The First Capture; or, Hauling Down the Flag of England

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XIV.

  THE CHASE.

  When O'Brien gave up his wheel to Zeke he also took off his hat andmoved a step or two nearer to his men. Then followed an outcry from thecrew which anybody has heard who has been tempted to attend a politicalmeeting in America, to-wit--

  "Speech, speech!" chorused all hands!

  "I have not much to say to you beyond this," said the captain. "We havecome out here to capture that schooner, and we are not going back withthat flag flying at her peak."

  "Hear, hear!" shouted Zeb Short.

  "We haven't got any guns, so we will run afoul of her and board her thefirst good chance we get," continued the captain. "If any man tells youthat he surrenders--I never expect to hear any such cry from any man nowbefore me--let him go and help him up and treat him as you would liketo be treated if you were a prisoner. When we get aboard that boat, ifnone of her company pull down her flag, Wheaton is the man to attend toit. He proposed this thing, has suggested me for captain and he ought tohave the privilege of handling the flag. That ensign has floated the'mistress of the sea' and I don't believe that any body of men has everpulled it down before. We will show them before we get through with themthat it can't stand up before a 'flock of Yankees.'"

  The cheers which greeted this little speech seemed to have raised thesloop fairly out of the water. When she came down again she settled toher work and went ahead faster than ever. By this time she had roundedthe point of land behind which the schooner had run for safety the daybefore, but to the surprise of everybody her berth was empty. Theschooner during the night had pulled out and chosen another place ofrefuge. It looked as though she had abandoned the sloops and left themto watch out for themselves.

  "Well, Zeke, what do you think of this?" asked Captain O'Brien, seekingadvice of his steersman. That was not exactly the proper thing to do,but this was a household matter, everybody in the village was bent oncapturing the schooner, every man in his crew knew as much abouthandling a vessel as he knew himself, and he did not see why heshouldn't go for help where he was most likely to get it.

  "They are afraid of us, Cap," replied Zeke. "There isn't any other placethat I know of where she can run for refuge, except it is that littleharbor about five miles up the bay. She may have gone in there."

  "Why, she could not get in," replied the captain. "She draws too muchwater."

  "She can go in there if the tide is up, and she will have to come outpretty soon or we will catch her, sure," said Zeke. "If I was you Iwould go up and take a look at that place."

  The crew had by this time found out that the schooner's berth was empty,and they all crowded around their captain to see what he thought aboutit. Contrary to the custom in these days, the captain explained hismovements when he brought the sloop about and headed her up the bay,and the men all agreed that that was the place to find her.

  Up to this time Enoch had found so much else to occupy his mind that hehad not thought to take notice of the crew, but he proceeded to do itnow; and the conclusion he came to was that the schooner was never in sodangerous a position as she was at that moment. There were thirty of thecompany, as we have said, and upon the face of every one Enoch saw anexpression of calmness, not unmixed with firmness, which showed thatthey were fully alive to a sense of the peril they were about toencounter. There were no signs of giving up. They had come out therewith a purpose in view, and that purpose must be accomplished beforethey went back. Everybody expected, to quote from Caleb Young, thatthere would be mourning in Machias when they got through, but every onehoped that _he_ would get through. Remember that they had no discipline,they knew nothing of that 'shoulder to shoulder' drill which caused mento do their duty wherever they may be, but they simply went into it tolet those men, who had been engaged at Lexington, see that they werenot the only ones who believed in nipping British tyranny in the bud.

  "I believe we are going to capture that schooner," said Enoch, movingaft till he could talk to the man at the wheel.

  "Oh, you do, do you?" said Zeke, letting go of the wheel with one handand pushing his hat on the back of his head. "Course we are. If you seeanybody in this crew who dares to say that we ain't a-going to captureher, just take him by the scuff of the neck and drop him overboard. Heain't got any business to travel in this party."

  When they had accomplished about two miles and a half of the distancethey had to sail, an electric spark seemed to shoot through all thecompany when somebody descried the schooner coming out of that harborand drawing a bee-line for sea. Captain Moore had not neglected to takeparticular pains to insure the safety of his vessel. The tops of hermasts were higher than the surrounding headlands, and the first thing hedid when he came to an anchor there, was to send a man up to themast-head to act as lookout. He saw the sloop when she was coming outof the harbor of Machias, and forthwith informed the deck; whereupon anofficer ascended to his side, and with a glass distinctly made out thecompany of hostile men on board of her, and he could even see the gunsand pitchforks with which they were armed. Captain Moore instantly sawthat he must not be caught in that narrow harbor, for if he was, hiscapture was certain. He must slip his anchor and get to sea; and thesloop's company saw her when she was two miles and a half away. A cheerlong and loud greeted her appearance, and Zeke, who had been crowdingthe sloop all along so that a man standing in her lee rail could havedipped up a cup of water at any time, strove, if possible, to crowd herstill more. The sloop responded nobly, and seemed to have reserved someof her speed for just this occasion, for she went ahead faster thanever.

  "I tell you, boy, it is coming now," said Zeke, and for fear that hishat might bother him he took it off and pitched it overboard. "We willsoon see how much pluck they have got."

