THE STORY OF THE FIGHT.
Lieutenant Allen was sent on board the prize.
He found the decks in a fearful condition.
The hauling down of the flag had turned the survivors into veritable
demons.
They broke open the hatches and got to the rum.
Some of the crew were already drunk, others nearly so.
Some were throwing the dead overboard, and with a heartlessness which
was horrible were even serving the wounded the same way.
Lieutenant Allen was examining the muster rolls of the _Macedonian_
when a sailor pushed his way toward the quarterdeck.
"I am an American, sir! 'Pressed against my wishes, and there were
seven more of us."
"Where are the others?"
"Three are dead, sir, the others want to be taken into your crew."
"And you fought against your country?"
"We had to do it, sir."
"You should have begged to go below."
"We did, and were ordered to the guns or to be treated as mutineers."
"I will see what can be done."
"Thank you, sir. We shall be happier fighting for our own flag."
When the first boat was filled the first lieutenant of the _Macedonian_
insultingly asked Lieutenant Allen if he was to lose his baggage.
"We are not privateersmen," answered Allen.
"I do not know what you are," sneered the Englishman.
A powder-monkey on board the _Macedonian_ told the story of the fight
so graphically that Decatur sent for him and begged him to recount it
once again.
"What is your name?"
"Samuel Leach, sir, as good a Briton as ever carried powder to a gun."
"I do not doubt it. Will you tell me what you know of the battle?"
"If your honor would like to hear it."
"I am waiting."
"Well, sir, I don't know as how you would care about hearing about what
we thought of you when we saw you bearing down on us."
"Of course you were confident of victory?"
"That's true. And many a bet we made as to the amount of prize money
we'd receive. You see, your honor, the men who gets most of the
fighting, and who have to work the hardest, gets the least of the prize
money. But when your boat fired I heard such a strange noise. It was
like the tearing of sails just above our heads. That's the Yankee wind,
said I, and so it was.
"My, how the cannon did roar! Both sides were hard at it, and made a
most hideous noise.
"Then I heard the shots strike the sides of our ship, and the timbers
flew in pieces like kindling wood.
"It was my first battle, and I trembled at the noise.
"Presently I saw the blood fly suddenly from the arm of a man serving
at my gun. I don't know what hit him, but there was the blood.
"I hadn't much time to look around, for the boys belonging to the guns
next to mine were all wounded, and I had to serve four guns. And that
was hard work.
"My chum, Harry Lanyon, was serving at the next gun to me, and I saw a
great ball strike him on the leg.
"Before he could be moved, the boy at the next gun had some canister
sent through his ankle.
"A stout Yorkshireman lifted the boys, one after the other, and carried
them to the cockpit. Each had to lose a leg.
"Then I rushed on deck. I was made frantic with what I had seen.
"I ran up to Tom Smithers--your honor didn't know Tom, but he was one
of the bravest men that ever lived. Tom sprang forward to bid me go
back to my duty, but before he could finish what he was saying he was
cut clean in two by a terrible shot.
"Then I saw Middy Davis. Oh, sir, he was a bright boy--not as old as I
am by a year or so. How his mother cried when we left Bristol, and how
he tried to comfort her by saying he would bring back lots of prize
money.
"Well, sir--captain, I mean--the young middy ordered us about just like
an old man. He was so brave, and knew his duty.
"What did he do but jump on a gun and shout: 'Are we not Englishmen?
Doesn't Britain rule the waves? Are we going to be beaten by a pack of
Yankees?' Them's his words, sir, or I wouldn't repeat them, for you
can't help being Yankees. Well, sir, as true as I'm a living sinner, he
had scarcely said the words when a cannon ball took off his head just
as clean as a sword cut. Poor chap, you wouldn't have thought he was
good-looking, but he was. Then the lieutenant seeing me, shouts:
"'Leach, throw that thing overboard!' and he pushes the head along the
deck as though it was a ball.
