“Sempronius, speak.”
_Cato._
The arrangements for the consultation were brief and simple. The veteran
commander of the frigate received his officers with punctilious respect;
and pointing to the chairs that were placed around the table, which was
a fixture in the centre of his cabin, he silently seated himself, and
his example was followed by all without further ceremony. In taking
their stations, however, a quiet but rigid observance was paid to the
rights of seniority and rank. On the right of the captain was placed
Griffith, as next in authority; and opposite to him was seated the
commander of the schooner. The officer of marines, who was included in
the number, held the next situation in point of precedence, the same
order being observed to the bottom of the table, which was occupied by
a hard-featured, square-built, athletic man, who held the office of
sailing-master. When order was restored, after the short interruption
of taking their places, the officer who had required the advice of his
inferiors opened the business on which he demanded their opinions.
“My instructions direct me, gentlemen,” he said, “after making the coast
of England, to run the land down----”
The hand of Griffith was elevated respectfully for silence, and
the veteran paused, with a look that inquired the reason of his
interruption.
“We are not alone,” said the lieutenant, glancing his eye toward the
part of the cabin where the pilot stood, leaning on one of the guns, in
an attitude of easy indulgence.
The stranger moved not at this direct hint; neither did his eye change
from its close survey of a chart that lay near him on the deck. The
captain dropped his voice to tones of cautious respect, as he replied:
“'Tis only Mr. Gray. His services will be necessary on the occasion, and
therefore nothing need be concealed from him.”
Glances of surprise were exchanged among the young men; but Griffith
bowing his silent acquiescence in the decision of his superior, the
latter proceeded:
“I was ordered to watch for certain signals from the headlands that we
made, and was furnished with the best of charts, and such directions
as enabled us to stand into the bay we entered last night. We have now
obtained a pilot, and one who has proved himself a skilful man; such
a one, gentlemen, as no officer need hesitate to rely on, in any
emergency, either on account of his integrity or his knowledge.”
The veteran paused, and turned his looks on the countenances of the
listeners, as if to collect their sentiments on this important
point. Receiving no other reply than the one conveyed by the silent
inclinations of the heads of his hearers, the commander resumed his
explanations, referring to an open paper in his hand:
“It is known to you all, gentlemen, that the unfortunate question of
retaliation has been much agitated between the two governments, our
own and that of the enemy. For this reason, and for certain political
purposes, it has become an object of solicitude with our commissioners
in Paris to obtain a few individuals of character from the enemy, who
may be held as a check on their proceedings, while at the same time it
brings the evils of war, from our own shores, home to those who have
caused it. An opportunity now offers to put this plan in execution, and
I have collected you, in order to consult on the means.”
A profound silence succeeded this unexpected communication of the object
of their cruise. After a short pause, their captain added, addressing
himself to the sailing-master:
“What course would you advise me to pursue, Mr. Boltrope?”
The weather beaten seaman who was thus called on to break through the
difficulties of a knotty point with his opinion, laid one of his short,
bony hands on the table, and began to twirl an inkstand with great
industry, while with the other he conveyed a pen to his mouth, which was
apparently masticated with all the relish that he could possibly have
felt had it been a leaf from the famous Virginian weed. But perceiving
that he was expected to answer, after looking first to his right hand
and then to his left, he spoke as follows, in a hoarse, thick voice,
in which the fogs of the ocean seemed to have united with sea-damps and
colds to destroy everything like melody:
“If this matter is ordered, it is to be done, I suppose,” he said; “for
the old rule runs, 'obey orders, if you break owners'; though the maxim
which says, 'one hand for the owner, and t'other for yourself,' is quite
as good, and has saved many a hearty fellow from a fall that would have
balanced the purser's books. Not that I mean a purser's books are not as
good as any other man's; but that when a man is dead, his account must
be closed, or there will be a false muster. Well, if the thing is to be
done, the next question is, how is it to be done? There is many a man
that knows there is too much canvas on a ship, who can't tell how to
shorten sail. Well, then, if the thing is really to be done, we must
either land a gang to seize them, or we must show false lights and sham
colors, to lead them off to the ship. As for landing, Captain Munson, I
can only speak for one man, and that is myself; which is to say, that
if you run the ship with her jib-boom into the king of England's
parlor-windows, why, I'm consenting, nor do I care how much of his
crockery is cracked in so doing; but as to putting the print of my foot
on one of his sandy beaches, if I do, that is always speaking for only
one man, and saving your presence, may I hope to be d--d.”
