MYERS THE SMUGGLER--I LEARN TO PLAY THE FIDDLE--SMELL GUNPOWDER--ACTION
WITH A LUGGER--LEFT IN THE LURCH.
The cutter soon after came in, and after seeing my men safe on board
her, I got leave for a day to pay a visit to Larry. On ringing, I heard
him stumping downstairs to open the door. When he saw me, he could
scarcely contain his delight; and forgetting etiquette and all rules and
precedents, he seized me in his arms as if I had been a baby, and almost
squeezed the breath out of my body. Though I had not been away six
weeks, he vowed that I had grown wonderfully, and looked like a man
already. Mrs Harrigan was equally complimentary, and I could not help
feeling myself a person of mighty importance. I was very glad to find
that my old friend was perfectly contented with his wife, and that he
made himself very useful to her, so that there was every prospect of
their being comfortable together. The house was full of lodgers; but
there was a little room which they insisted on my occupying. They
themselves lived in a back parlour, where I spent the evening with them.
I slept at their house, and the next morning returned on board the
cutter. We were ordered to keep an especial look-out for Myers, whose
lugger was reported to have run more cargoes than any free-trader among
the vast numbers engaged in the illicit traffic. She belonged to Beere,
a small town on the Dorsetshire coast, in West Bay. It is a pretty,
quiet little place, and consists of one long, broad street, built in the
centre of a valley reaching close down to the water's edge, with white
cliffs on either side of it. The lugger was often seen off there; but
we could not then touch her, as she was never found with anything in her
to enable us to prove that she was engaged in smuggling. Myers,
whenever on these occasions we paid him a visit, was always the politest
of men; and a stranger might suppose that he had a vast regard for all
king's officers, and for us especially; and yet in reality no man hated
us more cordially, or would more readily have worked us harm.
Cruising after smugglers is not the noblest work, perhaps, in which one
can be engaged; but it is necessary, not altogether unprofitable, and at
times highly exciting. In the war time, the smugglers had large armed
vessels, which set the king's cruisers at defiance, and seldom failed to
show fight. When I was in the _Serpent_, they were frequently armed;
but their business was to run, and they never fired unless in hopes of
knocking away the spars of a pursuer, or, at the last extremity, to
defend themselves.
I should be very ungrateful to old Hanks if I omitted to mention his
kindness to me, and the pains he took to give me instruction in my
profession. Among other accomplishments, he taught me one of which he
was not himself a little proud.
"D'Arcy," said he one day to me, "I've a regard for you, and I'll put
you in the way, my lad, of gaining your bread, should other trades
fail."
"What is it, Hanks?" I asked. "I am glad to learn anything you will
teach me."
"It is to perform on the violin, my boy," he answered. "I learned the
art for the reason I mention. I have never yet been called upon to gain
a livelihood by it; but I do not know how soon I may be, if things don't
mend with me."
"Is it to learn the fiddle you mean?" said I. "Faith, with all my
heart, Hanks; and the sooner I begin then, the better."
Hanks was delighted at gaining so willing a scholar, though I suspect
our shipmates would rather have had us both securely moored at the
bottom of Fiddler's Race, off Yarmouth. Whenever duty permitted us, our
fiddles were never idle. My performance was not very scientific,
certainly; but I learned to play, after some months' scraping, many a
merry tune, such as would make the men kick up their heels irresistibly
when they heard it.
"There, D'Arcy," said my kind instructor, at the end of the tune; "now,
my boy, whatever happens, and wherever you go, provided you can save
your arms and your fiddle, you'll be a welcome guest, and will never
want a morsel to put in your mouth."
