A week passed away on board the _Foam_. Whereabouts we were I had no
means of telling; for the captain kept me in his cabin, and would not
allow me to go on deck without first asking his leave, nor would he
permit me to communicate with Mr Jones. He treated me very kindly, and
even gave me books with which to amuse myself; but I was very far from
happy. I felt that the schooner might some day be captured by a ship of
war, and that I might probably be hung as a pirate before I had an
opportunity of establishing my innocence. I also did not like to be a
prisoner, even though I was kindly treated; and I thought that most
probably, when Hawk found I would not join in any piratical acts, and I
had resolved that nothing should compel me to do so, his behaviour would
change, and that if I escaped with my life, I should no longer be
treated as before.
Abraham Jones had, I am sorry to say, as far as I was able to judge from
appearances, taken readily enough to the office imposed on him, and on
two occasions when I went on deck, I saw him doing duty as the officer
of the watch. My opinion of him was, that he would not have sought to
become a pirate, but that, having no nice sense of right and wrong--
finding himself thrust, as it were, into the life--he did not think it
worth making any exertion to escape from it.
Whether we went to the Havanah or not I did not know. We certainly were
once at anchor, and three times we either chased vessels or were chased
by a superior force, from the eager tone in which the captain ordered
sail to be made. Once we fired several shots, and were fired at in
return; and I suspect it must have been at some vessel on our beam
chasing us, and that some of her rigging or her masts must have been cut
away, from the loud cheers the pirates gave, perhaps they sunk the
enemy.
An hour afterwards, Hawk came down into the cabin, looking as cool and
unconcerned as if nothing had happened. I tried to gain some
information from him, but he would answer none of my questions. He only
gave a ghastly smile when I asked if the vessel at which he had fired
had sunk; and he then took up a book, in which he soon seemed to be
deeply absorbed. After some time the book dropped from his hand, and he
sat for half-an-hour in a state of abstraction, unconscious of where he
was, or who was present.
He was roused by the black, Mark Anthony, putting his head in at the
door and saying, "A sail on the lee bow."
He sprang on deck in a moment, all life and activity. Instantly all
sail the schooner could carry was packed on her, and we were bowling
along with a fine breeze in chase of the stranger. This I could only
surmise, however, by the way the vessel heeled over to the breeze, for I
was still kept in the cabin.
Presently Hawk came down again. "Peter," he observed, "you have
disappointed me. I thought you would not be content to lead the idle
life you do; I fancied you would like the excitement of the chase and
the fight better than sitting alone in the cabin all day, like a young
girl."
"I am not content, Captain Hawk," I replied; "but a prisoner has no
choice."
"No one is allowed freedom on board here, unless he has taken the oaths
of allegiance to the captain and our laws," he answered, looking
steadfastly at me.
"Nothing could induce me to take one or the other," I exclaimed; "so I
suppose I shall remain a prisoner till you release me, or I die."
He seemed to take my answer very calmly; and this encouraged me to
proceed and to make an effort to obtain my freedom.
"Captain Hawk," I said, "you have been very kind to me; and though I
should have been willing to sail with you before I knew the character of
your vessel, I am now most anxious to be put on shore; and if you will
liberate me, I will swear most solemnly not to betray you, or any of
those who sail with you."
"We do not trust to the oaths of those who do not join us," he answered.
"For your own sake, I must make you take part in the next capture we
attempt, or else my people will begin to suspect that you are a mere
coward, and even I shall be unable to protect you."
"I am no coward, Captain Hawk, and that I will prove any time that I
have an opportunity; but I do not choose to commit murder or robbery," I
answered, in the same bold tone in which I usually spoke.
"You use harsh terms, youngster, to one who could any moment order you
to be hove to the sharks," exclaimed the pirate. "However, I do not
quarrel with you for speaking your mind. I once thought as you do, but
custom has altered my ideas."
"Then why do you wish me to do what you know I must consider wrong?" I
asked.
"Because I have a liking for you, and want a lad of spirit and education
to be my companion," he replied. "The old hands I cannot trust--they
are as likely to turn against me as to serve me--while you, I know, will
be faithful for awhile, till you get hardened like the rest, and then--"
"And then," interrupting him, I said, "what would you do with me? Give
me as food for the sharks, I suppose?"
"No, lad; I should let you live to fight your own way in the world, with
a charge to keep out of my path," he replied. "But that is not what I
wanted to talk to you about. You must come on deck and join in
capturing the vessel we are in chase of, for we think she is likely to
prove a prize of value."
I am sorry to say that so heartily tired was I of remaining shut up in
the cabin, that I was glad of being allowed, on any terms, to see what
was going forward on deck.
