HALIFAX HARBOUR.--LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS.--DANGEROUS EXPEDITION THROUGH
THE ICE.--LORD SHOULDHAM'S FLEET WITH LORD HOWE'S ARMY ARRIVES.--SAIL
FOR NANTUCKET ROADS.--BOSTON CANNONADED.--WATERING-PARTY ON SHORE.--
CAPTURE WHALING SLOOP RANGER.--CRUISE IN HER WITH GRAMPUS AND TOM
ROCKETS.--HER SKIPPER'S TRICK DEFEATED.--REACH HALIFAX.--ORDERED ON
BOARD CHATHAM.--SAIL FOR NEW YORK.--GENERAL WASHINGTON HOLDS POSSESSION
OF THE CITY.
The harbour of Halifax is a very fine one. A thousand ships may anchor
there in safety. It is our chief naval station in North America. The
town, which is a handsome one, stands on a peninsula, and rises
gradually from the water's edge, where there are numerous wharves,
alongside which ships can lie to discharge their cargoes. We found in
the harbour the Cerberus frigate, Captain Symonds, (see Note 1), hove
down alongside the wharf, as also the Savage sloop of war, wearing
Commodore Arbuthnot's broad pennant.
The inhabitants cordially welcomed our arrival, as they were in hourly
expectation of an attack from a body of rebels who were said to be
marching on the town, while the organised force existing for its defence
was very small. At length an express arrived from the interior, stating
that the enemy were at the distance of about twenty miles, at a small
village of which they had taken possession. We were instantly ordered
under arms to protect the dockyard, and fully expected to have warm
work. The people who formed the rebel bands had been instigated to
revolt by the revolutionists of the southern colonies, who had formed a
plan at this time to invade Canada, which happily proved abortive. They
themselves, as far as I could learn, had no real cause of complaint.
After we had waited for some time in expectation of an attack, notice
was brought us that the rebels had plundered and burned the village
where they had quartered themselves, and then retired. We were
therefore able to employ all hands in refitting the ship, a work to us
of the greatest importance. The cold, however, was so great that we
suffered no little inconvenience from exposure to it. All the meat, I
remember, which came on board, was frozen so hard that we were
invariably obliged to cut it up into pieces with a cross-saw, to serve
it out to the messes. Quantities of fish also of a peculiarly fine
flavour were to be picked up daily, frozen to death, on the surface of
the ice, thrown up by the united action of the tide and sea. As there
were no masts and spars in the dockyard, we found that we should be
obliged to send a party into the woods, fully ten miles from the town,
to cut down trees suitable for the purpose. I was ordered to accompany
the party appointed for this object. My friend Delisle was with me, and
Tom Rockets went as my servant.
Having provided ourselves with blankets, provisions, cooking utensils,
and other means of making ourselves comfortable, away we trudged over
the snow, following our guide, John Nobs by name, who was to show us
where we might find the sort of timber we required. It was the first
time I had ever been in an American forest. The deep silence which
reigned around, and the perfect solitude were very impressive. The tall
leafless trees, springing up out of the sheet of snow which covered the
whole face of nature, were the only objects to be seen.
We were merry enough as we tramped away in the keen, pure air over the
crisp snow. As some thirty pair of feet, stepping out together, went
crunch--crunch--crunch--the noise was so loud, that we were obliged to
raise our voices to make ourselves heard. Delisle and I marched
directly after our leader old Nobs, our men following, laughing,
talking, and singing, as the mood seized them.
At length, having gone some way through the forest, Nobs began to look
about him attentively. He was not a man of many words.
"That's 'um," said he, pointing with his chin to some tall, straight
fir-trees, up to which he had led us. We saw also that a considerable
number of the same description grew in the neighbourhood.
"I suppose, then, we may call a halt?" said I.
Nobs nodded. We had been told that he would show us how to build some
huts for sheltering our party.
"Some on you with axes come along," said he, turning to the men, and
away he trudged till we reached a clump of graceful, white-stemmed
birch-trees. Scoring down the stems, he quickly ripped off huge sheets
of bark, some five and six feet long, and two and three broad. The men
followed his example, and we soon had as much as the whole party could
carry.
"Stay, that won't do alone," observed Nobs; and he commenced cutting
some thin poles, seven or eight feet long, from saplings growing in the
neighbourhood. With these we returned to the spot we had fixed on for
an encampment. Scarcely uttering a word, having got some men to assist
him, he erected a framework of a cone-shape, with about eight of the
poles, fastening the upper ends together with a piece of rope. He then
covered the framework with sheets of bark, leaving a doorway and a small
space open at the top.
"There you have an Indian wigwam," said he.
From the pattern he had thus formed, the men very soon erected wigwams
enough to shelter the whole party. He then collected some dried wood,
of which there was an abundance about, and lighted a fire in the middle
of his hut. The hole left at the top of it allowed the smoke to escape.
The snow, which had first been cleared away in the interior, was
piled-up round the hut outside, and the ground was then beaten hard. He
showed us how to make our couches of dried leaves; and at night, wrapped
in our blankets lying round the fire, we found that we could sleep most
luxuriously.
Having thus speedily made all these necessary arrangements, we set to
work to select the trees fit for our purpose. As soon as we had fixed
on them, Nobs threw off all his outer clothing, and with his gleaming
axe began chopping away like a true backwoodsman at one of the largest
of the trees. The carpenter's crew followed his example. The air was
so calm that while the men were actively employed they felt not the
slightest sensation of cold. The moment they ceased, however we made
them put on their clothing.
Nobs was thoroughly versed in all the customs of backwoodsmen, so he was
able to show us how to make ourselves comfortable, and I learned many
lessons from him which I, on many subsequent occasions, found very
useful. Among other things he showed us how to roast our meat by
spitting bits of it on a long thin stick, which rested on two forked
sticks stuck in the ground. Indeed, we enjoyed ourselves far more than
we expected.
Tom Rockets and another lad slept in our wigwam, to assist in keeping up
the fire. I lay awake for a short time, when my ears were saluted with
the sound of a long, low howl. I presently heard Tom stir himself.
"Oh, Jim, sure them be the ghostesses we heard tell of," said he. "I
hope they won't be coming this way now."
"I hopes not," replied his companion. "Them be dreadful things I do
think, by the noise they makes."
Just then there was a louder howl than before.
"Oh, they be coming!" cried Tom. "I'll rouse up Mr Hurry. Maybe he'll
know how to tackle 'em."
Highly diverted with the opinion my followers had formed of my prowess
against not only mortal but spiritual enemies, I lay still, wishing to
hear what he would next say. The hideous howl approached still nearer.
"I can't stand it!" he exclaimed. "Muster Hurry! Muster Hurry! there
be ghostesses, or devils, or some such things abroad, a-playing of their
pranks, and they be coming to eat us up, Muster Hurry, I be sure!"
I burst into a fit of laughter, so loud that it woke Delisle. It was
responded to, it seemed, by so unearthly a cry from the depths of the
forest, that even he for a moment was startled. Then there was the
report of firearms, and looking out of our wigwam, I saw old Nobs
standing in front of his, with a musket in his hand.
"I've druve the varmints away," he said, in his usual laconic style.
"You may turn in, mister."