CHAPTER XVII.
"I better brook the loss of brittle life, Than those proud titles thou hast won of me; They wound my thoughts, worse than thy sword my flesh." SHAKESPEARE
Half-way between this inlet and the ship-yard, I found Marble, standingwith his arms folded, gazing after the receding ship. His countenancewas no longer saddened; but it was fierce. He shook his hand menacinglyat the French ensign, which was flying at our old gaff, and said--
"Ay, d----n you, flutter away; you quiver and shake now like one ofyour coxcombs pigeon-winging; but where will you be this day two months?Miles, no man but a bloody Frenchman would cast away a ship, there wherethis Mister Count has left the bones of his vessel; though _here_, wherewe came so nigh going, it's a miracle any man could escape. Hadn't webrought the Crisis through that opening first, he never would have daredto go out by it."
I confess I saw little about Monsieur Le Compte's management but skilland good seamanship; but nothing is more painful to most men than toadmit the merit of those who have obtained an advantage over them.Marble could not forget his own defeat; and the recollection jaundicedhis eyes, and biassed his judgment.
"I see our people are busy, already, sir," I remarked, by way of drawingthe captain's attention to some other subject. "They have hauled theschooner up to the yard, and seem to be getting along spars for shores."
"Ay, ay--Talcott has his orders; and I expect you will bestir yourself.I shall step the masts myself, and you will get all the rigging readyto be put into its place, the moment it is possible. That Frenchmancalculated, he told me to my face, that we might get to sea in afortnight; I will let him see that a set of Yankees can rig and stow hisbloody schooner, in three days, and then leave themselves time to play."
Marble was not a man of idle vaunts. He soon had everybody at work, witha system, order, silence, and activity, that proved he was master ofhis profession. Nor was the language which might sound so boastful toforeign ears, altogether without its justification. Forty Americanswere a formidable force; and, well directed, I make no doubt they wouldaccomplish far more than the ordinary run of French seamen, as they weregoverned and managed in the year 1800, and, counting them man for man,would have accomplished in double the time. Our crew had now long actedtogether, and frequently under the most trying circumstances; andthey showed their training, if men ever did, on the present occasion.Everybody was busy; and we had the shears up, and both masts stepped, inthe course of a few hours. By the time the main-mast was in, I hadthe fore-mast rigged, the jib-boom in its place, the sprit-sail yardcrossed--everything carried a spar under its bowsprit then--and thelower yard up. It is true, the French had got everything ready for us;and when we turned the hands to, after dinner, we actually began tostrike in cargo, water, provisions, and such other things, as it wasintended to carry away. At dusk, when we knocked off work, the Emilylooked like a sea-going craft, and there was every prospect of ourhaving her ready for sea, by the following evening. But, the duty hadbeen carried on, in silence. Napoleon said there had been more noisemade in the little schooner which carried him from l'Orient to BasqueRoads, than was made on board the line-of-battle ship that conveyed himto St. Helena, during the whole passage. Since that memorable day, theFrench have learned to be silent on board ship, and the fruits remain tobe seen.
That night, Marble and myself consulted together on the aspect ofthings--or, as he expressed it, "we generalized over our prospects."Monsieur Le Compte had done one thing which duty required of him. Hedid not leave us a kernel of the gunpowder belonging to either ship; norcould we find a boarding-pike, cutlass, or weapon of any sort, exceptthe officers' pistols. We had a canister of powder, and a sufficiencyof bullets for the last, which had been left as, out of an _esprit decorps_, or the feeling of an officer, which told him we might possiblyneed these means to keep our own crew in order. Such was not the fact,however, with the particular people we happened to have; a more orderlyand reasonable set of men never sailing together. But, Monsieur LeCompte knew it was his duty to put it out of their power to trouble us,so far as it lay in his; but, at the same time, while he left us themeans of safety, he provided against our doing any further injury to hisown countrymen. In this he had pretty effectually succeeded, so far asarmament was concerned.
