CHAPTER IX.--Cuba Fishermen

“El Pescador de Puerto Escondido,

Pesca mas que Peseado,

Quando la Luna redonda Reflexado en la mar profunda.

Pero cuidado,

El pobre sera el nino perdido Si esta por Anglisman cogido.

Ay de mi”.

It was now five in the afternoon, and the breeze continued to fall, and

the sea to go down, until sunset, by which time we had I run the

corvette hull down, and the schooner nearly out of sight. Right ahead

of us rose the high land of Cuba, to the westward of Cape Maize, clear

and well-defined against the northern sky; and as we neither hauled our

wind to weather the east end of the island, nor edged away for St Jago,

it was evident, beyond all doubt, that we were running right in for some

one of the piratical haunts on the Cuba coast.

The crew now set to work, and removed the remains of their late

messmate, and the two wounded men, from where they lay upon the ballast

in the Run, to their own berth forward in the bow of the little vessel;

they then replaced the planks which they had started, and arranged the

dead body of the mate along the cabin floor, close to where I lay, faint

and bleeding, and more heavily bruised than I had at first thought.

The captain was still at the helm; he had never spoken a word either to

me or any of the crew, since he had taken the trifling liberty of

shooting me through the neck, and no thanks to him that the wound was

not mortal; but he now resumed his American accent, and began to drawl

out the necessary orders for repairing damages.

When I went on deck shortly afterwards, I was surprised beyond measure

to perceive the injury the little vessel had sustained, and the uncommon

speed, handiness, and skill, with which it had been repaired. However

lazily the command might appear to have been given, the execution of it

was quick as lightning. The crew, now reduced to ten working hands,

had, with an almost miraculous promptitude, knotted and spliced the

rigging, mended and shifted sails, fished the sprung and wounded spars,

and plugged and nailed lead over the shot-holes, and all within half an

hour.

I don’t like Americans; I never did, and never shall like them; I have

seldom met with an American gentleman, in the large and complete sense

of the terms. I have no wish to eat with them, drink with them, deal

with, or consort with them in any way; but let me tell the whole truth,

nor fight with them, were it not for the laurels to be acquired, by

overcoming an enemy so brave, determined, and alert, and every way so

worthy of one’s steel, as they have always proved. One used to fight

with a Frenchman, as a matter of course, and for the fun of the thing as

it were, never dreaming of the possibility of Johnny Crapeau beating us,

where there was any thing approaching to an equality of force; but, say

as much as we please about larger ships and more men, and a variety of

excuses which proud John Bull, with some truth very often I will admit,

has pertinaciously thrust forward to palliate his losses during the

short war, a regard for truth and fair dealing, which I hope are no

scarce qualities amongst British seamen, compels me to admit, that

although I would of course peril my life and credit more readily with an

English crew, yet I believe a feather would turn the scale between the

two countries, so far as courage and seamanship goes; and let it not be

forgotten, although we have now regained our superiority in this

respect, yet, in gunnery and smallarm practice, we were as thoroughly

weathered on by the Americans during the war, as we overtopped them in

the bulldog courage with which our boarders handled those genuine

English weapons, the cutlass and the pike.

After the captain had given his orders, and seen the men fairly at work,

he came down to the cabin, still ghastly and pale, but with none of that

ferocity stamped on his grim features, from the outpouring of which I

had suffered so severely. He never once looked my way, no more than if

I had been a bundle of old junk; but folding his hands on his knee, he

sat down on a small locker, against which the feet of the dead mate

rested, and gazed earnestly on his face, which was immediately under the

open skylight, through which, by this time, the clear cold rays of the

moon streamed full on it, the short twilight having already fled,

chained as it is in these climates to the chariot wheels of the burning

sun. My eye naturally followed his, but I speedily withdrew it. I had

often bent over comrades who had been killed by gunshot wounds, and

always remarked, what is well-known, that the features wore a benign

expression, bland and gentle, and contented as the face of a sleeping

infant, while their limbs were composed decently, often gracefully, like

one resting after great fatigue, as if nature, like an affectionate

nurse, had arranged the deathbed of her departing child with more than

usual care, preparatory to his last long sleep; whereas those who had

died from the thrust of a pike, or the blow of a cutlass, however mild

the living expression of their countenance might have been, were always

fearfully contorted both in body and face.

In the present instance, the eyes were wide open, white, prominent, and

glazed like those of a dead fish; the hair, which was remarkably fine,

and had been worn in long ringlets, amongst which a large gold earring

glittered, the poor fellow having been a nautical dandy of the first

water was drenched and clotted into heavy masses with the death-sweat,

and had fallen back on the deck from his forehead, which was well

formed, high, broad and massive. His nose was transparent, thin, and

sharp, the tense skin on the bridge of it glancing in the silver light,

as if it had been glass. His mouth was puckered on one side into

angular wrinkles, like a curtain drawn up awry, while a clotted stream

of black gore crept from it sluggishly down his right cheek, and

coagulated in a heap on the deck. His lower jaw had fallen, and there

he lay agape with his mouth full of blood.

His legs, indeed his whole body below his loins, where the fracture of

the spine had taken place, rested precisely as they had been arranged

after he died; but the excessive swelling and puffing out of his broad

chest, contrasted shockingly with the shrinking of the body at the pit

of the stomach, by which the arch of the ribs was left as well defined

as if the skin had been drawn over a skeleton, and the distortion of the

muscles of the cheeks and throat evinced the fearful strength of the

convulsions which had preceded his dissolution. It was evident, indeed,

that throughout his whole person above the waist, the nervous system had

been utterly shattered; the arms, especially, appeared to have been

awfully distorted, for when crossed on his breast, they had to be

forcibly fastened down at the wrists by a band of spun-yam to the

buttons of his jacket. His right hand was shut, with the exception of

the forefinger, which was extended, pointing upwards; but the whole arm,

from the shoulder down, had the horrible appearance of struggling to get

free from the cord which confined it.

Obed, by the time I had noticed all this, had knelt beside the shoulder

of the corpse, and I could see by the moonlight that flickered across

his face as the vessel rolled in the declining breeze, that he had

pushed off his eye the uncouth spyglass which he had fastened over it

during the chase, so that it now stood out from the middle of his

forehead like a stunted horn; but, in truth, “it was not exalted,” for

he appeared crushed down to the very earth by the sadness of the scene

before him, and I noticed the frequent sparkle of a heavy tear as it

fell from his iron visage on the face of the dead man. At length he

untied the string that fastened the eyeglass round his head, and taking

a coarse towel from a locker, he spunged poor Paul’s face and neck with

rum, and then fastened up his lower jaw with the lanyard. Having

performed this melancholy office, the poor fellow’s feelings could no

longer be restrained by my presence.

“God help me, I have not now one friend in the wide world. When I had

neither home, nor food, nor clothing, he sheltered me, and fed me, and

clothed me, when a single word would have gained him five hundred

dollars, and run me up to the fore yardarm in a wreath of white smoke;

but he was true as steel; and oh that he was now doing for me what I

have done for him! who would have moaned over me,--me, who am now

without wife or child, and have disgraced all my kin! alack-a-day,

alack-a-day!”--And he sobbed and wept aloud, as if his very heart

would have burst in twain.--“But I will soon follow you, Paul; I have

had my warning already; I know it, and I believe it.” At this instant

the dead hand of the mate burst the ligature that kept it down across

his body, and slowly rose up and remained in a beckoning attitude. I was

seized with a cold shivering from head to foot, and would have shrieked

aloud, had it not been for very shame, but Obed was unmoved.--“I know

it, Paul. I know it. I am ready, and I shall not be long behind you.”

He fastened the arm down once more, and having called a couple of hands

to assist him, they lashed up the remains of their shipmate in his

hammock, with a piece of iron ballast at his feet, and then, without

more ado, handed the body up through the skylight; and I heard the heavy

splash as they cast it into the sea. When this was done, the captain

returned to the cabin, bringing a light with him, filled and drank off a

glass of strong grog. Yet he did not even now deign to notice me, which

was by no means soothing; and I found that, since he wouldn’t speak, I

must, at all hazards.

“I say, Obed, do you ever read your Bible?” He looked steadily at me

with his lacklustre eyes. “Because, if you do, you may perhaps have

fallen in with some such passages as the following:--Behold I am in your

hand; but know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall

surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves.”

“It is true, Mr Cringle, I feel the truth of it here,” and he laid his

large bony hand on his heart. “Yet I do not ask you to forgive me; I

don’t expect that you can or will; but unless the devil gets possession

of me again--which, so sure as ever there was a demoniac in this world,

he had this afternoon when you so tempted me--I hope soon to place you

in safety, either in a friendly port, or on board of a British vessel;

and then what becomes of me is of little consequence, now since the only

living soul who cared a dollar for me is at rest amongst the coral

branches at the bottom of the deep green sea.”

