captain has hardly left the deck since yesterday noon, when this gale
began." The surgeon was a young man, but he had a grave, middle-aged
manner which Dickson's sneering smoothness seemed always to insult.
"You always take Jones's part," ventured the guest.
"We are not living in a tavern ashore," retorted the surgeon. "The
officer you speak of is our captain, and commands an American
man-of-war. That must be understood. I cannot discuss these matters
again."
"Some of the best sailors vow they will desert him in the first French
port," said Dickson.
"Then they make themselves liable to be shot for desertion whenever they
are caught," replied Green coolly, "and you must take every opportunity
to tell them so. Those who are here simply to make a little dirty money
had better have stayed ashore and traded their country produce with the
British ships. They say there was a fine-paying business on foot, out
at the Isles of Shoals."
This advice struck home, as the speaker desired. Dickson swallowed hard
once or twice, and then looked meek and stubborn; he watched the surgeon
slyly before he spoke again.
"Yes, it is a very difficult crew to command," he agreed; "we have
plenty of good loyal men aboard, but they want revenge for their
country's wrongs, as you and I do, I hope!"
"War is one thing, and has law and order to dignify it; common piracy
and thievery are of another breed. Some of our men need education in
these matters, not to say all the discipline they can get. The captain
is much wronged and insulted by the spirit that has begun to spread
between decks. I believe that he has the right view of his duty; his
methods are sometimes his own."
"As in the case of Mr. Wallingford," blandly suggested Dickson, swift to
seize his opportunity. "Even you would have thought the captain
outrageous in his choice of words."
"The captain is a man easily provoked, and has suffered certain
provocations such as no man of spirit could brook. I believe he was
very wrong to vent his spite on Mr. Wallingford, who has proved as
respectful of others and forgetful of himself as any man on board. I
say this without knowing the present circumstances, but Wallingford has
made a nobler sacrifice than any of us."
"He would have been chased to his own kind among the Tories in another
week," sneered the other. "You know it as well as I. Wallingford
hesitated just as long as he dared, and there's the truth! He's a good
mate to Ben Thompson,--both of 'em courtiers of the Wentworths; and both
of 'em had to hurry at the last, one way or the other, whichever
served."
"Plenty of our best citizens clung to the hope that delay would bring
some proper arbitration and concession. No good citizen went to war
lightly and without a pang. A man who has seen carnage must always
dread it; such glory as we win must reckon upon groans and weeping
behind the loudest cheers. But war once declared, men of clear
conscience and decent character may accept their lot, and in the end
serve their country best," said the doctor.
"You are sentimental to-night," scoffed Dickson.
"I have been thinking much of home," said the surgeon, with deep
feeling. "I may never see my home again, nor may you. We are near
shore now: in a few days this ship may be smeared with blood, and these
poor fellows who snarl and bargain, and discuss the captain's orders and
the chance of prize money, may come under my hands, bleeding and torn
and suffering their last agony. We must face these things as best we
may; we do not know what war means yet; the captain will spare none of
us. He is like a creature in a cage now, fretted by his bounds and all
their petty conditions; but when the moment of freedom comes he will
seek action. He is fit by nature to leap to the greatest opportunities,
and to do what the best of us could never dream of. No, not you, sir,
nor Simpson either, though he aims to supplant him!" grumbled the
surgeon, under his voice.
"Perhaps his gift is too great for so small a command as this," Dickson
returned, with an evil smile. "It is understood that he must be
transferred to a more sufficient frigate, if France sees fit," he added,
in a pious tone. "I shall strive to do my own duty in either case." At
which Dr. Green looked up and smiled.
Dickson laughed back; he was quick to feel the change of mood in his
companion. For a moment they were like two schoolboys, but there was a
flicker of malice in Dickson's eyes; no one likes being laughed at.
"Shall we take a hand at cards, sir?" he asked hastily. "All these
great things will soon be settled when we get to France."
The surgeon did not offer to get the cards, which lay on the nearest
shelf. He was clasping his hands across his broad breast, and leaning
back in a comfortable, tolerant sort of way in his corner seat. They
both knew perfectly well that they were in for a long evening together,
and might as well make the best of it. It was too much trouble to fight
with a cur. Somehow, the current of general interest did not set as
usual toward theological opinions.
