The pilot a tale of the sea |
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| 8. | CHAPTER VIII. |
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 | CHAPTER VIII. The pilot |  |
8. CHAPTER VIII.
Like grayhound starting from the slip,
To seize his flying prey.”
Lord of the Isles.
Although the subject of the consultation remained
a secret with those whose opinions were
required, yet enough of the result leaked out
among the subordinate officers, to throw the
whole crew into a state of eager excitement.
The rumour spread itself along the decks of the
frigate, with the rapidity of an alarm, that an expedition
was to attempt the shore on some hidden
service, dictated by the Congress itself; and conjectures
were made respecting its force and destination,
with all that interest which might be
imagined would exist among the men whose lives
or liberties were to abide the issue. A gallant
and reckless daring, mingled with the desire of
novelty, however, was the prevailing sentiment
among the crew, who would have received with
cheers the intelligence that their vessel was commanded
to force the passage of the united British
fleet. A few of the older and more prudent
of the sailors were exceptions to this thoughtless
hardihood, and one or two, among whom the
cockswain of the whale-boat was the most conspicuous,
sorts of land service, as being of a nature never
to be attempted by seamen.
Captain Manual had his men paraded in the
weather-gangway, and after a short address, calculated
to inflame their military ardour and patriotism,
acquainted them, that he required twenty
volunteers, which was in truth half their number,
for a dangerous service. After a short pause,
the company stepped forward, like one man, and
announced themselves as ready to follow him to
the end of the world. The marine cast a look
over his shoulder, at this gratifying declaration,
in quest of Barnstable; but observing that the
sailor was occupied with some papers, on a distant
part of the quarter-deck, he proceeded to
make a most impartial division among the candidates
for glory; taking care, at the same time, to
cull his company in such a manner as to give
himself the flower of his men, and, consequently,
to leave the ship the refuse.
While this arrangement was taking place, and
the crew of the frigate was in this state of excitement,
Griffith ascended to the deck, his countenance
flushed with unusual enthusiasm, and his
eyes beaming with a look of animation and
gayety that had long been strangers to the face
of the young man. He was giving forth the few
necessary orders to the seamen he was to take
with him from the ship, when Barnstable again
motioned him to follow, and led the way once
more to the state-room.
“Let the wind blow its pipe out,” said the
commander of the Ariel, when they were seated;
“there will be no landing on the eastern coast of
England, till the sea goes down. But this Kate
was made for a sailor's wife! see, Griffith, what
cunning head.”
“I hope your opinion may prove true, and that
you may be the happy sailor who is to wed her,”
returned the other. “The girl has indeed discovered
surprising art in this business! where
could she have learnt the method and system so
well?”
“Where! why, where she learnt better things;
how to prize a whole-hearted seaman, for instance.
Do you think that my tongue was jammed
in my mouth, all the time we used to sit by
the side of the river in Carolina, and that we
found nothing to talk about!”
“Did you amuse your mistress with treatises
on the art of navigation, and the science of signals?”
said Griffith, smiling.
“I answered her questions, Mr. Griffith, as
any civil man would to a woman he loved. The
girl has as much curiosity as one of my own
townswomen who has weathered cape forty without
a husband, and her tongue goes like a dogvane
in a calm, first one way and then another.
But here is her dictionary. Now own, Griff., in
spite of your college learning and sentimentals,
that a woman of ingenuity and cleverness is a
very good sort of a helpmate.”
“I never doubted the merits of Miss Plowden,”
said the other, with a droll gravity that often mingled
with his deeper feelings, the result of a
sailor's habits, blended with native character.
“But this indeed surpasses all my expectations!
Why, she has, in truth, made a most judicious
selection of phrases. `No. 168. **** indelible;'
`169. **** end only with life;' `170. **** I fear
yours misleads me;' `171.—”'
“Pshaw!” exclaimed Barnstable, snatching
the book from before the laughing eyes of Griffith;
on such nonsense. What think you of this expedition
to the land?”
“That it may be the means of rescuing the
ladies, though it fail in making the prisoners we
anticipate.”
“But this pilot! you remember that he holds
us by our necks, and can run us all up to the
yard-arm of some English ship, whenever he
chooses to open his throat, at their threats or
bribes.”
“It would have been better that he should
have cast the ship ashore, when he had her entangled
in the shoals; it would have been our
last thought to suspect him of treachery then,” returned
Griffith. “I follow him with confidence,
and must believe that we are safer with him than
we should be without him.”
