these, the little satellites that play +about the mighty moon; your Barbarians of Africa. I hold but little communion +with these wide-trowsered gentry, for they seldom deal in gainful traffic. And +yet,” he added, glancing his eye at the silken divan before which Wilder +was seated, “I have met the rascals; nor have we parted entirely without +communication! Ah! here comes the man I like; your golden, gorgeous Spaniard! +This field of yellow reminds one of the riches of her mines; and this Crown! +one might fancy it of beaten gold, and stretch forth a hand to grasp the +treasure What a blazonry is this for a galleon! Here is the humbler Portuguese; +and yet is he not without a wealthy look. I have often fancied there were true +Brazilian diamonds in this kingly bauble. Yonder crucifix, which you see +hanging in pious proximity to my state-room door, is a specimen of the sort I +mean.” Wilder turned his head, to throw a look on the valuable emblem, +that was really suspended from the bulkhead, within a few inches of the spot +the other named. After satisfying his curiosity he was in the act of giving his +attention again to the flags, when he detected another of those penetrating, +but stolen glances with which his companion so often read the countenance of +his associates. It might have been that the Captain was endeavouring to +discover the effect his profuse display of wealth had produced on the mind of +his visiter. Let that be as it would, Wilder smiled; for, at that moment, the +idea first occurred that the ornaments of the cabin had been thus studiously +arranged with an expectation of his arrival, and with the wish that their +richness might strike his senses favourably. The other caught the expression of +his eye; and perhaps he mistook its meaning, when he suffered his construction +of what it said to animate him to pursue his whimsical analysis of the flags, +with an air still more cheerful and vivacious than before. +</p> + +<p> +“These double-headed monsters are land birds and seldom risk a flight +over deep waters. They are not for me. Your hardy, valiant Dane; your sturdy +Swede; a nest of smaller fry,” he continued, passing his hand rapidly +over a dozen little rolls as they lay, each in its own repository, “who +spread their bunting like larger states; and your luxurious Neapolitan. Ah! +here come the Keys of Heaven! This is a flag to die under! I lay yard-arm and +yard-arm, once, under that very bit of bunting, with a heavy corsair from +Algiers”— +</p> + +<p> +“What! Did you choose to fight under the banners of the Church?” +</p> + +<p> +“In mere devotion. I pictured to myself the surprise that would overcome +the barbarian, when he should find that we did not go to prayers. We gave him +but a round or two, before he swore that Allah had decreed he might surrender. +There was a moment while I luffed-up on his weather-quarter, I believe, that +the Mussulman thought the whole of the holy Conclave was afloat, and that the +downfall of Mahomet and his offspring was ordained. I provoked the conflict, I +will confess, in showing him these peaceful Keys, which he is dull enough to +think open half the strong boxes of Christendom.” +</p> + +<p> +“When he had confessed his error, you let him go?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum!—with my blessing. There was some interchange of commodities +between us, and then we parted. I left him smoking his pipe, in a heavy sea +with his fore-topmast over the side, his mizzenmast under his counter, and some +six or seven holes in his bottom, that let in the water just as fast as the +pumps discharged it. You see he was in a fair way to acquire his portion of the +inheritance. But Heaven had ordained it all, and he was satisfied!” +</p> + +<p> +“And what flags are these which you have passed? They seem rich, and +many.” +</p> + +<p> +“These are England; like herself, aristocratic, party-coloured, and a +good deal touched by humour. Here is bunting to note all ranks and conditions, +as if men were not made of the same flesh, and the people of one kingdom might +not all sail honestly under the same emblems. Here is my Lord High Admiral; +your St. George; your field of red, and of blue, as chance may give you a +leader, or the humour of the moment prevail; the stripes of mother India, and +the Royal Standard itself!” +</p> + +<p> +“The Royal Standard!” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not? A commander is termed a ‘monarch in his ship.’ Ay; +this is the Standard of the King and, what is more, it has been worn in +presence of an Admiral!” +</p> + +<p> +“This needs explanation!” exclaimed his listener who seemed to feel +much that sort of horror that a churchman would discover at the detection of +sacrilege. “To wear the Royal Standard in presence of a flag! We all know +how difficult, and even dangerous, it becomes, to sport a simple pennant, with +the eyes of a King’s cruiser on us—” +</p> + +<p> +“I love to flaunt the rascals!” interrupted the other, with a +smothered, but bitter laugh. “There is pleasure in the thing!—In +order to punish, they must possess the power; an experiment often made, but +never yet successful. You understand balancing accounts with the law, by +showing a broad sheet of canvas! I need say no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“And which of all these flags do you most use?” demanded Wilder, +after a moment of intense thought. +</p> + +<p> +“As to mere sailing, I am as whimsical as a girl in her teens in the +choice of her ribbons. I will often show you a dozen in a day. Many is the +worthy trader who has gone into port with his veritable account of this +Dutchman, or that Dane, with whom he has spoken in the offing. As to fighting, +though I have been known to indulge a humour, too, in that particular, still is +there one which I most affect.” +</p> + +<p> +“And that is?——” +</p> + +<p> +The Captain kept his hand, for a moment, on the roll he had touched, and seemed +to read the very soul of his visiter, so intent and keen was his look the +while. Then, suffering the bunting to fall, a deep, blood-red field, without +relief or ornament of any sort, unfolded itself, as he answered, with +emphasis,— +</p> + +<p> +“This.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is the colour of a Rover!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, it is <i>red</i>! I like it better than your gloomy fields of black, +with death’s heads, and other childish scare-crows. It threatens nothing; +but merely says, ‘Such is the price at which I am to be bought.’ Mr +Wilder,” he added, losing the mixture of irony and pleasantry with which +he had supported the previous dialogue, in an air of authority, “We +understand each other. It is time that each should sail under his proper +colours. I need not tell you who I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe it is unnecessary,” said Wilder. “If I can +comprehend these palpable signs, I stand in presence of—of—” +</p> + +<p> +“The Red Rover,” continued the other, observing that he hesitated +to pronounce the appalling name. “It is true; and I hope this interview +is the commencement of a durable and firm friendship. I know not the secret +cause, but, from the moment of our meeting, a strong and indefinable interest +has drawn me towards you. Perhaps I felt the void which my situation has drawn +about me;—be that as it may, I receive you with a longing heart and open +arms.” +</p> + +<p> +Though it must be very evident, from what-preceded this open avowal, that +Wilder was not ignorant of the character of the ship on board of which he had +just ventured, yet did he not receive the acknowledgment without embarrassment. +The reputation of this renowned freebooter, his daring, his acts of liberality +and licentiousness so frequently blended, and his desperate disregard of life +on all occasions, were probably crowding together in the recollection of our +more youthful adventurer, and caused him to feel that species of responsible +hesitation to which we are all more or less subject on the occurrence of +important events, be they ever so much expected. +</p> + +<p> +“You have not mistaken my purpose, or my suspicions,” he at length +answered, “for I own have come in search of this very ship. I accept the +service; and, from this moment, you will rate me in whatever station you may +think me best able to discharge my duty with credit.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are next to myself. In the morning, the same shall be proclaimed on +the quarter-deck; and, in the event of my death, unless I am deceived in my +man, you will prove my successor. This may strike you as sudden confidence. It +is so, in part, I must acknowledge; but our shipping lists cannot be opened, +like those of the King, by beat of drum in the streets of the metropolis; and, +then, am I no judge of the human heart, if my frank reliance on your faith does +not, in itself, strengthen your good feelings in my favour.” +</p> + +<p> +“It does!” exclaimed Wilder, with sudden and deep emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover smiled calmly, as he continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“Young gentlemen of your years are apt to carry no small portion of their +hearts in their hands. But, notwithstanding this seeming sympathy, in order +that you may have sufficient respect for the discretion of your leader, it is +necessary that I should say we have met before. I was apprised of your +intention to seek me out, and to offer to join me.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is impossible!” cried Wilder, “No human +being—” +</p> + +<p> +“Can ever be certain his secrets are safe,” interrupted the other, +“when he carries a face as ingenuous as your own. It is but +four-and-twenty hours since you were in the good town of Boston.” +</p> + +<p> +“I admit that much; but—” +</p> + +<p> +“You will soon admit the rest. You were too curious in your inquiries of +the dolt who declares he was robbed by us of his provisions and sails. The +false-tongued villain! It may be well for him to keep from my path, or he may +get a lesson that shall prick his honesty. Does he think such pitiful game as +he would induce me to spread a single inch of canvas, or even to lower a boat +into the sea!” +</p> + +<p> +“Is not his statement, then, true?” demanded Wilder, in a surprise +he took no pains to conceal. +</p> + +<p> +“True! Am I what report has made me? Look keenly at the monster, that +nothing may escape you,” returned the Rover, with a hollow laugh, in +which scorn struggled to keep down the feelings of wounded pride. “Where +are the horns, and the cloven foot? Snuff the air: Is it not tainted with +sulphur? But enough of this. I knew of your inquiries, and liked your mien. In +short, you were my study; and, though my approaches were made with some caution +they were sufficiently nigh to effect the object. You pleased me, Wilder; and I +hope the satisfaction may be mutual.” +</p> + +<p> +The newly engaged buccanier bowed to the compliment of his superior, and +appeared at some little loss for a reply: As if to get rid of the subject at +once, he hurriedly observed,— +</p> + +<p> +“As we now understand each other, I will intrude no longer, but leave you +for the night, and return to my duty in the morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Leave me!” returned the Rover, stopping short on his walk, and +fastening his eye keenly on the other. “It is not usual for my officers +to leave me at this hour. A sailor should love his ship, and never sleep out of +her, unless on compulsion.” +</p> + +<p> +“We may as well understand each other,” said Wilder, quickly. +“If it is to be a slave, and, like one of the bolts, a fixture in the +vessel, that you need me, our bargain is at an end.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! I admire your spirit, sir, much more than your discretion. You will +find me an attached friend and one who little likes a separation, however short +Is there not enough to content you here? I will not speak of such low +considerations as those which administer to the ordinary appetites. But, you +have been taught the value of reason; here are books—you have taste; here +is elegance—you are poor, here is wealth.” +</p> + +<p> +“They amount to nothing, without liberty,” coldly returned the +other. +</p> + +<p> +“And what is this liberty you ask? I hope, young man, you would not so +soon betray the confidence you have just received! Our acquaintance is but +short, and I may have been too hasty in my faith.” +</p> + +<p> +“I must return to the land,” Wilder added, firmly, “if it be +only to know that I am intrusted, and am not a prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is generous sentiment, or deep villany, in all this,” +resumed the Rover, after a minute of deep thought. “I will believe the +former. Declare to me, that, while in the town of Newport, you will inform no +soul of the true character of this ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will swear it,” eagerly interrupted Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“On this cross,” rejoined the Rover, with a sarcastic laugh; +“on this diamond-mounted cross! No, sir,” he added, with a proud +curl of the lip, as he cast the jewel contemptuously aside, “oaths are +made for men who need laws to keep them to their promises; I need no more than +the clear and unequivocal affirmation of a gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, plainly and unequivocally do I declare, that, while in Newport, I +will discover the character of this ship to no one, without your wish, or order +so to do. Nay more”— +</p> + +<p> +“No more. It is wise to be sparing of our pledges, and to say no more +than the occasion requires. The time may come when you might do good to +yourself, without harming me, by being unfettered by a promise. In an hour, you +shall land; that time will be needed to make you acquainted with the terms of +your enlistment, and to grace my rolls with your name.—Roderick,” +he added, again touching the gong, “you are wanted, boy.” +</p> + +<p> +The same active lad, that had made his appearance at the first summons, ran up +the steps from the cabin beneath, and announced his presence again by his +voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick,” continued the Rover, “this is my future +lieutenant, and, of course, your officer, and my friend. Will you take +refreshment, sir? there is little, that man needs, which Roderick cannot +supply.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you; I have need of none.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, have the goodness to follow the boy. He will show you into the +dining apartment beneath, and give you the written regulations. In an hour, you +will have digested the code, and by that time I shall be with you. Throw the +light more upon the ladder, boy; you can descend <i>without</i> a ladder +though, it would seem, or I should not, at this moment, have the pleasure of +your company.” +</p> + +<p> +The intelligent smile of the Rover was unanswered by any corresponding evidence +from the subject of his joke, that he found satisfaction in the remembrance of +the awkward situation in which he had been left in the tower. The former caught +the displeased expression of the other’s countenance, as he gravely +prepared to follow the boy, who already stood in the hatchway with a light. +Advancing a step with the grace and tones of sensitive breeding, he said +quickly,— +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder, I owe you an apology for my seeming rudeness at parting on +the hill. Though I believed you mine, I was not sure of my acquisition. You +will readily see how necessary it might be, to one in my situation, to throw +off a companion at such a moment.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder turned, with a countenance from which every shade of displeasure had +vanished, and motioned to him to say no more. +</p> + +<p> +“It was awkward enough, certainly, to find one’s self in such a +prison; but I feel the justice of what you say. I might have done the very +thing myself, if the same presence of mind were at hand to help me.” +</p> + +<p> +“The good man, who grinds in the Newport ruin, must be in a sad way, +since all the rats are leaving his mill,” cried the Rover gaily, as his +companion descended after the boy. Wilder now freely returned his open, cordial +laugh, and then, as he descended, the cabin was left to him who, a few minutes +before, had been found in its quiet possession. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>Chapter VII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“The world affords no law to make thee rich;<br/> +Then be not poor, but break it, and take this.”<br/> +<i>Apoth.</i> “My poverty, but not my will, consents.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Romeo and Juliet.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The Rover arrested his step, as the other disappeared and stood for more than a +minute in an attitude of high and self-gratulating triumph. It was quite +apparent he was exulting in his success. But, though his intelligent face +betrayed the satisfaction of the inward man, it was illumined by no expression +of vulgar joy. It was the countenance of one who was suddenly relieved from +intense care, rather than that of a man who was greedy of profiting by the +services of others. Indeed, it would not have been difficult, for a close and +practised observer, to have detected a shade of regret in the lightings of his +seductive smile, or in the momentary flashes of his changeful eye. The feeling, +however, quickly passed away, and his whole figure and countenance resumed the +ordinary easy mien in which he most indulged in his hours of retirement. +</p> + +<p> +After allowing sufficient time for the boy to conduct Wilder to the necessary +cabin, and to put him in possession of the regulations for the police of the +ship, the Captain again touched the gong, and once more summoned the former to +his presence. The lad had however, to approach the elbow of his master, and to +speak thrice, before the other was conscious that he had answered his call. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick,” said the Rover, after a long pause, “are you +there?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am here,” returned a low, and seemingly a mournful voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you gave him the regulations?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did.” +</p> + +<p> +“And he reads?” +</p> + +<p> +“He reads.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well. I would speak to the General. Roderick, you must have need +of rest; good night; let the General be summoned to a council, and—Good +night, Roderick.” +</p> + +<p> +The boy made an assenting reply; but, instead of springing, with his former +alacrity, to execute the order he lingered a moment nigh his master’s +chair. Failing, however, in his wish to catch his eye, he slowly and +reluctantly descended the stairs which led into the lower cabins, and was seen +no more. +</p> + +<p> +It is needless to describe the manner in which the General made his second +appearance. It differed in no particular from his former entrée, except +that, on this occasion, the whole of his person was developed. He appeared a +tall, upright form, that was far from being destitute of natural grace and +proportions, but which had been so exquisitely drilled into simultaneous +movement, that the several members had so far lost the power of volition, as to +render it impossible for one to stir, without producing some thing like a +correspondent demonstration in all its fellows. This rigid and well-regulated +personage, after making a formal military bow to his superior, helped himself +to a chair, in which, after some little time lost in preparation, he seated +himself in silence. The Rover seemed conscious of his presence; for he +acknowledged his salute by a gentle inclination of his own head; though he did +not appear to think it necessary to suspend his ruminations the more on that +account. At length, however, he turned short upon his companion, and said +abruptly,— +</p> + +<p> +“General, the campaign is not finished.” +</p> + +<p> +“What remains? the field is won, and the enemy is a prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, your part of the adventure is well achieved, but much of mine +remains to be done. You saw the youth in the lower cabin?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how find you his appearance?” +</p> + +<p> +“Maritime.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is as much as to say, you like him not.” +</p> + +<p> +“I like discipline.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am much mistaken if you do not find him to your taste on the +quarter-deck. Let that be as it may, I have still a favour to ask of +you!” +</p> + +<p> +“A favour!—it is getting late.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did I say ‘a favour?’ there is duty to be yet done.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wait your orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is necessary that we use great precaution for, as you +know”—— +</p> + +<p> +“I wait your orders,” laconically repeated the other. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover compressed his mouth, and a scornful smile struggled about the nether +lip; but it changed into a look half bland, half authoritative, as he +continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“You will find two seamen, in a skiff, alongside the ship; the one is +white, and the other is black. These men you will have conducted into the +vessel—into one of the forward state-rooms—and you will have them +both thoroughly intoxicated.” +</p> + +<p> +“It shall be done,” returned he who was called the General, rising, +and marching with long strides towards the door of the cabin. +</p> + +<p> +“Pause a moment,” exclaimed the Rover; “what agent will you +use?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nightingale has the strongest head but one in the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is too far gone already. I sent him ashore, to look about for any +straggling seamen who might like our service; and I found him in a tavern, with +all the fastenings off his tongue, declaiming like a lawyer who had taken a fee +from both parties Besides, he had a quarrel with one of these very men, and it +is probable they would get to blows in their cups.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will do it myself. My night-cap is waiting for me; and it is only to +lace it a little tighter than common.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover seemed content with this assurance; for he expressed his satisfaction +with a familiar nod of the head. The soldier was now about to depart, when he +was again interrupted. +</p> + +<p> +“One thing more, General; there is your captive.”— +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I make him drunk too?” +</p> + +<p> +“By no means. Let him be conducted hither.” +</p> + +<p> +The General made an ejaculation of assent, and left the cabin. “It were +weak,” thought the Rover as he resumed his walk up and down the +apartment, “to trust too much to an ingenuous face and youthful +enthusiasm. I am deceived if the boy has not had reason to think himself +disgusted with the world, and ready to embark in any romantic enterprise but, +still, to be deceived might be fatal therefore will I be prudent, even to +excess of caution. He is tied in an extraordinary manner to these two seamen I +would I knew his history. But all that will come in proper time. The men must +remain as hostages for his own return, and for his faith. If he prove false, +why, they are seamen;—and many men are expended in this wild service of +ours! It is well arranged; and no suspicion of any plot on our part will wound +the sensitive pride of the boy, if he be, as I would gladly think, a true +man.” +</p> + +<p> +Such was, in a great manner, the train of thought in which the Rover indulged, +for many minutes, after his military companion had left him. His lips moved; +smiles, and dark shades of thought, in turn, chased each other from his +speaking countenance, which betrayed all the sudden and violent changes that +denote the workings of a busy spirit within. While thus engrossed in mind, his +step became more rapid, and, at times, he gesticulated a little extravagantly +when he found himself, in a sudden turn, unexpectedly confronted by a form that +seemed to rise on his sight like a vision. +</p> + +<p> +While most engaged in his own humours, two powerful seamen had, unheeded, +entered the cabin; and, after silently depositing a human figure in a seat, +they withdrew without speaking. It was before this personage that the Rover now +found himself. The gaze was mutual, long, and uninterrupted by a syllable from +either party. Surprise and indecision held the Rover mute, while wonder and +alarm appeared to have literally frozen the faculties of the other. At length +the former, suffering a quaint and peculiar smile to gleam for a moment across +his countenance, said abruptly,— +</p> + +<p> +“I welcome sir Hector Homespun!” +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of the confounded tailor—for it was no other than that garrulous +acquaintance of the reader who had fallen into the toils of the Rover—the +eyes of the good-man rolled from right to left, embracing, in their wanderings, +the medley of elegance and warlike preparation that they every where met never +failing to return, from each greedy look, to devour the figure that stood +before him. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Welcome, sir Hector Homespun!” repeated the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord will be lenient to the sins of a miserable father of seven +small children!” ejaculated the tailor. “It is but little, valiant +Pirate, that can be gotten from a hard-working, upright tradesman, who sits +from the rising to the setting sun, bent over his labour.” +</p> + +<p> +“These are debasing terms for chivalry, sir Hector,” interrupted +the Rover, laying his hand on the little riding whip, which had been thrown +carelessly on the cabin table, and, tapping the shoulder of the tailor with the +same, as though he were a sorcerer, and would disenchant the other with the +touch: “Cheer up, honest and loyal subject: Fortune has at length ceased +to frown: it is but a few hours since you complained that no custom came to +your shop from this vessel, and now are you in a fair way to do the business of +the whole ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! honourable and magnanimous Rover,” rejoined Homespun, whose +fluency returned with his senses, “I am an impoverished and undone man. +My life has been one of weary and probationary hardships. Five bloody and cruel +wars”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Enough. I have said that Fortune was just beginning to smile. Clothes +are as necessary to gentlemen of our profession as to the parish priest. You +shall not baste a seam without your reward. Behold!” he added, touching +the spring of a secret drawer, which flew open, and discovered a confused pile +of gold, in which the coins of nearly every Christian people were blended, +“we are not without the means of paying those who serve us +faithfully.” +</p> + +<p> +The sudden exhibition of a horde of wealth, which not only greatly exceeded any +thing of the kind he had ever before witnessed, but which actually surpassed +his limited imaginative powers, was not without its effect on the sensitive +feelings of the good-man After feasting on the sight, for the few moments that +his companion left the treasure exposed to view, he turned to the envied +possessor of so much gold, and demanded,—the tones of increased +confidence gradually stealing into his voice, as the inward man felt additional +motives of encouragement,— +</p> + +<p> +“And what am I expected to perform, mighty Seaman, for my portion of this +wealth?” +</p> + +<p> +“That which you daily perform on the land—to cut, to fashion, and +to sew. Perhaps, too, your talent at a masquerade dress may be taxed, from time +to time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! they are lawless and irreligious devices of the enemy, to lead men +into sin and worldly abominations But, worthy Mariner, there is my disconsolate +consort, Desire; though stricken in years, and given to wordy strife, yet is +she the lawful partner of my bosom, and the mother of a numerous +offspring.” +</p> + +<p> +“She shall not want. This is an asylum for distressed husbands. Your men, +who have not force enough to command at home, come to my ship as to a city of +refuge. You will make the seventh who has found peace by fleeing to this +sanctuary. Their families are supported by ways best known to ourselves, and +all parties are content. This is not the least of my benevolent acts.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is praiseworthy and just, honourable Captain and I hope that Desire +and her offspring may not be forgotten. The labourer is surely worthy of his +hire and if, peradventure, I should toil in your behalf through stress of +compulsion, I hope the good and her young, may fatten on your +liberality.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have my word; they shall not be neglected.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, just Gentleman, if an allotment should be made in advance from +that stock of gold, the mind of my consort would be relieved, her inquiries +after my fate not so searching, and her spirit less troubled. I have reason to +understand the temper of Desire; and am well identified, that, while the +prospect of want is before her eyes, there will be a clamour in Newport. Now +that the Lord has graciously given me the hopes of a respite, there can be no +sin in wishing to enjoy it in peace.” +</p> + +<p> +Although the Rover was far from believing, with his captive, that the tongue of +Desire could disturb the harmony of his ship, he was in the humour to be +indulgent. Touching the spring again, he took a handful of the gold, and, +extending it towards Homespun demanded,— +</p> + +<p> +“Will you take the bounty, and the oath? The money will then be your +own.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord defend us from the evil one, and deliver us all from +temptation!” ejaculated the tailor: “Heroic Rover, I have a dread +of the law. Should any evil overcome you, in the shape of a King’s +cruiser, or a tempest cast you on the land, there might be danger in being +contaminated too closely with your crew. Any little services which I may +render, on compulsion, will be overlooked, I humbly hope and I trust to your +magnanimity, honest and honourable Commander, that the same will not be +forgotten in the division of your upright earnings.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is but the spirit of cabbaging, a little distorted muttered the +Rover, as he turned lightly on his heel, and tapped the gong, with an +impatience that sent the startling sound through every cranny of the ship. Four +or five heads were thrust in at the different doors of the cabin, and the voice +of one was heard, desiring to know the wishes of their leader. +</p> + +<p> +“Take him to his hammock,” was the quick, sudden order. +</p> + +<p> +The good-man Homespun, who, from fright or policy, appeared to be utterly +unable to move, was quickly lifted from his seat, and conveyed to the door +which communicated with the quarter-deck. +</p> + +<p> +“Pause,” he exclaimed to his unceremonious bearers, as they were +about to transport him to the place designated by their Captain; “I have +one word yet to say. Honest and loyal Rebel, though I do not accept your +service, neither do I refuse it in an unseemly and irreverent manner. It is a +sore temptation, and I feel it at my fingers’ ends. But a covenant may be +made between us, by which neither party shall be a loser, and in which the law +shall find no grounds of displeasure. I would wish, mighty Commodore, to carry +an honest name to my grave, and I would also wish to live out the number of my +days; for, after having passed with so much credit, and unharmed, through five +bloody and cruel wars”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Away with him!” was the stern and startling interruption. +</p> + +<p> +Homespun vanished, as though magic had been employed in transporting him, and +the Rover was again left to himself. His meditations were not interrupted, for +a long time, by human footstep or voice. That breathing stillness, which +unbending and stern discipline can alone impart, pervaded the ship. A landsman, +seated in the cabin, might have fancied himself, although surrounded by a crew +of lawless and violent men, in the solitude of a deserted church, so +suppressed, and deadened, were even those sounds that were absolutely +necessary. There were heard at times, it is true, the high and harsh notes of +some reveller who appeared to break forth in the strains of a sea song, which, +as they issued from the depths of the vessel, and were not very musical in +themselves, broke on the silence like the first discordant strains of a new +practitioner on a bugle. But even these interruptions gradually grew less +frequent, and finally became inaudible. At length the Rover heard a hand +fumbling about the handle of the cabin door, and then his military friend once +more made his appearance. +</p> + +<p> +There was that in the step, the countenance, and the whole air of the General, +which proclaimed that his recent service, if successful, had not been achieved +entirely without personal hazard. The Rover, who had started from his seat the +moment he saw who had entered, instantly demanded his report. +</p> + +<p> +“The white is so drunk, that he cannot lie down without holding on to the +mast; but the negro is either a cheat, or his head is made of flint.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you have not too easily abandoned the design.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would as soon batter a mountain! my retreat was not made a minute too +soon.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover fastened his eyes on the General, for a moment, in order to assure +himself of the precise condition of his subaltern, ere he replied,— +</p> + +<p> +“It is well. We will now retire for the night.” +</p> + +<p> +The other carefully dressed his tall person, and brought his face in the +direction of the little hatchway so often named. Then, by a sort of desperate +effort, he essayed to march to the spot, with his customary upright mien and +military step. As one or two erratic movements, and crossings of the legs, were +not commented on by his Captain, the worthy martinet descended the stairs, as +he believed, with sufficient dignity; the moral man not being in the precise +state which is the best adapted to discover any little blunders that might be +made by his physical coadjutor. The Rover looked at his watch; and after +allowing sufficient time for the deliberate retreat of the General, he stepped +lightly on the stairs, and descended also. +</p> + +<p> +The lower apartments of the vessel, though less striking in their equipments +than the upper cabin were arranged with great attention to neatness and +comfort. A few offices for the servants occupied the extreme after-part of the +ship, communicating by doors with the dining apartment of the secondary +officers; or, as it was called in technical language, the +“ward-room.” On either side of this, again, were the state-rooms, +an imposing name, by which the dormitories of those who are entitled to the +honours of the quarter-deck are ever called. Forward of the ward-room, came the +apartments of the minor officers; and, immediately in front of them, the corps +of the individual who was called the General was lodged, forming, by their +discipline, a barrier between the more lawless seamen and their superiors. +</p> + +<p> +There was little departure, in this disposition of the accommodations, from the +ordinary arrangements of vessels of war of the same description and force as +the “Rover;” but Wilder had not failed to remark that the bulkheads +which separated the cabins from the birth-deck, or the part occupied by the +crew, were far stouter than common, and that a small howitzer was at hand, to +be used, as a physician might say, internally, should occasion require. The +doors were of extraordinary strength, and the means of barricadoing them +resembled more a preparation for battle, than the usual securities against +petty encroachments on private property. Muskets, blunderbusses, pistols, +sabres, half-pikes, &c., were fixed to the beams and carlings, or were made +to serve as ornaments against the different bulkheads, in a profusion that +plainly told they were there as much for use as for show. In short, to the eye +of a seaman, the whole betrayed a state of things, in which the superiors felt +that their whole security, against the violence and insubordination of their +inferiors, depended on their influence and their ability to resist, united; and +that the former had not deemed it prudent to neglect any of the precautions +which might aid their comparatively less powerful physical force. +</p> + +<p> +In the principal of the lower apartments, or the ward-room, the Rover found his +newly enlisted lieutenant apparently busy in studying the regulations of the +service in which he had just embarked. Approaching the corner in which the +latter had seated himself, the former said, in a frank, encouraging, and even +confidential manner,—— +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you find our laws sufficiently firm, Mr Wilder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Want of firmness is not their fault; if the same quality can always be +observed in administering them, it is well,” returned the other, rising +to salute his superior. “I have never found such rigid rules, even +in”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Even in what, sir?” demanded the Rover, perceiving that his +companion hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +“I was about to say, ‘Even in his Majesty’s +service,’” returned Wilder, slightly colouring. “I know not +whether it may be a fault, or a recommendation, to have served in a +King’s ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the latter; at least I, for one, should think it so, since I +learned my trade in the same service.” +</p> + +<p> +“In what ship?” eagerly interrupted Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“In many,” was the cold reply. “But, speaking of rigid rules, +you will soon perceive, that, in a service where there are no courts on shore +to protect us, nor any sister-cruisers to look after each other’s +welfare, no small portion of power is necessarily vested in the Commander. You +find my authority a good deal extended.” +</p> + +<p> +“A little unlimited,” said Wilder, with a smile that might have +passed for ironical. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you will have no occasion to say that it is arbitrarily +executed,” returned the Rover, without observing, or perhaps without +letting it appear that he observed, the expression of his companion’s +countenance. “But your hour is come, and you are now at liberty to +land.” +</p> + +<p> +The young man thanked him, with a courteous inclination of the head, and +expressed his readiness to go. As they ascended the ladder into the upper +cabin, the Captain expressed his regret that the hour, and the necessity of +preserving the incognito of his ship, would not permit him to send an officer +of his rank ashore in the manner he could wish. +</p> + +<p> +“But then there is the skiff, in which you came off, still alongside, and +your own two stout fellows will soon twitch you to yon point. A propos of those +two men, are they included in our arrangements?” +</p> + +<p> +“They have never quitted me since my childhood, and would not wish to do +it now.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a singular tie that unites two men, so oddly constituted, to one +so different, by habits and education, from themselves,” returned the +Rover, glancing his eye keenly at the other, and withdrawing it the instant he +perceived his interest in the answer was observed. +</p> + +<p> +“It is,” Wilder calmly replied; “but, as we are all seamen, +the difference is not so great as one would at first imagine. I will now join +them, and take an opportunity to let them, know that they are to serve in +future under your orders.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover suffered him to leave the cabin, following to the quarter-deck, with +a careless step, as if he had come abroad to breathe the open air of the night. +</p> + +<p> +The weather had not changed, but it still continued dark, though mild. The same +stillness as before reigned on the decks of the ship; and nowhere, with a +solitary exception, was a human form to be seen, amid the collection of dark +objects that rose on the sight, all of which Wilder well understood to be +necessary fixtures in the vessel. The exception was the same individual who had +first received our adventurer, and who still paced the quarter-deck, wrapped, +as before, in a watch-coat. To this personage the youth now addressed himself, +announcing his intention temporarily to quit the vessel. His communication was +received with a respect that satisfied him his new rank was already known, +although, as it would seem, it was to be made to succumb to the superior +authority of the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“You know, sir, that no one, of whatever station, can leave the ship at +this hour, without an order from the Captain,” was the calm, but steady +reply. +</p> + +<p> +“So I presume; but I have the order, and transmit it to you. I shall land +in my own boat.” +</p> + +<p> +The other, seeing a figure within hearing, which he well knew to be that of his +Commander, waited an instant, to ascertain if what he heard was true. Finding +that no objection was made, nor any sign given, to the contrary, he merely +indicated the place where the other would find his boat. +</p> + +<p> +“The men have left it!” exclaimed Wilder, stepping back in +surprise, as he was about to descend the vessel’s side. +</p> + +<p> +“Have the rascals run?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, they have not run; neither are they rascals They are in this ship, +and must be found.” +</p> + +<p> +The other waited, to witness the effect of these authoritative words, too, on +the individual, who still lingered in the shadow of a mast. As no answer was, +however, given from that quarter, he saw the necessity of obedience. Intimating +his intention to seek the men, he passed into the forward parts of the vessel, +leaving Wilder, as he thought, in the sole possession of the quarter-deck. The +latter was, however, soon undeceived. The Rover, advancing carelessly to his +side, made an allusion to the condition of his vessel, in order to divert the +thoughts of his new lieutenant, who, by his hurried manner of pacing the deck, +he saw, was beginning to indulge in uneasy meditations. +</p> + +<p> +“A charming sea-boat, Mr Wilder,” he continued, “and one that +never throws a drop of spray abaft her mainmast. She is just the craft a seaman +loves; easy on her rigging, and lively in a sea. I call her the +‘Dolphin,’ from the manner in which she cuts the water; and, +perhaps, because she has as many colours as that fish, you will say—Jack +must have a name for his ship, you know, and I dislike your cut-throat +appellations, your ‘Spit-fires’ and +‘Bloody-murders.’” +</p> + +<p> +“You were fortunate in finding such a vessel. Was she built to your +orders?” +</p> + +<p> +“Few ships, under six hundred tons, sail from these colonies, that are +not built to serve my purposes,” returned the Rover, with a smile; as if +he would cheer his companion, by displaying the mine of wealth that was opening +to him, through the new connexion he had made. “This vessel was +originally built for his Most Faithful Majesty; and, I believe, was either +intended as a present or a scourge to the Algerines; but—but she has +changed owners, as you see, and her fortune is a little altered; though how, or +why, is a trifle with which we will not, just now divert ourselves. I have had +her in port; she has undergone some improvements, and is now altogether suited +to a running trade.” +</p> + +<p> +“You then venture, sometimes, inside the forts?” +</p> + +<p> +“When you have leisure, my private journal may afford some +interest,” the other evasively replied. “I hope, Mr Wilder, you +find this vessel in such a state that a seaman need not blush for her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Her beauty and neatness first caught my eye, and induced me to make +closer inquiries into her character.” +</p> + +<p> +“You were quick in seeing that she was kept at a single anchor!” +returned the other, laughing. “But I never risk any thing without a +reason; not even the loss of my ground tackle. It would be no great +achievement, for so warm a battery as this I carry, to silence yonder apology +for a fort; but, in doing it, we might receive an unfortunate hit, and +therefore do I keep ready for an instant departure.” +</p> + +<p> +“It must be a little awkward, to fight in a war where one cannot lower +his flag in any emergency!” said Wilder; more like one who mused, than +one who intended to express the opinion aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“The bottom is always beneath us,” was the laconic answer. +“But to you I may say, that I am, on principle, tender on my spars. They +are examined daily, like the heels of a racer; for it often happens that our +valour must be well-tempered by discretion.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how, and where, do you refit, when damaged in a gale, or in a +fight?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! We contrive to refit, sir, and to take the sea in tolerable +condition.” +</p> + +<p> +He stopped; and Wilder, perceiving that he was not yet deemed entitled to +entire confidence, continued silent. In this pause, the officer returned, +followed by the black alone. A few words served to explain the condition of +Fid. It was very apparent that the young man was not only disappointed, but +that he was deeply mortified. The frank and ingenuous air, however, with which +he turned to the Rover, to apologize for the dereliction of his follower, +satisfied the latter that he was far from suspecting any improper agency in +bringing about his awkward condition. +</p> + +<p> +“You know the character of seamen too well, sir,” he said, +“to impute this oversight to my poor fellow as a heinous fault. A better +sailor never lay on a yard, or stretched a ratlin, than Dick Fid; but I must +allow he has the quality of good fellowship to excess.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are fortunate in having one man left you to pull the boat +ashore,” carelessly returned the other. +</p> + +<p> +“I am more than equal to that little exertion myself nor do I like to +separate the men. With your permission, the black shall be birthed, too, in the +ship to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“As you please. Empty hammocks are not scarce among us, since the last +brush.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder then directed the negro to return to his messmate, and to watch over him +so long as he should be unable to look after himself. The black, who was far +from being as clear-headed as common, willingly complied. The young man then +took leave of his companions, and descended into the skiff. As he pulled, with +vigorous arms, away from the dark ship, his eyes were cast upward, with a +seaman’s pleasure, on the-order and neatness of her gear, and thence they +fell on the frowning mass of the hull. A light-built, compact form was seen +standing on the heel of the bowsprit, apparently watching his movements; and, +notwithstanding the gloom of the clouded star-light, he was enabled to detect, +in the individual who took so much apparent interest in his proceedings, the +person of the Rover. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>Chapter VIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“What is yon gentleman?”<br/> +Nurse. “The son and heir of old Tiberio.”<br/> +Juliet. “What’s he that follows there, that would not dance?”<br/> +Nurse. “Marry, I know not.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Romeo and Juliet.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The sun was just heaving up, out of the field of waters in which the blue +islands of Massachusetts lie, when the inhabitants of Newport were seen opening +their doors and windows, and preparing for the different employments of the +day, with the freshness and alacrity of people who had wisely adhered to the +natural allotments of time in seeking their rests, or in pursuing their +pleasures. The morning salutations passed cheerfully from one to another, as +each undid the slight fastenings of his shop; and many a kind inquiry was made, +and returned, after the condition of a daughter’s fever, or the +rheumatism of some aged grandam. As the landlord of the “Foul +Anchor” was so wary in protecting the character of his house from any +unjust imputations of unseemly revelling, so was he among the foremost in +opening his doors, to catch any transient customer, who might feel the +necessity of washing away the damps of the past night, in some invigorating +stomachic This cordial was very generally taken in the British provinces, under +the various names of “bitters,” “juleps,” +“morning-drams,” “fogmatics,” &c., according as the +situation of each district appeared to require some particular preventive. The +custom is getting a little into disuse, it is true; but still it retains much +of that sacred character which it would seem is the concomitant of antiquity. +It is not a little extraordinary that this venerable and laudable practice, of +washing away the unwholesome impurities engendered in the human system, at a +time, when as it is entirely without any moral protector, it is left exposed to +the attacks of all the evils to which flesh is heir, should subject the +American to the witticisms of his European brother. We are not among the least +grateful to those foreign philanthropists who take so deep an interest in our +welfare as seldom to let any republican foible pass, without applying to it, as +it merits, the caustic application of their purifying pens. We are, perhaps, +the more sensible of this generosity, because we have had so much occasion to +witness, that, so great is their zeal in behalf of our infant States, (robust, +and a little unmanageable perhaps, but still infant) they are wont, in the +warmth of their ardour, to reform Cis-atlantic sins, to overlook not a few +backslidings of their own. Numberless are the moral missionaries that the +mother country, for instance, has sent among us, on these pious and benevolent +errands. We can only regret that their efforts have been crowned with so little +success. It was our fortune to be familiarly acquainted with one of these +worthies, who never lost an opportunity of declaiming, above all, against the +infamy of the particular practice to which we have just alluded. Indeed, so +broad was the ground he took, that he held it to be not only immoral, but, what +was far worse, ungenteel, to swallow any thing stronger than small beer, before +the hour allotted to dinner. After that important period, it was not only +permitted to assuage the previous mortifications of the flesh, but, so liberal +did he show himself in the orthodox indulgence, that he was regularly carried +to his bed at midnight, from which he as regularly issued, in the course of the +following morning, to discourse again on the thousand deformities of premature +drink. And here we would take occasion to say, that, as to our own +insignificant person, we eschew the abomination altogether; and only regret +that those of the two nations, who find pleasure in the practice, could not +come to some amicable understanding as to the precise period, of the +twenty-four hours, when it is permitted to such Christian gentlemen as talk +English to get drunk. That the negotiators who framed the last treaty of amity +should have overlooked this important moral topic, is another evidence that +both parties were so tired of an unprofitable war as to patch up a peace in a +hurry. It is not too late to name a commission for this purpose; and, in order +that the question may be fairly treated on its merits, we presume to suggest to +the Executive the propriety of nominating, as our commissioner, some confirmed +advocate of the system of “juleps.” It is believed our worthy and +indulgent Mother can have no difficulty in selecting a suitable opponent from +the ranks of her numerous and well-trained diplomatic corps. +</p> + +<p> +With this manifestation of our personal liberality, united to so much interest +in the proper, and we hope final, disposition of this important question, we +may be permitted to resume the narrative, without being set down as advocates +for morning stimulants, or evening intoxication; which is a very just division +of the whole subject, as we believe, from no very limited observation. +</p> + +<p> +The landlord of the “Foul Anchor,” then, was early a-foot, to gain +an honest penny from any of the supporters of the former system who might +chance to select his bar for their morning sacrifices to Bacchus, in preference +to that of his neighbour, he who endeavoured to entice the lieges, by +exhibiting a red-faced man, in a scarlet coat, that was called the “Head +of George the Second.” It would seem that the commendable activity of the +alert publican was not to go without its reward. The tide of custom set +strongly, for the first half-hour, towards the haven of his hospitable bar; nor +did he appear entirely to abandon the hopes of a further influx, even after the +usual period of such arrivals began to pass away. Finding, however, that his +customers were beginning to depart, on their several pursuits, he left his +station, and appeared at the outer door, with a hand in each pocket, as though +he found a secret pleasure in the merry jingling of their new tenants. A +stranger, who had not entered with the others, and who, of course, had not +partaken of the customary libations, was standing at a little distance, with a +hand thrust into the bosom of his vest, as if he were chiefly occupied with his +own reflections. This figure caught the understanding eye of the publican who +instantly conceived that no man, who had had recourse to the proper morning +stimulants, could wear so meditative a face at that early period in the cares +of the day, and that consequently something was yet to be gained, by opening +the path of direct communication between them. +</p> + +<p> +“A clean air this, friend, to brush away the damps of the night,” +he said, snuffing the really delicious and invigorating breathings of a fine +October morning. “It is such purifiers as this, that gives our island its +character, and makes it perhaps the very healthest as it is universally +admitted to be the beautifullest spot in creation.—A stranger here, +’tis likely?” +</p> + +<p> +“But quite lately arrived, sir,” was the reply. +</p> + +<p> +“A sea-faring man, by your dress? and one in search of a ship, as I am +ready to qualify to;” continued the publican, chuckling, perhaps, at his +own penetration. “We have many such that passes hereaway; but people +mustn’t think, because Newport is so flourishing a town, that births can +always be had for asking. Have you tried your luck yet in the Capital of the +Bay Province?” +</p> + +<p> +“I left Boston no later than the day before yesterday.” +</p> + +<p> +“What, couldn’t the proud townsfolk find you a ship! Ay, they are a +mighty people at talking, and it isn’t often that they put their candle +under the bushel; and yet there are what I call good judges, who think +Narraganset Bay is in a fair way, shortly, to count as many sail as +Massachusetts. There, yonder, is a wholesome brig, that is going, within the +week, to turn her horses into rum and sugar; and here is a ship that hauled +into the stream no longer ago than yesterday sun-down. That is a noble vessel +and has cabins fit for a prince! She’ll be off with the change of the +wind; and I dare say a good hand wouldn’t go a-begging aboard her just +now. Then yonder is a slaver, off the fort, if you like a cargo of wool-heads +for your money.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is it thought the ship in the inner harbour will sail with the first +wind?” demanded the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“It is downright. My wife is a full cousin to the wife of the +Collector’s clerk; and I have it straight that the papers are ready, and +that nothing but the wind detains them. I keep some short scores, you know, +friend, with the blue-jackets, and it behoves an honest man to look to his +interests in these hard times. Yes, there she lies; a well-known ship, the +‘Royal Caroline.’ She makes a regular v’yage once a year +between the Provinces and Bristol, touching here, out and home, to give us +certain supplies, and to wood and water; and then she goes home, or to the +Carolinas, as the case may be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pray, sir, has she much of an armament?” continued the stranger, +who began to lose his thoughtful air, in the more evident interest he was +beginning to lake in the discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes; she is not without a few bull-dogs, to bark in defence of her +own rights, and to say a word in support of his Majesty’s honour, too; +God bless him! Judy! you Jude!” he shouted, at the top of his voice, to a +negro girl, who was gathering kindling-wood among the chips of a ship-yard, +“scamper over to neighbour Homespun’s, and rattle away at his +bed-room windows: the man has overslept himself it is not common to hear seven +o’clock strike, and the thirsty tailor not appear for his bitters.” +</p> + +<p> +A short cessation took place in the dialogue, while the wench was executing her +master’s orders. The summons produced no other effect than to draw a +shrill reply from Desire, whose voice penetrated, through the thin board +coverings of the little dwelling as readily as sound would be conveyed through +a sieve. In another moment a window was opened, and the worthy housewife thrust +her disturbed visage into the fresh air of the morning. +</p> + +<p> +“What next! what next!” demanded the offended and, as she was fain +to believe, neglected wife, under the impression that it was her truant +husband, making his tardy return to his domestic allegiance, who had thus +presumed to disturb her slumbers. “Is it not enough that you have eloped +from my bed and board, for a long night, but you must dare to break in on the +natural rest of a whole family, seven blessed children, without counting their +mother! O Hector! Hector! an example are you getting to be to the young and +giddy, and a warning will you yet prove to the unthoughtful!” +</p> + +<p> +“Bring hither the black book,” said the publican to his wife, who +had been drawn to a window by the lamentations of Desire; “I think the +woman said something about starting on a journey between two days; and, if such +has been the philosophy of the good-man, it behoves all honest people to look +into their accounts. Ay, as I live, Keziah, you have let the limping beggar get +seventeen and sixpence into arrears, and that for such trifles as morning-drams +and night-caps!” +</p> + +<p> +“You are wrathy, friend, without reason; the man has made a garment for +the boy at school, and found the”— +</p> + +<p> +“Hush, good woman,” interrupted her husband returning the book, and +making a sign for her to retire; “I dare say it will all come round in +proper Time, and the less noise we make about the backslidings of a neighbour, +the less will be said of our own transgressions. A worthy and hard-working +mechanic, sir,” he continued, addressing the stranger “but a man +who could never get the sun to shine in at his windows, though, Heaven knows, +the glass is none too thick for such a blessing.” +</p> + +<p> +“And do you imagine on evidence as slight as this we have seen, that such +a man has actually absconded?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, it is a calamity that has befallen his betters!” returned the +publican, interlocking his fingers across the rotundity of his person, with an +air of grave consideration. “We inn-keepers—who live, as it were, +in plain sight of every man’s secrets; for it is after a visit to us that +one is apt truly to open his heart—should know something of the affairs +of a neighbourhood. If the good-man Homespun could smooth down the temper of +his companion as easily as he lays a seam into its place, the thing might not +occur, but——Do you drink this morning, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“A drop of your best.” +</p> + +<p> +“As I was saying,” continued the other, while he furnished his +customer, according to his desire, “if a tailor’s goose would take +the wrinkles out of the ruffled temper of a woman, as it does out of the cloth; +and then, if, after it had done this task, a man might eat it, as he would +yonder bird hanging behind my bar—Perhaps you will have occasion to make +your dinner with us, too, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot say I shall not,” returned the stranger, paying for the +dram he had barely tasted; “it greatly depends on the result of my +inquiries concerning the different vessels in the port.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then would I, though perfectly disinterested, as you know, sir, +recommend you to make this house your home, while you sojourn in the town. It +is the resort of most of the sea-faring men; and I may say this much of myself, +without conceit—No man can tell you more of what you want to know, than +the landlord of the ‘Foul Anchor.’” +</p> + +<p> +“You advise an application to the Commander of this vessel, in the +stream, for a birth: Will she sail so soon as you have named?” +</p> + +<p> +“With the first wind. I know the whole history of the ship, from the day +they laid the blocks for her keel to the minute when she let her anchor go +where you now see her. The great Southern Heiress, General Grayson’s fine +daughter, is to be a passenger she, and her overlooker, Government-lady, I +believe they call her—a Mrs Wyllys—are waiting for the signal, up +here, at the residence of Madam de Lacey; she that is the relict of the +Rear-Admiral of that name, who is full-sister to the General; and, therefore, +an aunt to the young lady, according to my reckoning. Many people think the two +fortunes will go together; in which case, he will be not only a lucky man, but +a rich one, who gets Miss Getty Gray son for a wife.” +</p> + +<p> +The stranger, who had maintained rather an indifferent manner during the close +of the foregoing dialogue appeared now disposed to enter into it, with a degree +of interest suited to the sex and condition of the present subject of their +discourse. After waiting to catch the last syllable that the publican chose to +expend his breath on, he demanded, a little abruptly,— +</p> + +<p> +“And you say the house near us, on the rising ground, is the residence of +Mrs de Lacey?” +</p> + +<p> +“If I did, I know nothing of the matter. By ‘up here,’ I mean +half a mile off. It is a place fit for a lady of her quality, and none of your +elbowy dwellings like these crowded about us. One may easily tell the house, by +its pretty blinds and its shades. I’ll engage there are no such shades, +in all Europe, as them very trees that stand before the door of Madam de +Lacey.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is very probable,” muttered the stranger, who, not appearing +quite as sensitive in his provincial admiration as the publican, had already +relapsed into his former musing air. Instead of pushing the discourse, he +suddenly turned the subject, by making some common-place remark; and then, +repeating the probability of his being obliged to return, he walked +deliberately away, taking the direction of the residence of Mrs de Lacey. The +observing publican would, probably, have found sufficient matter for +observation, in this abrupt termination of the interview, had not Desire, at +that precise moment, broken out of her habitation, and diverted his attention, +by the peculiarly piquant manner in which she delineated the character of her +delinquent husband. +</p> + +<p> +The reader has probably, ere this, suspected that the individual who had +conferred with the publican, as a stranger, was not unknown to himself. It was, +in truth, no other than Wilder. But, in the completion of his own secret +purposes, the young mariner left the wordy war in his rear; and, turning up the +gentle ascent, against the side of which the town is built, he proceeded +towards the suburbs. +</p> + +<p> +It was not difficult to distinguish the house he sought, among a dozen other +similar retreats, by its “shades,” as the innkeeper, in conformity +to a provincial use of the word, had termed a few really noble elms that grew +in the little court before its door. In order, however, to assure himself that +he was right, he confirmed his surmises by actual inquiry and then continued +thoughtfully on his path. The morning had, by this time, fairly opened with +every appearance of another of those fine bland, autumnal days for which the +climate is, or ought to be, so distinguished. The little air there was, came +from the south, fanning the face of our adventurer as he occasionally paused, +in his ascent, to gaze at the different vessels in the harbour, like a mild +breeze in June. In short, it was just such a time as one, who is fond of +strolling in the fields, is apt to seize on with rapture, and which a seaman +sets down as a day lost in his reckoning. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder was first drawn from his musings by the sound of a dialogue that came +from persons who were evidently approaching. There was one voice, in +particular, that caused his blood to thrill, he knew not why, and which +appeared unaccountably, even to himself, to set in motion every latent faculty +of his system. Profiting, by the formation of the ground, he sprang, unseen, up +a little bank, and, approaching an angle in a low wall, he found himself in the +immediate proximity of the speakers. +</p> + +<p> +The wall enclosed the garden and pleasure-grounds of a mansion, that he now +perceived was the residence of Mrs de Lacey. A rustic summer-house which, in +the proper season, had been nearly buried in leaves and flowers, stood at no +great distance from the road. By its elevation and position, it commanded a +view of the town, the harbour, the isles of Massachusetts to the east, those of +the Providence Plantations to the west, and, to the south, an illimitable +expanse of ocean. As it had now lost its leafy covering, there was no +difficulty in looking directly into its centre, through the rude pillars which +supported its little dome. Here Wilder discovered precisely the very party to +whose conversation he had been a listener the previous day, while caged, with +the Rover, in the loft of the ruin. Though the Admiral’s widow and Mrs +Wyllys were most in advance, evidently addressing some one who was, like +himself, in the public road, the quick eye of the young sailor soon detected +the more enticing person of the blooming Gertrude, in the background. His +observations were, however, interrupted by a reply from the individual who as +yet was unseen. Directed by the voice, Wilder was next enabled to perceive the +person of a man in a green old age, who, seated on a stone by the way side, +appeared to be resting his weary limbs, while he answered to some +interrogations from the summer-house. Though his head was white, and the hand, +which grasped a long walking-staff, sometimes trembled, as its owner sought +additional support from its assistance, there was that in the costume, the +manner, and the voice of the speaker, which furnished sufficient evidence of +his having once been a veteran of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +“Lord! your Ladyship, Ma’am,” he said, in tones that were +getting tremulous, even while they retained the deep characteristic intonations +of his profession, “we old sea-dogs never stop to look into an almanac, +to see which way the wind will come after the next thaw, before we put to sea. +It is enough for us, that the sailing orders are aboard, and that the Captain +has taken leave of his Lady.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! the very words of the poor lamented Admiral!” exclaimed Mrs de +Lacey, who evidently found great satisfaction in pursuing the discourse with +this superannuated mariner. “And then you are of opinion, honest friend, +that, when a ship is ready, she should sail, whether the wind +is”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Here is another follower of the sea, opportunely come to lend us his +advice,” interrupted Gertrude, with a hurried air, as if to divert the +attention of her aunt from something very like a dogmatical termination of an +argument that had just occurred between her and Mrs Wyllys; “perhaps to +serve as an umpire.” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” said the latter. “Pray, what think you of the weather +to-day, sir? would it be profitable to sail in such a time, or not?” +</p> + +<p> +The young mariner reluctantly withdrew his eyes from the blushing Gertrude, +who, in her eagerness to point him out, had advanced to the front, and was now +shrinking back, timidly, to the centre of the building again, like one who +already repented of her temerity. He then fastened his look on her who put the +question; and so long and riveted was his gaze, that she saw fit to repeat it, +believing that what she had first said was not properly understood. +</p> + +<p> +“There is little faith to be put in the weather, Madam,” was the +dilatory reply. “A man has followed the sea to but little purpose who is +tardy in making that discovery.” +</p> + +<p> +There was something so sweet and gentle, at the same time that it was manly, in +the voice of Wilder, that the ladies, by a common impulse, seemed struck with +its peculiarities. The neatness of his attire, which, while it was strictly +professional, was worn with an air of smartness, and even of gentility, that +rendered it difficult to suppose that he was not entitled to lay claim to a +higher station in society than that in which he actually appeared, added to +this impression. Bending her head, with a manner that was intended to be +polite, a little more perhaps in self-respect than out of consideration to the +other, as if in deference to the equivocal character of his appearance, Mrs de +Lacey resumed the discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“These ladies,” she said, “are about to embark in yonder +ship, for the province of Carolina, and we were consulting concerning the +quarter in which the wind will probably blow next. But, in such a vessel, it +cannot matter much, I should think, sir, whether the wind were fair or +foul.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not,” was the reply. “She looks to me like a ship +that will not do much, let the wind be as it may.” +</p> + +<p> +“She has the reputation of being a very fast sailer.—Reputation! we +know she is such, having come from home to the Colonies in the incredibly short +passage of seven weeks! But seamen have their favourites and prejudices, I +believe, like us poor mortals ashore. You will therefore excuse me, if I ask +this honest veteran for an opinion on this particular point also. What do you +imagine, friend, to be the sailing qualities of yonder ship—she with the +peculiarly high top-gallant-booms, and such conspicuous round-tops?” +</p> + +<p> +The lip of Wilder curled, and a smile struggled with the gravity of his +countenance; but he continued silent. On the other hand, the old mariner arose, +and appeared to examine the ship, like one who perfectly comprehended the +technical language of the Admiral’s widow. +</p> + +<p> +“The ship in the inner harbour, your Ladyship,” he answered, when +his examination was finished, “which is, I suppose, the vessel that Madam +means, is just such a ship as does a sailor’s eye good to look on. A +gallant and a safe boat she is, as I will swear; and as to sailing, though she +may not be altogether a witch, yet is she a fast craft, or I’m no judge +of blue water, or of those that live on it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Here is at once a difference of opinion!” exclaimed Mrs de Lacey. +“I am glad, however, you pronounce her safe; for, although seamen love a +fast-sailing vessel, these ladies will not like her the less for the security. +I presume, sir, you will not dispute her being <i>safe</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“The very quality I should most deny,” was the laconic answer of +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“It is remarkable! This is a veteran seaman, sir, and he appears to think +differently.” +</p> + +<p> +“He may have seen more, in his time, than myself Madam; but I doubt +whether he can, just now see as well. This is something of a distance to +discover the merits or demerits of a ship: I have been higher.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you really think there is danger to be apprehended sir?” +demanded the soft voice of Gertrude whose fears had gotten the better of her +diffidence. +</p> + +<p> +“I do. Had I mother, or sister,” touching his hat, and bowing to +his fair interrogator, as he uttered the latter word with much emphasis, +“I would hesitate to let her embark in that ship. On my honour Ladies, I +do assure you, that I think this very vessel in more danger than any ship which +has left, or probably will leave, a port in the Provinces this autumn.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is extraordinary!” observed Mrs Wyllys. “It is not the +character we have received of the vessel, which has been greatly exaggerated, +or she is entitled to be considered as uncommonly convenient and safe. May I +ask, sir, on what circumstances you have founded this opinion?” +</p> + +<p> +“They are sufficiently plain. She is too lean in the harping, and too +full in the counter, to steer. Then, she in as wall-sided as a church, and +stows too much above the water-line. Besides this, she carries no head-sail, +but all the press upon her will be aft, which will jam her into the wind, and, +more than likely, throw her aback. The day will come when that ship will go +down stern foremost.” +</p> + +<p> +His auditors listened to this opinion, which Wilder delivered in an oracular +and very decided manner, with that sort of secret faith, and humble dependence, +which the uninstructed are so apt to lend to the initiated in the mysteries of +any imposing profession. Neither of them had certainly a very clear perception +of his meaning; but there were, apparently, danger and death in his very words +Mrs de Lacey felt it incumbent on her peculiar advantages, however, to manifest +how well she comprehended the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“These are certainly very serious evils!” she exclaimed. “It +is quite unaccountable that my agent should have neglected to mention them. Is +there any other particular quality, sir, that strikes your eye at this +distance, and which you deem alarming?” +</p> + +<p> +“Too many. You observe that her top-gallant masts are fidded abaft; none +of her lofty sails set flying; and then, Madam, she has depended on bobstays +and gammonings for the security of that very important part of a vessel, the +bowsprit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Too true! too true!” said Mrs de Lacey, in a sort of professional +horror. “These things had escaped me; but I see them all, now they are +mentioned. Such neglect is highly culpable; more especially to rely on bobstays +and gammonings for the security of a bowsprit! Really, Mrs Wyllys, I can never +consent that my niece should embark in such a vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +The calm, penetrating eye of Wyllys had been riveted on the countenance of +Wilder while he was speaking, and she now turned it, with undisturbed serenity, +on the Admiral’s widow, to reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps the danger has been a little magnified,” she observed. +“Let us inquire of this other seaman what he thinks on these several +points.—And do you see all these serious dangers to be apprehended, +friend, in trusting ourselves, at this season of the year, in a passage to the +Carolinas, aboard of yonder ship?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord, Madam!” said the gray-headed mariner, with a chuckling +laugh, “these are new-fashioned faults and difficulties, if they be +faults and difficulties at all! In my time, such matters were never heard of; +and I confess I am so stupid as not to understand the half the young gentleman +has been saying.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is some time, I fancy, old man, since you were last at sea,” +Wilder coolly observed. +</p> + +<p> +“Some five or six years since the last time, and fifty since the +first,” was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you do not see the same causes for apprehension?” Mrs Wyllys +once more demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“Old and worn out as I am, Lady, if her Captain will give me a birth +aboard her, I will thank him for the same as a favour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Misery seeks any relief,” said Mrs de Lacey, in an under tone, and +bestowing on her companions a significant glance. “I incline to the +opinion of the younger seaman; for he supports it with substantial, +professional reasons.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys suspended her questions, just as long as complaisance to the last +speaker seemed to require and then she resumed them as follows, addressing her +next inquiry to Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“And how do you explain this difference in judgment, between two men who +ought both to be so well qualified to decide right?” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe there is a well-known proverb which will answer that +question,” returned the young man, smiling: “But some allowance +must be made for the improvements in ships; and, perhaps, some little deference +to the stations we have respectively filled on board them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Both very true. Still, one would think the changes of half a dozen years +cannot be so very considerable, in a profession that is so exceedingly +ancient.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your pardon, Madam. They require constant practice to know them. Now, I +dare say that yonder worthy old tar is ignorant of the manner in which a ship, +when pressed by her canvas, is made to ‘cut the waves with her +taffrail.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible!” cried the Admiral’s widow; “the youngest +and the meanest mariner must have been struck with the beauty of such a +spectacle.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” returned the old tar, who wore the air of an offended +man, and who, probably, had he been ignorant of any part of his art, was not +just then in the temper to confess it; “many is the proud ship that I +have seen doing the very same; and, as the lady says, a grand and comely sight +it is!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder appeared confounded. He bit his lip, like one who was over-reached +either by excessive ignorance or exceeding cunning; but the self-complacency of +Mrs de Lacey spared him the necessity of an immediate reply. +</p> + +<p> +“It would have been an extraordinary circumstance truly,” she said, +“that a man should have grown white-headed on the seas, and never have +been struck with so noble a spectacle. But then, my honest tar, you appear to +be wrong in overlooking the striking faults in yonder ship, which this, +a—a—this gentleman has just, and so properly, named.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not call them faults, your Ladyship. Such is the way my late brave +and excellent Commander always had his own ship rigged; and I am bold to say +that a better seaman, or a more honest man, never served in his Majesty’s +fleet.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you have served the King! How was your beloved Commander +named?” +</p> + +<p> +“How should he be! By us, who knew him well, he was called Fair-weather: +for it was always smooth water, and prosperous times, under his orders; though, +on shore, he was known as the gallant and victorious Rear-Admiral de +Lacey.” +</p> + +<p> +“And did my late revered and skilful husband cause his ships to be rigged +in this manner?” said the widow, with a tremour in her voice, that +bespoke how much, and how truly, she was overcome by surprise and gratified +pride. +</p> + +<p> +The aged tar lifted his bending frame from the stone, and bowed low, as he +answered,—“If I have the honour of seeing my Admiral’s Lady, +it will prove a joyful sight to my old eyes. Sixteen years did I serve in his +own ship, and five more in the same squadron. I dare say your Ladyship may have +heard him speak of the captain of his main-top, Bob Bunt.” +</p> + +<p> +“I dare say—I dare say—He loved to talk of those who served +him faithfully.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, God bless him, and make his memory glorious! He was a kind officer, +and one that never forgot a friend, let it be that his duty kept him on a yard +or in the cabin. He was the sailor’s friend, that very same +Admiral!” +</p> + +<p> +“This is a grateful man,” said Mrs de Lacey, wiping her eyes, +“and I dare say a competent judge of a vessel. And are you quite sure, +worthy friend, that my late revered husband had all his ships arranged like the +one of which we have been talking?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very sure, Madam; for, with my own hands, did I assist to rig +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even to the bobstays?” +</p> + +<p> +“And the gammonings, my Lady. Were the Admiral alive, and here, he would +call yon ‘a safe and well-fitted ship,’ as I am ready to +swear.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs de Lacey turned, with an air of great dignity and entire decision, to +Wilder, as she continued,—“I have, then, made a small mistake in +memory which is not surprising, when one recollects, that he who taught me so +much of the profession is no longer here to continue his lessons. We are much +obliged to you, sir, for your opinion; but we must think that you have +over-rated the danger.” +</p> + +<p> +“On my honour, Madam,” interrupted Wilder laying his hand on his +heart, and speaking with singular emphasis, “I am sincere in what I say. +I do affirm, that I believe there will be great danger in embarking in yonder +ship; and I call Heaven to witness, that, in so saying, I am actuated by no +malice to her Commander, her owners, nor any connected with her.” +</p> + +<p> +“We dare say, sir, you are very sincere: We only think you a little in +error,” returned the Admiral’s widow, with a commiserating, and +what she intended for a condescending, smile. “We are your debtors for +your good intentions, at least. Come, worthy veteran, we must not part here. +You will gain admission by knocking at my door; and we shall talk further of +these matters.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, bowing to Wilder, she led the way up the garden, followed by all her +companions. The step of Mrs de Lacey was proud, like the tread of one conscious +of all her advantages; while that of Wyllys was slow, as if she were buried in +thought. Gertrude kept close to the side of the latter, with her face hid +beneath the shade of a gipsy hat. Wilder fancied that he could discover the +stolen and anxious glance that she threw back towards one who had excited a +decided emotion in her sensitive bosom though it was a feeling no more +attractive than alarm. He lingered until they were lost amid the shrubbery. +Then, turning to pour out his disappointment on his brother tar, he found that +the old man had made such good use of his time, as to be entering the gate, +most probably felicitating himself on the prospect of reaping the reward of his +recent adulation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>Chapter IX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“He ran this way, and leap’d this orchard wall.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Shakespeare.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Wilder retired from the field like a defeated man. Accident, or, as he was +willing to term it, the sycophancy of the old mariner, had counteracted his own +little artifice; and he was now left without the remotest chance of being again +favoured with such another opportunity of effecting his purpose. We shall not, +at this period of the narrative, enter into a detail of the feelings and policy +which induced our adventurer to plot against the apparent interests of those +with whom he had so recently associated himself; it is enough, for our present +object, that the facts themselves should be distinctly set before the reader. +</p> + +<p> +The return of the disappointed young sailor, towards the town, was moody and +slow. More than once he stopped short in the descent, and fastened his eyes, +for minutes together, on the different vessels in the harbour. But, in these +frequent-halts, no evidence of the particular interest he took in any one of +the ships escaped him. Perhaps his gaze at the Southern trader was longer, and +more earnest, than at any other; though his eye, at times, wandered curiously, +and even anxiously, over every craft that lay within the shelter of the haven. +</p> + +<p> +The customary hour for exertion had now arrived, and the sounds of labour were +beginning to be heard, issuing from every quarter of the place. The songs of +the mariners were rising on the calm of the morning with their peculiar, +long-drawn intonations. The ship in the inner harbour was among the first to +furnish this proof of the industry of her people, and of her approaching +departure. It was only as these movements caught his eye, that Wilder seemed to +be thoroughly awakened from his abstraction, and to pursue his observations +with an undivided mind. He saw the seamen ascend the rigging, in that lazy +manner which is so strongly contrasted by their activity in moments of need; +and here and there a human form was showing itself on the black and ponderous +yards. In a few moments, the fore-topsail fell, from its compact compass on the +yard, into graceful and careless festoons. This, the attentive Wilder well +knew, was, among all trading vessels, the signal of sailing. In a few more +minutes, the lower angles of this important sail were drawn to the, extremities +of the corresponding spar beneath; and then the heavy yard was seen slowly +ascending the mast, dragging after it the opening folds of the sail, until the +latter was tightened at all its edges, and displayed itself in one broad, +snow-white sheet of canvas. Against this wide surface the light currents of air +fell, and as often receded; the sail bellying and collapsing in a manner to +show that, as yet, they were powerless. At this point the preparations appeared +suspended, as if the mariners, having thus invited the breeze, were awaiting to +see if their invocation was likely to be attended with success. +</p> + +<p> +It was perhaps but a natural transition for him, who so closely observed these +indications of departure in the ship so often named, to turn his eyes on the +vessel which lay without the fort, in order to witness the effect so manifest a +signal had produced in her, also. But the closest and the keenest scrutiny +could have detected no sign of any bond of interest between the two. While the +firmer was making the movements just described, the latter lay at her anchors +without the smallest proof that man existed within the mass of her black and +inanimate hull. So quiet and motionless did she seem, that one, who had never +been instructed in the matter, might readily have believed her a fixture in the +sea, some symmetrical and enormous excrescence thrown up by the waves, with its +mazes of lines and pointed fingers, or one of those fantastic monsters that are +believed to exist in the bottom of the ocean, darkened by the fogs and tempests +of ages. But, to the understanding eye of Wilder, she exhibited a very +different spectacle. He easily saw, through all this apparently drowsy +quietude, those signs of readiness which a seaman only might discover. The +cable, instead of stretching in a long declining line towards the water was +“short,” or nearly “up and down,” as it is equally +termed in technical language, just “scope” enough being allowed +out-board to resist the power of the lively tide, which acted on the deep keel +of the vessel. All her boats were in the water, and so disposed and prepared, +as to convince him they were in a state to be employed in towing, in the +shortest possible time. Not a sail, nor a yard, was out of its place, +undergoing those repairs and examinations which the mariner is wont to make so +often, when lying within the security of a suitable haven, nor was there a +single rope wanting, amid the hundreds which interlaced the blue sky that +formed the background of the picture, that might be necessary, in bringing +every art of facilitating motion into instant use. In short, the vessel, while +seeming least prepared, was most in a condition to move, or, if necessary, to +resort to her means of offence and defence. The boarding-nettings, it is true, +were triced to the rigging, as on the previous day; but a sufficient apology +was to be found for this act of extreme caution, in the war, which exposed her +to attacks from the light French cruisers, that so often ranged, from the +islands of the West-Indies, along the whole coast of the Continent, and in the +position the ship had taken, without the ordinary defences of the harbour. In +this state, the vessel, to one who knew her real character, appeared like some +beast of prey, or venomous reptile, that lay in an assumed lethargy, to delude +the unconscious victim within the limits of its leap, or nigh enough to receive +the deadly blow of its fangs. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder shook his head, in a manner which said plainly enough how well he +understood this treacherous tranquillity, and continued his walk towards the +town, with the same deliberate step as before. He had whiled away many minutes +unconsciously, and would probably have lost the reckoning of as many more, had +not his attention been suddenly diverted by a slight touch on the shoulder. +Starting at this unexpected diversion, he turned, and saw, that, in his +dilatory progress, he had been overtaken by the seaman whom he had last seen in +that very society in which he would have given so much to have been included +himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Your young limbs should carry you ahead, Master,” said the latter, +when he had succeeded in attracting the attention of Wilder, “like a +‘Mudian going with a clean full, and yet I have fore-reached upon you +with my old legs, in such a manner as to bring us again within hail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you enjoy the extraordinary advantage of ‘cutting the +waves with your taffrail,’” returned Wilder, with a sneer. +“There can be no accounting for the head-way one makes, when sailing in +that remarkable manner.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see, brother, you are offended that I followed your motions, though, +in so doing, I did no more than obey a signal of your own setting. Did you +expect an old sea-dog like me, who has stood his watch so long in a flag-ship, +to confess ignorance in any matter that of right belongs to blue water? How the +devil was I to know that there is not some sort of craft, among the thousands +that are getting into fashion, which sails best stern foremost? They say a ship +is modelled from a fish; and, if such be the case, it is only to make one after +the fashion of a crab, or an oyster, to have the very thing you named.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well, old man. You have had your reward, I suppose, in a handsome +present from the Admiral’s widow, and you may now lie-by for a season, +without caring much as to the manner in which they build their ships in future. +Pray, do you intend to shape your course much further down this hill?” +</p> + +<p> +“Until I get to the bottom.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad of it, friend, for it is my especial intention to go up it +again. As we say at sea, when our conversation is ended, ‘A good time to +you!’” +</p> + +<p> +The old seaman laughed, in his chuckling manner, when he saw the young man turn +abruptly on his heel, and begin to retrace the very ground along which he had +just before descended. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you have never sailed with a Rear-Admiral,” he said, as he +continued his own course in the former direction, picking his way with a care +suited to his age and infirmities. “No, there is no getting the finish, +even at sea, without a cruise or two under a flag, and that at the mizzen, +too!” +</p> + +<p> +“Intolerable old hypocrite!” muttered Wilder between his teeth. +“The rascal has seen better days, and is now perverting his knowledge to +juggle a foolish woman, to his profit. I am well quit of the knave, who, I dare +say, has adopted lying for his trade, now labour is unproductive. I will go +back The coast is quite clear, and who can say what may happen next?” +</p> + +<p> +Most of the foregoing paragraph was actually uttered in the suppressed manner +already described, while the rest was merely meditated, which, considering the +fact that our adventurer had no auditor, was quite as well as if he had spoken +it through a trumpet. The expectation thus vaguely expressed, however, was not +likely to be soon realized. Wilder sauntered up the hill, endeavouring to +assume the unconcerned air of an idler, if by chance his return should excite +attention; but, though he lingered long in open view of the windows of Mrs de +Lacey’s villa, he was not able to catch another glimpse of its tenants. +There were very evident symptoms of the approaching journey, in the trunks and +packages that left the building for the town, and in the hurried and busy +manner of the few servants that he occasionally saw; but it would seem that the +principal personages of the establishment had withdrawn into the secret +recesses of the building, probably for the very natural purpose of confidential +communion and affectionate leave-taking. He was turning, vexed and +disappointed, from his anxious and fruitless watch, when he once more heard +female voices on the inner side of the low wall against which he had been +leaning. The sounds approached; nor was it long before his quick ears again +recognized the musical voice of Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +“It is tormenting ourselves, without sufficient reason, my dear +Madam,” she said, as the speakers drew sufficiently nigh to be distinctly +overheard, “to allow any thing that may have fallen from such +a—such an individual, to make the slightest impression.” +</p> + +<p> +“I feel the justice of what you say, my love,” returned the +mournful voice of her governess, “and yet am I so weak as to be unable +entirely to shake off a sort of superstitious feeling on this subject. +Gertrude, would you not wish to see that youth again?” +</p> + +<p> +“Me, Ma’am!” exclaimed her élève, in a sort of +alarm. “Why should you, or I, wish to see an utter stranger again? and +one so low—not low perhaps—but one who is surely not altogether a +very suitable companion for”— +</p> + +<p> +“Well-born ladies, you would say. And why do you imagine the young man to +be so much our inferior?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder thought there was a melody in the intonations of the youthful voice of +the maiden, which in some measure excused the personality, as she answered. +</p> + +<p> +“I am certainly not so fastidious in my notions of birth and station as +aunt de Lacey,” she said, laughing; “but I should forget some of +your own instructions, dear Mrs Wyllys, did I not feel that education and +manners make a sensible difference in the opinions and characters of all us +poor mortals.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very true, my child. But I confess I saw or heard nothing that induces +me to believe the young man, of whom we are speaking, either uneducated or +vulgar. On the contrary, his language and pronunciation were those of a +gentleman, and his air was quite suited to his utterance. He had the frank and +simple manner of his profession; but you are not now to learn that youths of +the first families in the provinces, or even in the kingdom, are often placed +in the service of the marine.” +</p> + +<p> +“But they are officers, dear Madam: this—this individual wore the +dress of a common mariner.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not altogether. It was finer in its quality, and more tasteful in its +fashion, than is customary. I have known Admirals do the same in their moments +of relaxation. Sailors of condition often love to carry about them the +testimonials of their profession, without any of the trappings of their +rank.” +</p> + +<p> +“You then think he was an officer—perhaps in the King’s +service?” +</p> + +<p> +“He might well have been so, though the fact, that there is no cruiser in +the port, would seem to contradict it. But it was not so trifling a +circumstance that awakened the unaccountable interest that I feel. Gertrude, my +love, it was my fortune to have been much with seamen in early life. I seldom +see one of that age, and of that spirited and manly mien, without feeling +emotion. But I tire you; let us talk of other things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not in the least, dear Madam,” Gertrude hurriedly interrupted. +“Since you think the stranger a gentleman, there can be no +harm—that is, it is not quite so improper, I believe—to speak of +him. Can there then be the danger he would make us think in trusting ourselves +in a ship of which we have so good a report?” +</p> + +<p> +“There was a strange, I had almost said wild, admixture of irony and +concern in his manner, that is inexplicable! He certainly uttered nonsense part +of the time: but, then, he did not appear to do it without a serious object. +Gertrude, you are not as familiar with nautical expressions as myself: and +perhaps you are ignorant that your good aunt, in her admiration of a profession +that she has certainly a right to love, sometimes makes”—— +</p> + +<p> +“I know it—I know it; at least I often think so,” the other +interrupted, in a manner which plainly manifested that she found no pleasure in +dwelling on the disagreeable subject. “It was exceedingly presuming +Madam, in a stranger, however, to amuse himself, if he did it, with so amiable +and so trivial a weakness, if indeed weakness it be.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was,” Mrs Wyllys steadily continued—she having, very +evidently, such other matter in her thoughts as to be a little inattentive to +the sensitive feelings of her companion;—“and yet he did not appear +to me like one of those empty minds that find a pleasure in exposing the +follies of others. You may remember, Gertrude, that yesterday, while at the +ruin, Mrs de Lacey made some remarks expressive of her admiration of a ship +under sail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, I remember them,” said the niece, a little impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“One of her terms was particularly incorrect, as I happened to know from +my own familiarity with the language of sailors.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought as much, by the expression of your eye,” returned +Gertrude; “but”— +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, my love. It certainly was not remarkable that a lady should make +a trifling error in the use of so peculiar a language, but it is singular that +a seaman himself should commit the same fault in precisely the same words. This +did the youth of whom we are speaking; and, what is no less surprising the old +man assented to the same, just as if they had been correctly uttered.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” said Gertrude, in a low tone, “they may have +heard, that attachment to this description of conversation is a foible of Mrs +de Lacey. I am sure, after this, dear Madam, you cannot any longer consider the +stranger a gentleman!” +</p> + +<p> +“I should think no more about it, love, were it not for a feeling I can +neither account for nor define. I would I could again see him!” +</p> + +<p> +A slight exclamation from her companion interrupted her words; and, the next +instant, the subject of her thoughts leaped the wall, apparently in quest of +the rattan that had fallen at the feet of Gertrude, and occasioned her alarm. +After apologizing for his intrusion on the private grounds of Mrs de Lacey, and +recovering his lost property, Wilder was slowly preparing to retire, as if +nothing had happened. There was a softness and delicacy in his manner during +the first moment of his appearance, which was probably intended to convince the +younger of the ladies that he was not entirely without some claims to the title +she had so recently denied him, and which was certainly not without its effect. +The countenance of Mrs Wyllys was pale, and her lip quivered, though the +steadiness of her voice proved it was not with alarm, as she hastily +said,—“Remain a moment, sir, if need does not require your presence +elsewhere. There is something so remarkable in this meeting, that I could wish +to improve it.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder bowed, and again faced the ladies, whom he had just been about to quit, +like one who felt he had no right to intrude a moment longer than had been +necessary to recover that which had been lost by his pretended awkwardness. +When Mrs Wyllys found that her wish was so unexpectedly realized, she hesitated +as to the manner in which she should next proceed. +</p> + +<p> +“I have been thus bold, sir,” she said, in some embarrassment, +“on account of the opinion you so lately expressed concerning the vessel +which now lies ready to put to sea, the instant, she is favoured with a +wind.” +</p> + +<p> +“‘The Royal Caroline?’” Wilder carelessly replied. +</p> + +<p> +“That is her name, I believe.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope, Madam, that nothing which I have said,” he hastily +continued, “will have an effect to prejudice you against the ship. I will +pledge myself that she is made of excellent materials, and then I have not the +least doubt but she is very ably commanded.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet have you not hesitated to say, that you consider a passage in +this very vessel more dangerous than one in any other ship that will probably +leave a port of the Provinces in many months to come.” +</p> + +<p> +“I did,” answered Wilder, with a manner not to be mistaken. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you explain your reasons for this opinion?” +</p> + +<p> +“If I remember rightly, I gave them to the lady whom I had the honour to +see an hour ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“That individual, sir, is no longer here,” was the grave reply of +Wyllys; “neither is she to trust her person in the vessel. This young +lady and myself, with our attendants, will be the only passengers.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understood it so,” returned Wilder, keeping his thoughtful gaze +riveted on the speaking countenance of the deeply interested Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +“And, now that there is no apprehension of any mistake, may I ask you to +repeat the reasons why you think there will be danger in embarking in the +‘Royal Caroline?’” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder started, and even had the grace to colour, as he met the calm and +attentive look of Mrs Wyllys’s searching, but placid eye. +</p> + +<p> +“You would not have me repeat, Madam,” he stammered, “what I +have already said on the subject?” +</p> + +<p> +“I would not, sir; once will suffice for such an explanation; still am I +persuaded you have other reasons for your words.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is exceedingly difficult for a seaman to speak of ships in any other +than technical language, which must be the next thing to being unintelligible +to one of your sex and condition. You have never been at sea, Madam?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very often, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then may I hope, possibly, to make myself understood. You must be +conscious, Madam, that no small part of the safety of a ship depends on the +very material point of keeping her right side uppermost sailors call it +‘making her stand up.’ Now I need not say, I am quite sure, to a +lady of your intelligence, that, if the ‘Caroline’ fall on her beam +there will be imminent hazard to all on board.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing can be clearer; but would not the same risk be incurred in any +other vessel?” +</p> + +<p> +“Without doubt, if any other vessel should trip. But I have pursued my +profession for many years, without meeting with such a misfortune, but once. +Then, the fastenings of the bowsprit”— +</p> + +<p> +“Are good as ever came from the hand of rigger,” said a voice +behind them. +</p> + +<p> +The whole party turned; and beheld, at a little distance, the old seaman +already introduced, mounted on some object on the other side of the wall, +against which he was very coolly leaning, and whence he overlooked the whole of +the interior of the grounds. +</p> + +<p> +“I have been at the water side to look at the boat, at the wish of Madam +de Lacey, the widow of my late noble Commander and Admiral; and, let other men +think as they may, I am ready to swear that the ‘Royal Caroline’ +has as well secured a bowsprit as any ship that carries the British flag! Ay, +nor is that all I will say in her favour; she is throughout neatly and lightly +sparred, and has no more of a wall-side than the walls of yonder church +tumble-home. I am an old man, and my reckoning has got to the last leaf of the +log-book; therefore it is little interest that I have, or can have, in this +brig or that schooner, but this much will I say, which is, that it is just as +wicked, and as little likely to be forgiven, to speak scandal of a wholesome +and stout ship, as it is to talk amiss of mortal Christian.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man spoke with energy, and a great show of honest indignation, which +did not fail to make an impression on the ladies, at the same time that it +brought certain ungrateful admonitions to the conscience of the understanding +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“You perceive, sir,” said Mrs Wyllys, after waiting in vain for the +reply of the young seaman, “that it is very possible for two men, of +equal advantages, to disagree on a professional point. Which am I to +believe?” +</p> + +<p> +“Whichever your own excellent sense should tell you is most likely to be +correct. I repeat, and in a sincerity to whose truth I call Heaven to witness, +that no mother or sister of mine should, with my consent, embark in the +‘Caroline.’” +</p> + +<p> +“This is incomprehensible!” said Mrs Wyllys, turning to Gertrude, +and speaking only for her ear. “My reason tells me we have been trifled +with by this young man; and yet are his protestations so earnest, and +apparently so sincere, that I cannot shake off the impression they have made. +To which of the two, my love, do you feel most inclined to yield your +credence?” +</p> + +<p> +“You know how very ignorant I am, dear Madam, of all these things,” +said Gertrude, dropping her eyes to the faded sprig she was plucking; +“but, to me, that old wretch has a very presuming and vicious +look.” +</p> + +<p> +“You then think the younger most entitled to our belief?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not; since you, also, think he is a gentleman?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not that his superior situation in life entitles him to greater +credit. Men often obtain such advantages only to abuse them.—I am afraid, +sir,” continued Mrs Wyllys, turning to the expecting Wilder, “that +unless you see fit to be more frank, we shall be compelled to refuse you our +faith, and still persevere in our intention to profit, by the opportunity of +the ‘Royal Caroline,’ to get to the Carolinas.” +</p> + +<p> +“From the bottom of my heart, Madam, do I regret the +determination.” +</p> + +<p> +“It may still be in your power to change it, by being explicit.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder appeared to muse, and once or twice his lips moved, as if he were about +to speak. Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude awaited his intentions with intense interest; +but, after a long and seemingly hesitating pause, he disappointed both, by +saying,— +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry that I have not the ability to make myself better understood. +It can only be the fault of my dullness; for I again affirm that the danger is +as apparent to my eyes as the sun at noon day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we must continue blind, sir,” returned Mrs Wyllys, with a +cold salute. “I thank you for your good and kind intentions, but you +cannot blame us for not consenting to follow advice which is buried in so much +obscurity. Although in our own grounds, we shall be pardoned the rudeness of +leaving you. The hour appointed for our departure has now arrived.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder returned the grave bow of Mrs Wyllys with one quite as formal as her +own; though he bent with greater grace, and with more cordiality, to the deep +but hurried curtesy of Gertrude Grayson. He remained in the precise spot, +however, in which they left him, until he saw them enter the villa; and he even +fancied he could catch the anxious expression of another timid glance which the +latter threw in his direction, as her light form appeared to float from before +his sight. Placing one hand on the wall, the young sailor then leaped into the +highway. As his feet struck the ground, the slight shock seemed to awake him +from his abstraction, and he became conscious that he stood within six feet of +the old mariner, who had now twice stepped so rudely between him and the object +he had so much at heart, The latter did not allow him time to give utterance to +his disappointment; for he was the first himself to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, brother,” he said, in friendly, confidential tones, and +shaking his head, like one who wished to show to his companion that he was +aware of the deception he had attempted to practise; “come, brother, you +have stood far enough on this tack, and it is time to try another. Ay, +I’ve been young myself in my time, and I know what a hard matter it is to +give the devil a wide birth, when there is fun to be found in sailing in his +company: But old age brings us to our reckonings; and, when the life is getting +on short allowance with a poor fellow, he begins to think of being sparing of +his tricks, just as water is saved in a ship, when the calms set in, after it +has been spilt about decks like rain, for weeks and months on end. Thought +comes with gray hairs, and no one is the worse for providing a little of it +among his other small stores.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had hoped, when I gave you the bottom of the hill, and took the top +myself,” returned Wilder, without even deigning to look at his +disagreeable companion, “that we had parted company for ever. As you +seem, however, to prefer the high ground, I leave you to enjoy it at your +leisure; I shall descend into the town.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man shuffled after him, with a gait that rendered it difficult for +Wilder, who was by this time in a fast walk, to outstrip him, without resorting +to the undignified expedient of an actual flight. Vexed alike with himself and +his tormentor, he was tempted to offer some violence to the latter; and then, +recalled to his reccollection by the dangerous impulse he moderated his pace, +and continued his route with a calm determination to be superior to any +emotions that such a pitiful object could excite. +</p> + +<p> +“You were going under such a press of sail, young Master,” said the +stubborn old mariner, who still kept a pace or two in his rear, “that I +had to set every thing to hold way with you; but you now seem to be getting +reasonable, and we may as well lighten the passage by a little profitable talk. +You had nearly made the oldish lady believe the good ship ‘Royal +Caroline’ was the flying Dutchman!” +</p> + +<p> +“And why did you see fit to undeceive her?” bluntly demanded +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you have a man, who has followed blue water fifty years, +scandalize wood and iron after so wild a manner? The character of a ship is as +dear to an old sea-dog, as the character of his wife or his sweetheart.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, friend; you live, I suppose, like other people, by eating and +drinking?” +</p> + +<p> +“A little of the first, and a good deal of the last,” returned the +other, with a chuckle. +</p> + +<p> +“And you get both, like most seaman, by hard work, great risk, and the +severest exposure?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! ‘Making our money like horses, and spending it like +asses!’—that is said to be the way with us all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, then, have you an opportunity of making some with less labour; you +may spend it to suit your own fancy. Will you engage in my service for a few +hours, with this for your bounty, and as much more for wages, provided you deal +honestly?” +</p> + +<p> +The old man stretched out a hand, and took the guinea which Wilder had showed +over his shoulder, without appearing to deem it at all necessary to face his +recruit. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s no sham!” said the latter, stopping to ring the metal +on a stone. +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis gold, as pure as ever came from the Mint.” +</p> + +<p> +The other very coolly pocketed the coin; and then, with a certain hardened and +decided way, as if he were now ready for any thing, he demanded,— +</p> + +<p> +“What hen-roost am I to rob for this?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are to do no such pitiful act; you have only to perform a little of +that which, I fancy, you are no stranger to: Can you keep a false log?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay; and swear to it, on occasion. I understand you. You are tired of +twisting the truth like a new laid rope, and you wish to turn the job over to +me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Something so. You must unsay all you have said concerning yonder ship; +and, as you have had running enough to get on the weather-side of Mrs de Lacey, +you must improve your advantage, by making matters a little worse than I have +represented them to be. Tell me, that I may judge of your qualifications, did +you in truth, ever sail with the worthy Rear-Admiral?” +</p> + +<p> +“As I am an honest and religious Christian, I never heard of the honest +old man before yesterday. Oh! you may trust me in these matters! I am no likely +to spoil a history for want of facts.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think you will do. Now listen to my plan.”— +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, worthy messmate,” interrupted the other: +“‘Stones can hear,’ they say on shore: we sailors know that +the pumps have ears on board a ship; have you ever seen such a place as the +‘Foul Anchor’ tavern, in this town?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have been there.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you like it well enough to go again. Here we will part. You shall +haul on the wind, being the lightest sailer, and make a stretch or two among +these houses, until you are well to windward of yonder church. You will then +have plain sailing down upon hearty Joe Joram’s, where is to be found as +snug an anchorage, for an honest trader, as at any inn in the Colonies. I will +keep away down this hill, and, considering the difference in our rate of +sailing, we shall not be long after one another in port.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what is to be gained by so much manoeuvring? Can you listen to +nothing which is not steeped in rum?” +</p> + +<p> +“You offend me by the word. You shall see what it is to send a sober +messenger on your errands, when the time comes. But, suppose we are seen +speaking to each other on the highway—why, as you are in such low repute +just now, I shall lose my character with the ladies altogether.” +</p> + +<p> +“There may be reason in that. Hasten, then to meet me; for, as they spoke +of embarking soon, there is not a minute to lose.” +</p> + +<p> +“No fear of their breaking ground so suddenly,” returned the old +man, holding the palm of his hand above his head to catch the wind. +“There is not yet air enough to cool the burning cheeks of that young +beauty; and, depend on it, the signal will not be given to them until the sea +breeze is fairly come in.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder waved his hand, and stepped lightly along the road the other had +indicated to him, ruminating on the figure which the fresh and youthful charms +of Gertrude had extorted from one even as old and as coarse as his new ally. +His companion followed his person for a moment, with an amused look, and an +ironical cast of the eye; and then he also quickened his pace, in order to +reach the place of rendezvous in sufficient season. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>Chapter X.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Forewarn him, that he use no scurrilous words.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Winter’s Tale.</i> +</p> + +<p> +As Wilder approached the “Foul Anchor,” he beheld every symptom of +some powerful excitement existing within the bosom of the hitherto peaceful +town. More than half the women, and perhaps one fourth of all the men, within a +reasonable proximity to that well known inn, were assembled before its door, +listening to one of the former sex, who declaimed in tones so shrill and +penetrating as not to leave the proprietors of the curious and attentive +countenances, in the outer circle of the crowd, the smallest rational ground of +complaint on the score of impartiality. Our adventurer hesitated, with the +sudden consciousness of one but newly embarked in such enterprises as that in +which he had so recently enlisted, when he first saw these signs of commotion; +nor did he determine to proceed until he caught a glimpse of his aged +confederate, elbowing his way through the mass of bodies, with a perseverance +and energy that promised to bring him right speedily into the very presence of +her who uttered such loud and piercing plaints. Encouraged by this example, the +young man advanced, but was content to take his position, for a moment, in a +situation that left him entire command of his limbs and, consequently, in a +condition to make a timely retreat, should the latter measure prove at all +expedient. +</p> + +<p> +“I call on you, Earthly Potter, and you, Preserved Green, and you, +Faithful Wanton,” cried Desire, as he came within hearing, pausing to +catch a morsel of breath, before she proceeded in her affecting appeal to the +neighbourhood; “and you too, Upright Crook, and you too, Relent Flint, +and you, Wealthy Poor, to be witnesses and testimonials in my behalf. You, and +all and each of you, can qualify if need should be, that I have ever been a +slaving and loving consort of this man who has deserted me in my age, leaving +so many of his own children on my hands, to feed and to rear, +besides”— +</p> + +<p> +“What certainty is it,” interrupted the landlord of the “Foul +Anchor” most inopportunely, “that the good-man has absconded? It +was a merry day the one that is just gone, and it is quite in reason to believe +your husband was, like some others I can name—a thing I shall not be so +unwise as to do—a little of what I call how-come-ye-so, and that his nap +holds on longer than common. I’ll engage we shall all see the honest +tailor creeping out of some of the barns shortly, as fresh and as ready for his +bitters as if he had not wet his throat with cold water since the last time of +general rej’icing.” +</p> + +<p> +A low but pretty general laugh followed this effort of tavern wit, though it +failed in exciting even a smile on the disturbed visage of Desire, which, by +its doleful outline, appeared to have taken leave of all its risible properties +for ever. +</p> + +<p> +“Not he, not he,” exclaimed the disconsolate consort of the +good-man; “he has not the heart to get himself courageous, in loyal +drinking, on such an occasion as a merry-making on account of his +Majesty’s glory; he was a man altogether for work; and it is chiefly for +his hard labour that I have reason to complain. After being so long used to +rely on his toil, it is a sore cross to a dependant woman to be thrown suddenly +and altogether on herself for support. But I’ll be revenged on him, if +there’s law to be found in Rhode Island, or in the Providence +Plantations! Let him dare to keep his pitiful image out of my sight the lawful +time, and then, when he returns, he shall find himself, as many a vagabond has +been before him, without wife, as he will be without house to lay his graceless +head in.”<a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" +id="linknoteref-1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> Then, catching a glimpse of the inquiring +face of the old seaman, who by this time had worked his way to her very side, +she abruptly added, “Here is a stranger in the place, and one who has +lately arrived! Did you meet a straggling runaway, friend, in your journey +hither?” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"></a> <a href="#linknoteref-1">[1]</a> +It would seem, from this declaration, that certain legal antiquarians, who have +contended that the community is indebted to Desire for the unceremonious manner +of clipping the nuptial knot, which is so well known to exist, even to this +hour, in the community of which she was a member, are entirely in the wrong. It +evidently did not take its rise in her example, since she clearly alludes to +it, as a means before resorted to by me injured innocents of her own sex. +</p> + +<p> +“I had too much trouble in navigating my old hulk on dry land, to log the +name and rate of every craft I fell in with,” returned the other, with +infinite composure; “and yet, now you speak of such a thing, I do +remember to have come within hail of a poor fellow, just about the beginning of +the morning-watch somewhere hereaway, up in the bushes between this town and +the bit of a ferry that carries one on to the main.” +</p> + +<p> +“What sort of a man was he?” demanded five or six anxious voices, +in a breath; among which the tones of Desire, however, maintained their +supremacy rising above those of all the others, like the strains of a +first-rate artist flourishing a quaver above the more modest thrills of the +rest of the troupe. +</p> + +<p> +“What sort of a man! Why a fellow with his arms rigged athwart ship, and +his legs stepped like those of all other Christians, to be sure: but, now you +speak of it, I remember that he had a bit of a sheep-shank in one of his legs, +and rolled a good deal as he went ahead.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was he!” added the same chorus of voices. Five or six of the +speakers instantly stole slyly out of the throng, with the commendable +intention of hurrying after the delinquent, in order to secure the payment of +certain small balances of account, in which the unhappy and much traduced +good-man stood indebted to the several parties. Had we leisure to record the +manner in which these praiseworthy efforts, to save an honest penny, were +conducted the reader might find much subject of amusement in the secret +diligence with which each worthy tradesman endeavoured to outwit his neighbour, +on the occasion, as well as in the cunning subterfuges which were adopted to +veil their real designs, when all met at the ferry, deceived and disappointed +in their object As Desire, however, had neither legal demand on, nor hope of +favour from, her truant husband, she was content to pursue, on the spot, such +further inquiries in behalf of the fugitive as she saw fit to make. It is +possible the pleasures of freedom, in the shape of the contemplated divorce, +were already floating before her active mind, with the soothing perspective of +second nuptials, backed by the influence of such another picture as might be +drawn from the recollections of her first love; the whole having a manifest +tendency to pacify her awakened spirit, and to give a certain portion of +directness and energy to her subsequent interrogatories. +</p> + +<p> +“Had he a thieving look?” she demanded, without attending to the +manner in which she was so suddenly deserted by all those who had just +expressed the strongest sympathy in her loss. “Was he a man that had the +air of a sneaking runaway?” +</p> + +<p> +“As for his head-piece, I will not engage to give very true +account,” returned the old mariner though he had the look of one who had +been kept a good deal of his time, in the lee scuppers. If should give an +opinion, the poor devil has had too much”— +</p> + +<p> +“Idle time, you would say; yes, yes; it has been his misfortune to be out +of work a good deal latterly and wickedness has got into his head, for want of +something better to think of. Too much”— +</p> + +<p> +“Wife,” interrupted the old man, emphatically. Another general, and +far less equivocal laugh, at the expense of Desire, succeeded this blunt +declaration Nothing intimidated by such a manifest assent to the opinion of the +hardy seaman, the undaunted virago resumed,— +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you little know the suffering and forbearance I have endured with +the man in so many long years. Had the fellow you met the look of one who had +left an injured woman behind him?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t say there was any thing about him which said, in so many +words, that the woman he had left at her moorings was more or less +injured;” returned the tar, with commendable discrimination, “but +there was enough about him to show, that, however and wherever he may have +stowed his wife, if wife she was, he had not seen fit to leave all her outfit +at home. The man had plenty of female toggery around his neck; I suppose he +found it more agreeable than her arms.” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” exclaimed Desire, looking aghast; “has he dared to +rob me! What had he of mine? not the gold beads!” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not swear they were no sham.” +</p> + +<p> +“The villain!” continued the enraged termagant, catching her breath +like a person that had just been submerged in water longer than is agreeable to +human nature, and forcing her way through the crowd, with such vigour as soon +to be in a situation to fly to her secret hordes, in order to ascertain the +extent of her misfortune; “the sacrilegious villain! to rob the wife of +his bosom, the mother of his own children, and”— +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” again interrupted the landlord of the ‘Foul +Anchor,’ with his unseasonable voice, “I never before heard the +good-man suspected of roguery, though the neighbourhood was ever backward in +calling him chicken-hearted.” +</p> + +<p> +The old seaman looked the publican full in the face, with much meaning in his +eye, as he answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“If the honest tailor never robbed any but that virago, there would be no +great thieving sin to be laid to his account; for every bead he had about him +wouldn’t serve to pay his ferryage. I could carry all the gold on his +neck in my eye, and see none the worse for its company. But it is a shame to +stop the entrance into a licensed tavern, with such a mob, as if it were an +embargoed port; and so I have sent the woman after her valuables, and all the +idlers, as you see, in her wake.” +</p> + +<p> +Joe Joram gazed on the speaker like a man enthralled by some mysterious charm; +neither answering nor altering the direction of his eye, for near a minute. +Then, suddenly breaking out in a deep and powerful laugh, as if he were not +backward in enjoying the artifice, which certainly had produced the effect of +removing the crowd from his own door to that of the absent tailor, he +flourished his arm in the way of greeting, and exclaimed,—“Welcome, +tarry Bob; welcome, old boy, welcome! From what cloud have you fallen? and +before what wind have you been running, that Newport is again your +harbour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Too many questions to be answered in an open roadstead, friend Joram; +and altogether too dry a subject for a husky conversation. When I am birthed in +one of your inner cabins, with a mug of flip and a kid of good Rhode Island +beef within grappling distance, why, as many questions as you choose, and as +many answers, you know, as suits my appetite.” +</p> + +<p> +“And who’s to pay the piper, honest Bob? whose ship’s purser +will pay your check now?” continued the publican, showing the old sailor +in, however, with a readiness that seemed to contradict the doubt, expressed by +his words, of any reward for such extraordinary civility. +</p> + +<p> +“Who?” interrupted the other, displaying the money so lately +received from Wilder, in such a manner that it might be seen by the few +by-standers who remained, as though he would himself furnish a sufficient +apology for the distinguished manner in which he was received; “who but +this gentleman? I can boast of being backed by the countenance of his Sacred +Majesty himself, God bless him!” +</p> + +<p> +“God bless him!” echoed several of the loyal lieges; and that too +in a place which has since heard such very different cries, and where the words +would now excite nearly as much surprise, though far less alarm, than an +earthquake. +</p> + +<p> +“God bless him!” repeated Joram, opening the door of an inner room, +and pointing the way to his customer, “and all that are favored with his +countenance! Walk in, old Bob, and you shall soon grapple with half an +ox.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder, who had approached the outer door of the tavern as the mob receded, +witnessed the retreat of the two worthies into the recesses of the house, and +immediately entered the bar-room himself. While deliberating on the manner in +which he should arrive at a communication with his new confederate, without +attracting too much attention to so odd an association, the landlord returned +in person to relieve him. After casting a hasty glance around the apartment, +his look settled on our adventurer, whom he approached in a manner +half-doubting, half-decided. +</p> + +<p> +“What success, sir, in looking for a ship?” he demanded now +recognizing, for the first time, the stranger with whom he had before held +converse that morning. “More hands than places to employ them?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not sure it will so prove. In my walk on the hill, I met an old +seaman, who”— +</p> + +<p> +“Hum!” interrupted the publican, with an intelligible though +stolen, sign to follow. “You will find it more convenient, sir, to take +your breakfast in another room.” Wilder followed his conductor, who left +the public apartment by a different door from that by which he had led his +other guest into the interior of the house, wondering at the air of mystery +that the innkeeper saw fit to assume on the occasion. After leading him by a +circuitous passage. The latter showed Wilder, in profound silence, up a private +stair-way, into the very attic of the building. Here he rapped lightly at a +door, and was bid to enter, by a voice that caused our adventurer to start by +its deepness and severity. On finding him self, however, in a low and confined +room, he saw no other occupant than the seaman who had just been greeted by the +publican as an old acquaintance and by a name to which he might, by his attire, +well lay claim to be entitled—that of tarry Bob. While Wilder was staring +about him, a good deal surprised at the situation in which he was placed, the +landlord retired, and he found himself alone with his confederate. The latter +was already engaged in discussing the fragment of the ox, just mentioned, and +in quaffing of some liquid that seemed equally adapted to his taste, although +sufficient time had not certainly been allowed to prepare the beverage he had +seen fit to order. Without allowing his visiter leisure for much further +reflection, the old mariner made a motion to him to take the only vacant chair +in the room, while he continued his employment on the surloin with as much +assiduity as though no interruption had taken place. +</p> + +<p> +“Honest Joe Joram always makes a friend of his butcher,” he said, +after ending a draught that threatened to drain the mug to the bottom. +“There is such a flavour about his beef, that one might mistake it for +the fin of a halibut. You have been in foreign parts, shipmate, or I may call +you ‘messmate,’ since we are both anchored nigh the same +kid—but you have doubtless been in foreign countries?” +</p> + +<p> +“Often; I should else be but a miserable seaman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, tell me frankly, have you ever been in the kingdom that can +furnish such rations—fish, flesh, fowl, and fruits—as this very +noble land of America, in which we are now both moored? and in which I suppose +we both of us were born?” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be carrying the love of home a little too far, to believe in +such universal superiority,” returned Wilder, willing to divert the +conversation from his real object, until he had time to arrange his ideas, and +assure himself he had no other auditor but his visible companion. “It is +generally admitted that England excels us in all these articles.” +</p> + +<p> +“By whom? by your know-nothings and bold talkers. But I, a man who has +seen the four quarters of the earth, and no small part of the water besides, +give the lie to such empty boasters. We are colonies, friend, we are colonies; +and it is as bold in a colony to tell the mother that it has the advantage, in +this or that particular, as it would be in a foremast Jack to tell his officer +he was wrong, though he knew it to be true. I am but a poor man, Mr—By +what name may I call your Honour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Me! my name?—Harris.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am but a poor man, Mr Harris; but I have had charge of a watch in my +time, old and rusty as I seem, nor have I spent so many long nights on deck +without keeping thoughts at work, though I may not have overhaul’d as +much philosophy, in so doing, as a paid parish priest, or a fee’d lawyer. +Let me tell you, it is a disheartening thing to be nothing but a dweller in a +colony. It keeps down the pride and spirit of a man, and lends a hand in making +him what his masters would be glad to have him. I shall say nothing of fruits, +and meats, and other eatables, that come from the land of which both you and I +have heard and know too much, unless it be to point to yonder sun, and then to +ask the question, whether you think King George has the power to make it shine +on the bit of an island where he lives, as it shines here in his broad +provinces of America?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not: and yet you know that every one allows that the +productions of England are so much superior”— +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay; a colony always sails under the lee of its mother. Talk does it +all, friend Harris. Talk, talk, talk; a man can talk himself into a fever, or +set a ship’s company by the ears. He can talk a cherry into a peach, or a +flounder into a whale. Now here is the whole of this long coast of America, and +all her rivers, and lakes, and brooks, swarming with such treasures as any man +might fatten on, and yet his Majesty’s servants, who come among us, talk +of their turbots, and their sole, and their carp, as if the Lord had only made +such fish, and the devil had let the others slip through his fingers, without +asking leave.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder turned, and fastened a look of surprise on the old man, who continued to +eat, however, as if he had uttered nothing but what might be considered as a +matter of course opinion. +</p> + +<p> +“You are more attached to your birth-place than loyal, friend,” +said the young mariner, a little austerely. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not fish-loyal at least. What the Lord made, one may speak of, I +hope, without offence. As to the Government, that is a rope twisted by the +hands of man, and”— +</p> + +<p> +“And what?” demanded Wilder, perceiving that the other hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! Why, I fancy man will undo his own work, when he can find nothing +better to busy himself in. No harm in saying that either, I hope?” +</p> + +<p> +“So much, that I must call your attention to the business that has +brought us together. You have not go soon forgotten the earnest-money you +received?” +</p> + +<p> +The old sailor shoved the dish from before him, and, folding his arms, he +looked his companion full in the eye, as he calmly answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“When I am fairly enlisted in a service, I am a man to be counted on. I +hope you sail under the same colors, friend Harris?” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be dishonest to be otherwise. There is one thing you will +excuse, before I proceed to detail my plans and wishes: I must take occasion to +examine this closet, in order to be sure that we are actually alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will find little there except the toggery of some of honest +Joe’s female gender. As the door is not fastened with any extraordinary +care, you have only to look for yourself, since seeing is believing.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder did not seem disposed to wait for this permission; he opened the door, +even while the other was speaking, and, finding that the closet actually +contained little else than the articles named by his companion, he turned away, +like a man who was disappointed. +</p> + +<p> +“Were you alone when I entered?” he demanded, after a thoughtful +pause of a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Honest Joram, and yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“But no one else?” +</p> + +<p> +“None that I saw,” returned the other, with a manner that betrayed +a slight uneasiness; “if you think otherwise, let us overhaul the room. +Should my hand fall on a listener, the salute will not be light.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold—answer me one question; who bade me enter?” +</p> + +<p> +Tarry Bob, who had arisen with a good deal of alacrity, now reflected in his +turn for an instant, and then he closed his musing, by indulging in a low +laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I see that you have got your ideas a little jammed. A man cannot +talk the same, with a small portion of ox in his mouth, as though his tongue +had as much sea-room as a ship four-and-twenty hours out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, you spoke?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll swear to that much,” returned Bob, resuming his seat +like one who had settled the whole affair to his entire satisfaction; +“and now, friend Harris, if you are ready to lay bare your mind, +I’m just as ready to look at it.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder did not appear to be quite as well content with the explanation as his +companion, but he drew a chair, and prepared to open his subject. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not to tell you, friend, after what you have heard and seen, that I +have no very strong desire that the lady with whom we have both spoken this +morning, and her companion, should, sail in the ‘Royal Caroline.’ I +suppose it is enough for our purposes that you should know the fact; the reason +why I prefer they should remain where they are, can be of no moment as to the +duty you are to undertake.” +</p> + +<p> +“You need not tell an old seaman how to gather in the slack of a running +idea!” cried Bob, chuckling and winking at his companion in a way that +displeased the latter by its familiarity; “I have not lived fifty years +on blue water, to mistake it for the skies.” +</p> + +<p> +“You then fancy, sir, that my motive is no secret to you?” +</p> + +<p> +“It needs no spy-glass to see, that, while the old people say, +‘Go,’ the young people would like to stay where they are.” +</p> + +<p> +“You do both of the young people much injustice then; for, until +yesterday, I never laid eyes on the person you mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I see how it is; the owners of the ‘Caroline’ have not +been so civil as they ought, and you are paying them a small debt of +thanks!” +</p> + +<p> +“That is possibly a means of retaliation that might suit your +taste,” said Wilder, gravely; “but which is not much in accordance +with mine. The whole of the parties are utter strangers to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! Then I suppose you belong to the vessel in the outer harbour; and, +though you don’t hate your enemies, you love your friends. We must +contrive the means to coax the ladies to take passage in the slaver.” +</p> + +<p> +“God forbid!” +</p> + +<p> +“God forbid! Now I think, friend Harris, you set up the backstays of your +conscience a little too taught. Though I cannot, and do not, agree with you in +all you have said concerning the ‘Royal Caroline,’ I see no reason +to doubt but we shall have but one mind about the other vessel. I call her a +wholesome looking and well proportioned craft, and one that a King might sail +in with comfort.” +</p> + +<p> +“I deny it not; still I like her not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I am glad of that; and, since the matter is fairly before us, +master Harris, I have a word or two to say concerning that very ship. I am an +old sea-dog, and one not easily blinded in matters of the trade. Do you not +find something, that is not in character for an honest trader, in the manner in +which they have laid that vessel at her anchors, without the fort, and the +sleepy look she bears, at the same time that any one may see she is not built +to catch oysters, or to carry cattle to the islands?” +</p> + +<p> +“As you have said, I think her a wholesome and a tight-built ship. Of +what evil practice, however, do you suspect her?—perhaps she robs the +revenue?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! I am not sure it would be pleasant to smuggle in such a vessel, +though your contraband is a merry trade, after all. She has a pretty battery, +as well as one can see from this distance.” +</p> + +<p> +“I dare say her owners are not tired of her yet and would gladly keep her +from falling into the hands of the French.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, I may be wrong; but, unless sight is going with my years, +all is not as it would be on board that slaver, provided her papers were true, +and she had the lawful name to her letters of marque. What think you, honest +Joe, in this matter?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder turned, impatiently, and found that the landlord had entered the room, +with a step so as to have escaped his attention, which had been drawn to his +companion with a force that the reader will readily comprehend. The air of +surprise, with which Joram regarded the speaker, was certainly not affected; +for the question was repeated, and in still more definite terms, before he saw +fit to reply. +</p> + +<p> +“I ask you, honest Joe, if you think the slaver, in the outer harbour of +this port, a true man?” +</p> + +<p> +“You come across one, Bob, in your bold way, with such startling +questions,” returned the publican, casting his eyes obliquely around him, +as if he would fain make sure of the character of the audience to which he +spoke, “such stirring opinions, that really I am often non-plushed to +know how to get the ideas together, to make a saving answer.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is droll enough, truly, to see the landlord of the ‘Foul +Anchor’ dumb-foundered,” returned the old man, with perfect +composure in mien and eye. “I ask you, if you do not suspect something +wrong about that slaver?” +</p> + +<p> +“Wrong! Good heavens, mister Robert, recollect what you are saying. I +would not, for the custom of his Majesty’s Lord High Admiral, have any +discouraging words be uttered in my house against the reputation of any +virtuous and fair-dealing slavers! The Lord protect me from blacking the +character of any honest subject of the King!” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you see nothing wrong, worthy and tender Joram, about the ship in the +outer harbour?” repeated mister Robert, without moving eye, limb, or +muscle. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, since you press me so hard for an opinion and seeing that you are +a customer who pays freely for what he orders, I will say, that, if there is +any thing unreasonable, or even illegal, in the deportment of the +gentlemen”— +</p> + +<p> +“You sail so nigh the wind, friend Joram,” coolly interrupted the +old man, “as to keep every thing shaking. Just bethink you of a plain +answer: Have you seen any thing wrong about the slaver?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, on my conscience, then,” said the publican, puffing not +unlike a cetaceous fish that had come to the surface to breathe; “as I am +an unworthy sinner, sitting under the preaching of good and faithful Dr Dogma, +nothing—nothing” +</p> + +<p> +“No! Then are you a duller man than I had rated you at! Do you +<i>suspect</i> nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven protect me from suspicions! The devil besets all our minds with +doubts; but weak, and evil inclined, is he who submits to them. The officers +and crew of that ship are free drinkers, and as generous as princes: Moreover, +as they never forget to clear the score before they leave the house, I call +them—honest!” +</p> + +<p> +“And I call them—pirates!” +</p> + +<p> +“Pirates!” echoed Joram, fastening his eye, with marked distrust, +on the countenance of the attentive Wilder. “‘Pirate’ is a +harsh word, mister Robert, and should not be thrown in any gentleman’s +face without testimony enough to clear one in an action of defamation, should +such a thing get fairly before twelve sworn and conscientious men. But I +suppose you know what you say, and before whom you say it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do; and now, as it seems that your opinion in this matter amounts to +just nothing at all, you will please” +</p> + +<p> +“To do any thing you order,” cried Joram, very evidently delighted +to change the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“To go and ask the customers below if they are dry,” continued the +other, beckoning for the publican to retire by the way he entered, with the air +of one who felt certain of being obeyed. As soon as the door was closed on the +retiring landlord, he turned to his remaining companion, and continued, +“You seem as much struck aback as unbelieving Joe himself, at what you +have just heard.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a harsh suspicion, and should be well supported, old man, before +you venture to repeat it. What pirate has lately been heard of on this +coast?” +</p> + +<p> +“There is the well-known Red Rover,” returned the other, dropping +his voice, and casting a furtive look around him, as if even he thought +extraordinary caution was necessary in uttering the formidable name. +</p> + +<p> +“But he is said to keep chiefly in the Caribbean Sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is a man to be any where, and every where. The King would pay him +well who put the rogue into the hands of the law.” +</p> + +<p> +“A thing easier planned than executed,” Wilder thoughtfully +answered. +</p> + +<p> +“That is as it may be. I am an old fellow, and fitter to point out the +way than to go ahead. But you are like a newly fitted ship, with all your +rigging tight, and your spars without a warp in them. What say you to make your +fortune by selling the knaves to the King? It is only giving the devil his own +a few months sooner or later.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder started, and turned away from his companion like one who was little +pleased by the manner in which he expressed himself. Perceiving the necessity +of a reply, however, he demanded,— +</p> + +<p> +“And what reason have you for believing your suspicions true? or what +means have you for effecting your object, if true, in the absence of the royal +cruisers?” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot swear that I am right; but, if sailing on the wrong tack, we +can only go about, when we find out the mistake. As to means, I confess they +are easier named than mustered.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go, go; this is idle talk; a mere whim of your old brain,” said +Wilder, coldly; “and the less said the soonest mended. All this time we +are forgetting our proper business. I am half inclined to think, mister Robert, +you are holding out false lights, in order to get rid of the duty for which you +are already half paid.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a look of satisfaction in the countenance of the old tar, while +Wilder was speaking, that might have struck his companion, had not the young +man risen, while speaking, to pace the narrow room, with a thoughtful and +hurried step. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” the former rejoined, endeavouring to disguise his +evident contentment, in his customary selfish, but shrewd expression, “I +am an old dreamer, and often have I thought myself swimming in the sea when I +have been safe moored on dry land! I believe there must soon be a reckoning +with the devil, in order that each may take his share of my poor carcass, and I +be left the Captain of my own ship. Now for your Honour’s orders.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder returned to his seat, and disposed himself to give the necessary +instructions to his confederate, in order that he might counteract all he had +already said in favour of the outward-bound vessel. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>Chapter XI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient;—three +thousand, ducats;—I think I may take his bond.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Merchant of Venice.</i> +</p> + +<p> +As the day advanced, the appearances of a fresh sea breeze setting in gradually +grew stronger; and, with the increase of the wind, were to be seen all the +symptoms of an intention to leave the harbour on the part of the Bristol +trader. The sailing of a large ship was an event of much more importance in an +American port, sixty years ago, than at the present hour, when a score is +frequently seen to arrive and depart from one haven in a single day. Although +claiming to be inhabitants of one of the principal towns of the colony, the +good people of Newport did not witness the movements on board the +“Caroline” with that species of indolent regard which is the fruit +of satiety in sights as well as in graver things, and with which, in the course +of time, the evolutions of even a fleet come to be contemplated On the +contrary, the wharves were crowded with boys, and indeed with idlers of every +growth. Even many of the more considerate and industrious of the citizens were +seen loosening the close grasp they usually kept on the precious minutes, and +allowing them to escape uncounted, though not entirely unheeded, as they +yielded to the ascendency of curiosity over interest, and strayed from their +shops, and their work-yards, to gaze upon the noble spectacle of a moving ship. +</p> + +<p> +The tardy manner in which the crew of the “Caroline” made their +preparations, however, exhausted the patience of more than one time-saving +citizen. Quite as many of the better sort of the spectators had left the +wharves as still remained, and yet the vessel spread to the breeze but the +solitary sheet of canvas which has been already named. Instead of answering the +wishes of hundreds of weary eyes, the noble ship was seen sheering about her +anchor, inclining from the passing wind, as her bows were alternately turned to +the right and to the left, like a restless courser restrained by the grasp of +the groom, chafing his bit, and with difficulty keeping those limbs upon the +earth with which he is shortly to bound around the ring. After more than an +hour of unaccountable delay, a rumour was spread among the crowd that an +accident had occurred, by which some important individual, belonging to the +complement of the vessel, was severely injured. But this rumour passed away +also, and was nearly forgotten, when a sheet of flame was seen issuing from a +bow-port of the “Caroline,” driving before it a cloud of curling +and mounting smoke, and which was succeeded by the instant roar of a discharge +of artillery. A bustle, like that which usually precedes the immediate +announcement of any long attended event, took place among the weary expectants +on the land, and every one now felt certain, that, what ever might have +occurred, it was settled that the ship should proceed. +</p> + +<p> +Of all this delay, the several movements on board, the subsequent signal of +sailing, and of the impatience in the crowd, Wilder had been a grave and close +observer. Posted with his back against the upright fluke of a condemned anchor, +on a wharf a little apart from that occupied by most of the other spectators, +he had remained an hour in the same position scarcely bending his look to his +right hand or to his left. When the gun was fired he started, not with the +nervous impulse which had made a hundred others do precisely the same thing, +but to turn an anxious and rapid glance along the streets that came within the +range of his eye. From this hasty and uneasy examination, he soon returned into +his former reclining posture, though the wandering of his glances and the whole +expression of his meaning countenance would have told an observer that some +event, to which the young manner looked forward with excessive interest, was on +the eve of its consummation As minute after minute, however, rolled by, his +composure was gradually restored, and a smile of satisfaction lighted his +features, while his lips moved like those of a man who expressed his pleasure +in a soliloquy. It was in the midst of these agreeable meditations, that the +sound of many voices met his ears; and, turning, he saw a large party within a +few yards of where he stood. He was not slow to detect among them the forms of +Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude, attired in such a manner as to leave no doubt that +they were at length on the eve of embarking. +</p> + +<p> +A cloud, driving before the sun, does not produce a greater change in the +aspect of the earth, than was wrought in the expression of Wilder’s +countenance by this unexpected sight. He was just implicitly relying on the +success of an artifice, which though sufficiently shallow, he flattered himself +was deep enough to act on the timidity and credulity of woman; and, now, was he +suddenly awoke from his self-gratulation, to prove the utter disappointment of +his hopes. Muttering a suppressed but deep execration against the perfidy of +his confederate, he shrunk as much as possible behind the fluke of the anchor, +and fastened his eyes sullenly on the ship. +</p> + +<p> +The party which accompanied the travellers to the water side was, like all +other parties made to take leave of valued friends, taciturn and restless. +Those who spoke, did so with a rapid and impatient utterance, as though they +wished to hurry the very separation they regretted; and the features of those +who said nothing looked full of meaning. Wilder heard several affectionate and +warm-hearted wishes given, and promises extorted, from youthful voices, all of +which were answered in the soft and mournful tones of Gertrude, and yet he +obstinately refused to bend even a stolen look in the direction of the +speakers. +</p> + +<p> +At length, a footstep, within a few feet of him, induced a hasty glance aside. +His eye met that of Mrs Wyllys. The lady started, as well as our young mariner, +at the sudden recognition; but, recovering her self-possession, she observed, +with admirable coolness,— +</p> + +<p> +“You perceive, sir, that we are not to be deterred from an enterprise +once undertaken, by ordinary dangers.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you may not have reason, Madam, to repent your courage.” +</p> + +<p> +A short, but painfully thoughtful pause succeeded, on the part of Mrs Wyllys. +Casting a look behind her, in order to ascertain that she was not overheard, +she drew a step nigher to the youth, and said, in a voice even lower than +before,— +</p> + +<p> +“It is not yet too late: Give me but the shadow of a reason for what you +have said, and I will wait for another ship. My feelings are foolishly inclined +to believe you, young man, though my judgment tells me there is but too much +probability that you trifle with our womanish fears.” +</p> + +<p> +“Trifle! On such a matter I would trifle with none of your sex; and least +of all with you!” +</p> + +<p> +“This is extraordinary! For a stranger it is inexplicable Have you a +fact, or a reason, which I can plead to the friends of my young charge?” +</p> + +<p> +“You know them already.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, sir, am I compelled, against my will, to believe your motive is +one that you have some powerful considerations for wishing to conceal,” +coolly returned the disappointed and even mortified governess “For your +own sake, I hope it is not unworthy I thank you for all that is well intended; +if you have spoken aught which is otherwise, I forgive it.” +</p> + +<p> +They parted, with the restraint of people who feel that distrust exists between +them. Wilder again shrunk behind his cover, maintaining a proud position and a +countenance that was grave to austerity. His situation, however, compelled him +to become an auditor of most of what was now said. +</p> + +<p> +The principal speaker, as was meet on such an occasion was Mrs de Lacey, whose +voice was often raised in sage admonitions and professional opinions blended in +a manner that all would admire, though none of her sex, but they who had +enjoyed the singular good fortune of sharing in the intimate confidence of a +flag-officer, might ever hope to imitate. +</p> + +<p> +“And now, my dearest niece,” concluded the relict of the +Rear-Admiral, after exhausting her breath, and her store of wisdom, in +numberless exhortations to be careful of her health, to write often to repeat +the actual words of her private message to her brother the General, to keep +below in gales of wind, to be particular in the account of any extraordinary +sight she might have the good fortune to behold in the passage, and, in short, +in all other matters likely to grow out of such a leave-taking “and now, +my dearest niece, I commit you to the mighty deep, and One far +mightier—to Him who made it. Banish from your thoughts all recollections +of any thing you may have heard concerning the imperfections of the +‘Royal Caroline;’ for the opinion of the aged seaman, who sailed +with the lamented Admiral, assures me they are all founded in mistake.” +[“The treacherous villain!” muttered Wilder.] “Who +spoke?” said Mrs de Lacey; but, receiving no reply, she continued; +“His opinion is also exactly in accordance with my own, on more mature +reflection. To be sure, it is a culpable neglect to depend on bobstays and +gammonings for the security of the bowsprit, but still even this is an +oversight which, as my old friend has just told me, may be remedied by +‘preventers and lashings.’ I have written a note to the +Master,—Gertrude, my dear, be careful ever to call the Master of the ship +<i>Mister</i> Nichols; for none, but such as bear his Majesty’s +commission, are entitled to be termed <i>Captains;</i> it is an honourable +station, and should always be treated with reverence, it being, in fact, next +in rank to a flag-officer,—I have written a note to the Master on the +subject, and he will see the neglect repaired and so, my love, God bless you; +take the best possible care of yourself; write me by even opportunity; remember +my kindest love to your father and be very minute in your description of the +whales.” +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of the worthy and kind-hearted widow were filled with tears as she +ended; and there was a touch of nature, in the tremour of her voice, that +produced a sympathetic feeling in all who heard her words. The final parting +took place under the impression of these kind emotions; and, before another +minute, the oars of the boat, which bore the travellers to the ship, were heard +in the water. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder listened to the well-known sounds with a feverish interest, that he +possibly might have found it difficult to explain even to himself. A light +touch on the elbow first drew his attention from the disagreeable subject. +Surprised at the circumstance, he faced the intruder, who appeared to be a lad +of apparently some fifteen years. A second look was necessary to tell the +abstracted young mariner that he again saw the attendant of the Rover; he who +has already been introduced in our pages under the name of Roderick. +</p> + +<p> +“Your pleasure?” he demanded, when his amazement at being thus +interrupted in his meditations, had a little subsided. +</p> + +<p> +“I am directed to put these orders into your own hands,” was the +answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Orders!” repeated the young man, with a curling lip. “The +authority should be respected which issues its mandates through such a +messenger.” +</p> + +<p> +“The authority is one that it has ever proved dangerous to +disobey,” gravely returned the boy. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed! Then will I look into the contents with out delay, lest I fall +into some fatal negligence. Are you bid to wait an answer?” +</p> + +<p> +On raising his eyes from the note the other had given him, after breaking its +seal, the young man found that the messenger had already vanished. Perceiving +how useless it would be to pursue so light a form, amid the mazes of lumber +that loaded the wharf, and most of the adjacent shore, he opened the letter and +read as follows:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“An accident has disabled the Master of the outward-bound ship called the +‘Royal Caroline!’ Her consignee is reluctant to intrust her to the +officer next in rank; but sail she must. I find she has credit for her speed. +If you have any credentials of <i>character</i> and <i>competency</i>, profit +by the occasion, and earn the station you are finally destined to fill. You +have been named to some who are interested, and you have been sought +diligently. If this reach you in season, be on the alert, and be decided. Show +no surprise at any co-operation you may unexpectedly meet. My agents are more +numerous than you had believed. The reason is obvious; gold is yellow, though I +am +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“RED.” +</p> + +<p> +The signature, the matter, and the style of this letter, left Wilder in no +doubt as to its author. Casting a glance around him, he sprang into a skiff; +and, before the boat of the travellers had reached the ship, that of Wilder had +skimmed the water over half the distance between her and the land. As he plied +his skulls with vigorous and skilful arms, he soon stood upon her decks. +Forcing his way among the crowd of attendants from the shore, that are apt to +cumber a departing ship, he reached the part of the vessel where a circle of +busy and anxious faces told him he should find those most concerned in her +fate. Until now, he had hardly breathed clearly, much less reflected on the +character of his sudden enterprise. It was too late, however, to retreat, had +he been so disposed, or to abandon his purpose, without incurring the hazard of +exciting dangerous suspicions A single instant served to recal his thoughts, +ere he demanded,— +</p> + +<p> +“Do I see the owner of the ‘Caroline?’” +</p> + +<p> +“The ship is consigned to our house,” returned a sedate, +deliberate, and shrewd-looking individual, in the attire of a wealthy, but also +of a thrifty, trader. +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard that you have need of an experienced officer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Experienced officers are comfortable things to an owner in a vessel of +value,” returned the merchant. “I hope the ‘Caroline’ +is not without her portion.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I had heard, one to supply her Commander’s place, for a time, +was greatly needed?” +</p> + +<p> +“If her Commander were incapable of doing his duty, such a thing might +certainly come to pass. Are you seeking a birth?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have come to apply for the vacancy.” +</p> + +<p> +“It would have been wiser, had you first ascertained there existed a +vacancy to fill. But you have not come to ask authority, in such a ship as +this, without sufficient testimony of your ability and fitness?” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope these documents may prove satisfactory,” said Wilder, +placing in his hands a couple of unsealed letters. +</p> + +<p> +During the time the other was reading the certificates for such they proved to +be, his shrewd eye was looking over his spectacles at the subject of their +contents, and returning to the paper, in alternate glances, in such a way as to +render it very evident that he was endeavouring to assure himself of the +fidelity of the words he read, by actual observation. +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! This is certainly very excellent testimony in your favour, young +gentleman; and—coming, as it does, from two so respectable and affluent +houses as Spriggs, Boggs and Tweed, and Hammer and Hacket—entitled to +great credit. A richer and broader bottomed firm than the former, is not to be +found in all his Majesty’s colonies; and I have great respect for the +latter, though envious people do say that they over-trade a little.” +</p> + +<p> +“Since, then, you esteem them so highly, I shall not be considered hasty +in presuming on their friendship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all, not at all, Mr a—a”—glancing his eye again +into one of the letters; “ay—Mr Wilder; there is never any +presumption in a fair offer, in a matter of business. Without offers to sell +and offers to buy, our property would never change hands, sir, ha! ha! ha! +never change to a profit, you know, young gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am aware of the truth of what you say, and therefore I beg leave to +repeat my offer.” +</p> + +<p> +“All perfectly fair and perfectly reasonable. But you cannot expect us, +Mr Wilder, to make a vacancy expressly for you to fill, though it must be +admitted that your papers are excellent—as good as the note of Spriggs, +Boggs and Tweed themselves—not to make a vacancy expressly” +</p> + +<p> +“I had supposed the Master of the ship so seriously injured”— +</p> + +<p> +“Injured, but not seriously,” interrupted the wary consignee, +glancing his eye around at sundry shippers, and one or two spectators, who were +within ear-shot; “injured certainly, but not so much as to quit the +vessel. No, no, gentlemen; the good ship ‘Royal Caroline’ proceeds +on her voyage, as usual, under the care of that old and well-tried mariner, +Nicholas Nichols.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, sir, am I sorry to have intruded on your time at so busy a +moment,” said Wilder, bowing with a disappointed air, and falling back a +step, as if about to withdraw. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so hasty—not so hasty; bargains are not to be concluded, young +man, as you let a sail fall from the yard. It is possible that your services +may be of use, though not perhaps in the responsible situation of Master. At +what rate do you value the title of ‘Captain?’” +</p> + +<p> +“I care little for the name, provided the trust and the authority are +mine.” +</p> + +<p> +“A very sensible youth!” muttered the discreet merchant; “and +one who knows how to distinguish between the shadow and the substance! A +gentleman of your good sense and character must know, however, that the reward +is always proportioned to the nominal dignity. If I were acting for myself, in +this business, the case would be materially changed, but, as an agent, it is a +duty to consult the interest of my principal.” +</p> + +<p> +“The reward is of no account,” said Wilder, with an eagerness that +might have over-reached itself, had not the individual with whom he was +bargaining fastened his thoughts on the means of cheapening the other’s +services, with a steadiness from which they rarely swerved, when bent on so +commendable an object as saving: “I seek for service.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then service you shall have; nor will you find us niggardly in the +operation. You cannot expect an advance, for a run of no more than a month; nor +any perquisites in the way of stowage, since the ship is now full to her +hatches; nor, indeed, any great price in the shape of wages, since we take you +chiefly to accommodate so worthy a youth, and to honour the recommendations of +so respectable a house as Spriggs, Boggs and Tweed; but you will find us +liberal, excessive liberal. Stay—how know we that you are the person +named in the invoi—I should say, recommendation?” +</p> + +<p> +“Does not the fact of possessing the letters establish my +character?” +</p> + +<p> +“It might in peaceable times; when the realm was not scourged by war. A +description of the person should have accompanied the documents, like a letter +of advice with the bill. As we take you at some risk in this matter, you are +not to be surprised that the price will be affected by the circumstance. We are +liberal; I believe no house in the colonies pays more liberally; but then we +have a character for prudence to lose.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have already said, sir, that the price shall not interrupt our +bargain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good: There is pleasure in transacting business on such liberal and +honourable views! And yet I wish a notarial seal, or a description of the +person, had accompanied the letters. This is the signature of Robert Tweed; I +know it well, and would be glad to see it at the bottom of a promissory note +for ten thousand pounds; that is, with a responsible endorser; but the +uncertainty is much against your pecuniary interest, young man, since we +become, as it were, underwriters that you are the individual named.” +</p> + +<p> +“In order that your mind may be at ease on the subject, Mr Bale,” +said a voice from among the little circle that was listening, with +characteristic interest, to the progress of the bargain, “I can testify, +or, should it be necessary, qualify to the person of the gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder turned in some haste, and in no little astonishment, to discover the +acquaintance whom chance had thrown in so extraordinary, and possibly in so +disagreeable a manner, across his path; and that, too, in a portion of the +country where he wished to believe himself an entire stranger. To his utter +amazement, he found that the new speaker was no other than the landlord of the +“Foul Anchor.”—Honest Joe stood with a perfectly composed +look, and with a face that might readily have been trusted to confront a far +more imposing tribunal, awaiting the result of his testimony on the seemingly +wavering mind of the consignee. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you have lodged the gentleman for a time and you can testify that he +is a punctual paymaster and a civil inmate. But I want documents fit to be +filed with the correspondence of the owners <i>at home</i>”. +</p> + +<p> +“I know not what sort of testimony you think fit for such good +company,” returned the unmoved publican holding up his hand with an air +of admirable innocence; “but, if the sworn declaration of a housekeeper +is of the sort you need, you are a magistrate and may begin to say over the +words at once.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not I, not I, man. Though a magistrate, the oath is informal, and would +not be binding in law. But what do you know of the person in question?” +</p> + +<p> +“That he is as good a seaman, for his years, as any in the colonies. +There may be some of more practice and greater experience; I dare say such are +to be found; but as to activity, watchfulness, and prudence, it would be hard +to find his equal—especially for prudence.” +</p> + +<p> +“You then are quite certain that this person is the individual named in +these papers?” +</p> + +<p> +Joram received the certificates with the same admirable coolness he had +maintained from the commencement and prepared to read them with the most +scrupulous care. In order to effect this necessary operation, he had to put on +his spectacles, (for the landlord of the “Foul Anchor” was in the +wane of life), and Wilder fancied that he stood, during the process, a notable +example of how respectable depravity may become, in appearance, when supported +by a reverend air. +</p> + +<p> +“This is all very true, Mr Bale,” continued the publican, removing +his glasses, and returning the papers. “They have forgotten to say any +thing of the manner in which he saved the ‘Lively Nancy,’ off +Hatteras, and how he run the ‘Peggy and Dolly’ over the Savannah +bar, without a pilot, blowing great guns from the northward and eastward at the +time; but I, who followed the water, as you know, in my younger days, have +often heard both circumstances mentioned among sea-faring men, and I am a judge +of the difficulty. I have an interest in this ship, neighbour Bale, (for though +a rich man, and I a poor one, we are nevertheless neighbours)—I say I +have an interest in this ship; since she is a vessel that seldom quits Newport +without leaving something to jingle in my pocket, or I should not be here +to-day, to see her lift her anchor.” +</p> + +<p> +As the publican concluded, he gave audible evidence that his visit had not gone +unrewarded, by raising a music that was no less agreeable to the ears of the +thrifty merchant than to his own. The two worthies laughed in an understanding +way, and like two men who had found a particular profit in their intercourse +with the “Royal Caroline.” The latter then beckoned Wilder apart, +and, after a little further preliminary discourse, the terms of the young +mariner’s engagement were finally settled. The true Master of the ship +was to remain on board, both as a security for the insurance, and in order to +preserve her reputation; but it was frankly admitted that his hurt, which was +no less than a broken leg, and which the surgeons were then setting, would +probably keep him below for a month to come. During the time he was kept from +his duty, his functions were to be filled, in effect, by our adventurer. These +arrangements occupied another hour of time, and then the consignee left the +vessel, perfectly satisfied with the prudent and frugal manner in which he had +discharged his duty towards his principal. Before stepping into the boat, +however, with a view to be equally careful of his own interests, he took an +opportunity to request the publican to make a proper and legal affidavit of all +that he knew, “of his own knowledge,” concerning the officer just +engaged Honest Joram was liberal of his promises; but, as he saw no motive, now +that all was so happily effected, for incurring useless risks, he contrived to +evade their fulfilment, finding, no doubt, his apology for this breach of faith +in the absolute poverty of his information, when the subject came to be duly +considered, and construed literally by the terms required. +</p> + +<p> +It is unnecessary to relate the bustle, the reparation of half-forgotten, and +consequently neglected business, the duns, good wishes, injunctions to execute +commissions in some distant port, and all the confused, and seemingly +interminable, duties that crowd themselves into the last ten minutes that +precede the sailing of a merchant vessel, more especially if she is fortunate, +or rather unfortunate enough to have passengers. A certain class of men quit a +vessel, in such a situation, with the reluctance that they would part with any +other well established means of profit, creeping down her sides as lazily as +the leech, filled to repletion, rolls from his bloody repast. The common +seaman, with an attention divided by the orders of the pilot and the adieus of +acquaintances, runs in every direction but the right one, and, perhaps at the +only time in his life, seems ignorant of the uses of the ropes he has so long +been accustomed to handle. Notwithstanding all these vexatious delays, and +customary incumbrances, the “Royal Caroline” finally got rid of all +her visitors but one, and Wilder was enabled to indulge in a pleasure that a +seaman alone can appreciate—that clear decks and an orderly ship’s +company. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>Chapter XII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Good: Speak to the mariners: Fall to’t yarely, or we run ourselves +aground.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Tempest.</i> +</p> + +<p> +A good deal of the day had been wasted during the time occupied by the scenes +just related. The breeze had come in steady, but far from fresh. So soon, +however, as Wilder found himself left without the molestation of idlers from +the shore, and the busy interposition of the consignee, he cast his eyes about +him, with the intention of immediately submitting the ship to its power. +Sending for the pilot, he communicated his determination, and withdrew himself +to a part of the deck whence he might take a proper survey of the materials of +his new command, and where he might reflect on the unexpected and extraordinary +situation in which he found himself. +</p> + +<p> +The “Royal Caroline” was not entirely without pretensions to the +lofty name she bore. She was a vessel of that happy size in which comfort and +convenience had been equally consulted. The letter of the Rover affirmed she +had a reputation for her speed; and her young and intelligent Commander saw, +with great inward satisfaction, that she was not destitute of the means of +enabling him to exhibit all her finest properties. A healthy, active, and +skilful crew, justly proportioned spars, little top-hamper, and an excellent +trim, with a superabundance of light sails, offered all the advantages his +experience could suggest. His eye lighted, as it glanced rapidly over these +several particulars of his command, and his lips moved like those of a man who +uttered an inward self-gratulation, or who indulged in some vaunt, that +propriety suggested should go no farther than his own thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +By this time, the crew, under the orders of the pilot, were assembled at the +windlass, and had commenced heaving-in upon the cable. The labour was of a +nature to exhibit their individual powers, as well as their collective force, +to the greatest advantage. Their motion was simultaneous, quick, and full of +muscle. The cry was clear and cheerful. As if to feel his influence, our +adventurer lifted his own voice, amid the song of the mariners, in one of those +sudden and inspiriting calls with which a sea officer is wont to encourage his +people. His utterance was deep, animated, and full of authority. The seamen +started like mettled coursers when they first hear the signal, each man casting +a glance behind him, as though he would scan the qualities of his new superior +Wilder smiled, like one satisfied with his success; and, turning to pace the +quarter-deck, he found himself once more confronted by the calm, considerate +but certainly astonished eye of Mrs Wyllys. +</p> + +<p> +“After the opinions you were pleased to express of this vessel,” +said the lady, in a manner of the coldest irony, “I did not expect to +find you filling a place of such responsibility here.” +</p> + +<p> +“You probably knew, Madam,” returned the young mariner, “that +a sad accident had happened to her Master?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did; and I had heard that another officer had been found, temporarily, +to supply his place. Still, I should presume, that, on reflection, you will not +think it remarkable I am amazed in finding who this person is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, Madam, you may have conceived, from our conversations, an +unfavourable opinion of my professional skill. But I hope that on this head you +will place your mind at ease; for”—— +</p> + +<p> +“You are doubtless a master of the art! it would seem, at least, that no +trifling danger can deter you from seeking proper opportunities to display this +knowledge. Are we to have the pleasure of your company during the whole +passage, or do you leave us at the mouth of the port?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am engaged to conduct the ship to the end of her voyage.” +</p> + +<p> +“We may then hope that the danger you either saw or imagined is lessened +in your judgment, otherwise you would not be so ready to encounter it in our +company.” +</p> + +<p> +“You do me injustice, Madam,” returned Wilder, with warmth, +glancing his eye unconsciously towards the grave, but deeply attentive +Gertrude, as he spoke; “there is no danger that I would not cheerfully +encounter, to save you, or this young lady, from harm.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even this young lady must be sensible of your chivalry!” Then, +losing the constrained manner with which, until now, she had maintained the +discourse in one more natural, and one far more in consonance with her usually +mild and thoughtful mien, Mrs. Wyllys continued, “You have a powerful +advocate, young man, in the unaccountable interest which I feel in your truth; +an interest that my reason would fain condemn. As the ship must need your +services, I will no longer detain you. Opportunities cannot be wanting to +enable us to judge both of your inclination and ability to serve us. Gertrude, +my love, females are usually considered as incumbrances in a vessel; more +particularly when there is any delicate duty to perform, like this before +us.” +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude started, blushed, and proceeded, after her governess, to the opposite +side of the quarter-deck followed by an expressive look from our adventurer +which seemed to say, he considered her presence any thing else but an +incumbrance. As the ladies immediately took a position apart from every body, +and one where they were least in the way of working the ship, at the same time +that they could command an entire view of all her manoeuvres the disappointed +sailor was obliged to cut short a communication which he would gladly have +continued until compelled to take the charge of the vessel from the hands of +the pilot. By this time, however, the anchor was a-weigh, and the seamen were +already actively engaged in the process of making sail. Wilder lent himself, +with feverish excitement, to the duty; and, taking the words from the officer +who was issuing the necessary orders, he assumed the immediate superintendence +in person. +</p> + +<p> +As sheet after sheet of canvas fell from the yards, and was distended by the +complicated mechanism, the interest that a seaman ever takes in his vessel +began to gain the ascendancy over all other feelings By the time every thing +was set, from the royals down, and the ship was cast with her head towards the +harbour’s mouth, our adventurer had probably forgotten (for the moment +only, it is true) that he was a stranger among those he was in so extraordinary +a manner selected to command, and how precious a stake was intrusted to his +firmness and decision. After every thing was set to advantage, alow and aloft, +and the ship was brought close upon the wind, his eye scanned every yard and +sail, from the truck to the hull, and concluded by casting a glance along the +outer side of the vessel, in order to see that not even the smallest rope was +in the water to impede her progress. A small skiff, occupied by a boy, was +towing under the lee, and, as the mass of the vessel began to move, it was +skipping along the surface of the water, light and buoyant as a feather. +Perceiving that it was a boat belonging to the shore, Wilder walked forward, +and demanded its owner. A mate pointed to Joram, who at that moment ascended +from the interior of the vessel, where he had been settling the balance due +from a delinquent, or, what was in his eyes the same thing, a departing debtor. +</p> + +<p> +The sight of this man recalled Wilder to a recollection of all that had +occurred that morning, and of the whole delicacy of the task he had undertaken +to perform. But the publican, whose ideas appeared always concentrated when +occupied on the subject of gain, seemed troubled by no particular emotions at +the interview. He approached the young mariner and, saluting him by the title +of “Captain,” bade him a good voyage, with those customary wish es +which seamen express, when about to separate on such an occasion. +</p> + +<p> +“A lucky trip you have made of it, Captain Wilder,” he concluded, +“and I hope your passage will be short. You’ll not be without a +breeze this afternoon; and, by stretching well over towards Montauck +you’ll be able to make such an offing, on the other tack, as to run the +coast down in the morning. If I am any judge of the weather, the wind will have +more easting in it, than you may happen to find to your fancy.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how long do you think my voyage is likely to last?” demanded +Wilder, dropping his voice so low as to reach no ears but those of the +publican. +</p> + +<p> +Joram cast a furtive glance aside; and, perceiving that they were alone, he +suffered an expression of hardened cunning to take possession of a countenance +that ordinarily seemed set in dull, physical contentment, as he replied, laying +a finger on his nose while speaking,— +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t I tender the consignee a beautiful oath, master +Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“You certainly exceeded my expectations with your promptitude, +and”— +</p> + +<p> +“Information!” added the landlord of the ‘Foul Anchor,’ +perceiving the other a little at a loss for a word; “yes, I have always +been remarkable for the activity of my mind in these small matters; but, when a +man once knows a thing thoroughly, it is a great folly to spend his breath in +too many words.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is certainly a great advantage to be so well instructed. I suppose +you improve your knowledge to a good account.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! bless me, master Wilder, what would become of us all, in these +difficult times, if we did not turn an honest penny in every way that offers? I +have brought up several fine children in credit, and it sha’n’t be +my fault if I don’t leave them something too, besides my good name. Well, +well; they say, ‘A nimble sixpence is as good as a lazy shilling;’ +but give me the man who don’t stand shilly-shally when a friend has need +of his good word, or a lift from his hand. You always know where to find such a +man; as our politicians say, after they have gone through thick and thin in the +cause, be it right or be it wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very commendable principles! and such as will surely be the means of +exalting you in the world sooner or later! But you forget to answer my +question: Will the passage be long, or short?” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven bless you, master Wilder! Is it for a poor publican, like me, to +tell the Master of this noble ship which way the wind will blow next? There is +the worthy and notable Commander Nichols, lying in his state-room below, he +could do any thing with the vessel; and why am I to expect that a gentleman so +well recommended as yourself will do less? I expect to hear that you have made +a famous run, and have done credit to the good word I have had occasion to say +in your favour.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder execrated, in his heart, the wary cunning of the rogue with whom he was +compelled, for the moment, to be in league; for he saw plainly that a +determination not to commit himself a tittle further than he might conceive to +be absolutely necessary, was likely to render Joram too circumspect, to answer +his own immediate wishes. After hesitating a moment, in order to reflect, he +continued hastily,— +</p> + +<p> +“You see that the ship is gathering way too fast to admit of trifling. +You know of the letter I received this morning?” +</p> + +<p> +“Bless me, Captain Wilder! Do you take me for a postmaster? How should I +know what letters arrive at Newport, and what stop on the main?” +</p> + +<p> +“As timid a villain as he is thorough!” muttered the young mariner. +“But this much you may surely say, Am I to be followed immediately? or is +it expected that I should detain the ship in the offing, under any pretence +that I can devise?” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven keep you, young gentleman! These are strange questions, to come +from one who is fresh off the sea, to a man that has done no more than look at +it from the land, these five-and-twenty years. According to my memory, sir, you +will keep the ship about south until you are clear of the islands; and then you +must make your calculations according to the wind, in order not to get into the +Gulf, where, you know, the stream will be setting you one way, while your +orders say, ‘Go another.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Luff! mind your luff, sir!” cried the pilot, in a stern voice, to +the man at the helm; “luff you can; on no account go to leeward of the +slaver!” +</p> + +<p> +Both Wilder and the publican started, as if they found something alarming in +the name of the vessel just alluded to; and the former pointed to the skiff, as +he said,— +</p> + +<p> +“Unless you wish to go to sea with us, Mr Joram, it is time your boat +held its master.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, I see you are fairly under way, and I must leave you, however +much I like your company,” returned the landlord of the ‘Foul +Anchor,’ bustling over the side, and getting into his skiff in the best +manner he could. “Well, boys, a good time to ye; a plenty of wind, and of +the right sort; a safe passage out, and a quick return. Cast off.” +</p> + +<p> +His order was obeyed; the light skiff, no longer impelled by the ship, +immediately deviated from its course; and, after making a little circuit, it +became stationary, while the mass of the vessel passed on, with the steadiness +of an elephant from whose back a butterfly had just taken its flight. Wilder +followed the boat with his eyes, for a moment; but his thoughts were recalled +by the voice of the pilot, who again called, from the forward part of the +ship,— +</p> + +<p> +“Let the light sails lift a little, boy; let her lift keep every inch you +can, or you’ll not weather the slaver. Luff, I say, sir; luff.” +</p> + +<p> +“The slaver!” muttered our adventurer, hastening to a part of the +ship whence he could command a view of that important, and to him doubly +interesting ship; “ay, the slaver! it may be difficult, indeed to weather +upon the slaver!” +</p> + +<p> +He had unconsciously placed himself near Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude; the latter of +whom was leaning on the rail of the quarter-deck, regarding the strange vessel +at anchor, with a pleasure far from unnatural to her years and sex. +</p> + +<p> +“You may laugh at me, and call me fickle, and perhaps credulous, dear Mrs +Wyllys,” the unsuspecting girl cried, just as Wilder had taken the +foregoing position, “but I wish we were well out of this ‘Royal +Caroline,’ and that our passage was to be made in yonder beautiful +ship!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is indeed a beautiful ship!” returned Wyllys; “but I know +not that it would be safer, or more comfortable, than the one we are in.” +</p> + +<p> +“With what symmetry and order the ropes are arranged! and how like a bird +it floats upon the water!” +</p> + +<p> +“Had you particularized the duck, the comparison would have been exactly +nautical,” said the governess, smiling mournfully; “you show +capabilities my love, to be one day a seaman’s wife.” +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude blushed a little; and, turning back her head to answer in the playful +vein of her governess, her eye met the riveted look of Wilder, fastened on +herself. The colour on her cheek deepened to a carnation, and she was mute; the +large gipsy hat she wore serving to conceal both her face and the confusion +which so deeply suffused it. +</p> + +<p> +“You make no answer, child, as if you reflected seriously on the +chances,” continued Mrs Wyllys, whose thoughtful and abstracted mien, +however, sufficiently proved she scarcely knew what she uttered. +</p> + +<p> +“The sea is too unstable an element for my taste,” Gertrude coldly +answered. “Pray tell me, Mrs Wyllys, is the vessel we are approaching a +King’s ship? She has a warlike, not to say a threatening exterior.” +</p> + +<p> +“The pilot has twice called her a slaver.” +</p> + +<p> +“A slaver! How deceitful then is all her beauty and symmetry! I will +never trust to appearances again, since so lovely an object can be devoted to +so vile a purpose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Deceitful indeed!” exclaimed Wilder aloud, under an impulse that +he found as irresistible as it was involuntary. “I will take upon myself +to say, that a more treacherous vessel does not float the ocean than yonder +finely proportioned and admirably equipped”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Slaver,” added Mrs Wyllys, who had time to turn, and to look all +her astonishment, before the young man appeared disposed to finish his own +sentence. +</p> + +<p> +“Slaver;” he said with emphasis, bowing at the same time, as if he +would thank her for the word. +</p> + +<p> +After this interruption, a profound silence occurred Mrs Wyllys studied the +disturbed features of the young man, for a moment, with a countenance that +denoted a singular, though a complicated, interest; and then she gravely bent +her eyes on the water, deeply occupied with intense, if not painful reflection +The light symmetrical form of Gertrude continued leaning on the rail, it is +true, but Wilder was unable to catch another glimpse of her averted and +shadowed lineaments. In the mean while, events, that were of a character to +withdraw his attention entirely from even so pleasing a study, were hastening +to their accomplishment. +</p> + +<p> +The ship had, by this time, passed between the little island and the point +whence Homespun had embarked, and might now be said to have fairly left the +inner harbour. The slaver lay directly in her track, and every man in the +vessel was gazing with deep interest, in order to see whether they might yet +hope to pass on her weather-beam. The measure was desirable; because a seaman +has a pride in keeping on the honourable side of every thing he encounters but +chiefly because, from the position of the stranger, it would be the means of +preventing the necessity of tacking before the “Caroline” should +reach a point more advantageous for such a manoeuvre. The reader will, however, +readily understand that the interest of hear new Commander took its rise in far +different feelings from those of professional pride, or momentary convenience. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder felt, in every nerve, the probability that a crisis was at hand. It will +be remembered that he was profoundly ignorant of the immediate intentions of +the Rover. As the fort was not in a state for present service, it would not be +difficult for the latter to seize upon his prey in open view of the townsmen +and bear it off, in contempt of their feeble means of defence. The position of +the two ships was favourable to such an enterprise. Unprepared, find +unsuspecting, the “Caroline,” at no time a natch for her powerful +adversary, must fall an easy victim; nor would there be much reason to +apprehend that a single shot from the battery could reach them, before the +captor, and his prize, would be at such a distance as to render the blow next +to impotent if not utterly innocuous. The wild and audacious character of such +an enterprise was in full accordance with the reputation of the desperate +freebooter on whose caprice, alone, the act now seemed solely to depend. +</p> + +<p> +Under these impressions, and with the prospect of such a speedy termination to +his new-born authority it is not to be considered wonderful that our adventurer +awaited the result with an interest far exceeding that of any of those by whom +he was surrounded He walked into the waist of the ship, and endeavoured to read +the plan of his secret confederates by some of those indications that are +familiar to a seaman. Not the smallest sign of any intention to depart, or in +any manner to change her position, was, however, discoverable in the pretended +slaver. She lay in the same deep, beautiful, but treacherous quiet, as that in +which she had reposed throughout the whole of the eventful morning. But a +solitary individual could be seen amid the mazes of her rigging, or along the +wide reach of all her spars. It was a seaman seated on the extremity of a lower +yard, where he appeared to busy himself with one of those repairs that are so +constantly required in the gear of a large ship. As the man was placed on the +weather side of his own vessel, Wilder instantly conceived the idea that he was +thus stationed to cast a grapnel into the rigging of the +“Caroline,” should such a measure become necessary, in order to +bring the two ships foul of each other. With a view to prevent so rude an +encounter, he instantly determined to defeat the plan. Calling to the pilot, he +told him the attempt to pass to windward was of very doubtful success, and +reminded him that the safer way would be to go to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +“No fear, no fear, Captain,” returned the stubborn conductor of the +ship, who, as his authority was so brief, was only the more jealous of its +unrestrained exercise, and who, like an usurper of the throne, felt a jealousy +of the more legitimate power which he had temporarily dispossessed; “no +fear of me, Captain. I have trolled over this ground oftener than you have +crossed the ocean, and I know the name of every rock on the bottom, as well as +the town-crier knows the streets of Newport. Let her luff, boy; luff her into +the very eye of the wind; luff, you can”—— +</p> + +<p> +“You have the ship shivering as it is, sir,” said Wilder, sternly: +“Should you get us foul of the slaver who is to pay the cost?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am a general underwriter,” returned the opinionated pilot; +“my wife shall mend every hole I make in your sails, with a needle no +bigger than a hair, and with such a palm as a fairy’s thimble!” +</p> + +<p> +“This is fine talking, sir, but you are already losing the ship’s +way; and, before you have ended your boasts, she will be as fast in irons as a +condemned thief. Keep the sails full, boy; keep them a rap full, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, keep her a good full,” echoed the pilot, who, as the +difficulty of passing to windward became at each instant more obvious, +evidently began to waver in his resolution. “Keep her +full-and-by,—I have always told you full-and-by,—I don’t +know, Captain, seeing that the wind has hauled a little, but we shall have to +pass to leeward yet; but you will acknowledge, that, in such case, we shall be +obliged to go about.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, in point of fact, the wind, though a little lighter than it had been, was, +if anything, a trifle more favourable; nor had Wilder ever, in any manner, +denied that the ship would not have to tack, some twenty minutes sooner, by +going to leeward of the other vessel, than if she had succeeded in her delicate +experiment of passing on the more honourable side; but, as the vulgarest minds +are always the most reluctant to confess their blunders, the discomfited pilot +was disposed to qualify the concession he found himself compelled to make, by +some salvo of the sort, that he might not lessen his reputation for foresight, +among his auditors. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep her away at once,” cried Wilder, who was beginning to change +the tones of remonstrance for those of command; “keep the ship away, sir, +while you have room to do it, or, by the”—— +</p> + +<p> +His lips became motionless; for his eye happened to fall on the pale, speaking, +and anxious countenance of Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe it must be done, seeing that the wind is hauling. Hard up, +boy, and run her under the stern of the ship at anchor. Hold! keep your luff +again; eat into the wind to the bone, boy; lift again; let the light sails +lift. The slaver has run a warp directly across our track. If there’s law +in the Plantations, I’ll have her Captain before the Courts for +this!” +</p> + +<p> +“What means the fellow?” demanded Wilder, jumping hastily on a gun, +in order to get a better view. +</p> + +<p> +His mate pointed to the lee-quarter of the other vessel, where, sure enough, a +large rope was seen whipping the water, as though in the very process of being +extended. The truth instantly flashed on the mind of our young mariner. The +Rover lay secret-moored with a spring, with a view to bring; his guns more +readily to bear upon the battery, should his defence become necessary, and he +now profited, by the circumstance, in order to prevent the trader from passing +to leeward. The whole arrangement excited a good deal of surprise, and not a +few execrations among the officers of the “Caroline;” though none +but her Commander had the smallest twinkling of the real reason why the kedge +had thus been laid, and why a warp was so awkwardly stretched across their +path. Of the whole number, the pilot alone saw cause to rejoice in the +circumstance. He had, in fact, got the ship in such a situation, as to render +it nearly as difficult to proceed in one way as in the other; and he was now +furnished with a sufficient justification, should any accident occur, in the +course of the exceedingly critical manoeuvre, from whose execution there was +now no retreat. +</p> + +<p> +“This is an extraordinary liberty to take in the mouth of a +harbour,” muttered Wilder, when his eyes put him in possession of the +fact just related. “You must shove her by to windward, pilot; there is no +remedy.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wash my hands of the consequences, as I call all on board to +witness,” returned the other, with the air of a deeply offended man, +though secretly glad of the appearance of being driven to the very measure he +was a minute before so obstinately bent on executing, “Law must be called +in here, if sticks are snapped, or rigging parted. Luff to a hair, boy; luff +her short into the wind, and try a half-board.” +</p> + +<p> +The man at the helm obeyed the order. Releasing his hold of its spokes, the +wheel made a quick evolution; and the ship, feeling a fresh impulse of the +wind, turned her head heavily towards the quarter whence it came, the canvas +fluttering with a noise like that produced by a flock of water-fowl just taking +wing. But, met by the helm again, she soon fell off as before, powerless from +having lost her way, and settling bodily down toward the fancied slaver, +impelled by the air, which seemed, however, to have lost much of its force, at +the critical instant it was most needed. +</p> + +<p> +The situation of the “Caroline” was one which a seaman will readily +understand. She had forged so far ahead as to lie directly on the weather-beam +of the stranger, but too near to enable her to fall-off in the least, without +imminent danger that the vessels would come foul. The wind was inconstant, +sometimes blowing in puffs, while at moments there was a perfect lull. As the +ship felt the former, her tall masts bent gracefully towards the slaver, as if +to make the parting salute; but, relieved from the momentary pressure of the +inconstant air, she as often rolled heavily to windward, without advancing a +foot. The effect of each change, however, was to bring her still nigher to her +dangerous neighbour, until it became evident, to the judgment of the youngest +seaman in the vessel, that nothing but a sudden shift of wind could enable her +to pass ahead, the more especially as the tide was on the change. +</p> + +<p> +As the inferior officers of the “Caroline” were not delicate in +their commentaries on the dulness which had brought them into so awkward and so +mortifying a position, the pilot endeavoured to conceal his own vexation, by +the number and vociferousness of his orders. From blustering, he soon passed +into confusion, until the men themselves stood idle, not knowing which of the +uncertain and contradictory mandates they received ought to be first obeyed. In +the mean time, Wilder had folded his arms with an appearance of entire +composure, and taken his station near his female passengers. Mrs Wyllys closely +studied his eye, with the wish of ascertaining, by its expression, the nature +and extent of their danger, if danger there might be, in the approaching +collision of two ships in water that was perfectly smooth, and where one was +stationary and the motion of the other scarcely perceptible. The stern, +determined look she saw settling about the brow of the young man excited an +uneasiness that she would not otherwise have felt, perhaps, under circumstances +that, in themselves, bore no very vivid appearance of hazard. +</p> + +<p> +“Have we aught to apprehend, sir?” demanded the governess, +endeavouring to conceal from her charge the nature of her own disquietude. +</p> + +<p> +“I told you, Madam, the ‘Caroline’ would prove an unlucky +ship.” +</p> + +<p> +Both females regarded the peculiarly bitter smile with which Wilder made this +reply as an evil omen, and Gertrude clung to her companion as to one on whom +she had long been accustomed to lean. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do not the mariners of the slaver appear, to assist us—to keep +us from coming too nigh?” anxiously exclaimed the latter. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do they not, indeed! but we shall see them, I think, ere +long.” +</p> + +<p> +“You speak and look, young man, as if you thought there would be danger +in the interview!” +</p> + +<p> +“Keep near to me,” returned Wilder, in tones that were nearly +smothered by the manner in which he compressed his lips. “In every event, +keep as nigh my person as possible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Haul the spanker-boom to windward,” shouted the pilot; +“lower away the boats, and tow the ship’s head round—clear +away the stream anchor—aft gib-sheet—board main tack, again.” +</p> + +<p> +The astonished men stood like statues, not knowing whither to turn, some +calling to the rest to do this or that, and some as loudly countermanding the +order; when an authoritative voice was heard calmly to say,— +</p> + +<p> +“Silence in the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +The tones-were of that sort which, while they denote the self-possession of the +speaker, never fail to inspire the inferior with a portion of the confidence of +him who commands. Every face was turned towards the quarter of the vessel +whence the sound proceeded, as if each ear was ready to catch the smallest +additional mandate. Wilder was standing on the head of the capstan, where he +could command a full view on every side of him. With a quiet and understanding +glance, he had made himself a perfect master of the situation of his ship. His +eye was at the instant fixed anxiously on the slaver, as if it would pierce the +treacherous calm which still reigned on all about her, in order to know how far +his exertions might be permitted to be useful. But it appeared as if the +stranger lay like some enchanted vessel on the water, not a human form even +appearing about all her complicated machinery, except the seaman already named, +who still continued his employment, as though the “Caroline” was +not within a hundred miles of the place where he sat. The lips of Wilder moved: +it might be in bitterness; it might be in satisfaction; for, a smile of the +most equivocal nature lighted his features, as he continued, in the same deep, +commanding voice as before,— +</p> + +<p> +“Throw all aback—lay every thing flat to the masts, forward and +aft.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay!” echoed the pilot, “lay every thing flat to the +masts.