VERY SHARP SHOOTING.
"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, in the kitchen of the Avery
house, "I am glad for thee. Thy brave son's share of the prize-money
taketh thee out of thy distresses. Thou wilt have more, if he
continueth to serve our good king after this fashion. Thee may be
proud of him."
"Rachel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, "you know I'm glad to have the money
and to pay my debts with it, but I wish it didn't come from plunder. I
can't help pitying all the people that have lost their ships and their
property."
"I also am sorry for them," said Rachel. "Doubtless, war is a sin and
an evil. I pray much for the return of peace. Thee should bear in
mind, though, that both sides have sinned, and that therefore both must
suffer while the war lasteth."
"Our American people are suffering terribly," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "I
wish I could send something to Washington's army. I have heard say
that the colonies are becoming exhausted, while England is as rich as
ever."
"She may be so," said Rachel, "but I have been at a Friends' meeting,
and some of the elderly men are good accountants. They had somewhat to
say concerning the matter of exhaustion."
"Oh, what did they say?" asked Mrs. Avery, at the ironing-board.
"Nobody can beat a lot of old Quakers at arithmetic."
"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "This was their testimony concerning
this dark and dreadful year, and concerning last year also. They
computed that for every American who fell in battle or died in camp,
fifteen more young men became of age, ready to take his place. The
army is not dying out. For every acre of land really laid waste by the
British, one hundred fresh acres of newly opened farms were put under
cultivation. For every ton of American shipping captured by the
British, five tons of new shipping were built in American shipyards,
and ten tons of English shipping were captured or destroyed by our
cruisers. Our commerce, therefore, dieth not rapidly. Thee should not
forget, too, that our girls who are coming of age are worth something
for the future prosperity of the country. None of them are killed in
battles, and nearly all of them get married soon. The elders
testified, moreover, that while we have lost the right to send all of
our productions to England, we have gained the right to trade with all
the rest of the world. We wax richer and more numerous, they said, and
the timid and the unbelieving boweth his head, and weepeth, and
declareth that this is our exhaustion."
"Hurrah for the Quakers!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "They are right! But,
Rachel, it is getting into September, and it is ever so long since we
have had any news from the _Noank_."
"Two more prizes came," replied Rachel, "and thy son Vine came back to
thee in safety."
"Yes," said his mother, "but it was only to go out with Sam Prentice in
that bark, for another privateering trip to the West Indies. I don't
care: I'm almost glad Vine isn't with General Schuyler's army and just
about to have a battle with Burgoyne."
"It'll be a hard one," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They say the British have
all the Six Nations with them this time."
"Anneke," said Rachel, "does thee not know the red men? I do. They
will dance and shout much, and they will take the king's presents.
They will do many murders, for a time, but all the British generals can
never turn Indians into soldiers. They may not be depended upon."
Poor General Burgoyne, struggling desperately among the mountains and
forests and swamps, was already beginning to understand the really
worthless character of his vaunted Indian allies. They were
skirmishers and scouts, truly, but they were not trustworthy soldiers.
At the same time, their presence in his camps did more than anything
else to rally against him the full power of the New York and New
England patriots. Many a man whose patriotism had been lukewarm or
wavering took down his rifle from its hooks and hurried away to do his
best to prevent the threatened great inroad of the Iroquois.
The ports of the Southern states as well as of the Northern were
sending out both public and private armed vessels, and the infant navy
of the United States was growing rapidly. It was beginning, also, to
establish for itself a high character for efficiency and daring. Even
when its first adventurous captains could not obtain ships that suited
them, they did wonders with old hulks and half-refitted merchantmen.
American shipyards were largely increasing their capacities, while
American sailors were proving that seamanship and courage were of more
importance than mere wood and canvas.
The autumn days that came were bright and beautiful, even along the
misty coasts of the British islands. There had been, previously, a
succession of severe storms and a host of craft had lingered in harbor,
awaiting the arrival of this fine weather. Now it was here, the seas
which bordered Britain, France, the Netherlands, and, away northward,
the Danish coast, the North Sea, and the Baltic, seemed to swarm with
sails. These were all too numerous for one craft more to attract
especial attention.