The next morning I was up with the appearance of the dawn, and, havingsuffered much from the heat the preceding day, I walked to a suitablespot, threw off my clothes, and plunged into the basin. The water wastransparent almost as air; and I happened to select a place where thecoral grew within a few yards of the surface. As I dove, my eye fell ona considerable cluster of large oysters that were collected on the rock,and, reaching them, I succeeded in bringing up half a dozen that clungto each other. These dives I repeated, during the next quarter of anhour, until I had all the oysters, sixty or eighty in number, safe onthe shore. That they were the pearl oysters, I knew immediately; andbeckoning to Neb, the fellow soon had them snug in a basket, and putaway in a place of security. The circumstance was mentioned to Marble,who, finding no more heavy drags to be made, ordered the SandwichIslanders to take a boat and pass a few hours in their regularoccupation, on account of the owners--if, indeed, the last had anyfurther claim on our services. These men met with tolerable success,though, relatively, nothing equal to mine. What, just then, was of farmore importance, they made a discovery of an arm-chest lying on thebottom of the basin, at the anchorage of the Crisis, and which haddoubtless been sunk there by the French. We had all la Pauline's boatsbut the captain's gig. I went in one of them with a gang of hands, and,the divers securing a rope to the handles of the chest, we soon got itin. It turned out to be one of the arm-chests of the Crisis, which theFrench had found in their way and thrown overboard, evidently preferringto use weapons to which they were accustomed. They had done better bycarrying the chest out to sea, and disposing of it in fifty or a hundredfathom water.
The prize was turned over to the gunner, who reported that it was thechest in which we kept our cutlasses and pistols, of both of which therewas a sufficient supply to give every man one of each. There were alsoseveral horns of powder, and a bag of bullets; but the first was ruinedby the water. As for the arms, they were rubbed dry, oiled, and put awayagain in the chest, after the last had stood a whole day, in the hotsun, open. Thus, through the agency of men brought for a very differentpurpose, we were put in possession of the means of achieving theexploit, which might now be said to form the great object of our lives.
That day we got everything on board the schooner that it was thoughtdesirable to take with us. We left much behind that was valuable, it istrue, especially the copper; but Marble wisely determined that it wasinexpedient to put the vessel deeper than good ballast-trim, lest itshould hurt her sailing. We had got her fairly to her bearings, and thiswas believed to be as low as was expedient. It is true, a great dealremained to be stowed; the deck being littered, and the hold, theground-tier excepted, in great confusion. But our bread, water, beef,pork, and other eatables, were all there, and in abundance; and, thoughnot to be had for the asking, they were still to be had. The sails werebent, and the only anchor, la Pauline's stream, with her two largestkedges, was on our bows. While in this condition, Marble gave theunexpected order for all hands to come on board, and for the shore-faststo be cast off.
Of course, there was no dissenting to so positive a command. We hadsigned new shipping-articles for the schooner, extending the engagementsmade when we entered on board the Crisis, to this new vessel, or anyother she might capture. The wind was a steady trade, and, when weshowed our main-sail and jib to it, the little craft glided athwart thebasin like a duck. Shooting through the pass, Marble tacked her twice,as soon as he had an offing; and everybody was delighted with thequickness with which she was worked. There was barely light enough toenable us to find our way through the opening in the reef; and, justthirty-eight hours after the Crisis sailed, we were on her track. We hadonly conjecture to guide us as to the ship's course, with the exceptionof the main fact
of her having sailed for the west coast of SouthAmerica; but we had not failed to notice that she disappeared in thenorth-east trades on a bow-line. We put the schooner as near as possibleon the same course, making a proper allowance for the difference in therig of the two vessels.
The distance run that night, satisfied us all that Mons. Le Compte wasa good draftsman. The schooner ran 106 miles in twelve hours, againsta very respectable sea, which was at least ten or fifteen more than theCrisis could have done under the same circumstances. It is true, thatwhat was close-hauled for her, was not close-hauled for us; and, in thisrespect, we had the advantage of her. Marble was so well pleased withour night's work, that when he came on deck next morning, the firstthing he did was to order a bottle of rum to be brought him, and thenall hands to be called. As soon as the people were up, he went forward,got into the head, and commanded every body to muster on the forecastle.Marble now made a speech.