  To Enoch, had the contest been a friendly one, it would have been worthgoing miles to see the race between those two vessels. It seemedstrange, too, for an armed boat to run away from a vessel that hadnothing bigger than a flint-lock aboard of her, but the thought of whatwas in store for them should they succeed in coming up with the schoonerbrought many an anxious face. But there was no sign of backing out. Themen having had their cheer out began stripping themselves, and in alittle while Enoch could see nothing but sailors with a pair of overallson. Everything else had been discarded, and the men lay along the railand waited for Zeke to lay her alongside.

  "I just wish we had another sail," said Captain O'Brien, closelywatching the distance between the two vessels. "I am afraid she is goingto get away from us, but I will follow her clear to England before Iwill give her up."

  "No need of doing that," said Zeke, crowding the sloop until a wave camein over the starboard bow. "She is gaining a little--a little, to besure, but you will be aboard of her in less than two hours."

  For an hour the schooner and sloop remained about the same, one tryingher best to escape, and the other striving by every means in her powerto lessen the distance between the two. Captain O'Brien kept a closelookout with his glass, and finally uttered an exclamation indicative ofsurprise and joy.

  "Captain Moore knows that the jig is nearly up," said he, passing hisglass to one of his men. "He is going to cut away his boats."

  Another cheer broke out from the men who heard this, but they kept watchof the schooner, and very shortly saw, one of her boats fall into thesea. Another and another followed it, until four boats, which were justso much dead weight on the schooner, were following in her wake behindher. Up to this time the sloop had gained half a mile, but before shehad gained a mile, Captain O'Brien, who had the glass again, told hismen something else.

  "They are going to shoot," said he. "All you men forward lie down."

  This was what the captain was afraid of. The schooner could bring onegun to bear upon her, and if she kept up the shooting long enough, shemight hit the sloop's mast and that would end the chase in a hurry. Butthe schooner did not shoot right away. She wanted to be sure that herpursuer was in good range before she expended a shot upon her, and sobeyond training the gun the crew s
tood about awaiting the order from thecaptain to fire.

  "He is going to make sure work of us when he does shoot," remarked Zeke,as he looked up at the sails to see that they were kept full. "I wish hewould go a little bit faster--Hal--lo! That's in our favor."

  While Zeke was talking there came a sudden gust of wind, stronger thanany that had preceded it, and the schooner's main-topsail went by theboard. Of course that did away with two sails, the main gaff-topsail andthe main trysail, and her speed was lessened materially. The sloop beganto gain at once, and while a portion of the schooner's crew went aloftto clear away the wreck, the rest gathered about the gun and seemeddisposed to risk a shot at the sloop.

  "Lie down forward!" said Captain O'Brien, sharply. "You don't obeyorders any better than a merchantman's crew. Some of you will have yourheads blown off directly."

  Some of the company obeyed and some did not; but the moment there was apuff of smoke from the schooner's stern they laid themselves out flat ondeck.

  "It is no use telling us to lie down for such shooting as that," saidone of the crew, raising himself on his knees and looking aft to seewhere the shell exploded. "I would stand in front of a barn door and letthem shoot at me all day."

  "They have not got the range yet," said Captain O'Brien. "And besidesthey want to scare us."

  "There is some men in this party who don't scare," replied Zeke, tryingto crowd his vessel a little more.

  "I know that. I should be sorry to think that any of us would scare; butthey will get the range pretty soon, and you will see blood on thisdeck."

  Shot after shot continued to pour upon the sloop from the stern gun ofthe schooner, and every one exploded nearer her than the preceding one.Finally a shot passed through her mainsail, leaving a big rent behindit, and before the crew had fairly comprehended it, another came,passed through the port rail and exploded just as it got on deck. What amoment that was for Enoch! He lay right where he could see the effect ofthe shell, and two of the men jumped to their feet, gasped for a momentor two and then fell prostrate back again, and one other man set up ashriek.

  "I have got it, boys, and we have not got a doctor aboard," said he, ina voice that sounded as though there were tears behind it. "Now what amI going to do?"

  "Hold your jaw for one thing," said another, sitting up and beginning topull up his overalls. "Do you think there is no body hurt but yourself?Look at that."

  This man was much more to be pitied than the other one, for a piece ofshell had cut his calf entirely away; while the one that made so muchfuss about it had simply a crease on the top of his head. The second onemade all haste to get below, while the other accepted some pieces of theshirt which Captain O'Brien speedily took off for him and coollyproceeded to tie up his wound.

  "Say, Cap, I can stop that fellow shooting that gun," said one of thecrew. "I can take his head off easy enough."

  "Take it off then," said the captain.

  All became silent expectation as the sailor crept up to a convenientplace behind the bulwarks, rested his long flint-lock over it and drew abead on several men who were working about the gun on the schooner'sdeck. One man was engaged in swabbing out the gun. He had run the swabin, took it out and was rapping it on the edge of a bucket to get offany particles of fire that might adhere to it, when the flint-lockspoke. The man stood for an instant as if overcome with astonishment,then dropped his swab, threw his arms over his head and sank out ofsight.

  "I did it, Cap, didn't I?" shouted the sailor, who, like all the rest,was surprised at the accuracy of his discharge.

  Enoch was greatly excited at the outcome of this shot, so much so thathe got upon his feet. He told himself that if one flint-lock wouldstrike a man at that distance another might do it, too, and when the manfell he ran forward and knelt beside the sailor who had performed such awonderful exploit.