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there a shove-boat alongside the ship?” demanded our +adventurer. +</p> + +<p> +The answer, from a dozen voices, was in the affirmative. +</p> + +<p> +“Show that pilot into her.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is an unlawful order,” exclaimed the other, “and I +forbid any voice but mine to be obeyed.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Throw</i> him in,” sternly repeated Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +Amid the bustle and exertion of bracing round the yards, the resistance of the +pilot produced little or no sensation. He was soon raised on the extended arms +of the two mates; and, after exhibiting his limbs in sundry contortions in the +air, he was dropped into the boat, with as little ceremony as though he had +been a billet of wood. The end of the painter was cast after him; and then the +discomfited guide was left, with singular indifference, to his own meditations. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time, the order of Wilder had been executed. Those vast sheets of +canvas which, a moment before, had been either fluttering in the air, or were +bellying inward or outward, as they touched or filled, as it is technically +called, were now all pressing against their respective masts, impelling the +vessel to retrace her mistaken path. The manoeuvre required the utmost +attention, and the nicest delicacy in its direction. But her young Commander +proved himself, in every particular, competent to his task. Here, a sail was +lifted; there, another was brought with a flatter surface to the air; now, the +lighter canvas was spread; and now it disappeared, like thin vapour suddenly +dispelled by the sun. The voice of Wilder, throughout, though calm, was +breathing with authority. The ship itself seemed, like an animated being, +conscious that her destinies were reposed in different, and more intelligent, +hands than before. Obedient to the new impulse they had received the immense +cloud of canvas, with all its tall forest of spars and rigging, rolled to and +fro; and then, having overcome the state of comparative rest in which it had +been lying, the vessel heavily yielded to the pressure, and began to recede. +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the whole of the time necessary to extricate the +“Caroline,” the attention of Wilder was divided between his own +ship and his inexplicable neighbour. Not a sound was heard to issue from the +imposing and death-like stillness of the latter. Not a single anxious +countenance, not even one lurking eye, was to be detected, at any of the +numerous outlets by which the inmates of an armed vessel can look abroad upon +the deep. The seaman on the yard continued his labour, like a man unconscious +of any thing but his own existence. There however, a slow, though nearly +imperceptible, motion in the ship itself, which was apparently made, like the +lazy movement of a slumbering whale, more by listless volition, than through +any agency of human hands. +</p> + +<p> +Not the smallest of these changes escaped the keen and understanding +examination of Wilder. He saw that, as his own ship retired, the side of the +slaver was gradually exposed to the “Caroline.” The muzzles of the +threatening guns gaped constantly on his vessel, as the eye of the crouching +tiger follows the movement of its prey; and at no time, while nearest, did +there exist a single instant that the decks of the latter ship could not have +been swept, by a general discharge from the battery of the former. At each +successive order issued from his own lips, our adventurer turned his eye, with +increasng interest, to ascertain whether he would be permitted to execute it; +and never did he feel certain that he was left to the sole management of the +“Caroline” until he found that she had backed from her dangerous +proximity to the other; and that, obedient to a new disposition of her sails, +she was falling off, before the light air, in a place where he could hold her +entirely at command. +</p> + +<p> +Finding that the tide was getting unfavourable and the wind too light to stem +it, the sails were then drawn to her yards in festoons, and an anchor was +dropped to the bottom. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>Chapter XIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“What have here? A man, or a fish?” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>The Tempest.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The “Caroline” now lay within a cable’s length of the +supposed slaver. In dismissing the pilot, Wilder had assumed a responsibility +from which a seaman usually shrinks, since, in the case of any untoward +accident in leaving the port, it would involve a loss of insurance, and his own +probable punishment. How far he had been influenced, in taking so decided a +step, by a knowledge of his being beyond or above, the reach of the law, will +probably be made manifest in the course of the narrative; the only immediate +effect of the measure, was, to draw the whole of his attention, which had +before been so much divided between his passengers and the ship, to the care of +the latter. But, so soon as his vessel was secured, for a time at least, and +his mind was no longer excited by the expectation of a scene of immediate +violence, our adventurer found leisure to return to his former, though (to so +thorough a seaman) scarcely more agreeable occupation. The success of his +delicate manoeuvre had imparted to his countenance a glow of something very +like triumph; and his step, as he advanced towards Mrs. Wyllys and Gertrude, +was that of a man who enjoyed the consciousness of having acquitted himself +dexterously, in circumstances that required no small exhibition of professional +skill. At least, such was the construction the former lady put upon his +kindling eye and exulting air; though the latter might, possibly be disposed to +judge of his motives with greater indulgence. Perhaps both were ignorant of the +secret reasons of his self-felicitation; and it is possible that a sentiment, +of a far more generous nature than either of them could imagine, had a full +share of its influence in his present feelings. +</p> + +<p> +Be this as it might, Wilder no sooner saw that the “Caroline” was +swinging to her anchor, and that his services were of no further immediate use, +than he sought an opportunity to renew a conversation which had hitherto been +so vague, and so often interrupted. Mrs Wyllys had long been viewing the +neighbouring vessel with a steady look; nor did she now turn her gaze from the +motionless and silent object, until the young mariner was near her person. She +was then the first to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“Yonder vessel must possess an extraordinary, not to say an insensible, +crew!” exclaimed the governess in a tone bordering on astonishment. +“If such things were, it would not be difficult to fancy her a +spectre-ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is truly an admirably proportioned and a beautifully equipped +trader!” +</p> + +<p> +“Did my apprehensions deceive me? or were we in actual danger of getting +the two vessels entangled?” +</p> + +<p> +“There was certainly some reason for apprehension; but you see we are +safe.” +</p> + +<p> +“For which we have to thank your skill. The manner in which you have just +extricated us from the late danger, has a direct tendency to contradict all +that you were pleased to foretel of that which is to come.” +</p> + +<p> +“I well know, Madam, that my conduct may bear an unfavourable +construction, but”— +</p> + +<p> +“You thought it no harm to laugh at the weakness of three credulous +females,” continued Mrs Wyllys, smiling. “Well, you have had your +amusement; and now. I hope, you will be more disposed to pity what is said to +be a natural infirmity of woman’s mind.” +</p> + +<p> +As the governess concluded, she glanced her eye at Gertrude, with an expression +that seemed to say it would be cruel, now, to trifle further with the +apprehensions of one so innocent and so young. The look of Wilder followed her +own; and when he answered it was with a sincerity that was well calculated to +carry conviction in its tones. +</p> + +<p> +“On the faith which a gentleman owes to all your sex, Madam, what I have +already told you I still continue to believe.” +</p> + +<p> +“The gammonings and the top-gallant-masts!” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” interrupted the young mariner, slightly laughing, and at +the same time colouring a good deal; “perhaps not all of that. But +neither mother, wife, nor sister of mine, should make this passage in the +‘Royal Caroline.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Your look, your voice, and your air of good faith, make a strange +contradiction to your words, young man; for, while the former almost tempt me +to believe you honest, the latter have not a shade of reason to support them. +Perhaps I ought to be ashamed of such a weakness, and yet I will acknowledge +that the mysterious quiet, which seems to have settled for ever on yonder ship, +has excited an inexplicable uneasiness, that may in some way be connected with +her character.—She is certainly a slaver?” +</p> + +<p> +“She is certainly beautiful!” exclaimed Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +“Very beautiful!” Wilder gravely rejoined. +</p> + +<p> +“There is a man still seated on one of her yards who appears to be +entranced in his occupation,” continued Mrs Wyllys, leaning her chin +thoughtfully on her hand, as she gazed at the object of which she was speaking. +“Not once, during the time we were in so much danger of getting the ships +entangled, did that seaman bestow so much as a stolen glance towards us. He +resembles the solitary individual in the city of the transformed; for not +another mortal is there to keep him company, so far as we may discover.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps his comrades sleep,” said Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +“Sleep! Mariners do not sleep in an hour and a day like this! Tell me, Mr +Wilder, (you that are a seaman should know), is it usual for the crew to sleep +when a strange vessel is so nigh—near even to touching, I might almost +say?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought as much; for I am not an entire novice in matters of your +daring, your hardy, your <i>noble</i> profession!” returned the +governess, with deep emphasis “And, had we gone foul of the slaver, do +you think her crew would have maintained their apathy?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not, Madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is something, in all this assumed tranquillity, which might induce +one to suspect the worst of her character. Is it known that any of her crew +have had communication with the town, since her arrival?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard that false colours have been seen on the coast, and that +ships have been plundered, and their people and passengers maltreated, during +the past summer. It is even thought that the famous Rover has tired of his +excesses on the Spanish Main, and that a vessel was not long since seen in the +Caribbean sea, which was thought to be the cruiser of that desperate +pirate!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder made no reply. His eyes, which had been fastened steadily, though +respectfully, on those of the speaker, fell to the deck, and he appeared to +await whatever her further pleasure might choose to utter. The governess mused +a moment; and then, with a change in the expression of her countenance which +proved that her suspicion of the truth was too light to continue without +further and better confirmation, she added,— +</p> + +<p> +“After all, the occupation of a slaver is bad enough, and unhappily by +far too probable, to render it necessary to attribute any worse character to +the stranger. I would I knew the motive of your singular assertions, Mr +Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot better explain them, Madam: unless my manner produces its +effect, I fail altogether in my intentions, which at least are sincere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is not the risk lessened by your presence?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lessened, but not removed.” +</p> + +<p> +Until now, Gertrude had rather listened, as if unavoidably, than seemed to make +one of the party. But here she turned quickly, and perhaps a little +impatiently, to Wilder, and, while her cheeks glowed she demanded, with a smile +that might have brought even a more obdurate man to his confession,— +</p> + +<p> +“Is it forbidden to be more explicit?” +</p> + +<p> +The young Commander hesitated, perhaps as much to dwell upon the ingenuous +features of the speaker, as to decide upon his answer. The colour mounted into +his own embrowned cheek, and his eye lighted with a gleam of open pleasure; +then, as though suddenly reminded that he was delaying to reply, he +said,— +</p> + +<p> +“I am certain, that, in relying on your discretion, I shall be +safe.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubt it not,” returned Mrs Wyllys. “In no event shall you +ever be betrayed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Betrayed! For myself, Madam, I have little fear. If you suspect me of +personal apprehension you do me great injustice.” +</p> + +<p> +“We suspect you of nothing unworthy,” said Gertrude hastily, +“but—we are very anxious for ourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then will I relieve your uneasiness, though at the expense +of”—— +</p> + +<p> +A call, from one of the mates to the other, arrested his words for the moment, +and drew his attention to the neighbouring ship. +</p> + +<p> +“The slaver’s people have just found out that their ship is not +made to put in a glass case, to be looked at by women and children,” +cried the speaker in tones loud enough to send his words into the fore-top, +where the messmate he addressed was attending to some especial duty. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” was the answer; “seeing us in motion, has put him +in mind of his next voyage. They keep watch aboard the fellow, like the sun in +Greenland six months on deck, and six months below!” +</p> + +<p> +The witticism produced, as usual, a laugh among the seamen, who continued their +remarks in a similar vein, but in tones more suited to the deference due to +their superiors. +</p> + +<p> +The eyes, however, of Wilder had fastened themselves on the other ship. The man +so long seated on the end of the main-yard had disappeared, and another sailor +was deliberately walking along the opposite quarter of the same spar, steadying +himself by the boom, and holding in one hand the end of a rope, which he was +apparently about to reeve in the place where it properly belonged. The first +glance told Wilder that the latter was Fid, who was so far recovered from his +debauch as to tread the giddy height with as much, if not greater, steadiness +than he would have rolled along the ground, had his duty called him to terra +firma. The countenance of the young man, which, an instant before, had been +flushed with excitement, and which was beaming with the pleasure of an opening +confidence, changed directly to a look of gloom and reserve. Mrs Wyllys who had +lost no shade of the varying expression of his face, resumed the discourse, +with some earnestness, where he had seen fit so abruptly to break it off. +</p> + +<p> +“You would relieve us,” she said, “at the expense +of”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Life, Madam; but not of honour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gertrude, we can now retire to our cabin,” observed Mrs Wyllys, +with an air of cold displeasure, in which disappointment was a good deal +mingled with resentment at the trifling of which she believed herself the +subject. The eye of Gertrude was no less averted and distant than that of her +governess, while the tint that gave lustre to its beam was brighter, if not +quite so resentful. As the two moved past the silent Wilder, each dropped a +distant salute, and then our adventurer found himself the sole occupant of the +quarter-deck. While his crew were busied in coiling ropes, and clearing the +decks, their young Commander leaned his head on the taffrail, (that part of the +vessel which the good relict of the Rear-Admiral had so strangely confounded +with a very different object in the other end of the ship), remaining for many +minutes in an attitude of deep abstraction. From this reverie he was at length +aroused, by a sound like that produced by the lifting and falling of a light +oar into the water. Believing himself about to be annoyed by visiters from the +land, he raised his head, and cast a dissatisfied glance over the +vessel’s side, to see who was approaching. +</p> + +<p> +A light skiff, such as is commonly used by fishermen in the bays and shallow +waters of America, was lying within ten feet of the ship, and in a position +where it was necessary to take some little pains in order to observe it. It was +occupied by a single man, whose back was towards the vessel, and who was +apparently abroad on the ordinary business of the owner of such a boat. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you in search of rudder-fish, my friend, that you hang so closely +under my counter?” demanded Wilder. “The bay is said to be full of +delicious bass, and other scaly gentlemen, that would far better repay your +trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is well paid who gets the bite he baits for,” returned the +other, turning his head, and exhibiting the cunning eye and chuckling +countenance of old Bob Bunt, as Wilder’s recent and treacherous +confederate had announced his name to be. +</p> + +<p> +“How now! Dare you trust yourself with me, in five-fathom water, after +the villanous trick you have seen fit”— +</p> + +<p> +“Hist! noble Captain, hist!” interrupted Bob, holding up a finger, +to repress the other’s animation, and intimating, by a sign, that their +conference must be held in lower tones; “there is no need to call all +hands to help us through a little chat. In what way have I fallen to leeward of +your favour, Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“In what way, sirrah! Did you not receive money, to give such a character +of this ship to the ladies as (you said yourself) would make them sooner pass +the night in a churchyard, than trust foot on board her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Something of the sort passed between us, Captain; but you forgot one +half of the conditions, and I overlooked the other; and I need not tell so +expert a navigator, that two halves make a whole. No wonder, therefore, that +the affair dropt through between us.” +</p> + +<p> +“How! Do you add falsehood to perfidy? What part of my engagement did I +neglect?” +</p> + +<p> +“What part!” returned the pretended fisherman, leisurely drawing in +a line, which the quick eye of Wilder saw, though abundantly provided with lead +at the end, was destitute of the equally material implement—the hook; +“What part, Captain! No less a particular than the second guinea.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was to have been the reward of a service done, and not an earnest, +like its fellow, to induce you to undertake the duty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you have helped me to the very word I wanted. I fancied it was not +in earnest, like the one I got, and so I left the job half finished.” +</p> + +<p> +“Half finished, scoundrel! you never commenced what you swore so stoutly +to perform.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now are you on as wrong a course, my Master, as if you steered due east +to get to the Pole. I religiously performed one half my undertaking; and, you +will acknowledge, I was only half paid.” +</p> + +<p> +“You would find it difficult to prove that you even did that +little.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let us look into the log. I enlisted to walk up the hill as far as the +dwelling of the good Admiral’s widow, and there to make certain +alterations in my sentiments, which it is not necessary to speak of between +us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which you did not make; but, on the contrary, which you thwarted, by +telling an exactly contradictory tale.” +</p> + +<p> +“True.” +</p> + +<p> +“True! knave?—Were justice done you, an acquaintance with a +rope’s end would be a merited reward.” +</p> + +<p> +“A squall of words!—If your ship steer as wild as your ideas, +Captain, you will make a crooked passage to the south. Do you not think it an +easier matter, for an old man like me, to tell a few lies than to climb yonder +long and heavy hill? In strict justice, more than half my duty was done when I +got into the presence of the believing widow; and when I concluded to refuse +the half of the reward that was unpaid, and to take bounty from t’other +side.” +</p> + +<p> +“Villain!” exclaimed Wilder, a little blinded by resentment, +“even your years shall no longer protect you from punishment. Forward, +there! send a crew into the jolly boat, sir, and bring me this old fellow in +the skiff on board the ship. Pay no attention to his outcries; I have an +account to settle with him, that cannot be balanced without a little +noise.” +</p> + +<p> +The mate, to whom this order was addressed, and who had answered the hail, +jumped on the rail, where he got sight of the craft he was commanded to chase. +In less than a minute he was in the boat, with four men, and pulling round the +bows of the ship, in order to get on the side necessary to effect his object. +The self-styled Bob Bunt gave one or two strokes with his skulls, and sent, the +skiff some twenty or thirty fathoms off, where he lay, chuckling like a man who +saw only the success of his cunning, without any apparent apprehensions of the +consequences. But, the moment the boat appeared in view, he laid himself to the +work with vigorous arms, and soon convinced the spectators that his capture was +not to be achieved without abundant difficulty. +</p> + +<p> +For some little time, it was doubtful what course the fugitive meant to take; +for he kept whirling and turning in swift and sudden circles, completely +confusing and baffling his pursuers, by his skilful and light evolutions. But, +soon tiring of this taunting amusement, or perhaps apprehensive of exhausting +his own strength, which was powerfully and most dexterously exerted, it was not +long before he darted off in a perfectly straight line, taking the direction of +the “Rover.” +</p> + +<p> +The chase now grew hot and earnest, exciting the clamour and applause of most +of the nautical spectators The result, for a time, seemed doubtful; but, if any +thing, the jolly boat, though some distance astern, began to gain, as it +gradually overcame the resistance of the water. In a very few minutes, however, +the skiff shot under the stern of the other ship, and disappeared, bringing the +hull of the vessel in a line with the “Caroline” and its course. +The pursuers were not long in taking the same direction and then the seamen of +the latter ship began, laughingly to climb the rigging, in order to command a +further view, over the intervening object. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing, however, was to be seen beyond but water, and the still more distant +island, with its little fort. In a few minutes, the crew of the jolly boat were +observed pulling back in their path, returning slowly, like men who were +disappointed. All crowded to the side of the ship, in order to hear the +termination of the adventure; the noisy assemblage even drawing the two +passengers from the cabin to the deck. Instead, however, of meeting the +questions of their shipmates with the usual wordy narrative of men of their +condition, the crew of the boat wore startled and bewildered looks. Their +officer sprang to the deck without speaking, and immediately sought his +Commander. +</p> + +<p> +“The skiff was too light for you, Mr Nighthead,” Wilder calmly +observed, as the other approached, having never moved, himself, from the place +where he had been standing during the whole proceeding. +</p> + +<p> +“Too light, sir! Are you acquainted with the man who pulled it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not particularly well: I only know him for a knave.” +</p> + +<p> +“He should be one, since he is of the family of the devil!” +</p> + +<p> +“I will not take on myself to say he is as bad as you appear to think, +though I have little reason to believe he has any honesty to cast into the sea. +What has become of him?” +</p> + +<p> +“A question easily asked, but hard to answer. In the first place, though +an old and a gray-headed fellow, he twitched his skiff along as if it floated +in air. We were not a minute, or two at the most, behind him; but, when we got +on the other side of the slaver, boat and man had vanished!” +</p> + +<p> +“He doubled her bows while you were crossing the stern.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you see him, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“I confess we did not.” +</p> + +<p> +“It could not be, sir; since we pulled far enough ahead to examine on +both sides at once; besides, the people of the slaver knew nothing of +him.” +</p> + +<p> +“You saw the slaver’s people?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should have said her man; for there is seemingly but one hand on board +her.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how was he employed?” +</p> + +<p> +“He was seated in the chains, and seem’d to have been asleep. It is +a lazy ship, sir; and one that takes more money from her owners, I fancy, than +it ever returns!” +</p> + +<p> +“It may be so. Well, let the rogue escape. There is the prospect of a +breeze coming in from the sea, Mr Earing; we will get our topsails to the +mast-heads again, and be in readiness for it. I could like yet to see the sun +set in the water.” +</p> + +<p> +The mates and the crew went cheerfully to their task, though many a curious +question was asked, by the wondering seamen, of their shipmates who had been in +the boat, and many a solemn answer was given, while they were again spreading +the canvas, to invite the breeze. Wilder turned, in the mean time, to Mrs +Wyllys, who had been an auditor of his short conversation with the mate. +</p> + +<p> +“You perceive, Madam,” he said, “that our voyage does not +commence without its omens.” +</p> + +<p> +“When you tell me, inexplicable young man, with the air of singular +sincerity you sometimes possess, that we are unwise in trusting to the ocean, I +am half inclined to put faith in what you say; but when you attempt to enforce +your advice with the machinery of witchcraft, you only induce me to +proceed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Man the windlass!” cried Wilder, with a look that seemed to tell +his companions, If you are so stout of heart, the opportunity to show your +resolution shall not be wanting. “Man the windlass there! We will try the +breeze again, and work the ship into the offing while there is light.” +</p> + +<p> +The clattering of handspikes preceded the mariners song. Then the heavy labour, +by which the ponderous iron was lifted from the bottom, was again resumed, and, +in a few more minutes, the ship was once more released from her hold upon the +land. +</p> + +<p> +The wind soon came fresh off the ocean, charged with the saline dampness of the +element. As the air fell upon the distended and balanced sails, the ship bowed +to the welcome guest; and then, rising gracefully from its low inclination, the +breeze was heard singing, through the maze of rigging, the music that is ever +grateful to a seaman’s ear. The welcome sounds, and the freshness of the +peculiar air gave additional energy to the movements of the men. The anchor was +stowed, the ship cast, the lighter sails set, the courses had fallen, and the +bows of the “Caroline” were throwing the spray before her, ere +another ten minutes had gone by. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder had now undertaken himself the task of running his vessel between the +islands of Connannicut and Rhode. Fortunately for the heavy responsibility he +had assumed, the channel was not difficult and the wind had veered so far to +the east as to give him a favourable opportunity, after making a short stretch +to windward, of laying through in a single reach. But this stretch would bring +him under the necessity of passing very near the “Rover,” or of +losing no small portion of his ’vantage ground. He did not hesitate. When +the vessel was as nigh the weather shore as his busy lead told him was prudent +the ship was tacked, and her head laid directly towards the still motionless +and seemingly unobservant slaver. +</p> + +<p> +The approach of the “Caroline” was far more propitious than before. +The wind was steady, and her crew held her in hand, as a skilful rider governs +the action of a fiery and mettled steed. Still the passage was not made without +exciting a breathless interest in every soul in the Bristol trader. Each +individual had his own secret cause of curiosity. To the seamen, the strange +ship began to be the subject of wonder; the governess, and her ward, scarce +knew the reasons of their emotions; while Wilder was but too well instructed in +the nature of the hazard that all but himself were running. As before the man +at the wheel was about to indulge his nautical pride, by going to windward; +but, although the experiment would now have been attended with but little +hazard, he was commanded to proceed differently. +</p> + +<p> +“Pass the slaver’s lee-beam, sir,” said Wilder to him, with a +gesture of authority; and then the young Captain went himself to lean on the +weather-rail, like every other idler on board, to examine the object they were +so fast approaching. As the “Caroline” came boldly up, seeming to +bear the breeze before her, the sighing of the wind, as it murmured through the +rigging of the stranger, was the only sound that issued from her. Not a single +human face, not even a secret and curious eye, was any where to be seen. The +passage was of course rapid, and, as the two vessels, for an instant, lay with +heads and sterns nearly equal, Wilder thought it was to be made without the +slightest notice from the imaginary slaver. But he was mistaken. A light, +active form, in the undress attire of a naval officer, sprang upon the +taffrail, and waved a sea-cap in salute. The instant the fair hair was blowing +about the countenance of this individual, Wilder recognized the quick, keen eye +and features of the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“Think you the wind will hold here, sir?” shouted the latter, at +the top of his voice. +</p> + +<p> +“It has come in fresh enough to be steady,” was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +“A wise mariner would get all his easting in time to me, there is a smack +of West-Indies about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“You believe we shall have it more at south?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do: But a taught bow-line, for the night, will carry you clear.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time the “Caroline” had swept by, and she was now luffing, +across the slaver’s bows, into her course again. The figure on the +taffrail waved high the sea-cap in adieu, and disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it possible that such a man can traffic in human beings!” +exclaimed Gertrude, when the sounds of both voices had ceased. +</p> + +<p> +Receiving no reply, she turned quickly, to regard her companion. The governess +was standing like a being entranced, with her eyes looking on vacancy for they +had not changed their direction since the motion of the vessel had carried her +beyond the countenance of the stranger. As Gertrude took her hand, and repeated +the question, the recollection of Mrs Wyllys returned. Passing her own hand +over her brow, with a bewildered air, she forced a smile as she said,— +</p> + +<p> +“The meeting of vessels, or the renewal of any maritime experience, never +fails to revive my earliest recollections, love. But surely that was an +extraordinary being, who has at length shown himself in the slaver!” +</p> + +<p> +“For a slaver, most extraordinary!” +</p> + +<p> +Wyllys leaned her head on her hand for an instant, and then turned to seek the +person of Wilder. The young mariner was standing near, studying the expression +of her countenance, with an interest scarcely less remarkable than her own air +of thought. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, young man, is yonder individual the Commander of the +slaver?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know him?” +</p> + +<p> +“We have met.” +</p> + +<p> +“And he is called——” +</p> + +<p> +“The Master of yon ship. I know no other name.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gertrude, we will seek our cabin. When the land is leaving us, Mr Wilder +will have the goodness to let us know.” +</p> + +<p> +The latter bowed his assent, and the ladies then left the deck. The +“Caroline” had now the prospect of getting speedily to sea. In +order to effect this object, Wilder had every thing, that would draw, set to +the utmost advantage. One hundred times, at least, however, did he turn his +head, to steal a look at the vessel he had left behind. She ever lay as when +they passed—a regular, beautiful but motionless object, in the bay. From +each of these furtive examinations, our adventurer invariably cast an excited +and impatient glance at the sails of his own ship; ordering this to be drawn +tighter to the spar beneath, or that to be more distended along its mast. +</p> + +<p> +The effect of so much solicitude, united with so much skill, was to urge the +Bristol trader through her element at a rate she had rarely, if ever, surpassed +It was not long before the land ceased to be seen on her two beams, and then it +was only to be traced in the blue islands in their rear, or in a long, dim +horizon, to the north and west, where the limits of the vast Continent +stretches for countless leagues. The passengers were now summoned to take their +parting look at the land, and the officers were seen noting their departures. +Just before the day shut in, and ere the islands were entirely sunk into the +waves, Wilder ascended to an upper yard bearing in his hand a glass. His gaze, +towards the haven he had left, was long, anxious, and abstracted. But his +descent was distinguished by a more quiet eye, and a calmer mien. A smile, like +that of success played about his lips; and he gave his orders clearly, in a +cheerful, encouraging voice. They were obeyed as briskly. The elder mariners +pointed to the seas, as they cut through them, and affirmed that never had the +“Caroline” made such progress. The mates cast the log, and nodded +their approbation as one announced to the other the unwonted speed of the ship. +In short, content and hilarity reigned on board; for it was deemed that their +passage was commenced under such auspices as would lead it to a speedy and a +prosperous termination. In the midst of these encouraging omens, the sun dipped +into the sea, illuming, as it fell, a wide reach of the chill and gloomy +element. Then the shades of the hour began to gather over the vast surface of +the illimitable waste. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>Chapter XIV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The first watch of the night was marked by no change. Wilder had joined his +passengers, cheerful, and with that air of enjoyment which every officer of the +sea is more or less wont to exhibit, when he has disengaged his vessel from the +dangers of the land, and has fairly launched her on the trackless and +fathomless abyss of the ocean. He no longer alluded to the hazards of the +passage, but strove, by the thousand nameless assiduities which his station +enabled him to man fest, to expel all recollection of had passed from their +minds. Mrs Wyllys lent herself to his evident efforts to remove their +apprehensions and one, ignorant of what had occurred between them, would have +thought the little party, around the evening’s repast, was a contented +and unsuspecting group of travellers, who had commenced their enterprise under +the happiest auguries. +</p> + +<p> +Still there was that, in the thoughtful eye and clouded brow of the governess, +as at times she turned her bewildered look on our adventurer, which denoted a +mind far from being at ease. She listened to the gay and peculiar, because +professional, sallies of the young mariner, with smiles that were indulgent +while they were melancholy, as though his youthful spirits, exhibited as they +were by touches of a humour that was thoroughly and quaintly nautical recalled +familiar, but sad, images to her fancy Gertrude had less alloy in her pleasure. +Home, with a beloved and indulgent father, were before her; and she felt, while +the ship yielded to each fresh impulse of the wind, as if another of those +weary miles which had so long separated them, was already conquered. +</p> + +<p> +During these short but pleasant hours, the adventurer who had been so oddly +called into the command of the Bristol trader, appeared in a new character. +Though his conversation was characterized by the frank manliness of a seaman, +it was, nevertheless tempered by the delicacy of perfect breeding. The +beautiful mouth of Gertrude often struggled to conceal the smiles which played +around her lips and dimpled her cheeks, like a soft air ruffling the surface of +some limpid spring; and once or twice, when the humour of Wilder came +unexpectedly across her youthful fancy, she was compelled to yield to the +impulses of an irresistible merriment. +</p> + +<p> +One hour of the free intercourse of a ship can do more towards softening the +cold exterior in which the world encrusts the best of human feelings, than +weeks of the unmeaning ceremonies of the land. He who has not felt this truth, +would do well to distrust his own companionable qualities. It would seem that +man, when he finds himself in the solitude of the ocean, feels the deepest how +great is his dependancy on others for happiness. Then it is that he yields to +sentiments with which he trifled, in the wantonness of abundance, and is glad +to seek relief in the sympathies of his kind. A community of hazard makes a +community of interest, whether person or property composes the stake. Perhaps a +meta-physical and a too literal, reasoner might add, that, as in such +situations each one is conscious the condition and fortunes of his neighbour +are the mere indexes of his own, they acquire value in his eyes from their +affinity to himself. If this conclusion be true, Providence has happily so +constituted the best of the species, that the sordid feeling is too latent to +be discovered; and least of all was any one of the three, who passed the first +hours of the night around the cabin table of the “Royal Caroline,” +to be included in so selfish a class. The nature of the intercourse, which had +rendered the first hours of their acquaintance so singularly equivocal, +appeared to be forgotten in the freedom of the moment; or, if it were +remembered at all, it merely served to give the young seaman additional +interest in the eyes of the females, as much by the mystery of the +circumstances as by the evident concern he had manifested in their behalf. +</p> + +<p> +The bell had struck eight; and the hoarse long-drawn call, which summoned the +sleepers to the deck, was heard, before either of the party seemed aware of the +lateness of the hour. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the middle watch,” said Wilder, smiling at he observed that +Gertrude started at the strange sounds, and sat listening, like a timid doe +that catches the note of the hunter’s horn. “We seamen are not +always musical, as you may judge by the strains of the spokesman on this +occasion. There are, however, ears in the ship to whom his notes are even more +discordant than to your own.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean the sleepers?” said Mrs Wyllys. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean the watch below. There is nothing so sweet to the foremast +mariner as his sleep; for it is the most precarious of all his enjoyments: on +the other hand, perhaps, it is the most treacherous companion the Commander +knows.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why is the rest of the superior so much less grateful than that of +the common man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because he pillows his head on responsibility.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are young, Mr Wilder, for a trust like this you bear.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a service which makes us all prematurely old.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, why not quit it?” said Gertrude, a little hastily. +</p> + +<p> +“Quit it!” he replied, gazing at her intently, for an instant, +while he suspended his reply. “It would be to me like quitting the air we +breathe.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you so long been devoted to your profession?” resumed Mrs +Wyllys, bending her thoughtful eye, from the ingenuous countenance of her +pupil, once more towards the features of him she addressed. +</p> + +<p> +“I have reason to think I was born on the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Think! You surely know your birth-place.” +</p> + +<p> +“We are all of us dependant on the testimony of others,” said +Wilder, smiling, “for the account of that important event. My earliest +recollections are blended with the sight of the ocean, and I can hardly say +that I am a creature of the land at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have, at least, been fortunate in those who have had the charge to +watch over your education and your younger days.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have!” he answered, with strong emphasis. Then, after shading +his face an instant with his hands, he arose, and added, with a melancholy +smile: “And now to my last duty for the twenty four hours. Have you a +disposition to look at the night? So skilful and so stout a sailor should not +seek her birth, without passing an opinion on the weather.” +</p> + +<p> +The governess took his offered arm, and, with his aid, ascended the stairs of +the cabin in silence, each seemingly finding sufficient employment in +meditation. She was followed by the more youthful, and therefore more active +Gertrude, who joined them as they stood together, on the weather side of the +quarter-deck. +</p> + +<p> +The night was rather misty than dark. A full and bright moon had arisen; but it +pursued its path, through the heavens, behind a body of dusky clouds, that was +much too dense for any borrowed rays to penetrate. Here and there, a straggling +gleam appeared to find its way through a covering of vapour less dense than the +rest, and fell upon the water like the dim illumination of a distant taper. As +the wind was fresh and easterly, the sea seemed to throw upward from its +agitated surface, more light, than it received; long lines of white, glittering +foam following each other, and lending, at moments, a distinctness to the +surface of the waters, that the heavens themselves wanted. The ship was bowed +low on its side; and, as it entered each rolling swell of the ocean, a wide +crescent of foam was driven ahead, as if the element gambolled along its path. +But, though the time was propitious, the wind not absolutely adverse, and the +heavens rather gloomy than threatening, an uncertain (and, to a landsman, it +might seem an unnatural) light gave to the view a character of the wildest +loneliness. +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude shuddered, on reaching the deck, while she murmured an expression of +strange delight. Even Mrs Wyllys gazed upon the dark waves, that were heaving +and setting in the horizon, around which was shed most of that radiance that +seemed so supernatural, with a deep conviction that she was now entirely in the +hands of the Being who had created the waters and the land. But Wilder looked +upon the scene as one fastens his gaze on a placid sky. To him the view +possessed neither novelty, nor dread, nor charm. Not so, however, with his more +youthful and slightly enthusiastic companion. After the first sensations of awe +had a little subsided, she exclaimed, in the fullest ardour of +admiration,— +</p> + +<p> +“One such sight would repay a month of imprisonment in a ship! You must +find deep enjoyment in these scenes, Mr Wilder; you, who have them always at +command.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes; there is pleasure to be found in them, without doubt, I would +that the wind had veer’d a point or two! I like not that sky, nor yonder +misty horizon, nor this breeze hanging so dead at east.” +</p> + +<p> +“The vessel makes great progress,” returned Mrs Wyllys, calmly, +observing that the young man spoke without consciousness, and fearing the +effect of his words on the mind of her pupil. “If we are going on our +course, there is the appearance of a quick and prosperous passage.” +</p> + +<p> +“True!” exclaimed Wilder, as though he had just become conscious of +her presence. “Quite probable and very true. Mr Earing, the air is +getting too heavy for that duck. Hand all your top-gallant sails, and haul the +ship up closer. Should the wind hang here at east-with-southing, we may want +what offing we can get.” +</p> + +<p> +The mate replied in the prompt and obedient manner which seamen use to their +superiors; and; lifter scanning the signs of the weather for a moment, he +promptly proceeded to see the order executed. While the men were on the yards +furling the light canvas, the females walked apart, leaving the young Commander +to the uninterrupted discharge of his duty. But Wilder, so far from deeming it +necessary to lend his attention to so ordinary a service, the moment after he +had spoken, seemed perfectly unconscious that the mandate had issued from his +mouth. He stood on the precise spot where the view of the ocean and the heavens +had first caught his eye, and his gaze still continued fastened on the aspect +of the two elements. His look was always in the direction of the wind, which, +though far from a gale, often fell upon the sails of the ship in heavy and +sullen puffs. After a long and anxious examination, the young mariner muttered +his thoughts to himself, and commenced pacing the deck with rapid footsteps. +Still he would make sudden and short pauses, and again rivet his gaze on the +point of the compass whence the blasts came sweeping across the waste of +waters; as though he distrusted the weather, and would fain cause his keen +glance to penetrate the gloom of night, in order to relieve some painful +doubts. At length his step became arrested, in one of those quick turns that he +made at each end of his narrow walk. Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude stood nigh, and +were enabled to read something of the anxious character of his countenance, as +his eye became suddenly fastened on a distant point of the ocean, though in a +quarter exactly opposite to that whither his former looks had been directed. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you so much distrust the weather?” asked the governess, when +she thought his examination had endured long enough to become ominous of evil. +</p> + +<p> +“One looks not to leeward for the signs of the weather, in a breeze like +this,” was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +“What see you, then, to fasten your eye on thus intently?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder slowly raised his arm, and was about to point with his finger, when the +limb suddenly fell again. +</p> + +<p> +“It was delusion!” he muttered, turning quickly on his heel, and +pacing the deck still more rapidly than ever. +</p> + +<p> +His companions watched the extraordinary, and apparently unconscious, movements +of the young Commander, with amazement, and not without a little secret dismay. +Their own looks wandered over the expanse of troubled water to leeward, but +nowhere could they see more than the tossing element, capped with those ridges +of garish foam which served only to make the chilling waste more dreary and +imposing. +</p> + +<p> +“We see nothing,” said Gertrude, when Wilder again stopped in his +walk, and once more gazed, as before, on the seeming void. +</p> + +<p> +“Look!” he answered, directing their eyes with his finger: +“Is there nothing there?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“You look into the sea. Here, just where the heavens and the waters meet; +along that streak of misty light, into which the waves are tossing themselves, +like little hillocks on the land. There; now ’tis smooth again, and my +eyes did not deceive me. By heavens, it is a ship!” +</p> + +<p> +“Sail, ho!” shouted a voice, from out atop, which sounded in the +ears of our adventurer like the croaking of some sinister spirit, sweeping +across the deep. +</p> + +<p> +“Whereaway?” was the stern demand. +</p> + +<p> +“Here on our lee-quarter, sir,” returned the seaman at the top of +his voice. “I make her out a ship close-hauled; but, for an hour past, +she has looked more like mist than a vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, he is right,” muttered Wilder; “and yet ’tis a +strange thing that a ship should be just there.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why stranger than that we are here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why!” said the young man, regarding Mrs Wyllys, who had put this +question, with a perfectly unconscious eye. “I say, ’tis strange +she should be there. I would she were steering northward.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you give no reason. Are we always to have warnings from you,” +she continued, with a smile, “without reasons? Do you deem us so utterly +unworthy of a reason? or do you think us incapable of thought on a subject +connected with the sea? You have failed to make the essay, and are too quick to +decide. Try us this once. We may possibly deceive your expectations.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder laughed faintly, and bowed, as if he recollected himself. Still he +entered into no explanation; but again turned his gaze on the quarter of the +ocean where the strange sail was said to be. The females followed his example, +but ever with the same want of success. As Gertrude expressed her +disappointment aloud, the soft tones of the complainant found their way to the +ears of our adventurer. +</p> + +<p> +“You see the streak of dim light,” he said, again pointing across +the waste. “The clouds have lifted a little there, but the spray of the +sea is floating between us and the opening. Her spars look like the delicate +work of a spider, against the sky, and yet you see there are all the +proportions, with the three masts, of a noble ship.” +</p> + +<p> +Aided by these minute directions, Gertrude at length caught a glimpse of the +faint object, and soon succeeded in giving the true direction to the look of +her governess also. Nothing was visible but the dim outline, not unaptly +described by Wilder himself assembling a spider’s web. +</p> + +<p> +“It must be a ship!” said Mrs Wyllys; “but at a vast +distance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! Would it were farther. I could wish that vessel any where but +there.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why not there? Have you reason to dread an enemy has been waiting +for us in this particular spot?” +</p> + +<p> +“No: Still I like not her position. Would to God she were going +north!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is some vessel from the port of New York steering to his +Majesty’s islands in the Caribbean sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so,” said Wilder, shaking his head; “no vessel, from +under the heights of Never-sink, could gain that offing with a wind like +this!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is then some ship going into the same place, or perhaps bound for one +of the bays of the Middle Colonies!” +</p> + +<p> +“Her road would be too plain to be mistaken. See; the stranger is close +upon a wind.” +</p> + +<p> +“It may be a trader, or a cruiser coming <i>from</i> one of the places I +have named.” +</p> + +<p> +“Neither. The wind has had too much northing, the last two days, for +that.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a vessel that we have overtaken, and which has come out of the +waters of Long Island Sound.” +</p> + +<p> +“That, indeed, may we yet hope,” muttered Wilder in a smothered +voice. +</p> + +<p> +The governess, who had put the foregoing questions in order to extract from the +Commander of the “Caroline” the information he so pertinaciously +withheld, had now exhausted all her own knowledge on the subject, and was +compelled to await his further pleasure in the matter, or resort to the less +equivocal means of direct interrogation. But the busy state of Wilder’s +thoughts left her no immediate opportunity to pursue the subject. He soon +summoned the officer of the watch to his councils, and they consulted together, +apart, for many minutes. The hardy, but far from quick witted, seaman who +tilled the second station in the ship saw nothing so remarkable in the +appearance of a strange sail, in the precise spot where the dim and nearly +aerial image of the unknown vessel was still visible; nor did he hesitate to +pronounce her some honest trader bent, like themselves, on her purpose of +lawful commerce. It would seem that his Commander thought otherwise, as will +appear by the short dialogue that passed between them. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it not extraordinary that she should be just there?” demanded +Wilder, after they had, each in turn, made a closer examination of the faint +object, by the aid of an excellent night-glass. +</p> + +<p> +“She would be better off, here,” returned the literal seaman, who +only had an eye for the nautical situation of the stranger; “and we +should be none the worse for being a dozen leagues more to the eastward, +ourselves. If the wind holds here at east-by-south-half-south we shall have +need of all that offing. I got jammed once between Hatteras and the +Gulf”— +</p> + +<p> +“But, do you not perceive that she is where no vessel could or ought to +be, unless she has run exactly the same course with ourselves?” +interrupted Wilder. “Nothing, from any harbour south of New York, could +have such northing, as the wind has been; while nothing, from the Colony of +York would stand on this tack, if bound east; or would be here, if going +southward.” +</p> + +<p> +The plain-going ideas of the honest mate were open to a reasoning which the +reader may find a little obscure: for his mind contained a sort of chart of the +ocean, to which he could at any time refer, with a proper discrimination +between the various winds, and all the different points of the compass. When +properly directed, he was not slow to see, as a mariner, the probable justice +of his young Commander’s inferences; and then wonder, in its turn began +to take possession of his more obtuse faculties. +</p> + +<p> +“It is downright unnatural, truly, that the fellow should be +there!” he replied, shaking his head, but meaning no more than that it +was entirely out of the order of nautical propriety; “I see the +philosophy of what you say, Captain Wilder; and little do I know how to explain +it. It is a ship, to a mortal certainty!” +</p> + +<p> +“Of that there is no doubt. But a ship most strangely placed!” +</p> + +<p> +“I doubled the Good-Hope in the year ’46,” continued the +other, “and saw a vessel lying, as it might be, here, on our +weather-bow—which is just opposite to this fellow, since he is on our +lee-quarter—but there I saw a ship standing for an hour across our +fore-foot, and yet, though we set the azimuth, not a degree did he budge, +starboard or larboard, during all that time, which, as it was heavy weather, +was, to say the least, something out of the common order.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was remarkable!” returned Wilder, with an air so vacant, as to +prove that he rather communed with himself than attended to his companion. +</p> + +<p> +“There are mariners who say that the flying Dutchman cruises off that +Cape, and that he often gets on the weather side of a stranger, and bears down +upon him, like a ship about to lay him aboard. Many is the King’s +cruiser, as they say, that has turned her hands up from a sweet sleep, when the +look-outs have seen a double decker coming down in the night, with ports up, +and batteries lighted but then this can’t be any such craft as the +Dutchman, since she is, at the most, no more than a large sloop of war, if a +cruiser at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” said Wilder, “this can never be the +Dutchman.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yon vessel shows no lights; and, for that matter, she has such a misty +look, that one might well question its being a ship at all. Then, again, the +Dutchman is always seen to windward, and the strange sail we have here lies +broad upon our lee-quarter!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is no Dutchman,” said Wilder, drawing a long breath, like a man +awaking from a trance. “Main topmast-cross-trees, there!” +</p> + +<p> +The man who was stationed aloft answered to this hail in the customary manner, +the short conversation that succeeded being necessarily maintained in shouts, +rather than in speeches. +</p> + +<p> +“How long have you seen the stranger?” was the first demand of +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“I have just come aloft, sir; but the man I relieved tells me more than +an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“And has the man you relieved come down? or what is that I see sitting on +the lee side of the mast-head?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis Bob Brace, sir; who says he cannot sleep, and so he stays +upon the yard to keep me company.” +</p> + +<p> +“Send the man down. I would speak to him.” +</p> + +<p> +While the wakeful seaman was descending the rigging, the two officers continued +silent, each seeming to find sufficient occupation in musing on what had +already passed. +</p> + +<p> +“And why are you not in your hammock?” said Wilder, a little +sternly, to the man who, in obedience to his order, had descended to the +quarter-deck. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not sleep-bound, your Honour, and therefore I had the mind to pass +another hour aloft.” +</p> + +<p> +“And why are you, who have two night-watches to keep already, so willing +to enlist in a third?” +</p> + +<p> +“To own the truth, sir, my mind has been a little misgiving about this +passage, since the moment we lifted our anchor.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude, who were auditors, insensibly drew nigher, to listen, +with a species of interest which betrayed itself by the thrilling of nerves, +and an accelerated movement of the pulse. +</p> + +<p> +“And you have your doubts, sir!” exclaimed the Captain, in a tone +of slight contempt. “Pray, may I ask what you have seen, on board here, +to make you distrust the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“No harm in asking, your Honour,” returned the seaman, crushing the +hat he held between two hands that had a gripe like a couple of vices, +“and so I hope there is none in answering. I pulled an oar in the boat +after the old man this morning, and I cannot say I like the manner in which he +got from the chase. Then, there is something in the ship to leeward that comes +athwart my fancy like a drag, and I confess, your Honour, that I should make +but little head-way in a nap, though I should try the swing of a +hammock.” +</p> + +<p> +“How long is it since you made the ship to leeward?” gravely +demanded Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“I will not swear that a real living ship has been made out at all, sir. +Something I did see, just before the bell struck seven, and there it is, just +as clear and just as dim, to be seen now by them that have good eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how did she bear when you first saw her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Two or three points more toward the beam than it is now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we are passing her!” exclaimed Wilder, with a pleasure too +evident to be concealed. +</p> + +<p> +“No, your Honour, no. You forget, sir, the ship has come closer to the +wind since the middle watch was set.” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” returned his young Commander, in a tone of disappointment; +“true, very true. And her bearing has not changed since you first made +her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not by compass, sir. It is a quick boat that, or would never hold such +way with the ‘Royal Caroline,’ and that too upon a stiffened +bow-line, which every body knows is the real play of this ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go, get you to your hammock. In the morning we may have a better look at +the fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“And—you hear me, sir,” added the attentive mate, “do +not keep the men’s eyes open below, with a tale as long as the short +cable, but take your own natural rest, and leave all others, that have clear +consciences, to do the same.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Earing,” said Wilder, as the seaman reluctantly proceeded +towards his place of rest, “we will bring the ship upon the other tack, +and get more easting, while the land is so far from us. This course will be +setting us upon Hatteras. Besides”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir,” the mate replied, observing his superior to hesitate, +“as you were saying,—besides, no one can foretel the length of a +gale, nor the real quarter it may come from.” +</p> + +<p> +“Precisely. No one can answer for the weather. The men are scarcely in +their hammocks; turn them up at once, sir, before their eyes are heavy, and we +will bring the ship’s head the other way.” +</p> + +<p> +The mate instantly sounded the well-known cry, which summoned the watch below +to the assistance of their shipmates on the deck. Little delay occurred, and +not a word was uttered, but the short, authoritative mandates which Wilder saw +fit to deliver from his own lips. No longer pressed up against the wind, the +ship, obedient to her helm, gracefully began to incline her head from the +waves, and to bring the wind abeam. Then, instead of breasting and mounting the +endless hillocks, like a being that toiled heavily along its path, she fell +into the trough of the sea, from which she issued like a courser, who, have +conquered an ascent, shoots along the track with redoubled velocity. For an +instant the wind appeared to have lulled, though the wide ridge of foam which +rolled along on each side the vessel’s bows, sufficiently proclaimed that +she was skimming lightly before it. In another moment, the tall spars began to +incline again to the west, and the vessel came swooping up to the wind, until +her plunges and shocks against the seas were renewed as violently as before. +When every yard and sheet were properly trimmed to meet the new position of the +vessel, Wilder turned anxiously to get a glimpse of the stranger. A minute was +lost in ascertaining the precise spot where he ought to appear; for, in such a +chaos of water, and with no guide but the judgment, the eye was apt to deceive +itself, by referring to the nearer and more familiar objects by which the +spectator was surrounded. +</p> + +<p> +“The stranger has vanished!” said Earing, with a voice in whose +tones mental relief and distrust were both, at the same moment, oddly +manifesting themselves. +</p> + +<p> +“He should be on this quarter; but I confess I see him not!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, sir; this is the way that the midnight cruiser off the Hope is +said to come and go. There are men who have seen that vessel shut in by a fog, +in as fine a star-light night as was ever met in a southern latitude. But then +this cannot be the Dutchman, since it is so many long leagues from the pitch of +the Cape to the coast of North-America. +</p> + +<p> +“Here he lies; and, by heaven! he has already gone about!” cried +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +The truth of what our young adventurer had just affirmed was indeed now +sufficiently evident to the eye of any seaman. The same diminutive and misty +tracery, as before, was to be seen on the light background of the threatening +horizon, looking not unlike the faintest shadows cast upon some brighter +surface by the deception of the phantasmagoria. But to the mariners, who so +well knew how to distinguish between the different lines of her masts, it was +very evident that her course had been suddenly and dexterously changed, and +that she was now steering no longer to the south and west, but, like +themselves, holding her way towards the north-east. The fact appeared to make a +sensible impression on them all; though probably, had their reasons been +sifted, they would have been found to be entirely different. +</p> + +<p> +“That ship has truly tacked!” Earing exclaimed, after a long, +meditative pause, and with a voice in which distrust, or rather awe, was +beginning to get the ascendancy. “Long as I have followed the sea, have I +never before seen a vessel tack against such a head-beating sea. He must have +been all shaking in the wind, when we gave him the last look, or we should not +have lost sight of him.” +</p> + +<p> +“A lively and quick-working vessel might do it,” said Wilder; +“especially if strong handed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, the hand of Beelzebub is always strong; and a light job would he +make of it, in forcing even a dull craft to sail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Earing,” interrupted Wilder, “we will pack upon the +‘Caroline,’ and try our sailing with this taunting stranger. Get +the main tack aboard, and set the top-gallant-sail.” +</p> + +<p> +The slow-minded mate would have remonstrated against the order, had he dared; +but there was that, in the calm, subdued, but deep tones of his young +Commander, which admonished him of the hazard. He was not wrong, however, in +considering the duty he was now to perform as one not without some risk. The +ship was already moving under quite as much canvas as he deemed it prudent to +show at such an hour, and with so many threatening symptoms of heavier weather +hanging about the horizon. The necessary orders were, however, repeated as +promptly as they had been given. The seamen had already begun to consider the +stranger, and to converse among themselves concerning his appearance and +situation; and they obeyed with an alacrity that might perhaps have been traced +to a secret but common wish to escape from his vicinity. The sails were +successively and speedily set; and then each man folded his arms, and stood +gazing steadily and intently at the shadowy object to leeward, in order to +witness the effect of the change. +</p> + +<p> +The “Royal Caroline” seemed, like her crew, sensible of the +necessity of increasing her speed. As she felt the pressure of the broad sheets +of canvas that had just been distended, the ship bowed lower, and appeared to +recline on the bed of water which rose under her lee nearly to the scuppers. On +the other side, the dark planks, and polished copper, lay bare for many feet, +though often washed by the waves that came sweeping along her length, green and +angrily, still capped, as usual, with crests of lucid foam. The shocks, as the +vessel tilted against the billows, were becoming every moment more severe; and, +from each encounter, a bright cloud of spray arose, which either fell +glittering on the deck, or drove, in brilliant mist, across the rolling water, +far to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder long watched the ship, with an excited mien, but with all the +intelligence of a seaman. Once or twice, when she trembled, and appeared to +stop, in her violent encounter with a wave, as suddenly as though she had +struck a rock, his lips severed, and he was about to give the order to reduce +the sail; but a glance at the misty looking image on the western horizon seemed +ever to cause his mind to change its purpose. Like a desperate adventurer, who +had cast his fortunes on some hazardous experiment, he appeared to await the +issue with a resolution that was as haughty as it was unconquerable. +</p> + +<p> +“That topmast is bending like a whip,” muttered the careful Earing, +at his elbow. +</p> + +<p> +“Let it go; we have spare spars to put in its place,” was the +answer. +</p> + +<p> +“I have always found the ‘Caroline’ leaky after she has been +strained by driving her against the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“We have our pumps.” +</p> + +<p> +“True, sir; but, in my poor judgment, it is idle to think of outsailing a +craft that the devil commands if he does not altogether handle it.” +</p> + +<p> +“One will never know that, Mr Earing, till he tries.” +</p> + +<p> +“We gave the Dutchman a chance of that sort; and, I must say, we not only +had the most canvas spread, but much the best of the wind: And what good did it +all do? there he lay, under his three topsails driver, and jib; and we, with +studding sails alow and aloft, couldn’t alter his bearing a foot.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Dutchman is never seen in a northern latitude.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I cannot say he is,” returned Earing, in a sort of compelled +resignation; “but he who has put that flyer off the Cape may have found +the cruise so profitable, as to wish to send another ship into these +seas.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder made no reply. He had either humoured the superstitious apprehension of +his mate enough, or his mind was too intent on its principal object, to dwell +longer on a foreign subject. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the seas that met her advance, in such quick succession as +greatly to retard her progress the Bristol trader had soon toiled her way +through a league of the troubled element. At every plunge she took, the bow +divided a mass of water, that appeared, at each instant, to become more vast +and more violent in its rushing; and more than once the struggling hull was +nearly buried forward, in some wave which it had equal difficulty in mounting +or penetrating. +</p> + +<p> +The mariners narrowly watched the smallest movements of their vessel. Not a man +left her deck, for hours. The superstitious awe, which had taken such deep hold +of the untutored faculties of the chief mate, had not been slow to extend its +influence to the meanest of her crew. Even the accident which had befallen +their former Commander, and the sudden and mysterious manner in which the young +officer, who now trod the quarter-deck, so singularly firm and calm, under +circumstances deemed so imposing, had their influence in heightening the wild +impression The impunity with which the “Caroline” bore such a press +of canvas, under the circumstances in which she was placed, added to their +kindling admiration; and, ere Wilder had determined, in his own mind, on the +powers of his ship, in comparison with those of the vessel that so strangely +hung in the horizon, he was himself becoming the subject of unnatural and +revolting suspicions to his own crew. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>Chapter XV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“I’ the name of truth,<br/> +Are ye fantastical, or that indeed<br/> +Which outwardly ye show?” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The division of employment that is found in Europe, and which brings, in its +train, a peculiar and corresponding limitation of ideas, has never yet existed +in our country. If our artisans have, in consequence been less perfect in their +several handicrafts, they have ever been remarkable for intelligence of a more +general character. Superstition is however, a quality that seems indigenous to +the ocean. Few common mariners are exempt from its influence, in a greater or +less degree; though it is found to exist, among the seamen of different people, +in forms that are tempered by their respective national habits and peculiar +opinions. The sailor of the Baltic has his secret rites, and his manner of +propitiating the gods of the wind; the Mediterranean mariner tears his hair, +and kneels before the shrine of some impotent saint, when his own hand might +better do the service he implores; while the more skilful Englishman sees the +spirits of the dead in the storm, and hears the cries of a lost messmate in the +gusts that sweep the waste he navigates. Even the better instructed and still +more reasoning American has not been able to shake entirely off the secret +influence of a sentiment that seems the concomitant of his condition. +</p> + +<p> +There is a majesty, in the might of the great deep that has a tendency to keep +open the avenues of that dependant credulity which more or less besets the mind +of every man, however he may have fortified his intellect by thought. With the +firmament above him, and wandering on an interminable waste of water, the less +gifted seaman is tempted, at every step of his pilgrimage, to seek the relief +of some propitious omen. The few which are supported by scientific causes give +support to the many that have their origin only in his own excited and doubting +temperament. The gambols of the dolphin, the earnest and busy passage of the +porpoise, the ponderous sporting of the unwieldy whale, and the screams of the +marine birds, have all, like the signs of the ancient soothsayers, their +attendant consequences of good or evil. The confusion between things which are +explicable, and things which are not, gradually brings the mind of the mariner +to a state in which any exciting and unnatural sentiment is welcome, if it be +or no other reason than that, like the vast element on which he passes his +life, it bears the impression of what is thought a supernatural, because it is +an incomprehensible, power. +</p> + +<p> +The crew of the “Royal Caroline” had not even the advantage of +being natives of a land where necessity and habit have united to bring every +man’s faculties into exercise, to a certain extent at least. They were +all from that distant island that has been, and still continues to be, the hive +of nations, which are probably fated to carry her name to a time when the sight +of her fallen power shall be sought as a curiosity, like the remains of a city +in a desert. +</p> + +<p> +The whole events of that day of which we are now writing had a tendency to +arouse the latent superstition of these men. It has already been said, that the +calamity which had befallen their former Commander, and the manner in which a +stranger had succeeded to his authority, had their influence in increasing +their disposition to doubt. The sail to leeward appeared most inopportunely for +the character of our adventurer, who had not yet enjoyed a fitting opportunity +to secure the confidence of his inferiors, before such untoward circumstances +occurred as threatened to deprive him of it for ever. +</p> + +<p> +There has existed but one occasion for introducing to the reader the mate who +filled the station in the ship next to that of Earing. He was called Nighthead; +a name that was, in some measure, indicative of a certain misty obscurity that +beset his superior member. The qualities of his mind may be appreciated by the +few reflections he saw fit to make on the escape of the old mariner whom Wilder +had intended to visit with a portion of his indignation. This individual, as he +was but one degree removed from the common men in situation, so was he every +way qualified to maintain that association with the crew which was, in some +measure, necessary between them. His influence among them was commensurate to +his opportunities of intercourse, and his sentiments were very generally +received with a portion of that deference which is thought to be due to the +opinions of an oracle. +</p> + +<p> +After the ship had been worn, and during the time that Wilder, with a view to +lose sight of his unwelcome neighbour, was endeavouring to urge her through the +seas in the manner already described, this stubborn and mystified tar remained +in the waist of the vessel, surrounded by a few of the older and more +experienced seamen, holding converse on the remarkable appearance of the +phantom to leeward, and of the extraordinary manner in which their unknown +officer saw fit to attest the enduring qualities of their own vessel. We shall +commence our relation of the dialogue at a point where Nighthead saw fit to +discontinue his distant inuendos, in order to deal more directly with the +subject he had under discussion. +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard it said, by older sea-faring men than any in this +ship,” he continued, “that the devil has been known to send one of +his mates aboard a lawful trader, to lead her astray among shoals and +quicksands, in order that he might make a wreck, and get his share of the +salvage, among the souls of the people. What man can say who gets into the +cabin, when an unknown name stands first in the shipping list of a +vessel?” +</p> + +<p> +“The stranger is shut in by a cloud!” exclaimed one of the +mariners, who, while he listened to the philosophy of his officer, still kept +an eye riveted on the mysterious object to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay; it would occasion no surprise to see that craft steering into +the moon! Luck is like a fly-block and its yard: when one goes up, the other +comes down. They say the red-coats ashore have had their turn of fortune, and +it is time we honest seamen look out for our squalls. I have doubled the Horn, +brothers, in a King’s ship, and I have seen the bright cloud that never +sets, and have held a living corposant in my own hand: But these are things +which any man may look on, who will go upon a yard in a gale, or ship aboard a +Southseaman: Still, I pronounce it uncommon for a vessel to see her shadow in +the haze, as we have ours at this moment for there it comes +again!—hereaway, between the after-shroud and the backstay—or for a +trader to carry sail in a fashion that would make every knee in a bomb-ketch +work like a tooth-brush fiddling across a passenger’s mouth, after he had +had a smart bout with the sea sickness.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet the lad holds the ship in hand,” said the oldest of all +the seamen, who kept his gaze fastened on the proceedings of Wilder; “he +is driving her through it in a mad manner, I will allow; but yet, so far, he +has not parted a yarn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yarns!” repeated the mate, in a tone of strong contempt; +“what signify yarns, when the whole cable is to snap, and in such a +fashion as to leave no hope for the anchor, except in a buoy rope? Hark ye, old +Bill; the devil never finishes his jobs by halves: What is to happen will +happen bodily; and no easing-off, as if you were lowering the Captain’s +lady into a boat, and he on deck to see fair play.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Nighthead knows how to keep a ship’s reckoning in all +weathers!” said another, whose manner sufficiently announced the +dependance he himself placed on the capacity of the second mate. +</p> + +<p> +“And no credit to me for the same. I have seen all services, and handled +every rig, from a lugger to a double-decker! Few men can say more in their own +favour than myself; for the little I know has been got by much hardship, and +small schooling. But what matters information, or even seamanship against +witchcraft, or the workings of one whom I don’t choose to name, seeing +that there is no use in offending any gentleman unnecessarily? I say, brothers +that this ship is packed upon in a fashion that no prudent seaman ought to, or +would, allow.” +</p> + +<p> +A general murmur announced that most, if not all, of his hearers accorded in +his opinion. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us examine calmly and reasonably, and in a manner becoming +enlightened Englishmen, into the whole state of the case,” the mate +continued, casting an eye obliquely over his shoulder, perhaps to make sure +that the individual, of whose displeasure he stood in such salutary awe, was +not actually at his elbow. “We are all of us, to a man, native-born +islanders, without a drop of foreign blood among us; not so much as a Scotchman +or an Irishman in the ship. Let us therefore look into the philosophy of this +affair, with that sort of judgment which becomes our breeding. In the first +place, here is honest Nicholas Nichols slips from this here water-cask, and +breaks me a leg! Now, brothers, I’ve known men to fall from tops and +yards, and lighter damage done. But what matters it, to a certain person, how +far he throws his man, since he has only to lift a finger to get us all hanged? +Then, comes me aboard here a stranger, with a look of the colonies about him, +and none of your plain-dealing, out-and-out, smooth English faces, such as a +man can cover with the flat of his hand.”— +</p> + +<p> +“The lad is well enough to the eye,” interrupted the old mariner. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, therein lies the whole deviltry of this matter! He is good-looking, +I grant ye; but it is not such good-looking as an Englishman loves. There is a +meaning about him that I don’t like; for I never likes too much meaning +in a man’s countenance, seeing that it is not always easy to understand +what he would be doing. Then, this stranger gets to be Master of the ship, or, +what is the same thing, next to Master; while he who should be on deck giving +his orders, in a time like this, is lying in his birth unable to tack himself, +much less to put the vessel about; and yet no man can say how the thing came to +pass.” +</p> + +<p> +“He drove a bargain with the consignee for the station, and right glad +did the cunning merchant seem to get so tight a youth to take charge of the +‘Caroline.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! a merchant is, like the rest of us, made of nothing better than +clay; and, what is worse, it is seldom that, in putting him together, he is +dampened with salt water. Many is the trader that has douzed his spectacles, +and shut his account-books, to step aside to over-reach his neighbour, and then +come back to find that he has over-reached himself. Mr Bale, no doubt, thought +he was doing the clever thing for the owners, when he shipped this Mr Wilder; +but then, perhaps, he did not know that the vessel was sold to +——— It becomes a plain-going seaman to have a respect for all +he sails under; so I will not, unnecessarily, name the person who, I believe, +has got, whether he came by it in a fair purchase or not, no small right in +this vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have never seen a ship got out of irons more handsomely than he +handled the ‘Caroline’ this very morning.” +</p> + +<p> +Nighthead now indulged in a low, but what to his listeners appeared to be an +exceedingly meaning, laugh. +</p> + +<p> +“When a ship has a certain sort of Captain, one is not to be surprised at +any thing,” he answered the instant his significant merriment had ceased. +“For my own part, I shipped to go from Bristol to the Carolinas and +Jamaica, touching at Newport out and home; and I will say, boldly, I have no +wish to go any where else. As to backing the ‘Caroline’ from her +awkward birth alongside the slaver, why it was well done; most too well for so +young a manner. Had I done the thing myself, it could not have been much +better. But what think you, brothers of the old man in the skiff? There was a +chase, and an escape, such as few old sea-dogs have the fortune to behold! I +have heard of a smuggler that was chased a hundred times by his Majesty’s +cutters, in the chops of the Channel, and which always had a fog handy to run +into, but out of which no man could truly say he ever saw her come again! This +skiff may have plied between the land and that Guernseyman, for any thing I +know to the contrary; but it is not a boat I wish to pull a scull in.” +</p> + +<p> +“That <i>was</i> a remarkable flight!” exclaimed the elder seaman, +whose faith in the character of our adventurer began to give way gradually, +before such an accumulation of testimony. +</p> + +<p> +“I call it so; though other men may possibly know better than I, who have +only followed the water five-and-thirty years. Then, here is the sea getting +up, in an unaccountable manner! and look at these rags of clouds, which darken +the heavens! and yet there is light enough, coming from the ocean, for a good +scholar to read by!” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve often seen the weather as it is now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, who has not? It is seldom that any man, let him come from what part +he will, makes his first voyage as Captain. Let who will be out to-night upon +the water, I’ll engage he has been there before. I have seen worse +looking skies, and even worse looking water, than this; but I never knew any +good come of either. The night I was wreck’d in the bay +of”—— +</p> + +<p> +“In the waist there!” cried the calm, authoritative tones of +Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +Had a warning voice arisen from the turbulent and rushing ocean itself, it +would not have sounded more alarming, in the startled ears of the conscious +seamen, than this sudden hail. Their young Commander found it necessary to +repeat it, before even Nighthead, the proper and official spokesman, could +muster resolution to answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Get the fore-top-gallant-sail on the ship, sir,” continued Wilder, +when the customary reply let him know that he had been heard. +</p> + +<p> +The mate and his companions regarded each other, for a moment, in dull +admiration; and many a melancholy shake of the head was exchanged, before one +of the party threw himself into the weather-rigging, and proceeded aloft, with +a doubting mind, in order to loosen the sail in question. +</p> + +<p> +There was certainly enough, in the desperate manner with which Wilder pressed +the canvas on the vessel, to excite distrust, either of his intentions or +judgment, in the opinions of men less influenced by superstition than those it +was now his lot to command. It had long been apparent to Earing, and his more +ignorant, and consequently more obstinate, brother officer, that their young +superior had the same desire to escape from the spectral-looking ship, which so +strangely followed their movements, as they had themselves. They only differed +in the mode; but this difference was so very material, that the two mates +consulted together apart, and then Earing, something stimulated by the hardy +opinions of his coadjutor, approached his Commander, with the determination of +delivering the results of their united judgments, with that sort of directness +which he thought the occasion now demanded. But there was that in the steady +eye and imposing mien of Wilder, that caused him to touch on the dangerous +subject with a discretion and circumlocution that were a little remarkable for +the individual. He stood watching the effect of the sail recently spread for +several minutes, before he even presumed to open his mouth. But a terrible +encounter, between the vessel and a wave that lifted its angry crest apparently +some dozen feet above the approaching bows, gave him courage to proceed, by +admonishing him afresh of the danger of continuing silent. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not see that we drop the stranger, though the ship is wallowing +through the water so heavily,” he commenced, determined to be as +circumspect as possible in his advances. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder bent another of his frequent glances on the misty object in the horizon, +and then turned his frowning eye towards the point whence the wind proceeded, +as if he would defy its heaviest blasts; he, however, made no answer. +</p> + +<p> +“We have ever found the crew discontented at the pumps, sir,” +resumed the other, after a pause sufficient for the reply he in vain expected; +“I need not tell an officer, who knows his duty so well, that seamen +rarely love their pumps.” +</p> + +<p> +“Whatever I may find necessary to order, Mr Earing, this ship’s +company will find it necessary to execute.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a deep settled air of authority, in the manner with which this tardy +answer was given, that did not fail of its impression. Earing recoiled a step, +with a submissive manner, and affected to be lost in consulting the driving +masses of the clouds; then, summoning his resolution, he attempted to renew the +attack in a different quarter. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it your deliberate opinion, Captain Wilder,” he said, using the +title to which the claim of our adventurer might well be questioned, with a +view to propitiate him; “is it then your deliberate opinion that the +‘Royal Caroline’ can, by any human means, be made to drop yonder +vessel?” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear not,” returned the young man, drawing a breath so long, +that all his secret concern seemed struggling in his breast for utterance. +</p> + +<p> +“And, sir, with proper submission to your better education and authority +in this ship, I <i>know</i> not. I have often seen these matches tried in my +time; and well do I know that nothing is gained by straining a vessel, with the +hope of getting to windward of one of these flyers!” +</p> + +<p> +“Take you the glass, Earing, and tell me under what canvas the stranger +holds his way, and what may be his distance,” said Wilder, thoughtfully, +and without appearing to advert at all to what the other had just observed. +</p> + +<p> +The honest and well-meaning mate deposed his hat on the quarter-deck, and, with +an air of great respect, did as he was desired. Nor did he deem it necessary to +give a precipitate answer to either of the interrogatories. When, however, his +look had been long, grave, and deeply absorbed, he closed the glass with the +palm of his broad hand, and replied, with the manner of one whose opinion was +sufficiently matured. +</p> + +<p> +“If yonder sail had been built and fitted like other mortal craft,” +he said, “I should not be backward in pronouncing her a full-rigged ship, +under three single-reefed topsails, courses, spanker, and jib.” +</p> + +<p> +“Has she no more?” +</p> + +<p> +“To that I would qualify, provided an opportunity were given me to make +sure that she is, in all respects, as other vessels are.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet, Earing, with all this press of canvas, by the compass we have +not left her a foot.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord, sir,” returned the mate, shaking his head, like one who was +well convinced of the folly of such efforts, “if you should split every +cloth in the main-course, by carrying on the ship you will never alter the +bearings of that craft an inch, till the sun rises! Then, indeed, such as have +eyes, that are good enough, might perhaps see her sailing about among the +clouds; though it has never been my fortune be it bad or be it good, to fall in +with one of these cruisers after the day has fairly dawned.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the distance?” said Wilder; “you have not yet spoken of +her distance.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is much as people choose to measure. She may be here, nigh enough +to toss a biscuit into our tops; or she may be there, where she seems to be, +hull down in the horizon.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, if where she seems to be?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, she <i>seems</i> to be a vessel of about six hundred tons; and, +judging from appearances only, a man might be tempted to say she was a couple +of leagues, more or less, under our lee.” +</p> + +<p> +“I put her at the same! Six miles to windward is not a little advantage, +in a hard chase. By heavens, Earing, I’ll drive the +‘Caroline’ out of water but I’ll leave him!” +</p> + +<p> +“That might be done, if the ship had wings like a curlew, or a sea-gull; +but, as it is, I think we are more likely to drive her under.” +</p> + +<p> +“She bears her canvas well, so far. You know not what the boat can do, +when urged.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen her sailed in all weathers, Captain Wilder, +but”—— +</p> + +<p> +His mouth was suddenly closed. A vast black wave reared itself between the ship +and the eastern horizon, and came rolling onward, seeming to threaten to ingulf +all before it. Even Wilder watched the shock with breathless anxiety, +conscious, for the moment that he had exceeded the bounds of sound discretion +in urging his ship so powerfully against such a mass of water. The sea broke a +few fathoms from the bows of the “Caroline,” and sent its surge in +a flood of foam upon her decks. For half a minute the forward part of the +vessel disappeared, as though, unable to mount the swell, it were striving to +go through it, and then she heavily emerged, gemmed with a million of the +scintillating insects of the ocean. The ship had stopped, trembling in every +joint, throughout her massive and powerful frame, like some affrighted courser; +and, when she resumed her course, it was with a moderation that appeared to +warn those who governed her movements of their indiscretion. +</p> + +<p> +Earing faced his Commander in silence, perfectly conscious that nothing he +could utter contained an argument like this. The seamen no longer hesitated to +mutter their disapprobation aloud, and many a prophetic opinion was ventured +concerning the consequences of such reckless risks. To all this Wilder turned a +deaf or an insensible ear. Firm in his own secret purpose, he would have braved +a greater hazard to accomplish his object. But a distinct though smothered +shriek, from the stern of the vessel, reminded him of the fears of others. +Turning quickly on his heel, he approached the still trembling Gertrude and her +governess, who had both been, throughout the whole of those long and tedious +hours, inobtrusive but deeply interested, observers of his smallest movements. +</p> + +<p> +“The vessel bore that shock so well, I have great reliance on her +powers,” he said in a soothing voice, but with words that were intended +to lull her into a blind security. “With a firm ship, a thorough seaman +is never at a loss!” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder,” returned the governess, “I have seen much of +this terrible element on which you live. It is therefore vain to think of +deceiving me I know that you are urging the ship beyond what is usual. Have you +sufficient motive for this hardihood?” +</p> + +<p> +“Madam,—I have!” +</p> + +<p> +“And is it, like so many of your motives, to continue locked for ever in +your own breast? or may we, who are equal participators in its consequences, +claim to share equally in the reason?” +</p> + +<p> +“Since you know so much of the profession,” returned the young man, +slightly laughing, but in tones that were rendered perhaps more alarming by the +sounds produced in the unnatural effort, “you need not be told, that, in +order to get a ship to windward, it is necessary to spread her canvas.” +</p> + +<p> +“You can, at least, answer one of my questions more directly: Is this +wind sufficiently favourable to pass the dangerous shoals of the +Hatteras?” +</p> + +<p> +“I doubt it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, why not go to the place whence we came?” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you consent to return?” demanded the youth, with the +swiftness of thought. +</p> + +<p> +“I would go to my father,” said Gertrude, with a rapidity so nearly +resembling his own, that the ardent girl appeared to want breath to utter the +little she said. +</p> + +<p> +“And I am willing, Mr Wilder, to abandon the ship entirely,” calmly +resumed the governess. “I require no explanation of all your mysterious +warnings; restore us to our friends in Newport, and no further questions shall +ever be asked.” +</p> + +<p> +“It might be done!” muttered our adventurer; “it might be +done!—A few busy hours would do it, with this wind.—Mr +Earing!”— +</p> + +<p> +The mate was instantly at his elbow. Wilder pointed to the dim object to +leeward; and, handing him the glass, desired that he would take another view. +Each looked, in his turn, long and closely. +</p> + +<p> +“He shows no more sail!” said the Commander impatiently, when his +own prolonged gaze was ended. +</p> + +<p> +“Not a cloth, sir. But what matters it, to such a craft, how much canvas +is spread, or how the wind blows?” +</p> + +<p> +“Earing, I think there is too much southing in this breeze; and there is +more brewing in yonder streak of dusky clouds on our beam. Let the ship fall +off a couple of points, or more, and take the strain off the spars, by a pull +upon the weather braces.” +</p> + +<p> +The simple-minded mate heard the order with an astonishment he did not care to +conceal. There needed no explanation, to teach his experienced faculties that +the effect would be to go over the same track they had just passed, and that it +was, in substance abandoning the objects of the voyage. He presumed to defer +his compliance, in order to remonstrate. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope there is no offence for an elderly seaman, like myself, Captain +Wilder, in venturing an opinion on the weather,” he said. “When the +pocket of the owner is interested, my judgment approves of going about, for I +have no taste for land that the wind blows on, instead of off. But, by easing +the ship with a reef or two, she would be jogging sea ward; and all we gain +would be clear gain; because it is so much off the Hatteras. Besides, who can +say that to-morrow, or the next day, we sha’n’t have, a puff out of +America, here at north-west?” +</p> + +<p> +“A couple of points fall off, and a pull upon your weather braces,” +said Wilder, with startling quickness. +</p> + +<p> +It would have exceeded the peaceful and submissive temperament of the honest +Earing, to have delayed any longer. The orders were given to the inferiors; +and, as a matter of course, they were obeyed—though ill-suppressed and +portentous sounds of discontent at the undetermined, and seemingly unreasonable +changes in their officer’s mind might been heard issuing from the mouths +of Nighthead, and other veterans of the crew. +</p> + +<p> +But to all these symptoms of disaffection Wilder remained, as before, utterly +indifferent. If he heard them at all, he either disdained to yield them any +notice, or, guided by a temporizing policy, he chose to appear unconscious of +their import. In the mean time, the vessel, like a bird whose wing had wearied +with struggling against the tempest, and which inclines from the gale to dart +along an easier course, glided swiftly away, quartering the crests of the +waves, or sinking gracefully into their troughs, as she yielded to the force of +a wind that was now made to be favourable. The sea rolled on, in a direction +that was no longer adverse to her course; and, as she receded from the breeze, +the quantity of sail she had spread was no longer found trying to her powers of +endurance. Still she had, in the opinion of all her crew, quite enough canvas +exposed to a night of such a portentous aspect. But not so, in the judgment of +the stranger who was charged with the guidance of her destinies. In a voice +that still admonished his inferiors of the danger of disobedience he commanded +several broad sheets of studding-sails to be set, in quick succession. Urged by +these new impulses, the ship went careering over the waves; leaving a train of +foam, in her track, that rivalled, in its volume and brightness, the tumbling +summit of the largest swell. +</p> + +<p> +When sail after sail had been set, until even Wilder was obliged to confess to +himself that the “Royal Caroline,” staunch as she was, would bear +no more, our adventurer began to pace the deck again, and to cast his eyes +about him, in order to watch the fruits of his new experiment. The change in +the course of the Bristol trader had made a corresponding change in the +apparent direction of the stranger who yet floated in the horizon like a +diminutive and misty shadow. Still the unerring compass told the watchful +mariner, that she continued to maintain the same relative position as when +first seen. No effort, on the part of Wilder, could apparently alter her +bearing an inch. Another hour soon passed away, during which, as the log told +him, the “Caroline” had rolled through more than three leagues of +water, and still there lay the stranger in the west, as though it were merely a +lessened shadow of herself, cast by the “Caroline” upon the distant +and dusky clouds. An alteration in his course exposed a broader surface of his +canvas to the eyes of the spectators, but in nothing else was there any visible +change. If his sails had been materially increased, the distance and the +obscurity prevented even the understanding Earing from detecting it. Perhaps +the excited mind of the worthy mate was too much disposed to believe in the +miraculous powers possessed by his unaccountable neighbour, to admit of the +full exercise of his experienced faculties on the occasion; but even Wilder, +who vexed his sight, in often-repeated examinations, was obliged to confess to +himself, that the stranger seemed to glide, across the waste of waters, more +like a body floating in the air, than a ship resorting to the ordinary +expedients of mariners. +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys and her charge had, by this time, retired to their cabin; the former +secretly felicitating herself on the prospect of soon quitting a vessel that +had commenced its voyage under such sinister circumstances as to have deranged +the equilibrium of even her well-governed and highly-disciplined mind. Gertrude +was left in ignorance of the change. To her uninstructed eye, all appeared the +same on the wilderness of the ocean; Wilder having it in his power to alter the +direction of his vessel as often as he pleased, without his fairer and more +youthful passenger being any the wiser for the same. +</p> + +<p> +Not so, however, with the intelligent Commander of the “Caroline” +himself. To him there was neither obscurity nor doubt, in the midst of his +midnight path. His eye had long been familiar with every star that rose from +out the waving bed of the sea, to set in another dark and ragged outline of the +element; nor was there a blast, that swept across the ocean, that his burning +cheek could not tell from what quarter of the heavens it poured out its power. +He knew, and understood, each inclination made by the bows of his ship; his +mind kept even pace with her windings and turnings, in all her trackless +wanderings; and he had little need to consult any of the accessories of his +art, to tell him what course to steer, or in what manner to guide the movements +of the nice machine he governed. Still was he unable to explain the +extraordinary evolutions of the stranger. His smallest change seemed rather +anticipated than followed; and his hopes of eluding a vigilance, that proved so +watchful, was baffled by a facility of manoeuvring, and a superiority of +sailing, that really began to assume, even to his intelligent eyes, the +appearance of some unaccountable agency. +</p> + +<p> +While our adventurer was engaged in the gloomy musings that such impressions +were not ill adapted to excite, the heavens and the sea began to exhibit +another aspect. The bright streak which had so long hung along the eastern +horizon, as though the curtain of the firmament had been slightly opened to +admit a passage for the winds, was now suddenly closed; and heavy masses of +black clouds began to gather in that quarter, until vast volumes of the vapour +were piled upon the water, blending the two elements in one. On the other hand, +the dark canopy lifted in the west, and a long belt of lurid light was shed +over the view. In this flood of bright and portentous mist the stranger still +floated, though there were moments when his faint and fanciful outlines seemed +to be melting into thin air. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>Chapter XVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Yet again? What do you here? Shal we give o’er, an drown? +Have you a mind to sink?” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Tempest.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Our watchful adventurer was not blind to these well-known and sinister omens. +No sooner did the peculiar atmosphere, by which the mysterious image that he so +often examined was suddenly surrounded, catch his eye, than his voice was heard +in the clear, powerful, and exciting notes of warning. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand by,” he called aloud, “to in all studding sails! Down +with them!” he added, scarcely giving his former words time to reach the +ears of his subordinates. “Down with every rag of them, fore and aft the +ship! Man the top-gallant clew-lines, Mr Earing. Clew up, and clew down! In +with every thing, cheerily, men! In!” +</p> + +<p> +This was a language to which the crew of the “Caroline” were no +strangers, and one which was doubly welcome; since the meanest seaman of them +all had long thought that his unknown Commander had been heedlessly trifling +with the safety of the vessel, by the hardy manner in which he disregarded the +wild symptoms of the weather. But they undervalued the keen-eyed vigilance of +Wilder. He had certainly driven the Bristol trader through the water at a rate +she had never been known to have gone before; but, thus far, the facts +themselves attested in his favour, since no injury was the consequence of what +they deemed his temerity. At the quick, sudden order just given, however, the +whole ship was instantly in an uproar. A dozen seamen called to each other, +from different parts of the vessel each striving to lift his voice above the +roaring ocean; and there was every appearance of a general and inextricable +confusion; but the same authority which had aroused them, thus unexpectedly, +into activity, produced order, from their ill-directed though vigorous efforts. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder had spoken, to awaken the drowsy, and to excite the torpid. The instant +he found each man on the alert, he resumed his orders, with a calmness that +gave a direction to the powers of all, but still with an energy that he well +knew was called for by the occasion. The enormous sheets of duck, which had +looked like so many light clouds in the murky and threatening heavens, were +soon seen fluttering wildly, as they descended from their high places; and, in +a few minutes, the ship was reduced to the action of her more secure and +heavier canvas. To effect this object, every man in the ship had exerted his +powers to the utmost, under the guidance of the steady but rapid mandates of +their Commander. Then followed a short and apprehensive breathing pause. Every +eye was turned towards the quarter where the ominous signs had been discovered; +and each individual endeavoured to read their import, with an intelligence +correspondent to the degree of skill he might have acquired, during his +particular period of service, on that treacherous element which was now his +home. +</p> + +<p> +The dim tracery of the stranger’s form had been swallowed by the flood of +misty light, which, by this time, rolled along the sea like drifting vapour, +semi-pellucid, preternatural, and seemingly tangible. The ocean itself appeared +admonished that a quick and violent change was nigh. The waves had ceased to +break in their former foaming and brilliant crests, but black masses of the +water were seen lifting their surly summits against the eastern horizon, no +longer relieved by their scintillating brightness, or shedding their own +peculiar and lucid atmosphere around them. The breeze which had been so fresh, +and which had even blown, at times, with a force that nearly amounted to a +little gale, was lulling and becoming uncertain, as though awed by the more +violent power that was gathering along the borders of the sea, in the direction +of the neighbouring continent. Each moment, the eastern puffs of air lost their +strength, and became more and more feeble, until, in an incredibly short +period, the heavy sails were heard flapping against the masts—a frightful +and ominous calm succeeding. At this instant, a glancing, flashing gleam +lighted the fearful obscurity of the ocean; and a roar, like that of a sudden +burst of thunder, bellowed along the waters. The seamen turned their startled +looks on each other, and stood stupid, as though a warning had been given, from +the heavens themselves, of what was to follow. But their calm and more +sagacious Commander put a different construction on the signal. His lip curled, +in high professional pride, and his mouth moved rapidly while he muttered to +himself, with a species of scorn,— +</p> + +<p> +“Does he think we sleep? Ay, he has got it himself and would open our +eyes to what is coming! What does he imagine we have been about, since the +middle watch was set?” +</p> + +<p> +Then, Wilder made a swift turn or two on the quarter-deck, never ceasing to +bend his quick glances from one quarter of the heavens to another; from the +black and lulling water on which his vessel was rolling, to the sails; and from +his silent and profoundly expectant crew, to the dim lines of spars that were +waving above his head, like so many pencils tracing their curvilinear and +wanton images over the murky volumes of the superincumbent clouds. +</p> + +<p> +“Lay the after-yards square!” he said, in a voice which was heard +by every man on deck, though his words were apparently spoken but little above +his breath. Even the creaking of the blocks, as the spars came slowly and +heavily round to the indicated position, contributed to the imposing character +of the moment, and sounded, in the ears of all the instructed listeners, like +notes of fearful preparation. +</p> + +<p> +“Haul up the courses!” resumed Wilder, after a thoughtful, brief +interval, with the same eloquent calmness of manner. Then, taking another +glance at the threatening horizon, he added, with emphasis, “Furl +them—furl them both: Away aloft, and hand your courses,” he +continued, in a shout; “roll them up, cheerily; in with them, boys, +cheerily; in!” +</p> + +<p> +The conscious seamen took their impulses from the tones of their Commander. In +a moment, twenty dark forms were seen leaping up the rigging, with the alacrity +of so many quadrupeds; and, in another minute, the vast and powerful sheets of +canvas were effectually rendered harmless, by securing them in tight rolls to +their respective spars. The men descended as swiftly as they had mounted to the +yards; and then succeeded another short and breathing pause. At this moment, a +candle would have sent its flame perpendicularly towards the heavens. The ship, +missing the steadying power of the wind, rolled heavily in the troughs of the +seas, which, however began to be more diminutive, at each instant, as though +the startled element was recalling, into the security of its own vast bosom, +that portion of its particles which had, just before, been permitted to gambol +so madly over its surface. The water washed sullenly along the side of the +ship, or, as she labouring rose from one of her frequent falls into the hollows +of the waves, it shot back into the ocean from her decks, in numberless little +glittering cascades. Every hue of the heavens, every sound of the element, and +each dusky and anxious countenance that was visible, helped to proclaim the +intense interest of the moment. It was in this brief interval of expectation, +and inactivity, that the mates again approached their Commander. +</p> + +<p> +“It is an awful night, Captain Wilder!” said Earing presuming on +his rank to be the first of the two to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“I have known far less notice given of a shift of wind,” was the +steady answer. +</p> + +<p> +“We have had time to gather in our kites, ’tis true, sir; but there +are signs and warnings, that come with this change, at which the oldest seaman +has reason to take heed!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” continued Nighthead, in a voice that sounded hoarse and +powerful, even amid the fearful accessories of that scene; “yes, it is no +trifling commission that can call people, that I shall not name, out upon the +water in such a night as this. It was in just such weather that I saw the +‘Vesuvius’ ketch go to a place so deep, that her own mortar would +not have been able to have sent a bomb into the open air, had hands and fire +been there fit to let it off!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay; and it was in such a time that the Greenlandman was cast upon the +Orkneys, in as flat a calm as ever lay on the sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gentlemen,” said Wilder, with a peculiar and perhaps an ironical +emphasis on the word, “what is it you would have? There is not a breath +of air stirring, and the ship is naked to her topsails!” +</p> + +<p> +It would have been difficult for either of the two malcontents to have given a +very satisfactory answer to this question. Both were secretly goaded by +mysterious and superstitious apprehensions, that were powerfully aided by the +more real and intelligible aspect of the night; but neither had so far for +gotten his manhood, and his professional pride, as to lay bare the full extent +of his own weakness, at a moment when he was liable to be called upon for the +exhibition of qualities of a far more positive and determined character. Still, +the feeling that was uppermost betrayed itself in the reply of Earing, though +in an indirect and covert manner. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, the vessel is snug enough now,” he said, “though +eye-sight has shown us all it is no easy matter to drive a freighted ship +though the water as fast as one of your flying craft can go, aboard of which no +man can say, who stands at the helm, by what compass she steers, or what is her +draught!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” resumed Nighthead, “I call the ‘Caroline’ +fast for an honest trader, and few square-rigged boats are there, who do not +wear the pennants of the King, that can eat her out of the wind, or bring her +into their wake, with studding-sails abroad. But this is a time, and an hour, +to make a seaman think. Look at yon hazy light, here, in with the land, that is +coming so fast down upon us, and then tell me whether it comes from the coast +of America, or whether it comes from out of the stranger who has been so long +running under our lee, but who has got, or is fast getting, the wind of us at +last, and yet none here can say how, or why. I have just this much, and no +more, to say: Give me for consort a craft whose Captain I know, or give me +none!” +</p> + +<p> +“Such is your taste, Mr Nighthead,” said Wilder, coldly; +“mine may, by some accident, be very different.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” observed the more cautious and prudent Earing, +“in time of war, and with letters of marque aboard, a man may honestly +hope the sail he sees should have a stranger for her master; or otherwise he +would never fall in with an enemy. But though an Englishman born myself, I +should rather give the ship in that mist a clear sea, seeing that I neither +know her nation nor her cruise. Ah, Captain Wilder, yonder is an awful sight +for the morning watch! Often, and often, have I seen the sun rise ill the east, +and no harm done; but little good can come of a day when the light first breaks +in the west. Cheerfully would I give the owners the last month’s pay, +hard as I have earned it with my toil, did I but know under what flag yonder +stranger sails.” +</p> + +<p> +“Frenchman, Don, or Devil, yonder he comes!” cried Wilder. Then, +turning towards the silent an attentive crew, he shouted, in a voice that was +appalling by its vehemence and warning, “Let run the after halyards! +round with the fore-yard! round with it, men, with a will!” +</p> + +<p> +These were cries that the startled crew perfectly understood. Every nerve and +muscle were exerted to execute the orders, in time to be in readiness for the +approaching tempest. No man spoke; but each expended the utmost of his power +and skill in direct and manly efforts. Nor was there, in verity, a moment to +lose, or a particle of human strength expended here, without a sufficient +object. +</p> + +<p> +The lucid and fearful-looking mist, which, for the last quarter of an hour, had +been gathering in the north-west, was now driving down upon them with the speed +of a race-horse. The air had already lost the damp and peculiar feeling of an +easterly breeze; and little eddies were beginning to flutter among the +masts—precursors of the coming squall. Then, a rushing, roaring sound was +heard moaning along the ocean, whose surface was first dimpled, next ruffled, +and finally covered, with one sheet of clear, white, and spotless foam. At the +next moment the power of the wind fell full upon the inert and labouring +Bristol trader. +</p> + +<p> +As the gust approached, Wilder had seized the slight opportunity, afforded by +the changeful puffs of air, to get the ship as much as possible before the +wind; but the sluggish movement of the vessel met neither the wishes of his own +impatience nor the exigencies of the moment. Her bows had slowly and heavily +fallen off from the north, leaving her precisely in a situation to receive the +first shock on her broadside. Happy it was, for all who had life at risk in +that defenceless vessel, that she was not fated to receive the whole weight of +the tempest at a blow. The sails fluttered and trembled on their massive yards, +bellying and collapsing alternately for a minute, and then the rushing wind +swept over them in a hurricane. +</p> + +<p> +The “Caroline” received the blast like a stout and buoyant ship, +yielding readily to its impulse, until her side lay nearly incumbent on the +element in which she floated; and then, as if the fearful fabric were conscious +of its jeopardy, it seemed to lift its reclining masts again, struggling to +work its way heavily through the water. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep the helm a-weather! Jam it a-weather, for your life!” shouted +Wilder, amid the roar of the gust. +</p> + +<p> +The veteran seaman at the wheel obeyed the order with steadiness, but in vain +he kept his eyes riveted on the margin of his head sail, in order to watch the +manner the ship would obey its power. Twice more, in as many moments, the tall +masts fell towards the horizon, waving as often gracefully upward and then they +yielded to the mighty pressure of the wind, until the whole machine lay +prostrate on the water. +</p> + +<p> +“Reflect!” said Wilder, seizing the bewildered Earing by the arm, +as the latter rushed madly up the steep of the deck; “it is our duty to +be calm: Bring hither an axe.” +</p> + +<p> +Quick as the thought which gave the order, the admonished mate complied, +jumping into the mizzen-channels of the ship, to execute, with his own hands, +the mandate that he well knew must follow. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I cut?” he demanded, with uplifted arms, and in a voice that +atoned for his momentary confusion, by its steadiness and force. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold! Does the ship mind her helm at all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not an inch, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then cut,” Wilder clearly and calmly added. +</p> + +<p> +A single blow sufficed for the discharge of the momentary act. Extended to the +utmost powers of endurance, by the vast weight it upheld, the lanyard struck by +Earing no sooner parted, than each of its fellows snapped in succession, +leaving the mast dependant on itself alone for the support of all its ponderous +and complicated hamper. The cracking of the wood came next; and then the +rigging fell, like a tree that had been sapped at its foundation, the little +distance that still existed between it and the sea. +</p> + +<p> +“Does she fall off?” instantly called Wilder to the observant +seaman at the wheel. +</p> + +<p> +“She yielded a little, sir; but this new squall is bringing her up +again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I cut?” shouted Earing from the main rigging whither he had +leaped, like a tiger who had bounded on his prey. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut!” was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +A loud and imposing crash soon succeeded this order, though not before several +heavy blows had been struck into the massive mast itself. As before, the seas +received the tumbling maze of spars, rigging and sails; the vessel surging, at +the same instant from its recumbent position, and rolling far and heavily to +windward. +</p> + +<p> +“She rights! she rights!” exclaimed twenty voices which had been +hitherto mute, in a suspense that involved life and death. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep her dead away!” added the still calm but deeply authoritative +voice of the young Commander “Stand by to furl the fore-topsail—let +it hang a moment to drag the ship clear of the wreck—cut +cut—cheerily, men—hatchets and knives—cut <i>with</i> all, +and cut <i>off</i> all!” +</p> + +<p> +As the men now worked with the freshened vigour of revived hope, the ropes that +still confined the fallen spars to the vessel were quickly severed; and the +“Caroline,” by this time dead before the gale, appeared barely to +touch the foam that covered the sea, like a bird that was swift upon the wing +skimming the waters. The wind came over the waste in gusts that rumbled like +distant thunder, and with a power that seemed to threaten to lift the ship and +its contents from its proper element, to deliver it to one still more variable +and treacherous. As a prudent and sagacious seaman had let fly the halyards of +the solitary sail that remained, at the moment when the squall approached, the +loosened but lowered topsail was now distended in a manner that threatened to +drag after it the only mast which still stood. Wilder instantly saw the +necessity of getting rid of this sail, and he also saw the utter impossibility +of securing it. Calling Earing to his side, he pointed out the danger, and gave +the necessary order. +</p> + +<p> +“Yon spar cannot stand such shocks much longer,” he concluded; +“and, should it go over the bows, some fatal blow might be given to the +ship at the rate she is moving. A man or two must be sent aloft to cut the sail +from the yards.” +</p> + +<p> +“The stick is bending like a willow whip,” returned the mate, +“and the lower mast itself is sprung. There would be great danger in +trusting a life in that top, while such wild squalls as these are breathing +around us.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may be right,” returned Wilder, with a sudden conviction of +the truth of what the other had said: “Stay you then here; and, if any +thing befal me, try to get the vessel into port as far north as the Capes of +Virginia, at least;—on no account attempt Hatteras, in the present +condition of”—— +</p> + +<p> +“What would you do, Captain Wilder?” interrupted the mate laying +his hand powerfully on the shoulder of his Commander, who, he observed, had +already thrown his sea-cap on the deck, and was preparing to divest himself of +some of his outer garments. +</p> + +<p> +“I go aloft, to ease the mast of that topsail, without which we lose the +spar, and possibly the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, I see that plain enough; but, shall it be said, Another did the +duty of Edward Earing? It is your business to carry the vessel into the Capes +of Virginia, and mine to cut the topsail adrift. If harm comes to me, why, put +it in the log, with a word or two about the manner in which I played my part: +That is always the best and most proper epitaph for a sailor.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder made no resistance, but resumed his watchful and reflecting attitude, +with the simplicity of one who had been too long trained to the discharge of +certain obligations himself, to manifest surprise that another should +acknowledge their imperative character. In the mean time, Earing proceeded +steadily to perform what he had just promised. Passing into the waist of the +ship, he provided himself with a suitable hatchet, and then, without speaking a +syllable to any of the mute but attentive seamen, he sprang into the +fore-rigging, every strand and rope-yarn of which was tightened by the strain +nearly to snapping. The understanding eyes of his observers comprehended his +intention; and, with precisely the same pride of station as had urged him to +the dangerous undertaking, four or five of the older mariners jumped upon the +ratlings, to mount with him into an air that apparently teemed with a hundred +hurricanes. +</p> + +<p> +“Lie down out of that fore-rigging,” shouted Wilder, through a +deck-trumpet; “lie down; all, but the mate, lie down!” His words +were borne past the inattentive ears of the excited and mortified followers of +Earing, but they failed of their effect. Each man was too much bent on his own +earnest purpose to listen to the sounds of recall. In less than a minute, the +whole were scattered along the yards, prepared to obey the signal of their +officer. The mate cast a look about him; and, perceiving that the time was +comparatively favourable, he struck a blow upon the large rope that confined +one of the angles of the distended and bursting sail to the lower yard. The +effect was much the same as would be produced by knocking away the key-stone of +an ill-cemented arch. The canvas broke from all its fastenings with a loud +explosion, and, for an instant, was seen sailing in the air ahead of the ship, +as though sustained on the wings of an eagle. The vessel rose on a sluggish +wave—the lingering remains of the former breeze—and then settled +heavily over the rolling surge, borne down alike by its own weight and the +renewed violence of the gusts. At this critical instant while the seamen aloft +were still gazing in the direction in which the little cloud of canvas had +disappeared, a lanyard of the lower rigging parted with a crack that even +reached the ears of Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“Lie down!” he shouted fearfully through his trumpet; “down +by the backstays; down for your lives; every man of you, down!” +</p> + +<p> +A solitary individual, of them all, profited by the warning, and was seen +gliding towards the deck with the velocity of the wind. But rope parted after +rope, and the fatal snapping of the wood instantly followed. For a moment, the +towering maze tottered, and seemed to wave towards every quarter of the +heavens; and then, yielding to the movements of the hull, the whole fell, with +a heavy crash, into the sea. Each cord, lanyard, or stay snapped, when it +received the strain of its new position, as though it had been made of thread, +leaving the naked and despoiled hull of the “Caroline” to drive +onward before the tempest, as if nothing had occurred to impede its progress. +</p> + +<p> +A mute and eloquent pause succeeded this disaster It appeared as if the +elements themselves were appeased by their work, and something like a momentary +lull in the awful rushing of the winds might have been fancied. Wilder sprang +to the side of the vessel, and distinctly beheld the victims, who still clung +to their frail support. He even saw Earing waving his hand, in adieu, with a +seaman’s heart, and like a man who not only felt how desperate was his +situation, but one who knew how to meet his fate with resignation. Then the +wreck of spars, with all who clung to it, was swallowed up in the body of the +frightful, preternatural-looking mist which extended on every side of them, +from the ocean to the clouds. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand by, to clear away a boat!” shouted Wilder, without pausing +to think of the impossibility of one’s swimming, or of effecting the +least good, in so violent a tornado. +</p> + +<p> +But the amazed and confounded seamen who remained needed not instruction in +this matter. No man moved, nor was the smallest symptom of obedience given. The +mariners looked wildly around them, each endeavouring to trace, in the dusky +countenance of the other, his opinion of the extent of the evil; but not a +mouth was opened among them all. +</p> + +<p> +“It is too late—it is too late!” murmured Wilder to himself; +“human skill and human efforts could not save them!” +</p> + +<p> +“Sail, ho!” Nighthead muttered at his elbow, in a voice that teemed +with a species of superstitious awe. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him come on,” returned his young Commander bitterly; +“the mischief is ready finished to his hands!” +</p> + +<p> +“Should yon be a mortal ship, it is our duty to the owners and the +passengers to speak her, if a man can make his voice heard in this +tempest,” the second mate continued, pointing, through the haze at the +dim object that was certainly at hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak her!—passengers!” muttered Wilder, involuntarily +repeating his words. “No; any thing is better than speaking her. Do you +see the vessel that is driving down upon us so fast?” he sternly demanded +of the watchful seaman who still clung to the wheel of the +“Caroline.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, sir,” was the brief, professional reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Give her a birth—sheer away hard to port—perhaps he may pass +us in the gloom, now we are no higher than our decks. Give the ship a broad +sheer, I say, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +The same laconic answer as before was given and, for a few moments, the Bristol +trader was seen diverging a little from the line in which the other approached; +but a second glance assured Wilder that the attempt was useless. The strange +ship (and every man on board felt certain it was the same that had so long been +seen hanging in the north-western horizon) came on, through the mist, with a +swiftness that nearly equalled the velocity of the tempestuous winds +themselves. Not a thread of canvas was seen on board her. Each line of spars, +even to the tapering and delicate top-gallant-masts, was in its place, +preserving the beauty and symmetry of the whole fabric; but nowhere was the +smallest fragment of a sail opened to the gale. Under her bows rolled a volume +of foam, that was even discernible amid the universal agitation of the ocean; +and, as she came within sound, the sullen roar of the water might have been +likened to the noise of a cascade. At first, the spectators on the decks of the +“Caroline” believed they were not seen, and some of the men called +madly for lights, in order that the disasters of the night might not terminate +in the dreaded encounter. +</p> + +<p> +“No!” exclaimed Wilder; “too many see us there +already!” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” muttered Nighthead; “no fear but we are seen; and +by such eyes, too, as never yet looked out of mortal head!” +</p> + +<p> +The seamen paused. In another instant, the long-seen and mysterious ship was +within a hundred feet of them. The very power of that wind, which was wont +usually to raise the billows, now pressed the element, with the weight of +mountains, into its bed. The sea was every where a sheet of froth, but no water +swelled above the level of the surface. The instant a wave lifted itself from +the security of the vast depths, the fluid was borne away before the tornado in +driving, glittering spray. Along this frothy but comparatively motionless +surface, then, the stranger came booming, with the steadiness and grandeur with +which a dark cloud is seen to sail before the hurricane. No sign of life was +any where discovered about her. If men looked out, from their secret places, +upon the straitened and discomfited wreck of the Bristol trader, it was +covertly, and as darkly as the tempest before which they drove. Wilder held his +breath, for the moment the stranger drew nighest, in the very excess of +suspense; but, as he saw no signal of recognition, no human form, nor any +intention to arrest, if possible, the furious career of the other, a smile of +exultation gleamed across his countenance, and his lips moved rapidly, as +though he found pleasure in being abandoned to his distress. The stranger drove +by, like a dark vision and, ere another minute, her form was beginning to grow +less distinct, in a thickening body of the spray to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +“She is going out of sight in the mist!” exclaimed Wilder, when he +drew his breath, after the fearful suspense of the few last moments. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, in mist, or clouds,” responded Nighthead, who now kept +obstinately at his elbow, watching with the most jealous distrust, the smallest +movement of his unknown Commander. +</p> + +<p> +“In the heavens, or in the sea, I care not, provided she be gone.” + +“Most seamen would rejoice to see a strange sail, from the hull of a +vessel shaved to the deck like this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Men often court their destruction, from ignorance of their own +interests. Let him drive on, say I, and pray I! He goes four feet to our one; +and now I ask no better favour than that this hurricane may blow until the sun +shall rise.” +</p> + +<p> +Nighthead started, and cast an oblique glance which resembled denunciation, at +his companion. To his blunted faculties, and superstitious mind, there was +profanity in thus invoking the tempest, at a moment when the winds seemed +already to be pouring out their utmost wrath. +</p> + +<p> +“This is a heavy squall, I will allow,” he said, “and such an +one as many mariners pass whole lives without seeing; but he knows little of +the sea who thinks there is not more wind where this comes from.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let it blow!” cried the other, striking his hands together a +little wildly; “I pray only for wind!” +</p> + +<p> +All the doubts of Nighthead, as to the character of the young stranger who had +so unaccountably got possession of the office of Nicholas Nichols, if, indeed, +any remained, were now removed. He walked forward among the silent and +thoughtful crew with the air of a man whose opinion was settled. Wilder, +however, paid no attention to the movements of his subordinate, but continued +pacing the deck for hours; now casting his eyes at the heavens or now sending +frequent and anxious glances around the limited horizon, while the “Royal +Caroline” still continued drifting before the wind, a shorn and naked +wreck. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>Chapter XVII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Sit still, and hear the last of our sea sorrow.”</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Shakespeare</i> +</p> + +<p> +The weight of the tempest had been felt at that hapless moment when Earing and +his unfortunate companions were precipitated from their giddy elevation into +the sea. Though the wind continued to blow long after this fatal event, it was +with a constantly diminishing power. As the gale decreased the sea began to +rise, and the vessel to labour in proportion. Then followed two hours of +anxious watchfulness on the part of Wilder, during which the whole of his +professional knowledge was needed in order to keep the despoiled hull of the +Bristol trader from becoming a prey to the greedy waters. His consummate skill, +however, proved equal to the task that was required at his hands; and, just as +the symptoms of day were becoming visible along the east, both wind and waves +were rapidly subsiding together. During the whole of this doubtful period our +adventurer did not receive the smallest assistance from any of the crew, with +the exception of two experienced seamen whom he had previously stationed at the +wheel. But to this neglect he was indifferent; since little more was required +than his own judgment, seconded, as it faithfully was, by the exertions of the +manners more immediately under his eye. +</p> + +<p> +The day dawned on a scene entirely different from that which had marked the +tempestuous deformity of the night. The whole fury of the winds appeared to +have been expended in their precocious effort. From the moderate gale, to which +they had fallen by the end of the middle watch, they further altered to a +vacillating breeze; and, ere the sun had risen, the changeful air had subsided +into a flat calm. The sea went down as suddenly as the power which had raised, +it vanished; and, by the time the broad golden light of the sun was shed fairly +and fully upon the unstable element, it lay unruffled and polished, though +still gently heaving in swells so long and heavy as to resemble the placid +respiration of a sleeping infant. +</p> + +<p> +The hour was still early, and the serene appearance of the sky and the ocean +gave every promise of a day which might be passed in devising the expedients +necessary to bring the ship again, in some measure, under the command of her +people. +</p> + +<p> +“Sound the pumps,” said Wilder, observing that the crew were +appearing from the different places in which they had bestowed their cares and +their persons together, during the later hours of the night. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you hear me, sir?” he added sternly, observing that no one +moved to obey his order. “Let the pumps be sounded, and the ship cleared +of every inch of water.” +</p> + +<p> +Nighthead, to whom Wilder had now addressed himself, regarded his Commander +with an oblique ind sullen eye, and then exchanged singularly intelligent +glances with his comrades, before he saw fit to make the smallest motion +towards compliance. But there was that, in the authoritative mien of his +superior, which finally induced him to comply. The dilatory manner in which the +seamen performed the duty was quickened, however, as the rod ascended, and the +well-known signs of a formidable leak met their eyes. The experiment was +repeated with greater activity, and with far more precision. +</p> + +<p> +“If witchcraft can clear the hold of a ship that is already half full of +water,” said Nighthead, casting another sullen glance towards the +attentive Wilder “the sooner it is done the better; for the whole cunning +of something more than a bungler in the same will be needed, in order to make +the pumps of the ‘Royal Caroline’ suck!” +</p> + +<p> +“Does the ship leak?” demanded his superior with a quickness of +utterance which sufficiently proclaimed how important he deemed the +intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +“Yesterday, I would have boldly put my name to the articles of any craft +that floats the ocean; and had the Captain asked me if I understood her nature +and character, as certain as that my name is Francis Nighthead, I should have +told him, yes. But I find that the oldest seaman may still learn something of +the water; though it should be got in crossing a ferry in a flat.” +</p> + +<p> +“What mean you, sir?” demanded Wilder, who, for the first time, +began to note the mutinous looks assumed by his mate, no less than the +threatening manner in which he was seconded by the crew. “Have the pumps +rigged without delay, and clear the ship of the water.” +</p> + +<p> +Nighthead slowly complied with the former part of this order; and, in a few +moments, every thing was arranged to commence the necessary, and, as it would +seem, urgent duty of pumping. But no man lifted his hand to the laborious +employment. The quick eye of Wilder, who had now taken the alarm, was not slow +in detecting this reluctance; and he repeated the order more sternly, calling +to two of the seamen, by name, to set the example of obedience. The men +hesitated, giving an opportunity to the mate to confirm them, by his voice, in +their mutinous intentions. +</p> + +<p> +“What need of hands to work a pump in a vessel like this?” he said, +with a coarse laugh, but in which secret terror struggled strangely with open +malice. “After what we have all seen this night, none here will be +amazed, should the vessel begin to spout out the brine like a breathing +whale.” +</p> + +<p> +“What am I to understand by this hesitation, and by this language?” +said Wilder, approaching Nighthead with a firm step, and an eye too proud to +quail before the plainest symptoms of insubordination. “Is it you, sir, +who should be foremost in exertion at a moment like this, who dare to set an +example of disobedience?” +</p> + +<p> +The mate recoiled a pace, and his lips moved, still he uttered no audible +reply. Wilder once more bade him, in a calm and authoritative tone, lay his own +hands to the brake. Nighthead then found his voice, in time to make a flat +refusal; and, at the next moment, he was felled to the feet of his indignant +Commander, by a blow he had neither the address nor the power to resist. This +act of decision was succeeded by one single moment of breathless, wavering +silence among the crew; and then the common cry, and the general rush of every +man upon our defenceless and solitary adventurer, were the signals that open +hostility had commenced. A shriek from the quarter-deck arrested their efforts; +just as a dozen hands were laid violently upon the person of Wilder, and, for +the moment, occasioned a truce. It was the fearful cry of Gertrude, which +possessed even the influence to still the savage intentions of a set of beings +so rude and so unnurtured as those whose passions had just been awakened into +fierce activity. Wilder was released; and all eyes turned, by a common impulse, +in the direction of the sound. +</p> + +<p> +During the more momentous hours of the past night, the very existence of the +passengers below had been forgotten by most of those whose duty kept them to +the deck. If they had been recalled at all to the recollection of any, it was +at those fleeting moments when the mind of the young mariner, who directed the +movements of the ship, found leisure to catch stolen glimpses of softer scenes +than the wild warring of the elements that was so actively raging before his +eyes. Nighthead had named them, as he would have made allusion to a part of the +cargo, but their fate had little influence on his hardened nature. Mrs Wyllys +and her charge had therefore remained below during the whole period, perfectly +unapprised of the disasters of the intervening time. Buried in the recesses of +their births, they had heard the roaring of the winds, and the incessant +washing of the waters; but these usual accompaniments of a storm had served to +conceal the crashing of masts, and the hoarse cries of the mariners. For the +moments of terrible suspense while the Bristol trader lay on her side, the +better informed governess had, indeed, some fearful glimmerings of the truth; +but, conscious of her uselessness and unwilling to alarm her less instructed +companion she had sufficient self-command to be mute. The subsequent silence, +and comparative calm, induced her to believe that she had been mistaken in her +apprehensions; and, long ere morning dawned, both she and Gertrude had sunk +into sweet and refreshing slumbers. They had risen and mounted to the deck +together, and were still in the first burst of their wonder at the desolation +which met their gaze, when the long-meditated attack on Wilder was made. +</p> + +<p> +“What means this awful change?” demanded Mrs Wyllys, with a lip +that quivered, and a cheek which, notwithstanding the extraordinary power she +possessed over her feelings, was blanched to the colour of death. +</p> + +<p> +The eye of Wilder was glowing, and his brow dark as those heavens from which +they had just so happily escaped, as he answered, menacing his assailants with +an arm,— +</p> + +<p> +“It means mutiny, Madam; rascally, cowardly mutiny!” +</p> + +<p> +“Could mutiny strip a vessel of her masts, and leave her a helpless log +upon the sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, Madam!” roughly interrupted the mate ‘to you I will +speak freely; for it is well known who you are, and that you came on board the +‘Caroline’ a paying passenger. This night have I seen the heavens +and the ocean behave as I have never seen them behave before. Ships have been +running afore the wind, light and buoyant as corks, with all their spars +stepped and steady, when other ships have been shaved of every mast as close as +the razor sweeps the chin. Cruisers have been fallen in with, sailing without +living hands to work them; and, all together, no man here has ever before +passed a middle watch like the one gone by.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what has this to do with the violence I have just witnessed? Is the +vessel fated to endure every evil!—Can <i>you</i> explain this, Mr +Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“You cannot say, at least, you had no warning of danger,” returned +Wilder, smiling bitterly. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, the devil is obliged to be honest on compulsion,” resumed the +mate. “Each of his imps sails with his orders; and, thank Heaven! however +he may be minded to overlook the same, he has neither courage nor power to do +it. Otherwise, a peaceful voyage would be such a rarity, in these unsettled +times, that few men would be found hardy enough to venture on the water for a +livelihood.—A warning! Ay, we will own you gave us open and frequent +warning. It was a notice, that the consignee should not have overlooked, when +Nicholas Nichols met with the hurt, as the anchor was leaving the bottom I +never knew an accident happen at such a time and no evil come of it. Then, had +we a warning with the old man in the boat; besides the never-failing ill luck +of sending the pilot violently out of the ship. As if all this wasn’t +enough, instead of taking a hint, and lying peaceably at our anchors, we got +the ship under way, and left a safe and friendly harbour of a Friday, of all +the days in a week!<a href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2" +id="linknoteref-2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> So far from being surprised at what has +happened, I only wonder at finding myself still a living man; the reason of +which is simply this, that I have given my faith where faith only is due, and +not to unknown mariners and strange Commanders. Had Edward Earing done the +same, he might still have had a plank between him and the bottom; but, though +half inclined to believe in the truth, he had, after all, too much leaning to +superstition and credulity.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"></a> <a href="#linknoteref-2">[2]</a> +The superstition, that Friday is an evil day, was not peculiar to Nighthead; it +prevails, more or less, among seamen to this hour. An intelligent merchant of +Connecticut had a desire to do his part in eradicating an impression that is +sometimes inconvenient. He caused the keel of a vessel to be laid on a Friday; +she was launched on a Friday; named the “Friday;” and sailed on her +first voyage on a Friday. Unfortunately for the success of this +well-intentioned experiment, neither vessel nor crew were ever again heard of! +</p> + +<p> +This laboured and characteristic profession of faith in the mate, though +sufficiently intelligible to Wilder, was still a perfect enigma to his female +listeners. But Nighthead had not formed his resolution by halves, neither had +he gone thus far, with any intention to stop short of the completion of his +whole design. In a very few summary words, he explained to Mrs Wyllys the +desolate condition of the ship, and the utter improbability that she could +continue to float many hours; since actual observation had told him that her +lower hold was already half full of water. +</p> + +<p> +“And what is then to be done?” demanded the governess, casting a +glance of bitter distress towards the pallid and attentive Gertrude. “Is +there no sail in sight, to take us from the wreck? or must we perish in our +helplessness!” +</p> + +<p> +“God-protect us from anymore strange sails!” exclaimed the surly +Nighthead. “There we have the pinnace hanging at the stern, and here must +be land at some forty leagues to the north-west. Water and food are plenty, and +twelve, stout hands can soon pull a boat to the continent of America; that is, +always provided, America is left where it was seen no later than at the sun-set +of yesterday.” +</p> + +<p> +“You then propose to abandon the vessel?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do. The interest of the owners is dear to all good seamen, but life is +sweeter than gold.” +</p> + +<p> +“The will of heaven be done! But surely you meditate no violence against +this gentleman, who, I am quite certain, has governed the vessel, in very +critical circumstances, with a discretion far beyond his years!” +</p> + +<p> +Nighthead muttered his intentions, whatever they might be, to himself; and then +he walked apart, apparently to confer with the men, who already seemed but too +well disposed to second any of his views, however mistaken or lawless. During +the few moments of suspense that succeeded, Wilder stood silent and composed, a +smile of something like scorn struggling about his lip, and maintaining the air +rather of one who had power to decide on the fortunes of others, than of a man +whose own fate was most probably at that very moment in discussion. When the +dull minds of the seamen had arrived at their conclusion, the mate advanced to +proclaim the result. Indeed, words were unnecessary, in order to make known a +very material part of their decision; for a party of the men proceeded +instantly to lower the stern-boat into the water, while others set about +supplying it with the necessary means of subsistence. +</p> + +<p> +“There is room for all the Christians in the ship to stow themselves in +this pinnace,” resumed Nighthead; “and as for those that place +their dependance on any particular persons, why, let them call for aid where +they have been used to receive it.” +</p> + +<p> +“From all which I am to infer that it is your intention,” said +Wilder, calmly, “to abandon the wreck and your duty?” +</p> + +<p> +The half-awed but still resentful mate returned a look in which fear and +triumph struggled for the mastery, as he answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“You, who know how to sail a ship without a crew, can never want a boat! +Besides, you shall never say to your friends, whoever they may be, that we +leave you without the means of reaching the land, if you are indeed a land-bird +at all. There is the launch.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is the launch! but well do you know, that, without masts, all your +united strengths could not lift it from the deck; else would it not be +left.” +</p> + +<p> +“They that took the masts out of the ‘Caroline’ can put them +in again,” rejoined a grinning seaman; “it will not be an hour +after we leave you, before a sheer-hulk will come alongside, to step the spars +again, and then you may go cruise in company.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder appeared to be superior to any reply. He began to pace the deck, +thoughtful, it is true, but still composed, and entirely self-possessed. In the +mean time, as a common desire to quit the wreck as soon as possible actuated +all the men, their preparations advanced with incredible activity. The +wondering and alarmed females had hardly time to think clearly on the +extraordinary situation in which they found themselves, before they saw the +form of the helpless Master borne past them to the boat; and, in another +minute, they were summoned to take their places at his side. +</p> + +<p> +Thus imperiously called upon to act, they began to feel the necessity of +decision. Remonstrances, they feared, would be useless; for the fierce and +malignant looks which were cast, from time to time, at Wilder, as the labour +proceeded, proclaimed the danger of awakening such obstinate and ignorant minds +into renewed acts of violence. The governess bethought her of an appeal to the +wounded man, but the look of wild care which he had cast about him, on being +lifted to the deck, and the expression of bodily and mental pain that gleamed +across his rugged features, as he buried them in the blankets by which he was +enveloped, but too plainly announced that little assistance was, in his present +condition, to be expected from him. +</p> + +<p> +“What remains for us to do?” she at length demanded of the +seemingly insensible object of her concern. +</p> + +<p> +“I would I knew!” he answered quickly, casting a keen but hurried +glance around the whole horizon. “It is not improbable that they should +reach the shore. Four-and-twenty hours of calm will assure it.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if otherwise?” +</p> + +<p> +“A blow at north-west, or from any quarter off the land, will prove their +ruin.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the ship?” +</p> + +<p> +“If deserted, she must sink.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then will I speak in your favour to these hearts of flint! I know not +why I feel such interest in your welfare, inexplicable young man, but much +would I suffer rather than believe that you incurred this peril.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, dearest Madam,” said Wilder, respectfully arresting her +movement with his hand. “I cannot leave the vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“We know not yet. The most stubborn natures may be subdued; even +ignorance can be made to open its ears at the voice of entreaty. I may +prevail.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is one temper to be quelled—one reason to convince—one +prejudice to conquer, over which you have no power.” +</p> + +<p> +“Whose is that?” +</p> + +<p> +“My own.” +</p> + +<p> +“What mean you, sir? Surely you are not weak enough to suffer resentment +against such beings to goad you to an act of madness?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do I seem mad?” demanded Wilder. “The feeling by which I am +governed may be false, but, such as it is, it is grafted on my habits, my +opinions; I will say, my principles. Honour forbids me to quit a ship that I +command, while a plank of her is afloat.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of what use can a single arm prove at such a crisis?”. +</p> + +<p> +“None,” he answered, with a melancholy smile. “I must die, in +order that others, who may be serviceable hereafter, should do their +duty.” +</p> + +<p> +Both Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude stood regarding his kindling eye, but otherwise +placid countenance, with looks whose concern amounted to horror. The former +read, in the very composure of his mien, the unalterable character of his +resolution; and the latter shuddering as the prospect of the cruel fate which +awaited him crowded on her mind, felt a glow about her own youthful heart that +almost tempted her to believe his self-devotion commendable. But the governess +saw new reasons for apprehension in the determination of Wilder. If she had +hitherto felt reluctance to trust herself and her ward with a band such as that +which now possessed the sole authority, it was more than doubly increased by +the rude and noisy summons she received to hasten and take her place among +them. +</p> + +<p> +“Would to Heaven I knew in what manner to choose!” she exclaimed. +“Speak to us, young man, as you would counsel mother and sister.” +</p> + +<p> +“Were I so fortunate as to possess relatives so near and dear,” +returned the other, with emphasis “nothing should separate us at a time +like this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there hope for those who remain on the wreck?” +</p> + +<p> +“But little.” +</p> + +<p> +“And in the boat?” +</p> + +<p> +It was near a minute before Wilder made any answer. He again turned his look +around the bright and broad horizon, and he appeared to study the heavens, in +the direction of the distant Continent, with infinite care. No omen that could +indicate the probable character of the weather escaped his vigilance while his +countenance reflected all the various emotions by which he was governed, as he +gazed. +</p> + +<p> +“As I am a man, Madam,” he answered with fervour “and one who +is bound not only to counsel but to protect your sex, I distrust the time. I +think the chance of being seen by some passing sail equal to the probability +that those who adventure in the pinnace will ever reach the land.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let us remain,” said Gertrude, the blood, for the first time +since her re-appearance on deck, rushing into her colourless cheeks, until they +appeared charged to fulness. “I like not the wretches who would be our +companions in that boat.” +</p> + +<p> +“Away, away!” impatiently shouted Nighthead “Each minute of +light is a week of life to us all, and every moment of calm, a year. Away, +away, or we leave you!” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys answered not, but she stood the image of doubt and painful +indecision. Then the plash of oars was heard in the water, and at the next +moment the pinnace was seen gliding over the element, impelled by the strong +arms of six powerful rowers. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay!” shrieked the governess, no longer undetermined; +“receive my child, though you abandon me!” +</p> + +<p> +A wave of the hand, and an indistinct rumbling in the coarse tones of the mate, +were the only answers given to her appeal. A long, deep, and breathing silence +followed among the deserted. The grim countenances of the seamen in the pinnace +soon became confused and indistinct; and then the boat itself began to lessen +on the eye, until it seemed no more than a dark and distant speck, rising and +falling with the flow and reflux of the blue waters. During all this time, not +even a whispered word was spoken. Each of the party gazed, until sight grew +dim, at the receding object; and it was only when his organs refused to convey +the tiny image to his brain, that Wilder himself shook off the impression of +the sort of trance into which he had fallen. His look became bent on his +companions, and he pressed his hand upon his forehead, as though his brain were +bewildered by the deep responsibility he had assumed in advising them to +remain. But the sickening apprehension quickly passed away, leaving in its +place a firmer mind, and a resolution too often tried in scenes of doubtful +issue, to be long or easily shaken from its calmness and self-possession. +</p> + +<p> +“They are gone!” he exclaimed, breathing long and heavily, like one +whose respiration had been unnaturally suspended. +</p> + +<p> +“They are gone!” echoed the governess, turning an eye, that was +contracting with the intensity or her care, on the marble-like and motionless +form of her pupil “There is no longer any hope.” +</p> + +<p> +The look that Wilder bestowed, on the same silent out lovely statue, was +scarcely less expressive than “he gaze of her who had nurtured the +infancy of the Southern Heiress, in innocence and love. His brow grew +thoughtful, and his lips became compressed, while all the resources of his +fertile imagination and long experience gathered in his mind, in engrossing +intense reflection. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there hope?” demanded the governess, who was watching the +change of his working countenance, with an attention that never swerved. +</p> + +<p> +The gloom passed away from his swarthy features, and the smile that lighted +them was like the radiance of the sun, as it breaks through the blackest +vapours of the drifting gust. +</p> + +<p> +“There is!” he said with firmness; “our case is far from +desperate.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, may He who rules the ocean and the land receive the praise!” +cried the grateful governess giving vent to her long-suppressed agony in a +flood of tears. +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude cast herself upon the neck of Mrs Wyllys, and for a minute their +unrestrained emotions were mingled. +</p> + +<p> +“And now, my dearest Madam,” said Gertrude, leaving the arms of her +governess, “let us trust to the skill of Mr Wilder; he has foreseen and +foretold this danger; equally well may he predict our safety.” +</p> + +<p> +“Foreseen and foretold!” returned the other, in a manner to show +that her faith in the professional prescience of the stranger was not +altogether so unbounded as that of her more youthful and ardent companion. +“No mortal could have foreseen this awful calamity; and least of all, +foreseeing it, would he have sought to incur its danger! Mr Wilder, I will not +annoy you with requests for explanations that might now be useless, but you +will not refuse to communicate your grounds of hope.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder hastened to relieve a curiosity that he well knew must be as painful as +it was natural. The mutineers had left the largest, and much the safest, of the +two boats belonging to the wreck, from a desire to improve the calm, well +knowing that hours of severe labour would be necessary to launch it, from the +place it occupied between the stumps of the two principal masts, into the +ocean. This operation, which might have been executed in a few minutes with the +ordinary purchases of the ship, would have required all their strength united, +and that, too, to be exercised with a discretion and care that would have +consumed too many of those moments which they rightly deemed to be so precious +at that wild and unstable season of the year. Into this little ark Wilder +proposed to convey such articles of comfort and necessity as he might hastily +collect from the abandoned vessel; and then, entering it with his companions, +to await the critical instant when the wreck should sink from beneath them. +</p> + +<p> +“Call you this hope?” exclaimed Mrs Wyllys, when his short +explanation was ended, her cheek again blanching with disappointment. “I +have heard that the gulf, which foundering vessels leave, swallows all lesser +objects that are floating nigh!” +</p> + +<p> +“It sometimes happens. For worlds I would not deceive you; and I now say +that I think our chance for escape equal to that of being ingulfed with the +vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is terrible!” murmured the governess, “but the will of +Heaven be done! Cannot ingenuity supply the place of strength, and the boat be +cast from the decks before the fatal moment arrives?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder shook his head in an unequivocal negative. +</p> + +<p> +“We are not so weak as you may think us,” said Gertrude. +“Give a direction to our efforts, and let us see what may yet be done. +Here is Cassandra,” she added—turning to the black girl already +introduced to the reader, who stood behind her young and ardent mistress, with +the mantle and shawls of the latter thrown over her arm, as if about to attend +her on an excursion for the morning—“here is Cassandra who alone +has nearly the strength of a man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had she the strength of twenty, I should despair of launching the boat +without the aid of machinery But we lose time in words; I will go below, in +order to judge of the probable duration of our doubt and then to our +preparations. Even you, fair and fragile as you seem, lovely being, may aid in +the latter.” +</p> + +<p> +He then pointed out such lighter objects as would be necessary to their +comfort, should they be so fortunate as to get clear of the wreck, and advised +their being put into the boat without delay. While the three females were thus +usefully employed, he descended into the hold of the ship, in order to note the +increase of the water, and make his calculations on the time that would elapse +before the sinking fabric must entirely disappear. The fact proved their case +to be more alarming than even Wilder had been led to expect. Stripped of her +masts, the vessel had laboured so heavily as to open many of her seams; and, as +the upper works began to settle beneath the level of the ocean, the influx of +the element was increasing with frightful rapidity. As the young manner gazed +about him with an understanding eye, he cursed, in the bitterness of his heart, +the ignorance and superstition that had caused the desertion of the remainder +of the crew. There existed, in reality, no evil that exertion and skill could +not have remedied; but, deprived of all aid, he at once saw the folly of even +attempting to procrastinate a catastrophe that was now unavoidable. Returning +with a heavy heart to the deck, he immediately set about those dispositions +which were necessary to afford them the smallest chance of escape. +</p> + +<p> +While his companions deadened the sense of apprehension by their light but +equally necessary employment Wilder stepped the two masts of the boat, and +properly disposed of the sails, and those other implements that might be useful +in the event of success Thus occupied, a couple of hours flew by, as though +minutes were compressed into moments. At the expiration of that period, his +labour had ceased. He then cut the gripes that had kept the launch in its place +when the ship was in motion, leaving it standing upright on its wooden beds, +but in no other manner connected with the hull, which, by this time, had +settled so low as to create the apprehension, that, at any moment, it might +sink from beneath them. After this measure of precaution was taken, the females +were summoned to the boat, lest the crisis might be nearer than he supposed; +for he well knew that a foundering ship was, like a tottering wall, liable at +any moment to yield to the impulse of the downward pressure. He then commenced +the scarcely less necessary operation of selection among the chaos of articles +with which the ill-directed zeal of his companions had so cumbered the boat, +that there was hardly room left in which they might dispose of their more +precious persons. Notwithstanding the often repeated and vociferous +remonstrances of the negress, boxes, trunks, and packages flew from either side +of the launch, as though Wilder had no consideration for the comfort and care +of that fair being in whose behalf Cassandra, unheeded, like her ancient +namesake of Troy, lifted her voice so often in the tones of remonstrance. The +boat was soon cleared of what, under their circumstances, was literally lumber; +leaving, however, far more than enough to meet all their wants, and not a few +of their comforts, in the event that the elements should accord the permission +to use them. +</p> + +<p> +Then, and not till then, did Wilder relax in his exertions. He had arranged his +sails, ready to be hoisted in an instant; he had carefully examined that no +straggling rope connected the boat to the wreck, to draw them under with the +foundering mass; and he had assured himself that food, water, compass, and the +imperfect instruments that were then in use to ascertain the position of a +ship, were all carefully disposed of in their several places, and ready to his +hand. When all was in this state of preparation, he disposed of himself in the +stern of the boat, and endeavoured, by the composure of his manner, to inspire +his less resolute companions with a portion of his own firmness. +</p> + +<p> +The bright sun-shine was sleeping in a thousand places on every side of the +silent and deserted wreck. The sea had subsided to such a state of utter rest, +that it was only at long intervals that the huge and helpless mass on which the +ark of the expectants lay was lifted from its dull quietude, to roll heavily, +for a moment, in the washing waters, and then to settle lower into the greedy +and absorbing element. Still the disappearance of the hull was slow, and even +tedious, to those who looked forward with such impatience to its total +immersion, as to the crisis of their own fortunes. +</p> + +<p> +During these hours of weary and awful suspense, the discourse, between the +watchers, though conducted in tones of confidence, and often of tenderness, was +broken by long intervals of deep and musing silence. Each forbore to dwell upon +the danger of their situation, in consideration of the feelings of the rest; +but neither could conceal the imminent risk they ran, from that jealous +watchfulness of love of life which was common to them all. In this manner, +minutes, hours, and the day itself, rolled by, and the darkness was seen +stealing along the deep, gradually narrowing the boundary of their view towards +the east, until the whole of the empty scene was limited to a little dusky +circle around the spot on which they lay. To this change succeeded another +fearful hour, during which it appeared that death was about to visit them, +environed by its most revolting horrors. The heavy plunge of the wallowing +whale, as he cast his huge form upon the surface of the sea, was heard, +accompanied by the mimic blowings of a hundred imitators, that followed in the +train of the monarch of the ocean. It appeared to the alarmed and feverish +imagination of Gertrude, that the brine was giving up all its monsters; and, +notwithstanding the calm assurances of Wilder, that these accustomed sounds +were rather the harbingers of peace than signs of any new danger, they filled +her mind with images of the secret recesses over which they seemed suspended by +a thread, and painted them replete with the disgusting inhabitants of the +caverns of the great deep. The intelligent seaman himself was startled, when he +saw, on the surface of the water, the dark fins of the voracious shark stealing +around the wreck, apprised, by his instinct, that the contents of the devoted +vessel were shortly to become the prey of his tribe. Then came the moon, with +its mild and deceptive light, to throw the delusion of its glow on the varying +but ever frightful scene. +</p> + +<p> +“See,” said Wilder, as the luminary lifted its pale and melancholy +orb out of the bed of the ocean; “we shall have light for our hazardous +launch!” +</p> + +<p> +“Is it at hand?” demanded Mrs Wyllys, with all the resolution of +manner she could assume in so trying a situation. +</p> + +<p> +“It is—the ship has already brought her scuppers to the water. +Sometimes a vessel will float until saturated with the brine. If ours sink at +all, it will be soon.” +</p> + +<p> +“If at all! Is there then hope that she can float?” +</p> + +<p> +“None!” said Wilder, pausing to listen to the hollow and +threatening sounds which issued from the depths of the vessel, as the water +broke through her divisions, in passing from side to side, and which sounded +like the groaning of some heavy monster in the last agony of nature. +“None; she is already losing her level!” +</p> + +<p> +His companions saw the change; but, not for the empire of the world, could +either of them have uttered a syllable. Another low, threatening, rumbling +sound was heard, and then the pent air beneath blew up the forward part of the +deck, with an explosion like that of a gun. +</p> + +<p> +“Now grasp the ropes I have given you!” cried Wilder, breathless +with his eagerness to speak. +</p> + +<p> +His words were smothered by the rushing and gurgling of waters. The vessel made +a plunge like a dying whale; and, raising its stern high into the air, glided +into the depths of the sea, like the leviathan seeking his secret places. The +motionless boat was lifted with the ship, until it stood in an attitude +fearfully approaching to the perpendicular. As the wreck descended, the bows of +the launch met the element, burying themselves nearly to filling; but, buoyant +and light, it rose again, and, struck powerfully on the stern by the settling +mass, the little ark shot ahead, as though it had been driven by the hand of +man. Still, as the water rushed into the vortex, every thing within its +influence yielded to the suction; and, at the next instant, the launch was seen +darting down the declivity, as if eager to follow the vast machine, of which it +had so long formed a dependant, through the same gaping whirlpool, to the +bottom. Then it rose, rocking, to the surface; and, for a moment, was tossed +and whirled like a bubble circling in the eddies of a pool. After which, the +ocean moaned, and slept again; the moon-beams playing across its treacherous +bosom, sweetly and calm, as the rays are seen to quiver on a lake that is +embedded in sheltering mountains. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>Chapter XVIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Every day, some sailor’s wife,<br/> +The masters of some merchant, and the merchant,<br/> +Have just our theme of woe.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Tempest.</i> +</p> + +<p> +“We are safe!” said Wilder, who had stood, amid the violence of the +struggle, with his person firmly braced against a mast, steadily watching the +manner of their escape. “Thus far, at least, are we safe; for which may +Heaven alone be praised, since no art of mine could avail us a feather.” +</p> + +<p> +The females had buried their faces in the folds of the vestments and clothes on +which they were sitting; nor did even the governess raise her countenance until +twice assured by her companion that the imminency of the risk was past. Another +minute went by, during which Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude were rendering their +thanksgivings, in a manner and in words less equivocal than the expression +which had just broken from the lips of the young seaman. When this grateful +duty was performed, they stood erect, as if emboldened, by the offering, to +look their situation more steadily in the face. +</p> + +<p> +On every side lay the seemingly illimitable waste of waters. To them, their +small and frail tenement was the world. So long as the ship, sinking and +dangerous as she was, remained beneath them, there had appeared to be a barrier +between their existence and the ocean. But one minute had deprived them of even +this failing support, and they now found themselves cast upon the sea in a +vessel that might be likened to one of the bubbles of the element. Gertrude +felt, at that instant, as though she would have given half her hopes in life +for the mere sight of that vast and nearly untenanted Continent which stretched +for so many thousands of miles along the west, and kept the world of waters to +their limits. +</p> + +<p> +But the rush of emotions that so properly belonged to their forlorn condition +soon subsided, and their thoughts returned to the study of the means necessary +to their further safety. Wilder had, however anticipated these feelings; and, +even before Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude had recovered their recollections, he was +occupied, aided by the ready hands of the terrified but loquacious Cassandra, +in arranging the contents of the boat in such a manner as would enable her to +move through the element with the least possible resistance. +</p> + +<p> +“With a well-trimmed ship, and a fair breeze,” cried our +adventurer, cheerfully, so soon as his little job was ended, “we may yet +hope to reach the land in one day and another night. I have seen the hour when, +in this good launch, I would not have hesitated to run the length of the +American coast, provided”— +</p> + +<p> +“You have forgotten your provided,” said Gertrude observing that he +hesitated, probably from a reluctance to express any exception to the opinion, +which might increase the fears of his companions. +</p> + +<p> +“Provided it were two months earlier in the year,” he added, in a +tone of less confidence. +</p> + +<p> +“The season is, then, against us: It only requires the greater resolution +in ourselves!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder turned his head to regard the fair speaker, whose pale and placid +countenance, as the moon silvered her fine features, expressed any thing but +the courage to endure the hardships he so well knew she was liable to +encounter, before they might hope to gain the Continent. After musing a moment, +he lifted his open hand towards the south-west, and held its palm some little +time to the air of the night. +</p> + +<p> +“Any thing is better than idleness, for people in our condition,” +he said. “There are some symptoms of the breeze coming in this quarter; I +will be ready to meet it.” +</p> + +<p> +He then spread his two lug-sails; and, trimming aft the sheets, placed himself +at the helm, like one who expected his services there might be shortly needed. +The result did not disappoint his expectations. Ere Long, the light canvas of +the boat began to flutter; and then, as he brought the bows in the proper +direction, the little vessel commenced moving slowly along its blind and watery +path. +</p> + +<p> +The wind soon came fresher upon the sails, heavily charged with the dampness of +the hour. Wilder urged the latter reason as a motive for the females to seek +their rest beneath a little canopy of tarpaulings, which his foresight had also +provided, and on mattresses he had brought from the ship Perceiving that their +protector wished to be alone, Mrs Wyllys and her pupil did as desired; and, in +a few minutes, if not asleep, no one could have told that any other than our +adventurer had possession of the solitary launch. +</p> + +<p> +The middle hour of the night went by, without any material change in the +prospects of those whose fate so much depended on the precarious influence of +the weather. The wind had freshened to a smart breeze; and, by the calculations +of Wilder, he had already moved across many leagues of ocean, directly in a +line for the eastern end of that long and narrow isle that separates the waters +which wash the shores of Connecticut from those of the open sea. The minutes +flew swiftly by; for the time was propitious and the thoughts of the young +seaman were busy with the recollections of a short but adventurous life. At +moments he leaned forward, as if he would catch the gentle respiration of one +who slept beneath the dark and rude canopy, and as though he might distinguish +the soft breathings of her slumbers from those of her companions. Then would +his form fall back into its seat, and his lip curl, or even move, as he gave +inward utterance to the wayward fancies of his imagination. But at no time, not +even in the midst of his greatest abandonment to reverie and thought, did he +forget the constant, and nearly instinctive, duties of his station. A rapid +glance at the heavens, an oblique look at the compass, and an occasional, but +more protracted, examination of the pale face of the melancholy moon, were the +usual directions taken by his practised eyes. The latter was still in the +zenith; and his brow began again to contract, as he saw that she was shining +through an atmosphere without a haze. He would have liked better to have seen +even those portentous and watery circles by which she is so often environed and +which are thought to foretel the tempest, than the hard and dry medium through +which her beams fell so clear upon the face of the waters. The humidity with +which the breeze had commenced was also gone; and, in its place, the quick, +sensitive organs of the seaman detected the often grateful, though at that +moment unwelcome, taint of the land. All these were signs that the airs from +the Continent were about to prevail, and (as he dreaded, from certain +wild-looking, long, narrow clouds, that were gathering over the western +horizon) to prevail with a power conformable to the turbulent season of the +year. +</p> + +<p> +If any doubt had existed in the mind of Wilder as to the accuracy of his +prognostics, it would have been solved about the commencement of the morning +watch. At that hour the inconstant breeze began again to die; and, even before +its last breathing was felt upon the flapping canvas, it was met by counter +currents from the west. Our adventurer saw at once that the struggle was now +truly to commence, and he made his dispositions accordingly. The square sheets +of duck, which had so long been exposed to the mild airs of the south, were +reduced to one third their original size, by double reefs; and several of the +more cumbrous of the remaining articles such as were of doubtful use to persons +in their situation, were cast, without pausing to hesitate, into the sea. Nor +was this care without a sufficient object. The air soon came sighing heavily +over the deep from the north-west, bringing with it the chilling asperity of +the inhospitable regions of the Canadas. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! well do I know you,” muttered Wilder, as the first puff of +this unwelcome wind struck his sails, and forced the little boat to bend to its +power in passing; “well do I know you, with your fresh-water flavour and +your smell of the land! Would to God you had blown your fill upon the lakes, +without coming down to drive many a weary seaman back upon his wake, and to eke +out a voyage, already too long, by your bitter colds and steady +obstinacy!” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you speak?” said Gertrude, half appearing from beneath her +canopy, and then shrinking back, shivering, into its cover again, as she felt +the influence in the change of air. +</p> + +<p> +“Sleep, Lady, sleep,” he answered, as though he liked not, at such +a moment, to be disturbed by even her soft and silvery voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there new danger?” asked the maiden, stepping lightly from the +mattress, as if she would not disturb the repose of her governess. “You +need not fear to tell me the worst: I am a soldier’s child!” +</p> + +<p> +He pointed to the signs so well comprehended by himself, but continued silent. +</p> + +<p> +“I feel that the wind is colder than it was,” she said, “but +I see no other change.” +</p> + +<p> +“And do you know whither the boat is going?” +</p> + +<p> +“To the land, I think. You assured us of that, and I do not believe you +would willingly deceive.” +</p> + +<p> +“You do me justice; and, as a proof of it, I will now tell you that you +are mistaken. I know that to your eyes all points of the compass, on this void, +must seem the same; but I cannot thus easily deceive myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“And we are not sailing for our homes?” +</p> + +<p> +“So far from it, that, should this course continue we must cross the +whole Atlantic before your eyes could again see land.” +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude made no reply, but retired, in sorrow, to the side of her governess. +In the mean time, Wilder again left to himself, began to consult his compass +and the direction of the wind. Perceiving that he might approach nearer to the +continent of America by changing the position of the boat, he wore round, and +brought its head as nigh up to the south-west as the wind would permit. +</p> + +<p> +But there was little hope in this trifling change. At each minute, the power of +the breeze was increasing until it soon freshened to a degree that compelled +him to furl his after-sail. The slumbering ocean was not long in awakening; +and, by the time the launch was snug under a close-reefed fore-sail, the boat +was rising on dark and ever-growing waves, or sinking into the momentary calm +of deep furrows, whence it rose again, to feel the rapidly increasing power of +the blasts. The dashing of the waters, and the rushing of the wind, which now +began to sweep heavily across the blue waste, quickly drew the females to the +side of our adventurer. To their hurried and anxious questions he made +considerate but brief replies, like a man who felt that the time was far better +suited to action than to words. +</p> + +<p> +In this manner the last lingering minutes of the night went by, loaded with a +care that each moment rendered heavier, and which each successive freshening of +the breeze had a tendency to render doubly anxious. The day came, only to +bestow more distinctness on the cheerless prospect. The waves were looking +green and angrily, while, here and there, large crests of foam were beginning +to break on their summits—the certain evidence that a conflict betwixt +the elements was at hand. Then came the sun over the ragged margin of the +eastern horizon, climbing slowly into the blue arch above, which lay clear, +chilling, distinct, and entirely without a cloud. +</p> + +<p> +Wilder noted all these changes of the hour with a closeness that proved how +critical he deemed their case. He seemed rather to consult the signs of the +heavens than to regard the tossings and rushings of the water, which dashed +against the side of his little vessel in a mariner that, to the eyes of his +companions, often appeared to threaten their total destruction. To the latter +he was too much accustomed, to anticipate the true moment of alarm, though to +less instructed senses it might already seem so dangerous. It was to him as is +the thunder, when compared to the lightning, in the mind of the philosopher; or +rather he knew, that, if harm might come from the one on which he floated, its +ability to injure must first be called into action by the power of the sister +element. +</p> + +<p> +“What think you of our case now?” asked Mrs Wyllys, keeping her +look closely fastened on his countenance, as if she would rather trust its +expression than even to his words for the answer. +</p> + +<p> +“So long as the wind continues thus, we may yet hope to keep within the +route of ships to and from the great northern ports; but, if it freshen to a +gale, and the sea begin to break with violence. I doubt the ability of this +boat to lie-to.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then our resource must be in endeavouring to run before the gale.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then must we scud.” +</p> + +<p> +“What would be our direction, in such an event?” demanded Gertrude, +to whose mind, in the agitation of the ocean and the naked view on every hand, +all idea of places and distances was lost, in the most inextricable confusion. +</p> + +<p> +“In such an event,” returned our adventurer, regarding her with a +look in which commiseration and indefinite concern were so singularly mingled, +that her own mild gaze was changed into a timid and furtive glance, “in +such an event, we should be leaving that land it is so important to +reach.” +</p> + +<p> +“What ’em ’ere?” cried Cassandra, whose large dark eyes +were rolling on every side of her, with a curiosity that no care or sense of +danger could extinguish; “’em berry big fish on a water?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a boat!” cried Wilder, springing upon a thwart, to catch a +glimpse of a dark object that was driving on the glittering crest of a wave, +within a hundred feet of the spot where the launch itself was struggling +through the brine. “What ho!—boat, ahoy!—holloa +there!—boat, ahoy!” +</p> + +<p> +The deep breathing of the wind swept by them, but no human sound responded to +his shout. They had already fallen, between two seas, into a deep vale of +water, where the narrow view extended no farther than the dark and rolling +barriers on either side. +</p> + +<p> +“Merciful Providence!” exclaimed the governess, “can there be +others as unhappy as ourselves!” +</p> + +<p> +“It was a boat, or my sight is not true as usual,” returned Wilder, +still keeping his stand, to watch the moment when he might catch another view. +His wish was quickly realized. He had trusted the helm, for the moment, to the +hands of Cassandra, who suffered the launch to vary a little from its course. +The words were still on his lips, when the same black object came sweeping down +the wave to windward, and a pinnace, bottom upwards, washed past them in the +trough. Then followed a shriek from the negress, who abandoned the tiller, and, +sinking on her knees, hid her face in her hands. Wilder instinctively caught +the helm, as he bent his face in the direction whence the revolting eye of +Cassandra had been turned. A grim human form was seen, erect, and half exposed, +advancing in the midst of the broken crest which was still covering the dark +declivity to windward with foam. For a moment, it stood with the brine dripping +from the drenched locks, like some being that had issued from the deep to turn +its frightful features on the spectators; and then the lifeless body of a +drowned man drove past the launch, which, at the next minute, rose to the +summit of the wave, to sink into another vale where no such terrifying object +floated. +</p> + +<p> +Not only Wilder, but Gertrude and Mrs Wyllys. had seen this startling spectacle +so nigh them as to recognize the countenance of Nighthead, rendered still more +stern and forbidding than ever, in the impression left by death. But neither +spoke, nor gave any other evidence of their intelligence. Wilder hoped that his +companions had at least escaped the shock of recognizing the victim; and the +females themselves saw, in the hapless fortune of the mutineer too much of +their own probable though more protracted fate, to be able to give vent to the +horror each felt so deeply, in words. For some time, the elements alone were +heard sighing a sort of hoarse requiem over the victims of their conflict. +</p> + +<p> +“The pinnace has filled!” Wilder at length observed, when he saw, +by the pallid features and meaning eyes of his companions, it was in vain to +affect reserve on the subject any longer. “Their boat was frail, and +loaded to the water’s edge.” +</p> + +<p> +“Think you all are lost?” observed Mrs Wyllys, in a voice that +scarcely amounted to a whisper. +</p> + +<p> +“There is no hope for any! Gladly would I part with an arm, for the +assistance of the poorest of those misguided seamen, who have hurried on their +evil fortune by their own disobedience and ignorance.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, of all the happy and thoughtless human beings who lately left the +harbour of Newport, in a vessel that has so long been the boast of mariners, we +alone remain!” +</p> + +<p> +“There is not another: This boat, and its contents are the sole memorials +of the ‘Royal Caroline!’” +</p> + +<p> +“It was not within the ken of human Knowledge to foresee this +evil,” continued the governess, fastening her eye on the countenance of +Wilder, as though she would ask a question which conscience told her, at the +same time, betrayed a portion of that very superstition which had hastened the +fate of the rude being they had so lately passed. +</p> + +<p> +“It was not.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the danger, to which you so often and so inexplicably alluded, had +no reference to this we have incurred?” +</p> + +<p> +“It had not.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has gone, with the change in our situation?” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope it has.” +</p> + +<p> +“See!” interrupted Gertrude, laying a hand, in her haste, on the +arm of Wilder. “Heaven be praised! yonder is something at last to relieve +the view.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a ship!” exclaimed her governess; but, an envious wave +lifting its green side between them and the object, they sunk into a trough, as +though the vision had been placed momentarily before their eyes, merely to +taunt them with its image. The quick glance of Wilder had caught, however, a +glimpse of the tracery against the heavens, as they descended. When the boat +rose again, his look was properly directed, and he was enabled to be certain of +the reality of the vessel. Wave succeeded wave, and moments followed moments, +during which the stranger was given to their gaze, and as often disappeared, as +the launch unavoidably fell into the troughs of the seas. These short and hasty +glimpses sufficed, however, to convey all that was necessary to the eye of a +man who had been nurtured on that element, where circumstances now exacted of +him such constant and unequivocal evidences of his skill. +</p> + +<p> +At the distance of a mile, there was in fact a ship to be seen, rolling and +pitching gracefully, and without any apparent effort, on those waves through +which the launch was struggling with such difficulty. A solitary sail was set, +to steady the vessel, and that so reduced, by reefs, as to look like a little +snowy cloud amid the dark maze of rigging and spars. At times, her long and +tapering masts appeared pointing to the zenith, or even rolling as if inclining +against the wind; and then, again, with slow and graceful sweeps, they seemed +to fall towards the ruffled surface of the ocean, as though about to seek +refuge from their endless motion, in the bosom of the agitated element itself. +There were moments when the long, low, and black hull was seen distinctly +resting on the summit of a sea, and glittering in the sun-beams, as the water +washed from her sides; and then, as boat and vessel sunk together, all was lost +to the eye, even to the attenuated lines of her tallest and most delicate +spars. +</p> + +<p> +Both Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude bowed their faces to their knees, when assured of +the truth of their hopes, and poured out their gratitude in silent and secret +thanksgivings. The joy of Cassandra was more clamorous, and less restrained. +The simple negress laughed, shed tears, and exulted in the most touching +manner, on the prospect that was now offered for the escape of her young +mistress and herself from a death that the recent sight had set before her +imagination in the most frightful form. But no answering look of congratulation +was to be traced in the contracting and anxious eye of their companion. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” said Mrs Wyllys, seizing his hand in both her own, +“may we hope to be delivered; and then shall we be allowed, brave and +excellent young man, some opportunity of proving to you how highly we esteem +your services.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder permitted the burst of her feelings with a species of bewildered care, +but he neither spoke, nor in any other manner exhibited the smallest sympathy +in her joy. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely you are not grieved, Mr Wilder,” added the wondering +Gertrude, “that the prospect of escape from these awful waves is at +length so mercifully held forth to us!” +</p> + +<p> +“I would gladly die to shelter you from harm,” returned the young +sailor; “but”— +</p> + +<p> +“This is not a time for any thing but gratitude and rejoicing,” +interrupted the governess; “I cannot hearken to any cold exceptions now; +what mean you with that ‘but?’” +</p> + +<p> +“It may be not so easy as you think to reach yon ship—the gale may +prevent—in short, many is the vessel that is seen at sea which cannot be +spoken.” +</p> + +<p> +“Happily, such is not our cruel fortune. I understand considerate and +generous youth, your wish to dampen hopes that may possibly be yet thwarted, +but I have too long, and too often, trusted this dangerous element, not to know +that he who has the wind can speak, or not, as he pleases.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are right in saying we are to windward Madam; and, were I in a ship, +nothing would be easier than to run within hail of the stranger.—That +ship is certainly lying-to, and yet the gale is not fresh enough to bring so +stout a vessel to so short canvas.” +</p> + +<p> +“They see us, then, and await our arrival.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no: Thank God, we are not yet seen! This little rag of ours is +blended with the spray. They take it for a gull, or a comb of the sea, for the +moment it is in view.” +</p> + +<p> +“And do you thank Heaven for this!” exclaimed Gertrude, regarding +the anxious Wilder with a wonder that her more cautious governess had the power +to restrain. +</p> + +<p> +“Did I thank Heaven for not being seen! I may have mistaken the object of +my thanks: It is an armed ship!” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps a cruiser of the King’s! We are the more likely to meet +with a welcome reception! Delay not to hoist some signal, lest they increase +their sail, and leave us.” +</p> + +<p> +“You forget that the enemy is often found upon our coast. This might +prove a Frenchman!” +</p> + +<p> +“I have no fears of a generous enemy. Even a pirate would give shelter, +and welcome, to females in such distress.” +</p> + +<p> +A long and profound silence succeeded. Wilder still stood upon the thwart, +straining his eyes to read each sign that a seaman understands; nor did he +appear to find much pleasure in the task. +</p> + +<p> +“We will drift ahead,” he said, “and, as the ship is lying on +a different tack, we may yet gain a position that will leave us masters of our +future movements.” +</p> + +<p> +To this his companions knew not well how to make any objections. Mrs Wyllys was +so much struck with the remarkable air of coldness with which he met this +prospect of refuge against the forlorn condition in which he had just before +confessed they were placed, that she was much more disposed to ponder on the +cause, than to trouble him with questions which she had the discernment to see +would be useless. Gertrude wondered, while she was disposed to think he might +be right, though she knew not why. Cassandra alone was rebellious. She lifted +her voice in loud objections against a moment’s delay, assuring the +abstracted and perfectly inattentive young seaman, that, should any evil come +to her young mistress by his obstinacy, General Grayson would be angered; and +then she left him to reflect on the results of a displeasure that to her simple +mind teemed with all the danger that could attend the anger of a monarch. +Provoked by his contumacious disregard of her remonstrances, the negress, +forgetting all her respect, in blindness in behalf of her whom she not only +loved, but had been taught to reverence, seized the boat-hook, and, unperceived +by Wilder, fastened to it, with dexterity, one of the linen cloths that had +been brought from the wreck, and exposed it, far above the diminished sail, for +a couple of minutes, ere her device had caught the eyes of either of her +companions. Then, indeed she lowered the signal, in haste, before the dark and +frowning look of Wilder. But, short as was the triumph of the negress, it was +crowned with complete success. +</p> + +<p> +The restrained silence, which is so apt to succeed a sudden burst of +displeasure, was still reigning in the boat, when a cloud of smoke broke out of +the side of the ship, as she lay on the summit of a wave; and then came the +deadened roar of artillery struggling heavily up against the wind. +</p> + +<p> +“It is now too late to hesitate,” said Mrs Wyllys; “we are +seen, let the stranger be friend or enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder did not answer, but continued to profit, by each opportunity, to watch +the movements of the stranger. In another moment, the spars were seen receding +from the breeze, and, in a couple of minutes more, the head of the ship was +changed to the direction in which they lay. Then appeared four or five broader +sheets of canvas in different parts of the complicated machinery, while the +vessel bowed to the gale, as though she inclined still lower before its power. +At moments, as she mounted on a sea, her bows seemed issuing from the element +altogether and high jets of spray were cast into the air, glittering in the +sun, as the white particles scattered in the breeze, or fell in gems upon the +sails and rigging, “It is now too late, indeed;” murmured our +adventurer bearing up the helm of his own little craft, and letting its sheet +glide through his hands, until the sail was bagging with the breeze nearly to +bursting. The boat, which had so long been labouring through the water, with a +wish to cling as nigh as possible to the Continent, flew over the seas, leaving +a long trail of foam behind it; and, before either of the females had regained +their entire self-possession, she was floating in the comparative calm that was +created by the hull of a large vessel. A light active form stood in the rigging +of the ship, issuing the necessary orders to a hundred seamen; and, in the +midst of the confusion and alarm that such a scene was likely to cause in the +bosom of woman, Gertrude and Mrs Wyllys, with their two companions, were +transferred in safety to the decks of the stranger. The moment they and their +effects were secured the launch was cut adrift, like useless lumber. Twenty +mariners were then seen climbing among the ropes; and sail after sail was +opened still wider, until bearing the vast folds of all her canvas spread, the +vessel was urged along the trackless course, like a swift cloud drifting +through the thin medium of the upper air. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>Chapter XIX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Now let it work: Mischief, thou art afoot,<br/> +Take then what course thou wilt!” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Shakespeare</i> +</p> + +<p> +When the velocity with which the vessel flew before the wind is properly +considered, the reader will not be surprised to learn, that, with the change of +a week in the time from that with which the foregoing incidents close, we are +enabled to open the scene of the present chapter in a very different quarter of +the same sea. It is unnecessary to follow the “Rover” in the +windings of that devious and apparently often uncertain course, during which +his keel furrowed more than a thousand miles of ocean, and during which more +than one cruiser of the King was skilfully eluded, and sundry less dangerous +encounters avoided, as much from inclination as any other visible cause. It is +quite sufficient for our purpose to lift the curtain, which must conceal her +movements for a time, to expose the gallant vessel in a milder climate, and, +when the season of the year is considered, in a more propitious sea. +</p> + +<p> +Exactly seven days after Gertrude and her governess became the inmates of a +ship whose character it is no longer necessary to conceal from the reader, the +sun rose upon her flapping sails, symmetrical spars, and dark hull, within +sight of a few, low, small and rocky islands. The colour of the element would +have told a seaman, had no mound of blue land been seen issuing out of the +world of waters, that the bottom of the sea was approaching nigher than common +to its surface, and that it was necessary to guard against the well-known and +dreaded dangers of the coast. Wind there was none; for she vacillating and +uncertain air which, from time to time, distended for an instant the lighter +canvas of the vessel, deserved to be merely termed the breathings of a morning, +which was breaking upon the main, soft, mild, and seemingly so bland as to +impart to the ocean the placid character of a sleeping lake. +</p> + +<p> +Everything having life in the ship was already up and stirring. Fifty stout and +healthy-looking seamen were hanging in different parts of her rigging, some +laughing, and holding low converse with messmates who lay indolently on the +neighbouring spars, and others leisurely performing the light and trivial duty +that was the ostensible employment of the moment. More than as many others +loitered carelessly about the decks below, somewhat similarly engaged; the +whole wearing much the appearance of men who were set to perform certain +immaterial tasks, more to escape the imputation of idleness than from any +actual necessity that the same should be executed. The quarter-deck, the +hallowed spot of every vessel that may pretend to either discipline or its +semblance, was differently occupied though by a set of beings who could lay no +greater claim to activity or interest. In short, the vessel partook of the +character of the ocean and of the weather, both of which seemed reserving their +powers to some more suitable occasion for their display. +</p> + +<p> +Three or four young (and, considering the nature of their service, far from +unpleasant-looking) men appeared in a sort of undress nautical uniform, in +which the fashion of no people in particular was very studiously consulted. +Notwithstanding the apparent calm that reigned on all around them, each of +these individuals bore a short straight dirk at his girdle; and, as one of them +bent over the side of the vessel, the handle of a little pistol was discovered +through an opening in the folds of his professional frock. There were, however, +no other immediate signs of distrust, whence an observer might infer that this +armed precaution was more than the usual custom of the vessel. A couple of grim +and callous looking sentinels, who were attired and accoutred like soldiers of +the land, and who, contrary to marine usage, were posted on the line which +separated the resorting place of the officers from the forward part of the +deck, bespoke additional caution. But, still, all these arrangements were +regarded by the seamen with incurious eyes—a certain proof that use had +long rendered them familiar. +</p> + +<p> +The individual who has been introduced to the reader under the high-sounding +title of “General,” stood upright and rigid as one of the masts of +the ship, studying, with a critical eye, the equipments of his two mercenaries, +and apparently as regardless of what was passing around him as though he +literally considered himself a fixture in the vessel. One form, however, was to +be distinguished from all around it, by the dignity of its mien and the air of +authority that breathed even in the repose of its attitude. It was the Rover, +who stood alone, none presuming to approach the spot where he had chosen to +plant his light but graceful and imposing person. There was ever an expression +of stern investigation in his quick wandering eye, as it roved from object to +object in the equipment of the vessel; and at moments, as his look appeared +fastened on some one of the light fleecy clouds that floated in the blue vacuum +above him, there gathered about his brow a gloom like that which is thought to +be the shadowing of intense thought. Indeed, so dark and threatening did this +lowering of the eye become, at times, that the fair hair which broke out in +ringlets from beneath a black velvet sea-cap, from whose top depended a tassel +of gold, could no longer impart to his countenance the gentleness which it +sometimes was seen to express. As though he disdained concealment, and wished +to announce the nature of the power he wielded, he wore his pistols openly in a +leathern belt, that was made to cross a frock of blue, delicately edged with +gold, and through which he had thrust, with the same disregard of concealment, +a light and curved Turkish yattagan, with a straight stiletto, which, by the +chasings of its handle, had probably originally come from the manufactory of +some Italian artisan. +</p> + +<p> +On the deck of the poop, overlooking the rest and retired from the crowd +beneath them, stood Mrs Wyllys and her charge, neither of whom announced in the +slightest degree, by eye or air, that anxiety which might readily be supposed +natural to females who found themselves in a condition so critical as in the +company of lawless freebooters. On the contrary, while the former pointed out +to the latter the hillock of pale blue which rose from the water, like a dark +and strongly defined cloud in the distance, hope was strongly blended with the +ordinarily placid expression of her features. She also called to Wilder, in a +cheerful voice; and the youth, who had long been standing, with a sort of +jealous watchfulness, at the foot of the ladder which led from the +quarter-deck, was at her side in an instant. +</p> + +<p> +“I am telling Gertrude,” said the governess, with those tones of +confidence which had been created by the dangers they had incurred together, +“that yonder is her home, and that, when the breeze shall be felt, we may +speedily hope to reach it; but the wilfully timid girl insists that she cannot +believe her senses, after the frightful risks we have run, until, at least, she +shall see the dwelling of her childhood, and the face of her father. You have +often been on this coast before, Mr Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“Often, Madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, you can tell us what is the distant land we see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Land!” repeated our adventurer, affecting a look of surprise; +“is there then land in view?” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there land in view! Have not hours gone by since the same was +proclaimed from the masts?” +</p> + +<p> +“It may be so: We seamen are dull after a night of watching, and often +hear but little of that which passes.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a quick, suspicious glance from the eye of the governess, as if she +apprehended, she knew not what, ere she continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“Has the sight of the cheerful, blessed soil of America so soon lost its +charm in your eye, that you approach it with an air so heedless? The +infatuation of men of your profession, in favour of so dangerous and so +treacherous an element, is an enigma I never could explain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do seamen, then, love their calling with so devoted an affection?” +demanded Gertrude, in a haste that she might have found embarrassing to +explain. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a folly of which we are often accused,” rejoined Wilder, +turning his eye on the speaker, and smiling in a manner that had lost every +shade of reserve. +</p> + +<p> +“And justly?” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear, justly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay!” exclaimed Mrs Wyllys, with an emphasis that was remarkable +for the tone of soft and yet bitter regret with which it was uttered; +“often better than their quiet and peaceful homes!” +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude pursued the idea no further; but her line full eye fell upon the deck, +as though she reflected deeply on a perversity of taste which could render man +so insensible to domestic pleasures, and incline him to court the wild dangers +of the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +“I, at least, am free from the latter charge,” exclaimed Wilder: +“To me a ship has always been a home.” +</p> + +<p> +“And much of my life, too, has been wasted in one,” continued the +governess, who evidently was pursuing, in the recesses of her own mind, some +images of a time long past. “Happy and miserable alike, have been the +hours that I have passed upon the sea! Nor is this the first King’s ship +in which it has been my fortune to be thrown. And yet the customs seem changed +since those days I mention, or else memory is beginning to lose some of the +impressions of an age when memory is apt to be most tenacious. Is it usual, Mr +Wilder, to admit an utter stranger, like yourself, to exercise authority in a +vessel of war?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet have you been acting, as far as my weak judgment teaches, as +second here, since the moment we entered this vessel, wrecked and helpless +fugitives from the waves.” +</p> + +<p> +Our adventurer again averted his eye, and evidently searched for words, ere he +replied,— +</p> + +<p> +“A commission is always respected: Mine procured for me the consideration +you have witnessed.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are then an officer of the Crown?” +</p> + +<p> +“Would any other authority be respected in a vessel of the Crown? Death +had left a vacancy in the second station of this—cruiser. Fortunately for +the wants of the service, perhaps for myself, I was at hand to fill it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, tell me farther,” continued the governess, who appeared +disposed to profit by the occasion to solve more doubts than one, “is it +usual for the officers of a vessel of war to appear armed among their crew, in +the manner I see here?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the pleasure of our Commander.” +</p> + +<p> +“That Commander is evidently a skilful seaman, but one whose caprices and +tastes are as extraordinary as I find his mien. I have surely seen him before; +and, it would seem, but lately.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys then became silent for several minutes. During the whole time, her +eye never averted its gaze from the form of the calm and motionless being, who +still maintained his attitude of repose, aloof from all that throng whom he had +the address to make so entirely dependant on his authority. It seemed, for +these few minutes, that the organs of the governess drunk in the smallest +peculiarity of his person, and as if they would never tire of their gaze. Then, +drawing a heavy and relieving breath, she once more remembered that she was not +alone, and that others were silently, but observantly, awaiting the operation +of her secret thoughts. Without manifesting any embarrassment, however, at an +absence of mind that was far too common to surprise her pupil, the governess +resumed the discourse where she had herself dropped it, bending her look again +on Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Captain Heidegger, then, long of your acquaintance?” she +demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“We have met before.” +</p> + +<p> +“It should be a name of German origin, by the sound. Certain I am that it +is new to me. The time has been when few officers, of his rank, in the service +of the King, were unknown to me, at least in name. Is his family of long +standing in England?” +</p> + +<p> +“That is a question he may better answer himself,” said Wilder, +glad to perceive that the subject of their discourse was approaching them, with +the air of one who felt that none in that vessel might presume to dispute his +right to mingle in any discourse that should please his fancy. “For the +moment, Madam, my duty calls me elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder evidently withdrew with reluctance; and, had suspicion been active in +the breasts of either of his companions, they would not have failed to note the +glance of distrust with which he watched the manner that his Commander assumed +in paying the salutations of the morning. There was nothing, however, in the +air of the Rover that should have given ground to such jealous vigilance. On +the contrary his manner, for the moment, was cold and abstracted he appeared to +mingle in their discourse, much more from a sense of the obligations of +hospitality than from any satisfaction that he might have been thought to +derive from the intercourse. Still, his deportment was kind, and his voice +bland as the airs that were wafted from the healthful islands in view. +</p> + +<p> +“There is a sight”—he said, pointing towards the low blue +ridges of the land—“that forms the lands-man’s delight, and +the seaman’s terror.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are, then, seamen thus averse to the view of regions where so many +millions of their fellow creatures find pleasure in dwelling?” demanded +Gertrude, (to whom he more particularly addressed his words), with a frankness +that would, in itself, have sufficiently proved no glimmerings of his real +character had ever dawned on her own spotless and unsuspicious mind. +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Grayson included,” he returned, with a slight bow, and a +smile, in which, perhaps, irony was concealed by playfulness. “After the +risk you have so lately run, even I, confirmed and obstinate sea-monster as I +am, have no reason to complain of your distaste for our element. And yet, you +see, it is not entirely without its charms. No lake, that lies within the +limits of yon Continent, can be more calm and sweet than is this bit of ocean. +Were we a few degrees more southward, I would show you landscapes of rock and +mountain—of bays, and hillsides sprinkled with verdure—of tumbling +whales, and lazy fishermen, and distant cottages, and lagging sails—such +as would make a figure even in pages that the bright eye of lady might love to +read.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet for most of this would you be indebted to the land. In return +for your picture, I would take you north, and show you black and threatening +clouds—a green and angry sea—shipwrecks and shoals—cottages, +hillsides, and mountains, in the imagination only of the drowning man—and +sails bleached by waters that contain the voracious shark, or the disgusting +polypus.” +</p> + +<p> +Gertrude had answered in his own vein; but it was too evident, by her pale +cheek, and a slight tremour about her full, rich lip, that memory was also busy +with its frightful images. The quick-searching eye of the Rover was not slow to +detect the change. As though he would banish every recollection that might give +her pain, he artfully, but delicately, gave a new direction to the discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“There are people who think the sea has no amusements,” he said. +“To a pining, home-sick, sea-sick miserable, this may well be true; but +the man who has spirit enough to keep down the qualms of the animal may tell a +different tale. We have our balls regularly, for instance; and there are +artists on board this ship, who, though they cannot, perhaps, make as accurate +a right angle with their legs as the first dancer of a leaping ballet, can go +through their figures in a gale of wind; which is more than can be said of the +highest jumper of them all on shore.” +</p> + +<p> +“A ball, without females, would, at least, be thought an unsocial +amusement, with us uninstructed people of terra firma.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! It might be better for a lady or two Then, have we our theatre: +Farce, comedy, and the buskin, take their turns to help along the time. You +fellow, that you see lying on the fore-topsail-yard like an indolent serpent +basking on the branch of a tree, will ‘roar you as gently as any sucking +dove!’ And here is a votary of Momus, who would raise a smile on the lips +of a sea-sick friar: I believe I can say no more in his commendation.” +</p> + +<p> +“All this is well in the description,” returned Mrs Wyllys; +“but something is due to the merit of the—poet, or, painter shall I +term you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Neither, but a grave and veritable chronologer. However, since you +doubt, and since you are so new to the ocean”— +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon me!” the lady gravely interrupted, “I am, on the +contrary, one who has seen much of it.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover, who had rather suffered his unsettled glances to wander over the +youthful countenance of Gertrude than towards her companion, now bent his eyes +on the last speaker, where he kept them fastened so long as to create some +little embarrassment in the subject of his gaze. +</p> + +<p> +“You seem surprised that the time of a female should have been thus +employed,” she observed, with a view to arouse his attention to the +impropriety of his observation. +</p> + +<p> +“We were speaking of the sea, if I remember,” he continued, like a +man that was suddenly awakened from a deep reverie. “Ay, I know it was of +the sea; for I had grown boastful in my panegyrics: I had told you that this +ship was faster than”— +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing!” exclaimed Gertrude, laughing at his blunder. “You +were playing Master of Ceremonies at a nautical ball!” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you figure in a minuet? Shall I honour my boards with the graces of +your person?” +</p> + +<p> +“Me, sir? and with whom? the gentleman who knows so well the manner of +keeping his feet in a gale?” +</p> + +<p> +“You were about to relieve any doubts we might have concerning the +amusements of seamen,” said the governess, reproving the too playful +spirit of her pupil, by a glance of her own grave eye. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, it was the humour of the moment, nor will I balk it.” +</p> + +<p> +He then turned towards Wilder, who had posted himself within ear-shot of what +was passing, and continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“These ladies doubt our gaiety, Mr Wilder. Let the boatswain give the +magical wind of his call, and pass the word ‘To mischief’ among the +people.” +</p> + +<p> +Our adventurer bowed his acquiescence, and issued the necessary order. In a few +moments, the precise individual who has already made acquaintance with the +reader, in the bar-room of the “Foul Anchor,” appeared in the +centre of the vessel, near the main hatchway, decorated, as before, with his +silver chain and whistle, and accompanied by two mates who were humbler +scholars of the same gruff school. Then rose a long, shrill whistle from the +instrument of Nightingale, who, when the sound had died away on the ear, +uttered, in his deepest and least sonorous tones,— +</p> + +<p> +“All hands to mischief, ahoy!” +</p> + +<p> +We have before had occasion to liken these sounds to the muttering of a bull, +nor shall we at present see fit to disturb the comparison, since no other +similitude so apt, presents itself. The example of the boatswain was followed +by each of his mates in turn, and then the summons was deemed sufficient. +However unintelligible and grum the call might sound in the musical ears of +Gertrude, they produced no unpleasant effects on the organs of a majority of +those who heard them. When the first swelling and protracted note of the call +mounted on the still air, each idle and extended young seaman, as he lay +stretched upon a spar, or hung dangling from a ratling lifted his head, to +catch the words that were to follow, as an obedient spaniel pricks his ears to +catch the tones of his master. But no sooner had the emphatic word, which +preceded the long-drawn and customary exclamation with which Nightingale closed +his summons, been pronounced, than the low murmur of voices, which had so long +been maintained among the men, broke out in a simultaneous and common shout. In +an instant, every symptom of lethargy disappeared in a general and +extraordinary activity. The young and nimble topmen bounded like leaping +animals, into the rigging of their respective masts, and were seen ascending +the shaking ladders of ropes as so many squirrels would hasten to their holes +at the signal of alarm. The graver and heavier seamen of the forecastle, the +still more important quarter-gunners and quarter-masters, the less instructed +and half-startled waisters, and the raw and actually alarmed after-guard, all +hurried, by a sort of instinct, to their several points; the more practised to +plot mischief against their shipmates, and the less intelligent to concert +their means of defence. +</p> + +<p> +In an instant, the tops and yards were ringing with laughter and loudly-uttered +jokes, as each exulting mariner aloft proclaimed his device to his fellows, or +urged his own inventions, at the expense of some less ingenious mode of +annoyance. On the other hand, the distrustful and often repeated glances that +were thrown upward, from the men who had clustered on the quarter-deck and +around the foot of the mainmast sufficiently proclaimed the diffidence with +which the novices on deck were about to enter into the contest of practical wit +that was about to commence. The steady and more earnest seamen forward, +however, maintained their places, with a species of stern resolution which +manifestly proved the reliance they had on their physical force, and their long +familiarity with all the humours, no less than with the dangers, of the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +There was another little cluster of men, who assembled, in the midst of the +general clamour and confusion, with a haste and steadiness that announced, at +the same time, both a consciousness of the entire necessity of unity on the +present occasion, and habit of acting in concert. These were the drilled and +military dependants of the General, between whom, and the less artificial +seamen, there existed not only an antipathy that might almost be called +instinctive, but which, for obvious reasons had been so strongly encouraged in +the vessel of which we write, as often to manifest itself in turbulent and +nearly mutinous broils. About twenty in number, they collected quickly; and, +although obliged to dispense with their fire-arms in such an amusement, there +was a sternness, in the visage of each of the whiskered worthies, that showed +how readily he could appeal to the bayonet that was suspended from his +shoulder, should need demand it. Their Commander himself withdrew, with the +rest of the officers to the poop, in order that no incumbrance might be given, +by their presence, to the freedom of the sports to which they had resigned the +rest of the vessel. +</p> + +<p> +A couple of minutes might have been lost in producing the different changes we +have just related But, so soon as the topmen were sure that no unfortunate +laggard of their party was within reach of the resentment of the different +groupes beneath, they commenced complying literally with the summons of the +boatswain, by plotting mischief. +</p> + +<p> +Sundry buckets, most of which had been provided for the extinction of fire, +were quickly seen pendant from as many whips on the outer extremity of the +different yards descending towards the sea. In spite of the awkward opposition +of the men below, these leathern vessels were speedily filled, and in the hands +of those who had sent them down. Many was the gaping waister, and rigid marine, +who now made a more familiar acquaintance with the element on which he floated +than suited either his convenience or his humour. So long as the jokes were +confined to these semi-initiated individuals, the top men enjoyed their fun +with impunity; but, the in stant the dignity of a quarter-gunner’s person +was invaded, the whole gang of petty officers and forecastle-men rose in a body +to meet the insult, with a readiness and dexterity that manifested how much at +home the elder mariners were with all that belonged to their art. A little +engine was transferred to the head, and was then brought to bear on the nearest +top, like a well-planted battery clearing the way for the opening battle. The +laughing and chattering topmen were soon dispersed: some ascending beyond the +power of the engine, and others retreating into the neighbouring top, along +ropes, and across giddy heights, that would have seemed impracticable to any +animal less agile than a squirrel. +</p> + +<p> +The marines were now summoned, by the successful and malicious mariners, +forward, to improve their advantage. Thoroughly drenched already, and eager to +resent their wrongs, a half-dozen of the soldiers, led on by a corporal, the +coating of whose powdered poll had been converted into a sort of paste by too +great an intimacy with a bucket of water, essayed to mount the rigging; an +exploit to them much more arduous than to enter a breach. The waggish +quarter-gunners and quarter-masters, satisfied with their own success, +stimulated them to the enterprise; and Nightingale and his mates, while they +rolled their tongues into their cheeks, gave forth, with their whistles, the +cheering sound of “heave away!” The sight of these adventurers, +slowly and cautiously mounting the rigging, acted very much, on the scattered +topmen, in the manner that the appearance of so many flies, in the immediate +vicinity of a web, is known to act on their concealed and rapacious enemies. +The sailors aloft saw, by expressive glances from them below, that a soldier +was considered legal game. No sooner, therefore, had the latter fairly entered +into the toils, than twenty topmen rushed out upon them, in order to make sure +of their prizes. In an incredibly short time, this important result was +achieved. Two or three of the aspiring adventurers were lashed where they had +been found, utterly unable to make any resistance in a spot where instinct +itself seemed to urge them to devote both hands to the necessary duty of +holding fast; while the rest were transferred, by the means of whips, to +different spars, very much as a light sail or a yard would have been swayed +into its place. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of the clamorous rejoicings that attended this success, one +individual made himself conspicuous for the gravity and business-like air with +which he performed his part of the comedy. Seated on the outer end of a lower +yard, with as much steadiness as though he had been placed on an ottoman, he +was intently occupied in examining into the condition of a captive, who had +been run up at his feet, with an order from the waggish captain of the top, +“to turn him in for a jewel-block;” a name that appears to have +been taken from the precious stones that are so often seen pendant from the +ears of the other sex. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” muttered this deliberate and grave-looking tar, who was +no other than Richard Fid “the stropping you’ve sent with the +fellow is none of the best; and, if he squeaks so now, what will he do when you +come to reeve a rope through him! By the Lord, masters, you should have +furnished the lad a better outfit, if you meant to send him into good company +aloft. Here are more holes in his jacket than there are cabin windows to a +Chinese junk. Hilloa!—on deck there!—you Guinea, pick me up a +tailor, and send him aloft, to keep the wind out of this waister’s +tarpauling.” +</p> + +<p> +The athletic African, who had been posted on the forecastle for his vast +strength, cast an eye upward, and, with both arms thrust into his bosom, he +rolled along the deck, with just as serious a mien as though he had been sent +on a duty of the greatest import. The uproar over his head had drawn a most +helpless-looking mortal from a retired corner of the birth-deck, to the ladder +of the forward hatch, where, with a body half above the combings, a skein of +strong coarse thread around his neck, a piece of bees-wax in one hand, and a +needle in the other, he stood staring about him, with just that sort of +bewildered air that a Chinese mandarin would manifest, were he to be suddenly +initiated in the mysteries of the ballet. On this object the eye of Scipio +fell. Stretching out an arm, he cast him upon his shoulder; and, before the +startled subject of his attack knew into whose hands he had fallen, a hook was +passed beneath the waistband of his trowsers, and he was half way between the +water and the spar, on his way to join the considerate Fid. +</p> + +<p> +“Have a care lest you let the man fall into the sea!” cried Wilder +sternly, from his stand on the distant poop. +</p> + +<p> +“He’m tailor, masser Harry,” returned the black, without +altering a muscle; “if a clothes no ’trong, he nobody blame but +heself.” +</p> + +<p> +During this brief parlance, the good-man Homespun had safely arrived at the +termination of his lofty flight. Here he was suitably received by Fid, who +raised him to his side; and, having placed him comfortably between the yard and +the boom, he proceeded to secure him by a lashing that would give the tailor +the proper disposition of his hands. +</p> + +<p> +“Bouse a bit on this waister!” called Richard, when he had properly +secured the good-man; “so; belay all that.” +</p> + +<p> +He then put one foot on the neck of his prisoner, and, seizing his lower member +as it swung uppermost, he coolly placed it in the lap of the awe-struck tailor. +</p> + +<p> +“There, friend,” he said, “handle your needle and palm now, +as if you were at job-work. Your knowing handicraft always begins with the +foundation wherein he makes sure that his upper gear will stand.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Lord protect me, and all other sinful mortals, from an untimely +end!” exclaimed Homespun, gazing at the vacant view from his giddy +elevation, with a sensation a little resembling that with which the aeronaut, +in his first experiment, regards the prospect beneath. +</p> + +<p> +“Settle away this waister,” again called Fid; “he interrupts +rational conversation by his noise; and, as his gear is condemned by this here +tailor, why, you may turn him over to the purser for a new outfit.” +</p> + +<p> +The real motive, however, for getting rid of his pendant companion was a +twinkling of humanity, that still glimmered through the rough humour of the +tar, who well knew that his prisoner must hang where he did, at some little +expense of bodily ease. As soon as his request was complied with, he turned to +the good-man, to renew the discourse, with just as much composure as though +they were both seated on the deck, or as if a dozen practical jokes, of the +same character, were not in the process of enactment, in as many different +parts of the vessel. +</p> + +<p> +“What makes you open your eyes, brother, in this port-hole +fashion?” commenced the topman. “This is all water that you see +about you, except that hommoc of blue in the eastern board, which is a morsel +of upland in the Bahamas, d’ye see.” +</p> + +<p> +“A sinful and presuming world is this we live in!” returned the +good-man; “nor can any one tell at what moment his life is to be taken +from him. Five bloody and cruel wars have I lived to see in safety and yet am I +reserved to meet this disgraceful and profane end at last.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, since you’ve had your luck in the wars, you’ve the +less reason to grumble at the bit of a surge you may have felt in your +garments, as they run you up to this here yard-arm. I say, brother, I’ve +known stouter fellows take the same ride, who never knew when or how they got +down again.” +</p> + +<p> +Homespun, who did not more than half comprehend the allusion of Fid, now +regarded him in a way that announced some little desire for an explanation, +mingled with great admiration of the unconcern with which his companion +maintained his position, without the smallest aid from any thing but his +self-balancing powers. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, brother,” resumed Fid, “that many a stout seaman has +been whipt up to the end of a yard, who has started by the signal of a gun, and +who has staid there just as long as the president of a court-martial was +pleased to believe might be necessary to improve his honesty!” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be a fearful and frightful trifling with Providence, in the +least offending and conscientious mariner, to take such awful punishments in +vain, by acting them in his sports; but doubly so do I pronounce it in the crew +of a ship on which no man can say at what hour retribution and compunction are +to alight. It seems to me unwise to tempt Providence by such provocating +exhibitions.” +</p> + +<p> +Fid cast a glance of far more than usual significance at the good-man, and even +postponed his reply, until he had freshened his ideas by an ample addition to +the morsel of weed which he had kept all along thrust into one of his cheeks. +Then, casting his eyes about him, in order to see that none of his noisy and +riotous companions, of the top, were within ear-shot, he fastened a still more +meaning look on the countenance of the tailor, as he responded,— +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, brother; whatever may be the other good points of Richard Fid, +his friends cannot say he is much of a scholar. This being the case, he has not +seen fit to ask a look at the sailing orders, on coming aboard this wholesome +vessel. I suppose, howsomever, that they can be forthcoming at need, and that +no honest man need be ashamed to be found cruising under the same.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! Heaven protect such unoffending innocents as serve here against +their will, when the allotted time of the cruiser shall be filled!” +returned Homespun. “I take it, however, that you, as a sea-faring and +understanding man, have not entered into this enterprise without receiving the +bounty, and knowing the whole nature of the service.” +</p> + +<p> +“The devil a bit have I entered at all, either in the +‘Enterprise’ or in the ‘Dolphin,’ as they call this +same craft. There is master Harry, the lad on the poop there, he who hails a +yard as soft as a bull-whale roars; I follow his signals, d’ye see; and +it is seldom that I bother him with questions as to what tack he means to lay +his boat on next.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! would you sell your soul in this manner to Beelzebub; and that, +too, without a price?” +</p> + +<p> +“I say, friend, it may be as well to overhaul your ideas, before you let +them slip, in this no-man’s fashion, from your tongue. I would wish to +treat a gentleman, who has come aloft to pay me a visit, with such civility as +may do credit to my top, though the crew be at mischief, d’ye see. But an +officer like him I follow has a name of his own, without stopping to borrow one +of the person you’ve just seen fit to name. I scorn such a pitiful thing +as a threat, but a man of your years needn’t be told, that it is just as +easy to go down from this here spar as it was to come up to it.” +</p> + +<p> +The tailor cast a glance beneath him into the brine, and hastened to do away +the unfavourable impression which his last unfortunate interrogation had so +evidently left on the mind of his brawny associate. +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven forbid that I should call any one but by their given and family +names, as the law commands,” he said; “I meant merely to inquire, +if you would follow the gentleman you serve to so unseemly and pernicious a +place as a gibbet?” +</p> + +<p> +Fid ruminated some little time, before he saw fit to reply to so sweeping a +query. During this unusual process, he agitated the weed, with which his mouth +was nearly gorged, with great industry; and then, terminating both processes, +by casting a jet of the juice nearly to the sprit-sail-yard, he said, in a very +decided tone,— +</p> + +<p> +“If I wouldn’t, may I be d—d! After sailing in company for +four-and-twenty years, I should be no better than a sneak, to part company, +because such a trifle as a gallows hove in sight.” +</p> + +<p> +“The pay of such a service should be both generous and punctual, and the +cheer of the most encouraging character,” the good-man observed, in a way +that manifested he should not be displeased were he to receive a reply. Fid was +in no disposition to balk his curiosity, but rather deemed himself bound, since +he had once entered on the subject, to leave no part of it in obscurity. +</p> + +<p> +“As for the pay, d’ye see,” he said, “it is +seaman’s wages. I should despise myself to take less than falls to the +share of the best foremast-hand in a ship, since it would be all the same as +owning that I got my deserts. But master Harry has a way of his own in rating +men’s services; and if his ideas get jamm’d in an affair of this +sort, it is no marling-spike that I handle which can loosen them. I once just +named the propriety of getting me a quarter-master’s birth; but devil the +bit would he be doing the thing, seeing, as he says himself, that I have a +fashion of getting a little hazy at times, which would only be putting me in +danger of disgrace; since every body knows that the higher a monkey climbs in +the rigging of a ship, the easier every body on deck can see that he has a +tail. Then, as to cheer, it is seaman’s fare; sometimes a cut to spare +for a friend and sometimes a hungry stomach.” +</p> + +<p> +“But then there are often divisions of +the—a—a—the-prize-money, in this successful cruiser?” +demanded the good-man, averting his face as he spoke, perhaps from a +consciousness that it might betray an unseemly interest in the answer. “I +dare say, you receive amends for all your sufferings, when the purser gives +forth the spoils.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, brother,” said Fid, again assuming a look of +significance, “can you tell me where the Admiralty Court sits which +condemns her prizes?” +</p> + +<p> +The good-man returned the glance, with interest; but an extraordinary uproar, +in another part of the vessel, cut short the dialogue, just as there was a +rational probability it might lead to some consolatory explanations between the +parties. +</p> + +<p> +As the action of the tale is shortly to be set in motion again, we shall refer +the cause of the commotion to the opening of the succeeding chapter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>Chapter XX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Come, and get thee a sword, though made of a lath:<br/> +They have been up these two days.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>King Henry VI.</i> +</p> + +<p> +While the little by-play that we have just related was enacting on the +fore-yard-arm of the Rover scenes, that partook equally of the nature of +tragedy and farce, were in the process of exhibition elsewhere. The contest +between the possessors of the deck and those active tenants of the top, so +often named, was far from having reached its termination. Blows had, in more +than one instance, succeeded to angry words; and, as the former was a part of +the sports in which the marines and waisters were on an equality with their +more ingenious tormentors, the war was beginning to be waged with some +appearances of a very doubtful success. Nightingale, however, was always ready +to recall the combatants to their sense of propriety, with his well-known wind +of the call, and his murmuring voice. A long, shrill whistle, with the words, +“Good humour, ahoy!” had hitherto served to keep down the rising +tempers of the different parties, when the joke bore too hard on the +high-spirited soldier, or the revengeful, though perhaps less mettlesome, +member of the after-guard. But an oversight on the part of him who in common +kept so vigilant an eye on the movements of all beneath his orders, had nearly +led to results of a far more serious nature. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had the crew commenced the different rough sports we have just +related, than the vein which had induced the Rover to loosen the reins of +discipline, for the moment, seemed suddenly to subside. The gay and cheerful +air that he had maintained in his dialogue with his female guests (or +prisoners, whichever he might be disposed to consider them) had disappeared, in +a thoughtful and clouded brow. His eye no longer lighted with those glimmerings +of wayward and sarcastic humour in which he much loved to indulge, but its +expression became painfully settled and austere. It was evident that his mind +had relapsed into one of those brooding reveries that so often obscured his +playful and vivacious mien, as a shadow darkens the golden tints of the field +of ripe and waving corn. +</p> + +<p> +While most of those who were not actors in the noisy and humorous achievements +of the crew steadily regarded the same, some with wonder, others with distrust, +and all with more or less of the humour of the hour, the Rover, to all +appearance, was quite unconscious of all that was going on before his face. It +is true, that at times he raised his eyes to the active beings who clung like +squirrels to the ropes, or suffered them to fall on the duller movements of the +men below; but it was always with a vacancy which proved that the image they +carried to the brain was dim and illusory. The looks he cast, from time to +time, on Mrs Wyllys and her fail and deeply interested pupil, betrayed the +workings of the temper of the inward man. It was only in these brief but +comprehensive glances that the feelings by which he was governed might have +been, in any manner, traced to their origin. Still would the nicest observer +have been puzzled, if not baffled, in endeavouring to pronounce on the entire +character of the emotions uppermost in his mind. At instants, it might have +been fancied that some unholy and licentious passion was getting the +ascendancy; and then, as his eye ran rapidly over the chaste and matronly, +though still attractive, countenance of the governess, no imagination was +necessary to read the look of doubt, as well as respect, with which he gazed. +</p> + +<p> +It was while thus occupied that the sports proceeded sometimes humorous, and +forcing smiles even from the lips of the half-terrified Gertrude, but always +tending to that violence, and outbreaking of anger, which might, at any moment, +set at naught the discipline of a vessel in which no other means to enforce +authority existed, than such as its officers could, on the instant, command. +Water had been so lavishly expended, that the decks were running with the +fluid, even more than one flight of spray having invaded the privileged +precincts of the poop. Every ordinary device of similar scenes had been +resorted to, by the men aloft, to annoy their less advantageously posted +shipmates beneath; and such means of retaliation had been adopted as use or +facility rendered obvious. Here, a hog and a waister were seen swinging against +each other, pendant beneath a top; there, a marine, lashed in the rigging, was +obliged to suffer the manipulation of a pet monkey, which drilled to the duty, +and armed with a comb, was posted on his shoulder, with an air as grave, and an +eye as observant, as though he had been regularly educated in the art of the +perruquier; and, every where, some coarse and practical joke proclaimed the +licentious liberty which had been momentarily accorded to a set of beings who +were, in common, kept in that restraint which comfort, no less than safety, +requires for the well-ordering of an armed ship. +</p> + +<p> +In the midst of the noise and turbulence, a voice was heard, apparently issuing +from the ocean, hailing the vessel by name, with the aid of a speaking-trumpet +that had been applied to the outer circumference of a hawse hole. +</p> + +<p> +“Who speaks the ‘Dolphin?’” demanded Wilder in reply, +when he perceived that the summons had fallen on the dull ears of his +Commander, without recalling him to the recollection of what was in action. +</p> + +<p> +“Father Neptune is under your fore-foot.” +</p> + +<p> +“What wills’ the God?” +</p> + +<p> +“He has heard that certain strangers have come into his dominions, and he +wishes leave to come aboard the saucy ‘Dolphin,’ to inquire into +their errands, and to overhaul the log-book of their characters.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is welcome. Show the old man aboard through the head; he is too +experienced a sailor to wish to come in by the cabin windows.” +</p> + +<p> +Here the parlance ceased; for Wilder turned upon his heel, as though he were +already disgusted with his part of the mummery. +</p> + +<p> +An athletic seaman soon appeared, seemingly issuing from the element whose +deity he aspired to personate. Mops, dripping with brine, supplied the place of +hoary locks; gulf-weed, of which acres were floating within a league of the +ship, composed a sort of negligent mantle; and in his hand he bore a trident +made of three marling-spikes properly arranged and borne on the staff of a +half-pike. Thus accoutred, the God of the Ocean, who was no less a personage +than the captain of the forecastle, advanced with a suitable air of dignity, +along the deck attended by a train of bearded water-nymphs and naïades, in +a costume no less grotesque than his own. Arrived on the quarter-deck, in front +of the position occupied by the officers, the principal personage saluted the +groupe with a wave of his sceptre, and resumed the discourse as follows; +Wilder, from the continued abstraction of his Commander, finding himself under +the necessity of maintaining one portion of the dialogue. +</p> + +<p> +“A wholesome and prettily-rigged boat have you come out in this time, my +son; and one well tilled with a noble set of my children. How long might it be +since you left the land?” +</p> + +<p> +“Some eight days ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hardly time enough to give the green ones the use of their sea legs. I +shall be able to find them, by the manner in which they hold on in a +calm.” [Here the General, who was standing with a scornful and averted +eye, let go his hold of a mizzen-shroud, which he had grasped for no other +visible reason than to render his person utterly immoveable; Neptune smiled, +and continued.] “I sha’n’t ask concerning the port you are +last from, seeing that the Newport soundings are still hanging about the flukes +of your anchors. I hope you haven’t brought out many fresh hands with +you, for I smell the stock-fish aboard a Baltic-man, who is coming down with +the trades, and who can’t be more than a hundred leagues from this; I +shall therefore have but little time to overhaul your people, in order to give +them their papers.” +</p> + +<p> +“You see them all before you. So skilful a mariner as Neptune needs no +advice when or how to tell a seaman.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall then begin with this gentleman,” continued the waggish +head of the forecastle, turning towards the still motionless chief of the +marines. “There is a strong look of the land about him; and I should like +to know how many hours it is since he first floated over blue water.” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe he has made many voyages; and I dare say has long since paid +the proper tribute to your Majesty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well; the thing is like enough, tho’f I will say I have +known scholars make better use of their time, if he has been so long on the +water as you pretend. How is it with these ladies?” +</p> + +<p> +“Both have been at sea before, and have a right to pass without a +question,” resumed Wilder, a little hastily. +</p> + +<p> +“The youngest is comely enough to have been born in my dominions,” +said the gallant Sovereign of the Sea; “but no one can refuse to answer a +hail that comes straight from the mouth of Old Neptune; so, if it makes no +great difference in your Honour’s reckoning, I will just beg the young +woman to do her own talking.” Then, without paying the least attention to +the angry glance that shot from the eye of Wilder, the sturdy representative of +the God addressed himself directly to Gertrude. “If, as report goes of +you, my pretty damsel, you have seen blue water before this passage, you may be +able to recollect the name of the vessel, and some other small particulars of +the run?” +</p> + +<p> +The face of our heroine changed its colour from red to pale, as rapidly, and as +glowingly, as the evening sky flushes, and returns to its pearl-like +loveliness; but she kept down her feelings sufficiently to answer, with an air +of entire self-possession,— +</p> + +<p> +“Were I to enter into all these little particulars, it would detain you +from more worthy subjects. Perhaps this certificate will convince you that I am +no novice on the sea.” As she spoke, a guinea fell from her white hand +into the broad and extended palm of her interrogator. +</p> + +<p> +“I can only account for my not remembering your Ladyship, by the great +extent and heavy nature of my business,” returned the audacious +freebooter bowing with an air of rude politeness as he pocketed the offering. +“Had I looked into my books before I came aboard this here ship, I should +have seen through the mistake at once; for I now remember that I ordered one of +my limners to take your pretty face, in order that I might show it to my wife +at home. The fellow did it well enough, in the shell of an East-India oyster; I +will have a copy set in coral, and sent to your husband, whenever you may see +fit to choose one.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, repeating his bow, with a scrape of the foot, he turned to the governess, +in order to continue his examination. +</p> + +<p> +“And you, Madam.” he said, “is this the first rime you have +ever come into my dominions, or not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Neither the first, nor the twentieth; I have often seen your Majesty +before.” +</p> + +<p> +“An old acquaintance! In what latitude might it be that we first fell in +with each other?” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe I first enjoyed that honour, quite thirty years since, under +the Equator.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, I’m often there, looking out for India-men and your +homeward-bound Brazil traders. I boarded a particularly great number that very +season but can’t say I remember your countenance.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear that thirty years have made some changes in it,” returned +the governess, with a smile, which, though mournful, was far too dignified in +its melancholy to induce the suspicion that she regretted a loss so vain as +that of her personal charms. “I was in a vessel of the King, and one that +was a little remarkable by its size, since it was of three decks.” +</p> + +<p> +The God received the guinea, which was now secretly offered, but it would seem +that success had quickened his covetousness; for, instead of returning thanks, +he rather appeared to manifest a disposition to increase the amount of the +bribe. +</p> + +<p> +“All this may be just as your Ladyship says,” he rejoined; +“but the interest of my kingdom, and a large family at home, make it +necessary that I should look sharp to my rights. Was there a flag in the +vessel?” +</p> + +<p> +“There was.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, it is likely they hoisted it, as usual, at the end of the +jib-boom?” +</p> + +<p> +“It was hoisted, as is usual with a Vice-Admiral, at the fore.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well answered, for petticoats!” muttered the Deity, a little +baffled in his artifice. “It is d——d queer, saving your +Ladyship’s presence, that I should have forgotten such a ship: Was there +any thing of the extraordinary sort, that one would be likely to +remember?” +</p> + +<p> +The features of the governess had already lost their forced pleasantry, in a +shade of grave reflection and her eye was evidently fastened on vacancy us she +answered, to all appearance like one who thought aloud.— +</p> + +<p> +“I can, at this moment, see the arch and roguish manner with which that +wayward boy, who then had but eight years, over-reached the cunning of the +mimic Neptune, and retaliated for his devices, by turning the laugh of all on +board on his own head!” +</p> + +<p> +“Was he but eight?” demanded a deep voice at her elbow. +</p> + +<p> +“Eight in years, but maturer in artifice,” returned Mrs Wyllys, +seeming to awake from a trance, as she turned her eyes full upon the face of +the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” interrupted the captain of the forecastle who cared +not to continue an inquiry in which his dreaded Commander saw fit to take a +part, “I dare say it is all right. I will look into my journal if I find +it so, well—if not, why, it’s only giving the ship a head-wind, +until I’ve overhauled the Dane, and then it will be all in good time to +receive the balance of the fee.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, the God hurried past the officers, and turned his attention to the +marine guard, who had grouped themselves in a body, secretly aware of the +necessity each man might be under of receiving support from his fellows, in so +searching a scrutiny Perfectly familiar with the career each individual among +them had run, in his present lawless profession and secretly apprehensive that +his authority might be forced suddenly from him, the chief of the forecastle +selected a raw landsman from among them, bidding his attendants to drag the +victim forward, where he believed they might act the cruel revels he +contemplated with less danger of interruption. Already irritated by the laughs +which had been created at their expense, and resolute to defend their comrade +the marines resisted. A long, clamorous, and angry dispute succeeded, during +which each party maintained its right to pursue the course it had adopted. From +words the disputants were not long in passing to the signs of hostilities. It +was while the peace of the ship hung, as it were, suspended by a hair, that the +General saw fit to express the disgust of such an outrage upon discipline, +which had, throughout the whole scene, possessed his mind. +</p> + +<p> +“I protest against this riotous and unmilitary procedure,” he said, +addressing himself to his still abstracted and thoughtful superior. “I +have taught my men, I trust, the proper spirit of soldiers, and there is no +greater disgrace can happen to one of them than to lay hands on him, except it +be in the regular and wholesome way of a cat.—I give open warning to all, +that, if a finger is put upon one of my bullies, unless, as I have said, in the +way of discipline, it will be answered with a blow.” +</p> + +<p> +As the General had not essayed to smother his voice, it was heard by his +followers, and produced the effect which might have been expected. A vigorous +thrust from the fist of the sergeant drew mortal blood from the visage of the +God of the Sea, and at once established his terrestrial origin. Thus compelled +to support his manhood, in more senses than one, the stout seaman returned the +salutation, with such additional embellishments as the exigencies of the moment +seemed to require. Such an interchange of civilities, between two so prominent +personages, was the signal of general hostilities among their respective +followers. The uproar that attended the onset, had caught the attention of Fid, +who, the instant he saw the nature of the sports below, abandoned his companion +on the yard, and slid downwards to the deck by the aid of a backstay, with +about as much facility as that caricature of man, the monkey, could have +performed the same manoeuvre. His example was followed by all the topmen; and +in less than a minute, there was every appearance that the audacious marines +would be borne down by the sheer force of numbers. But, stout in their +resolution, and bitter in their hostility, these drilled and resentful +warriors, instead of seeking refuge in flight, fell back upon each other, for +support. Bayonets were seen gleaming in the sun; while some of the seamen, in +the exterior of the crowd, were already laying their hands on the half-pikes +that formed a warlike ornament to the foot of the mast. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold! stand back, every man of you!” cried Wilder, dashing into +the centre of the throng, and forcing them aside, with a haste that was +possibly quickened by the recollection of the increased danger that would +surround the unprotected females, should the bands of subordination be once +fairly broken among so lawless and desperate a crew. “On your lives, fall +back, and obey. And you, sir, who claim to be so good a soldier, I call on you +to bid your men refrain.” +</p> + +<p> +The General, however disgusted he might have been by the previous scene, had +too many important interests involved in the interior peace of the vessel not +to exert himself at this appeal. He was seconded by all the inferior officers, +who well knew that their lives, as well as their comfort, depended on staying +the torrent that had so unexpectedly broken loose. But they only proved how +hard it is to uphold an authority that is not established on the foundation of +legitimate power. Neptune had cast aside his masquerade; and, backed by all his +stout forecastle men, was evidently preparing for a conflict that might +speedily give him greater pretensions to immortal nature than those he had just +rejected. Until now, the officers, partly by threats and partly by +remonstrances, had so far controlled the outbreaking, that the time had been +passed rather in preparations than in violence. But the marines had seized +their arms; while two crowded masses of the mariners were forming on either +side of the mainmast, abundantly provided with spikes, and such other weapons +as the bars and handspikes of the vessel afforded. One or two of the cooler +heads among the latter had even proceeded so far as to clear away a gun, which +they were pointing inboard in a direction that might have swept a moiety of the +quarter-deck. In short, the broil had just reached that pass when another blow, +struck from either side, must have given up the vessel to plunder and massacre. +The danger of such a crisis was heightened by the bitter taunts that broke +forth from fifty profane lips, which were only opened to lavish the coarsest +revilings on the persons and characters of their respective enemies. +</p> + +<p> +During the five minutes that might have flown by in such sinister and +threatening symptoms of insubordination the individual who was chiefly +interested in the maintenance of discipline had manifested the most +extraordinary indifference, or rather unconsciousness to all that was passing +so near him. With his arms folded on his breast, and his eyes fastened on the +placid sea, he stood motionless as the mast near which he had placed his +person. Long accustomed to the noise of scenes similar to the one he had +himself provoked, he heard, in the confused sounds which rose unheeded on his +ear, no more than the commotion which ordinarily attended the license of the +hour. +</p> + +<p> +His subordinates in command, however, were far more active. Wilder had already +beaten back the boldest of the seamen, and a space was cleared between the +hostile parties, into which his assistants threw themselves, with the haste of +men who knew how much was required at their hands. This momentary success might +have been pushed too far; for, believing that the spirit of mutiny was subdued, +our adventurer was proceeding to improve his advantage by seizing the most +audacious of the offenders when his prisoner was immediately torn from his +grasp by twenty of his confederates. +</p> + +<p> +“Who’s this, that sets himself up for a Commodore aboard the +‘Dolphin!’” exclaimed a voice in the crowd, at a most unhappy +moment for the authority of the new lieutenant. “In what fashion did he +come, aboard us? or, in what service did he learn his trade?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” continued another sinister voice, “where is the +Bristol trader he was to lead into our net, and for which we lost so many of +the best days in the season, at a lazy anchor?” +</p> + +<p> +Then broke forth a general and simultaneous murmur which, had such testimony +been wanting, would in itself have manifested that the unknown officer was +scarcely more fortunate in his present than in his recent service. Both parties +united in condemning his interference; and from both sides were heard scornful +opinions of his origin, mingled with certain fierce denunciations against his +person. Nothing daunted by such palpable evidences of the danger of his +situation, our adventurer answered to their taunts with the most scornful +smiles, challenging a single individual of them all to dare to step forth, and +maintain his words by suitable actions. +</p> + +<p> +“Hear him!” exclaimed his auditors.—“He speaks like a +King’s officer in chase of a smuggler!” cried one.—“Ay, +he’s a bold’un in a calm,” said a +second.—“He’s a Jonah, that has slipp’d into the cabin +windows!” cried a third; “and, while he stays in the +‘Dolphin,’ luck will keep upon our +weather-beam”—“Into the sea with him! overboard with the +upstart! into the sea with him! where he’ll find that a bolder and a +better man has gone before him!” shouted a dozen at once; some of whom +immediately gave very unequivocal demonstrations of an intention to put their +threat in execution. But two forms instantly sprang from the crowd, and threw +themselves, like angry lions, between Wilder and his foes. The one, who was +foremost in the rescue, faced short upon the advancing seamen, and with a blow +from an arm that was irresistible, level led the representative of Neptune to +his feet, as though he had been a mere waxen image of a man The other was not +slow to imitate his example; and, as the throng receded before this secession +from its own numbers, the latter, who was Fid, flourished a fist that was as +big as the head of a sizeable infant, while he loudly vociferated,— + +“Away with ye, ye lubbers! away with ye! Would you run foul of a single +man, and he an officer and such an officer as ye never set eyes on be fore, +except, mayhap, in the fashion that a cat looks upon a king? I should like to +see the man, among ye all, who can handle a heavy ship, in a narrow channel, as +I have seen master Harry here handle the saucy”— +</p> + +<p> +“Stand back,” cried Wilder, forcing himself between his defenders +and his foes. “Stand back, I say, and leave me alone to meet the +audacious villains. +</p> + +<p> +“Overboard with him! overboard with them all!” cried the seamen, +“he and his knaves together!” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you remain silent, and see murder done before your eyes?” +exclaimed Mrs Wyllys, rushing from her place of retreat, and laying a hand +eagerly on the arm of the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +He started like one who was awakened suddenly from a light sleep, looking her +full and intently in the eye. +</p> + +<p> +“See!” she added, pointing to the violent throng below, where every +sign of an increased commotion was exhibiting itself. “See, they kill +your officer, and there is none to help him!” +</p> + +<p> +The look of faded marble, which had so long been seated on his features, +vanished, as his eye passed quickly over the scene. The organs took in the +whole nature of the action at the glance; and, with the intelligence, the blood +came rushing into every vein and fibre of his indignant face. Seizing a rope, +which hung from the yard above his head, he swung his person off the poop, and +fell lightly into the very centre of the crowd. Both parties fell back, while a +sudden and breathing silence succeeded to a clamour that a moment before would +have drowned the roar of a cataract. Making a haughty and repelling motion with +his arm, he spoke, and in a voice that, if any change could be noted, was even +pitched on a key less high and threatening than common. But the lowest and the +deepest of its intonations reached the most distant ear, and no one who heard +was left to doubt its meaning. +</p> + +<p> +“Mutiny!” he said, in a tone that strangely balanced between irony +and scorn; “open, violent, and blood-seeking mutiny! Are ye tired of your +lives, my men? Is there one, among ye all, who is willing to make himself an +example for the good of the rest? If there be, let him lift a hand, a finger, a +hair: Let him speak, look me in the eye, or dare to show that life is in him, +by sign, breath, or motion!” +</p> + +<p> +He paused; and so general and absorbing was the spell produced by his presence +and his mien, that, in all that crowd of fierce and excited spirits, there was +not one so bold as to presume to brave his anger Sailors and marines stood +alike, passive, humbled and obedient, as faulty children, when arraigned before +an authority from which they feel, in every fibre, that escape is impossible. +Perceiving that no voice answered, no limb moved, nor even an eye among them +all was bold enough to meet his own steady but glowing look, he continued, in +the same deep and commanding tone,— +</p> + +<p> +“It is well: Reason has come of the latest; but, happily for ye all, it +has returned Fall back, fall back, I say; you taint the +quarter-deck.”—The men receded a pace or two on every side of +him.—“Let those arms be stacked; it will be time to use them when I +proclaim the need. And you, fellows, who have been so bold as to lift a pike +without an order have a care they do not burn your hands.”—A dozen +staves fell upon the deck together.—“Is there a drummer in this +ship? let him appear!” +</p> + +<p> +A terrified and cringing-looking being presented himself, having found his +instrument by a sort of desperate instinct. +</p> + +<p> +“Now speak aloud, and let me know at once whether I command a crew of +orderly and obedient men, or a set of miscreants, that require some purifying +before I trust them.” +</p> + +<p> +The first few taps of the drum sufficed to tell the men they heard the +“beat to quarters.” Without hesitating a reluctant moment, the +crowd dissolved, and each of the delinquents stole silently to his station; the +crew of the gun that had been turned inward managing to thrust it through its +port again, with a dexterity that might have availed them greatly in time of +combat. Throughout the whole affair, the Rover had manifested neither anger nor +impatience. Deep and settled scorn, with a high reliance on himself had, +indeed, been exhibited in the proud curl of his lip, and in the spelling of his +form, but not, for an instant, did it seem that he had suffered his ire to get +the mastery of his reason. And, now that he had recalled his crew to their +duty, he appeared no more elated with his success than he had been daunted by +the storm which, a minute before, had threatened the utter dissolution of his +authority. Instead of pursuing his further purpose in haste, he awaited the +observance of the minutest form which etiquette, as well as use, had rendered +customary on such occasions. +</p> + +<p> +The officers approached, and reported their several divisions in readiness to +engage, with exactly the same regularity as if an enemy had been in sight. The +topmen and sail-trimmers were enumerated, and found prepared; shot-plugs and +stoppers were handled: the magazine was even opened; the arm chests emptied of +their contents; and, in short, far more than the ordinary preparations of an +every day exercise was observed. +</p> + +<p> +“Let the yards be slung; the sheets and halyards stoppered,” he +said to the first lieutenant, who now displayed as intimate an acquaintance +with the military as he had hitherto discovered with the nautical part of his +profession; “Give the boarders their pikes and boarding-axes, sir; we +will now show these fellows that we dare to trust them with arms!” +</p> + +<p> +These several orders were obeyed to the letter, and then succeeded that deep +and grave silence which renders a crew, at quarters, a sight so imposing even +to those who have witnessed it from their boyhood. In this manner, the skilful +leader of this band of desperate marauders knew how to curb their violence with +the fetters of discipline. When he believed their minds brought within the +proper limits, by the situation of restraint in which he had placed them, where +they well knew that a word, or even a look, of offence would be met by an +instant as well as an awful punishment, he walked apart with Wilder, of whom he +demanded an explanation of what had passed. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever might have been the natural tendency of our adventurer to mercy, he +had not been educated on the sea to look with lenity on the crime of mutiny. +Had his recent escape from the wreck of the Bristol trader been already +banished from his mind, the impressions of a whole life still remained to teach +the necessity of keeping tight those cords which experience has so often proved +are absolutely necessary to quell such turbulent bands, when removed from the +pale of society, the influence of woman, and when excited by the constant +collision of tempers rudely provoked, and equally disposed to violence Though +he “set down naught in malice,” it is certain that he did +“nothing; extenuate,” in the account he rendered. The whole of the +facts were laid before the Rover in the direct, unvarnished language of truth. +</p> + +<p> +“One cannot keep these fellows to their duty by preaching,” +returned the irregular chief, when the other had done. “We have no +‘Execution Dock for our delinquents, no ‘yellow flag’ for +fleets to gaze at, no grave and wise-looking courts to thumb a book or two, and +end by saying, ‘Hang him.’—The rascals knew my eye was off +them. Once before, they turned my vessel into a living evidence of that passage +in the Testament which teaches humility to all, by telling us, ‘that the +last shall be first, and the first last.’ I found a dozen roundabouts +drinking and making free with the liquors of the cabin, and all the officers +prisoners forward—a state of things, as you will allow, a little +subversive of decency as well as decorum!” +</p> + +<p> +“I am amazed you should have succeeded in restoring discipline!” +</p> + +<p> +“I got among them single-handed, and with no other aid than a boat from +the shore; but I ask no more than a place for my foot, and room for an arm, to +keep a thousand such spirits in order. Now they know me, it is rare we +misunderstand each other.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must have punished severely!” +</p> + +<p> +“There was justice done.—Mr Wilder, I fear you find our service a +little irregular; but a month of experience will put you on a level with us, +and remove all danger of such another scene.” As the Rover spoke, he +faced his recruit, with a countenance that endeavoured to be cheerful, but +whose gaiety could force itself no further than a frightful smile. +“Come,” he quickly added, “this time, I set the mischief +afoot myself; and, as you see we are completely masters, we may afford to be +lenient. Besides,” he continued, glancing his eyes towards the place +where Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude still remained in deep suspense awaiting his +decision, “it may be well to consult the sex of our guests at such a +moment.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, leaving his subordinate, the Rover advanced to the centre of the +quarter-deck, whither he immediately summoned the principal offenders. The men +listened to his rebukes, which were not altogether free from admonitory +warnings of what might be the consequences of a similar transgression, like +creatures who stood in presence of a being of a nature superior to their own. +Though he spoke in his usual quiet tone, the lowest of his syllables went into +the ears of the most distant of the crew; and, when his brief lesson was ended, +the men stood before him not only like delinquents who had been reproved though +pardoned, but with the air of criminals who were as much condemned by their own +consciousness as by the general voice. Among them all was only one seaman who, +perhaps from past service was emboldened to venture a syllable in his own +justification. +</p> + +<p> +“As for the matter with the marines,” he said “your Honour +knows there is little love between us, though certain it is a quarter-deck is +no place to settle our begrudgings; but, as to the gentleman who has seen fit +to step into the shoes of”—— +</p> + +<p> +“It is my pleasure that he should remain there,” hastily +interrupted his Commander. “Of his merit I alone can judge.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, since it is your pleasure, sir, why, no man can dispute it. +But no account has been rendered of the Bristol-man, and great expectations +were had aboard here from that very ship. Your Honour is a reasonable +gentleman, and will not be surprised that people, who are on the look-out for +an outward-bound West-Indiaman, should be unwilling to take up with a battered +and empty launch, in her stead.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, sir, if I will it, you shall take an oar, a tiler a thole, for your +portion. No more of this You saw the condition of his ship with your own eyes; +and where is the seaman who has not, on some evil day, been compelled to admit +that his art is nothing, when the elements are against him? Who saved this +ship, in the very gust that has robbed us of our prize? Was it your skill? or +was it that of a man who has often done it before, and who may one day leave +you to your ignorance to manage your own interests? It is enough that I believe +him faithful. There is no time to convince your dulness of the propriety of all +that’s done. Away, and send me the two men who so nobly stepped between +their officer and mutiny.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came Fid, followed by the negro, rolling along the deck, and thumbing his +hat with one hand, while the other sought an awkward retreat in a part of his +vestments. +</p> + +<p> +“You have done well, my lad; you and your messmate”—— +</p> + +<p> +“No messmate, your Honour, seeing that he is a nigger,” interrupted +Fid. “The chap messes with the other blacks, but we take a pull at the +can, now and then, in company.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your friend, then, if you prefer that term.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, sir; we are friendly enough at odd times, though a breeze often +springs up between us. Guinea has a d—d awkward fashion of luffing up in +his talk; and your Honour knows it isn’t always comfortable to a white +man to be driven to leeward by a black. I tell him it is inconvenient. He is a +good enough fellow in the main, howsomever, sir; and, as he is just an African +bred and born, I hope you’ll be good enough to overlook his little +failings.” +</p> + +<p> +“Were I otherwise disposed,” returned the Rover, “his +steadiness and activity to-day would plead in his favour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, sir, he is somewhat steady, which is more than I can always +say in my own behalf. Then as for seamanship, there are few men who are his +betters; I wish your Honour would take the trouble to walk forward, and look at +the heart he turned in the mainstay, no later than the last calm; it takes the +strain as easy as a small sin sits upon a rich man’s conscience.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am satisfied with your description; you call him Guinea?” +</p> + +<p> +“Call him by any thing along that coast; for he is noway particular, +seeing he was never christened, and knows nothing at all of the bearings and +distances of religion. His lawful name is S’ip, or Shipio Africa, taken, +as I suppose, from the circumstance that he was first shipp’d from that +quarter of the world. But, as respects names, the fellow is as meek as a lamb; +you may call him any thing, provided you don’t call him too late to his +grog.” +</p> + +<p> +All this time, the African stood, rolling his large dark eyes in every +direction except towards the speakers, perfectly content that his long-tried +shipmate should serve as his interpreter. The spirit which had, so recently, +been awakened in the Rover seemed already to be subsiding; for the haughty +frown, which had gathered on his brow, was dissipating in a look which bore +rather the character of curiosity than any fiercer emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“You have sailed long in company, my lads,” he carelessly +continued, addressing his words to neither of them in particular. +</p> + +<p> +“Full and by, in many a gale, and many a calm, your Honour. ’Tis +four-and-twenty years the last equinox, Guinea, since master Harry fell across +our hawse; and, then, we had been together three years in the +‘Thunderer,’ besides the run we made round the Horn, in the +‘Bay’ privateer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you have been four-and-twenty years with Mr Wilder? It is not so +remarkable that you should set a value on his life.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should as soon think of setting a price on the King’s +crown!” interrupted the straight-going seaman “I overheard the +lads, d’ye see, sir, just plotting to throw the three of us overboard, +and so we thought it time to say something in our own favour and, words not +always being at hand, the black saw fit to fill up the time with something that +might answer the turn quite as well. No, no, he is no great talker, that +Guinea; nor, for that matter, can I say much in my own favour in this +particular; but, seeing that we clapp’d a stopper on their movements, +your Honour will allow that we did as well as if we had spoken as smartly as a +young midshipman fresh from college, who is always for hailing a top in Latin, +you know, sir, for want of understanding the proper language.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover smiled, and he glanced his eye aside, apparently in quest of the form +of our adventurer. Not seeing him at hand, he was tempted to push his covert +inquiries a little further, though too much governed, by self-respect, to let +the intense curiosity by which he was influenced escape him in any direct and +manifest interrogation. But an instant’s recollection recalled him to +himself, and he discarded the idea as unworthy of his character. +</p> + +<p> +“Your services shall not be forgotten. Here is gold,” he said, +offering a handful of the metal to the negro, as the one nearest his own +person. “You will divide it, like honest shipmates; and you may ever rely +on my protection.” +</p> + +<p> +Scipio drew back, and, with a motion of his elbow, replied,— +</p> + +<p> +“His Honour will give ’em masser Harry.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your master Harry has it of his own, lad; he has no need of +money.” +</p> + +<p> +“A S’ip no need ’em eider.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will please to overlook the fellow’s manners sir,” said +Fid, very coolly interposing his own hand, and just as deliberately pocketing +the offering “but I needn’t tell as old a seaman as your Honour, +that Guinea is no country to scrape down the seams of a man’s behaviour +in. Howsomever, I can say this much for him, which is, that he thanks your +Honour just as heartily as if you had given him twice the sum. Make a bow to +his Honour, boy, and do some credit to the company you have kept. And now, +since this little difficulty about the money is gotten over, by my presence of +mind, with your Honour’s leave, I’ll just step aloft, and cast +loose the lashings of that bit of a tailor on the larboard fore-yard-arm. The +chap was never made for a topman as you may see, sir, by the fashion in which +he crosses his lower stanchions. That fellow will make a carrick bend with his +legs as easily as I could do the same with a yarn of white line!” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover signed for him to retire; and, turning where he stood, he found +himself confronted by Wilder. The eyes of the confederates met; and a slight +colour bespoke the consciousness of the former Regaining his self-possession on +the instant, however, he smilingly alluded to the character of Fid; and then, +with an air of authority, he directed his lieutenant to have the “retreat +from quarters” beat. +</p> + +<p> +The guns were secured, the stoppers loosened, the magazine closed, the ports +lashed, and the crew withdrew to their several ordinary duties, like men whose +violence had been completely subdued by the triumphant influence of a master +spirit. The Rover then disappeared from the deck, which, for a time, was left +to the care of an officer of the proper station. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>Chapter XXI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Thief. “’Tis in the malice of mankind, that he thus advises us not +to have us thrive in our mystery.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Timon of Athens.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Throughout the whole of that day, no change occurred in the weather. The +sleeping ocean lay like a waving and glittering mirror, smooth and polished on +its surface, though, as usual, the long rising and falling of a heavy +ground-swell announced the commotion that was in action within some distant +horizon. From the time that he left the deck, until the sun laved its burnished +orb in the sea, the individual, who so well knew how to keep alive his +authority among the untamed tempers that he governed, was seen no more. +Satisfied with his victory, he no longer seemed to apprehend that it was +possible any should be bold enough to dare to plot the overthrow of his power. +This apparent confidence in himself did not fail to impress his people +favourably. As no neglect of duty was overlooked, nor any offence left to go +unpunished, an eye, that was not seen, was believed by the crew to be ever on +them, and an invisible hand was thought to be at all times uplifted, ready to +strike or to reward. It was by a similar system of energy in moments of need, +and of forbearance when authority was irksome, that this extraordinary man had +so long succeeded, as well in keeping down domestic treason, as in eluding the +utmost address and industry of his open enemies. +</p> + +<p> +When the watch was set for the night, however, and the ship lay in the +customary silence of the hour, the form of the Rover was again seen walking +swiftly to and fro across the poop, of which he was now the solitary occupant. +The vessel had drifted in the stream of the Gulf so far to the northward, that +the little mound of blue had long sunk below the edge of the ocean; and she was +again surrounded, so far as human eye might see, by an interminable world of +water. As not a breath of air was stirring, the sails had been handed, the tall +and naked spars rearing themselves, in the gloom of the evening, like those of +a ship which rested at her anchors. In short, it was one of those hours of +entire repose that the elements occasionally grant to such adventurers as trust +their fortunes to the capricious government of the treacherous and unstable +winds. +</p> + +<p> +Even the men, whose duty it was to be on the alert, were emboldened, by the +general tranquillity, to become careless on their watch, and to cast their +persons between the guns, or on different portions of the vessel, seeking that +rest which the forms of discipline and good order prohibited them from enjoying +in their hammocks. Here and there, indeed, the head of a drowsy officer was +seen nodding with the lazy heaving of the ship, as he leaned against the +bulwarks, or rested his person on the carriage of some gun that was placed +beyond the sacred limits of the quarter-deck One form alone stood erect, +vigilant, and evidently maintaining a watchful eye over the whole This was +Wilder, whose turn to keep the deck had again arrived, in the regular division +of the service of the officers. +</p> + +<p> +For two hours, not the slightest communication occurred between the Rover and +his lieutenant. Both rather avoided than sought the intercourse; for each had +his own secret sources of serious meditation At the end of that period of +silence, the former stopped short in his walk, and looked long and steadily at +the still motionless figure on the deck beneath him. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder,” he at length said, “the air is fresher on this +poop, and more free from the impurities of the vessel: Will you ascend?” +</p> + +<p> +The other complied; and, for several minutes they walked silently, and with +even steps, together, as seamen are wont to move in the hours of deep night. +</p> + +<p> +“We had a troublesome morning, Wilder,” the Rover resumed, +unconsciously betraying the subject of his thoughts, and speaking always in a +voice so guarded, that no ears, but his to whom he addressed himself, might +embrace the sound: “Were you ever so near that pretty precipice, a +mutiny, before?” +</p> + +<p> +“The man who is hit is nigher to danger than he who feels the wind of the +ball.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you have then been bearded in your ship! Give yourself no uneasiness +on account of the personal animosity which a few of the fellows saw fit to +manifest against yourself. I am acquainted with their most secret thoughts, as +you shall shortly know.” +</p> + +<p> +“I confess, that, in your place, I should sleep on a thorny pillow, with +such evidences of the temper of my men before my mind. A few hours of disorder +might deliver the vessel, on any day, into the hands of the Government, and +your own life to”—— +</p> + +<p> +“The executioner! And why not yours?” demanded the Rover, so +quickly, as to give, in a slight degree, an air of distrust to his manner. +“But the eye that has often seen battles seldom winks. Mine has too +often, and too steadily, looked danger in the face to be alarmed at the sight +of a King’s pennant. Besides it is not usual for us to be much on this +ticklish coast; the islands, and the Spanish Main, are less dangerous cruising +grounds.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet have yon ventured here at a time when success against the enemy +has given the Admiral leisure to employ a powerful force in your +pursuit.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had a reason for it. It is not always easy to separate the Commander +from the man. If I have temporarily forgotten the obligations of the former in +the wishes of the latter, so far, at least, harm has not come of it. I may have +tired of chasing your indolent Don, and of driving guarda costas into port. +This life of ours is full of excitement which I love to me, there is interest +even in a mutiny!” +</p> + +<p> +“I like not treason. In this particular, I confess myself like the boor +who loses his resolution in the dark. While the enemy is in view, I hope you +will find me true as other men; but sleeping over a mine is not an amusement to +my taste.” +</p> + +<p> +“So much for want of practice! Hazard is hazard come in what shape it +may; and the human mind can as readily be taught to be indifferent to secret +machinations as to open risk. Hush! Struck the bell six, or seven?” +</p> + +<p> +“Seven. You see the men slumber, as before. Instinct would wake them, +were their hour at hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis well. I feared the time had passed. Yes, Wilder, I love +suspense; it keeps the faculties from dying, and throws a man upon the better +principles of his nature. Perhaps I owe it to a wayward spirit, but, to me, +there is enjoyment in an adverse wind.’” +</p> + +<p> +“And, in a calm?” +</p> + +<p> +“Calms may have their charms for your quiet spirits; but in them there is +nothing to be overcome. One cannot stir the elements, though one may counteract +their workings.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have not entered on this trade of yours “— +</p> + +<p> +“Yours!” +</p> + +<p> +“I might, now, have said ‘of ours,’ since I too have become a +Rover.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are still in your noviciate,” resumed the other, whose quick +mind had already passed the point at which the conversation had arrived; +“and high enjoyment had I in being the one who shrived you in your +wishes. You manifested a skill in playing round your subject, without touching +it, which gives me hopes of an apt scholar.” +</p> + +<p> +“But no penitent, I trust.” +</p> + +<p> +“That as it may be; we are all liable to our moments of weakness, when we +look on life as book men paint it, and think of being probationers where we are +put to enjoy. Yes, I angled for you as the fisherman plays with the trout. Nor +did I overlook the danger of deception. You were faithful on the whole; though +I protest against your ever again acting so much against my interests as to +intrigue to keep the game from coming to my net.” +</p> + +<p> +“When, and how, have I done this? You have yourself +admitted”—— +</p> + +<p> +“That the ‘Royal Caroline’ was prettily handled, and wrecked +by the will of Heaven. I speak of nobler quarries, now, than such as any hawk +may fly at. Are you a woman-hater, that you would fain have frightened the +noble-minded woman, and the sweet girl, who are beneath our feet at this +minute, from enjoying the high privilege of your company?” +</p> + +<p> +“Was it treacherous, to wish to save a woman from a fate like that, for +instance, which hung over them both this very day? For, while your authority +exists in this ship, I do not think there can be danger, even to her who is so +lovely.” +</p> + +<p> +“By heavens, Wilder, you do me no more than justice. Before harm should +come to that fair innocent with this hand would I put the match into the +magazine, and send her, all spotless as she is, to the place from which she +seems to have fallen.” +</p> + +<p> +Our adventurer listened greedily to these words, though he little liked the +strong language of admiration with which the Rover was pleased to clothe his +generous sentiment. +</p> + +<p> +“How knew you of my wish to serve them?” he demanded, after a +pause, which neither seemed in any hurry to break. +</p> + +<p> +“Could I mistake your language? I thought it enough when spoken.” +</p> + +<p> +“Spoken!” exclaimed Wilder, in surprise. “Perhaps part of my +confession was then made when I least believed it.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover did not answer; but his companion saw, by the meaning smile which +played about his lip, that he had been the dupe of an audacious and completely +successful masquerade. Startled, perhaps at discovering how intricate were the +toils into which he had rushed, and possibly vexed at being so thoroughly +over-reached, he made several turns across the deck before he again spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“I confess myself deceived,” he at length said, “and +henceforth I shall submit to you as a master from whom one may learn, but who +can never be surpassed. The landlord of the ‘Foul Anchor,’ at +least, acted in his proper person, whoever might have been the aged +seaman?” +</p> + +<p> +“Honest Joe Joram! An useful man to a distressed mariner, you must allow. +How liked you the Newport pilot?” +</p> + +<p> +“Was he an agent too?” +</p> + +<p> +“For the job merely. I trust such knaves no further than their own eyes +can see. But, hist! Heard you nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought a rope had fallen in the water.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, it is so. Now you shall find how thoroughly I overlook these +turbulent gentlemen.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover then cut short the dialogue, which was growing deeply interesting to +his companion, and moved, with a light step, to the stern, over which he hung, +for a few moments, by himself, like a man who found a pleasure in gazing at the +dark surface of the sea. But a slight noise, like that produced by agitated +ropes, caught the ear of his companion, who instantly placed himself at the +side of his Commander, where he did not wait long without gaining another proof +of the manner in which he, as well as all the rest of the crew, were +circumvented by the devices of their leader. +</p> + +<p> +A man was guardedly, and, from his situation, with some difficulty, moving +round the quarter of the ship by the aid of the ropes and mouldings, which +afforded him sufficient means to effect his object. He, however, soon reached a +stern ladder, where he stood suspended, and evidently endeavouring to discern +which of the two forms, that were overlooking his proceedings, was that of the +individual he sought. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you there, Davis?” said the Rover, in a voice but little above +a whisper, first laying his hand lightly on Wilder, as though he would tell him +to attend. “I fear you have been seen or heard.” +</p> + +<p> +“No fear of that, your Honour. I got out at the port by the cabin +bulkhead; and the after-guard are all as sound asleep as if they had the watch +below.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well. What news bring you from the people?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord! your Honour may tell them to go to church, and the stoutest +sea-dog of them all wouldn’t dare to say he had forgotten his +prayers.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think them in a better temper than they were?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know it, sir: Not but what the will to work mischief is to be found in +two or three of the men, but they dare not trust each other. Your Honour has +such winning ways with you, that one never knows when he is on safe grounds in +setting up to be master.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, this is ever the way with your disorganizers,” muttered the +Rover, just loud enough to be heard by Wilder. “A little more honesty, +than they possess, is just wanted, in order that each may enjoy the faith of +his neighbour. And how did the fellows receive the lenity? Did I well? or must +the morning bring its punishment?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is better as it stands, sir. The people know whose memory is good, +and they talk already of the danger of adding another reckoning to this they +feel certain you have not forgotten. There is the captain of the forecastle, +who is a little bitter, as usual, and the more so just now, on account of the +knock-down he got from the list of the black.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, he is ever troublesome; a settling day must come at last with the +rogue.” +</p> + +<p> +“It will be a small matter to expend him in boat-service sir; and the +ship’s company will be all the better for his absence.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well; no more of him,” interrupted the Rover, a little +impatiently, as if he liked not that his companion should look too deeply into +the policy of his government, so early in his initiation. “I will see to +him. If I mistake not, fellow, you over-acted your own part to-day, and were a +little too forward in leading on the trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope your Honour will remember that the crew had been piped to +mischief; besides, there could be no great harm in washing the powder off a few +marines.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, but you pressed the point after your officer had seen fit to +interfere. Be wary in future, lest you make the acting too true to nature, and +you get applauded in a manner quite as well performed.” +</p> + +<p> +The fellow promised caution and amendment; and then he was dismissed, with his +reward in gold, and with an injunction to be secret in his return. So soon as +the interview was ended, the Rover and Wilder resumed their walk; the former +having made sure that no evesdropper had been at hand to steal into his +mysterious connexion with the spy. The silence was again long, thoughtful, and +deep. +</p> + +<p> +“Good ears” (recommenced the Rover) “are nearly as important, +in a ship like this, as a stout heart. The rogues forward must not be permitted +to eat of the fruit of knowledge, lest we, who are in the cabins, die.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is a perilous service in which we are embarked,” observed his +companion, by a sort of involuntary exposure of his secret thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover remained silent, making many turns across the deck, before he again +opened his lips. When he spoke, it was in a voice so bland and gentle, that his +words sounded more like the admonitory tones of a considerate friend, than like +the language of a man who had long been associated with a set of beings so rude +and unprincipled as those with whom he was now seen. +</p> + +<p> +“You are still on the threshold of your life, Mr Wilder,” he said, +“and it is all before you to choose the path on which you will go. As +yet, you have been present at no violation of what the world calls its laws; +nor is it too late to say you never will be. I may have been selfish in my wish +to gain you; but try me; and you will find that self, though often active, +cannot, nor does not, long hold its dominion over my mind. Say but the word, +and you are free; it is easy to destroy the little evidence which exists of +your having made one of my crew. The land is not far beyond that streak of +fading light; before to-morrow’s sun shall set, your foot may tread +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, why not both? If this irregular life be evil for me, it is the +same for you. Could I hope”— +</p> + +<p> +“What would you say?” calmly demanded the Rover, after waiting +sufficiently long to be sure his companion hesitated to continue. “Speak +freely; your words are for the ears of a friend.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, as a friend will I unbosom myself. You say, the land is here in +the west. It would be easy for you and I, men nurtured on the sea, to lower +this boat into the water; and, profiting by the darkness, long ere our absence +could be known, we should be lost to the eye of any who might seek us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Whither would you steer?” +</p> + +<p> +“To the shores of America, where shelter and peace might be found in a +thousand secret places.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you have a man, who has so long lived a prince among his +followers, become a beggar in a land of strangers?” +</p> + +<p> +“But you have gold. Are we not masters here? Who is there that might dare +even to watch our movements, until we were pleased ourselves to throw off the +authority with which we are clothed? Ere the middle watch was set, all might be +done.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alone! Would you go alone?” +</p> + +<p> +“No—not entirely—that is—it would scarcely become us, +as men, to desert the females to the brutal power of those we should leave +behind.” +</p> + +<p> +“And would it become us, as men, to desert those who put faith in our +fidelity? Mr Wilder, your proposal would make me a villain! Lawless, in the +opinion of the world, have I long been; but a traitor to my faith and plighted +word, never! The hour may come when the beings whose world is in this ship +shall part; but the separation must be open, voluntary, and manly. You never +knew what drew me into the haunts of man, when we first met in the town of +Boston?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never,” returned Wilder, in a tone of deep disappointment +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, and you shall hear. A sturdy follower had fallen into the hands +of the minions of the law. It was necessary to save him. He was a man I little +loved, but he was one who had ever been honest, after his opinions. I could not +desert the victim; nor could any but I effect his escape. Gold and artifice +succeeded; and the fellow is now here, to sing the praises of his Commander to +the crew. Could I forfeit a good name, obtained at so much hazard?” +</p> + +<p> +“You would forfeit the good opinions of knaves, to gain a reputation +among those whose commendations are an honour.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not. You little understand the nature of man, if you are now to +learn that he has pride in maintaining a reputation for even vice, when he has +once purchased notoriety by its exhibition. Besides, I am not fitted for the +world, as it is found among your dependant colonists.” +</p> + +<p> +“You claim your birth, perhaps, in the mother country?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am no better than a poor provincial, sir; an humble satellite of the +mighty sun. You have seen my flags, Mr Wilder:—but there was one wanting +among them all; ay, and one which, had it existed, it would have been my pride, +my glory, to have upheld with my heart’s best blood!” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not what you mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“I need not tell a seaman, like you, how many noble rivers pour their +waters into the sea along this coast of which we have been speaking—how +many wide and commodious havens abound there—or how many sails whiten the +ocean, that are manned by men who first drew breath on that spacious and +peaceful soil.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely I know the advantages of the country you mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear not!” quickly returned the Rover. “Were they known, +as they should be, by you and others like you, the flag I mentioned would soon +be found in every sea; nor would the natives of our country have to succumb to +the hirelings of a foreign prince. +</p> + +<p> +“I will not affect to misunderstand your meaning for I have known others +as visionary as yourself in fancying that such an event may arrive.” +</p> + +<p> +“May!—As certain as that star will settle in the ocean, or that day +is to succeed to night, it <i>must.</i> Had that flag been abroad, Mr Wilder, +no man would have ever heard the name of the Red Rover.” +</p> + +<p> +“The King has a service of his own, and it is open to all his subjects +alike.” +</p> + +<p> +“I could be a subject of a King; but to be the subject of a subject, +Wilder, exceeds the bounds of my poor patience. I was educated, I might almost +have said born, in one of his vessels; and how often have I been made to feel, +in bitterness, that an ocean separated my birth-place from the footstool of his +throne! Would you think it, sir? one of his Commanders dared to couple the name +of my country with an epithet I will not wound your ear by repeating!” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you taught the scoundrel manners.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover faced his companion, and there was a ghastly smile on his speaking +features, as he answered— +</p> + +<p> +“He never repeated the offence! ’Twas his blood or mine; and dearly +did he pay the forfeit of his brutality!” +</p> + +<p> +“You fought like men, and fortune favoured the injured party?” +</p> + +<p> +“We fought, sir.—But I had dared to raise my hand against a native +of the holy isle!—It is enough, Mr Wilder; the King rendered a faithful +subject desperate, and he has had reason to repent it. Enough for the present; +another time I may say more.—Good night.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder saw the figure of his companion descend the ladder to the quarter-deck; +and then was he left to pursue the current of his thoughts, alone, during the +remainder of a watch which to his impatience seemed without an end. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>Chapter XXII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“She made good view of me; indeed so much,<br/> +That sure, methought, her eyes had lost her tongue,<br/> +For she did speak in starts, distractedly.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Twelfth Night.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Though most of the crew of the “Dolphin” slept, either in their +hammocks or among the guns, there were bright and anxious eyes still open in a +different part of the vessel. The Rover had relinquished his cabin to Mrs +Wyllys and Gertrude, from the moment they entered the ship; and we shall shift +the scene to that apartment, (already sufficiently described to render the +reader familiar with the objects it contained), resuming the action of the tale +at an early part of the discourse just related in the preceding chapter. +</p> + +<p> +It will not be necessary to dwell upon the feelings with which the female +inmates of the vessel had witnessed the disturbances of that day; the +conjectures and suspicions to which they gave rise may be apparent in what is +about to follow. A mild, soft light fell from the lamp of wrought and massive +silver that was suspended from the upper deck, obliquely upon the painfully +pensive countenance of the governess, while a few of its strongest rays lighted +the youthful bloom, though less expressive because less meditative lineaments, +of her companion. The background was occupied, like a dark shadow in a picture, +by the dusky form of the slumbering Cassandra. At the moment when we see fit to +lift the curtain on this quiet scene of our drama, the pupil was speaking, +seeking, in the averted eyes of her instructress, that answer to her question +which the tongue of the latter appeared reluctant to accord. +</p> + +<p> +“I repeat, my dearest Madam,” said Gertrude, “that the +fashion of these ornaments, no less than their materials, is extraordinary in a +ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what would you infer from the same?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not. Still I would that we were safe in the house of my +father.” +</p> + +<p> +“God grant it! It may be imprudent to be longer silent.—Gertrude, +frightful, horrible suspicions have been engendered in my mind by what we have +this day witnessed.” +</p> + +<p> +The cheek of the maiden blanched, and the pupil of her soft eye contracted, +with alarm, while she seemed to demand an explanation with every disturbed +lineament of her countenance. +</p> + +<p> +“I have long been familiar with the usages of a vessel of war,” +continued the governess, who had only paused in order to review the causes of +her suspicions in her own mind; “but never have I seen such customs as, +each hour, unfold themselves in this vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of what do you suspect her?” +</p> + +<p> +The look of deep, engrossing, maternal anxiety, that the lovely interrogator +received in reply to this question, might have startled one whose mind had been +more accustomed to muse on the depravity of human nature than the spotless +being who received it; but to Gertrude it conveyed no more than a general and +vague sensation of alarm. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you thus regard me, my governess—my mother?” she +exclaimed, bending forward, and laying a hand imploringly on the arm of the +other, as if she would arouse her from a trance. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I will speak: It is safer that you know the worst, than that your +innocence should be liable to be abused. I distrust the character of this ship, +and of all that belong to her.” +</p> + +<p> +“All!” repeated her pupil, gazing fearfully, and a little wildly, +around. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; of all” +</p> + +<p> +“There may be wicked and evil-intentioned men n his Majesty’s +fleet; but we are surely safe from them, since fear of punishment, if not fear +of disgrace will be our protector.” +</p> + +<p> +“I dread lest we find that the lawless spirits, who harbour here, submit +to no laws except those of their own enacting, nor acknowledge any authority +but that which exists among themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“This would make them pirates!” +</p> + +<p> +“And pirates, I fear, we shall find them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pirates? What! all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Even all. Where one is guilty of such a crime, it is clear that the +associates cannot be free from suspicion.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, dear Madam, we know that one among them, at least, is innocent; +since he came with ourselves and under circumstances that will not admit of +deception.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not. There are different degrees of turpitude, as there are +different tempers to commit it! I fear that all who may lay claim to be honest, +in this vessel, are here assembled.” +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of Gertrude sunk to the floor, and her lips quivered, partly in a +tremour she could not control and perhaps in part through an emotion that she +found inexplicable to herself. +</p> + +<p> +“Since we know whence our late companion came,” she said, in an +under tone, “I think you do him wrong, however right your suspicions may +prove as to the rest.” +</p> + +<p> +“I may be wrong as to him, but it is important that we know the worst. +Command yourself, my love; our attendant ascends; some knowledge of the truth +may be gained from him.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys gave her pupil an expressive sign to compose her features, while she +herself resumed her usual, pensive air, with a calmness of mien that might have +deceived one far more practised than the boy, who now came slowly into the +cabin. Gertrude buried her face in a part of her attire, while the former +addressed the individual who had just entered in a tone equally divided between +kindness and concern. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick, child,” she commenced, “your eyelids are getting +heavy. This service of a ship must be new to you?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is so old as to keep me from sleeping on my watch,” coldly +returned the boy. +</p> + +<p> +“A careful mother would be better for one of your years, than the school +of the boatswain. What is your age, Roderick?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen years enough to be both wiser and better,” he +answered, not without a shade of thought settling on his brow. “Another +month will make me twenty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty! you trifle with my curiosity, urchin.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did I say twenty, Madam! Fifteen would be nearer to the truth.” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe you well. And how many of those years have you passed upon the +water?” +</p> + +<p> +“But two, in truth; though I often think them ten; and yet there are +times when they seem but a day!” +</p> + +<p> +“You are romantic early, boy. And how like you the trade of war?” +</p> + +<p> +“War!” +</p> + +<p> +“Of war. I speak plainly, do I not? Those who serve in a vessel that is +constructed expressly for battle, follow the trade of war.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes; war is certainly our trade.” +</p> + +<p> +“And have you yet seen any of its horrors? Has this ship been in combat +since your service?” +</p> + +<p> +“This ship!” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely this ship: Have you ever sailed in any other?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, it is of this ship that one must question you. Is prize-money +plenty among your crew?” +</p> + +<p> +“Abundant; they never want.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then the vessel and Captain are both favourites. The sailor loves the +ship and Commander that give him an active life.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, Madam; our lives are active here. And some there are among us, too, +who love both ship and Commander.” +</p> + +<p> +“And have you mother, or friend, to profit by your earnings?” +</p> + +<p> +“Have I”— +</p> + +<p> +Struck with the tone of stupor with which the boy responded to her queries, the +governess turned her head, to read, in a rapid glance, the language of his +countenance. He stood in a sort of senseless amazement looking her full in the +face, but with an eye far too vacant to prove that he was sensible of the image +that filled it. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, Roderick,” she continued, careful not to alarm his +jealousy by any sudden allusion to his manner; “tell me of this life of +yours. You find it merry?” +</p> + +<p> +“I find it sad.