CHAPTER NINETEEN.
_Miranda_. How came we ashore! _Prospero_. By Providence divine. ... Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arrived. SHAKESPEARE.
A frigate called at the island for turtle; and, having represented mycase to the captain, he offered to take me on board, telling me at thesame time that he was going much further to the southward, to relieveanother cruiser, who would then return to England, and the captain ofher would, no doubt, give me a passage home. I accordingly made hastypreparations for my departure; took leave of all my kind friends at thebarracks, for kind indeed they were to _me_, although thoughtless andfoolish towards themselves. I bade adieu to the families on the island,in whose houses and at whose tables I had experienced the most liberalhospitality; and last, though not least, I took leave of poor Carlotta.
This was a difficult task to perform, but it was imperative. I told herthat I was ordered on board by my captain, who, being a very differentperson from the last, I dared not disobey. I promised to return to hersoon. I offered her money and presents, but she would accept of nothingbut a small locket, to wear for my sake. I purchased the freedom ofpoor Sophy, the black girl who had saved my life. The little creaturewept bitterly at my coming away; but I could do no more for her. As forCarlotta, I learned afterwards that she went on board every ship thatarrived to gain intelligence of me, who seldom or never gave her athought.
We sailed; and, steering away to the south-east with moderate winds andfine weather, captured, at the end of that time, a large American ship,which had made a devious course from the French coast, in hopes ofavoiding our cruisers; she was about four hundred tons, deeply laden,and bound to Laguira, with a valuable cargo. The captain sent for me,and told me that if I chose to take charge of her, as prize-master, Imight proceed to England direct. This plan exactly suited me, and Iconsented, only begging to have a boatswain's mate, named Thompson, togo along with me; he was an old shipmate, and had been one of my gig'screw when we had the affair in Basque Roads: he was a steady, resolute,quiet, sober, raw-boned Caledonian, from Aberdeen, and a man that I knewwould stand by me in the hour of need. He was ordered to go with me,and the necessary supply of provisions and spirits were on board. Ireceived my orders, and took my leave of my new captain, who was both agood seaman and an excellent officer.
When I got on board the prize, I found all the prisoners busy packing uptheir things, and they became exceedingly alert in placing them in theboat which was to convey them on board the frigate. Indeed they allcrowded into her with an unusual degree of activity; but this did notparticularly strike my attention at the time. My directions were toretain the captain and one man with me, in order to condemn the vesselin the court of admiralty.
Occupied with many objects at once, all important to me, as I was sosoon to part company with the frigate, I did not recollect this part ofmy orders, and that I was detaining the boat, until the young midshipmanwho had charge of her asked me if he might return on board and take theprisoners. I then went on deck, and seeing the whole of them, withtheir chests and bags, seated very quietly in the boat, and ready toshove off, I desired the captain and one of the American seamen to comeon board again, and to bring their clothes with them. I did not remarkthe unwillingness of the captain to obey this order, until told of it bythe midshipman; his chest and goods were immediately handed in upondeck, and the signal from the frigate being repeated, with a light forthe boat to return (for it was now dark), she shoved off hastily, andwas soon out of sight.
"Stop the boat!--for God's sake stop the boat!" cried the captain.
"Why should I stop the boat?" said I; "my orders are positive, and youmust remain with me."
I then went below for a minute or two, and the captain followed me.
"As you value your life, sir," said he, "stop the boat."
"Why?" asked I, eagerly.
"Because, sir," said he, "the ship has been scuttled by the men, andwill sink in a few hours: you cannot save her, for you cannot get at herleaks."
I now did indeed see the necessity of stopping the boat; but it was toolate: she was out of sight. The lantern, the signal for her return, hadbeen hauled down, a proof that she had got on board. I hoisted twolights at the mizen peak, and ordered a musket to be fired; but,unfortunately, the cartridges had either not been put in the boat whichbrought me, or they had been taken back in her. One of my lights wentout; the other was not seen by the frigate. We hoisted another light,but it gained no notice: the ship had evidently made sail. I stoodafter her as fast as I could, in hopes of her seeing us that night, ortaking us out the next morning, should we be afloat.
