CHAPTER XXL.

There was an ancient sage philosopher

That had read Alexander Ross over,

And swore the world, as he could prove,

Was made of fighting and of love.

Just so romances are, for what else

Is in them all but love and battles?

O' the first of these we've no great matter

To treat of, but a world o' the latter.

HUDIBRAS.

The breeze that brought the Venganza within sight, was in a very short

time felt likewise by the Albatross; but it gradually hauled to the

southward, thereby giving the American the advantage of the wind, or

weather-gage. Still it was evident that the Spaniard was the superior

sailer, and that he might, if he chose, soon be alongside; but he seemed

to be aware that preparations had been made by the Yankee commander and

his crew to give him a very warm reception. Accordingly he shortened

sail and tacked, with the hope of getting to windward; but in this he

was foiled by the Albatross tacking also, and, in spite of all the

Spaniard's manoeuvring, retaining the advantage that the wind gave

her.

The crew of the American were all this time quietly leaning on their

guns, and watching the evolutions of their antagonist; and commenting

upon every movement with as much composure as though their own ship was

lying at anchor in a friendly port, and they were only looking at some

ship beating into harbor.

"That old rattle-trap of a gardy coaster works tolerably well, only

she's a month of Sundays swinging her head-yards, and getting her

fore-tack down," said one of the seamen.

"You may well say that," said another, "and the same of his main-yard

and main-tack, and jib-sheet to boot."

"Well, you can't blame him for not being in a hurry," said the

boatswain, "he knows what he'll get when he hooks on to the old

Albatross. When once we get fairly hold on him, I don't ask but half an

hour to do his business for him: fifteen minutes to knock away some of

his sticks, and send him off flanking, and fifteen minutes more to

secure the guns and clear the decks up; and by that time it will be

eight bells, and then we'll have our dinner and our grog, and be all

ready to make sail on our course again."

"There she goes again! helm's a-tiller, jib-sheet's a-rope, and round

she comes!"

"Ready about!" shouted Captain Williams, and the crew flew to their

stations.

Both vessels were now heading to the westward; the Venganza, by superior

sailing and frequent tacking, had gained considerably to windward; and

it was evident that she would soon be alongside, though to leeward. In

this situation of affairs, Captain Williams, seeing that flight was out

of the question, called all hands aft.

"Lie aft there all of you, hurry aft there, men, at once," repeated the

boatswain, adding, in a lower tone, "the old man's going to read us a

page out of Hamilton Moore."

The men being all assembled upon the quarter-deck, Captain Williams

advanced, and thus addressed them:

"Men, you see that fellow yonder that is following on after us, and know

what he wants. He sails rather better than we do, and I don't see how

we're going to get rid of him; and if we don't want to be plagued with

him any longer, why we must fight him, that's all. I don't suppose that

you will fight any the quicker or better for my making a speech to you,

but I want you should know which leg you stand upon. We are nothing but

a merchantman, and I don't suppose you are bound by the ship's articles

to fight unless you see fit, but whether we fight or not, our fate is

the same; if we are such d--d fools as to let that garlic-eating

scarecrow make a prize of us without firing a gun, we shall be sent to

the mines for life; but if we will only stand by each other, I'll be

bail that we give him something that he can't eat. Now if you are all

agreeable to that, say so, and give three cheers for the honor of the

Yankee flag, and we'll fix his flint for him before the cook's dinner is

ready."

This pertinent harangue was received with three roaring cheers, which

were distinctly heard by the Spaniards, who were thereby convinced that

the Americans were not the sort of men to be frightened into a

surrender; and they, the Spaniards that is, "smelled the battle" by no

means "afar off," but, on the contrary, rather nearer their noses than

was altogether agreeable.

By way of commentary to his speech, the Yankee commander called to the

steward to "bring up the case bottle, &c. and the molasses jug,"

observing, that; "although he knew that the Albatrosses didn't require

any Dutch courage, the sun was over the fore-yard, and it was grog time

in all Christian countries."

Jones, who by virtue of his office was always foremost at "splicing the

main-brace," having compounded a tolerably stiff tumbler of blackstrap,

turned to his shipmates, prefacing with the invariable commencement of a

sailor's toast,

"_Here's hoping_ that every shot we fire will make work for the doctor

or carpenter."

This pithy "sentiment," as it would be called at the present day, was

received with vast applause; and, having finished their grog,

interspersed with similar toasts, the men quietly returned to their

quarters.

During this scene Morton descended to the cabin and conducted his fair

charge to her Gibraltar in the steerage. Isabella, weeping bitterly,

clung to him, and Morton's heart, softened by the tears of one whom he

loved so tenderly, seemed divested of all the elasticity of young hope

and courage, and he began to regard the _possibility_ of his being

killed or taken prisoner as a _probability_; but he resisted the

fast-coming weakness, and, pressing her to his bosom, tore himself from

her arms, and hurried upon deck. Isabella was attended and consoled in

her retirement by her faithful servant Transita, her "fidus Achates."

I hope my fair and also my classical readers will pardon me for giving

the masculine title and name of a hero of antiquity to a lady's maid;

but I could think of no other. History has immortalized Achates as a

single friend, and Pylades and Orestes, and Damon and Pythias, as pairs

of attached and inseparable friends; but, alas! neither ancient nor

modern history has recorded the name of a single female, whose

friendship was sufficiently ardent and pure to become proverbial. Even

the Helena and Hermia of Shakspeare, whose friendship is so touchingly

described by one of them, were not only imaginary creations of the

poet's brain; but, as if to prove the impossibility of friendship

existing between two ladies, he has made them actually pull caps in the

very first act of the play in which they are introduced.

By this time the Venganza had ranged up within speaking distance, and

hailed:

"Send the prisoners that you brought from San Blas on board my ship."

"We have no prisoners here--we are all freemen," was the answer.

"Send your first officer and the four men that were with him on board

this ship, or I will fire into you."

"Well, I guess, then, you'll have to fire; for I can't spare either

officer or men," replied Captain Williams drily.

"I repeat, for the last time, give up those men, or I will fire."

"Come after them yourself, then," roared back the irritated Yankee,

losing all patience.

"D--n my buttons!" said Jones, from the midship or "slaughter-house"

gun, "he'd better come aboard starn foremost, then, so's to be all ready

for a run."

Don Diego Pinto, the commander of the Venganza, although a brave man,

and one who had "done the state some service," by no means liked the

aspect of affairs. He had had frequent opportunities of seeing the crew

of the Albatross, and knew that, with the exception of Captain Williams,

there was not a man on board over forty years of age; that they were all

stout, active, powerful men, warmly attached to their officers, and

living in perfect harmony with each other; that her guns were of uniform

calibre--namely, nine pounders, and consequently no confusion could

take place respecting cartridges or shot: on the other hand, he was a

Spaniard, the first lieutenant a Portuguese; and the second a Frenchman;

of three different nations, and three different dispositions, they never

agreed: he knew, too, that his crew was composed of a few Spaniards, a

few Portuguese, and the rest Chilians, Peruvians, and Mexicans, negroes,

mulattoes, and Indians, quarrelling and stabbing from morning till

night; that his guns were of all sorts, from twelve to four pounders

inclusive; that, although he numbered eighty on board his ship, thirty

well-armed men from the Albatross would take his ship from him in less

than five minutes, if they were thrown upon his deck during the action.

Under all these circumstances, he felt somewhat loth to commence

operations, till, after considerable time had elapsed since Captain

Williams's last angry reply, he took heart of grace, and opened an

irregular and harmless fire.

"Thank God! he has spoken at last," said old Jones; "I was afraid he

meant to keep us standing here, like mum-chance in a picture-shop, till

seven bells in the afternoon with our hands in our pockets."

"Keep fast every thing," shouted the American Captain; "don't fire yet."

"Ay, ay, sir," answered the captains of the guns with perfect composure.

"Jemmy Bush," said the boatswain to one of his gun's crew, as he

squinted along its side, "I'll bet you as much as you and I can drink,

the first port we get into, that I hit that fellow's foremast the first

shot."

"The devil thank you," said the tar; "'tisn't twenty yards from the

muzzle of your gun."

"Starboard your helm--keep her away a little," said Captain Williams;

"stand by--now's your time--fire!--luff! luff again!"

"Luff it is, sir," said the helmsman very deliberately.

The double-shotted broadside of the Albatross was followed by three

thundering cheers. Her fire, although not exactly a raking one, had

crossed the Spaniard's deck very obliquely, and the smoke blowing off

immediately, gave the Americans an opportunity of seeing some of the

effects of their shot. Two of the Venganza's foremost guns had been

dismounted, and all the men stationed at them killed or wounded; there

were huge gaps in her bulwarks; several of her weather fore-shrouds were

shot away; and about ten feet from the deck there appeared upon the side

of her foremast a large hole, caused by two or more shot striking nearly

in the same place, and tearing off large splinters. There was silence

for a few seconds, interrupted only, on board the Albatross, by the

punching and thumping of rammers, as her crew were busily reloading

their guns.

Mr. Walker, with the doctor and supercargo, all capital shots,

constituted the marines or small-arm men of the ship. The doctor was

not, however, unmindful of his medical duties; for he had prepared a

place between decks, down the fore hatchway, where he had paraded his

medicine-chest, instruments, and dressings; and, leaving them in charge

of the cook, who acted as surgeon's mate _pro tem._, he went on deck

with his rifle, and was seen on the quarter-deck, with a case of pocket

instruments tucked into the bosom of his jacket, loading, and firing,

and bringing down a Spaniard at every discharge; for, like Apollo of

old, who is represented as a good shot as well as a good doctor, he

could send an enemy to his long home with a rifle-ball, or physic a

friend with such success as might thereafter ensue:

"Mighty he was at both of these,

And styled of war as well as peace."

It has never been our lot to take part in a naval engagement as an

agent, and we are thankful for it; for we are convinced, upon strong

internal evidence, of our cowardice; but we have been present at sundry

such actions, at a safe distance, as a spectator; and, from what we saw,

we can venture to assure our readers, that, when two ships or fleets are

exchanging their iron salutations, whether at long shot or close

quarters, there is nothing peculiarly interesting to a mere spectator in

the scene.

Isabella and her attendant had, all this time, remained quiet, but

dreadfully frightened as soon as the firing commenced. Finding, after

the lapse of fifteen or twenty minutes, that no danger had as yet come

near them, they became more composed; the former most earnestly and

sincerely imploring Divine protection, both for herself and for those

who were exposed to danger for her sake. Still she could not avoid

listening eagerly to every voice that was to be heard in the short

intervals of comparative stillness.

The action had been now carried on between the two vessels nearly half

an hour, at a distance of about forty yards, when a twelve-pound shot

passed through the Albatross's larboard quarter, and, encountering the

steward's pantry in its progress, made such a fearful jingling with the

crockery ware, tin coffee-pots, and earthen jugs, that, overcome with

extreme terror, both females left their city of refuge, and ran hastily

up the after-hatchway ladder, and presented themselves on the

quarter-deck. Just as they reached the deck, a shower of grape-shot flew

whistling across the ship, one of which, passing through the

hammock-nettings, struck a seaman in the forehead, and scattered his

blood and brains in all directions. He reeled backwards two or three

yards, and fell dead at Isabella's feet. Captain Williams immediately

drew her away from the ghastly spectacle, and gave orders to carry the

body forward on the other side of the deck. He then attempted to prevail

upon her to go below; but she was too much terrified to listen to him,

nor did she seem to understand him. After a minute or two, she became

more composed, and eagerly inquired for Morton. Being informed that he

was on the forecastle and unhurt, and doing his duty like a brave man

and a good seaman, she expressed the most lively gratitude to Heaven,

and permitted Captain Williams to conduct her to the starboard side,

which was farthest from the enemy, and in great measure sheltered from

shot by the long-boat and by the spare spars, &c. stowed amidships.

By this time the crew of the Venganza, as is often the case with cowards

when driven to desperation, had become perfectly frantic, and also

mutinous. With furious execrations, they compelled Captain Pinto to make

a desperate attempt to board the American ship, and decide the action.