On this, I suspect, the pirate had calculated. He well knew the force
of the French proverb, "It is but the first step to crime which is
difficult." He wished me to take that first step, being assured that I
should then be his.
I thought when I went on deck that nothing would tempt me to take any
part in the acts of the pirates, even as far as in assisting to navigate
the vessel; but there is something so exciting in the chase of a vessel,
that it is difficult not to wish to come up with her. At first I stood
merely looking on; but the breeze freshened and rather headed us, and
Hawk issued an order to flatten in the fore-and-aft sails, and to brace
up the yards. I flew instinctively to the sheets, and found myself
pulling and hauling with the rest.
The captain made no remark, nor did he appear even to notice what I had
done. The wind was about south, and the chase was to the eastward of
us, standing on a bowline she was a brig of some size, and at the first
glance I thought she was a man-of-war; but Hawk pronounced her to be a
Spaniard, and homeward bound from Cuba. On hearing this, of course I
knew that we must be somewhere to the eastward of that place, and this
was the first intimation I had had of our whereabouts.
The chase had not observed us, or if he had, seemed not to be at all
suspicious of our character; for he was standing on under easy sail, as
if in no way in a hurry to escape from us.
Hawk, who was usually so calm and almost apathetic, walked the deck full
of energy and excitement. Every order he gave was uttered in a sharp,
quick tone, which demanded instant obedience. Every one partook of the
same spirit; and there appeared to be as much discipline and regularity
as on board a man-of-war. Even the most lawless vagabonds find this
necessary for the attainment of their ends and their own preservation.
We rapidly came up with the chase, and were within about three miles of
her, when she began, it seemed, to suspect that all was not right, for
sail after sail was set on her till she could carry no more, while she
edged away a little from her course, so as to allow every one of them to
draw properly. This threw us soon completely to windward, for we held
on the same course as before, and she appeared at first to be recovering
her lost ground. In a short time we also kept away with the wind almost
abeam, a point on which the _Foam_ sailed her best.
"Huzza, my lads!" exclaimed Hawk; "in a short time the chase will be
ours, and, if I mistake not, plenty of gold doubloons into the bargain,
if you can but make our craft walk along faster."
"Huzza!" shouted the English and American part of the crew, in which the
people of other nations joined in their peculiar cries.
The brig once more hauled her wind, and this brought us soon nearer
again to her.
Hawk thought it was because the captain saw indications of a shift of
wind, and hoped to be placed well to windward. He was scrutinising her
narrowly through a telescope. "She does not show any guns," he
remarked; "but it is no reason that she has not got them. Get all ready
for action, in case she should prove a Tartar."
I scarcely knew what I was about; but I confess that I not only assisted
to hand up the powder and shot, but to load and run out the guns.
Neither of us made any further variation in our course; but the chase
was, it appeared, a very slow sailer, for we so rapidly came up with
her, that five hours after she was seen she was within range of our
guns. She did not fire, nor did we; for supposing her to be unarmed,
Hawk was anxious to capture her without in any way injuring her hull or
cargo. We sailed on, therefore, as if we were engaged in a friendly
race; and no one, by looking at us, could have supposed that we were
deadly enemies.
We were getting very near to the chase, and with our telescopes could
almost distinguish the faces of those on board, when I observed Abraham
Jones, the new second mate of the _Foam_, hurry aft to the captain with
a face pale as a ghost. Hawk laughed and shook his head incredulously.
Jones seemed from his manner to be insisting that he was right, for I
did not hear what he said. Still we stood on till the chase was within
the distance of half the range of our guns. I was again aft. "Hoist
our bunting to make him show his colours," I heard Hawk say; "and give
him a shot from our bow-chaser to hurry him."
Directly afterwards a broad red flag, without any device, was run up at
our peak, and with a spout of smoke a shot went flying over the water,
and with a crash which made the splinters fly it struck the dark sides
of the brig. The effect was instantaneous, and such as was little
expected by the pirates.
A flag was run up to the gaff of the brig; but instead of the Spanish
ensign, the stars and stripes of the United States were displayed; and
the ports being opened as if by magic, eight guns were run out, and
luffing up, she let fly her broadside right into our bows. The shot
tore up our decks, and knocked away part of our starboard bulwarks,
killing two of the people, and wounding three more, but without injuring
our rigging. Then I saw what sort of men I was mingling with. I cannot
describe the fierce rage which took possession of them, the oaths and
execrations to which they gave vent. The bodies of the two men who were
killed, while yet warm, were thrown overboard directly they were found
to be dead, and the wounded were dragged below, and left without a
surgeon or anyone to attend on them. Instead of the timid Spanish
merchantman we expected to get alongside, we found that this vessel was
no other than a United States man-of-war sent to look out for the
_Foam_--in fact, that we had caught a Tartar. Hawk, to do him justice,
stood undaunted, his energies rising with the occasion, keeping away a
little, so as to get our broadside to bear, we fired in return, and the
guns being planted high, some of the running rigging was cut away, and
her fore-topmast was struck, and must have been badly wounded, for some
hands instantly were seen going aloft to fish it.
