White Jacket; Or, The World on a Man-of-War
Page 63
CHAPTER LX.
A MAN-OF-WAR'S-MAN SHOT AT.
There was a seaman belonging to the fore-top--a mess-mate, though not atop-mate of mine, and no favourite of the Captain's,--who, for certainvenial transgressions, had been prohibited from going ashore on libertywhen the ship's company went. Enraged at the deprivation--for he hadnot touched earth in upward of a year--he, some nights after, loweredhimself overboard, with the view of gaining a canoe, attached by a robeto a Dutch galiot some cables'-lengths distant. In this canoe heproposed paddling himself ashore. Not being a very expert swimmer, thecommotion he made in the water attracted the ear of the sentry on thatside of the ship, who, turning about in his walk, perceived the faintwhite spot where the fugitive was swimming in the frigate's shadow. Hehailed it; but no reply.
"Give the word, or I fire!"
Not a word was heard.
The next instant there was a red flash, and, before it had completelyceased illuminating the night the white spot was changed into crimson.Some of the officers, returning from a party at the Beach of theFlamingoes, happened to be drawing near the ship in one of her cutters.They saw the flash, and the bounding body it revealed. In a moment thetopman was dragged into the boat, a handkerchief was used for atourniquet, and the wounded fugitive was soon on board the frigate,when, the surgeon being called, the necessary attentions were rendered.
Now, it appeared, that at the moment the sentry fired, the top-man--inorder to elude discovery, by manifesting the completest quietude--wasfloating on the water, straight and horizontal, as if reposing on abed. As he was not far from the ship at the time, and the sentry wasconsiderably elevated above him--pacing his platform, on a level withthe upper part of the hammock-nettings--the ball struck with greatforce, with a downward obliquity, entering the right thigh just abovethe knee, and, penetrating some inches, glanced upward along the bone,burying itself somewhere, so that it could not be felt by outwardmanipulation. There was no dusky discoloration to mark its internaltrack, as in the case when a partly-spent ball--obliquelyhitting--after entering the skin, courses on, just beneath the surface,without penetrating further. Nor was there any mark on the oppositepart of the thigh to denote its place, as when a ball forces itselfstraight through a limb, and lodges, perhaps, close to the skin on theother side. Nothing was visible but a small, ragged puncture, bluishabout the edges, as if the rough point of a tenpenny nail had beenforced into the flesh, and withdrawn. It seemed almost impossible, thatthrough so small an aperture, a musket-bullet could have penetrated.
The extreme misery and general prostration of the man, caused by thegreat effusion of blood--though, strange to say, at first he said hefelt no pain from the wound itself--induced the Surgeon, veryreluctantly, to forego an immediate search for the ball, to extract it,as that would have involved the dilating of the wound by the knife; anoperation which, at that juncture, would have been almost certainlyattended with fatal results. A day or two, therefore, was permitted topass, while simple dressings were applied.
The Surgeon of the other American ships of war in harbour occasionallyvisited the Neversink, to examine the patient, and incidentally tolisten to the expositions of our own Surgeon, their senior in rank. ButCadwallader Cuticle, who, as yet, has been but incidentally alluded to,now deserves a chapter by himself.