CHAPTER III
THE MASTER'S WANDERINGS
_From the Memoirs of the Chevalier de Burke_
... I left Ruthven (it's hardly necessary to remark) with much greatersatisfaction than I had come to it; but whether I missed my way in thedeserts, or whether my companions failed me, I soon found myself alone.This was a predicament very disagreeable; for I never understood thishorrid country or savage people, and the last stroke of the Prince'swithdrawal had made us of the Irish more unpopular than ever. I wasreflecting on my poor chances, when I saw another horseman on the hill,whom I supposed at first to have been a phantom, the news of his deathin the very front at Culloden being current in the army generally. Thiswas the Master of Ballantrae, my Lord Durrisdeer's son, a young noblemanof the rarest gallantry and parts, and equally designed by nature toadorn a Court and to reap laurels in the field. Our meeting was the morewelcome to both, as he was one of the few Scots who had used the Irishwith consideration, and as he might now be of very high utility inaiding my escape. Yet what founded our particular friendship was acircumstance, by itself as romantic as any fable of King Arthur.
This was on the second day of our flight, after we had slept one nightin the rain upon the inclination of a mountain. There was an Appin man,Alan Black Stewart (or some such name,[2] but I have seen him since inFrance), who chanced to be passing the same way, and had a jealousy ofmy companion. Very uncivil expressions were exchanged and Stewart callsupon the Master to alight and have it out.
"Why, Mr. Stewart," says the Master, "I think at the present time Iwould prefer to run a race with you." And with the word claps spurs tohis horse.
Stewart ran after us, a childish thing to do, for more than a mile; andI could not help laughing, as I looked back at last and saw him on ahill, holding his hand to his side, and nearly burst with running.
"But all the same," I could not help saying to my companion, "I wouldlet no man run after me for any such proper purpose, and not give himhis desire. It was a good jest, but it smells a trifle cowardly."
He bent his brows at me. "I do pretty well," says he, "when I saddlemyself with the most unpopular man in Scotland, and let that suffice forcourage."
"O, bedad," says I, "I could show you a more unpopular with the nakedeye. And if you like not my company, you can 'saddle' yourself on someone else."
"Colonel Burke," says he, "do not let us quarrel; and, to that effect,let me assure you I am the least patient man in the world."
"I am as little patient as yourself," said I. "I care not who knowsthat."
"At this rate," says he, reining in, "we shall not go very far. And Ipropose we do one of two things upon the instant: either quarrel and bedone; or make a sure bargain to bear everything at each other's hands."
"Like a pair of brothers?" said I.
"I said no such foolishness," he replied. "I have a brother of my own,and I think no more of him than of a colewort. But if we are to have ournoses rubbed together in this course of flight, let us each dare to beourselves like savages, and each swear that he will neither resent nordeprecate the other. I am a pretty bad fellow at bottom, and I find thepretence of virtues very irksome."
"O, I am as bad as yourself," said I. "There is no skim-milk in FrancisBurke. But which is it to be? Fight or make friends?"
"Why," says he, "I think it will be the best manner to spin a coin forit."
This proposition was too highly chivalrous not to take my fancy; and,strange as it may seem of two well-born gentlemen of to-day, we span ahalf-crown (like a pair of ancient paladins) whether we were to cut eachother's throats or be sworn friends. A more romantic circumstance canrarely have occurred; and it is one of those points in my memoirs, bywhich we may see the old tales of Homer and the poets are equally trueto-day--at least, of the noble and genteel. The coin fell for peace, andwe shook hands upon our bargain. And then it was that my companionexplained to me his thought in running away from Mr. Stewart, which wascertainly worthy of his political intellect. The report of his death, hesaid, was a great guard to him; Mr. Stewart having recognised him, hadbecome a danger; and he had taken the briefest road to that gentleman'ssilence. "For," says he, "Alan Black is too vain a man to narrate anysuch story of himself."
Towards afternoon we came down to the shores of that loch for which wewere heading; and there was the ship, but newly come to anchor. She wasthe _Sainte-Marie-des-Anges_, out of the port of Havre-de-Grace. TheMaster, after we had signalled for a boat, asked me if I knew thecaptain. I told him he was a countryman of mine, of the most unblemishedintegrity, but, I was afraid, a rather timorous man.
"No matter," says he. "For all that, he should certainly hear thetruth."
I asked him If he meant about the battle? for if the captain once knewthe standard was down, he would certainly put to sea again at once.
"And even then!" said he; "the arms are now of no sort of utility."
"My dear man," said I, "who thinks of the arms? But, to be sure, we mustremember our friends. They will be close upon our heels, perhaps thePrince himself, and if the ship be gone, a great number of valuablelives may be imperilled."
"The captain and the crew have lives also, if you come to that," saysBallantrae.
This I declared was but a quibble, and that I would not hear of thecaptain being told; and then it was that Ballantrae made me a wittyanswer, for the sake of which (and also because I have been blamedmyself in this business of the _Sainte-Marie-des-Anges_) I have relatedthe whole conversation as it passed.
"Frank," says he, "remember our bargain. I must not object to yourholding your tongue, which I hereby even encourage you to do; but, bythe same terms, you are not to resent my telling."
I could not help laughing at this; though I still forewarned him whatwould come of it.
"The devil may come of it for what I care," says the reckless fellow. "Ihave always done exactly as I felt inclined."
As is well known, my prediction came true. The captain had no soonerheard the news than he cut his cable and to sea again; and beforemorning broke, we were in the Great Minch.
The ship was very old; and the skipper, although the most honest of men(and Irish too), was one of the least capable. The wind blew veryboisterous, and the sea raged extremely. All that day we had littleheart whether to eat or drink; went early to rest in some concern ofmind; and (as if to give us a lesson) in the night the wind choppedsuddenly into the north-east, and blew a hurricane. We were awaked bythe dreadful thunder of the tempest and the stamping of the mariners ondeck; so that I supposed our last hour was certainly come; and theterror of my mind was increased out of all measure by Ballantrae, whomocked at my devotions. It is in hours like these that a man of anypiety appears in his true light, and we find (what we are taught asbabes) the small trust that can be set in worldly friends: I would beunworthy of my religion if I let this pass without particular remark.For three days we lay in the dark in the cabin, and had but a biscuit tonibble. On the fourth the wind fell, leaving the ship dismasted andheaving on vast billows. The captain had not a guess of whither we wereblown; he was stark ignorant of his trade, and could do naught but blessthe Holy Virgin; a very good thing too, but scarce the whole ofseamanship. It seemed, our one hope was to be picked up by anothervessel; and if that should prove to be an English ship, it might be nogreat blessing to the Master and myself.
