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      The Armed Ship America, by James Otis&mdash;A Project Gutenberg eBook.
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<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 55151 ***</div>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 702px;">
<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="702" height="800" alt="cover" title="cover" />
</div>




<hr class="chap" />
<h1>THE ARMED SHIP AMERICA</h1>

<p class="noic">OR</p>

<p class="noi subtitle">WHEN WE SAILED FROM SALEM</p>




<hr class="chap" />
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 394px;">
<a id="i_frontis">
  <img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="394" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_149">“IT WAS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT WE COULD MAKE
OUR WAY TO THE HEAD OF THE DOCK.”</a></div>
</div>




<hr class="chap" />
<p class="noi subtitle">THE</p>

<p class="noi halftitle">ARMED SHIP AMERICA</p>

<p class="noic">OR</p>

<p class="noi subtitle">WHEN WE SAILED FROM SALEM</p>

<p class="p2 noic">BY</p>

<p class="noi author">JAMES OTIS</p>

<p class="noi works">AUTHOR OF<br />
“THE CRUISE OF THE COMET,” “THE BOYS OF<br />
FORT SCHUYLER,” “JENNY WREN’S<br />
BOARDING-HOUSE,” ETC.</p>

<p class="p2 noic oldenglish">Illustrated by</p>

<p class="noi author">J. W. KENNEDY</p>

<div class="pad4">
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 137px;">
<img src="images/logo.jpg" width="137" height="162" alt="logo" title="logo" />
</div>
</div>

<p class="noi author">BOSTON<br />
DANA ESTES &amp; COMPANY<br />
1900</p>




<hr class="chap" />
<p class="noic"><i>Copyright, 1900</i></p>

<p class="noic"><span class="smcap">By Dana Estes &amp; Company</span></p>

<p class="p6 noic"><span class="oldenglish">Colonial Press:</span><br />
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds &amp; Co.<br />
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.</p>




<hr class="chap" />
<p>“In the United States every possible encouragement
should be given to privateering in time of war with a commercial
nation. We have tens of thousands of seamen
that without it would be destitute of the means of support,
and useless to their country. Our national ships are too
few in number to give employment to one-twentieth part
of them, or retaliate the acts of the enemy. By licensing
private-armed vessels, the whole naval force of the nation
is truly brought to bear on the foe; and while the contest
lasts, that it may have the speedier termination, let every
individual contribute his mite, in the best way he can, to
distress and harass the enemy, and compel him to peace.”—<cite>From
a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1812.</cite></p>




<hr class="chap" />
<div class="chapter">
<h2>NOTE.</h2>
</div>


<p>A package of manuscript, the pages of which had evidently
been cut from an old ledger or journal, each
leaf yellowed by time and worn as if with much use, lately
came into the possession of him who, rightfully or wrongfully,
claims to be the author of the yarn spun between
these covers. Both sides of the paper were covered with
writing in a boyish hand, and much of the subject matter
related to private affairs such as could be of no especial
interest to the general reader. All that had reference to
the cruise of the private-armed ship <i>America</i>, and the
doings of the writer, Nathan Crowninshield, and his comrade,
Simon Ropes, has been preserved herein. It is set
down very nearly as it was written eighty years ago, by the
lad from Salem, who, at the time of preparing the manuscript,
was living on Staten Island in New York Bay.
That it is a true and faithful account of the eventful
cruise, we know full well, since the more important happenings
have been verified by documents to be found
in the custom-houses at Salem, Boston, and Portland,
Maine.</p>




<hr class="chap" />
<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>


<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
<col style="width: 15%;" />
<col style="width: 70%;" />
<col style="width: 15%;" />
<tr>
  <th class="smfontr">CHAPTER</th>
  <th class="tdl">&nbsp;</th>
  <th class="smfontr">PAGE</th>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">I.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">An Opportunity</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">13</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">II.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Under Way</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">28</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">III.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Omens</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">43</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">IV.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Ghosts</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">59</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">V.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">The Prisoners</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">74</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">VI.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">A Stern Chase</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">89</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">VII.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">A Lively Scrimmage</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">105</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">VIII.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Cheering Information</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">120</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdrt">IX.</td>
  <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">The Outbreak</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">134</td>
</tr>
</table>




<hr class="chap" />
<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>


<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations">
<col style="width: 80%;" />
<col style="width: 20%;" />
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang">&nbsp;</td>
  <td class="smfontr">PAGE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_frontis">“<span class="smcap">It was with difficulty that we could make our
      way to the head of the dock</span>.”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb"><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_030fp">“<span class="smcap">The old gunner straightened himself up, surveying
      both Simon and me.</span>”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">30</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_046fp">“<span class="smcap">‘I am not asking you lads to tell tales out of
      school,’ the captain said.</span>”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">46</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_062fp">“<span class="smcap">Suddenly I saw, rising out from the forecastle
      hatchway, a white mass.</span>”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">62</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_086fp">“‘<span class="smcap">We don’t count on giving a double portion to any
      one of you this noon.</span>’”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">87</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_130fp">“<span class="smcap">What a cheer went up from our men.</span>”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">131</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_134fp">“<span class="smcap">We divided ourselves into two watches.</span>”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">135</td>
</tr>
<tr>
  <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_140fp">“<span class="smcap">In another instant the boarding pike would have
      found its way through my body.</span>”</a></td>
  <td class="tdrb">140</td>
</tr>
</table>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>




<p class="noi halftitle">THE ARMED SHIP AMERICA;</p>

<p class="noic">OR,</p>

<p class="noi subtitle">WHEN WE SAILED FROM SALEM.</p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br />
<small>AN OPPORTUNITY.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">It is not my intention to claim that Simon Ropes, son
of that famous mariner, Captain Joseph Ropes, or myself,
Nathan Crowninshield, nephew and cousin of the
well-known Salem firm of ship-owners, the Messrs. George
Crowninshield and Sons, bore any important part in the
war between the United States and Great Britain which
was begun in the year 1812; but that we two lads did all
which might be expected from youngsters of our age is a
fact that can be proven by more than one sailing-master
or seaman hailing from the Massachusetts coast.</p>

<p>It is near to eight years since Simon Ropes and I
signed articles for a cruise on board the private-armed
ship <i>America</i>.</p>

<p>Then Simon, who was the elder, had just turned fifteen
years, and I was three months his junior.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>

<p>Why we were allowed to ship on board such a famous
craft as the <i>America</i>, should be set down first in this tale,
which I am writing simply in order that, after we have
grown to be old men, it may be possible for us to recall
more minutely the events in which we bore some little
share than if we trusted solely to memory.</p>

<p>If, perchance, this poor attempt at what a clerkly mind
might fashion into a most entertaining story should at any
time come into the possession of others, it is well that I
repeat why it has been written, lest strangers think I did
it simply for the self-glorification of Simon and myself,
instead of which the tale has been preserved, if it so
chance it be preserved any length of time, for the purpose
of making public the doings of all on board that armed
ship hailing from Salem, which wrought so much injury to
British shipping.</p>

<p>The <i>America</i> was built in Salem, in 1804, and should
have been given some other name because of the fact that
many have since believed her to be the same craft which
made a cruise in 1802, when the United States was at war
with France.</p>

<p>Our ship was Salem built, of three hundred and fifty
tons burthen, carrying twenty guns, and with a complement
of from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and
seventy-five men.</p>

<p>She was then, and I believe of a verity is now, the
fastest ship afloat, being credited with having brought into
port, during this last war, one million, one hundred
thousand dollars’ worth of property; with having destroyed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
nearly as much more, and netting her owners,
between September of 1812 and April, 1815, six hundred
thousand dollars.</p>

<p>She is owned by the Messrs. George Crowninshield and
Sons, the senior member of which firm is my uncle, a
whole-souled, generous man, as all who know him can
testify, and none better than myself; for from the time my
father, Captain Benjamin Crowninshield, died, which was
in 1810, Uncle George cared for the widow and son of
his brother more tenderly than the majority of men care
for their own.</p>

<p>It was in August of the year 1812 when the <i>America</i>
was overhauled and made ready for a privateering cruise.
Previous to that time she had been in the merchant service,
and earned for herself much credit, it being stated
by those who sailed her that there was nothing afloat to
which she could not show her heels.</p>

<p>When the people of the United States had finally discovered
that patience ceased to be a virtue, that the
time was arrived when we as a nation should protect our
own seamen against Great Britain’s press-gangs, my uncle
and cousins decided that the good ship <i>America</i> should
take part in the struggle, by teaching the Britishers a
much needed lesson at the same time that she brought
in many dollars to her owners.</p>

<p>Captain Joseph Ropes, Simon’s father, was allowed to
be the most skilful navigator and the ablest sailing-master
in the United States.</p>

<p>In view of what has been done since then by privateersmen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
from Portland and Baltimore, it would seem as if
that which has just been set down is a rash statement,
and yet must I hold to it, for when the war broke out
Captain Joseph could have commanded any vessel, outside
the navy, which struck his fancy.</p>

<p>We of Salem believed, and this belief was afterward
proven to be correct, that the <i>America</i> was by long odds
the finest craft of her kind afloat, and therefore the people
along the Massachusetts coast took it for granted that she
would be commanded by Captain Ropes.</p>

<p>The ship was well worthy such a master, and certain it
was she would never come to grief through any carelessness
or misjudgment of his.</p>

<p>Therefore, when it was announced that Captain Ropes
would sail the <i>America</i>, no one in or around Salem expressed
surprise, or even intimated that a better choice
could have been made.</p>

<p>While the ship was being fitted for sea, Simon and I,
as may be supposed, were constantly on board of her,
watching the men as they put in place the twenty formidable-looking
guns, and listening to the yarns told by
old Joshua Seabury, who had, during the war with Tripoli,
proven himself as good a gunner as he was seaman, than
which no greater praise could be bestowed.</p>

<p>“Master Josh,” we lads designated him, and very careful
were we to tack on the “Master” since the day he
flogged Daniel Kelley with a rope’s end, for daring to call
him “Josh.”</p>

<p>A good friend to Simon and me was the gunner, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
before he had been given the charge of superintending
the arming of the <i>America</i>, he spent much time with us
two lads, spinning yarns of his adventures with the Tripolitan
pirates.</p>

<p>There was not another lad in Salem allowed to come
over the rail of the <i>America</i> while Master Josh was
aboard, and even though one of us was the nephew of the
owner, and the other the son of the captain, we two would
have been denied the privilege but for the fact of our
friendliness with the old gunner.</p>

<p>We little dreamed, during the early days of the war,
that through the old man’s friendship we would become
members of the famous ship’s crew, for where there were
so many eager to sign articles it did not seem likely
Captain Ropes would lumber his craft with green lads.</p>

<p>From the first hour the work of arming the ship was
begun, Simon and I watched keenly every portion of the
work, and I question if a single block was put in place,
if the smallest rope or hawser was stretched, without our
knowledge. When Master Josh desired to send word
ashore, either Simon or I was selected as the messenger.
In case any trifling task within our power was to be performed,
the old sailor called upon us for assistance, as if
we were in duty bound to render it, and right proud were
we of such distinction, for it was a distinction to be ordered
here or there by a man who had fought the Tripolitan
pirates,—a man who had borne his share in the destruction
of the <i>Philadelphia</i> when she lay beneath the guns
of Tripoli.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>

<p>Well, this condition of affairs, so far as we two lads
were concerned, went on throughout the month of August,
and until the ship was so far in readiness for the cruise
that the water and provisions were being put on board.
Then Simon and I were literally astounded by a proposition
which the old gunner made as if it was the natural
outcome of events.</p>

<p>We two lads were lounging around the gun-deck after
the day’s work had come to a close. Master Josh was
seated on a small-arms-chest smoking his pipe and enjoying
a well-earned rest before turning in.</p>

<p>Simon, believing we had earned the right to hear a yarn
from the old gunner, began leading up to the subject by
asking questions concerning the destruction of the <i>Philadelphia</i>,
knowing full well that once we could get Master
Josh warmed up to the affair, he would hold to it so long
as we might be able to listen.</p>

<p>On this night the scheme was not a success, much to
our disappointment. He answered Simon’s questions
curtly, while his mind seemed to be far away from that
which he ordinarily was only too willing to hold forth on,
and I was beginning to feel as if we had been in a certain
measure defrauded of our rights, when Master Josh said
suddenly, startling me almost out of my wits by the boldness
of the idea:</p>

<p>“Are you two lads countin’ on shippin’ aboard this ’ere
craft?”</p>

<p>“Do you mean Nathan and me?” Simon asked, in
astonishment.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>

<p>“Ay, lad, and why not ‘Nathan and me’?”</p>

<p>“Why not?” Simon repeated. “Do you allow that
my father would take on two boys, when able seamen are
tumbling over each other in their eagerness to ship aboard
the <i>America</i>?”</p>

<p>“Well, what of that?” and the old man puffed vigorously
at his pipe.</p>

<p>“I reckon we would stand little chance against those
who are begging Captain Ropes for permission to ship
aboard this craft,” I said, and for the hundredth time
there came into my heart the thought that, if we might
be allowed to join the crew, it was possible we could show
ourselves worthy the great honour; but yet I realised how
hopeless was such an ambition.</p>

<p>“How old was your father when he first went to sea?”
Master Josh asked of Simon.</p>

<p>“Nearly three years younger than I am now.”</p>

<p>“An’ I allow some captain gave him a chance, else he
never’d earned the name he’s made.”</p>

<p>“That goes without saying,” Simon replied, as if in
bewilderment, for he failed to understand what the old
man was driving at.</p>

<p>“Then it stands to reason he should do as good a
service for his own son; an’ if George Crowninshield
can’t serve his nephew a friendly turn at a time when
everything is to be gained, things have come to a pretty
pass.”</p>

<p>Simon and I stared at the old man in silence, for it
seemed much as if he had taken leave of his senses.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>

<p>From the moment it was known that the <i>America</i>
would be armed as a privateer, the ablest seamen from
far and near were coming into Salem with the hope of
being allowed to ship on board her, and one could not
walk the length of the town without hearing on this
corner or on that speculations as to who would be the
lucky men when the articles were ready for the signing.</p>

<p>The old gunner smoked on, as if the subject had come
to an end so far as he was concerned, and, the hope which
had been so often in my heart growing stronger, I ventured
to ask, but with a certain hesitation as if I were
simply proving my folly:</p>

<p>“Do you suppose, Master Josh, that it would be of any
use for Simon and me to beg of Captain Ropes or Uncle
George that we be allowed to go on this cruise?”</p>

<p>“Do you suppose, Nathan Crowninshield, that Captain
Ropes or Uncle George would get down on their knees
an’ beg you two to come on this ’ere cruise, if it so be you
never let on that you was achin’ for the chance?” Master
Josh asked, mockingly.</p>

<p>I caught at the words eagerly, believing, as I afterward
came to know was the truth, that in them lay a suggestion
to us.</p>

<p>The old man had no mind to openly advise us lads to
apply for a berth aboard the <i>America</i>, but would have
been well pleased for us to do so.</p>

<p>Instead of continuing the conversation, Master Josh
smothered the fire in the bowl of his pipe with his thumb,
and, without giving further heed to us, walked forward,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
leaving Simon and me staring at each other as we tried
to put into shape the thoughts aroused by his words,
which were forming themselves in our minds.</p>

<p>How long we sat there gazing at each other like a
couple of stupids I know not, but after a certain time it
flashed across me that we were showing ourselves dull
indeed by not following the advice contained in the old
man’s words, and moving closely to Simon, as if fearing
some one might overhear and make sport of us for having
such high and mighty notions, I whispered:</p>

<p>“Surely it can do no harm if we apply for berths on
board this ship?”</p>

<p>“Are you so puffed up as to believe that we might
be allowed to sign articles?” Simon asked, in a scornful
tone, and, now grown bold because of increased hope, I
said, as if having weighed well the matter, although of a
verity it had come only with Master Josh’s speech:</p>

<p>“There’s an old saying, that if nothing be ventured
nothing can be gained, and surely we shall be in no serious
condition if your father and my uncle refuse permission
for us to become members of the crew.”</p>

<p>“We are like to gain their laughter and scorn; but
nothing more,” Simon replied.</p>

<p>“Well, and surely that is not so serious a matter. In
these times two men will hardly give many hours to making
sport of a couple of lads, and, as Master Josh has said,
they will never ask us to join the crew unless we show a
desire.”</p>

<p>“I am not of the mind to make such a simple of myself,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
Simon replied, doggedly; whereat, nettled by his
words, I said, bravely:</p>

<p>“If you but come with me I will do the talking, and
afterward, if it so be your pleasure, you may deny that
there was in your mind any idea we might be taken on.”</p>

<p>He looked at me for a moment as if questioning
whether I was in my right mind, and then said, in the
tone of one who would drive a sharp bargain:</p>

<p>“If you make the request known this night, Nathan
Crowninshield, I will stand by your side while the words
are spoken, and take upon myself such blame as may
follow; but it must be done before we go to bed, for
I’ll not try to sleep while there’s any prospect of such
a possibility.”</p>

<p>“By those words you are admitting there is a chance
that we be allowed to ship.”</p>

<p>“Perhaps so.”</p>

<p>“Then come with me, and we’ll have the matter settled
at once. I am ready to do even more than make a simple
request, on the possibility that we might leave port on
board this ship.”</p>

<p>“My father was to be in your uncle’s counting-room
to-night, so I heard him tell mother, and if your courage
holds good, we two may be laughed at by all the clerks in
the Crowninshields’ office before an hour has passed.”</p>

<p>Simon could have pursued no wiser course, had he
wished to urge me on to such a step; for by his tone
I understood him to intimate that I was afraid to make
the attempt, and without further parley I cried:</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>

<p>“Follow me, unless it so be you are afraid! I count
on asking permission from the captain and owner of this
ship to sail in her, when she goes forth to work destruction
upon British craft.”</p>

<p>Then, perhaps, fearing lest the courage should ooze out
at my fingers’ ends, I went rapidly on deck, over the rail,
and headed straight for the office of the owners.</p>

<p>Under almost any other circumstances I would not have
dared to enter that portion of the counting-room where
my Uncle George transacted the more private business
of the concern; but at this time I was made bold by
desperation, knowing full well that a delay of five
minutes or more might serve to shake the resolution I
had formed.</p>

<p>My Uncle George and Captain Ropes were holding
what I could well fancy was a private consultation on
matters concerning the ship, and both looked up in surprise,
not unmixed with anger, when we two lads stood
before them.</p>

<p>I knew from the expression on my uncle’s face that it
was in his mind to say something harsh concerning our
intrusion; and, feeling as if I had destroyed what little
chance we might have had by such a display of rudeness,
I blurted out the request which was formed in my mind,
before either of the gentlemen had time to speak.</p>

<p>“We have come to ask that we be allowed to ship
on board the <i>America</i>, and do so because of certain words
just let fall by Master Josh,” I said, using every effort to
speak distinctly, and at the same time rapidly. “My<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
excuse for thus venturing here unbidden is that I dared
not wait longer lest I lack the courage to make the
request.”</p>

<p>“What has Joshua Seabury been saying to you?” my
uncle asked, sharply. “Why should he above all others
think that two boys may be allowed to call themselves
members of an armed ship’s crew?”</p>

<p>Being thus called upon to defend myself, as it were, I
repeated in substance the few words the old man had
spoken, laying considerable stress upon the fact that
Captain Ropes was three years younger than Simon and
me when he first went to sea, and urging that, if Master
Josh would take us under his tuition, we should beyond
a question pay our footing, even though we might not
earn the smallest wages.</p>

<p>Because of the fear—I might almost say the belief,
that our request would be treated with disdain, and thinking
another opportunity to make our wishes known might
not present itself, I succeeded in stating our case fairly
well, as I believed.</p>

<p>Before having concluded with all the arguments which
presented themselves to my mind, I saw Captain Ropes
look at his son in a friendly fashion, and then glance
inquiringly at my uncle, whereat the latter, observing the
mute question, answered:</p>

<p>“Two lads like those would simply be so much useless
lumber aboard the ship, eh, captain?”</p>

<p>My heart sank at what I believed was the beginning
of a refusal; but rose very suddenly when Simon’s father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
replied, with an air which told that he considered our
request in a certain degree important:</p>

<p>“Unless we count on setting some of the men to
do boy’s duty, we are like to need a few lads, Master
Crowninshield.”</p>

<p>“Ay; but you want such as have had some experience.”</p>

<p>“If old Joshua Seabury cares to take these two lads
under his wing, I’ll answer for it they will be experienced
before we get well settled down to our work,” the captain
replied, grimly, and Simon furtively kicked me, as if to
say that fortune was smiling upon us.</p>

<p>“I question much if your mother would give her permission
for you to join the <i>America’s</i> crew, Nathan,” my
uncle said, after a brief pause.</p>

<p>“She is willing, sir, that I become a sailor, as was my
father before me, and surely could not refuse her permission
if I should have such opportunity of serving an
apprenticeship as would come under the command of a
sailor like Captain Ropes.”</p>

<p>“You have turned that nicely, my lad,” Simon’s father
said, with a chuckle, “and if it so be Master Crowninshield
is willing to trust you aboard the <i>America</i>, my
boy shall go, too; but I give you both fair warning that
you will be treated the same as any lads whom I had
never seen.”</p>

<p>“We ask for nothing more than that, sir,” Simon said,
quickly, and I understood, although the formal permission
had not really been given, that we two boys were favoured
far above many able seamen of Salem, inasmuch as we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
would leave port on board the staunchest and swiftest
privateer afloat.</p>

<p>Well, not to make too many words of what is in fact
a short story, it is enough for me to say that, when Simon
Ropes and I went to bed that night, it was with the
knowledge that on the following morning we might present
ourselves to the old gunner as lads belonging to the
<i>America</i>, under his charge.</p>

<p>It is true my mother wept some while I gleefully told
her of the good fortune which was mine; but never a
word did she speak against the project, for again and
again had we talked of the day when I should set off to
follow in my father’s footsteps.</p>