The young men smiled as the tough old seaman uttered his sentiments so
frankly, rising with his subject, to that which with him was the climax
of all discussion; but his commander, who was but a more improved
scholar from the same rough school, appeared to understand his arguments
entirely, and without altering a muscle of his rigid countenance, he
required the opinion of the junior lieutenant.
The young man spoke firmly, but modestly, though the amount of what he
said was not much more distinct than that uttered by the master, and was
very much to the same purpose, with the exception that he appeared to
entertain no personal reluctance to trusting himself on dry ground.
The opinions of the others grew gradually more explicit and clear, as
they ascended in the scale of rank, until it came to the turn of
the captain of marines to speak. There was a trifling exhibition of
professional pride about the soldier, in delivering his sentiments on a
subject that embraced a good deal more of his peculiar sort of duty than
ordinarily occurred in the usual operations of the frigate.
“It appears to me, sir, that the success of this expedition depends
altogether upon the manner in which it is conducted.” After this lucid
opening, the soldier hesitated a moment, as if to collect his ideas
for a charge that should look down all opposition, and proceeded. “The
landing, of course, will be effected on a fair beach, under cover of the
frigate's guns, and could it be possibly done, the schooner should be
anchored in such a manner as to throw in a flanking fire on the point
of debarkation. The arrangements for the order of march must a good
deal depend on the distance to go over; though I should think, sir, an
advanced party of seamen, to act as pioneers for the column of marines,
should be pushed a short distance in front, while the baggage and
baggage-guard might rest upon the frigate, until the enemy was driven
into the interior, when it could advance without danger. There should
be flank-guards, under the orders of two of the oldest midshipmen; and
a light corps might be formed of the topmen to co-operate with the
marines. Of course, sir, Mr. Griffith will lead, in person, the
musket-men and boarders, armed with their long pikes, whom I presume
he will hold in reserve, as I trust my military claims and experience
entitle me to the command of the main body.”
“Well done, field-marshal!” cried Barnstable, with a glee that seldom
regarded time or place; “you should never let salt-water mould your
buttons; but in Washington's camp, ay! and in Washington's tent, you
should swing your hammock in future. Why, sir, do you think we are about
to invade England?”
“I know that every military movement should be executed with precision,
Captain Barnstable,” returned the marine. “I am too much accustomed to
hear the sneers of the sea-officers, to regard what I know proceeds from
ignorance. If Captain Munson is disposed to employ me and my command
in this expedition, I trust he will discover that marines are good
for something more than to mount guard and pay salutes.” Then, turning
haughtily from his antagonist, he continued to address himself to their
common superior, as if disdaining further intercourse with one who, from
the nature of the case, must be unable to comprehend the force of what
he said. “It will be prudent, Captain Munson, to send out a party to
reconnoitre, before we march; and as it may be necessary to defend
ourselves in case of a repulse, I would beg leave to recommend that a
corps be provided with entrenching tools, to accompany the expedition.
They would be extremely useful, sir, in assisting to throw up
field-works; though, I doubt not, tools might be found in abundance in
this country, and laborers impressed for the service, on an emergency.”
This was too much for the risibility of Barnstable, who broke forth in
a fit of scornful laughter, which no one saw proper to interrupt; though
Griffith, on turning his head to conceal the smile that was gathering on
his own face, perceived the fierce glance which the pilot threw at the
merry seaman, and wondered at its significance and impatience. When
Captain Munson thought that the mirth of the lieutenant was concluded,
he mildly desired his reasons for amusing himself so exceedingly with
the plans of the marine.
