THE CRUISE OF THE MIDGE.
BY THE
AUTHOR OF "TOM CRINGLE'S LOG."
[Transcriber's note: Author is Michael Scott]
"ON LIFE'S VAST OCEAN DIVERSELY WE SAIL,
REASON THE CARD, BUT PASSION IS THE GALE."
ESSAY ON MAN
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH;
AND T. CADELL, STRAND, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXVI.
EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND CO., PAUL'S WORK.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME FIRST.
CHAP.
I. GAZELLES AND MIDGES--THE MIDGE'S WINGS ARE SINGED
II. THE ATTACK
III. THE MIDGE IN THE HORNET'S NEST
IV. THE EVENING AFTER THE BRUSH
V. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SERJEANT QUACCO
VI. THE FETISH--CROSSING THE BAR, AND DESTRUCTION OF THE SLAVER
VII. A WARM RECEPTION
VIII. CAPE MISSIONARIES
IX. FOUNDERING OF THE HERMES
X. DICKY PHANTOM--YARN SPINNING
XI. JAMBE DE BOIS
XII. GAMBLING--AN UNLUCKY HIT
THE CRUISE OF THE MIDGE.
CHAPTER I.
GAZELLES AND MIDGES--THE MIDGE'S WINGS ARE SINGED.
Born an Irishman, the son of an Irishwoman; educated in Scotland, the
country of my father, an ancient mariner, who, as master and
supercargo, had sailed his own ship for many years in the Virginia
trade; removed to England at the age of seventeen, in consequence of
his death; I had, by the time I arrived at majority, passed four years
of my mercantile apprenticeship in my paternal uncle's counting-house,
an extensive merchant in that modern Tyre, the enterprising town of
Liverpool; during which period, young as I was, I had already made four
voyages in different vessels of his to foreign parts--to the West
Indies, the Brazils, the Costa Firme, and the United States of America.
Being naturally a rambling, harumscarum sort of a young chap, this sort
of life jumped better with my disposition than being perched on the top
of a tall mahogany tripod, poring over invoices, daybooks, journals,
and ledgers, with the shining ebony-coloured desk jammed into the pit
of my stomach below, and its arbour of bright brass rods constantly
perverting the integrity of my curls above; so at the period when the
scene opens, I had with much ado prevailed on my uncle to let me
proceed once more on a cruise, instead of a senior clerk, in charge of
two of his ships, bound to the African coast, to trade for ivory and
gold dust, and to fill up with palm oil and hardwood timbers.
I had no small difficulty in carrying this point, as the extreme
insalubrity of the climate, the chance of being plundered by the
semi-piratical foreign slavers, to say nothing of the danger of a
treacherous attack on the part of the natives themselves, weighed
heavily against my going in my worthy uncle's mind; but I had set my
heart on it, and where "there's a will, there's a way."
I will not conceal, however, that after all, when it came to the point,
I do not believe he would have allowed me to depart, had it not been
for a prank of mine, which put him into a towering passion with me
about this time.
On the occasion of a rejoicing for one of our great victories, being
hand-and-glove with all the skippers and mates of the vessels belonging
to the concern, I smuggled up to our house on Everton Terrace, unknown
to my uncle, two boat guns, six-pounder carronades, and a lot of
fire-works, by bribing the brewer's man to carry them for me in his
cart. Having achieved this part of my plan, with the aid of two young
tars, I contrived to mount the guns in the summer-house, immediately
beneath the dining-room window; and having loaded them, I set fire to
slow matches, fitted to the touch-holes, just as the dinner bell rang;
and then calmly took my place at table, facing mine uncle.
The old gentleman was rather a quiet-going codger, and during meals
seldom annoyed his neighbours with too much conversation--in the
present case, he had eaten his soup, his bit of fish, and was just
raising his first glass of wine to his lips--when bang went one of my
carronades, and smash fell the glass--the madeira flowing all down his
lap. He had not recovered his equanimity, when bang went gun No. 2,
and up shot a whole constellation of rockets and Roman candles, from
the garden, whereat he fairly sprang off his chair, as if the explosion
had taken place in the cushion of it, or he had been hoisted out of his
socket by some sort of catamaran.
His first impulse was to run to the open window; whiz! a _live_ rocket,
or large squib, I forget which, flew in over his shoulder, and nearly
popped down the throat of the old serving-man, who stood like a statue
open mouthed before the sideboard, petrified with astonishment; as it
was, it scorched the powdered curl over his left ear, missing his head
by a mere hair's breadth.
The guns I could account for, but the erratic course of this missile
surprised me exceedingly. At one fell swoop, it had cleared the
sideboard of glasses, decanters, silver waiters, and the sinumbra lamp;
driven my revered uncle to the top of the table for refuge; and then,
as if still unsatisfied with all this mischief, it began to jump about
under it, blazing and hissing like a fiery serpent, first in this
corner, then under that chair; while old Peregrine, the waiting-man
(whose ice had at length thawed), and I were dancing after it; knocking
our heads together, and breaking our shins against chairs and the edges
of the table, making glasses and decanters ring again, in a vain
endeavour to seize hold of the stick. The row soon brought up the
other servants, groom, cook, housemaid, &c. &c. &c., towards whom, as
if possessed with some spirit of mischief, it fizzed through the door,
in its transit, nearly taking one of the female domestics in reverse,
whereat they all began to scream as if they had been murdered; then up
stairs it rattled, as if desirous of visiting the drawing-room floor,
poking its snout into every cranny, hissing and wriggling its tail, and
putting the entire array to flight with its vagaries. It was too
absurd to see a whole household of grown people thus chasing a live
sky-rocket like so many children--"up stairs, down stairs, and in my
lady's chamber"--so presently we were all, excepting the rocket itself,
brought to a stand still, by fits of laughter.
Although it was clear the heroic firework was not to be captured alive,
yet, at length, like the vapouring of a passionate man, it spluttered
itself out, and was captured, stick and all, by the old cook, whose
propriety it had invaded; and I returned to the dining-room.
My uncle had by this time reseated himself at the table, looking as
black as thunder, with old Peregrine planted once more behind his
chair, as stiff as if he had literally swallowed the rocketstick. I
sat down, feeling not a little awkward; the dead silence becoming every
moment more and more irksome. The old gentleman seemed to suffer under
this, as well as myself, and to have come to the conclusion that it
would be more sociable, even to break out into a regular scold, than
hold his tongue any longer.
"So, Master Benjamin, a new piece of practical wit of yours, I presume."
"Indeed, my dear sir, I am very sorry--the guns I plead guilty to; but
who can have fired the rockets?"
"Ah--as if you did not know"--quoth uncle Peter.
"Indeed, uncle, I do not, unless the fusees have caught from the
wadding of these cursed guns;" which, in fact, was the case--"I am sure
I wish they had been at the bottom of the Mersey since they have made
you angry, uncle."
