Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2

by Frederick Marryat

  Chapter IV

  PORTLAND BILL

  The _Happy-go-lucky_ sailed with a fresh breeze and a flowing sheet fromSt Maloes, the evening before the _Arrow_ sailed from Barn Pool. The_Active_ sailed from Portsmouth the morning after.

  The yacht, as we before observed, was bound to Cowes, in the Isle ofWight. The _Active_ had orders to cruise wherever she pleased within thelimits of the admiral's station; and she ran for West Bay, on the otherside of the Bill of Portland. The _Happy-go-lucky_ was also bound forthat bay to land her cargo.

  The wind was light, and there was every appearance of fine weather, whenthe _Happy-go-lucky_, at ten o'clock on the Tuesday night, made thePortland lights; as it was impossible to run her cargo that night, shehove to.

  At eleven o'clock, the Portland lights were made by the revenue cutter_Active_. Mr Appleboy went up to have a look at them, ordered the cutterto be hove to, and then went down to finish his allowance of gin-toddy.At twelve o'clock, the yacht _Arrow_ made the Portland lights, andcontinued her course, hardly stemming the ebb tide.

  Day broke, and the horizon was clear. The first on the look-out were, ofcourse, the smugglers; they, and those on board the revenue cutter, werethe only two interested parties--the yacht was neuter.

  "There are two cutters in sight, sir," said Corbett, who had the watch;for Pickersgill, having been up the whole night, had thrown himself downon the bed with his clothes on.

  "What do they look like?" said Pickersgill, who was up in a moment.

  "One is a yacht, and the other may be; but I rather think, as far as Ican judge in the gray, that it is our old friend off here."

  "What! old Appleboy?"

  "Yes, it looks like him; but the day has scarcely broke yet."

  "Well, he can do nothing in a light wind like this; and before the windwe can show him our heels; but are you sure the other is a yacht?" saidPickersgill, coming on deck.

  "Yes; the king is more careful of his canvas."

  "You're right," said Pickersgill, "that is a yacht; and you're rightthere again in your guess--that is the stupid old _Active_, which creepsabout creeping for tubs. Well, I see nothing to alarm us at present,provided it don't fall a dead calm, and then we must take to our boat assoon as he takes to his; we are four miles from him at least. Watch hismotions, Corbett, and see if he lowers a boat. What does she go now?Four knots?--that will soon tire their men."

  The positions of the three cutters were as follows:--

  The _Happy-go-lucky_ was about four miles off Portland Head, and wellinto West Bay. The revenue cutter was close to the Head. The yacht wasoutside of the smuggler, about two miles to the westward, and about fiveor six miles from the revenue cutter.

  "Two vessels in sight, sir," said Mr Smith, coming down into the cabinto Mr Appleboy.

  "Very well," replied the lieutenant, who was _lying_ down in his_standing_ bed-place.

  "The people say one is the _Happy-go-lucky,_ sir," drawled Smith.

  "Heh? what! _Happy-go-lucky?_ Yes, I recollect; I've boarded her twentytimes--always empty. How's she standing?"

  "She stands to the westward now, sir; but she was hove to, they say,when they first saw her."

  "Then she has a cargo in her;" and Mr Appleboy shaved himself, dressed,and went on deck.

  "Yes," said the lieutenant, rubbing his eyes again and again, and thenlooking through the glass, "it is her sure enough. Let draw the foresheet--hands make sail. What vessel's the other?"

  "Don't know, sir,--she's a cutter."

  "A cutter? yes; may be a yacht, or may be the new cutter ordered on thestation. Make all sail, Mr Tomkins; hoist our pendant, and fire a gun--they will understand what we mean then; they don't know the_Happy-go-lucky_ as well as we do."

  In a few minutes the _Active_ was under a press of sail; she hoisted herpendant, and fired a gun. The smuggler perceived that the _Active_ hadrecognised her, and she also threw out more canvas, and ran off more tothe westward.

