ARRIVE AT NEW ORLEANS, AND OFF TO GALVESTON IN TEXAS--A HURRICANE AND
WORSE--THE PIRATE--A FIGHT FOR IT--WE ARE LOST--AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND--
THE BLACK FINS--MARCUS HAS CHARGE OF THE PIRATES' PRIZE, AND LANDS US AT
GALVESTON.
The quay was still in sight, and I saw several men rushing along it,
waving their hands, and apparently shouting at the top of their voices;
but the paddles made too much noise to allow of their being heard,
while, as the master and crew of the steamer were looking ahead, they
were not seen. I had an idea that they wanted to say something about
me, and I was very glad when the _Wondrous Highflier_ had run the City
of Themistocles out of sight. We reached New Orleans without any
adventure, and I was not sorry to get a shave and to change my clothes,
which were not improved by the adventures I had gone through. I took
Peter regularly into my service, for, poor fellow, he had no one else on
whom to depend, and I thus obtained an attendant on whose fidelity I
could perfectly rely.
I had now to consider in which direction I should next bend my steps.
It was a question with me whether I should make another attempt to
ascend the Mississippi or steer my course to the westward. I was, I
found, more knocked up than I had at first supposed, and required some
days' rest. A week or more passed before I again went out. The second
or third day after this, I was sauntering along, when I encountered a
negro staggering under what seemed a very heavy load. Presently he came
directly against me, and as his white eyes rolled round, I heard him
say--
"Massa, you Harry Skipwith? Den cut away from here, or you no live
to-morrow. You know Marcus. Dat's 'nough!"
On went the negro, staggering as before under his load, and I soon lost
sight of him among the motley crowd of that capital of the South. After
all I had heard it would have been madness to have neglected the
warning, so on my way to my hotel I inquired at a ship-broker's if any
vessel was ready to sail for Galveston, the chief port of Texas.
"The steamer goes in three days," was the answer.
"Yes, but I have a fancy to go by a sailing vessel."
"Oh, if that's it, there's a fine brig, the _Shaddock_, Captain
Buckwheat, sails this evening. If you can be ready, I will ask the
captain if he can give you a berth."
I did not wish to appear too eager, so I said I would try to get ready,
and, if I succeeded, I would take a passage in the _Shaddock_.
I had never shrank from danger when I could meet it face to face, but
the uncertain character of that which now threatened me made me
unusually nervous.
I hurried back to my hotel, and, after packing up my luggage, I ordered
some negro porters to convey it down to the wharf where the schooner was
lying, telling Peter to accompany them, while Ready and I followed at a
distance.
I had a notion that the men whom Marcus and I had encountered on the
river had escaped, and in each white man I met I expected to recognise
one of them. Of course I knew their features better than they could
know mine, for it was still dusk when our struggle took place; but then
I had told them that I had escaped from the _Mighty Go-ahead_. That was
a sufficient clue for them to trace me; and that they would attempt to
do so, and not rest till they had wreaked a bitter vengeance on my head,
I felt very sure.
I was walking leisurely along, when I felt some one brush by. A voice
said, "Quick, massa, quick!" It was the same black who had in the
morning given me the friendly warning. I hurried on, and reached the
_Shaddock_ without interruption.
"You're just in time; we should have sailed without you, if you hadn't
come," said Captain Buckwheat, as I stepped on board. "We were all
ready ten minutes ago; the wind is fair, and we can't afford to lose
time in this country, whatever's your fashion in the Old World."
I heartily agreed with my friend in this instance, and was not sorry to
see that the last warp was being cast off, and that the topsails were
loosed. I recognised the friendly negro watching the brig at a
distance, as she slowly glided out from among the other vessels. Once
free of them, aided by the current, we made rapid progress down the
river. I could not help frequently looking astern, to ascertain if we
were followed; and though I had done nothing of which my conscience
accused me, I had a pretty vivid notion of the feelings which must
animate a culprit endeavouring to escape from the hands of justice.
When clear of the yellow-mouthed Mississippi, the wind fell, and the
brig lay rolling on, the glassy yet undulating surface of the ocean.
The sun, casting a blood-red hue on the water, was just sinking behind a
dark mound of vapour to the west, while in the east vast masses of
ensanguined clouds floated slowly across the sky. I had never felt the
air so hot and oppressive. Even Ready lay gasping at my feet, looking
up inquiringly into my countenance, with his tongue out.
