Our instructions, it seemed, were that we should cruise to the southward
of Saint Domingo, from Cape Tiburon as far eastward as the Mona Passage,
giving an occasional look into Port-au-Prince. We accordingly carried
on all that day, taking a second reef in the topsails at sunset, and
heaving the ship round on the starboard tack at midnight, which brought
us well in under the lee of Cape Tiburon by daybreak next morning. We
were then on our cruising ground; sail was shortened, and the frigate,
being hove about, was allowed to jog along under easy canvas.
Thenceforward, until Captain Pigot reappeared on deck, we had a pleasant
and comfortable time of it; for although the discipline of the ship was
never for one moment relaxed, there was an utter absence of all that
worry and petty tyranny, and, above all, those daily floggings which the
skipper seemed to consider essential to the maintenance of a proper
degree of subordination and smartness on the part of the crew.
With the reappearance of Captain Pigot on deck, however, this brief
period of rest and quietness came to an end. The pain and irritation of
his wound, together, perhaps, with the reflection that he had been
worsted in an encounter brought about by his own arrogant and
overbearing demeanour, seemed to have chafed his temper almost to the
point of madness. The floggings were resumed with greater severity than
ever; and every time the hands were turned up a boatswain's-mate, armed
with a colt, was stationed at each hatchway, with instructions to
"freshen the way" of the last man on the ladder. And the same with
shortening or making sail, the last man out of the rigging on each mast
received a liberal application of the execrable colt to his shoulders.
It certainly had the effect of making the men smart in a double sense,
but it also made them, perhaps, the most discontented crew in the
service.
Thus matters went on, steadily growing from bad to worse, until the
month of September set in. We had been dodging off and on, carefully
beating over every inch of our cruising ground and looking into every
likely and unlikely spot, in the hope of picking up a prize or two, and
our non-success had been simply phenomenal. It really seemed as though
every craft worth the trouble of capture had deserted our part of the
world altogether. This of course resulted, as was perhaps only natural,
in a further accession of acerbity fore and aft, the brunt of which of
course fell upon the hands forward, who--what with drill of one sort and
another, perpetual making and shortening of sail, shifting of spars and
canvas, overhauling and setting-up of the rigging, lengthy, tedious, and
wholly unnecessary boat expeditions, in addition to the incessant
floggings and coltings already referred to--at length found their lives
a positive burden to them. This kind of treatment could, of course,
produce but one result, and, by the period before-named, the crew had
been wrought up to such a pitch of exasperation and revengeful fury,
that I am convinced they would have refused to go to the guns had we
encountered an enemy. It may easily be imagined how difficult and
anxious a task it was for the officers to carry on the duty of the ship
under such circumstances as these.
It had by this time become clear to everybody--excepting, apparently,
Captain Pigot himself--that the existing state of affairs could not
possibly last much longer; and at length the first lieutenant,
recognising the gravity of the situation, took it upon himself to invite
the second and third lieutenants and the master to a consultation in his
own cabin, the result of which consultation was a resolve to adopt the
extreme measure of making a collective representation and appeal to the
skipper. This being decided, it was determined to carry out the resolve
on that same evening, the time to be during the first dog-watch, it
being Captain Pigot's habit to retire to his cabin after eight bells had
been struck, and to devote an hour or so to reading before dinner.
Accordingly, no sooner had the skipper left the deck than I was
despatched by Mr Reid to apprise Mr Douglas, Mr Maxwell, and Mr
Southcott of the fact, and to state that the first lieutenant awaited
them on the quarter-deck. We midshipmen had of course been left in the
dark as to the proposed interview; but the message of which I was the
bearer was of so very unusual a character that I at once suspected there
must be something out of the common in prospect; and when, a few minutes
later, I saw the four principal officers of the ship march with
portentously solemn faces into the cabin, I determined that, right or
wrong, I would know what was in the wind.
