CHAPTER II.
_THE FAREWELL. THE ROYAL KENT. PIRATES. THE FIGHT. ENLISTING IN A NEWSERVICE. THE HAUNTS OF THE BUCCANIERS. ESCAPE FROM ONE PRISON ANDCONFINEMENT IN ANOTHER. BURNET AND FANNY CAMPBELL. ARRIVAL OF ANIMPORTANT MESSENGER. MYSTERY. A PROPOSITION. A NEW FRIEND AND A NEWCHARACTER. A CAPTAIN’S SPEECH. WHO WAS THE MASTER._
|Early on the morning subsequent to the meeting on the Rock, WilliamLovell rose from his bed with the first grey of morning light, andstealing gently to Fanny’s apartment he knocked at her door; there wasno response; he knocked again, still there was no reply. The poor girlhad wept away nearly the whole night, and now nature had asserted hersupremacy, and her weary form was wrapped in slumber. Lovell openedthe door and quietly sought her bedside. There lay Fanny, a single teartrembling beneath each eye-lid; one dimpled arm bare to the shoulder layacross her partially exposed breast, while on the other her head restedin unconsciousness. A beautiful picture of innocence and purity wasFanny Campbell as she lay thus sleeping.
‘Thou hast wept thyself to sleep, poor Fanny,’ said Lovell, putting hisarm affectionately about her neck, and gently kissing her ruby lips.He pressed them again, and this time, see? the dreamer puts her ownarm about his neck, and the kiss was returned! but still she slept. Hebreathed a prayer, a silent, fervent prayer for her weal, then gentlydisengaging himself from her embrace, he said, as he looked lovinglyupon her, ‘it were better to part thus, I will not wake her,’ andkissing her lips once more, Lovell left her sleeping still as he hadfound her.
He took leave of his parents, shook the hands of a few early risersamong his friends, and started for Boston, from whence he was to sail atnoon of that day on his first voyage to sea. The setting sun of thatday shone upon the white sails of the vessel that bore him to sea manyleagues from land. Lovell, whose life had been passed much upon thewater, though not far from home, fell easily into the duty required ofhim, and proved himself to be an efficient and able seaman. Day afterday the ship stood on her southern course until she was within themild and salubrious climate of the West Indies, the great AmericanArchipelago.--In those days and even for many years subsequent to thatdate, those seas were infested by bands of reckless freebooters orpirates, who committed depredations upon the marine of every nation withwhich they met; they were literally no respecters of persons. The menwho commanded these bands of rovers of most fickle fancy, sometimessailed under the white lily of France, the crescents of Turkey, theblazoned and gorgeous flag of Spain, or even the banner of the Church,bearing the Keys of Heaven, but mostly under the blood red flag, thatdenoted their character, and told their antagonists with whom they hadto deal.
The good ship Royal Kent had now entered the milder latitudes, and waswithin a day’s sail of Port-au-Plat, when a suspicious craft hove insight and immediately gave chase. The Kent had a crew of about a dozenmen before the mast, with two or three officers; but they were poorlysupplied with the means of defence, against any regular attack made byan armed vessel. Nevertheless, the two six pound cannonades were clearedaway from rubbish amidships, and loaded for service; the guns too, somesix or eight in number, were all double loaded, and the officers hadeach a brace of pistols, besides which their were enough cutlasses onboard to supply each man with one.
With this little armament they determined to sell their lives dearly,if necessary, and the stranger should prove to be, that which they hadevery reason to suppose him, a pirate.
The stranger now neared them fast, and all doubt as to his character wassoon dispelled, as a blood red flag was sent up to the mast head, and agun fired for the Kent to heave too. This the captain had no intentionof doing, and immediately after the Buccanier, for so he proved to be,began to fire upon them. The shots fell fast and thick among the smallcrew of the Kent, who having returned them with interest from their sixpounders, which being better aimed, did fearful execution on the crowdeddeck of the freebooter. The object of the pirate captain was evidentlyto board the Kent, when his superiority of numbers must immediatelydecide the contest in his favor. This was ingeniously avoided by thecaptain of the Kent for some time, his little armament all the whiledoing bloody execution among his enemies.