“Let him lead to the dwelling of his foxhunting
ministers of state,” cried Barnstable,
thrusting his book of signals into his bosom;
“but here is a chart that will show us the way to
the port we wish to find. Let my foot once
more touch terra firma, and you may write craven
against my name, if that laughing vixen slips her
cable before my eyes, and shoots into the wind's
eye again, like a flying-fish chased by a dolphin.
Mr. Griffith, we must have the chaplain with us
to the shore.”
“The madness of love is driving you into the
errors of the soldier. Would you lie-by to hear
sermons, with a flying party like ours?”
“Nay, nay, we must lay-to for nothing that is
not unavoidable; but there are so many tacks in
such a chase, when one has time to breathe, that
we might as well spend our leisure in getting that
fellow to splice us together. He has a handy
way with a prayer-book, and could do the job
to say, that this is the last time these two saucy
names, which are written at the bottom of this
letter, should ever be seen sailing in the company
of each other.”
“It will not do,” said his friend, shaking his
head, and endeavouring to force a smile which
his feelings suppressed; “it will not do, Richard;
we must yield our own inclinations to the service
of our country; nor is this pilot a man who will
consent to be led from his purpose.”
“Then let him follow his purpose alone,” cried
Barnstable. “There is no human power, always
saving my superior officer, that shall keep
me from throwing abroad these tiny signals, and
having a private talk with my dark-eyed Kate.
But for a paltry pilot! he may luff and bear away
as he pleases, while I shall steer as true as a
magnet for that old ruin, where I can bring my
eyes to bear on that romantic wing and three
smoky vanes. Not that I'll forget my duty;
yes, I'll help you catch the Englishmen, but when
that is done, hey! for Katherine Plowden and my
true love!”
“Hush, madcap! the ward-room holds long
ears, and our bulkheads grow thin by wear. I
must keep you and myself to our duty. This is
no children's game that we play; it seems the
commissioners at Paris have thought proper to
employ a frigate in the sport.”
Barnstable's gayety was a little repressed by
the grave manner of his companion; but after
reflecting a moment, he started on his feet, and
made the usual movements for departure.
“Whither?” asked Griffith, gently detaining
his impatient friend.
“To old Moderate; I have a proposal to
make, that may remove every difficulty.”
“Name it to me, then; I am in his council,
and may save you the trouble and mortification
of a refusal.”
“How many of those gentry does he wish to
line his cabin with?”
“The pilot has named no less than six, all
men of rank and consideration with the enemy.
Two of them are peers, two more belong to the
commons' house of parliament, one is a general,
and the sixth, like ourselves, is a sailor, and
holds the rank of captain. They muster at a
hunting seat, near the coast, and believe me, the
scheme is not without its plausibility.”
“Well, then, there are two a-piece for us.
You follow the pilot, if you will; but let me
sheer off for this dwelling of Colonel Howard,
with my cockswain and boat's-crew. I will surprise
his house, release the ladies, and on my way
back, lay my hands on two of the first lords I
fall in with. I suppose, for our business, one is
as good as another.”
Griffith could not repress a faint laugh, while
he replied—
“Though they are said to be each other's
peers, there is, I believe some difference even in
the quality of lords. England might thank us
for ridding her of some among them. Neither
are they to be found, like beggars, under every
hedge. No, no, the men we seek must have
something better than their nobility to recommend
them to our favour. But let us examine more
closely into this plan and map of Miss Plowden;
something may occur, that shall yet bring the
place within our circuit, like a contingent duty
of the cruise.”
Barnstable reluctantly relinquished his own
wild plan, to the more sober judgment of his
friend, and together they passed an hour, inquiring
into the practicability, and consulting on
the purposes of their private feelings.
The gale continued to blow heavily, during
the whole of that morning; but towards noon,
the usual indications of better weather became
apparent. During these few hours of inaction in
the frigate, the marines, who were drafted for service
on the land, moved through the vessel with a
busy and stirring air, as if they were about to
participate in the glory and danger of the campaign
their officer had planned, while the few
seamen who were to accompany the expedition
steadily paced the deck, with their hands thrust
into the bosoms of their neat blue jackets, or,
occasionally, stretched towards the horizon, as
their fingers traced, for their less experienced
shipmates, the signs of an abatement in the gale
among the driving clouds. The last lagger among
the soldiers had appeared with his knapsack on
his back in the lee-gangway, where his comrades
were collected, armed and accoutred for the
strife, when Captain Munson ascended to the
quarter-deck, accompanied by the stranger and
his first lieutenant. A word was spoken by the
latter in a low voice to a midshipman, who skipped
gayly along the deck, and presently the
shrill call of the boatswain was heard, preceding
the hoarse cry of—
“Away there, you tigers, away!”