Fortunately for my purpose it was my watch below, and my absence from
the deck would consequently not be noticed. It took me but a moment to
form my plans, and not much more to execute them. The ship had a full
poop, under which the captain's cabin was situated; the weather was
warm, and all the ports were open. Slipping off my shoes and thrusting
them beneath a gun, where they were not likely to be discovered, I made
my way in my stockings up on to the poop, which was entirely deserted,
and at once slipped over the side into the mizzen channels. The lid of
one of the ports was then immediately beneath me, and I knew beforehand
that there was just room for me to squeeze in upon it, where, though my
attitude must be somewhat constrained, I should be perfectly concealed
from every eye, whilst I should also be able to hear with tolerable
distinctness every word which might be spoken in the cabin in an
ordinary conversational tone of voice.
Now, I am not going to defend my conduct. I know, and I knew at the
time, that I was doing what I had no business to do, but I was quite
free from any feeling of absolute wrong-doing; I had an instinctive
perception that the interview in which I was about to play the part of
eaves-dropper was in some way connected with the critical state of
affairs then prevailing on board, and I felt that whilst my cognisance
of what was about to pass could be hurtful to nobody, the knowledge
might be advantageous to myself, and possibly to others also. If I
acted wrongly I must be content to bear the blame; the fact remains that
I posted myself safely and undetected in the position I had fixed upon,
and overheard almost every word which passed in the brief interview
between the skipper and his visitors.
As I swung myself out over the channels and settled myself into my
somewhat cramped quarters I heard Captain Pigot's strident voice
speaking in a tone of surprised inquiry; but I was too busy just then to
catch what he said. By the time he had finished, however, I was all
ready to listen; and I presently heard Mr Reid reply:
"We have taken the unusual step, sir, of waiting upon you thus in a
body, to direct your attention, in the most respectful manner, to the
present condition and temper of the ship's company, the which we
conceive to have resulted wholly from your excessive severity toward
them. They are, almost to a man, in such an excited and dangerous frame
of mind that we have the greatest difficulty in maintaining discipline,
and keeping them under proper control. Indeed, to adequately carry on
the duty of the ship has become almost an impossibility; and--to speak
the truth frankly, sir--on comparing notes with my brother officers we
have come to the conclusion that the men are no longer to be depended
upon in case of an emergency. Matters cannot possibly remain much
longer in their present state, a change of some sort is inevitable; and
we would most respectfully suggest, sir, to your earnest and immediate
consideration the desirability of adopting a more lenient and generous
line of policy--"
"Great Heaven! man, do you know what you are saying?" gasped the
skipper. And the crash of a falling chair together with the quiver in
his voice seemed to indicate that he had started to his feet in a
paroxysm of fury which he was ineffectually struggling to suppress.
"How dare you," he continued--"how dare anyone or all of you presume to
call in question my conduct, or dictate to me the line of policy which I
shall pursue with regard to my crew--a lazy, skulking, cowardly set of
vagabonds, three-fourths of whom are foreigners? Why, man, if it had
not been for the severe discipline of which you complain they would have
had the ship away from us ere now. I know the class of men I have to
deal with, aboard here, and I also know how to deal with them; and you
may take my word for it that I will never rest satisfied until I have
made them the smartest crew in the service. As to the difficulty you
profess to experience in carrying on the duty of the ship, I must
confess I have not observed it, the rascals have always appeared active
and willing enough whenever I have been on deck--thanks to that
wholesome fear of the cat with which I have imbued them; and if the
difficulty _really_ exists, I cannot but think, gentlemen, the fault
must be with yourselves, and it can easily be cured by a somewhat firmer
maintenance, rather than a relaxation, of that rigid discipline which
you deprecate. And I will take this opportunity of mentioning, whilst
we are upon the subject, my very strong disapproval of the manifest
tendency which I have observed in the officers of this ship to overlook
and condone what I suppose _they_ would term _trifling_ infractions of
duty. In so doing, gentlemen, you have made a most grievous mistake,
which, however, I will do my best to remedy in the immediate future.
There is nothing like plenty of flogging if you wish to keep such curs
in proper order."
