"The shadow from thy brow shall melt,
The sorrow from thy strain;
But where thy earthly smile hath dwelt,
Our hearts shall thirst in vain."
Mrs. Hemans.
As soon as it would do to put his boats in the water, or at daylight next
morning, Captain Daggett came alongside of his consort. He was received
with a seaman's welcome, and his offers of services were accepted, just as
frankly, as under reversed circumstances, they would have been made. In
all this there was a strange and characteristic admixture of neighbourly
and Christian kindness, blended with a keen regard of the main chance. If
the former duties are rarely neglected by the descendants of the Puritans,
it may be said, with equal truth, that the latter are never lost sight of.
Speculation, and profit, are regarded as so many integral portions of the
duty of man; and, as our kinsmen of Old England have set up an idol to
worship, in the form of aristocracy, so do our kinsmen of New England pay
homage to the golden calf. In point of fact, Daggett had a double motive
in now offering his services to Gardiner; the one being the discharge of
his moral obligations, and the other a desire to remain near the Sea Lion
of Oyster Pond, lest she should visit the key, of which he had some very
interesting memorandums, without having enough to find the place unless
led there by those who were better informed on the subject of its precise
locality than he was himself.
The boats of Daggett assisted in getting the wreck alongside, and in
securing the sails and rigging. Then, his people aided in fitting
jury-masts; and, by noon, both vessels got under way, and stood along the
coast, to the southward and westward. Hatteras was no longer terrible, for
the wind still stood at north-west, and they kept in view of those very
breakers which, only the day before, they would have given the value of
both vessels to be certain of never seeing again. That night they passed
the formidable cape, a spit of sand projecting far to seaward, and which
is on a low beach, and not on any main land at all. Once around this angle
in the coast, they had a lee, hauling up to the south-west. With the wind
abeam, they stood on the rest of the day, picking up a pilot. The next
night they doubled Cape Look Out, a very good landmark for those going
north to keep in view, as a reminder of the stormy and sunken Hatteras,
and arrived off Beaufort harbour just as the sun was rising, the
succeeding morning. By this time the north-wester was done, and both
schooners entered Beaufort, with a light southerly breeze, there being
just water enough to receive them. This was the only place on all that
coast into which it would have answered their purposes to go; and it was,
perhaps, the very port of all others that was best suited to supply the
present wants of Roswell Gardiner. Pine timber, and spars of all sorts,
abounded in that region; and the "Banker," who acted as pilot, told our
young master that he could get the very sticks he needed, in one hour's
time after entering the haven. This term of "Banker" applies to a
scattering population of wreckers and fishermen, who dwell on the long,
low, narrow beaches which extend along the whole of this part of the
coast, reaching from Cape Fear to near Cape Henry, a distance of some
hundred and fifty miles. Within lie the capacious sounds already
mentioned, including Albemarle and Pimlico, and which form the watery
portals to the sea-shores of all North Carolina. Well is the last headland
of that region, but one which the schooners did not double, named Cape
Fear. It is the commencement, on that side, of the dangerous part of the
coast, and puts the mariner on his guard by its very appellation,
admonishing him to be cautious and prudent.
Off the entrance of Beaufort, a very perfect and beautiful haven, if it
had a greater depth of water, the schooners hove-to, in waiting for the
tide to rise a little; and Roswell Gardiner took that occasion to go on
board the sister craft, and express to Daggett a sense of the obligations
he felt for the services the other had rendered.
"Of course, you will not think of going in, Captain Daggett," continued
our hero, in dwelling on the subject, "after having put yourself, already,
to so much unnecessary trouble. If I find the spars the Banker talks of, I
shall be out again in eight-and-forty hours, and we may meet, some months
hence, off Cape Horn."
"I'll tell you what it is, Gar'ner," returned the Vineyard mariner,
pushing the rum towards his brother master, "I'm a plain sort of a fellow,
and don't make much talk when I do a thing, but I like good-fellowship. We
came near going, both of us--nearer than I ever was before, and escape
wrackin'; but escape we did--and when men have gone through such trials in
company, I don't like the notion of casting off till I see you all a-tanto
ag'in, and with as many legs and arms as I carry myself. That's just my
feelin', Gar'ner, and I won't say whether it's a right feelin' or
not--help yourself."