For this purpose the helm of the guarda-costa was put hard down, and she

immediately ran on board the Albatross, her bowsprit passing over that

ship's larboard gangway, and coming in contact with the fore part of her

mainmast, to which it was instantly lashed firmly by Mr. Walker, Jones,

and two or three of the nearest seamen. In this state she was exposed to

a murderous raking fire of grape and cannister shot, from such of the

Albatross's guns as could be brought to bear upon her. Notwithstanding

this, the Spaniards mustered in considerable force upon and about the

heel of the bowsprit and cat-heads, armed with pistols, knives, and

cutlasses. The Americans caught up their ten-foot boarding-pikes, and

presented an impenetrable hedge of steel points; but, although his crew

was fearfully thinned by a well directed discharge of canister-shot and

bags of musket-balls from the two midship guns of the Albatross, Captain

Pinto, at the head of about fifty men, the sole remnant of the original

eighty, persisted in his attempt to board; and five or six of the most

desperate actually "effected a lodgement," as militarists call it, in

the main shrouds, where they were instantaneously transfixed by the long

pikes of the Yankees, and fell shrieking into the water. At this moment

the doctor, who had hitherto been engaged in dressing the hurts of the

few wounded that thought proper to visit him in his temporary cockpit,

hearing the bustle, caught up his rifle, and hastened to the _other_

field of his usefulness.

"Here, doctor, doctor!" shouted old Jones as soon as he saw him, "here's

a chance for you! here's the Spanish skipper looking as savage as a

Yankee meat-axe--Gad! if you don't bear a hand, he'll cut his own

throats, for want of some of ours."

"Where, where?" said the knight of the pillbox, skipping upon a gun.

"There, that notomy-looking thief with a sword two fathom long in his

fist. Give him a blue pill, doctor; he looks as though he was billy-us."

The doctor raised his rifle--and Captain Diego Pinto, commander in his

Most Catholic Majesty's navy, slept with his fathers.

A heavier sea than ordinary, a moment after this, lifted the Albatross,

and forced her ahead: the bowsprit of her antagonist snapped close to

the knight-heads; but, being held by the lashing, the guarda-costa was

towed along, till a blow or two of a pole-axe severed the rope that

connected the two vessels, and she dropped astern. The desperate and

frantic courage of the Spaniards died with their commander; their first

lieutenant had received a slight splinter-wound in the foot at the first

fire of the Albatross, in consequence of which he went below, and had

not been seen on deck since; the second lieutenant's orders were not

attended to; and all was anarchy and confusion on board. A few minutes

after she drifted from the Albatross, her foremast, already badly

crippled and no longer supported by the bowsprit, fell over the larboard

bow, dragging down with it the main topmast. At this the Yankees

cheered. The Albatross soon after wore ship, and stood to the westward.

Upon mustering the crew, it was ascertained that but one man was killed,

and eight more or less wounded; her sails and rigging were much cut up;

and the services of all hands were immediately put in requisition, to

repair damages, and put the ship in condition to proceed on her voyage.

The first intelligence of the victory was conveyed to Isabella by Morton

himself. As he approached her place of refuge with his head bound up

with a bloody handkerchief, having received a slight wound in the left

temple from a splinter, she uttered a scream of terror, and it was long

before she could be convinced that the wound was trifling. As lady

passengers are of no great use on deck when the ship's sails and rigging

are hanging about her ears, she was conducted once more below.

In the mean time Jones, as he trudged backwards and forwards, thought he

saw something amiss about the galley, which he entered, and a moment

after backed out, exclaiming,

"D--n my two-and-twenty top-lights! if this here doesn't beat all my

going down east!"

"What's the matter, Jones? what are you swearing about now?"

"Swearing? it's enough to make a minister pull off his wig, and rip

right out in the middle of his sarmont!"

"Well, what _is_ the matter?"

"Matter? why d--n my old shoes, Captain Williams, here is one of that

bloody Don Dego's shot gone right through the galley-door, and through

the side of the big copper, and knocked all the beef and hot water

galley-west. By the piper that played before Moses when the children of

Israel danced through the wilderness, I never see such a thing since I

first went to sea, and I've seen shot fired afore to-day. And here's my

two sweet potatoes," he continued, groping in the coppers with the

cook's ladle, "that I popped in just as that fellow come alongside, all

knocked to pieces. Here he is, d--n his eyes!" holding out a

twelve-pound shot in his ladle; "here's the thundering thief that's

spoilt our dinner, Captain Williams, stowed away in the bottom of the

copper, as snug as a flea in a soger's blanket. The curse of the twelve

geese that eat the grass off o' Solomon's grave upon you!" With these

words he threw the shot overboard, and turned to Captain Williams with a

most rueful countenance.

"Well, Jones, it's devilish unlucky I own, but I guess we can make out a

dinner for to-day, and perhaps the armorer can patch it so that it will

answer till we can get to Canton,"

"I hope so, sir," said Jones, with a deep sigh; "for if we don't have

our reg'lar-cooked grub, we'll all get the scurvy, as sure as the

devil's in London; though for that matter, I've been pretty much all

over Lunnun, and never see nor heard nothin' on him, unless so be he's

in the Tower, or the king's palace, or some one of them thunderin' great

churches; and I've seen about all there was to be seen there, unless it

may be them three places. But in my way of thinking, a ship might a d--d

sight better go to sea without a medicine-chist, than without her proper

cooking-utensils and coppers; because why? if a man don't get his

reg'lar grub, his bowels gets out o' trim, and he gets belly-us, as our

doctor calls it."

"Well, well, if we can't do any better, we'll burn out the big

pitch-pot, and make a shift with that till we arrive in China."

"Aye, that indeed, so we can. By the hook-block! how our two snow-balls

of cooks will swear! Well, thank God for every thing but bread, and

that we get o' the baker." So saying, he rolled off towards the

forecastle, to superintend the knotting of one of the fore shrouds, that

had been shot away in the engagement.

CHAPTER XXII.

But now, t' observe romantic method,

Let bloody steel awhile be sheathed:

And all those harsh and rugged sounds

Of bastinadoes, cuts, and wounds,

Exchanged to Love's more gentle style,

To let our reader breathe awhile.

HUDIBRAS.

The damages done on board the Albatross were all repaired before sunset;

the dead body of the poor fellow that was killed was committed to its

watery tomb with becoming solemnity, and by the next morning the

north-east trade-wind was blowing fresh and steady, and, as it usually

does in both the Atlantic and Pacific, from almost due east. The ship,

with booms rigged out and studding-sails set on both sides, dashed

swiftly towards the west, rolling almost gunwales under at every motion,

and initiating the two females into all the mysteries of sea-sickness.

However, in two or three days the sea, that is always heaviest near the

land, subsided into the long, regular undulation peculiar to the ocean,

properly so called, and Isabella recovered from her sea-sickness, and,

by keeping as much as possible in the open air, and walking the deck

almost constantly, assisted at first by the arm of some one of the

gentlemen, soon got her _sea-legs_ on.

I would substitute some other phrase, if, by so doing, I could make

myself intelligible; but as the case is, it is impossible to mince the

matter--fashion has not yet, thank God, invaded the "Dictionary of

Sea-Terms;" and ladies, when off soundings, must still be content to

have "legs" like other folks--on shore they may vote it indecent to have

even "ankles," for aught I care.

Captain Williams, having neither missionaries nor tracts on board, did

not stop at the Sandwich Islands, nor did he even pass within sight of

them; but holding on his course, on the fortieth day after leaving St.

Blas, he saw Cape Espiritu Santo, the southern extremity of the island

of Lugonia, or Lucon, one of the Philippine Islands. Passing through the

Straits of Samar, he changed his course to the northward and westward,

and steered for Macao, where he arrived six days afterwards.

The passage across the Pacific Ocean afforded the two lovers numerous

moonlight quarter-deck walks. Morton, as first officer, had the first

watch, from eight to twelve, every other night, and on these occasions

was invariably accompanied by his fair bride elect, who, wrapped in a

cloak or great coat, walked the deck leaning upon his arm; or, seated

upon the hen-coop, listened with interest to his descriptions of

American, or, more properly, New England, scenery, manners, and history;

or gazed upon that lovely object, a moon-lit ocean in fine weather.

There is something peculiarly soothing in this scene--something in the

soft light of the heavens, and in the dark and dimly-seen ocean, that

induces a pleasing melancholy, a pensive tranquillity; the low, gentle

murmuring of the waves calms the mind, tranquillizes its angry passions

and boisterous feelings, and brings on those dreamy reveries that

contemplative people are so fond of indulging. It is then, when the

"grim-visaged" ocean has "smoothed his wrinkled front,"--when the winds

of heaven are hushed to gentle airs, and the cloudless moon looks down

upon the scene, tipping the crests of the lazy waves with silver,--that

the memory and imagination of the wanderer are busy; it is then that the

scenes of childhood and of manhood--the forms of friends, more loved

because sundered from them by thousands of miles of water and land--all

rise before him in original freshness and beauty.

Isabella also proposed to her lover to accompany him in his middle

watch--that is, from midnight to four in the morning--but I grieve to

say, that she proved worse on these occasions than an old man-of-war's

man, not only "standing two calls," but, in fact, not "turning out" at

all. She made some amends, however, by coming on deck at four o'clock

frequently, to witness that splendid spectacle, sunrise at sea, which is

particularly glorious between the tropics, not only on account of the

extreme purity of the air, but from the shortness of the morning

twilight; the sun rushing so suddenly from his salt water couch, as to

come "within one" of catching the stars napping.

On arriving at Macao, Isabella was doomed to undergo another separation

from her beloved Morton, whose qualities of head and heart she had had

sufficient opportunities of studying and appreciating during the voyage

from Mexico, and in the daily and familiar intercourse of a

merchant-ship's cabin. As the Chinese eschew the society of foreign

women even more rigorously than the children of Israel did that of

"strange" ones--and, taking this notion of theirs "by and large" in

connection with their laws, and manners, and tastes, we think they are

perfectly right--Isabella was consequently landed at Macao, and placed

in the care of a venerable and highly respectable Portuguese family, and

after having arranged the means of as regular a correspondence as could

be carried on in that country, where there are not quite so many

mail-coaches and post-offices as with us, she saw with tearful eyes the

whale-boat "shove off," containing in its stern-sheets Morton, a Chinese

custom-house mandarin, two Chinese pigs, a hind-quarter of Chinese beef,

a Chinese river pilot, and sundry baskets of Chinese fowls and

vegetables.

Macao is beautifully situated upon a small island, near the mouth of the

river Tigris, commanding a fine view towards the sea, and was, when I

had the fortune to visit it, very clean and neat in its streets and the

external condition of its houses--a circumstance the more remarkable, as

its inhabitants are Portuguese and Chinese, two of the dirtiest people

on the face of the earth: to these, of course, numerous other nations

and parts of nations may be added; and among them, a very large

proportion of the aristocratic and fastidious English, who prefer

spitting in their pocket-handkerchiefs instead of the fire-place or the

street; all the Spaniards; all the French in their houses, and food, and

furniture; all the Dutch in their persons; all the Russians in every

thing; nearly all the Irish and Scotch; and a very respectable modicum

of my beloved countrymen, the Yankees, together with the greater part of

the natives of the southern states, who, being nursed, brought up, and

associating with negro slaves from the cradle to the grave, _smell_

dirty, if they are not.

After an absence of about six weeks, Isabella one morning received a

letter from Canton, informing her that the ship would commence "working"

down the river that day, or, according to the date of the letter, two

days previous, and that she would be off Macao on the second or third

day from said date. Accordingly she made all necessary preparations for

another and much longer voyage, and after dinner walked down to the

water-side, accompanied by her Portuguese friends. They had been on the

look-out for nearly half an hour, when a large ship hove in sight,

evidently from Canton.

As she approached, steering apparently direct for the town, she suddenly

tacked and stood out to sea, or directly away from it. The party had

already made out with their glasses that the ship was indeed the

Albatross; but poor Isabella, who had seen, on her passage from Mexico,

nothing but fair winds, was exceedingly distressed by this last

unintelligible manoeuvre. Were they actually going away without

her?--the thought was agony. The ship, that was but four miles off when

first seen, was now at least eight, and her hull was fast sinking below

the line of direct vision. Her companions, who had hitherto been

occupied in silently admiring that most splendid effort of human genius,

a ship under full sail, were suddenly startled by an exclamation

betokening extreme anguish from their lovely friend--"They have gone!

they have gone!" sobbed the unhappy girl. The most affectionate

kindness, and the most earnest assurances that the apparently

unaccountable movement of the ship was no more than was absolutely

necessary from the direction of the wind, were equally lost upon

her--she "would not be comforted." In a few minutes the Albatross hove

in stays (you need not hold your fan to your face, madam), and seemed to

approach the shore as rapidly as she had before receded from it.