"There's something coming," observed the skipper, and he ordered every
stitch of canvas to be furled, and the topmasts to be struck. There was
indeed something coming. Scarcely was the vessel made snug, than down
came the hurricane on us with terrific violence. Away we drove
helplessly before it, like a mere straw on the water. Happily it was
from the westward, or we should have driven on shore. Away we scudded,
out of our course, but that could not be helped. When the hurricane
ceased, we found that we had been whisked off some two or three hundred
miles nearer Cuba than we were when it began. The wind subsided towards
evening, and though the little vessel tumbled about a good deal, we were
once more able to make sail. Two days after that, I was awoke soon
after daybreak, by a loud exclamation uttered by the captain, who had
entered the cabin. I saw him busily employed in stowing away some
papers and bags, which he had taken out of a chest, in a hole under his
bed-place.
"What is the matter?" I asked.
"Matter! why that a pirate is close aboard us, and that the chances are
we all have our throats cut before ten minutes are over. That's
something the matter, I guess."
I agreed with him, and slipping into my clothes, hurried on deck.
There, about two hundred yards off, on our quarter, coming fast up with
us, was a long, low, black schooner, the very beau-ideal of a
pirate. Her decks were crowded with men, all black, and a very
villainous-looking crew they appeared to be. At that moment, that we
might have no doubt as to her character, up went a black flag at her
peak, and a shot from a gun in her bows came whizzing between our masts.
While the black schooner approached, the crew of the _Shaddock_ were
employed in making sail, but I saw at a glance that we had not the
slightest chance of escaping; still I have always held that while there
is life we should never despair, so I lent a hand with all my might at
pulling and hauling. Peter followed my example. Ready took the end of
the ropes in his mouth and hauled too, but I cannot say that he did much
good.
"Will those black chaps aboard there really cut all our throats, as the
captain says?" asked Peter, looking up at me. "We'll stand up and fight
them before we give in, I hope, sir!"
"I hope so too, Peter," I answered. "But our two guns cannot do much
against the six or eight they carry, besides that long fellow
amidships."
"Hip, hurrah! there is the captain casting loose our little barkers--we
are not to yield without a blow."
By this time all sail was set--the guns were manned, and the captain now
served out arms to all on board.
The pirates, however, on seeing that notwithstanding all our efforts we
could not escape them, did not again fire. Our two guns could do very
little harm to them till they got nearer. They were run over on the
starboard side, on which the schooner was approaching.
"Aim high, lads," said the captain to his two mates who had charge of
them. "Our best chance will be to knock away some of his spars."
"Ay, aye, sir," was the answer, given in a cheerful voice, which, at all
events, betrayed no fear.
It was satisfactory to feel that we were to have a stroke for life, and
yet, as the schooner drew near, and I observed through my glass the
villainous-looking, well-armed fellows who crowded her decks, and saw
the size of her guns, I felt that we had but little chance of escaping.
"Now, lads, see what you can do," cried the captain, who was narrowly
watching the schooner.
Our two pop-guns gave out their puffs of smoke, and a couple of holes in
the enemy's sails showed that the aim had not been bad, but no other
damage was done.
Still the schooner did not fire, but came silently and stealthily
gliding on in a way which was much more calculated to try our courage
than if her crew had been shouting and gesticulating. It showed that
they had perfect confidence in their own power. The mates loaded and
fired their guns again. An after mainbrace aboard the schooner was shot
away, and it made her head incline a little more towards us.
We were now almost within pistol-shot of each other, when I saw some
thirty muskets levelled at us, and the next instant a rattling shower of
bullets came whistling round our heads. Several of our poor fellows
fell: the rest fired in return, but before the smoke cleared away, with
a loud crash the pirate ran us aboard, and fifty fierce-looking
desperadoes sprang shouting on our deck.
