HOME SURPRISES
"_Oh! dream of joy! Is this indeed_
_The lighthouse top I see?_
_Is this the hill? Is this the kirk?_
_Is this mine own countree?_"
The owners of the _Hawk_ could not be found. The authorities decided
that we had the right to offer her for sale and to divide the money
among ourselves in proportions according to rank. Her value was placed
at eighteen thousand dollars--but MacWilliams, backed by a group of
merchants, purchased the ship for fifteen thousand dollars. He had not,
canny Scot, returned from Barbary with empty pockets. He bought the
_Hawk_ at auction, and was able to obtain it at a low price because
other merchants, when they saw his eagerness to obtain possession of
her, refrained from bidding.
I was eager to take passage for America, and MacWilliams, to
accommodate me, hurried the sale along so that Mustapha and myself
could have our share. With three hundred dollars apiece in our
possession, we bade him an affectionate farewell.
He changed the name of the _Hawk_ to the _Dove_, and vowed to me that
she should be used only on honorable missions.
"Lad, lad," he said, as he gripped my hand, "it's glad I am to see you
returning to a God-fearing home. When you remember William MacWilliams,
blot out the remembrance of ill deeds connected with my name, and
think of me as a repentant man who yet intends to leave a good name
behind him!"
We sailed for Baltimore in the brig _Lafayette_, Captain Lord. As we
entered the Patapsco River Mustapha pointed out a schooner lying off
Fell's Point. "Blessed be Allah--it's _The Morning Star_!" he cried.
"Pray then that her crew are not going ashore to spend our fortune!" I
said.
Our first thought was to go directly aboard the schooner, but we then
considered that we should have to furnish proof to her skipper that the
sacks belonged to us, and that in such dealings it would be better to
have the rector's support; therefore, we decided to seek him first.
As we passed a shop near the docks, I observed this sign above its door:
ALEXANDER FORSYTH
EXPORTER OF
Fish, Flour, Tobacco, Corn and Furs
IMPORTER OF
Teas, Coffee and Spices
I entered and pounded on a desk.
"I want to buy a shipload of cannon balls to fire at the Dey of
Algiers! I want to charter a frigate that will blow Joseph, Bashaw of
Tripoli, to perdition! Fish, flour, tobacco--who's dealing in such tame
stuff--it's blood and thunder I'm after purchasing; it's muskets and
cutlasses I want. Show me your stock, man!"
A man with the build of a mastpole came out of the counting-room and
stared at me. I swaggered towards him, but, suddenly, overcome by
amusement at his puzzled look and joy at beholding him again, I sprang
forward and threw my arms about him.
"David!" he cried.
"Alexander," I answered.
We stood hugging each other like two polar bears.
In a few minutes of hurried chat, I found out that my brother,
recovering his health, had married Nell King, a Baltimore girl, and was
prospering as a merchant. Commodore Barney, who had backed Alexander in
business, was at sea. (How I fell in with him later and increased the
family fortunes by acting as chaplain on his privateer _Polly_ may not
be told now.)
Customers came into the shop, and promising to call on Alexander and
Nell that night, I broke away and went on up to the house. Mustapha,
gaping at the strange western land I had brought him to, and as
bewildered as I had been when I wandered through his desert cities,
walked closely beside me, clutching my arm. I saw some of the bullies
who had mutinied on board _The Rose of Egypt_. I think they recognized
me, but Mustapha and I were a stalwart pair, and the looks cast our way
by the dock loafers were more of respect than of hostility.
We approached the rector's house at dusk. A welcoming light shone
through the elms. I was swaggering along, thinking how much of a man I
would appear to the rector. The yellow glow from the window, however,
spread an influence that changed me into a soft-hearted boy. Here was
I, a sailor hardened through contact with all sorts of men, toughened
by wind, wave and warfare, yet brushing a tear from my cheek as I
saw the lamp in the parsonage shining out cheerier than the ray of a
lighthouse on a tempestuous night.
The door was bolted--I knocked. A girl answered, her face in the
shadows.
I was as much taken aback as if I had seen a ghost. I was not used to
seeing girls around the old home. Besides, Alexander had not warned me.