  "There's a gun, sir," reported one of the men to Mr Stewart, on board ofthe yacht.

  "Yes; give me the glass--a revenue cutter; then this vessel in shore,running towards us, must be a smuggler."

  "She has just now made all sail, sir."

  "Yes, there's no doubt of it; I will go down to his lordship--keep heras she goes."

  Mr Stewart then went down to inform Lord B. of the circumstance. Notonly Lord B., but most of the gentlemen came on deck; as did soonafterwards the ladies, who had received the intelligence from Lord B.,who spoke to them through the door of the cabin.

  But the smuggler had more wind than the revenue cutter, and increasedher distance.

  "If we were to wear round now, my lord," observed Mr Stewart, "she isjust abreast of us and in shore, we could prevent her escape."

  "Round with her, Mr Stewart," said Lord B.; "we must do our duty, andprotect the laws."

  "That will not be fair, papa," said Cecilia Ossulton; "we have noquarrel with the smugglers: I'm sure the ladies have not, for they bringus beautiful things."

  "Miss Ossulton," observed her aunt, "it is not proper for you to offeran opinion."

  The yacht wore round, and, sailing so fast, the smuggler had littlechance of escaping her; but to chase is one thing--to capture, another.

  "Let us give her a gun," said Lord B., "that will frighten her; and hedare not cross our hawse."

  The gun was loaded, and not being more than a mile from the smuggler,actually threw the ball almost a quarter of the way.

  The gentlemen, as well as Lord B., were equally excited by the ardour ofpursuit; but the wind died away, and at last it was nearly calm. Therevenue cutter's boats were out, and coming up fast.

  "Let us get our boat out, Stewart," said his lordship; "and help them;it is quite calm now."

  The boat was soon out: it was a very large one, usually stowed on, andoccupied a large portion of, the deck. It pulled six oars; and when itwas manned, Mr Stewart jumped in, and Lord B. followed him.

  "But you have no arms," said Mr Hautaine.

  "The smugglers never resist now," observed Stewart.

  "Then you are going on a very gallant expedition, indeed," observedCecilia Ossulton; "I wish you joy."

  But Lord B. was too much excited to pay attention. They shoved off, andpulled towards the smuggler.

  At this time, the revenue boats were about five miles astern of the_Happy-go-lucky_, and the yacht about three-quarters of a mile from herin the offing. Pickersgill had, of course, observed the motions of theyacht; had seen her wear on chase, hoist her ensign and pendant, andfire her gun.

  "Well," said he, "this is the blackest ingratitude; to be attacked bythe very people whom we smuggle for. I only wish she may come up withus; and, let her attempt to interfere, she shall rue the day: I don'tmuch like this, though."

  As we before observed, it fell nearly calm, and the revenue boats werein chase. Pickersgill watched them as they came up.

  "What shall we do," said Corbett,--"get the boat out?"

  "Yes," replied Pickersgill, "we will get the boat out, and have thegoods in her all ready; but we can pull faster than they do, in thefirst place; and, in the next, they will be pretty well tired beforethey come up to us. We are fresh, and shall soon walk away from them; soI shall not leave the vessel till they are within half a mile. We mustsink the ankers, that they may not seize the vessel, for it is not worthwhile taking them with us. Pass them along ready to run them over thebows, that they may not see us and swear to it. But we have a good halfhour, and more."

  "Ay, and you may hold all fast if you choose," said Morrison, "althoughit's better to be on the right side and get ready; otherwise, beforehalf an hour, I'll swear that we are out of their sight. Look there,"said he, pointing to the eastward at a heavy bank, "it's coming rightdown upon us, as I said it would."

  "True enough; but still there is no saying which will come first,Morrison; the boats or the fog, so we must be prepared."

  "Hilloa! what's this? why, there's a boat coming from the
yacht!"

  Pickersgill took out his glass.

  "Yes, and the yacht's own boat, with the name painted on her bows. Well,let them come--we will have no ceremony in resisting them; they are notin the Act of Parliament, and must take the consequences. We have noughtto fear. Get stretchers, my lads, and hand-spikes; they row six oars,and are three in the stern sheets--they must be good men if they takeus."

