THE SKIPPER.
In such like gossipings passed our days away, for our voyage itself had
nothing of adventure or incident to break its dull monotony; save some few
hours of calm, we had been steadily following our seaward track with a fair
breeze, and the long pennant pointed ever to the land where our ardent
expectations were hurrying before it.
The latest accounts which had reached us from the Peninsula told that our
regiment was almost daily engaged; and we burned with impatience to share
with the others the glory they were reaping. Power, who had seen service,
felt less on this score than we who had not “fleshed our maiden swords;”
but even he sometimes gave way, and when the wind fell toward sunset, he
would break out into some exclamation of discontent, half fearing we should
be too late. “For,” said he, “if we go on in this way the regiment will be
relieved and ordered home before we reach it.”
“Never fear, my boys, you’ll have enough of it. Both sides like the work
too well to give in; they’ve got a capital ground and plenty of spare
time,” said the major.
“Only to think,” cried Power, “that we should be lounging away our idle
hours when these gallant fellows are in the saddle late and early. It is
too bad; eh, O’Malley? You’ll not be pleased to go back with the polish on
your sabre? What will Lucy Dashwood say?”
This was the first allusion Power had ever made to her, and I became red to
the very forehead.
“By-the-bye,” added he, “I have a letter for Hammersley, which should
rather have been entrusted to your keeping.”
At these words I felt cold as death, while he continued:--
“Poor fellow! certainly he is most desperately smitten; for, mark me, when
a man at his age takes the malady, it is forty times as severe as with a
younger fellow, like you. But then, to be sure, he began at the wrong end
in the matter; why commence with papa? When a man has his own consent for
liking a girl, he must be a contemptible fellow if he can’t get her; and as
to anything else being wanting, I don’t understand it. But the moment you
begin by influencing the heads of the house, good-by to your chances with
the dear thing herself, if she have any spirit whatever. It is, in fact,
calling on her to surrender without the honors of war; and what girl would
stand that?”
“It’s vara true,” said the doctor; “there’s a strong speerit of opposition
in the sex, from physiological causes.”
“Curse your physiology, old Galen; what you call opposition, is that
piquant resistance to oppression that makes half the charm of the sex.
It is with them--with reverence be it spoken--as with horses: the dull,
heavy-shouldered ones, that bore away with the bit in their teeth, never
caring whether you are pulling to the right or to the left, are worth
nothing; the real luxury is in the management of your arching-necked
curvetter, springing from side to side with every motion of your wrist,
madly bounding at restraint, yet, to the practised hand, held in check with
a silk tread. Eh, Skipper, am I not right?”
“Well, I can’t say I’ve had much to do with horse-beasts, but I believe
you’re not far wrong. The lively craft that answers the helm quick, goes
round well in stays, luffs up close within a point or two, when you want
her, is always a good sea-boat, even though she pitches and rolls a bit;
but the heavy lugger that never knows whether your helm is up or down,
whether she’s off the wind or on it, is only fit for firewood,--you can do
nothing with a ship or a woman if she hasn’t got steerage way on her.”
“Come, Skipper, we’ve all been telling our stories; let us hear one of
yours?”
“My yarn won’t come so well after your sky-scrapers of love and courting
and all that. But if you like to hear what happened to me once, I have no
objection to tell you.