"A point abreast of the mainmast we called the slaughter house, 'cause
so many were killed just there.
"There, sir, a ball entered a port and killed five men at one lick. It
was horrible.
"I got so as I didn't mind slipping about in the blood, but I was glad
when I heard the order given to stop firing, and I knew we were licked.
"I'd rather be alive and a prisoner than be dead, sir, so I would; but
I've had enough fighting, and Sam Leech will never fight again if he
knows what he's about."
Close behind Sam Leech stood Jack Creamer, who had come to the
captain's cabin with a message, but had been so interested in the
English boy's story that he had forgotten where he was, and only knew
that he was listening to a good story.
"And you won't fight again?" he asked, giving Sam a friendly slap on
the back.
"No, I'm blessed if I will!"
"Do you know why?" asked Jack, not noticing Lieutenant Allen, who was
motioning him to be silent.
"I've had enough of it," answered Sam.
"You're on the wrong side, that's what's the matter. Why, Sam, if you
were on this ship you wouldn't be tired."
"It seems you didn't get any damage done."
"Not much; only--"
"Jack, what can I do for you?" interrupted the captain.
The boy was so elated that, instead of answering Captain Decatur's
question, he grinned, showing all his teeth, and said:
"We did take her, sir."
"Yes, my boy."
"I knew we should before we gave her the first broadside."
"Did you? Well, you will get your share of prize money. What will you
do with it?"
"How much will it be, your honor?"
"It may be two hundred dollars."
Jack's face lighted up with joy, for such a sum seemed great wealth to
him.
"Please, sir, I'd send half of it to my mother, and the rest will get
me a bit of schooling when the war is over."
"Bravely said, Jack," responded the captain, warmly.
The interview ended abruptly, for the officer of the watch reported
that a strange vessel was signaling.
"What does she want?"
"To speak with us."
"Well, find out what it is about."
Presently the report came that a boat was being put off from the
_Caroline_.
"Lay to," ordered the captain.
It was true.
Tempest had sent a boat to the gun ship, and with it a message which
sounded strange to Captain Decatur.
"Will Captain Decatur of the U. S. man-of-war _United States_ accept
an invitation to visit the _Caroline_, which was captured from the
British by the _Lively Bee_, privateer? The reason is too important to
be intrusted to paper."
Captain Decatur, like many sea dogs, and man-of-warsmen in particular,
was very expressive in his language when excited.
In fact, it seemed that the uttering of anathemas formed a safety valve
for his temper.
It was noticed that after such an outburst he was as gentle as a lamb.
When he read the unsigned letter he was furious.
"Am I captain? Am I sub-acting commodore? And should a privateersman
order me about, and not even give his name? No, no, sir. Go back to
your captain and tell him that an insult to me is an insult to the
flag. I'll not see him. I'll not take any notice of him. It may be all
a plot to capture me."
We have transcribed the substance of the message sent back to the
_Caroline_; the real message would not look well in print, and
certainly would not read well in a refined assembly.
The boat started back to the _Caroline_, and Decatur shouted another
volley of anathemas at the receding crew.
Had the men sent by Tempest known the captain better, they would have
waited until the explosion had passed off, and then they would have had
another message to take back.
"Lower a boat!" he cried, when the _Caroline's_ boat was nearly back.
"Row me over to that vessel. I'll show them that I cannot be insulted
with impunity."
Tempest had no intention of insulting so gallant an officer, but he
was afraid to use his own name, for fear the captain would think it
unbecoming to acknowledge a man who had resigned from the navy.
At the same time that the boat put off from the _United States_, one
left the _Lively Bee_, and the distance being shorter, the latter
reached the _Caroline_ first.
"Merry Christmas to you, Tempest!" exclaimed Harry Vernon, as he leaped
on deck.
"I had forgotten what day it was, but the same compliment to you, sir."
Tempest soon explained the awkward situation to Vernon, who undertook
to pacify the angry naval officer.