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

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER VIII.

  UNDER WAY.

  The boatswain speedily returned with the "bracelets" which he had beensent to bring, and by that time some of the crew had untied his hands.They proved to be irons, one for his wrists and another for his feet. Inless time than it takes to tell it the irons had been put on and nowCaleb was a prisoner, sure enough.

  "Now, then, take him down and put him in the brig,"[6] said the captain."See to it that he does not get anything to eat or a drop of water todrink to pay him for insulting his Majesty's officer by throwing abucket of yeast at him."

  [Footnote 6: The brig is a small, dark apartment on board a vessel inwhich culprits are confined.]

  Captain Moore acted as if he were mad about something, and for fear ofthe "gag" with which he had been threatened Caleb was unable to say aword to him. The boatswain took him by the arm and hurried him forward.The prisoner was pushed rather than led down the gangway to the brig,which was ready to receive him. He saw that the grated door was open,and when he came opposite to it he was shoved headlong into the dark,not knowing where he was going to bring up. But the brig was not deepenough to permit him to fall. By putting his manacled hands in front ofhim he brought up against the bulkhead with stunning force, and for amoment he stood there not knowing where he was or what to do.

  He was shoved headlong into the dark.]

  "There, you rebel," said the boatswain, "I guess you will stay there."

  The door was closed and locked behind him, and then Caleb turned about.There was a lantern outside which threw its beams into the brig, and bytheir aid Caleb was enabled to take a view of his prison. It was aboutsix feet square, large enough to hold all the members of the schooner'scompany who were liable to be put there for various misdemeanors, andthere was not a thing in the way of furniture in it--no stool to sitdown on and no bed to sleep on. Caleb drew a contrast between thatroom and his plainly furnished little apartment at home and drew along-drawn sigh.

  "Yes, I guess I will stay here," said he, as he seated himself oppositethe door so that he could see all that was going on on deck. "Am I arebel because Zeke Lewis would not let that magistrate fine me? Themagistrate did not care what James said, he wanted to know what I did;and if that is justice I don't want to see any more of it. And I must goto New York. And what is going to become of mother in the meantime? Itell you, I hope that the boys' attempt on this schooner to-morrow willbe successful. How I can pass the night waiting for them I don't know."

  The first thing that attracted Caleb's attention was that his irons weretoo tight. They pinched him in every way that he could place them, andhe first tried to get them off; but his hands were too big. He did notthink he could live that way until he got to New York, and he appealedto the first sailor that came along to take the irons off and replacethem with some others; but the sailor smiled grimly and shook his head.

  "You threw some yeast at the officer, did you not?" said he.

  "He tried to take me while I was minding my own business," said Caleb."You would have done the same thing if you had been in my place."

  "Well, you had better let the irons alone. They don't pinch half as hardas the rope will when you get it around your neck."

  Here the sailor turned his head on one side and made a motion with hisright hand as if he were pulling something up with it.

  "I will not be hanged for that, I tell you," said Caleb. "If the officerwanted me, why did he not come up to the house and arrest me?"

  "You have insulted one of his Majesty's officers by throwing that stuffon him, and you don't get anything to eat for a day," said the sailor ashe turned away. "You will be hungry before you get your next meal."

  "Then I have nothing left for it but to go to sleep," said the prisonerto himself. "That is, if I can go to sleep. If I was master of a vesselI would not treat a captive in this way."

  That was a long night to Caleb, but he picked out as comfortable aposition as he could on the brig's floor and fell asleep while thinkingof his mother and Enoch Crosby. He was as certain as he wanted to bethat Enoch and Zeke would turn the village up side-down to find what hadbecome of him, and when they had made up their minds that he was onboard the schooner, they would not rest easy until they had rescued him.He was aroused by the changing of watches, and then he did not knowanything more until the boatswain called all hands in the morning. Hestraightened up and took his position opposite the door where he couldsee the crew as they passed to and fro engaged in their duties of theship. He knew when the decks were washed down, and when they went tobreakfast. There was a mess chest standing on the deck right where hecould see it, and the Tories took no little delight in biting off theirhard-tack and eating their corned beef before him. But Caleb knew thatthere was no breakfast waiting for him, although he was as hungry as heever had been.

  After breakfast the decks were swept down, and then an order was passedwhich Caleb could not understand; but he soon became aware that the crewwere getting ready to go ashore. It was Sunday, and of course the mendressed in white on that day. Pretty soon an officer passed, and he wasgot up with all the gold lace that the law allows, but he paid noattention to the prisoner. Presently a boat was called away, and thenanother, and Caleb could hear the men scrambling down the side in orderto get into them, and he knew that the crew had left barely enough menon board to look out for the safety of the vessel. What a time thatwould be for the men on shore to capture her! While he was thinkingabout it a sailor came up alongside the grating which formed the door,and after looking all around to make sure that no one was watching him,he put his hand into his bosom and slipped a small package in to theprisoner.

  "There you are," said he. "Eat your fill."

  The sailor moved away as quickly as he had come, and Caleb was not longin taking care of the bundle. He took it back out of sight, so that ifany one chanced to look in to see what the prisoner was doing, he wouldnot have seen him eating the contents of the package. For there was agood breakfast in there, and how the man had managed to steal it wassomething that Caleb could not understand.

  "I wish I had taken a good look at him," said Caleb, with his mouth fullof hard-tack and meat. "I believe that when the attack is made, and itwill not be long now, I can do him a favor. He is not a Tory. He belongson our side easy enough."