The fifth and sixth days we tossed there helpless. The seventh some sailwas got on her, but she was an unwieldy vessel at the best, and we madelittle but leeway. All the time, indeed, we had been drifting to thesouth and west, and during the tempest must have driven in thatdirection with unheard-of violence. The ninth dawn was cold and black,with a great sea running, and every mark of foul weather. In thissituation we were overjoyed to sight a small ship on the horizon, and toperceive her go about and head for the _Sainte-Marie_. But ourgratification did not very long endure; for when she had laid-to andlowered a boat, it was immediately filled with disorderly fellows, whosang and shouted as they pulled across to
us, and swarmed in on our deckwith bare cutlasses, cursing loudly. Their leader was a horriblevillain, with his face blacked and his whiskers curled in ringlets;Teach his name; a most notorious pirate. He stamped about the deck,raving and crying out that his name was Satan, and his ship was calledHell. There was something about him like a wicked child or a half-wittedperson, that daunted me beyond expression. I whispered in the ear ofBallantrae that I would not be the last to volunteer, and only prayedGod they might be short of hands; he approved my purpose with a nod.
"Bedad," said I to Master Teach, "if you are Satan, here is a devil forye."
The word pleased him; and (not to dwell upon these shocking incidents)Ballantrae and I and two others were taken for recruits, while theskipper and all the rest were cast into the sea by the method of walkingthe plank. It was the first time I had seen this done; my heart diedwithin me at the spectacle; and Master Teach or one of his acolytes (formy head was too much lost to be precise) remarked upon my pale face in avery alarming manner. I had the strength to cut a step or two of a jig,and cry out some ribaldry, which saved me for that time; but my legswere like water when I must get down into the skiff among thesemiscreants; and what with my horror of my company and fear of themonstrous billows, it was all I could do to keep an Irish tongue andbreak a jest or two as we were pulled aboard. By the blessing of God,there was a fiddle in the pirate ship, which I had no sooner seen than Ifell upon; and in my quality of crowder I had the heavenly good luck toget favour in their eyes. "Crowding Pat" was the name they dubbed mewith: and it was little I cared for a name so long as my skin was whole.
What kind of a pandemonium that vessel was I cannot describe, but shewas commanded by a lunatic, and might be called a floating Bedlam.Drinking, roaring, singing, quarrelling, dancing, they were never allsober at one time; and there were days together when, if a squall hadsupervened, it must have sent us to the bottom; or if a King's ship hadcome along, it would have found us quite helpless for defence. Once ortwice we sighted a sail, and, if we were sober enough, overhauled it,God forgive us! and if we were all too drunk, she got away, and I wouldbless the saints under my breath. Teach ruled, if you can call that rulewhich brought no order, by the terror he created; and I observed theman was very vain of his position. I have known marshals of France--ay,and even Highland chieftains--that were less openly puffed up; whichthrows a singular light on the pursuit of honour and glory. Indeed, thelonger we live, the more we perceive the sagacity of Aristotle and theother old philosophers; and though I have all my life been eager forlegitimate distinctions, I can lay my hand upon my heart, at the end ofmy career, and declare there is not one--no, nor yet life itself--whichis worth acquiring or preserving at the slightest cost of dignity.
It was long before I got private speech of Ballantrae; but at length onenight we crept out upon the boltsprit, when the rest were betteremployed, and commiserated our position.
"None can deliver us but the saints," said I.
"My mind is very different," said Ballantrae; "for I am going to delivermyself. This Teach is the poorest creature possible; we make no profitof him, and lie continually open to capture; and," says he, "I am notgoing to be a tarry pirate for nothing, nor yet to hang in chains if Ican help it." And he told me what was in his mind to better the state ofthe ship in the way of discipline, which would give us safety for thepresent, and a sooner hope of deliverance when they should have gainedenough and should break up their company.
I confessed to him ingenuously that my nerve was quite shook amid thesehorrible surroundings, and I durst scarce tell him to count upon me.
"I am not very easy frightened," said he, "nor very easy beat."
A few days after there befell an accident which had nearly hanged usall; and offers the most extraordinary picture of the folly that ruledin our concerns. We were all pretty drunk: and some bedlamite spying asail, Teach put the ship about in chase without a glance, and we beganto bustle up the arms and boast of the horrors that should follow. Iobserved Ballantrae stood quiet in the bows, looking under the shade ofhis hand; but for my part, true to my policy among these savages, I wasat work with the busiest, and passing Irish jests for their diversion.
"Run up the colours!" cried Teach. "Show the ----s the Jolly Roger!"
It was the merest drunken braggadocio at such a stage, and might havelost us a valuable prize; but I thought it no part of mine to reason,and I ran up the black flag with my own hand.
Ballantrae steps presently aft with a smile upon his face.
"You may perhaps like to know, you drunken dog," says he, "that you arechasing a King's ship."
Teach roared him the lie; but he ran at the same time to the bulwarks,and so did they all. I have never seen so many drunken men strucksuddenly sober. The cruiser had gone about, upon our impudent display ofcolours; she was just then filling on the new tack; her ensign blew outquite plain to see; and even as we stared, there came a puff of smoke,and then a report, and a shot plunged in the waves a good way short ofus. Some ran to the ropes, and got the _Sarah_ round with an incredibleswiftness. One fellow fell on the rum-barrel, which stood broached uponthe deck, and rolled it promptly overboard. On my part, I made for theJolly Roger, struck it, tossed it in the sea; and could have flungmyself after, so vexed was I with our mismanagement. As for Teach, hegrew as pale as death, and incontinently went down to his cabin. Onlytwice he came on deck that afternoon; went to the taffrail; took a longlook at the King's ship, which was still on the horizon heading afterus; and then, without speech, back to his cabin. You may say he desertedus; and if it had not been for one very capable sailor we had on board,and for the lightness of the airs that blew all day, we must certainlyhave gone to the yard-arm.
It is to be supposed Teach was humiliated, and perhaps alarmed for hisposition with the crew; and the way in which he set about regaining whathe had lost was highly characteristic of the man. Early next day wesmelled him burning sulphur in his cabin and crying out of "Hell, hell!"which was well understood among the crew, and filled their minds withapprehension. Presently he comes on deck, a perfect figure of fun, hisface blacked, his hair and whiskers curled, his belt stuck full ofpistols; chewing bits of glass so that the blood ran down his chin, andbrandishing a dirk. I do not know if he had taken these manners from theIndians of America, where he was a native; but such was his way, and hewould always thus announce that he was wound up to horrid deeds. Thefirst that came near him was the fellow who had sent the rum overboardthe day before; him he stabbed to the heart, damning him for a mutineer;and then capered about the body, raving and swearing and daring us tocome on. It was the silliest exhibition; and yet dangerous too, for thecowardly fellow was plainly working himself up to another murder.