“Why, man,” rejoined I, “leave off this stuff; something has turned your

brain, surely; people must die in their beds, you now, if they be not

shot, or put out of the way somehow or other; and as for my small

affair, why I forgive you, man--from my heart I forgive you; were it

only for the oddity of your scantling, mental and corporeal, I would do

so; and you see I am not much hurting--so lend me a hand, like a good

fellow, to wash the wound with a little spirits--it will stop the

bleeding, and the stiffness will soon go off.”

“Lieutenant Cringle, I need not tell what I know you have found out,

that I am not the vulgar Yankee smuggler, fit only to be made a butt of

by you and your friends, that you no doubt at first took me for; but who

or what I am, or what I may have been, you shall never know--but I will

tell you this much....”

“Devil confound the fellow!--why this is too much upon the brogue, Obed.

Will you help me to dress my wound, man, and leave off your cursed

sentimental speeches, which you must have gleaned from some old novel or

another? I’ll hear it all by and by.”

At this period I was a reckless young chap, with strong nerves, and my

own share of that animal courage, which generally oozes out at one’s

finger ends when one gets married and turned of thirty; nevertheless I

did watch with some anxiety the effect which my unceremonious

interruption was to have upon him. I was agreeably surprised to find

that he took it all in good part, and set himself, with great alacrity

and kindness even, to put me to rights, and so successfully, that when I

was washed and cleansed, and fairly coopered up, I found myself quite

able to take my place at the table; and having no fear of the College of

Surgeons before my eyes, I helped myself to a little of the needful, and

in the plenitude of my heart, I asked Obed’s pardon for my ill-bred

interruption.

“It was not quite the thing to cut you short in the middle of your

Newgate Calendar, Obed--beg pardon, your story I mean; no offence now,

none in the world--eh? But where the deuce, man, got you this fine

linen of Egypt?” looking at the sleeves of the shirt Obed had obliged me

with, as I sat without my coat. “I had not dreamt you had any thing so

luxurious in your kit.”

I saw his brow begin to lower again, so the devil prompted me to advert,

by way of changing the subject, to a file of newspapers, which, as it

turned out, might have proved to be by far the most dangerous topic I

could have hit upon. He had laid them aside, having taken them out of

the locker when he was rummaging for the linen. “What have we here?

Kingston Chronicle, Montego Bay Gazette, Falmouth Advertiser. A great

newsmonger you must be. What arrivals?--let me see;--you know I am a

week from headquarters. Let me see.”

At first he made a motion as if he would have snatched them out of my

hands, but speedily appeared to give up the idea, merely murmuring

“What can it signify now?”

I continued to read--“Chanticleer from a cruise--Tonnant from Barbadoes

Pique from Port-au-Prince. Oh, the next interests me the Firebrand

is daily expected from Havanna; she is to come through the gulf, round

Cape Antonio, and beat up the haunts of the pirates all along the Cuba

shore.” I was certain now that at the mention of this corvette mine host

winced in earnest. This made me anxious to probe him farther. “Why,

what means this pencil mark--‘Firebrand’s number off the Chesapeake was

1022?’ How the deuce, my fine fellow, do you know that?”

He shook his head, but said nothing, and I went on reading the pencil

memoranda--“But this is most probably changed; she now carries a red

cross in the head of her foresail, and has very short lower masts like

the Hornet.” Still he made me no answer. I proceeded--“Stop, let me see

what merchant ships are about sailing. Loading for Liverpool, the John

Gladstone, Peter Ponderous master;” and after it, again in pencil

“Only sugar: goes through the gulf.--Only sugar,” said I, still fishing;

“too bulky, I suppose.--Ariel, Jenkins Whitehaven;” remark--“sugar,

coffee, and logwood. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, to sail for

Chagres on 7th proximo;” remark--“rich cargo of bale goods, but no

chance of overtaking her.” “El Rayo to sail for St Jago de Cuba on the

10th proximo;” remark--“sails fast; armed with a long gun and musketry;

thirty hands; about ten Spanish passengers; valuable cargo of dry goods;

mainmast rakes well aft; new cloth in the foresail about half-way up;

will be off the Moro about the 13th.--And what is this written in ink

under the above?--The San Pedro from Chagres, and Marianita from Santa

Martha, although rich, have both got convoy.--Ah, too strong for your

friends, Obed--I see, I see.--Francis Baring, Loan French, master--an

odd name, rather, for a skipper;” remark--“forty seroons of cochineal

and some specie; is to sail from Morant Bay on 5th proximo, to go

through the windward passage; may be expected off Cape St Nicolas on the

12th, or thereby.” I laid down the paper and looked him full in the

face. “Nicolas is an ominous name. I fear the good ship Francis Baring

will find it so. Some of the worthy saint’s clerks to be fallen in with

off the Mole, eh? Don’t you think as I do, Obed?” Still silent. “Why

you seem to take great delight in noting the intended departures and

expected arrivals, my friend--merely to satisfy your curiosity, of

course; but, to come to close quarters with you, captain, I now know

pretty well the object of your visiting Jamaica now and then you are

indeed no vulgar smuggler.”

“It is well for you and good for myself, Mr Cringle, that something

weighs heavy at my heart at this moment, and that there is that about

you which, notwithstanding your ill-timed jesting, commands my respect,

and engages my goodwill--had it not been so, you would have been

alongside of poor Paul at this moment.” He leant his arms upon the

table, and gazed intensely on my face as he continued in a solemn

tremulous tone--“Do you believe in auguries, Mr Cringle? Do you believe

that coming events cast their shadows before?’”--oh, that little Wiggy

Campbell had been beside me to have seen the figure and face of the man

who now quoted him!

“Yes, I do, it is part of the creed of every sailor to do so; I do

believe that people have had forewarnings of peril to themselves or

their friends.”

“Then what do you think of the mate beckoning me with his dead hand to

follow him?”

“Why, you are raving, Obed; you saw that he had been much convulsed, and

that the limb, from the contraction of the sinews, was forcibly kept

down in the position it broke loose from--the spunyarn gave way, and of

course it started up--nothing wonderful in all this although it did at

the time somewhat startle me, I confess.”

“It may be so, it may be so. I don’t know,” rejoined he, “but taken

along with what I saw before”--Here his voice sank into so hollow and

sepulchral a tone as to be almost unintelligible. “But there is no use

in arguing on the subject. Answer me this, Lieutenant Cringle, and

truly, so help you God at your utmost need, did the mate leave the cabin

at any moment after I was wounded by the splinter?” And he seized one of

my hands convulsively with his iron paw, while he pointed up through the

open scuttle towards heaven with the other, which trembled like a reed.

The moon shone strong on the upper part of his countenance, while the

yellow smoky glare of the candle over which he bent, blending harshly

and inharmoniously with the pale silver light, fell full on his uncouth

figure, and on his long scraggy bare neck and chin and cheeks, giving

altogether a most unearthly expression to his savage features, from the

conflicting tints and changing shadows cast by the flickering moonbeams

streaming fitfully through the skylight, as the vessel rolled to and

fro, and by the large torchlike candle as it wavered in the night wind.

The Prince of the Powers of the Air might have sat for his picture by

proxy. It was just such a face as one has dreamed of after a hot supper

and cold ale, when the whisky had been forgotten--horrible, changing,

vague, glimmering, and undefined; and as if something was still wanting

to complete the utter frightfulness of his aspect, the splinter wound in

his head burst out afresh from his violent agitation, and streamed down

in heavy drops from his forehead, falling warm on my hand. I was much

shaken at being adjured in this tremendous way, with the hot blood

gluing our hands together, but I returned his grasp as steadily as I

could, while I replied, with all the composure he had left me, and that

would not have quite filled a Winchester bushel.

“He never left my side from the time he offered to take your place after

you had been wounded.”

He fell back against the locker as if he had been shot through the

heart. His grasp relaxed, he drew his breath very hard, and I thought

he had fainted.

“Then it was not him that stood by me; I thought it might have been him,

but I was a fool, it was impossible.”

He made a desperate effort to recover his composure, and succeeded.

“And, pray, Master Obediah,” quoth I, “what did you see?”

He answered me sharply--“Never mind, never mind--here, Potomac, lend us

a hand to sling a cot for this gentleman; there now, see the lanyard is

sound, and the lacing all tight and snug--now put that mattrass into it,

and there is linen in the chest.”