"Look up, my dear child," said M. de Silva; "see, your ship is flying

in, and will soon be safely at anchor."

Isabella raised her head from the shoulder of Madam de Silva, and

applying the glass to her tear-dimmed eye, was convinced of the folly of

her grief. They sat down to watch the gallant ship as she rapidly

approached the "roads." Before the sun was hid behind the hills in the

rear of the town, they had the pleasure of seeing the Albatross commence

reducing her sails; presently the topsails were clewed up, and the jib

hauled down, the ship "rounded to," her anchor let go, and in a moment

the men were seen clustering upon the lower and topsail yards. A minute

or two afterwards Isabella plainly distinguished, by the help of her

glass, the well-known whale-boat sweeping round the ship's stern, and

rowing swiftly towards the shore. A deep blush announced that the glass

had also informed her who was, in midshipman's language, the "sitter,"

the person in the stern-sheets, to wit, and she immediately proposed

returning to the house. Morton, on landing, informed her that the ship

would get under weigh the next morning at day-break, and that it would

be most advisable, as the ship could approach no nearer than five miles

to the town when beating out of the bay, to go on board as soon as

possible that evening, to which she, of course, assented, and, having

taken an affectionate leave of her Macao friends, who insisted upon

supplying her with "sea-stores" enough to fit out half a dozen sail of

Liverpool packets, she accompanied Morton to the boat.

The next morning at day-break she was startled from her slumbers by the

clanking of the windlass-pauls, the voices of the officers, and the

tramp of feet over her head; and, in a few minutes after, the rushing of

the water under the cabin windows, and the "heeling" of the ship,

announced that they were under weigh, and dashing out to sea with a

fresh breeze. The passage home was, like most passages _from_ the East

Indies and China, rather monotonous from the long continuance of fair

winds. Isabella gazed with delight upon the unrivalled scenery of the

Straits of Sunda, where spring, summer, and autumn reign perpetually in

a sort of triumvirate; the same field, nay, in some cases, the same

tree, presenting, at one and the same time, blossoms, green fruit, and

ripe fruit: infancy, maturity, and decay. She saw, too, in the night the

volcano on the Island of Bourbon, afterwards False Cape and Table

Mountain, but not the Flying Dutchman, the weather being unfortunately

too fine to induce him to put to sea. Next came St. Helena, since so

famous as the cage and then the tomb of that most furious and terrible

of wild beasts, a great conqueror. Near the fifth degree of north

latitude, the south-east trade-wind died away, and was succeeded by four

days of light, variable, "baffling" winds, when the north-east trade set

in strong from about east-by-north, its usual point near the equator,

and they once more flew joyously on their north-west course. A few

"regular built" _Mudian_ (i. e. Bermudan) squalls served to vary the

scene, and rendered the strong, steady gale from south-west, that

succeeded them, peculiarly acceptable.

It was just sunrise one lovely morning, near the last of July, when

Morton, who had the morning watch, directed one of the men to go aloft,

and "take a look round." The seaman had gotten no higher than the

fore-topsail-yard, when he shouted "land ho!" at the very top of his

throat.

"Where away?"

"Broad on the larboard bow."

"What does it look like?"

"Low, white sand-beach."

"Cape Cod, by the mortal man that made horn spoons and poop lanterns!"

said Jones, springing into the fore-rigging.

As the sun climbed higher in the heavens, the liquid blue plain appeared

thickly studded with the white sails of vessels of all descriptions, and

all steering to the westward. There was the majestic ship from India or

Liverpool; brigs from the Mediterranean, from Portugal, South America,

and the West Indies; schooners from the southern states, with flour, and

from Maine, with boards; packet sloops from New York, Philadelphia, &c.;

chebacco-boats from fishing on "Georgis;" and schooner-rigged

pilot-boats, darting about under jib and mainsail, and boarding every

vessel that carried the star-spangled "jack" at her

fore-topgallant-mast head. Nothing could surpass the tranquil life of

the scene: more than a hundred vessels, of all descriptions, were

gradually but rapidly approaching a common focal point, the narrow

entrance of Boston harbor, under the impulse of a fresh breeze from the

south-east, that had not as yet brought forward its accompanying fogs and

haze. The Albatross, her thin masts clothed from trucks to deck with

snow-white canvass, dashed rapidly up the bay, the jack flying at her

fore-royal-mast head, passing the low-decked molasses-loaded brigs from

the West Indies, or the faster sailing topsail-schooners from the

Chesapeake, inquiring the news, and furnishing matter for speculation to

their crews.

On the passage from China to Boston, Morton expressed some impatience,

particularly during the prevalence of calms or head winds; but Isabella,

like all young ladies similarly situated, was perfectly composed. Why is

it, dear dissemblers, that you always _seem_ to enter the holy state

with either reluctance or lukewarm indifference? when every body, with

half a head, _knows_ that matrimony is the "hoc erat in votis," the

grand object of all your wishes. Strange! that the laws of female

modesty should decree it absolute indelicacy for a girl candidly to show

her preference for a particular individual before the rest of his sex.

Strange! that modern mothers should uniformly caution their daughters

against marrying for love, as the most dangerous rock in their voyage

through life. Solomon could find but four strange things in his day, and

those four I do not care to repeat; if he had lived in these times, he

might find a hundred and fifty connected with a single matrimonial

engagement.

The Albatross arrived at Long Wharf early in the afternoon; and Morton,

having deposited his dear messmate and watchmate in the house of a

widowed sister of his father, went in search of a messenger to convey a

letter to his father; for, unless I am much misinformed, the mail only

went at that time once a week to New Bedford.

Though not "so terrible old" as I might be, I recollect when a journey

from Boston to Providence, a distance _then_ of forty-five miles,

occupied three days: namely, the traveller, leaving Boston in the

morning, arrived at Deadham about sunset, and "put up" at the "Gay

tavern," or the "Widow Woodward's;" the second _hitch_ carried him to

Attleborough; and the third evening saw him snugly seated in the

bar-room of the "Old Coffee House," Providence. But a journey to New

York, as it was generally supposed that the traveller must "go down to

the sea in ships" part of the way, that is, through Long Island Sound in

a sloop, was one of the most momentous events of a long life. The

traveller "concluded" upon it in the fall, occupied the entire winter

and the months of March and April in collecting his dues, paying his

debts, setting his house in order, and making his will, before the

weather was settled.

Two Sundays before starting, a note was "put up" in his parish

meeting-house, "desiring prayers," and early on Monday morning, to be

sure of reaching Providence before the next Sabbath, he took a weeping

farewell of his wife and family, and turned his horse's head towards the

"neck," and his bereaved household betook them to their chambers,

"sorrowing as those that had no hope" of seeing him again.

Morton's messenger, spurred on by the hopes of high pay, made such

diligence that he actually arrived at Taunton the first night, the

selectmen of which fair town were so indignant at what they conceived

barbarous and unparalleled hard driving, that they talked of prosecuting

the man; but it appearing from the report of a court of inquiry of

ostlers that the horse did not seem distressed by his day's work, but

had fallen to work upon his oats and hay, they "withdrew their motion."

Old Mr. Morton received the news of his son's arrival with the greatest

joy. He sat out the next day in his own carriage, drawn by two noble bay

horses, and arrived without "let or hindrance" in Boston. He expected to

find Isabella a girl possessed of some considerable beauty, just

sufficient to captivate a seaman who for months had seen no women more

attractive than the squaws of the North-West Coast or South Sea

Islands; and sailors, under such circumstances, are exceedingly

susceptible, _me ipso testi_; he had made up his mind, too, that she

could be no other than ignorant and ill-bred withal. When, then, her

exquisite beauty, her lovely, retiring modesty of manner, free alike

from affectation or sheepishness, her expressive and eloquent features,

all burst upon his view at once, his heart was taken "by storm,"--he

clasped her to his bosom, and felt towards her in an instant as warm

affection as though she was indeed his own child. The banns of matrimony

were published immediately, after the manner of the descendants of the

pilgrim roundheads, and the marriage solemnized as soon as the legal

time had elapsed; and the happy party took up their abode in old Mr.

Morton's house.

Morton's female friends and acquaintance at first seemed amazingly shy

of the new-comer; but at a "numerous and highly respectable" petticoated

caucus, a forlorn hope, after repeated declensions of the honor, was

chosen to make the first "call." Their report was so very favorable that

the newly-married couple were, in less than a fortnight, rather annoyed

by too much company.

On the passage from Mexico to China, and thence home, Isabella had, in

vulgar phrase, "taken a liking" to Jones, the boatswain, and formed,

what was probably conceived, at that time, the visionary plan of

breaking him from his intemperate habits. She communicated her scheme to

her husband shortly after their marriage, who most cheerfully coincided

in opinion with her. Jones was accordingly sent for, and regularly

installed in the family. The eloquent representations of Mrs. Morton,

and the promises of her husband and his father, had the wished-for

effect--the old tar consented to "give up grog," and did so, making

exceptions only in favor of the "glorious first of June," the

anniversary of Lord Howe's victory off Ushant, at which Jones was

present, the fourth of July, _'lection_ days, Thanksgiving days, and the

birth of Mrs. Morton's first child. This last event took place, by what

modern editors call a "singular coincidence," upon the first of June

ensuing; and Jones was sorely puzzled how to "keep up" both days, and,

in consequence, got very considerably "corned." It was, however, his

last offence; he gradually adopted the temperate habits of the family,

and continued in them to his death.

We have no farther particulars to communicate, except that Charles

Morton was taken into partnership by his father, and became wealthy, and

that his wife wrote a long and kind letter to her uncle, which was

forwarded by the captain of an outward-bound whaleman, who delivered it

into his own hands. The old Don did not answer it, however; and

Isabella, in whose heart other affections had taken root, was not,

perhaps, much grieved or indignant at his silence; the affection of her

husband, her children, and her friends, soon obliterated all melancholy

recollections.

* * * * *

THE PIRATE OF MASAFUERO.

* * * * *

THE PIRATE OF MASAFUERO.

CHAPTER I.

_Gonzalo._ Had I a plantation of this isle, my lord, And were the

king of it, what would I do?

_Sebastian._ 'Scape getting drunk, for want of wine.

TEMPEST.

In the Pacific Ocean, and within two days' sail of the coast of Chili,

lies the little island of Masafuero, or, as the word is generally

divided by the Spaniards who discovered it, Mas-a-fuero--that is, the

farthest--to distinguish it from Juan Fernandez, which lies nearer the

main land, and in sight of Masafuero. Juan Fernandez is well known to

all the reading community as having once been the temporary residence of

Alexander Selkirk, the original, or, as grammarians would call it, the

_root_, of De Foe's bewitching romance of Robinson Crusoe.

Masafuero is, on the contrary, remarkable for nothing more, that I know

of, than being very difficult of access, and overrun with wild goats. It

is situated in the latitude of thirty-three degrees and forty-five

minutes, south, and eighty degrees and thirty-six minutes, west

longitude; for I love to be particular in all such cases--not that I

suppose my readers care a pin if I had told them it was in the

south-west horn of the new moon; but all authors, when they put pen to

paper, seem actuated by the kind and neighborly spirit of the sagacious

Dogberry--namely, to "bestow all their tediousness" upon their readers;

and I do not know that I have any prescriptive right--I am sure I have

no intention--to depart from so well-worn a track, or to fly in the face

of so many illustrious precedents.

This island is covered, from the water's edge to the summit, with trees,

and it is only for the sake of wood that it is ever visited by our

whalemen, who fell the trees on the brink of steep cliffs, and tumble

them down, by which process they are broken up into sufficiently short

pieces to render their carriage convenient. There are evident traces of

most tremendous earthquakes visible throughout the island; huge fissures

and rents from the tops of the highest hills to unknown and unexplorable

depths, vast scattered masses of rock that have been shaken down from

the cliffs, and many other similar appearances, announce that the most

terrific convulsions of nature have rendered Masafuero a very unquiet

residence, even to the poor goats, at different times. In its external

appearance, and when seen at some distance, it bears considerable

resemblance to the celebrated Isle of St. Helena, and is, like it,

exceeding precipitous, and has but one approachable, and not always

accessible, landing-place. Of this last trait in its character I can

speak from experience and most feelingly, having visited the island in

the year 1821, in a small brig, with the intention of getting off nine

men, who had been left there some time previous for the purpose of

collecting seal-skins, with which the island abounds, as well as with

goats. Our attempt was rendered fruitless by the violence of the wind,

which, for the time it lasted, exceeded any thing I had ever seen,

except a _typhon_ in the China seas, and _one_ north-wester off

Nantucket shoals.

