CHAPTER XVI
_'Twixt Love and Duty_
"Ay, it's as I thought," he remarked, returning the glass after a longgaze; "that's the Radnor, curse her!"
"The Radnor, mate? Are you quite sure?"
"Bosun, does a man live in a hell like that for a year and a half, andforget how it looks? I 'd know her among a thousand ships!"
"What's that you say, my man?" eagerly asked Seymour, stoppingsuddenly, having caught some part of the conversation as he was passingby.
"Why, that that 'ere ship is the Radnor, sir."
Talbot and his men were busy with the gun aft; no one heard but Seymourand Bentley.
"The Radnor! How do you know it, man?"
"I served aboard her for eighteen months, sir. I knows every line ofher,--that there spliced fore shroud, the patch in the mainsail,--I putit on myself,--besides, I know her; I don't know how, but know her Ido, every stick in her. Curse her--saving your honor's presence--I 'mnot likely to forget her. I was whipped at the grating till I wasnearly dead, just for standing up for this country, on board of her,and me a freeborn American too! I 've got her sign manual on my back,and her picture here, and I 'd give all the rest of my life to see hersmashed and sunk, and feel that I 'd had some hand in the doing of it.Ay, I know her. Could a man ever forget her!" continued the seaman,turning away white with passion, and shaking his fist in convulsiverage at the frigate, which made a handsome picture in spite of all.Seymour's face was as white as Thompson's was.
"The Radnor! The Radnor! Why, that's the ship Miss Wilton is on. Oh,Bentley, what can be done now?" he said, the whole situation risingbefore him. "If we lead that ship through the pass it means wreck forher. Dacres, who commands the Radnor, is a new man on this station.And if we don't try the pass, this ship is captured. And our country,our cause, receives a fatal blow! Was ever a man in such a situationbefore?"
Bentley looked at him with eyes full of pity. "We are approaching theshoal now, sir, and unless we would be on it, we will have to bring theship by the wind at once."
This, at least, was a respite. Seymour glanced ahead, and at once gavethe necessary orders. When the course was altered it became necessaryto take in the fore and main topgallantsails, on account of the wind,now blowing a half gale and steadily rising. The speed of the ship,therefore, was unfortunately sensibly diminished, and she was soonpitching and heaving on the starboard tack, much to the astonishment ofTalbot and the crew, who were ignorant of the existence of the shoal,and the latter of whom could see no necessity for the dangerousalteration in the course; they, however, of course said nothing, andTalbot, whose ignorance of seamanship did not qualify him to decidedifficult questions, after a glance at Seymour's stern, pale face,decided to ask nothing about it. This present course being at rightangles to that of their pursuer, whom neither Seymour nor Bentleydoubted to be the Radnor, would speedily bring the two ships together.They had gained a small but precious advantage, however, as thefrigate, apparently as much surprised by the unexpected manoeuvre astheir own men, had allowed some moments to elapse before her helm wasshifted and the wind brought on the other quarter; the courses of thetwo ships now intersected at an angle of perhaps seventy degrees, whichwould bring them together in a short time.
The people on the Mellish could plainly hear the drums of the frigate,now almost in range, beating to quarters. They were near enough tocount the gunports; it was indeed a heavy frigate,--a thirty-six, justthe rating of the Radnor. Talbot had made ready his field-piece, andin a moment the heavy boom of the gun echoed over the waters. The shotfell a little short, but was in good line. Much encouraged, the menhastened to load the piece again, while the Mellish crept along, alltoo slowly for the eager anxiety of her crew, toward the mouth of thechannel, of which most of them, however, knew nothing. The frigate,partly because in order to bring a gun to bear on the chase it wouldhave to luff up into the wind and thus lose valuable distance, and alsobecause the rapidity with which the Mellish was being overhauledrendered it unnecessary, had hitherto refrained from using itsbatteries. The chances of escape under the present conditions wereabout even, had it not been for the complication introduced by thepresence of Katharine and her father upon the frigate.
Seymour was in a painful and frightful state of indecision. Whatshould he do? The dilemma forced upon him was one of those whichKatharine had foreseen, and of which they had talked together. He,apparently, must decide between his love and his country. If he heldon when he reached the mouth of the channel and passed it by, thecapture of the ship was absolutely inevitable. If he went through thechannel and enticed the English ship after him, the death of hissweetheart was likewise apparently inevitable.
Chasing with the determination shown by the English captain, who hadhis topgallantsails still set, and with the little warning he wouldhave of the existence of the shoal, owing to the rapid closing of theday, the frigate would have to attempt the channel, and in that way forthat ship lay destruction.
Save Katharine-- Lose the ship. Save the ship-- Lose Katharine.Love or Duty--which should it be? The man was attacked in the two mostpowerful sources of human action. He saw on one side Katharine tossedabout by the merciless waves, white-faced with terror, and stretchingout her hands to him in piteous appeal from that angry sea in thehorror of darkness and death. And every voice which spoke to the humanheart was eloquent of her. And then on the other side there stoodthose grim and frozen ranks, those gaunt, hungry, naked men. They toostretched out hands to him. "Give us arms, give us raiment," theyseemed to say. "You had the opportunity and you threw it away forlove. What's love--to liberty?"
And every incentive which awakens the soul of honor in men appealed tohim then. Behind him stood the destinies of a great people, the fateof a great cause; on him they trusted, upon his honor they haddepended, and before him stood one woman. He saw her again as he hadseen her before on the top of the hill on that memorable night inVirginia. What had she said?--
"_If I stood in the pathway of liberty for one single instant, I shoulddespise the man who would not sweep me aside without a moment'shesitation._"
Oh, Katharine, Katharine, he groaned in spirit, pressing his hands uponhis face in agony, while every breaking wave flung the words, "duty andhonor," into his face, and every throb of his beating heart whispered"love--love."
For Love of Country: A Story of Land and Sea in the Days of the Revolution Page 17