In a trice my couch was rigged, all comfortable, snow-white linen, nice

pillow, soft mattrass, &c. and Obed, filling me another tumbler, helped

himself also; he then drank to my health, wished me a sound sleep,

promised to call me at daylight, and as he left the cabin he said, “Mr

Cringle, had it been my object to have injured you, I would not have

waited until now. You are quite safe so far as depends on me, so take

your rest--good night, once more.”

I tumbled into bed, and never once opened my eyes until Obed called me

at daylight, that is, at five in the morning, according to his promise.

By this time we were well in with the Cuba shore; the land might be two

miles from us, as we could see the white surf. Out at sea, although all

around was clear as crystal, there was nothing to be seen of the Gleam

or Firebrand, but there were ten or twelve fishing canoes, each manned

with from four to six hands, close aboard of us;--we seemed to have got

becalmed in the middle of a small fleet of them. The nearest to us

hailed in Spanish, in a very friendly way.

“Como estamos Capitan, que hay de nuevo; hay algo de bueno, para los

pobres Pescadores?” and the fellow who had spoken laughed loudly.

The Captain desired him to come on board, and then drew him aside,

conversing earnestly with him. The Spanish fisherman was a very

powerful man; he was equipped in a blue cotton shirt, Osnaburg trowsers,

sandals of untanned bullock’s hide, a straw hat, and wore the eternal

greasy red sash and long knife. He was a bold, daring looking fellow,

and frequently looked frowningly on me, and shook his head impatiently,

while the Captain, as it seemed, was explaining to him who I was. Just

in this nick of time my friend Potomac handed up my uniform coat, (I had

previously been performing my ablutions on deck in my shirt and

trowsers,) which I put on, swab and all, thinking no harm. But there

must have been mighty great offence nevertheless, for the fisherman, in

a twinkling, casting a fierce look at me, jumped overboard like a

feather, clearing the rail like a flying fish, and swam to his canoe

that had shoved off a few paces.

When he got on board he stood up and shook his clenched fist at Obed,

shouting, “Picaro, traidor, Ingleses hay abordo, quieres enganarnos!” He

then held up the blade of his paddle, a signal which all the canoes

answered in a moment in the same manner, and then pulled towards the

land, from whence a felucca, invisible until that moment, now swept out,

as if she had floated up to the surface by magic, for I could see

neither creek nor indentation on the shore, nor the smallest symptom of

any entrance to a port or cove. For a few minutes the canoes clustered

round this necromantic craft, and I could notice that two or three hands

from each of them jumped on board; they then paddled off in a string,

and vanished one by one amongst the mangrove bushes as suddenly as the

felucca had appeared. All this puzzled me exceedingly I looked at Obed

he was evidently sorely perplexed.

“I had thought to have put you on board a British vessel before this, or

failing that, to have run down, and landed you at St Jago, Mr Cringle,

as I promised; but you see I am prevented by these honest men there.

Get below, and as you value your life, and, I may say, mine, keep your

temper, and be civil.”

I did as he suggested but peeped out of the cabin skylight to see what

was going on, notwithstanding. The felucca was armed with a heavy

carronade on a pivot, and as full of men as she could hold, fierce, half

naked, savage looking fellows,--she swept rapidly up to us, and closing

on our larboard quarter, threw about five-and-twenty of her genteel

young people on board, who immediately secured the crew, and seized

Obed. However, they, that is, the common sailors, seemed to have no

great stomach for the job, and had it not been for the fellow I had

frightened overboard, I don’t think one of them would have touched him.

Obed bore all this with great equanimity.

“Why, Francisco,” he said, to this personage, in good Spanish, “why,

what madness is this? your suspicions are groundless; it is as I tell

you, he is my prisoner, and whatever he may have been to me, he can be

no spy on you.”

“Cuchillo entonces,” was the savage reply.

“No, no,” persisted Obediah, “get cool, man, get cool; I am pledged that

no harm shall come to him; and farther I have promised to put him ashore

at St Jago, and I will be as good as my word.”

“You can’t if you would,” rejoined Francisco; “the Snake is at anchor

under the Moro.”

“Then he must go with us.”

“We shall see as to that,” said the other; then raising his voice he

shouted to his ragamuffins, “Comrades, we are betrayed; there is an

English officer on board, who can be nothing but a spy; follow me!”

And he dashed down the companion ladder, knife in hand, while I sprung

through the small scuttle, like a rat out of one hole when a ferret is

put in at the other, and crept as close to Obed as I could; Francisco

when he missed me, came on deck again. The Captain had now seized a

cutlass in one hand, and held a cocked pistol in the other. It appeared

he had greater control, the nature of which I now began to comprehend,

over the felucca’s people, than Francisco bargained for, as the moment

the latter went below, they released him, and went forward in a body.

My persecutor again advanced close up to me, seized me by the collar

with one hand, and tried to drag me forward, brandishing his naked knife

aloft in the other.

Obed promptly caught his sword-arm--“Francisco,” he exclaimed, still in

Spanish, “fool, madman, let go your hold! let go, or by the Heaven above

us, and the hell we are both hastening to, I will strike you dead!”

The man paused, and looked round to his own people, and seeing one or

two encouraging glances and gestures amongst them, he again attempted to

drag me away from my hold on the tafferel. Something flashed in the

sun, and the man fell! his left arm, the hand of which still clutched my

throat, while mine grasped its wrist, had been shred from his body by

Obed’s cutlass, like a twig; and, oh God, my blood curdles to my heart

even now when I think of it! the dead fingers kept the grasp

sufficiently long to allow the arm to fall heavily against my side,

where it hung for some seconds, until the muscles relaxed and it dropped

on the deck. The instant that Obed struck the blow, he caught hold of

my hand, threw away his cutlass, and advanced towards the group of the

felucca’s men, pistol in hand.

“Am I not your captain, ye cowards--have I ever deceived you yet--have I

ever flinched from heading you where the danger was greatest--have you

not all that I am worth in your hands, and will you murder me now?”

“Viva, el noble capitan, viva!”

And the tide turned as rapidly in our favour as it had lately ebbed

against us.

“As for that scoundrel, he has got no more than he deserves,” said he,

turning to where Francisco lay, bleeding like a carcass in the shambles;

“but tie up his arm some of ye, I would be sorry he bled to death.”

It was unavailing, the large arteries had emptied his whole lifeblood

he had already gone to his account.

This most miserable transaction, with all its concomitant horrors, to my

astonishment, did not seem to make much impression on Obed, who now,

turning to me, said, with perfect composure,--“You have there another

melancholy voucher for my sincerity,” pointing to the body; “but time

presses, and you must now submit to be blindfolded, and that without

further explanation at present.”

I did so with the best grace I could, and was led below, where two

beauties, with loaded pistols, and a drawn knife each, obliged me with

their society, one seated on each side of me on the small locker, like

two deputy butchers ready to operate on an unfortunate veal. It had now

fallen dead calm, and, from what I heard, I conjectured that the felucca

was sweeping in towards the land with us in tow, for the sound of the

surf grew louder and louder. By and by we seemed to slide beyond the

long smooth swell into broken water, for the little vessel pitched sharp

and suddenly, and again all was still, and we seemed to have sailed into

some landlocked cove. From the loud echo of the voices on deck, I

judged that we were in a narrow canal, the banks of which were

reflecting the sound; presently this ceased, and although we skimmed

along as motionless as before, I no longer heard the splash of the

felucca’s sweeps; the roar of the sea gradually died away, until it

sounded like distant thunder, and I thought we touched the ground now

and then, although slightly. All at once the Spanish part of the crew,

for we still had a number of the felucca’s people with us, sang out

“Palanca,” and we began to pole along a narrow marshy lagoon, coming so

near the shore occasionally, that our sides were brushed by the branches

of the mangrove bushes. Again the channel seemed to widen, and I could

hear the felucca once more ply her sweeps. In about ten minutes after

this the anchor was let go, and for a quarter of an hour, nothing was

heard on deck but the bustle of the people furling sails, coiling down

the ropes, and getting every thing in order, as is usual in coming into

port. It was evident that several boats had boarded us soon after we

anchored, as I could make out part of the greetings between the

strangers and Obed, in which my own name recurred more than once. In a

little while all was still again, and Obed called down the companion to

my guards, that I might come on deck,--a boon I was not long in availing

myself of.

We were anchored nearly in the centre of a shallow swampy lagoon, about

a mile across, as near as I could judge; two very large schooners,

heavily armed, were moored ahead of us, one on each bow, and another

rather smaller lay close under our stern; they all had sails bent, and

every thing apparently in high order, and were full of men. The shore,

to the distance of a bow-shot from the water all around us, was low,

marshy, and covered with an impervious jungle of thick strong reeds and

wild canes, with here and there a thicket of mangroves; a little farther

off, the land swelled into lofty hills, covered to the very summit with

heavy timber, but every thing had a moist, green, steamy appearance, as

if it had been the region of perpetual rain. “Lots of yellow fever

here,” thought I, as the heavy rank smell of decayed vegetable matter

came off on the faint sickly breeze, and the sluggish fog banks crept

along the dull clay-coloured motionless surface of the tepid water.

