She was a vision of delight.
_Ballad_.
These treasures are for you, my own beloved one--
Laid up for you by your own father's hand.
_Foxglove_.
*Antonio*. A long, low, black and rakish vessel, say you?
*Pietro*. Yes, captain; she's a pirate beyond doubt.
*Antonio*. We'll have a fight or e'er she capture us.
_The Storm_.
The truth of my history obliges me to relate some occurrences powerfully
bearing upon John's fortunes.
It was in the early part of the month of June, in the year 1817, when
the ship _Duchess_ left the port of Kingston, in the island of Jamaica,
bound to the port of Havre, in France. She had been chartered for this
voyage by a French merchant by the name of Jules Durocher.
Jules Durocher had settled, when a young man, as a planter in the island
of Hayti; but, dissatisfied with a planter's life, he had sold his land
in that island, and afterwards removed from Hayti to Kingston, where he
established himself as a merchant. Here he had succeeded in making a
large fortune, when he was but little more than forty years of age.
Having lost his wife, an English lady, whom he had married in Jamaica,
and to whom he was much attached, and his health, which had for many
years seemed to be good, failing at length suddenly from the insidious
and slowly-working effects of the climate, he had determined to retire
from business, to realise his gains, and to pass the remainder of his
days in his native France, with his only child Louise.
He had now so far carried out his intentions as to have converted into
gold and bills of exchange all his large fortune, except the
comparatively small portion which had been required to purchase a cargo
of the native products of Jamaica for the ship he had chartered. So
uncertain, however, are the calculations of men, that now, when the
quietude in which he had long hoped to pass his declining years appeared
almost certain of realisation, his health began rapidly to decline; and
his state was so weak, when the lading of the _Duchess_ was completed,
that he had to be taken from his bed on land and carried to one on board
of the ship. Such was the state of things in which Jules Durocher and
his daughter Louise left their home of many years in Kingston, to
transfer their fortunes to the father's native France.
Louise Durocher was very beautiful; but her beauty was not of the kind
which we generally attribute to French ladies, and which is
characterised by sparkling black eyes, raven-hued tresses, and a
brunette complexion. Her loveliness was a direct antithesis to this
description. Her hair deserved fully the title of "golden" on account
of both its colour and its lustre, and held smoothly round her head by a
plain riband, fell in a mass of rich curls over her shoulders. Her
softly bright eyes, dark, but decidedly and purely blue, exhibited in
every glance a tender heart and an intelligent mind. A soft rose-tinge
upon her cheeks illustrated by a delicate contrast the pearly fairness
of her complexion.
At the time when she is introduced to my readers, she was dressed in a
loose white muslin morning robe, slightly confined at the waist by a
white silken cord; and from beneath the folds of this garment peeped out
now and then two beautifully-shaped little feet clad in a delicate pair
of white satin slippers. The band round her hair was also white. A
dress of this description does not generally comport with beauty of the
style of Louise's; but in the case of loveliness so exceeding as hers,
it absolutely added to the effect. The pure, innocent, and elevated
expression of her face, haloed by her lustrous wealth of golden hair,
the beholder might be said to realise the ideal of the old masters.
The cabin of the _Duchess_ occupied, as usual, the after-part of the
ship. Directly at the stern, and dividing the width of the vessel
between them, were two handsome and elegantly-furnished state-rooms--the
one assigned to Mr Durocher, and the other to his daughter. Each of
these state-rooms opened into the saloon, which, occupying the breadth
of the ship, was very nearly square. Forward of this saloon, a narrow
passage leading from it divided a double row of state-rooms--two upon
each side--which were used by the officers of the ship.
At the time when these new characters are introduced to the reader, the
_Duchess_ had been some days out of port. She had gone through what is
called the Windward Passage--between the islands of Cuba and Hayti--had
passed through the channel crowded with many islets, which lies between
Caycos and Turks islands and had fairly entered upon the broad Atlantic.