At last, however, the grapnels were thrown, and the pirate captainboarded the Kent, followed by half his crew of cutthroats, and decidedthe contest hand to hand. The American crew fought to the last,notwithstanding the hopeless character of the contest, for they knewfull well that they had better fall in battle than to be subjected tothe almost certain cruel death that would await them if they should failinto the hands of the Bucaniers alive.
Thus, although overpowered and borne down by numbers, the captain of theKent had already shot the pirate chief through the brain and anotherof the enemy with his remaining pistol, while his cutlass had drank theheart’s blood of more than one, before he felt himself, pierced withmany a fatal wound; and thus had each of the crew fought until onlythree remained, who had shown equally fatal battle with the rest, butwere now disarmed and lay bound and bleeding upon the deck. One of themwas William Lovell. He lay bleeding, as we have said, from many wounds,with his two comrades, the ship being now completely in the hands of theBucaniers. The Kent proved but a poor prize for the freebooters, thoughshe had cost them so dearly. After taking such valuables out of her asthey chose, they scuttled her, and she sunk where she lay.
Young Lovell and his comrades were taken on board the piratical vessel,and after a consultation among its leaders were told that their liveswould be spared them if they would join the now short handed crew--TheBucaniers were induced to make this proposition partly because theprisoners had proved themselves to be brave men, and partly because oftheir own weakness, after the fierce and sanguinary encounter they hadjust experienced, the crew of the Kent having actually killed nearlytwice their own number, leaving but about fifteen men alive of thepirate crew. The love of life is strong within us all, and Lovell andhis companions agreed to the terms offered them, determining to seek anearly occasion to escape from the vessel, yet for many months were theythe witnesses of scenes of blood-shed and wickedness which they had notthe least power to avert.
The West Indian seas since the times of the earliest navigators haveever been the resort of Bucaniers and reckless bands of freebooters, andeven to this day, notwithstanding the strong fleet of national vesselskept upon the stations by the American and English governments, thereare still organized bands of these desperadoes now existing, engaged inthe ostensible occupation of fishermen, but only awaiting a favorableopportunity to resume their old calling. It is rumored on very goodauthority, that there now lies much wealth buried upon the Tortagos, anisland renowned in the early history of the new world, and celebratedas being in former days the rendezvous of the bold rovers who frequentedthe West Indies in those days. After capturing their prey in theneighboring seas, the Bucaniers returned to their favorite haunt, andthere buried their surplus treasures, then departing again upon theirdangerous and bloody expeditions many must necessarily have perished. Noone knew where his companion’s treasure was buried, consequently itmay still remain hidden in its concealment, the spot known only to thespirit of the departed Bucanier.
Tortagos is entirely uninhabited and separated from Hayti only by aship’s channel of about a league in width, and to which it belongs. Thelaws have long forbidden its settlement, but for what reason we are notinformed. Here lay the bones of the rovers who used to rendezvous inthe island, side by side with their blood-bought and useless wealth. Nopublic search has ever been made for the hidden booty, and why may wenot look for some valuable disclosure in course of time?
The vessel in which Lovell and his two companions had been forced toenlist, was cruising in search of a prey with which they might cope,with a prospect of success and booty, just off the island of Cuba, onefine clear night, when it was determined by Lovell and his friends toattempt to make their escape to the land. In the middle watch whichchanced to fall to the share of these three whom the pirate crew hadlearned to trust implicitly, believing t
hem to be content with theirsituation, they put the vessel before the wind, and lashing the helmamidship, took a small boat with a few articles of personal propertyonly, and stole away quietly from their floating prison, and after manyhardships landed at Havana. Hardly had the three made their appearancehere before they were thrown into prison on suspicion, to await theirtrial for piracy. They were strangers to the language spoken on theisland, had no friends there to intercede in their behalf, and indeedmatters looked gloomy enough; nor had they much doubt in their own mindsthat they should be convicted of the charge brought against them. Theday on which they were shut up within the cold, damp, and cheerlesswails of the prison, was just one year subsequent to that of theirleaving Boston harbor, in the good ship Royal Kent. Again and again didthey regret that they had not fallen upon the deck of their own shiprather than thus to be murdered by the Spaniards under the charge ofpiracy upon the sea.