  In a few minutes Lord B. was close to the smuggler.

  "Boat, ahoy! what do you want?"

  "Surrender in the king's name."

  "To what, and to whom, and what are we to surrender? We are an Englishvessel coasting along shore."

  "Pull on board, my lads," cried Stewart; "I am a king's officer--we knowher."

  The boat darted alongside, and Stewart and Lord B., followed by the men,jumped on the deck.

  "Well, gentlemen, what do you want?" said Pickersgill.

  "We seize you--you are a smuggler; there's no denying it: look at thecasks of spirits stretched along the deck."

  "We never said that we were not smugglers," replied Pickersgill; "butwhat is that to you? You are not a king's ship, or employed by therevenue."

  "No, but we carry a pendant, and it is our duty to protect the laws."

  "And who are you?" said Pickersgill.

  "I am Lord B."

  "Then, my lord, allow me to say that you would do much better to attendto the framing of laws, and leave people of less consequence, like thoseastern of me, to execute them. 'Mind your own business,' is an oldadage. We shall not hurt you, my lord, as you have only employed words,but we shall put it out of your power to hurt us. Come aft, my lads.Now, my lord, resistance is useless; we are double your numbers, and youhave caught a Tartar."

  Lord B. and Mr Stewart perceived that they were in an awkwardpredicament.

  "You may do what you please," observed Mr Stewart, "but the revenueboats are coming up, recollect."

  "Look you, sir, do you see the revenue cutter?" said Pickersgill.

  Stewart looked in that direction, and saw that she was hidden in thefog.

  "In five minutes, sir, the boats will be out of sight also, and so willyour vessel; we have nothing to fear from them."

  "Indeed, my lord, we had better return," said Mr Stewart, who perceivedthat Pickersgill was right.

  "I beg your pardon, you will not go on board your yacht so soon as youexpect. Take the oars out of the boat, my lads, two or three of you, andthrow in a couple of our paddles for them to reach the shore with. Therest of you knock down the first man who offers to resist. You are notaware, perhaps, my lord, that you have attempted _piracy_ on the highseas?"

  Stewart looked at Lord B. It was true enough. The men of the yacht couldoffer no resistance; the oars were taken out of the boat, and the menput in again.

  "My lord," said Pickersgill, "your boat is manned--do me the favour tostep into it; and you, sir, do the same. I should be sorry to lay myhands upon a peer of the realm, or a king's officer even on half pay."

  Remonstrance was vain; his lordship was led to the boat by two of thesmugglers, and Stewart followed.

  "I will leave your oars, my lord, at the Weymouth Custom-house; and Itrust this will be a lesson to you in future to 'mind your ownbusiness.'"

  The boat was shoved off from the sloop by the smugglers, and was soonlost sight of in the fog, which had now covered the revenue boats aswell as the yacht; at the same time, it brought down a breeze from theeastward.

  "Haul to the wind, Morrison," said Pickersgill, "we will stand out toget rid of the boats; if they pull on, they will take it for grantedthat we shall run into the bay, as will the revenue cutter."

  Pickersgill and Corbett were in conversation abaft for a short time,when the former desired the course to be altered two points.

  "Keep silence all of you, my lads, and let me know if you hear a gun ora bell from the yacht," said Pickersgill.

  "There is a gun, sir, close to us," said one of the men; "the sound wasright ahead."

  "That will do, keep her as she goes. Aft here, my lads; we cannot runour cargo in the bay, for the cutter has been seen to chase us, and theywill all be on the look-out at the preventive stations for us on shore.Now, my lads, I have made up my mind that, as these yacht gentlemen havethought proper to interfere, I will take possession of the yacht for afew days. We shall then out-sail everything, go where we likeunsuspected, and land our cargo with ease. I shall run alongside of her--she can have but few hands on board; and mind, do not hurt anybody,but be civil and obey my orders. Morrison, you and your four men and theboy will remain on board as before, and take the vessel to Cherbourg,where we will join you."