"We have some good, and some bad luck, this v'y'ge, men," he said; "and,when we generalize on the subject, it will be found that good luck hasusually followed the bad luck. Now, the savages, with that blackguardSmudge, knocked poor Captain Williams in the head, and threw himoverboard, and got the ship from us; then came the good luck of gettingher back again. After this, the French did us that unhandsome thing:now, here comes the good luck of their leaving us a craft that willoverhaul the ship, when I needn't tell _you,_ what will come of it."Here all hands, as in duty bound, gave three cheers. "Now, I neithersail nor fight in a craft that carries a French name. Captain Countchristened the schooner the--Mr. Wallingford will tell you her exactname."
"_La Belle Emelie,_" said I, "or the Beautiful Emily."
"None of your belles for me, nor your Beautiful Emilys either," criedMarble, smashing the bottle over the schooner's nose; "So here goesthree cheers again, for the 'Pretty Poll,' which was the name the craftwas born to, and the name she shall bear, as long as Moses Marble sailsher."
From that moment, the schooner was known by the name of the "PrettyPoll." I met with portions of our crew years afterwards, and they alwaysspoke of her by this appellation; sometimes familiarly terming her the"Poll," or the "Polly."
All the first day out, we were busy in making ourselves comfortable, andin getting the Polly's trim. We succeeded so well in this last, that,according to our calculations, we made a knot an hour more than theCrisis could have done under the same circumstances, fast as the shipwas known to be. As the Crisis had about thirty-eight hours the startof us, and ran, on an average, about seven knots the hour for all thattime, it would require about ten days to overtake her. Of course thiscould only happen, according to our own calculations, when we were fromeighteen hundred to two thousand miles from the island. For my own part,I sincerely hoped it would not occur at all, at sea; feeling satisfiedour only chances of success depended on surprise. By following thevessel into some port, it might be possible to succeed; but, for anunarmed schooner to attack a ship like the Crisis, with even a largecrew on board; it seemed rashness to think of it. Marble, however, wouldnot listen to my remonstrances. He insisted we had more than powderenough to load all our pistols half-a-dozen times each, and, laying theship plump aboard, the pistols would do the rest. I was silenced, quiteas a matter of course, if not convinced.
The fifth day out, Neb came to me, saying--"Master Miles, somet'ing mustbe done wid 'em 'ere 'ysters! Dey smell, onaccountable; and de peopleswear dey will t'row 'em overboard, if I don't eat 'em. I not hungryenough for _dat_, sir."
These were the pearl oysters, already mentioned, which had beenhastening to dissolution and decomposition, by the heat of the hold. Asthe captain was as much concerned in this portion of the cargo, as I wasmyself, I communicated the state of things to him, and he ordered thebags and barrels on deck, forthwith. It was well something was done, orI doubt not a disease would have been the consequence. As decompositionwas the usual process by which to come at the treasures of theseanimals, however, everything was exactly in the state we wished.
An uninterested observer would have laughed, at seeing the employmentof the quarter-deck, for the next four hours. Marble, and the two mates,attacked a barrel belonging to the captain, while Neb and I had my ownshare to ourselves. It was a trying occupation, the odour far exceedingin strength that of the Spice Islands. We stood it, however--forwhat will not man endure for the sake of riches? Marble foresaw thedifficulties, and had once announced to the mates that they then would"open on shares." This had a solacing influence, and amid much mirth andsundry grimaces, the work went on with tolerable rapidity. I observed,however, that Talcott threw one or two subjects, that doubtless weretougher than common, overboard, after very superficial examinations.
The first seven oysters I examined, contained nothing but seed pearl,and not many of these. Neb opened, and I examined; and the latteroccupation was so little to my taste, that I was just on the point ofordering the whole lot thrown overboard, when Neb handed me another.This oyster contained nine beautiful pearls, of very uniform dimensions,and each about as large as a good-sized pea. I dropped them into a bowlof fresh water, whence they came out sweet, pearly, and lustrous. Theywere of the sort known as the "white water," which is the kindmost prized among Christian nations, doubtless on account of theirharmonizing so well with the skins of their women. No sooner was myluck known, than it brought all the other "pearl fishermen" around me;Marble, with his nostrils plugged with oakum, and a quid of tobacco inhis mouth, that was as large as a small potatoe.
