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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38523-8.txt b/38523-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a9b47e --- /dev/null +++ b/38523-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8649 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Noank's Log, by W. O. Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Noank's Log + A Privateer of the Revolution + +Author: W. O. Stoddard + +Illustrator: Will Crawford + +Release Date: January 7, 2012 [EBook #38523] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOANK'S LOG *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + + +_The_ NOANK'S LOG + +A PRIVATEER OF THE REVOLUTION + + + +BY W. O. STODDARD + +Author of "Guert Ten Eyck," "Gid Granger," etc. + + + +ILLUSTRATED BY WILL CRAWFORD + + + +BOSTON + +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1900, + BY LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY. + + + + + Norwood Press + J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith + Norwood, Mass. U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE. + +The latter half of the year 1776 and the whole of the year 1777 have +been vaguely and erroneously described as "the dark hour" of the war +for American independence. It is true that our armies, hastily +gathered and imperfectly equipped, had been outnumbered and defeated in +several important engagements. Beyond that purely military fact there +was no real darkness. Upon the sea the success of the Americans had +been phenomenal. Before the end of the year 1777, the commerce of +Great Britain had suffered losses which dismayed her merchants. As +early as the 6th of February, 1778, Mr. Woodbridge, alderman of London, +testified at the bar of the House of Lords that the number of British +ships taken by American cruisers already reached the startling number +of seven hundred and thirty-three. Of these many had been retaken, but +the Americans had succeeded in carrying into port, as prizes, five +hundred and fifty-nine. The value of these and their cargoes was +declared to be moderately estimated at over ten millions of dollars. +Only a few of the American cruisers were public vessels, sent out +either by individual states or by the United States. All the others +were private armed ships, "letters of marque and reprisal" privateers. +Something of their character and cruising is set forth in this story of +the old whaler _Noank_, of New London. + +Something is also told of the condition and feeling of the people on +the land during the misunderstood gloomy days. The years of the +Revolutionary War were not altogether years of disaster, devastation, +and depression. They were rather years of development and prosperity. +The war was fought and its victory won not only for political, but for +social, industrial, and financial freedom. All the energies of the +American people had been fettered. As the war went on, and without +waiting for its close, all these energies became free to work out the +great results at which the world now wonders. + +We are justly proud of our navy. It was founded by our sailors +themselves, without the help of any Navy Department, or Treasury +Department, or national shipyards, or naval academies. There were, +however, very good admirals, commodores, and captains among the +self-taught heroes who went out then in ships in which, ton for ton and +gun for gun, they were able to outsail and outfight any other cruisers +then afloat. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + I. A Wounded Nation at Bay + II. More Powder + III. The Unforgotten Hero + IV. The News from Trenton + V. The Brig and the Schooner + VI. The British Fleet + VII. Hunting the _Noank_ + VIII. Contraband Goods + IX. The Picaroon + X. The Black Transport + XI. A Dangerous Neighborhood + XII. A Prize for the _Noank_ + XIII. The Bermuda Trader + XIV. The Neutral Port + XV. A Coming Storm + XVI. Irish Loyalty + XVII. Very Sharp Shooting + XVIII. Down the British Channel + XIX. The Spent Shot + XX. Anchored in the Harbor + + + + +THE NOANK'S LOG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A WOUNDED NATION AT BAY. + +It is well to fix the date of the beginning of a narrative. + +Through the mist and the icy rain, with fixed bayonets and steadfast +hearts, up the main street of Trenton town dashed the iron men from the +frost and famine camp on the opposite bank of the Delaware. + +Among their foremost files, leading them in person, rode their +commander-in-chief. Beyond, at the central street crossing, a party of +Hessian soldiers were half frantically getting a brace of field-pieces +to bear upon the advancing American column. They were loading with +grape, and if they had been permitted to fire at that short range, +George Washington and all the men around him would have been swept away. + +Young Captain William Washington and a mere boy-officer named James +Monroe, with a few Virginians and Marylanders, rushed in ahead of their +main column. Nearly every man went down, killed or wounded, but they +prevented the firing of those two guns. Just before their rush, the +cause of American liberty was in great peril. Just after it, the +victory of Trenton was secure. + +So it is set down in written history, and there are a great many +curious statements made by historians. + +This was a sort of midnight, it is said,--the dark hour of the +Revolutionary War. + +Manhattan Island, with its harbor and its important military and naval +features, had been definitely lost to the Americans and occupied by the +British. Its defences had been so developed that it was now +practically unassailable by any force which the patriots could bring +against it. From this time forward its harbor and bay were to be the +safe refuge and rendezvous of the fleets of the king of England. Here +were to land and from hence were to march, with only one important +exception, the armies sent over to crush the rebellious colonies. + +Nevertheless, Great Britain had won back just so much of American land, +and no more, as her troops could continuously control with forts and +camps. Upon all of her land, everywhere beyond the range of British +cannon and the visitation of British bayonets and sabres, the colonists +were as firm as ever. It is an exceedingly remarkable fact that +probably not one county in any colony south of the Canadas contained a +numerical majority of royalists, or "Tories." Still, however, these +were numerous, sincere, zealous, and they fully doubled the effective +strength of the varied forces sent over from beyond the sea. + +The tide of disaster to the American arms had hardly been checked at +any point in the north. Fort Washington had bloodily fallen; Fort Lee +had been abandoned; the battle of White Plains had been fought, with +sharp losses upon both sides. After vainly striving to keep together a +dissolving army, General Washington, with a small but utterly devoted +remnant, had retreated to contend with cold and starvation in their +desolate winter quarters beyond the Delaware. + +For a time, the red-cross flag of England seemed to be floating +triumphantly over land and sea. All Europe regarded the American cause +as hopelessly lost. The American character and the actual condition of +the colonies was but little understood on the other side of the +Atlantic. The truth of the situation was that the men who had wrested +the wilderness from the hard-fighting red men, and who had been +steadily building up a new, free country, during several generations, +were unaware of any really crushing disaster. At a few points, which +most of them had never seen, they had been driven back a little from +the sea-coast, and that was about all. Among their snow-clad hills and +valleys they were sensibly calculating the actual importance of their +military reverses, and were preparing to try those battles again, or +others like them. A bitter, revengeful, implacable feeling was +everywhere increasing, for several aggravating causes. In the winter +days of 1776-77, wounded America was dangerously AT BAY. + +It was on Christmas morning, at the hour when the Hessians of Colonel +Rahl were giving up their arms and military stores in Trenton town. At +that very hour, a group of people, who would have gone wild with +delight over such news as was to come from Trenton, sat down to a +plentiful breakfast in a Connecticut farm-house. It was a house in the +outskirts of New London, near the bank of the Thames River, and in view +of the splendid harbor. As yet there were several vacant chairs at the +table. + +"Guert Ten Eyck," said a tall, noble-looking old woman, as she turned +away from one of the frosted windows, "of what good is thy schooner and +her fine French guns? Thee has not fired a shot with one of them. How +does thee know that thee can hit anything?" + +"Yes, we did, Rachel Tarns," was very cheerfully responded from across +the table. "We blazed away at that brig. We hit her, too. Good +Quakers ought not to want us to hurt people." + +"Guert," she tartly replied, "thee has done no harm, I will instruct +thee. If thee is thyself a Friend, thee must not use carnal weapons, +but if thee is one of the world's people thee may do what is in thee +for the ships and armies of thy good King George. Do I not love him +exceedingly? Hath he not seized my dwelling for a barracks, and hath +he not driven me and mine out of my own city of New York, for what his +servants call treasonable utterances?" + +"Rachel!" came with much energy from the head of the table. "I can't +fight, any more'n you can. You love him just the way you do for pretty +good reasons. So do I, for 'pressing my husband and sons into his +navy. Thank God! they've all escaped now, and they're ready to sink +such ships as they were flogged in--" + +"Mother Avery," interrupted a stalwart young man at her side, "that's +what we mean to do if we can. British men-o'-war are not easy to sink, +though. We've something to think of just now. If our harbor batteries +aren't strengthened the British could clean out New London any day. +Their cruisers steer out o' range of Ledyard's long thirty-twos, but +there's not enough of 'em. We haven't powder enough, either." + +"Vine," said Rachel Tarns, "does thee not see the peaceful nature of +thy long cannon? They keep thy foes at a distance, and they prevent +the unnecessary shedding of blood. I am glad they are on thy fort." + +"Rachel Tarns," said Guert, "you gave Aleck Hamilton the first powder +he ever had for his field-pieces. You're a real good Quaker. I wish +you'd come on board the _Noank_, though, and see how we've armed her. +She's all ready for sea." + +"What we're waiting for," said Vine Avery, "is a chance to do +something. Father won't say just what his next notion's goin' to be." + +"He says he won't wait much longer," said Guert. "Mother, you said I +might go with him?" + +"You may!" she answered firmly, and then her face grew shadowy. + +He was a well-built, wiry looking young fellow, with dark and piercing +eyes. His face wore at this moment a look that was not only +courageous, but older than his apparent years seemed to call for. It +was a look that well might grow in the face of an American boy of that +day, whether sailor or soldier. + +Others had now come in to fill the chairs at the table. At the end of +it, opposite Mrs. Avery, sat a strong looking, squarely built man whom +nobody need have mistaken for anything else than a first-rate Yankee +sea-captain. + +The house they were in was of somewhat irregular construction. Its +main part, the doorstep of which was not many yards from the road +fence, was a square frame building. At the right of its wide central +passage, or hall, was the ample dining room. Opening into this at the +rear was a room almost equally large that was evidently much older. +Its walls were not made of sawed lumber, nor were they even plastered. +They were of huge, rudely squared logs and these had been cut from the +primeval forest when the first white settlers landed on that coast. +They had made their houses as strong as so many small forts. In the +outer doors of this room, and here and there in its thick sides, were +cut loopholes, now covered over, through which the earlier Averys could +have thrust their gun muzzles to defend their scalps from assaults of +their unpleasant Pequot neighbors. There were legends in the family of +sharp skirmishes in the dooryard. All of that region had been the +battle-ground of white and red men and this was one reason why such +captains as Putnam, and Knowlton, and Nathan Hale had been able to +rally such remarkably stubborn fighters to march to Breed's Hill and to +the New York and New Jersey battlefields. + +"What's that, Rachel Tarns, about getting news from New York?" at last +inquired Captain Avery, laying down his knife and fork. "I'd ruther +git good news from Washington's army. I'm not givin' 'em up, yet, by +any manner o' means." + +"That's all right, father," said his son Vine, "but I do wish we knew +of a supply ship, inward bound. I'd like to strike for ammunition for +the _Noank_ and for the batteries. We're not fixed out for a long +voyage till we can fire more rounds than we could now." + +There was a Yankee drawl in his speech, a kind of twang, but there was +nothing coarse in the manners or appearance of young Avery, and his +sailor father had an intelligent face, not at all destitute of what is +called refinement. + +"I wish thee might have thy will," responded Rachel, earnestly. + +"Vine!" exclaimed his mother. "Hark! Somebody's coming. Rachel, +didn't you hear that?" + +"I did!" said Rachel, rising. "That was Coco's voice and Up-na-tan's. +The old redskin's talking louder than he is used to about something." + +"He can screech loud enough," said Guert. "I've heard him give the +Manhattan warwhoop. Coco can almost outyell him, too." + +At that moment, the front door swung open unceremoniously, and a pair +of very extraordinary human forms came stalking in. + +"Up-na-tan!" shouted Guert, with boyish eagerness. "Coco! All loaded +down with muskets! What have they been up to?" + +"Heap more, out on sled," replied a deep, mellow, African voice. "Ole +chief an' Coco been among lobsters. 'Tole a heap." + +"Thee bad black man!" said Rachel Tarns. "Up-na-tan, has thee been +wicked, too? What has thee been stealing?" + +"Ole woman no talk," came half humorously from the very tall shape +which had now halted in front of her. "Up-na-tan been all over own +island. See King George army. See church prison. Ship prison. See +many prisoners. All die, soon. Ole chief say he kill redcoat for kill +prisoner. Coco say, too. Good black man. Good Indian." + +He might be good, but he was ferociously ugly. The only Indian +features discernible about his dress were his moccasons and an old but +hidden buckskin shirt. Over this he now had on a tremendous military +cloak of dark cloth. On his head was a 'coonskin cap, such as any +Connecticut farmer boy might wear. He now put down on the floor no +less than six good-looking muskets, all duly fitted with bayonets. +Coco did the same, and he, for looks, was equally distinguished. His +tall, gaunt figure was surmounted by an undipped mop of white wool, +over a face that was a marvel of deeply wrinkled African features. He +also wore a military cloak, and both garments were such as might have +been lost in some way by petty officers of a Hessian battalion. They +were not British, at all events. + +Guert glanced at the muskets on the floor and then sprang out of the +door to discover what else this brace of uncommon foragers had brought +home with them. Just outside the gate there was quite enough to +astonish him. It was not a mere hand-sled, but what the country people +called a "jumper." It was rudely but strongly made of split saplings, +its parts being held together mostly by wooden pins. It had no better +floor than could be made of split shingles, and on this lay, now, a +closely packed collection of muskets, with several swords, pistols, and +a miscellaneous lot of belts, cartridge-boxes, and knapsacks. Coco and +Up-na-tan had plainly been borrowing liberally, somewhere or other, and +Guert hastened back into the house to get an explanation. Curiously +enough, however, both of the foragers had refused to give anything of +the kind to the assembly in the Avery dining room. + +"Where has thee been, chief?" had been asked by Rachel Tarns. "Tell us +what thee and Coco have been doing. We all wish to hear." + +"No, no!" interrupted the Indian; "Coco shut mouth. Ole chief tell +Guert mother. Where ole woman gone? Want see her!" + +"That's so," said Guert. "Mother's about the only one that can do +anything with either of them. They used to live a good deal at our +house, you know." + +There had all the while been one vacant chair at the table, waiting for +somebody that was expected, and now through the kitchen door came +hurrying in a not very tall but vigorous-looking woman. + +"Mother!" said Guert. "So glad you came in! Speak to 'em! Make 'em +tell what they've been doing!" + +She proved that she understood them better than he or the rest did by +not asking either of them a question. She stepped quickly forward and +shook hands, with the red man first and then with the black. She +stooped and examined the weapons on the floor. + +"Sled outside," said Up-na-tan. "Ole woman go see." + +Out she went silently, and the dining room was deserted, for everybody +followed her. In front of the jumper stood a very tired-looking pony, +and she pointed at him inquiringly. He himself was nothing wonderful, +but his harness was at least remarkable. It was made up of ropes and +strips of cloth. Some of the strips were red, some green, and the rest +were blue, the whole being, nevertheless, somewhat otherwise than +ornamental. + +"Ole chief find pony in wood," said Up-na-tan. "Hess'n tie him on +tree. Find sled in ole barn. Hess'n go sleep. Drink rum. No wake +up. Ole chief an' Coco load sled. Feel hungry, now. Tell more by and +by." + +His way of telling left it a little uncertain as to whether or not +intemperance was the only cause that prevented the soldier sleepers +from awaking to interfere with the taking away of their arms and +accoutrements. He seemed, however, to derive great satisfaction from +the interest and approval manifested by Mrs. Ten Eyck. + +"Come in and get your breakfast," she said. "Rachel Tarns and I'll +cook for you while you talk. Rachel, they must have the best we can +give them. I've cooked for Up-na-tan. 'Tisn't the first meal he's had +here, either. He's an old friend of mine and yours." + +"Good!" grunted Up-na-tan. "Ole woman give chief coffee, many time." +He appeared, nevertheless, a good deal as if he were giving her +commands rather than requests, so dignified and peremptory was his +manner of speech. No doubt it was the correct fashion, as between any +chief and any kind of squaw, although he followed her into the house as +if he in some way belonged to her, and Coco did the same. + +"Guert come," he said. "Lyme Avery, Vine, all rest, 'tay in room. +Tarns woman come." + +The door into the kitchen was closed behind them in accordance with his +wishes, and the breakfast-table party was compelled to restrain its +curiosity for the time being. + +"We must let the old redskin have his own way," remarked Captain Avery. +"Nobody but Guert's mother knows how to deal with him. The old pirate!" + +"That's just what he is, or what he has been," said Vine Avery. "He +hardly makes any secret of it. I believe he has a notion, to this day, +that Captain Kidd sailed under orders from General Washington and the +Continental Congress." + +"Captain Kidd wasn't much worse than some o' the British cruisers," +grumbled his father. "They'll all call us pirates, too, and I guess +we'd better not let ourselves be taken prisoners." + +Mrs. Avery's face turned a little paler, at that moment, but she said +to him, courageously:-- + +"Lyme! Do you and Vine fight to the very last! I'm glad that Robert +is with Washington. I wish they had these muskets there! No, they may +be just what's wanted at our forts here." + +"More muskets, more cannon, and more powder," said Vine. "Oh! how I +ache to know how those fellows captured 'em! There isn't any better +scout than an Indian, but both of 'em are reg'lar scalpers." + +They might be. They looked like it. They were unsurpassed specimens +of out and out red and black savagery, with the added advantage, or +disadvantage, of paleface piratical training and experience by sea and +land. The very room they were now in was a kind of memorial of +old-time barbarisms, and it might again become a fort--a block-house, +at least--almost any day. + +All the farm-houses of Westchester County, New York, not far away, if +not already burned or deserted, had become even as so many +"block-houses," so to speak. They were to be held desperately, now and +then, against the lawless attacks of the Cowboys and Skinners who were +carrying on guerilla warfare over what was sarcastically termed "the +neutral ground" between the British and American outposts. + +The huge fireplace, before which Mrs. Ten Eyck and Rachel Tarns began +at once to prepare breakfast for their hungry friends, had an iron bar +crossing it, a few feet up. This was to prevent Pequots, +Narragansetts, or other night visitors from bringing their knives and +tomahawks into the house by way of the chimney. Upon the deerhorn +hooks above the mantel hung no less than three long-barrelled, +bell-mouthed fowling pieces, such as had hurled slugs and buckshot +among the melting columns of the British regulars in front of the +breastwork on Bunker Hill, or, more correctly, Breed's Hill. A sabre +hung beside them, and a long-shafted whaling lance rested in the +nearest corner at the right, with a harpoon for a companion. + +All these things had been taken in at a glance by the two foragers, or +scouts, or spies, or whatever duty they had been performing most of +recently. + +"Keep still, Guert," commanded his mother. "Let the chief tell." + +Gravely, slowly, in very plain and not badly cut up English, with now +and then a word or so in Dutch, Up-na-tan told his story, aided, or +otherwise, by sundry sharply rebuked interjections from Coco. The +first thing which seemed to be noteworthy was that the British on +Manhattan Island considered the rebel cause hopeless. Its armed +forces, moreover, were so broken up or so far away that the vicinity of +New York was but carelessly patrolled. There had been hardly any +obstacle to hinder the going in or the coming out of a white-headed old +slave and a wandering Indian. The red men of New York, for that +matter, were supposed to be all more or less friendly to their British +Great Father George across the ocean. All black men, too, were +understood to be not unwillingly released from rebel masters, provided +they were not set at work again for anybody else. + +Up-na-tan's greatest interest appeared to cling to the forts and to the +cannon in them, but he answered Rachel Tarns quite clearly concerning +the conditions of the American soldiers held as prisoners. All the +large churches were full of them, he said, packed almost to +suffocation. One or more old hulks of warships, anchored in the +harbor, were as horribly crowded. The worst of these was the old +sixty-four gun ship, _Jersey_, lying in Wallabout Bay, near the Long +Island shore. Up-na-tan and Coco had rowed around her in a stolen boat +and had been fired upon by her deck guard, and they had seen a dozen at +least of dead rebels thrown overboard, to be carried out to sea by the +tide. + +"Redcoat kill 'em all, some day," said the Indian. "Kill men in ole +church. Bury 'em somewhere." He seemed to have an idea that the +doomed Americans did not perish by disease or suffocation altogether. +He believed that their captors selected about so many of them every +day, to be dealt with after the Iroquois or Algonquin fashion. This +was strictly an Indian notion of the customary usages of war. It did +not stir his sensibilities, if he had any, as it did those of the +warm-hearted Quaker woman and Mrs. Ten Eyck. Guert listened with a +terribly vindictive feeling, such as was sadly increasing among all the +people of the colonies. It was to account for, though not to excuse, +many a deed of ruthless retaliation during the remainder of the war. +In skirmish after skirmish, raid after raid, battle after battle, the +innocent were to suffer for the guilty. Brave and right-minded +servants and soldiers of Great Britain were to perish miserably, +because of these evil dealings with prisoners of war in and about +Manhattan Island. + +"Thy scouting among the forts and camps hath small value," said Rachel +Tarns, thoughtfully. "If Washington knew all, he hath not wherewith to +attack the king's forces." + +"No, no!" exclaimed the Indian. "Not now. Washington come again, some +day. Kill all lobster. Take back island. Up-na-tan help him. Coco +no talk. Ole chief tell more." + +Aided by expressive gestures and by an occasional question from Mrs. +Ten Eyck, he made the remainder of his story both clear and +interesting. He and Coco had crossed the Harlem, homeward bound, in an +old dugout canoe. They had worked their way out through the British +lines by keeping under the cover of woods, to a point not far from the +White Plains battle-field. Here, one evening, they had discovered a +Hessian foraging party in a deserted farm-house. The soldiers were +having a grand carouse, thinking themselves out of all danger. + +"Musket all 'tack up in front of house," said Up-na-tan. "One Hess'n +walk up an' down, sentry, till he tumble. Fall on face. Coco find +sled in barn. Find pony. Up-na-tan take all musket. Pile 'em on +sled. Harness pony, all pretty good. Come away." + +"Didn't you go into the house?" asked Guert, excitedly. "Didn't any of +'em know what you were doing? How'd you get your cloak?" + +"Boy shut mouth," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief want cloak. Coco, too, +want more musket, pistol, powder. Hate Hess'n. All in house go sleep +hard. No wake up. Lie still. Pony pull sled to New London." + +Mrs. Ten Eyck's face was very pale and so was that of Rachel Tarns. +They believed that they understood only too well why the Manhattan +warrior and the grim Ashantee who had been his comrade in this affair, +preferred to say no more concerning the undisturbable slumber of that +unfortunate detail of Hessians. + +"Guert," said his mother, "go in and get your breakfast. The chief and +Coco have had theirs. Rachel, you and I must have a talk with Captain +Avery." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MORE POWDER. + +"Captain Watts, I must say it. I don't a bit like this tryin' to run +in without a convoy." + +"Nor I either, mate," said the captain, with an upward glance at the +rigging and a side squint across the sea. "'Tisn't any fault o' mine. +I protested." + +"I heard ye," replied the mate. "They only laughed at us. They said +the king's cruisers'd swep' these waters as clean as the Channel. Glad +ye know 'em." + +"Know 'em?" laughed Captain Watts. "I'm a Massachusetts man. I know +'em like a book. Don't need any pilot." + +"How 'bout Hell Gate, when we get there? We've lost a ship or two--" + +"Brackett, man," interrupted the skipper, more seriously, "that's a +long reach ahead, yet. I know Hell Gate channel when we get there. +Our risks'll be in the sound. The rebels haven't any reg'lar cruisers. +What we've to look out for is the Long Island whaleboat men. Tough +customers. They say nigh half on 'em are redskins,--Indian scalpers." + +"Well! As to them," said the mate, "we can beat 'em off. Our +four-pounder popguns'd be good against whaleboats but not for anything +bigger." + +"Six on 'em," said Captain Watts. "We can handle 'em, too." + +"I'd rather 'twas a frigate," said the mate. "Our crew's none too +strong, and half of 'em are 'pressed men. No fight in 'em." + +"Oh, yes, they'll have to fight," was responded. "Fight or hang, +perhaps. I hate a 'pressed man. Anyhow, it'll take a better wind than +this to show us Hell Gate channel before day after to-morrow. We'll be +tackin' about in the sound, to-night." + +"It's a'most a calm! Bitter cold, too." + +He was a very intelligent looking British sailor, that first mate of +the _Windsor_. She was a bark-rigged vessel of possibly six hundred +tons, and she was freighted heavily with military and other supplies +for the king's forces at New York. + +Somehow or other, the discontented mate could not say why or how, the +_Windsor_ had become separated from her convoy and consorts. These +were seeking their harbor by way of Sandy Hook, while she had been sent +through Long Island Sound. She was hardly in it yet, although it may +be a wide water question as to precisely at what line the sound begins. +Not a sail of any kind larger than a fisherman's shallop was in sight. +There was solid comfort to be had in the knowledge that the Americans +had no navy, and that all these waters were regularly patrolled by +English armed vessels. It looked as if there could be no good cause +for anxiety, and Mate Brackett was compelled to accept the situation. +He turned away, and the captain himself went below, hopefully +remarking:-- + +"Cold weather's nothin'. There'll be more wind, by and by. We'll be +ready to take it when it comes." + +"He's a prime seaman. No doubt o' that," said the mate, looking after +him. "He's pilot enough, too, and our bein' here's no fault o' his. +We'll be ready for any rebel boats, though. I'll cast loose the guns, +such as they are, and I'll get up powder and ball. Grapeshot'd be the +thing for boats. Sweep 'em at short range. This 'ere craft's goin' to +reach port, if we fight our way in!" + +He was showing pretty good judgment and plenty of courage. His six +guns, three on a side, looked serviceable. The crew appeared to be +numerous enough to handle so few pieces as that, whatever their other +deficiencies might be. Part of them, indeed were first-rate British +tars, the best fighters in the world. As for Captain Watts, he was +understood to be an American Tory of the strongest kind, to be depended +upon even more than if he had been a Hull man or a Londoner. No set of +men, anywhere, ever showed more self-sacrificing devotion to their +political principles than did the loyalists, or royalists, of America +in their long, fruitless struggle with what they deemed treason and +rebellion. + +It is possible that Mate Brackett might have studied his cannon and +their capacities even more carefully than he did, if at that morning +hour he could have been for a few minutes one of a little group upon +the deck of a craft that was at anchor in New London harbor. + +The tonnage of this vessel was much less than that of the _Windsor_, +but she was sharper in the nose, cleaner in the run, trimmer, +handsomer. She was schooner-rigged, with tall, tapering, raking masts +that promised for her an ample spread of canvas. She was, in short, +one of the new type of vessels for which the American shipyards were +already becoming distinguished. She had been built for the +whale-fishery, and that meant, to the understanding of Yankee sailors, +that she was to have speed enough to race a school of runaway whales, +strength to stand the squeeze of an icefloe, the bump of an iceberg, or +the blast and billows of a hurricane. She must also have fair stowage +room between decks and in her hold for many casks of oil. + +"Up-na-tan like long guns," said one of the voices on the deck of the +_Noank_. "Now! Coco swing him. No man help. One man swing. All +'tan back. Brack man try." + +He was asking a practical question as an experienced gunner. It was +necessary to know whether or not the pivoting of that long, brass +eighteen-pounder had been perfectly done for freedom of movement. In +action there would be men enough to handle it, but even the work of +many hands should not be impeded by overtight fittings and needless +frictions. + +"Ugh! Good!" he exclaimed, as his black comrade turned the gun back +and forth, and then he tried it himself. + +"Captain Avery, that's so, he can do it," remarked Guert Ten Eyck, +thoughtfully, "but those two are made of iron and hickory. It isn't +every fellow can do what they can." + +"No, I guess not," laughed Captain Avery. + +"I'm glad the old Buccaneers are pleased, though. There goes the +redskin to the other guns. He can't find any fault with 'em. Not one +of 'em's a short nose." + +Three on a side, polished to glittering, the long brass sixes slept +upon their perfectly fitted carriages. Every one of them bore the mark +of the _fleur de lis_, for they were of a pattern which the French +royal foundries were turning out for the light cruisers of King Louis. +Such of them as were already mounted in that manner were lazily waiting +for a formal declaration of war with England. These here, however, and +others like them, were already carrying on that very war. Before a +great while, the entire French navy was to become auxiliary to that of +the United States, and considerable French land forces were to march to +victory shoulder to shoulder with the Continentals under General +Washington. + +The sailor comrades of Up-na-tan and Coco were evidently well aware +that the savage-looking couple had seen much sea service upon armed +vessels. The less said about it the better, perhaps, but some of it +had been upon British cruisers, in whatever manner it had been escaped +from. Some of it had been, it was said, under a very different +fighting flag. Their inspection of the broadside guns was therefore +watched with interest. + +"Long!" said Up-na-tan. "Good. Shoot bullet far. Not big enough. +Want nine-pounder. Old chief like big gun. Knock hole in ship. Sink +her quick." + +"Take out cargo first," muttered Coco. + +"Then sink ship. Not lose cargo." + +"Jest so!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That's what we'll do! Chief, I +believe the frame of the _Noank_ is strong enough to carry a long +thirty-two and six eighteens." + +"No!" replied the Indian, firmly. "Too much big gun 'poil schooner. +No run fast any more." + +According to the red man's judgment, therefore, the Yankee skipper's +enthusiasm might lead him to overload his swift vessel or make her +topheavy in a sea. It was likely that things were just as well as they +were. At all events, her brilliant armament and her disciplined +ordering gave her an exceedingly efficient and warlike air as she rode +there waiting her sailing orders. + +"Sam Prentice's boat!" suddenly called out a voice, aft. "Father, he's +headed for us. Here he comes, rowing hard!" + +"_Noank_ ahoy!" came across the water, from as far away as a pair of +strong lungs could send it. "I say! Is Lyme Avery aboard?" + +"Every man's aboard! All ready! What news?" went back through the +speaking trumpet in the hands of Vine Avery, at the stern. + +"Tell him to h'ist anchor! British ship sighted away east'ard! Not a +man-o'-war. 'Rouse him!" + +"All hands up anchor!" roared Captain Avery. "Run in the guns! Close +the ports! Gear that pivot-gun fast! Up-na-tan, that's your work." + +"Ugh!" said the Indian. "Shoot pretty soon." + +Vine and Sam Prentice were exchanging messages rapidly as the rowboat +came nearer. All on board could hear, and now the trumpeter turned to +note the eager, fierce activity of the old Manhattan. + +"It does you good, doesn't it," he said. "You're dyin' for a chance to +try your Frenchers." + +"Ugh!" grunted the chief, patting the pivot-gun affectionately. "Sink +ship for ole King George. Kill plenty lobster! Kill all captain! +Whoo-oo-oop!" + +His hand was at his mouth, and the screech he sent forth was the +warwhoop of his vanished tribe,--if any ears of white men can +distinguish between one warwhoop and another. That he had been a +sailor, however, was not at all remarkable. All of the New England +coast Indians and the many small clans of Long Island had been from +time immemorial termed "fish Indians" by their inland red cousins. The +island clans were also known as "little bush" Indians. All that now +remained of them took to the sea as their natural inheritance, and +their best men were in good demand for their exceptional skill as +harpooners. + +The anchor of the _Noank_ was beginning to come up when the boat of Sam +Prentice reached the side. + +"Did you sight her yourself, Sam?" asked Captain Avery. + +"Well, I did," said Sam. "I was out more scoutin' than fishin', and I +had a good glass. She's a bark, heavy laden. It's a light wind for +anything o' her rig. She can't git away from our nippers. I didn't +lose time gettin' any nigher. I came right in." + +"On board with you," said the captain. "It's 'bout time the _Noank_ +took somethin'. We've been cooped up in New London harbor long enough." + +"That's so!" said Sam Prentice, as he scrambled over the bulwark. "I'm +hungry for a fight myself." + +He was a wiry, sailorlike man, of middle age, with merry, black eyes +which yet had a steely flash in them. Up came the anchor. Out swung +the booms. The light wind was just the thing for the _Noank's_ rig, +and every sail she could spread went swiftly to its place. She was a +beauty when all her canvas was showing. A numerous and growing crowd +was gathered at the piers and wharves, for Sam Prentice's news had +reached the shore also. Cheer after cheer went up as the sails began +to fill. + +"Anneke Ten Eyck!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "I'm so glad Lyme was all +ready. He didn't have to wait a minute after Sam got there." + +"I'm glad Guert's with him," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "If he wants to be a +sea-captain, I won't hinder him." + +"God be with them all!" was the loud and earnest response of Rachel +Tarns. "I trust that they may do their whole duty by the ships of the +man George, who calleth himself our king." + +"Lyme Avery's jest the man to 'tend to that," called out a deep, hoarse +voice, farther along the pier. "He was 'pressed, once, by George's +men, and he means to make 'em pay for his lost time." + +"So was my son, Vine," said Mrs. Avery. "He has something more'n lost +time to make 'em account for." + +"Nearly forty New London boys were 'pressed, first and last," said a +sad-faced old woman. "One of mine fell at Brooklyn and one's in the +Jersey prison-ship. It's the king's work." + +"We're sorry for you, Mrs. Williams," said another woman. "I don't +know where mine are. We can't get any word from our 'pressed boys. +God pity 'em!--God in heaven send success to the _Noank_ and Lyme +Avery! To our sailors on the sea and our soldiers on the land!" + +"Amen!" went up from several earnest voices, and then there was another +round of hearty cheers. + +Away down the broad harbor the gallant schooner was speeding, with +Guert Ten Eyck astride of her bowsprit. Up-na-tan and Coco were +crouching like a pair of tigers at the side of the pivot guns. The +crew was both numerous and well selected, for it consisted of the pick +of the New London whaling veterans. The majority of them, of course, +were middle aged or even elderly, so many of the younger men had +marched away with Putnam or were at this time garrisoning the forts of +the harbor. + +There was to be no long and tiresome waiting. Hardly was the _Noank_ +well out beyond the point at the harbor mouth before Sam Prentice, from +his perch aloft, called down to his friends on the deck:-- + +"I've sighted her! She's made too long a tack this way for her good. +We'll git out well to wind'ard of her. She's sure game!" + +Every seaman on board understood just what that meant, and he was +answered by a storm of cheers. Nevertheless, the face of Captain Avery +was serious, for he had no means of knowing what might really be the +strength and armament of the stranger. + +As for her, she had all sail set, and her skipper was at the helm, +while Mate Brackett was in the maintop taking anxious observations. + +"Sail to wind'ard," he said to himself. "Hope there's no mischief in +her. Anyhow, I'll go down and have Captain Watts send the men to +quarters." + +Down he went and reported, and Captain Watts responded vigorously. + +"Most likely a coaster," he said, "but we won't take any chances. Call +the men. Any but a pretty strong rebel 'll sheer away if she finds +we're ready for her. We'll shoot first, Brackett. I'm a fightin' +man--I am!" + +"All right, sir," said Brackett, more cheerily. "I've served on a +cruiser. Men! All hands clear away for action! Cast loose the guns!" + +He was in right good earnest, like the brave British seaman that he +was, and the supply ship, in spite of having too much deck cargo, soon +began to take on a decidedly warlike appearance. There was no audible +grumbling among her crew as they went to their posts of duty, but a +sharp observer might have noted that several of them, from time to +time, cast wistful glances landward and then looked gloomily into each +others' faces. + +"No hope!" muttered one of them. + +"They are hanging deserters," hissed another. "I saw one run up." + +"I saw one flogged to death," came savagely from a third, "but I'll +take my chance if I git one." + +Mate Brackett was now busy with his glass, and he was telling himself +how much he longed for a stronger breeze, coming from some other point +of the compass. + +"Hurrah!" he suddenly sang out. "Captain Watts, we're all right, now! +British flag!" + +"Keep to your guns!" roared back the captain. "I'll stand away from +her, just the same. If you throw away the _Windsor_ I'll have you +hung!" + +More fiercely vehement than ever became now his apparent readiness for +fighting. He called another man to the wheel and went out among the +guns. He ordered up more muskets, pistols, pikes, cutlasses, and armed +himself to the teeth, as if to repel boarders. + +"They'd call me a Tory," he said to the mate. "They shoot Tories. I'm +fighting for my life, if that there sail is a Yankee. Her flag's as +like as not a trick to keep us from getting ready." + +"We'll be ready," replied the mate; but all the men had heard the +remark of Captain Watts concerning his chances. + +Nearer and nearer, before the somewhat freshening breeze, came the +strange schooner, with the merchant flag of Great Britain fluttering +out to declare how peaceable and friendly was her character. Mate +Brackett's glass could as yet discover no sign of evil, unless' it +might be that a widespread old sail which he saw on the deck amidships +had been put there to cover up the wrong kind of deck cargo. + +"She hasn't any business that I know of to head for us," he said to his +commander, suspiciously. "We must be ready to give her a broadside." + +"Luff!" instantly sang out Captain Watts to the man at the helm. "They +can't fool me! Brackett, no nonsense, now! Bring the larboard guns to +bear! I'll hail her! Ship ahoy! What schooner's that?" + +His hail was given through his trumpet, and no answer came during a +full half minute, while the schooner sped nearer. Then suddenly a +storm of exclamations arose from the men, and Brackett groaned aloud. + +"Just what old Watts was afraid of!" he exclaimed. "He's a gone man! +So are all of us! The rebel flag! Guns!" + +The _Noank_ was indeed flying the stars and stripes now, instead of the +red-cross flag of England. The old sail amidships had been jerked +away, and there stood Up-na-tan, with one hand upon the breech of his +long eighteen and the other holding a lighted lanyard ready to touch +her off. Open at the same moment went the three starboard ports, and +out ran the noses of the dangerous six-pounders. + +"Heave to, or I'll sink ye!" came fiercely down the wind. "Surrender, +or I'll send ye to the bottom!" + +"It's no use, Captain Watts," said Brackett, dolefully; "she carries +too many guns for us. We may as well give up." + +"Men!" shouted the captain, "what do you say? Are you with me? Shall +we fight it out? I'm ready!" + +"Not a man of us, captain," sturdily responded one of the crew. "This +'ere isn't nothin' but a supply ship. We ain't bound as if 'twas a +man-o'-war. No use, either." + +"Brackett," said Watts, "you may haul down the flag, then. I won't. I +call you all to witness that I've done my duty! Mate, the rebels won't +shoot you. Report me dead to Captain Milliard of the _Cleopatra_. He +ordered me to run in through the sound against my will." + +"I'll give a good report of you," hurriedly responded the mate, while +other and not unwilling hands hauled down the flag; "but that long +eighteen alone would be too much for our popguns." + +The two ships were now near enough for grappling, and in a few minutes +more they were side by side upon the quiet sea. + +"I surrender to you, sir," said Captain Watts to Captain Avery, as the +latter sprang on board, followed by a swarm of brawny whalemen. "I +claim good treatment for my men, whatever you may do to me." + +"I know you, sir," said Avery, sternly. "You are Watts, the Marblehead +Tory. Step aft with me. There's an account to settle with you. Sam +Prentice, look out for the prisoners. Vine, get ready to cast off and +head for New London. Send 'em all below--" + +"All but some of 'em," said Sam, with a broad grin. "Men! Every +'pressed American step out!" + +No less than nine of the _Windsor's_ crew obeyed that order, while all +the rest sullenly surrendered their useless weapons to Coco and Guert +Ten Eyck and a couple of sailors who were ordered to receive them. + +Not on deck, fore or aft, but down in the cabin did the skipper of the +captured supply ship give his account of himself and his cargo. Hardly +was the cabin door shut behind them before Captain Avery laughed aloud, +inquiring:-- + +"Now, Luke Watts, how did ye make it out! They'll hang ye, yet." + +[Illustration: THE MARBLEHEAD TORY. "'Now, Luke Watts! they'll hang ye +yet,' said Captain Avery."] + +"No, they won't," said Watts. "I've taken across ship after ship for +'em. I'm a known Tory, ye know. Worst kind. I promised jest sech +another good Tory, in London, though, that I'd try and deliver this +cargo to the blasted rebels. It's mostly guns, and ammunition, and +clothing. I managed to git written orders from Captain Milliard, +commandin' our convoy, to run through the Sound, contrary to my advice. +You see, he's an opinionated man. I got him swearin' mad, and I had to +obey, ye know. It has turned out jest as I warned him it would, and he +can't say a word." + +"You're a razor!" laughed Avery. "Then you tacked right over within +easy reach of us, all reg'lar. Now! What are we to do with the crew? +We don't want 'em on shore." + +"Well!" said Watts. "The 'pressed men'll jine ye, all of 'em. They +hate me like p'ison, for I da'sn't let 'em have a smell of how it +really is. Take good care of Brackett, anyhow. He's a prime seaman. +He saved one of our fellows from a floggin', once. All the rest o' the +crew deserve somethin' better'n prison." + +"Prison?" said Avery. "They're not prisoners of war. I don't want +'em, even if they are. I wouldn't hurt a hair o' their heads. I'm no +butcher." + +"Come on deck, then," said Watts, "and be kerful how you talk anythin' +but rough to me." + +Up they went, to find both vessels sailing steadily away toward the +mouth of the harbor. Already they were so near that a booming cannon +from Fort Griswold informed that the _Noank's_ success was joyfully +understood on shore. + +The crew of the _Windsor_ were now summoned up from their temporary +confinement in the hold, and were ordered to get out their own longboat +ready for launching. They were told that all British tars were to go +free and to make the best of their way to New York or to the first +British ship they might meet. The impressed Americans listened in +silence, for every man of them knew that in case of his escape, even in +this manner, there would be thenceforth a possible rope around his +neck. Whether impressed or not, he was considered bound to stick to +the British flag, come what might. + +"Captain Watts," said the commander of the _Noank_, "do you demand +these men? They are Americans." + +"I do demand them," replied Watts. "You have no right to keep them, +and they'll all be hung as deserters." + +"They can't help themselves," said Captain Avery, furiously. "Sam +Prentice, iron every one o' those 'pressed men and put 'em all down in +the hold. If they try to git away, shoot 'em. I'll put 'em ashore or +kill 'em. You can't have 'em, Watts." + +"That saves 'em," whispered Watts to himself. "He's another razor. I +can report jist how they were took." + +At all events, not one of the nine Americans made any resistance which +called for shooting him. + +"Now, Luke Watts," said the angry American privateer captain, "it's +your turn. You are taken in arms against your country. Sam Prentice, +Levi Hotchkiss, Vine Avery, speak out! Shall we hang Luke Watts? Or +shall we shoot him? Or shall we let him go?" + +"We can't safely let him go," began Sam. "He's a dangerous traitor." + +"I protest!" interrupted Mate Brackett, courageously. "He has only +done his duty to his king. He wasn't even serving on a ship of war. +You haven't any right to hang him." + +"You're an Englishman," said Avery. "I didn't ask you. Shut your +mouth!" + +"I won't!" said Brackett; "not if you shoot me. If you hang Captain +Watts, we'll hang a dozen Yankees. We've plenty of 'em, too. It'll be +blood for blood!" + +"Father," said Vine, "let him go. All the men'd say so." + +Behind him at that moment stood Up-na-tan, grinning ferociously, with +his glittering long knife out. + +"So! So! Up-na-tan!" he snarled. "Take 'calp! No let him go. Knife +good! Kill!" + +None of the others were doing anything theatrical except the two +captains, and all the while the longboat was hurriedly made ready for +the short and entirely safe, but probably cold, uncomfortable voyage +before them. + +"Captain Luke Watts," said his captor, sternly, "I suppose I must let +you go. Don't let me ever ketch ye again, though. It's time for us to +hang Tories. Brackett, you and your men lower that boat and git into +her, short order. Luke Watts can pilot you in. Start along, now. +Every man may take his own kit." + +"Come on, Captain Watts," said the hearty British sailor. "Your +shave's been a narrer one. I thought you was bound for the yardarm, +this time." + +"I owe you something," replied Watts. "I'll stand by ye, any day." + +The queer piece of very good unprofessional acting was played to its +ending. The longboat was lowered, the men got into her, with +provisions for two days, and away she went, her own sail careening her +as if it were in haste to get from under the brazen muzzles of the +_Noank's_ French guns. + +"It's awful to be a traitor," remarked Sam Prentice, gravely. "Who'd +ha' thought it of a Marblehead man!" + +"Sam!" said Lyme Avery, and the rest of his remark consisted of his +right eye tightly shut and his left eye very wide open. + +"Ugh! Good!" chuckled Up-na-tan, and Guert Ten Eyck laughed aloud. + +Not for one moment had the subtle, keen-eyed red man been deceived, and +Guert had caught the truth of it all from him. + +"Not a word, Guert," said Captain Avery. "He may be able to do it +again." + +"Didn't fool ole brack man," said Coco. "S'pose he 'tone bline? Wen +King George 'ply ship tack right for New London, then it's 'cause he +was 'tendin' to go right there." + +"No talk," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief like Watt. He bring plenty +powder for _Noank_ gun. Fort gun, too. Now schooner go to sea. Good!" + +The impressed men were freed of their manacles as soon as the longboat +was well away. They could be cheerful enough now, for the prudent +management of Lyme Avery had made their necks safe, unless they should +be taken by the British from an American armed ship. + +Up the broad, beautiful harbor the _Noank_ and her prize sailed +merrily, while guns from the fort batteries saluted her and crowds of +patriotic New Londoners swarmed upon the piers and wharves to do full +honor to so really important a success. At one pier head were gathered +all the members ashore of the Avery household. + +"There he comes!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery; "Lyme's in that boat; Guert and +Vine are with him. Neither of them were hurt." + +"I hope there wasn't much fighting," said Guert's mother. "I do so +hate to have men killed." + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," said Rachel Tarns, "thy wicked son hath once more +aided the rebels in stealing a ship from thy good king. Thee has not +brought him up well. He needeth instruction or he will become as bad +as is the man George Washington himself, God bless him!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE UNFORGOTTEN HERO. + +More than one day's work was required to ascertain the full value of +the _Windsor_ as a bearer of supplies to the forts and ships of the +United States, instead of to those of Great Britain. + +"All the things the _Noank_ was short of," Captain Avery said, "are +goin' into her now. There isn't any secret to be kept concernin' her +sailin' orders, either. She's bound for the West Indies to see what +she can do." + +Perhaps it was at his own table that his plans and the reasons for them +were most thoroughly discussed, but all his crew and their many +advisers were satisfied, and a number of prime seamen who were not to +go on this trip roundly declared their great envy of those who could. + +"Tobacco," they said, "sugar, if it's a home-bound trader. If it's one +from England, then Lyme'll get loads o' 'sorted stuff, such as they +ship for the West Injy trade." + +There were other vessels preparing and some were already at sea. The +year, therefore, promised to be a busy one for New London. So it did +in a number of other American ports, and it behooved Great Britain to +increase, if she could, the number and efficiency of her cruisers. + +One continual black shadow rested over the port and town, and that was +the great probability of a British attack, at no distant day. + +"They've their hands pretty full, just now," people said. "The winter +isn't their best time, either, but some day or other we shall see a +fleet out yonder, and redcoats and Hessians and Tories boating ashore." + +It was an entirely reasonable prediction, but its fulfilment was to be +almost unaccountably postponed. When its hour arrived, at last, nearly +two years later, New London was in ashes and Fort Griswold was a +slaughter-pen. + +"Mother," said Guert, on his return to the house from one of his visits +to the _Noank_. "I wish you could go with us to the West Indies, the +Antilles. Think of it! Summer all the while!" + +"But no oranges, or lemons, or pineapples just now," she said +laughingly. "I mean to go, some day. Perhaps you will take me in your +own ship." + +"Any ship of mine will be your ship," he said. "I wish I had some +money to leave with you, now. It's awful to think of your being poor." + +"Our New York farm will be of no use to us," she said, "until the +king's troops leave the island. I shall be very comfortable here, +though, except that I shall all the while be waiting for you to come +home again." + +Very brave was she, under her somewhat difficult circumstances. All +the New London people were kind, especially the Averys, but she +expected to be poor in purse for some time to come. As to that, +however, she had a surprise in store. That very evening, after dark, +Up-na-tan lingered in the kitchen. + +"Chief see ole woman," he said. "See nobody but Guert mother." + +No sooner were they alone than he pulled from under his captured +military cloak a small purse, and handed it to her. + +"No Kidd money," he said. "Lobster money. Pay ole woman for King +George take farm." + +She hesitated a moment, and then she exclaimed:-- + +"God sent it, I do believe! I'll take it. You won't need it at sea." + +"Up-na-tan no want money," he replied contemptuously. "Ole chief go +fight. Come back. Go to ole woman house. Own house. Money belong to +ole woman." + +"Thank you!" she said. + +"No," grumbled the Indian; "no thank at all. Up-na-tan good!" + +So the conference ended, for he stalked out of the house, and she +examined the purse. + +"Nearly twenty pounds, of all sorts," she said. "Now I needn't borrow +of Rachel for ever so long. I want to let Guert know. He will feel +better." + +The Indian had but obeyed the simple rules of his training. Any kind +of game, however captured, was for the squaw of his wigwam to +administer. Her business would be to provide for the hunter as best +she could. In former days he had always been free of the Ten Eyck +house and farm. It was his. The game he had recently taken was in the +form of gold and silver, but there could be no question as to what he +was bound to do with it. + +Neither he or his Ashantee comrade were inclined to spend much time on +shore. Hardly anything could induce them to come away from the keen +pleasure they were having in the handling and stowage of much powder +and shot. The varied weapons which they examined and put in order were +as so many jewels, to be fondly admired and even patted. + +If Mrs. Ten Eyck had anything else to depress her spirits she tried not +to let Guert know it. All her table talk, when he was there, was +brimming with warlike patriotism. Nevertheless, he was her only son +and she was a widow. She could not but wish, at times, that he were a +soldier instead of a sailor, to belong to the quiet garrison of Fort +Griswold, for instance, and to come over to the Avery house now and +then. + +He was sent for, somewhat peremptorily, one day, not by her but by +Rachel Tarns, and when he arrived she herself opened the door for him. + +"I am glad thee came so early," she said to him. "I have somewhat to +say to thee. Come in, hither." + +Very dignified was she, at any time, and he was accustomed to obey her +without asking needless questions. He followed her, therefore, as she +led on into the parlor, opposite the dining room, the main thought in +his mind being:-- + +"I wish she'd hurry up with it. I want to get back to the _Noank_, as +soon as I've seen mother." + +"What is it?" he began, after the door of the parlor closed behind +them, but she cut him short. + +"I will not quite tell thee," she said. "Some things thee does not +need to know. Thy old friend, Maud Wolcott, will be here presently. +One cometh with her to whom I forbid thee to speak. After they arrive, +thou art to do as I shall then direct thee." + +"All right," said Guert. "I don't care who it is. I'll be glad to see +Maud, though. She's about the best girl I know. Pretty, too." + +Hardly were the words out of his mouth before there came a jingle of +sleighbells in the road, and it ceased before the house. + +"Remain thee here," said Rachel, as she arose and hurried out. + +Guert obeyed, but he went to a window and he saw a trim-looking, +two-seated sleigh. A man he did not know was hitching the horse to the +post near the gate. The sleigh had brought a full load of passengers, +all women. + +"That's Maud Wolcott," exclaimed Guert. "The girl that's with her is +taller than she is, and she's all muffled up. I can't see her face. +How Maud did jump out o' that cutter! The two others are old women. +Rachel knows 'em." + +The first girl out of the sleigh was in the house quickly. She came +like a flash into the parlor and, as her hood flew back, a mass of +brown curls went tumbling down over her shoulders. + +"Guert!" she said, breathlessly. "I'm so glad you're here! We were +told you were going." + +"We're going!" said Guert. "We're bound for the West Indies. We've +taken one British ship, already. I'm a privateer, Maud! Oh! but ain't +I glad to see you again. It's like old times!" + +"You're growing," she said. "I wish I could go to sea, or fight the +British. We haven't any chance to talk, now." + +He might be very glad, but, after all, he seemed a little afraid, and a +kind of bashfulness grew upon him as he shook hands with her. She must +have been a year younger than he was,--but then, she was so very +pretty, and he was only a boy. + +Half a dozen questions and answers went back and forth between them, as +between old acquaintances, near neighbors. Then the parlor door opened +to let in Rachel Tarns and the "all muffled up" girl who had been in +the sleigh with Maud. She did not speak to anybody, but went and sat +down, silently, at the other window of the parlor. + +"Guert," said Rachel, "sit thee down here, by me and Maud. Thee will +talk only of what I bid thee, and thee will ask no foolish questions." + +"All right," said Guert. "What is it you want me to say? Maud hasn't +told me, yet, half o' what I want to know." + +"If thee were older," she said, "thee would have more good sense. I +have a reason that I will not tell thee. I wish thee to give me a full +account of all thy dealings with that brave man, Nathan Hale. Thee saw +him die, and there is no other that knoweth many things that are well +known to thee." + +"I hate to tell everything," he said. + +"Thee must!" exclaimed Rachel. "Thee will not leave out a word that he +spake or a deed that he did." + +Something flashed brightly into the quick mind of Guert just then. He +could not exactly shape it, but it came when he caught the sound of a +low sob from under the veil of the girl at the other window. "I'll +begin where I first saw him," he said. + +He did not at all know after that how his boyish enthusiasm helped him +to draw his word pictures of Captain Hale's daring scout work, of boat +and land adventures by night and day, in company with him and Up-na-tan +and Coco. He told it more rapidly and vividly as a kind of excitement +spurred him. He did not know that beyond the half-open door of the +next room his mother and several other persons were listening. Two of +them had come in the cutter with Maud, and yet another sleigh had +brought visitors to the Avery house. There were to be very loving and +tenacious memories to treasure all that he was telling. + +Guert came at last, sorrowfully, more slowly, to the tragic end of all +in the old orchard near the East River. He told of the troops, and the +crowd, and the tree, and he repeated the last words of the hero who +perished there. + +"That I can give but one life for Liberty!" he said, and there his own +voice choked him, while a whisper from beyond the door said softly: +"Glory! Glory! Glory!" + +Throughout Guert's narrative, there had been something almost painful +in the forward-leaning eagerness of the veiled girl at the window. She +was standing now, and a sigh that was more a sob broke from her as she +held out to him a hand with something that she was grasping tightly. +Rachel stepped forward and took it, opening it as she did so. Only a +small, leather case it was, containing a miniature. + +"My boy," said Rachel, "is that like thy friend? Look well at it. +Tell me." + +"It's a real good picture," said Guert, wiping his eyes as he looked +more closely. "It's like him, but there isn't the light and the smile +that was on his face when he stood with the rope around his neck under +that old apple tree." + +"That is enough," said Rachel, turning away with the miniature. "I +think not many eyes will ever see this thing again." + +"Not any," came faintly from under the veil. "I mean to have it buried +with me. Nobody else has any right to it. I must go now." + +The girl at the window had risen as she spoke. She came forward and +took Guert's hand for a moment. Then, in a voice that was tremulous +with feeling, she said:-- + +"Let me thank you for all you have said. Thank you for your friendship +for him. God bless you!" + +In spite of its sadness, her voice had in it a half-triumphant tone. +Rachel gave her back the miniature, and she turned to go. No one spoke +to her. Guert could not have said a word if he had tried, but Maud +sprang to her side. + +"Good-by, Guert," she said. "I'll see you again, some day. I'm going +with her, now." + +"Good-by, Maud," said Guert. "I did so want a talk with you, but I +s'pose I can't this time. We are to sail right away. The _Noank's_ +all ready." + +Both of the sleighs at the gate were quickly crowded. They were driven +away, and hardly had the jingling of their bells died out up the road, +before Rachel Tarns came and put an arm around Guert. She, too, was +wiping her eyes. + +"Thee was a brave, good boy," she said, "and I love thee very much. +Thee is too young, now, and thy picture hath never been painted. Some +day thee may need one to give away, as Nathan did. If it shall please +God to let thee die for thy country, somebody may will to keep it in +memory of thee." + +"Mother would," said Guert. "I'll get one, as soon as I can. But +Nathan Hale'll be remembered well enough without any picture. All the +men in America 'll remember him. He was a hero!" + +The voice of Vine Avery was at the front door, shouting loudly for +Guert, and out he darted, not even stopping to inquire who of all the +friends or family of his hero had been listening in the dining room. + +"What is it?" he eagerly asked, as he joined Vine at the doorstep. + +"Powder and shot all stowed," said Vine. "Everything's ready now. As +soon as the rest of the _Windsor's_ cargo's out, they're going to tow +her up the river, out o' harm's way. Father says we're to be all on +board, now. Come on!" + +"Oh, Guert!" said his mother, for she had followed him, and her arms +were around his neck. "I can't say a word to keep you back! Be as +brave as Nathan Hale was! God keep you from all harm! Do your duty! +Good-by!" + +It was an awful struggle for poor Guert, but he would not let himself +cry before Vine Avery and the sailors who were with him. All he could +do, therefore, was to hug his mother and kiss her. His last good-by +went into her ear and down into her heart in a low, hoarse whisper. + +Away marched the last squad of the crew of the _Noank_, and Mrs. Avery +stood at the gate and watched them until they were hidden from her eyes +beyond the turn of the road. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE NEWS FROM TRENTON. + +"What is it, Sam?" + +"I guess, Lyme, we'd better hold on a bit. The fort lookout sends word +that a British cruiser's in sight, off the harbor." + +Sam Prentice was in a rowboat, just reaching the side of the _Noank_, +and his commander was leaning over the rail. + +"I'd like to send a shot at her," he said. "None o' those ten-gun +brigs, if it's one o' them, carry long guns or heavy ones." + +"Can't say," replied Sam. "Maybe it's a bigger feller. He won't dare +to run in under the battery guns, anyhow. He can't look into the +harbor." + +"I wish he would," laughed the captain. "If he's goin' to try a game +of tackin' off and on, and watchin', though, we must make out to run +past him in the night." + +"We mustn't be stuck any longer here," said Sam. "Are all the crew +aboard?" + +"All but you," was the reply. "Send your boat ashore. We'll find out +what she is. I won't let any single cruiser keep me cooped up in port, +now my powder and shot's found for me. We'll up anchor, Sam." + +The first mate of the _Noank_, for such he was to be, came over the +rail, and his boat was pulled shoreward. + +"Isn't she fine!" he said, as he glanced admiringly around him. "We're +in good fightin' order, Lyme." + +"Sam," said the captain, "just study those timbers, will ye. Only +heavy shot'd do any great harm to our bulwarks. I had her built the +very strongest kind. Now! Some o' the new British craft are said to +be light timbered, even for rough weather. Their own sailors hate 'em, +and we can take their judgment of 'em." + +"It's likely to be good," said Sam. "What a British able seaman +doesn't know 'bout his own ship, isn't worth knowin'." + +Further talk indicated that they both held high opinions of the +mariners of England. Against them, as individuals, the war had not +aroused any ill feeling. There was, indeed, among intelligent +Americans, a very general perception that King George's war against his +transatlantic subjects was anything but popular with the great mass of +the overtaxed English people. It was a pity, a great pity, that +stupid, bad management and recklessly tyrannical statesmanship, in a +sort of combination with needless military severities, had done so much +to foster hatred and provoke revenge. It was true, too, although all +Americans did not know or did not appreciate it, that their side of the +controversy had been ably set forth in the Parliament of Great Britain +by prominent and patriotic Englishmen, such as Chatham and Colonel +Barre. + +The old whaler _Noank_, of New London, however, had now become an +American war vessel. Her crew and her commander were compelled, +henceforth, to regard as enemies the captains and the crews of all +vessels, armed or unarmed, carrying the red-cross flag instead of the +stars and stripes. + +"I tell you what, Sam," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "I wish we had +news from New York and from Washington's army. The latest we heard of +him and the boys made things look awfully dark." + +"Don't let yourself git too down in the mouth!" replied Sam. "I guess +the sun'll shine ag'in, Sunday. It's a long lane that has no turnin'. +Washington's an old Indian fighter. He's likely to turn on 'em, sudden +and unexpected, like a redskin on a trail that's been followed too +closely." + +"It won't do to go after a Mohawk too far into the woods, sometimes," +growled Avery. "Not onless you're willin' to risk a shot from a bush. +Now, do you know, I wish I knew, too, what's been the dealin' of the +British admirals with Luke Watts, for losin' the _Windsor_. We owe +that man a good deal,--we do!" + +"They won't hurt him," said Sam. "It wasn't any fault o' his'n." + +In some such manner, all over the country, men and women were +comforting themselves, under the shadow of death which seemed to have +settled down over the cause of American independence. They knew that +the Continental army was shattered. It was destitute, freezing, +starving, and it was said to be dwindling away. + +Somewhere, however, among the ragged tents and miserable huts of its +winter quarters, was a man who had shown himself so superior to other +men that in him there was still a hope. From him something unexpected +and startling might come at any hour. + +As for Luke Watts, formerly the skipper of the British supply ship +_Windsor_, now a prize in New London harbor, Captain Avery and his mate +spoke again of him and of the difficulties into which he might have +fallen. Possibly it would have done them good to have been near enough +to see and hear him at that very hour of the day. + +A good longboat, with a strong crew anxious to make time and get into a +warmer place, had had only a short run of it from New London to New +York. Here was Luke, therefore, in the cabin of a British +seventy-four, standing before a gloomy-faced party of naval officers. +With him were his mate, Brackett, and several of the sailors of the +_Windsor_. It was evident that her loss had been inquired into, and +that all the testimonies had been given. If this was to be considered +as a kind of naval court martial, it was as ready as it ever would be +to declare its verdict. + +"Gentlemen," said the burly post-captain who appeared to be the ranking +officer, "it's a bad affair! We needed that ammunition. Even the land +forces are running so short that movements are hindered. If, however, +we are to find fault with any man, we must censure the captain of the +_Cleopatra_. This man Watts is proved to have gone into the Sound +against his will and protest. I am glad that the rebels did not hang +him. His recorded judgment of the danger to be encountered was +entirely correct. Watts, I shall want you to pilot home one of our +empty troop-ships." + +"I know her, sir," replied Luke, promptly. "I beg to say no, sir. Not +unless she has twice the ballast that's in her now. I'd like +permission to say a word more, sir." + +"Speak out! What is it?" + +"A ten-gun brig in the Sound can't catch that New London pirate--" + +"The _Boxer_ is cruising around that station," interrupted the captain. +"She's a clipper to go." + +"No use," said Luke, shaking his head. "The old whaler'll get away." + +"What would you do, then?" roughly demanded another officer. + +"A strong corvette, or two of 'em, off Point Judith and Montauk, to +catch her as she runs out," said Luke. "She'll fight any small vessel. +She carries a splendid pivot-gun, and she has six long sixes. She will +be handled by prime seamen." + +"Gentlemen," remarked the captain, "I agree with him. We have found +the advice of this man Watts to be correct in every case. I believe he +is right, now. We must do as he says or that pirate, perhaps others +with her, will escape us. I will put him in charge of the _Termagant_. +I'll feel safer about her, if she is sailed home by a man with a rebel +rope around his neck." + +There was a general expression of assent, and then Watts spoke again. + +"I want Brackett, if I can have him," he said. "I never had a better +mate. There's fight in him, too." + +"You may have him," he was told, and several of the officers present +expressed their great regret that so many impressed American seamen had +been ironed by Captain Avery and compelled to escape from a return to +man-of-war duty. They ought never to have been detailed, it was +asserted. + +"We can't hang 'em for desertion," they said, half jocularly. "All we +could do, if we caught them, would be to set them at work again." + +Nevertheless, four of these escaped men were now voluntarily among the +crew of the _Noank_. The remaining five had preferred to make the best +of their ways to their several homes. Not one of them all had chosen +to seek the friendly shelter of the British navy, so near and so ready +to receive them. + +Luke Watts and his friends were dismissed and went on deck. Shortly +afterward, their own longboat carried them to the _Termagant_ +troop-ship, and the first words uttered by the Marblehead skipper after +reaching her, were duly reported to his superiors. + +"Men!" he had exclaimed, as he glanced around him. "This thing isn't +fit to go to sea. She's been handled by lubbers. We've work before +us, if we don't want to go to the bottom or be overhauled by the +_Yankees_. Jest look at her spars and riggin'!" + +All things were working together, therefore, to strengthen the +confidence reposed in him, in spite of the curious fact that he had +skilfully delivered the _Windsor_ and her cargo in New London instead +of in New York. + +"We had a narrer escape not many miles beyond Hell Gate," he had +reported. "One o' those Long Island buccaneer whaleboats chased us +more 'n an hour. They gave it up then, and we got through. 'Twas a +close shave. Half on 'em are Montauk and Shinnecock redskins. Reg'lar +scalpers." + +He had told the truth, as he had appeared to do at every point of the +account which he had given of himself, and now the very men who had +captured him and let him go, neglecting to hang him, were about to +learn why that Long Island whaleboat had not followed him any farther. +There had been plenty of time for such a boat to get away, a long +distance. + +The lookout on the rampart of Fort Griswold, the same keen-eyed watcher +who had sent warning to the _Noank_ of the danger in the offing, was +busy with his telescope. + +"The cruiser's a brig!" he sang out. "I can make her out, now. She's +one o' the new patterns. She's chasin' a whaleboat. I wish she'd +roller it onto one o' them there ledges. She's firin'. It's long +range, but it looks kind o' bad for the Long Islanders. There ain't +any of our boats out, to-day. It's from t'other shore." + +He was watching, now, with intense excitement. There is hardly +anything else so interesting as a chase at sea with cannonading in it. +All this time, however, Captain Lyme Avery had been growing feverish. +He knew nothing of Luke Watts, nothing at all of the Long Island +whaleboat and her pursuer, but he shouted to the men at the capstan:-- + +"Heave away, boys! I'm goin' to have a look at that there Britisher. +We won't run any fool risks but we'll find out what she is, anyhow." + +Hearty cheers answered him and a loud war-whoop from Up-na-tan, for +every man on board had long since become sick of harbor inactivity. +They were also all the more ready for a brush with the enemy after +having brought in so fine a prize on their first venture, and they now +had plenty of powder and shot to fire away. + +Only the mainsail swung out after the anchor was raised, but a fair +wind was blowing and the _Noank_ went swiftly seaward with the tide in +her favor. + +"Hark!" said Sam Prentice; "guns again! Something's up, Up-na-tan! +Oh, you and Coco are at your pivot-gun! Free her! Have her all ready. +She's the only piece on board that's likely to be of any use." + +"Let 'em alone!" called out Captain Avery. "They know what they're +about. They're old gunners. I don't care so much, jest now, 'bout how +they got their trainin'. See 'em!" + +They were not by any means a handsome pair at any time, and they were +several shades uglier than usual. The Ashantee was grinning +frightfully, and the teeth he showed must have been filed to obtain so +sharklike a pointing. The red man was not grinning, but all the +wrinkles in his face seemed to grow deeper and his complexion darker. +He was charging his guns with solemnly scrupulous care. + +"No miss!" he said. "Up-na-tan find out what big gun good for." + +His first charge was going in, therefore, for a purpose of practical +inquiry into the character of the long eighteen. The foundries of that +day could not manufacture large weapons with mathematical precision. +Hardly any two could be said to be exactly alike, except in appearance. +It followed that each gun had good or bad features of its own. From +ship to ship, throughout the royal navy, the gunners published the +qualities of their brazen or iron favorites, and there were cannon of +celebrity which old salts would go far to see. + +The sound of the British firing came up somewhat dulled against the +wind. It was not until they were out of the harbor that the sailors of +the _Noank_ discovered how really near were both friends and foes. The +latter were still outside of the range of any of the fort guns. Hardly +more than a mile and a half nearer was the whaleboat from Long Island. +It could be seen that it was full of men, and they were showing +splendid pluck, for they were rowing steadily, while every now and then +a shot from the brig dropped dangerously near them. One iron bullet, +hitting fairly, might knock their frail though swift craft all to +pieces. Up went sail after sail upon the _Noank_, as she speeded +along, and an officer on the British cruiser's deck had good reason for +the astonishment with which he called out:-- + +"There she comes! You don't mean to say she's coming out to fight us?" + +"It looks like it," responded another officer near him. "We can make +match-wood of her if we can get close enough. I wish I knew what her +armament is. These Yankees have more impudence!" + +He did not have to wait many minutes before he learned something. The +_Noank_ whirled away upon the starboard tack around the point, and, +just as she steadied herself upon her new course, out roared her +pivot-gun. + +Up-na-tan stood erect as soon as he touched off his piece, and he +anxiously watched for the results. + +"Ugh! whoop!" he shouted triumphantly. "Gun good! Shoot straight! +Hit 'em!" + +"Right!" said Captain Avery, who had been watching through a glass. +"If the old pirate didn't land that shot on her! It's pretty long +range, too." + +"Load quick, now!" said the Indian. "Ole chief hit her again!" + +His assistants were already feverishly busy with their loading, while +he stood and proudly patted his cannon, very much as if it deserved +praise and could appreciate his approval. + +Loud were the exclamations of surprise and wrath on board the _Boxer_. +No one had been killed or wounded, but the brig's longboat had been +stove to bits, and all the pigs and chickens which had been cooped in +it for the time being, and there were many of them, were running +frantically about the main deck. That is, all but one large, fat pig, +for he had suddenly been made pork of, and he would run and squeal no +more. + +The telescopes at the fort had also been taking observations, and loud +cheers from the gathered garrison honored the crack shot of Up-na-tan. +The crew of the _Noank_ cheered lustily, and so did the rowers of the +whaleboat. One of the fort batteries tried its guns a moment later, +but all its shots fell short. Nevertheless, it was only a little +short, and it warned the captain of the _Boxer_. He knew, now, about +how much nearer it would be wise for him to run. Up-na-tan's next shot +was well enough aimed, but it did no mischief. It went over the brig, +with an unpleasant suggestion of what damage that sort of thing might +do to spars and rigging. + +"Luff! luff!" sang out the captain. "'Tisn't worth while to chase that +boat any farther in. Let's see if we can't draw out the schooner. I'd +like to get her away from those land batteries. They're too heavy +metal for us." + +"She has the wind of us," remarked his sailing master, doubtfully. +"She can do as she pleases 'bout coming any too near." + +"She's a clipper, anyhow," growled the captain. "Nothing can beat +these New Englanders in handling canvas. The king needs every man of +'em." + +His own sailors were just then more than a little busied with pig and +poultry gathering, and one badly scared bird rashly flew overboard. + +Captain Avery was to disappoint Up-na-tan and Coco. They were to have +no more long-range practice with the eighteen-pounder. + +One more shot that they sent was an unsatisfactory miss, and then the +distance began to increase instead of diminishing, as the schooner went +about. + +"Our fellows are safe now," said Sam Prentice. "Here they come. Look +at 'em! More Indians than white men." + +None the less were they excellent oarsmen and daring freebooters, and +before the end of the war the "whaleboat fleet," as it came to be +called, was to earn a not altogether pleasant reputation. + +Not many more minutes passed before the boat was near enough for a +hail. In it, forward, stood up a tall white man, balancing himself and +swinging his hat while he enthusiastically sent to the _Noank_:-- + +"Schooner ahoy! Hurrah! News from the Continental army! Gineral +Washington smashed the redcoats! Beat 'em on Christmas day at Trenton! +Then he follered 'em up and knocked Cornwallis all to flinders at +Princeton! We're a-beginnin' to flail 'em! Hurrah!" + +Wild was the cheering which answered him from the schooner. Some of +the men began to dance, and Sam Prentice yelled:-- + +"Shake hands, Lyme Avery! I jest knew it'd come! I said so! We're +goin' to flail 'em! Our turn's got here!" + +Up-na-tan expressed his feelings in whoop after whoop, and Coco's yell +was terrific. + +"Won't the shore people jump?" said Guert Ten Eyck. "Oh! How I want +to get in and tell mother!" + +The news-bringer had described the Trenton victory fairly, but he had +somewhat exaggerated the results of the severe fight at Princeton. +Lord Cornwallis had not reported it in precisely that manner. The boat +was now running along with the _Noank_, however, and the story of +Washington's splendid work for liberty was fired into the schooner at +short range, wadding and all. A pretty interesting conclusion for it +was the account of the manner in which the news had been obtained in +New York and carried along the Long Island shore, all the way to New +London. + +"We had to hug the land close," said the narrator, "but here we are." + +"Home! Home!" shouted Captain Avery. "The folks must have this to +cheer 'em up. It's the first bit of good news we've had in many a long +day. Hurrah for George Washington! God bless him!" + +It was an instantly arriving vexation, then, that the brisk breeze and +the tide, so favorable for coming out, were not so much so for running +in. + +The _Boxer's_ captain had also his vexations, for he shortly remarked:-- + +"There she goes! The boat's with her. We're not to have a chance at +her to-day. If I can get at her, I'll sink her! She'll come out +again." + +That was precisely the purpose in the mind of Lyme Avery, and he did +not intend any long delay, either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BRIG AND THE SCHOONER. + +"Blaze away! Gun at a time!" shouted Captain Avery, as the _Noank_ +tacked across the harbor mouth. "We can afford a few blank cartridges +for such news as this is." + +"The whaleboat's goin' to beat us gettin' in," replied Sam Prentice. +"The folks'll know it all before we git there." + +"Don't care if they do," said the captain. "We'll only be in port +ag'in a few hours, anyhow. Night's our time. We know, now, jest what +the cruiser is, and there doesn't seem to be another 'round." + +The _Noank's_ sixes were, therefore, shouting to the forts and the town +that good news of some kind was coming. The men at the batteries heard +and wondered, and grew impatient. They thought they knew all there was +to be known of the mere exchange of shots with the _Boxer_. Their +friends had not been harmed; neither had the brig; the whaleboat had +escaped; and that was all that they could understand. Now, however, +they saw the _Noank_ sending up every American flag she had on board. + +What could it mean? Lyme Avery was not a man to have suddenly lost his +balance of mind. + +"Something's up," they said. "No matter what it is, we'll answer him." + +So a roaring salute was fired for something or other that was as yet +unknown to the gunners, and more flags went up on the forts; while the +joyous cannonading called out of their houses nearly all the population +of New London, every soul as full of eager curiosity as were the +soldiers of the garrisons. + +Out they came, and they were not at all an unprosperous looking lot of +men and women and children. Probably the most important thing which +the war statesmen of Great Britain overlooked in making their +calculations for subduing the colonies was that the resources of +America were in no danger of becoming exhausted. On the contrary, +nearly all the states were growing richer instead of poorer. Strangely +enough, the war itself was a powerful agent for the development of +America. Continental paper money was as yet answering very well for +local payments and exchanges, and its subsequent depreciation was of +less importance than a great many people imagined. Nothing was really +lost when a paper dollar dwindled to fifty cents and then went down to +ten--or nothing. Nearly all the old farms were as good as ever, and +new ones were opening daily. There were more acres under +cultivation--a great many more--all over the country, out of the range +of British army foraging parties. The farms which the foragers could +not reach included all of the New England states, all of Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, nearly all of South +Carolina and Georgia, and all of New York above the Hudson River +highlands. A large part of even harassed New Jersey was doing very +well. + +Something more than merely the farming interests were to be taken into +consideration, moreover. Prior to the rebellion, the policy of the +mother country had choked to death all manufacturing undertakings in +America, in order that the colonies might serve only as markets for +English-made goods. Now, not only was the prohibition removed, but the +rebels were absolutely compelled to manufacture for themselves. They +were altogether willing to set about it. They had an abundance of raw +materials, and could increase their productions of all sorts. They had +great mechanical skill, marvellous inventive genius, and unlimited +water-power. Everywhere began to spring up woollen and cotton +factories, potteries, iron works, wagon shops, tanneries, and other new +industries unknown before. + +Cattle, horses, sheep, swine, mules, multiplied without any hinderance +whatever from the war. For all food products there were more mouths to +fill, and for all things salable there was more power to pay. It +followed that there soon were many more tradesmen, merchants, and +middlemen, doing vastly more business, whether for cash or barter. + +There were more men, too, and more women. The sad losses of men in +battles, camps, prisons, were only a small number compared with the +thousands of stalwart youths who were growing up. These, too, were +growing up as Americans, knowing no allegiance to England, full of +eager patriotism, and ready, whenever their turns might come, to take +their places in the army or in the navy. + +There were desolated regions, but the area of these was limited. As a +whole, the new republic was increasing tremendously in both wealth and +population. Its resources for all war purposes were growing from day +to day through all the dark years of the Revolution. + +The New Londoners had no idea of waiting patiently under such +circumstances as these, with so much salute firing tantalizing them. +Boats of all sorts put out, and these were shortly met by the Long +Island news-carriers. Their entry had not depended at all upon the +wind, and not much upon even the tide, so well they were pulling. + +Guert and his _Noank_ friends, therefore, were robbed of the pleasure +of being the first to tell the great tidings from the bank of the +Delaware. It swiftly reached the shore, to be greeted with half-mad +enthusiasm. Before the _Noank_ lowered her last sail at her wharf, +there were men on horseback and men in sleighs, and women, too, even +more excitedly, all speeding out to villages and towns and farm-houses +to set the hearts of patriots on fire with joy and hope. + +It was quite likely that every courier would picture the success of +General Washington at least as large as the reality. Lord Cornwallis +himself, rallying his somewhat scattered detachments to strike back at +his unexpected assailant, was aware of stinging losses, but not that he +had been seriously defeated. He had suffered a sharp check, and he had +afterward failed to surround and capture Mr. Washington and his brave +ragamuffins. That appeared to be about all. It hardly occurred to the +self-confident British generals that so small an affair as that of +Trenton, or a drawn battle like that of Princeton, could have any great +or permanent consequences. Little did they imagine how great a change +was made in the minds, in the courage and hope of a host of previously +dispirited Americans. + +There had been many, for instance, who had been losing confidence in +Washington's ability as a general. He had been too often defeated, and +they could not rightly understand or estimate the causes for his +reverses, or how well he had done in spite of terrible disadvantages. +Now, as his star again blazed forth, these very faultfinders were ready +to believe him one of the greatest generals of the age. + +The political consequences were invaluable. Not only the Congress at +Philadelphia, but the state legislatures, most of them, were more ready +to push along with measures of a military nature. The entire aspect of +affairs underwent a visible change, not only in America, but, very +soon, in Europe. + +Especially dense was the crowd that gathered at the wharf toward which +the _Noank_ was to be steered. All the other crowds probably wished +that they had known just where to go. Most of them at once set out on +a run in the corrected direction. The cheering done had already made a +great many of the patriots somewhat hoarse, and they were all the +readier to hear as well as talk. + +"Oh! Guert!" exclaimed his mother, as she hugged him, the moment he +came over upon the wharf. "I'm glad of the victories, but I'm gladder +still to see you safe back again!" + +"Up-na-tan hit the brig, mother," he said. "Captain Avery says we can +run out right past her. Hurrah for General Washington!" + +"Thee bad boy!" said Rachel Tarns, behind Mrs. Ten Eyck. "Thee and thy +schooner should have been with him at Trenton. He was in need of thy +fine French guns and thy sailors." + +"That's so, I guess!" said Guert. "We'd ha' sailed right in, if we'd +been there. I'd like to ha' seen the battle. Mother, Up-na-tan's +going to teach me how to handle cannon. He says he's going to make a +good gunner of me." + +"I want you to be a captain," she said. + +"Guert," said Rachel, "I wish thee might become as good an artilleryman +as thy old friend Alexander Hamilton. It is my pride and joy, this +day, that I paid for the first powder for his cannon. I also praise +the Lord that Alexander knoweth so well what to do with them and with +the powder." + +"I'll learn what to do with mine," said Guert. "'Tisn't easy, though. +'Tisn't like handling a rifle or a shotgun. It's a good deal in the +loading and in guessing distances." + +"Up-na-tan," was Rachel's next half-humorous inquiry, "thee wicked old +Indian! Has thee been shooting at thy good king with thy big gun?" + +"Ole woman no talk!" grumbled the Manhattan. "Up-na-tan all mad! Want +long thirty-two. Pivot-gun too small. Hit lobster brig. No sink her." + +"Ole chief not take any 'calp," chuckled Coco, maliciously, "so he feel +bad. Want 'calp somebody, soon's he can. Now old Coco had fight, +s'pose he 'bout ready for he supper." + +That feeling seemed to have spread very widely, as if good news were +calculated to produce good appetites. It was a hungry time as well as +a triumph, and in many houses there were home-made feasts, that +evening. There was one, for instance, at the Avery house, and Guert +was there, of course. He was glad of one more visit to his mother, but +a peculiarly warlike thrill went over him before he reached the gate. +It was when Lyme Avery said to his mate, as they separated:-- + +"Sam Prentice, tell your wife to send you out good and early. We're +goin' to have another brush with that there British brig, to-morrow, if +the wind's at all right for it." + +"I don't know," replied Sam. "Our best hold is to slip past her, if we +can, and git out into the open sea. It wouldn't do to run back into +the Sound, but I'd like to pick up another prize right here. We might." + +"A little too risky," said the captain, "with her on the watch. That's +the talk, though. We're goin' to bring more'n one prize into New +London, 'fore we git through." + +Guert was well aware that the _Noank_ had taken out what were called +"letters of marque and reprisal," and was therefore a regularly +authorized and commissioned commerce-destroyer. She was one of many. +In several of the colonial ports, north and south, precisely such +sea-wolves had long since made their preparations, and some were +already at sea. They were making serious havoc and were soon to make +more in the widely distributed, ocean-going commerce of Great Britain. +It was a cruel, destructive, uncivilized kind of warfare, but it was +customary among all the nations of the earth. In like manner, at this +very date, British privateers were out after American prizes. These +latter, moreover, had the regular cruisers of England as auxiliaries. +Less agreeably, sometimes, the warships came in as business rivals or +to claim a division of spoils. The Yankee privateers themselves +constituted nearly the entire navy of the United States. + +Sunrise does not come early in the month of January. It seems to come +earlier and there is more of it, if the weather is clear. On the next +morning after the arrival of the Trenton news, however, a thick white +mist came drifting up New London harbor from the sea. There was only a +light wind blowing from the westward, and it promised to be one of the +hazy days of winter, such as come before a thaw. + +"This 'ere is jest the thing for us," remarked Captain Avery, when he +came out to see about the weather. "It's the right kind o' breeze for +a schooner, and it's jest the wrong thing for a square rig. We can +spread more canvas for our draft and tonnage than that king's brig can, +anyhow." + +There was no one to dispute him, and he and Vine and Guert were shortly +on their way to the wharf. The Yankee shipbuilders, with abundance of +the best timber at hand and any number of bays and inlets to work in, +had constructed admirable shipyards upon plans of their own. Point +after point they had gone away from antiquated models, and they had +already made many important improvements in the building and rigging of +all kinds of craft. Before many years, the whole sea-going world was +to be forced to recognize their superiority. + +All of the _Noank's_ crew were on board when her captain reached her, +and he at once gave orders to cast off from the wharf. Only a very few +of her friends came down to see her go. Farewells had been already +said, for the greater part, and even the sailors' wives had been aware +that there would be no lingering. The Long Island whaleboat was +nowhere to be seen. It might be that her hardy oarsmen, their errand +accomplished, had set out to recross to their own shore under the cover +of darkness. + +"Some o' those island chaps," remarked Sam Prentice, "ain't but a +little better'n so many buccaneers. They're up to 'most any kind o' +pillagin'. Do ye know, Lyme, the first o' the West Injy pirates, long +ago, made their beginnin' with very much that kind o' open boat? It +was a good while before they were able to supply themselves with the +right kind o' sailin' vessels." + +"They did it, though," said Lyme. + +"Murderous lot they were, too," said Vine. "They never left anybody +alive to tell tales of 'em." + +"Ugh! Ugh!" came from Up-na-tan, in a sort of snarl. "All Kidd men +dead now. No come again." + +The Manhattan had seated himself upon a coil of rope and was busy with +a hone and the edge of a cutlass, as if he hoped to use it soon. + +"No, they're not," replied Prentice, with energy. "There's enough of +'em yet. Some say they're gettin' worse'n ever within a year or so. +This 'ere schooner's got to keep a sharp lookout for 'em, soon's we're +among the islands." + +"That's so, Sam," said Captain Avery. "I'll tell ye one thing more, +too. I'd ruther come to close quarters with a cruiser like that there +British brig than with one o' those half-Spanish West Injy picaroons. +Some right well-armed British and French fightin' craft have found 'em +dreadfully hard to handle." + +"So would we," said Sam, "and I wouldn't at all mind sendin' one of 'em +to the bottom. It'd be a matter o' life and death, ye know, for they +don't show any kind o' mercy. Not to man, woman, or child." + +Guert listened intently, for he had already heard, year after year, a +great many terrible yarns concerning the rovers of the Antilles. Part +of his daily business, too, was to listen well to whatever he might +hear, and he was learning a great deal in various ways. Brought up on +Manhattan Island, as he had been, he was familiar, of course, with the +external appearance of all kinds of shipping, whether of war or peace. +He had also seen a great deal of boat service. Now, however, he had +discovered that all this had not made a sailor of him. He was only a +mere beginner, although it seemed to him that he had been getting along +rapidly ever since he first saw the _Noank_. This was his first actual +cruising, but he had spent a great deal of time on board while she was +waiting in port. He believed that he knew every nook and corner of +her. He could go aloft like a squirrel or a monkey, but for all that +he felt dreadfully raw and green among such a crew of seasoned old +mariners. Every man of them, almost, could tell of long voyages. They +knew the Antilles well, and the other groups of American islands. Some +knew more of the coasts of South America, some of Europe. More in +number, and even more full of daring and of danger, were the tales he +had heard of the whale fishery, with its glimpse of ice-fields, +icebergs, frozen seas, and its combats not only with the oil-producing +monsters of the sea, but with white bears also, and walruses, and +hostile red men; to him, therefore, these men of the _Noank's_ company +were the heroes of the ocean. He admired them tremendously, just now, +as they discussed, in their matter-of-fact way, quietly, calmly, +fearlessly, the seemingly desperate chances just before them. They all +admitted, without hesitation, that it was a pretty doubtful problem +whether or not they would be able to escape not only the one cruiser +near them, but afterward the vigilant British blockade of the Sound +entrance and of the adjacent waters. The _Noank_ had very serious +risks to run before she could spread her wings on the Atlantic. + +The mist was hanging lower, thicker, whiter, and the morning gun from +Fort Griswold had long since announced that in the opinion of the +gunners the sun had risen. + +"Hullo! What?" exclaimed Captain Avery, springing to his feet. +"Another? They don't fire a shotted gun jest for sunrise." + +His practical ears had told him that this report was not made by a +blank cartridge. What could it mean? + +"Gunner saw lobster ship," said Up-na-tan, quietly. + +Away he went, then, toward his long eighteen, followed by Coco and +Guert and several sailors. + +"Captain Avery," he called back, "ole chief get gun ready. S'pose fort +gunner no fool." + +"Ready with her!" said the captain. "Ready! Every gun! Silence, all! +This fog's a friend of ours." + +The Indian's understanding of the shotted cannon was correct. The +sharp-eyed lookout upon the rampart had detected something more than +fog in the general whiteness which concealed the sea, and the nearest +gunner had at once put in a nine-pound ball on top of his signal +cartridge. + +"That brig has crept in to watch for the _Noank_," they said to each +other. "Let's give her a pill." + +The pill went well enough for a warning to the _Boxer_ that her sly +creeping in had been discovered, but it did no damage. Probably its +best use was the response it provoked from the too hasty gunners of the +_Boxer_. For the brig to fire at the fort was mere bravado, of course; +but her commander was nettled. + +"Give 'em a broadside!" he roared. "Let 'em have it. They can't +strike us out here in the mist. Blaze away!" + +All the port guns of the brig, five in number, were of small account +against earth and stone works; but they could express warlike feeling, +and they immediately did so, and they did one thing more. + +"Good!" said Captain Avery, as he heard them. "Now I know jest where +she is. Wish I knew how she's headed. We've all sail on. Keep still, +all! We can slip past her." + +As quietly as so many ghosts, the men went hither and thither about +their duties. They had not very much to do, for every square yard of +the schooner's canvas was already taking that fair light wind. The +brig, on the other hand, was by no means under full sail, for some +reason, and she was tacking now that she might run deeper into the fog +and out of the way of harm from the fort batteries. These were not +wasting any more ammunition upon her, or rather upon the mist and the +sea. Only her topsails had been seen, in the first place, and these +had been quickly hidden again. The two vessels were, nevertheless, +drawing nearer to each other, unawares. There was no carefully kept +silence on board the _Boxer_; on the contrary, her crew were every now +and then doing something to send out notice to any ears near enough to +hear. At close quarters she would have been a dangerous antagonist for +the Yankee schooner. There was nothing at all to be made in a fight +with her, and Captain Avery was strongly averse to the idea of having +his vessel crippled or worse at the very outset of his voyage. + +A wonderful thing is a curtain of sea fog. Sometimes it may be +beautiful, but it is never at all under human control. The _Noank_ was +running swiftly along and the very breeze which made her do so was +getting its grip upon the banks of vapor. It tore one of these in the +middle, suddenly. A great rift was opened, and clear water showed +across one short half-mile of the tossing sea. + +"There she blows!" sang out an old harpooner of the _Noank's_ crew, as +if the _Boxer_ had been a whale. + +"Luff! Luff!" shouted the British commander. "Bring your guns to +bear! We have her! Hurrah!" + +"Whoo-oop! Up-na-tan!" came fiercely from behind the breech of the +_Noank's_ long eighteen, and the Manhattan's warwhoop was closely +followed by the roar of his gun. + +"Hard a-lee!" called out Captain Avery. "Sam! Run her into the fog. +All hands, to go about. We must get under cover ag'in." + +Short range and a good aim, with the _Boxer's_ masts nearly in line, +had been bad for the Englishman's triumph. Down came his foretopmast, +splintered at the cap, dragging with it enough of spars and hamper to +assure that anything like racing condition had been knocked out of the +brig. She obeyed her helm, at first. She swung around and her port +broadside was delivered; but it was a mere waste of powder and round +iron. Not a shot touched the saucy _Noank_, speeding away through a +fog bank. + +Loud, indeed, was the startled exclamation of the astonished British +commander as he surveyed his unexpected damages. + +"'Pon my soul!" he said. "That pirate is going to get away from us. +This is too bad, altogether!" + +His sailors sprang to do what they might for the wreck, but the +appearance of things was unpromising. + +"Good for you, Up-na-tan!" said Captain Avery. "That shot tells for +old practice. I guess I'd better make you captain of that gun." + +"Ole chief keep gun," replied the Indian. "Find gun shoot straight. +Good!" + +"I'm mighty glad o' that," said the captain. "I mean to train every +hand on board, though. We may get stuck where we can't afford to miss +a shot. Straight shootin' is better than the heaviest kind o' shootin' +that doesn't hit." + +The breeze was increasing finely, and away went the swift privateer. +She had escaped from her first pursuer, and not far ahead of her, now, +were pretty surely her next batch of perils. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BRITISH FLEET. + +The easterly end of Long Island is exceedingly ragged in its contour. +It is made up of straggling promontories, bays, inlets, and the +adjacent waters contain many islands, large and small, with outlying +rocky ledges. The opposite shore, the mainland of New England, is of a +similar character. Between them, the eastern sound and the neck of +water by which it is to be entered, provide a great deal of pretty +circumspect navigation. + +It is said, although no one now living was there at the time to collect +testimony, that once the mainland and the island were connected by a +rugged isthmus, now sunken or washed away. If it were ever there, +enough of it is left to require good piloting. + +A fleet of war-ships proposing to blockade or supervise the port of +Boston, may at the same time extend its operations so as to cork up the +Sound. This process, if made sufficiently thorough, may include in the +blockade such ports as New London, Providence, New Haven, and their +smaller neighbors. All of these, during the Revolutionary War, were +not only developing rapidly their regular commercial relations but were +nests of privateering enterprises. + +The British naval authorities were often unable to detail for this part +of their general blockade of America a sufficient number of ships, and +it was a service much disliked by their captains and crews, especially +in winter. + +The area of ocean to be patrolled was wide, and in spite of all +watching the Yankee ships ran in and out. Boston, especially, was +building up again, after its long period of military occupation, siege, +and desolation, much to the disgust of its many enemies. + +During some hours after the escape of the _Noank_ from the _Boxer_, +Up-na-tan was down in the hold, and Guert Ten Eyck was with him. The +old Manhattan was no builder of ships, whatever he might be able to do +for a canoe, but he had seen a great many, here and there. He seemed +now to be carrying on a kind of critical investigation of the naval +architecture of the schooner. + +"What is it?" asked Guert, as his red friend placed a hand curiously +upon one of the ribs of the vessel and glanced from that to other +timbers. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Good stick. Like lobster war-ship. All make +schooner strong. Carry long gun!" + +"Captain Avery wishes she could," said Guert. "The mate thinks she +can't." + +"No gun anyhow, now," said the chief, shaking his head. "Wait!" + +The subject of the Manhattan's inquiry belonged to a controversy then +going forward among the royal naval constructors and sea-captains. The +reason why England's third and fourth rate cruisers carried only light +guns, and many of them, was simply their frail timbering. Too heavy +artillery might rack them dangerously. It would call for precisely the +strength of frame provided by American shipyards for craft which might +bump an ice-floe. + +Up-na-tan was still further informing himself concerning the skeleton +of the _Noank_, when a shout from above summoned them both. + +"Guert," called down Captain Avery, "you and he come to the cabin. Now +all's clear, you must learn something." + +On the deck all things were quiet. Not a sail was in sight that +indicated a craft as large as their own. The schooner was spinning +along, with all sails set and a fair wind in them. Everything about +her, from deck to topmast, wore a clean, orderly, service look, that +spoke volumes for the high character of her crew. She was all ready to +do her best at any moment, and she was sure of being well handled. +Perhaps a seaman would have critically remarked upon the fact that with +such a wind she was not taking a course directly out into the Atlantic. + +The captain's cabin, well aft below deck, was a small affair. It +seemed almost crowded when only half a dozen persons were in it. + +"Now, Guert," said Captain Avery, "if I don't make the chief +understand, you must explain it to him. Talk Dutch, or any other +lingo. He's the sharpest lookout there is on board, and he's a prime +steersman. He must know what some things mean." + +"What things?" asked Guert. + +Two rugged old sailors who had entered the cabin with Sam Prentice, +also looked on inquiringly, while the captain went to a locker and took +out of it a leather case. + +"Guert," he said, "it's the first duty of the commander of a ship +that's being taken by an enemy to put his private signal-book +overboard. It's kept weighted all the while, so it will sink. Now, +Luke Watts did his duty in that particular. His mate and his crew +looked on and saw him do it. So did I. They saw him drown something +like this." + +The case was open, now, and out of it was drawn what appeared to be +several sheets of parchments, wired together, so that they might be +rolled up like a pamphlet. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Chief know 'em. Ship talk with lantern. Talk +to other ship with flag. Captain got plenty lantern? Plenty flag? +Tell Up-na-tan how." + +A deep cupboard under the captain's bunk was at once thrown open, and +its contents were interesting. Red, green, blue, yellow, white, large +lanterns and small. Beside them lay a collection of sheafs of rockets, +each of which carried a written parchment tab to tell its nature. +Signal flags were there, also, in tightly tied-up rolls, and Up-na-tan +loudly grunted his approval of them. + +"First, now, for the book," said the captain. "Every man on board can +be trusted to know signals. There isn't one traitor in the _Noank_, +nor a fool, either. Sam and I must go on deck. You and the men and +the redskin stay here and study those things. Git 'em all into your +head, if you can. We may have a lot o' sharp dodgin' to do, this +cruise." + +Out he went, taking Sam with him, and then it at once appeared that +Guert had become a remarkable kind of schoolmaster, trying to explain +to others what he did not know himself. The two sailors were not +altogether unlettered men, but lack of practice had left them slow at +deciphering handwriting, and Guert seemed to have a knack of it. As +for the Indian, he did not know one letter from another, but he could +handle flags and lanterns as if they were hunting signs or the totems +of clans and tribes. Signal after signal was picked out and its +working practically illustrated in questions or answers. + +"'Top!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, at last. "Head full! See more by and +by." So said the sailors, and Guert himself felt as if he had been +going through a hard time at a new school. + +"But wasn't that a cute thing of Luke Watts!" he thought, as he came on +deck. "I'd like to try some o' those signals on a British ship. I +don't know how far we've run. The captain says our tightest squeeze +isn't far ahead of us, now." + +The schooner, oddly enough, was actually running within sight of Block +Island. Some, at least, of her perils must be behind her. Perhaps +more would have been if a sailing vessel could go straight ahead, in +any direction, like a steamer. That, however, is one of several things +that she cannot do. Many an hour of swift sailing, tacking back and +forth, must often be extended in gaining only a few miles of her true +course. + +The crew of the _Noank_ were not at all puzzled by the peculiar manner +in which she was handled, and some of their faces betrayed anxiety. + +"Guess ole Avery wish dark come," remarked Coco to his friends as they +stood together at the foremast. "Lobster out yonder, somewhere." + +It was only about the middle of the afternoon, and the captain's +telescope was busy every few minutes. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "'Tack to Montauk. No go out yet. Captain +head good. Want fog. Want night." + +There was a laugh behind them, and Guert swung around to ask of Sam +Prentice:-- + +"Can you tell me how it is, sir?" + +"I guess I can," said the mate. "We know a good deal more'n we did. +While you were all below, we spoke a Providence man. Cod-fisher. My +boy, there's a whole fleet of Britishers out there, somewhere, spread +all along. Merchantmen, troop-ships, cruisers. Some of 'em heavy +fellers. We must keep well in, for a while." + +"Ugh!" said the red man. "Mate let ole chief take glass. Want look." + +Prentice had with him his marine telescope, an unusually good one, and +he at once handed it to the Manhattan. + +"Your eyes are 'most as good as glasses," he said. "Let's see what you +can make out with that. I saw a sail, myself. Pretty well down, +easterly." + +There is a great deal of difference in eyes, even in good ones, and the +American red men possess peculiar faculties for sign reading. + +"Ugh!" said the Indian, after slowly and carefully sweeping the sea and +the horizon with the glass. "Bad! _Noank_ 'tay in. One war-ship. +One, two, three, four other ship." + +"Men-of-war and the convoy!" exclaimed Prentice. "Lyme Avery! Here +they are! Come this way! If the redskin hasn't sighted 'em!" + +"Ship o' line," now remarked Up-na-tan. "Frigate. Little gun ship." + +"Let me take the glass," said the captain, as he came; "it's a good +deal more'n we had reason to expect. Makes things look kind o' cloudy." + +"Well," said Sam, "it's about what the Boston pilot told that +Providence feller. If we'd ha' gone on in too much of a hurry, we'd +ha' run right in among 'em." + +"They're north o' their best course for New York," remarked the +captain. "I wonder if any of 'em are from Halifax. It may mean more +army to fight General Washington." + +"Mebbe," said Sam. "It's likely some of 'em are the reg'lar coast +cruisers. As for the convoy, they're slow and heavy. It's about the +course I'd expect them to run." + +"We'll take in sail and heave to," said the captain. "Our safest +hidin'd be under Martha's Vineyard." + +They were not a very long reach from that island now. There were +several fishing smacks in sight, and none of them were taking in sail. +It looked, rather, as if they were all heading homeward. Perhaps they, +too, had been warned of a British fleet, and every man on board of them +was in danger of pitiless impressment, if his boat were to come within +range of the guns of a king's ship. + +In came the sails of the _Noank_, and then came a time of watching, +waiting, and anxiety. + +"Nine sail in sight," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "and there's +more'n that to come. British flag on every one of 'em. Of course, +they've sighted us, long before this." + +"One comin' for us, I guess," said Coco. + +"Headin' this way, sure!" + +"I guess so," said the captain, quietly. "It's gettin' dusk, though. +Her glasses won't do any good, much longer.--Men! All sail! Jump, +now! Our time's come!" + +His manner had undergone a sudden change, and there was a red flush on +his face. The men heard him say to his son:-- + +"No, Vine, I won't be taken. I'll fight that nighest feller, if I've +got to. He isn't a heavy one." + +His orders went out fast, and the schooner was quickly under a cloud of +canvas. She had indeed been noticed by the British commanders, and +arrangements had been made to overhaul her, as a matter of course. + +Her flight, or at least her escape, from such a fleet as she was now +facing, was an absurdity not to be thought of. Whatever sort of +American craft she might be, she was soon to have an officer and a +boat's crew on board of her, ascertaining how many of her sailors it +was best to take into the service of the king. + +"Father," suggested Vine, "they won't send a boat till they're nearer +than this, a good deal. The sea's getting a bit rough, too, and the +wind's fresh'ning." + +"I don't care how many boats they send," replied the captain. "I can +sink 'em as they come. We'll run farther in behind Nantucket, but we +won't go too far. The redskin says he saw a topsail off the channel +that's cut too square to suit us." + +"Reg'lar cruiser's tops'l," put in Sam Prentice. "How she came to be +there, I don't know. Are they layin' a trap for us? Lyme, this 'ere's +goin' to be touch and go." + +"It'll be go, then," said the captain. + +"Maybe we won't touch, either. It's promisin' the darkest kind o' +night. They won't dream o' what our next long tack'll be.--Men! All +hands! Hark a moment, now!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from all sides, and as many as could came +crowding around him. + +"There may be more'n twenty sail, of all sorts, yonder, for all we +know," he said. "We make it out it's the British army supply fleet, +with troop-ships full of redcoats and Hessians. Likely, too, there are +reg'lar merchantmen for New York. They've a strong convoy, j'ined, +jest now, by the blockade ships, big and little. I calc'late, the more +of 'em there is, the better for us. I'm goin' to run the _Noank_ right +through 'em. Sam Prentice, take some men and fetch up the lanterns and +rockets. Now, boys, I ain't sure but we'll have a little fun, but +there mustn't be a loud word spoke on board this schooner." + +With subdued laughter and chuckles of appreciation, the men scattered +to their duties. There was not a sign of fear among them and hardly an +expression of doubt as to the result. + +The schooner herself seemed to go into the daring undertaking before +her, with all her heart as well as with all sails set. She swung +around upon her seaward tack and went with a speed that did her credit. + +It was dark, and the darkness was deepening. Far away as yet, and in +all directions, the lights that were hung out by the British ships, +both of war and peace, were glimmering and twinkling as they rose and +fell with the surges that bore them. It was shortly evident that some +of these were signals that were exchanging, in accordance with the +directions of the secret signal code, and Captain Avery began to assort +and arrange his lanterns. + +"Sam," he said, "I guess I'll answer that call to close up with the +flag-ship. All the rest of our fleet are answerin' it." + +"Lyme," responded Prentice, "I'm in for fun, if there is any. Why +couldn't we mix 'em up?" + +"We'll try, anyhow," said the captain. + +"Cap'n," put in Up-na-tan, almost respectfully, so strong was getting +to be his warrior admiration for the cunning and courage of his +commander, "s'pose we tell lobster ship, rebel enemy come. Rebel right +here. Make 'em feel good. Fire gun!" + +"I guess that's about as sharp a thing as we could do," replied the +captain. "Guert, pick out those white rockets. Hand 'em over." + +Guert was having the fireworks under his especial charge, for he was +found able to read the somewhat roughly written tabs. + +"Here they are, sir," he said in half a minute. "There's plenty more +of that kind." + +Vine Avery had the lanterns, and he had already made use of them in +mocking replies to more than one swinging, dancing signal. + +Now, as the captain lighted the rockets, up into the gloom went fizzing +and flashing the prescribed announcement of danger. Each rocket let +out, as it exploded, a pretty large ball of red flame, as if to +emphasize its message. War-ship after war-ship told her character by +responding with a similar rocket, the merchantmen keeping quiet, and +then from the flag-ship of the fleet came the boom of a heavy gun. + +"Heavens!" suddenly exclaimed Captain Avery, as he watched for those +responses. "One o' their cruisers is nigher'n I'd counted on! +Starboard your helm, Sanders! All ready to go about!" + +"Ship ahoy!" came out of the gloom beyond them. "_Amphitrite_! What +ship's that? Where are the enemy? What is she?" + +"_Kr-g-h-um-n_, of Liverpool," sang out Captain Avery huskily, +indistinctly, through his trumpet. + +"They won't make much out of that," Guert was thinking, but the British +officer angrily shouted back:-- + +"_Kraken_, of Liverpool? You blockhead! What do I care for that? +Where away's the Yankee?" + +"Armed schooner, sir! Pirate! Passed close by, westerly. Say 'bout +two p'ints south." + +"Where away, now, stupid?" + +"On the lee bow, sir," trumpeted the captain. "Runnin' free. We was +nigh 'nough to see her guns." + +"Blockhead!" came back. "Why didn't you signal sooner? You deserve a +good rope's ending! Close up with the admiral!" + +"Ay, ay, sir! There she goes! They're gettin' hold of her," responded +Captain Avery. + +For at that moment another gun from another man-of-war sounded well to +leeward. It was accompanied by more rocket signals that went up to be +read by all the fleet. + +"Captain," sang out Guert, as he tried to read them, "green rocket +bursting into red. It means 'Pirate in chase of merchantman.'" + +"All right," said the captain, "it's some other feller. We're not in +chase of anybody. Up-na-tan! Vine! swing out that biggest blue +lantern. I'll send up a blue rocket burstin' yeller and green. Then +douse the lanterns." + +"What does that mean, father?" inquired Vine, raising the blue lights. + +"Mean?" uproariously responded the captain. "Why! it means 'Mutiny on +board ship. Send help to quell mutiny.'" + +The British admiral saw that rare and exceedingly annoying signal with +intense indignation. + +"That's it!" he stormed, "another 'cursed mutiny! That comes of +crowding the king's ships with the off-scourings of the merchant +service, and jail-birds, and slaves, and picaroons, and 'pressed Yankee +rebels. Not one of 'em's fit to be trusted. The king'll lose ships by +it! They'd better be all hung!" + +Meantime, under an almost perilous press of sail for such a wind and so +rough a sea, the stanch, swift _Noank_ was dashing along her course. +Every minute carried her oceanward, but not all her dangers were behind +her. + +Rapid signalling went on between the British war-ships and their now +frightened convoy. The unarmed vessels were hurrying toward their +protectors like so many chickens toward a clucking hen. No other +incident or accident of any importance occurred to any of them. As +hour after hour went by in the darkness of the night, and then in the +very chilly morning that followed, an eager, angry, discomforting +process of inquiry went forward from ship to ship. Upon which of them +had been the mutiny? Had it succeeded? Had it been put down? Did the +mutineers take the boats and get away? + +"Not on this ship, sir," was the altogether uniform response, and all +the vessels known to be in company had been accounted for. + +Not only was it that not one solitary mutineer could be discovered: it +also appeared that no such ship as the _Kraken_, of Liverpool, had at +any time joined herself to that convoy. + +"'Pon my soul!" exclaimed the astonished admiral, at last, "this is +great! Ponsonby, my dear fellow, the chap that hailed you in the dark +must have been the Yankee pirate himself. What do you think?" + +"I think he got away, sir," calmly replied Captain Ponsonby, of the +_Amphitrite_, forty-four. "The rebel rascal has slipped through our +fingers in the most audacious manner. Showed pluck, too." + +"He did!" groaned the admiral. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUNTING THE NOANK. + +An army in garrison will surely spend money, officers and men. So will +a fleet in port. The British camps, upon and near Manhattan Island +contained thousands of soldiers, and the warships on the station, or +arriving and departing, were numerous. There was sure to be, upon +almost any day, enough of "shore leave" or camp leave given, and the +streets of New York City were often even brilliant with uniforms. The +burnt district could already show many new buildings, mostly shops and +warehouses, and the streets were clear of rubbish. The merchants and +shopkeepers were said to be doing very well; some of them were making +fortunes out of the needs of the king's forces. In the social life of +the town there had been a notable change. Rich loyalists from the +interior had fled to New York for safety. All the old houses were +occupied, in one way and another. Some new ones were built or +building. There was a great deal of dinner giving and the like. On +the whole, therefore, the ruined city was beginning a new and very +peculiar era of prosperity. This was to continue, during the years of +the war, to such a degree that upon the return of peace all things +would be in readiness for rapid commercial development. + +The harbor, with so many ships in it that were all at anchor, wore a +frosty, sleepy look, one winter morning. Boats were pulling here and +there, from ship to ship, or between the ships and the shore. The +morning gun had long since sounded, and the reveilles at the forts and +camps. All the flags and pennants were drooping upon their staffs in +the still, cold air, and nowhere did any sails appear to be spreading. + +Upon the after deck of one elderly looking three-master stood a man who +was evidently taking a thoughtful survey of her. + +"Levtenant," he said, to a British naval officer standing near him, +"this 'ere craft is ready for sea." + +"I've brought your sailing orders, then," said the officer. "The +sooner you're off, the better." + +"Jest so!" said Captain Luke Watts. "They all tell me she isn't a bad +one to go. I'm goin' to give her all the chances that are in her. I +ain't in any hurry for a return cargo, though. I've had one lesson." + +"Pretty narrow escape, they say," said the lieutenant. "It wasn't your +fault, though. You'll be taking return cargoes from New York to +Liverpool, before long. This war's nearly over." + +"Guess it is," said Watts, "but it'll be spring before anything more +can be done with Mr. Washington." + +"Cornwallis'll catch him, then," was the confident rejoinder. "The old +Virginia fox can hole away among his Jersey hills for a few weeks +longer. Then Cornwallis promises to dig him out." + +"Oh, he'll do that, fast enough," said Watts. "I s'pose, if I ever git +back, I may find him a prisoner in New York. My first business, +though, is to git this craft across the Atlantic. I'm to have a thin +crew and no guns, and I've to depend on my sails altogether. There are +risks." + +"Can't help it," said the lieutenant, "and you mustn't lose her." + +"You may tell the admiral," answered Watts, a little sharply, "that if +I don't, he may have me shot." + +"I'll tell him so." + +"It's Liverpool or my neck!" said Watts, emphatically. "Tell him I'll +take the northerly course, weather or no weather, out o' the way o' +pirates, and he needn't be uneasy." + +The carrying of that report to the captain of the port yet more firmly +established the confidence which was reposed in the loyalty of Captain +Watts. He was to be allowed to use his own judgment very freely, and +he was likely to have continuous employment as a Tory commander of +British ships. + +There was hardly any cargo worth speaking of in the hold of the +_Termagant_. She was going home in ballast. British commerce with the +colonies was entirely cut off, and this of itself was a severe war blow +to the mother country, equivalent to many defeats of her armies in the +field. American commerce itself, however, although terribly assailed, +was all the while on the increase. Up to the outbreak of the war, +everything produced for export in the colonies had to go out under +British restriction, whether directly to England or otherwise. All +that did not do so escaped by adventurous processes of a smuggling +description, and the amount of it was limited. Now, for instance, the +tobacco of Virginia and the Carolinas, when it could get out at all, +could be sold in any port of Europe which it might reach. The West +India Islands, also, were ready to take wheat to any amount, paying for +it in sugar, molasses, rum, cash, tobacco, or fruits. The war laws of +nations and the existing treaties, even if these were strictly adhered +to, were not in such a shape as to hinder France or Holland or Spain +from opening trade relations, hardly concealed, with the revolted +colonies of Great Britain. All the politics of Europe were in a +dreadfully mixed, uncertain condition, and what was called peace was +very like a war in the bud that promised to become full blown before a +great while. + +The greatest of all hinderances to American prosperity did not belong +to the war at all. It was the absence of good facilities for inland +transportation. The roads were bad, and little was doing to make them +better. The natural watercourses, rivers, bays, and sounds, were of +great value, but they did not exist in many places where they were +needed. Washington's army almost starved to death, simply because +there were no railways, not even macadamized roads, by means of which +he could receive the abundant supplies which his fellow-patriots in +numberless localities were eagerly ready to send him. Large amounts of +produce, year after year, rotted on the ground among the up-country +farms of all the states, because the cost of wagoning was too great, or +the roads were impassable, or the markets did not exist. + +While this was the condition of things on the land, not only in +America, but in all other countries, there was a scourge of the sea +that was almost as hurtful to commerce as was privateering itself. +Piracy had been fought out of large parts of the ocean, only making an +occasional appearance, but in other parts it held an only half-disputed +sway. One consequence was that the mere dread of the black flag kept +out commercial enterprise almost altogether from a large number of +promising fields. The fact was, that every case of a vessel lost at +sea and not heard from, and of these there were many, was sure to be +charged over to the account of piracy, so that the actual evil was made +to appear much greater than its reality. + +A severe check had been given to the slave trade at first by the +closing of its North American market, only a few human cargoes, if any, +being delivered among the colonies during the Revolutionary War. On +the other hand, the dealers in black labor were encouraged by a +steadily increasing demand from the British and Spanish islands, and +from South America. + +So entirely different was the ocean world, therefore, from what it is +to-day, and so easy does it become to form wrong ideas concerning +old-time war and peace on sea and land. + +The Yankee privateer, the _Noank_, Captain Lyme Avery commanding, had +indeed left a large British fleet behind her, and all the sea was +before her. Conversations between her commander and his very +free-spoken subordinates, however, revealed the fact that what might be +called her commission as a ship of war was exceedingly roving. Even +that very next morning, as he and his mate stood forward, anxiously +scanning the horizon, the latter inquired:-- + +"Lyme,--I say! How'd it do to tack back and try to cut out one o' them +supply ships?" + +"Too risky, altogether," replied the captain. "South! South! I say. +We mustn't hang 'round here. There are more ships runnin' between Cuby +and Liverpool than there ever was before." + +"Fact!" said Sam. "The British can't git their tobacker from the +colonies any more. They git a first-rate article from the Spaniards, +though, and they have to pay tall prices for it." + +"That's it," said Avery. "I want to run one o' those fine-leaf cargoes +into New London. Good as gold and silver to trade with. I'd a leetle +ruther have sugar, though, full cargo, ship and all, with plenty o' +molasses." + +Others of the schooner's company chimed in, agreeing generally with the +captain, and it looked more and more as if the immediate errand of the +_Noank_ might be considered settled. She herself was going ahead very +well, and was in fine condition. + +Away forward, at the heel of the bowsprit, with no sailor duty pressing +him just now, loafed Guert Ten Eyck. He had borrowed a telescope from +Vine Avery, and he had been using it until he grew tired of searching +the horizon in vain, and he had shut it up. He was feeling just a +little homesick, perhaps, after the over-excitement of the previous +days. He was thinking of his mother rather than of stunning successes +as a young privateersman. + +"Wouldn't I like to see her this morning!" he was thinking. "I'd like +to tell her and the rest how we beat that British fleet--" + +"Ugh!" exclaimed a voice at his elbow. "Boy no lookout! Go to sleep! +Wake up! Up-na-tan take glass!" + +Guert's dulness vanished, and he at once straightened up, for the +contemptuous tone of the old Manhattan stung him a little. He had not +been stationed there by any order, as a responsible watchman, but the +old redskin was unable to understand how any fellow on a warpath, +whether in the woods or upon the water, could at any moment be +otherwise than looking out for his enemies. His own keen eyes were +continually busy without any mental effort or any official +instructions. He now took the telescope and began to use it +methodically. Around the circle of the sea it slowly turned, until it +suddenly became fixed in a north-westerly direction. + +"Sail O!" he sang out. "Where cap'n?" + +"Here I am!" came up the forward hatchway. "Where away? What do you +make her out?" + +"Nor-nor-west!" called back the Indian. "Square tops'l. No see 'em +good, yet. Man-o'-war come." + +"Jest as like as not," said Captain Avery. "Shouldn't wonder if they'd +sent a cruiser after us. Hurrah, boys! A stern chase is a long chase, +but that isn't the first thing on hand. Sam! I was down at the +barometer. There's a blow comin'! Worst kind! All hands to shorten +sail! Lower those topsails!" + +It was a somewhat unexpected order for a crew to receive if an enemy's +cruiser were indeed so close upon their heels, and there was hardly a +cloud in the steel-blue winter sky. It was obeyed, however, the men +passing from one to another the discovery of Up-na-tan while they +tugged at their ropes and canvas. + +Guert sprang away aloft, for this was a part of his seamanship, in +which the captain was compelling him to take pretty severe lessons. + +"You'll have to be on a square-rigged ship, one of these days," he had +told him. "I want you to know 'bout a schooner before you get away +from her. But you'll find there's an awful difference 'twixt the +handlin' o' the _Noank_ and a full-rigged three-master. You'll need +heaps and heaps o' sea schoolin'." + +Guert was very well aware of that, from more tongues than one, and Sam +Prentice was also beginning to put him through a mathematical course of +the study of navigation. This, in fact, had begun during the long +months of inactivity at New London, and he had been much helped in it +by his Quaker friend, Rachel Tarns. He was to be of some use, one of +these days, she had told him; and a fellow who did not know how to +navigate could never become a sea-captain. An ignorant chap, a mere +sailor, must serve before the mast all his life. + +In came the clouds of canvas, all but a reefed mainsail and foresail +and a jib. + +"She's safe, now, I think," said the captain. "I guess I'll go down +and take another look at that glass. It kind o' startled me, it was +goin' down so. Sam, how's the stranger?" + +"Heading for us, I'd say," called back the mate. "She's a +three-master, too. She's carryin' all sail, just now. If there's a +heavy blow a comin', she may throw away some of her sticks." + +"She may do worse'n that," said the captain, "if she cracks on too much +canvas. We won't, though." + +Down below he hastened, and now Up-na-tan was pointing at something +white and hazy well up in the eastern sky. Every old salt on board was +quickly watching what appeared to be, at first, a change of color from +blue to gray. Some of them were shaking their heads gravely. + +"It's the wrong time o' year," said one, "for that sort o' thing. I +know 'em. They're jest crushers. Tell ye what. If it's that kind o' +norther, it'll drop down awful sudden when it gits here. Lyme Avery +hasn't been a mite too kerful. He knows what he's about." + +"There's odds in storms," replied a grizzled whaler near him. "I've +seen a Hull trader knocked all to ruins in ten minutes by one o' them +fellers. Every stick was blown out of her, and she foundered before +sundown." + +"Look out sharp for all the gun fastenings!" shouted the captain, as he +again came hurriedly on deck. "Up-na-tan, you and Coco guy that +pivot-gun, hardest kind. This boat's likely to be doin' some pitchin' +and rollin' pretty soon. There'll be an awful sea. Where's that +Englishman?" + +"Wait a bit," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief give lobster one shot." + +"All right," said the captain. "She's in good range now. Have your +extra gearings ready to clap on. This schooner has weathered all sorts +o' gales, but it won't do to let her git caught nappin'." + +There had been more than a little surprise on board King George's fine +frigate _Clyde_, of thirty-six guns. There had been a group of +seaman-like officers upon her quarter-deck at about the time she was +discovered by Up-na-tan. Marine glasses were at work in the hands of +more than one of those gentlemen, and the express reason for it +appeared in their conversation. + +The _Clyde_ was a cruiser somewhat noted for her speed. She had been +of the convoy of the fleet through which the _Noank_ had so cunningly +worked her way, and had been at once detailed to chase the saucy +privateer. This was decidedly pleasanter than guarding slow +merchantmen, and the frigate's commander had congratulated himself +heartily. + +"If we don't strike her, we may pick up something else," he had +remarked, adding: "I think I can make out the course she's most likely +to take. Two to one, she's bound for the Havana, to harry our West +India trade. We'll keep a sharp lookout." + +So he did, and he had been rewarded even sooner than he had expected. + +"Right under our noses," he had said, when the discovery of the +schooner was announced. "We can outsail her." + +"Captain!" interrupted his next in command, excitedly. "If she isn't +taking in sail! What can that mean?" + +"She may take us for something else," said the captain. "It's a fine +breeze. She couldn't think of fighting us." + +"Not a bit of it," said the officer; but his commander was an old, +experienced sea-captain, and the queer conduct of his intended prize +set him to thinking. + +He walked up and down the deck during about half a minute, and then he +began to look up curiously at the sky. + +"That's it!" he shouted, his whole manner changing suddenly. "The +Yankees are right! All hands! Shorten sail!" + +He poured rapid orders through his trumpet, while his lieutenants and +other officers sprang away to their duties, leaving him almost alone +upon the quarter-deck. + +"It's plain enough what it means," he said aloud. "There's trouble +coming; we must in with every rag. This ship's too light, anyhow, for +a hurricane. The men don't know it, but they may be working for their +lives. All right! Things are coming in fast enough. I'll get that +schooner, too, wind or no wind." + +As yet, there was only a fresh breeze to take note of, so far as a +landsman could have discerned. There was no actual excitement among +the sailors of the _Clyde_, merely because of a change in the color of +the sky. Some of them, however, had sailed as many seas as had their +captain or the whalers of the _Noank_, and they were freely expressing +to their comrades their approval of his prudence. All were working, +therefore, with an uncommon degree of energy. Their ways and their +performances would have been, if he could have seen them, a very +instructive lesson to Guert Ten Eyck. He would have learned much +concerning the differences between a square-rigged three-master and a +schooner like the _Noank_. + +During this somewhat brief and exceedingly busy time, the two vessels +had steadily approached each other. The first officer of the _Clyde_ +had attended to his taking in and reefing, and he now stood once more +before his captain. + +"The prize is within long range, sir." + +"All right, Mr. Watson. Give her a gun. We must take her or sink her." + +"Best sink her, sir. It's not safe to send off a boat. Most likely +she's heavily armed, sir." + +"No," said the captain, "no boat. We're short-handed, anyhow. We'll +not sink her if we can help it. One thing I'm after is to overhaul her +crew." + +"You are right, sir," laughed the lieutenant. "A shot may bring her +to." + +There was more than one element, therefore, in the supposable value of +the _Noank_, considered as the prize of the British frigate, _Clyde_. + +Out ran one of the latter's port guns, shotted. It was well aimed, +too, whether or not it was intended mainly as a sharp command to +surrender. Its heavy shot went whizzing between the schooner's raking +masts, doing no actual damage, but serving as a serious warning. + +"A little lower!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That was closer than I +expected. Up-na-tan! Let 'em have it!" + +He had but just given the order to go about, and the _Noank_ was almost +as good as standing still, while the red man sighted his gun. His +marksmanship was a shade better, too, than that of the British gunner. + +Such a response, or any at all with a gun, had been utterly unexpected +by all on board the _Clyde_. + +"Hit us?" gasped the captain. "We are struck? Was there ever such +impudence! See what that is!" + +"The port o' th' capt'n's cab'n!" shouted a sailor. "It's mashed, sir! +And 'ere comes th' wind, sir!" + +There had been a crash of wood and glass at the closed port-hole, and +from that the Indian's iron messenger had gone on through the cabin +door. All to bits flew a great swinging lantern in the saloon, and a +wide gap was made in the woodwork of the state-room opposite. This had +been closely packed with dinner-table delicacies, including many cases +of wine. Sad work was therefore made of the costly juice of the grape, +whether purchased or captured. A small flood of it, as red as blood, +but not as horrible, came streaming out to tell of the bottle-breaking. + +"'Orrid waste, sir!" groaned the captain's steward, as he gazed upon +that crimson rivulet. "'E could ha' dined the fleet on 'alf o' that. +I'll not forgive they Yonkees!" + +"Give 'em a broadside!" roared the angry lieutenant on deck. + +"No!" as loudly commanded the cool and prudent captain, adding to his +friend: "Not just now, my boy. Call all hands to quarters. It'll be +hold hard, in a few minutes. Ease her! Ease her! Starboard your +helm! Steady all! Here it comes!" + +He was a prime good seaman, that captain of the _Clyde_, and he was at +that moment looking aloft to see his maintopsail blown to leeward. + +"I'm glad it went!" he exclaimed. "Good luck! since they couldn't get +it in. That'll relieve the strain on the topmast. It wouldn't ha' +stood it." + +Other sails threatened to follow, however, and the frigate was +beginning to reel and pitch unpleasantly, although no very heavy sea +had yet risen. The sky overhead was all one whiteness, but low down, +northeasterly, it was blackening. The wind that came was bitterly cold +and cutting, as well as resistlessly strong. On board the _Noank_ all +had been made ready for its arrival, and the schooner showed at once +the excellence of her modelling. She leaned over, under her closely +reefed mainsail, with a mere apron of a jib, and sped away southerly at +a rate which her square-rigged pursuer was not at all likely to rival. + +The captain of the _Clyde_ watched her, as he clung tightly to his +lashings at the foot of his mizzenmast, using his telescope as best he +could, and making remarks as calmly as if he had been contemplating a +horse-race. + +"I'll say one thing for the Yankees," he said. "We can take lessons +from them in light ship building. That's a good one. I wish I had the +sailors that are handling her. They turn out some o' the best seamen +afloat. Worth twenty apiece of some that were sent to me." + +He was himself a fine specimen of the race of vikings who have made +England the queen of the seas. Nowhere have they ever been more highly +appreciated than among their cousins of the New World, and their many +achievements are a part of our own ancestral inheritance. + +For the immediate present, at least, the _Noank_ was safe, so far as +the British navy might be concerned. + +"Guert!" said Up-na-tan, when their watch below brought them together. +"Look ole brack man! Coco no like cole wind. Like 'em warm. +Up-na-tan no care! Ugh! Want _Noank_ run south. No freeze hard." + +Poor Coco had indeed been shivering pitifully when he came down from +the deck. Not all the experiences he had had during many northern +winters had prepared his Ashantee constitution to enjoy a norther. + +In fact, moreover, there was not an old whale catcher on board who did +not now and then congratulate himself that the schooner was steering +toward the tropics, and would soon leave behind her that fierce, +destructive river of dry, penetrating polar air. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CONTRABAND GOODS. + +It was greatly to the advantage of the swift _Noank_ that her larger +and even swifter enemy was having a battle of its own. The burly +commander of the _Clyde_ was compelled to surrender, for the time, to +the imperious demands of the polar gale. If it would have been at all +safe to have thrown open any of his ports, nothing worth while could +have been done with his guns. All that was left for him to do, +therefore, was to follow on as best he could in the wake of his +American prize. This could be done fairly well, for a while, although +he was not gaining upon her. Then, however, another of her natural +allies interfered, for darkness came over the sea, and his best hope +for catching the _Noank_ went out like an extinguished lantern. + +Meantime, the captain had to listen, with undisguised vexation, to his +steward's dolorous account of the damage done to the delicacies in the +storeroom. + +Far away, northerly, that very evening, a patriotic company of +Americans had gathered in a large and pretty well-lighted room. +Adjoining this were several other rooms, large and small, which were +occupied in very much the same manner. The house was the old Ledyard +mansion at New London, and all these women and girls had gathered +there, with one accord, for work, and not for fun. The brave owner of +the homestead, Colonel William Ledyard, was absent upon an errand to +Boston, and there were hardly any grown-up men in the assembly. There +were boys, indeed, brimming with patriotism, and these were evidently +feeling more than ordinarily warlike as they helped their grandmothers, +and mothers, and sisters, and aunts at the peculiar industry which had +brought them together. + +It was neither a sewing society, nor a quilting bee, nor an apple +paring. There could not, however, have been more activity or +cheerfulness, even at a corn husking, and yet the cause of all this +enthusiasm and energy was serious indeed. All the busy fingers in +these rooms were putting up ball cartridges with the powder and lead +captured by Lyme Avery in the _Windsor_. + +"What a pity it is that we cannot send them to Washington," said one of +the workers. "He will need them all pretty soon." + +"I hope we'll never need them here," responded another, "but I suppose +the forts must be provided. The British may come. They have good +reasons for hating New London." + +"It hath many bad people in it," came sarcastically from beyond the +table in the middle of the room. "I fear there is very little love +here for our good king. We think too little of all that he is trying +to do for us." + +"Rachel Tarns," exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, near her, "there's more news +from New York just in. Your good king is stirring up the Six Nations +again. There will be more trouble on that frontier." + +"Not right away, I think," replied the Quakeress. "I have much faith +that the peaceful red men will remain in their wigwams during such +weather as this is. Should they not do so, I fear lest some of them +might be hurt by the frontiersmen, even if they are not frost-bitten." + +"That's what I'm afraid of," said one of the larger boys. "Old Put +ought to be there. Washington used to be an Indian fighter. Killed +lots of 'em. I guess there won't any of 'em trouble us folks in +Connecticut." + +"Thee is only a boy," laughed Rachel. "Thy Old Put could tell thee of +troubles with the red men not so very far away from this place. Thy +own house is upon land that once belonged to them. What would thee do +if they should come to take it away from thee?" + +"I'd fight!" said the youngster. "My father's with Washington and my +brother's with Putnam. Mother and I are ready to shoot if any of 'em +come near our house." + +"Rachel," said Mrs. Ten Eyck, "how is thy conscience this evening? How +is it that a Quaker can make cartridges?" + +"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "I have it upon my mind that the more +cartridges we make, if they are used well, also, the sooner will this +wicked war be brought to an end. Thou knowest that the testimony of +the Friends is given for peace. Therefore do I rely much upon that +good friend, George Washington. He gave a strengthening testimony at +Trenton and Princeton." + +Everybody had become accustomed to the dry and often bitter sayings of +the old Quakeress, and now a white-haired woman across the room +suddenly exclaimed:-- + +"Hear that wind! O dear! I wasn't thinking of redskins. So many of +our boys are at sea. Mine are with Lyme Avery. What wouldn't I give +to know just how they're doing!" + +"Why, they are sailing south," replied Mrs. Avery. "If this storm +reaches 'em, it'll send 'em along. Lyme is used to rough weather." + +Brave was she, and very brave were they all, and the "cartridge bee," +as they called it, was a good illustration of the stubborn spirit of +freedom which made it impossible to conquer the colonies. + +"The forts'll be safer," they said, as they packed up their dangerous +work and prepared to scatter to their homes through the icy storm. "We +must come and roll cartridges two evenings every week. Some of the +boys are putting in all their time to moulding bullets." + +All of those boys were growing, too, and some who were only fit to melt +lead and run bullets at fourteen or fifteen would be in the ranks +before the end of the war. They would be Continental soldiers, for +instance, at such fights as that at Yorktown. Any country becomes +safer while its boys are eager to grow up for its defence, and are all +the while taking lessons that will prepare them for efficiency. + +The next morning dawned quietly upon both land and sea. The norther +had blown itself out, and it had brought no great amount of snow with +it anywhere. It had been severe while it lasted, and then it had +departed, like any other unwelcome guest. + +The streets of New London were cold and snowy, but they were not by any +means dreary or deserted that morning. + +One more ocean prize had been brought in, and the report of it had gone +out in all directions. The sleighing was good over the country roads, +and the number of teams hitched along the sides of the lower streets +testified to the general hunger for news as well as for trade. The +sociability of all these arriving sleighing parties was tremendous, and +they seemed to be all of one mind concerning the events of the day. +That is, the one-mindedness here was exactly like, and yet exactly +opposed, to the one-mindedness which ruled upon Manhattan Island, not +so far away. Whigs here, Tories there, were equally earnest, +determined, and hopeful. + +In New York as in New London, it was currently reported that a number +of the more active business men were actually making fortunes by the +war. Not a great many rebel vessels had been brought into New York +harbor as prizes, but all that did come in, and that were condemned and +sold, offered opportunities for speculation. The best of the town +trade came from the army and navy, but there were still a few small +driblets coming in from the interior. It was worthy of note, perhaps, +that furs, for instance, should sometimes reach New York from the +north, from regions beyond Albany. These were smuggled down the Hudson +River, nobody knew how. It had been suggested, of course, by sharp +people, that American commanders might be willing to shut their eyes +while a fur trader went in, provided they were to have a talk with him +on his return. + +In like manner, it was said, the British generals had no objections +whatever to the arrival of fellows who were certified to them as +"well-known Tories," who could give them abundant information +concerning the ragged, starving, worthless condition of the rebel +forces in and above the Hudson highlands. + +No doubt, too, it was encouraging to the military and other servants of +the king to hear, from honest and loyal fur traders, how the rebels of +the Mohawk Valley were dispirited by the defeats of Washington's army, +and how they were preparing to turn against the Continental Congress. +Best of all, perhaps, was the assurance thus brought that all the Six +Nations and the Hurons of the woods were ready to take the war-path in +the spring as the allies of England. + +If there were sailors ashore on leave that morning, from many of the +other ships in the harbor, there were none from the _Termagant_, for +she was under orders to sail. Captain Luke Watts himself had a call of +ceremony to make, at an early hour, relating to those very orders, for +he was to give in his last report of the condition of his ship and +crew. The "port captain," to whom his report was to be made, was the +commander of a lordly seventy-four. In the absence of any admiral he +was the "commodore" of all the naval forces in and about the harbor. + +Captain Watts was kept on deck in waiting for a few minutes only, and +when he was summoned to the cabin he found the commodore by no means +alone. The mere skipper of a transport was not asked to take a seat in +such a presence, and Luke stood, hat in hand, respectfully, while his +presented papers were read and approved. + +"Now, Watts," said the commodore, "what course do you take, homeward +bound?" + +"As far no'th as I can get, sir," replied Luke, "for good reasons." + +"Give your reasons." + +"Well, sir, from what I heard at New London, the rebel pirates are +aimin' at our West Injy trade. They'll hang 'round the reg'lar course, +too, the southern track. I jest mean to steer out o' their way." + +"Good!" said the commodore. "What else did you hear among the Yankees?" + +"Well, sir," replied the Tory sailor, "they said, and they seemed to +know, that our cruisers off the Havana are mostly heavy craft that +can't chase 'em through the channels and over the shoals and 'mong the +lagoons. What we need, sir, is a lot o' light draft vessels there, and +well armed, too." + +"Make a note of all this, lieutenant," exclaimed the commodore. "This +man Watts has brought in good advice before this. Whatever he brings +is said to be of practical value. Go on, man! What next?" + +"Well, sir," said Watts, "before I left Liverpool the last time, I +heard a p'int. I must look sharp after I get over and want to run in. +I must say it, sir, the Irish and English coast is only half guarded. +We haven't half enough ships on duty there. Next we know, we'll hear +of Yankee pirates in St. George's Channel." + +"Note it! note it!" exclaimed the commodore, loudly. "It's just so! +What with so many of our best cruisers ordered to America and the +Antilles and the Mediterranean, and to the China seas, our own home +coasts are left to be defended by old hulks and mere revenue cutters. +The Yankees can run away from the heavy tubs, and they can smash all +the smuggler catchers. We shall hear bad news, next. Watts, take your +own course. Get in how you can. You're a man we can rely on. Go, +now, sir." + +"My ship'll get in, sir," said Luke, almost too sturdily. "I wish I +was as sure 'bout some others. I'm afraid they're going to crack our +traders 'mong the islands." + +"That'll do! Go!" he was told, and he went out, leaving behind him a +very capable naval officer in a decidedly uncomfortable state of mind. + +"Gentlemen," he said to his officers, "all that he says is only too +true. I am sorry it is, but I am intending to embody it in my report +to the Admiralty. The unpleasant thing for us is, however, that we +can't spare anything or send anything, from this fleet and station, to +prevent the mischief that's threatened among the Antilles." + +They all agreed with him. All of them considered, also, that the man +Luke Watts had given valuable information and suggestions. He had done +so, doubtless, but he had not thereby done anything to hinder the +future operations of any Yankee privateer. + +He was rowed back to the _Termagant_, and when he arrived somebody was +waiting for him on her deck. + +"Feller named Allen," he was told by a sailor at the rail. "He's a +kind o' fur pedler, I'd say, with a permit from one o' the generals, I +don't know who." + +"All right," said Watts. "Fetch him below, packs and all. I'll see if +his papers are reg'lar. We don't make any loose work on this ship." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the sailor. + +Sharp as was his examination of them a moment later, he seemed to be +entirely satisfied with the documents presented to him by the man named +Allen. He had obtained the customary authority, as a loyal merchant of +the port of New York, to ship by the _Termagant_ to his agent in +London, a properly scheduled assortment of valuable furs. All had been +officially inspected and approved. + +"Come down below," said Captain Watts. "All your packages are down. +I'll give these things another overhauling in my cabin." + +"Certainly, Captain Watts," replied Mr. Allen. "Whatever you wish." + +He was even willing to help carry down the furs, and one of the smaller +parcels of them was in his hand when they reached the cabin. He still +held it after the door was shut and bolted, leaving him and the captain +alone together. Then his entire manner changed somewhat suddenly, and +he threw his parcel down upon the table. + +"Captain Luke Watts," he said, "that's it. You'd best take out the +papers, now, and stow 'em away somewhere. You ain't sure there won't +be another look taken at the furs 'fore you git away. I wouldn't risk +it. They're getting suspicious, all 'round." + +Open came the parcel, as he spoke, and in the very middle of it lay a +bundle of such materials as would ordinarily have been sent through a +post-office. + +"It's about all the cargo I'll have, of any consequence," remarked +Luke, staring down at the unexpected mail. + +"General Schuyler told me to say," replied Allen, "that all these are +of great importance. Some are from him to his friends in England. +You'll know how to have 'em delivered. Some are to go to Holland and +some to Paris. That last is all the way from the Congress at +Philadelphia. It got to me by way of Morristown and one of our Jersey +Tories, you know. That's old Ben Franklin's own handwriting." + +"I'll see that they go straight through," said Luke, quietly. "I'll +put 'em safe away, now, first thing." + +"You'll swing at a yard-arm inside o' one day, if you're ketched with +'em," said Allen. "I've been up among the Six Nations, all the way +through to Niagara, for my brother's concern on Pearl Street. I went +to buy furs for them, you see, and did first-rate. I fetched along +packs o' news, too, for the British commanders. It was risky business, +working my way through Putnam's lines, though. I came pretty nigh to +being shot or hung by the rebels, you know." + +"Ye-es, I know," responded Luke. "They came jest about as nigh as that +to hangin' me, they did. The bloodthirsty pirates! Get ashore, now, +Allen. I'll land your furs for ye. I hope your concern'll make a good +thing out of 'em." + +"Finest furs you ever saw," laughed Allen. "Look out for spies and +searchers. Here's good success to good King George--Washington, and +may the glorious flag of England float victoriously--till we pull it +down! Luke Watts, I'm the poisonest kind of Tory, I am!" + +"Jest like me," said Watts. "I've done all I can to put down this 'ere +wicked rebellion." + +"I've heard so," said Allen. "We got the news all the way from +Connecticut. You delivered a whole ship's cargo of heavy guns and +muskets and ammunition to the loyal-hearted Tories of New London. I +was born there once, myself. I know just how faithfully they love +their king and his blessed Parliament. Good-by, Luke! A successful +voyage to you. Keep out o' the way of pirates." + +"I must, this time," said Watts. "If I don't, I'll never get another +ship to carry furs and things in." + +Up on deck they went, and the last words uttered by Allen did not have +to be whispered. + +"Take good care of your neck, Captain," he called out, from his boat. +"If you're caught, this time, you'll never see New York again, or +Marblehead, either." + +"I guess he's about right," said Mate Brackett, gazing after the boat. +"I'd say you seem to be a man that the rebels have set a mark on." + +"Never you mind," said Watts. "We won't be ketched by 'em, that's all. +The commodore says we may sail our own course. We'll git there." + +"All right, sir," said Brackett. "We've a queer lot o' chaps with us +this trip, but we'll work 'em." + +What he meant by that was that all the prime seamen were needed by the +war-ships, and that almost anything on two feet had been deemed good +enough for an old transport ship going home in ballast. + +"We'll have to travel under light canvas, I take it," remarked +Brackett, as he looked at his crew. "It'd be all night and part o' +next day for them to shorten sail in a hurry." + +The boat which carried Mr. Allen, the loyal fur trader, reached the +shore. On getting out of it, he walked until he came to a dwelling a +short distance easterly from what the fire had left of old Pearl +Street. He entered without knocking and passed through the house to +the kitchen in the rear, where a comely, middle-aged woman stood before +an open fireplace, watching a pot which was hanging on the crane. + +"Sally Allen," he said, in a somewhat low and guarded tone, "the +captain took the furs. It's all right." + +"It is if they don't find him out," she said, gloomily. "I think you +are running awful risks, Tom. The sooner you are back again in the +Mohawk Valley, the better for you." + +"I shall get there," he told her; "that is, if I'm not shot before I +pass the Dunderberg. I mustn't stay here, though. I must be in a +canoe at Spuyten Duyvil Creek before morning." + +"They make short work of spies, Tom," she said. "Think of what they +did to Nathan Hale. I used to know him, years ago, in New London." + +"Sally," he said, "I want you to mark just one thing. He isn't +forgotten! One o' these days there'll be some first-rate British +officer captured, a good deal as Hale was, with papers on him, playing +spy. Whenever that happens, our side won't show any mercy. The spy'll +have to swing!" + +"That's all wrong!" she exclaimed. "I hate to think of it. All +revenge is wicked. It's awful to think of killing one man because +somebody somewhere else killed another." + +"Now, Sally, that isn't it exactly," replied Tom. "What we mean is +that all the spy hanging isn't to be done on one side o' this war. +What's right for them is right for us." + +"No!" she said. "It isn't so! It's like so many red savages to talk +in that way. We don't take scalps, just because they do, nor kill +women and children. I'm a true American woman, and I believe in +righting, but I don't want any stain left on our side." + +"There won't be any," said Tom. "I'm going ahead, if they do hang me. +I'm running Nathan Hale's risk, all the while." + +"God protect you!" she said. "Do you feel sure you can creep through?" + +"I've done it before," he replied. "What I'm thinking of, the worst +thing for me, is the new line of pickets along the river bank. I shall +be fired at, pretty sure, before I can paddle on into the Hudson +Narrows. There'll be some risk from our own pickets above Anthony's +Nose. I guess they'll all miss me. I've one package, though; that's +all weighted, ready to drop into the water if I'm exhausted. I'd make +out to sink it, if I was dying. Now, give me some supper." + +"Oh, Tom!" she said, "God keep us!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PICAROON. + +"Guert," said Vine Avery, as they stood together, with their backs +against the main boom of the _Noank_, "what do you think of this?" + +"Think?" said Guert. "Well! It's the first time I ever saw summer in +winter." + +"They're having good sleighing in New London," said Vine. "Skating, +too." + +"Guess so," said Guert. "I wish my mother were here, and Rachel Tarns +with her. They'd enjoy this." + +"My mother's made two West India trips," replied Vine. "She knows all +about it. Likes it, too." + +"It's the laziest kind of cruising, though," said Guert. "We've dodged +away from some sails, and we've run after some, but we haven't taken +anything." + +"Our chances'll come, boys," put in Captain Avery himself, as he came +strolling along the deck. "Not just 'bout here, maybe. Yonder on the +easterly Bahamas. Not many British traders are likely to be met +hereaway." + +"What are we here for, then, father?" asked Vine. "What's your +notions?" + +"We had to," said the captain. "The Frenchman we spoke, told me the +Florida Channel's alive with British cruisers. We sighted two of 'em, +you know, and had to run for it." + +"Where next?" asked Vine. + +"We'll take a course toward Porto Rico," said his father; "then up the +coast of Cuba. We'll try the Bahama Channel, and the Santaren, and the +Nicholas. I want to send home some prizes, pretty soon, on British +account." + +Day after day, the _Noank_ had been hunting, hunting, farther and +farther into the southern sea, through good weather and bad. All the +while Guert Ten Eyck had been at school. Up-na-tan had laboriously +tried to teach him whatever he himself knew about guns, large and +small. The other sailors had done their duty by him, concerning ropes +and sails and points of seamanship. Captain Avery had driven him hard +at his books on navigation. Therefore, if the cruising had been more +or less lazy business for others, it had contained a good deal of hard +work for the young sea apprentice. He was in a fair way to be made a +good sailor of, and to be ready in due season to handle a ship. + +"What you want most," Captain Avery had said, "is a long v'y'ge on a +square-rigged vessel, under a hard captain. I'll find a chance for you +one o' these days. You can't learn everything on board a schooner." + +That idea was growing steadily in Guert's mind, and he now and then +found himself dreaming of all sorts of perilous cruises in great +American three-masters. By these splendid ships of his imagination, +all of which were as yet unlaunched from any shipyard, the best keels +of England were to be met and beaten. He was to command one of them, +and was to become a captain first, and then a commodore. It was all an +entirely natural young sailor's ambition, but it was looking far away +into the future of his country. All it was good for now was the help +it gave him in his pretty severe schooling. + +Just at this present hour, leaning against the boom and gazing at the +low coast line of the islands, he was calling to mind the many yarns he +had heard concerning them. He had read about them, a little. He knew +how they had been discovered by the Spaniards, and then taken from +them, part of them, by the English and the French. He knew how the +Carib natives had been slaughtered, and he had heard, from Coco in +particular, of the horrible manner in which the tobacco and sugar +plantations had been provided with African slaves. + +Vine, too, was thinking, but of a very different matter. + +"Guert," he said, "away out yonder, easterly, there's the queerest +patch in all the Atlantic. It's where all the loose seaweed and +driftwood and wreckage float together. There are currents that whirl +in there and make a centre of it. More and more seaweed and other +plants grow on that stuff year after year, and it's all a kind of swamp +on the surface, with deep water under it. They call it the Sargasso +Sea. We were swept into the edges of it, once, and it took a fresh +breeze to pull us out. I don't just know if a craft like this could +plow her way across it." + +"I guess she could," said Guert, "but I don't want to try. What I want +to see is Cuba and Porto Rico." + +Away beyond them, hardly visible in the distance, was a tree-covered +point of land. Captain Avery was studying it through his telescope, +and they heard him mutter to himself:-- + +"I don't know whether or not that is Watling's Island. If it is, we've +made a better run on this tack than I thought we had. One good, long +reach beyond that and we'll begin to be in the track of the traders." + +"Whoo-oop!" suddenly rang out the war-cry of Up-na-tan, from somewhere +up the mainmast. + +"Where away?" shouted the captain. "What do you see?" + +"No see!" came down from the redskin. "Hark! Hear gun! Hark ahead! +See point! More gun!" + +His ears had been better than theirs, but, after a moment of intense +listening, the entire ship's company of the _Noank_ felt sure that they +heard the dull boom of far-away cannon. + +Every sail was already set to take so fair and fresh a wind, and the +swift schooner was eating up the distance rapidly. + +"All hands make ready for action!" shouted the captain. "Risk or no +risk, I'm goin' to see what it is." + +His orders went out fast, but they went to the ears of men who had +sprung away without them. All the guns had been manned instantly. + +Coco and Guert and half a dozen more were at the pivot-gun, but +Up-na-tan did not come down at once. The captain's order kept him +aloft as the best lookout and listener he had. Louder, now, at +intervals, came the ominous sound of the distant guns. + +"No big gun yet," called down the keen-eared Indian. "No big war-ship. +_Noank_ run right along." + +"The chief is worth his weight in gold!" exclaimed the captain. +"That's jest what I wanted to know, before roundin' that there p'int. +I don't care to run under the guns of a British cruiser." + +Ships which are running toward each other under full sail cut every +mile in two in the middle. For instance, they need to run only two +miles instead of four to get together. There was a dense forest growth +on the point of Watling's Island, if that were indeed the land to +windward, for the breeze was westerly. Everything beyond was hidden +from view until the _Noank_ passed the outer reef and tacked seaward, +running almost wing and wing. + +"Whoo-oop!" came fiercely down from the red man's perch. "'Panish +flag. Three-master. Trader. Not many gun. Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! +Kidd! Kidd! Black flag schooner! Pirate! Not so big as _Noank_. +Small gun! Take her quick! Kill 'em all! Whoo-oop!" + +"Hurrah!" arose in a general roar from the crew of the _Noank_, more +than one voice adding, vociferously, the desire that was felt to smash +the picaroon. + +"Ready, all, now!" sang out Captain Avery. "The American flag is +against the black flag, the world over. We'll fight it, every time!" + +Fierce shouts of eagerness replied to him, and the men were stripping +themselves for a hard fight. The very most of clothing that was +actually needed under that hot sun, by men who were to handle cannon, +was a shirt and trousers, and many of the brawny backs were even bare. +Muskets, pikes, pistols, cutlasses, were bringing up from below. +Ammunition, plenty of it, was serving out to all the guns, and now, as +the point of land was left to starboard, all eyes could see what kind +of work had been cut out for the privateer. + +The Spaniard, as her flag declared her, was a three-master of, +probably, not more than six hundred tons. She was crowding all sail, +but she was evidently heavily laden. + +"She has too much cargo for good runnin'," growled Sam Prentice. "That +buccaneer has the heels of her." + +"What's worse'n that," said the captain, "she has nothin' but popguns +to fight him with. He won't sink her, though. What he wants is to run +along side and board her." + +"Then it'll be good-by to every livin' soul that's in her," said the +mate. "We'll jest put a stopper on all that!" + +"Up-na-tan," shouted the captain, "come down to your gun! We shall be +in fair range in three minutes. Then give it to 'em as fast as you can +load and fire." + +"Ugh!" was all the response they heard, and the Manhattan warrior came +down so swiftly that he was at his gun almost before they knew it. + +There was a pitiful scene, just then, on board the unlucky Spaniard. +She had many passengers as well as much cargo. Women and children were +crouching in terror upon her deck, or hiding hopelessly away in her +cabins. Fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, were gazing in +awful despair at the horrible black flag of murder and ruin, which was +so evidently nearing them, minute after minute. + +"The _Santa Teresa_ is doomed!" groaned the Spanish captain, and then +he raised his voice to shout courageously: "Men! we will fight to the +last! We'd better go to the bottom, than to let those devils get on +board!" + +"We'd better die fighting, than stand still to have our throats cut, or +to walk the plank!" came back to him from among the men. + +Even the women begged for weapons. There were boys and girls who were +fiercely handling firearms, and swords, and pikes. Numerous as might +be the buccaneers, they were likely to win a costly victory upon the +deck of the _Santa Teresa_. + +"There goes our mizzenmast," called out her mate to the captain. +"We've no chance left, now!" + +"We never had any, Roderigo," replied the captain. "O God! Here they +come!" + +"Ho! Captain Velasquez!" came from the man at the wheel. "A sail to +larboard! A schooner!" + +"A Yankee flag!" said Mate Roderigo. "Captain! She's heading this +way!" + +"Alas!" mourned the captain. "What can a Yankee sugar-boat do for us?" + +A mournful wail went up from his women passengers as they heard him, +but a tall gentleman near him touched his elbow. + +"Captain!" he said, "look again. That American does not seem to fear +the black flag. See! She is coming on full sail. What can it mean?" + +"Perhaps she does not yet know what they are, Señor Alvarez," sadly +responded the captain. "She will be as hopelessly lost as we are." + +So thought the buccaneer captain himself, at that moment, for he and +his hideous crew were already rejoicing over two triumphs to come +instead of one, and a second feast of bloodshed after taking the +Spaniard. + +The black flag commander was a short, thin, tiger-faced man. He was +gaudily dressed, as were also some who seemed to be his lieutenants. +As for his crew, they were of all sorts. They were the offscourings of +several nations, including Englishmen, French, Dutch, and Africans. +They were at this moment yelling savagely, as they loaded and fired +their guns. Not one of these was larger than a short six-pounder, +although there was an absurd number of them, considering the size of +the vessel. She was schooner-rigged, but she was much more lightly +constructed than the _Noank_. Her breadth of beam was somewhat +greater, and she might be speedy. Precisely such craft were sometimes +built for the slave trade. They were expected to carry only human +cargoes, as a rule, and to make swift runs from African slave +barracoons to American markets. Delays in such voyages implied heavy +losses of black captives who would surely die in the hold. + +"We will take the Yankee schooner first," was the decision of the +pirate captain. "We must cripple the Spaniard, so she cannot get away. +Two prizes are better than one. We need that schooner yonder, for our +own trade." + +Loud laughs and jeers replied to him from many scores of throats, for +the buccaneer _Leon_ was positively over-thronged with sea-wolves. + +"Steady with the helm there!" rang out on board the _Noank_, as she +arose like a duck upon the crest of a long sea. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan, as the sheet of flame sprang from the brazen +lips of his long eighteen. "Whoop!" + +"Struck her!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That was a good shot!" + +"Between wind and water!" shouted Sam Prentice, studying the pirate +through his glass. "It took her as she heeled, and it knocked a hole +in her you could roll a barrel through." + +Whether or not any bodily harm had been done to any pirate, a chorus of +astonished yells and imprecations went up from her crowded deck. All +the ears there could hear and understand the crash of timbers under +them, which had followed close upon the good shot of Up-na-tan. + +"Praise God!" gasped the captain of the _Santa Teresa_. "Oh! Señor +Alvarez! I never thought of that. It is one of the new American +colonial cruisers. They carry heavy guns. Their men are as brave as +lions. All the saints be merciful and help them to shoot straight!" + +"Amen!" groaned the señor. "Laura! My dear wife! The Americans are +armed! We have some hope!" + +Down upon their knees, as if with one accord, dropped all the +despairing women and not a few of the men, the children grouping +frantically around their mothers. Loud and earnest were the hurried +supplications and bitter was the wailing. + +Up-na-tan had not the least idea that he or his gunnery were being +prayed for, but he sent his next shot as truly as the first. He aimed +at her hull, as near amidships as might be. It was no fault of his +that a slight roll of the _Noank_ lifted his line of fire so that his +flying iron struck the mainmast of the _Leon_ instead of her ribs. The +tall spar was shattered and went over the lee rail with all its top +hamper, carrying with it several of the pirate crew who were aloft. + +That stunning success of the old warrior was greeted with a storm of +wild cheering from the crews of the _Noank_ and the _Santa Teresa_, +while more than one woman's voice declared: "Praise God and all the +saints! Our prayers are heard!" + +The remark of Captain Velasquez was more seamanlike than religious. + +"Santo Domingo!" he exclaimed. "That cripples them! The villains can +come no nearer. They are at the mercy of that American. God bless +her! Why does she not use her broadside guns?" + +She was not quite ready yet. It was better to ply her long eighteen +and keep well away from any harm to her hull or rigging by the +short-range pieces of the _Leon_. + +"Give it to 'em!" said Captain Avery to Up-na-tan. "Make every shot +tell. Now for it, men! Ready with the port broadside! A minute more! +Don't miss, for your lives!" + +The swift rush onward of the schooner brought her near enough, even +while he was giving his orders, and her six-pounders were worked by +very good marine marksmen. The pirates were helpless, and the +broadside of the _Noank_ ploughed among them with deadly effect. A +second quickly followed, and still she was drawing nearer. + +"No surrender!" shouted the pirate captain. "We'll put the Spaniard +between us and the American. We must board her! That'll stop their +firing. Give it to her!" + +There was something like good seamanship in his proposition if he could +have carried it out, but Sam Prentice was at the helm of the _Noank_, +and he instantly detected the intended manoeuvre. + +"Sam!" shouted Captain Avery, as his schooner began to change her +course. "Port your helm! Keep her well away! Carry her out o' range! +Don't let 'em knock a splinter out of us!" + +"All right, Lyme," responded Sam. "But let's rake 'em. They're losin' +steerage way with all that wreckage draggin'. The redskin has hulled +'em ag'in. Let's cross their bows." + +"Go ahead! I'm agreed!" called back the captain. "Not too near, +though." + +His careful keeping away was to have an important consequence that he +did not think of. All was confusion on board the _Leon_, after those +broadsides came. Her crew were frantically striving to cut loose the +towing wreckage and bring their craft once more to the wind, while, as +fast as Up-na-tan and his fellow-gunners could load and fire, the +destruction was increasing. + +"What's that?" screeched the pirate captain, in reply to one of his +crew. "We are sinking, are we? Boats! To the boats! They shall +never take us alive. Boats, and board the Spaniard!" + +Capture meant only death without mercy, as all of them knew, and some +of the cooler miscreants had already begun to get ready the boats. Of +these there were four, and the largest of them had been hanging at the +davits, ready for lowering. + +"Sam," said Captain Avery, soberly, "not one of those fellows must git +away. Mercy to them is cruelty to everybody else. If I spare a +pirate, I'll feel as if I was murderin' the next man or woman he puts a +knife into." + +"That's about the way I feel," said Sam; "but I ain't an executioner." + +The Spaniards themselves had been doing something with the guns of the +_Santa Teresa_, such as they were, old-fashioned, clumsily mounted, +short-range, light pieces. Only a few of her crew and none of her +passengers had been killed or wounded. There had been no report of +them made in the general excitement and despondency. + +It was almost too soon for any enthusiastic rejoicing, for hardly any +one felt sure of deliverance. It was almost as if the wonderful Yankee +privateer had fallen from the skies. She and her operations were +calling forth tremendous admiration, however, and there was plenty of +genuine piety in the fervent thanksgivings that were uttered. + +"Stop firing!" commanded Captain Avery, less than a quarter of an hour +later. "That black flag feller is careenin'! She's fillin'! I +declare, she must ha' been a mere shell. The _Noank's_ timbers'd ha' +stood a heavier poundin' than that." + +"It was pretty heavy pounding, Lyme," replied Sam Prentice. "Our +timbers are good, but we don't care to be struck at short range. Not +by heavy shot, anyhow. You see, that redskin jest plugged her every +time. Some of his hits must ha' gone clean through." + +"Used her up, anyhow," said the captain. + +"Guert," said Up-na-tan to his pupil in the science of gunnery, "good! +Boy aim twice. No miss. Boy make good gunner some day." + +It was just so. The Manhattan had indulgently promised Guert to do +some actual battle practice, and had made him as proud as a peacock. +It was true that he had fired under close supervision and direction, +but it had been a valuable teaching, and Guert almost believed that he +could have done it all alone--with the right kind of men to handle the +pivot-gun for him. + +"Boy good eye," said Up-na-tan. "Hold hand steady. Hit mark. Ugh!" + +Over, over, over, rapidly leaned the shattered hull of the _Leon_, the +water pouring into her through the gaps in her starboard side. Down +from her had dropped boat after boat, to be crowded with her surviving +wolves, no effort being made by them to save any of their wounded +companions. She had now drifted into pretty close neighborhood with +the _Santa Teresa_, and a wild shout went up as the boats pulled away. + +"Board the Spaniard!" cried her captain. + +It was the last resource of utter desperation, and they might even now +have succeeded in gaining possession of the _Santa Teresa_ if she had +been unassisted. + +"Stand by your guns, men!" shouted Captain Velasquez. "Let them have +it as they come!" + +"Steady about," said Captain Avery to the steersman of the _Noank_, "we +must take care o' those boats. Oh! how I wish we were nearer! Give it +to 'em!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from his gunners, "but the Spaniard's in the +way. As soon as we clear her--" + +"Down with the mainsail! Haul on that jib! Port! Here we come!" + +It was not round shot this time. The long sixes had been glutted with +grape-shot, and so had the pivot-gun. The Spanish cannon, hastily +fired by excited men, had done some execution, but not one of the +buccaneer boats had been disabled. The foremost of them was within ten +fathoms of the _Santa Teresa_, and the swarm of murderers would have +been over her bulwarks in another minute, when past her port quarter +swept the Yankee privateer. + +Bang, bang, bang, as fast as they were brought to bear, spoke out her +three guns of that broadside, and Up-na-tan's eighteen-pounder. Then +she seemed to come about like a top, somewhat increasing her distance. +Three more successive reports, and then where were the picaroons? +Muskets and pistols were hurling lead among them from the deck of the +Spanish trader. A shot from one of her guns had knocked out the stern +of the largest boat. All that, however, had been of small account +compared to the effect of that tempest of grapeshot. The boat crews +withered away before it, and two of the boats themselves were upset in +the panic that followed, while the fourth was evidently sinking. Black +heads dotted the water, and a shriek from one of them brought a sharp, +quick exclamation from Coco. + +"Shark! Shark!" he yelled. "See back fin! Twenty of 'em! See 'em! +Shark take 'em all!" + +"Father," exclaimed Vine Avery, "that's awful! Can't we save some of +them?" + +"Too late!" said the captain. "Not a man, I'm afraid. Jest look how +they're goin' down! It's a reg'lar school o' sharks. They're bitin' +fast. We'll go about, though, and we'll pick up any that are left." + +The Spaniards continued firing while their American friends sped on and +came back on the other tack. Every boat had now been upset or +shattered and the sharks were having their own way with the picaroons. + +"Here comes one of 'em, Captain Avery," said Guert. "I'll try and save +him!" + +"Throw him a rope," said the captain; and Guert quickly had the help of +Vine and another sailor. + +"Quick!" said Guert. "Don't let the sharks get him. I'd give anything +to save a man from them!" + +"He's caught the rope," replied Vine. "Haul him in! We've got him." + +Close behind him, or rather under him, as he came dripping over the +rail, was a huge pair of snapping jaws that barely missed him. He +fell, at first, and then his rescuers themselves were astonished. He +did not say a word to them, but dropped at once upon his knees, and +began to pour out thanks to the Virgin Mary, like a good Catholic. + +[Illustration: A NARROW ESCAPE. "As he came over the rail, a huge pair +of jaws barely missed him.] + +"Let him," said Sam Prentice. "Some o' these cutthroats are awful +pious." + +"Yes," said Guert, "but he is praying in Dutch, and he mixes it up with +English. I can't tell what he is." + +"There she goes!" shouted a dozen voices at that moment, and all turned +to look. + +It was only a last lurch and a plunge, and all that was left of the +pirate _Leon_ sank forever out of sight. The heads of her crew had +also disappeared from the surface of the water, and the career of one +of the terrors of the sea was ended. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BLACK TRANSPORT. + +"You don't mean to say it's all over!" exclaimed Guert, staring at the +place from which the pirate schooner had vanished. "Seems to me it +doesn't take long to fight a battle at sea." + +"Yes, it does," said one of the older sailors, "if there's chasin' and +manoeuvrin' and long range firin'. I've been in some that took all day +and the next day, too. But we were too heavy guns for that feller." + +"It's awful!" remarked Vine Avery, very thoughtfully. "I was trying to +make out if we could have saved any more of 'em." + +"No," said the captain, "I don't see how we could, considerin' where we +were and the time it took us to come about. They grappled each other +in the water, too." + +"The fact is, boys," said Sam Prentice, "the savin' o' those fellers +wouldn't ha' been of any use, anyhow. Spanish law isn't as slow and +careful as ours is. It wouldn't ha' called for any trial by a court, +you know. The nearest army or navy commander of any consequence would +ha' taken hold of 'em. They'd all ha' been shot within a day after he +seized 'em." + +"Leastwise," said Vine, "'twasn't any fault of ours. I'm glad Guert +made out to haul in one of 'em." + +Guert had turned somewhat quickly away, while they were speaking, for +his rescued man had been allowed to come and speak with him. + +"Hullo!" said the captain. "They are talkin' Dutch. That's it! +Guert's a New Yorker. He learned it at home." + +"What sort is he, Guert?" asked the mate. + +"He isn't any pirate, at all," eagerly responded Guert. "He's a +Hollander that was on a ship they took. One of 'em knew him and saved +him, and they 'pressed him in. He had to make believe he was one of +'em, but he never was." + +"Pretty good story," said Captain Avery. "Maybe it's true. There's +enough of 'em killed. We'll take care of him." + +"I wish you would," said Guert. "Seems to me the right man got away." + +"Not all of 'em," said the man himself in English that had very little +foreign accent. "There were three more a good deal like me. Some o' +the black men weren't reg'lar pirates. All the rest of 'em, though, +belonged to the sharks. It was one o' the worst crews that ever +floated. My name's Groot. I'm from Amsterdam, but I was brought up +mostly in Liverpool. Sailed on British craft and French, too. I'm a +true man, Captain Avery!" + +The captain was willing to believe it, if he could, and he questioned +him closely, all the crew of the _Noank_ agreeing among themselves that +Groot was their prize, anyhow, and ought not to be turned over to any +Spanish authority. + +All the while, the rescued _Santa Teresa_ was drifting nearer, her +bulwarks lined with eager people of all sorts, who were gazing +gratefully at what seemed to them the very beautiful American schooner. +She had arrived just in time to save them, and they had never before +seen a ship that they were so pleased with. Loud hails were exchanged, +and then followed, from the Spanish ship, a perfect storm of thanks. + +"Guert," said Captain Avery, "I'm goin' aboard of her. You may come +along. You may find some more Dutchmen. I can talk Spanish and +French. I want to know just what shape they're in." + +A boat was already lowered, and in a few minutes they were on the deck +of the _Santa Teresa_. + +"Women and children!" was Guert's first thought and exclamation. "To +think of all of them being murdered! I don't feel half so sorry as I +did about the pirates. I wish mother could see just what we've been +saving from 'em. I guess it's perfectly right to shoot straight, +sometimes. Glad I didn't miss once!" + +All his shudders of regret and of horror over the work of the sharks +passed away from him as those passengers crowded around him. There +were four more _Noank_ sailors, but the Spanish crew had captured them. +The two captains were talking business, therefore Guert was taken in +hand by the women and young people. One short, fat señora, who came at +him first, had long, white hair tumbling down over her shoulders. She +hugged him and kissed him, and cried and laughed, and she +pointed--saying a great deal in Spanish--at a woman who was throwing +her arms around a pretty pair of children. It was easy for Guert to +understand that the old woman was thanking God and the Americans for +the lives of her daughter and her grandchildren. + +Other women did not altogether follow her example, for Guert showed a +little bashfulness, there were so many of them; but he shook hands +quite freely with the boys and girls. The Spanish youngsters showed +him their weapons, too, trying to tell him how ready they had been to +fight the buccaneers. + +"It isn't a long run from this to Porto Rico," he heard Captain Avery +say. "We'll see you safe in. We didn't lose a man." + +"We lost five," replied the Spanish commander. "The sharks would have +had all of us, instead of all of them, but for you. God bless you! We +will patch up and spread all the canvas we can." + +At that moment a friendly hand was laid upon Guert's arm, drawing him +away from his women friends. Señor Alvarez held him hard for a breath +or two, as if he were trying to speak and had lost his voice. + +"My boy," he then exclaimed, "you came in time! This is my wife, +Señora Laura Alvarez. These are my boy and girl. This is my wife's +mother, Señora Paez. They told me that you fired that blessed long +gun, yourself." + +"Up-na-tan, the Indian chief, and I fired it," said Guert. "I'm a +beginner." + +"I understand," said the Spaniard. "You are a young cadet studying +navigation. You must come home with me and study a Porto Rico +plantation house. You must be my guest. We will treat you like a +king." + +"I shall be ever so glad, if Captain Avery'll let me," answered Guert. +"He says we're likely to be in port quite a while. I'll ask him." + +Captain Avery was near enough to hear, and he replied for himself. +"It's all right, Guert," he said. "You may go. I want you to, even if +we sail and come back while you're ashore. You see, my boy, you know a +little Spanish now. Here's a chance for you to get ahead so you can +begin to speak and read it. Every American sea-captain ought to know +Spanish." + +"Yes, sir, I'd like it first-rate," said Guert; "but I wouldn't like to +have the _Noank_ sail without me on board." + +"We'll see 'bout that," replied the captain. "You'll obey orders, +anyhow." + +"I guess I'll have to," almost grumbled Guert, as he was compelled to +get away from his friends and hasten back in the boat to the schooner; +"but I didn't come to loaf on shore. I'd rather be a gunner." + +There was a great deal of talk and excitement upon both vessels, but +things were rapidly getting back into order. The sails were spread, +and both were quickly in motion. The wind was fair, and night was +coming on. As for the _Noank_, in particular, all that she had done +for either pirates or Spaniards could not diminish the necessity she +was under for keeping up a sharp lookout for anything sailing under the +British flag. That banner might be fluttering nearer at any hour, and +it might be upon a "sugar-boat," or it might be streaming out from the +dangerous rigging of a cruiser. + +Once the schooner was under way, Guert found himself more at liberty +than usual, for all kinds of his sea schooling were given a vacation. +His head was even more full than ordinary, however, and he had an +especial reason for getting away with Sam Prentice during their next +watch on deck. He had several times heard the mate talk about pirates. +He had also heard something about them from Up-na-tan and Coco and the +crew. Until now, however, all that he had heard at any time had been +listened to as if it were unreal. He had never read a novel, and so he +did not know that all of it had seemed to him a kind of pretty, +interesting story of fiction, and not anything more. It was very +different, now that he had seen a black flag and sent a heavy shot into +the hull under it, and had watched while that hull went down. + +"About the buccaneers, eh?" said Sam, as they leaned over the +quarter-rail and looked out into the darkness. "Well! I s'pose there +are books about 'em. You can learn a good deal from books, but I don't +know any that'll tell you all there is 'bout those islands. There's +too many of 'em, hundreds, mebbe, with outlyin' reefs and ledges. Then +there are any number o' bays and inlets and lagoons. That's why it's +so hard to follow up and ketch light draft pirate vessels. They can +hide in a thousand out o' the way places until they git ready to run +out and make a strike. One o' their biggest helps is the caves on some +o' the islands. Safest kind o' places for men to hide plunder in, too. +Some of 'em open right down at the water line, and some of 'em have +deep water for quite a way in from the mouth. You can row a boat right +on in at high tide, or even at low water, I've heard tell. Big +cruisers ain't of any use 'mong the shoals and ledges and lagoons. +Somehow the governments have been too busy 'bout other matters to build +and arm the right pattern o' gunboats. That there picaroon that we +sunk to-day was as large a craft as I ever heard o' their usin'. +Oftener, they go out in canoes and rowboats and sailboats, and make +surprises in light winds or calms, or in the night. All the shore +people are afraid to tell on 'em, and they're good friends with the +Caribs and the slaves. Of course, they've got to be all rooted out, +some day, but it's goin' to be a tough job, I tell ye." + +Many more things he had to tell, as Guert questioned him. Before he +got through, it almost seemed as if all the nations of the world had +once been pirates, of one kind or another, each nation thinking it +right to capture ships of other nations on sight, if opportunity made +it safe to do so. + +"I tell you what," said Guert, at last, "I want to read books! I never +had a chance at 'em. Rachel Tarns lent me a few, long ago, when we +were at home in New York, before the British came. The war drove us +out, you know, and we can't guess when we're to get back. I want to +read." + +"Now!" exclaimed the mate, "I've thought of one thing. You'll be at +the Velasquez plantation. Mebbe for some time. They'll have heaps o' +books. It'll help you learn Spanish if you'll try and read anything +you find there. Learn all you can, wherever you happen to be." + +"I just will!" said Guert. + +"Now," said Prentice, "I'm goin' below. Some time to-morrer, if the +wind holds good, we'll be in Porto Rico. Then you'll see something +new." + +Guert also had to go below and turn in, but it was not easy to sleep +with his head so full, even after so very fatiguing a day. He was +lying awake, therefore, long afterward, when he was startled by sounds +on deck. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed. "Something's happened! What if they should +have sighted a British man-o'-war? If there's going to be any more +fighting, I want to be at my gun!" + +He was getting to be a genuine sailor, therefore, and the cannon he was +stationed with had become a sort of pet and much as if it were his own +property. + +Not much careful dressing was called for after he sprung out of his +bunk, and then he was up on deck without waiting for orders. + +Not a great deal of noise had been made, after all, and most of the +weary crew were still keeping their watch below, as soundly asleep as +ever. Two pairs of ears, however, had been as keen as Guert's, and +here were Coco and Up-na-tan, already at the pivot-gun, prepared for +anything that might turn up. The moon was shining brightly and the +wind was fair. The sparkling, foaming sea looked beautiful, and all +was peace except upon the deck of the privateer. Away to leeward Guert +could dimly see a sail that he believed to be the _Santa Teresa_, and +at that moment a red ball rocket went up from her deck and burst, to +inform her American friends that she was doing well. + +"She's all right, then," Guert heard Captain Avery say to the man at +the wheel. "I wish I knew what this feller is to wind'ard. Up-na-tan, +be ready, there, with that gun. It looks to me like a brig o' some +sort. It might happen to be one o' these 'ere British ten-gun brigs. +I don't know, yet, whether or not one o' them 'd prove too much for us, +if we got in the first broadside." + +"Well, Captain," said the steersman, "we can't very well get out of her +way, jest now. She has managed to come up to wind'ard of us, and she +can hold on, best we can do. It's our bad luck!" + +"Maybe it's her's," said the captain, grimly. "I won't call up the men +for a bit. If there's a hard fight a-comin', a rest won't hurt 'em. +It may be a Spanish coast-guard or a Frenchman. Everything down this +way isn't British. Up-na-tan, take this night-glass and see what you +can make of her." + +The Manhattan came at once for the telescope, but a sudden change had +come over the manners of Coco. It began with a curious kind of +sniffing, sniffing, like a pointer dog in the neighborhood of game. +Then he left his precious gun and glided to the rail, shaking his head +and chattering harsh words in a tongue which nobody who heard could +recognize. + +Guert went over to join him, and his first glance at the face of the +old African astonished him. It was absolutely convulsed with fury. +The black man's hands were clenched, his teeth were grinding, and his +eyes seemed to flash fire. + +"What's the matter?" asked Guert. "Can you see anything out there?" + +An angry screech, and then a guttural, wrathful war-cry, sprung from +the lips of Coco. + +At that moment Up-na-tan had been looking at the strange sail through +the telescope. + +"Brig," he had said. "All sail set. Big as the _Santa Teresa_. No +cruiser. No Englishman ever set a foresail like that." + +His implied compliment to the neatness of British seamanship was cut +short by the yell of Coco, and he instantly lowered his glass. + +"Whoo-oop!" he responded. "'Peak out! What Coco find?" + +"Slaver!" screeched the African. "Coco smell him! Where Up-na-tan +lose he nose?" + +"Slaver?" exclaimed Captain Avery. "Bless my soul! We've nothing to +do with men-stealers. I don't want any such prize as that, even if +it's an Englishman. I wouldn't take a slave cargo into port." + +"Nor I, either," said the steersman. "We're not in that trade." + +Nearer and nearer, now, the strange craft was drawing, from the +opposite tack. The men below had heard the yell of Coco and the +Manhattan's warwhoop, and were tumbling up on deck in search of +information. Their comments were various as they heard the remarkable +announcement. + +"Not a doubt of it, Lyme," said Sam Prentice to the captain, after a +whiff of the wind from the stranger. "They're slave thieves. I always +heard tell that a slave-ship could smell worse'n anything else. I say +we ought not to try to do anything with her. Let her go!" + +"Of course we will," said the captain; "but we'll speak her. Here she +comes." + +In a few minutes more the two ships were within hailing distance. + +"What brig's that?" asked Avery. + +"Slaver _Yara_, Captain Liscomb. Congo River to Cuba," came back with +all cheerfulness. "What schooner's that?" + +"American privateer, _Noank_, Captain Avery. We don't want you. How +many on board?" + +"We've only lost about a third of 'em on the passage," came jauntily +back from the _Yara_. "We shall land over two hundred good ones. +First-rate luck! Last trip we lost more'n half by getting stuck in a +calm. How's your luck? Are you taking anything worth while?" + +It was precisely as if a prosperous merchant, engaged in what he +considered an honorable, legitimate business, were exchanging trade +politeness with another merchant in a somewhat similar line. + +"We're not long out," replied Captain Avery. "We've done fairly well, +though. We sunk a West India picaroon to-day." + +"Did you? That's a good thing to do. Glad you did," said the slaver, +heartily. "Those chaps annoy even us African traders. They stopped me +twice last year, and took away dozens of my best pieces, men and women. +The rascals said they were collecting their import duties. Sink 'em +all!" + +He was so near, by this time, that the bright moonlight gave them a +pretty good view of him. He did not seem to be by any means a +bad-looking fellow, and it was only too evident that he was either an +American or Englishman of good education. He asked for the latest news +politely, and then he declared concerning the existing difficulties +between King George Third and his American colonies:-- + +"You chaps have more interest in that affair than I have. If you're +not all shot or hung, you'll make fortunes out of it, if it goes on +long enough. Privateering sometimes pays better than slaving. All you +need be afraid of, except the king's cruisers, is too sudden an end of +the war. That would ruin all your business at once. The war hasn't +hurt us, to speak of. Our market is as good as ever it was; we can +sell all we can bring over." + +The _Noank_ was sweeping on and there could be no more exchange of news +or opinions with Captain Liscomb. + +He was evidently a man without the prejudices of other men. He could +see only the money side of the war for American independence, and he +took it for granted that a privateersman would look at it in precisely +that way. At least one of the crew of the _Noank_ was not in agreement +with him, for Coco was as furious as ever. + +"Ole Coco stuck in slaver hold, once," he snarled tigerishly. "No +water. Iron on hand, on foot. Hot like oven. Most of 'em die. Some +go bline. Some get kill. Not many left. Sell Coco in Cuba. Whip +him. Burn him. Make him work hard. Ole brack man got away, though. +Big fire 'bout that time. Planter lose he house. Kidd men better'n +slaver men. All the same, anyhow." + +"Isn't that awful!" was all that Guert could think or say. + +"Boy fool!" growled Coco. "Captain Avery all wrong. He let 'em go. +Better take 'em." + +"What could he do with all those slaves if he took 'em?" asked Guert. + +"What he do with 'em?" replied Coco, with some surprise. "Drown +slaver, not brack fellers. Sell 'em all. Make pile o' money." + +"He wouldn't do that," said Guert. + +"Then go ashore in Cuba," persisted the old Ashantee. "Buy sugar +plantation. Have he slaves all for nothing. That's what Coco think. +He do it, quick. All African chief have plenty slave. Make 'em work, +kill 'em, do what he please." + +The fierce anger of the grim old African, therefore, had been aroused +by a memory of his own sufferings and not by any sentimental notions +concerning human rights. He saw no evil whatever in the mere owning of +slaves. Very much like him in that respect, to tell the truth, were +most of his Yankee friends. Slave-holding had not yet been abolished +in the northern American colonies any more than in the southern. The +great movement for the abolition of all property in human beings came a +long time afterward. Nevertheless, even then, a strong odium was +beginning to attach to the business of catching black men for the +market, and the cause of this feeling was mainly the cruel and wasteful +manner in which the business was carried on. The gathering of slaves +in Africa for export purposes was understood to be exceedingly +murderous, and too many of the captives died on shipboard from +barbarous ill-treatment. + +Away had swung the badly smelling _Yara_ upon her intended course. Her +polite captain had bowed as she did so, his last farewell expressing +his wish that his privateer acquaintances might have good luck and make +money. If he were indeed an Englishman, he had no narrow, national +feeling concerning business matters. + +"Sam Prentice!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "I was glad to be rid of 'em. +They're only another kind of pirate, anyhow. I believe that feller'd +send up the black flag any day, if it was safe,--and if he could make +money by it." + +"Lyme," replied his mate, "don't you know that slave catchers do fly +the skull and bones every now and then, in the far seas? They're none +too good to scuttle a ship and make her crew walk the plank." + +"I've heard so," said the captain, "but we hadn't any duty to do by +'em, jest now. What we want to do is to sight a British flag on a +craft that doesn't carry too many guns for us. Port your helm, there!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD. + +"So! You report that you were chased by some enemy? I've read +it--I've read the commodore's letter. What were you chased by, sir?" + +"I can't be sure what they were, sir. I took them for privateers. The +first of 'em gave me a shot my fourth day out. Another followed me +three days later. Peppered at me for an hour at long range. Both +times I escaped 'em in the night." + +"I'm glad you did! I think the commodore is right about you, sir. +Take your own course, always. Be ready to take the _Termagant_ across +again as soon as she's loaded." + +"Repairs, sir," said Captain Watts, for the dignified officer before +whom he stood was the port admiral in command of the British port of +Liverpool. "Foremast sprung, sir. She wants a new maintopmast. +She'll need all her spars, or I'm mistaken. If I'm to be in her she'll +use her canvas, sir. I've no fancy for falling again into the clutches +of the rebels." + +"They might hang you this time, eh?" said the admiral, pleasantly, as +if that were a bit of a joke. "They might, indeed. Send in your +requisitions; you shall have your repairs. I'll order them at once. +Now, sir, is there anything else?" + +"Yes, sir," said Watts; "I wish to report what I heard concerning rebel +privateers and new provincial cruisers. That is, it may all be already +reported." + +"Heave ahead!" interrupted the admiral. "Tell what you've heard. Your +news is as likely to be correct as any other. Go on, sir." + +"It's the old story o' the rats and the cheese, sir," said Luke. "The +bigger the cheese, the more the rats. Our trade's the fat they mean to +cut into, sir. I heard o' rebel privateers fittin' out all along the +New England coast. They told me o' some in North Carolina, out o' the +Neuse River. Some from Virginny, up the Potomac and the James. Some +down in South Carolina and Georgia; but I can't say but what as bad as +any are comin' out o' the Chesapeake and the Delaware. What we're +goin' to need is more light cruisers off the Irish coast, sir, and in +the channels." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the great official. "The Yankee pirates'll never +show themselves on this coast. Go now; we can pick 'em up as fast as +they come." + +Captain Luke Watts had kept his word to the British authorities. He +had piloted the _Termagant_ safely into her harbor. He was, therefore, +above and beyond any possible suspicions as to his loyalty. There was +nothing to prevent him from delivering, not only his packages of +valuable furs, but also any other parcels which he had brought with him +from America. + +"All right!" he said to himself, as he swung out of the port admiral's +office. "They'll know better one o' these days. I'm glad to be told, +though, that they mean to remain off their guard till they're waked up. +I wish they'd send a few more o' their best ships somewhere else. +Captain Lyme Avery and a lot more like him are coming this way pretty +soon." + +He was only halfway correct in that assertion, for Captain Avery and +the _Noank_ were not just then in shape to sail for England. After +their noteworthy adventures with pirates and slavers, there had been +many hours of plain sailing, in company with the rescued _Santa +Teresa_. The second morning was well advanced when the two vessels +found themselves only a mile or so outside of the ample harbor of Porto +Rico. They had also tacked within speaking distance of each other. + +"Señor Avery," sang out Captain Velasquez, "I have the honor to make a +friendly suggestion." + +"I'm ready, thank you, señor," said Captain Avery. "What is it?" + +"Let the _Santa Teresa_ go ahead and look in. I'll send a boat back +with a Carib pilot. There might be a British cruiser in port." + +"That's the very thing I was thinkin' of," said the captain of the +_Noank_. "A thousand thanks, señor. We'll heave to." + +Very little more needed to be said. There were other sails in sight, +of various sorts and sizes, but not one of them carried the red-cross +flag of England. + +As for the _Noank_, all her ports were closed, there was a tarpaulin +over her pivot-gun, and she was a peaceable appearing merchant +schooner. Even the bunting at her masthead was a fraud, for it +declared of her that she came from France, and was not to be molested +without proper authority. + +"It's a kind of lie!" muttered Guert Ten Eyck. "They say all is fair +in war, but I don't want to run up anything but an American flag. I +don't half like to go ashore, either." + +Nobody else on board, perhaps, was in sympathy with that part of his +prejudices, but then his "going ashore" might mean a longer stay than +that of any other sailor. The more he thought of it, the less he liked +it. + +"Father," said Vine Avery, after hearing the Spanish captain, "let +Guert and me take a boat now, and pull in behind 'em. If we see any +danger, we can streak it back at once." + +"Good!" said the captain. "Take the small cutter and Coco and the +Indian. They speak Spanish." + +Off went Vine, and in a few minutes more a small and sharp-nosed boat +manned by four rowers was dancing along into the harbor mouth. + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Guert, staring this way and that way, landward, +as he pulled. "This all beats anything I ever heard of it. Hullo!" + +"Lobster!" growled Coco. + +"One, two, three, four sugar-boat," came from Up-na-tan. "_Noank_ get +some of 'em. Big frigate no good." + +That may have been his opinion, but she looked as if she would be of +some account in a naval combat, that splendid British frigate, so taut +and trim, lying there at her anchor. The sails now furled along her +yards could be opened quickly enough, and there would then be no other +ship of her size, of any other nation on earth, that she need fear to +meet. + +"Forty guns," said Up-na-tan. "Knock hole in _Noank_. Wait, now. See +what ole Spaniard do." + +"It looks kind o' rugged for us," thought Guert. "We can't run into +port at all. If we did we'd never get out again." + +The captain of the _Santa Teresa_ was keeping his promise. His ship +was taking in sail, and a well-manned boat was lowering from her side. + +"Here they come," said Guert. "We'll know more when they get here." + +"No," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief see frigate himself. Know what do. +All Cap'n Avery want is Carib pilot. Tell him where go. Up-na-tan +know Cuba lagoons, not Porto Rico. So Coco." + +On came the Spanish boat, and as it drew nearer they could recognize +Captain Velasquez himself in the stern-sheets, ready to answer their +hail. + +"Señor," he said to Vine Avery, "there is one more British cruiser, +farther in. Pedro, here, will go back with you and pilot your schooner +to a safe mooring, up the coast. Only friends will come to see you +there. You may watch for a green flag on the shore, or a green light +after dark." + +"Thank you, señor," said Vine. "All right. Let him come aboard." + +Lightly as a panther, with wonderful quickness of motion, a short, +slight, dark-faced fellow sprang over into the cutter. + +"Me Pedro," he said. "Fight for Americano. Save he troat from +picaroon." + +The Carib, therefore, could make himself understood in English, and he +was eager to express his personal gratitude for his rescue from pirates +and sharks. + +"Now, señor," said Captain Velasquez, "we will run in and make our +report. After that is done, you may rely upon all that our authorities +can do for you. You will find that Spaniards can be grateful. Señora +Alvarez and Señora Paez wish me to say that their young friend must +soon be at their house." + +Guert expressed his thanks and willingness a little lamely, and the +uppermost thought in his mind was:-- + +"There! I hardly know what I said. I'll pick up every Spanish word I +can get hold of, while I'm among 'em." + +"Pull back hard!" said Up-na-tan. "Vine lose no time. Ole chief see +men jump around on frigate. See go to capstan. Come out soon." + +He had a red man's eye for signs, and nothing escaped him. None of his +companions, not even Coco, had noticed the fact that a number of +British sailors were going aloft, or that there were men gathering at +the frigate's capstan as if they had designs upon the anchor. + +A very different kind of man, as sharp in some respects as the +Manhattan himself, had all that while been taking observations through +a good telescope. He was in a somewhat weather-beaten uniform of a +British first lieutenant, and he stood on the quarter-deck of the +_Tigress_, reporting to his captain:-- + +"Small boat, sir, from outside the harbor. Yankee-built cutter. Two +American sailors, I take 'em to be. One nigger. One mulatto, I'd say. +Now they are meeting a boat from the Spanish trader that's coming in. +Of course, sir, there's a rebel craft o' some sort somewhere outside, +waiting to know if it's safe to come in." + +"All right, Mackenzie," replied the captain of the _Tigress_. "We must +catch her. Up anchor!" + +"Ay, ay, sir," said Mackenzie, "but no canvas out till that Yankee +scout-boat gets away. They needn't suspect we're after em." + +"Trust your head, my boy," replied his bluff commander. "You're a +sea-fox, my dear fellow, but you won't steal a march on any Yankee, +right away. They're as cunning as Mohawks. Speak that Spaniard, if +she comes within hail." + +That was precisely what the captain of the _Santa Teresa_ had decided +not to do, if he could help it. The moment he was again on board of +his own ship, he took the helm himself, and he made as wide a sheer +easterly as he could. Owing to the channel and the position of the +_Tigress_, however, the best he could do was to escape miscellaneous +conversation. He could not quite avoid coming within speaking-trumpet +range. The hoarse hail of the British lieutenant reached him clearly +enough. + +"Ship ahoy! What ship's that?" + +"_Santa Teresa_. Barcelona to Porto Rico. Passengers and cargo. What +ship's that?" + +"His Britannic Majesty's _Tigress_, Captain Frobisher," replied +Mackenzie. "You've seen rough weather, eh? One o' your sticks gone?" + +"Knocked out," returned Velasquez. "We were mauled by a buccaneer. We +got away from him." + +"Where did you leave the American?" was the lieutenant's next question, +made as confidently as if he had actually seen the _Noank_. "What is +she, anyhow?" + +The Spanish captain was silent for a moment in utter astonishment. How +could the Englishman have known anything about it? His very surprise, +however, defeated his prudence, and he answered:-- + +"Heavy schooner, bound in. She won't try it, now you are here." + +"All right," came cheerily back; "I saw you send her a pilot. I'll +report you." + +"Caramba!" shouted Velasquez, in sudden anger. "Report! I hope your +American rebels will beat you on land and sea! They have my good will, +with all my heart!" + +"That's so, I declare!" exclaimed the British officer, lowering his +glass. "I might have known it. It's the old grudge between England +and Spain. No wonder the Yankees get away from us as they do. All the +American colonies are in league together against all Europe. We'll +hunt down that Yankee schooner, though, in spite of 'em. Humph! To be +snubbed in this way by the skipper of a Barcelona trader! I'll report +him! What's the world coming to!" + +The _Santa Teresa_, under very light canvas, was now making her slow +way to her wharf, to which her arrival signals had already summoned a +growing throng of expectant people. Among these, of course, were the +mercantile men who were interested in the ship and her cargo, and many +more were the friends and relatives of her crew and passengers. +Besides these, there were naval, military, and custom-house officials, +and persons who were eager for the latest news from Europe. + +As the _Santa Teresa_ floated nearer, hats and handkerchiefs began to +wave on board and on the shore. The first words that were sent +landward, however, were in the tremendously excited treble of old +Señora Paez. + +"Praise God!" she called out. "Praise to Our Lady! We were rescued +from the pirates! We were saved from death by an American privateer! +God bless the Americans and give them their freedom!" + +Little she knew and less she cared that her enthusiastic utterances +were heard by loyal subjects of the king of England. Hardly a cable's +length away was anchored a stout corvette of twenty-eight guns, whose +officers and men, up to that moment, had been observing the new arrival +quite listlessly. + +Instantly, now, there began a stir on board of her, and a boat prepared +to put off to the _Santa Teresa_ upon an errand of inquiry. Before it +could be lowered, however, the corvette herself was hailed by a boat +from the _Tigress_. + +"Up anchor, is it? Yankee trader outside?" was half angrily thrown +back at that boat's message. "Ay, ay! we're coming. You may tell +Captain Frobisher it isn't any trader. It's one of those Connecticut +pirates. We've learned that right here.--All hands away! Up anchor, +lieutenant! That old woman has told us what we're going to do." + +Swiftly indeed the questions and answers were exchanging between the +crowded wharf and the thrilling news-bringers on the _Santa Teresa_. +Loud and repeated were the cheers for _los Americanos_ and their plucky +little cruiser. The British consul at Porto Rico was one of the +listeners, and he muttered discontentedly:-- + +"The rebels will get all the help and information they need. Not an +English merchant keel in port or due here would be safe if it weren't +for the _Tigress_ and the _Hermione_. Think of it! Six cargoes ready +to go out, and they'll all have to run the Yankee gantlet. There may +be more than one privateer, you know." + +Straight to the wharf steered the _Santa Teresa_. No sooner was her +gang-plank out than her passengers poured over it to be welcomed after +the exuberant Spanish fashion. + +The _Tigress_, away out at the harbor mouth, was already under way, and +the _Hermione_ would soon follow her. There was a change in the state +of feeling on board the frigate, however, after the return of the boat +from the corvette. + +"A privateer, they say?" said Captain Frobisher. "That's bad. She +beat off a pirate for the Spaniard? What do you make of that, +Mackenzie?" + +"It's easy to read, sir," replied his foxy second in command. "It's as +plain as print. The Americans are wiser than we are. They know enough +to carry heavy guns. Not many of 'em, I take it, but altogether too +much metal for any of these murderous picaroons." + +"I'm glad they were, my boy," said the captain, heartily. "I hope they +sent the devils to the bottom. I'm afraid we're to have trouble with +those fellows, my boy. They can't face our cruisers, to be sure, but +they may play havoc with our merchant marine. The admiralty must take +severe measures with some of them." + +"We'll try and do that ourselves with this one out yonder," said the +lieutenant, but his duties called him away, and he did not explain +precisely what was in his angry mind concerning the _Noank_. + +That very saucy little man-of-war was not trying to look any further +into the guarded harbor of Porto Rico. Vine Avery and his crew had +returned with their report of danger. They also reported whatever they +had learned of the British merchant craft, and Captain Avery had, +therefore, several things to think of. + +"Now, Pedro," he said to the Carib pilot, "what next?" + +"Run into lagoon to-night," said Pedro. "_Noank_ get through inlet at +low water. British ship stick on bar. Schooner come out again when +captain say ready. Safe!" + +"I understand that," said the captain, thoughtfully. "Our draft will +let us in. Almost any British man-o'-war would draw too much." + +"No!" replied the Carib; "captain wrong. High water on bar, deep +enough for small corvette. All right. British no find channel, Deep +water inside reef." + +"That's it, is it?" said the captain. "Then the sooner we are through +that channel, the better. All sail on, Sam. Let her go!" + +The crew had already crowded around Guert Ten Eyck and his friends to +hear what they had to tell. There did not seem to be anything like +disappointment among them. They had expected to hear of British +cruisers here away. They had known, all along, that only by sharp and +daring work could they hope to find or capture their intended prizes. + +"What do you think, Sam?" asked the captain, as soon as the _Noank_ was +once more flying along. "Doesn't this begin to look a little squally?" + +"Well, no," said the mate, soberly. "It looks like we'd best lie low +for a while, that's all. What I'm thinkin' of is this. What if this +Carib's lagoon and the channel into it are known to the British, or if +they should be discovered while we're cooped up in there? They'd be +sure to come in after us in boats. Most likely they'd come at night. +We must make calculations on that." + +"That's what we can do," growled the captain. "A boat attack'd stand +for hard fightin'. I ain't so sure the chances would be against us. +I'll tell you what, Sam Prentice, all that's left of a gang o' boats +won't be enough to board and carry the _Noank_." + +"Not if we're watchin'," said Sam. + +"We won't stay in any longer'n we can help," said the captain. "I'm +hopin' we are to get the right kind of information from the Spaniards." + +"Not from their authorities," grimly responded the mate. "They won't +do anything to make trouble between them and the British. Porto Rico +is buildin' up a prime Liverpool trade just now." + +"Sam!" exclaimed his friend, "you don't know human natur'! After a +Porto Rico planter has been paid for his sugar, he doesn't care a +copper what harbor it goes to. Besides, I'll bet on the _Santa Teresa_ +people. I took 'em for the right kind all 'round." + +"I'm glad they're safe, anyhow," said Prentice. "That puts me in mind +of another thing, Lyme. I kind o' like it that we're not to run into +Porto Rico first thing. The Spanish lawyers might put in a claim on +Groot and get him shot or hung. I've talked with him. He isn't a bad +sort of Dutchman." + +"We'll take care of him," said the captain. "Only man we saved. Prime +good seaman. He'll be one more first-rate fighter, too, when we need +him." + +So the _Noank_ sped on, and the two British men-of-war came sailing out +of the harbor to chase her. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PRIZE FOR THE NOANK. + +"It doesn't take long to see all there is on one of these plantations," +said Guert Ten Eyck to himself. "It's the laziest kind of place, +though. I haven't seen a man in a hurry since I came here." + +He was standing in a wide veranda which ran along the entire front, at +least, of a long, two-story, fairly well-built house. There were +well-kept gardens, with noble trees and shrubbery, and all the veranda +was shadowy with climbing vines. It was the old Paez plantation house, +and was also the present home of Señor Alvarez and his family. + +"It's all very fine," Guert had remarked of it. "They're as rich as +mud, but I wouldn't live here for anything. What if the _Noank_ should +manage to get away without me on board of her?" + +That was a black idea which seemed almost to make him shudder. He had +remained here as a favored guest for over a fortnight. During these +days of his Spanish plantation experiences, the _Noank_ had been idly +rocking at her anchor in the sheltered cove to which her Carib pilot +had steered her. + +The two British war-ships had been cruising to and fro in a fruitless +search for her, and their commanders were more than a little chagrined +at their ill success, for they were firmly convinced that she could not +be far away. + +Guert had visited the shore, and his friends, in turn, had visited him, +to be also liberally entertained at the plantation. Nothing but the +great need for secrecy had prevented more extended inland hospitalities +to the brave _Americanos_ who had destroyed the picaroon. The highest +authorities on the island were quite ready to acknowledge so important +a public service, and no Spaniard, official or otherwise, was at all +likely to help the British capture the _Noank_. + +Guert had been promised information of any change in the prospect for +cruising. He had learned, too, that this kind of lying in ambush was +altogether a customary feature of all piracy or privateering among the +Antilles. Captain Avery had expected it, and had considered himself +fortunate in getting so good a lagoon to lurk in. The _Tigress_ and +the _Hermione_ were enemies which it would not do to trifle with. +Moreover, he had been kept well advised of the goings on in the harbor +of Porto Rico, and he knew all about the English merchantmen who were +discharging or taking in cargoes. One subject in particular had +greatly interested the young American sailor, for there were a great +many dark-skinned laborers upon the Paez and the neighboring +plantations. + +"If all the slaves are as well treated as they are here," Guert had +thought, "they are a great deal better off than they ever were in +Africa. I don't want to see any such thing in America, though. I'm +sorry it's there. We don't want any more slave trade. Too many of 'em +die on the way from Africa." + +His ideas, of course, were very raw and incomplete. He was only a boy, +and he could not see all of the mischief. He had watched the colored +people in their huts, away off behind the plantation house. He had +seen them at work in the fields. They seemed to be fat, merry, and not +at all discontented. As for their Spanish owners, nothing could be +more easy-going and careless than their way of life. Their only +apparent difficulty appeared to be in finding something to do. Guert +himself found enough, for all this thing was entirely new to him. He +enjoyed especially his horseback rides around the country, along forest +roads, and into wonderfully lovely nooks of semi-tropical vegetation. +He was all the while picking up Spanish words with great rapidity, for +there was no other language to be heard, except queer African dialects +among the slaves. He progressed all the better, too, because of having +made a pretty good beginning before coming there. On the whole, +however, his plantation days seemed a long time to look back upon, and +here he stood, in the veranda, disposed to consider his situation +seriously. + +"What!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Could I stay here and think of the +_Noank_ being out there in a fight? My own mother'd be ashamed of me, +if I did!" + +A light hand was on his shoulder, and a soft, kindly voice said to +him:-- + +"My dear young friend! If I were your mother, I should feel as you say +she would. I would have my brave son fighting for his country." + +"O Señora Paez!" said Guert, whirling to look into her venerable face, +"you all have been so good to me! But I cannot stay here while our war +for liberty is going on." + +Before she could speak again, a loud hail came up to them from the +gateway at the road, and a man on horseback dashed in at a gallop. + +"Señora Paez," said Guert, excitedly, "it's Vine Avery! Something's +happened." + +"Guert!" shouted the rider, "we're all ready to sail! Come on! The +coast is clear! Come back with me!" + +"Hurrah! I'm ready," he began. + +"Go, my dear boy!" interrupted the old señora. "I will call them to +say good-by to you. I would not detain you if you were my son. It is +your duty!" + +Quickly enough, the Alvarez household gathered to say farewell to their +young guest. They were all brimming with hospitality. They urged him +to come again and to consider their house his home. Nevertheless he +could see, plainly enough, that not one of them dreamed of detaining +him, now. They understood that his post of honor was behind the guns +of the _Noank_, and they would have despised him if he had not felt +just as he did. + +A horse was brought, and Señor Alvarez himself rode with Vine and Guert +to the seashore, less than ten miles away. That distance was galloped +rapidly. A boat was at the beach with a sailor from the _Noank_ in it, +and in a minute or so more it had three rowers. Loud and sincere were +the last grateful farewells from the señor on the beach. As hearty +were the good wishes sent back from the boat, but Guert's heart was +thrilling as it had not thrilled during all his peaceful weeks at the +Paez plantation. + +There, yonder, at the mast of his beautiful schooner, floated the stars +and stripes, the banner of freedom. There, waiting for him to rejoin +them, were his own brave captain and the crew that seemed to him as his +kindred. Away out yonder, outside of all these reefs and keys and +ledges, was the great ocean. + +"Hurrah, Vine!" he shouted. "Hurrah for a cruise and fights and +prizes!" + +"We're bound to have 'em!" said Vine. + +As they pulled along, moreover, he told Guert that one of the sailors +of the _Santa Teresa_ had come all the way from Porto Rico in a rowboat +to tell Captain Avery a lot of news that the captain had as yet kept to +himself. + +"It looks to me," said Vine, "as if we had some work all cut out for +us." + +"That's what we want," said Guert. + +"I tell you what, though," said Vine, "the queerest feller on board the +schooner is that Dutchman, Groot. He asks after you every now and +then. Do you know, he actually ventured to go right into Porto Rico +twice. I don't s'pose anybody he saw there suspected him of being a +pirate." + +"Well," said Guert, "he never was one, exactly. Here we are, Vine. I +guess I'll have a talk with him." + +The boat was at the side of the _Noank_, and a score of well-known +faces were at the rail. + +"On board with you!" called out Sam Prentice. "The anchor's comin' in. +There's no time to be wasted." + +Other orders followed, and Guert sprang away to his duties feeling a +good deal more like himself than if he were watching slaves in a +tobacco-field. + +Very secure indeed had been that bit of a landlocked harbor on the +island coast. Its entrance was a mere narrow canal, so to call it, +between dangerous reefs on either side. No deep-draft British vessel +could pass through that channel; even the _Noank_ was compelled to take +it at high water because of its bars. + +"Captain Avery," asked Guert, after delivering the messages of good +will from his Spanish friends, "didn't you say that the British might +have come in and carried the schooner in boats?" + +"Ye-es, I did," drawled the captain. "That's the reason why I anchored +her jest in that spot. I kept a sharp lookout, you see, on that there +p'int o' rocks yonder. Our guns were kept trained on this channel, all +the time. We were all prepared then to knock their boats to flinders +as they got in to about here. Not one of 'em'd ever pulled past this +'ere twist in the channel, when it opens into the lagoon." + +Guert's question was answered, and he had a higher idea than ever of +the remarkable fitness of Lyme Avery to conduct the business of the +privateer _Noank_. + +"I see it," he thought. "They'd ha' been smashed by a raking fire at +short range. It would ha' been awful!" + +The schooner had but little canvas spread as yet, and she picked her +way carefully, slowly; but the channel was not a long one, after all. + +"Out at sea!" exclaimed Guert, with a long breath of relief, at last. +"Seems to me as if I'd been on shore a year. I was getting pretty sick +of it." + +"Lyme Avery," remarked his mate, as more sails were spreading, "it +looks to me as if we were goin' to have a rough night. We'd better git +well away from the coast." + +"We'll do that," replied the captain, "and we'll run along in the track +o' that Liverpool trader. She has pretty nigh a day the start of us." + +"I understand that," thought Guert, overhearing them. "We're in for a +race. We may be chased ourselves, too. It doesn't look to me as if a +storm's coming, but they read weather signs better'n I can." + +"Come," said a low voice in his ear; "I want to talk with you." + +The summons was spoken in Dutch, such as Guert had been accustomed to +hear in old days upon Manhattan Island. Somehow or other the sound of +it was very pleasant to him. He turned even eagerly to follow Groot, +and was led forward almost to the heel of the bowsprit. + +"Now, my boy," said the escaped pirate, "we are by ourselves. I know +you like a book. I have talked with Coco and Up-na-tan. They say you +know all about their having been freebooters, long ago. They call it +Kidd business. Now, I never was really one of that kind, but there are +ways for one buccaneer to know another, soon as he sees him, or talks +with him." + +"Yes," replied Guert, "they say so. It's by handgrips and signs and +words. I know some of 'em now." + +He and the Dutchman shook hands, and Guert said what he knew. + +"That's well enough for a beginning," said Groot, "but you must know it +all. It might save your life some day. It saved mine when they +captured me. I'll teach you. I mean to keep company with you and +those two old fellows. I owe you my life." + +"Vine helped, too," said Guert. "I'm glad we hauled you aboard. The +sharks were pretty close behind you just then. Oh! But wasn't it +awful! I wish we'd saved more of 'em." + +"You couldn't," said Groot. "They'd only ha' been turned over to the +law, if you had. They were all sharks, too, nearly all. Worst kind. +Some weren't quite as bad as the rest, perhaps. Never mind them, now. +Let's attend to this business." + +Guert was willing enough, although Groot laughed, and said it made a +kind of pirate of him. + +"We'll practise now and then," he told him. "Now, some wouldn't +believe it, but I met more than a score of regular picaroons, living at +their ease in Porto Rico. Some of them are rich, too, and don't mean +to go to sea any more. For all that, they're always ready to give +information or any other help to sea-rovers like themselves." + +Guert was all the while learning a great deal, and this addition to his +stock of knowledge hardly surprised him. + +"I see," he thought. "It's a kind of matter of course. It would be a +good deal stranger if it wasn't so. Those that get away rich don't +care to run any more risks. Besides, if such fellows hadn't signs and +passwords already, they'd set right to work and invent some. Even +regular armies have passwords and countersigns, and all the ships have +signals." + +He was thinking of that sort of thing when the dark came on. The wind +was strengthening, and there were clouds rushing across the sky to +vindicate Sam Prentice's prophecy concerning the weather. + +"He was right, I guess," thought Guert. "Hullo! What's the captain up +to?" + +Captain Avery was standing at the mainmast, and he had just touched off +a rocket that went fizzing up to its bursting place. + +"I wonder who'll see it," thought Guert. + +Far away in the deepening gloom to leeward, at that moment, the first +lieutenant of the _Tigress_, watching upon her quarter-deck, +exclaimed:-- + +"Captain! One more of our cruisers! She'll come within hail before +long. That's it! I hope we're going to be relieved. I'm sick and +tired of this West India station." + +"So am I!" said the captain, heartily. "Reply to that signal. Give +'em our own number. Draw 'em this way." + +His signal officer responded promptly, and more than one rocket went up +from the _Tigress_. Her commander was much chagrined, however, for he +received no response to give him the information he expected of the +character of the newcomer. + +Moreover, as far away from the _Noank_ as he was, but in a directly +opposite line, to windward, at the same time, the English skipper of a +fine, bark-rigged merchantman, just out from Porto Rico, felt +exceedingly gratified. She was a craft of which Captain Avery had no +knowledge whatever up to that moment. + +"Hey!" shouted the skipper. "See that? One more of our cruisers close +at hand, beside the one away off to looard. I'll send up a light to +let 'em know where we are." + +Captain Avery had not really asked so much of him, but that was +precisely what his unnecessary rocket did. + +"Lyme!" exclaimed Sam Prentice, as the shining stars fell out of the +flying firework from the bark. "I declare! They told us that feller +wouldn't sail for three days yet, and there he is. He's goin' to be +our surest take, Captain." + +"All right," replied the captain. "Not to-night, though. We'll just +foller him along till mornin'. Then we'll put a prize crew into him +and send him to New London. We're much obliged to him for callin' on +us." + +"I guess we're sure of him," said Sam, "but we'd better look out for +our sticks and canvas, first." + +That was what every vessel in that neighborhood was compelled to do +during the gale which began to blow. + +"She stands it first-rate," said Guert to Up-na-tan, an hour or so +later. "Tell you what, though, I feel a good deal better than I did on +shore." + +"Boy talk Spanish," replied the Manhattan. "Talk him all while. Learn +how. Boy not know much, anyhow." + +The red man had all along deemed it his duty to impress upon the mind +of his young friend the idea that he was only a beginner, an ignorant +kind of sea apprentice with all his troubles before him. After that +there followed a watch below, another on deck, and then the morning sun +began to do what he could with the flying rack of clouds and spray and +mist that was driving along before the gale. + +"Vine," asked Guert, "has anything more been seen of that trader!" + +"Can't you see?" said Vine. "There she is. We're to wind'ard of her, +now. She's answering father's signals, first-rate. We owe all that +luck to Luke Watts and his private signal-book." + +Nevertheless, the skipper of the bark was even then expressing much +perplexity of mind as to what the _Noank_ might be and where from. He +did not exactly like her style. It was peculiar, he said, as the +morning went on and the gale began to subside, that the seemingly +friendly schooner, answering signals so well, should keep the same +course with himself, all the while drawing nearer. + +"She outsails us," he remarked. "We can't get away from her. I wish +the corvette or the frigate were in sight." + +Both of them had vanished. They had tacked toward Porto Rico and the +officers of the _Tigress_, in particular, were keeping a sharp lookout +for the newly arrived British man-of-war that had burned rockets so +very promisingly in the night. + +"It's all right, Lieutenant," remarked Captain Frobisher. "The gale +has carried her along finely. We shall find her in port when we get +there." + +"I wish we may!" growled the very sharp lieutenant, "but I don't like +it. I didn't exactly make out the reading of that second rocket. +Perhaps a lubber sent it up. We'll see." + +On went the schooner and the bark without any outside observers. Down +sank the tired-out gale, and the sun broke through the clouds. + +"Coco!" shouted Captain Avery, at last, "haul down that lobster flag +and run up the stars and stripes. Vine, give 'em that forward +starboard gun. All hands to quarters! 'Bout ship! Men! she's our +prize!" + +A ringing sound of cheers answered him, and the report of the gun +followed. It was a signal for the Englishman to heave to, and her +captain dashed his hat upon the deck. + +"Caught!" he groaned. "Taken by the rebels! I wish they were all sunk +a hundred fathoms deep." + +Loud, angry voices from all parts of his ship responded with similar +sentiments relating to American pirates, but there could be no thought +of resistance. The bark was hove to, and her flag came down in a hurry +as if to avoid all danger of further shotted cannonading. + +"Ship ahoy!" came loudly across the water. "What bark's that?" + +"Bark _Spencer_, Captain McGrew. Porto Rico for Liverpool. Cargo. No +passengers. Who are you?" + +The answer settled his mind entirely, and in a few minutes more he had +a boat's crew of American sailors on board. + +"Captain McGrew," said Captain Avery, glancing around, "I'm glad you've +no passengers. I'll find out, first, how many of your fellers I can +leave on board with my prize crew, to handle her to New London. Some'd +ruther work ship than be crammed under hatches." + +The British sailors exchanged nods and glances, and their skipper +responded:-- + +"All right! We're a prize, no doubt. We're insured, so far's that +goes. 'Tisn't so bad for the owners. But you'd better tally four +chaps that hid in the hold to keep from being 'pressed into the +_Tigress_. They're not deserters, you know, but they'd as lief keep +away from havin' to answer questions." + +Four stalwart British tars at once stepped forward, and not one of them +"peached" to McGrew that their names were already on the rolls of the +frigate, so that they were much more than halfway deserters. + +"Humph!" said Captain Avery, "I guess I can trust 'em. It saves me +four hands. I'll pick out four more. Captain McGrew, you and the rest +may come on board the schooner. I'll give you a free passage to +France. Treat ye well, too. Hand over your papers. Sam Prentice, +this is your trip home." + +"All right!" almost roared Sam. "I'll carry her safe in. She and her +cargo'll bring us a pile o' shiners. Lyme, she's our first West Injy +luck!" + +"Hurry up, Sam!" said the captain. "Then I'll try for that feller +ahead that led us from Porto Rico. She's along the track, somewhere." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BERMUDA TRADER + +There is a great deal of the humdrum and monotonous in the day after +day life and work upon a ship at sea. Even if the ship is a cruiser +and if there is a continuous watching for and study of all the other +sails that appear, that too may grow dull and tiresome. + +There were many days of such unprofitable watching from the outlooks of +the _Noank_, after her first unexpected good fortune. She had somehow +failed to overtake that sought-for Porto Rico merchantman. The gale +had favored an escape, and so had the delay occasioned by the pursuit +and capture of the _Spencer_. Since then, carrying all the sail the +varying winds would let him, Captain Avery had sailed persistently on, +hoping for that prize or for another as good. There had been topsails +reported, from time to time, between him and the horizon, and from two, +at least, of those, he had cautiously sheered away, not liking their +very excellent "cut." There might be tiers of dangerous guns away down +below them and he did not want any more guns,--heavy ones. + +"I said," he remarked, a little dolefully, "that I'd foller that +sugar-boat all the way to Liverpool, and I've only 'bout half done it. +I'm goin' ahead. There's no use in tryin' back toward Cuba, now. +We'll take a look at the British coast, pretty soon; France, too, and +Ireland, maybe Holland. We'll see what's to be had in the channels." + +Everybody on board was likely to be satisfied with that decision, +especially the British prisoners from the _Spencer_. As for these, the +sailor part of them were already on very good terms with their captors, +not caring very much how or in what kind of craft they were to find +their way back to England. They were a happy-go-lucky lot of +foremastmen with strong prejudices, of course, against all Yankee +rebels, but with thoroughly seamanlike ideas that they had no right to +be sulky over the ordinary chances of war. They had not really lost +much, and their main cause of complaint was their very narrow quarters +on board the _Noank_. They had not the least idea that a change in +this respect was only a little ahead of them, but a great improvement +was coming. + +Day had followed day, and the ocean seemed to be in a manner deserted. +A feeling of disappointment seemed to be growing in the mind of Captain +Avery, and he had half forgotten how very good a prize the _Spencer_ +had been. + +"This 'ere is dreadful!" he declared. "I'm afraid we're not goin' to +make a dollar. What few sails we've sighted have all been Dutch or +French. I want a look at the red-cross flag again." + +"Well, yes," thought Guert, "but I guess he doesn't want to see it on a +man-o'-war. I feel a good deal as he does, though. I'll get Vine to +lend me a glass. I've hardly had a chance to play lookout." + +Vine let him have the telescope, of course, but Up-na-tan and Coco came +at once to see what he would do with it. He pulled it out to its +length and began to peer across the surrounding ocean. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Boy fool! No stay on deck. Go up mast. +Maintop. Then mebbe see something. No good eye!" + +"Git up aloft, Guert!" added Coco. "Never mine ole redskin. Think he +go bline, pretty soon. Can't see lobster ship." + +That may have referred to the fact that they had served as lookouts, +that morning, until they were weary of it, and Up-na-tan had lost his +temper. They grinned discontentedly as they saw their young friend go +aloft. He had now become well accustomed to high perches, and was +beginning to regard himself as an experienced sailor for that kind of +small cruiser. He felt very much at home in the maintop, and even +Captain Avery glanced up at him approvingly. + +"He must learn how," he remarked, as he saw Guert square himself in his +narrow coop and adjust the telescope. + +"Ugh!" suddenly exclaimed the Indian. "Boy see! Wish ole chief up +there heself." + +The others had not noticed so closely, and Guert was not apparently +excited. He was gazing steadily in one direction, however, instead of +hunting here and there, as he had done at first. + +"Isn't a telescope wonderful?" he was thinking. "It brings that flag +close up. I can see that her foremast is gone. That looks like +another sail, away off beyond her. More than one of 'em. Maybe it's a +fleet." + +A lurch of the _Noank_ compelled him to lower his glass and grasp a +rope, while he leaned over to shout down his wonderful discoveries. + +"Hurrah!" yelled Vine. "Good for Guert!" + +"Hard a-lee, then!" roared Captain Avery to the man at the helm. +"Ready about! Strange sail to looard! Up-na-tan, that long gun! +Clear for action!" + +It was all very well for him to shout rapid orders and for the crew to +bring up powder and shot so eagerly, and get the schooner ready for a +fight. It was also well for the captain to go aloft and take the glass +himself. He could see more than Guert could. But what was the good of +it all when the wind was dying? + +There was hardly air enough to keep the sails from flapping. A +schooner could do better than a square-rigged vessel under such +circumstances, but that wind was an aggravating trial to a ship-load of +excited privateersmen. + +Captain McGrew had been permitted to come on deck, and Guert, as he +reached the deck from aloft, was half sure that he had heard the +Englishman chuckling maliciously, then heard him mutter:-- + +"The Bermuda ships never sail home without a strong convoy. These +chaps'll catch it." + +When Captain Avery himself came down and the opinion of the _Spencer's_ +captain was reported to him, he said:-- + +"From Bermuda, eh? That's likely. We're not far out o' their course, +I'd say. Who cares for convoy? I don't. This feller nighest us is +crippled and left behind. If it wasn't for this calm, my boy--" + +There he became silent and stood still, staring hungrily to leeward. + +Perhaps his manifest vexation was enjoyed by his English prisoner, but +Captain McGrew very soon put on a graver face, for the sharp-nosed +_Noank_ was all the while slipping along, and the ship she was steering +toward was almost as good as standing still. So must have been any +heavier craft, warlike or otherwise. + +An hour went by, another, and the deceptive British merchant flag still +fluttered from the rigging of the _Noank_. The strange sail had made +no attempt to signal her and there had been a reason for it. She had +her own sharp-eyed lookouts, and these and her officers had been +studying this schooner to windward of them. + +"She's American built," they had said of her. "Most likely she's one +of the _Solway's_ prizes. The old seventy-four has picked up a dozen +of them. She ought not to be coming this way though. She's running +out of her course." + +There was something almost suspicious about it, they thought. It might +be all right, but they were at sea in war time, and there was no +telling what might happen. + +"She'll be within hail inside of five minutes," they said at last. +"We've signalled her now, and she doesn't pay us any attention. It +looks bad. Her lookouts haven't gone blind." + +Not at all. Captain Avery was anything but shortsighted. His glass +had recently informed him that a huge hulk of some sort, only the +topsails of which had been seen at first, was steadily drifting nearer. + +"Answer no hail!" he had ordered. "We must board her without firing a +gun." + +Not for firing, therefore, but for show only, the pivot-gun threw off +its tarpaulin disguise, and the broadside sixes ran their threatening +brass noses out at the port-holes, while the British flag came down and +the stars and stripes went up. + +"Heave to, or I'll sink you!" was the first hail of Captain Avery. +"What ship's that?" + +"_Sinclair_, Bermuda, Captain Keller. Cargo and passengers. We +surrender!" came quickly back. "We are half disabled now. +Short-handed." + +"All right," said the captain. "We won't hurt you. We'll grapple and +board." + +The _Sinclair_ was more than twice the size of the _Noank_. She +carried a few good-looking guns, too. The grappling irons were thrown; +the two hulls came together; the American boarders poured over her +bulwarks, pike and cutlass in hand, ready for a fight. All they saw +there to meet them, however, was not more than a score of sailors, of +all sorts, and a mob of passengers, aft. Some of these were weeping +and clinging to each other as if they had seen a pack of wolves coming. + +"I'm Captain Keller," said the nearest of the Englishmen. "You're too +many for us. We couldn't even man the guns. Five men on the sick +list." + +He seemed intensely mortified at his inability to show fight, and he +instantly added:-- + +"Besides, man alive! six Bermuda planters and their families! They all +expect that you're going to make 'em walk the plank." + +"That's jest what we'll do!" replied Captain Avery. "We'll cut their +throats first, to make 'em stop their music. I'll tell you what, +though. I've a lot of English fellers that I want to get rid of. No +use to me. You can have 'em, if you'll be good. Captain McGrew, fetch +your men over into this 'ere 'Mudian! I don't want her." + +"All right! We're coming!" called back the suddenly delighted +ex-skipper of the _Spencer_. "What luck this is!" + +"Now, Captain Keller," said Avery, "we'll search for cash and anything +else we want. Are you leakin'?" + +"No," said the Englishman, "we're tight enough. We were damaged in a +gale, that's all. There's one of our convoy, off to looard,--the old +_Solway_. She lost a stick, too." + +"We won't hurt her," said Avery. "What did that old woman yell for?" + +"Why," said Keller, "one o' those younkers told her you meant to burn +the ship and sell her to the Turks. But the best part of our cargo, +for your taking, is coming up from the hold." + +The two grim old salts perfectly understood each other's dry humor, and +Keller's orders had been given without waiting for explanations. + +"Hullo!" said Avery. "Well, yes, I'd say so! There they come! How +many of 'em?" + +"Forty-seven miserable Yankees," said Keller. "The _Solway_ took 'em +out of a Baltimore clipper and another rebel boat. She stuck 'em in on +us to relieve her own hold. They were to be distributed 'mong the +Channel fleet, maybe. You may have 'em all. It's a kind of fair +trade, I'd say." + +At that moment the two ships were ringing with cheers. The _Spencer_ +Englishmen, the short-handed crew of the _Sinclair_, and, most +uproariously of all, the liberated American sailors, who were pouring +up from the hold, let out all the voices they had. It was an +extraordinary scene to take place on the deck of a vessel just captured +by bloodthirsty privateers. The women and children ceased their +crying, and then the men passengers came forward to find out what was +the matter. Ten words of explanation were given, and then even they +were laughing merrily. The dreaded pirate schooner had only brought +the much needed supply of sailors, and there was no real harm in her. + +A search below for cash and other valuables of a quickly movable +character was going forward with all haste, nevertheless, while the +liberated tars of both nations transferred themselves and their effects +to either vessel. + +"Not much cash," said Captain Avery, "but I've found a couple of extra +compasses and a prime chronometer that I wanted. The prisoners are the +best o' this prize, and how I'm to stow 'em and quarter 'em, I don't +exactly know. We must steer straight for Brest, I think." + +"Captain," said Guert, coming to him a little anxiously, "off to +looard! Boats!" + +The captain was startled. + +"Boats? From the seventy-four?" he exclaimed. "That means mischief! +All hands on board the _Noank_! Call 'em up from below! Tally! Don't +miss a man! Drop all you can't carry!" + +The skipper of the _Sinclair_ was looking contemptuously at his +bewildered passengers. + +"The whimperingest lot I ever sailed with," he remarked of them; and +then he sang out, to be heard by all: "Captain Avery! Did you say you +were going to scuttle my ship, or set her afire?" + +"Both!" responded the captain. "Jest as soon's I get good and ready. +I'll show ye!" + +"You bloodthirsty monster!" burst from one of the older ladies. "All +of you Americans are pirates! Worse than pirates!" + +"Fact, madam!" said he; "but then you don't know how good we are, too. +I'm a kind of angel, myself. Look out yonder, though! See that lot o' +pirate boats from the _Solway_? The captain o' that tub is a +bloodthirsty monster! He eats children, ye know. He's a reg'lar +Englishman!" + +"You brute!" she said; and then, as the commander of the _Noank_ was +going over the rail, she added, more calmly; "Why! what an old fool I +am! The Americans are only in a hurry to get away. Our boats are +coming after 'em, and then they'll all be hung." + +"That's it, madam," said Captain Keller. "They're going to get 'em, +too. What I care for most is that we've hands enough now to repair +damages, so we can get you all to Liverpool." + +Off swung the terrible privateer, her much increased ship's company +sending back a round of cheers as she did so. A light puff of air +began to fill the limp sails of the _Sinclair_, and she, too, gathered +headway. + +"Wind come a little more," said Up-na-tan, thoughtfully. "No fight +boat. No hurt 'Muda ship. No sink her." + +The captain overheard him, and he broke out into a hearty laugh. + +"No, you old scalper," he said. "I'm a Connecticut man, I am. I can't +bear to see anything like wastage. What's the use o' burnin' a ship +you can't keep? It's a thing I couldn't do." + +"No take her, anyhow," said the Indian. "Ole tub too slow. Lobster +ship take her back right away. Ugh! Bad wind!" + +Very bad indeed was that light breeze, and away yonder were the boats +of the _Solway_ coming steadily along in a well-handled line. + +"They're dangerous looking, sir," said Groot, the Dutch ex-pirate, +after a study of them through a glass. "Two of them carry boat guns. +Strong crews. I'd not like to be boarded by them." + +"We won't let 'em board," said the captain. "Thank God, we've a good +deal more'n a hundred men now. I guess Keller'll warn 'em how strong +we are. That may hold 'em back." + +It was a schooner wind, and the _Noank_ was going along, but she was +not travelling so fast as were the vigorously pulled boats. It was a +lesson in sea warfare to watch them and see how perfect was their +discipline and the oar-training of their crews. + +"That's the reason," remarked Captain Avery, "why England rules the +sea. We'll have a navy, some day, and we'll beat 'em at their own +teachin's." + +The rescued prisoners had been having a hard time of it in the hold of +the Bermuda trader, and they were beginning to feel desperate now at +what seemed a prospect of being once more captured by the enemy. They +went to the guns, and they armed themselves like men who were about to +fight for their very lives. There was one piece that they were not +allowed to touch, however, for Up-na-tan himself was behind the +pivot-gun. He and Groot, in consultation, seemed to be carefully +calculating the now rapidly diminishing distance between the schooner +and the British boat-line. + +This reached the _Sinclair_ speedily, and its delay there was only long +enough for reports and explanations. + +"That's her armament, is it?" the lieutenant in command had said to +Keller. "Stronger than I expected, but we can take her. Forward, all! +She won't think of resisting us. Give her a gun to heave to!" + +The longboat in which he stood carried a snub-nosed six-pounder, and +its gunners at once blazed away. They had the range well, and their +shot went skipping along only a few fathoms aft of the _Noank's_ stern. + +"Father," exclaimed Vine, "it won't do to let that work go on. We +might be crippled." + +"Give it to 'em, Up-na-tan!" shouted the captain. "Men! We won't be +taken! We'll fight this fight out!"' + +Loud cheers answered him, but it was Groot, the pirate, who was now +sighting the long eighteen, and he proved to be a capital marksman. + +"Ugh! Longboat!" said Up-na-tan. "Now!" + +Away sped the iron messenger, so carefully directed, but not one +British sailor was hurt by it. It did but rudely graze the larboard +stern timber of the _Solway's_ longboat at the water line. + +"Thunder!" roared the astonished lieutenant. "A hole as big as a +barrel! If they haven't sunk us!" + +The nearest boats on either hand pulled swiftly to the rescue, but that +boat-gun would never again be fired. The other gun, in the _Solway's_ +pinnace, spoke out angrily, and, curiously enough, it had been charged +with nothing but grape-shot. All of this was what Captain Avery might +have described as wastage, for it was uselessly scattered over the sea. + +Loud were the yells and cheers on board the _Noank_ as her crew saw +their most dangerous antagonist go under water, sinking all the faster +because of the heavy cannon. Of course, the sailors whose boat had so +unexpectedly gone out from under them were all picked up, but not one +of them had saved pike or musket. The attacking force had therefore +been diminished seriously, and there had also been many minutes of +delay. + +"Captain," said Groot, "I'll send another pill among them, whiles +they're clustered so close together." + +"Not a shot!" sharply commanded Captain Avery. "I'm thinkin'! Men! +It's more'n likely there are 'pressed Americans on those boats. I +won't risk it. We must get away." + +"Ay, ay, sir," came heartily back from many voices. "Let 'em go." + +That was what saved the really beaten British tars from any more heavy +shot, and the _Noank_ was all the while increasing her distance. The +only remaining danger to her now was the mighty _Solway_, and her +sails, full set, could be seen and studied by the glasses on the +schooner. + +"She's the first big ship I ever saw under full sail," said Guert to +Groot. "I've only seen 'em in port." + +"You'd be of little good on her till after you'd served awhile," said +the Dutchman, in his own tongue. "It isn't even every British captain +that can handle a seventy-four as she ought to be handled." + +Whoever was in charge of the _Solway_ now, she was sailing faster than +the _Noank_, and things were looking badly. So said one of his old +neighbors to Captain Lyme Avery, only to be answered by a chuckle. + +"Jest calc'late," he added, quite cheerfully. "A starn chase is always +a long chase. They won't be gettin' into range for their best guns +till about dark. Then I'll show ye. Vine, make a barrel raft! Sharp!" + +Up from the hold came quickly a dozen or so of empty barrels, and these +were carpentered together with planks so as to make a skeleton deck. +In the middle of this was rigged a spar like a mast, and the raft was +ready. + +All the sailors believed they knew what was coming. It was an old, +old, trick, as old as the hills, but it might be the thing to try in +this case. + +On came the stately line-of-battle ship, as the shadows deepened. She +was slowly gaining in spite of the _Noank_ having every inch of her +canvas spread. She would soon be near enough to fly her bow chasers. +If these were heavy enough, there would then be nothing left the +American privateer but prompt surrender. The next half-hour was, +therefore, a time of breathless anxiety. + +"It's almost dark enough, now," said Captain Avery, at last, with a +cloudy face. "Over with the raft, Vine; I'm goin' to try somethin' +new." + +Over the side it went and it floated buoyantly, with a large, lighted +lantern swinging at the tip of its pretty tall mast. At the foot of +that spar, however, had been securely fastened a barrel of powder, with +a long line-fuse carried from it up several feet along the upright +stick. + +"If that light fools him at all," said the captain, "it'll gain us half +an hour and five miles. If it doesn't, why, then we're gone, that's +all. Now, Coco, due nor'west! Keep her head well to the wind. We +shall pass that seventy-four within two miles." + +It was a daring game to play, taking into account British night-glasses +and heavy guns, to tack toward a line-of-battle ship in that manner. + +On the _Solway_, however, there had been a feeling of absolute +certainty as to overtaking the schooner. She had been in plain view, +they said, up to the moment when her crew so foolishly swung out a +lantern. It was a mere glimmer, truly, but it would do to steer by. +It was many minutes afterward that an idea suddenly flashed into the +experienced mind of the British commander. + +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "No Yankee would have held up a light for us +to chase him by. That's a decoy! Hard a-port, there! The rebels'd go +off before the wind. They can't take in an old hand like me." + +Precisely because the _Noank_ had not gone off before the wind, her +seemingly safest course, the _Solway_ was not immediately following +her. More minutes went by, and then there arose a storm of +exclamations on board the seventy-four. + +"Captain," asked an excited officer, "did she blow up?" + +"No," he gruffly responded. "That's only part of the decoy." + +Not all his subordinates agreed with him, however, and it was plainly +his duty to carry his ship past the place of the now vanished light and +of so tremendous an explosion. He did so grumblingly. + +"I know 'em," he said. "It's only some trick or other. They're sharp +chaps to deal with, on land or sea. They're a kind of Indian fighters, +and they're up to anything. Do you know, I believe we've lost her!" + +That was what he had done, or else Captain Lyme Avery had lost the +seventy-four, for when the next morning dawned her lookouts could +discover no sign of the _Noank's_ white canvas between them and the +horizon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NEUTRAL PORT. + +A remarkable place, in the summer of the year 1777, was the old French +harbor of Brest. A not altogether pleasant fame had gathered upon it, +like drifted seaweed, from historically ancient days. It was said to +have been a rendezvous for the old-time vikings of the northern seas, +as it was at this day for the smugglers. All of the town that could be +seen from the harbor wore a shambling, dingy, antiquated appearance. +Its ill-paved, steep, and dirty streets swarmed with an exceedingly +varied and not at all admirable population, although the better classes +were represented. + +Vessels of all sorts were there, as usual, one pleasant afternoon, +going out, coming in, at anchor, or moored to the more or less +tumbledown wharves and piers. The arrival or departure of one ship +more was not an affair to attract especial attention. + +One important feature of the character of the ancient port was that +whatever might be the existing treaties between the kings of France and +Great Britain, Brest was always more or less at war with England. +English sailors were welcome enough, of course, particularly if they +were willing to desert, or had recently been paid off, or were supposed +to be engaged in smuggling. + +Among the vessels at anchor were three French war-ships, one Dutch +cruiser, undergoing repairs, and a smart-looking British corvette that +was lying well out from shore. All of these were under treaty bonds to +keep the peace with each other and with the world in general, but Brest +was also distinguished as a port into which all navies at peace with +France might bring their prizes for condemnation and sale, according to +existing maritime law. + +A little after the noon, the loungers on the piers might have taken +notice, if they would, of a large schooner that was slipping in through +the strongly fortified entrance channel under little more than her +foresail. She either had a French pilot on board or was steered by a +man who knew the harbor, for she went at once to the right spot to drop +her anchor, and a boat shortly put out from her toward the shore. + +"There's a French flag on a Yankee-built schooner," remarked an officer +of the British corvette. "That's because we are here. I'd like to cut +her out, but it wouldn't do. Our war with France hasn't quite begun. +I'm going to see, though, if we can't manage to get some men out of +her." + +He was a burly, bulldog-looking person, and he made other remarks not +at all complimentary to Americans in general, and to one Mr. George +Washington in particular. + +"According to the latest advices," he asserted, "Howe and Cornwallis +are crushing out the Virginia fox's ragamuffins. Burgoyne will take +possession of northern New York and all the New England colonies. Then +the king will have his own again, and we shall see some rebels hung." + +There was, indeed, an increasingly bitter feeling among loyal +Englishmen, caused by what they deemed the needless prolongation of the +war. According to their way of thinking, the rebels were unreasonable +and should long since have given up their useless attempt to escape +from under the rightful rule of the mother country. + +On the deck of the schooner, whether she were French or American, only +a few men were making their appearance, and she seemed to have a great +deal of deck-cargo. It was concerning that, perhaps, that conversation +was going on below, and here, at least, the population was even +excessive. + +"Their glasses'd tell 'em just what we are, Captain Avery," said one +before the boat left, "if we swarmed up." + +"They'll find out, anyhow," said the captain. "Our deck-load must get +ashore at once, before they know too much. It's in the way, too." + +From other remarks that were made, it appeared that the cargo to be +disposed of had been taken from no less than four unfortunate British +merchantmen, and that the schooner had been a long time in gathering +it. Good reasons were also given why the ships themselves had not been +seized as well as the goods. + +The captain was now in the boat, and his face wore a very thoughtful +expression. + +"Groot," he said, "you talk French better'n I do. Keep close and +watch." + +"All the lingoes you ever heard of are talked in Brest," said the +Dutchman. "I've been here for months at a time. You'll have a visitor +from that British corvette, first thing. They won't mind sea law much, +either. They never do, and the French never try to follow 'em up +sharp." + +"Now they've let us run in, I don't care," said the captain. "We've +had pretty narrow escapes gettin' here. It was touch and go, along the +coast." + +Absolute disguise or secrecy was out of the question, perhaps, but when +a boat from the _Syren_ shortly afterward pulled to the side of the +_Noank_ there was no invitation given to come on board. + +"What schooner's this?" roughly demanded the officer of the boat. + +"_Noank_, New London," responded Vine Avery, at the rail. "Assorted +cargo. We ran right in through a fleet of your sleepyheads. Do you +belong to that clumsy corvette, yonder?" + +"Shut your mouth!" snapped the officer. "We'll come for you, yet." + +"Hurrah for the Continental Congress!" said Vine, maliciously. "If +this 'ere wasn't a neutral port we'd board that tub o' yours and take +her home with us. We want some more guns and powder anyhow!" + +"You're a pirate!" roared the officer. "We've a right to take you out +under the French law. You've no protection." + +"Keep your distance," said Vine. "We'll be ready for you when you +come." + +Angry faces were beginning to show behind Vine. The British officer +saw steel points like pikeheads, and he heard threatening exclamations, +only half suppressed. As the representative of a man-of-war, he had an +undoubted right to question the character of any merchant vessel +whatever, and to make her commander exhibit his papers, if the meeting +took place at sea. In harbor, however, under the guns of neutral +forts, the case was different. + +The Englishman had really obtained the information he came after, and +he had no orders to go any further. He knew exactly the character of +this schooner. Even the pike-heads could be read like good +handwriting. He replied to Vine with hardly more than an angry growl +and went back to report to his commander. + +"Privateer, is she?" remarked that gentleman, after hearing him. "I +supposed so. I'd lay the _Syren_ alongside of her, if it wasn't for +getting into hot water with the French and with the admiral. We'll try +for some of her men, on board or on shore, and I'll have that schooner!" + +The younger officer grumbled his readiness to cut out the rebel pirate +that very night, but his wiser superior only laughed at him. + +"There she is," he said, "with her head in the lion's mouth. We +needn't shut our jaws on her till the right minute. Then it will be +one good bite and we'll have her, men, cargo, and all." + +The boat from the _Noank_ reached a wharf, and it had not come there +upon any mere pleasure trip. + +"Short work, now, Groot," said the captain. "If you can't find your +men right away, I'll take a look after mine." + +Away they went, along the water front, until they were halted by Groot +in front of an immense, dingy old warehouse. + +"Opdyke Freres," he read the faded sign over the entrance of it. "They +are here, yet. Brest and Amsterdam. What goods they can't handle in +France, they can in Holland. They'll do the fair thing by us,--so +we'll be sure to come to them again." + +"That's our grip on their honesty, this time," said Captain Avery. + +In two minutes more, the entire boat's crew of the _Noank_ was gathered +in a counting-room in the rear of the warehouse. It looked as if a +hundred generations of spiders had made their webs in its corners, +undisturbed. + +A short, fat man turned upon a high stool at a desk to inquire, in +Dutch:-- + +"Oh! Mynheer Groot! Not hung yet? Is it some new business?" + +Part of Groot's reply was a rapid introduction of his friends, while he +stated their errand. There could be nothing but utter mutual +confidence in such a case, and the head of the house of Opdyke Brothers +was exceedingly outspoken. + +"We take the deck-cargo to-night," he said. "Our lighters will come as +soon as it is dark. You will pay the custom-house men ten thousand +francs down, so they will not know anything about it. I will be there +and one of my brothers. We will take off as much more as we can +to-morrow night. You will go to Amsterdam with your next cargo or +prizes. The British are increasing their guard. Ha, ha! It is war +with them, too, and they take some prizes. We buy of them every now +and then." + +Guert was listening eagerly to all that was said. He was obtaining new +ideas and information as to the manner in which plunder taken at sea by +all sorts of war-ships may be marketed. + +"It's the war law of buccaneering," he thought. "If England and +America were at peace, then our business would be piracy." + +It was not easy to make it seem right, and he gave that up, trying to +settle his conscience with the assertion that it was one of those +things which cannot be helped. + +"It ought to be helped," he thought. "Ships of war ought to do the +fighting and let the unarmed ships go free. I don't like it! But I'm +a privateersman myself, just now." + +Back went the boat to the _Noank_ and Mynheer Opdyke kept his word. It +was a misty night, and before morning there was nothing worth noticing +upon the deck, unless it might be something amidships that was covered +by a tarpaulin. That, however, had been read and understood by the +lookouts in the tops of the British corvette. + +"The privateer carries a pivot-gun," her captain had said. "Three guns +each broadside? Remarkably full crew? All right. She's a dangerous +customer to leave afloat. We must make an end of her." + +That next day was spent on shore by most of the _Noank's_ crew. Not +one of them was willing to remain in Brest, however. The best chance +that the rescued prisoners, for instance, seemed to have for ever +getting home was in the _Noank_. + +"Besides," they said to each other, "some of us may get out in prizes, +before long. We may win prize-money, too." + +One day more went by, and it was near evening when Captain Avery said +to Guert Ten Eyck:-- + +"No, my boy, you won't go ashore again. Our water-casks and the +provisions are coming aboard. The Opdykes have done wonderfully well +by us. I never saw better lighter work. I can't say at what hour we +may be ready to put to sea." + +The British watchers saw all the lighters coming and going. Their +patrol boats now and then pulled very near the schooner, but they had +no right to board her. No doubt they had further plans of their own, +but they were a little slow with them. The truth was, that the Opdykes +deserved the praise given them by Captain Avery. Nobody would have +expected such a rapid discharge of a cargo as they effected. That is, +nobody without visiting the schooner that night and seeing how a +hundred strong men could handle goods. + +"Captain," said Mynheer Opdyke, at last, "you have no time to lose. +The ship for Belfast goes out with the morning tide, and her cargo is a +good one. We put on part of it ourselves, but we insured it pretty +well. I think the corvette is going to pretend to change her +anchorage, and she will slip alongside of you while she's moving." + +"That's what I'm ready for," replied the captain, laughing. "She may +anchor on this very spot as soon as she pleases after this lighter +goes." + +He took a small bag of money that was handed him by the merchant, and +the latter went over the side. + +"Ho, ho!" he chuckled, as he did so. "I make one hundred per cent. +Now I go and report to my British friends that they must take the +American pirate within three days, or she will get away from them. Our +house is on good terms with them." + +That might be, but if it were expected that he would give up profitable +business for friendship's sake, that was expecting altogether too much. + +Very still lay the _Noank_ during the hour that followed. Carefully +muffled were the oars of a small boat that came back to her from a +swiftly rowed scouting expedition. Then it seemed as if her anchor +came up without a sound, and the booms swung away without creaking. No +voices were heard from stem to stern, and a swarm of dark figures +flitted around her deck as if they wore moccasons. + +"Belfast ship gone out," Up-na-tan had reported to Captain Avery. +"Lobster corvette ready to lift anchor. Four lobster boat in water, +now. British think they come and take _Noank_ while all crew ashore. +Think schooner go sleep." + +"Pretty good!" said the captain. "They'd run out to sea with us, then, +and the French'd never do a thing about it. America isn't a power yet, +and England is. Never mind, we're goin' to spile their luck this time." + +The schooner slipped away as if the water had been oiled for her. +There was wind enough and not a great deal more. Every sail she could +spread was in its place, and her breathless crew watched their canvas +feverishly as she sped toward the channel at the harbor mouth. + +Not a great deal of noise had been made on board the _Syren_, as she +lifted her anchor to change her ground. She had a right to do so and +to get a little more out of the way of other ships. She was sending up +only a few sails, however, only just enough to carry her slowly along. +It was as if she moved across the water cautiously, not caring for the +time expended. + +Her commander was justifiably certain of the success of his plans. He +stood upon the quarter-deck, trumpet in hand. His gallant tars, with +pikes and cutlasses ready, but no firearms, the report of which might +be heard by the French on shore, were drawn up in line, waiting for the +order, so soon to come, to board the _Noank_. Splendid men they were, +and the sleeping Americans were to be overcome in the twinkling of an +eye. Four boats were at the sides of the corvette, and into these went +down the expectant boarders, for the crisis was at hand. No orders +were required and the oars dipped rapidly, in perfect unison. The +affair would soon be over. The commander on the corvette's deck was +listening for the shout of onset and of sudden victory. + +"Hullo!" suddenly exclaimed the lieutenant in the bow of the foremost +boat. "Here we are! Where's that schooner?" + +"She's gone, sir!" came loudly from one of the sailors. "Gone +entirely!" + +All the silence was gone also, as the boats dashed on to row uselessly +over the patch of water where the _Noank_ had been seen at sunset. +Orders and exclamations might be uttered noisily now. + +The _Syren's_ captain could hear, and he could understand, but for some +reason he did not seem inclined to make remarks. Most likely he was +thinking, for the first words from his lips were:-- + +"Lieutenant, recall the boats. All hands make sail! We must follow +that privateer. I'm afraid he has two hours the start of us." + +"I'm afraid he's away," growled the lieutenant. "I'd like to know who +gave him his warning." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the captain. "He's after that Belfast liner. We +must follow in her wake, or she'll go to America instead of to Ireland." + +An old, experienced sea-campaigner can sometimes make shrewd +calculations. Not a great while after that and just as the day was +dawning, a bulky three-master, running along in a steady, businesslike +manner, appeared to be almost in danger of being run into by a much +smaller craft which had been following her. The pursuer's flag was +English, and she showed no guns. + +"Schooner ahoy, there!" shouted a voice on the three-master. "Sheer +away, there, or you'll strike us. Port your helm! Port, I say!" + +No direct answer came back, but he heard a hoarse-toned shout of:-- + +"All hands shorten sail! Throw that grappling! Throw the other! Haul +in! Haul taut! Bring us alongside! Hurrah! We have her! Board!" + +So skilfully was it done that there was no great or damaging shock when +the two vessels came together. The grapplings held, the American +sailors pulled mightily, and before the liner's crew who were below +could tumble up to join their comrades on deck there were fifty pikemen +swarming over her bulwarks. + +"We surrender!" was almost the first loud exclamation of the British +skipper. "You're that rebel pirate! Why didn't the _Syren_ catch you!" + +"We weren't there to be caught," called back Captain Avery. "The +_Killarney_ is ours, Captain Syme!" + +"We can't help ourselves! It's the hard fortune of war!" groaned the +astounded Briton. "Do your worst!" + +"No harm to any of you," replied his captor. "We'll put you and your +crew and passengers ashore on the first land we come to. This 'ere +ship, though, is bound for New London." + +It was a time for little talk and for the swiftest kind of action, +while the Belfast liner was made ready for her trip across the Atlantic. + +"I'm glad you find she has water and provisions enough, Vine," said his +father, a little later. "You may have twenty-five of the rescued men. +They are prime fellows. I'd go under easy sail most o' the time. We +won't take out a pound o' the cargo here. Make quick work of gettin' +away, now! We're pretty nigh ready to cast loose." + +Vine and his exceedingly well-pleased two dozen or more of escaped +prisoners of war took possession of the _Killarney_, and about all the +risk before them was that of getting under the guns of some British +cruiser. + +Captain Syme and his crew and passengers, transferred to the _Noank_ +with their baggage, were a very disconsolate company, even when they +were promised a quick trip to the Irish coast, as near Belfast as might +be. + +"Hard luck for us," remarked Syme. "It's that sleepy corvette that's +to blame. I believed I was getting away in good season." + +"So you were," replied Captain Avery. "You couldn't ha' suited us +better. I like the _Syren_, too. She's gone over to our old anchorage +by this time." + +He was mistaken there. The angry, disappointed British commander was +putting on all sail, and his cruiser was bowling along the sea-road +toward Belfast. No sail was in sight ahead of her, and he was fretted +sadly by a suspicion of the truth, that the _Killarney_, with a prize +crew on board, was already headed westward, while the dashing privateer +he had missed was taking a northerly course, favored much by the fine +topsail breeze that was blowing. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A COMING STORM. + +There had been a morning, not many days after the _Noank_ sailed away +from Porto Rico, when the gunners of the seaward battery of Fort +Griswold, New London, ran hastily to their cannon. They put in powder +only, and quickly they were firing a salute of welcome, in response to +the arrival guns of a handsome bark that was entering the harbor mouth. +She was under full sail, she carried the American flag, and with it she +also floated the well-known private signal of Captain Avery and the +_Noank_. + +"Lyme's taken a big prize!" shouted voice after voice in the fort, +while all the people within hearing of the guns understood that they +were roaring good news only. Men in shops dropped their tools. +Teamsters unhitched their horses from loaded sleighs, to mount and +hurry into town. Fishermen pulled in their lines. Women put away +their knitting or left their carding and their looms. Such a rousing +announcement of stirring news from the sea could not be disregarded, +and the excitement grew apace. + +An hour or so later Captain Sam Prentice and some of his men were on +the central wharf, shaking hands with old neighbors until their own +were lame, and telling the story of the old whaling schooner among the +West Indies. + +"Samuel," remarked Rachel Tarns, "thy story promiseth to be a long one. +Thee had better hold thy tongue a moment, and turn thy gray head to see +what cometh behind thee." + +"Sam! Sam! I'm here!" + +"There!" said the old Quakeress, dryly. "It was on my mind that his +wife could stop his talking. So she squeezeth him not to death, he may +then hug his daughters." + +"Glory to God!" shouted good Mrs. Ten Eyck. "My son is safe! Not one +of our men has been killed." + +"Anneke," suggested Rachel Tarns, "thee may also thank Him that they do +not seem to have been led to the killing of other people." + +"That isn't jest so," said Sam; "we saved a ship-load of Spaniards from +some pirates, and we had to kill a good many of the pirates. We didn't +really hurt anybody else." + +"I trust thy God will forgive thee concerning those wicked men," said +Rachel. "He slayeth the wicked in their wickedness. Thee did no +wrong. I think it was a friendly and righteous thing for thee to do. +I once had many that were dear to me murdered at sea by those devilish +destroyers." + +"No mercy for pirates!" shouted more voices than one. + +"We didn't have to show any," said Sam. "I can't tell it, jest now." + +"The ship thou hast taken seemeth a fine one," said Rachel. "How did +thee manage to escape the war vessels of thy good king?" + +"Oh! 'Bout that?" he replied. "We had the best kind of luck. There +wasn't a cruiser off Nantucket. We came along as safe as a mackerel +smack. It was a kind of wonder, though, that we didn't sight a +solitary's king's flag hereaway." + +"That's explained," he was told by a white-headed fisherman. "The +British are goin' after the Continentals down Philadelfy way, and all +their cruisers are called off to Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake. Some +of 'em's ferryin' troops, ye know. We can't say, yit, as to whether or +not Washington has licked 'em. Anyhow, things ain't as bad as they +was." + +Endless news telling was to come, evidently, concerning events on shore +as well as on the sea, and there could be no long lingering at the +wharf. Every sailor that could be spared from the ship had somebody +eagerly waiting for him, and there were many gladdened households that +day. + +"This is getting to be a thieves' harbor," remarked Rachel Tarns to a +group of which she was the centre. "The wicked rebels against our good +king are stealing much. This is the nineteenth British vessel that +hath been brought in hither. I trust that all ships designing to enter +this port under the American flag will arrive safely. It would be a +pity if any of them should be wrecked or otherwise prevented." + +She had other things as kindly to say and sincere wishes to express +concerning whatever shipping might here and there be under the flag of +England. Neither did she forget to extend her benevolence to the tents +in all the camps of George the Third. + +Those who listened to her were plainly in sympathy with all her +friendly or Quakerish aspirations, and it appeared as if she were even +a favorite. + +After that, indeed, as week after week went by, her hopes and wishes +were remarkably fulfilled, for there were other Yankee privateers as +capable and as busy as the _Noank_. Some of them were also much larger +craft with heavier armaments. Prize after prize came in, and there +were New London merchants whose trade promised to rival that of the +ancient house of Opdyke Brothers, of the port of Brest. + +Throughout all New England, throughout the greater part of New York, +there was undisturbed security. The war was touching the northerly +edge of Pennsylvania, and there were savage raids into some districts +of that colony. Large areas of New Jersey were desolated, and so were +parts of South Carolina and Georgia where the Tory element was strong. +The western frontier of New York was severely harried by the Iroquois. +The counties of that state nearest the city of New York were entirely +ruined. + +The farmers of the Mohawk Valley gathered their summer crops safely, +but toward them and toward the rebel stronghold at Albany, where the +legislature was sitting, there was an avalanche of danger coming down +from the north. It was well understood that even the forces under the +British generals in the Middle States were not considered so effective, +so well furnished, so sure of winning speedy victories, as were the +chosen regiments to be led by General Burgoyne for a crushing blow at +the heart of the rebellion. He was to be reënforced by the entire +power of the Six Nations and the Hurons. If he should succeed, as he +and his admirers believed he would, his army would obtain complete +possession of New York and New England. All the other colonies would +then give up in despair, and the Continental army would disband or +surrender. + +The British campaign and its intended consequences were thoroughly +discussed by the New England people, and a considerable number of them +very promptly determined to visit their friends in Albany or in Vermont. + +The shore people were deeply interested, for, in addition to all other +considerations, their entire sea-going fleet was at stake. No more +British prizes would then be brought, for instance, to Boston or New +London, and all the privateers at sea would be hopelessly forfeited to +the crown. All their prizes in European ports would share the same +fate. One, however, was now on its homeward way in charge of Vine +Avery, promoted from third mate to skipper. He was handling his ship +very well, but he as yet knew very little about her cargo. His orders +were to let the taking account of that wait until he should be safe in +port. + +"The main thing," he had been told by his father, "is to git there. +You've a gantlet to run that's thousands o' miles long, and your +chances are only jest about even." + +"I'll make 'em a good deal more'n even!" Vine had replied, and he had +sailed away full confidently. + +Three days after the _Noank_ and the _Killarney_ parted company, there +was a great stir in a fishing village on the Irish coast. A strange +schooner was tacking into the cove in front of the village, and such a +thing as that did not happen every day. All the cabins were emptied at +once. Even the babies, of which there seemed to be a large number, +were carried to the shore by their mothers that they might not lose +this chance to see something. + +The schooner furled her sails, and dropped her anchor, while her +probable or improbable character was undergoing vigorous discussion all +along the beach. Not a soul on board the _Noank_, among her crew, at +least, could have understood the primitive Erse dialect in which the +fisher people told their opinions of her and the boat-loads of men and +women that were quickly put out from her toward the shore. More and +more extraordinary became the clatter after the passengers were landed +and the boats pulled away for their next cargoes. Trip after trip was +made, and all the while there was a vast amount of kindly pity +expressed, most of it in Erse, but much in Irish-English, for Captain +Syme and all his miscellaneous ship's company. Quite an erroneous +opinion appeared to prevail that the American pirates had murdered all +their captives entirely before landing them. + +Here they were, now, however, not a hair of their heads injured, and +Captain Syme even thanked Captain Avery, the privateersman, for having +treated him and his so very well. + +"We shall find our way to Belfast, sir," he said. "Just how we are to +transport them all, I don't know, but the neighboring authorities will +take care of that. I shall have them notified at once. You'd better +look out for yourself." + +"All right," laughed Captain Avery, "but I'm less afraid of a constable +than I would be of a three-master with two tiers of guns. Not many o' +them in shore, I guess." + +Captain Syme had his hands full, he said, and away he went without +uttering aloud the reply that was so near his lips: "Three-master? +Yes, you rebel pirate! A seventy-four and you and your schooner within +point-blank range!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +IRISH LOYALTY. + +Captain Avery's boat pulled away toward the _Noank_, and he remarked as +he took hold of the tiller ropes:-- + +"I'm glad to be rid of all that crowd. Now there'll be more room for +the rest of us. We can't afford to take prisoners." + +"They'll report us, sir," said one of the sailors. + +"They may say we mean to sack Liverpool, for all I care," growled the +captain. "I wish we had a supply of fresh provisions, though. We had +no time to take in any at Brest." + +The whole boat's crew agreed with him, for they had been living on salt +rations during many a long week. + +The skipper of the _Killarney_ and his friends of all sorts, with their +personal baggage, were scattered high and low along the beach. The +hospitable commiseration they were receiving was even excessive, and +there appeared to be but one opinion among the population of that edge +of Ireland concerning the general wickedness of privateering. At the +side of the schooner, however, as if waiting for the captain's return, +was a stout yawl-boat. It had four rowers and in the stern-sheets sat +a large, florid, handsome man, very well dressed. + +"It's the captain of this American pirate?" he loudly inquired. "Glad +to see you, sir. I'm The McGahan and my place is inshore, yonder. +Have ye ony good tobacco aboord, or a drop o' claret, or an anker of +old Hollands?" + +"Well," said Captain Avery, staring into the broadly smiling face of +the handsome Irishman, "we've no liquid, but we've loads o' prime Cuba +leaf, plug, and cigars. How are you off for beef and mutton, or, it +might be, a little fresh pork?" + +"No pork handy, the day," responded The McGahan. "Twinty head o' bafe, +though, and all the mutton ye want. It's me sorrow that I couldn't +lawfully sell ye huf or horn. The customs patrol is oll along the +coast, looking after smoogglers and the like, and it's loyal to the +king we are. God bless him!" + +"I'm glad you're law abidin'," replied the captain. "I wouldn't ask +you to sell me a pound! Guert Ten Eyck, you and the men have up that +choice lot from the after cabin lockers. Mr. McGahan; come aboard and +make your own selections. I'm not the kind of man to evade the +customs. You'd better rob me of a lot of tobacco and whatever else +there is. I couldn't help myself, you know." + +"That's what I'll do," said McGahan, with a comical twist of his face. +"I'd like to ploonder a privateer. Hurrah for King Garge! Doon wid +all rebels!