I had armed myself with a cutlass, resolving to fight to the last,
though fully expecting to be cut to pieces. Ready stood barking
furiously on one side of me; Peter kept on the other. Captain Buckwheat
proved that he was a man, but he was cut down by a pirate's sword, as
was one of the mates close to me, and in less than a minute half our
crew lay bleeding on the deck. Our opponents were mostly blacks--though
there were brown fellows also--and as they were shouting in English, I
concluded that they were either runaway American slaves or vagabond
negroes from the West India Islands. Not that I thought much about what
they were at the time; indeed, the grinding of the two vessels together,
the cries and shrieks of the combatants, the smoke and rattle of
firearms, and the fall of spars and blocks from aloft completely
bewildered me, besides which all my energies were required for my own
defence.
Scarcely an instant after the pirates had reached our decks, I found
myself set on by a huge brown fellow, who had led the boarders, and was
apparently an officer among them. He was a good swordsman, and had not
Ready flown at his legs, and Peter kept poking at him with a
boarding-pike, he would soon have put me _hors de combat_. With their
aid I managed to defend myself till several other fellows set upon me,
and, overmatched, the big pirate had his sword uplifted to cut me down,
when a black man sprang forward and interposed his own weapon between it
and my head, shouting at the same time--
"Back, all of you. That man's life is sacred, and the lad's too.
You'll own it when I tell you."
It was a thoroughly melodramatic position. Though he was now dressed as
an officer, I instantly recognised in my deliverer, Marcus, the slave,
whose life I had assisted to save.
The pirates, who were about to hack me to pieces, now surrounded me with
friendly gestures, and I felt that I was safe. When, however, I looked
about me, I saw with regret that not a single man of the crew had
escaped: a few were gasping out their heart's blood on deck; the rest
were dead. I should by that time have been in the same condition had
not Marcus interposed to save me. Ready recognised him immediately, but
he snapped and growled at the other blacks as they passed. Poor Peter
kept close to my side; though so ready at first to fight, he was
unaccustomed to scenes of slaughter, and was terror-stricken with the
horrors he had witnessed.
Marcus kept near us, sword in hand, evidently uncertain how the pirates
might treat us, and prepared, if necessary, to do battle in our cause.
I wished to address him--I scarcely knew how.
"Marcus," I said at length, "I am grateful to you for saving my life,
but I little expected to find you in such company."
"`Misfortune introduces us to strange bedfellows' is an old saying," he
answered. "And most decidedly my misfortunes have given me some
roughish companions; but you see I have already gained some influence
over them; and of one thing be assured, your life and that of the lad
are safe. When I tell them what you have done for me, there is not a
man of all this lawless band who would not be ready to die for you. One
hideous monster, slavery, has made them all what they are; and when they
know how you hate it, they will love you."
While Marcus was speaking, the pirates were unceremoniously pitching the
dead bodies of my shipmates overboard--all of them yet warm--some who
had scarcely ceased to breathe. Two or three, though badly wounded,
were yet fully capable of comprehending their position. They begged--
they entreated for life.
"What are you--Englishmen or Americans?"
Two owned that they were Americans from the Northern States.
"Then overboard with them," shouted the captain. "We'll not deprive the
sharks of their share of the booty."
One man declared that he was an Englishman, but a tin case was found on
him, containing a certificate of his being a citizen of the United
States. I was certain, from some remarks which he had let fall, that
the man had run from a British man-of-war. In vain he protested that he
hated slavery and the people of the States, that he was a true-born
Briton--in vain he shrieked out and entreated for mercy. In spite of
his desperate struggles, he was lifted up and thrown among the shoal of
black-finned monsters which surrounded the vessel. I cannot dwell
longer on these horrors--I would gladly shut them out from my thoughts
as I would then have done from my sight.
The schooner's crew were sufficiently numerous to man the brig more
strongly than before; some more guns were sent on board her, that part
of her cargo which seemed useless thrown overboard, and the two vessels
then made sail together. I was allowed to retain my cabin, and Peter
had one awarded him aft, that he might be near me.
Marcus came on board as one of the officers of the prize. I asked him
how he came to know enough of nautical affairs to take a command among
the pirates.
"I picked up my knowledge on my voyage to England," he answered.
"Besides, a very small amount of knowledge makes me superior to most of
my companions. Only two or three know anything of navigation, and that
very imperfectly. The captain knows most, and he is jealous of any
equal. If he were to be killed, the rest would scarcely find their way
into a port; but for that he does not care."
"But, Marcus," said I, "how can you, a man capable of better things,
endure such a life?"
