University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.

The handsome young Spanish Captain
remained quietly seated at table after
he had given his sudden order to put
the schooner about, and seemed for some
time to be wholly absorbed in extracting
the meat from the labarynthine cells of a
walnut. He was silent and thoughtful.
At length he called for a chart and began
to examine it. We both regarded
him attentively, and then looked at each
other. Our mutual interchange of glances
showed me that the young American
officer did not yet even suspect what the
motive was which led to this command
to change the course of the vessel. His
look was full of surprise and inquiry,
I, however, guessed the cause; for by
this time I had pretty well understood
the chivalrous character of the captain;
I, however, decided to remain silent also,
until he choose to communicate what I
saw was working upward in his mind.—
At length he looked up, and said with a
smile, addressing the lieutenant,—

`My friend, would you like to see your
fair mistress once more?'

`See her? I would give half the years
of my life if I thought I should ever lay
eyes off her again!' he answered, with
deep and enthusiastic ardor.

`Then you may be happy—you shall
see her at less sacrifice!' said he, with a
peculiar smile of inward gratification, as
enjoying within the happiness he was
about to communicate.

`Speak! how?' he cried, half hoping,
half doubting, and looking quite bewildered;—for
the chivalrous idea which
had arisen in the mind of the noble and
gallant young Spanish seamen, and which
had prompted him to put his vessel about,
had never once occurred to him.

`In this way!—but first fill your glasses,
amigos. Now listen:—you say the
villa of Colonel — stands about five
miles, or thereabouts, up the river from
the sea. My chart, which I have just
been looking at, shows me that there is
a plenty of water and a good channel
even for several miles higher up the river.
The wind, as it now is, is fair;
and before five o'clock, by the time we
get abreast of the mouth of the river,
we shall have the tide setting out very

slowly. My plan then is this,' he said,
in a very positive way, peculiar to him;
`to run up the river and anchor abreast
of the villa. When there, I think we
three together can forge some plot for
getting the fair Isabel into our possession!
It is for this I have put my vessel
about.'

The young officer listened at first with
a surprise that lost itself, as the captain
went on, in the strongest joy. He impulsively
rose from the table, and seizing
the hands of the Spanish captain, thanked
him with the overflowing gratitude of
his heart.

We now began to discuss the whole
matter before us in a business-like manner.

`I have no doubt,' said the captain,
`we shall be able to effect the surprise
we meditate without any difficulty.'

`The villa stands quite alone,' said
the lieutenant; who, flinging his griefs
and despairings to the winds, now entered
heart and soul, life and hope, in the
enterprise. `There is a plantation-house
a mile above, and one or two miles nearer
the mouth of the river a carriage-road
on the bank connecting them. Opposite
is a small farm, from which a lane half a
mile in length conducts to the turnpike
to Charleston. It was at the bottom of
this lane, close by the water side, that I
left my friend Oglethrope with the coach.
What has become of him now I have no
idea. He must have heard the struggle
on the river, but in the darkness and
distance probably did not understand its
nature;—at all events, he could not have
aided me.'

`He will probably remain in the neighborhood
till he hears from you,' I remarked.

`Yes, unless the Colonel has sent to
see if any accomplices were lurking in
the vicinity.'

`It is my impression he thinks it was
my intention to escape altogether in the
boat, and is quite unsuspicious that any
carriage was in waiting.'

`So much the better,' answered Senor
Velasco. `Now, as I understand how
the land lays, I find that our plan is more
and more feasible. We shall apprehend
no danger from either of the plantations,
above or below; while the farm house
opposite will be unable to interfere. But
I don't mean any alarm or noise shall
be made. We must do what we do very
quietly;—for, gentlemen,' he added,
laughing, `it is a little better than a
buccaneering expedition we are bent
upon! But love must excuse it!—I am
in love—and it is an Isabel I love; and
were I in your case, I should expect you
to do for me what I am about to do for
you!'

`Noble captain!' exclaimed the young
officer, in the depth of his gratitude.

`I do but my duty. Come—let us on
deck and see how we progress.'

We left the table and ascended to the
deck. We were running along with a
light air from the south, within a league
of the shore, and about four miles from a
group of trees on a green promontory
that marked the mouth of the river. The
land visible was forest and open upland,
here and there interrupted by a plantation
inland, with its white mansion and group
of negro cottages. The scene was agreeable
to the eye, and particularly beautiful
about the mouth of the river, towards
which we were directing our course. At
length we came so near that we could
hear the birds singing in the trees upon
the land, and at intervals the bleating of
sheep and lowing of herds. It was a
lovely afternoon, and we were in excellent
spirits; for we felt that we were
upon a successful adventure, which was
not only exciting in itself, but which was
to make two young and true hearts happy.
We thought how overjoyed and

grateful Isabel would be;—we knew how
grateful her lover was. But the woe and
disappointment of Colonel — never
once entered our thoughts.

Thus we sailed along, towing alongside
the green boat the lover had been
cast adrift in, still containing all the baggage
(a valise, carpet-bag and trunk,
with a band-box also,) belonging to the
heroine, and which, in his haste to get
possession of his daughter and get rid of
her lover, the old gentleman had not
seen—at least had not removed. So all
that was wanted was the lady—or, as
Captain Velasco expressed it, `We have
the salt, all we now want is the egg.'

`Jacobo!' said he, as the schooner ran
into the river, and began to ascend, with
green shores on either hand.

`Senor!'

`Get up an American ensign, and set
it!'

`Si, Senor!' answered the mate.

`We must show American colors or
we shall frighten the country,' answered
Captain Velasco, with a smile, as the
stars and stripes ascended and floated in
the air over the stern.