During the progress of this speech the skipper had gradually recovered
the control of his temper; the tremulous tones of anger in his voice
were succeeded by those of bitter sarcasm; and the manifest sneer with
which he concluded made my blood boil.
There was a momentary pause, then I heard the first lieutenant say:
"With all submission, sir, permit me to say that I believe--nay, that I
am _convinced_--you wholly misunderstand the character and disposition
of the crew. Some of them--far too many of them, indeed--_are_
foreigners, who have neither the strength nor the spirit to perform
their duties as efficiently as Englishmen would, but I believe that, for
the most part, they honestly do their best; and for honest service,
faithfully performed, perpetual flogging seems to me but a poor reward.
The jail-birds among our own countrymen are the most difficult subjects
to deal with, and flogging only hardens them; if I had to deal with them
I should be far more disposed to look for a cure from the contempt and
raillery of their shipmates. Besides, the rogues are so cunning that
they frequently succeed in shifting the blame on to other shoulders; and
when one man gets punished for another's offences we know that the
tendency is to make him sullen and discontented. I could name at least
a dozen men who, from being bright smart, active, reliable men at the
commencement of the cruise, have degenerated into as many idle skulks,
solely because their good qualities have received no recognition, and
they have been punished over and over again for the faults of others.
And as to our leniency toward the men--"
"There, that will do, Mr Reid; the less said on that head the better,"
interrupted the skipper impatiently. "This discussion has gone far
enough," he continued, "and I must now request you all to withdraw. You
have--relieved your consciences, let us say, by entering this formal
protest and expressing your disapproval of my method of dealing with the
hands forward; now let the matter drop. And hark ye, one and all, if
there is any repetition of this impertinent interference with me, by the
Heaven above us I will clap the presumptuous individual who attempts it
in irons, and bring him to court-martial at the first convenient port we
reach. Now go, and be hanged to you!"
"Very well, sir," said old David, "we _will_ go; but, before we leave
your presence, permit me to observe that--"
I heard no more, for, perceiving that the interview was about to
somewhat abruptly terminate, I judged it best to effect an escape from
my place of concealment whilst escape was still possible, and I
forthwith proceeded hurriedly to do so. I managed to make my way back
to the quarter-deck without attracting attention, and had barely secured
my shoes and replaced them on my feet when the first lieutenant and his
companions emerged from the poop cabin and began to pace the quarter-
deck in apparently careless conversation, though I could tell, by the
gloomy expression of their countenances, that they were discussing an
anything but agreeable topic.
At length the westering sun approached the horizon; and Mr Douglas and
Mr Southcott retired to their cabins in anticipation of Captain Pigot's
appearance on deck to watch the nightly operation of reefing topsails,
leaving Mr Reid and Mr Maxwell to slowly pace the quarter-deck side by
side. It being now my watch on deck, I stationed myself in the waist on
the larboard side of the deck and endeavoured to forget the gloomy
forebodings which had arisen out of the conversation I had recently
overheard by abandoning myself to the soothing influences of the
glorious eventide.
