“—like Arion on the dolphin’s back,
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves,
So long as I could see.”
Tempest.
There was one curious though half-confounded observer of all that
passed in and around the Cove, on the morning in question. This
personage was no other than the slave called Bonnie, who was the
factotum of his master, over the demesnes of the Lust in Rust, during
the time when the presence of the Alderman was required in the city;
which was, in truth, at least four-fifths of the year. Responsibility
and confidence had produced their effect on this negro, as on more
cultivated minds. He had been used to act in situations of care; and
practice had produced a habit of vigilance and observation, that was
not common in men of his unfortunate condition. There is no moral truth
more certain, than that men, when once accustomed to this species of
domination, as readily submit their minds, as their bodies, to the
control of others. Thus it is, that we see entire nations maintaining
so many erroneous maxims, merely because it has suited the interests of
those who do the thinking, to give forth these fallacies to their
followers. Fortunately, however, for the improvement of the race and
the advancement of truth, it is only necessary to give a man an
opportunity to exercise his natural faculties, in order to make him a
reflecting, and, in some degree, an independent being. Such, though to
a very limited extent, certainly, had been the consequence, in the
instance of the slave just mentioned.
How far Bonnie had been concerned in the proceedings between his master
and the mariners of the brigantine, it is unnecessary to say. Little
passed at the villa, of which he was ignorant; and as curiosity, once
awakened, increases its own desire for indulgence, could he have had
his wish, little would have passed anywhere, near him, without his
knowing something of its nature and import. He had seen, while
seemingly employed with his hoe in the garden of the Alderman, the trio
conveyed by Erasmus across the inlet; had watched the manner in which
they followed its margin to the shade of the oak, and had seen them
enter the brigantine, as related. That this extraordinary visit on
board a vessel which was in common shrouded by so much mystery, had
given rise to much and unusual reflection in the mind of the black, was
apparent by the manner in which he so often paused in his labor, and
stood leaning on the handle of his hoe, like one who mused. He had
never known his master so far overstep his usual caution, as to quit
the dwelling, during the occasional visits of the free-trader; and yet
he had now gone as it were into the very jaws of the lion, accompanied
by the commander of a royal cruiser himself. No wonder, then, that the
vigilance of the negro became still more active, and that not even the
slightest circumstance was suffered to escape his admiring eye. During
the whole time consumed by the visit related in the preceding chapter,
not a minute had been suffered to pass, without an inquiring look in
the direction, either of the brigantine, or of the adjacent shore.
It is scarcely necessary to say how keen the attention of the slave
became, when his master and his companions were seen to return to the
land. They immediately ascended to the foot of the oak, and then there
was a long and apparently a serious conference between them. During
this consultation, the negro dropped the end of his hoe, and never
suffered his gaze, for an instant, to alter its direction. Indeed he
scarcely drew breath, until the whole party quitted the spot together,
and buried themselves in the thicket that covered the cape, taking the
direction of its outer or northern extremity, instead of retiring by
the shore of the Cove, towards the inlet. Then Bonnie respired heavily,
and began to look about him at the other objects that properly belonged
to the interest of the scene.
The brigantine had run up her boat, and she now lay, as when first
seen, a motionless, beautiful, and exquisitely graceful fabric, without
the smallest sign about her of an intention to move, or indeed without
exhibiting any other proof, except in her admirable order and symmetry,
that any of human powers dwelt within her hull. The royal cruiser,
though larger and of far less aerial mould and fashion, presented the
same picture of repose. The distance between the two was about a
league; and Bonnie was sufficiently familiar with the formation of the
land and of the position of the vessels, to be quite aware that this
inactivity on the part of those whose duty it was to protect the rights
of the Queen, proceeded from their utter ignorance of the proximity of
their neighbor. The thicket which bounded the Cove and the growth of
oaks and pines that stretched along the narrow sandy spit of land quite
to its extremity, sufficiently accounted for the fact. The negro,
therefore, after gazing for several minutes at the two immovable
vessels, turned his eye askance on the earth, shook his head, and then
burst into a laugh, which was so noisy that it caused his sable partner
to thrust her vacant and circular countenance through an open window of
the scullery of the villa, to demand the reason of a merriment that to
her faithful feelings appeared to be a little unsocial.