"It's a right feeling, as between you and me, Captain Daggett, as I can
answer for. My heart tells me you are right, and I thank you from it, for
these marks of friendship. But, you must not forget there are such persons
as owners, in this world. I shall have trouble enough on my hands, with my
owner, and I do not wish you to have trouble with yours. Here is a nice
little breeze to take you out to sea again; and by passing to the
southward of Bermuda, you can make a short cut, and hit the trades far
enough to windward to answer all your purposes."
"Thankee, thankee, Gar'ner--I know the road, and can find the places I'm
going to, though no great navigator. Now. I never took a lunar in my life,
and can't do anything with a chronometer; but as for finding the way
between Martha's Vineyard and Cape Horn, I'll turn my back on no
shipmaster living."
"I'm afraid, Captain Daggett, that we have both of us turned our backs on
our true course, when we suffered ourselves to get jammed away down here,
on Hatteras. Why, I never saw the place before, and never wish to see it
again! It's as much out of the track of a whaler, or sealer, as Jupiter is
out of the track of Mars, or Venus."
"Oh, there go your lunars, about which I know nothing, and care nothing. I
tell you, Gar'ner, a man with a good judgment, can just as well jog about
the 'arth, without any acquaintance with lunars, as he can with. Then,
your sealer hasn't half as much need of your academy-sort of navigation,
as another man. More than half of our calling is luck; and all the best
sealing stations I ever heard of, have been blundered on by some chap who
has lost his way. I despise lunars, if the truth must be said; yet I like
to go straight to my port of destination. Take a little sugar with your
rum-and-water--we Vineyard folks like sweetening."
"For which purpose, or that of going straight to your port, Captain
Daggett, you've come down here, on your way to the Pacific; or, about five
hundred miles out of your way!"
"I came here for company, Gar'ner. We hadn't much choice, you must allow,
for we couldn't have weathered the shoals on the other tack. I see no
great harm in our positions, if you hadn't got dismasted. That's a two or
three hundred dollar job, and may make your owner grumble a little, but
it's no killing matter. I'll stick by you, and you can tell the deacon as
much in the letter you'll write him, when we get in."
"It seems like doing injustice to _your_ owners, as well as to my own,
keeping you here, Captain Daggett," returned Roswell, innocently, for he
had not the smallest suspicion of the true motive of all this apparent
good-fellowship, "and I really wish you would now quit me."
"I couldn't think of it, Gar'ner. 'Twould make an awful talk on the
Vineyard, was I to do anything of the sort. 'Stick by your consort,' is an
eleventh commandment, in our island."
"Which is the reason why there are so many old maids there, I suppose,
Daggett," cried Roswell Gardiner, laughing. "Well, I thank you for your
kindness, and will endeavour to remember it when you may have occasion for
some return. But, the tide must be making, and we ought to lose no time,
unnecessarily. Here's a lucky voyage to us both, Captain Daggett, and a
happy return to sweethearts and wives."
Daggett tossed off his glass to this toast, and the two then went on deck.
Roswell Gardiner thought that a kinder ship's company never sailed
together than this of the Sea Lion of Holmes' Hole; for, notwithstanding
the interest of every man on board depended on the returns of their own
voyage, each and all appeared willing to stick by him and his craft so
long as there was a possibility of being of any service.
Whalers and sealers do not ship their crews for wages in money, as is done
with most vessels. So much depends on the exertions of the people in these
voyages, that it is the practice to give every man a direct interest in
the result. Consequently, all on board engage for a compensation to be
derived from a division of the return cargo. The terms on which a party
engages are called his "lay;" and he gets so many parts of a hundred,
according to station, experience and qualifications. The owner is paid for
his risk and expenses in the same way, the vessel and outfits usually
taking about two-thirds of the whole returns, while the officers and crew
get the other. These conditions vary a little, as the proceeds of whaling
and sealing rise or fall in the market, and also in reference to the cost
of equipments. It follows that Captain Daggett and his crew were actually
putting their hands into their own pockets, when they lost time in
remaining with the crippled craft. This Gardiner knew, and it caused him
to appreciate their kindness at a rate so much higher than he might
otherwise have done.