"By George, Miles, that looks like business," the captain exclaimed,going back to his work, with renovated zeal, "though it is a calling fitonly for hogs and scavengers! Did I embark in it largely, I would keepas many clerks as a bank. What do you suppose now, these nine chaps maybe worth?"
"Some fifty dollars, or thereabouts--you see, sir, they are quitelarge--much larger than it is usual to see our women wear."
The ninth of my oysters produced eleven pearls, and all about the sizeand quality of the first. In a few minutes I had seventy-three just suchpearls, besides a quantity of seed pearl. Then followed a succession ofbarren shells; a dozen not giving a pearl. The three that succeeded themgave thirty-one more; and another yielded four pearls, each of whichwas as large as a small cherry. After that, I got one that was almostas large as a common hickory-nut, and six more of the size of thecherry-sized pearls. In addition to these, I got in all, one hundred andeighty-seven of the size of peas, besides a large handful of the seedpearl. I afterwards ascertained, that the pearls I had thus obtainedwere worth in the market about eighteen hundred dollars; as they werefar more remarkable for their beauty, than for their size.
Notwithstanding the oakum plugs, and the tobacco, and the great quantityof shells his divers had found, for they had brought up something liketwo hundred and fifty oysters in the course of the day, the party of thecaptain found in all, but thirty-six pearls, the seed excepted; thoughthey obtained some beautiful specimens among the shells. From thatmoment, Marble discontinued the trade, and I never heard him sayanything more on the subject of pursuing it. My own beauties were putcarefully away, in reserve for the time when I might delight the eyesof certain of my female friends with them. I never intended to sell one,but they were very precious to me on other accounts. As for the crew,glad enough were they to be rid of such uncomfortable shipmates. As Igazed on the spotless and lustrous pearls, and compared them with therevolting tenements from which they had just been redeemed, I likenedthem to the souls of the just escaping from their tenements of clay, toenjoy hereafter an endless existence of purity.
In the meantime, the Pretty Poll continued to find her way along milesand miles of the deserted track across the Pacific. Marble had oncebelonged to a Baltimore clipper, and he sailed our craft probably muchbetter than she would have been sailed by Mons. Le Compte, though thatofficer, as I afterwards learned, had distinguished himself in commandof a lugger-privateer, in the British Channel. Our progress wasgenerally from a hundred and fifty to two hundred and twenty miles intwenty-
four hours; and so it continued to be for the first ten days, orthe period, when, according to our own calculations, we ought to be nearthe Crisis, had that vessel steered a course resembling our own. Formy own part, I neither wished nor expected to see the ship, until wereached the coast of South America, when we might ascertain her positionby communicating with the shore. As for the _guarda-costas_, I knew wecould easily elude them, and there might be a small chance of regainingthe vessel, something like the way in which we had lost her. ButMarble's impatience, and the keenness with which he felt our disgrace,would not make terms even with the elements; and I do believe, he wouldhave run alongside of the Crisis in a gale of wind, could he have comeup with her. The chance of our having sailed so far, however, on a lineso nearly resembling that of the chase as to bring us together, was sovery small, that few of us thought it worth our consideration.
On the morning of the eleventh day, the look-out we had kept on thefore-top-sail-yard, sang out "Sail-ho!" Marble and myself were soon onthe yard, there being nothing visible from the deck. The uppersails, top-gallant-sails, and royals of a ship were visible on ourweather-quarter, distant from fifteen to twenty miles. As we were nowin the track of whalers, of which there were a good many in that part ofthe Pacific, I thought it was probable this was one; but Marble laughedat the notion, asking if I had ever heard of a whaler's carrying royalson her cruising ground. He affirmed it was the Crisis, heading the sameway we were ourselves, and which had only got to windward of us, bykeeping a better luff. We had calculated too much on the schooner'sweatherly qualities, and had allowed her to fall off more than wasnecessary, in the night-watches.