“Hey! you alway’ keep ’e queer t’ing to heself, Bonnie, but!” cried the
vixen. “I’m werry glad to see old bones like a hoe; an’ I wonner dere
ar’ time to laugh, wid ’e garden full of weed!”
“Grach!” exclaimed the negro, stretching out an arm in a forensic
attitude; “what a black woman know of politic! If a hab time to talk,
better cook a dinner. Tell one t’ing, Phyllis, and that be dis; vy ’e
ship of Captain Ludlow no lif’ ’e anchor, an’ come take dis rogue in ’e
Cove? can a tell dat much, or no?—If no, let a man, who understan’
heself, laugh much as he like. A little fun no harm Queen Anne, nor
kill ’e Gubbenor!”
“All work and no sleep make old bone ache, Bonnie, but!” returned the
consort. “Ten o’clock—twelve o’clock—t’ree o’clock, and no bed; vell I
see ’e sun afore a black fool put ’e head on a pillow! An’ now a hoe go
all ’e same as if he sleep a ten hour. Masser Myn’ert got a heart, and
he no wish to kill he people wid work, or old Phyllis war’ dead, fifty
year, next winter.”
“I t’ink a wench’s tongue nebber satisfy! What for tell a whole world,
when Bonnie go to bed? He sleep for heself, and he no sleep for ’e
neighborhood! Dere! A man can’t t’ink of ebery t’ing, in a minute. Here
a ribbon long enough to hang heself—take him, and den remem’er,
Phyllis, dat you be ’e wife of a man who hab care on he shoul’er.”
Bonnie then set up another laugh, in which his partner, having quitted
her scullery to seize the gift, which in its colors resembled the skin
of a garter-snake, did not fail to join, through mere excess of animal
delight. The effect of the gift, however, was to leave the negro to
make his observations, without any further interruption from one who
was a little too apt to disturb his solitude.
A boat was now seen to pull out from among the bushes that lined the
shore; and Bonnie was enabled to distinguish, in its stern-sheets, the
persons of his master, Ludlow, and the Patroon. He had been acquainted
with the seizure of the Coquette’s barge, the preceding night, and of
the confinement of the crew. Its appearance in that place, therefore,
occasioned no new surprise. But the time which past while the men were
rowing up to the sloop-of-war, was filled with minutes of increasing
interest. The black abandoned his hoe, and took a position on the side
of the mountain, that gave him a view of the whole bay. So long as the
mysteries of the Lust in Rust had been confined to the ordinary
combinations of a secret trade, he had been fully able to comprehend
them; but now that there apparently existed an alliance so unnatural as
one between his master and the cruiser of the crown, he felt the
necessity of double observation and of greater thought.
A far more enlightened mind than that of the slave, might have been
excited by the expectation, and the objects which now presented
themselves, especially if sufficiently prepared for events, by a
knowledge of the two vessels in sight. Though the wind still hung at
east, the cloud above the mouth of the Raritan had at length begun to
rise. The broad fleeces of white vapor, that had lain the whole morning
over the continent, were rapidly uniting; and they formed already a
dark and dense mass, that floated in the bottom of the estuary,
threatening shortly to roll over the whole of its wide waters. The air
was getting lighter, and variable; and while the wash of the surf
sounded still more audible, its roll upon the beach was less regular
than in the earlier hours of the day. Such was the state of the two
elements, when the boat touched the side of the ship. In a minute it
was hanging by its tackles, high in the air; and then it disappeared,
in the bosom of the dark mass.