“I often think how little we know what’s going to happen to us any minute
of our lives. To-day we have the breeze fair in our favor, we are going
seven knots, studding-sails set, smooth water, and plenty of sea-room;
to-morrow the wind freshens to half a gale, the sea gets up, a rocky coast
is seen from the lee bow, and may be--to add to all--we spring a leak
forward; but then, after all, bad as it looks, mayhap, we rub through even
this, and with the next day, the prospect is as bright and cheering as
ever. You’ll perhaps ask me what has all this moralizing to do with women
and ships at sea? Nothing at all with them, except that I was a going to
say, that when matters look worst, very often the best is in store for us,
and we should never say strike when there is a timber together. Now for my
story:--
“It’s about four years ago, I was strolling one evening down the side of
the harbor at Cove, with my hands in my pocket, having nothing to do, nor
no prospect of it, for my last ship had been wrecked off the Bermudas, and
nearly all the crew lost; and somehow, when a man is in misfortune, the
underwriters won’t have him at no price. Well, there I was, looking about
me at the craft that lay on every side waiting for a fair wind to run down
channel. All was active and busy; every one getting his vessel ship-shape
and tidy,--tarring, painting, mending sails, stretching new bunting, and
getting in sea-store; boats were plying on every side, signals flying, guns
firing from the men-of-war, and everything was lively as might be,--all but
me. There I was, like an old water-logged timber ship, never moving a spar,
but looking for all the world as though I were a settling fast to go down
stern foremost: may be as how I had no objection to that same; but that’s
neither here nor there. Well, I sat down on the fluke of an anchor, and
began a thinking if it wasn’t better to go before the mast than live on
that way. Just before me, where I sat down, there was an old schooner that
lay moored in the same place for as long as I could remember. She was there
when I was a boy, and never looked a bit the fresher nor newer as long as I
recollected; her old bluff bows, her high poop, her round stern, her flush
deck, all Dutch-like, I knew them well, and many a time I delighted to
think what queer kind of a chap he was that first set her on the stocks,
and pondered in what trade she ever could have been. All the sailors about
the port used to call her Noah’s Ark, and swear she was the identical craft
that he stowed away all the wild beasts in during the rainy season. Be that
as it might, since I fell into misfortune, I got to feel a liking for the
old schooner; she was like an old friend; she never changed to me, fair
weather or foul; there she was, just the same as thirty years before, when
all the world were forgetting and steering wide away from me. Every morning
I used to go down to the harbor and have a look at her, just to see that
all was right and nothing stirred; and if it blew very hard at night, I’d
get up and go down to look how she weathered it, just as if I was at sea in
her. Now and then I’d get some of the watermen to row me aboard of her, and
leave me there for a few hours; when I used to be quite happy walking the
deck, holding the old worm-eaten wheel, looking out ahead, and going down
below, just as though I was in command of her. Day after day this habit
grew on me, and at last my whole life was spent in watching her and looking
after her,---there was something so much alike in our fortunes, that
I always thought of her. Like myself, she had had her day of life and
activity; we had both braved the storm and the breeze; her shattered
bulwarks and worn cutwater attested that she had, like myself, not escaped
her calamities. We both had survived our dangers, to be neglected and
forgotten, and to lie rotting on the stream of life till the crumbling hand
of Time should break us up, timber by timber. Is it any wonder if I loved
the old craft; nor if by any chance the idle boys would venture aboard
of her to play and amuse themselves that I hallooed them away; or when a
newly-arrived ship, not caring for the old boat, would run foul of her, and
carry away some spar or piece of running rigging, I would suddenly call out
to them to sheer off and not damage us? By degrees, they came all to notice
this; and I found that they thought me out of my senses, and many a trick
was played off upon old Noah, for that was the name the sailors gave me.
“Well, this evening, as I was saying, I sat upon the fluke of the anchor,
waiting for a chance boat to put me aboard. It was past sunset, the tide
was ebbing, and the old craft was surging to the fast current that ran by
with a short, impatient jerk, as though she were well weary, and wished to
be at rest; her loose stays creaked mournfully, and as she yawed over, the
sea ran from many a breach in her worn sides, like blood trickling from a
wound. ‘Ay, ay,’ thought I, ‘the hour is not far off; another stiff gale,
and all that remains of you will be found high and dry upon the shore.’ My
heart was very heavy as I thought of this; for in my loneliness, the old
Ark--though that was not her name, as I’ll tell you presently--was all
the companion I had. I’ve heard of a poor prisoner who, for many and many
years, watched a spider that wove his web within his window, and never lost
sight of him from morning till night; and somehow, I can believe it well.
The heart will cling to something, and if it has no living object to press
to, it will find a lifeless one,--it can no more stand alone than the
shrouds can without the mast. The evening wore on, as I was thinking thus;
the moon shone out, but no boat came, and I was just determining to go home
again for the night, when I saw two men standing on the steps of the wharf
below me, and looking straight at the Ark. Now, I must tell you I always
felt uneasy when any one came to look at her; for I began to fear that some
shipowner or other would buy her to break up, though, except the copper
fastenings, there was little of any value about her. Now, the moment I saw
the two figures stop short, and point to her, I said to myself, ‘Ah, my old
girl, so they won’t even let the blue water finish you, but they must
set their carpenters and dockyard people to work upon you.’ This thought
grieved me more and more. Had a stiff sou’-wester laid her over, I should
have felt it more natural, for her sand was run out; but just as this
passed through my mind, I heard a voice from one of the persons, that I at
once knew to be the port admiral’s:--
“‘Well, Dawkins,’ said he to the other, ‘if you think she’ll hold together,
I’m sure I’ve no objection. I don’t like the job, I confess; but still the
Admiralty must be obeyed.’