The Pretty Poll was now jammed up on a wind, in the hope of closingwith the chase in the course of the night. But the wind had been growinglighter and lighter for some hours, and by noon, though we had nearedthe chase so much as to be able to see her from deck, there was everyprospect of its falling calm; after which, in the trades, it wouldbe surprising if we did not get a blow. To make the most of our time,Marble determined to tack, when we had just got the chase a point offour weather-bow. An hour after tacking, an object was seen adrift on theocean, and keeping away a little to close with it, it was ascertained tobe a whale-boat, adrift. The boat was American built, had a breaker ofwater, the oars, and all the usual fittings in it; and the painterbeing loose, it had probably been lost, when towing in the night, inconsequence of having been fastened by _three_ half-hitches.
The moment Marble ascertained the condition of this boat, he conceivedhis plan of operations. The four Sandwich Islanders had been in whalers,and he ordered them into the boat, put in some rum, and some food, gaveme his orders, got in himself, and pulled ahead, going off at five knotsthe hour, leaving the schooner to follow at the rate of two. This wasabout an hour before sunset; and by the time it was dark, the boat hadbecome a mere speck on the water, nearly half-way between us and theship, which was now some fifteen miles distant, heading always in thesame direction.
My orders had been very simple. They were, to stand on the same course,until I saw a light from the boat, and then tack, so as to run on aparallel line with the ship. The signal was made by Marble about nineo'clock. It was immediately answered from the schooner. The light in theboat was concealed from the ship, and our own was shown only for a fewseconds, the disappearance of Mr. Marble's telling us in that briefspace, that our answer was noted. I tacked immediately; and, takingin the fore-sail, stood on the directed course. We had all foreseen achange in the weather, and probably a thunder-squall. So far from itsgiving Marble any uneasiness, he anticipated the blow with pleasure,as he intended to lay the Crisis aboard in its height. He fancied thatsuccess would then be the most certain. His whole concern was at notbeing able to find the ship in the darkness; and it was to obviate thisdifficulty that he undertook to pilot us up to her in the manner I havejust mentioned.
After getting round, a sharp look-out was kept for the light. We caughtanother view of it, directly on our weather-beam. From this we inferredthat the ship had more wind than we felt; inasmuch as she had materiallyaltered her position, while we had not moved a mile since we tacked.This was on the supposition that Marble would endeavour to follow themovements of the ship. At ten, the tempest broke upon us with tropicalviolence, and with a suddenness that took everybody by surprise. Asquall had been expected; but no one anticipated its approach forseveral hours; and we had all looked for the return of the whale-boat,ere that moment should come. But, come it did, when least expected; thefirst puff throwing our little schooner down, in a way to convince usthe elements were in earnest. In fifteen minutes after the first blastwas felt, I had the schooner, under a reefed foresail, and with thatshort canvass, there were instants, as she struggled up to the summit ofthe waves, that it seemed as if she were about to fly out of the water.My great concern, however, was for the boat, of which nothing could nowbe seen. The orders left by Marble anticipated no such occurrenceas this tempest, and the concert between us was interrupted. It wasnaturally inferred among us, in the schooner, that the boat wouldendeavour to close, as soon as the danger was foreseen; and, as thiswould probably be done, by running on a converging line, all our effortswere directed to keeping the schooner astern of the other party, inorder that they might first reach the point of junction. In this mannerthere _was_ a chance of Marble's finding the schooner, while there waslittle of our finding the boat. It is true, we carried several lights;but as soon as it began to rain, even a bonfire would not have been seenat a hundred yards. The water poured down upon us, as if it fell fromspouts, occasionally ceasing, and then returning in streams.
I had then never passed so miserable a night; even that in which Smudgeand his fellows murdered Captain Williams and seized the ship, beinghappiness in comparison. I loved Marble. Hardy, loose, in some respects,and unnurtured as he was in others, the man had been steadily my friend.He was a capital seaman; a sort of an instinctive navigator; true as theneedle to the flag, and as brave as a lion. Then, I knew he was in hispresent strait on account of mortified feeling, and the rigid notions heentertained of his duty to his owners. I think I do myself no more thanjustice, when I say that I would gladly have exchanged places with him,any time that night.