There was another awful pause--during which, in came a message from Mr
Pigwell, one of the neighbours, to ask if any accident had
occurred---"No no," said uncle Peter testily--"no accident, only a
small mistake."
Another dead lull--presently the old servant, who had gone to the lobby
to deliver the message, returned into the room, and as he placed a
fresh bottle of wine on the table, he said--"The man says Mrs Pigwell
has got a sad fright, sir--taken in labour, sir."
"There, Master Benjamin, there--I am sure I wish you had gone to the
coast of Africa before this had happened--I was an old soft hearted
fool to stand in the way."
"Well, my dear uncle, it is not too late yet"--said I, a good deal
piqued. Not a word from him--"I am sorry to see you have taken such
offence where none was meant. It was a piece of folly, I admit, and I
am sincerely sorry for it." Still silent--"Jennings is still at anchor
down below--I can easily be ready to-morrow, and there is no appearance
of the wind changing--so, pray, do let me go."
"You may go to the devil, sir, for me"--and off he started, fizzing,
worse than the rocket itself, with rage to his dressing-room, where he
often used to pass an hour or two in the evenings alone.
I sat still, guzzling my wine in great wrath.--Enter Peregrine again.
I was always a favourite with the old fellow, although he had been
seriously angry at first, when he saw that my absurd prank had put his
old master so cruelly out. Now, however, I perceived he was anxious to
make up for it.
"Lord, Master Benjamin, your uncle is in such a taking you never
se'ed--why, do you know, the first thing he did when he went to his
dressing-room was to hang his wig on the lighted candle, instead of the
pillar of the looking glass; and then we were all in darkness, you
see--so, in groping my way out, I popped my foot into the hot water in
the foot-pail that he had ordered up, and this scalded me so, that,
forgetting where I was, I could not help swearing a bit, Master
Benjamin;--on which he opened the door, and thrust me out, neck and
crop, calling me a blasphemous old villain--although we all know he is
not slack at a good rousing oath himself when his bristles are up; but
to call me an old blasphemer--_me!_ who have sarved him faithfully for
thirty years, in various parts of the world--a blasphemous old villain,
indeed!"
I saw no more of my uncle that night, and when we met next morning at
breakfast, I was rejoiced to find the gale had blown itself out.
When I sat down, he looked across the table at me, as if expecting me
to speak, but as I held my peace, the good old man opened the
conference himself.
"Why, Benjie, my boy, I have been laughing over our fright, yesterday;
but have done with your jokes, Master, if you please, and no more about
that infernal coast of"----
"Mr Pigwell has just called, sir," quoth old Peregrine, entering at
this moment--"and desires me to say that Mrs Pigwell is brought to bed,
sir, and _all_ doing well, sir, notwithstanding the fright."
"Glad of it, Peregrine--my compliments--wish him joy--but _all_, what
do you mean by _all_?"
"She has got twins, sir."
"The deuce! twins!"
"Yes, sir, _three_ on 'em, sir."
"An Irish pair," said I.
"Two girls and a boy."
"Hillo," I continued--"why, I only fired _two_ guns!"
"Oh, pilgarlic goes for the rocket," cried my uncle, laughing--"but
_there_ spoke your mother, you Patlander, you--_there_ shone out
Kilkenny, Benjie. Oh dear, oh dear--two girls and a boy--old Pigwell's
young wife brought to bed of--two carronades and a rocket--ha, ha, ha."
We walked down to the counting-house together as lovingly as ever, but
my star was now in the ascendant, for there we found Captain Jennings,
who informed my uncle that he had been obliged that morning to land Mr
Williamson, the clerk, who was about proceeding in charge of the
expedition, in consequence of his having been taken alarmingly ill.
This was most unfortunate, as the wind appeared on the eve of coming
fair.
"We shall have a breeze before next flood, that will take us right
round the Head--I hope you won't detain us in the river, sir?" quoth
Jennings.
My uncle was puzzled what to do, as it so happened that none of the
other youngsters at the moment in the employ had ever been away in such
a capacity before; so I availed myself of the opportunity to push my
request home, and it was finally fixed that forenoon that I should take
Mr Williamson's place.
A very old friend of my deceased father's, Sir Oliver Oakplank, was at
this time the senior officer on the African coast, and as the time was
approaching when, according to the usual routine of that service, he
would be departing on the round voyage for Jamaica and Havanna, before
proceeding to England to refit, it was determined, if I could arrange
the lading of our ships in time, that I should take a passage with him,
for the twofold object of seeing an uncle, by my mother's side, who was
settled in Jamaica, and from whom I had expectations; and making
certain speculations in colonial produce at Havanna.
As I had the credit of being a sharpish sort of a shaver, and by no
means indiscreet, although fond of fun, I had much greater license
allowed me in my written instructions than my uncle was in the habit of
conceding to any of my fellow quill-drivers, who had been previously
despatched on similar missions. I had in fact a roving commission as
to my operations generally. The very evening on which I got leave to
go, the ship rounded the Rock Perch, and nothing particular occurred
until we arrived at the scene of our trading. I very soon found that
neither the dangers nor difficulties of the expedition had been
exaggerated; on the contrary, the reality of both very far exceeded
what I had made up my mind to expect. First of all, I lost more than a
half of both crews in the course of two months, and the master of one
of the ships amongst them; secondly, I was plundered and ill-used by a
villanous Spanish slaving polacre, who attacked us without rhyme or
reason while lying quietly at anchor pursuing our trade in the Bonny
river. Not dreaming of any danger of this kind, except from the
natives, we allowed the Dons to come on board before we offered any
resistance, and then it was too late to do so effectually; however, at
the eleventh hour, we did show some fight, whereby I got my left cheek
pierced with a boarding pike or boat-hook, which I repaid by a slashing
blow with a cutlass, that considerably damaged the outward man of the
Don who had wounded me. I verily believe we should have all been put
to death in consequence, had it not been for the Spanish captain
himself, who, reminding the villains that it was not fighting but
_plunder_ they had come for, made them knock off from cracking our
crowns, and betake themselves to searching for dollars, and boxing us
all up in the round house until they had loaded themselves with every
thing they chose to take away. However, notwithstanding this mishap, I
finally brought my part of the operation to a successful issue, by
completing the loading of the ships, and seeing them fairly off for
England within the time originally contemplated. I then joined the
commodore at Cape Coast, where I met with a most cordial reception from
him, and also from my cousin, Dick Lanyard, one of his lieutenants.
Through the kind offices of this youngster, I soon became as good as
one of the Gazelles; indeed, notwithstanding I was the commodore's
guest, I was more in the gun-room than any where else; and although not
quite _selon les regles_, I contrived, during the time the frigate
remained on the coast after I joined her, to get away now and then in
the boats, my two months' experience in the rivers having rendered me
an accomplished pilot; and being in no way afraid of the climate, I
thus contrived to make one in any spree where there was likely to be
fun going, even more frequently than my turn of duty would have
entitled me to, had I been really an officer of the ship.