The invigorating air of the open sea had so improved the health of Mr
Durocher that he had been brought from the bed in his state-room to a
sofa in the saloon. Here he was attended by his daughter and a young
quadroon slave girl, who waited upon the young lady.
Louise, who was skilled in music, and performed upon several
instruments, had just finished singing, to an accompaniment on the harp,
the beautiful old song entitled "My Normandy"--a genuine relic of the
age of chivalry, of the days of the trouviers and troubadours--when her
father's emotion caused her to put aside the instrument. That touching
song, applying fully to the case of the returning exile himself, with
its tender refrain--
"I long again the land to see, Which gave me birth--my Normandy,"
recalled the past vividly, with many a hope then entertained of a happy
return to his native land--many a hope which the untimely death of his
wife had destroyed for ever.
"Dear Louise," said Mr Durocher, "how feelingly you sing that charming
song of my native land! What happiness I used to anticipate in pointing
out to your now sainted mother--when wealth, achieved through a long and
tedious exile, should enable me to resume, in my Normandy, the station
from which losses had reduced my family--all the beautiful scenes so
familiar to my childhood. God destroys such hopes to draw our
affections away from the things of earth. 'Tis now for you only, my
beloved child, that I at all consider a worldly future. You will have
wealth; few of the daughters of France born upon the soil will be heirs
to such a fortune. But there are cares also belonging to the possession
of riches; and how will an inexperienced young girl like you know how to
meet these?"
"Do not trouble yourself about me, my dear father," said the
affectionate daughter. "Is not your health improving? Every day since
we left Kingston you have gained strength. You will live yourself to
see your money safely invested and your daughter's future secured. Let
us hope that many, many happy years on earth await us."
"If future years are in store for me, Louise," replied Mr Durocher,
"they may be cheerful when blessed by your presence, but I cannot be
happy where your mother is not. I feel convinced, however, that I shall
soon meet her again; I am impressed with a feeling--though I know not
why--that I shall never more see France."
The young lady left her seat beside the harp and sat upon a chair near
to the sofa on which her father was reclining. She placed her arm round
his neck, and took in her disengaged hand one of his.
"Dearest father," she said, in a tender and soothing tone of voice,
"these low spirits are but the lingering effects of your illness. Life
must still have much happiness in store for you. The grand and
beautiful scenes of day and night, upon land and water, exhibiting, as
they ever do, a proof of the power and goodness and love of God towards
His creatures, must have an influence leading to happiness upon every
human soul. I am sure that one so good as you must feel this blessed
influence."
"I do feel it, my dear child," said the invalid; "but that feeling
cannot remove the uneasiness which I experience at the conviction that I
must soon leave you alone in the world. I have a number of relations in
France; but you are unknown to all of them; even I, so long has it been
since I have met any of them, must be nearly, if not quite forgotten."
The speaker paused awhile in reflection. Louise was also silent; she
could make no reply to her father's last observation; its probable truth
admitted of no just objection. Mr Durocher at length spoke again--
"Louise," he said, taking a pocket-book from an inside breast-pocket of
his coat, "in this pocket-book are bills of exchange on different
bankers in France to the amount of twelve hundred thousand francs. Even
if these be lost, the money will still be safe; the bills are executed
in triplicate; one copy of each has been left by me in the hands of a
friend at Kingston, and the third copy of each has been sent to a
gentleman in Havre. These bills can only be paid on my endorsement, or
on that of my legal representative, in case of my death. There is a
note of the names of these gentlemen and of a list of the drafts in my
trunk; here is a copy of the same note which I wish you to take
possession of. In the strong-box in my state-room are fifty thousand
francs in gold; and the cargo of this ship should sell at Havre for at
least a hundred and fifty thousand francs. In the event of my death,
this property is yours. I should have mentioned to you these
particulars before; I feel urged now to postpone no longer giving you
this information."
At this instant, and before Louise could make a reply, a loud voice
giving orders and the noise of hurrying feet were heard upon deck.
"Celeste," said Mr Durocher, addressing the quadroon girl, "go upon
deck and see if you can learn what is the matter."