We held a consultation on the quarter-deck, and it was determined thatour only chance of picking up the boat, was by remaining as nearly aspossible, at the place where her crew must have last seen the schooner.Marble had a right to expect this; and we did all that lay in our powerto effect the object; waring often, and gaining on our tacks whatwe lost in coming round. In this manner we passed a painful and mostuncomfortable night; the winds howling about us a sort of requiem forthe dead, while we hardly knew when we were wallowing in the seas ornot, there being so much water that came down from the clouds, as nearlyto drown us on deck.
At last the light returned, and soon after the tempest broke, appearingto have expended its fury. An hour after the sun had risen, we got thetrade-wind again, the sea became regular once more, and the schooner wasunder all her canvass. Of course, every one of us officers was aloft,some forward, some aft, to look out for the boat; but we did not see heragain. What was still more extraordinary, nothing could be seen of theship! We kept all that day cruising around the place, expecting to findat least the boat; but without success.
My situation was now altogether novel to me. I had left home rather morethan a twelvemonth before, the third officer of the Crisis. From thisstation, I had risen regularly to be her first officer; and now, by adire catastrophe, I found myself in the Pacific, solely charged with thefortunes of my owners, and those of some forty human beings. And this,too, before I was quite twenty years old.
Marble's scheme of attacking the ship had always seemed to me to be wildand impracticable. This was while it was _his_ project, not my own. Istill entertained the same opinion, as regards the assault at sea; butI had, from the first, regarded an attempt on the coast as a thing muchmore likely to succeed. Then Emily, and her father, and the honour ofthe flag, and the credit I
might personally gain, had their influence;and, at sunset, all hope of finding the boat being gone, I ordered sailmade on our course.
The loss of the whale-boat occurred when we were about two thousandmiles from the western coast of South America. We had a long road beforeus, consequently; and, as I had doubted whether the ship we had seenwas the Crisis, it was necessary to be in motion, if anything was to beeffected with our old enemies. The reader may feel some desire to knowin what manner my succession to the command was received by the people.No man could have been more implicitly obeyed. I was now six feet and aninch in height, of a powerful and active frame, a good seaman, and hadthe habit of command, through a twelvemonth's experience. The crew knewme, having seen me tried, from the weather-earings down; and it is verylikely I possessed more of their confidence than I deserved. At allevents, I was as implicitly obeyed as if I had sailed from New York attheir head. Everybody regretted Marble; more, I think, than we regrettedpoor Captain Williams, though it must have been on account of the mannerwe saw him disappear, as it might be, from before our eyes; since, ofthe two, I think the last was the most estimable man. Nevertheless,Marble had his strong points, and they were points likely to takewith seamen; and they had particularly taken with us. As for the fourSandwich Islanders, I do not know that they occupied any of our minds atall. We had been accustomed to regard them as strange beings, who camefrom that ocean to which they had thus suddenly returned.
Fifteen days after the loss of the whale-boat, we made the peaks of theAndes, a very few degrees to the southward of the equator. From somecasual remarks made by the French, and which I had overheard, I had beenled to believe they intended to run for Guayaquil, or its vicinity;and I aimed at reaching the coast near the same point. We had been in,ourselves, at several bays and roadsteads, moreover, on this part ofthe shore, on our way north; and I felt at home among them. Wehad acquaintances, too, who could not fail to be of use to us; andeverything conspired to render this an advantageous land-fall.
