by Louis Becke
the shore, and the captive white woman gavethe mate a despairing, agonised look that not only filled him withthe deepest commiseration for her, but almost convinced him that poorPendleton and the others were dead.
Another night of wearing anxiety passed, and again with the dawn asingle canoe came off, manned by half a dozen armed natives steeredby the Malay and carrying Miss Morey. This canoe was followed by manyothers, but the leading one alone came close enough to the whaleshipto communicate. Little by little her savage crew drew nearer, watchingevery movement of those on board with the utmost suspicion; the mate,who was standing at the break of the poop on the starboard side, desiredthem to come closer, holding in his hand a loaf of bread, which he saidhe wanted to give to the white woman. The loaf was enclosed in a pieceof white paper, on which he had written these words--
"I fear that all on shore are murdered. I will wait here a few days inthe hope that you may be able to escape to us."
For some minutes the savages watched the white man, who, apparentlydisgusted with his attempts to induce them to come closer and take theloaf of bread, placed it on the rail and lit his pipe. The Malay againurged him to come ashore and "see the captain" but Wright made animpatient gesture and told him he must come closer if he wanted to talk.The scoundrel did bring the canoe a few fathoms nearer, and then stoppedher way.
Then the girl, unable to restrain herself any longer, stood up and criedout--
"All your friends on shore have been killed," then she leapt into thewater and swam towards the ship.
A yell of rage burst from the natives in the canoes, but it wasanswered by the fire of musketry from the ship and the thunder oftwo car-ronades, which, loaded with iron nuts and bolts, had been inreadiness, one on the poop, the other on the topgallant forecastle--andthe girl succeeded in reaching the ship's side in time to take hold of alife-buoy secured to a line which was thrown to her, and Wright, jumpingoverboard, helped the poor creature up over the side into safety.
Then began a desperate and furious assault to capture the ship. Thesavages, led by the renegade Malay, made three successive attempts toboard, but were each time beaten back by Wright and his gallant seamen,and the crystal water around the _Union_ was soon reddened to a deephue. Meanwhile the cable had been slipped, and, like the _Portland_,the _Union's_ company were saved from death by the freshness of thetrade-wind alone. In half an hour after the last attack had beenrepelled, the ship was out of danger from pursuit. As soon as the vesselhad cleared the passage Wright hove her to, and went down below to MissMorey, who, exhausted and almost hysterical as she was, yet answered hisquestions readily.
"You must forgive me, madam, but it is my duty to at once ask youan important question. Are you _sure_ that Captain Pendleton andthe supercargo are dead? I cannot take the ship away if there is anyuncertainty about their fate."
"I beseech you, sir, to have no doubts. I saw the two gentlemen beatento death by clubs before my eyes.... They were sitting down to eat whenthey were murdered. One was killed by the Malay man, the other by anold _matabuli_,{*}... Oh, for God's sake, sir, do not delay! The nativeshave been planning to capture this ship and murder her people for thepast three days."
Then as she became more collected she satisfied him that all of CaptainPendleton's party had been cruelly and treacherously murdered, and alsotold him her own terrible story previous to the arrival of the _Union_.
The destruction of poor Pendleton and Mr. Boston had been planned, shesaid, by the Malay; and when he and his native friends found that theycould not induce Mr. Wright to further weaken his ship's company bysending another boat's crew on shore, so that the _Union_ might the moreeasily be captured, she was ordered under the most awful threats toact as decoy. Resolved to upset their diabolical plan, or die in theattempt, she gave an apparently cheerful assent to the meditated schemeof murder, and hence her appearance in the canoe with the treacherousMalay.
Under the kindly care of Mr. (now Captain) Wright, the young woman soonregained her health and strength in a great measure and her delight knewno bounds when he announced to her his intention of returning to SydneyCove to refit before proceeding home to America. The _Union_, as we havebefore stated, entered Sydney harbour in October, 1804, and before thattime the simple gratitude of the rescued girl to her rescuer had changedinto a deeper and tenderer feeling. But we must not anticipate.
As soon as Captain Wright had made his report to the New South Walesauthorities, Miss Morey went on shore, where she was treated mosthospitably by the wives of some of the military officers, whilst Wrightwas refitting his ship.
A few days afterwards there arrived in Sydney Harbour an East Indiaship, the captain of which gave Wright some interesting particularsconcerning the _Portland_ and Captain Melton. The latter had had apeculiar history. At the end of the year 1800 he appeared in Manila,where he was entrusted with the command of a brig belonging to a Mr.John Stewart Kerr, the American Consul of that city. His orders were toproceed to Batavia, and there dispose of his cargo, bringing in returnsaleable goods for the Manila market He was given also a letter ofcredit for $20,000 the better to load the vessel. On arrival at Bataviahe sold the cargo and the brig into the bargain, and purchased in herplace the _Portland_, a ship of about 400 tons. From Batavia he wroteto Kerr--he seemed to have been the Captain "Bully" Hayes of histime--informed him of what he had done and mentioned that as he intendedto make "a long pleasure cruise" among the islands of the South Pacific,he did not expect to return to Manila for some considerable time!
He also, it is needless to say, duly cashed his letter of credit for$20,000, which six months afterwards was duly presented and taken up byMr. Kerr.
The _Portland_ was then chartered by a firm of Dutch merchants atBatavia to proceed to Serra Bay to load rice and return to Batavia.Melton sailed to Serra Bay, loaded his cargo of rice, and instead ofreturning to Batavia, went to the Isle of France and there cheerfullysold it. The next account of him received at Manila was that hewas having a "real good time" at the Cape of Good Hope, where hisfascinating manners and command of money (Kerr's money) made him manyfriends. Suddenly, however, he and the _Portland_ disappeared, andElizabeth Morey, as we have mentioned, accompanied him. He had given outthat he was bound for the North-west coast of America, to enter into thefur trade, but, beyond that rumour, nothing more was heard of him untilthe _Union_ arrived at Port Jackson, and Elizabeth Morey told the taleof his dreadful end.
*****
No further mention of the names of Captain Daniel Wright, ElizabethMorey, or the good ship _Union_ appear in the early Sydney records after1806; but that the girl's rescue by the gallant mate of the whaleshipled to her ultimate happiness we can safely assume, for in the year 1836there were married in Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, one "Marie KaiulaniShepherd, daughter of John Shepherd, to Daniel Morey Wright, master ofthe ship _Patience_, of New Bedford, and son of Daniel and ElizabethWright, of Salem, U.S.A."