In this harrowing state of suspense, Lovell, with Jack Herbert and HenryBreed, his comrades in captivity, remained for nearly six months beforethey were summoned for their trial, and then no sufficient evidenceappearing against them, they were further remanded to prison. This wasin a time of war and contention, and dangers of every kind lurked aboutthe islands and harbors of the West Indies, and in the crowd of othermatters the poor prisoners and their case was entirely forgotten. Thusthey were likely to remain perhaps for years, in a confinement scarcelymore desirable than death itself, save that there still remained asingle gleam of hope within their breasts that they might some day befreed. Ah! bright and heaven born Hope, thou art the solace of many anaching heart, and the supporter of many a weary and almost-disconsolatespirit.
While incarcerated in this living tomb, young Lovell’s mind would oftenrevert to the captain of the King’s cutter, whom he knew to be familiarwith Fanny, and who had caused him no small degree of unhappiness on hisleaving his now far off home. ‘He will have ample time and opportunityto supplant me,’ said Lovell to himself, ‘for Fanny may believe me dead,and thus be induced to give way to his importunities.--Heaven protecther,’ thought Lovell to himself. ‘His motives I fear cannot possibly beof an honorable character.’
While Lovell was thus prompted by his feelings in a prison far away, thedrama was still going on at home, and in the family of the Campbells.Captain Burnett was now more frequent in his visits to the High RockHamlet, and Fanny still received him on the same kind terms as ever, andthey were still good friends. If the officer of the crown did sometimesattempt to talk of love, she would silence him with a look of reproach,or some playful rejoinder, which was ever successful, and thus she kepthim as he termed it to one of his confidential messmates in the fleet,constantly in suspense.’
‘Hang it,’ said he on the occasion alluded to, and to his comrade, ‘Iwould do anything for the girl, even to giving up my commission, for Ibelieve she has really got my heart, if I have any--I never knew I hadbefore, that’s certain.’
‘You would have to turn rebel to get her, Burnet,’ said his friend; ‘ifshe be so strong a one as you have always told me.’
‘I’ll tell thee between ourselves,’ said Burnet in reply, ‘if I thoughtI could get the girl’s heart thereby, I would join the continentalsto-morrow, and furthermore, I must say that it is the only inducementthat could be offered me to do so, though I believe them more than halfin the right.’
‘You are serious, Burnet?’
‘Serious, upon my honor.’
‘To what length will the little god carry us in his blind service,’ saidhis friend. ‘I give you up entirely Burnet. It’s a clear case.’
‘To which I plead guilty.’
The attention of Captain Burnet at the cottage and to Fanny, had becomeso marked and decided that the gossips of the community--a class ofpeople who know everything, and especially more of other people’saffairs than their own--had fully engaged him to Fanny, and made hergive up William Lovell unconditionally.
Nearly two years had passed since the first imprisonment of Lovell andhis companions, when by a happy chance Jack Herbert succeeded in makinghis escape on board of a vessel bound for Boston, and at length reachedhis home in safety. He was charged with a message to Lovell’s parents,and Fanny, should he ever reach home, and this he took an earlyopportunity to deliver.
William Lovell’s family and friends had long mourned him as lost, nothaving heard one word concerning him since his departure, or of thevessel in which he had sailed. But Fanny would not give up all hope, andinsisted that they should hear from him at last, and now that they haddone so, and knew him to be pining in a Spanish prison, still they weregrateful that his life was spared, and were led to hope for his eventualrelease and return.
‘And how do these Spaniards treat him?’ asked Fanny with a tremblingvoice, yet flashing eye, of the messenger, Jack Herbert.
‘Rough enough, Miss.’
‘Has he sufficient food?’
‘They used to bring us grub once a day,’ was the answer.
‘But once a day?’
‘That’s all, Miss.’
‘And what did it consist of?’ asked Fanny.
‘The very coarsest, you may be assured, Miss.’