The sea view was quite shut out--I looked all round and could discern no

vestige of the entrance. Right ahead there was about a furlong of land

cleared at the only spot which one could call a beach,--that is, a hard

shore of sand and pebbles. Had you tried to get ashore at any other

point, your fate would have been that of the Master of Ravenswood; as

fatal, that is, without the gentility; for you would have been

suffocated in black mud, in place of clean sea-sand. There was a long

shed in the centre of this cleared spot, covered in with boards, and

thatched with palm leaves; it was open below, a sort of capstan-house,

where a vast quantity of sails, anchors, cordage, and most kinds of sea

stores were stowed, carefully covered over with tarpawling. Overhead

there was a flooring laid along the couples of the roof, the whole

length of the shed, forming a loft of nearly sixty feet long, divided by

bulkheads into a variety of apartments, lit by small rude windows in the

thatch, where the crews of the vessels, I concluded, were occasionally

lodged during the time they might be under repair. The boat was manned,

and Obed took me ashore with him.

We landed near the shed I have described, beneath which we encountered

about forty of the most uncouth and ferocious-looking rascals that my

eyes had ever been blessed withal; they were of every shade, from the

woolly Negro and long-haired Indian, to the sallow American and fair

Biscayan; and as they intermitted their various occupations of mending

sails, fitting and stretching rigging, splicing ropes, making spun-yam,

coopering gun carriages, grinding pikes and cutlasses, and filling

cartridges, to look at me, they grinned and nodded to each other, and

made sundry signs and gestures which made me regret many a past

peccadillo that in more prosperous times I little thought on or repented

of, and I internally prayed that I might be prepared to die as became a

man, for my fate appeared to be sealed. The only ray of hope that shot

into my mind, through all this gloom, came from the respect the thieves,

one and all, paid the Captain; and, as I had reaped the benefit of

assuming an outward recklessness and daring, which I really did not at

heart possess, I screwed myself up to maintain the same port still, and

swaggered along, jabbering in my broken Spanish, right and left, and

jesting even with the most infamous-looking scoundrels of the whole

lot, while, God he knows, my heart was palpitating like a girl’s when

she is asked to be married. Obed led the way up a ladder into the loft,

where we found several messes at dinner; and passing through various

rooms, in which a number of hammocks were slung, we at length arrived at

the eastern end, which was boarded off into an apartment eighteen or

twenty feet square, lighted by a small port-hole in the end, about ten

feet from the ground. I could see several huts from this window, built

just on the edge of the high wood, where some of the country people

seemed to be moving about, and round which a large flock of pigs and

from twenty to thirty bullocks were grazing. All beyond, as far as the

eye could reach, was one continuous forest, without any vestige of a

living thing; not even a thin wreath of blue smoke evinced the presence

of a fellow-creature; I seemed to be hopelessly cut off from all

succour, and my heart again died within me.

“I am sorry to say you must consider yourself a prisoner here for a few

days,” said Obed.

I could only groan.

“But the moment the coast is clear, I will be as good as my word, and

land you at St Jago.”

I groaned again. The man was moved.

“I would I could do so sooner,” he continued; “but you see by how

precarious a tenure I hold my control over these people; therefore I

must be cautious, for your sake as well as my own, or they would make

little of murdering both of us, especially as the fellow who would have

cut your throat this morning has many friends amongst them; above all, I

dare not leave them for any purpose for some days. I must recover my

seat, in which, by the necessary severity you witnessed, I have been

somewhat shaken. So goodbye; there is cold meat in that locker, and

some claret to wash it down with. Don’t, I again warn you, venture out

during the afternoon or night. I will be with you betimes in the

morning. So goodbye so long. Your cot, you see, is ready slung.”

He turned to depart, when, as if recollecting himself, he stooped down,

and taking hold of a ring, he lifted up a trap door, from which there

was a ladder leading down to the capstan-house. “I had forgotten this

entrance; it will be more convenient for me in my visits.”

In my heart I believe he intended this as a hint that I should escape

through the hole at some quiet opportunity; and he was descending the

ladder, when he stopped and looked round, greatly mortified, as it

struck me.

“I forgot to mention that a sentry has been placed, I don’t know by

whose orders, at the foot of the ladder, to whom I must give orders to

fire at you, if you venture to descend. You see how the land lies; I

can’t help it.”

This was spoken in a low tone, then aloud--“There are books on that

shelf behind the canvass screen; if you can settle to them, they may

amuse you.”

He left me, and I sat down disconsolate enough. I found some Spanish

books, and a volume of Lord Byron’s poetry, containing the first canto

of Childe Harold, two numbers of Blackwood, with several other English

books and magazines, the names of the owners on all of them being

carefully erased.

But there was nothing else that indicated the marauding life of friend

Obediah, whose apartment I conjectured was now my prison, if I except a

pretty extensive assortment of arms, pistols, and cutlasses, and a range

of massive cases, with iron clamps, which were ranged along one side of

the room. I paid my respects to the provender and claret; the hashed

chicken was particularly good; bones rather large or so, but flesh white

and delicate. Had I known that I was dining upon a guana, or large wood

lizard, I scarcely think I would have made so hearty a meal. Long cork,

No. 2, followed ditto, No. 1; and as the shades of evening, as poets

say, began to fall by the time I had finished it, I toppled quietly into

my cot, said my prayers such as they were, and fell asleep.

It must have been towards morning, from the damp freshness of the air

that came through the open window, when I was roused by the howling of a

dog, a sound which always moves me. I shook myself; but before I was

thoroughly awake, it ceased; it appeared to have been close under my

window.

I was turning to go to sleep again, when a female, in a small suppressed

voice, sung the following snatch of a vulgar Port Royal ditty, which I

scarcely forgive myself for introducing here to polite society.

“Young hofficer come home at night,

Him give me ring and kisses;

Nine months, one picaniny white,

Him white almost like missis.

But missis fum my back wid switch,

Him say de shild for massa;

But massa say him”

The singer broke off suddenly, as if disturbed by the approach of some

one.

“Hush, hush, you old foolish--” said a man’s voice, in the same low

whispering tone; “you will waken de dronken sentry dere, when we shall

all be put in iron. Hush, he will know my voice more better.”

It was now clear that some one wished to attract my attention; besides,

I had a dreamy recollection of having heard both the male and female

voices before. I listened, therefore, all alive. The man began to sing

in the same low tone.

“Newfoundland dog love him master de morest

Of all de dog ever I see;

Let him starve him, and kick him, and cuff him de sorest,

Difference none never makee to he.”

There was a pause for a minute or two.

“It no use,” the same voice continued; “him either no dere, or he won’t

hear us.”

“Stop,” said the female, “stop; woman head good for someting. I know who

he shall hear.--Here, good dog, sing psalm; good dog, sing psalm,’ and

thereupon a long loud melancholy howl rose wailing through the night

air.

“If that be not my dear old dog Sneezer, it is a deuced good imitation

of him,” thought I.

The woman again spoke--“Yowl leetle piece more, good dog,” and the howl

was repeated.

I was now certain. By this time I had risen, and stood at the open

window; but it was too dark to see any thing distinctly below. I could

barely distinguish two dark figures, and what I concluded was the dog

sitting on end between them.

“Who are you?” “What do you want with me?”

“Speak softly, massa, speak softly, or the sentry may hear us, for all

de rum I give him.”

Here the dog recognised me, and nearly spoiled sport altogether; indeed

it might have cost us our lives, for he began to bark and frisk about,

and to leap violently against the end of the capstan-house, in vain

endeavours to reach the window.. “Down, Sneezer, down, sir; you used to

be a dog of some sense; down.”

But Sneezer’s joy had capsized his discretion, and the sound of my voice

pronouncing his name drove him mad altogether, and he bounded against

the end of the shed, like a battering-ram.

“Stop, man, stop,” and I held down the bight of my neckcloth, with an

end in each hand. He retired, took a noble run, and in a trice hooked

his forepaws in the handkerchief, and I hauled him in at the window.

“Now, Sneezer, down with you, sir, down with you, or your rampaging will

get all our throats cut.” He cowered at my feet, and was still as a lamb

from that moment. I stepped to the window. “Now, who are you, and what

do you want?” said I.

“Ah, massa, you no know me?”

“How the devil should I? Don’t you see it is as dark as pitch?”