It was indeed a glorious evening, such as is seldom or never to be met
with outside the tropics. The wind had gradually fallen away during the
afternoon until it had dropped stark calm; and there the ship lay, with
her head to the northward, gently rolling on the long glassy swell which
came creeping stealthily up out from the northward and eastward. The
small islands of Mona and Monita--the latter a mere rock--lay broad on
our larboard quarter about eight miles distant, two delicate purplish
pink blots on the south-western horizon, whilst Desecho reared its head
above the north-eastern horizon on our starboard bow, a soft grey
marking in the still softer grey haze of the sky in that quarter. A
great pile of delicately-tinted purple and ruby clouds with golden edges
lay heaped up in detached fantastic masses along the glowing western
horizon, shaped into the semblance of an aerial archipelago, with far-
stretching promontories and peninsulas, and boldly jutting capes and
headlands with deep gulfs and winding straits of rosy sky between. Some
of these celestial islands were shaped along their edges into a series
of minute gold-tipped projections and irregularities, which needed only
the slightest effort of the fancy to become converted into the spires
and pinnacles of a populous city or busy seaport; whilst certain minute
detached flakelets of crimson and golden cloud dotted here and there
about the aerial channels might easily be imagined to be fairy argosies
navigating the celestial sea. Gazing, as I did, enraptured, upon that
scene of magical beauty, it was not difficult to guess at the origin of
that most poetical--as it is perhaps the oldest--nautical superstition,
which gives credence to the idea that there exists, far away beyond the
sunset, an enchanted region which poor storm-beaten sailors are
sometimes permitted to reach, and wherein, during an existence which is
indefinitely prolonged, they enjoy a complete immunity from all those
perils and hardships with which the seaman's life is ordinarily
environed; wherein life is one long day of ineffable peace and rest and
tranquillity; and from whence every disagreeable influence is
permanently banished.
I was abruptly aroused from my fanciful musings by the sound of the
ship's bell, four strokes upon which proclaimed the end of the first
dog-watch. The momentary bustle of calling the watch immediately
followed, in the midst of which came the customary orders to reef
topsails. Simultaneously with the appearance of the larboard watch,
Captain Pigot issued from his cabin and, ascending the poop ladder, made
his way aft to the taffrail, from which position he was able to command
a view of the proceedings on each topsail-yard. The royals and
topgallant-sails were very smartly clewed up and furled; and, as the
topsail halyards were let run, I saw the skipper pull out his watch and,
noting the time by it, hold it face upwards in his hand.
"Soho!" thought I, "that does not look very much as though the first
lieutenant's remonstrance had produced any beneficial effect; there's
trouble in store for some of those unfortunates on the yards if they are
not exceptionally lively."
The hands themselves, who had not failed to mark the skipper's actions,
seemed to think so too, and they set about their work with the activity
of wild-cats. But "the more hurry the less speed" is an old adage; and
so it proved in the present case, the men on the mizzen topsail-yard
managing so to bungle matters that when, on the expiration of two and a
half minutes--the outside limit of time allowed by the skipper for
reefing a topsail--Captain Pigot closed his watch with a snap and
replaced it smartly in his pocket, several of the reef-points still
remained to be tied.
"Now," thought I, "look out for squalls." And as the thought passed
through my mind the squall came, in the shape of a hail from the skipper
himself.
"Mizzen topsail-yard, there!" he shouted, "what are you about, you lazy
lubbers? Do you intend to spend the remainder of the watch in reefing
that topsail? Wake up, and put some life into your motions, for (and
here came an oath) I'll flog the last man off the yard."
The work was completed ere he had finished speaking, and the men began
hurriedly and in some little confusion to lay in off the yard. There
was a decided scramble for the topmast rigging, each man naturally
striving to be off the yard before his neighbour, and thus exposing
himself and those immediately about him to a very considerable amount of
peril.
Mr Reid, who was also on the poop near the skipper, saw this, and
hailed the men with:
"Steady, there, on the mizzen topsail-yard; steady, men, and take things
quietly, or some of you will be meeting with a nasty accident."
The men's fear of an accident was, however, less than their dread of a
flogging, and the hustling went on, much, apparently to the amusement of
Captain Pigot, who smiled cynically as he silently watched the struggle.
The two captains of the to were in the most disadvantageous position of
all, as they, bent supposed to be the two smartest hands on the yard,
had laid out, one to each yard-arm to pass and haul out the earrings and
they would consequently, in the ordinary course of things be the last
men off the yard. This, however, meant a flogging for at least one of
them, which they were resolved to escape if possible. Instead,
therefore, of laying in along the foot-rope like the rest of the men,
they scrambled up on the yard, by the aid of the lifts, and standing
erect on the spar, started to run in along it toward the mast. They
managed very well until they reached the little struggling crowd about
the topmast rigging, when, to avoid them, the two men made a spring
simultaneously for the back-stays. How it happened can never be known,
but, somehow or other, both overleaped themselves missed the back-stays,
and came crashing down on the poop where they lay motionless upon the
white planks which in another moment were crimsoned with their blood.