A tear stole into Fanny’s eye, as she thought upon the suffering thatWilliam was then experiencing in a foreign prison.
‘At Havana, in the island of Cuba,’ said Fanny, musingly to herself; 4can you describe the port, my friend?’
‘Why it’s a sunny little basin, not so very small neither, and quiteland-locked and guarded by the castle and its entrance, tho’ for thematter of that, the castle is’nt always manned--at any rate ‘twas’ntthe night we went in with the tag-boat. It’s a pocket of a place, Miss,large enough to hold a thousand sail and yet not more than one can workin or out at a time. It’s in the hands of the Spaniard now, from whomthe English took it awhile ago, but have given it back again. Altogetherit’s a fine harbor, as far as that goes, why, Miss?’
‘Oh, I was curious about it.’
‘It did’nt bless our eyes very often, I can tell you, Miss. We all sawit once, when we were rode out in a great cart hauled by jackasses tothe court of the Governor General, the old tyrant!’ and here honest JackHerbert made divers passes with his clenched fist in the air as thoughhe was pummelling the identical functionary in question, just about theribs and eyes.
‘In close confinement all the time,’ said Fanny thoughtfully, and moreto herself than to her companion, or for the purpose of eliciting ananswer.
‘Close enough, lady, being’s we never went out, saving the time I havejust told you of in the jackass team,’ said Herbert, pausing out ofbreath at the exertion of thrashing the Governor General in imagination.
‘Did you inform yourself concerning the localities of the neighborhood,’asked Fanny, still half musing to herself.
‘Why, yes, Miss, a little when I got out.’
‘And the prison--is that well guarded?’
‘Only by the jailor, a rough, gray old Spaniard, and three or foursoldiers at the different angles of the walls.’
‘Look ye, good Herbert, would you join an expedition for the release ofyour old comrades?’ asked Fanny, with animation.
‘Would’nt I? perhaps I hav’nt suffered with them, and don’t know whatit is to be cooped up in a damp, stone prison, with just enough food tokeep you alive, and make you long for more; join? yes, to-morrow, Miss.’
‘Where do you live in the town?’
‘Just at the foot of Copp’s Hill.’
‘Could one find you there if need be?’
‘Ay, Miss, at most any hour’.’
‘Well, good Herbert, you may soon meet with one who will engage with youin an enterprise that may gain you not only a name, but a fortune also.Will you be prepared?’
‘That I will--a fortune?’
‘Aye, and fame to boot’
‘That would be good news.’
‘Say nothing of this to any one.’
‘Oh, I’m mum, Miss, if you wish.’
The evening following that of the reception of the news brought by JackHerbert, Burnet made one of his frequent calls at the hamlet, and heardfrom Fanny the whole story of Lovell’s capture and imprisonment. Heaffected to look upon Lovell much in the light of a brother of Fanny’s.Knowing her to have been brought up with him, and that they had playedtogether in childhood, he had always shrewdly avoided speaking in anyway against him, of whom indeed he could say nothing disparaging, havingnever seen him, and only knowing him through Fanny, who often alluded tohim in connection with her remembrances of her childhood and past life.Captain Burnet saw full well that Fanny’s interest in Lovell was of noslight character, and he took his course in the matter accordingly. Hispolicy was evidently to win her affection by constant and unremittingattention, and to accomplish this he left no means untried. To herparents he was liberal and generous, without being sufficiently prodigalto create displeasure, every act being tempered by good taste anddiscreet judgment.
He patiently followed every whim of Fanny’s fancy, and occupied his timewhen with her in such employment as he knew would best suit her taste,and in short attacked her at the only vulnerable point, if there wasany, which was to render himself pleasing and gradually necessary to herenjoyment, by the amusement he strove to afford her upon every topic,and the instructive character of his general conversation. He sawin Fanny a love for acquiring knowledge on every subject, and heparticularly favored it by every means in his power, and actually cameto love her warmly by this very intercourse, whose beauty of personalone had first attracted his attention. Two years thus passed, in whichBurnet had been a frequent visitor at the cottage, which rendered himby no means an object of indifference to Fanny, who, however, had oftentold him that she regarded him only as a brother. So far from beingdiscouraged by this, Burnet, who loved most ardently, even thought it apoint gained in his favor, and pursued his object with renewed hope.He was forced to acknowledge to his own heart that he loved herirrevocably, and that without her he could never be happy.
