The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tom Cringle's Log, by Michael Scott

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Title: Tom Cringle's Log

Author: Michael Scott

Release Date: January, 2005  [EBook #7281]
[This file was first posted on April 6, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, TOM CRINGLE'S LOG ***




Scanned by John Edward Heaton in Guatemala.


Tom Cringle's Log.


Michael Scott (1789--1835).






The Launching of the Log.


Dazzled by the glories of Trafalgar, I, Thomas Cringle, one fine morning
in the merry month of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and so
and so, magnanimously determined in my own mind, that the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland should no longer languish under the want of a
successor to the immortal Nelson, and being then of the great
perpendicular altitude of four feet four inches, and of the mature age of
thirteen years, I thereupon betook myself to the praiseworthy task of
tormenting, to the full extent of my small ability, every man and woman
who had the misfortune of being in any way connected with me, until they
had agreed to exert all their interest, direct or indirect, and
concentrate the same in one focus upon the head and heart of Sir Barnaby
Blueblazes, vice--admiral of the red squadrons a Lord of the Admiralty,
and one of the old plain K.B.'s (for he flourished before the time when a
gallant action or two tagged half of the letters of the alphabet to a
man's name, like the tail of a paper kite), in order that he might be
graciously pleased to have me placed on the quarterdeck of one of his
Majesty's ships of war without delay.

The stone I had set thus recklessly a--rolling, had not been in motion
above a fortnight, when it fell with unanticipated violence, and crushed
the heart of my poor mother, while it terribly bruised that of me, Thomas;
for as I sat at breakfast with the dear old woman, one fine Sunday morning,
admiring my new blue jacket and snow white trowsers, and shining well
soaped face, and nicely brushed hair, in the pier glass over the chimney
piece, I therein saw the door behind me open, and Nicodemus, the waiting
man, enter and deliver a letter to the old lady, with a formidable looking
seal.

I perceived that she first ogled the superscription, and then the seal,
very ominously, and twice made as if she would have broken the missive
open, but her heart seemed as often to fail her.  At length she laid it
down--heaved a long deep sigh--took off her spectacles, which appeared
dim--wiped them, put them on again, and making a sudden effort, tore open
the letter, read it hastily over, but not so rapidly as to prevent her hot
tears falling with a small tiny tap tap on the crackling paper.

Presently she pinched my arm, pushed the blistered manuscript under my
nose, and utterly unable to speak to me, rose, covered her face with her
hands, and left the room weeping bitterly. I could hear her praying in a
low, solemn, yet sobbing and almost inarticulate voice, as she crossed the
passage to her own dressing--room.--"Even as thou wilt, oh Lord--not mine,
but thy holy will be done--yet, oh! it is a bitter bitter thing for a
widowed mother to part with her only boy."

Now came my turn--as I read the following epistle three times over, with
a most fierce countenance, before thoroughly understanding whether I was
dreaming or awake--in truth, poor little fellow as I was, I was fairly
stunned.

"Admiralty, such a date.

"DEAR MADAM,
It gives me very great pleasure to say that your son is appointed to the
Breeze frigate, now fitting at Portsmouth for foreign service. Captain
Wigemwell is a most excellent officer, and a good man, and the
schoolmaster on board is an exceedingly decent person I am informed; so I
congratulate you on his good fortune in beginning his career, in which I
wish him all success, under such favourable auspices.  As the boy is, I
presume, all ready, you had better send him down on Thursday next, at
latest, as the frigate will go to sea, wind and weather permitting,
positively on Sunday morning."

"I remain, my dear Madam,"

"Yours very faithfully,"

"BARNABY BLUEBLAZES, K.B."

However much I had been moved by my mother's grief, my false pride came to
my assistance, and my first impulse was to chant a verse of some old tune,
in a most doleful manner. "All right--all right," I then exclaimed, as I
thrust half a doubled up muffin into my gob, but it was all chew, chew,
and no swallow--not a morsel could I force down my parched throat, which
tightened like to throttle me.

Old Nicodemus had by this time again entered the room, unseen and unheard,
and startled me confoundedly, as he screwed his words in his sharp cracked
voice into my larboard ear.  "Jane tells me your mamma is in a sad taking,
Master Tom.  You ben't going to leave us, all on a heap like, be you?
Surely your stay until your sister comes from your uncle Job's?  You know
there are only two on ye--You won't leave the old lady all alone, Master
Thomas, win ye?' The worthy old fellow's voice quavered here, and the
tears hopped over his old cheeks through the flour and tallow like peas,
as he slowly drew a line down the forehead of his well--powdered pate,
with his fore--finger.

"No--no--why, yes," exclaimed I, fairly overcome; "that is--oh Nic, Nic
you old fool, I wish I could cry, man--I wish I could cry!" and
straightway I hied me to my chamber, and wept until I thought my very
heart would have burst.

In my innocence and ignorance, child as I was, I had looked forward to
several months preparation; to buying and fitting of uniforms, and dirks,
and cocked hat, and swaggering therein, to my own great glory, and the
envy of all my young relations; and especially I desired to parade my
fire--new honours before the large dark eyes of my darling little creole
cousin, Mary Palma; whereas I was now to be bundled on board, at a few
days warning, out of a ready--made furnishing shop, with lots of illmade,
glossy, hard mangled duck trowsers, the creases as sharp as the backs of
knives, and--"oh, it never rains, but it pours," exclaimed I; "surely all
this promptitude is a little de plus in Sir Barnaby."

However, away I was trundled at the time appointed, with an aching heart,
to Portsmouth, after having endured the misery of a first parting from a
fond mother, and a host of kind friends; but, miserable as I was,
according to my preconceived determination, I began my journal the very
day I arrived, that nothing connected with so great a man should be lost,
and most weighty did the matters therein related appear to me at the time;
but seen through the long vista of, I won't say how many years, I really
must confess that the Log, for long long after I first went to sea in the
Breeze, and subsequently when removed to the old Kraaken line--of--battle
ship, both of which were constantly part of blockading squadrons, could be
compared to nothing more fitly than a dish of trifle, anciently called
syllabub, with a stray plum here and there scattered at the bottom.  But
when, after several weary years, I got away in the dear old Torch, on a
separate cruise, incidents came fast enough with a vengeance--stem,
unyielding, iron events, as I found to my heavy cost, which spoke out
trumpet--tongued and fiercely for themselves, and whose tremendous
simplicity required no adventitious aid in the narration to thrill through
the hearts of others.  So, to avoid yarn--spinning, I shall evaporate my
early Logs, and blow off as much of the froth as I can, in order to
present the residuum free of flummery to the reader--just to give him a
taste here and there, as it were, of the sort of animal I was at that
time.  Thus:

Thomas Cringle, his log--book.

Arrived in Portsmouth  by the Defiance at ten, A.M. on such a day.
Waited on the Commissioner, to whom I had letters, and said I was
appointed to the Breeze.  Same day, went on board and took up my berth;
stifling hot; mouldy biscuit; and so on.  My mother's list makes it
fifteen shirts, whereas I only have twelve.

Admiral made the signal to weigh, wind at S.W. fresh and squally.
Stockings should be one dozen worsted, three of cotton, two of silk; find
only half a dozen worsted, two of cotton, and one of silk.

Fired a gun and weighed.

Sailed for the Fleet off Vigo, deucidly sea--sick was told that fat pork
was the best specific, if bolted half raw; did not find it much of a tonic
passed a terrible night, and for four hours of it obliged to keep watch,
more dead than alive.  The very second evening we were at sea, it came on
to blow, and the night fell very dark, with heavy rain.  Towards eight
bells in the middle watch, I was standing on a gun well forward on the
starboard side, listening to the groaning of the main--tack, as the
swelling sail, the foot of which stretched transversely right athwart the
ship's deck in a black arch, struggled to tear it up, like some dark
impalpable spirit of the air striving to burst the chains that held him,
and escape high up into the murky clouds, or a giant labouring to uproot
an oak, and wondering in my innocence how hempen cord could brook such
strain when just as the long waited--for strokes of the bell sounded
gladly in mine ear, and the shrill clear note of the whistle of the
boatswain's mate had been followed by his gruff voice, grumbling hoarsely
through the gale, "Larboard watch, ahoy!" The look--out at the weather
gangway, who had been relieved, and beside whom I had been standing a
moment before, stepped past me, and scrambled up on the booms  "Hillo,
Howard, where away, my man?" said I.

"Only to fetch my"--

Crack!--the main tack parted, and up flew the sail with a thundering flap,
loud as the report of a cannon--shot, through which, however, I could
distinctly hear a heavy smash, as the large and ponderous blocks at the
clew of the sail struck the doomed sailor under the ear, and whirled him
off the booms over the fore--yard--arm into the sea, where he perished, as
heaving--to was impossible, and useless if practicable, as his head must
have been smashed to atoms.

This is one of the stray plums of the trifle, what follows is a whisk of
the froth, written when we looked into Corunna, about a week after the
embarkation of the army:--

MONODY ON THE DEATH OF SIR JOHN MOORE.

Farewell, thou pillar of the war,
Warm--hearted soldier, Moore, farewell,
In honour's firmament a star,
As bright as ere in glory fell.

Deceived by weak or wicked men,
How gallantly thou stood'st at bay,
Like lion hunted to his den,
Let France tell, on that bloody day.

No boastful splendour round thy bier,
No blazon'd trophies o'er thy grave;
But thou had'st more, the soldier's tear,
The heart--warm offering of the brave.

On Lusitania's rock--girt coast,
All coffinless thy relics lie,
Where all but honour bright was lost,
Yet thy example shall not die.

Albeit no funeral knell was rung,
Nor o'er thy tomb in mournful wreath
The laurel twined with cypress hung,
Still shall it live while Britons breathe.

What though, when thou wert lowly laid,
Instead of all the pomp of woe,
The volley o'er thy bloody bed
Was thunder'd by an envious foe:--

Inspired by it in after time,
A race of heroes will appear,
The glory of Britannia's clime,
To emulate thy bright career.

And there will be, of martial fire,
Those who all danger will endure;
Their first, best aim, but to aspire
To die thy death--the death of Moore.

To return. On the evening of the second day, we were off Falmouth, and
then got a slant of wind that enabled us to lie our course.

Next morning, at daybreak, saw a frigate in the northeast quarter, making
signals;--soon after we bore up.  Bay of Biscay--tremendous swell--Cape
Finisterre--blockading squadron off Cadiz--in--shore squadron--and so on,
all trifle and no plums.

At length the Kraaken, in which I had now served for some time, was
ordered home, and sick of knocking about in a fleet, I got appointed to a
fine eighteen--gun sloop, the Torch, in which we sailed on such a day for
the North Sea--wind foul--weather thick and squally; but towards evening
on the third day, being then off Harwich, it moderated, when we made more
sail, and stood on, and next morning, in the cold, miserable, drenching
haze of an October daybreak, we passed through a fleet of fishing--boats
at anchor. "At anchor," thought I, "and in the middle of the sea,"--but so
it was--all with their tiny cabooses, smoking cheerily, and a solitary
figure, as broad as it was long, stiffly walking to and fro on the
confined decks of the little vessels.  It was now that I knew the value of
the saying, "a fisherman's walk, two steps and overboard." With regard to
these same fishermen, I cannot convey a better notion of them, than by
describing one of the two North Sea pilots whom we had on board.  This
pilot was a tall, raw--boned subject, about six feet or so, with a blue
face--I could not call it red--and a hawk's--bill nose of the colour of
bronze.  His head was defended from the weather by what is technically
called a south--west, pronounced sow--west,--cap, which is in shape like
the thatch of a dustman, composed of canvass, well tarred, with no snout,
but having a long flap hanging down the back to carry the rain over the
cape of the jacket.  His chin was embedded in a red comforter that rose to
his ears.  His trunk was first of all cased in a shirt of worsted
stocking--net; over this he had a coarse linen shirt, then a thick cloth
waistcoat; a shag jacket was the next layer, and over that was rigged the
large cumbrous pea jacket, reaching to his knees.  As for his lower spars,
the rig was still more peculiar;--first of all, he had on a pair of most
comfortable woollen stockings, what we call fleecy hosiery--and the
beauties are peculiarly nice in this respect--then a pair of strong
fearnaught trowsers; over these again are drawn up another pair of
stockings, thick, coarse, rig--and--furrowed as we call them in Scotland,
and above all this were drawn a pair of long, well--greased, and liquored
boots, reaching half--way up the thigh, and altogether impervious to wet.
However comfortable this costume may be in bad weather in board, it is
clear enough that any culprit so swathed, would stand a poor chance of
being saved, were he to fall overboard.  The wind now veered round and
round, and baffled, and checked us off, so that it was the sixth night
after we had taken our departure from Harwich before we saw Heligoland
light. We then bore away for Cuxhaven, and I now knew for the first time
that we had a government emissary of some kind or another on board,
although he had hitherto confined himself strictly to the captain's
cabin.


All at once it came on to blow frorn the north--east, and we were again
driven back among the English fishing boats.  The weather was thick as
buttermilk, so we had to keep the bell constantly ringing, as we could not
see the jib--boom end from the forecastle.  Every now and then we heard a
small, hard, clanking tinkle, from the fishing--boats, as if an old pot
had been struck instead of a bell, and a faint hollo, "Fishing--smack," as
we shot past them in the fog, while we could scarcely see the vessels at
all. The morning after this particular time to which I allude, was darker
than any which had gone before it; absolutely you could not see the
breadth of the ship from you; and as we had not taken the sun for five
days, we had to grope our way ahnost entirely by the lead. I had the
forenoon watch, during the whole of which we were amongst a little fleet
of fishing--boats, although we could scarcely see them, but being
unwilling to lose ground by lying to, we fired a gun every half hour, to
give the small craft notice of our vicinity, that they might keep their
bells agoing.  Every three or four minutes, the marine drum--boy, or some
amateur performer,--for most sailors would give a glass of grog any day to
be allowed to beat a drum for five minutes on endi--beat a short roll, and
often as we drove along, under a reefed foresail, and close reefed
topsails, we could hear the answering tinkle before we saw the craft from
which it proceeded; and when we did perceive her as we flew across her
stern, we could only see it, and her mast, and one or two well--swathed,
hardy fishermen, the whole of the little vessel forward being hid in a
cloud.

I had been invited this day to dine with the Captain, Mr Splinter, the
first lieutenant being also of the party; the cloth had been withdrawn,
and we had all had a glass or two of wine a--piece, when the fog settled
down so thickly, although it was not more than five o'clock in the
afternoon, that the captain desired that the lamp might be lit.  It was
done, and I was remarking the contrast between the dull, dusky, brown
light, or rather the palpable London fog that came through the skylight,
and the bright yellow sparkle of the lamp, when the second lieutenant, Mr
Treenail, came down the ladder.

"We have shoaled our water to five fathoms, sir--shells and stones.--Here,
Wilson, bring in the lead."

The leadsman, in his pea--jacket and shag trowsers, with the raindrop
hanging to his nose, and a large knot in his cheek from a junk of tobacco
therein stowed, with pale, wet visage, and whiskers sparkling with
moisture, while his long black hair hung damp and lank over his fine
forehead and the stand--up cape of his coat, immediately presented himself
at the door, with the lead in his claws, an octagonal--shaped cone, like
the weight of a window--sash, about eighteen inches long, and two inches
diameter at the bottom, tapering away nearly to a point at top, where it
was flattened, and a hole pierced for the line to be fastened to.  At the
lower end--the but--end, as I would say there was a hollow scooped out,
and filled with grease, so that when the lead was cast, the quality of the
soil, sand, or shells, or mud, that came up adhering to this lard,
indicated, along with the depth of water, our situation in the North Sea;
and by this, indeed, we guided our course, in the absence of all
opportunity of ascertaining our position by observations of the sun.

The Captain consulted the chart--"Sand and shells; why, you should have
deeper water, Mr Treenail.  Any of the fishing--boats near you?"

"Not at present, sir; but we cannot be far off some of them."

"Well, let me know when you come near any of them."

A little after this, as became my situation, I rose and made my bow, and
went on deck.

By this time the night had fallen, and it was thicker than ever, so that,
standing beside the man at the wheel, you could not see farther forward
than the booms; yet it was not dark, either,--that is, it was moonlight,
so that the haze, thick as it was, had that silver gauze--like appearance,
as if it had been luminous in itself, that cannot be described to any one
who has not seen it.  The gun had been fired just as I came on deck, but
no responding tinkle gave notice of any vessel being in the neighbourhood.
Ten minutes, it may have been a quarter of an hour, when a short roll of
the drum was beaten from the forecastle, where I was standing.  At the
moment I thought I heard a holla, but I could not be sure.  Presently I
saw a small light, with a misty halo surrounding it, just under the
bowsprit.

"Port your helm," sung out the boatswain,--"port your helm, or we shall be
over a fishing--boat!"

A cry arose from beneath a black object was for an instant distinguishable
and the next moment a crash was heard.  The spritsailyard rattled, and
broke off sharp'at the point where it crossed the bowsprit; and a heavy
smashing thump against our bows told, in fearful language, that we had run
her down.  Three of the men and a boy hung on by the rigging of the
bowsprit, and were brought safely on board; but two poor fellows perished
with their boat.  It appeared, that they had broken their bell; and
although they saw us coming, they had no better means than shouting, and
showing a light, to advertise us of their vicinity.

Next morning the wind once more chopped round, and the weather cleared,
and in four--and--twenty hours thereafter we were off the mouth of the
Elbe, with three miles of white foaming shoals between us and the land at
Cuxhaven, roaring and hissing, as if ready to swallow us up.  It was low
water, and, as our object was to land the emissary at Cuxhaven, we had to
wait, having no pilot for the port, although we had the signal flying for
one all morning, until noon, when we ran in close to the green mound which
constituted the rampart of the fort at the entrance.  To our great
surprise, when we hoisted our colours and pennant, and fired a gun to
leeward, there was no flag hoisted in answer at the flag--staff, nor was
there any indication of a single living soul on shore to welcome us.  Mr
Splinter and the Captain were standing together at the gangway--"Why,
sir," said the former, "this silence somewhat surprises me: what say you,
Cheragoux?" to the government emissary or messenger already mentioned, who
was peering through the glass close by.

"Why, mi Lieutenant, I don't certain dat all ish right on sore dere.'

"No?" said Captain Deadeye; "why, what do you see?"

"It ish not so mosh vat I shee, as vat I no shee, sir, dat trembles me. It
cannot surely be possib dat de Prussian an' Hanoverian troop have left de
place, and dat dese dem Franceman ave advance so far as de Elbe autrefois,
dat ish, once more?'

"French!" said Deadeye: 'poo, nonsense; no French hereabouts; none nearer
than those cooped up in Hamburgh with Davoust, take my word for it."

"I sall take your vord for any ting else in de large vorld, mi Capitain;
but I see someting glance behind dat rampart, parapet you call, dat look
dem like de shako of de infanterie legere of dat willain de Emperor
Napoleon.  Ah! I see de red worsted epaulet of de grenadier also; sacre!
vat is dat pof of vite smoke?"

What it was we soon ascertained to our heavy cost, for the shot that had
been fired at us from a long 32--pound gun, took effect right abaft the
foremast, and killed three men outright, and wounded two.  Several other
shots followed, but with less sure aim.  Returning the fire was of no use,
as our carronades could not have pitched their metal much more than
halfway; or, even if they had been long guns, they would merely have
plumped the balls into the turf rampart, without hurting any one.  So we
wisely hauled off, and ran up the river with the young flood for about an
hour, until we anchored close to the Hanoverian bank, near a gap in the
dike, where we waited till the evening.

As soon as the night fell, a boat with muffled oars was manned, to carry
the messenger on shore.  I was in it; Mr Treenail, the second lieutenant,
steering.  We pulled in right for a breach in the dike, lately cut by the
French, in order to inundate the neighbourhood; and as the Elbe at high
water is hereabouts much higher than the surrounding country, we were soon
sucked into the current, and had only to keep our oars in the water,
pulling a stroke now and then to give the boat steerage way.  As we shot
through the gap into the smooth water beyond, we once more gave way, the
boat's head being kept in the direction of lights that we saw twinkling I
in the distance, apparently in some village beyond the inner embankment,
when all at once we dashed in amongst thousands of wild--geese, which rose
with a clang, and a concert of quacking, screaming, and hissing, that was
startling enough.  We skimmed steadily on in the same direction "Oars,
men!" We were by this time close to a small cluster of houses, perched on
the forced ground or embankment, and the messenger hailed in German.

"Qui vive!" sung out a gruff voice; and we heard the clank of a musket, as
if some one had cast it from his shoulder, and caught it in his hands, as
he brought it down to the charge. Our passenger seemed a little taken
aback; but he hailed again, still in German. "Parole," replied the man.
A pause.  "The watchword, or I fire." We had none to give.

"Pull round, men," said the lieutenant, with great quickness; "pull the
starboard oars; we are in the wrong box; back water the larboard.  That's
it! give way, men."

A flash--crack went the sentry's piece, and ping sung the ball over our
heads.  Another pause.  Then a volley from a whole platoon.  Again all was
dark and silent.  Presently a field--piece was fired, and several rockets
were let off in our direction, by whose light we could see a whole company
of French soldiers standing to their arms, with several cannon, but we
were speedily out of the reach of their musketry.  Several round shots
were now fired, that hissed, recochetting along the water close by us.
Not a word was spoken in the boat all this time; we continued to pull for
the opening in the dike, although, the current being strong against us, we
made but little way; while the chance of being cut off by the Johnny
Crapeau, getting round the top of the embankment, so as to command the gap
before we could reach it, became every moment more alarming.

The messenger was in great tribulation, and made several barefaced
attempts to stow himself away under the stem sheets.

The gallant fellows who composed the crew strained at their oars until
every thing cracked again; but as the flood made, the current against us
increased, and we barely held our own.  "Steer her, out of the current,
man," said the lieutenant to the coxswain; the man put the tiller to port
as he was ordered.

"Vat you do soch a ting for, Mr Capitain Lieutenant?" said the emissary.
'Oh! you not pershave you are rone in order de igh bank!  How you sall
satisfy me no France infanterie legere dere, too, more as in de fort, eh?
How you sall satisfy me, Mister Capitain Lieutenant, eh?"

"Hold your blasted tongue, will you," said Treenail, "and the infantry
legere be damned simply.  Mind your eye, my fine fellow, or I shall be
much inclined to see whether you will be Legere in the Elbe or no. Hark!"

We all pricked up our ears, and strained our eyes, while a bright,
spitting sparkling fire of musketry opened at the gap, but there was no
ping pinging of the shot overhead.

"They cannot be firing at us, sir," said the coxswain; "none of them
bullets are telling hereaway."

Presently a smart fire was returned in three distinct clusters from the
water, and whereas the firing at first had only lit up the dark figures of
the French soldiery, and the black outline of the bank on which they were
posted, the flashes that answered them shewed us three armed boats
attempting to force the passage.  In a minute the firing ceased; the
measured splash of oars was heard, as boats approached us.

"Who's there?" sung out the lieutenant.

"Torches," was the answer.

"All's well, Torches," rejoined Mr Treenail; and presently the jollyboat,
and launch, and cutter of the Torch, with twenty marines, and thirtysix
seamen, all armed, were alongside.

"What cheer, Treenail, my boy?" quoth Mr Splinter.

"Why, not much; the French, who we were told had left the Elbe entirely,
are still here, as well as at Cuxhaven, not in force certainly, just
sufficiently strong to pepper us very decently in the outgoing?"

"What, are any of the people hurt?"

"No," said the garrulous emissary.  "No, not hurt, but some of us
frightened leetle piece--ah, very mosh, je vous assure."

"Speak for yourself, Master Plenippo," said Treenail.  "But, Splinter, my
man, now since the enemy have occupied the dike in front, how the deuce
shall we get back into the river, tell me that?"

"Why," said the senior lieutenant, "we must go as we came."

And here the groans from two poor fellows who had been hit were heard from
the bottom of the launch.  The cutter was by this time close to us, on the
larboard side, commanded by Mr Julius Caesar Tip, the senior midshipman,
vulgarly called in the ship Bathos, from his rather unromantic name.  Here
also a low moaning evinced the precision of the Frenchmen's fire.

"Lord, Mr Treenail, a sharp brush that was."

"Hush!" quoth Treenail.  At this moment three rockets hissed up into the
dark sky, and for an instant the hull and rigging of the sloop of war at
anchor in the river glanced in the blue--white glare, and vanished again,
like a spectre, leaving us in more thick darkness than before.

"Gemini! what is that now?" quoth Tip again, as we distinctly heard the
commixed rumbling and rattling sound of artillery scampering along the
dike.

"The ship has sent up these rockets to warn us of our danger," said Mr
Treenail. "What is to be done?  Ah, Splinter, we are in a scrape--there
they have brought up field--pieces, don't you hear?"

Splinter had heard it as well as his junior officer.  "True enough,
Treenail; so the sooner we make a dash through the opening the better."

"Agreed."

By some impulse peculiar to British sailors, the men were just about
cheering, when their commanding officer's voice controlled them.  "Hark,
my brave fellows, silence, as you value your lives."

So away we pulled, the tide being now nearly on the turn, and presently we
were so near the opening that we could see the signal lights in the
rigging of the sloop of war.  All was quiet on the dike.

"Thank God, they have retreated after all," said Mr Treenail.

"Whoo--o, whoo--o," shouted a gruff voice from the shore.

"There they are still," said Splinter.  "Marines, stand by, don't throw
away a shot; men, pull like fury.  So--give way, my lads, a minute of that
strain will shoot us alongside of the old brig--that's it--hurrah!"

"Hurrah!" shouted the men in answer, but his and their exclamations were
cut short by a volley of musketry.  The fierce mustaches, pale faces,
glazed shakoes, blue uniforms, and red epaulets, of the French infantry,
glanced for a moment, and then all was dark again.

"Fire!" The marines in the three boats returned the salute, and by the
flashes we saw three pieces of field. Artillery in the very act of being
unlimbered.  We could distinctly hear the clash of the mounted
artillerymen's sabres against their horses' flanks as they rode to the
rear, their burnished accoutrements glancing at every sparkle of the
musketry.

We pulled like fiends, and being the fastest boat, soon headed the launch
and cutter, who were returning the enemy's fire brilliantly, when crack--a
six--pound shot drove our boat into staves, and all hands were the next
moment squattering in the water. I sank a good bit, I suppose, for when I
rose to the surface, half drowned and giddy and confused, and striking out
at random, the first thing I recollected was a hard hand being wrung into
my neckerchief, while a gruff voice shouted in my ear.

"Rendez vous, mon cher"

Resistance was useless.  I was forcibly dragged up the bank, where both
musketry and cannon were still playing on the boats, which had, however,
by this time got a good offing. I soon knew they were safe by the Torch
opening a fire of round and grape on the head of the dike, a contain proof
that the boats had been accounted for.  The French party now ceased firing,
and retreated by the edge of the inundation, keeping the dike between them
and the brig, all except the artillery, who had to scamper off, running
the gauntlet on the crest of the embankment until they got beyond the
range of the carronades.  I was conveyed between two grenadiers along the
water's edge so long as the ship was firing; but when that ceased, I was
clapped on one of the limbers of the field--guns, and strapped down to it
between two of the artillerymen.

We rattled along, until we came up to the French bivouac, where, round a
large fire, kindled in what seemed to have been a farmyard, were assembled
about fifty or sixty French soldiers.  Their arms were piled under the low
projecting roof of an outhouse, while the fire flickered upon their dark
figures, and glanced on their bright accoutrements, and lit up the wall of
the house that composed one side of the square. I was immediately marched
between a file of men into a small room, where the commanding officer of
the detachment was seated at a table, a blazing wood fire roaring in the
He was a genteel, slender, dark man, with very large black mustaches, and
fine sparkling black eyes, and had apparently just dismounted, for the mud
was fresh on his boots and trowsers.  The latter were blue, with a broad
gold lace down the seam, and fastened by a strap under his boot, from
which projected a long fixed spur, which to me was remarkable as an
unusual dress for a Dire, the British army being, at the time I write of,
still in the age of breeches and gaiters, or tall boots, long cues and
pipeclay--that is, those troops which I had seen at home, although I
believe the great Duke had already relaxed a number of these absurdities
in Spain.

His single--breasted coat was buttoned up to his throat, and without an
inch of lace except on his crimson collar, which fitted close round his
neck, and was richly embroidered with gold acorns and oak leaves, as were
the crimson cuffs to his sleeves.  He wore two immense and very handsome
gold epaulets.

"My good boy," said he, after the officer who had captured me had told his
story--"so your Government thinks the Emperor is retreating from the
Elbe?"

I was a tolerable French scholar as times went, and answered him as well
as I could.

"I have said nothing about that, sir; but, from your question, I presume
you command the rear--guard, Colonel?"

"How strong is your squadron on the river?" said he, parrying the
question.

"There is only one sloop of war, sir"--and I spoke the truth.

He looked at me, and smiled incredulously; and then continued "I don't
command the rear--guard, sir--but I waste time--are the boats ready?"

He was answered in the affirmative.

"Then set fire to the houses, and let off the rockets; they will see them
at Cuxhaven--men," fall in--march--and off we all trundled towards the
river again.

When we arrived there, we found ten Blankanese boats, two of them very
large, and fitted with sliding platforms.  The four fieldpieces were run
on board, two into each; one hundred and fifty men embarked in them and
the other craft, which I found partly loaded with sacks of corn. I was in
one of the smallest boats with the colonel.  When we were all ready to
shove off, "Lafont," he said, "are the men ready with their couteaux?"

"They are, sir," replied the sergeant.

"Then cut the horses' throats--but no firing." A few bubbling groans, and
some heavy falls, and a struggling splash or two in the water, showed that
the poor artillery horses had been destroyed.

The wind was fair up the river, and away we bowled before it.  It was
clear to me that the colonel commanding the post had overrated our
strength, and, under the belief that we had cut him off from Cuxhaven, he
had determined on falling back on Hamburgh.

When the morning broke, we were close to the beautiful bank below Altona.
The trees were beginning to assume the russet hue of autumn, and the sun
shone gaily on the pretty villas and bloomin Gartens on the hill side,
while here and there a Chinese pagoda, or other fanciful pleasure--house,
with its gilded trellised work, and little bells depending from the eaves
of its many roofs, glancing like small golden balls, rose from out the
fast thinning recesses of the woods.

But there was no life in the scene--'twas "Greece, but living Greece no
more,"--not a fishing--boat was near, scarcely a solitary figure crawled
along the beach.

"What is that?" after we had passed Blankanese, said the colonel quickly.
"Who are those?" as a group of three of four men presented themselves at a
sharp turning of the road, that wound along the foot of the hill close to
the shore.

"The uniform of the Prussians," said one.

"Of the Russians," said another.


"Poo," said a third, "it is a picket of the Prince's;" and so it was, but
the very fact of his having advanced his outposts so far, showed how he
trembled for his position.

After answering their hail, we pushed on, and as the clocks were striking
twelve, we were abreast of the strong beams, that were clamped together
with iron, and constituted the boom or chief water defence of Hamburgh.
We passed through, and found an entire regiment under arms, close by the
Custom--house.  Somehow or other, I had drank deep of that John Bull
prejudice, which delights to disparage the physical conformation of our
Gallic neighbours, and hugs itself with the absurd notion, "that on one
pair of English legs doth march three Frenchmen." But when I saw the
weather--beaten soldierlike veterans, who formed this compact battalion,
part of the elite of the first corps, more commanding in its, aspect from
severe service having worn all the gilding and lace away--"there was not a
piece of feather in the host" I felt the reality before me fast overcoming
my preconceived opinion. I had seldom or ever seen so fine a body of men,
tall, square, and muscular, the spread of their shoulders set off from
their large red worsted epaulets, and the solidity of the mass increased
by their wide trowsers, which in my mind contrasted advantageously with
the long gaiters and tight integuments of our own brave fellows.

We approached a group of three mounted officers, and in a few words the
officer, whose prisoner I was, explained the affair to the chef de baton,
whereupon I was immediately placed under the care of' a sergeant and six
rank and file, and marched along the chief canal for a mile, where I could
not help remarking the numberless large rafts--you could not call them
boats--of unpainted pine timber, which had arrived from the upper Elbe,
loaded with grain: with gardens, absolute gardens, and cowhouses, and
piggeries on board; while their crews of Fierlanders, men, women, and
children, cut a most extraordinary appearance,--the men in their jackets,
with buttons like pot--lids, and trowsers fit to carry a month's provender
and a couple of children in; and the women with bearings about the
quarters, as if they had cut holes in large cheeses, three feet in
diameter at least, and stuck themselves through them--such sterns--and as
to their costumes, all very fine in a Flemish painting, but the devils
appeared to be awfully nasty in real life.

But we carried on until we came to a large open space fronting a beautiful
piece of water, which I was told was the Alster.  As I walked through the
narrow streets, I was struck with the peculiarity of the gables of the
tall houses being all turned towards the thoroughfare, and with the
stupendous size of the churches.  We halted for a moment, in the porch of
one of the latter, and my notions of decency were not a little outraged,
by seeing it filled with a squadron of dragoons, the men being in the very
act of cleaning their horses.

At length we came to the open space on the Alster, a large parade, faced
by a street of splendid houses on the left hand, with a row of trees
between them, and the water on the right.

There were two regiments of foot bivouacking here, with their arms piled
under the trees, while, the men were variously employed, some on duty
before the houses, others cleaning their accoutrements, and others again
playing at all kinds of games.  Presently we came to a crowd of soldiers
clustered round a particular spot, some laughing, others cracking coarse
jests, but none at all in the least serious.  We could not get near enough
to see distinctly what was going on; but we afterwards saw, when the crowd
had dispersed, three men in the dress of respectable burghers, hanging
from a low gibbet,--so low in fact, that although their heads were not six
inches from the beam, their feet were scarcely three from the ground. I
was here placed in a guard--house, and kept there until the evening, when
I was again marched off under my former escort, and we soon arrived at the
door of a large mansion, fronting this parade, where two sentries were
walking backwards and forwards before the door, while five dragoon horses,
linked together, stood in the middle of the street, with one soldier
attending them, but there was no other particular bustle, to mark the
headquarters of the General commanding.  We advanced to the entrance--the
sentries carrying arms--and were immediately ushered into a large saloon,
the massive stair winding up along the walls, with the usual heavy wooden
balustrade.  We ascended to the first floor, where we were encountered by
three aides--de--camp, in full dress, leaning with their backs against the
hardwood railing, laughing and joking with each other, while two walllamps
right opposite cast a bright flashing light on their splendid uniforms.
They were all decore with one order or another.

We approached.

"Whence, and who have we here?" said one of them, a handsome young man,
apparently not above twenty--two, as I judged, with small tiny black,
jet--black, mustaches, and a noble countenance; fine dark eyes, and curls
dark and clustering.

The officer of my escort answered, "A young Englishman, enseigne de
vaisseau."

I was no such thing, as a poor middy has no commission, but only his
rating, which even his captain, without a court--martial, can take away at
any time, and turn him before the mast.

At this moment, I heard the clang of a sabre, and the jingle of spurs on
the stairs, and the group was joined by my captor, Colonel-----.

"Ah, Colonel!" exclaimed the aides, in a volley, "where the devil have you
come from?  We thought you were in Bruxelles at the nearest."

The colonel put his hand on his lips and smiled, and then slapped the
young officer who spoke first with his glove.  "Never mind, boys, I have
come to help you here--you will need help before long;--but how is--?"
Here he made a comical contortion of his face, and drew his ungloved hand
across his throat.  The young officers laughed, and pointed to the door.

He moved towards it, preceded by the youngest of them, who led the way
into a very lofty and handsome room, elegantly furnished, with some fine
pictures on the walls, a handsome sideboard of plate, a rich Turkey carpet
an unusual thing in Germany--on the floor, and a richly gilt pillar, at
the end of the room farthest from us, the base of which contained a stove,
which, through the joints of the door of it, appeared to be burning
cheerily.

There were some very handsome sofas and ottomans scattered through the
room, and a grand piano in one corner, the furniture being covered with
yellow, or amber--coloured velvet, with broad heavy draperies of gold
fringe, like the bullion of an epaulet.  There was a small round table
near the stove, on which stood a silver candlestick, with four branches
filled with wax tapers; and bottles of wine, and glasses.  At this table
sat an officer, apparently about forty five years of age.  There was n
othing very peculiar in his appearance; he Was a middle--sized man, well
made apparently.  He sat on one chair, with his legs supported on another.

His white--topped boots had been taken off, and replaced by a pair of
slipshod slippers; his splashed white kerseymere pantaloons, seamed with
gold, resting on the unfrayed velvet cushion; his blue coat, covered with
rich embroidery at the bosom and collar, was open, and the lappels thrown
back, displaying a crimson--velvet facing, also richly embroidered, and an
embroidered scarlet waistcoat; a large solitary star glittered on his
breast, and the grand cross of the Legion of Honour sparkled at his
buttonhole; his black neckerchief had been taken off; and his cocked hat
lay beside him on a sofa, massively laced, the edges richly ornamented
with ostrich down; his head was covered with a red velvet cap, with a
thick gold cord twisted two or three turns round it, and ending in two
large tassels of heavy bullion; he wore very large epaulets, and his sword
had been inadvertently, as I conjectured, placed on the table, so that the
steel hilt rested on the ornamental part of the metal stove.

His face was good, his hair dark, forehead without a wrinkle, high and
massive, eyes bright and sparkling, nose neither fine nor dumpy--a fair
enough proboscis as noses go.  There was an expression about the upper lip
and mouth that I did not like--a constant nervous sort of lifting of the
lip as it were; and as the mustache appeared to have been recently shaven
off, there was a white blueness on the upper lip, that contrasted
unpleasantly with the dark tinge which he had gallantly wrought for on the
glowing sands of Egypt, and the bronzing of his general features from
fierce suns and parching winds.  His bare neck and hands were delicately
fair, the former firm and muscular, the latter slender and tapering, like
a woman's.  He was reading a gazette, or some printed paper, when we
entered; and although there was a tolerable clatter of muskets, sabres,
and spurs, he never once lifted his eye in the direction where we stood.
Opposite this personage, on a low chair, with his legs crossed, and eyes
fixed on the ashes that were dropping from the stove, with his brown cloak
hanging from his shoulders, sat a short stout personage, a man about
thirty years of age, with fair flaxen hair, a florid complexion, a very
fair skin, and massive German features.  The expression of his face, so
far as such a countenance could be said to have any characteristic
expression, was that of fixed sorrow.

But before I could make any other observation, the aide--de--camp
approached with a good spice of fear and trembling, as I could see.

"Colonel-----to wait on your Highness."

"Ah!"--said the officer to whom he spoke,--"ah, colonel, what do you here?
Has the Emperor advanced again?"

"No," said the officer, "he has not advanced; but the rear--guard were cut
off by the Prussians, and the light, with the grenadiers, are now in
Cuxhaven."

"Well," replied the general, "but how come you here?"

"Why, Marshal, we were detached to seize a depot of provisions in a
neighbouring village, and had made preparations to carry them off, when we
were attacked through a gap in the dike, by some armed boats from an
English squadron, and hearing a distant firing at the very moment, which I
concluded to be the Prussian advance, I conceived all chance of rejoining
the main army at an end, and therefore I shoved off in the grain--boats,
and here I am."

"Glad to see you, however," said the general, "but sorry for the cause why
you have returned.--Who have we got here--what boy is that?"

"Why," responded the colonel, "that lad is one of the British officers of
the force that attacked us."

"Ha," said the general again, "how did you capture him?"

"The boat (one of four) in which he was, was blown to pieces by a
six--pound shot.  He was the only one of the enemy who swam ashore.  The
rest, I am inclined to think, were picked up by the other boats."

"So," grumbled the general, "British ships in the Elbe!"

The colonel continued. "I hope, Marshal, you will allow him his parole? he
is, as you see, quite a child."

"Parole!" replied the Marshall,--"parole! such a mere lad cannot know the
value of his promise."

A sudden fit of rashness came over me.

"He is a mere boy," reiterated the Marshall. "No, no--send him to prison;"
and he resumed the study of the printed paper he had been reading.

I struck in, impelled by despair, for, young as I was, I knew the
character of the man before whom I stood, and I remembered that even a
tiger might be checked by a bold front--"I am an Englishman, sir, and
incapable of breaking my plighted word."

He laid down the paper he was reading, and slowly lifted his eyes, and
fastened them on me,--"Ha," said he, "ha--so young--so reckless!"

"Never mind him, Marshal," said the colonel.  "If you will grant him his
parole, I."--"Take it, colonel--take it--take his parole, not to go beyond
the ditch."

"But I decline to give any such promise," said I, with a hardihood which at
the time surprised me, and has always done so.

"Why, my good youth," said the Marshal in great surprise, "why will you
not take advantage of the offer--a kinder one, let me tell you, than I am
in the habit of making to an enemy?"

"Simply, sir, because I will endeavour to escape on the very first
opportunity."

"Ha!" said the Marshal once more, "this to my face? Lafontaine,"--; to the
aide--de--camp,--"a file of soldiers." The handsome young officer
hesitated hung in the wind, as we say, for a moment--moved, as I imagined,
by my extreme youth.

This irritated the Marshal rose, and stamped on the floor.  The colonel
essayed to interfere.  "Sentry--sentry--a file of grenadiers--take him
forth," and--here he energetically clutched the steel hilt of his sword,
and instantly dashed it from him--"Sacre!--the devil--what is that?" and
straightway he began to pirouette on one leg round the room, shaking his
right hand, and blowing his fingers.

The officers in waiting could not stand it any longer, and burst into a
fit of laughter, in which their commanding officer, after an unavailing
attempt to look serious--I should rather write fierce joined, and there he
was, the bloody Davoust--Duke of Auerstad Prince of Eckmuhl--the Hamburgh
Robespierre--the terrible Davoust--dancing all around the room, in a
regular guffaw, like to split his sides.  The heated stove had made his
sword, which rested on it, nearly red--hot.

All this while the quiet, plain--looking little man sat still.  He now
rose; but I noticed that he had been fixing his eyes intently on me. I
thought I could perceive a tear glistening in them as he spoke.

"Marshal, will you intrust that boy to me?"

"Poo," said the Prince, still laughing, "take him--do what you will with
him;"--then, as if suddenly recollecting himself, "But, Mr----, you must
be answerable for him--he must be at hand if I want him."

The gentleman who had so unexpectedly patronized me rose, and said,
"Marshal, I promise."

"Very well," said Davoust. "Lafontaine, desire supper to be sent up."

It was brought in, and my new ally and I were shown out.

As we went down stairs, we looked into a room on the ground floor, at the
door of which were four soldiers with fixed bayonets.  We there saw, for
it was well lit up, about twenty or five--and--twenty respectable--looking
men, very English in appearance, all to their long cloaks, an unusual sort
of garment to my eye at that time.  The night was very wet, and the
aforesaid garments were hung on pegs in the wall all around the room,
which being strongly heated by a stove, the moisture rose up in a thick
mist and made the faces of the burghers indistinct.

They were all busily engaged talking to each other, some to his neighbour,
the others across the table, but all with an expression of the most
intense anxiety.

"Who are these?" said I to my guide.

"Ask no questions here" said he, and we passed on.

I afterwards learned that they were the hostages seized on for the
contribution of fifty millions of francs, which had been imposed on the
doomed city, and that this very night they had been tom from their
families, and cooped up in the way I had seen them, where, they were
advertised, they must remain until the money should be forthcoming.

As we walked along the streets, and crossed the numerous bridges over the
canals and branches of the river, we found all the houses lit up, by order,
as I learned, of the French marshal.  The rain descended in torrents,
sparkling past the lights, while the city was a desert, with one dreadful
exception; for we were waylaid at almost every turn by groups of starving
lunatics, their half--naked figures and pale visages glimmering in the
glancing lights, under the dripping rain; and, had it not been for the
numerous sentries scattered along the thoroughfares, I believe we should
have been tom to pieces by bands of moping idiots, now rendered ferocious
from their sufferings, in consequence of the madhouses having been cleared
of their miserable, helpless inmates, in order to be converted into
barracks for the troops.  At all of these bridges sentries were posted,
past which my conductor and myself were franked by the sergeant who
accompanied us giving the countersign.  At length, civilly touching his
cap, although he did not refuse the piece of money tendered by my friend,
he left us, wishing us good--night, and saying the coast was clear.

We proceeded, without farther challenge, until we came to a very
magnificent house, with some fine trees before it.  We approached the door,
and rung the doorbell.  It was immediately opened, and we entered a large
desolate, looking vestibule, about thirty feet square, filled in the centre
with a number of bales of goods, and a variety of merchandise, while a
heavy wooden stair, with clumsy oak balustrades, wound round the sides of
it. We ascended, and, turning to the right, entered a large well furnished
room, with a table laid out for supper, with lights, and a comfortable
stove at one end. Three young officers of cuirassiers, in their superb
uniforms, whose breast and back pieces were glittering on a neighbouring
sofa, and a colonel of artillery, were standing round the stove.  The
colonel, the moment we entered, addressed my conductor:

"Ah,-----, we are devilish hungry--Ich bin dem Verhungern nahe and were
just on the point of ordering in the provender had you not appeared."

"A little more than that," thought I; for the food was already smoking on
the table.

Mine host acknowledged the speech with a slight smile.

"But who have we here?" said one of the young dragoons.  He waited a
moment "Etes--vous Francais?" I gave him no answer.  He then addressed me
in German--"Sprechen sie geldufig Deutsch?"

"Why," chimed in my conductor, "he does speak a little French
indifferently enough; but still"

Here I was introduced to the young officers, and we all sat down at table;
the colonel, civility itself, pressing my host to drink his own wine, and
eat his own food and even rating the servants for not being sufficiently
alert in their attendance on their own master.

"Well, my dear-----, how have you sped with the Prince?"

"Why, colonel," said my protector, in his calm way, "as well as I expected.
I was of some service to him when he was here before, at the time he was
taken so very ill, and he has not forgotten it; so I am not included
amongst the unfortunate detenus for the payment of the fine.  But that is
not all; for I am allowed to go tomorrow to my father's, and here is my
passport."

"Wonders will never cease," said the colonel; "but who is that boy?"

"He is one of the crew of the English boats which tried to cut off
Colonel-----the other evening, near Cuxhaven.  His life was saved by a
very laughable circumstance certainly; merely, by the marshal's sword,
from resting on the stove, having become almost red--hot." And here he
detailed the whole transaction as it took place, which set the party
a--laughing most heartily.

I will always bear witness to the extreme amenity with which I was now
treated by the French officers.  The evening passed over quickly.  About
eleven we retired to rest, my friend furnishing me with clothes, and
warning me, that next morning he would call me at daylight, to proceed to
his father's country--seat, where he intimated that I must remain in the
meantime.

Next morning I was roused accordingly, and a long, low, open carriage
rattled up to the door, just before day--dawn.  Presently the reveille was
beaten, and answered by the different posts in the city, and on the
ramparts.

We drove on, merely showing our passport to the sentries at the different
bridges, until we reached the gate, where we had to pun up until the
officer on duty appeared, and had scrupulously compared our personal
appearance with the written description.  All was found correct, and we
drove on.

It surprised me very much, after having repeatedly heard of the great
strength of Hamburgh, to look out on the large mound of green turf that
constituted its chief defence.

It is all true that there was a deep ditch and glacis beyond; but there
was no covered way, and both the scarp and counterscarp were simple
earthen embankments; so that, had the ditch been filled up with fascines,
there was no wall to face the attacking force after crossing it,--nothing
but a green mound, precipitous enough, certainly, and crowned with a low
parapet of masonry, and bristling with batteries about half way down, so
that the muzzles of the guns were flush with the neighbouring country
beyond the ditch.  Still there was wanting, to my imagination, the
strength of the high perpendicular wall, with its gaping embrasures, and
frowning cannon.  All this time it never occurred to me, that to breach
such a defence as that we looked upon was impossible.  You might have
plumped your shot into it until you had converted it into an iron mine,
but no chasm could have been forced in it by all the artillery in Europe;
so battering in a breach was entirely out of the question, and this, in
truth, constituted the great strength of the place.

We arrived, after an hour's drive, at the villa belonging to my
protector's family, and walked into a large room, with a comfortable
stove, and extensive preparations made for a comfortable breakfast.

Presently three young ladies appeared. They were his sisters,--blue--eyed,
fair--haired, white--skinned, round--sterned, plump little partridges.

"Haben sie gefruhstucht?" said the eldest.

"Pas encore," said he in French, with a smile. "But, sisters, I have
brought a stranger here, a young English officer, who was recently
captured in the river."

"An English officer!" exclaimed the three ladies, looking at me, a poor,
little, dirty midshipman, in my soiled linen, unbrushed shoes, dirty
trowsers and jacket, with my little square of white cloth on the collar;
and I began to find the eloquent blood mangling in my cheeks, and tingling
in my ears; but their kindly feelings got the better of a gentle
propensity to laugh, and the youngest said--"Sie sind gerade zu rechter
zeit gekommen:" when, finding that her German was Hebrew to me, she tried
the other tack "Vous arrivez a propos, le dejeuner est pret."

However I soon found, that the moment they were assured that I was in
reality an Englishman, they all spoke English, and exceedingly well too.
Our meal was finished, and I was standing at the window looking out on a
small lawn, where evergreens of the most beautiful kinds were checkered
with little round clumps of most luxuriant hollyhocks, and the fruit trees
in the neighborhood were absolutely bending to the earth under their loads
of apples and pears.  Presently my friend came up to me; my curiosity
could no longer be restrained.

"Pray, my good sir, what peculiar cause, may I ask, have you for showing
me, an entire stranger to you, all this unexpected kindness?  I am fully
aware that I have no claim on you."

"My good boy, you say true; but I have spent the greatest part of my life
in London, although a Hamburgher born, and I consider you, therefore, in
the light of a countryman.  Besides, I will not conceal that your gallant
bearing before Davoust riveted my attention, and engaged my good wishes."

"But how come you to have so much influence with the general, I mean?"

"For several reasons," he replied. "For those, amongst others, you heard
the colonel--who has taken the small liberty of turning me out of my own
house in Hamburgh--mention last night at supper.  But a man like Davoust
cannot be judged of by common rules.  He has, in short, taken a fancy to
me, for which you may thank your stars although your life has been
actually saved by the Prince having burned his fingers,--But here comes
my father."

A venerable old man entered the room, leaning on his stick.  I was
introduced in due form.

"He had breakfasted in his own room," he said, "having been ailing; but he
could not rest quietly, after he had heard there was an Englishman in the
house, until he had himself welcomed him."

I shall never forget the kindness I experienced from these worthy people.
For three days I was fed and clothed by them as if I had been a member of
the family.

Like a boy as I was, I had risen on the fourth morning at grey dawn, to be
aiding in dragging the fish--pond, so that it might be cleaned out.

This was an annual amusement, in which the young men and women in the
family, under happier circumstances, had been in the invariable custom of
joining; and, changed as these were, they still preserved the fashion.
The seine was cast in at one end, loaded at the bottom with heavy sinks,
and buoyant at the top with cork floats.  We hauled it along the whole
length of the pond, thereby driving the fish into an enclosure, about
twenty feet square, with a sluice towards the pond, and another fronting
the dull ditch that flowed past beyond it.  Whenever we had hunted the
whole of the finny tribes--(barring those slippery youths the eels, who,
with all their cleverness, were left to dry in the mud)--into the toils,
we filled all the tubs, and pots, and pans, and vessels of all kinds and
descriptions, with the fat, honest looking Dutchmen, the carp and tench,
who really submitted to their captivity with all the resignation of most
ancient and quiet fish, scarcely indicating any sense of its irksomeness,
except by a lumbering sluggish flap of their broad heavy tails.

A transaction of this kind could not take place amongst a group of young
folk without shouts of laughter, and it was not until we had caught the
whole of the fish in the pond, and placed them in safety, that I had
leisure to look about me.  The city lay about four miles distant from us.
The whole country about Hamburgh is level, except the right bank below it
of the noble river on which it stands, the Elbe.  The house where I was
domiciled stood on nearly the highest point of this bank, which gradually
sloped down into a swampy hollow, nearly level with the river.  It then
rose again gently until the swell was crowned with the beautiful town of
Altona, and immediately beyond appeared the ramparts and tall spires of
the noble city itself.

The morning had been thick and foggy, but as the sun rose, the white mist
that had floated over the whole country, gradually concentrated and
settled down into the hollow between us and Hamburgh, covering it with an
impervious veil, which even extended into the city itself, filling the
lower part of it with a dense white bank of fog, which rose so high that
the spires alone, with one or two of the most lofty buildings, appeared a
bove the rolling sea of white fleece--like vapour, as if it had been a
model of the stronghold, in place of the reality, packed in white wool, so
distinct did it appear, diminished as it was in the distance.  On the
tallest spire of the place, which was now sparkling in the early sunbeams,
the French flag, the pestilent tricolor, that waved sluggishly in the
faint morning breeze.

It attracted my attention, and I pointed it out to my patron.  Presently
it was hauled down, and a series of signals was made at the yard--arm of a
spar, that had been slung across it.  Who can they be telegraphing to?
thought I, while I could notice my host assume a most anxious and startled
look, while he peered down into the hollow. But he could see nothing, as
the fog bank still filled the whole of the space between the city and the
acclivity where we stood.

"What is that?" said I; for I heard, or thought I heard, a low rumbling
rushing noise in the ravine.  Mr-----heard it as well as I apparently,
for he put his finger to his lips--as much as to say, "Hold your tongue,
my good boy nous verrons."