“Well, massa, I will tell you; it is me, massa.”

“I make no great doubt of that; but who may you be?”

“Lord, you are de foolis person now; make me talk to him,” said the

female. “Massa, never mind he, dat stupid fellow is my husband, and

surely massa know me?”

“Now, my very worthy friends, I think you want to make yourselves known

to me; and if so, pray have the goodness to tell me your names, that is,

if I can in any way serve you.”

“To be sure you can, massa; for dat purpose I come here.”

The woman hooked the word out of his mouth. “Yes, massa, you must know

me is Nancy, and dat old stupid is my husband Peter Mangrove, him who”

here Peter chimed in--“Yes, massa, Peter Mangrove is de person you have

de honour to address, and”--here he lowered his voice still more,

although the whole dialogue from the commencement had been conducted in

no higher tone than a loud whisper--“we have secured one big large

canoe, near de mout of dis dam hole, which, wid your help, I tink we

shall be able to launch troo de surf; and once in smoot water, den no

fear but we shall run down de coast safely before de wind till we reach.

St Jago.”

My heart jumped against my ribs. Here’s an unexpected chance, thought

I. “But, Peter, how in the name of mumbo jumbo, came you here?”

“Why, massa, you do forget a leetle, dat I am a Creole negro, and not a

naked tatooed African, whose exploits, dat is de wonderful ting him

never do in him’s own country, him get embroidered and pinked in

gunpowder on him breach; beside, I am a Christian gentleman like

youshef; so d----n mumbo jumbo, Massa Cringle.”

I saw where I had erred. “So say I, Peter, d----n mumbo jumbo

particularly; but how came you here, man? tell me that.”

“Why, massa, I was out in de pilot boat schooner, wid my wife here, and

five more hands, waiting for de outward bound, finking no harm, when dem

piratical rascal catch we, and carry us off. Yankee privateer bad

enough; but who ever hear of pilot being carry off? blasphemy dat--carry

off pilot! Who ever dream of such a ting? every shivilized peoples

respect pilot--carry off pilot!--oh Lord” and he groaned in spirit for

several seconds.

“And the dog?” enquired I.

“Oh, massa, I could not leave him at home; and since you was good enough

to board him wid us, he has messed wid us, ay and slept wid us; and when

we started last, although he showed some dislike at going on board, I

had only to say, Sneezer, we go look for you master and he make such a

bound, dat he capsize my old woman dere, heel, over head; oh dear, what

display, Nancy, you was exhibit!”

“Hold your tongue, Peter; you hab no decency, you old willain.”

“Well, but, Peter, speak out; when are we to make the attempt? where are

the rest of your crew?”

“Oh dear! oh dear! dat is de worstest; oh dear!” and he began to cry and

sob like the veriest child. “Oh, massa,”--after he had somewhat

recovered himself;--“Oh, massa, dese people debits. Why, de make all de

oder on board walk de plank, wid two ten pound shot, one at each foot.

Oh, if you had seen de clear shining blue skin, as de became leetle and

leetle, and more leetler, down far in de clear green sea! Oh dear! oh

dear! Only to tink dat each wavering black spot was fellow-creature

like one-shef, wid de heart’s blood warm in his bosom at de very

instant of time we lost sight of him for ever!”

“God bless me,” said I; “and how did you escape, and the black dog, and

the black--ahem--beg pardon--your wife I mean; how were you spared?”

“Ah, massa! I can’t say; but bad as de were, de seemed to have a liking

for brute beasts, so dem save Sneezer, and my wife, and myshef; we were

de only quadrupeds saved out of de whole crew Oh dear! Oh dear!”

“Well, well; I know enough now. I will spare you the pain of any farther

recital, Peter; so tell me what I am to do.”

“Stop, massa, till I see if de sentry be still sound. I know de fellow,

he was one on dem; let me see”--and I heard him through the loose

flooring boards walk to the foot of the trap ladder leading up to my

berth. The soliloquy that followed was very curious of its kind. The

negro had excited himself by a recapitulation of the cruelties exercised

on his unfortunate shipmates, and the unwarrantable caption of himself

and rib, a deed that in the nautical calendar would rank in atrocity

with the murder of a herald or the bearer of a flag of truce. He kept

murmuring to himself, as he groped about in the dark for the sentry

“Catch pilot! who ever hear of such a ting? I suppose dem would have

pull down light-house, if dere had been any for pull. Where is dis

sentry rascal?--him surely no sober yet?”

The sentry had fallen asleep as he leant back on the ladder, and had

gradually slid down into a sitting position, with his head leaning

against one of the steps, as he reclined with his back towards it, thus

exposing his throat and neck to the groping paw of the black pilot.

“Ah--here him is, snoring heavy as my Nancy--well, dronk still; no fear

of him overhearing we--nice position him lie in--quite convenient--could

cut his troat now--slice him like a pumpkin--de debil is surely busy wid

me, Peter. I find de very clasp--knife in my starboard pocket beginning

to open of himshef.”

I tapped on the floor with my foot.

“Ah, tank you, Massa Tom--de debil nearly get we all in a scrape just

now. However, I see him is quite sound--de sentry dat is, for de oder

never sleep, you know.” He had again come under the window. “Now,

Lieutenant, in two word, to-morrow night at two bells, in de middle

watch, I will be here, and we shall make a start of it; will you

venture, sir?”

“Will I?--to be sure I will; but why not now, Peter? why not now?”

“Ah, massa, you no smell de daylight; near daybreak already, sir. Can’t

make try dis night, but to-morrow night I shall be here punctual.”

“Very well, but the dog, man? If he be found in my quarters, we shall

be blown, and I scarcely think he will leave me.”

“Garamighty! true enough, massa; what is to be done? De people know de

dog was catch wid me, and if he be found wid you, den de will sospect we

communication togidder. What is to be done?”

I was myself not a little perplexed, when Nancy whispered, “De dog have

more sense den many Christian person. Tell him he must go wid us dis

one night, no tell him dis night, else him won’t; say dis one night, and

dat if him don’t, we shall all be deaded; try him, massa.”

I had benefited by more extraordinary hints before now, although, well

as I knew the sagacity of the poor brute, I could not venture to hope it

would come up to the expectations of Mrs Mangrove. But I’ll try. “Here,

Sneezer, here, my boy; you must go home with Peter tonight, or we shall

all get into a deuced mess; so here, my boy, here is the bight of the

handkerchief again, and through the window you must go; come, Sneezer,

come.”

To my great joy and surprise, the poor dumb beast rose from where he had

coiled himself at my feet, and after having actually embraced me, by

putting his forepaws on my shoulders, as he stood on his hind legs, and

licked my face from ear to ear, uttering a low, fondling, nuzzling sort

of whine, like a nurse caressing a child, he at once leapt on the window

sill, put his forepaws through the handkerchief, and was dropped to the

ground again. I could immediately perceive the two dark figures of the

pilot and his wife, followed by the dog, glide away as noiselessly as if

they had been spirits of the night, until they were lost under the shade

of the thick jungle.

I turned in, and--what will not youth and fatigue do?--I fell once more

fast asleep, and never opened my eyes until Obed shook me in my cot

about eight o’clock in the morning.

“Good morning, Lieutenant. I have sent up your breakfast, but you don’t

seem inclined to eat it.”

“Don’t you believe it, my dear Obed. I have been sound asleep till this

moment; only stop till I have slipped on my--those shoes, if you please

thank you--waistcoat--that will do. Now--coffee, fish, yams, and

plantains, and biscuit, white as snow, and short as--and eggs and

zounds! claret to finish with?--Why, Obed, you surely don’t desire that

I should enjoy all these delicacies in solitary blessedness?”

“Why, I intend to breakfast with you, if my society be not

disagreeable.”

“Disagreeable! Not in the least, quite the contrary. That black

grouper looks remarkably beautiful. Another piece of yam, if you

please.--Shall I fill you a cup of coffee, Obed? For my own part, I

always stow the ground tier of my cargo dry, and then take a

topdressing. Write this down as an approved axiom with all thorough

breakfast eaters. Why, man, you are off your feed; what are you turning

up your ear for, in that incomprehensible fashion, like a duck in

thunder? A little of the claret--thank you. The very best butter I

have ever eaten out of Ireland--now, some of that avocado pear--and as

for biscuit, Leman never came up to it. I say, man,--hillo, where are

you?--rouse ye out of your brown study, man.”

“Did you hear that, Mr Cringle?”

“Hear what?--I heard nothing,” rejoined I; “but hand me over that land

crab.--Thank you, and you may send the spawl of that creeping thing

along with it; that guana. I had a dislike to eating a lizard at first,

but I have got over it somehow;--and a slice of ham, a small taste of

the unclean beast, Obed--peach-fed, I’ll warrant.”