Captain Pigot turned ghastly pale as this sudden and terrible
consequence of his tyrannical behaviour presented itself to him; but he
never moved a single step to help either of the injured men. The first
lieutenant, however, sprang forward and raised the head of one poor
fellow, whilst I, springing up the poop ladder, went to the assistance
of the other. The man to whom I went lay on his face, and, as I turned
him over and raised his head, I turned sick and faint at the ghastly
sight which met my horrified gaze. The features were battered out of
all recognition, the lower jaw was broken, and from what appeared to be
the crushed face the blood was spurting in a torrent which almost
instantly drenched through my small-clothes and wetted me to the skin.
Unable to endure the terrible spectacle, I turned my eyes in Mr Reid's
direction, only to see that the unfortunate man whom he supported was in
quite as bad a plight. It was evident not only that the poor fellow was
dead, but also that death must have been instantaneous, the neck being
broken, and the crown of the skull apparently crushed in such a way that
the brain could be seen protruding, and the deck also was bespattered.
"Pass the word for the surgeon, there, somebody, and tell him to look
smart!" gasped poor old David in a voice so hoarse and changed with
horror and grief that I should never have recognised it as his had I not
seen his lips move.
In a minute or two the surgeon made his appearance on the scene, and a
very brief examination sufficed to enable him to pronounce both the men
dead.
The first lieutenant undertook to announce the sad intelligence to the
skipper, who still remained standing in the same position, apparently as
unconcerned as if nothing had happened. I must confess that I, for one,
fully expected to see some very decided manifestation of emotion on the
captain's part when he learned the tragical nature of the disaster; but,
instead of that, on being told the news, he--to the horror and
indignation of everybody who heard him--simply said:
"Um! dead, are they? Then throw the lubbers overboard!" And this was
actually done. Without the slightest pretence to ceremony or reverence
of any kind, without so much as a single prayer to consecrate their
dismissal to their final resting-place in the bosom of the deep, without
even pausing to sew up the poor fellows in their hammocks, with a shot
at their feet to ensure their safe arrival in the quiet and peaceful
region of the ocean's bed, the bodies were straightway raised from the
deck and, with a "One, two, three, _heave_!" were flung over the side,
to be instantly fought over and torn to pieces by some half a dozen
sharks which had put in an unsuspected appearance on the scene. Many a
curse, "not loud but deep," was called down upon the skipper's head that
night by the shipmates of the murdered men--for murdered they
undoubtedly were--and many a vow of complete and speedy vengeance was
solemnly registered. Insulted, scoffed at, derided, their last spark of
self-respect--if indeed any such thing still remained to them--outraged
and trodden under foot, the crew were that night changed from men to
devils; and if, at the conclusion of those unceremonious obsequies, a
leader had but stepped forward and placed himself at their head, they
would have risen upon us and, all unarmed as they were, torn us to
pieces.
No such thought or fear, however, appeared to present itself to Captain
Pigot, for, instead of evincing or expressing any sorrow for what had
occurred, he imperiously ordered the hands to be mustered in the waist,
with the evident intention of "reading them a lecture," as he was wont
to term his too frequent hectoring addresses.
The men, sullen, and with suppressed fury blazing in their eyes and
revealing itself in their every gesture, swarmed aft and stood in
reckless expectation of some further outrage. Nor were they
disappointed.
"I have sent for you," the skipper began, in his most sneering and
contemptuous accents, "not to express any hypocritical sorrow for the
occurrence which has just taken place, but to point out to you the
obvious lesson which is to be learned from it--a lesson which I fear
your dense ignorance, your utter destitution of discernment and common-
sense, would prevent your ever discovering for yourselves. Within the
last half-hour two men have come to their deaths. How? Why, by a
sneaking, cowardly attempt to evade the punishment justly due to the
lazy, skulking, lubberly way in which they performed their duty. It
would have been better for them had they listened to the first
lieutenant's admonition and come quietly down from aloft, to receive at
a proper time the punishment which they richly deserved. But they must
needs attempt to shirk it, with the consequences which you have all
witnessed; and, so far as I am concerned, I can only say that I think
they have met with no more than their just deserts.