There were war-ships of all sorts and sizes, and of several
nationalities. These were all supposed by each other to be in somewhat
jealous and exclusive care of the welfare and conduct of their own
traders. One flag only was notably absent, as yet, and there were not
many seagoing Europeans, comparatively speaking, who had even so much
as seen the stars and stripes. This was the bright flag of the future,
nor was anybody ready to foresee that it would thereafter become of
great importance in the commerce of the world.
A schooner, apparently a merchantman, going along under easy sail, was
taking a course from the northward into the British Channel. There
were many two-masters in the North Sea carrying the Baltic and
Scandinavian trade, and this might be one of them. A sleepy British
line-of-battle ship in the distance, easterly, did not care to meddle
with her, flying as she did the Norway flag. She might be a
lumber-boat, with her hold full of barrel heads and staves, and her
deck cluttered with spare spars for the Hull builders.
A closer look at that same deck would have dismissed the spars from the
supposition, and certainly no ordinary lumber business could have
called for so numerous a crew.
One of these, a short and brawny man, was all the while busy with a
telescope, uttering pretty loudly his readings of all he saw. No doubt
he was a sailor familiar with these seas, and had been selected as a
lookout for that reason. "That line-o'-battle ship won't pay us any
attention, sir," he said. "We're getting well along past her. There
isn't a speck o' danger in sight but one."
"What's that, Groot?" said Captain Avery, arising from his seat upon a
coil of rope. "What do you see?"
"Revenue cutter, sir," replied Groot, "or I'm mistaken. She's
brig-rigged. Almost dead ahead. She'll try to overhaul us, sir."
"I a'most hope she will," said the captain, testily. "We'll keep right
on. We've sailed all the way 'round Scotland, and the best fun we've
had was goin' ashore for fish and to scare the people. We haven't
taken in a dollar's worth."
"Some o' the custom's cutters are likely craft," remarked a grizzled
seaman near him. "They're apt to be pretty well armed. It wouldn't
pay very well to tackle one of 'em. She might turn and tackle us."
"Well, Taber," said the captain, "we'll sheer away from her, of course,
but I won't run away very far, unless that there liner gets too nigh
us."
"She won't," said Groot. "She's taking in sail now. We're too small
game for her to chase after."
"We'll let out every inch of our own canvas, then," suddenly shouted
the captain. "I've an idea in my head. All hands prepare for action!
My notion is that that feller's right there on the lookout for us. By
this time every British captain has heard that we are cruisin' 'round.
'Bout ship! Cast loose that pivot-gun. We may have to try a shot with
it in less'n half an hour. Taber, go to the wheel. Men! I think
we're goin' to be waked up!"
His further orders went out fast, and every man on board seemed to feel
as if a kind of relief had come. Day after day, most of the time in
bad weather, they had beaten along the Irish coasts, and then the
Scotch. The only important ships they had seen had been French or
British cruisers, or else merchantmen which were altogether too near an
armed protector. For fishing boats and mere coasters they had no
appetite. It had, therefore, been only dull business for overcrowded,
uncomfortable men, eager for adventures and prize-money.
The sails went out, and as they caught the breeze the _Noank_ sprang
gayly forward.
"That's it, sir," said Groot, lowering his glass. "She was hove to
when I first sighted her. She'll cross our course next tack, and there
isn't another keel anywhere near us."
"That's our luck," said the captain. "I guess we can handle any
custom-house boat. I know what their armaments are, mostly. They're
all good runners, but they don't count on much resistance from
smugglers, and their guns are short-nosed."
If he had been on board of the brig he was speaking of at that moment,
he might have changed his opinion a little. A revenue protector she
was, assuredly, and she was more than a mere cutter. She was well
manned, well armed. It looked, indeed, as if what might be her
ordinary ship's company had been reenforced, perhaps by a detail from a
man-of-war. Her commander was a regular navy lieutenant, and he was a
seamanlike old fellow. The four guns each broadside that she carried
were the long six-pound chasers that were then going into the new
revenue service vessels, and they were good pieces for their caliber.