--exceptin' it may be Oirish rebels, and I'm wan o' thim. +Ye may sind over a party wid goons and cutlashes to rob me o' the bafe +and mutton. I'm thinking there's a good catch o' fish, along shore, +but the fisher folk'd niver evade the coostoms to get a little 'baccy." + +His boatmen had been listening, and he had not been whispering. One of +them now sang out:-- + +"Your Worship! Plaze tell the bloody pirates to fetch along their +plug, and sthale the fish! We're oll a wake sort o' people, riddy to +be ploondhered." + +It was a bargain! Boats came and went, after that, and when Captain +Syme himself expressed his curiosity concerning them, he was sadly +informed that the American freebooters had demanded supplies. + +Captain Avery did not waste any time in carrying out his part of the +contract. He led an overpowering party of well-armed men to the +elegant country-seat of The McGahan, two miles away. A cart which was +driven along with him contained a number of small boxes and bales. + +"Some of McGahan's neighbors," he explained to Guert, "are as ready to +be robbed as he is. I'll not have to pay a dollar of cash. The +balance o' this trade'll come the other way. If we dared stay, we +could sell out our whole cargo." + +Guert was getting hold of several new ideas. One was, that a great +many Irishmen were about as devoted to the British government as were +the people of America. Another was, that war expenses were large and +that British taxes were heavy. A great part of the revenue collected +came from duties upon imported goods, and these imposts were such as to +practically offer bribes to all smugglers. + +"I see," he said to the captain. "It was the duty on imported tea that +set our war for independence a-going." + +"No!" replied Captain Avery. "That was only one p'int in the 'count. +We had enough else to fight for. I can tell you one thing, though. +All the Irish people'd be up in arms, to-day, if they had any George +Washington to lead them. They are treated badly; worse, in some +things, than we were." + +Neither going nor coming did Guert hear any blessings uttered upon +England. The fat oxen and the sheep were hurriedly driven to the +shore. Some butchering was done at once, and some salting, but the +sailors managed to convey to the schooner more live stock than there +was room for. One large sheep-pen was constructed amidships, below +deck, that there might be fresh mutton as long as possible. Near it +were cattle-stalls, and these would soon be empty, with so large a crew +of hungry eaters ready for roast beef and boiled. As for the fish they +came along in abundance, and casks of sea-water were provided for their +keeping. With them came fishermen and women and dozen of boys and +girls, all wild with curiosity concerning the "bloody privateer." + +One day more did the _Noank_ linger at her pleasant anchorage. Thus, +just as the sun was nearing the western horizon, Up-na-tan, at the +beach in the small boat, with its regular crew, raised his hand. + +"Whoo-oop!" sounded his war-cry of warning. + +"Hark!" said Guert. "That's a bugle! British troops coming! Off we +go!" + +A gun from the _Noank_ told that the lookout on board had been as alert +as was the red man himself. + +"Aff wid yez!" yelled a fisherwoman, running frantically toward them. +"It's the Donegal Rigimint o' cavalry! They'd cut yez all down! Be +aff!" + +The boat was pulled swiftly away, and as it did so the head of a fine +column of uniformed horsemen came trotting out to where it could be +seen. + +"Charge 'em! Charge 'em!" roared a rider in civilian rig at the side +of their commander. "It's your duty, sir, to seize that pirate +schooner! They've carried aff more'n twinty head o' fat bafe for me. +You're answerable to the king if you let 'em get away!" + +"All right!" replied the cavalry major, coolly. "We'll charge the +schooner. You ride on board, if you will, and tell 'em we're coming." + +"It's not me duty," responded the excited McGahan. "It's a poor patrol +ye're kaping, whin a booccaneer can sail in and ploonder the coast." + +Straight to the shore the dragoons, for such they were called, rode +fearlessly onward, and the _Noank_ fired a salute for them while she +swung out flag after flag, fore and aft. + +"They'll know the stars and stripes when they see it again," laughed +Captain Avery. "They're fools, though, to expose themselves in that +way. We might damage 'em badly, at this range." + +"She's an American privateer! Can that be a fact?" exclaimed the +British officer, in blank astonishment. "'Pon my soul, I couldn't +believe it till I saw it! I'm sure enough, now. Why, McGahan, you are +correct. My dear old boy, you couldn't help yourself." + +"Of coorse I couldn't," replied the robbed Irish gentleman. "I'm glad +you can belave me, at last. What do you think o' the impidence of 'em?" + +"It's fine!" exclaimed the major. + +That was the striking feature of it. Even in later days, it was +difficult for the country people of England to realize that such +American pirates as John Paul Jones, for instance, were actually +attacking the British islands. + +Leisurely, tauntingly, the crew of the _Noank_ lifted their anchor. No +hostile shot was fired at the gallant-looking horsemen, and the major +confidently ventured out in a fishing boat until he was near enough to +hail. He was a bright-eyed, daring fellow and his first remark was an +oddity. + +"Captain Avery, is it?" he said. "Fine schooner of yours, I'd say. I +was thinking of making a dash. I might surround you, you know. But if +you are going, I'll let you go." + +"I wish you would," called back the captain of the _Noank_. "Would you +like to come aboard? I'll give you a box of Cuba cigars." + +"Thank you kindly," said the major. "I'll not trouble you to that +extent. I'm Major Avery of the Donegal Dragoons. I didn't know there +were any of the name in America. Sorry to find an Avery fighting +against his king." + +"Well," said the captain, "you're out a little, there. He is your +king, not ours, and he is fighting us." + +"All right!--or rather, it's all wrong," replied the brave major. "The +king'll have his own again, before long. Your cruise'll be a short +one, if you run around in these waters." + +"Oh," said the captain, "they're safe enough. We can get away from the +cavalry, and from the tubs, too." + +"Tubs, eh? That's what you call 'em? You'll find that some of 'em are +pretty large tubs." + +"Good-by!" shouted back the captain. "I'm glad to find one more +good-looking Avery. Come and visit at my house as soon as the war's +over." + +The sails of the _Noank_ were taking the breeze. She swung away +seaward, bowing to the cavalry and to the swarm of fisher folk, and +these forgot their loyalty to England so far that they cheered her +lustily. + +"Do you know, Guert," remarked the captain, thoughtfully, "this is +about the worst side of our war! It has set old neighbors against each +other, and even kinfolk. Why! Old Ben Franklin himself has a son +that's an out and out Tory. He is the British Tory governor of New +Jersey. He and his father don't speak to each other. There's more +like 'em." + +"That's so, sir," said Guert. "Some first-rate fellows that I used to +know in New York went off on the wrong side. Steve de Lancey was one +of 'em. I used to take his boat whenever I wanted to, and they were +all real good neighbors." + +The recently appointed first mate of the _Noank_, taking Sam Prentice's +place and responsibilities, broke up the study of civil war evils. + +"Where away now, Captain?" he inquired. "Our being here'll be known +wide enough." + +"We won't be here, Morgan," replied the captain. "We are goin' right +up St. George's Channel. We may run all the way around the islands and +reach Amsterdam from the north." + +"That is," said Morgan, "if we get there at all. It's just as that +dragoon said: there are a good many king's cruisers hereaway. Big +ones, too." + +"We are safest in a crowd," replied the captain. "Our best plan is to +be where they won't dream of our darin' to go." + +"No doubt about that," said Morgan. "I'm agreed we're likely to pick +up something worth taking if we watch, while we're making such a run as +that." + +"We'll go ashore, here and there, too," laughed the captain, "and show +'em the flag." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +VERY SHARP SHOOTING. + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, in the kitchen of the Avery +house, "I am glad for thee. Thy brave son's share of the prize-money +taketh thee out of thy distresses. Thou wilt have more, if he +continueth to serve our good king after this fashion. Thee may be +proud of him." + +"Rachel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, "you know I'm glad to have the money +and to pay my debts with it, but I wish it didn't come from plunder. I +can't help pitying all the people that have lost their ships and their +property." + +"I also am sorry for them," said Rachel. "Doubtless, war is a sin and +an evil. I pray much for the return of peace. Thee should bear in +mind, though, that both sides have sinned, and that therefore both must +suffer while the war lasteth." + +"Our American people are suffering terribly," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "I +wish I could send something to Washington's army. I have heard say +that the colonies are becoming exhausted, while England is as rich as +ever." + +"She may be so," said Rachel, "but I have been at a Friends' meeting, +and some of the elderly men are good accountants. They had somewhat to +say concerning the matter of exhaustion." + +"Oh, what did they say?" asked Mrs. Avery, at the ironing-board. +"Nobody can beat a lot of old Quakers at arithmetic." + +"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "This was their testimony concerning +this dark and dreadful year, and concerning last year also. They +computed that for every American who fell in battle or died in camp, +fifteen more young men became of age, ready to take his place. The +army is not dying out. For every acre of land really laid waste by the +British, one hundred fresh acres of newly opened farms were put under +cultivation. For every ton of American shipping captured by the +British, five tons of new shipping were built in American shipyards, +and ten tons of English shipping were captured or destroyed by our +cruisers. Our commerce, therefore, dieth not rapidly. Thee should not +forget, too, that our girls who are coming of age are worth something +for the future prosperity of the country. None of them are killed in +battles, and nearly all of them get married soon. The elders +testified, moreover, that while we have lost the right to send all of +our productions to England, we have gained the right to trade with all +the rest of the world. We wax richer and more numerous, they said, and +the timid and the unbelieving boweth his head, and weepeth, and +declareth that this is our exhaustion." + +"Hurrah for the Quakers!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "They are right! But, +Rachel, it is getting into September, and it is ever so long since we +have had any news from the _Noank_." + +"Two more prizes came," replied Rachel, "and thy son Vine came back to +thee in safety." + +"Yes," said his mother, "but it was only to go out with Sam Prentice in +that bark, for another privateering trip to the West Indies. I don't +care: I'm almost glad Vine isn't with General Schuyler's army and just +about to have a battle with Burgoyne." + +"It'll be a hard one," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They say the British have +all the Six Nations with them this time." + +"Anneke," said Rachel, "does thee not know the red men? I do. They +will dance and shout much, and they will take the king's presents. +They will do many murders, for a time, but all the British generals can +never turn Indians into soldiers. They may not be depended upon." + +Poor General Burgoyne, struggling desperately among the mountains and +forests and swamps, was already beginning to understand the really +worthless character of his vaunted Indian allies. They were +skirmishers and scouts, truly, but they were not trustworthy soldiers. +At the same time, their presence in his camps did more than anything +else to rally against him the full power of the New York and New +England patriots. Many a man whose patriotism had been lukewarm or +wavering took down his rifle from its hooks and hurried away to do his +best to prevent the threatened great inroad of the Iroquois. + +The ports of the Southern states as well as of the Northern were +sending out both public and private armed vessels, and the infant navy +of the United States was growing rapidly. It was beginning, also, to +establish for itself a high character for efficiency and daring. Even +when its first adventurous captains could not obtain ships that suited +them, they did wonders with old hulks and half-refitted merchantmen. +American shipyards were largely increasing their capacities, while +American sailors were proving that seamanship and courage were of more +importance than mere wood and canvas. + +The autumn days that came were bright and beautiful, even along the +misty coasts of the British islands. There had been, previously, a +succession of severe storms and a host of craft had lingered in harbor, +awaiting the arrival of this fine weather. Now it was here, the seas +which bordered Britain, France, the Netherlands, and, away northward, +the Danish coast, the North Sea, and the Baltic, seemed to swarm with +sails. These were all too numerous for one craft more to attract +especial attention. + +There were war-ships of all sorts and sizes, and of several +nationalities. These were all supposed by each other to be in somewhat +jealous and exclusive care of the welfare and conduct of their own +traders. One flag only was notably absent, as yet, and there were not +many seagoing Europeans, comparatively speaking, who had even so much +as seen the stars and stripes. This was the bright flag of the future, +nor was anybody ready to foresee that it would thereafter become of +great importance in the commerce of the world. + +A schooner, apparently a merchantman, going along under easy sail, was +taking a course from the northward into the British Channel. There +were many two-masters in the North Sea carrying the Baltic and +Scandinavian trade, and this might be one of them. A sleepy British +line-of-battle ship in the distance, easterly, did not care to meddle +with her, flying as she did the Norway flag. She might be a +lumber-boat, with her hold full of barrel heads and staves, and her +deck cluttered with spare spars for the Hull builders. + +A closer look at that same deck would have dismissed the spars from the +supposition, and certainly no ordinary lumber business could have +called for so numerous a crew. + +One of these, a short and brawny man, was all the while busy with a +telescope, uttering pretty loudly his readings of all he saw. No doubt +he was a sailor familiar with these seas, and had been selected as a +lookout for that reason. "That line-o'-battle ship won't pay us any +attention, sir," he said. "We're getting well along past her. There +isn't a speck o' danger in sight but one." + +"What's that, Groot?" said Captain Avery, arising from his seat upon a +coil of rope. "What do you see?" + +"Revenue cutter, sir," replied Groot, "or I'm mistaken. She's +brig-rigged. Almost dead ahead. She'll try to overhaul us, sir." + +"I a'most hope she will," said the captain, testily. "We'll keep right +on. We've sailed all the way 'round Scotland, and the best fun we've +had was goin' ashore for fish and to scare the people. We haven't +taken in a dollar's worth." + +"Some o' the custom's cutters are likely craft," remarked a grizzled +seaman near him. "They're apt to be pretty well armed. It wouldn't +pay very well to tackle one of 'em. She might turn and tackle us." + +"Well, Taber," said the captain, "we'll sheer away from her, of course, +but I won't run away very far, unless that there liner gets too nigh +us." + +"She won't," said Groot. "She's taking in sail now. We're too small +game for her to chase after." + +"We'll let out every inch of our own canvas, then," suddenly shouted +the captain. "I've an idea in my head. All hands prepare for action! +My notion is that that feller's right there on the lookout for us. By +this time every British captain has heard that we are cruisin' 'round. +'Bout ship! Cast loose that pivot-gun. We may have to try a shot with +it in less'n half an hour. Taber, go to the wheel. Men! I think +we're goin' to be waked up!" + +His further orders went out fast, and every man on board seemed to feel +as if a kind of relief had come. Day after day, most of the time in +bad weather, they had beaten along the Irish coasts, and then the +Scotch. The only important ships they had seen had been French or +British cruisers, or else merchantmen which were altogether too near an +armed protector. For fishing boats and mere coasters they had no +appetite. It had, therefore, been only dull business for overcrowded, +uncomfortable men, eager for adventures and prize-money. + +The sails went out, and as they caught the breeze the _Noank_ sprang +gayly forward. + +"That's it, sir," said Groot, lowering his glass. "She was hove to +when I first sighted her. She'll cross our course next tack, and there +isn't another keel anywhere near us." + +"That's our luck," said the captain. "I guess we can handle any +custom-house boat. I know what their armaments are, mostly. They're +all good runners, but they don't count on much resistance from +smugglers, and their guns are short-nosed." + +If he had been on board of the brig he was speaking of at that moment, +he might have changed his opinion a little. A revenue protector she +was, assuredly, and she was more than a mere cutter. She was well +manned, well armed. It looked, indeed, as if what might be her +ordinary ship's company had been reënforced, perhaps by a detail from a +man-of-war. Her commander was a regular navy lieutenant, and he was a +seamanlike old fellow. The four guns each broadside that she carried +were the long six-pound chasers that were then going into the new +revenue service vessels, and they were good pieces for their caliber. +She was a dangerous customer for the kind of antagonist she was +expected to meet. + +"Mr. Tracy," said a young officer on her quarter-deck to the gray +lieutenant, "what do you think of her, sir?" + +"My boy," replied his commander, "she's the chap we're here for. She +has just the style o' foremast and tops'l that Syme told us of. That's +the Yankee. I can't believe, though, that she's all he said she was. +The fellow was badly scared, you know." + +"We'll knock some splinters out of her, and take her in, then," laughed +the young man, jauntily. "You were right, sir, in coming this way. +The others missed her." + +"We won't do that," said Tracy. "All hands clear away for action! We +are going to take that American privateer!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came cheerily back, and the crew sprang away in genuine +British readiness for anything like a brush with an enemy. + +An ugly antagonist the _Arran_ was likely to be, and she was sure of +good handling. She was speedy, too, and the two vessels were all the +while nearing each other. It was to be noted, nevertheless, as Captain +Avery had said, that at the same time they were getting away out of +reach of the overpowerful ship of the line. + +"I'm going to strike first," he remarked, "and I mean to hit hard. +Ready, Up-na-tan! Williams, pull down that Norway bunting, and run up +the stars and stripes! We'll fight under our own flag to-day. I'll +cripple that fellow or take him. If I don't, we're bound for a British +prison, instead of Amsterdam." + +"That's so, sir," said Groot. "She's a pretty big bird for us, I'm +thinking." + +"Big or little, we'll fight her! Three cheers for the flag!" sang out +the captain. + +The three cheers were rousers, and the _Noank_ gained a point by it. +Lieutenant Tracy had been using his glass just then, and he angrily +roared out:-- + +"Fletcher, my boy! If they haven't challenged us! Give 'em a +broadside! Hurrah! They mean to show fight!" + +Good gunners were those mariners of the _Arran_. Well sent was that +broadside; and in a moment more Captain Avery was leaning over his port +bulwark, and was making a somewhat serious examination. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted in his turn. "So much for ice-fender timbers and +planking. Two shot struck fair and didn't go through. Up-na-tan, let +fly! Show 'em the difference!" + +The Manhattan did not obey at once. He was sighting, sighting, +sighting, for almost a minute, and the men at the broadside guns were +following his example. + +"Fire!" shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating +pause. + +[Illustration: THE FIGHT WITH THE ARRAN. "'Fire!' shouted the captain, +and even then there was an irritating pause."] + +"Ugh!" grunted the red man, at last. "Ole chief wait and see brig +bowsprit. Send shot behind it." + +The long eighteen spoke out, and was instantly followed by the three +sixes on that side of the _Noank_. It was at the very moment when +Lieutenant Tracy remarked, inquiringly:-- + +"What? Don't they mean to answer us? You don't say they'll surrender +without firing a shot? That isn't like 'em, now--" + +His next utterance was much louder. + +"George!" he shouted. "There goes my bowsprit! The jolly-boat's +knocked into matchwood! I declare! There's a hole in the mains'l! Is +anybody hurt?" + +"Not a man, sir!" shouted back Fletcher, cheerfully. "We'll give it to +'em!" + +The brig had been already going about, and her other broadside was as +well directed as the first. It would have been bad for the _Noank_ but +for her heavy timbers and the lightness of Tracy's metal. She was +hulled in three places, and there was a ragged split in her foresail. +It did not prevent her going about, however, and her next trio of iron +messengers were as well aimed as were the Englishman's. + +"They hulled us, sir," reported the _Arran's_ sailing-master. "No +great harm. Three men hurt by splinters. The after rigging's cut a +bit. We must finish that chap, sir." + +"That cursed long gun o' theirs!" growled Tracy, fiercely. "Captain +Syme told me, and I hardly believed him. That's what may play the +mischief with us. I wish we were at broadsides with her." + +That was precisely the advantage which Captain Avery did not intend to +give him, right away, and the _Arran_, losing her bowsprit, was not by +any means so difficult to keep away from or to outmanoeuvre. + +Slowly, carefully, Up-na-tan had again sighted his gun and measured his +distance. It was tantalizing to watch him as he doggedly refused to +throw away a shot. + +"Ugh! Whoo-oop!" he yelled, as his lanyard touched the priming of his +gun. "Now see! Ole chief take 'em aft!" + +"I wish he'd do as well for one end of her as he did for the other," +muttered the captain. + +"He's done it, sir!" exclaimed Guert, for he had borrowed the captain's +telescope. + +"That Indian's a gunner!" said Groot, with emphasis. "I never saw one +to beat him. I've seen pretty good marksmen, too." + +The peculiar accuracy of eye born in or acquired by the old red man was +a disastrous gift for the British revenue brig. Almost too far aft did +the shot hit her, but in it went, and all her rudder gear was useless +in a second of time. She could no longer answer her wheel, and began +to lurch about at the mercy of wind and wave. + +Fierce indeed were the execrations of her helpless officers and crew. +All their courage and seamanship were of no use, now. Their guns might +as well have been made of wood, and their jaunty brig had become as +clumsy and unmanageable as a raft. Moreover, the terrible American was +speeding nearer, and only a few minutes went by before there came a +loud-voiced demand for her surrender to the-- + +"United States armed cruiser _Noank_, Captain Lyme Avery." + +"His Britannic Majesty's brig _Arran_, Lieutenant Tracy. We surrender, +of course. You could sink us as we are now. All the luck's yours." + +"We'll come alongside," said Avery. + +"I wish I had a right to board him when he comes," growled Tracy, as +his flag came down. "There'd be some satisfaction in that." + +A few minutes later he had changed that opinion, for an unexpected +torrent of men poured over his bulwarks from the _Noank_. + +"'Pon my soul!" he exclaimed. "What a crew she has! They outnumber us +two to one. It's no disgrace at all!" + +All the British tars felt relieved in their minds after a good look at +their victors. The result of the fight was not to be a discredit to +them, they said, and the American sailors hailed them merrily. There +had been no killing on either side, and there was no cause for bad +temper. The best shots had decided the fight, and all true seamen +could accept the consequences. + +"Lieutenant Tracy," said Captain Avery, "we don't want your brig. +We'll take out of her all that suits us, and then you can drift around +till help gets to you. Or you can patch up and work your way into some +port or other." + +"I can manage it," said the Englishman, ruefully. "We captured a +French smuggler yesterday, and now a deal o' that luck is yours instead +of ours. You rebels are holding out wonderfully." + +"So is England," laughed Captain Avery. "You won't give up, and we +won't. I guess you'll have to, though, one o' these days." + +"Never!" said Tracy, sturdily. "All the colonies'll have to come back +under the king, sooner or later." + +"You wait and see," said the captain. + +The loyal-hearted lieutenant, however, had expressed no more than the +almost undoubting faith of the great body of his countrymen. They were +simply unable to believe that the Americans could succeed. + +Down into the hold of the _Arran_ had dashed the men of the _Noank_. +Tackle had been quickly rigged at the hatches. + +One of the commands given had related to a search for powder and shot, +and the entire supply of the brig was now coming up, to be transferred +to the schooner. It was a timely winning, for her stock had begun to +run low. + +"It's a good thing for us," said her captain and crew, as they secured +it. + +Anything and everything in the nature of arms and ammunition, +furniture, cutlery, table goods, bales of woollens, and packages of +silks taken from the French smuggler, more than a little tanned +leather, lots of miscellaneous stuff not yet precisely known as to its +character, made up the unexpectedly valuable plunder of the +smuggler-capturing brig. + +There was no time to transfer her cannon, and these were left behind, +spiked. Her spare sails went, however, with a good yawl-boat and some +extra light spars. Then the _Noank_ cast off, and her crew gave their +crestfallen British acquaintances three rounds of hearty cheers. + +"Captain Avery," shouted Tracy, "you're a good fellow, but Fletcher and +I hope we may meet you again, some day, with better luck to our guns." + +"All right!" responded the captain. "May you command a forty-four and +I another. Then the United States'll own one more prime ship that used +to be the king's. Hurrah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +DOWN THE BRITISH CHANNEL. + +With the exception, it may be, of the Mediterranean Sea, there is no +other water whereupon so much history has been manufactured as on the +British Channel. + +Away back beyond Cæsar's day and ever since, it has been cruised over +by all sorts of vessels and fleets. Its first absolute rulers were the +Norse-Saxon vikings. After them it has been Danish, Dutch, French, and +English. + +One of the later Dutch admirals once carried a broom at his masthead in +a boastful declaration that he had swept the Channel clean of every +opposing force. Not a great while afterward, the British sea-captains +fell heirs to the Hollander's broom. + +The _Noank_ had not lain long grappled to the disabled _Arran_. There +was danger in every hour of delay. The plunder obtained, although +valuable, was not excessively bulky, and was rapidly transferred and +stowed away. + +There was no apparent danger but that the brig would speedily receive +assistance, for there were other sails already in sight. Her first +disability, as to any of these, was that she was no longer able to fire +a signal-gun, and all her rockets and other explosives had been taken +away. Her officers and crew were left to do whatever they could with +flags in the daytime, or with lanterns by night. + +"We're off," thought Guert Ten Eyck, as the schooner swung away, all +her sails going out as she did so. "Captain Avery says he must capture +one more prize, if it's only to take off some of our men. Then we're +to streak it for home! Don't I want to get there?" + +The cruise of the _Noank_ had indeed become a long one. There were +several ship reasons why it would be good for her to go into dock and +be overhauled for repairs. Her crew, also, were more than willing to +see their homes and families. + +"My boy," said Groot, the Dutchman, as he came to sit down by his young +friend, "you go home. I have no home. I must live on the sea. The +land is not my place." + +"I'll be glad to get there," said Guert, "if it's my own land. Do you +know if we're to run into Amsterdam?" + +"Not if the captain is wise," replied Groot. "There will be too many +Englishmen looking after him, as soon as they hear of this affair." + +"Well, I guess they won't like it," laughed Guert. "Up-na-tan is +homesick." + +The red man was standing within a few feet of them, and he answered as +if he had been spoken to. + +"Ugh!" he said. "Ole chief want to know 'bout he island. Want see +Manhattan. Mebbe all lobster get away. Up-na-tan go see ole place. +Fish in Harlem River." + +That was what was the matter with him. Warrior he might be, sailor, +pirate, or privateersman, but at that moment he was dreaming of the +happiness of pulling in flounders and blackfish from the waters around +his island. + +Guert, on his part, was thinking of his mother. He wondered if she +still were living at the Avery farm-house, and if his prize-money had +been duly paid over to her to make her comfortable. + +"Now, every man hark!" said Captain Avery to his crew, when, a little +later, he had gathered them amidships. "We've a close race to run. If +this wind holds, we shall be in the Straits of Dover at about daylight +to-morrow morning. We are goin' to risk it and cut our way through. +Three cheers for home!" + +Vigorous, indeed, were the hurrahs that answered him, and on sped the +schooner. Her sails that were torn by the shot of the _Arran_ were +being replaced by new ones, and skilful sail tailors were busy with the +rents of the old. The damage to her bulwarks was of no importance and +not a shot had penetrated her sides. The American sailors were in fine +spirits, but not so were Lieutenant Tracy and the crew of the _Arran_. +Hardly two hours went by before his hoped-for succor came, but he +wished it had been a merchantman rather than a man-of-war. The sound +of the cannonading had been borne by the wind to the line-of-battle +ship. She had sailed toward it, as a matter of course, and here, now, +was one of the boats at the _Arran's_ side. On her deck was the +seventy-four's first lieutenant, so hot with wrath that he could hardly +listen to poor Tracy's report, while he himself rapidly inspected the +damages done by Up-na-tan's well-sent iron. + +"Help yourself?" he exclaimed. "Why, they made a log of your brig! +What's the world coming to? They're prime gunners, my boy. We must +make out to sink that rascal. I don't know exactly what to do with +your craft." + +He did know, nevertheless. Temporary steering-gear was fitting on her +as rapidly as might be, and the pumps were going, for the _Arran_ was +leaking badly at the stern. + +"Tracy, my boy," said the lieutenant, "get her into any port the +wind'll help you to. We're away after that saucy privateer." + +So surely and so powerfully would the fugitive be followed, not to +speak of any perils which might be hovering around the pathway before +her. The commander of the line-of-battle ship knew something +concerning at least a part of these. He listened to the report of his +first officer, on his return, angrily yet coolly, and he replied:-- + +"All right, Hobson. Tracy isn't to be blamed, I see. As for the +pirate, we'll chase her, but she's a lost dog already. The whole +Channel fleet is under orders to gather at Dover Straits. She is +running right in among 'em. She'll be overhauled before eight bells +to-morrow." + +"Those Yankees are slippery chaps, sir," said the lieutenant, shaking +his head. + +The hours went swiftly by, and Captain Avery remained on deck, pacing +thoughtfully to and fro. Midnight went by and still the wind held +good. It was a strong, northerly breeze, upon which he could have +asked for no improvement. + +"Lights! Lights! Lights!" he was at last repeating, as he looked +ahead. "There's a reg'lar fleet of some sort. Our lanterns are all +right, I'd say, 'cordin' to the signal-book. Bad for us, though. All +those are British men-o'-war, not merchantmen. Port there, Taber; I +must be ready to speak this feller that's nearest. Groot, you and +Guert go to the rail. Up-na-tan, you and Coco must help. They mustn't +hear any English. Both of you can talk Dutch. Some of us'll chatter +French and Spanish." + +There were, however, on board that man-of-war, men who could understand +Dutch. One of them was an officer who came to the rail to converse +with Groot, after hails had been exchanged. + +"_Magdalen_, of Rotterdam?" he said. "Tell those monkeys to shut up +their jabber, there, so I can hear! From Copenhagen last? You spoke +the line-o'-battle ship _Humber_, coming this way? Did you hear +anything of that American privateer?" + +Dutch and French again broke out upon the supposed _Magdalen_, and the +Englishman shouted back toward his own quarter-deck:-- + +"Hurrah! The _Humber_ reports the Yankee cruiser sunk by the revenue +cutter _Arran_, Lieutenant Tracy. Hurrah for him! Hard fight! The +Yankees fought to the last. Nearly a hundred prisoners. Heave ahead, +_Magdalen_! Good news!" + +Loud Dutch shouts replied to him, and on went the _Noank_, while the +other vessels of the British Channel fleet received the welcome tidings +as it was passed along from ship to ship. Therefore there was no +longer any need that they should be on the watch for the impudent, +destructive adventurer from the other side of the Atlantic. She had +gone to the bottom! + +"I feel kind o' queer," thought Guert. "I couldn't ha' done it myself. +I had to let Groot do the lying. I'm afraid I'll never do for war. I +don't mind a fight, out and out, but somehow I can't help speaking the +truth, Dutch or English." + +Up-na-tan, on the other hand, was in great good-humor over the very +Indian-like manner in which the British were being defeated. The Dover +gathering of their war-ships was to him a kind of ambush through which +he and his friends were cunningly crawling by hiding their feathers and +war-paint. + +They were not exactly crawling, either, for Captain Avery was calling +upon his schooner for all the speed she had. + +"We mustn't lose an inch!" he said. "Their best racers'll be comin' on +in our wake in less'n an hour, maybe. I wish this night'd last all day +to-morrow." + +The next morning had not arrived, indeed, when the _Humber_ herself +came within hail of one of her Dover assembly friends. Then, shortly, +there arose a more noisy jabber in English than had been heard in Dutch +and French on the _Noank_, for the genuine news had been told in place +of Hans Groot's invention. The actual outcome of the fight between the +_Noank_ and the _Arran_ did not call for any enthusiastic cheering. +Only a little later, the admiral commanding the fleet summed up the +whole affair. + +"Gentlemen," he said, to a number of glum-looking officers, "we have +passed that American pirate right along through this fleet. I think +we've a right to go ashore, somewhere, and sit down. It was cleverly +done, though, 'pon my soul! Captain Coverley, select our three best +chasers to follow her. She mustn't be allowed to get away again!" + +Each of the three vessels named was three or four times over a match +for the _Noank_, and her chances did appear to be unpleasantly small. + +"There's jest one thing they won't count on our doin'," had been the +decision of Captain Avery. "We must put right out into the Atlantic, +aimed at nowhere. If it would only blow a gale, now!" + +He was not to be gratified in that particular during the pleasant +autumn day that followed. Lighter became the wind, brighter the sky, +and stiller the sea. + +"It's a schooner wind, Lyme," said his old friend Taber, now the second +mate of the _Noank_. "It gives us our best paces. We've run past +every keel that was on the same tack, thus far. It isn't really bad +luck." + +"I hope it isn't," the captain gloomily responded. "But this 'ere sea +is a boat sea. They might come for us with a rigiment of their boats, +you know. It's a good thing for us that there isn't a man-o'-war in +sight, yet. I a'most feel as if there was blood on every mile we're +makin'!" + +He was even low spirited. It seemed to him impossible that so long a +run of what seamen call good luck could be stretched out much further. +The sailors, on the other hand, were taking a different view of the +matter, very much more sensibly. Every man of them may have had a +superstitious belief in "luck," but they had also seen, in each +successive emergency, that they had a captain with a long head, and +that he knew exactly what to do with that schooner. They were in good +spirits, therefore, that sunny day. Perhaps they did not know all the +reasons he had for now and then shaking his head. + +"There's no port for us, hereaway," he thought. "I don't know of one +that it would be safe for us to look into. It's a long v'yage home. +We're a good deal overcrowded. There's worse'n that to think of, +though. That feller Tracy told me our folks at home are gettin' ready +to give it up. He said we are beaten badly, all around. I may find a +British garrison in New London, when I get there. One in Boston, too. +Then my chance for a rope 'round my neck is a sure one. Things look +black, and no mistake!" + +He should have been at his home that day instead of at sea. All over +New England, all over the other colonies, north and south, as far as +the news had been carried; from town to town, from village to village, +and from farm to farm, horsemen were riding, men and boys on foot were +running to tell of the surrender of Burgoyne. The great British +invasion and conquest of the northern half of the American rebellion +had broken down. The Six Nations had scattered to their wigwams and +council-fires. It would be many days yet before the tidings could +reach England or cross the Channel to astonish Continental Europe and +seal the alliance between the United States and France. It would be +longer still before it could be known by roving cruisers out at sea. +For all American keels, however, their home ports had been made secure +from British assailing until the generals and admirals of King George +should have time given them to consider the Saratoga affair, and make +up their astonished minds as to what it might be best for them to +undertake next. + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, "thee wicked rebel! Has thee +no feelings for thy good king and his wise counsellors? Cannot thee +understand that their souls may be much disturbed by this untoward +event?" + +"I wish their fleets were as badly whipped as Burgoyne's army is," +replied Mrs. Ten Eyck. "Oh! it is so very long since I've heard from +Guert!" + +"Trust thy son with thy God!" said Rachel, reverently. "Thee may think +of this, Anneke: our victory over Burgoyne hath cost much to hundreds +of mothers, as loving as thou art. Their sons lie buried at Stillwater +and Saratoga. No gallant ship will bring them home again." + +"I know it! I know it!" sobbed Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They gave their lives +for liberty. Guert may have to give his as Nathan Hale did. He told +me he believed he could die as bravely, only he would rather it should +be in battle." + +"That he may not choose for himself," said Rachel. "It hath come, +heretofore, to many of my own people, Quakers, thou callest them, to +die by the fire, and by the water, and by the hempen cord, because they +would not give up their freedom to worship God in their own way. I +think it was well with them. Let thy son die as it shall be given him +in the hour of his appointing." + +Deep and solemn had grown the tones of the enthusiastic old Friend, but +Mrs. Ten Eyck dropped her knitting and went to a window to look out +long and wistfully toward the harbor. + +"When will he come sailing in?" she thought. "Am I ever to see him +again? Oh! the war is so long, and the sea is so wide, and I love him +so!" + +Very beautiful and very long-suffering was the patriotism of the +American woman of that day. Bitter indeed was the cup that many of +them had to drink. Costly as life itself were the sacrifices that they +were called upon to make. Well might such a son as Guert, keeping his +watch on deck at the end of that long, pleasant day, be thinking only +of his mother, rather than of the dangers that surrounded the _Noank_. +Groot, the pirate, came and sat down by him and asked him curious +questions concerning the way people lived in America. + +"I can't get back to our old farm on Manhattan Island," Guert told him, +"until Washington's army marches in again. Up-na-tan and Coco came +away with me when we were beaten." + +Groot asked then about the New York battles and about New London. + +"I always believed," he said, "that I must always live on the sea, but +I've been thinking. I can never be safe afloat. I sail with a rope +around my neck, although I was never a pirate of my own free will. It +is growing in my mind that I had better find some kind of harbor on +shore. I shall have prize-money this time. I can make a start at +something. I believe I could go away back into one of your states and +live a new life." + +"That's it," said Guert. "You could go among the Mohawk Valley +Dutchmen, if Manhattan Island is too near the sea. You'd be hidden +there, safe enough. Nobody would ever come for you." + +"I'll think of it," said Groot. "No man knows how long he is going to +live, anyhow." + +So there was rejoicing, with mourning also, and anxiety, upon the land, +and it was a time for serious thinking on the sea; but at this moment +the forward lookout startled all on board by the vigorous voice with +which he sang out:-- + +"Sail ahead! Close on the larboard bow! Big three-master! No light +showing!" + +"All hands away!" roared Captain Avery. "Port your helm, there! Men! +If it's an armed ship, it's too late to get away. We must grapple and +board her, for life and death. Get the grapplings ready! Ship ahoy!" + +The response was the report of a shotted gun and an angry shout:-- + +"We know you! Keep away, or we'll sink you! We can do it!" + +"British trader," thought Captain Avery. "He's told us all we need to +know. He's a strong one, I guess, and he could maul us badly. Our +only chance is to close with him." Then he shouted to his crew:-- + +"Pikes and cutlasses! All hands be ready to follow me! Hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" came wildly back, and the three guns of the schooner's +broadside, with the long eighteen, answered the stranger's challenge. + +They were well enough directed, and so was the reply that came from +half a dozen English pieces, but these, quite naturally at so short a +range, were aimed too high. Down came both of the topmasts of the +_Noank_, while her hull and ship's company were unhurt. She was a +crippled craft in a moment, but she still had enough of headway to +carry her alongside of her bulky antagonist before her guns could be +reloaded. + +"Throw the grapnels!" shouted Captain Avery. "Haul, now! All aboard! +Fore and aft, and amidships! Give it to 'em!" + +Down he went the next instant, flat upon the deck of the English ship, +as he sprang over her bulwark. Down at his side fell the British +sailor by whose cutlass he had fallen, and over both of them sprang +Guert Ten Eyck with Up-na-tan and Coco reaching out to hold him back +and get in before him. + +"I hit him!" shouted Guert, fiercely. + +"Forward! Down with 'em! The ship is ours!" + +Right here, amidships, the English crew had supposed to be the strength +of their assailants and they had rushed desperately to meet it. They +had not heard, however, the last command of Captain Avery, and his fore +and aft boarding parties went over almost unopposed. + +"We are surrounded!" exclaimed the British captain, "They are four to +one! Hold hands, Americans! We surrender!" + +It was time for him to do so, for fully a third of his crew were +already down. They had been completely surprised as well as +outnumbered. + +"Ugh!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, as he lowered his pike and turned suddenly +toward Guert. "Boy hurt?" + +"Coco catch him!" said the old black man, eagerly, as Guert sank upon +the deck. "Saw lobster cut him!" + +"Never mind me!" yelled Guert. "See how Captain Avery is! Look at the +cut in his head!" + +"Wors'n that!" came hoarsely from first mate Morgan, as he bent above +the fallen captain. "Taber, take charge of all for a moment! Lyme +Avery is dead! Shot through the heart! Send the prisoners below. +Look out for the wounded. All hands clear ship! Both ships! Make +sail at once! I'm in command of the _Noank_. Taber'll take this one." + +The second mate was a Groton man, a grim old salt who had sailed in +many seas. He was a good man to lean on in such an emergency, and he +rattled out his orders while the men secured the prisoners. Morgan +slowly stood erect as the English commander came toward him. + +"You are the American captain, sir? I know what your ship is. Mine is +the _Lynx_, British privateer, Captain Ellis. We were on the lookout +for you, or we thought we were." + +"I'm Captain Morgan, now Lyme Avery is dead," was the somewhat sadly +spoken reply. "How is it that you're so short-handed?" + +"We had only forty able men left, all told," said Ellis. "Thirteen +more sick or wounded. All the rest away in prizes or taken out of us +by the reg'lar men-o'-war. The prizes and the press-gangs turned us +over to you, sir. We took a Baltimore lugger, a bark from +Philadelphia, two schooners from Boston, and one from Providence. We'd +done right well, so far. You must ha' made a prime run, yourself." + +He was evidently a privateersman all over, and his view of the matter +was that he had only met with a disaster in the regular line of his +business. + +Morgan's thoughts were running in another direction. + +"Your armament's heavier than ours," he said, after a sharp survey. +"Lyme was right, poor fellow! Our only chance was to board." + +"Perhaps it was," said Ellis. "We've two nines and three sixes on a +side. Our pivot-gun's gearing broke, and she's no good. Thirty-two, +though. The _Lynx_ is an old Indiaman. She's a little heavy, but +she's a good sailer. We cut up your spars a little?" + +The sailors of the _Noank_ were already examining her damages. Three +more of her crew had been killed and two wounded in the short, sharp +fight. Six Englishmen killed and seven more hurt out of forty told how +severely the odds had been against them. + +During the first few moments of noise and confusion, while the other +sailors were rushing hither and thither upon their very pressing +duties, Up-na-tan and Coco had been kneeling by Guert. + +A pike-thrust in his right thigh, a slight sword-cut on his left +shoulder, a bruise upon his head, told for him that he had been in the +very front of the fray. + +"Both cut cure up quick," said Up-na-tan, as he bandaged the wounds. +"Boy no die. Ole chief glad o' that. Take him home to ole woman." + +From the Ashantee came nothing but an apparently gratified chuckle. + +Their first work was to get him back upon the _Noank_ and into a bunk +in Captain Avery's cabin, by Morgan's especial direction. All the +other wounded, on both sides, were well cared for. Then there was a +short, sorrowful hour given to sea funerals, and all the dead were +buried in the ocean. + +Mate Taber, with more than half of the _Noank's_ company, was put in +charge of the _Lynx_. All of the prisoners, also, were left in her. + +"Homeward bound, Taber," shouted Captain Morgan, as the ships parted +from their too close companionship. "Take your own course to New +London. The main thing is to get in." + +"Ay, ay!" called back the old Groton sailor. "We'll get there. We'd +best keep within signal distance as long as we can, but the schooner's +riggin' needs repairs, and ours doesn't." + +"All right," said Morgan. "Keep company!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE SPENT SHOT. + +The first few hours after a sea-fight are apt to have a great deal in +them. There was not a moment of time wasted on board the _Noank_, for +the spare spars taken from the _Arran_ were just the right things to be +sent up in place of the sticks which had been shattered by the fire of +the _Lynx_. Not until they should be in place could the swift schooner +show her paces, and they had been going up even while the ocean burials +were attended to. + +"This is awful news to carry home to poor Mrs. Avery," groaned Guert, +as he lay in his bunk. "I don't care much for my hurts, but I wish I +could be on deck. I'm almost glad I'm wounded. I know how Nathan Hale +would feel about it. He'd say it was little enough for a fellow to +suffer for his country and for liberty. I'll never forget him." + +Away off there on the ocean, therefore, in a schooner bunk, in the +dark, the memory of America's hero was doing its beautiful work, as it +has been doing ever since, a bright example set, as a star that will +not go down. + +Many hands make light work, and the spars were all right by the next +sunrise. There was only one sail in sight when Captain Morgan came on +deck from a visit below to all his wounded men. + +"That's the _Lynx_," he thought. "We must get within hail of her and +find out how Taber's gettin' on. I don't even know what her cargo is. +The way Lyme Avery carried her's a wonder!" + +So Captain Taber was thinking at that very hour, as he went from gun to +gun of the old Indiaman's batteries. + +"All she wanted was men," he said, "and she'd ha' beaten us, easy. We +must have that thirty-two pounder pivot-gun in order, first thing. +I'll make a strong cruiser of her. I've a gang overhaulin' the cargo. +It promises well, and there's more'n thirty thousand dollars in +cash.--Oh! but ain't I sick about Lyme! Best kind o' feller! Best +neighbor! Best sailor, too. He and I sailed three long v'yages +together, and we never had an ill word on sea or land." + +Every other man of the dead captain's crew was saying or thinking +something of the sort, and it was a blue time in spite of the victory. +The excitement was all over now, and even the most reckless could +calculate somewhat the dangers which still remained between them and +home. + +Captain Ellis himself came up to the deck of the ship which he had +ceased to command, for there was no reason for confining him below. He +found that more than half his crew had volunteered to do ordinary +ship-duty, at regular pay, rather than be shut up under hatches. The +remainder, however, were stubborn Britons, and refused to handle so +much as a rope under a rebel flag. + +"They can't do us any harm," Captain Taber had said of the volunteers. +"I'll trust 'em. Besides, every man of 'em's Irish, and there's mighty +little love o' King George that side o' the Channel." + +At all events, all of these sailor sons of Erin went to their messes +cheerfully that morning. + +"Captain Taber," said Ellis, when they came together, "I never saw +anything like it! Look, yonder! Your schooner's refitted! She's as +taut and trim as ever!" + +"She has half a dozen good ship carpenters on board," laughed Taber. +"They could build her over again. Our shipyards are goin' to bring out +some new p'ints on ship-buildin'." + +"I wish they would," said Ellis. "Our shipwrights are half asleep. Do +you s'pose you can repair that pivot-gun? We hadn't a smith worth his +salt." + +"She'll swing like new, before long," said Taber. "The man that's +filing away at her could invent a better gearing than that is. He +could make a watch." + +Right there was one important difference, then and afterward, between +American sailors and European. It was a difference which was to be +illustrated on land as well, in the records of the Patent Office at +Washington, and in the wonderful development of all imaginable +varieties of mechanism. + +"There she comes, the beauty!" was Taber's next remark, as the _Noank_ +neared them. "She can outsail anything of her size that I know of." + +"She must keep out o' the way of heavy cruisers, though," said Ellis, a +little savagely. "I'd ha' beat her, myself, if I hadn't been caught +weak as I was." + +A hail from Captain Morgan prevented Taber from answering, and in a +minute more the two American crews were cheering each other lustily. + +"What cargo do you find?" asked Morgan through his trumpet, after he +had learned that all else was well. + +"All sorts!" responded Taber. "Picked up from prizes. Plenty o' +water, provisions, ammunition. I can't guess where they pulled in some +o' the stuff. Woollen cloths, and crockery crates, and tobacco. It +looks as if they'd taken some Hamburg trader for an American. You +can't say what a privateer'll do, well away at sea." + +Ellis heard, and there came a queer, half-anxious grin upon his deeply +lined, hardened face. He did not, in fact, look like a man who would +hesitate long over any small moral questions of mere flags and +ownerships. He was a privateersman in preference to any other +occupation, without need for the patriotic spirit which was sending +into it the seafaring veterans of America. + +"All right!" was the hearty reply from the _Noank_. "Now, Taber, we +must keep company if we can for two or three days, at least. Our two +batteries, worked together, 'd be an over match for any o' the lighter +king's cruisers. We could knock one o' their ten-gun brigs all to +flinders." + +"I a'most hope we'll come across one," said Taber, "soon as that there +thirty-two yonder'll swing on its pivot." + +Two armed vessels may not make what is called a "squadron." Captain +Morgan, therefore, had not suddenly risen from the rank of first mate +to that of commodore, but both the old East Indiaman and the schooner +were undoubtedly safer because of their ability and readiness to help +each other. + +Captain Taber's cruiser, when he came to examine her, was a curious +affair, according to later ideas of ship-building. She had been +constructed solidly, and had a large carrying capacity. Her sides +"tumbled home," or slanted inward, nobody knows what for. Her stern +was very high, as if a kind of fort were needed, rising to hold up her +quarter-deck. In this, on either side, were her nine-pounders, and it +might account for their shot flying above the _Noank's_ hull. She was +lower in the waist, and she piled up again, forward. Her tops were +cups like those of a man-of-war, and might hold sharp-shooters in a +close fight. It is the rule to laugh, at that old style of naval +architecture, but when the _Lynx_ had been the _Burrumpootra_ she had +battled well with the terrible gales and seas of the Indian Ocean, and +there were legends of the way in which she had beaten off Chinese and +Malay pirates. There were not only good ships but good seamen as well +in the old-fashioned days, and all the world was discovered and opened +by them to commerce and civilization. + +Up-na-tan considered himself the surgeon of the _Noank_, and he was a +good one, so far as cuts and bruises were concerned. He and Coco held +consultations over Guert, and there was no danger but what he would be +well attended to. He was a general favorite with the sailors, and +their opinion of him had been lifted tremendously by his conduct at the +taking of the _Lynx_. They all declared that he had in him the making +of a good sea-captain,--as good, it might possibly be, as Lyme Avery +himself, although that was a great deal to say. + +That day went by, and the next, and the next, and all in vain did +either Captain Ellis or his captors scan the horizon for any speck that +looked like war. There were distant sails, truly, but this pair of +privateers was inclined to let well enough alone. The fourth day found +them well away upon the Atlantic before a ten-knot breeze, slipping +along finely, with all the wounded doing well. Guert's pike-thrust in +the leg was his worst hurt. It caused him much pain at intervals, and +a great deal of fever. The cutlass blow at his shoulder had been +broken of its force by the handle of his pike. The wooden shaft had +been cut in two as he parried with it, while drawing it back from his +successful thrust at Captain Avery's antagonist. The English swordsman +had been a strong one, for his blade went on down to make a gash which +might be slow in healing. It would probably have been a death stroke +but for the tough pikestaff. + +"You'll be out on deck, my boy, in a week or two," he had been told by +Captain Morgan, "and you're lucky it's no worse." + +There was no use in fretting over it. He could lie there and dream of +old times in New York, and of ships and fleets and armies. There was +no book on board for him to read, however, unless he should wish to +take up his study of navigation. There he was lying in the afternoon +of the fourth day, not tossing around much, for fear of hurting his +wounded leg or shoulder. He was feeling lonely, sick, impatient, +discontented. + +"Hullo!" he suddenly exclaimed. "What's that? Are we in a fight? I +want to go on deck!--There! I guess that was pretty nearly a spent +shot!" + +It was too bad, altogether. Right through the port-hole window of the +cabin had passed a round shot from so far away, apparently, that it +hardly shattered the door-post upon which it then struck. It had been +well aimed, it had hit the schooner, but it had not done any harm. + +"There goes Up-na-tan's gun," said Guert, the next instant. "I don't +hear the broadside guns. I guess that other firing is from the _Lynx_. +She was close by us, they said. This is awful!" + +He could now hear the distant, dull roar of other guns, and he said:-- + +"That's the British! It sounds as if we were fighting a man-of-war. +Can it be we are going to be captured by 'em this time?" + +He might well be nervous about it, but his guesses and fears were only +about halfway correct. Not many minutes earlier, the _Noank_ and the +_Lynx_ had drawn toward each other, into long hailing distance, for a +sort of council of war. Questions and answers had gone hurriedly back +and forth, until Captain Morgan had shouted:-- + +"We'll take her, Taber. We can spare men enough for one more prize +crew. She's a big one." + +So she was, that tall three-master, floating the British flag, and she +was evidently not a frigate of King George. Most likely, they said, +she was a supply ship on her way to his armies in his rebellious +colonies. + +About went the two eager privateers, and there seemed to be no reason +to doubt their ability to outsail and outfight their victim. She was +carrying a cargo so full and heavy that it pulled her down, and she was +logging along clumsily. Both of the American vessels were flying the +stars and stripes. The _Lynx_ was somewhat nearer to the Englishman, +and Captain Taber deemed it time to fire a shot across her bows as a +signal to heave to. + +The sound of that first gun was what had really awakened Guert, but he +had not at once understood it. Captain Morgan was on the point of +following Captain Taber's example, when the big, peaceful-seeming +British ship swung around a few points, and a lot of hitherto closed +ports along her side sprang open. Every one of these ports had an +ugly, metallic nose in it, and from each of these jumped a sheet of +fire, followed by thunder. At the same moment a band of brass music on +the after deck began to play "God save the King," while a long +procession of men in red uniforms streamed up from below to join a lot +of others like them who were already on deck. + +"Eight ports!" exclaimed Captain Morgan, staring through his glass. +"She may carry more guns than that! She's a British merchant ship of +the largest size, turned into a troop-ship, and armed, I'd say, with +long twelves. Thunder! We haven't anything to do with her! Starboard +your helm, there! I'll signal Taber to keep away." + +There was no need of that at all. The first heavy broadside of the +stranger had hurtled toward the _Lynx_, and several of the half-spent +shot had struck her. Her commander had taken warning instantly, and +was already wheeling away, so to speak, when the second British +broadside went so dangerously well toward the _Noank_. + +"One such dose is just as good as two," remarked Captain Morgan. "I'm +glad Taber has good sense. We don't want to be crippled jest now. We +can't afford to risk a stick. We'll get away out o' range, quickest +kind!" + +So he did, and so did Taber. But they would by no means have done so +if it had not been for a reason that was getting an explanation in the +furiously angry exclamations of the British sailor in command of that +pugnacious troop-ship. He had rapidly grown red in the face, and now +he seemed ready to burst. + +"Lost 'em! Missed 'em!" he roared, as he stamped up and down the deck. +"I had 'em both trapped! I let 'em come near enough before I fired a +gun. I'd ha' sunk 'em or sent 'em in. It's the fault o' that rascally +thief at the navy-yard. He supplied us with that worthless, condemned +contract powder. It won't pitch a shot worth tuppence. He ought to be +hung! I'll report him!" + +The mystery of so many cannon-shot being practically spent at a fair +practice distance was completely explained. No doubt he was wrong in +declaring that his ammunition was no better than so much sea-sand, but +it was not the stuff to send twelve-pound balls of iron through oak or +teak bulwarks, and his cunning trap to catch the two American +privateers was a lamentable failure. + +It was an hour of their best running before these were again within +hail of each other. Then their two commanders held a brief +speaking-trumpet conversation, congratulating each other upon having +gotten out of so serious a scrape without injury. + +"Morgan," said Taber, at last, "the far northerly course, if it suits +you. I think we'd better shape it as if we were bound for Halifax, and +keep well away from every sail we sight." + +"That'll do," replied Morgan. "That there Nova Scotia garrison needs +supplies, you know. We're jest the boats to bring 'em all they want. +If we come up with another supply ship, though, and if she hasn't quite +so many guns, we may persuade her to go as far as Boston with us." + +"No, sir! I'd say not!" called back Taber. "I feel uneasy 'bout +Boston jest now. I'd ruther not try any home port but New London, and +we'd better make our run in there by night." + +"All right!" said Captain Morgan. "Home it is! Heave ahead!" + +Guert Ten Eyck, in his bunk, received from his friends a full account +of that day's curious adventure. The port of his cabin was quickly +mended, and he could once more lie quiet and wait for his own mending. +On deck there was especial matter for general discussion arising from +the fact that all had seen a troop-ship. + +"More soldiers to conquer America," they said. "It looks bad for us. +The king is sending over British and Hessians, army after army. They +are all well armed, well clothed, well fed, and there are more to +follow. What can our own used up, half-armed, half-starved, badly +beaten Continentals do against such awful odds? The truth is, we may +not find a safe port to run into." + +"They can't have taken everything so soon as this," was the conclusion +of Captain Morgan. "We'll feel our way in, when we get there. If all +things have gone wrong we can sail away somewhere, or we can beach the +ships and burn 'em, and take to the woods." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ANCHORED IN THE HARBOR. + +There came a very black night toward the beginning of winter in the +year 1777. A light wind blew in from the sea, carrying an unpleasant, +chilly feeling among the people of the town of New London. They had +previously been somewhat uncomfortable, for, during several days, there +had been British men-of-war hovering along the coast. None of these +had ventured in far enough to exchange shots with the forts, but there +was a rumor, nobody knew where from, that the British had determined to +seize the port and put an end to its notable services to the cause of +American independence. The harbor forts were believed by their +commanders to be in good fighting condition, and their garrisons at +once received small reinforcements. The thing most to be feared, it +was said, was the landing of a strong body of troops, for in that case +the town itself would be assailed, as well as the forts. + +In short, military men foresaw and predicted precisely such an attack +as was so destructively made at a later date by the king's forces under +Arnold. + +Very dark was the night. Wakeful and watchful were the sentinels and +guards at every battery. Moreover, boats were out, silently patrolling +hither and thither, ready to run in and report whatever signs of danger +they might discover. The sea-scouts could not be everywhere, however, +nor could they see everything. Somehow or other, an exceedingly +important arrival passed by them all in the darkness. + +A little before midnight a solitary musket shot rang out at the seaward +bastion of Fort Griswold, and the officer of the guard, with a party of +soldiers, hurried to the spot to ascertain its meaning. + +"Officer of the guard," responded the sentry to the formal hail, "two +American lights, seaward. Flash, flash, and cover. There they are +again." + +One of the soldiers was an old sailor, and he exclaimed:-- + +"Captain Havens, jest let me watch that there signal a minute." + +"Watch!" said the captain. + +Again the seaward flashes came, as if they were asking questions. + +"What is it--" + +"Captain Havens!" shouted the old whaling man, excitedly. "That there +was Lyme Avery's private signal. The _Noank_ has come home! The other +light was Joe Taber's, I guess. I've whaled it with both of 'em." + +"Hurrah!" burst from the captain. "Signal back, if you know how." + +"Shall we fire a gun, sir?" asked an artilleryman. + +"No," said the captain; "we won't stir up the town. And we won't send +any information to the British cruisers, either. See Hadden work his +lantern." + +The sailor was swinging the lantern given him,--this way, that way, up +and down, and he was speedily replied to from the sea. + +"Two craft comin' in together," he explained. "I guess it's the +_Noank_ and a prize." + +"I'll send word to Colonel Ledyard," said Captain Havens. "Hadden, you +and four men come with me. I must go out and meet 'em with a boat. +Lieutenant Brandagee, you may tell the colonel I will anchor the ships +in the harbor mouth, so that their guns may support our batteries, if +the British try to run in to-morrow." + +Every gun would count in such a case, it was true, but half an hour +later, on the deck of the _Noank_, he was told by Captain Morgan:-- + +"No, sir! Their boats would be too much for us, so far out as that. +We'll run farther in and lie still till morning. After daylight our +guns'll be good for something, I can tell you. Ledyard'll say I'm +right." + +"Take your own course," said the captain, "only be ready if they come. +Now, that's settled.--Morgan! This is bad news about Lyme Avery. I +don't want to be the man to tell his wife." + +"No more do I," said Morgan. "Taber says he'd a'most as soon be shot. +Don't I wish, though, that Lyme was alive, to hear of the surrender of +Burgoyne's army. It makes me feel better'n I did. We hardly felt safe +'bout comin' in at all. For all we knew, we might be sailin' into a +British port and under the king's guns." + +"It hasn't quite come to that yet," said Captain Havens. "I can tell +you, though, the country's wider awake than it ever was before. Have +you heard about Sam Prentice and Vine Avery? They got in long ago. So +did your other prizes. What did you say this one with you is?" + +"It's a long story," said Morgan. "Joe Taber's captain of her. He +knows more 'bout her than I do. She was a British privateer. Lyme +Avery was killed when we took her. Now!--My head's in a kind of whirl. +Havens, I'm thinkin' of Lyme one minute, and the next I'm thinkin' of +Burgoyne and the way he was defeated. Jest you hold on with any more +questions till some time to-morrow. The first thing for Taber and me +is to get farther in." + +There might be little time to spare, indeed, if a British +line-of-battle ship and three frigates were in the offing, drawing on +toward cannon range of them. Therefore the _Noank_ and the _Lynx_ +stood slowly in, feeling their way, and as yet their presence was known +only to a few boatmen and the garrison of Fort Griswold. Colonel +Ledyard himself had settled one question. + +"No," he said, "we will wait. The good news and the bad news will keep +till morning. Let Mrs. Avery sleep--don't wake her. It'll be hard +enough for her.--I thought a great deal of Lyme Avery!" + +So the little that was left of the night waned away, and all New London +remained in ignorance of any important arrival. As the sun arose, +however, a gun rang out from Fort Griswold, and all who were awake +sprang up to listen. + +A minute passed, while hundreds were hastily dressing, and then another +gun sounded. One full minute more, for there were those who counted, +and the third gun began to make the firing understood. + +"Minute-guns! The British are coming!" shouted more than one hasty +listener. "Every man to the forts! Our time's come!" + +Many were the conjectures and exclamations, but the first men to reach +the water front sent back word that not a British sail was in sight. +More than that was sent, however, for a hasty messenger ran on to the +Avery house and knocked at the door. It was opened instantly by Vine +Avery himself. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"The _Noank_!" was half whispered. "A large prize ship is with her. +Don't say a word about it to your mother." + +"Why not?" said Vine. + +"Well!" replied the messenger. "It's this way. There are minute-guns +at the fort and both of the flags of those ships are at half mast. +There are boats pulling from 'em to the shore now. Come on!" + +Vine stood still for a moment, hesitating. Then he turned and shouted +back into the house:-- + +"Mother! The _Noank_! I'll go on down to the wharf. I'll let you +know." + +"Lyme! Lyme is home again!" she said. "Vine--" + +She was darting forward without waiting for hood or wrap, but other +ears besides Vine's had heard the messenger, and a firm hand was laid +quietly upon Mrs. Avery's shoulder. + +"My beloved friend," said Rachel Tarns, "hold thee still for a moment. +I have a word for thee." + +"What is it, Rachel?" + +"Rachel Tarns," broke in the excited voice of Mrs. Ten Eyck, "did he +say the _Noank_ is here?" + +"Yea," replied Rachel, "and I say to both of you women that she hath +her flag at half mast, and that from her deck hath some one gone home +indeed. It may be that many of those who sailed away in her are not +here to be welcomed. Be you both strong and very courageous, +therefore, for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. I will go along +with you, and so will He. Be ye brave this day!" + +So the strong, good, loving Quaker woman helped her friends, but hardly +another word was spoken as they walked hurriedly along down the road +toward the wharves. + +"I do not see him!" murmured Mrs. Avery. "He would surely be coming to +meet me." + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," said Rachel, "be thou a glad woman! Look! Yonder +comes thy son!" + +"And not Lyme?" gasped Mrs. Avery. + +"On crutches!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, as she sprang forward. "I +don't care! O Guert! Guert! Thank God!" + +If anything else, any other word than "Mother!" was uttered during the +next few moments, nobody heard it. + +Mrs. Avery was trying to speak and could not, and it was Rachel Tarns +who came to her assistance. + +"Guert," she said, "thee brave boy! Thee is wounded? It is well. We +are glad thou art here. Tell Mary Avery of her husband--at once! Is +he with thee and her, or is he with his Father in Heaven?" + +"Mother," whispered Guert, "I can't! You tell her. He was killed when +we boarded the British privateer. I did all I could to save him. +That's where I was cut down--" + +Low as had been his whispering, there was no need for his mother to +tell Mrs. Avery. + +"Don't speak!" she said. "I'm going back to the house! He fell in +battle!" + +Around she turned, catching her breath in a great sob, and Rachel and +Vine turned to go with her, putting their arms around her. Guert and +his mother lingered as if it were needful for them to stand still and +look into each other's faces. She glanced down, too, at his crutches, +and he answered her silent question smilingly with:-- + +"That's getting well, mother." + +"O Guert!" + +"Ugh!" exclaimed a deep voice close behind them. "Up-na-tan say ole +woman go home. Take boy. Ole chief mighty glad to bring boy +back.--Whoo-oop!" + +It was, after all, the triumphant warwhoop of the old red man that +closed the record of the long cruise of the _Noank_. + + + + +_Selections from_ + +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY'S + +_List of Books_ + + + +Books + +By WILLIAM O. STODDARD. + + +The Despatch Boat of the Whistle. A story of Santiago. Illustrated by +F. T. Merrill, 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25. + +The incidents of our war with Spain in 1898 supply the theme for this +story. It is a sea story and a land story. It tells the adventures of +a breezy newspaper correspondent and of the sacrifices and revenges of +a Cuban patriot. It is spirited, vigorous, and absorbing, and is, +incidentally, a story of the war from the news of the destruction of +the _Maine_ to the fall of Santiago. And it is told by Mr. Stoddard! +What more could any boy or girl desire? + + + +Chuck Purdy. The Story of a New York Boy. 12mo. $1.25. + +A capital story of life in New York City; strong, honest, breezy, +practical, and absorbing. Told by one of the favorite writers for +young people. + + + +Gid Granger. The Story of a Country Boy. 12mo. $1.25. + +A capital story of American country life; the sturdy, hard-working, +energetic boy, the stern but well-intentioned father, the bright +ambitious sister, together with the village folks, all strongly +individualized and made delightfully real. + + + +Guert Ten Eyck. A Hero Story. Illustrated by F. T. Merrill. $1.25. + +A stirring story of real American boys and girls, and how they helped +on the Revolution. The background is the dramatic story of Nathan +Hale, the hero. Washington, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr also appear in +the story. + + + +The Partners. Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox. 12mo. $1.25. + +This is a capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl, whom all +the girl admirers of Stoddard's stories--and all the boys, too--will +vote to be delightful. + + + +Winning Out. + +A Book of Success. + +By ORISON SWETT MARDEN. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated. $1.00. + +Dr. Marden, the editor of _Success_, has never prepared a more +invigorating or inspiring book than this. It is really the first book +he has designed for young people. To young men whose ambition is +honorable success, this book with its practical suggestions and its +wealth of example has a value that is almost inestimable. If any young +fellow of spirit does not, after reading this book, act up to the +advice to Sempronious, he is lacking somewhere: + + "'T is not in mortals to command success + But we'll do more, Sempronious, we'll achieve it." + + + +Concerning Cats. + +My Own and Some Others. + +By HELEN M. WINSLOW. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated from +photographs of famous cats. $1.50. + +The first real "cat book" from a popular, practical, and entertaining +standpoint. Miss Winslow is a pronounced cat-lover, and she here deals +with the cats of history, the home and the cat-show in a manner that is +at once attractive and exhaustive. Her book will find ready readers +among cat-lovers and cat "fanciers" the world over. The photographic +illustrations are beautiful. + + + +The Story of the Nineteenth Century + +By Elbridge S. Brooks. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, $1.50 + +The story of "the wonderful century"--its progress, its achievements, +its inventions, its development and its results--is here presented in a +connected, simple, straightforward narrative, showing, as its main +purpose, the progress of the people out of limitation to enlightenment, +out of serfdom to independence, out of selfishness to nationality, out +of absolutism to liberty. Chapter by chapter, it is an absorbing and +often dramatic story, told by one who has made a study of popularizing +history. + + + +In Blue and White + +A Story of the American Revolution + +One volume, 8vo, illustrated by Merrill, $1.50 + +This stirring story of the Revolution details the adventures of one of +Washington's famous lifeguards, who is a college mate of Alexander +Hamilton, and a personal follower of Washington. It is based upon a +notable and dangerous conspiracy against the life of Washington in the +early days of the Revolution, and introduces such famous characters as +Washington, Hamilton, Greene, and Nathan Hale. It is a splendid book +for boys and girls. + + + +Eben Holden. + +A Tale of the North Country. + +By IRVING BACHELLER, author of "A Master of Silence." 12mo, cloth, +gilt top, rough edges. $1.50. + +A refreshing story of the "plain people" of country and town. The +"North Country" is the farm-land of St. Lawrence County in Northern New +York. Uncle Eb,--hero, "hired-man" and border philanthropist--is a +lover of animals, of nature and of all creation. The scene shifts to +New York in war time, and the story of the rout at Bull Run is +unsurpassed in realism. Altogether it is one of the brightest and most +popular of recent books, for it appeals to that love of mingling +sentiment and humor that all men and women like. + + + +The Last of the Flatboats. + +A Story of the Mississippi and its Interesting Family of Rivers. + +By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON, author of "The Wreck of the Redbird." 12mo, +cloth, illustrated by Charlotte Harding. $1.50. + +The story of five western boys who take a flatboat on a venture to New +Orleans. They are bright, apt, and intelligent young fellows, and find +fun, adventure, and profit in their scheme. This book is an absolute +storehouse of mid-west facts, but it is also full of action, manliness, +endeavor, and adventure. + + + +The Forestman of Vimpek + +His Neighbors, his Doings and his Reflections in a Bohemian Forest +Village + +By MADAM FLORA P. KOPTA, author of "Bohemian Legends and Poems," 12mo, +cloth, gilt top, $1.25 + +A simple but unique, picturesque and delightful story of peasant life +in a Bohemian shut-in village, "on the edge of the forest." It +introduces English readers to a charming and little-known community, +far removed from towns and cities, but where the duties, desires, +passions and purposes of men and women are just as human and just as +diversified as in the busier haunts of men. + + + +Germany: Her People and their Story + +By AUGUSTA HALE GIFFORD. One volume, 8vo, 593 pages, cloth, gilt top, +uncut edges, emblematic cover, fully illustrated, $1.75 + +The first popular story of Germany, especially prepared for American +readers, and written from an American standpoint. In this light the +book is unique. It stands alone as the latest and most complete, while +it is the briefest and most condensed story of the German Empire, from +its beginnings to its present proud position among the world-leaders. + + + +Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship Pirate + +By T. JENKINS HAINS, author of "The Wind-Jammers," "The Wreck of the +Conemaugh," etc. 12mo, cloth, illustrated by Ditzler, $1.25 + +No more vivid and absorbing sea story has ever been written. Mr. +Hains, with his yarns of the "Wind-jammers," placed himself at once in +the front rank of the tellers of sea tales, and his latest book "Mr. +Trunnell," surpasses his first effort. Mr. Hains knows the sea as one +who has braved all its perils and tested all its adventures. In "Mr. +Trunnell," he has a tale strong in its intensity, vivid in its realism, +novel in plot and action and full of the taste of salt water from first +to last. + + + +The Wind-jammers + +By T. JENKINS HAINS. 12mo, cloth, ornamental, $1.25 + +Mr. Hains is to be congratulated upon writing a better, more natural, +vigorous, and thrilling yarn than any other American writer of this +class of fiction, and whoever reads this book will be likely to wish to +see more of his work. + + + + +The Famous Pepper Books + +By MARGARET SIDNEY + + +Five Little Peppers and How They Grew + +12mo, illustrated, $1.50 + +"A genuine child classic." + + + +Five Little Peppers Midway + +12mo, illustrated, $1.50 + +"Every page is full of sunshine."--_Detroit Free Press_. + + + +Five Little Peppers Grown Up + +12mo, fully illustrated, cloth, $1.50 + +"The tale sparkles with life and animation. The young people are +bright and jolly, and enjoy their lives as everybody ought to +do."--_Woman's Journal_. + + + +Phronsie Pepper + +The Last of the Five Little Peppers + +Illustrated by Jessie McDermott. 12mo, cloth, $1.50 + +This closing book of the now world-famous series of the "Five Little +Pepper Books" has been enthusiastically welcomed by all the boys and +girls of America to whom the Five Little Peppers have been dear ever +since they first appeared in the "Little Brown House." This new book +is the story of Phronsie, the youngest and dearest of all the Peppers. +But Polly and Joel and Ben and Jasper and Mamsie, too, are all in the +story. + + + +The Stories Polly Pepper Told + +One volume. 12mo. Illustrated by Jessie McDermott and Etheldred B. +Barry, $1.50 + +A charming "addenda" to the famous "Five Little Pepper Stories." It is +a unique plan of introducing old friends anew. Wherever there exists a +child or a "grown-up" to whom the Pepper family has become dear, there +will be a loving and vociferous welcome for these charming, +characteristic, and delightful "Stories Polly Pepper Told." + + + +The Judges' Cave + +A Romance of the New Haven Colony in the days of the Regicides + +By MARGARET SIDNEY, author of "A Little Maid of Concord-town," "Five +Little Peppers," etc. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, $1.50 + +There are few more fascinating phases of colonial history than that +which tells the wanderings and adventures of the two judges who, +because they sat in judgment over that royal criminal, Charles the +First of England, were hunted out of England into hiding in New England +and there remained, a mystery and fugitives, in their celebrated cave +in New Haven Colony. Margaret Sidney has made her careful and +exhaustive research into their story a labor of love and has, in this +book, woven about them a romance of rare power and great beauty. +Marcia, the heroine, is a strong and delightful character, and the book +will easily take high rank among the most effective and absorbing +stories based upon a dramatic phase of American history. + + + +A Little Maid of Concord Town + +A Romance of the American Revolution + +By MARGARET SIDNEY. One volume, 12mo, illustrated by F. T. Merrill, +$1.50 + +A delightful Revolutionary romance of life, love and adventure in old +Concord. The author lived for fifteen years in the home of Hawthorne, +in Concord, and knows the interesting town thoroughly. Debby Parlin, +the heroine, lived in a little house on the Lexington Road, still +standing, and was surrounded by all the stir and excitement of the +months of preparation and the days of action at the beginning of our +struggle for freedom. + + + +By Way of the Wilderness + +By "PANSY" (Mrs. G. R. Alden) and MRS. C. M. LIVINGSTON. 12mo, cloth, +illustrated by Charlotte Harding, $1.50 + +This story of Wayne Pierson and how he evaded or met the tests of +misunderstanding, environment, false position, opportunity and +self-pride; how he lost his father and found him again, almost lost his +home and found it again, almost lost himself and found alike his +manhood, his conscience and his heart is told us in Pansy's best vein, +ably supplemented by Mrs. Livingston's collaboration. + + + +As Talked in the Sanctum + +By ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN, U.S. Consul-General at Hong Kong; author of +"Tales of the Malayan Coast," etc. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.00. + +Mr. Wildman was at one time editor of a prominent magazine on the +Pacific coast. He here presents, in a charming and attractive volume, +the talks on men and things that occupied himself and his friends--the +Contributor, the Poet, the Reader, the Parson, the Office Boy and +others as, day by day, they met to discuss, dissect and talk over the +world and its happenings as these appeared to the "Senate" of the +editor's sanctum. It is a book that will be found at once +entertaining, amusing, suggestive, philosophic and delightfully real. + + + +Tales of the Malayan Coast + +By ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN, Consul-General of the United States at Hong +Kong. One volume, 12mo, illustrated by Henry Sandham, $1.00 + +A notable collection of Malayan stories and sketches reproducing both +the atmosphere and flavor of the Orient, and emphasized also by a dash +of American earnestness and vigor. The book is dedicated by permission +to Admiral George Dewey, Mr. Wildman's "friend and hero." + + + + +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, + +530 ATLANTIC AVENUE, BOSTON. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Noank's Log, by W. O. Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOANK'S LOG *** + +***** This file should be named 38523-8.txt or 38523-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/2/38523/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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O. Stoddard +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 200%; + text-align: center } + +P.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center } + +P.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 120%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +P.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center } + +P.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center } + +P.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 60%; + text-align: center } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.capcenter { margin-left: 0; + margin-right: 0 ; + margin-bottom: .5% ; + margin-top: 0; + font-weight: bold; + float: none ; + clear: both ; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center } + +IMG.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-top: 1%; + margin-right: auto; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Noank's Log, by W. O. Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Noank's Log + A Privateer of the Revolution + +Author: W. O. Stoddard + +Illustrator: Will Crawford + +Release Date: January 7, 2012 [EBook #38523] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOANK'S LOG *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-cover"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-cover.jpg" ALT="Cover art" BORDER=""> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The</I> NOANK'S LOG +</H1> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +A PRIVATEER OF THE REVOLUTION +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +BY W. O. STODDARD +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Author of "Guert Ten Eyck," "Gid Granger," etc. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +ILLUSTRATED BY WILL CRAWFORD +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BOSTON +<BR> +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +COPYRIGHT, 1900,<BR> +BY LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +Norwood Press<BR> +J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith<BR> +Norwood, Mass. U.S.A.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +PREFACE. +</P> + +<P> +The latter half of the year 1776 and the whole of the year 1777 have +been vaguely and erroneously described as "the dark hour" of the war +for American independence. It is true that our armies, hastily +gathered and imperfectly equipped, had been outnumbered and defeated in +several important engagements. Beyond that purely military fact there +was no real darkness. Upon the sea the success of the Americans had +been phenomenal. Before the end of the year 1777, the commerce of +Great Britain had suffered losses which dismayed her merchants. As +early as the 6th of February, 1778, Mr. Woodbridge, alderman of London, +testified at the bar of the House of Lords that the number of British +ships taken by American cruisers already reached the startling number +of seven hundred and thirty-three. Of these many had been retaken, but +the Americans had succeeded in carrying into port, as prizes, five +hundred and fifty-nine. The value of these and their cargoes was +declared to be moderately estimated at over ten millions of dollars. +Only a few of the American cruisers were public vessels, sent out +either by individual states or by the United States. All the others +were private armed ships, "letters of marque and reprisal" privateers. +Something of their character and cruising is set forth in this story of +the old whaler <I>Noank</I>, of New London. +</P> + +<P> +Something is also told of the condition and feeling of the people on +the land during the misunderstood gloomy days. The years of the +Revolutionary War were not altogether years of disaster, devastation, +and depression. They were rather years of development and prosperity. +The war was fought and its victory won not only for political, but for +social, industrial, and financial freedom. All the energies of the +American people had been fettered. As the war went on, and without +waiting for its close, all these energies became free to work out the +great results at which the world now wonders. +</P> + +<P> +We are justly proud of our navy. It was founded by our sailors +themselves, without the help of any Navy Department, or Treasury +Department, or national shipyards, or naval academies. There were, +however, very good admirals, commodores, and captains among the +self-taught heroes who went out then in ships in which, ton for ton and +gun for gun, they were able to outsail and outfight any other cruisers +then afloat. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +CONTENTS. +</P> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">A Wounded Nation at Bay</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">More Powder</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">The Unforgotten Hero</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">The News from Trenton</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">The Brig and the Schooner</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">The British Fleet</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">Hunting the <I>Noank</I></A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">Contraband Goods</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">The Picaroon</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">The Black Transport</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A Dangerous Neighborhood</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">A Prize for the <I>Noank</I></A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">The Bermuda Trader</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">The Neutral Port</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">A Coming Storm</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">Irish Loyalty</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">Very Sharp Shooting</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">Down the British Channel</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">The Spent Shot</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">Anchored in the Harbor</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE NOANK'S LOG. +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A WOUNDED NATION AT BAY. +</H4> + +<P> +It is well to fix the date of the beginning of a narrative. +</P> + +<P> +Through the mist and the icy rain, with fixed bayonets and steadfast +hearts, up the main street of Trenton town dashed the iron men from the +frost and famine camp on the opposite bank of the Delaware. +</P> + +<P> +Among their foremost files, leading them in person, rode their +commander-in-chief. Beyond, at the central street crossing, a party of +Hessian soldiers were half frantically getting a brace of field-pieces +to bear upon the advancing American column. They were loading with +grape, and if they had been permitted to fire at that short range, +George Washington and all the men around him would have been swept away. +</P> + +<P> +Young Captain William Washington and a mere boy-officer named James +Monroe, with a few Virginians and Marylanders, rushed in ahead of their +main column. Nearly every man went down, killed or wounded, but they +prevented the firing of those two guns. Just before their rush, the +cause of American liberty was in great peril. Just after it, the +victory of Trenton was secure. +</P> + +<P> +So it is set down in written history, and there are a great many +curious statements made by historians. +</P> + +<P> +This was a sort of midnight, it is said,—the dark hour of the +Revolutionary War. +</P> + +<P> +Manhattan Island, with its harbor and its important military and naval +features, had been definitely lost to the Americans and occupied by the +British. Its defences had been so developed that it was now +practically unassailable by any force which the patriots could bring +against it. From this time forward its harbor and bay were to be the +safe refuge and rendezvous of the fleets of the king of England. Here +were to land and from hence were to march, with only one important +exception, the armies sent over to crush the rebellious colonies. +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, Great Britain had won back just so much of American land, +and no more, as her troops could continuously control with forts and +camps. Upon all of her land, everywhere beyond the range of British +cannon and the visitation of British bayonets and sabres, the colonists +were as firm as ever. It is an exceedingly remarkable fact that +probably not one county in any colony south of the Canadas contained a +numerical majority of royalists, or "Tories." Still, however, these +were numerous, sincere, zealous, and they fully doubled the effective +strength of the varied forces sent over from beyond the sea. +</P> + +<P> +The tide of disaster to the American arms had hardly been checked at +any point in the north. Fort Washington had bloodily fallen; Fort Lee +had been abandoned; the battle of White Plains had been fought, with +sharp losses upon both sides. After vainly striving to keep together a +dissolving army, General Washington, with a small but utterly devoted +remnant, had retreated to contend with cold and starvation in their +desolate winter quarters beyond the Delaware. +</P> + +<P> +For a time, the red-cross flag of England seemed to be floating +triumphantly over land and sea. All Europe regarded the American cause +as hopelessly lost. The American character and the actual condition of +the colonies was but little understood on the other side of the +Atlantic. The truth of the situation was that the men who had wrested +the wilderness from the hard-fighting red men, and who had been +steadily building up a new, free country, during several generations, +were unaware of any really crushing disaster. At a few points, which +most of them had never seen, they had been driven back a little from +the sea-coast, and that was about all. Among their snow-clad hills and +valleys they were sensibly calculating the actual importance of their +military reverses, and were preparing to try those battles again, or +others like them. A bitter, revengeful, implacable feeling was +everywhere increasing, for several aggravating causes. In the winter +days of 1776-77, wounded America was dangerously AT BAY. +</P> + +<P> +It was on Christmas morning, at the hour when the Hessians of Colonel +Rahl were giving up their arms and military stores in Trenton town. At +that very hour, a group of people, who would have gone wild with +delight over such news as was to come from Trenton, sat down to a +plentiful breakfast in a Connecticut farm-house. It was a house in the +outskirts of New London, near the bank of the Thames River, and in view +of the splendid harbor. As yet there were several vacant chairs at the +table. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert Ten Eyck," said a tall, noble-looking old woman, as she turned +away from one of the frosted windows, "of what good is thy schooner and +her fine French guns? Thee has not fired a shot with one of them. How +does thee know that thee can hit anything?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, we did, Rachel Tarns," was very cheerfully responded from across +the table. "We blazed away at that brig. We hit her, too. Good +Quakers ought not to want us to hurt people." +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," she tartly replied, "thee has done no harm, I will instruct +thee. If thee is thyself a Friend, thee must not use carnal weapons, +but if thee is one of the world's people thee may do what is in thee +for the ships and armies of thy good King George. Do I not love him +exceedingly? Hath he not seized my dwelling for a barracks, and hath +he not driven me and mine out of my own city of New York, for what his +servants call treasonable utterances?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rachel!" came with much energy from the head of the table. "I can't +fight, any more'n you can. You love him just the way you do for pretty +good reasons. So do I, for 'pressing my husband and sons into his +navy. Thank God! they've all escaped now, and they're ready to sink +such ships as they were flogged in—" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother Avery," interrupted a stalwart young man at her side, "that's +what we mean to do if we can. British men-o'-war are not easy to sink, +though. We've something to think of just now. If our harbor batteries +aren't strengthened the British could clean out New London any day. +Their cruisers steer out o' range of Ledyard's long thirty-twos, but +there's not enough of 'em. We haven't powder enough, either." +</P> + +<P> +"Vine," said Rachel Tarns, "does thee not see the peaceful nature of +thy long cannon? They keep thy foes at a distance, and they prevent +the unnecessary shedding of blood. I am glad they are on thy fort." +</P> + +<P> +"Rachel Tarns," said Guert, "you gave Aleck Hamilton the first powder +he ever had for his field-pieces. You're a real good Quaker. I wish +you'd come on board the <I>Noank</I>, though, and see how we've armed her. +She's all ready for sea." +</P> + +<P> +"What we're waiting for," said Vine Avery, "is a chance to do +something. Father won't say just what his next notion's goin' to be." +</P> + +<P> +"He says he won't wait much longer," said Guert. "Mother, you said I +might go with him?" +</P> + +<P> +"You may!" she answered firmly, and then her face grew shadowy. +</P> + +<P> +He was a well-built, wiry looking young fellow, with dark and piercing +eyes. His face wore at this moment a look that was not only +courageous, but older than his apparent years seemed to call for. It +was a look that well might grow in the face of an American boy of that +day, whether sailor or soldier. +</P> + +<P> +Others had now come in to fill the chairs at the table. At the end of +it, opposite Mrs. Avery, sat a strong looking, squarely built man whom +nobody need have mistaken for anything else than a first-rate Yankee +sea-captain. +</P> + +<P> +The house they were in was of somewhat irregular construction. Its +main part, the doorstep of which was not many yards from the road +fence, was a square frame building. At the right of its wide central +passage, or hall, was the ample dining room. Opening into this at the +rear was a room almost equally large that was evidently much older. +Its walls were not made of sawed lumber, nor were they even plastered. +They were of huge, rudely squared logs and these had been cut from the +primeval forest when the first white settlers landed on that coast. +They had made their houses as strong as so many small forts. In the +outer doors of this room, and here and there in its thick sides, were +cut loopholes, now covered over, through which the earlier Averys could +have thrust their gun muzzles to defend their scalps from assaults of +their unpleasant Pequot neighbors. There were legends in the family of +sharp skirmishes in the dooryard. All of that region had been the +battle-ground of white and red men and this was one reason why such +captains as Putnam, and Knowlton, and Nathan Hale had been able to +rally such remarkably stubborn fighters to march to Breed's Hill and to +the New York and New Jersey battlefields. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Rachel Tarns, about getting news from New York?" at last +inquired Captain Avery, laying down his knife and fork. "I'd ruther +git good news from Washington's army. I'm not givin' 'em up, yet, by +any manner o' means." +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right, father," said his son Vine, "but I do wish we knew +of a supply ship, inward bound. I'd like to strike for ammunition for +the <I>Noank</I> and for the batteries. We're not fixed out for a long +voyage till we can fire more rounds than we could now." +</P> + +<P> +There was a Yankee drawl in his speech, a kind of twang, but there was +nothing coarse in the manners or appearance of young Avery, and his +sailor father had an intelligent face, not at all destitute of what is +called refinement. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish thee might have thy will," responded Rachel, earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +"Vine!" exclaimed his mother. "Hark! Somebody's coming. Rachel, +didn't you hear that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did!" said Rachel, rising. "That was Coco's voice and Up-na-tan's. +The old redskin's talking louder than he is used to about something." +</P> + +<P> +"He can screech loud enough," said Guert. "I've heard him give the +Manhattan warwhoop. Coco can almost outyell him, too." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment, the front door swung open unceremoniously, and a pair +of very extraordinary human forms came stalking in. +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan!" shouted Guert, with boyish eagerness. "Coco! All loaded +down with muskets! What have they been up to?" +</P> + +<P> +"Heap more, out on sled," replied a deep, mellow, African voice. "Ole +chief an' Coco been among lobsters. 'Tole a heap." +</P> + +<P> +"Thee bad black man!" said Rachel Tarns. "Up-na-tan, has thee been +wicked, too? What has thee been stealing?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ole woman no talk," came half humorously from the very tall shape +which had now halted in front of her. "Up-na-tan been all over own +island. See King George army. See church prison. Ship prison. See +many prisoners. All die, soon. Ole chief say he kill redcoat for kill +prisoner. Coco say, too. Good black man. Good Indian." +</P> + +<P> +He might be good, but he was ferociously ugly. The only Indian +features discernible about his dress were his moccasons and an old but +hidden buckskin shirt. Over this he now had on a tremendous military +cloak of dark cloth. On his head was a 'coonskin cap, such as any +Connecticut farmer boy might wear. He now put down on the floor no +less than six good-looking muskets, all duly fitted with bayonets. +Coco did the same, and he, for looks, was equally distinguished. His +tall, gaunt figure was surmounted by an undipped mop of white wool, +over a face that was a marvel of deeply wrinkled African features. He +also wore a military cloak, and both garments were such as might have +been lost in some way by petty officers of a Hessian battalion. They +were not British, at all events. +</P> + +<P> +Guert glanced at the muskets on the floor and then sprang out of the +door to discover what else this brace of uncommon foragers had brought +home with them. Just outside the gate there was quite enough to +astonish him. It was not a mere hand-sled, but what the country people +called a "jumper." It was rudely but strongly made of split saplings, +its parts being held together mostly by wooden pins. It had no better +floor than could be made of split shingles, and on this lay, now, a +closely packed collection of muskets, with several swords, pistols, and +a miscellaneous lot of belts, cartridge-boxes, and knapsacks. Coco and +Up-na-tan had plainly been borrowing liberally, somewhere or other, and +Guert hastened back into the house to get an explanation. Curiously +enough, however, both of the foragers had refused to give anything of +the kind to the assembly in the Avery dining room. +</P> + +<P> +"Where has thee been, chief?" had been asked by Rachel Tarns. "Tell us +what thee and Coco have been doing. We all wish to hear." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!" interrupted the Indian; "Coco shut mouth. Ole chief tell +Guert mother. Where ole woman gone? Want see her!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's so," said Guert. "Mother's about the only one that can do +anything with either of them. They used to live a good deal at our +house, you know." +</P> + +<P> +There had all the while been one vacant chair at the table, waiting for +somebody that was expected, and now through the kitchen door came +hurrying in a not very tall but vigorous-looking woman. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother!" said Guert. "So glad you came in! Speak to 'em! Make 'em +tell what they've been doing!" +</P> + +<P> +She proved that she understood them better than he or the rest did by +not asking either of them a question. She stepped quickly forward and +shook hands, with the red man first and then with the black. She +stooped and examined the weapons on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Sled outside," said Up-na-tan. "Ole woman go see." +</P> + +<P> +Out she went silently, and the dining room was deserted, for everybody +followed her. In front of the jumper stood a very tired-looking pony, +and she pointed at him inquiringly. He himself was nothing wonderful, +but his harness was at least remarkable. It was made up of ropes and +strips of cloth. Some of the strips were red, some green, and the rest +were blue, the whole being, nevertheless, somewhat otherwise than +ornamental. +</P> + +<P> +"Ole chief find pony in wood," said Up-na-tan. "Hess'n tie him on +tree. Find sled in ole barn. Hess'n go sleep. Drink rum. No wake +up. Ole chief an' Coco load sled. Feel hungry, now. Tell more by and +by." +</P> + +<P> +His way of telling left it a little uncertain as to whether or not +intemperance was the only cause that prevented the soldier sleepers +from awaking to interfere with the taking away of their arms and +accoutrements. He seemed, however, to derive great satisfaction from +the interest and approval manifested by Mrs. Ten Eyck. +</P> + +<P> +"Come in and get your breakfast," she said. "Rachel Tarns and I'll +cook for you while you talk. Rachel, they must have the best we can +give them. I've cooked for Up-na-tan. 'Tisn't the first meal he's had +here, either. He's an old friend of mine and yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" grunted Up-na-tan. "Ole woman give chief coffee, many time." +He appeared, nevertheless, a good deal as if he were giving her +commands rather than requests, so dignified and peremptory was his +manner of speech. No doubt it was the correct fashion, as between any +chief and any kind of squaw, although he followed her into the house as +if he in some way belonged to her, and Coco did the same. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert come," he said. "Lyme Avery, Vine, all rest, 'tay in room. +Tarns woman come." +</P> + +<P> +The door into the kitchen was closed behind them in accordance with his +wishes, and the breakfast-table party was compelled to restrain its +curiosity for the time being. +</P> + +<P> +"We must let the old redskin have his own way," remarked Captain Avery. +"Nobody but Guert's mother knows how to deal with him. The old pirate!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what he is, or what he has been," said Vine Avery. "He +hardly makes any secret of it. I believe he has a notion, to this day, +that Captain Kidd sailed under orders from General Washington and the +Continental Congress." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Kidd wasn't much worse than some o' the British cruisers," +grumbled his father. "They'll all call us pirates, too, and I guess +we'd better not let ourselves be taken prisoners." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Avery's face turned a little paler, at that moment, but she said +to him, courageously:— +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme! Do you and Vine fight to the very last! I'm glad that Robert +is with Washington. I wish they had these muskets there! No, they may +be just what's wanted at our forts here." +</P> + +<P> +"More muskets, more cannon, and more powder," said Vine. "Oh! how I +ache to know how those fellows captured 'em! There isn't any better +scout than an Indian, but both of 'em are reg'lar scalpers." +</P> + +<P> +They might be. They looked like it. They were unsurpassed specimens +of out and out red and black savagery, with the added advantage, or +disadvantage, of paleface piratical training and experience by sea and +land. The very room they were now in was a kind of memorial of +old-time barbarisms, and it might again become a fort—a block-house, +at least—almost any day. +</P> + +<P> +All the farm-houses of Westchester County, New York, not far away, if +not already burned or deserted, had become even as so many +"block-houses," so to speak. They were to be held desperately, now and +then, against the lawless attacks of the Cowboys and Skinners who were +carrying on guerilla warfare over what was sarcastically termed "the +neutral ground" between the British and American outposts. +</P> + +<P> +The huge fireplace, before which Mrs. Ten Eyck and Rachel Tarns began +at once to prepare breakfast for their hungry friends, had an iron bar +crossing it, a few feet up. This was to prevent Pequots, +Narragansetts, or other night visitors from bringing their knives and +tomahawks into the house by way of the chimney. Upon the deerhorn +hooks above the mantel hung no less than three long-barrelled, +bell-mouthed fowling pieces, such as had hurled slugs and buckshot +among the melting columns of the British regulars in front of the +breastwork on Bunker Hill, or, more correctly, Breed's Hill. A sabre +hung beside them, and a long-shafted whaling lance rested in the +nearest corner at the right, with a harpoon for a companion. +</P> + +<P> +All these things had been taken in at a glance by the two foragers, or +scouts, or spies, or whatever duty they had been performing most of +recently. +</P> + +<P> +"Keep still, Guert," commanded his mother. "Let the chief tell." +</P> + +<P> +Gravely, slowly, in very plain and not badly cut up English, with now +and then a word or so in Dutch, Up-na-tan told his story, aided, or +otherwise, by sundry sharply rebuked interjections from Coco. The +first thing which seemed to be noteworthy was that the British on +Manhattan Island considered the rebel cause hopeless. Its armed +forces, moreover, were so broken up or so far away that the vicinity of +New York was but carelessly patrolled. There had been hardly any +obstacle to hinder the going in or the coming out of a white-headed old +slave and a wandering Indian. The red men of New York, for that +matter, were supposed to be all more or less friendly to their British +Great Father George across the ocean. All black men, too, were +understood to be not unwillingly released from rebel masters, provided +they were not set at work again for anybody else. +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan's greatest interest appeared to cling to the forts and to the +cannon in them, but he answered Rachel Tarns quite clearly concerning +the conditions of the American soldiers held as prisoners. All the +large churches were full of them, he said, packed almost to +suffocation. One or more old hulks of warships, anchored in the +harbor, were as horribly crowded. The worst of these was the old +sixty-four gun ship, <I>Jersey</I>, lying in Wallabout Bay, near the Long +Island shore. Up-na-tan and Coco had rowed around her in a stolen boat +and had been fired upon by her deck guard, and they had seen a dozen at +least of dead rebels thrown overboard, to be carried out to sea by the +tide. +</P> + +<P> +"Redcoat kill 'em all, some day," said the Indian. "Kill men in ole +church. Bury 'em somewhere." He seemed to have an idea that the +doomed Americans did not perish by disease or suffocation altogether. +He believed that their captors selected about so many of them every +day, to be dealt with after the Iroquois or Algonquin fashion. This +was strictly an Indian notion of the customary usages of war. It did +not stir his sensibilities, if he had any, as it did those of the +warm-hearted Quaker woman and Mrs. Ten Eyck. Guert listened with a +terribly vindictive feeling, such as was sadly increasing among all the +people of the colonies. It was to account for, though not to excuse, +many a deed of ruthless retaliation during the remainder of the war. +In skirmish after skirmish, raid after raid, battle after battle, the +innocent were to suffer for the guilty. Brave and right-minded +servants and soldiers of Great Britain were to perish miserably, +because of these evil dealings with prisoners of war in and about +Manhattan Island. +</P> + +<P> +"Thy scouting among the forts and camps hath small value," said Rachel +Tarns, thoughtfully. "If Washington knew all, he hath not wherewith to +attack the king's forces." +</P> + +<P> +"No, no!" exclaimed the Indian. "Not now. Washington come again, some +day. Kill all lobster. Take back island. Up-na-tan help him. Coco +no talk. Ole chief tell more." +</P> + +<P> +Aided by expressive gestures and by an occasional question from Mrs. +Ten Eyck, he made the remainder of his story both clear and +interesting. He and Coco had crossed the Harlem, homeward bound, in an +old dugout canoe. They had worked their way out through the British +lines by keeping under the cover of woods, to a point not far from the +White Plains battle-field. Here, one evening, they had discovered a +Hessian foraging party in a deserted farm-house. The soldiers were +having a grand carouse, thinking themselves out of all danger. +</P> + +<P> +"Musket all 'tack up in front of house," said Up-na-tan. "One Hess'n +walk up an' down, sentry, till he tumble. Fall on face. Coco find +sled in barn. Find pony. Up-na-tan take all musket. Pile 'em on +sled. Harness pony, all pretty good. Come away." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you go into the house?" asked Guert, excitedly. "Didn't any of +'em know what you were doing? How'd you get your cloak?" +</P> + +<P> +"Boy shut mouth," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief want cloak. Coco, too, +want more musket, pistol, powder. Hate Hess'n. All in house go sleep +hard. No wake up. Lie still. Pony pull sled to New London." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Ten Eyck's face was very pale and so was that of Rachel Tarns. +They believed that they understood only too well why the Manhattan +warrior and the grim Ashantee who had been his comrade in this affair, +preferred to say no more concerning the undisturbable slumber of that +unfortunate detail of Hessians. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," said his mother, "go in and get your breakfast. The chief and +Coco have had theirs. Rachel, you and I must have a talk with Captain +Avery." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MORE POWDER. +</H4> + +<P> +"Captain Watts, I must say it. I don't a bit like this tryin' to run +in without a convoy." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I either, mate," said the captain, with an upward glance at the +rigging and a side squint across the sea. "'Tisn't any fault o' mine. +I protested." +</P> + +<P> +"I heard ye," replied the mate. "They only laughed at us. They said +the king's cruisers'd swep' these waters as clean as the Channel. Glad +ye know 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Know 'em?" laughed Captain Watts. "I'm a Massachusetts man. I know +'em like a book. Don't need any pilot." +</P> + +<P> +"How 'bout Hell Gate, when we get there? We've lost a ship or two—" +</P> + +<P> +"Brackett, man," interrupted the skipper, more seriously, "that's a +long reach ahead, yet. I know Hell Gate channel when we get there. +Our risks'll be in the sound. The rebels haven't any reg'lar cruisers. +What we've to look out for is the Long Island whaleboat men. Tough +customers. They say nigh half on 'em are redskins,—Indian scalpers." +</P> + +<P> +"Well! As to them," said the mate, "we can beat 'em off. Our +four-pounder popguns'd be good against whaleboats but not for anything +bigger." +</P> + +<P> +"Six on 'em," said Captain Watts. "We can handle 'em, too." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd rather 'twas a frigate," said the mate. "Our crew's none too +strong, and half of 'em are 'pressed men. No fight in 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, yes, they'll have to fight," was responded. "Fight or hang, +perhaps. I hate a 'pressed man. Anyhow, it'll take a better wind than +this to show us Hell Gate channel before day after to-morrow. We'll be +tackin' about in the sound, to-night." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a'most a calm! Bitter cold, too." +</P> + +<P> +He was a very intelligent looking British sailor, that first mate of +the <I>Windsor</I>. She was a bark-rigged vessel of possibly six hundred +tons, and she was freighted heavily with military and other supplies +for the king's forces at New York. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow or other, the discontented mate could not say why or how, the +<I>Windsor</I> had become separated from her convoy and consorts. These +were seeking their harbor by way of Sandy Hook, while she had been sent +through Long Island Sound. She was hardly in it yet, although it may +be a wide water question as to precisely at what line the sound begins. +Not a sail of any kind larger than a fisherman's shallop was in sight. +There was solid comfort to be had in the knowledge that the Americans +had no navy, and that all these waters were regularly patrolled by +English armed vessels. It looked as if there could be no good cause +for anxiety, and Mate Brackett was compelled to accept the situation. +He turned away, and the captain himself went below, hopefully +remarking:— +</P> + +<P> +"Cold weather's nothin'. There'll be more wind, by and by. We'll be +ready to take it when it comes." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a prime seaman. No doubt o' that," said the mate, looking after +him. "He's pilot enough, too, and our bein' here's no fault o' his. +We'll be ready for any rebel boats, though. I'll cast loose the guns, +such as they are, and I'll get up powder and ball. Grapeshot'd be the +thing for boats. Sweep 'em at short range. This 'ere craft's goin' to +reach port, if we fight our way in!" +</P> + +<P> +He was showing pretty good judgment and plenty of courage. His six +guns, three on a side, looked serviceable. The crew appeared to be +numerous enough to handle so few pieces as that, whatever their other +deficiencies might be. Part of them, indeed were first-rate British +tars, the best fighters in the world. As for Captain Watts, he was +understood to be an American Tory of the strongest kind, to be depended +upon even more than if he had been a Hull man or a Londoner. No set of +men, anywhere, ever showed more self-sacrificing devotion to their +political principles than did the loyalists, or royalists, of America +in their long, fruitless struggle with what they deemed treason and +rebellion. +</P> + +<P> +It is possible that Mate Brackett might have studied his cannon and +their capacities even more carefully than he did, if at that morning +hour he could have been for a few minutes one of a little group upon +the deck of a craft that was at anchor in New London harbor. +</P> + +<P> +The tonnage of this vessel was much less than that of the <I>Windsor</I>, +but she was sharper in the nose, cleaner in the run, trimmer, +handsomer. She was schooner-rigged, with tall, tapering, raking masts +that promised for her an ample spread of canvas. She was, in short, +one of the new type of vessels for which the American shipyards were +already becoming distinguished. She had been built for the +whale-fishery, and that meant, to the understanding of Yankee sailors, +that she was to have speed enough to race a school of runaway whales, +strength to stand the squeeze of an icefloe, the bump of an iceberg, or +the blast and billows of a hurricane. She must also have fair stowage +room between decks and in her hold for many casks of oil. +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan like long guns," said one of the voices on the deck of the +<I>Noank</I>. "Now! Coco swing him. No man help. One man swing. All +'tan back. Brack man try." +</P> + +<P> +He was asking a practical question as an experienced gunner. It was +necessary to know whether or not the pivoting of that long, brass +eighteen-pounder had been perfectly done for freedom of movement. In +action there would be men enough to handle it, but even the work of +many hands should not be impeded by overtight fittings and needless +frictions. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh! Good!" he exclaimed, as his black comrade turned the gun back +and forth, and then he tried it himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Avery, that's so, he can do it," remarked Guert Ten Eyck, +thoughtfully, "but those two are made of iron and hickory. It isn't +every fellow can do what they can." +</P> + +<P> +"No, I guess not," laughed Captain Avery. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad the old Buccaneers are pleased, though. There goes the +redskin to the other guns. He can't find any fault with 'em. Not one +of 'em's a short nose." +</P> + +<P> +Three on a side, polished to glittering, the long brass sixes slept +upon their perfectly fitted carriages. Every one of them bore the mark +of the <I>fleur de lis</I>, for they were of a pattern which the French +royal foundries were turning out for the light cruisers of King Louis. +Such of them as were already mounted in that manner were lazily waiting +for a formal declaration of war with England. These here, however, and +others like them, were already carrying on that very war. Before a +great while, the entire French navy was to become auxiliary to that of +the United States, and considerable French land forces were to march to +victory shoulder to shoulder with the Continentals under General +Washington. +</P> + +<P> +The sailor comrades of Up-na-tan and Coco were evidently well aware +that the savage-looking couple had seen much sea service upon armed +vessels. The less said about it the better, perhaps, but some of it +had been upon British cruisers, in whatever manner it had been escaped +from. Some of it had been, it was said, under a very different +fighting flag. Their inspection of the broadside guns was therefore +watched with interest. +</P> + +<P> +"Long!" said Up-na-tan. "Good. Shoot bullet far. Not big enough. +Want nine-pounder. Old chief like big gun. Knock hole in ship. Sink +her quick." +</P> + +<P> +"Take out cargo first," muttered Coco. +</P> + +<P> +"Then sink ship. Not lose cargo." +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That's what we'll do! Chief, I +believe the frame of the <I>Noank</I> is strong enough to carry a long +thirty-two and six eighteens." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" replied the Indian, firmly. "Too much big gun 'poil schooner. +No run fast any more." +</P> + +<P> +According to the red man's judgment, therefore, the Yankee skipper's +enthusiasm might lead him to overload his swift vessel or make her +topheavy in a sea. It was likely that things were just as well as they +were. At all events, her brilliant armament and her disciplined +ordering gave her an exceedingly efficient and warlike air as she rode +there waiting her sailing orders. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam Prentice's boat!" suddenly called out a voice, aft. "Father, he's +headed for us. Here he comes, rowing hard!" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Noank</I> ahoy!" came across the water, from as far away as a pair of +strong lungs could send it. "I say! Is Lyme Avery aboard?" +</P> + +<P> +"Every man's aboard! All ready! What news?" went back through the +speaking trumpet in the hands of Vine Avery, at the stern. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell him to h'ist anchor! British ship sighted away east'ard! Not a +man-o'-war. 'Rouse him!" +</P> + +<P> +"All hands up anchor!" roared Captain Avery. "Run in the guns! Close +the ports! Gear that pivot-gun fast! Up-na-tan, that's your work." +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said the Indian. "Shoot pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +Vine and Sam Prentice were exchanging messages rapidly as the rowboat +came nearer. All on board could hear, and now the trumpeter turned to +note the eager, fierce activity of the old Manhattan. +</P> + +<P> +"It does you good, doesn't it," he said. "You're dyin' for a chance to +try your Frenchers." +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" grunted the chief, patting the pivot-gun affectionately. "Sink +ship for ole King George. Kill plenty lobster! Kill all captain! +Whoo-oo-oop!" +</P> + +<P> +His hand was at his mouth, and the screech he sent forth was the +warwhoop of his vanished tribe,—if any ears of white men can +distinguish between one warwhoop and another. That he had been a +sailor, however, was not at all remarkable. All of the New England +coast Indians and the many small clans of Long Island had been from +time immemorial termed "fish Indians" by their inland red cousins. The +island clans were also known as "little bush" Indians. All that now +remained of them took to the sea as their natural inheritance, and +their best men were in good demand for their exceptional skill as +harpooners. +</P> + +<P> +The anchor of the <I>Noank</I> was beginning to come up when the boat of Sam +Prentice reached the side. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you sight her yourself, Sam?" asked Captain Avery. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I did," said Sam. "I was out more scoutin' than fishin', and I +had a good glass. She's a bark, heavy laden. It's a light wind for +anything o' her rig. She can't git away from our nippers. I didn't +lose time gettin' any nigher. I came right in." +</P> + +<P> +"On board with you," said the captain. "It's 'bout time the <I>Noank</I> +took somethin'. We've been cooped up in New London harbor long enough." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so!" said Sam Prentice, as he scrambled over the bulwark. "I'm +hungry for a fight myself." +</P> + +<P> +He was a wiry, sailorlike man, of middle age, with merry, black eyes +which yet had a steely flash in them. Up came the anchor. Out swung +the booms. The light wind was just the thing for the <I>Noank's</I> rig, +and every sail she could spread went swiftly to its place. She was a +beauty when all her canvas was showing. A numerous and growing crowd +was gathered at the piers and wharves, for Sam Prentice's news had +reached the shore also. Cheer after cheer went up as the sails began +to fill. +</P> + +<P> +"Anneke Ten Eyck!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "I'm so glad Lyme was all +ready. He didn't have to wait a minute after Sam got there." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad Guert's with him," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "If he wants to be a +sea-captain, I won't hinder him." +</P> + +<P> +"God be with them all!" was the loud and earnest response of Rachel +Tarns. "I trust that they may do their whole duty by the ships of the +man George, who calleth himself our king." +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme Avery's jest the man to 'tend to that," called out a deep, hoarse +voice, farther along the pier. "He was 'pressed, once, by George's +men, and he means to make 'em pay for his lost time." +</P> + +<P> +"So was my son, Vine," said Mrs. Avery. "He has something more'n lost +time to make 'em account for." +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly forty New London boys were 'pressed, first and last," said a +sad-faced old woman. "One of mine fell at Brooklyn and one's in the +Jersey prison-ship. It's the king's work." +</P> + +<P> +"We're sorry for you, Mrs. Williams," said another woman. "I don't +know where mine are. We can't get any word from our 'pressed boys. +God pity 'em!—God in heaven send success to the <I>Noank</I> and Lyme +Avery! To our sailors on the sea and our soldiers on the land!" +</P> + +<P> +"Amen!" went up from several earnest voices, and then there was another +round of hearty cheers. +</P> + +<P> +Away down the broad harbor the gallant schooner was speeding, with +Guert Ten Eyck astride of her bowsprit. Up-na-tan and Coco were +crouching like a pair of tigers at the side of the pivot guns. The +crew was both numerous and well selected, for it consisted of the pick +of the New London whaling veterans. The majority of them, of course, +were middle aged or even elderly, so many of the younger men had +marched away with Putnam or were at this time garrisoning the forts of +the harbor. +</P> + +<P> +There was to be no long and tiresome waiting. Hardly was the <I>Noank</I> +well out beyond the point at the harbor mouth before Sam Prentice, from +his perch aloft, called down to his friends on the deck:— +</P> + +<P> +"I've sighted her! She's made too long a tack this way for her good. +We'll git out well to wind'ard of her. She's sure game!" +</P> + +<P> +Every seaman on board understood just what that meant, and he was +answered by a storm of cheers. Nevertheless, the face of Captain Avery +was serious, for he had no means of knowing what might really be the +strength and armament of the stranger. +</P> + +<P> +As for her, she had all sail set, and her skipper was at the helm, +while Mate Brackett was in the maintop taking anxious observations. +</P> + +<P> +"Sail to wind'ard," he said to himself. "Hope there's no mischief in +her. Anyhow, I'll go down and have Captain Watts send the men to +quarters." +</P> + +<P> +Down he went and reported, and Captain Watts responded vigorously. +</P> + +<P> +"Most likely a coaster," he said, "but we won't take any chances. Call +the men. Any but a pretty strong rebel 'll sheer away if she finds +we're ready for her. We'll shoot first, Brackett. I'm a fightin' +man—I am!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right, sir," said Brackett, more cheerily. "I've served on a +cruiser. Men! All hands clear away for action! Cast loose the guns!" +</P> + +<P> +He was in right good earnest, like the brave British seaman that he +was, and the supply ship, in spite of having too much deck cargo, soon +began to take on a decidedly warlike appearance. There was no audible +grumbling among her crew as they went to their posts of duty, but a +sharp observer might have noted that several of them, from time to +time, cast wistful glances landward and then looked gloomily into each +others' faces. +</P> + +<P> +"No hope!" muttered one of them. +</P> + +<P> +"They are hanging deserters," hissed another. "I saw one run up." +</P> + +<P> +"I saw one flogged to death," came savagely from a third, "but I'll +take my chance if I git one." +</P> + +<P> +Mate Brackett was now busy with his glass, and he was telling himself +how much he longed for a stronger breeze, coming from some other point +of the compass. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" he suddenly sang out. "Captain Watts, we're all right, now! +British flag!" +</P> + +<P> +"Keep to your guns!" roared back the captain. "I'll stand away from +her, just the same. If you throw away the <I>Windsor</I> I'll have you +hung!" +</P> + +<P> +More fiercely vehement than ever became now his apparent readiness for +fighting. He called another man to the wheel and went out among the +guns. He ordered up more muskets, pistols, pikes, cutlasses, and armed +himself to the teeth, as if to repel boarders. +</P> + +<P> +"They'd call me a Tory," he said to the mate. "They shoot Tories. I'm +fighting for my life, if that there sail is a Yankee. Her flag's as +like as not a trick to keep us from getting ready." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll be ready," replied the mate; but all the men had heard the +remark of Captain Watts concerning his chances. +</P> + +<P> +Nearer and nearer, before the somewhat freshening breeze, came the +strange schooner, with the merchant flag of Great Britain fluttering +out to declare how peaceable and friendly was her character. Mate +Brackett's glass could as yet discover no sign of evil, unless' it +might be that a widespread old sail which he saw on the deck amidships +had been put there to cover up the wrong kind of deck cargo. +</P> + +<P> +"She hasn't any business that I know of to head for us," he said to his +commander, suspiciously. "We must be ready to give her a broadside." +</P> + +<P> +"Luff!" instantly sang out Captain Watts to the man at the helm. "They +can't fool me! Brackett, no nonsense, now! Bring the larboard guns to +bear! I'll hail her! Ship ahoy! What schooner's that?" +</P> + +<P> +His hail was given through his trumpet, and no answer came during a +full half minute, while the schooner sped nearer. Then suddenly a +storm of exclamations arose from the men, and Brackett groaned aloud. +</P> + +<P> +"Just what old Watts was afraid of!" he exclaimed. "He's a gone man! +So are all of us! The rebel flag! Guns!" +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Noank</I> was indeed flying the stars and stripes now, instead of the +red-cross flag of England. The old sail amidships had been jerked +away, and there stood Up-na-tan, with one hand upon the breech of his +long eighteen and the other holding a lighted lanyard ready to touch +her off. Open at the same moment went the three starboard ports, and +out ran the noses of the dangerous six-pounders. +</P> + +<P> +"Heave to, or I'll sink ye!" came fiercely down the wind. "Surrender, +or I'll send ye to the bottom!" +</P> + +<P> +"It's no use, Captain Watts," said Brackett, dolefully; "she carries +too many guns for us. We may as well give up." +</P> + +<P> +"Men!" shouted the captain, "what do you say? Are you with me? Shall +we fight it out? I'm ready!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a man of us, captain," sturdily responded one of the crew. "This +'ere isn't nothin' but a supply ship. We ain't bound as if 'twas a +man-o'-war. No use, either." +</P> + +<P> +"Brackett," said Watts, "you may haul down the flag, then. I won't. I +call you all to witness that I've done my duty! Mate, the rebels won't +shoot you. Report me dead to Captain Milliard of the <I>Cleopatra</I>. He +ordered me to run in through the sound against my will." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll give a good report of you," hurriedly responded the mate, while +other and not unwilling hands hauled down the flag; "but that long +eighteen alone would be too much for our popguns." +</P> + +<P> +The two ships were now near enough for grappling, and in a few minutes +more they were side by side upon the quiet sea. +</P> + +<P> +"I surrender to you, sir," said Captain Watts to Captain Avery, as the +latter sprang on board, followed by a swarm of brawny whalemen. "I +claim good treatment for my men, whatever you may do to me." +</P> + +<P> +"I know you, sir," said Avery, sternly. "You are Watts, the Marblehead +Tory. Step aft with me. There's an account to settle with you. Sam +Prentice, look out for the prisoners. Vine, get ready to cast off and +head for New London. Send 'em all below—" +</P> + +<P> +"All but some of 'em," said Sam, with a broad grin. "Men! Every +'pressed American step out!" +</P> + +<P> +No less than nine of the <I>Windsor's</I> crew obeyed that order, while all +the rest sullenly surrendered their useless weapons to Coco and Guert +Ten Eyck and a couple of sailors who were ordered to receive them. +</P> + +<P> +Not on deck, fore or aft, but down in the cabin did the skipper of the +captured supply ship give his account of himself and his cargo. Hardly +was the cabin door shut behind them before Captain Avery laughed aloud, +inquiring:— +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Luke Watts, how did ye make it out! They'll hang ye, yet." +</P> + +<A NAME="img-044"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-044.jpg" ALT="THE MARBLEHEAD TORY. "'Now, Luke Watts! they'll hang ye yet,' said Captain Avery."" BORDER="2"> +<P CLASS="capcenter"> +THE MARBLEHEAD TORY.<BR> +"'Now, Luke Watts! they'll hang ye yet,' said Captain Avery." +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"No, they won't," said Watts. "I've taken across ship after ship for +'em. I'm a known Tory, ye know. Worst kind. I promised jest sech +another good Tory, in London, though, that I'd try and deliver this +cargo to the blasted rebels. It's mostly guns, and ammunition, and +clothing. I managed to git written orders from Captain Milliard, +commandin' our convoy, to run through the Sound, contrary to my advice. +You see, he's an opinionated man. I got him swearin' mad, and I had to +obey, ye know. It has turned out jest as I warned him it would, and he +can't say a word." +</P> + +<P> +"You're a razor!" laughed Avery. "Then you tacked right over within +easy reach of us, all reg'lar. Now! What are we to do with the crew? +We don't want 'em on shore." +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" said Watts. "The 'pressed men'll jine ye, all of 'em. They +hate me like p'ison, for I da'sn't let 'em have a smell of how it +really is. Take good care of Brackett, anyhow. He's a prime seaman. +He saved one of our fellows from a floggin', once. All the rest o' the +crew deserve somethin' better'n prison." +</P> + +<P> +"Prison?" said Avery. "They're not prisoners of war. I don't want +'em, even if they are. I wouldn't hurt a hair o' their heads. I'm no +butcher." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on deck, then," said Watts, "and be kerful how you talk anythin' +but rough to me." +</P> + +<P> +Up they went, to find both vessels sailing steadily away toward the +mouth of the harbor. Already they were so near that a booming cannon +from Fort Griswold informed that the <I>Noank's</I> success was joyfully +understood on shore. +</P> + +<P> +The crew of the <I>Windsor</I> were now summoned up from their temporary +confinement in the hold, and were ordered to get out their own longboat +ready for launching. They were told that all British tars were to go +free and to make the best of their way to New York or to the first +British ship they might meet. The impressed Americans listened in +silence, for every man of them knew that in case of his escape, even in +this manner, there would be thenceforth a possible rope around his +neck. Whether impressed or not, he was considered bound to stick to +the British flag, come what might. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Watts," said the commander of the <I>Noank</I>, "do you demand +these men? They are Americans." +</P> + +<P> +"I do demand them," replied Watts. "You have no right to keep them, +and they'll all be hung as deserters." +</P> + +<P> +"They can't help themselves," said Captain Avery, furiously. "Sam +Prentice, iron every one o' those 'pressed men and put 'em all down in +the hold. If they try to git away, shoot 'em. I'll put 'em ashore or +kill 'em. You can't have 'em, Watts." +</P> + +<P> +"That saves 'em," whispered Watts to himself. "He's another razor. I +can report jist how they were took." +</P> + +<P> +At all events, not one of the nine Americans made any resistance which +called for shooting him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Luke Watts," said the angry American privateer captain, "it's +your turn. You are taken in arms against your country. Sam Prentice, +Levi Hotchkiss, Vine Avery, speak out! Shall we hang Luke Watts? Or +shall we shoot him? Or shall we let him go?" +</P> + +<P> +"We can't safely let him go," began Sam. "He's a dangerous traitor." +</P> + +<P> +"I protest!" interrupted Mate Brackett, courageously. "He has only +done his duty to his king. He wasn't even serving on a ship of war. +You haven't any right to hang him." +</P> + +<P> +"You're an Englishman," said Avery. "I didn't ask you. Shut your +mouth!" +</P> + +<P> +"I won't!" said Brackett; "not if you shoot me. If you hang Captain +Watts, we'll hang a dozen Yankees. We've plenty of 'em, too. It'll be +blood for blood!" +</P> + +<P> +"Father," said Vine, "let him go. All the men'd say so." +</P> + +<P> +Behind him at that moment stood Up-na-tan, grinning ferociously, with +his glittering long knife out. +</P> + +<P> +"So! So! Up-na-tan!" he snarled. "Take 'calp! No let him go. Knife +good! Kill!" +</P> + +<P> +None of the others were doing anything theatrical except the two +captains, and all the while the longboat was hurriedly made ready for +the short and entirely safe, but probably cold, uncomfortable voyage +before them. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Luke Watts," said his captor, sternly, "I suppose I must let +you go. Don't let me ever ketch ye again, though. It's time for us to +hang Tories. Brackett, you and your men lower that boat and git into +her, short order. Luke Watts can pilot you in. Start along, now. +Every man may take his own kit." +</P> + +<P> +"Come on, Captain Watts," said the hearty British sailor. "Your +shave's been a narrer one. I thought you was bound for the yardarm, +this time." +</P> + +<P> +"I owe you something," replied Watts. "I'll stand by ye, any day." +</P> + +<P> +The queer piece of very good unprofessional acting was played to its +ending. The longboat was lowered, the men got into her, with +provisions for two days, and away she went, her own sail careening her +as if it were in haste to get from under the brazen muzzles of the +<I>Noank's</I> French guns. +</P> + +<P> +"It's awful to be a traitor," remarked Sam Prentice, gravely. "Who'd +ha' thought it of a Marblehead man!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sam!" said Lyme Avery, and the rest of his remark consisted of his +right eye tightly shut and his left eye very wide open. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh! Good!" chuckled Up-na-tan, and Guert Ten Eyck laughed aloud. +</P> + +<P> +Not for one moment had the subtle, keen-eyed red man been deceived, and +Guert had caught the truth of it all from him. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a word, Guert," said Captain Avery. "He may be able to do it +again." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't fool ole brack man," said Coco. "S'pose he 'tone bline? Wen +King George 'ply ship tack right for New London, then it's 'cause he +was 'tendin' to go right there." +</P> + +<P> +"No talk," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief like Watt. He bring plenty +powder for <I>Noank</I> gun. Fort gun, too. Now schooner go to sea. Good!" +</P> + +<P> +The impressed men were freed of their manacles as soon as the longboat +was well away. They could be cheerful enough now, for the prudent +management of Lyme Avery had made their necks safe, unless they should +be taken by the British from an American armed ship. +</P> + +<P> +Up the broad, beautiful harbor the <I>Noank</I> and her prize sailed +merrily, while guns from the fort batteries saluted her and crowds of +patriotic New Londoners swarmed upon the piers and wharves to do full +honor to so really important a success. At one pier head were gathered +all the members ashore of the Avery household. +</P> + +<P> +"There he comes!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery; "Lyme's in that boat; Guert and +Vine are with him. Neither of them were hurt." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope there wasn't much fighting," said Guert's mother. "I do so +hate to have men killed." +</P> + +<P> +"Anneke Ten Eyck," said Rachel Tarns, "thy wicked son hath once more +aided the rebels in stealing a ship from thy good king. Thee has not +brought him up well. He needeth instruction or he will become as bad +as is the man George Washington himself, God bless him!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE UNFORGOTTEN HERO. +</H4> + +<P> +More than one day's work was required to ascertain the full value of +the <I>Windsor</I> as a bearer of supplies to the forts and ships of the +United States, instead of to those of Great Britain. +</P> + +<P> +"All the things the <I>Noank</I> was short of," Captain Avery said, "are +goin' into her now. There isn't any secret to be kept concernin' her +sailin' orders, either. She's bound for the West Indies to see what +she can do." +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps it was at his own table that his plans and the reasons for them +were most thoroughly discussed, but all his crew and their many +advisers were satisfied, and a number of prime seamen who were not to +go on this trip roundly declared their great envy of those who could. +</P> + +<P> +"Tobacco," they said, "sugar, if it's a home-bound trader. If it's one +from England, then Lyme'll get loads o' 'sorted stuff, such as they +ship for the West Injy trade." +</P> + +<P> +There were other vessels preparing and some were already at sea. The +year, therefore, promised to be a busy one for New London. So it did +in a number of other American ports, and it behooved Great Britain to +increase, if she could, the number and efficiency of her cruisers. +</P> + +<P> +One continual black shadow rested over the port and town, and that was +the great probability of a British attack, at no distant day. +</P> + +<P> +"They've their hands pretty full, just now," people said. "The winter +isn't their best time, either, but some day or other we shall see a +fleet out yonder, and redcoats and Hessians and Tories boating ashore." +</P> + +<P> +It was an entirely reasonable prediction, but its fulfilment was to be +almost unaccountably postponed. When its hour arrived, at last, nearly +two years later, New London was in ashes and Fort Griswold was a +slaughter-pen. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," said Guert, on his return to the house from one of his visits +to the <I>Noank</I>. "I wish you could go with us to the West Indies, the +Antilles. Think of it! Summer all the while!" +</P> + +<P> +"But no oranges, or lemons, or pineapples just now," she said +laughingly. "I mean to go, some day. Perhaps you will take me in your +own ship." +</P> + +<P> +"Any ship of mine will be your ship," he said. "I wish I had some +money to leave with you, now. It's awful to think of your being poor." +</P> + +<P> +"Our New York farm will be of no use to us," she said, "until the +king's troops leave the island. I shall be very comfortable here, +though, except that I shall all the while be waiting for you to come +home again." +</P> + +<P> +Very brave was she, under her somewhat difficult circumstances. All +the New London people were kind, especially the Averys, but she +expected to be poor in purse for some time to come. As to that, +however, she had a surprise in store. That very evening, after dark, +Up-na-tan lingered in the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"Chief see ole woman," he said. "See nobody but Guert mother." +</P> + +<P> +No sooner were they alone than he pulled from under his captured +military cloak a small purse, and handed it to her. +</P> + +<P> +"No Kidd money," he said. "Lobster money. Pay ole woman for King +George take farm." +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated a moment, and then she exclaimed:— +</P> + +<P> +"God sent it, I do believe! I'll take it. You won't need it at sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan no want money," he replied contemptuously. "Ole chief go +fight. Come back. Go to ole woman house. Own house. Money belong to +ole woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you!" she said. +</P> + +<P> +"No," grumbled the Indian; "no thank at all. Up-na-tan good!" +</P> + +<P> +So the conference ended, for he stalked out of the house, and she +examined the purse. +</P> + +<P> +"Nearly twenty pounds, of all sorts," she said. "Now I needn't borrow +of Rachel for ever so long. I want to let Guert know. He will feel +better." +</P> + +<P> +The Indian had but obeyed the simple rules of his training. Any kind +of game, however captured, was for the squaw of his wigwam to +administer. Her business would be to provide for the hunter as best +she could. In former days he had always been free of the Ten Eyck +house and farm. It was his. The game he had recently taken was in the +form of gold and silver, but there could be no question as to what he +was bound to do with it. +</P> + +<P> +Neither he or his Ashantee comrade were inclined to spend much time on +shore. Hardly anything could induce them to come away from the keen +pleasure they were having in the handling and stowage of much powder +and shot. The varied weapons which they examined and put in order were +as so many jewels, to be fondly admired and even patted. +</P> + +<P> +If Mrs. Ten Eyck had anything else to depress her spirits she tried not +to let Guert know it. All her table talk, when he was there, was +brimming with warlike patriotism. Nevertheless, he was her only son +and she was a widow. She could not but wish, at times, that he were a +soldier instead of a sailor, to belong to the quiet garrison of Fort +Griswold, for instance, and to come over to the Avery house now and +then. +</P> + +<P> +He was sent for, somewhat peremptorily, one day, not by her but by +Rachel Tarns, and when he arrived she herself opened the door for him. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad thee came so early," she said to him. "I have somewhat to +say to thee. Come in, hither." +</P> + +<P> +Very dignified was she, at any time, and he was accustomed to obey her +without asking needless questions. He followed her, therefore, as she +led on into the parlor, opposite the dining room, the main thought in +his mind being:— +</P> + +<P> +"I wish she'd hurry up with it. I want to get back to the <I>Noank</I>, as +soon as I've seen mother." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he began, after the door of the parlor closed behind +them, but she cut him short. +</P> + +<P> +"I will not quite tell thee," she said. "Some things thee does not +need to know. Thy old friend, Maud Wolcott, will be here presently. +One cometh with her to whom I forbid thee to speak. After they arrive, +thou art to do as I shall then direct thee." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Guert. "I don't care who it is. I'll be glad to see +Maud, though. She's about the best girl I know. Pretty, too." +</P> + +<P> +Hardly were the words out of his mouth before there came a jingle of +sleighbells in the road, and it ceased before the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Remain thee here," said Rachel, as she arose and hurried out. +</P> + +<P> +Guert obeyed, but he went to a window and he saw a trim-looking, +two-seated sleigh. A man he did not know was hitching the horse to the +post near the gate. The sleigh had brought a full load of passengers, +all women. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Maud Wolcott," exclaimed Guert. "The girl that's with her is +taller than she is, and she's all muffled up. I can't see her face. +How Maud did jump out o' that cutter! The two others are old women. +Rachel knows 'em." +</P> + +<P> +The first girl out of the sleigh was in the house quickly. She came +like a flash into the parlor and, as her hood flew back, a mass of +brown curls went tumbling down over her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert!" she said, breathlessly. "I'm so glad you're here! We were +told you were going." +</P> + +<P> +"We're going!" said Guert. "We're bound for the West Indies. We've +taken one British ship, already. I'm a privateer, Maud! Oh! but ain't +I glad to see you again. It's like old times!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're growing," she said. "I wish I could go to sea, or fight the +British. We haven't any chance to talk, now." +</P> + +<P> +He might be very glad, but, after all, he seemed a little afraid, and a +kind of bashfulness grew upon him as he shook hands with her. She must +have been a year younger than he was,—but then, she was so very +pretty, and he was only a boy. +</P> + +<P> +Half a dozen questions and answers went back and forth between them, as +between old acquaintances, near neighbors. Then the parlor door opened +to let in Rachel Tarns and the "all muffled up" girl who had been in +the sleigh with Maud. She did not speak to anybody, but went and sat +down, silently, at the other window of the parlor. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," said Rachel, "sit thee down here, by me and Maud. Thee will +talk only of what I bid thee, and thee will ask no foolish questions." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Guert. "What is it you want me to say? Maud hasn't +told me, yet, half o' what I want to know." +</P> + +<P> +"If thee were older," she said, "thee would have more good sense. I +have a reason that I will not tell thee. I wish thee to give me a full +account of all thy dealings with that brave man, Nathan Hale. Thee saw +him die, and there is no other that knoweth many things that are well +known to thee." +</P> + +<P> +"I hate to tell everything," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Thee must!" exclaimed Rachel. "Thee will not leave out a word that he +spake or a deed that he did." +</P> + +<P> +Something flashed brightly into the quick mind of Guert just then. He +could not exactly shape it, but it came when he caught the sound of a +low sob from under the veil of the girl at the other window. "I'll +begin where I first saw him," he said. +</P> + +<P> +He did not at all know after that how his boyish enthusiasm helped him +to draw his word pictures of Captain Hale's daring scout work, of boat +and land adventures by night and day, in company with him and Up-na-tan +and Coco. He told it more rapidly and vividly as a kind of excitement +spurred him. He did not know that beyond the half-open door of the +next room his mother and several other persons were listening. Two of +them had come in the cutter with Maud, and yet another sleigh had +brought visitors to the Avery house. There were to be very loving and +tenacious memories to treasure all that he was telling. +</P> + +<P> +Guert came at last, sorrowfully, more slowly, to the tragic end of all +in the old orchard near the East River. He told of the troops, and the +crowd, and the tree, and he repeated the last words of the hero who +perished there. +</P> + +<P> +"That I can give but one life for Liberty!" he said, and there his own +voice choked him, while a whisper from beyond the door said softly: +"Glory! Glory! Glory!" +</P> + +<P> +Throughout Guert's narrative, there had been something almost painful +in the forward-leaning eagerness of the veiled girl at the window. She +was standing now, and a sigh that was more a sob broke from her as she +held out to him a hand with something that she was grasping tightly. +Rachel stepped forward and took it, opening it as she did so. Only a +small, leather case it was, containing a miniature. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," said Rachel, "is that like thy friend? Look well at it. +Tell me." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a real good picture," said Guert, wiping his eyes as he looked +more closely. "It's like him, but there isn't the light and the smile +that was on his face when he stood with the rope around his neck under +that old apple tree." +</P> + +<P> +"That is enough," said Rachel, turning away with the miniature. "I +think not many eyes will ever see this thing again." +</P> + +<P> +"Not any," came faintly from under the veil. "I mean to have it buried +with me. Nobody else has any right to it. I must go now." +</P> + +<P> +The girl at the window had risen as she spoke. She came forward and +took Guert's hand for a moment. Then, in a voice that was tremulous +with feeling, she said:— +</P> + +<P> +"Let me thank you for all you have said. Thank you for your friendship +for him. God bless you!" +</P> + +<P> +In spite of its sadness, her voice had in it a half-triumphant tone. +Rachel gave her back the miniature, and she turned to go. No one spoke +to her. Guert could not have said a word if he had tried, but Maud +sprang to her side. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Guert," she said. "I'll see you again, some day. I'm going +with her, now." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by, Maud," said Guert. "I did so want a talk with you, but I +s'pose I can't this time. We are to sail right away. The <I>Noank's</I> +all ready." +</P> + +<P> +Both of the sleighs at the gate were quickly crowded. They were driven +away, and hardly had the jingling of their bells died out up the road, +before Rachel Tarns came and put an arm around Guert. She, too, was +wiping her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Thee was a brave, good boy," she said, "and I love thee very much. +Thee is too young, now, and thy picture hath never been painted. Some +day thee may need one to give away, as Nathan did. If it shall please +God to let thee die for thy country, somebody may will to keep it in +memory of thee." +</P> + +<P> +"Mother would," said Guert. "I'll get one, as soon as I can. But +Nathan Hale'll be remembered well enough without any picture. All the +men in America 'll remember him. He was a hero!" +</P> + +<P> +The voice of Vine Avery was at the front door, shouting loudly for +Guert, and out he darted, not even stopping to inquire who of all the +friends or family of his hero had been listening in the dining room. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he eagerly asked, as he joined Vine at the doorstep. +</P> + +<P> +"Powder and shot all stowed," said Vine. "Everything's ready now. As +soon as the rest of the <I>Windsor's</I> cargo's out, they're going to tow +her up the river, out o' harm's way. Father says we're to be all on +board, now. Come on!" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Guert!" said his mother, for she had followed him, and her arms +were around his neck. "I can't say a word to keep you back! Be as +brave as Nathan Hale was! God keep you from all harm! Do your duty! +Good-by!" +</P> + +<P> +It was an awful struggle for poor Guert, but he would not let himself +cry before Vine Avery and the sailors who were with him. All he could +do, therefore, was to hug his mother and kiss her. His last good-by +went into her ear and down into her heart in a low, hoarse whisper. +</P> + +<P> +Away marched the last squad of the crew of the <I>Noank</I>, and Mrs. Avery +stood at the gate and watched them until they were hidden from her eyes +beyond the turn of the road. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEWS FROM TRENTON. +</H4> + +<P> +"What is it, Sam?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess, Lyme, we'd better hold on a bit. The fort lookout sends word +that a British cruiser's in sight, off the harbor." +</P> + +<P> +Sam Prentice was in a rowboat, just reaching the side of the <I>Noank</I>, +and his commander was leaning over the rail. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to send a shot at her," he said. "None o' those ten-gun +brigs, if it's one o' them, carry long guns or heavy ones." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't say," replied Sam. "Maybe it's a bigger feller. He won't dare +to run in under the battery guns, anyhow. He can't look into the +harbor." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish he would," laughed the captain. "If he's goin' to try a game +of tackin' off and on, and watchin', though, we must make out to run +past him in the night." +</P> + +<P> +"We mustn't be stuck any longer here," said Sam. "Are all the crew +aboard?" +</P> + +<P> +"All but you," was the reply. "Send your boat ashore. We'll find out +what she is. I won't let any single cruiser keep me cooped up in port, +now my powder and shot's found for me. We'll up anchor, Sam." +</P> + +<P> +The first mate of the <I>Noank</I>, for such he was to be, came over the +rail, and his boat was pulled shoreward. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she fine!" he said, as he glanced admiringly around him. "We're +in good fightin' order, Lyme." +</P> + +<P> +"Sam," said the captain, "just study those timbers, will ye. Only +heavy shot'd do any great harm to our bulwarks. I had her built the +very strongest kind. Now! Some o' the new British craft are said to +be light timbered, even for rough weather. Their own sailors hate 'em, +and we can take their judgment of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"It's likely to be good," said Sam. "What a British able seaman +doesn't know 'bout his own ship, isn't worth knowin'." +</P> + +<P> +Further talk indicated that they both held high opinions of the +mariners of England. Against them, as individuals, the war had not +aroused any ill feeling. There was, indeed, among intelligent +Americans, a very general perception that King George's war against his +transatlantic subjects was anything but popular with the great mass of +the overtaxed English people. It was a pity, a great pity, that +stupid, bad management and recklessly tyrannical statesmanship, in a +sort of combination with needless military severities, had done so much +to foster hatred and provoke revenge. It was true, too, although all +Americans did not know or did not appreciate it, that their side of the +controversy had been ably set forth in the Parliament of Great Britain +by prominent and patriotic Englishmen, such as Chatham and Colonel +Barre. +</P> + +<P> +The old whaler <I>Noank</I>, of New London, however, had now become an +American war vessel. Her crew and her commander were compelled, +henceforth, to regard as enemies the captains and the crews of all +vessels, armed or unarmed, carrying the red-cross flag instead of the +stars and stripes. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what, Sam," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "I wish we had +news from New York and from Washington's army. The latest we heard of +him and the boys made things look awfully dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't let yourself git too down in the mouth!" replied Sam. "I guess +the sun'll shine ag'in, Sunday. It's a long lane that has no turnin'. +Washington's an old Indian fighter. He's likely to turn on 'em, sudden +and unexpected, like a redskin on a trail that's been followed too +closely." +</P> + +<P> +"It won't do to go after a Mohawk too far into the woods, sometimes," +growled Avery. "Not onless you're willin' to risk a shot from a bush. +Now, do you know, I wish I knew, too, what's been the dealin' of the +British admirals with Luke Watts, for losin' the <I>Windsor</I>. We owe +that man a good deal,—we do!" +</P> + +<P> +"They won't hurt him," said Sam. "It wasn't any fault o' his'n." +</P> + +<P> +In some such manner, all over the country, men and women were +comforting themselves, under the shadow of death which seemed to have +settled down over the cause of American independence. They knew that +the Continental army was shattered. It was destitute, freezing, +starving, and it was said to be dwindling away. +</P> + +<P> +Somewhere, however, among the ragged tents and miserable huts of its +winter quarters, was a man who had shown himself so superior to other +men that in him there was still a hope. From him something unexpected +and startling might come at any hour. +</P> + +<P> +As for Luke Watts, formerly the skipper of the British supply ship +<I>Windsor</I>, now a prize in New London harbor, Captain Avery and his mate +spoke again of him and of the difficulties into which he might have +fallen. Possibly it would have done them good to have been near enough +to see and hear him at that very hour of the day. +</P> + +<P> +A good longboat, with a strong crew anxious to make time and get into a +warmer place, had had only a short run of it from New London to New +York. Here was Luke, therefore, in the cabin of a British +seventy-four, standing before a gloomy-faced party of naval officers. +With him were his mate, Brackett, and several of the sailors of the +<I>Windsor</I>. It was evident that her loss had been inquired into, and +that all the testimonies had been given. If this was to be considered +as a kind of naval court martial, it was as ready as it ever would be +to declare its verdict. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," said the burly post-captain who appeared to be the ranking +officer, "it's a bad affair! We needed that ammunition. Even the land +forces are running so short that movements are hindered. If, however, +we are to find fault with any man, we must censure the captain of the +<I>Cleopatra</I>. This man Watts is proved to have gone into the Sound +against his will and protest. I am glad that the rebels did not hang +him. His recorded judgment of the danger to be encountered was +entirely correct. Watts, I shall want you to pilot home one of our +empty troop-ships." +</P> + +<P> +"I know her, sir," replied Luke, promptly. "I beg to say no, sir. Not +unless she has twice the ballast that's in her now. I'd like +permission to say a word more, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"Speak out! What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"A ten-gun brig in the Sound can't catch that New London pirate—" +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>Boxer</I> is cruising around that station," interrupted the captain. +"She's a clipper to go." +</P> + +<P> +"No use," said Luke, shaking his head. "The old whaler'll get away." +</P> + +<P> +"What would you do, then?" roughly demanded another officer. +</P> + +<P> +"A strong corvette, or two of 'em, off Point Judith and Montauk, to +catch her as she runs out," said Luke. "She'll fight any small vessel. +She carries a splendid pivot-gun, and she has six long sixes. She will +be handled by prime seamen." +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," remarked the captain, "I agree with him. We have found +the advice of this man Watts to be correct in every case. I believe he +is right, now. We must do as he says or that pirate, perhaps others +with her, will escape us. I will put him in charge of the <I>Termagant</I>. +I'll feel safer about her, if she is sailed home by a man with a rebel +rope around his neck." +</P> + +<P> +There was a general expression of assent, and then Watts spoke again. +</P> + +<P> +"I want Brackett, if I can have him," he said. "I never had a better +mate. There's fight in him, too." +</P> + +<P> +"You may have him," he was told, and several of the officers present +expressed their great regret that so many impressed American seamen had +been ironed by Captain Avery and compelled to escape from a return to +man-of-war duty. They ought never to have been detailed, it was +asserted. +</P> + +<P> +"We can't hang 'em for desertion," they said, half jocularly. "All we +could do, if we caught them, would be to set them at work again." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, four of these escaped men were now voluntarily among the +crew of the <I>Noank</I>. The remaining five had preferred to make the best +of their ways to their several homes. Not one of them all had chosen +to seek the friendly shelter of the British navy, so near and so ready +to receive them. +</P> + +<P> +Luke Watts and his friends were dismissed and went on deck. Shortly +afterward, their own longboat carried them to the <I>Termagant</I> +troop-ship, and the first words uttered by the Marblehead skipper after +reaching her, were duly reported to his superiors. +</P> + +<P> +"Men!" he had exclaimed, as he glanced around him. "This thing isn't +fit to go to sea. She's been handled by lubbers. We've work before +us, if we don't want to go to the bottom or be overhauled by the +<I>Yankees</I>. Jest look at her spars and riggin'!" +</P> + +<P> +All things were working together, therefore, to strengthen the +confidence reposed in him, in spite of the curious fact that he had +skilfully delivered the <I>Windsor</I> and her cargo in New London instead +of in New York. +</P> + +<P> +"We had a narrer escape not many miles beyond Hell Gate," he had +reported. "One o' those Long Island buccaneer whaleboats chased us +more 'n an hour. They gave it up then, and we got through. 'Twas a +close shave. Half on 'em are Montauk and Shinnecock redskins. Reg'lar +scalpers." +</P> + +<P> +He had told the truth, as he had appeared to do at every point of the +account which he had given of himself, and now the very men who had +captured him and let him go, neglecting to hang him, were about to +learn why that Long Island whaleboat had not followed him any farther. +There had been plenty of time for such a boat to get away, a long +distance. +</P> + +<P> +The lookout on the rampart of Fort Griswold, the same keen-eyed watcher +who had sent warning to the <I>Noank</I> of the danger in the offing, was +busy with his telescope. +</P> + +<P> +"The cruiser's a brig!" he sang out. "I can make her out, now. She's +one o' the new patterns. She's chasin' a whaleboat. I wish she'd +roller it onto one o' them there ledges. She's firin'. It's long +range, but it looks kind o' bad for the Long Islanders. There ain't +any of our boats out, to-day. It's from t'other shore." +</P> + +<P> +He was watching, now, with intense excitement. There is hardly +anything else so interesting as a chase at sea with cannonading in it. +All this time, however, Captain Lyme Avery had been growing feverish. +He knew nothing of Luke Watts, nothing at all of the Long Island +whaleboat and her pursuer, but he shouted to the men at the capstan:— +</P> + +<P> +"Heave away, boys! I'm goin' to have a look at that there Britisher. +We won't run any fool risks but we'll find out what she is, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +Hearty cheers answered him and a loud war-whoop from Up-na-tan, for +every man on board had long since become sick of harbor inactivity. +They were also all the more ready for a brush with the enemy after +having brought in so fine a prize on their first venture, and they now +had plenty of powder and shot to fire away. +</P> + +<P> +Only the mainsail swung out after the anchor was raised, but a fair +wind was blowing and the <I>Noank</I> went swiftly seaward with the tide in +her favor. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" said Sam Prentice; "guns again! Something's up, Up-na-tan! +Oh, you and Coco are at your pivot-gun! Free her! Have her all ready. +She's the only piece on board that's likely to be of any use." +</P> + +<P> +"Let 'em alone!" called out Captain Avery. "They know what they're +about. They're old gunners. I don't care so much, jest now, 'bout how +they got their trainin'. See 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +They were not by any means a handsome pair at any time, and they were +several shades uglier than usual. The Ashantee was grinning +frightfully, and the teeth he showed must have been filed to obtain so +sharklike a pointing. The red man was not grinning, but all the +wrinkles in his face seemed to grow deeper and his complexion darker. +He was charging his guns with solemnly scrupulous care. +</P> + +<P> +"No miss!" he said. "Up-na-tan find out what big gun good for." +</P> + +<P> +His first charge was going in, therefore, for a purpose of practical +inquiry into the character of the long eighteen. The foundries of that +day could not manufacture large weapons with mathematical precision. +Hardly any two could be said to be exactly alike, except in appearance. +It followed that each gun had good or bad features of its own. From +ship to ship, throughout the royal navy, the gunners published the +qualities of their brazen or iron favorites, and there were cannon of +celebrity which old salts would go far to see. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of the British firing came up somewhat dulled against the +wind. It was not until they were out of the harbor that the sailors of +the <I>Noank</I> discovered how really near were both friends and foes. The +latter were still outside of the range of any of the fort guns. Hardly +more than a mile and a half nearer was the whaleboat from Long Island. +It could be seen that it was full of men, and they were showing +splendid pluck, for they were rowing steadily, while every now and then +a shot from the brig dropped dangerously near them. One iron bullet, +hitting fairly, might knock their frail though swift craft all to +pieces. Up went sail after sail upon the <I>Noank</I>, as she speeded +along, and an officer on the British cruiser's deck had good reason for +the astonishment with which he called out:— +</P> + +<P> +"There she comes! You don't mean to say she's coming out to fight us?" +</P> + +<P> +"It looks like it," responded another officer near him. "We can make +match-wood of her if we can get close enough. I wish I knew what her +armament is. These Yankees have more impudence!" +</P> + +<P> +He did not have to wait many minutes before he learned something. The +<I>Noank</I> whirled away upon the starboard tack around the point, and, +just as she steadied herself upon her new course, out roared her +pivot-gun. +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan stood erect as soon as he touched off his piece, and he +anxiously watched for the results. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh! whoop!" he shouted triumphantly. "Gun good! Shoot straight! +Hit 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"Right!" said Captain Avery, who had been watching through a glass. +"If the old pirate didn't land that shot on her! It's pretty long +range, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Load quick, now!" said the Indian. "Ole chief hit her again!" +</P> + +<P> +His assistants were already feverishly busy with their loading, while +he stood and proudly patted his cannon, very much as if it deserved +praise and could appreciate his approval. +</P> + +<P> +Loud were the exclamations of surprise and wrath on board the <I>Boxer</I>. +No one had been killed or wounded, but the brig's longboat had been +stove to bits, and all the pigs and chickens which had been cooped in +it for the time being, and there were many of them, were running +frantically about the main deck. That is, all but one large, fat pig, +for he had suddenly been made pork of, and he would run and squeal no +more. +</P> + +<P> +The telescopes at the fort had also been taking observations, and loud +cheers from the gathered garrison honored the crack shot of Up-na-tan. +The crew of the <I>Noank</I> cheered lustily, and so did the rowers of the +whaleboat. One of the fort batteries tried its guns a moment later, +but all its shots fell short. Nevertheless, it was only a little +short, and it warned the captain of the <I>Boxer</I>. He knew, now, about +how much nearer it would be wise for him to run. Up-na-tan's next shot +was well enough aimed, but it did no mischief. It went over the brig, +with an unpleasant suggestion of what damage that sort of thing might +do to spars and rigging. +</P> + +<P> +"Luff! luff!" sang out the captain. "'Tisn't worth while to chase that +boat any farther in. Let's see if we can't draw out the schooner. I'd +like to get her away from those land batteries. They're too heavy +metal for us." +</P> + +<P> +"She has the wind of us," remarked his sailing master, doubtfully. +"She can do as she pleases 'bout coming any too near." +</P> + +<P> +"She's a clipper, anyhow," growled the captain. "Nothing can beat +these New Englanders in handling canvas. The king needs every man of +'em." +</P> + +<P> +His own sailors were just then more than a little busied with pig and +poultry gathering, and one badly scared bird rashly flew overboard. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Avery was to disappoint Up-na-tan and Coco. They were to have +no more long-range practice with the eighteen-pounder. +</P> + +<P> +One more shot that they sent was an unsatisfactory miss, and then the +distance began to increase instead of diminishing, as the schooner went +about. +</P> + +<P> +"Our fellows are safe now," said Sam Prentice. "Here they come. Look +at 'em! More Indians than white men." +</P> + +<P> +None the less were they excellent oarsmen and daring freebooters, and +before the end of the war the "whaleboat fleet," as it came to be +called, was to earn a not altogether pleasant reputation. +</P> + +<P> +Not many more minutes passed before the boat was near enough for a +hail. In it, forward, stood up a tall white man, balancing himself and +swinging his hat while he enthusiastically sent to the <I>Noank</I>:— +</P> + +<P> +"Schooner ahoy! Hurrah! News from the Continental army! Gineral +Washington smashed the redcoats! Beat 'em on Christmas day at Trenton! +Then he follered 'em up and knocked Cornwallis all to flinders at +Princeton! We're a-beginnin' to flail 'em! Hurrah!" +</P> + +<P> +Wild was the cheering which answered him from the schooner. Some of +the men began to dance, and Sam Prentice yelled:— +</P> + +<P> +"Shake hands, Lyme Avery! I jest knew it'd come! I said so! We're +goin' to flail 'em! Our turn's got here!" +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan expressed his feelings in whoop after whoop, and Coco's yell +was terrific. +</P> + +<P> +"Won't the shore people jump?" said Guert Ten Eyck. "Oh! How I want +to get in and tell mother!" +</P> + +<P> +The news-bringer had described the Trenton victory fairly, but he had +somewhat exaggerated the results of the severe fight at Princeton. +Lord Cornwallis had not reported it in precisely that manner. The boat +was now running along with the <I>Noank</I>, however, and the story of +Washington's splendid work for liberty was fired into the schooner at +short range, wadding and all. A pretty interesting conclusion for it +was the account of the manner in which the news had been obtained in +New York and carried along the Long Island shore, all the way to New +London. +</P> + +<P> +"We had to hug the land close," said the narrator, "but here we are." +</P> + +<P> +"Home! Home!" shouted Captain Avery. "The folks must have this to +cheer 'em up. It's the first bit of good news we've had in many a long +day. Hurrah for George Washington! God bless him!" +</P> + +<P> +It was an instantly arriving vexation, then, that the brisk breeze and +the tide, so favorable for coming out, were not so much so for running +in. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Boxer's</I> captain had also his vexations, for he shortly remarked:— +</P> + +<P> +"There she goes! The boat's with her. We're not to have a chance at +her to-day. If I can get at her, I'll sink her! She'll come out +again." +</P> + +<P> +That was precisely the purpose in the mind of Lyme Avery, and he did +not intend any long delay, either. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BRIG AND THE SCHOONER. +</H4> + +<P> +"Blaze away! Gun at a time!" shouted Captain Avery, as the <I>Noank</I> +tacked across the harbor mouth. "We can afford a few blank cartridges +for such news as this is." +</P> + +<P> +"The whaleboat's goin' to beat us gettin' in," replied Sam Prentice. +"The folks'll know it all before we git there." +</P> + +<P> +"Don't care if they do," said the captain. "We'll only be in port +ag'in a few hours, anyhow. Night's our time. We know, now, jest what +the cruiser is, and there doesn't seem to be another 'round." +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Noank's</I> sixes were, therefore, shouting to the forts and the town +that good news of some kind was coming. The men at the batteries heard +and wondered, and grew impatient. They thought they knew all there was +to be known of the mere exchange of shots with the <I>Boxer</I>. Their +friends had not been harmed; neither had the brig; the whaleboat had +escaped; and that was all that they could understand. Now, however, +they saw the <I>Noank</I> sending up every American flag she had on board. +</P> + +<P> +What could it mean? Lyme Avery was not a man to have suddenly lost his +balance of mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Something's up," they said. "No matter what it is, we'll answer him." +</P> + +<P> +So a roaring salute was fired for something or other that was as yet +unknown to the gunners, and more flags went up on the forts; while the +joyous cannonading called out of their houses nearly all the population +of New London, every soul as full of eager curiosity as were the +soldiers of the garrisons. +</P> + +<P> +Out they came, and they were not at all an unprosperous looking lot of +men and women and children. Probably the most important thing which +the war statesmen of Great Britain overlooked in making their +calculations for subduing the colonies was that the resources of +America were in no danger of becoming exhausted. On the contrary, +nearly all the states were growing richer instead of poorer. Strangely +enough, the war itself was a powerful agent for the development of +America. Continental paper money was as yet answering very well for +local payments and exchanges, and its subsequent depreciation was of +less importance than a great many people imagined. Nothing was really +lost when a paper dollar dwindled to fifty cents and then went down to +ten—or nothing. Nearly all the old farms were as good as ever, and +new ones were opening daily. There were more acres under +cultivation—a great many more—all over the country, out of the range +of British army foraging parties. The farms which the foragers could +not reach included all of the New England states, all of Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, nearly all of South +Carolina and Georgia, and all of New York above the Hudson River +highlands. A large part of even harassed New Jersey was doing very +well. +</P> + +<P> +Something more than merely the farming interests were to be taken into +consideration, moreover. Prior to the rebellion, the policy of the +mother country had choked to death all manufacturing undertakings in +America, in order that the colonies might serve only as markets for +English-made goods. Now, not only was the prohibition removed, but the +rebels were absolutely compelled to manufacture for themselves. They +were altogether willing to set about it. They had an abundance of raw +materials, and could increase their productions of all sorts. They had +great mechanical skill, marvellous inventive genius, and unlimited +water-power. Everywhere began to spring up woollen and cotton +factories, potteries, iron works, wagon shops, tanneries, and other new +industries unknown before. +</P> + +<P> +Cattle, horses, sheep, swine, mules, multiplied without any hinderance +whatever from the war. For all food products there were more mouths to +fill, and for all things salable there was more power to pay. It +followed that there soon were many more tradesmen, merchants, and +middlemen, doing vastly more business, whether for cash or barter. +</P> + +<P> +There were more men, too, and more women. The sad losses of men in +battles, camps, prisons, were only a small number compared with the +thousands of stalwart youths who were growing up. These, too, were +growing up as Americans, knowing no allegiance to England, full of +eager patriotism, and ready, whenever their turns might come, to take +their places in the army or in the navy. +</P> + +<P> +There were desolated regions, but the area of these was limited. As a +whole, the new republic was increasing tremendously in both wealth and +population. Its resources for all war purposes were growing from day +to day through all the dark years of the Revolution. +</P> + +<P> +The New Londoners had no idea of waiting patiently under such +circumstances as these, with so much salute firing tantalizing them. +Boats of all sorts put out, and these were shortly met by the Long +Island news-carriers. Their entry had not depended at all upon the +wind, and not much upon even the tide, so well they were pulling. +</P> + +<P> +Guert and his <I>Noank</I> friends, therefore, were robbed of the pleasure +of being the first to tell the great tidings from the bank of the +Delaware. It swiftly reached the shore, to be greeted with half-mad +enthusiasm. Before the <I>Noank</I> lowered her last sail at her wharf, +there were men on horseback and men in sleighs, and women, too, even +more excitedly, all speeding out to villages and towns and farm-houses +to set the hearts of patriots on fire with joy and hope. +</P> + +<P> +It was quite likely that every courier would picture the success of +General Washington at least as large as the reality. Lord Cornwallis +himself, rallying his somewhat scattered detachments to strike back at +his unexpected assailant, was aware of stinging losses, but not that he +had been seriously defeated. He had suffered a sharp check, and he had +afterward failed to surround and capture Mr. Washington and his brave +ragamuffins. That appeared to be about all. It hardly occurred to the +self-confident British generals that so small an affair as that of +Trenton, or a drawn battle like that of Princeton, could have any great +or permanent consequences. Little did they imagine how great a change +was made in the minds, in the courage and hope of a host of previously +dispirited Americans. +</P> + +<P> +There had been many, for instance, who had been losing confidence in +Washington's ability as a general. He had been too often defeated, and +they could not rightly understand or estimate the causes for his +reverses, or how well he had done in spite of terrible disadvantages. +Now, as his star again blazed forth, these very faultfinders were ready +to believe him one of the greatest generals of the age. +</P> + +<P> +The political consequences were invaluable. Not only the Congress at +Philadelphia, but the state legislatures, most of them, were more ready +to push along with measures of a military nature. The entire aspect of +affairs underwent a visible change, not only in America, but, very +soon, in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Especially dense was the crowd that gathered at the wharf toward which +the <I>Noank</I> was to be steered. All the other crowds probably wished +that they had known just where to go. Most of them at once set out on +a run in the corrected direction. The cheering done had already made a +great many of the patriots somewhat hoarse, and they were all the +readier to hear as well as talk. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Guert!" exclaimed his mother, as she hugged him, the moment he +came over upon the wharf. "I'm glad of the victories, but I'm gladder +still to see you safe back again!" +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan hit the brig, mother," he said. "Captain Avery says we can +run out right past her. Hurrah for General Washington!" +</P> + +<P> +"Thee bad boy!" said Rachel Tarns, behind Mrs. Ten Eyck. "Thee and thy +schooner should have been with him at Trenton. He was in need of thy +fine French guns and thy sailors." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, I guess!" said Guert. "We'd ha' sailed right in, if we'd +been there. I'd like to ha' seen the battle. Mother, Up-na-tan's +going to teach me how to handle cannon. He says he's going to make a +good gunner of me." +</P> + +<P> +"I want you to be a captain," she said. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," said Rachel, "I wish thee might become as good an artilleryman +as thy old friend Alexander Hamilton. It is my pride and joy, this +day, that I paid for the first powder for his cannon. I also praise +the Lord that Alexander knoweth so well what to do with them and with +the powder." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll learn what to do with mine," said Guert. "'Tisn't easy, though. +'Tisn't like handling a rifle or a shotgun. It's a good deal in the +loading and in guessing distances." +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan," was Rachel's next half-humorous inquiry, "thee wicked old +Indian! Has thee been shooting at thy good king with thy big gun?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ole woman no talk!" grumbled the Manhattan. "Up-na-tan all mad! Want +long thirty-two. Pivot-gun too small. Hit lobster brig. No sink her." +</P> + +<P> +"Ole chief not take any 'calp," chuckled Coco, maliciously, "so he feel +bad. Want 'calp somebody, soon's he can. Now old Coco had fight, +s'pose he 'bout ready for he supper." +</P> + +<P> +That feeling seemed to have spread very widely, as if good news were +calculated to produce good appetites. It was a hungry time as well as +a triumph, and in many houses there were home-made feasts, that +evening. There was one, for instance, at the Avery house, and Guert +was there, of course. He was glad of one more visit to his mother, but +a peculiarly warlike thrill went over him before he reached the gate. +It was when Lyme Avery said to his mate, as they separated:— +</P> + +<P> +"Sam Prentice, tell your wife to send you out good and early. We're +goin' to have another brush with that there British brig, to-morrow, if +the wind's at all right for it." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know," replied Sam. "Our best hold is to slip past her, if we +can, and git out into the open sea. It wouldn't do to run back into +the Sound, but I'd like to pick up another prize right here. We might." +</P> + +<P> +"A little too risky," said the captain, "with her on the watch. That's +the talk, though. We're goin' to bring more'n one prize into New +London, 'fore we git through." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was well aware that the <I>Noank</I> had taken out what were called +"letters of marque and reprisal," and was therefore a regularly +authorized and commissioned commerce-destroyer. She was one of many. +In several of the colonial ports, north and south, precisely such +sea-wolves had long since made their preparations, and some were +already at sea. They were making serious havoc and were soon to make +more in the widely distributed, ocean-going commerce of Great Britain. +It was a cruel, destructive, uncivilized kind of warfare, but it was +customary among all the nations of the earth. In like manner, at this +very date, British privateers were out after American prizes. These +latter, moreover, had the regular cruisers of England as auxiliaries. +Less agreeably, sometimes, the warships came in as business rivals or +to claim a division of spoils. The Yankee privateers themselves +constituted nearly the entire navy of the United States. +</P> + +<P> +Sunrise does not come early in the month of January. It seems to come +earlier and there is more of it, if the weather is clear. On the next +morning after the arrival of the Trenton news, however, a thick white +mist came drifting up New London harbor from the sea. There was only a +light wind blowing from the westward, and it promised to be one of the +hazy days of winter, such as come before a thaw. +</P> + +<P> +"This 'ere is jest the thing for us," remarked Captain Avery, when he +came out to see about the weather. "It's the right kind o' breeze for +a schooner, and it's jest the wrong thing for a square rig. We can +spread more canvas for our draft and tonnage than that king's brig can, +anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +There was no one to dispute him, and he and Vine and Guert were shortly +on their way to the wharf. The Yankee shipbuilders, with abundance of +the best timber at hand and any number of bays and inlets to work in, +had constructed admirable shipyards upon plans of their own. Point +after point they had gone away from antiquated models, and they had +already made many important improvements in the building and rigging of +all kinds of craft. Before many years, the whole sea-going world was +to be forced to recognize their superiority. +</P> + +<P> +All of the <I>Noank's</I> crew were on board when her captain reached her, +and he at once gave orders to cast off from the wharf. Only a very few +of her friends came down to see her go. Farewells had been already +said, for the greater part, and even the sailors' wives had been aware +that there would be no lingering. The Long Island whaleboat was +nowhere to be seen. It might be that her hardy oarsmen, their errand +accomplished, had set out to recross to their own shore under the cover +of darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"Some o' those island chaps," remarked Sam Prentice, "ain't but a +little better'n so many buccaneers. They're up to 'most any kind o' +pillagin'. Do ye know, Lyme, the first o' the West Injy pirates, long +ago, made their beginnin' with very much that kind o' open boat? It +was a good while before they were able to supply themselves with the +right kind o' sailin' vessels." +</P> + +<P> +"They did it, though," said Lyme. +</P> + +<P> +"Murderous lot they were, too," said Vine. "They never left anybody +alive to tell tales of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh! Ugh!" came from Up-na-tan, in a sort of snarl. "All Kidd men +dead now. No come again." +</P> + +<P> +The Manhattan had seated himself upon a coil of rope and was busy with +a hone and the edge of a cutlass, as if he hoped to use it soon. +</P> + +<P> +"No, they're not," replied Prentice, with energy. "There's enough of +'em yet. Some say they're gettin' worse'n ever within a year or so. +This 'ere schooner's got to keep a sharp lookout for 'em, soon's we're +among the islands." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, Sam," said Captain Avery. "I'll tell ye one thing more, +too. I'd ruther come to close quarters with a cruiser like that there +British brig than with one o' those half-Spanish West Injy picaroons. +Some right well-armed British and French fightin' craft have found 'em +dreadfully hard to handle." +</P> + +<P> +"So would we," said Sam, "and I wouldn't at all mind sendin' one of 'em +to the bottom. It'd be a matter o' life and death, ye know, for they +don't show any kind o' mercy. Not to man, woman, or child." +</P> + +<P> +Guert listened intently, for he had already heard, year after year, a +great many terrible yarns concerning the rovers of the Antilles. Part +of his daily business, too, was to listen well to whatever he might +hear, and he was learning a great deal in various ways. Brought up on +Manhattan Island, as he had been, he was familiar, of course, with the +external appearance of all kinds of shipping, whether of war or peace. +He had also seen a great deal of boat service. Now, however, he had +discovered that all this had not made a sailor of him. He was only a +mere beginner, although it seemed to him that he had been getting along +rapidly ever since he first saw the <I>Noank</I>. This was his first actual +cruising, but he had spent a great deal of time on board while she was +waiting in port. He believed that he knew every nook and corner of +her. He could go aloft like a squirrel or a monkey, but for all that +he felt dreadfully raw and green among such a crew of seasoned old +mariners. Every man of them, almost, could tell of long voyages. They +knew the Antilles well, and the other groups of American islands. Some +knew more of the coasts of South America, some of Europe. More in +number, and even more full of daring and of danger, were the tales he +had heard of the whale fishery, with its glimpse of ice-fields, +icebergs, frozen seas, and its combats not only with the oil-producing +monsters of the sea, but with white bears also, and walruses, and +hostile red men; to him, therefore, these men of the <I>Noank's</I> company +were the heroes of the ocean. He admired them tremendously, just now, +as they discussed, in their matter-of-fact way, quietly, calmly, +fearlessly, the seemingly desperate chances just before them. They all +admitted, without hesitation, that it was a pretty doubtful problem +whether or not they would be able to escape not only the one cruiser +near them, but afterward the vigilant British blockade of the Sound +entrance and of the adjacent waters. The <I>Noank</I> had very serious +risks to run before she could spread her wings on the Atlantic. +</P> + +<P> +The mist was hanging lower, thicker, whiter, and the morning gun from +Fort Griswold had long since announced that in the opinion of the +gunners the sun had risen. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo! What?" exclaimed Captain Avery, springing to his feet. +"Another? They don't fire a shotted gun jest for sunrise." +</P> + +<P> +His practical ears had told him that this report was not made by a +blank cartridge. What could it mean? +</P> + +<P> +"Gunner saw lobster ship," said Up-na-tan, quietly. +</P> + +<P> +Away he went, then, toward his long eighteen, followed by Coco and +Guert and several sailors. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Avery," he called back, "ole chief get gun ready. S'pose fort +gunner no fool." +</P> + +<P> +"Ready with her!" said the captain. "Ready! Every gun! Silence, all! +This fog's a friend of ours." +</P> + +<P> +The Indian's understanding of the shotted cannon was correct. The +sharp-eyed lookout upon the rampart had detected something more than +fog in the general whiteness which concealed the sea, and the nearest +gunner had at once put in a nine-pound ball on top of his signal +cartridge. +</P> + +<P> +"That brig has crept in to watch for the <I>Noank</I>," they said to each +other. "Let's give her a pill." +</P> + +<P> +The pill went well enough for a warning to the <I>Boxer</I> that her sly +creeping in had been discovered, but it did no damage. Probably its +best use was the response it provoked from the too hasty gunners of the +<I>Boxer</I>. For the brig to fire at the fort was mere bravado, of course; +but her commander was nettled. +</P> + +<P> +"Give 'em a broadside!" he roared. "Let 'em have it. They can't +strike us out here in the mist. Blaze away!" +</P> + +<P> +All the port guns of the brig, five in number, were of small account +against earth and stone works; but they could express warlike feeling, +and they immediately did so, and they did one thing more. +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" said Captain Avery, as he heard them. "Now I know jest where +she is. Wish I knew how she's headed. We've all sail on. Keep still, +all! We can slip past her." +</P> + +<P> +As quietly as so many ghosts, the men went hither and thither about +their duties. They had not very much to do, for every square yard of +the schooner's canvas was already taking that fair light wind. The +brig, on the other hand, was by no means under full sail, for some +reason, and she was tacking now that she might run deeper into the fog +and out of the way of harm from the fort batteries. These were not +wasting any more ammunition upon her, or rather upon the mist and the +sea. Only her topsails had been seen, in the first place, and these +had been quickly hidden again. The two vessels were, nevertheless, +drawing nearer to each other, unawares. There was no carefully kept +silence on board the <I>Boxer</I>; on the contrary, her crew were every now +and then doing something to send out notice to any ears near enough to +hear. At close quarters she would have been a dangerous antagonist for +the Yankee schooner. There was nothing at all to be made in a fight +with her, and Captain Avery was strongly averse to the idea of having +his vessel crippled or worse at the very outset of his voyage. +</P> + +<P> +A wonderful thing is a curtain of sea fog. Sometimes it may be +beautiful, but it is never at all under human control. The <I>Noank</I> was +running swiftly along and the very breeze which made her do so was +getting its grip upon the banks of vapor. It tore one of these in the +middle, suddenly. A great rift was opened, and clear water showed +across one short half-mile of the tossing sea. +</P> + +<P> +"There she blows!" sang out an old harpooner of the <I>Noank's</I> crew, as +if the <I>Boxer</I> had been a whale. +</P> + +<P> +"Luff! Luff!" shouted the British commander. "Bring your guns to +bear! We have her! Hurrah!" +</P> + +<P> +"Whoo-oop! Up-na-tan!" came fiercely from behind the breech of the +<I>Noank's</I> long eighteen, and the Manhattan's warwhoop was closely +followed by the roar of his gun. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard a-lee!" called out Captain Avery. "Sam! Run her into the fog. +All hands, to go about. We must get under cover ag'in." +</P> + +<P> +Short range and a good aim, with the <I>Boxer's</I> masts nearly in line, +had been bad for the Englishman's triumph. Down came his foretopmast, +splintered at the cap, dragging with it enough of spars and hamper to +assure that anything like racing condition had been knocked out of the +brig. She obeyed her helm, at first. She swung around and her port +broadside was delivered; but it was a mere waste of powder and round +iron. Not a shot touched the saucy <I>Noank</I>, speeding away through a +fog bank. +</P> + +<P> +Loud, indeed, was the startled exclamation of the astonished British +commander as he surveyed his unexpected damages. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pon my soul!" he said. "That pirate is going to get away from us. +This is too bad, altogether!" +</P> + +<P> +His sailors sprang to do what they might for the wreck, but the +appearance of things was unpromising. +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, Up-na-tan!" said Captain Avery. "That shot tells for +old practice. I guess I'd better make you captain of that gun." +</P> + +<P> +"Ole chief keep gun," replied the Indian. "Find gun shoot straight. +Good!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm mighty glad o' that," said the captain. "I mean to train every +hand on board, though. We may get stuck where we can't afford to miss +a shot. Straight shootin' is better than the heaviest kind o' shootin' +that doesn't hit." +</P> + +<P> +The breeze was increasing finely, and away went the swift privateer. +She had escaped from her first pursuer, and not far ahead of her, now, +were pretty surely her next batch of perils. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BRITISH FLEET. +</H4> + +<P> +The easterly end of Long Island is exceedingly ragged in its contour. +It is made up of straggling promontories, bays, inlets, and the +adjacent waters contain many islands, large and small, with outlying +rocky ledges. The opposite shore, the mainland of New England, is of a +similar character. Between them, the eastern sound and the neck of +water by which it is to be entered, provide a great deal of pretty +circumspect navigation. +</P> + +<P> +It is said, although no one now living was there at the time to collect +testimony, that once the mainland and the island were connected by a +rugged isthmus, now sunken or washed away. If it were ever there, +enough of it is left to require good piloting. +</P> + +<P> +A fleet of war-ships proposing to blockade or supervise the port of +Boston, may at the same time extend its operations so as to cork up the +Sound. This process, if made sufficiently thorough, may include in the +blockade such ports as New London, Providence, New Haven, and their +smaller neighbors. All of these, during the Revolutionary War, were +not only developing rapidly their regular commercial relations but were +nests of privateering enterprises. +</P> + +<P> +The British naval authorities were often unable to detail for this part +of their general blockade of America a sufficient number of ships, and +it was a service much disliked by their captains and crews, especially +in winter. +</P> + +<P> +The area of ocean to be patrolled was wide, and in spite of all +watching the Yankee ships ran in and out. Boston, especially, was +building up again, after its long period of military occupation, siege, +and desolation, much to the disgust of its many enemies. +</P> + +<P> +During some hours after the escape of the <I>Noank</I> from the <I>Boxer</I>, +Up-na-tan was down in the hold, and Guert Ten Eyck was with him. The +old Manhattan was no builder of ships, whatever he might be able to do +for a canoe, but he had seen a great many, here and there. He seemed +now to be carrying on a kind of critical investigation of the naval +architecture of the schooner. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Guert, as his red friend placed a hand curiously +upon one of the ribs of the vessel and glanced from that to other +timbers. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Good stick. Like lobster war-ship. All make +schooner strong. Carry long gun!" +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Avery wishes she could," said Guert. "The mate thinks she +can't." +</P> + +<P> +"No gun anyhow, now," said the chief, shaking his head. "Wait!" +</P> + +<P> +The subject of the Manhattan's inquiry belonged to a controversy then +going forward among the royal naval constructors and sea-captains. The +reason why England's third and fourth rate cruisers carried only light +guns, and many of them, was simply their frail timbering. Too heavy +artillery might rack them dangerously. It would call for precisely the +strength of frame provided by American shipyards for craft which might +bump an ice-floe. +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan was still further informing himself concerning the skeleton +of the <I>Noank</I>, when a shout from above summoned them both. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," called down Captain Avery, "you and he come to the cabin. Now +all's clear, you must learn something." +</P> + +<P> +On the deck all things were quiet. Not a sail was in sight that +indicated a craft as large as their own. The schooner was spinning +along, with all sails set and a fair wind in them. Everything about +her, from deck to topmast, wore a clean, orderly, service look, that +spoke volumes for the high character of her crew. She was all ready to +do her best at any moment, and she was sure of being well handled. +Perhaps a seaman would have critically remarked upon the fact that with +such a wind she was not taking a course directly out into the Atlantic. +</P> + +<P> +The captain's cabin, well aft below deck, was a small affair. It +seemed almost crowded when only half a dozen persons were in it. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Guert," said Captain Avery, "if I don't make the chief +understand, you must explain it to him. Talk Dutch, or any other +lingo. He's the sharpest lookout there is on board, and he's a prime +steersman. He must know what some things mean." +</P> + +<P> +"What things?" asked Guert. +</P> + +<P> +Two rugged old sailors who had entered the cabin with Sam Prentice, +also looked on inquiringly, while the captain went to a locker and took +out of it a leather case. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," he said, "it's the first duty of the commander of a ship +that's being taken by an enemy to put his private signal-book +overboard. It's kept weighted all the while, so it will sink. Now, +Luke Watts did his duty in that particular. His mate and his crew +looked on and saw him do it. So did I. They saw him drown something +like this." +</P> + +<P> +The case was open, now, and out of it was drawn what appeared to be +several sheets of parchments, wired together, so that they might be +rolled up like a pamphlet. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Chief know 'em. Ship talk with lantern. Talk +to other ship with flag. Captain got plenty lantern? Plenty flag? +Tell Up-na-tan how." +</P> + +<P> +A deep cupboard under the captain's bunk was at once thrown open, and +its contents were interesting. Red, green, blue, yellow, white, large +lanterns and small. Beside them lay a collection of sheafs of rockets, +each of which carried a written parchment tab to tell its nature. +Signal flags were there, also, in tightly tied-up rolls, and Up-na-tan +loudly grunted his approval of them. +</P> + +<P> +"First, now, for the book," said the captain. "Every man on board can +be trusted to know signals. There isn't one traitor in the <I>Noank</I>, +nor a fool, either. Sam and I must go on deck. You and the men and +the redskin stay here and study those things. Git 'em all into your +head, if you can. We may have a lot o' sharp dodgin' to do, this +cruise." +</P> + +<P> +Out he went, taking Sam with him, and then it at once appeared that +Guert had become a remarkable kind of schoolmaster, trying to explain +to others what he did not know himself. The two sailors were not +altogether unlettered men, but lack of practice had left them slow at +deciphering handwriting, and Guert seemed to have a knack of it. As +for the Indian, he did not know one letter from another, but he could +handle flags and lanterns as if they were hunting signs or the totems +of clans and tribes. Signal after signal was picked out and its +working practically illustrated in questions or answers. +</P> + +<P> +"'Top!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, at last. "Head full! See more by and +by." So said the sailors, and Guert himself felt as if he had been +going through a hard time at a new school. +</P> + +<P> +"But wasn't that a cute thing of Luke Watts!" he thought, as he came on +deck. "I'd like to try some o' those signals on a British ship. I +don't know how far we've run. The captain says our tightest squeeze +isn't far ahead of us, now." +</P> + +<P> +The schooner, oddly enough, was actually running within sight of Block +Island. Some, at least, of her perils must be behind her. Perhaps +more would have been if a sailing vessel could go straight ahead, in +any direction, like a steamer. That, however, is one of several things +that she cannot do. Many an hour of swift sailing, tacking back and +forth, must often be extended in gaining only a few miles of her true +course. +</P> + +<P> +The crew of the <I>Noank</I> were not at all puzzled by the peculiar manner +in which she was handled, and some of their faces betrayed anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Guess ole Avery wish dark come," remarked Coco to his friends as they +stood together at the foremast. "Lobster out yonder, somewhere." +</P> + +<P> +It was only about the middle of the afternoon, and the captain's +telescope was busy every few minutes. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "'Tack to Montauk. No go out yet. Captain +head good. Want fog. Want night." +</P> + +<P> +There was a laugh behind them, and Guert swung around to ask of Sam +Prentice:— +</P> + +<P> +"Can you tell me how it is, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I can," said the mate. "We know a good deal more'n we did. +While you were all below, we spoke a Providence man. Cod-fisher. My +boy, there's a whole fleet of Britishers out there, somewhere, spread +all along. Merchantmen, troop-ships, cruisers. Some of 'em heavy +fellers. We must keep well in, for a while." +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said the red man. "Mate let ole chief take glass. Want look." +</P> + +<P> +Prentice had with him his marine telescope, an unusually good one, and +he at once handed it to the Manhattan. +</P> + +<P> +"Your eyes are 'most as good as glasses," he said. "Let's see what you +can make out with that. I saw a sail, myself. Pretty well down, +easterly." +</P> + +<P> +There is a great deal of difference in eyes, even in good ones, and the +American red men possess peculiar faculties for sign reading. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said the Indian, after slowly and carefully sweeping the sea and +the horizon with the glass. "Bad! <I>Noank</I> 'tay in. One war-ship. +One, two, three, four other ship." +</P> + +<P> +"Men-of-war and the convoy!" exclaimed Prentice. "Lyme Avery! Here +they are! Come this way! If the redskin hasn't sighted 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ship o' line," now remarked Up-na-tan. "Frigate. Little gun ship." +</P> + +<P> +"Let me take the glass," said the captain, as he came; "it's a good +deal more'n we had reason to expect. Makes things look kind o' cloudy." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Sam, "it's about what the Boston pilot told that +Providence feller. If we'd ha' gone on in too much of a hurry, we'd +ha' run right in among 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"They're north o' their best course for New York," remarked the +captain. "I wonder if any of 'em are from Halifax. It may mean more +army to fight General Washington." +</P> + +<P> +"Mebbe," said Sam. "It's likely some of 'em are the reg'lar coast +cruisers. As for the convoy, they're slow and heavy. It's about the +course I'd expect them to run." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take in sail and heave to," said the captain. "Our safest +hidin'd be under Martha's Vineyard." +</P> + +<P> +They were not a very long reach from that island now. There were +several fishing smacks in sight, and none of them were taking in sail. +It looked, rather, as if they were all heading homeward. Perhaps they, +too, had been warned of a British fleet, and every man on board of them +was in danger of pitiless impressment, if his boat were to come within +range of the guns of a king's ship. +</P> + +<P> +In came the sails of the <I>Noank</I>, and then came a time of watching, +waiting, and anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"Nine sail in sight," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "and there's +more'n that to come. British flag on every one of 'em. Of course, +they've sighted us, long before this." +</P> + +<P> +"One comin' for us, I guess," said Coco. +</P> + +<P> +"Headin' this way, sure!" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess so," said the captain, quietly. "It's gettin' dusk, though. +Her glasses won't do any good, much longer.—Men! All sail! Jump, +now! Our time's come!" +</P> + +<P> +His manner had undergone a sudden change, and there was a red flush on +his face. The men heard him say to his son:— +</P> + +<P> +"No, Vine, I won't be taken. I'll fight that nighest feller, if I've +got to. He isn't a heavy one." +</P> + +<P> +His orders went out fast, and the schooner was quickly under a cloud of +canvas. She had indeed been noticed by the British commanders, and +arrangements had been made to overhaul her, as a matter of course. +</P> + +<P> +Her flight, or at least her escape, from such a fleet as she was now +facing, was an absurdity not to be thought of. Whatever sort of +American craft she might be, she was soon to have an officer and a +boat's crew on board of her, ascertaining how many of her sailors it +was best to take into the service of the king. +</P> + +<P> +"Father," suggested Vine, "they won't send a boat till they're nearer +than this, a good deal. The sea's getting a bit rough, too, and the +wind's fresh'ning." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care how many boats they send," replied the captain. "I can +sink 'em as they come. We'll run farther in behind Nantucket, but we +won't go too far. The redskin says he saw a topsail off the channel +that's cut too square to suit us." +</P> + +<P> +"Reg'lar cruiser's tops'l," put in Sam Prentice. "How she came to be +there, I don't know. Are they layin' a trap for us? Lyme, this 'ere's +goin' to be touch and go." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be go, then," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we won't touch, either. It's promisin' the darkest kind o' +night. They won't dream o' what our next long tack'll be.—Men! All +hands! Hark a moment, now!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from all sides, and as many as could came +crowding around him. +</P> + +<P> +"There may be more'n twenty sail, of all sorts, yonder, for all we +know," he said. "We make it out it's the British army supply fleet, +with troop-ships full of redcoats and Hessians. Likely, too, there are +reg'lar merchantmen for New York. They've a strong convoy, j'ined, +jest now, by the blockade ships, big and little. I calc'late, the more +of 'em there is, the better for us. I'm goin' to run the <I>Noank</I> right +through 'em. Sam Prentice, take some men and fetch up the lanterns and +rockets. Now, boys, I ain't sure but we'll have a little fun, but +there mustn't be a loud word spoke on board this schooner." +</P> + +<P> +With subdued laughter and chuckles of appreciation, the men scattered +to their duties. There was not a sign of fear among them and hardly an +expression of doubt as to the result. +</P> + +<P> +The schooner herself seemed to go into the daring undertaking before +her, with all her heart as well as with all sails set. She swung +around upon her seaward tack and went with a speed that did her credit. +</P> + +<P> +It was dark, and the darkness was deepening. Far away as yet, and in +all directions, the lights that were hung out by the British ships, +both of war and peace, were glimmering and twinkling as they rose and +fell with the surges that bore them. It was shortly evident that some +of these were signals that were exchanging, in accordance with the +directions of the secret signal code, and Captain Avery began to assort +and arrange his lanterns. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam," he said, "I guess I'll answer that call to close up with the +flag-ship. All the rest of our fleet are answerin' it." +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme," responded Prentice, "I'm in for fun, if there is any. Why +couldn't we mix 'em up?" +</P> + +<P> +"We'll try, anyhow," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Cap'n," put in Up-na-tan, almost respectfully, so strong was getting +to be his warrior admiration for the cunning and courage of his +commander, "s'pose we tell lobster ship, rebel enemy come. Rebel right +here. Make 'em feel good. Fire gun!" +</P> + +<P> +"I guess that's about as sharp a thing as we could do," replied the +captain. "Guert, pick out those white rockets. Hand 'em over." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was having the fireworks under his especial charge, for he was +found able to read the somewhat roughly written tabs. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are, sir," he said in half a minute. "There's plenty more +of that kind." +</P> + +<P> +Vine Avery had the lanterns, and he had already made use of them in +mocking replies to more than one swinging, dancing signal. +</P> + +<P> +Now, as the captain lighted the rockets, up into the gloom went fizzing +and flashing the prescribed announcement of danger. Each rocket let +out, as it exploded, a pretty large ball of red flame, as if to +emphasize its message. War-ship after war-ship told her character by +responding with a similar rocket, the merchantmen keeping quiet, and +then from the flag-ship of the fleet came the boom of a heavy gun. +</P> + +<P> +"Heavens!" suddenly exclaimed Captain Avery, as he watched for those +responses. "One o' their cruisers is nigher'n I'd counted on! +Starboard your helm, Sanders! All ready to go about!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy!" came out of the gloom beyond them. "<I>Amphitrite</I>! What +ship's that? Where are the enemy? What is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Kr-g-h-um-n</I>, of Liverpool," sang out Captain Avery huskily, +indistinctly, through his trumpet. +</P> + +<P> +"They won't make much out of that," Guert was thinking, but the British +officer angrily shouted back:— +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Kraken</I>, of Liverpool? You blockhead! What do I care for that? +Where away's the Yankee?" +</P> + +<P> +"Armed schooner, sir! Pirate! Passed close by, westerly. Say 'bout +two p'ints south." +</P> + +<P> +"Where away, now, stupid?" +</P> + +<P> +"On the lee bow, sir," trumpeted the captain. "Runnin' free. We was +nigh 'nough to see her guns." +</P> + +<P> +"Blockhead!" came back. "Why didn't you signal sooner? You deserve a +good rope's ending! Close up with the admiral!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir! There she goes! They're gettin' hold of her," responded +Captain Avery. +</P> + +<P> +For at that moment another gun from another man-of-war sounded well to +leeward. It was accompanied by more rocket signals that went up to be +read by all the fleet. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain," sang out Guert, as he tried to read them, "green rocket +bursting into red. It means 'Pirate in chase of merchantman.'" +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said the captain, "it's some other feller. We're not in +chase of anybody. Up-na-tan! Vine! swing out that biggest blue +lantern. I'll send up a blue rocket burstin' yeller and green. Then +douse the lanterns." +</P> + +<P> +"What does that mean, father?" inquired Vine, raising the blue lights. +</P> + +<P> +"Mean?" uproariously responded the captain. "Why! it means 'Mutiny on +board ship. Send help to quell mutiny.'" +</P> + +<P> +The British admiral saw that rare and exceedingly annoying signal with +intense indignation. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" he stormed, "another 'cursed mutiny! That comes of +crowding the king's ships with the off-scourings of the merchant +service, and jail-birds, and slaves, and picaroons, and 'pressed Yankee +rebels. Not one of 'em's fit to be trusted. The king'll lose ships by +it! They'd better be all hung!" +</P> + +<P> +Meantime, under an almost perilous press of sail for such a wind and so +rough a sea, the stanch, swift <I>Noank</I> was dashing along her course. +Every minute carried her oceanward, but not all her dangers were behind +her. +</P> + +<P> +Rapid signalling went on between the British war-ships and their now +frightened convoy. The unarmed vessels were hurrying toward their +protectors like so many chickens toward a clucking hen. No other +incident or accident of any importance occurred to any of them. As +hour after hour went by in the darkness of the night, and then in the +very chilly morning that followed, an eager, angry, discomforting +process of inquiry went forward from ship to ship. Upon which of them +had been the mutiny? Had it succeeded? Had it been put down? Did the +mutineers take the boats and get away? +</P> + +<P> +"Not on this ship, sir," was the altogether uniform response, and all +the vessels known to be in company had been accounted for. +</P> + +<P> +Not only was it that not one solitary mutineer could be discovered: it +also appeared that no such ship as the <I>Kraken</I>, of Liverpool, had at +any time joined herself to that convoy. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pon my soul!" exclaimed the astonished admiral, at last, "this is +great! Ponsonby, my dear fellow, the chap that hailed you in the dark +must have been the Yankee pirate himself. What do you think?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think he got away, sir," calmly replied Captain Ponsonby, of the +<I>Amphitrite</I>, forty-four. "The rebel rascal has slipped through our +fingers in the most audacious manner. Showed pluck, too." +</P> + +<P> +"He did!" groaned the admiral. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HUNTING THE NOANK. +</H4> + +<P> +An army in garrison will surely spend money, officers and men. So will +a fleet in port. The British camps, upon and near Manhattan Island +contained thousands of soldiers, and the warships on the station, or +arriving and departing, were numerous. There was sure to be, upon +almost any day, enough of "shore leave" or camp leave given, and the +streets of New York City were often even brilliant with uniforms. The +burnt district could already show many new buildings, mostly shops and +warehouses, and the streets were clear of rubbish. The merchants and +shopkeepers were said to be doing very well; some of them were making +fortunes out of the needs of the king's forces. In the social life of +the town there had been a notable change. Rich loyalists from the +interior had fled to New York for safety. All the old houses were +occupied, in one way and another. Some new ones were built or +building. There was a great deal of dinner giving and the like. On +the whole, therefore, the ruined city was beginning a new and very +peculiar era of prosperity. This was to continue, during the years of +the war, to such a degree that upon the return of peace all things +would be in readiness for rapid commercial development. +</P> + +<P> +The harbor, with so many ships in it that were all at anchor, wore a +frosty, sleepy look, one winter morning. Boats were pulling here and +there, from ship to ship, or between the ships and the shore. The +morning gun had long since sounded, and the reveilles at the forts and +camps. All the flags and pennants were drooping upon their staffs in +the still, cold air, and nowhere did any sails appear to be spreading. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the after deck of one elderly looking three-master stood a man who +was evidently taking a thoughtful survey of her. +</P> + +<P> +"Levtenant," he said, to a British naval officer standing near him, +"this 'ere craft is ready for sea." +</P> + +<P> +"I've brought your sailing orders, then," said the officer. "The +sooner you're off, the better." +</P> + +<P> +"Jest so!" said Captain Luke Watts. "They all tell me she isn't a bad +one to go. I'm goin' to give her all the chances that are in her. I +ain't in any hurry for a return cargo, though. I've had one lesson." +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty narrow escape, they say," said the lieutenant. "It wasn't your +fault, though. You'll be taking return cargoes from New York to +Liverpool, before long. This war's nearly over." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess it is," said Watts, "but it'll be spring before anything more +can be done with Mr. Washington." +</P> + +<P> +"Cornwallis'll catch him, then," was the confident rejoinder. "The old +Virginia fox can hole away among his Jersey hills for a few weeks +longer. Then Cornwallis promises to dig him out." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, he'll do that, fast enough," said Watts. "I s'pose, if I ever git +back, I may find him a prisoner in New York. My first business, +though, is to git this craft across the Atlantic. I'm to have a thin +crew and no guns, and I've to depend on my sails altogether. There are +risks." +</P> + +<P> +"Can't help it," said the lieutenant, "and you mustn't lose her." +</P> + +<P> +"You may tell the admiral," answered Watts, a little sharply, "that if +I don't, he may have me shot." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell him so." +</P> + +<P> +"It's Liverpool or my neck!" said Watts, emphatically. "Tell him I'll +take the northerly course, weather or no weather, out o' the way o' +pirates, and he needn't be uneasy." +</P> + +<P> +The carrying of that report to the captain of the port yet more firmly +established the confidence which was reposed in the loyalty of Captain +Watts. He was to be allowed to use his own judgment very freely, and +he was likely to have continuous employment as a Tory commander of +British ships. +</P> + +<P> +There was hardly any cargo worth speaking of in the hold of the +<I>Termagant</I>. She was going home in ballast. British commerce with the +colonies was entirely cut off, and this of itself was a severe war blow +to the mother country, equivalent to many defeats of her armies in the +field. American commerce itself, however, although terribly assailed, +was all the while on the increase. Up to the outbreak of the war, +everything produced for export in the colonies had to go out under +British restriction, whether directly to England or otherwise. All +that did not do so escaped by adventurous processes of a smuggling +description, and the amount of it was limited. Now, for instance, the +tobacco of Virginia and the Carolinas, when it could get out at all, +could be sold in any port of Europe which it might reach. The West +India Islands, also, were ready to take wheat to any amount, paying for +it in sugar, molasses, rum, cash, tobacco, or fruits. The war laws of +nations and the existing treaties, even if these were strictly adhered +to, were not in such a shape as to hinder France or Holland or Spain +from opening trade relations, hardly concealed, with the revolted +colonies of Great Britain. All the politics of Europe were in a +dreadfully mixed, uncertain condition, and what was called peace was +very like a war in the bud that promised to become full blown before a +great while. +</P> + +<P> +The greatest of all hinderances to American prosperity did not belong +to the war at all. It was the absence of good facilities for inland +transportation. The roads were bad, and little was doing to make them +better. The natural watercourses, rivers, bays, and sounds, were of +great value, but they did not exist in many places where they were +needed. Washington's army almost starved to death, simply because +there were no railways, not even macadamized roads, by means of which +he could receive the abundant supplies which his fellow-patriots in +numberless localities were eagerly ready to send him. Large amounts of +produce, year after year, rotted on the ground among the up-country +farms of all the states, because the cost of wagoning was too great, or +the roads were impassable, or the markets did not exist. +</P> + +<P> +While this was the condition of things on the land, not only in +America, but in all other countries, there was a scourge of the sea +that was almost as hurtful to commerce as was privateering itself. +Piracy had been fought out of large parts of the ocean, only making an +occasional appearance, but in other parts it held an only half-disputed +sway. One consequence was that the mere dread of the black flag kept +out commercial enterprise almost altogether from a large number of +promising fields. The fact was, that every case of a vessel lost at +sea and not heard from, and of these there were many, was sure to be +charged over to the account of piracy, so that the actual evil was made +to appear much greater than its reality. +</P> + +<P> +A severe check had been given to the slave trade at first by the +closing of its North American market, only a few human cargoes, if any, +being delivered among the colonies during the Revolutionary War. On +the other hand, the dealers in black labor were encouraged by a +steadily increasing demand from the British and Spanish islands, and +from South America. +</P> + +<P> +So entirely different was the ocean world, therefore, from what it is +to-day, and so easy does it become to form wrong ideas concerning +old-time war and peace on sea and land. +</P> + +<P> +The Yankee privateer, the <I>Noank</I>, Captain Lyme Avery commanding, had +indeed left a large British fleet behind her, and all the sea was +before her. Conversations between her commander and his very +free-spoken subordinates, however, revealed the fact that what might be +called her commission as a ship of war was exceedingly roving. Even +that very next morning, as he and his mate stood forward, anxiously +scanning the horizon, the latter inquired:— +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme,—I say! How'd it do to tack back and try to cut out one o' them +supply ships?" +</P> + +<P> +"Too risky, altogether," replied the captain. "South! South! I say. +We mustn't hang 'round here. There are more ships runnin' between Cuby +and Liverpool than there ever was before." +</P> + +<P> +"Fact!" said Sam. "The British can't git their tobacker from the +colonies any more. They git a first-rate article from the Spaniards, +though, and they have to pay tall prices for it." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it," said Avery. "I want to run one o' those fine-leaf cargoes +into New London. Good as gold and silver to trade with. I'd a leetle +ruther have sugar, though, full cargo, ship and all, with plenty o' +molasses." +</P> + +<P> +Others of the schooner's company chimed in, agreeing generally with the +captain, and it looked more and more as if the immediate errand of the +<I>Noank</I> might be considered settled. She herself was going ahead very +well, and was in fine condition. +</P> + +<P> +Away forward, at the heel of the bowsprit, with no sailor duty pressing +him just now, loafed Guert Ten Eyck. He had borrowed a telescope from +Vine Avery, and he had been using it until he grew tired of searching +the horizon in vain, and he had shut it up. He was feeling just a +little homesick, perhaps, after the over-excitement of the previous +days. He was thinking of his mother rather than of stunning successes +as a young privateersman. +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't I like to see her this morning!" he was thinking. "I'd like +to tell her and the rest how we beat that British fleet—" +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" exclaimed a voice at his elbow. "Boy no lookout! Go to sleep! +Wake up! Up-na-tan take glass!" +</P> + +<P> +Guert's dulness vanished, and he at once straightened up, for the +contemptuous tone of the old Manhattan stung him a little. He had not +been stationed there by any order, as a responsible watchman, but the +old redskin was unable to understand how any fellow on a warpath, +whether in the woods or upon the water, could at any moment be +otherwise than looking out for his enemies. His own keen eyes were +continually busy without any mental effort or any official +instructions. He now took the telescope and began to use it +methodically. Around the circle of the sea it slowly turned, until it +suddenly became fixed in a north-westerly direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Sail O!" he sang out. "Where cap'n?" +</P> + +<P> +"Here I am!" came up the forward hatchway. "Where away? What do you +make her out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nor-nor-west!" called back the Indian. "Square tops'l. No see 'em +good, yet. Man-o'-war come." +</P> + +<P> +"Jest as like as not," said Captain Avery. "Shouldn't wonder if they'd +sent a cruiser after us. Hurrah, boys! A stern chase is a long chase, +but that isn't the first thing on hand. Sam! I was down at the +barometer. There's a blow comin'! Worst kind! All hands to shorten +sail! Lower those topsails!" +</P> + +<P> +It was a somewhat unexpected order for a crew to receive if an enemy's +cruiser were indeed so close upon their heels, and there was hardly a +cloud in the steel-blue winter sky. It was obeyed, however, the men +passing from one to another the discovery of Up-na-tan while they +tugged at their ropes and canvas. +</P> + +<P> +Guert sprang away aloft, for this was a part of his seamanship, in +which the captain was compelling him to take pretty severe lessons. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll have to be on a square-rigged ship, one of these days," he had +told him. "I want you to know 'bout a schooner before you get away +from her. But you'll find there's an awful difference 'twixt the +handlin' o' the <I>Noank</I> and a full-rigged three-master. You'll need +heaps and heaps o' sea schoolin'." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was very well aware of that, from more tongues than one, and Sam +Prentice was also beginning to put him through a mathematical course of +the study of navigation. This, in fact, had begun during the long +months of inactivity at New London, and he had been much helped in it +by his Quaker friend, Rachel Tarns. He was to be of some use, one of +these days, she had told him; and a fellow who did not know how to +navigate could never become a sea-captain. An ignorant chap, a mere +sailor, must serve before the mast all his life. +</P> + +<P> +In came the clouds of canvas, all but a reefed mainsail and foresail +and a jib. +</P> + +<P> +"She's safe, now, I think," said the captain. "I guess I'll go down +and take another look at that glass. It kind o' startled me, it was +goin' down so. Sam, how's the stranger?" +</P> + +<P> +"Heading for us, I'd say," called back the mate. "She's a +three-master, too. She's carryin' all sail, just now. If there's a +heavy blow a comin', she may throw away some of her sticks." +</P> + +<P> +"She may do worse'n that," said the captain, "if she cracks on too much +canvas. We won't, though." +</P> + +<P> +Down below he hastened, and now Up-na-tan was pointing at something +white and hazy well up in the eastern sky. Every old salt on board was +quickly watching what appeared to be, at first, a change of color from +blue to gray. Some of them were shaking their heads gravely. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the wrong time o' year," said one, "for that sort o' thing. I +know 'em. They're jest crushers. Tell ye what. If it's that kind o' +norther, it'll drop down awful sudden when it gits here. Lyme Avery +hasn't been a mite too kerful. He knows what he's about." +</P> + +<P> +"There's odds in storms," replied a grizzled whaler near him. "I've +seen a Hull trader knocked all to ruins in ten minutes by one o' them +fellers. Every stick was blown out of her, and she foundered before +sundown." +</P> + +<P> +"Look out sharp for all the gun fastenings!" shouted the captain, as he +again came hurriedly on deck. "Up-na-tan, you and Coco guy that +pivot-gun, hardest kind. This boat's likely to be doin' some pitchin' +and rollin' pretty soon. There'll be an awful sea. Where's that +Englishman?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wait a bit," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief give lobster one shot." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said the captain. "She's in good range now. Have your +extra gearings ready to clap on. This schooner has weathered all sorts +o' gales, but it won't do to let her git caught nappin'." +</P> + +<P> +There had been more than a little surprise on board King George's fine +frigate <I>Clyde</I>, of thirty-six guns. There had been a group of +seaman-like officers upon her quarter-deck at about the time she was +discovered by Up-na-tan. Marine glasses were at work in the hands of +more than one of those gentlemen, and the express reason for it +appeared in their conversation. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Clyde</I> was a cruiser somewhat noted for her speed. She had been +of the convoy of the fleet through which the <I>Noank</I> had so cunningly +worked her way, and had been at once detailed to chase the saucy +privateer. This was decidedly pleasanter than guarding slow +merchantmen, and the frigate's commander had congratulated himself +heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"If we don't strike her, we may pick up something else," he had +remarked, adding: "I think I can make out the course she's most likely +to take. Two to one, she's bound for the Havana, to harry our West +India trade. We'll keep a sharp lookout." +</P> + +<P> +So he did, and he had been rewarded even sooner than he had expected. +</P> + +<P> +"Right under our noses," he had said, when the discovery of the +schooner was announced. "We can outsail her." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain!" interrupted his next in command, excitedly. "If she isn't +taking in sail! What can that mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"She may take us for something else," said the captain. "It's a fine +breeze. She couldn't think of fighting us." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a bit of it," said the officer; but his commander was an old, +experienced sea-captain, and the queer conduct of his intended prize +set him to thinking. +</P> + +<P> +He walked up and down the deck during about half a minute, and then he +began to look up curiously at the sky. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it!" he shouted, his whole manner changing suddenly. "The +Yankees are right! All hands! Shorten sail!" +</P> + +<P> +He poured rapid orders through his trumpet, while his lieutenants and +other officers sprang away to their duties, leaving him almost alone +upon the quarter-deck. +</P> + +<P> +"It's plain enough what it means," he said aloud. "There's trouble +coming; we must in with every rag. This ship's too light, anyhow, for +a hurricane. The men don't know it, but they may be working for their +lives. All right! Things are coming in fast enough. I'll get that +schooner, too, wind or no wind." +</P> + +<P> +As yet, there was only a fresh breeze to take note of, so far as a +landsman could have discerned. There was no actual excitement among +the sailors of the <I>Clyde</I>, merely because of a change in the color of +the sky. Some of them, however, had sailed as many seas as had their +captain or the whalers of the <I>Noank</I>, and they were freely expressing +to their comrades their approval of his prudence. All were working, +therefore, with an uncommon degree of energy. Their ways and their +performances would have been, if he could have seen them, a very +instructive lesson to Guert Ten Eyck. He would have learned much +concerning the differences between a square-rigged three-master and a +schooner like the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +During this somewhat brief and exceedingly busy time, the two vessels +had steadily approached each other. The first officer of the <I>Clyde</I> +had attended to his taking in and reefing, and he now stood once more +before his captain. +</P> + +<P> +"The prize is within long range, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mr. Watson. Give her a gun. We must take her or sink her." +</P> + +<P> +"Best sink her, sir. It's not safe to send off a boat. Most likely +she's heavily armed, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the captain, "no boat. We're short-handed, anyhow. We'll +not sink her if we can help it. One thing I'm after is to overhaul her +crew." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right, sir," laughed the lieutenant. "A shot may bring her +to." +</P> + +<P> +There was more than one element, therefore, in the supposable value of +the <I>Noank</I>, considered as the prize of the British frigate, <I>Clyde</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Out ran one of the latter's port guns, shotted. It was well aimed, +too, whether or not it was intended mainly as a sharp command to +surrender. Its heavy shot went whizzing between the schooner's raking +masts, doing no actual damage, but serving as a serious warning. +</P> + +<P> +"A little lower!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That was closer than I +expected. Up-na-tan! Let 'em have it!" +</P> + +<P> +He had but just given the order to go about, and the <I>Noank</I> was almost +as good as standing still, while the red man sighted his gun. His +marksmanship was a shade better, too, than that of the British gunner. +</P> + +<P> +Such a response, or any at all with a gun, had been utterly unexpected +by all on board the <I>Clyde</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Hit us?" gasped the captain. "We are struck? Was there ever such +impudence! See what that is!" +</P> + +<P> +"The port o' th' capt'n's cab'n!" shouted a sailor. "It's mashed, sir! +And 'ere comes th' wind, sir!" +</P> + +<P> +There had been a crash of wood and glass at the closed port-hole, and +from that the Indian's iron messenger had gone on through the cabin +door. All to bits flew a great swinging lantern in the saloon, and a +wide gap was made in the woodwork of the state-room opposite. This had +been closely packed with dinner-table delicacies, including many cases +of wine. Sad work was therefore made of the costly juice of the grape, +whether purchased or captured. A small flood of it, as red as blood, +but not as horrible, came streaming out to tell of the bottle-breaking. +</P> + +<P> +"'Orrid waste, sir!" groaned the captain's steward, as he gazed upon +that crimson rivulet. "'E could ha' dined the fleet on 'alf o' that. +I'll not forgive they Yonkees!" +</P> + +<P> +"Give 'em a broadside!" roared the angry lieutenant on deck. +</P> + +<P> +"No!" as loudly commanded the cool and prudent captain, adding to his +friend: "Not just now, my boy. Call all hands to quarters. It'll be +hold hard, in a few minutes. Ease her! Ease her! Starboard your +helm! Steady all! Here it comes!" +</P> + +<P> +He was a prime good seaman, that captain of the <I>Clyde</I>, and he was at +that moment looking aloft to see his maintopsail blown to leeward. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad it went!" he exclaimed. "Good luck! since they couldn't get +it in. That'll relieve the strain on the topmast. It wouldn't ha' +stood it." +</P> + +<P> +Other sails threatened to follow, however, and the frigate was +beginning to reel and pitch unpleasantly, although no very heavy sea +had yet risen. The sky overhead was all one whiteness, but low down, +northeasterly, it was blackening. The wind that came was bitterly cold +and cutting, as well as resistlessly strong. On board the <I>Noank</I> all +had been made ready for its arrival, and the schooner showed at once +the excellence of her modelling. She leaned over, under her closely +reefed mainsail, with a mere apron of a jib, and sped away southerly at +a rate which her square-rigged pursuer was not at all likely to rival. +</P> + +<P> +The captain of the <I>Clyde</I> watched her, as he clung tightly to his +lashings at the foot of his mizzenmast, using his telescope as best he +could, and making remarks as calmly as if he had been contemplating a +horse-race. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll say one thing for the Yankees," he said. "We can take lessons +from them in light ship building. That's a good one. I wish I had the +sailors that are handling her. They turn out some o' the best seamen +afloat. Worth twenty apiece of some that were sent to me." +</P> + +<P> +He was himself a fine specimen of the race of vikings who have made +England the queen of the seas. Nowhere have they ever been more highly +appreciated than among their cousins of the New World, and their many +achievements are a part of our own ancestral inheritance. +</P> + +<P> +For the immediate present, at least, the <I>Noank</I> was safe, so far as +the British navy might be concerned. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert!" said Up-na-tan, when their watch below brought them together. +"Look ole brack man! Coco no like cole wind. Like 'em warm. +Up-na-tan no care! Ugh! Want <I>Noank</I> run south. No freeze hard." +</P> + +<P> +Poor Coco had indeed been shivering pitifully when he came down from +the deck. Not all the experiences he had had during many northern +winters had prepared his Ashantee constitution to enjoy a norther. +</P> + +<P> +In fact, moreover, there was not an old whale catcher on board who did +not now and then congratulate himself that the schooner was steering +toward the tropics, and would soon leave behind her that fierce, +destructive river of dry, penetrating polar air. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +CONTRABAND GOODS. +</H4> + +<P> +It was greatly to the advantage of the swift <I>Noank</I> that her larger +and even swifter enemy was having a battle of its own. The burly +commander of the <I>Clyde</I> was compelled to surrender, for the time, to +the imperious demands of the polar gale. If it would have been at all +safe to have thrown open any of his ports, nothing worth while could +have been done with his guns. All that was left for him to do, +therefore, was to follow on as best he could in the wake of his +American prize. This could be done fairly well, for a while, although +he was not gaining upon her. Then, however, another of her natural +allies interfered, for darkness came over the sea, and his best hope +for catching the <I>Noank</I> went out like an extinguished lantern. +</P> + +<P> +Meantime, the captain had to listen, with undisguised vexation, to his +steward's dolorous account of the damage done to the delicacies in the +storeroom. +</P> + +<P> +Far away, northerly, that very evening, a patriotic company of +Americans had gathered in a large and pretty well-lighted room. +Adjoining this were several other rooms, large and small, which were +occupied in very much the same manner. The house was the old Ledyard +mansion at New London, and all these women and girls had gathered +there, with one accord, for work, and not for fun. The brave owner of +the homestead, Colonel William Ledyard, was absent upon an errand to +Boston, and there were hardly any grown-up men in the assembly. There +were boys, indeed, brimming with patriotism, and these were evidently +feeling more than ordinarily warlike as they helped their grandmothers, +and mothers, and sisters, and aunts at the peculiar industry which had +brought them together. +</P> + +<P> +It was neither a sewing society, nor a quilting bee, nor an apple +paring. There could not, however, have been more activity or +cheerfulness, even at a corn husking, and yet the cause of all this +enthusiasm and energy was serious indeed. All the busy fingers in +these rooms were putting up ball cartridges with the powder and lead +captured by Lyme Avery in the <I>Windsor</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"What a pity it is that we cannot send them to Washington," said one of +the workers. "He will need them all pretty soon." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope we'll never need them here," responded another, "but I suppose +the forts must be provided. The British may come. They have good +reasons for hating New London." +</P> + +<P> +"It hath many bad people in it," came sarcastically from beyond the +table in the middle of the room. "I fear there is very little love +here for our good king. We think too little of all that he is trying +to do for us." +</P> + +<P> +"Rachel Tarns," exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, near her, "there's more news +from New York just in. Your good king is stirring up the Six Nations +again. There will be more trouble on that frontier." +</P> + +<P> +"Not right away, I think," replied the Quakeress. "I have much faith +that the peaceful red men will remain in their wigwams during such +weather as this is. Should they not do so, I fear lest some of them +might be hurt by the frontiersmen, even if they are not frost-bitten." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I'm afraid of," said one of the larger boys. "Old Put +ought to be there. Washington used to be an Indian fighter. Killed +lots of 'em. I guess there won't any of 'em trouble us folks in +Connecticut." +</P> + +<P> +"Thee is only a boy," laughed Rachel. "Thy Old Put could tell thee of +troubles with the red men not so very far away from this place. Thy +own house is upon land that once belonged to them. What would thee do +if they should come to take it away from thee?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'd fight!" said the youngster. "My father's with Washington and my +brother's with Putnam. Mother and I are ready to shoot if any of 'em +come near our house." +</P> + +<P> +"Rachel," said Mrs. Ten Eyck, "how is thy conscience this evening? How +is it that a Quaker can make cartridges?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "I have it upon my mind that the more +cartridges we make, if they are used well, also, the sooner will this +wicked war be brought to an end. Thou knowest that the testimony of +the Friends is given for peace. Therefore do I rely much upon that +good friend, George Washington. He gave a strengthening testimony at +Trenton and Princeton." +</P> + +<P> +Everybody had become accustomed to the dry and often bitter sayings of +the old Quakeress, and now a white-haired woman across the room +suddenly exclaimed:— +</P> + +<P> +"Hear that wind! O dear! I wasn't thinking of redskins. So many of +our boys are at sea. Mine are with Lyme Avery. What wouldn't I give +to know just how they're doing!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why, they are sailing south," replied Mrs. Avery. "If this storm +reaches 'em, it'll send 'em along. Lyme is used to rough weather." +</P> + +<P> +Brave was she, and very brave were they all, and the "cartridge bee," +as they called it, was a good illustration of the stubborn spirit of +freedom which made it impossible to conquer the colonies. +</P> + +<P> +"The forts'll be safer," they said, as they packed up their dangerous +work and prepared to scatter to their homes through the icy storm. "We +must come and roll cartridges two evenings every week. Some of the +boys are putting in all their time to moulding bullets." +</P> + +<P> +All of those boys were growing, too, and some who were only fit to melt +lead and run bullets at fourteen or fifteen would be in the ranks +before the end of the war. They would be Continental soldiers, for +instance, at such fights as that at Yorktown. Any country becomes +safer while its boys are eager to grow up for its defence, and are all +the while taking lessons that will prepare them for efficiency. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning dawned quietly upon both land and sea. The norther +had blown itself out, and it had brought no great amount of snow with +it anywhere. It had been severe while it lasted, and then it had +departed, like any other unwelcome guest. +</P> + +<P> +The streets of New London were cold and snowy, but they were not by any +means dreary or deserted that morning. +</P> + +<P> +One more ocean prize had been brought in, and the report of it had gone +out in all directions. The sleighing was good over the country roads, +and the number of teams hitched along the sides of the lower streets +testified to the general hunger for news as well as for trade. The +sociability of all these arriving sleighing parties was tremendous, and +they seemed to be all of one mind concerning the events of the day. +That is, the one-mindedness here was exactly like, and yet exactly +opposed, to the one-mindedness which ruled upon Manhattan Island, not +so far away. Whigs here, Tories there, were equally earnest, +determined, and hopeful. +</P> + +<P> +In New York as in New London, it was currently reported that a number +of the more active business men were actually making fortunes by the +war. Not a great many rebel vessels had been brought into New York +harbor as prizes, but all that did come in, and that were condemned and +sold, offered opportunities for speculation. The best of the town +trade came from the army and navy, but there were still a few small +driblets coming in from the interior. It was worthy of note, perhaps, +that furs, for instance, should sometimes reach New York from the +north, from regions beyond Albany. These were smuggled down the Hudson +River, nobody knew how. It had been suggested, of course, by sharp +people, that American commanders might be willing to shut their eyes +while a fur trader went in, provided they were to have a talk with him +on his return. +</P> + +<P> +In like manner, it was said, the British generals had no objections +whatever to the arrival of fellows who were certified to them as +"well-known Tories," who could give them abundant information +concerning the ragged, starving, worthless condition of the rebel +forces in and above the Hudson highlands. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt, too, it was encouraging to the military and other servants of +the king to hear, from honest and loyal fur traders, how the rebels of +the Mohawk Valley were dispirited by the defeats of Washington's army, +and how they were preparing to turn against the Continental Congress. +Best of all, perhaps, was the assurance thus brought that all the Six +Nations and the Hurons of the woods were ready to take the war-path in +the spring as the allies of England. +</P> + +<P> +If there were sailors ashore on leave that morning, from many of the +other ships in the harbor, there were none from the <I>Termagant</I>, for +she was under orders to sail. Captain Luke Watts himself had a call of +ceremony to make, at an early hour, relating to those very orders, for +he was to give in his last report of the condition of his ship and +crew. The "port captain," to whom his report was to be made, was the +commander of a lordly seventy-four. In the absence of any admiral he +was the "commodore" of all the naval forces in and about the harbor. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Watts was kept on deck in waiting for a few minutes only, and +when he was summoned to the cabin he found the commodore by no means +alone. The mere skipper of a transport was not asked to take a seat in +such a presence, and Luke stood, hat in hand, respectfully, while his +presented papers were read and approved. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Watts," said the commodore, "what course do you take, homeward +bound?" +</P> + +<P> +"As far no'th as I can get, sir," replied Luke, "for good reasons." +</P> + +<P> +"Give your reasons." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir, from what I heard at New London, the rebel pirates are +aimin' at our West Injy trade. They'll hang 'round the reg'lar course, +too, the southern track. I jest mean to steer out o' their way." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" said the commodore. "What else did you hear among the Yankees?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir," replied the Tory sailor, "they said, and they seemed to +know, that our cruisers off the Havana are mostly heavy craft that +can't chase 'em through the channels and over the shoals and 'mong the +lagoons. What we need, sir, is a lot o' light draft vessels there, and +well armed, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Make a note of all this, lieutenant," exclaimed the commodore. "This +man Watts has brought in good advice before this. Whatever he brings +is said to be of practical value. Go on, man! What next?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, sir," said Watts, "before I left Liverpool the last time, I +heard a p'int. I must look sharp after I get over and want to run in. +I must say it, sir, the Irish and English coast is only half guarded. +We haven't half enough ships on duty there. Next we know, we'll hear +of Yankee pirates in St. George's Channel." +</P> + +<P> +"Note it! note it!" exclaimed the commodore, loudly. "It's just so! +What with so many of our best cruisers ordered to America and the +Antilles and the Mediterranean, and to the China seas, our own home +coasts are left to be defended by old hulks and mere revenue cutters. +The Yankees can run away from the heavy tubs, and they can smash all +the smuggler catchers. We shall hear bad news, next. Watts, take your +own course. Get in how you can. You're a man we can rely on. Go, +now, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"My ship'll get in, sir," said Luke, almost too sturdily. "I wish I +was as sure 'bout some others. I'm afraid they're going to crack our +traders 'mong the islands." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do! Go!" he was told, and he went out, leaving behind him a +very capable naval officer in a decidedly uncomfortable state of mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," he said to his officers, "all that he says is only too +true. I am sorry it is, but I am intending to embody it in my report +to the Admiralty. The unpleasant thing for us is, however, that we +can't spare anything or send anything, from this fleet and station, to +prevent the mischief that's threatened among the Antilles." +</P> + +<P> +They all agreed with him. All of them considered, also, that the man +Luke Watts had given valuable information and suggestions. He had done +so, doubtless, but he had not thereby done anything to hinder the +future operations of any Yankee privateer. +</P> + +<P> +He was rowed back to the <I>Termagant</I>, and when he arrived somebody was +waiting for him on her deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Feller named Allen," he was told by a sailor at the rail. "He's a +kind o' fur pedler, I'd say, with a permit from one o' the generals, I +don't know who." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Watts. "Fetch him below, packs and all. I'll see if +his papers are reg'lar. We don't make any loose work on this ship." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir," said the sailor. +</P> + +<P> +Sharp as was his examination of them a moment later, he seemed to be +entirely satisfied with the documents presented to him by the man named +Allen. He had obtained the customary authority, as a loyal merchant of +the port of New York, to ship by the <I>Termagant</I> to his agent in +London, a properly scheduled assortment of valuable furs. All had been +officially inspected and approved. +</P> + +<P> +"Come down below," said Captain Watts. "All your packages are down. +I'll give these things another overhauling in my cabin." +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, Captain Watts," replied Mr. Allen. "Whatever you wish." +</P> + +<P> +He was even willing to help carry down the furs, and one of the smaller +parcels of them was in his hand when they reached the cabin. He still +held it after the door was shut and bolted, leaving him and the captain +alone together. Then his entire manner changed somewhat suddenly, and +he threw his parcel down upon the table. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Luke Watts," he said, "that's it. You'd best take out the +papers, now, and stow 'em away somewhere. You ain't sure there won't +be another look taken at the furs 'fore you git away. I wouldn't risk +it. They're getting suspicious, all 'round." +</P> + +<P> +Open came the parcel, as he spoke, and in the very middle of it lay a +bundle of such materials as would ordinarily have been sent through a +post-office. +</P> + +<P> +"It's about all the cargo I'll have, of any consequence," remarked +Luke, staring down at the unexpected mail. +</P> + +<P> +"General Schuyler told me to say," replied Allen, "that all these are +of great importance. Some are from him to his friends in England. +You'll know how to have 'em delivered. Some are to go to Holland and +some to Paris. That last is all the way from the Congress at +Philadelphia. It got to me by way of Morristown and one of our Jersey +Tories, you know. That's old Ben Franklin's own handwriting." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll see that they go straight through," said Luke, quietly. "I'll +put 'em safe away, now, first thing." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll swing at a yard-arm inside o' one day, if you're ketched with +'em," said Allen. "I've been up among the Six Nations, all the way +through to Niagara, for my brother's concern on Pearl Street. I went +to buy furs for them, you see, and did first-rate. I fetched along +packs o' news, too, for the British commanders. It was risky business, +working my way through Putnam's lines, though. I came pretty nigh to +being shot or hung by the rebels, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es, I know," responded Luke. "They came jest about as nigh as that +to hangin' me, they did. The bloodthirsty pirates! Get ashore, now, +Allen. I'll land your furs for ye. I hope your concern'll make a good +thing out of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Finest furs you ever saw," laughed Allen. "Look out for spies and +searchers. Here's good success to good King George—Washington, and +may the glorious flag of England float victoriously—till we pull it +down! Luke Watts, I'm the poisonest kind of Tory, I am!" +</P> + +<P> +"Jest like me," said Watts. "I've done all I can to put down this 'ere +wicked rebellion." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard so," said Allen. "We got the news all the way from +Connecticut. You delivered a whole ship's cargo of heavy guns and +muskets and ammunition to the loyal-hearted Tories of New London. I +was born there once, myself. I know just how faithfully they love +their king and his blessed Parliament. Good-by, Luke! A successful +voyage to you. Keep out o' the way of pirates." +</P> + +<P> +"I must, this time," said Watts. "If I don't, I'll never get another +ship to carry furs and things in." +</P> + +<P> +Up on deck they went, and the last words uttered by Allen did not have +to be whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Take good care of your neck, Captain," he called out, from his boat. +"If you're caught, this time, you'll never see New York again, or +Marblehead, either." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he's about right," said Mate Brackett, gazing after the boat. +"I'd say you seem to be a man that the rebels have set a mark on." +</P> + +<P> +"Never you mind," said Watts. "We won't be ketched by 'em, that's all. +The commodore says we may sail our own course. We'll git there." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, sir," said Brackett. "We've a queer lot o' chaps with us +this trip, but we'll work 'em." +</P> + +<P> +What he meant by that was that all the prime seamen were needed by the +war-ships, and that almost anything on two feet had been deemed good +enough for an old transport ship going home in ballast. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll have to travel under light canvas, I take it," remarked +Brackett, as he looked at his crew. "It'd be all night and part o' +next day for them to shorten sail in a hurry." +</P> + +<P> +The boat which carried Mr. Allen, the loyal fur trader, reached the +shore. On getting out of it, he walked until he came to a dwelling a +short distance easterly from what the fire had left of old Pearl +Street. He entered without knocking and passed through the house to +the kitchen in the rear, where a comely, middle-aged woman stood before +an open fireplace, watching a pot which was hanging on the crane. +</P> + +<P> +"Sally Allen," he said, in a somewhat low and guarded tone, "the +captain took the furs. It's all right." +</P> + +<P> +"It is if they don't find him out," she said, gloomily. "I think you +are running awful risks, Tom. The sooner you are back again in the +Mohawk Valley, the better for you." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall get there," he told her; "that is, if I'm not shot before I +pass the Dunderberg. I mustn't stay here, though. I must be in a +canoe at Spuyten Duyvil Creek before morning." +</P> + +<P> +"They make short work of spies, Tom," she said. "Think of what they +did to Nathan Hale. I used to know him, years ago, in New London." +</P> + +<P> +"Sally," he said, "I want you to mark just one thing. He isn't +forgotten! One o' these days there'll be some first-rate British +officer captured, a good deal as Hale was, with papers on him, playing +spy. Whenever that happens, our side won't show any mercy. The spy'll +have to swing!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's all wrong!" she exclaimed. "I hate to think of it. All +revenge is wicked. It's awful to think of killing one man because +somebody somewhere else killed another." +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Sally, that isn't it exactly," replied Tom. "What we mean is +that all the spy hanging isn't to be done on one side o' this war. +What's right for them is right for us." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" she said. "It isn't so! It's like so many red savages to talk +in that way. We don't take scalps, just because they do, nor kill +women and children. I'm a true American woman, and I believe in +righting, but I don't want any stain left on our side." +</P> + +<P> +"There won't be any," said Tom. "I'm going ahead, if they do hang me. +I'm running Nathan Hale's risk, all the while." +</P> + +<P> +"God protect you!" she said. "Do you feel sure you can creep through?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've done it before," he replied. "What I'm thinking of, the worst +thing for me, is the new line of pickets along the river bank. I shall +be fired at, pretty sure, before I can paddle on into the Hudson +Narrows. There'll be some risk from our own pickets above Anthony's +Nose. I guess they'll all miss me. I've one package, though; that's +all weighted, ready to drop into the water if I'm exhausted. I'd make +out to sink it, if I was dying. Now, give me some supper." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Tom!" she said, "God keep us!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE PICAROON. +</H4> + +<P> +"Guert," said Vine Avery, as they stood together, with their backs +against the main boom of the <I>Noank</I>, "what do you think of this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Think?" said Guert. "Well! It's the first time I ever saw summer in +winter." +</P> + +<P> +"They're having good sleighing in New London," said Vine. "Skating, +too." +</P> + +<P> +"Guess so," said Guert. "I wish my mother were here, and Rachel Tarns +with her. They'd enjoy this." +</P> + +<P> +"My mother's made two West India trips," replied Vine. "She knows all +about it. Likes it, too." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the laziest kind of cruising, though," said Guert. "We've dodged +away from some sails, and we've run after some, but we haven't taken +anything." +</P> + +<P> +"Our chances'll come, boys," put in Captain Avery himself, as he came +strolling along the deck. "Not just 'bout here, maybe. Yonder on the +easterly Bahamas. Not many British traders are likely to be met +hereaway." +</P> + +<P> +"What are we here for, then, father?" asked Vine. "What's your +notions?" +</P> + +<P> +"We had to," said the captain. "The Frenchman we spoke, told me the +Florida Channel's alive with British cruisers. We sighted two of 'em, +you know, and had to run for it." +</P> + +<P> +"Where next?" asked Vine. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take a course toward Porto Rico," said his father; "then up the +coast of Cuba. We'll try the Bahama Channel, and the Santaren, and the +Nicholas. I want to send home some prizes, pretty soon, on British +account." +</P> + +<P> +Day after day, the <I>Noank</I> had been hunting, hunting, farther and +farther into the southern sea, through good weather and bad. All the +while Guert Ten Eyck had been at school. Up-na-tan had laboriously +tried to teach him whatever he himself knew about guns, large and +small. The other sailors had done their duty by him, concerning ropes +and sails and points of seamanship. Captain Avery had driven him hard +at his books on navigation. Therefore, if the cruising had been more +or less lazy business for others, it had contained a good deal of hard +work for the young sea apprentice. He was in a fair way to be made a +good sailor of, and to be ready in due season to handle a ship. +</P> + +<P> +"What you want most," Captain Avery had said, "is a long v'y'ge on a +square-rigged vessel, under a hard captain. I'll find a chance for you +one o' these days. You can't learn everything on board a schooner." +</P> + +<P> +That idea was growing steadily in Guert's mind, and he now and then +found himself dreaming of all sorts of perilous cruises in great +American three-masters. By these splendid ships of his imagination, +all of which were as yet unlaunched from any shipyard, the best keels +of England were to be met and beaten. He was to command one of them, +and was to become a captain first, and then a commodore. It was all an +entirely natural young sailor's ambition, but it was looking far away +into the future of his country. All it was good for now was the help +it gave him in his pretty severe schooling. +</P> + +<P> +Just at this present hour, leaning against the boom and gazing at the +low coast line of the islands, he was calling to mind the many yarns he +had heard concerning them. He had read about them, a little. He knew +how they had been discovered by the Spaniards, and then taken from +them, part of them, by the English and the French. He knew how the +Carib natives had been slaughtered, and he had heard, from Coco in +particular, of the horrible manner in which the tobacco and sugar +plantations had been provided with African slaves. +</P> + +<P> +Vine, too, was thinking, but of a very different matter. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," he said, "away out yonder, easterly, there's the queerest +patch in all the Atlantic. It's where all the loose seaweed and +driftwood and wreckage float together. There are currents that whirl +in there and make a centre of it. More and more seaweed and other +plants grow on that stuff year after year, and it's all a kind of swamp +on the surface, with deep water under it. They call it the Sargasso +Sea. We were swept into the edges of it, once, and it took a fresh +breeze to pull us out. I don't just know if a craft like this could +plow her way across it." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess she could," said Guert, "but I don't want to try. What I want +to see is Cuba and Porto Rico." +</P> + +<P> +Away beyond them, hardly visible in the distance, was a tree-covered +point of land. Captain Avery was studying it through his telescope, +and they heard him mutter to himself:— +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know whether or not that is Watling's Island. If it is, we've +made a better run on this tack than I thought we had. One good, long +reach beyond that and we'll begin to be in the track of the traders." +</P> + +<P> +"Whoo-oop!" suddenly rang out the war-cry of Up-na-tan, from somewhere +up the mainmast. +</P> + +<P> +"Where away?" shouted the captain. "What do you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"No see!" came down from the redskin. "Hark! Hear gun! Hark ahead! +See point! More gun!" +</P> + +<P> +His ears had been better than theirs, but, after a moment of intense +listening, the entire ship's company of the <I>Noank</I> felt sure that they +heard the dull boom of far-away cannon. +</P> + +<P> +Every sail was already set to take so fair and fresh a wind, and the +swift schooner was eating up the distance rapidly. +</P> + +<P> +"All hands make ready for action!" shouted the captain. "Risk or no +risk, I'm goin' to see what it is." +</P> + +<P> +His orders went out fast, but they went to the ears of men who had +sprung away without them. All the guns had been manned instantly. +</P> + +<P> +Coco and Guert and half a dozen more were at the pivot-gun, but +Up-na-tan did not come down at once. The captain's order kept him +aloft as the best lookout and listener he had. Louder, now, at +intervals, came the ominous sound of the distant guns. +</P> + +<P> +"No big gun yet," called down the keen-eared Indian. "No big war-ship. +<I>Noank</I> run right along." +</P> + +<P> +"The chief is worth his weight in gold!" exclaimed the captain. +"That's jest what I wanted to know, before roundin' that there p'int. +I don't care to run under the guns of a British cruiser." +</P> + +<P> +Ships which are running toward each other under full sail cut every +mile in two in the middle. For instance, they need to run only two +miles instead of four to get together. There was a dense forest growth +on the point of Watling's Island, if that were indeed the land to +windward, for the breeze was westerly. Everything beyond was hidden +from view until the <I>Noank</I> passed the outer reef and tacked seaward, +running almost wing and wing. +</P> + +<P> +"Whoo-oop!" came fiercely down from the red man's perch. "'Panish +flag. Three-master. Trader. Not many gun. Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! +Kidd! Kidd! Black flag schooner! Pirate! Not so big as <I>Noank</I>. +Small gun! Take her quick! Kill 'em all! Whoo-oop!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" arose in a general roar from the crew of the <I>Noank</I>, more +than one voice adding, vociferously, the desire that was felt to smash +the picaroon. +</P> + +<P> +"Ready, all, now!" sang out Captain Avery. "The American flag is +against the black flag, the world over. We'll fight it, every time!" +</P> + +<P> +Fierce shouts of eagerness replied to him, and the men were stripping +themselves for a hard fight. The very most of clothing that was +actually needed under that hot sun, by men who were to handle cannon, +was a shirt and trousers, and many of the brawny backs were even bare. +Muskets, pikes, pistols, cutlasses, were bringing up from below. +Ammunition, plenty of it, was serving out to all the guns, and now, as +the point of land was left to starboard, all eyes could see what kind +of work had been cut out for the privateer. +</P> + +<P> +The Spaniard, as her flag declared her, was a three-master of, +probably, not more than six hundred tons. She was crowding all sail, +but she was evidently heavily laden. +</P> + +<P> +"She has too much cargo for good runnin'," growled Sam Prentice. "That +buccaneer has the heels of her." +</P> + +<P> +"What's worse'n that," said the captain, "she has nothin' but popguns +to fight him with. He won't sink her, though. What he wants is to run +along side and board her." +</P> + +<P> +"Then it'll be good-by to every livin' soul that's in her," said the +mate. "We'll jest put a stopper on all that!" +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan," shouted the captain, "come down to your gun! We shall be +in fair range in three minutes. Then give it to 'em as fast as you can +load and fire." +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" was all the response they heard, and the Manhattan warrior came +down so swiftly that he was at his gun almost before they knew it. +</P> + +<P> +There was a pitiful scene, just then, on board the unlucky Spaniard. +She had many passengers as well as much cargo. Women and children were +crouching in terror upon her deck, or hiding hopelessly away in her +cabins. Fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, were gazing in +awful despair at the horrible black flag of murder and ruin, which was +so evidently nearing them, minute after minute. +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>Santa Teresa</I> is doomed!" groaned the Spanish captain, and then +he raised his voice to shout courageously: "Men! we will fight to the +last! We'd better go to the bottom, than to let those devils get on +board!" +</P> + +<P> +"We'd better die fighting, than stand still to have our throats cut, or +to walk the plank!" came back to him from among the men. +</P> + +<P> +Even the women begged for weapons. There were boys and girls who were +fiercely handling firearms, and swords, and pikes. Numerous as might +be the buccaneers, they were likely to win a costly victory upon the +deck of the <I>Santa Teresa</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"There goes our mizzenmast," called out her mate to the captain. +"We've no chance left, now!" +</P> + +<P> +"We never had any, Roderigo," replied the captain. "O God! Here they +come!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ho! Captain Velasquez!" came from the man at the wheel. "A sail to +larboard! A schooner!" +</P> + +<P> +"A Yankee flag!" said Mate Roderigo. "Captain! She's heading this +way!" +</P> + +<P> +"Alas!" mourned the captain. "What can a Yankee sugar-boat do for us?" +</P> + +<P> +A mournful wail went up from his women passengers as they heard him, +but a tall gentleman near him touched his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain!" he said, "look again. That American does not seem to fear +the black flag. See! She is coming on full sail. What can it mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps she does not yet know what they are, Señor Alvarez," sadly +responded the captain. "She will be as hopelessly lost as we are." +</P> + +<P> +So thought the buccaneer captain himself, at that moment, for he and +his hideous crew were already rejoicing over two triumphs to come +instead of one, and a second feast of bloodshed after taking the +Spaniard. +</P> + +<P> +The black flag commander was a short, thin, tiger-faced man. He was +gaudily dressed, as were also some who seemed to be his lieutenants. +As for his crew, they were of all sorts. They were the offscourings of +several nations, including Englishmen, French, Dutch, and Africans. +They were at this moment yelling savagely, as they loaded and fired +their guns. Not one of these was larger than a short six-pounder, +although there was an absurd number of them, considering the size of +the vessel. She was schooner-rigged, but she was much more lightly +constructed than the <I>Noank</I>. Her breadth of beam was somewhat +greater, and she might be speedy. Precisely such craft were sometimes +built for the slave trade. They were expected to carry only human +cargoes, as a rule, and to make swift runs from African slave +barracoons to American markets. Delays in such voyages implied heavy +losses of black captives who would surely die in the hold. +</P> + +<P> +"We will take the Yankee schooner first," was the decision of the +pirate captain. "We must cripple the Spaniard, so she cannot get away. +Two prizes are better than one. We need that schooner yonder, for our +own trade." +</P> + +<P> +Loud laughs and jeers replied to him from many scores of throats, for +the buccaneer <I>Leon</I> was positively over-thronged with sea-wolves. +</P> + +<P> +"Steady with the helm there!" rang out on board the <I>Noank</I>, as she +arose like a duck upon the crest of a long sea. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan, as the sheet of flame sprang from the brazen +lips of his long eighteen. "Whoop!" +</P> + +<P> +"Struck her!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That was a good shot!" +</P> + +<P> +"Between wind and water!" shouted Sam Prentice, studying the pirate +through his glass. "It took her as she heeled, and it knocked a hole +in her you could roll a barrel through." +</P> + +<P> +Whether or not any bodily harm had been done to any pirate, a chorus of +astonished yells and imprecations went up from her crowded deck. All +the ears there could hear and understand the crash of timbers under +them, which had followed close upon the good shot of Up-na-tan. +</P> + +<P> +"Praise God!" gasped the captain of the <I>Santa Teresa</I>. "Oh! Señor +Alvarez! I never thought of that. It is one of the new American +colonial cruisers. They carry heavy guns. Their men are as brave as +lions. All the saints be merciful and help them to shoot straight!" +</P> + +<P> +"Amen!" groaned the señor. "Laura! My dear wife! The Americans are +armed! We have some hope!" +</P> + +<P> +Down upon their knees, as if with one accord, dropped all the +despairing women and not a few of the men, the children grouping +frantically around their mothers. Loud and earnest were the hurried +supplications and bitter was the wailing. +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan had not the least idea that he or his gunnery were being +prayed for, but he sent his next shot as truly as the first. He aimed +at her hull, as near amidships as might be. It was no fault of his +that a slight roll of the <I>Noank</I> lifted his line of fire so that his +flying iron struck the mainmast of the <I>Leon</I> instead of her ribs. The +tall spar was shattered and went over the lee rail with all its top +hamper, carrying with it several of the pirate crew who were aloft. +</P> + +<P> +That stunning success of the old warrior was greeted with a storm of +wild cheering from the crews of the <I>Noank</I> and the <I>Santa Teresa</I>, +while more than one woman's voice declared: "Praise God and all the +saints! Our prayers are heard!" +</P> + +<P> +The remark of Captain Velasquez was more seamanlike than religious. +</P> + +<P> +"Santo Domingo!" he exclaimed. "That cripples them! The villains can +come no nearer. They are at the mercy of that American. God bless +her! Why does she not use her broadside guns?" +</P> + +<P> +She was not quite ready yet. It was better to ply her long eighteen +and keep well away from any harm to her hull or rigging by the +short-range pieces of the <I>Leon</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Give it to 'em!" said Captain Avery to Up-na-tan. "Make every shot +tell. Now for it, men! Ready with the port broadside! A minute more! +Don't miss, for your lives!" +</P> + +<P> +The swift rush onward of the schooner brought her near enough, even +while he was giving his orders, and her six-pounders were worked by +very good marine marksmen. The pirates were helpless, and the +broadside of the <I>Noank</I> ploughed among them with deadly effect. A +second quickly followed, and still she was drawing nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"No surrender!" shouted the pirate captain. "We'll put the Spaniard +between us and the American. We must board her! That'll stop their +firing. Give it to her!" +</P> + +<P> +There was something like good seamanship in his proposition if he could +have carried it out, but Sam Prentice was at the helm of the <I>Noank</I>, +and he instantly detected the intended manoeuvre. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam!" shouted Captain Avery, as his schooner began to change her +course. "Port your helm! Keep her well away! Carry her out o' range! +Don't let 'em knock a splinter out of us!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Lyme," responded Sam. "But let's rake 'em. They're losin' +steerage way with all that wreckage draggin'. The redskin has hulled +'em ag'in. Let's cross their bows." +</P> + +<P> +"Go ahead! I'm agreed!" called back the captain. "Not too near, +though." +</P> + +<P> +His careful keeping away was to have an important consequence that he +did not think of. All was confusion on board the <I>Leon</I>, after those +broadsides came. Her crew were frantically striving to cut loose the +towing wreckage and bring their craft once more to the wind, while, as +fast as Up-na-tan and his fellow-gunners could load and fire, the +destruction was increasing. +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" screeched the pirate captain, in reply to one of his +crew. "We are sinking, are we? Boats! To the boats! They shall +never take us alive. Boats, and board the Spaniard!" +</P> + +<P> +Capture meant only death without mercy, as all of them knew, and some +of the cooler miscreants had already begun to get ready the boats. Of +these there were four, and the largest of them had been hanging at the +davits, ready for lowering. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam," said Captain Avery, soberly, "not one of those fellows must git +away. Mercy to them is cruelty to everybody else. If I spare a +pirate, I'll feel as if I was murderin' the next man or woman he puts a +knife into." +</P> + +<P> +"That's about the way I feel," said Sam; "but I ain't an executioner." +</P> + +<P> +The Spaniards themselves had been doing something with the guns of the +<I>Santa Teresa</I>, such as they were, old-fashioned, clumsily mounted, +short-range, light pieces. Only a few of her crew and none of her +passengers had been killed or wounded. There had been no report of +them made in the general excitement and despondency. +</P> + +<P> +It was almost too soon for any enthusiastic rejoicing, for hardly any +one felt sure of deliverance. It was almost as if the wonderful Yankee +privateer had fallen from the skies. She and her operations were +calling forth tremendous admiration, however, and there was plenty of +genuine piety in the fervent thanksgivings that were uttered. +</P> + +<P> +"Stop firing!" commanded Captain Avery, less than a quarter of an hour +later. "That black flag feller is careenin'! She's fillin'! I +declare, she must ha' been a mere shell. The <I>Noank's</I> timbers'd ha' +stood a heavier poundin' than that." +</P> + +<P> +"It was pretty heavy pounding, Lyme," replied Sam Prentice. "Our +timbers are good, but we don't care to be struck at short range. Not +by heavy shot, anyhow. You see, that redskin jest plugged her every +time. Some of his hits must ha' gone clean through." +</P> + +<P> +"Used her up, anyhow," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," said Up-na-tan to his pupil in the science of gunnery, "good! +Boy aim twice. No miss. Boy make good gunner some day." +</P> + +<P> +It was just so. The Manhattan had indulgently promised Guert to do +some actual battle practice, and had made him as proud as a peacock. +It was true that he had fired under close supervision and direction, +but it had been a valuable teaching, and Guert almost believed that he +could have done it all alone—with the right kind of men to handle the +pivot-gun for him. +</P> + +<P> +"Boy good eye," said Up-na-tan. "Hold hand steady. Hit mark. Ugh!" +</P> + +<P> +Over, over, over, rapidly leaned the shattered hull of the <I>Leon</I>, the +water pouring into her through the gaps in her starboard side. Down +from her had dropped boat after boat, to be crowded with her surviving +wolves, no effort being made by them to save any of their wounded +companions. She had now drifted into pretty close neighborhood with +the <I>Santa Teresa</I>, and a wild shout went up as the boats pulled away. +</P> + +<P> +"Board the Spaniard!" cried her captain. +</P> + +<P> +It was the last resource of utter desperation, and they might even now +have succeeded in gaining possession of the <I>Santa Teresa</I> if she had +been unassisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Stand by your guns, men!" shouted Captain Velasquez. "Let them have +it as they come!" +</P> + +<P> +"Steady about," said Captain Avery to the steersman of the <I>Noank</I>, "we +must take care o' those boats. Oh! how I wish we were nearer! Give it +to 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from his gunners, "but the Spaniard's in the +way. As soon as we clear her—" +</P> + +<P> +"Down with the mainsail! Haul on that jib! Port! Here we come!" +</P> + +<P> +It was not round shot this time. The long sixes had been glutted with +grape-shot, and so had the pivot-gun. The Spanish cannon, hastily +fired by excited men, had done some execution, but not one of the +buccaneer boats had been disabled. The foremost of them was within ten +fathoms of the <I>Santa Teresa</I>, and the swarm of murderers would have +been over her bulwarks in another minute, when past her port quarter +swept the Yankee privateer. +</P> + +<P> +Bang, bang, bang, as fast as they were brought to bear, spoke out her +three guns of that broadside, and Up-na-tan's eighteen-pounder. Then +she seemed to come about like a top, somewhat increasing her distance. +Three more successive reports, and then where were the picaroons? +Muskets and pistols were hurling lead among them from the deck of the +Spanish trader. A shot from one of her guns had knocked out the stern +of the largest boat. All that, however, had been of small account +compared to the effect of that tempest of grapeshot. The boat crews +withered away before it, and two of the boats themselves were upset in +the panic that followed, while the fourth was evidently sinking. Black +heads dotted the water, and a shriek from one of them brought a sharp, +quick exclamation from Coco. +</P> + +<P> +"Shark! Shark!" he yelled. "See back fin! Twenty of 'em! See 'em! +Shark take 'em all!" +</P> + +<P> +"Father," exclaimed Vine Avery, "that's awful! Can't we save some of +them?" +</P> + +<P> +"Too late!" said the captain. "Not a man, I'm afraid. Jest look how +they're goin' down! It's a reg'lar school o' sharks. They're bitin' +fast. We'll go about, though, and we'll pick up any that are left." +</P> + +<P> +The Spaniards continued firing while their American friends sped on and +came back on the other tack. Every boat had now been upset or +shattered and the sharks were having their own way with the picaroons. +</P> + +<P> +"Here comes one of 'em, Captain Avery," said Guert. "I'll try and save +him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Throw him a rope," said the captain; and Guert quickly had the help of +Vine and another sailor. +</P> + +<P> +"Quick!" said Guert. "Don't let the sharks get him. I'd give anything +to save a man from them!" +</P> + +<P> +"He's caught the rope," replied Vine. "Haul him in! We've got him." +</P> + +<P> +Close behind him, or rather under him, as he came dripping over the +rail, was a huge pair of snapping jaws that barely missed him. He +fell, at first, and then his rescuers themselves were astonished. He +did not say a word to them, but dropped at once upon his knees, and +began to pour out thanks to the Virgin Mary, like a good Catholic. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-172"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-172.jpg" ALT="A NARROW ESCAPE. "As he came over the rail, a huge pair of jaws barely missed him." BORDER="2"> +<P CLASS="capcenter"> +A NARROW ESCAPE.<BR> +"As he came over the rail, a huge pair of jaws barely missed him. +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Let him," said Sam Prentice. "Some o' these cutthroats are awful +pious." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Guert, "but he is praying in Dutch, and he mixes it up with +English. I can't tell what he is." +</P> + +<P> +"There she goes!" shouted a dozen voices at that moment, and all turned +to look. +</P> + +<P> +It was only a last lurch and a plunge, and all that was left of the +pirate <I>Leon</I> sank forever out of sight. The heads of her crew had +also disappeared from the surface of the water, and the career of one +of the terrors of the sea was ended. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BLACK TRANSPORT. +</H4> + +<P> +"You don't mean to say it's all over!" exclaimed Guert, staring at the +place from which the pirate schooner had vanished. "Seems to me it +doesn't take long to fight a battle at sea." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, it does," said one of the older sailors, "if there's chasin' and +manoeuvrin' and long range firin'. I've been in some that took all day +and the next day, too. But we were too heavy guns for that feller." +</P> + +<P> +"It's awful!" remarked Vine Avery, very thoughtfully. "I was trying to +make out if we could have saved any more of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the captain, "I don't see how we could, considerin' where we +were and the time it took us to come about. They grappled each other +in the water, too." +</P> + +<P> +"The fact is, boys," said Sam Prentice, "the savin' o' those fellers +wouldn't ha' been of any use, anyhow. Spanish law isn't as slow and +careful as ours is. It wouldn't ha' called for any trial by a court, +you know. The nearest army or navy commander of any consequence would +ha' taken hold of 'em. They'd all ha' been shot within a day after he +seized 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Leastwise," said Vine, "'twasn't any fault of ours. I'm glad Guert +made out to haul in one of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Guert had turned somewhat quickly away, while they were speaking, for +his rescued man had been allowed to come and speak with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" said the captain. "They are talkin' Dutch. That's it! +Guert's a New Yorker. He learned it at home." +</P> + +<P> +"What sort is he, Guert?" asked the mate. +</P> + +<P> +"He isn't any pirate, at all," eagerly responded Guert. "He's a +Hollander that was on a ship they took. One of 'em knew him and saved +him, and they 'pressed him in. He had to make believe he was one of +'em, but he never was." +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty good story," said Captain Avery. "Maybe it's true. There's +enough of 'em killed. We'll take care of him." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would," said Guert. "Seems to me the right man got away." +</P> + +<P> +"Not all of 'em," said the man himself in English that had very little +foreign accent. "There were three more a good deal like me. Some o' +the black men weren't reg'lar pirates. All the rest of 'em, though, +belonged to the sharks. It was one o' the worst crews that ever +floated. My name's Groot. I'm from Amsterdam, but I was brought up +mostly in Liverpool. Sailed on British craft and French, too. I'm a +true man, Captain Avery!" +</P> + +<P> +The captain was willing to believe it, if he could, and he questioned +him closely, all the crew of the <I>Noank</I> agreeing among themselves that +Groot was their prize, anyhow, and ought not to be turned over to any +Spanish authority. +</P> + +<P> +All the while, the rescued <I>Santa Teresa</I> was drifting nearer, her +bulwarks lined with eager people of all sorts, who were gazing +gratefully at what seemed to them the very beautiful American schooner. +She had arrived just in time to save them, and they had never before +seen a ship that they were so pleased with. Loud hails were exchanged, +and then followed, from the Spanish ship, a perfect storm of thanks. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," said Captain Avery, "I'm goin' aboard of her. You may come +along. You may find some more Dutchmen. I can talk Spanish and +French. I want to know just what shape they're in." +</P> + +<P> +A boat was already lowered, and in a few minutes they were on the deck +of the <I>Santa Teresa</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Women and children!" was Guert's first thought and exclamation. "To +think of all of them being murdered! I don't feel half so sorry as I +did about the pirates. I wish mother could see just what we've been +saving from 'em. I guess it's perfectly right to shoot straight, +sometimes. Glad I didn't miss once!" +</P> + +<P> +All his shudders of regret and of horror over the work of the sharks +passed away from him as those passengers crowded around him. There +were four more <I>Noank</I> sailors, but the Spanish crew had captured them. +The two captains were talking business, therefore Guert was taken in +hand by the women and young people. One short, fat señora, who came at +him first, had long, white hair tumbling down over her shoulders. She +hugged him and kissed him, and cried and laughed, and she +pointed—saying a great deal in Spanish—at a woman who was throwing +her arms around a pretty pair of children. It was easy for Guert to +understand that the old woman was thanking God and the Americans for +the lives of her daughter and her grandchildren. +</P> + +<P> +Other women did not altogether follow her example, for Guert showed a +little bashfulness, there were so many of them; but he shook hands +quite freely with the boys and girls. The Spanish youngsters showed +him their weapons, too, trying to tell him how ready they had been to +fight the buccaneers. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't a long run from this to Porto Rico," he heard Captain Avery +say. "We'll see you safe in. We didn't lose a man." +</P> + +<P> +"We lost five," replied the Spanish commander. "The sharks would have +had all of us, instead of all of them, but for you. God bless you! We +will patch up and spread all the canvas we can." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment a friendly hand was laid upon Guert's arm, drawing him +away from his women friends. Señor Alvarez held him hard for a breath +or two, as if he were trying to speak and had lost his voice. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," he then exclaimed, "you came in time! This is my wife, +Señora Laura Alvarez. These are my boy and girl. This is my wife's +mother, Señora Paez. They told me that you fired that blessed long +gun, yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Up-na-tan, the Indian chief, and I fired it," said Guert. "I'm a +beginner." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand," said the Spaniard. "You are a young cadet studying +navigation. You must come home with me and study a Porto Rico +plantation house. You must be my guest. We will treat you like a +king." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be ever so glad, if Captain Avery'll let me," answered Guert. +"He says we're likely to be in port quite a while. I'll ask him." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Avery was near enough to hear, and he replied for himself. +"It's all right, Guert," he said. "You may go. I want you to, even if +we sail and come back while you're ashore. You see, my boy, you know a +little Spanish now. Here's a chance for you to get ahead so you can +begin to speak and read it. Every American sea-captain ought to know +Spanish." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir, I'd like it first-rate," said Guert; "but I wouldn't like to +have the <I>Noank</I> sail without me on board." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll see 'bout that," replied the captain. "You'll obey orders, +anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess I'll have to," almost grumbled Guert, as he was compelled to +get away from his friends and hasten back in the boat to the schooner; +"but I didn't come to loaf on shore. I'd rather be a gunner." +</P> + +<P> +There was a great deal of talk and excitement upon both vessels, but +things were rapidly getting back into order. The sails were spread, +and both were quickly in motion. The wind was fair, and night was +coming on. As for the <I>Noank</I>, in particular, all that she had done +for either pirates or Spaniards could not diminish the necessity she +was under for keeping up a sharp lookout for anything sailing under the +British flag. That banner might be fluttering nearer at any hour, and +it might be upon a "sugar-boat," or it might be streaming out from the +dangerous rigging of a cruiser. +</P> + +<P> +Once the schooner was under way, Guert found himself more at liberty +than usual, for all kinds of his sea schooling were given a vacation. +His head was even more full than ordinary, however, and he had an +especial reason for getting away with Sam Prentice during their next +watch on deck. He had several times heard the mate talk about pirates. +He had also heard something about them from Up-na-tan and Coco and the +crew. Until now, however, all that he had heard at any time had been +listened to as if it were unreal. He had never read a novel, and so he +did not know that all of it had seemed to him a kind of pretty, +interesting story of fiction, and not anything more. It was very +different, now that he had seen a black flag and sent a heavy shot into +the hull under it, and had watched while that hull went down. +</P> + +<P> +"About the buccaneers, eh?" said Sam, as they leaned over the +quarter-rail and looked out into the darkness. "Well! I s'pose there +are books about 'em. You can learn a good deal from books, but I don't +know any that'll tell you all there is 'bout those islands. There's +too many of 'em, hundreds, mebbe, with outlyin' reefs and ledges. Then +there are any number o' bays and inlets and lagoons. That's why it's +so hard to follow up and ketch light draft pirate vessels. They can +hide in a thousand out o' the way places until they git ready to run +out and make a strike. One o' their biggest helps is the caves on some +o' the islands. Safest kind o' places for men to hide plunder in, too. +Some of 'em open right down at the water line, and some of 'em have +deep water for quite a way in from the mouth. You can row a boat right +on in at high tide, or even at low water, I've heard tell. Big +cruisers ain't of any use 'mong the shoals and ledges and lagoons. +Somehow the governments have been too busy 'bout other matters to build +and arm the right pattern o' gunboats. That there picaroon that we +sunk to-day was as large a craft as I ever heard o' their usin'. +Oftener, they go out in canoes and rowboats and sailboats, and make +surprises in light winds or calms, or in the night. All the shore +people are afraid to tell on 'em, and they're good friends with the +Caribs and the slaves. Of course, they've got to be all rooted out, +some day, but it's goin' to be a tough job, I tell ye." +</P> + +<P> +Many more things he had to tell, as Guert questioned him. Before he +got through, it almost seemed as if all the nations of the world had +once been pirates, of one kind or another, each nation thinking it +right to capture ships of other nations on sight, if opportunity made +it safe to do so. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what," said Guert, at last, "I want to read books! I never +had a chance at 'em. Rachel Tarns lent me a few, long ago, when we +were at home in New York, before the British came. The war drove us +out, you know, and we can't guess when we're to get back. I want to +read." +</P> + +<P> +"Now!" exclaimed the mate, "I've thought of one thing. You'll be at +the Velasquez plantation. Mebbe for some time. They'll have heaps o' +books. It'll help you learn Spanish if you'll try and read anything +you find there. Learn all you can, wherever you happen to be." +</P> + +<P> +"I just will!" said Guert. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Prentice, "I'm goin' below. Some time to-morrer, if the +wind holds good, we'll be in Porto Rico. Then you'll see something +new." +</P> + +<P> +Guert also had to go below and turn in, but it was not easy to sleep +with his head so full, even after so very fatiguing a day. He was +lying awake, therefore, long afterward, when he was startled by sounds +on deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" he exclaimed. "Something's happened! What if they should +have sighted a British man-o'-war? If there's going to be any more +fighting, I want to be at my gun!" +</P> + +<P> +He was getting to be a genuine sailor, therefore, and the cannon he was +stationed with had become a sort of pet and much as if it were his own +property. +</P> + +<P> +Not much careful dressing was called for after he sprung out of his +bunk, and then he was up on deck without waiting for orders. +</P> + +<P> +Not a great deal of noise had been made, after all, and most of the +weary crew were still keeping their watch below, as soundly asleep as +ever. Two pairs of ears, however, had been as keen as Guert's, and +here were Coco and Up-na-tan, already at the pivot-gun, prepared for +anything that might turn up. The moon was shining brightly and the +wind was fair. The sparkling, foaming sea looked beautiful, and all +was peace except upon the deck of the privateer. Away to leeward Guert +could dimly see a sail that he believed to be the <I>Santa Teresa</I>, and +at that moment a red ball rocket went up from her deck and burst, to +inform her American friends that she was doing well. +</P> + +<P> +"She's all right, then," Guert heard Captain Avery say to the man at +the wheel. "I wish I knew what this feller is to wind'ard. Up-na-tan, +be ready, there, with that gun. It looks to me like a brig o' some +sort. It might happen to be one o' these 'ere British ten-gun brigs. +I don't know, yet, whether or not one o' them 'd prove too much for us, +if we got in the first broadside." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Captain," said the steersman, "we can't very well get out of her +way, jest now. She has managed to come up to wind'ard of us, and she +can hold on, best we can do. It's our bad luck!" +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe it's her's," said the captain, grimly. "I won't call up the men +for a bit. If there's a hard fight a-comin', a rest won't hurt 'em. +It may be a Spanish coast-guard or a Frenchman. Everything down this +way isn't British. Up-na-tan, take this night-glass and see what you +can make of her." +</P> + +<P> +The Manhattan came at once for the telescope, but a sudden change had +come over the manners of Coco. It began with a curious kind of +sniffing, sniffing, like a pointer dog in the neighborhood of game. +Then he left his precious gun and glided to the rail, shaking his head +and chattering harsh words in a tongue which nobody who heard could +recognize. +</P> + +<P> +Guert went over to join him, and his first glance at the face of the +old African astonished him. It was absolutely convulsed with fury. +The black man's hands were clenched, his teeth were grinding, and his +eyes seemed to flash fire. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" asked Guert. "Can you see anything out there?" +</P> + +<P> +An angry screech, and then a guttural, wrathful war-cry, sprung from +the lips of Coco. +</P> + +<P> +At that moment Up-na-tan had been looking at the strange sail through +the telescope. +</P> + +<P> +"Brig," he had said. "All sail set. Big as the <I>Santa Teresa</I>. No +cruiser. No Englishman ever set a foresail like that." +</P> + +<P> +His implied compliment to the neatness of British seamanship was cut +short by the yell of Coco, and he instantly lowered his glass. +</P> + +<P> +"Whoo-oop!" he responded. "'Peak out! What Coco find?" +</P> + +<P> +"Slaver!" screeched the African. "Coco smell him! Where Up-na-tan +lose he nose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Slaver?" exclaimed Captain Avery. "Bless my soul! We've nothing to +do with men-stealers. I don't want any such prize as that, even if +it's an Englishman. I wouldn't take a slave cargo into port." +</P> + +<P> +"Nor I, either," said the steersman. "We're not in that trade." +</P> + +<P> +Nearer and nearer, now, the strange craft was drawing, from the +opposite tack. The men below had heard the yell of Coco and the +Manhattan's warwhoop, and were tumbling up on deck in search of +information. Their comments were various as they heard the remarkable +announcement. +</P> + +<P> +"Not a doubt of it, Lyme," said Sam Prentice to the captain, after a +whiff of the wind from the stranger. "They're slave thieves. I always +heard tell that a slave-ship could smell worse'n anything else. I say +we ought not to try to do anything with her. Let her go!" +</P> + +<P> +"Of course we will," said the captain; "but we'll speak her. Here she +comes." +</P> + +<P> +In a few minutes more the two ships were within hailing distance. +</P> + +<P> +"What brig's that?" asked Avery. +</P> + +<P> +"Slaver <I>Yara</I>, Captain Liscomb. Congo River to Cuba," came back with +all cheerfulness. "What schooner's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"American privateer, <I>Noank</I>, Captain Avery. We don't want you. How +many on board?" +</P> + +<P> +"We've only lost about a third of 'em on the passage," came jauntily +back from the <I>Yara</I>. "We shall land over two hundred good ones. +First-rate luck! Last trip we lost more'n half by getting stuck in a +calm. How's your luck? Are you taking anything worth while?" +</P> + +<P> +It was precisely as if a prosperous merchant, engaged in what he +considered an honorable, legitimate business, were exchanging trade +politeness with another merchant in a somewhat similar line. +</P> + +<P> +"We're not long out," replied Captain Avery. "We've done fairly well, +though. We sunk a West India picaroon to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you? That's a good thing to do. Glad you did," said the slaver, +heartily. "Those chaps annoy even us African traders. They stopped me +twice last year, and took away dozens of my best pieces, men and women. +The rascals said they were collecting their import duties. Sink 'em +all!" +</P> + +<P> +He was so near, by this time, that the bright moonlight gave them a +pretty good view of him. He did not seem to be by any means a +bad-looking fellow, and it was only too evident that he was either an +American or Englishman of good education. He asked for the latest news +politely, and then he declared concerning the existing difficulties +between King George Third and his American colonies:— +</P> + +<P> +"You chaps have more interest in that affair than I have. If you're +not all shot or hung, you'll make fortunes out of it, if it goes on +long enough. Privateering sometimes pays better than slaving. All you +need be afraid of, except the king's cruisers, is too sudden an end of +the war. That would ruin all your business at once. The war hasn't +hurt us, to speak of. Our market is as good as ever it was; we can +sell all we can bring over." +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Noank</I> was sweeping on and there could be no more exchange of news +or opinions with Captain Liscomb. +</P> + +<P> +He was evidently a man without the prejudices of other men. He could +see only the money side of the war for American independence, and he +took it for granted that a privateersman would look at it in precisely +that way. At least one of the crew of the <I>Noank</I> was not in agreement +with him, for Coco was as furious as ever. +</P> + +<P> +"Ole Coco stuck in slaver hold, once," he snarled tigerishly. "No +water. Iron on hand, on foot. Hot like oven. Most of 'em die. Some +go bline. Some get kill. Not many left. Sell Coco in Cuba. Whip +him. Burn him. Make him work hard. Ole brack man got away, though. +Big fire 'bout that time. Planter lose he house. Kidd men better'n +slaver men. All the same, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't that awful!" was all that Guert could think or say. +</P> + +<P> +"Boy fool!" growled Coco. "Captain Avery all wrong. He let 'em go. +Better take 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"What could he do with all those slaves if he took 'em?" asked Guert. +</P> + +<P> +"What he do with 'em?" replied Coco, with some surprise. "Drown +slaver, not brack fellers. Sell 'em all. Make pile o' money." +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't do that," said Guert. +</P> + +<P> +"Then go ashore in Cuba," persisted the old Ashantee. "Buy sugar +plantation. Have he slaves all for nothing. That's what Coco think. +He do it, quick. All African chief have plenty slave. Make 'em work, +kill 'em, do what he please." +</P> + +<P> +The fierce anger of the grim old African, therefore, had been aroused +by a memory of his own sufferings and not by any sentimental notions +concerning human rights. He saw no evil whatever in the mere owning of +slaves. Very much like him in that respect, to tell the truth, were +most of his Yankee friends. Slave-holding had not yet been abolished +in the northern American colonies any more than in the southern. The +great movement for the abolition of all property in human beings came a +long time afterward. Nevertheless, even then, a strong odium was +beginning to attach to the business of catching black men for the +market, and the cause of this feeling was mainly the cruel and wasteful +manner in which the business was carried on. The gathering of slaves +in Africa for export purposes was understood to be exceedingly +murderous, and too many of the captives died on shipboard from +barbarous ill-treatment. +</P> + +<P> +Away had swung the badly smelling <I>Yara</I> upon her intended course. Her +polite captain had bowed as she did so, his last farewell expressing +his wish that his privateer acquaintances might have good luck and make +money. If he were indeed an Englishman, he had no narrow, national +feeling concerning business matters. +</P> + +<P> +"Sam Prentice!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "I was glad to be rid of 'em. +They're only another kind of pirate, anyhow. I believe that feller'd +send up the black flag any day, if it was safe,—and if he could make +money by it." +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme," replied his mate, "don't you know that slave catchers do fly +the skull and bones every now and then, in the far seas? They're none +too good to scuttle a ship and make her crew walk the plank." +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard so," said the captain, "but we hadn't any duty to do by +'em, jest now. What we want to do is to sight a British flag on a +craft that doesn't carry too many guns for us. Port your helm, there!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD. +</H4> + +<P> +"So! You report that you were chased by some enemy? I've read +it—I've read the commodore's letter. What were you chased by, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can't be sure what they were, sir. I took them for privateers. The +first of 'em gave me a shot my fourth day out. Another followed me +three days later. Peppered at me for an hour at long range. Both +times I escaped 'em in the night." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you did! I think the commodore is right about you, sir. +Take your own course, always. Be ready to take the <I>Termagant</I> across +again as soon as she's loaded." +</P> + +<P> +"Repairs, sir," said Captain Watts, for the dignified officer before +whom he stood was the port admiral in command of the British port of +Liverpool. "Foremast sprung, sir. She wants a new maintopmast. +She'll need all her spars, or I'm mistaken. If I'm to be in her she'll +use her canvas, sir. I've no fancy for falling again into the clutches +of the rebels." +</P> + +<P> +"They might hang you this time, eh?" said the admiral, pleasantly, as +if that were a bit of a joke. "They might, indeed. Send in your +requisitions; you shall have your repairs. I'll order them at once. +Now, sir, is there anything else?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir," said Watts; "I wish to report what I heard concerning rebel +privateers and new provincial cruisers. That is, it may all be already +reported." +</P> + +<P> +"Heave ahead!" interrupted the admiral. "Tell what you've heard. Your +news is as likely to be correct as any other. Go on, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"It's the old story o' the rats and the cheese, sir," said Luke. "The +bigger the cheese, the more the rats. Our trade's the fat they mean to +cut into, sir. I heard o' rebel privateers fittin' out all along the +New England coast. They told me o' some in North Carolina, out o' the +Neuse River. Some from Virginny, up the Potomac and the James. Some +down in South Carolina and Georgia; but I can't say but what as bad as +any are comin' out o' the Chesapeake and the Delaware. What we're +goin' to need is more light cruisers off the Irish coast, sir, and in +the channels." +</P> + +<P> +"Ha, ha!" laughed the great official. "The Yankee pirates'll never +show themselves on this coast. Go now; we can pick 'em up as fast as +they come." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Luke Watts had kept his word to the British authorities. He +had piloted the <I>Termagant</I> safely into her harbor. He was, therefore, +above and beyond any possible suspicions as to his loyalty. There was +nothing to prevent him from delivering, not only his packages of +valuable furs, but also any other parcels which he had brought with him +from America. +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" he said to himself, as he swung out of the port admiral's +office. "They'll know better one o' these days. I'm glad to be told, +though, that they mean to remain off their guard till they're waked up. +I wish they'd send a few more o' their best ships somewhere else. +Captain Lyme Avery and a lot more like him are coming this way pretty +soon." +</P> + +<P> +He was only halfway correct in that assertion, for Captain Avery and +the <I>Noank</I> were not just then in shape to sail for England. After +their noteworthy adventures with pirates and slavers, there had been +many hours of plain sailing, in company with the rescued <I>Santa +Teresa</I>. The second morning was well advanced when the two vessels +found themselves only a mile or so outside of the ample harbor of Porto +Rico. They had also tacked within speaking distance of each other. +</P> + +<P> +"Señor Avery," sang out Captain Velasquez, "I have the honor to make a +friendly suggestion." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm ready, thank you, señor," said Captain Avery. "What is it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Let the <I>Santa Teresa</I> go ahead and look in. I'll send a boat back +with a Carib pilot. There might be a British cruiser in port." +</P> + +<P> +"That's the very thing I was thinkin' of," said the captain of the +<I>Noank</I>. "A thousand thanks, señor. We'll heave to." +</P> + +<P> +Very little more needed to be said. There were other sails in sight, +of various sorts and sizes, but not one of them carried the red-cross +flag of England. +</P> + +<P> +As for the <I>Noank</I>, all her ports were closed, there was a tarpaulin +over her pivot-gun, and she was a peaceable appearing merchant +schooner. Even the bunting at her masthead was a fraud, for it +declared of her that she came from France, and was not to be molested +without proper authority. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a kind of lie!" muttered Guert Ten Eyck. "They say all is fair +in war, but I don't want to run up anything but an American flag. I +don't half like to go ashore, either." +</P> + +<P> +Nobody else on board, perhaps, was in sympathy with that part of his +prejudices, but then his "going ashore" might mean a longer stay than +that of any other sailor. The more he thought of it, the less he liked +it. +</P> + +<P> +"Father," said Vine Avery, after hearing the Spanish captain, "let +Guert and me take a boat now, and pull in behind 'em. If we see any +danger, we can streak it back at once." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" said the captain. "Take the small cutter and Coco and the +Indian. They speak Spanish." +</P> + +<P> +Off went Vine, and in a few minutes more a small and sharp-nosed boat +manned by four rowers was dancing along into the harbor mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Splendid!" exclaimed Guert, staring this way and that way, landward, +as he pulled. "This all beats anything I ever heard of it. Hullo!" +</P> + +<P> +"Lobster!" growled Coco. +</P> + +<P> +"One, two, three, four sugar-boat," came from Up-na-tan. "<I>Noank</I> get +some of 'em. Big frigate no good." +</P> + +<P> +That may have been his opinion, but she looked as if she would be of +some account in a naval combat, that splendid British frigate, so taut +and trim, lying there at her anchor. The sails now furled along her +yards could be opened quickly enough, and there would then be no other +ship of her size, of any other nation on earth, that she need fear to +meet. +</P> + +<P> +"Forty guns," said Up-na-tan. "Knock hole in <I>Noank</I>. Wait, now. See +what ole Spaniard do." +</P> + +<P> +"It looks kind o' rugged for us," thought Guert. "We can't run into +port at all. If we did we'd never get out again." +</P> + +<P> +The captain of the <I>Santa Teresa</I> was keeping his promise. His ship +was taking in sail, and a well-manned boat was lowering from her side. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they come," said Guert. "We'll know more when they get here." +</P> + +<P> +"No," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief see frigate himself. Know what do. +All Cap'n Avery want is Carib pilot. Tell him where go. Up-na-tan +know Cuba lagoons, not Porto Rico. So Coco." +</P> + +<P> +On came the Spanish boat, and as it drew nearer they could recognize +Captain Velasquez himself in the stern-sheets, ready to answer their +hail. +</P> + +<P> +"Señor," he said to Vine Avery, "there is one more British cruiser, +farther in. Pedro, here, will go back with you and pilot your schooner +to a safe mooring, up the coast. Only friends will come to see you +there. You may watch for a green flag on the shore, or a green light +after dark." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, señor," said Vine. "All right. Let him come aboard." +</P> + +<P> +Lightly as a panther, with wonderful quickness of motion, a short, +slight, dark-faced fellow sprang over into the cutter. +</P> + +<P> +"Me Pedro," he said. "Fight for Americano. Save he troat from +picaroon." +</P> + +<P> +The Carib, therefore, could make himself understood in English, and he +was eager to express his personal gratitude for his rescue from pirates +and sharks. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, señor," said Captain Velasquez, "we will run in and make our +report. After that is done, you may rely upon all that our authorities +can do for you. You will find that Spaniards can be grateful. Señora +Alvarez and Señora Paez wish me to say that their young friend must +soon be at their house." +</P> + +<P> +Guert expressed his thanks and willingness a little lamely, and the +uppermost thought in his mind was:— +</P> + +<P> +"There! I hardly know what I said. I'll pick up every Spanish word I +can get hold of, while I'm among 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Pull back hard!" said Up-na-tan. "Vine lose no time. Ole chief see +men jump around on frigate. See go to capstan. Come out soon." +</P> + +<P> +He had a red man's eye for signs, and nothing escaped him. None of his +companions, not even Coco, had noticed the fact that a number of +British sailors were going aloft, or that there were men gathering at +the frigate's capstan as if they had designs upon the anchor. +</P> + +<P> +A very different kind of man, as sharp in some respects as the +Manhattan himself, had all that while been taking observations through +a good telescope. He was in a somewhat weather-beaten uniform of a +British first lieutenant, and he stood on the quarter-deck of the +<I>Tigress</I>, reporting to his captain:— +</P> + +<P> +"Small boat, sir, from outside the harbor. Yankee-built cutter. Two +American sailors, I take 'em to be. One nigger. One mulatto, I'd say. +Now they are meeting a boat from the Spanish trader that's coming in. +Of course, sir, there's a rebel craft o' some sort somewhere outside, +waiting to know if it's safe to come in." +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Mackenzie," replied the captain of the <I>Tigress</I>. "We must +catch her. Up anchor!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir," said Mackenzie, "but no canvas out till that Yankee +scout-boat gets away. They needn't suspect we're after em." +</P> + +<P> +"Trust your head, my boy," replied his bluff commander. "You're a +sea-fox, my dear fellow, but you won't steal a march on any Yankee, +right away. They're as cunning as Mohawks. Speak that Spaniard, if +she comes within hail." +</P> + +<P> +That was precisely what the captain of the <I>Santa Teresa</I> had decided +not to do, if he could help it. The moment he was again on board of +his own ship, he took the helm himself, and he made as wide a sheer +easterly as he could. Owing to the channel and the position of the +<I>Tigress</I>, however, the best he could do was to escape miscellaneous +conversation. He could not quite avoid coming within speaking-trumpet +range. The hoarse hail of the British lieutenant reached him clearly +enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy! What ship's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Santa Teresa</I>. Barcelona to Porto Rico. Passengers and cargo. What +ship's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"His Britannic Majesty's <I>Tigress</I>, Captain Frobisher," replied +Mackenzie. "You've seen rough weather, eh? One o' your sticks gone?" +</P> + +<P> +"Knocked out," returned Velasquez. "We were mauled by a buccaneer. We +got away from him." +</P> + +<P> +"Where did you leave the American?" was the lieutenant's next question, +made as confidently as if he had actually seen the <I>Noank</I>. "What is +she, anyhow?" +</P> + +<P> +The Spanish captain was silent for a moment in utter astonishment. How +could the Englishman have known anything about it? His very surprise, +however, defeated his prudence, and he answered:— +</P> + +<P> +"Heavy schooner, bound in. She won't try it, now you are here." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," came cheerily back; "I saw you send her a pilot. I'll +report you." +</P> + +<P> +"Caramba!" shouted Velasquez, in sudden anger. "Report! I hope your +American rebels will beat you on land and sea! They have my good will, +with all my heart!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, I declare!" exclaimed the British officer, lowering his +glass. "I might have known it. It's the old grudge between England +and Spain. No wonder the Yankees get away from us as they do. All the +American colonies are in league together against all Europe. We'll +hunt down that Yankee schooner, though, in spite of 'em. Humph! To be +snubbed in this way by the skipper of a Barcelona trader! I'll report +him! What's the world coming to!" +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Santa Teresa</I>, under very light canvas, was now making her slow +way to her wharf, to which her arrival signals had already summoned a +growing throng of expectant people. Among these, of course, were the +mercantile men who were interested in the ship and her cargo, and many +more were the friends and relatives of her crew and passengers. +Besides these, there were naval, military, and custom-house officials, +and persons who were eager for the latest news from Europe. +</P> + +<P> +As the <I>Santa Teresa</I> floated nearer, hats and handkerchiefs began to +wave on board and on the shore. The first words that were sent +landward, however, were in the tremendously excited treble of old +Señora Paez. +</P> + +<P> +"Praise God!" she called out. "Praise to Our Lady! We were rescued +from the pirates! We were saved from death by an American privateer! +God bless the Americans and give them their freedom!" +</P> + +<P> +Little she knew and less she cared that her enthusiastic utterances +were heard by loyal subjects of the king of England. Hardly a cable's +length away was anchored a stout corvette of twenty-eight guns, whose +officers and men, up to that moment, had been observing the new arrival +quite listlessly. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly, now, there began a stir on board of her, and a boat prepared +to put off to the <I>Santa Teresa</I> upon an errand of inquiry. Before it +could be lowered, however, the corvette herself was hailed by a boat +from the <I>Tigress</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Up anchor, is it? Yankee trader outside?" was half angrily thrown +back at that boat's message. "Ay, ay! we're coming. You may tell +Captain Frobisher it isn't any trader. It's one of those Connecticut +pirates. We've learned that right here.—All hands away! Up anchor, +lieutenant! That old woman has told us what we're going to do." +</P> + +<P> +Swiftly indeed the questions and answers were exchanging between the +crowded wharf and the thrilling news-bringers on the <I>Santa Teresa</I>. +Loud and repeated were the cheers for <I>los Americanos</I> and their plucky +little cruiser. The British consul at Porto Rico was one of the +listeners, and he muttered discontentedly:— +</P> + +<P> +"The rebels will get all the help and information they need. Not an +English merchant keel in port or due here would be safe if it weren't +for the <I>Tigress</I> and the <I>Hermione</I>. Think of it! Six cargoes ready +to go out, and they'll all have to run the Yankee gantlet. There may +be more than one privateer, you know." +</P> + +<P> +Straight to the wharf steered the <I>Santa Teresa</I>. No sooner was her +gang-plank out than her passengers poured over it to be welcomed after +the exuberant Spanish fashion. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Tigress</I>, away out at the harbor mouth, was already under way, and +the <I>Hermione</I> would soon follow her. There was a change in the state +of feeling on board the frigate, however, after the return of the boat +from the corvette. +</P> + +<P> +"A privateer, they say?" said Captain Frobisher. "That's bad. She +beat off a pirate for the Spaniard? What do you make of that, +Mackenzie?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy to read, sir," replied his foxy second in command. "It's as +plain as print. The Americans are wiser than we are. They know enough +to carry heavy guns. Not many of 'em, I take it, but altogether too +much metal for any of these murderous picaroons." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad they were, my boy," said the captain, heartily. "I hope they +sent the devils to the bottom. I'm afraid we're to have trouble with +those fellows, my boy. They can't face our cruisers, to be sure, but +they may play havoc with our merchant marine. The admiralty must take +severe measures with some of them." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll try and do that ourselves with this one out yonder," said the +lieutenant, but his duties called him away, and he did not explain +precisely what was in his angry mind concerning the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +That very saucy little man-of-war was not trying to look any further +into the guarded harbor of Porto Rico. Vine Avery and his crew had +returned with their report of danger. They also reported whatever they +had learned of the British merchant craft, and Captain Avery had, +therefore, several things to think of. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Pedro," he said to the Carib pilot, "what next?" +</P> + +<P> +"Run into lagoon to-night," said Pedro. "<I>Noank</I> get through inlet at +low water. British ship stick on bar. Schooner come out again when +captain say ready. Safe!" +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that," said the captain, thoughtfully. "Our draft will +let us in. Almost any British man-o'-war would draw too much." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" replied the Carib; "captain wrong. High water on bar, deep +enough for small corvette. All right. British no find channel, Deep +water inside reef." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, is it?" said the captain. "Then the sooner we are through +that channel, the better. All sail on, Sam. Let her go!" +</P> + +<P> +The crew had already crowded around Guert Ten Eyck and his friends to +hear what they had to tell. There did not seem to be anything like +disappointment among them. They had expected to hear of British +cruisers here away. They had known, all along, that only by sharp and +daring work could they hope to find or capture their intended prizes. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think, Sam?" asked the captain, as soon as the <I>Noank</I> was +once more flying along. "Doesn't this begin to look a little squally?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well, no," said the mate, soberly. "It looks like we'd best lie low +for a while, that's all. What I'm thinkin' of is this. What if this +Carib's lagoon and the channel into it are known to the British, or if +they should be discovered while we're cooped up in there? They'd be +sure to come in after us in boats. Most likely they'd come at night. +We must make calculations on that." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what we can do," growled the captain. "A boat attack'd stand +for hard fightin'. I ain't so sure the chances would be against us. +I'll tell you what, Sam Prentice, all that's left of a gang o' boats +won't be enough to board and carry the <I>Noank</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Not if we're watchin'," said Sam. +</P> + +<P> +"We won't stay in any longer'n we can help," said the captain. "I'm +hopin' we are to get the right kind of information from the Spaniards." +</P> + +<P> +"Not from their authorities," grimly responded the mate. "They won't +do anything to make trouble between them and the British. Porto Rico +is buildin' up a prime Liverpool trade just now." +</P> + +<P> +"Sam!" exclaimed his friend, "you don't know human natur'! After a +Porto Rico planter has been paid for his sugar, he doesn't care a +copper what harbor it goes to. Besides, I'll bet on the <I>Santa Teresa</I> +people. I took 'em for the right kind all 'round." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad they're safe, anyhow," said Prentice. "That puts me in mind +of another thing, Lyme. I kind o' like it that we're not to run into +Porto Rico first thing. The Spanish lawyers might put in a claim on +Groot and get him shot or hung. I've talked with him. He isn't a bad +sort of Dutchman." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take care of him," said the captain. "Only man we saved. Prime +good seaman. He'll be one more first-rate fighter, too, when we need +him." +</P> + +<P> +So the <I>Noank</I> sped on, and the two British men-of-war came sailing out +of the harbor to chase her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A PRIZE FOR THE NOANK. +</H4> + +<P> +"It doesn't take long to see all there is on one of these plantations," +said Guert Ten Eyck to himself. "It's the laziest kind of place, +though. I haven't seen a man in a hurry since I came here." +</P> + +<P> +He was standing in a wide veranda which ran along the entire front, at +least, of a long, two-story, fairly well-built house. There were +well-kept gardens, with noble trees and shrubbery, and all the veranda +was shadowy with climbing vines. It was the old Paez plantation house, +and was also the present home of Señor Alvarez and his family. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all very fine," Guert had remarked of it. "They're as rich as +mud, but I wouldn't live here for anything. What if the <I>Noank</I> should +manage to get away without me on board of her?" +</P> + +<P> +That was a black idea which seemed almost to make him shudder. He had +remained here as a favored guest for over a fortnight. During these +days of his Spanish plantation experiences, the <I>Noank</I> had been idly +rocking at her anchor in the sheltered cove to which her Carib pilot +had steered her. +</P> + +<P> +The two British war-ships had been cruising to and fro in a fruitless +search for her, and their commanders were more than a little chagrined +at their ill success, for they were firmly convinced that she could not +be far away. +</P> + +<P> +Guert had visited the shore, and his friends, in turn, had visited him, +to be also liberally entertained at the plantation. Nothing but the +great need for secrecy had prevented more extended inland hospitalities +to the brave <I>Americanos</I> who had destroyed the picaroon. The highest +authorities on the island were quite ready to acknowledge so important +a public service, and no Spaniard, official or otherwise, was at all +likely to help the British capture the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Guert had been promised information of any change in the prospect for +cruising. He had learned, too, that this kind of lying in ambush was +altogether a customary feature of all piracy or privateering among the +Antilles. Captain Avery had expected it, and had considered himself +fortunate in getting so good a lagoon to lurk in. The <I>Tigress</I> and +the <I>Hermione</I> were enemies which it would not do to trifle with. +Moreover, he had been kept well advised of the goings on in the harbor +of Porto Rico, and he knew all about the English merchantmen who were +discharging or taking in cargoes. One subject in particular had +greatly interested the young American sailor, for there were a great +many dark-skinned laborers upon the Paez and the neighboring +plantations. +</P> + +<P> +"If all the slaves are as well treated as they are here," Guert had +thought, "they are a great deal better off than they ever were in +Africa. I don't want to see any such thing in America, though. I'm +sorry it's there. We don't want any more slave trade. Too many of 'em +die on the way from Africa." +</P> + +<P> +His ideas, of course, were very raw and incomplete. He was only a boy, +and he could not see all of the mischief. He had watched the colored +people in their huts, away off behind the plantation house. He had +seen them at work in the fields. They seemed to be fat, merry, and not +at all discontented. As for their Spanish owners, nothing could be +more easy-going and careless than their way of life. Their only +apparent difficulty appeared to be in finding something to do. Guert +himself found enough, for all this thing was entirely new to him. He +enjoyed especially his horseback rides around the country, along forest +roads, and into wonderfully lovely nooks of semi-tropical vegetation. +He was all the while picking up Spanish words with great rapidity, for +there was no other language to be heard, except queer African dialects +among the slaves. He progressed all the better, too, because of having +made a pretty good beginning before coming there. On the whole, +however, his plantation days seemed a long time to look back upon, and +here he stood, in the veranda, disposed to consider his situation +seriously. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Could I stay here and think of the +<I>Noank</I> being out there in a fight? My own mother'd be ashamed of me, +if I did!" +</P> + +<P> +A light hand was on his shoulder, and a soft, kindly voice said to +him:— +</P> + +<P> +"My dear young friend! If I were your mother, I should feel as you say +she would. I would have my brave son fighting for his country." +</P> + +<P> +"O Señora Paez!" said Guert, whirling to look into her venerable face, +"you all have been so good to me! But I cannot stay here while our war +for liberty is going on." +</P> + +<P> +Before she could speak again, a loud hail came up to them from the +gateway at the road, and a man on horseback dashed in at a gallop. +</P> + +<P> +"Señora Paez," said Guert, excitedly, "it's Vine Avery! Something's +happened." +</P> + +<P> +"Guert!" shouted the rider, "we're all ready to sail! Come on! The +coast is clear! Come back with me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah! I'm ready," he began. +</P> + +<P> +"Go, my dear boy!" interrupted the old señora. "I will call them to +say good-by to you. I would not detain you if you were my son. It is +your duty!" +</P> + +<P> +Quickly enough, the Alvarez household gathered to say farewell to their +young guest. They were all brimming with hospitality. They urged him +to come again and to consider their house his home. Nevertheless he +could see, plainly enough, that not one of them dreamed of detaining +him, now. They understood that his post of honor was behind the guns +of the <I>Noank</I>, and they would have despised him if he had not felt +just as he did. +</P> + +<P> +A horse was brought, and Señor Alvarez himself rode with Vine and Guert +to the seashore, less than ten miles away. That distance was galloped +rapidly. A boat was at the beach with a sailor from the <I>Noank</I> in it, +and in a minute or so more it had three rowers. Loud and sincere were +the last grateful farewells from the señor on the beach. As hearty +were the good wishes sent back from the boat, but Guert's heart was +thrilling as it had not thrilled during all his peaceful weeks at the +Paez plantation. +</P> + +<P> +There, yonder, at the mast of his beautiful schooner, floated the stars +and stripes, the banner of freedom. There, waiting for him to rejoin +them, were his own brave captain and the crew that seemed to him as his +kindred. Away out yonder, outside of all these reefs and keys and +ledges, was the great ocean. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah, Vine!" he shouted. "Hurrah for a cruise and fights and +prizes!" +</P> + +<P> +"We're bound to have 'em!" said Vine. +</P> + +<P> +As they pulled along, moreover, he told Guert that one of the sailors +of the <I>Santa Teresa</I> had come all the way from Porto Rico in a rowboat +to tell Captain Avery a lot of news that the captain had as yet kept to +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks to me," said Vine, "as if we had some work all cut out for +us." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what we want," said Guert. +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you what, though," said Vine, "the queerest feller on board the +schooner is that Dutchman, Groot. He asks after you every now and +then. Do you know, he actually ventured to go right into Porto Rico +twice. I don't s'pose anybody he saw there suspected him of being a +pirate." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Guert, "he never was one, exactly. Here we are, Vine. I +guess I'll have a talk with him." +</P> + +<P> +The boat was at the side of the <I>Noank</I>, and a score of well-known +faces were at the rail. +</P> + +<P> +"On board with you!" called out Sam Prentice. "The anchor's comin' in. +There's no time to be wasted." +</P> + +<P> +Other orders followed, and Guert sprang away to his duties feeling a +good deal more like himself than if he were watching slaves in a +tobacco-field. +</P> + +<P> +Very secure indeed had been that bit of a landlocked harbor on the +island coast. Its entrance was a mere narrow canal, so to call it, +between dangerous reefs on either side. No deep-draft British vessel +could pass through that channel; even the <I>Noank</I> was compelled to take +it at high water because of its bars. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Avery," asked Guert, after delivering the messages of good +will from his Spanish friends, "didn't you say that the British might +have come in and carried the schooner in boats?" +</P> + +<P> +"Ye-es, I did," drawled the captain. "That's the reason why I anchored +her jest in that spot. I kept a sharp lookout, you see, on that there +p'int o' rocks yonder. Our guns were kept trained on this channel, all +the time. We were all prepared then to knock their boats to flinders +as they got in to about here. Not one of 'em'd ever pulled past this +'ere twist in the channel, when it opens into the lagoon." +</P> + +<P> +Guert's question was answered, and he had a higher idea than ever of +the remarkable fitness of Lyme Avery to conduct the business of the +privateer <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"I see it," he thought. "They'd ha' been smashed by a raking fire at +short range. It would ha' been awful!" +</P> + +<P> +The schooner had but little canvas spread as yet, and she picked her +way carefully, slowly; but the channel was not a long one, after all. +</P> + +<P> +"Out at sea!" exclaimed Guert, with a long breath of relief, at last. +"Seems to me as if I'd been on shore a year. I was getting pretty sick +of it." +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme Avery," remarked his mate, as more sails were spreading, "it +looks to me as if we were goin' to have a rough night. We'd better git +well away from the coast." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll do that," replied the captain, "and we'll run along in the track +o' that Liverpool trader. She has pretty nigh a day the start of us." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand that," thought Guert, overhearing them. "We're in for a +race. We may be chased ourselves, too. It doesn't look to me as if a +storm's coming, but they read weather signs better'n I can." +</P> + +<P> +"Come," said a low voice in his ear; "I want to talk with you." +</P> + +<P> +The summons was spoken in Dutch, such as Guert had been accustomed to +hear in old days upon Manhattan Island. Somehow or other the sound of +it was very pleasant to him. He turned even eagerly to follow Groot, +and was led forward almost to the heel of the bowsprit. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, my boy," said the escaped pirate, "we are by ourselves. I know +you like a book. I have talked with Coco and Up-na-tan. They say you +know all about their having been freebooters, long ago. They call it +Kidd business. Now, I never was really one of that kind, but there are +ways for one buccaneer to know another, soon as he sees him, or talks +with him." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Guert, "they say so. It's by handgrips and signs and +words. I know some of 'em now." +</P> + +<P> +He and the Dutchman shook hands, and Guert said what he knew. +</P> + +<P> +"That's well enough for a beginning," said Groot, "but you must know it +all. It might save your life some day. It saved mine when they +captured me. I'll teach you. I mean to keep company with you and +those two old fellows. I owe you my life." +</P> + +<P> +"Vine helped, too," said Guert. "I'm glad we hauled you aboard. The +sharks were pretty close behind you just then. Oh! But wasn't it +awful! I wish we'd saved more of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"You couldn't," said Groot. "They'd only ha' been turned over to the +law, if you had. They were all sharks, too, nearly all. Worst kind. +Some weren't quite as bad as the rest, perhaps. Never mind them, now. +Let's attend to this business." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was willing enough, although Groot laughed, and said it made a +kind of pirate of him. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll practise now and then," he told him. "Now, some wouldn't +believe it, but I met more than a score of regular picaroons, living at +their ease in Porto Rico. Some of them are rich, too, and don't mean +to go to sea any more. For all that, they're always ready to give +information or any other help to sea-rovers like themselves." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was all the while learning a great deal, and this addition to his +stock of knowledge hardly surprised him. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," he thought. "It's a kind of matter of course. It would be a +good deal stranger if it wasn't so. Those that get away rich don't +care to run any more risks. Besides, if such fellows hadn't signs and +passwords already, they'd set right to work and invent some. Even +regular armies have passwords and countersigns, and all the ships have +signals." +</P> + +<P> +He was thinking of that sort of thing when the dark came on. The wind +was strengthening, and there were clouds rushing across the sky to +vindicate Sam Prentice's prophecy concerning the weather. +</P> + +<P> +"He was right, I guess," thought Guert. "Hullo! What's the captain up +to?" +</P> + +<P> +Captain Avery was standing at the mainmast, and he had just touched off +a rocket that went fizzing up to its bursting place. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder who'll see it," thought Guert. +</P> + +<P> +Far away in the deepening gloom to leeward, at that moment, the first +lieutenant of the <I>Tigress</I>, watching upon her quarter-deck, +exclaimed:— +</P> + +<P> +"Captain! One more of our cruisers! She'll come within hail before +long. That's it! I hope we're going to be relieved. I'm sick and +tired of this West India station." +</P> + +<P> +"So am I!" said the captain, heartily. "Reply to that signal. Give +'em our own number. Draw 'em this way." +</P> + +<P> +His signal officer responded promptly, and more than one rocket went up +from the <I>Tigress</I>. Her commander was much chagrined, however, for he +received no response to give him the information he expected of the +character of the newcomer. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, as far away from the <I>Noank</I> as he was, but in a directly +opposite line, to windward, at the same time, the English skipper of a +fine, bark-rigged merchantman, just out from Porto Rico, felt +exceedingly gratified. She was a craft of which Captain Avery had no +knowledge whatever up to that moment. +</P> + +<P> +"Hey!" shouted the skipper. "See that? One more of our cruisers close +at hand, beside the one away off to looard. I'll send up a light to +let 'em know where we are." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Avery had not really asked so much of him, but that was +precisely what his unnecessary rocket did. +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme!" exclaimed Sam Prentice, as the shining stars fell out of the +flying firework from the bark. "I declare! They told us that feller +wouldn't sail for three days yet, and there he is. He's goin' to be +our surest take, Captain." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," replied the captain. "Not to-night, though. We'll just +foller him along till mornin'. Then we'll put a prize crew into him +and send him to New London. We're much obliged to him for callin' on +us." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess we're sure of him," said Sam, "but we'd better look out for +our sticks and canvas, first." +</P> + +<P> +That was what every vessel in that neighborhood was compelled to do +during the gale which began to blow. +</P> + +<P> +"She stands it first-rate," said Guert to Up-na-tan, an hour or so +later. "Tell you what, though, I feel a good deal better than I did on +shore." +</P> + +<P> +"Boy talk Spanish," replied the Manhattan. "Talk him all while. Learn +how. Boy not know much, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +The red man had all along deemed it his duty to impress upon the mind +of his young friend the idea that he was only a beginner, an ignorant +kind of sea apprentice with all his troubles before him. After that +there followed a watch below, another on deck, and then the morning sun +began to do what he could with the flying rack of clouds and spray and +mist that was driving along before the gale. +</P> + +<P> +"Vine," asked Guert, "has anything more been seen of that trader!" +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you see?" said Vine. "There she is. We're to wind'ard of her, +now. She's answering father's signals, first-rate. We owe all that +luck to Luke Watts and his private signal-book." +</P> + +<P> +Nevertheless, the skipper of the bark was even then expressing much +perplexity of mind as to what the <I>Noank</I> might be and where from. He +did not exactly like her style. It was peculiar, he said, as the +morning went on and the gale began to subside, that the seemingly +friendly schooner, answering signals so well, should keep the same +course with himself, all the while drawing nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"She outsails us," he remarked. "We can't get away from her. I wish +the corvette or the frigate were in sight." +</P> + +<P> +Both of them had vanished. They had tacked toward Porto Rico and the +officers of the <I>Tigress</I>, in particular, were keeping a sharp lookout +for the newly arrived British man-of-war that had burned rockets so +very promisingly in the night. +</P> + +<P> +"It's all right, Lieutenant," remarked Captain Frobisher. "The gale +has carried her along finely. We shall find her in port when we get +there." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish we may!" growled the very sharp lieutenant, "but I don't like +it. I didn't exactly make out the reading of that second rocket. +Perhaps a lubber sent it up. We'll see." +</P> + +<P> +On went the schooner and the bark without any outside observers. Down +sank the tired-out gale, and the sun broke through the clouds. +</P> + +<P> +"Coco!" shouted Captain Avery, at last, "haul down that lobster flag +and run up the stars and stripes. Vine, give 'em that forward +starboard gun. All hands to quarters! 'Bout ship! Men! she's our +prize!" +</P> + +<P> +A ringing sound of cheers answered him, and the report of the gun +followed. It was a signal for the Englishman to heave to, and her +captain dashed his hat upon the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Caught!" he groaned. "Taken by the rebels! I wish they were all sunk +a hundred fathoms deep." +</P> + +<P> +Loud, angry voices from all parts of his ship responded with similar +sentiments relating to American pirates, but there could be no thought +of resistance. The bark was hove to, and her flag came down in a hurry +as if to avoid all danger of further shotted cannonading. +</P> + +<P> +"Ship ahoy!" came loudly across the water. "What bark's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bark <I>Spencer</I>, Captain McGrew. Porto Rico for Liverpool. Cargo. No +passengers. Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +The answer settled his mind entirely, and in a few minutes more he had +a boat's crew of American sailors on board. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain McGrew," said Captain Avery, glancing around, "I'm glad you've +no passengers. I'll find out, first, how many of your fellers I can +leave on board with my prize crew, to handle her to New London. Some'd +ruther work ship than be crammed under hatches." +</P> + +<P> +The British sailors exchanged nods and glances, and their skipper +responded:— +</P> + +<P> +"All right! We're a prize, no doubt. We're insured, so far's that +goes. 'Tisn't so bad for the owners. But you'd better tally four +chaps that hid in the hold to keep from being 'pressed into the +<I>Tigress</I>. They're not deserters, you know, but they'd as lief keep +away from havin' to answer questions." +</P> + +<P> +Four stalwart British tars at once stepped forward, and not one of them +"peached" to McGrew that their names were already on the rolls of the +frigate, so that they were much more than halfway deserters. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" said Captain Avery, "I guess I can trust 'em. It saves me +four hands. I'll pick out four more. Captain McGrew, you and the rest +may come on board the schooner. I'll give you a free passage to +France. Treat ye well, too. Hand over your papers. Sam Prentice, +this is your trip home." +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" almost roared Sam. "I'll carry her safe in. She and her +cargo'll bring us a pile o' shiners. Lyme, she's our first West Injy +luck!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurry up, Sam!" said the captain. "Then I'll try for that feller +ahead that led us from Porto Rico. She's along the track, somewhere." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE BERMUDA TRADER +</H4> + +<P> +There is a great deal of the humdrum and monotonous in the day after +day life and work upon a ship at sea. Even if the ship is a cruiser +and if there is a continuous watching for and study of all the other +sails that appear, that too may grow dull and tiresome. +</P> + +<P> +There were many days of such unprofitable watching from the outlooks of +the <I>Noank</I>, after her first unexpected good fortune. She had somehow +failed to overtake that sought-for Porto Rico merchantman. The gale +had favored an escape, and so had the delay occasioned by the pursuit +and capture of the <I>Spencer</I>. Since then, carrying all the sail the +varying winds would let him, Captain Avery had sailed persistently on, +hoping for that prize or for another as good. There had been topsails +reported, from time to time, between him and the horizon, and from two, +at least, of those, he had cautiously sheered away, not liking their +very excellent "cut." There might be tiers of dangerous guns away down +below them and he did not want any more guns,—heavy ones. +</P> + +<P> +"I said," he remarked, a little dolefully, "that I'd foller that +sugar-boat all the way to Liverpool, and I've only 'bout half done it. +I'm goin' ahead. There's no use in tryin' back toward Cuba, now. +We'll take a look at the British coast, pretty soon; France, too, and +Ireland, maybe Holland. We'll see what's to be had in the channels." +</P> + +<P> +Everybody on board was likely to be satisfied with that decision, +especially the British prisoners from the <I>Spencer</I>. As for these, the +sailor part of them were already on very good terms with their captors, +not caring very much how or in what kind of craft they were to find +their way back to England. They were a happy-go-lucky lot of +foremastmen with strong prejudices, of course, against all Yankee +rebels, but with thoroughly seamanlike ideas that they had no right to +be sulky over the ordinary chances of war. They had not really lost +much, and their main cause of complaint was their very narrow quarters +on board the <I>Noank</I>. They had not the least idea that a change in +this respect was only a little ahead of them, but a great improvement +was coming. +</P> + +<P> +Day had followed day, and the ocean seemed to be in a manner deserted. +A feeling of disappointment seemed to be growing in the mind of Captain +Avery, and he had half forgotten how very good a prize the <I>Spencer</I> +had been. +</P> + +<P> +"This 'ere is dreadful!" he declared. "I'm afraid we're not goin' to +make a dollar. What few sails we've sighted have all been Dutch or +French. I want a look at the red-cross flag again." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, yes," thought Guert, "but I guess he doesn't want to see it on a +man-o'-war. I feel a good deal as he does, though. I'll get Vine to +lend me a glass. I've hardly had a chance to play lookout." +</P> + +<P> +Vine let him have the telescope, of course, but Up-na-tan and Coco came +at once to see what he would do with it. He pulled it out to its +length and began to peer across the surrounding ocean. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Boy fool! No stay on deck. Go up mast. +Maintop. Then mebbe see something. No good eye!" +</P> + +<P> +"Git up aloft, Guert!" added Coco. "Never mine ole redskin. Think he +go bline, pretty soon. Can't see lobster ship." +</P> + +<P> +That may have referred to the fact that they had served as lookouts, +that morning, until they were weary of it, and Up-na-tan had lost his +temper. They grinned discontentedly as they saw their young friend go +aloft. He had now become well accustomed to high perches, and was +beginning to regard himself as an experienced sailor for that kind of +small cruiser. He felt very much at home in the maintop, and even +Captain Avery glanced up at him approvingly. +</P> + +<P> +"He must learn how," he remarked, as he saw Guert square himself in his +narrow coop and adjust the telescope. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" suddenly exclaimed the Indian. "Boy see! Wish ole chief up +there heself." +</P> + +<P> +The others had not noticed so closely, and Guert was not apparently +excited. He was gazing steadily in one direction, however, instead of +hunting here and there, as he had done at first. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't a telescope wonderful?" he was thinking. "It brings that flag +close up. I can see that her foremast is gone. That looks like +another sail, away off beyond her. More than one of 'em. Maybe it's a +fleet." +</P> + +<P> +A lurch of the <I>Noank</I> compelled him to lower his glass and grasp a +rope, while he leaned over to shout down his wonderful discoveries. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" yelled Vine. "Good for Guert!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hard a-lee, then!" roared Captain Avery to the man at the helm. +"Ready about! Strange sail to looard! Up-na-tan, that long gun! +Clear for action!" +</P> + +<P> +It was all very well for him to shout rapid orders and for the crew to +bring up powder and shot so eagerly, and get the schooner ready for a +fight. It was also well for the captain to go aloft and take the glass +himself. He could see more than Guert could. But what was the good of +it all when the wind was dying? +</P> + +<P> +There was hardly air enough to keep the sails from flapping. A +schooner could do better than a square-rigged vessel under such +circumstances, but that wind was an aggravating trial to a ship-load of +excited privateersmen. +</P> + +<P> +Captain McGrew had been permitted to come on deck, and Guert, as he +reached the deck from aloft, was half sure that he had heard the +Englishman chuckling maliciously, then heard him mutter:— +</P> + +<P> +"The Bermuda ships never sail home without a strong convoy. These +chaps'll catch it." +</P> + +<P> +When Captain Avery himself came down and the opinion of the <I>Spencer's</I> +captain was reported to him, he said:— +</P> + +<P> +"From Bermuda, eh? That's likely. We're not far out o' their course, +I'd say. Who cares for convoy? I don't. This feller nighest us is +crippled and left behind. If it wasn't for this calm, my boy—" +</P> + +<P> +There he became silent and stood still, staring hungrily to leeward. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps his manifest vexation was enjoyed by his English prisoner, but +Captain McGrew very soon put on a graver face, for the sharp-nosed +<I>Noank</I> was all the while slipping along, and the ship she was steering +toward was almost as good as standing still. So must have been any +heavier craft, warlike or otherwise. +</P> + +<P> +An hour went by, another, and the deceptive British merchant flag still +fluttered from the rigging of the <I>Noank</I>. The strange sail had made +no attempt to signal her and there had been a reason for it. She had +her own sharp-eyed lookouts, and these and her officers had been +studying this schooner to windward of them. +</P> + +<P> +"She's American built," they had said of her. "Most likely she's one +of the <I>Solway's</I> prizes. The old seventy-four has picked up a dozen +of them. She ought not to be coming this way though. She's running +out of her course." +</P> + +<P> +There was something almost suspicious about it, they thought. It might +be all right, but they were at sea in war time, and there was no +telling what might happen. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll be within hail inside of five minutes," they said at last. +"We've signalled her now, and she doesn't pay us any attention. It +looks bad. Her lookouts haven't gone blind." +</P> + +<P> +Not at all. Captain Avery was anything but shortsighted. His glass +had recently informed him that a huge hulk of some sort, only the +topsails of which had been seen at first, was steadily drifting nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"Answer no hail!" he had ordered. "We must board her without firing a +gun." +</P> + +<P> +Not for firing, therefore, but for show only, the pivot-gun threw off +its tarpaulin disguise, and the broadside sixes ran their threatening +brass noses out at the port-holes, while the British flag came down and +the stars and stripes went up. +</P> + +<P> +"Heave to, or I'll sink you!" was the first hail of Captain Avery. +"What ship's that?" +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Sinclair</I>, Bermuda, Captain Keller. Cargo and passengers. We +surrender!" came quickly back. "We are half disabled now. +Short-handed." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said the captain. "We won't hurt you. We'll grapple and +board." +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Sinclair</I> was more than twice the size of the <I>Noank</I>. She +carried a few good-looking guns, too. The grappling irons were thrown; +the two hulls came together; the American boarders poured over her +bulwarks, pike and cutlass in hand, ready for a fight. All they saw +there to meet them, however, was not more than a score of sailors, of +all sorts, and a mob of passengers, aft. Some of these were weeping +and clinging to each other as if they had seen a pack of wolves coming. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Captain Keller," said the nearest of the Englishmen. "You're too +many for us. We couldn't even man the guns. Five men on the sick +list." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed intensely mortified at his inability to show fight, and he +instantly added:— +</P> + +<P> +"Besides, man alive! six Bermuda planters and their families! They all +expect that you're going to make 'em walk the plank." +</P> + +<P> +"That's jest what we'll do!" replied Captain Avery. "We'll cut their +throats first, to make 'em stop their music. I'll tell you what, +though. I've a lot of English fellers that I want to get rid of. No +use to me. You can have 'em, if you'll be good. Captain McGrew, fetch +your men over into this 'ere 'Mudian! I don't want her." +</P> + +<P> +"All right! We're coming!" called back the suddenly delighted +ex-skipper of the <I>Spencer</I>. "What luck this is!" +</P> + +<P> +"Now, Captain Keller," said Avery, "we'll search for cash and anything +else we want. Are you leakin'?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the Englishman, "we're tight enough. We were damaged in a +gale, that's all. There's one of our convoy, off to looard,—the old +<I>Solway</I>. She lost a stick, too." +</P> + +<P> +"We won't hurt her," said Avery. "What did that old woman yell for?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why," said Keller, "one o' those younkers told her you meant to burn +the ship and sell her to the Turks. But the best part of our cargo, +for your taking, is coming up from the hold." +</P> + +<P> +The two grim old salts perfectly understood each other's dry humor, and +Keller's orders had been given without waiting for explanations. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" said Avery. "Well, yes, I'd say so! There they come! How +many of 'em?" +</P> + +<P> +"Forty-seven miserable Yankees," said Keller. "The <I>Solway</I> took 'em +out of a Baltimore clipper and another rebel boat. She stuck 'em in on +us to relieve her own hold. They were to be distributed 'mong the +Channel fleet, maybe. You may have 'em all. It's a kind of fair +trade, I'd say." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the two ships were ringing with cheers. The <I>Spencer</I> +Englishmen, the short-handed crew of the <I>Sinclair</I>, and, most +uproariously of all, the liberated American sailors, who were pouring +up from the hold, let out all the voices they had. It was an +extraordinary scene to take place on the deck of a vessel just captured +by bloodthirsty privateers. The women and children ceased their +crying, and then the men passengers came forward to find out what was +the matter. Ten words of explanation were given, and then even they +were laughing merrily. The dreaded pirate schooner had only brought +the much needed supply of sailors, and there was no real harm in her. +</P> + +<P> +A search below for cash and other valuables of a quickly movable +character was going forward with all haste, nevertheless, while the +liberated tars of both nations transferred themselves and their effects +to either vessel. +</P> + +<P> +"Not much cash," said Captain Avery, "but I've found a couple of extra +compasses and a prime chronometer that I wanted. The prisoners are the +best o' this prize, and how I'm to stow 'em and quarter 'em, I don't +exactly know. We must steer straight for Brest, I think." +</P> + +<P> +"Captain," said Guert, coming to him a little anxiously, "off to +looard! Boats!" +</P> + +<P> +The captain was startled. +</P> + +<P> +"Boats? From the seventy-four?" he exclaimed. "That means mischief! +All hands on board the <I>Noank</I>! Call 'em up from below! Tally! Don't +miss a man! Drop all you can't carry!" +</P> + +<P> +The skipper of the <I>Sinclair</I> was looking contemptuously at his +bewildered passengers. +</P> + +<P> +"The whimperingest lot I ever sailed with," he remarked of them; and +then he sang out, to be heard by all: "Captain Avery! Did you say you +were going to scuttle my ship, or set her afire?" +</P> + +<P> +"Both!" responded the captain. "Jest as soon's I get good and ready. +I'll show ye!" +</P> + +<P> +"You bloodthirsty monster!" burst from one of the older ladies. "All +of you Americans are pirates! Worse than pirates!" +</P> + +<P> +"Fact, madam!" said he; "but then you don't know how good we are, too. +I'm a kind of angel, myself. Look out yonder, though! See that lot o' +pirate boats from the <I>Solway</I>? The captain o' that tub is a +bloodthirsty monster! He eats children, ye know. He's a reg'lar +Englishman!" +</P> + +<P> +"You brute!" she said; and then, as the commander of the <I>Noank</I> was +going over the rail, she added, more calmly; "Why! what an old fool I +am! The Americans are only in a hurry to get away. Our boats are +coming after 'em, and then they'll all be hung." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, madam," said Captain Keller. "They're going to get 'em, +too. What I care for most is that we've hands enough now to repair +damages, so we can get you all to Liverpool." +</P> + +<P> +Off swung the terrible privateer, her much increased ship's company +sending back a round of cheers as she did so. A light puff of air +began to fill the limp sails of the <I>Sinclair</I>, and she, too, gathered +headway. +</P> + +<P> +"Wind come a little more," said Up-na-tan, thoughtfully. "No fight +boat. No hurt 'Muda ship. No sink her." +</P> + +<P> +The captain overheard him, and he broke out into a hearty laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"No, you old scalper," he said. "I'm a Connecticut man, I am. I can't +bear to see anything like wastage. What's the use o' burnin' a ship +you can't keep? It's a thing I couldn't do." +</P> + +<P> +"No take her, anyhow," said the Indian. "Ole tub too slow. Lobster +ship take her back right away. Ugh! Bad wind!" +</P> + +<P> +Very bad indeed was that light breeze, and away yonder were the boats +of the <I>Solway</I> coming steadily along in a well-handled line. +</P> + +<P> +"They're dangerous looking, sir," said Groot, the Dutch ex-pirate, +after a study of them through a glass. "Two of them carry boat guns. +Strong crews. I'd not like to be boarded by them." +</P> + +<P> +"We won't let 'em board," said the captain. "Thank God, we've a good +deal more'n a hundred men now. I guess Keller'll warn 'em how strong +we are. That may hold 'em back." +</P> + +<P> +It was a schooner wind, and the <I>Noank</I> was going along, but she was +not travelling so fast as were the vigorously pulled boats. It was a +lesson in sea warfare to watch them and see how perfect was their +discipline and the oar-training of their crews. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the reason," remarked Captain Avery, "why England rules the +sea. We'll have a navy, some day, and we'll beat 'em at their own +teachin's." +</P> + +<P> +The rescued prisoners had been having a hard time of it in the hold of +the Bermuda trader, and they were beginning to feel desperate now at +what seemed a prospect of being once more captured by the enemy. They +went to the guns, and they armed themselves like men who were about to +fight for their very lives. There was one piece that they were not +allowed to touch, however, for Up-na-tan himself was behind the +pivot-gun. He and Groot, in consultation, seemed to be carefully +calculating the now rapidly diminishing distance between the schooner +and the British boat-line. +</P> + +<P> +This reached the <I>Sinclair</I> speedily, and its delay there was only long +enough for reports and explanations. +</P> + +<P> +"That's her armament, is it?" the lieutenant in command had said to +Keller. "Stronger than I expected, but we can take her. Forward, all! +She won't think of resisting us. Give her a gun to heave to!" +</P> + +<P> +The longboat in which he stood carried a snub-nosed six-pounder, and +its gunners at once blazed away. They had the range well, and their +shot went skipping along only a few fathoms aft of the <I>Noank's</I> stern. +</P> + +<P> +"Father," exclaimed Vine, "it won't do to let that work go on. We +might be crippled." +</P> + +<P> +"Give it to 'em, Up-na-tan!" shouted the captain. "Men! We won't be +taken! We'll fight this fight out!"' +</P> + +<P> +Loud cheers answered him, but it was Groot, the pirate, who was now +sighting the long eighteen, and he proved to be a capital marksman. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh! Longboat!" said Up-na-tan. "Now!" +</P> + +<P> +Away sped the iron messenger, so carefully directed, but not one +British sailor was hurt by it. It did but rudely graze the larboard +stern timber of the <I>Solway's</I> longboat at the water line. +</P> + +<P> +"Thunder!" roared the astonished lieutenant. "A hole as big as a +barrel! If they haven't sunk us!" +</P> + +<P> +The nearest boats on either hand pulled swiftly to the rescue, but that +boat-gun would never again be fired. The other gun, in the <I>Solway's</I> +pinnace, spoke out angrily, and, curiously enough, it had been charged +with nothing but grape-shot. All of this was what Captain Avery might +have described as wastage, for it was uselessly scattered over the sea. +</P> + +<P> +Loud were the yells and cheers on board the <I>Noank</I> as her crew saw +their most dangerous antagonist go under water, sinking all the faster +because of the heavy cannon. Of course, the sailors whose boat had so +unexpectedly gone out from under them were all picked up, but not one +of them had saved pike or musket. The attacking force had therefore +been diminished seriously, and there had also been many minutes of +delay. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain," said Groot, "I'll send another pill among them, whiles +they're clustered so close together." +</P> + +<P> +"Not a shot!" sharply commanded Captain Avery. "I'm thinkin'! Men! +It's more'n likely there are 'pressed Americans on those boats. I +won't risk it. We must get away." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir," came heartily back from many voices. "Let 'em go." +</P> + +<P> +That was what saved the really beaten British tars from any more heavy +shot, and the <I>Noank</I> was all the while increasing her distance. The +only remaining danger to her now was the mighty <I>Solway</I>, and her +sails, full set, could be seen and studied by the glasses on the +schooner. +</P> + +<P> +"She's the first big ship I ever saw under full sail," said Guert to +Groot. "I've only seen 'em in port." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd be of little good on her till after you'd served awhile," said +the Dutchman, in his own tongue. "It isn't even every British captain +that can handle a seventy-four as she ought to be handled." +</P> + +<P> +Whoever was in charge of the <I>Solway</I> now, she was sailing faster than +the <I>Noank</I>, and things were looking badly. So said one of his old +neighbors to Captain Lyme Avery, only to be answered by a chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +"Jest calc'late," he added, quite cheerfully. "A starn chase is always +a long chase. They won't be gettin' into range for their best guns +till about dark. Then I'll show ye. Vine, make a barrel raft! Sharp!" +</P> + +<P> +Up from the hold came quickly a dozen or so of empty barrels, and these +were carpentered together with planks so as to make a skeleton deck. +In the middle of this was rigged a spar like a mast, and the raft was +ready. +</P> + +<P> +All the sailors believed they knew what was coming. It was an old, +old, trick, as old as the hills, but it might be the thing to try in +this case. +</P> + +<P> +On came the stately line-of-battle ship, as the shadows deepened. She +was slowly gaining in spite of the <I>Noank</I> having every inch of her +canvas spread. She would soon be near enough to fly her bow chasers. +If these were heavy enough, there would then be nothing left the +American privateer but prompt surrender. The next half-hour was, +therefore, a time of breathless anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +"It's almost dark enough, now," said Captain Avery, at last, with a +cloudy face. "Over with the raft, Vine; I'm goin' to try somethin' +new." +</P> + +<P> +Over the side it went and it floated buoyantly, with a large, lighted +lantern swinging at the tip of its pretty tall mast. At the foot of +that spar, however, had been securely fastened a barrel of powder, with +a long line-fuse carried from it up several feet along the upright +stick. +</P> + +<P> +"If that light fools him at all," said the captain, "it'll gain us half +an hour and five miles. If it doesn't, why, then we're gone, that's +all. Now, Coco, due nor'west! Keep her head well to the wind. We +shall pass that seventy-four within two miles." +</P> + +<P> +It was a daring game to play, taking into account British night-glasses +and heavy guns, to tack toward a line-of-battle ship in that manner. +</P> + +<P> +On the <I>Solway</I>, however, there had been a feeling of absolute +certainty as to overtaking the schooner. She had been in plain view, +they said, up to the moment when her crew so foolishly swung out a +lantern. It was a mere glimmer, truly, but it would do to steer by. +It was many minutes afterward that an idea suddenly flashed into the +experienced mind of the British commander. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "No Yankee would have held up a light for us +to chase him by. That's a decoy! Hard a-port, there! The rebels'd go +off before the wind. They can't take in an old hand like me." +</P> + +<P> +Precisely because the <I>Noank</I> had not gone off before the wind, her +seemingly safest course, the <I>Solway</I> was not immediately following +her. More minutes went by, and then there arose a storm of +exclamations on board the seventy-four. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain," asked an excited officer, "did she blow up?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he gruffly responded. "That's only part of the decoy." +</P> + +<P> +Not all his subordinates agreed with him, however, and it was plainly +his duty to carry his ship past the place of the now vanished light and +of so tremendous an explosion. He did so grumblingly. +</P> + +<P> +"I know 'em," he said. "It's only some trick or other. They're sharp +chaps to deal with, on land or sea. They're a kind of Indian fighters, +and they're up to anything. Do you know, I believe we've lost her!" +</P> + +<P> +That was what he had done, or else Captain Lyme Avery had lost the +seventy-four, for when the next morning dawned her lookouts could +discover no sign of the <I>Noank's</I> white canvas between them and the +horizon. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEUTRAL PORT. +</H4> + +<P> +A remarkable place, in the summer of the year 1777, was the old French +harbor of Brest. A not altogether pleasant fame had gathered upon it, +like drifted seaweed, from historically ancient days. It was said to +have been a rendezvous for the old-time vikings of the northern seas, +as it was at this day for the smugglers. All of the town that could be +seen from the harbor wore a shambling, dingy, antiquated appearance. +Its ill-paved, steep, and dirty streets swarmed with an exceedingly +varied and not at all admirable population, although the better classes +were represented. +</P> + +<P> +Vessels of all sorts were there, as usual, one pleasant afternoon, +going out, coming in, at anchor, or moored to the more or less +tumbledown wharves and piers. The arrival or departure of one ship +more was not an affair to attract especial attention. +</P> + +<P> +One important feature of the character of the ancient port was that +whatever might be the existing treaties between the kings of France and +Great Britain, Brest was always more or less at war with England. +English sailors were welcome enough, of course, particularly if they +were willing to desert, or had recently been paid off, or were supposed +to be engaged in smuggling. +</P> + +<P> +Among the vessels at anchor were three French war-ships, one Dutch +cruiser, undergoing repairs, and a smart-looking British corvette that +was lying well out from shore. All of these were under treaty bonds to +keep the peace with each other and with the world in general, but Brest +was also distinguished as a port into which all navies at peace with +France might bring their prizes for condemnation and sale, according to +existing maritime law. +</P> + +<P> +A little after the noon, the loungers on the piers might have taken +notice, if they would, of a large schooner that was slipping in through +the strongly fortified entrance channel under little more than her +foresail. She either had a French pilot on board or was steered by a +man who knew the harbor, for she went at once to the right spot to drop +her anchor, and a boat shortly put out from her toward the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"There's a French flag on a Yankee-built schooner," remarked an officer +of the British corvette. "That's because we are here. I'd like to cut +her out, but it wouldn't do. Our war with France hasn't quite begun. +I'm going to see, though, if we can't manage to get some men out of +her." +</P> + +<P> +He was a burly, bulldog-looking person, and he made other remarks not +at all complimentary to Americans in general, and to one Mr. George +Washington in particular. +</P> + +<P> +"According to the latest advices," he asserted, "Howe and Cornwallis +are crushing out the Virginia fox's ragamuffins. Burgoyne will take +possession of northern New York and all the New England colonies. Then +the king will have his own again, and we shall see some rebels hung." +</P> + +<P> +There was, indeed, an increasingly bitter feeling among loyal +Englishmen, caused by what they deemed the needless prolongation of the +war. According to their way of thinking, the rebels were unreasonable +and should long since have given up their useless attempt to escape +from under the rightful rule of the mother country. +</P> + +<P> +On the deck of the schooner, whether she were French or American, only +a few men were making their appearance, and she seemed to have a great +deal of deck-cargo. It was concerning that, perhaps, that conversation +was going on below, and here, at least, the population was even +excessive. +</P> + +<P> +"Their glasses'd tell 'em just what we are, Captain Avery," said one +before the boat left, "if we swarmed up." +</P> + +<P> +"They'll find out, anyhow," said the captain. "Our deck-load must get +ashore at once, before they know too much. It's in the way, too." +</P> + +<P> +From other remarks that were made, it appeared that the cargo to be +disposed of had been taken from no less than four unfortunate British +merchantmen, and that the schooner had been a long time in gathering +it. Good reasons were also given why the ships themselves had not been +seized as well as the goods. +</P> + +<P> +The captain was now in the boat, and his face wore a very thoughtful +expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Groot," he said, "you talk French better'n I do. Keep close and +watch." +</P> + +<P> +"All the lingoes you ever heard of are talked in Brest," said the +Dutchman. "I've been here for months at a time. You'll have a visitor +from that British corvette, first thing. They won't mind sea law much, +either. They never do, and the French never try to follow 'em up +sharp." +</P> + +<P> +"Now they've let us run in, I don't care," said the captain. "We've +had pretty narrow escapes gettin' here. It was touch and go, along the +coast." +</P> + +<P> +Absolute disguise or secrecy was out of the question, perhaps, but when +a boat from the <I>Syren</I> shortly afterward pulled to the side of the +<I>Noank</I> there was no invitation given to come on board. +</P> + +<P> +"What schooner's this?" roughly demanded the officer of the boat. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Noank</I>, New London," responded Vine Avery, at the rail. "Assorted +cargo. We ran right in through a fleet of your sleepyheads. Do you +belong to that clumsy corvette, yonder?" +</P> + +<P> +"Shut your mouth!" snapped the officer. "We'll come for you, yet." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah for the Continental Congress!" said Vine, maliciously. "If +this 'ere wasn't a neutral port we'd board that tub o' yours and take +her home with us. We want some more guns and powder anyhow!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're a pirate!" roared the officer. "We've a right to take you out +under the French law. You've no protection." +</P> + +<P> +"Keep your distance," said Vine. "We'll be ready for you when you +come." +</P> + +<P> +Angry faces were beginning to show behind Vine. The British officer +saw steel points like pikeheads, and he heard threatening exclamations, +only half suppressed. As the representative of a man-of-war, he had an +undoubted right to question the character of any merchant vessel +whatever, and to make her commander exhibit his papers, if the meeting +took place at sea. In harbor, however, under the guns of neutral +forts, the case was different. +</P> + +<P> +The Englishman had really obtained the information he came after, and +he had no orders to go any further. He knew exactly the character of +this schooner. Even the pike-heads could be read like good +handwriting. He replied to Vine with hardly more than an angry growl +and went back to report to his commander. +</P> + +<P> +"Privateer, is she?" remarked that gentleman, after hearing him. "I +supposed so. I'd lay the <I>Syren</I> alongside of her, if it wasn't for +getting into hot water with the French and with the admiral. We'll try +for some of her men, on board or on shore, and I'll have that schooner!" +</P> + +<P> +The younger officer grumbled his readiness to cut out the rebel pirate +that very night, but his wiser superior only laughed at him. +</P> + +<P> +"There she is," he said, "with her head in the lion's mouth. We +needn't shut our jaws on her till the right minute. Then it will be +one good bite and we'll have her, men, cargo, and all." +</P> + +<P> +The boat from the <I>Noank</I> reached a wharf, and it had not come there +upon any mere pleasure trip. +</P> + +<P> +"Short work, now, Groot," said the captain. "If you can't find your +men right away, I'll take a look after mine." +</P> + +<P> +Away they went, along the water front, until they were halted by Groot +in front of an immense, dingy old warehouse. +</P> + +<P> +"Opdyke Freres," he read the faded sign over the entrance of it. "They +are here, yet. Brest and Amsterdam. What goods they can't handle in +France, they can in Holland. They'll do the fair thing by us,—so +we'll be sure to come to them again." +</P> + +<P> +"That's our grip on their honesty, this time," said Captain Avery. +</P> + +<P> +In two minutes more, the entire boat's crew of the <I>Noank</I> was gathered +in a counting-room in the rear of the warehouse. It looked as if a +hundred generations of spiders had made their webs in its corners, +undisturbed. +</P> + +<P> +A short, fat man turned upon a high stool at a desk to inquire, in +Dutch:— +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! Mynheer Groot! Not hung yet? Is it some new business?" +</P> + +<P> +Part of Groot's reply was a rapid introduction of his friends, while he +stated their errand. There could be nothing but utter mutual +confidence in such a case, and the head of the house of Opdyke Brothers +was exceedingly outspoken. +</P> + +<P> +"We take the deck-cargo to-night," he said. "Our lighters will come as +soon as it is dark. You will pay the custom-house men ten thousand +francs down, so they will not know anything about it. I will be there +and one of my brothers. We will take off as much more as we can +to-morrow night. You will go to Amsterdam with your next cargo or +prizes. The British are increasing their guard. Ha, ha! It is war +with them, too, and they take some prizes. We buy of them every now +and then." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was listening eagerly to all that was said. He was obtaining new +ideas and information as to the manner in which plunder taken at sea by +all sorts of war-ships may be marketed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the war law of buccaneering," he thought. "If England and +America were at peace, then our business would be piracy." +</P> + +<P> +It was not easy to make it seem right, and he gave that up, trying to +settle his conscience with the assertion that it was one of those +things which cannot be helped. +</P> + +<P> +"It ought to be helped," he thought. "Ships of war ought to do the +fighting and let the unarmed ships go free. I don't like it! But I'm +a privateersman myself, just now." +</P> + +<P> +Back went the boat to the <I>Noank</I> and Mynheer Opdyke kept his word. It +was a misty night, and before morning there was nothing worth noticing +upon the deck, unless it might be something amidships that was covered +by a tarpaulin. That, however, had been read and understood by the +lookouts in the tops of the British corvette. +</P> + +<P> +"The privateer carries a pivot-gun," her captain had said. "Three guns +each broadside? Remarkably full crew? All right. She's a dangerous +customer to leave afloat. We must make an end of her." +</P> + +<P> +That next day was spent on shore by most of the <I>Noank's</I> crew. Not +one of them was willing to remain in Brest, however. The best chance +that the rescued prisoners, for instance, seemed to have for ever +getting home was in the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Besides," they said to each other, "some of us may get out in prizes, +before long. We may win prize-money, too." +</P> + +<P> +One day more went by, and it was near evening when Captain Avery said +to Guert Ten Eyck:— +</P> + +<P> +"No, my boy, you won't go ashore again. Our water-casks and the +provisions are coming aboard. The Opdykes have done wonderfully well +by us. I never saw better lighter work. I can't say at what hour we +may be ready to put to sea." +</P> + +<P> +The British watchers saw all the lighters coming and going. Their +patrol boats now and then pulled very near the schooner, but they had +no right to board her. No doubt they had further plans of their own, +but they were a little slow with them. The truth was, that the Opdykes +deserved the praise given them by Captain Avery. Nobody would have +expected such a rapid discharge of a cargo as they effected. That is, +nobody without visiting the schooner that night and seeing how a +hundred strong men could handle goods. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain," said Mynheer Opdyke, at last, "you have no time to lose. +The ship for Belfast goes out with the morning tide, and her cargo is a +good one. We put on part of it ourselves, but we insured it pretty +well. I think the corvette is going to pretend to change her +anchorage, and she will slip alongside of you while she's moving." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I'm ready for," replied the captain, laughing. "She may +anchor on this very spot as soon as she pleases after this lighter +goes." +</P> + +<P> +He took a small bag of money that was handed him by the merchant, and +the latter went over the side. +</P> + +<P> +"Ho, ho!" he chuckled, as he did so. "I make one hundred per cent. +Now I go and report to my British friends that they must take the +American pirate within three days, or she will get away from them. Our +house is on good terms with them." +</P> + +<P> +That might be, but if it were expected that he would give up profitable +business for friendship's sake, that was expecting altogether too much. +</P> + +<P> +Very still lay the <I>Noank</I> during the hour that followed. Carefully +muffled were the oars of a small boat that came back to her from a +swiftly rowed scouting expedition. Then it seemed as if her anchor +came up without a sound, and the booms swung away without creaking. No +voices were heard from stem to stern, and a swarm of dark figures +flitted around her deck as if they wore moccasons. +</P> + +<P> +"Belfast ship gone out," Up-na-tan had reported to Captain Avery. +"Lobster corvette ready to lift anchor. Four lobster boat in water, +now. British think they come and take <I>Noank</I> while all crew ashore. +Think schooner go sleep." +</P> + +<P> +"Pretty good!" said the captain. "They'd run out to sea with us, then, +and the French'd never do a thing about it. America isn't a power yet, +and England is. Never mind, we're goin' to spile their luck this time." +</P> + +<P> +The schooner slipped away as if the water had been oiled for her. +There was wind enough and not a great deal more. Every sail she could +spread was in its place, and her breathless crew watched their canvas +feverishly as she sped toward the channel at the harbor mouth. +</P> + +<P> +Not a great deal of noise had been made on board the <I>Syren</I>, as she +lifted her anchor to change her ground. She had a right to do so and +to get a little more out of the way of other ships. She was sending up +only a few sails, however, only just enough to carry her slowly along. +It was as if she moved across the water cautiously, not caring for the +time expended. +</P> + +<P> +Her commander was justifiably certain of the success of his plans. He +stood upon the quarter-deck, trumpet in hand. His gallant tars, with +pikes and cutlasses ready, but no firearms, the report of which might +be heard by the French on shore, were drawn up in line, waiting for the +order, so soon to come, to board the <I>Noank</I>. Splendid men they were, +and the sleeping Americans were to be overcome in the twinkling of an +eye. Four boats were at the sides of the corvette, and into these went +down the expectant boarders, for the crisis was at hand. No orders +were required and the oars dipped rapidly, in perfect unison. The +affair would soon be over. The commander on the corvette's deck was +listening for the shout of onset and of sudden victory. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" suddenly exclaimed the lieutenant in the bow of the foremost +boat. "Here we are! Where's that schooner?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's gone, sir!" came loudly from one of the sailors. "Gone +entirely!" +</P> + +<P> +All the silence was gone also, as the boats dashed on to row uselessly +over the patch of water where the <I>Noank</I> had been seen at sunset. +Orders and exclamations might be uttered noisily now. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Syren's</I> captain could hear, and he could understand, but for some +reason he did not seem inclined to make remarks. Most likely he was +thinking, for the first words from his lips were:— +</P> + +<P> +"Lieutenant, recall the boats. All hands make sail! We must follow +that privateer. I'm afraid he has two hours the start of us." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm afraid he's away," growled the lieutenant. "I'd like to know who +gave him his warning." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the captain. "He's after that Belfast liner. We +must follow in her wake, or she'll go to America instead of to Ireland." +</P> + +<P> +An old, experienced sea-campaigner can sometimes make shrewd +calculations. Not a great while after that and just as the day was +dawning, a bulky three-master, running along in a steady, businesslike +manner, appeared to be almost in danger of being run into by a much +smaller craft which had been following her. The pursuer's flag was +English, and she showed no guns. +</P> + +<P> +"Schooner ahoy, there!" shouted a voice on the three-master. "Sheer +away, there, or you'll strike us. Port your helm! Port, I say!" +</P> + +<P> +No direct answer came back, but he heard a hoarse-toned shout of:— +</P> + +<P> +"All hands shorten sail! Throw that grappling! Throw the other! Haul +in! Haul taut! Bring us alongside! Hurrah! We have her! Board!" +</P> + +<P> +So skilfully was it done that there was no great or damaging shock when +the two vessels came together. The grapplings held, the American +sailors pulled mightily, and before the liner's crew who were below +could tumble up to join their comrades on deck there were fifty pikemen +swarming over her bulwarks. +</P> + +<P> +"We surrender!" was almost the first loud exclamation of the British +skipper. "You're that rebel pirate! Why didn't the <I>Syren</I> catch you!" +</P> + +<P> +"We weren't there to be caught," called back Captain Avery. "The +<I>Killarney</I> is ours, Captain Syme!" +</P> + +<P> +"We can't help ourselves! It's the hard fortune of war!" groaned the +astounded Briton. "Do your worst!" +</P> + +<P> +"No harm to any of you," replied his captor. "We'll put you and your +crew and passengers ashore on the first land we come to. This 'ere +ship, though, is bound for New London." +</P> + +<P> +It was a time for little talk and for the swiftest kind of action, +while the Belfast liner was made ready for her trip across the Atlantic. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you find she has water and provisions enough, Vine," said his +father, a little later. "You may have twenty-five of the rescued men. +They are prime fellows. I'd go under easy sail most o' the time. We +won't take out a pound o' the cargo here. Make quick work of gettin' +away, now! We're pretty nigh ready to cast loose." +</P> + +<P> +Vine and his exceedingly well-pleased two dozen or more of escaped +prisoners of war took possession of the <I>Killarney</I>, and about all the +risk before them was that of getting under the guns of some British +cruiser. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Syme and his crew and passengers, transferred to the <I>Noank</I> +with their baggage, were a very disconsolate company, even when they +were promised a quick trip to the Irish coast, as near Belfast as might +be. +</P> + +<P> +"Hard luck for us," remarked Syme. "It's that sleepy corvette that's +to blame. I believed I was getting away in good season." +</P> + +<P> +"So you were," replied Captain Avery. "You couldn't ha' suited us +better. I like the <I>Syren</I>, too. She's gone over to our old anchorage +by this time." +</P> + +<P> +He was mistaken there. The angry, disappointed British commander was +putting on all sail, and his cruiser was bowling along the sea-road +toward Belfast. No sail was in sight ahead of her, and he was fretted +sadly by a suspicion of the truth, that the <I>Killarney</I>, with a prize +crew on board, was already headed westward, while the dashing privateer +he had missed was taking a northerly course, favored much by the fine +topsail breeze that was blowing. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +A COMING STORM. +</H4> + +<P> +There had been a morning, not many days after the <I>Noank</I> sailed away +from Porto Rico, when the gunners of the seaward battery of Fort +Griswold, New London, ran hastily to their cannon. They put in powder +only, and quickly they were firing a salute of welcome, in response to +the arrival guns of a handsome bark that was entering the harbor mouth. +She was under full sail, she carried the American flag, and with it she +also floated the well-known private signal of Captain Avery and the +<I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme's taken a big prize!" shouted voice after voice in the fort, +while all the people within hearing of the guns understood that they +were roaring good news only. Men in shops dropped their tools. +Teamsters unhitched their horses from loaded sleighs, to mount and +hurry into town. Fishermen pulled in their lines. Women put away +their knitting or left their carding and their looms. Such a rousing +announcement of stirring news from the sea could not be disregarded, +and the excitement grew apace. +</P> + +<P> +An hour or so later Captain Sam Prentice and some of his men were on +the central wharf, shaking hands with old neighbors until their own +were lame, and telling the story of the old whaling schooner among the +West Indies. +</P> + +<P> +"Samuel," remarked Rachel Tarns, "thy story promiseth to be a long one. +Thee had better hold thy tongue a moment, and turn thy gray head to see +what cometh behind thee." +</P> + +<P> +"Sam! Sam! I'm here!" +</P> + +<P> +"There!" said the old Quakeress, dryly. "It was on my mind that his +wife could stop his talking. So she squeezeth him not to death, he may +then hug his daughters." +</P> + +<P> +"Glory to God!" shouted good Mrs. Ten Eyck. "My son is safe! Not one +of our men has been killed." +</P> + +<P> +"Anneke," suggested Rachel Tarns, "thee may also thank Him that they do +not seem to have been led to the killing of other people." +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't jest so," said Sam; "we saved a ship-load of Spaniards from +some pirates, and we had to kill a good many of the pirates. We didn't +really hurt anybody else." +</P> + +<P> +"I trust thy God will forgive thee concerning those wicked men," said +Rachel. "He slayeth the wicked in their wickedness. Thee did no +wrong. I think it was a friendly and righteous thing for thee to do. +I once had many that were dear to me murdered at sea by those devilish +destroyers." +</P> + +<P> +"No mercy for pirates!" shouted more voices than one. +</P> + +<P> +"We didn't have to show any," said Sam. "I can't tell it, jest now." +</P> + +<P> +"The ship thou hast taken seemeth a fine one," said Rachel. "How did +thee manage to escape the war vessels of thy good king?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! 'Bout that?" he replied. "We had the best kind of luck. There +wasn't a cruiser off Nantucket. We came along as safe as a mackerel +smack. It was a kind of wonder, though, that we didn't sight a +solitary's king's flag hereaway." +</P> + +<P> +"That's explained," he was told by a white-headed fisherman. "The +British are goin' after the Continentals down Philadelfy way, and all +their cruisers are called off to Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake. Some +of 'em's ferryin' troops, ye know. We can't say, yit, as to whether or +not Washington has licked 'em. Anyhow, things ain't as bad as they +was." +</P> + +<P> +Endless news telling was to come, evidently, concerning events on shore +as well as on the sea, and there could be no long lingering at the +wharf. Every sailor that could be spared from the ship had somebody +eagerly waiting for him, and there were many gladdened households that +day. +</P> + +<P> +"This is getting to be a thieves' harbor," remarked Rachel Tarns to a +group of which she was the centre. "The wicked rebels against our good +king are stealing much. This is the nineteenth British vessel that +hath been brought in hither. I trust that all ships designing to enter +this port under the American flag will arrive safely. It would be a +pity if any of them should be wrecked or otherwise prevented." +</P> + +<P> +She had other things as kindly to say and sincere wishes to express +concerning whatever shipping might here and there be under the flag of +England. Neither did she forget to extend her benevolence to the tents +in all the camps of George the Third. +</P> + +<P> +Those who listened to her were plainly in sympathy with all her +friendly or Quakerish aspirations, and it appeared as if she were even +a favorite. +</P> + +<P> +After that, indeed, as week after week went by, her hopes and wishes +were remarkably fulfilled, for there were other Yankee privateers as +capable and as busy as the <I>Noank</I>. Some of them were also much larger +craft with heavier armaments. Prize after prize came in, and there +were New London merchants whose trade promised to rival that of the +ancient house of Opdyke Brothers, of the port of Brest. +</P> + +<P> +Throughout all New England, throughout the greater part of New York, +there was undisturbed security. The war was touching the northerly +edge of Pennsylvania, and there were savage raids into some districts +of that colony. Large areas of New Jersey were desolated, and so were +parts of South Carolina and Georgia where the Tory element was strong. +The western frontier of New York was severely harried by the Iroquois. +The counties of that state nearest the city of New York were entirely +ruined. +</P> + +<P> +The farmers of the Mohawk Valley gathered their summer crops safely, +but toward them and toward the rebel stronghold at Albany, where the +legislature was sitting, there was an avalanche of danger coming down +from the north. It was well understood that even the forces under the +British generals in the Middle States were not considered so effective, +so well furnished, so sure of winning speedy victories, as were the +chosen regiments to be led by General Burgoyne for a crushing blow at +the heart of the rebellion. He was to be reënforced by the entire +power of the Six Nations and the Hurons. If he should succeed, as he +and his admirers believed he would, his army would obtain complete +possession of New York and New England. All the other colonies would +then give up in despair, and the Continental army would disband or +surrender. +</P> + +<P> +The British campaign and its intended consequences were thoroughly +discussed by the New England people, and a considerable number of them +very promptly determined to visit their friends in Albany or in Vermont. +</P> + +<P> +The shore people were deeply interested, for, in addition to all other +considerations, their entire sea-going fleet was at stake. No more +British prizes would then be brought, for instance, to Boston or New +London, and all the privateers at sea would be hopelessly forfeited to +the crown. All their prizes in European ports would share the same +fate. One, however, was now on its homeward way in charge of Vine +Avery, promoted from third mate to skipper. He was handling his ship +very well, but he as yet knew very little about her cargo. His orders +were to let the taking account of that wait until he should be safe in +port. +</P> + +<P> +"The main thing," he had been told by his father, "is to git there. +You've a gantlet to run that's thousands o' miles long, and your +chances are only jest about even." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll make 'em a good deal more'n even!" Vine had replied, and he had +sailed away full confidently. +</P> + +<P> +Three days after the <I>Noank</I> and the <I>Killarney</I> parted company, there +was a great stir in a fishing village on the Irish coast. A strange +schooner was tacking into the cove in front of the village, and such a +thing as that did not happen every day. All the cabins were emptied at +once. Even the babies, of which there seemed to be a large number, +were carried to the shore by their mothers that they might not lose +this chance to see something. +</P> + +<P> +The schooner furled her sails, and dropped her anchor, while her +probable or improbable character was undergoing vigorous discussion all +along the beach. Not a soul on board the <I>Noank</I>, among her crew, at +least, could have understood the primitive Erse dialect in which the +fisher people told their opinions of her and the boat-loads of men and +women that were quickly put out from her toward the shore. More and +more extraordinary became the clatter after the passengers were landed +and the boats pulled away for their next cargoes. Trip after trip was +made, and all the while there was a vast amount of kindly pity +expressed, most of it in Erse, but much in Irish-English, for Captain +Syme and all his miscellaneous ship's company. Quite an erroneous +opinion appeared to prevail that the American pirates had murdered all +their captives entirely before landing them. +</P> + +<P> +Here they were, now, however, not a hair of their heads injured, and +Captain Syme even thanked Captain Avery, the privateersman, for having +treated him and his so very well. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall find our way to Belfast, sir," he said. "Just how we are to +transport them all, I don't know, but the neighboring authorities will +take care of that. I shall have them notified at once. You'd better +look out for yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," laughed Captain Avery, "but I'm less afraid of a constable +than I would be of a three-master with two tiers of guns. Not many o' +them in shore, I guess." +</P> + +<P> +Captain Syme had his hands full, he said, and away he went without +uttering aloud the reply that was so near his lips: "Three-master? +Yes, you rebel pirate! A seventy-four and you and your schooner within +point-blank range!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +IRISH LOYALTY. +</H4> + +<P> +Captain Avery's boat pulled away toward the <I>Noank</I>, and he remarked as +he took hold of the tiller ropes:— +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad to be rid of all that crowd. Now there'll be more room for +the rest of us. We can't afford to take prisoners." +</P> + +<P> +"They'll report us, sir," said one of the sailors. +</P> + +<P> +"They may say we mean to sack Liverpool, for all I care," growled the +captain. "I wish we had a supply of fresh provisions, though. We had +no time to take in any at Brest." +</P> + +<P> +The whole boat's crew agreed with him, for they had been living on salt +rations during many a long week. +</P> + +<P> +The skipper of the <I>Killarney</I> and his friends of all sorts, with their +personal baggage, were scattered high and low along the beach. The +hospitable commiseration they were receiving was even excessive, and +there appeared to be but one opinion among the population of that edge +of Ireland concerning the general wickedness of privateering. At the +side of the schooner, however, as if waiting for the captain's return, +was a stout yawl-boat. It had four rowers and in the stern-sheets sat +a large, florid, handsome man, very well dressed. +</P> + +<P> +"It's the captain of this American pirate?" he loudly inquired. "Glad +to see you, sir. I'm The McGahan and my place is inshore, yonder. +Have ye ony good tobacco aboord, or a drop o' claret, or an anker of +old Hollands?" +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Captain Avery, staring into the broadly smiling face of +the handsome Irishman, "we've no liquid, but we've loads o' prime Cuba +leaf, plug, and cigars. How are you off for beef and mutton, or, it +might be, a little fresh pork?" +</P> + +<P> +"No pork handy, the day," responded The McGahan. "Twinty head o' bafe, +though, and all the mutton ye want. It's me sorrow that I couldn't +lawfully sell ye huf or horn. The customs patrol is oll along the +coast, looking after smoogglers and the like, and it's loyal to the +king we are. God bless him!" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you're law abidin'," replied the captain. "I wouldn't ask +you to sell me a pound! Guert Ten Eyck, you and the men have up that +choice lot from the after cabin lockers. Mr. McGahan; come aboard and +make your own selections. I'm not the kind of man to evade the +customs. You'd better rob me of a lot of tobacco and whatever else +there is. I couldn't help myself, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I'll do," said McGahan, with a comical twist of his face. +"I'd like to ploonder a privateer. Hurrah for King Garge! Doon wid +all rebels!—exceptin' it may be Oirish rebels, and I'm wan o' thim. +Ye may sind over a party wid goons and cutlashes to rob me o' the bafe +and mutton. I'm thinking there's a good catch o' fish, along shore, +but the fisher folk'd niver evade the coostoms to get a little 'baccy." +</P> + +<P> +His boatmen had been listening, and he had not been whispering. One of +them now sang out:— +</P> + +<P> +"Your Worship! Plaze tell the bloody pirates to fetch along their +plug, and sthale the fish! We're oll a wake sort o' people, riddy to +be ploondhered." +</P> + +<P> +It was a bargain! Boats came and went, after that, and when Captain +Syme himself expressed his curiosity concerning them, he was sadly +informed that the American freebooters had demanded supplies. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Avery did not waste any time in carrying out his part of the +contract. He led an overpowering party of well-armed men to the +elegant country-seat of The McGahan, two miles away. A cart which was +driven along with him contained a number of small boxes and bales. +</P> + +<P> +"Some of McGahan's neighbors," he explained to Guert, "are as ready to +be robbed as he is. I'll not have to pay a dollar of cash. The +balance o' this trade'll come the other way. If we dared stay, we +could sell out our whole cargo." +</P> + +<P> +Guert was getting hold of several new ideas. One was, that a great +many Irishmen were about as devoted to the British government as were +the people of America. Another was, that war expenses were large and +that British taxes were heavy. A great part of the revenue collected +came from duties upon imported goods, and these imposts were such as to +practically offer bribes to all smugglers. +</P> + +<P> +"I see," he said to the captain. "It was the duty on imported tea that +set our war for independence a-going." +</P> + +<P> +"No!" replied Captain Avery. "That was only one p'int in the 'count. +We had enough else to fight for. I can tell you one thing, though. +All the Irish people'd be up in arms, to-day, if they had any George +Washington to lead them. They are treated badly; worse, in some +things, than we were." +</P> + +<P> +Neither going nor coming did Guert hear any blessings uttered upon +England. The fat oxen and the sheep were hurriedly driven to the +shore. Some butchering was done at once, and some salting, but the +sailors managed to convey to the schooner more live stock than there +was room for. One large sheep-pen was constructed amidships, below +deck, that there might be fresh mutton as long as possible. Near it +were cattle-stalls, and these would soon be empty, with so large a crew +of hungry eaters ready for roast beef and boiled. As for the fish they +came along in abundance, and casks of sea-water were provided for their +keeping. With them came fishermen and women and dozen of boys and +girls, all wild with curiosity concerning the "bloody privateer." +</P> + +<P> +One day more did the <I>Noank</I> linger at her pleasant anchorage. Thus, +just as the sun was nearing the western horizon, Up-na-tan, at the +beach in the small boat, with its regular crew, raised his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Whoo-oop!" sounded his war-cry of warning. +</P> + +<P> +"Hark!" said Guert. "That's a bugle! British troops coming! Off we +go!" +</P> + +<P> +A gun from the <I>Noank</I> told that the lookout on board had been as alert +as was the red man himself. +</P> + +<P> +"Aff wid yez!" yelled a fisherwoman, running frantically toward them. +"It's the Donegal Rigimint o' cavalry! They'd cut yez all down! Be +aff!" +</P> + +<P> +The boat was pulled swiftly away, and as it did so the head of a fine +column of uniformed horsemen came trotting out to where it could be +seen. +</P> + +<P> +"Charge 'em! Charge 'em!" roared a rider in civilian rig at the side +of their commander. "It's your duty, sir, to seize that pirate +schooner! They've carried aff more'n twinty head o' fat bafe for me. +You're answerable to the king if you let 'em get away!" +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" replied the cavalry major, coolly. "We'll charge the +schooner. You ride on board, if you will, and tell 'em we're coming." +</P> + +<P> +"It's not me duty," responded the excited McGahan. "It's a poor patrol +ye're kaping, whin a booccaneer can sail in and ploonder the coast." +</P> + +<P> +Straight to the shore the dragoons, for such they were called, rode +fearlessly onward, and the <I>Noank</I> fired a salute for them while she +swung out flag after flag, fore and aft. +</P> + +<P> +"They'll know the stars and stripes when they see it again," laughed +Captain Avery. "They're fools, though, to expose themselves in that +way. We might damage 'em badly, at this range." +</P> + +<P> +"She's an American privateer! Can that be a fact?" exclaimed the +British officer, in blank astonishment. "'Pon my soul, I couldn't +believe it till I saw it! I'm sure enough, now. Why, McGahan, you are +correct. My dear old boy, you couldn't help yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"Of coorse I couldn't," replied the robbed Irish gentleman. "I'm glad +you can belave me, at last. What do you think o' the impidence of 'em?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's fine!" exclaimed the major. +</P> + +<P> +That was the striking feature of it. Even in later days, it was +difficult for the country people of England to realize that such +American pirates as John Paul Jones, for instance, were actually +attacking the British islands. +</P> + +<P> +Leisurely, tauntingly, the crew of the <I>Noank</I> lifted their anchor. No +hostile shot was fired at the gallant-looking horsemen, and the major +confidently ventured out in a fishing boat until he was near enough to +hail. He was a bright-eyed, daring fellow and his first remark was an +oddity. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Avery, is it?" he said. "Fine schooner of yours, I'd say. I +was thinking of making a dash. I might surround you, you know. But if +you are going, I'll let you go." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish you would," called back the captain of the <I>Noank</I>. "Would you +like to come aboard? I'll give you a box of Cuba cigars." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you kindly," said the major. "I'll not trouble you to that +extent. I'm Major Avery of the Donegal Dragoons. I didn't know there +were any of the name in America. Sorry to find an Avery fighting +against his king." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said the captain, "you're out a little, there. He is your +king, not ours, and he is fighting us." +</P> + +<P> +"All right!—or rather, it's all wrong," replied the brave major. "The +king'll have his own again, before long. Your cruise'll be a short +one, if you run around in these waters." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said the captain, "they're safe enough. We can get away from the +cavalry, and from the tubs, too." +</P> + +<P> +"Tubs, eh? That's what you call 'em? You'll find that some of 'em are +pretty large tubs." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by!" shouted back the captain. "I'm glad to find one more +good-looking Avery. Come and visit at my house as soon as the war's +over." +</P> + +<P> +The sails of the <I>Noank</I> were taking the breeze. She swung away +seaward, bowing to the cavalry and to the swarm of fisher folk, and +these forgot their loyalty to England so far that they cheered her +lustily. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you know, Guert," remarked the captain, thoughtfully, "this is +about the worst side of our war! It has set old neighbors against each +other, and even kinfolk. Why! Old Ben Franklin himself has a son +that's an out and out Tory. He is the British Tory governor of New +Jersey. He and his father don't speak to each other. There's more +like 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, sir," said Guert. "Some first-rate fellows that I used to +know in New York went off on the wrong side. Steve de Lancey was one +of 'em. I used to take his boat whenever I wanted to, and they were +all real good neighbors." +</P> + +<P> +The recently appointed first mate of the <I>Noank</I>, taking Sam Prentice's +place and responsibilities, broke up the study of civil war evils. +</P> + +<P> +"Where away now, Captain?" he inquired. "Our being here'll be known +wide enough." +</P> + +<P> +"We won't be here, Morgan," replied the captain. "We are goin' right +up St. George's Channel. We may run all the way around the islands and +reach Amsterdam from the north." +</P> + +<P> +"That is," said Morgan, "if we get there at all. It's just as that +dragoon said: there are a good many king's cruisers hereaway. Big +ones, too." +</P> + +<P> +"We are safest in a crowd," replied the captain. "Our best plan is to +be where they won't dream of our darin' to go." +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt about that," said Morgan. "I'm agreed we're likely to pick +up something worth taking if we watch, while we're making such a run as +that." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go ashore, here and there, too," laughed the captain, "and show +'em the flag." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +VERY SHARP SHOOTING. +</H4> + +<P> +"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, in the kitchen of the Avery +house, "I am glad for thee. Thy brave son's share of the prize-money +taketh thee out of thy distresses. Thou wilt have more, if he +continueth to serve our good king after this fashion. Thee may be +proud of him." +</P> + +<P> +"Rachel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, "you know I'm glad to have the money +and to pay my debts with it, but I wish it didn't come from plunder. I +can't help pitying all the people that have lost their ships and their +property." +</P> + +<P> +"I also am sorry for them," said Rachel. "Doubtless, war is a sin and +an evil. I pray much for the return of peace. Thee should bear in +mind, though, that both sides have sinned, and that therefore both must +suffer while the war lasteth." +</P> + +<P> +"Our American people are suffering terribly," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "I +wish I could send something to Washington's army. I have heard say +that the colonies are becoming exhausted, while England is as rich as +ever." +</P> + +<P> +"She may be so," said Rachel, "but I have been at a Friends' meeting, +and some of the elderly men are good accountants. They had somewhat to +say concerning the matter of exhaustion." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, what did they say?" asked Mrs. Avery, at the ironing-board. +"Nobody can beat a lot of old Quakers at arithmetic." +</P> + +<P> +"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "This was their testimony concerning +this dark and dreadful year, and concerning last year also. They +computed that for every American who fell in battle or died in camp, +fifteen more young men became of age, ready to take his place. The +army is not dying out. For every acre of land really laid waste by the +British, one hundred fresh acres of newly opened farms were put under +cultivation. For every ton of American shipping captured by the +British, five tons of new shipping were built in American shipyards, +and ten tons of English shipping were captured or destroyed by our +cruisers. Our commerce, therefore, dieth not rapidly. Thee should not +forget, too, that our girls who are coming of age are worth something +for the future prosperity of the country. None of them are killed in +battles, and nearly all of them get married soon. The elders +testified, moreover, that while we have lost the right to send all of +our productions to England, we have gained the right to trade with all +the rest of the world. We wax richer and more numerous, they said, and +the timid and the unbelieving boweth his head, and weepeth, and +declareth that this is our exhaustion." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah for the Quakers!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "They are right! But, +Rachel, it is getting into September, and it is ever so long since we +have had any news from the <I>Noank</I>." +</P> + +<P> +"Two more prizes came," replied Rachel, "and thy son Vine came back to +thee in safety." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said his mother, "but it was only to go out with Sam Prentice in +that bark, for another privateering trip to the West Indies. I don't +care: I'm almost glad Vine isn't with General Schuyler's army and just +about to have a battle with Burgoyne." +</P> + +<P> +"It'll be a hard one," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They say the British have +all the Six Nations with them this time." +</P> + +<P> +"Anneke," said Rachel, "does thee not know the red men? I do. They +will dance and shout much, and they will take the king's presents. +They will do many murders, for a time, but all the British generals can +never turn Indians into soldiers. They may not be depended upon." +</P> + +<P> +Poor General Burgoyne, struggling desperately among the mountains and +forests and swamps, was already beginning to understand the really +worthless character of his vaunted Indian allies. They were +skirmishers and scouts, truly, but they were not trustworthy soldiers. +At the same time, their presence in his camps did more than anything +else to rally against him the full power of the New York and New +England patriots. Many a man whose patriotism had been lukewarm or +wavering took down his rifle from its hooks and hurried away to do his +best to prevent the threatened great inroad of the Iroquois. +</P> + +<P> +The ports of the Southern states as well as of the Northern were +sending out both public and private armed vessels, and the infant navy +of the United States was growing rapidly. It was beginning, also, to +establish for itself a high character for efficiency and daring. Even +when its first adventurous captains could not obtain ships that suited +them, they did wonders with old hulks and half-refitted merchantmen. +American shipyards were largely increasing their capacities, while +American sailors were proving that seamanship and courage were of more +importance than mere wood and canvas. +</P> + +<P> +The autumn days that came were bright and beautiful, even along the +misty coasts of the British islands. There had been, previously, a +succession of severe storms and a host of craft had lingered in harbor, +awaiting the arrival of this fine weather. Now it was here, the seas +which bordered Britain, France, the Netherlands, and, away northward, +the Danish coast, the North Sea, and the Baltic, seemed to swarm with +sails. These were all too numerous for one craft more to attract +especial attention. +</P> + +<P> +There were war-ships of all sorts and sizes, and of several +nationalities. These were all supposed by each other to be in somewhat +jealous and exclusive care of the welfare and conduct of their own +traders. One flag only was notably absent, as yet, and there were not +many seagoing Europeans, comparatively speaking, who had even so much +as seen the stars and stripes. This was the bright flag of the future, +nor was anybody ready to foresee that it would thereafter become of +great importance in the commerce of the world. +</P> + +<P> +A schooner, apparently a merchantman, going along under easy sail, was +taking a course from the northward into the British Channel. There +were many two-masters in the North Sea carrying the Baltic and +Scandinavian trade, and this might be one of them. A sleepy British +line-of-battle ship in the distance, easterly, did not care to meddle +with her, flying as she did the Norway flag. She might be a +lumber-boat, with her hold full of barrel heads and staves, and her +deck cluttered with spare spars for the Hull builders. +</P> + +<P> +A closer look at that same deck would have dismissed the spars from the +supposition, and certainly no ordinary lumber business could have +called for so numerous a crew. +</P> + +<P> +One of these, a short and brawny man, was all the while busy with a +telescope, uttering pretty loudly his readings of all he saw. No doubt +he was a sailor familiar with these seas, and had been selected as a +lookout for that reason. "That line-o'-battle ship won't pay us any +attention, sir," he said. "We're getting well along past her. There +isn't a speck o' danger in sight but one." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Groot?" said Captain Avery, arising from his seat upon a +coil of rope. "What do you see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Revenue cutter, sir," replied Groot, "or I'm mistaken. She's +brig-rigged. Almost dead ahead. She'll try to overhaul us, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"I a'most hope she will," said the captain, testily. "We'll keep right +on. We've sailed all the way 'round Scotland, and the best fun we've +had was goin' ashore for fish and to scare the people. We haven't +taken in a dollar's worth." +</P> + +<P> +"Some o' the custom's cutters are likely craft," remarked a grizzled +seaman near him. "They're apt to be pretty well armed. It wouldn't +pay very well to tackle one of 'em. She might turn and tackle us." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Taber," said the captain, "we'll sheer away from her, of course, +but I won't run away very far, unless that there liner gets too nigh +us." +</P> + +<P> +"She won't," said Groot. "She's taking in sail now. We're too small +game for her to chase after." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll let out every inch of our own canvas, then," suddenly shouted +the captain. "I've an idea in my head. All hands prepare for action! +My notion is that that feller's right there on the lookout for us. By +this time every British captain has heard that we are cruisin' 'round. +'Bout ship! Cast loose that pivot-gun. We may have to try a shot with +it in less'n half an hour. Taber, go to the wheel. Men! I think +we're goin' to be waked up!" +</P> + +<P> +His further orders went out fast, and every man on board seemed to feel +as if a kind of relief had come. Day after day, most of the time in +bad weather, they had beaten along the Irish coasts, and then the +Scotch. The only important ships they had seen had been French or +British cruisers, or else merchantmen which were altogether too near an +armed protector. For fishing boats and mere coasters they had no +appetite. It had, therefore, been only dull business for overcrowded, +uncomfortable men, eager for adventures and prize-money. +</P> + +<P> +The sails went out, and as they caught the breeze the <I>Noank</I> sprang +gayly forward. +</P> + +<P> +"That's it, sir," said Groot, lowering his glass. "She was hove to +when I first sighted her. She'll cross our course next tack, and there +isn't another keel anywhere near us." +</P> + +<P> +"That's our luck," said the captain. "I guess we can handle any +custom-house boat. I know what their armaments are, mostly. They're +all good runners, but they don't count on much resistance from +smugglers, and their guns are short-nosed." +</P> + +<P> +If he had been on board of the brig he was speaking of at that moment, +he might have changed his opinion a little. A revenue protector she +was, assuredly, and she was more than a mere cutter. She was well +manned, well armed. It looked, indeed, as if what might be her +ordinary ship's company had been reënforced, perhaps by a detail from a +man-of-war. Her commander was a regular navy lieutenant, and he was a +seamanlike old fellow. The four guns each broadside that she carried +were the long six-pound chasers that were then going into the new +revenue service vessels, and they were good pieces for their caliber. +She was a dangerous customer for the kind of antagonist she was +expected to meet. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Tracy," said a young officer on her quarter-deck to the gray +lieutenant, "what do you think of her, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," replied his commander, "she's the chap we're here for. She +has just the style o' foremast and tops'l that Syme told us of. That's +the Yankee. I can't believe, though, that she's all he said she was. +The fellow was badly scared, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll knock some splinters out of her, and take her in, then," laughed +the young man, jauntily. "You were right, sir, in coming this way. +The others missed her." +</P> + +<P> +"We won't do that," said Tracy. "All hands clear away for action! We +are going to take that American privateer!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay, sir!" came cheerily back, and the crew sprang away in genuine +British readiness for anything like a brush with an enemy. +</P> + +<P> +An ugly antagonist the <I>Arran</I> was likely to be, and she was sure of +good handling. She was speedy, too, and the two vessels were all the +while nearing each other. It was to be noted, nevertheless, as Captain +Avery had said, that at the same time they were getting away out of +reach of the overpowerful ship of the line. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to strike first," he remarked, "and I mean to hit hard. +Ready, Up-na-tan! Williams, pull down that Norway bunting, and run up +the stars and stripes! We'll fight under our own flag to-day. I'll +cripple that fellow or take him. If I don't, we're bound for a British +prison, instead of Amsterdam." +</P> + +<P> +"That's so, sir," said Groot. "She's a pretty big bird for us, I'm +thinking." +</P> + +<P> +"Big or little, we'll fight her! Three cheers for the flag!" sang out +the captain. +</P> + +<P> +The three cheers were rousers, and the <I>Noank</I> gained a point by it. +Lieutenant Tracy had been using his glass just then, and he angrily +roared out:— +</P> + +<P> +"Fletcher, my boy! If they haven't challenged us! Give 'em a +broadside! Hurrah! They mean to show fight!" +</P> + +<P> +Good gunners were those mariners of the <I>Arran</I>. Well sent was that +broadside; and in a moment more Captain Avery was leaning over his port +bulwark, and was making a somewhat serious examination. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" he shouted in his turn. "So much for ice-fender timbers and +planking. Two shot struck fair and didn't go through. Up-na-tan, let +fly! Show 'em the difference!" +</P> + +<P> +The Manhattan did not obey at once. He was sighting, sighting, +sighting, for almost a minute, and the men at the broadside guns were +following his example. +</P> + +<P> +"Fire!" shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating +pause. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-240"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-240.jpg" ALT="THE FIGHT WITH THE ARRAN. "'Fire!' shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating pause."" BORDER="2"> +<P CLASS="capcenter"> +THE FIGHT WITH THE ARRAN.<BR> +"'Fire!' shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating pause." +</P> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Ugh!" grunted the red man, at last. "Ole chief wait and see brig +bowsprit. Send shot behind it." +</P> + +<P> +The long eighteen spoke out, and was instantly followed by the three +sixes on that side of the <I>Noank</I>. It was at the very moment when +Lieutenant Tracy remarked, inquiringly:— +</P> + +<P> +"What? Don't they mean to answer us? You don't say they'll surrender +without firing a shot? That isn't like 'em, now—" +</P> + +<P> +His next utterance was much louder. +</P> + +<P> +"George!" he shouted. "There goes my bowsprit! The jolly-boat's +knocked into matchwood! I declare! There's a hole in the mains'l! Is +anybody hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not a man, sir!" shouted back Fletcher, cheerfully. "We'll give it to +'em!" +</P> + +<P> +The brig had been already going about, and her other broadside was as +well directed as the first. It would have been bad for the <I>Noank</I> but +for her heavy timbers and the lightness of Tracy's metal. She was +hulled in three places, and there was a ragged split in her foresail. +It did not prevent her going about, however, and her next trio of iron +messengers were as well aimed as were the Englishman's. +</P> + +<P> +"They hulled us, sir," reported the <I>Arran's</I> sailing-master. "No +great harm. Three men hurt by splinters. The after rigging's cut a +bit. We must finish that chap, sir." +</P> + +<P> +"That cursed long gun o' theirs!" growled Tracy, fiercely. "Captain +Syme told me, and I hardly believed him. That's what may play the +mischief with us. I wish we were at broadsides with her." +</P> + +<P> +That was precisely the advantage which Captain Avery did not intend to +give him, right away, and the <I>Arran</I>, losing her bowsprit, was not by +any means so difficult to keep away from or to outmanoeuvre. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, carefully, Up-na-tan had again sighted his gun and measured his +distance. It was tantalizing to watch him as he doggedly refused to +throw away a shot. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh! Whoo-oop!" he yelled, as his lanyard touched the priming of his +gun. "Now see! Ole chief take 'em aft!" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish he'd do as well for one end of her as he did for the other," +muttered the captain. +</P> + +<P> +"He's done it, sir!" exclaimed Guert, for he had borrowed the captain's +telescope. +</P> + +<P> +"That Indian's a gunner!" said Groot, with emphasis. "I never saw one +to beat him. I've seen pretty good marksmen, too." +</P> + +<P> +The peculiar accuracy of eye born in or acquired by the old red man was +a disastrous gift for the British revenue brig. Almost too far aft did +the shot hit her, but in it went, and all her rudder gear was useless +in a second of time. She could no longer answer her wheel, and began +to lurch about at the mercy of wind and wave. +</P> + +<P> +Fierce indeed were the execrations of her helpless officers and crew. +All their courage and seamanship were of no use, now. Their guns might +as well have been made of wood, and their jaunty brig had become as +clumsy and unmanageable as a raft. Moreover, the terrible American was +speeding nearer, and only a few minutes went by before there came a +loud-voiced demand for her surrender to the— +</P> + +<P> +"United States armed cruiser <I>Noank</I>, Captain Lyme Avery." +</P> + +<P> +"His Britannic Majesty's brig <I>Arran</I>, Lieutenant Tracy. We surrender, +of course. You could sink us as we are now. All the luck's yours." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll come alongside," said Avery. +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I had a right to board him when he comes," growled Tracy, as +his flag came down. "There'd be some satisfaction in that." +</P> + +<P> +A few minutes later he had changed that opinion, for an unexpected +torrent of men poured over his bulwarks from the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"'Pon my soul!" he exclaimed. "What a crew she has! They outnumber us +two to one. It's no disgrace at all!" +</P> + +<P> +All the British tars felt relieved in their minds after a good look at +their victors. The result of the fight was not to be a discredit to +them, they said, and the American sailors hailed them merrily. There +had been no killing on either side, and there was no cause for bad +temper. The best shots had decided the fight, and all true seamen +could accept the consequences. +</P> + +<P> +"Lieutenant Tracy," said Captain Avery, "we don't want your brig. +We'll take out of her all that suits us, and then you can drift around +till help gets to you. Or you can patch up and work your way into some +port or other." +</P> + +<P> +"I can manage it," said the Englishman, ruefully. "We captured a +French smuggler yesterday, and now a deal o' that luck is yours instead +of ours. You rebels are holding out wonderfully." +</P> + +<P> +"So is England," laughed Captain Avery. "You won't give up, and we +won't. I guess you'll have to, though, one o' these days." +</P> + +<P> +"Never!" said Tracy, sturdily. "All the colonies'll have to come back +under the king, sooner or later." +</P> + +<P> +"You wait and see," said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +The loyal-hearted lieutenant, however, had expressed no more than the +almost undoubting faith of the great body of his countrymen. They were +simply unable to believe that the Americans could succeed. +</P> + +<P> +Down into the hold of the <I>Arran</I> had dashed the men of the <I>Noank</I>. +Tackle had been quickly rigged at the hatches. +</P> + +<P> +One of the commands given had related to a search for powder and shot, +and the entire supply of the brig was now coming up, to be transferred +to the schooner. It was a timely winning, for her stock had begun to +run low. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a good thing for us," said her captain and crew, as they secured +it. +</P> + +<P> +Anything and everything in the nature of arms and ammunition, +furniture, cutlery, table goods, bales of woollens, and packages of +silks taken from the French smuggler, more than a little tanned +leather, lots of miscellaneous stuff not yet precisely known as to its +character, made up the unexpectedly valuable plunder of the +smuggler-capturing brig. +</P> + +<P> +There was no time to transfer her cannon, and these were left behind, +spiked. Her spare sails went, however, with a good yawl-boat and some +extra light spars. Then the <I>Noank</I> cast off, and her crew gave their +crestfallen British acquaintances three rounds of hearty cheers. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Avery," shouted Tracy, "you're a good fellow, but Fletcher and +I hope we may meet you again, some day, with better luck to our guns." +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" responded the captain. "May you command a forty-four and +I another. Then the United States'll own one more prime ship that used +to be the king's. Hurrah!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +DOWN THE BRITISH CHANNEL. +</H4> + +<P> +With the exception, it may be, of the Mediterranean Sea, there is no +other water whereupon so much history has been manufactured as on the +British Channel. +</P> + +<P> +Away back beyond Cæsar's day and ever since, it has been cruised over +by all sorts of vessels and fleets. Its first absolute rulers were the +Norse-Saxon vikings. After them it has been Danish, Dutch, French, and +English. +</P> + +<P> +One of the later Dutch admirals once carried a broom at his masthead in +a boastful declaration that he had swept the Channel clean of every +opposing force. Not a great while afterward, the British sea-captains +fell heirs to the Hollander's broom. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Noank</I> had not lain long grappled to the disabled <I>Arran</I>. There +was danger in every hour of delay. The plunder obtained, although +valuable, was not excessively bulky, and was rapidly transferred and +stowed away. +</P> + +<P> +There was no apparent danger but that the brig would speedily receive +assistance, for there were other sails already in sight. Her first +disability, as to any of these, was that she was no longer able to fire +a signal-gun, and all her rockets and other explosives had been taken +away. Her officers and crew were left to do whatever they could with +flags in the daytime, or with lanterns by night. +</P> + +<P> +"We're off," thought Guert Ten Eyck, as the schooner swung away, all +her sails going out as she did so. "Captain Avery says he must capture +one more prize, if it's only to take off some of our men. Then we're +to streak it for home! Don't I want to get there?" +</P> + +<P> +The cruise of the <I>Noank</I> had indeed become a long one. There were +several ship reasons why it would be good for her to go into dock and +be overhauled for repairs. Her crew, also, were more than willing to +see their homes and families. +</P> + +<P> +"My boy," said Groot, the Dutchman, as he came to sit down by his young +friend, "you go home. I have no home. I must live on the sea. The +land is not my place." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be glad to get there," said Guert, "if it's my own land. Do you +know if we're to run into Amsterdam?