<p>She must have realised that in a lifetime I might never
hope to have such an opportunity of becoming a sailor as
now presented itself, and while I doubt not that her heart
trembled as she thought of our engaging in a regular
battle, no remonstrance was made against it.</p>

<p>Simon Ropes and I did not give words to the exultation
both felt, when we parted for the night.</p>

<p>Already had we begun to realise the responsibilities
which would be ours. Even now we understood somewhat
of the sorrow that must come when we parted with
our mothers, and had a vague idea that when we left
Salem it might be never to return.</p>

<p>Therefore it was we gave token of our joy only by a
silent clasp of the hand.</p>

<p>I am not ashamed to set it down that my pillow was
wet with tears that night, as I lay thinking of the many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
days which must pass before I should see my home again,
if indeed I ever did, and I dwelt much longer on my
mother’s grief and my own loneliness, when we should be
parted, than on the glory which might be mine in case I
lived to be clasped in her loving arms again.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br />
<small>UNDER WAY.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">Although there was no possibility the <i>America</i>
could leave port within ten days, under the most
favourable circumstances, Simon Ropes and I presented
ourselves on board next morning before the sun had
risen, as if fearing the privateer might get under way
while we were making ready.</p>

<p>Having counted on surprising Master Josh by announcing
that we were to sign articles as members of the
crew whenever the papers were made ready, we were
disappointed.</p>

<p>I believe the old man had been firmly convinced that
Simon’s father and my uncle would allow us to ship, once
the desire was made known, for he treated our coming as
a matter of course, and, to our great surprise, ceased from
that moment to be the friendly friend we had ever known
him.</p>

<p>Instead of asking if we would kindly do this or that, or
explaining that it would be to our advantage if we learned
to make such a splice or tie a particular knot, he drove
us to work like slaves, and one would have fancied that
we met him for the first time on that morning.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>

<p>Having partaken of a scanty breakfast, owing to our
eagerness to be on board the ship at an early hour, it was
by no means pleasant to run here or there at the old gunner’s
call, or, when one was doing his best, to be sharply
reprimanded because he had not succeeded in accomplishing
more.</p>

<p>In fact, the change in his manner was so decided and disagreeable
that I came to believe something had gone wrong
over night, and took counsel with Simon concerning it.</p>

<p>The result of our conference was that we made up our
minds to demand an explanation from Master Josh, and
without delay.</p>

<p>We were ready to obey him while he spoke us in
friendly fashion, but when it came to being ordered about
as if we were hardly better than the dirt beneath his feet,
we were disposed to raise forcible and emphatic objections.</p>

<p>Simon insisted that I should be the one to demand an
explanation, promising to stand close behind me meanwhile,
thus showing that he was in full accord with all
I said, and without delay we sought out the old man.</p>

<p>At the time he chanced to be working upon Number
One gun, on the starboard side, and although it is certain
he saw us approaching, never so much as a sign of
consciousness did he give.</p>

<p>This seeming indifference nettled me quite as much as
had his suddenly assumed tone of command, and I broke
out hotly, asking why it was that he took unto himself so
many high and mighty airs without due cause, so far as
we could understand.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p>

<p>The old man ceased his work very suddenly when I
began to speak, and, before having come to the end of the
reproaches, I believed of a verity he was minded to raise
his hand against me.</p>

<p>He evidently thought better of it, however, for when
I was come to an end of words, <a href="#i_030fp">the old gunner straightened
himself up, surveying both Simon and me</a> from head to
foot, after which he asked, in what sounded very much like
a jeering tone:</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
<a id="i_030fp">
  <img src="images/i_030fp.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_30">“THE OLD GUNNER STRAIGHTENED HIMSELF UP, SURVEYING BOTH
SIMON AND ME.”</a></div>
</div>

<p>“Did I understand you two lads aright this morning,
when it was allowed that you’d the same as shipped
aboard the <i>America</i>?”</p>

<p>“Of course you did,” I said, quickly, not realising what
turn he was giving to the situation. “There could have
been no mistake when we said that permission had been
given us, both by Captain Ropes and my Uncle George.”</p>

<p>“Then it is allowed that you are the same as members
of the crew, eh?”</p>

<p>“How else can it be?”</p>

<p>“That was the way I understood it, and now hark ye,
lads. Is it in your mind that boys aboard ship are to be
dandled an’ petted? Have you got the idee that every
man Jack of us must take off his hat ’cause one of you
happens to be son of the captain, an’ the other a nephew
of the owner?”</p>

<p>I looked at Simon, not knowing what reply to make to
such a question, and he gazed at me in mute astonishment.</p>

<p>“You may as well make up your minds as to what you
count on bein’ aboard this ship, ’cause the matter’s got to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
be settled mighty soon,” the old gunner said, solemnly.
“I took it for granted that you was rated as boys; but if
it so be you’re reckonin’ on makin’ the cruise for pleasure,
an’ settin’ yourselves above the others with high an’ lofty
airs ’cause of your relationship, why, then, we’ll have a
plain understandin’ from the start. It ain’t allowed that
passengers may mosey ’round here for’ard,—leastways it
never has been on any ship I was aboard of; so you’ll
excuse me for takin’ the liberty of settin’ you about a
sailorman’s duties, otherwise I’ll call the crew of the captain’s
gig to escort you into the cabin, where you seem
to belong.”</p>

<p>The old man tugged at the lock of hair over his forehead,
as he scraped with one foot, in what he believed to
be the proper kind of a bow, and started aft as if to carry
out his threat.</p>

<p>Now, although I had never been to sea, I knew enough
of a sailorman’s life to understand that if the remainder of
the crew got the slightest inkling of what had just happened,
our lives would be far from pleasant during the
cruise; therefore, I checked him by clutching at his arm,
imploringly, as I cried:</p>

<p>“We were in the wrong when we complained, Master
Josh. Surely you have known us long enough to believe
that we no more intend to shirk our duties than to play
the part of passengers. It was because you had changed
so completely that we came to you with the questions in
our mouths.”</p>

<p>“Accordin’ to your talk, it seems that you understand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
the matter without my goin’ into very many explanations,”
the old man said, grimly.</p>

<p>“What you have said is the same as an explanation,
sir,” Simon meekly replied. “If you will please set us
about some task we’ll agree never to raise another
question, however changed your manner may be.”</p>

<p>“Well, I allow it’s jest as well if we let it drop at that,”
the old gunner said, thoughtfully, “an’ for the sake of
your peace of mind in the future, I’d have you youngsters
understand that, once we’re under way, you will be expected
to do such work as is given to boys, without
turnin’ rusty in case one of us don’t happen to handle you
with gloves on. Sailorin’ is a serious business, but nothin’
as compared with privateerin’. On a cruise like the one
we’re countin’ to make, it’s a matter of jumpin’ to orders
from the youngest to the oldest, an’ no back talk. I had
the idee that you was to be took under my wing, so to
speak.”</p>

<p>“Have you seen Simon’s father or my uncle?” I asked,
quickly, now beginning to understand why the old man
had turned about so suddenly in his behaviour.</p>

<p>“It may be I had a bit of a chin with one or the other
of ’em last night.”</p>

<p>“And you were told to jump down on us the first thing,
this morning, so that we might know our stations without
being allowed time in which to make fools of ourselves?”</p>

<p>“I can’t rightly say it was exactly as you put it, lad.
I was given to understand that it depended on me to make
sailormen out of you, if it so be there was stuff enough of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
the kind inside your young skins, an’ such bein’ the case,
from this out there will be no explanations made. When
things don’t go to suit you, I’m allowin’ you’d best swallow
’em, or take the chances of knowin’ how heavy the rope’s
end is when it’s laid on a lad’s back in proper fashion.
Now then, if you’ve had enough of this cacklin’, get to
work, an’ see to it you stick at the job, for there’ll be no
sodgerin’ aboard this ship either by young or old, that you
can depend on.”</p>

<p>It can well be understood that from this moment we
held our peace whether affairs were to our liking or not,
and, also, that we never again presumed upon the friendliness
which the old gunner had previously displayed; but
buckled with a will to whatever task we were set at.</p>

<p>Before this day came to an end both of us realised fully
that we were no more than any other two boys who might
have been allowed to ship aboard the privateer, and that
no favours were to be shown because of relationship either
to the captain or owner.</p>

<p>Now, it is not my purpose to set down here anything
more than may be necessary to a thorough understanding
of what Simon Ropes and I did and saw while we were
aboard the <i>America</i>, and because there was nothing of
interest in the fitting out of the ship I count on passing
over all which occurred from the day we were taught our
true station among the crew of the ship, until she was
gotten under way, at half-past eleven o’clock on the
morning of Monday, September 7th, in the year of grace
1812.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span></p>

<p>I do not reckon on making mention of the parting with
my mother.</p>

<p>It was far too sad a scene to be described in written
words, and too sacred, according to my way of thinking,
to be held up for the amusement or derision of youngsters.</p>

<p>It is enough if I say that when I went on board, less
than an hour before the ship was gotten under way, my
eyes were red and swollen with much weeping, and I met
Simon Ropes, who looked as if his experience had been
much the same as mine.</p>

<p>There was no need of words between us. Each understood
what was in the other’s heart, and at that moment,
if it could have been done without holding ourselves up
to the scorn of our acquaintances, I believe of a verity
both of us would have fled from the ship, even though we
had formally signed the articles, and, therefore, would be
looked upon as deserters if we went on shore without
permission.</p>

<p>For my part, I know that never before nor since has my
heart been as heavy as on that September morning when
I made my way through the throng of men, women, and
children that lined the shore, to the boat which was in
waiting to carry me on board.</p>

<p>My schoolmates would have gathered around me, envious
of what they were pleased to term my good fortune.
At another time their words would have been like sweetest
music in my ears; but on this morning it was as if they
mocked me, so bowed down was I by the grief born of
that first parting, and I refused to hold any converse with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
them, thereby laying myself open to the charge of being
“stuck up.”</p>

<p>I said to myself that, had I realised what it might cost
a lad to leave his mother,—the best friend he can ever
know in this world,—not all the glory nor the money that
could be gained during the most successful privateering
cruise would have tempted me to bring so much of grief
upon her.</p>

<p>However, I had shipped as a boy aboard the <i>America</i>.
There was never a lad of my acquaintance in town who
had not been made aware of this fact, and the shame of
being called a coward prevented me from doing that which
I most desired.</p>

<p>Simon and I were aboard the same boat, but neither
spoke during the short passage from the shore to the ship.</p>

<p>When we came over the rail the old gunner was standing
near by and my heart warmed toward him as never before,
because of the words which he spoke at that sad
time:</p>

<p>“Find something with which to keep yourselves busy,
lads,” he said, in a most friendly tone. “Having been
through with this kind of business myself, I’ve got a
pretty good idee of how you’re feelin’, an’ there’s nothin’
better calculated to make you worse than idleness. Hard
work an’ plenty of it is what will do you a power of good
for the next four an’ twenty hours.”</p>

<p>And hard work we got.</p>

<p>It was as if Master Josh racked his brains to set us task
after task in rapid succession, one coming upon the heels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
of the other so rapidly that we absolutely had no time for
thought, and afterward I understood how wholesome was
his medicine.</p>

<p>As I have said, the shore was lined with people waiting
for the <i>America</i> to get under way, and when finally the
anchor was tripped, a shout went up from the throng which
thrilled our hearts, and caused me for an instant to forget
that in the town was a woman weeping,—a woman who
loved me dearly, as I did her.</p>

<p>Well, we were off at last, and the first and worst wrench
caused by the breaking of home ties was over, so far as I
was concerned, save that it left my heart sore and bruised.</p>

<p>By noon we were off Baker’s Island heading due southeast,
and I realised that the voyage was really begun,
when the good ship rose and fell upon the ocean swell
with a motion well calculated to upset the stomach of a
landsman.</p>

<p>Simon Ropes and I considered ourselves fairly good
sailormen, and yet, before night came, we were paying the
same penalty, and in quite as severe a form, as the veriest
landsman who ever ventured outside the harbour.</p>

<p>This sickness was, in a certain degree, a benefit, since it
caused us to forget the loneliness which had come upon
us with the parting, and not until eight and forty hours
had passed did we venture to show ourselves above the
gun-deck.</p>

<p>Once in the open air, after our long sojourn below, it
was as if we had suddenly emerged upon a scene of warfare.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p>

<p>The ship was under easy canvas, and needed but little
conning. Both watches were on deck, and the third
officer, Mr. Tibbetts, was instructing the crew in the use
of small arms, Captain Ropes and the remainder of his
officers acting as spectators, but taking a hand, now and
then, in the lessons.</p>

<p>I may as well say here that, from this time forth, whenever
the weather permitted, and there were no important
tasks to be performed, the men spent their time working
the great guns, or drilling with small arms, and such
practice never came to an end throughout the cruise,
however expert we grew to be.</p>

<p>No one gave any heed to Simon and me, until Master
Josh chanced to espy us, and then, although we were
feeling far from well, it became necessary for us to join in
the drill.</p>

<p>We left port at noon on Monday, and had not attempted
to get out of our hammocks until Wednesday was well-nigh
spent.</p>

<p>By the time supper was served, however, we were
quite ready for the food, thanks to the labour performed,
although it was dished up in anything rather than a palatable
fashion, as compared with what we had been accustomed
to in our homes.</p>

<p>I was not a weak-stomached lad; but sitting around a
mess-kid, filled with greasy-looking stuff, which was given
the name of hash, and taking my share with half a dozen
tarry-handed sailors, who were neither careful of their
person nor their language, drinking, if one drank at all,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
the odd-looking stuff which was called tea, would have
destroyed the appetite that had come upon me, save for
the fact that I had fasted so long.</p>

<p>Before a week passed, however, Simon and I were equal
to the emergency, and in good condition to get our full
share of whatsoever was served, save when it came to the
allotment of rum, of which each man had half a pint
poured into his pannikin, twice a day, and at this our
stomachs rebelled. We never could bring ourselves to
drink it, but traded the stuff for whatsoever our messmates
chose to offer in exchange.</p>

<p>Until Thursday night we had such weather as would
delight fresh-water sailors, with, perhaps, a trifle overmuch
wind, in the opinion of landsmen, and then came our first
experience of a storm at sea, when the ship rose and fell,
seeming now to throw herself against the great walls of
water, or again rolling until it was as if she lay completely
on her beam ends.</p>

<p>The howling of the wind, the rattle of cordage, the
groaning of timbers, and the shrieking of the waters when
they leaped inboard, as if eager to overwhelm us, was
sufficient to terrify all save the stoutest-hearted, and yet,
after a time, even before the gale was at its height, Simon
and I came to take it all quite calmly. By observing
those around us, we could see that there was not even the
shadow of a fear in the hearts of any, because all knew
full well the strength and staunchness of the ship, and to
them the gale was a friendly one, since it carried them
more swiftly in the desired direction.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>

<p>Since Master Josh had taken us under his wing, we
were assigned to the same watch with him, and although,
where the crew was so large, there was absolutely nothing
for boys to do, the old man never allowed us to shirk our
duties in this respect.</p>

<p>We were forced to remain on deck, exactly as if the
welfare of the ship depended upon our being there, and no
exception was made during this first storm.</p>

<p>“You may as well take all that comes to a sailorman’s
lot, lads,” Master Josh said, when we were ordered to the
spar-deck, on the morning after the storm had burst upon
us, while the ship was tumbling, plunging, and pitching at
such a rate that the most experienced of the crew were
forced to clutch at this thing or that, in order to make their
way forward or aft. “If you get in the habit of stayin’
below, just ’cause there happens to be a little breeze, your
chances of ever bein’ rated as able seamen will be small.”</p>

<p>We literally clawed our way up on the spar-deck, Simon
shouting in my ear, for the din was so great that only by
the severest exertions could he make himself heard:</p>

<p>“If this is what Master Josh calls a ‘breeze,’ I hope we
may never be afloat in one of his gales.”</p>

<p>Our coming on deck was needless, since no one called
upon us for any service, and we would have been unable
to perform the slightest task even had it been required.</p>

<p>We took up our stations near the foremast, where we
might the better hold ourselves steady, and there remained,
knowing full well that we were not adding to our store of
knowledge in the slightest degree.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>

<p>So far as making sailormen of ourselves was concerned,
we might just as well have remained in the hammocks on
the gun-deck, and it would have been vastly more comfortable,
for we were wet to the skin within five minutes
after having come above.</p>

<p>Save for the fact that the men went about their duties
unconcernedly, with no show of alarm, and behaving much
as if this sort of weather was not only to be expected
but pleasing, I should have believed the ship was in the
greatest danger, and in truth it was many minutes before
I could look up at the waves, which now and then towered
far above us, without feeling positive that death was
very near at hand.</p>

<p>After a time, however, we became in a certain degree
accustomed to the tumult, and found it possible to watch
what was going on around us with some degree of intelligence.</p>

<p>I noticed with mild curiosity that five men were on the
maintopmast, and wondered whether it was their purpose
to snug down the canvas, or if the captain had it in his
mind to show more sail to the howling wind.</p>

<p>They were so nearly above me that I could not clearly
observe their movements, and while I stood gazing at
them, rather because I had nothing else with which to
occupy my mind than that their movements particularly
interested me, a sharper gust of wind than we had so far
felt came swooping down upon us, causing the ship to
lay over until her yard-arm ploughed off the tops of the
white-capped billows.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>

<p>The little company aloft continued at their task as if
there was nothing in the situation to cause alarm, and
slowly, inch by inch as it were, the gallant craft came
up nearly to an even keel, only to be whirled back once
more by what was like unto a cloud of wind, and then
was mingled with the shrieking and howling and hissing
the sound as of splintering wood.</p>

<p>Even as I gazed the spar was carried away, the heavy
ropes snapping like whip-cords under a tremendous strain.</p>

<p>It was as if my heart stood still, and breath failed me
when those five brave fellows, one of whom lived in Salem
within a stone’s throw of my mother’s dwelling, were
engulfed in that angry sea, upon which it seemed as if no
craft smaller than our ship could possibly live.</p>

<p>Fortunately, others beside myself had seen the disaster,
and then, although I did not realise it at just that moment,
we came to understand of how much advantage was the
constant drill and practice to which the men had been
subjected since the hour of leaving port.</p>

<p>Captain Ropes chanced to be on deck at the fatal
instant, and there was no more of confusion or apparent
excitement when the ship was put about than if we had
been executing some ordinary manœuvre in fair weather.</p>

<p>At the first cry betokening danger every man went to
his station, and the orders which came from the quarter-deck
were obeyed almost as soon as spoken, with such
effect that it seemed to me as if no more than three
minutes elapsed before our course was completely changed.</p>

<p>I came to understand, however, that much more time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
had passed than I supposed, on seeing how far away was
the splintered spar to which our shipmates were clinging,
knowing full well that whatsoever of aid was possible in
such an angry tumult of waters would be given them.</p>

<p>But for the fact of having been on board the <i>America</i>
at this time, I could set down a most thrilling description
of what might have occurred from the moment the spar
was carried away until the half-drowned men were brought
aboard; but having been there, I am forced to say it
was all as commonplace, and the work performed as
methodically, as during the simplest manœuvre which
can be imagined.</p>

<p>In less than half an hour our five messmates were with
us once more, and all hands were engaged in making
ready a new spar.</p>

<p>The extra amount of labour required, and the short
deviation from our course, appeared to Simon and me to
be the only result of this accident; but when we were
below once more, where we could hear the men yarning
and arguing as sailors will, I came to understand that the
mishap might work serious mischief in the future.</p>

<p>One and all of the crew insisted that we had begun the
voyage with a bad omen; that this breaking of a new spar
when we were hardly more than out of port, was a sign
that the cruise would be a disastrous one, more particularly
since it occurred on a Friday, and the foremost
among the croakers was none other than Master Joshua
Seabury, he whom Simon Ropes and I looked up to as
the ablest, bravest seaman that ever jockeyed a yard-arm.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br />
<small>OMENS.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">It was only after the gale had died away, and a new
topmast had been sent aloft, that we lads came to
understand how much mischief or trouble, whichever you
choose to term it, might come of that disaster which had
terminated so happily.</p>

<p>Once our watch was at leisure, the men began speculating
upon the significance of what they were pleased to
call an “omen,” and those whom I had looked upon as
the bravest appeared to be the most disheartened by the
mishap.</p>

<p>The breaking of the spar, which was doubtless brought
about by some serious defect in the timber, dismayed
them, and one and all argued as if eager to prove that
the accident was but the forerunner of direst disaster.</p>

<p>Master Joshua looked grave as any owl while he told a
yarn of a vessel which had lost a spar while leaving port,
and was never heard of afterward, declaring solemnly
that the mishap had come about solely as a means of
warning the crew not to sail in the craft.</p>

<p>“But if they had already left the port, how would it be
possible for the men to go back, even though the captain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
had been willing to stand by and see his crew desert?”
Simon asked, innocently, whereat Master Joshua fell into
a passion, because “a boy” had dared make such foolish
inquiries regarding what was as “plain as the nose on a
man’s face.”</p>

<p>“It ain’t for the likes of you to be askin’ questions
about the signs that are sent to sailormen,” he roared,
shaking his fist at the lad who was simply trying to gain
what might prove to be useful information. “Anybody
who ain’t a natural born fool knows that sich things are
seen by them as live on the ocean, an’ the pity of it is
there are idjuts what can’t take warnin’.”</p>

<p>“Then you’re ready to believe that this ’ere cruise
won’t be a payin’ one, eh?” the captain of Number
Four gun asked, seriously.</p>

<p>“Accordin’ to what I’ve seen in this ’ere world, I
wouldn’t want to put very many hopes on the <i>America’s</i>
ever gettin’ into the home port again.”</p>

<p>After this gloomy prediction, for such it was because
of the tone in which the words had been spoken, all hands
began to look down in the mouth, and it can well be
imagined that even Simon and I were feeling far from
cheerful.</p>

