Having arrived within pistol-shot of the chase, we hove-to to windward
of her, lowered a boat, and I proceeded to board her. As we swept round
under her stern, in order to reach her lee gangway, I took a good look
at the name on her counter. Yes; there was nothing of pretence or fraud
about it, so far as I could see; the words were not only painted upon
the wood, but were actually cut deep into it as well; and, furthermore,
the paint had all the appearance of having been applied at the same time
as that on the rest of her hull.
Upon our arrival alongside I was somewhat surprised to observe that the
crew had not taken the trouble to throw open the gangway, or put over a
side ladder; I had therefore to watch my opportunity and scramble aboard
by way of the main chains. The _Virginia_ was a very fine craft indeed,
measuring quite eight hundred tons, and carrying a fine, lofty, full
poop, by the rail of which stood a typical Yankee, eyeing me with even
greater malevolence than the Yankee of that day was wont to exhibit
toward the Britisher. He was tall, lean, and cadaverous, with long,
straight, colourless hair reaching almost to his shoulders, and a scanty
goatee beard adorning his otherwise clean-shaven face. His outer
garments, consisting of blue swallow-tail coat with brass buttons and
white kerseymere waistcoat and trousers--the former also trimmed with
brass buttons--seemed to have been made for a man many sizes smaller
than himself; for the coat was distinctly short at the waist, while the
sleeves terminated some four inches above the wrist; his waistcoat
revealed some two inches of soiled shirt between its lower hem and the
top of his trousers; and the latter garments did not reach his bony
ankles by quite three inches. He wore an enormous stick-up collar
reaching almost to the level of his eyes; his head was graced by an old
white beaver hat of the pattern worn by the postboys at that period, and
the nap looked as though it had never been brushed the right way since
it had been worked up into a hat. On his feet he wore white cotton
stockings or socks and low-cut slippers; he carried both hands in his
trousers pockets, and his left cheek was distended by a huge plug of
tobacco, upon which he was chewing vigorously when I scrambled in over
the rail and leaped down on the deck. As I did so I raised my hat and
courteously bade him good-morning.
Instead of returning my greeting, he ejected a copious stream of
tobacco-juice in my direction so dexterously that I had some difficulty
in avoiding it, and then remarked--
"Waal, my noble Britisher, what the tarnation mischief do yew mean by
firin' them brass popguns of yourn at me, eh? What right have yew to
shoot at a ship flyin' the galorious Stars and Stripes? D'ye see them
handsome barkers of mine?"--pointing to a fine display of eighteen-
pounders, six of a side, mounted in the ship's main-deck battery.
"Waal, I was in more'n half a mind to give ye a dose from them in answer
to your shot; and yew may thank my mate here, Mr Silas Jenkins, for
persuadin' me outer the notion! And what d'ye want, anyway, now that
yew're here, and be hanged to ye?"
"I have taken the liberty to board your ship for the purpose of getting
a sight of your papers," I answered. "Our information is that there are
two sister ships--this vessel, and a Spanish craft named the _Preciosa_
which are doing a roaring trade in carrying slaves across the Atlantic;
and it is part of my duty to lay hands on the _Preciosa_ if I can. Your
vessel answers to her description in every particular save that of name
and the flag she flies; and therefore, having fallen in with you, I felt
that I should not be doing my duty unless I boarded you and inspected
your papers."
"Waal, I'll be jiggered!" exclaimed the skipper, turning to his mate.
"Hear that, Silas? I'll bet yew ten dollars the critter calls hisself a
sailor, and yet he can't tell the difference between the _Virginia_ and
the _Preciosa_ without lookin' at their papers! I'll tell ye, stranger,
where the difference is between them two vessels. One on 'em has V-i-r-
g-i-n-i-a, N-e-w O-r-l-e-a-n-s cut--_cut_, mind you--and painted on her
starn, and she flies that galorious flag that's floatin' up thar,"
pointing to the American ensign fluttering from the gaff-end--"while
t'other has the words P-r-e-c-i-o-s-a, H-a-v-a-n-a cut and painted on
hern, and she flies a yaller flag with two red bars. I know, because
I've seen her--ay, most as often as I've seen the _'Ginia_! Now, sonny,
d'ye think ye'll be able to remember that little lesson in sailormanship
that a free-born American citizen has been obliged to give ye?"
I laughed. "Thank you for nothing," said I. "And now I will trouble
you for a sight of those papers that we were speaking of."
"I'll be darned if yew will, though, stranger!" he snapped. "No,
sirree; not much, I don't think! Why, yew're even more ignorant than I
thought yew was, and I must teach ye another little bit of yewr
business. Why, yew goldarned Britisher, d'ye know that yew haven't got
no right at all to stop me from pursooin' my v'yage, or to demand a
sight o' my papers? Supposin' I was to report this outrage to my
Gover'ment, what d'ye suppose would happen? Why, our men-o'-war would
just up and sink every stinkin' Britisher that they comed across!"
"Ah, indeed!" I retorted sarcastically. "Very well; now we'll have a
look at those papers; after which you may take whatever steps you deem
fit."
"And supposin' I refuse?"--began the skipper. But the mate, seeing, I
imagine, that I would take no denial, seized his irate superior by the
arm and, leading him right aft, conversed with him in low tones for
nearly five minutes, at the end of which time they both came forward to
the break of the poop, and the skipper, descending the poop ladder,
remarked ungraciously:
"Waal, since nothin' less than seein' my papers 'll satisfy ye, ye'd
better come into my cabin, and I'll show 'em to yew."
Whereupon I followed him in through a passage which gave access to a
fine, airy poop cabin, plainly but comfortably fitted up, and seated
myself, uninvited, upon a cushioned locker while my companion went alone
into his state-room, returning, a minute or two later, with a large tin
box, the contents of which he laid upon the table.
"Thar they are," he exclaimed, pushing them toward me; "look at 'em as
long as yew like! I guess yew won't find nothin' wrong with 'em."
Nor did I. I inspected them with the utmost care, and ultimately came
to the conclusion that they were genuine, and that the ship was
undoubtedly the _Virginia_, and American.
"Waal," exclaimed the Yankee skipper, when I at length refolded and
handed the papers back to him, "are ye satisfied, stranger?"