"What! dead!" he said. "Poor, poor thing!" I don't know if at that
moment the thought of the amount of misery of which we had been the
cause flashed across his mind. It did across mine.
Often have I since thought, what an accursed trade is that of a
privateer's-man. Licensed pirates at best; and often, as they perform
their work, no better than the worst of pirates.
"What's to be done?" he continued, talking to himself. "I cannot stand
the girl's sorrow. We must get the body out of the way, at all events."
He stopped, and shaded his eyes with his hand. He had a family at home.
Among them a daughter--tall and graceful, like that poor girl.
"Williams," he said abruptly, "call the surgeon."
When Blister came, he told him to ascertain if the old man were really
dead. He stooped down, and lifting the flag, examined the body.
"Yes," he answered, in a perfectly satisfied tone. "I said he would
die. There's no doubt about it." I believe he would have been vexed
had he recovered to contradict him.
"We must bury him, then," said the captain. "We'll do it decently. He
was a fine old man, and fought like a lion. Send the sailmaker here."
The surgeon did as he was bid.
"Don't let him touch the poor girl, Jack," he said. "She is better as
she is. She would never let us remove her father's body, if she were
conscious of what was going forward."
The sailmaker came, and received orders to get a hammock with a shot at
the feet, in which to enclose the old soldier's corpse. Among the
prisoners was a French priest. The captain sent for him; and he and a
few officers who had escaped assembled on deck, the captain having
explained to them that he wished to pay the last respect to a brave
enemy. They, as Frenchmen know how to do, expressed themselves
gratified at the compliment; and all stood around while the body was
brought from below. Having been shown to them, it was secured in the
hammock which had been prepared for the purpose. It was then placed on
a plank at an open port, with the old soldier's hat and sword. The
priest offered up some of the prayers of his Church, and all stood with
hats off in reverential awe.
The prayers were finished--the captain had lifted his hand, as a signal
to launch the body into the deep, when at that moment the tall, graceful
figure of a lady appeared on deck. She cast one wild, hurried,
inquiring glance around. Her eye fell on the shrouded corpse as it
glided into the deep. With a piercing shriek, which rung far over the
waters, she cried, "Father, I follow you!" and before anyone could
prevent her, she sprung over the schooner's low bulwarks into the blue
sea, within the first circles formed by her parent's form, as it
vanished from our sight. In an instant all present rushed to the side;
the boats were lowered rapidly; but as we looked around, no sign did
there appear of the unhappy young lady. Such was the result of our
night's exploit! "It is better, perhaps, that it was so," said the
captain, dashing a tear from his eye.
I cannot say that the catastrophe made any lasting impression even on
him. It did not on me. That very night we stood again up to the
convoy, and were successful in picking out another of them without being
discovered. Both vessels reached Guernsey in safety, and turned out
valuable prizes.
I cannot pretend to give even an outline of all the adventures I met
with while serving on board the privateer. From her fast-sailing
qualities, and the daring and talent of her commander, she was very
successful. We were constantly on the look-out for single merchantmen;
and, unless they were strongly armed, they were nearly certain to become
our prey. We never attacked an armed vessel if we could help it, and
never fought if we could escape an enemy capable of injuring us. Now
and then, when we thought that we were going to make prize of a rich
merchantman, we found that we had caught a Tartar, and had to up stick
and run for it. Twice we were very nearly caught; and should have been,
had not night come to our aid, and enabled us to haul our wind without
being seen, and thus get out of our pursuer's way.
Once, flight was impossible, and we found ourselves brought to action in
the chops of the Channel by a French sloop-of-war of eighteen guns.
Captain Savage, however, gave evidence of his skill and courage by the
way he handled the schooner against so superior a force. By making
several rapid tacks, we got the weather-gauge of our opponent; and then,
after the exchange of several broadsides, we stood across his bows, when
we delivered so well-directed a raking-fire that we brought his topmast
down by the run. We had not escaped without the loss of several men,
besides getting an ugly wound in our mainmast; so, to avoid any further
disaster, and being perfectly content with the glory of having crippled
an opponent of force so superior, we hauled our wind and stood up
Channel. The Frenchman was afterwards fallen in with, and captured by a
corvette of her own size.
I have, I think, sufficiently described the occupation of a privateer.
What I might have become, under the instruction of my old friend Peter,
and the strict discipline of a man-of-war, I know not. On board the
privateer, with the constant influence of bad example, I was becoming
worse and worse, and more the slave of all the evil ways of the world.
After serving on board the schooner for more than three years, I was
paid off with my pocket full of prize-money, and, shipping on board a
trader, I found my way to Liverpool.
That port then, as now, afforded every facility to a seaman to get rid
of his hard-earned gains. In a few weeks I had but a few shillings
left. I had not the satisfaction of feeling that I had done any good
with it. How it all went I don't know. I believe that I was robbed of
a large portion. I was so disgusted with my folly, that I was ready to
engage in any enterprise, of however questionable a character, where I
had the prospect of gaining more, which I resolved I would spend more
discreetly.
Liverpool at that time fitted out a number of slavers--the slave-trade,
which was afterwards prohibited, being then lawful, and having many
respectable people engaged in it. Hearing from a shipmate that the
_Royal Oak_, a ship of eighteen guns, with a letter-of-marque
commission, was fitting out for the coast of Africa, and was in want of
hands, I went and entered on board her. She carried, all told, eighty
hands. I found two or three old shipmates aboard her, but no one whom I
could call a friend.
We reached the coast without any adventure, and in those days the slaves
who had come down from the interior being collected in depots, ready for
shipment, we soon got our cargo on board. For several years I remained
in this trade, sometimes carrying our cargo of hapless beings to Rio de
Janeiro or other parts of the Brazils, and sometimes to the West Indies.
It never occurred to me that there was anything wrong in the system.
All the lessons I had received in the West Indies, in my early days,
were thrown away. The pay was good; the work not hard, though pretty
frequently we lost our people by fever; and so I thought no more about
the matter.
At length I found my way back to Liverpool, just as the battle of
Waterloo and Napoleon's abdication brought the blessings of peace to
Europe.