<p>Had any other member of the crew suggested such a
possibility, simply because we had carried away a topmast
immediately after leaving port, I could have laughed at
him; but Joshua Seabury was, to my mind, the ablest
seaman afloat, and all he said carried great weight with
it, so far as I was concerned.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>

<p>The old man lighted his pipe in a sorrowful manner, as
if saying to himself that the good ship might founder
before he could finish his smoke, and the remainder of
the crew began to spin yarns regarding signs and omens
of which they had heard, until the whole boiling of them
were worked up into the most doleful frame of mind.</p>

<p>Had the word been passed just then that a British privateer
was in sight, I question if any undue excitement would
have been shown by our men, so positive did all appear to
be that we were on the eve of some great disaster.</p>

<p>At first Simon and I were disposed to laugh at these
senseless forebodings, even though Master Joshua himself
had been the first to give them words; but, later, it appeared
to me as if much mischief might befall us because
the men were so bent on persuading themselves that the
carrying away of the topmast, especially on a Friday, was
a token that some more than ordinarily serious danger
threatened.</p>

<p>It would be reasonable to suppose that every privateersman
was in danger so long as he remained afloat searching
for the enemy; but to peril which had so good a foundation,
these superstitious sailors gave no heed.</p>

<p>It was to them as if we had been protected until the
moment after the topmast fell, and then we were not only
left to our own devices, but given to understand that we
could not escape even the ordinary dangers of the sea.</p>

<p>In reading over what has just been set down, I find that
I have failed in giving a good idea of the state of mind into
which every man Jack among us had fallen.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>

<p>Perhaps at the time Simon and I did not fully realise
what all this arguing, speech-making, and yarn-spinning on
the subject of omens might amount to, but we had more
than an inkling when, at a late hour on the second night
after the topmast fell, while we were lounging about the
deck simply because our watch was supposed to be on
duty, Captain Ropes called for us to come aft.</p>

<p>Up to this moment he had given no heed whatsoever to
Simon; it was as if the lad ceased to be a relative of his
the moment he came aboard the ship as one of the crew,
and I was feeling more than a trifle sore because my
comrade’s father appeared to be copying so perfectly after
Master Josh.</p>

<p><a href="#i_046fp">“I’m not asking you lads to tell tales out of school,” the
captain said</a>, when we had followed him into the after-cabin
where he had his quarters; “but I would like to know if
the men are still chewing over the loss of the topmast.”</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 401px;">
<a id="i_046fp">
  <img src="images/i_046fp.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_46">“‘I AM NOT ASKING YOU LADS TO TELL TALES OUT OF SCHOOL,’
THE CAPTAIN SAID.”</a></div>
</div>

<p>Simon, who had seemingly failed to observe that his
father no longer treated him as a son, at once gave a very
good description of the situation of affairs forward, and
when his story was come to an end the captain dismissed
us exactly as he would have dismissed two lads whom he
had never met before; but I guessed that he was disturbed
in mind because of the foolish fears of the men.</p>

<p>We two lounged forward again, once we were at liberty,
and I would have spoken with Simon concerning his
father’s odd behaviour, but that the lad cut me short by
saying, quite curtly:</p>

<p>“Before coming on board I was told plainly what might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
be expected, therefore I can’t complain. My father first
went to sea with an uncle, and now he is giving me the
same treatment which he then received.”</p>

<p>“But where would be the harm if he allowed us the run
of the cabin, now and then?” I asked, petulantly. “It
would please me right well to sit at his table once or twice
in a week.”</p>

<p>“That you will never do while we are members of the
crew,” Simon replied, with a laugh, “and perhaps it is
quite as well.”</p>

<p>“I’d like to know how you can figure that out?” and
now I was grown quite hot. “If my uncle was on board,
I venture to say both of us would be eating there every
day in the week.”</p>

<p>“Which might not be to our advantage. Now the men
treat us as belonging to their mess; but if we ate in the
cabin while pretending to do duty forward, father says our
lives would soon be made burdensome, and surely he
ought to know.”</p>

<p>To my mind the argument was a feeble one, not worthy
a brave man like Captain Ropes; but I held my peace,
understanding that it could hardly be pleasing for Simon
to hear me criticise his father.</p>

<p>While the crew discussed the supposed ominous omen,
I brooded over the fancied injustice of the captain toward
Simon and myself, and in a very short time succeeded in
believing that I was a veritable victim.</p>

<p>Simon Ropes displayed more sound common sense than
all the remainder of us put together, and from that time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
when he stood up like a man battling against the fancies
and whims of the men, with never one, not even I who
counted myself his comrade, to back him, I came to know
the lad for the hero he afterward proved himself to be
when the decks were slippery with American blood.</p>

<p>Within two days after the topmast had been carried
away the men were in very nearly a mutinous mood, some
claiming that the <i>America</i> should put back sufficiently long
to cast off the spell of ill fortune which had been thrown
over her, and others declaring that at the first opportunity
they would desert, believing they were morally entitled to
do so in order to save their own lives.</p>

<p>“If it was only a case of standin’ up in a fair fight, no
matter how big might be the odds against us, I’d willingly
take my chances with the others, because I shipped for
such work,” one of the younger men of the crew said more
than once in my hearing. “But this flyin’ in the face of
bad luck, with a warnin’ plain before us, is more’n I bargained
for.”</p>

<p>As a matter of course, his messmates should have
reported him for uttering words which were well calculated
to destroy the discipline of the ship; but it was as if nearly
every man on board, save the officers, were in much the
same way of thinking.</p>

<p>It was not simply the carrying away of a spar which so
disturbed the crew; but, rather, the manner in which it
was done, together with the time of the accident, all of
which we lads heard discussed during nearly every hour
while we were off duty.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p>

<p>The topmast was a new spar, and there was no apparent
reason for its breaking; the gale was not heavy enough to
cause the mishap, and the men refused to entertain the
very reasonable explanation that there had been some
defect in the timber, which escaped the notice of the spar-makers.</p>

<p>Then again, the accident had occurred on the first
Friday after leaving port, and before we had sighted the
sail of an enemy. Such a combination of circumstances,
so the old shellbacks declared, was sufficient to stamp the
affair as an omen of the most pronounced character.</p>

<p>The fact that all the men who had been aloft were
saved, without even so much as a scratch, was brought
forward by Simon, whenever the crew would condescend
to listen to him, as a good reason why we should look
upon the matter as one of good rather than bad significance,
but day by day the mutinous talk grew louder.</p>

<p>The topmast had been carried away on the eleventh day
of September, and not until the twenty-third of the same
month did we fall in with a craft of any description.</p>

<p>The absence of vessels when we were in the track of the
enemy’s merchant-ships was, to this superstitious crew, only
additional proof that they were correct in their fancies.</p>

<p>The sun was just showing himself above the horizon on
the day last mentioned, when the lookout shouted what,
under different circumstances, would have been most welcome
news.</p>

<p>A craft of some description was in sight; but so far
away that it was impossible to make out anything save<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
what, to Simon and I, looked like nothing more than the
wing of a sea-bird outlined against the clear sky to
leeward.</p>

<p>Certain it is the men would have grumbled had our
ship’s course not been altered on the instant, and then,
when this was done, even before the captain knew what
kind of a craft he was steering for, every man Jack of
them began making the most dismal predictions.</p>

<p>Now we were to learn the meaning of the omen, the
men said, walking moodily to and fro as if certain that
death was very close aboard. We would find the
stranger an English frigate, at the very least, and the
cruise of the <i>America</i> as an American vessel would come
to an end before sunset.</p>

<p>I believe of a verity that, had we fallen in with a
Britisher who carried no greater weight of metal than ourselves,
these predictions would have come true, so dispirited
were the crew, and while we slowly drew nearer
the strange sail, Simon and I stood well forward, burning
with the most painful anxiety, fancying we were approaching
some terrible doom.</p>

<p>Before two hours had passed, such a lady for sailing
was the ship, we could see clearly the topsails of the
chase, and the most outspoken grumbler among us
declared that she was nothing more formidable than a
British merchant-brig.</p>

<p>The majority of the crew began to recover their courage
and their spirits; but a few of the older shellbacks insisted
that, whether the stranger was a peaceful merchantman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
or a heavily armed privateer, we were about to learn the
true meaning of the omen.</p>

<p>And so we did learn the meaning, or, rather, that it
had no meaning at all,—at least, nothing that was to work
us harm at the beginning of the voyage.</p>

<p>Within an hour of noon we had overhauled and brought
to the British brig <i>James and Charlotte</i>, Lavitt, master,
from Liverpool, bound for St. John’s with a cargo of hats,
dry goods, and a general assortment of merchandise.</p>

<p>One gun had been fired to bring her to, and no more
powder than the single charge was burned in the capture
of what all hands knew beyond a peradventure was a
valuable prize.</p>

<p>It would have pleased me well had I been allowed to
board her; but Captain Ropes was not disposed to spend
any idle time when there were, perhaps, other merchantmen
to be overhauled.</p>

<p>Without delay a prize-crew of six, under command of Mr.
Tibbetts, was thrown on board, after which we stretched
away on our course with eleven prisoners in the hold, and
the master of the captured brig quartered aft, he having
passed his word of honour to make no attempt to communicate
with the other Britishers.</p>

<p>The tongues of those off duty began to wag furiously
once we stood away from the brig, and now had come the
time when those who argued the strongest that we were
doomed to some terrible misfortune, and among whom
was Master Josh, were forced to bear such ridicule as
only a crew of sailormen can invent.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>

<p>Simon and I believed that the capture of this first prize,
which was a rich one, such as should go far toward tasselling
our neckerchiefs with dollars, would bring to an end
all the mutinous talk we had been hearing, and, during
the remainder of this day, we were correct.</p>

<p>Next morning, however, the croakers had decided that
one vessel captured was no sign the omen was for the
good rather than the bad, and straightway began figuring
how the traverse might be worked to bring ruin upon us.</p>

<p>This last stage of the believers in omens was not as
serious as the first, since there were very many who contented
themselves with reckoning how much would be
coming to us from the prize, in case Mr. Tibbetts succeeded
in getting her to a home port, and when one sets
dollars against old women’s whims, the odds are decidedly
in favour of the former.</p>

<p>Now from this time out we had so much of drill during
fair weather, that the croakers really did not have time to
present their foolish views in detail, and we two lads
counted on the matter dying a natural death; but in this
we were mistaken.</p>

<p>Were I to set down here all we did or said while the
<i>America</i> cruised here or there, without sighting any save
a friendly sail, the words would fill an enormous book, and,
when they had been read, would amount to nothing.</p>

<p>Life aboard ship, as Simon and I soon came to understand,
grows very monotonous after a certain time, and
we who had nothing more exciting than the continual
drills with small arms, exercise at the great guns, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
lessons in working ship under every emergency, soon grew
sick at heart because of the lack of adventure.</p>

<p>It goes without saying that, during this time of comparative
idleness, Simon Ropes and I were educated into
very fair sailors, as well as privateersmen, and, before
many weeks had passed, came to believe we could hold
our own with the oldest shellback on board.</p>

<p>Now and then Captain Ropes condescended to speak
with us; but a stranger would not have believed that my
comrade was his son, or I the nephew of the ship’s
owner.</p>

<p>As a matter of course we two lads were thoroughly
instructed as to our duties in event of an engagement, and
day after day did we serve the gunners with ammunition,
which it was necessary we should carry back to the magazine
when the drill was at an end.</p>

<p>When the days lengthened into weeks after the capture
of our first prize, and we came across nothing flying the
British flag, the croakers sprang up very strong once
more, and during our watch below we heard so much
about omens and signs that I literally turned sick at heart
whenever I came across a group who were harping on the
loss of a new topmast on the first Friday after leaving
port.</p>

<p>The prisoners must have had a sorry time of it; they
were kept in the hold, except two hours each day when
they came up for fresh air and exercise, and I dare venture
to say that they longed as heartily as did our crew
that another capture might be made, because then their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
chances of being sent ashore would be so much the
greater.</p>

<p>Simon and I saw but little of these unfortunates, for the
very good reason that we kept out of their way so far as
possible.</p>

<p>It was by no means pleasant to watch the poor fellows
when they came on deck eager and thirsty for a breath of
sweet air, and we made it our business to be engaged in
some other part of the ship while they were pacing to and
fro on deck, guarded by eight or ten men with loaded
muskets in their hands.</p>

<p>During all this long, weary time of watching, hoping,
and predicting evil, we came to know what a gallant craft
was ours.</p>

<p>There was ample opportunity to test her sailing qualities
under every condition of weather, and never a man
on board who did not come to believe she could overhaul
or show her heels to anything afloat.</p>

<p>We skirted along the coast of Portugal, passing the
island of St. Michael on the fifth of October, and yet not
until a full month later, that is to say, on the sixth day of
November, did we sight another craft flying the cross
of St. George.</p>

<p>During all this time our croakers had kept their tongues
wagging industriously, declaring that the next time we
saw the British flag it would be at the topmast head of
an English ship of the line, which would speedily verify
the predictions represented by the faulty topmast.</p>

<p>It was as if we had been at sea half a lifetime when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
lookout reported a brig-rigged craft to windward, and after
she was brought into view of us on deck we knew beyond
question that we had almost within our clutches another
British craft.</p>

<p>The cruise did not bid fair to be what is known as a
“lucky” one if the game was to be found so few and far
between; but we were ready to welcome anything that
might break the monotony, even though it should be a
Britisher that far out-classed us.</p>

<p>A little fighting then, with some blood-letting, would
have been good medicine for those who were grown mutinous
once more, and I fancied, from what could be told by
the expression on the faces of the officers, that a regular
battle, providing we might get the best of it, would be
welcomed, even though there were no dollars to be
gained.</p>

<p>We were not to overhaul this second Britisher without
some labour, as we soon came to understand, for the brig
was a smart sailer, and more than once before she was
brought to did it appear as if she might succeed in giving
us the slip, despite the good qualities of our ship.</p>

<p>From ten o’clock in the forenoon until nearly daybreak
next morning, we staggered on under full press of canvas,
not gaining more than two miles in all that time, and then
Master Josh began to breed discontent by declaring that
we were astern of no less a craft than the <i>Flying
Dutchman</i> herself.</p>

<p>“We’ll board her even if she’s full to the scuppers with
ghosts,” the boatswain said, smiting his thigh with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
hand as if bent on splintering the bone. “We’ve had
enough of signs an’ tokens since this ’ere cruise began, an’
I’m comin’ to believe that our ill luck is caused by it. I’m
not settin’ myself up to put this whole ship’s company
into proper trim; but this much I’ll swear to, the next
man who begins to croak about what’s goin’ to happen
jest because a cross-grained timber went adrift in a gale,
will come mighty nigh havin’ to settle the question once
an’ for all with me. I’m not a fightin’ man naturally,
neither am I willin’ to hear so much chin over nothin’
more’n might have been expected.”</p>

<p>Both Simon and I were fully prepared to see these
words provoke such a quarrel as only the master-at-arms
could quell; but to our surprise not a word was spoken in
reply. Every man Jack of the croakers held his peace,
although there were many among them, notably Master
Josh, who might have given the boatswain more of a task
than he wanted, had it come to a game of fisticuffs.</p>

<p>Most likely the fact that we were in chase of what
might prove a rich prize prevented the men from indulging
in a fight; but certain it is that the challenge, for it could
be taken as nothing less, was not accepted.</p>

<p>I noted with considerable satisfaction, however, that we
heard no more about omens during the remainder of the
race, which came to an end about noon, with the British
brig <i>Benjamin</i> lying to about half a mile to leeward, and
Captain Ropes calling off a prize-crew to take her in
charge.</p>

<p>This craft, the second we had taken, was bound for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
England from Newfoundland, laden with fish, and commanded
by James Collins.</p>

<p>We took from her the mate and seven men, leaving on
board her captain, one man, and a boy, and sent from the
<i>America</i> Joseph Dixon and eight men, with orders to
make any port in the United States north of Nantucket.</p>

<p>There was no time spent in overhauling the prize. As
soon as the prisoners could be brought aboard we were
off, leaving Master Dixon to his own devices, so far as
keeping clear of British armed vessels was concerned.</p>

<p>Both Simon and I had hoped the prisoners taken from
the <i>James and Charlotte</i> would be sent away; but instead
of thus clearing the ship, we received an addition of eight
others, and, what concerned us two lads most nearly, we
were told off to care for the enemy in the way of keeping
them supplied with food and water.</p>

<p>It was the most distasteful task ever set me; but there
was no use in trying to cry off from it, and, even had it
been ten times worse than really was the case, I would
not have uttered a single word of complaint, save, perhaps,
to my comrade, for there had been full and plenty of
grumbling on this cruise.</p>

<p>Our duties, as we soon learned from the second officer,
consisted in carrying from the cook’s quarters to the hold
the food served out for each meal, and also to have an eye
over the prisoners during a certain portion of each day,
when the full crew was required to be on deck at the
regular drill.</p>

<p>Thus it was that we two lads found ourselves beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
control of Master Josh, who had not proven himself a
very good instructor, owing to the severe attack of fear
and grumbling which had come upon him with the carrying
away of the topmast, and I for one was not sorry to
make the change, although almost any other duty than
that of guarding and feeding the prisoners would have
been more to my liking.</p>

<p>I could not prevent a certain feeling of pity for these
poor fellows, who were thus kept in close confinement for
no other reason than that their king was at war with the
United States, and it is possible that both us lads did
somewhat toward making the imprisonment less irksome
at times.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br />
<small>GHOSTS.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">By waiting upon the prisoners, Simon Ropes and I
gained certain information of greater or less value,
although there was in the task nothing to give us
pleasure.</p>

<p>When it had been announced that we were at war once
more with the British king, I believed that all Englishmen
were our sworn enemies, as I held it my duty to be theirs;
but before we two lads had been four and twenty hours in
our new station aboard the <i>America</i>, I came to understand
that at least a certain portion of the Britishers were, in a
degree, friendly toward us.</p>

<p>As, for instance, these sailors whom we held prisoners
complained quite as bitterly as had we, because the king’s
ships impressed their men, and it really seemed as if the
mariners of both countries had equal cause for complaint,
although, as a matter of course, it was not as bad in the
case of the Britisher to be impressed, in order that he
might help defend his country, as it was for the American
to be taken against his will into the service of a monarch
whom he had no reason to love or respect.</p>

<p>These Britishers, weary of the long imprisonment, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
more than willing to hold converse with us lads, and as we
loitered in the dark hold, after having brought their food,
we heard many and many a story of cruelty practised by
the officers of the English navy against their own people,
until it seemed as if the king’s subjects had quite as much
reason to rise against his Majesty as had we in ’76.</p>

<p>However, it is not for me to set down such information
as is doubtless known to many of our people already;
but I must confine myself to the principal events which
occurred while Simon Ropes and I served on board the
armed ship <i>America</i>, and now has come the time when
the most thrilling of our experiences is to be related.</p>

<p>It was on the second night after we had parted company
with the <i>Benjamin</i>, and there was no more than air
enough stirring to give the ship steerageway, while a certain
mist hung over the water, partially obscuring the
faint light of the stars.</p>

<p>At sunset, not the faintest glimmer of a sail had been
seen, in either direction, and while the breeze held so
light it was certain nothing would heave in sight, therefore
were the men on the lookout more careless, knowing
full well their watchfulness would be vain.</p>

<p>Simon and I had come up from the hold about eight
o’clock, having loitered there a certain length of time
after the guard was changed, in order to talk with the
prisoners, and, coming on to the gun-deck, saw there
the men separated in little groups, as they had been
almost every night since that Friday mishap.</p>

<p>We knew full well what was the subject of their conversation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
or discussion, whichever it might be called, and,
wearied with the theme, we continued on to the spar-deck,
not minded to hear for the hundredth time what fate
befell this craft or that, to whose crew had been given
an omen similar to the one which came to us shortly after
leaving Salem.</p>

<p>Only a small portion of the watch on duty were awake.
There was nothing to be done, and the majority of the
men, wearied with the work of the day, were taking
advantage of every opportunity for cat-naps, when the
officers’ backs were turned.</p>

<p>Simon and I, new to the duty of caring for prisoners,
were heavy-hearted because of the suffering which we
knew the poor fellows were enduring, and felt no desire
for slumber. Indeed, had we been so minded, there was
nothing to have prevented our turning in at that moment,
since we were no longer forced to serve with either watch,
save at such times as all hands might be called.</p>

<p>Just abaft the mizzenmast was our favourite lounging-place
at such times, and there we went on this night,
thinking only of those whom we had left in the ship’s
hold, forgetting, for the time being, the evil predictions of
Master Josh and his messmates.</p>

<p>I was not conscious of gazing in any one direction. In
fact, there was nothing to be seen. Owing to the gloom,
the men, as they moved listlessly about, appeared to be
faint shadows rather than human beings, and the air was
so light that we failed to distinguish the break of foam,
as the waves swept either side our craft.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p>

<p>It was as if we were motionless, save for the lazy swell
on which the ship rose and fell so gently that one was
hardly conscious of any movement.</p>

<p>Simon and I were speaking of what had been told us
by one of the prisoners, who, three years before, had been
taken out of a British merchantman by one of the king’s
ships.</p>

<p>We discussed the injustice of thus making slaves of
free men, and unconsciously, perhaps because of the quiet
everywhere around, our voices sank into whispers.</p>

<p>Then it was that <a href="#i_062fp">suddenly I saw rising out from the
forecastle hatchway a white mass</a>.</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;">
<a id="i_062fp">
  <img src="images/i_062fp.jpg" width="398" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_62">“SUDDENLY I SAW, RISING OUT FROM THE FORECASTLE HATCHWAY,
A WHITE MASS.”</a></div>
</div>

<p>I failed to distinguish any semblance of a human form,
and yet, even in the darkness could see that this—whatever
it might be—occupied no more space than would
have been taken up by a man’s body.</p>

<p>Fear seized upon me at once, but even in my terror
and bewilderment, I wondered how it was possible for
me thus plainly to discern anything at such a distance,
while the darkness was so dense as to prevent my seeing
members of the watch standing near at hand.</p>

