Mr. Midshipman Easy

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  IN WHICH JACK'S CRUISE IS ENDED, AND HE REGAINS THE HARPY.

  A few more days passed, and, as was expected, the mutineers could holdout no longer. In the first place, they had put in the spile of thesecond cask of wine so loosely when they were tipsy that it dropped out,and all the wine ran out, so that there had been none left for three orfour days; in the next, their fuel had long been expended, and they hadlatterly eaten their meat raw the loss of their tent, which had beenfired by their carelessness, had been followed by four days and nightsof continual rain. Everything they had had been soaked through andthrough, and they were worn out, shivering with cold, and starving.Hanging they thought better than dying by inches from starvation; and,yielding to the imperious demands of hunger, they came down to thebeach, abreast of the ship, and dropped down on their knees.

  "I tell you so, Massa Easy," said Mesty: "damn rascals, they forget theycome down fire musket at us every day: by all de powers, Mesty notforget it."

  "Ship ahoy!" cried one of the men on shore.

  "What do you want?" replied Jack.

  "Have pity on us, sir--mercy!" exclaimed the other men, "we will returnto our duty."

  "Debbil doubt 'em!"

  "What shall I say, Mesty?"

  "Tell 'em no, first, Massa Easy--tell 'em to starve and be damned."

  "I cannot take mutineers on board," replied Jack.

  "Well, then, our blood be on your hands, Mr Easy," replied the firstman who had spoken. "If we are to die, it must not be by inches--if youwill not take us, the sharks shall--it is but a crunch, and all is over.What do you say, my lads? let's all rush in together: good-bye, MrEasy, I hope you'll forgive us when we're dead it was all that rascalJohnson, the coxswain, who persuaded us. Come, my lads, it's no usethinking of it, the sooner done the better--let us shake hands, and thenmake one run of it."

  It appeared that the poor fellows had already made up their minds to dothis, if our hero, persuaded by Mesty, had refused to take them onboard. They shook hands all round, and then walking a few yards fromthe beach, stood in a line while the man gave the signal--one--two.

  "Stop," cried Jack, who had not forgotten the dreadful scene which hadalready taken place,--"stop."

  The men paused.

  "What will you promise if I take you on board?"

  "To do our duty cheerfully till we join the ship, and then be hung as anexample to all mutineers," replied the men.

  "Dat very fair," replied Mesty; "take dem at their word, Massa Easy."

  "Very well," replied Jack, "I accept your conditions; and we will comefor you."

  Jack and Mesty hauled up the boat, stuck their pistols in their belts,and pulled to the shore. The men, as they stepped in, touched theirhats respectfully to our hero, but said nothing. On their arrival onboard Jack read that part of the articles of war relative to mutiny, bywhich the men were reminded of the very satisfactory fact, "that theywere to suffer death;" and then made a speech which, to men who werestarving, appeared to be interminable. However, there is an end toeverything in this world, and so there was to Jack's harangue; afterwhich Mesty gave them some biscuit, which they devoured in thankfulness,until they could get something better. The next morning the wind wasfair, they weighed their hedge with some difficulty, and ran out of theharbour: the men appeared very contrite, worked well, but in silence,for they had no very pleasant anticipations; but hope always remainswith us; and each of the men, although he had no doubt but that theothers would be hung, hoped that he would escape with a sound flogging.The wind, however, did not allow them to steer their course long; beforenight it was contrary, and they fell off three points to the northward."However," as Jack observed, "at all events we shall make the Spanishcoast, and then we must run down it to Gibraltar: I don't care--I understand navigation much better than I did." The next morning they foundthemselves, with a very light breeze, under a high cape, and, as the sunrose, they observed a large vessel inshore, about two miles to thewestward of them, and another outside, about four miles off. Mesty tookthe glass and examined the one outside, which, on a sudden, had let fallall her canvas, and was now running for the shore, steering for the capeunder which Jack's vessel lay. Mesty put down the glass.

  "Massa Easy--I tink dat de _Harpy_."

  One of the seamen took the glass and examined her, while the others whostood by showed great agitation.

  "Yes, it is the _Harpy_," said the seaman. "Oh Mr Easy, will youforgive us?" continued the man, and he and the others fell on theirknees. "Do not tell all, for God's sake, Mr Easy."

  Jack's heart melted; he looked at Mesty.

  "I tink," said Mesty apart to our hero, "dat with what them hab sufferalready, suppose they get _seven dozen apiece_, dat quite enough."

  Jack thought that even half that punishment would suffice; so he toldthe men, that although he must state what had occurred, he would nottell all, and would contrive to get them off as well as he could. Hewas about to make a long speech, but a gun from the _Harpy_, which hadnow come up within range, made him defer it till a more convenientopportunity. At the same time the vessel in shore hoisted Spanishcolours, and fired a gun.