I found his words true; and on parting, he gave me one of his two
fiddles, which he valued as much as any piece of property he
possessed.--But I am forestalling events. We had been cruising about
for several days in search of Myers, when one morning at daybreak, we
found ourselves in the midst of a dense fog. It was literally so thick
that one could not see from one end of the cutter to the other. Just
the sort of weather, indeed, when, without unusual care, vessels are apt
to run into each other. There was about wind sufficient to send us
gliding through the water at the rate of three to four knots an hour;
but the sea was perfectly smooth,--kept down, it seemed, by the very
weight of the fog. One hand was stationed forward on the look-out, and
two others on either quarter, to guard against our being run into, or
our running into something else. The wind was about west, and our
whereabouts was as nearly as could be half-way between Portland Bill and
Berry Head. We were all on deck in our thick Flushing coats, for the
fog in its effects was nearly like a shower-bath in regard to wetting
us, and it hung in large drops like heavy dew on many a tarpaulin hat,
bushy whisker, and shaggy jacket; while the sails were stiff and wet as
if it had been raining hard all night. It was not a pleasant morning,
but it might certainly have been very much worse in a hundred ways. We
ran on for a couple of hours, with our main-boom over the larboard
quarter, the tack triced up, and the peak-halyards eased off, for we had
no reason to hurry. It was just about striking five-bells in the
morning-watch, when, as I happened to cast my eyes ahead, I thought I
saw a dark object looming through the mist. The look-out saw her at the
same moment. "A sail on the starboard bow," he sung out in a low
voice--for revenue men learn to be cautious. On hearing this, the
Commander stepped forward, and I followed him. We could just
distinguish through the mist the three sails of a long, low lugger,
standing close-hauled to the northward.
"By Jupiter, there's the _Kitty_ at last!" exclaimed my uncle, rubbing
his hands. "We'll have her this time, however."
There could be little doubt that if she was the _Kitty_, her people
would be keeping too bright a look-out not to have seen us; but probably
they fancied we had not observed them, for they did not alter their
course, which would have carried them clear across our bows. For
another minute we stood on as before, thus rapidly drawing nearer the
stranger. During this time, our guns were cast loose, loaded and
primed, ready to fire, in case she should prove to be the smuggler, and
refuse to heave-to.
"Let the mainsail jibe over; down with the tack; hoist the foresail,"
sung out the Commander in a brisk tone. "Be smart, my lads; set the
gaff-topsail. Stand by, to haul in the mainsheet."
These orders were issued just as the lugger was about to cross our bows;
but our helm being put down, prevented her from accomplishing this
purpose; and a shot, sent skimming along the sea ahead of her, showed
her that we were wide awake. All hands who had time to turn their heads
in her direction, were peering at her through the fog; and the general
opinion was that she was no other than the long-sought-for _Kitty_. To
the shot she paid not the slightest attention, hoping to forereach us,
probably, and to get away in the fog. The chances were much in her
favour, unless we could wing her, for some little time to come; but
after that, we should get her into the bay, and then we might jam her
down into the bight, and catch her.
"Give her another shot across her fore-foot, Mr Waddilove," cried the
Commander. "If she does not pay attention to that, fire right into her,
and we will try to knock away some of her spars."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered the gunner, right willingly, as he hurried to
perform his duty.
She did not seem to regard the second shot with more respect than the
first. There was now no doubt that she was a smuggler, and that she
knew her to be a royal cruiser, but whether the _Kitty_ or not still
remained to be discovered. We accordingly, without ceremony, set to
work in earnest to make her a target for our shot; but though we
believed that we hulled her several times, we could not manage to knock
away any of her rigging or spars. Fast as we fancied the _Serpent_, the
chase, whatever she was, could, we soon found, show as fleet a pair of
heels; and this made us doubly anxious to wing her, lest, by the fog
coming down thicker, she might disappear altogether. Not a sound was
heard from her except the sharp pat as our shot at intervals struck her;
nor did she offer other than the passive resistance of refusing to
heave-to. At last, so faint was her outline as she glided onwards on
our starboard bow, that I could scarcely help fancying that we were
attacking a mere unsubstantial phantom. It was only from the large size
she appeared to be, that one could judge of her nearness to us. For
some minutes we ran on without a syllable being uttered, except the
necessary words of command for loading and firing the guns.
"Now let me see if I can hit the fellow," exclaimed Hanks, growing
impatient at our want of success; and stooping down and taking a steady
look along the gun, he fired. A fearful shriek was the answer sent back
from the lugger's deck. She was standing on as before, her rigging
untouched, and her hull apparently unharmed. That sound must have been
the death-cry of some of her crew. An almost solemn silence followed,
and then, as if slumbering hitherto, the fury of the smugglers burst
forth, and a shower of shot from great guns and musketry came flying
about us. It was evident that she was prepared to resist to the last.
We now found that we had been under-rating her strength. Our two other
guns were run over to the starboard side, the small-arms were got up on
deck and loaded, and cutlasses were buckled on, and all hands not
required to work the guns began blazing away with the muskets.
"How do you like the smell of gunpowder, my boy?" asked Hanks, as he was
driving down his ramrod.