<p>Just for an instant I fancied myself the victim of a
delusion; but as I sat bolt upright, gazing forward with
my very heart in my eyes, Simon Ropes grasped me by
the arm nervously, yet firmly.</p>

<p>Then I knew that he had seen the same shape, and was
no less alarmed than I.</p>

<p>An exclamation of fear from out the darkness, twenty
paces or more away, told that we two were not the only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
ones who had seen this strange sight, and immediately
came a hail from the quarter-deck:</p>

<p>“Who’s that yelling like a baby?”</p>

<p>“It’s me; Tim Stubbs.”</p>

<p>“What’s the matter?”</p>

<p>“There’s a ghost, sir, come out of the forecastle hatch.”</p>

<p>“Have you turned fool?” the officer asked, angrily,
and I dimly understood that it was Mr. Fernald, the
second mate, who was speaking.</p>

<p>“It’s a ghost all the same, sir,” the man replied, in
quavering tones, while at that moment the shape, or whatever
it might be, seemed to fade away, and on the instant
was gone.</p>

<p>“It is out of sight now, sir,” some one shouted from
near the foremast; “but it was a ghost all the same, an’
that I’ll swear to!”</p>

<p>“Get below there, Stubbs, an’ see who’s trying to make
a fool of you,” Mr. Fernald cried, whereat the sailor
slouched slowly off, muttering to himself, and I knew full
well that if any search was to be made Tim Stubbs would
not be the one to conduct it.</p>

<p>Immediately the apparition, if so it can be called, had
vanished, one could hear from this point and that on deck
the voices of the men in hoarse whispers or mutterings,
thus showing that nearly all of the watch had seen the
singular thing.</p>

<p>Mr. Fernald most likely understood that the discipline
of the ship depended upon putting an end to any such
fancy as that we had a ghost aboard.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p>

<p>Not contenting himself with having ordered Stubbs
below, he ran forward at full speed, calling loudly for a
lantern as he dropped through the forecastle hatch.</p>

<p>I doubt if a single member of the watch followed him.</p>

<p>There had been so much talk of omens and signs since
the first Friday that the minds of the men were in good
condition to believe whatsoever smacked of the superstitious,
and at the moment—ay, for many a long day
afterward—I was firmly convinced that the form which
had risen through the hatchway was not of this earth.</p>

<p>What with the shouting of the mate, his rapid footsteps
on the deck as he ran forward, and the muttering of the
men, no little disturbance was created, thanks to the stillness
of the night, and while Simon and I crouched abaft
the mizzenmast, not daring to so much as speak, we heard
Captain Ropes’s voice as he came up from the cabin:</p>

<p>“What’s goin’ on here?” he asked of the helmsman,
and the latter replied, as if giving the most commonplace
information:</p>

<p>“There’s a bloomin’ ghost for’ard, sir, an’ the second
officer’s gone to catch him.”</p>

<p>The captain gave vent to an exclamation of impatience,
and striding to the break of the quarter-deck, he shouted:</p>

<p>“Forward there!”</p>

<p>“Ay, ay, sir,” came from a dozen voices.</p>

<p>“What’s the cause of this disturbance?”</p>

<p>“There’s a ghost in the forecastle, sir.”</p>

<p>I heard the captain literally snort as he smothered an
exclamation of anger, and a moment later he asked:</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>

<p>“Where is Mr. Fernald?”</p>

<p>“Gone after the ghost, sir.”</p>

<p>“What do you mean by that?” was the angry
question.</p>

<p>“There was a big something white popped up out of
the fo’castle, sir, an’ it smelled like a graveyard.”</p>

<p>“There was regular fire come out of its face,” another
added, whose imagination was more vivid.</p>

<p>“Let’s go back an’ tell father what we’ve seen,” Simon
whispered to me, and I caught at the suggestion eagerly,
anxious to hear what explanation the captain might make
of the strange thing which had appeared to us.</p>

<p>Silently as possible, lest the men should think we were
gone aft talebearing, the lad and I moved back to the
break of the quarter-deck, and were close at the captain’s
feet before he observed us.</p>

<p>“Who is that?” he asked, peering down, and Simon
replied:</p>

<p>“It’s me, father, and Nathan Crowninshield. We saw
what the man called a ghost, and were frightened by it.”</p>

<p>“Then you had best go ashore when next we make
port, an’ say that you are not fitted for sailormen,” the
captain cried, sharply. “Are you all turned fools that a
shadow shall persuade you there’s a ghost aboard?”</p>

<p>“It was not a shadow, sir,” I made bold to say.
“Simon and I were sitting just abaft the mizzenmast,
and I saw something white rise out of the forecastle
hatchway, even before any one spoke. Then it disappeared
as the men began calling one to another.”</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>

<p>“What was it like?” the captain asked, with a scornful
laugh.</p>

<p>“Like nothing, sir,” Simon replied. “It was simply a
white shape, but there was no fire about it, as one of the
men has stated, neither did I detect any odour.”</p>

<p>“Of course you didn’t, because there was nothing in
the hatchway. Most likely it was a reflection of the
canvas.”</p>

<p>“How could there be a reflection on a night like this,
sir?” a voice asked from out the darkness. “This
’ere is worse than a fog-storm for smother, an’ if them as
were amidships saw something come out of the fore-hatchway,
it is more than could be done if one of the crew was
nearabout there.”</p>

<p>All this was truth, as I realised on the instant.</p>

<p>Strain my eyes as I might, it was impossible to see the
figure of the speaker, and yet I knew full well that the
white form in the hatchway had loomed up clearly, not
indistinctly, as it would seem should be the case if it were
a gleam from a piece of canvas.</p>

<p>Before the captain could reply to the sailor, Mr. Fernald
came aft carrying a lighted lantern, and Simon’s father
asked, impatiently:</p>

<p>“Well, what did you find?”</p>

<p>“Nothing, sir. I reckon some of the men must have
been playing pranks.”</p>

<p>“They will have cause to regret anything of the kind,
if I can catch them at it,” the captain said, angrily, and
then, wheeling about, went straight into the cabin, followed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
by the second officer, who doubtless understood, as did I,
that Simon’s father preferred the report should be made
where none of the crew might overhear.</p>

<p>Once the two officers left the deck, it was as if every
man’s tongue had suddenly been unloosed, and the watch
below, most likely disturbed by the running about, came
pouring up to learn the cause of the unusual noise.</p>

<p>Then it was we learned the result of the second officer’s
search.</p>

<p>Some of the men had seen him come down with the
lantern and search about the gun-deck, but it was certain
he failed to find anything.</p>

<p>Now it can well be fancied into what a state of excitement
we were plunged, Simon and I among the others.</p>

<p>Those who had clung to the belief that the carrying
away of the topmast was an omen of ill fortune declared
the apparition in white to be a second warning, and I
question if there was a man forward of the cabin who
did not feel decidedly uneasy in mind.</p>

<p>It was nearly morning before Simon and I could compose
ourselves sufficiently to turn in, and when, after a
short time of slumber broken by most disagreeable dreams,
I leaped out of the swinging bed, it was only to find
the men in such a mental condition as it is difficult to
describe.</p>

<p>The crew of the <i>America</i>, who had deemed themselves
a fit match for twice their number of Britishers, were
vanquished by a defective spar, and a something the
character of which I could not then decide upon.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p>

<p>Nor was it possible for Simon and I to laugh at their
fears.</p>

<p>We knew full well that there had been a form in the
hatchway which showed itself even amid the gloom, and
no one could give it a name.</p>

<p>Perhaps, if Mr. Fernald had not made an immediate
search, we might have persuaded ourselves that some one
of the crew had been playing a trick; but as it was, there
had not been sufficient time elapse from the vanishing of
the apparition until the first officer went below with the
lantern for any mischief-maker to have concealed himself.</p>

<p>It is not my intention to make any attempt at setting
down here all that was said on the subject during the day.
There is not time enough in my life to write all the foolishness
I heard before nightfall.</p>

<p>Both my comrade and myself had given little heed to
the carrying away of the topmast on Friday; but the
whiteness in the hatchway was something which disturbed
us greatly, and I literally trembled when we were forced
to go into the dark hold to feed the prisoners.</p>

<p>The day passed without mishap or important event,
however.</p>

<p>From the officers we heard nothing whatsoever concerning
the matter, and the men talked about it altogether
too much to please me.</p>

<p>We saw no sail during this day, and when night came
the ship was bowling along before a six-knot breeze, which
should have blown from our minds all the fancies that
had taken possession of them.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p>

<p>But the darkness found us one and all more given
over to superstitious fears than before.</p>

<p>Both watches remained on deck, and I knew that not a
man loitered below, unless he took especial precautions to
hide himself, for when Simon and I came up from our
task in the hold, no person could be seen on the gun-deck.</p>

<p>From the eldest to the youngest they shunned the
darkness, and seemed to believe safety could be found
only in the open air.</p>

<p>Simon and I, having discussed the singular subject during
the day until we were sick and tired of it, were stretched at
full length just under the break of the quarter, amidships,
listening to the buzz of voices around us, and hearing now
and then a hum of conversation from the officers aft, who
were pacing to and fro in couples, as if fearing that this
new phase of affairs might breed trouble.</p>

<p>It was a time when one would say the most adroit
could not play a trick, and yet suddenly, as distinctly as
if the words had been bawled through a speaking-trumpet,
came the cry:</p>

<p>“Put back! The cruise is ended!”</p>

<p>For a single instant after the words rang out clear and
sharp, not a sound could be heard save the seething waves
as the stem of the ship divided them, or the whistling of
the wind amid canvas and cordage.</p>

<p>Then came a quick, angry cry from the captain:</p>

<p>“Let every man come aft! Every one of you! We’ll
break up this tomfoolery before I’m many hours older!”</p>

<p>It was much as if the crew were eager to obey the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
order, and in a twinkling the ship was crowded near
the break of the quarter, until Simon and I were like to
be trodden upon.</p>

<p>Then came a command which we could not hear, and
immediately afterward the second and third officers went
forward.</p>

<p>I understood full well that the captain counted on finding
some one skulking forward, who was trying to work
upon the fears of the men, which had been aroused by the
apparition of the night previous.</p>

<p>However, in case the officers failed to find any one
nearabout the hatchway from which the voice seemed to
come, it would hardly be a fair test, since any one of those
forward might have spoken the words, although not without
having been detected by some of his companions.</p>

<p>At all events, the search was carried on evidently with
great care, for fully fifteen minutes elapsed before the two
officers reappeared, and meanwhile Simon and I, being
sorely crowded against the break of the quarter, had
made bold to clamber up, by the aid of the men, until we
could sit upon the edge of the deck.</p>

<p>We were not more than six feet distant from Captain
Ropes when the officers made their report, and I distinctly
heard Mr. Fernald say:</p>

<p>“We found nothing, sir. There is not a man below
save those in the hold who are guarding the prisoners.”</p>

<p>“Where are the cooks?” the captain cried.</p>

<p>“Here, sir! Here, sir! Here, sir!” came from as
many different points amid the throng.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span></p>

<p>“Divide your watches, Mr. Fernald! Let us see who
is skulking!” the captain added, a moment later.</p>

<p>Those belonging to the starboard watch were sent to
the starboard side, and those in the port watch, opposite,
until the men were ranged in double lines from the quarter-deck
forward, Simon and I taking our places with the
rest, after which the captain and Mr. Fernald made a tour
of inspection.</p>

<p>This investigation did not please Simon’s father, as was
shown when it had come to an end, and he called for us
two lads to follow him with lanterns, while Mr. Fernald
was to write down each man’s name as he stood in line.</p>

<p>In this manner, after considerable time had been spent,
a list of the crew was written out, including the helmsman,
who, as a matter of course, had not left his station.</p>

<p>Then we went below; found the guards on duty, and
added their names to the list.</p>

<p>This done, the captain went on deck, and after he had
counted the written names, as I knew because Simon and
I held the lanterns that he might see clearly, he advanced
to the break of the quarter, and said:</p>

<p>“It is clear to me, my men, that there is some one on
board bent upon doing a mischief. You from Massachusetts
have heads too hard to believe that there may
be such things as ghosts who show themselves in the
darkness and shout with human voices. It is not necessary
for me to tell you, as I would children, that such
things are impossible,—that one who has left this world
has no desire to return. It would be a foolish sailorman<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
who, having gotten into a better place, should care to
come back, particularly on board ship. I repeat that
some one of you is trying to do a mischief, and warn all
hands that before many hours have passed I will discover
the offender. Then you may be certain there will be such
punishment dealt out as won’t soon be forgotten. If, however,
the guilty man chooses now to acknowledge what is
little less than a crime, he shall be forgiven; but let him
hold his peace five minutes longer, and he will wish he had
never shipped on board the <i>America</i>.”</p>

<p>The captain paused as if really expecting that some
member of the crew would step forward and acknowledge
that he had played the part of ghost; but not a man
moved.</p>

<p>I saw the old shell-backs look curiously at each other,
some of them with an expression on their faces which told
plainly that, unless the ghost himself came forward, the
captain would gain no information.</p>

<p>Well, Simon’s father waited while one might have
counted twenty, and then said, in a voice which was far
from firm, because of the efforts to control his anger:</p>

<p>“The starboard watch may go below, and since it is a
pleasure for some one here to act the part of ghost, I will
see to it that he is converted into one before four and
twenty hours have passed! Unless you were all old
women, there would be no necessity for any words. You
would know full well how ridiculous all this flummery is;
but since you have turned women and are ready to tremble
at the lightest sound, declaring it comes from another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
world, I will see to it the offender is brought up with a
round turn. In addition, I’ll give that man who talks too
much about this foolishness a round dozen by way of
reminding him that there’s nothing ghostly in the lash of
the cat. Now get below!”</p>

<p>The starboard watch obeyed on the instant, and Simon
and I, thinking it might not be well to loiter on deck while
the captain was in such a temper, followed them.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br />
<small>THE PRISONERS.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">I have made an attempt at describing the general
situation on board the <i>America</i> while her crew had
nothing more alarming to wag their tongues over than
the carrying away of the topmast, but have spent my
time in vain trying to show how they twisted that mishap
into the ugliest kind of an omen.</p>

<p>Previous to the appearance of the supposed ghost, it
seemed as if the conduct of the crew could not be more
mutinous unless, indeed, they had risen with deadly intent
against their officers; but now we two came to understand
that the former condition of affairs was as nothing
compared with the present.</p>

<p>Then the men had no more weighty subject for conversation
than something which was really not out of the
common, unless one chose to so twist it in his mind, and
there remained ample opportunity for argument and individual
belief.</p>

<p>Now, however, the situation was changed.</p>

<p>There was no opportunity for argument as to what had
been seen and heard, since every man Jack of us could do
no less than give the same evidence.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>

<p>It was no longer an omen which might be construed
equally well to mean good or evil; but a fact, to which the
officers could testify as well as the men.</p>

<p>When the starboard watch gained the gun-deck, after
having been so soundly rated by the captain, it was as if
each man was paralysed with fear by that mysterious
thing which had come upon us.</p>

<p>During many moments no one spoke. Each seemed
to be waiting for the other, and not daring to venture
a remark until the conversation had been opened.</p>

<p>Those of the men whose hammocks were slung well
forward clustered aft, where some of the elder members
of the watch were lighting their pipes preparatory to a
smoking-match, when, as we lads knew full well, all the
occurrences of the evening would be discussed.</p>

<p>None of the crew appeared willing to remain in the
vicinity of the forward hatchway, and more than one sat
facing aft, lest there might yet be some horrible thing to
be seen in the bow of the ship.</p>

<p>During this time of silence the thought came to me
suddenly that Captain Ropes himself must have been in
a certain degree impressed by the voice, else would he
have tried to convince the men that it was nothing supernatural,
instead of railing at them as he did.</p>

<p>The mind of a sailorman can be coaxed into almost
whatsoever channel you will; but it is not often possible
to force it.</p>

<p>Simon remained very near my side, and I was truly
thankful that he did so, because it seemed to me as if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
I really needed close contact with some human being
upon whom I could rely, in order to aid me in warding off
the terrible thing which appeared to threaten all on board.</p>

<p>When the men’s tongues were finally loosened, there
was no loud talking, no angry exclamations, no vehement
putting forth of this or that opinion; all hands were subdued
and solemn as though taking part in some religious
service the precise nature of which they did not understand,
and throughout the entire night—for no man so
much as dreamed of turning in—never a voice was raised
to a high key.</p>

<p>Even Master Josh, who ordinarily felt bound to make
himself heard from one end of the gun-deck to the other
whenever he put forth an opinion, was as low-voiced as
any woman, and failed to assert the authority which he
usually claimed belonged to him by virtue of age and
experience.</p>

<p>I might fill many pages while attempting to describe
the scene which was presented by the starboard watch
during the time allotted it below, and afterward by those
of the port watch when they came off duty, and yet not
succeed in portraying the situation as it really presented
itself to Simon and me.</p>

<p>Therefore I will make no further effort at picturing it;
but content myself by saying that it was as fearsome a
night as I have ever experienced, and since that day both
Simon and I have been in some exceedingly painful situations.</p>

<p>There were two facts prominent in the minds of all.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
First, that some ghostly visitor had come aboard, and second,
that it was necessary for the safety of all the <i>America</i>
be immediately steered on a direct course for home.</p>

<p>On these two points there was no difference of opinion;
but concerning the outcome many were disposed to take
the most gloomy view.</p>

<p>I believe of a verity that a full half of the crew were
convinced we should never see port again; that the ship
and all on board were doomed beyond the shadow of hope.</p>

<p>With such ideas in their minds, the men were in a most
dangerous frame of mind.</p>

<p>But few words were needed to bring about a veritable
mutiny, and had a single one of them offered himself as
leader, I have no question but that an attempt would have
been made, within the hour, to force Captain Ropes to do
the bidding of those who should have obeyed him.</p>

<p>One can well fancy how much blood would have been
spilled in event of an uprising, and, bearing this evident
fact in mind, it is not difficult to image the feelings of
Simon and myself as we stood betwixt that most terrible
tragedy of the sea—a mutiny—and the approaching doom
foretold by the ghostly visitor.</p>

<p>As I have said, no man occupied his hammock that
night, and those who had not remained on deck during the
entire time of darkness sought the open air with the first
dawning of day.</p>

<p>As may be expected, Simon and I followed them, for we
were not minded to remain alone on the gun-deck, where
it was yet dark, and I looked forward with dread to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
hour when we must go into the hold to carry the prisoners’
food.</p>

<p>Captain Ropes and his officers must have been well
aware of the dangerous condition of mind into which the
men were fallen, for no less than three paced the quarter-deck
constantly, and when an order was given they took
extra care that it should be obeyed promptly, as if fearing
lest the first indication of such delay as might be counted
for insubordination should prove to be the match that
exploded a magazine of fear and passion.</p>

<p>I observed, too, that all the officers carried their side-arms
as they would have done on the eve of an engagement,
and they kept vigilant watch upon every one of us.</p>

<p>As a matter of course, it would have been impossible to
prevent the men from talking among themselves; but I
noticed that, when there was any disposition on the part of
the crew to gather into little groups, some order was given
which would necessitate their separation, and much useless
work laid out as if for no other purpose than to keep
our time fully occupied.</p>

<p>It was like unto standing upon the summit of a volcano
which threatens to belch forth flame and death at any instant,
and the minutes were to me as hours.</p>

<p>Then the word was passed from the cook-house that
breakfast for the prisoners had been made ready, and
Simon and I went very unwillingly to take charge of it.</p>

<p>It was evident that even we two lads would not be
allowed to loiter in our work, for Mr. Fernald called sharply
after us, as we were going slowly forward:</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>

<p>“Bear a hand there, lads! There is to be no sodgerin’
this mornin’!”</p>

<p>We quickened our pace, Simon whispering to me, as we
did so:</p>

<p>“I wonder if he would step out lively in case it was his
duty to go below alone.”</p>

<p>“He did last night, when all the money in the world
wouldn’t have tempted me to drop through the fore-hatch.”</p>

<p>“That was because he had to do so, or own himself a
coward before the captain.”</p>

<p>“And we are in exactly the same plight,” I said, taking
heart as he grew timid. “While it is a fact that I’m
afraid to go below, I’d give up all my share of prize-money
rather than let Mr. Fernald understand exactly what is in
my mind.”</p>

<p>Like all imaginary dangers, this venturing into the hold
of the ship amounted to nothing, and when we were come
to the prison, which on board vessels is called the “brig,”
I breathed more freely, for, having once descended through
the hatch where had appeared the apparition, courage
began to return.</p>

<p>The sailors who had acted as guard during the night
welcomed our coming, and went on deck as soon as might
be, eager to learn the cause of the disturbance during the
evening previous.</p>

<p>We two lads were now in charge of the Britishers, and,
save when they were taken on deck for exercise, would be
held responsible for their safety until night came once more.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>

<p>We served out the food as usual, and while doing so it
appeared to me as if one man was presenting himself a
second time for the allowance, whereupon I asked:</p>

<p>“Were you not the third in line when we began to
serve breakfast?”</p>

<p>“If I had been you wouldn’t see me here now, because
I’d be workin’ my jaws over the scanty allowance.”</p>

<p>“There is nothing scanty about it,” Simon cried, indignantly.
“You are receiving the same amount of food as
does any member of our crew.”</p>

<p>“Well, I’m not grumbling except you are trying to
cheat me out of my portion,” the man said, half apologetically,
and without further ado I handed him a pannikin,
for we carried each man’s allowance in a separate dish, to
the end that the stronger might not take advantage of the
weaker, saying to myself as I did so:</p>

<p>“If that fellow has been served, as I fancy, we shall
come out short before all are fed.”</p>

<p>A moment later it appeared that I had wronged the
man, for nineteen pannikins had been passed into the brig,
which was exactly the number necessary if each prisoner
was to receive one.</p>

<p>Even with this proof I felt puzzled, for it surely seemed
as if one man had gotten a double allowance, and, without
really intending to do so, I counted the prisoners as they
were squatting here or there busily engaged with the meal.</p>