Some of the men, whom I afterwards saw, informed me that they had,

during their abode there, planted sundry garden seeds, such as beans,

pumpkin, squash, and onion seeds; but this item of intelligence I look

upon to be somewhat apocryphal; at any rate, I would not recommend to

any one, who may chance to visit said island, to save his stomach for

any pumpkin pies or baked beans he may obtain from it. There is

undoubtedly fertile soil enough for a garden--but then the goats.

The island also enjoys the reputation of having once been the rendezvous

of a gang of pirates, as a house, that has stood untenanted for any

length of time, is sure to be peopled with ghosts. People seem to think

it a pity that a tenement should remain unoccupied, so, out of sheer

compassion for the proprietor, they stock it with unearthly tenants from

roof to cellar, or like--for, now I am in the humor for comparisons, I

might as well go on--it was like a man who keeps his business to himself

and troubles nobody; his neighbors, knowing nothing about his

occupations and habits, take it for granted that they are both bad and

"contrary to the peace of the commonwealth."

Masafuero had, however, tolerably strong claims to the title of a "den

of thieves;" for there could be no doubt that, during the stormy times

that took place when South America shook off the Spanish yoke and put on

fifty worse ones--when there was a revolution once a week, and murder

and rapine every hour--many of the human vultures that flocked to the

prey, from Europe and this country, made this little island a place of

deposit for their ill-gotten wealth, and a rendezvous and city of refuge

from the vengeance of some of the short-lived authorities. The

celebrated Benavidas, a sort of "free companion," was, as sailors say,

"in vogue," when I first visited the Pacific in 1821; and as he carried

on business both by land and water, there is no doubt that he

occasionally visited both Masafuero and Juan Fernandez.

But there were other "land rats and water rats" than Benavidas, who, it

may be interesting to know, died suddenly one day of strangulation, in

consequence of his cravat being tied too tight. Numbers of English and

American seamen, at the first breaking out of the revolution, who

happened to be on the spot, realised large sums by privateering, and by

striking certain sudden and bold strokes, _a la Buccanier_, upon the

rich Spanish towns and richer churches; and as "their sound went out

into all lands," others flocked to the Pacific for the same purpose. But

by this time the first agony was over: the new government, short-lived

and ephemeral as it was, enacted certain wholesome laws, which, as they

did not materially interfere with the political views of the parties

that successively kicked each other down stairs, were generally

permitted to stand. A navy was organised and plunder was legalised;

privateering was placed under restrictions; and, as none of these

butterfly republics were in existence long enough to take any further

steps towards paying their seamen and soldiers than promising to, said

seamen and soldiers very naturally betook themselves to their respective

elements to look for prey. I have often wondered that the problem of our

revolution was not followed by the same corollary. The two nations might

be differently constituted--they were not differently situated.

Many stories are related of the daring exploits of these freebooters,

both on the water and on the land; but there was generally a shade of

difference in favor of the former, on the score of both courage and

humanity; the "water rats" being almost exclusively English and

Americans, and possessing both qualities by nature so strongly

impressed, that they could never be entirely eradicated or smothered.

The land robbers, on the other hand, were as exclusively native

Chilenos, a mixture generally of Indian and Spaniard--a more detestable

amalgamation the earth does not produce--if the devil was to cross the

breed, it would rather improve it than otherwise. One of the most

formidable, most blood-thirsty, and most successful of these pirates

wound up his affairs not a great while before I arrived in the Pacific,

Jack Ketch being his administrator.

CHAPTER II.

Virtue? a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus and thus.

OTHELLO.

James Longford was the eldest son of a merchant in the neighborhood of

New York, who furnished in his own conduct one of those very rare

instances of a mercantile man contented with what he has amassed, and

willing to retire to private life to enjoy it. 'Tis true that merchants

pretend to say, after having heaped up something like a million, that

they continue in business for the sake of the employment of time and

excitement of mind that it affords, and not for the lucre of gain; "sed

non ego credulus illis," or, in plain English, "they may tell that to

the marines, the sailors won't believe them." The thirst for gain

increases with its gratification, as I could quote more Latin to prove;

and not only does gratification increase the appetite, but it seems to

_pucker up_ the heart, and contract the muscles of the hand, for your

very rich man is almost invariably a very close and avaricious one,

except when making public donations to institutions already bursting

with wealth, when they know that their names and sums given will go the

rounds of the public prints under the head of "munificent donations."

How delicious is flattery, even when thrown down one's throat with a

shovel!

But they are stingy in another way, that brings with it its own

punishment--they starve themselves. I know of several of your half

million folks, not a thousand miles from where I now sit, whose table

does not cost them fifty cents a day, and that too with tolerably

numerous families. I was once ill-advised enough to dine with a

gentleman of this description, in a sister city, in consequence of his

repeated and pressing invitations. We had part of a fore-quarter of very

small mutton boiled, with a small modicum of potatoes; one man could

have eaten the whole. To be sure, I had a glass of "London particular"

Madeira after dinner, if it deserves the name, but as soon as I had done

I made my excuses--"indispensable business--obliged to go out of town,

&c." and fled to an eating-house, where I satisfied what Dan Homer

emphatically calls the "thumos edodes," the madness of appetite, with

something more to the purpose than lean mutton.

Mr. Longford was "none of them sort;"--he retired from business with

only fifty thousand dollars, but with a clear conscience, adjusted

books, and not a single cent of debt--he never refused his charity to

deserving objects, and never signed a subscription paper for their

relief,--he was never a member of a charitable society, and never

contributed a cent to the Missionary funds, whether for the Valley of

the Mississippi or the Island of Borneo, where there are nothing but

monkeys, or Malays as incapable of being christianized as the monkeys.

Had he lived at the present time, and in this section of the country, he

would have been prayed _for_ and prayed _at_, at least once a day, and

been, besides, occasionally held up in the pulpit as a specimen of total

depravity, and a child of perdition.

Yet, with all these defects, Mr. George Longford was a sincerely devout

man, and a most firm believer in the Christian religion,--from a

conviction of its truth, not merely because it was the fashion to

believe it, or because his fathers believed it before him,--and a

practical observer of its moral precepts. He read and studied the New

Testament, because it contained a compendium of all his every-day duties

as a rational and accountable being, and as a member of society, not

because it was a magazine of polemical divinity and abstruse doctrines.

The evening of such a man's life is calm and tranquil; his death is

indeed the death of the righteous.

James was this man's eldest son;--I cannot say, as novel writers

generally do, that "in him were centred the hopes and wishes of his fond

parents,"--for they were not--they looked for support and comfort in

their old age to their other children. James was a refractory and

disobedient child from the very cradle. It is ridiculous to say that all

men are born alike in dispositions and capacities; the great poet of

nature, from whom I have, as usual, taken my text, says no; and I would

sooner have a single line from him than folios of ingenious theories and

metaphysical arguments from the profoundest philosophers. I have not

much faith in innate ideas, but I confess that I have in innate

dispositions, both good and bad.

James Longford's disposition was most decidedly bad by nature--he was

constantly, even when a mere schoolboy, in mischief, and that, too, of a

kind that marked a malicious and cruel temper. His father in vain

exhausted kindness and severity, in the hope of subduing this most

unhappy temper; but neither the infliction of punishment, that he

deserved twenty times a day, nor the caresses of the tenderest parental

affection, appeared to have the least influence in mollifying his

stubborn and morose disposition--he seemed to be one of those whom St.

Paul characterizes, in that tremendous first chapter of the Epistle to

the Romans, as being "without natural affection." Notwithstanding all

these faults, he had naturally a strong mind and good talents; so that

by the time he had attained his eighteenth year he was, at one and the

same time, one of the most ungovernable and ill-tempered boys and best

scholars in Parson Crabtree's seminary of some fifty in number.

At this period his father placed him in the counting-room of a wealthy

mercantile house in the city of New-York. Here his good education and

natural quickness soon procured him the favorable notice of his

employers, while his constant and active duties seemed to have

smothered, at least for a time, his malicious temper. Before the

expiration of a year he had acquired the good will and confidence of the

merchants whom he served; but by this time the pleasures and temptations

of the "Commercial Emporium" had begun to attract his inexperienced

eyes, and his disposition seemed to have taken a new turn.

With all the stubborn wilfulness and unfeeling carelessness of

consequences that characterized his temper, he plunged into all manner

of vicious indulgences; but what seemed to attract him the most

irresistibly, and fix him the most firmly, was a fondness for gambling.

The "time-honored" black-legs of the billiard and roulette tables were,

however, an overmatch for an inexperienced lad of nineteen, and, as

might have been expected, he was soon stripped, thoroughly "cleaned

out." It was then that the idea of replenishing his pockets from the

counting-room trunk first presented itself to his mind, and, without

much hesitation or compunction of conscience, he took small sums from

time to time.

It is needless to trace his progress more minutely--he finished by

forging a check for a thousand dollars, which forgery was subsequently

detected.

Precisely the same "dull round" of vice is trodden, at least once a

week, by the same class of young men. The merchants' clerks are

certainly creatures of no imagination, or they would have struck out

some new way of going to the devil; they evidently have not a spark of

what an eminent Irish lawyer called "the poetry of wickedness;" they

uniformly begin with plundering the money drawer, and end with forging

checks.

Mr. Longford was advised of his son's guilt, and the affair was

compromised by his paying the amount purloined. In utter despair the

afflicted father placed his degenerate son on board an outward-bound

Indiaman, a mode of proceeding often resorted to prematurely, for it

generally does a boy's business if he is viciously inclined--a

merchantman's forecastle is not a school of morality. Sending a

refractory child to sea may be an excellent way of getting rid of him,

but it is at the same time the most expeditious mode of sending him to

the devil.

There is a great deal of talk about "godly captains;" but I never knew

one that was not an infernal tyrant, and a most accomplished scoundrel.

If you wish to cure a boy of a fondness for the sea, send him a good

long voyage with a godly captain, and I'll be bail that he comes home

as lean as a weazel, and most thoroughly disgusted at the very thoughts

of a ship. If you merely wish to get rid of him, send him to the coast

of Guinea on a trading voyage, or to that Golgotha, New Orleans; a godly

captain, by working him one half to death, and starving him the other,

will put it out of his power to trouble you any more in this world. The

Carmelites and other religious orders were once of opinion that the

devil could be flogged out of the flesh, and for that purpose wore a

couple of fathoms of two-inch rope about their loins: godly captains

think he can be worked out, and so, perhaps, he can; but generally, in

the two places that I have mentioned, he and the vital spark go out

together.

I do not know whether I ought to regard it as a fortunate or unfortunate

circumstance, that the first captain that I sailed with was a "ripper"

for swearing and drinking. He was a professed infidel, a first-rate

seaman, an excellent scholar, and took more care of the morals of his

crew than many of those who have prayers twice a day; and ten thousand

times more of their health, for he would not permit a man to expose

himself for two minutes to the sun or rain in Batavia, and in

consequence did not lose a man. He watched over my moral and physical

health with a degree of zeal and tenderness that I have never, for an

instant, experienced since, at the hands of those who call themselves my

"friends." Indeed, the severest scolding he ever gave me, and I

expected every moment he would knock me down in the street, was for

walking, one deliciously cool morning, from Weltwreden to Batavia, a

distance of four miles, when I had a carriage and two horses at my

disposal.

Peace to his ashes! I have lived to see the grave close in succession

over many of the few friends that I ever had. When I wandered about

London streets, barefoot and half-naked, in the dead of a hard winter,

just discharged from a hospital, and scarcely able to drag one foot

after the other, my situation was comparatively enviable. I had no

self-styled "friends" at my elbow, to mock me by talking about my

"talents!" I knew that if I did not "bear a hand," and ship myself off

_somewhere_, I should be taken up on the vagrant act, and sent to

Bridewell. Burns says,

"The fear o' death's a hangman's whip,

That hauds the wretch in order."