Unless there be something uncongenial or positively repulsive about
one, a person in my situation, with a jovial hearty turn, and a little
money in his pockets to add a streak of comfort to a mess now and then,
becomes to a certainty a mighty favourite with all the warrant and
petty officers, boatswain's mates, old quartermasters, _et hoc genus
omne_; and I flatter myself that had I gone overboard, or been killed
in any of the skirmishes that, with the recklessness of boyhood, I had
shoved my nose into, there would have been as general a moan made for
me along the 'tween decks, as for the untimely demise of poor Dicky
Phantom, the monkey.
My friend, the aforesaid Dick, had been for six months fourth
lieutenant of H.M.S. Gazelle, on board of which, as already mentioned,
Sir Oliver Oakplank had his broad pennant[1] hoisted, as the
commander-in-chief on the African station.
[1] A broad red swallow-tailed flag, carried at the main-royal
masthead, indicative of the rank of commodore.
The last time they had touched at Cape Coast they took in a Spanish
felucca, that had been previously cut out of the Bonny river, with part
of her cargo of slaves on board.
She had cost them a hard tussle, and several of the people had fallen
by the sword in the attack, but more afterwards from dysentery and
marsh fever, the seeds of which had doubtless been sown in the
pestilential estuary at the time of the attack; although there is no
disputing that they were much more virulently developed afterwards than
they would otherwise have been, by a week's exposure in open boats to
the deleterious changes of the atmosphere. The excellent commodore,
therefore, the father of his crew, seeing the undeniable necessity of
lessening the exposure of the men in such a villanous climate,
instantly wrote home to the Admiralty, requesting that half-a-dozen
small vessels might be sent to him, of an easy draught of water, so
that they might take charge of the boats, and afford a comfortable
shelter to their crews; at the same time that they should be able to
get over the bars, without damage, of the various African rivers, where
the contraband Guineamen were in the habit of lurking. To evince that
he practised what he preached, he instantly fitted out the captured
felucca on his own responsibility, manned her with five-and-twenty men,
and gave the command of her to the third lieutenant.
She had been despatched about a fortnight before in the direction of
Fernando Po, and we had stood in on the morning of the day on which my
narrative commences, to make cape Formosa, which was the rendezvous
fixed on between us. About three o'clock, P.M., when we were within
ten miles of the cape, without any appearance of the tender, we fell in
with a Liverpool trader, bound to the Brass river to load palm oil and
sandalwood. She reported that the night before they had come across a
Spaniard, who fired into them, when they sheered-to with an intent to
speak him. The master said that, when first seen, the strange sail was
standing right in for the river ahead of us; and, from the noises he
heard, he was sure he had negroes on board. It was therefore
conjectured that she was one of the vessels who had taken in part of
her cargo of slaves at the Bonny river, and was now bound for the Nun
or Brass river to complete it. They were, if any thing, more confirmed
in this, by the circumstance of his keeping away and standing to the
south-west the moment he found they were hauling in for the land, as if
anxious to mislead them, by inducing a belief that he was off for the
West Indies or Brazil. This was the essence of the information
received from the Liverpool-man; but from the description of the Don,
taking also into account the _whereabouts_ he was fallen in with, I had
no doubt in my own mind of his being the very identical villain who had
plundered me. The same afternoon we fell in with an American, who
rejoiced our hearts by saying that he had been chased by a vessel in
the forenoon answering the description of the felucca. Immediately
after we hove about, and stood out to sea again, making sail in the
direction indicated. In consequence of our overhauling this vessel,
the commodore had put off his dinner for an hour; and when all the
ropes had been coiled down, and every thing made snug after tacking, he
resumed his walk on the weatherside of the quarterdeck, in company with
Mr David Sprawl, the first lieutenant.
The commodore was a red-faced little man, with a very irritable cast of
countenance, which, however, was by no means a true index to his warm
heart, for I verily believe that no commander was ever more beloved by
officers and men than he was. He had seen a great deal of service, and
had been several times wounded; once, in particular, very badly by a
grapeshot, that had shattered his left thigh, and considerably
shortened it, thereby giving him a kick in his gallop, as he himself
used to phrase it, until the day of his death. He was a wag in his
way, and the officer now perambulating the deck alongside of him was an
unfailing source of mirth; although the commodore never passed the
limits of strict naval etiquette, or the bounds of perfect good
breeding in his fun. The gallant old fellow was dressed in faded
nankeen trowsers--discoloured cotton stockings--shoes, with corn-holes
cut in the toes--an ill-washed and _rumpled_ white Marseilles
waistcoat--an old blue uniform coat, worn absolutely threadbare, and
white and soapy at the seams and elbows; each shoulder being garnished
with a faded gold lace strap, to confine the epaulets when mounted, and
that was only on a Sunday. His silk neckcloth had been most probably
black _once_, but now it was a dingy brown; and he wore a most shocking
bad hat--an old white beaver, with very broad brims, the snout of it
fastened back to the crown with a lanyard of common spunyarn; buttoned
up, as it were, like the _chapeaux_ in Charles the Second's time, to
prevent it flapping down over his eyes. He walked backwards and
forwards very quickly, taking two steps for Sprawl's one, and whenever
he turned he gave a loud stamp, and swung briskly about on the good leg
as if it had been a pivot, giving a most curious indescribable flourish
in the air with the wounded limb in the round-coming, like the last
quiver of Noblet's leg in an expiring pirouette.
Lieutenant Sprawl, the officer with whom he was walking and keeping up
an animated conversation, was also in no small degree remarkable in his
externals, but in a totally different line. He was a tall man, at the
very least six feet high, and stout in proportion; very
square-shouldered; but, large as he was, his coat seemed to have been
made to fit even a stouter person, for the shoulder-straps (I think
that is the name) projected considerably beyond his shoulders, like the
projecting eaves of a Swiss cottage, thus giving the upper part of his
figure a sharp ungainly appearance. Below these wide-spreading
upperworks he tapered away to nothing at the loins, and over the hips
he was not the girth of a growing lad. His thighs were very short, but
his legs, from the knee down, were the longest I ever saw in man,
reversing all one's notions of proportion or symmetry, for they
gradually swelled out from the knee, until they ended in the ankle,
which emulated, if it did not altogether surpass, the calf in diameter.
When you looked at him in a front view, his lower spars, from the knee
down, were a facsimile of the letter V reversed; that is, with the apex
uppermost, while the long splay feet formed the strokes across at the
bottom, into which the shanks or shin-bones were morticed amidships as
nearly as may be, so that the heel projected aft very nearly as far as
the toe did forward, as if he had been built after the model of an
Indian proa, to sail backwards or forwards as might be required,
without either tacking or wearing. These formidable looking props were
conspicuously stuck out before him, where they kept cruising about, of
their own accord apparently, as if they were running away with the man;
while, as he walked, he vehemently swung his arms backwards and
forwards, as if they had been paddles necessary to propel him ahead,
carrying on leisurely when he first turned, but gradually increasing
his pace as he proceeded, until he sculled along at a terrible rate.