It far exceeded the intelligence of Bonnie to detect, now, any further
signs of preparation, in either of the two vessels, which absorbed the
whole of his attention. They appeared to him to be alike without
motion, and equally without people. There were, it is true, a few
specks in the rigging of the Coquette, which might be men; but the
distance prevented him from being sure of the fact; and, admitting them
to be seamen busied aloft, there were no visible consequences of their
presence, that his uninstructed eye could trace. In a minute or two,
even these scattered specks were seen no longer; though the attentive
black thought that the mast-heads and the rigging beneath the tops
thickened, as if surrounded by more than their usual mazes of ropes. At
that moment of suspense, the cloud over the Raritan emitted a flash,
and the sound of distant thunder rolled along the water. This seemed to
be a signal for the cruiser; for when the eye of Bonnie, which had been
directed to the heavens, returned towards the ship, he saw that she had
opened and hoisted her three top-sails, seemingly with as little
exertion as an eagle would have spread his wings. The ship now became
uneasy; for the wind came in puffs, and the vessel rolled lightly, as
if struggling to extricate itself from the hold of its anchor; and
then, precisely at the moment when the shift of wind was felt, an the
breeze came from the cloud in the west, the cruiser whirled away from
its constrained position and appearing, for a short space, restless as
a steed that had broken from its fastenings, it came up neatly to the
wind, and lay balanced by the action of its sails. There was another
minute, or two, of seeming inactivity, after which the broad surfaces
of the top-sails were brought in parallel lines. One white sheet was
spread after another, upon the fabric; and Bonnie saw that the
Coquette, the swiftest cruiser of the crown in those seas, was dashing
out from the land, under a cloud of canvas.
All this time, the brigantine, in the Cove, lay quietly at her anchor.
When the wind shifted, the light hull swang with its currents, and the
image of the sea-green lady was seen offering her dark cheek to be
fanned by the breeze. But she alone seemed to watch over the fortunes
of her followers; for no other eye could be seen, looking out on the
danger that began so seriously to threaten them, both from the heavens,
and from a more certain and intelligible foe.
As the wind was fresh, though unsteady, the Coquette moved through the
water with a velocity that did no discredit to her reputation for
speed. At first, it seemed to be the intention of the royal cruiser to
round the cape, and gain an offing in the open sea; for her head was
directed northwardly; but no sooner had she cleared the curve of the
little bight which from its shape is known by the name of the
Horse-Shoe, than she was seen shooting directly into the eye of the
wind, and falling off with the graceful and easy motion of a ship in
stays, her head looking towards the Lust in Rust. Her design on the
notorious dealer in contraband was now too evident to admit of doubt.
Still, the Water-Witch betrayed no symptoms of alarm. The meaning eye
of the image seemed to study the motions of her adversary, with all the
understanding of an intelligent being; and occasionally the brigantine
turned slightly in the varying currents of the air, as if volition
directed the movements of the little fabric. These changes resembled
the quick and slight movements of the hound, as he lifts his head in
his lair, to listen to some distant sound, or to scent some passing
taint in the gale.
In the meantime, the approach of the ship was so swift as to cause the
negro to shake his head, with a meaning that exceeded even his usually
important look. Everything was propitious to her progress; and, as the
water of the Cove, during the periods that the inlet remained open, was
known to be of a sufficient depth to admit of her entrance, the
faithful Bonnie began to anticipate a severe blow to the future
fortunes of his master. The only hope, that one could perceive, for the
escape of the smuggler, was in the changes of the heavens.
Although the threatening cloud had now quitted the mouth of the
Raritan, and was rolling eastward with fearful velocity, it had not yet
broken. The air had the unnatural and heated appearance which precedes
a gust; but, with the exception of a few large drops, that fell
seemingly from a clear sky, it was as yet what is called a dry squall.
The water of the bay was occasionally dark, angry, and green; and there
were moments when it would appear as if heavy currents of air descended
to its surface, wantonly to try their power on the sister element.
Notwithstanding these sinister omens, the Coquette stood on her course,
without lessening the wide surfaces of her canvas, by a single inch.
They who governed her movements were no men of the lazy Levant, nor of
the mild waters of the Mediterranean, to tear their hair, and call on
saints to stand between their helplessness and harm; but mariners
trained in a boisterous sea, and accustomed to place their first
dependence on their own good manhood, aided by the vigilance and skill
of a long and severely-exercised experience. A hundred eyes on board
that cruiser watched the advance of the rolling cloud, or looked upon
the play of light and shade, that caused the color of the water to
vary; but it was steadily, and with an entire dependence on the
discretion of the young officer who controlled the movements of the
ship.