It increased--the clattering of horses hoofs, and the clang of scabbards
were heard, and, in a twinkling, the hussar caps of a squadron of light
dragoons emerged from out the fog bank, as, charging up the road, they
passed the small gate of green basket--work at a hand gallop. I ought to
have mentioned before, that my friend's house was situated about half way
up the ascent, so that the rising ground behind it in the opposite
direction from the city shut out all view towards the country.  After the
dragoons passed, there was an interval of two minutes, when a troop of
flying artillery, with three six--pound field--pieces, rattled after the
leading squadron, the horses all in a lather, at full speed, with the guns
bounding and jumping behind them as if they had been playthings, followed
by their caissons.  Presently we could see the leading squadron file to
the right--clear the low hedge--and then disappear over the crest of the
hill.  Twenty or thirty pioneers, who had been carried forward behind as
many of the cavalry, were now seen busily employed in filling up the
ditch, and cutting down the short scrubby hedge; and presently, the
artillery coming up also, filed off sharply to the right, and formed on
the very summit of the hill, distinctly visible between us and the grey
cold streaks of morning.  By the time we had noticed, this, the clatter in
our immediate neighbourhood was renewed, and a group of mounted officers
dashed past us, up the path, like a whirlwind, followed at a distance of
twenty yards, by a single cavalier, apparently a general officer.  These
did not stop, as they rode at speed past the spot where the artillery were
in position, but, dipping over the summit, disappeared down the road, from
which they did not appear to diverge, until they were lost to our view
beyond the crest of the hill.  The hum and buzz, and, anon, the "measured
tread of marching men," in the valley between us and Hamburgh, still
continued.  The leading files of a light infantry regiment, now appeared,
swinging along at a round trot, with their muskets poised in their right
hands--no knapsacks on their backs. They appeared to follow the route of
the group of mounted officers, until we could see a puff of white smoke,
then another and a third from the field--pieces, followed by thudding
reports, there being no high ground nor precipitous bank nor water in the
neighborhood to reflect the sound, and make it emulate Jove's thunder.  At
this, they struck across the fields, and forming behind the guns, lay down
flat on their faces, where they were soon hid from our view by the wreaths
of white smoke, as the sluggish morning breeze rolled it down the
hill--side towards us.

"What the deuce can all this mean--is it a review?" said I, in my
innocence.

"A reconnoissance in force," groaned my friend.  "The Allied troops must
be at hand--now, God help us!"

The women, like frightened hares, paused to look up in their brother's
face, as he kept his eye steadily turned towards the ridge of the hill,
and, when he involuntarily wrung his hands, they gave a loud scream, a
fearful concerto, and ran off into the house.

The breeze at this moment "aside the shroud of battle cast" and we heard a
faint bugle--call, like an echo, wail in the distance, from beyond the
hill. It was instantly answered by the loud, startling blare of a dozen of
the light infantry bugles above us on the hill--side, and we could see
them suddenly start from their lair, and form; while between us and the
clearing morning sky, the cavalry, magnified into giants in the strong
relief on the outline of the hill, were driven in straggling patrols, like
chaff, over the summit--their sabres sparkling in the level sunbeams, and
the reports of the red flashes of their pistols crackling down upon us.

"They are driven in on the infantry," said Mr----- He was right but the
light battalion immediately charged over the hill, with a loud hurrah,
after admitting the beaten horse through their intervals, who, however, to
give the devils their due, formed again in a instant, under the shelter of
the high ground.  The artillery again opened their fire the cavalry once
more advanced, and presently we could see nothing but the field--pieces,
with their three separate groups of soldiers standing quietly by them,--a
sure proof that the enemy's pickets were now out of cannon--shot, and had
been driven back on the main body, and that the reconnoissance was still
advancing.

What will not an habitual exposure to danger do, even with tender women?

"The French have advanced, so let us have our breakfast, Julia, my dear,"
said Mr-----as we entered the house. "The Allied Forces would have been
welcome, however; and surely, if they do come, they will respect our
sufferings and helplessness."

The eldest sister, to whom he spoke, shook her head mournfully; but,
nevertheless, betook herself to her task of making coffee.

"What rumbling and rattling is that?" said to an old servant who had just
entered the room.

"Two wagons with wounded men, sir, have passed onwards towards the town."

"Ah!" said mine host, in great bitterness of spirit.

But allons, we proceeded to make the best use of our time--ham, good--fish,
excellent eggs, fresh--coffee, superb--when we again heard the fieldpieces
above us open their fire, and in the intervals we could distinguish the
distant rattle of musketry.  Presently this rolling fire slackened, and,
after a few scattering shots here and there, ceased altogether; but the
cannon on the hill still continued to play.

We were by this time all standing in a cluster in the porch of the villa,
before which stood the tubs with the finny spoil of the fish--pond, on a
small paddock of velvet grass, about forty yards square, separated from
the high--road by a low ornamental fence of green basket--work, as already
mentioned.  The firing from the great guns increased, and every now and
then I thought I heard a distant sound, as if the reports of the guns
above us had been reflected from some precipitous bank."

"I did not know that there was any echo here," said the youngest girl.

"Alas, Janette!" said her brother, "I fear that is no echo;" and he put up
his hand to his ear, and listened in breathless suspense.  The sound was
repeated.

"The Russian cannon replying to those on the hill!" said Mr with startling
energy.  "God help us! it can no longer be an affair of posts; the heads
of the Allied columns must be in sight, for the French skirmishers are
unquestionably driven in."

A French officer at this moment rattled past us down the road at speed,
and vanished in the hollow, taking the direction of the town.

His hat fell off, as his horse swerved a little at the open gate as he
passed.  He never stopped to pick it up.  Presently a round shot, with a
loud ringing and hissing sound, pitched over the hill, and knocked one of
the fish--tubs close to us to pieces, scattering the poor fish all about
the lawn.  With the recklessness of a mere boy I dashed out, and was busy
picking them up, when Mr-----called to me to come back.

"Let us go in and await what may befall; I dread what the ty"--here he
prudently checked himself, remembering, no doubt, "that a bird of the air
might carry the matter,"--"I dread what he may do, if they are really
investing the place.  At any rate, here, in the very arena where the
struggle will doubtless be fiercest, we cannot abide.  So go, my dear
sisters, and pack up whatever you may have most valuable, or most
necessary.  Nay, no tears; and I will attend to our poor old father, and
get the carriage ready, if, God help me, I dare use it."

"But where, in the name of all that is fearful, shall we go?" said his
second sister. "Not back to Hamburgh--not to endure another season of such
deep degradation--not to be exposed to the Oh brother, you saw we all
submitted to our fate without a murmur, and laboured cheerfully on the
fortifications, when compelled to do so, by that inhuman monster Davoust,
amidst the ribaldry of a licentious soldiery, merely because poor Janette
had helped to embroider a standard for the brave Hanseatic Legion you know
how we bore this"--here the sweet girl held out her delicate hands, galled
by actual and unwonted labour and many other indignities, until that awful
night, when--No, brother, we shall await the arrival of the Russians, even
should we see our once happy home converted into a field of battle; but
into the city we shall not go."

"Be it so, then, my dearest, sister.--Wilhehn, put up the stuhl wagen."

He had scarcely returned into the breakfast--room, when the door opened,
and the very handsome young officer, the aide--de--camp of the Prince,
whom I had seen the night I was carried before Davoust, entered, splashed
up to the eyes, and much heated and excited. I noticed blood on the hilt
of his sword.  His orderly sat on his foaming steed, right opposite where
I stood, wiping his bloody sabre on his horse's mane.  The women grew
pale; but still they had presence of mind enough to do the honours with
self--possession.

The stranger wished us a good morning; and on being asked to sit down to
breakfast, he unbuckled his sword, threw it from him with a clash on the
floor, and then, with all the grace in the world, addressed himself to
discuss the comestibles.  He tried a slight approach to jesting now and
then; but seeing the heaviness of heart which prevailed amongst the women,
he, with the good breeding of a man of the world, forbore to press his
attentions.

Breakfast being finished, and the ladies having retired, he rose, buckled
on his sword again, drew on his gloves, and taking his hat in his hand, he
advanced to the window, and desired his men to "fall in."

"Men--what men?" said poor Mr-----.

"Why, the Marshal has had a company of sapeurs for these three days back
in the adjoining village--they are now here."

"Here!" exclaimed-----; "what do the sappers here?" Two of the soldiers
carried slow matches in their hands, while their muskets were slung at
their backs. "There is no mine to be sprung here?"

The young officer heard him with great politeness, but declined giving any
answer.  The next moment he turned towards the ladies, and was making
himself as agreeable as time and circumstances would admit; when a shot
came crashing through the roof, broke down the ceiling, and knocking the
flue of the stove to pieces, rebounded from the wall, and rolled
harmlessly beneath the table.  He was the only person who did not start,
or evince any dread. He merely cast his eyes upward and smiled.  He then
turned to poor-----, who stood quite collected, but very pale, near where
the stove had stood, and held out his hand to him.

"On my honour," said the young soldier, "it grieves me to the very heart;
but I must obey my orders.  It is no longer an affair of posts; the enemy
is pressing on us in force.  The Allied columns are in sight; their
cannon shot have but now penetrated your roof; we have but driven in their
pickets; very soon they will be here; and in the event of their advance,
my orders are to burn down this house and the neighbouring village."

A sudden flush rushed into Mr-----'s face.

"Indeed! does the Prince really--"

The young officer bowed, and with something more of sternness in his
manner than he had yet used, he said, "Mr-----, I duly appreciate your
situation, and respect your feelings; but the Prince of Eckmuhl is my
superior officer, and under other circumstances"--Here he slightly touched
the hilt of his sword.

"For myself I don't care," said-----, "but what is to become of my
sisters?"

"They must proceed to Hamburgh."

"Very well--let me order the stuhl wagen, and give us, at all events, half
an hour to move our valuables."

Here Mr-----exchanged looks with his sisters.

"Certainly," said the young officer; "and I will myself see you safe into
the city."

Who says that eels cannot be made used to skinning?  The poor girls
continued their little preparations with an alacrity and presence of mind
that truly surprised me.  There was neither screaming nor fainting, and by
the time the carriage was at the door, they, with two female domestics,
were ready to mount. I cannot better describe their vehicle, than by
comparing it to a canoe mounted on four wheels, connected by a long perch,
with a coachbox at the bow, and three gig bodies hung athwart ships, or
slung inside of the canoe, by leather thongs.  At the moment we were
starting, Mr-----came close to me and whispered, "Do you think your ship
will still be in the river?"

I answered that I made no doubt she was.

"But even if she be not," said he, "the Holstein bank is open to us.
Anywhere but Hamburgh now." And the scalding tears ran down his cheeks.

At this moment there was a bustle on the hill top, and presently the
artillery began once more to play, while the musketry breezed up again in
the distance.  A mounted bugler rode half way down the hill, and sounded
the recall.  The young officer hesitated.  He man waved his hand, and blew
the advance.

"It must be for us--answer it." His bugle did so.  "Bring the pitch, men
the flax--so now--break the windows, and let the air in--set the house on
fire; and, Sergeant Guido, remain to prevent it being extinguished I shall
fire the village as we pass through."

He gave the word to face about; and, desiring the men to follow at the
same swinging run with which the whole of the infantry had originally
advanced, he spurred his horse against the hill, and soon disappeared.

My host's resolution seemed now taken.  Turning to the sergeant, "My good
fellow, the reconnoissance will soon be returning; I shall precede it into
the town."

The man, a fine vieux moustache, hesitated.

My friend saw it, and hit him in a Frenchman's most assailable quarter.

"The ladies, my good man--the ladies!--You would not have them drive in
pell--mell with the troops, exposed most likely to the fire of the
Prussian advanced--guard, would you?"

The man grounded his musket, and touched his cap--"Pass on." Away we
trundled, until, coming to a cross--road, we turned down towards the
river; and at the angle we could see thick wreaths of smoke curling up
into theair, showing that the barbarous order had been but too effectually
fulfilled.

"What is that?" said-----.

A horse, with his rider entangled and dragged by the stirrup, passed us at
full speed, leaving a long track of blood on the road.

"Who is that?"

The coachman drove on, and gave no answer; until, at a sharp turn, we came
upon the bruised and now breathless body of the young officer, who had so
recently obeyed the savage behests of his brutal commander.  There was a
musket--shot right in the middle of his fine forehead, like a small blue
point, with one or two heavy black drops of blood oozing from it. His pale
features wore a mild and placid expression, evincing that the numberless
lacerations and bruises, which were evident through his tom uniform, had
been inflicted on a breathless corpse.

The stuhl wagen had carried on for a mile farther or so, but the firing
seemed to approximate, whereupon our host sung out, "Fahrt Zu,
Schwager--Wir Kommen nicht weiter."

The driver of the stuhl wagen skulled along until we arrived at the
beautiful, at a mile off, but the beastly, when close to, village of
Blankanese.

When the voiture stopped in the village, there seemed to be a
nonplusation, to coin a word for the nonce, between my friend and his
sisters.  They said something very sharply, and with a degree of
determination that startled me. He gave no answer.  Presently the
Amazonian attack was renewed.

"We shall go onboard," said they. "Very well," said he; "but have
patience, have patience!"

"No, no.  Wann wird man sich einschiffen mussen?"

By this time we were in the heart of the village, and surrounded with a
whole lot, forty at the least, of Blankanese boatinen.  We were not long
in selecting one of the fleetest--looking of those very fleet boats, when
we all trundled on board; and I now witnessed what struck me as being an
awful sign of the times.  The very coachman of the stuhl wagen, after
conversing a moment with his master, returned to his team, tied the legs
of the poor creatures as they stood, and then with a sharp knife cut their
jugular veins through and through on the right side, having previously
reined them up sharp to the left, so that, before starting, we could see
three of the team, which consisted of four superb bays, level with the
soil and dead; the near wheeler only holding out on his fore--legs.

We shoved off at eleven o'clock in the forenoon; and after having twice
been driven into creeks on the Holstein shore by bad weather, we arrived
about two next morning safely on board the Torch, which immediately got
under weigh for England.  After my story had been told to the Captain, I
left my preserver, his father, and his sisters in his hands, and I need
scarcely say that they had as hearty a welcome as the worthy old soul
could give them, and dived into the midshipmen's berth for a morsel of
comfort, where, in a twinkling, I was far into the secrets of a pork pie.



CHAPTER II



The Cruise of the Torch.

Sleep, gentle sleep--
Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast,
Seal up the shipboy's eyes, and rock his brains,
In cradle of the rude imperious surge;
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deafning clamour in the slippery clouds,
That, with the hurry, death itself awakes--
Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea--boy in an hour so rude?

2 HENRY IV, Ill. 1. 5, 18--27.


Heligoland light--north and by west--so many leagues--wind baffling
weather hazy--Lady Passengers on deck for the first time.

Arrived in the Downs--ordered by signal from the guard--ship to proceed to
Portsmouth.  Arrived at Spithead--ordered to fit to receive a general
officer, and six pieces of field artillery, and a Spanish Ecclesiastic,
the Canon of-----. Plenty of great guns, at any rate--a regular park of
artillery.

Received General-----and his wife, and aide--de--camp, and two poodle
dogs, one white man--servant, one black ditto, and the Canon of-----, and
the six nine--pound field--pieces, and sailed for the Cove of Cork.

It was blowing hard as we stood in for the Old Head of Kinsale pilot boat
breasting the foaming surge like a sea gull--"Carrol Cove" in her tiny
mainsail--pilot jumped into the main channel a bottle of rum swung by the
lead line into the boat--all very clever.

Ran in, and anchored under Spike Island.  A line--of--battle ship, three
frigates, and a number of merchantmen at anchor--men of war lovely craft,
bands playing--a good deal of the pomp and circumstance of war.  Next
forenoon, Mr Treenail, the second lieutenant, sent for me.

"Mr Cringle," said he, "you have an uncle in Cork, I believe?"

I said I had.

"I am going there on duty to--night; I daresay, if you asked the Captain to
let you accompany me, he would do so." This was too good an offer not to be
taken advantage of.  I plucked up courage, made my bow, asked leave, and
got it; and the evening found my friend the lieutenant, and myself, after a
ride of three hours, during which I, for one, had my bottom sheathing
grievously rubbed, and a considerable botheration at crossing the Ferry at
Passage, safe in our inn at Cork. I soon found out that the object of my
superior officer was to gain information amongst the crimp shops, where ten
men, who had run from one of the West Indiamen, waiting at Cove for convoy,
were stowed away, but I was not let farther into the secret; so I set out
to pay my visit, and after passing a pleasant evening with my friends, Mr
and Mrs Job Cringle, the lieutenant dropped in upon us about nine o'clock.
He was heartily welcomed, and under the plea of our being obliged to return
to the ship early next morning, we soon took leave, and returned to the
inn. As I was turning into the public room, the door was open, and I could
see it full of blowsy--faced monsters, glimmering and jabbering, through
the mist of hot brandy grog and gin twist; with poodle Benjamins, and
greatcoats, and cloaks of all sorts and sizes, steaming on their pegs, with
Barcelonas and comforters, and damp travelling caps of seal--skin, and blue
cloth, and tartan, arranged above the same.

Nevertheless, such a society in my juvenile estimation, during my short
escapade from the middy's berth, had its charms, and I was rolling in with
a tolerable swagger, when Mr Treenail pinched my arm.

"Mr Cringle, come here, into my room."

From the way in which he spoke, I imagined, in my innocence, that his room
was at my elbow; but no such thing--we had to ascend a long, and not
overclean staircase, to the fourth floor, before we were shown into a
miserable little double--bedded room.  So soon as we had entered, the
lieutenant shut the door.

"Tom," said he, "I have taken a fancy to you, and therefore I applied for
leave to bring you with me; but I must expose you to some danger, and, I
will allow, not altogether in a very creditable way either.  You must enact
the spy for a short space."

I did not like the notion certainly, but I had little time for
consideration.

"Here," he continued--"here is a bundle." He threw it on the floor. "You
must rig in the clothes it, contains, and make your way into the celebrated
crimp shop in the neighbourhood, and pick up all the information you can
regarding the haunts of the pressable men at Cove, especially with regard
to the ten seamen who have run from the West Indiaman we left below.  You
know the Admiral has forbidden pressing in Cork, so you must contrive to
frighten the blue jackets down to Cove, by representing yourself as an
apprentice of one of the merchant vessels, who had run from his indentures,
and that you had narrowly escaped from a press--gang this very night here."

I made no scruples, but forthwith arrayed myself in the slops contained in
the bundle; in a pair of shag trowsers, red flannel shirt, coarse blue
cloth jacket, and no waistcoat.

"Now," said Mr Treenail, "stick a quid of tobacco in your cheek, and take
the cockade out of your hat; or stop, leave it, and ship this striped
woollen night--cap--so--and come along with me."

We left the house, and walked half a mile down the Quay.

Presently we arrived before a kind of low grog--shop--a bright lamp was
flaring in the breeze at the door, one of the panes of the glass of it
being broken.

Before I entered, Mr Treenail took me to one side--"Tom, Tom Cringle, you
must go into this crimp shop; pass yourself off for an apprentice of the
Guava, bound for Trinidad, the ship that arrived just as we started, and
pick up all the knowledge you can regarding the whereabouts of the men, for
we are, as you know, cruelly ill manned, and must replenish as we best
may." I entered the house, after having agreed to rejoin my superior
officer, so soon as I considered I had obtained my object. I rapped at the
inner door, in which there was a small unglazed aperture cut, about four
inches square; and I now, for the first time, perceived that a strong glare
of light was cast into the lobby, where I stood, by a large argand with a
brilliant reflector, that like a magazine lantern had been mortised into
the bulkhead, at a height of about two feet above the door in which the
spy--hole was cut.  My first signal was not attended to; I rapped again,
and looking round I noticed Mr Treenail flitting backwards and forwards
across the doorway, in the rain with his pale face and his sharp nose, with
the sparkling drop at the end on't, glancing in the light of the lamp. I
heard a step within, and a very pretty face now appeared at the wicket.

"Who are you saking here, an' please ye?"

"No one in particular, my dear; but if you don't let me in, I shall be
lodged in jail before five minutes be over."

"I can't help that, young man," said she; "but where are ye from, darling?"

"Hush!--I am run from the Guava, now lying at the Cove."

"Oh," said my beauty, "come in;" and she opened the door, but still kept it
on the chain in such a way, that although, by bobbing, I creeped and slid
in beneath it, yet a common--sized man could not possibly have squeezed
himself through.  The instant I entered, the door was once more banged to,
and the next moment I was ushered into the kitchen, a room about fourteen
feet square, with a well sanded floor, a huge dresser on one side, and over
against it a respectable show of pewter dishes in racks against the wall.
There was a long stripe of a deal, table in the middle of the room--but no
tablecloth--at the bottom of which sat a large, bloated, brandy, or rather
whisky--faced savage, dressed in a shabby great--coat of the hodden grey
worn by the Irish peasantry, dirty swan down vest, and greasy corduroy
breeches, worsted stockings, and well--patched shoes; he was smoking a long
pipe.  Around the table sat about a dozen seamen, from whose wet jackets
and trowsers the heat of the blazing fire, that roared up the chimney, sent
up a smoky steam that cast a halo round the lamp, that depended from the
roof, and hung down within two feet of the table, stinking abominably of
coarse whale oil.  They were, generally speaking, hardy, weather beaten
men, and the greater proportion half, or more than half drunk.  When I
entered, I walked up to the landlord.

"Yo ho, my young un, whence and whither bound, my hearty?"

"The first don't signify much to you," said I, "seeing I have wherewithal
in the locker to pay my shot; and as to the second, of that hereafter; so,
old boy, let's have some grog, and then say if you can ship me with one of
them cowers that are lying alongside the quay?"

"My eye, what a lot of brass that small chap has!" grumbled mine host.

"Why, my lad, we shall see to--morrow morning; but you gammons so bad about
the rhino, that we must prove you a bit; so, Kate, my dear,"--to the pretty
girl who had let me in--"score a pint of rum against--why, what is your
name?"


"What's that to you?" rejoined I, "let's have the drink, and don't doubt
but the shiners  shall be forthcoming."

"Hurrah!" shouted the party, most of them now very tipsy.  So the rum was
produced forthwith, and as I lighted a pipe and filled a glass of swizzle,
I struck in, "Messmates, I hope you have all shipped?"

"No, we haven't," said some of them.

"Nor shall we be in any hurry, boy," said others.

"Do as you please, but I shall, as soon as I can, I know; and I recommend
all of you making yourselves scarce to--night, and keeping a bright
look--out."

"Why, boy, why?"

"Simply because I have just escaped a press--gang, by bracing sharp up at
the corner of the street, and shoving into this dark alley here."

This called forth another volley of oaths and unsavoury exclamations, and
all was bustle and confusion, and packing up of bundles, and settling of
reckonings.

"Where," said one of the seamen,--"where do you go to, my lad?"

"Why, if I can't get shipped to--night, I shall trundles down to Cove
immediately, so as to cross at Passage before daylight, and take my chance
of shipping with some of the outward--bound that are to sail, if the wind
holds, the day after to--morrow.  There is to be no pressing when blue
Peter flies at the fore--and that was hoisted this afternoon, I know, and
the foretopsail will be loose to--morrow."

"D--n my wig, but the small chap is right," roared one.

"I've a bloody great mind to go down with him," stuttered another, after
several unavailing attempts to weigh from the bench, where he had brought
himself to anchor.

"Hurrah!" yelled a third, as he hugged me, and nearly suffocated me with
his maudling caresses, "I trundles wid you too, my darling, boy the piper!"

"Have with you, boy--have with him," shouted half--a--dozen other voices,
while each stuck his oaken twig through the handkerchief that held his
bundle, and shouldered it, clapping his straw or tarpaulin hat, with a slap
on the crown, on one side of his head, and staggering and swaying about
under the influence of the poteen, and slapping his thigh, as he bent
double, laughing like to split himself, till the water ran over his cheeks
from his drunken half--shut eyes, while jets of tobacco juice were
squirting in all directions.

I paid the reckoning, urging the party to proceed all the while, and
indicating Pat Doolan's at the Cove as a good rendezvous; and promising to
overtake them before they reached passage, I parted company at the corner
of the street, and rejoined the lieutenant.

Next morning we spent in looking about the town--Cork is a fine town,
contains seventy thousand inhabitants, more or less--safe in that--and
three hundred thousand pigs, driven by herdsmen, with coarse grey
greatcoats.  The pigs are not so handsome as those in England, where the
legs are short, and tails curly; here the legs are long, the flanks sharp
and thin, and tails long and straight.

All classes speak with a deuced brogue, and worship graven images; arrived
at Cove to a large dinner and here follows a great deal of nonsense of the
same kind.

By the time it was half--past ten o'clock, I was preparing to turn in, when
the master at arms called down to me,--"Mr Cringle, you are wanted in the
gunroom."

I put on my jacket again, and immediately proceeded thither, and on my way
I noticed a group of seamen, standing on the starboard gangway, dressed in
pea jackets, under which, by the light of a lantern, carried by one of
them, I could see they were all armed with pistol and cutlass.  They
appeared in great glee, and as they made way for me, I could hear one
fellow whisper, "There goes the little beagle." When I entered the gunroom,
the first lieutenant, master, and purser, were sitting smoking and enjoying
themselves over a glass of cold grog--the gunner taking the watch on deck
the doctor was piping any thing but mellifluously on the double flageolet,
while the Spanish priest, and aide--de--camp to the general, were playing
at chess, and wrangling in bad French.  I could hear Mr Treenail rumbling
and stumbling in his stateroom as he accoutred himself in a jacket similar
to those of the armed boat's crew whom I had passed, and presently he
stepped into the gunroom, armed also with cutlass and pistol.

"Mr Cringle, get ready to go in the boat with me, and bring your arms with
you."

I now knew whereabouts he was, and that my Cork friends were the quarry at
which we aimed. I did as I was ordered, and we immediately pulled on shore,
where, leaving two strong fellows in charge of the boat, with instructions
to fire their pistols and shove off a couple of boat--lengths, should any
suspicious circumstance indicating an attack take place, we separated, like
a pulk of Cossacks coming to the charge, but without the hourah, with
orders to meet before Pat Doolan's door, as speedily as our legs could
carry us.  We had landed about a cable's length to the right of the high
precipitous bank--up which we stole in straggling parties--on which that
abominable congregation of the most filthy huts ever pig grunted in is
situated, called the Holy Ground.  Pat Doolan's domicile was in a little
dirty lane, about the middle of the village.  Presently ten strapping
fellows, including the lieutenant, were before the door, each man with his
stretcher in his hand.  It was a very tempestuous, although moonlight
night, occasionally clear, with the moonbeams at one moment sparkling
brightly in the small ripples on the filthy puddles before the door, and
on the gem like water--drops that hung from the eaves of the thatched roof,
and lighting up the dark statue like figures of the men, and casting their
long shadows strongly against the mud wall of the house; at another, a
black cloud as it flew across her disk, cast every thing into deep shade,
while the only noise we heard was the hoarse dashing of the distant surf,
rising and falling on the fitful gusts of the breeze.  We tried the door.
It was fast.

"Surround the house, men," said the lieutenant, in a whisper.  He rapped
loudly.  "Pat Doolan, my man, open the door, will ye?" No answer.  "If you
don't, we shall make free to break it open, Patrick, dear."

All this while the light of a fire, or of candles, streamed through the
joints of the door. The threat at length appeared to have the desired
effect.  A poor decrepid old man undid the bolt and let us in. "Ohon a reel
Ohon a reel What make you all this boder for--come you to help us to wake
poor ould Kate there, and bring you the whisky wid you?"

"Old man, where is Pat Doolan?" said the lieutenant.

"Gone to borrow whisky, to wake ould Kate, there--the howling will begin
whenever Mother Doncannon and Mistress Conolly come over from Middleton,
and I look for dem every minute."

There was no vestige of any living thing in the miserable hovel, except the
old fellow.  On two low trestles, in the middle of the floor, lay a coffin
with the lid on, on the top of which was stretched the dead body of an old
emaciated woman in her grave--clothes, the quality of which was much finer
than one could have expected to have seen in the midst of the surrounding
squalidness. The face of the corpse was uncovered, the hands were crossed
on the breast, and there was a plate of salt on the stomach.

An iron cresset, charged with coarse rancid oil, hung from the roof, the
dull smoky red light flickering on the dead corpse, as the breeze streamed
in through the door and numberless chinks in the walls, making the cold,
rigid, sharp features appear to move, and glimmer, and gibber as it were,
from the changing shades.  Close to the head, there was a small door
opening into an apartment of some kind, but the coffin was placed so near
it, that one could not pass between the body and the door.

"My good man," said Treenail, to the solitary mourner, "I must beg leave to
remove the body a bit, and have the goodness to open that door."

"Door, yere honour!  It's no door o'mine--and it's not opening that same,
that old Phil Carrol shall busy himself wid."

"Carline," said Mr Treenail, quick and sharp, "remove the body." It was
done.

"Cruel heavy the old dame is, sir, for all her wasted appearance," said one
of the men.

The lieutenant now ranged the press--gang against the wall fronting the
door, and stepping into the middle of the room, drew his pistol and cocked
it.  "Messmates," he sung out, as if addressing the skulkers in the other
room, "I know you are here--the house is surrounded--and unless you open
that door now, by the power, but I'll fire slap into you." There was a
bustle, and a rumbling tumbling noise within.  "My lads, we are now sure of
your game," sung out Treenail, with great animation.  "Sling that clumsy
bench there." He pointed to an oaken form about eight feet long, and nearly
three inches thick.  To produce a two--inch rope, and junk it into three
lengths, and rig the battering--ram, was the work of an instant.  "One,
two, three,"--and bang the door flew open, and there were our men stowed
away, each sitting on the top of his bag, as snug as could be, although
looking very much like condemned thieves.  We bound eight of them, and
thrusting a stretcher across their backs, under their arms, and lashing
the fins to the same by good stout lanyards, we were proceeding to stump
our prisoners off to the boat, when, with the innate devilry that I have
inherited, I know not how, but the original sin of which has more than
once nearly cost me my life, I said, without addressing my superior
officer, or any one else, directly--"I should like now to scale 'my pistol
through that coffin.  If I miss, I can't hurt the old woman; and an eyelet
hole in the coffin itself, will only be an act of civility to the worms."

I looked towards my superior officer, who answered me with a knowing shake
of the head. I advanced, while all was silent as death--the sharp click of
the pistol lock now struck acutely on my own ear. I presented, when--crash
the lid of the coffin, old woman and all, was dashed off in an instant, the
corpse flying up in the air, and then falling heavily on the floor, rolling
over and over, while a tall handsome fellow, in his stripped flannel shirt
and blue trowsers, with the sweat pouring down over his face in steams, sat
up in the shell.

"All right," said Mr Treenail--"help him out of his berth."

He was pinioned like the rest, and forthwith we walked them all off to the
beach.  By this time there was an unusual bustle in the Holy Ground, and we
could hear many an anathema, curses, not loud but deep, ejaculated from
many a half--opened door as we passed along.  We reached the boat, and time
it was we did so, for a number of stout fellows, who had followed us in a
gradually increasing crowd, until they amounted to forty at the fewest, now
nearly surrounded us, and kept closing in.  As the last of us jumped into
the boat, they made a rush, so that if we had not shoved off with the speed
of light, I think it very likely that we should have been overpowered.
However, we reached the ship in safety, and the day following we weighed,
and stood out to sea  with our convoy.

It was a very large fleet nearly three hundred sail of merchant vessel
and a noble sight truly.

A line--of--battle ship led--and two frigates and three sloops of our class
were stationed on the outskirts of the fleet, whipping them in as it were.
We made Madeira in fourteen days, looked in, but did not anchor; superb
island--magnificent mountains--white town,--and all very fine, but nothing
particular happened for three weeks.  One fine evening, (we had by this
time progressed into the trades, and were within three hundred miles of
Barbadoes,) the sun had set bright and clear, after a most beautiful day,
and we were bowling along right before it, rolling like the very devil; but
there was no moon, and although the stars sparkled brilliantly, yet it was
dark, and as we were the sternmost of the men of war, we had the task of
whipping in the sluggards.  It was my watch on deck.  A gun from the
commodore, who showed a number of lights.  "What is that, Mr Kennedy?"
said the captain to the old gunner.--"The commodore has made the night
signal for the sternmost ships to make more sail and close, sir." We
repeated the signal--and stood on hailing the dullest of the merchantmen in
our neighbourhood to make more sail, and firing a musket--shot now and then
over the more distant of them.  By and by we saw a large West Indiaman
suddenly haul her wind, and stand across our bows.

"Forward there!" sung out Mr Splinter, "stand by to fire a shot at that
fellow from the boat gun if he does not bear up.  What can he be after?
Sergeant Armstrong,"--to a marine, who was standing close by him in the
waist--"get a musket, and fire over him!"

It was done, and the ship immediately bore up on her course again; we now
ranged alongside of him on his larboard quarter.

"Ho, the ship, ahoy!"--"Hillo!" was the reply.--"Make more sail, sir, and
run into the body of the fleet, or I shall fire into you; why don't you,
sir, keep in the wake of the commodore?" No answer.  "What meant you by
hauling your wind, just now, sir?"

"Yesh, Yesh," at length responded a voice from the merchantinan.

"Something wrong here," said Mr Splinter.  "Back your maintopsail, sir, and
hoist a light at the peak; I shall send a boat on board of you.
Boatswain's mate, pipe away the crew of the jolly boat." We also hove to,
and were in the act of lowering down the boat, when the officer rattled
out. "Keep all fast, with the boat; I can't comprehend that chap's
manoeuvres for the soul of me.  He has not hove to." Once more we were
within pistol--shot of him.  "Why don't you heave to, sir?" All silent.

Presently we could perceive a confusion and noise of struggling on board,
and angry voices, as if people were trying to force their way up the
hatchways from below; and a heavy thumping on the deck, and a creaking of
the blocks, and rattling of the cordage, while the mainyard was first
braced one way, and then another, as if two parties were striving for the
mastery.  At length a voice hailed distinctly "We are captured by a"--A
sudden sharp cry, and a splash overboard, told of some fearful deed.

"We are taken by a privateer or pirate," sung out another voice.  This was
followed by a heavy crunching blow, as when the spike of a butcher's axe is
driven through a bullock's forehead deep into the brain.

By this time all hands had been called, and the word had been passed to
clear away two of the foremost carronades on the starboard side, and to
load them with grape.

"On board there--get below, all you of the English crew, as I shall fire
with grape," sung out the captain.

The hint was not taken.  The ship at length came to the wind--we rounded
to, under her lee--and an armed boat, with Mr Treenail, and myself, and
sixteen men, with cutlasses, were sent on board.

We jumped on deck, and at the gangway, Mr Treenail stumbled, and fell over
the dead body of a man, no doubt the one who had hailed last, with his
scull cloven to the eyes, and a broken cutlass blade sticking in the gash.
We were immediately accosted by the mate, who was lashed down to a ringbolt
close by the bits, with his hands tied at the wrists by sharp cords, so
tightly that the blood was spouting from beneath his nails.

"We have been surprised by a privateer schooner, sir; the lieutenant of
her, and twelve men, are now in the cabin."

"Where are the rest of the crew?"

"All secured in the forecastle, except the second mate and boatswain, the
men who hailed you just now; the last was knocked on the head, and the
former was stabbed and thrown overboard."

We immediately released the men, eighteen in number, and armed them with
boarding pikes. "What vessel is that astern of us?" said Treenail to the
mate.  Before he could answer, a shot from the brig fired at the privateer
showed she was broad awake.  Next moment Captain Deadeye hailed. "Have you
mastered the prize crew, Mr Treenail?"--"Aye, aye, sir."--"Then keep your
course, and keep two lights hoisted at your mizzen peak during the night,
and blue Peter at the main topsail yardarm when the day breaks; I shall
haul my wind after the suspicious sail in your wake."

Another shot, and another, from the brig--the time between each flash and
the report increasing with the distance.  By this the lieutenant had
descended to the cabin, followed by his people, while the merchant crew
once more took the charge of the ship, crowding sail into the body of the
fleet.

I followed him close, pistol and cutlass in hand, and I shall never forget
the scene that presented itself when I entered.  The cabin was that of a
vessel of five hundred tons, elegantly fitted up; the panels filled with
crimson cloth, edged with gold mouldings, with superb damask hangings
before the stem windows and the side berths, and brilliantly lighted up by
two large swinging lamps hung from the deck above, which were reflected
from, and multiplied in, several plate glass mirrors in the panels.  In the
recess, which in cold weather had been occupied by the stove, now stood a
splendid grand piano, the silk in the open work above the keys
corresponding with the crimson cloth of the panels; it was open, a Leghom
bonnet with a green veil, a parasol, and two long white gloves, as if r
ecently pulled off, lay on it, with the very mould of the hands in them.

The rudder case was particularly beautiful; it was a richly carved and
gilded palm tree, the stem painted white, and interlaced with golden
fretwork, like the lozenges of a pine--apple, while the leaves spread up
and abroad on the roof.

The table was laid for supper, with cold meat, and wine, and a profusion of
silver things, all sparkling brightly; but it was in great disorder, wine
spilt, and glasses broken, and dishes with meat upset, and knives, and
forks, and spoons, scattered all about.  She was evidently one of those
London West Indiamen, on board of which I knew there was much splendour and
great comfort.  But, alas! the hand of lawless violence had been there.
The captain lay across the table, with his head hanging over the side of it
next to us, and unable to help himself, with his hands tied behind his
back, and a gag in his mouth; his face purple from the blood running to
his head, and the white of his eyes turned up, while his loud stentorous
breathing but too clearly indicated the rupture of a vessel on the brain.

He was a stout portly man, and, although we released him on the instant,
and had him bled, and threw water on his face, and did all we could for
him, he never spoke afterwards, and died in half an hour.

Four gentlemanly--looking men were sitting at table, lashed to their
chairs, pale and trembling, while six of the most ruffian--looking
scoundrels I ever beheld, stood on the opposite side of the table in a row
fronting us, with the light from the lamps shining full on them.  Three of
them were small, but very square mulattoes; one was a South American
Indian, with the square high--boned visage, and long, lank, black glossy
hair of his cast.  These four had no clothing besides their trowsers, and
stood with their arms folded, in all the calmness of desperate men, caught
in the very fact of some horrible atrocity, which they knew shut out all
hope of mercy.  The two others were white Frenchmen, tall,
bushy--whiskered, sallow desperadoes, but still, wonderful to relate,
with, if I may so speak, the manners of gentlemen.  One of them squinted,
and had a hair--lip, which gave him a horrible expression.  They were
dressed in white trowsers and shirts, yellow silk sashes round their
waists, and a sort of blue uniform jacket, blue Gascon caps, with the
peaks, from each of which depended a large bullion tassel, hanging down on
one side of their heads.  The whole party had apparently made up their
minds that resistance was vain, for their pistols and cutlasses, some of
them bloody, had all been laid on the table, with the buts and handles
towards us, contrasting horribly with the glittering equipage of steel,
and crystal, and silver things, on the snow--white damask table--cloth.
They were immediately seized and ironed, to which they submitted in
silence.  We next released the passengers, and were overpowered with
thanks, one dancing, one crying, one laughing, and another praying.  But,
merciful Heaven! what an object met our eyes!  Drawing aside--the curtain
that concealed a sofa, fitted into a recess, there lay, more dead than
alive, a tall and most beautiful girl, her head resting on her left arm,
her clothes disordered and tom, blood on her bosom, and foam on her mouth,
with her long dark hair loose and dishevelled, and covering the upper part
of her deadly pale face, through which her wild sparkling black eyes,
protruding from their sockets, glanced and glared with the fire of a
maniac's, while her blue lips kept gibbering an incoherent prayer one
moment, and the next imploring mercy, as if she had still been in the
hands of those who knew not the name; and anon, a low hysterical laugh
made our very blood freeze in our bosoms, which soon ended in a long
dismal yell, as she rolled off the couch upon the hard deck, and lay in a
dead faint.

Alas the day!--a Maniac she was from that hour. She was the only daughter
of the murdered master of the ship, and never awoke, in her unclouded
reason, to the fearful consciousness of her own dishonour and her parent's
death.

The Torch captured the schooner, and we left the privateer's men at
Barbadoes to meet their reward, and several of the merchant sailors were
turned over to the guardship, to prove the facts in the first instance, and
to serve his Majesty as impressed men in the second, but scrimp measure of
justice to the poor ship's crew.

Anchored at Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes.--Town seemed built of cards--black
faces--showy dresses of the negroes--dined at Mr C-----'s, capital dinner
little breeze mill at the end of the room, that pumped a solution of
saltpetre and water into a trough of tin, perforated with small holes,
below which, and exposed to the breeze, were ranged the wine and liqueurs,
all in cotton bags; the water then flowed into a well, where the pump was
stepped, and thus was again pumped up and kept circulating.

Landed the artillery, the soldiers, officers, and the Spanish Canon
discharged the whole battery.

Next morning, weighed at day--dawn, with the trade for Jamaica, and soon I
ost sight of the bright blue waters of Carlisle Bay, and the smiling fields
and tall cocoa--nut trees of the beautiful island.  In a week after we
arrived off the east end of Jamaica, and that same evening, in obedience to
the orders of the admiral on the Windward Island station, we hove to in
Bull Bay, in order to land despatches, and secure our tithe of the crews of
the merchant--vessels bound for Kingston, and the ports to leeward, as they
passed us.  We had fallen in with a pilot canoe off Morant Bay with four
negroes on board, who requested us to hoist in their boat, and take them
all on board, as the pilot schooner, to which they belonged, had that
morning bore up for Kingston, and left instructions to them to follow her
in the first vessel appearing afterwards.  We did so, and now, as it was
getting dark, the captain came up to Mr Treenail.

"Why, Mr Treenail, I think we had better heave--to for the night, and in
this case I shall want you to go in the cutter to Port Royal to deliver the
despatches on board the flag--ship."

"I don't think the admiral will be at Port Royal, sir," responded the
lieutenant; "and, if I might suggest, these black chaps have offered to
take me ashore here on the Palisadoes, a narrow spit of land, not above one
hundred yards across, that divides the harbour from the ocean, and to haul
the canoe across, and take me to the agent's house in Kingston, who will
doubtless frank me up to the pen, where the admiral resides, and I shall
thus deliver the letters, and be back again by day--dawn."

"Not a bad plan," said old Deadeye; "put it in execution, and I will go
below and get the despatches immediately."

The canoe was once more hoisted out; the three black fellows, the pilot of
the ship continuing on board, jumped into her alongside.

"Had you not better take a couple of hands with you, Mr Treenail?" said the
skipper.

"Why, no, sir, I don't think I shall want them; but if you will spare me Mr
Cringle I will be obliged, in case I want any help."

We shoved off, and as the glowing sun dipped under Portland Point, as the
tongue of land that runs out about four miles to the southward, on the
western side of Port Royal harbour, is called, we arrived within a hundred
yards of the Palisadoes.  The surf, at the particular spot we steered for,
did not break on the shore in a rolling curling wave, as it usually does,
but smoothed away under the lee of a small sandy promontory that ran out
into the sea, about half a cable's length to windward, and then slid up the
smooth white sand, without breaking, in a deep clear green swell, for the
space of twenty yards, gradually shoaling, the colour becoming lighter and
lighter, until it frothed away in a shallow white fringe, that buzzed as it
receded back into the deep green sea, until it was again propelled forward
by the succeeding billow.

"I say, friend Bungo, how shall we manage? You don't mean to swamp us in a
shove through that surf, do you?" said Mr Treenail.

"No fear, massa, if you and toder leetle man--of--war buccra, only keep dem
seat when we rise on de crest of de swell dere."

We sat quiet enough.  Treenail was coolness itself, and I aped him as well
as I could.  The loud murmur, increasing to a roar, of the sea, was trying
enough as we approached, buoyed on the last long undulation.

"Now sit still, massa, bote."

We sank down into the trough, and presently were hove forwards with a
smooth sliding motion up on the beach--until grit, grit, we stranded on the
cream--coloured sand, high and dry.

"Now jomp, massa, jomp."

We leapt with all our strength, and thereby toppled down on our noses; the
sea receded, and before the next billow approached, we had run the canoe
twenty yards beyond high water mark.

It was the work of a very few minutes to haul the canoe across the
sandbank, and to launch it once more in the placid waters of the harbour
of Kingston. We pulled across towards the town, until we landed at the
bottom of Hanover Street; the lights from the cabin windows of the
merchantmen glimmering as e passed, and the town only discernible from a
solitary sparkle here and there.  But the contrast when we landed was very
striking.  We had come through the darkness of the night in comparative
quietness; and in two hours from the time we had left the old Torch, we
were transferred from her orderly deck to the bustle of a crowded town.


One of our crew undertook to be the guide to the agent's house.  We arrived
before it.  It was a large mansion, and we could see lights glimmering in
the ground floor; but it was gaily lit up aloft.  The house itself stood
back about twenty feet from the street, from which it was separated by an
iron railing.

We knocked at the outer--gate, but no one answered.  At length our black
guide found out a bell--pull, and presently the clang of a bell resounded
throughout the mansion.  Still no one answered.  I pushed against, the
door, and found it was open, and Mr Treenail and myself immediately
ascended a flight of six marble steps, and stood in the lower piazza,
with the hall, or lower vestibule, before us.  We entered. A very
welldressed brown woman, who was sitting at her work at a small table,
along with two young girls of the same complexion, instantly rose to
receive us.

"Beg pardon," said Mr Treenail, "pray, is this Mr-----'s house?" "Yes,
sir, it is."

"Will you have the goodness to say if he be at home?"

"Oh yes, sir, he is dere upon dinner wid company," said the lady.

"Well," continued the lieutenant, "say to him, that an officer of his
Majesty's sloop Torch is below, with despatches for the admiral."

"Surely, sir,--surely," the dark lady continued;--"Follow me, sir; and dat
small gentleman,--[Thomas Cringle, Esquire, no less!]--him will better
follow me too."

We left the room, and, turning to the right, landed in the lower piazza of
the house, fronting the north.  A large clumsy stair occupied the
easternmost end, with a massive mahogany balustrade, but the whole affair
below was very ill lighted.  The brown lady preceded us; and planting
herself at the bottom of the staircase, began to shout to some one above.

"Toby!--Toby!--buccra gentlemen arrive, Toby." But no Toby responded to
the call.

"My dear madam," said Treenail, "I have little time for ceremony.  Pray
usher us up into Mr-----'s presence."

"Den follow me, gentlemen, please."

Forthwith we all ascended the dark staircase until we reached the first
landing--place, when we heard a noise as of two negroes wrangling on the
steps above us.

"You rascal!" sang out one, "take dat; larn you for teal my wittal!"--then
a sharp crack, as if he had smote the culprit across the pate; whereupon,
like a shot, a black fellow, in a handsome livery, trundled down, pursued
by another servant with a large silver ladle in his hand, with which he
was belabouring the fugitive over his flinthard skull, right against our
hostess, with the drumstick of a turkey in his hand, or rather in his
mouth.

"Top, you tief--top, you tief!--for me piece dat," shouted the pursuer.

"You dam rascal!" quoth the dame.  But she had no time to utter another
word, before the fugitive pitched, with all his weight, right against her;
and at the very moment another servant came trundling down with a large
tray--full of all kinds of meats--and I especially remember that two large
crystal stands of jellies composed part of his load--so there we were
regularly capsized, and caught all of a heap in the dark landing--place,
half way up the stair; and down the other flight tumbled our guide, with Mr
Treenail and myself, and the two blackies, on the top of her, Tolling in
our descent over, or rather into, another large mahogany tray which had
just been carried out, with a tureen of turtle soup in it, and a dish of
roast--beef, and platefulls of land--crabs, and the Lord knows what all
besides.

The crash reached the ear of the landlord, who was seated at the head of
his table in the upper piazza, a long gallery about fifty feet long by
fourteen wide, and he immediately rose and ordered his butler to take a
light.  When he came down to ascertain the cause of the uproar, I shall
never forget the scene.

There was, first of all, mine host, a remarkably neat personage, standing
on the polished mahogany stair, three steps above his servant, who was a
very well--dressed respectable elderly negro, with a candle in each hand;
and beneath him, on the landing--place, lay two trays of viands, broken
tureens of soup, fragments of dishes, and fractured glasses, and a chaos of
eatables and drinkables, and table gear scattered all about, amidst which
lay scrambling my lieutenant and myself, the brown housekeeper, and the two
negro servants, all more or less covered with gravy and wine dregs.
However, after a good laugh, we gathered ourselves up, and at length we
were ushered on the scene.  Mine host, after stifling his laughter the
best way he could, again sat down at the head of his table, sparkling with
crystal and wax lights, while a superb lamp hung overhead.  The company was
composed chiefly of naval and military men, but there was also a sprinkling
of civilians, or Muftees, to use a West India expression.  Most of them
rose as we entered, and after they had taken a glass of wine, and had their
laugh at our mishap, our landlord retired to one side with Mr Treenail,
while I, poor little middy as I was, remained standing at the end of the
room, close to the head of the stairs.  The gentleman who sat at the foot
of the table had his back towards me, I and was not at first aware of my
presence.  But the guest at his right hand, a happy--looking, red--faced,
well--dressed man, soon drew his attention towards me.  The party to whom I
was thus indebted seemed a very jovial--looking personage, and appeared to
be well known to all hands, and indeed the life of the party, for, like
Falstaff, he was not only witty in himself, but the cause of wit in others.

The gentleman to whom he had pointed me out immediately rose, made his bow,
ordered a chair, and made room for me beside himself, where the moment it
was known that we were direct from home, such a volley of questions was
fired off at me, that I did not know which to answer first.  At length,
after Treenail had taken a glass or two of wine, the agent started him off
to the admiral's pen in his own gig, and I was desired to stay where I was
until he returned.

The whole party seemed very happy, my boon ally was fun itself, and I was
much entertained with the mess he made when any of the foreigners at table
addressed him in French or Spanish. I was particularly struck with a small,
thin, dark Spaniard, who told very feelingly how the night before, on
returning home from a party to his own lodgings, on passing through the
piazza, he stumbled against something heavy that lay in his grass--hammock,
which usually hung there.  He called for a light, when, to his horror, he
found the body of his old and faithful valet lying in it, dead and cold,
with a knife sticking under his fifth rib--no doubt intended for his
master. The speaker was Bolivar. About midnight, Mr Treenail returned, we
shook hands with Mr-----, and once more shoved off; and, guided by the
lights shown on board the Torch, we were safe home again by three in the
morning, when we immediately made sail, and nothing particular happened
until we arrived within a day's sail of New Providence.  It seemed, that
about a week before, a large American brig, bound from Havanna to Boston,
had been captured in this very channel by one of our men--of--war
schooners, and carried into Nassau; out of which port, for their own
security, the uthorities had fitted a small schooner, carrying six guns
and twenty--four men.  She was commanded by a very gallant fellow--there
is no disputing that--and he must needs emulate the conduct of the officer
who had made the capture--for in a fine clear night, when all the officers
were below rummaging in their kits for the killing things they should
array themselves in on the morrow, so as to smite the Fair of New
Providence to the heart at a blow--Whiss--a shot flew over our mast--head.

"A small schooner lying--to right ahead, sir," sung out the boatswain from
the forecastle.

Before we could beat to quarters, another sung between our masts.  We kept
steadily on our course, and as we approached our pigmy antagonist, he bore
up.  Presently we were alongside of him.

"Heave--to," hailed the strange sail; "heave--to or I'll sink you."

The devil you will, you midge, thought I.

The captain took the trumpet--"Schooner, ahoy"--no answer "D--n your blood,
sir, if you don't let every thing go by the run this instant, I'll fire a
broadside.  Strike, sir, to his Britannic Majesty's sloop Torch."

The poor fellow commanding the schooner had by this time found out his
mistake and immediately came on board, where, instead of being lauded for
his gallantry, I am sorry to say he was roundly rated for his want of
discernment in mistaking his Majesty's cruiser for a Yankee merchantman.

Next forenoon we arrived at Nassau.


In a week after we again sailed for Bermuda, having taken on board ten
American skippers, and several other Yankees, as prisoners of war.

For the first three days after we cleared the Passages. we had fine
weather. Wind at east south--east; but after that it came on to blow from
the north--west, and so continued without intermission during the whole of
the passage to Bermuda.  On the fourth morning after we left Nassau, we
descried a sail in the south--east quarter, and immediately made sail in
chase.  We overhauled her about noon; she hove--to, after being fired at
repeatedly; and, on boarding her, we found she was a Swede from Charleston,
bound to Havre--de--Grace.  All the letters we could find on board were
very unceremoniously broken open, and nothing having transpired that could
identify the cargo as enemy's property, we were bundling over the side,
when a nautical looking subject, who had attracted my attention from the
first, put in his oar.

"Lieutenant," said he, "will you allow me to put this barrel of New York
apples into the boat as a present to Captain Deadeye, from Captain-----of
the United States navy?"

Mr Treenail bowed, and said he would; and we shoved off and got on board
again, and now there was the devil to pay, from the perplexity old Deadeye
was thrown into, as to whether, here in the heat of the American war, he
was bound to take this American captain prisoner or not. I was no party to
the councils of my superiors, of course, but the foreign ship was finally
allowed to continue her course.

The next day I had the forenoon watch; the weather had lulled unexpectedly,
nor was there much sea, and the deck was all alive, to take advantage of
the fine blink, when the man at the mast--head sung out--"Breakers right
ahead, sir."

"Breakers!" said Mr Splinter, in great astonishment.  "Breakers! why the
man must be mad--I say, Jenkins"

"Breakers close under the bows," sung out the boatswain from forward.

"The devil," quoth Splinter, and he ran along the gangway, and ascended the
forecastle, while I kept close to his heels.  We looked out a--head, and
there we certainly did see a splashing, and boiling, and white foaming of
the ocean, that unquestionably looked very like breakers.  Gradually, this
splashing and foaming appearance took a circular whisking shape, as if the
clear green sea, for a space of a hundred yards in diameter, had been
stirred about by a gigantic invisible spurtle, until every thing hissed
again; and the curious part of it was, that the agitation of the water
seemed to keep ahead of us, as if the breeze which impelled us had also
floated it onwards.  At length the whirling circle of white foam ascended
higher and higher, and then gradually contracted itself into a spinning
black tube, which wavered about, for all the world, like a gigantic
loch--leech, held by the tail between the finger and thumb, while it was
poking its vast snout about in the clouds in search of a spot to fasten on.

"Is the boat gun on the forecastle loaded?" said Captain Deadeye.
It is, sir."

"Then luff a bit--that will do--fire."

The gun was discharged, and down rushed the black wavering pillar in a
watery avalanche, and in a minute after the dark, heaving billows rolled o
ver the spot whereout it arose, as if no such thing had ever been.

This said troubling of the waters was neither more nor less than a
waterspout, which again is neither more nor less than a whirlwind at sea,
which gradually whisks the water round and round, and up and up, as you see
straws so raised, until it reaches a certain height, when it invariably
breaks.  Before this I had thought that a waterspout was created by some
next to supernatural exertion of the power of the Deity, in order to suck
up water into the clouds, that they, like the wine--skins in Spain, may be
filled with rain.