His head was very large, and thatched with a great fell of coarse red
hair, hanging down in greasy masses on each side of his pale freckled
visage, until it blended into two immense, whiskers, which he
cultivated under his chin with such care, that he appeared to be
peeping through a fur collar, like a Madagascar ourang-outang. His
eyes were large, prominent, and of a faded blue, like those of a dead
fish; his general loveliness being diversified by a very noticeable
squint. He had absolutely no eyebrows, but a curious nondescript sort
of tumble-out forehead, as like an ill-washed winter-turnip in its
phrenological developement as one could well imagine; and as for his
nose, it had the regular twist of a rifleman's powder-horn. But his
lovely mouth, who shall describe it? Disdaining to claim acquaintance
with the aforesaid beak, it had chosen its site under the left eye, so
that a line--I here address myself to mathematical readers--drawn from
the innermost corner of the right eye, and intersecting the tip of the
snout, would have touched the starboard corner of the aforesaid hole in
his face--it could be dignified with no other name; for, in sober
reality, it more resembled a gash in a pumpkin, made by a clumsy
bill-hook, than any thing else.
Lips he had none; and the first impression on one's mind when you saw
him naturally led one to exclaim, Bless me--what an oddity! The man
has no mouth--until he did make play with his potato-trap, and then to
be sure it was like a gap suddenly split open in a piece of mottled
freestone. It was altogether so much out of its latitude, that when he
spoke it seemed _aside_, as the players say; and when he drank his
wine, he looked for all the world as if he had been pouring it into his
ear.
So now, if the admiring reader will take the trouble to dress this
Beauty, I will furnish the apparel. Imprimis, he wore a curious _wee_
hat, with scarcely any brim, the remains of the nap bleached by a
burning sun, and splashed and matted together from the pelting of
numberless showers and the washing up of many a salt-sea spray, but
carefully garnished, nevertheless, with a double stripe of fresh
gold-lace, and a naval button on the left side. Add to this, an
old-fashioned uniform coat, very far _through_, as we say;
long-waisted, with remarkably short skirts, but the strap for the
epaulet new and bright as the loop on the hat. Now, then, swathe him
in a dingy white kerseymere waistcoat, over which dangles a great horn
eye-glass, suspended by a magnificent new broad watered black ribbon;
and, finally, take the trouble to shrowd the lower limbs of the Apollo
in ancient duck trowsers, extending about half-way down the calf of the
leg, if calf he had; leaving his pillar-like ankles conspicuously
observable; and you will have a tolerably accurate idea of the presence
and bearing of our amiable and accomplished shipmate, Mr David Sprawl.
Rum subject as he certainly was to look at, yet he was a most excellent
warm-hearted person at bottom; straightforward and kind to the men;
never blazoning or amplifying their faults, but generally, on the other
hand, softening them; and often astonishing the poor fellows by his
out-of-the-way and unexpected kindness and civility. Indeed, he plumed
himself on the general polish of his manners, whether to equals or
inferiors, and the Gazelles repaid the compliment by christening him,
at one time, "Old Bloody Politeful," and "David Doublepipe" at another,
from a peculiarity that we shall presently describe.
You must know, therefore, that this remarkable personage was possessed
of a very uncommon accomplishment, being neither more nor less than a
natural ventriloquist, for he had two distinct voices, as if he had
been a sort of living double flageolet; one a _falsetto_, small and
liquid, and clear as the note of an octave flute; the other sonorous
and rough, as the groaning of a trombone. In conversation, the
alternations, apparently involuntary, were so startling and abrupt,
that they sounded as if ever and anon the keys of the high and low
notes of an organ had been alternately struck; so instantaneously were
the small notes snapped off into the lower ones, and _vice versa_--so
that a stranger would, in all probability, have concluded, had he not
known the peculiarities of the Adonis, that a little midshipman was at
one moment squeaking up the main hatchway from the hold; and at the
next answered by a boatswain's mate on deck. Indeed, while the
commodore and his subaltern pursued their rapid walk, backwards and
forwards, on the quarterdeck, the fine, manly, sailor-like voice of the
old man, as it intertwined with the octave flute note and the grumbling
bass of David Sprawl, like a three-strand rope of gold thread, silver
thread, and tarry spunyarn, might have given cause to believe that the
two were accompanied in their perambulations by some invisible
familiar, who chose to take part in the conversation, and to denote his
presence through the ear, while to the eye he was but thin air.
However, maugre appearances and the oddity of his conformation, friend
Sprawl was physically the most powerful man on board; and that was
saying something, let me tell you.
Thus beloved by the men, to his brother-officers he was the most
obliging and accommodating creature that ever was invented. Numberless
were the petty feuds which he soldered, that, but for his warm-hearted
intervention, might have eventuated in pistol-shots and gunpowder; and
the mids of the ship actually adored him. If leave to go on shore, or
any little immunity was desired by them, "Old Bloody Politeful" was the
channel through which their requests ran; and if any bother was to be
eschewed, or any little fault sheltered, or any sternness on the part
of the commodore or any of the lieutenants to be mollified,--in fine,
if any propitiation of the higher powers was required, who interceded
but "Davie Doublepipe?" In a word, men and midshipmen would have
fought for him to the last gasp; and although they did laugh a little
at his oddities now and then, they always came back to this,--"He is
the best seaman and the bravest man in the ship," as indeed repeated
trials had proved him to be.
The remarkable couple that I have taken so much pains to describe to
you continued to stump along the quarterdeck, backwards and forwards,
very rapidly; and at the end of every turn, Sprawl, in place of tacking
with his face to his companion, invariably wore with his back to him,
and so lumbersome and slowly, that the commodore usually had wheeled,
and stood facing him, ready to set forth on his promenade long before
Mr Sprawl came round; so that, while his back was towards him, he had
an opportunity of giving his broad shoulders a quizzical reconnoitring
glance, which he instantly exchanged for the most sedate and sober
expression, when our friend at length hove about and fronted him. This
contrast between the fun of the commodore's expression when his
subaltern's back was towards him, and its solemnity when he turned his
face, was most laughable; more especially, that he always met Sprawl,
as he came to the wind, with a sidling bow, before he made sail in his
usual pace; which slight inclination the lieutenant answered with a
formal inclination of his whole strange corpus, whereby he stopped his
way to such a degree, that Sir Oliver had filled on the other tack, and
shot three or four strides ahead; whereby Sprawl had to clap the steam
on at a very high pressure, in order to scull up alongside of his
superior, before he arrived at the other wheeling point, the break of
the quarter-deck.
The postponed dinner-hour having at length arrived, the commodore,
making a formal salaam, dived to enjoy his meal, whereof I was the only
partaker this day beside himself; and nothing particular occurred until
the following morning.