All of a sudden Ballantrae stepped forth. "Have done with thisplay-acting," says he. "Do you think to frighten us with making faces?We saw nothing of you yesterday, when you were wanted; and we did wellwithout you, let me tell you that."
There was a murmur and a movement in the crew, of pleasure and alarm, Ithought, in nearly equal parts. As for Teach, he gave a barbarous howl,and swung his dirk to fling it, an art in which (like many seamen) hewas very expert.
"Knock that out of his hand!" says Ballantrae, so sudden and sharp thatmy arm obeyed him before my mind had understood.
Teach stood like one stupid, never thinking on his pistols.
"Go down to your cabin," cries Ballantrae, "and come on deck again whenyou are sober. Do you think we are going to hang for you, youblack-faced, half-witted, drunken brute and butcher? Go down!" And hestamped his foot at him with such a sudden smartness that Teach fairlyran for it to the companion.
"And now, mates," says Ballantrae, "a word with you. I don't know if youare gentlemen of fortune for the fun of the thing, but I am not. I wantto make money, and get ashore again, and spend it like a man. And on onething my mind is made up: I will not hang if I can help it. Come, giveme a hint; I'm only a beginner! Is there no way to get a littlediscipline and common sense about this
business?"
One of the men spoke up: he said by rights they should have aquartermaster; and no sooner was the word out of his mouth than theywere all of that opinion. The thing went by acclamation; Ballantrae wasmade quartermaster, the rum was put in his charge, laws were passed inimitation of those of a pirate by the name of Roberts, and the lastproposal was to make an end of Teach. But Ballantrae was afraid of amore efficient captain, who might be a counter-weight to himself, and heopposed this stoutly. Teach, he said, was good enough to board ships andfrighten fools with his blacked face and swearing; we could scarce get abetter man than Teach for that; and besides, as the man was nowdisconsidered, and as good as deposed, we might reduce his proportion ofthe plunder. This carried it; Teach's share was cut down to a merederision, being actually less than mine; and there remained only twopoints: whether he would consent, and who was to announce to him thisresolution.
"Do not let that stick you," says Ballantrae, "I will do that."
And he stepped to the companion and down alone into the cabin to facethat drunken savage.
"This is the man for us," cried one of the hands. "Three cheers for thequartermaster!" which were given with a will, my own voice among theloudest, and I daresay these plaudits had their effect on Master Teachin the cabin, as we have seen of late days how shouting in the streetsmay trouble even the minds of legislators.
What passed precisely was never known, though some of the heads of itcame to the surface later on; and we were all amazed, as well asgratified, when Ballantrae came on deck with Teach upon his arm, andannounced that all had been consented.
I pass swiftly over those twelve or fifteen months in which we continuedto keep the sea in the North Atlantic, getting our food and water fromthe ships we overhauled, and doing on the whole a pretty fortunatebusiness. Sure, no one could wish to read anything so ungenteel as thememoirs of a pirate, even an unwilling one like me! Things wentextremely better with our designs, and Ballantrae kept his lead, to myadmiration, from that day forth. I would be tempted to suppose that agentleman must everywhere be first, even aboard a rover; but my birth isevery whit as good as any Scottish lord's, and I am not ashamed toconfess that I stayed Crowding Pat until the end, and was not muchbetter than the crew's buffoon. Indeed, it was no scene to bring out mymerits. My health suffered from a variety of reasons; I was more at hometo the last on a horse's back than a ship's deck; and, to be ingenuous,the fear of the sea was constantly in my mind, battling with the fear ofmy companions. I need not cry myself up for courage; I have done well onmany fields under the eyes of famous generals, and earned my lateadvancement by an act of the most distinguished valour before manywitnesses. But when we must proceed on one of our abordages, the heartof Francis Burke was in his boots; the little egg-shell skiff in whichwe must set forth, the horrible heaving of the vast billows, the heightof the ship that we must scale, the thought of how many might be therein garrison upon their legitimate defence, the scowling heavens which(in that climate) so often looked darkly down upon our exploits, and themere crying of the wind in my ears, were all considerations mostunpalatable to my valour. Besides which, as I was always a creature ofthe nicest sensibility, the scenes that must follow on our successtempted me as little as the chances of defeat. Twice we found women onboard; and though I have seen towns sacked, and of late days in Francesome very horrid public tumults, there was something in the smallness ofthe numbers engaged, and the bleak dangerous sea-surroundings, that madethese acts of piracy far the most revolting. I confess ingenuously Icould never proceed unless I was three parts drunk; it was the same evenwith the crew; Teach himself was fit for no enterprise till he was fullof rum; and it was one of the most difficult parts of Ballantrae'sperformance to serve us with liquor in the proper quantities. Even thishe did to admiration; being upon the whole the most capable man I evermet with, and the one of the most natural genius. He did not even scrapefavour with the crew, as I did, by continual buffoonery made upon a veryanxious heart; but preserved on most occasions a great deal of gravityand distance; so that he was like a parent among a family of youngchildren, or a schoolmaster with his boys. What made his part the harderto perform, the men were most inveterate grumblers: Ballantrae'sdiscipline, little as it was, was yet irksome to their love of licence;and, what was worse, being kept sober they had time to think. Some ofthem accordingly would fall to repenting their abominable crimes; one inparticular, who was a good Catholic, and with whom I would sometimessteal apart for prayer; above all in bad weather, fogs, lashing rain,and the like, when we would be the less observed; and I am sure no twocriminals in the cart have ever performed their devotions with moreanxious sincerity. But the rest, having no such grounds of hope, fell toanother pastime, that of computation. All day long they would be tellingup their shares or glooming over the result. I have said we were prettyfortunate. But an observation falls to be made: that in this world, inno business that I have tried, do the profits rise to a man'sexpectations. We found many ships, and took many; yet few of themcontained much money, their goods were usually nothing to ourpurpose--what did we want with a cargo of ploughs, or even oftobacco?--and it is quite a painful reflection how many whole crews wehave made to walk the plank for no more than a stock of biscuit or ananker or two of spirits.