I should be loth to admit that the fear of Bridewell operated as a

stimulus upon my mind, for it did not often occur to me; but I longed to

enjoy once more

"the glorious privilege

Of being independent;"

and he, who is earning an honest livelihood by his own exertions, and

can shave with cold water, is, in my estimation, more truly independent

than he, whose father has bequeathed him half a million. Reader! you may

as well pardon this digression first as last, for it is ten chances to

one that you fall in with a whole fleet of them before you have sailed

through these pages. If I do not moralize as I go along, I shall not

have a chance to do it any where else.

As the afflicted father returned, with melancholy steps and slow,

towards his quiet home, he could not forbear feeling an emotion of

regret at the thought of having parted with his son in such a manner.

"Had I but placed him," he said to himself, "under the charge of the

commander of one of our men-of-war, he would necessarily have been under

such strict guardianship and discipline that his unfortunate habits

might be entirely broken up; but now I fear that the liberty he will be

allowed, or will take, in a merchant's ship, will be his ruin."

His home was more gloomy and sad that evening than it had ever been

before; for though satisfied in the main with his own conduct, and

hoping that the voyage would have most beneficial effects upon his son's

behavior and disposition, he regretted most bitterly the necessity of

the measure, and felt the keenest anxiety as to its results. That son

was destined never to return.

The ship in which he was embarked was driven much farther to the

westward than is usually the case with outward-bound Indiamen, and

encountered one of those tremendous gales of wind, known to seamen by

the local name of _pamperos_, from their blowing off the immense

_pampas_, or plains, that constitute a large portion of the province of

Buenos Ayres, or, as it is now called, the Argentine Republic. The ship

was dismasted, and with difficulty succeeded in reaching the harbor of

Buenos Ayres to refit.

The city of Buenos Ayres was at that time, and I believe it is not much

better now, a nest and rendezvous of pirates, that, under the cover of

the republican flag, and the assumed character of men-of-war or

privateers, with forged commissions, committed the most barefaced and

abominable acts of piracy. The British cruisers, by capturing and

hanging a good number of them, struck a most wholesome terror into the

rest; but our government, with a fraternal affection for every mean and

insignificant patch of barren sand-beach that called itself a republic,

more worthy the _sans-culotterie_ of the French revolution, than

becoming a great and polished nation, permitted them to sell their

prizes and refit in our ports. Buenos Ayres was then a point towards

which all the scoundrels, and thieves, and murderers, of Europe and the

United States, were radiating as to a common centre.

Here, as might have been expected, Longford found plenty of congenial

companions to "whet his almost blunted purpose" of vicious propensity

and indulgence. In a drunken quarrel at the gaming-table, knives were

drawn, and Longford stabbed his antagonist-to the heart. Murders are so

exceedingly common in all the Spanish possessions and settlements in

America, that but seldom or never is any inquiry set on foot with regard

to them. The only _judicial_ formality consists in laying the dead

bodies on their backs, with a plate upon the breast of each to receive

the contributions of those who are disposed to assist in defraying the

expenses of burial. But the murdered person, in this case, was a man of

considerable consequence in the Buenos Ayrean government, having the

charge and management of certain public moneys, and in consequence, the

"authorities" thought it worth their while to ask a few questions about

his "taking off." Longford was well aware of these facts, and with

considerable difficulty and danger made his escape to the other side of

the river.

After remaining concealed for some time, he ventured down to Monte

Video, where he found the English brig Swan, bound round Cape Horn. Her

crew, deluded by the false and extravagant promises of privateering

captains and owners, had all deserted. In this dilemma the captain was

compelled to supply their places with such materials as could be picked

up in the streets of Monte Video, and which were as bad as bad could be.

Indeed, from the lawless state of all South America, it would have been

next to impossible to have procured, "for love or money," twenty good

and orderly seamen, from Darien to Patagonia. Among these vagabonds

Longford recognised many of his gaming-table acquaintances at Buenos

Ayres, who had left that city to get out of the way of certain

impertinent questions that the police had taken the liberty to ask

concerning the murder that has already been mentioned. These fellows had

imbibed a notion that seems to be an easily-besetting one among sailors

who enter on board a ship in the middle of her voyage, namely, that

there is money on board; which notion is but too often followed by an

exceedingly strong inclination to appropriate it to their own use and

behoof. Sailors seem to understand but confusedly the tenth commandment,

which forbids us to covet any thing that is our neighbor's.

The subject was discussed on the passage, the plan arranged, and the

unsuspecting officers, passengers, and two lads, apprentices to the

captain, murdered and thrown overboard. My readers would be, perhaps,

but little edified by a more circumstantial narrative. There is so

little variation in the details of shipwreck, acts of piracy, obituary

notices, ordinations, commencements, murders, suicides, mammoth turnips,

and Fourth of July celebrations, that printers would find it a great

saving of time, money, and labor, to have regular and approved forms of

each stereotyped, with blank spaces for names and dates.

This bloody deed was executed near the southern extremity of the then

half province and half republic of Chili; and the murderers, with

considerable difficulty, succeeded in running the ship between the

island of Santa Marie and the main, and anchoring near the town or city

of Aranco, which was then in the hands of Benavidas, above mentioned.

This sanguinary freebooter was then, under the auspices and with the

assistance of the equally sanguinary royal governor of Chili, Sanchez,

carrying on a most horrid and cruel war of extermination against the

republican inhabitants of the southern part of Chili. Into the hands of

this murderous ruffian and his ragamuffin gang the Swan was delivered;

but the villany of her piratical crew was soon to receive its just

punishment. Benavidas, who suspected them of having kept back no

trifling part of the plunder, with very little privacy and no formality,

shot them all but Longford, whom, for some unaccountable reason or

other, he spared.

CHAPTER III.

_Orlando._ Good day and happiness, dear Rosalind.

_Jaques._ Nay then, God be wi' you an you talk in blank verse.

AS YOU LIKE IT.

Our scene must now change somewhat abruptly from the shores of the

Pacific to a very different part of this watery ball.

Great and manifold are the advantages that an author enjoys over his

readers; for, however anxious those readers may be to arrive at the end

of the story, they must either close the book with a "Pish!" or a

"Pshaw!" or condescend to follow him, and resignedly await his leisure.

He leads them where he pleases and at what pace he pleases; they must

follow him: they are like passengers on board a packet beating into port

with what sailors call "a good working breeze;" at one moment they seem

to have almost reached the anchorage, when suddenly the skipper shouts

"Helm's a-lee," the vessel heaves in stays and makes a long "stretch"

off, till the spires and roofs of the wished-for haven seem fading away

in the hazy distance.

The celebrated Hugh Peters, one of Cromwell's fanatical preachers,

explaining to his audience why God was forty years leading the children

of Israel through the wilderness, which was not more than forty days'

march across, made a circumflex with his finger upon his pulpit cushion,

and said, "he led them _crinkledum cum crankledum_," I do not intend

that my story shall make more "Virginia fence" than is absolutely

necessary; but that it shall proceed, like a law-suit, "with deliberate

speed."

In the vicinity of one of those beautiful villages that surround the

great commercial city of Bristol, and upon the banks of the lovely

Severn, stood the residence of a wealthy merchant. There was nothing

about the house or grounds that denoted the occupant or owner to be of a

mercantile turn; for there certainly is, very generally, something about

merchants' houses that is prim and starch--something precise and formal

about them, as though they had been planned according to the "Golden

Rule of Three," and executed with reference to the multiplication table.

It is a most melancholy fact, that the close, confined air of a

counting-room is deadly poison to a taste for the fine arts, and, but

too often, to every thing like liberality of feeling.

Effingham House was neither planned nor executed upon a grand or a mean

scale; there was nothing extravagant or penurious, vast or contracted,

about it; but it presented a happy combination of the comfortable, the

elegant, and the neat. Such houses are very common indeed throughout New

England; in the _old_ country there is a constant repetition of the

fable of the frog and the ox--the wealthy cit endeavoring to equal the

haughty splendors of the nobleman.

The villa that we describe fronted upon a large and beautiful lawn, that

gradually sloped towards the river, of which, and the lovely scenery

beyond it, it commanded an enchanting view, and was spotted with noble

oaks and elms, that appeared to have stood ever since the Conquest, or

might, perhaps, have overshadowed the legions of Agricola. A carriage

path, well gravelled and kept perfectly free from dirt and weeds, wound

around among these primeval trees, occasionally emerging from their

shade, as if to give the approaching stranger an opportunity to view

every part of the delightful landscape.

Along this path a horseman was seen riding, one lovely afternoon in

September. The air of the rider was that of a man to whom the scene was

perfectly familiar, but who seemed busy with thoughts that made him

inattentive to its beauties. His sunburnt countenance, and an

indescribable something in his whole appearance, that the experienced

eye of a member of the same fraternity only could discern, announced

that he was one of those that "followed the seas."

He alighted, and, giving his horse to a servant, ran up the steps of the

portico. A young lady, who was tending some flowers at a little

distance, hearing his footsteps, sprang towards him with sparkling eyes

and smiling countenance, exclaiming in a voice of most unequivocal

tenderness, "George!" The seaman caught her offered hand, and covered it

with kisses. The lady's cheek, brow, and throat were suffused with the

deepest and most lovely crimson: she gently struggled to release her

captive hand; but, finding that there was just one degree more force

exerted to retain it than she exercised to withdraw it, she prudently

gave up so hopeless a contest, and began very naturally to ask

questions.

"Why, when did you arrive?--how long have you been gone? Oh! it seems an

age since you left us--and how you are tanned!"

"I arrived this morning," at length answered the seaman; the mutual

delight of their meeting rendering him, for a time, as inarticulate as

it did her voluble; "and I have been gone six months. Time has stood

still with me, dearest Julia, I assure you; and besides, I have had such

a tedious passage home, that I began at last to think I was never to be

blessed with another fair wind. I need not ask how you have been during

that time," he continued, fixing his eyes upon her lovely countenance

with unutterable affection.

No woman was ever insensible to a compliment, even an implied one, to

her looks. Julia raised her liquid eyes to his with a blush and a smile

so frank and unreserved, that his six months' absence and tedious

homeward passage he would gladly endure twice ever again to meet.

There are moments in courtship--that part of it, I mean, where neither

party has as yet whispered love to each other, or bothered the old folks

about their consent; before, in short, it has become an "understood

thing" all over town--there are such moments, when the lady throws off

all reserve, and by a look, a smile, a blush, a half-articulate word,

repays her lover for months, if he is fool enough to court so long, of

prudish and affected shyness, past or future. These moments occur but

seldom, even in the most patriarchal courtships, and it is well that it

is so. Love is a fiery steed, and should always be ridden with a curb

bridle, both before and after marriage. (I am sorry that I cannot think

of a nautical metaphor, or I assure you, reader, that I would never have

gone into the stable to look for one.) The ancients, and their opinion

is decisive, ever held the "semi-reducta Venus" the most beautiful.

Leaving these turtles to bill and coo over a cup of tea, and to the

enjoyment of a lover's walk along the lovely banks of the Severn, we

will proceed to enlighten the reader as to who and what they are, and to

discuss sundry other equally important topics.

As the good ship Bristol Trader was lazily rolling along in a southerly

direction, with a light breeze and fine weather, and in the latitude of

about thirty-nine or forty north, she fell in with the wreck of a

schooner, of about eighty or ninety tons burthen, dismasted and

apparently half full of water, in which most unpleasant situation she

did not appear long to have been. The Bristol Trader hove to, and sent

her boat alongside, in hopes of obtaining something valuable from the

wreck, either cargo, or provisions, or rigging--if a wreck yields

nothing else, there is always plenty of fish around it. As the boat

approached, the attention of the crew was attracted by the appearance of

some person on board, who made the most animated and intelligible signs

to them to come alongside. The boat's crew redoubled their exertions,

and, upon coming on board, found a boy of about fourteen years, the only

living human being. The poor little fellow seemed almost exhausted with

fatigue and hunger; but being carried on board the ship and refreshed,

he informed his deliverers that his name was George Allerton--that the

schooner belonged to a port in New England, and was homeward bound from

Fayal with a quantity of wine and fruit--that she had been capsized, in

a sudden and violent squall, three days previous, when all the crew but

himself and one other were swept overboard--that she had righted after

cutting away the masts, but with a great deal of water in the hold, and

that the other man had accidentally fallen overboard, and was drowned.