"But it is not of them I want to speak to you; it is of yourselves. The
same shirking, idle, rebellious spirit which distinguished them is
conspicuous in every one of you. It is little more than a couple of
hours ago that your officers waited upon me in a body to make formal
complaint of your idleness and insubordinate conduct. There was no
necessity for them to do any such thing, for I am not altogether lacking
in powers of observation, and I have not failed to notice that for some
time past there has been a general disposition on the part of all hands
to thwart and oppose me in every possible way; but I just mention the
fact of this complaint to show you that I am not alone in my opinion as
to your conduct. Now, my lads, you are a great many, and I am only one
man; but if you suppose that on that account you will be able to get
your own way, or successfully oppose me, you will discover that you
never made a greater mistake in your lives. You may shirk your work, or
perform it in a slovenly, unseamanlike manner as long as you please, but
I warn you, one and all, that I have made up my mind to convert you from
the lazy, skulking, mutinous set of tinkers and tailors you now are,
into the smartest and best-disciplined crew in the service; and by
Heaven I will do it too, even though it should be necessary to
administer a daily flogging to every man in the ship. There are some
few of you who are a shade worse--a shade more idle, and lubberly, and
insubordinate--than the rest; you, Jones, are one; you, Hoskings, are
another, and you, Thomson, Kirkpatrick, Davis, Morrison, I have my eye
upon all of you; you are booked, every man of you, for an early taste of
the cat; and I assure you that when it comes it will be a sharp one.
You shall learn that, in laying yourselves out to oppose your captain,
you have undertaken a task altogether beyond your strength. You shall
have neither rest nor peace day or night, henceforward, until I have
completely quelled your present rebellious spirit and brought you to a
proper condition of subordination and smartness. So now, my lads, you
know what you have to expect, and, whatever happens, you will never be
able to say that I did not give you due warning. Pipe down!"
The men turned away and dispersed in perfect silence. Usually after the
administration of a lecture, however severe, some irrepressible joker
might be detected with his head cocked on one side and his face with a
waggish grin upon it, turned toward his next neighbour, evidently giving
utterance to some jocular comment upon the lately-delivered address, as
he gave his breeches the true nautical hitch forward and abaft; but on
this occasion there was nothing of the kind, the indignation and disgust
aroused by the skipper's arrogant and threatening speech appeared to be
altogether too overpowering to allow of the escape of a humorous idea to
the surface.
The silence of the men was so complete as to be, to my mind, ominous,
whilst their bearing was marked by that peculiar air of defiant
recklessness which is to be observed in individuals who feel that
Fortune has at length done her very worst for them. How much longer, I
wondered, would they thus tamely suffer themselves to be hectored and
browbeaten? how much longer go quietly to the gangway and submit to be
severely flogged for the most trifling offences? Then, too, I felt
indignant at the unscrupulous way in which the skipper had
misrepresented the nature of the officers' recent interview with him,
and had conveyed the impression that they were rather favouring than
deprecating the severity of his discipline. Such conduct struck me as
being not only barbarously tyrannical, but also in the highest degree
impolitic; for what could any man of sense expect but that, by
persistence in it, he would make good men bad, and bad men worse. And
if the men were to turn restive in the presence of an enemy--which was,
to my mind, not unlikely, though I never anticipated anything worse--
what would be the result? The whole aspect of affairs looked
unsatisfactory in the extreme, and when I turned into my hammock that
night it was to indulge in sundry very gloomy forebodings before I
finally dropped off to sleep; though Heaven knows how far I was from
guessing at the scenes of horror of which the frigate was to be the
theatre before another twenty-four hours had passed over my head.