On the third day, Tommy Dott and Mr Maxwell went on board, imagining
that they had had a miraculous escape, and the two old planters and I
were left the only inmates of the house to welcome the resurrection of
Mammy Crissobella, who was again as busy as before. She said to me,
"Massy Keene, I really under great obligation to you; suppose you want
two, three hundred, five hundred pounds, very much at your service;
never mind pay back."
I replied that I did not want any money, and was equally obliged to her.
But the affair had already made a great noise. It was at first really
supposed that Mammy Crissobella had poisoned them as well as herself,
and I was obliged to refute it, or the authorities would have taken it
up. As the admiral sent down to make inquiries, I went up to him and
told him the whole story; I was obliged to do the same to the governor,
and it was the occasion of great mirth all over the island, and no small
mortification to those who had been the sufferers. Mammy Crissobella
was complimented very much upon her successful stratagem to clear her
house, and she was quite in ecstasies at the renown that she obtained.
One day the admiral sent for me, and said--"Keene, I can wait no longer
the arrival of another vessel. I must send you to England with
despatches: you must sail to-morrow morning."
As I was all ready, I took my leave of the admiral, who promised me
every assistance if on his station, and his good word with the
Admiralty, and said that he would send down my despatches at daylight.
I went on board, gave the necessary orders, and then returned to the
hotel to pack up my portmanteau and pay my bill; but Mammy Crissobella
would not hear of my paying anything; and as I found that she was
beginning to be seriously angry, I gave up the point. So I gave the old
lady a kiss as a receipt-in-full, and another to Leila, as I slipped a
couple of doubloons into her hand, and went on board. The next morning
shortly after daylight the despatches were on board, and the Diligente
was under all the sail she could carry on her way to England.
The Diligente sailed as well as ever, and we made a very quick passage.
I found my ship's company to be very good, and had no trouble with my
officers. Tommy Dott was very well behaved, notwithstanding all his
threats of what he would do. It was therefore to be presumed that he
was not very ill treated.
We were now fast approaching the end of our passage, being about a
hundred miles to the South West of the Scilly Islands, with a light wind
from the southward when, in the middle watch, Bob Cross, who had the
charge of it, came down and reported firing in the South East. I went
up, but, although we heard the report of the guns, we could not
distinguish the flashes. I altered our course to the direction, and we
waited till daylight should reveal what was going on. Before daybreak
we could see the flashes, and make out one vessel, but not the other.
But when the sun rose the mystery was cleared off. It was a French
schooner privateer engaging a large English ship, apparently an
East-Indiaman. The ship was evidently a good deal cut up in her spars
and rigging.
Bob Cross, who was close to my side when I examined them with my glass,
said, "Captain Keene, that rascally Frenchman will be off as soon as he
sees us, if we hoist English colours; but if you hoist French colours,
we may get down and pin him before he knows what we are."
"I think you are right, Bob," says I. "Hoist French colours. He will
make sure of his prize then, and we shall laugh at his disappointment."
As Cross turned away to go aft, I perceived a chuckle on his part, which
I did not understand, as there was nothing particular to chuckle about.
I thought it was on account of the Frenchman's disappointment, when he
found that we were not a friend, as he might suppose.
"Hadn't we better fire a gun, Captain Keene, to attract their
attention?"
"Yes," replied I; "it will look as if we really were Frenchmen." The
gun was fired, and we continued to stand towards them with a good
breeze. About seven o'clock we were within two miles, and then we
observed the Englishman haul down her colours, and the schooner
immediately went alongside, and took possession. I continued to run
down, and in half an hour was close to her. Calling up the boarders, I
laid the brig alongside the schooner; as half her men were on board the
Indiaman, they were taken by surprise, and we gained possession with
very trifling loss on our side, much to the astonishment of the crew of
the privateer, as well as that of the Indiaman.
The captain, who was on deck, informed me that they had engaged the
schooner for nine hours, and that he had some hopes of beating her off,
until he saw me come down under French colours, upon which he felt that
further resistance was vain. I told him I was afraid the schooner would
escape, if I had not deceived him, and complimented him upon his
vigorous defence. The schooner was a very fine vessel, mounting
fourteen guns, and of three hundred tons burthen. In fact, she was
quite as large as the Diligente.
While we were handing the prisoners over to the brig, and securing them,
I accepted the invitation of the captain of the Indiaman to go into the
cabin with him, where I found a large party of passengers, chiefly
ladies, who were very loud in their thanks for my rescue. In another
hour we were all ready. I left a party on board the Indiaman to repair
damages, and my surgeon to assist the wounded men, and hauled off the
brig and schooner. The latter I gave into the charge of Tommy Dott, and
we all made sail.
As I was walking the quarter-deck, delighted with my success, Cross, who
had the watch and was by my side, said, "I think, Captain Keene, you did
very right in hoisting French colours."
"Why, yes, Cross," replied I; "she is a very fast sailer, that is
evident, and she might have escaped us."
"That's not what I mean, Captain Keene."
"What then, Cross?"
"Why, sir, I would not tell you why I wished you to hoist French colours
at the time, because I was afraid that, if I did, you would not have
done so; but my reason was, that it would make a great difference in our
prize-money, and I want some, if you do not."
Even then I could not imagine what Cross meant, for it never came into
my head, and I turned round and looked at him for an explanation.
"Why, Captain Keene, if we had hoisted English colours, the schooner
would have made sail and gone off, and, even if she had not done so, the
Indiaman would have held out till we came down; but as he hauled down
his colours, and was taken possession of by the enemy, he now becomes a
recapture, and I expect the salvage of that Indiaman will be of more
value to us than two or three of such schooners."
"That certainly did not enter my head when I hoisted the colours, Cross,
I must confess."
"No, sir, that I saw it did not, but it did mine."
"It's hardly fair, Cross."
"Quite fair, sir," replied Bob. "The Company is rich, and can afford to
pay, and we want it in the first place, and deserve it in the next. At
all events, it's not upon your conscience, and that schooner is such a
clipper, that I really think we should have lost her, if she had run for
it; besides, as she is as strong as we are, we might have lost a good
many men before we took her."
"That's very true, Bob," replied I, "and satisfies me that I was right
in what I did."
The wind had sprung up much fresher from the westward, and we were now
all three running with a fair wind; and as it continued, we did not put
into Plymouth, but continued our course for Portsmouth, and on the third
day, at a very early hour in the morning, anchored at Spithead.