It happened that the owner of the ship, Mr. Effingham, was on board. He

was going to Rio de Janeiro, partly on account of his health, but

chiefly to look after and secure a large amount of property belonging to

the firm of which he was senior partner, and which was jeopardised by

certain disturbances in Brazil. Like all passengers on board a ship, he

could find but little or nothing to do to pass away the time, and being

a married man and a father, his sympathies and good feelings were

powerfully excited and strongly attracted towards this "waif of the

sea," their new passenger. The boy, on the other hand, to a very

handsome face added a mild and amiable disposition, and, like all

New-England boys, an education vastly superior to boys of the same age

and standing in Great Britain. George's parents were respectable in some

sort--that is to say, their moral and religious characters were beyond

reproach, but their social reputation was very bad indeed--they were

poor. It has been said by an English traveller, that in all other

countries pleasure, rank, literary renown, &c. are the objects upon

which men place their affections; but, in the United States, the pursuit

of wealth is an imperious duty; and, of course, if a man fails in this

duty, his good name as a member of society soon becomes most deplorably

out at elbows.

Before the end of the voyage, young Allerton had made himself master of

Mr. Effingham's affections, and being of that happy age when all places

are nearly alike, provided they are comfortable, he readily consented to

remain with his protector, and was accordingly regularly inducted into

the old gentleman's family as a member of it. He was the playmate of Mr.

Effingham's daughter, six years younger than himself, and the companion

of her rambles abroad. The old man wished to take him into his

counting-room as a clerk, but the boy's predilection for the sea

frustrated that scheme, and the senior, after some reflection and

persuasion, yielded to it. Accordingly Master George, having served a

noviciate as apprentice, stepped over the intermediate state of "able

seaman," and became second mate, then first mate, and lastly captain, or

more properly master. During the whole of this time, he was employed in

the West India trade, in which most of the Bristol merchants are engaged

more extensively than in any other. He never came home from a voyage

without bringing some curiosity to little Julia,--as he continued to

call her, even after she had attained her eighteenth year,--and never

failed writing frequently to his parents, and sending them the whole or

a greater part of his wages: a line of conduct that raised him

incredibly in the old gentleman's favor, and made a deep impression upon

the young mind of Julia.

While George was passing through the different grades of his profession,

the young lady was advancing through the different grades of physical

and intellectual beauty and improvement. The "pretty child" that played

in her father's parlor, the "elegant girl of the boarding-school, had

now become a most lovely and accomplished young lady. She had lost her

mother when young, and the whole force of her filial affection had

centred upon her father. Brought up in unreserved intimacy with her

father's new _protege_, she always regarded him as a brother, or rather

as her equal. She always anxiously awaited his return from sea, though

she did not, in her more youthful days, exactly understand why. When her

beauty brought wealth and rank to her feet, she could not avoid

comparing their possessors with the nautical absentee.

"Sir Reginald Bentley is not half so handsome a man as George; Lord

Dormington, although he has travelled over all Europe, and has besides a

seat in the House of Lords, is not, after all, half so well informed as

George; the Honorable Adolphus Fitz William dresses very expensively and

fashionably, but his clothes do not fit him so well as George's; and as

for that wine-swilling brute, Squire Foxley, I would not be condemned to

marry such a man for the world." So she dismissed them all, "cum multis

aliis."

On the other hand, her father had acquired as much affection for George

as for a son, and treated him as such; though he never dreamed that his

daughter might from his behavior be led one day to select him as a

husband. When his daughter rejected one wealthy or titled suitor after

another, he thought nothing strange of it; Sir Reginald was a gambler,

his lordship a fool, Fitz William a dandy, Foxley a sot, and so of the

rest; he only saw in her rejection of them proofs that she possessed

more good sense and prudence than he was generally willing to admit

that any of her sex possessed.

About two years before the events mentioned in the beginning of this

chapter, George had sailed on his first voyage as master of the ship

Hebe. He had been gone about five months, and Julia, with a feeling that

she did not pretend to understand or think to analyze, had been day

after day inquiring about him, when one evening her father informed her

that the Hebe had arrived safely in London. The joy that she felt and

expressed in the most lively manner, was damped by the farther

intelligence that he was to return to Barbadoes as soon as possible,

without visiting Effingham House. When she retired to her chamber, she

seated herself by the window, and seriously began to ask herself why she

felt such pleasure at hearing of his safe arrival, and why the

disappointment at not seeing him was so exceedingly painful. Her own

good sense answered the question, after a short reflection.

"It is, it must be love; I _do_ love him, and that most sincerely;" and

she gave way to a burst of irrepressible but soothing tears. "And why

should I not?" she reasoned, "is he not every thing that heart can

desire--handsome, well educated, and generous? and does not my father

love him as a son? But my father may not consent," she continued, again

weeping, "and I must endeavor to conquer an affection that has been

growing silently but rapidly for years; it is impossible, I know, but I

will make the attempt."

The old man, too, could not but notice the different effects of the two

items of intelligence he had that evening communicated. "What could ail

Julia when I told her that George was going to sea again without coming

home? the poor girl was ready to cry: he's a fine young fellow, that's

certain, and they've been brought up together like brother and sister;

so I suppose it is natural that she loves him like a brother: I have

half a mind to write to him to scamper across the country, and see us

for a couple of days; but I dare say he's too busy." With these

reflections the merchant dropped asleep, and dreamed of "Africa and

golden joys."

Upon Captain Allerton's subsequent return, Julia's determination to

avoid him and to stifle her attachment to him vanished, like most

resolutions of the kind that young ladies are in the habit of forming,

and she gave herself up to the illusions of that bewitching passion,

without knowing--and, when enjoying his society, certainly without

thinking--how it would end; and as for her father, he, good easy man,

had done thinking about it altogether: not that his affection for her

was in any wise abated, but his mind was taken up with something else

more engrossing, and, as perhaps he thought, more important, than

watching the actions of two young people.

After tea, Captain Allerton and Julia took a walk upon the banks of the

river, along a secluded green lane, that had often witnessed similar

rambles. After a long pause, during which each seemed too busy with

their own peculiar train of thinking to regard the silence of the other,

they stopped, as if by mutual consent.

"And so, Julia, your father, after losing so much money in South

America, is going there, to see if he can grapple any of it up from the

mines of Mexico, or wherever else it has sunk."

"He is certainly going to South America, but I never knew that he had

lost much money by his speculations there."

"Nor do I say that he has, but as every body else has, I do not see how

he can have escaped;" and then added, after a short pause, and in an

embarrassed and tremulous voice, "are you, tell me, Julia, are you going

with him?"

"Me! no, George; what could put such a wild thought into your head?"

"And what then is to become of you during his absence, that must

necessarily be a long one?"

"I shall remain with my aunt Selwyn in Bristol, till she returns to

Clifton."

"Julia, you know that I love you, and you have given me reason to

believe that I am far from indifferent to you; then why not, my dearest

girl, give me the right to protect and provide for you at once, instead

of delegating it to a maiden aunt, who, whatever may be her good

qualities, has, as you know, always regarded me with dislike and

jealousy."

"I cannot, George, without my father's consent."

"Your hand, then, goes where he chooses to bestow it, let your

affections be where they will."

"It is a duty that I owe to him to attend to his wishes, and listen to

his advice."

"So then, if he advises you to marry the fool Dormington, or the brute

Foxley, you obey unhesitatingly?"

"George, this is unkind; you are supposing an extreme case."

"But you say you will obey him; you repeat that it is your duty to

listen to his advice in all cases."

"I will never marry without his consent, but I will never marry any one

that I dislike."

"That is intimating, rather obliquely, to be sure, that you may alter

your mind."

"O George, George," said the weeping girl, "why will you continue to

torment me and yourself with these jealous doubts and suspicions? why

will you not rather ask my father's consent? you know his affection for

you."

"Yes, propose such a question, and what is the reply? a peremptory

refusal, and an immediate dismissal from his employment. Now that his

mind is so much taken up with his new scheme, such a proceeding would be

little short of madness. Be mine, then, at once."

"I dare not."

"But suppose, what is by no means impossible, nay, rather likely to

happen, that he should determine to fix himself in Mexico, or Lima, or

some other South American city, as foreign partner of the house?"

"I cannot believe such an event possible, but if it should--" she turned

away her head.

"Do I interpret your silence right, Julia? would you indeed be mine?

speak to me, Julia." She made no other answer than a sigh, but still

kept her head averted. By this time they had reached the house.

As soon as they were seated in the drawing-room, the lover again urged

her to "make signal of his hope;"--she raised her eyes, swimming in

tears, in which an affirmative was plainly to be read. The entrance of a

servant prevented the happy lover from proceeding to extremities upon

her lips, "according to the statute in such case made and provided;" and

a very excellent statute it is too. Whether the "quashing of

proceedings" by the inopportune appearance of the servant was agreeable

to either party, I leave to wiser heads than mine to determine.

Many very well-meaning people, who pass for men of sense in every other

respect, are apt, when they feel matrimonially inclined, to think it

indispensably necessary to court the old folks, "hammer and tongs," as

the vulgar saying is, in the first place, and, having obtained their

good graces, to proceed very leisurely in their approaches to the young

lady. This may be a very prudent mode of managing matters, for aught I

know, but to me it savors rather of cold-blooded calculation, than

ardent or even passably warm affection. It is, besides, a gross and

unpardonable insult to the said young lady, whom it places immediately

upon a level with a horse, a pig, a cow, a load of hay, a chest of

drawers, or any other article of trade. It is like a man-of-war going in

to engage an enemy's battery, and heaving to, to "blaze away" at two old

dismantled hulks that are lying high and dry at the harbor's mouth.

CHAPTER IV.

_Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.

_Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her

nails now.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.

KING LEAR.

Julia Effingham was the only child of a rich merchant, who, like many

others in these latter days, when scheming and speculation have

superseded the good, old-fashioned habits of steady industry and

unmoveable perseverance in the art of acquiring wealth, was dazzled by

the one thousand and one bubbles that the South American revolution set

afloat. He dipped pretty largely into Mexican mines, and was bit; he

undertook to improve the breed of horses in Peru, and was bit; he

attempted to establish steam cotton-factories in Colombia, and was bit;

he bought largely into a Chilian Steam-boat Company, and was bit; till,

finally, he resolved to visit South America himself, "to see," as he

expressed it, "where the devil his fifty thousand pounds had gone to."

He could obtain no tidings of a single farthing on the Atlantic side of

that continent; but he learned one thing most thoroughly and

satisfactorily, as thousands have done besides him, that if he had gone

there in the first place, and seen the nakedness of the land, and the

deplorable and remediless ignorance and superstition of the people, his

fifty thousand pounds would have snugly remained in the three per cents.

and India bonds. He was determined, however, now that he was fairly

afloat, to "go the whole figure," and see the worst, if there was any

thing worse to come. Accordingly he took passage for Valparaiso, where

he found how, why, and wherefore his steam-boat concern had become a

decided take-in; it is not very profitable running a boat of that kind

in a country where wood sells at three cents per pound on the beach, and

where the people have no idea of travelling except in the saddle.

Chili, then under the directorship of O'Higgins, was the only South

American province that seemed to have changed for the better, by

renouncing its allegiance to "Ferdinand the Beloved." Its ports were

thrown open to foreign commerce; its navy was respectable, for the

ships, the officers, and the seamen were English or Americans; its

inhabitants had become quite civilized and tame, for the murdered

foreigners in the streets of Valparaiso did not average much more than

one or two per night; which, compared with Havana and Buenos Ayres,

gave Chili a preponderance of refinement scarcely credible. Mr.

Effingham was highly delighted with the country; and indeed Chili,

setting aside the inhabitants, for the salubrity and mildness of its

climate, the fertility of its soil, and the variety and delicacy of its

fruits and vegetables, is certainly one of the finest countries in the

world. He found many Englishmen established in various sections of the

country, and the better sort of inhabitants very much disposed to treat

them with kindness and urbanity.

He had been about eighteen months in St. Jago when he sent for his

daughter, who now constituted the whole of his family; his English

business he knew was safe in the management of his partner, and he sat

himself down with the determination of making a magnificent fortune very

much at his ease. Poor man! he little dreamed that the whole of South

America is as infamous for revolutions as it is for earthquakes.

Having said thus much concerning the father of Julia Effingham, it is

but fair to give the reader some idea of the lady herself. Indeed, in

strict gallantry, I suspect that I ought to have introduced her first,

but she has already been upon the stage, and "made her obedience," as

sailors call it, to the audience; and, besides, age has claims that

ought to be attended to.