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis strange. The young ship-boys are ever among the merriest of +mortals. Perhaps your officer treats you with severity.” +</p> + +<p> +No answer was given. +</p> + +<p> +“I am then right: Your Captain is a tyrant?” +</p> + +<p> +“You are wrong: Never has he said harsh or unkind word to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! then he is gentle and kind. You are very happy, Roderick.” +</p> + +<p> +“I—happy, Madam!” +</p> + +<p> +“I speak plainly, and in English—happy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes, we are all very happy here.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is well. A discontented ship is no paradise. And you are often in +port, Roderick, to taste the sweets of the land?” +</p> + +<p> +“I care but little for the land, Madam, could I only have friends in the +ship that love me.” +</p> + +<p> +“And have you not? Is not Mr Wilder your friend?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know but little of him; I never saw him before”— +</p> + +<p> +“When, Roderick?” +</p> + +<p> +“Before we met in Newport.” +</p> + +<p> +“In Newport?” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely you know we both came from Newport, last.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I comprehend you. Then, your acquaintance with Mr Wilder commenced +at Newport? It was while your ship was lying off the fort?” +</p> + +<p> +“It was. I carried him the order to take command of the Bristol trader. +He had only joined us the night before.” +</p> + +<p> +“So lately! It was a young acquaintance indeed. But I suppose your +Commander knew his merits?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is so hoped among the people. But”— +</p> + +<p> +“You were speaking, Roderick.” +</p> + +<p> +“None here dare question the Captain for his reasons. Even <i>I</i> am +obliged to be mute.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even <i>you</i>!” exclaimed Mrs Wyllys, in a surprise that for the +moment overcame her self-restraint. But the thought in which the boy was lost +appeared to prevent his observing the sudden change in her manner. Indeed, so +little did he know what was passing, that the governess touched the hand of +Gertrude, and silently pointed out the insensible figure of the lad, without +the slightest apprehension that the movement would be observed. +</p> + +<p> +“What think you, Roderick,” continued his interrogator “would +he refuse to answer <i>us</i> also?” +</p> + +<p> +The boy started; and, as consciousness shot into his glance, it fell upon the +soft and speaking countenance of Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +“Though her beauty be so rare,” he answered with vehemence, +“let her not prize it too highly. Woman cannot tame his temper!” +</p> + +<p> +“Is he then so hard of heart? Think you that a question from this fair +one would be denied?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hear me, Lady,” he said, with an earnestness that was no less +remarkable than the plaintive softness of the tones in which he spoke; “I +have seen more, in the last two crowded years of my life, than many youths +would witness between childhood and the age of man. This is no place for +innocence and beauty. Oh! quit the ship, if you leave it as you came, without a +deck to lay your head under!” +</p> + +<p> +“It may be too late to follow such advice,” Mrs Wyllys gravely +replied, glancing her eye at the silent Gertrude as she spoke. “But tell +me more of this extraordinary vessel. Roderick, you were not born to fill the +station in which I find you?” +</p> + +<p> +The boy shook his head, but remained with downcast eyes, apparently not +disposed to answer further on such a subject. +</p> + +<p> +“How is it that I find the ‘Dolphin’ bearing different hues +to-day from what she did yesterday? and why is it that neither then, nor now, +does she resemble in her paint, the slaver of Newport harbour?” +</p> + +<p> +“And why is it,” returned the boy, with a smile in which melancholy +struggled powerfully with bitterness “that none can look into the secret +heart of him who makes those changes at will? If all remained the same, but the +paint of the ship, one might still be happy in her!” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, Roderick, you are not happy: Shall I intercede with Captain +Heidegger for your discharge?” +</p> + +<p> +“I could never wish to serve another.” +</p> + +<p> +“How! Do you complain, and yet embrace your fetters?” +</p> + +<p> +“I complain not.” +</p> + +<p> +The governess eyed him closely; and, after a moment’s pause, she +continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“Is it usual to see such riotous conduct among the crew as we have this +day witnessed?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not. You have little to fear from the people; he who brought them +under knows how to keep them down.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are enlisted by order of the King?” +</p> + +<p> +“The King! Yes, he is surely a King who has no equal.” +</p> + +<p> +“But they dared to threaten the life of Mr Wilder. Is a seaman, in a +King’s ship, usually so bold?” +</p> + +<p> +The boy glanced a look at Mrs Wyllys; as if he would say, he understood her +affected ignorance of the character of the vessel, but again he chose to +continue silent. +</p> + +<p> +“Think you, Roderick,” continued the governess, who no longer +deemed it necessary to pursue her covert inquiries on that particular subject; +“think you, Roderick, that the Rov—that is, that Captain Heidegger +will suffer us to land at the first port which offers?” +</p> + +<p> +“Many have been passed since you reached the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, many that are inconvenient; but, when one shall be gained where his +pursuits will allow his ship to enter?” +</p> + +<p> +“Such places are not common.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, should it occur, do you not think he will permit us to land? We +have gold to pay him for his trouble.” +</p> + +<p> +“He cares not for gold. I never ask him for it; that he does not fill my +hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“You must be happy, then. Plenty of gold will compensate for a cold look +at times.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never!” returned the boy, with quickness and energy. “Had I +the ship filled with the dross, I would give it all to bring a look of kindness +into his eye.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys started, no less at the fervid manner of the lad than at the +language. Rising from her seat, she approached nigher to him, and in a +situation where the light of the lamp fell full upon his lineaments. She saw +the large drop that broke out from beneath a long and silken lash, to roll down +a cheek which, though embrowned by the sun, was deepening with a flush that +gradually stole into it, as her own gaze became more settled; and then her eyes +fell slowly and keenly along the person of the lad, until they reached even the +delicate feet, that seemed barely able to uphold him. The usually pensive and +mild countenance of the governess changed to a look of cold regard, and her +whole form appeared to elevate itself, in chaste matronly dignity, as she +sternly asked,— +</p> + +<p> +“Boy, have you a mother?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not,” was the answer that came from lips that scarcely +severed to permit the smothered sounds to escape. +</p> + +<p> +“It is enough; another time I will speak further to you. Cassandra will +in future do the service of this cabin; when I have need of you, the gong shall +be touched.” +</p> + +<p> +The head of Roderick fell nearly to his bosom He shrunk from before that cold +and searching eye which followed his form, until it had disappeared through the +hatch, and whose look was then bent rapidly, and not without a shade of alarm, +on the face of the wondering but silent Gertrude. +</p> + +<p> +A gentle tap at the door broke in upon the flood of reflection which was +crowding on the mind of the governess. She gave the customary answer; and, +before time was allowed for any interchange of ideas between her and her pupil, +the Rover entered. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>Chapter XXIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“I melt, and am not of stronger earth than others.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Coriolanus</i> +</p> + +<p> +The females received their visiter with a restraint which will be easily +understood when the subject of their recent conversation is recollected. The +sinking of Gertrude’s form was deep and hurried, but her governess +maintained the coldness of her air with greater self-composure. Still, there +was a gleaming of powerful anxiety in the watchful glance that she threw +towards her guest, as though she would divine the motive of the visit by the +wanderings of his changeful eye, even before his lips had parted in the +customary salute. +</p> + +<p> +The countenance of the Rover himself was thoughtful to gravity. He bowed as he +came within the influence of the lamp, and his voice was heard muttering some +low and hasty syllables, that conveyed no meaning to the ears of his listeners. +Indeed, so great was the abstraction in which he was lost, that he had +evidently prepared to throw his person on the vacant divan, without explanation +or apology, like one who took possession of his own; though recollection +returned just in time to prevent this breach of decorum. Smiling, and repeating +his bow, with a still deeper inclination, he advanced with perfect +self-possession to the table, where he expressed his fears that Mrs Wyllys +might deem his visit unseasonable or perhaps not announced with sufficient +ceremony. During this short introduction his voice was bland as woman’s, +and his mien courteous, as though he actually felt himself an intruder in the +cabin of a vessel in which he was literally a monarch. +</p> + +<p> +“But, unseasonable as is the hour,” he continued, “I should +have gone to my cott with a consciousness of not having discharged all the +duties of an attentive and considerate host, had I forgotten to reassure you of +the tranquillity of the ship, after the scene you have this day witnessed. I +have pleasure in saying, that the humour of my people is already expended, and +that lambs, in their nightly folds, are not more placid than they are at this +minute in their hammocks.” +</p> + +<p> +“The authority that so promptly quelled the disturbance is happily ever +present to protect us,” returned the cautious governess; “we repose +entirely on your discretion and generosity.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have not misplaced your confidence. From the danger of mutiny, at +least, you are exempt.” +</p> + +<p> +“And from all others, I trust.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is a wild and fickle element we dwell on,” he answered, while +he bowed an acknowledgment for the politeness, and took the seat to which the +other invited him by a motion of the hand; “but you know its character, +and need not be told that we seamen are seldom certain of any of our movements +I loosened the cords of discipline myself to-day,” he added, after a +moment’s pause, “and in some measure invited the broil that +followed: But it is passed, like the hurricane and the squall; and the ocean is +not now smoother than the tempers of my knaves.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have often witnessed these rude sports in vessels of the King; but I +do not remember to have known any more serious result than the settlement of +some ancient quarrel, or some odd freak of nautical humour, which has commonly +proved as harmless as it has been quaint.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay; but the ship which often runs the hazards of the shoals gets wrecked +at last,” muttered the Rover “I rarely give the quarter-deck up to +the people, without keeping a vigilant watch on their humours; +but—to-day”—— +</p> + +<p> +“You were speaking of to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Neptune, with his coarse devices, is no stranger to you, Madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen the God in times past.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Twas thus I understood it;—under the line?” +</p> + +<p> +“And elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Elsewhere!” repeated the other, in a tone of disappointment. +“Ay, the sturdy despot is to be found in every sea; and hundreds of +ships, and ships of size too, are to be seen scorching in the calms of the +equator. It was idle to give the subject a second thought.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have been pleased to observe something that has escaped my +ear.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover started; for he had rather muttered than spoken the preceding +sentence aloud. Casting a swift and searching glance around him, as it might be +to assure himself that no impertinent listener had found means to pry into the +mysteries of a mind he seldom saw fit to lay open to the free examination of +his associates, he regained his self-possession on the instant, and resumed the +discourse with a manner as undisturbed as if it had received no interruption. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I had forgotten that your sex is often as timorous as it is +fair,” he added, with a smile so insinuating and gentle, that the +governess cast an involuntary and uneasy glance towards her charge, “or I +might have been earlier with my assurance of safety.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is welcome even now.” +</p> + +<p> +“And your young and gentle friend,” he continued, bowing openly to +Gertrude, though he still addressed his words to the governess; “her +slumbers will not be the heavier for what has passed.” +</p> + +<p> +“The innocent seldom find an uneasy pillow.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is a holy and unsearchable mystery in that truth: The innocent +pillow their heads in quiet! Would to God the guilty might find some refuge, +too, against the sting of thought! But we live in a world, and a time, when men +cannot be sure even of themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +He then paused, and looked about him, with a smile so haggard, that the anxious +governess unconsciously drew nigher to her pupil, like one who sought, and was +willing to yield, protection against the uncertain designs of a maniac. Her +visiter, however, remained in a silence so long and deep, that she felt the +necessity of removing the awkward embarrassment of their situation, by speaking +herself. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you find Mr Wilder as much inclined to mercy as yourself?” she +asked. “There would be merit in his forbearance, since he appeared to be +the particular object of the anger of the mutineers.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet you saw he was not without his friends. You witnessed the +devotion of the men who stood forth in his behalf?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did: and find it remarkable that he should have been able, in so short +a time, to conquer thus completely two so stubborn natures.” +</p> + +<p> +“Four-and-twenty years make not an acquaintance of a day!” +</p> + +<p> +“And does their friendship bear so old a date?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have heard that time counted between them. It is very certain the +youth is bound to those uncouth companions of his by some extraordinary tie. +Perhaps this is not the first of their services.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys looked grieved. Although prepared to believe that Wilder was a +secret agent of the Rover, she had endeavoured to hope his connexion with the +freebooters was susceptible of some explanation more favourable to his +character. However he might be implicated in the common guilt of those who +pursued the hazards of the reckless fortunes of that proscribed ship, it was +evident he bore a heart too generous to wish to see her, and her young and +guileless charge, the victims of the licentiousness of his associates. His +repeated and mysterious warnings no longer needed explanation. Indeed, all that +had been dark and inexplicable, both in the previous and unaccountable +glimmerings of her own mind, and in the extraordinary conduct of the inmates of +the ship, was at each instant becoming capable of solution. She now remembered, +in the person and countenance of the Rover, the form and features of the +individual who had spoken the passing Bristol trader, from the rigging of the +slaver—a form which had unaccountably haunted her imagination, during her +residence in his ship, like an image recalled from some dim and distant period. +Then she saw at once the difficulty that Wilder might prove in laying open a +secret in which not only his life was involved, but which, to a mind that was +not hardened in vice, involved a penalty not less severe—that of the loss +of their esteem. In short, a good deal of that which the reader has found no +difficulty in comprehending was also becoming clear to the faculties of the +governess though much still remained obscured in doubts, that she could neither +solve nor yet entirely banish from her thoughts. On all these several points +she had leisure to cast a rapid glance; for her guest, or host, whichever he +might be called, seemed in nowise disposed to interrupt her short and +melancholy reverie. +</p> + +<p> +“It is wonderful,” Mrs Wyllys at length resumed, “that beings +so uncouth should be influenced by the same attachments as those which unite +the educated and the refined.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is wonderful, as you say,” returned the other like one +awakening from a dream. “I would give a thousand of the brightest guineas +that ever came from the mint of George II. to know the private history of that +youth.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is he then a stranger to you?” demanded Gertrude with the +quickness of thought. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover turned an eye on her, that was vacant for the moment, but into which +consciousness and expression began to steal as he gazed, until the foot of the +governess was visibly trembling with the nervous excitement that pervaded her +entire frame. +</p> + +<p> +“Who shall pretend to know the heart of man!” he answered, again +inclining his head as it might be in acknowledgment of her perfect right to far +deeper homage. “All are strangers, till we can read their most secret +thoughts.” +</p> + +<p> +“To pry into the mysteries of the human mind, is a privilege which few +possess,” coldly remarked the governess. “The world must be often +tried, and thoroughly known, before we may pretend to judge of the motives of +any around us.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet it is a pleasant world to those who have the heart to make it +merry,” cried the Rover, with one of those startling transitions which +marked his manner. “To him who is stout enough to follow the bent of his +humour, all is easy. Do you know, that the true secret of the philosopher is +not in living for ever, but in living while you may. He who dies at fifty, +after a fill of pleasure, has had more of life than he who drags his feet +through a century, bearing the burden of the world’s caprices, and afraid +to speak above his breath, lest, forsooth, his neighbour should find that his +words were evil.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet are there some who find their pleasure in pursuing the practices +of virtue.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis lovely in your sex to say it,” he answered with an air +that the sensitive governess fancied was gleaming with the growing +licentiousness of a free booter. She would now gladly have, dismissed her +visiter; but a certain flashing of the eye, and a manner that was becoming gay +by a species of unnatural effort, admonished her of the danger of offending one +who acknowledged no law but his own will. Assuming a tone and a manner that +were kind, while they upheld the dignity of her sex, and pointing to sundry +instruments of music that formed part of the heterogeneous furniture of the +cabin, she adroitly turned the discourse, by saying,— +</p> + +<p> +“One whose mind can be softened by harmony and whose feelings are so +evidently alive to the in fluence of sweet sounds, should not decry the +pleasures of virtue. This flute, and yon guitar, both call you master.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, because of these flimsy evidences about my person, you are willing +to give me credit for the accomplishments you mention! Here is another mistake +of miserable mortality! Seeming is the everyday robe of honesty. Why not give +me credit for kneeling, morning and night, before yon glittering bauble?” +he added, pointing to the diamond crucifix which hung, as usual, near the door +of his own apartment. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope, at least, that the Being, whose memory is intended to be revived +by that image, is not without your homage. In the pride of his strength and +prosperity, man may think lightly of the consolations that can flow from a +power superior to humanity: but those who have oftenest proved their value feel +deepest the reverence which is their due.” +</p> + +<p> +The look of the governess had been averted from her companion; but, filled with +the profound sentiment she uttered, her mild reflecting eye turned to him +again, as, in a tone that was subdued, in respect for the mighty Being whose +attributes filled her mind, she uttered the above simple sentiment. The gaze +she met was earnest and thoughtful as her own. Lifting a finger he laid it on +her arm, with a motion so light as to be scarcely perceptible, while he +asked,— +</p> + +<p> +“Think you we are to blame, if our temperaments incline more to evil than +power is given to resist?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is only those who attempt to walk the path of life alone that +stumble. I shall not offend your manhood if I ask, do you never commune with +your God?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is long since that name has been heard in this vessel, Lady, except +to aid in that miserable scoffing and profanity which simpler language made too +dull, But what is He, that unknown Deity, more than what man, in his ingenuity, +has seen fit to make him?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God,’” +she answered, in a voice so firm, that it startled even the ears of one so long +accustomed to the turbulence and grandeur of his wild profession. +“‘Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and +answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? +Declare if thou hast understanding.’” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover gazed long and silently on the flushed countenance of the speaker. +Bending his face in an unconscious manner aside, he said aloud, evidently +rather giving utterance to his thoughts than pursuing the discourse,— +</p> + +<p> +“Now, is there nothing more in this than what I have often heard, and yet +does it come over my feelings with the freshness of native air!” Then +rising, he approached his mild and dignified companion, adding, in tones but +little above a whisper, “Lady repeat those words; change not a syllable, +nor vary the slightest intonation of the voice, I pray thee.” +</p> + +<p> +Though amazed, and secretly alarmed at the request, Mrs Wyllys complied; +delivering the holy language of the inspired writers with a fervour that found +its support in the strength of her own emotions. Her auditor listened like a +being enthralled. For near a minute, neither eye nor attitude was changed, but +he stood at the feet of her who had so simply and so powerfully asserted the +majesty of God, as motionless as the mast that rose behind him through the +decks of that vessel which he had so long devoted to the purposes of his +lawless life. It was long after her accents had ceased to fall on his ear, that +he drew a deep respiration, and once again opened his lips to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“This is re-treading the path of life at a stride.” he said, +suffering his hand to fall upon that of his companion. “I know not why +pulses, which in common are like iron, beat so wildly and irregularly now. +Lady, this little and feeble hand might check a temper that has so often braved +the power of”— +</p> + +<p> +His words suddenly ceased; for, as his eye unconsciously followed his hand, it +rested on the still delicate, but no longer youthful, member of the governess +Drawing a sigh, like one who felt himself awakened from an agreeable though +complete illusion he turned away, leaving his sentence unfinished. +</p> + +<p> +“You would have music!” he recklessly exclaimed aloud. “Then +music shall be heard, though its symphony be rung upon a gong!” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the wayward and vacillating being we have been attempting to +describe struck the instrument he named three blows, so quick and powerfully, +as to drown all other sensations in the confusion produced by the echoing din. +Though deeply mortified that he had so quickly escaped from the influence she +had partially acquired, and secretly displeased at the unceremonious manner in +which he had seen fit to announce his independence again, the governess was +aware of the necessity of concealing her sentiments. +</p> + +<p> +“This is certainly not the harmony I invited,” she said, so soon as +the overwhelming sounds had ceased to fill the ship; “nor do I think it +of a quality to favour the slumbers of those who seek their rest.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fear nothing for them. The seaman sleeps with his ear near the port +whence the cannon bellows, and awakes at the call of the boatswain’s +whistle. He is too deeply schooled in habit, to think he has heard more than a +note of the flute; stronger and fuller than common, if you will, but still a +sound that has no interest for him. Another tap would have sounded the alarm of +fire; but these three touches say no more than music. It was the signal for the +band. The night is still, and favourable for their art, and we will listen to +sweet sounds awhile.” +</p> + +<p> +His words were scarcely uttered before the low chords of wind instruments were +heard without, where the men had probably stationed themselves by some previous +order of their Captain. The Rover smiled, as if he exulted in this prompt proof +of the sort of despotic or rather magical power he wielded; and, throwing his +form on the divan, he sat listening to the sounds which followed. +</p> + +<p> +The strains which now rose upon the night, and which spread themselves soft and +melodiously abroad upon the water, would in truth have done credit to far more +regular artists. The air was wild and melancholy and perhaps it was the more in +accordance with the present humour of the man for whose ear it was created. +Then, losing the former character the whole power of the music was concentrated +in softer and still gentler sounds, as if the genius who had given birth to the +melody had been pouring out the feelings of his soul in pathos. The temper of +the Rover’s mind answered to the changing expression of the music; and, +when the strains were sweetest and most touching, he even bowed his head like +one who wept. +</p> + +<p> +Though secretly under the influence of the harmony themselves, Mrs Wyllys and +her pupil could but gaze on the singularly constituted being into whose hands +their evil fortune had seen fit to cast them. The former was filled with +admiration at the fearful contrariety of those passions which could reveal +themselves, in the same individual, under so very different and so dangerous +forms; while the latter, judging with the indulgence and sympathy of her years, +was willing to believe that a man whose emotions could be thus easily and +kindly excited was rather the victim of circumstances than the creator of his +own luckless fortune. +</p> + +<p> +“There is Italy in those strains,” said the Rover, when the last +chord had died upon his ear; “sweet, indolent, luxurious, forgetful +Italy! It has never been your chance, Madam, to visit that land, so mighty in +its recollections, and so impotent in its actual condition?” +</p> + +<p> +The governess made no reply; but, bowing her head, in turn, her companions +believed she was submitting also to the influence of the music. At length, as +though impelled by another changeful impulse, the Rover advanced towards +Gertrude, and, addressing her with a courtesy that would have done credit to a +very different scene, he said, in the laboured language that characterised the +politeness of the age,— +</p> + +<p> +“One who in common speaks music should not have neglected the gifts of +nature. You sing?” +</p> + +<p> +Had Gertrude possessed the power he affected to believe, her voice would have +denied its services at his call. Bending to his compliment, she murmured her +apologies in words that were barely audible. He listened intently; but, without +pressing a point that it was easy to see was unwelcome, he turned away, gave +the gong a light but startling tap. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick,” he continued, when the gentle foot step of the lad was +heard upon the stairs that led into the cabin below, “do you +sleep?” +</p> + +<p> +The answer was slow and smothered; and, of course, in the negative. +</p> + +<p> +“Apollo was not absent at the birth of Roderick, Madam. The lad can raise +such sounds as have been known to melt the stubborn feelings of a seaman. Go, +place yourself by the cabin door, good Roderick, and bid the music run a low +accompaniment to your words.” +</p> + +<p> +The boy obeyed, stationing his slight form so much in shadow, that the +expression of his working countenance was not visible to those who sat within +the stronger light of the lamp. The instruments then commenced a gentle +symphony, which was soon ended; and twice had they begun the air, but still no +voice was heard to mingle in the harmony. +</p> + +<p> +“Words, Roderick, words; we are but dull interpreters of the meaning of +yon flutes.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus admonished of his duty, the boy began to sing in a full, rich contralto +voice, which betrayed a tremour, however, that evidently formed no part of the +air. His words, so far as they might be distinguished, ran as follows:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“The land was lying broad and fair<br/> +Behind the western sea;<br/> +And holy solitude was there,<br/> +And sweetest liberty.<br/> +<br/> +The lingering sun, at ev’ning, hung<br/> +A glorious orb, divinely beaming<br/> +On silent lake and tree;<br/> +And ruddy light was o’er all streaming,<br/> +Mark, man! for thee;<br/> +O’er valley, lake, and tree!<br/> +<br/> +And now a thousand maidens stray,<br/> +Or range the echoing groves;<br/> +While, flutt’ring near, on pinions gay,<br/> +Fan twice ten thousand loves,<br/> +In that soft clime, at even time,<br/> +Hope says”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Enough of this, Roderick,” impatiently interrupted his master. +“There is too much of the Corydon in that song for the humour of a +manner. Sing us of the sea and its pleasures, boy; and roll out the strains in +such a fashion as may suit a sailor’s fancy.” +</p> + +<p> +The lad continued mute, perhaps in disinclination to the task, perhaps from +utter inability to comply. +</p> + +<p> +“What, Roderick! does the muse desert thee? or is memory getting dull? +You see the child is wilful in his melody, and must sing of loves and sunshine +or he fails. Now touch us a stronger chord my men, and put life into your +cadences, while I troll a sea air for the honour of the ship.” +</p> + +<p> +The band took the humour of the moment from their master, (for surely he well +deserved the name), sounding a powerful and graceful symphony, to prepare the +listeners for the song of the Rover. Those treacherous and beguiling tones +which so often stole into his voice when, speaking, did not mislead expectation +as to its powers. It proved to be at the same time rich, full, deep, and +melodious. Favoured by these material advantages, and aided by an exquisite +ear, he rolled out the following stanzas in a manner that was singularly +divided between that of the reveller and the man of sentiment. The words were +probably original; for they both smacked strongly of his own profession, and +were not entirely without a touch of the peculiar taste of the individual +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +All hands, unmoor! unmoor<br/> +Hark to the hoarse, but welcome sound,<br/> +Startling the seaman’s sweetest slumbers.<br/> +The groaning capstan’s labouring round,<br/> +The cheerful fife’s enliv’ning numbers;.<br/> +And ling’ring idlers join the brawl,<br/> +And merry ship-boys swell the call,<br/> +All hands, unmoor! unmoor!<br/> +<br/> +The cry is, “A sail! a sail!”<br/> +Brace high each nerve to dare the fight,<br/> +And boldly steer to seek the foeman;<br/> +One secret prayer to aid the right,<br/> +And many a secret thought to woman<br/> +Now spread the flutt’ring canvas wide,<br/> +And dash the foaming sea aside;<br/> +The cry’s, “A sail! a sail!”<br/> +<br/> +Three cheers for victory!<br/> +Hush’d be each plaint o’er fallen brave;<br/> +Still ev’ry sigh to messmate given;<br/> +The seaman’s tomb is in the wave;<br/> +The hero’s latest hope is heaven!<br/> +High lift the voice in revelry!<br/> +Gay raise the song, the shout, the glee;<br/> +Three cheers for victory! +</p> + +<p> +So soon as he had ended this song, and without waiting to listen if any words +of compliment were to succeed an effort that might lay claim to great +excellence both in tones and execution, he arose; and, desiring his guests to +command the services of his band at pleasure, he wished them “soft repose +and pleasant dreams,” and then coolly descended into the lower +apartments, apparently for the night. Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude, notwithstanding +both had been amused, or rather seduced, by the interest thrown around a manner +that was so wayward, while it was never gross, felt a sensation, as he +disappeared, like that produced by breathing a freer air, after having been too +long compelled to respire the pent atmosphere of a dungeon. The former regarded +her pupil with eyes in which open affection struggled with deep inward +solicitude; but neither spoke, since a slight movement near the door of the +cabin reminded them they were not alone. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you have further music, Madam?” asked Roderick, in a +smothered voice, stealing timidly out of the shadow as he spoke; “I will +sing you to sleep if you will; but I am choaked when he bids me thus be merry +against my feelings.” +</p> + +<p> +The brow of the governess had already contracted, and she was evidently +preparing herself to give a stern and repulsive answer; but, as the plaintive +tones, and shrinking, submissive form of the other, pleaded strongly to her +heart, the frown passed away, leaving in its place a mild reproving look, like +that which chastens the frown of maternal concern. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick,” she said, “I thought we should have seen you no +more to-night!” +</p> + +<p> +“You heard the gong. Although he can be so gay, and can raise such +thrilling sounds in his pleasanter moments, you have never yet listened to him +in anger.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is his anger, then, so very fearful?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps to me it is more frightful than to others, but I find nothing so +terrible as a word of his, when his mind is moody.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is then harsh to you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never.” +</p> + +<p> +“You contradict yourself, Roderick. He is, and he is not. Have you not +said how terrible you find his moody language?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; for I find it changed. Once he was never thoughtful, or out of +humour, but latterly he is not himself.” +</p> + +<p> +Mrs Wyllys did not answer. The language of the boy was certainly much more +intelligible to herself than to her young and attentive, but unsuspecting, +companion; for, while she motioned to the lad to retire, Gertrude manifested a +desire to gratify the curious interest she felt in the life and manners of the +freebooter. The signal, however, was authoritatively repeated, and the lad +slowly, and quite evidently with reluctance, withdrew. +</p> + +<p> +The governess and her pupil then retired into their own state-room; and, after +devoting many minutes to those nightly offerings and petitions which neither +ever suffered any circumstances to cause them to neglect, they slept in the +consciousness of innocence and in the hope of an all-powerful protection. +Though the bell of the ship regularly sounded the hours throughout the watches +of the night, scarcely another sound arose, during the darkness, to disturb the +calm which seemed to have settled equally on the ocean and all that floated on +its bosom. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>Chapter XXIV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“But, for the miracle,<br/> +I mean our preservation, few in millions<br/> +Can speak like us.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Tempest.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The “Dolphin” might well have been likened to a slumbering beast of +prey, during those moments of treacherous calm. But as nature limits the period +of repose to the creatures of the animal world, so it would seem that the +inactivity of the freebooters was not doomed to any long continuance. With the +morning sun a breeze came over the water, breathing the flavour of the land, to +set the sluggish ship again in motion. Throughout all that day, with a wide +reach of canvas spreading along her booms, her course was held towards the +south. Watch succeeded watch, and night came after day, and still no change was +made in her direction. Then the blue islands were seen heaving up, one after +another, out of the sea. The prisoners of the Rover, for thus the females were +now constrained to consider themselves, silently watched each hillock of green +that the vessel glided past, each naked and sandy key, or each mountain side, +until, by the calculations of the governess, they were already steering amid +the western Archipelago. +</p> + +<p> +During all this time no question was asked which in the smallest manner +betrayed to the Rover the consciousness of his guests that he was not +conducting them towards the promised port of the Continent. Gertrude wept over +the sorrow her father would feel, when he should believe her fate involved in +that of the unfortunate Bristol trader; but her tears flowed in private, or +were freely poured upon the sympathizing bosom of her governess. Wilder she +avoided, with an intuitive consciousness that he was no longer the character +she had wished to believe, but to all in the ship she struggled to maintain an +equal air and a serene eye. In this deportment, far safer than any impotent +entreaties might have proved, she was strongly supported by her governess, +whose knowledge of mankind had early taught her that virtue was never so +imposing, in the moments of trial, as when it knew best how to maintain its +equanimity. On the other hand, both the Commander of the ship and his +lieutenant sought no other communication with the inmates of the cabin, than +courtesy appeared absolutely to require. +</p> + +<p> +The former, as though repenting already of having laid so bare the capricious +humours of his mind, drew gradually into himself, neither seeking nor +permitting familiarity with any; while the latter appeared perfectly conscious +of the constrained mien of the governess, and of the altered though still +pitying eye of her pupil. Little explanation was necessary to acquaint Wilder +with the reasons of this change. Instead of seeking the means to vindicate his +character, however, he rather imitated their reserve. Little else was wanting +to assure his former friends of the nature of his pursuits; for even Mrs Wyllys +admitted to her charge, that he acted like one in whom depravity had not yet +made such progress as to have destroyed that consciousness which is ever the +surest test of innocence. +</p> + +<p> +We shall not detain the narrative, to dwell upon the natural regrets in which +Gertrude indulged, as this sad conviction forced itself upon her understanding, +nor to relate the gentle wishes in which she did not think it wrong to indulge, +that one, who certainly was master of so many manly and generous qualities, +might soon be made to see the error of his life, and to return to a course for +which even her cold and nicely judging governess allowed nature had so +eminently endowed him. Perhaps the kind emotions that had been awakened in her +bosom, by the events of the last fortnight, were not content to exhibit +themselves in wishes alone, and that petitions more personal, and even more +fervent than common, mingled in her prayers; but this is a veil which it is not +our province to raise, the heart of one so pure and so ingenuous being the best +repository for its own gentle feelings. +</p> + +<p> +For several days the ship had been contending with the unvarying winds of those +regions. Instead of struggling, however, like a cumbered trader, to gain some +given port, the “Rover” suddenly altered her course, and glided +through one of the many passages that offered, with the ease of a bird that is +settling swiftly to its nest. A hundred different sails were seen steering +among the islands, but all were avoided alike; the policy of the freebooters +teaching them the necessity of moderation, in a sea so crowded with vessels of +war. After the vessel had shot through one of the straits which divide the +chain of the Antilles, she issued in safety on the more open sea which +separates them from the Spanish Main. The moment the passage was effected, and +a broad and clear horizon was seen stretching on every side of them, a manifest +alteration occurred in the mien of every individual of the crew. The brow of +the Rover himself lost its contraction; and the look of care, which had wrapped +the whole man in a mantle of reserve, disappeared, leaving him the reckless +wayward being we have more than once described. Even the men, whose vigilance +had needed no quickening in running the gauntlet of the cruisers which were +known to swarm in the narrower seas, appeared to breathe a freer air, and +sounds of merriment and thoughtless gaiety were once more heard in a place over +which the gloom of distrust had been so long and so heavily cast. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, the governess saw new ground for uneasiness in the course +the vessel was taking. While the islands were in view, she had hoped, and +surely not without reason, that their captor only awaited a suitable occasion +to place them in safety within the influence of the laws of some of the +colonial governments. Her own observation told her there was so much of what +was once good, if not noble, mingled with the lawlessness of the two principal +individuals in the vessel, that she saw nothing that was visionary in such an +expectation. Even the tales of the time, which recounted the desperate acts of +the freebooter, with not a little of wild and fanciful exaggeration, did not +forget to include numberless striking instances of marked, and even chivalrous +generosity. In short, he bore the character of one who, while he declared +himself the enemy of all, knew how to distinguish between the weak and the +strong, and who often found as much gratification in repairing the wrongs of +the former, as in humbling the pride of the latter. +</p> + +<p> +But all her agreeable anticipations from this quarter were forgotten when the +last island of the groupe sunk into the sea behind them, and the ship lay alone +on an ocean which showed not another object above its surface. As if now ready +to lay aside the mask the Rover ordered the sails to be reduced, and, +neglecting the favourable breeze, the vessel to be brought to the wind. In a +word, as if no object called for the immediate attention of her crew, the +“Dolphin” came to a stand, in the midst of the water her officers +and people abandoning themselves to their pleasures, or to idleness, as whim or +inclination dictated. +</p> + +<p> +“I had hoped that your convenience would have permitted us to land in +some of his Majesty’s islands,” said Mrs Wyllys, speaking for the +first time since her suspicions had been awakened on the subject of her +quitting the ship, and addressing her words to the self-styled Captain +Heidegger, just after the order to heave-to the vessel had been obeyed. +“I fear you find it irksome to be so long dispossessed of your +cabin.” +</p> + +<p> +“It cannot be better occupied,” he rather evasively replied; though +the observant and anxious governess fancied his eye was bolder, and his air +under less restraint, than when she had before dwelt on the same topic. +“If custom did not require that a ship should wear the colours of some +people, mine should always sport those of the fair.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, as it is?”—— +</p> + +<p> +“As it is, I hoist the emblems that belong to the service I am in.” +</p> + +<p> +“In fifteen days, that you have been troubled with my presence, it has +never been my good fortune to see those colours set.” +</p> + +<p> +“No!” exclaimed the Rover, glancing his eye at her, as if to +penetrate her thoughts: “Then shall the uncertainty cease on the +sixteenth.—Who’s there, abaft?” +</p> + +<p> +“No one better nor worse than Richard Fid,” returned the individual +in question, lifting his head from out a locker, into which it had been thrust, +as though its owner searched for some mislaid implement, and who added a little +quickly, when he ascertained by whom he was addressed, “and always at +your Honour’s orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! ’Tis the friend of <i>our</i> friend,” the Rover +observed to Mrs Wyllys, with an emphasis which the other understood. “He +shall be my interpreter. Come hither, lad; I have a word to exchange with +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“A thousand at your service, sir,” returned Richard unhesitatingly +complying; “for, though no great talker, I have always something +uppermost in my mind, which can be laid hold of at need.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope you find that your hammock swings easily in my ship?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not deny it, your Honour; for an easier craft, especially +upon a bow-line, might be hard to find.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the cruise?—I hope you also find the cruise such as a seaman +loves.” +</p> + +<p> +“D’ye see, sir, I was sent from home with little schooling, and so +I seldom make so free as to pretend to read the Captain’s orders.” +</p> + +<p> +“But still you have your inclinations,” said Mrs. Wyllys, firmly, +as though determined to push the investigation even further than her companion +had intended. +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t say that I’m wanting in natural feeling, your +Ladyship,” returned Fid, endeavouring to manifest his admiration of the +sex, by the awkward bow he made to the governess as its representative, +“tho’f crosses and mishaps have come athwart me as well as better +men. I thought as strong a splice was laid, between me and Kate Whiffle, as was +ever turned into a sheet-cable; but then came the law, with its regulations and +shipping articles, luffing short athwart my happiness, and making a wreck at +once of all the poor girl’s hopes, and a Flemish account of my +comfort.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was proved that she had another husband?” said the Rover, +nodding his head, understandingly. +</p> + +<p> +“Four, your Honour. The girl had a love of company, and it grieved her to +the heart to see an empty house: But then, as it was seldom more than one of us +could be in port at a time, there was no such need to make the noise they did +about the trifle. But envy did it all, sir; envy, and the greediness of the +land-sharks. Had every woman in the parish as many husbands as Kate, the devil +a bit would they have taken up the precious time of judge and jury, in looking +into the manner in which a wench like her kept a quiet household.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, since that unfortunate repulse, you have kept yourself altogether +out of the hands of matrimony?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay; <i>since</i>, your Honour,” returned Fid, giving his +Commander another of those droll looks, in which a peculiar cunning struggled +with a more direct and straight-going honesty, “<i>since</i>, as you say +rightly, sir; though they talked of a small matter of a bargain that I had made +with another woman, myself; but, in overhauling the affair, they found, that, +as the shipping articles with poor Kate wouldn’t hold together, why, they +could make nothing at all of me; so I was white-washed like a queen’s +parlour and sent adrift.” +</p> + +<p> +“And all this occurred after your acquaintance with Mr Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“Afore, your Honour; afore. I was but a younker in the time of it, seeing +that it is four-and-twenty years, come May next, since I have been towing at +the stern of master Harry. But then, as I have had a sort of family of my own, +since that day, why, the less need, you know, to be birthing myself again in +any other man’s hammock.” +</p> + +<p> +“You were saying, it is four-and-twenty years,” interrupted Mrs +Wyllys, “since you made the acquaintance of Mr Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“Acquaintance! Lord, my Lady, little did he know of acquaintances at that +time; though, bless him! the lad has had occasion to remember it often enough +since.” +</p> + +<p> +“The meeting of two men, of so singular merit, must have been somewhat +remarkable,” observed the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“It was, for that matter, remarkable enough, your Honour; though, as to +the merit, notwithstanding master Harry is often for overhauling that part of +the account, I’ve set it down for just nothing at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“I confess, that, in a case where two men, both of whom are so well +qualified to judge, are of different opinions, I feel at a loss to know which +can have the right. Perhaps, by the aid of the facts, I might form a truer +judgment.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your Honour forgets the Guinea, who is altogether of my mind in the +matter, seeing no great merit in the thing either. But, as you are saying, sir, +reading the log is the only true way to know how fast a ship can go; and so, if +this Lady and your Honour have a mind to come at the truth of the affair why, +you have only to say as much, and I will put it all before you in creditable +language.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! there is reason in your proposition,” returned the Rover, +motioning to his companion to follow to a part of the poop where they were less +exposed to the observations of inquisitive eyes. “Now, place the whole +clearly before us; and then you may consider the merits of the question +disposed of definitively.” +</p> + +<p> +Fid was far from discovering the smallest reluctance to enter on the required +detail; and, by the time he had cleared his throat, freshened his supply of the +weed, and otherwise disposed himself to proceed Mrs Wyllys had so far conquered +her reluctance to pry clandestinely into the secrets of others, as to yield to +a curiosity which she found unconquerable and to take the seat to which her +companion invited her by a gesture of his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“I was sent early to sea, your Honour, by my father,” commenced +Fid, after these little preliminaries had been duly observed, “who was, +like myself, a man that passed more of his time on the water than on dry +ground; though, as he was nothing more than a fisherman, he generally kept the +land aboard which is, after all, little better than living on it altogether +Howsomever, when I went, I made a broad offing at once, fetching up on the +other side of the Horn, the very first passage I made; which was no small +journey for a new beginner; but then, as I was only eight years +old”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Eight! you are now speaking of yourself,” interrupted the +disappointed governess. +</p> + +<p> +“Certain, Madam; and, though genteeler people might be talked of, it +would be hard to turn the conversation on any man who knows better how to rig +or how to strip a ship. I was beginning at the right end of my story; but, as I +fancied your Ladyship might not choose to waste time in hearing concerning my +father and mother, I cut the matter short, by striking in at eight years old, +overlooking all about my birth and name, and such other matters as are usually +logged, in a fashion out of all reason, in your everyday sort of +narratives.” +</p> + +<p> +“Proceed,” she rejoined, with a species of compelled resignation. +</p> + +<p> +“My mind is pretty much like a ship that is about to slip off its +ways,” resumed Fid. “If she makes a fair start, and there is +neither jam nor dry-rub, smack see goes into the water, like a sail let run in +a calm; but, if she once brings up, a good deal of labour is to be gone through +to set her in motion again. Now, in order to wedge up my ideas, and to get the +story slushed, so that I can slip through it with ease, it is needful to +overrun the part which I have just let go; which is, how my father was a +fisherman, and how I doubled the Horn—Ah! here I have it again, clear of +kinks, fake above fake, like a well-coiled cable; so that I can pay it out as +easily as the boatswain’s yeoman can lay his hand on a bit of ratling +stuff. Well, I doubled the Horn, as I was saying, and might have been the +matter of four years cruising about among the islands and seas of those parts, +which were none of the best known then, or for that matter, now. After this, I +served in his Majesty’s fleet a whole war, and got as much honour as I +could stow beneath hatches. Well, then, I fell in with the Guinea—the +black, my Lady, that you see turning in a new clue-garnet-block for the +starboard clue of the fore-course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay; then you fell in with the African,” said the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“Then we made our acquaintance; and, although his colour is no whiter +than the back of a whale, I care not who knows it, after master Harry, there is +no man living who has an honester way with him, or in whose company I take +greater satisfaction. To be sure, your Honour, the fellow is something +contradictory and has a great opinion of his strength and thinks his equal is +not to be found at a weather-earing or in the bunt of a topsail; but then he is +no better than a black, and one is not to be too particular in looking into the +faults of such as are not actually his fellow creatures.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no; that would be uncharitable in the extreme.” +</p> + +<p> +“The very words the chaplain used to let fly aboard the +‘Brunswick!’ It is a great thing to have schooling, your Honour; +since, if it does nothing else, it fits a man for a boatswain, and puts him in +the track of steering the shortest course to heaven. But, as I was saying, +there was I and Guinea shipmates and in a reasonable way friends, for five +years more; and then the time arrived when we met with the mishap of the wreck +in the West-Indies.” +</p> + +<p> +“What wreck?” demanded his officer. +</p> + +<p> +“I beg your Honour’s pardon; I never swing my head-yards till +I’m sure the ship won’t luff back into the wind; and, before I tell +the particulars of the wreck, I will overrun my ideas, to see that nothing is +forgotten that should of right be first mentioned.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover, who saw, by the uneasy glances that she cast aside, and by the +expression of her countenance how impatient his companion was becoming for a +sequel that approached so tardily, and how much she dreaded an interruption, +made a significant sign to her to permit the straight-going tar to take his own +course, as the best means of coming at the facts they both longed so much to +hear. Left to himself, Fid soon took the necessary review of the transactions, +in his own quaint manner; and, having happily found that nothing which he +considered as germain to the present relation was omitted, he proceeded at once +to the more material, and what was to his auditors by far the most interesting, +portion of his narrative. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, as I was telling your Honour,” he continued, “Guinea +was then a maintopman, and I was stationed in the same place aboard the +‘Proserpine,’ a quick-going two-and-thirty, when we fell in with a +bit of a smuggler, between the islands and the Spanish Main; and so the Captain +made a prize of her, and ordered her into port; for which I have always +supposed, as he was a sensible man, he had his orders. But this is neither here +nor there, seeing that the craft had got to the end of her rope, and foundered +in a heavy hurricane that came over us, mayhap a couple of days’ run to +leeward of our haven. Well, she was a small boat; and, as she took it into her +mind to roll over on her side before she went to sleep, the master’s mate +in charge, and three others, slid off her decks to the bottom of the sea, as I +have always had reason to believe, never having heard any thing to the +contrary. It was here that Guinea first served me the good turn; for, though we +had often before shared hunger and thirst together, this was the first time he +ever jumped overboard to keep me from taking in salt water like a fish.” +</p> + +<p> +“He kept you from drowning with the rest?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not say just that much, your Honour; for there is no knowing +what lucky accident might have done the same good turn for me. Howsomever, +seeing that I can swim no better nor worse than a double-headed shot, I have +always been willing to give the black credit for as much, though little has +ever been said between us on the subject; for no other reason, as I can see, +than that settling-day has not yet come. Well, we contrived to get the boat +afloat, and enough into it to keep soul and body together, and made the best of +our way for the land, seeing that the cruise was, to all useful purposes, over +in that smuggler. I needn’t be particular in telling this lady of the +nature of boat-duty, as she has lately had some experience in that way herself; +but I can tell her this much: Had it not been for that boat in which the black +and myself spent the better part of ten days, she would have fared but badly in +her own navigation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Explain your meaning.” +</p> + +<p> +“My meaning is plain enough, your Honour, which is, that little else than +the handy way of master Harry in a boat could have kept the Bristol +trader’s launch above water, the day we fell in with it.” +</p> + +<p> +“But in what manner was your own shipwreck connected with the safety of +Mr Wilder?” demanded the governess, unable any longer to await the +dilatory explanation of the prolix seaman. +</p> + +<p> +“In a very plain and natural fashion, my Lady, as you will say yourself, +when you come to hear the pitiful part of my tale. Well, there were I and +Guinea, rowing about in the ocean, on short allowance of all things but work, +for two nights and a day, heading-in for the islands; for, though no great +navigators, we could smell the land, and so we pulled away lustily, when you +consider it was a race in which life was the wager, until we made, in the pride +of the morning, as it might be here, at east-and-by-south a ship under bare +poles; if a vessel can be called bare that had nothing better than the stumps +of her three masts standing, and they without rope or rag to tell one her rig +or nation. Howsomever, as there were three naked sticks left, I have always put +her down for a full-rigged ship; and, when we got nigh enough to take a look at +her hull, I made bold to say she was of English build.” +</p> + +<p> +“You boarded her,” observed the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“A small task that, your Honour, since a starved dog was the whole crew +she could muster to keep us off. It was a solemn sight when we got on her +decks, and one that bears hard on my manhood,” continued Fid, with an air +that grew more serious as he proceeded, “whenever I have occasion to +overhaul the log-book of memory.” +</p> + +<p> +“You found her people suffering of want!” +</p> + +<p> +“We found a noble ship, as helpless as a halibut in a tub. There she lay, +a craft of some four hundred tons, water-logged, and motionless as a church. It +always gives me great reflection, sir, when I see a noble vessel brought to +such a strait; for one may liken her to a man who has been docked of his fins, +and who is getting to be good for little else than to be set upon a cat-head to +look out for squalls.” +</p> + +<p> +“The ship was then deserted?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, the people had left her, sir, or had been washed away in the gust +that had laid her over. I never could come at the truth of them particulars. +The dog had been mischievous, I conclude, about the decks; and so he had been +lashed to a timber head, the which saved his life, since, happily for him he +found himself on the weather-side when the hull righted a little, after her +spars gave way. Well, sir there was the dog, and not much else, as we could +see, though we spent half a day in rummaging round, in order to pick up any +small matter that might be useful; but then, as the entrance to the hold and +cabin was full of water, why, we made no great affair of the salvage, after +all.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then you left the wreck?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet, your Honour. While knocking about among the bits of rigging and +lumber above board, says Guinea, says he, ‘Mister Dick, I hear some one +making their plaints below.’ Now, I had heard the same noises myself, +sir; but had set them down as the spirits of the people moaning over their +losses, and had said nothing of the same, for fear of stirring up the +superstition of the black; for the best of them are no better than +superstitious niggers, my Lady; so I said nothing of what I had heard, until he +saw fit to broach the subject himself. Then we both turned-to to listening with +a will; and sure enough the groans began to take a human sound. It was a good +while, howsomever, before I could make up whether it was any thing more than +the complaining of the hulk itself; for you know, my Lady, that a ship which is +about to sink makes her lamentations just like any other living thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do, I do,” returned the governess, shuddering. “I have +heard them, and never will my memory lose the recollection of the +sounds.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, I thought you might know something of the same, and solemn groans +they are: But, as the hulk kept rolling on the top of the sea, and no further +signs of her going down, I began to think it best to cut into her abaft, in +order to make sure that some miserable wretch had not been caught in his +hammock at the time she went over. Well, good will, and an axe, soon let us +into the secret of the moans.” +</p> + +<p> +“You found a child?” +</p> + +<p> +“And its mother, my Lady. As good luck would have it, they were in a +birth on the weather-side and as yet the water had not reached them. But pent +air and hunger had nearly proved as bad as the brine. The lady was in the agony +when we got her out; and as to the boy, proud and strong as you now see him +there on yonder gun, my Lady, he was just so miserable, that it was no small +matter to make him swallow the drop of wine and water that the Lord had left +us, in order, as I have often thought since, to bring him up to be, as he at +this moment is, the pride of the ocean!” +</p> + +<p> +“But, the mother?” +</p> + +<p> +“The mother had given the only morsel of biscuit she had to the child, +and was dying, in order that the urchin might live. I never could get rightly +into the meaning of the thing, my Lady, why a woman, who is no better than a +Lascar in matters of strength, nor any better than a booby in respect of +courage, should be able to let go her hold of life in this quiet fashion, when +many a stout mariner would be fighting for each mouthful of air the Lord might +see fit to give. But there she was, white as the sail on which the storm has +long beaten, and limber as a pennant in a calm, with her poor skinny arm around +the lad, holding in her hand the very mouthful that might have kept her own +soul in the body a little longer.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did she, when you brought her to the light?” +</p> + +<p> +“What did she!” repeated Fid, whose voice was getting thick and +husky, “why, she did a d——d honest thing; she gave the boy +the crumb, and motioned as well as a dying woman could, that we should have an +eye over him, till the cruise of life was up.” +</p> + +<p> +“And was that all?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have always thought she prayed; for something passed between her and +one who was not to be seen, if a man might judge by the fashion in which her +eyes were turned aloft, and her lips moved. I hope, among others, she put in a +good word for one Richard Fid; for certain she had as little need to be asking +for herself as any body. But no man will ever know what she said, seeing that +her mouth was shut from that time for ever after.” +</p> + +<p> +“She died!” +</p> + +<p> +“Sorry am I to say it. But the poor lady was past swallowing when she +came into our hands, and then it was but little we had to offer her. A quart of +water, with mayhap a gill of wine, a biscuit, and a handful of rice, was no +great allowance for two hearty men to pull a boat some seventy leagues within +the tropics. Howsomever, when we found no more was to be got from the wreck, +and that, since the air had escaped by the hole we had cut, she was settling +fast, we thought it best to get out of her: and sure enough we were none too +soon, seeing that she went under just as we had twitched our jolly-boat clear +of the suction.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the boy—the poor deserted child!” exclaimed the +governess, whose eyes had now filled to over-flowing. +</p> + +<p> +“There you are all aback, my Lady. Instead of deserting him, we brought +him away with us, as we did the only other living creature to be found about +the wreck. But we had still a long journey before us, and, to make the matter +worse, we were out of the track of the traders. So I put it down as a case for +a council of all hands, which was no more than I and the black, since the lad +was too weak to talk and little could he have said otherwise in our situation. +So I begun myself, saying, says I, ‘Guinea, we must eat either this here +dog, or this here boy. If we eat the boy, we shall be no better than the people +in your own country, who, you know, my Lady, are cannibals; but if we eat the +dog, poor as he is we may make out to keep soul and body together, and to give +the child the other matters.’—So Guinea, he says, says he, +‘I’ve no occasion for food at all; give ’em to the +boy,’ says he, ‘seeing that he is little, and has need of +strength.’ Howsomever, master Harry took no great fancy to the dog, which +we soon finished between us; for the plain reason that he was so thin. After +that, we had a hungry time of it ourselves; for, had we not kept up the life in +the lad, you know, it would have slipt through our fingers.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you fed the child, though fasting yourselves?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, we wer’n’t altogether idle, my Lady, seeing that we kept +our teeth jogging on the skin of the dog, though I will not say that the food +was over savoury. And then, as we had no occasion to lose time in eating, we +kept the oars going so much the livelier. Well, we got in at one of the islands +after a time, though neither I nor the nigger had much to boast of as to +strength or weight when we made the first kitchen we fell in with.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the child?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! he was doing well enough; for, as the doctors afterwards told us, +the short allowance on which he was put did him no harm.” +</p> + +<p> +“You sought his friends?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, as for that matter, my Lady, so far as I have been able to +discover, he was with his best friends already. We had neither chart nor +bearings by which we knew how to steer in search of his family. His name he +called master Harry, by which it is clear he was a gentleman born, as indeed +any one may see by looking at him; but not another word could I learn of his +relations or country, except that, as he spoke the English language, and was +found in an English ship, there is a natural reason to believe he is of English +build himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you not learn the name of the ship?” demanded the attentive +Rover, in whose countenance the traces of a lively interest were very +distinctly discernible. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, as to that matter, your Honour, schools were scarce in my part of +the country; and in Africa, you know, there is no great matter of learning; so +that, had her name been out of water, which it was not, we might have been +bothered to read it. Howsomever, there was a horse-bucket kicking about her +decks, and which, as luck would have it, got jammed-in with the pumps in such a +fashion that it did not go overboard until we took it with us. Well, this +bucket had a name painted on it; and, after we had leisure for the thing, I got +Guinea, who has a natural turn at tattooing, to rub it into my arm in +gunpowder, as the handiest way of logging these small particulars. Your Honour +shall see what the black has made of it.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, Fid very coolly doffed his jacket, and laid bare, to the elbow, one +of his brawny arms, on which the blue impression was still very plainly visible +Although the letters were rudely imitated, it was not difficult to read, in the +skin, the words “Ark, of Lynnhaven.” +</p> + +<p> +“Here, then, you had a clue at once to find the relatives of the +boy,” observed the Rover, after he had deciphered the letters. +</p> + +<p> +“It seems not, your Honour; for we took the child with us aboard the +‘Proserpine,’ and our worthy Captain carried sail hard after the +people; but no one could give any tidings of such a craft as the ‘Ark, of +Lynnhaven;’ and, after a twelvemonth, or more, we were obliged to give up +the chase.” +</p> + +<p> +“Could the child give no account of his friends?” demanded the +governess. +</p> + +<p> +“But little, my Lady; for the reason he knew but little about himself. So +we gave the matter over altogether; I, and Guinea, and the Captain, and all of +us, turning-to to educate the boy. He got his seamanship of the black and +myself, and mayhap some little of his manners also; and his navigation and +Latin of the Captain, who proved his friend till such a time as he was able to +take care of himself, and, for that matter, some years afterwards.” +</p> + +<p> +“And how long did Mr Wilder continue in a King’s ship?” asked +the Rover, in a careless and apparently indifferent manner. +</p> + +<p> +“Long enough to learn all that is taught there, your Honour,” was +the evasive reply. +</p> + +<p> +“He came to be an officer, I suppose?” +</p> + +<p> +“If he didn’t, the King had the worst of the bargain.—But +what is this I see hereaway, atween the backstay and the vang? It looks like a +sail; or is it only a gull flapping his wings before he rises?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sail, ho!” called the look-out from the mast head. “Sail, +ho!” was echoed from a top and from the deck; the glittering though +distant object having struck a dozen vigilant eyes at the same instant. The +Rover was compelled to lend his attention to a summons so often repeated; and +Fid profited by the circumstance to quit the poop, with the hurry of one who +was not sorry for the interruption. Then the governess arose too, and, +thoughtful and melancholy she sought the privacy of her cabin. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>Chapter XXV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Their preparation is to-day by sea.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Anthony and Cleopatra.</i> +</p> + +<p> +“Sail, ho!” in the little frequented sea in which the +“Rover” lay, was a cry that quickened every dull pulsation in the +bosoms of her crew. Many weeks had now, according to their method of +calculation, been entirely lost in the visionary and profitless plans of their +chief. They were not of a temper to reason on the fatality which had forced the +Bristol trader from their toils; it was enough, for their rough natures, that +the rich spoil had escaped them. Without examining for the causes of this loss, +as has been already seen, they had been but too well disposed to visit their +disappointment on the head of the innocent officer who was charged with the +care of a vessel that they already considered a prize. Here, then, was at +length an opportunity to repair their loss. The stranger was about to encounter +them in a part of the ocean where succour was nearly hopeless, and where time +might be afforded to profit, to the utmost, by any success that the freebooters +should obtain. Every man in the ship seemed sensible of these advantages; and, +as the words sounded from mast to yard, and from yard to deck, they were taken +up in cheerful echos from fifty mouths, which repeated the cry, until it was +heard issuing from the inmost recesses of the vessel. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover himself manifested more than usual satisfaction at this prospect of a +capture. He was quite aware of the necessity of some brilliant or of some +profitable exploit, to curb the rising tempers of his men; and long experience +had taught him that he could ever draw the cords of discipline the tightest in +moments that appeared the most to require the exercise of his own high courage +and consummate skill. He walked forward, therefore, among his people, with a +countenance that was no longer buried in reserve, speaking to several, whom he +addressed by name, and of whom he did not even disdain to ask opinions +concerning the character of the distant sail. When a sort of implied assurance +that their recent offences were overlooked had thus been given, he summoned +Wilder, the General, and one or two others of the superior officers, to the +poop, where they all disposed themselves, to make more particular and more +certain observations, by the aid of a half-dozen excellent glasses. +</p> + +<p> +Many minutes were now passed in silent and intense scrutiny. The day was +cloudless, the wind fresh, without being heavy, the sea long, even, and far +from high, and, in short, all things combined, as far as is ever seen on the +restless ocean, not only to aid their examination, but to favour those +subsequent evolutions which each instant rendered more probable would become +necessary. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a ship!” exclaimed the Rover, lowering his glass, the first +to proclaim the result of his long and close inspection. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a ship!” echoed the General, across whose disciplined +features a ray of something like animated satisfaction was making an effort to +display itself. +</p> + +<p> +“A full-rigged ship!” continued a third, relieving his eye in turn, +and answering to the grim smile of the soldier. +</p> + +<p> +“There must be something to hold up all those lofty spars,” resumed +their Commander. “A hull of price is beneath.—But you say nothing, +Mr Wilder! You make her out”—— +</p> + +<p> +“A ship of size,” returned our adventurer, who, though hitherto +silent, had been far from the least interested in his investigations. +“Does my glass deceive me—or”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Or what, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“I see her to the heads of her courses.” +</p> + +<p> +“You see her as I do. It is a tall ship on an easy bow-line, with every +thing set that will draw. And she is standing hitherward. Her lower sails have +lifted within five minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought as much. But”—— +</p> + +<p> +“But what, sir? There can be little doubt but she is heading +north-and-east. Since she is so kind as to spare us the pains of a chase, we +will not hurry our movements. Let her come on. How like you the manner of the +stranger’s advance, General?” +</p> + +<p> +“Unmilitary, but enticing! There is a look of the mines about her very +royals.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you, gentlemen, do you also see the fashion of a galleon in her +upper sails?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis not unreasonable to believe it,” answered one of the +inferiors. “The Dons are said to run this passage often, in order to +escape speaking us gentlemen, who sail with roving commissions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! your Don is a prince of the earth! There is charity in lightening +his golden burden, or the man would sink under it, as did the Roman matron +under the pressure of the Sabine shields. I think you see no such gilded beauty +in the stranger, Mr Wilder.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a heavy ship!” +</p> + +<p> +“The more likely to bear a noble freight. You are new, sir, to this merry +trade of ours, or you would know that size is a quality we always esteem in our +visitors. If they carry pennants, we leave them to meditate on the many +‘slips which exist between the cup and the lip;’ and, if stored +with metal no more dangerous than that of Potosi, they generally sail the +faster after passing a few hours in our company.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is not the stranger making signals?” demanded Wilder, +thoughtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Is he so quick to see us! A good look-out must be had, when a vessel, +that is merely steadied by her stay-sails, can be seen so far. Vigilance is a +never-failing sign of value!” +</p> + +<p> +A pause succeeded, during which all the glasses, in imitation of that of +Wilder, were again raised in the direction of the stranger. Different opinions +were given; some affirming, and some doubting, the fact of the signals. The +Rover himself was silent, though his observation was keen, and long continued. +</p> + +<p> +“We have wearied oar eyes till sight is getting dim,” he said. +“I have found the use of trying fresh organs when my own have refused to +serve me. Come hither, lad,” he continued, addressing a man who was +executing some delicate job in seamanship on the poop, at no great distance +from the spot where the groupe of officers had placed themselves; “come +hither: Tell me what you make of the sail in the south-western board.” +</p> + +<p> +The man proved to be Scipio, who had been chosen for his expertness, to perform +the task in question. Placing his cap on the deck, in a reverence even deeper +than that which the seaman usually manifests toward his superior, he lifted the +glass in one hand, while with the other he covered the eye that had at the +moment no occasion for the use of its vision. But no sooner did the wandering +instrument fall on the distant object, than he dropped it again, and fastened +his look, in a sort of stupid admiration, on Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you see the sail?” demanded the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“Masser can see him wid he naked eye.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, but what make you of him by the aid of the glass?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’m ship, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“True. On what course?” +</p> + +<p> +“He got he starboard tacks aboard, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still true. But has he signals abroad?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’m got t’ree new cloths in he maintop-gallant royal, +sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“His vessel is all the better for the repairs. Did you see his +flags?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’m show no flag, masser.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought as much myself. Go forward, lad—stay—one often +gets a true idea by seeking it where it is not thought to exist. Of what size +do you take the stranger to be?” +</p> + +<p> +“He’m just seven hundred and fifty tons, masser.” +</p> + +<p> +“How’s this! The tongue of your negro, Mr. Wilder, is as exact as a +carpenter’s rule. The fellow speaks of the size of a vessel, that is hull +down, with an air as authoritative as a runner of the King’s customs +could pronounce on the same, after she had been submitted to the office +admeasurement.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will have consideration for the ignorance of the black; men of his +unfortunate state are seldom skilful in answering interrogatories.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ignorance!” repeated the Rover, glancing his eye uneasily, and +with a rapidity peculiar to himself, from one to the other, and from both to +the rising object in the horizon: “Skilful! I know not: The man has no +air of doubt.—You think her tonnage to be precisely that which you have +said?” +</p> + +<p> +The large dark eyes of Scipio roiled, in turn, from his new Commander to his +ancient master, while, for a moment, his faculties appeared to be lost in +inextricable confusion. But the uncertainty continued only for a moment. He no +sooner read the frown that was gathering deeply over the brow of the latter, +than the air of confidence with which he had pronounced his former opinion +vanished in a look of obstinacy so settled, that one might well have despaired +of ever driving, or enticing, him again to seem to think. +</p> + +<p> +“I ask you, if the stranger may not be a dozen tons larger or smaller +than what you have named?” continued the Rover, when he found his former +question was not likely to be soon answered. +</p> + +<p> +“He’m just as masser wish ’em,” returned Scipio. +</p> + +<p> +“I wish him a thousand; since he will then prove the richer prize.” +</p> + +<p> +“I s’pose he’m quite a t’ousand, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or a snug ship of three hundred, if lined with gold, might do.” +</p> + +<p> +“He look berry like a t’ree hundred.” +</p> + +<p> +“To me it seems a brig.” +</p> + +<p> +“I t’ink him brig too, masser.” +</p> + +<p> +“Or possibly, after all, the stranger may prove a schooner, with many +lofty and light sails.” +</p> + +<p> +“A schooner often carry a royal,” returned the black, resolute to +acquiesce in all the other said. +</p> + +<p> +“Who knows it is a sail at all! Forward there! It may be well to have +more opinions than one on so weighty a matter. Forward there! send the +foretop-man that is called Fid upon the poop. Your companions are so +intelligent and so faithful, Mr. Wilder, that you are not to be surprised if I +shew an undue desire for their information.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder compressed his lips, and the rest of the groupe manifested a good deal +of amazement; but the latter had been too long accustomed to the caprice of +their Commander, and the former was too wise, to speak at a moment when his +humour seemed at the highest. The topman, however, was not long in making his +appearance, and then the chief saw fit again to break the silence. +</p> + +<p> +“And you think it questionable whether it be a sail at all?” he +continued. +</p> + +<p> +“He’m sartain nothing but a fly-away,” returned the obstinate +black. +</p> + +<p> +“You hear what your friend the negro says, master Fid; he thinks that +yonder object, which is lifting so fast to leeward, is not a sail.” +</p> + +<p> +As the topman saw no sufficient reason for concealing his astonishment at this +wild opinion, it was manifested with all the embellishments with which the +individual in question usually set forth any of his more visible emotions. +After casting a short glance in the direction of the sail, in order to assure +himself there had been no deception, he turned his eyes in great disgust on +Scipio, as if he would vindicate the credit of the association at the expense +of some little contempt for the ignorance of his companion. +</p> + +<p> +“What the devil do you take it for, Guinea? a church?” +</p> + +<p> +“I t’ink he’m church,” responded the acquiescent black. +</p> + +<p> +“Lord help the dark-skinned fool! Your Honour knows that conscience is +d——nab-y overlooked in Africa, and will not judge the nigger hardly +for any little blunder he may make in the account of his religion. But the +fellow is a thorough seaman, and should know a top-gallant-sail from a +weathercock. Now, look you, S’ip, for the credit of your friends, if +you’ve no great pride on your own behalf, just tell +his”—— +</p> + +<p> +“It is of no account,” interrupted the Rover. “Take you this +glass, and pass an opinion on the sail in sight yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +Fid scraped his foot, and made a low bow, in acknowledgment of the compliment; +and then, depositing his little tarpaulin hat on the deck of the poop, he very +composedly, and, as he flattered himself, very understandingly, disposed of his +person to take the desired view. The gaze of the topman was far longer than had +been that of his black companion; and it is to be presumed, in consequence, +much more accurate. Instead, however, of venturing any sudden opinion, when his +eye was wearied, he lowered the glass, and with it his head, standing long in +the attitude of one whose thoughts had received some subject of deep +cogitation. During the process of thinking, the weed was diligently rolled over +his tongue, and one hand was stuck a-kimbo into his side, as if he would brace +all his faculties to support some extraordinary mental effort. +</p> + +<p> +“I wait your opinion,” resumed his attentive Commander, when he +thought sufficient time had been allowed to mature the opinion even of Richard +Fid. +</p> + +<p> +“Will your Honour just tell me what day of the month this here may be, +and mayhap, at the same time, the day of the week too, if it shouldn’t be +giving too much trouble?” +</p> + +<p> +His two questions were directly answered. +</p> + +<p> +“We had the wind at east-with-southing, the first day out, and then it +chopped in the night, and blew great guns at north-west, where it held for the +matter of a week. After which there was an Irishman’s hurricane, right up +and down, for a day; then we got into these here trades, which have stood as +steady as a ship’s chaplain over a punch bowl, ever +since.”—— +</p> + +<p> +Here the topman closed his soliloquy, in order to agitate the tobacco again, it +being impossible to conduct the process of chewing and talking at one and the +same time. +</p> + +<p> +“What of the stranger?” demanded the Rover, a little impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s no church, that’s certain, your Honour,” said +Fid, very decidedly. +</p> + +<p> +“Has he signals flying?” +</p> + +<p> +“He may be speaking with his flags, but it needs a better scholar than +Richard Fid to know what he would say. To my eye, there are three new cloths in +his main-top-gallant-royal, but no bunting abroad.” +</p> + +<p> +“The man is happy in having so good a sail. Mr Wilder, do <i>you</i> too +see the darker cloths in question?” +</p> + +<p> +“There is certainly something which might be taken for canvas newer than +the rest. I believe I first mistook the same, as the sun fell brightest on the +sail, for the signals I named.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we are not seen, and may lie quiet for a while, though we enjoy the +advantage of measuring the stranger, foot by foot—even to the new cloths +in his royal!” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover spoke in a tone that was strangely divided between sarcasm and +thought. He then made an impatient gesture to the seamen to quit the poop. When +they were alone, he turned to his silent and respectful officers, continuing, +in a manner that was grave, while it was conciliatory,—— +</p> + +<p> +“Gentlemen,” he said, “our idle time is past, and fortune has +at length brought activity into our track. Whether the ship in sight be of just +seven hundred and fifty tons, is more than I can pretend to pronounce, but +something there is which any seaman may know. But the squareness of her +upper-yards, the symmetry with which they are trimmed, and the press of canvass +she bears on the wind, I pronounce her to be a vessel of war. Do any differ +from my opinion? Mr. Wilder, speak.” +</p> + +<p> +“I feel the truth of all your reasons, and think with you.” +</p> + +<p> +A shade of gloomy distrust, which had gathered over the brow of the Rover +during the foregoing scene, lighted a little as he listened to the direct and +frank avowal of his lieutenant. +</p> + +<p> +“You believe she bears a pennant? I like this manliness of reply. Then +comes another question. Shall we fight her?” +</p> + +<p> +To this interrogatory it was not so easy to give a decisive answer. Each +officer consulted the opinions of his comrades, in their eyes, until their +leader saw fit to make his application still more personal. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, General, this is a question peculiarly fitted for your +wisdom,” he resumed: “Shall we give battle to a pennant? or shall +we spread our wings, and fly?” +</p> + +<p> +“My bullies are not drilled to the retreat. Give them any other work to +do, and I will answer for their steadiness.” +</p> + +<p> +“But shall we venture, without a reason?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Spaniard often sends his bullion home under cover of a +cruiser’s guns,” observed one of the inferiors, who rarely found +pleasure in any risk that did not infer its correspondent benefit. “We +may feel the stranger; if he carries more than his guns, he will betray it by +his reluctance to speak, but if poor, we shall find him fierce as a half-fed +tiger.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is sense in your counsel, Brace, and it shall be regarded. Go +then, gentlemen, to your several duties. We’ll pass the half hour that +may be needed, before his hull shall rise, in looking to our gear, and +overhauling the guns. As it is not decided to fight, let what is done be done +without display. My people must see no receding from a resolution taken.” +</p> + +<p> +The groupe then separated, each man preparing to undertake the task that more +especially belonged to the situation that he filled in the ship. Wilder was +about to retire with the rest, but a significant sign drew him to the side of +his chief, who continued on the poop alone with his new confederate. +</p> + +<p> +“The monotony of our lives is now likely to be interrupted, Mr +Wilder,” commenced the former, first glancing his eye around, to make +sure they were alone. “I have seen enough of your spirit and steadiness, +to be sure, that, should accident disable me to conduct the fortunes of these +people, my authority will fall into firm and able hands.” +</p> + +<p> +“Should such a calamity befall us, I hope it may be found that your +expectations shall not be deceived.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have confidence, sir; and, where a brave man reposes his confidence, +he has a right to hope it will not be abused. I speak in reason.” +</p> + +<p> +“I acknowledge the justice of your words.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would, Wilder, that we had known each other earlier. But what matters +vain regrets! These fellows of yours are keen of sight to note those cloths so +soon!” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis just the observation of people of their class. The nicer +distinctions which marked the cruiser came first from yourself!” +</p> + +<p> +“And then the ‘seven hundred and fifty tons of the black!—It +was giving an opinion with great decision.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the quality of ignorance to be positive.” +</p> + +<p> +“You say truly. Cast an eye at the stranger, and tell me how he comes +on.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder obeyed, seemingly glad to be relieved from a discourse that he might +have found embarrassing. Many moments were passed before he dropped the glass, +during which time not a syllable fell from the lips of his companion. When he +turned, however, to deliver the result of his observations, he met an eye, that +seemed to pierce his soul, fastened on his countenance. Colouring highly, as if +he resented the suspicion betrayed by the act, Wilder closed his half-open +lips, and continued silent. +</p> + +<p> +“And the ship?” deeply demanded the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“The ship has already raised her courses; in a few more minutes we shall +see the hull.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a swift vessel! She is standing directly for us.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not. Her head is lying more at east.” +</p> + +<p> +“It may be well to make certain of that fact. You are right,” he +continued, after taking a look himself at the approaching cloud of canvas; +“you are very right. As yet we are not seen. Forward there! haul down +that head stay-sail; we will steady the ship by her yards. Now let him look +with all his eyes; they must be good to see these naked spars at such a +distance.” +</p> + +<p> +Our adventurer made no reply, assenting to the truth of what the other had said +by a simple inclination of his head. They then resumed the walk to and fro in +their narrow limits, neither manifesting, however, any anxiety to renew the +discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“We are in good condition for the alternative of flight or combat,” +the Rover at length observed, while he cast a rapid look over the preparations +which had been unostentatiously in progress from the moment when the officers +dispersed. “Now will I confess, Wilder, a secret pleasure in the belief +that yonder audacious fool carries the boasted commission of the German who +wears the Crown of Britain. Should he prove more than man may dare attempt, I +will flout him; though prudence shall check any further attempts; and, should +he prove an equal, would it not gladden your eyes to see St. George come +drooping to the water?” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought that men in our pursuit left honour to silly heads, and that +we seldom struck a blow that was not intended to ring on a metal more precious +than iron.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Tis the character the world gives; but I, for one, would rather +lower the pride of the minions of King George than possess the power of +unlocking his treasury! Said I well, General?” he added, as the +individual he named approached; “said I well, in asserting there was +glorious pleasure in making a pennant trail upon the sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“We fight for victory,” returned the martinet. “I am ready to +engage at a minute’s notice.” +</p> + +<p> +“Prompt and decided, as a soldier.—Now tell me, General, if +Fortune, or Chance, or Providence, whichever of the powers you may acknowledge +for a leader were to give you the option of enjoyments, in what would you find +your deepest satisfaction?” +</p> + +<p> +The soldier seemed to ruminate, ere he answered,—— +</p> + +<p> +“I have often thought, that, were I commander of things on earth, I +should, backed by a dozen of my stoutest bullies, charge at the door of that +cave which was entered by the tailor’s boy, him they call Aladdin.” +</p> + +<p> +“The genuine aspirations of a freebooter! In such case, the magic trees +would soon be disburdened of their fruit. Still it might prove an inglorious +victory, since incantations and charms are the weapons of the combatants. Call +you honour nothing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! I fought for honour half of a reasonably long life, and found +myself as light at the close of all my dangers as at the beginning. Honour and +I have shaken hands, unless it be the honour of coming off conqueror. I have a +strong disgust of defeat, but am always ready to sell the mere honour of the +victory cheap.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, let it pass. The quality of the service is much the same, find the +motive where you will.—How now! who has dared to let yonder +top-gallant-sail fly?” +</p> + +<p> +The startling change in the voice of the Rover caused all within hearing of his +words to tremble. Deep, anxious, and threatening displeasure was in all its +tones, and each man cast his eyes upwards, to see on whose devoted head the +weight of the dreaded indignation of their chief was about to fall. As there +was little but naked spars and tightened ropes to obstruct the view, all +became, at the same instant, apprized of the truth. Fid was standing on the +head of that topmast which belonged to the particular portion of the vessel +where he was stationed, and the sail in question was fluttering, with all its +gear loosened far and high in the wind. His hearing had probably been drowned +by the heavy flapping of the canvas; for, instead of lending his ears to the +deep powerful call just mentioned, he rather stood contemplating his work, than +exhibiting any anxiety as to the effect it might produce on the minds of those +beneath him. But a second warning came in tones too terrible to be any longer +disregarded by ears even as dull as those of the offender. +</p> + +<p> +“By whose order have you dared to loosen the sail?” demanded the +Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“By the order of King Wind, your Honour. The best seaman must give in, +when a squall gets the upper hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Furl it! away aloft, and furl it!” shouted the excited leader. +“Roll it up; and send the fellow down who has been so bold as to own any +authority but my own in this ship, though it were that of a hurricane.” +</p> + +<p> +A dozen nimble topmen ascended to the assistance of Fid. In another minute, the +unruly canvas was secured, and Richard himself was on his way to the poop. +During this brief interval, the brow of the Rover was dark and angry as the +surface of the element on which he lived, when blackened by the tempest. +Wilder, who had never before seen his new Commander thus excited, began to +tremble for the fate of his ancient comrade, and drew nigher, as the latter +approached, to intercede in his favour, should the circumstances seem to +require such an interposition. +</p> + +<p> +“And why is this?” the still stern and angry leader demanded of the +offender. “Why is it that you, whom I have had such recent reason to +applaud, should dare to let fly a sail, at a moment when it is important to +keep the ship naked?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your Honour will admit that his rations sometimes slips through the best +man’s fingers, and why not a bit of canvas?” deliberately returned +the delinquent “If I took a turn too many of the gasket off the yard, it +is a fault I am ready to answer for.” +</p> + +<p> +“You say true, and dearly shall you pay the forfeit Take him to the +gangway, and let him make acquaintance with the cat.” +</p> + +<p> +“No new acquaintance, your Honour, seeing that we have met before, and +that, too, for matters which I had reason to hide my head for; whereas, here, +it may be many blows, and little shame.” +</p> + +<p> +“May I intercede in behalf of the offender?” interrupted Wilder, +with earnestness and haste. “He is often blundering, but rarely would he +err, had he as much knowledge as good-will.” +</p> + +<p> +“Say nothing about it, master Harry,” returned the topman, with a +peculiar glance of his eye. “The sail has been flying finely, and it is +now too late to deny it: and so, I suppose, the fact must be scored on the back +of Richard Fid, as you would put any other misfortune into the log.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would he might be pardoned. I can venture to promise, in his name, +’twill be the last offence”— +</p> + +<p> +“Let it be forgotten,” returned the Rover, struggling powerfully to +conquer his passion. “I will not disturb our harmony at such a moment, Mr +Wilder, by refusing so small a boon: but you need not be told to what evil such +negligence might lead. Give me the glass again; I will see if the fluttering +canvas has escaped the eye of the stranger.” +</p> + +<p> +The topman bestowed a stolen but exulting glance on Wilder, and then the latter +motioned the other hastily away, turning himself to join his Commander in the +examination. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>Chapter XXVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“As I am an honest man, he looks pale: Art thou sick, or angry?” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Much ado about Nothing.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The approach of the strange sail was becoming rapidly more and more visible to +the naked eye. The little speck of white, which had first been seen on the +margin of the sea, resembling some gull floating on the summit of a wave, had +gradually arisen during the last half hour, until a tall pyramid of canvas was +reared on the water. As Wilder bent his look again on this growing object, the +Rover put a glass into his hands, with an expression of feature which the other +understood to say, “You may perceive that the carelessness of your +dependant has already betrayed us!” Still the look was one rather of +regret than of reproach; nor did a single syllable of the tongue confirm the +meaning language of the eye. On the contrary, it would seem that his Commander +was anxious to preserve their recent amicable compact inviolate; for, when the +young mariner attempted an awkward explanation of the probable causes of the +blunder of Fid, he was met by a quiet gesture, which said, in a sufficiently +intelligible language, that the offence was already pardoned. +</p> + +<p> +“Our neighbour keeps a good look-out, as you may see,” observed the +other. “He has tacked, and is laying boldly up across our fore-foot. +Well, let him come on; we shall soon get a look at his battery, and then may we +come to our conclusion as to the nature of the intercourse we are to +hold.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you permit the stranger to near us, it might be difficult to throw +him off the chase, should we be glad to get rid of him.” +</p> + +<p> +“It must be a fast-going vessel to which the ‘Dolphin’ cannot +spare a top-gallant-sail.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know not, sir. The sail in sight is swift on the wind, and it is to be +believed that she is no duller off. I have rarely known a vessel rise so +rapidly as she has done since first we made her.” +</p> + +<p> +The youth spoke with such earnestness, as to draw the attention of his +companion from the object he was studying to the countenance of the speaker. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder,” he said quickly, and with an air of decision, +“you know the ship?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll not deny it. If my opinion be true, she will be found too +heavy for the ‘Dolphin,’ and a vessel that offers little inducement +for us to attempt to carry.” +</p> + +<p> +“Her size?” +</p> + +<p> +“You heard it from the black.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your followers know her also?” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be difficult to deceive a topman in the cut and trim of sails +among which he has passed months, nay years.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand the ‘new cloths’ in her top-gallant-royal! Mr +Wilder, your departure from that vessel has been recent?” +</p> + +<p> +“As my arrival in this.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover continued silent for several minutes communing with his own thoughts. +His companion made no offer to disturb his meditations; though the furtive +glances, he often cast in the direction of the other’s musing eye, +betrayed some little anxiety to learn the result of his self-communication. +</p> + +<p> +“And her guns?” at length his Commander abruptly demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“She numbers four more than the ‘Dolphin.’” +</p> + +<p> +“The metal?” +</p> + +<p> +“Is still heavier. In every particular is she a ship a size above your +own.