At first sight, it might seem that all this unusual kindness was
superfluous, and of no avail. This, however, was not really the case,
since the crew of the second schooner was of much real service in
forwarding the equipment of the disabled vessel. Beaufort has an excellent
harbour for vessels of a light draught of water like our two sealers; but
the town is insignificant, and extra labourers, especially those of an
intelligence suited to such work, very difficult to be had. At the bottom,
therefore, Roswell Gardiner found his friendly assistants of much real
advantage, the two crews pushing the work before them with as much
rapidity as suited even a seaman's impatience. Aided by the crew of his
consort, Gardiner got on fast with his repairs, and on the afternoon of
the second day after he had entered Beaufort, he was ready to sail once
more; his schooner probably in a better state for service than the day she
left Oyster Pond.
The lightning-line did not exist at the period of which we are writing. It
is our good fortune to be an intimate acquaintance of the distinguished
citizen who has bestowed this great gift on his own country--one that will
transmit his name to posterity, side by side with that of Fulton. In his
case, as in that of the last-named inventor, attempts have been made to
rob him equally of the honours and the profits of his very ingenious
invention. As respects the last, we hold that it is every hour becoming
less and less possible for any American to maintain his rights against
numbers. There is no question that the government of this great Republic
was intended to be one of well-considered and upright principles, in which
certain questions are to be referred periodically to majorities, as the
wisest and most natural, as well as the most just mode of disposing of
them. Such a government, well administered, and with an accurate
observance of its governing principles, would probably be the best that
human infirmity will allow men to administer; but when the capital mistake
is made of supposing that mere numbers are to control all things,
regardless of those great fundamental laws that the state has adopted for
its own restraint, it may be questioned if so loose, and capricious, and
selfish a system, is not in great danger of becoming the very worst scheme
of polity that cupidity ever set in motion. The tendency--not the _spirit_
of the institutions, the two things being the very antipodes of each
other, though common minds are so apt to confound them--the _tendency_ of
the institutions of this country, in flagrant opposition to their _spirit_
or _intentions_, which were devised expressly to restrain the disposition
of men to innovate, is out of all question to foster this great abuse, and
to place numbers above principles, even when the principles were solemnly
adopted expressly to bring numbers under the control of a sound
fundamental law. This influence of numbers, this dire mistake of the very
nature of liberty, by placing men and their passions above those great
laws of right which come direct from God himself, is increasing in force,
and threatens consequences which may set at naught all the well-devised
schemes of the last generation for the security of the state, and the
happiness of that very people, who can never know either security or even
peace, until they learn to submit themselves, without a thought of
resistance, to those great rules of right which in truth form the _spirit_
of their institutions, and which are only too often in opposition to their
own impulses and motives.
We pretend to no knowledge on the subject of the dates of discoveries in
the arts and sciences, but well do we remember the earnestness and
single-minded devotion to a laudable purpose, with which our worthy friend
first communicated to us his ideas on the subject of using the electric
spark by way of a telegraph. It was in Paris, and during the winter of
1831-2, and the succeeding spring, a time when we were daily together; and
we have a satisfaction in recording this date, that others may prove
better claims if they can. Had Morse set his great invention on foot
thirty years earlier, Roswell Gardiner might have communicated with his
owner, and got a reply, ere he again sailed, considerable as was the
distance between them. As things then were, he was fain to be content with
writing a letter, which was put into the deacon's hand about a week after
it was written, by his niece, on his own return from a short journey to
Southold, whither he had been to settle and discharge a tardy claim
against his schooner.
"Here is a letter for you, uncle," said Mary Pratt, struggling to command
her feelings, though she blushed with the consciousness of her own
interest in the missive "It came from the Harbour, by some mistake;
Baiting Joe bringing it across just after you left home."
"A letter with a post-mark--'Beaufort, N.C.'--Who in natur' can this
letter be from?--What a postage, too, to charge on a letter! Fifty cents!"
"That is a proof, sir, that Beaufort must be a long way off. Besides, the
letter is double. I think the hand-writing is Roswell's."
Had the niece fired a six-pounder under her uncle's ears, he would
scarcely have been more startled. He even turned pale, and instead of
breaking the wafer as he had been about to do, he actually shrunk from
performing the act, like one afraid to proceed.