In the meanwhile our ship was growing very foul, and it was high time weshould make for our _port de carenage_, which was in the estuary of ariver among swamps. It was openly understood that we should then breakup and go and squander our proportions of the spoil; and this made everyman greedy of a little more, so that our decision was delayed from dayto day. What finally decided matters was a trifling accident, such as anignorant person might suppose incidental to our way of life. But here Imust explain: on only one of all the ships we boarded, the first onwhich we found women, did we meet with any genuine resistance. On thatoccasion we had two men killed and several injured, and if it had notbeen for the gallantry of Ballantrae we had surely been beat back atlast. Everywhere else the defence (where there was any at all) was whatthe worst troops in Europe would have laughed at; so that the mostdangerous part of our employment was to clamber up the side of the ship:and I have even known the poor souls on board to cast us a line, soeager were they to volunteer instead of walking the plank. This constantimmunity had made our fellows very soft, so that I understood how Teachhad made so deep a mark upon their minds; for indeed the company of thatlunatic was the chief danger in our way of life. The accident to which Ihave referred was this:--We had sighted a little full-rigged ship veryclose under our board in a haze; she sailed near as well as we did--Ishould be nearer truth if I said, near as ill; and we cleared thebow-chaser to see if we could bring a spar or two about their ears. Theswell was exceedingly great; the motion of the ship beyond description;it was little wonder if our gunners should fire thrice and be stillquite broad of what they aimed at. But in the meanwhile the chase hadcleared a stern gun, the thickness of the air concealing them; and beingbetter marksmen, their first shot struck us in the bows, knocked our twogunners into mincemeat, so that we were all sprinkled with the blood,and plunged through the deck into the forecastle, where we slept.Ballantrae would have held on; indeed, there was nothing in this_contretemps_ to affect the mind of any soldier; but he had a quickperception of the men's wishes, and it was plain this lucky shot hadgiven them a sickener of their trade. In a moment they were all of onemind: the chase was drawing away from us, it was needless to hold on,the _Sarah_ was too foul to overhaul a bottle, it was mere foolery tokeep the sea with her; and on these pretended grounds her head wasincontinently put about and the course laid for the river. It wasstrange to see what merriment fell on that ship's company, and how theystamped about the deck jesting, and each computing what increase hadcome to his share by the death of the two gunners.
We were nine days making our port, so light were the airs we had to sailon, so foul the ship's bottom; but early on the tenth, before dawn, andin a light lifting haze, we passed the head. A little after, the hazelifted, and fell agai
n, showing us a cruiser very close. This was a soreblow, happening so near our refuge. There was a great debate of whethershe had seen us, and if so whether it was likely they had recognised the_Sarah_. We were very careful, by destroying every member of those crewswe overhauled, to leave no evidence as to our own persons; but theappearance of the _Sarah_ herself we could not keep so private; andabove all of late, since she had been foul, and we had pursued manyships without success, it was plain that her description had been oftenpublished. I supposed this alert would have made us separate upon theinstant. But here again that original genius of Ballantrae's had asurprise in store for me. He and Teach (and it was the most remarkablestep of his success) had gone hand in hand since the first day of hisappointment. I often questioned him upon the fact, and never got ananswer but once, when he told me he and Teach had an understanding"which would very much surprise the crew if they should hear of it, andwould surprise himself a good deal if it was carried out." Well, hereagain he and Teach were of a mind; and by their joint procurement theanchor was no sooner down than the whole crew went off upon a scene ofdrunkenness indescribable. By afternoon we were a mere shipful oflunatical persons, throwing of things overboard, howling of differentsongs at the same time, quarrelling and falling together, and thenforgetting our quarrels to embrace. Ballantrae had bidden me drinknothing, and feign drunkenness, as I valued my life; and I have neverpassed a day so wearisomely, lying the best part of the time upon theforecastle and watching the swamps and thickets by which our littlebasin was entirely surrounded for the eye. A little after duskBallantrae stumbled up to my side, feigned to fall, with a drunkenlaugh, and before he got to his feet again, whispered me to "reel downinto the cabin and seem to fall asleep upon a locker, for there would beneed of me soon." I did as I was told, and coming into the cabin, whereit was quite dark, let myself fall on the first locker. There was a manthere already: by the way he stirred and threw me off, I could not thinkhe was much in liquor; and yet when I had found another place, he seemedto continue to sleep on. My heart now beat very hard, for I saw somedesperate matter was in act. Presently down came Ballantrae, lit thelamp, looked about the cabin, nodded as if pleased, and on deck againwithout a word. I peered out from between my fingers, and saw there werethree of us slumbering, or feigning to slumber, on the lockers: myself,one Dutton, and one Grady, both resolute men. On deck the rest were gotto a pitch of revelry quite beyond the bounds of what is human; so thatno reasonable name can describe the sounds they were now making. I haveheard many a drunken bout in my time, many on board that very _Sarah_,but never anything the least like this, which made me early suppose theliquor had been tampered with. It was a long while before these yellsand howls died out into a sort of miserable moaning, and then tosilence; and it seemed a long while after that before Ballantrae camedown again, this time with Teach upon his heels. The latter cursed atthe sight of us three upon the lockers.
"Tut," says Ballantrae, "you might fire a pistol at their ears. You knowwhat stuff they have been swallowing."
There was a hatch in the cabin floor, and under that the richest part ofthe booty was stored against the day of division. It fastened with aring and three padlocks, the keys (for greater security) being divided;one to Teach, one to Ballantrae, and one to the mate, a man calledHammond. Yet I was amazed to see they were now all in the one hand; andyet more amazed (still looking through my fingers) to observe Ballantraeand Teach bring up several packets, four of them in all, very carefullymade up, and with a loop for carriage.
"And now," says Teach, "let us be going."
"One word," says Ballantrae. "I have discovered there is another manbesides yourself who knows a private path across the swamp; and it seemsit is shorter than yours."
Teach cried out, in that case, they were undone.
"I do not know for that," says Ballantrae. "For there are several othercircumstances with which I must acquaint you. First of all, there is nobullet in your pistols, which (if you remember) I was kind enough toload for both of us this morning. Secondly, as there is some one elsewho knows a passage, you must think it highly improbable I should saddlemyself with a lunatic like you. Thirdly, these gentlemen (who need nolonger pretend to be asleep) are those of my party, and will now proceedto gag and bind you to the mast; and when your men awaken (if they everdo awake after the drugs we have mingled in their liquor), I am surethey will be so obliging as to deliver you, and you will have nodifficulty, I daresay, to explain the business of the keys."
Not a word said Teach, but looked at us like a frightened baby as wegagged and bound him.
"Now you see, you moon-calf," says Ballantrae, "why we made fourpackets. Heretofore you have been called Captain Teach, but I think youare now rather Captain Learn."