<p>There were but eighteen.</p>

<p>Again I counted, arriving at the same conclusion.</p>

<p>It did not seem possible one man alone could have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
escaped, for if such an opportunity had presented itself,
why did not some of the others take advantage of it? And
yet where was this nineteenth prisoner?</p>

<p>On board the ship, as a matter of course.</p>

<p>Therefore, so I argued to myself quickly, if there had
been an escape, it must have occurred after Mr. Fernald
searched the ship on the evening previous, when was heard
that strange voice, and yet the door of the brig was
securely fastened, while two men had, supposedly, kept
watch all night.</p>

<p>Now it came to me that I might be mistaken, although
that was hardly probable, and beckoning to Simon to come
aft with me to such a distance from the prisoners that the
words could not be overheard, I asked him the question:</p>

<p>“How many prisoners did we take from the <i>James and
Charlotte</i>?”</p>

<p>“Twelve all told,” he replied. “Eleven came down
here, and the captain went into the cabin.”</p>

<p>“How many came to us from the <i>Benjamin</i>?”</p>

<p>“Eight, and they are all here.”</p>

<p>“That should make nineteen,” I repeated half to myself.</p>

<p>“Ay, of course it does. What have you in your head
now?”</p>

<p>“Go and count the Britishers.”</p>

<p>“I can do that as I stand here,” and Simon commenced,
stopping when he had ended with eighteen, and beginning
over again.</p>

<p>“Is there one missing?” he asked, as if doubting the
evidence of his own senses.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p>

<p>Well, we puzzled over that matter half an hour or more,
examining every portion of the brig without allowing the
prisoners to understand what we were about, and it was
impossible to arrive at any other conclusion.</p>

<p>There were but eighteen men in the brig, and yet the
prison remained as it ever had been, so secure that anything
larger than a cat could not have gotten out.</p>

<p>Then we went aft a short distance, to discuss the
matter, and Simon repeated again and again this question:</p>

<p>“What could it advantage a man to escape from the
brig, in case an opportunity presented itself? By so doing
he would shut himself off from taking exercise in the open
air once a day, and stand a chance of getting mighty
hungry.”</p>

<p>“Now I am positive that the fellow to whom I spoke
took two allowances.”</p>

<p>“How can it avail the man who is free, if there be one
outside? With a guard kept night and day, nothing could
be passed out from the brig.”</p>

<p>I failed to answer his question, yet the fact remained
that, apparently, one of the prisoners was missing, and
lest we should have made a mistake in supposing nineteen
had been confined in the brig, I proposed to go quietly on
deck and ask some one of the men the same questions I
had asked Simon.</p>

<p>He, however, refused to be left alone, and I did not
count him a coward because of his fears.</p>

<p>What with the apparition and ghostly voice, and the
possibility that a Britisher might be roaming around the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
hold ready to make an attempt in case a single sentinel
should be left on duty, it was by no means cheerful to
take one’s chances alone.</p>

<p>Those sailors who had been acting as guard during the
night left their muskets, when they went on deck, according
to custom, nearabout the ladder leading to the
gun-deck, in case we might need them.</p>

<p>Heretofore the weapons had remained undisturbed,
because while the door of the brig was firmly secured it
did not seem as if we had any use for them.</p>

<p>Now, however, I armed myself with a musket, Simon
doing the same, and once more we retired out of ear-shot
for consultation.</p>

<p>There was in my mind a very well-defined idea that we
should, without delay, acquaint the captain of our discovery,
and yet I was eager to first avoid the possibility
of a mistake by questioning some of the men as to the
number of prisoners we had taken aboard, lest we be
laughed at for entertaining cowardly fears.</p>

<p>My mind was in such a whirl, what with one thing and
another happening during the past four and twenty hours,
that I was not willing to accept as evidence the fact that
the cooks had filled nineteen pannikins with food.</p>

<p>I suggested as much to Simon, whereupon he declared
that nothing would induce him to remain in the hold
alone; but that if I was so eager the matter be settled at
once, he would go on deck, leaving me to stand guard.</p>

<p>Then I suddenly came to the conclusion that no great
harm could be done, at least during this forenoon when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
we were keeping careful watch, and it might be as well
that we wait until the prisoners were taken out for exercise.</p>

<p>The Britishers must have understood that there was
something unusual in the wind, for it had been our custom
to pass the time in conversation with them, whereas we
now held ourselves aloof, not even offering to tell them
what the weather might be.</p>

<p>They talked in low tones among themselves for awhile,
and finally one called out:</p>

<p>“What was the rumpus last night?”</p>

<p>“How did you know there was any?” I asked, thinking
to learn how much they had heard.</p>

<p>“A man would need to be both blind and deaf who
couldn’t understand something was wrong when all hands
were runnin’ back an’ forth. One of the officers came
down here and searched the hold as if he’d lost his prize-money.”</p>

<p>“It seems you know more about it than we do, for I
could not have said the hold was searched last night.”</p>

<p>“It may have been that your mate was on a tour of
inspection; but at all events he gave this part of the
craft a pretty thorough overhauling. Did anything go
wrong?”</p>

<p>I was not minded that the prisoners should know in
what condition was our crew, lest, if a favourable opportunity
presented itself, they might think it possible to rise
against us successfully, although it would have been a
ridiculous notion for eighteen men, unarmed, to attack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
one hundred and fifty, with all the weapons on the ship at
their disposal.</p>

<p>Therefore I refused to answer the question by holding
my peace, and, most likely understanding that there was
some good reason for my silence, the Britishers gave over
questioning.</p>

<p>The time had come when a half a dozen or more of our
men should come down to take the prisoners on deck for
exercise, and when they arrived I was resolved to ask that
some of them act in our stead while we went aft for an
interview with the captain.</p>

<p>We waited impatiently, Simon and I both puzzling our
brains over the supposed fact that one of the Britishers
was missing, at the same time that we speculated with
fear upon the events of the previous evening.</p>

<p>The hours passed, and no one came to our relief.</p>

<p>The unfortunate men, whose only pleasure, I might
almost say comfort, consisted in an hour spent in the
open air, began to complain bitterly, and ask us again and
again why the necessary exercise was forbidden them.</p>

<p>“We have no reason to suppose that you will not be
taken on deck,” Simon said, petulantly, after the question
had been asked a dozen times. “Unless there may be a
chance of taking another prize, some of the crew must
surely be here very soon.”</p>

<p>These words of my comrade served to explain to my
satisfaction why we had been left so long alone.</p>

<p>Beyond a question something had come in sight, and
the <i>America</i> was in close pursuit, which would explain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
why the Britishers were denied their brief time of comparative
liberty.</p>

<p>It seemed to me as if it must be two or three hours
past noon, when a voice from the hatch which led into
the hold cried out:</p>

<p>“Here’s your grub, lads! Come up an’ get it!”</p>

<p>Quickly I ran to the foot of the ladder, shouting Mr.
Fernald’s name at the full strength of my lungs, for
although it seemed impossible one of the mates would
have performed such a task as bringing food from the
galley, the voice sounded strangely like his.</p>

<p>No reply was received to my outcries, and when I
gained the top of the ladder the gun-deck was deserted.</p>

<p>Nearby the hatchway were the pannikins of food; but
I gave no heed to them as I stood gazing around me,
rapidly giving way to fear and apprehension.</p>

<p>“What’s the matter?” Simon cried, coming hurriedly
to the foot of the ladder.</p>

<p>“That’s what I don’t know. Here are the prisoners’
dinners, and yet no one has come to relieve us.”</p>

<p>In silence, and like two stupids, I stood at the top and
he at the foot of the ladder, gazing at each other in what
was very like terror, and then, understanding that we were
giving the Britishers an exhibition of cowardice, I said,
sharply:</p>

<p>“If they have neglected us, it is no reason why we
should not do our duty. Stand by to take this grub, and
I’ll pass it down.”</p>

<p>Simon obeyed, and when all the pannikins were ranged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
in front of the brig ready for distribution, I came below,
saying to the prisoners as I did so:</p>

<p>“<a href="#i_086fp">We don’t count on giving a double portion to any one
of you this noon</a>, so form in line and hold your pannikins
in plain sight until all are delivered.”</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 401px;">
<a id="i_086fp">
  <img src="images/i_086fp.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_87">“‘WE DON’T COUNT ON GIVING A DOUBLE PORTION TO ANY ONE
OF YOU THIS NOON.’”</a></div>
</div>

<p>There was in front of the brig a small bar which, on
being removed, gave an aperture sufficiently large to pass
in food or water, and through this the prisoners were
served.</p>

<p>As a matter of course, there was one pannikin left after
each man had gotten his portion, and I fancied all the
Britishers looked grievously disappointed because we had
thus been careful in the distribution of food.</p>

<p>“What are we to do with this one?” Simon asked,
lifting the remaining dish.</p>

<p>“I reckon we had better divide what is in it, for it
seems much as if we had been forgotten this day.”</p>

<p>“But surely they count on relieving us for a time.”</p>

<p>“They haven’t done so as yet, and whoever brought
the grub was in a tremendous hurry.”</p>

<p>“What do you suppose can be happening on deck?”
the lad asked, in a whisper, and I, rendered irritable
because a similar question was in my own mind, causing
me decided fear, replied, sharply:</p>

<p>“What good can come of our speculating about matters
on deck? We have been set to this work, and should be
men enough to take what comes, or get along on what fails
us, without grumbling.”</p>

<p>“It must be they have sighted a Britisher, and are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
giving chase,” the lad said, as if trying by thus speaking
to persuade himself such was the case, while I, now
become a prey to gloomy fears, said, without believing
what I spoke:</p>

<p>“That must be the reason why whoever brought the
grub was in such a hurry to get on deck again.”</p>

<p>This reply appeared to satisfy Simon; but I was very
near to believing that the <i>America’s</i> crew had broken forth
in open mutiny.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br />
<small>A STERN CHASE.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">We two lads were given over to fear and anxiety, as
the hours went by and no one came to relieve us.</p>

<p>We had partially satisfied our hunger with the contents
of the nineteenth pannikin, and had plenty of water close
at hand with which to quench our thirst; but even though
we had suffered for both these necessaries, it would have
been as nothing compared to the distress of mind while
imagining that the worst might be happening on deck.</p>

<p>The prisoners must have understood, both because they
had not been taken out for exercise and owing to our
being thus neglected, that something serious was in the
wind.</p>

<p>For a time they plied us with questions, and then,
realising that we either could or would not afford them
any satisfaction, gave over the attempt.</p>

<p>I fancied they appeared disturbed, as if it were possible
to guess somewhat of the situation, and I also wondered if
there were really another man, who, having by some
mysterious means gotten out of the brig, lurked about
near at hand ready to do whatsoever he might toward
releasing his comrades.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>

<p>Before noon we understood that the wind was increasing
in force, for the ship plunged into the deeps of the waves
and clambered up again in such manner as told that she
was labouring heavily.</p>

<p>Other than by the motion of the craft it was impossible
to even guess what might be going on above, save that we
might be in pursuit of an enemy.</p>

<p>We knew full well our crew was so strong in numbers
that a dozen men might have been spared, even in the
midst of the most furious tempest, to relieve us for at
least so long as would be necessary to get our dinner.</p>

<p>Because of our mental anxiety, it was impossible to
form any fair idea regarding the passage of time; but it
seemed to me as if the night must have come, when
Simon said, in a whisper, his voice quavering wofully:</p>

<p>“Would you be willing to stay here alone, while I went
on deck to learn what may be happening?”</p>

<p>“It seems positive one of the prisoners is outside the
brig, and it might be that, when there was only a single
boy on guard, he would make an attempt at setting his
comrades free,” I replied, rejoicing that I had so valid an
excuse to give; for, of a verity, I should have been in sore
distress at being forced to remain there alone, even though
all the Britishers were safe within the prison.</p>

<p>“I would give much to know why they have seemingly
forgotten us,” the lad said, with a long-drawn sigh.</p>

<p>“Then stay here, and I’ll find out in a twinkling.”</p>

<p>“If it is dangerous for you to be here alone, surely I
should not be asked to take the chances.”</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>

<p>“I’m not asking you; but simply showing how we may
learn what has happened.”</p>

<p>“Some one must come in course of time, no matter how
much mischief has been done, and perhaps it is just as
well if we wait patiently,” he said, with an effort to speak
in a cheery strain, and at that instant I could have cried
aloud with joy, for the gleam of dull light from the hatchway
was shut off by the figure of a man.</p>

<p>It was Tim Stubbs, who had come thus tardily to our
relief, and I dare venture to say he was never before
greeted so warmly or heartily.</p>

<p>Both us lads ran toward him, laying hold of his garments
before he could descend the ladder, as if we feared
he might reconsider his purpose of paying us a visit.</p>

<p>“Had quite a long spell of standin’ watch, eh, boys?”
he cried, cheerily, glancing quickly around, to make certain
all was well.</p>

<p>“We’ve been here all day, and the cooks have even
forgotten to bring the prisoners’ supper. What is the
matter?” I cried, impatiently.</p>

<p>“I reckon the Britishers can hold on till night before
they howl for another feed.”</p>

<p>“Isn’t it dark yet?” Simon asked, in surprise.</p>

<p>“Dark, lad? No, nor it won’t be for three or four
hours. The crew have just been served with dinner. I
got through with my share of the grub first, an’ slipped
down here without orders, to see how you was comin’
on.”</p>

<p>“What has happened that you’ve been kept waiting so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
long for something to eat?” Simon cried, and I began to
despair of getting any information from this sailor, who
had stood our friend ever since we recovered from the
attack of homesickness and seasickness.</p>

<p>“First an’ foremost, the wind got up a bit, all in a
jump, an’ we had a lively job gettin’ the old hooker
snugged down to it. Then we’d no more’n—”</p>

<p>“Have we run into another gale?” Simon interrupted.</p>

<p>“Well, lad, I allow we’ve got what you might call a
leetle more’n half a full breeze, with the chances that
there’ll be greater weight to the wind before mornin’.”</p>

<p>“Was it so bad that, out of all the crew, none could
come down here to relieve us a few moments?” I asked,
irritably, for there was in my mind a sense of being
needlessly neglected.</p>

<p>“Not exactly that, lad; but we’d no sooner snugged
her down in good shape, when a Britisher heaves in
sight. Nothin’ would satisfy the old man but that we
must shake two reefs out of the topsails, an’ set the maintopgallantsail.
It wasn’t what you might call easy work,
an’, accordin’ to my thinkin’, we’re likely to carry away
another spar before midnight.”</p>

<p>“And you’ve been at that work all day?” Simon cried,
incredulously.</p>

<p>“Well, it amounts to that, for we’ve humped ourselves
lively since the word was given to shorten sail, which
didn’t come till nigh on to noon. The old man racked his
brains all the mornin’ to find somethin’ to keep us busy,
an’ you can make up your mind that there was no sodgerin’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
while he stumped the quarter-deck, lookin’ sour
enough to shame vinegar.”</p>

<p>“Why weren’t the prisoners taken on deck for exercise?”</p>

<p>“That’s a question the captain may best answer. All
I can say is, that every man Jack of us has been on the
clean jump since you came below. If the old man thinks
he can work last night’s business out of our heads, he’s
makin’ a big mistake. The port watch had no more’n got
below than they fell to jawin’ about it livelier than ever.
Josh Seabury says there’s a chance to save our lives if the
<i>America’s</i> course is changed right soon.”</p>

<p>“You’ll hardly see the ship heading for home while
there’s a Britisher in sight, and I should think the
men would be ashamed to speak of such a possibility,”
Simon cried, stoutly, and it was no more than right for
him to say whatsoever he might by way of defending his
father.</p>

<p>“Well, the Britisher is in sight, an’ that’s about all
you can say,” Tim Stubbs replied, reflectively. “We’ve
picked up somethin’ this time that ain’t to be overhauled
in short order. It’s a question in my mind which craft
is the best sailer. Both of ’em has the same rig, an’ it’s a
toss-up whether we’re gainin’ ground or fallin’ astern.”</p>

<p>“Are we carrying much sail?” Simon asked.</p>

<p>“You’ll think so when you look aloft. We’re dressed
out in fine-weather style, with every rag tuggin’ at the
spars fit to jump ’em clean out of the old hooker, even if
they was the best timber ever cut. If the <i>America</i> holds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
all her sticks till mornin’, I’ll be willin’ to say that I didn’t
hear any ghost’s voice last night, nor see a bit of white in
the fore-hatchway.”</p>

<p>“Is it a ship we’re chasing?” I asked, with a view of
preventing Stubbs from dwelling on that very disagreeable
happening.</p>

<p>“Ay, lad, an’ a clipper. I counted that the <i>America</i>
could outsail anything that ever floated; but she’s come
mighty nigh to meetin’ her match this time. I’ll venture
to say there isn’t the difference of half a cable’s-length
betwixt us and her, from what there was when she first
hove in sight. She brought down a fog bank with her,
an’ was showin’ topgallantsails when we sighted. It
ain’t any two to one but that she carries as much metal
as we, an’ even if we overhaul her, there won’t be any
child’s play to follow.”</p>

<p>“If the Britisher is well armed, why should she run
away?” Simon asked, now grown so interested in the
chase that the fears which had assailed him were almost
forgotten.</p>

<p>“Most likely she can’t make up her mind how heavy we
are, or she may have no stomach for a fight jest now; but
it’s certain that we won’t put a prize-crew on board, if it so
be we overhaul her, which I misdoubt, without payin’ a
good price for the privilege.”</p>

<p>It can well be imagined that the prisoners were listening
eagerly to all Stubbs was saying.</p>

<p>We three had remained near the foot of the ladder,
within four or five yards of the door of the brig, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
sailor spoke in a tone so loud that they could not fail to
catch every word.</p>

<p>As I came suddenly to realise this once more, my
thoughts went back to the fact that one of the men had
succeeded in getting out of the prison, and straightway
the desire to give such information to the captain or Mr.
Fernald grew strong within me.</p>

<p>For an instant I made up my mind to explain the situation
to Stubbs, but checked myself as I came to understand
that it was my duty to first make the captain
acquainted with what we had learned.</p>

<p>“Is there any good reason why you can’t hold on here
for a spell?” I asked, abruptly, interrupting the sailor as
he was about to tell us more regarding the chase.</p>

<p>“There’s no knowin’ when all hands may be called, an’
while the old man has got such a lively bee in his bonnet I
wouldn’t like to be missin’ when wanted.”</p>

<p>“But it isn’t reasonable to keep us here all day on a
stretch, without food, when there are so many aboard
who must be idling,” I cried, hotly.</p>

<p>“I grant you that, lad; but it’s the captain’s business
to send orders that you be relieved.”</p>

<p>“If you’ll stand here five minutes, I’ll tell the captain
what you are doing, and why we pressed you into service,”
Simon said, eagerly, whereupon I, believing that one of
the prisoners was probably lurking about close at hand
ready for mischief, understood that it would not be safe
for Stubbs to remain on duty alone unless we had first
warned him of the possible danger.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>

<p>“Stubbs shall stay here with me, and you may go on
deck, Simon,” I cried, giving my comrade a look which I
hoped he would understand as meaning that he was to
acquaint his father with what we had learned.</p>

<p>The lad nodded his head as if in reply to my glance,
and, without waiting for the sailor’s permission, ran up
the ladder at full speed.</p>

<p>I asked Stubbs if the men still felt disturbed by last
night’s occurrences, whereupon he replied, in a tone which
plainly told that he thought me a simple for venturing
such a question:</p>

<p>“After you’ve seen a thing, an’ heard a thing speak,
how’re you goin’ to get it out of your head, simply because
the captain gives the command that you must? We’ll
allow that the carryin’ away of the topmast on a Friday
didn’t signify nothin’, an’ that Josh Seabury is way off his
reckonin’ when he holds that it was a warnin’ for us to
bring this ’ere cruise to an end. That leaves us free an’
clear up to last night, when that bloomin’ thing popped
out of the fore-hatchway. Now you’ll agree, as must
every honest man, that shadows don’t show white, an’
stars can’t throw out any light when the mist covers
’em entirely. It couldn’t be anything more or less than
a ghost, lad.”</p>

<p>“But there are no such things, Stubbs!” I cried, hoping
to convince myself by speaking in a loud tone. “No
one but a foolish old shellback like Master Joshua would
ever allow that there are ghosts.”</p>

<p>“When you see a thing, you’re bound to believe in it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
no matter what any one else may say,” the sailor replied,
stubbornly. “But as Josh Seabury asks: Allowin’ that
all hands of us fell to dreamin’, an’ neither you, nor me,
nor the rest of the watch saw anything, what do you make
of the order for us to put back to port? Who or what
was it yelled the words in sich a way as no livin’ man can
yell, an’ what did the thing mean by sayin’ the cruise was
ended?”</p>

<p>It would have been better for my own peace of mind if
I had not brought the conversation around to this point.</p>

<p>Instead of convincing Stubbs there were no such things
as ghosts, he had, by repeating Master Joshua’s arguments,
almost persuaded me that we had seen and heard a veritable
spirit, whose mission it was to warn us of impending
danger.</p>

<p>I fell silent, and the sailor began filling his pipe as he
walked toward the prison, bent on holding friendly converse
with those who, through the unlawful acts of the
king, had unwittingly become our enemies.</p>

<p>The Britishers questioned him eagerly concerning the
chase, and he freely gave the desired information, discussing
with them the chances of overhauling the ship,
which he appeared to consider were very slight.</p>

<p>I did not care to listen, even though I burned to learn
all that had taken place while Simon and I were forced to
remain in the darkness.</p>

<p>Talking with Stubbs concerning the events of the
previous evening had aroused all my nervous fears, and
I was quite prepared to believe that whosoever had escaped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
from the brig was making ready to attack us,
although what might have been gained if all the prisoners
were at that moment released from the brig, I could not
have explained.</p>

<p>Standing with my back to the ladder lest some one might
creep up from behind, and my musket ready for immediate
use, I waited, feverishly impatient, for Simon’s return.</p>