"What can this mean?" said the deacon, taking a moment to recover his
voice. "Gar'ner's hand-writing! So it is, I declare. If that imprudent
young man has lost my schooner, I'll never forgive him in this world,
whatever a body may be _forced_ to do in the next!"
"It is not necessary to believe anything as bad as that, uncle. Letters
are often written at sea, and sent in by vessels that are met. I dare say
Roswell has done just this."
"Not he--not he--the careless fellow! He has lost that schooner, and all
my property is in the hands of wrackers, who are worse than so many rats
in a larder. 'Beaufort, N.C.' Yes, that must be one of the Bahamas, and
N.C. stands for New Providence--Ah's me! Ah's me!"
"But N.C. does _not_ stand for New Providence--it would be N.P. in that
case, uncle."
"N.C. or N.P., they sound so dreadfully alike, that I don't know what to
think! Take the letter and open it. Oh! how big it is--there must be a
protest, or some other costly thing inclosed."
Mary did take the letter, and she opened it, though with trembling hands.
The inclosure soon appeared, and the first glance of her eye told her it
was a letter addressed to herself.
"What is it, Mary?--What is it, my child? Do not be afraid to tell me,"
said the deacon, in a low faltering voice. "I hope I know how to meet
misfortunes with Christian fortitude. Has it one of them awful-looking
seals that Notary Publics use when they want money?"
Mary blushed rosy-red, and she appeared very charming at that moment,
though as resolute as ever to give her hand only to a youth whose 'God
should be her God.'
"It is a letter to me, sir--nothing else, I do assure you, uncle. Roswell
often writes to me, as you know; he has sent one of his letters inclosed
in this to you."
"Yes, yes--I'm glad it's no worse. Well, where was his letter written?
Does he mention the latitude and longitude? It will be some comfort to
learn that he was well to the southward and eastward."
Mary's colour disappeared, and a paleness came over her face, as she ran
through the few first lines of the letter. Then she summoned all her
resolution, and succeeded in telling her uncle the facts.
"A misfortune has befallen poor Roswell," she said, her voice trembling
with emotion, "though it does not seem to be half as bad as it might have
been. The letter is written at Beaufort, in North Carolina, where the
schooner has put in to get new masts, having lost those with which she
sailed in a gale of wind off Cape Hatteras."
"Hatteras!" interrupted the deacon, groaning--"What in natur' had my
vessel to do down there?"
"I am sure I don't know, sir--but I had better read you the contents of
Roswell's letter, and then you will hear the whole story."
Mary now proceeded to read aloud. Gardiner gave a frank, explicit account
of all that had happened since he parted with his owner, concealing
nothing, and not attempting even to extenuate his fault. Of the Sea Lion
of Holmes' Hole he wrote at large, giving it as his opinion that Captain
Daggett really possessed some clue--what he did not know--to the existence
of the sealing islands, though he rather thought that he was not very
accurately informed of their precise position. As respected the key,
Roswell was silent, for it did not at all occur to him that Daggett knew
anything of that part of his own mission. In consequence of this opinion,
not the least suspicion of the motive of the Vineyard-man, in sticking by
him, presented itself to Gardiner's mind; and nothing on the subject was
communicated in the letter. On the contrary, our young master was quite
eloquent in expressing his gratitude to Daggett and his crew, for the
assistance they had volunteered, and without which he could not have been
ready to go to sea again in less than a week. As it was, the letter was
partly written as the schooner re-passed the bar, and was sent ashore by
the pilot to be mailed. This fact was stated in full, in a postscript.
"Volunteered!" groaned the deacon, aloud. "As if a man ever volunteers to
work without his pay!"
"Roswell tells us that Captain Daggett did, uncle," answered Mary, "and
that it is understood between them he is to make no charge for his going
into Beaufort, or for anything he did while there. Vessels often help each
other in this kind way, I should hope, for the sake of Christian charity,
sir."
"Not without salvage, not without salvage! Charity is a good thing, and it
is our duty to exercise it on all occasions; but salvage comes into
charity all the same as into any other interest. This schooner will ruin
me, I fear, and leave me in my old age to be supported by the town!"
"That can hardly happen, uncle, since you owe nothing for her, and have
your farms, and all your other property unencumbered. It is not easy to
see how the schooner can ruin you."