But my vessel, deeply laden, was already getting waterlogged, and wouldnot sail on a wind more than four miles an hour. All hope in thatquarter vanished. I then endeavoured to discover from the captain wherethe leaks were, that we might stop them; but he had been drinking sofreely, that I could get nothing from him but Dutch courage andbraggadocio. The poor black man who had been left with the captain wasnext consulted. All he knew was, that, when at Bordeaux, the captainhad caused holes to be bored in the ship's bottom, that he might pullthe plugs out whenever he liked, swearing, at the same time, that shenever should enter a British port. He did not know where the leaks weresituated, though it was evident to me that they were in the after andalso in the fore parts of the ship, low down, and now deep under water,both inside as well as out. The black man added that the captain hadlet the water in, and that was all he knew.
I again spoke to the captain, but he was too far gone to reason with: hehad got drunk to die, because he was afraid to die sober--no unusualcase with sailors.
"Don't tell me; damn me, who is afeard to die? I ain't. I swore sheshould never enter a British port, and I have kept my word."
He then began to use curses and execrations; and at last fell on thedeck in a fit of drunken frenzy.
I now called my people all together, and having stated to them the perilof our situation, we agreed that a large boat which lay on the boomsshould be instantly hoisted out, and stowed with everything necessaryfor a voyage. Our clothes, bread, salt meat, and water, were put intoher, with my sextant and spy-glass. The liquor which was in the cabin Igave in charge to the midshipman who was sent with me; and, havingcompletely stowed our boat, and prepared her with a good lug-sail, wemade her fast with a couple of stout tow-ropes, and veered her astern,with four men in her, keeping on our course in the supposed track of thefrigate till daylight.
That wished for hour arrived, but no frigate was to be seen, even fromthe mast-head. The ship was getting deeper and deeper, and we preparedto take to the boat. I calculated the nearest part of South America tobe seven hundred miles from us, and that we were more than twice thatdistance from Rio Janeiro. I did not however despond, for, under allcircumstances, we were extremely well off: and I inspired the men withso much confidence, that they obeyed in everything with the utmostalacrity and cheerfulness, except in one single point.
Finding the ship could not in all, probability float more than an houror two, I determined to quit her, and ordered the boat alongside. Themen got into her, stepped the mast, hooked on the lug-sail, ready tohoist at my orders; and, without my bidding, had spread my boat cloak inthe stern-sheets, and made a comfortable place for me to repose in. Themaster proceeded to get into the boat, but the men repulsed him withkicks, blows, and hisses, swearing most dreadfully that if he attemptedto come in, they would throw him overboard. Although in some measure Iparticipated in their angry feeling, yet I could not reconcile myself toleave a fellow-creature thus to perish, even in the pit which he had dugfor others; and this too at a time when we needed every indulgence fromthe Almighty for ourselves, and every assistance from His hand toconduct us into a port.
"He deserves to die; it is all his own doings," said they; "come intothe boat yourself, sir, or we must shove off without you."
The poor captain--who after sleeping four hours had recovered his
sensesand felt all the horror of his situation--wept, screamed, tore his hair,laid hold of my coat, from which only the strength of my men coulddisengage him. He clung to life with a passion of feeling which I neversaw in a criminal condemned by the law; he fell on his knees before me,as he appealed to us all collectively and separately; he reminded us ofhis wife and starving children at Baltimore, and he implored us to thinkof them and of our own.
I was melted to tears, I confess; but my men heard him with the moststoical unconcern. Two of them threw him over to the opposite side ofthe deck; and before he could recover from the violence of the fall,pushed me into the boat, and shoved off. The wretched man had by thistime crawled over to the side we had just left; and throwing himself onhis knees, again screamed out, "Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!--For God'ssake, have mercy, if you expect any!--O God! my wife and babes!"
His prayers, I lament to say, had no effect on the exasperated seamen.He then fell into a fit of cursing and blasphemy, evidently bereft ofhis senses; and in this state he continued for some minutes, while welay alongside, the bowman holding on with the boat-hook only. I wassecretly determined not to leave him, although I foresaw a mutiny in theboat in consequence. At length, I gave the order to shove off. Theunhappy captain, who, till that moment; might have entertained somefaint hope from the lurking compassion which he perceived I felt forhim, now resigned himself to despair of a more sullen and horribleaspect. He sat himself down on one of the hen-coops, and gazed on uswith a ghastly eye. I cannot remember ever seeing a more shockingpicture of human misery.
While I looked at him, the black man, Mungo, who belonged to the ship,sprang overboard from the boat and swam back to the wreck. Seizing arope which hung from the gangway, he ascended the side, and joined hismaster. We called to him to come back, or we, should leave him behind.