The morning after the weather was clear and beautiful, although the wind
blew half a'gale.  Nothing particular happened until about seven o'clock in
the evening. I had been invited to dine with the gunroom officers this day,
and every thing was going on smooth and comfortable, when Mr Splinter
spoke. "I say, master, don't you smell gunpowder?"

"Yes I do," said the little master, "or something deuced like it."

To explain the particular comfort of our position, it may be right to
mention that the magazine of a brig sloop is exactly under the gunroom.
Three of the American skippers had been quartered on the gunroom mess, and
they were all at table.  Snuff, snuff, smelled one, and another sniffled,

"Gunpowder, I guess, and in a state of ignition."

"Will you not send for the gunner, sir?" said the third.

Splinter did not like it, I saw, and this quailed me.

The captain's bell rang.  "What smell of brimstone is that, steward?" "I
really can't tell," said the man, trembling from head to foot; "Mr Splinter
has sent for the gunner, sir."

"The devil!" said Deadeye, as he hurried on deck.  We all followed.  A
search was made.

"Some matches have caught in the magazine," said one.

"We shall be up and away like sky--rockets," said another.

Several of the American masters ran out on the jib--boom, coveting the
temporary security of being so far removed from the seat of the expected
explosion, and all was alarm and confusion, until it was ascertained that
two of the boys, little skylarking vagabonds, had stolen some pistol
cartridges, and had been making lightning, as it is called, by holding a
lighted candle between the fingers, and putting some loose powder into the
palm of the hand, and then chucking it up into the flame.  They got a sound
flogging, on a very unpoetical part of their corpuses, and once more the
ship subsided into her usual orderly discipline.  The northwester still
continued, with a clear blue sky, without a cloud overhead by day, and a
bright cold moon by night.  It blew so hard for the three succeeding days,
that we could not carry more than close reefed topsails to it, and a reefed
foresail.  Indeed, towards six bells in the forenoon watch, it came
thundering down with such violence, and the sea increased so much, that we
had to hand the fore--topsail.

This was by no means an easy job.  "Ease her a bit,"  said the first
lieutenant, "there--shake the wind out of her sails for a moment, until the
men get the canvass"--whirl, a poor fellow pitched off the lee fore yardarm
into the sea.  "Up with the helm--heave him the bight of a rope." We kept
away, but all was confusion, until an American midshipman, one of the
prisoners on board, hove the bight of a rope at him.  The man got it under
his arms, and after hauling him along for a hundred yards at the least--and
one may judge of the velocity with which he was dragged through the water,
by the fact that it took the united strain of ten powerful men to get him
in--he was brought safely on board, pale and blue, when we found that the
running of the rope had crushed in his broad chest below his arms, as if it
had been a girl's waist, cutting into the very muscles of it and of his
back half an inch deep.  He had to be bled before he could breathe, and it
was an hour before the circulation could be restored, by the joint
exertions of the surgeon and gunroom steward, chafing him with spirits and
camphor, after he had been stripped and stowed away between the blankets in
his hammock.

The same afternoon we fell in with a small prize to the squadron in the
Chesapeake, a dismasted schooner, manned by a prize crew of a midshipman
and six men.  She had a signal of distress, an American ensign, with the
union down, hoisted on the jury--mast, across which there was rigged a
solitary lug--sail.  It was blowing so hard that we had some difficulty in
boarding her, when we found she was a Baltimore pilot--boat--built
schooner, of about 70 tons burden, laden with flour, and bound for
Bermuda.  But three days before, in a sudden squall, they had carried away
both masts short by the board, and the only spar which they had been able
to rig, was a spare topmast which they had jammed into one of the pumps
fortunately she was as tight as a bottle--and stayed it the best way they
could.  The captain offered to take the little fellow who had charge of
her, and his crew and cargo, on board, and then scuttle her; but no--all
he wanted was a cask of water and some biscuit; and having had a glass of
grog, he trundled over the side again, and returned to his desolate
command.  However, he afterwards brought his prize safe into Bermuda.

The weather still continued very rough, but we saw nothing until the second
evening after this.  The forenoon had been even more boisterous than any of
the preceding, and we were all fagged enough with "make sail," and "shorten
sail," and "all hands," the whole day through; and as the night fell, I
found myself, for the fourth time, in the maintop.  The men had just lain
in from the main topsail yard, when we heard the watch called on deck,
"Starboard watch, ahoy,"--which was a cheery sound to us of the larboard,
who were thus released from duty on deck and allowed to go below.

The men were scrambling down the weather shrouds, and I was preparing to
follow them, when I jammed my left foot in the grating of the top, and
capsized on my nose. I had been up nearly the whole of the previous night,
and on deck the whole of the day, and actively employed too, as during the
greatest part of it it blew a gale. I stooped down in some pain, to see
what had bolted me to the grating, but I had no sooner extricated my foot,
than, over--worked and over fatigued as I was, I fell over in the soundest
sleep that ever I have enjoyed before or since, the back of my neck resting
on a coil of rope, so that my head hung down within it.

The rain all this time was beating on me, and I was drenched to the skin. I
must have slept for four hours or so, when I was awakened by a rough thump
on the side from the stumbling foot of the captain of the top, the word
having been passed to shake a reef out of the topsails, the wind having
rather suddenly gone down.  It was done; and now broad awake, I determined
not to be caught napping again, so I descended, and swung myself in on deck
out of the main rigging, just as Mr Treenail was mustering the crew at
eight bells.  When I landed on the quarterdeck, there he stood abaft the
binnacle, with the light shining on his face, his glazed hat glancing, and
the rain--drop sparkling at the brim of it.  He had noticed me the moment I
descended.

"Heyday, Master Cringle, you are surely out of your watch.  Why, what are
you doing here, eh?"

I stepped up to him, and told him the truth, that, being over fatigued, I
had fallen asleep in the top.

"Well, well, boy," said he, "never mind, go below, and turn in; if you
don't take your rest, you never will be a sailor."

"But what do you see aloft?" glancing his eye upwards, and all the crew on
deck as I passed them looked anxiously up also amongst the rigging, as if
wondering what I saw there, for I had been so chilled in my noose, that my
neck, from resting in the cold on the coil of rope, had become stiffened
and rigid to an intolerable degree; and although, when I first came on
deck, I had by a strong exertion brought my caput to its proper bearings,
yet the moment I was dismissed by my superior officer, I for my own
comfort was glad to conform to the contraction of the muscle, whereby I
once more staved along the deck, glowering up into the heavens, as if I
had seen some wonderful sight there.

"What do you see aloft?" repeated Mr Treenail, while the crew, greatly
puzzled, continued to follow my eye, as they thought, and to stare up into
the rigging.

"Why, sir, I have thereby got a stiff neck--that's all, sir."

"Go and turn in at once, my good boy--make haste, now--tell our steward to
give you a glass of hot grog, and mind your hand that you don't get sick."

I did as I was desired, swallowed the grog, and turned in; but I could not
have been in bed above an hour, when the drum beat to quarters, and I had
once more to bundle out on the cold wet deck, where I found all excitement.
At the time I speak of, we had been beaten by the Americans in several
actions of single ships, and our discipline had improved in proportion as
we came to learn by sad experience that the enemy was not to be
undervalued. I found that there was a ship in sight, right a--head of us
apparently carrying all sail.  A group of officers were on the forecastle
with night--glasses, the whole crew being stationed in dark clusters round
the guns at quarters.  Several of the American skippers were forward
amongst us, and they were of opinion that the chase was a man--of--war,
although our own people seemed to doubt this.  One of the skippers
insisted that she was the Hornet, from the unusual shortness of her lower
masts, and the immense squareness of her yards.  But the puzzle was, if it
were the Hornet, why she did not shorten sail.  Still this might be
accounted for, by her either wishing to make out what we were before she
engaged us, or she might be clearing for action.  At this moment a whole
cloud of studdingsails were blown from the yards as if the booms had been
carrots; and to prove that the chase was keeping a bright look--out, she
immediately kept away, and finally bore up dead before the wind, under the
impression, no doubt, that she would draw a--head of us, from her gear
being entire, before we could rig out our light sails again.

And so she did for a time, but at length we got within gun--shot.  The
American masters were now ordered below, the hatches were clapped on, and
the word passed to see all clear.  Our shot was by this time flying over
and over her, and it was evident she was not a man--of--war.  We peppered
away--she could not even be a privateer; we were close under her
lee--quarter, and yet she had never fired a shot; and her large swaggering
Yankee ensign was now run up to the peak, only to be hauled down the next
moment.  Hurrah! a large cotton ship, from Charlestown to Bourdeaux, prize
to H.M.S. Torch.

She was taken possession of, and proved to be the Natches, of four hundred
tons burden, fully loaded with cotton.

By the time we got the crew on board, and the second lieutenant, with a
prize crew of fifteen men, had taken charge, the weather began to lour
again, nevertheless we took the prize in tow, and continued on our voyage
for the next three days, without any thing particular happening.  It was
the middle watch, and I was sound asleep, when I was startled by a violent
jerking of my hammock, and a cry "that the brig was amongst the breakers."
I ran on deck in my shirt, where I found all hands, and a scene of
confusion such as I never had witnessed before.  The gale had increased,
yet the prize had not been cast off, and the consequence was, that by some
mismanagement or carelessness, the swag of the large ship had suddenly hove
the brig in the wind, and taken the sails a--back.  We accordingly fetched
stern way, and ran foul of the prize, and there we were, in a heavy sea,
with our stern grinding against the cotton ship's high quarter.

The main boom, by the first rasp that took place after I came on deck, was
broken short off, and nearly twelve feet of it hove right in over the
taffril; the vessels then closed, and the next rub ground off the ship's
mizzen channel as clean as if it had been sawed away.  Officers shouting,
men swearing, rigging cracking, the vessels crashing and thumping together,
I thought we were gone, when the first lieutenant seized his trumpet
"Silence, men,--hold your tongues, you cowards, and mind the word of
command!"

The effect was magical.--"Brace round the foreyard; round with it--set the
jib--that's it--fore--topmast stay--sail--haul--never mind if the gale
takes it out of the bolt rope"--a thundering flap, and away it flew in
truth down to leeward, like a puff of white smoke.--"Never mind, men, the
jib stands.  Belay all that--down with the helm, now don't you see she has
sternway yet?  Zounds! we shall be smashed to atoms if you don't mind your
hands, you lubbers--main--topsail sheets let fly--there she pays off, and
has headway once more, that's it--right your helm now--never mind his
spanker--boom, the forestay will stand it--there--up with the helm, sir
we have cleared him hurrah!"--And a near thing it was too but we soon had
every thing snug; and although the gale continued without any intermission
for ten days, at length we ran in and anchored with our prize in Five
Fathom Hole, off the entrance to St George's Harbour.

It was lucky for us that we got to anchor at the time we did, for that same
afternoon, one of the most tremendous gales of wind from the westward came
on that I ever saw.  Fortunately it was steady and did not veer about, and
having good ground--tackle down, we rode it out well enough.  The effect
was very uncommon; the wind was howling over our mast--heads, and amongst
the cedar bushes on the cliffs above, while on deck it was nearly calm, and
there was very little swell, being a weather shore; but half a mile out at
sea all was white foam, and the tumbling waves seemed to meet from north
and south, leaving a space of smooth water under the lee of the island,
shaped like the tail of a comet, tapering away, and gradually roughening
and becoming more stormy, until the roaring billows once more owed
allegiance to the genius of the storm.

There we rode, with three anchors a--head, in safety through the night; and
next day, availing of a temporary lull, we ran up, and anchored off the
Tanks.  Three days after this, the American frigate President was brought
in by the Endymion, and the rest of the squadron.

I went on board, in common with every officer in the fleet, and certainly I
never saw a more superb vessel; her scantling was that of a seventy--four,
and she appeared to have been fitted with great cares.  I got a week's
leave at this time, and, as I had letters to several families, I contrived
to spend my time pleasantly enough.

Bermuda, as all the world knows, is a cluster of islands in the middle of
the Atlantic.  There are Lord knows how many of them, but the beauty of the
little straits and creeks which divide them, no man can describe who has
not seen them.  The town of Saint George's, for instance, looks as if the
houses were cut out of chalk; and one evening the family where I was on a
visit proceeded to the main island, Hamilton, to attend a ball there.  We
had to cross three ferries, although the distance was not above nine miles,
if so far.  The Mudian women are unquestionably beautiful--so thought T
homas Moore, a tolerable judge, before me. By the by, touching this Mudian
ball, it was a very gay affair--the women pleasant and beautiful; but all
the men, when they speak, or are spoken to, shut one eye and spit;--a lucid
and succinct description of a community.

The second day of my sojourn was fine--the first fine day since our arrival
and with several young ladies of the family, I was prowling through the
cedar wood above St George's, when a dark good--looking man passed us; he
was dressed in tight worsted net pantaloons and Hessian boots, and wore a
blue frock--coat and two large epaulets, with rich French bullion, and a
round hat.  On passing he touched his hat with much grace, and in the
evening I met him in society.  It was Commodore Decatur.  He was very much
a Frenchman in manner, or, I should rather say, in look, for although very
well bred, he, for one ingredient, by no means possessed a Frenchman's
volubility; still, he was an exceedingly agreeable and very handsome man.

The following day we spent in a pleasure cruise amongst the three hundred
and sixty--five islands, many of them not above an acre in extent--fancy an
island of an acre in extent!--with a solitary house, a small garden, a
red--skinned family, a piggery, and all around clear deep pellucid water.
None of the islands, or islets, rise to any great height, but they all
shoot precipitously out of the water, as if the whole group, had originally
been one huge platform of rock, with numberless grooves subsequently
chiselled out in it by art.


We had to wind our way amongst these manifold small channels for two hours
before we reached the gentleman's house where we had been invited to dine;
at length, on turning a corner, with both latteen sails drawing
beautifully, we ran bump on a shoal; there was no danger, and knowing that
the Mudians were capital sailors, I sat still.  Not so Captain K-----, a
round plump little homo,--"Shove her off, my boys, shove her off." She
would not move, and thereupon he in a fever of gallantry jumped overboard
up to the waist in full fig; and one of the men following his example, we
were soon afloat.  The ladies applauded, and the Captain sat in his wet
breaks for the rest of the voyage, in all the consciousness of being
considered a hero.  Ducks and onions are the grand staple of Bermuda, but
there was a fearful dearth of both at the time I speak of; a knot of young
West India merchants, who, with heavy purses and large credits on England,
had at this time domiciled themselves in St George's, to batten on the
spoils of poor Jonathan, having monopolized all the good things of the
place. I happened to be acquainted with one of them, and thereby had less
reason to complain, but many a poor fellow, sent ashore on duty, had to put
up with but Lenten fair at the taverns.  At length, having refitted, we
sailed, in company with the Rayo frigate, with a convoy of three
transports, freighted with a regiment for New Orleans, and several
merchantmen, bound for the West Indies.

"The still vexed Bermoothes"--I arrived at them in a gale of wind, and I
sailed from them in a gale of wind.  What the climate may be in the summer
I don't know; but during the time I was there, it was one storm after
another.

We sailed in the evening with the moon at full, and the wind at west--north
--west.  So soon as we got from under the lee of the land, the breeze
struck us, and it came on to blow like thunder, so that we were all soon
reduced to our storm staysails; and there we were, transports, merchantmen,
and men--of--war, rising on the mountainous billows one moment, and the
next losing sight of every thing but the water and sky in the deep trough
of the sea, while the seething foam was blown over us in showers from the
curling manes of the roaring waves.  But overhead, all this while, it was
as clear as a lovely winter moon could make it, and the stars shone
brightly in the deep blue sky; there was not even a thin fleecy shred of
cloud racking across the moon's disk.  Oh, the glories of a northwester!

But the devil seize such glory!  Glory, indeed! with a fleet of transports,
and a regiment of soldiers on board!  Glory! why, I daresay five hundred
rank and file, at the fewest, were all cascading at one and the same
moment, a thousand poor fellows turned outside in, like so many pairs of
old stockings.  Any glory in that?  But to proceed.

Next morning the gale still continued, and when the day broke, there was
the frigate standing across our bows, rolling and pitching, as she tore her
way through the boiling sea, under a close--reefed main--topsail and reefed
foresail, with topgallant--yards and royal masts, and every thing that
could be struck with safety in war time, down on deck.  There she lay with
her clear black bends, and bright white streaks and long tier of cannon on
the maindeck, and the carronades on the quarterdeck and forecastle grinning
through the ports in the black bulwarks, while the white hammocks,
carefully covered by the hammock--cloths, crowned the defences of the
gallant frigate fore and aft, as she delved through the green surge,--one
minute rolling and rising on the curling white crest of a mountainous sea,
amidst a hissing snowstorm of spray, with her bright copper glancing from
stem to stem, and her scanty white canvass swelling aloft, and twenty feet
of her keel forward occasionally hove into the air clean out of the water,
as if she had been a sea--bird rushing to take wing,--and the next, sinking
entirely out of sight, hull, masts, and rigging, behind an intervening sea,
that rose in hoarse thunder between us, threatening to overwhelm both us
and her.  As for the transports, the largest of the three had lost her fore
topmast, and had bore up under her foresail; another was also scudding
under a close reefed fore--topsail; but the third or head--quarter ship was
still lying to windward, under her storm stay--sails.  None of the merchant
vessels were to be seen, having been compelled to bear up in the night, and
to run before it under bare poles.

At length, as the sun rose, we got before the wind, and it soon moderated
so far, that we could carry reefed topsails and foresail; and away we all
bowled, with a clear, deep, cold, blue sky, and a bright sun overhead, and
a stormy leaden--coloured ocean, with whitish green--crested billows,
below. The sea continued to go down, and the wind to slacken, until the
afternoon, when the Commodore made the signal for Torch to send, a boat's
crew, the instant it could be done with safety, on board the dismasted
ship, to assist in repairing damages, and in getting up a
jury--fore--topmast.

The damaged ship was at this time on our weather--quarter; we accordingly
handed the fore--topsail, and presently she was alongside.  We hailed her,
that we intended to send a boat on board, and desired her to heave--to, as
we did, and presently she rounded to under our lee.  One of the
quarter--boats was manned, with three of the carpenter's crew, and six good
men over and above her complement; but it was no easy matter to get on
board of her, let me tell you, after she had been lowered, carefully
watching the rolls, with four hands in.  The moment she touched the water,
the tackles were cleverly unhooked, and the rest of us tumbled on board,
shin leather growing scarce, when we shoved off.  With great difficulty,
and not without wet jackets, we, the supernumeraries, got on board, and the
boat returned to the Torch.  The evening when we landed in the lobsterbox,
as Jack loves to designate a transport, was too far advanced for us to do
anything towards refitting that night; and the confusion, and uproar, and
numberless abominations of the crowded craft, were irksome to a greater
degree than I expected even, after having been accustomed to the strict and
orderly discipline of a man--of--war.  The following forenoon the Torch was
ordered by signal to chase in the south--east quarter, and hauling out from
the fleet, she was soon out of sight.

"There goes my house and home," said I, and a feeling of desolateness came
over me, that I would have been ashamed at the time to have acknowledged.
We stood on, and worked hard all day in repairing the damage sustained
during the gale.

At length dinner was announced, and I was invited, as the officer in charge
of the seamen, to go down.  The party in the cabin consisted of an old
gizzened Major with a brown wig, and a voice melodious as the sharpening of
a saw--I fancied sometimes that the vibration created by it set the very
glasses in the steward's pantry a--ringing three captains and six
subalterns, every man of whom, as the devil would have it, played on the
flute, and drew bad sketches, and kept journals.  Most of them were very
white and blue in the gills when we sat down, and others of a dingy sort
of whitey--brown, while they ogled the viands in a most suspicious manner.
Evidently most of them had but small confidence in their moniplies; and one
or two, as the ship gave a heavier roll than usual, looked wistfully
towards the door, and half rose from their chairs, as if in act to bolt.
However, hot brandy grog being the order of the day, we all, landsmen and
sailors, got on astonishingly, and numberless long yarns were spun of what
"what's--his--name of this, and so--and--so of t'other, did or did not do."

About half--past five in the evening, the captain of the transport, or
rather the agent, an old lieutenant in the navy, and our host, rang his
bell for the steward.

"Whereabouts are we in the fleet, steward?" said the ancient.

"The stern most ship of all, sir," said the man.

"Where is the Commodore?" "About three miles a--head, sir."

"And the Torch, has she rejoined us?"

"No, sir; she has been out of sight these two hours; when last seen she was
in chase of something in the south--east quarter, and carrying all the sail
she could stagger under."

"Very well, very well."

A song from Master Waistbelt, one of the young officers.  Before he had
concluded, the mate came down.  By this time it was near sun--down.

"Shall we shake a reef out of the main and mizzen--topsails, sir, and set
the mainsail and spanker?  The wind has lulled, sir, and there is a strange
sail in the northwest that seems to be dodging us--but she may be one of
the merchantmen after all, sir."

"Never mind, Mr Leechline," said our gallant captain.  "Mr Bandalier--a
song if you please."

Now the young soldiers on board happened to be men of the world, and
Bandalier, who did not sing, turned off the request with a good--humoured
laugh, alleging his inability with much suavity; but the old rough Turk of
a tar--bucket chose to fire at this, and sang out--"Oh, if you don't choose
to sing when you are asked, and to sport your damned fine airs"

"Mr Crowfoot"

"Captain," said the agent, piqued at having his title by courtesy withheld.

"By no mean," said Major Sawrasp, who had spoken--"I believe I am speaking
to Lieutenant Crowfoot, agent for transport No.--, wherein it so happens I
am commanding officer--so"--

Old Crowfoot saw he was in the wrong box, and therefore hove about, and
backed out in good time--making the amende as smoothly as his gruff nature
admitted, and trying to look pleased.

Presently the same bothersome mate came down again--"The strange sail is
creeping up on our quarter, sir."

"Ay?" said Crowfoot, "how does she lay?"

"She is hauled by the wind on the starboard tack, sir," continued the mate.

We now went on deck, and found that our suspicious friend had shortened
sail, as if he had made us out, and wag afraid to approach, or was lying by
until nightfall.

Sawrasp had before this, with the tact and ease of a soldier and a
gentleman, soldered his feud with Crowfoot, and, with the rest of the
lobsters, was full of fight.  The sun at length set, and the night closed
in when the old major again addressed Crowfoot.

"My dear fellow, can't you wait a bit, and let us have a rattle at that
chap?" And old Crowfoot, who never bore a grudge long, seemed much inclined
to fall in with the soldier's views; and, in fine, although the weather was
now moderate, he did not make sail.  Presently the Commodore fired a gun,
and showed lights.  It was the signal to close.  "Oh, time enough," said
old Crowfoot--"what is the old man afraid of?" Another gun and a fresh c
onstellation on board the frigate.  It was "an enemy in the northwest
quarter."

"Hah, hah," sung out the agent, "is it so?  Major, what say you to a brush
let her close, eh?--should like to pepper her--wouldn't you--three hundred
men, eh?"

By this time we were all on deck--the schooner came bowling along under a
reefed mainsail and jib, now rising, and presently disappearing behind the
stormy heavings of the roaring sea, the rising moon shining brightly on her
canvass pinions, as if she had been an albatross skimming along the surface
of the foaming water, while her broad white streak glanced like a silver
ribbon along her clear black side. She was a very large craft of her class,
long and low in the water, and evidently very fast; and it was now clear,
from our having been unable as yet to sway up our fore--topmast, that she
took us for a disabled merchantman, which might be cut off from the convoy.

As she approached, we could perceive by the bright moonlight, that she had
six guns of a side, and two long ones on pivots, the one forward on the
forecastle, and the other choke up to the mainmast.

Her deck was crowded with dark figures, pike and cutlass in hand; we were
by this time so near that we could see pistols in their belts, and a
trumpet in the hand of a man who stood in the fore rigging, with his feet
on the hammock netting, and his back against the shrouds.  We had cleared
away our six eighteen--pound carronades, which composed our starboard
broadside, and loaded them, each with a round shot, and a bag of two
hundred musket--balls, while three hundred soldiers in their foraging
jackets, and with their loaded muskets in their hands, were lying on the
deck, concealed by the quarters, while the blue jackets were sprawling in
groups round the carronades.

I was lying down beside the gallant old Major, who had a bugler close to
him, while Crowfoot was standing on the gun nearest us; but getting tired
of this recumbent position, I crept aft, until I could see through a spare
port.

"Why don't the rascals fire?" quoth Sawrasp.

"Oh, that would alarm the Commodore.  They intend to walk quietly on board
of us; but they will find themselves mistaken a little," whispered
Crowfoot.

"Mind, men, no firing till the bugle sounds," said the Major.

The word was passed along.

The schooner was by this time ploughing through it within half pistolshot,
with the white water dashing away from her bows, and buzzing past her
sides her crew as thick as peas on her deck.  Once or twice she hauled her
wind a little, and then again kept away from us, as if irresolute what to
do.  At length, without hailing, and all silent as the grave, she put her
helm a--starboard, and ranged alongside.

"Now, my boys, give it him," shouted Crowfoot--"Fire!"

"Ready, men," shouted the Major--"Present--fire!"

The bugles sounded, the cannon roared, the musketry rattled, and the men
cheered, and all was hurra, and fire, and fury.  The breeze was strong
enough to carry all the smoke forward, and I saw the deck of the schooner,
where the moment before all was still and motionless, and filled with dark
figures, till there scarcely appeared standing room, at once converted into
a shambles.  The blasting fiery tempest had laid low nearly the whole mass,
like a maize plant before a hurricane; and such a cry arose, as if "Men
fought on earth, and fiends in upper air."

Scarcely a man was on his legs, the whole crew seemed to have been levelled
with the deck, many dead, no doubt, and most wounded, while we could see
numbers endeavouring to creep towards the hatches, while the black blood,
in horrible streams, gushed and gurgled through her scuppers down her
sides, and across the bright white streak that glanced in the moonlight.

Some one on board of the privateer now hailed, "We have surrendered; cease
firing, sir." But devil a bit--we continued blazing away--a lantern was run
up to his main gaff, and then lowered again.

"We have struck, sir," shouted another voice, "don't murder us don't fire,
sir, for Godsake."

But fire we still did; no sailor has the least compunction at even running
down a privateer.  Mercy to privateersmen is unknown.  "Give them the
stem," is the word, the curs being regarded by Jack at the best as
highwaymen; so, when he found we still peppered away, and sailing two feet
for our one, the schooner at length, in their desperation, hauled her
wind, and speedily got beyond range of our carronades, having all this
time never fired a shot. Shortly after this we ran--under the Rayo's stern
she was lying to.

"Mr Crowfoot what have you been after? I have a great mind to report you,
sir."

"We could not help it, sir," sung out Crowfoot in a most dolorous tone, in
answer to the captain of the frigate; 'we have been nearly taken, sir, by
a privateer, sir--an immense vessel, sir, that sails, like a witch, sir."

"Keep close in my wake then, sir," rejoined the captain, in a gruff tone,
and immediately the Rayo bore up.

Next morning we were all carrying as much sail as we could crowd.  By this
time we had gotten our jury--fore--topmast up, and the Rayo, having kept
astern in the night, was now under topsails, and top--gallant sails, with
the wet canvass at the head of the sails, showing that the reefs had been
freshly shaken out--rolling wedge like on the swell, and rapidly shooting
a--head, to resume her station.  As she passed us, and let fall her
foresail, she made the signal to make more sail, her object being to get
through the Caicos Passage, into which we were now entering, before n
ightfall.  It was eleven o'clock in the forenoon.  A fine clear breezy day,
fresh and pleasant, sometimes cloudy overhead, but always breaking away
again, with a bit of a sneezer, and a small shower.  As the sun rose there
were indications of squalls in the north--eastern quarter, and about noon
one of them was whitening to windward.  So "hands by the topgallant
clew--lines" was the word, and we were all standing by to shorten sail,
when the Commodore came to the wind as sharp and suddenly as if he had
anchored; but on a second look, I saw his sheets were let fly, haulyards
let go, and apparently all was confusion on board of her.  I ran to the
side and looked over.  The long hearing dark blue swell had changed into a
light green hissing ripple.

"Zounds, Captain Crowfoot, shoal water--why it breaks--we shall be ashore!"

"Down with the helm--brace round the yards," shouted Crow foot; "that's it
steady--luff, my man;" and the danger was so imminent that even the
studding--sail haulyards were not let go and the consequence was, that the
booms snapped off like carrots, as we came to the wind.

"Lord help us, we shall never weather that foaming reef there set the
spanker--haul out--haul down the foretopmast--staysail--so, mind your luff,
my man."

The frigate now began to fire right and left, and the hissing of the shot
overhead was a fearful augury of what was to take place; so sudden was the
accident, that they had not had time to draw the round shot.  The other
transports were equally fortunate with ourselves, in weathering the shoal,
and presently we were all close hauled to windward of the reef, until we
weathered the easternmost prong, when we bore up.  But, poor Rayo! she had
struck on a coral reef, where the Admiralty charts laid down fifteen
fathoms water; and although there was some talk at the time of an error in
judgment, in not having the lead going in the chains, still do I believe
there was no fault lying at the door of her gallant captain.  By the time
we had weathered the reef, the frigate had swung off from the pinnacle of
rock on which she had been in a manner impaled, and was making all the sail
she could, with a fothered sail under her bows, and chain--pumps clanging,
and whole cataracts of water gushing from them, clear white jets spouting
from all the scuppers, fore and aft.  She made the signal to close.  The
next, alas! was the British ensign, seized, union down in the main rigging,
the sign of the uttermost distress.  Still we all bowled along together,
but her yards were not squared, nor her sails set with her customary
precision, and her lurches became more and more sickening, until at length
she rolled so heavily, that she dipped both yardarms alternately in the
water, and reeled to and fro like a drunken man.

"What is that splash?"

It was the larboard--bow long eighteen--pound gun hove overboard, and
watching the roll, the whole broadside, one after another, was cast into
the sea.  The clang of the chain--pumps increased, the water rushed in at
one side of the main--deck, and out at the other, in absolute cascades from
the ports.  At this moment the whole fleet of boats were alongside, keeping
way with the ship, in the light breeze.  Her main--topsail was hove aback,
while the captain's voice resounded through the ship.

"Now, men--all hands--bags and hammocks--starboard watch, the starboard
side--larboard watch, the larboard side--no rushing now--she will swim this
hour to come."

The bags, and hammocks, and officers' kits, were handed into the boats; the
men were told off over the side, as quietly by watches as if at muster, the
officers last.  At length the first lieutenant came down.  By this time she
was settling perceptibly in the water; but the old captain still stood on
the gangway, holding by the iron stanchion, where, taking off his hat, he
remained uncovered for a moment, with the tears standing in his eyes.  He
then replaced it, descended, and took his place in the ship's launch--the
last man to leave the ship; and there was little time to spare, for we had
scarcely shoved off a few yards, to clear the spars of the wreck, when she
sended forward, heavily and sickly, on the long swell.--She never rose to
the opposite heave of the sea again, but gradually sank by the head.  The
hull disappeared slowly and dignifiedly, the ensign fluttered and vanished
beneath the dark ocean--I could have fancied reluctantly as if it had been
drawn down through a trap--door.  The topsails next disappeared, the
fore--topsail sinking fastest; and last of all, the white pennant at the
main--topgallant--mast head, after flickering and struggling in the wind,
flew up in the setting sun as if imbued with--life, like a stream of white
fire, or as if it had been the spirit leaving the body, and was then drawn
down into the abyss, and the last vestige of the Rayo vanished for ever.
The crew, as if moved by one common impulse, gave three cheers.

The captain now stood up in his boat--"Men, the Rayo is no more, but it is
my duty to tell you, that although you are now to be distributed amongst
the transports, you are still amenable to martial law; I am aware, men,
this hint may not he necessary, still it is right you should know it."

When the old hooker clipped out of sight, there was not a dry eye in the
whole fleet.  "There she goes, the dear old beauty," said one of her crew.
"There goes the blessed old black b--h," quoth another.  "Ah, many a merry
night have we had in the clever little craft," quoth a third; and there was
really a tolerable shedding of tears and squirting of tobacco juice.  But
the blue ripple had scarcely blown over the glasslike surface of the sea
where she had sunk, when the buoyancy of young hearts, with the prospect of
a good furlough amongst the lobster boxes for a time, seemed to be
uppermost amongst the men.  The officers, I saw and knew, felt very
differently.

"My eye!" sung out an old quartermaster incur boat, perched well forward
with his back against the ring in the stem, and his arms crossed, after
having been busily employed rummaging in his bag, "my eye, what a pity--oh,
what a pity!"

Come, there is some feeling, genuine, at all events, thought I.

"My," said Bill Chestree, the captain of the foretop, "what is can't be
helped, old Fizgig; old Rayo has gone down, and"--"Old Rayo be d--d, Master
Bill," said the man; "but may I be flogged, if I han't forgotten half a
pound of negro head baccy in Dick Catgut's bag."

"Launch ahoy!" hailed a half drunken voice from one of the boats astern of
us.  "Hillo," responded the coxswain.  The poor skipper even pricked up his
ears.  "Have you got Dick Catgut's fiddle among ye?" This said Dick Catgut
was the corporal of marines, and the prime instigator of all the fun
amongst the men.  "No, no," said several voices, "no fiddle here." The hail
passed round among the other boats, "No fiddle." "I would rather lose three
days grog than have his fiddle mislaid," quoth the man who pulled the bow
oar.

"Why don't you ask Dick himself?" said our coxswain.

"Aye--true enough--Dick, Dick Catgut!" but no one answered.  Alas! poor
Dick was nowhere to be found; he had been mislaid as well as his fiddle.
He had broken into the spirit room, as it turned out, and having got drunk,
did not come to time when the frigate sunk.

Our ship, immediately after the frigate's crew had been bestowed, and the
boats got in, hoisted the Commodore's light, and the following morning we
fell in with the Torch, off the east end of Jamaica, which, after seeing
the transports safe into Kingston, and taking out me and my people, bore up
through the Gulf, and resumed her cruising ground on the edge of the Gulf
stream, between 25 degrees and 30 degrees north latitude.


CHAPTER III



The Quenching of the Torch.


"Then rose from sea to sky, the wild farewell."
BYRON, DON JUAN, II. 409


The evening was closing in dark and rainy, with every appearance of a gale
from the westward, and the weather had become so thick and boisterous, that
the lieutenant of the watch had ordered the look--out at the mast--head
down on deck.  The man, on his way down, had gone into the maintop to bring
away some things he had placed there in going aloft, and was in the act of
leaving it, when he sung out,--"A sail on the weather--bow."

"What does she look like?"

"Can't rightly say, sir; she is in the middle of the thick weather to
windward."

"Stay where you are a little.--Jenkins, jump forward, and see what you can
make of her from the foreyard."

Whilst the topman was obeying his instructions, the look--out again hailed
"She is a ship, sir, close--hauled on the same tack----the weather clears,
and I can see her now."

The wind, ever since noon, had been blowing in heavy squalls, with
appalling lulls between them.  One of these gusts had been so violent as to
bury in the sea the lee--guns in the waist, although the brig had nothing
set but her close--reefed main--topsail, and reefed foresail.  It was now
spending, its fury, and she was beginning to roll heavily, when, with a
suddenness almost incredible to one unacquainted with these latitudes, the
veil of mist that had hung to windward the whole day was rent and drawn
aside, and the red and level rays of the setting sun flashed at once,
through a long arch of glowing clouds, on theblack hull and tall spars of
his Britannic Majesty's sloop, Torch.  And, true enough, we were not the
only spectators of this gloomy splendour; for, right in the wake of the
moonlike sun, now half sunk in the sea, at the distance of a mile or more,
lay a long warlike--looking craft, apparently a frigate or heavy corvette,
rolling heavily and silently in the trough of the sea, with her masts,
yards, and the scanty sail she had set, in strong relief against the
glorious horizon.

Jenkins now hailed from the foreyard--"The strange sail isbearing up, sir."

As he spoke, a flash was seen, followed, after what seemed a long interval,
by the deadened report of the gun, as if it had been an echo, and the
sharp, half--ringing half--hissing sound of the shot.  It fell short, but
close to us, and was evidently thrown from a heavy cannon, from the length
of the range.

Mr Splinter, the first lieutenant, jumped from the gun he stood on.

"Quartermaster, keep her away a bit"--and dived into the cabin to make his
report.

Captain Deadeye was a staid, stiff--rumped, wall--eyed, old first
lieutenantish--looking veteran, with his coat of a regular Rodney cut,
broad skirts, long waist, and standup collar, over which dangled either a
queue, or a marlinspike with a tuft of oakum at the end of it,--it would
have puzzled Old Nick to say which.  His lower spars were cased in tight
unmentionables of what had once been white kerseymere, and long boots, the
coal--skuttle tops of which served as scuppers to carry off the drainings
from his coat--flaps in bad weather; he was, in fact, the "last of the
sea--monsters," but, like all his tribe, as brave as steel, and, when put
to it, as alert as a cat.

He no sooner heard Splinter's report, than he sprung up the ladder,
brushing the tumbler of swizzle he had just brewed clean out of the fiddle
into the lap of Mr Saveall, the purser, who had dined with him, and nearly
extinguishing the said purser, by his arm striking the bowl of the pipe he
was smoking, thereby forcing the shank half--way down his throat.

"My glass, Wilson," to his steward.

"She is close to, sir; you can see her plainly without it," said Mr
Treenail, the second lieutenant, from the weather nettings, where he was
reconnoitring.

After a long look through his starboard blinker, (this other skylight had
been shut up ever since Aboukir,) Deadeye gave orders to "clear away the
weather--bow gun;" and as it was now getting too dark for flags to be seen
distinctly, he desired that three lanterns might be got ready for hoisting
vertically in the main--rigging.

"All ready forward there?"

"All ready, sir."

"Then hoist away the lights, and throw a shot across her forefoot I fire!"
Bang went our carronade, but our friend to windward paid no regard to the
private signal; he had shaken a reef out of his topsails, and wars coming
down fast upon us.

It war clear that old Blowhard had at first taken him for one of our own
cruisers, and meant to signalize him, "all regular and shipshape," to use
his own expression.  Most of us, however, thought it would have been wiser
to have made sail, and widened our distance, a little, in place of
bothering with old fashioned manoeuvres, which might end in our catching a
tartar; but the skipper had been all his life in line--of--battle ships, or
heavy frigates; and it was a tough job, under, any circumstances, to
persuade him of the propriety of "up--stick--and--away," as we soon felt to
our cost.

The enemy, for such he evidently was, now all at once yawed, and indulged
us with a sight of his teeth; and there he was, fifteen ports of a side on
his maindeck, with the due quantum of carronades on his quarterdeck and
forecastle; whilst his short lower masts, white canvass, and the tremendous
hoist in his topsails, showed him to be a heavy American frigate; and it
was equally certain that he had cleverly hooked us under his lee, within
comfortable range of his long twenty--fours.  To convince the most
unbelieving, three jets of flame, amidst wreaths of white smoke, now
glanced from his main--deck; but in this instance, the sound of the cannon
was followed by a sharp crackle and a shower of splinters from the
foreyard.

It was clear we had got an ugly customer--poor Jenkins now called to
Treenail, who was standing forward near the gun which had been fired "Och,
sir, and it's badly wounded we are here."

The officer was a Patlander, as well as the seaman.  "Which of you my bov?"
the growing seriousness of the affair in no way checking his propensity to
fun,--"Which of you,--you, or the yard?"

"Both of us, your honour; but the yard badliest."

"The devil!--Come down, then, or get into the top, and I will you looked
after presently."

The poor fellow crawled off the yard into the foretop, as he was ordered,
where he was found after the brush, badly wounded by a splinter in the
breast.

Jonathan, no doubt "calculated," as well he might, that this taste of his
quality would be quite sufficient for a little eighteen--gun sloop, close
under his lee; but the fight was not to be so easily taken out of Deadeye,
although even to his optic it was now high time to be off.

"All hands make sail, Mr Splinter; that chap is too heavy for us. Mr
Kelson," to the carpenter, "jump up and see what the foreyard will carry.
Keep her away, my man," to the seaman at the helm. "Crack on, Mr Splinter,
shake all the reefs out,---set the fore--topsail, and loose
topgallant--sails;--stand by to sheet home; and see all clear to rig the
booms out, if the breeze lulls."

In less than a minute we were bowling along before it; but the wind was
breezing up again, and no one could say how long the wounded foreyard would
carry the weight and drag of the sails.  To mend the matter, Jonathan was
coming up hand over hand with the freshening breeze, under a press of
canvass; it was clear that escape was next to impossible.

"Clear away the larboard guns!" I absolutely jumped off the deck with
astonishment--who could have spoken it?  It appeared such downright
madness to show fight under the very muzzles of the guns of an enemy, half
of whose broadside was sufficient to sink us.  It was the captain,
however, and there was nothing for itbut to obey.

In an instant, the creaking and screaming of the carronade slides, the
rattling of the carriage of the long twelve--pounder amidships, the
thumping and punching of handspikes, and the dancing and jumping of jack
himself, were heard through the whistling of the breeze, as the guns were
being shotted and run out.  In a few seconds all was still again, but the
rushing sound of the vessel going through the water, and of the rising
gale amongst the rigging.

The men stood clustered at their quarters, their cutlasses buckled round
their waists, all without jackets and waistcoats, and many with nothing
but their trowsers on.

"Now, men, mind your aim; our only chance is to wing him. I will yaw the
ship, and as your guns come to bear, slap it right into his bows.
Starboard your helm, my man, and bring her to the wind." As she came round,
blaze went our carronades and long--gun in succession, with goodwill and
good aim, and down came his foretop--sail on the cap, with all the
superincumbent spars and gear; the head of the topmast had been shot away.
The men instinctively cheered.  "That will do; now knock off, my boys, and
let us run for it.  Keep her awav again; make all sail."

Jonathan was for an instant paralysed by our impudence; but just as we were
getting before the wind, he yawed, and let drive his whole broadside; and
fearfully did it transmogrify us.  Half an hour before we were as gay a
little sloop as ever floated, with a crew of I20 as fine fellows as ever
manned a British man--of--war.  The iron--shower sped--ten of the hundred
and twenty never saw the sun rise again; seventeen more were wounded, three
mortally; we had eight shot between wind and water, our maintop--mast shot
away as clean as a carrot, and our hull and rigging otherwise regularly cut
to pieces.  Another broadside succeeded; but by this time we had bore up
thanks to the loss of our after sail, we could do nothing else; and what
was better luck still, whilst the loss of our maintop--mast paid the brig
off on the one hand, the loss of head--sail in the frigate brought her as
quickly to the wind on the other; thus most of her shot fell astern of us;
and, before she could bear up again in chase, the squall struck her, and
carried her maintop--mast overboard.

This gave us a start, crippled and bedevilled though we were; and as the
night fell, we contrived to lose sight of our large friend.  With
breathless anxiety did we carry on through that night, expecting every
lurch to send our remaining topmast by the board; but the weather
moderated, and next morning the sun shone on our bloodstained decks, at
anchor off the entrance to St George's harbour.

I was the mate of the watch, and, as day dawned, I had amused myself with
other younkers over the side, examining the shot holes and other injuries
sustained from the fire of the frigate, and contrasting the clean, sharp,
well--defined apertures, made by the 24--pound shot from the long guns,
with the bruised and splintered ones from the 32--pound carronades; but the
men had begun to wash down the decks, and the first gush of clotted blood
an water from the scuppers fairly turned me sick. I turned away, when Mr
Kennedy, our gunner, a good steady old Scotchman, with whom I was a bit of
a favourite, came up to me--"Mr Cringle, the Captain has sent for you; poor
Mr Johnstone is fast going, he wants to see you."

I knew my young messmate had been wounded, for I had seen him carried below
after the frigate's second broadside; but the excitement of a boy, who had
seldom smelled powder fired in anger before, had kept me on deck the whole
night, and it never once occurred to me to ask for him, until the old
gunner spoke.

I hastened down to our small confined berth, where I saw a sight that
quickly brought me to myself.  Poor Johnstone was indeed going; a grapeshot
had struck him, and torn his belly open.  There he lay in his bloody
hammock on the deck, pale and motionless as if he had already departed,
except a slight twitching at the corners of his mouth, and a convulsive
contraction and distension of his nostrils.

His brown ringlets still clustered over his marble forehead, but they were
drenched in the cold sweat of death.  The surgeon could do nothing for him,
and had left him; but our old captain--bless him for it--I little expected,
from his usual crusty bearing, to find him so employed--had knelt by his
side, and, whilst he read from the Prayer--book one of those beautiful
petitions in our Church service to Almighty God, for mercy to the passing
soul of one so young, and so early cut off, the tears trickled down the old
man's cheeks, and filled the furrows worn in them by the washing up of many
a salt spray.  On the other side of his narrow bed, fomenting the rigid
muscles of his neck and chest, sate Mistress Connolly, one of three women
on board--a rough enough creature, Heaven knows! in common weather; but her
stifled sobs showed that the mournful sight had stirred up all the woman
within her.  She had opened the bosom of the poor boy's shirt, and untying
the riband that fastened a small gold crucifix round his neck, she placed
it in his cold hand.  The young midshipman was of a respectable family in
Limerick, her native place, and a Catholic--another strand of the cord that
bound her to him.  When the Captain finished reading, he bent over the
departing youth and kissed his cheek.  "Your young messmate just now
desired to see you, Mr Cringle, but it is too late, he is insensible and
dying." Whilst he spoke, a strong shiver passed through the boy's frame,
his face became slightly convulsed, and all was over!

The Captain rose, and Connolly, with a delicacy of feeling which many might
not have looked for in her situation, spread one of our clean mess
tablecloths over the body.  "And is it really gone you are, my poor dear
boy!" forgetting all difference of rank in the fulness of her heart.  "Who
will tell this to your mother, and nobody here to wake you but ould Kate
Connolly, and no time will they be giving me, nor whisky--Ochon! ochon!"

But enough and to spare of this piping work.  The boatswain's whistle now
called me to the gangway, to superintend the handling up, from a shore boat
alongside, a supply of the grand staples of the island--ducks and onions.
The three Mudians in her were characteristic samples of the inhabitants.
Their faces and sins, where exposed, were not tanned, but absolutely burnt
into a fiery--red colour by the sun.  They guessed and drawled like any
buckskin from Virginia, superadding to their accomplishments their insular
peculiarity of always shutting one eye when they spoke to you.  They are
all Yankees at bottom; and if they could get their 365 Islands--so they
call the large stones on which they live--under weigh, they would not be
long in towing them into the Chesapeake.

The word had been passed to get six of the larboard--guns and allthe shot
over to the other side, to give the brig a list of a streak or two
a--starboard, so that the stage on which the carpenter and his crew were
at work over the side, stopping the shot holes about the water line, might
swing clear of the wash of the sea.  I had jumped from the nettings, where
I was perched, to assist in unbolting one of the carronade slides, when I
slipped and capsized against a peg sticking out of one of the scuppers.  I
took it for something else, and d--d the ring--bolt incontinently. Caboose,
the cook, was passing with his mate, a Jamaica negro of the name of John
Crow, at the time.  "Don't d--n the remains of your fellow--mortals, Master
Cringle; that is my leg." The cook of a man--of--war is no small beer; he
is his Majesty's warrant--officer, a much bigger wig than a poor little
mid, with whom it is condescension on his part to jest.

It seems to be a sort of rule, that no old sailor who has not lost a limb,
or an eye at least, shall be eligible to the office; but as the kind of
maiming is so far circumscribed that all cooks must have two arms, a
laughable proportion of them have but one leg.  Besides the honour, the
perquisites are good; accordingly, all old quartermasters, captains of
tops, etc. look forward to the cookdom, as the cardinals look to the
popedom; and really there is some analogy between them, for neither are
preferred from any especial fitness for the office.  A cardinal is made
pope because he is old, infirm, and imbecile,--our friend Caboose was made
cook because he had been Lord Nelson's coxswain, was a drunken rascal, and
had a wooden leg; for, as to his gastronomical qualifications, he knew no
more of the science than just sufficient to watch the copper where the
salt junk and potatoes were boiling.  Having been a little in the wind
overnight, he had quartered himself, in the superabundance of his heroism,
at a gun where he had no business to be, and in running it out, he had
jammed his toe in a scupper hole, so fast that there was no extricating
him; and notwithstanding his piteous entreaty "to be eased out handsomely,
as the leg was made out of a plank of the Victory, and the ring at the end
out of one of her bolts," the captain of the gun finding, after a stout
pull, that the man was like to come home in his hand without the leg, was
forced "to break him short off," as he phrased it, to get him out of the
way, and let the carriage traverse. In the morning when he sobered, he had
quite forgotten where the leg was, and how he broke it; he therefore got
Kelson to splice the stump with the but--end of a mop; but in the hurry it
had been left three inches too long, so he had to jerk himself up to the
top of his peg at every step.  The Doctor, glad to breathe the fresh air
after the horrible work he had gone through, was leaning over the side
speaking to Kelson.  When I fell, he turned round and drew Cookee's fire
on himself.  "Doctor, you have not prescribed for me yet."

"No, Caboose, I have not; what is wrong?"

"Wrong, sir? why, I have lost my leg, and the Captain's clerk says I am not
in the Return!--Look here, sir, had Doctor Kelson not coopered me, where
should I have been?--Why, Doctor, had I been looked after, amputation might
have been unnecessary; a fish might have done, whereas I have had to be
spliced."

He was here cut short by the voice of his mate, who had gone forward to
slay a pig for the gunroom mess.  "Oh, Lad, oh!--Massa Caboose!--Dem dam
Yankee!--De Purser killed, massa!--Dem shoot him troo de head!--Oh, Lad!"

Captain Deadeye had come on deck.  "You John Crow, what is wrong with you?"

"Why, de Purser killed, Captain, dat all."

"Purser killed?--Doctor, is Saveall hurt?"

Treenail could stand it no longer.  "No, sir, no; it is one of the gunroom
pigs that we shipped at Halifax three cruises ago; I am sure I don't know
how he survived one, but the seamen took a fancy to him, and nicknamed him
the Purser.  You know, sir, they make pets of any thing, and every thing,
at a pinch!"

Here John Crow drew the carcass from the hog--pen, and sure enough a shot
had cut the poor Purser's head nearly off.  Blackee looked at him with a
most whimsical expression; they sayno one can fathom a negro's affection
for a pig.  "Poor Purser! de people call him Purser, sir, because him
knowing chap; him cabbage all de grub, slush, and stuff in him own corner,
and give only de small bit, and de bad piece, to de older pig; so Captain"

Splinter saw the poor fellow was like to get into a scrape.  "That will do,
John Crow--forward with you now, and lend a hand to cat the anchor.--All
hands up anchor!" The boatswain's hoarse voice repeated the command, and he
n turn was re--echoed by his mates. The capstan was manned, and the crew
stamped, round to a point of wart most villainously performed by a bad
drummer and a worse fifer, in as high glee as if those who were killed had
been snug and well in their hammocks on the berth--deck--, in place of at
the bottom of the sea, with each a shot at his feet.  We weighed, and began
to work up, tack and tack, towards the island of Ireland, where the arsenal
is, amongst a perfect labyrinth of shoals, through which the Mudian pilot
conned the ship with great skill, taking his stand, to our no small
wonderment, not at the gangway or poop, as usual, but on the bowsprit end,
so that he might see the rocks under foot, and shun them accordingly, for
they are so steep and numerous, (they look like large fish in the clear
water,) and the channel is so intricate, that you have to go quite close
to them.  At noon we arrived at the anchorage, and hauled our moorings on
board.

We had refitted, and been four days at sea, on our voyage to Jamaica, when
the gunroom officers gave our mess a blow--out.

The increased motion and rushing of the vessel through the water, the
groaning of the masts, the howling of the rising gale, and the frequent
trampling of the watch on deck, were prophetic of wet jackets to some of
us; still, midshipman--like, we were as happy as a good dinner and some
wine could make us, until the old gunner shoved his weather beaten phiz
and bald pate in at the door.  "Beg pardon, Mr Splinter, but if you will
spare Mr Cringle on the forecastle for an hour until the moon rises."

("Spare, quotha, is his Majesty's officer a joint stool?")

"Why, Mr Kennedy, why? here, man, take a glass of grog."

"I thank you, sir.  It is coming on a roughish night, sir; the running
ships should be crossing us hereabouts; indeed more than once I thought
there was a strange sail close aboard of us, the scud is flying so low, and
in such white flakes; and none of us have an eye like Mr Cringle, unless it
be John Crow, and he is all but frozen."

"Well, Tom, I suppose you will go"--Angelice, from a first lieutenant to a
mid--"Brush instanter."

Having changed my uniform, for shag--trowsers, pea--jacket, and south--west
cap, I went forward, and took my station, in no pleasant humour, on the
stowed foretopmast--staysail, with my arm round the stay. I had been half
an hour there, the weather was getting worse, the rain was beating in my
face, and the spray from the stem was flashing over me, as it roared
through the waste of sparkling and hissing waters. I turned my back to the
weather for a moment, to press my hand on my strained eyes.  When I opened
them again, I saw the gunner's  gaunt high--featured visage thrust
anxiously forward; his profile looked as if rubbed over with phosphorus,
and his whole person as if we had been playing at snap--dragon. "What has
come over you, Mr Kennedy?--who is burning the bluelight now?"

"A wiser man than I am must tell you that; look forward, Mr Cringle--look
there; what do your books say to that?"

I looked forth, and saw, at the extreme end of the jib--boom, what I had
read of, certainly, but never expected to see, a pale, greenish, glowworm
coloured flame, of the size and shape of the frosted glass shade over the
swinging lamp in the gunroom.  It drew out and flattened as the vessel
pitched and rose again, and as she sheered about, it wavered round the
point that seemed to attract it, like a soapsud bubble blown from a tobacco
pipe before it is shaken into the air; at the core it was comparatively
bright, but gradually faded into a halo.  It shed a baleful and ominous
light on the surrounding objects; the cup of sailors on the forecastle
looked like spectres, and they shrunk together, and whispered when it began
to roll slowly along the spar towards where the boatswain was sitting at my
feet.  At this instant something slid down the stay, and a cold clammy hand
passed round my neck. I was within an ace of losing my hold, and tumbling
overboard.  "Heaven have mercy on me, what's that?"

