“What country, friends, is this?”
“—Illyria, lady.”
What You Will.
Men are as much indebted to a fortuitous concurrence of circumstances,
for the characters they sustain in this world, as to their personal
qualities. The same truth is applicable to the reputations of ships.
The properties of a vessel, like those of an individual, may have their
influence on her good or evil fortune; still, something is due to the
accidents of life, in both. Although the breeze, which came so
opportunely to the aid of the Water-Witch, soon filled the sails of the
Coquette, it caused no change in the opinions of her crew concerning
the fortunes of that ship; while it served to heighten the reputation
which the ‘Skimmer of the Seas’ had already obtained, as a mariner who
was more than favored by happy chances, in the thousand emergencies of
his hazardous profession. Trysail, himself, shook his head, in a manner
that expressed volumes, when Ludlow vented his humor on what the young
man termed the luck of the smuggler; and the crews of the boats gazed
after the retiring brigantine, as the inhabitants of Japan would now
most probably regard the passage of some vessel propelled by steam. As
Mr. Luff was not neglectful of his duty, it was not long before the
Coquette approached her boats. The delay occasioned by hoisting in the
latter, enabled the chase to increase the space between the two
vessels, to such a distance, as to place her altogether beyond the
reach of shot. Ludlow, however, gave his orders to pursue, the moment
the ship was ready; and he hastened to conceal his disappointment in
his own cabin.
“Luck is a merchant’s surplus, while a living profit is the reward of
his wits!” observed Alderman Van Beverout, who could scarce conceal the
satisfaction he felt, at the unexpected and repeated escapes of the
brigantine. “Many a man gains doubloons, when he only looked for
dollars; and many a market falls, while the goods are in the course of
clearance. There are Frenchmen enough, Captain Ludlow to keep a brave
officer in good-humor; and the less reason to fret about a trifling
mischance in overhauling a smuggler.”
“I know not how highly you may prize your niece, Mr. Van Beverout; but
were I the uncle of such a woman, the idea that she had become the
infatuated victim of the arts of yon reckless villain, would madden
me!”
“Paroxysms and straight-jackets! Happily you are not her uncle, Captain
Ludlow, and therefore the less reason to be uneasy. The girl has a
French fancy, and she is rummaging the smuggler’s silks and laces; when
her choice is made, we shall have her back again, more beautiful than
ever, for a little finery.”
“Choice! Oh, Alida, Alida! this is not the election that we had reason
to expect from thy cultivated mind and proud sentiments!”
“The cultivation is my work, and the pride is an inheritance from old
Etienne de Barbérie;” dryly rejoined Myndert. “But complaints never
lowered a market, nor raised the funds. Let us send for the Patroon,
and take counsel coolly, as to the easiest manner of finding our way
back to the Lust in Rust, before Her Majesty’s ship gets too far from
the coast of America.”
“Thy pleasantry is unseasonable, sir. Your Patroon is gone with your
niece, and a pleasant passage they are likely to enjoy, in such
company! We lost him, in the expedition with our boats.”
The Alderman stood aghast.
“Lost!—Oloff Van Staats lost, in the expedition of the boats! Evil
betide the day when that discreet and affluent youth should be lost to
the colony! Sir, you know not what you utter when you hazard so rash an
opinion. The death of the young Patroon of Kinderhook would render one
of the best and most substantial of our families extinct, and leave the
third best estate in the Province without a direct heir!”
“The calamity is not so overwhelming;” returned the captain, with
bitterness. “The gentleman has boarded the smuggler, and gone with la
belle Barbérie to examine his silks and laces!”
Ludlow then explained the manner in which the Patroon had disappeared.
When perfectly assured that no bodily harm had befallen his friend, the
satisfaction of the Alderman was quite as vivid, as his consternation
had been apparent but the moment before.
“Gone with la belle Barbérie, to examine silks and laces!” he repeated,
rubbing his hands together, in delight. “Aye, there the blood of my old
friend, Stephanus, begins to show itself! Your true Hollander is no
mercurial Frenchman, to beat his head and make grimaces at a shift in
the wind, or a woman’s frown; nor a blustering Englishman (you are of
the colony yourself, young gentleman) to swear a big oath and swagger;
but, as you see, a quiet, persevering, and, in the main, an active son
of old Batavia, who watches his opportunity, and goes into the very
presence of——”
“Whom?”—demanded Ludlow, perceiving that the Alderman had paused.
“Of his enemy; seeing that all the enemies of the Queen are necessarily
the enemies of every loyal subject. Bravo, young Oloff! thou art a lad
after my own heart, and no doubt—no doubt—fortune will favor the brave!
Had a Hollander a proper footing on this earth, Captain Cornelius
Ludlow, we should hear a different tale concerning the right to the
Narrow Seas, and indeed to most other questions of commerce.”
Ludlow arose with a bitter smile on his face, though with no ill
feeling towards the man whose exultation was so natural.
“Mr. Van Staats may have reason to congratulate himself on his good
fortune,” he said, “though I much mistake if even his enterprise will
succeed, against the wiles of one so artful, and of an appearance so
gay, as the man whose guest he has now become. Let the caprice of
others be what it may, Alderman Van Beverout, my duty must be done. The
smuggler, aided by chance and artifice, has thrice escaped me; the
fourth time, it may be our fortune. If this ship possesses the power to
destroy the lawless rover, let him look to his fate!”
With this menace on his lips, Ludlow quitted the cabin, to resume his
station on the deck, and to renew his unwearied watching of the
movements of the chase.