"Is it someone to see father?" she asked timidly.
"You are Nell, Alexander's wife?" I said boldly, "and a pretty choice
he made!"
"No!" she said, and I stood there in worse confusion than ever.
Yet there was something vaguely familiar in her tone.
"I beg your pardon," I said, "I thought Dr. Eccleston still lived here."
"He does!" she replied. "Please come in!"
We stepped into the hallway. I looked around, taking in each familiar
object.
"I am David Forsyth," I said, "perhaps you have heard the rector speak
of his boy who went to sea."
"I recognized you at first, David," she said, her face still in the
shadows. "What a grand surprise for the rector!"
I walked towards the library, but the rector had heard our voices. He
came out, spectacles in one hand, a book in the other. He stared at me
as if he could scarcely credit his own sight.
I was in his arms the next moment.
"David," he shouted. "I had almost given you up for lost! No letters!
And all the time I've been waiting to thank you for sending me my
precious jewel!"
I looked at Mustapha in puzzlement. What did he mean by "jewel"? Had he
gotten the treasure?
He turned to the mysterious girl, whose gold hair flashed in the
lamplight as if ten thousand diamonds were netted in it. I had seen a
girl's hair flashing in just such a way before! But where?
He saw me twirling my hat and grasped the situation:
"David," he explained, "this is my daughter! General Eaton told me that
it was you who first pointed her out to him in the Arab camp."
Heigho! I had gone forth to seek adventures, and here at my home
door was a more marvelous thing than any I had come upon. The girl
that General Eaton had bought from the Bedouin hag was no other than
the daughter the rector had lost in the desert! She was taller and
lovelier, and the more I looked the more flustrated I became. I had
always been shy before girls, and now I stood like a gawk, blushing
under her gaze. I wanted the floor to open when she came forward and
held up her lips in a matter-of-fact way for my kiss.
However, I did not dodge the invitation, for all my bashfulness.
Indeed, I might as well record here that that sisterly kiss became a
few months later the kiss of a sweetheart--but since I have no notion
of having this book end in a love story, we had better get back to our
course.
Mustapha, who had kept himself well in the rear, was now discovered by
Anne, and what a jabbering in Arabic took place. Whenever after that
I started to tell Anne of my adventures I found that she had already
heard it from Mustapha. I can't say that I was displeased at this,
because the lad--not that I deserved it--held me in high esteem, and
painted me in every episode as a great hero.
Over the supper table we learned how the rector and Anne had been
united. General Eaton had landed in Baltimore, and the rector,
beholding beside the General a girl who bore a striking resemblance to
his wife, stopped the officer in the street, questioned him, brought
him and his ward to the parsonage as his guests, and there, by matching
his story with that of Anne's, discovered that she was no other than
his own daughter. Her mother--Anne had only a slight remembrance of
her--must have died early in her captivity.
The next morning Mustapha and myself induced the rector to take a
stroll with us. We reached the dock where _The Morning Star_ was moored
just as she was being unloaded. As we started to go aboard we bumped
into a string of stevedores. Our search ended there and then, for among
the baggage these men carried were our sacks.
"Toss those confounded bags aside," cried the officer in charge of the
unloading. "I wonder if the cheeky rascal who sent them aboard thought
I was going to hunt over Baltimore for 'Rev. Ezekiel Eccleston of
Marley Chapel.'"
I approached him in my most respectful manner.
"Here, sir, is the Reverend Eccleston. He is the gentleman for whom the
sacks are intended, and I'm the 'cheeky rascal' who shipped them. Your
coxswain will recognize Mustapha here as the lad who stowed them in
your cutter. There wasn't much need of shipping the curios after all,
since my schooner arrived here almost as quickly as your ship."
He looked at me as if he wanted to pour out a flood of oaths. Then his
gaze wandered over the rector's garb and he grew less surly.
"It's lucky for you, sir," he said to my guardian, "that we didn't
pitch those sacks overboard! I like this cub's cheek--sending freight
aboard without even saying, 'By your leave!' If the bags hadn't been
addressed to a parson, overboard they'd have gone!"