Ludlow himself paced the deck, with all his usual composure, so far as
might be seen by external signs; though, in reality, his mind was
agitated by feelings that were foreign to the duties of his station. He
too had thrown occasional glances at the approaching squall, but his
eye was far oftener riveted on the motionless brigantine, which was now
distinctly to be seen from the deck of the Coquette, still riding at
her anchor. The cry of ‘a stranger in the cove!’ which, a few moments
before, came out of one of the tops, caused no surprise in the
commander; while the crew, wondering but obedient, began, for the first
time, to perceive the object of their strange manœuvres. Even the
officer, next in authority to the captain, had not presumed to make any
inquiry, though, now that the object of their search was so evidently
in view, he felt emboldened to presume on his rank, and to venture a
remark.
“It is a sweet craft!” said the staid lieutenant, yielding to an
admiration natural to his habits, “and one that might serve as a yacht
for the Queen! This is some trifler with the revenue, or perhaps a
buccaneer from the islands. The fellow shows no ensign!”
“Give him notice, sir, that he has to do with one who bears the royal
commission,” returned Ludlow, speaking from habit, and half-unconscious
of what he said. “We must teach these rovers to respect a pennant.”
The report of the cannon startled the absent man and caused him to
remember the order.
“Was that gun shotted?” he asked, in a tone that sounded like rebuke.
“Shotted, but pointed wide, sir; merely a broad hint. We are no dealers
in dumb show, in the Coquette, Captain Ludlow.”
“I would not injure the vessel, even should it prove a buccaneer. Be
careful, that nothing strikes her, without an order.”
“Aye, ’twill be well to take the beauty alive, sir; so pretty a boat
should not be broken up, like an old hulk. Ha! there goes his bunting,
at last! He shows a white field—can the fellow be a Frenchman, after
all?”
The lieutenant took a glass, and for a moment applied it to his eye,
with the usual steadiness. Then he suffered the instrument to fall, and
it would seem that he endeavored to recall the different flags that he
had seen during the experience of many years.
“This joker should come from some terra incognita;” he said. “Here is a
woman in his field, with an ugly countenance, too, unless the glass
play me false—as I live, the rogue has her counterpart for a
figure-head!—Will you look at the ladies, sir?”
Ludlow took the glass, and it was not without curiosity that he turned
it toward the colors the hardy smuggler dared to exhibit, in presence
of a cruiser. The vessels were, by this time, sufficiently near each
other, to enable him to distinguish the swarthy features and malign
smile of the sea-green lady, whose form was wrought in the field of the
ensign, with the same art as that which he had seen so often displayed
in other parts of the brigantine. Amazed at the daring of the
free-trader, he returned the glass, and continued to pace the deck, in
silence. There stood near the two speakers an officer whose head and
form began to show the influence of time, and who, from his position,
had unavoidably been an auditor of what passed. Though the eye of this
person, who was the sailing-master of the sloop, was rarely off the
threatening cloud, except to glance along the wide show of canvas that
was spread, he found a moment to take a look at the stranger.
“A half-rigged brig, with her fore-top-gallant-mast fidded abaft, a
double martingale, and a standing gaft;” observed the methodical and
technical mariner, as another would have recounted the peculiarities of
complexion, or of feature, in some individual who was the subject of a
personal description. “The rogue has no need of showing his
brazen-faced trull to be known! I chased him, for six-and-thirty hours,
in the chops of St. George’s, no later than the last season; and the
fellow ran about us, like a dolphin playing under a ship’s fore-foot.
We had him, now on our weather bow, and now crossing our course, and,
once in a while, in our wake, as if he had been a Mother Carey’s
chicken looking for our crumbs. He seems snug enough in that cove, to
be sure, and yet I’ll wager the pay of any month in the twelve, that he
gives us the slip. Captain Ludlow, the brigantine under our lee, here,
in Spermaceti, is the well-known Skimmer of the Seas!”