“'Tis a chart for a campaign!” cried Barnstable, “and should be sent off
express to Congress, before the Frenchmen are brought into the field!”
“Have you any better plan to propose, Mr. Barnstable?” inquired the
patient commander.
“Better! ay, one that will take no time, and cause no trouble, to
execute it,” cried the other; “'tis a seaman's job, sir, and must be
done with a seaman's means.”
“Pardon me, Captain Barnstable,” interrupted the marine, whose jocular
vein was entirely absorbed in his military pride; “if there be service
to be done on shore, I claim it as my right to be employed.”
“Claim what you will, soldier; but how will you carry on the war with
a parcel of fellows who don't know one end of a boat from the other?”
returned the reckless sailor. “Do you think that a barge or a cutter
is to be beached in the same manner you ground firelock, by word of
command? No, no, Captain Manual--I honor your courage, for I have seen
it tried, but d--e if----”
“You forget, we wait for your project, Mr. Barnstable,” said the
veteran.
“I crave your patience, sir; but no project is necessary. Point out
the bearings and distance of the place where the men you want are to
be found, and I will take the heel of the gale, and run into the
land, always speaking for good water and no rocks. Mr. Pilot, you will
accompany me, for you carry as true a map of the bottom of these seas
in your head as ever was made of dry ground. I will look out for good
anchorage; or if the wind should blow off shore, let the schooner stand
off and on, till we should be ready to take the broad sea again. I would
land, out of my whaleboat, with long Tom and a boat's crew, and finding
out the place you will describe, we shall go up, and take the men you
want, and bring them aboard. It's all plain sailing; though, as it is
a well-peopled country, it may be necessary to do our shore work in the
dark.”
“Mr. Griffith, we only wait for your sentiments,” proceeded the captain,
“when, by comparing opinions, we may decide on the most prudent course.”
The first lieutenant had been much absorbed in thought during the
discussion of the subject, and might have been, on that account, better
prepared to give his opinion with effect. Pointing to the man who yet
stood behind him, leaning on a gun, he commenced by asking:
“Is it your intention that man shall accompany the party?”
“It is.”
“And from him you expect the necessary information, sir, to guide our
movements?”
“You are altogether right.”
“If, sir, he has but a moiety of the skill on the land that he possesses
on the water, I will answer for his success,” returned the lieutenant,
bowing slightly to the stranger, who received the compliment by a cold
inclination of his head. “I must desire the indulgence of both Mr.
Barnstable and Captain Manual,” he continued, “and claim the command as
of right belonging to my rank.”
“It belongs naturally to the schooner,” exclaimed the impatient
Barnstable.
“There may be enough for us all to do,” said Griffith, elevating a
finger to the other, in a manner and with an impressive look that was
instantly comprehended. “I neither agree wholly with the one nor the
other of these gentlemen. 'Tis said that, since our appearance on
the coast, the dwellings of many of the gentry are guarded by small
detachments of soldiers from the neighboring towns.”
“Who says it?” asked the pilot, advancing among them with a suddenness
that caused a general silence.
“I say it, sir,” returned the lieutenant, when the momentary surprise
had passed away.
“Can you vouch for it?”
“I can.”
“Name a house, or an individual, that is thus protected?”
Griffith gazed at the man who thus forgot himself in the midst of
a consultation like the present, and yielding to his native pride,
hesitated to reply. But mindful of the declarations of his captain
and the recent services of the pilot, he at length said, with a little
embarrassment of manner:
“I know it to be the fact, in the dwelling of a Colonel Howard, who
resides but a few leagues to the north of us.”
The stranger started at the name, and then raising his eye keenly to
the face of the young man, appeared to study his thoughts in his varying
countenance. But the action, and the pause that followed, were of
short continuance. His lip slightly curled, whether in scorn or with
a concealed smile, would have been difficult to say, so closely did it
resemble both, and as he dropped quietly back to his place at the gun,
he said:
“'Tis more than probable you are right, sir; and if I might presume to
advise Captain Munson, it would be to lay great weight on your opinion.”