The next forenoon Dick Lanyard was the officer of the watch, and, about
nine o'clock, the commodore, who had just come on deck, addressed
him:--"Mr Lanyard, do you see any thing of the small hooker yet, to
windward there?"
"I thought I saw something like her, sir, about half an hour ago; but a
blue haze has come rolling down, and I cannot make any thing out at
present."
"She must be thereabouts somewhere, however," continued he, "as she was
seen yesterday by the Yankee brig,--so keep by the wind until four
bells, Mr Lanyard, and then call me, if you please."
"Ay, ay, sir;" and he resumed his walk on the weather-side of the
quarterdeck.
In a couple of hours we were all on deck again; as the breeze freshened
the mist blew off, and in half an hour the felucca was seen about three
miles to windward of us, staggering along before it, like a large
nautilus, under her solitary lateen sail;--presently she was close
aboard of us.
I was looking steadfastly at the little vessel as she came rolling down
before the wind, keeping my eye on the man that was bending on the
ensign haulyards. First of all, he began to hoist away the ensign,
until it reached about half-way between the end of the long, drooping,
wirelike yard and the deck; he then jerked it upwards and downwards for
a minute, as if irresolute whether to run it chokeup, or haul it down
again; at length it hung half-mast high, and blew out steadily.
My mind suddenly misgave me, and I looked for the pennant; it was also
hoisted half-mast--"Alas! alas! poor Donovan," I involuntarily
exclaimed--but loud enough to be overheard by the commodore, who stood
by--"another victim to this horrid coast."
"What is wrong, Mr Brail?" said Sir Oliver.
"I fear Mr Donovan is dead, sir. The felucca's ensign and pennant are
half-mast, sir."
"Bless me, no--surely not!" said the excellent old man;--"hand me the
glass.--Too true--too true--where is all this to end?" said he with a
sigh.
The felucca was now within long pistol-shot of our weather-quarter,
standing across our stern, with the purpose of rounding-to under our
lee. At this time Sir Oliver was looking out close by the tafferel,
with his trumpet in his hand. I was again peering through the glass.
"Why, there is the strangest figure come on deck, on board the Midge,
that I ever saw--what can it be? Sir Oliver, will you please to look
at it?"
The commodore took the glass with the greatest good-humour, while he
handed me his trumpet,--"Really," said he, "I cannot tell--Mr Sprawl,
can you?" Sprawl--honest man--took his spell at the telescope--but
_he_ was equally unsuccessful. The figure that was puzzling us was a
half-naked man, in his shirt and trowsers, with a large blue shawl
bound round his head, who had suddenly jumped on deck, with a hammock
thrown over his shoulders as if it had been a dressing gown; the clew
hanging half-way down his back, while the upper part of the
canvass-shroud was lashed tightly round his neck, but so as to leave
his arms and legs free scope; and there he was strutting about with the
other clew trailing away astern of him, like the train of a lady's
gown, as if he had in fact been arrayed in what was anciently called a
curricle-robe. Over this extraordinary array there was slung a
formidable Spanish _trabuco_, or blunderbuss, across his body; and one
hand, as he walked backwards and forwards on the small confined deck of
the felucca, held a large green silk umbrella over his head, although
the sail of itself was shade enough at the time; while the other
clutched a speaking trumpet.
The craft, freighted with this uncouth apparition, was very peculiar in
appearance. She had been a Spanish gun-boat--originally a twin-sister
to one that Gazelle had, during the war, cut out from Rosas bay. She
was about sixty feet long over all, and seventeen feet beam; her deck
being as round as her bottom; in fact she was more like a long cask
than any thing else, but with a most beautiful run notwithstanding, and
without exception the roomiest vessel of her size that I ever saw. She
had neither bulwarks, quarters, nor rail, nor in fact any ledge
whatever round the gunnel, so that she had no use for scuppers. Her
stern, peaked up like a New Zealand war-canoe, tapering away to a
point, which was perforated to receive the rudder-head, while forward
she had a sharp beak, shaped like the proa of a Roman galley; but she
was as strong as wood and iron could make her--her bottom being a
perfect bed of timbers, so that they might have been caulked--and tight
as a bottle. What answered to a bowsprit was a short thumb of a stick
about ten feet high, that rose at an angle of thirty degrees; and she
had only one mast, a strong stump of a spar, about thirty feet high,
stayed well forward, in place of raking aft; high above which rose the
large lateen sail already mentioned, with its long elastic spliced and
respliced yard tapering away up into the sky, until it seemed no
thicker than the small end of a fishing-rod when bent by the weight of
the line and bait. It was of immense length, and consisted of more
than half a-dozen different pieces. Its heavy iron-shod heel was
shackelled, by a chain a fathom long, to a strong iron-bar, or bolt,
that extended athwart the forepart of the little vessel, close to the
heel of the bowsprit, and to which it could be hooked and unhooked, as
need were, when she tacked, and it became necessary to jib the sail.
The outlandish-looking craft slowly approached, and we were now within
hail. "I hope nothing is amiss with Mr Donovan?" sung out the
commodore.
"By the powers, but there is though!" promptly replied the curious
figure with the trumpet and umbrella, in a strong clear voice.--A pause.
All our glasses were by this time levelled at the vessel, and everyone
more puzzled than another what to make of it.
"Who are you, sir?" again asked the commodore. "Where is Mr Donovan?"
Here Mr Binnacle, a midshipman on board, hailed us through his hand,
but we could not hear him; on which the man in the hammock struck him,
without any warning, across the pate with his trumpet. The midshipman
and the rest of the crew, we could see, now drew close together
forward, and, from their gestures, seemed to be preparing to make a
rush upon the figure who had hailed.
Sir Oliver repeated his question--"Who are you, sir?"
"Who am I, did you say? That's a good one," was the answer.
"Why, Sir Oliver," said I, "I believe _that_ is Mr Donovan himself.
Poor fellow, he must have gone mad."
"No doubt of it--it is so, sir," whistled Sprawl.
Here the crew of the felucca, led by little Binnacle, made a rush aft,
seized the lieutenant, and having overpowered him, launched their
little shallop, in which the midshipman, with two men, instantly shoved
off; but they had not paddled above half a-dozen yards from the
vessel's side, when the maniac, a most powerful man, broke from those
who held him, knocked them down, right and left, like so many
nine-pins, and seizing his _trabuco_, pointed it at the skiff, while he
sung out in a voice of thunder--"Come back, Mr Binnacle; come back, you
small villain, or I will shoot you dead."
The poor lad was cowed, and did as he was desired.
"Lower away the jolly boat," cried the commodore, in a flaming passion;
but checking himself, he continued--"Gently, men--belay there--keep all
fast with the boat, Mr Lanyard," who had jumped aft to execute the
order--"We must humour the poor fellow, after all, who is evidently not
himself."
I could hear a marine, a half crazy creature, of the name of Lennox,
who stood by, on this whisper to his neighbour--"Ay, Sir Oliver, better
fleech with a madman than fecht with him."