A smart roll of the drum followed, and the
marines paraded, while the six seamen who belonged
to the cutter that owned so fierce a name,
made their preparations for lowering their little
bark from the quarter of the frigate into the
troubled sea. Every thing was conducted in the
most exact order, and with a coolness and skill
that bid defiance to the turbulence of the angry
elements. The marines were safely transported
shelter of the former, though the boat appeared,
at times, to be seeking the cavities of the
ocean, and again, to be riding in the clouds, as
she passed from one vessel to the other.
At length, it was announced that the cutter was
ready to receive the officers of the party. The
pilot walked aside, and held private discourse,
for a few moments, with the commander, who
listened to his sentences with marked and singular
attention. When their conference was ended,
the veteran bared his gray head again to the
blasts, and offered his hand to the other, with
a seaman's frankness, mingled with the deference
of an inferior. The compliment was carelessly
returned by the stranger, who turned quickly on
his heel, and directed the attention of those who
awaited his movements, by a significant gesture,
to the gangway.
“Come, gentlemen, let us go,” said Griffith,
starting from a reverie, and bowing his hasty
compliments to his brethren in arms.
When it appeared that his superiors were ready
to enter the boat, the boy, who was styled Mr.
Merry, by nautical courtesy, and who had been
ordered to be in readiness, sprang over the side
of the frigate, and glided into the cutter, with the
activity of a squirrel. But the captain of marines
paused, and cast a meaning glance at the
pilot, whose place it was to precede him. The
stranger, as he lingered on the deck, was examining
the aspect of the heavens, and seemed
unconscious of the expectations of the soldier,
who gave vent to his impatience, after a moment's
detention, by saying—
“We wait for you, Mr. Gray.”
Aroused by the sound of his name, the pilot
of advancing, he gently bent his body, as he again
signed towards the gangway with his hand. To
the astonishment not only of the soldier, but of
all who witnessed this breach of naval etiquette,
Griffith bowed low, and entered the boat with the
same promptitude as if he were preceding an admiral.
Whether the stranger became conscious
of his want of courtesy, or was too indifferent to
surrounding objects to note occurrences, he immediately
followed himself, leaving to the marine
the post of honour. The latter, who was distinguished
for his skill in all matters of naval or
military etiquette, thought proper to apologize,
at a fitting time, to the first lieutenant, for suffering
his senior officer to precede him into a boat,
but never failed to show a becoming exultation,
when he recounted the circumstance, by dwelling
on the manner in which he had brought down the
pride of the haughty pilot.
Barnstable had been several hours on board his
little vessel, which was every way prepared for
their reception; and as soon as the heavy cutter of
the frigate was hoisted on her deck, he announced
that the schooner was ready to proceed. It has
been already intimated, that the Ariel belonged to
the smallest class of sea-vessels, and as her construction
reduced even that size in appearance,
she was peculiarly well adapted to the sort of
service in which she was about to be employed.
Notwithstanding her lightness rendered her nearly
as buoyant as a cork, and at times she actually
seemed to ride on the foam, her low decks
were perpetually washed by the heavy seas that
dashed against her frail sides, and she tossed and
rolled in the hollows of the waves, in a manner
that compelled even the practised seamen who
trod her decks to move with guarded steps. Still
neatness and attention that afforded the
utmost possible room for her dimensions; and
though in miniature, she wore the trappings of
war as proudly as if the metal she bore was of a
more fatal and dangerous character. The murderous
gun which, since the period of which we
are writing, has been universally adopted in all
vessels of inferior size, was then in the infancy of
its invention, and was known to the American
mariner only by reputation, under the appalling
name of a “smasher.” Of a vast caliber, though
short, and easily managed, its advantages were
even in that early day beginning to be appreciated,
and the largest ships were thought to be unusually
well provided with the means of offence,
when they carried two or three cannon of this formidable
invention among their armament. At a
later day this weapon has been improved and altered,
until its use has become general in vessels of
a certain size, taking its appellation from the Carron,
on the banks of which river it was first moulded.
In place of carronades, six light brass cannon
were firmly lashed to the bulwarks of the Ariel,
their brazen throats blackened by the sea-water,
which so often broke harmlessly over these engines
of destruction. In the centre of the vessel,
between her two masts, a gun of the same metal,
but of nearly twice the length of the others, was
mounted on a carriage of a new and singular construction,
which admitted of its being turned in
any direction, so as to be of service in most of the
emergencies that occur in naval warfare.