He listened, as we have said, to Fanny’s relation of the story ofLovell’s imprisonment, and he soon found that she was more interestedin the result of the affair than he could have wished, or perhaps evenexpected. She talked long and earnestly with him relative to the matter,frankly asking his advice and assistance in the affair. He professedthat he could refuse her nothing, and a deeply interesting conversationtook place, the purport of which may be revealed in a subsequentchapter. That night Captain Burnet did not depart from the little parlorof the cottage and from Fanny, until long after his usual hour, as wasremarked by Mr. and Mrs. Campbell to each other.
About a week dating from the occasion just alluded to, a man dressed inthe garb of a common sailor knocked at the door of old widow Herbert’shouse, at the foot of Copp’s Hill, ‘North End.’ A neatly dressed womanof some sixty years of age opened the door. She was still hale andhearty notwithstanding three score years had passed over her head. Therefinements of civilization had never marred her health or vigorousconstitution, for she had never resorted to those means of shorteninglife practised in these more advanced periods of refinement. No crampingand painful corsets had ever disfigured her fine natural form, nor hadher feet even been squeezed into a compass far too small for their size,in order to render them of delicate proportions. No, no the goodold practices of the Bay Province seventy and eighty years ago, wereproductive of hale and hearty old age, long lives, and useful ones, withhealth to enjoy life’s blessings.
‘I would see your son, my good woman,’ said the stranger to dame Herbertas she appeared at the door.
‘Jack, my boy,’ said the old lady, ‘here’s a friend who would speak tothee, come hither I say, Jack.’
‘Ay, ay, mother.’
The son was making his noonday meal, but he soon answered the call andmade his appearance at the door.
‘Your name is Jack Herbert?’ put the stranger inquiringly.
‘That’s it, your honor,’ said Jack, for there was that about the cut ofthe stranger’s jib, that told him he was something more than a foremasthand, perhaps a captain or a naval officer. None are more ready to paydue deference to rank than Jack-tar, for he is made most to feel itspower.
‘I understand,’ said the stranger,’ that you have expressed awillingness to join an enterprise to free a couple of your old messmatesfrom a Spanish prison. Is this the case, my honest fellow?’
‘Aye your honor, I did say as much as that to Bill Lovell’s girl downthere at the High Rock fishing hamlet.’
‘Well, I come by her direction--and now do you hold still to your firstdeclaration to her?’
‘That do I, your honor.’
‘Then come with me.’
And Jack followed the stranger to the summit of the hill whichcommanded a good view of the harbor, indeed its base, which wassurrounded by straggling tenements, terminated in the bay itself.
‘Do you see that brig just below us here?’ asked the stranger, pointingto a well appointed vessel of that rig not far from the shore.
‘Ay, ay, sir, she sails to-morrow.’
‘If she gets two more hands.’
‘So I have heard, sir.’
‘Will you ship?’
‘In her?’
‘Yes.’
‘Not I.’
‘With good wages and proper treatment?’ continued the stranger.
‘Why, she’s bound into those infernal Buccanier latitudes d’ye see,’said Jack Herbert, ‘and I don’t care about going there again unless witha good stout crew and plenty of armament.’
‘You are prevented by _fear_ then,’ said the stranger tauntingly.
‘Why, not exactly, your honor, but you see it’s a wanton tempting ofprovidence to leap straight into a shark’s mouth.’
‘Look ye, my good fellow--I’m about to join that craft as her secondmate. I’m bound for Cuba, so is that brig. She’s going on her ownbusiness, I’m going on mine, which is to aid your old comrades to escapefrom prison. So far as she goes my way I go hers, and between ourselves,no further. Now if you will trust to me I think we can manage toaccomplish this object. How do you like the plan?’