“‘Oh, my lord,’ said the other, ‘she’s the very thing; she’s a
rakish-looking craft, and will do admirably. Any repair we want, a few days
will effect; secrecy is the great thing.’
“‘Yes,’ said the admiral, after a pause, ‘as you observed, secrecy is the
great thing.’
“‘Ho! ho!’ thought I, ‘there’s something in the wind, here;’ so I laid
myself out upon the anchor-stock, to listen better, unobserved.
“‘We must find a crew for her, give her a few carronades, make her as
ship-shape as we can, and if the skipper--’
“‘Ay, but there is the real difficulty,’ said the admiral, hastily; ‘where
are we to find a fellow that will suit us? We can’t every day find a man
willing to jeopardize himself in such a cause as this, even though the
reward be a great one.’
“‘Very true, my lord; but I don’t think there is any necessity for our
explaining to him the exact nature of the service.’
“‘Come, come, Dawkins, you can’t mean that you’ll lead a poor fellow into
such a scrape blindfolded?’
“‘Why, my lord, you never think it requisite to give a plan of your cruise
to your ship’s crew before clearing out of harbor.’
“‘This may be perfectly just, but I don’t like it,’ said the admiral.
“‘In that case, my lord, you are imparting the secrets of the Admiralty to
a party who may betray the whole plot.’
“‘I wish, with all my soul, they’d given the order to any one else,’ said
the admiral, with a sigh; and for a few moments neither spoke a word.
“‘Well, then, Dawkins, I believe there is nothing for it but what you say;
meanwhile, let the repairs be got in hand, and see after a crew.’
“‘Oh, as to that,’ said the other, ‘there are plenty of scoundrels in the
fleet here fit for nothing else. Any fellow who has been thrice up for
punishment in six months, we’ll draft on board of her; the fellows who have
only been once to the gangway, we’ll make the officers.’
“‘A pleasant ship’s company,’ thought I, ‘if the Devil would only take the
command.
“‘And with a skipper proportionate to their merit,’ said Dawkins.
“‘Begad, I’ll wish the French joy of them,’ said the admiral.
“‘Ho, ho!’ thought I, ‘I’ve found you out at last; so this is a secret
expedition. I see it all; they’re fitting her out as a fire-ship, and going
to send her slap in among the French fleet at Brest. Well,’ thought I,
‘even that’s better; that, at least, is a glorious end, though the poor
fellows have no chance of escape.’
“‘Now, then,’ said the admiral, ‘to-morrow you’ll look out for the fellow
to take the command. He must be a smart seaman, a bold fellow, too,
otherwise the ruffianly crew will be too much for him; he may bid high,
we’ll come to his price.’
“‘So you may,’ thought I, ‘when you’re buying his life.’
“‘I hope sincerely,’ continued the admiral, ‘that we may light upon some
one without wife or child; I never could forgive myself--’
“‘Never fear, my lord,’ said the other; ‘my care shall be to pitch upon one
whose loss no one would feel; some one without friend or home, who, setting
his life for nought, cares less for the gain than the very recklessness of
the adventure.’
“‘That’s me,’ said I, springing up from the anchor-stock, and springing
between them; ‘I’m that man.’
“Had the very Devil himself appeared at the moment, I doubt if they would
have been more scared. The admiral started a pace or two backwards, while
Dawkins, the first surprise over, seized me by the collar, and hold me
fast.
“‘Who are you, scoundrel, and what brings you here?’ said he, in a voice
hoarse with passion.
“‘I’m old Noah,’ said I; for somehow, I had been called by no other name
for so long, I never thought of my real one.
“‘Noah!’ said the admiral,--‘Noah! Well, but Noah, what were you doing here
at this time of night?’
“‘I was a watching the Ark, my lord,’ said I, bowing, as I took off my hat.
“‘I’ve heard of this fellow before, my lord,’ said Dawkins; ‘he’s a poor
lunatic that is always wandering about the harbor, and, I believe, has no
harm in him.’
“‘Yes, but he has been listening, doubtless, to our conversation,’ said the
admiral. ‘Eh, have you heard all we have been saying?’