There was a pause. The report of a great gun came booming along,

reverberated from side to side of the lagoon, the echoes growing shorter

and shorter, and weaker and weaker, until they growled themselves asleep

in a hollow rumble like distant thunder.

“Ha, ha! Dick Casket for a thousand! Old Blowhard has stuck in your

skirts, Master Obed--but Lord help me, man! let us finish our breakfast;

he won’t be here this half hour.”

I expected to see mine host’s forehead lowering like a thunder cloud

from my ill-timed funning; but to my surprise, his countenance

exhibited more amenity than I thought had been in the nature of the

beast, as he replied,--

“Why, lieutenant, the felucca put to sea last night, to keep a bright

look-out at the mouth of our cove here. I suppose that is him

overhauling some vessel.”

“It may be so;--hush! there’s another gun--Two!”

Obed changed countenance at the double report.

“I say, Obed, the felucca did not carry more than one gun when I saw

her, and she has had no time to load and fire again.”

He did not answer a word, but continued, with a piece of guana on the

end of, his fork in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, as if he

had been touched by the wand of a magician. Presently we heard one or

two dropping shots, quickly thickening into a rattle of musketry. He

threw down his food, picked up his hat, and trundled down stairs, as if

the devil had kicked him. “Pedro, que hay?” I could hear him say to

some one below, who appeared to have arrived in great haste, for he

gasped for breath.

“Aqui viene la feluca,” answered Pedro; “perseguido por dos Lanchas

Canoneras llenas de Gente.”

“Abordo entonces, abordo todo el mundo; arma arma, aqui vienen los

Engleses; arma, arma!”

And all from that instant was a regular hillabaloo. The drums on board

the schooners beat to quarters, a great bell, formerly the ornament of

some goodly ship, no doubt, which had been slung in the fork of a tree,

clanged away at a furious rate, the crews were hurrying to and fro,

shouting to each other in Creole Spanish, and Yankee English, while

every cannon-shot from the felucca or the boat guns came louder and

louder, and the small arms peppered away sharper and sharper. The

shouts of the men engaged, both friends and foes, were now heard, and I

could hear Obed’s voice on board the largest schooner, which lay full in

view from my window, giving orders, not only to his own crew, but to

those of the others. I heard him distinctly sing out, after ordering

them to haul upon the spring on his cable, “Now, men, I need not tell

you to fight bravely, for if you are taken every devil of you will be

hanged, so hoist away the signal,” and a small black ball flew up

through the rigging, until it reached the main topgallant-masthead of

the schooner, where it hung a moment, and in the next blew out in a

large black swallow-tailed flag, like a commodore’s broad pennant.

“Now,” shrieked he, “let me see who dares give in with this voucher for

his honesty flying aloft!” I twisted and craned myself out of the

window, to get a view of what--was going on elsewhere; however, I could

see nothing but Obed’s large schooner from it, all the other craft were

out of the range of my eye, being hid by the projecting roof of the

shed. The noise continued--the shouting rose higher than ever--the

other schooners opened their fire, both cannon and musketry; and from

the increasing vehemence of the Spanish exclamations, and the cheering

on board Obed’s vessels, I concluded the attacking party were having the

worst of it. My dog Sneezer now came jumping and scrambling up the trap

stair, his paws slipping between the bars at every step, his mouth wide

open, and his tongue hanging out, while he barked, and yelled, and

gasped to get at me, as if his life depended on it. After him I could

see the round woolly pate of Peter Mangrove, Esquire, as excited

apparently as the dog, and as anxious to get up; but they got jammed

together in the small hatch, and stuck there, man and beast. At length

Peter spoke--

“Now, sir, now! Nancy has run on before to the beach wid two paddles;

now for it, now for it.”

Down trundled master, and dog, and pilot. By this time there was no one

in the lower part of the shed, which was full of smoke, while the

infernal tumult on the water still raged as furiously as ever, the shot

of all sorts and sizes hissing, and splashing, and ricochetting along

the smooth surface of the harbour, as if there had been a sleet of

musket and cannonballs and grape. Peter struck out at the top of his

speed, Sneezer and I followed: we soon reached the jungle, dashed

through a path that had been recently cleared with a cutlass or

billhook, for the twigs were freshly shred, and in about ten minutes

reached the high wood. However, no rest for the wicked, although the

row seemed lessening now.

“Some one has got the worst of it,” said I.

“Never mind, massa,” quoth Peter, “or we shan’t get de betterest

ourshef.”

And away we galloped again, until I had scarcely a rag an inch square on

my back, or anywhere else, and my skin was tom in pieces by the prickly

bushes and spear grass. The sound of firing now ceased entirely,

although there was still loud shouting now and then.

“Push on, massa--dem will soon miss we.”

“True enough, Peter--but what is that?” as we came to a bundle of clouts

walloping about in the morass.

“De debil it must be, I tink,” said the pilot. “No, my Nancy it is,

sticking in the mud up to her waist; what shall us do? you fink, massa,

we hab time for can stop to pick she out?”

“Heaven have mercy, Peter--yes, unquestionably.”

“Well, massa, you know best.”

So we tugged at the sable heroine, and first one leg came home out of

the tenacious clay, with a plop, then the other was drawn out of the

quagmire. We then relieved her of the paddles, and each taking hold of

one of the poor half-dead creature’s hands, we succeeded in getting

down to the beach, about half a mile to leeward of the entrance to the

cove. We found the canoe there, plumped Nancy stem foremost into the

bottom of it for ballast, gathered all our remaining energies for a

grand shove, and ran her like lightning into the surf, till the water

flashed over and over us, reaching to our necks. Next moment we were

both swimming, and the canoe, although full of water, beyond the surf,

rising and falling on the long swell. We scrambled on board, set Nancy

to bale with Peter’s hat, seized our paddles, and skulled away like fury

for ten minutes right out to sea, without looking once about us, until a

musket-shot whistled over our heads, then another, and a third; and I

had just time to hold up a white handkerchief, to prevent a whole

platoon being let drive at us from the deck of his Britannic Majesty’s

schooner Gleam, lying-to about a cable’s length to windward of us, with

the Firebrand a mile astern of her out at sea. In five minutes we got

on board of the former.

“Mercy on me, Tom Cringle, and is this the way we are to meet again?”

said old Dick Gasket, as he held out his large, bony, sunburnt hand to

me. “You have led me a nice dance, in a vain attempt to redeem you from

bondage, Tom; but I am delighted to see you although I have not had the

credit of being your deliverer--very glad to see you, Tom; but come

along man, come down with me, and let me rig you, not quite a Stultze’s

fit, you know, but a jury rig you shall have, as good as Dick Casket’s

kit can furnish forth, for really you are in a miserable plight, man.”

“Bad enough indeed. Mr Casket--many thanks though--bad enough, as you

say; but I would that your boats crew were in so good a plight.”

Mr Gasket looked earnestly at me--“Why, I have my own misgivings,

Cringle; this morning at day-break, the Firebrand in company, we fell

in with an armed felucca. It was dead calm, and she was out of gun shot,

close in with the land. The Firebrand immediately sent the cutter on

board full armed, with instructions to me to man the launch, and arm

her with the boat-gun, and then to send both boats to overhaul the

felucca. I did so, standing in as quickly as the light air would take

me, to support them; the felucca all this while sweeping in shore as

fast as she could pull. But the boats were too nimble for her, and our

launch had already saluted her twice from the six pounder in the bow,

when the sea-breeze came thundering down in a white squall, that reefed

our gaff-topsail in a trice, and blew away a whole lot of light sails,

like so many paper-kites. When it cleared away, the devil a felucca,

boat, or any thing else, was to be seen. Capsized they could not have

been, for all three were not likely to have gone that way; and as to any

creek they could have run into, why we could see none. That they had

pulled in shore, however, was our conclusion; but here have we been, the

whole morning, firing signal guns every five minutes without success.”

“Did you hear no firing after the squall?” said I.

“Why, some of my people thought they did, but it was that hollow,

tremulous, reverberating kind of sound, that it might have been thunder;

and the breeze blew too strong to have allowed us to hear musketry a

mile and a half to windward. I did think I saw some smoke rise, and blow

off now and then, but” “But me no buts, Master Richard Casket; Peter

Mangrove here, as well as myself, saw your people pursue the felucca

into the lion’s den, and I fear they have been crushed in his jaws.” I

briefly related what we had seen--Casket was in great distress.

“They must have been taken, Cringle. The fools! to allow themselves to

be trepanned in this way. We must stand out and speak the corvette.

All hands make sail!”