  In a short time another gun was fired from the yacht.

  Those on board, particularly the ladies, were alarmed; the fog was verythick, and they could not distinguish the length of the vessel. They hadseen the boat board, but had not seen her turned adrift without oars, asthe fog came on just at that time. The yacht was left with only threeseamen on board, and, should it come on bad weather, they were in anawkward predicament. Mr Hautaine had taken the command, and ordered theguns to be fired that the boat might be enabled to find them. The fourthgun was loading, when they perceived the smuggler's cutter close to themlooming through the fog.

  "Here they are," cried the seamen; "and they have brought the prizealong with them! Three cheers for the _Arrow_!"

  "Hilloa! you'll be on board of us?" cried Hautaine.

  "That's exactly what I intended to be, sir," replied Pickersgill,jumping on the quarter-deck, followed by his men.

  "Who the devil are you?"

  "That's exactly the same question that I asked Lord B. when he boardedus," replied Pickersgill, taking off his hat to the ladies.

  "Well, but what business have you here?"

  "Exactly the same question which I put to Lord B.," replied Pickersgill.

  "Where is Lord B., sir?" said Cecilia Ossulton, going up to thesmuggler; "is he safe?"

  "Yes, madam, he is safe; at least he is in his boat with all his men,and unhurt: but you must excuse me if I request you and the other ladiesto go down below while I speak to these gentlemen. Be under no alarm,miss; you will receive neither insult nor ill-treatment--I have onlytaken possession of this vessel for the present."

  "Take possession," cried Hautaine, "of a yacht."

  "Yes, sir, since the owner of the yacht thought proper to attempt totake possession of me. I always thought that yachts werepleasure-vessels, sailing about for amusement, respected themselves, andnot interfering with others; but it appears that such is not the case.The owner of this yacht has thought proper to break through theneutrality, and commence aggression, and under such circumstances I havenow, in retaliation, taken possession of her."

  "And, pray, what do you mean to do, sir?"

  "Simply for a few days to make an exchange. I shall send you on board ofmy vessel as smugglers, while I remain here with the ladies and amusemyself with yachting."

  "Why, sir, you cannot mean--"

  "I have said, gentlemen, and that is enough; I should be sorry to resortto violence, but I must be obeyed. You have, I perceive, three seamenonly left: they are not sufficient to take charge of the vessel, andLord B. and the others you will not meet for several days. My regard forthe ladies, even common humanity, points out to me that I cannot leavethe vessel in this crippled condition. At the same time, as I must havehands on board of my own, you will oblige me by going on board andtaking her safely into port. It is the least return you can make for mykindness. In those dresses, gentlemen, you will not be able to do yourduty; oblige me by shifting, and putting on these." Corbett handed aflannel shirt, a rough jacket and trousers, to Messrs Hautaine,Ossulton, Vaughan, and Seagrove. After some useless resistance they werestripped, and having put on the smugglers' attire, they were handed onboard of the _Happy-go-lucky_.

  The three English seamen were also sent on board and confined below, aswell as Ossulton's servant, who was also equipped like his master, andconfine
d below with the seamen. Corbett and the men then handed up allthe smuggled goods into the yacht, dropped the boat, and made it fastastern; and, Morrison having received his directions, the vesselsseparated--Morrison running for Cherbourg, and Pickersgill steering theyacht along shore to the westward. About an hour after this exchange hadbeen effected, the fog cleared up, and showed the revenue cutter hove tofor her boats, which had pulled back and were close on board of her; andthe _Happy-go-lucky_, about three miles in the offing. Lord B. and hisboat's crew were about four miles in shore, paddling and drifting withthe tide towards Portland. As soon as the boats were on board, therevenue cutter made all sail after the smuggler, paying no attention tothe yacht, and either not seeing or not caring about the boat which wasdrifting about in West Bay.