The Privateer's-Man, One hundred Years Ago

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER III.

  We are sent in, on board the Revenge and treated with great cruelty--Are afterwards recaptured by the Hero privateer, and retaliate on the French--I am taken to the hospital at Port Royal, where I meet the French lady--Her savage exultation at my condition--She is punished by one of my comrades.

  On coming to my senses, I found myself stripped naked, and sufferingacute pain. I found that my right arm was broken, my shoulder severelyinjured by my fall; and as I had received three severe cutlass-woundsduring the action, I had lost so much blood that I had not strength torise or do any thing for myself. There I lay, groaning and naked, uponthe ballast of the vessel, at times ruminating upon the events of theaction, upon the death of our gallant commander, upon the loss of ourvessel, of so many of our comrades, and of our liberty. After sometime the surgeon, by the order of the French commander, came down todress my wounds. He treated me with the greatest barbarity. As hetwisted about my broken limb I could not help crying at the anguishwhich he caused me. He compelled me to silence by blows andmaledictions, wishing I had broken my rascally neck rather than heshould have been put to the trouble of coming down to dress me.However, dress me he did, out of fear of his captain, who, he knewwell, would send round to see if he had executed his orders, and thenhe left me with a kick in the ribs by way of remembrance. Shortlyafterwards the vessels separated. Fourteen of us, who were the mostseverely hurt, were left in the Revenge, which was manned by anofficer and twenty Frenchmen, with orders to take her intoPort-au-Paix. The rest of our men were put on board of the Frenchprivateer, who sailed away in search of a more profitable adventure.

  About an hour after they had made sail on the vessel, the officer whohad charge of her, looking down the hatchway, and perceiving my nakedand forlorn condition, threw me a pair of trousers, which had beenrejected by the French seamen as not worth having, and a check shirt,in an equally ragged condition, I picked up in the hold; this, with apiece of old rope to tie round my neck as a sling for my broken arm,was my whole wardrobe. In the evening I gained the deck, that I mightbe refreshed by the breeze, which cooled my feverish body and somewhatrestored me.

  We remained in this condition for several days, tortured with pain,but more tortured, perhaps, by the insolence and bragging of theFrenchmen, who set no bounds to their triumph and self-applause. Amongthose who had charge of the prize were two, one of whom had my watchand the other my ring; the first would hold it to me grinning, andasking if Monsieur would like to know what o'clock it was; and theother would display the ring, and tell me that his sweetheart wouldvalue it when she knew that it was taken from a conquered Englishman.This was their practice every day, and I was compelled to receivetheir gibes without venturing a retort.

  On the eleventh day after our capture, when close to Port-au-Paix, andexpecting we should be at anchor before nightfall, we perceived agreat hurry and confusion on deck; they were evidently making all thesail that they could upon the vessel; and then hearing them fire offtheir stern-chasers, we knew for certain that they were pursued.Overjoyed at the prospect of being released, we gave three cheers. TheFrench from the deck threatened to fire down upon us, but we knew thatthey dared not, for the Revenge was so crippled in the fight, thatthey could not put sail upon her so as to escape, and their force onboard was too small to enable them to resist if overtaken--wetherefore continued our exulting clamours. At last we heard gunsfired, and the shot whizzing over the vessel--a shot or two struck ourhull, and soon afterwards a broadside being poured into us, theFrenchmen struck their colours, and we had the satisfaction of seeingall these Gasconaders driven down into the hold to take our places. Itwas now their turn to be dejected and downcast, and for us to bemerry; and now also the tables had to be turned, and we took theliberty of regaining possession of our clothes and other propertywhich they carried on their backs and in their pockets. I must say weshowed them no mercy.

  "What o'clock is it, Monsieur?" said I to the fellow who had my watch.

  "At your service, Sir," he replied, humbly taking out my watch, andpresenting it to me.