"I hate it," he answered bitterly. "Recollect, though, what drove me to
it. To escape from the lash and chains, from indignities and insults,
what will not a man endure?"
"Will you leave it?" I asked.
"Yes, certainly, if I have the means," he answered.
"I will afford them if I have the power," I answered. "Trust to me;
think on the subject, but do not allow your comrades to suspect your
intentions, nor to observe that we have any secrets between us."
Marcus walked forward. The two vessels made sail to the westward. A
mulatto acted as captain of the brig. He seemed to be a smart seaman,
but knew very little of navigation. I now had practical experience of
the advantage of never losing an opportunity of gaining knowledge.
Whenever I had been at sea I had always endeavoured to pick up as much
nautical information as possible, and had learnt to take an observation
and to work a day's work with perfect ease. I therefore offered my
services to navigate the brig to any port to which the pirates wished to
proceed, intimating that I should prefer being set on shore on the
mainland.
"You were bound for Galveston, and we will go there," said Marcus. "We
will put you on shore on the island; and should the truth be suspected,
we can be far away before any vessel is sent in pursuit of us."
Marcus afterwards told me that he arranged with his shipmates to do as I
wished. It was wonderful what influence he had in a short time gained
over those lawless characters. It was the triumph of mind over brute
strength. He had, I learned, however, known several of his present
comrades before, and they had spoken in his praise to the rest. Cruel
wretches as the pirates had become, they treated me with every
consideration, and supplied me with all the luxuries at their command.
Light and contrary winds delayed our progress, so that ten days passed
before we made the low sandy shore of Galveston Island.
The sky was of intense blue, the ocean, smooth as glass, shone with
brilliant lustre, and the sun's rays darted down on our deck, making the
pitch in the seams bubble and hiss, while a line of white sand was the
only soil on which I could hope to land--terra-firma it certainly was
not.
The atmosphere sparkled with heat--the sand almost blinded me, and I
expected to be thoroughly cooked before I reached Galveston. Still my
desire to be free of the pirates overcame every other consideration.
The two vessels stood in. There was nothing suspicious about the brig,
and the schooner was made to look as innocent as possible. How my
followers and I were to get on shore was now the question. At length we
made out some canoes with Indians in them fishing. We made a signal,
and one of them paddled towards us. The people in her held up the fish
they had caught and offered them for sale, thinking that was what we
wanted. They seemed rather astonished when they saw that Peter and I
were the only white people on board. The captain took the fish, paid
them liberally, and then told them that they must take some passengers,
who wanted to land at Galveston, as he was bound elsewhere. After some
bargaining, the Indians agreed to do as we desired.
I took the opportunity, while the captain was bargaining with the
Indians, to ask Marcus how he purposed to quit the pirate band.
"If you remain willingly among evil companions, you cannot avoid being
responsible for their crimes," I observed.
"I must bide my time," he answered. "I have promised you that I will do
my best to quit them, and I never break my word."
I knew that I could trust him. My parting with the pirates was brief.
Marcus was the only man on board with whom I could bring myself to shake
hands. Scarcely had I and Peter and Ready taken our seats in the narrow
canoe, with my very moderate amount of luggage between my knees, than, a
breeze springing up, the two vessels stood away from the land. The
canoe's head was put towards the north end of the island on which
Galveston stands. Our crew were of a peculiarly unhealthy-looking
olive-colour, their faces being covered with wrinkled parchment-like
skin. A straw hat and a shirt and belt formed their costume. They
understood a little English, but I judged it better not to enter into
conversation with them, lest they should ask inconvenient questions; and
so almost in silence, except when they exchanged a few remarks with each
other in their native tongue, we glided over the sparkling water. At
length, when we had rounded the north end of the island, they ran the
canoe on to the beach, and told me to get out, as they were going no
further. I expostulated, but they said that they had performed their
contract, and had their reasons for not going to the town with such
suspicious people as we were. Against this I had nothing to say. I
thus had practical experience of the inconvenience of having been seen
in bad company. Though a reason, it is the lowest for avoiding it. How
to get my baggage into the town was a puzzle, till I bethought me of
slinging it on a long pole, one end of which Peter carried on his
shoulder, and the other I placed under my arm, and thus we began our
march towards the town.