That was our last word on board the _Sarah_. We four, with our fourpackets, lowered ourselves softly into a skiff, and left that shipbehind us as silent as the grave, only for the moaning of some of thedrunkards. There was a fog about breast-high on the waters; so thatDutton, who knew the passage, must stand on his feet to direct ourrowing; and this, as it forced us to row gently, was the means of ourdeliverance. We were yet but a little way from the ship, when it beganto come grey, and the birds to fly abroad upon the water. All of asudden Dutton clapped down upon his hams, and whispered us to be silentfor our lives, and hearken. Sure enough, we heard a little faint creakof oars upon one hand, and then again, and farther off, a creak of oarsupon the other. It was clear we had been sighted yesterday in themorning; here were the cruiser's boats to cut us out; here were wedefenceless in their very midst. Sure, never were poor souls moreperilously placed; and as we lay there on our oars, praying God the mistmight hold, the sweat poured from my brow. Presently we heard one of theboats where we might have thrown a biscuit in her. "Softly, men," weheard an officer whisper; and I marvelled they could not hear thedrumming of my heart.
"Never mind the path," says Ballantrae; "we must get shelter anyhow;let us pull straight ahead for the sides of the basin."
This we did with the most anxious precaution, rowing, as best we could,upon our hands, and steering at a venture in the fog, which was (for allthat) our only safety. But Heaven guided us; we touched ground at athicket; scrambled ashore with our treasure; and having no other way ofconcealment, and the mist beginning already to lighten, hove down theskiff and let her sink. We were still but new under cover when the sunrose; and at the same time, from the midst of the basin, a greatshouting of seamen sprang up, and we knew the _Sarah_ was being boarded.I heard afterwards the officer that took her got great honour; and it'strue the approach was creditably managed, but I think he had an easycapture when he came to board.[3]
I was still blessing the saints for my escape, when I became aware wewere in trouble of another kind. We were here landed at random in a vastand dangerous swamp; and how to come at the path was a concern of doubt,fatigue, and peril. Dutton, indeed, was of opinion we should wait untilthe ship was gone, and fish up the skiff; for any delay would be morewise than to go blindly ahead in that morass. One went back accordinglyto the basin-side and (peering through the thicket) saw the fog alreadyquite drunk up, and English colours flying on the _Sarah_, but nomovement made to get her under way. Our situation was now very doubtful.The swamp was an unhealthful place to linger in; we had been so greedyto bring treasures that we had brought but little food; it was highlydesirable, besides, that we should get clear of the neighbourhood andinto the settlements before the news of the capture went abroad; andagainst all these considerations there was only the peril of the passageon the other side. I think it not wonderful we decided on the activepart.
It was already blistering hot when we set forth to pass the marsh, orrather to strike the path, by compass. Dutton took the compass, and oneor other of us three carried his proportion of the treasure. I promiseyou he kept a sharp eye to his rear, for it was like the man's soul thathe must trust us with. The thicket was as close as a bush; the groundvery treacherous, so that we often sank in the most terrifying manner,and
must go round about; the heat, besides, was stifling, the airsingularly heavy, and the stinging insects abounded in such myriads thateach of us walked under his own cloud. It has often been commented on,how much better gentlemen of birth endure fatigue than persons of therabble; so that walking officers, who must tramp in the dirt besidetheir men, shame them by their constancy. This was well to be observedin the present instance; for here were Ballantrae and I, two gentlemenof the highest breeding, on the one hand; and on the other, Grady, acommon mariner, and a man nearly a giant in physical strength. The caseof Dutton is not in point, for I confess he did as well as any of us.[4]But as for Grady, he began early to lament his case, tailed in the rear,refused to carry Dutton's packet when it came his turn, clamouredcontinually for rum (of which we had too little), and at last eventhreatened us from behind with a cocked pistol, unless we should allowhim rest. Ballantrae would have fought it out, I believe; but Iprevailed with him the other way; and we made a stop and ate a meal. Itseemed to benefit Grady little; he was in the rear again at once,growling and bemoaning his lot; and at last, by some carelessness, nothaving followed properly in our tracks, stumbled into a deep part ofthe slough where it was mostly water, gave some very dreadful screams,and before we could come to his aid had sunk along with his booty. Hisfate, and above all these screams of his, appalled us to the soul; yetit was on the whole a fortunate circumstance, and the means of ourdeliverance, for it moved Dutton to mount into a tree, whence he wasable to perceive and to show me, who had climbed after him, a high pieceof the wood, which was a landmark for the path. He went forward the morecarelessly, I must suppose; for presently we saw him sink a little down,draw up his feet and sink again, and so twice. Then he turned his faceto us, pretty white.
"Lend a hand," said he, "I am in a bad place."
"I don't know about that," says Ballantrae, standing still.
Dutton broke out into the most violent oaths, sinking a little lower ashe did, so that the mud was nearly to his waist, and plucking a pistolfrom his belt, "Help me," he cries, "or die and be damned to you!"
"Nay," says Ballantrae, "I did but jest. I am coming." And he set downhis own packet and Dutton's, which he was then carrying. "Do not venturenear till we see if you are needed," said he to me, and went forwardalone to where the man was bogged. He was quiet now, though he stillheld the pistol; and the marks of terror in his countenance were verymoving to behold.
"For the Lord's sake," says he, "look sharp."
Ballantrae was now got close up. "Keep still," says he, and seemed toconsider; and then, "Reach out both your hands!"
Dutton laid down his pistol, and so watery was the top surface that itwent clear out of sight; with an oath he stooped to snatch it; and as hedid so, Ballantrae leaned forth and stabbed him between the shoulders.Up went his hands over his head--I know not whether with the pain or toward himself; and the next moment he doubled forward in the mud.
Ballantrae was already over the ankles; but he plucked himself out, andcame back to me, where I stood with my knees smiting one another. "Thedevil take you, Francis!" says he. "I believe you are a half-heartedfellow, after all. I have only done justice on a pirate. And here we arequite clear of the _Sarah!_ Who shall now say that we have dipped ourhands in any irregularities?"
I assured him he did me injustice; but my sense of humanity was so muchaffected by the horridness of the fact that I could scarce find breathto answer with.
"Come," said he, "you must be more resolved. The need for this fellowceased when he had shown you where the path ran; and you cannot deny Iwould have been daft to let slip so fair an opportunity."