Griffith turned, to see if he could comprehend more meaning in the
manner of the stranger than his words expressed, but his face was again
shaded by his hand, and his eyes were once more fixed on the chart with
the same vacant abstraction as before.
“I have said, sir, that I agree wholly neither with Mr. Barnstable nor
Captain Manual,” continued the lieutenant, after a short pause. “The
command of this party is mine, as the senior officer, and I must beg
leave to claim it. I certainly do not think the preparation that Captain
Manual advises necessary; neither would I undertake the duty with as
little caution as Mr. Barnstable proposes. If there are soldiers to be
encountered, we should have soldiers to oppose them; but as it must be
sudden boat-work, and regular evolutions must give place to a seaman's
bustle, a sea-officer should command. Is my request granted, Captain
Munson?”
The veteran replied, without hesitation:
“It is, sir; it was my intention to offer you the service, and I rejoice
to see you accept it so cheerfully.”
Griffith with difficulty concealed the satisfaction with which he
listened to his commander, and a radiant smile illumined his pale
features, when he observed:
“With me then, sir, let the responsibility rest. I request that Captain
Manual, with twenty men, may be put under my orders, if that gentleman
does not dislike the duty.” The marine bowed, and cast a glance of
triumph at Barnstable. “I will take my own cutter, with her tried crew,
go on board the schooner, and when the wind lulls, we will run in to the
land, and then be governed by circumstances.”
The commander of the schooner threw back the triumphant look of the
marine, and exclaimed, in his joyous manner:
'“Tis a good plan, and done like a seaman, Mr. Griffith. Ay, ay, let the
schooner be employed; and if it be necessary, you shall see her
anchored in one of their duck-ponds, with her broadside to bear on the
parlor-windows of the best house in the island! But twenty marines! they
will cause a jam in my little craft.”
“Not a man less than twenty would be prudent,” returned Griffith. “More
service may offer than that we seek.”
Barnstable well understood his allusion, but still he replied:
“Make it all seamen, and I will give you room for thirty. But these
soldiers never know how to stow away their arms and legs, unless at a
drill. One will take the room of two sailors; they swing their hammocks
athwart-ships, heads to leeward, and then turn out wrong end uppermost
at the call. Why, damn it, sir, the chalk and rottenstone of twenty
soldiers will choke my hatches!”
“Give me the launch, Captain Munson!” exclaimed the indignant marine,
“and we will follow Mr. Griffith in an open boat, rather than put
Captain Barnstable to so much inconvenience.”
“No, no, Manual,” cried the other, extending his muscular arm across the
table, with an open palm, to the soldier; “you would all become so
many Jonahs in uniform, and I doubt whether the fish could digest your
cartridge-boxes and bayonet-belts. You shall go with me, and learn, with
your own eyes, whether we keep the cat's watch aboard the Ariel that you
joke about.”
The laugh was general, at the expense of the soldier, if we except the
pilot and the commander of the frigate. The former was a silent, and
apparently an abstracted, but in reality a deeply interested listener
to the discourse; and there were moments when he bent his looks on the
speakers, as if he sought more in their characters than was exhibited by
the gay trifling of the moment. Captain Munson seldom allowed a muscle
of his wrinkled features to disturb their repose; and if he had not the
real dignity to repress the untimely mirth of his officers, he had
too much good nature to wish to disturb their harmless enjoyments. He
expressed himself satisfied with the proposed arrangements, and beckoned
to his steward to place before them the usual beverage, with which all
their consultations concluded.