"Your forbearance is much appreciated," said the rector. "The boy, I
believe, was in a trying situation."
I took out a roll of banknotes.
"We'll pay you in full for all the bother you've been put to. You
really saved this stuff from falling into the hands of the Turk, Joseph
Bashaw. Yet there was another skipper who wanted in the worst way
to carry those bags! In fact, he inquired for _The Morning Star_ at
several South Atlantic ports. I think you came in sight of him. But
we're none the less grateful to you, sir!"
He snatched from me a pound note. "Always glad to serve the Church," he
said civilly to the rector. "By the way, my men said there appeared to
be metal ornaments in the sacks--candlesticks for worship, I suppose?"
The rector, at a loss for a reply, stared at the sacks.
"Something of that sort! They will be very useful to the Church," I
answered, shouldering one. Mustapha followed suit with another, and the
rector, good man, dragged the third sack to a wagon I had hired. With
a load of worry removed from Mustapha and myself, we drove homeward. I
heard afterwards that _The Morning Star_, though then a freighter for
the Government, was a converted privateer and had even been suspected
of piracy while in Uncle Sam's employ. Her men had probably captured
and sunk many a ship without obtaining loot half as valuable as these,
our riches, which they so carelessly carried.
On the way home the rector questioned me concerning the contents of the
sacks, but I evaded him. Now, as we stood in the hallway, with the
sacks at our feet, I myself popped a question.
"Rector," I said, "if you were suddenly handed a good-sized fortune,
what would you do with it?"
He smiled.
"I suppose, David, that we all like to indulge in such day-dreams.
First, I should erect a larger church here--this business of hanging
our church-bell to a tree is getting sadly out of fashion. Then I
should build mission chapels in the border settlements. Then Alexander
should have capital with which to expand his trade with the West
Indies. Then I should send you to Yale College--it's really time now,
David, that you settled down to your studies. Then I should send
General Eaton some funds. Congress praised him, but has since neglected
him, and the poor fellow is low in spirits and failing in health.
Then----"
"Rector," I said, "all those wishes and as many more are granted. I
found both Aladdin's lamp and Ali Baba's cave in the deserts of Africa.
Stand by and watch me bring all of your day-dreams true! Fall too,
Mustapha, servant of the geni!"
With our jackknives we slashed open the sacks. The treasure hoard of
the ancients--the priceless jewelry and trinkets which the rector long
ago had discovered and then sealed up and abandoned--poured out in
gleaming confusion at his feet.
POSTSCRIPT
THE END OF THE PIRATES
So far as my fortunes are concerned, I was rid forever of Barbary's
corsairs. But, to make my narrative complete, it may be well to state
that the end of their piracies was in sight, and that Stephen Decatur
was the man who struck the blow that marked the beginning of their end.
The United States had borne these insults and oppressions meekly during
the time she was evolving into a nation, but at last, under Decatur,
her true spirit showed itself. The Dey of Algiers, the last to affront
us, was at length forced to take tribute in the way our naval officers
had long wished to deliver it--from the cannon's mouth.
The War of 1812 tempered the spirit of our navy for this closing
campaign with the buccaneers of Barbary. The frigate _Constitution_
thrilled the nation by her victory over the British warship
_Guerrière_, although the _Constitution's_ captain, Isaac Hull, had
to steal out to do battle without the knowledge of the timid Monroe
administration, which feared that our ships were no match for the
British frigates. Then the _United States_, commanded by Captain
Stephen Decatur, defeated and captured the _Macedonian_, one of the
swiftest and strongest and best-equipped ships in John Bull's navy,
and Lieutenant Archibald Hamilton marched into a ball given to naval
officers in Washington with the flag of the captured ship across his
shoulders.
Then the _Constitution_ met the British frigate _Java_, and by splendid
gunnery reduced her to a burning hulk. Then the British had their
innings and Captain Broke, of the _Shannon_, defeated the chivalrous
but over-confident Captain Lawrence in the _Chesapeake_.