  "By de powers, but we got in the middle of it," cried Mesty; "_Harpy_tink us Spaniard. Now, my lads, get all gun ready, bring up powder andshot. Massa, now us fire at Spaniard--Harpy not fire at us--no abEnglish colours on board--dat all we must do."

  The men set to with a will; the guns were all loaded, and were soon castloose and primed, during which operations it fell calm, and the sails ofall three vessels flapped against their masts. The _Harpy_ was thenabout two miles from Jack's vessel, and the Spaniard about a mile fromhim, with all her boats ahead of her, towing towards him; Mesty examinedthe Spanish vessel.

  "Dat man-o'-war, Massa Easy--what de debbil we do for colour? must hoistsometing."

  Mesty ran down below; he recollected that there was a very gaypetticoat, which had been left by the old lady who was in the vesselwhen they captured her. It was of green silk, with yellow and blueflowers, but very faded, having probably been in the Don's family for acentury. Mesty had found it under the mattress of one of the beds, andhad put it into his bag, intending probably to cut it up intowaistcoats. He soon appeared with this under his arm, made it fast tothe peak halyards and hoisted it up.

  "Dere, massa, dat do very well--dat what you call _all nation colour_.Everybody strike him flag to dat--men nebber pull it down," said Mesty,"anyhow. Now den, ab hoist colour, we fire away--mind you only fire onegun at a time, and point um well, den ab time to load again."

  "She's hoisted her colours, sir," said Sawbridge, on board of the_Harpy_; "but they do not show out clear, and it's impossible todistinguish them; but there's a gun."

  "It's not at us, sir," said Gascoigne, the midshipman; "its at theSpanish vessel--I saw the shot fall ahead of her."

  "It must be a privateer," said Captain Wilson, "at all events, it isvery fortunate, for the corvette would otherwise have towed intoCarthagena. Another gun, round and grape, and well pointed too; shecarries heavy metal, that craft; she must be a Maltese privateer."

  "That's as much as to say that she's a pirate," replied Sawbridge; "Ican make nothing of her colours--they appear to me to be green--she mustbe a Turk. Another gun--and devilish well aimed; it has hit the boats."

  "Yes, they are all in confusion: we will have her now, if we can onlyget a trifle of wind. That is a breeze coming up in the offing. Trimthe sails, Mr Sawbridge."

  The yards were squared, and the _Harpy_ soon had steerage way. In themeantime Jack and his few men had kept up a steady, well-directed,although slow, fire with their larboard guns upon the Spanish corvette;and two of her boats had been disabled. The _Harpy_ brought the breezeup with her, and was soon within range; she steered to cut off thecorvette, firing only her bow-chasers.

  "We ab her now," cried Mesty, "fire away--men take good aim. Breezecome now; one man go to helm. By de power, what dat?"

  The
exclamation of Mesty was occasioned by a shot hulling the ship onthe starboard side. Jack and he ran over, and perceived that threeSpanish gun-boats had just made their appearance round the point, andhad attacked them. The fact was, that on the other side of the cape wasthe port and town of Carthagena, and these gun-boats had been sent outto the assistance of the corvette. The ship had now caught the breeze,fortunately for Jack, or he would probably have been taken intoCarthagena; and the corvette, finding herself cut off by both the_Harpy_ and Jack's vessel, as soon as the breeze came up to her, put herhead the other way, and tried to escape by running westward along thecoast close in shore. Another shot, and then another, pierced the hullof the ship, and wounded two of Jack's men; but as the corvette hadturned, and the _Harpy_ followed her, of course Jack did the same, andin ten minutes he was clear of the gun-boats, which did not venture tomake sail and stand after him. The wind now freshened fast, and blewout the green petticoat, but the _Harpy_ was exchanging broadsides withthe corvette, and too busy to look after Jack's ensign. The Spaniarddefended himself well, and had the assistance of the batteries as hepassed, but there was no anchorage until he had run many miles farther.About noon the wind died away, and at one o'clock it again fell nearlycalm; but the _Harpy_ had neared her distance, and was now within threecables' length of her antagonist, engaging her and a battery of fourguns. Jack came up again, for he had the last of the breeze, and wasabout half a mile from the corvette when it fell calm. By the advice ofMesty, he did not fire any more, or otherwise the _Harpy_ would notobtain so much credit, and it was evident that the fire of the Spaniardslackened fast. At three o'clock the Spanish colours were hauled down,and the _Harpy_, sending a boat on board and taking possession, directedher whole fire upon the battery, which was soon silenced.