"No massa," replied the faithful creature; "me no want to lib: no takeemaster Green no takee me! Mungo lib good many years wi massa cappen.Mungo die with massa, and go back to Guinea!"
I now thought we had given the captain a sufficient lesson for histreachery and murderous intentions. Had I, indeed, ever seriouslyintended to leave him, the conduct of poor Mungo would have awakened meto a sense of my duty. I ordered Thompson, who was steering the boat,to put the helm a starboard, and lay her alongside again. No sooner wasthis command given, than three or four of the men jumped up in amenacing attitude, and swore that they would not go back for him; thathe was the cause of all their sufferings; and that if I chose to sharehis fate, I might, but into the boat he should not come. One of them,more daring than the rest, attempted to take the tiller out ofThompson's hand; but the trusty seaman seized him by the collar, and inan instant threw him overboard. The other men were coming aft to avengethis treatment of their leader; but I drew my sword, and pointing it atthe breast of the nearest mutineer, desired him, on pain of instantdeath, to return to his seat. He had heard my character, and knew thatI was not to be trifled with.
A mutineer is easily subdued with common firmness. He obeyed, but wasvery sullen, and I heard many mutinous expressions among the men. Oneof them said that I was not their officer--that I did not belong to thefrigate.
"That," I replied, "is a case of which I shall not allow you to be thejudges. I hold in my pocket a commission from the king's lord highadmiral, or the commissioners for executing that duty. Your captain,and mine also, holds a similar commission. Under this authority I act.Let me see the man that dares dispute it--I will hang him at theyard-arm of the wreck before she goes down;" and, looking at the manwhom Thompson had thrown overboard, and who still held by the gunwale ofthe boat, without daring to get in, I asked him if he would obey me ornot? He replied that he would, and hoped I would forgive him. I saidthat my forgiveness would depend entirely on the conduct of himself andthe others: that he must recollect that if our own ship or any otherman-of-war picked us up, he was liable, with three or four more, to behanged for mutiny; and that nothing but his and their future obediencecould save them from that punishment whenever we reached a port.
This harangue had a very tranquillising effect. The offenders allbegged pardon, and assured me they would deserve my forgiveness by theirfuture submission.
All this passed at some little distance from the wreck, but withinhearing; and while it was going on, the wind, which had been fair whenwe put off, gradually died away, and blew faintly from the south-west,directly towards the sinking wreck. I took advantage of thiscircumstance to read them a lecture. When I had subdued them and workeda little on their feelings, I said I never knew any good come ofcruelty; whenever a ship or a boat had left a man behind who might havebeen saved, that disaster or destruction had invariably attended thosewho had so cruelly acted; that I was quite sure we never should escapefrom this danger if we did not show mercy to our fellow-creatures."God," said I, "has shown mercy to us in giving us this excellent boatto save us in our imminent danger; and He seems to say to us now, `Goback to the wreck, and rescue your fellow-sufferer.' The wind blowsdirectly towards her, and is foul for the point in which we intend tosteer; hasten then," pursued I, "obey the divine will; do your duty, andtrust in God. I shall then be proud to command you, and have no doubtin bringing you safe into port."
This was the "pliant hour;" they sprang upon their oars, and pulled backto the wreck with alacrity. The poor captain, who had witnessed allthat had passed, watched the progress of his cause with deep anxiety.No sooner did the boat touch the ship than he leaped into her, fell downon his knees, and thanked God aloud for his deliverance. He then fellon my neck, embraced me, kissed my cheek, and wept like a girl. Thesailors, meanwhile, who never bear malice long, good-naturedly jumpedup, and assisted him in getting his little articles into the boat; andas Mungo followed his master, shook hands with him all round, and sworehe should be a black prince when he went back to Guinea. We also tookin one or two more little articles of general use, which had beenforgotten in our former hurry.
We now shoved off for the last time; and had not proceeded more than twohundred yards from the ship, when she gave a heavy lurch on one side,recovered it, and rolled as deep on the other; then, as if endued withlife and instinct, gave a pitch, and went down head foremost into thefathomless deep. We had scarcely time to behold this awful scene, whenthe wind again sprang up fair, from its old quarter, the east.
"There," said I, "heaven has declared itself in your favour already.You have got your fair wind again."