"I was called to a patient down on Sligo Point, beyond the Gulf Road,
just before we sailed," said Green presently, in a more friendly tone.
"'T was an old woman of unsteady brain, but of no common-place fancy,
who was under one of her wildest spells, and had mounted the house roof
to sell all her neighbors at auction. She was amusing enough,--'t is a
pretty wit when she is sane; but I heard roars of laughter as I rode up
the lane, and saw a flock of listeners at the orchard edge. She had
knocked off the minister and both deacons, the lot for ninepence, and
was running her lame neighbor Paul to seventy thousand pounds."
"I heard that they called the minister to pray with her when her fit was
coming on, and she chased him down the lane, and would have driven him
into the river, if there had not been some men at fall ploughing in a
field near by. She was a fixed Calvinist in her prime, and always
thought him lax," said Dickson, with relish, continuing the tale. "They
had told the good man to come dressed in his gown and bands, thinking it
would impress her mind."
"Which it certainly seemed to do," agreed the doctor. "At any rate, she
knocked him down for nine-pence. 'T was a good sample of the valuation
most of us put upon our neighbors. She likes to hear her neighbor Paul
play the fiddle; sometimes he can make her forget all her poor
distresses, and fall asleep like a baby. The minister had somehow vexed
her. Our standards are just as personal here aboard ship. The Great Day
will sum up men at their true value,--we shall never do it before; 't
would ask too much of poor human nature."
Dickson drummed on the bulkhead before he spoke. "Some men are taken at
less than their true value."
"And some at more, especially by themselves. Don't let things go too far
with Simpson. He 's a good man, but can easily be led into making
trouble," said the surgeon; and Dickson half rose, and then sat down
again, with his face showing an angry red.
"We must be patient," added the surgeon a moment later, without having
looked again at his companion. "'T is just like a cage of beasts here:
fierce and harmless are shut in together. Tame creatures are sometimes
forced to show their teeth. We must not fret about petty things,
either; 't is a great errand we have come out upon, and the honest doing
of it is all the business we have in common."
"True, sir," said Dickson, with a touch of insolent flattery. "Shall we
take a hand at cards?"
*XIV*
*TO ADD MORE GRIEF*
"O garlands, hanging by these doors, now stay,
Nor from your leaves too quickly shake away
My dew of tears. (How many such, ah me!
A lover's eyes must shed!)"
Captain Paul Jones was waiting, a most affable and dignified host, to
greet his guest. Wallingford stood before him, with a faint flush of
anger brightening his cheeks.
"You commanded me, sir," he said shortly.
"Oh, come, Wallingford!" exclaimed the captain, never so friendly
before, and keeping that pleasant voice and manner which at once claimed
comradeship from men and admiring affection from women. "I 'll drop the
commander when we 're by ourselves, if you 'll consent, and we 'll say
what we like. I wanted you to sup with me. I 've got a bottle of good
wine for us,--some of Hamilton's Madeira."
Wallingford hesitated; after all, what did it matter? The captain was
the captain; there was a vigorous sort of refreshment in this life on
shipboard; a man could not judge his associates by the one final test of
their being gentlemen, but only expect of each that he should follow
after his kind. Outside society there lies humanity.
The lieutenant seated himself under the swinging lamp, and took the
glass that was held out to him. They drank together to the flag they
carried, and to their lucky landfall on the morrow.
"To France!" said the captain gallantly. It was plainly expected that
all personal misunderstandings should be drowned in the good wine.
Wallingford knew the flavor well enough, and even from which cask in
Hamilton's cellar it had been drawn. Then the captain was quickly on
his feet again, and took the four steps to and fro which were all his
cabin permitted. He did not even appear to be impatient, though supper
was slow in coming. His hands were clasped behind him, and he smiled
once or twice, but did not speak, and seemed to be lost in thought. As
for the guest, his thoughts were with Mary Hamilton. The flavor of wine,
like the fragrance of a flower, can be a quick spur to memory. He saw
her bright face and sweet, expectant eyes, as if they were sitting
together at Hamilton's own table.