She was a dangerous customer for the kind of antagonist she was
expected to meet.
"Mr. Tracy," said a young officer on her quarter-deck to the gray
lieutenant, "what do you think of her, sir?"
"My boy," replied his commander, "she's the chap we're here for. She
has just the style o' foremast and tops'l that Syme told us of. That's
the Yankee. I can't believe, though, that she's all he said she was.
The fellow was badly scared, you know."
"We'll knock some splinters out of her, and take her in, then," laughed
the young man, jauntily. "You were right, sir, in coming this way.
The others missed her."
"We won't do that," said Tracy. "All hands clear away for action! We
are going to take that American privateer!"
"Ay, ay, sir!" came cheerily back, and the crew sprang away in genuine
British readiness for anything like a brush with an enemy.
An ugly antagonist the _Arran_ was likely to be, and she was sure of
good handling. She was speedy, too, and the two vessels were all the
while nearing each other. It was to be noted, nevertheless, as Captain
Avery had said, that at the same time they were getting away out of
reach of the overpowerful ship of the line.
"I'm going to strike first," he remarked, "and I mean to hit hard.
Ready, Up-na-tan! Williams, pull down that Norway bunting, and run up
the stars and stripes! We'll fight under our own flag to-day. I'll
cripple that fellow or take him. If I don't, we're bound for a British
prison, instead of Amsterdam."
"That's so, sir," said Groot. "She's a pretty big bird for us, I'm
thinking."
"Big or little, we'll fight her! Three cheers for the flag!" sang out
the captain.
The three cheers were rousers, and the _Noank_ gained a point by it.
Lieutenant Tracy had been using his glass just then, and he angrily
roared out:--
"Fletcher, my boy! If they haven't challenged us! Give 'em a
broadside! Hurrah! They mean to show fight!"
Good gunners were those mariners of the _Arran_. Well sent was that
broadside; and in a moment more Captain Avery was leaning over his port
bulwark, and was making a somewhat serious examination.
"Hurrah!" he shouted in his turn. "So much for ice-fender timbers and
planking. Two shot struck fair and didn't go through. Up-na-tan, let
fly! Show 'em the difference!"
The Manhattan did not obey at once. He was sighting, sighting,
sighting, for almost a minute, and the men at the broadside guns were
following his example.
"Fire!" shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating
pause.
[Illustration: THE FIGHT WITH THE ARRAN. "'Fire!' shouted the captain,
and even then there was an irritating pause."]
"Ugh!" grunted the red man, at last. "Ole chief wait and see brig
bowsprit. Send shot behind it."
The long eighteen spoke out, and was instantly followed by the three
sixes on that side of the _Noank_. It was at the very moment when
Lieutenant Tracy remarked, inquiringly:--
"What? Don't they mean to answer us? You don't say they'll surrender
without firing a shot? That isn't like 'em, now--"
His next utterance was much louder.
"George!" he shouted. "There goes my bowsprit! The jolly-boat's
knocked into matchwood! I declare! There's a hole in the mains'l! Is
anybody hurt?"
"Not a man, sir!" shouted back Fletcher, cheerfully. "We'll give it to
'em!"
The brig had been already going about, and her other broadside was as
well directed as the first. It would have been bad for the _Noank_ but
for her heavy timbers and the lightness of Tracy's metal. She was
hulled in three places, and there was a ragged split in her foresail.
It did not prevent her going about, however, and her next trio of iron
messengers were as well aimed as were the Englishman's.
"They hulled us, sir," reported the _Arran's_ sailing-master. "No
great harm. Three men hurt by splinters. The after rigging's cut a
bit. We must finish that chap, sir."
"That cursed long gun o' theirs!" growled Tracy, fiercely. "Captain
Syme told me, and I hardly believed him. That's what may play the
mischief with us. I wish we were at broadsides with her."
That was precisely the advantage which Captain Avery did not intend to
give him, right away, and the _Arran_, losing her bowsprit, was not by
any means so difficult to keep away from or to outmanoeuvre.