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless she is the property of the King?” +</p> + +<p> +“She is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then shall she change her masters. By heaven she shall be mine!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder shook his head, answering only with an incredulous smile. +</p> + +<p> +“You doubt it,” resumed the Rover. “Come hither, and look +upon that deck. Can he whom you so lately quitted muster fellows like these, to +do his biddings?” +</p> + +<p> +The crew of the ‘Dolphin’ had been chosen, by one who thoroughly +understood the character of a seaman, from among all the different people of +the Christian world. There was not a maritime nation in Europe which had not +its representative among; that band of turbulent and desperate spirits. Even +the descendant of the aboriginal possessors of America had been made to abandon +the habits and opinions of his progenitors, to become a wanderer on that +element which had laved the shores of his native land for ages, without +exciting a wish to penetrate its mysteries in the bosoms of his simple-minded +ancestry. All had been suited, by lives of wild adventure, on the two elements, +for their present lawless pursuits and, directed by the mind which had known +how to obtain and to continue its despotic ascendancy over their efforts, they +truly formed a most dangerous and (considering their numbers) resistless crew. +Their Commander smiled in exultation, as he watched the evident reflection with +which his companion contemplated the indifference, or fierce joy, which +different individuals among them exhibited at the appearance of an approaching +conflict. Even the rawest of their numbers, the luckless waisters and +after-guard, were apparently as confident of victory as those whose audacity +might plead the apology of uniform and often repeated success. +</p> + +<p> +“Count you these for nothing?” asked the Rover, at the elbow of his +lieutenant, after allowing him time to embrace the whole of the grim band with +his eye. “See! here is a Dane, ponderous and steady as the gun at which I +shall shortly place him. You may cut him limb from limb, and yet will he stand +like a tower, until the last stone of the foundation has been sapped. And, +here, we have his neighbours, the, Swede and the Russ, fit companions for +managing the same piece; which, I’ll answer, shall not be silent, while a +man of them all is left to apply a match, or handle a sponge. Yonder is a +square-built athletic mariner, from one of the Free Towns. He prefers our +liberty to that of his native city; and you shall find that the venerable +Hanseatic institutions shall give way sooner than he be known to quit the spot +I give him to defend. Here, you see a brace of Englishmen; and, though they +come from the island that I love so little, better men at need will not be +often found. Feed them, and flog them, and I pledge myself to their swaggering, +and their courage. D’ye see that thoughtful-looking, bony miscreant, +that has a look of godliness in the midst of all his villany? That fellow +fish’d for herring till he got a taste of beef, when his stomach revolted +at its ancient fare; and then the ambition of becoming rich got uppermost. He +is a Scot, from one of the lochs of the North.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will he fight?” +</p> + +<p> +“For money—the honour of the Macs—and his religion. He is a +reasoning fellow, after all: and I like to have him on my own side in a +quarrel. Ah! yonder is the boy for a charge. I once told him to cut a rope in a +hurry, and he severed it above his head, instead of beneath his feet, taking a +flight from a lower yard into the sea, as a reward for the exploit. But, then, +he always extols his presence of mind in not drowning! Now are his ideas in a +hot ferment; and, if the truth could be known, I would wager a handsome +venture, that the sail in sight is, by some mysterious process, magnified to +six in his fertile fancy.” +</p> + +<p> +“He must be thinking, then, of escape.” +</p> + +<p> +“Far from it; he is rather plotting the means of surrounding them with +the ‘Dolphin.’ To your true Hibernian, escape is the last idea that +gives him an uneasy moment. You see the pensive-looking, sallow mortal, at his +elbow. That is a man who will fight with a sort of sentiment. There is a touch +of chivalry in him, which might be worked into heroism if one had but the +opportunity and the inclination. As it is, he will not fail to show a spark of +the true Castilian. His companion has come from the Rock of Lisbon; I should +trust him unwillingly, did I not know that little opportunity of taking pay +from the enemy is given here. Ah! here is a lad for a dance of a Sunday. You +see him, at this moment, with foot and tongue going together. That is a +creature of contradictions. He wants for neither wit nor good-nature, but still +he might cut your throat on an occasion. There is a strange medley of ferocity +and bonhommie about the animal. I shall put him among the boarders; for we +shall not be at blows a minute before his impatience will be for carrying every +thing by a coup-de-main.” +</p> + +<p> +“And who is the seaman at his elbow, that apparently is occupied in +divesting his person of some superfluous garments?” demanded Wilder, +irresistibly attracted, by the manner of the Rover, to pursue the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“An economical Dutchman. He calculates that it is just as wise to be +killed in an old jacket as in a new one; and has probably said as much to his +Gascon neighbour, who is, however, resolved to die decently, if die he must. +The former has happily commenced his preparations for the combat in good +season, or the enemy might defeat us before he would be in readiness. Did it +rest between these two worthies to decide this quarrel, the mercurial Frenchman +would defeat his neighbour of Holland, before the latter believed the battle +had commenced; but, should he let the happy moment pass, rely on it, the +Dutchman would give him trouble. Forget you, Wilder, that the day has been when +the countrymen of that slow-moving and heavy-moulded fellow swept the narrow +seas with a broom at their mast-heads?” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover smiled wildly as he spoke, and what he said he uttered with bitter +emphasis. To his companion however, there appeared no such grounds of unnatural +exultation, in recalling the success of a foreign enemy, and he was content to +assent to the truth of the historical fact with a simple inclination of his +head. As if he even found pain in this confession, and would gladly be rid of +the mortifying reflection altogether, he rejoined, in some apparent +haste,— +</p> + +<p> +“You have overlooked the two tall seamen, who are making out the rig of +the stranger with so much gravity of observation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, those are men that came from a land in which we both feel some +interest. The sea is not more unstable than are those rogues in their knavery. +Their minds are but half made up to piracy.—’Tis a coarse word, Mr +Wilder, but I fear we earn it. But these rascals make a reservation of grace in +the midst of all their villainy.” +</p> + +<p> +“They regard the stranger as if they saw reason to distrust the wisdom of +letting him approach so near.” + +“Ah! they are renowned calculators. I fear they have detected the four +supernumerary guns you mentioned; for their vision seems supernatural in +affairs which touch their interests. But you see there is brawn and sinew in +the fellows; and, what is better, there are heads which teach them to turn +those advantages to account.” +</p> + +<p> +“You think they fail in spirit?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum! It might be dangerous to try it on any point they deemed material. +They are no quarrellers about words, and seldom lose sight of certain musty +maxims, which they pretend come from a volume that I fear you and I do not +study too intently. It is not often that they strike a blow for mere chivalry; +and, were they so inclined, the rogues are too much disposed to logic, to +mistake, like your black, the ‘Dolphin’ for a church. Still, if +they see reason, in their puissant judgments, to engage, mark me, the two guns +they command will do better service than all the rest of the battery. But, +should they think otherwise, it would occasion no surprise were I to receive a +proposition to spare the powder for some more profitable adventure. Honour, +forsooth! the miscreants are too well grounded in polemics to mistake the point +of honour in a pursuit like ours. But we chatter of trifles, when it is time to +think of serious things. Mr Wilder, we will now show our canvas.” +</p> + +<p> +The manner of the Rover changed as suddenly as his language. Losing the air of +sarcastic levity in which he had been indulging, in a mien better suited to +maintain the authority he wielded, he walked aside, while his subordinate +proceeded to issue the orders necessary to enforce his commands. Nightingale +sounded the usual summons, lifting his hoarse voice in the cry of “All +hands make sail, ahoy!” +</p> + +<p> +Until now, the people of the “Dolphin” had made their observations +on the sail, that was growing so rapidly above the waters, according to their +several humours. Some had exulted in the prospect of a capture; others, more +practised in the ways of their Commander, had deemed the probability of their +coming in collision at all with the stranger a point far from settled; while a +few, more accustomed to reflection, shook their heads as the stranger drew +nigher, as if they believed he was already within a distance that might be +attended with too much hazard. Still, as they were ignorant alike of those +secret sources of information which the chief had so frequently proved he +possessed, to an extent that often seemed miraculous, the whole were content +patiently to await his decision. But, when the cry above mentioned was heard, +it was answered by an activity so general and so cheerful, as to prove it was +entirely welcome. Order now followed order in quick succession, from the mouth +of Wilder, who, in virtue of his station, was the proper executive officer for +the moment. +</p> + +<p> +As both lieutenant and crew appeared animated by the same spirit, it was not +long before the naked spars of the “Dolphin” were clothed in vast +volumes of spotless snow-white canvas. Sail had fallen after sail, and yard +after yard had been raised to the summit of its mast, until the vessel bowed +before the breeze, rolling to and fro, but still held stationary by the +position of her yards. When all was in readiness to proceed, on whichever +course might be deemed necessary, Wilder ascended again to the poop, in order +to announce the fact to his superior. He found the Rover attentively +considering the stranger, whose hull had by this time risen out of the sea, and +exhibited a long, dotted, yellow line, which the eye of every man in the ship +well knew to contain the ports whence the guns that marked her particular force +were made to issue. Mrs Wyllys, accompanied by Gertrude, stood nigh, +thoughtful, as usual, but permitting no occurrence of the slightest moment to +escape her vigilance. +</p> + +<p> +“We are ready to gather way on the ship,” said Wilder; “we +wait merely for the course.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover started, and drew closer to his subordinate before he gave an answer. +Then, looking him full and intently in the eye, he demanded,— +</p> + +<p> +“You are certain that you know yon vessel, Mr Wilder?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certain,” was the calm reply. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a royal cruiser,” said the governess, with the swiftness of +thought. +</p> + +<p> +“It is. I have already pronounced her to be so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder,” resumed the Rover, “we will try her speed. Let +the courses fall, and fill your forward sails.” +</p> + +<p> +The young mariner made an acknowledgment of obedience, and proceeded to execute +the wishes of his Commander. There was an eagerness, and perhaps a trepidation, +in the voice of Wilder, as he issued the necessary orders, that was in +remarkable contrast to the deep-toned calmness which characterized the +utterance of the Rover. The unusual intonations did not entirely escape the +ears of some of the elder seamen; and looks of peculiar meaning were exchanged +among them, as they paused to catch his words. But obedience followed these +unwonted sounds, as it had been accustomed to succeed the more imposing +utterance of their own long-dreaded chief. The head-yards were swung, the sails +were distended with the breeze, and the mass, which had so long been inert, +began to divide the waters, as it heavily overcame the state of rest in which +it had reposed. The ship soon attained its velocity; and then the contest +between the two rival vessels became one of deep and engrossing interest. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the stranger was within a half league, directly under the lee of +the “Dolphin.” Closer and more accurate observation had satisfied +every understanding eye in the latter ship of the force and character of their +neighbour. The rays of a bright sun fell clear upon her broadside, while the +shadow of her sails was thrown far across the waters, in a direction opposite +to their own. There were moments when the eye, aided by the glass, could +penetrate through the open ports into the interior of the hull, catching +fleeting and delusory glimpses of the movements within. A few human forms were +distinctly visible in different parts of her rigging; but, in all other +respects, the repose of high order and perfect discipline was discernible on +all about her. +</p> + +<p> +When the Rover heard the sounds of the parted waters, and saw the little jets +of spray that the bows of his own gallant ship cast before her, he signed to +his lieutenant to ascend to the place which he still occupied on the poop. For +many minutes, his eye was on the strange sail, in close and intelligent +contemplation of her powers. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder,” he at length said, speaking like one whose doubts on +some perplexing point were finally removed, “I have seen that cruiser +before.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is probable; she has roamed over most of the waters of the +Atlantic.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, this is not the first of our meetings! a little paint has changed +her exterior, but I think I know the manner in which they have stepped her +masts.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are thought to rake more than is usual.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are thought to do it, with reason. Did you serve long aboard +her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Years.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you left her”—— +</p> + +<p> +“To join you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, Wilder, did they treat you, too, as one of an inferior order? +Ha! was your merit called ‘provincial?’ Did they read America in +all you did?” +</p> + +<p> +“I left her, Captain Heidegger.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, they gave you reason. For once they have done me an act of kindness. +But you were in her during the equinox of March?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder made a slight bow of assent. +</p> + +<p> +“I thought as much. And you fought a stranger in the gale? Winds, ocean, +and man were all at work together.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is true. We knew you, and thought for a time that your hour had +come.” +</p> + +<p> +“I like your frankness. We have sought each other’s lives like men, +and we shall prove the truer friends, now that amity is established between us. +I will not ask you further of that adventure, Wilder; for favour, in my +service, is not to be bought by treachery to that you have quitted. It is +sufficient that you now sail under my flag.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is that flag?” demanded a mild but firm voice, at his elbow. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover turned suddenly, and again met the riveted, calm, and searching eye +of the governess. The gleamings of some strangely contradictory passions +crossed his features, and then his whole countenance changed to that look of +bland courtesy which he most affected when addressing his captives. +</p> + +<p> +“Here speaks a female, to remind two mariners of their duty!” he +exclaimed. “We have forgotten the civility of showing the stranger our +bunting. Let it be set, Mr Wilder, that we may omit none of the observances of +nautical etiquette.” +</p> + +<p> +“The ship in sight carries a naked gaft.” +</p> + +<p> +“No matter; we shall be foremost in courtesy, Let the colours be +shown.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder opened the little locker which contained the flags most in use, but +hesitated which to select, out of a dozen that lay in large rolls within the +different compartments. + +“I hardly know which of these ensigns it is your pleasure to show,” +he said, in a manner that appeared sufficiently like putting a question. +</p> + +<p> +“Try him with the heavy-moulded Dutchman. The Commander of so noble a +ship should understand all Christian tongues.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant made a sign to the quarter-master on duty; and, in another +minute, the flag of the United Provinces was waving at the peak of the +“Dolphin.” The two officers narrowly watched its effect on the +stranger, who refused, however, to make any answering sign to the false signal +they had just exhibited. +</p> + +<p> +“The stranger sees we have a hull that was never made for the shoals of +Holland. Perhaps he knows us?” said the Rover, glancing at the same time +a look of inquiry at his companion. +</p> + +<p> +“I think not. Paint is too freely used in the ‘Dolphin,’ for +even her friends to be certain of her countenance.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is a coquettish ship, we will allow,” returned the Rover, +smiling. “Try him with the Portuguese: Let us see if Brazil diamonds have +favour in his eyes.” +</p> + +<p> +The colours already set were lowered, and, in their place, the emblem of the +house of Braganza was loosened to the breeze. Still the stranger pursued his +course in sullen inattention, eating closer and closer to the wind, as it is +termed in nautical language, in order to lessen the distance between him and +his chase as much as possible. +</p> + +<p> +“An ally cannot move him,” said the Rover “Now let him see +the taunting drapeau blanc.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder complied in silence. The flag of Portugal was hauled to the deck, and +the white field of France was given to the air. The ensign had hardly fluttered +in its elevated position, before a broad glossy blazonry, rose, like some +enormous bird taking wing from the deck of the stranger, and opened its folds +in graceful waves at his gaft. The same instant, a column of smoke issued from +his bows, and had sailed backward through his rigging, ere the report of the +gun of defiance found its way, against the fresh breeze of the trades, to the +ears of the “Dolphin’s” crew. +</p> + +<p> +“So much for national amity!” dryly observed the Rover. “He +is mute to the Dutchman, and to the crown of Braganza; but the very bile is +stirred within him at the sight of a table-cloth! Let him contemplate the +colours he loves so little, Mr Wilder when we are tired of showing them, our +lockers may furnish another.” +</p> + +<p> +It would seem, however, that the sight of the flag; which the Rover now chose +to bear, produced some such effect on his neighbour as the moleta of the nimble +banderillo is known to excite in the enraged bull. Sundry smaller sails, which +could do but little good, but which answered the purpose of appearing to wish +to quicken his speed, were instantly set aboard the stranger; and not a brace, +or a bow-line, was suffered to escape without an additional pull. In short, he +wore the air of the courser who receives the useless blows of the jockey, when +already at the top of his speed, and when any further excitement is as +fruitless as his own additional exertions. Still there seemed but little need +of such supererogatory efforts. By this time, the two vessels were fairly +trying there powers of sailing, and with no visible advantage in favour of +either. Although the “Dolphin” was renowned for her speed, the +stranger manifested no inferiority that the keenest scrutiny might detect. The +ship of the freebooter was already bending to the breeze, and the jets of spray +before her were cast still higher and further in advance; but each impulse of +the wind was equally felt by the stranger, and her movement over the heaving +waters seemed to be as rapid and as graceful as that of her rival. +</p> + +<p> +“Yon ship parts the water as a swallow cuts the air,” observed the +chief of the freebooters to the youth, who still kept at his elbow, +endeavouring to conceal an uneasiness which was increasing at each instant. +“Has she a name for speed?” +</p> + +<p> +“The curlew is scarcely faster. Are we not already nigh enough, for men +who cruise with commissions no better than our own pleasure?” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover glanced a look of impatient suspicion at the countenance of his +companion; but its expression changed to a smile of haughty audacity, as he +answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“Let him equal the eagle in his highest and swiftest flight, he shall +find us no laggards on the wing! Why this reluctance to be within a mile of a +vessel of the Crown?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I know her force, and the hopeless character of a contest with +an enemy so superior,” returned Wilder, firmly. “Captain Heidegger, +you cannot fight yon ship with success; and, unless instant use be made of the +distance which still exists between us, you cannot escape her. Indeed, I know +not but it is already too late to attempt the latter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such, sir, is the opinion of one who overrates the powers of his enemy, +because use, and much talking, have taught him to reverence it as something +more than human. Mr Wilder, none are so daring or so modest, as those who have +long been accustomed to place their dependence on their own exertions. I have +been nigher to a flag even, and yet you see I continue to keep on this mortal +coil.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark! ’Tis a drum. The stranger is going to his guns.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover listened a moment, and was able to catch the well-known beat which +calls the people of a vessel of war to quarters. First casting a glance upward +at his sails, and then throwing a general and critical look on all and every +thing which came within the influence of his command, he calmly +answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“We will imitate his example, Mr Wilder. Let the order be given.” +</p> + +<p> +Until now, the crew of the “Dolphin” had either been occupied in +such necessary duties as had been assigned them, or were engaged in gazing with +curious eyes at the ship which so eagerly sought to draw as near as possible to +their own dangerous vessel. The low but continued hum of voices, sounds such +alone as discipline permitted, had afforded the only evidence of the interest +they took in the scene; but, the instant the first tap on the drum was heard, +each groupe severed, and every man repaired, with bustling activity, to his +well-known station. The stir among the crew was but of a moment’s +continuance, and it was succeeded by the breathing stillness which has already +been noticed in our pages on a similar occasion. The officers, however, were +seen making hasty, but strict, inquiries into the conditions of their several +commands; while the munitions of war, that were quickly drawn from their places +of deposit, announced a preparation more serious than ordinary. The Rover +himself had disappeared; but it was not long before he was again seen at his +elevated look-out accoutred for the conflict that appeared to approach, +employed, as ever, in studying the properties, the force, and the evolutions of +his advancing antagonist. Those who knew him best, however, said that the +question of combat was not yet decided in his mind; and hundreds of eager +glances were thrown in the direction of his contracting eye, as if to penetrate +the mystery in which he still chose to conceal his purpose. He had thrown aside +the sea-cap, and stood with the fair hair blowing about a brow that seemed +formed to give birth to thoughts far nobler than those which apparently had +occupied his life, while a species of leathern helmet lay at his feet, the +garniture of which was of a nature to lend an unnatural fierceness to the +countenance of its wearer. Whenever this boarding-cap was worn, all in the ship +were given to understand that the moment of serious strife was at hand; but, as +yet, that never-failing evidence of the hostile intention of their leader was +unnoticed. +</p> + +<p> +In the mean time, each officer had examined into, and reported, the state of +his division; and then, by a sort of implied permission on the part of their +superiors, the death-like calm, which had hitherto reigned among the people, +was allowed to be broken by suppressed but earnest discourse; the calculating +chief permitting this departure from the usual rules of more regular cruisers, +in order to come at the temper of the crew, on which so much of the success of +his desperate enterprises so frequently depended. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>Chapter XXVII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“For he made me mad,<br/> +To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet,<br/> +And talk so like a waiting gentlewoman.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>King Henry IV</i> +</p> + +<p> +The moment was now one of high and earnest excitement. Each individual, who was +charged with a portion of the subordinate authority of the ship, had examined +into the state of his command, with that engrossing care which always deepens +as responsibility draws nigher to the proofs of its being worthily bestowed. +The voice of the harsh master had ceased to inquire into the state of those +several ropes and chains that were deemed vital to the safety of the vessel; +each chief of a battery had assured and re-assured himself that his artillery +was ready for instant, and the most effective, service; extra ammunition had +already issued from its dark and secret repository; and even the hum of +dialogue had ceased, in the more engrossing and all-absorbing interest of the +scene. Still the quick and ever-changing glance of the Rover could detect no +reason to distrust the firmness of his people. They were grave, as are ever the +bravest and steadiest in the hour of trial; but their gravity was mingled with +no signs of concern. It seemed rather like the effect of desperate and +concentrated resolution, such as braces the human mind to efforts which exceed +the ordinary daring of martial enterprise. To this cheering exhibition of the +humour of his crew the wary and sagacious leader saw but three exceptions; they +were found in the persons of his lieutenant and his two remarkable associates. +</p> + +<p> +It has been seen that the bearing of Wilder was not altogether such as became +one of his rank in a moment of great trial. The keen, jealous glances of the +Rover had studied and re-studied his manner, without arriving at any +satisfactory conclusion as to its real cause. The colour was as fresh on the +cheeks of the youth, and his limbs were as firm as in the hours of entire +security; but the unsettled wandering of his eye, and an air of doubt and +indecision which pervaded a mien that ought to display qualities so opposite, +gave his Commander cause for deep reflection. As if to find an explanation of +the enigma in the deportment of the associates of Wilder, his look sought the +persons of Fid and the negro. They were both stationed at the piece nearest to +the place he himself occupied, the former filling the station of captain of the +gun. +</p> + +<p> +The ribs of the ship itself were not firmer in their places than was the +attitude of the topman, as he occasionally squinted along the massive iron tube +over which he was placed in command; nor was that familiar and paternal care, +which distinguishes the seaman’s interest in his particular trust, +wanting in his manner. Still, an air of broad and inexplicable surprise had +possession of his rugged lineaments; and ever, as his look wandered from the +countenance of Wilder to their adversary, it was not difficult to discover that +he marvelled to find the two in opposition. He neither commented on, nor +complained, however, of an occurrence he evidently found so extraordinary, but +appeared perfectly disposed to pursue the spirit of that well-known maxim of +the mariner which teaches the obedient tar “to obey orders, though he +break owners.” Every portion of the athletic form of the negro was +motionless, except his eyes. These large, jet-black orbs, however rolled +incessantly, like the more dogmatic organs of the topman, from Wilder to the +strange sail, seeming to drink in fresh draughts of astonishment at each new +look. +</p> + +<p> +Struck by these evident manifestations of some extraordinary and yet common +sentiment between the two, the Rover profited by his own position, and the +distance of the lieutenant, to address them. Leaning over the slight rail that +separated the break of the poop from the quarter-deck, he said, in that +familiar manner which the Commander is most wont to use to his inferiors when +their services are becoming of the greatest importance,— +</p> + +<p> +“I hope, master Fid, they have put you at a gun that knows how to +speak.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is not a smoother bore, nor a wider mouth, in the ship, your +Honour, than these of ‘Blazing Billy,’” returned the topman, +giving the subject of his commendations an affectionate slap. “All I ask +is a clean spunge and a tight wad. Guinea score a foul anchor, in your own +fashion, on a half dozen of the shot; and, after the matter is all over, they +who live through it may go aboard the enemy, and see in what manner Richard Fid +has planted his seed.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are not new in action, master Fid?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord bless your Honour! gunpowder is no more than dry tobacco in my +nostrils! tho’f I will say” +</p> + +<p> +“You were going to add”—— +</p> + +<p> +“That sometimes I find myself shifted over, in these here affairs,” +returned the topman, glancing his eye first at the flag of France, and then at +the distant emblem of England, “like a jib-boom rigged, abaft, for a jury +to the spanker. I suppose master Harry has it all in his pocket, in black and +white; but this much I will say, that, if I must throw stones, I should rather +see them break a neighbour’s crockery than that of my own mother.—I +say, Guinea, score a couple more of the shot; since, if the play is to be +acted, I’ve a mind the ‘Blazing Billy’ should do something +creditable for the honour of her good name.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover drew back, thoughtful and silent. He then caught a look from Wilder, +whom he again beckoned to approach. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder,” he said, in a tone of kindness, “I comprehend +your feelings. All have not offended alike in yonder vessel, and you would +rather your service against that haughty flag should commence with some other +ship. There is little else but empty honour to be gained in the +conflict—in tenderness to your feelings, I will avoid it.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is too late,” said Wilder, with a melancholy shake of the head. +</p> + +<p> +“You shall see your error. The experiment may cost us a broadside, but it +shall succeed. Go, descend with our guests to a place of safety; and, by the +time you return, the scene shall have undergone a change.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder eagerly disappeared in the cabin, whither Mrs Wyllys had already +withdrawn; and, after communicating the intentions of his Commander to avoid an +action, he conducted them into the depths of the vessel, in order that no +casualty might arrive to imbitter his recollections of the hour. This grateful +duty promptly and solicitously performed, our adventurer again sought the deck, +with the velocity of thought. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding his absence had seemed but of a moment, the scene had indeed +changed in all its hostile images. In place of the flag of France, he found the +ensign of England floating at the peak of the “Dolphin,” and a +quick and intelligible exchange of lesser signals in active operation between +the two vessels. Of all that cloud of canvas which had so lately borne down the +vessel of the Rover, her top sails alone remained distended to the yards; the +remainder was hanging in festoons, and fluttering loosely before a favourable +breeze. The ship itself was running directly for the stranger, who, in turn, +was sullenly securing his lofty sails, like one who was disappointed in a +high-prized and expected object. +</p> + +<p> +“Now is yon fellow sorry to believe him a friend whom he had lately +supposed an enemy,” said the Rover, directing the attention of his +lieutenant to the confiding manner with which their neighbour suffered himself +to be deceived by his surreptitiously obtained signals. “It is a tempting +offer; but I pass it, Wilder for your sake.” +</p> + +<p> +The gaze of the lieutenant seemed bewildered, but he made no reply. Indeed, but +little time was given for deliberation or discourse. The “Dolphin” +rolled swiftly along her path, and each moment dissipated the mist in which +distance had enveloped the lesser objects on board the stranger. Guns, blocks, +ropes, bolts, men, and even features, became plainly visible, in rapid +succession, as the water that divided them was parted by the bows of the +lawless ship. In a few short minutes, the stranger, having secured most of his +lighter canvas, came sweeping up to the wind; and then, as his after-sails, +squared for the purpose, took the breeze on their outer surface, the mass of +his hull became stationary. +</p> + +<p> +The people of the “Dolphin” had so far imitated the confiding +credulity of the deceived cruiser of the Crown, as to furl all their loftiest +duck, each man employed in the service trusting implicitly to the discretion +and daring of the singular being whose pleasure it was to bring their ship into +so hazardous a proximity to a powerful enemy—qualities that had been +known to avail them in circumstances of even greater delicacy than those in +which they were now placed. With this air of audacious confidence, the dreaded +Rover came gliding down upon her unsuspecting neighbour, until within a few +hundred feet of her weather-beam, when she too, with a graceful curve in her +course, bore up against the breeze, and came to a state of rest. But Wilder, +who regarded all the movements of his superior in silent amazement, was not +slow in observing that the head of the “Dolphin” was laid a +different way from that of the other, and that her progress had been arrested +by the counteracting position of her head-yards; a circumstance that afforded +the advantage of a quicker command of the ship, should need require a sudden +recourse to the guns. +</p> + +<p> +The “Dolphin” was still drifting slowly under the last influence of +her recent motion, when the customary hoarse and nearly unintelligible summons +came over the water, demanding her appellation and character. The Rover applied +his trumpet to his lips, with a meaning glance that was directed towards his +lieutenant, and returned the name of a ship, in the service of the King, that +was known to be of the size and force of his own vessel. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” returned a voice from out of the other ship, +“’twas so I made out your signals.” +</p> + +<p> +The hail was then reciprocated, and the name of the royal cruiser given in +return, followed by an invitation from her Commander, to his brother in +authority to visit his superior. +</p> + +<p> +Thus far, no more had occurred than was usual between seamen in the same +service; but the affair was rapidly arriving at a point that most men would +have found too embarrassing for further deception. Still the observant eye of +Wilder detected no hesitation or doubt in the manner of his chief. The beat of +the drum was heard from the cruiser, announcing the “retreat from +quarters;” and, with perfect composure, he directed the same signal to be +given for his own people to retire from their guns. In short, five minutes +established every appearance of entire confidence and amity between two vessels +which would have soon been at deadly strife, had the true character of one been +known to the other. In this state of the doubtful game he played, and with the +invitation still ringing in the ears of Wilder, the Rover motioned his +lieutenant to his side. +</p> + +<p> +“You hear that I am desired to visit my senior in the service of his +Majesty,” he said, with a smile of irony playing about his scornful lip. +“Is it your pleasure to be of the party?” +</p> + +<p> +The start with which Wilder received this hardy proposal was far too natural to +proceed from any counterfeited emotion. +</p> + +<p> +“You are not so mad as to run the risk!” he exclaimed when words +were at command. +</p> + +<p> +“If you fear for yourself, I can go alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fear!” echoed the youth, a bright flush giving an additional glow +to the flashing of his kindling eye. “It is not fear, Captain Heidegger, +but prudence, that tells me to keep concealed. My presence would betray the +character of this ship. You forget that I am known to all in yonder +cruiser.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had indeed forgotten that portion of the plot. Then remain, while I go +to play upon the credulity of his Majesty’s Captain.” +</p> + +<p> +Without waiting for an answer, the Rover led the way below, signing for his +companion to follow. A few moments sufficed to arrange the fair golden locks +that imparted such a look of youth and vivacity to the countenance of the +former. The undress, fanciful frock he wore in common was exchanged for the +attire of one of his assumed rank and service, which had been made to fit his +person with the nicest care, and with perhaps a coxcomical attention to the +proportions of his really fine person; and in all other things was he speedily +equipped for the disguise he chose to affect. No sooner were these alterations +in his appearance completed, (and they were effected with a brevity and +readiness that manifested much practice in similar artifices,) than he disposed +himself to proceed on the intended experiment. +</p> + +<p> +“Truer and quicker eyes have been deceived,” he coolly observed, +turning his glance from a mirror to the countenance of his lieutenant, as he +spoke, “than those which embellish the countenance of Captain +Bignall.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know him, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr Wilder, my business imposes the necessity of knowing much that other +men overlook. Now is this adventure, which, by your features, I perceive you +deem so forlorn in its hopes of success, one of easy achievement. I am +convinced that not an officer or man on board the ‘Dart’ has ever +seen the ship whose name I have chosen to usurp. She is too fresh from the +stocks to incur that risk. Then is there little probability that I, in my other +self, shall be compelled to acknowledge acquaintance with any of her officers; +for you well know that years have passed since your late ship has been in +Europe; and, by running your eye over these books, you will perceive I am that +favoured mortal, the son of a Lord, and have not only grown into command, but +into manhood, since her departure from home.” +</p> + +<p> +“These are certainly favouring circumstances, and such as I had not the +sagacity to detect.—But why incur the risk at all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why! Perhaps there is a deep-laid scheme to learn if the prize would +repay the loss of her capture; perhaps——it is my humour. There is +fearful excitement in the adventure.” +</p> + +<p> +“And there is fearful danger.” +</p> + +<p> +“I never count the price of these enjoyments.—Wilder,” he +added, turning to him with a look of frank and courteous confidence, “I +place life and honour in your keeping; for to me it would be dishonour to +desert the interests of my crew.” +</p> + +<p> +“The trust shall be respected,” repeated our adventurer in a tone +so deep and choaked as to be nearly unintelligible. +</p> + +<p> +Regarding the still ingenuous countenance of his companion intently for an +instant, the Rover smiled as if he approved of the pledge, waved his hand in +adieu, and, turning, was about to leave the cabin but a third form, at that +moment, caught his wandering glance. Laying a hand lightly on the shoulder of +the boy, whose form was placed somewhat obtrusively in his way, he demanded, a +little sternly. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick, what means this preparation?” +</p> + +<p> +“To follow my master to the boat.” +</p> + +<p> +“Boy, thy service is not needed.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is rarely wanted of late.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why should I add unnecessarily to the risk of lives, where no good can +attend the hazard?” +</p> + +<p> +“In risking your own, you risk all to me,” was the answer, given in +a tone so resigned, and yet so faltering that the tremulous and nearly +smothered sounds caught no ears but those for whom they were intended. +</p> + +<p> +The Rover for a time replied not. His hand still kept its place on the shoulder +of the boy, whose working features his riveted eye read, as the organ is +sometimes wont to endeavour to penetrate the mystery of the human heart. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick,” he at length said, in a milder and a a kinder voice, +“your lot shall be mine; we go together.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, dashing his hand hastily across his brow the wayward chief ascended the +ladder, attended by the lad, and followed by the individual in whose faith he +reposed so great a trust. The step with which the Rover trod his deck was firm, +and the bearing of his form as steady as though he felt no hazard in his +undertaking. His look passed, with a seaman’s care, from sail to sail; +and not a brace, yard, or bow-line escaped the quick understanding glances he +cast about him, before he proceeded to the side, in order to enter a boat which +he had already ordered to be in waiting. A glimmering of distrust and +hesitation was now, for the first time, discoverable through the haughty and +bold decision of his features. For a moment his foot lingered on the ladder. +“Davis,” he said sternly to the individual whom, by his own +experience he knew to be so long practised in treachery “leave the boat. +Send me the gruff captain of the forecastle in his place. So bold a talker, in +common, should know how to be silent at need.” +</p> + +<p> +The exchange was instantly made; for no one, there, was ever known to dispute a +mandate that was uttered with the air of authority he then wore. A deeply +intent attitude of thought succeeded, and then every shadow of care vanished +from that brow, on which a look of high and generous confidence was seated, as +he added,— +</p> + +<p> +“Wilder, adieu! I leave you Captain of my people and master of my fate: +Certain I am that both trusts are reposed in worthy hands.” +</p> + +<p> +Without waiting for reply, as if he scorned the vain ceremony of idle +assurances, he descended swiftly to the boat, which at the next instant was +pulling boldly towards the King’s cruiser. The brief interval which +succeeded, between the departure of the adventurers and their arrival at the +hostile ship, was one of intense and absorbing suspense on the part of all whom +they had left behind. The individual most interested in the event, however, +betrayed neither in eye nor movement any of the anxiety which so intently beset +the minds of his followers. He mounted the side of his enemy amid the honours +due to his imaginary rank, with a self-possession and ease that might readily +have been mistaken, by those who believe these fancied qualities have a real +existence, for the grace and dignity of lofty recollections and high birth. His +reception, by the honest veteran whose long and hard services had received but +a meager reward in the vessel he commanded, was frank, manly, and seaman-like. +No sooner had the usual greetings passed, than the latter conducted his guest +into his own apartments. +</p> + +<p> +“Find such a birth, Captain Howard, as suits your inclination,” +said the unceremonious old seaman, seating himself as frankly as he invited his +companion to imitate his example. “A gentleman of your extraordinary +merit must be reluctant to lose time in useless words, though you are so +young—young for the pretty command it is your good fortune to +enjoy!” +</p> + +<p> +“On the contrary, I do assure you I begin to feel myself quite an +antediluvian,” returned the Rover coolly placing himself at the opposite +side of the table, where he might, from time to time, look his half-disgusted +companion full in the eye: “Would you imagine it, sir? I shall have +reached the age of three-and-twenty, if I live through the day.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had given you a few more years, young gentleman; but London can ripen +the human face as speedily as the Equator.” +</p> + +<p> +“You never said truer words, sir. Of all cruising grounds, Heaven defend +me from that of St. James’s! I do assure you, Bignall, the service is +quite sufficient to wear out the strongest constitution. There were moments +when I really thought I should have died that humble, disagreeable +mortal—a lieutenant!” +</p> + +<p> +“Your disease would then have been a galloping consumption!” +muttered the indignant old seaman. “They have sent you out in a pretty +boat at last, Captain Howard.” +</p> + +<p> +“She’s bearable, Bignall, but frightfully small. I told my father, +that, if the First Lord didn’t speedily regenerate the service, by +building more comfortable vessels, the navy would get altogether into vulgar +hands. Don’t you find the motion excessively annoying in these +single-deck’d ships, Bignall?” +</p> + +<p> +“When a man has been tossing up and down for five-and-forty years, +Captain Howard,” returned his host, stroking his gray locks, for want of +some other manner of suppressing his ire, “he gets to be indifferent +whether his ship pitches a foot more or a foot less.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! that, I dare say, is what one calls philosophical equanimity, though +little to my humour. But, after this cruise, I am to be posted; and then I +shall make interest for a guard-ship in the Thames; every thing goes by +interest now-a-days, you know, Big-nail.” +</p> + +<p> +The honest old tar swallowed his displeasure as well as he could; and, as the +most effectual means of keeping himself in a condition to do credit to his own +hospitality, he hastened to change the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope, among other new fashions, Captain Howard,” he said, +“the flag of Old England continues to fly over the Admiralty. You wore +the colours of Louis so long this morning, that another half hour might have +brought us to loggerheads.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! that was an excellent military ruse! I shall certainly write the +particulars of that deception home.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do so; do so, sir; you may get knighthood for the exploit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Horrible, Bignall! my Lady mother would faint at the suggestion. Nothing +so low has been in the family, I do assure you, since the time when chivalry +was genteel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, Captain Howard, it was happy for us both that you got rid of +your Gallic humour so soon; for a little more time would have drawn a broadside +from me. By heavens, sir, the guns of this ship would have gone off of +themselves, in another five minutes!” +</p> + +<p> +“It is quite happy as it is.—What do you find to amuse you +(yawning) in this dull quarter of the world, Bignall?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir, what between his Majesty’s enemies, the care of my ship, +and the company of my officers, I find few heavy moments.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! your officers: True, you <i>must</i> have officers on board; though, +I suppose, they are a little oldish to be agreeable to <i>you</i>. Will you +favour me with a sight of the list?” +</p> + +<p> +The Commander of the ‘Dart’ did as he was requested, putting the +quarter-bill of his ship into the hands of his unknown enemy, with an eye that +was far too honest to condescend to bestow even a look on a being so much +despised. +</p> + +<p> +“What a list of thorough mouthers! All Yarmouth, and Plymouth, and +Portsmouth, and Exmouth names, I do affirm. Here are Smiths enough to do the +iron-work of the whole ship. Ha! here is a fellow that might do good service in +a deluge. Who may be this Henry Ark, that I find rated as your first +lieutenant?” +</p> + +<p> +“A youth who wants but a few drops of your blood, Captain Howard, to be +one day at the head of his Majesty’s fleet.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he be then so extraordinary for his merit, Captain Bignall, may I +presume on your politeness to ask him to favour us with his society. I always +give my lieutenant half an hour of a morning—if he be genteel.” +</p> + +<p> +“Poor boy! God knows where he is to be found at this moment. The noble +fellow has embarked, of his own accord, on a most dangerous service, and I am +as ignorant as yourself of his success. Remonstrance and even entreaties, were +of no avail. The Admiral had great need of a suitable agent, and the good of +the nation demanded the risk; then, you know, men of humble birth must earn +their preferment in cruising elsewhere than at St. James’s; for the brave +lad is indebted to a wreck, in which he was found an infant, for the very name +you find so singular.” +</p> + +<p> +“He is, however, still borne upon your books as first lieutenant?” +</p> + +<p> +“And I hope ever will be, until he shall get the ship he so well +merits.—Good Heaven! are you ill Captain Howard? Boy, a tumbler of grog +here.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you, sir,” returned the Rover, smiling calmly, and +rejecting the offered beverage, as the blood returned into his features, with a +violence that threatened to break through the ordinary boundaries of its +currents. “It is no more than an ailing I inherit from my mother. We call +it, in our family, the ‘de Vere ivory;’ for no other reason, that I +could ever learn, than that one of my female ancestors was particularly +startled, in a delicate situation, you know, by an elephant’s tooth. I am +told it has rather an amiable look, while it lasts.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has the look of a man who is fitter for his mother’s nursery +than a gale of wind. But I am glad it is so soon over.” +</p> + +<p> +“No one wears the same face long now-a-days, Bignall.—And so this +Mr Ark is not any body, after all. +</p> + +<p> +“I know not what you call ‘any body,’ sir; but, if sterling +courage, great professional merit, and stern loyalty, count for any thing on +your late cruising grounds, Captain Howard, Henry Ark will soon be in command +of a frigate.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, if one only knew exactly on what to found his claims,” +continued the Rover, with a smile so kind, and a voice so insinuating, that +they half counteracted the effect of his assumed manner, “a word might be +dropped, in a letter home, that should do the youth no harm.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would to Heaven I dare but reveal the nature of the service he is +on!” eagerly returned the warm-hearted old seaman, who was as quick to +forget, as he was sudden to feel, disgust. “You may, however, safely say, +from his general character, that it is honourable, hazardous, and has the +entire good of his Majesty’s subjects in view. Indeed, an hour has +scarcely gone by since I thought that, it was completely successful.—Do +you often set your lofty sails, Captain Howard, while the heavier canvas is +rolled upon the yards? To me, a ship clothed in that style looks something like +a man with his coat on, before he has cased his legs in the lower +garment.” +</p> + +<p> +“You allude to the accident of my maintop-gallant-sail getting loose when +you first made me?” +</p> + +<p> +“I mean no other. We had caught a glimpse of your spars with the glass; +but had lost you altogether, when the flying duck met the eye of a look-out. To +say the least, it, was remarkable, and it might have proved an awkward +circumstance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I often do things in that way, in order to be odd. It is a sign of +cleverness to be odd, you know.—But I, too, am sent into these seas on a +special errand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such as what?” bluntly demanded his companion with an uneasiness +about his frowning eye that he was far too simple-minded to conceal. +</p> + +<p> +“To look for a ship that will certainly give me a famous lift, should I +have the good luck to fall in with her. For some time, I took you for the very +gentle man I was in search of; and I do assure you, if your signals had not +been so very unexceptionable, something serious might have happened between +us.” +</p> + +<p> +“And pray, sir, for whom did you take me?” +</p> + +<p> +“For no other than that notorious knave the Red Rover.” +</p> + +<p> +“The devil you did! And do yon suppose, Captain Howard, there is a pirate +afloat who carries such hamper above his head as is to be found aboard the +Dart?’ Such a set to her sails—such a step to her masts—and +such a trim to her hull? I hope, for the honour of your vessel, sir, that the +mistake went no further than the Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“Until we got within leading distance of the signals, at least a moiety +of the better opinions in my ship was dead against you, Bignall, I give you my +declaration. You’ve really been so long from home, that the +‘Dart’ is getting quite a roving look. You may not be sensible of +it, but I assure you of the fact merely as a friend.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, perhaps, since you did me the honour to mistake my vessel for a +freebooter,” returned the old tar, smothering his ire in a look of +facetious irony, which changed the expression of his mouth to a grim grin, +“you might have conceited this honest gentleman here to be no other than +Beelzebub.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the Commander of the ship, which had borne so odious an +imputation, directed the eyes of his companion to the form of a third +individual, who had entered the cabin with the freedom of a privileged person, +but with a tread so light as to be inaudible. As this unexpected form met the +quick, impatient glance of the pretended officer of the Crown, he arose +involuntarily, and, for half a minute, that admirable command of muscle and +nerve, which had served him so well in maintaining his masquerade, appeared +entirely to desert him. The loss of self-possession, however, was but for a +time so short as to attract no notice; and he coolly returned the salutations +of an aged man, of a meek and subdued look, with that air of blandness and +courtesy which he so well knew how to assume. +</p> + +<p> +“This gentleman is your chaplain, sir, I presume, by his clerical +attire,” he said, after he had exchanged bows with the stranger. + +“He is, sir—a worthy and honest man, whom I am not ashamed to call +my friend. After a separation of thirty years, the Admiral has been good enough +to lend him to me for the cruise; and, though my ship is none of the largest, I +believe he finds himself as comfortable in her as he would aboard the +flag.—This gentleman, Doctor, is the <i>honourable</i> Captain Howard, of +his Majesty’s ship ‘Antelope.’ I need not expatiate on his +remarkable merit, since the command he bears, at his years, is a sufficient +testimony on that important particular.” +</p> + +<p> +There was a look of bewildered surprise in the gaze of the divine, when his +glance first fell upon the features of the pretended scion of nobility; but it +was far less striking than had been that of the subject of his gaze, and of +much shorter continuance. He again bowed meekly, and with that deep reverence +which long use begets, even in the best-intentioned minds, when brought in +contact with the fancied superiority of hereditary rank; but he did not appear +to consider the occasion one that required he should say more than the +customary words of salutation. The Rover turned calmly to his veteran +companion, and continued the discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Bignall,” he said, again wearing that grace of manner +which became him so well, “it is my duty to follow your motions in this +interview. I will now return to my ship; and if, as I begin to suspect we are +in these seas on a similar errand, we can concert at our leisure a system of +co-operation, which, properly matured by your experience, may serve to bring +about the common end we have in view.” +</p> + +<p> +Greatly mollified by this concession to his years and to his rank, the +Commander of the “Dart” pressed his hospitalities warmly on his +guest, winding up his civilities by an invitation to join in a marine feast at +an hour somewhat later in the day. All the former offers were politely +declined, while the latter was accepted; the invited making the invitation +itself an excuse that he should return to his own vessel in order that he might +select such of his officers as he should deem most worthy of participating in +the dainties of the promised banquet. The veteran and really meritorious +Bignall, notwithstanding the ordinary sturdy blustering of his character, had +served too long in indigence and comparative obscurity not to feel some of the +longings of human nature for his hard-earned and protracted preferment. He +consequently kept, in the midst of all his native and manly honesty, a +saving-eye on the means of accomplishing this material object. It is to +occasion no surprise, therefore, that his parting from the supposed son of a +powerful champion at Court was more amicable than had been the meeting. The +Rover was bowed, from the cabin to the deck, with at least an appearance of +returning good-will. On reaching the latter, a hurried, suspicious, and perhaps +an uneasy glance was thrown from his restless eyes on all those faces that were +grouped around the gangway, by which he was about to leave the ship; but their +expression instantly became calm again, and a little supercilious withal, in +order to do no discredit to the part in the comedy which it was his present +humour to enact. Then, shaking the worthy and thoroughly-deceived old seaman +heartily by the hand, he touched his hat, with an air half-haughty, +half-condescending to his inferiors. He was in the act of descending into the +boat, when the chaplain was seen to whisper something, with great earnestness, +in the ear of his Captain. The Commander hastened to recall his departing +guest, desiring him, with startling gravity to lend him his private attention +for another moment Suffering himself to be led apart by the two the Rover stood +awaiting their pleasure, with a coolness of demeanour that, under the peculiar +circumstances of his case, did signal credit to his nerves. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Howard,” resumed the warm-hearted Bignall, “have you +a gentleman of the cloth in your vessel?” +</p> + +<p> +“Two, sir,” was the ready answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Two! It is rare to find a supernumerary priest in a man of war! But, I +suppose, Court influence could give the fellow a bishop,” muttered the +other. “You are fortunate in this particular, young gentle man, since I +am indebted to inclination, rather than to custom, for the society of my worthy +friend here he has, however, made a point that I should include the reverend +gentleman—I should say gentle<i>men</i>—in the invitation.” +</p> + +<p> +“You shall have all the divinity of <i>my</i> ship, Big nail, on my +faith.” +</p> + +<p> +“I believe I was particular in naming your first lieutenant.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! dead or alive, he shall surely be of your party,” returned the +Rover, with a suddenness and vehemence of utterance that occasioned both his +auditors to start with surprise. “You may not find him an ark to rest +your weary foot on; but, such as he is, he is entirely at your service. And +now, once more, I salute you.” +</p> + +<p> +Bowing again, he proceeded, with his former deliberate air, over the gangway, +keeping his eye riveted on the lofty gear of the “Dart,” as he +descended her side, with much that sort of expression with which a +petit-maître is apt to regard the fashion of the garments of one newly +arrived from the provinces. His superior repeated his invitation with warmth, +and waved his hand in a frank but temporary adieu; thus unconsciously suffering +the man to escape him whose capture would have purchased the long postponed and +still distant advantages for whose possession he secretly pined, with all the +withering longings his hope cruelly deferred. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>Chapter XXVIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Let them accuse me by invention; I will answer in mine honour.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Coriolanus.</i> +</p> + +<p> +“Yes!” muttered the Rover, with bitter irony, as his boat rowed +under the stern of the cruiser of the Crown; “yes! I, and my officers, +will taste of your banquet! But the viands shall be such as these hirelings of +the King shall little relish!—Pull with a will, my men, pull; in an hour, +you shall rummage the store-rooms of that fool, for your reward!” +</p> + +<p> +The greedy freebooters who manned the oars could scarcely restrain their +shouts, in order to maintain that air of moderation which policy still imposed +but they gave vent to their excitement, in redoubled efforts in propelling the +pinnace. In another minute the adventurers were all in safety again under the +sheltering guns of the “Dolphin.” +</p> + +<p> +His people gathered, from the haughty gleamings that were flashing from the +eyes of the Rover, as his foot once more touched the deck of his own ship, that +the period of some momentous action was at hand. For an instant, he lingered on +the quarter-deck surveying, with a sort of stern joy, the sturdy materials of +his lawless command; and then, without speaking, he abruptly entered his proper +cabin either forgetful that he had conceded its use to others or, in the +present excited state of his mind, utterly indifferent to the change. A sudden +and tremendous blow on the gong announced to the alarmed females, who had +ventured from their secret place, under the present amicable appearances +between the two ships, not only his presence, but his humour. +</p> + +<p> +“Let the first lieutenant be told I await him,” was the stern order +that followed the appearance of the attendant he had summoned. +</p> + +<p> +During the short period which elapsed before his mandate could be obeyed, the +Rover seemed struggling with an emotion that choaked him. But when the door of +the cabin was opened, and Wilder stood before him, the most suspicious and +closest observer might have sought in vain any evidence of the fierce passion +which in reality agitated the inward man. With the recovery of his +self-command, returned a recollection of the manner of his intrusion into a +place which he had himself ordained should be privileged. It was then that he +first sought the shrinking forms of the females, and hastened to relieve the +terror that was too plainly to be seen in their countenances, by words of +apology and explanation. +</p> + +<p> +“In the hurry of an interview with a friend,” he said, “I may +have forgotten that I am host to even such guests as it is my happiness to +entertain, though it be done so very indifferently.” +</p> + +<p> +“Spare your civilities, sir,” said Mrs Wyllys, with dignity: +“In order to make us less sensible of any intrusion, be pleased to act +the master here.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover first saw the ladies seated; and then, like one who appeared to think +the occasion might excuse any little departure from customary forms, he signed, +with a smile of high courtesy, to his lieutenant to imitate their example. +</p> + +<p> +“His Majesty’s artisans have sent worse ships than the +‘Dart’ upon the ocean, Wilder,” he commenced, with a +significant look, as if he intended that the other should supply all the +meaning that his words did not express; “but his ministers might have +selected a more observant individual for the command.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Bignall has the reputation of a brave and an honest man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay! He should deserve it; for, strip him of these qualities, and little +would remain. He gives me to understand that he is especially sent into this +latitude in quest of a ship that we have all heard of, either in good or in +evil report; I speak of the Red Rover!’” +</p> + +<p> +The involuntary start of Mrs Wyllys, and the sudden manner in which Gertrude +grasped the arm of her governess, were certainly seen by the last speaker but +in no degree did his manner betray the consciousness of such an observation. +His self-possession was admirably emulated by his male companion, who answered, +with a composure that no jealousy could have seen was assumed,— +</p> + +<p> +“His cruise will be hazardous, not to say without success.” +</p> + +<p> +“It may prove both. And yet he has lofty expectations of the +results.” +</p> + +<p> +“He probably labours under the common error as to the character of the +man he seeks.” +</p> + +<p> +“In what does he mistake?” +</p> + +<p> +“In supposing that he will encounter an ordinary freebooter—one +coarse, rapacious, ignorant, and inexorable like others of”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Of what, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“I would have said, of his class; but a mariner like him we speak of +forms the head of his own order.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will call him, then, by his popular name, Mr Wilder—a rover. +But, answer me, is it not remarkable that so aged and experienced a seaman +should come to this little frequented sea in quest of a ship whose pursuits +should call her into more bustling scenes?” +</p> + +<p> +“He may have traced her through the narrow passages of the islands, and +followed on the course she has last been seen steering.” +</p> + +<p> +“He may indeed,” returned the Rover, musing intently “Your +thorough mariner knows how to calculate the chances of winds and currents, as +the bird finds its way in air. Still a description of the ship should be needed +for a clue.” +</p> + +<p> +The eyes of Wilder, not withstanding every effort to the contrary, sunk before +the piercing gaze they encountered, as he answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps he is not without that knowledge, too.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps not. Indeed, he gave me reason to believe he has an agent in the +secrets of his enemy. Nay, he expressly avowed the same, and acknowledged that +his prospects of success depended on the skill and information of that +individual, who no doubt has his private means of communicating what he learns +of the movements of those with whom he serves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did he name him?” +</p> + +<p> +“He did.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was?”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Henry—Ark, <i>alias</i> Wilder.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is vain to attempt denial,” said our adventurer rising, with an +air of pride that he intended should conceal the uneasy sensation that in truth +beset him; “I find you know me.” +</p> + +<p> +“For a false traitor, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Heidegger, you are safe, here, in using these reproachful +terms.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover struggled, and struggled successfully, to keep down the risings of +his temper; but the effort lent to his countenance gleamings of fierce and +bitter scorn. +</p> + +<p> +“You will communicate that fact also to your superiors,” he said, +with taunting irony. “The monster of the seas, he who plunders +defenceless fishermen ravages unprotected coasts, and eludes the flag of King +George, as other serpents steal into their caves at the footstep of man, is +safe in speaking his mind, backed by a hundred and fifty freebooters, and in +the security of his own cabin. Perhaps he knows too, that he is breathing in +the atmosphere of peaceful and peace-making woman.” +</p> + +<p> +But the first surprise of the subject of his scorn had passed, and he was +neither to be goaded into retort nor terrified into entreaties. Folding his +arms with calmness, Wilder simply replied,— +</p> + +<p> +“I have incurred this risk, in order to drive a scourge from the ocean, +which had baffled all other attempts at its extermination. I knew the hazard, +and shall not shrink from its penalty.” +</p> + +<p> +“You shall not, sir!” returned the Rover, striking the gong again +with a finger that appeared to carry in its touch the weight of a giant. +“Let the negro, and the topman his companion, be secured in irons, and, +on no account, permit them to communicate, by word or signal, with the other +ship.”—When the agent of his punishments, who had entered at the +well-known summons, had retired, he again turned to the firm and motionless +form that stood before him, and continued: “Mr Wilder, there is a law +which binds this community, into which you have so treacherously stolen, +together, that would consign you, and your miserable confederates, to the +yard-arm the instant your true character should be known to my people. I have +but to open that door, and to pronounce the nature of your treason, in order to +give you up to the tender mercies of the crew.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will not! no, you will not!” cried a voice at his elbow, which +thrilled on even all his iron nerves. “You have forgotten the ties which +bind man to his fellows, but cruelty is not natural to your heart. By all the +recollections of your earliest and happiest days; by the tenderness and pity +which watched your childhood; by that holy and omniscient Being who suffers not +a hair of the innocent to go unrevenged, I conjure you to pause, before you +forget your own awful responsibility. No! you will not—cannot—dare +not be so merciless!” +</p> + +<p> +“What fate did he contemplate for me and my followers, when he entered on +this insidious design?” hoarsely demanded the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“The laws of God and man are with him,” you continued the +governess, quailing not, as her own contracting eye met the stern gaze which +she confronted. “’Tis reason that speaks in my voice; ’tis +mercy which I know is pleading at your heart. The cause, the motive, sanctify +his acts; while your career can find justification in the laws neither of +heaven nor earth.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is bold language to sound in the ears of a blood-seeking, +remorseless pirate!” said the other, looking about him with a smile so +proud and conscious that it seemed to proclaim how plainly he saw that the +speaker relied on the very reverse of the qualities he named. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the language of truth; and ears like yours cannot be deaf to the +sounds. If”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Lady, cease,” interrupted the Rover, stretching his arm towards +her with calmness and dignity. “My resolution was formed on the instant; +and no remonstrance nor apprehension of the consequence, can change it. Mr +Wilder, you are free. If you have not served me as faithfully as I once +expected, you have taught me a lesson in the art of physiognomy, which shall +leave me a wiser man for tho rest of my days.” +</p> + +<p> +The conscious Wilder stood self-condemned and humbled. The strugglings which +stirred his inmost soul were easily to be read in the workings of a countenance +that was no longer masked in artifice, but which was deeply charged with shame +and sorrow The conflict lasted, however, but for a moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you know not the extent of my object, Captain Heidegger,” +he said; “it embraced the forfeit of your life, and the destruction, or +dispersion, of your crew.” +</p> + +<p> +“According to the established usages of that portion of the world which, +having the power, oppresses the remainder, it did. Go, sir; rejoin your proper +ship; I repeat, you are free.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot leave you, Captain Heidegger without one word of +justification.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! can the hunted, denounced, and condemned freebooter command an +explanation! Is even his good opinion necessary to a virtuous servant of the +Crown!” +</p> + +<p> +“Use such terms of triumph and reproach as suit your pleasure, +sir,” returned the other, reddening to the temples as he spoke; “to +me your language can now convey no offence; still would I not leave you without +removing part of the odium which you think I merit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak freely. Sir, you are my guest.” +</p> + +<p> +Although the most cutting revilings could not have wounded the repentant Wilder +so deeply as this generous conduct, he so far subdued his feelings as to +continue,— +</p> + +<p> +“You are not now to learn,” he said, “that vulgar rumour has +given a colour to your conduct and character which is not of a quality to +command the esteem of men.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may find leisure to deepen the tints,” hastily interrupted his +listener, though the emotion which trembled in his voice plainly denoted how +deeply he felt the wound which was given by a world he affected to despise. +</p> + +<p> +“If called upon to speak at all, my words shall be those of truth, +Captain Heidegger. But is it surprising, that, filled with the ardour of a +service that you once thought honourable yourself, I should be found willing to +risk life, and even to play the hypocrite in order to achieve an object that +would not only have been rewarded, but approved, had it been successful? With +such sentiments I embarked on the enterprise; but, as Heaven is my judge, your +manly confidence had half disarmed me before my foot had hardly crossed your +threshold.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet you turned not back?” +</p> + +<p> +“There might have been powerful reasons to the contrary,” resumed +the defendant, unconsciously glancing his eyes at the females as he spoke. +“I kept my faith at Newport; and, had my two followers then been released +from your ship, foot of mine should never have entered her again,” +</p> + +<p> +“Young man, I am willing to believe you. I think I penetrate your +motives. You have played a delicate game; and, instead of repining, you will +one day rejoice that it has been fruitless. Go, sir; a boat shall attend you to +the ‘Dart’.” +</p> + +<p> +“Deceive not yourself, Captain Heidegger, in believing that any +generosity of yours can shut my eyes to my proper duty. The instant I am seen +by the Commander of the ship you name, your character will be betrayed.” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor will my hand be idle in the struggle that must follow. I may die, +here, a victim to my mistake if you please; but, the moment I am released, I +become your enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wilder!” exclaimed the Rover, grasping his hand, with a smile that +partook of the wild peculiarity of the action, “we should have been +acquainted earlier! But regret is idle. Go; should my people learn the truth, +any remonstrances of mine would be like whispers in a whirlwind.” +</p> + +<p> +“When last I joined the ‘Dolphin,’ I did not come +alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is it not enough,” rejoined the Rover, coldly recoiling for a +step, “that I offer liberty and life?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of what service can a being, fair, helpless, and unfortunate as this, be +in a ship devoted to pursuits like those of the ‘Dolphin?’” +</p> + +<p> +“Am I to be cut off for ever from communion with the best of my kind! Go, +sir; leave me the image of virtue, at least, though I may be wanting in its +substance.” + +“Captain Heidegger, once, in the warmth of your better feelings, you +pronounced a pledge in favour of these females, which I hope came deep from the +heart.” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand you, sir. What I then said is not, and shall not, be +forgotten. But whither would you lead your companions? Is not one vessel on the +high seas as safe as another? Am I to be deprived of every means of making +friends unto myself? Leave me sir—go—you may linger until my +permission to depart cannot avail you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall never desert my charge,” said Wilder, firmly. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Wilder—or I should rather call you Lieutenant Ark, I +believe”—returned the Rover, “you may trifle with my good +nature till the moment of your own security shall be past.” +</p> + +<p> +“Act your will on me: I die at my post, or go accompanied by those with +whom I came.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, the acquaintance of which you boast is not older than my own. How +know you that they prefer you for their protector? I have deceived myself, and +done poor justice to my own intentions, if they have found cause for +complaints, since their happiness or comfort has been in my keeping. Speak, +fair one; which will you for a protector?” +</p> + +<p> +“Leave me, leave me!” exclaimed Gertrude, veiling her eyes, in +terror, from the insidious smile with which he approached her, as she would +have avoided the attractive glance of a basilisk. “Oh! if you have pity +in your heart, let us quit your ship!” +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the vast self-command which the being she so ungovernably and +spontaneously repelled had in common over his feelings, no effort could repress +the look of deep and humiliating mortification with which he heard her. A cold +and haggard smile gleamed over his features, as he murmured, in a voice which +he in vain endeavoured to smother,— +</p> + +<p> +“I have purchased this disgust from all my species and dearly must the +penalty be paid!—Lady, you and your lovely ward are the mistresses of +your own acts. This ship, and this cabin, are at your command; or, if you elect +to quit both, others will receive you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Safety for our sex is only to be found beneath the fostering protection +of the laws,” said Mrs Wyllys “Would to God!”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Enough!” he interrupted, “you shall accompany your friend. +The ship will not be emptier than my heart, when all have left me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you call?” asked a low voice at his elbow, in tones so +plaintive and mild, that they could not fail to catch his ear. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick,” he hurriedly replied, “you will find occupation +below. Leave us, good Roderick. For a while, leave me.” + +Then, as if anxious to close the scene as speedily as possible, he gave another +of his signals on the gong. An order was given to convey Fid and the black into +a boat, whither he also sent the scanty baggage of his female guests. So soon +as these brief arrangements were completed, he handed the governess with +studied courtesy, through his wondering people, to the side, and saw her safely +seated, with her ward and Wilder, in the pinnace. The oars were manned by the +two seamen, and a silent adieu was given by a wave of his hand; after which he +disappeared from those to whom their present release seemed as imaginary and +unreal as had appeared their late captivity. +</p> + +<p> +The threat of the interference of the crew of the “Dolphin” was, +however, still ringing in the ears of Wilder. He made an impatient gesture to +his attendants to ply their oars, cautiously steering the boat on such a course +as should soonest lead her from beneath the guns of the freebooters. While +passing under the stern of the “Dolphin,” a hoarse hail was sent +across the waters, and the voice of the Rover was heard speaking to the +Commander of the “Dart.” +</p> + +<p> +“I send you a party of your guests,” he said; “and, among +them, all the divinity of my ship.” +</p> + +<p> +The passage was short; nor was time given for any of the liberated to arrange +their thoughts, before it became necessary to ascend the side of the cruiser of +the Crown. +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven help us!” exclaimed Bignall, catching a glimpse of the sex +of his visiters through a port “Heaven help us both, Parson! That young +hair brained fellow has sent us a brace of petticoats aboard; and these the +profane reprobate calls his divinities! One may easily guess where he has +picked up such quality; but cheer up, Doctor; one may honestly forget the cloth +in five fathom water, you know.” +</p> + +<p> +The facetious laugh of the old Commander of the “Dart” betrayed +that he was more than half disposed to overlook the fancied presumption of his +audacious inferior; furnishing a sort of pledge, to all who heard it, that no +undue scruples should defeat the hilarity of the moment. But when Gertrude, +flushed with the excitement of the scene through which she had just passed, and +beaming with a loveliness that derived so much of its character from its +innocence, appeared on his deck, the veteran rubbed his-eyes in an amazement +which could not have been greatly surpassed, had one of that species of beings +the Rover had named actually fallen at his feet from the skies. +</p> + +<p> +“The heartless scoundrel!” cried the worthy tar, “to lead +astray one so young and so lovely! Ha! as I live, my own lieutenant! +How’s this, Mr Ark! have we fallen on the days of miracles?” +</p> + +<p> +An exclamation, which came deep from the heart the governess, and a low and +mournful echo from the lips of the divine, interrupted the further expression +of his indignation and his wonder. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Bignall,” observed the former, pointing to the tottering +form which was leaning on Wilder for support, “on my life, you are +mistaken in the character of this lady. It is more than twenty years since we +last met, but I pledge my own character for the purity and truth of +hers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lead me to the cabin,” murmured Mrs Wyllys. “Gertrude, my +love, where are we? Lead me to some secret place.” +</p> + +<p> +Her request was complied with; the whole group retiring in a body from before +the sight of the spectators who thronged the deck. Here the deeply agitated +governess regained a portion of her self-command, and then her wandering gaze +sought the meek, concerned countenance of the chaplain. +</p> + +<p> +“This is a tardy and heart-rending meeting,” she said, pressing the +hand he gave her to her lips. “Gertrude, in this gentleman you see the +divine that united me to the man who once formed the pride and happiness of my +existence.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mourn not his loss,” whispered the reverend priest, bending over +her chair, with the interest of a parent. “He was taken from you at an +early hour; but he died as all who loved him might have wished. +</p> + +<p> +“And none was left to bear, in remembrance of his qualities, his proud +name to posterity! Tell me, good Merton, is not the hand of Providence visible +in this dispensation? Ought I not to humble myself before it, as a just +punishment of my disobedience to an affectionate, though too obdurate, +parent?” +</p> + +<p> +“None may presume to pry into the mysteries of he righteous government +that orders all things. Enough for us, that we learn to submit to the will of +Him who rules, without questioning his justice.” +</p> + +<p> +“But,” continued the governess, in tones so husky as to betray how +powerfully she felt the temptation to forget his admonition, “would not +one life have sufficed? was I to be deprived of all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Madam, reflect! What has been done was done in wisdom, as I trust it was +in mercy.” +</p> + +<p> +“You say truly. I will forget all of the sad events, but their +application to myself And you, worthy and benevolent Merton, where and how have +been passed your days, since the time of which we speak?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am but a low and humble shepherd of a truant flock,” returned +the meek chaplain, with a sigh. “Many distant seas have I visited, and +many strange faces, and stranger natures, has it been my lot to encounter in my +pilgrimage. I am but lately returned, from the east, into the hemisphere where +I first drew breath; and, by permission of our superiors, I came to pass a +month in the vessel of a companion, whose friendship bears even an older date +than our own.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, Madam,” returned the worthy Bignall, whose feelings had +been not a little disturbed by the previous scene; “it is near half a +century since the Parson and I were boys together, and we have been rubbing up +old recollections on the cruise. Happy am I that a lady of so commendable +qualities has come to make one of our party.” +</p> + +<p> +“In this lady you see the daughter of the late Captain——, and +the relict of the son of our ancient Commander, Rear-Admiral de Lacey,” +hastily resumed the divine, as though he knew the well-meaning honesty of his +friend was more to be trusted than his discretion. +</p> + +<p> +“I knew them both; and brave men and thorough seamen were the pair! The +lady was welcome as your friend, Merton; but she is doubly so, as the widow and +child of the gentlemen you name.” +</p> + +<p> +“De Lacey!” murmured an agitated voice in the ear of the governess. +</p> + +<p> +“The law gives me a title to bear that name,” returned she whom we +shall still continue to call by her assumed appellation, folding her weeping +pupil long and affectionately to her bosom. “The veil is unexpectedly +withdrawn, my love, nor shall concealment be longer affected. My father was the +Captain of the flag-ship. Necessity compelled him to leave me more in the +society of your young relative than he would have done, could he have foreseen +the consequences. But I knew both his pride and his poverty too well, to dare +to make him arbiter of my fate, after the alternative became, to my +inexperienced imagination worse than even his anger. We were privately united +by this gentleman, and neither of our parents knew of the connexion. +Death”— +</p> + +<p> +The voice of the widow became choaked, and she made a sign to the chaplain, as +if she would have him continue the tale. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr de Lacey and his father-in-law fell in the same battle, within a +short month of the ceremony,” add ed the subdued voice of Merton. +“Even you, dearest Madam, never knew the melancholy particulars of their +end. I was a solitary witness of their deaths for to me were they both +consigned, amid the confusion of the battle. Their blood was mingled; and your +parent, in blessing the young hero, unconsciously blessed his son.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I deceived his noble nature, and dearly have I paid the +penalty!” exclaimed the self-abased widow. “Tell me, Merton, did he +ever know of my marriage?” +</p> + +<p> +“He did not. Mr de Lacey died first, and upon his bosom, for he loved him +ever as a child; but other thoughts than useless explanations were then +uppermost in their minds.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gertrude,” said the governess, in hollow, repentant tones, +“there is no peace for our feeble sex but in submission; no happiness but +in obedience.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is over now,” whispered the weeping girl; “all over, and +forgotten. I am your child—your own Gertrude—the creature of your +formation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Harry Ark!” exclaimed Bignall, clearing his throat with a hem so +vigorous as to carry the sound to the outer deck, seizing the arm of his +entranced lieutenant, and dragging him from the scene while he spoke. +“What the devil besets the boy! You forget that, all this time, I am as +ignorant of your own adventures as is his Majesty’s prime minister of +navigation Why do I see you, here, a visitor from a royal cruiser, when I +thought you were playing the mock pirate? and how came that harum-scarum twig +of nobility in possession of so goodly a company, as well as of so brave a +ship?” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder drew a long and deep breath, like one that awakes from a pleasing dream, +reluctantly suffering himself to be forced from a spot where he fondly felt +that he could have continued, without weariness, for ever. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>Chapter XXIX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Let them achieve me, and then sell my bones.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Henry V.</i> +</p> + +<p> +The Commander of the “Dart,” and his bewildered lieutenant, had +gained the quarter-deck before either spoke again. The direction first taken by +the eyes of the latter was in quest of the neighbouring ship; nor was the look +entirely without that unsettled and vague expression which seems to announce a +momentary aberration of the faculties. But the vessel of the Rover was in view, +in all the palpable and beautiful proportions of her admirable construction +Instead of lying in a state of rest, as when he left her, her head-yards had +been swung, and, as the sails filled with the breeze, the stately fabric had he +gun to Marve gracefully, though with no great velocity along the water. There +was not the slightest appearance however, of any attempt at escape in the +evolution. On the contrary, the loftier and lighter sails had all been furled, +and men were at the moment actively employed in sending to the deck those +smaller spars which were absolutely requisite in spreading the canvas that +would be needed in facilitating her flight. Wilder turned from the sight with a +sickening apprehension; for he well knew that these were the preparations that +skillful mariners are wont to make, when bent on desperate combat. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, yonder goes your St. James’s seaman, with his three topsails +full, and his mizzen out, as if he had already forgotten he is to dine with me, +and that his name is to be found at one end of the list of Commanders and mine +at the other,” grumbled the displeased Bignall. “But we shall have +him coming round all in good time, I suppose, when his appetite tells him the +dinner hour. He might wear his colours in presence of a senior, too, and no +disgrace to his nobility. By the Lord, Harry Ark, he handles those yards +beautifully! I warrant you, now, some honest man’s son is sent aboard his +ship for a dry nurse, in the shape of a first lieutenant, and we shall have him +vapouring, all dinner time, about ‘how my ship does this,’ and +‘I never suffer that.’ Ha! is it not so, sir? He has a thorough +seaman for his First?” +</p> + +<p> +“Few men understand the profession better than does the Captain of yonder +vessel himself,” returned Wilder. +</p> + +<p> +“The devil he does! You have been talking with him, Mr Ark, about these +matters, and he has got some of the fashions of the ‘Dart.’ I see +into a mystery as quick as another!” +</p> + +<p> +“I do assure you, Captain Bignall, there is no safety in confiding in the +ignorance of yonder extra ordinary man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, I begin to overhaul his character. The young dog is a quiz, and +has been amusing himself with a sailor of what he calls the old school. Am I +right, sir? He has seen salt water before this cruise?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is almost a native of the seas; for more than thirty years has he +passed his time on them.” +</p> + +<p> +“There, Harry Ark, he has done you handsomely. Now, I have his own +assertion for it, that he will not be three-and-twenty until to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“On my word, he has deceived you, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, Mr Ark; that is a task much easier attempted than +performed. Threescore and four years add as much weight to a man’s head +as to his heels! I may have undervalued the skill of the younker but, as to his +years, there can be no great mistake. But where the devil is the fellow +steering to? Has he need of a pinafore from his lady mother to come on board of +a man-of-war for his dinner?” +</p> + +<p> +“See! he is indeed standing from us!” exclaimed Wilder, with a +rapidity and delight that would have excited the suspicions of one more +observant than his Commander. +</p> + +<p> +“If I know the stern from the bows of a ship, what you say is +truth,” returned the other, with some austerity. “Hark ye, Mr Ark, +I’ve a mind to furnish the coxcomb a lesson in respect for his superiors +and give him a row to whet his appetite. By the Lord, I will; and he may write +home an account of this manoeuvre, too, in his next despatches. Fill away the +after-yards, sir; fill away. Since this <i>honourable</i> youth is disposed to +amuse himself with a sailing-match, he can take no offence that others are in +the same humour.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant of the watch, to whom the order was addressed, complied; and, in +another minute, the “Dart” was also beginning to move a-head, +though in a direction directly opposite to that taken by the +“Dolphin.” The old man highly enjoyed his own decision, manifesting +his self-satisfaction by the infinite glee and deep chuckling of his manner. He +was too much occupied with the step he had just taken, to revert immediately to +the subject that had so recently been uppermost in his mind; nor did the +thought of pursuing the discourse occur to him, until the two ships had left a +broad field of water between them, as each moved, with ease and steadiness, on +its proper course. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him note that in his log-book, Mr Ark,” the irritable old +seaman then resumed, returning to the spot which Wilder had not left during the +intervening time. “Though my cook has no great relish for a frog, they +who would taste of his skill must seek him. By the Lord, boy, he will have a +pull of it, if he undertake to come-to on that tack.—But how happens it +that you got into his ship? All that part of the cruise remains untold.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have been wrecked, sir, since you received my last letter.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! has Davy Jones got possession of the red gentleman at last?” +</p> + +<p> +“The misfortune occurred in a ship from Bristol, aboard which I was +placed as a sort of prize-master.—He certainly continues to stand slowly +to the northward!” +</p> + +<p> +“Let the young coxcomb go! he will have all the better appetite for his +supper. And so you were picked up by his Majesty’s ship the +‘Antelope.’ Ay, I see into the whole affair. You have only to give +an old sea-dog his course and compass, and he will find his way to port in the +darkest night. But how happened it that this Mr Howard affected to be ignorant +of your name, sir, when he saw it on the list of my officers?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ignorant! Did he seem ignorant? perhaps”— +</p> + +<p> +“Say no more, my brave fellow, say no more,” interrupted +Wilder’s considerate but choleric Commander. “I nave met with such +rebuffs myself; but we are above them, sir, far above them and their +impertinences together. No man need be ashamed of having earned his commission, +as you and I have done, in fair weather and in foul. Zounds, boy, I have fed +one of the upstarts for a week, and then had him stare at a church across the +way, when I have fallen in with him in the streets of London, in a fashion that +might make a simple man believe the puppy knew for what it had been built. +Think no more of it, Harry; worse things have happened to myself, I do assure +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I went by my assumed name while in yonder ship,” Wilder forced +himself to add. “Even the ladies who were the companions of my wreck, +know me by no other.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! that was prudent; and, after all, the young sprig was not pretending +genteel ignorance. How now, master Fid; you are welcome back to the +Dart.’” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve taken the liberty to say as much already to myself, your +Honour,” resumed the topman, who was busying himself, near his two +officers, in a manner that seemed to invite their attention. “A wholesome +craft is yonder, and boldly is she commanded, and stoutly is she manned; but, +for my part, having a character to lose, it is more to my taste to sail in a +ship that can shew her commission, when properly called on for the same.” +</p> + +<p> +The colour on Wilder’s cheeks went and came like the flushings of the +evening sky, and his eyes were turned in every direction but that which would +have encountered the astonished gaze of his veteran friend. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not quite sure that I understand the meaning of the lad, Mr Ark. +Every officer, from the Captain to the boatswain, in the King’s fleet, +that is, every man of common discretion, carries his authority to act as such +with him to sea, or he might find himself in a situation as awkward as that of +a pirate.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is just what I said, sir; but schooling and long use have given +your Honour a better outfit in words. Guinea and I have often talked the matter +over together, and serious thoughts has it given to us both, more than once, +Captain Bignall. ‘Suppose,’ says I to the black, ‘suppose one +of his Majesty’s boats should happen to fall in with this here craft, and +we should come to loggerheads and matches,’ says I, ‘what would the +like of us two do in such a god-send?’—‘Why,’ says the +black, ‘we would stand to our guns on the side of master Harry,’ +says he; nor did I gainsay the same; but, saving his presence and your +Honour’s, I just took the liberty to add, that, in my poor opinion, it +would be much more comfortable to be killed in an honest ship than on the deck +of a buccaneer.” +</p> + +<p> +“A buccaneer!” exclaimed his Commander, with eyes distended, and an +open mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Bignall,” said Wilder, “I may have offended past +forgiveness, in remaining so long silent; but, when you hear my tale, there may +be found some passages that shall plead my apology. The vessel in sight is the +ship of the renowned Red Rover—nay listen, I conjure you by all that +kindness you have so long shewn me, and then censure as you will.” +</p> + +<p> +The words of Wilder, aided as they were by an earnest and manly manner, laid a +restraint on the mounting indignation of the choleric old seaman. He listened +gravely and intently to the rapid but clear tale which his lieutenant hastened +to recount; and, ere the latter had done, he had more than half entered into +those grateful, and certainly generous, feelings which had made the youth so +reluctant to betray the obnoxious character of a man who had dealt so liberally +by himself. A few strong, and what might be termed professional, exclamations +of surprise and admiration, occasionally interrupted the narrative; but, on the +whole, he curbed his impatience and his feelings, in a manner that was +sufficiently remarkable, when the temperament of the individual is duly +considered. +</p> + +<p> +“This is wonderful indeed!” he exclaimed, as the other ended; +“and a thousand pities is it that so honest a fellow should be so arrant +a knave. But, Harry, we can never let him go at large after all, our loyalty +and our religion forbid it. We must tack ship, and stand after him; if fair +words won’t bring him to reason, I see no other remedy than blows.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear it is no more than our duty, sir,” returned the young man, +with a deep sigh. +</p> + +<p> +“It is a matter of religion.—And then the prating puppy, that he +sent on board me, is no Captain, after all! Still it was impossible to deceive +me as to the air and manner of a gentleman. I warrant me, some young reprobate +of a good family, or he would never have acted the sprig so well. We must try +to keep his name a secret, Mr Ark, in order that no discredit should fall upon +his friends. Our aristocratic columns, though they get a little cracked and +defaced, are, after all, the pillars of the throne, and it does not become us +to let vulgar eyes look too closely into their unsoundness.” +</p> + +<p> +“The individual who visited the ‘Dart’ was the Rover +himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ha! the Red Rover in my ship, nay, in my very presence!” exclaimed +the old tar, in a species of honest horror. “You are now pleased, sir, to +trifle with my good nature.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should forget a thousand obligations, ere I could be so bold. On my +solemn asseveration, sir, it was no other.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is unaccountable! extraordinary to a miracle! His disguise was very +complete, I will confess to deceive one so well skilled in the human +countenance. I saw nothing, sir, of his shaggy whiskers heard nothing of his +brutal voice, nor perceived any of those monstrous deformities which are +universally acknowledged to distinguish the man.” +</p> + +<p> +“All of which are no more than the embellishments of vulgar rumour, I +fear me, sir, that the boldest and most dangerous of all our vices are often +found under the most pleasing exteriors.” +</p> + +<p> +“But this is not even a man of inches, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“His body is not large, but it contains the spirit of a giant.” +</p> + +<p> +“And do you believe yonder ship, Mr Ark, to be the vessel that fought us +in the equinox of March?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know it to be no other.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, Harry, for your sake, I will deal generously by the rogue. He +once escaped me, by the loss of a topmast, and stress of weather; but we have +here a good working breeze, that a man may safely count on, and a fine regular +sea. He is therefore mine, so soon as I choose to make him so;—for I do +not think he has any serious intention to run.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear not,” returned Wilder, unconsciously betraying his wishes +in the words. +</p> + +<p> +“Fight he cannot, with any hopes of success; and, as he seems to be +altogether a different sort of personage from what I had supposed, we will try +the merits of negotiation. Will you undertake to be the bearer of my +propositions?