In person, then, Julia was not remarkably tall, (I don't like tall

women; "a man never ought to look _up_ to his wife for a kiss or for

advice;") her form had all that graceful and delicate roundness and

fullness of outline so irresistibly pleasing to the eye. "Man," says an

elegant writer upon natural history, contrasting the two sexes, "man is

most angular, woman most round." Euclid himself could not have detected

any thing angular in the faultless form of Julia Effingham; nothing

resembling his "Asses' Bridge," or his "Windmill" problems, in the fall

of her shoulders, the bend of her snowy neck, the delicate round of her

chin, the delicious fulness of her ripe lip, the easy turn of her rosy

cheeks, the graceful curve of her brow. Her nose was indeed a straight

Grecian one, but not geometrically straight.

It must be admitted, by the way, that there are more decidedly _good_

noses among women than among men. The latter are aquiline, Roman,

parrot, pug, snub, thick, thin, long, short, peaked, bottle--some with a

bump in the middle, some with a cleft, or fissure, and some with a

button, or knob, at the end, like that on a man-of-war's boat-hook. In

short, to describe all the various kinds of noses masculine, it would be

necessary for philologians to create a new batch of adjectives, as the

king of England does occasionally of peers.

I have already said, or meant to be understood to say, that Miss

Effingham was somewhat inclined to _embonpoint_. I do not pretend to

know the reason of this: perhaps leanness and emaciation were not

considered _genteel_ when she happened to be educated, as they are

unfortunately by too many of my fair countrywomen; perhaps she never

thought much about it; for I have always observed that very beautiful

women, who prefer revolving in the quiet circle of domestic happiness

and usefulness, are seldom or never very anxiously solicitous about

their beauty; and the consequence is, that they _are_ more beautiful,

and stand the attacks of time far better, than those who choose a life

of fashionable display, and court public admiration. Ladies may lace

tight, eat pickles, and drink vinegar, to make them genteel; but it is

free exercise in the open air, and simplicity of diet, provided it is

nutritious, that confer gentility and grace, and preserve beauty. Will

any man, married or single, and in the possession of his senses, say

that he likes the looks of a horse whose ribs are visible and

_countable_ at half a mile's distance? I am confident the answer will

be, no.

Still there is a wonderful resemblance between a lean woman and a lean

horse, in more points than one; the lady does not, indeed, go upon all

fours, but I can never see a very _genteel_ female, laced into the shape

of an hour-glass, without wishing, from the bottom of my heart, that she

had an extra pair of le--ahem!--ancles, to support her feeble and

tottering frame.

As I am growing old, and am, moreover, somewhat peculiarly

circumstanced, I suppose that I must put up with such a wife as it

pleases God to send me; but were I ten or fifteen years younger, and

"well to do," I would accept of no descendant of mother Eve, as a

helpmate and partner for life, who did not cut at least two inches on

the ribs. The Turks, who are practical men of taste in these things; the

Chinese, who pretend to the highest antiquity in civilization; the naked

Africans and South Sea Islanders, beyond dispute the most

unsophisticated of all father Adam's children, and who, like Job,

"retain their integrity" pretty stiffly, considering the missionaries,

the "march of intellect," and other untoward circumstances, are all of

them most decidedly in favor of something substantial in wedlock; no man

of taste, in either of these nations, ever dreams of comfort and

happiness in matrimony, unless he clasps to his bosom an armful of wife.

They choose their wives as we do lobsters--the heaviest are the best.

I am a firm believer in the maxim that mind and matter exert a mutual

influence upon each other, and one of the most obvious deductions from

that datum that occurs to my mind is, that the acidities of the

disposition are not only neutralized but absolutely shut up by the

embonpoint of the body. People blessed with healthy plumpness are

indolent as well as good-natured, and it is a laborious piece of

business for such folks to get in a passion.

The wealth and fondness of Julia's father, and her own natural good

sense, had made her mistress of all those elegant and fashionable

accomplishments that constitute the education of a lady of fortune; and

she had a grace and sweetness in every thing she did that reminded the

beholder of that exquisitely beautiful line in Ariosto:

"She walked--she spoke--she sang--and heaven was there."

This description may not be according to certain received axioms

concerning female beauty; but I never could bear to contemplate a fair

face and graceful form as painters do, who measure woman's loveliness by

certain fixed and arbitrary rules, as surveyors of lumber do boards.

Nothing makes me more fidgetty than to hear a man compare every

beautiful face he sees with a certain standard, even if that standard is

the Venus de Medicis herself; this face is not good, for it is not

exactly oval; that nose is altogether wrong, for it is not Grecian; a

chin is not this, or a mouth is not that, &c. Portrait painters are much

addicted to this kind of criticism; and whenever I find myself in

company with one of these two-foot-rule critics, I make my escape from

him as I would from a plague hospital.

At the time of our narrative, Julia's father had been absent somewhat

more than two years. He had sent for her to join him at Valparaiso, a

summons that she prepared to obey with no small trepidation. "The course

of true love," which is somewhat notorious for "never running smooth,"

seemed at this moment about to encounter a "head sea." Her absence from

England she knew must be a long one, perhaps an eternal one; the

separation from Allerton weighed much heavier upon her spirits than she

was willing to admit, and altogether her prospects of happiness seemed

darkened for ever.

The same conveyance that brought Julia's letters also brought

instructions to the other partners of the house to fit out two vessels

for the Pacific, one of which was to be entrusted to the command of

Captain Allerton; but Mr. Effingham omitted to designate which of the

two was to be honored by being for some months the floating home of his

fair daughter; either intending it should be left to her option, or

taking it for granted that his partner, well aware of the intimacy of

Allerton's standing in her father's family, would of course place Julia

on board the ship commanded by George. But that partner was a crafty old

fox, who had long since seen the growing affection of the two young

people, and, with all that eagerness to destroy happiness, that they are

past enjoying, that characterizes the majority of old people, decided

that Miss Julia should, for a time, entrust her person and fortunes to

the fatherly care of Captain Burton, a sedate old Cornish man of sixty

years of age, who had no more idea of love than he had of the Chaldee

language.

CHAPTER V.

Should a man full of talk be justified? O that ye would altogether

hold your peace; and it should be your wisdom.

JOB, CH. XI. 2; XIII. 5.

Voyages across the Atlantic are now performed every day by old and young

women and children, and described by them so much more elegantly and

scientifically, and with so much more correct knowledge of the

technicalities necessary for such descriptions, than it is possible that

seafaring men can ever attain, that if one of the latter, in a moment of

mental hallucination, was to undertake to convey an idea of the element

that has been his home for years, he would be hissed off the stage as

another Munchausen. For this reason nautical men, who have laid aside

the marlinspike and taken up the pen, very prudently avoid that portion

of the literary arena, leaving Daddy Neptune's dominions to be explored

and described by landsmen.

It is in obedience to public opinion in this respect, I suppose, that

our Secretaries of the Navy are almost uniformly chosen from the "mass

of the people," at the greatest possible distance from high-water mark;

men who have never seen a piece of water that they could not jump

across, or a ship, except in the newspaper, till they came to

Washington. "Let the sea make a noise, and the fulness thereof; let the

floods clap their hands" for joy, that the Cooks and the Falconers, the

Ansons and the Byrons, of olden time, are at length banished from the

department of nautical literature, and no _oceanic_ description will be

listened to unless said or sung by a _ci-devant_ midshipman or a

half-boy, half-woman poet, who lies in his berth, and sees, through the

four-inch-plank deadlight of a packet, the full moon rising in the west.

James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.--I give the man his entire name and title,

as he seems to insist upon it upon all occasions--the "American Walter

Scott," is undisputably at the very head of his _trade_ at the present

day for nautical descriptions; his terrestrial admirers have pronounced

him "a practical seaman;" and, of course, the only man in these United

States that can give any, even an approximate idea of the sea, and

"those that go down in ships." I have at my pen's end six or eight very

desperate "cases" of his knowledge of "practical seamanship" and

maritime affairs, which may be found in the "Red Rover" and "Water

Witch" _passim_; but those animals, vulgarly called critics, but more

politely and properly at present, reviewers, whom the New York Mirror

defines to be "great dogs, that go about unchained and growl at every

thing they do not comprehend," these dogs have dragged the lion's hide

partly off, and ascertained, what every man, to whom the Almighty has

vouchsafed an ordinary share of common sense, had all along suspected,

that it covered an ass. James Fenimore Cooper, Esquire's "Letter to his

Countrymen" was an explosion of folly and absurdity that has blown his

name up so high, that there is little or no chance of its coming down

again "this king's reign." Whether he was or was not hired to write it

to support the present administration, as some folks suspect, is not my

affair. I will, therefore, resume the thread of my discourse, which was

only "belayed" for a few minutes, to indulge in the rare pleasure of

grumbling a little at seeing

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."

Julia Effingham was embarked on board the large, burthensome, and not

alarmingly fast sailing brig Avon--John Burton, master; while the ship

under the command of Captain Allerton was called the Hyperion. Both

vessels were nearly of the same tonnage, though there was much

difference in their rates of sailing, the Hyperion having been built as

near the model of a swift American ship as the English naval architect's

conscience would let him, which, however, did not allow him any greater

latitude than such as made a very obvious difference in their appearance

and rate of speed. Miss Effingham was accompanied by her maid, Miss

Dolly, alias Dorothea, Hastings. Nothing material occurred for the first

six weeks of their voyage, by which time they had nearly reached the

equator, except that Allerton improved every opportunity afforded by

light breezes and calms to visit the Avon; which visits Captain Burton,

honest man! supposed were intended for himself.

But at this period--that is, six weeks after leaving the Lizard Point,

and while the two ships were in that peculiarly disagreeable strip of

salt water that lies between the southern limits of the north-east

trade-wind and the northern edge of the south-east, and is affected by

neither--there came on one night one of those very black and threatening

squalls, that look as though they would blow the ocean out of its bed,

and frequently do not blow at all. Captain Burton, who thought a squall

was a squall all over the world, and who was better acquainted with the

Grand Banks and the Bay of Biscay than with the tropics, took in all

sail, while the Hyperion, with topgallant-sails lowered, ran gallantly

before it, and made upwards of fifty miles before the breeze left her.

The Avon was in her turn shortly after favored with a fine breeze, but

the two ships did not meet again till they had passed Cape Horn.

In the mean time, Mr. Effingham began to discover that Chili was not

paradise, nor its inhabitants saints; many thefts, robberies, and

frauds, were practised upon him, for which he could obtain no redress

from the contemptible magistrates; an earthquake, that did a great deal

of damage, was followed by a sweeping epidemic, which, as it affected

only the natives, was imputed by the priests to magic art and diabolical

witchcraft on the part of the heretical foreign residents. A riot was

the consequence, and the foreigners were only able to secure their lives

and property by a combination of their numbers, and the most determined

firmness of purpose. In short, the harassed merchant found out at last

that he had blundered into one of those self-styled republics, so many

of which have sprung up and passed away since the commencement of the

nineteenth century, where infant Liberty is nursed by mother Mob.

These vexatious circumstances, and the prospect of an approaching

revolution, that threatened to be a bloody one, completely changed his

sentiments with regard to all South American governments, and he

bitterly regretted having sent for his daughter to join him.

It was too late now to remedy that mis-step; but he determined, as soon

as she arrived, to re-embark for England as soon as possible, and in

consequence he lost no time in disposing of his merchandize, and

transmitting his funds to the coast, and thence to the spirit-room of a

British frigate. Having thus "set his house in order," and adjusted his

Chilian books, he left St. Jago, and took up his abode for the time

being in Valparaiso, waiting impatiently for the arrival of the Hyperion

and Avon, that were now daily expected.

CHAPTER VI.

Finally, my dear hearers.

OLD SERMONS.

Nothing material occurred to the good brig Avon after parting company,

as aforesaid, with her consort, the Hyperion; a circumstance that I

regret not a little, as it deprives me of my only chance for describing

a storm at sea. They only experienced one tornado, and fifteen gales of

wind, before joining the other ship. The tornado was no great things

after all--the brig ran merrily before it, under a reefed foresail and

close-reefed main-topsail. The crew were all on deck during the whole

night it lasted, in case of their services being required. But the

females below had by far the worst of it--they were "turned in" to

berths that the ship-joiner had built with reference rather to the

accommodation of an able-bodied man, than a delicate young lady; and in

consequence, poor Julia was dashed first against the vessel's side, and

then against the front berth-board, as the brig rolled gunwales under at

every motion, till she began to think with the Frenchman, that she

"should get some sleeps, no, not never." In this dilemma she thought of

taking her maid, Miss Dorothea Hastings, into the berth with her, where

the two females, operating mutually as "checks" to each other,

eventually made out a very passable night's rest. As for the gales of

wind, they were the merest flea-bites in creation, though one of them

borrowed the brig's fore-topmast, and another walked away with her

jib-boom.