"As for the smell, I can't say that I have any objection to it," I
replied, laughing; "and for the shot, they don't seem likely to do us
much harm."
"Don't be too sure of that till the guns of the enemy are silenced," he
replied.
Scarcely had he spoken, when I heard a deep groan; and oh, how my heart
turned sick within me, as I saw a poor fellow writhing in agony on the
deck. A round-shot had torn away his chest and ribs. He gave a few
convulsive struggles, and all was over. It was the first time I had
ever seen death in any form, or even blood spilt, and for the moment I
felt so faint that I thought I should have fallen; but Hanks roused me
by calling for a loaded musket, and in a few moments those dreadful
sensations went off, never again to return. Two of his messmates drew
the dead body out of the way, and then returned to their gun without
apparently taking further notice of the matter. Our Commander was all
life and ardour, urging on the men to activity, while he kept a watchful
eye on our opponent, to take advantage of any accident which might
happen to her, or to follow any change in her course. It is difficult
to describe the scene our decks presented. Though our guns were light,
the men, from habit, had stripped themselves to the waist, and each one
had bound a silk handkerchief round his loins and another round his
head; their figures, even at a little distance, being obscured by the
thick fog and smoke from their guns and the small-arms. All the guns
were over on the starboard side, and those not required to work them or
tend to the sails were either loading or taking aim over the bulwarks at
our phantom foe. I did not dare to look at the dead body which lay near
me, and was praying that no one else might be hit, when I heard a sharp
tap, and old Thole, who was standing with his musket at his shoulder by
my side, fell to the deck. I stooped down, shuddering, for I expected
to see such another ghastly spectacle as the other poor wretch had
presented; but he looked as calm as possible, as if nothing was the
matter with him, and I began to wonder why he had fallen. He had not
even uttered a cry or groan.
"What is the matter, Thole; are you hit?" I asked.
Hanks heard me speak, and seeing Thole on the deck, he knelt down by his
side and took his hand.
"There's no use, my lad, in talking to the poor fellow, for he'll never
speak another word," he said, in a calm tone, as if nothing strange or
awful had occurred; and rising quickly, he seized a musket and
recommenced firing away at the lugger with renewed earnestness.
"Come, my lads, fire away; we must put a stopper on this work as soon as
possible," he exclaimed.
"Hurrah! see, we've shot away his mizen-halyards."
I did not see it, for I could make nothing out through the fog but a
dark mass moving along on our beam. The order had been given to keep
the helm up and to stand by the mainsheet, in expectation of the
lugger's running off the wind, when, quick almost as thought, the
mizen-halyards were spliced, and the sail was again hoisted up.
"Never mind, my lads; try and wing him again," cried my uncle.
The men answered with a cheer, and several of our shot told. Unhappily,
two more of our people were wounded, though not badly; and as yet we
were no nearer victory than we had been at the commencement of the
fight. I heard my uncle tell Hanks that he had some hopes that the
smugglers were not aware how deep we were running into the bay.
"I'm afraid, sir, those fellows are far too wide awake not to know
exactly where they are," answered Hanks.
"I rather am inclined to think that they have some dodge or other they
intend to practise if they can; and if we don't soon manage to stop
them, they will be wishing us good morning without our leave."
For an instant after he spoke there was a cessation of firing, and then
came a whole broadside of great guns and small-arms concentrated in one
focus, crashing among our rigging. Several of the shot told--the head
of the mainsail was riddled, and down came our peak, the halyards shot
away in two places. The smugglers were not long in discovering our
disaster and the advantage they had gained, and a loud derisive cheer
showed us the triumph they felt. Without the loss of a moment, hands
were sent aloft to reeve fresh halyards; but before the peak could be
got up, the lugger had shot ahead of us, and was rapidly edging up to
windward. Every exertion was made again to set the mainsail; but as we
were swaying up the peak, another iron shower came rattling among us.
One of the hands aloft was hit, and would have fallen on deck, had not
another caught him and helped him down the rigging. It was the last
broadside the smuggler fired, and the next instant we saw him shoot by
our bows, and before we could get a gun over to bear on him, he
disappeared in the fog to the northward. Once well to windward he would
have a decided advantage over us on a long stretch. Luffing as close to
the wind as we could, we stood on for a few minutes in the hope of again
seeing him; and then we tacked, on the chance, should he also have
tacked, as he probably would do, of overhauling him on the other board.