The girl hurried up the cabin steps, as ordered, and soon returned
accompanied by the captain.
"What is the cause of the disturbance overhead, Captain Johnson?" asked
the invalid.
"We have been apparently pursued for some hours," was the answer, "by a
rather suspicious-looking vessel. Pirates are by no means uncommon in
these waters, and it is not improbable that this is one. As the wind is
light, we have crowded on every yard of canvas. The stranger,
nevertheless, is evidently gaining upon us. I have, therefore, ordered
our two twelve-pounders to be made ready for service, and have directed
the men also to look to their small-arms. If it were late in the day we
might indulge a hope of keeping at a sufficient distance from the
suspicious craft to make our escape in the night."
The time was between nine and ten o'clock in the morning.
The face of Louise became white with alarm. The poor girl seemed to be
terribly frightened.
"There is no need of feeling alarmed, Miss Durocher," said the captain,
in a cheerful voice. "We are not by any means certain the stranger is a
pirate. Should he prove to be such, the probabilities are in our favour
that he will not molest us, when he finds, on nearer approach, that we
are so strong; these sea-robbers are not apt to assault any vessel which
they cannot capture without fighting. We are well manned, having
sixteen officers and seamen, all able men. We have two cannons and
plenty of muskets and cutlasses, besides a full supply of ammunition.
Even if he should attack us, I think that we can easily beat him off.
My vessel is larger than his, and manoeuvres well; and fully one-half of
us are man-of-war's men."
"Why do you suppose," asked Mr Durocher, "that the stranger is in
pursuit of you?"
"Because," replied Captain Johnson, "when we first saw him, the course
which he was steering was due south-east as ours is north-east, and he
is now directly astern of us. If Miss Durocher will come with me upon
deck, she can see our pursuer very plainly by aid of the telescope. You
are too weak, I suppose, to get upon deck yourself, Mr Durocher?"
"I will try to do so, if you will give me your aid," answered the
invalid.
"You had better not undertake so much," said Louise. "I am afraid that
the fatigue will do you harm."
"It will not hurt him at all, miss," said Captain Johnson, cheerily.
"He need not suffer from fatigue at all. If you will let that yellow
girl of yours bring up an easy-chair, I will carry your father up in my
arms."
Captain Johnson was, indeed, a powerfully-made man; he was fully six
feet in height, and stout in proportion. Constant exercise in the open
air had given to him the full vigour to which his herculean frame seemed
to entitle him.
As soon as the invalid was made comfortable in his easy-chair, and was
in a position from which he commanded a view of the ocean all around,
the spy-glass was handed to him. Far away towards the south-west, and
at first sight rather low upon the horizon, the strange sail could be
seen by the unassisted eye; but the telescope showed that her hull was
above the horizon.
"There seem to be a number of men upon her deck," said Mr Durocher;
"and she has one of those long pivot-guns amidships. That is a very
dangerous cannon, Captain Johnson; our pursuer may, with a gun of so
long a range, do us ruinous injury without coming near enough to allow
us to do him harm with our small cannon."
The telescope was passed to the captain, and by him to Louise. It was
then handed to the officers of the ship.
"Can you make out her hull?" asked the captain of one of these officers,
who had at the moment the glass in his hand.
"Partly," was the answer. "What I can see of it is entirely black. She
seems to be clipper-built."
"And these Baltimore clippers are so fleet," remarked the captain.
Things began to look dark for those on board the ship, it must be
confessed; if the stranger's intentions were hostile, his superior
speed, and the long range of his pivot-gun, made the escape of the chase
very doubtful. Captain Johnson, however, like a good officer, made
every preparation for defence. His self-possessed and even cheerful
manner inspired those under his command with confidence. But Louise
became very pale, and Mr Durocher suffered much in mind, principally
upon her account; but, for the sake of each other, their fears were kept
to themselves. The quadroon girl shivered with terror, on her own
account, and on account of those to whom she had been so much attached
for many years.