"Yes, I am undone"--returned the deacon, beating the floor with his foot,
in nervous agitation--"as much undone as ever Roswell Gar'ner's father
was, and he might have been the richest man between Oyster Pond and
Riverhead, had he kept out of the way of speculation. I remember him much
better off than I am myself, and he died but little more than a beggar.
Yes, yes; I see how it is; this schooner has undone me!"
"But Roswell sends an account of all that he has paid, and draws a bill
on you for its payment. The entire amount is but one hundred and sixteen
dollars and seventy-two cents."
"That's not for salvage. The next thing will be a demand for salvage in
behalf of the owners and crew of the Sea Lion of Humses' Hull! I know how
it will be, child: I know how it will be! Gar'ner has undone me, and I
shall go down into my grave a beggar, as his father has done already."
"If such be the fact, uncle, no one but I would be the sufferer, and I
will strive not to grieve over your losses. But, here is a paper that
Roswell has inclosed in his letter to me, by mistake, no doubt. See, sir;
it is an acknowledgment, signed by Captain Daggett and all his crew,
admitting that they went into Beaufort with Roswell out of good feeling,
and allowing that they have no claims to salvage. Here it is, sir; you can
read it for yourself."
The deacon did not only read it--he almost devoured the paper, which, as
Mary suggested, had been inclosed in her letter by mistake. The relief
produced by this document so far composed the uncle, that he not only read
Gardiner's letter himself, with a very close attention to its contents,
but he actually forgave the cost of the repairs incurred at Beaufort.
While he was in the height of his joy at this change in the aspect of
things, the niece stole into her own room in order to read the missive she
had received, by herself.
The tears that Mary Pratt profusely shed over Roswell's letter, were both
sweet and bitter. The manifestations of his affection for her, which were
manly and frank, brought tears of tenderness from her eyes; while the
recollection of the width of the chasm that separated them, had the effect
to embitter these proofs of love. Most females would have lost the sense
of duty which sustained our heroine in this severe trial, and, in
accepting the man of their heart, would have trusted to time, and her own
influence, and the mercy of Divine Providence, to bring about the change
she desired; but Mary Pratt could not thus blind herself to her own high
obligations. The tie of husband and wife she rightly regarded as the most
serious of all the obligations we can assume, and she could not--_would_
not plight her vows to any man whose 'God was not her God.'
Still there was much of sweet consolation in this little-expected letter
from Roswell. He wrote, as he always did, simply and naturally, and
attempted no concealments. This was just as true of his acts, as the
master of the schooner, as it was in his character of a suitor. To Mary he
told the whole story of his weakness, acknowledging that a silly spirit of
pride which would not permit him to seem to abandon a trial of the
qualities of the two schooners, had induced him to stand on to the
westward longer than he should otherwise have done, and the currents had
come to assist in increasing the danger. As for Daggett, he supposed him
to have been similarly influenced; though he did not withhold his
expressions of gratitude for the generous manner in which that seaman had
stuck to him to the last.
For weary months did Mary Pratt derive sweet consolation from her treasure
of a letter. It was, perhaps, no more than human nature, or woman's nature
at least, that, in time, she got most to regard those passages which best
answered to the longings of her own heart; and that she came at last to
read the missive, forgetful in a degree, that it was written by one who
had deliberately, and as a matter of faith, adopted the idea that the
Redeemer was not, in what may be called the catholic sense of the term,
the Son of God. The papers gave an account of the arrival of the 'Twin Sea
Lions,' as the article styled them, in the port of Beaufort, to repair
damages; and of their having soon sailed again, in company. This paragraph
she cut out of the journal in which it met her eye, and enclosing it in
Roswell's last letter, there was not a day in the succeeding year in which
both were not in her hand, and read for the hundredth time, or more. These
proofs of tenderness, however, are not to be taken as evidence of any
lessening of principle, or as signs of a disposition to let her judgment
and duty submit to her affection. So far from this, her resolution grew
with reflection, and her mind became more settled in a purpose that she
deemed sacred, the longer she reflected on the subject. But, her prayers
in behalf of her absent lover grew more frequent, and much more fervent.