We now more earnestly than ever wished the fog to clear away to give us
a wider view; but yet minute after minute passed away, and still it
would pertinaciously hang down over us like a thick canopy, shutting out
the surrounding world. My uncle and Hanks, who both had seen much of
gun-shot wounds, did their best to doctor the poor fellows who had been
hit; the bodies of the two men who were killed, were placed side by side
abaft the mast, and covered up with a union jack; and we then piped to
breakfast. I had not recovered my appetite, which the scenes I had
witnessed during the morning had taken away. Hanks rallied me on my
sensibility. "Why, my boy, you should get over all those sort of
feelings at a leap, or you'll never be fit for the service. I remember
once upon a time having some of the queer sensations you talk of; but
now, whatever happens, I never let it interfere with my meals, provided
I can get the food to make them of." Instigated by his example and
remarks, I took a little tea, and then a slice of beef and bread; and I
confess that in a few minutes I began to experience my usual
midshipman-like state of perfect health, with perhaps a little weight
about the region of the heart, as if some calamity had happened to me,
but that very soon wore off. We were speedily on deck again, looking
out for the chase; while in the meantime the carpenter and most of the
crew were busily employed in repairing damages. The sun as he rose
higher in the sky, was every instant gaining power, and in almost an
hour after we lost sight of the smuggler, he victoriously darted through
the mass of vapour which in thick wreaths rolled away before it, our
hitherto confined horizon every instant increasing, while the bright
beams of the luminary struck down on our blood-stained deck. No vessel,
however, appeared in the direction we expected; but as Hanks was
glancing round the horizon, his eye fell on a sail, hull down to the
eastward. "There she is," he exclaimed; "I should know her among a
hundred other craft. D'Arcy, run below and tell the Commander that to
my belief the _Kitty_ is in sight down to leeward."
My uncle had gone to take his breakfast. I descended to the cabin. I
found him sitting with his face resting on his hands on the table. He
did not notice my entrance. I heard him groan deeply.
"I hope, sir, you are not ill or wounded," said I; for I thought he must
be hurt.
"No, lad, no," he answered; "but it's a sad thing to have so many of
one's men killed and hurt by a rascally smuggler. But we must try and
catch the fellow, and then get the doctor's aid as fast as we can for
those to whom it may yet be of use. But what do you come for?"
I made my report. In an instant he shook off the feeling which was
oppressing him, and springing on deck, he ordered the helm to be kept up
and the mainsheet eased off till we were standing after the supposed
smuggler. This was our best point of sailing, and probably the lugger's
worst; at all events that rig of vessel has generally the greatest
advantage on a wind. Our square-sail, square-topsail, and every sail
the cutter could carry was now set, to overtake the chase; and the
breeze freshening as the day advanced, we bowled away at a famous rate.
"Do you think, Hanks, we have a chance of catching her?" I asked, as
the old mate and I were intently watching her.
"As to catching her, depends upon circumstances. If we get the strength
of the breeze before her, and she doesn't hide away in another fog; but
she has a long start, and we are out of luck this time, to my mind.
However, why is it, D'Arcy, you are so anxious to have another brush
with the chap? I thought you had had sufficient taste of his quality."
"To punish him for killing poor Thole there," answered I, for I felt
very bitter against the smugglers for the harm they had done.
"I thought so," answered Hanks. "It's the way with most people. Before
a blow is struck, they are all peaceable enough; but the moment blood is
drawn, they are all as blood-thirsty as a savage."
"I hope you don't think me a blood-thirsty savage," said I.
"I wouldn't trust you, D'Arcy, my boy," he replied. "When the blood
boils, all the ferocity of the heart bubbles up to the top, and we feel
more like wild beasts than men."
"Are we gaining on the chase, Mr Hanks, think you?" sung out my uncle
at this moment.
"A little, sir; but the sky has got so much clearer thereaway in the
last half-hour, that perhaps she only appears nearer," was the answer;
and then Hanks went aft, to walk the quarter-deck with his Commander.
There is off Portland Bill a race, or overfall of water, caused by a
shallow and rocky bottom, where the sea at times breaks so violently
that vessels have been known to be swamped, and to go down amid the
turmoil, with scarcely a possibility of any of the hapless crew
escaping. During south-westerly gales, and with an ebb tide, the race
runs the highest; but sometimes, even in moderate weather, without any
apparent cause, there is a strange chopping and leaping of the sea,
which makes it dangerous for a small vessel to pass through. The faint
outline of the well-known headland was now seen on our larboard bow, and
it was pretty evident that the lugger was getting her starboard tacks
aboard, to haul off round the outside of the race, if not to stand away
towards the French coast. We, accordingly, had to alter our course
after her; but I suspected that there was no very great chance of our
being able to overtake her. Still we stood on, our main hope being that
another cruiser might fall in with her, and turn her again towards us.