<p>He came after perhaps half an hour had passed, although
the time seemed to me much longer than that, and I saw
at once he had failed in his purpose.</p>

<p>“You didn’t speak with your father!” I cried, in a
tone of reproof, and indeed for the instant it was to me
as if the lad had failed because of negligence.</p>

<p>“It couldn’t be done,” he said in a half-whisper. “Word
has been passed that none of the crew are to come aft even
so far as the break of the deck, without being summoned,
and the third officer stands there, holding for dear life on
the mizzen-shrouds, lest the heavy waves sweep him over
the rail, to stop any who dare make the venture.”</p>

<p>“I should have tried it at all hazards. There isn’t an
officer on board who would have prevented you from gaining
speech with your father.”</p>

<p>“That was what I believed, but soon learned my mistake.
The boatswain pulled me back, and when I told
him that I must speak with the captain at once on important
business, he swore he’d put me in irons if I didn’t
go forward.”</p>

<p>“What is the meaning of such orders?” I asked,
indignantly, and Simon whispered in my ear:</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>

<p>“Master Joshua told me the port watch had sworn the
ship should be put about without loss of time, and were
making for the quarter-deck when the captain and two of
the mates drove them back at the point of their pistols.
It’s little less than mutiny, and the men openly admit as
much.”</p>

<p>“But surely you wouldn’t be mistaken for a mutineer!”</p>

<p>“The third officer and the boatswain must obey orders,
and you know full well that I don’t count as being the
captain’s son while we’re members of the crew.”</p>

<p>Surely the situation must be serious if such precautions
had been taken, and I said to myself that the cruise was
indeed likely to be ended very shortly, omens or no omens,
unless there was a speedy change in affairs.</p>

<p>Then, after a pause, and rather for the sake of continuing
a conversation than because I had any real curiosity
regarding the matter, I asked:</p>

<p>“Did you see the Britisher?”</p>

<p>“Ay, and she’s staggering under the same canvas as
we. It doesn’t seem possible either craft can stand up
very long under such a press of sail. It is blowing a full
gale; our decks are awash, and the ship is burying herself
to such an extent that every third or fourth wave sweeps
over her from stem to stern. It’s enough to make a fellow
turn pale with fear, to stand there five minutes watching
the surge towering on either hand, ahead and astern, even
above the mastheads. Twice, while trying to make my
way aft, I was like to being washed overboard. Some
of the men say that my father is doing his best to make<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
good the words spoken by the ghost last night, for it
surely seems as if the cruise would be ended very shortly.”</p>

<p>Simon’s courage was no better than mine, and verily we
were an unhappy pair.</p>

<p>At that moment there came before my eyes a picture of
the home in Salem where my mother awaited the return
of her son, and I wondered why I should have been such
a fool as ever to leave her when there was no real need
for so doing.</p>

<p>Then I bethought me of our own immediate trouble,
and asked, angrily:</p>

<p>“Did you learn why we have been left here so long?
Are we to be starved?”</p>

<p>“I question much if those aft remember that we were
left in charge of the prisoners, or, remembering it, if they
suppose that we have not been relieved.”</p>

<p>“If both watches have been kept on deck since daylight,
who could have taken our places?” I cried, angrily.</p>

<p>“With a veritable mutiny on hand, a gale of wind, and
a Britisher to be caught, we two lads don’t cut any great
figure on board just at present,” Simon replied, with a
faint smile, and then I understood that his heart was even
more sore than mine, because of having been denied the
privilege of going aft, particularly since he had seldom
made the attempt.</p>

<p>Tim Stubbs discovered about this time that he should
be on the gun-deck, and would have left us hurriedly but
that I clutched at his arm, holding him sufficiently long
to ask:</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>

<p>“Do you intend that we shall spend four and twenty
hours here alone, with nothing to eat?”</p>

<p>“It isn’t anything I can help, lad. I’ll speak to the
bo’sun about it, if I get the chance.”</p>

<p>Then he freed himself from my grasp and was gone,
leaving Simon and me gazing discontentedly into each
other’s eyes.</p>

<p>Lest he who chances to read these lines should be
brought to think that Simon Ropes and I were babies,
who could not remain on duty twelve hours at a stretch
without weeping and wailing over it, let me call attention
to the general situation, which was sufficient to take the
heart out of lads far stronger than we two.</p>

<p>Had it been necessary for us to stand guard four and
twenty hours, or even twice that length of time on a
stretch, because we were in pursuit of an enemy, the
labour would have seemed as nothing. Or, had any
ordinary event in a sailorman’s life rendered it important
that we should perform even a more laborious task,
not a word of complaint would have been heard from our
lips.</p>

<p>It was the nameless dread which had come upon us
since the evening previous; the haunting fear that one
of the prisoners was lying in wait to make a sudden
attack; the possibility that the men might rise in
mutiny,—it was all these which rendered us timid and
peevish.</p>

<p>We gave way to terror unnecessarily at this particular
time, however, for Tim Stubbs had hardly more than left<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
us before two old shellbacks came down to relieve us,
stipulating, as we hastened toward the ladder in our eagerness
to breathe the fresh air once more, that we should
bring them news of the chase from time to time.</p>

<p>“We’ll keep you posted,” I cried, “and you in turn are
to be on the alert every instant. Have your muskets where
they may be come at handily, and be quick at facing about
in case you hear any unusual noise from behind.”</p>

<p>Some of the prisoners looked at me oddly as I gave this
advice, which was as near as I cared to come at revealing
what I believed to be the true state of affairs, and one of
the sailors asked:</p>

<p>“Have you lads grown chicken-hearted from bein’ down
here in the dark? What need have we of muskets while
the Britishers remain safe behind them ’ere wooden
bars?”</p>

<p>“There’s no knowing what might happen,” I replied,
speaking gravely in order that the words should have more
weight. “It isn’t safe to think everything is in proper
order when there’s a chance that appearances may be
deceitful.”</p>

<p>I was looking full in the face of one of the prisoners as
I spoke, and it seemed to me that the fellow changed
colour; but of this I could not be positive.</p>

<p>However, I did not stop many seconds to observe the
effect of my words.</p>

<p>It seemed to me certain I could succeed in gaining
speech with the captain, regardless of the orders that no
one should go aft, and I followed Simon on deck, feeling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
that such time of suspense as had been caused by the
Britishers would soon be at an end.</p>

<p>On the gun-deck we found the watch off duty, or a
certain number of the men, crouching very close together
in private converse, and this, to my mind, boded no
good.</p>

<p>They ceased talking as Simon and I approached, which
was additional proof that they had been plotting mischief.</p>

<p>Surely the gale, which appeared, judging from the
ship’s motions, to be increasing in force each instant, and
the knowledge that we were in hot pursuit of an enemy,
should have kept their thoughts from mutiny; but that
which they had seen and heard was too mysterious and
uncanny to be driven from their minds, whatever the
counter attraction.</p>

<p>Simon and I literally clawed our way along, forced to
keep a firm hold continually upon something, else the
terrific upward bounds and downward plunges of the ship
would have flung us headlong against the gun-carriages.</p>

<p>I had never before found it so difficult to keep my
footing; never believed a huge ship could be tossed in
such fashion by the wind and waves.</p>

<p>It seemed to me in the highest degree foolhardy to continue
the chase under such circumstances, and I questioned
if it had not already been abandoned.</p>

<p>“What sail are we under?” I asked of the man nearest,
bawling the words in his ear because the uproar even
down there between decks was so great that one was
forced to shout in order to make himself heard.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>

<p>“Carryin’ everything that can be jammed on her,” the
sailor replied, with a growl of discontent. “The captain
is bound to make good the words of the ghost, an’,
accordin’ to the looks of things, I’d say the cruise is like
to be ended in short order.”</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br />
<small>A LIVELY SCRIMMAGE.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">It surely seemed as if the possibility of capturing the
chase might have kept the men’s thoughts, for a time
at least, from those mysterious happenings which had sown
the seeds of mutiny among us; but yet such was not the
case.</p>

<p>For my part, the gale which was buffeting the ship,
because she dare show such a press of canvas that at
times it appeared as if the fabric lay upon her beam ends,
was enough to banish all thought of that which occurred
and could not readily be explained.</p>

<p>Had the <i>America</i> been snugged down in proper condition
to meet the furious blasts, the tempest might have
howled yet louder without causing a single sensation of
uneasiness or fear, because we knew full well that the
good ship was fit to meet any ordinary tumult of nature.</p>

<p>But when, in the midst of what might almost be called a
tempest, her captain had ordered that she be given as
much canvas as could be carried, without literally burying
her, then was the situation such as seemed to demand the
attention of every one.</p>

<p>Had these mutinously inclined sailors cried out against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
Captain Ropes’s thus forcing the ship to her utmost point
of endurance, then would there have been method in their
madness.</p>

<p>Instead of this, however, they allowed their minds to
dwell upon the past, shrinking before the imaginary evils,
and apparently giving no heed to the imminent danger
which threatened.</p>

<p>As these thoughts came into my mind, I stood clasping
with both hands the stanchion, lest I be hurled like a
shuttle-cock around the deck, lost in amazement because
the men could be so keen in following their own superstitions,
and so dull to present surroundings.</p>

<p>Simon, who had been following close at my heels, and
was now swaying to and fro at my side as he clutched the
same support, said, after we had surveyed the groups of
mutinous sailormen:</p>

<p>“Let us try to go on deck. It may be that we shall
succeed in having speech with my father, and it appears
to me necessary he should know what we have learned.”</p>

<p>Anything was preferable to remaining there, so I said
to myself, although doubting if it would be possible for us
to gain the spar-deck.</p>

<p>Waiting until the ship was comparatively steady for an
instant, we forsook the stanchion to make a rush for the
next nearest stationary object to which we could cling,
and thus, by short stages, after no little expenditure of
time, succeeded in gaining the hatch, which had been left
open only sufficiently wide to admit of the passage of a
man’s body.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>

<p>Here we stood on the ladder, with our heads just
showing above the combing, witnessing such a terrifying
spectacle as I had never before seen.</p>

<p>To describe the ship as she literally wallowed through
the foaming waters, is beyond my power.</p>

<p>There were times when it appeared to me as if the gun-deck
was two feet beneath the surface, and, in a twinkling,
both of us lads were drenched to the skin, although, as I
have said, only our heads and shoulders were exposed.</p>

<p>The labouring craft, carrying such a press of canvas as
prevented her from rising to the waves, literally ploughed
her way through them. The spars groaned as they
buckled to the wind, until it appeared each instant as if
they must go by the board. Now and then, when we
were so far beneath the yawning chasms of water that the
force of the gale was shut off from us momentarily,
the slatting of chains and bolt-ropes made a din so great
that it could not have been equalled by an army of blacksmiths
hammering at their anvils.</p>

<p>A wilder or more awe-inspiring scene cannot be imagined,
and to Simon and me, inexperienced as we were in
a seafaring life, the peril appeared exceeding great.</p>

<p>Now and then, far in the distance, directly over the bow,
could be seen the topsails of the chase, who must have
been making as heavy weather of it as we were, and I said
to myself that it was no longer a question of measuring
strength between Britisher and Yankee, but simply a contest
which would be decided in favour of the ship that had
been most carefully and strongly constructed.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p>

<p>To pursue an enemy under such conditions seemed
little less than madness; yet I afterward came to believe
that Captain Ropes’s recklessness, at such a time, was far
more potent toward subduing the mutiny of the crew than
any other course he might have pursued.</p>

<p>There was no need for us to discuss the question of
trying to gain speech with the captain.</p>

<p>It would have been literally impossible for either of us
to have made our way aft to the quarter-deck, even though
no one stood ready to oppose us, and this Simon understood
as well as I.</p>

<p>Clutching me by the arm to attract attention, for in
such a place one might have bawled himself hoarse, without
making his words heard twelve inches away, Simon
motioned for me to descend, and with no little difficulty
we made our way once more to the gun-deck.</p>

<p>Here, in a corner which was sheltered by one of the
gun-carriages, we contrived to carry on a fragmentary
conversation, during which it was agreed that the crew
should not be told of what we had discovered regarding
the prisoners until we could gain speech with the
captain.</p>

<p>While the ship was labouring so violently, there was
little danger that those in the brig would attempt any mischief,
however favourable an opportunity presented itself,
and we would be warranted in holding our peace, so long
as both of us remained on the alert.</p>

<p>As a matter of course, under ordinary circumstances,
we would not have hesitated to inform the men that one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
of the Britishers had escaped, and this would have been
clearly our duty; but now, while they were in a state of
mutiny, so to speak, it seemed advisable that we keep
secret what had been learned.</p>

<p>It was impossible to pay a visit to the cook’s quarters
for the purpose of getting food, and we knew beyond a
peradventure that all hands must content themselves with
bread and water until the gale had so far abated as to
render work in the kitchen possible.</p>

<p>Although such a task was in the highest degree distasteful,
we lads descended into the hold after having held
this brief consultation, and there remained, much to the
surprise of those sailors who were on guard.</p>

<p>Here the tumult, save as shown by the plunging and
rolling of the ship, was comparatively slight, and we might
have indulged in conversation without great exertion; but
neither of us felt inclined for words at such a time.</p>

<p>I fancied Simon Ropes was much in the same frame of
mind as myself. It seemed as if death was close upon us,
and that the next instant might seal our doom.</p>

<p>The Britishers were naturally eager to learn what was
being done, and, thinking they would be more disposed to
defer any plans of escape which might have been made, if
the truth were known, I readily explained to them the situation
as it had been presented to me.</p>

<p>After this was done, Simon and I, each holding a
loaded musket, and on the alert for any noise which might
proclaim the whereabouts of that man who had succeeded
in getting out of the brig, sat with our backs against the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
bulkhead, having in such position a full view of those who
should be closely guarded.</p>

<p>Even now, as memory goes back, I am surprised that we
lads were not wholly overcome by terror.</p>

<p>The ship staggering under canvas enough to bury her;
the tempest raging and howling, eager to destroy the handiwork
of man; the mutinous crew on the gun-deck plotting,
perhaps, against their officers, and in the hold nineteen
men ready to risk their lives in an effort to escape.</p>

<p>It was a series of perils which one would say must finally
overwhelm us, and I saw but little hope in the future.</p>

<p>There is no reason why I should dwell at length upon
all these terrors, for they menaced us until we lads were
numb with despair.</p>

<p>During all that night the <i>America</i> staggered on, like
some living thing pursued by the furies, and, meanwhile,
Simon Ropes and I shared the duties of the guard, not
daring to tell them that we knew of more danger in the
work than they imagined.</p>

<p>At some time in the evening ship’s biscuit and cold
boiled pork had been served, for the cooks were unable to
prepare even a pannikin of tea, and when morning came
the situation remained unchanged.</p>

<p>One of the sailors who had stood guard with us attempted
to make his way on deck, and came back reporting
much the same state of affairs as when we had tried
to gain speech with Captain Ropes.</p>

<p>The hours passed slowly; breakfast was the same as
the supper of the night previous, and we munched the dry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
bread, washing it down with water from the scuttle-butt
which had been lashed in the hold to supply the prisoners,
while our bodies were bruised and sore from being flung
about, despite all our efforts to remain in one position,
when the motions of the ship were most violent.</p>

<p>As the forenoon wore on, I fancied that the ship
laboured less heavily, and those of the sailors who remained
in the hold with us predicted that the gale would
have come to an end before sunset; but none believed we
might be able to come up with the chase.</p>

<p>Then it was that all of us were astounded by a call to
quarters, and the bo’sun’s mate who brought us the order
announced that the hatch on the gun-deck leading to the
hold was to be fixed in place with bars, in order that the
prisoners’ guard might be at liberty to take their proper
stations with the remainder of the crew.</p>

<p>It seemed absolutely impossible that Captain Ropes
could have it in mind to open an engagement under such
conditions of the weather, and yet the order brought to us
told plainly that we were come within range of the chase,
and also that she was disposed to show fight rather than
surrender peaceably.</p>

<p>The sailormen who were with us looked grave and disturbed
as they prepared to obey the command, and we two
lads were literally bewildered by mingled fear and astonishment.</p>

<p>However, the hatch was secured in place so firmly that,
even though all the Britishers succeeded in getting out of
the brig, they could not leave the hold.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>

<p>When we stood on the gun-deck once more, quivering
with fear at the thought of taking part in a battle,
I, despite all my timorousness, did not fail to see all the
details.</p>

<p>The ports had been opened, and through one or the
other, from time to time, came great jets of water as the
waves dashed against the ship, flooding the deck until our
gunners stood knee-deep in the briny surge.</p>

<p>The hatchway leading to the magazine was guarded by
two men, who held it in place as the seas came aboard,
and stood ready to open it for the gunners’ assistants
whenever they were forced to descend for ammunition.</p>

<p>I question now, since having come to know more regarding
such affairs, if sailormen ever took part in a
queerer engagement than we were making ready for.</p>

<p>Fancy loading heavy guns when the powder must be
held in the arms of the men lest it be rendered worthless
by moisture! Think of two or three sailors holding their
coats or strips of tarpaulin around the cartridge while it
was being placed in the muzzle of the piece, to guard
against a sudden inrush of the water! Picture to yourself
the ship plunging, rising, rolling, and tossing about while
the men made ready to shed the blood of their fellow
creatures!</p>

<p>Now and then, as the fabric rose heavily upon the
mountains of water, we could see to leeward, half a gunshot
distant, a ship which looked to be the very counterpart
of our own, save that the cross of St. George was
floating where we displayed the stars and stripes.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>

<p>All show of mutiny had disappeared from the faces of
the crew, so far as I could make out.</p>

<p>The strangeness of the situation had driven away all
discontent, and once more was the <i>America</i> manned by
big-hearted, whole-souled Yankee sailors.</p>

<p>During the drills which had been carried on regularly
from the beginning of the cruise, Simon and I came to
know that our stations in time of an engagement were at
Master Joshua’s gun, and although it was not possible lads
like us could be of any assistance in carrying ammunition
while the ship was plunging so violently, we went to our
posts as if counting on rendering all necessary service.</p>

<p>“Yonder is a prize well worth the taking, lads,” Master
Josh shouted as we approached, and it was easy for us to
understand that he had in mind something different from
omens and signs of danger. “She’s every inch as good a
sailer as the <i>America</i>, and but for the carrying away of
her topmast, we never should have overhauled her.”</p>

<p>“She must be an armed vessel, else we would not have
been called to quarters,” I ventured to say, speaking like
a simple, for such a statement under the circumstances
was needless.</p>

<p>“Ay, lad, but carrying less metal than do we.”</p>

<p>“In such case I should think it would be wiser for her
to surrender than fight,” Simon added.</p>

<p>I knew by my own heart that he was wishing such might
be the case, for an engagement at any time was by no
means to our liking, and while the gale raged so furiously
it seemed doubly terrible.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>

<p>“She’s reckonin’ on cripplin’ us by some lucky shot,
and thereby makin’ her escape. Marksmanship won’t
count for a great deal in this weather, and it’ll be more by
accident than good wit if a single ball hits its target.”</p>

<p>“Are Simon and I to bring up ammunition?” I asked,
yet knowing full well we could not accomplish the task.</p>

<p>“We’ll leave that for some of the other sailormen this
time, lad. You wouldn’t get one charge in a dozen up here
without wetting it. It’ll be a case of firing whenever
there’s a chance, which won’t be often, accordin’ to my way
of thinkin’, an’ we can afford to take our time about it.”</p>

<p>Men were stationed from the ladder of the after-hatchway
to the quarter-deck, not more than two feet apart,
that the captain’s commands might pass from one to the
other, and those on deck were clinging to life-lines, so I
was told, lest they be washed overboard by the angry
waters.</p>

<p>“Fire as often as you can reload, and strive to cripple
her spars rather than the hull!” came the word, whereupon
the engagement was opened by Master Josh himself.</p>

<p>It was only with difficulty we could hear the report of
the gun above the roar of the tempest; but while the ship
was rising on a towering wave we were able to watch the
flight of the missile.</p>

<p>It overshot its mark, and the old gunner gave vent to
an exclamation of anger.</p>

<p>Then I saw a cloud of smoke emerge from one of the
Britisher’s ports, and almost immediately it was dispersed
by the rising wind.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>

<p>She also had opened fire, and, like us, her first shot was
a vain one.</p>

<p>This engagement was not like unto any I ever dreamed
of, and when half an hour had passed neither ship was the
worse for it, so far as could be seen.</p>

<p>Both craft held their course, neither sailing faster nor
slower than the other, but moving onward at the same
relative distance, as if we were engaged in a friendly race.</p>

<p>The fact that none of the Britisher’s shots had come
aboard gave me courage, and I almost brought myself to
believe that they would not be able to hit us.</p>

<p>Not being forced to perform any duties, Simon and I
acted as spectators of this odd battle, and were speculating
upon the chances that our gunners might succeed in
shooting away one of the enemy’s spars, when suddenly
there was a hideous crashing of the timbers, cries of pain
at the gun nearest to us but one, and for the first time
I saw the white deck crimsoned with the blood of my
countrymen.</p>

<p>Fortune had favoured the Britisher so far, at least, and
now fear took possession of me.</p>

<p>The lifeless bodies of two men, and one of them he with
whom I had been speaking five minutes before, were rolled
to and fro on the deck as the ship leaped and plunged,
while another was being helped to the cockpit by comrades,
that his wounds might be dressed.</p>

<p>From that moment I failed to realise all that took place.
After the first flush of cowardice, a fever took possession
of me.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p>

<p>I prayed fervently that our next shot might work more
injury than theirs had done; the thirst for blood was full
upon me, and I saw everywhere before my eyes that
ominous crimson hue.</p>

<p>For how long a time this singular battle was waged I
knew not; but afterward came to learn that no less than
two hours elapsed, from the time Carleton and Hawley had
been killed, before the Britisher hauled down the cross of
St. George.</p>

<p>Three times had the <i>America’s</i> hull been struck, and
our gunners declared that we had sent home no less than
ten shot, one of which wounded the enemy’s mizzenmast,
within six feet of the deck, so badly that it fell ten minutes
later, while another carried away all the spars above
the mainmasthead.</p>