The eye of the pilot examined this armament
closely, and then turned to the well-ordered decks,
the neat and compact rigging, and the hardy
faces of the fine young crew, with manifest satisfaction.
Contrary to what had been his practice
he uttered his gratification freely and aloud.
“You have a tight boat, Mr. Barnstable,” he
said, “and a gallant looking crew. You promise
good service, sir, in time of need, and that
hour may not be far distant.”
“The sooner the better,” returned the reckless
sailor; “I have not had an opportunity of scaling
my guns since we quitted Brest, though we
passed several of the enemy's cutters coming up
channel, with whom our bull-dogs longed for a
conversation. Mr. Griffith will tell you, pilot,
that my little sixes can speak, on occasion, with
a voice nearly as loud as the frigate's eighteens.”
“But not to as much purpose,” observed Griffith;
“ `vox et preterea nihil,' as we said at the
school.”
“I know nothing of your Greek or Latin, Mr.
Griffith,” retorted the commander of the Ariel;
“but if you mean that those seven brass play-things
won't throw a round shot as far as any
gun of their size and height above the water, or
won't scatter grape and cannister with any blunderbuss
in your ship, you may possibly find an
opportunity that will convince you to the contrary,
before we part company.”
“They promise well,” said the pilot, who was
evidently ignorant of the good understanding
that existed between the two officers, and wished
to conciliate all under his directions, “and I doubt
not they will argue all the leading points of a
combat with good discretion. I see that you
have christened them—I suppose for their respective
merits. They are indeed expressive names!”
“'Tis the freak of an idle moment,” said Barnstable,
laughing, as he glanced his eyes to the cannon,
above which were painted the several quaint
“scatterer,” “exterminator,” and “nail-driver.”
“Why have you thrown the midship-gun without
the pale of your baptism?” asked the pilot;
“or do you know it by the usual title of the `old
woman?' ”
“No, no, I have no such petticoat terms on
board me,” cried the other; “but move more to
starboard, and you will see its style painted on
the cheeks of the carriage, and it's a name that
need not cause them to blush either.”
“'Tis a singular epithet, though not without
some meaning!”
“It has more than you, perhaps, dream of, sir.
That worthy seaman whom you see leaning
against the foremast, and who would serve, on
occasion, for a spare spar himself, is the captain
of that gun, and more than once has decided
some warm disputes with John Bull, by the manner
in which he has wielded it. No marine can
trail his musket more easily than my cockswain
can train his nine-pounder on an object; and thus
from their connexion, and some resemblance
there is between them in length, it has got the
name which you perceive it carries; that of `long
Tom.' ”
The pilot smiled as he listened, but turning
away from the speaker, the deep reflection that
crossed his brow but too plainly showed that he
trifled only from momentary indulgence; and
Griffith intimated to Barnstable, that as the gale
was sensibly abating, they would pursue the object
of their destination.
Thus recalled to his duty, the commander of
the schooner forgot the delightful theme of expatiating
on the merits of his vessel, and issued
the necessary orders to direct their movements.
Slowly the little schooner obeyed the impulse of
folds of her squaresail, though limited by a prudent
reef, were opened to the blasts, and she shot
away from her consort, like a meteor dancing
across the waves. The black mass of the frigate's
hull soon sunk in distance, and long before
the sun had fallen below the hills of England,
her tall masts were barely distinguishable by the
small cloud of sail that held the vessel to her station.
As the ship disappeared, the land seemed
to issue out of the bosom of the deep, and so
rapid was their progress, that the dwellings of
the gentry, the humbler cottages, and even the
dim lines of the hedges, became gradually more
distinct to the eyes of the bold mariners, until
they were beset with the gloom of evening, when
the whole scene faded from their view in the darkness
of the hour, leaving only the faint outline of
the land visible in the track before them, and the
sullen billows of the ocean raging with appalling
violence in their rear.
Still the little Ariel held on her way, skimming
the ocean like a water-fowl seeking its place of
nightly rest, and shooting in towards the land as
fearlessly as if the dangers of the preceding
night were forgotten, like the warnings of an ill-remembered
experience. No shoals or rocks appeared
to arrest her course, and we must leave
her gliding into the dark streak that was thrown
from the high and rocky cliffs, that lined a basin
of bold entrance, where the mariners often sought
and found a refuge from the dangers of the German
ocean.
| CHAPTER VIII. The pilot | |