After the fog had disappeared, the sky overhead became beautifully
clear; but, as the day drew on, clouds began to gather, and by the time
I went down to dinner they were coming up pretty thick from the
south-west and south, rather an unusual circumstance after the sort of
morning we had had. While we were discussing our meal, the cutter
heeled over, and nearly sent our scanty dinner-service away to leeward.
"Hillo, what's the matter now?" I asked.
"Matter! why the breeze is freshening, to be sure," said old Growl, our
acting master. "Look out for your plates, and when you go on deck it
will be time enough to learn all about it."
Old Growl was in many respects not dissimilar to Hanks. He was of the
same age, if not older; as fond of spirits, if not fonder; and as
addicted, indeed I think more so, to grumbling. He was not a gentleman
by birth, education, or manners; but he was kind of heart, and I liked
him very well. I think I remarked that all the officers were very old
for their standing. Growl's hair was white, and so was Scriven's, the
clerk in charge. I was young enough to be the son of any of them, in
fact, and was treated almost as such. Fortunately, my uncle did his
best to throw responsibility on my shoulders, so that, in spite of the
pains they took to spoil me, I gradually learned to think and act for
myself. Dinner was over, for the best of reasons--that we had eaten up
all our boiled beef and potatoes, and the greater portion of our last
cheese, and I was thinking how much pleasanter it was to be sitting
there quietly, and nibbling biscuit and sipping my glass of grog, than
standing up to be shot at, as I had to do all the morning, when Hanks,
whose watch it had been on deck, came below. His eye immediately fell
on my tumbler of grog, which was, I own, stiffer than usual; and without
saying a word, he emptied half the contents into another, and drinking
them off, filled my glass with water. I dared not remonstrate, for I
had been transgressing his orders in taking more than the quantity he
allowed me.
"Neil, my child," he used to say, "drink is a bad thing; and it grows
upon a fellow. If you were to take your full allowance now, by the time
you grow up you would be a drunkard, so for your sake I shall swallow
your grog; besides, you know, what is bad for a little chap like you, is
good for an old worn-out follow like me, who wants something to keep his
soul alive in his body."
I did not exactly understand his reasoning; but as, notwithstanding his
peculiarities, I was fond of my old messmate, I was well content to
yield him up part of my allowance, for the sake of keeping him alive.
"Well, Hanks, are we gaining on the chase?" I asked.
"No, boy; but our ill-luck has gained upon us," he replied. "The wind
has taken it into its head to veer round to the south-west, and given
the rascally lugger an advantage she doesn't deserve. Boy, bring me
dinner."
The boy who acted as steward brought him in his portion of beef, which
had been saved, and I followed Growl, whose watch it was on deck. The
sea had got up considerably, and the cutter was heeling over to the
rapidly increasing breeze. An exclamation from Growl made me look
anxiously ahead for the lugger.
"Where is she?" he asked of the quartermaster, who had charge of the
deck.
"Just slipped into that bank of clouds gathering in the southward, sir,"
was the answer.
"Can any of you see her," he inquired of the people on deck.
"No, sir, no; not a sign of her," said several voices.
"Then we shan't see her again this cruise," he exclaimed.
No more we did. We followed her, notwithstanding, for some hours, when
darkness approaching and the wind increasing, we were obliged to bear up
and run into Weymouth, where we anchored at a late hour in the night.
The next day we buried our two shipmates, and a surgeon came off to
attend to the wounded ones, whom he took on shore with him. A gale got
up, which lasted three days, during which time we remained at anchor,
ready, as soon as it should moderate, to put to sea again in quest of
Myers. The engagement with the smuggler made a good deal of noise, we
heard. Some said that we ought to have taken her; others, that our
Commander was not a man to leave undone what could have been done.
However, as no one had any doubt that Myers was in command of the
lugger, a large reward was offered to whoever would give information
that might lead to his apprehension, and a still larger to the person
who should place him, bound, in the hands of justice. One evening,
after dark, a small boat came alongside, with a single man in her. I
was on deck.
"Is Lieutenant O'Flaherty on board?" asked the man.