We thanked God for this; and having set our sail, I shaped my course forCape St. Thomas, and we went to our frugal dinner with cheerful andgrateful hearts.
The weather was fine--the sea tolerably smooth--and as we had plenty ofprovisions and water, we did not suffer much, except from anapprehension of a change of wind, and the knowledge of our precarioussituation. On the fifth day after leaving the wreck we discovered landat a great distance. I knew it to be the island of Trinidad and therocks of Martin Vas. This island, which lies in latitude twenty degreessouth, and longitude thirty degrees west, is not to be confounded withthe island of the same name on the coast of Terra Firma in the WestIndies, and now a British colony.
On consulting Horsburgh, which I had in the boat, I found that theisland which we were now approaching was formerly inhabited by thePortuguese, but long since abandoned. I continued steering towards itduring the night, until we heard the breakers roaring against the rocks,when I hove-to to windward of the land, till daylight.
The morning presented to our view a precipitous and rugged iron-boundcoast, with high and pointed rocks, frowning defiance over theunappeasable and furious waves which broke incessantly at their feet,and recoiled to repeat the blow. Thus for ages had they been employed,and thus for ages will they continue, without making any impressionvisible to the eye of man. To land was impossible on the part of thecoast now under our inspection, and we coasted along in hopes of findingsome haven into which we might haul our boat, and secure her. Theisland appeared to be about nine miles long, evidently of
volcanicformation, an assemblage of rocky mountains towering several hundredfeet above the level of the sea. It was barren, except at the summit ofthe hills, where some trees formed a coronet at once beautiful andrefreshing, but tantalising to look at, as they appeared utterlyinaccessible; and even supposing I could have discovered alanding-place, I was in great doubt whether I should have availed myselfof it, as the island appeared to produce nothing which could have addedto our comfort, while delay would only have uselessly consumed ourprovisions. There did not appear to be a living creature on the island,and the danger of approaching to find a landing-place was most imminent.
This unpromising appearance induced me to propose that we shouldcontinue our course to Rio Janeiro. The men were of another opinion.They said they had been too long afloat, cooped up, and that they shouldprefer remaining on the island to risking their lives any longer in sofrail a boat on the wide ocean. We were still debating, when we came toa small spot of sand on which we discovered two wild hogs, which weconjectured had come down to feed on the shell fish; this decided them,and I consented to run to leeward of the island, and seek for alanding-place. We sounded the west end, following the remarks ofHorsburgh, and ran for the cove of the Nine-Pin Rock. As we opened it,a scene of grandeur presented itself, which we had never met withbefore, and which in its kind is probably unrivalled in nature. Anenormous rock rose, nearly perpendicularly, out of the sea, to theheight of nine hundred or one thousand feet. It was as narrow at thebase as it was at the top, and was formed exactly in the shape of anine-pin, from which it derives its name. The sides appeared smooth andeven to the top, which was covered with verdure, and was so far above usthat the sea-birds, which in myriads screamed around it, were scarcelyvisible two-thirds of the way up. The sea beat violently against itsbase--the feathered tribe, in endless variety, had been for ages theundisturbed tenants of this natural monument; all its jutting points andlittle projections were covered with their white dung, and it seemed tome a wonderful effort of nature which had placed this mass in theposition which it held in spite of the utmost efforts of the winds andwaves of the wide ocean.
Another curious phenomenon appeared at the other end of the cove. Thelava had poured down into the sea, and formed a stratum; a second riverof fused rock had poured again over the first, and had cooled so rapidlyas to hang suspended, not having joined the former strata, but leaving avacuum between for the water to fill up. The sea dashed violentlybetween the two beds, and spouted magnificently through holes in theupper bed of lava to the height of sixty feet, resembling much thespouting of a whale, but with a noise and force infinitely greater. Thesound, indeed, was tremendous, hollow, and awful. I could not helpmentally adoring the works of the Creator, and my heart sunk within meat my own insignificance, folly, and wickedness.
As we were now running along the shore, looking for our landing-place,and just going to take in the sail, the American captain, who sat closeto the man at the helm, seemed attentively watching something on thelarboard bow of the boat. In an instant he exclaimed, "Port your helm,my good fellow, port hard." These words he accompanied with a push ofthe helm so violent as almost to throw overboard the man who sat on thelarboard quarter. At the same moment, a heavy sea lifted the boat, andsent her many yards beyond and to the right of a pointed rock just flushor even with the water, which had escaped our notice, and which nonesuspected but the American captain (for these rocks do not show breakersevery minute--if they did they would be easily avoided). On this weshould most certainly have been dashed to pieces, had not the dangerbeen seen, and avoided by the sudden and skilful motion of the helm; onemoment more, and one foot nearer, and we were gone.