Decatur, with his feathers drooping somewhat from the fact that he had
been forced to surrender the _President_ to two British frigates after
a hard fight, was sent, after the treaty of peace had been signed, to
deal again with the Barbary states, to which we still paid tribute.
These powers had grown insolent again when the United States became
engaged in war with England and had resumed their piracy. Decatur
sailed in the flagship _Guerrière_ and commanded a squadron of nine
vessels.
Algiers, the chief offender this time, had organized a strong navy
under the command of Admiral "Rais Hammida," called "the terror of
the Mediterranean." Decatur's squadron sighted this Algerine admiral
in his forty-six-gun frigate _Mashouda_ off Cape Gatte, and pursued
and captured the Turkish ship. Her captain was killed in the first
encounter.
Decatur now proceeded to Algiers to bring the Dey to terms. The captain
of the port came out insolently to meet him. "Where is your navy?"
demanded Decatur.
"Safe in some neutral port!" retorted the Algerine officer.
"Not the whole of it," Decatur said. "We have already captured the
frigate _Mashouda_ and the brig _Estido_, and Admiral Hammida is dead."
The captive lieutenant of the _Mashouda_ was brought forth to confirm
these statements. The Dey's representative became humble and begged
that hostilities should cease until a treaty could be drawn up on shore.
"Hostilities will go on until a treaty is made," Decatur replied, "and
a treaty will be made nowhere but on board the _Guerrière_!"
The officer came out again the next day and began haggling over terms
in true Oriental fashion. Decatur stuck to his terms, which included
the release of all Americans held in slavery and the restoration of
their property. He demanded an immediate decision, threatening:
"If your squadron appears before the treaty is signed by the Dey and if
American captives are on board, I shall capture it."
The port officer left. An hour afterward an Algerine man-of-war
appeared. Decatur ordered his officers to prepare for battle. Manning
the forts and ships were forty thousand Turks.
Before the squadron got under way, however, the Dey's envoy was seen
approaching, flying a white flag--the token of surrender.
All of the terms had been agreed to. We were to pay no further tributes
to the pirate prince. Our ships were to be free from interference. Ten
Americans that had been held in captivity were delivered up. They knelt
at Decatur's feet to thank God for their release and rose up to embrace
their flag.
From Algiers, Decatur sailed to Tunis and then to Tripoli, and actually
forced their rulers to pay indemnities for breaking, during the period
of our war with Britain, the treaties they had made with the United
States.
Decatur thus put an end to the attacks of the Moors upon American
merchant ships. He had set an example that Britain was soon to follow.
BRITAIN FOLLOWS DECATUR'S LEAD
British consuls and sea-faring men were still being insulted and
molested by Moslems. Public indignation in England rose to such a
height that the British government sent Sir Edward Pellew, upon whom
had been bestowed the title Lord Exmouth, to negotiate similar terms.
The fleet sailed first to Tunis and Tripoli and forced the two Beys to
promise to abolish Christian slavery. An element of humor came into the
situation at Tunis, for Caroline, Princess of Wales, was on a tour of
the country, and was not above accepting the hospitality of the Bey,
no matter what wrongs to her countrymen went on under the surface. Her
entertainment included picnics among the ruins of Carthage and the
orange groves of Tunis, to which she was driven in the Bey's coach and
six. She was indignant when word reached her that a bombardment from
her own fleet threatened to put an end to her pleasures. She sought to
interfere, but the Admiral was firm. The Princess took refuge on board
one of the English ships; the squadron prepared to attack; but the Bey
yielded.
The squadron now proceeded to Algiers. Here the Dey protested so
vehemently that the Admiral agreed to the ruler's proposal to send
ambassadors to England to lay his case before the final authorities. No
sooner had the fleet returned to England than news came of a massacre
of Italians under British protection in Bona, by Algerines acting under
orders actually given by the Dey while Lord Exmouth was at Algiers.
There was, in the port of Bona, a little to the east of Algiers, a
coral fishery carried on under the protection of Britain. Corsicans,
Neapolitan and other fishermen came here to gather coral. On the 23rd
of May, 1816, Ascension Day, as the fishermen were preparing to attend
Mass, a gun was fired from the castle and two thousand Moslem soldiers
opened fire on the helpless fishermen and massacred them. Then the
English flags were torn to pieces and the British Vice-Consul's house
wrecked and pillaged.