"About ship, my lads--down with the helm; and while she's in stays, give
Uncle Sam our larboard broadside."
The sails of the schooner were well full; she quickly came round, and
before the brig could follow our example, we sent the shot from our
whole broadside flying among her rigging. A loud shout of exultation
from our pirate crew showed their satisfaction at the damage they had
done; for several spars and sails, with blocks and ropes, were seen
coming down by the run on deck.
"Now, my lads, let's up stick and away," cried Hawk. "They thought,
doubtless, that they were sure of us; but we'll show them that the
_Foam_ is not to be caught so easily."
All hands who could be spared from the guns, and I among the rest, flew
to their stations to trim sails; the yards were braced sharp up, and
with her head to the south-west, the _Foam_ stood away on a bowline from
her powerful antagonist. We were not to escape, however, with impunity;
for as soon as the brig's crew had somewhat recovered from the confusion
into which the damage done by our shot had thrown them, such guns as
could be brought to bear were fired at us with no bad aim. One struck
our taffrail, and another killed a man on the forecastle; but our
rigging escaped. Twice the brig missed stays in attempting to come
about, from so much of her head-sail having been cut away; and this, as
she all the time was sailing one way and we the other, contributed much
to increase our distance. The breeze also favoured us further by
freshening, making it more difficult to the enemy to repair damages,
while, as we were unhurt, it sent us along all the more rapidly. The
Americans are not the people to take the treatment we had given them
with calmness, especially as we were so much the smaller, and had less
force. At last, at a third trial, the brig came about, while she
continued without cessation firing at us. Not much damage was done,
though our sails had daylight made through them several times by her
shot, and another man was killed; but this casualty the pirates seemed
to make light of--it was the fortune of war, and might happen every
instant to any of us. The bodies, with scant examination, except to
discover whether there was money in their pockets, or rings in their
ears or on their fingers, were thrown overboard without a prayer or a
sigh. As the shot came whistling over us, they laughed when they saw me
bobbing down my head in the hope of avoiding them. I had no fancy, I
own, to be shot by people with whom I had not the slightest enmity, nor
whom I in any way wished to injure.
We soon found that the brig-of-war, instead of being a slow sailer, was
remarkably fast, and that, while we were in chase of her, she must, by
towing a sail overboard, or by some other manoeuvre, have deadened her
way, on purpose to allow us to come up with her. We had now, therefore,
to put the schooner's best leg foremost to get away from her, even
before she had got all her gear aloft again. To try and do her further
damage, a gun was got over the taffrail, and a constant fire was kept up
from it as fast as it could be loaded.
I was standing in the waist with the black, Mark Anthony, near me.
"Well, Massa Peter, if de brig catch we, we all be hung; how you like
dat?" he asked, with a broad grin, which made him look far from
pleasing.
"I should be sorry to see any of those who have treated me with kindness
hung, or otherwise injured," I replied.
"See! Ha, ha! but how you like feel being hung, Massa Peter?" he said,
again grinning more horribly than before.
"Why, I have no fear of that sort, Mr Mark, I can assure you," I
replied; though I confess the disagreeable idea did come across me, that
I might possibly not be able to prove that I was not a pirate should we
be captured. "I have had nothing to do with any of the acts committed
by the crew of this vessel."
"Ho, ho, ho!" he exclaimed, "den you no pull and haul, and help work de
guns which fire at de sip of war? me swear me saw you myself. Ho, ho,
ho!"
The black's laughter sounded almost demoniacal in my ears. He spoke the
truth, too: I had indeed helped to work the guns; and on the strength of
it, like a tempter to evil, he was endeavouring to persuade me, in his
rough way, to join the pirates. I did not think it prudent to show him
that I clearly saw his aim; but I resolved still to remain firm.
The evening was now drawing on, and fortunately the breeze did not drop.
I confess that I was just as anxious to escape from our pursuer as any
pirate on board; scarcely more so, perhaps, than the new mate, who had
guessed the character of the brig, and had no fancy for having his
career cut short so soon.
The brig did not fire at us, as to do so she would have had to yaw and
thus lose ground, while we continued to ply her with our long gun. Her
fore-topsail could not be set while the mast was being fished. An
attempt was now made to hoist it; but the breeze at that instant
strengthening, away went the mast, rigging and sail together. A loud
cheer arose from our decks: a parting shot was given her from our gun,
and in two hours darkness hid her from our sight.