“The Skimmer of the Seas!” echoed twenty voices, in a manner to show
the interest created by the unexpected information.
“I’ll swear to his character before any Admiralty Judge in England, or
even in France, should there be occasion to go into an outlandish
court—but no need of an oath, when here is a written account I took,
with my own hands, having the chase in plain view, at noon-day.” While
speaking, the sailing-master drew a tobacco-box from his pocket, and
removing a coil of pig-tail, he came to a deposit of memorandums, that
vied with the weed itself in colors. “Now, gentlemen,” he continued,
“you shall have her build, as justly as if the master-carpenter had
laid it down with his rule. ‘Remember to bring a muff of marten’s fur
from America, for Mrs. Trysail—buy it in London, and swear’—this is not
the paper—I let your boy, Mr. Luff, stow away the last entry of tobacco
for me, and the young dog has disturbed every document I own. This is
the way the government accounts get jammed, when Parliament wants to
overhaul them. But I suppose young blood will have its run! I let a
monkey into a church of a Saturday night myself, when a youngster, and
he made such stowage of the prayer-books, that the whole parish was by
the ears for six months; and there is one quarrel between two old
ladies, that has not been made up to this hour.—Ah! here we have
it:—‘Skimmer of the Seas.—Full-rigged forward, with fore-and-aft
mainsail, abaft; a gaff-top-sail; taut in his spars, with light
top-hamper; neat in his gear, as any beauty—Carries a ring-tail in
light weather; main-boom like a frigate’s top-sail-yard, with a
main-top-mast-stay-sail as big as a jib. Low in the water, with a woman
figure-head; carries sail more like a devil than a human being, and
lies within five points, when jammed up hard on a wind.’ Here are marks
by which one of Queen Anne’s maids of honor might know the rogue; and
there you see them all, as plainly as human nature can show them in a
ship!”
“The Skimmer of the Seas!” repeated the young officers, who had crowded
round the veteran tar, to hear this characteristic description of the
notorious free-trader.
“Skimmer or flyer, we have him now, dead under our lee, with a sandy
beach on three of his sides, and the wind in his eye!” cried the
first-lieutenant.
“You shall have an opportunity, Master Trysail, of correcting your
account, by actual measurement.”
The sailing-master shook his head, like one who doubted, and again
turned his eye on the approaching cloud.
The Coquette, by this time, had run so far as to have the entrance of
the Cove open; and she was separated from her object, only by a
distance of a few cables’-length. In obedience to an order given by
Ludlow, all the light canvas of the ship was taken in, and the vessel
was left under her three top-sails and gib. There remained, however, a
question as to the channel; for it was not usual for ships of the
Coquette’s draught, to be seen in that quarter of the bay, and the
threatening state of the weather rendered caution doubly necessary. The
pilot shrunk from a responsibility which did not properly belong to his
office, since the ordinary navigation had no concern with that secluded
place; and even Ludlow, stimulated as he was by so many powerful
motives, hesitated to incur a risk which greatly exceeded his duty.
There was something so remarkable in the apparent security of the
smuggler, that it naturally led to the belief he was certain of being
protected by some known obstacle, and it was decided to sound before
the ship was hazarded. An offer to carry the free-trader with the
boats, though plausible in itself, and perhaps the wisest course of
all, was rejected by the commander, on an evasive plea of its being of
uncertain issue, though, in truth, because he felt an interest in one
whom he believed the brigantine to contain, which entirely forbade the
idea of making the vessel the scene of so violent a struggle. A yawl
was therefore lowered into the water, the main-top-sail of the ship was
thrown to the mast; and Ludlow himself, accompanied by the pilot and
the master, proceeded to ascertain the best approach to the smuggler. A
flash of lightning, with one of those thunder-claps that are wont to be
more terrific on this continent than in the other hemisphere, warned
the young mariner of the necessity of haste, if he would regain his
ship, before the cloud, which still threatened them, should reach the
spot where she lay. The boat pulled briskly into the Cove, both the
master and the pilot sounding on each side, as fast as the leads could
be cast from their hands and recovered.