The change in the wind was altogether in favor of the brigantine. It
brought her to windward, and was the means of placing the two vessels
in positions that enabled the Water-Witch to profit the most by her
peculiar construction. Consequently, when Ludlow reached his post, he
saw that the swift and light craft had trimmed everything close upon
the wind, and that she was already so far ahead, as to render the
chances of bringing her again within range of his guns almost
desperate; unless, indeed, some of the many vicissitudes, so common on
the ocean, should interfere in his behalf. There remained little else
to be done, therefore, but to crowd every sail on the Coquette that the
ship would bear, and to endeavor to keep within sight of the chase,
during the hours of darkness which must so shortly succeed. But before
the sun had fallen to the level of the water, the hull of the
Water-Witch had disappeared; and when the day closed, no part of her
airy outline was visible, but that which was known to belong to her
upper and lighter spars. In a few minutes afterwards, darkness covered
the ocean; and the seamen of the royal cruiser were left to pursue
their object, at random.
How far the Coquette had run during the night does not appear, but when
her commander made his appearance on the following morning, his long
and anxious gaze met no other reward than a naked horizon. On every
side, the sea presented the same waste of water. No object was visible,
but the sea-fowl wheeling on his wide wing, and the summits of the
irregular and green billows. Throughout that and many succeeding days,
the cruiser continued to plow the ocean, sometimes running large, with
everything opened to the breeze that the wide booms would spread, and,
at others, pitching and laboring with adverse winds, as if bent on
prevailing over the obstacles which even nature presented to her
progress. The head of the worthy Alderman had got completely turned;
and though he patiently awaited the result, before the week was ended,
he knew not even the direction in which the ship was steering. At
length he had reason to believe that the end of their cruise
approached. The efforts of the seamen were observed to relax, and the
ship was permitted to pursue her course, under easier sail.
It was past meridian, on one of those days of moderate exertion, that
François was seen stealing from below, and staggering from gun to gun,
to a place in the centre of the ship, where he habitually took the air,
in good weather, and where he might dispose of his person, equally
without presuming too far on the good-nature of his superiors, and
without courting too much intimacy with the coarser herd who composed
the common crew.
“Ah!” exclaimed the valet, addressing his remark to the midshipman who
has already been mentioned by the name of Hopper—“Voilà la terre! Quel
bonheur! I shall be so happy—le batiment be trop agréable, mais vous
savez, Monsieur Aspirant; que je ne suis point marin—What be le nom du
pays?”
“They call it, France,” returned the boy, who understood enough of the
other’s language to comprehend his meaning; “and a very good country it
is—for those that like it.”
“Ma foi, non!”—exclaimed François, recoiling a pace, between amazement
and delight.
“Call it Holland, then, if you prefer that country most.”
“Dites-moi, Monsieur Hoppair,” continued the valet, laying a trembling
finger on the arm of the remorseless young rogue; “est-ce la France?”
“One would think a man of your observation could tell that for himself.
Do you not see the church-tower, with a château in the background, and
a village built in a heap, by its side. Now look into yon wood! There
is a walk, straight as a ship’s wake in smooth water, and
one—two—three—aye, eleven statues, with just one nose among them all!”
“Ma foi—dere is not no wood, and no château and no village, and no
statue, and no no nose,—mais Monsieur, je suis agé—est-ce la France?”
“Oh, you miss nothing by having an indifferent sight, for I shall
explain it all, as we go along. You see yonder hill-side, looking like
a pattern-card, of green and yellow stripes, or a signal-book, with the
flags of all nations, placed side by side—well, that is—les champs; and
this beautiful wood, with all the branches trimmed till it looks like
so many raw marines at drill, is—la forêt——”
The credulity of the warm-hearted valet could swallow no more; but,
assuming a look of commiseration and dignity, he drew back, and left
the young tyro of the sea to enjoy his joke with a companion who just
then joined him.
In the meantime, the Coquette continued to advance. The château, and
churches, and villages, of the midshipman, soon changed into a low
sandy beach, with a background of stunted pines, relieved here and
there, by an opening, in which appeared the comfortable habitation and
numerous out-buildings of some substantial yeoman, or occasionally
embellished by the residence of a country proprietor. Towards noon, the
crest of a hill rose from the sea: and, just as the sun set behind the
barrier of mountain, the ship passed the sandy cape, and anchored at
the spot that she had quitted when first joined by her commander after
his visit to the brigantine. The vessel was soon moored, the light
yards were struck, and a boat was lowered into the water. Ludlow and
the Alderman then descended the side, and proceeded towards the mouth
of the Shrewsbury. Although it was nearly dark before they had reached
the shore, there remained light enough to enable the former to discover
an object of unusual appearance floating in the bay, and at no great
distance from the direction of his barge. He was led by curiosity to
steer for it.
“Cruisers and Water-Witches!” muttered Myndert, when they were near
enough to perceive the nature of the floating object. “That brazen
hussy haunts us, as if we had robbed her of gold! Let us set foot on
land, and nothing short of a deputation from the City Council shall
ever tempt me to wander from my own abode, again!”
Ludlow shifted the helm of the boat, and resumed his course towards the
river. He required no explanation, to tell him more of the nature of
the artifice, by which he had been duped. The nicely-balanced tub, the
upright spar, and the extinguished lantern, with the features of the
female of the malign smile traced on its horn faces, reminded him, at
once, of the false light by which the Coquette had been lured from her
course, on the night she sailed in pursuit of the brigantine.