“‘Every word of it, my lord.’
“At this the admiral and Dawkins looked steadfastly at each other for some
minutes, but neither spoke; at last Dawkins said, ‘Well, Noah, I’ve been
told you are a man to be depended on; may we rely upon your not repeating
anything you overheard this evening,--at least, for a year to come?’
“‘You may,’ said I.
“‘But, Dawkins,’ said the admiral, in a half-whisper, ‘if the poor fellow
be mad?’
“‘My lord,’ said I, boldly, ‘I am not mad. Misfortune and calamity I have
had enough of to make me so; but, thank God, my brain has been tougher than
my poor heart. I was once the part-owner and commander of a goodly craft,
that swept the sea, if not with a broad pennon at her mast-head, with as
light a spirit as ever lived beneath one. I was rich, I had a home and a
child; I am now poor, houseless, childless, friendless, and an outcast. If
in my solitary wretchedness I have loved to look upon that old bark, it is
because its fortune seemed like my own. It had outlived all that needed or
cared for it. For this reason have they thought me mad, though there are
those, and not few either, who can well bear testimony if stain or reproach
lie at my door, and if I can be reproached with aught save bad luck. I have
heard by chance what you have said this night. I know that you are fitting
out a secret expedition; I know its dangers, its inevitable dangers, and I
here offer myself to lead it. I ask no reward; I look for no price. Alas,
who is left to me for whom I could labor now? Give me but the opportunity
to end my days with honor on board the old craft, where my heart still
clings; give me but that. Well, if you will not do so much, let me serve
among the crew; put me before the mast. My lord, you’ll not refuse this.
It is an old man asks; one whose gray hairs have floated many a year ago
before the breeze.’
“‘My poor fellow, you know not what you ask; this is no common case of
danger.’
“‘I know it all, my lord; I have heard it all.’
“‘Dawkins, what is to be done here?’ inquired the admiral.
“‘I say, friend,’ inquired Dawkins, laying his hand upon my arm, ‘what is
your real name? Are you he who commanded the “Dwarf” privateer in the Isle
of France?’
“‘The same.’
“‘Then you are known to Lord Collingwood?’
“‘He knows me well, and can speak to my character.’
“‘What he says of himself is all true, my lord.’
“‘True,’ said I, ‘true! You did not doubt it, did you?’
“‘We,’ said the admiral, ‘must speak together again. Be here to-morrow
night at this hour; keep your own counsel of what has passed, and now
good-night.’ So saying, the admiral took Dawkins by the arm and returned
slowly towards the town, leaving me where I stood, meditating on this
singular meeting and its possible consequences.
“The whole of the following day was passed by me in a state of feverish
excitement which I cannot describe; this strange adventure breaking in so
suddenly upon the dull monotony of my daily existence had so aroused and
stimulated me that I could neither rest nor eat. How I longed for night to
come; for sometimes, as the day wore later, I began to fear that the whole
scene of my meeting with the admiral had been merely some excited dream of
a tortured and fretted mind; and as I stood examining the ground where
I believed the interview to have occurred, I endeavored to recall the
position of different objects as they stood around, to corroborate my own
failing remembrance.
“At last the evening closed in; but unlike the preceding one, the sky
was covered with masses of dark and watery cloud that drifted hurriedly
across; the air felt heavy and thick, and unnaturally still and calm; the
water of the harbor looked of a dull, leaden hue, and all the vessels
seemed larger than they were, and stood out from the landscape more clearly
than usual; now and then a low rumbling noise was heard, somewhat alike in
sound, but far too faint for distant thunder, while occasionally the boats
and smaller craft rocked to and fro, as though some ground swell stirred
them without breaking the languid surface of the sea above.
“A few drops of thick, heavy rain fell just as the darkness came on, and
then all felt still and calm as before. I sat upon the anchor-stock, my
eyes fixed upon the old Ark, until gradually her outline grew fainter
and fainter against the dark sky, and her black hull could scarcely be
distinguished from the water beneath. I felt that I was looking towards
her; for long after I had lost sight of the tall mast and high-pitched
bowsprit, I feared to turn away my head lest I should lose the place where
she lay.