On the evening of the twenty-ninth day after quitting the island, wetook the schooner into an open roadstead, where we had carried on someextensive traffic in the ship, about eight months before, and where Ifancied we should still be recognised. As was expected, we had scarcelyanchored, before a Don Pedro Something, a fellow with a surprisingstring of names, came off to us in a boat, in order to ascertain who wewere, and what we wanted. Perhaps it would be better to say, what we hadthat _he_ wanted. I knew the man at a glance, having delivered to him,myself, three boat-loads of goods, and received a small bag of doubloonsin exchange. A very few words, half-English, half-Spanish, served torenew our acquaintance; and I gave our old friend to understand that Iwas in search of the ship, from which I had been separated on some extraduty. After beating the bush to discover all he could, the Don Pedrogave me to understand that _a_ ship had gone in behind an island thatwas only ten miles to the southward of us, that very afternoon; that hehad seen her himself, and had supposed she might be his old friend theCrisis, until he saw the French ensign at her gaff. This was sufficient,and I made inquiries for a pilot. A man qualified to carry us to theplace was found in one of the boatmen. As I feared the news of thearrival of a schooner might be carried to the ship, much as we hadgot our intelligence, no time was lost, but we were under-way by teno'clock. At midnight we entered the pass between the main and theisland; there I got into a boat, and pulled ahead, in order toreconnoitre. I found the ship lying close under a high bluff, which madea capital lee, and with every sign about her of tranquillity. Still, Iknew a vessel that was always in danger from the _guarda-costas_, andwhich relied on the celerity of its movements for its safety, would havea vigilant look-out. Accordingly, I took a cool and careful examinationof the ship's position, landing and ascending the bluff, in order todo this at my ease. About two o'clock in the morning, I returned to theschooner.
When I put my foot on the Polly's deck again, she was quite near thepoint, or bluff, having set down towards it during my absence. All handswere on deck, armed, and in readiness. Expectation had got to be sokeen, that we had a little difficulty in keeping the men from cheering;but silence was preserved, and I communicated the result of myobservations in as few words as possible. The orders were then given,and the schooner was brought under short sail, for the attack. We wereso near our side of the bluff, while the ship lay so near the other,that my principal apprehension was of falling to leeward, which mightgive the French time to muster, and recollect themselves. The canvass,accordingly, was reduced to the fore-sail, though the jib, main-sail,and top-sail were all loose, in readiness to be set, if wanted. Theplan was to run the ship aboard, on her starboard-bow, or off-side,as respected the island; and to do this with as little of a shock aspossible.
When everything was ready, I went aft, stood by the man at the helm, andordered him to bear up. Neb placed himself just behind me. I knew it wasuseless to interfere, and let the fellow do as he pleased. The pilot hadtold me the water was deep, up to the rocks of the bluff; and we huggedthe land as close as possible, in rounding the point. At the next momentthe ship was in sight, distant less than a hundred fathoms. I saw we hadgood way, and, three minutes later, I ordered the fore-sail brailed. Atthe same instant I walked forward. So near were we, that the flapping ofthe canvass was heard in the ship, and we got a hail. A mystifiedanswer followed, and then crash came our bows along those of the Crisis."Hurrah! for the old craft!" shouted our men, and aboard we tumbled ina body. Our charge was like the plunge of a pack of hounds, as they leapthrough a hedge.
The scene that followed was one of wild tumult. Some twenty pistols werefired, and a good many hard blows were struck; but the surprise securedus the victory. In less than three minutes, Talcott came to report to methat our lads had complete possession of the deck, and that the Frenchasked for quarter. At first, the enemy supposed they had been seized bya _guarda-costa_, for the impression had been general among them that weintended to quit the island for Canton. Great was the astonishmentamong them when the truth came to be known. I heard a great many"_sacr-r-r-es!_" and certain other maledictions in low French, that itis scarcely worth while to repeat.
Harris, one of the-Philadelphians, and the man who had got us into thedifficulty by falling asleep on his watch, was killed; and no lessthan nine of our men, myself among the number, were hurt in this briskbusiness. All the wounds, however, were slight; only three of theinjuries taking the parties off duty. As for the poor fellow who fell,he owed his death to risking too much, in order to recover the ground hehad lost.
The French fared much worse than ourselves. Of those killed outright,and those who died before morning, there were no less than sixteen; ourfellows having fired a volley into a group that was rushing on deck,besides using their cutlasses with great severity for the first minuteor two. This was on the principle that the first blow was half thebattle. There were few wounded; most of those who fell being cut orthrust at by several at the same time--a species of attack that leftlittle chance for escape. Poor Mons. Le Compte was found stone-dead atthe cabin-doors, having been shot in the forehead, just as he put hisfoot on the deck. I heard his voice once in the fray, and feared itboded no good; but the silence which succeeded was probably caused byhis just then receiving the fatal bullet. He was in his shirt.
Afloat and Ashore: A Sea Tale Page 18