Lord Exmouth's squadron, on its way to punish the corsairs for these
atrocities, fell in with five frigates and a corvette under the Dutch
Admiral, Van de Capellan. All civilized nations had been aroused by the
massacre of the Italian coral fishers, and the Dutch were eager to take
part in the expedition to punish the murderers. Lord Exmouth welcomed
them, and the combined fleets set sail for Algiers.
Lord Exmouth sent a letter ashore to the Dey demanding that the
Algerians abolish making slaves of Christians; that they surrender
such Christian slaves as they now held; that they restore ransom money
exacted from Italian slaves, make peace with Holland, and free the
lately imprisoned British Consul, and other English captives. The Dey
was allowed three hours in which to reply. No answer came. Lord Exmouth
began the battle.
His flagship, _Queen Charlotte_, led the fleet to the attack. Reaching
the left-hand end of the mole, she anchored, thus barring the mouth of
the harbor. In this position, her guns could sweep the whole length and
breadth of the mole. Up came the _Superb_, the _Minden_, the _Albion_,
and the _Impregnable_. Meanwhile, the foe had opened fire and the
_Queen Charlotte_ had replied with three broadsides that ruined the
mole's defences and killed five hundred men.
The Dutch squadron and the British frigates came in under a heavy fire
and engaged the shore batteries. The Algerian gunboats, screened by
the smoke of the guns, came out to board the _Queen Charlotte_. The
_Leander_, lying beyond the smoke, saw them and sunk thirty-three out
of thirty-seven with her batteries.
At last the enemy's guns were silenced. The British and Dutch fleets
withdrew into the middle of the bay. The defeated Dey accepted the
British terms. The English consul was released. Three thousand slaves
were set free; some of these had been in prison for thirty years. The
bombardment destroyed part of the house of the American consul Shaler,
who, the British afterwards testified, did all in his power to aid the
English.
The British squadron gained its victory at the cost of one hundred and
twenty-eight men killed and six hundred and ninety men wounded. Lord
Exmouth led his men with Nelson-like gallantry. He was wounded in three
places, his telescope was knocked from his hand by a shot, and his
coat was cut to ribbons. Even this punishment did not entirely crush
the corsairs. It was reserved for the French to put an end to their
piracies.
But that campaign did not begin until 1830--and my story can not run on
forever.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION DRAWN UPON BY THE AUTHOR
"The Narrative and Critical History of America," edited by Justin
Winsor.
"American State Papers, Foreign Relations."
"Debates of Congress," compiled by Thomas H. Benton.
"Life of the Late General William Eaton," by Charles Prentiss,
published in 1813 in Brookfield, Mass.
"Ocean Life in the Old Sailing Ship Days," by Captain John D. Whidden.
"From the Forecastle to the Cabin," by Captain S. Samuels.
"Round the Galley Fire," by W. Clark Russell.
"The Story of Our Navy," by Edgar Stanton Maclay.
"A History of the United States Navy," by John R. Spears.
"Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs," by Gardner W. Allen.
"The Barbary Corsairs," by Stanley Lane-Poole.
"Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors," by James Barnes.
"Maryland Chronicles," by Scharf.
"Africa," by Frank G. Carpenter.
"Rambles and Studies in Greece," by Mahaffy.
"Winters in Algeria," by F. A. Bridgman.
"The Romance of Piracy," by E. Keble Chatterton. (The episode of
David's escape in the ship _Hawk_ is founded on an actual adventure
that occurred in 1622, related in Mr. Chatterton's book. The story
of the mutiny aboard _The Rose of Egypt_ was suggested by an actual
episode--described in Captain Samuel's autobiography.)
To Deane H. Uptegrove and George Mullien, the writer is indebted for
advice concerning the sea episodes that appear in this book. The
New York Public Library, The Newark Public Library, the East Orange
Public Library, and the private library of the _New York Evening Post_
have been helpful in giving the author access to material not easily
obtainable.