  Caleb did not want as much to eat as he thought he did, for he stoppedevery few minutes to listen. But he did not hear any sound to indicatethat an attack had been made on the schooner's crew, nor any cheer totell him that all was ready. An hour passed--such an hour as that was,Caleb hoped he should never live over again--and then hoarse commandswere heard on the deck and then a commotion arose which was greater, ifpossible, than when the boats were called away. The prisoner arosehastily to his feet and pressed his face close to the grating to see ifhe could discover anything that created such a hubbub; but he could notsee anything. But the men were all on deck, and pretty soon he heardthe dropping of hand-spikes and the dash of ropes above him as if thecrew were getting ready to train a gun upon the town.

  "Bussin' on it!" whispered Caleb, who was so excited by what he heardthat he repeated Zeke's favorite expression before he knew what he wasdoing. "It has come. The boys have made the attack and I shall soon befree. There are two persons I want to remember; one is the boatswain whothrew me into this brig, and the other is the man who gave me mybreakfast. It is coming sure enough."

  After the men had got their gun trained, for Caleb was certain that waswhat they were doing, there was silence for a few minutes, and then heheard the splash of oars in the water. He heard Captain Moore's voicepitched in a loud key, and then he was sure that all of the crew who hadgone off in the boats came aboard. That was something for which he couldnot account. If the attack was made it had failed, and the crew were onthe lookout.

  "Now, it is mighty strange how those men came aboard," said Caleb, tohimself. "And what was the reason they did not arrest them there in thechurch?"

  If Caleb had been in the habit of using
strong language he would haveused it now, but he did nothing but stand there and wait. The men hadtaken the alarm, there could be no doubt about that, for presently heheard the vessel moving a little as if springs had been got out to hercables, and she was being moored broadside to the town.

  "I wonder if they are going to fire on the village?" said Caleb in greatalarm. "If she does, I wonder what will become of my mother? Why can Inot escape?"

  He seized the grating with both hands and exerted all his strength uponit, but, although he could make the gate rattle, the locks still heldfirmly in their place. Fifteen minutes passed in this way, and then heheard a roar over his head as if heaven and earth were coming together.Another followed it, and the prisoner, firmly believing that theschooner had opened on the town, for the purpose of setting it on fire,left the grating and seated himself once more in the further end of thebrig. The firing continued--how long Caleb did not know; but he realizedthat he was shutting his ears to all sound of the guns.

  "This thing has commenced war with me at any rate," said he, to himself,"and if I ever get free and have a gun in my hands that I can use, Iwill kill a person for every person in Machias that has been struck bytheir shells."

  Finally the firing ceased, and a sound was heard like a man's stepscoming down the companion ladder. When he came nearer Caleb saw that itwas the man who had given him his breakfast.

  "Say," said he, in a low tone. "How many of them did you kill?"

  The man looked around to make sure that there was no one in sight andthen replied--

  "None of them. We just fired a shot or two over the town to show themthat we are on guard. Have you got some relatives there?" he added,noticing that Caleb drew a long breath of relief.

  "I should say so. My mother is out there."

  The prisoner was about to ask him what was the reason the attack on theschooner had failed, but he happened to think that by so doing he wouldlet out some things that Zeke had cautioned him particularly to guardagainst; and another thing was, the sailor passed on about his business.He did not have time to exchange another word with him.

  "It is lucky that I did not have time to ask him about the attack on theschooner," said Caleb, once more returning to his seat. "He is not aTory, but I don't know that he is friendly enough to us to keep stillabout it. Now I want to know what is the reason I did not hear thatcheer."

  Caleb did not have more than two minutes to turn this matter over in hismind, when some more sailors were heard coming down the ladder. Theyproved to be the watch who had been granted shore liberty that day, andtheir business was to change their holiday clothes for their workingsuits. They worked as if they were in a hurry, paying no attention atall to the prisoner, and as fast as they put on their working clothesthey ran on deck. Some more hoarse orders greeted them, and this timethey were followed by the creaking of halyards and the singing of men,which told Caleb that they were getting the ship under way. In a fewminutes the rattling of the windlass joined in, and by listeningintently Caleb heard a man ordered to the wheel. This was as much as hecared to know. He covered his face with his hands and for a momentgroaned aloud. He was off for New York, he would be put in jail therefor not paying his fine and there was no telling what treatment he wouldreceive after he got there. And his mother too, who was wondering allthis time what had become of him! He did not know what to think abouther. Enoch and Zeke would have to look out for her, for the chances werethat he would never come back. While he was thinking about it, a sailorpassed by so close to the grating that Caleb put out his hand andstopped him.

  "Are we going to New York now?" he asked.

  At this moment an officer, who had stood a little back out of his sight,stepped into view. It was the boatswain--the very man of all others ofwhom he had learned to stand in fear.

  "Look here, you rebel," said he, shaking his brawny fist so close to thegrating that Caleb instinctively drew back. "If I hear another word outof you I will start you in a way that will make you open your eyes."

  The prisoner released his hold on the door and retreated to the oppositeend of his cell. He knew what the boatswain meant by saying that hewould "start" him. If he had taken pains to cast his eye about theschooner's deck when he was brought below, he would have seen thedreaded "cat" suspended from the main-mast. Its thongs were all knottedto render the blows more severe, and they were covered with blood. The"cat" had evidently been used upon somebody's bare back, and Caleb didnot want to bring it into further use. The only thing he could do was tokeep still and let time show him what was coming.