"Merciful God!" said I, "to what fate am I reserved at last? How can Ibe sufficiently thankful for so much goodness!"
I thanked the American for his attention--told my men how much we wereindebted to him, and how amply he had repaid our kindness in taking himoff the wreck.
"Ah, lieutenant!" said the poor man, "it is a small turn I've done youfor the kindness you have shown to me."
The water was very deep, the rocks being steep; so we lowered our sail,and getting our oars out, pulled in to look for a landing. At thefurther end of the cove, we discovered the wreck of a vessel lying onthe beach. She was broken in two, and appeared to be copper-bottomed.This increased the eagerness of the men to land; we rowed close to theshore, but found that the boat would be dashed to pieces if we attemptedit. The midshipman proposed that one of us should swim on shore, and,by ascending a bill, discover a place to lay the boat in. This I agreedto; and the quarter-master immediately threw off his clothes. I made ahead-line fast to him under his arms, that we might pull him in if wefound him exhausted. He went over the surf with great ease, until hecame to the breakers on the beach, through which he could not force hisway; for the moment he touched the ground with his foot, the recoil ofthe sea, and what is called by sailors the undertow, carried him backagain, and left him in the rear of the last wave.
Three times the brave fellow made the attempt, and with the same result.At last he sank, and we pulled him in very nearly dead. We, however,restored him by care and attention, and he went again to his usual duty.The midshipman now proposed that he should try to swim through the surfwithout the line, for that alone had impeded the progress of thequarter-master; this was true, but I would not allow him to run therisk, and we pulled along shore, until we came to a rock on which thesurf beat very high, and which we avoided in consequence. This rock wediscovered to be detached from the main; and within it, to our greatjoy, we saw smooth water; we pulled in, and succeeded in landing withoutmuch difficulty, and having secured our boat to a grapnel, and left twotrusty men in charge of her, I proceeded with the rest to explore thecove; our attention was naturally first directed to the wreck which wehad passed in the boat, and, after a quarter of an hour's scramblingover huge fragments of broken rocks, which had been detached from thesides of the hill, and encumbered the beach, we arrived at the spot.
The wreck proved to be a beautiful copper-bottomed schooner, of about ahundred and eighty tons burthen. She had been dashed on shore withgreat violence, and thrown many yards above the high-water mark. Hermasts and spars were lying in all directions on the beach, which wasstrewed with her cargo. This consisted of a variety of toys andhardware, musical instruments, violins, flutes, fifes, and bird-organs.Some few remains of books, which I picked up, were French romances, withindelicate plates, and still worse text. These proved the vessel to beFrench. At a short distance from the wreck, on a rising knoll, we foundthree or four huts, rudely constructed out of the fragments; and, alittle further off, a succession of graves, each surmounted with a crossI examined the huts, which contained some rude and simple relics ofhuman tenancy: a few benches and tables, composed of boards roughly hewnout and nailed together; bones of goats and of the wild hog, with theremains of burnt wood. But we could not discover any traces of the nameof the vessel or owner; nor were there any names marked or cut on theboards, as might have been expected, to show to whom the vesselbelonged, and what had become of the survivors.
This studied concealment of all information led us to the most accurateknowledge of her port of departure, her destination, and her object oftrade. Being on the south-west side of the island, with her head lyingto the north-east, she had, beyond all doubt, been running from RioJaneiro towards the coast of Africa, and got on shore in the night.That she was going to fetch a cargo of slaves was equally clear, notonly from the baubles with which she was freighted, but also from theinterior fitting of the vessel, and from a number of hand and legshackles which we found among the wreck, and which we knew were onlyused for the purposes of confining and securing the unhappy victims ofthis traffic.
We took up our quarters in the huts for the night, and the next morningdivided ourselves into three parties, to explore the island. I havebefore observed that we had muskets, but no powder, and therefore stoodbut little chance of killing any of the goats or wild hogs, wi
th whichwe found the island abounded. One party sought the means of attainingthe highest summit of the island; another went along the shore to thewestward; while myself and two others went to the eastward. We crossedseveral ravines, with much difficulty, until we reached a long valley,which seemed to intersect the island.