The process of this evening meal at sea was not a long one; and when the
two men had dispatched their food with businesslike haste, the steward
was dismissed, and they were left alone with Hamilton's Madeira at
better than half tide in the bottle between them, a plate of biscuit and
some raisins, and the usual pack of cards. Paul Jones covered these
with a forbidding hand, and presently pushed them aside altogether, and
added a handful of pipes to the provisioning of the plain dessert. He
wished to speak of serious things, and could not make too long an
evening away from his papers. It seemed incredible that the voyage was
so near its end. He refilled his own glass and Mr. Wallingford's.
"I foresee much annoyance now, on board this ship. I must at once post
to Paris, and here they will have time to finish their machinations at
their leisure, without me to drive them up to duty. Have you long known
this man Dickson?" asked the captain, lowering his voice and fixing his
eyes upon the lieutenant.
"I have always known him. He was once in our own employ and much
trusted, but was afterward dismissed, and for the worst of reasons,"
said Wallingford.
"What reputation has he borne in the neighborhood?"
"He is called a sharp man of business, quick to see his own advantage,
and generous in buying the good will of those who can serve his purpose.
He is a stirring, money-getting fellow, very close-fisted; but he has
been unlucky in his larger ventures, as if fortune did not much incline
to favor him."
"I despised the fellow from the first," said the captain, with engaging
frankness, "but I have no fear that I cannot master him; he is much
cleverer than many a better man, yet 't is not well to forget that a
cripple in the right road can beat a racer in the wrong. He has been
sure these last days that he possesses my confidence, but I have made
him serve some good turns. Now he is making trouble as fast as he can
between Simpson and me. Simpson knows little of human nature; he would
as soon have Dickson's praise as yours or mine. He cannot wait to
supplant me in this command, and he frets to gather prizes off these
rich seas. There 's no harm in prizes; but I sometimes think that no
soul on board has any real comprehension of the larger duties of our
voyage, and the ends it may serve in furthering an alliance with France.
They all begin, well instructed by Dickson, to look upon me as hardly
more than a passenger. 'T is true that I look for a French frigate very
soon, as Dickson tells them; but he adds that it is to Simpson they must
look for success, while if he could rid himself of Simpson he would do
it. I must have a fleet if I can, and as soon as I can, and be master
of it, too. I have my plans all well laid! Dickson is full of plots of
his own, but to tell such a man the truth about himself is to give him
the blackest of insults."
Wallingford made a gesture of impatience. The captain's face relaxed,
and he laughed as he leaned across the table.
"Dickson took his commission for the sake of prize money," he said. "A
pirate, a pirate, that's what he is, but oh, how pious in his speech!
"'Unpitying hears the captive's moans
Or e'en a dying brother's groans!'
"There 's a hymn for him!" exclaimed the captain, with bitter emphasis.
"No, he has no gleam of true patriotism in his cold heart; he is full of
deliberate insincerities; 'a mitten for any hand,' as they say in
Portsmouth. I believe he would risk a mutiny, if he had time enough;
and having gained his own ends of putting better men to shame, he would
pose as the queller of it. A low-lived, self-seeking man; you can see
it for yourself, Mr. Wallingford."
"True, sir. I did not need to come to sea to learn that man's
character," and Wallingford finished his glass and set it down, but
still held it with one hand stretched out upon the table, while he
leaned back comfortably against the bulkhead.
"If our enterprise has any value in the sight of the nations, or any
true power against our oppressors, it lies in our noble cause and in our
own unselfishness," said Paul Jones, his eyes kindling. "This man and
his fellows would have us sneak about the shores of Great Britain,
picking up an old man and a lad and a squalling woman from some
coastwise trading smack, and plundering what weak craft we can find to
stuff our pockets with ha'pennies. We have a small ship, it is true;
but it is war we follow, not thievery. I hear there 's grumbling
between decks about ourselves getting nothing by this voyage. 'T is our
country we have put to sea for, not ourselves. No man has it in his
heart more than I to confront the enemy: but Dickson would like to creep
along the coast forever after small game, and count up by night what he
has taken by day, like a petty shopkeeper. I look for larger things, or
we might have stopped at home. I have my plans, sir; the Marine
Committee have promised me my proper ship. One thing that I cannot
brook is a man's perfidy. I have good men aboard, but Dickson is not
among them. I feel sometimes as if I trod on caltrops. I am outdone,
Mr. Wallingford. I have hardly slept these three nights. You have my
apology, sir."