Slowly, carefully, Up-na-tan had again sighted his gun and measured his
distance. It was tantalizing to watch him as he doggedly refused to
throw away a shot.
"Ugh! Whoo-oop!" he yelled, as his lanyard touched the priming of his
gun. "Now see! Ole chief take 'em aft!"
"I wish he'd do as well for one end of her as he did for the other,"
muttered the captain.
"He's done it, sir!" exclaimed Guert, for he had borrowed the captain's
telescope.
"That Indian's a gunner!" said Groot, with emphasis. "I never saw one
to beat him. I've seen pretty good marksmen, too."
The peculiar accuracy of eye born in or acquired by the old red man was
a disastrous gift for the British revenue brig. Almost too far aft did
the shot hit her, but in it went, and all her rudder gear was useless
in a second of time. She could no longer answer her wheel, and began
to lurch about at the mercy of wind and wave.
Fierce indeed were the execrations of her helpless officers and crew.
All their courage and seamanship were of no use, now. Their guns might
as well have been made of wood, and their jaunty brig had become as
clumsy and unmanageable as a raft. Moreover, the terrible American was
speeding nearer, and only a few minutes went by before there came a
loud-voiced demand for her surrender to the--
"United States armed cruiser _Noank_, Captain Lyme Avery."
"His Britannic Majesty's brig _Arran_, Lieutenant Tracy. We surrender,
of course. You could sink us as we are now. All the luck's yours."
"We'll come alongside," said Avery.
"I wish I had a right to board him when he comes," growled Tracy, as
his flag came down. "There'd be some satisfaction in that."
A few minutes later he had changed that opinion, for an unexpected
torrent of men poured over his bulwarks from the _Noank_.
"'Pon my soul!" he exclaimed. "What a crew she has! They outnumber us
two to one. It's no disgrace at all!"
All the British tars felt relieved in their minds after a good look at
their victors. The result of the fight was not to be a discredit to
them, they said, and the American sailors hailed them merrily. There
had been no killing on either side, and there was no cause for bad
temper. The best shots had decided the fight, and all true seamen
could accept the consequences.
"Lieutenant Tracy," said Captain Avery, "we don't want your brig.
We'll take out of her all that suits us, and then you can drift around
till help gets to you. Or you can patch up and work your way into some
port or other."
"I can manage it," said the Englishman, ruefully. "We captured a
French smuggler yesterday, and now a deal o' that luck is yours instead
of ours. You rebels are holding out wonderfully."
"So is England," laughed Captain Avery. "You won't give up, and we
won't. I guess you'll have to, though, one o' these days."
"Never!" said Tracy, sturdily. "All the colonies'll have to come back
under the king, sooner or later."
"You wait and see," said the captain.
The loyal-hearted lieutenant, however, had expressed no more than the
almost undoubting faith of the great body of his countrymen. They were
simply unable to believe that the Americans could succeed.
Down into the hold of the _Arran_ had dashed the men of the _Noank_.
Tackle had been quickly rigged at the hatches.
One of the commands given had related to a search for powder and shot,
and the entire supply of the brig was now coming up, to be transferred
to the schooner. It was a timely winning, for her stock had begun to
run low.
"It's a good thing for us," said her captain and crew, as they secured
it.
Anything and everything in the nature of arms and ammunition,
furniture, cutlery, table goods, bales of woollens, and packages of
silks taken from the French smuggler, more than a little tanned
leather, lots of miscellaneous stuff not yet precisely known as to its
character, made up the unexpectedly valuable plunder of the
smuggler-capturing brig.
There was no time to transfer her cannon, and these were left behind,
spiked. Her spare sails went, however, with a good yawl-boat and some
extra light spars. Then the _Noank_ cast off, and her crew gave their
crestfallen British acquaintances three rounds of hearty cheers.
"Captain Avery," shouted Tracy, "you're a good fellow, but Fletcher and
I hope we may meet you again, some day, with better luck to our guns."
"All right!" responded the captain. "May you command a forty-four and
I another. Then the United States'll own one more prime ship that used
to be the king's. Hurrah!"