Here a wonderful and most melancholy phenomenon arrested our attention.Thousands and thousands of trees covered the valley, each of them aboutthirty feet high; but every tree was dead, and extended its leaflessboughs to another--a forest of desolation, as if nature had at someparticular moment ceased to vegetate! There was no under wood or grass.On the lowest of the dead boughs, the gannets, and other sea-birds, hadbuilt their nests in numbers uncountable. Their tameness, as Cowpersays, "was shocking to me." So unaccustomed did they seem to man, thatthe mothers, brooding over their young, only opened their beaks in amenacing attitude at us, as we passed by them.
How to account satisfactorily for the simultaneous destruction of thisvast forest of trees was very difficult: there was no want of rich earthfor nourishment of the roots. The most probable cause appeared to me, asudden and continued eruption of sulphuric effluvia from the volcano; orelse, by some unusually heavy gale of wind or hurricane, the trees hadbeen drenched with salt water to their roots. One or the other of thesecauses must have produced the effect. The philosopher, or the geologistmust decide.
We had the consolation to know that we should at least experience nowant of food--the nests of the birds affording us a plentiful supply ofeggs, and young ones of every age; with these we returned loaded to thecove. The party that had gone to the westward reported having seen somewild hogs, but were unable to secure any of them; and those who hadattempted to ascend the mountain returned much fatigued, and one oftheir number missing. They reported that they had gained the summit ofthe mountain, where they had discovered a large plain, skirted by aspecies of fern tree, from twelve to eighteen feet high--that on thisplain they had seen a herd of goats; and among them, could distinguishone of enormous size, which appeared to be their leader. He was aslarge as a pony; but all attempts to take one of them were utterlyfruitless. The man who was missing had followed them further than theyhad. They waited some time for his return; but as he did not come tothem, they concluded he had taken some other route to the cove. I didnot quite like this story, fearing some dreadful accident had befallenthe poor fellow, for whom we kept a watch, and had a fire burning thewhole night, which, like the former one, we passed in the huts. We hadan abundant supply of firewood from the wreck, and a stream of clearwater ran close by our little village. The next morning, a party wassent in search of the man, and some were sent to fetch a supply of younggannets for our dinner. The latter brought back with them as many youngbirds as would suffice for two or three days; but of the three who wentin quest of the missing man, only two returned. They reported that theycould gain no tidings of him: that they had missed one of their ownnumber, who had, no doubt, gone in pursuit of his shipmate.
This intelligence occasioned a great deal of anxiety, and many surmises.The most prevalent opinion seemed to be that there were wild beasts onthe island, and that our poor friends had become a prey to them. Idetermined, the next morning, to go in search of them myself, taking oneor two chosen men with me. I should have mentioned, that when we leftthe sinking vessel, we had taken out a poodle dog, that was on board,first, because I would not allow the poor animal to perish; andsecondly, because we might, if we had no better food, make a dinner ofhim. This was quite fair, as charity begins at home.
This faithful animal became much attached to me, from whom he invariablyreceived his portion of food. He never quitted me, nor followed anyoneelse; and he was my companion when I went on this excursion.
We reached the summit of the first mountain, whence we saw the goatsbrowsing on the second, and meant to go there in pursuit of the objectsof our anxious search. I was some yards in advance of my companions,and the dog a little distance before me, near the shelving part of arock, terminating in a precipice. The shelf I had to cross was aboutsix or seven feet wide, and ten or twelve long, with a very littleinclined plane towards the precipice, so that I thought it perfectlysafe. A small rill of water trickled down from the rock above it, and,losing itself among the moss and grass, fell over the precipice below,which indeed was a frightful depth.
This causeway was to all appearance safe, compared with many which wehad passed, and I was just going to step upon it, when my dog ran beforeme, jumped on the fatal pass--his feet slipped from under him--he fell,and disappeared over the precipice! I started back--I heard a heavysquelch and a howl; another fainter succeeded, and all was still. Iadvanced with the utmost caution to the edge of the precipice, where Idiscovered that the rill of water had nourished a short moss, close andsmooth as velvet, and so slippery as not to admit of the lightestfootstep; this accounted for the sudden disappearance, and, as Iconcluded, the inevitable death of my dog.