“This will do;” said Ludlow, when they had ascertained that they could
enter. “I would lay the ship as close as possible to the brigantine,
for I distrust her quiet. We will go nearer.”
“A brazen witch, and one whose saucy eye and pert figure might lead any
honest mariner into contraband, or even into a sea-robbery!”
half-whispered Trysail, perhaps afraid to trust his voice within
hearing of a creature that seemed almost endowed with the faculties of
life. “Aye, this is the hussy! I know her by the book, and her green
jacket! But where are her people? The vessel is as quiet as the royal
vault on a coronation-day, when the last king, and those who went
before him, commonly have the place to themselves. Here would be a
pretty occasion to throw a boat’s-crew on her decks, and haul down yon
impudent ensign, which bears the likeness of this wicked lady, so
bravely in the air, if———”
“If what?” asked Ludlow, struck with the plausible character of the
proposal.
“Why, if one were sure of the nature of such a minx, sir; for to own
the truth, I would rather deal with a regularly-built Frenchman, who
showed his guns honestly, and kept such a jabbering aboard that one
might tell his bearings in the dark.—The creature spoke!”
Ludlow did not reply, for a heavy crash of thunder succeeded the vivid
glow of a flash of lightning, and glared so suddenly across the swarthy
lineaments as to draw the involuntary exclamation from Trysail. The
intimation that came from the cloud, was not to be disregarded. The
wind, which had so long varied, began to be heard in the rigging of the
silent brigantine; and the two elements exhibited unequivocal evidence,
in their menacing and fitful colors of the near approach of the gust.
The young sailor, with an absorbing interest, turned his eyes on his
ship. The yards were on the caps, the bellying canvas was fluttering
far to leeward, and twenty or thirty human forms on each spar, showed
that the nimble-fingered top-men were gathering in and knotting the
sails down to a close reef.
“Give way, men, for your lives!” cried the excited Ludlow.
A single dash of the oars was heard, and the yawl was already twenty
feet from the mysterious image. Then followed a desperate struggle to
regain the cruiser, ere the gust should strike her. The sullen murmur
of the wind, rushing through the rigging of the ship, was audible some
time before they reached her side; and the struggles between the fabric
and the elements, were at moments so evident, as to cause the young
commander to fear he would be too late.
The foot of Ludlow touched the deck of the Coquette, at the instant the
weight of the squall fell upon her sails. He no longer thought of any
interest but that of the moment; for, with all the feelings of a
seaman, his mind was now full of his ship.
“Let run everything!” shouted the ready officer, in a voice that made
itself heard above the roar of the wind. “Clue down, and hand! Away
aloft, you top-men!—lay out!—furl away!”
These orders were given in rapid succession, and witout a trumpet, for
the young man could, at need, speak loud as the tempest. They were
succeeded by one of those exciting and fearful minutes that are so
familiar to mariners. Each man was intent on his duty, while the
elements worked their will around him, as madly as if the hand by which
they are ordinarily restrained was for ever removed. The bay was a
sheet of foam, while the rushing of the gust resembled the dull
rumbling of a thousand chariots. The ship yielded to the pressure,
until the water was seen gushing through her lee-scuppers, and her tall
line of masts inclined towards the plane of the bay, as if the ends of
the yards were about to dip into the water. But this was no more than
the first submission to the shock. The well-moulded fabric recovered
its balance, and struggled through its element, as if conscious that
there was security only in motion. Ludlow glanced his eye to leeward.
The opening of the Cove was favorably situated, and he caught a glimpse
of the spars of the brigantine, rocking violently in the squall. He
spoke to demand if the anchors were clear, and then he was heard,
shouting again from his station in the weather gangway—
“Hard a-weather!—”
The first efforts of the cruiser to obey her helm, stripped as she was
of canvas, were labored and slow. But when her head began to fall off,
the driving scud was scarce swifter than her motion. At that moment,
the sluices of the cloud opened, and a torrent of rain mingled in the
uproar, and added to the confusion. Nothing was now visible but the
lines of the falling water, and the sheet of white foam through which
the ship was glancing.