The lieutenant bowed with respectful courtesy, but said nothing. The
captain opened his eyes a little wider, and looked amused; then he
quickly grew grave and observed his guest with fresh attention. There
was a fine unassailable dignity in Wallingford's bearing at this moment.
"Since you are aware that there is some disaffection, sir," he said
deliberately, "I can only answer that it seems to me there is but one
course to follow, and you must not overrate the opposition. They will
always sit in judgment upon your orders, and discuss your measures, and
express their minds freely. I have long since seen that our natural
independence of spirit in New England makes individual opinion appear of
too great consequence,--'t is the way they fall upon the parson's sermon
ashore, every Monday morning. As for Lieutenant Simpson, I think him a
very honest-hearted man, though capable of being influenced. He has the
reputation in Portsmouth of an excellent seaman, but high-tempered.
Among the men here, he has the advantage of great powers of
self-command."
Wallingford paused, as if to make his words more emphatic, and then
repeated them: "He has the mastery of his temper, sir, and the men fear
him; he can stop to think even when he is angry. His gifts are perhaps
not great, but they have that real advantage."
Paul Jones blazed with sudden fury. He sprang to his feet, and stood
light and steady there beyond the table, in spite of the swaying ship.
"Forgive me, sir," said Roger Wallingford, "but you bade us speak
together like friends to-night. I think you a far greater man and
master than when we left Portsmouth; I am not so small-minded as to
forget to honor my superiors. I see plainly that you are too much vexed
with these men,--I respect and admire you enough to say so; you must not
expect from them what you demand from yourself. In the worst weather
you could not have had a better crew: you have confessed to that. I
believe you must have patience with the small affairs which have so
deeply vexed you. The men are right at heart; you ought to be able to
hold them better than Dickson!"
The captain's rage had burnt out like a straw fire, and he was himself
again.
"Speak on, Mr. Lieutenant; you mean kindly," he said, and took his seat.
The sweat stood on his forehead, and his hands twitched.
"I think we have it in our power to intimidate the enemy, poorly fitted
out as we are," he said, with calmness, "but we must act like one man.
At least we all pity our countrymen, who are starving in filthy prisons.
Since Parliament, now two years agone, authorized the King to treat all
Americans taken under arms at sea as pirates and felons, they have been
stuffing their dungeons with the innocent and guilty together. What man
seeing his enemy approach does not arm himself in defense? We have made
no retaliation such as I shall make now. I have my plans, but I cannot
risk losing a man here and a man there, out of a crew like this, before
I adventure a hearty blow; this cuts me off from prize-hunting. And the
commander of an American man-of-war cannot hobnob with his sailors, like
the leader of a gang of pirates. I am no Captain Kidd, nor am I another
Blackboard. I can easily be blocked in carrying out my purposes.
Dickson will not consent to serve his country unless he can fill his
pockets. Simpson cannot see the justice of obeying my orders, and lets
his inferiors see that he resents them. I wish Dickson were in the
blackest pit of Plymouth jail. If I were the pirate he would like to
have me, I'd yard-arm him quick enough!"
"We may be overheard, sir," pleaded Wallingford. "We each have our
ambitions," he continued bravely, while his father's noble looks came to
his face. "Mine are certainly not Dickson's, nor do I look forward to a
life at sea, like yourself. This may be the last time we can speak
together on the terms you commanded that we should speak to-night. I
look for no promotion; I am humble enough about my fitness to serve; the
navy is but an accident, as you know, in my career. I beg you to
command my hearty service, such as it is; you have a right to it, and
you shall not find me wanting. I know that you have been very hard
placed."
And now the captain bowed courteously in his turn, and received the
pledge with gratitude, but he kept his eyes upon the young man with
growing curiosity. Wallingford had turned pale, and spoke with much
effort.
"My heart leaps within me when I think that I shall soon stand upon the
shore of France," Paul Jones went on, for his guest kept silence.