“The time went slowly on, and although in reality I had not been long
there, I felt as if years themselves had passed over my head. Since I
had come there my mind brooded over all the misfortunes of my life; as I
contrasted its outset, bright with hope and rich in promise, with the sad
reality, my heart grew heavy and my chest heaved painfully. So sunk was I
in my reflections, so lost in thought, that I never knew that the storm had
broken loose, and that the heavy rain was falling in torrents. The very
ground, parched with long drought, smoked as it pattered upon it; while the
low, wailing cry of the sea-gull, mingled with the deep growl of far-off
thunder, told that the night was a fearful one for those at sea. Wet
through and shivering, I sat still, now listening amidst the noise of the
hurricane and the creaking of the cordage for any footstep to approach, and
now relapsing back into half-despairing dread that my heated brain
alone had conjured up the scene of the day before. Such were my dreary
reflections when a loud crash aboard the schooner told me that some old
spar had given way. I strained my eyes through the dark to see what had
happened, but in vain; the black vapor, thick with falling rain, obscured
everything, and all was hid from view. I could hear that she worked
violently as the waves beat against her worn sides, and that her iron
cable creaked as she pitched to the breaking sea. The wind was momentarily
increasing, and I began to fear lest I should have taken my last look at
the old craft, when my attention was called off by hearing a loud voice cry
out, ‘Halloo there! Where are you?’
“‘Ay, ay, sir, I’m here.’ In a moment the admiral and his friend were
beside me.
“‘What a night!’ exclaimed the admiral, as he shook the rain from the heavy
boat-cloak and cowered in beneath some tall blocks of granite near. ‘I
began half to hope that you might not have been here, my poor fellow,’ said
the admiral; ‘it’s a dreadful time for one so poorly clad for a storm. I
say, Dawkins, let him have a pull at your flask.’ The brandy rallied me a
little, and I felt that it cheered my drooping courage.
“‘This is not a time nor is it a place for much parley,’ said the admiral,
‘so that we must even make short work of it. Since we met here last night I
have satisfied myself that you are to be trusted, that your character
and reputation have nothing heavier against them than misfortune, which
certainly, if I have been rightly informed, has been largely dealt out to
you. Now, then, I am willing to accept of your offer of service if you
are still of the same mind as when you made it, and if you are willing to
undertake what we have to do without any question and inquiry as to points
on which we must not and dare not inform you. Whatever you may have
overheard last night may or may not have put you in possession of our
secret. If the former, your determination can be made at once; if the
latter, you have only to decide whether you are ready to go blindfolded in
the business.’
“‘I am ready, my lord,’ said I.
“‘You perhaps are then aware what is the nature of the service?’
“‘I know it not,’ said I. ‘All that I heard, sir, leads me to suppose it
one of danger, but that’s all.’
“‘I think, my lord,’ said Dawkins, ‘that no more need now be said. Cupples
is ready to engage, we are equally so to accept; the thing is pressing.
When can you sail?’
“‘To-night,’ said I, ‘if you will.’
“‘Really, Dawkins,’ said the admiral, ‘I don’t see why--’
‘“My lord, I beg of you,’ said the other, interrupting, ‘let me now
complete the arrangement. This is the plan,’ said he, turning towards me
as he spoke: ‘As soon as that old craft can be got ready for sea, or some
other if she be not worth, it, you will sail from this port with a strong
crew, well armed and supplied with ammunition. Your destination is Malta,
your object to deliver to the admiral stationed there the despatches
with which you will be entrusted; they contain information of immense
importance, which for certain reasons cannot be sent through a ship of war,
but must be forwarded by a vessel that may not attract peculiar notice. If
you be attacked, your orders are to resist; if you be taken, on no account
destroy the papers, for the French vessel can scarcely escape capture from
our frigates, and it is of great consequence these papers should remain.
Such is a brief sketch of our plan; the details can be made known to you
hereafter.’
“‘I am quite ready, my lord. I ask for no terms; I make no stipulations. If
the result be favorable it will be time enough to speak of that. When am I
to sail?’
“As I spoke, the admiral turned suddenly round and said something in a
whisper to Dawkins, who appeared to overrule it, whatever it might be, and
finally brought him over to his own opinion.
“‘Come, Cupples,’ said Dawkins, ‘the affair is now settled; to-morrow a
boat will be in waiting for you opposite Spike Island to convey you on
board the “Semiramis,” where every step in the whole business shall be
explained to you; meanwhile you have only to keep your own counsel and
trust the secret to no one.’