"Are you Mr Donovan, pray?" said the commodore, mildly, but still
speaking through the trumpet.
"I _was_ that gentleman," was the startling answer.
"Then come on board, man; come on board," in a wheedling tone.
"How would you have me to do that thing?" said poor Donovan. "Come on
board, did you say? Divil now, Sir Oliver, you are mighthy
unrasonable."
His superior officer was somewhat shoved off his balance by this most
extraordinary reply from his lieutenant, and rapped out, fiercely
enough--"Come on board this instant, sir, or by the Lord, I"----
"How can I do that thing, and me dead since three bells in the middle
watch last night?" This was grumbled as it were through his trumpet,
but presently he shouted out as loud as he could bellow--"I can't come;
and, what's more, I won't; for I died last night, and am to be buried
whenever it goes eight bells at noon."
"Dead!" said the commodore, now _seriously_ angry. "Dead, did he say?
Why, he is drunk, gentlemen, and not mad. There is always _some_
method in madness; here there is none." Till recollecting
himself--"Poor fellow, let me try him a little farther; but really it
is too absurd"--as he looked round and observed the difficulty both
officers and men had in keeping countenance--"Let me humour him a
little longer," continued he. "Pray, Mr Donovan, how can you be dead,
and speaking to me now?"
"Because," said Donovan promptly, "I have a forenoon's leave from
purgatory to see myself decently buried, Sir Oliver."
Here we could no longer contain ourselves, and, notwithstanding the
melancholy and humiliating spectacle before us, a shout of laughter
burst from all hands fore and aft simultaneously, as the commodore,
exceedingly tickled, sung out--"Oh, I _see_ how it is--I see--so do
come on board, Mr Donovan, and we _will_ see you properly buried."
"You _see_, Sir Oliver!" said the poor fellow; "to be sure you do--a
blind horse might persave it."
"I say, Dennis dear," quoth I, "I will be answerable that all the
honours shall be paid you." But the deceased Irishman was not to be
had so easily, and again refused, point-blank, to leave the Midge.
"Lower away the boat there, Mr Sprawl," said Sir Oliver; "no use in all
this; you see he won't come. Pipe away her crew, Mr Lanyard, do you
hear? So, brisk now--brisk--be off. Take the surgeon with you, and
bring that poor fellow on board instantly. Here, Brail, go too, will
ye--you are a favourite of his, and probably he will take more kindly
to you than any one else."
We shoved off--and in a twinkling we were alongside--"What cheer,
Donovan, my darling? How are you, man, and how do you all do?"
"Ah, Benjamin, glad to see you, my boy. I hope you have come to read
the service: I'm to be buried at noon, you know."
"Indeed!" said I, "I know nothing of the kind. I have come on board
from the commodore to know how you are; he thought you had been ill."
"Very much obliged," continued the poor fellow; "all that sort of thing
might have brought joy some days ago--but now!"----
"Well, well, Donovan," said I, "come on board with me, and buried you
shall be comfortably from the frigate."
"Well, I will go. This cursed sailmaker of ours has twice this morning
refused to lash me up in the hammock, because he chose to say I was not
dead; so go with you I will."
The instant the poor fellow addressed himself to enter the boat, he
shrank back like a rabid dog at water. "I cannot--I cannot.
Sailmaker, bring the shot aft, and do lash me up in my hammock, and
heave me comfortably overboard at once."
The poor sailmaker, who was standing close to, caught my eye, and my
ear also. "What shall I do, sir?" said he.
I knew the man to be a steady, trustworthy person. "Why, humour him,
Warren; humour him. Fetch the shot, and lash him up; but sling him
round the waist by a strong three-inch rope, do you hear."
The man touched his forehead, and slunk away. Presently he returned
with the cannon-balls slung in a canvass bag, the usual receptacle of
his needles, palms, and thread, and deliberately fastened them round Mr
Donovan's legs. He then lashed him up in the hammock, coaxing his arms
under the swathing, so that, while I held him in play, he regularly
sewed him up into a most substantial strait waistcoat. It would have
been laughable enough, if risibility had been pardonable under such
melancholy circumstances, to look at the poor fellow as he now stood
stiff and upright, like a bolt of canvass on end, swaying about, and
balancing himself, as the vessel rolled about on the heave of the sea;
but by this time the sail-maker had fastened the rope securely round
his waist, one end of which was in the clutch of three strong fellows,
with plenty of the slack coiled down and at hand, had it proved
necessary to pay out, and give him scope.
"Now, Donovan, dear, come into the boat; do, and let us get on board,
will ye."
"Benjamin Brail--I expected kindlier thing's at your hands, Benjie.
How _can_ I go on board of the old Gazelle, seeing it has gone seven
bells" (although it was in reality five in the afternoon), "and I'm to
be hove overboard at twelve o'clock?"
I saw there was nothing else for it, so I whispered little Binnacle to
strike eight bells. At the first chime, poor Donovan pricked up his
ear; at the second, he began to settle himself on deck; and before the
last struck, he was stretched out on a grating with his eyes closed,
and really as still and motionless as if he had been actually dead. I
jumped on board, muttered a sentence or two, from recollection, of the
funeral service, and tipping the wink, we hove him bodily, stoop and
roop, overboard, where he sank for a couple of fathoms, when we hauled
him up again. When he sank, he was much excited, and flushed and
feverish to look at; but when he was now got into the boat, he was
still enough, God knows, and very blue and ghastly; his features were
sharp and pinched, and he could only utter a low moaning noise when we
had stretched him along the bottom of the boat. "Mercy!" said I,
"surely my experiment has not killed him?" However, our best plan now
was to get back to the frigate as soon as might be, so Lanyard, who had
purposely kept in the background, now gave the word to shove off, and
in a minute we were all on the Gazelle's quarterdeck; poor Donovan
having been hoisted up, lashed into an accommodation chair. He was
instantly taken care of, and, in our excellent surgeon's hands, I am
glad to say that he recovered, and lived to be an ornament to the
service, and a credit to all connected with him for many a long day
afterwards.
The first thing little Binnacle did was to explain to Sir Oliver that
he had been ill for three days with brain fever, having had a stroke of
the sun; but aware of the heavy responsibility of taking forcibly the
command of a vessel from one's superior officer, he was allowed to have
it all his own way until the Gazelle hove in sight.
"Pray, Mr Binnacle," said the commodore, "have you brought me the
letters and the English newspapers?"
"Yes, Sir Oliver; here they are, sir; and here is a memorandum of
several vessels expected on this part of the coast that we got from the
Cerberus, sir."
"Oh, let me see."
After a long pause, the commodore again spoke.
"Why, Mr Binnacle, I have no tidings of the vessels you speak of; but I
suppose we must stand in for the point indicated, and take our chance
of falling in with them. But where got you all these men? Did the
Cerberus man you?"