‘I don’t mind shipping in her for such a purpose,’ said Jack Herbert,‘only she’s got such a cursed bad captain. King George never had a morefaithful representative of his own black character than the Englishcaptain of that brig yonder. ‘I know it,’ said Jack confidently; why, doye see they’ve been trying to get me on board there these ten days.’
‘But, my good fellow, I shall be one of your officers, and shall lookafter your comfort--come, think better of this, you’ll ship, eh?’
After some considerable hesitation, Jack replied: ‘In this case I must,for damme, if I can bear to think of what those honest fellows aresuffering off there in Cuba.’
‘There’s my hand, my honest fellow,’ said the stranger. ‘I will go andenter your name on the shipping list, and meet you again to-night, whenI will have a more explicit conversation with you and tell you more ofmy proposed course of conduct for the coming voyage.’
The stranger, whoever he was, had Fanny’s interest near at heart, andhad evidently made himself master of the relation of each to the other,as well as the whole matter of young Lovell’s confinement in prison.
Soon after the stranger left Jack Herbert, on his way to the shore, hewas passing along one of the narrow and crooked lanes of the North End,as that part of the town was then called, and as it is known to thisday, when he heard the groans of some one in distress. He sought thedoor of a low and poorly built house, from whence the sounds issued, andentering, he found a poor woman suffering from severe sickness, lyingthere upon a bed of straw. By her side sat a man of about twenty-fiveyears of age, offering her such little comforts and attentions as werein his power.
The room was desolate, and the stranger could see that want and povertydwelt there. He asked the man what he could do to serve them, andwhether he could not procure something for the sufferer, who was moani
ngmost piteously.
‘Arrah, she’s past the nade of it now,’ said the man.
‘Go and get a physician,’ said the gentleman.
‘Get a Doctor is it? And who’ll pay.’
‘I’ll see to that, go quick.’
‘You’ll pay, will ye?’
‘Certainly, be quick I say.’
The physician came at once, but informed them that the woman could notlive but a few hours at most, and after prescribing a gentle anodyne heretired.
The stranger paid the Doctor his fee, and after giving some money to theman and bidding him procure whatever should be necessary for his mother,he was just about to leave the miserable apartment when the man said:
‘Hiven bless yees for a jintleman as ye is. Where might I be aftherfinding ye when I could pay yer back ye know?’
‘Never mind that, my good fellow, at all, it is of no consequence. I’llcall in and see you in the morning.’
‘So do, yer honor, and long life to all such as yees.’
Leaving the poor Irishman in the midst of his grateful acknowledgements,the stranger approached the shore, and making a signal with his hat, aboat was despatched from the brig to carry him on board. He was a noblelooking young sailor, and his manner and bearing bespoke a degree ofrefinement not usual in one of his class. He was of ordinary height,well formed in every limb, and he looked as if his experience as aseaman must have been gained in the navy, for while his countenance worethe browned hue which exposure to the elements always imparts, yet washe one who evidently had never labored before the mast. He was young,certainly not much over twenty years of age, but there was a look ofauthority about the mild yet determined expression of his countenance,that told of more matured experience.
He was dressed in blue sailor’s pants, and a short Pea Jacket descendingabout half way to the knee, within the lining of which a close observermight have seen a brace of pistols and the silver haft of a knife, sodesigned as to cut at both sides while it was bent like the Turkishhanger. As he waved his tarpaulin hat for a signal to the brig, thenight breeze played with his short, curly hair, throwing it in daintycurls about his forehead, which, protected by the hat so constantly wornby the seaman, was white as alabaster, and showed in singular contrastwith the browned cheek and open neck.--Altogether you would havepronounced him a king’s officer in disguise.
The boat received him, and he was soon on board the brig.
‘Well, Mr. Channing,’ said the captain of the vessel, who met him assoon as he arrived on board, ‘have you engaged the man whom you promisedto get for me yesterday?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘When will he join us? we sail with the morning tide you know.’
‘He will be on board to-morrow morning in good season, sir.’
‘Don’t let him fail, sir, for it will completely man us into oursingle hand, Mr. Channing. It does seem a pity to sail without the fullcomplement when we have so nearly got it.’
‘I’ll see this man again to-night sir, and make sure of him.’