In the mean time, the Twin Lions sailed. On leaving Beaufort, they ran
off the coast with a smart breeze from south-west, making a leading wind
of it. There had been some variance of opinion between Daggett and
Gardiner, touching the course they ought to steer. The last was for
hauling up higher, and passing to the southward of Bermuda; while the
first contended for standing nearly due east, and going to the northward
of those islands. Gardiner felt impatient to repair his blunder, and make
the shortest cut he could; whereas Daggett reasoned more coolly, and took
the winds into the account, keeping in view the main results of the
voyage. Perhaps the last wished to keep his consort away from all the
keys, until he was compelled to alter his course in a way that would leave
no doubt of his intentions. Of one thing the last was now certain; he knew
by a long trial that the Sea Lion of Oyster Pond could not very easily run
away from the Sea Lion of Holmes' Hole, and he was fully resolved that she
should not escape from him in the night, or in squalls. As for Roswell
Gardiner, not having the smallest idea of looking for his key, until he
came north, after visiting the antarctic circle, he had no notion whatever
of the reason why the other stuck to him so closely; and, least of all,
why he wished to keep him clear of the West Indies, until ready to make a
descent on his El Dorado.
Beaufort lies about two degrees to the northward of the four hundred
rocks, islets, and small islands, which are known as the Bermudas; an
advanced naval station, that belongs to a rival commercial power, and
which is occupied by that power solely as a check on this republic in the
event of war. Had the views of real statesmen prevailed in America,
instead of those of mere politicians, the whole energy of this republic
would have been long since directed to the object of substituting our own
flag for that of England, in these islands. As things are, there they
exist; a station for hostile fleets, a receptacle for prizes, and a depot
for the munitions of war, as if expressly designed by nature to hold the
whole American coast in command. While little men with great names are
wrangling about southwestern acquisitions, and north-eastern boundaries,
that are of no real moment to the growth and power of the republic, these
islands, that ought never to be out of the mind of the American statesman,
have not yet entered into the account at all; a certain proof how little
the minds that do, or ought to, influence events, are really up to the
work they have been delegated to perform. Military expeditions have twice
been sent from this country to Canada, when both the Canadas are not of
one-half the importance to the true security and independence of the
country--(no nation is independent until it holds the control of all its
greater interests in its own hands)--as the Bermudas. When England asked
the cession of territory undoubtedly American, because it overshadowed
Quebec, she should have been met with this plain proposition--"Give us the
Bermudas, and we will exchange with you. You hold those islands as a check
on our power, and we will hold the angle of Maine for a check on yours,
unless you will consent to make a fair and mutual transfer. We will not
attack you for the possession of the Bermudas, for we deem a just
principle even more important than such an accession; but when you ask us
to cede, we hold out our hands to take an equivalent in return. The policy
of this nation is not to be influenced by saw-logs, but by these manifest,
important, and ulterior interests. If you wish Maine, give us Bermuda in
exchange, or go with your wishes ungratified." Happily, among us, events
are stronger than men; and the day is not distant when the mere force of
circumstances will compel the small-fry of diplomacy to see what the real
interests and dignity of the republic demand, in reference to this great
feature of its policy.
Roswell Gardiner and Daggett had several discussions touching the manner
in which they ought to pass those islands. There were about four degrees
to spare between the trades and the Bermudas; and the former was of
opinion that they might pass through this opening, and make a straighter
wake, than by going farther north. These consultations took place from
quarter-deck to quarter-deck, as the two schooners ran off free, steering
directly for the islands, as a sort of compromise between the two
opinions. The distance from the main to the Bermudas is computed at about
six hundred miles, which gave sufficient leisure for the discussion of the
subject in all its bearings. The conversations were amicable, and the
weather continuing mild, and the wind standing, they were renewed each
afternoon, when the vessels closed, as if expressly to admit of the
dialogue. In all this time, five days altogether, it was farther
ascertained that the difference in sailing between the Twin Lions, as the
sailors now began to call the two schooners, was barely perceptible. If
anything, it was slightly in favour of the Vineyard craft, though there
yet remained many of the vicissitudes of the seas, in which to make the
trial. While this uncertainty as to the course prevailed, the low land
appeared directly ahead, when Daggett consented to pass it to the
southward, keeping the cluster in sight, however, as they went steadily on
towards the southward and eastward.