"No, sir, she did not. Ten of the men were landed at Cape Coast, out
of the Tobin, Liverpool trader. They are no great things, sir,
certainly; they had been mutinous, so the merchantman who unshipped
them chose to make the run home with five free negroes instead. But if
they be bad, there is not much of them, for they are the smallest men I
ever saw."
The chap who spoke--little Binnacle, viz.--was not quite a giant
himself. He was a dapper little bluejacket, about five feet two. His
boat's, or rather his canoe's crew, were all very little men, but still
evidently full-grown, and not boys. Every thing about the craft he had
come from was diminutive, except her late commander. The midshipman
was small--the men were all pigmies. The vessel herself could not have
carried one of the pyramids of Egypt. The very bandy-legged cur that
yelped and scampered along her deck was a small cock-tailed affair that
a large Newfoundland _canis_ might easily have swallowed for his
breakfast.
After Binnacle had made his report to Sir Oliver, he, with an arch
smile, handed me the following letter, open, which I have preserved to
this hour for the satisfaction of the curious. Many a time have I
since laughed and almost cried over this production of poor Donovan's
heated brain:--
"MY DEAR BRAIL,--When you receive this, I shall be at rest far down
amongst the tangleweed and coral branches at the bottom of the deep
green sea, another sacrifice to the insatiable demon of this evil
climate--another melancholy addition to the long list of braver and
better men who have gone before me. Heaven knows, and I know, and
lament with much bitterness therefor, that I am ill prepared to die,
but I trust to the mercy of the Almighty for pardon and forgiveness.
"It is now a week since I was struck by a flash of lightning at
noonday, when there was not a speck of cloud in the blue sky, that
glanced like a fiery dart right down from the fierce sun, and not
having my red woollen nightcap on, that I purchased three years ago
from old Jabos of Belfast, the Jew who kept a stall near the quay, it
pierced through the skull just in the centre of the bald spot, and set
my brain a-boiling and poppling ever since, making a noise for all the
world like a buzzing bee-hive. I therefore intend to depart this life
at three bells in the middle watch this very night, wind and weather
permitting. Alas, alas! who shall tell this to my dear old mother,
Widow Donovan, who lives at No. 1050, in Sackville Street, Dublin, the
widest thoroughfare in Europe?--or to poor Cathleen O'Haggarty? You
know Cathleen, Benjie; but you must never know that she has a glass
eye--Ah, yes, poor thing, she had only one eye, but that _was_ a
beauty; the other was a quaker;[2] but then she had five thousand good
sterling pounds, all in old Peter Macshane's bank at the back of the
Exchange; and so her one eye was a blessing to me; for where is the
girl with two eyes, and five thousand pounds, all lodged in Peter
Macshane's bank at the back of the Exchange, who would have looked at
Dennis Donovan, a friendless, penniless lieutenant in the Royal Navy,
and son of Widow Donovan, who lives at 1050, Sackville Street, Dublin,
the widest thoroughfare in Europe?--Ah, how Cathleen will pipe her real
eye--I wonder if she will weep with the false one--I am sure my story
might bring tears from a stone, far more a piece of glass--Oh, when she
hears I am gone, she will be after breaking her tender little
heart--Oh, murder for the notion of it--that's the thought that I can't
bear--that is the blow that kills Ned! The last words of Dennis
Donovan, who has nothing on earth to brag of beside a mighty pretty
person and a brave soul--that's a good one. Adieu, adieu. God bless
the King and the Royal Family entirely.
"DENNIS DONOVAN,
"_Lieutenant, R.N., and son of Widow Donovan, who lives at_ 1050,
_Sackville Street, Dublin, the widest thoroughfare in Europe._"
[2] A sham wooden gun.
To return.
"And pray," said the commodore, "what captures may you have made in
this redoubtable man-of-war of yours--in his Britannic Majesty's
felucca, Midge?"
"Why, none, sir," said wee Middy, blushing; "but I hope you will soon
put us in the way of having a brush, sir."
"We shall see, we shall see," said the good-hearted old sailor; "but
come and take a glass of wine, Mr Binnacle, and after you have told Mr
Lanyard all about the Midge, what she _has_, and _wants_, &c., get on
board again, and keep near us for the evening.--I say, Mr Steelpen," to
his clerk, who was lounging about, "Come to the cabin, now, will you,
and draw out Mr Lanyard's instructions, as Mr Garboard is still
confined to his cot."
This was the second lieutenant, who had been ill for a week with fever.
The moment I knew Lanyard was going in the Midge, I determined to
accompany him if possible, so I asked the commodore's leave--hinting,
that my knowledge of the rivers might be of use. He laughed.
"Pilot, indeed--mind you don't evaporate in one of your pilotings, and
then what shall I say to your friends, Master Benjamin?"
I pressed my suit.
"Why, my good boy, you had better not--take my word for it, if you
carry on in this way, you will either get your head broken, or be
caught by one of these infernal marsh fevers, which will be worse."
"No fear, Sir Oliver, I am a seasoned cask--do give me leave--I shall
be back in a week."
"Well, well, as you please, my young master."
And it was at once so fixed.
Lanyard heard the order given, and instantly set about getting his kit
arranged for his departure, although he seemed to think it would have
been more pleasing in his excellent captain had he appeared to have
consulted him a little on the subject; but to hear was to obey, and
Dick was quite ready to move by the time he was sent for to receive his
orders, when I adjourned to the cabin also, to say good by. Sir Oliver
was sitting at his wine; and so soon as the steward had left us to
ourselves, the knight rang the bell, the cord of which, ending in a
handsome brass handle, hung within a foot of his head.
"Potter, send the first lieutenant here."
Sprawl was in immediate attendance.
"Glad to see you, Mr Sprawl; sit down, and take wine."
After a pause--
"Do you think, if the breeze holds, that we shall make the land again
before morning, Mr Sprawl?"
"No, sir, for we have run thirty miles off since morning, and there is
no appearance of any wind at present; but we should be able,
notwithstanding, to beat up to it by noon to-morrow."
"Very well. Pray, Mr Lanyard, how many men, counting the strangers,
are there on board?"
"Thirty-three, sir, all told."
"And the gun she carries?"
"A long twelve, sir, with a six-inch howitzer affair fitted forward,
for throwing grape."
"Do you think you could stow ten men more, comfortably?"
Dick had been on board of his new command before he came down, and had
made such passing observations as the time permitted.
"Why, I daresay, for a few days we might, sir."
"Then send your purser, or whoever may be acting for him, aboard this
evening."
The lieutenant made his bow, whipped off his glass, and went on deck to
be off. It was getting dark fast--the wind had risen suddenly--the
frigate had been carrying top-gallant sails up to the time I had gone
below, but they were now handed, and the watch were in the act of
taking a reef in the top-sails.
"Whereabouts is the felucca?" said I to the officer of the watch, the
old gunner, who, in the absence of Mr Garboard, the second lieutenant,
who, as already stated, was sick and in his cot, had charge of the deck.