—or, perhaps, he might repent of his moderation.” +</p> + +<p> +“I pledge myself for his faith,” eagerly exclaimed Wilder +“Let a gun be fired to leeward. Mind, sir, all the tokens must be +amicable—a flag of truce set out at our main, and I will risk every +hazard to lead him back into the bosom of society.” +</p> + +<p> +“By George, it would at least be acting a Christian part,” returned +the Commander, after a moment’s thought; “and, though we miss +knighthood below, lad, for our success, there will be better birth cleared for +us aloft.” +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had the warm-hearted, and perhaps a little visionary, Captain of the +“Dart,” and his lieutenant, determined on this measure, than they +both set eagerly about the means of insuring its success. The helm of the ship +was put a-lee; and, as her head came sweeping up into the wind, a sheet of +flame flashed from her leeward bow-port, sending the customary amicable +intimation across the water, that those who governed her movements would +communicate with the possessors of the vessel in sight. At the same instant, a +small flag, with a spotless field was seen floating at the topmost elevation of +all her spars, whilst the flag of England was lowered from the gaff. A half +minute of deep inquietude succeeded these signals, in the bosoms of those who +had ordered them to be made. Their suspense was however speedily terminated. A +cloud of smoke drove before the wind from the vessel of the Rover, and then the +smothered explosion of the answering gun came dull upon their ears. A flag, +similar to their own, was seen floating, as it might be, like a dove fanning +its wings, far above her tops; but no emblem of any sort was borne at the spar, +where the colours which distinguish the national character of a cruiser are +usually seen. +</p> + +<p> +“The fellow has the modesty to carry a naked gaff in our presence,” +said Bignall, pointing out the circumstance to his companion, as an augury +favourable to their success. “We will stand for him until within a +reasonable distance, and then you shall take to the boat.” +</p> + +<p> +In conformity with this determination, the “Dart” was brought on +the other tack, and several sails were set, in order to quicken her speed. When +at the distance of half cannon shot, Wilder suggested to his superior the +propriety of arresting their further progress in order to avoid the appearance +of hostilities. The boat was immediately lowered into the sea, and manned; a +flag of truce set in her bows: and the whole was reported ready to receive the +bearer of the message. +</p> + +<p> +“You may hand him this statement of our force, Mr Ark; for, as he is a +reasonable man, he will see the advantage it gives us,” said the Captain, +after having exhausted his manifold and often repeated instructions. “I +think you may promise him indemnity for the past, provided he comply with all +my conditions; at all events, you will say that no influence shall be spared to +get a complete whitewashing for himself at least. God bless you, boy! Take care +to say nothing of the damages we received in the affair of March last; +for—ay—for the equinox was blowing heavy at the time, you know. +Adieu! and success attend you!” +</p> + +<p> +The boat shoved off from the side of the vessel as he ended, and in a few +moments the listening Wilder was borne far beyond the sound of any further +words of advisement. Our adventurer had sufficient time to reflect on the +extraordinary situation in which he now found himself, during the row to the +still distant ship. Once or twice, slight and uneasy glimmerings of distrust, +concerning the prudence of the step he was taking, beset his mind; though a +recollection of the lofty feeling of the man in whom he confided ever presented +itself in sufficient season to prevent the apprehension from gaining any undue +ascendency. Notwithstanding the delicacy of his situation, that characteristic +interest in his profession, which is rarely dormant in the bosom of a +thorough-bred seaman, was strongly stimulated as he approached the vessel of +the Rover. The perfect symmetry of her spars the graceful heavings and settings +of the whole fabric is it rode, like a marine bird, on the long, regular swells +of the trades, and the graceful inclinations of the tapering masts, as they +waved across the blue canopy, which was interlaced by all the tracery of her +complicated tackle, was not lost on an eye that knew no less how to prize the +order of the whole than to admire the beauty of the object itself. There is a +high and exquisite taste, which the seaman attains in the study of a machine +that all have united to commend, which may be likened to the sensibilities that +the artist acquires by close and long contemplation of the noblest monuments of +antiquity. It teaches him to detect those imperfections which would escape any +less instructed eye; and it heightens the pleasure with which a ship at sea is +gazed at, by enabling the mind to keep even pace with the enjoyment of the +senses. It is this powerful (and to a landsman incomprehensible) charm that +forms the secret tie which binds the mariner so closely to his vessel, and +which often leads him to prize her qualities as one would esteem the virtues of +a friend, and almost to be equally enamoured of the fair proportions of his +ship and of those of his mistress. Other men may have their different inanimate +subjects of admiration; but none of their feelings so thoroughly enter into the +composition of the being as the affection which the mariner comes, in time, to +feel for his vessel. It is his home, his theme of constant and frequently of +painful interest, his tabernacle and often his source of pride and exultation. +As she gratifies or disappoints his high-wrought expectations in her speed or +in the fight, mid shoals and hurricanes, a character for good or luckless +qualities is earned, which are as often in reality due to the skill or +ignorance of those who guide her, as to any inherent properties of the fabric. +Still does the ship itself, in the eyes of the seaman, bear away the laurel of +success, or suffer the ignominy of defeat and misfortune; and, when the reverse +arrives, the result is merely regarded as some extraordinary departure from the +ordinary character of the vessel, as if the construction possessed the powers +of entire self-command and perfect volition. +</p> + +<p> +Though not so deeply imbued with that species of superstitious credulity, on +this subject, as the inferiors of his profession, Wilder was keenly awake to +most of the sensibilities of a mariner. So strongly, indeed, was he alive to +this feeling, on the present occasion, that for a moment he forgot the critical +nature of his errand, as he drew within plainer view of a vessel that, with +justice, might lay claim to be a jewel of the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +“Lay on your oars, lads,” he said, signing to his people to arrest +the progress of the boat; “lay on your oars! Did you ever see masts more +beautifully in line than those, master Fid, or sails that had a fairer +fit?” +</p> + +<p> +The topman, who rowed the stroke-oar of the pinnace cast a look over his +shoulder, and, stowing into one of his cheeks a lump that resembled a wad laid +by the side of its gun, he was not slow to answer, on an occasion where his +opinion was so directly demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“I care not who knows it,” he said, “for, done by honest men +or done by knaves, I told the people on the forecastle of the; +‘Dart,’ in the first five minutes after I got among them again, +that they might be at Spithead a month, and not see hamper so light, and yet so +handy, as is seen aboard that flyer. Her lower rigging is harpened-in, like the +waist of Nell Dale after she has had a fresh pull upon her stay-lanyards, and +there isn’t a block, among them all, that seems bigger in its place than +do the eyes of the girl in her own good-looking countenance. That bit of a set +that you see to her fore-brace-block, was given by the hand of one Richard Fid; +and the heart on her main-stay was turned-in by Guinea, here; and, considering +he is a nigger, I call it ship-shape.” +</p> + +<p> +“She is beautiful in every part!” said Wilder, drawing a long +breath. “Give way, my men, give way! Do you think I have come here to +take the soundings of the ocean?” +</p> + +<p> +The crew started at the hurried tones of their lieutenant and in another minute +the boat was at the side of the vessel. The stern and threatening glances that +Wilder encountered, as his foot touched the planks, caused him to pause an +instant, ere he advanced further amid the crew. But the presence of the Rover +himself, who stood, with his peculiar air of high and imposing authority, on +the quarter-deck, encouraged him to proceed, after permitting a delay that was +too slight to attract attention. His lips were in the act of parting, when a +sign from the other induced him to remain silent, until they were both in the +privacy of the cabin. +</p> + +<p> +“Suspicion is awake among my people, Mr Ark,” commenced the Rover, +when they were thus retired, laying a marked and significant emphasis on the +name he used. “Suspicion is stirring, though, as yet, they hardly know +what to credit. The manoeuvres of the two ships have not been such as they are +wont to see, and voices are not wanting to whisper in their ears matter that is +somewhat injurious to your interests. You have not done well, sir, in returning +among us.” +</p> + +<p> +“I came by the order of my superior, and under the sanction of a +flag.” +</p> + +<p> +“We are small reasoners in the legal distinction of the world, and may +mistake your rights in so novel a character. But,” he immediately added, +with dignity, “if you bear a message, I may presume it is intended for my +ears.” +</p> + +<p> +“And for no other. We are not alone, Captain Heidegger.” +</p> + +<p> +“Heed not the boy; he is deaf at my will.” +</p> + +<p> +“I could wish to communicate to you only the offers that I bear.” +</p> + +<p> +“That mast is not more senseless than Roderick,” said the other +calmly, but with decision. +</p> + +<p> +“Then must I speak at every hazard.—The Commander of yon ship, who +bears the commission of our royal master George the Second, has ordered me to +say thus much for your consideration: On condition that you will surrender this +vessel, with all her stores, armament, and warlike munitions, uninjured he will +content himself with taking ten hostages from your crew, to be decided by lot, +yourself, and one other of your officers, and either to receive the remainder +into the service of the King, or to suffer them to disperse in pursuit of a +calling more creditable, and, as it would now appear, more safe.” +</p> + +<p> +“This is the liberality of a prince! I should kneel and kiss the deck +before one whose lips utter such sounds of mercy!” +</p> + +<p> +“I repeat but the words of my superior,” Wilder resumed. “For +yourself, he further promises, that his interest shall be exerted to procure a +pardon, on condition that you quit the seas, and renounce the name of +Englishman for ever.” +</p> + +<p> +“The latter is done to his hands: But may I know the reason that such +lenity is shewn to one whose name has been so long proscribed of men?” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Bignall has heard of your generous treatment of his officer, and +the delicacy that the daughter and widow of two ancient brethren in arms have +received at your hands. He confesses that rumour has not done entire justice to +your character.” +</p> + +<p> +A mighty effort kept down the gleam of exultation that flashed across the +features of the listener, who, however, succeeded in continuing utterly calm +and immovable. +</p> + +<p> +“He has been deceived, sir”—he coldly resumed, as though he +would encourage the other to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +“That much is he free to acknowledge. A representation of this common +error, to the proper authorities, will have weight in procuring the promised +amnesty for the past, and, as he hopes, brighter prospects for the +future.” +</p> + +<p> +“And does he urge no other motive than his pleasure why I should make +this violent change in all my habits, why I should renounce an element that has +become as necessary to me as the one I breathe and why, in particular, I am to +disclaim the vaunted privilege of calling myself a Briton?” +</p> + +<p> +“He does. This statement of a force, which you may freely examine with +your own eyes, if so disposed, must convince you of the hopelessness of +resistance, and will, he thinks, induce you to accept his offers.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what is <i>your</i> opinion?” the other demanded, with a +meaning smile and peculiar emphasis, as he extended a hand to receive the +written statement. “But I beg pardon,” he hastily added, taking the +look of gravity from the countenance of his companion “I trifle, when the +moment requires all our seriousness.” +</p> + +<p> +The eye of the Rover ran rapidly over the paper, resting itself, once or twice, +with a slight exhibition of interest, on particular points, that seemed most to +merit his attention. +</p> + +<p> +“You find the superiority such as I had already given you reason to +believe?” demanded Wilder, when the look of the other wandered from the +paper. +</p> + +<p> +“I do.” +</p> + +<p> +“And may I now ask your decision on the offer?” +</p> + +<p> +“First, tell me what does your own heart advise? This is but the language +of another.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Heidegger,” said Wilder, colouring, “I will not +attempt to conceal, that, had this message depended solely on myself, it might +have been couched in different terms; but as one, who still deeply retains the +recollection of your generosity, as a man would not willingly induce even an +enemy to an act of dishonour, do I urge their acceptance. You will excuse me, +if I say, that, in my recent intercourse I have had reason to believe you +already perceive that neither the character you could wish to earn, nor the +content that all men crave, is to be found in your present career.” +</p> + +<p> +“I had not thought I entertained so close a casuist in Mr Henry Wilder. +Have you more to urge, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing,” returned the disappointed and grieved messenger of the +“Dart.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, he has,” said a low but eager voice at the elbow of the +Rover, which rather seemed to breathe out the syllables than dare to utter them +aloud; “he has not yet delivered the half of his commission, or sadly has +he forgotten the sacred trust!” +</p> + +<p> +“The boy is often a dreamer,” interrupted the Rover, smiling, with +a wild and haggard look. “He sometimes gives form to his unmeaning +thoughts, by clothing them in words.” +</p> + +<p> +“My thoughts are not unmeaning,” continued Roderick, in a louder +and far bolder strain. “If his peace or happiness be dear to you, do not +yet leave him. Tell him of his high and honourable name of his youth; of that +gentle and virtuous being that he once so fondly loved, and whose memory, even +now, he worships. Speak to him of these, as you know how to speak; and, on my +life, his ear will not be deaf, his heart cannot be callous to your +words.” +</p> + +<p> +“The urchin is mad!” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not mad; or, if maddened, it is by the crimes, the dangers, of +those I love. Oh! Mr Wilder, do not leave him. Since you have been among us, he +is nearer to what I know he once was, than formerly. Take away that mistaken +statement of your force; threats do but harden him: As a friend admonish; but +hope for nothing as a minister of vengeance. You know not the fearful nature of +the man, or you would not attempt to stop a torrent. Now—now speak to +him; for, see, his eye is already growing kinder.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is in pity, boy, to witness how thy reason wavers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had it never swerved more than at this moment Walter, another need not +be called upon to speak between thee and me! My words would then have been +regarded, my voice would then have been loud enough to be heard. Why are you +dumb? a single happy syllable might now save him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wilder, the child is frightened by this counting of guns and numbering +of people. He fears the anger of your anointed master. Go; give him place in +your boat, and recommend him to the mercy of your superior.” +</p> + +<p> +“Away, away!” cried Roderick. “I shall not, will not, cannot +leave you. Who is there left for me in this world but you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” continued the Rover, whose forced calmness of expression had +changed to one of deep and melancholy musing; “it will indeed be better +thus. See, here is much gold; you will commend him to the care of that +admirable woman who already watches one scarcely less helpless, though possibly +less—” +</p> + +<p> +“Guilty! speak the word boldly, Walter. I have earned the epithet, and +shall not shrink to hear it spoken. Look,” he said, taking the ponderous +bag which had been extended towards Wilder, and holding it high above his head, +in scorn, “this can I cast from me; but the tie which binds me to you +shall never be broken.” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, the lad approached an open window of the cabin; a splash upon the +water was heard, and then a treasure, that might have furnished a competence to +moderate wishes, was lost for ever to the uses of those who had created its +value. The lieutenant of the “Dart” turned in haste to deprecate +the anger of the Rover; but his eye could trace, in the features of the lawless +chief, no other emotion than a pity which was discoverable even through his +calm and unmoved smile. +</p> + +<p> +“Roderick would make but a faithless treasurer,” he said. +“Still it is not too late to restore him to his friends. The loss of the +gold can be repaired; but, should any serious calamity befall the boy, I might +never regain a perfect peace of mind.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then keep him near yourself,” murmured the lad, whose vehemence +had seemingly expended itself. “Go, Mr Wilder, go; your boat is waiting; +a longer stay will be without an object.” +</p> + +<p> +“I fear it will!” returned our adventurer, who had not ceased, +during the previous dialogue, to keep his look fastened, in manly +commiseration, on the countenance of the boy; “I greatly fear it +will!—Since I have come the messenger of another, Captain Heidegger it is +your province to supply a fitting answer to my proposition.” +</p> + +<p> +The Rover took him by the arm, and led him to a position whence they might look +upon the outer scene. Then, pointing upward at his spars, and making his +companion observe the small quantity of sail he carried, he simply said, +“Sir, you are a seaman and may judge of my intentions by this sight I +shall neither seek nor avoid your boasted cruiser of King George.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>Chapter XXX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Front to front,<br/> +Bring thou this fiend——<br/> +Within my sword’s length set him; if he ’scape,<br/> +Heaven forgive him too!” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Macbeth.</i> +</p> + +<p> +“You have brought the grateful submission of the pirate to my +offers!” exclaimed the sanguine Commander of the “Dart” to +his messenger, as the foot of the latter once more touched his deck. +</p> + +<p> +“I bring nothing but defiance!” was the unexpected reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you exhibit my statement? Surely, Mr Ark so material a document was +not forgotten!” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing was forgotten that the warmest interest in his safety could +suggest, Captain Bignall. Still the chief of yonder lawless ship refuses to +hearken to your conditions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, sir, he imagines that the ‘Dart’ is defective in +some of her spars,” returned the hasty old seaman, compressing his lips, +with a look of wounded pride; “he may hope to escape by pressing the +canvas on his own light-heeled ship.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does that look like flight?” demanded Wilder, extending an arm +towards the nearly naked spars and motionless hull of their neighbour. +“The utmost I can obtain is an assurance that he will not be the +assailant.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Fore George, he is a merciful youth! and one that should be +commended for his moderation! He will not run his disorderly, picarooning +company under the guns of a British man-of-war, because he owes a little +reverence to the flag of his master! Hark ye, Mr Ark, we will remember the +circumstance when questioned at the Old Bailey. Send the people to their guns, +sir, and ware the ship round, to put an end at once to this foolery, or we +shall have him sending a boat aboard to examine our commissions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Bignall,” said Wilder, leading his Commander still further +from the ears of their inferiors, “I may lay some little claim to merit +for services done under your own eyes, and in obedience to your orders. If my +former conduct may give me a title to presume to counsel one of your great +experience, suffer me to urge a short delay.” +</p> + +<p> +“Delay! Does Henry Ark hesitate, when the enemies of his King, nay more, +the enemies of man, are daring him to his duty!” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, you mistake me. I hesitate, in order that the flag under which we +sail may be free from stain, and not with any intent of avoiding the combat. +Our enemy, <i>my</i> enemy knows that he has nothing now to expect, for his +past generosity, but kindness, should he become our captive. Still, Captain +Bignall, I ask for time, to prepare the ‘Dart’ for a conflict that +will try all her boasted powers, and to insure a victory that will not be +bought without a price.” +</p> + +<p> +“But should he escape”— +</p> + +<p> +“On my life he will not attempt it. I not only know the man, but how +formidable are his means of resistance. A short half hour will put us in the +necessary condition, and do no discredit either to our spirit or to our +prudence.” +</p> + +<p> +The veteran yielded a reluctant consent, which was not, however, accorded +without much muttering concerning the disgrace a British man-of-war incurred in +not running alongside the boldest pirate that floated, and blowing him out of +water, with a single match. Wilder, who was accustomed to the honest +professional bravados that often formed a peculiar embellishment to the really +firm and manly resolution of the seamen of that age, permitted him to make his +plaints at will, while he busied himself in a manner that he knew was now of +the last importance and in a duty that properly came under his more immediate +inspection, in consequence of the station he occupied. +</p> + +<p> +The “order for all hands to clear ship for action” was again given, +and received in the cheerful temper with which mariners are wont to welcome any +of the more important changes of their exciting profession. Little remained, +however, to be done; for most of the previous preparations had still been left, +as at the original meeting of the two vessels. Then came the beat to quarters, +and the more serious and fearful-looking preparations for certain combat. After +these several arrangements had been completed, the crew at their guns, the +sail-trimmers at the braces, and the officers in their several batteries, the +after-yards were swung, and the ship once more put in motion. +</p> + +<p> +During this brief interval, the vessel of the Rover lay, at the distance of +half a mile, in a state of entire rest, without betraying the smallest interest +in the obvious movements of her hostile neighbour. When, however, the +“Dart” was seen yielding to the breeze, and gradually increasing +her velocity, until the water was gathering under her fore-foot in a little +rolling wave of foam, the bows of the other fell off from the direction of the +wind, the topsail was filled, and, in her turn, the hull was held in command, +by giving to it the impetus of motion. The “Dart” now set again at +her gaff that broad field which had been lowered during the conference, and +which had floated in triumph through the hazards and struggles of a thousand +combats. No answering emblem, however was exhibited from the peak of her +adversary. +</p> + +<p> +In this manner the two ships “gathered way,” as it is expressed in +nautical language, watching each other with eyes as jealous as though they had +been two rival monsters of the great deep, each endeavouring to conceal from +his antagonist the evolution contemplated next. The earnest, serious manner of +Wilder had not failed to produce its influence on the straight-minded seaman +who commanded the ‘Dart;’ and, by this time, he was as much +disposed as his lieutenant to approach the conflict leisurely, and with proper +caution. +</p> + +<p> +The day had hitherto been cloudless, and a vault of purer blue never canopied a +waste of water, than the arch which had swept for hours above the heads of our +marine adventurers. But, as if nature frowned on their present bloody designs, +a dark, threatening mass of vapour was blending the ocean with the sky, in a +direction opposed to the steady currents of the air, These well-known and +ominous signs did not escape the vigilance of those who manned the hostile +vessels, but the danger was still deemed too remote to interrupt the higher +interests of the approaching combat. +</p> + +<p> +“We have a squall brewing in the west,” said the experienced and +wary Bignall, pointing to the frowning symptoms as he spoke; “but we can +handle the pirate, and get all snug again, before it works its way up against +this breeze.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder assented; for, by this time, high professional pride was swelling in his +bosom also, and a generous rivalry was getting the mastery of feelings that +were possibly foreign to his duty, however natural they might have been in one +as open to kindness as himself. +</p> + +<p> +“The Rover is sending down even his lighter masts!” exclaimed the +youth; “it would seem that he greatly distrusts the weather.” +</p> + +<p> +“We will not follow his example; for he will wish they were aloft again, +the moment we get him fairly under the play of our batteries. By George our +King, but he has a pretty moving boat under him. Let fall the main-course, sir; +down with it, or we shall have it night before we get the rogue a-beam.” +</p> + +<p> +The order was obeyed; and then the “Dart,” feeling the powerful +impulse, quickened her speed like an animated being, that is freshly urged by +its apprehensions or its wishes. By this time, she had gained a position on the +weather-quarter of her adversary who had not manifested the smallest desire to +prevent her attaining so material an advantage. On the contrary, while the +“Dolphin” kept the same canvas spread, she continued to lighten her +top-hamper bringing as much of the weight as possible, from the towering height +of her tall masts, to the greater security of the hull. Still, the distance +between them was too great, in the opinion of Bignall, to commence the contest, +while the facility with which his adversary moved a-head threatened to protract +the important moment to an unreasonable extent, or to reduce him to a crowd of +sail that might prove embarrassing while enveloped in the smoke, and pressed by +the urgencies of the combat. +</p> + +<p> +“We will touch his pride, sir, since you think him a man of +spirit,” said the veteran, to his faithful coadjutor: “Give him a +weather-gun, and show him another of his Master’s ensigns.” +</p> + +<p> +The roar of the piece, and the display of three more of the fields of England, +in quick succession, from different parts of the “Dart,” failed to +produce the slightest evidence, even of observation, aboard their seemingly +insensible neighbour. The “Dolphin” still kept on her way, +occasionally swooping up gracefully to touch the wind, and then deviating from +her course again to leeward, as the porpoise is seen to turn aside from his +direction to snuff the breeze, while he lazily sports along his briny path. +</p> + +<p> +“He will not be moved by any of the devices of lawful and ordinary +warfare,” said Wilder, when he witnessed the indifference with which +their challenge had been received. +</p> + +<p> +“Then try him with a shot.” +</p> + +<p> +A gun was now discharged from the side next the still receding +“Dolphin.” The iron messenger was seen bounding along the surface +of the sea, skipping lightly from wave to wave, until it cast a little cloud of +spray upon the very deck of their enemy, as it boomed harmlessly past her hull. +Another, and yet another, followed, without in any manner extracting signal or +notice from the Rover. +</p> + +<p> +“How’s this!” exclaimed the disappointed Bignall. “Has +he a charm for his ship, that all our shot sweep by him in rain! Master Fid, +can you do nothing for the credit of honest people, and the honour of a +pennant? Let us hear from your old favourite; in times past she used to speak +to better purpose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, sir,” returned the accommodating Richard who, in the +sudden turns of his fortune, found himself in authority over a much-loved and +long-cherished piece. “I christened the gun after Mistress Whiffle, your +Honour, for the same reason, that they both can do their own talking. Now, +stand aside, my lads, and let clattering Kate have a whisper in the +discourse.” +</p> + +<p> +Richard, who had coolly taken his sight, while speaking, now deliberately +applied the match with his own hand, and, with a philosophy that was +sufficiently to be commended in a mercenary, sent what he boldly pronounced to +be “a thorough straight-goer” across the water, in the direction of +his recent associates. The usual moments of suspense succeeded and then the +torn fragments, which were seen scattered in the air, announced that the shot +had passed through the nettings of the “Dolphin.” The effect on the +vessel of the Rover was instantaneous, and nearly magical. A long stripe of +cream-coloured canvas, which had been artfully extended, from her stem to her +stern, in a line with her guns, disappeared as suddenly as a bird would shut +its wings, leaving in its place a broad blood-red belt, which was bristled with +the armament of the ship. At the same time, an ensign of a similar ominous +colour, rose from her poop, and, fluttering darkly and fiercely for a moment, +it became fixed at the end of the gaff. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I know him for the knave that he is!” cried the excited +Bignall; “and, see! he has thrown away his false paint, and shows the +well-known bloody side, from which he gets his name. Stand to your guns, my +men! the pirate is getting earnest.” +</p> + +<p> +He was still speaking, when a sheet of bright flame glanced from out that +streak of red which was so well adapted to work upon the superstitious awe of +the common mariners, and was followed by the simultaneous explosion of nearly a +dozen wide-mouthed pieces of artillery. The startling change, from inattention +and indifference, to this act of bold and decided hostility, produced a strong +effect on the boldest heart on board the King’s cruiser. The momentary +interval of suspense was passed in unchanged attitudes and looks of deep +attention; and then the rushing of the iron storm was heard hurtling through +the air, as it came fearfully on. The crash that followed, mingled, as it was, +with human groans, and succeeded by the tearing of riven plank, and the +scattering high of splinters, ropes, blocks, and the implements of war, +proclaimed the fatal accuracy of the broadside. But the surprise, and, with it, +the brief confusion, endured but for an instant. The English shouted, and sent +back a return to the deadly assault they had just received, recovering manfully +and promptly from the shock which it had assuredly given. +</p> + +<p> +The ordinary and more regular cannonading of a naval combat succeeded. Anxious +to precipitate the issue, both ships pressed nigher to each other the while, +until, in a few moments, the two white canopies of smoke, that were wreathing +about their respective masts, were blended in one, marking a solitary spot of +strife, in the midst of a scene of broad and bright tranquillity. The +discharges of the cannon were hot, close, and incessant. While the hostile +parties, how ever, closely mutated each other in their zeal in dealing out +destruction, a peculiar difference marked the distinction in character of the +two crews. Loud, cheering shouts accompanied each discharge from the lawful +cruiser, while the people of the rover did their murderous work amid the deep +silence of desperation. +</p> + +<p> +The spirit and uproar of the scene soon quickened that blood, in the veins of +the veteran Bignall, which had begun to circulate a little slowly by time. +</p> + +<p> +“The fellow has not forgotten his art!” he exclaimed as the effects +of his enemy’s skill were getting but too manifest, in the rent sails, +shivered spars, and tottering masts of his own ship. “Had he but the +commission of the King in his pocket, one might call him a hero!” +</p> + +<p> +The emergency was too urgent to throw away the time in words. Wilder answered +only by cheering his own people to their fierce and laborious task. The ships +had now fallen off before the wind, and were running parallel to each other, +emitting sheets of flame, that were incessantly glancing through immense +volumes of smoke. The spars of the respective vessels were alone visible, at +brief and uncertain intervals. Many minutes had thus passed, seeming to those +engaged but a moment of time, when the mariners of the “Dart” found +that they no longer held their vessel in the quick command, so necessary to +their situation. The important circumstance was instantly conveyed from the +master to Wilder, and from Wilder to his superior. A hasty consultation on the +cause and consequences of this unexpected event was the immediate and natural +result. +</p> + +<p> +“See!” cried Wilder, “the sails are already banging against +the masts like rags; the explosions of the artillery have stilled the +wind.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hark!” answered the more experienced Bignall: “There goes +the artillery of heaven among our own guns.—The squall is already upon +us—port the helm, sir, and sheer the ship out of the smoke! Hard a-port +with the helm, sir, at once!—hard with it a-port I say.” +</p> + +<p> +But the lazy motion of the vessel did not answer to the impatience of those who +directed her movements nor did it meet the pressing exigencies of the moment. +In the mean time, while Bignall, and the officers whose duties kept them near +his person, assisted by the sail-trimmers, were thus occupied, the people in +the batteries continued their murderous employment. The roar of cannon was +still constant, and nearly overwhelming, though there were instants when the +deep ominous mutterings of the atmosphere were too distinctly audible to be +mistaken. Still the eye could lend no assistance to the hearing, in determining +the judgment of the mariners. Hulls, spars, and sails were alike enveloped in +the curling wreaths which wrapped heaven, air, vessels, and ocean, alike, in +one white, obscure, foggy mantle. Even the persons of the crew were merely seen +at instants, labouring at the guns, through brief and varying openings. +</p> + +<p> +“I never knew the smoke pack so heavy on the clerk of a ship +before,” said Bignall, with a concern that even his caution could not +entirely repress. “Keep the helm a-port—jam it hard, sir! By Heaven +Mr Wilder, those knaves well know they are struggling for their lives!” +</p> + +<p> +“The fight is all our own!” shouted the second lieutenant, from +among the guns, stanching, as he spoke, the blood of a severe splinter-wound in +the face, and far too intent on his own immediate occupation to have noticed +the signs of the weather. “He has not answered with a single gun, for +near a minute.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Fore George, the rogues have enough!” exclaimed the +delighted Bignall. “Three cheers for vic——” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold, sir!” interrupted Wilder, with sufficient decision to check +his Commander’s premature exultation; “on my life, our work is not +so soon ended. I think, indeed, his guns are silent;—but, see! the smoke +is beginning to lift. In a few more minutes, if our own fire should cease, the +view will be clear.” +</p> + +<p> +A shout from the men in the batteries interrupted his words; and then came a +general cry that the pirates were sheering off. The exultation at this fancied +evidence of their superiority was, however, soon and fearfully interrupted. A +bright, vivid flash penetrated through the dense vapour which still hung about +them in a most extraordinary manner, and was followed by a crash from the +heavens, to which the Simultaneous explosion of fifty pieces of artillery would +have sounded feeble. +</p> + +<p> +“Call the people from their guns!” said Bignall, in those +suppressed tones that are only more portentous from their forced and unnatural +calmness: “Call them away at once, sir, and get the canvas in!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder, startled more at the proximity and apparent weight of the squall than +at words to which he had been long accustomed, delayed not to give an order +that was seemingly so urgent. The men left their batteries, like athletæ +retiring from the arena, some bleeding and faint, some still fierce and angry, +and all more or less excited by the furious scene in which they had just been +actors. Many sprung to the well-known ropes, while others, as they ascended +into the cloud which still hung on the vessel became lost to the eye in her +rigging. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I reef, or furl?” demanded Wilder, standing with the trumpet +at his lips, ready to issue the necessary order. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold, sir; another minute will give us an opening.” +</p> + +<p> +The lieutenant paused; for he was not slow to see that now, indeed, the veil +was about to be drawn from their real situation. The smoke, which had lain upon +their very decks, as though pressed down by the superincumbent weight of the +atmosphere first began to stir; was then seen eddying among the masts; and, +finally, whirled wildly away before a powerful current of air. The view was, +indeed, now all before them. +</p> + +<p> +In place of the glorious sun, and that bright, blue canopy which had lain above +them a short half-hour before, the heavens were clothed in one immense black +veil. The sea reflected the portentous colour, looking dark and angrily. The +waves had already lost their regular rise and fall, and were tossing to and +fro, as if awaiting the power that was to give them direction and greater +force. The flashes from the heavens were not in quick succession; but the few +that did break upon the gloominess of the scene came in majesty, and with +dazzling brightness. They were accompanied by the terrific thunder of the +tropics in which it is scarcely profanation to fancy that the voice of One who +made the universe is actually speaking to the creatures of his hand. On every +side, was the appearance of a fierce and dangerous struggle in the elements. +The vessel of the Rover was running lightly before a breeze, which had already +come fresh and fitful from the cloud, with her sails reduced, and her people +coolly, but actively, employed in repairing the damages of the fight. +</p> + +<p> +Not a moment was to be lost in imitating the example of the wary freebooters. +The head of the “Dart” was hastily, and happily, got in a direction +contrary to the breeze; and, as she began to follow the course taken by the +“Dolphin,” an attempt was made to gather her torn and nearly +useless causes to the yards. But precious minutes had been lost in the smoky +canopy, that might never be regained. The sea changed its colour from a dark +green to a glittering white; and then the fury of the gust was heard rushing +along the water with fearful rapidity, and with a violence that could not he +resisted. +</p> + +<p> +“Be lively, men!” shouted Bignall himself, in the exigency in which +his vessel was placed; “Roll up the cloth; in with it all—leave not +a rag to the squall! ’Fore George, Mr Wilder, but this wind is not +playing with us; cheer up the men to their work; speak to them cheerily, +sir!” +</p> + +<p> +“Furl away!” shouted Wilder. “Cut, if too late, work away +with knives and teeth—down, every man of you, down—down for your +lives, all!” +</p> + +<p> +There was that in the voice of the lieutenant which sounded in the ears of his +people like a supernatural cry. He had so recently witnessed a calamity similar +to that which again threatened him, that perhaps his feelings lent a secret +horror to the tones. A score of forms was seen descending swiftly, through an +atmosphere that appeared sensible to the touch. Nor was their escape, which +might be likened to the stooping of birds that dart into their nest, too +earnestly pressed. Stripped of all its rigging, and already tottering under +numerous wounds, the lofty and overloaded spars yielded to the mighty force of +the squall, tumbling in succession towards the hull, until nothing stood but +the three firmer, but shorn and nearly useless, lower masts. By far the greater +number of those aloft reached the deck in time to insure their safety, though +some there were too stubborn, and still too much under the sullen influence of +the combat, to hearken to the words of warning. These victims of their own +obstinacy were seen clinging to the broken fragments of the spars, as the +“Dart,” in a cloud of foam, drove away from the spot where they +floated, until their persons and their misery were alike swallowed in the +distance. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the hand of God!” hoarsely exclaimed the veteran Bignall, +while his contracting eye drunk in the destruction of the wreck. “Mark +me, Henry Ark; I will forever testify that the guns of the pirate have not +brought us to this condition.” +</p> + +<p> +Little disposed to seek the same miserable consolation as his Commander, Wilder +exerted himself in counteracting, so far as circumstances would allow, an +injury that he felt, however, at that moment to be irreparable. Amid the +howling of the gust, and the fearful crashing of the thunder, with an +atmosphere now lurid with the glare of lightning, and now nearly obscured by +the dark canopy of vapour, and with all the frightful evidences of the fight +still reeking and ghastly before their eyes, did the crew of the British +cruiser prove true to themselves and to their ancient reputation. The voices of +Bignall and his subordinates were heard in the tempest, uttering those mandates +which long, experience had rendered familiar, or encouraging the people to +their duty. But the strife of the elements was happily of short continuance The +squall soon swept over the spot, leaving the currents of the trade rushing into +their former channels, and a sea that was rather stilled, than agitated by the +counteracting influence of the winds. +</p> + +<p> +But, as one danger passed away from before the eyes of the mariners of the +“Dart,” another, scarcely less to be apprehended, forced itself +upon their attention, All recollection of the favours of the past, and every +feeling of gratitude, was banished from the mind of Wilder, by the mountings of +powerful professional pride, and that love of glory which becomes inherent in +the warrior, as he gazed on the untouched and beautiful symmetry of the +“Dolphin’s” spars, and all the perfect, and still underanged, +order of her tackle. It seemed as if she bore a charmed fate, or that some +supernatural agency had been instrumental in preserving her unharmed, amid the +violence of a second hurricane. But cooler thought, and more impartial +reflection, compelled the internal acknowledgment, that the vigilance and wise +precautions of the remarkable individual who appeared not only to govern her +movements, but to control her fortunes, had their proper influence in producing +the result. +</p> + +<p> +Little leisure, however, was allowed to ruminate on these changes, or to +deprecate the advantage of their enemy. The vessel of the Rover had already +opened many broad sheets of canvas; and, as the return of the regular breeze +gave her the wind, her approach was rapid and unavoidable. +</p> + +<p> +“’Fore George, Mr Ark, luck is all on the dishonest side +to-day,” said the veteran, so soon as he perceived by the direction which +the “Dolphin” took, that the encounter was likely to be renewed. +“Send the people to quarters again, and clear away the guns; for we are +likely to have another bout with the rogues.” +</p> + +<p> +“I would advise a moment’s delay,” Wilder earnestly observed, +when he heard his Commander issuing an order to his people to prepare to +deliver their fire, the instant their enemy should come within a favourable +position. “Let me entreat you to delay; we know not what may be his +present intentions.” +</p> + +<p> +“None shall put foot on the deck of the ‘Dart,’ without +submitting to the authority of her royal master,” returned the stern old +tar. “Give it to him, my men! Scatter the rogues from their guns! and let +them know the danger of approaching a lion, though he should be +crippled!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder saw that remonstrance was now too late for a fresh broadside was hurled +from the “Dart,” to defeat any generous intentions that the Rover +might entertain. The ship of the latter received the iron storm, while +advancing, and immediately deviated gracefully from her course, in such a way +as to prevent its repetition. Then she was seen sweeping towards the bows of +the nearly helpless cruiser of the King, and a hoarse summons was heard +ordering her ensign to be lowered. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on, ye villains!” shouted the excited Bignall “Come, +and perform the office with your own hands!” +</p> + +<p> +The graceful ship, as if sensible herself to the taunts of her enemy, sprung +nigher to the wind, and shot across the fore-foot of the “Dart,” +delivering her fire, gun after gun, with deliberate and deadly accuracy, full +into that defenceless portion of her Antagonist. A crush like that of meeting +bodies followed and then fifty grim visages were seen entering the scene of +carnage, armed with the deadly weapons of personal conflict. The shock of so +close and so fatal a discharge had, for the moment, paralyzed the efforts of +the assailed; but no sooner did Bignall, and his lieutenant, see the dark forms +that issued from the smoke on their own decks, than, with voices that had not +even then lost their authority each summoned a band of followers, backed by +whom, they bravely dashed into the opposite gang-ways of their ship, to stay +the torrent. The first encounter was fierce and fatal, both parties receding a +little, to wait for succour and recover breath.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come on, ye murderous thieves!” cried the dauntless veteran, who +stood foremost in his own band, conspicuous by the locks of gray that floated +around his naked head, “well do ye know that heaven is with the +right!” +</p> + +<p> +The grim freebooters in his front recoiled and opened; then came a sheet of +flame, from the side of the “Dolphin,” through an empty port of her +adversary bearing in its centre a hundred deadly missiles. The sword of Bignall +was flourished furiously and wildly above his head, and his voice was still +heard crying, till the sounds rattled in his throat,— +</p> + +<p> +“Come on, ye knaves! come on!—Harry—Harry Ark! O +God!—Hurrah!” +</p> + +<p> +He fell like a log, and died the unwitting possessor of that very commission +for which he had toiled throughout a life of hardship and danger. Until now +Wilder had made good his quarter of the deck though pressed by a band as fierce +and daring as his own; but, at this fearful crisis in the combat, a voice was +heard in the melee, that thrilled on all his nerves, and seemed even to carry +its fearful influence over the minds of his men. +</p> + +<p> +“Make way there, make way!” it said, in tones clear, deep, and +breathing with authority, “make way, and follow; no hand but mine shall +lower that vaunting flag!” +</p> + +<p> +“Stand to your faith, my men!” shouted Wilder in reply. Shouts, +oaths, imprecations, and groans formed a fearful accompaniment of the rude +encounter, which was, however, far too violent to continue long. Wilder saw, +with agony, that numbers and impetuosity were sweeping his supporters from +around him. Again and again he called them to the succour with his voice, or +stimulated them to daring by his example. +</p> + +<p> +Friend after friend fell at his feet, until he was driven to the utmost +extremity of the deck. Here he again rallied a little band, against which +several furious charges were made, in vain. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha!” exclaimed a voice he well knew; “death to all traitors! +Spit the spy, as you would a dog! Charge through them, my bullies; a halbert to +the hero who shall reach his heart!” +</p> + +<p> +“Avast, ye lubber!” returned the stern tones of the staunch +Richard. “Here are a white man and a nigger at your service, if +you’ve need of a spit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Two more of the gang!” continued the General aiming a blow that +threatened to immolate the topman as he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +A dark half-naked form was interposed to receive the descending blade, which +fell on the staff of a half-pike and severed it as though it had been a reed. +Nothing daunted by the defenceless state in which he found himself, Scipio made +his way to the front of Wilder, where, with a body divested to the waist of +every garment, and empty handed, he fought with his brawny arms, like one who +despised the cuts, thrusts and assaults, of which his athletic frame +immediately became the helpless subject. +</p> + +<p> +“Give it to ’em, right and left, Guinea,” cried Fid: +“here is one who will come in as a backer, so soon as he has stopped the +grog of the marine.” +</p> + +<p> +The parries and science of the unfortunate General were at this moment set at +nought, by a blow from Richard, which broke down all his defences, descending +through cap and skull to the jaw. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold, murderers!” cried Wilder, who saw the numberless blows that +were falling on the defenceless body of the still undaunted black. +“Strike here! and spare an unarmed man!” +</p> + +<p> +The sight of our adventurer became confused, for he saw the negro fall, +dragging with him to the deck two of his assailants; and then a voice, deep as +the emotion which such a scene might create, appeared to utter in the very +portals of his ear,—“Our work is done! He that strikes another blow +makes an enemy of me.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>Chapter XXXI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“Take him hence;<br/> +The whole world shall not save him.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Cymbeline</i> +</p> + +<p> +The recent gust had not passed more fearfully and suddenly over the ship, than +the scene just related. But the smiling aspect of the tranquil sky, and bright +sun of the Caribbean sea, found no parallel in the horrors that succeeded the +combat. The momentary confusion which accompanied the fall of Scipio soon +disappeared, and Wilder was left to gaze on the wreck of all the boasted powers +of his cruiser, and on that waste of human life, which had been the attendants +of the struggle. The former has already been sufficiently described; but a +short account of the present state of the actors may serve to elucidate the +events that are to follow. +</p> + +<p> +Within a few yards of the place he was permitted to occupy himself, stood the +motionless form of the Rover. A second glance was necessary, however, to +recognise, in the grim visage to which the boarding-cap already mentioned lent +a look of artificial ferocity the usually bland countenance of the individual. +As the eye of Wilder roamed over the swelling, erect, and still triumphant +figure, it was difficult not to fancy that even the stature had been suddenly +and unaccountably increased. One hand rested on the hilt of a yataghan, which, +by the crimson drops that flowed along its curved blade, had evidently done +fatal service in the fray; and one foot was placed, seemingly with supernatural +weight, on that national emblem which it had been his pride to lower. His eye +was wandering sternly, but understandingly, over the scene, though he spoke +not, nor in any other manner betrayed the deep interest he felt in the past. At +his side, and nearly within the circle of his arm stood the cowering form of +the boy Roderick, unprovided with weapon, his garments sprinkled with blood, +his eye contracted, wild, and fearful, and his face pallid as those in whom the +tide of life had just ceased to circulate. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there, were to be seen the wounded captives still sullen and +unconquered in spirit, while many of their scarcely less fortunate enemies lay +in their blood, around the deck, with such gleamings of ferocity on their +countenances as plainly denoted that the current of their meditations was still +running on vengeance. The uninjured and the slightly wounded, of both bands, +were already pursuing their different objects of plunder or of secretion. +</p> + +<p> +But, so thorough was the discipline established by the leader of the +freebooters, so absolute his power, that blow had not been struck, nor blood +drawn, since the moment when his prohibitory mandate was heard. There had been +enough of destruction, however to have satisfied their most gluttonous longings +had human life been the sole object of the assault. Wilder felt many a pang, as +the marble-like features of humble friend or faithful servitor came, one after +another, under his recognition; but the shock was greatest when his eye fell +upon the rigid, and still frowning, countenance of his veteran Commander. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Heidegger,” he said, struggling to maintain the fortitude +which became the moment; “the fortune of the day is yours: I ask mercy +and kindness in behalf of the survivors.” +</p> + +<p> +“They shall be granted to those who, of right may claim them: I hope it +may be found that all are included in this promise.” +</p> + +<p> +The voice of the Rover was solemn, and full of meaning; and it appeared to +convey more than the simple import of the words. Wilder might have nursed long +and vainly, however, on the equivocal manner in which he had been answered, had +not the approach of a body of the hostile crew, among whom he instantly +recognised the most prominent of the late mutineers of the +“Dolphin,” speedily supplied a clue to the hidden meaning of their +leader. +</p> + +<p> +“We claim the execution of our ancient laws!” sternly commenced the +foremost of the gang, addressing his chief with a brevity and an air of +fierceness which the late combat might well have generated, if not excused. +</p> + +<p> +“What would you have?” +</p> + +<p> +“The lives of traitors” was the sullen answer. +</p> + +<p> +“You know the conditions of our service. If any such are in our power, +let them meet their fate.” +</p> + +<p> +Had any doubt remained in the mind of Wilder, as to the meaning of these +terrible claimants of justice it would have vanished at the sullen, ominous +manner with which he and his two companions were immediately dragged before the +lawless chief. Though the love of life was strong and active in his breast, it +was not, even in that fearful moment, exhibited in any deprecating or unmanly +form. Not for an instant did his mind waver, or his thoughts wander to any +subterfuge, that might prove unworthy of his profession or his former +character. One anxious, inquiring look was fastened on the eye of him whose +power alone might save him. He witnessed the short, severe struggle of regret +that softened the rigid muscles of the Rover’s countenance, and then he +saw the instant, cold, and calm composure which settled on every one of its +disciplined lineaments. He knew, at once, that the feelings of the man were +smothered in the duty of the chief, and more was unnecessary to teach him the +utter hopelessness of his condition. Scorning to render his state degrading by +useless remonstrances, the youth remained where his accusers had seen fit to +place him—firm, motionless, and silent. +</p> + +<p> +“What would’ve have?” the Rover was at length heard to say, +in a voice that even his iron nerves scarce rendered deep and full-toned as +common. “What ask ye?” +</p> + +<p> +“Their lives!” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand you; go; they are at your mercy.” +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the horrors of the scene through which he had just passed, and +that high and lofty excitement which had sustained him through the fight, the +deliberate, solemn tones with which his judge delivered a sentence that he knew +consigned him to a hasty and ignominious death, shook the frame of our +adventurer nearly to insensibility. The blood recoiled backward to his heart, +and the sickening sensation that beset his brain threatened to up-set his +reason. But the shock passed, on the instant leaving him erect, and seemingly +proud and firm as ever, and certainly with no evidence of mortal weakness that +human eye could discover. +</p> + +<p> +“For myself nothing is demanded,” he said, with admirable +steadiness. “I know your self-enacted laws condemn me to a miserable +fate; but for these ignorant, confiding, faithful followers, I claim, nay beg, +entreat, implore your mercy; they knew not what they did, and”— +</p> + +<p> +“Speak to these!” said the Rover, pointing, with an averted eye, to +the fierce knot by which he was surrounded: “These are your judges, and +the sole ministers of mercy.” +</p> + +<p> +Strong and nearly unconquerable disgust was apparent in the manner of the +youth; but, with a mighty effort, he subdued it, and, turning to the crew, +continued,— +</p> + +<p> +“Then even to these will I humble myself in petitions. Ye are men, and ye +are mariners”— +</p> + +<p> +“Away with him!” exclaimed the croaking Nightingale; “he +preaches! away with him to the yard arm! away!” +</p> + +<p> +The shrill, long-drawn winding of the call which the callous boatswain sounded +in bitter mockery was answered by an echo from twenty voices, in which the +accents of nearly as many different people mingled in hoarse discordancy, as +they shouted,— +</p> + +<p> +“To the yard-arm! away with the three! away!” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder cast a last glance of appeal at the Rover but he met no look, in return, +from a face that was intentionally averted. Then, with a burning brain he felt +himself rudely transferred from the quarter deck into the centre and less +privileged portion of the ship. The violence of the passage, the hurried +reeving of cords, and all the fearful preparations of a nautical execution, +appeared but the business of a moment, to him who stood so near the verge of +time. +</p> + +<p> +“A yellow flag for punishment!” bawled there vengeful captain of +the forecastle; “let the gentle man sail on his last cruise, under the +rogue’s ensign!” +</p> + +<p> +“A yellow flag! a yellow flag!” echoed twenty taunting throats. +“Down with the Rover’s ensign and up with the colours of the +prevot-marshal! A yellow flag! a yellow flag!” +</p> + +<p> +The hoarse laughter, and mocking merriment, with which this coarse device was +received, stirred the ire of Fid, who had submitted in silence, so far, to the +rude treatment he received, for no other reason than that he thought his +superior was the best qualified to utter the little which it might be necessary +to say. +</p> + +<p> +“Avast, ye villains!” he hotly exclaimed, prudence and moderation +losing their influence, under the excitement of scornful anger; “ye +cut-throat, lubberly villains! That ye are villains, is to be proved, in your +teeth, by your getting your sailing orders from the devil; and that ye are +lubbers, any man may see by the fashion in which ye have rove this cord about +my throat. A fine jam will ye make with a turn in your whip! But ye’ll +all come to know how a man is to be decently hanged, ye rogues, ye will. +Ye’ll all come honestly by the knowledge, in your day, ye will!” +</p> + +<p> +“Clear the turn, and run him up!” shouted one, two, three voices, +in rapid succession; “a clear whip, and a swift run to heaven!” +</p> + +<p> +Happily a fresh burst of riotous clamour, from one of the hatchways, +interrupted the intention; and then was heard the cry of,— +</p> + +<p> +“A priest! a priest! Pipe the rogues to prayers, before they take their +dance on nothing!” +</p> + +<p> +The ferocious laughter with which the freebooters received this sneering +proposal, was hushed as suddenly as though One answered to their mockery, from +that mercy-seat whose power they so sacrilegiously braved, when a deep, +menacing voice was heard in their midst, saying,— +</p> + +<p> +“By heaven, if touch, or look, be laid too boldly on a prisoner in this +ship, he who offends had better beg the fate ye give these miserable men, than +meet my anger. Stand off, I bid you, and let the chaplain approach!” +</p> + +<p> +Every bold hand was instantly withdrawn, and each profane lip was closed in +trembling silence, giving the terrified and horror-stricken subject of their +liberties room and opportunity to advance to the scene of punishment. +</p> + +<p> +“See,” said the Rover, in calmer but still deeply authoritative +tones; “you are a minister of God, and your office is sacred charity: If +you have aught to smooth the dying moment to fellow mortal, haste to impart +it!” +</p> + +<p> +“In what have these offended?” demanded the divine, when power was +given to speak. +</p> + +<p> +“No matter; it is enough that their hour is near. If you would lift your +voice in prayer, fear nothing. The unusual sounds shall be welcome even here. +Ay, and these miscreants, who so boldly surround you, shall kneel, and be mute, +as beings whose souls are touched by the holy rite. Scoffers shall be dumb, and +unbelievers respectful, at my beck.—Speak freely!” +</p> + +<p> +“Scourge of the seas!” commenced the chaplain, across whose pallid +features a flash of holy excitement had cast its glow, “remorseless +violator of the laws of man! audacious contemner of the mandates of your God! a +fearful retribution shall avenge this crime. Is it not enough that you have +this day consigned so many to a sudden end, but your vengeance must be glutted +with more blood? Beware the hour when these things shall be visited, in +almighty power on your own devoted head!” +</p> + +<p> +“Look!” said the Rover, smiling, but with an expression that was +haggard, in spite of the unnatural exultation that struggled about his +quivering lip, “here are the evidences of the manner in which Heaven +protects the right!” +</p> + +<p> +“Though its awful justice be hidden in inscrutable wisdom for a time, +deceive not thyself; the hour is at hand when it shall be seen and felt in +majesty!” +</p> + +<p> +The voice of the chaplain became suddenly choaked, for his wandering eye had +fallen on the frowning countenance of Bignall, which, set in death, lay but +half concealed beneath that flag which the Rover himself had cast upon the +body. Then, summoning his energies, he continued, in the clear and admonitory +strain that befitted his sacred calling: “They tell me you are but half +lost to feeling for your kind; and, though the seeds of better principles, of +better days, are smothered in your heart, that they still exist and might be +quickened into goodly” +</p> + +<p> +“Peace! You speak in vain. To your duty with these men, or be +silent.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is their doom sealed?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who says it?” demanded a low voice at the elbow of the Rover, +which, coming upon his ear at that moment, thrilled upon his most latent nerve, +chasing the blood from his cheek to the secret recesses of his frame. But the +weakness had already passed away with the surprise, as he calmly, and almost +instantly answered,— +</p> + +<p> +“The law.” +</p> + +<p> +“The law!” repeated the governess. “Can they who set all +order at defiance, who despise each human regulation, talk of law! Say, it is +heartless, vindictive vengeance, if you will; but call it not by the sacred +name of law.—I wander from my object! They have told me of this frightful +scene, and I am come to offer ransom for the offenders. Name your price, and +let it be worthy of the subject we redeem; a grateful parent shall freely give +it all for the preserver of his child.” +</p> + +<p> +“If gold will purchase the lives you wish,” the other interrupted, +with the swiftness of thought, “it is here in hoards, and ready on the +moment. What say my people! Will they take ransom?” +</p> + +<p> +A short, brooding pause succeeded; and then a low, ominous murmur was raised in +the throng, announcing their reluctance to dispense with vengeance. A scornful +glance shot from the glowing eye of the Rover, across the fierce countenances +by which he was environed; his lips moved with vehemence; but, as if he +disdained further intercession, nothing was uttered for the ear. Turning to the +divine, he added, with all the former composure of his wonderful manner,— +</p> + +<p> +“Forget not your sacred office—time is leaving us.” He was +then moving slowly aside, in imitation of the governess, who had already veiled +her features from the revolting scene, when Wilder addressed him. +</p> + +<p> +“For the service you would have done me, from my soul I thank you,” +he said. “If you would know that I leave you in peace, give yet one +solemn assurance before I die.” +</p> + +<p> +“To what?” +</p> + +<p> +“Promise, that they who came with me into your ship shall leave it +unharmed, and speedily.” +</p> + +<p> +“Promise, Walter,” said a solemn, smothered voice, in the throng. +</p> + +<p> +“I do.” +</p> + +<p> +“I ask no more.—Now, Reverend Minister of God, perform thy holy +office, near my companions. Then ignorance may profit by your service. If I +quit this bright and glorious scene, without thought and gratitude to that +Being who, I humbly trust, has made me an heritor of still greater things, I +offend wittingly and without hope. But these may find consolation in your +prayers.” +</p> + +<p> +Amid an awful and breathing silence, the chaplain approached the devoted +companions of Wilder. Their comparative insignificance had left them unobserved +during most of the foregoing scene; and material changes had occurred, +unheeded, in their situation. Fid was seated on the deck, his collar +unbuttoned, his neck encircled with the fatal cord, sustaining the head of the +nearly helpless black, which he had placed, with singular tenderness and care, +in his lap. +</p> + +<p> +“This man, at least, will disappoint the malice of his enemies,” +said the divine, taking the hard hand of the negro into his own; “the +termination of his wrongs and his degradation approaches; he will soon be far +beyond the reach of human injustice.—Friend, by what name is your +companion known?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is little matter how you hail a dying man,” returned Richard, +with at melancholy shake of the head. “He has commonly been entered on +the ship’s books as Scipio Africa, coming, as he did, from the coast of +Guinea; but, if you call him S’ip, he will not be slow to +understand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Has he known baptism? Is he a Christian?” +</p> + +<p> +“If he be not, I don’t know who the devil is!” responded +Richard, with an asperity that might be deemed a little unseasonable. “A +man who serves his country, is true to his messmate, and has no skulk about +him, I call a saint, so far as mere religion goes. I say, Guinea, my hearty, +give the chaplain a gripe of the fist, if you call yourself a Christian. A +Spanish windlass wouldn’t give a stronger screw than the knuckles of that +nigger an hour ago; and, now, you see to what a giant may be brought.” +</p> + +<p> +“His latter moment is indeed near. Shall I offer a prayer for the health +of the departing spirit?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, I don’t know!” answered Fid, gulping his +words, and uttering a hem, that was still deep and powerful, as in the +brightest and happiest of his days. “When there is so little time given +to a poor fellow to speak his mind in, it may be well to let him have a chance +to do most of the talking. Something may come uppermost which he would like to +send to his friends in Africa; in which case, we may as well be looking out for +a proper messenger. Hah! what is it, boy? You see he is already trying to rowse +something up out of his ideas.” +</p> + +<p> +“Misser Fid—he’m take a collar,” said the black, +struggling for utterance. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” returned Richard, again clearing his throat, and looking +to the right and left fiercely, as if he were seeking some object on which to +wreak his vengeance. “Ay, ay, Guinea; put your mind at ease on that +point, and for that matter on all others. You shall have a grave as deep as the +sea, and Christian burial, boy, if this here parson will stand by his work. Any +small message you may have for your friends shall be logg’d, and put in +the way of coming to their ears. You have had much foul weather in your time, +Guinea, and some squalls have whistled about your head, that might have been +spaced, mayhap, had your colour been a shade or two lighter. For that matter, +it may be that I have rode you down a little too close myself, boy, when +over-heated with the conceit of skin; for all which may the Lord forgive me as +freely as I hope you will do the same thing!” +</p> + +<p> +The negro made a fruitless effort to rise, endeavouring to grasp the hand of +the other, saying, as he did so,— +</p> + +<p> +“Misser Fid beg a pardon of a black man! Masser aloft forget he’m +all, misser Richard; he t’ink ’em no more.” +</p> + +<p> +“It will be what I call a d——’d generous thing, if he +does,” returned Richard, whose sorrow and whose conscience had stirred up +his uncouth feelings to an extraordinary degree. “There’s the +affair of slipping off the wreck of the smuggler has never been properly +settled atween us, neither; and many other small services of like nature, for +which, d’ye see, I’ll just thank you, while there is opportunity; +for no one can say whether we shall ever be borne again on the same +ship’s books.” +</p> + +<p> +A feeble sign from his companion caused the topman to pause, while he +endeavoured to construe its meaning as well as he was able. With a facility, +that was in some degree owing to the character of the individual his +construction of the other’s meaning was favourable to himself, as was +quite evident by the manner in which he resumed,— +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, mayhap we may. I suppose they birth the people there in some +such order as is done here below, in which case we may be put within hailing +distance, after all. Our sailing orders are both signed; though, as you seem +likely to slip your cable before these thieves are ready to run me up, you will +be getting the best of the wind. I shall not say much concerning any signals it +may be necessary to make, in order to make one another out aloft taking it for +granted that you will not overlook master Harry, on account of the small +advantage you may have in being the first to shove off, intending myself to +keep as close as possible in his wake, which will give me the twofold advantage +of knowing I am on the right tack, and of falling in with you”— +</p> + +<p> +“These are evil words, and fatal alike to your own future peace, and to +that of your unfortunate friend,” interrupted the divine. “His +reliance must be placed on One, different in all his attributes from your +officer, to follow whom, or to consult whose frail conduct, would be the height +of madness. Place your faith on another”—— +</p> + +<p> +“If I do, may I be——” +</p> + +<p> +“Peace,” said Wilder. “The black would speak to me.” +</p> + +<p> +Scipio had turned his looks in the direction of his officer, and was making +another feeble effort towards extending his hand. As Wilder placed the member +within the grasp of the dying negro, the latter succeeded in laying it on his +lips, and then, flourishing with a convulsive movement that herculean arm which +he had so lately and so successfully brandished in defence of his master, the +limb stiffened and fell, though the eyes still continued their affectionate and +glaring gaze on that countenance he had so long loved, and which, in the midst +of all his long-endured wrongs, had never refused to meet his look of love in +kindness. A low murmur followed this scene, and then complaints succeeded, in a +louder strain, till more than one voice was heard openly muttering its +discontent that vengeance should be so long delayed. +</p> + +<p> +“Away with them!” shouted an ill-omened voice from the throng. +“Into the sea with the carcass, and up with the living.” +</p> + +<p> +“Avast!” burst out of the chest of Fid, with an awfulness and depth +that stayed even the daring; movements of that lawless moment. “Who dare +to cast a seaman into the brine, with the dying look standing in his lights, +and his last words still in his messmate’s ears? Ha! would ye stopper the +fins of a man as ye would pin a lobster’s claw! That for your fastenings +and your lubberly knots together!” The excited topman snapped the lines +by which his elbows had been imperfectly secured, while speaking and +immediately lashed the body of the black to his own, though his words received +no interruption from a process that was executed with all a seaman’s +dexterity. “Where was the man in your lubberly crew that could lay upon a +yard with this here black, or haul upon a lee-earing, while he held the +weather-line? Could any one of ye all give up his rations, in order that a sick +messmate might fare the better? or work a double tide, to spare the weak arm of +a friend? Show me one who had as little dodge under fire, as a sound mainmast, +and I will show you all that is left of his better. And now sway upon your +whip, and thank God that the honest end goes up, while the rogues are suffered +to keep their footing for a time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sway away!” echoed Nightingale, seconding the hoarse sounds of his +voice by the winding of his call; “away with them to heaven.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold!” exclaimed the chaplain, happily arresting the cord before +it had yet done its fatal office. “For His sake, whose mercy may one day +be needed by the most hardened of ye all, give but another moment of time! What +mean these words! read I aright? ‘Ark, of Lynnhaven!’” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” said Richard, loosening the rope a little, in order to +speak with greater freedom, and transferring the last morsel of the weed from +his box to his mouth, as he answered; “seeing you are an apt scholar, no +wonder you make it out so easily, though written by a hand that was always +better with a marling-spike than a quill.” +</p> + +<p> +“But whence came the words? and why do you bear those names, thus written +indelibly in the skin? Patience, men! monsters! demons! Would ye deprive the +dying man of even a minute of that precious time which becomes so dear to all, +as life is leaving us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Give yet another minute!” said a deep voice from behind. +</p> + +<p> +“Whence come the words, I ask?” again the chaplain demanded. +</p> + +<p> +“They are neither more nor less than the manner in which a circumstance +was logged, which is now of no consequence, seeing that the cruise is nearly up +with all who are chiefly concerned. The black spoke of the collar; but, then, +he thought I might be staying in port, while he was drifting between heaven and +earth, in search of his last moorings.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is there aught, here, that I should know?” interrupted the eager, +tremulous voice of Mrs Wyllys. “O Merton! why these questions? Has my +yearning been prophetic? Does nature give so mysterious a warning of its +claim!” +</p> + +<p> +“Hush, dearest Madam! your thoughts wander from probabilities, and my +faculties become confused.—‘Ark, of Lynnhaven,’ was the name +of an estate in the islands, belonging to a near and dear friend, and it was +the place where I received, and whence I sent to the main, the precious trust +you confided to my care. But”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Say on!” exclaimed the lady, rushing madly in front of Wilder, and +seizing the cord which, a moment before, had been tightened nearly to his +destruction stripping it from his throat, with a sort of supernatural +dexterity: “It was not, then, the name of a ship?” +</p> + +<p> +“A ship! surely not. But what mean these hopes?—these fears?” +</p> + +<p> +“The collar? the collar? speak; what of that collar?” +</p> + +<p> +“It means no great things, now, my Lady,” returned Fid, very coolly +placing himself in the same condition as Wilder, by profiting by the liberty of +his arms, and loosening his own neck from the halter, notwithstanding a +movement made by some of the people to prevent it, which was, however, staid by +a look from their leader’s eyes. “I will first cast loose this here +rope; seeing that it is neither decent, nor safe, for an ignorant man, like me, +to enter into such unknown navigation, a-head of his officer. The collar was +just the necklace of the dog, which is here to be seen on the arm of poor +Guinea, who was, in most respects, a man for whose equal one might long look in +vain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Read it,” said the governess, a film passing before her own eyes; +“read it,” she added, motioning, with a quivering hand, to the +divine to peruse the inscription, that was distinctly legible on the plate of +brass. +</p> + +<p> +“Holy Dispenser of good! what is this I see? ‘Neptune, the property +of Paul de Lacey!’” +</p> + +<p> +A loud cry burst from the lips of the governess; her hands were clasped one +single instant upward, in that thanksgiving which oppressed her soul, and then, +as recollection returned, Wilder was pressed fondly, frantickly to her bosom, +while her voice was neard to say, in the piercing tones of all-powerful +nature,— +</p> + +<p> +“My child! my child!—You will not—cannot—dare not, rob +a long-stricken and bereaved mother of her offspring. Give me back my son, my +noble son! and I will weary Heaven with prayers in your behalf. Ye are brave, +and cannot be deaf to mercy. Ye are men, who have lived in constant view of +God’s majesty, and will not refuse to listen to this evidence of his +pleasure. Give me my child, and I yield all else. He is of a race long honoured +upon the seas, and no mariner will be deaf to his claims. The widow of de +Lacey, the daughter of ——— cries for mercy. Their united +blood is in his veins, and it will not be spilt by you! A mother bows herself +to the dust before you, to ask mercy for her offspring. Oh! give me my child! +my child!” +</p> + +<p> +As the words of the petitioner died upon the ear a stillness settled on the +place, that might have been likened to the holy calm which the entrance of +better feelings leaves upon the soul of the sinner. The grim freebooters +regarded each other in doubt; the workings of nature manifesting themselves in +the gleamings of even their stern and hardened visages. Still, the desire for +vengeance had got too firm a hold of their minds to be dispossessed at a word. +The result would vet have been doubtful, had not one suddenly re-appeared in +their midst who never ordered in vain; and who knew how to guide, to quell, or +to mount and trample on their humours, as his own pleasure dictated. For half a +minute, he looked around him, his eye still following the circle, which receded +as he gazed, until even those longest accustomed to yield to his will began to +wonder at the extraordinary aspect in which it was now exhibited. The gaze was +wild and bewildered; and the face pallid as that of the petitioning mother. +Three times did the lips sever, before sound issued from the caverns of his +chest; then arose, on the attentive ears of the breathless and listening crowd, +a voice that seemed equally charged with inward emotion and high authority. +With a haughty gesture of the hand, and a manner that was too well understood +to be mistaken, he said,— +</p> + +<p> +“Disperse! Ye know my justice; but ye know I will be obeyed. My pleasure +shall be known tomorrow.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap32"></a>Chapter XXXII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“This is he;<br/> +Who hath upon him still that natural stamp:<br/> +It was wise Nature’s end in the donation,<br/> +To be his evidence now.” +</p> + +<p class="left"> +<i>Shakespeare.</i> +</p> + +<p> +That morrow came; and, with it, an entire change, in the scene and character of +our tale. The “Dolphin” and the “Dart” were sailing in +amity, side by side; the latter again bearing the ensign of England, and the +former carrying a naked gaff. The injuries of the gust, and the combat, had so +far been repaired, that, to a common eye, each gallant vessel was again +prepared, equally to encounter the hazards of the ocean or of warfare. A long, +blue, hazy streak, to the north, proclaimed the proximity of the land; and some +three or four light coasters of that region, which were sailing nigh, announced +how little of hostility existed in the present purposes of the freebooters. +</p> + +<p> +What those designs were, however, still remained a secret, buried in the bosom +of the Rover alone. +</p> + +<p> +Doubt, wonder, and distrust were, each in its turn, to be traced, not only in +the features of his captives, but in those of his own crew. Throughout the +whole of the long night, which had succeeded the events of the important day +just past, he had been seen to pace the poop in brooding silence. The little he +had uttered was merely to direct the movements of the vessel; and when any +ventured, with other design, to approach his person, a sign, that none there +dared to disregard, secured him the solitude he wished. Once or twice, indeed, +the boy Roderick was seen hovering at his elbow, but it was as a guardian +spirit would be fancied to linger near the object of its care, unobtrusively, +and, it might almost be added, invisible. When, however, the sun came burnished +and glorious, out of the waters of the east a gun was fired, to bring a coaster +to the side of the “Dolphin;” and then it seemed that the curtain +was to be raised on the closing scene of the drama. With his crew assembled on +the deck beneath, and the principal personages among his captives beside him on +the poop, the Rover addressed the former. +</p> + +<p> +“Years have united us by a common fortune,” he said: “We have +long been submissive to the same laws. If I have been prompt to punish, I have +been ready to obey. You cannot charge me with injustice. But the covenant is +now ended. I take back my pledge, and I return you your faiths. Nay, frown +not—hesitate not—murmur not! The compact ceases and our laws are +ended. Such were the conditions of the service. I give you your liberty, and +little do I claim in return. That you need have no grounds of reproach, I +bestow my treasure. See,” he added, raising that bloody ensign with which +he had so often braved the power of the nations, and exhibiting beneath it +sacks of that metal which has so long governed the world; “see! This was +mine; it is now yours. It shall be put in yonder coaster: there I leave you, to +bestow it, yourselves, on those you may deem most worthy. Go; the land is near. +Disperse, for your own sakes: Nor hesitate; for, without me, well do ye know +that vessel of the King would be your master. The ship is already mine, of all +the rest, I claim these prisoners alone for my portion. Farewell!” +</p> + +<p> +Silent amazement succeeded this unlooked-for address. There was, indeed, for a +moment, some disposition to rebel; but the measures of the Rover had been too +well taken for resistance. The “Dart” lay on their beam, with her +people at their guns, matches lighted, and a heavy battery. Unprepared, without +a leader, and surprised, opposition would have been madness. The first +astonishment had scarce abated, before each freebooter rushed to secure his +individual effects, and to transfer them to the deck of the coaster. When all +but the crew of a single boat had left the “Dolphin,” the promised +gold was sent, and then the loaded craft was seen hastily seeking the shelter +of some secret creek. During this scene, the Rover had again been silent as +death. He next turned to Wilder; and, making a mighty but successful effort to +still his feelings, he added,— +</p> + +<p> +“Now must we, too, part. I commend my wounded to your care. They are +necessarily with your surgeons. I know the trust I give you will not be +abused.” +</p> + +<p> +“My word is the pledge of their safety,” returned the young de +Lacey. +</p> + +<p> +“I believe you.—Lady,” he added, approaching the elder of the +females, with an air in which earnestness and hesitation strongly contended, +“if a proscribed and guilty man may still address you, grant yet a +favour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Name it; a mother’s ear can never be deaf to him who has spared +her child.” +</p> + +<p> +“When you petition Heaven for that child, then forget not there is +another being who may still profit by your prayers!—No more.—And +now,” he continued looking about him like one who was determined to be +equal to the pang of the moment, however difficult it might prove, and +surveying, with an eye of painful regret, those naked decks which were so +lately teeming with scenes of life and revelry; “and +now—ay—now we part! The boat awaits you.” +</p> + +<p> +Wilder had soon seen his mother and Gertrude into the pinnace; but he still +lingered on the deck himself. +</p> + +<p> +“And you!” he said, “what will become of you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall shortly be—forgotten.—Adieu!” +</p> + +<p> +The manner in which the Rover spoke forbade delay. The young man hesitated, +squeezed his hand, and left him. +</p> + +<p> +When Wilder found himself restored to his proper vessel, of which the death of +Bignall had left him in command, he immediately issued the order to fill her +sails, and to steer for the nearest haven of his country. So long as sight +could read the movements of the man who remained on the decks of the +“Dolphin” not a look was averted from the still motionless object. +She lay, with her maintop-sail to the mast, stationary as some beautiful fabric +placed there by fairy power, still lovely in her proportions, and perfect in +all her parts. A human form was seen swiftly pacing her poop, and, by its side, +glided one who looked like a lessened shadow of that restless figure. At length +distance swallowed these indistinct images; and then the eye was wearied, in +vain, to trace the internal movements of the distant ship But doubt was soon +ended. Suddenly a streak of flame flashed from her decks, springing fiercely +from sail to sail. A vast cloud of smoke broke out of the hull, and then came +the deadened roar of artillery. To this succeeded, for a time, the awful, and +yet attractive spectacle of a burning ship. The whole was terminated by an +immense canopy of smoke, and an explosion that caused the sails of the distant +“Dart” to waver, as though the winds of the trades were deserting +their eternal direction. When the cloud had lifted from the ocean, an empty +waste of water was seen beneath; and none might mark the spot where so lately +had floated that beautiful specimen of human ingenuity. Some of those who +ascended to the upper masts of the cruiser, and were aided by glasses, +believed, indeed, they could discern a solitary speck upon the sea; but whether +it was a boat, or some fragment of the wreck, was never known. +</p> + +<p> +From that time, the history of the dreaded Red Rover became gradually lost, in +the fresher incidents of those eventful seas. But the mariner, long after was +known to shorten the watches of the night, by recounting scenes of mad +enterprise that were thought to have occurred under his auspices. Rumour did +not fail to embellish and pervert them, until the real character, and even +name, of the individual were confounded with the actors of other atrocities. +Scenes of higher and more ennobling interest, too, were occurring on the +Western Continent, to efface the circumstances of a legend that many deemed +wild and improbable. The British colonies of North America had revolted against +the government of the Crown, and a weary war was bringing the contest to a +successful issue. Newport, the opening scene of this tale, had been +successively occupied by the arms of the King, and by those of that monarch who +had sent the chivalry of his nation to aid in stripping his rival of her vast +possessions. +</p> + +<p> +The beautiful haven had sheltered hostile fleets, and the peaceful villas had +often rung with the merriment of youthful soldiers. More than twenty years, +after the events just related, had been added to the long record of time, when +the island town witnessed the rejoicings of another festival. The allied forces +had compelled the most enterprising leader of the British troops to yield +himself and army captives to their numbers and skill. The struggle was believed +to be over, and the worthy townsmen had, as usual, been loud in the +manifestations of their pleasure. The rejoicings, however, ceased with the day; +and as night gathered over the place, the little city was resuming its +customary provincial tranquillity. A gallant frigate, which lay in the very +spot where the vessel of the Rover has first been seen, had already lowered the +gay assemblage of friendly ensigns, which had been spread in the usual order of +a gala day. A flag of intermingled colours, and bearing a constellation of +bright and rising stars, alone was floating at her gaff. Just at this moment, +another cruiser, but one of far less magnitude, was seen entering the +roadstead, bearing also the friendly ensign of the new States. Headed by the +tide, and deserted by the breeze, she soon dropped an anchor, in the pass +between Connanicut and Rhodes, when a boat was seen making for the inner +harbour, impelled by the arms of six powerful rowers. As the barge approached a +retired and lonely wharf, a solitary observer of its movements was enabled to +see that it contained a curtained litter, and a single female form. Before the +curiosity which such a sight would be apt to create, in the breast of one like +the spectator mentioned, had time to exercise itself in conjectures, the oars +were tossed, the boat had touched the piles, and, borne by the seamen, the +litter, attended by the woman, stood before him. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me, I pray you,” said a voice, in whose tones grief and +resignation were singularly combined, “if Captain Henry de Lacey, of the +continental marine, has a residence in this town of Newport?” +</p> + +<p> +“That has he,” answered the aged man addressed by the female; +“that has he; or, as one might say, two; since yonder frigate is no less +his than the dwelling on the hill, just by.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou art too old to point us out the way; but, if grandchild, or idler +of any sort, be near, here is silver to reward him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord help you, Lady!” returned the other, casting an oblique +glance at her appearance, as a sort of salvo for the term, and pocketing the +trifling piece she offered, with singular care; “Lord help you, Madam! +old though I am, and something worn down by hardships and marvellous +adventures, both by sea land, yet will I gladly do so small an office for one +of your condition. Follow, and you shall see that your pilot is not altogether +unused to the path.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man turned, and was leading the way off the wharf, even before he had +completed the assurance of his boasted ability. The seamen and the female +followed; the latter walking sorrowfully and in silence by the side of the +litter. +</p> + +<p> +“If you have need of refreshment,” said their guide, pointing over +his shoulder, “yonder is a well known inn, and one much frequented in its +time by mariners. Neighbour Joram and the ‘Foul Anchor’ have had a +reputation in their day, as well as the greatest warrior in the land; and, +though honest Joe is gathered-in for the general harvest, the house stands as +firm as the day he first entered it. A goodly end he made, and profitable is it +to the weak-minded sinner to keep such an example before his eyes!” +</p> + +<p> +A low, smothered sound issued from the litter but, though the guide stopped to +listen, it was succeeded by no other evidence of the character of its tenant. +</p> + +<p> +“The sick man is in suffering,” he resumed; “but bodily pain, +and all afflictions which we suffer in the flesh, must have their allotted +time. I have lived to see seven bloody and cruel wars, of which this, which now +rages, is, I humbly trust, to be the last. Of the wonders which I witnessed, +and the bodily dangers which I compassed, in the sixth, eye hath never beheld, +nor can tongue utter, their equal!” +</p> + +<p> +“Time hath dealt hardly by you, friend,” meekly interrupted the +female. “This gold may add a few more comfortable days to those that are +already past.” +</p> + +<p> +The cripple, for their conductor was lame as well as aged, received the +offering with gratitude, apparently too much occupied in estimating its amount, +to give any more of his immediate attention to the discourse. In the deep +silence that succeeded, the party reached the door of the villa they sought. +</p> + +<p> +It was now night; the short twilight of the season having disappeared, while +the bearers of the litter had been ascending the hill. A loud rap was given on +the door by the guide; and then he was told that his services were no longer +needed. +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen much and hard service,” he replied, “and well do +I know that the prudent manner does not dismiss the pilot, until the ship is +safely moored. Perhaps old Madam de Lacey is abroad, or the Captain himself may +not”—— +</p> + +<p> +“Enough; here is one who will answer all our questions.” +</p> + +<p> +The portal was now, in truth, opened; and a man appeared on its threshold, +holding a light. The appearance of the porter was not, however, of the most +encouraging aspect. A certain air, which can neither be assumed nor gotten rid +of, proclaimed him a son of the ocean, while a wooden limb, which served to +prop a portion of his still square and athletic body, sufficiently proved he +was one who had not attained the experience of his hardy calling without some +bodily risk. His countenance, as he held the light above his head, in order to +scan the persons of the groupe without, was dogmatic, scowling, and a little +fierce. He was not long, however, in recognizing the cripple, of whom he +unceremoniously demanded the object of what he was pleased to term “such +a night squall.” +</p> + +<p> +“Here is a wounded mariner,” returned the female with tones so +tremulous that they instantly softened the heart of the nautical Cerberus, +“who is come to claim hospitality of a brother in the service; and +shelter for the night. We would speak with Captain Henry de Lacey.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you have struck soundings on the right coast, Madam,” +returned the tar, “as master Paul here, will say in the name of his +father, no less than in that of the sweet lady his mother; not forgetting old +madam his grandam, who is no fresh-water fish herself, for that matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“That he will,” said a fine, manly youth of some seventeen years, +who wore the attire of one who was already in training for the seas, and who +was looking curiously over the shoulder of the elderly seaman. “I will +acquaint my father of the visit, and, Richard—do you seek out a proper +birth for our guests, without delay.” +</p> + +<p> +This order, which was given with the air of one who had been accustomed to act +for himself, and to speak with authority, was instantly obeyed. The apartment, +selected by Richard, was the ordinary parlour of the dwelling. Here, in a few +moments, the litter was deposited; the bearers were then dismissed and the +female only was left, with its tenant and the rude attendant, who had not +hesitated to give them so frank a reception. The latter busied himself in +trimming the lights, and in replenishing a bright wood fire; taking care, at +the same time, that no unnecessary vacuum should occur in the discourse, to +render the brief interval, necessary for the appearance of his superiors, +tedious. During this state of things an inner door was opened, the youth +already named leading the way for the three principal personages of the +mansion. +</p> + +<p> +First came a middle-aged, athletic man, in the naval undress of a Captain of +the new States. His look was calm, and his step was still firm, though time and +exposure were beginning to sprinkle his head with gray. He wore one arm in a +sling, a proof that his service was still recent; on the other leaned a lady, +in whose matronly mien, but still blooming cheek and bright eyes, were to be +traced most of the ripened beauties of her sex. Behind them followed a third, a +female also, whose step was less elastic but whose person continued to exhibit +the evidences of a peaceful evening to the troubled day of life. The three +courteously saluted the stranger, delicately refraining from making any +precipitate allusion to the motive of her visit. Their reserve seemed +necessary; for, by the agitation which shook the shattered frame of one who +appeared as much sinking with grief as infirmity, it was too apparent that the +unknown lady needed a little time to collect her energies and to arrange her +thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +She wept long and bitterly, as though alone; nor did she essay to speak until +further silence would have become suspicious. Then, drying her eyes, and with +cheeks on which a bright, hectic spot was seated, her voice was heard for the +first time by her wondering hosts. +</p> + +<p> +“You may deem this visit an intrusion,” she said; “but one, +whose will is my law, would be brought hither.” +</p> + +<p> +“Wherefore?” asked the officer, with mildness, observing that her +voice was already choaked. +</p> + +<p> +“To die!” was the whispered, husky answer. +</p> + +<p> +A common start manifested the surprise of her auditors; and then the gentleman +arose, and approaching the litter, he gently drew aside a curtain, exposing its +hitherto unseen tenant to the examination of all in the room. There was +understanding in the look that met his gaze, though death was but too plainly +stamped on the pallid lineaments of the wounded man. His eye alone seemed still +to belong to earth; for, while all around it appeared already to be sunk into +the helplessness of the last stage of human debility that was still bright, +intelligent, and glowing—might almost have been described as glaring. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there aught in which we can contribute to your comfort, or to your +wishes?” asked Captain de Lacey, after a long and solemn pause, during +which all around the litter had mournfully contemplated the sad spectacle of +sinking mortality. +</p> + +<p> +The smile of the dying man was ghastly, though tenderness and sorrow were +singularly and fearfully combined in its expression. He answered not; but his +eyes had wandered from face to face, until they became riveted, by a species of +charm, on the countenance of the oldest of the two females. His gaze was met by +a look as settled as his own; and so evident was the powerful sympathy which +existed between the two, that it could not escape the observation of the +spectators. +</p> + +<p> +“Mother!” said the officer, with affectionate concern; “my +mother! what troubles you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Henry—Gertrude,” answered the venerable parent extending her +arms to her offspring, as if she asked support; “my children, your doors +have been opened to one who has a claim to enter them. Oh! it is in these +terrible moments, when passion is asleep and our weakness is most apparent, in +these moments of debility and disease, that nature so strongly manifests its +impression! I see it all in that fading countenance, in those sunken features, +where so little is left but the last lingering look of family and +kindred!” +</p> + +<p> +“Kindred!” exclaimed Captain de Lacey: “Of what affinity is +our guest?” +</p> + +<p> +“A brother!” answered the lady, dropping her head on her bosom, as +though she had proclaimed a degree of consanguinity which gave pain no less +than pleasure. +</p> + +<p> +The stranger, too much overcome himself to speak, made a joyful gesture of +assent, but never averted a gaze that seemed destined to maintain its direction +so long as life should lend it intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +“A brother!” repeated her son, in unfeigned astonishment. “I +knew you had a brother: but I had thought him dead a boy.” +</p> + +<p> +“’Twas so I long believed, myself; though frightful glimpses of the +contrary have often beset me; but now the truth is too plain, in that fading +visage and those fallen features, to be misunderstood. Poverty and misfortune +divided us. I suppose we thought each other dead.” +</p> + +<p> +Another feeble gesture proclaimed the assent of the wounded man. +</p> + +<p> +“There is no further mystery. Henry, the stranger is thy uncle—my +brother—once my pupil!” +</p> + +<p> +“I could wish to see him under happier circumstances,” returned the +officer, with a seaman’s frankness; “but, as a kinsman, he is +welcome. Poverty, at least, shall no longer divide you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look, Henry—Gertrude!” added the mother, veiling her own +eyes as she spoke, “that face is no stranger to you. See ye not the sad +ruins of one ye both fear and love?” +</p> + +<p> +Wonder kept her children mute, though both looked until sight became confused, +so long and intense was their examination. Then a hollow sound, which came from +the chest of the stranger, caused them both to start; and, as his low, but +distinct enunciation rose on their ears, doubt and perplexity vanished. +</p> + +<p> +“Wilder,” he said, with an effort in which his utmost strength +appeared exerted, “I have come to ask the last office at your +hands.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Heidegger!” exclaimed the officer. +</p> + +<p> +“The Red Rover!” murmured the younger Mrs. de Lacey, involuntarily +recoiling a pace from the litter in alarm. +</p> + +<p> +“The Red Rover!” repeated her son, pressing nigher with +ungovernable curiosity. +</p> + +<p> +“Laid by the heels at last!” bluntly observed Fid stumping up +towards the groupe, without relinquishing the tongs, which he had kept in +constant use, as an apology for remaining in the presence. +</p> + +<p> +“I had long hid my repentance, and my shame, together,” continued +the dying man, when the momentary surprise had a little abated; “but this +war drew me from my concealment. Our country needed us both, and both has she +had! You have served as one who never offended might serve; but a cause so holy +was not to be tarnished by a name like mine. May the little I have done for +good be remembered when the world speaks of the evil of my hands! +Sister—mother—pardon!” +</p> + +<p> +“May that God, who forms his creatures with such fearful natures, look +mercifully on all our weaknesses!” exclaimed the weeping Mrs de Lacey, +bowing to her knees, and lifting her hands and eyes to heaven “O brother, +brother! you have been trained in the holy mystery of your redemption, and need +not now be told on what Rock to place your hopes of pardon!” +</p> + +<p> +“Had I never forgotten those precepts, my name would still be known with +honour. But, Wilder!” he added with startling energy, +“Wilder!—” +</p> + +<p> +All eyes were bent eagerly on the speaker. His hand was holding a roll on which +he had been reposing as on a pillow. With a supernatural effort, his form arose +on the litter; and, with both hands elevated above his head, he let fall before +him that blazonry of intermingled stripes, with its blue field of rising stars, +a glow of high exultation illumining each feature of his face, as in his former +day of pride. +</p> + +<p> +“Wilder!” he repeated, laughing hysterically, “we have +triumphed!”—Then he fell backward, without motion, the exulting +lineaments settling in the gloom of death, as shadows obscure the smiling +brightness of the sun. +</p> + +<h4>The End.</h4> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11409 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> + + |