I could not deny but he was right in principle; nor yet could I refrainfrom shedding tears, of which I think no man of valour need have beenashamed; and it was not until I had a share of the rum that I was ableto proceed. I repeat, I am far from ashamed of my generous emotion;mercy is honourable in the warrior; and yet I cannot altogether censureBallantrae, whose step was really fortunate, as we struck the pathwithout further misadventure, and the same night, about sundown, came tothe edge of the morass.
We were too weary to seek far; on some dry sands, still warm with theday's sun, and close under a wood of pines, we lay down and wereinstantly plunged in sleep.
We awaked the next morning very early, and began with a sullen spirit aconversation that came near to end in blows. We were now cast on shorein the southern provinces, thousands of miles from any Frenchsettlement; a dreadful journey and a thousand perils lay in front of us;and sure, if there was ever need for amity, it was in such an hour. Imust suppose that Ballantrae had suffered in his sense of what is trulypolite; indeed, and there is nothing strange in the idea, after thesea-wolves we had consorted with so long; and as for myself, he fubbedme off unhandsomely, and any gentleman would have resented hisbehaviour.
I told him in what light I saw his conduct; he walked a little off, Ifollowing to upbraid him; and at last he stopped me with his hand.
"Frank," says he, "you know what we swore; and yet there is no oathinvented would induce me to swallow such expressions, if I did notregard you with sincere affection. It is impossible you should doubt methere: I have given proofs. Dutton I had to take, because he knew thepass, and Grady because Dutton would not move without him; but what callwas there to carry you along? You are a perpetual danger to me with yourcursed Irish tongue. By rights you should now be in irons in thecruiser. And you quarrel with me like a baby for some trinkets!"
I considered this one of the most unhandsome speeches ever made; andindeed to this day I can scarce reconcile it to my notion of a gentlemanthat was my friend. I retorted upon him with his Scots accent, of whichhe had not so much as some, but enough to be very barbarous anddisgusting, as I told him plainly; and the affair would have gone to agreat length, but for an alarming intervention.
We had got some way off upon the sand. The place where we had slept,with the packets lying undone and the money scattered openly, was nowbetween us and the pines; and it was out of these the stranger must havecome. There he was at least, a great hulking fellow of the country, witha broad axe on his shoulder, looking open-mouthed, now at the treasure,which was just at his feet, and now at our disputation, in which we hadgone far enough to have weapons in our hands. We had no sooner observedhim than he found his legs and made off again among the pines.
This was no scene to put our minds at rest: a couple of armed men insea-clothes found quarrelling over a treasure, not many miles from wherea pirate had been captured--here was enough to bring the whole countryabout our ears. The quarrel was not even made up; it was blotted fromour minds; and we got our packets together in the twinkling of an eye,and made off, running with the best will in the world. But the troublewas, we did not know in what direction, and must continually return uponour steps. Ballantrae had indeed collected what he could from Dutton;but it's hard to travel upon hearsay; and the estuary, which spreadsinto a vast irregular harbour, turned us off upon every side with a newstretch of water.
We were near beside ourselves, and already quite spent with running,when, coming to the top of a dune, we saw we were again cut off byanother ramification of the bay. This was a creek, however, verydifferent from those that had arrested us before; being set in rocks,and so precipitously deep that a small vessel was able to lie alongside,made fast with a hawser; and her crew had laid a plank to the shore.Here they had lighted a fire, and were sitting at their meal. As for thevessel herself, she was one of those they build in the Bermudas.
The love of gold and the great hatred that everybody has to pirates weremotives of the most influential, and would certainly raise the countryin our pursuit. Besides, it was now plain we were on some sort ofstraggling peninsula, like the fingers of a hand; and the wrist, orpassage to the mainland, which we should have taken at the first, was bythis time not improbably secured. These considerations put us on abolder counsel. For as long as we dared, looking every moment to hearsounds of the chase, we lay among some bushes on the top of the dune;and ha
ving by this means secured a little breath and recomposed ourappearance, we strolled down at last, with a great affectation ofcarelessness, to the party by the fire.
It was a trader and his negroes, belonging to Albany, in the provinceof New York, and now on the way home from the Indies with a cargo; hisname I cannot recall. We were amazed to learn he had put in here fromterror of the _Sarah_; for we had no thought our exploits had been sonotorious. As soon as the Albanian heard she had been taken the daybefore, he jumped to his feet, gave us a cup of spirits for our goodnews, and sent his negroes to get sail on the Bermudan. On our side, weprofited by the dram to become more confidential, and at last offeredourselves as passengers. He looked askance at our tarry clothes andpistols, and replied civilly enough that he had scarce accommodation forhimself; nor could either our prayers or our offers of money, in whichwe advanced pretty far, avail to shake him.
"I see, you think ill of us," says Ballantrae, "but I will show you howwell we think of you by telling you the truth. We are Jacobitefugitives, and there is a price upon our heads."
At this the Albanian was plainly moved a little. He asked us manyquestions as to the Scots war, which Ballantrae very patiently answered.And then, with a wink, in a vulgar manner, "I guess you and your PrinceCharlie got more than you cared about," said he.
"Bedad, and that we did," said I. "And, my dear man, I wish you wouldset a new example and give us just that much."
This I said in the Irish way, about which there is allowed to besomething very engaging. It's a remarkable thing, and a testimony to thelove with which our nation is regarded, that this address scarce everfails in a handsome fellow. I cannot tell how often I have seen aprivate soldier escape the horse, or a beggar wheedle out a good alms,by a touch of the brogue. And, indeed, as soon as the Albanian hadlaughed at me I was pretty much at rest. Even then, however, he mademany conditions, and--for one thing--took away our arms, before hesuffered us aboard; which was the signal to cast off; so that in amoment after we were gliding down the bay with a good breeze, andblessing the name of God for our deliverance. Almost in the mouth of theestuary, we passed the cruiser, and a little after the poor _Sarah_ withher prize crew; and these were both sights to make us tremble. TheBermudan seemed a very safe place to be in, and our bold stroke to havebeen fortunately played, when we were thus reminded of the case of ourcompanions. For all that, we had only exchanged traps, jumped out of thefrying-pan into the fire, run from the yard-arm to the block, andescaped the open hostility of the man-of-war to lie at the mercy of thedoubtful faith of our Albanian merchant.
From many circumstances, it chanced we were safer than we could havedared to hope. The town of Albany was at that time much concerned incontraband trade across the desert with the Indians and the French.This, as it was highly illegal, relaxed their loyalty, and as it broughtthem in relation with the politest people on the earth, divided eventheir sympathies. In short, they were like all the smugglers in theworld, spies and agents ready-made for either party. Our Albanian,besides, was a very honest man indeed, and very greedy; and, to crownour luck, he conceived a great delight in our society. Before we hadreached the town of New York we had come to a full agreement, that heshould carry us as far as Albany upon his ship, and thence put us on away to pass the boundaries and join the French. For all this we were topay at a high rate; but beggars cannot be choosers, nor outlawsbargainers.