"Close to, sir," was the reply; but presently he continued, looking
over the side, "Deuce take me, sir, if I can see her just at this
present"----
"You don't? I say, quartermaster, do you see the small craft down to
leeward there?"
"No, sir. I sees nothing of her; but she can't be far away, sir, as
she was close to, within this last half hour."
By this time the night had fallen with a heavy dew and a thick haze.
Presently we saw a small spark down to leeward.
"Ah," said the man again, "there she is; she is in chase of something,
sir."
"What can they mean?" said Lanyard. "They know they cannot follow out
their chase when I am on board here."
The riddle was soon read. Little Binnacle had returned on board, and,
as it turned out, he was determined to have some fun, in the
interregnum between the unshipping of poor Donovan and Lanyard's
appointment.
"What is that abeam of us?" said Mr Sprawl, who had now come on
deck.--"Hand me up the night-glass, Jeremy."
He worked away with it for some time. At length Lanyard spoke.
"Why, Sprawl, will you have the kindness to fire a gun, and show a
light at the mizen peak, as the felucca _must_ be hereabouts?"
"True enough, Lanyard, she cannot be far off, but"----Here we saw
another flash, and this time we heard the report of the
cannon--"There," continued the first lieutenant,--"there she is, sure
enough; but how the devil can you expect her to come up to us, seeing
she is cut off by that large craft there?" And he pointed a-beam of
us, where, following the direction indicated, I soon saw a large
vessel, standing under easy sail, on the same tack.
"Quartermaster," exclaimed Sprawl, "keep her away, and edge down
towards that chap, will ye?"
The commodore was now on deck.
"I was on the point of reporting to you, sir, that the felucca was a
good way off to leeward, apparently cut off by a strange sail, that is
sculling along right between us," said David Doublepipe.
"Whereabouts," said the captain, "whereabouts is this strange sail?
And why the deuce did the felucca not fire a gun?"
"She did, sir," answered the lieutenant, "but I could not divine what
she would be at, as she did not make the night-signal."
"True enough," said Lanyard.--"I daresay all the signals and
instructions, and every thing else, are locked up on board, sir. May I
therefore request the favour of your standing down to her, or I don't
see how we shall manage at all?"
The weather now cleared, and the fog rose, or blew past. Another flash
down to leeward, in the direction of the felucca, and presently she
burned a blue light, which cast a lurid wake on the rolling waters,
cresting the sparkling waves with a wavering line of unearthly light.
It lit up the little vessel and her white sail, and the whole horizon
in her neighbourhood, with a blue ghostly glare, across which, as a
bright background, we suddenly saw the tall spars, dark sails, and
opake hull of a large polacre brig intervene, as she gradually slid
along, rising and falling majestically on the midnight sea, between us
and the tender.
"Ah ha!" said the commodore. "Why, Master Brail, your retreat is cut
off, and all the honour and glory will be gathered by the Midges
without you, for there the brig is bearing up--there, she has made us
out, and if the little fellows don't get out of her way, she will run
them down."
The black bank in the east now broke away, the newly risen moon shone
out bright and suddenly, and we distinctly saw the polacre crowding all
sail from us, with the gallant little Midge to leeward of him about
half a mile, under easy sail, apparently waiting for him, and standing
directly across the bows of his large antagonist, into which he once
more fired his long gun, and then as he came down, he luffed up, and
hove a capful of grape into him from his howitzer. The chase up to
this time had not fired a shot, but continued to crowd all sail, the
little fellow now sticking in his skirts like a bur.
The night began to lower again; the wind fell from a fine working
breeze to nearly calm, and the rain soon began to descend in torrents.
At length it became stark calm, and as dark as the shrouded moon would
let it. But every now and then we could see a tiny flash in the
south-east, that for a moment lit up the outline of the black sail of
the felucca, making the sweeps and figures of the men that pulled them
appear as black as ebony between us and the flash of the forwardmost
gun, which, on the other hand, glanced brightly against the stern,
sparkled in the windows, and lighted up the snow-white sails of the
brig, in pursuit of which the felucca had again bore up; the wreaths of
smoke rising and surrounding both vessels, like a luminous cloud, or a
bright halo. Presently the peppering of musketry commenced from the
Midge, which showed she was overhauling the strange sail, and was
immediately returned from the chase, who now lowered his jolly-boat,
and began to fire for the first time from his stern chasers. This was
in turn brilliantly replied to by the felucca, when all at once the
dark lateen sail came down between us and the bright flashes by the
run; on which her fire ceased, the breeze sprung up again, and all was
dark. We stood on for ten minutes, when we saw a light right ahead,
and before we could shorten sail, were alongside of the felucca--the
little vessel, now a confused heap of black wreck, appearing to slide
past us like an object seen from a carriage window when travelling
rapidly; although it was the frigate that was in motion, while the
Midge lay like a log on the water. Presently the _wee_
midshipman--Master Binnacle, who had returned on board of her, as
ordered, early in the evening--hailed.
"He is too big for us, sir; he has shot away our main haul-yards, and
hurt three of our men."
"Heave the ship to," said the commodore; "and, Mr Lanyard, go on board
with a boat's crew, take the carpenter with you, and see what is wrong.
Keep close by us till morning; or here,--take him in tow, Mr
Sprawl,"--to the first lieutenant,--"take him in tow."
We went on board Dick's forlorn command, and found the little vessel a
good deal cut up, in hulls, sails, and rigging, and three Midges
wounded, but none of them seriously. They were sent on board the
frigate, which made all sail in chase, but next morning, when the day
broke, all that we could see of the polacre was a small white speck of
her royal, like the wing of a sea-gull, on our leebow; presently she
vanished entirely.
The breeze continued to freshen, and we carried on; in the afternoon we
made the land, near the mouth of the river we had been blockading, and
after having run in as close as we thought safe, we hove-to for the
night, determined to finish the adventure on the morrow.
By day-break, we were close in with the mouth of the estuary, but we
could see nothing of the polacre, and as the climate was none of the
wholesomest, we were making up our minds to be off again before the
night fell; when a canoe was seen coming down the muddy flow of the
river, which, even a mile or more at sea, preserved its thick brown
chocolate colour; with a square blanket for a sail, and manned by half
a dozen naked negroes. She approached, and a rope was hove to her,
when she sheered alongside, and the steersman came on board. He was a
wild uncultivated savage, and apparently did not understand a word of
English, Spanish, or French, but by signs we enquired of him if he had
seen any thing of the brig we were pursuing? He indicated, after his
manner, that a big canoe had run up the river with that morning's tide,
and was now at anchor above the reach in sight. However, his only
object appeared to be to sell his yams and fruit, with which his boat
was loaded. And after he had done so, and we had gotten all the
information we could out of him, he shoved off; and we prepared to
ascend the river in the felucca, reinforced by ten supernumeraries from
the frigate, and accompanied by three of her boats, manned with thirty
men and fourteen marines, under the command of Mr Sprawl, in order to
overhaul our friend of the preceding evening.