‘That will be well, sir,’ replied the Captain.
This conversation was held on the quarter deck of the brig Constancewhich was of about four hundred tons burthen, and a most beautifulspecimen of the naval architecture of the day. She was bound ostensiblyto the West Indies, but the plan was (as Mr. Channing told Jack Herbertthat night) that after touching there she was to proceed to England.
She was well armed carrying a long tom amidships, and half a dozen sixpounders, and a crew when her complement was complete, of twenty menbefore the mast. She was designed as a strong armed trader, and havingletters of marque, she was expected to take any vessel belonging to theenemies of England (under whose flag she sailed) provided she was strongenough. Her commander was a tyrant in his disposition and much addictedto the intemperate use of spirituous liquors.
His first mate was a weak, imbecile young man, put on board originallyas a sort of supercargo, by the owners, being a son of the principleshare holder. The third officer was Mr. Channing whom we haveintroduced to the reader, and who appeared to be the only person onboard worthy of trust as an officer. The captain trusted almost entirelyto his first mate who was also inclined to throw all responsibility uponhis second, as we shall have occasion to see.
The next morning Mr. Charming called on the poor Irishman as he hadpromised to do. He learned that the poor woman his mother, had expiredduring the night, and he found her son with his face buried in hishands, the very picture of honest grief.
‘I condole with you my good man,’ said Channing, ‘but you shouldremember that your mother has gone to a better world, where she willknow no more want, no pain nor hunger--“where the wicked cease fromtroubling, and the weary are at rest.”’
‘Do you belave that?’ asked Terrance Mooney.
‘Most certainly, the humblest of God’s creatures is his especial care,and he will gather all his children home in due time,’ said the mate ofthe brig to the weeping son of the deceased.
‘And no purgatory nather.’
‘If there be any purgatory, my good man, it is here on this earth wherethere is so much sin and consequent misery.’
‘Arrah, that’s consoulin to be sure if its all true, but the praisttells a mighty dale about that place.’
‘If he would preach more about the love and kindness of our heavenlyfather, and less of these imaginary places, he would serve the cause ofhis maker much more faithfully, and lead more sinners to repentance,’said Channing.
‘Would’nt I be happy if I thought the ould lady had gone to Paradise tolive wid the saints?5 said Terrence.
‘Believe me, my good fellow, she’s safe in the hands of the wisdom andpower that made her.’
‘That’s consoling to be sure, but here am I, Terrence Moony, wid nomother at all, sure what’s to become of me?’
The thought struck Channing that it wanted yet one man to complete thecomplement of the brig.
‘How would you like to go to sea with me for good wages and comfortableliving, hey Terrence?’ asked the mate.
‘Why there’s nothing to kape me here to be sure, but to see the ouldwoman dacently buried. When does your honor go to sea, if you plase?’
‘This morning.’
‘Right away is it?’
‘With the ebb tide.’
‘Arrah, that’s soon enough to be sure, could I get my friends todacently bury her now, but thin I hav’nt the money.’
‘Here’s a few dollars if that will do it,’ said Channing handlingTerrence some money for the purpose.
‘Do it, is it? won’t they have a “wake” out of it, and I’ll be far awayat the same time they’ll be ating at it.’
‘Well, you must make haste, my man.’
‘Ye’s all ginerosoty, yer honer. I’ll jist fix it all, and thin I’llfollow yees to the end of the earth.’
And Terrence Mooney did arrange for the funeral of his mother, and aftera few bitter expressions at parting from her body, he went on board thebrig, when he shipped for the voyage to the West Indies.
Mr. Channing and Jack Herbert were on board in due season, and with themorning tide the brig hoisted her anchor, and spreading her white wings,stood out to sea. The bright sun shone gloriously upon the green islandsthat dotted the harbor in every direction, they were much larger thenthan now, and indeed one or two small ones have disappeared entirely.Seventy years of swift running tides have greatly reduced them in pointof size, but not in beauty, for they still give a picturesque lovelinessto the Bay that a painter’s taste could not improve. St. George’s flagfloated from the topmasts of a dozen men of war, which lay at anchorin the harbor, and floated from a number of lofty points in the town.Scarcely had this scene disappeared from the eyes of the crew, when theywere summoned aft by the captain, where he made them the following briefand very pertinent speech, it was characteristic of the man.