We sailed then, up the Hudson River, which, I protest, is a very finestream, and put up at the "King's Arms" in Albany. The town was full ofthe militia of the province, breathing slaughter against the French.Governor Clinton was there himself, a very busy man, and, by what Icould learn, very near distracted by the factiousness of his Assembly.The Indians on both sides were on the war-path; we saw parties of thembringing in prisoners and (what was much worse) scalps, both male andfemale, for which they were paid at a fixed rate; and I assure you thesight was not encouraging. Altogether, we could scarce have come at aperiod more unsuitable for our designs; our position in the chief innwas dreadfully conspicuous; our Albanian fubbed us off with a thousanddelays, and seemed upon the point of a retreat from his engagements;nothing but peril appeared to environ the poor fugitives, and for sometime we drowned our concern in a very irregular course of living.
This, too, proved to be fortunate; and it's one of the remarks that fallto be made upon our escape, how providentially our steps were conductedto the very end. What a humiliation to the dignity of man! Myphilosophy, the extraordinary genius of Ballantrae, our valour, in whichI grant that we were equal--all these might have proved insufficientwithout the Divine blessing on our efforts. And how true it is, as theChurch tells us, that the Truths of Religion are, after all, quiteapplicable even to daily affairs! At least, it was in the course of ourrevelry that we made the acquaintance of a spirited youth by the name ofChew. He was one of the most daring of the Indian traders, very wellacquainted with the secret paths of the wilderness, needy, dissolute,and, by a last good fortune, in some disgrace with his family. Him wepersuaded to come to our relief; he privately provided what was needfulfor our flight, and one day we slipped out of Albany, without a word toour former friend, and embarked, a little above, in a canoe.
To the toils and perils of this journey it would require a pen moreelegant than mine to do full justice. The reader must conceive forhimself the dreadful wilderness which we had now to thread; itsthickets, swamps, precipitous rocks, impetuous rivers, and amazingwaterfalls. Among these barbarous scenes we must toil all day, nowpaddling, now carrying our canoe upon our shoulders; and at night weslept about a fire, surrounded by the howling of wolves and othersavage animals. It was our design to mount the headwaters of the Hudson,to the neighbourhood of Crown Point, where the French had a strong placein the woods, upon Lake Champlain. But to have done this directly weretoo perilous; and it was accordingly gone upon by such a labyrinth ofrivers, lakes, and portages as makes my head giddy to remember. Thesepaths were in ordinary times entirely desert; but the country was nowup, the tribes on the war-path, the woods full of Indian scouts. Againand again we came upon these parties when we least expected them; andone day, in particular, I shall never forget how, as dawn was coming in,we were suddenly surrounded by five or six of these painted devils,uttering a very dreary sort of cry, and brandishing their hatchets. Itpassed off harmlessly, indeed, as did the rest of our encounters; forChew was well known and highly valued among the different tribes.Indeed, he was a very gallant, respectable young man; but even with theadvantage of his companionship, you must not think these meetings werewithout sensible peril. To prove friendship on our part, it was needfulto draw upon our stock of rum--indeed, under whatever disguise, that isthe true business of the Indian trader, to keep a travellingpublic-house in the forest; and when once the braves had got theirbottle of _scaura_ (as they call this beastly liquor), it behoved us toset forth and paddle for our scalps. Once they were a little drunk,good-bye to any sense or decency; they had but the one thought, to getmore _scaura_. They might easily take it in their heads to give uschase, and had we been overtaken, I had never written these memoirs.
We were come to the most critical portion of our course, where we mightequally expect to fall into the hands of French or English, when aterrible calamity befell us. Chew was taken suddenly sick with symptomslike those of poison, and in the course of a few hours expired in thebottom of the canoe. We thus lost at once our guide, our interpreter,our boatman, and our passport, for he was all these in one; and foundourselves reduced, at a blow, to the most desperate and irremediabledistress. Chew, who took a great pride in his knowledge, had indeedoften lectured us on the geography; and Ballantrae, I believe, wouldlisten. But for my part I have always found such information highlytedious; and beyond the fact that we were now in the country of theAdirondack Indians, and not so distant from our destination, could webut have found the way, I was entirely ignorant. The wisdom of my coursewas soon the more apparent; for, with all his pains, Ballantrae was nofurther advanced than myself. He knew
we must continue to go up onestream; then, by way of a portage, down another; and then up a third.But you are to consider, in a mountain country, how many streams comerolling in from every hand. And how is a gentleman, who is a perfectstranger in that part of the world, to tell any one of them from anyother? Nor was this our only trouble. We were great novices, besides, inhandling a canoe; the portages were almost beyond our strength, so thatI have seen us sit down in despair for half an hour at a time withoutone word; and the appearance of a single Indian, since we had now nomeans of speaking to them, would have been in all probability the meansof our destruction. There is altogether some excuse if Ballantrae showedsomething of a glooming disposition; his habit of imputing blame toothers, quite as capable as himself, was less tolerable, and hislanguage it was not always easy to accept. Indeed, he had contracted onboard the pirate ship a manner of address which was in a high degreeunusual between gentlemen; and now, when you might say he was in afever, it increased upon him hugely.
The third day of these wanderings, as we were carrying the canoe upon arocky portage, she fell, and was entirely bilged. The portage wasbetween two lakes, both pretty extensive; the track, such as it was,opened at both ends upon the water, and on both hands was enclosed bythe unbroken woods; and the sides of the lakes were quite impassablewith bog: so that we beheld ourselves not only condemned to go withoutour boat and the greater part of our provisions, but to plunge at onceinto impenetrable thickets and to desert what little guidance we stillhad--the course of the river. Each stuck his pistols in his belt,shouldered an axe, made a pack of his treasure and as much food as hecould stagger under; and deserting the rest of our possessions, even toour swords, which would have much embarrassed us among the woods, we setforth on this deplorable adventure. The labours of Hercules, so finelydescribed by Homer, were a trifle to what we now underwent. Some partsof the forest were perfectly dense down to the ground, so that we mustcut our way like mites in a cheese. In some the bottom was full of deepswamp, and the whole wood entirely rotten. I have leaped on a greatfallen log and sunk to the knees in touchwood; I have sought to staymyself, in falling, against what looked to be a solid trunk, and thewhole thing has whiffed at my touch like a sheet of paper. Stumbling,falling, bogging to the knees, hewing our way, our eyes almost put outwith twigs and branches, our clothes plucked from our bodies, welaboured all day, and it is doubtful if we made two miles. What wasworse, as we could rarely get a view of the country, and wereperpetually justled from our path by obstacles, it was impossible evento have a guess in what direction we were moving.