During this period, Benavidas had been taken a second time; and as his

captors did not choose to risk shooting him again, which they had

already practised upon him once without success, they hanged him. His

gang were nearly all killed or taken at the same time, and the prisoners

summarily dealt with.

Longford and about thirty more made their escape in a small schooner;

and as they well knew that they would experience no other mercy, if

taken, than a high gallows and short halter, they shaped a course for

the island of Masafuero, which they determined to make their

head-quarters, and to commit depredations upon all vessels that passed

which were not too well armed. They effected a landing with some

difficulty, and found, as they expected, considerable quantities of

provisions and stores, that had been deposited among the deep fissures

of the rocks by Benavidas some time previous, when his affairs on the

continent began to assume a smoky appearance. Here the scattered but

desperate remnant of his lawless followers found a temporary respite

from the harassing pursuit of the Chilenos, that resulted every day in

the capture and immediate execution of some of their number.

The landing-place at Masafuero, with the open ground beyond it,

surrounded on three sides by broken rocks or high mountains, makes a

very beautiful appearance from the offing--anchorage, I believe, there

is none. It is a gentle slope, fronting the northern or sunny side of

the horizon, smooth, and of most delightful verdure. Perhaps it appeared

more lovely to me, who had been groping among the ices of the ant-arctic

circle for five months previous. The men whom we had left to get

seal-skins assured me the soil was very rich and deep, and the herbage

green and luxuriant. Since commencing these chapters, I have been

informed that the island is very frequently visited by our whalemen for

supplies of wood and young goat's flesh, which last is a savory morsel

to men who have been many months tumbling and rolling about on the long

regular swell of the Pacific. The waters that surround the island are

almost literally filled with fine fish, to which sailors have given the

general name of "snappers," and which differ from any fish among us,

more particularly in their propensity to bite as greedily at a bare hook

as a baited one.

It was here that the pirates lay _perdue_, waiting when the devil, who

always befriends such gentry, should send them a defenceless prey. They

were unable to anchor, as I have already noticed that there was no

anchorage, and were accordingly continually on the move, sometimes

extending their researches fifty or sixty miles to the eastward of Juan

Fernandez, which lies about that distance nearer the main than

Masafuero.

As they were lying to one morning, off the north-western side of

Fernandez, they were suddenly startled by the unexpected appearance of a

large brig that came out from behind the western extremity of the

island, and edged away towards the northward and eastward under all

sail. It was the first vessel they had seen since they had set up the

piratical business on their own account and risk, except an English

"jackass frigate," that chased them at the rate of one mile to the

schooner's five. The Vincedor, which was the name of the schooner, also

kept away and made sail, but kept yawing about in a manner that excited

the suspicions of the people on board the brig, and it was evident that

the manoeuvre would soon bring the schooner alongside. The brig now

hoisted the English ensign, but continued on her way without deviating

from her course. The schooner also made an attempt to "talk bunting," or

show colors; but she had nothing of the kind on board but some old

ragged signals that formerly belonged to the ill-fated brig Swan; and

one of these was accordingly run up to the end of the main gaff. Captain

Burton, for it was indeed he and the brig Avon, after attentively

examining the stranger, gave it as his opinion that she was a pirate,

and directed his men to stand to their guns.

In a few minutes the schooner, having closed with the Avon, fired a shot

across her bows, which being unnoticed, another was fired that passed

through her foresail, to which the brig replied with three guns loaded

with grape, that took fatal effect upon the exposed and crowded deck of

the Vincedor. The pirates then kept up a heavy and well-directed fire of

small arms upon the Avon, and Captain Burton, seeing several of his best

men killed and wounded, reluctantly gave orders to haul up the courses

and back the main yard, still keeping his colors flying.

Longford and about twenty ruffians like himself immediately came on

board; and their first question to Captain Burton was, how he had dared

to fire upon their schooner?

"Because," said the sturdy old seaman, "I knew you to be pirates, and I

was determined not to surrender this vessel without some resistance."

During this speech, Longford raised his pistol, and at its conclusion

fired; and the brave old sailor, shot through the body, and mortally

wounded, fell at his feet. This was the signal for a general massacre of

the crew; and while the bloody act was perpetrating, Longford ran down

into the cabin, to secure certain articles of plunder that he did not

choose to share with his partners in crime and blood.

Before the pirate came alongside the Avon, Captain Burton, suspecting

her real character, had requested Julia to go below for a while, on

pretence that he was going to tack ship, and she would be in the way, as

women always are at sea, of the head-braces and main-boom. As the blunt

old veteran never used much ceremony upon such occasions, she thought no

more about it, but went below as she was bid. The firing, however, had

terrified her exceedingly; and Miss Dorothy Hastings, who was sent out

as a vidette as far as the upper step of the companion-ladder, came

scampering back to the main body with intelligence that the stranger was

a pirate, and immediately proceeded to enumerate the outrages that they

might certainly calculate upon being subjected to. Almost sinking with

terror, Julia listened with a scarce-beating heart to the increased

trampling of feet on deck, the oaths of the pirates, and the report of a

pistol; and when the murderer Longford, splashed with poor Burton's

blood, suddenly appeared before her, she uttered a wild shriek, and sank

senseless upon the cabin floor.

But vengeance was on its way, and close at hand. While the pirates were

busily engaged in murdering the unhappy crew of the Avon, which they did

not accomplish without considerable loss to themselves, for the gallant

fellows fought most desperately, the Hyperion hove in sight from behind

Fernandez, following the track of her consort. Captain Allerton had

heard the firing, and, suspecting all was not right, had "packed on" a

press of sail, and soon came within short musket-shot of the schooner,

whose hull received eight or ten round shot, but her sweeps and

superiority of sailing on a wind, enabled her to escape. Allerton then

steered for the brig, the disordered state of whose sails, her braces

loose and yards flying about as the wind and sea pleased, convinced him

that the pirates had been on board, and it was with a horrible dread of

what might have taken place that he drew near. When within half a mile

of the Avon, he saw a boat shove off from alongside, that a single look

at his glass convinced him contained none of the brig's crew. Satisfied

that they were part of the schooner's piratical crew, he sent all his

men forward armed with muskets, with orders to give them a volley as

soon as they came near enough to be sure of their mark. This was done,

and the next moment the boat was sunk by the ship passing over her, and

not one of the blood-stained wretches escaped. The Hyperion then

shortened sail, and hove to.

To return to the Avon's cabin. When Longford saw a lovely young woman

lying insensible before him, when he expected no such person's existence

on board, his better feelings prevailed--he thought of his mother, his

sisters, his home, and the bright prospects he had forever darkened by

his own folly and vice, and he leaned against the bulk-head in bitter

agony. He neither heard nor heeded the repeated calls of one of his

comrades, announcing the rapid approach of the Hyperion, his thoughts

were in a complete whirl, nor was he roused from his gloomy reflections

but by the voices of Allerton and his boat's crew, as they came

alongside. Then he started and ran up the companion-way, but escape was

impossible. He drew a pistol from his belt; but before he could even put

himself in an attitude of defence, he was cloven to the teeth by a blow

of Allerton's cutlass.

Without stopping to see if there was more of them, George ran instantly

below, and found his Julia still insensible, and Miss Hastings kicking

her heels and screaming, after the most approved recipe for performing

hysterics. Allerton sprinkled the young lady's face with water and

vinegar, and ransacked the medicine-chest for hartshorn and ether, but

without success, till at length he thought of bleeding, at which he was

sufficiently expert when his patients had been sailors. The snow-white,

round arm was instantly bared and bandaged; the vein rose, and was

pierced by the lancet with as much skill as Sangrado himself could have

displayed; but the operator, although he knew how much blood a tough

seaman could afford to lose, was completely at a loss when his patient

was a delicate young lady; and, having, to his joy, witnessed the

success of his phlebotomy in restoring her to life and consciousness,

slacked the bandage and stopped the bleeding.

For a few minutes Julia's senses seemed completely bewildered; she

stared wildly around, and uttered the most incoherent ravings; when

George, who seemed to retain his presence of mind most wonderfully,

wisely reflecting that human nature was about the same, whether in

breeches or petticoats, poured out a glass of wine, and compelled his

patient to swallow a large share of it. The wine produced the most happy

effects. In a few minutes she looked up in his face with an intelligent

glance, and in a soft voice murmured his name.

In the mean time it would be unpardonable in us to leave Miss Dorothea

Hastings any longer. Allerton had been followed into the cabin by

several of his men, one of whom, compassionating the situation of the

young woman, who was, in truth, a plump, rosy-cheeked lass, and having

seen cold water thrown into the faces of people in fits, caught up a

gallon pitcher filled with the element, and dashed it into her

countenance. The remedy effectually restored her to consciousness and

herself, by rousing her indignation against the perpetrator of such an

ungallant action.

A German theorist of the present age has much such a way of curing all

human diseases; that is, he drives one disorder out of the system by

introducing another more powerful--in some cases similar, in others

directly opposite; as for instance, he attacks pulmonary consumption

with insanity, gout with the "seven-years-itch," small-pox with its

partial namesake, pleurisy with inflammatory rheumatism, &c., and so

_vice versa_ in all cases; no doubt the theory is a good one, and so

was that which proposed to keep a horse upon nothing.

In the course of an hour Julia declared herself sufficiently restored to

accompany George to his own ship, whither she was accordingly removed,

and a cabin fitted up for her accommodation.

In the process of burying the murdered crew of the Avon, four of her men

were found alive, severely but not dangerously wounded; and a fifth, who

had lowered himself over the bows, and clung to the bob-stays. Six of

the pirates were also found dead on her decks, their brains dashed out

by the handspikes with which the seamen had defended themselves till

shot down in detail.

By the time all necessary arrangements and changes had been made, it was

dark; and the Avon, with the second officer and six men from the

Hyperion, jogged along in the wake of that ship, which carried a lantern

at her gaff-end for her direction. Miss Dorothy, being comfortably

established in the Hyperion's cabin, complained of "feeling bad

somehow." Her mistress had _turned in_ long before, and was sound asleep

under the influence of a composing medicine, prescribed by her physician

and lover. Perhaps Miss Hastings thought the same medicine might do

_her_ good; perhaps she meant the complaint as a hint to Mr. Brail, the

mate, to have pity upon her. The seaman took the hint, real or

imaginary, and declared he could compound a draught as composing as any

prescribed in the "book of directions," and accordingly mixed a tumbler

of hot grog, well sweetened with loaf-sugar; but he forgot he was not

mixing for himself, and put in the same quantity of pure Antigua as

though the "charge" was intended for his own throat and brain of proof.

Miss Dolly drank the potent mixture, which effectually dispelled the

remains of her hysterical squall; and in a few minutes after retiring to

her berth, she was fast in the arms of Morpheus, if Morpheus ever goes

to sea.

Our story must now gallop a little. Mr. Effingham was delighted with

George's gallant conduct, though he was too late to save poor Burton and

his men; the cargoes of both vessels were sold, and the old gentleman,

with his daughter, returned to England with Allerton. Shortly after

their arrival, the hall of Effingham House witnessed the performance of

that ceremony, which, in the English prayer-books, "begins with 'dearly

beloved,' and ends with 'amazement;'" but "the bishops, priests, and

deacons, and all other clergy," who were engaged in altering and

adapting the Book of Common Prayer to the Episcopal church in this

country, finding nothing very amazing in matrimony, have omitted the

short sermon that usually closed its performance, and the form, like

most religious forms, now ends modestly with a simple Amen.

In three days after the murder on board the Avon, the schooner was

driven ashore upon Masafuero in a "norther," a violent gale so called

in that sea, from its uniformly blowing from the northward; and of the

eight on board, seven perished. The wretched survivor, after suffering

every thing but death from starvation, escaped in a whaler to the main,

was recognised, identified as one of Benavidas' gang, and shot before he

had been on shore two hours.