‘My men, when I’m obeyed quick and well I’m a pretty clever sort ofa man, but when I’m thwarted, why then
I’m h------I! so look out. I’mcaptain here, and will be obeyed to the very letter. You’ll know me fastenough when any of you cross me.--There, that will do--now go forward.’
‘Divilish little Christian is there about him,’ said Terrence Mooney tohis comrades, ‘and is it bastes that we are entirely?’
The sailers did go forward, but they muttered among themselves that theyknew full well what sort of a man the captain was, one of the devil’sown begetting, and the poor fellows made up their minds to plenty ofblows, and little duff.’ The captain soon disappeared below, and in anhour or so afterwards was half intoxicated and asleep.
The first mate for some days attended promptly to duty, but he soonbegan to ‘shirk,’ and the general direction and sailing of the brig asa matter of course fell upon Channing, the next in command.--This noneregretted, for although his orders were given in a prompt and decidedtone, and implicit obedience was exacted, yet was his voice musical andkind, and his orders were almost anticipated by the promptitude of thewilling crew, who soon came to love him for the generous considerationhe evinced for their good and that of the vessel.
A little incident occurred on board of the brig, when eight days fromport, which showed who really commanded the crew of the Constance. Thecaptain passed the most of his time in the cabin, smoking, drinking, anddozing away the time, and thus kept but a slack look out upon the men,notwithstanding his boast at the outset.--One afternoon when a prettystiff breeze was blowing from the North West, the mate lay sleeping inhis state room leaving the sailing of the brig to his second, whilethe captain was occupied much the same as usual. After a while the mateawoke and came upon deck. Wishing to make up for his manifest negligenceby some appearance of care at least, as he came up on deck he cast hiseye aloft, and ordered a reef out of the fore and main topsails.
The crew looked at one another in astonishment, for it was evident tothe poorest sailor on board that so far from its being proper to put thebrig under any more sail, it would have been more prudent to have furledthe canvass in question altogether.--The wind had blown fresh all day,and now as the afternoon advanced, the night breeze began to add itspower to the wind that had blown through the day, until the brig underthe two sails mentioned, and those close reefed, leaped over the waveswith the speed of a racer. The mate repeated his order a second time,but there was no response from the crew, who slunk away in variousdirections with sullen countenances.
‘Mr. Channing,’ said the mate, ‘these men are absolutely mutinous, sir.’
‘I see it, Mr. Bunning.’
‘What’s to be done, sir?’
‘Do you still think it proper to make that sail?’
‘It was the order, sir.’
‘Forward there,’ said Channing in a tone of voice pitched perhaps a keylower than was his natural voice, ‘lay aloft and shake out the reefsfrom the fore and main topsails, cheerily men, away there, with a will,I say.’
The order had scarcely left the mouth of the second mate before theagile forms of a score of men sprang lightly up the shrouds to obey themandate.
‘How is it the men obey you and not me, Mr. Channing?’
‘Mr. Banning, it is blowing pretty fresh as you must see,’ was thereply, and perhaps it is rather crowding the brig to make this new sailjust now, but if you think it proper, the men _must_ do it, sir.’
‘Well, put her under what canvass you like,’ said the mate to Channingas he left the deck, not a little mortified at the scene that had justtaken place.
Channing rather pitied than blamed his fellow officer, and therefore wasdetermined at any rate that his order should be obeyed; besides, he wasnot a person to relax the reins of discipline although much loved by thecrew. He saw the impropriety of putting the brig under more sail as wellas the crew, but it was not for him or them to judge in such a matterwhen there was a superior officer on deck. The error was soon remediedby the good judgment of Channing, and the beautiful vessel buffeting thewaves still sprang on her course in safety, under the care of a higherpower than any on board, bending gracefully under the influence of thefreshening breeze.
Fanny Campbell, The Female Pirate Captain: A Tale of The Revolution Page 2