"It's that skylarking son of a gun, Jem Sparkle's monkey, sir.  You, Jem,
you'll never rest till that brute is made shark bait of."

But Jackoo vanished up the stay again, chuckling and grinning in the
ghostly radiance, as if he had been the "Spirit of the Lamp." The light
was still there, but a cloud of mist, like a burst of vapour from a steam
boiler, came down upon the gale, and flew past, when it disappeared.  I
followed the white mass as it sailed down the wind; it did not, as it
appeared to me, vanish in the darkness, but seemed to remain in sight to
leeward, as if checked by a sudden flaw; yet none of our sails were taken
aback.  A thought flashed on me. I peered still more intensely into the
night. I was now certain.  "A sail, broad on the lee bow."

The ship was in a buz in a moment.  The Captain answered from the
quarterdeck--"Thank you, Mr Cringle.  How shall we steer?"

"Keep her away a couple of points, sir, steady."

"Steady," sung the man at the helm; and the slow melancholy cadence,
although a familiar sound to me, now moaned through the rushing of the
wind, and smote upon my heart as if it had been the wailing of a spirit.

I turned to the boatswain, who was now standing beside me--"Is that you or
Davy Jones steering, Mr Nipper? if you had not been here bodilv at my
elbow, I could have sworn that was your voice."

When the gunner made the same remark it startled the poor fellow he tried
to take it as a joke, but could not.  "There may be a laced hammock with a
shot in it, for some of us ere morning."

At this moment, to my dismay, the object we were chasing shortened,
gradually fell abeam of us, and finally disappeared.  "The Flying
Dutchman."

"I can't see her at all now."

"She will be a fore--and--aft--rigged vessel that has tacked, sir," said
the gunner.  And sure enough, after a few seconds, I saw the white object
lengthen, and draw out again abaft our beam.

"The chase has tacked sir," I sung out; "put the helm down, or she will,
go to windward of us."

We tacked also, and time it was we did so, for the rising moon now showed
us a large schooner under a crowd of sail.  We edged down on her, when
finding her manoeuvre detected, she brailed up her flat sails, and bore up
before the wind.  This was our best point of sailing, and we cracked on,
the captain rubbing his hands--"It's my turn to be the big un this time."
Although blowing a strong north--easter, it was now clear moonlight and we
hammered away from bow guns, but whenever a shot told amongst the rigging,
the injury was repaired as if by magic.  It was evident we had repeatedly
hulled her, from the glimmering white streaks along her counter and, across
her stern, occasioned by the splintering of the timber, but it seemed to
produce no effect.

At length we drew well up on her quarter.  She continued all black hull and
white sail, not a soul to be seen on deck, except a dark object, which we
took for the man at the helm.  "What schooner's that?" No answer.
"Heave--to, or I'll sink you." Still all silent.  "Sergeant Armstrong, do
you think you could pick off that chap at the wheel?" The marine jumped on
the forecastle, and levelled his piece, when a musket--shot from the
schooner crashed through his skull, and he fell dead.  The old skipper's
blood was up.  "Forecastle, there!  Mr Nipper, clap a canister of grape
over the round shot into the boat--gun, and give it to him."

"Ay, ay, sir!" gleefully rejoined the boatswain, forgetting the augury and
every thing else in the excitement of the moment.  In a twinkling, the
square foresail--topsail--topgallant--royal--and studdingsail haulyards
were let go by the run on board of the schooner, as if they had been shot
away, and he put his helm hard aport as, if to round to.

"Rake him, sir, or give him the stem.  He has not surrendered.  I know
their game.  Give him your broadside, sir, or he is off to windward of you
like a shot.--No, no! we have him now; heave to, Mr  Splinter, heave--to!"
We did so, and that so suddenly, that the studdingsail booms snapped like
pipe--shanks, short off by the irons. Notwithstanding, we had shot two
hundred yards to leeward before we could lay our maintopsail to the mast. I
ran to windward.  The schooner's yards and rigging were now black with men,
clustered like bees swanning, her square--sails were being close furled,
her fore and--aft sails set, and away she was, close--hauled and dead to
windward of us.

"So much for undervaluing our American friends," grumbled Mr Splinter.

We made all sail in chase, blazing away to little purpose; we had no chance
on a bowline, and when our amigo had satisfied himself of his superiority
by one or two short tacks, he deliberately hauled down his flying jib and
gaff--topsail, took a reef in his mainsail, triced up the bunt of his
foresail, and fired his long thirty--two at us.  The shot came in at the
third aftermost port on the starboard side, and dismounted the carronade,
smashing the slide, and wounding three men.  The second shot missed, and as
it was madness to remain to be peppered, probably winged, whilst every one
of ours fell short, we reluctantly kept away on our course, having the
gratification of hearing a clear well--blown bugle on board the schooner
play up "Yankee Doodle."

As the brig fell off, our long--gun was run out to have a parting crack at
her, when the third and last shot from the schooner struck the sill of the
midship--port, and made the white splinters fly from the solid oak like
bright silver sparks in the moonlight.  A sharp piercing cry rose into the
air--my soul identified that death--shriek with the voice that I had heard,
and I saw the man who was standing with the lanyard of the lock in his hand
drop heavily across the breech, and discharge the gun in his fall.
Thereupon a blood--red glare shot up into the cold blue sky, as if a
volcano had burst forth from beneath the mighty deep, followed by a roar,
and a shattering crash, and a mingling of unearthly cries and groans, and a
concussion of the air, and of the water, as if our whole broadside had been
fired at once.  Then a solitary splash here, and a dip there, and short
sharp yells, and low choking bubbling moans, as the hissing fragments of
the noble vessel we had seen fell into the sea, and the last of her gallant
crew vanished for ever beneath that pale broad moon.  We were alone, and
once more, all was dark, and wild, and stormy.  Fearfully had that ball
sped, fired by a dead man's hand.  But what is it that clings black and
doubled across that fatal cannon, dripping and heavy, and choking the
scuppers with clotting gore, and swaying to and fro with the motion of the
vessel, like a bloody fleece?

"Who is it that was hit at the gun there?"

"Mr Nipper, the boatswain, sir.  The last shot has cut him in two."

After this most melancholy incident we continued on our voyage to Jamaica,
nothing particular occurring until we anchored at Port Royal, where we had
a regular overhaul of the old Bark, and after this was completed, we were
ordered down to the leeward part of the island to afford protection to the
coasting trade.  One fine morning, about a fortnight after we had left
Port Royal, the Torch was lying at anchor in Bluefields Bay.  It was
between eight and nine; the land--wind had died away, and the sea--breeze
had not set in--there was not a breath stirring.  The pennant from the
masthead fell sluggishly down, and clung amongst the rigging like a dead
snake, whilst the folds of the St George's ensign that hung from the
mizzen--peak, were as motionless as if they had been carved in marble.

The anchorage was one unbroken mirror, except where its glass--like surface
was shivered into sparkling ripples by the gambols of a skipjack, or the
flashing stoop of his enemy the pelican; and the reflection of the vessel
was so clear and steady, that at the distance of a cable's length you could
not distinguish the water--line, nor tell where the substance ended and
shadow began, until the casual dashing of a bucket overboard for a few
moments broke up the phantom ship; but the wavering fragments soon
reunited, and she again floated double, like the swan of the poet.  The
heat was so intense, that the iron stanchions of the awning could not be
grasped with the hand, and where the decks were not screened by it, the
pitch boiledout from the seams.  The swell rolled in from the offing in
long shining undulations, like a sea of quicksilver, whilst every now and
then a flying fish would spark out from the unruffled bosom of the heaving
water, and shoot away like a silver arrow, until it dropped with a flash
into the sea again.  There was not a cloud in the heavens, but a quivering
blue haze hung over the land, through which the white sugar--works and
overseers' houses on the distant estates appeared to twinkle like objects
seen through a thin smoke, whilst each of the tall stems of the cocoa--nut
trees on the beach, when looked at steadfastly, seemed to be turning round
with a small spiral motion, like so many endless screws.  There was a
dreamy indistinctness about the outlines of the hills, even in the
immediate vicinity, which increased as they receded, until the Blue
Mountains in the horizon melted into sky.  The crew were listlessly
spinning oakum, and mending sails, under the shade of the awning; the only
exceptions to the general languor were John Crow the black, and jackoo the
monkey. The former (who was an improvisatore of a rough stamp) sat out on
the bowsprit, through choice, beyond the shade of the canvass, without hat
or shirt, like a bronze bust, busy with his task, whatever that might be,
singing at the top of his pipe, and between whiles confabulating with his
hairy ally, as if he had been a messmate.  The monkey was hanging by the
tail from the dolphin--striker, admiring what John Crow called "his own dam
ogly face in the water."

"Tail like yours would be good ting for a sailor, jackoo, it would leave
his two hands free aloft--more use, more hornament, too, I'm sure, den de
piece of greasy junk dat hangs from de Captain's taffril.--Now I shall sing
to you, how dat Corromantee rascal, my fader, was sell me on de Gold Coast.

"Two red nightcap, one long knife,
All him get for Quackoo,
For gun next day him sell him wife,
You tink dat good song, lackoo?"

"Chocko, chocko," chattered the monkey, as if in answer.

"Ah, you tink so--sensible honimal!--What is dat? shark?--Jackoo, come up,
sir: don't you see dat big shovel--nosed fis looking at you?  Pull your
handout of the water--Caramighty!"

The negro threw himself on the gammoning of the bowsprit to take hold of
the poor ape, who, mistaking his kind intention, and ignorant of his
danger, shrunk from him, lost his hold, and fell into the sea.  The shark
instantly sank to have a run, then dashed at his prey, raising his snout
over him, and shooting his head and shoulders three or four feet out of the
water, with poor Jackoo shrieking in his jaws, whilst his small bones
crackled and crunched under the monster's triple row of teeth.

Whilst this small tragedy was acting--and painful enough it was to the
kind--hearted negro--I was looking out towards the eastern horizon,
watching the first dark--blue ripple of the sea--breeze, when a rushing
noise passed over my head.  I looked up and saw a gawnaso, the large
carrion--crow of the tropics, sailing, contrary to the habits of its kind,
seaward over the brig. I followed it with my eye, until it vanished in the
distance, when my attention was attracted by a dark speck far out in the
offing, with a little tiny white sail.  With my glass I made it out to be
a ship's boat, but I saw no one on board, and the sail was idly flapping
about the mast.

On making my report, I was desired to pull towards it in the gig; and as we
approached, one of the crew said he thought he saw some one peering over
the bow.  We drew nearer, and I saw him distinctly.

"Why don't you haul the sheet aft, and come down to us, sir?"

He neither moved nor answered, but, as the boat rose and fell on the short
sea raised by the first of the breeze, the face kept mopping and mowing at
us over the gunwale.

"I will soon teach you manners, my fine fellow! give way, men" and I fired
my musket, when the crow that I had seen, rose from the boat into the air,
but immediately alighted again, to our astonishment, vulture--like with
out--stretched wings, upon the head.

Under the shadow of this horrible plume, the face seemed on the instant to
alter like the hideous changes in a dream.  It appeared to become of a
deathlike paleness, and anon streaked with blood. Another stroke of the
oar--the chin had fallen down, and the tongue was hanging out.  Another
pull--the eyes were gone, and from their sockets, brains and blood were
fermenting and flowing down the cheeks.  It was the face of a putrefying
corpse.  In this floating coffin we found the body of another sailor,
doubled across one of the thwarts, with a long Spanish knife sticking
between his ribs, as if he had died in some mortal struggle, or, what was
equally probable, had put an end to himself in his frenzy; whilst along the
bottom of the boat, arranged with some show of care, and covered by a piece
of canvass stretched across an oar above it, lay the remains of a beautiful
boy, about fourteen years of age, apparently but a few hours dead. Some
biscuit, a roll of jerked beef, and an earthen water--jar, lay beside him,
showing that hunger at least could have had no share in his destruction but
the pipkin was dry, and the small water--cask in the bow was staved, and
empty.

We had no sooner cast our grappling over the bow, and begun to tow the boat
to the ship, than the abominable bird that we had scared settled down into
it again, notwithstanding our proximity, and began to peck at the face of
the dead boy.  At this moment we heard a gibbering noise, and saw something
like a bundle of old rags roll out from beneath the stem--sheets, and
whatever it was, apparently make a fruitless attempt to drive the
gallinaso from its prey. Heaven and earth, what an object met our eyes!
It was a full--grown man, but so wasted, that one of the boys lifted him by
his belt with one hand.  His knees were drawn up to his chin, his hands
were like the talons of a bird, while the falling in of his
chocolate--coloured and withered features gave an unearthly relief to his
forehead, over which the horny and transparent skin was braced so tightly
that it seemed ready to crack.  But in the midst of this desolation, his
deep--set coal--black eyes sparkled like two diamonds with the fever of his
sufferings; there was a fearful fascination in their flashing brightness,
contrasted with the deathlike aspect of the face, and rigidity of the
frame.  When sensible of our presence he tried to speak, but uld only utter
a low moaning sound.  At length--"Agua, agua"--we had not a drop of water
in the boat.  "El muchacho esta moriendo de sed--Agua."

We got on board, and the surgeon gave the poor fellow some weak tepid grog.
It acted like magic.  He gradually uncoiled himself, his voice, from being
weak and husky, became comparative strong and clear.  "El hijo--Agua para
mi Pedrillo--No le hace pari mi--oh la noche pasado, la noche pasado!" He
was told to compose himself, and that his boy would be taken care of.
"Dexa me verlo entonces, oh Dios, dexa me verlo"----and he crawled,
grovelling on his chest, like a crushed worm, across the deck, until he got
his head over the port sill, and looked down into the boat.  He there
beheld the pale face of his dead son; it was the last object he ever saw,
"Ay de mi!"  he groaned heavily, and dropped his face against the ship's
side--He was dead.

After spending several months in the service already alluded to, we were
ordered on a cruise off the coast of Terra Firma.

Morillo was at this time besieging Carthagena by land, while a Spanish
squadron, under Admiral Enrile, blockaded the place by sea; and it pleased
the officer who commanded the inshore division to conceive, while the old
Torch was quietly beating up along the coast, that we had an intention of
forcing the blockade.

The night before had been gusty and tempestuous--all hands had been called
three times, so that at last, thinking there was no use in going below, I
lay down on the stern sheets of the boat over the stern--an awkward berth
certainly, but a spare tarpaulins had that morning been stretched over the
after part of the boat to dry, and I therefore ensconced myself beneath it.
just before daylight, however, the brig, by a sudden shift of wind, was
taken aback, and fetching stern--way, a sea struck her.  How I escaped I
never could tell, but I was pitched right in on deck over the poop, and
much bruised, where I found a sad scene of confusion, with the captain and
several of the officers in their shirts, and the men tumbling up from below
as fast as they could--while, amongst other incidents, one of our
passengers who occupied a small cabin under the poop, having gone to sleep
with the stern port open, the sea had surged in through it with such
violence as to wash him out on deck in his shirt, where he lay sprawling
among the feet of the men.  However, we soon got all right, and in five
minutes the sloop was once more tearing through it on a wind; but the boat
where I had been sleeping was smashed into staves, all that remained of her
being the stem and stern--post dangling from the tackles at the ends of
the davits.

At this time it was grey dawn, and we were working up in shore, without
dreaming of breaking the blockade, when it fell stark calm. Presently the
Spanish squadron, anchored under Punto Canoa, perceived us, when a
corvette, two schooners, a cutter, and eight gunboats, got under weigh, the
latter of which soon swept close to us, ranging themselves on our bows and
quarters; and although we showed our colours, and made the private
international signal, they continued firing at us for about an hour,
without, however, doing any damage, as they had chosen a wary distance.
At length some of the shot falling near us, the skipper cleared for action,
and with his own hand fired a 32--pounder at the nearest gun--boat, the
crew of which bobbed as if they, had seen the shot coming.  This opened
the eyes of the Dons, who thereupon ceased firing; and as a light breeze
had now set down, they immediately made sail in pursuit of a schooner that
had watched the opportunity of their being employed with us to run in
under the walls, and was at this moment chased by a ship and a gun-boat,
who had got within gun-shot and kept up a brisk fire on her.  So soon as
the others came up, all hands opened on the gallant little hooker who was
forcing the blockade, and peppered away; and there she was, like a hare,
with a whole pack of harriers after her, sailing and sweeping in under
their fire towards the doomed city.  As the wind was very light, the
blockading squadron now manned their boats, and some of them were coming
fast, when a raffle of musketry from the small craft sent them to the
right about, and presently the chase was safely at anchor under the
battery of Santa Catalina.

But the fun was to come-for by this time some of the vessels that held
her in chase, had got becahned under the batteries, which immediately
opened on them cheerily; and down came a topgallant-mast .here, and a
topsail-yard there, and a studdingsail t'other place-and such a squealing
and creaking of blocks and rattling of the gearwhile yards braced hither
and thither, and topping-lifts let go, and sheets let fly, showed that the
Dons were in a sad quandary; and no wonder, for we could see the shot from
the long 32-pounders on the walls, falling very thick all around several
of them.  However, at 4 P.m. we had worked up alongside of the Commodore,
when the old skipper gave our friend such a rating, that I don't think he
will ever forget it.

On the day following our being fired at, I was sent, being a good
Spaniard, along with the second lieutenant-poor Treenail-to Morillo's
headquarters.  We got an order to the officer commanding the nearest post
on shore, to provide us with horses; but before reaching it, we had to
walk, under a roasting sun, about two miles through miry roads, until we
arrived at the barrier, where we found a detachment of artillery, but the
commanding officer could only give us one poor broken-winded horse, and
a jackass, on which we were to proceed to headquarters on the morrow; and
here, under a thatched hut of the most primitive construction, consisting
simply of cross sticks and pahn branches, we had to spend the night, the
poor fellows being as kind as their own misery would let them.

Next morning we proceeded, accompanied by a hussar, through dreadful
roads, where the poor creatures we bestrode sunk to the belly at every
flounder, until about four p.m., when we met two negroes and found, to
our great distress, that the soldier who was our guide and escort, had
led us out of our way, and that we were in very truth then travelling
towards the town.  We therefore hove-about and returned to Palanquillo, a
village that we had passed through that very morning, leaving the hussar
and his horse sticking fast in a slough.  We arrived about nightfall,
and as the village was almost entirely deserted, we were driven to take up
our quarters in an old house, that seemed formerly to have been used as a
distillery.  Here we found a Spanish lieutenant and several soldiers
quartered, all of them suffering more or less from dysentery; and after
passing a very comfortless night on hard benches, we rose at grey dawn,
with our hands and faces bhstered from musquitto bites, and our hair full
of wood ticks, or garapatos.  We again started on our journey to
headquarters, and finally arrived at Torrecilla at two o'clock in the
afternoon.  Both the Commander-in-Chief Morillo, and Admiral Enrile, had
that morning proceeded to the works at Boca Chica, so we only found El
Senor Montalvo, the Captain-General of the Province, a little kiln-dried
diminutive Spaniard.  Morillo used to call him "uno muneco Creollo," but
withal he was a gentlemanlike man in his manners.

He received us very civilly; we delivered our despatches; and the same
evenmg we made our bow, and having obtained fresh horses, set out on our
return, and arrived at the village of Santa Rosa at nine at night, where
we slept; and next morning continuing on our journey, we got once more
safely on board of the old Brig at twelve o'clock at noon, in a miserable
plight, not having had our clothes off for three days.  As for me I was
used to roughing it, and in my humble equipment any disarrangement was not
particularly discernible, but in poor Treenail. one of the nattiest
fellows in the service, it was a very different matter.  He had issued
forth on the enterprise, cased in tight blue pantaloons that fitted him
like his skin, over which were drawn long well-polished Hessian boots,
each with a formidable tassel at top, and his coat was buttoned close up
to the chin, with a blaz-, ing swab on the right shoulder, while a laced
cocked hat and dress sword completed his equipment.  But, alas! when we
were accounted for on board of the old Torch, there was a fearful
dilapidation of his external man.  First of all, his inexpressibles were
absolutely tom into shreds by the briers and prickly bushes through which
we had been travelling, and fluttered from his waistband like the stripes
we see depending from an ancient Roman or Grecian coat of armour; his coat
had only one skirt, and the bullion of the epaulet was reduced to a strand
or two, while the tag that held the brim, or flaps of the cocked hat up,
had given way, so that, although he looked fierce enough, stem on, still,
when you had a sternview, the after part hung down his back like the tail
of the hat of one of Landseer's flying dustmen.

After this, we experienced, with little intermission, most dreadful
weather for two weeks, until at length we were nearly torn in pieces, and
the Captain was about abandoning his ground, and returning to Port Royal,
when it came on to blow with redoubled violence.  We struggled against it
for twelve hours, but were finally obliged to heave--to, the sea all the
while running tremendously high.

About noon on the day I speak of, the weather had begun to look a little
better, but the sea had if any thing increased. I had just come on deck,
when Mr Splinter sung out--"Look out for that sea, quartermaster!--Mind
your starboard helm!--Ease her, man--ease her!"

On it came, rolling as high as the foreyard, and tumbled in over the
bows, green, clear, and unbroken.  It filled the deep waist of the Torch
in an instant, and as I rose half smothered in the midst of a jumble of
men, pigs, hencoops, and spare spars, I had nearly lost an eye by a
floating boarding--pike that was lanced at me by the jauglet of the water.
As for the boats on the booms, they had all gone to sea separately, and
were bobbing at us in a squadron to leeward, the launch acting as
commodore, with a crew of a dozen sheep, whose bleating as she rose on the
crest of a wave came back upon us, faintly blending with the hoarse
roaring of the storm, and seeming to cry, "No more mutton for you, my
boys!"

At length the lee ports were forced out--the pumps promptly rigged and
manned--buckets slung and at work down the hatchways; and although we had
narrowly escaped being swamped, and it continued to blow hard, with a
heavy sea, the men, confident in the qualities of the ship, worked with
glee, shaking their feathers, and quizzing each other.  But anon a sudden
and appalling change came over the sea and the sky, that made the stoutest
amongst us quail and draw his breath thick.  The firmament darkened--the
horizon seeme to contract--the sea became black as ink--the wind fell to a
dead calm--the teeming clouds descended and filled the murky arch of
heaven with their whirling masses, until they appeared to touch our
mast--heads, but there was neither lightning nor rain, not one glancing
flash, not one refreshing drop--the windows of the sky had been sealed up
by Him who had said to the storm, "Peace, be still."

During this deathlike pause, infinitely more awful than the heaviest gale,
every sound on board, the voices of the men, even the creaking of the
bulkheads, was heard with startling distinctness; and the water--logged
brig, having no wind to steady her, laboured so heavily in the trough of
the sea, that we expected her masts to go overboard every moment.

"Do you see and hear that, sir?" said Lieutenant Treenail to the Captain.

We all looked eagerly forth in the direction indicated.  There was a white
line in fearful contrast with the clouds and the rest of the ocean,
gleaming on the extreme verge of the horizon--it grew broader--a  low
increasing growl was heard--a thick blinding mist came driving up a--stern
of us, whose small drops pierced into the skin like sharp hail.

"Is it rain?"

"No, no--salt, salt."

And now the fierce Spirit of the Hurricane himself, the sea Azrael, in
storm and in darkness, came thundering on with stunning violence, tearing
off the snowy scalps of the tortured billows, and with tremendous and
sheer force, crushing down beneath his chariot wheels their mountainous
and howling ridges into one level plain of foaming water. Our chainplates,
strong fastenings, and clenched bolts, drew like pliant wires, shrouds and
stays were torn away like the summer gossamer, and our masts and spars,
crackling before his fury like dry reeds in autumn, were blown clean out
of the ship, over her bows, into the sea.

Had we shown a shred of the strongest sail in the vessel, it would have
been blown out of the bolt--rope in an instant; we had, therefore, to get
her before the wind, by crossing a spar on the stump of the foremast, with
four men at the wheel, one watch at the pumps, and, the other clearing the
wreck.  But our spirits were soon dashed, when the old carpenter, one of
the coolest and bravest men in the ship, rose through the forehatch, pale
as a ghost, with his white hairs streaming straight out in the wind.  He
did not speak to any of us, but clambered aft, towards the capstan, to
which the Captain had lashed himself.

"The water is rushing in forward like a mill--stream, sir; we have either
started a but, or the wreck of the foremast has gone through her bows,
for she is fast settling down by the head."

"Get the boatswain to father a sail then, man, and try it over the leak;
but don't alarm the people, Mr Kelson."

The brig was, indeed, rapidly losing her buoyancy, and when the next heavy
sea rose ahead of us, she gave a drunken sickening lurch, and pitched
right into it, groaning and trembling in every plank, like a guilty and
condemned thing in the prospect of impending punishment.

"Stand by, to heave the guns overboard."

Too late, too late--Oh God, that cry!--I was stunned and drowning, a chaos
of wreck was beneath me, and around me, and above me, and blue agonized
gasping faces, and struggling arms, and colourless clutching hands, and
despairing yells for help, where help was impossible; when I felt a sharp
bite on the neck, and breathed again.  My Newfoundland dog, Sneezer, had
snatched at me, and dragged me out of the eddy of the sinking vessel.

For life, for dear life, nearly suffocated amidst--the hissing spray, we
reached the cutter, the dog and his helpless master.

For three miserable days, I had been exposed, half naked and bareheaded,
in an open boat, without water, or food, or shade.  The third fierce
cloudless West Indian noon was long passed, and once more the dry burning
sun sank in the west, like a red--hot shield of iron.  In my horrible
extremity, I imprecated the wrath of Heaven on my defenceless head, and
shaking my clenched hands against the brazen sky, I called aloud on the
Almighty, "Oh, let me never see him rise again!" I glared on the noble dog,
as he lay dying at the bottom of the boat; madness seized me, I tore his
throat with my teeth, not for food, but that I might drink his hot blood
it flowed, and vampirelike, I would have gorged myself; but as he turned
his dull, grey, glazing eye on me, the pulses of my heart stopped, and I
fell senseless.

When my recollection returned, I was stretched on some fresh plantain
leaves, in a low smoky hut, with my faithful dog lying beside me, whining
and licking my hands and face.  On the rude joists that bound the rafters
of the roof together, rested a light canoe with its paddles, and over
against me, on the wall, hung some Indian fishing implements, and a
long--barrelled Spanish gun.  Underneath lay a corpse, wrapped in a
boat--sail, on which was clumsily written, with charcoal,--"The body of
John Deadeye, Esq. late Commander of his Britannic Majesty's Sloop,
Torch."

There was a fire on the floor, at which Lieutenant Splinter, in his shirt
and trowsers, drenched, unshorn, and deathlike, was roasting a joint of
meat, whilst a dwarfish Indian, stark naked, sat opposite to him,
squatting on his hams, more like a large bull--frog than a man, and
fanning the flame with a palm leaf.  In the dark corner of the hut half a
dozen miserable sheep shrunk huddled together.  Through the open door I
saw the stars in the deep blue heaven, and the cold beams of the newly
risen moon were dancing in a long flickering wake of silver light on the
ever--heaving bosom of the ocean, whilst the melancholy murmur of the surf
breaking on the shore, came booming on the gentle night--wind. I was
instantly persuaded that I had been nourished during my delirium; for the
fierceness of my sufferings was assuaged, and I was comparatively strong.
I anxiously enquired of the Lieutenant the fate of our shipmates.

"All gone down in the old Torch; and had it not been for the launch and
our four--footed friends there, I should not have been here to have told
it; but raw mutton, with the wool on, is not a mess to thrive on, Tom.
All that the sharks have left of the Captain and five sea men came ashore
last night. I have buried the poor fellows on the beach where they lay
as well as I could, with an oar--blade for a shovel, and the bronze
ornament there [pointing to the Indian] for an assistant."

Here he looked towards the body; and the honest fellow's voice shook as
he continued.

"But seeing you were alive, I thought if you did recover, it would be
gratifying to both of us, after having weathered it so long with him
through gale and sunshine, to lay the kind--hearted old man's head on its
everlasting pillow as decently as our forlorn condition permitted."

As the Lieutenant spoke, Sneezer seemed to think his watch was up, and
drew off towards the fire.  Clung and famished, the poor brute could no
longer resist the temptation, but, making a desperate snatch at the joint,
bolted through the door with it, hotly pursued by the Bull--frog.

"Drop the leg of mutton, Sneezer," roared the Lieutenant, "drop the
mutton--drop it, sir, drop it, drop it." And away raced his Majestv's
officer in pursuit of the canine pirate.

After a little, he and the Indian returned, the former with the joint in
his hand; and presently the dog stole into the hut after them, and
patiently lay down in a corner, until the Lieutenant good--humouredly
threw the bone to him after our comfortless meal had been finished.

I was so weak that my shipmate considerately refrained from pressing his
society on me; and we, therefore, all betook ourselves to rest for the
night.



To COMMODORE CHRISTOPHER NORTH.

DEAR OLD GENTLEMAN,

Your chief devil has got me into a terrible mess by a misprint in last
Chapter--confound my cramp fist--regarding which Old Splinter
(erst of the Torch,) has ever since quizzed me verv nearly up to gunpowder
mark.

To the matter--The said imp makes me say, in page 84, standing on the
bowsprit, that "the spray from the stern was flashing over me, as it
roared through the waste of sparkling and hissing waters."  Now, I don't
dispute the roaring of sterns--in season.  But,--me, if you or any other
man shall make Tom Cringle's stern roar, out of season, on compulsion. I
wrote STEM, the cutwater of the ship, the coulter as it were--the head of
her, not the tail, as the devil would have it.  And again, when the
privateer hauls his wind suddenly to let the Torch shoot past him, and
thereby gain the weather--gage, when old Splinter should sing out, as it
was written--but, confound the fist once more "Give her the stem"--that
is, run her down and sink her, the stem being the strongest part, as the
stern is the weakest, he, Belzebub, judging, I presume, of the respective
strength of the two ends from his own comparative anatomy, makes him say,
"Give her the stern," as if he were going to let drive at her with that
end.  "Poo, nonsense--it don't signify." But it does signify, old man.

To touch you more near--you yourself have been known to get fou and
pugnacious on great occasions--the visit of royalty, for instance--it is
on record.  A mountain foreigner from Rossshire engages you, for some
unknown insult, in single combat, and, leagued with John Barleycorn,
(let us imagine an impossibility,) floors you by a peg on the gnomon--the
wound is in the front--your snout is broken, but your honour is whole.
Would it be so, were the Gael to allege, that "her nainsell had coupit you
by a pig kick on her preach?" By all the gods, he of the laconic garment,
the "thousand hill man," would have been careering on a cloud after his
"freen" Ossian, with the moon shining through him, within that very
hour.

Still I would not have bothered you; but I know his Most Gracious Majesty
King William, God bless him! (who can forget poor Burns's "Tarry Breeks?")
either has noticed it, or will notice it, the instant he comes to that
part of the Log.  Now this, without explanation, is inconvenient, trowsers
being likely to come as high up in these days as pantaloons, and I have
some claim on him, seeing that my uncle, Job Cringle, some
five--and--forty years ago, at Jamaica, in the town of Port Royal, had his
headrails smashed, the neb of his nose (stem) bitten off by a bungo, and
the end of his spine (stern--post), that mysterious point, where man ends,
and monkey begins, grievously shaken in a spree at Kitty Finnans, in
Prince William Henry's company.

"Poo, nonsense." Indeed!--Why, the very devil himself, the author of the
evil, shall be convinced that there is much peril in the transposition of
ends.  I will ask him--"What is a sternutation?" (words being his weapons)
"What is a sternutation?" He shall answer learnedly by the card--"A
sneeze," the nose or stem being the organ.  Then he shall ask Jem
Sparkle "What is a sternutation?"--You laugh, old gentleman; but your
devil's "mistack" looks every inch as queer to a sailor as our topman's
answer would sound to you.

Yours with all cordiality, notwithstanding,

"THOMAS CRINGLE."





CHAPTER IV



Scenes on the Costa Firme.

"Here lies a sheer hulk, poor Tom Bowline."

CHARLES DIBDIN,

"Tom Bowling," LINE 1.



I was awakened by the low growling, and short bark of the dog.  The night
was far spent; the tiny sparks of the fire--flies that were glancing in
the doorway began to grow pale; the chirping of the crickets and lizards,
and the snore of the tree--toad, waxed fainter, and the wild cry of the
tiger--cat was no longer heard.  The terral, or land--wind, which is
usually strongest towards morning, moaned loudly on the hillside, and came
rushing past with a melancholy sough, through the brushwood that
surrounded the hut, shaking off the heavy dew from the palm and cocoa--nut
trees, like large drops of rain.

The hollow tap of the woodpecker; the clear flute--note of the Pavo del
monte; the discordant shriek of the macaw; the shrill chirr of the wild
Guinea fowl; and the chattering of the paroquets, began to be heard from
the wood.  The ill--omened gaflinaso was sailing and circling round the
hut, and the tall flamingo was stalking on the shallows of the lagoon, the
haunt of the disgusting alligator, that lay beneath, divided from the sea
by a narrow mud--bank, where a group of pelicans, perched on the wreck of
one of our boats, were pluming themselves before taking wing.  In the
east, the deep blue of the firmament, from which the lesser stars were
fast fading, all but the "Eye of Mom," was warming into magnificent
purple, and the amber rays of the yet unrisen sun were shooting up,
streamer--like, with intervals between, through the parting clouds, as
they broke away with a passing shower, that fell like a veil of silver
gauze between us and the first primrose--coloured streaks of a tropical
dawn.

"That's a musket shot," said the Lieutenant.  The Indian crept on his
belly to the door, dropped his chin on the ground, and placed his open
palms behind his ears.  The distant wail of a bugle was heard, then three
or four dropping shots again, in rapid succession.  Mr Splinter stooped
to go forth, but the Indian caught him by the leg, uttering the single
word "Espanoles."

On the instant, a young Indian woman, with a shrieking infant in her
arms, rushed to the door.  There was a blue gunshot wound in her neck,
from which two or three large black clotting gouts of blood were
trickling.  Her long black hair was streaming in coarse braids, and her
features were pinched and sharpened, as if in the agony of death.  She
glanced wildly behind, and gasped out "Escapa, Oreeque, escape, para mi,
soi muerto ya." Another shot, and the miserable creature convulsively
clasped her child, whose small shrill cry I often fancy I hear to this
hour blending with its mother's death--shriek, and, falling backwards,
rolled over the brow of the hill out of sight.  The ball had pierced the
heart of the parent through the body of her offspring.  By this time a
party of Spanish soldiers had surrounded the hut, one of whom, kneeling
before the low door, pointed his musket into it.  The Indian, who had seen
his wife and child thus cruelly shot down before his face, now fired his
rifle, and the man feel dead.  "Siga mi Querida Bondia--maldito." Then
springing to his feet, and stretching himself to his full height, with his
arms extended towards Heaven, while a strong shiver shook him like an ague
fit, he yelled forth the last words he ever uttered, "Venga la suerte, ya
soi listo," and resumed his squatting position on the ground.

Half a dozen musket balls were now fired at random through the wattles of
the hut, while the Lieutenant, who spoke Spanish well, sung out lustily,
that we were English officers who had been shipwrecked.

"Mentira,"  growled the officer of the party, "Piratas son ustedes."
"Pirates leagued with Indian bravoes; fire the hut, soldiers, and burn the
scoundrels!"

There was no time to be lost; Mr Splinter made a vigorous attempt to get
out, in which I seconded him with all the strength that remained to me,
but they beat us back again with the butts of their muskets.

"Where are your conunissions, your uniforms, if you be British officers?"
We had neither, and our fate appeared inevitable.

The doorway was filled with brushwood, fire was set to the hut, and we
heard the crackling of the palm thatch, while thick stifling wreaths of
white smoke burst in upon us through the roof.

"Lend a hand, Tom, now or never, and kick up the dark man there;" but he
sat still as a statue.  We laid our shoulders to the end wall, and heaved
at it with all our might; when we were nearly at the last gasp it gave
way, and we rushed headlong into the middle of the party, followed by
Sneezer with his shaggy coat, that was full of clots of tar, blazing like
a torch.  He unceremoniously seized par le queue, the soldier who had
throttled me, setting fire to the skirts of his coat, and blowing up his
cartouche box.  I believe, under Providence, that the ludicrousness of
this attack saved us from being bayoneted on the spot.  It gave time for
Mr Splinter to recover his breath, when, being a powerful man, he shook
off the two soldiers who had seized him, and dashed into the burning hut
again. I thought he was mad, especially when I saw him return with his
clothes and hair on fire, dragging out the body of the Captain.  He
unfolded the sail it was wrapped in, and pointing to the remains of the
naval uniform in which the mutilated and putrefying corpse was dressed, he
said sternly to the officer--"We are in your power, and you may murder us
if you will; but that was my Captain four days ago, and you see, he at
least was a British officer--satisfy yourself." The person he addressed, a
handsome young Spaniard, with a clear olive complexion, oval face, small
brown mustaches, and large black eyes, shuddered at the horrible
spectacle, but did as he was requested.

When he saw the crown and anchor, and his Majesty's cipher on the
appointments of the dead officer, he became convinced of our quality, and
changed his tone--"Es verdad, son de la marina Englesa. But, gentlemen,
were there not three persons in the hut?"

There were indeed--the flames had consumed the dry roof and walls with
incredible rapidity, which by this time had fallen in, but Oreeque was
nowhere to be seen. I thought I saw something move in the midst of the
fire, but it might have been fancy.  Again, the white ashes heaved, and a
half--consumed hand and arm were thrust through the smouldering mass, then
a human head, with the scalp burnt from the skull, and the flesh from the
chaps and cheekbones; the trunk next appeared, the bleeding ribs laid
bare, and the miserable Indian, with his limbs like scorched rafters,
stood upright before us, like a demon in the midst of the fire.  He made
no attempt to escape, but reeling to and fro like a drunken man, fell
headlong, raising clouds of smoke and a shower of sparks in his fall.
Alas! poor Oreeque, the newly risen sun was now shining on your ashes, and
on the dead bodies of the ill--starred Bondia and her child, whose bones,
ere his setting, the birds of the air, and beasts of the forest, will
leave as white and fieshless as your own.  The officer, who belonged to
the army investing Carthagena, now treated us with great civility; he
heard our story, and desired his men to assist us in burying the remains
of our late commander.

We remained all day on the same part of the coast, but towards evening the
party fell back on the outpost to which they belonged--after travelling an
hour or so we emerged from a dry river course, in which the night had
overtaken us, and came suddenly on a small plateau, where the post was
established on the promontory of "Punto Canoa." There may be braver
soldiers at a charge, although that I doubt, if they be properly led, but
none more picturesque in a bivouac than the Spanish.  A gigantic wild
cotton--tree, to which our largest English oaks would have been but as
dwarfs, rose on one side, and overshadowed the whole level space.  The
bright beams of the full moon glanced among the topmost leaves, and tipped
the higher branches with silver, contrasting strangely with the scene
below, where a large watch--fire cast a strong red glare on the
surrounding objects, throwing up dense volumes of smoke, which eddied in
dun wreaths amongst the foliage, and hung in the still night air like a
canopy, about ten feet from the ground, leaving the space beneath
comparatively clear.

A temporary guard--house, with a rude verandah of bamboos and palm leaves,
had been built between two of the immense spurs of the mighty tree, that
shot out many yards from the parent stem like wooden buttresses, whilst
overhead there was a sort of stage, made of planks laid across the lower
boughs, supporting a quantity of provisions covered with tarpaulins.  The
sentries in the background with their glancing arms, were seen pacing on
their watch; some of the guard were asleep on wooden benches, and on the
platform amongst the branches, where a little baboon--looking old man, in
the dress of a drummer, had perched himself, and sat playing a Biscayan
air on a sort of bagpipe; others were gathered round the fire, cooking
their food, or cleaning their arms.  It shone brightly on the long line of
Spanish transports that were moored below, stem on to the beach, and on
the white sails of the armed craft that were still hovering under weigh in
the offing, which, as the night wore on, stole in, one after another like
phantoms of the ocean, and letting go their anchors with a splash, and a
hollow rattle of the cable, remained still and silent like the rest.
Farther off, it fell in a crimson stream on the surface of the sheltered
bay, struggling with the light of the gentle moon, and tinging with blood
the small waves that twinkled in her silver wake, across which a guard
boat would now and then glide, like a fairy thing, the arms of the men
flashing back the red light.


Beyond the influence of the hot smoky glare, the glorious planet reassumed
her sway in the midst of her attendant stars, and the relieved eye
wandered forth into the lovely night, where the noiseless sheet--lightning
was glancing, and ever and anon lighting up for an instant some fantastic
shape in the fleecy clouds, like prodigies forerunning the destruction of
the stronghold over which they impended; while beneath, the lofty ridge of
the convent--crowned Popa, the citadel of San Felipe bristling with
cannon, the white batteries and many towers of the fated city of
Carthagena, and the Spanish blockading squadron at anchor before it, slept
in the moonlight.

We were civilly received by the captain, who apologized for the discomfort
under which we must pass the night.  He gave us the best he had, and that
was bad enough, both of food and wine, before showing us into the hut,
where we found a rough deal coffin lying on the very bench that was to be
our bed.  This he ordered away with all the coolness in the world.  "It
was only one of his people who had died that morning of vomito, or yellow
fever."

"Comfortable country this," quoth Splinter, "and a pleasant morning we
have had of it, Tom!"

Next morning, we proceeded towards the Spanish headquarters, provided with
horses through the kindness of the captain of the outpost, and preceded by
a guide on an ass.  He was a moreno, or man of colour, who in place of
bestriding his beast, gathered his limbs under him, and sat crosslegged on
it like a tailor; so that when you saw the two "end on," the effect was
laughable enough, the flank and tail of the ass appearing to constitute
the lower part of the man, as if he had been a sort of composite animal,
like the ancient satyr.  The road traversed a low swampy country, from
which the rank moisture arose in a hot palpable mist, and crossed several
shallow lagoons, from two to six feet deep of tepid, muddy, brackish
water, some of them half a mile broad, and swarming with wild waterfowl.
On these occasions, our friend the Satyr was signalled to make sail ahead
on his donkey to pilot us; and as the water deepened, he would betake
himself to swimming in its wake, holding on by the tail, and shouting,
"Cuidado Burrico, Cuidado que no te ahogas."

While passing through the largest of these, we noticed several calabashes
about pistol--shot on our right; and as we fancied one of them bobbed now
and then it struck me they might be Indian fishing floats.  To satisfy my
curiosity, I hauled my wind, and leaving the track we were on, swam my
horse towards the group.  The two first that I lifted had nothing attached
to them, but proved to be mere empty gourds floating before the wind; but
when I tried to seize the largest, it eluded my grasp in a most
incomprehensible manner, and slid away astern of me with a curious hollow
gabbling sort of noise, whereupon my palfrey snorted and reared, and
nearly capsized me over his bows.  What a noble fish, thought I, as I
tacked in chase, but my Bucephalus refused to face it. I therefore bore up
to join my companions again; but in requital of the disappointment,
smashed the gourd in passing with the stick I held in my hand, when, to my
unutterable surprise, and amidst shouts of laughter from our moreno, the
head and shoulders of an Indian, with a quantity of sedges tied round his
neck, and buoyed up by half--a--dozen dead teal fastened by the legs to
his girdle, started up before me.  "Ave Maria, purissima! you have
broken my head, senior." But as the vegetable helmet had saved his skull,
of itself possibly none of the softest, a small piece of money spliced the
feud between us; and as he fitted his pate with another calabash,
preparatory to resuming his cruise, he joined in our merriment, although
from a different cause.--"What can these English simpletons see so very
comical in a poor Indian catching wild--ducks?"

Shortly after, we entered a forest of magnificent trees, whose sombre
shade, on first passing from the intolerable glare of the sun, seemed
absolute darkness.  The branches were alive with innumerable tropical
birds and insects, and were laced together by a thick tracery of withes,
along which a guana would occasionally dart, coming nearest of all the
reptiles I had seen to the shape of the fabled dragon.

But how different from the clean steams and beautiful green sward of our
English woods!  Here, you were confined to a quagmire by impervious
underwood of prickly pear, penguin, and speargrass; and when we rode under
the drooping branches of the trees, that the leaves might brush away the
halo of musquittoes, flying ants, and other winged plagues that buzzed
about our temples, we found, to our dismay, that we had made bad worse by
the introduction of a whole colony of garapatos, or wood--ticks, into our
eyebrows and hair.  At length, for the second time, so far as I was
concerned, we reached the reached the headquarters at Torrecilla, and were
well received by the Spanish commander--in--chief, a tall, good--looking,
soldierlike man, whose personal qualities had an excellent foil in the
captain--general of the province, an old friend of mine, as already
mentioned, and who certainly looked full as like a dancing--master, or, at
the best, perruquier en general to the staff, as a viceroy.

General Morillo, however, had a great share of Sancho Panza shrewdness,
and I will add kindness, about him.  We were drenched and miserable when
we arrived, yet he might have turned us over, naturally enough, to the
care of his staff.  No such thing; the first thing he did was to walk both
of us behind a canvass screen, that shut off one end of the large barnlike
room, where a long table was laid for dinner.  This was his sleeping
apartment, and drawing out of a leather bag two suits of uniform, he
rigged us almost with his own hands.  Presently a point of war was sounded
by half--a--dozen trumpeters, and Splinter and I made our appearance each
in the dress of a Spanish general.  The party consisted of Morillo's
personal staff, the captain--general, the inquisidor general, and several
colonels and majors of different regiments.  In all, twenty people sat
down to dinner; among whom were several young Spanish noblemen, some of
whom I had met on my former visit, who, having served in the Peninsular
war under the great Duke, made their advances with great cordiality.
Strange enough--Splinter and I were the only parties present in uniform;
all the others, priests and soldiers, were clothed in gingham coats and
white trowsers.

The besieging force at this time was composed of about five thousand
Spaniards, as fine troops as I ever saw, and three thousand Creoles under
the command of that desperate fellow Morales. I was not long in
recognising an old friend of mine in the person of Captain Bayer,
an aide--de--camp of Morillo, amongst the company.  He was very kind and
attentive, and rather startled me by speaking very tolerable English now,
from a kindly motive I make no question, whereas, when I had known him
before in Kingston, he professed to speak nothing but Spanish or French.
He was a German by birth, and lived to rise to the rank of colonel in the
Spanish army, where he subsequently greatly distinguished himself, but he
at length fell in some obscure skirmish in New Granada; and my old ally
Morillo, Count of Carthagena, is now living in penury, an exile in Paris.

After being, as related, furnished with food and raiment, we retired to
our quatres, a most primitive sort of couch, being a simple wooden frame,
with a piece of canvass stretched over it.  However, if we had no
mattresses, we had none of the disagreeables often incidental to them,
and, fatigue proved a good opiate, for we slept soundly until the drums
and trumpets of the troops, getting under arms, awoke us at daylight.  The
army was under weigh to occupy Carthagena, which had fallen through
famine, and we had no choice but to accompany it.

I knew nothing of the misery of a siege but by description; the reality
even to me, case--hardened as I was by my own recent sufferings, was
dreadful.  We entered by the gate of the raval, or suburb.  There was not
a living thing to be seen in the street; the houses had been pulled down,
that the fire of the place might not be obstructed in the event of a
lodgment in the outwork.  We passed on, the military music echoing
mournfully amongst the ruined walls, to the main gate, or Puerto de Tiera,
which was also open, and the drawbridge lowered.  Under the archway, we
saw a delicate female, worn to the bone, and weak as an infant, gathering
garbage of the most loathsome description, the possession of which had
been successfully disputed by a carrion crow.  A little farther on, the
bodies of an old man and two small children were putrefying in the sun,
while beside them lay a misererable, wasted, dying negro, vainly
endeavouring to keep at a distance with a palm branch a number of the same
obscene birds that were already devouring the carcass of one of the
infants; before two hours, the faithful servant, and those he attempted to
defend, were equally the prey of the disgusting gallinaso.  The houses, as
we proceeded, appeared entirely deserted, except where a solitary spectre
like inhabitant appeared at a balcony, and feebly exclaimed, "Viva, los
Espanoles!  Viva, Fernando Septimo!"--We saw no domestic animal
whatsoever, not even a cat or a dog; but I will not dwell on these
horrible details any longer.

One morning, shortly after our arrival, as we strolled beyond the land
gate, we came to a place where four banquillos (a sort of short bench or
stool, with an upright post at one end firmly fixed into the ground) were
placed opposite a dead wall.  They were painted black, and we were not
left long in suspense as to their use; for solemn music, and the roll
of muffled drums in the distance, were fearful indications of what we were
to witness.

First came an entire regiment of Spanish infantry, which, filing off,
formed three sides of a square,--the wall near which the banquillos were
placed forming the fourth; then eight priests, and as many choristers
chanting the service for the dying; next came several mounted officers of
the staff, and four firing parties of twelve men each.  Three Spanish
American prisoners followed, dressed in white, with crucifixes in their
hands, each supported, more dead than alive, by two priests; but when the
fourth victim appeared, we could neither look at nor think of any thing
else.

On enquiry we found he was an Englishman, of the name of S----: English,
that is, in all except the place of his birth, for his whole education had
been English, as were his parents and all his family; but it came out,
accidentally I believe, on his trial, that he had been born at Buenos
Ayres, and having joined the patriots, this brought treason home to him,
which he was now led forth to expiate.  Whilst his fellow--sufferers
appeared crushed down to the very earth, under their intense agony, so
that they had to be supported as they tottered towards the place of
execution, he stepped firmly and manfully out, and seemed impatient when
at any time, from the crowding in front, the procession was obliged to
halt.  At length they reached the fatal spot, and his three companions in
misery being placed astride on the banquillos, their arms twisted round
the upright posts, and fastened to them with cords, their backs being
towards the soldiers.  Mr S----walked firmly up to the vacant bench,
knelt down, and covering his face with his hands, rested his head on the
edge of it.  For a brief space he seemed to be engaged in prayer, during
which he sobbed audibly, but soon recovering himself, he rose, and folding
his arms across his breast, sat down slowly and deliberately on the
banquillo, facing the firing party with an unshrinking eye.

He was now told that he must turn his back and submit to be tied like the
others.  He resisted this, but on force being attempted to be used, he
sprung to his feet, and stretching out his hand, while a dark red flush
passed transiently across his pale face, he exclaimed in a loud voice,
"Thus, thus, and not otherwise, you may butcher me, but I am an Englishman
and no traitor, nor will I die the death of one." Moved by his gallantry,
the soldiers withdrew, and left him standing.  At this time the sun was
intensely hot, it was high noon, and the monk who attended Mr S----held
an umbrella over his head; but the preparations being completed, he kissed
him on both cheeks, while the hot tears trickled down his own, and was
stepping back, when the unhappy man said to him, with the most perfect
composure, "Todavia padre, todavia, mucho me gusta la sombra." But the
time had arrived, the kind--hearted monk was obliged to retire.  The
signal was given, the musketry rattled, and they were as clods of the
valley "Truly," quoth old Splinter, "a man does sometimes become a horse
by being born in a stable."

Some time after this we were allowed to go to the village of Turbaco, a
few miles distant from the city, for change of air.  On the third morning
after our arrival, about the dawning, I was suddenly awakened by a shower
of dust on my face, and a violent shaking of the bed, accompanied by a low
grumbling unearthly noise, which seemed to pass immediately under where I
lay.  Were I to liken it to any thing I had ever experienced before, it
would be to the lumbering and tremor of a large waggon in a tempestuous
night, heard and felt through the thin walls of a London house.--Like--yet
how fearfully different!

In a few seconds the motion ceased, and the noise gradually died away in
hollow echoes in the distance--whereupon ensued such a crowing of cocks,
cackling of geese, barking of dogs, lowing of kine, neighing of horses,
and shouting of men, women, and children amongst the negro and coloured
domestics, as baffles all description, whilst the various white inmates of
the house (the rooms, for air and coolness, being without ceiling, and
simply divided by partitions run up about ten feet high) were, one and
all, calling to their servants and each other, in accents which did not by
any means evince great composure.  In a moment this hubbub again sank into
the deepest silence--man, and the beasts of the field, and the fowls of
the air, became mute with breathless awe, at the impending tremendous
manifestation of the power of that Almighty Being in whose hands the hills
are as a very little thing--for the appalling voice of the earthquake was
once more heard growling afar off, like distant thunder mingling with the
rushing of a mighty wind, waxing louder and louder as it approached, and
upheaving the sure and firm--set earth into long undulations, as if its
surface had been the rolling swell of the fathomless ocean.  The house
rocked, pictures of saints fell from the walls, tables and chairs were
overturned, the window frames were forced out of their embrasures and
broken in pieces, beams and rafters groaned and screamed, crushing the
tiles of the roof into ten thousand fragments.  In several places the
ground split open into chasms a fathom wide, with an explosion like a
cannon--shot; the very foundation of the house seemed to be sinking under
us; and whilst men and women rushed like maniacs naked into the fields,
with a yell as if the Day of Judgment had arrived, and the whole brute
creation, in an agony of fear, made the most desperate attempts to break
forth from their enclosures into the open air, the end wall of my
apartment was shaken down; and falling outwards with a deafening crash,
disclosed, in the dull grey mysterious twilight of morning, the huge
gnarled trees that overshadowed the building, bending and groaning, amidst
clouds of dust, as if they had been tormented by a tempest, although the
air was calm and motionless as death.



CHAPTER V



The Piccaroon

"Ours the wild life in tumult still to range."

BYRON, THE CORSAIR, I. 7.


Some time after this, we once more returned to Carthagena, to be at hand
should any opportunity occur for Jamaica, and A.--Jwere lounging about one
forenoon on the fortifications, looking with sickening hearts out to
seaward, when a voice struck up the following negro ditty close to us:

"Fader was a Corramantee,
Moder was a Mingo,
Black picaniny buccra wantee,
So dem sell a me Peter, by jingo,
Jiggery, jiggery, jiggery."

"Well sung, Massa Bungo," exclaimed Mr Splinter; "where do you hail from,
my hearty?"

"Hiflo!  Bungo, indeed! free and easy dat, anyhow.  Who you yousef, eh?"

"Why, Peter," continued the Lieutenant, "don't you know me?" "Cannot say
dat I do," rejoined the negro, very gravely, without lifting his head, as
he sat mending his jacket in one of the embrasures near the water gate of
the arsenal--"Have not de honour of your acquaintance, sir."