“‘Yes, Cupples,’ said the admiral, ‘we rely upon you for that, so
good-night.’ As he spoke he placed within my hands a crumpled note for ten
pounds, and squeezing my fingers, departed.
“My yarn is spinning out to a far greater length than I intended, so I’ll
try and shorten it a bit. The next day I went aboard the ‘Semiramis,’
where, when I appeared upon the quarter-deck, I found myself an object
of some interest. The report that I was the man about to command the
‘Brian,’--that was the real name of the old craft,--had caused some
curiosity among the officers, and they all spoke to me with great courtesy.
After waiting a short time I was ordered to go below, where the admiral,
his flag-captain, Dawkins, and the others were seated. They repeated at
greater length the conversation of the night before, and finally decided
that I was to sail in three weeks; for although the old schooner was sadly
damaged, they had lost no time, but had her already high in dock, with two
hundred ship-carpenters at work upon her.
“I do not shorten sail here to tell you what reports were circulated about
Cove as to my extraordinary change in circumstances, nor how I bore my
altered fortunes. It is enough if I say that in less than three weeks I
weighed anchor and stood out to sea one beautiful morning in autumn, and
set out upon my expedition.
“I have already told you something of the craft. Let me complete the
picture by informing you that before twenty-four hours passed over I
discovered that so ungainly, so awkward, so unmanageable a vessel never
put to sea. In light winds she scarcely stirred or moved, as if she were
waterlogged; if it came to blow upon the quarter, she fell off from her
helm at a fearful rate; in wearing, she endangered every spar she had; and
when you put her in stays, when half round she would fall back and nearly
carry away every stitch of canvas with the shock. If the ship was bad, the
crew was ten times worse. What Dawkins said turned out to be literally
true. Every ill-conducted, disorderly fellow who had been up the gangway
once a week or so, every unreclaimed landsman of bad character and no
seamanship, was sent on board of us: and in fact, except that there was
scarcely any discipline and no restraint, we appeared like a floating
penitentiary of convicted felons.
So long as we ran down channel with a slack sea and fair wind, so long all
went on tolerably well; to be sure they only kept watch when they were
tired below, when they came up, reeled about the deck, did all just as they
pleased, and treated me with no manner of respect. After some vain efforts
to repress their excesses,--vain, for I had but one to second me,--I
appeared to take no notice of their misconduct, and contented myself with
waiting for the time when, my dreary voyage over, I should quit the command
and part company with such associates forever. At last, however, it came on
to blow, and the night we passed the Lizard was indeed a fearful one.
As morning broke, a sea running mountains high, a wind strong from
the northwest, was hurrying the old craft along at a rate I believed
impossible. I shall not stop to recount the frightful scenes of anarchy,
confusion, drunkenness, and insubordination which our crew exhibited,--the
recollection is too bad already, and I would spare you and myself the
recital; but on the fourth day from the setting in of the gale, as we
entered the Bay of Biscay, some one aloft descried a strange sail to
windward bearing down as if in pursuit of us. Scarcely did the news reach
the deck when, bad as it was before, matters became now ten times worse,
some resolving to give themselves up if the chase happened to be French,
and vowing that before surrendering the spirit-room should be forced, and
every man let drink as he pleased. Others proposed if there were anything
like equality in the force, to attack, and convert the captured vessel, if
they succeeded, into a slaver, and sail at once for Africa. Some were for
blowing up the old ‘Brian’ with all on board; and in fact every counsel
that drunkenness, insanity, and crime combined could suggest was offered
and descanted on. Meanwhile the chase gained rapidly upon us, and before
noon we discovered her to be a French letter-of-marque with four guns and a
long brass swivel upon the poop deck. As for us, every sheet of canvas we
could crowd was crammed on, but in vain. And as we labored through the
heavy sea, our riotous crew grew every moment worse, and sitting down
sulkily in groups upon the deck, declared that, come what might, they would
neither work the ship nor fight her; that they had been sent to sea in a
rotten craft merely to effect their destruction; and that they cared little
for the disgrace of a flag they detested. Half furious with the taunting
sarcasm I heard on every side, and nearly mad from passion, and bewildered,
my first impulse was to run among them with my drawn cutlass, and ere I
fell their victim, take heavy vengeance upon the ringleaders, when suddenly
a sharp booming noise came thundering along, and a round shot went flying
over our heads.