<p>During this time the wind had lulled until it was no
more than a full sailing breeze, but the sea was yet running
mountains high.</p>

<p>No blood had been spilled aboard our craft after the
first successful shot, and even while the engagement was
on had the sailors cared for the bodies of their two dead
messmates.</p>

<p>Well, the prize was ours, providing we could board her,
and I came out of the fever of excitement nervous and
trembling, as if having lived four and twenty hours under
the very shadow of the death angel’s wings.</p>

<p>The <i>America</i> was hove to, for it would be useless to
think of boarding the stranger while the sea was so high,
and until the next morning we lay close by the prize.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p>

<p>Meanwhile, Simon and I, aided by two of the sailors,
kept watch over the prisoners.</p>

<p>During all this time we had had no opportunity to speak
with the captain, and, in fact, made no especial effort to
do so.</p>

<p>The chance would come later without our seeming to
court it, and meanwhile four armed men should be able
to prevent that single Britisher, who lurked somewhere in
the hold, from doing us a mischief.</p>

<p>The prisoners remained in the brig, apparently unable
to escape from such close quarters, and, despite all our
efforts, neither my comrade nor I could discover in what
way one of them had gotten free.</p>

<p>The capture of the ship was a godsend to us at that
time, for, with such a prize before them, the men who had
been on the verge of mutiny could not well insist that the
omens had been for evil, and it was, during this night at
least, as if they had forgotten all the disagreeable and
mysterious events.</p>

<p>At daybreak next morning, Simon and I, having taken
turns at sleeping during the night, went on deck. Before
us, not more than two miles away, lay the captured
ship.</p>

<p>The sea was yet boisterous, but not to such an extent
as would prevent our taking possession of the stranger,
and already were the boats afloat.</p>

<p>We came soon to learn that our prize was the <i>Ralph
Nickerson</i>, of and for London from Quebec, laden with
lumber, and carrying eight guns with a strong crew.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>

<p>Her burthen was full twenty tons more than ours, and
a finer craft could not be found outside the United States.</p>

<p>“If it so be that we succeed in carryin’ her to port,
there’s fifty or sixty thousand dollars’ worth of prize-money,
my boys!” one of the men said to his companions,
as a group of old shellbacks stood amidships
watching our boats pulling toward the Britisher. “Sixty
thousand dollars added to what we’ve already taken won’t
be small pickin’s for any of us.”</p>

<p>“We’ll hope to have more of the same kind of omens,”
Mr. Fernald, who chanced to pass in time to hear the
remark, cried, cheerily. “You who have been persuading
yourselves that we were bound straight for Davy
Jones’s locker must feel rather small this morning. The
cruise isn’t ended yet, and we’ll put that ship into Salem,
or I’m a Dutchman!”</p>

<p>“That’s all very well, sir,” one of the older men
replied; “but what about the ghost that can talk?”</p>

<p>“It strikes me that he’s a liar,” Mr. Fernald said, laughingly.
“Or else he’s out of his latitude when he attempts
to predict for sailormen. Suppose we had heeded whatever
it was that tried to frighten us, and put about for
home? It would have been the same as throwin’ away
fifty thousand good dollars.”</p>

<p>The majority of the sailors on deck began to look foolish,
realising how groundless had been their fears, and it
was left for Joshua Seabury to revive the superstitions
which had been temporarily driven away by the smell of
burning powder.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p>

<p>“We are not out of the woods yet,” he cried. “No
one can say with certainty that we’ll carry yonder ship into
port, and who knows how soon we’ll be layin’ under the
lee of a British frigate, waiting for them to board us?”</p>

<p>“You should hide your head in shame, Joshua Seabury!”
Mr. Fernald said, angrily. “A man like you,
counted as being the best gunner on the Massachusetts
coast, one who fought with credit at Tripoli, to give way
like a baby because some one of your messmates played
a foolish trick!”</p>

<p>Having said this, the officer turned on his heel, as if
regretting that he had stopped to bandy words with the
men, and went aft, Simon and I following with the hope
that we might find an opportunity of speaking to Captain
Ropes.</p>

<p>He was standing near the wheel, glass in hand, watching
the movements of the boats, and no one checked us as
we went toward him.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br />
<small>CHEERING INFORMATION.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">When we came near the captain both us lads halted,
and neither dared make any effort at attracting his
attention, save we might do so by silence.</p>

<p>We stood two or three feet away, much like culprits
who had come to beg for pardon, and there waited until
the commander of the <i>America</i> chanced to take the glass
from his eyes.</p>

<p>Seeing us quite by accident, as it were, he looked wondrously
surprised, as if it were difficult for him to realise
that we could have so far transgressed sea customs as to
venture unbidden on the quarter-deck.</p>

<p>Although Captain Joseph Ropes should have been the
one to show respect when he and I met, because of the
fact that he was my uncle’s employee, and I was a step
above him in station when we were ashore, I dared not
open my mouth, while he gazed at me curiously, with an
expression of severe disapproval upon his face.</p>

<p>But for the fact that Simon was with me, and succeeded
in plucking up heart at that moment, the interview which
we had been waiting for so long would have come to
naught, owing to my being tongue-tied.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p>

<p>My comrade, however, rendered desperate, as he afterward
told me, by the thought that we might be forced to
go forward again without having communicated our secret,
stepped close by his father’s side, and said, in a low, yet
emphatic tone:</p>

<p>“Nathan and I have discovered that which we believe
you should know at once, sir.”</p>

<p>Captain Ropes glanced around quickly to learn if any
other might have overheard his son’s words, and then said,
in a low tone:</p>

<p>“Tell me quickly what you have learned, and do it
in such manner that no one may suspect we are holding
private converse.”</p>

<p>“There are but eighteen prisoners in the brig, sir, and
yet by Nathan Crowninshield’s reckoning, as well as my
own, there should be nineteen.”</p>

<p>“Nineteen were sent below,” the captain said, after a
brief pause, during which I fancied he was running over
in his mind the number of Britishers taken.</p>

<p>“There are but eighteen now, sir.”</p>

<p>“Are you two lads the only ones aboard ship who know
that one of the men is missing?”</p>

<p>“So it would seem, sir. The cooks send nineteen
pannikins when meals are served, and one of the prisoners
comes forward twice for rations, in order to hide
the absence of his companion.”</p>

<p>“So! And that’s the ghost, eh? You lads have done
me a service which shall be rewarded later. Have you
spoken with any of the crew on the subject?”</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p>

<p>“No, sir; we thought it best to come first to you, and
should have done so yesterday, had it been possible to
get aft.”</p>

<p>“You have acted wisely; continue to hold your peace,
and share guard duty with the sailors in order that he
who has gained his liberty may not do a mischief. When
the proper time comes, we’ll have a search for the missing
man. Go forward now, and remember that this matter
is not to be mentioned to the men.”</p>

<p>I was more than a little disappointed with the result of
the interview, as Simon and I, obeying the captain’s command,
took up our proper stations once more.</p>

<p>There had been in my mind the idea that some startling
change would be the result of our communication,
and yet I fancied Captain Ropes looked upon the matter
as of but little importance, even though he declared we
had rendered important service.</p>

<p>We lads might have conversed at greater length with
the commander of the ship and yet failed of attracting
the attention of our messmates, so intent were all upon
watching the <i>America’s</i> boats as they neared the prize.</p>

<p>Taking possession of the <i>Ralph Nickerson</i> did not vary
from previous work of this kind.</p>

<p>The commander of the ship, having surrendered when
he hauled down his flag, received our men with due submission,
and when the boats returned they brought with
them thirty-three sailors, the first officer, and the captain,
as prisoners.</p>

<p>The sea yet ran high, and it was no slight task to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
the Britishers aboard safely, for many of them were so
disgruntled and stubborn over being captured as to take
the chances of being drowned rather than help themselves
in the slightest degree.</p>

<p>John Proctor, our fourth mate, and eleven men were
sent on board the <i>Ralph Nickerson</i> as a prize-crew, and
such of the enemy’s men as had been left in their own
craft already were agreed, in consideration of being set at
liberty when port was made, to aid in working the ship.</p>

<p>No more than three hours were thus spent before the
captured vessel was under way, steering westward, and
the <i>America</i> laid on such a course as it was believed
would bring her in the track of the enemy’s merchantmen.</p>

<p>The wounds which the prize had received during the
engagement would be attended to on her passage to the
United States. While all the injuries might have been
speedily repaired had we laid alongside of her so that our
crew could aid in the work, Captain Ropes did not consider
it wise to remain near at hand, lest a British cruiser
should heave in sight, and, on seeing the two ships hove to,
understand all that had occurred.</p>

<p>Now that my mind was set at rest concerning what the
seamen believed had been a ghostly visitor, I found new
cause for alarm.</p>

<p>First, however, let me set down the conclusion which
Simon and I arrived at concerning that which had so
alarmed our crew.</p>

<p>The fact that one of the prisoners was missing from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
brig seemed to us—and from the expression on Captain
Ropes’s face I fancied he looked at the matter much the
same as we did—conclusive proof that he who was at
liberty had played the part of ghost, although how it
might have been contrived we did not attempt to explain.</p>

<p>Of course we knew full well that there were no such
things as spirits, even though we had been seriously
alarmed, and it was not necessary we should reason out
the entire scheme in order to say with good certainty that
it had been brought about by the Britisher who should
at this moment have been in the brig.</p>

<p>It was to me as if the visit of the supposed ghost had
never occurred, the new danger being so imminent as to
drive all else from my mind.</p>

<p>This peril lay, so I believed, in the number of prisoners
we had on board.</p>

<p>There were, or should be, fifty-two in the hold, and
three aft. Our crew, which numbered, when we left port,
one hundred and sixty-three all told, had been weakened
considerably by the prize-crews thrown aboard the captured
craft.</p>

<p>Twelve men in all were sent to the <i>Ralph Nickerson</i>,
eight took charge of the <i>Benjamin</i>, and seven were sent
into the <i>James and Charlotte</i>, making twenty-seven in all.</p>

<p>This reduced our number to one hundred and thirty-six,
and although such a force should overwhelm fifty-five
Britishers if they took it into their heads to rise, the
enemy was sufficiently strong, more particularly if our
people were taken by surprise, to cause serious trouble.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p>

<p>While thus casting about to find food for anxiety, I
took well into account the fact that, should the prisoners
succeed in releasing themselves, they would fight desperately,
and not be blamed for so doing, since they could
only look forward to imprisonment when we made the
home port.</p>

<p>And they had good cause for venturing their lives in
the effort to escape, if they knew how their countrymen
treated such of the Americans as were captured, because
they might reasonably conclude that we of the United
States would be equally brutal with those who fell into
our hands.</p>

<p>It must not be supposed that I remained idle in order
to cast up all these accounts which might work to our
disadvantage.</p>

<p>I have simply set down here that which came into my
mind like flashes of light, as Simon Ropes and I walked
forward to obey his father’s command.</p>

<p>As the captain had left the matter, we were responsible
in a certain degree for the prisoners, and both of us were
bent on showing, if possible, that we could be depended
upon even for such a difficult task as this.</p>

<p>We went directly into the hold, and there found as
lively a scene of confusion and tumult as can well be
imagined.</p>

<p>The Britishers whom we had taken from the other
prizes were noisily greeting the newcomers, and eagerly
questioning them concerning the news of the world from
a British standpoint.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p>

<p>The brig was so full as to make it appear that the men
were packed like herrings in a box, and I wondered how
it might be possible for them to lie down at night without
being stowed two or three deep over the floor of the
prison.</p>

<p>“How may it be possible to take so many out for
exercise?” Simon asked, in dismay, and I understood
from the question that there was in his mind somewhat
of that which had been troubling me.</p>

<p>“They can go out in squads, I reckon, for it is not
likely the captain would allow all these on deck at the
same time. However, that need give us little concern,
for it is our business to see that he who runs at liberty
somewhere in the hold be prevented from doing a mischief.”</p>

<p>“I cannot understand why matters are allowed to remain
in this condition,” Simon said, as if speaking to
himself. “It would have been more seemly, according
to my way of thinking, had an immediate search been
made for the Britisher who has succeeded in getting out
of the brig. While he is at liberty much mischief may be
done, however well we perform our duty.”</p>

<p>“It appears that your father is not of the same mind,
and we can set it down as a fact that he knows best what
should be done.”</p>

<p>“But think of the chances for trouble, while one of the
Britishers is free to move about the hold as he chooses!”</p>

<p>It was as if Simon’s fears gave me courage, for I replied,
stoutly, as one might who never knew what it was to be
timorous:</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p>

<p>“We have no right to question the captain’s wisdom,
and should think only of carrying out his wishes to the
letter.”</p>

<p>Simon made no reply, for a lad cannot well grumble
against his father’s commands, and we loitered around as
if from no other motive than that of curiosity, while the
prisoners were making a tumult with their greetings and
questionings.</p>

<p>Before the day was come to an end Simon suggested to
me that we take it upon ourselves to find the man who
had escaped.</p>

<p>Since the last batch of prisoners had arrived the guard
was strengthened, and now, as I understood from Mr.
Fernald, no less than three of the crew would be on duty
constantly, even during an engagement, therefore might
Simon and I make search for this solitary Britisher if it
so pleased us.</p>

<p>But I was not minded to act upon his suggestion, believing
Captain Ropes would have ordered an immediate
search, unless it was his purpose to so conduct the matter
that the <i>America’s</i> crew should understand beyond a peradventure
who had played the part of ghost.</p>

<p>If we two lads took the matter in our own hands, we
might upset the commander’s plans most seriously.</p>

<p>Therefore it was that we hung about the brig, regardless
of the fact that the men detailed as guard expressed
no little surprise because of our willingness to remain
below while we might be on deck; and one day after
another passed, while the <i>America</i> cruised to and fro in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
the track of merchantmen, as if her commander had
forgotten equally his son and those whom the latter had
been set to watch.</p>

<p>Each day the prisoners were taken on deck, twelve or
fourteen at a time, and the fellow who had succeeded in
freeing himself from the brig must have come to the
conclusion that his was an unwise move, since he had thus
deprived himself of the privilege of fresh air.</p>

<p>We were seldom on the gun-deck, Simon and I, and
therefore had little idea of how our men were behaving,
save as we overheard the conversation between the sailors
on duty in the hold.</p>

<p>Through this slight source of information we gathered
that the majority of the crew were quite willing to forget
their previous belief in the ghostly visitor; but the elder
men, among them Master Josh, held to the idea as strongly
as if their happiness depended upon its being proven a
fact.</p>

<p>Our success had lessened the fears of the superstitious,
and none of the men had overmuch to say concerning the
significance of our carrying away a spar on the first Friday
after leaving port.</p>

<p>That portion of our troubles had been cast aside once
and for all, as a lying omen.</p>

<p>Each morning I expected that Simon and I would be
summoned aft by the captain, and each day was I grievously
disappointed in my expectations.</p>

<p>The prisoners, now so formidable in number, knowing
that there was one on the outside who, at the first favourable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
opportunity, would aid them, grew insolent, jeering at
the guard until it seemed positive our men would so far
forget themselves as to raise their hands against apparently
helpless captives.</p>

<p>Then came that morning when, judging from the confident
bearing and outspoken threats of the Britishers, I
made certain they were prepared to strike a blow of some
kind, and I had called Simon Ropes aside with the intention
of suggesting to him that we go aft once more to tell
his father how much mischief was brewing, when we heard
a great commotion on deck.</p>

<p>The guard, who had been ordered not to leave their
posts of duty under any circumstances, except by express
orders, urged that we lads ascertain what had caused the
seeming disturbance.</p>

<p>I was the more willing to comply with such request
because in the performance we might get an opportunity
of speaking privately to Simon’s father, and with all speed
the lad and I went on to the spar-deck, finding there both
watches in the highest state of excitement, as well they
might be, for off to leeward, not more than four or five
miles away, could be seen a full-rigged ship.</p>

<p>“Is she a Britisher?” I asked of the man nearest me,
and he replied, confidently:</p>

<p>“Ay, lad, there’s no mistaking her build and rigging.
She hails from England, or I’m a Dutchman, and so
heavily loaded with whatsoever may be the cargo that
we’ll find in her a prize worth taking.”</p>

<p>“Providing her captain isn’t in a condition to object,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
I replied, with a smile, whereat the man said, cheerily, as
if he found in the fact no little pleasure:</p>

<p>“She’s armed, lad, so I’ve heard the officers say, an’
shows six ports on a side, therefore it stands to reason
she carries no less than twelve guns.”</p>

<p>“And probably can put up as severe a fight as did the
<i>Nickerson</i>,” Simon added, grimly.</p>

<p>“Well, I am allowin’ we need exercise of that kind, lad.
What with omens, an’ ghosts, an’ near to downright
mutiny, this ’ere crew is gettin’ so rusty that a little
blood-lettin’ will work to their advantage. I hold to it
a privateersman gets into a bad condition if he ain’t
knocked around just about so much, an’ our prizes thus
far have come too easy. If we could suddenly find ourselves
within range of a British sloop-of-war it would do
us a world of good.”</p>

<p>“I’m thinkin’ you’d change your song if anything like
that should happen,” Simon said, with a laugh, whereat
the sailor, who was an exceeding sensible man, gave us a
long lecture upon the necessity of running a privateersman
into serious danger now and then for the sake of holding
him in proper discipline.</p>

<p>Well, it was destined that we should not receive any
very painful lesson on this day, despite the fact that the
stranger was reasonably well armed.</p>

<p>Before two hours had passed we threw a shot across
the Britisher’s bow, and sent another into her mizzen
rigging which did no little damage.</p>

<p>Then her captain showed that he must have had more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
milk than blood in his veins, for without discharging a
single piece,—and we were now come so near as to see
that she did indeed carry twelve guns,—he hove to quietly
as any lamb.</p>

<p>Some of our people fancied there was a trick in all this;
that when we came to board her we would find ourselves
in hot water; but Captain Ropes was not the man to take
any chances of this kind.</p>

<p>The <i>America</i> hauled around under the stranger’s stern,
where she could rake her fore and aft with a broadside,
and then the boats were lowered away,—four of them,
under command of Mr. Fernald.</p>

<p>It was the quietest capture one can imagine.</p>

<p>The Britisher did not make even a protest as our people
swarmed over the rail, and when Mr. Fernald returned,
leaving on board twenty men to hold possession, we knew
that we had as a prize the British twelve-gun ship <i>Hope</i>,
from St. Thomas for Glasgow, with a cargo of sugar, rum,
and cotton.</p>

<p><a href="#i_130fp">What a cheer went up from our men</a> when Captain Ropes,
after a brief conversation with the first officer, stepped forward
to the break of the quarter-deck and announced the
fact in much the same words I have just set down!</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
<a id="i_130fp">
  <img src="images/i_130fp.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_131">“WHAT A CHEER WENT UP FROM OUR MEN.”</a></div>
</div>

<p>The men yelled themselves hoarse, for this ship would
prove by all odds the most valuable prize we had taken,
and if the <i>America</i> turned about on the home run now,
without adding further to her captures, we had indeed
made a most successful cruise of what at one time
threatened to end in disaster.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>

<p>But good fortune was not to desert us with the capture
of the <i>Hope</i>, for Mr. Fernald had brought with him such
news as caused the blood of every member of the crew,
including Simon and me, to tingle, and thus did the
captain impart it to his men:</p>

<p>“You lads who have been arguin’ an’ speechifyin’ ever
since we left port, tryin’ to prove that the <i>America</i> was
doomed because a rotten spar chanced to carry away on a
Friday, have thus far been disappointed in all your doleful
predictions. Not even the appearance of your so-called
ghost, and that sepulchral voice which you claimed to
have heard, could spoil our luck. We have already
made a paying cruise of it, such a one as will tassel
well our neckerchiefs with dollars, and yet there is more
to come. Mr. Fernald brings the information, gathered
from the master of the prize, that yonder ship left
St. Thomas three days ago, one of a fleet of forty-five
merchantmen under convoy of the sloops-of-war <i>Ringdove</i>
and <i>Scorpion</i>. We are in the vicinity of that rich
fleet, my lads, and if we fail to pick up two or three
good prizes out of it, it will be only through our own
neglect.”</p>

<p>Then the men fell to shouting once more, jumping and
dancing around the deck like a pack of savages, and one
of them cried out, in a tone so loud that it could be heard
distinctly by all hands:</p>

<p>“Three cheers for the bloomin’ ghost what has brought
us into such luck!”</p>

<p>The men laughed, and then cheered until the Britishers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
on board the <i>Hope</i> must have believed we had entirely
lost our heads over their capture.</p>

<p>When the excitement had died away somewhat, Captain
Ropes, still facing us near the break of the quarter, said:</p>

<p>“I allow, my lads, that we are a fairly good match for
any British sloop-of-war afloat, and while I’m not hankerin’
for a fight which would bring in no dollars on the tail of
it, we can afford to take the chances of meeting one of
the king’s vessels while we pick up a stray merchantman.
We’ll get rid of this prize as soon as may be, an’ then
turn our attention to what should, within the next eight
an’ forty hours, put us in fair shape to swing the
<i>America’s</i> nose toward home. Bo’sun Valpey will choose
twelve men as a prize-crew, an’ take charge of the <i>Hope</i>,
making for the nearest port north of New York. Stir
yourselves lively, my boys, for there’s no time to be
lost!”</p>

<p>I question if at that moment a single member of the
crew, not excepting Master Joshua, remembered any of
the alleged omens which had seemingly threatened disaster
to us all.</p>

<p>Every man Jack of them fluttered about with a will, and
before another hour was passed a prize-crew had been
thrown aboard the captured ship. We had thirty-one
additional prisoners in the hold, making eighty-three in
all, and the <i>Hope</i> was crowding on all sail with her nose
pointing northward.</p>

<hr class="chap" />

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span></p>




<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br />
<small>THE OUTBREAK.</small></h2>
</div>