The sailing-master appeared to think that the same order was to be
observed in their potations as in council, and helping himself to an
allowance which retained its hue even in its diluted state, he first
raised it to the light, and then observed:
“This ship's water is nearly the color of rum itself; if it only had its
flavor, what a set of hearty dogs we should be! Mr. Griffith, I find you
are willing to haul your land-tacks aboard. Well, it's natural for youth
to love the earth; but there is one man, and he is sailing-master of
this ship, who saw land enough last night, to last him a twelvemonth.
But if you will go, here's a good land-fall, and a better offing to you.
Captain Munson, my respects to you. I say, sir, if we should keep the
ship more to the south'ard, it's my opinion, and that's but one man's,
we should fall in with some of the enemy's homeward bound West-Indiamen,
and find wherewithal to keep the life in us when we see fit to go ashore
ourselves.”
As the tough old sailor made frequent application of the glass to his
mouth with one hand, and kept a firm hold of the decanter with the
other, during this speech, his companions were compelled to listen
to his eloquence, or depart with their thirst unassuaged. Barnstable,
however, quite coolly dispossessed the tar of the bottle, and mixing for
himself a more equal potation, observed, in the act:
“That is the most remarkable glass of grog you have, Boltrope, that I
ever sailed with; it draws as little water as the Ariel, and is as hard
to find the bottom. If your spirit-room enjoys the same sort of engine
to replenish it, as you pump out your rum, Congress will sail this
frigate cheaply.”
The other officers helped themselves with still greater moderation,
Griffith barely moistening his lips, and the pilot rejecting the offered
glass altogether. Captain Munson continued standing, and his officers,
perceiving that their presence was no longer necessary, bowed, and took
their leave. As Griffith was retiring last, he felt a hand laid lightly
on his shoulder, and turning, perceived that he was detained by the
pilot.
“Mr. Griffith,” he said, when they were quite alone with the commander
of the frigate, “the occurrences of the last night should teach us
confidence in each other; without it, we go on a dangerous and fruitless
errand.”
“Is the hazard equal?” returned the youth. “I am known to all to be the
man I seem--am in the service of my country--belong to a family,
and enjoy a name, that is a pledge for my loyalty to the cause of
America--and yet I trust myself on hostile ground, in the midst of
enemies, with a weak arm, and under circumstances where treachery would
prove my ruin. Who and what is the man who thus enjoys your confidence,
Captain Munson? I ask the question less for myself than for the gallant
men who will fearlessly follow wherever I lead.”
A shade of dark displeasure crossed the features of the stranger, at
one part of this speech, and at its close he sank into deep thought. The
commander, however, replied:
“There is a show of reason in your question, Mr. Griffith--and yet you
are not the man to be told that implicit obedience is what I have
a right to expect. I have not your pretensions, sir, by birth or
education, and yet Congress have not seen proper to overlook my years
and services. I command this frigate----”
“Say no more,” interrupted the pilot “There is reason in his doubts, and
they shall be appeased. I like the proud and fearless eye of the young
man, and while he dreads a gibbet from my hands, I will show him how to
repose a noble confidence. Read this, sir, and tell me if you distrust
me now?”
While the stranger spoke, he thrust his hand into the bosom of his
dress, and drew forth a parchment, decorated with ribands, and bearing
a massive seal, which he opened, and laid on the table before the youth.
As he pointed with his finger impressively to different parts of the
writing, his eye kindled with a look of unusual fire, and there was a
faint tinge discernible on his pallid features when he spoke.
“See!” he said, “royalty itself does not hesitate to bear witness in my
favor, and that is not a name to occasion dread to an American.”
Griffith gazed with wonder at the fair signature of the unfortunate
Louis, which graced the bottom of the parchment; but when his eye obeyed
the signal of the stranger, and rested on the body of the instrument, he
started back from the table, and fixing his animated eyes on the pilot,
he cried, while a glow of fiery courage flitted across his countenance:
“Lead on! I'll follow you to death!”
A smile of gratified exultation struggled around the lips of the
stranger, who took the arm of the young man and led him into a
stateroom, leaving the commander of the frigate standing, in his unmoved
and quiet manner, a spectator of, but hardly an actor in, the scene.