  The calm continued, and the _Harpy_ was busy enough with the prize,shifting the prisoners and refitting both vessels, which had very muchsuffered in the sails and rigging. There was an occasional wonder onboard the _Harpy_ what that strange vessel might be which had turned thecorvette and enabled them to capture her, but when people are all verybusy, there is not much time for surmise.

  Jack's crew, with himself, consisted but of eight, one of whom was aSpaniard, and two were wounded. It therefore left him but four, and hehad also some thing to do, which was to assist his wounded men, andsecure his guns. Moreover, Mesty did not think it prudent to leave thevessel a mile from the _Harpy_ with only two on board; besides, as Jacksaid, he had had no dinner, and was not quite sure that he should findanything to eat when he went into the midshipmen's berth; he wouldtherefore have some dinner cooked, and eat it before he went on board inthe meantime, they would try and close with her. Jack took thingsalways very easy, and he said he should report himself at sunset. Therewere other reasons which made Jack in no very great hurry to go onboard; he wanted to have time to consider a little what he should say toexcuse himself, and also how he should plead for the men. His naturalcorrectness of feeling decided him, in the first place, to tell thewhole truth, and in the next, his kind feelings determined him to tellonly part of it. Jack need not have given himself this trouble, for, asfar as regarded himself, he had fourteen thousand good excuses in thebags which lay in the state-room; and as for the men, after an actionwith the enemy, if they behave well, even mutiny is forgiven. At lastJack, who was tired with excitement and the hard work of the day,thought and thought till he fell fast asleep, and instead of waking atsunset did not wake till two hours afterwards; and Mesty did not callhim, because he was in no hurry himself to go on board and _boil dekettle for de young gentlemen_.

  When Jack woke up he was astonished to find that he had slept so long:he went on deck; it was dark and still calm, but he could easilyperceive that the _Harpy_ and corvette were still hove-to, repairingdamages. He ordered the men to lower down the small boat, and leavingMesty in charge, with two oars he pulled to the _Harpy_. What withwounded men, with prisoners, and boats going and coming between thevessels, every one on board the _Harpy_ were well employed; and in thedark Jack's little boat came alongside without notice. This should nothave been the case, but it was, and there was some excuse for it. Jackascended the side, and pushed his way through the prisoners, who werebeing mustered to be victualled. He was wrapped up in one of thegregos, and many of the prisoners wore the same.

  Jack was amused at not being recognised: he slipped down the mainladder, and had to stoop under the hammocks of the wounded men, and wasabout to go aft to the captain's cabin to report himself, when he heardyoung Gossett crying out, and the sound of the rope. "Hang me, if thatbrute Vigors an't thrashing young Gossett," thought Jack. "I dare saythe poor fellow had had plenty of it since I have been away; I'll savehim this time at least." Jack, wrapped up in his grego, went to thewindow of the berth, looked in, and found it was as he expected. Hecried out in an angry voice, "_Mr Vigors, I'll thank you to leaveGossett alone_." At the sound of the voice Vigors turned round with hiscolt in his hand, saw Jack's face at the window, and, impressed with theidea that the reappearance was supernatural, uttered a yell and felldown in a fit--little Gossett also trembling in every limb, stared withhis mouth open. Jack was satisfied, and immediately disappeared. Hethen went aft to the cabin, pushed by the servant, who was giving someorders from the captain to the officer on deck, and entering the cabin,where the captain was seated with two Spanish officers, took off his hatand said:

  "Come on board, Captain Wilson."

  Captain Wilson did not fall down in a fit, but he jumped up and upsetthe glass before him.

  "Merciful God! Mr Easy, where did you come from?"

  "From that ship astern, sir," replied Jack.

  "That ship astern! what is she?--where have you been so long?"

  "It's a long story, sir," replied Jack.

  Captain Wilson extended his hand and shook Jack's heartily.

  "At all events, I'm delighted to see you, boy: now sit down and tell meyour story in a few words; we will have it in detail by-and-bye."

  "If you please, sir," said Jack, "we captured that ship with the cutterthe night after we went away--I'm not a first-rate navigator, and I wasblown to the Zaffarine Islands, where I remained two months for want ofhands: as soon as I procured them I made sail again--I have lost threemen by sharks, and I have two wounded in to-day's fight--the ship mountstwelve guns, is half laden with lead and cotton prints, has fourteenthousand dollars in the cabin, and three shot-holes right through her--and the sooner you send some people on board of her the better."

  This was not very intelligible, but that there were fourteen thousanddollars, and that she required hands sent on board, was verysatisfactorily explained. Captain Wilson rang the bell, sent for MrAsper, who started back at the sight of our hero--desired him to orderMr Jolliffe to go on board with one of the cutters, send the woundedmen on board, and take charge of the vessel, and then told Jack toaccompany Mr Jolliffe, and to give him every information; telling himthat he would hear his story to-morrow, when they were not so very busy.