I could not help smiling at the grandeur of Dick’s emphasis on the all,

when twenty hands, one-third of them boys, and the rest landsmen,

scrambled up from below, and began to pull and haul in no very

seamanlike fashion. He noticed it.

“A--h, Tom, I know what you are grinning at, but I fear it has been no

laughing matter to my poor boats crew--all my best hands gone, God help

me!”

Presently being under the Firebrand’s lee quarter, we lowered down the

boat and went on board, where, for the first time, the extreme

ludicrousness of my appearance and following flashed on me. There we

were all in a bunch, the dog, Mr and Mrs Mangrove, and Thomas Cringle,

gentleman, such in appearance as I shall shortly describe them.

Old Richard Gasket, Esq., first clambered up the side and made his bow

to the Hon. Captain Transom, who was standing near the gangway, on the

snow-white deck, amidst a group of officers, where every thing was in

the most apple-pie order, himself, both in mind and apparel, the most

polished concern in the ship; while the whole crew, with the exception

of the unfortunate absentees in the cutter, were scrambling, to get a

good view of us.

I have already said, that my uniform was torn to pieces; trowsers ditto;

my shoes had parted company in the quagmire; and as for hat, it was left

in my cot. I had a dirty bandage tied round my neck, performing the

twofold office of a cravat and a dressing to my wound; while the blood

from the scratches had dried into black streaks adown and across my face

and paws, and I was altogether so begrimed with mud that my mother would

not have known me. Dick made his salaam, and then took up a position

beside the sally-port, with an important face, like a showman

exhibiting wild beastesses, a regular “stir-him-up-with-a-long

pole” sort of look. I followed him “This is Lieutenant Cringle, Captain

Transom.”

“The devil it is!” said Transom, trying in vain to keep his gravity.

“Why, I see it is--How do you do, Mr Cringle? glad to see you.”

“This is Peter Mangrove, branch-pilot,” continued Casket, as Peter,

bowing, tried to slide past out of sight.

Till this instant I had not time to look at him--he was even a much

queerer-looking figure than myself. He had been encumbered with no

garment besides his trowsers when we started, and these had been

reduced, in the scramble through the brake, to a waistband and two knee

bands, from which a few shreds fluttered in the breeze, the rest of his

canvass having been entirely torn out of the bolt-ropes. For an upper

dress he had borrowed a waistcoat without sleeves from the purser of the

schooner, which hung loose and unbuttoned before, while behind, being

somewhat of the shortest, some very prominent parts of his stem frame

were disclosed, as even an apology for a shirt he had none. Being a

decent man, however, he had tied his large straw hat round his waist, by

strings fastened to the broad brims, which nearly met behind, so that

the crown covered his loins before, like a petard, while the sameness of

his black naked body was relieved by being laced with blood from

numberless lacerations.

Next came the female--“This is the pilot’s wife, Captain Transom,” again

sung out old Dick; but decency won’t let me venture on a description of

poor Nancy’s equipment, beyond mentioning, that one of the Gleam’s crew

had given her a pair of old trowsers, which, as a sailor has no bottom,

and Nancy was not a sailor, were most ludicrously scanty at top, and

devil another rag of any kind had the poor creature on, but a

handkerchief across her bosom. There was no standing all this; the crew

forward and in the waist were all on the broad grin, while the officers,

after struggling to maintain their gravity until they were nearly

suffocated, fairly gave in, and the whole ship echoed with the most

uproarious laughter; a young villain, whether a Mid or no I could not

tell, yelling out in the throng, “Hurra for Tom Cringle’s Tail!”

I was fairly beginning to lose countenance, when up jumped Sneezer to my

relief out of the boat, with an old cocked hat lashed on his head, a

marine’s jacket buttoned round his body, and his coalblack muzzle

bedaubed with pipe-clay, regularly monkeyfied, the momentary handiwork

of some wicked little reefers, while a small pipe sung out quietly, as

if not intended to reach the quarterdeck, although it did do so, “And

here comes the last joint of Mr Cringle’s Tail.” The dog began

floundering and jumping about, and walloping amongst the people, most of

whom knew him, and immediately drew their attention from me and my party

to himself; for away they all bundled forward, dog and men tumbling and

scrambling about like so many children, leaving the coast clear to me

and my attendants. The absurdity of the whole exhibition had for an

instant, even under the very nose of a proverbially taught hand, led to

freedoms which I had believed impossible in a man-of-war. However,

there was too much serious matter in hand, independently of any other

consideration, to allow the merriment created by our appearance to last

long.

Captain Transom, immediately on being informed how matters stood, with

seamanlike promptitude determined to lighten the Gleam, and send her in

with the boats, for the purpose of destroying the haunt of the pirates,

and recovering the men, if they were still alive; but before any thing

could be done, it came on to blow, and for a week we had great

difficulty in maintaining our position off the coast against the

strength of the gale and lee current.

It was on the Sunday morning after I had escaped that it moderated

sufficiently for our purpose, when both vessels stood close in, and

Peter and I were sent to reconnoitre the entrance of the port in the

gig. Having sounded and taken the bearings of the land, we returned on

board, when the Gleam’s provisions were taken out and her water started.

The ballast was then shifted, so as to bring her by the head, that she

might thus draw less water by being on an even keel, all sharp vessels

of her class requiring much deeper water aft than forward; the

corvette’s launch, with a 12-pound carronade fitted, was then manned

and armed with thirty seamen and marines, under the command of the

second lieutenant; the jolly boat and the two quarter boats, each with

twelve men, followed in a string, under the third lieutenant, the

master, and the senior midshipman; thirty picked hands were added to the

schooner’s crew, and I was desired to take the gig with six smart hands

and Peter Mangrove, and to accompany the whole as pilot; but to pull out

of danger so soon as the action commenced, so as to be ready to help any

disabled boat, or to carry orders from the commanding officer.

At nine in the morning, we gave three cheers, and leaving the corvette,

with barely forty hands on board, the Gleam made sail towards the

harbour’s mouth, with the boats in tow; but when we got within musket

shot of the entrance, the breeze failed us, when the order of sailing

was reversed, the boats now taking the schooner in tow, preceded by your

humble servant in the gig. We dashed safely through the small canal of

blue water, which divided the surf at the harbour’s mouth, having hit it

to a nicety; but when about a pistolshot from the entrance, the channel

narrowed to a muddy creek, not more than twenty yards wide, with high

trees, and thick underwood close to the water’s edge. All was silent,

the sun shone clown upon us like the concentrated rays of a burning

glass, and there was no breeze to dissipate the heavy dank mist that

hovered over the surface of the unwholesome canal, nor was there any

appearance of a living thing, save and except a few startled waterfowl,

and some guanoes on the trees, and now and then an alligator, like a

black log of charred wood, would roll off a slimy bank of brown mud,

with a splash into the water.

We rowed on, the schooner every now and then taking the ground, but she

was always quickly warped off again by a kedge; at length, after we had

in all proceeded, it might be, about a mile from the beach, we came to a

boom of strong timber clamped with iron, stretching across the creek.

We were not unprepared for this; one of two old 32-pound carronades,

which, in anticipation of some obstruction of the sort, had been got on

deck from amongst the Gleam’s ballast, and properly slung, was now made

fast to the middle timber of the boom, and let go, when the weight of it

sunk it to the bottom, and we passed on. We pulled on for about half a

mile further, when I noticed, high up on a sunny cliff, that shot boldly

out into the clear blue heavens, a small red flag suddenly run up to the

top of a tall, scathed, branchless palm tree, where it flared for a

moment in the breeze like the flame of a torch, and then as suddenly

disappeared. “Come, they are on the look-out for us I see.”

The hills continued to close on us as we advanced, and that so

precipitously, that we might have been crushed to pieces had half-a

dozen active fellows, without any risk to themselves, for the trees

would have screened them, simply loosened some of the fragments of rock

that impended over us, so threateningly, it seemed, as if a little

finger could have sent them bounding and thundering down the mountain

side; but this either was not the game of the people we were in search

of, or Obed’s spirit and energy had been crushed out of him by the heart

depressing belief that his hours were numbered, for no active

obstruction was offered.