“Here is the land, sir!” bellowed Trysail, from a cat-head, where he
stood resembling some venerable sea-god, dripping with his native
element. “We are passing it, like a race-horse!”
“See your bowers clear!” shouted back the captain.
“Ready, sir, ready—”
Ludlow motioned to the men at the wheel, to bring the ship to the wind;
and when her way was sufficiently deadened, two ponderous anchors
dropped, at another signal, into the water. The vast fabric was not
checked without a further and tremendous struggle. When the bows felt
the restraint, the ship swung head to wind, and fathom after fathom of
the enormous ropes were extracted, by surges so violent as to cause the
hull to quiver to its centre. But the first lieutenant and Trysail were
no novices in their duty, and, in less than a minute, they had secured
the vessel steadily at her anchors. When this important service was
performed, officers and crew stood looking at each other, like men who
had just made a hazardous and fearful experiment. The view again
opened, and objects on the land became visible through the still
falling rain. The change was like that from night to day. Men who had
passed their lives on the sea drew long and relieving breaths,
conscious that the danger was happily passed. As the more pressing
interest of their own situation abated they remembered the object of
their search. All eyes were turned in quest of the smuggler; but, by
some inexplicable means, he had disappeared.
‘The Skimmer of the Seas!’ and ‘What has become of the brigantine?’
were exclamations that the discipline of a royal cruiser could not
repress. They were repeated by a hundred mouths, while twice as many
eyes sought to find the beautiful fabric. All looked in vain. The spot
where the Water-Witch had so lately lain, was vacant, and no vestige of
her wreck lined the shores of the Cove. During the time the ship was
handing her sails, and preparing to enter the Cove, no one had leisure
to look for the stranger; and after the vessel had anchored, until that
moment, it was not possible to see her length, on any side of them.
There was still a dense mass of falling water moving seaward; but the
curious and anxious eyes of Ludlow made fruitless efforts to penetrate
its secrets. Once indeed, more than an hour after the gust had reached
his own ship, and when the ocean in the offing was clear and calm, he
thought he could distinguish, far to seaward, the delicate tracery of a
vessel’s spars, drawn against the horizon, without any canvas set. But
a second look did not assure him of the truth of the conjecture.
There were many extraordinary tales related that night, on board Her
Britannic Majesty’s ship Coquette. The boatswain affirmed that, while
piping below in order to overhaul the cables, he had heard a screaming
in the air, that sounded as if a hundred devils were mocking him, and
which he told the gunner, in confidence, he believed was no more than
the winding of a call on board the brigantine, who had taken occasion,
when other vessels were glad to anchor, to get under way, in her own
fashion. There was also a fore-top-man named Robert Yarn, a fellow
whose faculty for story-telling equalled that of Scheherazade, and who
not only asserted, but who confirmed the declaration by many strange
oaths, that while he lay on the lee-fore-top-sail-yard-arm, stretching
forth an arm to grasp the leech of the sail, a dark-looking female
fluttered over his head and caused her long hair to whisk into his
face, in a manner that compelled him to shut his eyes, which gave
occasion to a smart reprimand from the reefer of the top. There was a
feeble attempt to explain this assault, by the man who lay next to
Yarn, who affected to think the hair was no more than the end of a
gasket whipping in the wind; but his shipmate, who had pulled one of
the oars of the yawl, soon silenced this explanation, by the virtue of
his long-established reputation for veracity. Even Trysail ventured
several mysterious conjectures concerning the fate of the brigantine,
in the gun-room; but, on returning from the duty of sounding the inlet,
whither he had been sent by his captain, he was less communicative and
more thoughtful than usual. It appeared, indeed, from the surprise that
was manifested by every officer that heard the report of the
quarter-master, who had given the casts of the lead on this service,
that no one in the ship, with the exception of Alderman Van Beverout,
was at all aware that there was rather more than two fathoms of water
in that secret passage.