<p class="cap">When we parted company with the <i>Hope</i> there was
among the crew of the <i>America</i> but one thought,
one idea, and that the capture of other craft belonging to
the <i>St. Thomas</i> fleet.</p>

<p>The richly laden ship had but whetted the appetite of
the men for more, and some of the most sanguine
believed we might remain in the midst of the fleet, seizing
a vessel here and there, until we no longer had men
enough on board to make up a prize-crew.</p>

<p>That we would succeed in capturing one or more other
craft out of all the number that had left port seemed
absolutely certain, even though the convoying sloops-of-war
came across us while we were at our work, for, as
Captain Ropes had said, we could make it exceeding lively
for either the <i>Ringdove</i> or the <i>Scorpion</i>.</p>

<p>The men were so busily occupied with figuring up the
amount of prize-money which had been, and was to be,
earned, that they had no time to spend on possible ghosts,
omens of any kind, or such happenings as had nearly converted
honest Yankee sailors into mutineers.</p>

<p>It seemed to Simon and me that the danger from this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
source had disappeared entirely; but we were so seriously
disturbed as to be wofully frightened over what might
happen if the prisoners concluded to make an effort
toward capturing the ship.</p>

<p>We speculated long and in vain trying to decide why
the captain should have thus neglected to take some steps
toward recapturing the Britisher who was lurking in the
<i>America’s</i> hold awaiting an opportunity to free his fellow.</p>

<p>Now we were positive this fellow had played the ghost
by appearing in the fore-hatchway, as well as by shouting
his senseless warning; but how he had contrived to bring
himself into view, when the night was so dark that the
lookouts could not distinguish objects at a distance of two
yards, was more than we could conjecture.</p>

<p>Simon and I had remained constantly on watch from
the moment we discovered one of the prisoners to be
missing, and since our having warned the captain not less
than three of the sailors were also on duty in the hold.</p>

<p>At no time did both of us lads sleep during the same
moment. <a href="#i_134fp">We divided ourselves into two watches</a>, and
indulged in naps lasting no more than an hour.</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
<a id="i_134fp">
  <img src="images/i_134fp.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_135">“WE DIVIDED OURSELVES INTO TWO WATCHES.”</a></div>
</div>

<p>Since we could thus rest as well in the daytime as at
night, neither of us felt any evil effects from remaining
constantly on the alert.</p>

<p>Never once during all this time did we either hear or
see the prisoner who remained hidden somewhere in the
hold, nor could we make certain, now that there were so
many captives, whether those in the brig got more food
than sufficed for their number.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>

<p>It was only reasonable to believe, however, that the
Britishers found ample opportunity to feed their comrade
from the allowance dealt out, and also that he was ready
to open an attack whenever the proper time had come.</p>

<p>On this day after we parted company with the <i>Hope</i>,
praying that the prize-crew might succeed in taking her
to an American port, where she could be sold for our
benefit, it seemed necessary we two lads should exercise
more vigilance than ever before, because the excitement
among our crew was so great that those detailed for duty
as prisoners’ guard gave heed to what was going on above,
rather than to watching the throng of enemies which was
so rapidly increasing in size.</p>

<p>The brig was no longer large enough to admit of all lying
down to sleep at the same time, and it was certain some
different arrangement must be made when night came.</p>

<p>Once we should be forced to give certain of the number
free run of the hold, the danger to ourselves would be
vastly increased, so Simon and I argued.</p>

<p>Because of the fact that we were in the immediate vicinity
of a large fleet, some sail of which we hoped to capture,
word had been passed to the effect that the prisoners
would not be allowed to come on deck for exercise until
further orders, and when this was made known to the
Britishers they became so bold as to indulge in open
threats of what they were able to do.</p>

<p>Some of the most reckless declared they could leave the
brig at will, and that the <i>America</i> would be their prize in
due course of time.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>

<p>Simon and I discussed the advisability of going again to
the captain, and would have done so but for fear of being
laughed at as cowards who were afraid of unarmed and
imprisoned men.</p>

<p>It was hardly probable Captain Ropes had forgotten
the report we made, and it seemed certain he would take
some steps to shun the danger when, in his opinion, the
time was ripe for such a move.</p>

<p>As I have already said, the excitement among our crew
was so great that it seemed impossible for those detailed
as guard to remain below; but one or the other of the
three men was constantly running on deck to learn if a
sail had hove in sight.</p>

<p>Thus it was we came to know that, about an hour before
sunset, the lookout had sighted a heavily laden brig, and
the <i>America</i> was put about in full chase.</p>

<p>Perhaps because of this fact no attempt was made to
provide better accommodations for the prisoners.</p>

<p>They were forced to remain packed in the prison, many
of them unable to lie down, and their threats and insubordination
increased to an alarming degree.</p>

<p>“We shall have trouble before morning,” Simon said, in
a tone of studied carelessness to one of the sentinels,
hoping thereby to put the man more on his guard; but
the latter replied, indifferently:</p>

<p>“Don’t get fancies into your head, lad. Them ’ere
Britishers are where they can’t work any mischief, no
matter how ripe they may be for it. When you’ve seen
as many prisoners aboard ship as have come my way, you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
won’t bother yourself about what is possible for them to
do while they’re unarmed an’ packed in snug as those
fellows are.”</p>

<p>Fortunately, my comrade and I had not become so
familiar with privateering as to render us careless, else the
good ship <i>America</i> would never have sailed into a Yankee
port with the stars and stripes flying, and this much
Captain Ropes has said time and time again.</p>

<p>Although we knew our muskets were in proper condition,
Simon insisted they be discharged and reloaded, in
order that we might be certain they were in working
order, and he took both weapons on deck, where, after
having received permission from Mr. Fernald, he emptied
them.</p>

<p>When he returned, and while we were charging the
weapons, the lad told me that the brig was yet in sight to
the southward, and we stood every chance of overhauling
her unless the wind should fail.</p>

<p>Just at that time, however, we gave very little heed to
the possibility of another capture.</p>

<p>In the hold of the <i>America</i> we were confronted by such
a situation as taxed our courage to the utmost.</p>

<p>While it was yet daylight we tried to sleep; but in vain,
and after supper had been served we sat against the bulkhead,
where none could come upon us from the rear,
watching closely the snugly packed throng of Britishers
as cats watch a lot of rats.</p>

<p>With all our precautions, the decisive moment came
when we were least expecting it.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>

<p>It was about ten o’clock at night. Two of the guard
were on deck, having been drawn there by news that
the chase was being rapidly overhauled, when I saw a man
suddenly spring out of what had appeared to be a solid
stanchion, as it looked to me, and before I had time to
raise a cry the door of the brig was thrown open, the
prisoners pouring out like swarming bees.</p>

<p>The sailor, who should have been on the alert, was
standing near the foot of the ladder, waiting to learn from
his two comrades who had gone on deck as to the chances
of our coming up with the chase, and not until I cried out
did he realise his danger.</p>

<p>By that time, the Britishers were upon him, and he
went down like a man of straw, apparently trampled under
their feet, as the foremost made a rush for the gun-deck,
knowing full well that there would be found arms in
plenty.</p>

<p>As a rule, I am a coward; but at that moment, my
hand never so much as quivered, while I took careful aim
at the leader, and he fell off the ladder at the same instant
the report of my musket rang out, knocking down those
who were immediately below him.</p>

<p>In a twinkling the entire mob had turned on us lads.
They came as does a foaming wave, seeking to engulf whosoever
shall have lingered on the sands, and involuntarily
I closed my eyes while raising the musket like a club,
in order to shut out that blow which seemingly would
deprive me of life.</p>

<p>Fortunately, Simon’s musket was loaded, and he dropped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
the foremost in his tracks while the infuriated men were a
dozen paces distant, thereby checking the advance ever so
slightly, and in that brief interval I gathered my senses
once more.</p>

<p>It seemed certain I would be killed, and with this belief
came such courage as I had never believed could be mine.</p>

<p>Swinging the musket above my head, I rushed straight
toward the pale-faced man I had seen apparently coming
out of the solid stanchion, and not until I had taken two
or three paces toward him did he show his weapon.</p>

<p>He—and it could be none other than the man who had
played the part of ghost—had possessed himself of a
boarding-pike, and I understood from the gleam in his eyes
that he counted on running me through.</p>

<p>I brought down the musket with a force that would
have floored him like an ox; but he was prepared for such
an attack, and my weapon was splintered on the deck
timbers, leaving me with arms so numb that, even though
my life depended upon the movement, I could not raise
such fragments as my hands still clutched.</p>

<p><a href="#i_140fp">In another instant the boarding-pike would have found
its way through my body</a>, and then, as if the blow had
been delivered over my shoulder, I saw the butt of a
musket fall full upon the fellow’s head, crushing him to
the deck.</p>

<div class="figcenter" style="width: 399px;">
<a id="i_140fp">
  <img src="images/i_140fp.jpg" width="399" height="600" alt="" title="" />
</a><br />
<div class="caption"><a href="#Page_140">“IN ANOTHER INSTANT THE BOARDING PIKE WOULD HAVE FOUND
ITS WAY THROUGH MY BODY.”</a></div>
</div>

<p>Some of the men who were loitering on the gun-deck
have declared I yelled like a maniac for help; but of that
I have no knowledge.</p>

<p>When the battle was over,—and it proved to be such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
battle as I hope never to take part in again,—I was
not conscious of having uttered the slightest cry from the
moment when the prisoners swarmed out of the brig.</p>

<p>I only know that I struck again and again with the
barrel of the musket, which was all of the weapon remaining
in my hands, and before me it seemed as if hundreds
upon hundreds of infuriated Britishers were pressing forward,
intent only on delivering a fatal blow.</p>

<p>What has been set down above is not quite true, for I
remember that Simon Ropes stood by my side, fighting
manfully, and doing twice the execution that was within
my power, for his weapon was uninjured, and the butt of it
fell on more than one man’s head, crushing it to a pulp, or
seeming to do so.</p>

<p>It is said that we were in the hold keeping back the
desperate Britishers no more than three minutes, but it
seemed to me as if a full hour passed before I saw
dimly a file of sailors, armed with muskets and cutlasses,
descending the ladder, shooting with careful aim as they
came.</p>

<p>Then it was as if a veil fell suddenly over my eyes;
sparks of seeming fire danced beneath my eyelids, and I
knew no more.</p>

<p>When consciousness returned I was in the cockpit being
attended to by the surgeon, and Simon Ropes, bandaged
and wrapped in white cloth until only a comrade would
recognise him, lay still as death.</p>

<p>“Is he dead?” I managed to ask, although the simple
act of moving my tongue caused pain.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>

<p>“Not a bit of it, lad. Both he and you will live many
a long day yet, unless it so chances that you foolishly
stand in the path of a British ball when it comes aboard,”
the stern-visaged yet kindly doctor said, in a cheery tone.
“You two lads are rather the worse for wear, I’ll admit;
but you’ve proven yourselves men on this night, and,
what’s more, have saved the <i>America</i>. But for you I
doubt not that all hands of us would now be dead, or in
the brig with our late prisoners as guards over us.”</p>

<p>“Did we indeed do as much, sir?” I asked, despite the
pain, for the words sounded very sweet in my ears.</p>

<p>“It is a fact, and Captain Ropes himself said as much
not ten minutes ago. What is more, the ghost has been
discovered.”</p>

<p>“Ay, sir, Simon and I have known without seeing him,
these ten days past; but how was he discovered?”</p>

<p>“Joshua Seabury came upon his hiding-place quite by
accident, after the scrimmage was over, and the Britishers
packed in the brig once more. There, also, was found
that with which he clothed himself when the men saw the
form so plainly although the night was dark.”</p>

<p>“What was it, sir?” I cried, eagerly, trying to rise on
my elbow, but falling back with a groan immediately
afterward.</p>

<p>“Neither more nor less than a piece of white bunting,
beneath which he admits having carried a lantern found
on the gun-deck while all hands were above. The light
shining through the thin fabric disclosed his form, and yet
was sufficiently thick to hide the shape of the flame.”</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>

<p>“Do all the crew know this, sir?”</p>

<p>“You may be sure they do. Captain Ropes took
good care it should be no secret, and there’s not a man
aboard who is not ashamed to admit he ever believed in a
ghost.”</p>

<p>When this brief conversation had come to an end I was
assailed by a sensation of faintness which overpowered me,
and could only close my eyes in utter helplessness.</p>

<p>Simon Ropes and I were yet in the cockpit when the
<i>America</i> captured her fifth prize, the British brig <i>Dart</i>,
laden with rum and cotton, and carrying eight guns.</p>

<p>While we lay below unable to move, the enemy had
been overhauled, submitting without attempting to strike
a blow, and we were the richer by just so much prize-money
in prospect.</p>

<p>Although not a gun had been fired, two of the prisoners
lost their lives.</p>

<p>It seems, as we heard later from Master Joshua, that
our third officer, Mr. Sparhawk, together with Thomas
Fuller, a boatswain’s mate, had been among those sent to
board the prize. On returning to the <i>America</i> in order to
make a report, they brought with them five prisoners;
their boat was stove under the <i>America’s</i> counter, and two
of the Britishers were drowned.</p>

<p>Anthony Caulfield, an able seaman who understood navigation,
was put in charge of the prize, together with eight
of our men. And twenty prisoners were added to the
number in the hold.</p>

<p>The <i>Dart</i> was headed for Salem without delay, and our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
ship cruised back and forth, hoping to sight yet other
vessels of the fleet.</p>

<p>Simon and I were not seriously wounded. The prisoners
had had no weapons, therefore our only injuries came from
blows with bare fists, save the one on my head which was
caused by the barrel of my own musket, that had been
wrested from my grasp.</p>

<p>Within eight and forty hours we were able to go on
deck, and then, to our great surprise, we learned that the
<i>America</i> was steering a course which would speedily bring
her into Salem Harbour.</p>

<p>It had been necessary to part with so many of the crew
in order to man the prizes, that we were short-handed, and
there was nothing left for us save to make the home port
as soon as possible, that we might take on board those who
had probably arrived there in advance of us.</p>

<p>Captain Ropes ordered us lads into his cabin immediately
we made our appearance on the spar-deck in company
with the surgeon, and, once there, he spoke such
words of praise as cause my ears to tingle even at this late
day.</p>

<p>He appeared to believe that we had indeed saved the
ship from being captured by the prisoners, and declared
that when the prize-money was distributed our shares
should be the same as those of the gunners.</p>

<p>There were many other promises given by him voluntarily;
but I do not propose to set them down here, for
they were all made good when we sailed aboard the
<i>America</i> on her second cruise, and that yarn shall be spun<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
at some future time if I decide to put in writing, for the
pleasure of Simon Ropes and myself, all which befell us
then.</p>

<p>It is enough now if I say it was the captain’s orders
that we two lads live aft during the homeward voyage, and
right well did we enjoy ourselves when our wounds were
so far healed that they ceased to give us pain.</p>

<p>We often indulged in a chat with Master Joshua; but
neither of us ever broached the subject of omens, and I
observed with no slight amusement that he claimed to
have known from the moment we weighed anchor in Salem
Harbour that our cruise would be most prosperous.</p>

<p>And it was prosperous; we had taken five rich prizes in
a few over one hundred days, which was more than the
majority of privateersmen could say.</p>

<p>Every man Jack of us would have dollars in plenty once
the captured vessels were sold, and, what was far better,
could say with good truth that we had done even more
than our share in inflicting injury upon the enemy.</p>

<p>We talked all these things over while the <i>America</i> was
driven swiftly by favouring winds toward the Massachusetts
coast, never dreaming but that we had come to an end of
taking prizes until after going ashore at Salem.</p>

<p>Therefore it was we were almost astonished when, the
voyage being more than half completed, the lookouts
announced that a sail was in sight, and the information
was given in a tone which told plainly the belief of the
men that another Britisher was within our grasp.</p>

<p>It was on the sixteenth day of December, when we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
were near the Western Islands, that this sail came in view
from the southeast.</p>

<p>We in the cabin were making a long story of breakfast
as a means of passing the time, when the lookout hailed,
and he who has ever served on a privateer knows full well
the excitement which was immediately after apparent on
our decks.</p>

<p>I might fill page after page with an account of what was
said or done from eight o’clock on that morning until
nearly noon, when we had the Britisher close under our
guns, for we could sail nearly two miles to her one; but so
much has already been set down here concerning a chase
that I shall say, without further preamble, it was quickly
at an end once we came within range.</p>

<p>It was the brig <i>Euphemia</i>, of Glasgow, bound for Gibraltar
from La Guayra, with four hundred thousand pounds
of coffee on board, which we had overhauled, and, although
the Britisher carried ten guns and was manned by thirty-five
men, she submitted to capture as peacefully as if she
had been a child.</p>

<p>We had only to fire a shot across her bows after she
was beneath our guns, and the deed was done.</p>

<p>That valuable cargo and staunch vessel was ours without
further parley, and would serve to swell the amount of
prize-money until our men’s heads swam with thinking of
the good hard dollars which would be theirs once we made
Salem again.</p>

<p>This last capture rejoiced me more than had any of the
others; not particularly on account of the rich cargo, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
because she had fallen into our hands so easily, and when
we believed we had done, for the time being, with capturing
Britishers.</p>

<p>The king, who claimed the right to overhaul our vessels
in order to impress Yankees under the subterfuge that
they had once been Englishmen, would soon learn how
much of blood and treasure it was necessary to spend in
the effort to make good the claim, if indeed he ever could.</p>

<p>Well, we made a prize of the <i>Euphemia</i>; displaced
Captain John Gray, who commanded her when she left La
Guayra, by our boatswain’s mate, Archibald S. Dennis,
and threw on board eleven men to take the places of the
twenty-one sailors and two officers we made prisoners.</p>

<p>The remainder of the crew promised to obey faithfully
the new master, and were allowed to remain aboard the
craft they had counted on taking into a British port.</p>

<p>Four hundred thousand pounds of coffee is not to be
picked up on the ocean every day, and it can well be fancied
that our crew, what was left of them, made exceeding
merry over the capture; but any one of them might have
been reduced to a state of shame had the cook but whispered
in his ear the single word “ghost.”</p>

<p>After we were on our course once more, in company
with the prize, which we did not count on losing sight of,
all hands came to understand why Captain Ropes, who had
the name of being most greedy when Britishers were to be
captured, was so willing to steer for the home port before
we had been at sea four months.</p>

<p>The truth leaked out when we were put on an allowance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
of three and one-half pints of water per day for each man,
including the officers, and before we sighted Baker’s
Island once more every man Jack of us knew what it was
to be thirsty.</p>

<p>The prisoners, despite all they would have done, were
given the same amount of water as Captain Ropes himself
had, and this fact was some consolation to me as I thought
of what such a throng must suffer in the narrow confines
of the brig.</p>

<p>Neither Simon Ropes nor I felt hardly toward them
because of the injuries they had inflicted upon us.</p>

<p>In fact, it seemed only natural they should attempt to
capture the ship, when what seemed a favourable opportunity
presented itself, and I have no doubt but that we
two lads, barring the possibility of our being too cowardly,
would have made a similar effort under like circumstances.</p>

<p>We longed for water as a miser longs for gold, prisoners
and Americans alike, before we reached port, and never
again will I say that money can buy all which is needed in
this world.</p>

<p>We sailed proudly up past Baker’s Island, one hundred
and twenty-two days after having passed it outward bound,
and in that time we had captured six prizes that were afterward
valued at one hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollars.</p>

<p>Show me a privateer afloat during the war just ended,
which made more valuable captures, or was more successful
in getting her prizes into port!</p>

<p>The <i>James and Charlotte</i> was carried by Mr. Tibbetts
safely into Salem Harbour. The <i>Benjamin</i> put into Nantucket,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
after having been chased for fifty-two hours by a
British sloop-of-war, and, later, was sold at auction in
Boston. Mr. Proctor ran the <i>Ralph Nickerson</i> into
Marblehead, where her cargo of lumber found a ready
sale, and Mr. Valpey successfully piloted the <i>Hope</i> into
Boston Bay. The <i>Dart</i> arrived at Salem without mishap,
and her merchandise is remembered to this day by the
people of the eastern coast, while the <i>Euphemia</i> was
chased, but succeeded in gaining the harbour of Portland,
Maine, three days after we arrived at the home port.</p>

<p>We had not lost a single prize, which was another
matter to give us more than our share of pride, and from
the hour our anchor was dropped on the seventh day of
January, in the year 1813, the fame of the <i>America</i> spread
from Maine to South Carolina.</p>

<p>Captain Ropes took good care that the people of Salem
should know what Simon and I had done when the prisoners
attempted to capture the ship, and as we went ashore
<a href="#i_frontis">it was with difficulty we could make our way to the head
of the dock</a>, because of the throngs which were bent on
showing their appreciation of our services.</p>

<p>I should have had sufficient courage to explain that on
my part it was all an accident; that if there had been any
idea in my mind of the danger which threatened, I might
not have remained in the hold of the ship to check the
rush; but even though I had screamed at the full strength
of my lungs none would have heard, so great was the uproar,
or, hearing, would have taken heed after Simon’s
father had given his account of the affair.</p>

<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>

<p>As a matter of fact, I hardly realised that I was receiving
praise which had not been earned; the thought of
being clasped in my mother’s arms once more, knowing
she was convinced I had done my full duty, was so great
that all else passed unheeded, and until her dear arms
folded me closely to her breast I did not fully understand
what part I was playing in this reception given by the good
people of Salem.</p>

<p>I came to appreciate it fully, however, at a later day,
and to be exceeding proud of its being said on every street
corner concerning Simon Ropes and myself, that we had
shown ourselves to be the equal of any who sailed from
Salem on board the armed ship <i>America</i>.</p>


<p class="p4 noic">THE END.</p>




<hr class="chap" />
<div class="tnote">
<p class="noi tntitle">Transcriber’s Notes:</p>

<p class="smfont">Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.</p>

<p class="smfont">Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.</p>

<p class="smfont">Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.</p>
</div>

<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 55151 ***</div>
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