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not if the captain is wise," replied Groot. "There will be too many +Englishmen looking after him, as soon as they hear of this affair." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I guess they won't like it," laughed Guert. "Up-na-tan is +homesick." +</P> + +<P> +The red man was standing within a few feet of them, and he answered as +if he had been spoken to. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" he said. "Ole chief want to know 'bout he island. Want see +Manhattan. Mebbe all lobster get away. Up-na-tan go see ole place. +Fish in Harlem River." +</P> + +<P> +That was what was the matter with him. Warrior he might be, sailor, +pirate, or privateersman, but at that moment he was dreaming of the +happiness of pulling in flounders and blackfish from the waters around +his island. +</P> + +<P> +Guert, on his part, was thinking of his mother. He wondered if she +still were living at the Avery farm-house, and if his prize-money had +been duly paid over to her to make her comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, every man hark!" said Captain Avery to his crew, when, a little +later, he had gathered them amidships. "We've a close race to run. If +this wind holds, we shall be in the Straits of Dover at about daylight +to-morrow morning. We are goin' to risk it and cut our way through. +Three cheers for home!" +</P> + +<P> +Vigorous, indeed, were the hurrahs that answered him, and on sped the +schooner. Her sails that were torn by the shot of the <I>Arran</I> were +being replaced by new ones, and skilful sail tailors were busy with the +rents of the old. The damage to her bulwarks was of no importance and +not a shot had penetrated her sides. The American sailors were in fine +spirits, but not so were Lieutenant Tracy and the crew of the <I>Arran</I>. +Hardly two hours went by before his hoped-for succor came, but he +wished it had been a merchantman rather than a man-of-war. The sound +of the cannonading had been borne by the wind to the line-of-battle +ship. She had sailed toward it, as a matter of course, and here, now, +was one of the boats at the <I>Arran's</I> side. On her deck was the +seventy-four's first lieutenant, so hot with wrath that he could hardly +listen to poor Tracy's report, while he himself rapidly inspected the +damages done by Up-na-tan's well-sent iron. +</P> + +<P> +"Help yourself?" he exclaimed. "Why, they made a log of your brig! +What's the world coming to? They're prime gunners, my boy. We must +make out to sink that rascal. I don't know exactly what to do with +your craft." +</P> + +<P> +He did know, nevertheless. Temporary steering-gear was fitting on her +as rapidly as might be, and the pumps were going, for the <I>Arran</I> was +leaking badly at the stern. +</P> + +<P> +"Tracy, my boy," said the lieutenant, "get her into any port the +wind'll help you to. We're away after that saucy privateer." +</P> + +<P> +So surely and so powerfully would the fugitive be followed, not to +speak of any perils which might be hovering around the pathway before +her. The commander of the line-of-battle ship knew something +concerning at least a part of these. He listened to the report of his +first officer, on his return, angrily yet coolly, and he replied:— +</P> + +<P> +"All right, Hobson. Tracy isn't to be blamed, I see. As for the +pirate, we'll chase her, but she's a lost dog already. The whole +Channel fleet is under orders to gather at Dover Straits. She is +running right in among 'em. She'll be overhauled before eight bells +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"Those Yankees are slippery chaps, sir," said the lieutenant, shaking +his head. +</P> + +<P> +The hours went swiftly by, and Captain Avery remained on deck, pacing +thoughtfully to and fro. Midnight went by and still the wind held +good. It was a strong, northerly breeze, upon which he could have +asked for no improvement. +</P> + +<P> +"Lights! Lights! Lights!" he was at last repeating, as he looked +ahead. "There's a reg'lar fleet of some sort. Our lanterns are all +right, I'd say, 'cordin' to the signal-book. Bad for us, though. All +those are British men-o'-war, not merchantmen. Port there, Taber; I +must be ready to speak this feller that's nearest. Groot, you and +Guert go to the rail. Up-na-tan, you and Coco must help. They mustn't +hear any English. Both of you can talk Dutch. Some of us'll chatter +French and Spanish." +</P> + +<P> +There were, however, on board that man-of-war, men who could understand +Dutch. One of them was an officer who came to the rail to converse +with Groot, after hails had been exchanged. +</P> + +<P> +"<I>Magdalen</I>, of Rotterdam?" he said. "Tell those monkeys to shut up +their jabber, there, so I can hear! From Copenhagen last? You spoke +the line-o'-battle ship <I>Humber</I>, coming this way? Did you hear +anything of that American privateer?" +</P> + +<P> +Dutch and French again broke out upon the supposed <I>Magdalen</I>, and the +Englishman shouted back toward his own quarter-deck:— +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah! The <I>Humber</I> reports the Yankee cruiser sunk by the revenue +cutter <I>Arran</I>, Lieutenant Tracy. Hurrah for him! Hard fight! The +Yankees fought to the last. Nearly a hundred prisoners. Heave ahead, +<I>Magdalen</I>! Good news!" +</P> + +<P> +Loud Dutch shouts replied to him, and on went the <I>Noank</I>, while the +other vessels of the British Channel fleet received the welcome tidings +as it was passed along from ship to ship. Therefore there was no +longer any need that they should be on the watch for the impudent, +destructive adventurer from the other side of the Atlantic. She had +gone to the bottom! +</P> + +<P> +"I feel kind o' queer," thought Guert. "I couldn't ha' done it myself. +I had to let Groot do the lying. I'm afraid I'll never do for war. I +don't mind a fight, out and out, but somehow I can't help speaking the +truth, Dutch or English." +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan, on the other hand, was in great good-humor over the very +Indian-like manner in which the British were being defeated. The Dover +gathering of their war-ships was to him a kind of ambush through which +he and his friends were cunningly crawling by hiding their feathers and +war-paint. +</P> + +<P> +They were not exactly crawling, either, for Captain Avery was calling +upon his schooner for all the speed she had. +</P> + +<P> +"We mustn't lose an inch!" he said. "Their best racers'll be comin' on +in our wake in less'n an hour, maybe. I wish this night'd last all day +to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +The next morning had not arrived, indeed, when the <I>Humber</I> herself +came within hail of one of her Dover assembly friends. Then, shortly, +there arose a more noisy jabber in English than had been heard in Dutch +and French on the <I>Noank</I>, for the genuine news had been told in place +of Hans Groot's invention. The actual outcome of the fight between the +<I>Noank</I> and the <I>Arran</I> did not call for any enthusiastic cheering. +Only a little later, the admiral commanding the fleet summed up the +whole affair. +</P> + +<P> +"Gentlemen," he said, to a number of glum-looking officers, "we have +passed that American pirate right along through this fleet. I think +we've a right to go ashore, somewhere, and sit down. It was cleverly +done, though, 'pon my soul! Captain Coverley, select our three best +chasers to follow her. She mustn't be allowed to get away again!" +</P> + +<P> +Each of the three vessels named was three or four times over a match +for the <I>Noank</I>, and her chances did appear to be unpleasantly small. +</P> + +<P> +"There's jest one thing they won't count on our doin'," had been the +decision of Captain Avery. "We must put right out into the Atlantic, +aimed at nowhere. If it would only blow a gale, now!" +</P> + +<P> +He was not to be gratified in that particular during the pleasant +autumn day that followed. Lighter became the wind, brighter the sky, +and stiller the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a schooner wind, Lyme," said his old friend Taber, now the second +mate of the <I>Noank</I>. "It gives us our best paces. We've run past +every keel that was on the same tack, thus far. It isn't really bad +luck." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope it isn't," the captain gloomily responded. "But this 'ere sea +is a boat sea. They might come for us with a rigiment of their boats, +you know. It's a good thing for us that there isn't a man-o'-war in +sight, yet. I a'most feel as if there was blood on every mile we're +makin'!" +</P> + +<P> +He was even low spirited. It seemed to him impossible that so long a +run of what seamen call good luck could be stretched out much further. +The sailors, on the other hand, were taking a different view of the +matter, very much more sensibly. Every man of them may have had a +superstitious belief in "luck," but they had also seen, in each +successive emergency, that they had a captain with a long head, and +that he knew exactly what to do with that schooner. They were in good +spirits, therefore, that sunny day. Perhaps they did not know all the +reasons he had for now and then shaking his head. +</P> + +<P> +"There's no port for us, hereaway," he thought. "I don't know of one +that it would be safe for us to look into. It's a long v'yage home. +We're a good deal overcrowded. There's worse'n that to think of, +though. That feller Tracy told me our folks at home are gettin' ready +to give it up. He said we are beaten badly, all around. I may find a +British garrison in New London, when I get there. One in Boston, too. +Then my chance for a rope 'round my neck is a sure one. Things look +black, and no mistake!" +</P> + +<P> +He should have been at his home that day instead of at sea. All over +New England, all over the other colonies, north and south, as far as +the news had been carried; from town to town, from village to village, +and from farm to farm, horsemen were riding, men and boys on foot were +running to tell of the surrender of Burgoyne. The great British +invasion and conquest of the northern half of the American rebellion +had broken down. The Six Nations had scattered to their wigwams and +council-fires. It would be many days yet before the tidings could +reach England or cross the Channel to astonish Continental Europe and +seal the alliance between the United States and France. It would be +longer still before it could be known by roving cruisers out at sea. +For all American keels, however, their home ports had been made secure +from British assailing until the generals and admirals of King George +should have time given them to consider the Saratoga affair, and make +up their astonished minds as to what it might be best for them to +undertake next. +</P> + +<P> +"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, "thee wicked rebel! Has thee +no feelings for thy good king and his wise counsellors? Cannot thee +understand that their souls may be much disturbed by this untoward +event?" +</P> + +<P> +"I wish their fleets were as badly whipped as Burgoyne's army is," +replied Mrs. Ten Eyck. "Oh! it is so very long since I've heard from +Guert!" +</P> + +<P> +"Trust thy son with thy God!" said Rachel, reverently. "Thee may think +of this, Anneke: our victory over Burgoyne hath cost much to hundreds +of mothers, as loving as thou art. Their sons lie buried at Stillwater +and Saratoga. No gallant ship will bring them home again." +</P> + +<P> +"I know it! I know it!" sobbed Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They gave their lives +for liberty. Guert may have to give his as Nathan Hale did. He told +me he believed he could die as bravely, only he would rather it should +be in battle." +</P> + +<P> +"That he may not choose for himself," said Rachel. "It hath come, +heretofore, to many of my own people, Quakers, thou callest them, to +die by the fire, and by the water, and by the hempen cord, because they +would not give up their freedom to worship God in their own way. I +think it was well with them. Let thy son die as it shall be given him +in the hour of his appointing." +</P> + +<P> +Deep and solemn had grown the tones of the enthusiastic old Friend, but +Mrs. Ten Eyck dropped her knitting and went to a window to look out +long and wistfully toward the harbor. +</P> + +<P> +"When will he come sailing in?" she thought. "Am I ever to see him +again? Oh! the war is so long, and the sea is so wide, and I love him +so!" +</P> + +<P> +Very beautiful and very long-suffering was the patriotism of the +American woman of that day. Bitter indeed was the cup that many of +them had to drink. Costly as life itself were the sacrifices that they +were called upon to make. Well might such a son as Guert, keeping his +watch on deck at the end of that long, pleasant day, be thinking only +of his mother, rather than of the dangers that surrounded the <I>Noank</I>. +Groot, the pirate, came and sat down by him and asked him curious +questions concerning the way people lived in America. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't get back to our old farm on Manhattan Island," Guert told him, +"until Washington's army marches in again. Up-na-tan and Coco came +away with me when we were beaten." +</P> + +<P> +Groot asked then about the New York battles and about New London. +</P> + +<P> +"I always believed," he said, "that I must always live on the sea, but +I've been thinking. I can never be safe afloat. I sail with a rope +around my neck, although I was never a pirate of my own free will. It +is growing in my mind that I had better find some kind of harbor on +shore. I shall have prize-money this time. I can make a start at +something. I believe I could go away back into one of your states and +live a new life." +</P> + +<P> +"That's it," said Guert. "You could go among the Mohawk Valley +Dutchmen, if Manhattan Island is too near the sea. You'd be hidden +there, safe enough. Nobody would ever come for you." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll think of it," said Groot. "No man knows how long he is going to +live, anyhow." +</P> + +<P> +So there was rejoicing, with mourning also, and anxiety, upon the land, +and it was a time for serious thinking on the sea; but at this moment +the forward lookout startled all on board by the vigorous voice with +which he sang out:— +</P> + +<P> +"Sail ahead! Close on the larboard bow! Big three-master! No light +showing!" +</P> + +<P> +"All hands away!" roared Captain Avery. "Port your helm, there! Men! +If it's an armed ship, it's too late to get away. We must grapple and +board her, for life and death. Get the grapplings ready! Ship ahoy!" +</P> + +<P> +The response was the report of a shotted gun and an angry shout:— +</P> + +<P> +"We know you! Keep away, or we'll sink you! We can do it!" +</P> + +<P> +"British trader," thought Captain Avery. "He's told us all we need to +know. He's a strong one, I guess, and he could maul us badly. Our +only chance is to close with him." Then he shouted to his crew:— +</P> + +<P> +"Pikes and cutlasses! All hands be ready to follow me! Hurrah!" +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" came wildly back, and the three guns of the schooner's +broadside, with the long eighteen, answered the stranger's challenge. +</P> + +<P> +They were well enough directed, and so was the reply that came from +half a dozen English pieces, but these, quite naturally at so short a +range, were aimed too high. Down came both of the topmasts of the +<I>Noank</I>, while her hull and ship's company were unhurt. She was a +crippled craft in a moment, but she still had enough of headway to +carry her alongside of her bulky antagonist before her guns could be +reloaded. +</P> + +<P> +"Throw the grapnels!" shouted Captain Avery. "Haul, now! All aboard! +Fore and aft, and amidships! Give it to 'em!" +</P> + +<P> +Down he went the next instant, flat upon the deck of the English ship, +as he sprang over her bulwark. Down at his side fell the British +sailor by whose cutlass he had fallen, and over both of them sprang +Guert Ten Eyck with Up-na-tan and Coco reaching out to hold him back +and get in before him. +</P> + +<P> +"I hit him!" shouted Guert, fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +"Forward! Down with 'em! The ship is ours!" +</P> + +<P> +Right here, amidships, the English crew had supposed to be the strength +of their assailants and they had rushed desperately to meet it. They +had not heard, however, the last command of Captain Avery, and his fore +and aft boarding parties went over almost unopposed. +</P> + +<P> +"We are surrounded!" exclaimed the British captain, "They are four to +one! Hold hands, Americans! We surrender!" +</P> + +<P> +It was time for him to do so, for fully a third of his crew were +already down. They had been completely surprised as well as +outnumbered. +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, as he lowered his pike and turned suddenly +toward Guert. "Boy hurt?" +</P> + +<P> +"Coco catch him!" said the old black man, eagerly, as Guert sank upon +the deck. "Saw lobster cut him!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind me!" yelled Guert. "See how Captain Avery is! Look at the +cut in his head!" +</P> + +<P> +"Wors'n that!" came hoarsely from first mate Morgan, as he bent above +the fallen captain. "Taber, take charge of all for a moment! Lyme +Avery is dead! Shot through the heart! Send the prisoners below. +Look out for the wounded. All hands clear ship! Both ships! Make +sail at once! I'm in command of the <I>Noank</I>. Taber'll take this one." +</P> + +<P> +The second mate was a Groton man, a grim old salt who had sailed in +many seas. He was a good man to lean on in such an emergency, and he +rattled out his orders while the men secured the prisoners. Morgan +slowly stood erect as the English commander came toward him. +</P> + +<P> +"You are the American captain, sir? I know what your ship is. Mine is +the <I>Lynx</I>, British privateer, Captain Ellis. We were on the lookout +for you, or we thought we were." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Captain Morgan, now Lyme Avery is dead," was the somewhat sadly +spoken reply. "How is it that you're so short-handed?" +</P> + +<P> +"We had only forty able men left, all told," said Ellis. "Thirteen +more sick or wounded. All the rest away in prizes or taken out of us +by the reg'lar men-o'-war. The prizes and the press-gangs turned us +over to you, sir. We took a Baltimore lugger, a bark from +Philadelphia, two schooners from Boston, and one from Providence. We'd +done right well, so far. You must ha' made a prime run, yourself." +</P> + +<P> +He was evidently a privateersman all over, and his view of the matter +was that he had only met with a disaster in the regular line of his +business. +</P> + +<P> +Morgan's thoughts were running in another direction. +</P> + +<P> +"Your armament's heavier than ours," he said, after a sharp survey. +"Lyme was right, poor fellow! Our only chance was to board." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps it was," said Ellis. "We've two nines and three sixes on a +side. Our pivot-gun's gearing broke, and she's no good. Thirty-two, +though. The <I>Lynx</I> is an old Indiaman. She's a little heavy, but +she's a good sailer. We cut up your spars a little?" +</P> + +<P> +The sailors of the <I>Noank</I> were already examining her damages. Three +more of her crew had been killed and two wounded in the short, sharp +fight. Six Englishmen killed and seven more hurt out of forty told how +severely the odds had been against them. +</P> + +<P> +During the first few moments of noise and confusion, while the other +sailors were rushing hither and thither upon their very pressing +duties, Up-na-tan and Coco had been kneeling by Guert. +</P> + +<P> +A pike-thrust in his right thigh, a slight sword-cut on his left +shoulder, a bruise upon his head, told for him that he had been in the +very front of the fray. +</P> + +<P> +"Both cut cure up quick," said Up-na-tan, as he bandaged the wounds. +"Boy no die. Ole chief glad o' that. Take him home to ole woman." +</P> + +<P> +From the Ashantee came nothing but an apparently gratified chuckle. +</P> + +<P> +Their first work was to get him back upon the <I>Noank</I> and into a bunk +in Captain Avery's cabin, by Morgan's especial direction. All the +other wounded, on both sides, were well cared for. Then there was a +short, sorrowful hour given to sea funerals, and all the dead were +buried in the ocean. +</P> + +<P> +Mate Taber, with more than half of the <I>Noank's</I> company, was put in +charge of the <I>Lynx</I>. All of the prisoners, also, were left in her. +</P> + +<P> +"Homeward bound, Taber," shouted Captain Morgan, as the ships parted +from their too close companionship. "Take your own course to New +London. The main thing is to get in." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay, ay!" called back the old Groton sailor. "We'll get there. We'd +best keep within signal distance as long as we can, but the schooner's +riggin' needs repairs, and ours doesn't." +</P> + +<P> +"All right," said Morgan. "Keep company!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SPENT SHOT. +</H4> + +<P> +The first few hours after a sea-fight are apt to have a great deal in +them. There was not a moment of time wasted on board the <I>Noank</I>, for +the spare spars taken from the <I>Arran</I> were just the right things to be +sent up in place of the sticks which had been shattered by the fire of +the <I>Lynx</I>. Not until they should be in place could the swift schooner +show her paces, and they had been going up even while the ocean burials +were attended to. +</P> + +<P> +"This is awful news to carry home to poor Mrs. Avery," groaned Guert, +as he lay in his bunk. "I don't care much for my hurts, but I wish I +could be on deck. I'm almost glad I'm wounded. I know how Nathan Hale +would feel about it. He'd say it was little enough for a fellow to +suffer for his country and for liberty. I'll never forget him." +</P> + +<P> +Away off there on the ocean, therefore, in a schooner bunk, in the +dark, the memory of America's hero was doing its beautiful work, as it +has been doing ever since, a bright example set, as a star that will +not go down. +</P> + +<P> +Many hands make light work, and the spars were all right by the next +sunrise. There was only one sail in sight when Captain Morgan came on +deck from a visit below to all his wounded men. +</P> + +<P> +"That's the <I>Lynx</I>," he thought. "We must get within hail of her and +find out how Taber's gettin' on. I don't even know what her cargo is. +The way Lyme Avery carried her's a wonder!" +</P> + +<P> +So Captain Taber was thinking at that very hour, as he went from gun to +gun of the old Indiaman's batteries. +</P> + +<P> +"All she wanted was men," he said, "and she'd ha' beaten us, easy. We +must have that thirty-two pounder pivot-gun in order, first thing. +I'll make a strong cruiser of her. I've a gang overhaulin' the cargo. +It promises well, and there's more'n thirty thousand dollars in +cash.—Oh! but ain't I sick about Lyme! Best kind o' feller! Best +neighbor! Best sailor, too. He and I sailed three long v'yages +together, and we never had an ill word on sea or land." +</P> + +<P> +Every other man of the dead captain's crew was saying or thinking +something of the sort, and it was a blue time in spite of the victory. +The excitement was all over now, and even the most reckless could +calculate somewhat the dangers which still remained between them and +home. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Ellis himself came up to the deck of the ship which he had +ceased to command, for there was no reason for confining him below. He +found that more than half his crew had volunteered to do ordinary +ship-duty, at regular pay, rather than be shut up under hatches. The +remainder, however, were stubborn Britons, and refused to handle so +much as a rope under a rebel flag. +</P> + +<P> +"They can't do us any harm," Captain Taber had said of the volunteers. +"I'll trust 'em. Besides, every man of 'em's Irish, and there's mighty +little love o' King George that side o' the Channel." +</P> + +<P> +At all events, all of these sailor sons of Erin went to their messes +cheerfully that morning. +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Taber," said Ellis, when they came together, "I never saw +anything like it! Look, yonder! Your schooner's refitted! She's as +taut and trim as ever!" +</P> + +<P> +"She has half a dozen good ship carpenters on board," laughed Taber. +"They could build her over again. Our shipyards are goin' to bring out +some new p'ints on ship-buildin'." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish they would," said Ellis. "Our shipwrights are half asleep. Do +you s'pose you can repair that pivot-gun? We hadn't a smith worth his +salt." +</P> + +<P> +"She'll swing like new, before long," said Taber. "The man that's +filing away at her could invent a better gearing than that is. He +could make a watch." +</P> + +<P> +Right there was one important difference, then and afterward, between +American sailors and European. It was a difference which was to be +illustrated on land as well, in the records of the Patent Office at +Washington, and in the wonderful development of all imaginable +varieties of mechanism. +</P> + +<P> +"There she comes, the beauty!" was Taber's next remark, as the <I>Noank</I> +neared them. "She can outsail anything of her size that I know of." +</P> + +<P> +"She must keep out o' the way of heavy cruisers, though," said Ellis, a +little savagely. "I'd ha' beat her, myself, if I hadn't been caught +weak as I was." +</P> + +<P> +A hail from Captain Morgan prevented Taber from answering, and in a +minute more the two American crews were cheering each other lustily. +</P> + +<P> +"What cargo do you find?" asked Morgan through his trumpet, after he +had learned that all else was well. +</P> + +<P> +"All sorts!" responded Taber. "Picked up from prizes. Plenty o' +water, provisions, ammunition. I can't guess where they pulled in some +o' the stuff. Woollen cloths, and crockery crates, and tobacco. It +looks as if they'd taken some Hamburg trader for an American. You +can't say what a privateer'll do, well away at sea." +</P> + +<P> +Ellis heard, and there came a queer, half-anxious grin upon his deeply +lined, hardened face. He did not, in fact, look like a man who would +hesitate long over any small moral questions of mere flags and +ownerships. He was a privateersman in preference to any other +occupation, without need for the patriotic spirit which was sending +into it the seafaring veterans of America. +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" was the hearty reply from the <I>Noank</I>. "Now, Taber, we +must keep company if we can for two or three days, at least. Our two +batteries, worked together, 'd be an over match for any o' the lighter +king's cruisers. We could knock one o' their ten-gun brigs all to +flinders." +</P> + +<P> +"I a'most hope we'll come across one," said Taber, "soon as that there +thirty-two yonder'll swing on its pivot." +</P> + +<P> +Two armed vessels may not make what is called a "squadron." Captain +Morgan, therefore, had not suddenly risen from the rank of first mate +to that of commodore, but both the old East Indiaman and the schooner +were undoubtedly safer because of their ability and readiness to help +each other. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Taber's cruiser, when he came to examine her, was a curious +affair, according to later ideas of ship-building. She had been +constructed solidly, and had a large carrying capacity. Her sides +"tumbled home," or slanted inward, nobody knows what for. Her stern +was very high, as if a kind of fort were needed, rising to hold up her +quarter-deck. In this, on either side, were her nine-pounders, and it +might account for their shot flying above the <I>Noank's</I> hull. She was +lower in the waist, and she piled up again, forward. Her tops were +cups like those of a man-of-war, and might hold sharp-shooters in a +close fight. It is the rule to laugh, at that old style of naval +architecture, but when the <I>Lynx</I> had been the <I>Burrumpootra</I> she had +battled well with the terrible gales and seas of the Indian Ocean, and +there were legends of the way in which she had beaten off Chinese and +Malay pirates. There were not only good ships but good seamen as well +in the old-fashioned days, and all the world was discovered and opened +by them to commerce and civilization. +</P> + +<P> +Up-na-tan considered himself the surgeon of the <I>Noank</I>, and he was a +good one, so far as cuts and bruises were concerned. He and Coco held +consultations over Guert, and there was no danger but what he would be +well attended to. He was a general favorite with the sailors, and +their opinion of him had been lifted tremendously by his conduct at the +taking of the <I>Lynx</I>. They all declared that he had in him the making +of a good sea-captain,—as good, it might possibly be, as Lyme Avery +himself, although that was a great deal to say. +</P> + +<P> +That day went by, and the next, and the next, and all in vain did +either Captain Ellis or his captors scan the horizon for any speck that +looked like war. There were distant sails, truly, but this pair of +privateers was inclined to let well enough alone. The fourth day found +them well away upon the Atlantic before a ten-knot breeze, slipping +along finely, with all the wounded doing well. Guert's pike-thrust in +the leg was his worst hurt. It caused him much pain at intervals, and +a great deal of fever. The cutlass blow at his shoulder had been +broken of its force by the handle of his pike. The wooden shaft had +been cut in two as he parried with it, while drawing it back from his +successful thrust at Captain Avery's antagonist. The English swordsman +had been a strong one, for his blade went on down to make a gash which +might be slow in healing. It would probably have been a death stroke +but for the tough pikestaff. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll be out on deck, my boy, in a week or two," he had been told by +Captain Morgan, "and you're lucky it's no worse." +</P> + +<P> +There was no use in fretting over it. He could lie there and dream of +old times in New York, and of ships and fleets and armies. There was +no book on board for him to read, however, unless he should wish to +take up his study of navigation. There he was lying in the afternoon +of the fourth day, not tossing around much, for fear of hurting his +wounded leg or shoulder. He was feeling lonely, sick, impatient, +discontented. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo!" he suddenly exclaimed. "What's that? Are we in a fight? I +want to go on deck!—There! I guess that was pretty nearly a spent +shot!" +</P> + +<P> +It was too bad, altogether. Right through the port-hole window of the +cabin had passed a round shot from so far away, apparently, that it +hardly shattered the door-post upon which it then struck. It had been +well aimed, it had hit the schooner, but it had not done any harm. +</P> + +<P> +"There goes Up-na-tan's gun," said Guert, the next instant. "I don't +hear the broadside guns. I guess that other firing is from the <I>Lynx</I>. +She was close by us, they said. This is awful!" +</P> + +<P> +He could now hear the distant, dull roar of other guns, and he said:— +</P> + +<P> +"That's the British! It sounds as if we were fighting a man-of-war. +Can it be we are going to be captured by 'em this time?" +</P> + +<P> +He might well be nervous about it, but his guesses and fears were only +about halfway correct. Not many minutes earlier, the <I>Noank</I> and the +<I>Lynx</I> had drawn toward each other, into long hailing distance, for a +sort of council of war. Questions and answers had gone hurriedly back +and forth, until Captain Morgan had shouted:— +</P> + +<P> +"We'll take her, Taber. We can spare men enough for one more prize +crew. She's a big one." +</P> + +<P> +So she was, that tall three-master, floating the British flag, and she +was evidently not a frigate of King George. Most likely, they said, +she was a supply ship on her way to his armies in his rebellious +colonies. +</P> + +<P> +About went the two eager privateers, and there seemed to be no reason +to doubt their ability to outsail and outfight their victim. She was +carrying a cargo so full and heavy that it pulled her down, and she was +logging along clumsily. Both of the American vessels were flying the +stars and stripes. The <I>Lynx</I> was somewhat nearer to the Englishman, +and Captain Taber deemed it time to fire a shot across her bows as a +signal to heave to. +</P> + +<P> +The sound of that first gun was what had really awakened Guert, but he +had not at once understood it. Captain Morgan was on the point of +following Captain Taber's example, when the big, peaceful-seeming +British ship swung around a few points, and a lot of hitherto closed +ports along her side sprang open. Every one of these ports had an +ugly, metallic nose in it, and from each of these jumped a sheet of +fire, followed by thunder. At the same moment a band of brass music on +the after deck began to play "God save the King," while a long +procession of men in red uniforms streamed up from below to join a lot +of others like them who were already on deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Eight ports!" exclaimed Captain Morgan, staring through his glass. +"She may carry more guns than that! She's a British merchant ship of +the largest size, turned into a troop-ship, and armed, I'd say, with +long twelves. Thunder! We haven't anything to do with her! Starboard +your helm, there! I'll signal Taber to keep away." +</P> + +<P> +There was no need of that at all. The first heavy broadside of the +stranger had hurtled toward the <I>Lynx</I>, and several of the half-spent +shot had struck her. Her commander had taken warning instantly, and +was already wheeling away, so to speak, when the second British +broadside went so dangerously well toward the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<P> +"One such dose is just as good as two," remarked Captain Morgan. "I'm +glad Taber has good sense. We don't want to be crippled jest now. We +can't afford to risk a stick. We'll get away out o' range, quickest +kind!" +</P> + +<P> +So he did, and so did Taber. But they would by no means have done so +if it had not been for a reason that was getting an explanation in the +furiously angry exclamations of the British sailor in command of that +pugnacious troop-ship. He had rapidly grown red in the face, and now +he seemed ready to burst. +</P> + +<P> +"Lost 'em! Missed 'em!" he roared, as he stamped up and down the deck. +"I had 'em both trapped! I let 'em come near enough before I fired a +gun. I'd ha' sunk 'em or sent 'em in. It's the fault o' that rascally +thief at the navy-yard. He supplied us with that worthless, condemned +contract powder. It won't pitch a shot worth tuppence. He ought to be +hung! I'll report him!" +</P> + +<P> +The mystery of so many cannon-shot being practically spent at a fair +practice distance was completely explained. No doubt he was wrong in +declaring that his ammunition was no better than so much sea-sand, but +it was not the stuff to send twelve-pound balls of iron through oak or +teak bulwarks, and his cunning trap to catch the two American +privateers was a lamentable failure. +</P> + +<P> +It was an hour of their best running before these were again within +hail of each other. Then their two commanders held a brief +speaking-trumpet conversation, congratulating each other upon having +gotten out of so serious a scrape without injury. +</P> + +<P> +"Morgan," said Taber, at last, "the far northerly course, if it suits +you. I think we'd better shape it as if we were bound for Halifax, and +keep well away from every sail we sight." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll do," replied Morgan. "That there Nova Scotia garrison needs +supplies, you know. We're jest the boats to bring 'em all they want. +If we come up with another supply ship, though, and if she hasn't quite +so many guns, we may persuade her to go as far as Boston with us." +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir! I'd say not!" called back Taber. "I feel uneasy 'bout +Boston jest now. I'd ruther not try any home port but New London, and +we'd better make our run in there by night." +</P> + +<P> +"All right!" said Captain Morgan. "Home it is! Heave ahead!" +</P> + +<P> +Guert Ten Eyck, in his bunk, received from his friends a full account +of that day's curious adventure. The port of his cabin was quickly +mended, and he could once more lie quiet and wait for his own mending. +On deck there was especial matter for general discussion arising from +the fact that all had seen a troop-ship. +</P> + +<P> +"More soldiers to conquer America," they said. "It looks bad for us. +The king is sending over British and Hessians, army after army. They +are all well armed, well clothed, well fed, and there are more to +follow. What can our own used up, half-armed, half-starved, badly +beaten Continentals do against such awful odds? The truth is, we may +not find a safe port to run into." +</P> + +<P> +"They can't have taken everything so soon as this," was the conclusion +of Captain Morgan. "We'll feel our way in, when we get there. If all +things have gone wrong we can sail away somewhere, or we can beach the +ships and burn 'em, and take to the woods." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ANCHORED IN THE HARBOR. +</H4> + +<P> +There came a very black night toward the beginning of winter in the +year 1777. A light wind blew in from the sea, carrying an unpleasant, +chilly feeling among the people of the town of New London. They had +previously been somewhat uncomfortable, for, during several days, there +had been British men-of-war hovering along the coast. None of these +had ventured in far enough to exchange shots with the forts, but there +was a rumor, nobody knew where from, that the British had determined to +seize the port and put an end to its notable services to the cause of +American independence. The harbor forts were believed by their +commanders to be in good fighting condition, and their garrisons at +once received small reinforcements. The thing most to be feared, it +was said, was the landing of a strong body of troops, for in that case +the town itself would be assailed, as well as the forts. +</P> + +<P> +In short, military men foresaw and predicted precisely such an attack +as was so destructively made at a later date by the king's forces under +Arnold. +</P> + +<P> +Very dark was the night. Wakeful and watchful were the sentinels and +guards at every battery. Moreover, boats were out, silently patrolling +hither and thither, ready to run in and report whatever signs of danger +they might discover. The sea-scouts could not be everywhere, however, +nor could they see everything. Somehow or other, an exceedingly +important arrival passed by them all in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +A little before midnight a solitary musket shot rang out at the seaward +bastion of Fort Griswold, and the officer of the guard, with a party of +soldiers, hurried to the spot to ascertain its meaning. +</P> + +<P> +"Officer of the guard," responded the sentry to the formal hail, "two +American lights, seaward. Flash, flash, and cover. There they are +again." +</P> + +<P> +One of the soldiers was an old sailor, and he exclaimed:— +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Havens, jest let me watch that there signal a minute." +</P> + +<P> +"Watch!" said the captain. +</P> + +<P> +Again the seaward flashes came, as if they were asking questions. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it—" +</P> + +<P> +"Captain Havens!" shouted the old whaling man, excitedly. "That there +was Lyme Avery's private signal. The <I>Noank</I> has come home! The other +light was Joe Taber's, I guess. I've whaled it with both of 'em." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah!" burst from the captain. "Signal back, if you know how." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we fire a gun, sir?" asked an artilleryman. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said the captain; "we won't stir up the town. And we won't send +any information to the British cruisers, either. See Hadden work his +lantern." +</P> + +<P> +The sailor was swinging the lantern given him,—this way, that way, up +and down, and he was speedily replied to from the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"Two craft comin' in together," he explained. "I guess it's the +<I>Noank</I> and a prize." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll send word to Colonel Ledyard," said Captain Havens. "Hadden, you +and four men come with me. I must go out and meet 'em with a boat. +Lieutenant Brandagee, you may tell the colonel I will anchor the ships +in the harbor mouth, so that their guns may support our batteries, if +the British try to run in to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +Every gun would count in such a case, it was true, but half an hour +later, on the deck of the <I>Noank</I>, he was told by Captain Morgan:— +</P> + +<P> +"No, sir! Their boats would be too much for us, so far out as that. +We'll run farther in and lie still till morning. After daylight our +guns'll be good for something, I can tell you. Ledyard'll say I'm +right." +</P> + +<P> +"Take your own course," said the captain, "only be ready if they come. +Now, that's settled.—Morgan! This is bad news about Lyme Avery. I +don't want to be the man to tell his wife." +</P> + +<P> +"No more do I," said Morgan. "Taber says he'd a'most as soon be shot. +Don't I wish, though, that Lyme was alive, to hear of the surrender of +Burgoyne's army. It makes me feel better'n I did. We hardly felt safe +'bout comin' in at all. For all we knew, we might be sailin' into a +British port and under the king's guns." +</P> + +<P> +"It hasn't quite come to that yet," said Captain Havens. "I can tell +you, though, the country's wider awake than it ever was before. Have +you heard about Sam Prentice and Vine Avery? They got in long ago. So +did your other prizes. What did you say this one with you is?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long story," said Morgan. "Joe Taber's captain of her. He +knows more 'bout her than I do. She was a British privateer. Lyme +Avery was killed when we took her. Now!—My head's in a kind of whirl. +Havens, I'm thinkin' of Lyme one minute, and the next I'm thinkin' of +Burgoyne and the way he was defeated. Jest you hold on with any more +questions till some time to-morrow. The first thing for Taber and me +is to get farther in." +</P> + +<P> +There might be little time to spare, indeed, if a British +line-of-battle ship and three frigates were in the offing, drawing on +toward cannon range of them. Therefore the <I>Noank</I> and the <I>Lynx</I> +stood slowly in, feeling their way, and as yet their presence was known +only to a few boatmen and the garrison of Fort Griswold. Colonel +Ledyard himself had settled one question. +</P> + +<P> +"No," he said, "we will wait. The good news and the bad news will keep +till morning. Let Mrs. Avery sleep—don't wake her. It'll be hard +enough for her.—I thought a great deal of Lyme Avery!" +</P> + +<P> +So the little that was left of the night waned away, and all New London +remained in ignorance of any important arrival. As the sun arose, +however, a gun rang out from Fort Griswold, and all who were awake +sprang up to listen. +</P> + +<P> +A minute passed, while hundreds were hastily dressing, and then another +gun sounded. One full minute more, for there were those who counted, +and the third gun began to make the firing understood. +</P> + +<P> +"Minute-guns! The British are coming!" shouted more than one hasty +listener. "Every man to the forts! Our time's come!" +</P> + +<P> +Many were the conjectures and exclamations, but the first men to reach +the water front sent back word that not a British sail was in sight. +More than that was sent, however, for a hasty messenger ran on to the +Avery house and knocked at the door. It was opened instantly by Vine +Avery himself. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"The <I>Noank</I>!" was half whispered. "A large prize ship is with her. +Don't say a word about it to your mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not?" said Vine. +</P> + +<P> +"Well!" replied the messenger. "It's this way. There are minute-guns +at the fort and both of the flags of those ships are at half mast. +There are boats pulling from 'em to the shore now. Come on!" +</P> + +<P> +Vine stood still for a moment, hesitating. Then he turned and shouted +back into the house:— +</P> + +<P> +"Mother! The <I>Noank</I>! I'll go on down to the wharf. I'll let you +know." +</P> + +<P> +"Lyme! Lyme is home again!" she said. "Vine—" +</P> + +<P> +She was darting forward without waiting for hood or wrap, but other +ears besides Vine's had heard the messenger, and a firm hand was laid +quietly upon Mrs. Avery's shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"My beloved friend," said Rachel Tarns, "hold thee still for a moment. +I have a word for thee." +</P> + +<P> +"What is it, Rachel?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rachel Tarns," broke in the excited voice of Mrs. Ten Eyck, "did he +say the <I>Noank</I> is here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yea," replied Rachel, "and I say to both of you women that she hath +her flag at half mast, and that from her deck hath some one gone home +indeed. It may be that many of those who sailed away in her are not +here to be welcomed. Be you both strong and very courageous, +therefore, for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. I will go along +with you, and so will He. Be ye brave this day!" +</P> + +<P> +So the strong, good, loving Quaker woman helped her friends, but hardly +another word was spoken as they walked hurriedly along down the road +toward the wharves. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not see him!" murmured Mrs. Avery. "He would surely be coming to +meet me." +</P> + +<P> +"Anneke Ten Eyck," said Rachel, "be thou a glad woman! Look! Yonder +comes thy son!" +</P> + +<P> +"And not Lyme?" gasped Mrs. Avery. +</P> + +<P> +"On crutches!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, as she sprang forward. "I +don't care! O Guert! Guert! Thank God!" +</P> + +<P> +If anything else, any other word than "Mother!" was uttered during the +next few moments, nobody heard it. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Avery was trying to speak and could not, and it was Rachel Tarns +who came to her assistance. +</P> + +<P> +"Guert," she said, "thee brave boy! Thee is wounded? It is well. We +are glad thou art here. Tell Mary Avery of her husband—at once! Is +he with thee and her, or is he with his Father in Heaven?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mother," whispered Guert, "I can't! You tell her. He was killed when +we boarded the British privateer. I did all I could to save him. +That's where I was cut down—" +</P> + +<P> +Low as had been his whispering, there was no need for his mother to +tell Mrs. Avery. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't speak!" she said. "I'm going back to the house! He fell in +battle!" +</P> + +<P> +Around she turned, catching her breath in a great sob, and Rachel and +Vine turned to go with her, putting their arms around her. Guert and +his mother lingered as if it were needful for them to stand still and +look into each other's faces. She glanced down, too, at his crutches, +and he answered her silent question smilingly with:— +</P> + +<P> +"That's getting well, mother." +</P> + +<P> +"O Guert!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ugh!" exclaimed a deep voice close behind them. "Up-na-tan say ole +woman go home. Take boy. Ole chief mighty glad to bring boy +back.—Whoo-oop!" +</P> + +<P> +It was, after all, the triumphant warwhoop of the old red man that +closed the record of the long cruise of the <I>Noank</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +<I>Selections from</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY'S +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +<I>List of Books</I> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Books +</P> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +By WILLIAM O. STODDARD. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Despatch Boat of the Whistle. A story of Santiago. Illustrated by +F. T. Merrill, 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25. +</P> + +<P> +The incidents of our war with Spain in 1898 supply the theme for this +story. It is a sea story and a land story. It tells the adventures of +a breezy newspaper correspondent and of the sacrifices and revenges of +a Cuban patriot. It is spirited, vigorous, and absorbing, and is, +incidentally, a story of the war from the news of the destruction of +the <I>Maine</I> to the fall of Santiago. And it is told by Mr. Stoddard! +What more could any boy or girl desire? +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Chuck Purdy. The Story of a New York Boy. 12mo. $1.25. +</P> + +<P> +A capital story of life in New York City; strong, honest, breezy, +practical, and absorbing. Told by one of the favorite writers for +young people. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Gid Granger. The Story of a Country Boy. 12mo. $1.25. +</P> + +<P> +A capital story of American country life; the sturdy, hard-working, +energetic boy, the stern but well-intentioned father, the bright +ambitious sister, together with the village folks, all strongly +individualized and made delightfully real. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Guert Ten Eyck. A Hero Story. Illustrated by F. T. Merrill. $1.25. +</P> + +<P> +A stirring story of real American boys and girls, and how they helped +on the Revolution. The background is the dramatic story of Nathan +Hale, the hero. Washington, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr also appear in +the story. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Partners. Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox. 12mo. $1.25. +</P> + +<P> +This is a capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl, whom all +the girl admirers of Stoddard's stories—and all the boys, too—will +vote to be delightful. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Winning Out. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Book of Success. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By ORISON SWETT MARDEN. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated. $1.00. +</P> + +<P> +Dr. Marden, the editor of <I>Success</I>, has never prepared a more +invigorating or inspiring book than this. It is really the first book +he has designed for young people. To young men whose ambition is +honorable success, this book with its practical suggestions and its +wealth of example has a value that is almost inestimable. If any young +fellow of spirit does not, after reading this book, act up to the +advice to Sempronious, he is lacking somewhere: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"'T is not in mortals to command success<BR> +But we'll do more, Sempronious, we'll achieve it."<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Concerning Cats. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +My Own and Some Others. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By HELEN M. WINSLOW. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated from +photographs of famous cats. $1.50. +</P> + +<P> +The first real "cat book" from a popular, practical, and entertaining +standpoint. Miss Winslow is a pronounced cat-lover, and she here deals +with the cats of history, the home and the cat-show in a manner that is +at once attractive and exhaustive. Her book will find ready readers +among cat-lovers and cat "fanciers" the world over. The photographic +illustrations are beautiful. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +The Story of the Nineteenth Century +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By Elbridge S. Brooks. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, $1.50 +</P> + +<P> +The story of "the wonderful century"—its progress, its achievements, +its inventions, its development and its results—is here presented in a +connected, simple, straightforward narrative, showing, as its main +purpose, the progress of the people out of limitation to enlightenment, +out of serfdom to independence, out of selfishness to nationality, out +of absolutism to liberty. Chapter by chapter, it is an absorbing and +often dramatic story, told by one who has made a study of popularizing +history. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +In Blue and White +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Story of the American Revolution +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +One volume, 8vo, illustrated by Merrill, $1.50 +</P> + +<P> +This stirring story of the Revolution details the adventures of one of +Washington's famous lifeguards, who is a college mate of Alexander +Hamilton, and a personal follower of Washington. It is based upon a +notable and dangerous conspiracy against the life of Washington in the +early days of the Revolution, and introduces such famous characters as +Washington, Hamilton, Greene, and Nathan Hale. It is a splendid book +for boys and girls. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Eben Holden. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Tale of the North Country. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By IRVING BACHELLER, author of "A Master of Silence." 12mo, cloth, +gilt top, rough edges. $1.50. +</P> + +<P> +A refreshing story of the "plain people" of country and town. The +"North Country" is the farm-land of St. Lawrence County in Northern New +York. Uncle Eb,—hero, "hired-man" and border philanthropist—is a +lover of animals, of nature and of all creation. The scene shifts to +New York in war time, and the story of the rout at Bull Run is +unsurpassed in realism. Altogether it is one of the brightest and most +popular of recent books, for it appeals to that love of mingling +sentiment and humor that all men and women like. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +The Last of the Flatboats. +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Story of the Mississippi and its Interesting Family of Rivers. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON, author of "The Wreck of the Redbird." 12mo, +cloth, illustrated by Charlotte Harding. $1.50. +</P> + +<P> +The story of five western boys who take a flatboat on a venture to New +Orleans. They are bright, apt, and intelligent young fellows, and find +fun, adventure, and profit in their scheme. This book is an absolute +storehouse of mid-west facts, but it is also full of action, manliness, +endeavor, and adventure. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +The Forestman of Vimpek +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +His Neighbors, his Doings and his Reflections in a Bohemian Forest +Village +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By MADAM FLORA P. KOPTA, author of "Bohemian Legends and Poems," 12mo, +cloth, gilt top, $1.25 +</P> + +<P> +A simple but unique, picturesque and delightful story of peasant life +in a Bohemian shut-in village, "on the edge of the forest." It +introduces English readers to a charming and little-known community, +far removed from towns and cities, but where the duties, desires, +passions and purposes of men and women are just as human and just as +diversified as in the busier haunts of men. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Germany: Her People and their Story +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By AUGUSTA HALE GIFFORD. One volume, 8vo, 593 pages, cloth, gilt top, +uncut edges, emblematic cover, fully illustrated, $1.75 +</P> + +<P> +The first popular story of Germany, especially prepared for American +readers, and written from an American standpoint. In this light the +book is unique. It stands alone as the latest and most complete, while +it is the briefest and most condensed story of the German Empire, from +its beginnings to its present proud position among the world-leaders. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship Pirate +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By T. JENKINS HAINS, author of "The Wind-Jammers," "The Wreck of the +Conemaugh," etc. 12mo, cloth, illustrated by Ditzler, $1.25 +</P> + +<P> +No more vivid and absorbing sea story has ever been written. Mr. +Hains, with his yarns of the "Wind-jammers," placed himself at once in +the front rank of the tellers of sea tales, and his latest book "Mr. +Trunnell," surpasses his first effort. Mr. Hains knows the sea as one +who has braved all its perils and tested all its adventures. In "Mr. +Trunnell," he has a tale strong in its intensity, vivid in its realism, +novel in plot and action and full of the taste of salt water from first +to last. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +The Wind-jammers +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By T. JENKINS HAINS. 12mo, cloth, ornamental, $1.25 +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Hains is to be congratulated upon writing a better, more natural, +vigorous, and thrilling yarn than any other American writer of this +class of fiction, and whoever reads this book will be likely to wish to +see more of his work. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +The Famous Pepper Books +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +By MARGARET SIDNEY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Five Little Peppers and How They Grew +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +12mo, illustrated, $1.50 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"A genuine child classic." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Five Little Peppers Midway +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +12mo, illustrated, $1.50 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"Every page is full of sunshine."—<I>Detroit Free Press</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Five Little Peppers Grown Up +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +12mo, fully illustrated, cloth, $1.50 +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +"The tale sparkles with life and animation. The young people are +bright and jolly, and enjoy their lives as everybody ought to +do."—<I>Woman's Journal</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Phronsie Pepper +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Last of the Five Little Peppers +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Illustrated by Jessie McDermott. 12mo, cloth, $1.50 +</P> + +<P> +This closing book of the now world-famous series of the "Five Little +Pepper Books" has been enthusiastically welcomed by all the boys and +girls of America to whom the Five Little Peppers have been dear ever +since they first appeared in the "Little Brown House." This new book +is the story of Phronsie, the youngest and dearest of all the Peppers. +But Polly and Joel and Ben and Jasper and Mamsie, too, are all in the +story. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The Stories Polly Pepper Told +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +One volume. 12mo. Illustrated by Jessie McDermott and Etheldred B. +Barry, $1.50 +</P> + +<P> +A charming "addenda" to the famous "Five Little Pepper Stories." It is +a unique plan of introducing old friends anew. 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Margaret Sidney has made her careful and +exhaustive research into their story a labor of love and has, in this +book, woven about them a romance of rare power and great beauty. +Marcia, the heroine, is a strong and delightful character, and the book +will easily take high rank among the most effective and absorbing +stories based upon a dramatic phase of American history. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +A Little Maid of Concord Town +</P> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +A Romance of the American Revolution +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By MARGARET SIDNEY. One volume, 12mo, illustrated by F. T. Merrill, +$1.50 +</P> + +<P> +A delightful Revolutionary romance of life, love and adventure in old +Concord. The author lived for fifteen years in the home of Hawthorne, +in Concord, and knows the interesting town thoroughly. Debby Parlin, +the heroine, lived in a little house on the Lexington Road, still +standing, and was surrounded by all the stir and excitement of the +months of preparation and the days of action at the beginning of our +struggle for freedom. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +By Way of the Wilderness +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By "PANSY" (Mrs. G. R. Alden) and MRS. C. M. LIVINGSTON. 12mo, cloth, +illustrated by Charlotte Harding, $1.50 +</P> + +<P> +This story of Wayne Pierson and how he evaded or met the tests of +misunderstanding, environment, false position, opportunity and +self-pride; how he lost his father and found him again, almost lost his +home and found it again, almost lost himself and found alike his +manhood, his conscience and his heart is told us in Pansy's best vein, +ably supplemented by Mrs. Livingston's collaboration. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +As Talked in the Sanctum +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN, U.S. Consul-General at Hong Kong; author of +"Tales of the Malayan Coast," etc. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.00. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wildman was at one time editor of a prominent magazine on the +Pacific coast. He here presents, in a charming and attractive volume, +the talks on men and things that occupied himself and his friends—the +Contributor, the Poet, the Reader, the Parson, the Office Boy and +others as, day by day, they met to discuss, dissect and talk over the +world and its happenings as these appeared to the "Senate" of the +editor's sanctum. It is a book that will be found at once +entertaining, amusing, suggestive, philosophic and delightfully real. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3b"> +Tales of the Malayan Coast +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +By ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN, Consul-General of the United States at Hong +Kong. One volume, 12mo, illustrated by Henry Sandham, $1.00 +</P> + +<P> +A notable collection of Malayan stories and sketches reproducing both +the atmosphere and flavor of the Orient, and emphasized also by a dash +of American earnestness and vigor. The book is dedicated by permission +to Admiral George Dewey, Mr. Wildman's "friend and hero." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4b"> +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, +<BR> +530 ATLANTIC AVENUE, BOSTON. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Noank's Log, by W. O. Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOANK'S LOG *** + +***** This file should be named 38523-h.htm or 38523-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/2/38523/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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O. Stoddard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Noank's Log + A Privateer of the Revolution + +Author: W. O. Stoddard + +Illustrator: Will Crawford + +Release Date: January 7, 2012 [EBook #38523] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOANK'S LOG *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Cover art] + + + + + + +_The_ NOANK'S LOG + +A PRIVATEER OF THE REVOLUTION + + + +BY W. O. STODDARD + +Author of "Guert Ten Eyck," "Gid Granger," etc. + + + +ILLUSTRATED BY WILL CRAWFORD + + + +BOSTON + +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1900, + BY LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY. + + + + + Norwood Press + J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith + Norwood, Mass. U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE. + +The latter half of the year 1776 and the whole of the year 1777 have +been vaguely and erroneously described as "the dark hour" of the war +for American independence. It is true that our armies, hastily +gathered and imperfectly equipped, had been outnumbered and defeated in +several important engagements. Beyond that purely military fact there +was no real darkness. Upon the sea the success of the Americans had +been phenomenal. Before the end of the year 1777, the commerce of +Great Britain had suffered losses which dismayed her merchants. As +early as the 6th of February, 1778, Mr. Woodbridge, alderman of London, +testified at the bar of the House of Lords that the number of British +ships taken by American cruisers already reached the startling number +of seven hundred and thirty-three. Of these many had been retaken, but +the Americans had succeeded in carrying into port, as prizes, five +hundred and fifty-nine. The value of these and their cargoes was +declared to be moderately estimated at over ten millions of dollars. +Only a few of the American cruisers were public vessels, sent out +either by individual states or by the United States. All the others +were private armed ships, "letters of marque and reprisal" privateers. +Something of their character and cruising is set forth in this story of +the old whaler _Noank_, of New London. + +Something is also told of the condition and feeling of the people on +the land during the misunderstood gloomy days. The years of the +Revolutionary War were not altogether years of disaster, devastation, +and depression. They were rather years of development and prosperity. +The war was fought and its victory won not only for political, but for +social, industrial, and financial freedom. All the energies of the +American people had been fettered. As the war went on, and without +waiting for its close, all these energies became free to work out the +great results at which the world now wonders. + +We are justly proud of our navy. It was founded by our sailors +themselves, without the help of any Navy Department, or Treasury +Department, or national shipyards, or naval academies. There were, +however, very good admirals, commodores, and captains among the +self-taught heroes who went out then in ships in which, ton for ton and +gun for gun, they were able to outsail and outfight any other cruisers +then afloat. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + I. A Wounded Nation at Bay + II. More Powder + III. The Unforgotten Hero + IV. The News from Trenton + V. The Brig and the Schooner + VI. The British Fleet + VII. Hunting the _Noank_ + VIII. Contraband Goods + IX. The Picaroon + X. The Black Transport + XI. A Dangerous Neighborhood + XII. A Prize for the _Noank_ + XIII. The Bermuda Trader + XIV. The Neutral Port + XV. A Coming Storm + XVI. Irish Loyalty + XVII. Very Sharp Shooting + XVIII. Down the British Channel + XIX. The Spent Shot + XX. Anchored in the Harbor + + + + +THE NOANK'S LOG. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A WOUNDED NATION AT BAY. + +It is well to fix the date of the beginning of a narrative. + +Through the mist and the icy rain, with fixed bayonets and steadfast +hearts, up the main street of Trenton town dashed the iron men from the +frost and famine camp on the opposite bank of the Delaware. + +Among their foremost files, leading them in person, rode their +commander-in-chief. Beyond, at the central street crossing, a party of +Hessian soldiers were half frantically getting a brace of field-pieces +to bear upon the advancing American column. They were loading with +grape, and if they had been permitted to fire at that short range, +George Washington and all the men around him would have been swept away. + +Young Captain William Washington and a mere boy-officer named James +Monroe, with a few Virginians and Marylanders, rushed in ahead of their +main column. Nearly every man went down, killed or wounded, but they +prevented the firing of those two guns. Just before their rush, the +cause of American liberty was in great peril. Just after it, the +victory of Trenton was secure. + +So it is set down in written history, and there are a great many +curious statements made by historians. + +This was a sort of midnight, it is said,--the dark hour of the +Revolutionary War. + +Manhattan Island, with its harbor and its important military and naval +features, had been definitely lost to the Americans and occupied by the +British. Its defences had been so developed that it was now +practically unassailable by any force which the patriots could bring +against it. From this time forward its harbor and bay were to be the +safe refuge and rendezvous of the fleets of the king of England. Here +were to land and from hence were to march, with only one important +exception, the armies sent over to crush the rebellious colonies. + +Nevertheless, Great Britain had won back just so much of American land, +and no more, as her troops could continuously control with forts and +camps. Upon all of her land, everywhere beyond the range of British +cannon and the visitation of British bayonets and sabres, the colonists +were as firm as ever. It is an exceedingly remarkable fact that +probably not one county in any colony south of the Canadas contained a +numerical majority of royalists, or "Tories." Still, however, these +were numerous, sincere, zealous, and they fully doubled the effective +strength of the varied forces sent over from beyond the sea. + +The tide of disaster to the American arms had hardly been checked at +any point in the north. Fort Washington had bloodily fallen; Fort Lee +had been abandoned; the battle of White Plains had been fought, with +sharp losses upon both sides. After vainly striving to keep together a +dissolving army, General Washington, with a small but utterly devoted +remnant, had retreated to contend with cold and starvation in their +desolate winter quarters beyond the Delaware. + +For a time, the red-cross flag of England seemed to be floating +triumphantly over land and sea. All Europe regarded the American cause +as hopelessly lost. The American character and the actual condition of +the colonies was but little understood on the other side of the +Atlantic. The truth of the situation was that the men who had wrested +the wilderness from the hard-fighting red men, and who had been +steadily building up a new, free country, during several generations, +were unaware of any really crushing disaster. At a few points, which +most of them had never seen, they had been driven back a little from +the sea-coast, and that was about all. Among their snow-clad hills and +valleys they were sensibly calculating the actual importance of their +military reverses, and were preparing to try those battles again, or +others like them. A bitter, revengeful, implacable feeling was +everywhere increasing, for several aggravating causes. In the winter +days of 1776-77, wounded America was dangerously AT BAY. + +It was on Christmas morning, at the hour when the Hessians of Colonel +Rahl were giving up their arms and military stores in Trenton town. At +that very hour, a group of people, who would have gone wild with +delight over such news as was to come from Trenton, sat down to a +plentiful breakfast in a Connecticut farm-house. It was a house in the +outskirts of New London, near the bank of the Thames River, and in view +of the splendid harbor. As yet there were several vacant chairs at the +table. + +"Guert Ten Eyck," said a tall, noble-looking old woman, as she turned +away from one of the frosted windows, "of what good is thy schooner and +her fine French guns? Thee has not fired a shot with one of them. How +does thee know that thee can hit anything?" + +"Yes, we did, Rachel Tarns," was very cheerfully responded from across +the table. "We blazed away at that brig. We hit her, too. Good +Quakers ought not to want us to hurt people." + +"Guert," she tartly replied, "thee has done no harm, I will instruct +thee. If thee is thyself a Friend, thee must not use carnal weapons, +but if thee is one of the world's people thee may do what is in thee +for the ships and armies of thy good King George. Do I not love him +exceedingly? Hath he not seized my dwelling for a barracks, and hath +he not driven me and mine out of my own city of New York, for what his +servants call treasonable utterances?" + +"Rachel!" came with much energy from the head of the table. "I can't +fight, any more'n you can. You love him just the way you do for pretty +good reasons. So do I, for 'pressing my husband and sons into his +navy. Thank God! they've all escaped now, and they're ready to sink +such ships as they were flogged in--" + +"Mother Avery," interrupted a stalwart young man at her side, "that's +what we mean to do if we can. British men-o'-war are not easy to sink, +though. We've something to think of just now. If our harbor batteries +aren't strengthened the British could clean out New London any day. +Their cruisers steer out o' range of Ledyard's long thirty-twos, but +there's not enough of 'em. We haven't powder enough, either." + +"Vine," said Rachel Tarns, "does thee not see the peaceful nature of +thy long cannon? They keep thy foes at a distance, and they prevent +the unnecessary shedding of blood. I am glad they are on thy fort." + +"Rachel Tarns," said Guert, "you gave Aleck Hamilton the first powder +he ever had for his field-pieces. You're a real good Quaker. I wish +you'd come on board the _Noank_, though, and see how we've armed her. +She's all ready for sea." + +"What we're waiting for," said Vine Avery, "is a chance to do +something. Father won't say just what his next notion's goin' to be." + +"He says he won't wait much longer," said Guert. "Mother, you said I +might go with him?" + +"You may!" she answered firmly, and then her face grew shadowy. + +He was a well-built, wiry looking young fellow, with dark and piercing +eyes. His face wore at this moment a look that was not only +courageous, but older than his apparent years seemed to call for. It +was a look that well might grow in the face of an American boy of that +day, whether sailor or soldier. + +Others had now come in to fill the chairs at the table. At the end of +it, opposite Mrs. Avery, sat a strong looking, squarely built man whom +nobody need have mistaken for anything else than a first-rate Yankee +sea-captain. + +The house they were in was of somewhat irregular construction. Its +main part, the doorstep of which was not many yards from the road +fence, was a square frame building. At the right of its wide central +passage, or hall, was the ample dining room. Opening into this at the +rear was a room almost equally large that was evidently much older. +Its walls were not made of sawed lumber, nor were they even plastered. +They were of huge, rudely squared logs and these had been cut from the +primeval forest when the first white settlers landed on that coast. +They had made their houses as strong as so many small forts. In the +outer doors of this room, and here and there in its thick sides, were +cut loopholes, now covered over, through which the earlier Averys could +have thrust their gun muzzles to defend their scalps from assaults of +their unpleasant Pequot neighbors. There were legends in the family of +sharp skirmishes in the dooryard. All of that region had been the +battle-ground of white and red men and this was one reason why such +captains as Putnam, and Knowlton, and Nathan Hale had been able to +rally such remarkably stubborn fighters to march to Breed's Hill and to +the New York and New Jersey battlefields. + +"What's that, Rachel Tarns, about getting news from New York?" at last +inquired Captain Avery, laying down his knife and fork. "I'd ruther +git good news from Washington's army. I'm not givin' 'em up, yet, by +any manner o' means." + +"That's all right, father," said his son Vine, "but I do wish we knew +of a supply ship, inward bound. I'd like to strike for ammunition for +the _Noank_ and for the batteries. We're not fixed out for a long +voyage till we can fire more rounds than we could now." + +There was a Yankee drawl in his speech, a kind of twang, but there was +nothing coarse in the manners or appearance of young Avery, and his +sailor father had an intelligent face, not at all destitute of what is +called refinement. + +"I wish thee might have thy will," responded Rachel, earnestly. + +"Vine!" exclaimed his mother. "Hark! Somebody's coming. Rachel, +didn't you hear that?" + +"I did!" said Rachel, rising. "That was Coco's voice and Up-na-tan's. +The old redskin's talking louder than he is used to about something." + +"He can screech loud enough," said Guert. "I've heard him give the +Manhattan warwhoop. Coco can almost outyell him, too." + +At that moment, the front door swung open unceremoniously, and a pair +of very extraordinary human forms came stalking in. + +"Up-na-tan!" shouted Guert, with boyish eagerness. "Coco! All loaded +down with muskets! What have they been up to?" + +"Heap more, out on sled," replied a deep, mellow, African voice. "Ole +chief an' Coco been among lobsters. 'Tole a heap." + +"Thee bad black man!" said Rachel Tarns. "Up-na-tan, has thee been +wicked, too? What has thee been stealing?" + +"Ole woman no talk," came half humorously from the very tall shape +which had now halted in front of her. "Up-na-tan been all over own +island. See King George army. See church prison. Ship prison. See +many prisoners. All die, soon. Ole chief say he kill redcoat for kill +prisoner. Coco say, too. Good black man. Good Indian." + +He might be good, but he was ferociously ugly. The only Indian +features discernible about his dress were his moccasons and an old but +hidden buckskin shirt. Over this he now had on a tremendous military +cloak of dark cloth. On his head was a 'coonskin cap, such as any +Connecticut farmer boy might wear. He now put down on the floor no +less than six good-looking muskets, all duly fitted with bayonets. +Coco did the same, and he, for looks, was equally distinguished. His +tall, gaunt figure was surmounted by an undipped mop of white wool, +over a face that was a marvel of deeply wrinkled African features. He +also wore a military cloak, and both garments were such as might have +been lost in some way by petty officers of a Hessian battalion. They +were not British, at all events. + +Guert glanced at the muskets on the floor and then sprang out of the +door to discover what else this brace of uncommon foragers had brought +home with them. Just outside the gate there was quite enough to +astonish him. It was not a mere hand-sled, but what the country people +called a "jumper." It was rudely but strongly made of split saplings, +its parts being held together mostly by wooden pins. It had no better +floor than could be made of split shingles, and on this lay, now, a +closely packed collection of muskets, with several swords, pistols, and +a miscellaneous lot of belts, cartridge-boxes, and knapsacks. Coco and +Up-na-tan had plainly been borrowing liberally, somewhere or other, and +Guert hastened back into the house to get an explanation. Curiously +enough, however, both of the foragers had refused to give anything of +the kind to the assembly in the Avery dining room. + +"Where has thee been, chief?" had been asked by Rachel Tarns. "Tell us +what thee and Coco have been doing. We all wish to hear." + +"No, no!" interrupted the Indian; "Coco shut mouth. Ole chief tell +Guert mother. Where ole woman gone? Want see her!" + +"That's so," said Guert. "Mother's about the only one that can do +anything with either of them. They used to live a good deal at our +house, you know." + +There had all the while been one vacant chair at the table, waiting for +somebody that was expected, and now through the kitchen door came +hurrying in a not very tall but vigorous-looking woman. + +"Mother!" said Guert. "So glad you came in! Speak to 'em! Make 'em +tell what they've been doing!" + +She proved that she understood them better than he or the rest did by +not asking either of them a question. She stepped quickly forward and +shook hands, with the red man first and then with the black. She +stooped and examined the weapons on the floor. + +"Sled outside," said Up-na-tan. "Ole woman go see." + +Out she went silently, and the dining room was deserted, for everybody +followed her. In front of the jumper stood a very tired-looking pony, +and she pointed at him inquiringly. He himself was nothing wonderful, +but his harness was at least remarkable. It was made up of ropes and +strips of cloth. Some of the strips were red, some green, and the rest +were blue, the whole being, nevertheless, somewhat otherwise than +ornamental. + +"Ole chief find pony in wood," said Up-na-tan. "Hess'n tie him on +tree. Find sled in ole barn. Hess'n go sleep. Drink rum. No wake +up. Ole chief an' Coco load sled. Feel hungry, now. Tell more by and +by." + +His way of telling left it a little uncertain as to whether or not +intemperance was the only cause that prevented the soldier sleepers +from awaking to interfere with the taking away of their arms and +accoutrements. He seemed, however, to derive great satisfaction from +the interest and approval manifested by Mrs. Ten Eyck. + +"Come in and get your breakfast," she said. "Rachel Tarns and I'll +cook for you while you talk. Rachel, they must have the best we can +give them. I've cooked for Up-na-tan. 'Tisn't the first meal he's had +here, either. He's an old friend of mine and yours." + +"Good!" grunted Up-na-tan. "Ole woman give chief coffee, many time." +He appeared, nevertheless, a good deal as if he were giving her +commands rather than requests, so dignified and peremptory was his +manner of speech. No doubt it was the correct fashion, as between any +chief and any kind of squaw, although he followed her into the house as +if he in some way belonged to her, and Coco did the same. + +"Guert come," he said. "Lyme Avery, Vine, all rest, 'tay in room. +Tarns woman come." + +The door into the kitchen was closed behind them in accordance with his +wishes, and the breakfast-table party was compelled to restrain its +curiosity for the time being. + +"We must let the old redskin have his own way," remarked Captain Avery. +"Nobody but Guert's mother knows how to deal with him. The old pirate!" + +"That's just what he is, or what he has been," said Vine Avery. "He +hardly makes any secret of it. I believe he has a notion, to this day, +that Captain Kidd sailed under orders from General Washington and the +Continental Congress." + +"Captain Kidd wasn't much worse than some o' the British cruisers," +grumbled his father. "They'll all call us pirates, too, and I guess +we'd better not let ourselves be taken prisoners." + +Mrs. Avery's face turned a little paler, at that moment, but she said +to him, courageously:-- + +"Lyme! Do you and Vine fight to the very last! I'm glad that Robert +is with Washington. I wish they had these muskets there! No, they may +be just what's wanted at our forts here." + +"More muskets, more cannon, and more powder," said Vine. "Oh! how I +ache to know how those fellows captured 'em! There isn't any better +scout than an Indian, but both of 'em are reg'lar scalpers." + +They might be. They looked like it. They were unsurpassed specimens +of out and out red and black savagery, with the added advantage, or +disadvantage, of paleface piratical training and experience by sea and +land. The very room they were now in was a kind of memorial of +old-time barbarisms, and it might again become a fort--a block-house, +at least--almost any day. + +All the farm-houses of Westchester County, New York, not far away, if +not already burned or deserted, had become even as so many +"block-houses," so to speak. They were to be held desperately, now and +then, against the lawless attacks of the Cowboys and Skinners who were +carrying on guerilla warfare over what was sarcastically termed "the +neutral ground" between the British and American outposts. + +The huge fireplace, before which Mrs. Ten Eyck and Rachel Tarns began +at once to prepare breakfast for their hungry friends, had an iron bar +crossing it, a few feet up. This was to prevent Pequots, +Narragansetts, or other night visitors from bringing their knives and +tomahawks into the house by way of the chimney. Upon the deerhorn +hooks above the mantel hung no less than three long-barrelled, +bell-mouthed fowling pieces, such as had hurled slugs and buckshot +among the melting columns of the British regulars in front of the +breastwork on Bunker Hill, or, more correctly, Breed's Hill. A sabre +hung beside them, and a long-shafted whaling lance rested in the +nearest corner at the right, with a harpoon for a companion. + +All these things had been taken in at a glance by the two foragers, or +scouts, or spies, or whatever duty they had been performing most of +recently. + +"Keep still, Guert," commanded his mother. "Let the chief tell." + +Gravely, slowly, in very plain and not badly cut up English, with now +and then a word or so in Dutch, Up-na-tan told his story, aided, or +otherwise, by sundry sharply rebuked interjections from Coco. The +first thing which seemed to be noteworthy was that the British on +Manhattan Island considered the rebel cause hopeless. Its armed +forces, moreover, were so broken up or so far away that the vicinity of +New York was but carelessly patrolled. There had been hardly any +obstacle to hinder the going in or the coming out of a white-headed old +slave and a wandering Indian. The red men of New York, for that +matter, were supposed to be all more or less friendly to their British +Great Father George across the ocean. All black men, too, were +understood to be not unwillingly released from rebel masters, provided +they were not set at work again for anybody else. + +Up-na-tan's greatest interest appeared to cling to the forts and to the +cannon in them, but he answered Rachel Tarns quite clearly concerning +the conditions of the American soldiers held as prisoners. All the +large churches were full of them, he said, packed almost to +suffocation. One or more old hulks of warships, anchored in the +harbor, were as horribly crowded. The worst of these was the old +sixty-four gun ship, _Jersey_, lying in Wallabout Bay, near the Long +Island shore. Up-na-tan and Coco had rowed around her in a stolen boat +and had been fired upon by her deck guard, and they had seen a dozen at +least of dead rebels thrown overboard, to be carried out to sea by the +tide. + +"Redcoat kill 'em all, some day," said the Indian. "Kill men in ole +church. Bury 'em somewhere." He seemed to have an idea that the +doomed Americans did not perish by disease or suffocation altogether. +He believed that their captors selected about so many of them every +day, to be dealt with after the Iroquois or Algonquin fashion. This +was strictly an Indian notion of the customary usages of war. It did +not stir his sensibilities, if he had any, as it did those of the +warm-hearted Quaker woman and Mrs. Ten Eyck. Guert listened with a +terribly vindictive feeling, such as was sadly increasing among all the +people of the colonies. It was to account for, though not to excuse, +many a deed of ruthless retaliation during the remainder of the war. +In skirmish after skirmish, raid after raid, battle after battle, the +innocent were to suffer for the guilty. Brave and right-minded +servants and soldiers of Great Britain were to perish miserably, +because of these evil dealings with prisoners of war in and about +Manhattan Island. + +"Thy scouting among the forts and camps hath small value," said Rachel +Tarns, thoughtfully. "If Washington knew all, he hath not wherewith to +attack the king's forces." + +"No, no!" exclaimed the Indian. "Not now. Washington come again, some +day. Kill all lobster. Take back island. Up-na-tan help him. Coco +no talk. Ole chief tell more." + +Aided by expressive gestures and by an occasional question from Mrs. +Ten Eyck, he made the remainder of his story both clear and +interesting. He and Coco had crossed the Harlem, homeward bound, in an +old dugout canoe. They had worked their way out through the British +lines by keeping under the cover of woods, to a point not far from the +White Plains battle-field. Here, one evening, they had discovered a +Hessian foraging party in a deserted farm-house. The soldiers were +having a grand carouse, thinking themselves out of all danger. + +"Musket all 'tack up in front of house," said Up-na-tan. "One Hess'n +walk up an' down, sentry, till he tumble. Fall on face. Coco find +sled in barn. Find pony. Up-na-tan take all musket. Pile 'em on +sled. Harness pony, all pretty good. Come away." + +"Didn't you go into the house?" asked Guert, excitedly. "Didn't any of +'em know what you were doing? How'd you get your cloak?" + +"Boy shut mouth," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief want cloak. Coco, too, +want more musket, pistol, powder. Hate Hess'n. All in house go sleep +hard. No wake up. Lie still. Pony pull sled to New London." + +Mrs. Ten Eyck's face was very pale and so was that of Rachel Tarns. +They believed that they understood only too well why the Manhattan +warrior and the grim Ashantee who had been his comrade in this affair, +preferred to say no more concerning the undisturbable slumber of that +unfortunate detail of Hessians. + +"Guert," said his mother, "go in and get your breakfast. The chief and +Coco have had theirs. Rachel, you and I must have a talk with Captain +Avery." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MORE POWDER. + +"Captain Watts, I must say it. I don't a bit like this tryin' to run +in without a convoy." + +"Nor I either, mate," said the captain, with an upward glance at the +rigging and a side squint across the sea. "'Tisn't any fault o' mine. +I protested." + +"I heard ye," replied the mate. "They only laughed at us. They said +the king's cruisers'd swep' these waters as clean as the Channel. Glad +ye know 'em." + +"Know 'em?" laughed Captain Watts. "I'm a Massachusetts man. I know +'em like a book. Don't need any pilot." + +"How 'bout Hell Gate, when we get there? We've lost a ship or two--" + +"Brackett, man," interrupted the skipper, more seriously, "that's a +long reach ahead, yet. I know Hell Gate channel when we get there. +Our risks'll be in the sound. The rebels haven't any reg'lar cruisers. +What we've to look out for is the Long Island whaleboat men. Tough +customers. They say nigh half on 'em are redskins,--Indian scalpers." + +"Well! As to them," said the mate, "we can beat 'em off. Our +four-pounder popguns'd be good against whaleboats but not for anything +bigger." + +"Six on 'em," said Captain Watts. "We can handle 'em, too." + +"I'd rather 'twas a frigate," said the mate. "Our crew's none too +strong, and half of 'em are 'pressed men. No fight in 'em." + +"Oh, yes, they'll have to fight," was responded. "Fight or hang, +perhaps. I hate a 'pressed man. Anyhow, it'll take a better wind than +this to show us Hell Gate channel before day after to-morrow. We'll be +tackin' about in the sound, to-night." + +"It's a'most a calm! Bitter cold, too." + +He was a very intelligent looking British sailor, that first mate of +the _Windsor_. She was a bark-rigged vessel of possibly six hundred +tons, and she was freighted heavily with military and other supplies +for the king's forces at New York. + +Somehow or other, the discontented mate could not say why or how, the +_Windsor_ had become separated from her convoy and consorts. These +were seeking their harbor by way of Sandy Hook, while she had been sent +through Long Island Sound. She was hardly in it yet, although it may +be a wide water question as to precisely at what line the sound begins. +Not a sail of any kind larger than a fisherman's shallop was in sight. +There was solid comfort to be had in the knowledge that the Americans +had no navy, and that all these waters were regularly patrolled by +English armed vessels. It looked as if there could be no good cause +for anxiety, and Mate Brackett was compelled to accept the situation. +He turned away, and the captain himself went below, hopefully +remarking:-- + +"Cold weather's nothin'. There'll be more wind, by and by. We'll be +ready to take it when it comes." + +"He's a prime seaman. No doubt o' that," said the mate, looking after +him. "He's pilot enough, too, and our bein' here's no fault o' his. +We'll be ready for any rebel boats, though. I'll cast loose the guns, +such as they are, and I'll get up powder and ball. Grapeshot'd be the +thing for boats. Sweep 'em at short range. This 'ere craft's goin' to +reach port, if we fight our way in!" + +He was showing pretty good judgment and plenty of courage. His six +guns, three on a side, looked serviceable. The crew appeared to be +numerous enough to handle so few pieces as that, whatever their other +deficiencies might be. Part of them, indeed were first-rate British +tars, the best fighters in the world. As for Captain Watts, he was +understood to be an American Tory of the strongest kind, to be depended +upon even more than if he had been a Hull man or a Londoner. No set of +men, anywhere, ever showed more self-sacrificing devotion to their +political principles than did the loyalists, or royalists, of America +in their long, fruitless struggle with what they deemed treason and +rebellion. + +It is possible that Mate Brackett might have studied his cannon and +their capacities even more carefully than he did, if at that morning +hour he could have been for a few minutes one of a little group upon +the deck of a craft that was at anchor in New London harbor. + +The tonnage of this vessel was much less than that of the _Windsor_, +but she was sharper in the nose, cleaner in the run, trimmer, +handsomer. She was schooner-rigged, with tall, tapering, raking masts +that promised for her an ample spread of canvas. She was, in short, +one of the new type of vessels for which the American shipyards were +already becoming distinguished. She had been built for the +whale-fishery, and that meant, to the understanding of Yankee sailors, +that she was to have speed enough to race a school of runaway whales, +strength to stand the squeeze of an icefloe, the bump of an iceberg, or +the blast and billows of a hurricane. She must also have fair stowage +room between decks and in her hold for many casks of oil. + +"Up-na-tan like long guns," said one of the voices on the deck of the +_Noank_. "Now! Coco swing him. No man help. One man swing. All +'tan back. Brack man try." + +He was asking a practical question as an experienced gunner. It was +necessary to know whether or not the pivoting of that long, brass +eighteen-pounder had been perfectly done for freedom of movement. In +action there would be men enough to handle it, but even the work of +many hands should not be impeded by overtight fittings and needless +frictions. + +"Ugh! Good!" he exclaimed, as his black comrade turned the gun back +and forth, and then he tried it himself. + +"Captain Avery, that's so, he can do it," remarked Guert Ten Eyck, +thoughtfully, "but those two are made of iron and hickory. It isn't +every fellow can do what they can." + +"No, I guess not," laughed Captain Avery. + +"I'm glad the old Buccaneers are pleased, though. There goes the +redskin to the other guns. He can't find any fault with 'em. Not one +of 'em's a short nose." + +Three on a side, polished to glittering, the long brass sixes slept +upon their perfectly fitted carriages. Every one of them bore the mark +of the _fleur de lis_, for they were of a pattern which the French +royal foundries were turning out for the light cruisers of King Louis. +Such of them as were already mounted in that manner were lazily waiting +for a formal declaration of war with England. These here, however, and +others like them, were already carrying on that very war. Before a +great while, the entire French navy was to become auxiliary to that of +the United States, and considerable French land forces were to march to +victory shoulder to shoulder with the Continentals under General +Washington. + +The sailor comrades of Up-na-tan and Coco were evidently well aware +that the savage-looking couple had seen much sea service upon armed +vessels. The less said about it the better, perhaps, but some of it +had been upon British cruisers, in whatever manner it had been escaped +from. Some of it had been, it was said, under a very different +fighting flag. Their inspection of the broadside guns was therefore +watched with interest. + +"Long!" said Up-na-tan. "Good. Shoot bullet far. Not big enough. +Want nine-pounder. Old chief like big gun. Knock hole in ship. Sink +her quick." + +"Take out cargo first," muttered Coco. + +"Then sink ship. Not lose cargo." + +"Jest so!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That's what we'll do! Chief, I +believe the frame of the _Noank_ is strong enough to carry a long +thirty-two and six eighteens." + +"No!" replied the Indian, firmly. "Too much big gun 'poil schooner. +No run fast any more." + +According to the red man's judgment, therefore, the Yankee skipper's +enthusiasm might lead him to overload his swift vessel or make her +topheavy in a sea. It was likely that things were just as well as they +were. At all events, her brilliant armament and her disciplined +ordering gave her an exceedingly efficient and warlike air as she rode +there waiting her sailing orders. + +"Sam Prentice's boat!" suddenly called out a voice, aft. "Father, he's +headed for us. Here he comes, rowing hard!" + +"_Noank_ ahoy!" came across the water, from as far away as a pair of +strong lungs could send it. "I say! Is Lyme Avery aboard?" + +"Every man's aboard! All ready! What news?" went back through the +speaking trumpet in the hands of Vine Avery, at the stern. + +"Tell him to h'ist anchor! British ship sighted away east'ard! Not a +man-o'-war. 'Rouse him!" + +"All hands up anchor!" roared Captain Avery. "Run in the guns! Close +the ports! Gear that pivot-gun fast! Up-na-tan, that's your work." + +"Ugh!" said the Indian. "Shoot pretty soon." + +Vine and Sam Prentice were exchanging messages rapidly as the rowboat +came nearer. All on board could hear, and now the trumpeter turned to +note the eager, fierce activity of the old Manhattan. + +"It does you good, doesn't it," he said. "You're dyin' for a chance to +try your Frenchers." + +"Ugh!" grunted the chief, patting the pivot-gun affectionately. "Sink +ship for ole King George. Kill plenty lobster! Kill all captain! +Whoo-oo-oop!" + +His hand was at his mouth, and the screech he sent forth was the +warwhoop of his vanished tribe,--if any ears of white men can +distinguish between one warwhoop and another. That he had been a +sailor, however, was not at all remarkable. All of the New England +coast Indians and the many small clans of Long Island had been from +time immemorial termed "fish Indians" by their inland red cousins. The +island clans were also known as "little bush" Indians. All that now +remained of them took to the sea as their natural inheritance, and +their best men were in good demand for their exceptional skill as +harpooners. + +The anchor of the _Noank_ was beginning to come up when the boat of Sam +Prentice reached the side. + +"Did you sight her yourself, Sam?" asked Captain Avery. + +"Well, I did," said Sam. "I was out more scoutin' than fishin', and I +had a good glass. She's a bark, heavy laden. It's a light wind for +anything o' her rig. She can't git away from our nippers. I didn't +lose time gettin' any nigher. I came right in." + +"On board with you," said the captain. "It's 'bout time the _Noank_ +took somethin'. We've been cooped up in New London harbor long enough." + +"That's so!" said Sam Prentice, as he scrambled over the bulwark. "I'm +hungry for a fight myself." + +He was a wiry, sailorlike man, of middle age, with merry, black eyes +which yet had a steely flash in them. Up came the anchor. Out swung +the booms. The light wind was just the thing for the _Noank's_ rig, +and every sail she could spread went swiftly to its place. She was a +beauty when all her canvas was showing. A numerous and growing crowd +was gathered at the piers and wharves, for Sam Prentice's news had +reached the shore also. Cheer after cheer went up as the sails began +to fill. + +"Anneke Ten Eyck!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "I'm so glad Lyme was all +ready. He didn't have to wait a minute after Sam got there." + +"I'm glad Guert's with him," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "If he wants to be a +sea-captain, I won't hinder him." + +"God be with them all!" was the loud and earnest response of Rachel +Tarns. "I trust that they may do their whole duty by the ships of the +man George, who calleth himself our king." + +"Lyme Avery's jest the man to 'tend to that," called out a deep, hoarse +voice, farther along the pier. "He was 'pressed, once, by George's +men, and he means to make 'em pay for his lost time." + +"So was my son, Vine," said Mrs. Avery. "He has something more'n lost +time to make 'em account for." + +"Nearly forty New London boys were 'pressed, first and last," said a +sad-faced old woman. "One of mine fell at Brooklyn and one's in the +Jersey prison-ship. It's the king's work." + +"We're sorry for you, Mrs. Williams," said another woman. "I don't +know where mine are. We can't get any word from our 'pressed boys. +God pity 'em!--God in heaven send success to the _Noank_ and Lyme +Avery! To our sailors on the sea and our soldiers on the land!" + +"Amen!" went up from several earnest voices, and then there was another +round of hearty cheers. + +Away down the broad harbor the gallant schooner was speeding, with +Guert Ten Eyck astride of her bowsprit. Up-na-tan and Coco were +crouching like a pair of tigers at the side of the pivot guns. The +crew was both numerous and well selected, for it consisted of the pick +of the New London whaling veterans. The majority of them, of course, +were middle aged or even elderly, so many of the younger men had +marched away with Putnam or were at this time garrisoning the forts of +the harbor. + +There was to be no long and tiresome waiting. Hardly was the _Noank_ +well out beyond the point at the harbor mouth before Sam Prentice, from +his perch aloft, called down to his friends on the deck:-- + +"I've sighted her! She's made too long a tack this way for her good. +We'll git out well to wind'ard of her. She's sure game!" + +Every seaman on board understood just what that meant, and he was +answered by a storm of cheers. Nevertheless, the face of Captain Avery +was serious, for he had no means of knowing what might really be the +strength and armament of the stranger. + +As for her, she had all sail set, and her skipper was at the helm, +while Mate Brackett was in the maintop taking anxious observations. + +"Sail to wind'ard," he said to himself. "Hope there's no mischief in +her. Anyhow, I'll go down and have Captain Watts send the men to +quarters." + +Down he went and reported, and Captain Watts responded vigorously. + +"Most likely a coaster," he said, "but we won't take any chances. Call +the men. Any but a pretty strong rebel 'll sheer away if she finds +we're ready for her. We'll shoot first, Brackett. I'm a fightin' +man--I am!" + +"All right, sir," said Brackett, more cheerily. "I've served on a +cruiser. Men! All hands clear away for action! Cast loose the guns!" + +He was in right good earnest, like the brave British seaman that he +was, and the supply ship, in spite of having too much deck cargo, soon +began to take on a decidedly warlike appearance. There was no audible +grumbling among her crew as they went to their posts of duty, but a +sharp observer might have noted that several of them, from time to +time, cast wistful glances landward and then looked gloomily into each +others' faces. + +"No hope!" muttered one of them. + +"They are hanging deserters," hissed another. "I saw one run up." + +"I saw one flogged to death," came savagely from a third, "but I'll +take my chance if I git one." + +Mate Brackett was now busy with his glass, and he was telling himself +how much he longed for a stronger breeze, coming from some other point +of the compass. + +"Hurrah!" he suddenly sang out. "Captain Watts, we're all right, now! +British flag!" + +"Keep to your guns!" roared back the captain. "I'll stand away from +her, just the same. If you throw away the _Windsor_ I'll have you +hung!" + +More fiercely vehement than ever became now his apparent readiness for +fighting. He called another man to the wheel and went out among the +guns. He ordered up more muskets, pistols, pikes, cutlasses, and armed +himself to the teeth, as if to repel boarders. + +"They'd call me a Tory," he said to the mate. "They shoot Tories. I'm +fighting for my life, if that there sail is a Yankee. Her flag's as +like as not a trick to keep us from getting ready." + +"We'll be ready," replied the mate; but all the men had heard the +remark of Captain Watts concerning his chances. + +Nearer and nearer, before the somewhat freshening breeze, came the +strange schooner, with the merchant flag of Great Britain fluttering +out to declare how peaceable and friendly was her character. Mate +Brackett's glass could as yet discover no sign of evil, unless' it +might be that a widespread old sail which he saw on the deck amidships +had been put there to cover up the wrong kind of deck cargo. + +"She hasn't any business that I know of to head for us," he said to his +commander, suspiciously. "We must be ready to give her a broadside." + +"Luff!" instantly sang out Captain Watts to the man at the helm. "They +can't fool me! Brackett, no nonsense, now! Bring the larboard guns to +bear! I'll hail her! Ship ahoy! What schooner's that?" + +His hail was given through his trumpet, and no answer came during a +full half minute, while the schooner sped nearer. Then suddenly a +storm of exclamations arose from the men, and Brackett groaned aloud. + +"Just what old Watts was afraid of!" he exclaimed. "He's a gone man! +So are all of us! The rebel flag! Guns!" + +The _Noank_ was indeed flying the stars and stripes now, instead of the +red-cross flag of England. The old sail amidships had been jerked +away, and there stood Up-na-tan, with one hand upon the breech of his +long eighteen and the other holding a lighted lanyard ready to touch +her off. Open at the same moment went the three starboard ports, and +out ran the noses of the dangerous six-pounders. + +"Heave to, or I'll sink ye!" came fiercely down the wind. "Surrender, +or I'll send ye to the bottom!" + +"It's no use, Captain Watts," said Brackett, dolefully; "she carries +too many guns for us. We may as well give up." + +"Men!" shouted the captain, "what do you say? Are you with me? Shall +we fight it out? I'm ready!" + +"Not a man of us, captain," sturdily responded one of the crew. "This +'ere isn't nothin' but a supply ship. We ain't bound as if 'twas a +man-o'-war. No use, either." + +"Brackett," said Watts, "you may haul down the flag, then. I won't. I +call you all to witness that I've done my duty! Mate, the rebels won't +shoot you. Report me dead to Captain Milliard of the _Cleopatra_. He +ordered me to run in through the sound against my will." + +"I'll give a good report of you," hurriedly responded the mate, while +other and not unwilling hands hauled down the flag; "but that long +eighteen alone would be too much for our popguns." + +The two ships were now near enough for grappling, and in a few minutes +more they were side by side upon the quiet sea. + +"I surrender to you, sir," said Captain Watts to Captain Avery, as the +latter sprang on board, followed by a swarm of brawny whalemen. "I +claim good treatment for my men, whatever you may do to me." + +"I know you, sir," said Avery, sternly. "You are Watts, the Marblehead +Tory. Step aft with me. There's an account to settle with you. Sam +Prentice, look out for the prisoners. Vine, get ready to cast off and +head for New London. Send 'em all below--" + +"All but some of 'em," said Sam, with a broad grin. "Men! Every +'pressed American step out!" + +No less than nine of the _Windsor's_ crew obeyed that order, while all +the rest sullenly surrendered their useless weapons to Coco and Guert +Ten Eyck and a couple of sailors who were ordered to receive them. + +Not on deck, fore or aft, but down in the cabin did the skipper of the +captured supply ship give his account of himself and his cargo. Hardly +was the cabin door shut behind them before Captain Avery laughed aloud, +inquiring:-- + +"Now, Luke Watts, how did ye make it out! They'll hang ye, yet." + +[Illustration: THE MARBLEHEAD TORY. "'Now, Luke Watts! they'll hang ye +yet,' said Captain Avery."] + +"No, they won't," said Watts. "I've taken across ship after ship for +'em. I'm a known Tory, ye know. Worst kind. I promised jest sech +another good Tory, in London, though, that I'd try and deliver this +cargo to the blasted rebels. It's mostly guns, and ammunition, and +clothing. I managed to git written orders from Captain Milliard, +commandin' our convoy, to run through the Sound, contrary to my advice. +You see, he's an opinionated man. I got him swearin' mad, and I had to +obey, ye know. It has turned out jest as I warned him it would, and he +can't say a word." + +"You're a razor!" laughed Avery. "Then you tacked right over within +easy reach of us, all reg'lar. Now! What are we to do with the crew? +We don't want 'em on shore." + +"Well!" said Watts. "The 'pressed men'll jine ye, all of 'em. They +hate me like p'ison, for I da'sn't let 'em have a smell of how it +really is. Take good care of Brackett, anyhow. He's a prime seaman. +He saved one of our fellows from a floggin', once. All the rest o' the +crew deserve somethin' better'n prison." + +"Prison?" said Avery. "They're not prisoners of war. I don't want +'em, even if they are. I wouldn't hurt a hair o' their heads. I'm no +butcher." + +"Come on deck, then," said Watts, "and be kerful how you talk anythin' +but rough to me." + +Up they went, to find both vessels sailing steadily away toward the +mouth of the harbor. Already they were so near that a booming cannon +from Fort Griswold informed that the _Noank's_ success was joyfully +understood on shore. + +The crew of the _Windsor_ were now summoned up from their temporary +confinement in the hold, and were ordered to get out their own longboat +ready for launching. They were told that all British tars were to go +free and to make the best of their way to New York or to the first +British ship they might meet. The impressed Americans listened in +silence, for every man of them knew that in case of his escape, even in +this manner, there would be thenceforth a possible rope around his +neck. Whether impressed or not, he was considered bound to stick to +the British flag, come what might. + +"Captain Watts," said the commander of the _Noank_, "do you demand +these men? They are Americans." + +"I do demand them," replied Watts. "You have no right to keep them, +and they'll all be hung as deserters." + +"They can't help themselves," said Captain Avery, furiously. "Sam +Prentice, iron every one o' those 'pressed men and put 'em all down in +the hold. If they try to git away, shoot 'em. I'll put 'em ashore or +kill 'em. You can't have 'em, Watts." + +"That saves 'em," whispered Watts to himself. "He's another razor. I +can report jist how they were took." + +At all events, not one of the nine Americans made any resistance which +called for shooting him. + +"Now, Luke Watts," said the angry American privateer captain, "it's +your turn. You are taken in arms against your country. Sam Prentice, +Levi Hotchkiss, Vine Avery, speak out! Shall we hang Luke Watts? Or +shall we shoot him? Or shall we let him go?" + +"We can't safely let him go," began Sam. "He's a dangerous traitor." + +"I protest!" interrupted Mate Brackett, courageously. "He has only +done his duty to his king. He wasn't even serving on a ship of war. +You haven't any right to hang him." + +"You're an Englishman," said Avery. "I didn't ask you. Shut your +mouth!" + +"I won't!" said Brackett; "not if you shoot me. If you hang Captain +Watts, we'll hang a dozen Yankees. We've plenty of 'em, too. It'll be +blood for blood!" + +"Father," said Vine, "let him go. All the men'd say so." + +Behind him at that moment stood Up-na-tan, grinning ferociously, with +his glittering long knife out. + +"So! So! Up-na-tan!" he snarled. "Take 'calp! No let him go. Knife +good! Kill!" + +None of the others were doing anything theatrical except the two +captains, and all the while the longboat was hurriedly made ready for +the short and entirely safe, but probably cold, uncomfortable voyage +before them. + +"Captain Luke Watts," said his captor, sternly, "I suppose I must let +you go. Don't let me ever ketch ye again, though. It's time for us to +hang Tories. Brackett, you and your men lower that boat and git into +her, short order. Luke Watts can pilot you in. Start along, now. +Every man may take his own kit." + +"Come on, Captain Watts," said the hearty British sailor. "Your +shave's been a narrer one. I thought you was bound for the yardarm, +this time." + +"I owe you something," replied Watts. "I'll stand by ye, any day." + +The queer piece of very good unprofessional acting was played to its +ending. The longboat was lowered, the men got into her, with +provisions for two days, and away she went, her own sail careening her +as if it were in haste to get from under the brazen muzzles of the +_Noank's_ French guns. + +"It's awful to be a traitor," remarked Sam Prentice, gravely. "Who'd +ha' thought it of a Marblehead man!" + +"Sam!" said Lyme Avery, and the rest of his remark consisted of his +right eye tightly shut and his left eye very wide open. + +"Ugh! Good!" chuckled Up-na-tan, and Guert Ten Eyck laughed aloud. + +Not for one moment had the subtle, keen-eyed red man been deceived, and +Guert had caught the truth of it all from him. + +"Not a word, Guert," said Captain Avery. "He may be able to do it +again." + +"Didn't fool ole brack man," said Coco. "S'pose he 'tone bline? Wen +King George 'ply ship tack right for New London, then it's 'cause he +was 'tendin' to go right there." + +"No talk," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief like Watt. He bring plenty +powder for _Noank_ gun. Fort gun, too. Now schooner go to sea. Good!" + +The impressed men were freed of their manacles as soon as the longboat +was well away. They could be cheerful enough now, for the prudent +management of Lyme Avery had made their necks safe, unless they should +be taken by the British from an American armed ship. + +Up the broad, beautiful harbor the _Noank_ and her prize sailed +merrily, while guns from the fort batteries saluted her and crowds of +patriotic New Londoners swarmed upon the piers and wharves to do full +honor to so really important a success. At one pier head were gathered +all the members ashore of the Avery household. + +"There he comes!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery; "Lyme's in that boat; Guert and +Vine are with him. Neither of them were hurt." + +"I hope there wasn't much fighting," said Guert's mother. "I do so +hate to have men killed." + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," said Rachel Tarns, "thy wicked son hath once more +aided the rebels in stealing a ship from thy good king. Thee has not +brought him up well. He needeth instruction or he will become as bad +as is the man George Washington himself, God bless him!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE UNFORGOTTEN HERO. + +More than one day's work was required to ascertain the full value of +the _Windsor_ as a bearer of supplies to the forts and ships of the +United States, instead of to those of Great Britain. + +"All the things the _Noank_ was short of," Captain Avery said, "are +goin' into her now. There isn't any secret to be kept concernin' her +sailin' orders, either. She's bound for the West Indies to see what +she can do." + +Perhaps it was at his own table that his plans and the reasons for them +were most thoroughly discussed, but all his crew and their many +advisers were satisfied, and a number of prime seamen who were not to +go on this trip roundly declared their great envy of those who could. + +"Tobacco," they said, "sugar, if it's a home-bound trader. If it's one +from England, then Lyme'll get loads o' 'sorted stuff, such as they +ship for the West Injy trade." + +There were other vessels preparing and some were already at sea. The +year, therefore, promised to be a busy one for New London. So it did +in a number of other American ports, and it behooved Great Britain to +increase, if she could, the number and efficiency of her cruisers. + +One continual black shadow rested over the port and town, and that was +the great probability of a British attack, at no distant day. + +"They've their hands pretty full, just now," people said. "The winter +isn't their best time, either, but some day or other we shall see a +fleet out yonder, and redcoats and Hessians and Tories boating ashore." + +It was an entirely reasonable prediction, but its fulfilment was to be +almost unaccountably postponed. When its hour arrived, at last, nearly +two years later, New London was in ashes and Fort Griswold was a +slaughter-pen. + +"Mother," said Guert, on his return to the house from one of his visits +to the _Noank_. "I wish you could go with us to the West Indies, the +Antilles. Think of it! Summer all the while!" + +"But no oranges, or lemons, or pineapples just now," she said +laughingly. "I mean to go, some day. Perhaps you will take me in your +own ship." + +"Any ship of mine will be your ship," he said. "I wish I had some +money to leave with you, now. It's awful to think of your being poor." + +"Our New York farm will be of no use to us," she said, "until the +king's troops leave the island. I shall be very comfortable here, +though, except that I shall all the while be waiting for you to come +home again." + +Very brave was she, under her somewhat difficult circumstances. All +the New London people were kind, especially the Averys, but she +expected to be poor in purse for some time to come. As to that, +however, she had a surprise in store. That very evening, after dark, +Up-na-tan lingered in the kitchen. + +"Chief see ole woman," he said. "See nobody but Guert mother." + +No sooner were they alone than he pulled from under his captured +military cloak a small purse, and handed it to her. + +"No Kidd money," he said. "Lobster money. Pay ole woman for King +George take farm." + +She hesitated a moment, and then she exclaimed:-- + +"God sent it, I do believe! I'll take it. You won't need it at sea." + +"Up-na-tan no want money," he replied contemptuously. "Ole chief go +fight. Come back. Go to ole woman house. Own house. Money belong to +ole woman." + +"Thank you!" she said. + +"No," grumbled the Indian; "no thank at all. Up-na-tan good!" + +So the conference ended, for he stalked out of the house, and she +examined the purse. + +"Nearly twenty pounds, of all sorts," she said. "Now I needn't borrow +of Rachel for ever so long. I want to let Guert know. He will feel +better." + +The Indian had but obeyed the simple rules of his training. Any kind +of game, however captured, was for the squaw of his wigwam to +administer. Her business would be to provide for the hunter as best +she could. In former days he had always been free of the Ten Eyck +house and farm. It was his. The game he had recently taken was in the +form of gold and silver, but there could be no question as to what he +was bound to do with it. + +Neither he or his Ashantee comrade were inclined to spend much time on +shore. Hardly anything could induce them to come away from the keen +pleasure they were having in the handling and stowage of much powder +and shot. The varied weapons which they examined and put in order were +as so many jewels, to be fondly admired and even patted. + +If Mrs. Ten Eyck had anything else to depress her spirits she tried not +to let Guert know it. All her table talk, when he was there, was +brimming with warlike patriotism. Nevertheless, he was her only son +and she was a widow. She could not but wish, at times, that he were a +soldier instead of a sailor, to belong to the quiet garrison of Fort +Griswold, for instance, and to come over to the Avery house now and +then. + +He was sent for, somewhat peremptorily, one day, not by her but by +Rachel Tarns, and when he arrived she herself opened the door for him. + +"I am glad thee came so early," she said to him. "I have somewhat to +say to thee. Come in, hither." + +Very dignified was she, at any time, and he was accustomed to obey her +without asking needless questions. He followed her, therefore, as she +led on into the parlor, opposite the dining room, the main thought in +his mind being:-- + +"I wish she'd hurry up with it. I want to get back to the _Noank_, as +soon as I've seen mother." + +"What is it?" he began, after the door of the parlor closed behind +them, but she cut him short. + +"I will not quite tell thee," she said. "Some things thee does not +need to know. Thy old friend, Maud Wolcott, will be here presently. +One cometh with her to whom I forbid thee to speak. After they arrive, +thou art to do as I shall then direct thee." + +"All right," said Guert. "I don't care who it is. I'll be glad to see +Maud, though. She's about the best girl I know. Pretty, too." + +Hardly were the words out of his mouth before there came a jingle of +sleighbells in the road, and it ceased before the house. + +"Remain thee here," said Rachel, as she arose and hurried out. + +Guert obeyed, but he went to a window and he saw a trim-looking, +two-seated sleigh. A man he did not know was hitching the horse to the +post near the gate. The sleigh had brought a full load of passengers, +all women. + +"That's Maud Wolcott," exclaimed Guert. "The girl that's with her is +taller than she is, and she's all muffled up. I can't see her face. +How Maud did jump out o' that cutter! The two others are old women. +Rachel knows 'em." + +The first girl out of the sleigh was in the house quickly. She came +like a flash into the parlor and, as her hood flew back, a mass of +brown curls went tumbling down over her shoulders. + +"Guert!" she said, breathlessly. "I'm so glad you're here! We were +told you were going." + +"We're going!" said Guert. "We're bound for the West Indies. We've +taken one British ship, already. I'm a privateer, Maud! Oh! but ain't +I glad to see you again. It's like old times!" + +"You're growing," she said. "I wish I could go to sea, or fight the +British. We haven't any chance to talk, now." + +He might be very glad, but, after all, he seemed a little afraid, and a +kind of bashfulness grew upon him as he shook hands with her. She must +have been a year younger than he was,--but then, she was so very +pretty, and he was only a boy. + +Half a dozen questions and answers went back and forth between them, as +between old acquaintances, near neighbors. Then the parlor door opened +to let in Rachel Tarns and the "all muffled up" girl who had been in +the sleigh with Maud. She did not speak to anybody, but went and sat +down, silently, at the other window of the parlor. + +"Guert," said Rachel, "sit thee down here, by me and Maud. Thee will +talk only of what I bid thee, and thee will ask no foolish questions." + +"All right," said Guert. "What is it you want me to say? Maud hasn't +told me, yet, half o' what I want to know." + +"If thee were older," she said, "thee would have more good sense. I +have a reason that I will not tell thee. I wish thee to give me a full +account of all thy dealings with that brave man, Nathan Hale. Thee saw +him die, and there is no other that knoweth many things that are well +known to thee." + +"I hate to tell everything," he said. + +"Thee must!" exclaimed Rachel. "Thee will not leave out a word that he +spake or a deed that he did." + +Something flashed brightly into the quick mind of Guert just then. He +could not exactly shape it, but it came when he caught the sound of a +low sob from under the veil of the girl at the other window. "I'll +begin where I first saw him," he said. + +He did not at all know after that how his boyish enthusiasm helped him +to draw his word pictures of Captain Hale's daring scout work, of boat +and land adventures by night and day, in company with him and Up-na-tan +and Coco. He told it more rapidly and vividly as a kind of excitement +spurred him. He did not know that beyond the half-open door of the +next room his mother and several other persons were listening. Two of +them had come in the cutter with Maud, and yet another sleigh had +brought visitors to the Avery house. There were to be very loving and +tenacious memories to treasure all that he was telling. + +Guert came at last, sorrowfully, more slowly, to the tragic end of all +in the old orchard near the East River. He told of the troops, and the +crowd, and the tree, and he repeated the last words of the hero who +perished there. + +"That I can give but one life for Liberty!" he said, and there his own +voice choked him, while a whisper from beyond the door said softly: +"Glory! Glory! Glory!" + +Throughout Guert's narrative, there had been something almost painful +in the forward-leaning eagerness of the veiled girl at the window. She +was standing now, and a sigh that was more a sob broke from her as she +held out to him a hand with something that she was grasping tightly. +Rachel stepped forward and took it, opening it as she did so. Only a +small, leather case it was, containing a miniature. + +"My boy," said Rachel, "is that like thy friend? Look well at it. +Tell me." + +"It's a real good picture," said Guert, wiping his eyes as he looked +more closely. "It's like him, but there isn't the light and the smile +that was on his face when he stood with the rope around his neck under +that old apple tree." + +"That is enough," said Rachel, turning away with the miniature. "I +think not many eyes will ever see this thing again." + +"Not any," came faintly from under the veil. "I mean to have it buried +with me. Nobody else has any right to it. I must go now." + +The girl at the window had risen as she spoke. She came forward and +took Guert's hand for a moment. Then, in a voice that was tremulous +with feeling, she said:-- + +"Let me thank you for all you have said. Thank you for your friendship +for him. God bless you!" + +In spite of its sadness, her voice had in it a half-triumphant tone. +Rachel gave her back the miniature, and she turned to go. No one spoke +to her. Guert could not have said a word if he had tried, but Maud +sprang to her side. + +"Good-by, Guert," she said. "I'll see you again, some day. I'm going +with her, now." + +"Good-by, Maud," said Guert. "I did so want a talk with you, but I +s'pose I can't this time. We are to sail right away. The _Noank's_ +all ready." + +Both of the sleighs at the gate were quickly crowded. They were driven +away, and hardly had the jingling of their bells died out up the road, +before Rachel Tarns came and put an arm around Guert. She, too, was +wiping her eyes. + +"Thee was a brave, good boy," she said, "and I love thee very much. +Thee is too young, now, and thy picture hath never been painted. Some +day thee may need one to give away, as Nathan did. If it shall please +God to let thee die for thy country, somebody may will to keep it in +memory of thee." + +"Mother would," said Guert. "I'll get one, as soon as I can. But +Nathan Hale'll be remembered well enough without any picture. All the +men in America 'll remember him. He was a hero!" + +The voice of Vine Avery was at the front door, shouting loudly for +Guert, and out he darted, not even stopping to inquire who of all the +friends or family of his hero had been listening in the dining room. + +"What is it?" he eagerly asked, as he joined Vine at the doorstep. + +"Powder and shot all stowed," said Vine. "Everything's ready now. As +soon as the rest of the _Windsor's_ cargo's out, they're going to tow +her up the river, out o' harm's way. Father says we're to be all on +board, now. Come on!" + +"Oh, Guert!" said his mother, for she had followed him, and her arms +were around his neck. "I can't say a word to keep you back! Be as +brave as Nathan Hale was! God keep you from all harm! Do your duty! +Good-by!" + +It was an awful struggle for poor Guert, but he would not let himself +cry before Vine Avery and the sailors who were with him. All he could +do, therefore, was to hug his mother and kiss her. His last good-by +went into her ear and down into her heart in a low, hoarse whisper. + +Away marched the last squad of the crew of the _Noank_, and Mrs. Avery +stood at the gate and watched them until they were hidden from her eyes +beyond the turn of the road. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE NEWS FROM TRENTON. + +"What is it, Sam?" + +"I guess, Lyme, we'd better hold on a bit. The fort lookout sends word +that a British cruiser's in sight, off the harbor." + +Sam Prentice was in a rowboat, just reaching the side of the _Noank_, +and his commander was leaning over the rail. + +"I'd like to send a shot at her," he said. "None o' those ten-gun +brigs, if it's one o' them, carry long guns or heavy ones." + +"Can't say," replied Sam. "Maybe it's a bigger feller. He won't dare +to run in under the battery guns, anyhow. He can't look into the +harbor." + +"I wish he would," laughed the captain. "If he's goin' to try a game +of tackin' off and on, and watchin', though, we must make out to run +past him in the night." + +"We mustn't be stuck any longer here," said Sam. "Are all the crew +aboard?" + +"All but you," was the reply. "Send your boat ashore. We'll find out +what she is. I won't let any single cruiser keep me cooped up in port, +now my powder and shot's found for me. We'll up anchor, Sam." + +The first mate of the _Noank_, for such he was to be, came over the +rail, and his boat was pulled shoreward. + +"Isn't she fine!" he said, as he glanced admiringly around him. "We're +in good fightin' order, Lyme." + +"Sam," said the captain, "just study those timbers, will ye. Only +heavy shot'd do any great harm to our bulwarks. I had her built the +very strongest kind. Now! Some o' the new British craft are said to +be light timbered, even for rough weather. Their own sailors hate 'em, +and we can take their judgment of 'em." + +"It's likely to be good," said Sam. "What a British able seaman +doesn't know 'bout his own ship, isn't worth knowin'." + +Further talk indicated that they both held high opinions of the +mariners of England. Against them, as individuals, the war had not +aroused any ill feeling. There was, indeed, among intelligent +Americans, a very general perception that King George's war against his +transatlantic subjects was anything but popular with the great mass of +the overtaxed English people. It was a pity, a great pity, that +stupid, bad management and recklessly tyrannical statesmanship, in a +sort of combination with needless military severities, had done so much +to foster hatred and provoke revenge. It was true, too, although all +Americans did not know or did not appreciate it, that their side of the +controversy had been ably set forth in the Parliament of Great Britain +by prominent and patriotic Englishmen, such as Chatham and Colonel +Barre. + +The old whaler _Noank_, of New London, however, had now become an +American war vessel. Her crew and her commander were compelled, +henceforth, to regard as enemies the captains and the crews of all +vessels, armed or unarmed, carrying the red-cross flag instead of the +stars and stripes. + +"I tell you what, Sam," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "I wish we had +news from New York and from Washington's army. The latest we heard of +him and the boys made things look awfully dark." + +"Don't let yourself git too down in the mouth!" replied Sam. "I guess +the sun'll shine ag'in, Sunday. It's a long lane that has no turnin'. +Washington's an old Indian fighter. He's likely to turn on 'em, sudden +and unexpected, like a redskin on a trail that's been followed too +closely." + +"It won't do to go after a Mohawk too far into the woods, sometimes," +growled Avery. "Not onless you're willin' to risk a shot from a bush. +Now, do you know, I wish I knew, too, what's been the dealin' of the +British admirals with Luke Watts, for losin' the _Windsor_. We owe +that man a good deal,--we do!" + +"They won't hurt him," said Sam. "It wasn't any fault o' his'n." + +In some such manner, all over the country, men and women were +comforting themselves, under the shadow of death which seemed to have +settled down over the cause of American independence. They knew that +the Continental army was shattered. It was destitute, freezing, +starving, and it was said to be dwindling away. + +Somewhere, however, among the ragged tents and miserable huts of its +winter quarters, was a man who had shown himself so superior to other +men that in him there was still a hope. From him something unexpected +and startling might come at any hour. + +As for Luke Watts, formerly the skipper of the British supply ship +_Windsor_, now a prize in New London harbor, Captain Avery and his mate +spoke again of him and of the difficulties into which he might have +fallen. Possibly it would have done them good to have been near enough +to see and hear him at that very hour of the day. + +A good longboat, with a strong crew anxious to make time and get into a +warmer place, had had only a short run of it from New London to New +York. Here was Luke, therefore, in the cabin of a British +seventy-four, standing before a gloomy-faced party of naval officers. +With him were his mate, Brackett, and several of the sailors of the +_Windsor_. It was evident that her loss had been inquired into, and +that all the testimonies had been given. If this was to be considered +as a kind of naval court martial, it was as ready as it ever would be +to declare its verdict. + +"Gentlemen," said the burly post-captain who appeared to be the ranking +officer, "it's a bad affair! We needed that ammunition. Even the land +forces are running so short that movements are hindered. If, however, +we are to find fault with any man, we must censure the captain of the +_Cleopatra_. This man Watts is proved to have gone into the Sound +against his will and protest. I am glad that the rebels did not hang +him. His recorded judgment of the danger to be encountered was +entirely correct. Watts, I shall want you to pilot home one of our +empty troop-ships." + +"I know her, sir," replied Luke, promptly. "I beg to say no, sir. Not +unless she has twice the ballast that's in her now. I'd like +permission to say a word more, sir." + +"Speak out! What is it?" + +"A ten-gun brig in the Sound can't catch that New London pirate--" + +"The _Boxer_ is cruising around that station," interrupted the captain. +"She's a clipper to go." + +"No use," said Luke, shaking his head. "The old whaler'll get away." + +"What would you do, then?" roughly demanded another officer. + +"A strong corvette, or two of 'em, off Point Judith and Montauk, to +catch her as she runs out," said Luke. "She'll fight any small vessel. +She carries a splendid pivot-gun, and she has six long sixes. She will +be handled by prime seamen." + +"Gentlemen," remarked the captain, "I agree with him. We have found +the advice of this man Watts to be correct in every case. I believe he +is right, now. We must do as he says or that pirate, perhaps others +with her, will escape us. I will put him in charge of the _Termagant_. +I'll feel safer about her, if she is sailed home by a man with a rebel +rope around his neck." + +There was a general expression of assent, and then Watts spoke again. + +"I want Brackett, if I can have him," he said. "I never had a better +mate. There's fight in him, too." + +"You may have him," he was told, and several of the officers present +expressed their great regret that so many impressed American seamen had +been ironed by Captain Avery and compelled to escape from a return to +man-of-war duty. They ought never to have been detailed, it was +asserted. + +"We can't hang 'em for desertion," they said, half jocularly. "All we +could do, if we caught them, would be to set them at work again." + +Nevertheless, four of these escaped men were now voluntarily among the +crew of the _Noank_. The remaining five had preferred to make the best +of their ways to their several homes. Not one of them all had chosen +to seek the friendly shelter of the British navy, so near and so ready +to receive them. + +Luke Watts and his friends were dismissed and went on deck. Shortly +afterward, their own longboat carried them to the _Termagant_ +troop-ship, and the first words uttered by the Marblehead skipper after +reaching her, were duly reported to his superiors. + +"Men!" he had exclaimed, as he glanced around him. "This thing isn't +fit to go to sea. She's been handled by lubbers. We've work before +us, if we don't want to go to the bottom or be overhauled by the +_Yankees_. Jest look at her spars and riggin'!" + +All things were working together, therefore, to strengthen the +confidence reposed in him, in spite of the curious fact that he had +skilfully delivered the _Windsor_ and her cargo in New London instead +of in New York. + +"We had a narrer escape not many miles beyond Hell Gate," he had +reported. "One o' those Long Island buccaneer whaleboats chased us +more 'n an hour. They gave it up then, and we got through. 'Twas a +close shave. Half on 'em are Montauk and Shinnecock redskins. Reg'lar +scalpers." + +He had told the truth, as he had appeared to do at every point of the +account which he had given of himself, and now the very men who had +captured him and let him go, neglecting to hang him, were about to +learn why that Long Island whaleboat had not followed him any farther. +There had been plenty of time for such a boat to get away, a long +distance. + +The lookout on the rampart of Fort Griswold, the same keen-eyed watcher +who had sent warning to the _Noank_ of the danger in the offing, was +busy with his telescope. + +"The cruiser's a brig!" he sang out. "I can make her out, now. She's +one o' the new patterns. She's chasin' a whaleboat. I wish she'd +roller it onto one o' them there ledges. She's firin'. It's long +range, but it looks kind o' bad for the Long Islanders. There ain't +any of our boats out, to-day. It's from t'other shore." + +He was watching, now, with intense excitement. There is hardly +anything else so interesting as a chase at sea with cannonading in it. +All this time, however, Captain Lyme Avery had been growing feverish. +He knew nothing of Luke Watts, nothing at all of the Long Island +whaleboat and her pursuer, but he shouted to the men at the capstan:-- + +"Heave away, boys! I'm goin' to have a look at that there Britisher. +We won't run any fool risks but we'll find out what she is, anyhow." + +Hearty cheers answered him and a loud war-whoop from Up-na-tan, for +every man on board had long since become sick of harbor inactivity. +They were also all the more ready for a brush with the enemy after +having brought in so fine a prize on their first venture, and they now +had plenty of powder and shot to fire away. + +Only the mainsail swung out after the anchor was raised, but a fair +wind was blowing and the _Noank_ went swiftly seaward with the tide in +her favor. + +"Hark!" said Sam Prentice; "guns again! Something's up, Up-na-tan! +Oh, you and Coco are at your pivot-gun! Free her! Have her all ready. +She's the only piece on board that's likely to be of any use." + +"Let 'em alone!" called out Captain Avery. "They know what they're +about. They're old gunners. I don't care so much, jest now, 'bout how +they got their trainin'. See 'em!" + +They were not by any means a handsome pair at any time, and they were +several shades uglier than usual. The Ashantee was grinning +frightfully, and the teeth he showed must have been filed to obtain so +sharklike a pointing. The red man was not grinning, but all the +wrinkles in his face seemed to grow deeper and his complexion darker. +He was charging his guns with solemnly scrupulous care. + +"No miss!" he said. "Up-na-tan find out what big gun good for." + +His first charge was going in, therefore, for a purpose of practical +inquiry into the character of the long eighteen. The foundries of that +day could not manufacture large weapons with mathematical precision. +Hardly any two could be said to be exactly alike, except in appearance. +It followed that each gun had good or bad features of its own. From +ship to ship, throughout the royal navy, the gunners published the +qualities of their brazen or iron favorites, and there were cannon of +celebrity which old salts would go far to see. + +The sound of the British firing came up somewhat dulled against the +wind. It was not until they were out of the harbor that the sailors of +the _Noank_ discovered how really near were both friends and foes. The +latter were still outside of the range of any of the fort guns. Hardly +more than a mile and a half nearer was the whaleboat from Long Island. +It could be seen that it was full of men, and they were showing +splendid pluck, for they were rowing steadily, while every now and then +a shot from the brig dropped dangerously near them. One iron bullet, +hitting fairly, might knock their frail though swift craft all to +pieces. Up went sail after sail upon the _Noank_, as she speeded +along, and an officer on the British cruiser's deck had good reason for +the astonishment with which he called out:-- + +"There she comes! You don't mean to say she's coming out to fight us?" + +"It looks like it," responded another officer near him. "We can make +match-wood of her if we can get close enough. I wish I knew what her +armament is. These Yankees have more impudence!" + +He did not have to wait many minutes before he learned something. The +_Noank_ whirled away upon the starboard tack around the point, and, +just as she steadied herself upon her new course, out roared her +pivot-gun. + +Up-na-tan stood erect as soon as he touched off his piece, and he +anxiously watched for the results. + +"Ugh! whoop!" he shouted triumphantly. "Gun good! Shoot straight! +Hit 'em!" + +"Right!" said Captain Avery, who had been watching through a glass. +"If the old pirate didn't land that shot on her! It's pretty long +range, too." + +"Load quick, now!" said the Indian. "Ole chief hit her again!" + +His assistants were already feverishly busy with their loading, while +he stood and proudly patted his cannon, very much as if it deserved +praise and could appreciate his approval. + +Loud were the exclamations of surprise and wrath on board the _Boxer_. +No one had been killed or wounded, but the brig's longboat had been +stove to bits, and all the pigs and chickens which had been cooped in +it for the time being, and there were many of them, were running +frantically about the main deck. That is, all but one large, fat pig, +for he had suddenly been made pork of, and he would run and squeal no +more. + +The telescopes at the fort had also been taking observations, and loud +cheers from the gathered garrison honored the crack shot of Up-na-tan. +The crew of the _Noank_ cheered lustily, and so did the rowers of the +whaleboat. One of the fort batteries tried its guns a moment later, +but all its shots fell short. Nevertheless, it was only a little +short, and it warned the captain of the _Boxer_. He knew, now, about +how much nearer it would be wise for him to run. Up-na-tan's next shot +was well enough aimed, but it did no mischief. It went over the brig, +with an unpleasant suggestion of what damage that sort of thing might +do to spars and rigging. + +"Luff! luff!" sang out the captain. "'Tisn't worth while to chase that +boat any farther in. Let's see if we can't draw out the schooner. I'd +like to get her away from those land batteries. They're too heavy +metal for us." + +"She has the wind of us," remarked his sailing master, doubtfully. +"She can do as she pleases 'bout coming any too near." + +"She's a clipper, anyhow," growled the captain. "Nothing can beat +these New Englanders in handling canvas. The king needs every man of +'em." + +His own sailors were just then more than a little busied with pig and +poultry gathering, and one badly scared bird rashly flew overboard. + +Captain Avery was to disappoint Up-na-tan and Coco. They were to have +no more long-range practice with the eighteen-pounder. + +One more shot that they sent was an unsatisfactory miss, and then the +distance began to increase instead of diminishing, as the schooner went +about. + +"Our fellows are safe now," said Sam Prentice. "Here they come. Look +at 'em! More Indians than white men." + +None the less were they excellent oarsmen and daring freebooters, and +before the end of the war the "whaleboat fleet," as it came to be +called, was to earn a not altogether pleasant reputation. + +Not many more minutes passed before the boat was near enough for a +hail. In it, forward, stood up a tall white man, balancing himself and +swinging his hat while he enthusiastically sent to the _Noank_:-- + +"Schooner ahoy! Hurrah! News from the Continental army! Gineral +Washington smashed the redcoats! Beat 'em on Christmas day at Trenton! +Then he follered 'em up and knocked Cornwallis all to flinders at +Princeton! We're a-beginnin' to flail 'em! Hurrah!" + +Wild was the cheering which answered him from the schooner. Some of +the men began to dance, and Sam Prentice yelled:-- + +"Shake hands, Lyme Avery! I jest knew it'd come! I said so! We're +goin' to flail 'em! Our turn's got here!" + +Up-na-tan expressed his feelings in whoop after whoop, and Coco's yell +was terrific. + +"Won't the shore people jump?" said Guert Ten Eyck. "Oh! How I want +to get in and tell mother!" + +The news-bringer had described the Trenton victory fairly, but he had +somewhat exaggerated the results of the severe fight at Princeton. +Lord Cornwallis had not reported it in precisely that manner. The boat +was now running along with the _Noank_, however, and the story of +Washington's splendid work for liberty was fired into the schooner at +short range, wadding and all. A pretty interesting conclusion for it +was the account of the manner in which the news had been obtained in +New York and carried along the Long Island shore, all the way to New +London. + +"We had to hug the land close," said the narrator, "but here we are." + +"Home! Home!" shouted Captain Avery. "The folks must have this to +cheer 'em up. It's the first bit of good news we've had in many a long +day. Hurrah for George Washington! God bless him!" + +It was an instantly arriving vexation, then, that the brisk breeze and +the tide, so favorable for coming out, were not so much so for running +in. + +The _Boxer's_ captain had also his vexations, for he shortly remarked:-- + +"There she goes! The boat's with her. We're not to have a chance at +her to-day. If I can get at her, I'll sink her! She'll come out +again." + +That was precisely the purpose in the mind of Lyme Avery, and he did +not intend any long delay, either. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BRIG AND THE SCHOONER. + +"Blaze away! Gun at a time!" shouted Captain Avery, as the _Noank_ +tacked across the harbor mouth. "We can afford a few blank cartridges +for such news as this is." + +"The whaleboat's goin' to beat us gettin' in," replied Sam Prentice. +"The folks'll know it all before we git there." + +"Don't care if they do," said the captain. "We'll only be in port +ag'in a few hours, anyhow. Night's our time. We know, now, jest what +the cruiser is, and there doesn't seem to be another 'round." + +The _Noank's_ sixes were, therefore, shouting to the forts and the town +that good news of some kind was coming. The men at the batteries heard +and wondered, and grew impatient. They thought they knew all there was +to be known of the mere exchange of shots with the _Boxer_. Their +friends had not been harmed; neither had the brig; the whaleboat had +escaped; and that was all that they could understand. Now, however, +they saw the _Noank_ sending up every American flag she had on board. + +What could it mean? Lyme Avery was not a man to have suddenly lost his +balance of mind. + +"Something's up," they said. "No matter what it is, we'll answer him." + +So a roaring salute was fired for something or other that was as yet +unknown to the gunners, and more flags went up on the forts; while the +joyous cannonading called out of their houses nearly all the population +of New London, every soul as full of eager curiosity as were the +soldiers of the garrisons. + +Out they came, and they were not at all an unprosperous looking lot of +men and women and children. Probably the most important thing which +the war statesmen of Great Britain overlooked in making their +calculations for subduing the colonies was that the resources of +America were in no danger of becoming exhausted. On the contrary, +nearly all the states were growing richer instead of poorer. Strangely +enough, the war itself was a powerful agent for the development of +America. Continental paper money was as yet answering very well for +local payments and exchanges, and its subsequent depreciation was of +less importance than a great many people imagined. Nothing was really +lost when a paper dollar dwindled to fifty cents and then went down to +ten--or nothing. Nearly all the old farms were as good as ever, and +new ones were opening daily. There were more acres under +cultivation--a great many more--all over the country, out of the range +of British army foraging parties. The farms which the foragers could +not reach included all of the New England states, all of Pennsylvania, +Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, nearly all of South +Carolina and Georgia, and all of New York above the Hudson River +highlands. A large part of even harassed New Jersey was doing very +well. + +Something more than merely the farming interests were to be taken into +consideration, moreover. Prior to the rebellion, the policy of the +mother country had choked to death all manufacturing undertakings in +America, in order that the colonies might serve only as markets for +English-made goods. Now, not only was the prohibition removed, but the +rebels were absolutely compelled to manufacture for themselves. They +were altogether willing to set about it. They had an abundance of raw +materials, and could increase their productions of all sorts. They had +great mechanical skill, marvellous inventive genius, and unlimited +water-power. Everywhere began to spring up woollen and cotton +factories, potteries, iron works, wagon shops, tanneries, and other new +industries unknown before. + +Cattle, horses, sheep, swine, mules, multiplied without any hinderance +whatever from the war. For all food products there were more mouths to +fill, and for all things salable there was more power to pay. It +followed that there soon were many more tradesmen, merchants, and +middlemen, doing vastly more business, whether for cash or barter. + +There were more men, too, and more women. The sad losses of men in +battles, camps, prisons, were only a small number compared with the +thousands of stalwart youths who were growing up. These, too, were +growing up as Americans, knowing no allegiance to England, full of +eager patriotism, and ready, whenever their turns might come, to take +their places in the army or in the navy. + +There were desolated regions, but the area of these was limited. As a +whole, the new republic was increasing tremendously in both wealth and +population. Its resources for all war purposes were growing from day +to day through all the dark years of the Revolution. + +The New Londoners had no idea of waiting patiently under such +circumstances as these, with so much salute firing tantalizing them. +Boats of all sorts put out, and these were shortly met by the Long +Island news-carriers. Their entry had not depended at all upon the +wind, and not much upon even the tide, so well they were pulling. + +Guert and his _Noank_ friends, therefore, were robbed of the pleasure +of being the first to tell the great tidings from the bank of the +Delaware. It swiftly reached the shore, to be greeted with half-mad +enthusiasm. Before the _Noank_ lowered her last sail at her wharf, +there were men on horseback and men in sleighs, and women, too, even +more excitedly, all speeding out to villages and towns and farm-houses +to set the hearts of patriots on fire with joy and hope. + +It was quite likely that every courier would picture the success of +General Washington at least as large as the reality. Lord Cornwallis +himself, rallying his somewhat scattered detachments to strike back at +his unexpected assailant, was aware of stinging losses, but not that he +had been seriously defeated. He had suffered a sharp check, and he had +afterward failed to surround and capture Mr. Washington and his brave +ragamuffins. That appeared to be about all. It hardly occurred to the +self-confident British generals that so small an affair as that of +Trenton, or a drawn battle like that of Princeton, could have any great +or permanent consequences. Little did they imagine how great a change +was made in the minds, in the courage and hope of a host of previously +dispirited Americans. + +There had been many, for instance, who had been losing confidence in +Washington's ability as a general. He had been too often defeated, and +they could not rightly understand or estimate the causes for his +reverses, or how well he had done in spite of terrible disadvantages. +Now, as his star again blazed forth, these very faultfinders were ready +to believe him one of the greatest generals of the age. + +The political consequences were invaluable. Not only the Congress at +Philadelphia, but the state legislatures, most of them, were more ready +to push along with measures of a military nature. The entire aspect of +affairs underwent a visible change, not only in America, but, very +soon, in Europe. + +Especially dense was the crowd that gathered at the wharf toward which +the _Noank_ was to be steered. All the other crowds probably wished +that they had known just where to go. Most of them at once set out on +a run in the corrected direction. The cheering done had already made a +great many of the patriots somewhat hoarse, and they were all the +readier to hear as well as talk. + +"Oh! Guert!" exclaimed his mother, as she hugged him, the moment he +came over upon the wharf. "I'm glad of the victories, but I'm gladder +still to see you safe back again!" + +"Up-na-tan hit the brig, mother," he said. "Captain Avery says we can +run out right past her. Hurrah for General Washington!" + +"Thee bad boy!" said Rachel Tarns, behind Mrs. Ten Eyck. "Thee and thy +schooner should have been with him at Trenton. He was in need of thy +fine French guns and thy sailors." + +"That's so, I guess!" said Guert. "We'd ha' sailed right in, if we'd +been there. I'd like to ha' seen the battle. Mother, Up-na-tan's +going to teach me how to handle cannon. He says he's going to make a +good gunner of me." + +"I want you to be a captain," she said. + +"Guert," said Rachel, "I wish thee might become as good an artilleryman +as thy old friend Alexander Hamilton. It is my pride and joy, this +day, that I paid for the first powder for his cannon. I also praise +the Lord that Alexander knoweth so well what to do with them and with +the powder." + +"I'll learn what to do with mine," said Guert. "'Tisn't easy, though. +'Tisn't like handling a rifle or a shotgun. It's a good deal in the +loading and in guessing distances." + +"Up-na-tan," was Rachel's next half-humorous inquiry, "thee wicked old +Indian! Has thee been shooting at thy good king with thy big gun?" + +"Ole woman no talk!" grumbled the Manhattan. "Up-na-tan all mad! Want +long thirty-two. Pivot-gun too small. Hit lobster brig. No sink her." + +"Ole chief not take any 'calp," chuckled Coco, maliciously, "so he feel +bad. Want 'calp somebody, soon's he can. Now old Coco had fight, +s'pose he 'bout ready for he supper." + +That feeling seemed to have spread very widely, as if good news were +calculated to produce good appetites. It was a hungry time as well as +a triumph, and in many houses there were home-made feasts, that +evening. There was one, for instance, at the Avery house, and Guert +was there, of course. He was glad of one more visit to his mother, but +a peculiarly warlike thrill went over him before he reached the gate. +It was when Lyme Avery said to his mate, as they separated:-- + +"Sam Prentice, tell your wife to send you out good and early. We're +goin' to have another brush with that there British brig, to-morrow, if +the wind's at all right for it." + +"I don't know," replied Sam. "Our best hold is to slip past her, if we +can, and git out into the open sea. It wouldn't do to run back into +the Sound, but I'd like to pick up another prize right here. We might." + +"A little too risky," said the captain, "with her on the watch. That's +the talk, though. We're goin' to bring more'n one prize into New +London, 'fore we git through." + +Guert was well aware that the _Noank_ had taken out what were called +"letters of marque and reprisal," and was therefore a regularly +authorized and commissioned commerce-destroyer. She was one of many. +In several of the colonial ports, north and south, precisely such +sea-wolves had long since made their preparations, and some were +already at sea. They were making serious havoc and were soon to make +more in the widely distributed, ocean-going commerce of Great Britain. +It was a cruel, destructive, uncivilized kind of warfare, but it was +customary among all the nations of the earth. In like manner, at this +very date, British privateers were out after American prizes. These +latter, moreover, had the regular cruisers of England as auxiliaries. +Less agreeably, sometimes, the warships came in as business rivals or +to claim a division of spoils. The Yankee privateers themselves +constituted nearly the entire navy of the United States. + +Sunrise does not come early in the month of January. It seems to come +earlier and there is more of it, if the weather is clear. On the next +morning after the arrival of the Trenton news, however, a thick white +mist came drifting up New London harbor from the sea. There was only a +light wind blowing from the westward, and it promised to be one of the +hazy days of winter, such as come before a thaw. + +"This 'ere is jest the thing for us," remarked Captain Avery, when he +came out to see about the weather. "It's the right kind o' breeze for +a schooner, and it's jest the wrong thing for a square rig. We can +spread more canvas for our draft and tonnage than that king's brig can, +anyhow." + +There was no one to dispute him, and he and Vine and Guert were shortly +on their way to the wharf. The Yankee shipbuilders, with abundance of +the best timber at hand and any number of bays and inlets to work in, +had constructed admirable shipyards upon plans of their own. Point +after point they had gone away from antiquated models, and they had +already made many important improvements in the building and rigging of +all kinds of craft. Before many years, the whole sea-going world was +to be forced to recognize their superiority. + +All of the _Noank's_ crew were on board when her captain reached her, +and he at once gave orders to cast off from the wharf. Only a very few +of her friends came down to see her go. Farewells had been already +said, for the greater part, and even the sailors' wives had been aware +that there would be no lingering. The Long Island whaleboat was +nowhere to be seen. It might be that her hardy oarsmen, their errand +accomplished, had set out to recross to their own shore under the cover +of darkness. + +"Some o' those island chaps," remarked Sam Prentice, "ain't but a +little better'n so many buccaneers. They're up to 'most any kind o' +pillagin'. Do ye know, Lyme, the first o' the West Injy pirates, long +ago, made their beginnin' with very much that kind o' open boat? It +was a good while before they were able to supply themselves with the +right kind o' sailin' vessels." + +"They did it, though," said Lyme. + +"Murderous lot they were, too," said Vine. "They never left anybody +alive to tell tales of 'em." + +"Ugh! Ugh!" came from Up-na-tan, in a sort of snarl. "All Kidd men +dead now. No come again." + +The Manhattan had seated himself upon a coil of rope and was busy with +a hone and the edge of a cutlass, as if he hoped to use it soon. + +"No, they're not," replied Prentice, with energy. "There's enough of +'em yet. Some say they're gettin' worse'n ever within a year or so. +This 'ere schooner's got to keep a sharp lookout for 'em, soon's we're +among the islands." + +"That's so, Sam," said Captain Avery. "I'll tell ye one thing more, +too. I'd ruther come to close quarters with a cruiser like that there +British brig than with one o' those half-Spanish West Injy picaroons. +Some right well-armed British and French fightin' craft have found 'em +dreadfully hard to handle." + +"So would we," said Sam, "and I wouldn't at all mind sendin' one of 'em +to the bottom. It'd be a matter o' life and death, ye know, for they +don't show any kind o' mercy. Not to man, woman, or child." + +Guert listened intently, for he had already heard, year after year, a +great many terrible yarns concerning the rovers of the Antilles. Part +of his daily business, too, was to listen well to whatever he might +hear, and he was learning a great deal in various ways. Brought up on +Manhattan Island, as he had been, he was familiar, of course, with the +external appearance of all kinds of shipping, whether of war or peace. +He had also seen a great deal of boat service. Now, however, he had +discovered that all this had not made a sailor of him. He was only a +mere beginner, although it seemed to him that he had been getting along +rapidly ever since he first saw the _Noank_. This was his first actual +cruising, but he had spent a great deal of time on board while she was +waiting in port. He believed that he knew every nook and corner of +her. He could go aloft like a squirrel or a monkey, but for all that +he felt dreadfully raw and green among such a crew of seasoned old +mariners. Every man of them, almost, could tell of long voyages. They +knew the Antilles well, and the other groups of American islands. Some +knew more of the coasts of South America, some of Europe. More in +number, and even more full of daring and of danger, were the tales he +had heard of the whale fishery, with its glimpse of ice-fields, +icebergs, frozen seas, and its combats not only with the oil-producing +monsters of the sea, but with white bears also, and walruses, and +hostile red men; to him, therefore, these men of the _Noank's_ company +were the heroes of the ocean. He admired them tremendously, just now, +as they discussed, in their matter-of-fact way, quietly, calmly, +fearlessly, the seemingly desperate chances just before them. They all +admitted, without hesitation, that it was a pretty doubtful problem +whether or not they would be able to escape not only the one cruiser +near them, but afterward the vigilant British blockade of the Sound +entrance and of the adjacent waters. The _Noank_ had very serious +risks to run before she could spread her wings on the Atlantic. + +The mist was hanging lower, thicker, whiter, and the morning gun from +Fort Griswold had long since announced that in the opinion of the +gunners the sun had risen. + +"Hullo! What?" exclaimed Captain Avery, springing to his feet. +"Another? They don't fire a shotted gun jest for sunrise." + +His practical ears had told him that this report was not made by a +blank cartridge. What could it mean? + +"Gunner saw lobster ship," said Up-na-tan, quietly. + +Away he went, then, toward his long eighteen, followed by Coco and +Guert and several sailors. + +"Captain Avery," he called back, "ole chief get gun ready. S'pose fort +gunner no fool." + +"Ready with her!" said the captain. "Ready! Every gun! Silence, all! +This fog's a friend of ours." + +The Indian's understanding of the shotted cannon was correct. The +sharp-eyed lookout upon the rampart had detected something more than +fog in the general whiteness which concealed the sea, and the nearest +gunner had at once put in a nine-pound ball on top of his signal +cartridge. + +"That brig has crept in to watch for the _Noank_," they said to each +other. "Let's give her a pill." + +The pill went well enough for a warning to the _Boxer_ that her sly +creeping in had been discovered, but it did no damage. Probably its +best use was the response it provoked from the too hasty gunners of the +_Boxer_. For the brig to fire at the fort was mere bravado, of course; +but her commander was nettled. + +"Give 'em a broadside!" he roared. "Let 'em have it. They can't +strike us out here in the mist. Blaze away!" + +All the port guns of the brig, five in number, were of small account +against earth and stone works; but they could express warlike feeling, +and they immediately did so, and they did one thing more. + +"Good!" said Captain Avery, as he heard them. "Now I know jest where +she is. Wish I knew how she's headed. We've all sail on. Keep still, +all! We can slip past her." + +As quietly as so many ghosts, the men went hither and thither about +their duties. They had not very much to do, for every square yard of +the schooner's canvas was already taking that fair light wind. The +brig, on the other hand, was by no means under full sail, for some +reason, and she was tacking now that she might run deeper into the fog +and out of the way of harm from the fort batteries. These were not +wasting any more ammunition upon her, or rather upon the mist and the +sea. Only her topsails had been seen, in the first place, and these +had been quickly hidden again. The two vessels were, nevertheless, +drawing nearer to each other, unawares. There was no carefully kept +silence on board the _Boxer_; on the contrary, her crew were every now +and then doing something to send out notice to any ears near enough to +hear. At close quarters she would have been a dangerous antagonist for +the Yankee schooner. There was nothing at all to be made in a fight +with her, and Captain Avery was strongly averse to the idea of having +his vessel crippled or worse at the very outset of his voyage. + +A wonderful thing is a curtain of sea fog. Sometimes it may be +beautiful, but it is never at all under human control. The _Noank_ was +running swiftly along and the very breeze which made her do so was +getting its grip upon the banks of vapor. It tore one of these in the +middle, suddenly. A great rift was opened, and clear water showed +across one short half-mile of the tossing sea. + +"There she blows!" sang out an old harpooner of the _Noank's_ crew, as +if the _Boxer_ had been a whale. + +"Luff! Luff!" shouted the British commander. "Bring your guns to +bear! We have her! Hurrah!" + +"Whoo-oop! Up-na-tan!" came fiercely from behind the breech of the +_Noank's_ long eighteen, and the Manhattan's warwhoop was closely +followed by the roar of his gun. + +"Hard a-lee!" called out Captain Avery. "Sam! Run her into the fog. +All hands, to go about. We must get under cover ag'in." + +Short range and a good aim, with the _Boxer's_ masts nearly in line, +had been bad for the Englishman's triumph. Down came his foretopmast, +splintered at the cap, dragging with it enough of spars and hamper to +assure that anything like racing condition had been knocked out of the +brig. She obeyed her helm, at first. She swung around and her port +broadside was delivered; but it was a mere waste of powder and round +iron. Not a shot touched the saucy _Noank_, speeding away through a +fog bank. + +Loud, indeed, was the startled exclamation of the astonished British +commander as he surveyed his unexpected damages. + +"'Pon my soul!" he said. "That pirate is going to get away from us. +This is too bad, altogether!" + +His sailors sprang to do what they might for the wreck, but the +appearance of things was unpromising. + +"Good for you, Up-na-tan!" said Captain Avery. "That shot tells for +old practice. I guess I'd better make you captain of that gun." + +"Ole chief keep gun," replied the Indian. "Find gun shoot straight. +Good!" + +"I'm mighty glad o' that," said the captain. "I mean to train every +hand on board, though. We may get stuck where we can't afford to miss +a shot. Straight shootin' is better than the heaviest kind o' shootin' +that doesn't hit." + +The breeze was increasing finely, and away went the swift privateer. +She had escaped from her first pursuer, and not far ahead of her, now, +were pretty surely her next batch of perils. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BRITISH FLEET. + +The easterly end of Long Island is exceedingly ragged in its contour. +It is made up of straggling promontories, bays, inlets, and the +adjacent waters contain many islands, large and small, with outlying +rocky ledges. The opposite shore, the mainland of New England, is of a +similar character. Between them, the eastern sound and the neck of +water by which it is to be entered, provide a great deal of pretty +circumspect navigation. + +It is said, although no one now living was there at the time to collect +testimony, that once the mainland and the island were connected by a +rugged isthmus, now sunken or washed away. If it were ever there, +enough of it is left to require good piloting. + +A fleet of war-ships proposing to blockade or supervise the port of +Boston, may at the same time extend its operations so as to cork up the +Sound. This process, if made sufficiently thorough, may include in the +blockade such ports as New London, Providence, New Haven, and their +smaller neighbors. All of these, during the Revolutionary War, were +not only developing rapidly their regular commercial relations but were +nests of privateering enterprises. + +The British naval authorities were often unable to detail for this part +of their general blockade of America a sufficient number of ships, and +it was a service much disliked by their captains and crews, especially +in winter. + +The area of ocean to be patrolled was wide, and in spite of all +watching the Yankee ships ran in and out. Boston, especially, was +building up again, after its long period of military occupation, siege, +and desolation, much to the disgust of its many enemies. + +During some hours after the escape of the _Noank_ from the _Boxer_, +Up-na-tan was down in the hold, and Guert Ten Eyck was with him. The +old Manhattan was no builder of ships, whatever he might be able to do +for a canoe, but he had seen a great many, here and there. He seemed +now to be carrying on a kind of critical investigation of the naval +architecture of the schooner. + +"What is it?" asked Guert, as his red friend placed a hand curiously +upon one of the ribs of the vessel and glanced from that to other +timbers. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Good stick. Like lobster war-ship. All make +schooner strong. Carry long gun!" + +"Captain Avery wishes she could," said Guert. "The mate thinks she +can't." + +"No gun anyhow, now," said the chief, shaking his head. "Wait!" + +The subject of the Manhattan's inquiry belonged to a controversy then +going forward among the royal naval constructors and sea-captains. The +reason why England's third and fourth rate cruisers carried only light +guns, and many of them, was simply their frail timbering. Too heavy +artillery might rack them dangerously. It would call for precisely the +strength of frame provided by American shipyards for craft which might +bump an ice-floe. + +Up-na-tan was still further informing himself concerning the skeleton +of the _Noank_, when a shout from above summoned them both. + +"Guert," called down Captain Avery, "you and he come to the cabin. Now +all's clear, you must learn something." + +On the deck all things were quiet. Not a sail was in sight that +indicated a craft as large as their own. The schooner was spinning +along, with all sails set and a fair wind in them. Everything about +her, from deck to topmast, wore a clean, orderly, service look, that +spoke volumes for the high character of her crew. She was all ready to +do her best at any moment, and she was sure of being well handled. +Perhaps a seaman would have critically remarked upon the fact that with +such a wind she was not taking a course directly out into the Atlantic. + +The captain's cabin, well aft below deck, was a small affair. It +seemed almost crowded when only half a dozen persons were in it. + +"Now, Guert," said Captain Avery, "if I don't make the chief +understand, you must explain it to him. Talk Dutch, or any other +lingo. He's the sharpest lookout there is on board, and he's a prime +steersman. He must know what some things mean." + +"What things?" asked Guert. + +Two rugged old sailors who had entered the cabin with Sam Prentice, +also looked on inquiringly, while the captain went to a locker and took +out of it a leather case. + +"Guert," he said, "it's the first duty of the commander of a ship +that's being taken by an enemy to put his private signal-book +overboard. It's kept weighted all the while, so it will sink. Now, +Luke Watts did his duty in that particular. His mate and his crew +looked on and saw him do it. So did I. They saw him drown something +like this." + +The case was open, now, and out of it was drawn what appeared to be +several sheets of parchments, wired together, so that they might be +rolled up like a pamphlet. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Chief know 'em. Ship talk with lantern. Talk +to other ship with flag. Captain got plenty lantern? Plenty flag? +Tell Up-na-tan how." + +A deep cupboard under the captain's bunk was at once thrown open, and +its contents were interesting. Red, green, blue, yellow, white, large +lanterns and small. Beside them lay a collection of sheafs of rockets, +each of which carried a written parchment tab to tell its nature. +Signal flags were there, also, in tightly tied-up rolls, and Up-na-tan +loudly grunted his approval of them. + +"First, now, for the book," said the captain. "Every man on board can +be trusted to know signals. There isn't one traitor in the _Noank_, +nor a fool, either. Sam and I must go on deck. You and the men and +the redskin stay here and study those things. Git 'em all into your +head, if you can. We may have a lot o' sharp dodgin' to do, this +cruise." + +Out he went, taking Sam with him, and then it at once appeared that +Guert had become a remarkable kind of schoolmaster, trying to explain +to others what he did not know himself. The two sailors were not +altogether unlettered men, but lack of practice had left them slow at +deciphering handwriting, and Guert seemed to have a knack of it. As +for the Indian, he did not know one letter from another, but he could +handle flags and lanterns as if they were hunting signs or the totems +of clans and tribes. Signal after signal was picked out and its +working practically illustrated in questions or answers. + +"'Top!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, at last. "Head full! See more by and +by." So said the sailors, and Guert himself felt as if he had been +going through a hard time at a new school. + +"But wasn't that a cute thing of Luke Watts!" he thought, as he came on +deck. "I'd like to try some o' those signals on a British ship. I +don't know how far we've run. The captain says our tightest squeeze +isn't far ahead of us, now." + +The schooner, oddly enough, was actually running within sight of Block +Island. Some, at least, of her perils must be behind her. Perhaps +more would have been if a sailing vessel could go straight ahead, in +any direction, like a steamer. That, however, is one of several things +that she cannot do. Many an hour of swift sailing, tacking back and +forth, must often be extended in gaining only a few miles of her true +course. + +The crew of the _Noank_ were not at all puzzled by the peculiar manner +in which she was handled, and some of their faces betrayed anxiety. + +"Guess ole Avery wish dark come," remarked Coco to his friends as they +stood together at the foremast. "Lobster out yonder, somewhere." + +It was only about the middle of the afternoon, and the captain's +telescope was busy every few minutes. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "'Tack to Montauk. No go out yet. Captain +head good. Want fog. Want night." + +There was a laugh behind them, and Guert swung around to ask of Sam +Prentice:-- + +"Can you tell me how it is, sir?" + +"I guess I can," said the mate. "We know a good deal more'n we did. +While you were all below, we spoke a Providence man. Cod-fisher. My +boy, there's a whole fleet of Britishers out there, somewhere, spread +all along. Merchantmen, troop-ships, cruisers. Some of 'em heavy +fellers. We must keep well in, for a while." + +"Ugh!" said the red man. "Mate let ole chief take glass. Want look." + +Prentice had with him his marine telescope, an unusually good one, and +he at once handed it to the Manhattan. + +"Your eyes are 'most as good as glasses," he said. "Let's see what you +can make out with that. I saw a sail, myself. Pretty well down, +easterly." + +There is a great deal of difference in eyes, even in good ones, and the +American red men possess peculiar faculties for sign reading. + +"Ugh!" said the Indian, after slowly and carefully sweeping the sea and +the horizon with the glass. "Bad! _Noank_ 'tay in. One war-ship. +One, two, three, four other ship." + +"Men-of-war and the convoy!" exclaimed Prentice. "Lyme Avery! Here +they are! Come this way! If the redskin hasn't sighted 'em!" + +"Ship o' line," now remarked Up-na-tan. "Frigate. Little gun ship." + +"Let me take the glass," said the captain, as he came; "it's a good +deal more'n we had reason to expect. Makes things look kind o' cloudy." + +"Well," said Sam, "it's about what the Boston pilot told that +Providence feller. If we'd ha' gone on in too much of a hurry, we'd +ha' run right in among 'em." + +"They're north o' their best course for New York," remarked the +captain. "I wonder if any of 'em are from Halifax. It may mean more +army to fight General Washington." + +"Mebbe," said Sam. "It's likely some of 'em are the reg'lar coast +cruisers. As for the convoy, they're slow and heavy. It's about the +course I'd expect them to run." + +"We'll take in sail and heave to," said the captain. "Our safest +hidin'd be under Martha's Vineyard." + +They were not a very long reach from that island now. There were +several fishing smacks in sight, and none of them were taking in sail. +It looked, rather, as if they were all heading homeward. Perhaps they, +too, had been warned of a British fleet, and every man on board of them +was in danger of pitiless impressment, if his boat were to come within +range of the guns of a king's ship. + +In came the sails of the _Noank_, and then came a time of watching, +waiting, and anxiety. + +"Nine sail in sight," remarked Captain Avery, at last, "and there's +more'n that to come. British flag on every one of 'em. Of course, +they've sighted us, long before this." + +"One comin' for us, I guess," said Coco. + +"Headin' this way, sure!" + +"I guess so," said the captain, quietly. "It's gettin' dusk, though. +Her glasses won't do any good, much longer.--Men! All sail! Jump, +now! Our time's come!" + +His manner had undergone a sudden change, and there was a red flush on +his face. The men heard him say to his son:-- + +"No, Vine, I won't be taken. I'll fight that nighest feller, if I've +got to. He isn't a heavy one." + +His orders went out fast, and the schooner was quickly under a cloud of +canvas. She had indeed been noticed by the British commanders, and +arrangements had been made to overhaul her, as a matter of course. + +Her flight, or at least her escape, from such a fleet as she was now +facing, was an absurdity not to be thought of. Whatever sort of +American craft she might be, she was soon to have an officer and a +boat's crew on board of her, ascertaining how many of her sailors it +was best to take into the service of the king. + +"Father," suggested Vine, "they won't send a boat till they're nearer +than this, a good deal. The sea's getting a bit rough, too, and the +wind's fresh'ning." + +"I don't care how many boats they send," replied the captain. "I can +sink 'em as they come. We'll run farther in behind Nantucket, but we +won't go too far. The redskin says he saw a topsail off the channel +that's cut too square to suit us." + +"Reg'lar cruiser's tops'l," put in Sam Prentice. "How she came to be +there, I don't know. Are they layin' a trap for us? Lyme, this 'ere's +goin' to be touch and go." + +"It'll be go, then," said the captain. + +"Maybe we won't touch, either. It's promisin' the darkest kind o' +night. They won't dream o' what our next long tack'll be.--Men! All +hands! Hark a moment, now!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from all sides, and as many as could came +crowding around him. + +"There may be more'n twenty sail, of all sorts, yonder, for all we +know," he said. "We make it out it's the British army supply fleet, +with troop-ships full of redcoats and Hessians. Likely, too, there are +reg'lar merchantmen for New York. They've a strong convoy, j'ined, +jest now, by the blockade ships, big and little. I calc'late, the more +of 'em there is, the better for us. I'm goin' to run the _Noank_ right +through 'em. Sam Prentice, take some men and fetch up the lanterns and +rockets. Now, boys, I ain't sure but we'll have a little fun, but +there mustn't be a loud word spoke on board this schooner." + +With subdued laughter and chuckles of appreciation, the men scattered +to their duties. There was not a sign of fear among them and hardly an +expression of doubt as to the result. + +The schooner herself seemed to go into the daring undertaking before +her, with all her heart as well as with all sails set. She swung +around upon her seaward tack and went with a speed that did her credit. + +It was dark, and the darkness was deepening. Far away as yet, and in +all directions, the lights that were hung out by the British ships, +both of war and peace, were glimmering and twinkling as they rose and +fell with the surges that bore them. It was shortly evident that some +of these were signals that were exchanging, in accordance with the +directions of the secret signal code, and Captain Avery began to assort +and arrange his lanterns. + +"Sam," he said, "I guess I'll answer that call to close up with the +flag-ship. All the rest of our fleet are answerin' it." + +"Lyme," responded Prentice, "I'm in for fun, if there is any. Why +couldn't we mix 'em up?" + +"We'll try, anyhow," said the captain. + +"Cap'n," put in Up-na-tan, almost respectfully, so strong was getting +to be his warrior admiration for the cunning and courage of his +commander, "s'pose we tell lobster ship, rebel enemy come. Rebel right +here. Make 'em feel good. Fire gun!" + +"I guess that's about as sharp a thing as we could do," replied the +captain. "Guert, pick out those white rockets. Hand 'em over." + +Guert was having the fireworks under his especial charge, for he was +found able to read the somewhat roughly written tabs. + +"Here they are, sir," he said in half a minute. "There's plenty more +of that kind." + +Vine Avery had the lanterns, and he had already made use of them in +mocking replies to more than one swinging, dancing signal. + +Now, as the captain lighted the rockets, up into the gloom went fizzing +and flashing the prescribed announcement of danger. Each rocket let +out, as it exploded, a pretty large ball of red flame, as if to +emphasize its message. War-ship after war-ship told her character by +responding with a similar rocket, the merchantmen keeping quiet, and +then from the flag-ship of the fleet came the boom of a heavy gun. + +"Heavens!" suddenly exclaimed Captain Avery, as he watched for those +responses. "One o' their cruisers is nigher'n I'd counted on! +Starboard your helm, Sanders! All ready to go about!" + +"Ship ahoy!" came out of the gloom beyond them. "_Amphitrite_! What +ship's that? Where are the enemy? What is she?" + +"_Kr-g-h-um-n_, of Liverpool," sang out Captain Avery huskily, +indistinctly, through his trumpet. + +"They won't make much out of that," Guert was thinking, but the British +officer angrily shouted back:-- + +"_Kraken_, of Liverpool? You blockhead! What do I care for that? +Where away's the Yankee?" + +"Armed schooner, sir! Pirate! Passed close by, westerly. Say 'bout +two p'ints south." + +"Where away, now, stupid?" + +"On the lee bow, sir," trumpeted the captain. "Runnin' free. We was +nigh 'nough to see her guns." + +"Blockhead!" came back. "Why didn't you signal sooner? You deserve a +good rope's ending! Close up with the admiral!" + +"Ay, ay, sir! There she goes! They're gettin' hold of her," responded +Captain Avery. + +For at that moment another gun from another man-of-war sounded well to +leeward. It was accompanied by more rocket signals that went up to be +read by all the fleet. + +"Captain," sang out Guert, as he tried to read them, "green rocket +bursting into red. It means 'Pirate in chase of merchantman.'" + +"All right," said the captain, "it's some other feller. We're not in +chase of anybody. Up-na-tan! Vine! swing out that biggest blue +lantern. I'll send up a blue rocket burstin' yeller and green. Then +douse the lanterns." + +"What does that mean, father?" inquired Vine, raising the blue lights. + +"Mean?" uproariously responded the captain. "Why! it means 'Mutiny on +board ship. Send help to quell mutiny.'" + +The British admiral saw that rare and exceedingly annoying signal with +intense indignation. + +"That's it!" he stormed, "another 'cursed mutiny! That comes of +crowding the king's ships with the off-scourings of the merchant +service, and jail-birds, and slaves, and picaroons, and 'pressed Yankee +rebels. Not one of 'em's fit to be trusted. The king'll lose ships by +it! They'd better be all hung!" + +Meantime, under an almost perilous press of sail for such a wind and so +rough a sea, the stanch, swift _Noank_ was dashing along her course. +Every minute carried her oceanward, but not all her dangers were behind +her. + +Rapid signalling went on between the British war-ships and their now +frightened convoy. The unarmed vessels were hurrying toward their +protectors like so many chickens toward a clucking hen. No other +incident or accident of any importance occurred to any of them. As +hour after hour went by in the darkness of the night, and then in the +very chilly morning that followed, an eager, angry, discomforting +process of inquiry went forward from ship to ship. Upon which of them +had been the mutiny? Had it succeeded? Had it been put down? Did the +mutineers take the boats and get away? + +"Not on this ship, sir," was the altogether uniform response, and all +the vessels known to be in company had been accounted for. + +Not only was it that not one solitary mutineer could be discovered: it +also appeared that no such ship as the _Kraken_, of Liverpool, had at +any time joined herself to that convoy. + +"'Pon my soul!" exclaimed the astonished admiral, at last, "this is +great! Ponsonby, my dear fellow, the chap that hailed you in the dark +must have been the Yankee pirate himself. What do you think?" + +"I think he got away, sir," calmly replied Captain Ponsonby, of the +_Amphitrite_, forty-four. "The rebel rascal has slipped through our +fingers in the most audacious manner. Showed pluck, too." + +"He did!" groaned the admiral. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HUNTING THE NOANK. + +An army in garrison will surely spend money, officers and men. So will +a fleet in port. The British camps, upon and near Manhattan Island +contained thousands of soldiers, and the warships on the station, or +arriving and departing, were numerous. There was sure to be, upon +almost any day, enough of "shore leave" or camp leave given, and the +streets of New York City were often even brilliant with uniforms. The +burnt district could already show many new buildings, mostly shops and +warehouses, and the streets were clear of rubbish. The merchants and +shopkeepers were said to be doing very well; some of them were making +fortunes out of the needs of the king's forces. In the social life of +the town there had been a notable change. Rich loyalists from the +interior had fled to New York for safety. All the old houses were +occupied, in one way and another. Some new ones were built or +building. There was a great deal of dinner giving and the like. On +the whole, therefore, the ruined city was beginning a new and very +peculiar era of prosperity. This was to continue, during the years of +the war, to such a degree that upon the return of peace all things +would be in readiness for rapid commercial development. + +The harbor, with so many ships in it that were all at anchor, wore a +frosty, sleepy look, one winter morning. Boats were pulling here and +there, from ship to ship, or between the ships and the shore. The +morning gun had long since sounded, and the reveilles at the forts and +camps. All the flags and pennants were drooping upon their staffs in +the still, cold air, and nowhere did any sails appear to be spreading. + +Upon the after deck of one elderly looking three-master stood a man who +was evidently taking a thoughtful survey of her. + +"Levtenant," he said, to a British naval officer standing near him, +"this 'ere craft is ready for sea." + +"I've brought your sailing orders, then," said the officer. "The +sooner you're off, the better." + +"Jest so!" said Captain Luke Watts. "They all tell me she isn't a bad +one to go. I'm goin' to give her all the chances that are in her. I +ain't in any hurry for a return cargo, though. I've had one lesson." + +"Pretty narrow escape, they say," said the lieutenant. "It wasn't your +fault, though. You'll be taking return cargoes from New York to +Liverpool, before long. This war's nearly over." + +"Guess it is," said Watts, "but it'll be spring before anything more +can be done with Mr. Washington." + +"Cornwallis'll catch him, then," was the confident rejoinder. "The old +Virginia fox can hole away among his Jersey hills for a few weeks +longer. Then Cornwallis promises to dig him out." + +"Oh, he'll do that, fast enough," said Watts. "I s'pose, if I ever git +back, I may find him a prisoner in New York. My first business, +though, is to git this craft across the Atlantic. I'm to have a thin +crew and no guns, and I've to depend on my sails altogether. There are +risks." + +"Can't help it," said the lieutenant, "and you mustn't lose her." + +"You may tell the admiral," answered Watts, a little sharply, "that if +I don't, he may have me shot." + +"I'll tell him so." + +"It's Liverpool or my neck!" said Watts, emphatically. "Tell him I'll +take the northerly course, weather or no weather, out o' the way o' +pirates, and he needn't be uneasy." + +The carrying of that report to the captain of the port yet more firmly +established the confidence which was reposed in the loyalty of Captain +Watts. He was to be allowed to use his own judgment very freely, and +he was likely to have continuous employment as a Tory commander of +British ships. + +There was hardly any cargo worth speaking of in the hold of the +_Termagant_. She was going home in ballast. British commerce with the +colonies was entirely cut off, and this of itself was a severe war blow +to the mother country, equivalent to many defeats of her armies in the +field. American commerce itself, however, although terribly assailed, +was all the while on the increase. Up to the outbreak of the war, +everything produced for export in the colonies had to go out under +British restriction, whether directly to England or otherwise. All +that did not do so escaped by adventurous processes of a smuggling +description, and the amount of it was limited. Now, for instance, the +tobacco of Virginia and the Carolinas, when it could get out at all, +could be sold in any port of Europe which it might reach. The West +India Islands, also, were ready to take wheat to any amount, paying for +it in sugar, molasses, rum, cash, tobacco, or fruits. The war laws of +nations and the existing treaties, even if these were strictly adhered +to, were not in such a shape as to hinder France or Holland or Spain +from opening trade relations, hardly concealed, with the revolted +colonies of Great Britain. All the politics of Europe were in a +dreadfully mixed, uncertain condition, and what was called peace was +very like a war in the bud that promised to become full blown before a +great while. + +The greatest of all hinderances to American prosperity did not belong +to the war at all. It was the absence of good facilities for inland +transportation. The roads were bad, and little was doing to make them +better. The natural watercourses, rivers, bays, and sounds, were of +great value, but they did not exist in many places where they were +needed. Washington's army almost starved to death, simply because +there were no railways, not even macadamized roads, by means of which +he could receive the abundant supplies which his fellow-patriots in +numberless localities were eagerly ready to send him. Large amounts of +produce, year after year, rotted on the ground among the up-country +farms of all the states, because the cost of wagoning was too great, or +the roads were impassable, or the markets did not exist. + +While this was the condition of things on the land, not only in +America, but in all other countries, there was a scourge of the sea +that was almost as hurtful to commerce as was privateering itself. +Piracy had been fought out of large parts of the ocean, only making an +occasional appearance, but in other parts it held an only half-disputed +sway. One consequence was that the mere dread of the black flag kept +out commercial enterprise almost altogether from a large number of +promising fields. The fact was, that every case of a vessel lost at +sea and not heard from, and of these there were many, was sure to be +charged over to the account of piracy, so that the actual evil was made +to appear much greater than its reality. + +A severe check had been given to the slave trade at first by the +closing of its North American market, only a few human cargoes, if any, +being delivered among the colonies during the Revolutionary War. On +the other hand, the dealers in black labor were encouraged by a +steadily increasing demand from the British and Spanish islands, and +from South America. + +So entirely different was the ocean world, therefore, from what it is +to-day, and so easy does it become to form wrong ideas concerning +old-time war and peace on sea and land. + +The Yankee privateer, the _Noank_, Captain Lyme Avery commanding, had +indeed left a large British fleet behind her, and all the sea was +before her. Conversations between her commander and his very +free-spoken subordinates, however, revealed the fact that what might be +called her commission as a ship of war was exceedingly roving. Even +that very next morning, as he and his mate stood forward, anxiously +scanning the horizon, the latter inquired:-- + +"Lyme,--I say! How'd it do to tack back and try to cut out one o' them +supply ships?" + +"Too risky, altogether," replied the captain. "South! South! I say. +We mustn't hang 'round here. There are more ships runnin' between Cuby +and Liverpool than there ever was before." + +"Fact!" said Sam. "The British can't git their tobacker from the +colonies any more. They git a first-rate article from the Spaniards, +though, and they have to pay tall prices for it." + +"That's it," said Avery. "I want to run one o' those fine-leaf cargoes +into New London. Good as gold and silver to trade with. I'd a leetle +ruther have sugar, though, full cargo, ship and all, with plenty o' +molasses." + +Others of the schooner's company chimed in, agreeing generally with the +captain, and it looked more and more as if the immediate errand of the +_Noank_ might be considered settled. She herself was going ahead very +well, and was in fine condition. + +Away forward, at the heel of the bowsprit, with no sailor duty pressing +him just now, loafed Guert Ten Eyck. He had borrowed a telescope from +Vine Avery, and he had been using it until he grew tired of searching +the horizon in vain, and he had shut it up. He was feeling just a +little homesick, perhaps, after the over-excitement of the previous +days. He was thinking of his mother rather than of stunning successes +as a young privateersman. + +"Wouldn't I like to see her this morning!" he was thinking. "I'd like +to tell her and the rest how we beat that British fleet--" + +"Ugh!" exclaimed a voice at his elbow. "Boy no lookout! Go to sleep! +Wake up! Up-na-tan take glass!" + +Guert's dulness vanished, and he at once straightened up, for the +contemptuous tone of the old Manhattan stung him a little. He had not +been stationed there by any order, as a responsible watchman, but the +old redskin was unable to understand how any fellow on a warpath, +whether in the woods or upon the water, could at any moment be +otherwise than looking out for his enemies. His own keen eyes were +continually busy without any mental effort or any official +instructions. He now took the telescope and began to use it +methodically. Around the circle of the sea it slowly turned, until it +suddenly became fixed in a north-westerly direction. + +"Sail O!" he sang out. "Where cap'n?" + +"Here I am!" came up the forward hatchway. "Where away? What do you +make her out?" + +"Nor-nor-west!" called back the Indian. "Square tops'l. No see 'em +good, yet. Man-o'-war come." + +"Jest as like as not," said Captain Avery. "Shouldn't wonder if they'd +sent a cruiser after us. Hurrah, boys! A stern chase is a long chase, +but that isn't the first thing on hand. Sam! I was down at the +barometer. There's a blow comin'! Worst kind! All hands to shorten +sail! Lower those topsails!" + +It was a somewhat unexpected order for a crew to receive if an enemy's +cruiser were indeed so close upon their heels, and there was hardly a +cloud in the steel-blue winter sky. It was obeyed, however, the men +passing from one to another the discovery of Up-na-tan while they +tugged at their ropes and canvas. + +Guert sprang away aloft, for this was a part of his seamanship, in +which the captain was compelling him to take pretty severe lessons. + +"You'll have to be on a square-rigged ship, one of these days," he had +told him. "I want you to know 'bout a schooner before you get away +from her. But you'll find there's an awful difference 'twixt the +handlin' o' the _Noank_ and a full-rigged three-master. You'll need +heaps and heaps o' sea schoolin'." + +Guert was very well aware of that, from more tongues than one, and Sam +Prentice was also beginning to put him through a mathematical course of +the study of navigation. This, in fact, had begun during the long +months of inactivity at New London, and he had been much helped in it +by his Quaker friend, Rachel Tarns. He was to be of some use, one of +these days, she had told him; and a fellow who did not know how to +navigate could never become a sea-captain. An ignorant chap, a mere +sailor, must serve before the mast all his life. + +In came the clouds of canvas, all but a reefed mainsail and foresail +and a jib. + +"She's safe, now, I think," said the captain. "I guess I'll go down +and take another look at that glass. It kind o' startled me, it was +goin' down so. Sam, how's the stranger?" + +"Heading for us, I'd say," called back the mate. "She's a +three-master, too. She's carryin' all sail, just now. If there's a +heavy blow a comin', she may throw away some of her sticks." + +"She may do worse'n that," said the captain, "if she cracks on too much +canvas. We won't, though." + +Down below he hastened, and now Up-na-tan was pointing at something +white and hazy well up in the eastern sky. Every old salt on board was +quickly watching what appeared to be, at first, a change of color from +blue to gray. Some of them were shaking their heads gravely. + +"It's the wrong time o' year," said one, "for that sort o' thing. I +know 'em. They're jest crushers. Tell ye what. If it's that kind o' +norther, it'll drop down awful sudden when it gits here. Lyme Avery +hasn't been a mite too kerful. He knows what he's about." + +"There's odds in storms," replied a grizzled whaler near him. "I've +seen a Hull trader knocked all to ruins in ten minutes by one o' them +fellers. Every stick was blown out of her, and she foundered before +sundown." + +"Look out sharp for all the gun fastenings!" shouted the captain, as he +again came hurriedly on deck. "Up-na-tan, you and Coco guy that +pivot-gun, hardest kind. This boat's likely to be doin' some pitchin' +and rollin' pretty soon. There'll be an awful sea. Where's that +Englishman?" + +"Wait a bit," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief give lobster one shot." + +"All right," said the captain. "She's in good range now. Have your +extra gearings ready to clap on. This schooner has weathered all sorts +o' gales, but it won't do to let her git caught nappin'." + +There had been more than a little surprise on board King George's fine +frigate _Clyde_, of thirty-six guns. There had been a group of +seaman-like officers upon her quarter-deck at about the time she was +discovered by Up-na-tan. Marine glasses were at work in the hands of +more than one of those gentlemen, and the express reason for it +appeared in their conversation. + +The _Clyde_ was a cruiser somewhat noted for her speed. She had been +of the convoy of the fleet through which the _Noank_ had so cunningly +worked her way, and had been at once detailed to chase the saucy +privateer. This was decidedly pleasanter than guarding slow +merchantmen, and the frigate's commander had congratulated himself +heartily. + +"If we don't strike her, we may pick up something else," he had +remarked, adding: "I think I can make out the course she's most likely +to take. Two to one, she's bound for the Havana, to harry our West +India trade. We'll keep a sharp lookout." + +So he did, and he had been rewarded even sooner than he had expected. + +"Right under our noses," he had said, when the discovery of the +schooner was announced. "We can outsail her." + +"Captain!" interrupted his next in command, excitedly. "If she isn't +taking in sail! What can that mean?" + +"She may take us for something else," said the captain. "It's a fine +breeze. She couldn't think of fighting us." + +"Not a bit of it," said the officer; but his commander was an old, +experienced sea-captain, and the queer conduct of his intended prize +set him to thinking. + +He walked up and down the deck during about half a minute, and then he +began to look up curiously at the sky. + +"That's it!" he shouted, his whole manner changing suddenly. "The +Yankees are right! All hands! Shorten sail!" + +He poured rapid orders through his trumpet, while his lieutenants and +other officers sprang away to their duties, leaving him almost alone +upon the quarter-deck. + +"It's plain enough what it means," he said aloud. "There's trouble +coming; we must in with every rag. This ship's too light, anyhow, for +a hurricane. The men don't know it, but they may be working for their +lives. All right! Things are coming in fast enough. I'll get that +schooner, too, wind or no wind." + +As yet, there was only a fresh breeze to take note of, so far as a +landsman could have discerned. There was no actual excitement among +the sailors of the _Clyde_, merely because of a change in the color of +the sky. Some of them, however, had sailed as many seas as had their +captain or the whalers of the _Noank_, and they were freely expressing +to their comrades their approval of his prudence. All were working, +therefore, with an uncommon degree of energy. Their ways and their +performances would have been, if he could have seen them, a very +instructive lesson to Guert Ten Eyck. He would have learned much +concerning the differences between a square-rigged three-master and a +schooner like the _Noank_. + +During this somewhat brief and exceedingly busy time, the two vessels +had steadily approached each other. The first officer of the _Clyde_ +had attended to his taking in and reefing, and he now stood once more +before his captain. + +"The prize is within long range, sir." + +"All right, Mr. Watson. Give her a gun. We must take her or sink her." + +"Best sink her, sir. It's not safe to send off a boat. Most likely +she's heavily armed, sir." + +"No," said the captain, "no boat. We're short-handed, anyhow. We'll +not sink her if we can help it. One thing I'm after is to overhaul her +crew." + +"You are right, sir," laughed the lieutenant. "A shot may bring her +to." + +There was more than one element, therefore, in the supposable value of +the _Noank_, considered as the prize of the British frigate, _Clyde_. + +Out ran one of the latter's port guns, shotted. It was well aimed, +too, whether or not it was intended mainly as a sharp command to +surrender. Its heavy shot went whizzing between the schooner's raking +masts, doing no actual damage, but serving as a serious warning. + +"A little lower!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That was closer than I +expected. Up-na-tan! Let 'em have it!" + +He had but just given the order to go about, and the _Noank_ was almost +as good as standing still, while the red man sighted his gun. His +marksmanship was a shade better, too, than that of the British gunner. + +Such a response, or any at all with a gun, had been utterly unexpected +by all on board the _Clyde_. + +"Hit us?" gasped the captain. "We are struck? Was there ever such +impudence! See what that is!" + +"The port o' th' capt'n's cab'n!" shouted a sailor. "It's mashed, sir! +And 'ere comes th' wind, sir!" + +There had been a crash of wood and glass at the closed port-hole, and +from that the Indian's iron messenger had gone on through the cabin +door. All to bits flew a great swinging lantern in the saloon, and a +wide gap was made in the woodwork of the state-room opposite. This had +been closely packed with dinner-table delicacies, including many cases +of wine. Sad work was therefore made of the costly juice of the grape, +whether purchased or captured. A small flood of it, as red as blood, +but not as horrible, came streaming out to tell of the bottle-breaking. + +"'Orrid waste, sir!" groaned the captain's steward, as he gazed upon +that crimson rivulet. "'E could ha' dined the fleet on 'alf o' that. +I'll not forgive they Yonkees!" + +"Give 'em a broadside!" roared the angry lieutenant on deck. + +"No!" as loudly commanded the cool and prudent captain, adding to his +friend: "Not just now, my boy. Call all hands to quarters. It'll be +hold hard, in a few minutes. Ease her! Ease her! Starboard your +helm! Steady all! Here it comes!" + +He was a prime good seaman, that captain of the _Clyde_, and he was at +that moment looking aloft to see his maintopsail blown to leeward. + +"I'm glad it went!" he exclaimed. "Good luck! since they couldn't get +it in. That'll relieve the strain on the topmast. It wouldn't ha' +stood it." + +Other sails threatened to follow, however, and the frigate was +beginning to reel and pitch unpleasantly, although no very heavy sea +had yet risen. The sky overhead was all one whiteness, but low down, +northeasterly, it was blackening. The wind that came was bitterly cold +and cutting, as well as resistlessly strong. On board the _Noank_ all +had been made ready for its arrival, and the schooner showed at once +the excellence of her modelling. She leaned over, under her closely +reefed mainsail, with a mere apron of a jib, and sped away southerly at +a rate which her square-rigged pursuer was not at all likely to rival. + +The captain of the _Clyde_ watched her, as he clung tightly to his +lashings at the foot of his mizzenmast, using his telescope as best he +could, and making remarks as calmly as if he had been contemplating a +horse-race. + +"I'll say one thing for the Yankees," he said. "We can take lessons +from them in light ship building. That's a good one. I wish I had the +sailors that are handling her. They turn out some o' the best seamen +afloat. Worth twenty apiece of some that were sent to me." + +He was himself a fine specimen of the race of vikings who have made +England the queen of the seas. Nowhere have they ever been more highly +appreciated than among their cousins of the New World, and their many +achievements are a part of our own ancestral inheritance. + +For the immediate present, at least, the _Noank_ was safe, so far as +the British navy might be concerned. + +"Guert!" said Up-na-tan, when their watch below brought them together. +"Look ole brack man! Coco no like cole wind. Like 'em warm. +Up-na-tan no care! Ugh! Want _Noank_ run south. No freeze hard." + +Poor Coco had indeed been shivering pitifully when he came down from +the deck. Not all the experiences he had had during many northern +winters had prepared his Ashantee constitution to enjoy a norther. + +In fact, moreover, there was not an old whale catcher on board who did +not now and then congratulate himself that the schooner was steering +toward the tropics, and would soon leave behind her that fierce, +destructive river of dry, penetrating polar air. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CONTRABAND GOODS. + +It was greatly to the advantage of the swift _Noank_ that her larger +and even swifter enemy was having a battle of its own. The burly +commander of the _Clyde_ was compelled to surrender, for the time, to +the imperious demands of the polar gale. If it would have been at all +safe to have thrown open any of his ports, nothing worth while could +have been done with his guns. All that was left for him to do, +therefore, was to follow on as best he could in the wake of his +American prize. This could be done fairly well, for a while, although +he was not gaining upon her. Then, however, another of her natural +allies interfered, for darkness came over the sea, and his best hope +for catching the _Noank_ went out like an extinguished lantern. + +Meantime, the captain had to listen, with undisguised vexation, to his +steward's dolorous account of the damage done to the delicacies in the +storeroom. + +Far away, northerly, that very evening, a patriotic company of +Americans had gathered in a large and pretty well-lighted room. +Adjoining this were several other rooms, large and small, which were +occupied in very much the same manner. The house was the old Ledyard +mansion at New London, and all these women and girls had gathered +there, with one accord, for work, and not for fun. The brave owner of +the homestead, Colonel William Ledyard, was absent upon an errand to +Boston, and there were hardly any grown-up men in the assembly. There +were boys, indeed, brimming with patriotism, and these were evidently +feeling more than ordinarily warlike as they helped their grandmothers, +and mothers, and sisters, and aunts at the peculiar industry which had +brought them together. + +It was neither a sewing society, nor a quilting bee, nor an apple +paring. There could not, however, have been more activity or +cheerfulness, even at a corn husking, and yet the cause of all this +enthusiasm and energy was serious indeed. All the busy fingers in +these rooms were putting up ball cartridges with the powder and lead +captured by Lyme Avery in the _Windsor_. + +"What a pity it is that we cannot send them to Washington," said one of +the workers. "He will need them all pretty soon." + +"I hope we'll never need them here," responded another, "but I suppose +the forts must be provided. The British may come. They have good +reasons for hating New London." + +"It hath many bad people in it," came sarcastically from beyond the +table in the middle of the room. "I fear there is very little love +here for our good king. We think too little of all that he is trying +to do for us." + +"Rachel Tarns," exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, near her, "there's more news +from New York just in. Your good king is stirring up the Six Nations +again. There will be more trouble on that frontier." + +"Not right away, I think," replied the Quakeress. "I have much faith +that the peaceful red men will remain in their wigwams during such +weather as this is. Should they not do so, I fear lest some of them +might be hurt by the frontiersmen, even if they are not frost-bitten." + +"That's what I'm afraid of," said one of the larger boys. "Old Put +ought to be there. Washington used to be an Indian fighter. Killed +lots of 'em. I guess there won't any of 'em trouble us folks in +Connecticut." + +"Thee is only a boy," laughed Rachel. "Thy Old Put could tell thee of +troubles with the red men not so very far away from this place. Thy +own house is upon land that once belonged to them. What would thee do +if they should come to take it away from thee?" + +"I'd fight!" said the youngster. "My father's with Washington and my +brother's with Putnam. Mother and I are ready to shoot if any of 'em +come near our house." + +"Rachel," said Mrs. Ten Eyck, "how is thy conscience this evening? How +is it that a Quaker can make cartridges?" + +"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "I have it upon my mind that the more +cartridges we make, if they are used well, also, the sooner will this +wicked war be brought to an end. Thou knowest that the testimony of +the Friends is given for peace. Therefore do I rely much upon that +good friend, George Washington. He gave a strengthening testimony at +Trenton and Princeton." + +Everybody had become accustomed to the dry and often bitter sayings of +the old Quakeress, and now a white-haired woman across the room +suddenly exclaimed:-- + +"Hear that wind! O dear! I wasn't thinking of redskins. So many of +our boys are at sea. Mine are with Lyme Avery. What wouldn't I give +to know just how they're doing!" + +"Why, they are sailing south," replied Mrs. Avery. "If this storm +reaches 'em, it'll send 'em along. Lyme is used to rough weather." + +Brave was she, and very brave were they all, and the "cartridge bee," +as they called it, was a good illustration of the stubborn spirit of +freedom which made it impossible to conquer the colonies. + +"The forts'll be safer," they said, as they packed up their dangerous +work and prepared to scatter to their homes through the icy storm. "We +must come and roll cartridges two evenings every week. Some of the +boys are putting in all their time to moulding bullets." + +All of those boys were growing, too, and some who were only fit to melt +lead and run bullets at fourteen or fifteen would be in the ranks +before the end of the war. They would be Continental soldiers, for +instance, at such fights as that at Yorktown. Any country becomes +safer while its boys are eager to grow up for its defence, and are all +the while taking lessons that will prepare them for efficiency. + +The next morning dawned quietly upon both land and sea. The norther +had blown itself out, and it had brought no great amount of snow with +it anywhere. It had been severe while it lasted, and then it had +departed, like any other unwelcome guest. + +The streets of New London were cold and snowy, but they were not by any +means dreary or deserted that morning. + +One more ocean prize had been brought in, and the report of it had gone +out in all directions. The sleighing was good over the country roads, +and the number of teams hitched along the sides of the lower streets +testified to the general hunger for news as well as for trade. The +sociability of all these arriving sleighing parties was tremendous, and +they seemed to be all of one mind concerning the events of the day. +That is, the one-mindedness here was exactly like, and yet exactly +opposed, to the one-mindedness which ruled upon Manhattan Island, not +so far away. Whigs here, Tories there, were equally earnest, +determined, and hopeful. + +In New York as in New London, it was currently reported that a number +of the more active business men were actually making fortunes by the +war. Not a great many rebel vessels had been brought into New York +harbor as prizes, but all that did come in, and that were condemned and +sold, offered opportunities for speculation. The best of the town +trade came from the army and navy, but there were still a few small +driblets coming in from the interior. It was worthy of note, perhaps, +that furs, for instance, should sometimes reach New York from the +north, from regions beyond Albany. These were smuggled down the Hudson +River, nobody knew how. It had been suggested, of course, by sharp +people, that American commanders might be willing to shut their eyes +while a fur trader went in, provided they were to have a talk with him +on his return. + +In like manner, it was said, the British generals had no objections +whatever to the arrival of fellows who were certified to them as +"well-known Tories," who could give them abundant information +concerning the ragged, starving, worthless condition of the rebel +forces in and above the Hudson highlands. + +No doubt, too, it was encouraging to the military and other servants of +the king to hear, from honest and loyal fur traders, how the rebels of +the Mohawk Valley were dispirited by the defeats of Washington's army, +and how they were preparing to turn against the Continental Congress. +Best of all, perhaps, was the assurance thus brought that all the Six +Nations and the Hurons of the woods were ready to take the war-path in +the spring as the allies of England. + +If there were sailors ashore on leave that morning, from many of the +other ships in the harbor, there were none from the _Termagant_, for +she was under orders to sail. Captain Luke Watts himself had a call of +ceremony to make, at an early hour, relating to those very orders, for +he was to give in his last report of the condition of his ship and +crew. The "port captain," to whom his report was to be made, was the +commander of a lordly seventy-four. In the absence of any admiral he +was the "commodore" of all the naval forces in and about the harbor. + +Captain Watts was kept on deck in waiting for a few minutes only, and +when he was summoned to the cabin he found the commodore by no means +alone. The mere skipper of a transport was not asked to take a seat in +such a presence, and Luke stood, hat in hand, respectfully, while his +presented papers were read and approved. + +"Now, Watts," said the commodore, "what course do you take, homeward +bound?" + +"As far no'th as I can get, sir," replied Luke, "for good reasons." + +"Give your reasons." + +"Well, sir, from what I heard at New London, the rebel pirates are +aimin' at our West Injy trade. They'll hang 'round the reg'lar course, +too, the southern track. I jest mean to steer out o' their way." + +"Good!" said the commodore. "What else did you hear among the Yankees?" + +"Well, sir," replied the Tory sailor, "they said, and they seemed to +know, that our cruisers off the Havana are mostly heavy craft that +can't chase 'em through the channels and over the shoals and 'mong the +lagoons. What we need, sir, is a lot o' light draft vessels there, and +well armed, too." + +"Make a note of all this, lieutenant," exclaimed the commodore. "This +man Watts has brought in good advice before this. Whatever he brings +is said to be of practical value. Go on, man! What next?" + +"Well, sir," said Watts, "before I left Liverpool the last time, I +heard a p'int. I must look sharp after I get over and want to run in. +I must say it, sir, the Irish and English coast is only half guarded. +We haven't half enough ships on duty there. Next we know, we'll hear +of Yankee pirates in St. George's Channel." + +"Note it! note it!" exclaimed the commodore, loudly. "It's just so! +What with so many of our best cruisers ordered to America and the +Antilles and the Mediterranean, and to the China seas, our own home +coasts are left to be defended by old hulks and mere revenue cutters. +The Yankees can run away from the heavy tubs, and they can smash all +the smuggler catchers. We shall hear bad news, next. Watts, take your +own course. Get in how you can. You're a man we can rely on. Go, +now, sir." + +"My ship'll get in, sir," said Luke, almost too sturdily. "I wish I +was as sure 'bout some others. I'm afraid they're going to crack our +traders 'mong the islands." + +"That'll do! Go!" he was told, and he went out, leaving behind him a +very capable naval officer in a decidedly uncomfortable state of mind. + +"Gentlemen," he said to his officers, "all that he says is only too +true. I am sorry it is, but I am intending to embody it in my report +to the Admiralty. The unpleasant thing for us is, however, that we +can't spare anything or send anything, from this fleet and station, to +prevent the mischief that's threatened among the Antilles." + +They all agreed with him. All of them considered, also, that the man +Luke Watts had given valuable information and suggestions. He had done +so, doubtless, but he had not thereby done anything to hinder the +future operations of any Yankee privateer. + +He was rowed back to the _Termagant_, and when he arrived somebody was +waiting for him on her deck. + +"Feller named Allen," he was told by a sailor at the rail. "He's a +kind o' fur pedler, I'd say, with a permit from one o' the generals, I +don't know who." + +"All right," said Watts. "Fetch him below, packs and all. I'll see if +his papers are reg'lar. We don't make any loose work on this ship." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the sailor. + +Sharp as was his examination of them a moment later, he seemed to be +entirely satisfied with the documents presented to him by the man named +Allen. He had obtained the customary authority, as a loyal merchant of +the port of New York, to ship by the _Termagant_ to his agent in +London, a properly scheduled assortment of valuable furs. All had been +officially inspected and approved. + +"Come down below," said Captain Watts. "All your packages are down. +I'll give these things another overhauling in my cabin." + +"Certainly, Captain Watts," replied Mr. Allen. "Whatever you wish." + +He was even willing to help carry down the furs, and one of the smaller +parcels of them was in his hand when they reached the cabin. He still +held it after the door was shut and bolted, leaving him and the captain +alone together. Then his entire manner changed somewhat suddenly, and +he threw his parcel down upon the table. + +"Captain Luke Watts," he said, "that's it. You'd best take out the +papers, now, and stow 'em away somewhere. You ain't sure there won't +be another look taken at the furs 'fore you git away. I wouldn't risk +it. They're getting suspicious, all 'round." + +Open came the parcel, as he spoke, and in the very middle of it lay a +bundle of such materials as would ordinarily have been sent through a +post-office. + +"It's about all the cargo I'll have, of any consequence," remarked +Luke, staring down at the unexpected mail. + +"General Schuyler told me to say," replied Allen, "that all these are +of great importance. Some are from him to his friends in England. +You'll know how to have 'em delivered. Some are to go to Holland and +some to Paris. That last is all the way from the Congress at +Philadelphia. It got to me by way of Morristown and one of our Jersey +Tories, you know. That's old Ben Franklin's own handwriting." + +"I'll see that they go straight through," said Luke, quietly. "I'll +put 'em safe away, now, first thing." + +"You'll swing at a yard-arm inside o' one day, if you're ketched with +'em," said Allen. "I've been up among the Six Nations, all the way +through to Niagara, for my brother's concern on Pearl Street. I went +to buy furs for them, you see, and did first-rate. I fetched along +packs o' news, too, for the British commanders. It was risky business, +working my way through Putnam's lines, though. I came pretty nigh to +being shot or hung by the rebels, you know." + +"Ye-es, I know," responded Luke. "They came jest about as nigh as that +to hangin' me, they did. The bloodthirsty pirates! Get ashore, now, +Allen. I'll land your furs for ye. I hope your concern'll make a good +thing out of 'em." + +"Finest furs you ever saw," laughed Allen. "Look out for spies and +searchers. Here's good success to good King George--Washington, and +may the glorious flag of England float victoriously--till we pull it +down! Luke Watts, I'm the poisonest kind of Tory, I am!" + +"Jest like me," said Watts. "I've done all I can to put down this 'ere +wicked rebellion." + +"I've heard so," said Allen. "We got the news all the way from +Connecticut. You delivered a whole ship's cargo of heavy guns and +muskets and ammunition to the loyal-hearted Tories of New London. I +was born there once, myself. I know just how faithfully they love +their king and his blessed Parliament. Good-by, Luke! A successful +voyage to you. Keep out o' the way of pirates." + +"I must, this time," said Watts. "If I don't, I'll never get another +ship to carry furs and things in." + +Up on deck they went, and the last words uttered by Allen did not have +to be whispered. + +"Take good care of your neck, Captain," he called out, from his boat. +"If you're caught, this time, you'll never see New York again, or +Marblehead, either." + +"I guess he's about right," said Mate Brackett, gazing after the boat. +"I'd say you seem to be a man that the rebels have set a mark on." + +"Never you mind," said Watts. "We won't be ketched by 'em, that's all. +The commodore says we may sail our own course. We'll git there." + +"All right, sir," said Brackett. "We've a queer lot o' chaps with us +this trip, but we'll work 'em." + +What he meant by that was that all the prime seamen were needed by the +war-ships, and that almost anything on two feet had been deemed good +enough for an old transport ship going home in ballast. + +"We'll have to travel under light canvas, I take it," remarked +Brackett, as he looked at his crew. "It'd be all night and part o' +next day for them to shorten sail in a hurry." + +The boat which carried Mr. Allen, the loyal fur trader, reached the +shore. On getting out of it, he walked until he came to a dwelling a +short distance easterly from what the fire had left of old Pearl +Street. He entered without knocking and passed through the house to +the kitchen in the rear, where a comely, middle-aged woman stood before +an open fireplace, watching a pot which was hanging on the crane. + +"Sally Allen," he said, in a somewhat low and guarded tone, "the +captain took the furs. It's all right." + +"It is if they don't find him out," she said, gloomily. "I think you +are running awful risks, Tom. The sooner you are back again in the +Mohawk Valley, the better for you." + +"I shall get there," he told her; "that is, if I'm not shot before I +pass the Dunderberg. I mustn't stay here, though. I must be in a +canoe at Spuyten Duyvil Creek before morning." + +"They make short work of spies, Tom," she said. "Think of what they +did to Nathan Hale. I used to know him, years ago, in New London." + +"Sally," he said, "I want you to mark just one thing. He isn't +forgotten! One o' these days there'll be some first-rate British +officer captured, a good deal as Hale was, with papers on him, playing +spy. Whenever that happens, our side won't show any mercy. The spy'll +have to swing!" + +"That's all wrong!" she exclaimed. "I hate to think of it. All +revenge is wicked. It's awful to think of killing one man because +somebody somewhere else killed another." + +"Now, Sally, that isn't it exactly," replied Tom. "What we mean is +that all the spy hanging isn't to be done on one side o' this war. +What's right for them is right for us." + +"No!" she said. "It isn't so! It's like so many red savages to talk +in that way. We don't take scalps, just because they do, nor kill +women and children. I'm a true American woman, and I believe in +righting, but I don't want any stain left on our side." + +"There won't be any," said Tom. "I'm going ahead, if they do hang me. +I'm running Nathan Hale's risk, all the while." + +"God protect you!" she said. "Do you feel sure you can creep through?" + +"I've done it before," he replied. "What I'm thinking of, the worst +thing for me, is the new line of pickets along the river bank. I shall +be fired at, pretty sure, before I can paddle on into the Hudson +Narrows. There'll be some risk from our own pickets above Anthony's +Nose. I guess they'll all miss me. I've one package, though; that's +all weighted, ready to drop into the water if I'm exhausted. I'd make +out to sink it, if I was dying. Now, give me some supper." + +"Oh, Tom!" she said, "God keep us!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PICAROON. + +"Guert," said Vine Avery, as they stood together, with their backs +against the main boom of the _Noank_, "what do you think of this?" + +"Think?" said Guert. "Well! It's the first time I ever saw summer in +winter." + +"They're having good sleighing in New London," said Vine. "Skating, +too." + +"Guess so," said Guert. "I wish my mother were here, and Rachel Tarns +with her. They'd enjoy this." + +"My mother's made two West India trips," replied Vine. "She knows all +about it. Likes it, too." + +"It's the laziest kind of cruising, though," said Guert. "We've dodged +away from some sails, and we've run after some, but we haven't taken +anything." + +"Our chances'll come, boys," put in Captain Avery himself, as he came +strolling along the deck. "Not just 'bout here, maybe. Yonder on the +easterly Bahamas. Not many British traders are likely to be met +hereaway." + +"What are we here for, then, father?" asked Vine. "What's your +notions?" + +"We had to," said the captain. "The Frenchman we spoke, told me the +Florida Channel's alive with British cruisers. We sighted two of 'em, +you know, and had to run for it." + +"Where next?" asked Vine. + +"We'll take a course toward Porto Rico," said his father; "then up the +coast of Cuba. We'll try the Bahama Channel, and the Santaren, and the +Nicholas. I want to send home some prizes, pretty soon, on British +account." + +Day after day, the _Noank_ had been hunting, hunting, farther and +farther into the southern sea, through good weather and bad. All the +while Guert Ten Eyck had been at school. Up-na-tan had laboriously +tried to teach him whatever he himself knew about guns, large and +small. The other sailors had done their duty by him, concerning ropes +and sails and points of seamanship. Captain Avery had driven him hard +at his books on navigation. Therefore, if the cruising had been more +or less lazy business for others, it had contained a good deal of hard +work for the young sea apprentice. He was in a fair way to be made a +good sailor of, and to be ready in due season to handle a ship. + +"What you want most," Captain Avery had said, "is a long v'y'ge on a +square-rigged vessel, under a hard captain. I'll find a chance for you +one o' these days. You can't learn everything on board a schooner." + +That idea was growing steadily in Guert's mind, and he now and then +found himself dreaming of all sorts of perilous cruises in great +American three-masters. By these splendid ships of his imagination, +all of which were as yet unlaunched from any shipyard, the best keels +of England were to be met and beaten. He was to command one of them, +and was to become a captain first, and then a commodore. It was all an +entirely natural young sailor's ambition, but it was looking far away +into the future of his country. All it was good for now was the help +it gave him in his pretty severe schooling. + +Just at this present hour, leaning against the boom and gazing at the +low coast line of the islands, he was calling to mind the many yarns he +had heard concerning them. He had read about them, a little. He knew +how they had been discovered by the Spaniards, and then taken from +them, part of them, by the English and the French. He knew how the +Carib natives had been slaughtered, and he had heard, from Coco in +particular, of the horrible manner in which the tobacco and sugar +plantations had been provided with African slaves. + +Vine, too, was thinking, but of a very different matter. + +"Guert," he said, "away out yonder, easterly, there's the queerest +patch in all the Atlantic. It's where all the loose seaweed and +driftwood and wreckage float together. There are currents that whirl +in there and make a centre of it. More and more seaweed and other +plants grow on that stuff year after year, and it's all a kind of swamp +on the surface, with deep water under it. They call it the Sargasso +Sea. We were swept into the edges of it, once, and it took a fresh +breeze to pull us out. I don't just know if a craft like this could +plow her way across it." + +"I guess she could," said Guert, "but I don't want to try. What I want +to see is Cuba and Porto Rico." + +Away beyond them, hardly visible in the distance, was a tree-covered +point of land. Captain Avery was studying it through his telescope, +and they heard him mutter to himself:-- + +"I don't know whether or not that is Watling's Island. If it is, we've +made a better run on this tack than I thought we had. One good, long +reach beyond that and we'll begin to be in the track of the traders." + +"Whoo-oop!" suddenly rang out the war-cry of Up-na-tan, from somewhere +up the mainmast. + +"Where away?" shouted the captain. "What do you see?" + +"No see!" came down from the redskin. "Hark! Hear gun! Hark ahead! +See point! More gun!" + +His ears had been better than theirs, but, after a moment of intense +listening, the entire ship's company of the _Noank_ felt sure that they +heard the dull boom of far-away cannon. + +Every sail was already set to take so fair and fresh a wind, and the +swift schooner was eating up the distance rapidly. + +"All hands make ready for action!" shouted the captain. "Risk or no +risk, I'm goin' to see what it is." + +His orders went out fast, but they went to the ears of men who had +sprung away without them. All the guns had been manned instantly. + +Coco and Guert and half a dozen more were at the pivot-gun, but +Up-na-tan did not come down at once. The captain's order kept him +aloft as the best lookout and listener he had. Louder, now, at +intervals, came the ominous sound of the distant guns. + +"No big gun yet," called down the keen-eared Indian. "No big war-ship. +_Noank_ run right along." + +"The chief is worth his weight in gold!" exclaimed the captain. +"That's jest what I wanted to know, before roundin' that there p'int. +I don't care to run under the guns of a British cruiser." + +Ships which are running toward each other under full sail cut every +mile in two in the middle. For instance, they need to run only two +miles instead of four to get together. There was a dense forest growth +on the point of Watling's Island, if that were indeed the land to +windward, for the breeze was westerly. Everything beyond was hidden +from view until the _Noank_ passed the outer reef and tacked seaward, +running almost wing and wing. + +"Whoo-oop!" came fiercely down from the red man's perch. "'Panish +flag. Three-master. Trader. Not many gun. Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! +Kidd! Kidd! Black flag schooner! Pirate! Not so big as _Noank_. +Small gun! Take her quick! Kill 'em all! Whoo-oop!" + +"Hurrah!" arose in a general roar from the crew of the _Noank_, more +than one voice adding, vociferously, the desire that was felt to smash +the picaroon. + +"Ready, all, now!" sang out Captain Avery. "The American flag is +against the black flag, the world over. We'll fight it, every time!" + +Fierce shouts of eagerness replied to him, and the men were stripping +themselves for a hard fight. The very most of clothing that was +actually needed under that hot sun, by men who were to handle cannon, +was a shirt and trousers, and many of the brawny backs were even bare. +Muskets, pikes, pistols, cutlasses, were bringing up from below. +Ammunition, plenty of it, was serving out to all the guns, and now, as +the point of land was left to starboard, all eyes could see what kind +of work had been cut out for the privateer. + +The Spaniard, as her flag declared her, was a three-master of, +probably, not more than six hundred tons. She was crowding all sail, +but she was evidently heavily laden. + +"She has too much cargo for good runnin'," growled Sam Prentice. "That +buccaneer has the heels of her." + +"What's worse'n that," said the captain, "she has nothin' but popguns +to fight him with. He won't sink her, though. What he wants is to run +along side and board her." + +"Then it'll be good-by to every livin' soul that's in her," said the +mate. "We'll jest put a stopper on all that!" + +"Up-na-tan," shouted the captain, "come down to your gun! We shall be +in fair range in three minutes. Then give it to 'em as fast as you can +load and fire." + +"Ugh!" was all the response they heard, and the Manhattan warrior came +down so swiftly that he was at his gun almost before they knew it. + +There was a pitiful scene, just then, on board the unlucky Spaniard. +She had many passengers as well as much cargo. Women and children were +crouching in terror upon her deck, or hiding hopelessly away in her +cabins. Fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, were gazing in +awful despair at the horrible black flag of murder and ruin, which was +so evidently nearing them, minute after minute. + +"The _Santa Teresa_ is doomed!" groaned the Spanish captain, and then +he raised his voice to shout courageously: "Men! we will fight to the +last! We'd better go to the bottom, than to let those devils get on +board!" + +"We'd better die fighting, than stand still to have our throats cut, or +to walk the plank!" came back to him from among the men. + +Even the women begged for weapons. There were boys and girls who were +fiercely handling firearms, and swords, and pikes. Numerous as might +be the buccaneers, they were likely to win a costly victory upon the +deck of the _Santa Teresa_. + +"There goes our mizzenmast," called out her mate to the captain. +"We've no chance left, now!" + +"We never had any, Roderigo," replied the captain. "O God! Here they +come!" + +"Ho! Captain Velasquez!" came from the man at the wheel. "A sail to +larboard! A schooner!" + +"A Yankee flag!" said Mate Roderigo. "Captain! She's heading this +way!" + +"Alas!" mourned the captain. "What can a Yankee sugar-boat do for us?" + +A mournful wail went up from his women passengers as they heard him, +but a tall gentleman near him touched his elbow. + +"Captain!" he said, "look again. That American does not seem to fear +the black flag. See! She is coming on full sail. What can it mean?" + +"Perhaps she does not yet know what they are, Senor Alvarez," sadly +responded the captain. "She will be as hopelessly lost as we are." + +So thought the buccaneer captain himself, at that moment, for he and +his hideous crew were already rejoicing over two triumphs to come +instead of one, and a second feast of bloodshed after taking the +Spaniard. + +The black flag commander was a short, thin, tiger-faced man. He was +gaudily dressed, as were also some who seemed to be his lieutenants. +As for his crew, they were of all sorts. They were the offscourings of +several nations, including Englishmen, French, Dutch, and Africans. +They were at this moment yelling savagely, as they loaded and fired +their guns. Not one of these was larger than a short six-pounder, +although there was an absurd number of them, considering the size of +the vessel. She was schooner-rigged, but she was much more lightly +constructed than the _Noank_. Her breadth of beam was somewhat +greater, and she might be speedy. Precisely such craft were sometimes +built for the slave trade. They were expected to carry only human +cargoes, as a rule, and to make swift runs from African slave +barracoons to American markets. Delays in such voyages implied heavy +losses of black captives who would surely die in the hold. + +"We will take the Yankee schooner first," was the decision of the +pirate captain. "We must cripple the Spaniard, so she cannot get away. +Two prizes are better than one. We need that schooner yonder, for our +own trade." + +Loud laughs and jeers replied to him from many scores of throats, for +the buccaneer _Leon_ was positively over-thronged with sea-wolves. + +"Steady with the helm there!" rang out on board the _Noank_, as she +arose like a duck upon the crest of a long sea. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan, as the sheet of flame sprang from the brazen +lips of his long eighteen. "Whoop!" + +"Struck her!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "That was a good shot!" + +"Between wind and water!" shouted Sam Prentice, studying the pirate +through his glass. "It took her as she heeled, and it knocked a hole +in her you could roll a barrel through." + +Whether or not any bodily harm had been done to any pirate, a chorus of +astonished yells and imprecations went up from her crowded deck. All +the ears there could hear and understand the crash of timbers under +them, which had followed close upon the good shot of Up-na-tan. + +"Praise God!" gasped the captain of the _Santa Teresa_. "Oh! Senor +Alvarez! I never thought of that. It is one of the new American +colonial cruisers. They carry heavy guns. Their men are as brave as +lions. All the saints be merciful and help them to shoot straight!" + +"Amen!" groaned the senor. "Laura! My dear wife! The Americans are +armed! We have some hope!" + +Down upon their knees, as if with one accord, dropped all the +despairing women and not a few of the men, the children grouping +frantically around their mothers. Loud and earnest were the hurried +supplications and bitter was the wailing. + +Up-na-tan had not the least idea that he or his gunnery were being +prayed for, but he sent his next shot as truly as the first. He aimed +at her hull, as near amidships as might be. It was no fault of his +that a slight roll of the _Noank_ lifted his line of fire so that his +flying iron struck the mainmast of the _Leon_ instead of her ribs. The +tall spar was shattered and went over the lee rail with all its top +hamper, carrying with it several of the pirate crew who were aloft. + +That stunning success of the old warrior was greeted with a storm of +wild cheering from the crews of the _Noank_ and the _Santa Teresa_, +while more than one woman's voice declared: "Praise God and all the +saints! Our prayers are heard!" + +The remark of Captain Velasquez was more seamanlike than religious. + +"Santo Domingo!" he exclaimed. "That cripples them! The villains can +come no nearer. They are at the mercy of that American. God bless +her! Why does she not use her broadside guns?" + +She was not quite ready yet. It was better to ply her long eighteen +and keep well away from any harm to her hull or rigging by the +short-range pieces of the _Leon_. + +"Give it to 'em!" said Captain Avery to Up-na-tan. "Make every shot +tell. Now for it, men! Ready with the port broadside! A minute more! +Don't miss, for your lives!" + +The swift rush onward of the schooner brought her near enough, even +while he was giving his orders, and her six-pounders were worked by +very good marine marksmen. The pirates were helpless, and the +broadside of the _Noank_ ploughed among them with deadly effect. A +second quickly followed, and still she was drawing nearer. + +"No surrender!" shouted the pirate captain. "We'll put the Spaniard +between us and the American. We must board her! That'll stop their +firing. Give it to her!" + +There was something like good seamanship in his proposition if he could +have carried it out, but Sam Prentice was at the helm of the _Noank_, +and he instantly detected the intended manoeuvre. + +"Sam!" shouted Captain Avery, as his schooner began to change her +course. "Port your helm! Keep her well away! Carry her out o' range! +Don't let 'em knock a splinter out of us!" + +"All right, Lyme," responded Sam. "But let's rake 'em. They're losin' +steerage way with all that wreckage draggin'. The redskin has hulled +'em ag'in. Let's cross their bows." + +"Go ahead! I'm agreed!" called back the captain. "Not too near, +though." + +His careful keeping away was to have an important consequence that he +did not think of. All was confusion on board the _Leon_, after those +broadsides came. Her crew were frantically striving to cut loose the +towing wreckage and bring their craft once more to the wind, while, as +fast as Up-na-tan and his fellow-gunners could load and fire, the +destruction was increasing. + +"What's that?" screeched the pirate captain, in reply to one of his +crew. "We are sinking, are we? Boats! To the boats! They shall +never take us alive. Boats, and board the Spaniard!" + +Capture meant only death without mercy, as all of them knew, and some +of the cooler miscreants had already begun to get ready the boats. Of +these there were four, and the largest of them had been hanging at the +davits, ready for lowering. + +"Sam," said Captain Avery, soberly, "not one of those fellows must git +away. Mercy to them is cruelty to everybody else. If I spare a +pirate, I'll feel as if I was murderin' the next man or woman he puts a +knife into." + +"That's about the way I feel," said Sam; "but I ain't an executioner." + +The Spaniards themselves had been doing something with the guns of the +_Santa Teresa_, such as they were, old-fashioned, clumsily mounted, +short-range, light pieces. Only a few of her crew and none of her +passengers had been killed or wounded. There had been no report of +them made in the general excitement and despondency. + +It was almost too soon for any enthusiastic rejoicing, for hardly any +one felt sure of deliverance. It was almost as if the wonderful Yankee +privateer had fallen from the skies. She and her operations were +calling forth tremendous admiration, however, and there was plenty of +genuine piety in the fervent thanksgivings that were uttered. + +"Stop firing!" commanded Captain Avery, less than a quarter of an hour +later. "That black flag feller is careenin'! She's fillin'! I +declare, she must ha' been a mere shell. The _Noank's_ timbers'd ha' +stood a heavier poundin' than that." + +"It was pretty heavy pounding, Lyme," replied Sam Prentice. "Our +timbers are good, but we don't care to be struck at short range. Not +by heavy shot, anyhow. You see, that redskin jest plugged her every +time. Some of his hits must ha' gone clean through." + +"Used her up, anyhow," said the captain. + +"Guert," said Up-na-tan to his pupil in the science of gunnery, "good! +Boy aim twice. No miss. Boy make good gunner some day." + +It was just so. The Manhattan had indulgently promised Guert to do +some actual battle practice, and had made him as proud as a peacock. +It was true that he had fired under close supervision and direction, +but it had been a valuable teaching, and Guert almost believed that he +could have done it all alone--with the right kind of men to handle the +pivot-gun for him. + +"Boy good eye," said Up-na-tan. "Hold hand steady. Hit mark. Ugh!" + +Over, over, over, rapidly leaned the shattered hull of the _Leon_, the +water pouring into her through the gaps in her starboard side. Down +from her had dropped boat after boat, to be crowded with her surviving +wolves, no effort being made by them to save any of their wounded +companions. She had now drifted into pretty close neighborhood with +the _Santa Teresa_, and a wild shout went up as the boats pulled away. + +"Board the Spaniard!" cried her captain. + +It was the last resource of utter desperation, and they might even now +have succeeded in gaining possession of the _Santa Teresa_ if she had +been unassisted. + +"Stand by your guns, men!" shouted Captain Velasquez. "Let them have +it as they come!" + +"Steady about," said Captain Avery to the steersman of the _Noank_, "we +must take care o' those boats. Oh! how I wish we were nearer! Give it +to 'em!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came back from his gunners, "but the Spaniard's in the +way. As soon as we clear her--" + +"Down with the mainsail! Haul on that jib! Port! Here we come!" + +It was not round shot this time. The long sixes had been glutted with +grape-shot, and so had the pivot-gun. The Spanish cannon, hastily +fired by excited men, had done some execution, but not one of the +buccaneer boats had been disabled. The foremost of them was within ten +fathoms of the _Santa Teresa_, and the swarm of murderers would have +been over her bulwarks in another minute, when past her port quarter +swept the Yankee privateer. + +Bang, bang, bang, as fast as they were brought to bear, spoke out her +three guns of that broadside, and Up-na-tan's eighteen-pounder. Then +she seemed to come about like a top, somewhat increasing her distance. +Three more successive reports, and then where were the picaroons? +Muskets and pistols were hurling lead among them from the deck of the +Spanish trader. A shot from one of her guns had knocked out the stern +of the largest boat. All that, however, had been of small account +compared to the effect of that tempest of grapeshot. The boat crews +withered away before it, and two of the boats themselves were upset in +the panic that followed, while the fourth was evidently sinking. Black +heads dotted the water, and a shriek from one of them brought a sharp, +quick exclamation from Coco. + +"Shark! Shark!" he yelled. "See back fin! Twenty of 'em! See 'em! +Shark take 'em all!" + +"Father," exclaimed Vine Avery, "that's awful! Can't we save some of +them?" + +"Too late!" said the captain. "Not a man, I'm afraid. Jest look how +they're goin' down! It's a reg'lar school o' sharks. They're bitin' +fast. We'll go about, though, and we'll pick up any that are left." + +The Spaniards continued firing while their American friends sped on and +came back on the other tack. Every boat had now been upset or +shattered and the sharks were having their own way with the picaroons. + +"Here comes one of 'em, Captain Avery," said Guert. "I'll try and save +him!" + +"Throw him a rope," said the captain; and Guert quickly had the help of +Vine and another sailor. + +"Quick!" said Guert. "Don't let the sharks get him. I'd give anything +to save a man from them!" + +"He's caught the rope," replied Vine. "Haul him in! We've got him." + +Close behind him, or rather under him, as he came dripping over the +rail, was a huge pair of snapping jaws that barely missed him. He +fell, at first, and then his rescuers themselves were astonished. He +did not say a word to them, but dropped at once upon his knees, and +began to pour out thanks to the Virgin Mary, like a good Catholic. + +[Illustration: A NARROW ESCAPE. "As he came over the rail, a huge pair +of jaws barely missed him.] + +"Let him," said Sam Prentice. "Some o' these cutthroats are awful +pious." + +"Yes," said Guert, "but he is praying in Dutch, and he mixes it up with +English. I can't tell what he is." + +"There she goes!" shouted a dozen voices at that moment, and all turned +to look. + +It was only a last lurch and a plunge, and all that was left of the +pirate _Leon_ sank forever out of sight. The heads of her crew had +also disappeared from the surface of the water, and the career of one +of the terrors of the sea was ended. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BLACK TRANSPORT. + +"You don't mean to say it's all over!" exclaimed Guert, staring at the +place from which the pirate schooner had vanished. "Seems to me it +doesn't take long to fight a battle at sea." + +"Yes, it does," said one of the older sailors, "if there's chasin' and +manoeuvrin' and long range firin'. I've been in some that took all day +and the next day, too. But we were too heavy guns for that feller." + +"It's awful!" remarked Vine Avery, very thoughtfully. "I was trying to +make out if we could have saved any more of 'em." + +"No," said the captain, "I don't see how we could, considerin' where we +were and the time it took us to come about. They grappled each other +in the water, too." + +"The fact is, boys," said Sam Prentice, "the savin' o' those fellers +wouldn't ha' been of any use, anyhow. Spanish law isn't as slow and +careful as ours is. It wouldn't ha' called for any trial by a court, +you know. The nearest army or navy commander of any consequence would +ha' taken hold of 'em. They'd all ha' been shot within a day after he +seized 'em." + +"Leastwise," said Vine, "'twasn't any fault of ours. I'm glad Guert +made out to haul in one of 'em." + +Guert had turned somewhat quickly away, while they were speaking, for +his rescued man had been allowed to come and speak with him. + +"Hullo!" said the captain. "They are talkin' Dutch. That's it! +Guert's a New Yorker. He learned it at home." + +"What sort is he, Guert?" asked the mate. + +"He isn't any pirate, at all," eagerly responded Guert. "He's a +Hollander that was on a ship they took. One of 'em knew him and saved +him, and they 'pressed him in. He had to make believe he was one of +'em, but he never was." + +"Pretty good story," said Captain Avery. "Maybe it's true. There's +enough of 'em killed. We'll take care of him." + +"I wish you would," said Guert. "Seems to me the right man got away." + +"Not all of 'em," said the man himself in English that had very little +foreign accent. "There were three more a good deal like me. Some o' +the black men weren't reg'lar pirates. All the rest of 'em, though, +belonged to the sharks. It was one o' the worst crews that ever +floated. My name's Groot. I'm from Amsterdam, but I was brought up +mostly in Liverpool. Sailed on British craft and French, too. I'm a +true man, Captain Avery!" + +The captain was willing to believe it, if he could, and he questioned +him closely, all the crew of the _Noank_ agreeing among themselves that +Groot was their prize, anyhow, and ought not to be turned over to any +Spanish authority. + +All the while, the rescued _Santa Teresa_ was drifting nearer, her +bulwarks lined with eager people of all sorts, who were gazing +gratefully at what seemed to them the very beautiful American schooner. +She had arrived just in time to save them, and they had never before +seen a ship that they were so pleased with. Loud hails were exchanged, +and then followed, from the Spanish ship, a perfect storm of thanks. + +"Guert," said Captain Avery, "I'm goin' aboard of her. You may come +along. You may find some more Dutchmen. I can talk Spanish and +French. I want to know just what shape they're in." + +A boat was already lowered, and in a few minutes they were on the deck +of the _Santa Teresa_. + +"Women and children!" was Guert's first thought and exclamation. "To +think of all of them being murdered! I don't feel half so sorry as I +did about the pirates. I wish mother could see just what we've been +saving from 'em. I guess it's perfectly right to shoot straight, +sometimes. Glad I didn't miss once!" + +All his shudders of regret and of horror over the work of the sharks +passed away from him as those passengers crowded around him. There +were four more _Noank_ sailors, but the Spanish crew had captured them. +The two captains were talking business, therefore Guert was taken in +hand by the women and young people. One short, fat senora, who came at +him first, had long, white hair tumbling down over her shoulders. She +hugged him and kissed him, and cried and laughed, and she +pointed--saying a great deal in Spanish--at a woman who was throwing +her arms around a pretty pair of children. It was easy for Guert to +understand that the old woman was thanking God and the Americans for +the lives of her daughter and her grandchildren. + +Other women did not altogether follow her example, for Guert showed a +little bashfulness, there were so many of them; but he shook hands +quite freely with the boys and girls. The Spanish youngsters showed +him their weapons, too, trying to tell him how ready they had been to +fight the buccaneers. + +"It isn't a long run from this to Porto Rico," he heard Captain Avery +say. "We'll see you safe in. We didn't lose a man." + +"We lost five," replied the Spanish commander. "The sharks would have +had all of us, instead of all of them, but for you. God bless you! We +will patch up and spread all the canvas we can." + +At that moment a friendly hand was laid upon Guert's arm, drawing him +away from his women friends. Senor Alvarez held him hard for a breath +or two, as if he were trying to speak and had lost his voice. + +"My boy," he then exclaimed, "you came in time! This is my wife, +Senora Laura Alvarez. These are my boy and girl. This is my wife's +mother, Senora Paez. They told me that you fired that blessed long +gun, yourself." + +"Up-na-tan, the Indian chief, and I fired it," said Guert. "I'm a +beginner." + +"I understand," said the Spaniard. "You are a young cadet studying +navigation. You must come home with me and study a Porto Rico +plantation house. You must be my guest. We will treat you like a +king." + +"I shall be ever so glad, if Captain Avery'll let me," answered Guert. +"He says we're likely to be in port quite a while. I'll ask him." + +Captain Avery was near enough to hear, and he replied for himself. +"It's all right, Guert," he said. "You may go. I want you to, even if +we sail and come back while you're ashore. You see, my boy, you know a +little Spanish now. Here's a chance for you to get ahead so you can +begin to speak and read it. Every American sea-captain ought to know +Spanish." + +"Yes, sir, I'd like it first-rate," said Guert; "but I wouldn't like to +have the _Noank_ sail without me on board." + +"We'll see 'bout that," replied the captain. "You'll obey orders, +anyhow." + +"I guess I'll have to," almost grumbled Guert, as he was compelled to +get away from his friends and hasten back in the boat to the schooner; +"but I didn't come to loaf on shore. I'd rather be a gunner." + +There was a great deal of talk and excitement upon both vessels, but +things were rapidly getting back into order. The sails were spread, +and both were quickly in motion. The wind was fair, and night was +coming on. As for the _Noank_, in particular, all that she had done +for either pirates or Spaniards could not diminish the necessity she +was under for keeping up a sharp lookout for anything sailing under the +British flag. That banner might be fluttering nearer at any hour, and +it might be upon a "sugar-boat," or it might be streaming out from the +dangerous rigging of a cruiser. + +Once the schooner was under way, Guert found himself more at liberty +than usual, for all kinds of his sea schooling were given a vacation. +His head was even more full than ordinary, however, and he had an +especial reason for getting away with Sam Prentice during their next +watch on deck. He had several times heard the mate talk about pirates. +He had also heard something about them from Up-na-tan and Coco and the +crew. Until now, however, all that he had heard at any time had been +listened to as if it were unreal. He had never read a novel, and so he +did not know that all of it had seemed to him a kind of pretty, +interesting story of fiction, and not anything more. It was very +different, now that he had seen a black flag and sent a heavy shot into +the hull under it, and had watched while that hull went down. + +"About the buccaneers, eh?" said Sam, as they leaned over the +quarter-rail and looked out into the darkness. "Well! I s'pose there +are books about 'em. You can learn a good deal from books, but I don't +know any that'll tell you all there is 'bout those islands. There's +too many of 'em, hundreds, mebbe, with outlyin' reefs and ledges. Then +there are any number o' bays and inlets and lagoons. That's why it's +so hard to follow up and ketch light draft pirate vessels. They can +hide in a thousand out o' the way places until they git ready to run +out and make a strike. One o' their biggest helps is the caves on some +o' the islands. Safest kind o' places for men to hide plunder in, too. +Some of 'em open right down at the water line, and some of 'em have +deep water for quite a way in from the mouth. You can row a boat right +on in at high tide, or even at low water, I've heard tell. Big +cruisers ain't of any use 'mong the shoals and ledges and lagoons. +Somehow the governments have been too busy 'bout other matters to build +and arm the right pattern o' gunboats. That there picaroon that we +sunk to-day was as large a craft as I ever heard o' their usin'. +Oftener, they go out in canoes and rowboats and sailboats, and make +surprises in light winds or calms, or in the night. All the shore +people are afraid to tell on 'em, and they're good friends with the +Caribs and the slaves. Of course, they've got to be all rooted out, +some day, but it's goin' to be a tough job, I tell ye." + +Many more things he had to tell, as Guert questioned him. Before he +got through, it almost seemed as if all the nations of the world had +once been pirates, of one kind or another, each nation thinking it +right to capture ships of other nations on sight, if opportunity made +it safe to do so. + +"I tell you what," said Guert, at last, "I want to read books! I never +had a chance at 'em. Rachel Tarns lent me a few, long ago, when we +were at home in New York, before the British came. The war drove us +out, you know, and we can't guess when we're to get back. I want to +read." + +"Now!" exclaimed the mate, "I've thought of one thing. You'll be at +the Velasquez plantation. Mebbe for some time. They'll have heaps o' +books. It'll help you learn Spanish if you'll try and read anything +you find there. Learn all you can, wherever you happen to be." + +"I just will!" said Guert. + +"Now," said Prentice, "I'm goin' below. Some time to-morrer, if the +wind holds good, we'll be in Porto Rico. Then you'll see something +new." + +Guert also had to go below and turn in, but it was not easy to sleep +with his head so full, even after so very fatiguing a day. He was +lying awake, therefore, long afterward, when he was startled by sounds +on deck. + +"Hullo!" he exclaimed. "Something's happened! What if they should +have sighted a British man-o'-war? If there's going to be any more +fighting, I want to be at my gun!" + +He was getting to be a genuine sailor, therefore, and the cannon he was +stationed with had become a sort of pet and much as if it were his own +property. + +Not much careful dressing was called for after he sprung out of his +bunk, and then he was up on deck without waiting for orders. + +Not a great deal of noise had been made, after all, and most of the +weary crew were still keeping their watch below, as soundly asleep as +ever. Two pairs of ears, however, had been as keen as Guert's, and +here were Coco and Up-na-tan, already at the pivot-gun, prepared for +anything that might turn up. The moon was shining brightly and the +wind was fair. The sparkling, foaming sea looked beautiful, and all +was peace except upon the deck of the privateer. Away to leeward Guert +could dimly see a sail that he believed to be the _Santa Teresa_, and +at that moment a red ball rocket went up from her deck and burst, to +inform her American friends that she was doing well. + +"She's all right, then," Guert heard Captain Avery say to the man at +the wheel. "I wish I knew what this feller is to wind'ard. Up-na-tan, +be ready, there, with that gun. It looks to me like a brig o' some +sort. It might happen to be one o' these 'ere British ten-gun brigs. +I don't know, yet, whether or not one o' them 'd prove too much for us, +if we got in the first broadside." + +"Well, Captain," said the steersman, "we can't very well get out of her +way, jest now. She has managed to come up to wind'ard of us, and she +can hold on, best we can do. It's our bad luck!" + +"Maybe it's her's," said the captain, grimly. "I won't call up the men +for a bit. If there's a hard fight a-comin', a rest won't hurt 'em. +It may be a Spanish coast-guard or a Frenchman. Everything down this +way isn't British. Up-na-tan, take this night-glass and see what you +can make of her." + +The Manhattan came at once for the telescope, but a sudden change had +come over the manners of Coco. It began with a curious kind of +sniffing, sniffing, like a pointer dog in the neighborhood of game. +Then he left his precious gun and glided to the rail, shaking his head +and chattering harsh words in a tongue which nobody who heard could +recognize. + +Guert went over to join him, and his first glance at the face of the +old African astonished him. It was absolutely convulsed with fury. +The black man's hands were clenched, his teeth were grinding, and his +eyes seemed to flash fire. + +"What's the matter?" asked Guert. "Can you see anything out there?" + +An angry screech, and then a guttural, wrathful war-cry, sprung from +the lips of Coco. + +At that moment Up-na-tan had been looking at the strange sail through +the telescope. + +"Brig," he had said. "All sail set. Big as the _Santa Teresa_. No +cruiser. No Englishman ever set a foresail like that." + +His implied compliment to the neatness of British seamanship was cut +short by the yell of Coco, and he instantly lowered his glass. + +"Whoo-oop!" he responded. "'Peak out! What Coco find?" + +"Slaver!" screeched the African. "Coco smell him! Where Up-na-tan +lose he nose?" + +"Slaver?" exclaimed Captain Avery. "Bless my soul! We've nothing to +do with men-stealers. I don't want any such prize as that, even if +it's an Englishman. I wouldn't take a slave cargo into port." + +"Nor I, either," said the steersman. "We're not in that trade." + +Nearer and nearer, now, the strange craft was drawing, from the +opposite tack. The men below had heard the yell of Coco and the +Manhattan's warwhoop, and were tumbling up on deck in search of +information. Their comments were various as they heard the remarkable +announcement. + +"Not a doubt of it, Lyme," said Sam Prentice to the captain, after a +whiff of the wind from the stranger. "They're slave thieves. I always +heard tell that a slave-ship could smell worse'n anything else. I say +we ought not to try to do anything with her. Let her go!" + +"Of course we will," said the captain; "but we'll speak her. Here she +comes." + +In a few minutes more the two ships were within hailing distance. + +"What brig's that?" asked Avery. + +"Slaver _Yara_, Captain Liscomb. Congo River to Cuba," came back with +all cheerfulness. "What schooner's that?" + +"American privateer, _Noank_, Captain Avery. We don't want you. How +many on board?" + +"We've only lost about a third of 'em on the passage," came jauntily +back from the _Yara_. "We shall land over two hundred good ones. +First-rate luck! Last trip we lost more'n half by getting stuck in a +calm. How's your luck? Are you taking anything worth while?" + +It was precisely as if a prosperous merchant, engaged in what he +considered an honorable, legitimate business, were exchanging trade +politeness with another merchant in a somewhat similar line. + +"We're not long out," replied Captain Avery. "We've done fairly well, +though. We sunk a West India picaroon to-day." + +"Did you? That's a good thing to do. Glad you did," said the slaver, +heartily. "Those chaps annoy even us African traders. They stopped me +twice last year, and took away dozens of my best pieces, men and women. +The rascals said they were collecting their import duties. Sink 'em +all!" + +He was so near, by this time, that the bright moonlight gave them a +pretty good view of him. He did not seem to be by any means a +bad-looking fellow, and it was only too evident that he was either an +American or Englishman of good education. He asked for the latest news +politely, and then he declared concerning the existing difficulties +between King George Third and his American colonies:-- + +"You chaps have more interest in that affair than I have. If you're +not all shot or hung, you'll make fortunes out of it, if it goes on +long enough. Privateering sometimes pays better than slaving. All you +need be afraid of, except the king's cruisers, is too sudden an end of +the war. That would ruin all your business at once. The war hasn't +hurt us, to speak of. Our market is as good as ever it was; we can +sell all we can bring over." + +The _Noank_ was sweeping on and there could be no more exchange of news +or opinions with Captain Liscomb. + +He was evidently a man without the prejudices of other men. He could +see only the money side of the war for American independence, and he +took it for granted that a privateersman would look at it in precisely +that way. At least one of the crew of the _Noank_ was not in agreement +with him, for Coco was as furious as ever. + +"Ole Coco stuck in slaver hold, once," he snarled tigerishly. "No +water. Iron on hand, on foot. Hot like oven. Most of 'em die. Some +go bline. Some get kill. Not many left. Sell Coco in Cuba. Whip +him. Burn him. Make him work hard. Ole brack man got away, though. +Big fire 'bout that time. Planter lose he house. Kidd men better'n +slaver men. All the same, anyhow." + +"Isn't that awful!" was all that Guert could think or say. + +"Boy fool!" growled Coco. "Captain Avery all wrong. He let 'em go. +Better take 'em." + +"What could he do with all those slaves if he took 'em?" asked Guert. + +"What he do with 'em?" replied Coco, with some surprise. "Drown +slaver, not brack fellers. Sell 'em all. Make pile o' money." + +"He wouldn't do that," said Guert. + +"Then go ashore in Cuba," persisted the old Ashantee. "Buy sugar +plantation. Have he slaves all for nothing. That's what Coco think. +He do it, quick. All African chief have plenty slave. Make 'em work, +kill 'em, do what he please." + +The fierce anger of the grim old African, therefore, had been aroused +by a memory of his own sufferings and not by any sentimental notions +concerning human rights. He saw no evil whatever in the mere owning of +slaves. Very much like him in that respect, to tell the truth, were +most of his Yankee friends. Slave-holding had not yet been abolished +in the northern American colonies any more than in the southern. The +great movement for the abolition of all property in human beings came a +long time afterward. Nevertheless, even then, a strong odium was +beginning to attach to the business of catching black men for the +market, and the cause of this feeling was mainly the cruel and wasteful +manner in which the business was carried on. The gathering of slaves +in Africa for export purposes was understood to be exceedingly +murderous, and too many of the captives died on shipboard from +barbarous ill-treatment. + +Away had swung the badly smelling _Yara_ upon her intended course. Her +polite captain had bowed as she did so, his last farewell expressing +his wish that his privateer acquaintances might have good luck and make +money. If he were indeed an Englishman, he had no narrow, national +feeling concerning business matters. + +"Sam Prentice!" exclaimed Captain Avery. "I was glad to be rid of 'em. +They're only another kind of pirate, anyhow. I believe that feller'd +send up the black flag any day, if it was safe,--and if he could make +money by it." + +"Lyme," replied his mate, "don't you know that slave catchers do fly +the skull and bones every now and then, in the far seas? They're none +too good to scuttle a ship and make her crew walk the plank." + +"I've heard so," said the captain, "but we hadn't any duty to do by +'em, jest now. What we want to do is to sight a British flag on a +craft that doesn't carry too many guns for us. Port your helm, there!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A DANGEROUS NEIGHBORHOOD. + +"So! You report that you were chased by some enemy? I've read +it--I've read the commodore's letter. What were you chased by, sir?" + +"I can't be sure what they were, sir. I took them for privateers. The +first of 'em gave me a shot my fourth day out. Another followed me +three days later. Peppered at me for an hour at long range. Both +times I escaped 'em in the night." + +"I'm glad you did! I think the commodore is right about you, sir. +Take your own course, always. Be ready to take the _Termagant_ across +again as soon as she's loaded." + +"Repairs, sir," said Captain Watts, for the dignified officer before +whom he stood was the port admiral in command of the British port of +Liverpool. "Foremast sprung, sir. She wants a new maintopmast. +She'll need all her spars, or I'm mistaken. If I'm to be in her she'll +use her canvas, sir. I've no fancy for falling again into the clutches +of the rebels." + +"They might hang you this time, eh?" said the admiral, pleasantly, as +if that were a bit of a joke. "They might, indeed. Send in your +requisitions; you shall have your repairs. I'll order them at once. +Now, sir, is there anything else?" + +"Yes, sir," said Watts; "I wish to report what I heard concerning rebel +privateers and new provincial cruisers. That is, it may all be already +reported." + +"Heave ahead!" interrupted the admiral. "Tell what you've heard. Your +news is as likely to be correct as any other. Go on, sir." + +"It's the old story o' the rats and the cheese, sir," said Luke. "The +bigger the cheese, the more the rats. Our trade's the fat they mean to +cut into, sir. I heard o' rebel privateers fittin' out all along the +New England coast. They told me o' some in North Carolina, out o' the +Neuse River. Some from Virginny, up the Potomac and the James. Some +down in South Carolina and Georgia; but I can't say but what as bad as +any are comin' out o' the Chesapeake and the Delaware. What we're +goin' to need is more light cruisers off the Irish coast, sir, and in +the channels." + +"Ha, ha!" laughed the great official. "The Yankee pirates'll never +show themselves on this coast. Go now; we can pick 'em up as fast as +they come." + +Captain Luke Watts had kept his word to the British authorities. He +had piloted the _Termagant_ safely into her harbor. He was, therefore, +above and beyond any possible suspicions as to his loyalty. There was +nothing to prevent him from delivering, not only his packages of +valuable furs, but also any other parcels which he had brought with him +from America. + +"All right!" he said to himself, as he swung out of the port admiral's +office. "They'll know better one o' these days. I'm glad to be told, +though, that they mean to remain off their guard till they're waked up. +I wish they'd send a few more o' their best ships somewhere else. +Captain Lyme Avery and a lot more like him are coming this way pretty +soon." + +He was only halfway correct in that assertion, for Captain Avery and +the _Noank_ were not just then in shape to sail for England. After +their noteworthy adventures with pirates and slavers, there had been +many hours of plain sailing, in company with the rescued _Santa +Teresa_. The second morning was well advanced when the two vessels +found themselves only a mile or so outside of the ample harbor of Porto +Rico. They had also tacked within speaking distance of each other. + +"Senor Avery," sang out Captain Velasquez, "I have the honor to make a +friendly suggestion." + +"I'm ready, thank you, senor," said Captain Avery. "What is it?" + +"Let the _Santa Teresa_ go ahead and look in. I'll send a boat back +with a Carib pilot. There might be a British cruiser in port." + +"That's the very thing I was thinkin' of," said the captain of the +_Noank_. "A thousand thanks, senor. We'll heave to." + +Very little more needed to be said. There were other sails in sight, +of various sorts and sizes, but not one of them carried the red-cross +flag of England. + +As for the _Noank_, all her ports were closed, there was a tarpaulin +over her pivot-gun, and she was a peaceable appearing merchant +schooner. Even the bunting at her masthead was a fraud, for it +declared of her that she came from France, and was not to be molested +without proper authority. + +"It's a kind of lie!" muttered Guert Ten Eyck. "They say all is fair +in war, but I don't want to run up anything but an American flag. I +don't half like to go ashore, either." + +Nobody else on board, perhaps, was in sympathy with that part of his +prejudices, but then his "going ashore" might mean a longer stay than +that of any other sailor. The more he thought of it, the less he liked +it. + +"Father," said Vine Avery, after hearing the Spanish captain, "let +Guert and me take a boat now, and pull in behind 'em. If we see any +danger, we can streak it back at once." + +"Good!" said the captain. "Take the small cutter and Coco and the +Indian. They speak Spanish." + +Off went Vine, and in a few minutes more a small and sharp-nosed boat +manned by four rowers was dancing along into the harbor mouth. + +"Splendid!" exclaimed Guert, staring this way and that way, landward, +as he pulled. "This all beats anything I ever heard of it. Hullo!" + +"Lobster!" growled Coco. + +"One, two, three, four sugar-boat," came from Up-na-tan. "_Noank_ get +some of 'em. Big frigate no good." + +That may have been his opinion, but she looked as if she would be of +some account in a naval combat, that splendid British frigate, so taut +and trim, lying there at her anchor. The sails now furled along her +yards could be opened quickly enough, and there would then be no other +ship of her size, of any other nation on earth, that she need fear to +meet. + +"Forty guns," said Up-na-tan. "Knock hole in _Noank_. Wait, now. See +what ole Spaniard do." + +"It looks kind o' rugged for us," thought Guert. "We can't run into +port at all. If we did we'd never get out again." + +The captain of the _Santa Teresa_ was keeping his promise. His ship +was taking in sail, and a well-manned boat was lowering from her side. + +"Here they come," said Guert. "We'll know more when they get here." + +"No," said Up-na-tan. "Ole chief see frigate himself. Know what do. +All Cap'n Avery want is Carib pilot. Tell him where go. Up-na-tan +know Cuba lagoons, not Porto Rico. So Coco." + +On came the Spanish boat, and as it drew nearer they could recognize +Captain Velasquez himself in the stern-sheets, ready to answer their +hail. + +"Senor," he said to Vine Avery, "there is one more British cruiser, +farther in. Pedro, here, will go back with you and pilot your schooner +to a safe mooring, up the coast. Only friends will come to see you +there. You may watch for a green flag on the shore, or a green light +after dark." + +"Thank you, senor," said Vine. "All right. Let him come aboard." + +Lightly as a panther, with wonderful quickness of motion, a short, +slight, dark-faced fellow sprang over into the cutter. + +"Me Pedro," he said. "Fight for Americano. Save he troat from +picaroon." + +The Carib, therefore, could make himself understood in English, and he +was eager to express his personal gratitude for his rescue from pirates +and sharks. + +"Now, senor," said Captain Velasquez, "we will run in and make our +report. After that is done, you may rely upon all that our authorities +can do for you. You will find that Spaniards can be grateful. Senora +Alvarez and Senora Paez wish me to say that their young friend must +soon be at their house." + +Guert expressed his thanks and willingness a little lamely, and the +uppermost thought in his mind was:-- + +"There! I hardly know what I said. I'll pick up every Spanish word I +can get hold of, while I'm among 'em." + +"Pull back hard!" said Up-na-tan. "Vine lose no time. Ole chief see +men jump around on frigate. See go to capstan. Come out soon." + +He had a red man's eye for signs, and nothing escaped him. None of his +companions, not even Coco, had noticed the fact that a number of +British sailors were going aloft, or that there were men gathering at +the frigate's capstan as if they had designs upon the anchor. + +A very different kind of man, as sharp in some respects as the +Manhattan himself, had all that while been taking observations through +a good telescope. He was in a somewhat weather-beaten uniform of a +British first lieutenant, and he stood on the quarter-deck of the +_Tigress_, reporting to his captain:-- + +"Small boat, sir, from outside the harbor. Yankee-built cutter. Two +American sailors, I take 'em to be. One nigger. One mulatto, I'd say. +Now they are meeting a boat from the Spanish trader that's coming in. +Of course, sir, there's a rebel craft o' some sort somewhere outside, +waiting to know if it's safe to come in." + +"All right, Mackenzie," replied the captain of the _Tigress_. "We must +catch her. Up anchor!" + +"Ay, ay, sir," said Mackenzie, "but no canvas out till that Yankee +scout-boat gets away. They needn't suspect we're after em." + +"Trust your head, my boy," replied his bluff commander. "You're a +sea-fox, my dear fellow, but you won't steal a march on any Yankee, +right away. They're as cunning as Mohawks. Speak that Spaniard, if +she comes within hail." + +That was precisely what the captain of the _Santa Teresa_ had decided +not to do, if he could help it. The moment he was again on board of +his own ship, he took the helm himself, and he made as wide a sheer +easterly as he could. Owing to the channel and the position of the +_Tigress_, however, the best he could do was to escape miscellaneous +conversation. He could not quite avoid coming within speaking-trumpet +range. The hoarse hail of the British lieutenant reached him clearly +enough. + +"Ship ahoy! What ship's that?" + +"_Santa Teresa_. Barcelona to Porto Rico. Passengers and cargo. What +ship's that?" + +"His Britannic Majesty's _Tigress_, Captain Frobisher," replied +Mackenzie. "You've seen rough weather, eh? One o' your sticks gone?" + +"Knocked out," returned Velasquez. "We were mauled by a buccaneer. We +got away from him." + +"Where did you leave the American?" was the lieutenant's next question, +made as confidently as if he had actually seen the _Noank_. "What is +she, anyhow?" + +The Spanish captain was silent for a moment in utter astonishment. How +could the Englishman have known anything about it? His very surprise, +however, defeated his prudence, and he answered:-- + +"Heavy schooner, bound in. She won't try it, now you are here." + +"All right," came cheerily back; "I saw you send her a pilot. I'll +report you." + +"Caramba!" shouted Velasquez, in sudden anger. "Report! I hope your +American rebels will beat you on land and sea! They have my good will, +with all my heart!" + +"That's so, I declare!" exclaimed the British officer, lowering his +glass. "I might have known it. It's the old grudge between England +and Spain. No wonder the Yankees get away from us as they do. All the +American colonies are in league together against all Europe. We'll +hunt down that Yankee schooner, though, in spite of 'em. Humph! To be +snubbed in this way by the skipper of a Barcelona trader! I'll report +him! What's the world coming to!" + +The _Santa Teresa_, under very light canvas, was now making her slow +way to her wharf, to which her arrival signals had already summoned a +growing throng of expectant people. Among these, of course, were the +mercantile men who were interested in the ship and her cargo, and many +more were the friends and relatives of her crew and passengers. +Besides these, there were naval, military, and custom-house officials, +and persons who were eager for the latest news from Europe. + +As the _Santa Teresa_ floated nearer, hats and handkerchiefs began to +wave on board and on the shore. The first words that were sent +landward, however, were in the tremendously excited treble of old +Senora Paez. + +"Praise God!" she called out. "Praise to Our Lady! We were rescued +from the pirates! We were saved from death by an American privateer! +God bless the Americans and give them their freedom!" + +Little she knew and less she cared that her enthusiastic utterances +were heard by loyal subjects of the king of England. Hardly a cable's +length away was anchored a stout corvette of twenty-eight guns, whose +officers and men, up to that moment, had been observing the new arrival +quite listlessly. + +Instantly, now, there began a stir on board of her, and a boat prepared +to put off to the _Santa Teresa_ upon an errand of inquiry. Before it +could be lowered, however, the corvette herself was hailed by a boat +from the _Tigress_. + +"Up anchor, is it? Yankee trader outside?" was half angrily thrown +back at that boat's message. "Ay, ay! we're coming. You may tell +Captain Frobisher it isn't any trader. It's one of those Connecticut +pirates. We've learned that right here.--All hands away! Up anchor, +lieutenant! That old woman has told us what we're going to do." + +Swiftly indeed the questions and answers were exchanging between the +crowded wharf and the thrilling news-bringers on the _Santa Teresa_. +Loud and repeated were the cheers for _los Americanos_ and their plucky +little cruiser. The British consul at Porto Rico was one of the +listeners, and he muttered discontentedly:-- + +"The rebels will get all the help and information they need. Not an +English merchant keel in port or due here would be safe if it weren't +for the _Tigress_ and the _Hermione_. Think of it! Six cargoes ready +to go out, and they'll all have to run the Yankee gantlet. There may +be more than one privateer, you know." + +Straight to the wharf steered the _Santa Teresa_. No sooner was her +gang-plank out than her passengers poured over it to be welcomed after +the exuberant Spanish fashion. + +The _Tigress_, away out at the harbor mouth, was already under way, and +the _Hermione_ would soon follow her. There was a change in the state +of feeling on board the frigate, however, after the return of the boat +from the corvette. + +"A privateer, they say?" said Captain Frobisher. "That's bad. She +beat off a pirate for the Spaniard? What do you make of that, +Mackenzie?" + +"It's easy to read, sir," replied his foxy second in command. "It's as +plain as print. The Americans are wiser than we are. They know enough +to carry heavy guns. Not many of 'em, I take it, but altogether too +much metal for any of these murderous picaroons." + +"I'm glad they were, my boy," said the captain, heartily. "I hope they +sent the devils to the bottom. I'm afraid we're to have trouble with +those fellows, my boy. They can't face our cruisers, to be sure, but +they may play havoc with our merchant marine. The admiralty must take +severe measures with some of them." + +"We'll try and do that ourselves with this one out yonder," said the +lieutenant, but his duties called him away, and he did not explain +precisely what was in his angry mind concerning the _Noank_. + +That very saucy little man-of-war was not trying to look any further +into the guarded harbor of Porto Rico. Vine Avery and his crew had +returned with their report of danger. They also reported whatever they +had learned of the British merchant craft, and Captain Avery had, +therefore, several things to think of. + +"Now, Pedro," he said to the Carib pilot, "what next?" + +"Run into lagoon to-night," said Pedro. "_Noank_ get through inlet at +low water. British ship stick on bar. Schooner come out again when +captain say ready. Safe!" + +"I understand that," said the captain, thoughtfully. "Our draft will +let us in. Almost any British man-o'-war would draw too much." + +"No!" replied the Carib; "captain wrong. High water on bar, deep +enough for small corvette. All right. British no find channel, Deep +water inside reef." + +"That's it, is it?" said the captain. "Then the sooner we are through +that channel, the better. All sail on, Sam. Let her go!" + +The crew had already crowded around Guert Ten Eyck and his friends to +hear what they had to tell. There did not seem to be anything like +disappointment among them. They had expected to hear of British +cruisers here away. They had known, all along, that only by sharp and +daring work could they hope to find or capture their intended prizes. + +"What do you think, Sam?" asked the captain, as soon as the _Noank_ was +once more flying along. "Doesn't this begin to look a little squally?" + +"Well, no," said the mate, soberly. "It looks like we'd best lie low +for a while, that's all. What I'm thinkin' of is this. What if this +Carib's lagoon and the channel into it are known to the British, or if +they should be discovered while we're cooped up in there? They'd be +sure to come in after us in boats. Most likely they'd come at night. +We must make calculations on that." + +"That's what we can do," growled the captain. "A boat attack'd stand +for hard fightin'. I ain't so sure the chances would be against us. +I'll tell you what, Sam Prentice, all that's left of a gang o' boats +won't be enough to board and carry the _Noank_." + +"Not if we're watchin'," said Sam. + +"We won't stay in any longer'n we can help," said the captain. "I'm +hopin' we are to get the right kind of information from the Spaniards." + +"Not from their authorities," grimly responded the mate. "They won't +do anything to make trouble between them and the British. Porto Rico +is buildin' up a prime Liverpool trade just now." + +"Sam!" exclaimed his friend, "you don't know human natur'! After a +Porto Rico planter has been paid for his sugar, he doesn't care a +copper what harbor it goes to. Besides, I'll bet on the _Santa Teresa_ +people. I took 'em for the right kind all 'round." + +"I'm glad they're safe, anyhow," said Prentice. "That puts me in mind +of another thing, Lyme. I kind o' like it that we're not to run into +Porto Rico first thing. The Spanish lawyers might put in a claim on +Groot and get him shot or hung. I've talked with him. He isn't a bad +sort of Dutchman." + +"We'll take care of him," said the captain. "Only man we saved. Prime +good seaman. He'll be one more first-rate fighter, too, when we need +him." + +So the _Noank_ sped on, and the two British men-of-war came sailing out +of the harbor to chase her. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A PRIZE FOR THE NOANK. + +"It doesn't take long to see all there is on one of these plantations," +said Guert Ten Eyck to himself. "It's the laziest kind of place, +though. I haven't seen a man in a hurry since I came here." + +He was standing in a wide veranda which ran along the entire front, at +least, of a long, two-story, fairly well-built house. There were +well-kept gardens, with noble trees and shrubbery, and all the veranda +was shadowy with climbing vines. It was the old Paez plantation house, +and was also the present home of Senor Alvarez and his family. + +"It's all very fine," Guert had remarked of it. "They're as rich as +mud, but I wouldn't live here for anything. What if the _Noank_ should +manage to get away without me on board of her?" + +That was a black idea which seemed almost to make him shudder. He had +remained here as a favored guest for over a fortnight. During these +days of his Spanish plantation experiences, the _Noank_ had been idly +rocking at her anchor in the sheltered cove to which her Carib pilot +had steered her. + +The two British war-ships had been cruising to and fro in a fruitless +search for her, and their commanders were more than a little chagrined +at their ill success, for they were firmly convinced that she could not +be far away. + +Guert had visited the shore, and his friends, in turn, had visited him, +to be also liberally entertained at the plantation. Nothing but the +great need for secrecy had prevented more extended inland hospitalities +to the brave _Americanos_ who had destroyed the picaroon. The highest +authorities on the island were quite ready to acknowledge so important +a public service, and no Spaniard, official or otherwise, was at all +likely to help the British capture the _Noank_. + +Guert had been promised information of any change in the prospect for +cruising. He had learned, too, that this kind of lying in ambush was +altogether a customary feature of all piracy or privateering among the +Antilles. Captain Avery had expected it, and had considered himself +fortunate in getting so good a lagoon to lurk in. The _Tigress_ and +the _Hermione_ were enemies which it would not do to trifle with. +Moreover, he had been kept well advised of the goings on in the harbor +of Porto Rico, and he knew all about the English merchantmen who were +discharging or taking in cargoes. One subject in particular had +greatly interested the young American sailor, for there were a great +many dark-skinned laborers upon the Paez and the neighboring +plantations. + +"If all the slaves are as well treated as they are here," Guert had +thought, "they are a great deal better off than they ever were in +Africa. I don't want to see any such thing in America, though. I'm +sorry it's there. We don't want any more slave trade. Too many of 'em +die on the way from Africa." + +His ideas, of course, were very raw and incomplete. He was only a boy, +and he could not see all of the mischief. He had watched the colored +people in their huts, away off behind the plantation house. He had +seen them at work in the fields. They seemed to be fat, merry, and not +at all discontented. As for their Spanish owners, nothing could be +more easy-going and careless than their way of life. Their only +apparent difficulty appeared to be in finding something to do. Guert +himself found enough, for all this thing was entirely new to him. He +enjoyed especially his horseback rides around the country, along forest +roads, and into wonderfully lovely nooks of semi-tropical vegetation. +He was all the while picking up Spanish words with great rapidity, for +there was no other language to be heard, except queer African dialects +among the slaves. He progressed all the better, too, because of having +made a pretty good beginning before coming there. On the whole, +however, his plantation days seemed a long time to look back upon, and +here he stood, in the veranda, disposed to consider his situation +seriously. + +"What!