He then resumed his scream, for song it could not be called:--

"Mammy Sally's daughter,
Lose him shoe in an old canoe,
Dat lay halffull of water,
And den she knew not what to do.
Jiggery, jig"--

"Confound your jiggery, jiggery, sir!  But I know you well enough, my man;
and you can scarcely have forgotten Lieutenant Splinter of the Torch, one
would think?"

However, it was clear that the poor fellow really had not known us; for
the name so startled him, that, in his hurry to unlace his legs from under
him, as he sat tailor--fashion, he fairly capsized out of his perch, and
toppled down on his nose--a feature fortunately so flattened by the hand
of nature, that I question if it could have been rendered more obtuse had
he fallen out of the maintop on a timber--head, or a marine officer's.

"Eh!--no--yes, him sure enough; and who is de picaniny hofficer--Oh! I
see, Massa Tom Cringle?  Garamighty, gentlemen, where have you drop
from?--Where is de old Torch?  Many a time hab I Peter Mangrove, pilot to
Him Britanic Magesty squadron, taken de old brig in and through amongst de
keys at Port Royal!"

"Ay, and how often did you scour her copper against the coral reefs,
Peter?"

His Majesty's pilot gave a knowing look, and laid his hand on his breast
"No more of dat if you love me, massa."

"Well, well, it don't signify now, my boy; she will never give you that
trouble again--foundered--all hands lost, Peter, but the two you see
before you."

"Werry sorry, Massa Plinter, werry sorry--What! de black cooksmate and
all?--But misfortune can't be help.  Stop till I put up my needle, and I
will take a turn wid you." Here he drew himself up with a great deal of
absurd gravity.  "Proper dat British hofficer in distress should assist
one anoder--We shall consult togeder.--How can I serve you?"

"Why, Peter, if you could help us to a passage to Port Royal, it would be
serving us most essentially.  When we used to be lying there, a week
seldom passed without one of the squadron arriving from this; but here
have we been for more than a month, without a single pennant belonging to
the station having looked in: our money is running short, and if we are to
hold on in Carthagena for another six weeks, we shall not have a shot
left in the locker--not a copper to tinkle on a tombstone."

The negro looked steadfastly at us, then carefully around.  There was no
one near.

"You see, Massa Plinter, I am desirable to serve you, for one little
reason of my own; but, beside dat, it is good for me at present to make
some friend wid de hofficer of de squadron, being as how dat I am absent
widout leave."

"Oh, I perceive--a large R against your name in the master attendant's
books, eh?"

"You have hit it, sir, werry close; besides I long mosh to return to my
poor wife, Nancy Cator, dat I leave, wagabone dat I is, just about to be
confine."

I could not resist putting in my oar.

"I saw Nancy just before we sailed, Peter,--fine child that; not quite so
black as you, though."

"Oh, massa," said Snowball, grinning and showing his white teeth, "you
know I am soch a terrible black fellow--But you are a leetle out at
present, massa--I meant, about to be confine in de workhouse, for stealing
de admiral's Muscovy ducks;" and he laughed loud and long.--"However, if
you will promise dat you will stand my friends, I will put you in de way
of getting a shove across to de east end of Jamaica; and I will go wid
you, too, for company."

"Thank you," rejoined Mr Splinter; "but how do you mean to manage this?
There is no Kingston trader here at present, and you don't mean to make a
start of it in an open boat, do you?"

"No, sir, I don't; but in de first place--as you are a gentleman, will you
try and get me off when we get to Jamaica?  Secondly, wi you promise dat
you will not seek to know more of de vessel you may go in, nor of her
crew, than dey are willing to tell you, provided you are landed safe?"

"Why, Peter, I scarcely think you would deceive us, for you know I saved
your bacon in that awkward affair, when through drunkenness you plumped
the Torch ashore, so"--

"Forget dat, sir,----forget dat!--Never shall poor black pilot forget how
you saved him from being seized upt when de gratings, boatswain's mates,
and all, were ready at de gangway@never shall poor black rascal forget
dat."

"Indeed I do not think you would wittingly betray us into trouble, Peter;
and as I guess you mean one of the forced traders, we will venture in her,
rather than kick about here any longer, and pay a moderate sum for our
passage."

"Den wait here five minute,"--and so saying he slipt down through the
embrasure into a canoe that lay beneath, and in a trice we saw him jump on
board of a long low nondescript kind of craft, that lay moored within
pistol--shot of the walls.

She was a large shallow vessel, coppered to the bends, of great breadth of
beam, with bright sides, like an American, so painted as to give her a
clumsy mercantile sheer externally, but there were many things that belied
this to a nautical eye: her copper, for instance, was bright as burnished
gold on her very sharp bows and beautiful run; and we could see from the
bastion where we stood, that her decks were flush and level.  She had no
cannon mounted that were visible, but we distinguished grooves on her
well--scrubbed decks, as from the recent traversing of carronade slides,
while the bolts and rings in her high and solid bulwarks shone clear and
bright in the ardent noontide.  There was a tarpawling stretched over a
quantity of rubbish, old sails, old junk, and hencoops rather
ostentatiously piled up forward, which we conjectured might conceal a
long gun.

She was a very taught--rigged hermaphrodite, or brig forward and schooner
aft.  Her foremast and bowsprit were immensely strong and heavy, and her
mainmast was so long and tapering, that the wonder was, how the few
shrouds and stays about it could support it: it was the handsomest stick
we had ever seen.  Her upper spars were on the same scale, tapering away
through topmast, topgallant--mast, royal and skysail--masts, until they
fined away into slender wands.  The sails, that were loose to dry, were
old, and patched, And evidently displayed to cloak the character of the
vessel, by an ostentatious show of their unserviceable condition, but her
rigging was beautifully fitted, every rope lying in the chafe of another
being carefully served with hide.  There were several large
bushy--whiskered fellows lounging about the deck, with their hair
gathered into dirty net bags, like the fishermen of Barcelona; many had
red silk sashes round their waists, through which were stuck their long
knives, in shark--skin sheaths.  Their numbers were not so great as to
excite suspicion; but a certain daring reckless manner, would at once
have distinguished them, independently of any thing else, from the quiet,
hard--worked, redshirted merchant seaman.

"That chap is not much to be trusted," said the Lieutenant; "his bunting
would make a few jackets for Joseph, I take it." But we had little time to
be critical before our friend Peter came paddling back with another
blackamoor in the stem, of as ungainly an exterior as could well be,
imagined.  He was a very large man, whose weight every now and then, as
they breasted the short sea, cocked up the snout of the canoe with Peter
Mangrove in it, as if he had been a cork, leaving him to flourish his
paddle in the air, like the weatherwheel of a steam--boat in a sea--way.
The new comer was strong and broad--shouldered, with long muscular arms,
and a chest like Hercules; but his legs and thighs were, for his bulk,
remarkably puny and misshapen.  A thick fell of black wool, in close
tufts, as if his face had been stuck full of cloves, covered his chin and
upper lip; and his hair, if hair it could be called, was twisted into a
hundred short plaits, that bristled out, and gave his head, when he took
his hat off, the appearance of a porcupine.  There was a large sabre--cut
across his nose, and down his cheek, and he wore two immense gold earrmgs.
His dress consisted of short cotton drawers, that did not reach within two
inches of his knee, leaving his thin cucumber shanks (on which the small
bullet--like calf appeared to have been stuck before, through mistake, in
place of abaft) naked to the shoe; a check shirt, and an enormously large
Panama hat, made of a sort of cane, split small, and worn shovel--fashion.
Notwithstanding, he made his bow by no means ungracefully, and offered his
services in choice Spanish, but spoke English as soon as he heard who we
were.

"Pray, sir, are you the master of that vessel?" said the lieutenant.

"No, sir, I am the mate, and I learn you are desirous of a passage to
Jamaica." This was spoken with a broad Scotch accent.

"Yes, we are," said I, in very great astonishment; "but we will not sail
with the devil; and who ever saw a negro Scotchman before, the spirit of
Nicol Jarvie conjured into a blackamoor's skin!"

The fellow laughed.  "I am black, as you see; so were my father and mother
before me." And he looked at me, as much as to say, I have read the book
you quote from.  "But I was born in the good town of Port--Glasgow,
notwithstanding, and many a voyage I have made as cabin--boy and cook, in
the good ship the Peggy Bogle, with worthy old jock Hunter; but that
matters not. I was told you wanted to go to Jamaica; I dare say our
captain will take you for a moderate passagemoney.  But here he comes to
speak for himself.--Captain Vanderbosh, here are two shipwrecked British
officers, who wish to be put on shore on the east end of Jamaica; will you
take them, and what will you charge for their passage?"

The man he spoke to was nearly as tall as himself; he was a sunburnt,
angular, raw--boned, iron--visaged veteran, with a nose in shape and
colour like the bowl of his own pipe, but not at all, according to the
received idea, like a Dutchman.  His dress was quizzical enoughwhite
trowsers, a long--flapped embroidered waistcoat, that might have belonged
to a Spanish grandee, with an old--fashioned French--cut coat, showing the
frayed marks where the lace had been stripped off, voluminous in the
skirts, but very tight in the sleeves, which were so short as to leave his
large bony paws, and six inches of his arm above the wrist, exposed;
altogether, it fitted him like a purser's shirt on a handspike.

"Vy, for von hondred thaler, I will land dem safe in Mancheoneal Bay; but
how shall ve manage, Villiamson?  De cabin vas point yesterday."

The Scotch negro nodded.  "Never mind; I dare say the smell of the paint
won't signify to the gentlemen."

The bargain was ratified, we agreed to pay the stipulated sum, and that
same evening, having dropped down with the last of the seabreeze, we set
sail from Bocca Chica, and began working up under the lee of the headland
of Punto Canoa.  When off the San Domingo Gate, we burned a blue light,
which was immediately answered by another in shore of us.  In the glare,
we could perceive two boats, full of men.  Any one who has ever played at
snapdragon, can imagine the unearthly appearance of objects when seen by
this species of firework.  In the present instance, it was held aloft on
a boat--hook, and cast a strong spectral light on the band of lawless
ruffians, who were so crowded together, that they entirely filled the
boats, no part of which could be seen.  It seemed as if two clusters of
fiends, suddenly vomited forth from hell, were floating on the surface of
the midnight sea, in the midst of brimstone flames.  In a few moments, our
crew was strengthened by about forty as ugly Christians as I ever set eyes
on. They were of all ages, countries, complexions, and tongues, and looked
as if they had been kidnapped by a pressgang, as they had knocked off from
the Tower of Babel.  From the moment they came on board, Captain
Vanderbosh was shorn of all his glory, and sank into the petty officer,
while, to our amazement, the Scottish negro took the command, evincing
great coolness, energy, and skill.  He ordered the schooner to be wore,
as soon as we had shipped the men, and laid her head off the land, then
set all hands to shift the old suit of sails, and to bend new ones.

"Why did you not shift your canvass before we started?" said I to the
Dutch captain, or mate, or whatever he might be.

"Vy vont you be content to take a quiet passage and hax no question?" was
the uncivil rejoinder, which I felt inclined to resent, until I remembered
that we were in the hands of the Philistines, where a quarrel would have
been worse than useless. I was gulping down the insult as well as I could,
when the black captain came--aft, and, with the air of an equal, invited
us into the cabin to take a glass of grog.  We had scarcely sat down
before we heard a noise like the swaying up of guns, or some other heavy
articles, from the hold.

I caught Mr Splinter's eye--he nodded, but said nothing.  In half an hour
afterwards, when we went on deck, we saw by the light of the moon, twelve
eighteen--pound carronades mounted, six of a side, with their
accompaniments of rammers and sponges, water buckets, boxes of round,
grape, and canister, and tubs of wadding, while the combings of the
hatchways were thickly studded with round shot.  The tarpawling and lumber
forward had disappeared, and there lay long Tom ready levelled, grinning
on his pivot.

The ropes were all coiled away, and laid down in regular man--of--war
fashion; while an ugly gruff beast of a Spanish mulatto, apparently the
officer of the watch, walked the weather--side of the quarter--deck, in
the true pendulum style.  Look--outs were placed aft, and at the gangways
and bows, who every now and then passed the word to keep a bright
look--out, while the rest of the watch were stretched silent, but
evidently broad awake, under the lee of the boat.  We noticed that each
man had his cutlass buckled round his waistthat the boarding--pikes had
been cut loose from the main boom, round which they had been stopped, and
that about thirty muskets were ranged along a fixed'rack, that ran athwart
ships, near the main hatchway.

By the time we had reconnoitred thus far, the night became overcast, and a
thick bank of clouds began to rise to windward; some heavy drops of rain
fell, and the thunder grumbled at a distance.  The black veil crept
gradually on, until it shrouded the whole firmament, and left us in as
dark a night as ever poor devils were out in.  By and by, a narrow streak
of bright moonlight appeared under the lower edge of the bank, defining
the dark outlines of the tumbling multitudinous billows on the horizon, as
distinctly as if they had been pasteboard waves in a theatre.

"Is that a sail to windward, in the clear, think you?" said Mr Splinter to
me in a whisper.  At this moment it lightened vividly.  "I am sure it is,"
continued he--"I could see her white canvass glance just now."

I looked steadily, and, at last, caught the small dark speck against the
bright background, rising and falling on the swell of the sea like a
feather,

As we stood on, she was seen more distinctly, but, to all appearance,
nobody was aware of her proximity.  We were mistaken in this, however, for
the captain suddenly jumped on a gun, and gave his orders with a fiery
energy that startled us.

"Leroux!" A small French boy was at his side in a moment.  "Forward, and
call all hands to shorten sail; but, doucement, you land crab!--Man the
fore clew--garnets.--Hands by the topgallant clewlines--peak and throat
haulyards--jib down--haul--rise tacks and sheets--let go--clew up--settle
away the main--gaff there!"

In almost as short a space as I have taken to write it, every inch of
canvass was close furled--every light, except the one in the binnacle, and
that was cautiously masked, carefully extinguished--a hundred and twenty
men at quarters, and the ship under bare poles.  The head yards were then
squared, and we bore up before the wind.  The stratagem proved successful;
the strange sail could be seen through the night glasses, cracking on
close to the wind, evidently under the impression that we had tacked.

"Dere she goes, chasing de Gobel," said the Dutchman.

She now burned a blue light, by which we saw she was a heavy cutter
without doubt our old fellow--cruiser the Spark.  The Dutchman had come to
the same conclusion.

"My eye, Captain, no use to dodge from her; it is only dat footy little
King's cutter on de Jamaica station."

"It is her, true enough," answered Williamson; "and she is from Santa
Martha with a freight of specie, I know. I will try a brush with her by"

Splinter struck in before he could finish his irreverent exclamation.  "If
your conjecture be true, I know the craft--a heavy vessel of her class,
and you may depend on hard knocks, and small profit if you do take her;
while, if she takes you"--

"I'll be hanged if she does"--and he grinned at the conceit--then setting
his teeth hard, "or rather, I will blow the schooner up with my own hand
before I strike; better that than have one's bones bleached in chains on a
key at Port Royal.--But, you see you cannot control us, gentlemen; so get
down into the cable tier and take Peter Mangrove with you. I would not
willingly see those come to harm who have trusted me."

However, there was no shot flying as yet, we therefore staid on deck.  All
sail was once more made; the carronades were cast loose on both sides, and
double--shotted; the long gun slewed round; the tack of the fore--and--aft
foresail hauled up, and we kept by the wind, and stood after the cutter,
whose white canvass we could still see through the gloom like a
snow--wreath.

As soon as she saw us she tacked and stood towards us, and came bowling
along gallantly, with the water roaring and flashing at her bows.  As the
vessels neared each other, they both shortened sail, and finding that we
could not weather her, we steered close under her lee.

As we crossed on opposite tacks her commander hailed, "Ho, the brigantine,
ahoy!"

"Hillo!" sung out Blackie, as he backed his maintopsail.

"What schooner is that?"

"Ihe Spanish schooner Caridad."

"Whence, and whither bound?"

"Carthagena to Porto Rico."

"Heave--to, and send your boat on board."

"We have none that will swim, sir."

"Very well--bring--to, and I will send mine."

"Call away the boarders," said our captain, in a low stern tone; "let
them crouch out of sight behind the boat."

The cutter wore, and hove--to under our lee quarter, within pistol shot.
We heard the rattle of the ropes running through the davit blocks, and the
splash of the jolly boat touching the water, then the measured stroke of
the oars, as they glanced like silver in the sparkling sea, and a voice
calling out, "Give way, my lads."

The character of the vessel we were on board of was now evident; and the
bitter reflection that we were chained to the stake on board of a pirate,
on the eve of a fierce contest with one of our own cruisers, was
aggravated by the consideration that the cutter had fallen into a snare,
by which a whole boat's crew would be sacrificed before a shot was fired.

I watched my opportunity as she pulled up alongside, and called out,
leaning well over the nettings, "Get back to your ship! treachery! get
back to your ship!"

The little French serpent was at my side with the speed of thought, his
long clear knife glancing in one hand, while the fingers of the other were
laid on his lips.  He could not have said more plainly, "Hold your tongue
or I'll cut your throat;" but Sneezer now startled him by rushing between
us, and giving a short angry growl.

The officer in the boat had heard me imperfectly; he rose up--"I won't go
back, my good man, until I see what you are made of; and as he spoke he
sprung on board, but the instant he got over the bulwarks he was caught by
two strong hands, gagged and thrown bodily down the main hatchway.

"Heave," cried a voice, "and with a will!" and four cold 32--pound shot
were hove at once into the boat alongside, which crashing through her
bottom, swamped her in a moment, precipitating the miserable crew into the
boiling sea.  Their shrieks still ring in my ears as they clung to the
oars and some loose planks of the boat.

"Bring up the officer, and take out the gag," said Williamson.

Poor Walcolm, who had been an old messmate of mine, was now dragged to the
gangway half--naked, his face bleeding, and heavily ironed, when the
blackamoor, clapping a pistol to his head, bid him, as he feared instant
death, hail "that the boat had swamped under the counter, and to send
another." The poor fellow, who appeared stunned and confused, did so, but
without seeming to know what he said.

"Good God," said Mr Splinter, "don't you mean to pick up the boat's crew?"

The blood curdled to my heart as the black savage answered in a voice of
thunder, "Let them drown and be d--d! fill, and stand on!"

But the clouds by this time broke away, and the mild moon shone clear and
bright once more, upon this scene of most atrocious villainy.  By her
light the cutter's people could see that there was no one struggling in
the water now, and that the people must either have been saved, or were
past all earthly aid; but the infamous deception was not entirely at an
end.

The captain of the cutter, seeing we were making sail, did the same, and
after having shot ahead of us, hailed once more.

"Mr Walcolm, why don't you run to leeward, and heave--to, sir?"

"Answer him instantly, and hail again for another boat," said the sable
fiend, and cocked his pistol.

The click went to my heart.  The young midshipman turned his pale mild
countenance, laced with his blood, upwards towards the moon and stars, as
one who had looked his last look on earth; the large tears were flowing
down his cheeks, and mingling with the crimson streaks, and a flood of
silver light fell on the fine features of the poor boy, as he said firmly,
"Never." The miscreant fired, and he fell dead.

"Up with the helm, and wear across her stern." The order was obeyed.
"Fire!" The whole broadside was poured in, and we could hear the shot
rattle and tear along the cutter's deck, and the shrieks and groans of the
wounded, while the white splinters glanced away in all directions.

We now ranged alongside, and close action commenced, and never do I expect
to see such an infernal scene again.  Up to this moment there had been
neither confusion nor noise on board the pirate--all had been coolness and
order; but when the yards locked, the crew broke loose from all control
they ceased to be men they were demons, for they threw their own dead and
wounded, as they were mown down like grass by the cutter's grape,
indiscriminately down the hatchways to get clear of them.  They had stript
themselves almost naked; and although they fought with the most desperate
courage, yelling and cursing, each in his own tongue, most hideously, yet
their very numbers, pent up in a small vessel, were against them.  At
length, amidst the fire, and smoke, and hellish uproar, we could see that
the deck had become a very shambles; and unless they soon carried the
cutter by boarding, it was clear that the coolness and discipline of my
own glorious service must prevail, even against such fearful odds, the
superior size of the vessel, greater number of guns, and heavier metal.
The pirates seemed aware of this themselves, for they now made a desperate
attempt forward to carry their antagonist by boarding, led on by the black
captain.  Just at this moment, the cutter's main--boom fell across the
schooner's deck, close to where we were sheltering ourselves from the shot
the best way we could; and while the rush forward was being made, by a
sudden impulse Splinter and I, followed by Peter and the dog, (who with
wonderful sagacity, seeing the uselessness of resistance, had cowered
quietly by my side during the, whole row,) scrambled along it as the
cutter's people were repelling the attack on her bow, and all four of us
in our haste jumped down on the poor Irishman at the wheel.

"Murder, fire, rape, and robbery! it is capsized, stove in, sunk, burned,
and destroyed I am!  Captain, Captain, we are carried aft here--Och,
hubbaboo for Patrick Donnally!"

There was no time to be lost; if any of the crew came aft, we were dead
men, so we tumbled down through the cabin skylight, men and beast, the
hatch having been knocked off by a shot, and stowed ourselves away in the
side berths.  The noise on deck soon ceased the cannon were again plied
gradually the fire slackened, and we could hear that the pirate had
scraped clear and escaped.  Some time after this, the lieutenant
commanding the cutter came down.  Poor Mr Douglas! both Mr Splinter and I
knew him well.  He sat down and covered his face with his hands, while the
blood oozed down between his fingers.  He had received a cutlass wound on
the head in the attack.  His right arm was bound up with his neckcloth,
and he was very pale.

"Steward, bring me a light.--Ask the doctor how many are killed and
wounded; and, do you hear, tell him to come to me when he is done forward,
but not a moment sooner.  To have been so mauled and duped by a cursed
buccaneer; and my poor boat's crew"

Splinter groaned.  He started--but at this moment the man returned again.

"Thirteen killed, your honour, and fifteen wounded; scarcely one of us
untouched." The poor fellow's own skull was bound round with a bloody
cloth.

"God help me!  God help me! but they have died the death of men.  Who
knows what death the poor fellows in the boat have died?" Here he was cut
short by a tremendous scuffle on the ladder, down which an old
quarter--master was trundled neck and crop into the cabin.  "How now,
Jones?"

"Please your honour," said the man, as soon as he had gathered himself up,
and had time to turn his quid, and smooth down his hair; but again the
uproar was renewed, and Donnally was lugged in, scrambling and struggling,
between two seamen--"this here Irish chap, your honour, has lost his wits,
if so be he ever had any, your honour.  He has gone mad through fright."

"Fright be d--d!" roared Donnally; "no man ever frightened me: but as his
honour was skewering them bloody thieves forward, I was        boarded and
carried aft by the devil, your honour--pooped by  Beelzebub, by--," and he
rapped his fist on the table until every thing on it danced again.  "There
were four of them, yeer honour--a black one and two blue ones--and a
piebald one, with four legs and a bushy tail--each with two horns on his
head, for all the world like those on Father M'Cleary's red cow--no, she
was humbled--it is Father Clannachan's I mane--no, not his neither, for
his was the parish bull; fait, I don't know what I mane, except that they
had all horns on their heads, and vomited fire, and had each of them a
tail at his stem, twisting and twining like a conger eel, with a blue
light at the end on't."

"And dat's a lie, if ever dere was one," exclaimed Peter Mangrove, jumping
from the berth.  "Look at me, you Irish tief, and tell me if I have a blue
light or a conger eel at my stem?"

This was too much for poor Donnally.  He yelled out, "You'll believe your
own eyes now, yeer honour, when you see one o'dem bodily before you!  Let
me go--let me go" and, rushing up the ladder, he would, in all
probability, have ended his earthly career in the salt sea, had his bullet
head not encountered the broadest part of the purser, who was in the act
of descending, with such violence, that he shot him out of the companion
several feet above the deck, as if he had been discharged from a culverin;
but the recoil sent poor Donnally, stunned and senseless, to the bottom of
the ladder.  There was no standing all this; we laughed outright, and made
ourselves known to Mr Douglas, who received us cordially, and in a week we
were landed at Port Royal.



CHAPTER VI



The Cruise of the Spark

"Ours are the tears, though few, sincerely shed."

BYRON, THE CORSAIR, I.35.




The only other midshipman on board the cutter beside young Walcolm, whose
miserable death we had witnessed, twas a light delicate little fellow,
about fourteen years old, of the name of Duncan; he was the smallest boy
of his age I ever saw, and had been badly hurt in repelling the attack of
the pirate.  His wound was a lacerated puncture in the left shoulder from
a boarding pike, but it appeared to be healing kindly, and for some days
we thought he was doing well.  However, about five o'clock in the
afternoon on which we made Jamaica, the surgeon accosted Mr Douglas as we
were walking the deck together.

"I fear little Duncan is going to slip through my fingers after all, sir."

"No!--I thought he had been better."

"So he was till about noon, when a twitching of the muscles came on, which
I fear betokens lock jaw; he wavers, too, now and then, a bad sign of
itself where there is a fretting wound."

We went below, where, notwithstanding the wind--sail that was let down
close to where his hammock was slung, the heat of the small vessel was
suffocating.  The large coarse tallow candle in the purser's lantern, that
hung beside his shoulder, around which the loathsome cockroaches fluttered
like moths in a summer evening, filled the between decks with a rancid oil
smell, and with smoke as from a torch, while it ran down and melted like
fat before a fire.  It cast a dull sickly, gleam on the pale face of the
brown--hefted, girlish--looking lad, as he lay in his narrow hammock.
When we entered, an old quartermaster was rubbing his legs, which were
jerking about like the limbs of a galvanized frog, while two of the boys
held his arms, also violently convulsed.  The poor little fellow was
crying and sobbing most piteously, but made a strong effort to compose
himself and "be a man" when he saw us.

"This is so good of you, Mr Cringle! you will take charge of my letter to
my sister, I know you will?--I say, Anson," to the quartermaster, "do lift
me up a little till I try and finish it.--It will be a sore heart to poor
Sarah; she has no mother now, nor father, and aunt is not over kind,"--and
again he wept bitterly.  "Confound this jumping hand, it won't keep
steady, all I can do.--I say, Doctor, I shan't die this time, shall I?"

"I hope not, my fine little fellow."

"I don't think I shall; I shall live to be a man yet, in spite of that
bloody buccaneer's pike, I know I shall." God help me, the death rattle
was already in his throat, and the flame was flickering in the socket;
even as he spoke, the muscles of his neck stiffened to such a degree that
I thought he was choked, but the violence of the convulsion quickly
subsided.  "I am done for, Doctor!" he could no longer open his mouth, but
spoke through his clenched teeth--"I feel it now!--God Almighty receive my
soul, and protect my poor sister!" The arch--enemy was indeed advancing to
the final struggle, for he now gave a sudden and sharp cry, and stretched
out his legs and arms, which instantly became as rigid as marble, and in
his agony he turned his face to the side I stood on, but he was no longer
sensible.  "Sister," he said with difficulty--"Don't let them throw me
overboard; there are sharks here."

"Land on the lee bow,"--sung out the man at the masthead.

The common life sound would not have moved any of us in the routine of
duty, but bursting in, under such circumstances, it made us all start, as
if it had been something unusual; the dying midshipman heard it, and said
calmly--"Land,--I will never see it.--But how blue all your lips look.--It
is cold, piercing cold, and dark, dark." Something seemed to rise in his
throat, his features sharpened still more, and he tried to gasp, but his
clenched teeth prevented him--he was gone.

I went on deck with a heavy heart, and, on looking in the direction
indicated, I beheld the towering Blue Mountain peak rising high above the
horizon, even at the distance of fifty miles, with its outline clear and
distinct against the splendid western sky, now gloriously illumined by the
light of the set sun.  We stood on under easy sail for the night, and next
morning when the day broke, we were off the east end of the magnificent
Island of Jamaica. The stupendous peak now appeared to rise close aboard
of us, with a large solitary star sparkling on his forehead, and reared
his forest--crowned summit high into the cold blue sky, impending over us
in frowning magnificence, while the long dark range of the Blue Mountains,
with their outlines hard and clear in the grey light, sloped away on each
side of him as if they had been the Giant's shoulders.  Great masses of
white mist hung on their sides about half--way down, but all the valleys
and coast as yet slept in the darkness.  We could see that the land--wind
was blowing strong in shore, from the darker colour of the water, and the
speed with which the coasters, only distinguishable by their white sails,
slid along; while astern of us, out at sea, yet within a cable's length,
for we had scarcely shot beyond its influence, the prevailing trade--wind
blew a smart breeze, coming up strong to a defined line, beyond which and
between it and the influence of the land--wind, there was a belt of dull
lead--coloured sea, about half a mile broad, with a long heavy
ground--swell rolling, but smooth as glass, and without even a ripple on
the surface, in the midst of which we presently lay dead becalmed.

The heavy dew was shaken in large drops out of the wet flapping sails,
against which the reef points pattered like hail as the vessel rolled.
The decks were wet and slippery, and our jackets saturated with moisture;
but we enjoyed the luxury of cold to a degree that made the sea water when
dashed about the decks, as they were being holystoned, appear absolutely
warm.  Presently all nature awoke in its freshness so suddenly, that it
looked like a change of scene in a theatre.  The sun, as yet set to us,
rose to the huge peak, and glanced like lightning on his summit, making it
gleam like a ruby; presently the clouds on his shaggy ribs rolled upwards,
enveloping his head and shoulders, and were replaced by the thin blue
mists which ascended from the valleys, forming a fleecy canopy, beneath
which appeared hill and dale, woods and cultivated lands, where all had
been undistinguishable a minute before, and gushing streams burst from the
mountain sides like gouts of froth, marking their course in the level
grounds by the vapours they sent up. Then breeze--mill towers burst into
light, and cattle--mills, with their cone--shaped roofs, and overseers
houses, and water--mills, with the white spray falling from the wheels,
and sugar--works, with long pennants of white smoke streaming from the
boiling--house chimneys seaward in the morning wind.  Immediately after,
gangs of negroes were seen at work; loaded waggons, with enormous teams of
fourteen to twenty oxen dragging them, rolled along the roads; long
strings of mules loaded with canes were threading the fields; drogging
vessels were seen to shove out from every cove; the morning song of the
black fishermen was heard, while their tiny canoes, like black specks,
started up suddenly on all sides of us, as if they had floated from the
bottom of the sea; and the smiling scene burst at once, and as if by
magic, on us, in all its coolness and beauty, under the cheering influence
of the rapidly rising sun.  We fired a gun, and made the signal for a
pilot; upon which a canoe, with three negroes in it, shoved off from a
small schooner lying to about a mile to leeward.  They were soon
alongside, when one of the three jumped on board.  This was the pilot, a
slave, as I knew; and I remember the time, when, in my innocence, I would
have expected to see something very squalid and miserable, but there was
nothing of the kind; for I never in my life saw a more spruce saltwater
dandy, in a small way.  He was well dressed, according to a seaman's
notion--clean white trowsers, check shirt, with white lapels, neatly
fastened at the throat with a black ribbon, smart straw hat; and
altogether he carried an appearance of comfort--I was going to write
independence--about him, that I was by no means prepared for.  He moved
about with a swaggering roll, grinning and laughing with the seamen.

"I say, blackie," said Mr Douglas.

"John Lodge, massa, if you please, massa; blackie is not politeful, sir;"
whereupon he showed his white teeth again.

"Well, well, John Lodge, you are running us in too close surely;" and the
remark seemed seasonable enough to a stranger, for the rocks on the bold
shore were now within half pistol shot.

"Mind your eye," shouted old Anson.  "You will have us ashore, you black
rascal!"

"You, sir, what water have you here?" sung out Mr Splinter.

"Salt water, massa," rapped out Lodge, fairly dumfounded by such a volley
of questions--"You hab six fadom good here, massa;" but suspecting he had
gone too far--"I take de Tonnant, big ship as him is, close to dat reef,
sir, you might have jump ashore, so you need not frighten for your leetle
dish of a hooker; beside, massa, my character is at stake, you know"--then
another grin and bow.

There was no use in being angry with the poor fellow, so he was allowed to
have his own way until we anchored in the evening at Port Royal.

The morning after we arrived, I went ashore with a boat's crew to perform
the magnanimous operation of cutting brooms; we pulled ashore for Green
Bay, under the guns of the Twelve Apostles--a heavy battery of twelve
cannon, where there is a tombstone with an inscription, setting forth that
the party over whom it was erected, had been actually swallowed up in the
great earthquake that destroyed the opposite town, but subsequently
disgorged again; being, perchance, an unseemly morsel.

We approached the beach--"Oars"--the men laid them in.

"What sort of nuts be them, Peter Coamings?" said the coxswain to a new
hand who had been lately impressed, and was now standing at the bow ready
to fend off.

Peter broke off one of the branches from the bush nearest him.

"Smite my timbers, do the trees here bear shellfish?"

The tide in the Gulf of Mexico does not ebb and flow above two feet,
except at the springs, and the ends of the drooping branches of the
mangrove--trees, that here cover the shore, are clustered, within the wash
of the water, with a small well--flavoured oyster.  The first thing the
seamen did when they got ashore, was to fasten an oakum tail to the rump
of one of the most lubberly of the cutter's crew; they then gave him ten
yards' law, when they started in chase, shouting amongst the bushes, and
switching each other like the veriest schoolboys. I had walked some
distance along the beach, pelting the amphibious little creatures, half
crab, half lobster, called soldiers, which kept shouldering their large
claws, and running out and in their little burrows, as the small ripple
twinkled on the sand in the rising sun, when two men--of--wars boats,
each with three officers in the stern, suddenly pulled round a little
promontory that intercepted my view ahead.  Being somewhat out of the line
of my duty, so far from my boat, I squatted amongst the brushwood,
thinking they would pass by; but, as the devil would have it, they pulled
directly for the place where I was ensconced, beached their boats, and
jumped on shore.  "Here's a mess," thought I.

I soon made out that one of the officers was Captain Pinkem of the Flash,
and that the parties saluted each other with that stern courtesy which
augured no good.

"So, so, my masters, not enough of fighting on the coast of America, but
you must have a little private defacing of God's image amongst
yourselves?"

Pinkem spoke first.  "Mr Clinch," (I now knew he addressed the first
lieutenant of the flagship)--"Mr Clinch, it is not too late to prevent
unpleasant consequences; I ask you again, at the eleventh hour, will you
make an apology?"

He seemed hurried and fidgety in his manner; which rather surprised me, as
I knew he was a seasoned hand in these matters, and it contrasted
unfavourably with the calm bearing of his antagonist, who by this time had
thrown his hat on the ground, and stood with one foot on the handkerchief
that marked his position, the distance, twelve paces, having already been
measured.  By the by, his position was deucedly near in a line with the
grey stone behind which I lay perdu; nevertheless, the risk I ran did not
prevent me noticing that he was very pale, and had much the air of a brave
man come to die in a bad cause.  He looked upwards for a second for two,
and then answered, slowly and distinctly, "Captain Pinkem, I now repeat
what I said before; this rencontre is none of my seeking.  You accuse me
of having spoken slightingly of you seven years ago, when I was a mere
boy.  You have the evidence of a gallant officer that I did so; therefore
I may not gainsay it; but of uttering the words imputed to me, I declare,
upon my honour, I have no recollection." He paused.

"That won't do, my fine fellow," said Pinkem.

"You are unreasonable," rejoined Clinch, in the same measured tone, "to
expect farther amende for uttering words which I have no conviction of
having spoken; yet to any other officer in the service I would not
hesitate to make a more direct apology, but you know your credit as a
pistol--shot renders this impossible."

"Sorry for it, Mr Clinch, sorry for it."

Here the pistols were handed to the principals by their respective
seconds.  In their attitudes, the proficient and the novice were
strikingly contrasted; (by this time I had crept round so as to have a
view of both parties, or rather, if the truth must be told, to be out of
the line of fire.) Pinkem stood with his side accurately turned towards
his antagonist, so as to present the smallest possible surface; his head
was, as it struck me, painfully slewed round, with his eye looking
steadily at Clinch, over his right shoulder, whilst his arm was brought
down close to his thigh, with the cock of the pistol turned outwards, so
that his weapon must have covered his opponent by the simple raising of
his arm below the elbow.  Clinch, on the other hand, stood fronting him,
with the whole breadth of his chest; holding his weapon awkwardly across
his body, with both hands.  Pinkem appeared unwilling to take him at such
advantage, for, although violent and headstrong, and but too frequently
the slave of his passions, he had some noble traits in his character.

"Turn your feather edge to me, Mr Clinch; take a fair chance, man."

The lieutenant bowed, and I thought would have spoken, but he was checked
by the dread of being thought to fear; however, took the advice, and in an
instant the word was given--"Are you both ready?"

"Yes."

"Then fire!"

Clinch fired without deliberation. I saw him, for my eyes were fixed on
him, expecting to see him fall.  He stood firm, however, which was more
than I did, as at the instant, a piece of the bullion of an epaulet, at
first taken for a pellet of baser metal, struck me sharply on the nose,
and shook my equanimity confoundedly; at length I turned to look at
Pinkem, and there he stood with his arm raised, and pistol levelled, but
he had not fired.  He stood thus whilst I might have counted ten, like a
finger--post, then dropping his hand, his weapon went off, but without
aim, the bullet striking the sand near his feet, and down he came headlong
to the ground.  He fell with his face turned towards me, and I never shall
forget the horrible expression of it.  His healthy complexion had, given
place to a deadly blue, the eyes were wide open and straining in their
sockets, the upper lip was drawn up, showing his teeth in a most frightful
grin, the blood gushed from his mouth as if impelled by the strokes of a
force pump, while his hands griped and dug into the sand.

Before the sun set, he was a dead man.

"A neat morning's work, gentlemen," thought I.

The two surgeons came up, opened his dress, felt his pulse, and shook
their heads; the boats crews grouped around them--he was lifted into his
gig, the word was given to shove off, and--I returned to my
broom--cutters.

When we got on board, the gunner who had the watch was taking his
fisherman's walk on the starboard side of the quarterdeck, and kept
looking steadily at the land, as if to avoid seeing poor little Duncan's
coffin, that lay on a grating near the gangway.  The crew, assisted by
thirty men from the flag--ship, were employed in twenty different ways,
repairing damages, and were bustling about, laughing, joking, and singing,
with small regard to the melancholy object before their eyes, when Mr
Douglas put his head up the ladder--"Now, Jackson, if you please."

The old fellow's countenance fell as if his heart was wrung by the order
he had to give.

"Aloft there! lie out, you Perkins, and reeve a whip on the starboard
yard--arm to lower Mr"--The rest stuck in his throat, but, as if
ashamed of his softheartedness, he threw as much gruffness as he could
into his voice as he sung out--"Beat to quarters there!--knock off, men!"

The roll of the drum stayed the confusion and noise of the people at work
in an instant, who immediately ranged themselves, in their clean frocks
and trowsers, on each side of the quarterdeck.  At a given signal, the
white deal coffin, wrapped in its befitting pall, the meteor flag of
England, swung high above the hammock nettings between us and the bright
blue sky, to the long clear note of the boatswain's whistle, which soon
ending in a short chirrup, told that it now rested on the thwarts of the
boat alongside.  We pulled ashore, and it was a slight perchance to move a
woman, to see the poor little fellow's hat and bit of a dirk lying on his
coffin, whilst the body was carried by four ships boys, the eldest
scarcely fourteen. I noticed the tears stand in Anson's eyes as the coffin
was lowered into the grave,--the boy had been wounded close to him,--and
when we heard the hollow battle of the earth on the coffin,--an unusual
sound to a sailor,--he shuddered.

"Yes, Master Cringle," he said, in a whisper, "he was as kind hearted, and
as brave a lad as ever trod on shoe leather,--none of the larkings of the
men in the clear moonlight nights ever reached the cabin through him,--nor
was he the boy to rouse the watch from under the lee of the boats in bad
weather, to curry with the lieutenant, while he knew the look--outs were
as bright as beagles,--and where was the man in our watch that wanted
baccy while Mr Duncan had a shiner left?" The poor fellow drew the back of
his horny hand across his eyes, and grumbled out as he turned away, "And
here am I, Bill Anson, such a swab as to be ashamed of being sorry for
him."

We were now turned over into the receiving ship the old Spark, and
fortunately there were captains enough in port to try us for the loss of
the Torch, so we got over our court--martial speedily, and the very day I
got back my dirk, the packet brought me out a lieutenant's Commission.
Being now my own master for a season, I determined to visit some relations
I had in the island, to whom I had never yet been introduced; so I shook
hands with old Splinter, packed my kit, and went to the wharf to charter a
wherry to carry me up to Kingston.  The moment my object was perceived by
the black boat--men, I was surrounded by a mob of them, pulling and
hauling each other, and shouting forth the various qualifications of their
boats, with such vehemence, that I was nearly deafened.

"Massa, no see Pam be Civil, sail like a witch, tack like a dolphin?"

"Don't believe him, massa; Ballahoo is de boat dat can beat him."

"Dam lie dat, as I am a gentleman!" roared a ragged black vagabond.

"Come in de Monkey, massa; no flying fish can beat she."

"Don't boder de gentleman," yelled a fourth,--"massa love de stamp and
go--no so, massa?" as he saw me make a step in the direction of his boat.
"Oh yes--so get out of de way, you black rascals,"--the fellow was as
black as a sloe himself--"make room for man--of--war buccra; him leetle
just now, but will be admiral one day."

So saying, the fellow who had thus appropriated me, without more ado,
levelled his head like a battering ram, and began to batter in breach all
who stood in his way.  He first ran a tilt against Pam be Civil, and shot
him like a rocket into the sea; the Monkey fared no better; the Ballahoo
had to swim for it; and having thus opened a way by main force, I at
length got safely moored in the stern sheets; but just as we were shoving
off, Mr Callaloo, the clergyman of Port Royal, a tall yellow personage,
begged for a passage, and was accordingly taken on board.  As it was high
water, my boatmen chose the five foot channel, as the boat channel near to
Gallows Point is called, by which a long stretch would be saved, and we
were cracking on cheerily, my mind full of my recent promotion, when,
scur, scur, scur, we stuck fast on the bank.  Our black boatmen, being
little encumbered with clothes, jumped overboard in a covey like so many
wild--ducks, shouting, as they dropped into the water, "We must all get
out,--we must all get out;" whereupon Mr Callaloo, a sort of Dominie
Sampson in his way, promptly leaped overboard up to his waist in the
water.  The negroes were thunderstruck.

"Massa Parson Callaloo, you mad surely, you mad!"

"Children, I am not mad, but obedient--you said we must all get out"

"To be sure, massa, and you no see we all did get out?"

"And did you not see that I got out too?" rejoined the parson, still in
the water, and somewhat nettled.

"Oh, lud, massa! we no mean you--we meant poor nigger, not white man
parson."

"You said all, children, and thereupon I leaped," pronouncing the last
word in two syllables--"be more correct in your grammar next time."

The worthy but eccentric old chap then scrambled on board again, amidst
the suppressed laughter of the boatmen, and kept his seat, wet clothes and
all, until we reached Kingston.


CHAPTER VII



Scenes in Jamaica

'Excellent--why this is the best fooling when all is done.'
TWELFTH NIGHT, II. iii. 29--30.

I confess that I did not promise myself much pleasure from my cruise
ashore; somehow or other I had made up my mind to believe, that in
Jamaica, putting aside the magnificence and natural beauty of the face of
he country, there was little to interest me. I had pictured to myself the
slaves--a miserable, squalid, half fed, ill--clothed, over--worked
race--and their masters, and the white inhabitants generally, as an
unwholesome--looking crew of saffron faced tyrants, who wore straw hats
with umbrella brims, wide trowsers, and calico jackets, living on pepper
pot and land crabs, and drinking sangaree and smoking cigars the whole
day; in a word, that all that Bryan Edwards and others had written
regarding the civilisation of the West Indies was a fable.  But I was
agreeably undeceived; for although I did meet with some extraordinary
characters, and witnessed not a few rum scenes, yet, on the whole, I
gratefully bear witness to the great hospitality of the inhabitants, both
in the towns and in the country.  In Kingston the society was exceedingly
good, as good, I can freely affirm, as I ever met with in any provincial
town anywhere; and there prevailed a warmth of heart, and a kindliness
both in the males and females of those families to which I had the good
fortune to be introduced, that I never experienced out of Jamaica.

At the period I am describing, the island was in the hey--day of its
prosperity, and the harbour of Kingston was full of shipping. I had never
before seen so superb a mercantile haven; it is completely landlocked, and
the whole navy of England might ride in it commodiously.

On the sea face it is almost impregnable, for it would be little short of
a miracle for an invading squadron to wind its way through the labyrinth
of shoals and reefs lying off the mouth of it, amongst which the channels
are so narrow and intricate, that at three or four points the sinking of a
sand barge would effectually block up all ingress; but, independently of
this, the entrance at Port Royal is defended by very strong works, the
guns ranging the whole way across, while, a little farther on, the
attacking ships would be exposed to a cross fire from the heavy metal of
the Apostles' Battery; and even assuming all these obstacles to be
overcome, and the passage into the harbour forced, before they could pass
the narrows to get up to the anchorage at Kingston, they would be blown
out of the water by a raking fire from sixty pieces of large cannon on
Fort Augusta, which is so situated that they would have to turn to
windward for at least half an hour, in a strait which, at the widest,
would not allow them to reach beyond musket--shot of the walls.
Fortunately, as yet Mr Canning had not called his New World into
existence, and the whole of the trade of Terra Firma, from Porto Cavello
down to Chagres, the greater part of the trade of the islands of Cuba and
San Domingo, and even that of Lima and San Blas, and the other ports of
the Pacific, carried on across the Isthmus of Darien, centred in Kingston,
the usual supplies through Cadiz being stopped by the advance of the
French in the Peninsula.  The result of this princely traffic, more
magnificent than that of Tyre, was a stream of gold and silver flowing
into the Bank of England, to the extent of three millions of pounds
sterling annually, in return for British manufactures; thus supplying the
sinews of war to the government at home, and, besides the advantage of so
large a mart, employing an immense amount of British tonnage, and many
thousand seamen; and in numberless ways opening up new outlets to British
enterprise and capital.  Alas! alas! where is all this now?  The echo of
the empty stores might answer "where!"

On arriving at Kingston, my first object was to seek out Mr  the admiral's
agent, and one of the most extensive merchants in the place, in order to
deliver some letters to him, and get his advice as to my future
proceedings.  Mr Callaloo undertook to be my pilot, striding along a--beam
of me, and leaving in his wake two serpentine dottings on the pavement
from the droppings of water from his voluminous coat--skirts, which had
been thoroughly soaked by his recent ducking.

Every thing appeared to be thriving, and as we passed along, the hot sandy
streets were crowded with drays conveying goods from the wharfs to the
stores, and from the stores to the Spanish Posadas. The merchants of the
place, active, sharp--looking men, were seen grouped under the piazzas in
earnest conversation with their Spanish customers, or perched on the top
of the bales and boxes just landed, waiting to hook the gingham--coated,
Moorish--looking Dons, as they came along with cigars in their mouths, and
a train of negro servants following them with fire buckets on their heads,
filled with pesos fuertes. The appearance of the town itself was novel
and pleasing; the houses, chiefly of two stories, looked as if they had
been built of cards, most of them being surrounded with piazzas from ten
to fourteen feet wide, gaily painted green and white, and formed by the
roofs projecting beyond the brick walls or shells of the houses.  On the
ground--floor these piazzas are open, and in the lower part of the town,
where the houses are built contiguous to each other, they form a covered
way, affording a most grateful shelter from the sun, on each side of the
streets, which last are unpaved, and more like dry river courses, than
thoroughfares in a Christian town.  On the floor above, the balconies are
shut in with a sort of movable blinds, called "jealousies,' like large
bladed Venetian blinds, fixed in frames, with here and there a glazed sash
to admit light in bad weather when the blinds are closed.  In the upper
part of the town the effect is very beautiful, every house standing
detached from its neighbour, in its little garden filled with vines,
fruittrees, stately palms, and cocoa--nut trees, with a court of negro
houses and offices behind, and a patriarchal--looking draw--well in the
centre, generally overshadowed by a magnificent wild tamarind.  When I
arrived at the great merchant's place of business, I was shown into a
lofty cool room, with a range of desks along the walls, where a dozen
clerks were quill--driving.  In the centre sat my man, a small sallow, yet
perfectly gentlemanlike personage.

"Dat is massa" quoth my black usher.

I accordingly walked up to him, and presented my letter.  He never lifted
his head from his paper, which I had half a mind to resent; but at the
moment there was a bustle in the piazza, and a group of naval officers,
amongst whom was the admiral, came in.  My silent friend was now alert
enough, and profuse of his bows and smiles.

"Who have we here?  Who is that boy, L----?" said the admiral to his
secretary.

"Young Cringle, sir; the only one except Mr Splinter saved from the Torch;
he was first on the Admiralty list t'other day."

"What, the lad Willoughby spoke so well of?"

"The same, sir; he got his promotion by last packet."

"I know, I know. I say, Mr Cringle, you are appointed to the Firebrand, do
you know that?"--I did not know it, and began to fear my cruise on shore
was all up.--"But I don't look for her from Havanna for a month; so leave
your address with L----, that you may get the order to join when she does
come."

It appeared that I had seen the worst of the agent, for he gave me a very
kind invitation to stay some days with him, and drove me home in his
ketureen, a sort of sedan chair with the front and sides knocked out, and
mounted on a gig body.

Before dinner we were lounging about the piazza, and looking down into the
street, when a negro funeral came past, preceded by a squad of drunken
black vagabonds, singing and playing on gumbies, or African drums, made
out of pieces of hollow trees, about six feet long, with skins braced
over them, each carried by one man, while another beats it with his open
hands.  The coffin was borne along on the heads of two negroes--a negro
carries every thing on his head, from a bale of goods to a wine--glass or
tea--cup.  It is a practice for the bearers, when they come near the house
of any one against whom the deceased was supposed to have had a grudge, to
pretend that the coffin will not pass by, and in the present case, when
they came opposite to where we stood, they began to wheel round and round,
and to stagger under their load, while the choristers shouted at the top
of their lungs.

"We beg you, shipmate, for come along--do, broder, come away;" then
another reel.  "What, you no wantee go in a hole, eh?  You hab grudge
against somebody lif here, eh?"--Another devil of a lurch "Massa----'s
housekeeper, eh?  Ah, it must be!"--A tremendous stagger--"Oh, Massa----,
dollar for drink; someting to hold play [negro wake] in Spring--path,
[the negro burying--ground;] Bediacko say him won't pass 'less you give
it." And here they began to spin round more violently than before; but at
the instant a drove of bullocks coming along, they got entangled amongst
them, and down went body and bearers and all, the coffin bursting in the
fall, and the dead corpse, with its white grave--clothes and black face,
rolling over and over in the sand amongst the feet of the cattle.  It was
immediately caught up, however, bundled into the coffin again, and away
they staggered, drumming and singing as loudly as before.

The party at dinner was a large one; every thing in good style, wines
superb, turtle, &c., magnificent, and the company exceedingly
companionable.  A Mr Francis Fyall, (a great planting attorney, that is,
an agent for a number of proprietors of estates, who preferred living in
England, and paying a commission to him for managing in Jamaica, to facing
the climate themselves,) to whom I had an introduction, rather posed me,
by asking me during dinner, if I would take any thing in the long way with
him, which he explained by saying he would be glad to take a glass of
small beer with me.  This, after a deluge of Madeira, Champagne, and all
manner of light wines, was rather trying; but I kept my countenance as
well I could.  One thing I remember struck me as remarkable; just as we
were rising to go to the drawing--room, a cloud of winged ants burst in
upon us through the open windows, and had it not been for the glassshades
would have extinguished the candles; but when they had once settled on the
table, they deliberately wriggled themselves free of their wings, as one
would cast off a great--coat, and crept away in their simple and more
humble capacity of creeping things.

Next day I went to wait on my relation, Mrs Palma.  I had had a
confoundedly hot walk through the burning sand streets, and was nearly
blinded by the reflection from them, as I ascended the front stairs.
There are no carpets in the houses in Jamaica; but the floors, which are
often mahogany, are beautifully polished, and shine like a well--kept
dinner table.  They are, of course, very slippery, and require wary
walking till one gets accustomed to them.  The rooms are made exceedingly
dark during the heat of the day, according to the prevailing practice in
all ardent climates.  A black footman, very handsomely dressed, all to his
bare legs, (I thought at first he had black silk stocking on,) preceded
me, and when he reached the drawing--room door, asked my name. I told him,
"Mr Cringle,"--whereupon he sung out, to my dismay--"Massa Captain
Ringtail to wait pan Misses."

This put me out a little--especially as I heard some one say "Captain
who--what a very odd name?"

But I had no time for reflection, as I had not blundered three steps out
of the glare of the piazza, into the palpable obscure of the darkened
drawing--room, black as night from the contrast, when I capsized headlong
over an ottoman in the middle of the apartment, and floundered right into
the centre of a group of young ladies, and one or two lapdogs, by whom it
was conjointly occupied.  Trying to recover myself, I slipped on the
glasslike floor, and came down stern foremost; and being now regularly at
the slack end, for I could not well get lower, I sat still, scratching my
caput in the midst of a gay company of morning visitors, enjoying the
gratifying consciousness that I was distinctly visible to them, although
my dazzled optics could as yet distinguish nothing.  To add to my
pleasurable sensations, I now perceived, from the coldness of the floor,
that in MY downfall the catastrophe of my unmentionables had been
grievously rent, but I had nothing for it but sitting patiently still
amidst the suppressed laughter of the company, until I became accustomed
to the twilight, and they, like bright stars, began to dawn on my
bewildered senses in all their loveliness, and prodigiously handsome women
some of' them were, for the Creoles, so far as figure is concerned, are
generally perfect, while beautiful features are not wanting, and my travel
had reconciled me to the absence of the rose from their cheeks.  My eldest
cousin Mary (where is there a name like Mary?) now approached; she and I
were old friends, and many a junketing we used to have in my father's
house during the holydays, when she was a boarding--school girl in
England.  My hardihood and self--possession returned, under the double
gratification of seeing her, and the certainty that my blushes (for my
cheeks were glowing like hot iron) could not have been observed in the
subdued green light that pervaded the room.--"Well, Tom, since you are no
longer dazzled, and see us all now, you had better get up, hadn't you--you
see mamma is waiting there to embrace you?"