We now suddenly rounded an abrupt corner of the creek, and there we were

full in front of the schooners, who, with the felucca in advance, were

lying in line of battle, with springs on their cables. The horrible

black pennant was, in the present instance, nowhere to be seen; indeed,

why such an impolitic step as ever to have shown it at all was taken in

the first attack, I never could understand; for the force was too small

to have created any serious fear of being captured, (unless indeed it

had been taken for an advanced guard, supported by a stronger,) while it

must have appeared probable to Obediah, that the loss of the two boats

would in all likelihood lead to a more powerful attempt, when, if it

were successful, the damning fact of having fought under such an

infernal emblem must have ensured a pirate’s death on the gibbet to

every soul who was taken, unless he had intended to have murdered all

the witnesses of it. But since proof in my person and the pilot’s

existed, now, if ever, was the time for mortal resistance, and to have

hoisted it, for they knew that they all fought with halters about their

necks. They had all the Spanish flag flying except the Wave, which

showed American colours, and the felucca, which had a white flag

hoisted, from which last, whenever our gig appeared, a canoe shoved off,

and pulled towards us. The officer, if such he might be called, also

carried a white flag in his hand. He was a daring-looking fellow, and

dashed up along-side of me. The incomprehensible folly of trying at

this time of day to cloak the real character of the vessels, puzzled me,

and does so to this hour. I have never got a clew to it, unless it was

that Obed’s strong mind had given way before his superstitious fears,

and others had now assumed the right of both judging and acting for him

in this his closing scene. The pirate officer at once recognised me,

but seemed neither surprised nor disconcerted at the strength of the

force which accompanied me. He asked me in Spanish if I commanded it; I

told him I did not, that the captain of the schooner was the senior

officer.

“Then will you be good enough, to go on board with me, to interpret for

me?”

“Certainly.”

In half a minute we were both on the Gleam’s deck, the crews of the

boats that had her in tow lying on their oars.

“You are the commander of this force?” said the Spaniard.

“I am,” said old Gasket, who had figged himself out in full puff, after

the manner of the ancients, as if he had been going to church, instead

of to fight; “and who the hell are you?”

“I command one of these Spanish schooners, sir, which your boats so

unwarrantably attacked a week ago, although you are at peace with Spain.

But even had they been enemies, they were in a friendly port, which

should have protected them.”

“All very good oysters,” quoth old Dick; “and pray was it an honest

trick of you to cabbage my young friend, Lieutenant Cringle there, as if

you had been slavers kidnapping the Bungoes in the Bight of Biafra, and

then to fire on and murder my people when sent in to claim him?”

“As to carrying off that young gentleman, it was no affair of ours; he

was brought away by the master of that American schooner; but so far as

regards firing on your boats, I believe they fired first. But the crews

are not murdered; on the contrary, they have been well used, and are now

on board that felucca. I am come to surrender the whole fifteen to

you.”

“The whole fifteen! and what have you made of the other twelve?”

“Gastados,” said the fellow, with all the sangfroid in the world,

“gastados, (spent or expended) by their own folly.”

“Oh, they are expended, are they? then give us the fifteen.”

“Certainly, but you will in this case withdraw your force, of course.”

“We shall see about that--go and send us the men.” He jumped down into

the canoe, and shoved off;--whenever he reached the felucca, he struck

the white flag, and hoisted the Spanish in its stead, and by hauling on

a spring, he brought her to cover the largest schooner so effectually,

that we could not fire a shot at her without going through the felucca.

We could see all the men leave this latter vessel in two canoes, and go

on board one of the other craft. There was now no time to be lost, so I

dashed at the felucca in the gig, and broke open the hatches, where we

found the captured seamen and their gallant leader, Lieutenant----, in a

sorry plight, expecting nothing but to be blown up, or instant death by

shot or the knife. We released them, and, sending to the Gleam for

ammunition and small arms, led the way in the felucca, by Mr Gasket’s

orders, to the attack, the corvette’s launch supporting us; while the

schooner with the other craft were scraping up as fast as they could.

We made straight for the largest schooner, which with her consorts now

opened a heavy fire of grape and musketry, which we returned with

interest. I can tell little of what took place till I found myself on

the pirate’s quarterdeck, after a desperate tussle, and having driven

the crew overboard, with dead and wounded men thickly strewn about, and

our fellows busy firing at their surviving antagonists, as they were

trying to gain the shore by swimming.

Although the schooner we carried was the Commodore, and commanded by

Obediah in person, yet the pirates, that is, the Spanish part of them,

by no means showed the fight I expected. While we were approaching, no

fire could be hotter, and their yells and cheers were tremendous; but

the instant we laid her along-side with the felucca, and swept her

decks with a discharge of grape from the carronade, under cover of which

we boarded on the quarter, while the launch’s people scrambled up at the

bows, their hearts failed, a regular panic overtook them, and they

jumped overboard, without waiting for a taste either of cutlass or

boarding-pike. The captain himself, however, with about ten Americans,

stood at bay round the long gun, which, notwithstanding their great

inferiority in point of numbers to our party, they manfully fired three

several times at us, after we had carried her aft; but we were so close

that the grape came past us like a round shot, and only killed one hand

at each discharge, whereas at thirty yards farther off, by having had

room to spread, it might have made a pretty tableau of the whole party.

I hailed Obed twice to surrender, while our people, staggered by the

extreme hardihood of the small group, hung back for an instant; but he

either did not hear me, or would not, for the only reply he seemed

inclined to make was by slewing round the gun so as to bring me on with

it, and the next moment a general rush was made, when the whole party

was cut down, with three exceptions, one of whom was Obed himself, who

getting on the gun, made a desperate bound over the men’s heads, and

jumped overboard. He struck out gallantly, the shot pattering round him

like the first of a thunder shower, but he dived apparently unhurt, and

I lost sight of him.

The other vessels having also been carried, the firing was all on our

side by this time, and I, along with the other officers, was exerting

myself to stop the butchery.

“Cease firing, men; for shame, you see they no longer resist.” And my

voice was obeyed by all except the fifteen we had released, who were

absolutely mad with fury-perfect fiends; such uncontrollable fierceness

I had never witnessed, indeed, I had nearly cut one of them down before

I could make them knock off firing.

“Don’t fire, sir,” cried I to one.

“Ay, ay, sir; but that scoundrel made me wash his shirts,” and he let

drive at a poor devil, who was squattering and swimming away towards the

shore, and shot him through the head.

“By heavens! I will run you through, if you fire at that man!” shouted

I to another, a marine, who was taking aim at no less a personage than

friend Obed, who had risen to breathe, and was swimming after the

others, but the very last man of all.

“No, by G--? he made me wash his trowsers, sir.”

He fired--the pirate stretched out his arms, turned slowly on his back,

with his face towards me. I thought he gave me a sort of “Et tu, Brute”

look, but I dare say it was fancy--his feet began to sink, and he

gradually disappeared, a few bubbles of froth and blood marking the spot

where he went down. He had been shot dead. I will not attempt to

describe my feelings at this moment, they burned themselves in on my

heart at the time, and the impression is indelible. Whether I had or

had not acted, in one sense, unjustly, by ousting myself so

conspicuously forward in the attempt to capture him, after what had

passed between us, forced itself upon my judgment. I had certainly

promised that I would, in no way that I could help, be instrumental in

his destruction or seizure, provided he landed me at St Jago, or put me

on board a friendly vessel. He did neither, so his part of the compact

might be considered broken; but then it was out of his power to have

fulfilled it; besides, he not only threatened my life subsequently, but

actually wounded me; still, however, on great provocation. But what “is

writ, is writ.” He has gone to his account, pirate as he was, murderer

if you will; yet I had, and still have, a tear for his memory,--and many

a time have I prayed on my bare knees that his blue agonized dying look

might be erased from my brain; but this can never be. What he had been

I never learned; but it is my deliberate opinion, that, with a clear

stage and opportunity, he would have forced himself out from the surface

of society for good or for evil. The unfortunates who survived him, but

to expiate their crimes on the gibbet at Port Royal, said he had joined

them from a New York privateer, but they knew nothing farther of him

beyond the fact, that by his skill and desperate courage, within a month

he had by common acclaim been elected captain of the whole band. There

was a story current on board the corvette, of a small trading craft,

with a person answering his description, having been captured in the

Chesapeake, by one of the squadron, and sent to Halifax for

adjudication, (the master, as in most cases of the kind, being left on

board,) which from that hour had never been heard of, neither vessel,

nor prize crew, nor captain, until two Americans were taken out of a

slaver, off the Cape de Verds by the Firebrand, about a year afterwards,

after a most brave and determined attempt to escape, both of whom were

however allowed to enter, but subsequently deserted off Sandy Hook by

swimming ashore, in consequence of a pressed hand hinting that one of

them, surmised to be Obed, had been the master of the vessel above

mentioned.

All resistance having ceased, the few of the pirates who escaped having

scampered into the woods, where it would have been vain to follow them,

we secured our prisoners, and at the close of a bloody day, for fatal

had it been to friend and foe, the prizes were got under weigh, and

before nightfall we were all at sea, sailing in a fleet, under convoy of

the corvette and Gleam.