My first thoughts were those of gratitude for my miraculous escape; mysecond unwillingly glanced at the fate of my poor men, too probablylying lifeless at the foot of this mountain. I stated my fears to thetwo seamen who were with me, and who had just come up. The whole boretoo much the appearance of truth to admit of a doubt. We descended therocks by a circuitous and winding way; and, after an hour's difficultand dangerous walk, we reached the spot, where all our fears were toofully confirmed. There lay the two dead bodies of our companions andthat of my dog, all mangled in a shocking manner: both, it would appear,had attempted to cross the shelf in the same careless way which I wasabout to do, when Providence interposed the dog in my behalf.
This singular dispensation was not lost upon me; indeed, latterly, I hadbeen in such perils, and seen such hair-breadth escapes, that I becamequite an altered and reflecting character. I returned to my men at thecove, thoughtful and melancholy; I told them of what had happened; and,having a prayer-book with me in my trunk, I proposed to them that Ishould read the evening prayers, and a thanksgiving for our deliverance.
In this, the American captain, whose name was Green, most heartilyconcurred. Indeed, ever since this poor man had been received into theboat, he had been a very different character to what I had at firstsupposed him; he constantly refused his allowance of spirits, giving itamong the sailors; he was silent and meditative; I often found him inprayer, and on these occasions I never interrupted him. At other times,he studied how he might make himself most useful. He would patch andmend the people's clothes and shoes, or show them how to do it forthemselves. Whenever any hard work was to be done, he was always thefirst to begin, and the last to leave off; and to such a degree did hecarry his attention and kindness, that we all began to love him, and totreat him with great respect. He took charge of a watch when we were atsea, and never closed his eyes during his hour of duty.
Nor was this the effect of fear, or the dread of ill-usage among so manyEnglishmen, whom his errors had led into so much misfortune. He verysoon had an opportunity of proving that his altered conduct was theeffect of sorrow and repentance. The next morning I sent a party roundby the sea-shore, with directions to walk up the valley and bury thebodies of our unfortunate companions. The two men who had accompaniedme were of the number sent on this service; when they returned, Ipointed out to them how disastrous our residence had been on this fatalisland, and how much better it had been for us if we had continued ourcourse to Rio Janeiro, which being only two hundred and fifty or twohundred and sixty leagues distant, we should by that time nearly havereached: that we were now expending the most valuable part of ourprovisions, namely--our spirits and tobacco; while our boat, our onlyhope and resource, was not even in safety, since a gale of wind mightdestroy her. I therefore proposed to make immediate preparations forour departure, to which all unanimously agreed.
We divided the various occupations; some went to fetch a sea-stock ofyoung birds, which were killed and dressed to save our salt provisions;others filled all our water-casks. Captain
Green superintended therigging, sails, and oars of the boat, and saw that everything wascomplete in that department. The spirits remaining were getting low,and Captain Green, the midshipman, and myself, agreed to drink none, butreserve it for pressing emergencies. In three days after beginning ourpreparations, and the seventh after our landing, we embarked, and afterbeing nearly swamped by the surf, once more hoisted our sail on the widewaters of the Atlantic Ocean.
We were not destined, however, to encounter many dangers this time, orto reach the coast of South America: for we had not been many hours atsea, when a vessel hove in sight; she proved to be an American privateerbrig, of fourteen guns and one hundred and thirty men, bound on a cruiseoff the Cape of Good Hope. As soon as she perceived us, she bore down,and in half an hour we were safe on board; when having bundled all ourlittle stock of goods on her decks, the boat was cut adrift. My menwere not well treated until they consented to enter for the privateer,which, after much persuasion and threats, they all did, except Thompson,contrary to my strongest remonstrances, and urging every argument in mypower to dissuade them from such a fatal step.
I remonstrated with the captain of the privateer, on what I deemed aviolation of hospitality. "You found me," I said, "on the wide ocean,in a frail boat, which some huge wave might have overwhelmed in amoment, or some fish, in sport, might have tossed in the air. Youreceived me and my people with all the kindness and friendship which wecould desire; but you mar it, by seducing the men from their allegianceto their lawful sovereign, inducing them to become rebels, andsubjecting them to a capital punishment whenever they may (as they mostprobably will) fall into the hands of their own government."