"Why, I think myself I had better;--but when I broached--to so suddenly,
I split my lower canvass, Mary, and I cannot budge until your mother lends
me a petticoat."

"A what? you are crazy, Tom"

"Not a whit, not a whit, why I have split my--ahem.  This is speaking
plain, an't it?"

Away tripped the sylph--like girl, and in a twinkling reappeared with the
desired garment, which in a convulsion of laughter she slipped over my
head as I sat on the floor; and having fastened it properly round my
waist, I rose and paid my respects to my warm hearted relations.  But that
petticoat--it could not have been the old woman's, there could have been
no such virtue in an old woman's petticoat; no, no, it must either have
been a charmed garment, or--Mary's own; for from that hour I was a lost
man, and the devoted slave of her large black eyes, and high pale
forehead.  "Oh, murder you speak of the sun dazzling; what is it to the
lustre of that same eye of yours, Mary!"

In the evening I escorted the ladies to a ball, (by the way, a West India
ball--room being a perfect lantern, open to the four winds of heaven, is
cooler, notwithstanding the climate, than a ball--room anywhere else,)
and a very gay affair it turned out to be, although I had more trouble in
getting admittance than I bargained for, and was witness to as comical a
row (considering the very frivolous origin of it, and the quality of the
parties engaged in it) as ever took place even in that peppery country,
where, I verily believe, the temper of the people, generous though it be
in the main, is .hotter than the climate, and that, God knows! is
soporiferous enough. I was walking through the entrance saloon with my
fair cousin on my arm, stepping out like a hero to the opening crash of a
fine military band, towards the entrance of the splendid ball--room filled
with elegant company, brilliantly lighted up and ornamented with the most
rare and beautiful shrubs and flowers, which no European conservatory
could have furnished forth, and arched overhead with palm branches and a
profusion of evergreens, while the polished floor, like one vast mirror,
reflected the fine forms of the pale but lovely black--eyed and black
haired West Indian dames, glancing amidst the more sombre dressed of their
partners, while the whole group was relieved by being here and there
spangled with a rich naval or military uniform.  As we approached, a
constable put his staff across the doorway.

"Beg pardon, sir, but you are not in full dress."

Now this was the first night whereon I had sported my lieutenant's
uniform, and with my gold swab on my shoulder, the sparkling bullion
glancing in the corner of my eye at the very moment, my dress--sword by my
side, gold buckles in my shoes, and spotless white trowsers, I had, in my
innocence, considered myself a deuced killing fellow, and felt proportion
ably mortified at this address.

"No one can be admitted in trowsers, sir," said the man.

"Shiver my timbers!" I could not help the exclamation, the transactions of
the morning crowding on my recollection; "shiver my timbers! is my fate in
this strange country to be for ever irrevocably bound up in a pair of
breeches?"

My cousin pinched my arm.--"Hush, Tom; go home and get mamma's petticoat."

The man was peremptory; and as there was no use in getting into a squabble
about such a trifle, I handed my partner over to the care of a gentleman
of the party, who was fortunately accoutred according to rule, and,
stepping to my quarters, I equipped myself in a pair of tight nether
integuments, and returned to the ball--room.  By this time there was the
devil to pay; the entrance saloon was crowded with military and naval men,
high in oath, and headed by no less a person than a general officer, and a
one--armed man, one of the chief civil officers in  the place, and who had
been a sailor in his youth. I was just in time to see the advance of the
combined column to the door of the ball--room, through which they drove
the picket of constables like chaff, and then halted.  The one--armed
functionary, a most powerful and very handsome man, now detached himself
from the phalanx, and strode up to the advanced guard of stewards
clustered in front of the ladies, who had shrunk together into a corner of
the room, like so many frightened hares.

The place being now patent to me, I walked up to comfort my party, and
could see all that passed.  The champion of the Excluded had taken the
precaution to roll up the legs of his trowsers, and to tie them tightly at
the knee with his garters, which gave him the appearance of a Dutch
skipper; and in all the consciousness of being now properly arrayed, he
walked up to one of the men in authority--a small pot bellied gentleman,
and set himself to intercede for the attacking column, the head of which
was still lowering at the door.  But the little steward speedily
interrupted him.

"Why, Mr Singlefist, rules must be maintained, and let me see," here he
peered through his glass at the substantial supporters of our friend,--"as
I live, you yourself are inadmissible."

The giant laughed.

"Damn the body, he must have been a tailor!--Charge, my fine fellows, and
throw the constables out of the window, and the stewards after them.
Every man his bird; and here goes for my Cock Robin." With that he made a
grab at his Lilliputian antagonist, but missed him, as he slid away
amongst the women like an eel, while his pursuer, brandishing his wooden
arm on high, to which I now perceived, for the first time, that there was
a large steel hook appended, exclaimed in a broad Scotch accent, "Ah, if I
had but caught the creature, I would have clapt this in his mouth, and
played him like a salmon."

At this signal, in poured the mass of soldiers and sailors; the constables
vanished in an instant; the stewards were driven back upon the ladies; and
such fainting and screaming, and swearing and threatening, and shying of
cards, and fixing of time and place for a cool turn in the morning, it had
never been my good fortune to witness before or since.  My wig! thought I,
a precious country, where a man's life may be periled by the fashion of
the covering to his nakedness!

Next day, Mr Fyall, who, I afterwards learned, was a most estimable man
in substantials, although somewhat eccentric in small matters, called and
invited me to accompany him on a cruise amongst some of the estates under
his management.  This was the very thing I desired, and three days
afterwards I left my kind friends in Kingston, and set forth on my visit
to Mr Fyall, who lived about seven miles from town. .

The morning was fine as usual, although about noon the clouds, thin and
fleecy and transparent at first, but gradually settling down more dense
and heavy, began to congregate on the summit of the Liguanea Mountains,
which rise about four miles distant, to a height of near 5000 feet, in
rear of the town.  It thundered too a little now and then in the same
direction, but this was an every--day occurrence in Jamaica at this
season, and as I had only seven miles to go, off I started in a gig of
mine host's, with my portmanteau well secured under a tarpawlin, in
defiance of all threatening appearances, crowding sail, and urging the
noble roan that had me in tow close upon thirteen knots.  I had not gone
above three miles, however, when the sky in a moment changed from the
intense glare of a tropical noontide to the deepest gloom, as if a bad
angel had suddenly overshadowed us, and interposed his dark wings between
us and the blessed sun; indeed, so instantaneous was the effect, that it
reminded me of the withdrawing of the foot--lights in a theatre.  The road
now wound round the base of a precipitous spur from the Liguanea
Mountains, which, instead of melting onto the level country by gradual
decreasing undulations, shot boldly out nearly a mile from the main range,
and so abruptly, that it seemed mortised into the plain, like a rugged
promontory running into a frozen lake.  On looking up along the ridge of
this prong, I saw the lowering mass of black clouds gradually spread out,
and detach themselves from the summits of the loftier mountains, to which
they had clung the whole morning, and begin to roll slowly down the hill,
seeming to touch the tree tops, while along their lower edges hung a
fringe of dark vapour, or rather shreds of cloud in rapid motion, that
shifted about, and shot out and shortened like streamers.

As yet there was no lightning nor rain, and in the expectation of escaping
the shower, as the wind was with me, I made more sail, pushing the horse
into a gallop, to the great discomposure of the negro who sat beside me.

"Massa, you can't escape it, you are galloping into it; don't massa hear
de sound of de rain coming along against de wind, and smell de earthy
smell of him like one new--made grave?"

"The sound of the rain." In another clime, long, long ago, I had often
read at my old mother's knee, "And Elijah said unto Ahab, there is a sound
of abundance of rain, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the
rain stop thee not; and it came to pass, in the meanwhile, that the heaven
was dark with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain."

I looked, and so it was, for in an instant a white sheet of the heaviest
rain I had ever seen (if rain it might be called, for it was more like a
water--spout) fell from the lower edge of the black cloud, with a strong
rushing noise, that increased as it approached to a loud roar like that of
a waterfall.  As it came along, it seemed to devour the rocks and trees,
for they disappeared behind the watery screen the instant it reached them.

We saw it a--head of us for more than a mile coming along the road,
preceded by a black line from the moistening of the white dust, right in
the wind's eye, and with such an even front, that I verily believe it was
descending in bucketsful on my horse's head, while as yet not one drop had
reached me.  At this moment the adjutant--general of the forces, Colonel
F----, of the Coldstream Guards, in his tandem, drawn by two sprightly
blood bays, with his servant, a light boy, mounted Creole fashion on the
leader, was coming up in my wake at a spot where the road sank into a
hollow, and was traversed by a watercourse already running knee deep,
although dry as a bone but the minute before.

I was now drenched to the skin, the water pouring out in cascades from
both sides of the vehicle, when just as I reached the top of the opposite
bank, there was a flash of lightning so vivid, accompanied by an explosion
so loud and tremendous, that my horse, trembling from stem to stem, stood
dead still; the dusky youth by my side jumped out, and buried his snout in
the mud, like a porker in Spain nuzzling for acorns, and I felt more
queerish than I would willingly have confessed to.  I could have knelt and
prayed.  The noise of the thunder was a sharp ear--piercing crash, as if
the whole vault of heaven had been made of glass, and had been shivered at
a blow by the hand of the Almighty.

It was, I am sure, twenty seconds before the usual roar and rumbling
reverberation of the report from the hills, and among the clouds, was
heard.

I drove on, and arrived just in time to dress for dinner, but I did not
learn till next day, that the flash which paralysed me, had struck dead
the Colonel's servant and leading horse, as he ascended the bank of the
ravine, by this time so much swollen, that the body of the lad was washed
off the road into the neighbouring gully, where it was found, when the
waters subsided, entirely covered with sand.

I found the party congregated in the piazza around Mr Fyall, who was
passing his jokes, without much regard to the feelings of his guests, and
exhibiting as great a disregard of the common civilities and courtesies of
life as can well be imagined.  One of the party was a little red--faced
gentleman, Peregrine Whiffle, Esquire, by name who, in Jamaica parlance,
was designated an extraordinary master in Chancery; the overseer of the
pen, or breeding farm, in the great house as it is called, or mansionhouse
of which Mr Fyall resided, and a merry, laughing, intelligent, round,
red--faced man, with a sort of Duncan Knockdunder nose, through the wide
nostrils of which you could see a cable's length into his head; he was
either Fyall's head clerk, or a sort of first lieutenant; these personages
and myself composed the party.  The dinner itself was excellent, although
rather of the rough and round order; the wines and food intrinsically
good; but my appetite was not increased by the exhibition of a deformed,
bloated negro child, about ten years old, which Mr Fyall planted at his
elbow, and, by way of practical joke, stuffed to repletion with all kinds
of food and strong drink, until the little dingy brute was carried out
drunk.

The wine circulated freely, and by and by Fyall indulged in some
remarkable stories of his youth, for he was the only speaker, which I
found some difficulty in swallowing, until at length, on one thumper being
tabled, involving an impossibility, and utterly indigestible, I
involuntarily exclaimed, "by Jupiter!"

"You want any ting, massa?" promptly chimed in the black servant at my
elbow, a diminutive kiln--dried old negro.

"No," said I, rather caught.

"Oh, me tink you call for Jupiter."

I looked in the baboon's face--"Why, if I did; what then?"

"Only me Jupiter, at massa service, dat all."

"You are, eh, no great shakes of a Thunderer; and who is that tall square
man standing behind your master's chair?"

"Daddy Cupid, massa."

"And the old woman who is carrying away the dishes in the piazza?"

"Mammy Weenus."

"Daddy Cupid, and Mammy Weenus--Shade of Homer!"

Jupiter, to my surprise, shrunk from my side, as if he had received a
blow, and the next moment I could hear him communing with Venus in the
piazza.

"For true, dat leetle man--of--war buccra must be Obeah man: how  de debil
him come to sabe dat it was stable--boy Homer who broke de candle shade on
massa right hand, dat one wid de piece broken out of de edge?" and here he
pointed towards it with his chin--a negro always points with his chin.

I had never slept on shore out of Kingston before; the night season in the
country in dear old England, we all know, is usually one of the deepest
stillness--here it was any thing but still;--as the evening closed in,
there arose a loud humming noise, a compound of the buzzing, and chirping,
and whistling, and croaking of numberless reptiles and insects, on the
earth, in the air, and in the water. I was awakened out of my first sleep
by it, not that the sound was disagreeable, but it was unusual; and every
now and then a beetle, the size of your thumb, would bang in through the
open window, cruise round the room with a noise like a humming--top, and
then dance a quadrille with half--a--dozen bats; while the fire--flies
glanced like sparks, spangling the folds of the muslin curtains of the
bed.  The croak of the tree--toad, too, a genteel reptile, with all the
usual loveable properties of his species, about the size of the crown of
your hat, sounded from the neighbouring swamp, like some one snoring in
the piazza, blending harmoniously with the nasal concert got up by
Jupiter, and some other heathen deities, who were sleeping there almost
naked, excepting the head, which every negro swathes during the night with
as much flannel and as many handkerchiefs as he can command.  By the way,
they all slept on their faces--I wonder if this will account for their
flat noses.

Next morning we started at daylight, cracking along at the rate of twelve
knots an hour in a sort of gig, with one horse in the shafts, and another
hooked on a--breast of him to a sort of studdingsail--boom, or outrigger,
and followed by three mounted servants, each with a led horse and two
sumpter mules.

In the evening we arrived at an estate under Mr Fyall's management, having
passed a party of maroons immediately before. I never saw finer men tall,
strapping fellows, dressed exactly as they should be and the climate
requires; wide duck trowsers, over these a loose shirt, of duck also,
gathered at the waist by a broad leathern belt, through which, on one
side, their short cutlass is stuck, while on the other hangs a leathern
pouch for ball, and a loose thong across one shoulder, supports, on the
opposite hip, a large powder--horn and haversack.  This, with a straw hat,
and a short gun in their hand, with a sling to be used on a march,
completes their equipment--in better keeping with the climate, than the
padded coats, heavy caps, tight cross--belts, and ponderous muskets of our
regulars.  As we drove up to the door, the overseer began to bawl, "Boys,
boys!" and kept blowing a dog--call.  All servants in the country in the
West Indies, be they as old as Methuselah, are called boys.  In the
present instance, half--a--dozen black fellows forthwith appeared, to take
our luggage, and attend on massa in other respects.  The great man was
as austere to the poor overseer, as if he had been guilty of some
misdemeanour, and after a few short, crabbed words, desired him to get
supper, "do you hear?"

The meat consisted of plantation fare--salted fish, plantains and yams,
and a piece of goat mutton.  Another "observe,"--a South Down mutton,
after sojourning a year or two here, does not become a goat exactly, but
he changes his heavy warm fleece, and wears long hair; and his progeny
after him, if bred on the hot plains, never assume the wool again.  Mr
Fyall and I sat down, and then in walked four mutes, stout young fellows,
not over--well dressed, and with faces burnt to the colour of brick--dust.
They were the bookkeepers, so called because they never see a book, their
province being to attend the negroes in the field, and to superintend the
manufacture of sugar and rum in the boiling and distilling--houses.

One of them, the head bookkeeper, as he was called, appeared literally
roasted by the intensity of the sun's rays.

"How is Baldy Steer?" said the overseer to this person.

"Better to--day, sir--I drenched him with train--oil and sulphur."

"The devil you did," thought I--"alas! for Baldy." "And Mary, and
Caroline, and the rest of that lot?" "Are sent to Perkin's Red Rover, sir;
but I believe some of them are in calf already by Bullfinch--and I have
cut Peter for the lampas." The knife and fork dropped from my hands.
"What can all this mean? is this their boasted kindness to their slaves?
One of a family drenched with train--oil and brimstone, another cut for
some horrible complaint never heard of before, called lampas, and the
females sent to the Red Rover, some being in calf already!" But I soon
perceived that the baked man was the cowboy or shepherd of the estate,
making his report of the casualties amongst his bullocks, mules, and
heifers.

"Juliet Ridge will not yield, sir," quoth another.

"Who is this next? a stubborn concern she must be."

"The liquor is very poor." Here he helped himself to rum and water, the
rum coming up about an inch in the glass, regular half and half, fit to
float a marlinspike.

"It is more than yours is," thought I; and I again stared in wonderment,
until I perceived he spoke of the juice of a cane patch.

At this time a tall, lathy gentleman came in, wearing a most original cut
coatee. He was a most extraordinary built man; he had absolutely no body,
his bottom being placed between his shoulders, but what was wanted in
corpus was made up in legs, indeed he looked like a pair of compasses,
buttoned together at the shoulders, and supporting a yellow phiz half a
yard long, thatched with a fell of sandy hair, falling down lank and
greasy on each side of his face.  Fyall called him Buckskin, which, with
some other circumstances, made me guess that he was neither more nor less
than an American smuggler.

After supper, a glass of punch was filled for each person, the overseer
gave a rap on the table with his knuckles, and off started the
bookkeepers, like shots out of shovels, leaving the Yankee, Mr Fyall, the
overseer, and myself, at table.

I was very tired, and reckoned on going to bed now--but no such thing.
Fyall ordered Jupiter to bring a case from his gig--box, containing some
capital brandy.  A new brewage of punch took place, and I found about the
small hours that we were all verging fast towards drunkenness, or
something very like that same.  The Yankee was specially plied by Fyall,
evidently with an object, and he soon succeeded in making him helplessly
drunk.

The fun now "grew fast and furious,"--a large wash--tub was ordered in,
placed under a beam at the corner of the room, and filled with water; a
sack and a three--inch rope were then called for, and promptly produced by
the blackies, who, apparently accustomed to Fyall's pranks, grinned with
delight.--Buckskin was thrust into the sack, feet foremost; the mouth of
it was then gathered round his throat with a string, and I was set to
splice a bight in the rope, so as to fit under his arms without running,
which might have choked him.  All things being prepared, the slack end was
thrown over the beam.  He was soused in the tub, the word was given to
hoist away, and we ran him up to the roof, and then belayed the rope round
the body of the overseer, who was able to sit on his chair, and that was
all.  The cold bath, and the being hung up to dry, speedily sobered the
American, but his arms being within the sack, he could do nothing for his
own emancipation; he kept swearing, however, and entreating, and dancing
with rage, every jerk drawing the cord tighter round the waist of the
overseer, who, unaware of his situation, thought himself bewitched as he
was drawn with violence by starts along the floor, with the chair as it
were glued to him.  At length the patient extricated one of his arms, and
laying hold of the beam above him, drew himself up, and then letting go
his hold suddenly, fairly lifted the drunken overseer, chair and all,
several feet from the ground, so as to bring him on a level with himself,
and then, in mid air, began to pummel his counterpoise with right
goodwill.  At length, fearful of the consequences from the fury into which
the man had worked himself, Fyall and I dashed out the candles, and fled
to our rooms, where, after barricading the doors, we shouted to the
servants to let the gentlemen down.

The next morning had been fixed for duck--shooting, and the overseer and I
were creeping along amongst the mangrove bushes on the shore, to get a
shot at some teal, when we saw our friend the pair of compasses crossing
the small bay in his boat, towards his little pilotboat--built schooner,
which was moored in a small creek opposite, the brushwood concealing every
thing but her masts.  My companion, as wild an Irishman as I ever knew,
hailed him,--

"Hillo, Obadiah--Buckskin--you Yankee rascal, heave--to.  Come ashore
here--come ashore."

Obed, smoking his pipe, deliberately uncoiled himself--I thou as he rose,
there was to be no end of him--and stood upright in the boat, like an
ill--rigged jurymast.

"I say, Master Tummas, you ben't no friend of mine, I guess, a'ter last
night's work; you hears how I coughs?"--and he began to wheezle and crow
in a most remarkable fashion.

"Never mind," rejoined the overseer; "if you go round that point, and put
up the ducks--by the piper, but I'll fire at you!"

Obed neighed like a horse expecting his oats, which was meant as a laugh
of derision.  "Do you think your birding--piece can touch me here away,
Master Tummas?" And again he nichered more loudly than before.

"Don't provoke me to try, you yellow snake, you!"

"Try, and be d--d, and there's a mark for thee," unveiling a certain part
of his body, not his face.

The overseer, or bushes, to give him his Jamaica name, looked at me and
smiled, then coolly lifted his long Spanish barrel, and fired.  Down
dropped the smuggler, and ashore came the boat.

"I am mortally wounded, Master Tummas," quoth Obed; and I was
confoundedly frightened at first, from the unusual proximity of the
injured part to his head; but the overseer, as soon as he could get off
the ground, where he had thrown himself in an uncontrollable fit of
laughter, had the man stripped and laid across a log, where he set his
servant to pick out the pellets with a penknife.

Next night I was awakened out of my first sleep by a peculiar sort of
tap, tap, on the floor, as if a cat with walnut shells had been moving
about the room.  The feline race, in all its varieties, is my detestation,
so I slipped out of bed to expel the intruder; but the instant my toe
touched the ground, it was seized as if by a smith's forceps. I drew it
into bed, but the annoyance followed it; and in an agony of alarm and
pain, I thrust my hand down, when my thumb was instantly manacled to the
other suffering member. I now lost my wits altogether, and roared murder,
which brought a servant in with a light, and there I was, thumb and toe,
in the clinch of a land--crab.

I had been exceedingly struck with the beauty of the negro villages on the
old settled estates, which are usually situated in the most picturesque
spots, and I determined to visit the one which lay on a sunny bank full in
view from my window, divided on two sides from the cane pieces by a
precipitous ravine, and on the other two by a high logwood hedge, so like
hawthorn, that I could scarcely tell the difference, even when close to it.

At a distance it had the appearance of one entire orchard of fruit trees,
where were mingled together the pyramidal orange, in fruit and in flower,
the former in all its stages from green to dropping ripe,--the citron,
lemon, and lime--trees, the stately, glossy--leaved star--apple, the
golden shaddock and grape--fruit, with their slender branches bending
under their ponderous yellow fruit,--the cashew, with its apple like
those of the cities of the plain, fair to look at, but acrid to the taste,
to which the far--famed nut is appended like a bud,--the avocada, with its
brobdignag pear, as large as a purser's lantern,--the bread--fruit, with a
leaf, one of which would have covered Adam like a bishop's apron, and a
fruit for all the world in size and shape like a blackamoor's head; while
for underwood you had the green, fresh, dew--spangled plantain, round
which in the hottest day there is always a halo of coolness,--the coco
root, the yam and granadillo, with their long vines twining up the
neighbouring trees and shrubs like hop tendrils,--and peas and beans, in
all their endless variety of blossom and of odour, from the Lima bean,
with a stalk as thick as my arm, to the mouse pea, three inches high,--the
pineapple, literally growing in, and constituting, with its prickly
leaves, part of the hedgerows,--the custard--apple, like russet bags of
cold pudding,--the cocoa and coffee bushes, and the devil knows what all,
that is delightful in nature besides; while aloft, the tall graceful
cocoa--nut, the majestic palm, and the gigantic wild cotton--tree, shot up
here and there like minarets far above the rest, high into the blue
heavens.

I entered one of the narrow winding footpaths, where an immense variety of
convolvuli crept along the penguin fences, disclosing their delicate
flowers in the morning freshness, (all that class here shut shop at noon,)
and passion flowers of all sizes, from a soup plate to a thumb ring.

The huts were substantially thatched with palm leaves, and the walls woven
with a basket--work of twigs, plastered over with clay, and whitewashed;
the floors were of baked clay, dry and comfortable.  They all consisted of
a hall and a sleeping--room off each side of it: in many of the former I
noticed mahogany sideboards and chairs, and glass decanters, while a whole
lot of African drums and flutes, and sometimes a good gun, hung from the
rafters; and it would have gladdened an Irishman's heart to have seen the
adjoining piggeries.  Before one of the houses an old woman was taking
care of a dozen black infants, little naked, glossy, black guinea pigs,
with party coloured beads tied round their loins, each squatted like a
little Indian pagod in the middle of a large wooden bowl, to keep it off
the damp ground.

While I was pursuing my ramble, a large conch--shell was blown at the
overseer's house, and the different gangs turned in to dinner; they came
along, dancing and shouting, and playing tricks on each other in the
little paths, in all the happy anticipation of a good dinner, and an hour
and a half to eat it in, the men well clad in Osnaburg frocks and
trowsers, and the women in baize petticoats and Osnaburg shifts, with a
neat printed calico short gown over all.

"And these are slaves," thought I, "and this is West Indian bondage!  Oh
that some of my well--meaning anti--slavery friends were here, to judge
from the evidence of their own senses!"

The following night there was to be a grand play or wake in the negro
houses, over the head cooper, who had died in the morning, and I
determined to be present at it, although the overseer tried to dissuade
me, saying that no white person ever broke in on these orgies, that the
negroes were very averse to their doing so, and that neither he, nor any
of the white people on the estate, had ever been present on such an
occasion.  This very interdict excited my curiosity still more; so I rose
about midnight, and let myself gently down through the window, and shaped
my course in the direction of the negro houses, guided by a loud drumming,
which, as I came nearer, every now and then sunk into a low murmuring
roll, when a strong bass voice would burst forth into a wild recitative;
to which succeeded a loud piercing chorus of female voices, during which
the drums were beaten with great vehemence; this was succeeded by another
solo, and so on.  There was no moon, and I had to thread my way along one
of the winding footpaths by starlight.  When I arrived within a
stone--cast of the hut before which the play was being held, I left the
beaten track, and crept onwards, until I gained the shelter of the stem of
a wild cotton--tree, behind which I skulked unseen.

The scene was wild enough.  Before the door a circle was formed by about
twenty women, all in their best clothes, sitting on the ground, and
swaying their bodies to and fro, while they sung in chorus the wild dirge
already mentioned, the words of which I could not make out; in the centre
of the circle sat four men playing on gumbies, or the long drum formerly
described, while a fifth stood behind them, with a conch--shell, which he
kept sounding at intervals.  Other three negroes kept circling round the
outer verge of the circle of women, naked all to their waist cloths,
spinning about and about with their hands above their heads, like so many
dancing dervishes.  It was one of these three that from time to time took
up the recitative, the female chorus breaking in after each line.  Close
to the drummers lay the body in an open coffin, supported on two low
stools or trestles; a piece of flaming resinous wood was stuck in the
ground at the head, and another at the feet; and a lump of kneaded clay,
in which another torchlike splinter was fixed, rested on the breast.  An
old man, naked like the solo singer, was digging a grave close to where
the body lay.  The following was the chant:--

"I say, broder, you can't go yet."

THEN THE CHORUS OF FEMALE VOICES

"When de morning star rise, den we put you in a hole."

CHORUS AGAIN


"Den you go in a Africa, you see Fetish dere."

CHORUS

"You shall nyam goat dere, wid all your family."

CHORUS

"Buccra can't come dere; say, dam rascal, why you no work?"

CHORUS

"Buccra can't catch Duppy, no, no."

CHORUS

Three calabashes, or gourds, with pork, yams, and rum, were placed on a
small bench that stood close to the head of the bier, and at right angles
to it.

In a little while, the women, singing--men, and drummers, suddenly gave a
loud shout, or rather yell, clapped their hands three times, and then
rushed into the surrounding cottages, leaving the old grave--digger alone
with the body.

He had completed the grave, and had squatted himself on his hams beside
the coffin, swinging his body as the women had done, and uttering a low
moaning sound, frequently ending in a loud pech, like that of a paviour
when he brings down his rammer.

I noticed he kept looking towards the east, watching, as I conjectured,
the first appearance of the morning star, but it was yet too early.

He lifted the gourd with the pork, and took a large mouthful.

"How is dis?  I can't put dis meat in Quacco's coffin, dere is salt in de
pork; Duppy can't bear salt," another large mouthful--"Duppy hate salt too
much,"--here he ate it all up, and placed the empty gourd in the coffin.
He then took up the one with boiled yam in it, and tasted it also.

"Salt here too--who de debil do such a ting?--must not let Duppy taste
dat." He discussed this also, placing the empty vessel in the coffin as he
had done with the other.  He then came to the calabash with the rum.
There is no salt there, thought I.

"Rum! ah, Duppy love rum--if it be well strong, let me see Massa Niger,
who put water in a dis rum, eh?  Duppy will never touch dat"--a long
pull--"no, no, never touch dat." Here he finished the whole, and placed
the empty vessel beside the others; then gradually sunk back on his hams
with his mouth open, and his eyes starting from the sockets, as he peered
up into the tree, apparently at some terrible object. I looked up also,
and saw a large yellow snake, nearly ten feet long, let itself gradually
down directly over the coffin, between me and the bright glare, (the
outline of its glossy mottled skin glancing in the strong light, which
gave its dark opaque body the appearance of being edged with flame, and
its glittering tongue, that of a red hot wire,) with its tail round a limb
of the cottontree, until its head reached within an inch of the dead man's
face, which it licked with its long forked tongue, uttering a loud hissing
noise.

I was fascinated with terror, and could not move a muscle; at length the
creature slowly swung itself up again, and disappeared amongst the
branches.

Quashie gained courage, as the rum began to operate, and the snake to
disappear.  "Come to catch Quaccols Duppy, before him get to Africa, sure
as can be.  De metody parson say de debil old sarpant--dat must be old
sarpant, for I never see so big one, so it must be debil."

He caught a glimpse of my face at this moment; it seemed that I had no
powers of fascination like the snake, for he roared out, "Murder, murder,
de debil, de debil, first like a sarpent, den like himself; see him white
face behind de tree; see him white face behind de tree;" and then, in the
extremity of his fear, he popt, head foremost, into the grave, leaving his
quivering legs and feet sticking upwards, as if he had been planted by the
head, like a forked parsnip reversed.

At this uproar, a number of negroes ran out of the nearest houses, and, to
my surprise, four white seamen appeared suddenly amongst them, who, the
moment they got sight of my uniform, as I ran away, gave chase, and having
overtaken me, as I stumbled in the dark path, immediately pinioned me.
They were all armed, and I had no doubt were part of the crew of the
smuggling schooner, and that they had a depot amongst the negro houses.

"Yo ho, my hearty, heave--to, or here goes with a brace of bullets."

I told them who I was, and that curiosity alone brought me there.

"Gammon, tell that to the marines; you're a spy, messmate, and on board
you go with us, so sure as I be Paul Brandywine."

Here was a change with a vengeance.  An hour before I was surrounded by
friends, and resting comfortably, in my ward bed, and now I was a prisoner
to a set of brigands, who were smugglers at the best, and what might they
not be at the worst? I had no chance of escape by any sudden effort of
strength or activity, for a piece of a handspike had been thrust across my
back, passing under both of my arms, which were tightly lashed to it, as
if I had been trussed for roasting, so that I could no more run, with a
chance of escape, than a goose without her pinions.  After we left the
negro houses, I perceived, with some surprise, that my captors kept the
beaten tract, leading directly to, and past the overseer's dwelling.
"Come, here is a chance, at all events," argued I to myself.  "If I get
within hail, I will alarm the lieges, if a deuced good pipe don't fail
me."

This determination had scarcely been framed in my mind, when, as if my
very thoughts had been audible, the smuggler next me on the right hand
drew a pistol, and held it close to my starboard ear.

"Friend, if you tries to raise the house, or speaks to any Niger, or other
person we meets, I'll walk through your skull with two ounces of lead."

"You are particularly obliging," said I; "but what do you promise
yourselves by carrying me off?  Were you to murder me, you would be none
the richer; for I have no valuables about me, as you may easily ascertain
by searching me."

"And do you think that freeborn Americans like we have kidnapped you for
your dirty rings, and watch, and mayhap a few dollars, which I takes you
to mean by your waluboles, as you calls them?"

"Why, then, what, in the devil's name, have you kidnapped me for?" And I
began to feel my choler overpowering my discretion, when Mr Paul
Brandywine, who I now suspected to be the mate of the smuggler, took the
small liberty of jerking the landyard, that had been made fast to the
middle of the handspike, so violently, that I thought both my shoulders w
ere dislocated; for I was fairly checked down on my back, just as you may
have seen a pig--merchant on the Fermoy road bring an uproarious boar to
his marrowbones; while the man who had previously threatened to blow my
brains out, knelt beside me, and civilly insinuated, that "if I was tired
of my life, he calculated I had better speak as loud again."

There was no jest in all this; so I had nothing for it but to walk
silently along with my escort, after having gathered myself up as well as
I could.  We crept so close under the windows of the overseer's house,
where we picked up a lot of empty ankers, slung on a long pole, that I
fancied I heard, or really did hear, some one snore--oh how I envied the
sleeper!  At length we reached the beach, where we found two men lying on
their oars, in what, so far as I could distinguish, appeared to be a sharp
swift--looking whale boat, which they kept close to, with her head
seaward, however, to be ready for a start should any thing suspicious
appear near to them.

The boat--keeper hailed promptly, "Who goes there?" as they feathered
their oars.

"The tidy little Wave," was the answer.

No more words passed, and the men who had, in the first instance, pulled a
stroke or two to give the boat way, now backed water, and tailed her on to
the beach, when we all stepped on board.

Two of my captors now took each an oar; we shoved off, and glanced away
through the darkness, along the smooth surface of the sparkling sea, until
we reached the schooner, by this time hauled out into the fairway at the
mouth of the cove, where she lay hove short, with her mainsail hoisted
up, riding to the land--wind, and apparently all ready to cants and be off
the moment the boat returned.

As we came alongside, the captain of her, my friend Obediah, as I had no
difficulty in guessing, from his very out of the way configuration, dark
as it was, called out, "I says, Paul, who have you got in the
starn--sheets there?"

"A bloody spy, captain; he who was with the overseer when he peppered your
sheathing t'other morning."

"Oho, bring him on board--bring him on board. I knows there be a
man--of--war schooner close aboard of the island somewheres hereabouts. I
sees through it all, smash my eyes!--I sees through it.  But what kept
you, Paul?  Don't you see the morning star has risen?"

By this time I stood on the deck of the little vessel, which was no above
a foot out of the water; and Obediah, as he spoke, pointed to the small
dark pit of a companion, for there was no light below, nor indeed anywhere
on board, except in the binnacle, and that carefully masked, indicating by
his threatening manner, that I was to get below as speedily as possible.

"Don't you see the morning star, sir?  Why, the sun will be up in an hour,
I calculate, and then the sea--breeze will be down on us before we get any
thing of an offing."

The mention of the morning star recalled vividly to my recollection the
scene I had so recently witnessed at the negro wake; it seemed there was
another person beside poor Quacco, likely to be crammed into a hole before
the day broke, and to be carried to Africa too, for what I knew; but one
must needs go when the devil drives, so I slipped down into the cabin, and
the schooner having weighed, made sail to the northward.

CHAPTER VIII



The Chase of the Smuggler

Would I were in an alehouse in London, I would give all my fame for a pot
of ale, and safety.'

HENRY V, III. II. I2--I3.


The crib in which I was confined was as dark as pitch, and, as I soon
found, as hot as the black--hole in Calcutta.  I don't pretend to be
braver than my neighbours, but I would pluck any man by the beard who
called me coward.  In my small way I had in my time faced death in various
shapes; but it had always been above board, with the open heaven overhead,
and generally I had a goodly fellowship in danger, and the eyes of others
were upon me.  No wonder, then, that the sinking of the heart within me,
which I now experienced for the first time, was bitter exceedingly, and
grievous to be 'borne.  Cooped up in a small suffocating cabin, scarcely
eight feet square, and not above four feet high, with the certainty of
being murdered, as I conceived, were I to try to force my way on deck, and
the knowledge that all my earthly prospects, all my dreams of promotion,
were likely to be blasted, and for ever ruined by my sudden spiriting away,
not to take into the heavy tale the misery which my poor mother and my
friends must suffer, when they came to know it--and "who will tell this to
thee, Mary?" rose to my throat, but could get no farther for a cursed bump
that was like to throttle me.  Why should I blush to own it--when the
gipsy, after all, junked an old rich goutified coffee--planter at the
eleventh hour, and married me, and is now the mother of half--a--dozen
little Cringles or so?  However, I made a strong effort to bear my
misfortunes like a man, and, folding my arms, I sat down on a chest to
abide my fate, whatever that might be, with as much composure as I could
command, when half--a--dozen cockroaches flew flicker against my face.

For the information of those who have never seen this delicious insect, I
take leave to mention here, that, when full grown, it is a large dingy
brown--coloured beetle, about two inches long, with six legs, and two f
eelers as long as its body.  It has a strong anti--hysterical flavour,
something between rotten cheese and assafoetida, and seldom stirs aboard
when the sun is up, but lies concealed in the most obscure and obscene
crevices it can creep into; so that, when it is seen, its wings and body
are thickly covered with dust and dirt of various shades, which any culprit
who chances to fall asleep with his mouth open, is sure to reap the benefit
of, as it has a great propensity to walk into it, partly for the sake of
the crumbs adhering to the masticators, and also, apparently, with a
scientific desire to inspect, by accurate admeasurement with the aforesaid
antennae, the state and condition of the whole potato trap.

At the same time I felt something gnawing the toe of my boot, which I
inferred to be a rat--another agreeable customer for which I had a special
abhorrence; but, as for beetles of all kinds, from my boyhood up, they had
been an abomination unto me, and a cockroach is the most abominable of all
beetles; so between the two I was speedily roused from my state of supine,
or rather dogged endurance; and, forgetting the geography of my position, I
sprung to my feet, whereby I nearly fractured my skull against the low deck
above. I first tried the skylight; it was battened down--then the companion
hatch; it was locked--but the ladder leading up to it being cooler than the
noisome vapour bath I had left, I remained standing in it, trying to catch
a mouthful of fresh air through the joints of the door.  All this while we
had been slipping along shore with the land--wind on our beam, at the rate
of five or six knots, but so gently and silently, that I could distinctly
hear the roar of the surf, as the long smooth swell broke on the beach,
which, from the loudness of the noise, could not be above a mile to
windward of us. I perceived at the same time that the schooner, although
going free, did not keep away nor take all the advantage of the land--wind
to make his easting, before the sea--breeze set down, that he might have
done, so that it was evident he did not intend to beat up, so as to fetch
the Crooked Island Passage, which would have been his course, had he been
bound for the States; but was standing over to the Cuba shore, at that time
swarming with pirates.

It was now good daylight, and the terral gradually died away, and left us
rolling gunwale under, as we rose and fell on the long seas, with our sails
flapping, bulkheads creaking and screaming, and mainboom jig--jigging, as
if it would have torn every thing to pieces.  I could hear my friend Obed
walking the deck, and whistling manfully for the sea--breeze, and
exclaiming from time to time in his barbarous lingo, "Souffle, souffle, San
Antonio." But the saint had no bowels, and there we lay roasting until near
ten o'clock in the forenoon.  During all this period, Obed, who was
shortsighted, as I learned afterwards, kept desiring his right arm, Paul
Brandywine, to keep a bright look--out for the sea--breeze to windward, or
rather to the eastward, for there was no wind--because he knowed it
often times tumbling down right sudden and dangerous at this season about
the corner of the island hereabouts; and the pride of the morning often
brought a shower with it, fit to level a maize plat smooth as his hand.

"No black clouds to windward yet, Paul?"

Paul could see nothing, and the question was repeated three or four times.

"There is a small black cloud about the size of my hand to windward, sir,
right in the wake of the sun, just now, but it won't come to any thing; I
sees no signs of any wind."

"And Elijah said to his servant, Go up now, and look towards the sea, and
he went up and looked, and said there is nothing; and he said go again
seven times, and it came to pass the seventh time, that he said behold
there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand."

I knew what this foreboded, which, as I thought, was more than friend Obed
did; for he shortened no sail, and kept all his kites abroad, for no use as
it struck me, unless he wished to wear them out by flapping against the
masts.  He was indeed a strange mixture of skill and carelessness; but,
when fairly stirred up, one of the most daring and expert and
self--possessed seamen I had ever seen, as very soon had an ugly
opportunity of ascertaining.

The cloud on the horizon continued to rise rapidly, spreading over the
whole eastern sky, and the morning began to lower very ominously; but there
was no sudden squall, the first of the breeze coming down as usual in cats'
paws, and freshening gradually; nor did I expect there would be, although
I was certain it would soon blow a merry capful of wind, which might take
in some of the schooner's small sails, and pretty considerably bother us,
unless we could better our offing speedily, for it blew right on shore,
which, by the setting in of the sea--breeze, was now close under our lee.

At length the sniffler reached us, and the sharp little vessel began to
speak, as the rushing sound through the water is called; while the wind
sang like an Eolian harp through the taut weather--rigging.  Presently I
heard the word given to take in the two gaff--topsails and flying jib,
which was scarcely done, when the moaning sound roughened into a roar, and
the little vessel began to yerk at the head seas, as if she would have cut
through them, in place of rising to them, and to lie over, as if Davy Jones
himself had clapperclawed the mast heads, and was in the act of using them
as levers to capsize her, while the sails were tugging at her, as if they
would have torn the spars out of her, so that I expected every moment,
either that she would turn over, keel up, or that the masts would snap
short off by the deck.

All this, which I would without the smallest feeling of dread, on the
contrary with exhilaration, have faced cheerily on deck in the course of
duty, proved at the time, under my circumstances, most alarming and painful
to me; a fair--strae death out of the maintop, or off the weather--yard
arm, would to my imagination have been an easy exit comparatively; but to
be choked in this abominable hole, and drowned darkling like a blind
puppy--the very thought made me frantic, and I shouted and tumbled about,
until I missed my footing and fell backwards down the ladder, from the
bottom of which I scuttled away to the lee--side of the cabin, quiet,
through absolute despair and exhaustion from the heat and closeness.

I had remarked that from the time the breeze freshened, the everlasting
Yankee drawling of the crew, and the endless confabulation of the captain
and his mate, had entirely ceased, and nothing was now heard on deck but
the angry voice of the raging elements, and at intervals a shrill piercing
word or two from Obed, in the altered tone of which I had some difficulty
in recognising his pipe, which rose clear and distinct above the roar of
the sea and wind, and was always answered by a prompt, sharp, "ay, ay,
sir," from the men.  There was no circumlocution, nor calculating, nor
guessing now, but all hands seemed to be doing their duty energetically and
well.  "Come, the vagabonds are sailors after all, we shan't be swamped
this turn;" and I resumed my place on the companion ladder, with more ease
of mind, and a vast deal more composure, than when I was pitched from it
when the squall came on.  In a moment after I could hear the captain sing
out, loud even above the howling of the wind and rushing of the water,
"There it comes at last--put your helm hard a--port--down with it, Paul,
down with it, man--luff, and shake the wind out of her sails, or over we
goes, clean and for ever.' Everything was jammed, nothing could be let go,
nor was there an axe at hand to make short work with the sheets and
haulyards; and for a second or two I thought it was all over, the water
rushing half way up her decks, and bubbling into the companion through the
crevices; but at length the lively little craft came gaily to the wind,
shaking her plumage like a wild duck; the sails were got in, all to the
foresail, which was set with the bonnet off, and then she lay--to like a
seagull, without shipping a drop of water.  In the comparative stillness I
could now distinctly hear every word that was said on deck.

"Pretty near it; rather close shaving that same, captain," quoth Paul, with
a congratulatory chuckle; 'but I say, sir, what is that wreath of smoke
rising from Annotta Bay over the headland?"

"Why, how should I know, Paul?  Negroes burning brush, I guess."

"The smoke from brushwood never rose and flew over the bluff with that
swirl, I calculate; it is a gun, or I mistake."

And he stepped to the companion for the purpose, as I conceived, of taking
out the spy--glass, which usually hangs there in brackets fitted to hold
it; he undid the hatch and pushed it back, when I popped my head out, to
the no small dismay of the mate; but Obed was up to me, and while with one
hand he seized the glass, he ran the sliding top sharp up against my neck,
till he pinned me into a kind of pillory, to my great annoyance; so I had
to beg to be released, and once more slunk back into my hole.  There was a
long pause; at length Paul, to whom the skipper had handed the spy--glass,
spoke.

"A schooner, sir, is rounding the point."

As I afterwards learned, the negroes who had witnessed my capture,
especially the old man who had taken me for his infernal majesty, had
raised the alarm, so soon as they could venture down to the overseer's
house, which was on the smuggling boat shoving off, and Mr Fyall
immediately despatched an express to the Lieutenant commanding the Gleam,
then lying in Annotta Bay, about ten miles distant, when she instantly
slipped and shoved out.

"Well, I can't help it if there be," rejoined the captain.  Another pause.

"Why, I don't like her, sir; she looks like a man--of--war--and that must
have been the smoke of the gun she fired on weighing.'

"Eh?" sharply answered Obed, "if it be, it will be a hanging matter if we
are caught with this young splice on board; he may belong to her for what I
know.  Look again, Paul."

A long, long look.

"A man--of--war schooner, sure enough, sir; I can see her ensign and
pennant, now that she is clear of the land."

"Oh Lord, oh Lord!" cried Obed, in great perplexity, "what shall we do?"

"Why, pull foot, Captain," promptly replied Paul; "the breeze has lulled,
and in light winds she will have no chance with the tidy little Wave."

I could now perceive that the smugglers made all sail, and I heard the
frequent swish--swish of the water, as they threw bucketfuls on the sails,
to thicken them and make them hold more wind, while we edged away, keeping
as close to the wind, however, as we could, without stopping her way.

"Starboard," quoth Obed--"rap full, Jem--let her walk through it, my
boy--there, main and foresail, flat as boards; why, she will stand the
main--gaff--topsail yet--set it, Paul, set it;" and his heart warmed as he
gained confidence in the qualifications of his vessel.  "Come, weather me
now, see how she trips it along--poo, I was an ass to quail, wan't I,
Paul?"

No chance, now, thought I, as I descended once more; "I may as well go and
be suffocated at once." I knocked my foot against something, in stepping
off the ladder, which, on putting down my hand, I found to be tinder--box,
with steel and flint. I had formerly ascertained there was a candle in the
cabin, on the small table, stuck into a bottle; so I immediately struck a
light, and as I knew that meekness and solicitation, having been tried in
vain, would not serve me, I determined to go on the other tack, and to see
how far an assumption of coolness and self--possession, or, it might be, a
dash of bravado, whether true or feigned, might not at least ensure me some
consideration and better treatment from the lawless gang into whose hands I
had fallen.

So I set to and ransacked the lockers, where, amongst a vast variety of
miscellaneous matters, I was not long in finding a bottle of very tolerable
rum, some salt junk, some biscuit, and a goglet or porous earthen jar of
water, with some capital cigars.  By this time I was like to faint with the
heat and smell; so I filled a tumbler with good half--and--half and swigged
it off.  The effect was speedy; I thought I could eat a bit, so I attacked
the salt junk and made a hearty meal, after which I replenished my tumbler,
lighted a cigar, pulled off my coat and waistcoat, and, with a sort of
desperate glee, struck up at the top of my pipe, "Ye Mariners of England."
My joviality was soon noticed on deck.

"Eh, what be that?" quoth Obed,--"that be none of our ditties, I guess? who
is singing below there?'

"We be all on deck, sir,' responded Paul.

"It can't be the spy, eh?--sure enough it must be he, and no one else; the
heat and choke must have made him mad."

"We shall soon see," said Paul, as he removed the skylight, and looked down
into the cabin.

Obed looked over his shoulder, peering at me with his little short--sighted
pig's eyes, into which, in my pot valiancy, I immediately chucked half a
tumbler of very strong grog, and under cover of it attempted to bolt
through the scuttle, and thereby gain the deck; but Paul, with his shoulder
of mutton fist, gave me a very unceremonious rebuff, and down I dropped
again.

"You makes yourself at home, I sees, and be hanged to you," said Obed,
laying the emphasis on the last word, pronouncing it "yoo--oo" in two
syllables.

"I do, indeed, and be d--d to yoo--oo," I replied; "and why should I not?
the visit was not volunteered, you know so come down, you long--legged
Yankee smuggling scoundrel, or I'll blow your bloody buccaneering craft out
of the water like the peel of an onion.  You see I have got the magazine
scuttle up, and there are the barrels of powder, and here is the candle,
so"--

Obed laughed like the beginning of the bray of the jackass before he swings
off into his "heehaw, heehaw."--"Smash my eyes, man, but them barrels be
full of pimento, all but that one with the red mark, and that be crackers
fresh and sharp from the Brandywine mills."

"Well, well, gunpowder or pimento, I'll set fire to it if you don't be
civil."

"Why, I will be civil; you are a curious chap, a brave slip, to carry it
so, with no friend near; so, civil I will be."

He unlocked the companion hatch and came down to the cabin, doubling his
long limbs up like foot--rules, to suit the low roof.

"Free and easy, my man," continued the Captain, as he entered.  "Well, I
forgive you--we are quits now--and if we were not beyond the Island Craft,
I would put you ashore, but I can't stand back now."  "Why, may I ask?"
"Simply, because one of your men--of--war schooners an't more than hull
down astarn of me at this moment; she is working up in shore, and has not
chased me as yet; indeed she may save herself the trouble, for ne'er a
schooner in your blasted service has any chance with the tidy little Wave."

I was by no means so sure of this.

"Well Master Obediah, it may turn up as you say, and in a light wind, I
know you will either sail or sweep away from any one of them; but, to be on
the square with you, if it comes on to blow, that same hooker, which I take
to be his Britannic Majesty's schooner Gleam, will, from his greater beam,
and superior length, out carry and forereach on you, ay, and weather on you
too, hand over hand; so this is my compact--if he nails you, you will
require a friend at court, and I will stand that friend; if you escape--and
I will not interfere either by advice or otherwise, either to get you taken
or to get you clear will you promise to put me on board of the first
English merchant vessel we fall in with, or, at the longest, to land me at
St Jago de Cuba, and I will promise you, on my honour, notwithstanding all
that has been said or done, that I will never hereafter inform against you,
or in any way get you into trouble if I can help it.  Is it done?  Will you
ive me your hand upon it?"

Obed did not hesitate a moment; he clenched my hand, and squeezed it till
the blood nearly spouted from my finger--ends; one might conceive of
Norwegian bears greeting each other after this fashion, but I trust no
Christian will ever, in time coming, subject my digits to a similar species
of torture.

"Agreed, my boy, I have promised, and you may depend on me; smuggler though
I be, and somewhat worse on occasion mayhap, I never breaks my word."

There was an earnestness about the poor fellow, in which I thought there
could be no deception, and from that moment we were on what I may call a
very friendly footing for a prisoner and his jailer.

"Well, now, I believe you, so let us have a glass of grog, and"--

Here the mate sung out, "Captain, come on deck, if you please; quickly,
sir, quickly."

By this time it had begun to breeze up again, and as the wind rose, I could
see the spirits of the crew fell, as if conscious they had no chance if it
freshened.  When we went on deck, Paul was still peering through the
telescope.

"The schooner has tacked, sir." A dead silence; then giving the glass a
swing, and driving the joints into each other, with such vehemence as if he
would have broken them in pieces, he exclaimed, "She is after us, so sure
as I ben't a niger."

"No! is she though?" eagerly enquired the captain, as he at length seized
the spy--glass, twisting and turning it about and about, as he tried to hit
his own very peculiar focus.  At length he took a long, long, breathless
look, while the eyes of the whole crew, some fifteen hands or so, were
riveted upon him with the most intense anxiety.

"What a gaff--topsail she has got--my eye!--and a ringtail with more cloths
in it than our squaresail--and the breeze comes down stronger and
stronger!"

All this while I looked out equally excited, but with a very different
interest.  "Come, this will do,' thought I; 'she is after us; and if old
Dick Casket brings that fiery sea--breeze he has now along with him, we
shall puzzle the smuggler, for all his long start."

"There's a gun, sir," cried Paul, trembling from head to foot.

"Sure enough," said the skipper; "and it must be a signal.  And there go
three flags at the fore.--She must, I'll bet a hundred dollars, have taken
our tidy little Wave for the Admiral's tender that was lying in Morant
Bay."

"Blarney," thought I; "tidy as your little Wave is, she won't deceive old
Dick--he is not the man to take a herring for a horse; she must be making
signals to some man--of--war in sight."

"A strange sail right a--head," sung out three men from forward all at
once.

"Didn't I say so?"--I had only thought so.  "Come, Master Obediah, it
thickens now, you're in for it," said I.

But he was not in the least shaken; as the matter grew serious, he seemed
to brace up to meet it.  He had been flurried at the first, but he was
collected and cool as a cucumber now, when he saw every thing depending on
his seamanship and judgment.  Not so Paul, who seemed to have made up his
mind that they must be taken.

"Jezebel Brandywine, you are but a widowed old lady, I calculate. I shall
never see the broad, smooth Chesapeake again--no more peach brandy for
Paul;" and folding his arms, he set himself doggedly down on the low
tafferel.

Little did I think at the time how fearfully the poor fellow's foreboding
was so soon to be fulfilled.

"There again," said I, "a second puff to windward." This was another signal
gun I knew; and I went forward to where the captain was reconnoitring the
sail a--head through the glass.  "Let me see," said I, "and I will be
honest with you, and tell you if I know her."

He handed me the glass at once, and the instant I saw the top of her
courses above the water, I was sure, from the red cross in her foresail,
that she was the Firebrand, the very corvette to which I was appointed.
She was so well to windward, that I considered it next to impossible that
we should weather her, but Obediah seemed determined to try it.  After
seeing his little vessel snug under mainsail, foresail, and jib, which was
as much as she could stagger under, and every thing right and tight, and
all clear to make more sail should the breeze lull, he ordered the men
below, and took the helm himself.  What queer animals sailors are!  We were
rising the corvette fast; and on going aft again from the bows, where I had
been looking at her, I cast my eye down the hatchway into the men's berth,
and there were the whole crew at breakfast, laughing and joking, and
enjoying themselves, as heartily, apparently, nay, I verily believe in
reality, as if they had been in a yacht on a cruise of pleasure, in place
of having one enemy nearly within gunshot astern, and another trying to cut
them off ahead.

At this moment the schooner in chase luffed up in the wind, and I noticed
the foot of the foresail lift.  "You'll have it now, friend Obed; there's
at you in earnest." While I spoke, a column of thick white smoke spouted
over the bows of the Gleam, about twenty yards to windward, and then blew
back again amongst the sails and rigging, as if a gauze veil had for an
instant been thrown over the little vessel, rolling off down the wind to
leeward, in whirling eddies, growing thinner and thinner, until it
disappeared altogether.  I heard the report this time, and the shot fell
close alongside of us.