"Within a few days I shall see the Duke of Chartres, if he be within
reach. No man ever took such hold of my affections at first
acquaintance as that French prince. We knew each other first at Hampton
Roads, where he was with Kersaint, the French commodore. My only
thought in boarding him was to serve our own young navy and get
information for our ship-building, but I was rewarded by a noble gift of
friendship. 'T is now two years since we have met, but I cannot believe
that I shall find him changed; I can feel my hand in his already. He
will give our enterprise what help he can. He met me on his deck that
day like a brother; we were friends from the first. I told him my
errand, and he showed me everything about his new ship, and even had
copies made for me of her plans. 'T was before France and England had
come to open trouble, and he was dealing with a rebel, but he helped me
all he could. I had loaded my sloop with the best I had on my
plantation; 't was May, and the gardens very forward. I knew their
vessels had been long at sea, and could ship a whole salad garden. I
would not go to ask for favors then without trying to make some pleasure
in return, but we were friends from the first. He is a very noble
gentleman; you shall see him soon, I hope, and judge for yourself."
Wallingford listened, but the captain was still puzzled by a look on the
young man's face.
"I must make my confession," said the lieutenant. "When I hear you speak
of such a friend, I know that I have done wrong in keeping silence, sir.
I put myself into your hands. When I took my commission, I openly took
the side of our colonies against the Crown. I am at heart among the
Neutrals: 't is ever an ignominious part to take. I never could bring
myself to take the King's side against the country that bore me. I
should rather curse those who insisted, on either side, upon this
unnatural and unnecessary war. Now I am here; I put myself very low; I
am at your mercy, Captain Paul Jones. I cannot explain to you my
immediate reasons, but I have gone against my own principles for the
sake of one I love and honor. You may put irons on me, or set me ashore
without mercy, or believe that I still mean to keep the oath I took.
Since I came on board this ship I have begun to see that the colonies
are in the right; my heart is with my oath as it was not in the
beginning."
"By Heaven!" exclaimed the captain, staring. "Wallingford, do you mean
this?" The captain sprang to his feet again. "By Heaven! I could not
have believed this from another, but I know you can speak the truth!
Give me your hand, sir! Give me your hand, I say, Wallingford! I have
known men enough who would fight for their principles, and fight well,
but you are the first I ever saw who would fight against them for love
and honor's sake. This is what I shall do," he went on rapidly. "I
shall not iron you or set you ashore; I shall hold you to your oath. I
have no fear that you will ever fail to carry out my orders as an
officer of this ship. Now we have indeed spoken together like friends!"
They seated themselves once more, face to face.
There was a heavy trampling overhead. Wallingford had a sudden fear
lest this best hour of the voyage might be at an end, and some
unexpected event summon them to the deck, but it was only some usual
duty of the sailors. His heart was full of admiration for the great
traits of the captain. He had come to know Paul Jones at last; their
former disastrous attempts at fellowship were all forgotten. A man
might well keep difficult promises to such a chief; the responsibilities
of his life were in a strong and by no means unjust hand. The
confession was made; the confessor had proved to be a man of noble
charity.
There was a strange look of gentleness and compassion on the captain's
face; his thought was always leading him away from the past moment, the
narrow lodging and poor comfort of the ship.
"We have great dangers before us," he reflected, "and only our poor
human nature to count upon; 't is the shame and failures of past years
that make us wince at such a time as this. We can but offer ourselves
upon the altar of duty, and hope to be accepted. I have kept a promise,
too, since I came to sea. I was mighty near to breaking it this very
day," he added simply.
The lieutenant had but a dim sense of these words; something urged him
to make a still greater confidence. He was ready to speak with utter
frankness now, to such a listener, of the reasons why he had come to
sea, of the one he loved best, and of all his manly hopes; to tell the
captain everything.
At this moment, the captain himself, deeply moved by his own thoughts,
reached a cordial hand across the table. Wallingford was quick to grasp
it and to pledge his friendship as he never had done before.
Suddenly he drew back, startled, and caught his hand away. There was a
ring shining on Paul Jones's hand, and the ring was Mary Hamilton's.
*XV*
*THE COAST OF FRANCE*
"They goe very neer to ungratefulnesse."
Next day, in the Channel, every heart was rejoiced by the easy taking of
two prizes, rich fruit-laden vessels from Madeira and Malaga. With
these in either hand the Ranger came in sight of land, after a quick
passage and little in debt to time, when the rough seas and the many
difficulties of handling a new ship were fairly considered.