A little before sundown, in an open place with a stream, and set aboutwith barbarous mountains, Ballantrae threw down his pack. "I will go nofurther," said he, and bade me light the fire, damning my blood in termsnot proper for a chairman.
I told him to try to forget he had ever been a pirate, and to rememberhe had been a gentleman.
"Are you mad?" he cried. "Don't cross me here!" And then, shaking hisfist at the hills, "To think," cries he, "that I must leave my bones inthis miserable wilderness! Would God I had died upon the scaffold like agentleman!" This he said ranting like an actor; and then sat biting hisfingers and staring on the ground, a most unchristian object.
I took a certain horror of the man, for I thought a soldier and agentleman should confront his end with more philosophy. I made him noreply, therefore, in words; and presently the evening fell so chill thatI was glad, for my own sake, to kindle a fire. And yet God knows, insuch an open spot, and the country alive with savages, the act waslittle short of lunacy. Ballantrae seemed never to observe me; but atlast, as I was about parching a little corn, he looked up.
"Have you ever a brother?" said he.
"By the blessing of Heaven," said I, "not less than five."
"I have the one," said he, with a strange voice; and then presently, "Heshall pay me for all this," he added. And when I asked him what was hisbrother's part in our distress, "What!" he cried, "he sits in my place,he bears my name, he courts my wife; and I am here alone with a damnedIrishman in this tooth-chattering desert! O, I have been a common gull!"he cried.
The explosion was in all ways so foreign to my friend's nature that Iwas daunted out of all my just susceptibility. Sure, an offensiveexpression, however vivacious, appears a wonderfully small affair incircumstances so extreme! But here there is a strange thing to be noted.He had only once before referred to the lady with whom he wascontracted. That was when we came in view of the town of New York, whenhe had told me, if all had their rights, he was now in sight of his ownproperty, for Miss Graeme enjoyed a large estate in the province. Andthis was certainly a natural occasion; but now here she was named asecond time; and what is surely fit to be observed, in this very month,which was November, 'Forty-seven, and _I believe upon that very day aswe sat among these barbarous mountains_, his brother and Miss Graemewere married. I am the least superstitious of men; but the hand ofProvidence is here displayed too openly not to be remarked.[5]
The next day, and the next, were passed in similar labours; Ballantraeoften deciding on our course by the spinning of a coin; and once, when Iexpostulated on this childishness, he had an odd remark that I neverhave forgotten. "I know no better way," said he, "to express my scorn ofhuman reason." I think it was the third day that we found the body of aChristian, scalped and most abominably mangled, and lying in a pudder ofhis blood; the birds of the desert screaming over him, as thick asflies. I cannot describe how dreadfully this sight affected us; but itrobbed me of all strength and all hope for this world. The same day, andonly a little after, we were scrambling over a part of the forest thathad been burned, when Ballantrae, who was a little ahead, duckedsuddenly behind a fallen trunk. I joined him in this shelter, whence wecould look abroad without being seen ourselves; and in the bottom of thenext vale beheld a large war-party of the savages going by across ourline. There might be the value of a weak battalion present; all naked tothe waist, blacked with grease and soot, and painted with white lead andvermilion, according to their beastly habits. They went one behindanother like a string of geese, and at a quickish trot; so that theytook but a little while to rattle by, and disappear again among thewoods. Yet I suppose we endured a greater agony of hesitation andsuspense in these few minutes than goes usually to a man's whole life.Whether they were French or English Indians, whether they desired scalpsor prisoners, whether we should declare ourselves upon the chance, orlie quiet and continue the heart-breaking business of our journey: sure,I think these were questions to have puzzled the brains of Aristotlehimself. Ballantrae turned to me with a face all wrinkled up, and histeeth showing in his mouth, like what I have read of people starving;he said no word, but his whole appearance was a kind of dreadfulquestion.
"They may be of the English side," I whispered; "and think! the best wecould then hope is to begin this over again."
"I know--I know," he said. "Yet it must come to a plunge at last." Andhe suddenly plucked out his coin, shook it in his closed hands, lookedat it, and then lay down with his face in the dust.
_Addition by Mr. Mackellar_.--I drop the Chevalier's narration at thispoint because the couple quarrelled and separated the same day; and theChevalier's account of the quarrel seems to me (I must confess) quiteincompatible with the nature of either of the men. Henceforth theywandered alone, undergoing extraordinary sufferings; until first one andthen the other was picked up by a party from Fort St. Frederick. Onlytwo things are to be noted. And first (as most important for my purpose)that the Master, in the course of his miseries, buried his treasure, ata point never since discovered, but of which he took a drawing in hisown blood on the lining of his hat. And second, that on his coming thuspenniless to the Fort, he was welcomed like a brother by the Chevalier,who thence paid his way to France. The simplicity of Mr. Burke'scharacter leads him at this point to praise the Master exceedingly; toan eye more worldly-wise, it would seem it was the Chevalier alone thatwas to be commended. I have the more pleasure in pointing to this reallyvery noble trait of my
esteemed correspondent, as I fear I may havewounded him immediately before. I have refrained from comments on any ofhis extraordinary and (in my eyes) immoral opinions, for I know him tobe jealous of respect. But his version of the quarrel is really morethan I can reproduce; for I knew the Master myself, and a man moreinsusceptible of fear is not conceivable. I regret this oversight of theChevalier's, and all the more because the tenor of his narrative (setaside a few flourishes) strikes me as highly ingenuous.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] _Note by Mr. Mackellar_.--Should not this be Alan _Breck_ Stewart, afterwards notorious as the Appin murderer? The Chevalier is sometimes very weak on names.
[3] _Note by Mr. Mackellar_.--This Teach of the _Sarah_ must not be confused with the celebrated _Blackbeard_. The dates and facts by no means tally. It is possible the second Teach may have at once borrowed the name and imitated the more excessive part of his manners from the first. Even the Master of Ballantrae could make admirers.
[4] _Note by Mr. Mackellar_.--And is not this the whole explanation? since this Dutton, exactly like the officers, enjoyed the stimulus of some responsibility.
[5] _Note by Mr. Mackellar_.--A complete blunder: there was at this date no word of the marriage: see above in my own narration.
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