“‘Down with the ensign; strike at once!’ cried eight or ten voices
together, as the ball whizzed through the rigging. Anticipating this, and
resolving, whatever might happen, to fight her to the last, I had made the
mate, a staunch-hearted, resolute fellow, to make fast the signal sailyard
aloft, so that it was impossible for any one on deck to lower the bunting.
Bang! went another gun; and before the smoke cleared away, a third, which,
truer in its aim than the rest, went clean through the lower part of our
mainsail.
“‘Steady, then, boys, and clear for action,’ said the mate.
‘She’s a French smuggling craft that will sheer off when we show fight, so
that we must not fire a shot till she comes alongside.’
“‘And harkee, lads,’ said I, taking up the tone of encouragement he spoke
with, ‘if we take her, I promise to claim nothing of the prize. Whatever we
capture you shall divide among yourselves.’
“‘It’s very easy to divide what we never had,’ said one; ‘Nearly as easy as
to give it,’ cried another; ‘I’ll never light match or draw cutlass in the
cause,’ said a third.
“‘Surrender!’ ‘Strike the flag!’ ‘Down with the colors!’ roared several
voices together.
“By this time the Frenchman was close up, and ranging his long gun to
sweep our decks; his crew were quite perceptible,--about twenty bronzed,
stout-looking follows, stripped to the waist, and carrying pistols in broad
flat belts slung over the shoulder.
“‘Come, my lads,’ said I, raising my voice, as I drew a pistol from my side
and cocked it, ‘our time is short now; I may as well tell you that the
first shot that strikes us amidship blows up the whole craft and every man
on board. We are nothing less than a fireship, destined for Brest harbor
to blow up the French fleet. If you are willing to make an effort for your
lives, follow me!’
“The men looked aghast. Whatever recklessness crime and drunkenness had
given them, the awful feeling of inevitable death at once repelled.
Short as was the time for reflection, they felt that there were many
circumstances to encourage the assertion,--the nature of the vessel, her
riotous, disorderly crew, the secret nature of the service, all confirmed
it,--and they answered with a shout of despairing vengeance, ‘We’ll board
her; lead us on!’ As the cry rose up, the long swivel from the chase rang
sharply in our ears, and a tremendous discharge of grape flew through our
rigging. None of our men, however, fell; and animated now with the desire
for battle, they sprang to the binnacle, and seized their arms.
“In an instant the whole deck became a scene of excited bustle; and
scarcely was the ammunition dealt out, and the boarding party drawn up,
when the Frenchman broached to and lashed his bowsprit to our own.
“One terrific yell burst from our fellows as they sprang from the rigging
and the poop upon the astonished Frenchmen, who thought that the victory
was already their own; with death and ruin behind, their only hope before,
they dashed forward like madmen to the fray.
“The conflict was bloody and terrific, though not a long one. Nearly equal
in number, but far superior in personal strength, and stimulated by their
sense of danger, our fellows rushed onward, carrying all before them to the
quarter-deck. Here the Frenchmen rallied, and for some minutes had rather
the advantage, until the mate, turning one of their guns against them,
prepared to sweep them down in a mass. Then it was that they ceased their
fire and cried out for quarter,--all save their captain, a short, thick-set
fellow, with a grizzly beard and mustache, who, seeing his men fall back,
turned on them one glance of scowling indignation, and rushing forward,
clove our boatswain to the deck with one blow. Before the example could
have been followed, he lay a bloody corpse upon the deck; while our
people, roused to madness by the loss of a favorite among the men, dashed
impetuously forward, and dealing death on every side, left not one man
living among their unresisting enemies. My story is soon told now. We
brought our prize safe into Malta, which we reached in five days. In less
than a week our men were drafted into different men-of-war on the station.
I was appointed a warrant officer in the ‘Sheerwater,’ forty-four guns; and
as the admiral opened the despatch, the only words he spoke puzzled me for
many a day after.
“‘You have accomplished your orders too well,’ said he; ‘that privateer is
but a poor compensation for the whole French navy.’”
“Well,” inquired Power, “and did you never hear the meaning of the words?”
“Yes,” said he; “many years after I found out that our despatches were
false ones, intended to have fallen into the hands of the French and
mislead them as to Lord Nelson’s fleet, which at that time was cruising
to the southward to catch them. This, of course, explained what fate was
destined for us,--a French prison, if not death; and after all, either was
fully good enough for the crew that sailed in the old ‘Brian.’”