"A good mark with that apple," coolly observed the Captain; "the Long Tom
must be a tearer, to pitch its mouthful of iron this length."

Another succeeded; and if I had been still pinned up in the companion,
there would have been no log now, for it went crash through
into the hold.

"Go it, my boys," shouted I; "a few more as well aimed, and heigh for the
Firebrand's gunroom!"

At the mention of the Firebrand I thought Obed started, but he soon
recovered himself, and looking at me with all the apparent composure in the
world, he smiled as he said, "Not so fast, Lieutenant; you and I have not
drank our last glass of swizzle yet, I guess.  If I can but weather that
chap ahead, I don't fear the schooner."

The corvette had by this time answered the signal from the Gleam, and had
hauled his wind also, so that I did not conceive it possible that the Wave
could scrape clear, without coming under his broadside.

"You won't try it, Obed, surely?'

"Answer me this, and I'll tell you," rejoined he.  "Does that corvette now
carry long 18's or 32--pound carronades?"

"She carries 32--pound carronades.'

"Then you'll not sling your cot in her gunroom this cruise."

All this time the little Wave was carrying to it gallantly, her jib--boom
bending like whalebone, and her long slender topmasts whipping about like a
couple of fishing--rods, as she thrashed at it, sending the spray flashing
over her mastheads at every pitch; but notwithstanding her weatherly
qualities, the heavy cross sea, as she drove into it, headed her off
bodily, and she could not prevent the Gleam from creeping up on her weather
quarter, where she peppered away from her long 24--pounder, throwing the
shot over and over us.

To tack, therefore, would have been to run into the lion's mouth, and to
bear up was equally hopeless, as the corvette, going free, would have
chased her under water; the only chance remaining was to stand on, and
trust to the breeze taking off, and try to weather the ship, now about
three miles distant on our lee bow, braced sharp up on the opposite tack,
and evidently quite aware of our game.

As the corvette and the Wave neared each other, he threw a shot at us from
the boat gun on his topgallant forecastle, as if to ascertain beyond all
doubt the extent of our insanity, and whether we were serious in our
attempt to weather him and escape.

Obed held right on his course, like grim Death.  Another bullet whistled
over our mastheads, and, with the aid of the glass, I could see by the
twinkling of feet, and here and there a busy peering face through the
ports, that the crew were at quarters fore and aft, while fourteen marines
or so were all ready rigged on the poop, and the nettings were bristling
through the whole length of the ship, with fifty or sixty small--arm men.

All this I took care to communicate to Obediah.  "I say, my good friend, I
see little to laugh at in all this.  If you do go to windward of him at
all, which I greatly doubt, you will have to cross his fore--foot within
pistol--shot at the farthest, and then you will have to rasp along his
whole broadside of great and small, and they are right well prepared and
ready for you, that I can tell you; the skipper of that ship has had some
hedication, I guess, in the war on your coast, for he seems up to your
tricks, and I don't doubt but he will tip you the stem, if need be, with as
little compunction as I would kill a cockroach, devil confound the whole
breed!  There,--I see his marines and small--arm men handling their
firelocks, as thick as sparrows under the lee of a hedge in a snow--storm,
and the people are training the bull--dogs fore and aft.  Why, this is
downright, stark staring lunacy, Obed; we shall be smashed like an
eggshell, and all hands of us whipped off to Davy, from your cursed
foolhardiness."

I had made several pauses in my address, expecting an answer, but Obed was
mute as a stone.  At length I took the glass from my eye, and turned round
to look at him, startled by his silence.

I might have heard of such things, but I had never before seen the working
of the spirit so forcibly and fearfully demonstrated by the aspect of the
outward man.  With the exception of myself, he was the only man on deck, as
before mentioned, and by this time he was squatted down on it, with his
long legs and thighs thrust down into the cabin, through the open skylight.
The little vessel happened to carry a weather helm, so that his long sinewy
arms, with their large veins and leaders strained to cracking, covered but
a small way below the elbow by his jacket, were stretched as far as they
could clutch the tiller to windward, and his enormous head, supported on
his very short trunk, that seemed to be countersunk into the deck, gave him
a most extraordinary appearance.  But this was not all; his complexion,
usually sallow and sunburnt, was now ghastly and blue, like that of the
corpse of a drowned man; the muscles of the neck, and the flesh of the
cheeks and chin were rigid and fixed, and shrunk into one half of their
usual compass; the lips were so compressed that they had almost entirely
disappeared, and all that marked his mouth was a black line; the nostrils
were distended, and thin and transparent, while the forehead was shrivelled
into the most minute and immovable wrinkles, as if done with a crimping
instrument while over his eyes, or rather his eye, for he kept
one closed as if it had been hermetically sealed, he had lashed with half a
dozen turns of spun--yarn a wooden socket, like the but--end of an opera
glass, fitted with some sort of magnifier, through which he peered out
ahead most intensely, stooping down, and stretching his long bare neck to
its utmost reach, that he might see under the foot of the foresail.

I had scarcely time to observe all this, when a round shot came through the
head of the mainsail, grazing the mast, and the very next instant a bushel
of grape, from one of the bow guns, a 32--pound carronade, was crashed in
on us amidships. I flung down the glass, and dived through the companion
into the cabin--I am not ashamed to own it; and any man who would
undervalue my courage in consequence, can never, taking into consideration
the peculiarities of my situation, have known the appalling sound, or
infernal effect of a discharge of grape.  Round shot in broadsides is a
joke to it; musketry is a joke to it; but only conjure up in your
imagination, a shower of iron bullets, of the size of well--grown plums, to
the number of from sixty to one hundred and twenty, taking effect within a
circle, not above ten feet in diameter, and that all this time there was
neither honour nor glory in the case, for I was a miserable captive, and I
fancy I may save myself the trouble of farther enlargement.

I found that the crew had by this time started and taken up the planks of
the cabin floor, and had stowed themselves well down into the run, so as to
be as much out of harm's way as they could manage, but there was neither
fear nor flinching amongst them; and although totally devoid of all
gasconade--on the contrary, they had taken all the precautions men could do
in their situation, to keep out of harm's way, or at least to lessen the
danger--there they sat, silent, and cool, and determined.  "I shall never
undervalue an American as an enemy again," thought I. I lay down on the
side of the little vessel, now nearly level as she lay over, alongside of
Paul Brandywine, in a position that commanded a view of Obed's face through
the small scuttle.  Ten minutes might have elapsed--a tearing crash--and a
rattle on the deck overhead, as if a shower of stones had been thrown from
aloft on it.

"That's through the mainmast, I expect," quoth Paul.

I looked from him to the Captain; a black thick stream of blood was
trickling down behind his ear.  Paul had noticed it also.

"You are hurt by one of them splinters, I see; give me the helm now,
Captain;" and, crushed down as the poor fellow appeared to be under some
fearful and mysterious consciousness of impending danger, he nevertheless
addressed himself to take his Captain's place.

"Hold your blasted tongue"--was the polite rejoinder.

"I say, Captain,"--shouted your humble servant, "you may as well eat pease
with a pitchfork, as try to weather him.  You are hooked, man, flounder as
you will.  Old Nick can't shake you clear--so I won't stand this any
longer;" and making a spring, I jammed myself through the skylight, until I
sat on the deck, looking aft, and confronting him, and there we were, stuck
up like the two kings of Brentford, or a couple of smiling cherries on one
stalk. I have often laughed over the figure we must have cut, but at the
time there was that going on that would have made Comus himself look grave.
I had at length fairly aroused the sleeping devil within him.

"Look out there, Lieutenant--look out there,"--and he pointed with his
sinister claw down to leeward. I did so--whew!--what a sight for poor
Master Thomas Cringle!  "You are booked for an outside place, Master
Tommy," thought I to myself--for there was the corvette in very truth--she
had just tacked, and was close aboard of us on our lee quarter, within
musket--shot at the farthest, bowling along upon a wind, with the green,
hissing, multitudinous sea surging along her sides, and washing up in foam,
like snow flakes, through the mid--ship ports, far aft on the quarterdeck,
to the glorification of jack, who never minds a wet jacket, so long as he
witnesses the discomfiture of his ally, Peter Pipeclay.  The press of
canvass she was carrying laid her over, until her copper sheathing, clear
as glass, and glancing like gold, was seen high above the water, throughout
her whole length, above which rose her glossy jet black bends, surmounted
by a milk--white streak, broken at regular intervals into eleven goodly
ports, from which the British cannon, ugly customers at the best, were
grinning, tompion out, open--mouthed at us; and above all, the clean,
well--stowed white hammocks filled the nettings, from tafferel to cathead
oh! that I had been in one of them, snug on the berth deck!  Aloft, a cloud
of white sail swelled to the breeze, till the cloth seemed inclined to say
goodby to the bolt ropes, bending the masts like willow--wands, as if the
devil, determined to beat Paganini himself, was preparing fiddlesticks to
play a spring with, on the cracking and straining weather shrouds and
backstays, and tearing her sharp wedge--like bows out of the bowels of the
long swell, until the cutwater, and ten yards of the keel next to it, were
hove clean out of the sea, into which she would descend again with a
roaring plunge, burying every thing up to the hause--holes, and driving the
brine into mist, over the fore--top, like vapour from a waterfall, through
which, as she rose again, the bright red copper on her bows flashed back
the sunbeams in momentary rainbows.  We were so near, that I could with the
naked eye distinctly see the faces of the men.  There were at least I50
determined fellows at quarters, and clustered with muskets in their hands,
wherever they could be posted to most advantage.

There they were in groups about the ports, (I could even see the captains
of the guns, examining the locks,) in their clean white frocks and
trowsers, the officers of the ship, and the marines, clearly
distinguishable by their blue or red jackets.  I could discern the very
sparkle of the epaulets.

High overhead, the red cross, that for a thousand years "has braved the
battle and the breeze," blew out strong from the peak, like a sheet of
flickering white flame, or a thing instinct with life, struggling to tear
away the ensign haulyards, and to escape high into the clouds; while, from
the main--royal--masthead, the long white pennant streamed upwards into the
azure heavens, like a ray of silver light.  Oh! it was a sight "most
beautiful to see," as the old song hath it,------but I confess I would have
preferred that pleasure from t'other side of the hedge.

There was no hailing nor trumpeting, although, as we crossed on opposite
tacks when we first weathered her, just before she hove in stays, I had
heard a shrill voice sing out, "Take good aim, men--Fire"; but now each
cannon in thunder shot forth its glance of flame, without a word being
uttered, as she kept away to bring them to bear in succession, while the
long feathery cloud of whirling white smoke that shrouded her sides from
stem to stem, was sparkling brilliantly throughout with crackling musketry,
for all the world like fire--flies in a bank of night fog from the hills,
until the breeze blew it back again through the rigging, and once more
unveiled the lovely craft in all her pride and glory.

"You see all that?' said Obed.

"To be sure I do, and I feel something too'; for a sharp rasping jar was
repeated in rapid succession three or four times, as so many shot struck
our hull, and made the splinters glance about merrily; and the musketballs
were mottling our top sides and spars, plumping into the timber, whit whit!
as thick as ever you saw schoolboys' plastering a church door with
clay--pellets.  There was a heavy groan, and a stir amongst the seamen in
the run.

"And, pray, do you see and hear all that yourself, Master Obed?  The iron
has clenched some of your chaps down there.--Stay a bit, you shall have a
better dose presently, you obstinate old"--

He waved his hand, and interrupted me with great energy--"I dare not give
in, I cannot give in; all I have in the world swims in the little hooker,
and strike I will not so long as two planks stick together.

"Then," quoth I, "you are simply a damned, cold--blooded, calculating
scoundrel--brave I will never call you." I saw he was now stung to the
quick.

"Lieutenant, smuggler as I am, don't goad me to what worse I may have been;
there are some deeds done in my time, which at a moment like this I don't
much like to think upon.  I am a desperate man, Master Cringle; don't, for
your own sake, as well as mine, try me too far.'

"Well but"--persisted I. He would hear nothing.

"Enough said, sir, enough said; there was not an honester trader nor a
happier man in all the Union, until your infernal pillaging an burning
squadron in the Chesapeake captured and ruined me; but I paid it off on the
prize--master, although we were driven on the rocks after all. I paid it
off, and, God help me, I have never thriven since, enemy although he was.
I see the poor fellow's face yet, as I!"--He checked himself suddenly, as
if aware that he might say more than could be conveniently retracted.  "But
I dare not be taken; let that satisfy you, Master Cringle, so go
below--below with you, sir"--I saw he had succeeded in lashing himself into
a fury--"or, by the Almighty God, who hears me, I shall be tempted to do
another deed, the remembrance of which will haunt me till my dying day."

All this passed in no time, as we say, much quicker than one can read it;
and I now saw that the corvette had braced up sharp to the wind again, on
the same tack that we were on; so I slipped down like an eel, and once more
stretched myself beside Paul, on the lee side of the cabin.  We soon found
that she was indeed after us in earnest, by the renewal of the cannonade,
and the breezing up of the small arms again.  Two round shot now tore right
through the deck, just beneath the larboard coamings of the main hatchway;
the little vessel's deck, as she lay over, being altogether exposed to, the
enemy's fire, they made her whole frame tremble again, smashing every thing
in their way to shivers, and going right out through her bottom on the
opposite side, within a dozen streaks of her keel, while the rattling of
the clustered grapeshot every now and then made us start, the musketry all
the while peppering away like a hail shower.  Still the skipper, who I
expected every moment to see puffed away from the tiller like smoke, held
upon deck as if he had been bullet--proof, and seemed to escape the hellish
tornado of missiles of all sorts and sizes by a miracle.

"He is in league with the old one, Paul," said I; "howsoever, you must be
nabbed, for you see the ship is forereaching on you, and you can't go on
t'other tack, surely, with these pretty eyelet holes between wind and water
on the weather side there?  Your captain is mad why will you, then, and all
these poor fellows, go down, because he dare not surrender, for some good
deed of his own, eh?"

The roar of the cannon and noise of the musketry made it necessary for me
to raise my voice here, which the small scuttle, like Dionysius's ear,
conveyed unexpectedly to my friend, the captain, on deck.

"Hand me up my pistols, Paul."

It had struck me before, and I was now certain, that from the time he had
become so intensely excited as he was now, he spoke with a pure English
accent, without the smallest dash of Yankeeism.

"So, so; I see--no wonder you won't strike, you renegade," cried I.

"You have tampered with my crew, sir, and abused me," he announced, in a
stem, slow tone, much more alarming than his former fierceness, "so take
that, to quiet you;" and deuce take me if he did not, the moment he
received the pistols from his mate, fire slap at me, the ball piercing the
large muscle of my neck on the right side, missing the artery by the merest
accident.  Thinking I was done for, I covered my face with my hands, and
commanded myself to God, with all the resignation that could be expected
from a poor young fellow in my grievous circumstances, expecting to be cut
off in the prima vera of his days, and to part for ever from--.  Poo, that
there line is not my forte.  However, finding the haemorrhage by no means
great, and that the wound was in fact slight, I took the captain's rather
strong hint to be still, and lay quiet, until a 32--pound shot struck us
bang on the quarter.  The subdued force with which it came, showed that we
were widening our distance, for it did not drive through and through with a
crash, but lodged in a timber; nevertheless it started one of the planks
across which Paul and I lay, and pitched us both with extreme violence
bodily into the run amongst the men, three of them lying amongst the
ballast, which was covered with blood, two badly wounded, and one dead. I
came off with some slight bruises, however; not so the poor mate.  He had
been nearest the end or but that was started, which thereby struck him so
forcibly, that it fractured his spine, and dashed him amongst his
shipmates, shrieking piercingly in his great agony, and clutching whatever
he could grasp with his hands, and tearing whatever he could reach with his
teeth, while his limbs below his waist were dead and paralysed.

"Oh, Christ! water, water," he cried, "water, for the love of God, water!"
The crew did all they could; but his torments increased--the blood began to
flow from his mouth--his hands became clay--cold and pulseless--his
features sharp, blue, and death--like--his respiration difficult--the
choking death--rattle succeeded, and in ten minutes he was dead.

This was the last shot that told--every report became more and more faint,
and the musketry soon ceased altogether.

The breeze had taken off, and the Wave, resuming her superiority in light
winds, had escaped.

CHAPTER IX


Cuba Fishermen

"El Pescador de Puerto Escondido,
Pesca mas que Peseado,
Quando la Luna redonda Reflexado en la mar profunda.
Pero cuidado,
El pobre sera el nino perdido Si esta por Anglisman cogido.
Ay de mi".


It was now five in the afternoon, and the breeze continued to fall, and
the sea to go down, until sunset, by which time we had I run the
corvette hull down, and the schooner nearly out of sight.  Right ahead
of us rose the high land of Cuba, to the westward of Cape Maize, clear
and well--defined against the northern sky; and as we neither hauled our
wind to weather the east end of the island, nor edged away for St Jago,
it was evident, beyond all doubt, that we were running right in for some
one of the piratical haunts on the Cuba coast.

The crew now set to work, and removed the remains of their late
messmate, and the two wounded men, from where they lay upon the ballast
in the Run, to their own berth forward in the bow of the little vessel;
they then replaced the planks which they had started, and arranged the
dead body of the mate along the cabin floor, close to where I lay, faint
and bleeding, and more heavily bruised than I had at first thought.

The captain was still at the helm; he had never spoken a word either to
me or any of the crew, since he had taken the trifling liberty of
shooting me through the neck, and no thanks to him that the wound was
not mortal; but he now resumed his American accent, and began to drawl
out the necessary orders for repairing damages.

When I went on deck shortly afterwards, I was surprised beyond measure
to perceive the injury the little vessel had sustained, and the uncommon
speed, handiness, and skill, with which it had been repaired.  However
lazily the command might appear to have been given, the execution of it
was quick as lightning.  The crew, now reduced to ten working hands,
had, with an almost miraculous promptitude, knotted and spliced the
rigging, mended and shifted sails, fished the sprung and wounded spars,
and plugged and nailed lead over the shot--holes, and all within half an
hour.

I don't like Americans; I never did, and never shall like them; I have
seldom met with an American gentleman, in the large and complete sense
of the terms.  I have no wish to eat with them, drink with them, deal
with, or consort with them in any way; but let me tell the whole truth,
nor fight with them, were it not for the laurels to be acquired, by
overcoming an enemy so brave, determined, and alert, and every way so
worthy of one's steel, as they have always proved.  One used to fight
with a Frenchman, as a matter of course, and for the fun of the thing as
it were, never dreaming of the possibility of Johnny Crapeau beating us,
where there was any thing approaching to an equality of force; but, say
as much as we please about larger ships and more men, and a variety of
excuses which proud John Bull, with some truth very often I will admit,
has pertinaciously thrust forward to palliate his losses during the
short war, a regard for truth and fair dealing, which I hope are no
scarce qualities amongst British seamen, compels me to admit, that
although I would of course peril my life and credit more readily with an
English crew, yet I believe a feather would turn the scale between the
two countries, so far as courage and seamanship goes; and let it not be
forgotten, although we have now regained our superiority in this
respect, yet, in gunnery and smallarm practice, we were as thoroughly
weathered on by the Americans during the war, as we overtopped them in
the bulldog courage with which our boarders handled those genuine
English weapons, the cutlass and the pike.

After the captain had given his orders, and seen the men fairly at work,
he came down to the cabin, still ghastly and pale, but with none of that
ferocity stamped on his grim features, from the outpouring of which I
had suffered so severely.  He never once looked my way, no more than if
I had been a bundle of old junk; but folding his hands on his knee, he
sat down on a small locker, against which the feet of the dead mate
rested, and gazed earnestly on his face, which was immediately under the
open skylight, through which, by this time, the clear cold rays of the
moon streamed full on it, the short twilight having already fled,
chained as it is in these climates to the chariot wheels of the burning
sun.  My eye naturally followed his, but I speedily withdrew it.  I had
often bent over comrades who had been killed by gunshot wounds, and
always remarked, what is wellknown, that the features wore a benign
expression, bland and gentle, and contented as the face of a sleeping
infant, while their limbs were composed decently, often gracefully, like
one resting after great fatigue, as if nature, like an affectionate
nurse, had arranged the deathbed of her departing child with more than
usual care, preparatory to his last long sleep; whereas those who had
died from the thrust of a pike, or the blow of a cutlass, however mild
the living expression of their countenance might have been, were always
fearfully contorted both in body and face.

In the present instance, the eyes were wide open, white, prominent, and
glazed like those of a dead fish; the hair, which was remarkably fine,
and had been worn in long ringlets, amongst which a large gold earring
glittered, the poor fellow having been a nautical dandy of the first
water was drenched and clotted into heavy masses with the death--sweat,
and had fallen back on the deck from his forehead, which was well
formed, high, broad and massive.  His nose was transparent, thin, and
sharp, the tense skin on the bridge of it glancing in the silver light,
as if it had been glass.  His mouth was puckered on one side into
angular wrinkles, like a curtain drawn up awry, while a clotted stream
of black gore crept from it sluggishly down his right cheek, and
coagulated in a heap on the deck.  His lower jaw had fallen, and there
he lay agape with his mouth full of blood.

His legs, indeed his whole body below his loins, where the fracture of
the spine had taken place, rested precisely as they had been arranged
after he died; but the excessive swelling and puffing out of his broad
chest, contrasted shockingly with the shrinking of the body at the pit
of the stomach, by which the arch of the ribs was left as well defined
as if the skin had been drawn over a skeleton, and the distortion of the
muscles of the cheeks and throat evinced the fearful strength of the
convulsions which had preceded his dissolution.  It was evident, indeed,
that throughout his whole person above the waist, the nervous system had
been utterly shattered; the arms, especially, appeared to have been
awfully distorted, for when crossed on his breast, they had to be
forcibly fastened down at the wrists by a band of spun--yam to the
buttons of his jacket.  His right hand was shut, with the exception of
the forefinger, which was extended, pointing upwards; but the whole arm,
from the shoulder down, had the horrible appearance of struggling to get
free from the cord which confined it.

Obed, by the time I had noticed all this, had knelt beside the shoulder
of the corpse, and I could see by the moonlight that flickered across
his face as the vessel rolled in the declining breeze, that he had
pushed off his eye the uncouth spyglass which he had fastened over it
during the chase, so that it now stood out from the middle of his
forehead like a stunted horn; but, in truth, "it was not exalted," for
he appeared crushed down to the very earth by the sadness of the scene
before him, and I noticed the frequent sparkle of a heavy tear as it
fell from his iron visage on the face of the dead man.  At length he
untied the string that fastened the eyeglass round his head, and taking
a coarse towel from a locker, he spunged poor Paul's face and neck with
rum, and then fastened up his lower jaw with the lanyard.  Having
performed this melancholy office, the poor fellow's feelings could no
longer be restrained by my presence.

"God help me, I have not now one friend in the wide world.  When I had
neither home, nor food, nor clothing, he sheltered me, and fed me, and
clothed me, when a single word would have gained him five hundred
dollars, and run me up to the fore yardarm in a wreath of white smoke;
but he was true as steel; and oh that he was now doing for me what I
have done for him! who would have moaned over me,--me, who am now
without wife or child, and have disgraced all my kin! alack--a--day,
alack--a--day!"--And he sobbed and wept aloud, as if his very heart
would have burst in twain.--"But I will soon follow you, Paul; I have
had my warning already; I know it, and I believe it." At this instant
the dead hand of the mate burst the ligature that kept it down across
his body, and slowly rose up and remained in a beckoning attitude. I was
seized with a cold shivering from head to foot, and would have shrieked
aloud, had it not been for very shame, but Obed was unmoved.--"I know
it, Paul.  I know it. I am ready, and I shall not be long behind you."

He fastened the arm down once more, and having called a couple of hands
to assist him, they lashed up the remains of their shipmate in his
hammock, with a piece of iron ballast at his feet, and then, without
more ado, handed the body up through the skylight; and I heard the heavy
splash as they cast it into the sea.  When this was done, the captain
returned to the cabin, bringing a light with him, filled and drank off a
glass of strong grog.  Yet he did not even now deign to notice me, which
was by no means soothing; and I found that, since he wouldn't speak, I
must, at all hazards.

"I say, Obed, do you ever read your Bible?" He looked steadily at me
with his lacklustre eyes.  "Because, if you do, you may perhaps have
fallen in with some such passages as the following:--Behold I am in your
hand; but know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall
surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves."

"It is true, Mr Cringle, I feel the truth of it here," and he laid his
large bony hand on his heart.  "Yet I do not ask you to forgive me; I
don't expect that you can or will; but unless the devil gets possession
of me again--which, so sure as ever there was a demoniac in this world,
he had this afternoon when you so tempted me--I hope soon to place you
in safety, either in a friendly port, or on board of a British vessel;
and then what becomes of me is of little consequence, now since the only
living soul who cared a dollar for me is at rest amongst the coral
branches at the bottom of the deep green sea."

"Why, man," rejoined I, "leave off this stuff; something has turned your
brain, surely; people must die in their beds, you now, if they be not
shot, or put out of the way somehow or other; and as for my small
affair, why I forgive you, man--from my heart I forgive you; were it
only for the oddity of your scantling, mental and corporeal, I would do
so; and you see I am not much hurting--so lend me a hand, like a good
fellow, to wash the wound with a little spirits--it will stop the
bleeding, and the stiffness will soon go off."

"Lieutenant Cringle, I need not tell what I know you have found out,
that I am not the vulgar Yankee smuggler, fit only to be made a butt of
by you and your friends, that you no doubt at first took me for; but who
or what I am, or what I may have been, you shall never know--but I will
tell you this much"

"Devil confound the fellow!--why this is too much upon the brogue, Obed.
Will you help me to dress my wound, man, and leave off your cursed
sentimental speeches, which you must have gleaned from some old novel or
another?  I'll hear it all by and by."

At this period I was a reckless young chap, with strong nerves, and my
own share of that animal courage, which generally oozes out at one's
finger ends when one gets married and turned of thirty; nevertheless I
did watch with some anxiety the effect which my unceremonious
interruption was to have upon him.  I was agreeably surprised to find
that he took it all in good part, and set himself, with great alacrity
and kindness even, to put me to rights, and so successfully, that when I
was washed and cleansed, and fairly coopered up, I found myself quite
able to take my place at the table; and having no fear of the College of
Surgeons before my eyes, I helped myself to a little of the needful, and
in the plenitude of my heart, I asked Obed's pardon for my ill--bred
interruption.

"It was not quite the thing to cut you short in the middle of your
Newgate Calendar, Obed--beg pardon, your story I mean; no offence now,
none in the world--eh?  But where the deuce, man, got you this fine
linen of Egypt?" looking at the sleeves of the shirt Obed had obliged me
with, as I sat without my coat.  "I had not dreamt you had any thing so
luxurious in your kit."

I saw his brow begin to lower again, so the devil prompted me to advert,
by way of changing the subject, to a file of newspapers, which, as it
turned out, might have proved to be by far the most dangerous topic I
could have hit upon.  He had laid them aside, having taken them out of
the locker when he was rummaging for the linen.  "What have we here?
Kingston Chronicle, Montego Bay Gazette, Falmouth Advertiser.  A great
newsmonger you must be.  What arrivals?--let me see;--you know I am a
week from headquarters.  Let me see."

At first he made a motion as if he would have snatched them out of my
hands, but speedily appeared to give up the idea, merely murmuring
"What can it signify now?"

I continued to read--"Chanticleer from a cruise--Tonnant from Barbadoes
Pique from Port--au--Prince.  Oh, the next interests me the Firebrand
is daily expected from Havanna; she is to come through the gulf, round
Cape Antonio, and beat up the haunts of the pirates all along the Cuba
shore." I was certain now that at the mention of this corvette mine host
winced in earnest.  This made me anxious to probe him farther.  "Why,
what means this pencil mark--'Firebrand's number off the Chesapeake was
1022?' How the deuce, my fine fellow, do you know that?"

He shook his head, but said nothing, and I went on reading the pencil
memoranda--"But this is most probably changed; she now carries a red
cross in the head of her foresail, and has very short lower masts like
the Hornet."  Still he made me no answer. I proceeded--"Stop, let me see
what merchant ships are about sailing.  Loading for Liverpool, the John
Gladstone, Peter Ponderous master;" and after it, again in pencil
"Only sugar: goes through the gulf.--Only sugar," said I, still fishing;
"too bulky, I suppose.--Ariel, Jenkins Whitehaven;" remark--"sugar,
coffee, and logwood. Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, to sail for
Chagres on 7th proximo;" remark--"rich cargo of bale goods, but no
chance of overtaking her." "El Rayo to sail for St Jago de Cuba on the
10th proximo;" remark--"sails fast; armed with a long gun and musketry;
thirty hands; about ten Spanish passengers; valuable cargo of dry goods;
mainmast rakes well aft; new cloth in the foresail about half--way up;
will be off the Moro about the 13th.--And what is this written in ink
under the above?--The San Pedro from Chagres, and Marianita from Santa
Martha, although rich, have both got convoy.--Ah, too strong for your
friends, Obed--I see, I see.--Francis Baring, Loan French, master--an
odd name, rather, for a skipper;" remark--"forty seroons of cochineal
and some specie; is to sail from Morant Bay on 5th proximo, to go
through the windward passage; may be expected off Cape St Nicolas on the
12th, or thereby." I laid down the paper and looked him full in the
face.  "Nicolas is an ominous name.  I fear the good ship Francis Baring
will find it so.  Some of the worthy saint's clerks to be fallen in with
off the Mole, eh?  Don't you think as I do, Obed?" Still silent.  "Why
you seem to take great delight in noting the intended departures and
expected arrivals, my friend--merely to satisfy your curiosity, of
course; but, to come to close quarters with you, captain, I now know
pretty well the object of your visiting Jamaica now and then you are
indeed no vulgar smuggler."

"It is well for you and good for myself, Mr Cringle, that something
weighs heavy at my heart at this moment, and that there is that about
you which, notwithstanding your ill--timed jesting, commands my respect,
and engages my goodwill--had it not been so, you would have been
alongside of poor Paul at this moment." He leant his arms upon the
table, and gazed intensely on my face as he continued in a solemn
tremulous tone--"Do you believe in auguries, Mr Cringle?  Do you believe
that coming events cast their shadows before?'"--oh, that little Wiggy
Campbell had been beside me to have seen the figure and face of the man
who now quoted him!

"Yes, I do, it is part of the creed of every sailor to do so; I do
believe that people have had forewarnings of peril to themselves or
their friends."

"Then what do you think of the mate beckoning me with his dead hand to
follow him?"

"Why, you are raving, Obed; you saw that he had been much convulsed, and
that the limb, from the contraction of the sinews, was forcibly kept
down in the position it broke loose from--the spunyarn gave way, and of
course it started up--nothing wonderful in all this although it did at
the time somewhat startle me, I confess."

"It may be so, it may be so.  I don't know," rejoined he, "but taken
along with what I saw before"--Here his voice sank into so hollow and
sepulchral a tone as to be almost unintelligible.  "But there is no use
in arguing on the subject.  Answer me this, Lieutenant Cringle, and
truly, so help you God at your utmost need, did the mate leave the cabin
at any moment after I was wounded by the splinter?" And he seized one of
my hands convulsively with his iron paw, while he pointed up through the
open scuttle towards heaven with the other, which trembled like a reed.
The moon shone strong on the upper part of his countenance, while the
yellow smoky glare of the candle over which he bent, blending harshly
and inharmoniously with the pale silver light, fell full on his uncouth
figure, and on his long scraggy bare neck and chin and cheeks, giving
altogether a most unearthly expression to his savage features, from the
conflicting tints and changing shadows cast by the flickering moonbeams
streaming fitfully through the skylight, as the vessel rolled to and
fro, and by the large torchlike candle as it wavered in the night wind.
The Prince of the Powers of the Air might have sat for his picture by
proxy.  It was just such a face as one has dreamed of after a hot supper
and cold ale, when the whisky had been forgotten--horrible, changing,
vague, glimmering, and undefined; and as if something was still wanting
to complete the utter frightfulness of his aspect, the splinter wound in
his head burst out afresh from his violent agitation, and streamed down
in heavy drops from his forehead, falling warm on my hand.  I was much
shaken at being adjured in this tremendous way, with the hot blood
glewing our hands together, but I returned his grasp as steadily as I
could, while I replied, with all the composure he had left me, and that
would not have quite filled a Winchester bushel.

"He never left my side from the time he offered to take your place after
you had been wounded."

He fell back against the locker as if he had been shot through the
heart.  His grasp relaxed, he drew his breath very hard, and I thought
he had fainted.

"Then it was not him that stood by me; I thought it might have been him,
but I was a fool, it was impossible."

He made a desperate effort to recover his composure, and succeeded.

"And, pray, Master Obediah," quoth I, "what did you see?"

He answered me sharply--"Never mind, never mind--here, Potomac, lend us
a hand to sling a cot for this gentleman; there now, see the lanyard is
sound, and the lacing all tight and snug--now put that mattrass into it,
and there is linen in the chest."

In a trice my couch was rigged, all comfortable, snow--white linen, nice
pillow, soft mattrass, &c. and Obed, filling me another tumbler, helped
himself also; he then drank to my health, wished me a sound sleep,
promised to call me at daylight, and as he left the cabin he said, "Mr
Cringle, had it been my object to have injured you, I would not have
waited until now.  You are quite safe so far as depends on me, so take
your rest--good night, once more."

I tumbled into bed, and never once opened my eyes until Obed called me
at daylight, that is, at five in the morning, according to his promise.

By this time we were well in with the Cuba shore; the land might be two
miles from us, as we could see the white surf.  Out at sea, although all
around was clear as crystal, there was nothing to be seen of the Gleam
or Firebrand, but there were ten or twelve fishing canoes, each manned
with from four to six hands, close aboard of us;--we seemed to have got
becalmed in the middle of a small fleet of them.  The nearest to us
hailed in Spanish, in a very friendly way.

"Como estamos Capitan, que hay de nuevo; hay algo de bueno, para los
pobres Pescadores?" and the fellow who had spoken laughed loudly.

The Captain desired him to come on board, and then drew him aside,
conversing earnestly with him.  The Spanish fisherman was a very
powerful man; he was equipped in a blue cotton shirt, Osnaburg trowsers,
sandals of untanned bullock's hide, a straw hat, and wore the eternal
greasy red sash and long knife.  He was a bold, daring looking fellow,
and frequently looked frowningly on me, and shook his head impatiently,
while the Captain, as it seemed, was explaining to him who I was. Just
in this nick of time my friend Potomac handed up my uniform coat, (I had
previously been performing my ablutions on deck in my shirt and
trowsers,) which I put on, swab and all, thinking no harm.  But there
must have been mighty great offence nevertheless, for the fisherman, in
a twinkling, casting a fierce look at me, jumped overboard like a
feather, clearing the rail like a flying fish, and swam to his canoe
that had shoved off a few paces.

When he got on board he stood up and shook his clenched fist at Obed,
shouting, "Picaro, traidor, Ingleses hay abordo, quieres enganarnos!" He
then held up the blade of his paddle, a signal which all the canoes
answered in a moment in the same manner, and then pulled towards the
land, from whence a felucca, invisible until that moment, now swept out,
as if she had floated up to the surface by magic, for I could see
neither creek nor indentation on the shore, nor the smallest symptom of
any entrance to a port or cove.  For a few minutes the canoes clustered
round this necromantic craft, and I could notice that two or three hands
from each of them jumped on board; they then paddled off in a string,
and vanished one by one amongst the mangrove bushes as suddenly as the
felucca had appeared.  All this puzzled me exceedingly I looked at Obed
he was evidently sorely perplexed.

"I had thought to have put you on board a British vessel before this, or
failing that, to have run down, and landed you at St Jago, Mr Cringle,
as I promised; but you see I am prevented by these honest men there.
Get below, and as you value your life, and, I may say, mine, keep your
temper, and be civil."

I did as he suggested but peeped out of the cabin skylight to see what
was going on, notwithstanding.  The felucca was armed with a heavy
carronade on a pivot, and as full of men as she could hold, fierce, half
naked, savage looking fellows,--she swept rapidly up to us, and closing
on our larboard quarter, threw about five--and--twenty of her genteel
young people on board, who immediately secured the crew, and seized
Obed.  However, they, that is, the common sailors, seemed to have no
great stomach for the job, and had it not been for the fellow I had
frightened overboard, I don't think one of them would have touched him.
Obed bore all this with great equanimity.

"Why, Francisco," he said, to this personage, in good Spanish, "why,
what madness is this? your suspicions are groundless; it is as I tell
you, he is my prisoner, and whatever he may have been to me, he can be
no spy on you."

"Cuchillo entonces," was the savage reply.

"No, no," persisted Obediah, "get cool, man, get cool; I am pledged that
no harm shall come to him; and farther I have promised to put him ashore
at St Jago, and I will be as good as my word."

"You can't if you would," rejoined Francisco; "the Snake is at anchor
under the Moro."

"Then he must go with us."

"We shall see as to that," said the other; then raising his voice he
shouted to his ragamuffins, "Comrades, we are betrayed; there is an
English officer on board, who can be nothing but a spy; follow me!"

And he dashed down the companion ladder, knife in hand, while I sprung
through the small scuttle, like a rat out of one hole when a ferret is
put in at the other, and crept as close to Obed as I could; Francisco
when he missed me, came on deck again.  The Captain had now seized a
cutlass in one hand, and held a cocked pistol in the other.  It appeared
he had greater control, the nature of which I now began to comprehend,
over the felucca's people, than Francisco bargained for, as the moment
the latter went below, they released him, and went forward in a body.
My persecutor again advanced close up to me, seized me by the collar
with one hand, and tried to drag me forward, brandishing his naked knife
aloft in the other.

Obed promptly caught his sword--arm--"Francisco," he exclaimed, still in
Spanish, "fool, madman, let go your hold! let go, or by the Heaven above
us, and the hell we are both hastening to, I will strike you dead!"

The man paused, and looked round to his own people, and seeing one or
two encouraging glances and gestures amongst them, he again attempted to
drag me away from my hold on the tafferel.  Something flashed in the
sun, and the man fell! his left arm, the hand of which still clutched my
throat, while mine grasped its wrist, had been shred from his body by
Obed's cutlass, like a twig; and, oh God, my blood curdles to my heart
even now when I think of it! the dead fingers kept the grasp
sufficiently long to allow the arm to fall heavily against my side,
where it hung for some seconds, until the muscles relaxed and it dropped
on the deck.  The instant that Obed struck the blow, he caught hold of
my hand, threw away his cutlass, and advanced towards the group of the
felucca's men, pistol in hand.

"Am I not your captain, ye cowards--have I ever deceived you yet--have I
ever flinched from heading you where the danger was greatest--have you
not all that I am worth in your hands, and will you murder me now?"

"Viva, el noble capitan, viva!"

And the tide turned as rapidly in our favour as it had lately ebbed
against us.

"As for that scoundrel, he has got no more than he deserves," said he,
turning to where Francisco lay, bleeding like a carcass in the shambles;
"but tie up his arm some of ye, I would be sorry he bled to death."

It was unavailing, the large arteries had emptied his whole lifeblood
he had already gone to his account.

This most miserable transaction, with all its concomitant horrors, to my
astonishment, did not seem to make much impression on Obed, who now,
turning to me, said, with perfect composure,--"You have there another
melancholy voucher for my sincerity," pointing to the body; "but time
presses, and you must now submit to be blindfolded, and that without
further explanation at present."

I did so with the best grace I could, and was led below, where two
beauties, with loaded pistols, and a drawn knife each, obliged me with
their society, one seated on each side of me on the small locker, like
two deputy butchers ready to operate on an unfortunate veal.  It had now
fallen dead calm, and, from what I heard, I conjectured that the felucca
was sweeping in towards the land with us in tow, for the sound of the
surf grew louder and louder.  By and by we seemed to slide beyond the
long smooth swell into broken water, for the little vessel pitched sharp
and suddenly, and again all was still, and we seemed to have sailed into
some landlocked cove.  From the loud echo of the voices on deck, I
judged that we were in a narrow canal, the banks of which were
reflecting the sound; presently this ceased, and although we skimmed
along as motionless as before, I no longer heard the splash of the
felucca's sweeps; the roar of the sea gradually died away, until it
sounded like distant thunder, and I thought we touched the ground now
and then, although slightly.  All at once the Spanish part of the crew,
for we still had a number of the felucca's people with us, sang out
"Palanca," and we began to pole along a narrow marshy lagoon, coming so
near the shore occasionally, that our sides were brushed by the branches
of the mangrove bushes.  Again the channel seemed to widen, and I could
hear the felucca once more ply her sweeps.  In about ten minutes after
this the anchor was let go, and for a quarter of an hour, nothing was
heard on deck but the bustle of the people furling sails, coiling down
the ropes, and getting every thing in order, as is usual in coming into
port.  It was evident that several boats had boarded us soon after we
anchored, as I could make out part of the greetings between the
strangers and Obed, in which my own name recurred more than once.  In a
little while all was still again, and Obed called down the companion to
my guards, that I might come on deck,--a boon I was not long in availing
myself of.

We were anchored nearly in the centre of a shallow swampy lagoon, about
a mile across, as near as I could judge; two very large schooners,
heavily armed, were moored ahead of us, one on each bow, and another
rather smaller lay close under our stern; they all had sails bent, and
every thing apparently in high order, and were full of men.  The shore,
to the distance of a bow--shot from the water all around us, was low,
marshy, and covered with an impervious jungle of thick strong reeds and
wild canes, with here and there a thicket of mangroves; a little farther
off, the land swelled into lofty hills, covered to the very summit with
heavy timber, but every thing had a moist, green, steamy appearance, as
if it had been the region of perpetual rain.  "Lots of yellow fever
here," thought I, as the heavy rank smell of decayed vegetable matter
came off on the faint sickly breeze, and the sluggish fog banks crept
along the dull clay--coloured motionless surface of the tepid water.
The sea view was quite shut out--I looked all round and could discern no
vestige of the entrance.  Right ahead there was about a furlong of land
cleared at the only spot which one could call a beach,--that is, a hard
shore of sand and pebbles.  Had you tried to get ashore at any other
point, your fate would have been that of the Master of Ravenswood; as
fatal, that is, without the gentility; for you would have been
suffocated in black mud, in place of clean sea--sand.  There was a long
shed in the centre of this cleared spot, covered in with boards, and
thatched with palm leaves; it was open below, a sort of capstan--house,
where a vast quantity of sails, anchors, cordage, and most kinds of sea
stores were stowed, carefully covered over with tarpawling.  Overhead
there was a flooring laid along the couples of the roof, the whole
length of the shed, forming a loft of nearly sixty feet long, divided by
bulkheads into a variety of apartments, lit by small rude windows in the
thatch, where the crews of the vessels, I concluded, were occasionally
lodged during the time they might be under repair.  The boat was manned,
and Obed took me ashore with him.

We landed near the shed I have described, beneath which we encountered
about forty of the most uncouth and ferocious--looking rascals that my
eyes had ever been blessed withal; they were of every shade, from the
woolly Negro and long--haired Indian, to the sallow American and fair
Biscayan; and as they intermitted their various occupations of mending
sails, fitting and stretching rigging, splicing ropes, making spun--yam,
coopering gun carriages, grinding pikes and cutlasses, and filling
cartridges, to look at me, they grinned and nodded to each other, and
made sundry signs and gestures which made me regret many a past
peccadillo that in more prosperous times I little thought on or repented
of, and I internally prayed that I might be prepared to die as became a
man, for my fate appeared to be sealed.  The only ray of hope that shot
into my mind, through all this gloom, came from the respect the thieves,
one and all, paid the Captain; and, as I had reaped the benefit of
assuming an outward recklessness and daring, which I really did not at
heart possess, I screwed myself up to maintain the same port still, and
swaggered along, jabbering in my broken Spanish, right and left, and
jesting even with the most infamous--looking scoundrels of the whole
lot, while, God he knows, my heart was palpitating like a girl's when
she is asked to be married.  Obed led the way up a ladder into the loft,
where we found several messes at dinner; and passing through various
rooms, in which a number of hammocks were slung, we at length arrived at
the eastern end, which was boarded off into an apartment eighteen or
twenty feet square, lighted by a small port--hole in the end, about ten
feet from the ground.  I could see several huts from this window, built
just on the edge of the high wood, where some of the country people
seemed to be moving about, and round which a large flock of pigs and
from twenty to thirty bullocks were grazing.  All beyond, as far as the
eye could reach, was one continuous forest, without any vestige of a
living thing; not even a thin wreath of blue smoke evinced the presence
of a fellow--creature; I seemed to be hopelessly cut off from all
succour, and my heart again died within me.

"I am sorry to say you must consider yourself a prisoner here for a few
days," said Obed.

I could only groan.

"But the moment the coast is clear, I will be as good as my word, and
land you at St Jago."

I groaned again.  The man was moved.

"I would I could do so sooner," he continued; "but you see by how
precarious a tenure I hold my control over these people; therefore I
must be cautious, for your sake as well as my own, or they would make
little of murdering both of us, especially as the fellow who would have
cut your throat this morning has many friends amongst them; above all, I
dare not leave them for any purpose for some days.  I must recover my
seat, in which, by the necessary severity you witnessed, I have been
somewhat shaken.  So goodbye; there is cold meat in that locker, and
some claret to wash it down with.  Don't, I again warn you, venture out
during the afternoon or night.  I will be with you betimes in the
morning.  So goodbye so long.  Your cot, you see, is ready slung."

He turned to depart, when, as if recollecting himself, he stooped down,
and taking hold of a ring, he lifted up a trap door, from which there
was a ladder leading down to the capstan--house. "I had forgotten this
entrance; it will be more convenient for me in my visits."

In my heart I believe he intended this as a hint that I should escape
through the hole at some quiet opportunity; and he was descending the
ladder, when he stopped and looked round, greatly mortified, as it
struck me.

"I forgot to mention that a sentry has been placed, I don't know by
whose orders, at the foot of the ladder, to whom I must give orders to
fire at you, if you venture to descend.  You see how the land lies; I
can't help it."

This was spoken in a low tone, then aloud--"There are books on that
shelf behind the canvass screen; if you can settle to them, they may
amuse you."

He left me, and I sat down disconsolate enough. I found some Spanish
books, and a volume of Lord Byron's poetry, containing the first canto
of Childe Harold, two numbers of Blackwood, with several other English
books and magazines, the names of the owners on all of them being
carefully erased.

But there was nothing else that indicated the marauding life of friend
Obediah, whose apartment I conjectured was now my prison, if I except a
pretty extensive assortment of arms, pistols, and cutlasses, and a range
of massive cases, with iron clamps, which were ranged along one side of
the room.  I paid my respects to the provender and claret; the hashed
chicken was particularly good; bones rather large or so, but flesh white
and delicate.  Had I known that I was dining upon a guana, or large wood
lizard, I scarcely think I would have made so hearty a meal.  Long cork,
No. 2, followed ditto, No. 1; and as the shades of evening, as poets
say, began to fall by the time I had finished it, I toppled quietly into
my cot, said my prayers such as they were, and fell asleep.

It must have been towards morning, from the damp freshness of the air
that came through the open window, when I was roused by the howling of a
dog, a sound which always moves me.  I shook myself; but before I was
thoroughly awake, it ceased; it appeared to have been close under my
window.

I was turning to go to sleep again, when a female, in a small suppressed
voice, sung the following snatch of a vulgar Port Royal ditty, which I
scarcely forgive myself for introducing here to polite society.

"Young hofficer come home at night,
Him give me ring and kisses;
Nine months, one picaniny white,
Him white almost like missis.
But missis fum my back wid switch,
Him say de shild for massa;
But massa say him"


The singer broke off suddenly, as if disturbed by the approach of some
one.

"Hush, hush, you old foolish--" said a man's voice, in the same low
whispering tone; "you will waken de dronken sentry dere, when we shall
all be put in iron.  Hush, he will know my voice more better."

It was now clear that some one wished to attract my attention; besides,
I had a dreamy recollection of having heard both the male and female
voices before.  I listened, therefore, all alive.  The man began to sing
in the same low tone.

"Newfoundland dog love him master de morest
Of all de dog ever I see;
Let him starve him, and kick him, and cuff him de sorest,
Difference none never makee to he."

There was a pause for a minute or two.

"It no use," the same voice continued; him either no dere, or he won't
hear us."

"Stop," said the female, "stop; woman head good for someting. I know who
he shall hear.--Here, good dog, sing psalm; good dog, sing psalm,' and
thereupon a long loud melancholy howl rose wailing through the night
air.

"If that be not my dear old dog Sneezer, it is a deuced good imitation
of him," thought I.

The woman again spoke--"Yowl leetle piece more, good dog," and the howl
was repeated.

I was now certain.  By this time I had risen, and stood at the open
window; but it was too dark to see any thing distinctly below. I could
barely distinguish two dark figures, and what I concluded was the dog
sitting on end between them.

"Who are you?" "What do you want with me?"

"Speak softly, massa, speak softly, or the sentry may hear us, for all
de rum I give him."

Here the dog recognised me, and nearly spoiled sport altogether; indeed
it might have cost us our lives, for he began to bark and frisk about,
and to leap violently against the end of the capstan--house, in vain
endeavours to reach the window. . "Down, Sneezer, down, sir; you used to
be a dog of some sense; down."

But Sneezer's joy had capsized his discretion, and the sound of my voice
pronouncing his name drove him mad altogether, and he bounded against
the end of the shed, like a battering--ram.

"Stop, man, stop," and I held down the bight of my neckcloth, with an
end in each hand.  He retired, took a noble run, and in a trice hooked
his forepaws in the handkerchief, and I hauled him in at the window.
"Now, Sneezer, down with you, sir, down with you, or your rampaging will
get all our throats cut." He cowered at my feet, and was still as a lamb
from that moment. I stepped to the window.  "Now, who are you, and what
do you want?" said I.


"Ah, massa, you no know me?"

"How the devil should I? Don't you see it is as dark as pitch?"

"Well, massa, I will tell you; it is me, massa."

"I make no great doubt of that; but who may you be?"

"Lord, you are de foolis person now; make me talk to him," said the
female.  "Massa, never mind he, dat stupid fellow is my husband, and
surely massa know me?"

"Now, my very worthy friends, I think you want to make yourselves known
to me; and if so, pray have the goodness to tell me your names, that is,
if I can in any way serve you."

"To be sure you can, massa; for dat purpose I come here."

The woman hooked the word out of his mouth.  "Yes, massa, you must know
me is Nancy, and dat old stupid is my husband Peter Mangrove, him who"
here Peter chimed in--"Yes, massa, Peter Mangrove is de person you have
de honour to address, and"--here he lowered his voice still more,
although the whole dialogue from the commencement had been conducted in
no higher tone than a loud whisper--"we have secured one big large
canoe, near de mout of dis dam hole, which, wid your help, I tink we
shall be able to launch troo de surf; and once in smoot water, den no
fear but we shall run down de coast safely before de wind till we reach.
St Jago."

My heart jumped against my ribs.  Here's an unexpected chance, thought
I. "But, Peter, how in the name of mumbo jumbo, came you here?"

"Why, massa, you do forget a leetle, dat I am a Creole negro, and not a
naked tatooed African, whose exploits, dat is de wonderful ting him
never do in him's own country, him get embroidered and pinked in
gunpowder on him breach; beside, I am a Christian gentleman like
youshef; so d--n mumbo jumbo, Massa Cringle."

I saw where I had erred.  "So say I, Peter, d--n mumbo jumbo
particularly; but how came you here, man? tell me that."

"Why, massa, I was out in de pilot boat schooner, wid my wife here, and
five more hands, waiting for de outward bound, finking no harm, when dem
piratical rascal catch we, and carry us off.  Yankee privateer bad
enough; but who ever hear of pilot being carry off? blasphemy dat--carry
off pilot!  Who ever dream of such a ting? every shivilized peoples
respect pilot--carry off pilot!--oh Lord" and he groaned in spirit for
several seconds.

"And the dog?" enquired I.

"Oh, massa, I could not leave him at home; and since you was good enough
to board him wid us, he has messed wid us, ay and slept wid us; and when
we started last, although he showed some dislike at going on board, I
had only to say, Sneezer, we go look for you master and he make such a
bound, dat he capsize my old woman dere, heel, over head; oh dear, what
display, Nancy, you was exhibit!"

"Hold your tongue, Peter; you hab no decency, you old willain."

"Well, but, Peter, speak out; when are we to make the attempt? where are
the rest of your crew?"

"Oh dear! oh dear! dat is de worstest; oh dear!" and he began to cry and
sob like the veriest child.  "Oh, massa,"--after he had somewhat
recovered himself;--"Oh, massa, dese people debits.  Why, de make all de
oder on board walk de plank, wid two ten pound shot, one at each foot.
Oh, if you had seen de clear shining blue skin, as de became leetle and
leetle, and more leetler, down far in de clear green sea!  Oh dear! oh
dear!  Only to tink dat each wavering black spot was fellow--creature
like one--shef, wid de heart's blood warm in his bosom at de very
instant of time we lost sight of him for ever!"

"God bless me," said I; "and how did you escape, and the black dog, and
the black--ahem--beg pardon--your wife I mean; how were you spared?"

"Ah, massa! I can't say; but bad as de were, de seemed to have a liking
for brute beasts, so dem save Sneezer, and my wife, and myshef; we were
de only quadrupeds saved out of de whole crew Oh dear!  Oh dear!"

"Well, well; I know enough now. I will spare you the pain of any farther
recital, Peter; so tell me what I am to do."

"Stop, massa, till I see if de sentry be still sound. I know de fellow,
he was one on dem; let me see"--and I heard him through the loose
flooring boards walk to the foot of the trap ladder leading up to my
berth.  The soliloquy that followed was very curious of its kind.  The
negro had excited himself by a recapitulation of the cruelties exercised
on his unfortunate shipmates, and the unwarrantable caption of himself
and rib, a deed that in the nautical calendar would rank in atrocity
with the murder of a herald or the bearer of a flag of truce.  He kept
murmuring to himself, as he groped about in the dark for the sentry
"Catch pilot! who ever hear of such a ting?  I suppose dem would have
pull down light--house, if dere had been any for pull. Where is dis
sentry rascal?--him surely no sober yet?"