The captain, who was an unpolished, but sensible, clear-headed Yankee,replied, that he was sorry I should take anything ill of him; that noaffront was meant to me; that he had nothing whatever to do with my men,until they came voluntarily to him, and entered for his vessel; that hecould not but admit, however, that they might have been persuaded totake this step by some of his own people. "And now, leftenant," saidhe, "let me ask you a question. Suppose you commanded a British vessel,and ten or twelve of my men, if I was unlucky enough to be taken by you,should volunteer for your ship, and say they were natives of Newcastle,would you refuse them? Besides, before we went to war with you, youmade no ceremony of taking men out of our merchant-ships, and even outof our ships of war, whenever you had an opportunity. Now, pray, whereis the difference between your conduct and ours?"
I replied, that it would not be very easy, nor, if it were, would itanswer any good purpose, for us to discuss a question that had puzzledthe wisest heads, both in his country and mine, for the last twentyyears; that my present business was a case of its own, and must beconsidered abstractedly; that the fortune of war had thrown me in hispower, and that he made a bad use of the temporary advantage of hissituation, by allowing my men, who, after all, were poor, ignorantcreatures, to be seduced from their duty, to desert their flag, andcommit high treason, by which their lives were forfeited and theirfamilies rendered miserable; that whatever might have been the conductof his government or mine, whatever line pursued by this or thatcaptain, no precedent could make wrong right; and I left it to himself(seeing I had no other resource) to say, whether he was doing as hewould be done by.
"As for that matter," said the captain, "we privateersmen don't troubleour heads much about it; we always take care of number one; and if yourmen choose to say they are natives of Boston, and will enter for myship, I must take them. Why," continued he, "there is your best man,Thompson; I'd lay a demi-John of old Jamaica rum that he is atrue-blooded Yankee, and if he was to speak his mind, would sooner fightunder the stripes than the union."
"Damn the dog that says yon of Jock Thompson," replied the Caledonian,who stood by. "I never deserted my colours yet, and I don't think Iever shall. There is only one piece of advice I would wish to give toyou and your officers, captain. I am a civil-spoken man, and neverinjured any soul breathing, except in the way of fair fighting; but ifeither of you, or any of your crew, offer to bribe me, or in any way tomake me turn my back on my king and country, I'll lay him on his back asflat as a flounder, if I am able; and if I am not able, I'll try forit."
"That's well spoken," said the captain, "and I honour you for it. Youmay rely on it that I shall never tempt you, and if any of mine do it,they must take their chance."
Captain Green heard all this conversation; he took no part in it, butwalked the deck in his usual pensive manner. When the captain of theprivateer went below to work his reckoning, this unhappy man enteredinto conversation with me--he began by remarking--"What a noble specimenof a British sailor you have with you."
"Yes," I replied, "he is one of the right sort--he comes from the landwhere the education of the poor contributes to the security of the rich;where a man is never thought the worse of for reading his Bible, andwhere the generality of the lower orders are brought up in the honestsimplicity of primitive Christians."
"I guess," said Green, "that you have not many such in your navy."
"More than you would suppose," I replied; "and what will astonish youis, that though they are impressed, they seldom, if ever, desert; andyet they are retained on much lower wages than those they were takenfrom, or could obtain; but they have a high sense of moral and religiousfeeling, which keeps them to their duty."
"They must needs be discontented, for all that," said Green, "Notnecessarily so," said I: "they derive many advantages from being in thenavy, which they could not have in other employments. They havepensions for long services or wounds, are always taken care of in theirold age, and their widows and children have much favour shown them, bythe government, as well as by other public bodies and wealthyindividuals. But we must finish this discussion another time,"continued I, "for I perceive the dinner is going into the cabin."
I received from the captain of the privateer every mark of respect andkindness that his means would allow. Much of this I owed to Green, andthe black man Mungo, both of whom had represented my conduct in savingthe life of him who had endangered mine and that of all my party.Green's gratitude knew no bounds--he watched me night and day, as amother would watch a darling child; he anticipated any want or wish Icould have, and was never happy until it was gratified. The seamen onboard the vessel were all equally kind and attentive to me, so highlydid they appreciate the act of saving the life of their countryman, andexposing my own in quelling a mutiny.
We cruised to the southward of the Cape, and made one or two captures;but they were of little consequence. One of them, being a trader fromMozambique, was destroyed; the other, a slaver from Madagascar, thecaptain knew not what to do with. He therefore took out eight or ten ofthe stoutest male negroes to assist in working his vessel, and then letthe prize go.
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