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Could I stay here and think of the +_Noank_ being out there in a fight? My own mother'd be ashamed of me, +if I did!" + +A light hand was on his shoulder, and a soft, kindly voice said to +him:-- + +"My dear young friend! If I were your mother, I should feel as you say +she would. I would have my brave son fighting for his country." + +"O Senora Paez!" said Guert, whirling to look into her venerable face, +"you all have been so good to me! But I cannot stay here while our war +for liberty is going on." + +Before she could speak again, a loud hail came up to them from the +gateway at the road, and a man on horseback dashed in at a gallop. + +"Senora Paez," said Guert, excitedly, "it's Vine Avery! Something's +happened." + +"Guert!" shouted the rider, "we're all ready to sail! Come on! The +coast is clear! Come back with me!" + +"Hurrah! I'm ready," he began. + +"Go, my dear boy!" interrupted the old senora. "I will call them to +say good-by to you. I would not detain you if you were my son. It is +your duty!" + +Quickly enough, the Alvarez household gathered to say farewell to their +young guest. They were all brimming with hospitality. They urged him +to come again and to consider their house his home. Nevertheless he +could see, plainly enough, that not one of them dreamed of detaining +him, now. They understood that his post of honor was behind the guns +of the _Noank_, and they would have despised him if he had not felt +just as he did. + +A horse was brought, and Senor Alvarez himself rode with Vine and Guert +to the seashore, less than ten miles away. That distance was galloped +rapidly. A boat was at the beach with a sailor from the _Noank_ in it, +and in a minute or so more it had three rowers. Loud and sincere were +the last grateful farewells from the senor on the beach. As hearty +were the good wishes sent back from the boat, but Guert's heart was +thrilling as it had not thrilled during all his peaceful weeks at the +Paez plantation. + +There, yonder, at the mast of his beautiful schooner, floated the stars +and stripes, the banner of freedom. There, waiting for him to rejoin +them, were his own brave captain and the crew that seemed to him as his +kindred. Away out yonder, outside of all these reefs and keys and +ledges, was the great ocean. + +"Hurrah, Vine!" he shouted. "Hurrah for a cruise and fights and +prizes!" + +"We're bound to have 'em!" said Vine. + +As they pulled along, moreover, he told Guert that one of the sailors +of the _Santa Teresa_ had come all the way from Porto Rico in a rowboat +to tell Captain Avery a lot of news that the captain had as yet kept to +himself. + +"It looks to me," said Vine, "as if we had some work all cut out for +us." + +"That's what we want," said Guert. + +"I tell you what, though," said Vine, "the queerest feller on board the +schooner is that Dutchman, Groot. He asks after you every now and +then. Do you know, he actually ventured to go right into Porto Rico +twice. I don't s'pose anybody he saw there suspected him of being a +pirate." + +"Well," said Guert, "he never was one, exactly. Here we are, Vine. I +guess I'll have a talk with him." + +The boat was at the side of the _Noank_, and a score of well-known +faces were at the rail. + +"On board with you!" called out Sam Prentice. "The anchor's comin' in. +There's no time to be wasted." + +Other orders followed, and Guert sprang away to his duties feeling a +good deal more like himself than if he were watching slaves in a +tobacco-field. + +Very secure indeed had been that bit of a landlocked harbor on the +island coast. Its entrance was a mere narrow canal, so to call it, +between dangerous reefs on either side. No deep-draft British vessel +could pass through that channel; even the _Noank_ was compelled to take +it at high water because of its bars. + +"Captain Avery," asked Guert, after delivering the messages of good +will from his Spanish friends, "didn't you say that the British might +have come in and carried the schooner in boats?" + +"Ye-es, I did," drawled the captain. "That's the reason why I anchored +her jest in that spot. I kept a sharp lookout, you see, on that there +p'int o' rocks yonder. Our guns were kept trained on this channel, all +the time. We were all prepared then to knock their boats to flinders +as they got in to about here. Not one of 'em'd ever pulled past this +'ere twist in the channel, when it opens into the lagoon." + +Guert's question was answered, and he had a higher idea than ever of +the remarkable fitness of Lyme Avery to conduct the business of the +privateer _Noank_. + +"I see it," he thought. "They'd ha' been smashed by a raking fire at +short range. It would ha' been awful!" + +The schooner had but little canvas spread as yet, and she picked her +way carefully, slowly; but the channel was not a long one, after all. + +"Out at sea!" exclaimed Guert, with a long breath of relief, at last. +"Seems to me as if I'd been on shore a year. I was getting pretty sick +of it." + +"Lyme Avery," remarked his mate, as more sails were spreading, "it +looks to me as if we were goin' to have a rough night. We'd better git +well away from the coast." + +"We'll do that," replied the captain, "and we'll run along in the track +o' that Liverpool trader. She has pretty nigh a day the start of us." + +"I understand that," thought Guert, overhearing them. "We're in for a +race. We may be chased ourselves, too. It doesn't look to me as if a +storm's coming, but they read weather signs better'n I can." + +"Come," said a low voice in his ear; "I want to talk with you." + +The summons was spoken in Dutch, such as Guert had been accustomed to +hear in old days upon Manhattan Island. Somehow or other the sound of +it was very pleasant to him. He turned even eagerly to follow Groot, +and was led forward almost to the heel of the bowsprit. + +"Now, my boy," said the escaped pirate, "we are by ourselves. I know +you like a book. I have talked with Coco and Up-na-tan. They say you +know all about their having been freebooters, long ago. They call it +Kidd business. Now, I never was really one of that kind, but there are +ways for one buccaneer to know another, soon as he sees him, or talks +with him." + +"Yes," replied Guert, "they say so. It's by handgrips and signs and +words. I know some of 'em now." + +He and the Dutchman shook hands, and Guert said what he knew. + +"That's well enough for a beginning," said Groot, "but you must know it +all. It might save your life some day. It saved mine when they +captured me. I'll teach you. I mean to keep company with you and +those two old fellows. I owe you my life." + +"Vine helped, too," said Guert. "I'm glad we hauled you aboard. The +sharks were pretty close behind you just then. Oh! But wasn't it +awful! I wish we'd saved more of 'em." + +"You couldn't," said Groot. "They'd only ha' been turned over to the +law, if you had. They were all sharks, too, nearly all. Worst kind. +Some weren't quite as bad as the rest, perhaps. Never mind them, now. +Let's attend to this business." + +Guert was willing enough, although Groot laughed, and said it made a +kind of pirate of him. + +"We'll practise now and then," he told him. "Now, some wouldn't +believe it, but I met more than a score of regular picaroons, living at +their ease in Porto Rico. Some of them are rich, too, and don't mean +to go to sea any more. For all that, they're always ready to give +information or any other help to sea-rovers like themselves." + +Guert was all the while learning a great deal, and this addition to his +stock of knowledge hardly surprised him. + +"I see," he thought. "It's a kind of matter of course. It would be a +good deal stranger if it wasn't so. Those that get away rich don't +care to run any more risks. Besides, if such fellows hadn't signs and +passwords already, they'd set right to work and invent some. Even +regular armies have passwords and countersigns, and all the ships have +signals." + +He was thinking of that sort of thing when the dark came on. The wind +was strengthening, and there were clouds rushing across the sky to +vindicate Sam Prentice's prophecy concerning the weather. + +"He was right, I guess," thought Guert. "Hullo! What's the captain up +to?" + +Captain Avery was standing at the mainmast, and he had just touched off +a rocket that went fizzing up to its bursting place. + +"I wonder who'll see it," thought Guert. + +Far away in the deepening gloom to leeward, at that moment, the first +lieutenant of the _Tigress_, watching upon her quarter-deck, +exclaimed:-- + +"Captain! One more of our cruisers! She'll come within hail before +long. That's it! I hope we're going to be relieved. I'm sick and +tired of this West India station." + +"So am I!" said the captain, heartily. "Reply to that signal. Give +'em our own number. Draw 'em this way." + +His signal officer responded promptly, and more than one rocket went up +from the _Tigress_. Her commander was much chagrined, however, for he +received no response to give him the information he expected of the +character of the newcomer. + +Moreover, as far away from the _Noank_ as he was, but in a directly +opposite line, to windward, at the same time, the English skipper of a +fine, bark-rigged merchantman, just out from Porto Rico, felt +exceedingly gratified. She was a craft of which Captain Avery had no +knowledge whatever up to that moment. + +"Hey!" shouted the skipper. "See that? One more of our cruisers close +at hand, beside the one away off to looard. I'll send up a light to +let 'em know where we are." + +Captain Avery had not really asked so much of him, but that was +precisely what his unnecessary rocket did. + +"Lyme!" exclaimed Sam Prentice, as the shining stars fell out of the +flying firework from the bark. "I declare! They told us that feller +wouldn't sail for three days yet, and there he is. He's goin' to be +our surest take, Captain." + +"All right," replied the captain. "Not to-night, though. We'll just +foller him along till mornin'. Then we'll put a prize crew into him +and send him to New London. We're much obliged to him for callin' on +us." + +"I guess we're sure of him," said Sam, "but we'd better look out for +our sticks and canvas, first." + +That was what every vessel in that neighborhood was compelled to do +during the gale which began to blow. + +"She stands it first-rate," said Guert to Up-na-tan, an hour or so +later. "Tell you what, though, I feel a good deal better than I did on +shore." + +"Boy talk Spanish," replied the Manhattan. "Talk him all while. Learn +how. Boy not know much, anyhow." + +The red man had all along deemed it his duty to impress upon the mind +of his young friend the idea that he was only a beginner, an ignorant +kind of sea apprentice with all his troubles before him. After that +there followed a watch below, another on deck, and then the morning sun +began to do what he could with the flying rack of clouds and spray and +mist that was driving along before the gale. + +"Vine," asked Guert, "has anything more been seen of that trader!" + +"Can't you see?" said Vine. "There she is. We're to wind'ard of her, +now. She's answering father's signals, first-rate. We owe all that +luck to Luke Watts and his private signal-book." + +Nevertheless, the skipper of the bark was even then expressing much +perplexity of mind as to what the _Noank_ might be and where from. He +did not exactly like her style. It was peculiar, he said, as the +morning went on and the gale began to subside, that the seemingly +friendly schooner, answering signals so well, should keep the same +course with himself, all the while drawing nearer. + +"She outsails us," he remarked. "We can't get away from her. I wish +the corvette or the frigate were in sight." + +Both of them had vanished. They had tacked toward Porto Rico and the +officers of the _Tigress_, in particular, were keeping a sharp lookout +for the newly arrived British man-of-war that had burned rockets so +very promisingly in the night. + +"It's all right, Lieutenant," remarked Captain Frobisher. "The gale +has carried her along finely. We shall find her in port when we get +there." + +"I wish we may!" growled the very sharp lieutenant, "but I don't like +it. I didn't exactly make out the reading of that second rocket. +Perhaps a lubber sent it up. We'll see." + +On went the schooner and the bark without any outside observers. Down +sank the tired-out gale, and the sun broke through the clouds. + +"Coco!" shouted Captain Avery, at last, "haul down that lobster flag +and run up the stars and stripes. Vine, give 'em that forward +starboard gun. All hands to quarters! 'Bout ship! Men! she's our +prize!" + +A ringing sound of cheers answered him, and the report of the gun +followed. It was a signal for the Englishman to heave to, and her +captain dashed his hat upon the deck. + +"Caught!" he groaned. "Taken by the rebels! I wish they were all sunk +a hundred fathoms deep." + +Loud, angry voices from all parts of his ship responded with similar +sentiments relating to American pirates, but there could be no thought +of resistance. The bark was hove to, and her flag came down in a hurry +as if to avoid all danger of further shotted cannonading. + +"Ship ahoy!" came loudly across the water. "What bark's that?" + +"Bark _Spencer_, Captain McGrew. Porto Rico for Liverpool. Cargo. No +passengers. Who are you?" + +The answer settled his mind entirely, and in a few minutes more he had +a boat's crew of American sailors on board. + +"Captain McGrew," said Captain Avery, glancing around, "I'm glad you've +no passengers. I'll find out, first, how many of your fellers I can +leave on board with my prize crew, to handle her to New London. Some'd +ruther work ship than be crammed under hatches." + +The British sailors exchanged nods and glances, and their skipper +responded:-- + +"All right! We're a prize, no doubt. We're insured, so far's that +goes. 'Tisn't so bad for the owners. But you'd better tally four +chaps that hid in the hold to keep from being 'pressed into the +_Tigress_. They're not deserters, you know, but they'd as lief keep +away from havin' to answer questions." + +Four stalwart British tars at once stepped forward, and not one of them +"peached" to McGrew that their names were already on the rolls of the +frigate, so that they were much more than halfway deserters. + +"Humph!" said Captain Avery, "I guess I can trust 'em. It saves me +four hands. I'll pick out four more. Captain McGrew, you and the rest +may come on board the schooner. I'll give you a free passage to +France. Treat ye well, too. Hand over your papers. Sam Prentice, +this is your trip home." + +"All right!" almost roared Sam. "I'll carry her safe in. She and her +cargo'll bring us a pile o' shiners. Lyme, she's our first West Injy +luck!" + +"Hurry up, Sam!" said the captain. "Then I'll try for that feller +ahead that led us from Porto Rico. She's along the track, somewhere." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BERMUDA TRADER + +There is a great deal of the humdrum and monotonous in the day after +day life and work upon a ship at sea. Even if the ship is a cruiser +and if there is a continuous watching for and study of all the other +sails that appear, that too may grow dull and tiresome. + +There were many days of such unprofitable watching from the outlooks of +the _Noank_, after her first unexpected good fortune. She had somehow +failed to overtake that sought-for Porto Rico merchantman. The gale +had favored an escape, and so had the delay occasioned by the pursuit +and capture of the _Spencer_. Since then, carrying all the sail the +varying winds would let him, Captain Avery had sailed persistently on, +hoping for that prize or for another as good. There had been topsails +reported, from time to time, between him and the horizon, and from two, +at least, of those, he had cautiously sheered away, not liking their +very excellent "cut." There might be tiers of dangerous guns away down +below them and he did not want any more guns,--heavy ones. + +"I said," he remarked, a little dolefully, "that I'd foller that +sugar-boat all the way to Liverpool, and I've only 'bout half done it. +I'm goin' ahead. There's no use in tryin' back toward Cuba, now. +We'll take a look at the British coast, pretty soon; France, too, and +Ireland, maybe Holland. We'll see what's to be had in the channels." + +Everybody on board was likely to be satisfied with that decision, +especially the British prisoners from the _Spencer_. As for these, the +sailor part of them were already on very good terms with their captors, +not caring very much how or in what kind of craft they were to find +their way back to England. They were a happy-go-lucky lot of +foremastmen with strong prejudices, of course, against all Yankee +rebels, but with thoroughly seamanlike ideas that they had no right to +be sulky over the ordinary chances of war. They had not really lost +much, and their main cause of complaint was their very narrow quarters +on board the _Noank_. They had not the least idea that a change in +this respect was only a little ahead of them, but a great improvement +was coming. + +Day had followed day, and the ocean seemed to be in a manner deserted. +A feeling of disappointment seemed to be growing in the mind of Captain +Avery, and he had half forgotten how very good a prize the _Spencer_ +had been. + +"This 'ere is dreadful!" he declared. "I'm afraid we're not goin' to +make a dollar. What few sails we've sighted have all been Dutch or +French. I want a look at the red-cross flag again." + +"Well, yes," thought Guert, "but I guess he doesn't want to see it on a +man-o'-war. I feel a good deal as he does, though. I'll get Vine to +lend me a glass. I've hardly had a chance to play lookout." + +Vine let him have the telescope, of course, but Up-na-tan and Coco came +at once to see what he would do with it. He pulled it out to its +length and began to peer across the surrounding ocean. + +"Ugh!" said Up-na-tan. "Boy fool! No stay on deck. Go up mast. +Maintop. Then mebbe see something. No good eye!" + +"Git up aloft, Guert!" added Coco. "Never mine ole redskin. Think he +go bline, pretty soon. Can't see lobster ship." + +That may have referred to the fact that they had served as lookouts, +that morning, until they were weary of it, and Up-na-tan had lost his +temper. They grinned discontentedly as they saw their young friend go +aloft. He had now become well accustomed to high perches, and was +beginning to regard himself as an experienced sailor for that kind of +small cruiser. He felt very much at home in the maintop, and even +Captain Avery glanced up at him approvingly. + +"He must learn how," he remarked, as he saw Guert square himself in his +narrow coop and adjust the telescope. + +"Ugh!" suddenly exclaimed the Indian. "Boy see! Wish ole chief up +there heself." + +The others had not noticed so closely, and Guert was not apparently +excited. He was gazing steadily in one direction, however, instead of +hunting here and there, as he had done at first. + +"Isn't a telescope wonderful?" he was thinking. "It brings that flag +close up. I can see that her foremast is gone. That looks like +another sail, away off beyond her. More than one of 'em. Maybe it's a +fleet." + +A lurch of the _Noank_ compelled him to lower his glass and grasp a +rope, while he leaned over to shout down his wonderful discoveries. + +"Hurrah!" yelled Vine. "Good for Guert!" + +"Hard a-lee, then!" roared Captain Avery to the man at the helm. +"Ready about! Strange sail to looard! Up-na-tan, that long gun! +Clear for action!" + +It was all very well for him to shout rapid orders and for the crew to +bring up powder and shot so eagerly, and get the schooner ready for a +fight. It was also well for the captain to go aloft and take the glass +himself. He could see more than Guert could. But what was the good of +it all when the wind was dying? + +There was hardly air enough to keep the sails from flapping. A +schooner could do better than a square-rigged vessel under such +circumstances, but that wind was an aggravating trial to a ship-load of +excited privateersmen. + +Captain McGrew had been permitted to come on deck, and Guert, as he +reached the deck from aloft, was half sure that he had heard the +Englishman chuckling maliciously, then heard him mutter:-- + +"The Bermuda ships never sail home without a strong convoy. These +chaps'll catch it." + +When Captain Avery himself came down and the opinion of the _Spencer's_ +captain was reported to him, he said:-- + +"From Bermuda, eh? That's likely. We're not far out o' their course, +I'd say. Who cares for convoy? I don't. This feller nighest us is +crippled and left behind. If it wasn't for this calm, my boy--" + +There he became silent and stood still, staring hungrily to leeward. + +Perhaps his manifest vexation was enjoyed by his English prisoner, but +Captain McGrew very soon put on a graver face, for the sharp-nosed +_Noank_ was all the while slipping along, and the ship she was steering +toward was almost as good as standing still. So must have been any +heavier craft, warlike or otherwise. + +An hour went by, another, and the deceptive British merchant flag still +fluttered from the rigging of the _Noank_. The strange sail had made +no attempt to signal her and there had been a reason for it. She had +her own sharp-eyed lookouts, and these and her officers had been +studying this schooner to windward of them. + +"She's American built," they had said of her. "Most likely she's one +of the _Solway's_ prizes. The old seventy-four has picked up a dozen +of them. She ought not to be coming this way though. She's running +out of her course." + +There was something almost suspicious about it, they thought. It might +be all right, but they were at sea in war time, and there was no +telling what might happen. + +"She'll be within hail inside of five minutes," they said at last. +"We've signalled her now, and she doesn't pay us any attention. It +looks bad. Her lookouts haven't gone blind." + +Not at all. Captain Avery was anything but shortsighted. His glass +had recently informed him that a huge hulk of some sort, only the +topsails of which had been seen at first, was steadily drifting nearer. + +"Answer no hail!" he had ordered. "We must board her without firing a +gun." + +Not for firing, therefore, but for show only, the pivot-gun threw off +its tarpaulin disguise, and the broadside sixes ran their threatening +brass noses out at the port-holes, while the British flag came down and +the stars and stripes went up. + +"Heave to, or I'll sink you!" was the first hail of Captain Avery. +"What ship's that?" + +"_Sinclair_, Bermuda, Captain Keller. Cargo and passengers. We +surrender!" came quickly back. "We are half disabled now. +Short-handed." + +"All right," said the captain. "We won't hurt you. We'll grapple and +board." + +The _Sinclair_ was more than twice the size of the _Noank_. She +carried a few good-looking guns, too. The grappling irons were thrown; +the two hulls came together; the American boarders poured over her +bulwarks, pike and cutlass in hand, ready for a fight. All they saw +there to meet them, however, was not more than a score of sailors, of +all sorts, and a mob of passengers, aft. Some of these were weeping +and clinging to each other as if they had seen a pack of wolves coming. + +"I'm Captain Keller," said the nearest of the Englishmen. "You're too +many for us. We couldn't even man the guns. Five men on the sick +list." + +He seemed intensely mortified at his inability to show fight, and he +instantly added:-- + +"Besides, man alive! six Bermuda planters and their families! They all +expect that you're going to make 'em walk the plank." + +"That's jest what we'll do!" replied Captain Avery. "We'll cut their +throats first, to make 'em stop their music. I'll tell you what, +though. I've a lot of English fellers that I want to get rid of. No +use to me. You can have 'em, if you'll be good. Captain McGrew, fetch +your men over into this 'ere 'Mudian! I don't want her." + +"All right! We're coming!" called back the suddenly delighted +ex-skipper of the _Spencer_. "What luck this is!" + +"Now, Captain Keller," said Avery, "we'll search for cash and anything +else we want. Are you leakin'?" + +"No," said the Englishman, "we're tight enough. We were damaged in a +gale, that's all. There's one of our convoy, off to looard,--the old +_Solway_. She lost a stick, too." + +"We won't hurt her," said Avery. "What did that old woman yell for?" + +"Why," said Keller, "one o' those younkers told her you meant to burn +the ship and sell her to the Turks. But the best part of our cargo, +for your taking, is coming up from the hold." + +The two grim old salts perfectly understood each other's dry humor, and +Keller's orders had been given without waiting for explanations. + +"Hullo!" said Avery. "Well, yes, I'd say so! There they come! How +many of 'em?" + +"Forty-seven miserable Yankees," said Keller. "The _Solway_ took 'em +out of a Baltimore clipper and another rebel boat. She stuck 'em in on +us to relieve her own hold. They were to be distributed 'mong the +Channel fleet, maybe. You may have 'em all. It's a kind of fair +trade, I'd say." + +At that moment the two ships were ringing with cheers. The _Spencer_ +Englishmen, the short-handed crew of the _Sinclair_, and, most +uproariously of all, the liberated American sailors, who were pouring +up from the hold, let out all the voices they had. It was an +extraordinary scene to take place on the deck of a vessel just captured +by bloodthirsty privateers. The women and children ceased their +crying, and then the men passengers came forward to find out what was +the matter. Ten words of explanation were given, and then even they +were laughing merrily. The dreaded pirate schooner had only brought +the much needed supply of sailors, and there was no real harm in her. + +A search below for cash and other valuables of a quickly movable +character was going forward with all haste, nevertheless, while the +liberated tars of both nations transferred themselves and their effects +to either vessel. + +"Not much cash," said Captain Avery, "but I've found a couple of extra +compasses and a prime chronometer that I wanted. The prisoners are the +best o' this prize, and how I'm to stow 'em and quarter 'em, I don't +exactly know. We must steer straight for Brest, I think." + +"Captain," said Guert, coming to him a little anxiously, "off to +looard! Boats!" + +The captain was startled. + +"Boats? From the seventy-four?" he exclaimed. "That means mischief! +All hands on board the _Noank_! Call 'em up from below! Tally! Don't +miss a man! Drop all you can't carry!" + +The skipper of the _Sinclair_ was looking contemptuously at his +bewildered passengers. + +"The whimperingest lot I ever sailed with," he remarked of them; and +then he sang out, to be heard by all: "Captain Avery! Did you say you +were going to scuttle my ship, or set her afire?" + +"Both!" responded the captain. "Jest as soon's I get good and ready. +I'll show ye!" + +"You bloodthirsty monster!" burst from one of the older ladies. "All +of you Americans are pirates! Worse than pirates!" + +"Fact, madam!" said he; "but then you don't know how good we are, too. +I'm a kind of angel, myself. Look out yonder, though! See that lot o' +pirate boats from the _Solway_? The captain o' that tub is a +bloodthirsty monster! He eats children, ye know. He's a reg'lar +Englishman!" + +"You brute!" she said; and then, as the commander of the _Noank_ was +going over the rail, she added, more calmly; "Why! what an old fool I +am! The Americans are only in a hurry to get away. Our boats are +coming after 'em, and then they'll all be hung." + +"That's it, madam," said Captain Keller. "They're going to get 'em, +too. What I care for most is that we've hands enough now to repair +damages, so we can get you all to Liverpool." + +Off swung the terrible privateer, her much increased ship's company +sending back a round of cheers as she did so. A light puff of air +began to fill the limp sails of the _Sinclair_, and she, too, gathered +headway. + +"Wind come a little more," said Up-na-tan, thoughtfully. "No fight +boat. No hurt 'Muda ship. No sink her." + +The captain overheard him, and he broke out into a hearty laugh. + +"No, you old scalper," he said. "I'm a Connecticut man, I am. I can't +bear to see anything like wastage. What's the use o' burnin' a ship +you can't keep? It's a thing I couldn't do." + +"No take her, anyhow," said the Indian. "Ole tub too slow. Lobster +ship take her back right away. Ugh! Bad wind!" + +Very bad indeed was that light breeze, and away yonder were the boats +of the _Solway_ coming steadily along in a well-handled line. + +"They're dangerous looking, sir," said Groot, the Dutch ex-pirate, +after a study of them through a glass. "Two of them carry boat guns. +Strong crews. I'd not like to be boarded by them." + +"We won't let 'em board," said the captain. "Thank God, we've a good +deal more'n a hundred men now. I guess Keller'll warn 'em how strong +we are. That may hold 'em back." + +It was a schooner wind, and the _Noank_ was going along, but she was +not travelling so fast as were the vigorously pulled boats. It was a +lesson in sea warfare to watch them and see how perfect was their +discipline and the oar-training of their crews. + +"That's the reason," remarked Captain Avery, "why England rules the +sea. We'll have a navy, some day, and we'll beat 'em at their own +teachin's." + +The rescued prisoners had been having a hard time of it in the hold of +the Bermuda trader, and they were beginning to feel desperate now at +what seemed a prospect of being once more captured by the enemy. They +went to the guns, and they armed themselves like men who were about to +fight for their very lives. There was one piece that they were not +allowed to touch, however, for Up-na-tan himself was behind the +pivot-gun. He and Groot, in consultation, seemed to be carefully +calculating the now rapidly diminishing distance between the schooner +and the British boat-line. + +This reached the _Sinclair_ speedily, and its delay there was only long +enough for reports and explanations. + +"That's her armament, is it?" the lieutenant in command had said to +Keller. "Stronger than I expected, but we can take her. Forward, all! +She won't think of resisting us. Give her a gun to heave to!" + +The longboat in which he stood carried a snub-nosed six-pounder, and +its gunners at once blazed away. They had the range well, and their +shot went skipping along only a few fathoms aft of the _Noank's_ stern. + +"Father," exclaimed Vine, "it won't do to let that work go on. We +might be crippled." + +"Give it to 'em, Up-na-tan!" shouted the captain. "Men! We won't be +taken! We'll fight this fight out!"' + +Loud cheers answered him, but it was Groot, the pirate, who was now +sighting the long eighteen, and he proved to be a capital marksman. + +"Ugh! Longboat!" said Up-na-tan. "Now!" + +Away sped the iron messenger, so carefully directed, but not one +British sailor was hurt by it. It did but rudely graze the larboard +stern timber of the _Solway's_ longboat at the water line. + +"Thunder!" roared the astonished lieutenant. "A hole as big as a +barrel! If they haven't sunk us!" + +The nearest boats on either hand pulled swiftly to the rescue, but that +boat-gun would never again be fired. The other gun, in the _Solway's_ +pinnace, spoke out angrily, and, curiously enough, it had been charged +with nothing but grape-shot. All of this was what Captain Avery might +have described as wastage, for it was uselessly scattered over the sea. + +Loud were the yells and cheers on board the _Noank_ as her crew saw +their most dangerous antagonist go under water, sinking all the faster +because of the heavy cannon. Of course, the sailors whose boat had so +unexpectedly gone out from under them were all picked up, but not one +of them had saved pike or musket. The attacking force had therefore +been diminished seriously, and there had also been many minutes of +delay. + +"Captain," said Groot, "I'll send another pill among them, whiles +they're clustered so close together." + +"Not a shot!" sharply commanded Captain Avery. "I'm thinkin'! Men! +It's more'n likely there are 'pressed Americans on those boats. I +won't risk it. We must get away." + +"Ay, ay, sir," came heartily back from many voices. "Let 'em go." + +That was what saved the really beaten British tars from any more heavy +shot, and the _Noank_ was all the while increasing her distance. The +only remaining danger to her now was the mighty _Solway_, and her +sails, full set, could be seen and studied by the glasses on the +schooner. + +"She's the first big ship I ever saw under full sail," said Guert to +Groot. "I've only seen 'em in port." + +"You'd be of little good on her till after you'd served awhile," said +the Dutchman, in his own tongue. "It isn't even every British captain +that can handle a seventy-four as she ought to be handled." + +Whoever was in charge of the _Solway_ now, she was sailing faster than +the _Noank_, and things were looking badly. So said one of his old +neighbors to Captain Lyme Avery, only to be answered by a chuckle. + +"Jest calc'late," he added, quite cheerfully. "A starn chase is always +a long chase. They won't be gettin' into range for their best guns +till about dark. Then I'll show ye. Vine, make a barrel raft! Sharp!" + +Up from the hold came quickly a dozen or so of empty barrels, and these +were carpentered together with planks so as to make a skeleton deck. +In the middle of this was rigged a spar like a mast, and the raft was +ready. + +All the sailors believed they knew what was coming. It was an old, +old, trick, as old as the hills, but it might be the thing to try in +this case. + +On came the stately line-of-battle ship, as the shadows deepened. She +was slowly gaining in spite of the _Noank_ having every inch of her +canvas spread. She would soon be near enough to fly her bow chasers. +If these were heavy enough, there would then be nothing left the +American privateer but prompt surrender. The next half-hour was, +therefore, a time of breathless anxiety. + +"It's almost dark enough, now," said Captain Avery, at last, with a +cloudy face. "Over with the raft, Vine; I'm goin' to try somethin' +new." + +Over the side it went and it floated buoyantly, with a large, lighted +lantern swinging at the tip of its pretty tall mast. At the foot of +that spar, however, had been securely fastened a barrel of powder, with +a long line-fuse carried from it up several feet along the upright +stick. + +"If that light fools him at all," said the captain, "it'll gain us half +an hour and five miles. If it doesn't, why, then we're gone, that's +all. Now, Coco, due nor'west! Keep her head well to the wind. We +shall pass that seventy-four within two miles." + +It was a daring game to play, taking into account British night-glasses +and heavy guns, to tack toward a line-of-battle ship in that manner. + +On the _Solway_, however, there had been a feeling of absolute +certainty as to overtaking the schooner. She had been in plain view, +they said, up to the moment when her crew so foolishly swung out a +lantern. It was a mere glimmer, truly, but it would do to steer by. +It was many minutes afterward that an idea suddenly flashed into the +experienced mind of the British commander. + +"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "No Yankee would have held up a light for us +to chase him by. That's a decoy! Hard a-port, there! The rebels'd go +off before the wind. They can't take in an old hand like me." + +Precisely because the _Noank_ had not gone off before the wind, her +seemingly safest course, the _Solway_ was not immediately following +her. More minutes went by, and then there arose a storm of +exclamations on board the seventy-four. + +"Captain," asked an excited officer, "did she blow up?" + +"No," he gruffly responded. "That's only part of the decoy." + +Not all his subordinates agreed with him, however, and it was plainly +his duty to carry his ship past the place of the now vanished light and +of so tremendous an explosion. He did so grumblingly. + +"I know 'em," he said. "It's only some trick or other. They're sharp +chaps to deal with, on land or sea. They're a kind of Indian fighters, +and they're up to anything. Do you know, I believe we've lost her!" + +That was what he had done, or else Captain Lyme Avery had lost the +seventy-four, for when the next morning dawned her lookouts could +discover no sign of the _Noank's_ white canvas between them and the +horizon. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NEUTRAL PORT. + +A remarkable place, in the summer of the year 1777, was the old French +harbor of Brest. A not altogether pleasant fame had gathered upon it, +like drifted seaweed, from historically ancient days. It was said to +have been a rendezvous for the old-time vikings of the northern seas, +as it was at this day for the smugglers. All of the town that could be +seen from the harbor wore a shambling, dingy, antiquated appearance. +Its ill-paved, steep, and dirty streets swarmed with an exceedingly +varied and not at all admirable population, although the better classes +were represented. + +Vessels of all sorts were there, as usual, one pleasant afternoon, +going out, coming in, at anchor, or moored to the more or less +tumbledown wharves and piers. The arrival or departure of one ship +more was not an affair to attract especial attention. + +One important feature of the character of the ancient port was that +whatever might be the existing treaties between the kings of France and +Great Britain, Brest was always more or less at war with England. +English sailors were welcome enough, of course, particularly if they +were willing to desert, or had recently been paid off, or were supposed +to be engaged in smuggling. + +Among the vessels at anchor were three French war-ships, one Dutch +cruiser, undergoing repairs, and a smart-looking British corvette that +was lying well out from shore. All of these were under treaty bonds to +keep the peace with each other and with the world in general, but Brest +was also distinguished as a port into which all navies at peace with +France might bring their prizes for condemnation and sale, according to +existing maritime law. + +A little after the noon, the loungers on the piers might have taken +notice, if they would, of a large schooner that was slipping in through +the strongly fortified entrance channel under little more than her +foresail. She either had a French pilot on board or was steered by a +man who knew the harbor, for she went at once to the right spot to drop +her anchor, and a boat shortly put out from her toward the shore. + +"There's a French flag on a Yankee-built schooner," remarked an officer +of the British corvette. "That's because we are here. I'd like to cut +her out, but it wouldn't do. Our war with France hasn't quite begun. +I'm going to see, though, if we can't manage to get some men out of +her." + +He was a burly, bulldog-looking person, and he made other remarks not +at all complimentary to Americans in general, and to one Mr. George +Washington in particular. + +"According to the latest advices," he asserted, "Howe and Cornwallis +are crushing out the Virginia fox's ragamuffins. Burgoyne will take +possession of northern New York and all the New England colonies. Then +the king will have his own again, and we shall see some rebels hung." + +There was, indeed, an increasingly bitter feeling among loyal +Englishmen, caused by what they deemed the needless prolongation of the +war. According to their way of thinking, the rebels were unreasonable +and should long since have given up their useless attempt to escape +from under the rightful rule of the mother country. + +On the deck of the schooner, whether she were French or American, only +a few men were making their appearance, and she seemed to have a great +deal of deck-cargo. It was concerning that, perhaps, that conversation +was going on below, and here, at least, the population was even +excessive. + +"Their glasses'd tell 'em just what we are, Captain Avery," said one +before the boat left, "if we swarmed up." + +"They'll find out, anyhow," said the captain. "Our deck-load must get +ashore at once, before they know too much. It's in the way, too." + +From other remarks that were made, it appeared that the cargo to be +disposed of had been taken from no less than four unfortunate British +merchantmen, and that the schooner had been a long time in gathering +it. Good reasons were also given why the ships themselves had not been +seized as well as the goods. + +The captain was now in the boat, and his face wore a very thoughtful +expression. + +"Groot," he said, "you talk French better'n I do. Keep close and +watch." + +"All the lingoes you ever heard of are talked in Brest," said the +Dutchman. "I've been here for months at a time. You'll have a visitor +from that British corvette, first thing. They won't mind sea law much, +either. They never do, and the French never try to follow 'em up +sharp." + +"Now they've let us run in, I don't care," said the captain. "We've +had pretty narrow escapes gettin' here. It was touch and go, along the +coast." + +Absolute disguise or secrecy was out of the question, perhaps, but when +a boat from the _Syren_ shortly afterward pulled to the side of the +_Noank_ there was no invitation given to come on board. + +"What schooner's this?" roughly demanded the officer of the boat. + +"_Noank_, New London," responded Vine Avery, at the rail. "Assorted +cargo. We ran right in through a fleet of your sleepyheads. Do you +belong to that clumsy corvette, yonder?" + +"Shut your mouth!" snapped the officer. "We'll come for you, yet." + +"Hurrah for the Continental Congress!" said Vine, maliciously. "If +this 'ere wasn't a neutral port we'd board that tub o' yours and take +her home with us. We want some more guns and powder anyhow!" + +"You're a pirate!" roared the officer. "We've a right to take you out +under the French law. You've no protection." + +"Keep your distance," said Vine. "We'll be ready for you when you +come." + +Angry faces were beginning to show behind Vine. The British officer +saw steel points like pikeheads, and he heard threatening exclamations, +only half suppressed. As the representative of a man-of-war, he had an +undoubted right to question the character of any merchant vessel +whatever, and to make her commander exhibit his papers, if the meeting +took place at sea. In harbor, however, under the guns of neutral +forts, the case was different. + +The Englishman had really obtained the information he came after, and +he had no orders to go any further. He knew exactly the character of +this schooner. Even the pike-heads could be read like good +handwriting. He replied to Vine with hardly more than an angry growl +and went back to report to his commander. + +"Privateer, is she?" remarked that gentleman, after hearing him. "I +supposed so. I'd lay the _Syren_ alongside of her, if it wasn't for +getting into hot water with the French and with the admiral. We'll try +for some of her men, on board or on shore, and I'll have that schooner!" + +The younger officer grumbled his readiness to cut out the rebel pirate +that very night, but his wiser superior only laughed at him. + +"There she is," he said, "with her head in the lion's mouth. We +needn't shut our jaws on her till the right minute. Then it will be +one good bite and we'll have her, men, cargo, and all." + +The boat from the _Noank_ reached a wharf, and it had not come there +upon any mere pleasure trip. + +"Short work, now, Groot," said the captain. "If you can't find your +men right away, I'll take a look after mine." + +Away they went, along the water front, until they were halted by Groot +in front of an immense, dingy old warehouse. + +"Opdyke Freres," he read the faded sign over the entrance of it. "They +are here, yet. Brest and Amsterdam. What goods they can't handle in +France, they can in Holland. They'll do the fair thing by us,--so +we'll be sure to come to them again." + +"That's our grip on their honesty, this time," said Captain Avery. + +In two minutes more, the entire boat's crew of the _Noank_ was gathered +in a counting-room in the rear of the warehouse. It looked as if a +hundred generations of spiders had made their webs in its corners, +undisturbed. + +A short, fat man turned upon a high stool at a desk to inquire, in +Dutch:-- + +"Oh! Mynheer Groot! Not hung yet? Is it some new business?" + +Part of Groot's reply was a rapid introduction of his friends, while he +stated their errand. There could be nothing but utter mutual +confidence in such a case, and the head of the house of Opdyke Brothers +was exceedingly outspoken. + +"We take the deck-cargo to-night," he said. "Our lighters will come as +soon as it is dark. You will pay the custom-house men ten thousand +francs down, so they will not know anything about it. I will be there +and one of my brothers. We will take off as much more as we can +to-morrow night. You will go to Amsterdam with your next cargo or +prizes. The British are increasing their guard. Ha, ha! It is war +with them, too, and they take some prizes. We buy of them every now +and then." + +Guert was listening eagerly to all that was said. He was obtaining new +ideas and information as to the manner in which plunder taken at sea by +all sorts of war-ships may be marketed. + +"It's the war law of buccaneering," he thought. "If England and +America were at peace, then our business would be piracy." + +It was not easy to make it seem right, and he gave that up, trying to +settle his conscience with the assertion that it was one of those +things which cannot be helped. + +"It ought to be helped," he thought. "Ships of war ought to do the +fighting and let the unarmed ships go free. I don't like it! But I'm +a privateersman myself, just now." + +Back went the boat to the _Noank_ and Mynheer Opdyke kept his word. It +was a misty night, and before morning there was nothing worth noticing +upon the deck, unless it might be something amidships that was covered +by a tarpaulin. That, however, had been read and understood by the +lookouts in the tops of the British corvette. + +"The privateer carries a pivot-gun," her captain had said. "Three guns +each broadside? Remarkably full crew? All right. She's a dangerous +customer to leave afloat. We must make an end of her." + +That next day was spent on shore by most of the _Noank's_ crew. Not +one of them was willing to remain in Brest, however. The best chance +that the rescued prisoners, for instance, seemed to have for ever +getting home was in the _Noank_. + +"Besides," they said to each other, "some of us may get out in prizes, +before long. We may win prize-money, too." + +One day more went by, and it was near evening when Captain Avery said +to Guert Ten Eyck:-- + +"No, my boy, you won't go ashore again. Our water-casks and the +provisions are coming aboard. The Opdykes have done wonderfully well +by us. I never saw better lighter work. I can't say at what hour we +may be ready to put to sea." + +The British watchers saw all the lighters coming and going. Their +patrol boats now and then pulled very near the schooner, but they had +no right to board her. No doubt they had further plans of their own, +but they were a little slow with them. The truth was, that the Opdykes +deserved the praise given them by Captain Avery. Nobody would have +expected such a rapid discharge of a cargo as they effected. That is, +nobody without visiting the schooner that night and seeing how a +hundred strong men could handle goods. + +"Captain," said Mynheer Opdyke, at last, "you have no time to lose. +The ship for Belfast goes out with the morning tide, and her cargo is a +good one. We put on part of it ourselves, but we insured it pretty +well. I think the corvette is going to pretend to change her +anchorage, and she will slip alongside of you while she's moving." + +"That's what I'm ready for," replied the captain, laughing. "She may +anchor on this very spot as soon as she pleases after this lighter +goes." + +He took a small bag of money that was handed him by the merchant, and +the latter went over the side. + +"Ho, ho!" he chuckled, as he did so. "I make one hundred per cent. +Now I go and report to my British friends that they must take the +American pirate within three days, or she will get away from them. Our +house is on good terms with them." + +That might be, but if it were expected that he would give up profitable +business for friendship's sake, that was expecting altogether too much. + +Very still lay the _Noank_ during the hour that followed. Carefully +muffled were the oars of a small boat that came back to her from a +swiftly rowed scouting expedition. Then it seemed as if her anchor +came up without a sound, and the booms swung away without creaking. No +voices were heard from stem to stern, and a swarm of dark figures +flitted around her deck as if they wore moccasons. + +"Belfast ship gone out," Up-na-tan had reported to Captain Avery. +"Lobster corvette ready to lift anchor. Four lobster boat in water, +now. British think they come and take _Noank_ while all crew ashore. +Think schooner go sleep." + +"Pretty good!" said the captain. "They'd run out to sea with us, then, +and the French'd never do a thing about it. America isn't a power yet, +and England is. Never mind, we're goin' to spile their luck this time." + +The schooner slipped away as if the water had been oiled for her. +There was wind enough and not a great deal more. Every sail she could +spread was in its place, and her breathless crew watched their canvas +feverishly as she sped toward the channel at the harbor mouth. + +Not a great deal of noise had been made on board the _Syren_, as she +lifted her anchor to change her ground. She had a right to do so and +to get a little more out of the way of other ships. She was sending up +only a few sails, however, only just enough to carry her slowly along. +It was as if she moved across the water cautiously, not caring for the +time expended. + +Her commander was justifiably certain of the success of his plans. He +stood upon the quarter-deck, trumpet in hand. His gallant tars, with +pikes and cutlasses ready, but no firearms, the report of which might +be heard by the French on shore, were drawn up in line, waiting for the +order, so soon to come, to board the _Noank_. Splendid men they were, +and the sleeping Americans were to be overcome in the twinkling of an +eye. Four boats were at the sides of the corvette, and into these went +down the expectant boarders, for the crisis was at hand. No orders +were required and the oars dipped rapidly, in perfect unison. The +affair would soon be over. The commander on the corvette's deck was +listening for the shout of onset and of sudden victory. + +"Hullo!" suddenly exclaimed the lieutenant in the bow of the foremost +boat. "Here we are! Where's that schooner?" + +"She's gone, sir!" came loudly from one of the sailors. "Gone +entirely!" + +All the silence was gone also, as the boats dashed on to row uselessly +over the patch of water where the _Noank_ had been seen at sunset. +Orders and exclamations might be uttered noisily now. + +The _Syren's_ captain could hear, and he could understand, but for some +reason he did not seem inclined to make remarks. Most likely he was +thinking, for the first words from his lips were:-- + +"Lieutenant, recall the boats. All hands make sail! We must follow +that privateer. I'm afraid he has two hours the start of us." + +"I'm afraid he's away," growled the lieutenant. "I'd like to know who +gave him his warning." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed the captain. "He's after that Belfast liner. We +must follow in her wake, or she'll go to America instead of to Ireland." + +An old, experienced sea-campaigner can sometimes make shrewd +calculations. Not a great while after that and just as the day was +dawning, a bulky three-master, running along in a steady, businesslike +manner, appeared to be almost in danger of being run into by a much +smaller craft which had been following her. The pursuer's flag was +English, and she showed no guns. + +"Schooner ahoy, there!" shouted a voice on the three-master. "Sheer +away, there, or you'll strike us. Port your helm! Port, I say!" + +No direct answer came back, but he heard a hoarse-toned shout of:-- + +"All hands shorten sail! Throw that grappling! Throw the other! Haul +in! Haul taut! Bring us alongside! Hurrah! We have her! Board!" + +So skilfully was it done that there was no great or damaging shock when +the two vessels came together. The grapplings held, the American +sailors pulled mightily, and before the liner's crew who were below +could tumble up to join their comrades on deck there were fifty pikemen +swarming over her bulwarks. + +"We surrender!" was almost the first loud exclamation of the British +skipper. "You're that rebel pirate! Why didn't the _Syren_ catch you!" + +"We weren't there to be caught," called back Captain Avery. "The +_Killarney_ is ours, Captain Syme!" + +"We can't help ourselves! It's the hard fortune of war!" groaned the +astounded Briton. "Do your worst!" + +"No harm to any of you," replied his captor. "We'll put you and your +crew and passengers ashore on the first land we come to. This 'ere +ship, though, is bound for New London." + +It was a time for little talk and for the swiftest kind of action, +while the Belfast liner was made ready for her trip across the Atlantic. + +"I'm glad you find she has water and provisions enough, Vine," said his +father, a little later. "You may have twenty-five of the rescued men. +They are prime fellows. I'd go under easy sail most o' the time. We +won't take out a pound o' the cargo here. Make quick work of gettin' +away, now! We're pretty nigh ready to cast loose." + +Vine and his exceedingly well-pleased two dozen or more of escaped +prisoners of war took possession of the _Killarney_, and about all the +risk before them was that of getting under the guns of some British +cruiser. + +Captain Syme and his crew and passengers, transferred to the _Noank_ +with their baggage, were a very disconsolate company, even when they +were promised a quick trip to the Irish coast, as near Belfast as might +be. + +"Hard luck for us," remarked Syme. "It's that sleepy corvette that's +to blame. I believed I was getting away in good season." + +"So you were," replied Captain Avery. "You couldn't ha' suited us +better. I like the _Syren_, too. She's gone over to our old anchorage +by this time." + +He was mistaken there. The angry, disappointed British commander was +putting on all sail, and his cruiser was bowling along the sea-road +toward Belfast. No sail was in sight ahead of her, and he was fretted +sadly by a suspicion of the truth, that the _Killarney_, with a prize +crew on board, was already headed westward, while the dashing privateer +he had missed was taking a northerly course, favored much by the fine +topsail breeze that was blowing. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A COMING STORM. + +There had been a morning, not many days after the _Noank_ sailed away +from Porto Rico, when the gunners of the seaward battery of Fort +Griswold, New London, ran hastily to their cannon. They put in powder +only, and quickly they were firing a salute of welcome, in response to +the arrival guns of a handsome bark that was entering the harbor mouth. +She was under full sail, she carried the American flag, and with it she +also floated the well-known private signal of Captain Avery and the +_Noank_. + +"Lyme's taken a big prize!" shouted voice after voice in the fort, +while all the people within hearing of the guns understood that they +were roaring good news only. Men in shops dropped their tools. +Teamsters unhitched their horses from loaded sleighs, to mount and +hurry into town. Fishermen pulled in their lines. Women put away +their knitting or left their carding and their looms. Such a rousing +announcement of stirring news from the sea could not be disregarded, +and the excitement grew apace. + +An hour or so later Captain Sam Prentice and some of his men were on +the central wharf, shaking hands with old neighbors until their own +were lame, and telling the story of the old whaling schooner among the +West Indies. + +"Samuel," remarked Rachel Tarns, "thy story promiseth to be a long one. +Thee had better hold thy tongue a moment, and turn thy gray head to see +what cometh behind thee." + +"Sam! Sam! I'm here!" + +"There!" said the old Quakeress, dryly. "It was on my mind that his +wife could stop his talking. So she squeezeth him not to death, he may +then hug his daughters." + +"Glory to God!" shouted good Mrs. Ten Eyck. "My son is safe! Not one +of our men has been killed." + +"Anneke," suggested Rachel Tarns, "thee may also thank Him that they do +not seem to have been led to the killing of other people." + +"That isn't jest so," said Sam; "we saved a ship-load of Spaniards from +some pirates, and we had to kill a good many of the pirates. We didn't +really hurt anybody else." + +"I trust thy God will forgive thee concerning those wicked men," said +Rachel. "He slayeth the wicked in their wickedness. Thee did no +wrong. I think it was a friendly and righteous thing for thee to do. +I once had many that were dear to me murdered at sea by those devilish +destroyers." + +"No mercy for pirates!" shouted more voices than one. + +"We didn't have to show any," said Sam. "I can't tell it, jest now." + +"The ship thou hast taken seemeth a fine one," said Rachel. "How did +thee manage to escape the war vessels of thy good king?" + +"Oh! 'Bout that?" he replied. "We had the best kind of luck. There +wasn't a cruiser off Nantucket. We came along as safe as a mackerel +smack. It was a kind of wonder, though, that we didn't sight a +solitary's king's flag hereaway." + +"That's explained," he was told by a white-headed fisherman. "The +British are goin' after the Continentals down Philadelfy way, and all +their cruisers are called off to Delaware Bay and the Chesapeake. Some +of 'em's ferryin' troops, ye know. We can't say, yit, as to whether or +not Washington has licked 'em. Anyhow, things ain't as bad as they +was." + +Endless news telling was to come, evidently, concerning events on shore +as well as on the sea, and there could be no long lingering at the +wharf. Every sailor that could be spared from the ship had somebody +eagerly waiting for him, and there were many gladdened households that +day. + +"This is getting to be a thieves' harbor," remarked Rachel Tarns to a +group of which she was the centre. "The wicked rebels against our good +king are stealing much. This is the nineteenth British vessel that +hath been brought in hither. I trust that all ships designing to enter +this port under the American flag will arrive safely. It would be a +pity if any of them should be wrecked or otherwise prevented." + +She had other things as kindly to say and sincere wishes to express +concerning whatever shipping might here and there be under the flag of +England. Neither did she forget to extend her benevolence to the tents +in all the camps of George the Third. + +Those who listened to her were plainly in sympathy with all her +friendly or Quakerish aspirations, and it appeared as if she were even +a favorite. + +After that, indeed, as week after week went by, her hopes and wishes +were remarkably fulfilled, for there were other Yankee privateers as +capable and as busy as the _Noank_. Some of them were also much larger +craft with heavier armaments. Prize after prize came in, and there +were New London merchants whose trade promised to rival that of the +ancient house of Opdyke Brothers, of the port of Brest. + +Throughout all New England, throughout the greater part of New York, +there was undisturbed security. The war was touching the northerly +edge of Pennsylvania, and there were savage raids into some districts +of that colony. Large areas of New Jersey were desolated, and so were +parts of South Carolina and Georgia where the Tory element was strong. +The western frontier of New York was severely harried by the Iroquois. +The counties of that state nearest the city of New York were entirely +ruined. + +The farmers of the Mohawk Valley gathered their summer crops safely, +but toward them and toward the rebel stronghold at Albany, where the +legislature was sitting, there was an avalanche of danger coming down +from the north. It was well understood that even the forces under the +British generals in the Middle States were not considered so effective, +so well furnished, so sure of winning speedy victories, as were the +chosen regiments to be led by General Burgoyne for a crushing blow at +the heart of the rebellion. He was to be reenforced by the entire +power of the Six Nations and the Hurons. If he should succeed, as he +and his admirers believed he would, his army would obtain complete +possession of New York and New England. All the other colonies would +then give up in despair, and the Continental army would disband or +surrender. + +The British campaign and its intended consequences were thoroughly +discussed by the New England people, and a considerable number of them +very promptly determined to visit their friends in Albany or in Vermont. + +The shore people were deeply interested, for, in addition to all other +considerations, their entire sea-going fleet was at stake. No more +British prizes would then be brought, for instance, to Boston or New +London, and all the privateers at sea would be hopelessly forfeited to +the crown. All their prizes in European ports would share the same +fate. One, however, was now on its homeward way in charge of Vine +Avery, promoted from third mate to skipper. He was handling his ship +very well, but he as yet knew very little about her cargo. His orders +were to let the taking account of that wait until he should be safe in +port. + +"The main thing," he had been told by his father, "is to git there. +You've a gantlet to run that's thousands o' miles long, and your +chances are only jest about even." + +"I'll make 'em a good deal more'n even!" Vine had replied, and he had +sailed away full confidently. + +Three days after the _Noank_ and the _Killarney_ parted company, there +was a great stir in a fishing village on the Irish coast. A strange +schooner was tacking into the cove in front of the village, and such a +thing as that did not happen every day. All the cabins were emptied at +once. Even the babies, of which there seemed to be a large number, +were carried to the shore by their mothers that they might not lose +this chance to see something. + +The schooner furled her sails, and dropped her anchor, while her +probable or improbable character was undergoing vigorous discussion all +along the beach. Not a soul on board the _Noank_, among her crew, at +least, could have understood the primitive Erse dialect in which the +fisher people told their opinions of her and the boat-loads of men and +women that were quickly put out from her toward the shore. More and +more extraordinary became the clatter after the passengers were landed +and the boats pulled away for their next cargoes. Trip after trip was +made, and all the while there was a vast amount of kindly pity +expressed, most of it in Erse, but much in Irish-English, for Captain +Syme and all his miscellaneous ship's company. Quite an erroneous +opinion appeared to prevail that the American pirates had murdered all +their captives entirely before landing them. + +Here they were, now, however, not a hair of their heads injured, and +Captain Syme even thanked Captain Avery, the privateersman, for having +treated him and his so very well. + +"We shall find our way to Belfast, sir," he said. "Just how we are to +transport them all, I don't know, but the neighboring authorities will +take care of that. I shall have them notified at once. You'd better +look out for yourself." + +"All right," laughed Captain Avery, "but I'm less afraid of a constable +than I would be of a three-master with two tiers of guns. Not many o' +them in shore, I guess." + +Captain Syme had his hands full, he said, and away he went without +uttering aloud the reply that was so near his lips: "Three-master? +Yes, you rebel pirate! A seventy-four and you and your schooner within +point-blank range!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +IRISH LOYALTY. + +Captain Avery's boat pulled away toward the _Noank_, and he remarked as +he took hold of the tiller ropes:-- + +"I'm glad to be rid of all that crowd. Now there'll be more room for +the rest of us. We can't afford to take prisoners." + +"They'll report us, sir," said one of the sailors. + +"They may say we mean to sack Liverpool, for all I care," growled the +captain. "I wish we had a supply of fresh provisions, though. We had +no time to take in any at Brest." + +The whole boat's crew agreed with him, for they had been living on salt +rations during many a long week. + +The skipper of the _Killarney_ and his friends of all sorts, with their +personal baggage, were scattered high and low along the beach. The +hospitable commiseration they were receiving was even excessive, and +there appeared to be but one opinion among the population of that edge +of Ireland concerning the general wickedness of privateering. At the +side of the schooner, however, as if waiting for the captain's return, +was a stout yawl-boat. It had four rowers and in the stern-sheets sat +a large, florid, handsome man, very well dressed. + +"It's the captain of this American pirate?" he loudly inquired. "Glad +to see you, sir. I'm The McGahan and my place is inshore, yonder. +Have ye ony good tobacco aboord, or a drop o' claret, or an anker of +old Hollands?" + +"Well," said Captain Avery, staring into the broadly smiling face of +the handsome Irishman, "we've no liquid, but we've loads o' prime Cuba +leaf, plug, and cigars. How are you off for beef and mutton, or, it +might be, a little fresh pork?" + +"No pork handy, the day," responded The McGahan. "Twinty head o' bafe, +though, and all the mutton ye want. It's me sorrow that I couldn't +lawfully sell ye huf or horn. The customs patrol is oll along the +coast, looking after smoogglers and the like, and it's loyal to the +king we are. God bless him!" + +"I'm glad you're law abidin'," replied the captain. "I wouldn't ask +you to sell me a pound! Guert Ten Eyck, you and the men have up that +choice lot from the after cabin lockers. Mr. McGahan; come aboard and +make your own selections. I'm not the kind of man to evade the +customs. You'd better rob me of a lot of tobacco and whatever else +there is. I couldn't help myself, you know." + +"That's what I'll do," said McGahan, with a comical twist of his face. +"I'd like to ploonder a privateer. Hurrah for King Garge! Doon wid +all rebels!--exceptin' it may be Oirish rebels, and I'm wan o' thim. +Ye may sind over a party wid goons and cutlashes to rob me o' the bafe +and mutton. I'm thinking there's a good catch o' fish, along shore, +but the fisher folk'd niver evade the coostoms to get a little 'baccy." + +His boatmen had been listening, and he had not been whispering. One of +them now sang out:-- + +"Your Worship! Plaze tell the bloody pirates to fetch along their +plug, and sthale the fish! We're oll a wake sort o' people, riddy to +be ploondhered." + +It was a bargain! Boats came and went, after that, and when Captain +Syme himself expressed his curiosity concerning them, he was sadly +informed that the American freebooters had demanded supplies. + +Captain Avery did not waste any time in carrying out his part of the +contract. He led an overpowering party of well-armed men to the +elegant country-seat of The McGahan, two miles away. A cart which was +driven along with him contained a number of small boxes and bales. + +"Some of McGahan's neighbors," he explained to Guert, "are as ready to +be robbed as he is. I'll not have to pay a dollar of cash. The +balance o' this trade'll come the other way. If we dared stay, we +could sell out our whole cargo." + +Guert was getting hold of several new ideas. One was, that a great +many Irishmen were about as devoted to the British government as were +the people of America. Another was, that war expenses were large and +that British taxes were heavy. A great part of the revenue collected +came from duties upon imported goods, and these imposts were such as to +practically offer bribes to all smugglers. + +"I see," he said to the captain. "It was the duty on imported tea that +set our war for independence a-going." + +"No!" replied Captain Avery. "That was only one p'int in the 'count. +We had enough else to fight for. I can tell you one thing, though. +All the Irish people'd be up in arms, to-day, if they had any George +Washington to lead them. They are treated badly; worse, in some +things, than we were." + +Neither going nor coming did Guert hear any blessings uttered upon +England. The fat oxen and the sheep were hurriedly driven to the +shore. Some butchering was done at once, and some salting, but the +sailors managed to convey to the schooner more live stock than there +was room for. One large sheep-pen was constructed amidships, below +deck, that there might be fresh mutton as long as possible. Near it +were cattle-stalls, and these would soon be empty, with so large a crew +of hungry eaters ready for roast beef and boiled. As for the fish they +came along in abundance, and casks of sea-water were provided for their +keeping. With them came fishermen and women and dozen of boys and +girls, all wild with curiosity concerning the "bloody privateer." + +One day more did the _Noank_ linger at her pleasant anchorage. Thus, +just as the sun was nearing the western horizon, Up-na-tan, at the +beach in the small boat, with its regular crew, raised his hand. + +"Whoo-oop!" sounded his war-cry of warning. + +"Hark!" said Guert. "That's a bugle! British troops coming! Off we +go!" + +A gun from the _Noank_ told that the lookout on board had been as alert +as was the red man himself. + +"Aff wid yez!" yelled a fisherwoman, running frantically toward them. +"It's the Donegal Rigimint o' cavalry! They'd cut yez all down! Be +aff!" + +The boat was pulled swiftly away, and as it did so the head of a fine +column of uniformed horsemen came trotting out to where it could be +seen. + +"Charge 'em! Charge 'em!" roared a rider in civilian rig at the side +of their commander. "It's your duty, sir, to seize that pirate +schooner! They've carried aff more'n twinty head o' fat bafe for me. +You're answerable to the king if you let 'em get away!" + +"All right!" replied the cavalry major, coolly. "We'll charge the +schooner. You ride on board, if you will, and tell 'em we're coming." + +"It's not me duty," responded the excited McGahan. "It's a poor patrol +ye're kaping, whin a booccaneer can sail in and ploonder the coast." + +Straight to the shore the dragoons, for such they were called, rode +fearlessly onward, and the _Noank_ fired a salute for them while she +swung out flag after flag, fore and aft. + +"They'll know the stars and stripes when they see it again," laughed +Captain Avery. "They're fools, though, to expose themselves in that +way. We might damage 'em badly, at this range." + +"She's an American privateer! Can that be a fact?" exclaimed the +British officer, in blank astonishment. "'Pon my soul, I couldn't +believe it till I saw it! I'm sure enough, now. Why, McGahan, you are +correct. My dear old boy, you couldn't help yourself." + +"Of coorse I couldn't," replied the robbed Irish gentleman. "I'm glad +you can belave me, at last. What do you think o' the impidence of 'em?" + +"It's fine!" exclaimed the major. + +That was the striking feature of it. Even in later days, it was +difficult for the country people of England to realize that such +American pirates as John Paul Jones, for instance, were actually +attacking the British islands. + +Leisurely, tauntingly, the crew of the _Noank_ lifted their anchor. No +hostile shot was fired at the gallant-looking horsemen, and the major +confidently ventured out in a fishing boat until he was near enough to +hail. He was a bright-eyed, daring fellow and his first remark was an +oddity. + +"Captain Avery, is it?" he said. "Fine schooner of yours, I'd say. I +was thinking of making a dash. I might surround you, you know. But if +you are going, I'll let you go." + +"I wish you would," called back the captain of the _Noank_. "Would you +like to come aboard? I'll give you a box of Cuba cigars." + +"Thank you kindly," said the major. "I'll not trouble you to that +extent. I'm Major Avery of the Donegal Dragoons. I didn't know there +were any of the name in America. Sorry to find an Avery fighting +against his king." + +"Well," said the captain, "you're out a little, there. He is your +king, not ours, and he is fighting us." + +"All right!--or rather, it's all wrong," replied the brave major. "The +king'll have his own again, before long. Your cruise'll be a short +one, if you run around in these waters." + +"Oh," said the captain, "they're safe enough. We can get away from the +cavalry, and from the tubs, too." + +"Tubs, eh? That's what you call 'em? You'll find that some of 'em are +pretty large tubs." + +"Good-by!" shouted back the captain. "I'm glad to find one more +good-looking Avery. Come and visit at my house as soon as the war's +over." + +The sails of the _Noank_ were taking the breeze. She swung away +seaward, bowing to the cavalry and to the swarm of fisher folk, and +these forgot their loyalty to England so far that they cheered her +lustily. + +"Do you know, Guert," remarked the captain, thoughtfully, "this is +about the worst side of our war! It has set old neighbors against each +other, and even kinfolk. Why! Old Ben Franklin himself has a son +that's an out and out Tory. He is the British Tory governor of New +Jersey. He and his father don't speak to each other. There's more +like 'em." + +"That's so, sir," said Guert. "Some first-rate fellows that I used to +know in New York went off on the wrong side. Steve de Lancey was one +of 'em. I used to take his boat whenever I wanted to, and they were +all real good neighbors." + +The recently appointed first mate of the _Noank_, taking Sam Prentice's +place and responsibilities, broke up the study of civil war evils. + +"Where away now, Captain?" he inquired. "Our being here'll be known +wide enough." + +"We won't be here, Morgan," replied the captain. "We are goin' right +up St. George's Channel. We may run all the way around the islands and +reach Amsterdam from the north." + +"That is," said Morgan, "if we get there at all. It's just as that +dragoon said: there are a good many king's cruisers hereaway. Big +ones, too." + +"We are safest in a crowd," replied the captain. "Our best plan is to +be where they won't dream of our darin' to go." + +"No doubt about that," said Morgan. "I'm agreed we're likely to pick +up something worth taking if we watch, while we're making such a run as +that." + +"We'll go ashore, here and there, too," laughed the captain, "and show +'em the flag." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +VERY SHARP SHOOTING. + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, in the kitchen of the Avery +house, "I am glad for thee. Thy brave son's share of the prize-money +taketh thee out of thy distresses. Thou wilt have more, if he +continueth to serve our good king after this fashion. Thee may be +proud of him." + +"Rachel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, "you know I'm glad to have the money +and to pay my debts with it, but I wish it didn't come from plunder. I +can't help pitying all the people that have lost their ships and their +property." + +"I also am sorry for them," said Rachel. "Doubtless, war is a sin and +an evil. I pray much for the return of peace. Thee should bear in +mind, though, that both sides have sinned, and that therefore both must +suffer while the war lasteth." + +"Our American people are suffering terribly," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "I +wish I could send something to Washington's army. I have heard say +that the colonies are becoming exhausted, while England is as rich as +ever." + +"She may be so," said Rachel, "but I have been at a Friends' meeting, +and some of the elderly men are good accountants. They had somewhat to +say concerning the matter of exhaustion." + +"Oh, what did they say?" asked Mrs. Avery, at the ironing-board. +"Nobody can beat a lot of old Quakers at arithmetic." + +"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "This was their testimony concerning +this dark and dreadful year, and concerning last year also. They +computed that for every American who fell in battle or died in camp, +fifteen more young men became of age, ready to take his place. The +army is not dying out. For every acre of land really laid waste by the +British, one hundred fresh acres of newly opened farms were put under +cultivation. For every ton of American shipping captured by the +British, five tons of new shipping were built in American shipyards, +and ten tons of English shipping were captured or destroyed by our +cruisers. Our commerce, therefore, dieth not rapidly. Thee should not +forget, too, that our girls who are coming of age are worth something +for the future prosperity of the country. None of them are killed in +battles, and nearly all of them get married soon. The elders +testified, moreover, that while we have lost the right to send all of +our productions to England, we have gained the right to trade with all +the rest of the world. We wax richer and more numerous, they said, and +the timid and the unbelieving boweth his head, and weepeth, and +declareth that this is our exhaustion." + +"Hurrah for the Quakers!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "They are right! But, +Rachel, it is getting into September, and it is ever so long since we +have had any news from the _Noank_." + +"Two more prizes came," replied Rachel, "and thy son Vine came back to +thee in safety." + +"Yes," said his mother, "but it was only to go out with Sam Prentice in +that bark, for another privateering trip to the West Indies. I don't +care: I'm almost glad Vine isn't with General Schuyler's army and just +about to have a battle with Burgoyne." + +"It'll be a hard one," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They say the British have +all the Six Nations with them this time." + +"Anneke," said Rachel, "does thee not know the red men? I do. They +will dance and shout much, and they will take the king's presents. +They will do many murders, for a time, but all the British generals can +never turn Indians into soldiers. They may not be depended upon." + +Poor General Burgoyne, struggling desperately among the mountains and +forests and swamps, was already beginning to understand the really +worthless character of his vaunted Indian allies. They were +skirmishers and scouts, truly, but they were not trustworthy soldiers. +At the same time, their presence in his camps did more than anything +else to rally against him the full power of the New York and New +England patriots. Many a man whose patriotism had been lukewarm or +wavering took down his rifle from its hooks and hurried away to do his +best to prevent the threatened great inroad of the Iroquois. + +The ports of the Southern states as well as of the Northern were +sending out both public and private armed vessels, and the infant navy +of the United States was growing rapidly. It was beginning, also, to +establish for itself a high character for efficiency and daring. Even +when its first adventurous captains could not obtain ships that suited +them, they did wonders with old hulks and half-refitted merchantmen. +American shipyards were largely increasing their capacities, while +American sailors were proving that seamanship and courage were of more +importance than mere wood and canvas. + +The autumn days that came were bright and beautiful, even along the +misty coasts of the British islands. There had been, previously, a +succession of severe storms and a host of craft had lingered in harbor, +awaiting the arrival of this fine weather. Now it was here, the seas +which bordered Britain, France, the Netherlands, and, away northward, +the Danish coast, the North Sea, and the Baltic, seemed to swarm with +sails. These were all too numerous for one craft more to attract +especial attention. + +There were war-ships of all sorts and sizes, and of several +nationalities. These were all supposed by each other to be in somewhat +jealous and exclusive care of the welfare and conduct of their own +traders. One flag only was notably absent, as yet, and there were not +many seagoing Europeans, comparatively speaking, who had even so much +as seen the stars and stripes. This was the bright flag of the future, +nor was anybody ready to foresee that it would thereafter become of +great importance in the commerce of the world. + +A schooner, apparently a merchantman, going along under easy sail, was +taking a course from the northward into the British Channel. There +were many two-masters in the North Sea carrying the Baltic and +Scandinavian trade, and this might be one of them. A sleepy British +line-of-battle ship in the distance, easterly, did not care to meddle +with her, flying as she did the Norway flag. She might be a +lumber-boat, with her hold full of barrel heads and staves, and her +deck cluttered with spare spars for the Hull builders. + +A closer look at that same deck would have dismissed the spars from the +supposition, and certainly no ordinary lumber business could have +called for so numerous a crew. + +One of these, a short and brawny man, was all the while busy with a +telescope, uttering pretty loudly his readings of all he saw. No doubt +he was a sailor familiar with these seas, and had been selected as a +lookout for that reason. "That line-o'-battle ship won't pay us any +attention, sir," he said. "We're getting well along past her. There +isn't a speck o' danger in sight but one." + +"What's that, Groot?" said Captain Avery, arising from his seat upon a +coil of rope. "What do you see?" + +"Revenue cutter, sir," replied Groot, "or I'm mistaken. She's +brig-rigged. Almost dead ahead. She'll try to overhaul us, sir." + +"I a'most hope she will," said the captain, testily. "We'll keep right +on. We've sailed all the way 'round Scotland, and the best fun we've +had was goin' ashore for fish and to scare the people. We haven't +taken in a dollar's worth." + +"Some o' the custom's cutters are likely craft," remarked a grizzled +seaman near him. "They're apt to be pretty well armed. It wouldn't +pay very well to tackle one of 'em. She might turn and tackle us." + +"Well, Taber," said the captain, "we'll sheer away from her, of course, +but I won't run away very far, unless that there liner gets too nigh +us." + +"She won't," said Groot. "She's taking in sail now. We're too small +game for her to chase after." + +"We'll let out every inch of our own canvas, then," suddenly shouted +the captain. "I've an idea in my head. All hands prepare for action! +My notion is that that feller's right there on the lookout for us. By +this time every British captain has heard that we are cruisin' 'round. +'Bout ship! Cast loose that pivot-gun. We may have to try a shot with +it in less'n half an hour. Taber, go to the wheel. Men! I think +we're goin' to be waked up!" + +His further orders went out fast, and every man on board seemed to feel +as if a kind of relief had come. Day after day, most of the time in +bad weather, they had beaten along the Irish coasts, and then the +Scotch. The only important ships they had seen had been French or +British cruisers, or else merchantmen which were altogether too near an +armed protector. For fishing boats and mere coasters they had no +appetite. It had, therefore, been only dull business for overcrowded, +uncomfortable men, eager for adventures and prize-money. + +The sails went out, and as they caught the breeze the _Noank_ sprang +gayly forward. + +"That's it, sir," said Groot, lowering his glass. "She was hove to +when I first sighted her. She'll cross our course next tack, and there +isn't another keel anywhere near us." + +"That's our luck," said the captain. "I guess we can handle any +custom-house boat. I know what their armaments are, mostly. They're +all good runners, but they don't count on much resistance from +smugglers, and their guns are short-nosed." + +If he had been on board of the brig he was speaking of at that moment, +he might have changed his opinion a little. A revenue protector she +was, assuredly, and she was more than a mere cutter. She was well +manned, well armed. It looked, indeed, as if what might be her +ordinary ship's company had been reenforced, perhaps by a detail from a +man-of-war. Her commander was a regular navy lieutenant, and he was a +seamanlike old fellow. The four guns each broadside that she carried +were the long six-pound chasers that were then going into the new +revenue service vessels, and they were good pieces for their caliber. +She was a dangerous customer for the kind of antagonist she was +expected to meet. + +"Mr. Tracy," said a young officer on her quarter-deck to the gray +lieutenant, "what do you think of her, sir?" + +"My boy," replied his commander, "she's the chap we're here for. She +has just the style o' foremast and tops'l that Syme told us of. That's +the Yankee. I can't believe, though, that she's all he said she was. +The fellow was badly scared, you know." + +"We'll knock some splinters out of her, and take her in, then," laughed +the young man, jauntily. "You were right, sir, in coming this way. +The others missed her." + +"We won't do that," said Tracy. "All hands clear away for action! We +are going to take that American privateer!" + +"Ay, ay, sir!" came cheerily back, and the crew sprang away in genuine +British readiness for anything like a brush with an enemy. + +An ugly antagonist the _Arran_ was likely to be, and she was sure of +good handling. She was speedy, too, and the two vessels were all the +while nearing each other. It was to be noted, nevertheless, as Captain +Avery had said, that at the same time they were getting away out of +reach of the overpowerful ship of the line. + +"I'm going to strike first," he remarked, "and I mean to hit hard. +Ready, Up-na-tan! Williams, pull down that Norway bunting, and run up +the stars and stripes! We'll fight under our own flag to-day. I'll +cripple that fellow or take him. If I don't, we're bound for a British +prison, instead of Amsterdam." + +"That's so, sir," said Groot. "She's a pretty big bird for us, I'm +thinking." + +"Big or little, we'll fight her! Three cheers for the flag!" sang out +the captain. + +The three cheers were rousers, and the _Noank_ gained a point by it. +Lieutenant Tracy had been using his glass just then, and he angrily +roared out:-- + +"Fletcher, my boy! If they haven't challenged us! Give 'em a +broadside! Hurrah! They mean to show fight!" + +Good gunners were those mariners of the _Arran_. Well sent was that +broadside; and in a moment more Captain Avery was leaning over his port +bulwark, and was making a somewhat serious examination. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted in his turn. "So much for ice-fender timbers and +planking. Two shot struck fair and didn't go through. Up-na-tan, let +fly! Show 'em the difference!" + +The Manhattan did not obey at once. He was sighting, sighting, +sighting, for almost a minute, and the men at the broadside guns were +following his example. + +"Fire!" shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating +pause. + +[Illustration: THE FIGHT WITH THE ARRAN. "'Fire!' shouted the captain, +and even then there was an irritating pause."] + +"Ugh!" grunted the red man, at last. "Ole chief wait and see brig +bowsprit. Send shot behind it." + +The long eighteen spoke out, and was instantly followed by the three +sixes on that side of the _Noank_. It was at the very moment when +Lieutenant Tracy remarked, inquiringly:-- + +"What? Don't they mean to answer us? You don't say they'll surrender +without firing a shot? That isn't like 'em, now--" + +His next utterance was much louder. + +"George!" he shouted. "There goes my bowsprit! The jolly-boat's +knocked into matchwood! I declare! There's a hole in the mains'l! Is +anybody hurt?" + +"Not a man, sir!" shouted back Fletcher, cheerfully. "We'll give it to +'em!" + +The brig had been already going about, and her other broadside was as +well directed as the first. It would have been bad for the _Noank_ but +for her heavy timbers and the lightness of Tracy's metal. She was +hulled in three places, and there was a ragged split in her foresail. +It did not prevent her going about, however, and her next trio of iron +messengers were as well aimed as were the Englishman's. + +"They hulled us, sir," reported the _Arran's_ sailing-master. "No +great harm. Three men hurt by splinters. The after rigging's cut a +bit. We must finish that chap, sir." + +"That cursed long gun o' theirs!" growled Tracy, fiercely. "Captain +Syme told me, and I hardly believed him. That's what may play the +mischief with us. I wish we were at broadsides with her." + +That was precisely the advantage which Captain Avery did not intend to +give him, right away, and the _Arran_, losing her bowsprit, was not by +any means so difficult to keep away from or to outmanoeuvre. + +Slowly, carefully, Up-na-tan had again sighted his gun and measured his +distance. It was tantalizing to watch him as he doggedly refused to +throw away a shot. + +"Ugh! Whoo-oop!" he yelled, as his lanyard touched the priming of his +gun. "Now see! Ole chief take 'em aft!" + +"I wish he'd do as well for one end of her as he did for the other," +muttered the captain. + +"He's done it, sir!" exclaimed Guert, for he had borrowed the captain's +telescope. + +"That Indian's a gunner!" said Groot, with emphasis. "I never saw one +to beat him. I've seen pretty good marksmen, too." + +The peculiar accuracy of eye born in or acquired by the old red man was +a disastrous gift for the British revenue brig. Almost too far aft did +the shot hit her, but in it went, and all her rudder gear was useless +in a second of time. She could no longer answer her wheel, and began +to lurch about at the mercy of wind and wave. + +Fierce indeed were the execrations of her helpless officers and crew. +All their courage and seamanship were of no use, now. Their guns might +as well have been made of wood, and their jaunty brig had become as +clumsy and unmanageable as a raft. Moreover, the terrible American was +speeding nearer, and only a few minutes went by before there came a +loud-voiced demand for her surrender to the-- + +"United States armed cruiser _Noank_, Captain Lyme Avery." + +"His Britannic Majesty's brig _Arran_, Lieutenant Tracy. We surrender, +of course. You could sink us as we are now. All the luck's yours." + +"We'll come alongside," said Avery. + +"I wish I had a right to board him when he comes," growled Tracy, as +his flag came down. "There'd be some satisfaction in that." + +A few minutes later he had changed that opinion, for an unexpected +torrent of men poured over his bulwarks from the _Noank_. + +"'Pon my soul!" he exclaimed. "What a crew she has! They outnumber us +two to one. It's no disgrace at all!" + +All the British tars felt relieved in their minds after a good look at +their victors. The result of the fight was not to be a discredit to +them, they said, and the American sailors hailed them merrily. There +had been no killing on either side, and there was no cause for bad +temper. The best shots had decided the fight, and all true seamen +could accept the consequences. + +"Lieutenant Tracy," said Captain Avery, "we don't want your brig. +We'll take out of her all that suits us, and then you can drift around +till help gets to you. Or you can patch up and work your way into some +port or other." + +"I can manage it," said the Englishman, ruefully. "We captured a +French smuggler yesterday, and now a deal o' that luck is yours instead +of ours. You rebels are holding out wonderfully." + +"So is England," laughed Captain Avery. "You won't give up, and we +won't. I guess you'll have to, though, one o' these days." + +"Never!" said Tracy, sturdily. "All the colonies'll have to come back +under the king, sooner or later." + +"You wait and see," said the captain. + +The loyal-hearted lieutenant, however, had expressed no more than the +almost undoubting faith of the great body of his countrymen. They were +simply unable to believe that the Americans could succeed. + +Down into the hold of the _Arran_ had dashed the men of the _Noank_. +Tackle had been quickly rigged at the hatches. + +One of the commands given had related to a search for powder and shot, +and the entire supply of the brig was now coming up, to be transferred +to the schooner. It was a timely winning, for her stock had begun to +run low. + +"It's a good thing for us," said her captain and crew, as they secured +it. + +Anything and everything in the nature of arms and ammunition, +furniture, cutlery, table goods, bales of woollens, and packages of +silks taken from the French smuggler, more than a little tanned +leather, lots of miscellaneous stuff not yet precisely known as to its +character, made up the unexpectedly valuable plunder of the +smuggler-capturing brig. + +There was no time to transfer her cannon, and these were left behind, +spiked. Her spare sails went, however, with a good yawl-boat and some +extra light spars. Then the _Noank_ cast off, and her crew gave their +crestfallen British acquaintances three rounds of hearty cheers. + +"Captain Avery," shouted Tracy, "you're a good fellow, but Fletcher and +I hope we may meet you again, some day, with better luck to our guns." + +"All right!" responded the captain. "May you command a forty-four and +I another. Then the United States'll own one more prime ship that used +to be the king's. Hurrah!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +DOWN THE BRITISH CHANNEL. + +With the exception, it may be, of the Mediterranean Sea, there is no +other water whereupon so much history has been manufactured as on the +British Channel. + +Away back beyond Caesar's day and ever since, it has been cruised over +by all sorts of vessels and fleets. Its first absolute rulers were the +Norse-Saxon vikings. After them it has been Danish, Dutch, French, and +English. + +One of the later Dutch admirals once carried a broom at his masthead in +a boastful declaration that he had swept the Channel clean of every +opposing force. Not a great while afterward, the British sea-captains +fell heirs to the Hollander's broom. + +The _Noank_ had not lain long grappled to the disabled _Arran_. There +was danger in every hour of delay. The plunder obtained, although +valuable, was not excessively bulky, and was rapidly transferred and +stowed away. + +There was no apparent danger but that the brig would speedily receive +assistance, for there were other sails already in sight. Her first +disability, as to any of these, was that she was no longer able to fire +a signal-gun, and all her rockets and other explosives had been taken +away. Her officers and crew were left to do whatever they could with +flags in the daytime, or with lanterns by night. + +"We're off," thought Guert Ten Eyck, as the schooner swung away, all +her sails going out as she did so. "Captain Avery says he must capture +one more prize, if it's only to take off some of our men. Then we're +to streak it for home! Don't I want to get there?" + +The cruise of the _Noank_ had indeed become a long one. There were +several ship reasons why it would be good for her to go into dock and +be overhauled for repairs. Her crew, also, were more than willing to +see their homes and families. + +"My boy," said Groot, the Dutchman, as he came to sit down by his young +friend, "you go home. I have no home. I must live on the sea. The +land is not my place." + +"I'll be glad to get there," said Guert, "if it's my own land. Do you +know if we're to run into Amsterdam?" + +"Not if the captain is wise," replied Groot. "There will be too many +Englishmen looking after him, as soon as they hear of this affair." + +"Well, I guess they won't like it," laughed Guert. "Up-na-tan is +homesick." + +The red man was standing within a few feet of them, and he answered as +if he had been spoken to. + +"Ugh!" he said. "Ole chief want to know 'bout he island. Want see +Manhattan. Mebbe all lobster get away. Up-na-tan go see ole place. +Fish in Harlem River." + +That was what was the matter with him. Warrior he might be, sailor, +pirate, or privateersman, but at that moment he was dreaming of the +happiness of pulling in flounders and blackfish from the waters around +his island. + +Guert, on his part, was thinking of his mother. He wondered if she +still were living at the Avery farm-house, and if his prize-money had +been duly paid over to her to make her comfortable. + +"Now, every man hark!" said Captain Avery to his crew, when, a little +later, he had gathered them amidships. "We've a close race to run. If +this wind holds, we shall be in the Straits of Dover at about daylight +to-morrow morning. We are goin' to risk it and cut our way through. +Three cheers for home!" + +Vigorous, indeed, were the hurrahs that answered him, and on sped the +schooner. Her sails that were torn by the shot of the _Arran_ were +being replaced by new ones, and skilful sail tailors were busy with the +rents of the old. The damage to her bulwarks was of no importance and +not a shot had penetrated her sides. The American sailors were in fine +spirits, but not so were Lieutenant Tracy and the crew of the _Arran_. +Hardly two hours went by before his hoped-for succor came, but he +wished it had been a merchantman rather than a man-of-war. The sound +of the cannonading had been borne by the wind to the line-of-battle +ship. She had sailed toward it, as a matter of course, and here, now, +was one of the boats at the _Arran's_ side. On her deck was the +seventy-four's first lieutenant, so hot with wrath that he could hardly +listen to poor Tracy's report, while he himself rapidly inspected the +damages done by Up-na-tan's well-sent iron. + +"Help yourself?" he exclaimed. "Why, they made a log of your brig! +What's the world coming to? They're prime gunners, my boy. We must +make out to sink that rascal. I don't know exactly what to do with +your craft." + +He did know, nevertheless. Temporary steering-gear was fitting on her +as rapidly as might be, and the pumps were going, for the _Arran_ was +leaking badly at the stern. + +"Tracy, my boy," said the lieutenant, "get her into any port the +wind'll help you to. We're away after that saucy privateer." + +So surely and so powerfully would the fugitive be followed, not to +speak of any perils which might be hovering around the pathway before +her. The commander of the line-of-battle ship knew something +concerning at least a part of these. He listened to the report of his +first officer, on his return, angrily yet coolly, and he replied:-- + +"All right, Hobson. Tracy isn't to be blamed, I see. As for the +pirate, we'll chase her, but she's a lost dog already. The whole +Channel fleet is under orders to gather at Dover Straits. She is +running right in among 'em. She'll be overhauled before eight bells +to-morrow." + +"Those Yankees are slippery chaps, sir," said the lieutenant, shaking +his head. + +The hours went swiftly by, and Captain Avery remained on deck, pacing +thoughtfully to and fro. Midnight went by and still the wind held +good. It was a strong, northerly breeze, upon which he could have +asked for no improvement. + +"Lights! Lights! Lights!" he was at last repeating, as he looked +ahead. "There's a reg'lar fleet of some sort. Our lanterns are all +right, I'd say, 'cordin' to the signal-book. Bad for us, though. All +those are British men-o'-war, not merchantmen. Port there, Taber; I +must be ready to speak this feller that's nearest. Groot, you and +Guert go to the rail. Up-na-tan, you and Coco must help. They mustn't +hear any English. Both of you can talk Dutch. Some of us'll chatter +French and Spanish." + +There were, however, on board that man-of-war, men who could understand +Dutch. One of them was an officer who came to the rail to converse +with Groot, after hails had been exchanged. + +"_Magdalen_, of Rotterdam?" he said. "Tell those monkeys to shut up +their jabber, there, so I can hear! From Copenhagen last? You spoke +the line-o'-battle ship _Humber_, coming this way? Did you hear +anything of that American privateer?" + +Dutch and French again broke out upon the supposed _Magdalen_, and the +Englishman shouted back toward his own quarter-deck:-- + +"Hurrah! The _Humber_ reports the Yankee cruiser sunk by the revenue +cutter _Arran_, Lieutenant Tracy. Hurrah for him! Hard fight! The +Yankees fought to the last. Nearly a hundred prisoners. Heave ahead, +_Magdalen_! Good news!" + +Loud Dutch shouts replied to him, and on went the _Noank_, while the +other vessels of the British Channel fleet received the welcome tidings +as it was passed along from ship to ship. Therefore there was no +longer any need that they should be on the watch for the impudent, +destructive adventurer from the other side of the Atlantic. She had +gone to the bottom! + +"I feel kind o' queer," thought Guert. "I couldn't ha' done it myself. +I had to let Groot do the lying. I'm afraid I'll never do for war. I +don't mind a fight, out and out, but somehow I can't help speaking the +truth, Dutch or English." + +Up-na-tan, on the other hand, was in great good-humor over the very +Indian-like manner in which the British were being defeated. The Dover +gathering of their war-ships was to him a kind of ambush through which +he and his friends were cunningly crawling by hiding their feathers and +war-paint. + +They were not exactly crawling, either, for Captain Avery was calling +upon his schooner for all the speed she had. + +"We mustn't lose an inch!" he said. "Their best racers'll be comin' on +in our wake in less'n an hour, maybe. I wish this night'd last all day +to-morrow." + +The next morning had not arrived, indeed, when the _Humber_ herself +came within hail of one of her Dover assembly friends. Then, shortly, +there arose a more noisy jabber in English than had been heard in Dutch +and French on the _Noank_, for the genuine news had been told in place +of Hans Groot's invention. The actual outcome of the fight between the +_Noank_ and the _Arran_ did not call for any enthusiastic cheering. +Only a little later, the admiral commanding the fleet summed up the +whole affair. + +"Gentlemen," he said, to a number of glum-looking officers, "we have +passed that American pirate right along through this fleet. I think +we've a right to go ashore, somewhere, and sit down. It was cleverly +done, though, 'pon my soul! Captain Coverley, select our three best +chasers to follow her. She mustn't be allowed to get away again!" + +Each of the three vessels named was three or four times over a match +for the _Noank_, and her chances did appear to be unpleasantly small. + +"There's jest one thing they won't count on our doin'," had been the +decision of Captain Avery. "We must put right out into the Atlantic, +aimed at nowhere. If it would only blow a gale, now!" + +He was not to be gratified in that particular during the pleasant +autumn day that followed. Lighter became the wind, brighter the sky, +and stiller the sea. + +"It's a schooner wind, Lyme," said his old friend Taber, now the second +mate of the _Noank_. "It gives us our best paces. We've run past +every keel that was on the same tack, thus far. It isn't really bad +luck." + +"I hope it isn't," the captain gloomily responded. "But this 'ere sea +is a boat sea. They might come for us with a rigiment of their boats, +you know. It's a good thing for us that there isn't a man-o'-war in +sight, yet. I a'most feel as if there was blood on every mile we're +makin'!" + +He was even low spirited. It seemed to him impossible that so long a +run of what seamen call good luck could be stretched out much further. +The sailors, on the other hand, were taking a different view of the +matter, very much more sensibly. Every man of them may have had a +superstitious belief in "luck," but they had also seen, in each +successive emergency, that they had a captain with a long head, and +that he knew exactly what to do with that schooner. They were in good +spirits, therefore, that sunny day. Perhaps they did not know all the +reasons he had for now and then shaking his head. + +"There's no port for us, hereaway," he thought. "I don't know of one +that it would be safe for us to look into. It's a long v'yage home. +We're a good deal overcrowded. There's worse'n that to think of, +though. That feller Tracy told me our folks at home are gettin' ready +to give it up. He said we are beaten badly, all around. I may find a +British garrison in New London, when I get there. One in Boston, too. +Then my chance for a rope 'round my neck is a sure one. Things look +black, and no mistake!" + +He should have been at his home that day instead of at sea. All over +New England, all over the other colonies, north and south, as far as +the news had been carried; from town to town, from village to village, +and from farm to farm, horsemen were riding, men and boys on foot were +running to tell of the surrender of Burgoyne. The great British +invasion and conquest of the northern half of the American rebellion +had broken down. The Six Nations had scattered to their wigwams and +council-fires. It would be many days yet before the tidings could +reach England or cross the Channel to astonish Continental Europe and +seal the alliance between the United States and France. It would be +longer still before it could be known by roving cruisers out at sea. +For all American keels, however, their home ports had been made secure +from British assailing until the generals and admirals of King George +should have time given them to consider the Saratoga affair, and make +up their astonished minds as to what it might be best for them to +undertake next. + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, "thee wicked rebel! Has thee +no feelings for thy good king and his wise counsellors? Cannot thee +understand that their souls may be much disturbed by this untoward +event?" + +"I wish their fleets were as badly whipped as Burgoyne's army is," +replied Mrs. Ten Eyck. "Oh! it is so very long since I've heard from +Guert!" + +"Trust thy son with thy God!" said Rachel, reverently. "Thee may think +of this, Anneke: our victory over Burgoyne hath cost much to hundreds +of mothers, as loving as thou art. Their sons lie buried at Stillwater +and Saratoga. No gallant ship will bring them home again." + +"I know it! I know it!" sobbed Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They gave their lives +for liberty. Guert may have to give his as Nathan Hale did. He told +me he believed he could die as bravely, only he would rather it should +be in battle." + +"That he may not choose for himself," said Rachel. "It hath come, +heretofore, to many of my own people, Quakers, thou callest them, to +die by the fire, and by the water, and by the hempen cord, because they +would not give up their freedom to worship God in their own way. I +think it was well with them. Let thy son die as it shall be given him +in the hour of his appointing." + +Deep and solemn had grown the tones of the enthusiastic old Friend, but +Mrs. Ten Eyck dropped her knitting and went to a window to look out +long and wistfully toward the harbor. + +"When will he come sailing in?" she thought. "Am I ever to see him +again? Oh! the war is so long, and the sea is so wide, and I love him +so!" + +Very beautiful and very long-suffering was the patriotism of the +American woman of that day. Bitter indeed was the cup that many of +them had to drink. Costly as life itself were the sacrifices that they +were called upon to make. Well might such a son as Guert, keeping his +watch on deck at the end of that long, pleasant day, be thinking only +of his mother, rather than of the dangers that surrounded the _Noank_. +Groot, the pirate, came and sat down by him and asked him curious +questions concerning the way people lived in America. + +"I can't get back to our old farm on Manhattan Island," Guert told him, +"until Washington's army marches in again. Up-na-tan and Coco came +away with me when we were beaten." + +Groot asked then about the New York battles and about New London. + +"I always believed," he said, "that I must always live on the sea, but +I've been thinking. I can never be safe afloat. I sail with a rope +around my neck, although I was never a pirate of my own free will. It +is growing in my mind that I had better find some kind of harbor on +shore. I shall have prize-money this time. I can make a start at +something. I believe I could go away back into one of your states and +live a new life." + +"That's it," said Guert. "You could go among the Mohawk Valley +Dutchmen, if Manhattan Island is too near the sea. You'd be hidden +there, safe enough. Nobody would ever come for you." + +"I'll think of it," said Groot. "No man knows how long he is going to +live, anyhow." + +So there was rejoicing, with mourning also, and anxiety, upon the land, +and it was a time for serious thinking on the sea; but at this moment +the forward lookout startled all on board by the vigorous voice with +which he sang out:-- + +"Sail ahead! Close on the larboard bow! Big three-master! No light +showing!" + +"All hands away!" roared Captain Avery. "Port your helm, there! Men! +If it's an armed ship, it's too late to get away. We must grapple and +board her, for life and death. Get the grapplings ready! Ship ahoy!" + +The response was the report of a shotted gun and an angry shout:-- + +"We know you! Keep away, or we'll sink you! We can do it!" + +"British trader," thought Captain Avery. "He's told us all we need to +know. He's a strong one, I guess, and he could maul us badly. Our +only chance is to close with him." Then he shouted to his crew:-- + +"Pikes and cutlasses! All hands be ready to follow me! Hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" came wildly back, and the three guns of the schooner's +broadside, with the long eighteen, answered the stranger's challenge. + +They were well enough directed, and so was the reply that came from +half a dozen English pieces, but these, quite naturally at so short a +range, were aimed too high. Down came both of the topmasts of the +_Noank_, while her hull and ship's company were unhurt. She was a +crippled craft in a moment, but she still had enough of headway to +carry her alongside of her bulky antagonist before her guns could be +reloaded. + +"Throw the grapnels!" shouted Captain Avery. "Haul, now! All aboard! +Fore and aft, and amidships! Give it to 'em!" + +Down he went the next instant, flat upon the deck of the English ship, +as he sprang over her bulwark. Down at his side fell the British +sailor by whose cutlass he had fallen, and over both of them sprang +Guert Ten Eyck with Up-na-tan and Coco reaching out to hold him back +and get in before him. + +"I hit him!" shouted Guert, fiercely. + +"Forward! Down with 'em! The ship is ours!" + +Right here, amidships, the English crew had supposed to be the strength +of their assailants and they had rushed desperately to meet it. They +had not heard, however, the last command of Captain Avery, and his fore +and aft boarding parties went over almost unopposed. + +"We are surrounded!" exclaimed the British captain, "They are four to +one! Hold hands, Americans! We surrender!" + +It was time for him to do so, for fully a third of his crew were +already down. They had been completely surprised as well as +outnumbered. + +"Ugh!" exclaimed Up-na-tan, as he lowered his pike and turned suddenly +toward Guert. "Boy hurt?" + +"Coco catch him!" said the old black man, eagerly, as Guert sank upon +the deck. "Saw lobster cut him!" + +"Never mind me!" yelled Guert. "See how Captain Avery is! Look at the +cut in his head!" + +"Wors'n that!" came hoarsely from first mate Morgan, as he bent above +the fallen captain. "Taber, take charge of all for a moment! Lyme +Avery is dead! Shot through the heart! Send the prisoners below. +Look out for the wounded. All hands clear ship! Both ships! Make +sail at once! I'm in command of the _Noank_. Taber'll take this one." + +The second mate was a Groton man, a grim old salt who had sailed in +many seas. He was a good man to lean on in such an emergency, and he +rattled out his orders while the men secured the prisoners. Morgan +slowly stood erect as the English commander came toward him. + +"You are the American captain, sir? I know what your ship is. Mine is +the _Lynx_, British privateer, Captain Ellis. We were on the lookout +for you, or we thought we were." + +"I'm Captain Morgan, now Lyme Avery is dead," was the somewhat sadly +spoken reply. "How is it that you're so short-handed?" + +"We had only forty able men left, all told," said Ellis. "Thirteen +more sick or wounded. All the rest away in prizes or taken out of us +by the reg'lar men-o'-war. The prizes and the press-gangs turned us +over to you, sir. We took a Baltimore lugger, a bark from +Philadelphia, two schooners from Boston, and one from Providence. We'd +done right well, so far. You must ha' made a prime run, yourself." + +He was evidently a privateersman all over, and his view of the matter +was that he had only met with a disaster in the regular line of his +business. + +Morgan's thoughts were running in another direction. + +"Your armament's heavier than ours," he said, after a sharp survey. +"Lyme was right, poor fellow! Our only chance was to board." + +"Perhaps it was," said Ellis. "We've two nines and three sixes on a +side. Our pivot-gun's gearing broke, and she's no good. Thirty-two, +though. The _Lynx_ is an old Indiaman. She's a little heavy, but +she's a good sailer. We cut up your spars a little?" + +The sailors of the _Noank_ were already examining her damages. Three +more of her crew had been killed and two wounded in the short, sharp +fight. Six Englishmen killed and seven more hurt out of forty told how +severely the odds had been against them. + +During the first few moments of noise and confusion, while the other +sailors were rushing hither and thither upon their very pressing +duties, Up-na-tan and Coco had been kneeling by Guert. + +A pike-thrust in his right thigh, a slight sword-cut on his left +shoulder, a bruise upon his head, told for him that he had been in the +very front of the fray. + +"Both cut cure up quick," said Up-na-tan, as he bandaged the wounds. +"Boy no die. Ole chief glad o' that. Take him home to ole woman." + +From the Ashantee came nothing but an apparently gratified chuckle. + +Their first work was to get him back upon the _Noank_ and into a bunk +in Captain Avery's cabin, by Morgan's especial direction. All the +other wounded, on both sides, were well cared for. Then there was a +short, sorrowful hour given to sea funerals, and all the dead were +buried in the ocean. + +Mate Taber, with more than half of the _Noank's_ company, was put in +charge of the _Lynx_. All of the prisoners, also, were left in her. + +"Homeward bound, Taber," shouted Captain Morgan, as the ships parted +from their too close companionship. "Take your own course to New +London. The main thing is to get in." + +"Ay, ay!" called back the old Groton sailor. "We'll get there. We'd +best keep within signal distance as long as we can, but the schooner's +riggin' needs repairs, and ours doesn't." + +"All right," said Morgan. "Keep company!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE SPENT SHOT. + +The first few hours after a sea-fight are apt to have a great deal in +them. There was not a moment of time wasted on board the _Noank_, for +the spare spars taken from the _Arran_ were just the right things to be +sent up in place of the sticks which had been shattered by the fire of +the _Lynx_. Not until they should be in place could the swift schooner +show her paces, and they had been going up even while the ocean burials +were attended to. + +"This is awful news to carry home to poor Mrs. Avery," groaned Guert, +as he lay in his bunk. "I don't care much for my hurts, but I wish I +could be on deck. I'm almost glad I'm wounded. I know how Nathan Hale +would feel about it. He'd say it was little enough for a fellow to +suffer for his country and for liberty. I'll never forget him." + +Away off there on the ocean, therefore, in a schooner bunk, in the +dark, the memory of America's hero was doing its beautiful work, as it +has been doing ever since, a bright example set, as a star that will +not go down. + +Many hands make light work, and the spars were all right by the next +sunrise. There was only one sail in sight when Captain Morgan came on +deck from a visit below to all his wounded men. + +"That's the _Lynx_," he thought. "We must get within hail of her and +find out how Taber's gettin' on. I don't even know what her cargo is. +The way Lyme Avery carried her's a wonder!" + +So Captain Taber was thinking at that very hour, as he went from gun to +gun of the old Indiaman's batteries. + +"All she wanted was men," he said, "and she'd ha' beaten us, easy. We +must have that thirty-two pounder pivot-gun in order, first thing. +I'll make a strong cruiser of her. I've a gang overhaulin' the cargo. +It promises well, and there's more'n thirty thousand dollars in +cash.--Oh! but ain't I sick about Lyme! Best kind o' feller! Best +neighbor! Best sailor, too. He and I sailed three long v'yages +together, and we never had an ill word on sea or land." + +Every other man of the dead captain's crew was saying or thinking +something of the sort, and it was a blue time in spite of the victory. +The excitement was all over now, and even the most reckless could +calculate somewhat the dangers which still remained between them and +home. + +Captain Ellis himself came up to the deck of the ship which he had +ceased to command, for there was no reason for confining him below. He +found that more than half his crew had volunteered to do ordinary +ship-duty, at regular pay, rather than be shut up under hatches. The +remainder, however, were stubborn Britons, and refused to handle so +much as a rope under a rebel flag. + +"They can't do us any harm," Captain Taber had said of the volunteers. +"I'll trust 'em. Besides, every man of 'em's Irish, and there's mighty +little love o' King George that side o' the Channel." + +At all events, all of these sailor sons of Erin went to their messes +cheerfully that morning. + +"Captain Taber," said Ellis, when they came together, "I never saw +anything like it! Look, yonder! Your schooner's refitted! She's as +taut and trim as ever!" + +"She has half a dozen good ship carpenters on board," laughed Taber. +"They could build her over again. Our shipyards are goin' to bring out +some new p'ints on ship-buildin'." + +"I wish they would," said Ellis. "Our shipwrights are half asleep. Do +you s'pose you can repair that pivot-gun? We hadn't a smith worth his +salt." + +"She'll swing like new, before long," said Taber. "The man that's +filing away at her could invent a better gearing than that is. He +could make a watch." + +Right there was one important difference, then and afterward, between +American sailors and European. It was a difference which was to be +illustrated on land as well, in the records of the Patent Office at +Washington, and in the wonderful development of all imaginable +varieties of mechanism. + +"There she comes, the beauty!" was Taber's next remark, as the _Noank_ +neared them. "She can outsail anything of her size that I know of." + +"She must keep out o' the way of heavy cruisers, though," said Ellis, a +little savagely. "I'd ha' beat her, myself, if I hadn't been caught +weak as I was." + +A hail from Captain Morgan prevented Taber from answering, and in a +minute more the two American crews were cheering each other lustily. + +"What cargo do you find?" asked Morgan through his trumpet, after he +had learned that all else was well. + +"All sorts!" responded Taber. "Picked up from prizes. Plenty o' +water, provisions, ammunition. I can't guess where they pulled in some +o' the stuff. Woollen cloths, and crockery crates, and tobacco. It +looks as if they'd taken some Hamburg trader for an American. You +can't say what a privateer'll do, well away at sea." + +Ellis heard, and there came a queer, half-anxious grin upon his deeply +lined, hardened face. He did not, in fact, look like a man who would +hesitate long over any small moral questions of mere flags and +ownerships. He was a privateersman in preference to any other +occupation, without need for the patriotic spirit which was sending +into it the seafaring veterans of America. + +"All right!" was the hearty reply from the _Noank_. "Now, Taber, we +must keep company if we can for two or three days, at least. Our two +batteries, worked together, 'd be an over match for any o' the lighter +king's cruisers. We could knock one o' their ten-gun brigs all to +flinders." + +"I a'most hope we'll come across one," said Taber, "soon as that there +thirty-two yonder'll swing on its pivot." + +Two armed vessels may not make what is called a "squadron." Captain +Morgan, therefore, had not suddenly risen from the rank of first mate +to that of commodore, but both the old East Indiaman and the schooner +were undoubtedly safer because of their ability and readiness to help +each other. + +Captain Taber's cruiser, when he came to examine her, was a curious +affair, according to later ideas of ship-building. She had been +constructed solidly, and had a large carrying capacity. Her sides +"tumbled home," or slanted inward, nobody knows what for. Her stern +was very high, as if a kind of fort were needed, rising to hold up her +quarter-deck. In this, on either side, were her nine-pounders, and it +might account for their shot flying above the _Noank's_ hull. She was +lower in the waist, and she piled up again, forward. Her tops were +cups like those of a man-of-war, and might hold sharp-shooters in a +close fight. It is the rule to laugh, at that old style of naval +architecture, but when the _Lynx_ had been the _Burrumpootra_ she had +battled well with the terrible gales and seas of the Indian Ocean, and +there were legends of the way in which she had beaten off Chinese and +Malay pirates. There were not only good ships but good seamen as well +in the old-fashioned days, and all the world was discovered and opened +by them to commerce and civilization. + +Up-na-tan considered himself the surgeon of the _Noank_, and he was a +good one, so far as cuts and bruises were concerned. He and Coco held +consultations over Guert, and there was no danger but what he would be +well attended to. He was a general favorite with the sailors, and +their opinion of him had been lifted tremendously by his conduct at the +taking of the _Lynx_. They all declared that he had in him the making +of a good sea-captain,--as good, it might possibly be, as Lyme Avery +himself, although that was a great deal to say. + +That day went by, and the next, and the next, and all in vain did +either Captain Ellis or his captors scan the horizon for any speck that +looked like war. There were distant sails, truly, but this pair of +privateers was inclined to let well enough alone. The fourth day found +them well away upon the Atlantic before a ten-knot breeze, slipping +along finely, with all the wounded doing well. Guert's pike-thrust in +the leg was his worst hurt. It caused him much pain at intervals, and +a great deal of fever. The cutlass blow at his shoulder had been +broken of its force by the handle of his pike. The wooden shaft had +been cut in two as he parried with it, while drawing it back from his +successful thrust at Captain Avery's antagonist. The English swordsman +had been a strong one, for his blade went on down to make a gash which +might be slow in healing. It would probably have been a death stroke +but for the tough pikestaff. + +"You'll be out on deck, my boy, in a week or two," he had been told by +Captain Morgan, "and you're lucky it's no worse." + +There was no use in fretting over it. He could lie there and dream of +old times in New York, and of ships and fleets and armies. There was +no book on board for him to read, however, unless he should wish to +take up his study of navigation. There he was lying in the afternoon +of the fourth day, not tossing around much, for fear of hurting his +wounded leg or shoulder. He was feeling lonely, sick, impatient, +discontented. + +"Hullo!" he suddenly exclaimed. "What's that? Are we in a fight? I +want to go on deck!--There! I guess that was pretty nearly a spent +shot!" + +It was too bad, altogether. Right through the port-hole window of the +cabin had passed a round shot from so far away, apparently, that it +hardly shattered the door-post upon which it then struck. It had been +well aimed, it had hit the schooner, but it had not done any harm. + +"There goes Up-na-tan's gun," said Guert, the next instant. "I don't +hear the broadside guns. I guess that other firing is from the _Lynx_. +She was close by us, they said. This is awful!" + +He could now hear the distant, dull roar of other guns, and he said:-- + +"That's the British! It sounds as if we were fighting a man-of-war. +Can it be we are going to be captured by 'em this time?" + +He might well be nervous about it, but his guesses and fears were only +about halfway correct. Not many minutes earlier, the _Noank_ and the +_Lynx_ had drawn toward each other, into long hailing distance, for a +sort of council of war. Questions and answers had gone hurriedly back +and forth, until Captain Morgan had shouted:-- + +"We'll take her, Taber. We can spare men enough for one more prize +crew. She's a big one." + +So she was, that tall three-master, floating the British flag, and she +was evidently not a frigate of King George. Most likely, they said, +she was a supply ship on her way to his armies in his rebellious +colonies. + +About went the two eager privateers, and there seemed to be no reason +to doubt their ability to outsail and outfight their victim. She was +carrying a cargo so full and heavy that it pulled her down, and she was +logging along clumsily. Both of the American vessels were flying the +stars and stripes. The _Lynx_ was somewhat nearer to the Englishman, +and Captain Taber deemed it time to fire a shot across her bows as a +signal to heave to. + +The sound of that first gun was what had really awakened Guert, but he +had not at once understood it. Captain Morgan was on the point of +following Captain Taber's example, when the big, peaceful-seeming +British ship swung around a few points, and a lot of hitherto closed +ports along her side sprang open. Every one of these ports had an +ugly, metallic nose in it, and from each of these jumped a sheet of +fire, followed by thunder. At the same moment a band of brass music on +the after deck began to play "God save the King," while a long +procession of men in red uniforms streamed up from below to join a lot +of others like them who were already on deck. + +"Eight ports!" exclaimed Captain Morgan, staring through his glass. +"She may carry more guns than that! She's a British merchant ship of +the largest size, turned into a troop-ship, and armed, I'd say, with +long twelves. Thunder! We haven't anything to do with her! Starboard +your helm, there! I'll signal Taber to keep away." + +There was no need of that at all. The first heavy broadside of the +stranger had hurtled toward the _Lynx_, and several of the half-spent +shot had struck her. Her commander had taken warning instantly, and +was already wheeling away, so to speak, when the second British +broadside went so dangerously well toward the _Noank_. + +"One such dose is just as good as two," remarked Captain Morgan. "I'm +glad Taber has good sense. We don't want to be crippled jest now. We +can't afford to risk a stick. We'll get away out o' range, quickest +kind!" + +So he did, and so did Taber. But they would by no means have done so +if it had not been for a reason that was getting an explanation in the +furiously angry exclamations of the British sailor in command of that +pugnacious troop-ship. He had rapidly grown red in the face, and now +he seemed ready to burst. + +"Lost 'em! Missed 'em!" he roared, as he stamped up and down the deck. +"I had 'em both trapped! I let 'em come near enough before I fired a +gun. I'd ha' sunk 'em or sent 'em in. It's the fault o' that rascally +thief at the navy-yard. He supplied us with that worthless, condemned +contract powder. It won't pitch a shot worth tuppence. He ought to be +hung! I'll report him!" + +The mystery of so many cannon-shot being practically spent at a fair +practice distance was completely explained. No doubt he was wrong in +declaring that his ammunition was no better than so much sea-sand, but +it was not the stuff to send twelve-pound balls of iron through oak or +teak bulwarks, and his cunning trap to catch the two American +privateers was a lamentable failure. + +It was an hour of their best running before these were again within +hail of each other. Then their two commanders held a brief +speaking-trumpet conversation, congratulating each other upon having +gotten out of so serious a scrape without injury. + +"Morgan," said Taber, at last, "the far northerly course, if it suits +you. I think we'd better shape it as if we were bound for Halifax, and +keep well away from every sail we sight." + +"That'll do," replied Morgan. "That there Nova Scotia garrison needs +supplies, you know. We're jest the boats to bring 'em all they want. +If we come up with another supply ship, though, and if she hasn't quite +so many guns, we may persuade her to go as far as Boston with us." + +"No, sir! I'd say not!" called back Taber. "I feel uneasy 'bout +Boston jest now. I'd ruther not try any home port but New London, and +we'd better make our run in there by night." + +"All right!" said Captain Morgan. "Home it is! Heave ahead!" + +Guert Ten Eyck, in his bunk, received from his friends a full account +of that day's curious adventure. The port of his cabin was quickly +mended, and he could once more lie quiet and wait for his own mending. +On deck there was especial matter for general discussion arising from +the fact that all had seen a troop-ship. + +"More soldiers to conquer America," they said. "It looks bad for us. +The king is sending over British and Hessians, army after army. They +are all well armed, well clothed, well fed, and there are more to +follow. What can our own used up, half-armed, half-starved, badly +beaten Continentals do against such awful odds? The truth is, we may +not find a safe port to run into." + +"They can't have taken everything so soon as this," was the conclusion +of Captain Morgan. "We'll feel our way in, when we get there. If all +things have gone wrong we can sail away somewhere, or we can beach the +ships and burn 'em, and take to the woods." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +ANCHORED IN THE HARBOR. + +There came a very black night toward the beginning of winter in the +year 1777. A light wind blew in from the sea, carrying an unpleasant, +chilly feeling among the people of the town of New London. They had +previously been somewhat uncomfortable, for, during several days, there +had been British men-of-war hovering along the coast. None of these +had ventured in far enough to exchange shots with the forts, but there +was a rumor, nobody knew where from, that the British had determined to +seize the port and put an end to its notable services to the cause of +American independence. The harbor forts were believed by their +commanders to be in good fighting condition, and their garrisons at +once received small reinforcements. The thing most to be feared, it +was said, was the landing of a strong body of troops, for in that case +the town itself would be assailed, as well as the forts. + +In short, military men foresaw and predicted precisely such an attack +as was so destructively made at a later date by the king's forces under +Arnold. + +Very dark was the night. Wakeful and watchful were the sentinels and +guards at every battery. Moreover, boats were out, silently patrolling +hither and thither, ready to run in and report whatever signs of danger +they might discover. The sea-scouts could not be everywhere, however, +nor could they see everything. Somehow or other, an exceedingly +important arrival passed by them all in the darkness. + +A little before midnight a solitary musket shot rang out at the seaward +bastion of Fort Griswold, and the officer of the guard, with a party of +soldiers, hurried to the spot to ascertain its meaning. + +"Officer of the guard," responded the sentry to the formal hail, "two +American lights, seaward. Flash, flash, and cover. There they are +again." + +One of the soldiers was an old sailor, and he exclaimed:-- + +"Captain Havens, jest let me watch that there signal a minute." + +"Watch!" said the captain. + +Again the seaward flashes came, as if they were asking questions. + +"What is it--" + +"Captain Havens!" shouted the old whaling man, excitedly. "That there +was Lyme Avery's private signal. The _Noank_ has come home! The other +light was Joe Taber's, I guess. I've whaled it with both of 'em." + +"Hurrah!" burst from the captain. "Signal back, if you know how." + +"Shall we fire a gun, sir?" asked an artilleryman. + +"No," said the captain; "we won't stir up the town. And we won't send +any information to the British cruisers, either. See Hadden work his +lantern." + +The sailor was swinging the lantern given him,--this way, that way, up +and down, and he was speedily replied to from the sea. + +"Two craft comin' in together," he explained. "I guess it's the +_Noank_ and a prize." + +"I'll send word to Colonel Ledyard," said Captain Havens. "Hadden, you +and four men come with me. I must go out and meet 'em with a boat. +Lieutenant Brandagee, you may tell the colonel I will anchor the ships +in the harbor mouth, so that their guns may support our batteries, if +the British try to run in to-morrow." + +Every gun would count in such a case, it was true, but half an hour +later, on the deck of the _Noank_, he was told by Captain Morgan:-- + +"No, sir! Their boats would be too much for us, so far out as that. +We'll run farther in and lie still till morning. After daylight our +guns'll be good for something, I can tell you. Ledyard'll say I'm +right." + +"Take your own course," said the captain, "only be ready if they come. +Now, that's settled.--Morgan! This is bad news about Lyme Avery. I +don't want to be the man to tell his wife." + +"No more do I," said Morgan. "Taber says he'd a'most as soon be shot. +Don't I wish, though, that Lyme was alive, to hear of the surrender of +Burgoyne's army. It makes me feel better'n I did. We hardly felt safe +'bout comin' in at all. For all we knew, we might be sailin' into a +British port and under the king's guns." + +"It hasn't quite come to that yet," said Captain Havens. "I can tell +you, though, the country's wider awake than it ever was before. Have +you heard about Sam Prentice and Vine Avery? They got in long ago. So +did your other prizes. What did you say this one with you is?" + +"It's a long story," said Morgan. "Joe Taber's captain of her. He +knows more 'bout her than I do. She was a British privateer. Lyme +Avery was killed when we took her. Now!--My head's in a kind of whirl. +Havens, I'm thinkin' of Lyme one minute, and the next I'm thinkin' of +Burgoyne and the way he was defeated. Jest you hold on with any more +questions till some time to-morrow. The first thing for Taber and me +is to get farther in." + +There might be little time to spare, indeed, if a British +line-of-battle ship and three frigates were in the offing, drawing on +toward cannon range of them. Therefore the _Noank_ and the _Lynx_ +stood slowly in, feeling their way, and as yet their presence was known +only to a few boatmen and the garrison of Fort Griswold. Colonel +Ledyard himself had settled one question. + +"No," he said, "we will wait. The good news and the bad news will keep +till morning. Let Mrs. Avery sleep--don't wake her. It'll be hard +enough for her.--I thought a great deal of Lyme Avery!" + +So the little that was left of the night waned away, and all New London +remained in ignorance of any important arrival. As the sun arose, +however, a gun rang out from Fort Griswold, and all who were awake +sprang up to listen. + +A minute passed, while hundreds were hastily dressing, and then another +gun sounded. One full minute more, for there were those who counted, +and the third gun began to make the firing understood. + +"Minute-guns! The British are coming!" shouted more than one hasty +listener. "Every man to the forts! Our time's come!" + +Many were the conjectures and exclamations, but the first men to reach +the water front sent back word that not a British sail was in sight. +More than that was sent, however, for a hasty messenger ran on to the +Avery house and knocked at the door. It was opened instantly by Vine +Avery himself. + +"What is it?" he asked. + +"The _Noank_!" was half whispered. "A large prize ship is with her. +Don't say a word about it to your mother." + +"Why not?" said Vine. + +"Well!" replied the messenger. "It's this way. There are minute-guns +at the fort and both of the flags of those ships are at half mast. +There are boats pulling from 'em to the shore now. Come on!" + +Vine stood still for a moment, hesitating. Then he turned and shouted +back into the house:-- + +"Mother! The _Noank_! I'll go on down to the wharf. I'll let you +know." + +"Lyme! Lyme is home again!" she said. "Vine--" + +She was darting forward without waiting for hood or wrap, but other +ears besides Vine's had heard the messenger, and a firm hand was laid +quietly upon Mrs. Avery's shoulder. + +"My beloved friend," said Rachel Tarns, "hold thee still for a moment. +I have a word for thee." + +"What is it, Rachel?" + +"Rachel Tarns," broke in the excited voice of Mrs. Ten Eyck, "did he +say the _Noank_ is here?" + +"Yea," replied Rachel, "and I say to both of you women that she hath +her flag at half mast, and that from her deck hath some one gone home +indeed. It may be that many of those who sailed away in her are not +here to be welcomed. Be you both strong and very courageous, +therefore, for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. I will go along +with you, and so will He. Be ye brave this day!" + +So the strong, good, loving Quaker woman helped her friends, but hardly +another word was spoken as they walked hurriedly along down the road +toward the wharves. + +"I do not see him!" murmured Mrs. Avery. "He would surely be coming to +meet me." + +"Anneke Ten Eyck," said Rachel, "be thou a glad woman! Look! Yonder +comes thy son!" + +"And not Lyme?" gasped Mrs. Avery. + +"On crutches!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, as she sprang forward. "I +don't care! O Guert! Guert! Thank God!" + +If anything else, any other word than "Mother!" was uttered during the +next few moments, nobody heard it. + +Mrs. Avery was trying to speak and could not, and it was Rachel Tarns +who came to her assistance. + +"Guert," she said, "thee brave boy! Thee is wounded? It is well. We +are glad thou art here. Tell Mary Avery of her husband--at once! Is +he with thee and her, or is he with his Father in Heaven?" + +"Mother," whispered Guert, "I can't! You tell her. He was killed when +we boarded the British privateer. I did all I could to save him. +That's where I was cut down--" + +Low as had been his whispering, there was no need for his mother to +tell Mrs. Avery. + +"Don't speak!" she said. "I'm going back to the house! He fell in +battle!" + +Around she turned, catching her breath in a great sob, and Rachel and +Vine turned to go with her, putting their arms around her. Guert and +his mother lingered as if it were needful for them to stand still and +look into each other's faces. She glanced down, too, at his crutches, +and he answered her silent question smilingly with:-- + +"That's getting well, mother." + +"O Guert!" + +"Ugh!" exclaimed a deep voice close behind them. "Up-na-tan say ole +woman go home. Take boy. Ole chief mighty glad to bring boy +back.--Whoo-oop!" + +It was, after all, the triumphant warwhoop of the old red man that +closed the record of the long cruise of the _Noank_. + + + + +_Selections from_ + +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY'S + +_List of Books_ + + + +Books + +By WILLIAM O. STODDARD. + + +The Despatch Boat of the Whistle. A story of Santiago. Illustrated by +F. T. Merrill, 1 vol. 12mo. $1.25. + +The incidents of our war with Spain in 1898 supply the theme for this +story. It is a sea story and a land story. It tells the adventures of +a breezy newspaper correspondent and of the sacrifices and revenges of +a Cuban patriot. It is spirited, vigorous, and absorbing, and is, +incidentally, a story of the war from the news of the destruction of +the _Maine_ to the fall of Santiago. And it is told by Mr. Stoddard! +What more could any boy or girl desire? + + + +Chuck Purdy. The Story of a New York Boy. 12mo. $1.25. + +A capital story of life in New York City; strong, honest, breezy, +practical, and absorbing. Told by one of the favorite writers for +young people. + + + +Gid Granger. The Story of a Country Boy. 12mo. $1.25. + +A capital story of American country life; the sturdy, hard-working, +energetic boy, the stern but well-intentioned father, the bright +ambitious sister, together with the village folks, all strongly +individualized and made delightfully real. + + + +Guert Ten Eyck. A Hero Story. Illustrated by F. T. Merrill. $1.25. + +A stirring story of real American boys and girls, and how they helped +on the Revolution. The background is the dramatic story of Nathan +Hale, the hero. Washington, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr also appear in +the story. + + + +The Partners. Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox. 12mo. $1.25. + +This is a capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl, whom all +the girl admirers of Stoddard's stories--and all the boys, too--will +vote to be delightful. + + + +Winning Out. + +A Book of Success. + +By ORISON SWETT MARDEN. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated. $1.00. + +Dr. Marden, the editor of _Success_, has never prepared a more +invigorating or inspiring book than this. It is really the first book +he has designed for young people. To young men whose ambition is +honorable success, this book with its practical suggestions and its +wealth of example has a value that is almost inestimable. If any young +fellow of spirit does not, after reading this book, act up to the +advice to Sempronious, he is lacking somewhere: + + "'T is not in mortals to command success + But we'll do more, Sempronious, we'll achieve it." + + + +Concerning Cats. + +My Own and Some Others. + +By HELEN M. WINSLOW. 8vo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated from +photographs of famous cats. $1.50. + +The first real "cat book" from a popular, practical, and entertaining +standpoint. Miss Winslow is a pronounced cat-lover, and she here deals +with the cats of history, the home and the cat-show in a manner that is +at once attractive and exhaustive. Her book will find ready readers +among cat-lovers and cat "fanciers" the world over. The photographic +illustrations are beautiful. + + + +The Story of the Nineteenth Century + +By Elbridge S. Brooks. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, $1.50 + +The story of "the wonderful century"--its progress, its achievements, +its inventions, its development and its results--is here presented in a +connected, simple, straightforward narrative, showing, as its main +purpose, the progress of the people out of limitation to enlightenment, +out of serfdom to independence, out of selfishness to nationality, out +of absolutism to liberty. Chapter by chapter, it is an absorbing and +often dramatic story, told by one who has made a study of popularizing +history. + + + +In Blue and White + +A Story of the American Revolution + +One volume, 8vo, illustrated by Merrill, $1.50 + +This stirring story of the Revolution details the adventures of one of +Washington's famous lifeguards, who is a college mate of Alexander +Hamilton, and a personal follower of Washington. It is based upon a +notable and dangerous conspiracy against the life of Washington in the +early days of the Revolution, and introduces such famous characters as +Washington, Hamilton, Greene, and Nathan Hale. It is a splendid book +for boys and girls. + + + +Eben Holden. + +A Tale of the North Country. + +By IRVING BACHELLER, author of "A Master of Silence." 12mo, cloth, +gilt top, rough edges. $1.50. + +A refreshing story of the "plain people" of country and town. The +"North Country" is the farm-land of St. Lawrence County in Northern New +York. Uncle Eb,--hero, "hired-man" and border philanthropist--is a +lover of animals, of nature and of all creation. The scene shifts to +New York in war time, and the story of the rout at Bull Run is +unsurpassed in realism. Altogether it is one of the brightest and most +popular of recent books, for it appeals to that love of mingling +sentiment and humor that all men and women like. + + + +The Last of the Flatboats. + +A Story of the Mississippi and its Interesting Family of Rivers. + +By GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON, author of "The Wreck of the Redbird." 12mo, +cloth, illustrated by Charlotte Harding. $1.50. + +The story of five western boys who take a flatboat on a venture to New +Orleans. They are bright, apt, and intelligent young fellows, and find +fun, adventure, and profit in their scheme. This book is an absolute +storehouse of mid-west facts, but it is also full of action, manliness, +endeavor, and adventure. + + + +The Forestman of Vimpek + +His Neighbors, his Doings and his Reflections in a Bohemian Forest +Village + +By MADAM FLORA P. KOPTA, author of "Bohemian Legends and Poems," 12mo, +cloth, gilt top, $1.25 + +A simple but unique, picturesque and delightful story of peasant life +in a Bohemian shut-in village, "on the edge of the forest." It +introduces English readers to a charming and little-known community, +far removed from towns and cities, but where the duties, desires, +passions and purposes of men and women are just as human and just as +diversified as in the busier haunts of men. + + + +Germany: Her People and their Story + +By AUGUSTA HALE GIFFORD. One volume, 8vo, 593 pages, cloth, gilt top, +uncut edges, emblematic cover, fully illustrated, $1.75 + +The first popular story of Germany, especially prepared for American +readers, and written from an American standpoint. In this light the +book is unique. It stands alone as the latest and most complete, while +it is the briefest and most condensed story of the German Empire, from +its beginnings to its present proud position among the world-leaders. + + + +Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship Pirate + +By T. JENKINS HAINS, author of "The Wind-Jammers," "The Wreck of the +Conemaugh," etc. 12mo, cloth, illustrated by Ditzler, $1.25 + +No more vivid and absorbing sea story has ever been written. Mr. +Hains, with his yarns of the "Wind-jammers," placed himself at once in +the front rank of the tellers of sea tales, and his latest book "Mr. +Trunnell," surpasses his first effort. Mr. Hains knows the sea as one +who has braved all its perils and tested all its adventures. In "Mr. +Trunnell," he has a tale strong in its intensity, vivid in its realism, +novel in plot and action and full of the taste of salt water from first +to last. + + + +The Wind-jammers + +By T. JENKINS HAINS. 12mo, cloth, ornamental, $1.25 + +Mr. Hains is to be congratulated upon writing a better, more natural, +vigorous, and thrilling yarn than any other American writer of this +class of fiction, and whoever reads this book will be likely to wish to +see more of his work. + + + + +The Famous Pepper Books + +By MARGARET SIDNEY + + +Five Little Peppers and How They Grew + +12mo, illustrated, $1.50 + +"A genuine child classic." + + + +Five Little Peppers Midway + +12mo, illustrated, $1.50 + +"Every page is full of sunshine."--_Detroit Free Press_. + + + +Five Little Peppers Grown Up + +12mo, fully illustrated, cloth, $1.50 + +"The tale sparkles with life and animation. The young people are +bright and jolly, and enjoy their lives as everybody ought to +do."--_Woman's Journal_. + + + +Phronsie Pepper + +The Last of the Five Little Peppers + +Illustrated by Jessie McDermott. 12mo, cloth, $1.50 + +This closing book of the now world-famous series of the "Five Little +Pepper Books" has been enthusiastically welcomed by all the boys and +girls of America to whom the Five Little Peppers have been dear ever +since they first appeared in the "Little Brown House." This new book +is the story of Phronsie, the youngest and dearest of all the Peppers. +But Polly and Joel and Ben and Jasper and Mamsie, too, are all in the +story. + + + +The Stories Polly Pepper Told + +One volume. 12mo. Illustrated by Jessie McDermott and Etheldred B. +Barry, $1.50 + +A charming "addenda" to the famous "Five Little Pepper Stories." It is +a unique plan of introducing old friends anew. Wherever there exists a +child or a "grown-up" to whom the Pepper family has become dear, there +will be a loving and vociferous welcome for these charming, +characteristic, and delightful "Stories Polly Pepper Told." + + + +The Judges' Cave + +A Romance of the New Haven Colony in the days of the Regicides + +By MARGARET SIDNEY, author of "A Little Maid of Concord-town," "Five +Little Peppers," etc. 12mo, cloth, illustrated, $1.50 + +There are few more fascinating phases of colonial history than that +which tells the wanderings and adventures of the two judges who, +because they sat in judgment over that royal criminal, Charles the +First of England, were hunted out of England into hiding in New England +and there remained, a mystery and fugitives, in their celebrated cave +in New Haven Colony. Margaret Sidney has made her careful and +exhaustive research into their story a labor of love and has, in this +book, woven about them a romance of rare power and great beauty. +Marcia, the heroine, is a strong and delightful character, and the book +will easily take high rank among the most effective and absorbing +stories based upon a dramatic phase of American history. + + + +A Little Maid of Concord Town + +A Romance of the American Revolution + +By MARGARET SIDNEY. One volume, 12mo, illustrated by F. T. Merrill, +$1.50 + +A delightful Revolutionary romance of life, love and adventure in old +Concord. The author lived for fifteen years in the home of Hawthorne, +in Concord, and knows the interesting town thoroughly. Debby Parlin, +the heroine, lived in a little house on the Lexington Road, still +standing, and was surrounded by all the stir and excitement of the +months of preparation and the days of action at the beginning of our +struggle for freedom. + + + +By Way of the Wilderness + +By "PANSY" (Mrs. G. R. Alden) and MRS. C. M. LIVINGSTON. 12mo, cloth, +illustrated by Charlotte Harding, $1.50 + +This story of Wayne Pierson and how he evaded or met the tests of +misunderstanding, environment, false position, opportunity and +self-pride; how he lost his father and found him again, almost lost his +home and found it again, almost lost himself and found alike his +manhood, his conscience and his heart is told us in Pansy's best vein, +ably supplemented by Mrs. Livingston's collaboration. + + + +As Talked in the Sanctum + +By ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN, U.S. Consul-General at Hong Kong; author of +"Tales of the Malayan Coast," etc. 12mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.00. + +Mr. Wildman was at one time editor of a prominent magazine on the +Pacific coast. He here presents, in a charming and attractive volume, +the talks on men and things that occupied himself and his friends--the +Contributor, the Poet, the Reader, the Parson, the Office Boy and +others as, day by day, they met to discuss, dissect and talk over the +world and its happenings as these appeared to the "Senate" of the +editor's sanctum. It is a book that will be found at once +entertaining, amusing, suggestive, philosophic and delightfully real. + + + +Tales of the Malayan Coast + +By ROUNSEVELLE WILDMAN, Consul-General of the United States at Hong +Kong. One volume, 12mo, illustrated by Henry Sandham, $1.00 + +A notable collection of Malayan stories and sketches reproducing both +the atmosphere and flavor of the Orient, and emphasized also by a dash +of American earnestness and vigor. The book is dedicated by permission +to Admiral George Dewey, Mr. Wildman's "friend and hero." + + + + +LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY, + +530 ATLANTIC AVENUE, BOSTON. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Noank's Log, by W. O. Stoddard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOANK'S LOG *** + +***** This file should be named 38523.txt or 38523.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/5/2/38523/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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