Captain Tolley and the Storm King.
The next day furnished with a brief note of introduction, Master
Raymond, with the aid of a skiff, put himself on the deck of the Storm
King. Captain Tolley received him with due courtesy, wondering who the
stranger was. The Captain was a well-built, athletic, though not very
large man, with a face naturally dark in hue, and bronzed by exposure to
the southern sun. As Master Raymond ascertained afterwards, he was the
son of an English father and a Spanish mother; and he could speak
English, French and Spanish with equal facility. While he considered
himself an Englishman of birth, his nationality sat very loosely upon
him; and, if need be, he was just as willing to run up the French or
Spanish colors on the Storm King, as the red cross of St. George.
After reading the note of introduction, Captain Tolley gave a keen look
at his visitor. "Yes, the Storm King is a bird and a beauty," said he
proudly. "Look at her! See what great wings she has! And what a hull, to
cut the seas! She was built after my own plans. Give me plenty of
sea-room, and a fair start, and I will laugh at all the gun frigates of
the royal navy."
"She looks to be all you say," said his visitor admiringly--but rather
surprised that not an oath had yet fallen from the lips of the Captain.
He had not learned that Captain Tolley, to use his own language, "never
washed his ammunition in port or in mild weather." When aroused by a
severe storm or other peril, the Captain was transformed into a
different man. Then, in the war of the elements, or of man's angry
passions, he also lightened and thundered, and swore big guns.
"Let us go down into the cabin," said the Captain. Reaching there, he
filled a couple of glasses with wine and putting the decanter on the
table, invited his visitor to be seated. Then, closing the door, he said
with a smile, "nothing that is said inside this cabin ever is told
anywhere else."
There was that in the speech, bearing and looks of Captain Tolley which
inspired Master Raymond with great confidence in him. "I feel that I may
trust you, Captain," he said earnestly.
"I have done business for a great many gentlemen, and no one ever found
me untrue to him," replied Captain Tolley, proudly. "Some things I will
not do for anybody, or for any price; but that ends it. I never betray
confidence."
"Do you believe in witches, Captain?"
"Indeed I do."
"Well I suppose that settles it," replied the young man in a
disappointed tone, rising to his feet.
"I know a little witch down in Jamaica, that has been tormenting me
almost to death for the last three years. But I tell you she is a
beauty--as pretty as, as--the Storm King! She doesn't carry quite as
many petticoats though," added the Captain laughing.
"Oh! That is the kind of witch you mean!" and Master Raymond sat down
again.
"It is the only kind that I ever came across--and they are bad enough
for me," responded the Captain drily.
"I know a little witch of that kind," said Master Raymond, humoring the
Captain's fancy; "but she is now in Boston prison, and in danger of her
life."
"Ah! I think I have heard something of her--very beautiful, is she not?
I caught a glimpse of her when I went up to see Captain Alden, who the
bigoted fools have got in limbo there. I could not help laughing at
Alden--the idea of calling him a witch. Alden is a religious man, you
know!"
"But it may cost him his life!"
"That is what I went to see him about. I offered to come up with a party
some night, break open the jail, and carry him off to New York in the
Storm King."
"Well?"
"Oh, you know the better people are not in the jail, but in the jailer's
house--having given their promise to Keeper Arnold that they will not
try to escape, if thus kindly treated. And besides, if he runs off, they
will confiscate his property; of which Alden foolishly has a good deal
in houses and lands. So he thinks it the best policy to hold on to his
anchor, and see if the storm will not blow itself out."
"And so you have no conscientious scruples against breaking the law, by
carrying off any of these imprisoned persons?"
"Conscientious scruples and the Puritan laws be d----!" exclaimed the
Captain; thinking perhaps that this was an occasion when he might with
propriety break his rule as to swearing while in port.
"Your language expresses my sentiments exactly!" responded the young
Englishman, who had never uttered an oath in his life. "Captain, I am
betrothed to that young lady you saw when you went to see Captain Alden.
If she is ever brought to trial, those Salem hell-hounds will swear away
her life. I mean to rescue her--or die with her. I am able and willing
to pay you any reasonable price for your aid and assistance, Will you
help me?"
The Captain sprang to his feet. "Will I help you? The great God dash the
Storm King to pieces on her next voyage if I fail you! See here," taking
a letter out of a drawer, "it is a profitable offer just made me. But it
is a mere matter of merchandise; and this is a matter of a woman's life!
You shall pay me what you can afford to, and what you think right; but,
money or no money, I and the Storm King, and her brave crew, who will
follow wherever I lead, are at your service!"
As Captain Tolley uttered these words, in an impassioned, though low
voice, and with a glowing face and sparkling blue eyes, Master Raymond
thought he had never seen a handsomer man. He grasped the Captain's
extended hand, and shook it warmly. "I shall never forget this noble
offer," he exclaimed. And he never did forget it; for from that moment
the two were life-long friends.
"What is your plan?" said the Captain.
"A peaceable escape if possible. If not, what you propose to Captain
Alden."
"I should like the last the best," said the Captain.
"Why, it would expose you to penalties--and keep your vessel hereafter
out of Boston harbor."
"You see that I have an old grudge of my own," replied the Captain.
"These Puritan rascals once arrested me for bringing some Quakers from
Barbados--good, honest, innocent people, a little touched here, you
know,"--and the Captain tapped his broad, brown brow with his finger.
"They caught me on shore, fined me, and would have put me in the stocks;
but my mate got word of it, we were lying out in the storm, trained two
big guns to bear upon the town, and gave them just fifteen minutes to
send me on board again. That was twenty years ago, and I have not been
here since."
"They sent you on board, I suppose?"
"Oh, the Saints are not fools," replied the Captain, laughing. "As for
being shut out of Boston harbor hereafter, I do not fear that much. The
reign of the Saints is nearly over. Do you not see that the Quakers are
back, and the Baptists, and the prayer-book men, as they call the
Episcopalians!--and they do not touch them, though they would whip the
whole of them out of the Province, at the cart's tail, if they dared.
But there are Kings in Israel again!" and the Captain laughed heartily.
"And the Kings are always better shepherds to the flock than the
Priests."
"You may have to lie here idle for a while; but I will bear the expense
of it," said Master Raymond. "Have the proper papers drawn up, and I
will sign them."
"No, there shall be no papers between you and me," rejoined the Captain
stoutly. "I hate these lawyers' pledges. I never deal with a man, if I
can help it, who needs a signed and sealed paper to keep him to his
word. I know what you are, and you ought to be able to see by this time
what I am. The Storm King shall lie here three months, if need be--and
you shall pay me monthly my reasonable charges. But I will make out no
bill, and you shall have no receipt, to cause any trouble to anybody,
hereafter."
"That will suit me," replied Master Raymond, "I shall be in the
bar-room of the Red Lion every morning at ten. You must be there too.
But we will only nod to each other, unless I have something to tell you.
Then I will slip a note into your hand, making an appointment for an
interview. I fear there may be spies upon my movements."
Captain Tolley assenting to these arrangements, Master Raymond and he
again shook hands, and the latter was put ashore in one of the Storm
King's boats. It was a little curious that as the young man reached the
wharf, ascending a few wooden steps from the boat, whom should he see at
a little distance, walking briskly into the town, but one who he thought
was Master Thomas Putnam. He could not see the man's face, for his back
was toward him; but he felt certain that it was the loving and obedient
husband of Mistress Ann Putnam.