The sail up was beautiful. We passed,
two miles from the sea, the first plantation
mentioned by the lieutenant, and
one or two opposite. The houses were
large and handsome, with spacious galleries,
and were situated at an imposing
distance back from the river, with lofty
trees around and a wide lawn in front;
while in the rear could be seen the white
`quarters' of the negroes.

`Little did I think last night, when I
was drifting down this river past these
plantations, I should be re-ascending it
so soon, and with the hopes that fill my
bosom.'

`Those hopes shall be realised, amigo
mio,' answered Senor Velasco very positively.
`I don't know what the underwriters
would say if they knew where
the vessel was. But that is my business!'

`There is a distant cupola on the left,
peering above the trees,' I remarked,
pointing out the object just after we had
turned a bend in the river.

`It is the villa!—it is Colonel —'s
place,' answered the lieutenant, colouring,
and his voice trembling with the
emotions of his heart, on once more beholding
the house that held her whom he
loved.

`That is the house, then,' repeated the
Captain, as he took the glass from his
eye. `I will stand on as if intending to
pass it—get a little ways above—then put
the schooner in the wind, and let her act
as if some accident had happened. I
will let her drift down till again opposite
the villa, and then drop anchor. Col.
— will thus suppose our stopping just
there accidental, and his suspicion will
not be awakened; for to confess the truth,
caballeros, I am told my craft hasn't the
most honest look for a civil trader!'

`Manage the matter your own way,
my good captain,' said the officer; `I
leave it entirely to you.'

`Bueno! Then you will see how I
manage. There is no doubt the old
Colonel, in setting you adrift as he did,
at ebb tide, taking from you every means
of getting to land, and tying your hands
so you could not even swim, meditated
your murder.'

`The idea is horrible! He possibly
did not think of the consequences in his
resentment,' answered the officer, with a
generous warmth in defence of one so
near a relative to Isabel.

`He doesn't deserve the least courtesy
at our hands,' answered the captain.—
`Nevertheless, for your sake, I will treat
him well if he falls into them. We now
approach the villa: keep out of sight
now, my friend, for if you are seen all
will be lost. Lie down upon the deck

on my hammock, and observe through
the opening under the taffrail, as well as
you can, what goes on. Stay, I have a
masquerading mask below—put that on
and my cloak and you are thoroughly
disguised.'

The disguise was complete, and the
young officer took his station on deck
with the rest of us. The mask was that
of an old Jew with a flowing beard, and
gave him quite a venerable aspect.

The schooner stood on until we came
in sight of the villa. We passed in front
of it, and with a glass I could see an old
gentleman on the portico, whom the officer
said was the Colonel. There was a
negro slave or two about him, but no lady
was visible.

`He has locked her up, I dare say,'
said the lover with angry vehemence, so
strongly through his huge Jewish nose,
that we laughed—he as well as the rest
of us.

`I'll find the key,' answered the Spaniard
very quietly, after having taken a
long and steady survey of the old gentleman.
`I have it—I see my way clear
now,' he added emphatically.

We stood on half a mile past the villa,
when the captain took the helm; and for
the next five minutes the schooner behaved
as if she was tipsy—if schooners
ever get tipsy. Now her topsail would
lay shivering—then backed—and then
filled again—and then lay back altogether.
Her foresail seemed to be undecided
which side of the vessel to swing,
and so kept moving from one side to the
other in the most restless manner. By
and by the nose of the vessel fairly swung
round, and so round and round she turned,
as if on a pivot, all the while drifting
downward. Colonel — was seen
to leave the portico, cross the lawn, and
approach the water side, to have a better
view of the vessel that seemed to him in
such extraordinary difficulties.

At length, as the schooner came opposite
his house, her boat was let down
—(the green boat, the baggage being removed,
having been towed ashore and
tied two miles below, to prevent any suspicion
that might arise from his seeing it
with the schooner)—and two men pulled
ashore, I acting the part of coxswain,
with a fourth person in the bows holding
the end of a light hawser, which was run
out of the vessel as we receded from it.
On nearing the shore I rose up and said,
very politely and civilly, in my assumed
character as captain,—

`Will you permit us, sir, to attach a
hawser to the bolt in your boat-house?
My rudder does not govern the vessel,
(which was true enough as she acted,)
and I don't care to let down an anchor,
as heaving it again will detain me.'

`Certainly, sir,' answered the Colonel
with a wave of his hand. `Pray what
has occurred?'

`A little matter, sir—I will soon have
all right again,' I answered, in my character—having
consented, to carry out
our plot, to take Velasco's place, as his
being a Spaniard might be against our
ultimate success.

`I have been watching you,' he said,
as the man sprung ashore and took a
double turn with the hawser in the bolt;
`I saw something was the matter, and
faith, I expected to see you drift ashore,
—I am happy to see you escape.—
There, the rope brings your vessel up
now, sir.'

`Yes—she will hang steady by that till
I am ready to set sail on her again.'

`How far up the river do you go?'

`To Mr. — (I forget the name) 's
plantation to take in cotton.'

`Felton's, I dare say—he was looking
for a vessel, I hear. Stay, sir,' he added,
advancing nearer the boat as I was about
to put off. `Eh, have—that is—have
you fallen in with a—a—small green boat

by any chance?' Here he seemed very
much embarrassed and confused, looked
guilty, and added quickly, `I—I had
mine stolen last night by some scamp.'

`No, sir—I saw no stolen boat,' I answered
evasively, and put off from the
bank.

`What the deuce could have become
of the scoundrel!' I heard him say as he
turned away; `I fear I went too far!—
but I dare say he'll escape to torment
me yet.' I left him still soliloquizing
with himself half aloud, and reaching
the brig, was complimented by Captain
Velasco for the manner in which I had
performed my part of the conspiracy.