  "Thank you," said I, taking the watch, and saluting him with a kick inthe stomach, which made him double up and turn round from me, uponwhich I gave him another kick in the rear to straighten him again."That ring, Monsieur, that your sweetheart will prize."

  "Here it is," replied the fellow, abjectly.

  "Thank you, Sir," I replied, saluting him with the double kick which Ihad given to the former. "Tell your sweetheart I sent her those,"cried I, "that is, when you get back to her."

  "Hark ye, brother," cries one of our men, "I'll trouble you for thatjacket which you borrowed of me the other day, and in return here area pair of iron garters (holding out the shackles), which you must wearfor my sake--I think they will fit you well."

  "Mounseer," cries another, "that wig of mine don't suit your complexion,I'll trouble you for it. It's a pity such a face as yours should bedisfigured in those curls. And while you are about it, I'll thank youto strip altogether, as I think your clothes will fit me, and are muchtoo gay for a prisoner."

  "I was left naked through your kindness the other day," said I toanother, who was well and smartly dressed, "I'll thank you to strip toyour skin, or you shall have no skin left." And I commenced with myknife cutting his ears as if I would skin them.

  It was a lucky hit of mine, for in his sash I found about twentydoubloons. He would have saved them, and held them tight, but after myknife had entered his side about half an inch, he surrendered theprize. After we had plundered and stripped them of every thing, we setto to kick them, and we did it for half an hour so effectually thatthey were all left groaning in a heap on the ballast, and we thenfound our way on deck.

  The privateer which had recaptured us proved to be the Hero, of NewProvidence; the Frenchmen were taken out, and some of her own men putin to take us to Port Royal; we being wounded, and not willing to joinher, remained on board. On our arrival at Port Royal, we obtainedpermission to go to the King's Hospital to be cured. As I went upstairs to the ward allotted to me, I met the French lady whose husbandhad been killed, and who was still nursing her son at the hospital,his wounds not having been yet cured. Notwithstanding my alteredappearance, she knew me again immediately, and seeing me pale andemaciated, with my arm in a sling, she dropped down on her knees andthanked God for returning upon our heads a portion of the miseries wehad brought upon her. She was delighted when she heard how many of ushad been slain in the murderous conflict, and even rejoiced at thedeath of poor Captain Weatherall, which, considering how very kind andconsiderate he had been to her, I thought to be very unchristian.

  It so happened that I was not only in the same ward, but in the cradlenext to her son, and the excitement I had been under when we wererecaptured, and my exertion in kicking the Frenchmen, had done me nogood. A fever was the consequence, and I suffered dreadfully, and shewould look at me, exulting in my agony, and mocking my groans, till atlast the surgeon told her it was by extreme favour that her son hadbeen admitted into the hospital instead of being sent to prison, andthat if she did not behave herself in a proper manner, he would orderher to be denied admittance altogether, and that if she dared totorment suffering men in that way, on the first complaint on my part,her son should go to the gaol and finish his cure there. This broughther to her senses, and she begged pardon, and promised to offend nomore, but she did not keep her word for more than a day or two, butlaughed out loud when the surgeon was dressing my arm, for a piece ofbone had to be taken out, and I shrieked with anguish. Thisexasperated one of my messmates so much that, not choosing to strikeher, and knowing how to wound her still worse, he drove his fist intothe head of her son as he lay in his cradle, and by so doing re-openedthe wound that had been nearly healed.

  "There's pain for you to laugh at, you French devil," he cried.

  And sure enough it cost the poor young man his life.

  The surgeon was very angry with the man, but told the French lady asshe kneeled
sobbing by the side of her son, that she had brought itupon herself and him by her own folly and cruelty. I know not whethershe felt so, or whether she dreaded a repetition, but this is certain,she tormented me no more. On the contrary, I think she suffered veryseverely, as she perceived that I rapidly mended, and that her poorson got on but slowly. At last my hurts were all healed, and I leftthe hospital, hoping never to see her more.