The sentry had fallen asleep as he leant back on the ladder, and had
gradually slid down into a sitting position, with his head leaning
against one of the steps, as he reclined with his back towards it, thus
exposing his throat and neck to the groping paw of the black pilot.

"Ah--here him is, snoring heavy as my Nancy--well, dronk still; no fear
of him overhearing we--nice position him lie in--quite convenient--could
cut his troat now--slice him like a pumpkin--de debil is surely busy wid
me, Peter. I find de very clasp--knife in my starboard pocket beginning
to open of himshef."

I tapped on the floor with my foot.

"Ah, tank you, Massa Tom--de debil nearly get we all in a scrape just
now.  However, I see him is quite sound--de sentry dat is, for de oder
never sleep, you know." He had again come under the window.  "Now,
Lieutenant, in two word, to--morrow night at two bells, in de middle
watch, I will be here, and we shall make a start of it; will you
venture, sir?"

"Will I?--to be sure I will; but why not now, Peter? why not now?"

"Ah, massa, you no smell de daylight; near daybreak already, sir.  Can't
make try dis night, but to--morrow night I shall be here punctual."

"Very well, but the dog, man?  If he be found in my quarters, we shall
be blown, and I scarcely think he will leave me."

"Garamighty! true enough, massa; what is to be done?  De people know de
dog was catch wid me, and if he be found wid you, den de will sospect we
communication togidder.  What is to be done?"

I was myself not a little perplexed, when Nancy whispered, "De dog have
more sense den many Christian person.  Tell him he must go wid us dis
one night, no tell him dis night, else him won't; say dis one night, and
dat if him don't, we shall all be deaded; try him, massa."

I had benefited by more extraordinary hints before now, although, well
as I knew the sagacity of the poor brute, I could not venture to hope it
would come up to the expectations of Mrs Mangrove.  But I'll try. "Here,
Sneezer, here, my boy; you must go home with Peter tonight, or we shall
all get into a deuced mess; so here, my boy, here is the bight of the
handkerchief again, and through the window you must go; come, Sneezer,
come."

To my great joy and surprise, the poor dumb beast rose from where he had
coiled himself at my feet, and after having actually embraced me, by
putting his forepaws on my shoulders, as he stood on his hind legs, and
licked my face from ear to ear, uttering a low, fondling, nuzzling sort
of whine, like a nurse caressing a child, he at once leapt on the window
sill, put his forepaws through the handkerchief, and was dropped to the
ground again. I could immediately perceive the two dark figures of the
pilot and his wife, followed by the dog, glide away as noiselessly as if
they had been spirits of the night, until they were lost under the shade
of the thick jungle.

I turned in, and--what will not youth and fatigue do?--I fell once more
fast asleep, and never opened my eyes until Obed shook me in my cot
about eight o'clock in the morning.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. I have sent up your breakfast, but you don't
seem inclined to eat it."

"Don't you believe it, my dear Obed. I have been sound asleep till this
moment; only stop till I have slipped on my--those shoes, if you please
thank you--waistcoat--that will do.  Now--coffee, fish, yams, and
plantains, and biscuit, white as snow, and short as--and eggs and
zounds! claret to finish with?--Why, Obed, you surely don't desire that
I should enjoy all these delicacies in solitary blessedness?"

"Why, I intend to breakfast with you, if my society be not
disagreeable."

"Disagreeable!  Not in the least, quite the contrary.  That black
grouper looks remarkably beautiful.  Another piece of yam, if you
please.--Shall I fill you a cup of coffee, Obed?  For my own part, I
always stow the ground tier of my cargo dry, and then take a
topdressing.  Write this down as an approved axiom with all thorough
breakfast eaters.  Why, man, you are off your feed; what are you turning
up your ear for, in that incomprehensible fashion, like a duck in
thunder?  A little of the claret--thank you.  The very best butter I
have ever eaten out of Ireland--now, some of that avocado pear--and as
for biscuit, Leman never came up to it. I say, man,--hillo, where are
you?--rouse ye out of your brown study, man."

"Did you hear that, Mr Cringle?"

"Hear what?--I heard nothing," rejoined I; "but hand me over that land
crab.--Thank you, and you may send the spawl of that creeping thing
along with it; that guana. I had a dislike to eating a lizard at first,
but I have got over it somehow;--and a  slice of ham, a small taste of
the unclean beast, Obed--peach--fed, I'll warrant."

There was a pause.  The report of a great gun came booming along,
reverberated from side to side of the lagoon, the echoes growing shorter
and shorter, and weaker and weaker, until they growled themselves asleep
in a hollow rumble like distant thunder.

"Ha, ha!  Dick Casket for a thousand!  Old Blowhard has stuck in your
skirts, Master Obed--but Lord help me, man! let us finish our breakfast;
he won't be here this half hour."

I expected to see mine host's forehead lowering like a thunder cloud
from my ill--timed funning; but to my surprise, his countenance
exhibited more amenity than I thought had been in the nature of the
beast, as he replied,--

"Why, lieutenant, the felucca put to sea last night, to keep a bright
look--out at the mouth of our cove here. I suppose that is him
overhauling some vessel."

"It may be so;--hush! there's another gun--Two!"

Obed changed countenance at the double report.

"I say, Obed, the felucca did not carry more than one gun when I saw
her, and she has had no time to load and fire again."

He did not answer a word, but continued, with a piece of guana on the
end of, his fork in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, as if he
had been touched by the wand of a magician.  Presently we heard one or
two dropping shots, quickly thickening into a rattle of musketry.  He
threw down his food, picked up his hat, and trundled down stairs, as if
the devil had kicked him.  "Pedro, que hay?" I could hear him say to
some one below, who appeared to have arrived in great haste, for he
gasped for breath.

"Aqui viene la feluca," answered Pedro; "perseguido por dos Lanchas
Canoneras llenas de Gente."

"Abordo entonces, abordo todo el mundo; arma arma, aqui vienen los
Engleses; arma, arma!"

And all from that instant was a regular hillabaloo.  The drums on board
the schooners beat to quarters, a great bell, formerly the ornament of
some goodly ship, no doubt, which had been slung in the fork of a tree,
clanged away at a furious rate, the crews were hurrying to and fro,
shouting to each other in Creole Spanish, and Yankee English, while
every cannon--shot from the felucca or the boat guns came louder and
louder, and the small arms peppered away sharper and sharper.  The
shouts of the men engaged, both friends and foes, were now heard, and I
could hear Obed's voice on board the largest schooner, which lay full in
view from my window, giving orders, not only to his own crew, but to
those of the others. I heard him distinctly sing out, after ordering
them to haul upon the spring on his cable, "Now, men, I need not tell
you to fight bravely, for if you are taken every devil of you will be
hanged, so hoist away the signal," and a small black ball flew up
through the rigging, until it reached the main topgallant--masthead of
the schooner, where it hung a moment, and in the next blew out in a
large black swallow--tailed flag, like a commodore's broad pennant.

"Now," shrieked he, "let me see who dares give in with this voucher for
his honesty flying aloft!" I twisted and craned myself out of the
window, to get a view of what--was going on elsewhere; however, I could
see nothing but Obed's large schooner from it, all the other craft were
out of the range of my eye, being hid by the projecting roof of the
shed.  The noise continued--the shouting rose higher than ever--the
other schooners opened their fire, both cannon and musketry; and from
the increasing vehemence of the Spanish exclamations, and the cheering
on board Obed's vessels, I concluded the attacking party were having the
worst of it.  My dog Sneezer now came jumping and scrambling up the trap
stair, his paws slipping between the bars at every step, his mouth wide
open, and his tongue hanging out, while he barked, and yelled, and
gasped to get at me, as if his life depended on it.  After him I could
see the round woolly pate of Peter Mangrove, Esquire, as excited
apparently as the dog, and as anxious to get up; but they got jammed
together in the small hatch, and stuck there, man and beast.  At length
Peter spoke--

"Now, sir, now!  Nancy has run on before to the beach wid two paddles;
now for it, now for it."

Down trundled master, and dog, and pilot.  By this time there was no one
in the lower part of the shed, which was full of smoke, while the
infernal tumult on the water still raged as furiously as ever, the shot
of all sorts and sizes hissing, and splashing, and ricochetting along
the smooth surface of the harbour, as if there had been a sleet of
musket and cannonballs and grape.  Peter struck out at the top of his
speed, Sneezer and I followed: we soon reached the jungle, dashed
through a path that had been recently cleared with a cutlass or
billhook, for the twigs were freshly shred, and in about ten minutes
reached the high wood.  However, no rest for the wicked, although the
row seemed lessening now.

"Some one has got the worst of it," said I.

"Never mind, massa," quoth Peter, "or we shan't get de betterest
ourshef."

And away we galloped again, until I had scarcely a rag an inch square on
my back, or anywhere else, and my skin was tom in pieces by the prickly
bushes and spear grass.  The sound of firing now ceased entirely,
although there was still loud shouting now and then.

"Push on, massa--dem will soon miss we."

"True enough, Peter--but what is that?" as we came to a bundle of clouts
walloping about in the morass.

"De debil it must be, I tink," said the pilot.  "No, my Nancy it is,
sticking in the mud up to her waist; what shall us do? you fink, massa,
we hab time for can stop to pick she out?"

"Heaven have mercy, Peter--yes, unquestionably."

"Well, massa, you know best."

So we tugged at the sable heroine, and first one leg came home out of
the tenacious clay, with a plop, then the other was drawn out of the
quagmire.  We then relieved her of the paddles, and each taking hold of
one of the poor half--dead creature's hands, we succeeded in getting
down to the beach, about half a mile to leeward of the entrance to the
cove.  We found the canoe there, plumped Nancy stem foremost into the
bottom of it for ballast, gathered all our remaining energies for a
grand shove, and ran her like lightning into the surf, till the water
flashed over and over us, reaching to our necks.  Next moment we were
both swimming, and the canoe, although full of water, beyond the surf,
rising and falling on the long swell.  We scrambled on board, set Nancy
to bale with Peter's hat, seized our paddles, and skulled away like fury
for ten minutes right out to sea, without looking once about us, until a
musket--shot whistled over our heads, then another, and a third; and I
had just time to hold up a white handkerchief, to prevent a whole
platoon being let drive at us from the deck of his Britannic Majesty's
schooner Gleam, lying--to about a cable's length to windward of us, with
the Firebrand a mile astern of her out at sea.  In five minutes we got
on board of the former.

"Mercy on me, Tom Cringle, and is this the way we are to meet again?"
said old Dick Gasket, as he held out his large, bony, sunburnt hand to
me.  "You have led me a nice dance, in a vain attempt to redeem you from
bondage, Tom; but I am delighted to see you although I have not had the
credit of being your deliverer--very glad to see you, Tom; but come
along man, come down with me, and let me rig you, not quite a Stultze's
fit, you know, but a jury rig you shall have, as good as Dick Casket's
kit can furnish forth, for really you are in a miserable plight, man."

"Bad enough indeed.  Mr Casket--many thanks though--bad enough, as you
say; but I would that your boats crew were in so good a plight."

Mr Gasket looked earnestly at me--"Why, I have my own misgivings,
Cringle; this morning at day--break, the Firebrand in company, we fell
in with an armed felucca.  It was dead calm, and she was out of gun shot,
close in with the land.  The Firebrand immediately sent the cutter on
board full armed, with instructions to me to man the launch, and arm
her with the boat--gun, and then to send both boats to overhaul the
felucca.  I did so, standing in as quickly as the light air would take
me, to support them; the felucca all this while sweeping in shore as
fast as she could pull.  But the boats were too nimble for her, and our
launch had already saluted her twice from the six pounder in the bow,
when the sea--breeze came thundering down in a white squall, that reefed
our gaff--topsail in a trice, and blew away a whole lot of light sails,
like so many paper--kites.  When it cleared away, the devil a felucca,
boat, or any thing else, was to be seen.  Capsized they could not have
been, for all three were not likely to have gone that way; and as to any
creek they could have run into, why we could see none.  That they had
pulled in shore, however, was our conclusion; but here have we been, the
whole morning, firing signal guns every five minutes without success."

"Did you hear no firing after the squall?" said I.

"Why, some of my people thought they did, but it was that hollow,
tremulous, reverberating kind of sound, that it might have been thunder;
and the breeze blew too strong to have allowed us to hear musketry a
mile and a half to windward. I did think I saw some smoke rise, and blow
off now and then, but" "But me no buts, Master Richard Casket; Peter
Mangrove here, as well as myself, saw your people pursue the felucca
into the lion's den, and I fear they have been crushed in his jaws." I
briefly related what we had seen--Casket was in great distress.

"They must have been taken, Cringle.  The fools! to allow themselves to
be trepanned in this way.  We must stand out and speak the corvette.
All hands make sail!"

I could not help smiling at the grandeur of Dick's emphasis on the all,
when twenty hands, one--third of them boys, and the rest landsmen,
scrambled up from below, and began to pull and haul in no very
seamanlike fashion.  He noticed it.

"A--h, Tom, I know what you are grinning at, but I fear it has been no
laughing matter to my poor boats crew--all my best hands gone, God help
me!"

Presently being under the Firebrand's lee quarter, we lowered down the
boat and went on board, where, for the first time, the extreme
ludicrousness of my appearance and following flashed on me. There we
were all in a bunch, the dog, Mr and Mrs Mangrove, and Thomas Cringle,
gentleman, such in appearance as I shall shortly describe them.

Old Richard Gasket, Esq., first clambered up the side and made his bow
to the Hon.  Captain Transom, who was standing near the gangway, on the
snow--white deck, amidst a group of officers, where every thing was in
the most apple--pie order, himself, both in mind and apparel, the most
polished concern in the ship; while the whole crew, with the exception
of the unfortunate absentees in the cutter, were scrambling, to get a
good view of us.

I have already said, that my uniform was torn to pieces; trowsers ditto;
my shoes had parted company in the quagmire; and as for hat, it was left
in my cot.  I had a dirty bandage tied round my neck, performing the
twofold office of a cravat and a dressing to my wound; while the blood
from the scratches had dried into black streaks adown and across my face
and paws, and I was altogether so begrimed with mud that my mother would
not have known me.  Dick made his salaam, and then took up a position
beside the sally--port, with an important face, like a showman
exhibiting wild beastesses, a regular "stir--him--up--with--a--long
pole" sort of look. I followed him "This is Lieutenant Cringle, Captain
Transom."

"The devil it is!" said Transom, trying in vain to keep his gravity.
"Why, I see it is--How do you do, Mr Cringle? glad to see you."

"This is Peter Mangrove, branch--pilot," continued Casket, as Peter,
bowing, tried to slide past out of sight.

Till this instant I had not time to look at him--he was even a much
queerer--looking figure than myself.  He had been encumbered with no
garment besides his trowsers when we started, and these had been
reduced, in the scramble through the brake, to a waistband and two knee
bands, from which a few shreds fluttered in the breeze, the rest of his
canvass having been entirely torn out of the bolt--ropes.  For an upper
dress he had borrowed a waistcoat without sleeves from the purser of the
schooner, which hung loose and unbuttoned before, while behind, being
somewhat of the shortest, some very prominent parts of his stem frame
were disclosed, as even an apology for a shirt he had none.  Being a
decent man, however, he had tied his large straw hat round his waist, by
strings fastened to the broad brims, which nearly met behind, so that
the crown covered his loins before, like a petard, while the sameness of
his black naked body was relieved by being laced with blood from
numberless lacerations.

Next came the female--"This is the pilot's wife, Captain Transom," again
sung out old Dick; but decency won't let me venture on a description of
poor Nancy's equipment, beyond mentioning, that one of the Gleam's crew
had given her a pair of old trowsers, which, as a sailor has no bottom,
and Nancy was not a sailor, were most ludicrously scanty at top, and
devil another rag of any kind had the poor creature on, but a
handkerchief across her bosom.  There was no standing all this; the crew
forward and in the waist were all on the broad grin, while the officers,
after struggling to maintain their gravity until they were nearly
suffocated, fairly gave in, and the whole ship echoed with the most
uproarious laughter; a young villain, whether a Mid or no I could not
tell, yelling out in the throng, "Hurra for Tom Cringle's Tail!"

I was fairly beginning to lose countenance, when up jumped Sneezer to my
relief out of the boat, with an old cocked hat lashed on his head, a
marine's jacket buttoned round his body, and his coalblack muzzle
bedaubed with pipe--clay, regularly monkeyfied, the momentary handiwork
of some wicked little reefers, while a small pipe sung out quietly, as
if not intended to reach the quarterdeck, although it did do so, "And
here comes the last joint of Mr Cringle's Tail." The dog began
floundering and jumping about, and walloping amongst the people, most of
whom knew him, and immediately drew their attention from me and my party
to himself; for away they all bundled forward, dog and men tumbling and
scrambling about like so many children, leaving the coast clear to me
and my attendants.  The absurdity of the whole exhibition had for an
instant, even under the very nose of a proverbially taught hand, led to
freedoms which I had believed impossible in a man--of--war.  However,
there was too much serious matter in hand, independently of any other
consideration, to allow the merriment created by our appearance to last
long.

Captain Transom, immediately on being informed how matters stood, with
seamanlike promptitude determined to lighten the Gleam, and send her in
with the boats, for the purpose of destroying the haunt of the pirates,
and recovering the men, if they were still alive; but before any thing
could be done, it came on to blow, and for a week we had great
difficulty in maintaining our position off the coast against the
strength of the gale and lee current.

It was on the Sunday morning after I had escaped that it moderated
sufficiently for our purpose, when both vessels stood close in, and
Peter and I were sent to reconnoitre the entrance of the port in the
gig.  Having sounded and taken the bearings of the land, we returned on
board, when the Gleam's provisions were taken out and her water started.
The ballast was then shifted, so as to bring her by the head, that she
might thus draw less water by being on an even keel, all sharp vessels
of her class requiring much deeper water aft than forward; the
corvette's launch, with a I2--pound carronade fitted, was then manned
and armed with thirty seamen and marines, under the command of the
second lieutenant; the jolly boat and the two quarter boats, each with
twelve men, followed in a string, under the third lieutenant, the
master, and the senior midshipman; thirty picked hands were added to the
schooner's crew, and I was desired to take the gig with six smart hands
and Peter Mangrove, and to accompany the whole as pilot; but to pull out
of danger so soon as the action commenced, so as to be ready to help any
disabled boat, or to carry orders from the commanding officer.

At nine in the morning, we gave three cheers, and leaving the corvette,
with barely forty hands on board, the Gleam made sail towards the
harbour's mouth, with the boats in tow; but when we got within musket
shot of the entrance, the breeze failed us, when the order of sailing
was reversed, the boats now taking the schooner in tow, preceded by your
humble servant in the gig.  We dashed safely through the small canal of
blue water, which divided the surf at the harbour's mouth, having hit it
to a nicety; but when about a pistolshot from the entrance, the channel
narrowed to a muddy creek, not more than twenty yards wide, with high
trees, and thick underwood close to the water's edge.  All was silent,
the sun shone clown upon us like the concentrated rays of a burning
glass, and there was no breeze to dissipate the heavy dank mist that
hovered over the surface of the unwholesome canal, nor was there any
appearance of a living thing, save and except a few startled waterfowl,
and some guanoes on the trees, and now and then an alligator, like a
black log of charred wood, would roll off a slimy bank of brown mud,
with a splash into the water.

We rowed on, the schooner every now and then taking the ground, but she
was always quickly warped off again by a kedge; at length, after we had
in all proceeded, it might be, about a mile from the beach, we came to a
boom of strong timber clamped with iron, stretching across the creek.
We were not unprepared for this; one of two old 32--pound carronades,
which, in anticipation of some obstruction of the sort, had been got on
deck from amongst the Gleam's ballast, and properly slung, was now made
fast to the middle timber of the boom, and let go, when the weight of it
sunk it to the bottom, and we passed on.  We pulled on for about half a
mile further, when I noticed, high up on a sunny cliff, that shot boldly
out into the clear blue heavens, a small red flag suddenly run up to the
top of a tall, scathed, branchless palm tree, where it flared for a
moment in the breeze like the flame of a torch, and then as suddenly
disappeared.  "Come, they are on the look--out for us I see."

The hills continued to close on us as we advanced, and that so
precipitously, that we might have been crushed to pieces had half--a
dozen active fellows, without any risk to themselves, for the trees
would have screened them, simply loosened some of the fragments of rock
that impended over us, so threateningly, it seemed, as if a little
finger could have sent them bounding and thundering down the mountain
side; but this either was not the game of the people we were in search
of, or Obed's spirit and energy had been crushed out of him by the heart
depressing belief that his hours were numbered, for no active
obstruction was offered.

We now suddenly rounded an abrupt corner of the creek, and there we were
full in front of the schooners, who, with the felucca in advance, were
lying in line of battle, with springs on their cables.  The horrible
black pennant was, in the present instance, nowhere to be seen; indeed,
why such an impolitic step as ever to have shown it at all was taken in
the first attack, I never could understand; for the force was too small
to have created any serious fear of being captured, (unless indeed it
had been taken for an advanced guard, supported by a stronger,) while it
must have appeared probable to Obediah, that the loss of the two boats
would in all likelihood lead to a more powerful attempt, when, if it
were successful, the damning fact of having fought under such an
infernal emblem must have ensured a pirate's death on the gibbet to
every soul who was taken, unless he had intended to have murdered all
the witnesses of it.  But since proof in my person and the pilot's
existed, now, if ever, was the time for mortal resistance, and to have
hoisted it, for they knew that they all fought with halters about their
necks.  They had all the Spanish flag flying except the Wave, which
showed American colours, and the felucca, which had a white flag
hoisted, from which last, whenever our gig appeared, a canoe shoved off,
and pulled towards us.  The officer, if such he might be called, also
carried a white flag in his hand.  He was a daring--looking fellow, and
dashed up along--side of me. The incomprehensible folly of trying at
this time of day to cloak the real character of the vessels, puzzled me,
and does so to this hour.  I have never got a clew to it, unless it was
that Obed's strong mind had given way before his superstitious fears,
and others had now assumed the right of both judging and acting for him
in this his closing scene.  The pirate officer at once recognised me,
but seemed neither surprised nor disconcerted at the strength of the
force which accompanied me.  He asked me in Spanish if I commanded it; I
told him I did not, that the captain of the schooner was the senior
officer.

"Then will you be good enough, to go on board with me, to interpret for
me?"


"Certainly."

In half a minute we were both on the Gleam's deck, the crews of the
boats that had her in tow lying on their oars.

"You are the commander of this force?" said the Spaniard.

"I am," said old Gasket, who had figged himself out in full puff, after
the manner of the ancients, as if he had been going to church, instead
of to fight; and who the hell are you?"

"I command one of these Spanish schooners, sir, which your boats so
unwarrantably attacked a week ago, although you are at peace with Spain.
But even had they been enemies, they were in a friendly port, which
should have protected them."

"All very good oysters," quoth old Dick; "and pray was it an honest
trick of you to cabbage my young friend, Lieutenant Cringle there, as if
you had been slavers kidnapping the Bungoes in the Bight of Biafra, and
then to fire on and murder my people when sent in to claim him?"

"As to carrying off that young gentleman, it was no affair of ours; he
was brought away by the master of that American schooner; but so far as
regards firing on your boats, I believe they fired first.  But the crews
are not murdered; on the contrary, they have been well used, and are now
on board that felucca.  I am come to surrender the whole fifteen to
you."

"The whole fifteen! and what have you made of the other twelve?"

"Gastados," said the fellow, with all the sangfroid in the world,
"gastados, (spent or expended) by their own folly."

"Oh, they are expended, are they? then give us the fifteen."

"Certainly, but you will in this case withdraw your force, of course"

"We shall see about that--go and send us the men." He jumped down into
the canoe, and shoved off;--whenever he reached the felucca, he struck
the white flag, and hoisted the Spanish in its stead, and by hauling on
a spring, he brought her to cover the largest schooner so effectually,
that we could not fire a shot at her without going through the felucca.
We could see all the men leave this latter vessel in two canoes, and go
on board one of the other craft.  There was now no time to be lost, so I
dashed at the felucca in the gig, and broke open the hatches, where we
found the captured seamen and their gallant leader, Lieutenant----, in a
sorry plight, expecting nothing but to be blown up, or instant death by
shot or the knife.  We released them, and, sending to the Gleam for
ammunition and small arms, led the way in the felucca, by Mr Gasket's
orders, to the attack, the corvette's launch supporting us; while the
schooner with the other craft were scraping up as fast as they could.
We made straight for the largest schooner, which with her consorts now
opened a heavy fire of grape and musketry, which we returned with
interest.  I can tell little of what took place till I found myself on
the pirate's quarterdeck, after a desperate tussle, and having driven
the crew overboard, with dead and wounded men thickly strewn about, and
our fellows busy firing at their surviving antagonists, as they were
trying to gain the shore by swimming.

Although the schooner we carried was the Commodore, and commanded by
Obediah in person, yet the pirates, that is, the Spanish part of them,
by no means showed the fight I expected.  While we were approaching, no
fire could be hotter, and their yells and cheers were tremendous; but
the instant we laid her along--side with the felucca, and swept her
decks with a discharge of grape from the carronade, under cover of which
we boarded on the quarter, while the launch's people scrambled up at the
bows, their hearts failed, a regular panic overtook them, and they
jumped overboard, without waiting for a taste either of cutlass or
boarding--pike.  The captain himself, however, with about ten Americans,
stood at bay round the long gun, which, notwithstanding their great
inferiority in point of numbers to our party, they manfully fired three
several times at us, after we had carried her aft; but we were so close
that the grape came past us like a round shot, and only killed one hand
at each discharge, whereas at thirty yards farther off, by having had
room to spread, it might have made a pretty tableau of the whole party.
I hailed Obed twice to surrender, while our people, staggered by the
extreme hardihood of the small group, hung back for an instant; but he
either did not hear me, or would not, for the only reply he seemed
inclined to make was by slewing round the gun so as to bring me on with
it, and the next moment a general rush was made, when the whole party
was cut down, with three exceptions, one of whom was Obed himself, who
getting on the gun, made a desperate bound over the men's heads, and
jumped overboard.  He struck out gallantly, the shot pattering round him
like the first of a thunder shower, but he dived apparently unhurt, and
I lost sight of him.

The other vessels having also been carried, the firing was all on our
side by this time, and I, along with the other officers, was exerting
myself to stop the butchery.

"Cease firing, men; for shame, you see they no longer resist." And my
voice was obeyed by all except the fifteen we had released, who were
absolutely mad with fury--perfect fiends; such uncontrollable fierceness
I had never witnessed, indeed, I had nearly cut one of them down before
I could make them knock off firing.

"Don't fire, sir," cried I to one.

"Ay, ay, sir; but that scoundrel made me wash his shirts," and he let
drive at a poor devil, who was squattering and swimming away towards the
shore, and shot him through the head.

"By heavens!  I will run you through, if you fire at that man!" shouted
I to another, a marine, who was taking aim at no less a personage than
friend Obed, who had risen to breathe, and was swimming after the
others, but the very last man of all.

"No, by G--? he made me wash his trowsers, sir."

He fired--the pirate stretched out his arms, turned slowly on his back,
with his face towards me.  I thought he gave me a sort of "Et tu, Brute"
look, but I dare say it was fancy--his feet began to sink, and he
gradually disappeared, a few bubbles of froth and blood marking the spot
where he went down.  He had been shot dead. I will not attempt to
describe my feelings at this moment, they burned themselves in on my
heart at the time, and the impression is indelible.  Whether I had or
had not acted, in one sense, unjustly, by ousting myself so
conspicuously forward in the attempt to capture him, after what had
passed between us, forced itself upon my judgment. I had certainly
promised that I would, in no way that I could help, be instrumental in
his destruction or seizure, provided he landed me at St Jago, or put me
on board a friendly vessel.  He did neither, so his part of the compact
might be considered broken; but then it was out of his power to have
fulfilled it; besides, he not only threatened my life subsequently, but
actually wounded me; still, however, on great provocation.  But what "is
writ, is writ." He has gone to his account, pirate as he was, murderer
if you will; yet I had, and still have, a tear for his memory,--and many
a time have I prayed on my bare knees that his blue agonized dying look
might be erased from my brain; but this can never be.  What he had been
I never learned; but it is my deliberate opinion, that, with a clear
stage and opportunity, he would have forced himself out from the surface
of society for good or for evil.  The unfortunates who survived him, but
to expiate their crimes on the gibbet at Port Royal, said he had joined
them from a New York privateer, but they knew nothing farther of him
beyond the fact, that by his skill and desperate courage, within a month
he had by common acclaim been elected captain of the whole band.  There
was a story current on board the corvette, of a small trading craft,
with a person answering his description, having been captured in the
Chesapeake, by one of the squadron, and sent to Halifax for
adjudication, (the master, as in most cases of the kind, being left on
board,) which from that hour had never been heard of, neither vessel,
nor prize crew, nor captain, until two Americans were taken out of a
slaver, off the Cape de Verds by the Firebrand, about a year afterwards,
after a most brave and determined attempt to escape, both of whom were
however allowed to enter, but subsequently deserted off Sandy Hook by
swimming ashore, in consequence of a pressed hand hinting that one of
them, surmised to be Obed, had been the master of the vessel above
mentioned.

All resistance having ceased, the few of the pirates who escaped having
scampered into the woods, where it would have been vain to follow them,
we secured our prisoners, and at the close of a bloody day, for fatal
had it been to friend and foe, the prizes were got under weigh, and
before nightfall we were all at sea, sailing in a fleet, under convoy of
the corvette and Gleam.


CHAPTER X



Vomito Prieto.

"This disease is beyond my practice."

Macbeth, Vi.59.



The second and acting third--lieutenants were on board the prizes--the
purser was busy in his vocation--the doctor ditto Indeed, he and his
mates had more on their hands than they could well manage.  The first
lieutenant was engaged on deck, and the master was in his cot, suffering
from a severe contusion; so when got on board the corvette, and dived
into the gunroom in search ol some crumbs of comfort, the deuce a living
soul was there to welcome me, except the gunroom steward, who speedily
produced some cold meat, and asked me if I would take a glass of swizzle.

The food I had no great fancy to, although I had not tasted a morsel
since six o'clock in the morning, and it was now eight in the evening;
but the offer of the grog sounded gratefully in mine ear, and I was about
tackling to a stout rummer of the same, when a smart dandified shaver,
with gay mother--of--pearl buttons on his jacket, as thick set as peas,
presented his tallow chops at the door.

"Captain Transom desires me to say, that he will be glad of your company
in the cabin, Mr Cringle."

"My compliments--I will wait on him so soon as I have had a snack.  We
have had no dinner in the gunroom to--day yet, you know, Mafame."

"Why, it was in the knowledge of that the Captain sent me, sir.  He has
not had any dinner either; but it is now on the table, and he waits for
you."

I was but little in spirits, and, to say sooth, was fitter for my bed
than society; but the Captain's advances had been made with so much
kindliness, that I got up, and made a strong endeavour to rouse myself;
and, having made my toilet as well as my slender means admitted, I
followed the Captain's steward into the cabin.

I started--why, I could not well tell--as the sentry at the door stood to
his arms when I passed in; and, as if I had been actually possessed by
some wandering spirit, who had taken the small liberty of using my
faculties and tongue without my concurrence, I hastily asked the man if
he was an American?--He stared in great astonishment for a short space,
turned his quid--and then rapped out, as angrily as respect for a
commissioned officer would let him,--"No, by--, sir!"

This startled me as much as the question I had almost unconsciously--and,
I may say, involuntarily--put to the marine had surprised him, and I made
a full stop, and leant back against the door--post.  The Captain, who was
walking up and down the cabin, had heard me speak, but without
comprehending the nature of my question, and now recalled me in some
measure to myself, by enquiring if I wanted any thing.  I replied,
hurriedly, that I did not.

"Well, Mr Cringle, dinner is ready--so take that chair at the foot of the
table, will you?"

I sat down, mechanically, as it appeared to me--for a strange swimming
dizzy sort of sensation had suddenly overtaken me, accompanied by a
whoreson tingling, as Shakespeare hath it, in my ears. I was unable to
eat a morsel; but I could have drunk the ocean, had it been claret or
vin--de--grave--to both of which I helped myself as largely as good
manners would allow, or a little beyond, mayhap.  All this while the
Captain was stowing his cargo with great zeal, and tifting away at the
fluids asbecame an honest sailor after so long a fast, interlarding his
operations with a civil word to me now and then, without any especial
regard as to the answer I made him, or, indeed, caring greatly whether I
answered him or not.

"Sharp work you must have had, Mr Cringle--should have liked to have been
with you myself.  Help yourself, before passing that bottle--zounds, man,
never take a bottle by the bilge--grasp the neck, man, at least in this
fervent climate--thank you.  Pity you had not caught the captain though.
What you told me of that man very much interested me, coupled with the
prevailing reports regarding him in the ship--daring dog he must have
been--can't forget how gallantly he weathered us when we chased him."

I broke silence for the first time.  Indeed, I could scarcely have done
so sooner, even had I chosen it, for the gallant officer was rather
continuous in his yam--spinning.  However, he had nearly dined, and was
leaning back, allowing the champaigne to trickle leisurely from a glass
half a yard long, which he had applied to his lips, when I said, "Well,
the imagination does sometimes play one strange tricks--I verily believe
in second sight now, Captain, for at this very instant I am regularly the
fool of my senses,----but pray don't laugh at me;" and I lay back on my
chair, and pressed my hands over my shut eyes and hot burning temples,
which were now throbbing as if the arteries would have burst.

The Captain, who was evidently much surprised at my abruptness, said
something hurriedly and rather sharply in answer, but I could not for the
life of me mark what it was. I opened my eyes again, and looked towards
the object that had before riveted my attention.  It was neither more nor
less than the Captain's cloak, a plain, unpretending, substantial blue
garment, lined with white, which, on coming below, he had cast carelessly
down on the locker, that ran across the after part of the cabin behind
him.  It was about eighteen feet from me, and as there was no light
nearer it than the swinging lamp over the table at which we were seated,
the whole of the cabin thereabouts was thrown considerably into shade.
The cape of the cloak was turned over, showing the white lining, and was
rather bundled as it were into a round heap, about the size of a man's
head.  When first I looked at it, there was a dreamy, glimmering
indistinctness about it that I could not well understand, and I would
have said, had it been possible, that the wrinkles and folds in it were
beginning to be instinct with motion, to creep and crawl as it were.  At
all events, the false impression was so strong as to jar my nerves, and
make me shudder with horror.  I knew there was no such d--ting, as well
as Macbeth--, but nevertheless it was with an indescribable feeling of
curiosity, dashed with awe, that I stared intently at it, as if
fascinated, while almost unwittingly I made the remark already mentioned.

I had expected that the unaccountable appearance which had excited my
attention so strongly would have vanished with the closing of my eyes;
but it did not, for when I looked at it again, the working and shifting
of the folds of the cloth still continued, and even more distinctly than
before.

"Very extraordinary all this," I murmured to myself.

"Pray, Mr Cringle, be sociable, man," said the Captain; "what the deuce
do you see, that you stare over my shoulder in that way?  Were a woman
now, I should tremble to look behind me, while you were glaring aft in
that wild, moonstruck sort of fashion."

"By all that is astonishing," I exclaimed in great agitation, "if the
folds of the cape have not arranged themselves into the very likeness of
his dying face!  Why it is his face, and no fanciful grouping of my
heated brain.  Look there, sir--look there--I know it can't bebut there
he lies,--the very features and upper part of the body, lith and limb, as
when he disappeared beneath the water when he was shot dead."

I felt the boiling blood, that had been rushing through my system like
streams of molten lead, suddenly freeze and coagulate about my heart,
impeding my respiration to a degree that I thought I should have been
suffocated. I had the feeling as if my soul was going to take wing.  It
was not fear, nor could I say I was in pain, but it was so utterly unlike
any thing I had ever experienced before, and so indescribable, that I
thought to myself--"this may be death."

"Why, what a changeable rose you are, Master Cringle," said Captain
Transom, good--naturedly; "your face was like the north--west moon in a
fog but a minute ago, and now it is as pale as a lily@blue white, I
declare.  Why, my man, you must be ill, and seriously too."

His voice dissipated the hideous chimera--the folds fell, and relapsed
into their own shape, and the cloak was once more a cloak, and nothing
more--I drew a long breath.  "Ah, it is gone at last, thank God!"--and
then aware of the strange effect my unaccountable incoherence must have
had on the skipper, I thought to brazen it out by trying the free and
easy line, which was neither more nor less than arrant impertinence in
our relative positions.  "Why, I have been heated a little, and amusing
myself with sundry vain imaginings, but allow me to take wine with you,
Captain," filling a tumbler with vinde--grave to the brim, as I spoke.
"Success to you, sir--here's to your speedy promotion--may you soon get a
crack frigate; as for me I intend to be Archbishop of Canterbury, or maid
of honour to the Queen of Sheba, or something in the heathen mythology."

I drank off the wine, although I had the greatest difficulty in steadying
my trembling hand, and carrying it to my lips; but notwithstanding my
increasing giddiness, and the buzzing in my ears, and swimming of mine
eyes, I noticed the Captain's face of amazement as he exclaimed, "The boy
is either mad or drunk, by Jupiter!"

I could not stand his searching and angry look, and in turning my eye, it
again fell on the cloak, which now seemed to be stretched out at greater
length, and to be altogether more voluminous than it was before.  I was
forcibly struck with this, for I was certain no one had touched it.

"By heavens! it heaves," I exclaimed, much moved--"how is this?  I
never thought to have believed such things,----it stirs again--it takes
the figure of a man--as if it were a pall covering his body.  Pray,
Captain Transom, what trick is this?--Is there any thing below that cloak
there?"

"What cloak do you mean?"

"Why, that blue one lying on the locker there--is there any cat or dog in
the cabin?  "--and I started on my legs.--"Captain Transom," I continued,
with great vehemence, "for the love of God tell me what is there below
that cloak."

He looked surprised beyond all measure.

"Why, Mr Cringle, I cannot for the soul of me comprehend you; indeed I
cannot; but, Mafame, indulge him.  See if there be any thing below my
cloak."

The servant walked to the locker, and lifted up the cape of it, and was
in the act of taking it from the locker, when I impetuously, desired the
man to leave it alone.

"I can't look on him again," said I; while the faintishness increased, so
that I could hardly speak.  "Don't move the covering from his face, for
God's sake--don't remove it," and I lay back in my chair, screening my
eyes from the lamp with my hands, and shuddering with an icy chill from
head to foot.

The Captain, who had hitherto maintained the well--bred, patronizing,
although somewhat distant, air of a superior officer to an inferior who
was his guest, addressed me now in an altered tone, and with a brotherly
kindness.

"Mr Cringle, I have some knowledge of you, and I know many of your
friends; so I must take the liberty of an old acquaintance with you.
This day's work has been a severe one, and your share in it, especially
after your past fatigues, has been very trying, and as I will report it,
I hope it may clap a good spoke in your wheel; but you are overheated,
and have been over--excited; fatigue has broken you down, and I must
really request you will take something warm, and turn in.--Here, Mafame,
get the carpenter's mate to secure that cleat on the weather--side there,
and sling my spare cot for Mr Cringle. You will be cooler here than in
the gunroom."

I heard his words without comprehending their meaning.  I sat and stared
at him, quite conscious, all the time, of the extreme impropriety, not to
say indecency, of my conduct; but there was a spell on me; I tried to
speak, but could not; and, believing that I was either possessed by some
dumb evil, or struck with palsy, I rose up, bowed to Captain Transom, and
straightway hied me on deck.

I could hear him say to his servant, as I was going up the ladder, "Look
after that young gentleman, Mafame, and send Isaac to the doctor, and bid
him come here now;" and then, in a commiserating tone--"Poor young
fellow, what a pity!"

When I got on deck all was quiet.  The cool fresh air had an
instantaneous effect on my shattered nerves, the violent throbbing in my
head ceased, and I began to hug myself with the notion that my distemper,
whatever it might have been, had beaten a retreat.

Suddenly I felt so collected and comfortable, as to be quite alive to the
loveliness of the scene.  It was a beautiful moonlight night; such a
night as is nowhere to be seen without the Tropics, and not often within
them.  There was just breeze enough to set the sail to sleep, although
not so strong as to prevent their giving a low murmuring flap now and
then, when the corvette rolled a little heavier than usual on the long
swell.  There was not a cloud to be seen in the sky, not even a stray
shred of thin fleecy gauzelike vapour, to mark the direction of the upper
current of the air, by its course across the moon's disk, which was now
at the full, and about half--way up her track in the liquid heavens.

The small twinkling lights from millions of lesser stars, in that part of
the firmament where she hung, round as a silver pot--lid shield I mean,
were swamped in the flood of greenish--white radiance shed by her, and it
was only a few of the first magnitude, with a planet here and there, that
were visible to the naked eye, in the neighbourhood of her crystal bright
globe; but the clear depth, and dark translucent purity of the profound,
when the eye tried to pierce into it at the zenith, where the stars once
more shone and sparkled thick and brightly, beyond the merging influence
of the pale cold orb, no man can describe now----one could, once--but
rest his soul, he is dead and then to look forth far into the night,
across the dark ridge of many a heaving swell of living water--but,
"Thomas Cringle, ahoy where the devil are you cruising to" So, to come
back to my story. I went aft, and mounted the small poop, and looked
towards the aforesaid moon, a glorious resplendent tropical moon, and not
the paper lantern affair hanging in an atmosphere of fog and smoke, about
which your blear--eyed poets haven't so much.  By the by, these gentry
are fond of singing of the blessed sun--were they sailors they would
bless the moon also, and be--to them, in place of writing much
wearisome poetry regarding her blighting propensities.  But I have lost
the end of my yarn once more, in the strands of these parentheses. Lord,
what a word to pronounce in the plural!--I can no more get out now, than
a girl's silk worm from the innermost of a nest of pill boxes, where, to
ride the simile to death at once, I have warped the thread of my story so
round and round me, that I can't for the life of me unravel it.  Very odd
all this.  Since I have recovered of this fever, every thing is slack
about me; I can't set up the shrouds and backstays of my mind, not to
speak of bobstays, if I should die for it.  The running rigging is all
right enough, and the canvass is there; but I either can't set it, or
when I do, I find I have too little ballast, or I get involved amongst
shoals, and white water, and breakers--don't you hear them roar?--which I
cannot weather, and crooked channels, under some lee--shore, through
which I cannot scrape clear.  So down must go the anchor, as at present,
and there--there goes the chain cable, rushing and rumbling through the
hausehole.  But I suppose it will be all right by and by, as I get
stronger.

"But rouse thee, Thomas!  Where is this end of your yarn, that you are
blameying about?"

"Avast heaving, you swab you--avast--if you had as much calomel in your
corpus as I have at this present speaking--why you would be a lad of more
mettle than I take you for, that is all.--You would have about as much
quicksilver in your stomach, as I have in my purse, and all my silver has
been quick, ever since I remember, like the jests of the gravedigger in
Hamlett--but, as you say, where the devil is the end of this yarn?"

Ah, here it is! so off we go again--and looked forward towards the rising
moon, whose shining wake of glow--worm--coloured light, sparkling in the
small waves, that danced in the gentle wind on the heaving bosom of the
dark blue sea, was right a--head of us, like a river of quicksilver with
its course diminished in the distance to a point, flowing towards us,
from the extreme verge of the horizon, through a rolling sea of ink, with
the waters of which for a time it disdained to blend.  Concentrated, and
shining like polished silver afar off--intense and sparkling as it
streamed down nearer, but becoming less and less brilliant as it Widened
in its approach to us, until, like the stream of the great Estuary of the
Magdalena, losing itself in the salt waste of waters, it gradually melted
beneath us and around us into the darkness.

I looked aloft--every object appeared sharply cut out against the dark
firmament, and the swaying of the mast--heads to and fro, as the vessel
rolled, was so steady and slow, that they seemed stationary, while it was
the moon and stars which appeared to vibrate and swing from side to side,
high over head, like the vacillation of the clouds in a theatre, when the
scene is first let down.

The masts, and yards, and standing and running rigging, looked like black
pillars, and bars, and wires of iron, reared against the sky, by some
mighty spirit of the night; and the sails, as the moon shone dimly
through them, were as dark as if they had been tarpawlings.  But when I
walked forward and looked aft, what a beauteous change!  Now each mast,
with its gently swelling canvass, the higher sails decreasing in size,
until they tapered away nearly to a point, though topsail, topgallant
sail, royal and skysails, showed like towers of snow, and the cordage
like silver threads, while each dark spar seemed to be of ebony, fished
with ivory, as a flood of cold, pale, mild light streamed from the
beauteous planet over the whole stupendous machine, lighting up the sand
white decks, on which the shadows of the men, and of every object that
intercepted the moonbeams, were cast as strongly as if the planks had
been inlaid with jet.

There was nothing moving about the decks.  The lookouts, aft, and at the
gangways, sat or stood like statues half bronze, half alabaster.  The old
quartermaster, who was cunning the ship, and had perched himself on a
carronade, with his arm leaning on the weather nettings, was equally
motionless.  The watch had all disappeared forward, or were stowed out of
sight under the lee of the boats; the first Lieutenant, as if captivated
by the serenity of the scene, was leaning with folded arms on the weather
gangway, looking abroad upon the ocean, and whistling now and then
either for a wind, or for want of thought.  The only being who showed
sign of life was the man at the wheel, and he scarcely moved, except now
and then to give her a spoke or two, when the cheep of the tiller--rope,
running through the well--greased leading blocks, would grate on the ear
as a sound of some importance; while in daylight, in the ordinary bustle
of the ship, no one could say he ever heard it.

Three bells!--"Keep a bright look--out there," sung out the Lieutenant.

"Ay, ay, sir," from the four look--out men, in a volley.

Then from the weather--gangway, "All's well" rose shrill into the night
air.

The watchword was echoed by the man on the forecastle, re--echoed by the
lee--gangway look--out, and ending with the response of the man on the
poop.  My dream was dissipated--and so was the first lieutenant's, who
had but little poetry in his composition, honest man.

"Fine night, Mr Cringle.  Look aloft, how beautifully set the sails are;
that mizzen--topsail is well cut, eh?  Sits well, don't it?  But confound
the lubbers!  Boatswain's mate, call the watch."

Whi--whew, whi--whew, chirrup, chip, chip--the deck was alive in an
instant, "as bees biz out wi" angry fyke.

"Where is the captain of the mizzen--top?" growled the man in authority.

"Here, sir."

"Here, sir!--look at the weather--clew of the mizzen--topsail, sir, look
at that sail, sir,--how many turns can you count in that clew, sir?
Spring it, you no--sailor you--spring it, and set the sail again."

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable all this appeared to me at the
time I will remember; but the obnoxious turns were shaken out, and the
sail set again so as to please even the fastidious eye of the Lieutenant,
who, seeing nothing more to find fault with, addressed me once more.

"Have had no grub since morning, Mr Cringle; all the others are away in
the prizes; you are as good as one of us now, only want the order to
join, you know--so will you oblige me, and take charge of the deck, until
I go below and change my clothes, and gobble a bit?"

"Unquestionably,--with much pleasure."

He forthwith dived, and I walked aft a few steps towards where the old
quartermaster was standing on the gun.

"How is her head, Quartermaster?"

"South--east and by south, sir.  If the wind holds, we shall weather
Morant Point, I think, sir."

"Very like, very like.--What is that glancing backwards and forwards
across the port--hole there, Quartermaster?"

"I told you so, Mafame," said the man; "what are you skylarking about the
mizen--chains for, man?--Come in, will you, come in."

The Captain's caution to his servant flashed on me.

"Come in, my man, and give my respects to the Captain, and tell him that
I am quite well now; the fresh air has perfectly restored me."

"I will, sir," said Mafame, half ashamed at being detected in his office
of inspector--general of my actions; but the Doctor, to whom he had been
sent, having now got a leisure moment from his labour in the shambles,
came up and made enquiries as to how I felt.

"Why, Doctor, I thought I was in for a fever half an hour ago, but it is
quite gone off, or nearly so--there, feel my pulse."--It was regular, and
there was no particular heat of skin.

"Why, I don't think there is much the matter with you.  Mafame, tell the
Captain so; but turn in and take some rest as soon as you can, and I will
see you in the morning--and here," feeling in his waistcoat pocket, "here
are a couple of capers for you; take them now, will you?" (And he handed
me two blue pills, which I the next moment chucked overboard, to cure
some bilious dolphin of the liver complaint.) I promised to do so
whenever the Lieutenant relieved the deck, which would, I made no
question, be within half an hour.

"Very well, that will do--good--night. I am regularly done up myself,"
quoth the Medico, as he descended to the gunroom.

At this time of night, the prizes were all in a cluster under our lee
quarter, like small icebergs covered with snow, and carrying every rag
they could set.  The Gleam was a good way a--stern, as if to whip them
in, and to take care that no stray piccaroon should make a dash at any of
them.  They slid noiselessly along like phantoms of the deep, every thing
in the air and in the water was so still--I crossed to the lee side of
the deck to look at them--The Wave, seeing some one on the hammock
nettings, sheered close to, under the Firebrand's lee quarter, and some
one asked, "Do you want to speak us?" The man's voice, reflected from the
concave surface of the schooner's mainsail, had a hollow, echoing sound,
that startled me.

"I should know that voice," said I to myself, "and the figure steering
the schooner."

The throbbing in my head and the dizzy feel, which had capsized my
judgment in the cabin, again returned with increased violence--"It was no
deception after all," thought I, "no cheat of the senses--I now believe
such things are."

The same voice now called out, "Come away, Tom, come away," no doubt to
some other seaman on board the little vessel, but my heated fancy did not
so construe it.  The col real again overtook me, and I ejaculated, "God
have mercy upon me a sinner!"

"Why don't you come, Tom?" said the voice once more.

It was Obed's.  At this very instant of time, the Wave forged a--head
into the Firebrand's shadow, so that her sails, but a moment before white
as wool in the bright moonbeams suffered a sudden eclipse, and became
black as ink.

"His dark spirit is there," said I, audibly, "and calls me--go I will,
whatever may befall."

I hailed the schooner, or rather I had only to speak, and that in a low
tone, for she was now close under the counter "Send your boat, for since
you call, I know I must come."

A small canoe slid off her deck; two ship boys got into it, and pulled
under the starboard mizzen--chains, which entirely concealed them, as
they held on for a moment with a boat--hook in the dark shadow of the
ship.  This was done so silently, that neither the lookout on the poop,
who was rather on the weather--side at the moment, nor the man at the lee
gangway, who happened to be looking out forward, heard them, or saw me,
as I slipped down unperceived.

"Pull back again, my lads; quick now, quick."

In a moment, I was along--side, the next I was on deck, and in this short
space a change had come over the spirit of my dream, for I now was again
conscious that I was on board the Wave with a prize crew.  My imagination
had taken another direction.

"Now Mr----, I beg pardon, I forget your name,"--I had never heard it,
"make more sail, and haul out from the fleet for Mancheoneal Bay; I have
despatches for the admiral--So, crack on."

The midshipman who was in charge of her never for an instant doubted but
that all was right; sail was made, and as the light breeze was the very
thing for the little Wave, she began to snorer through it like smoke.
When she had shot a cable's length a--head of the Firebrand, we kept away
a point or two, so as to stand more in for the land, and, like most
maniacs, I was inwardly exulting at the success of my manoeuvre, when we
heard the corvette's bell struck rapidly.  Her maintop--sail was suddenly
laid to the mast, whilst a loud voice echoed amongst the sails--"Any one
see hi--in in the waist--anybody see him forward there?"

"No, sir, no."

"After guard, fire, and let go the life--buoy--lower away the quarter
boats--jolly--boat also."

We saw the flash, and presently the small blue light of the buoy, blazing
and disappearing, as it rose and fell on the waves, in the corvette's
wake, sailed away astern, sparkling fitfully, like an ignis fatuus.  The
cordage rattled through the davit blocks, as the boats dashed into the
water--the splash of the oars was heard, and presently the twinkle of the
life--buoy was lost in the lurid glare of the blue lights, held aloft in
each boat, where the crews were standing up, looking like spectres by the
ghastly blaze, and anxiously peering about for some sign of the drowning
man.

"A man overboard," was repeated from one to another of the prize crew.

"Sure enough," said I.

"Shall we stand back, sir?" said the midshipman.

"To what purpose?--there are enough there without us--no, no; crack on,
we can do no good--carry on, carry on!"

We did so, and I now found severe shooting pains, more racking than the
sharpest rheumatism I had ever suffered, pervading my whole body.  They
increased until I suffered the most excruciating agony, as if my bones
had been converted into red--hot tubes of iron, and the marrow in them
had been dried up with fervent heat, and I was obliged to beg that a
hammock might be spread on deck, on which I lay down, pleading great
fatigue and want of sleep as my excuse.

My thirst was unquenchable; the more I drank, the hotter it became.  My
tongue, and mouth, and throat, were burning, as if molten lead had been
poured down into my stomach, while the most violent retching came on
every ten minutes.  The prize crew, poor fellows, did all they could
once or twice they seemed about standing back to the ship, but, "make
sail, make sail," was my only cry.  They did so, and there I lay without
any thing between me and the wet planks but a thin sailor's blanket and
the canvass of the hammock, through the livelong night, and with no
covering but a damp boatcloak, raving at times during the hot fits, at
others having my power of utterance frozen up during the cold ones.  The
men, once or twice, offered to carry me below, but the idea was horrible
to me.

"No, no--not there--for heaven's sake not there!  If you do take me down,
I am sure I shall see him, and the dead mate--No, no overboard rather,
throw me overboard rather."

Oh, what would I not have given for the luxury of a flood of tears!--But
the fountains of mine eyes were dried up, and seared as with a red--hot
iron--my skin was parched, and hot, hot, as if every pore had been
hermetically sealed; there was a hell within me and about me as if the
deck on which I lay had been steel at a white heat, and the gushing
blood, as under the action of a force--pump, throbbed through my head,
like it would have burst on my brain--and such a racking, splitting
headache--no language can describe it, and yet ever and anon in the midst
of this raging fire, this furnace at my heart, seven times heated, a
sudden icy shivering chill would shake me, and pierce through and through
me, even when the roasting fever was at the hottest.

At length the day broke on the long, long, moist, steamy night, and once
more the sun rose to bless every thing but me.  As the morning wore on,
my torments increased with the heat, and I lay sweltering on deck, in a
furious delirium, held down forcibly by two men, who were reli