University of Virginia Library

4. CHAPTER IV.

Men are as much indebted to a fortuitous concurrence
of circumstances, for the characters they sustain
in this world, as to their personal qualities. The
same truth is applicable to the reputations of ships.
The properties of a vessel, like those of an individual,
may have their influence on her good or evil fortune;
still, something is due to the accidents of life, in both.
Although the breeze, which came so opportunely to
the aid of the Water-Witch, soon filled the sails of
the Coquette, it caused no change in the opinions of
her crew concerning the fortunes of that ship; while
it served to heighten the reputation which the `Skimmer
of the Seas' had already obtained, as a mariner
who was more than favored by happy chances, in
the thousand emergencies of his hazardous profession.
Trysail, himself, shook his head, in a manner that
expressed volumes, when Ludlow vented his humor
on what the young man termed the luck of the smuggler;
and the crews of the boats gazed after the
retiring brigantine, as the inhabitants of Japan would
now most probably regard the passage of some vessel
propelled by steam. As Mr. Luff was not neglectful
of his duty, it was not long before the Coquette approached
her boats. The delay occasioned by hoisting
in the latter, enabled the chase to increase the
space between the two vessels, to such a distance, as
to place her altogether beyond the reach of shot.
Ludlow, however, gave his orders to pursue, the moment
the ship was ready; and he hastened to conceal
his disappointment in his own cabin.

“Luck is a merchant's surplus, while a living

profit is the reward of his wits!” observed Alderman
Van Beverout, who could scarce conceal the satisfaction
he felt, at the unexpected and repeated escapes
of the brigantine. “Many a man gains doubloons,
when he only looked for dollars; and many a
market falls, while the goods are in the course of
clearance. There are Frenchmen enough, Captain
Ludlow to keep a brave officer in good-humor; and
the less reason to fret about a trifling mischance in
overhauling a smuggler.”

“I know not how highly you may prize your niece,
Mr. Van Beverout; but were I the uncle of such a
woman, the idea that she had become the infatuated
victim of the arts of you reckless villain, would madden
me!”

“Paroxysms and straight-jackets! Happily you
are not her uncle, Captain Ludlow, and therefore
the less reason to be uneasy. The girl has a French
fancy, and she is rummaging the smuggler's silks and
laces; when her choice is made, we shall have her
back again, more beautiful than ever, for a little
finery.”

“Choice! Oh, Alida, Alida! this is not the election
that we had reason to expect from thy cultivated
mind and proud sentiments!”

“The cultivation is my work, and the pride is an
inheritance from old Etienne de Barbérie;” dryly
rejoined Myndert. “But complaints never lowered
a market, nor raised the funds. Let us send for the
Patroon, and take counsel coolly, as to the easiest
manner of finding our way back to the Lust in Rust,
before Her Majesty's ship gets too far from the coast
of America.”

“Thy pleasantry is unseasonable, Sir. Your Patroon
is gone with your niece, and a pleasant passage
they are likely to enjoy, in such company! We
lost him, in the expedition with our boats.”

The Alderman stood aghast.

“Lost!—Oloff Van Staats lost, in the expedition
of the boats! Evil betide the day when that discreet
and affluent youth should be lost to the colony!
Sir, you know not what you utter when you hazard
so rash an opinion. The death of the young Patroon
of Kinderhook would render one of the best and
most substantial of our families extinct, and leave
the third best estate in the Province without a direct
heir!”

“The calamity is not so overwhelming;” returned
the captain, with bitterness. “The gentleman has
boarded the smuggler, and gone with la belle Barbérie
to examine his silks and laces!”

Ludlow then explained the manner in which the
Patroon had disappeared. When perfectly assured
that no bodily harm had befallen his friend, the
satisfaction of the Alderman was quite as vivid, as
his consternation had been apparent but the moment
before.

“Gone with la belle Barbérie, to examine silks
and laces!” he repeated, rubbing his hands together,
in delight. Ay, there the blood of my old friend,
Stephanus, begins to show itself! Your true Hollander
is no mercurial Frenchman, to beat his head and
make grimaces at a shift in the wind, or a woman's
frown; nor a blustering Englishman (you are of the
colony yourself, young gentleman) to swear a big oath
and swagger; but, as you see, a quiet, persevering,
and, in the main, an active son of old Batavia, who
watches his opportunity, and goes into the very presence
of—”

“Whom?”—demanded Ludlow, perceiving that
the Alderman had paused.

“Of his enemy; seeing that all the enemies of the
Queen are necessarily the enemies of every loyal
subject. Bravo, young Oloff! thou art a lad after
my own heart, and no doubt—no doubt—fortune
will favor the brave! Had a Hollander a proper

footing on this earth, Captain Cornelius Ludlow, we
should hear a different tale concerning the right to
the Narrow Seas, and indeed to most other questions
of commerce.”

Ludlow arose with a bitter smile on his face,
though with no ill feeling towards the man whose
exultation was so natural.

“Mr. Van Staats may have reason to congratulate
himself on his good fortune,” he said, “though I
much mistake if even his enterprise will succeed,
against the wiles of one so artful, and of an appearance
so gay, as the man whose guest he has now become.
Let the caprice of others be what it may,
Alderman Van Beverout, my duty must be done.
The smuggler, aided by chance and artifice, has
thrice escaped me; the fourth time, it may be our
fortune. If this ship possesses the power to destroy
the lawless rover, let him look to his fate!”

With this menace on his lips, Ludlow quitted the
cabin, to resume his station on the deck, and to renew
his unwearied watching of the movements of the
chase.

The change in the wind was altogether in favor
of the brigantine. It brought her to windward, and
was the means of placing the two vessels in positions
that enabled the Water-Witch to profit the most by
her peculiar construction. Consequently, when Ludlow
reached his post, he saw that the swift and light
craft had trimmed every thing close upon the wind,
and that she was already so far ahead, as to render
the chances of bringing her again within range of
his guns almost desperate; unless, indeed, some of
the many vicissitudes, so common on the ocean, should
interfere in his behalf. There remained little else to
be done, therefore, but to crowd every sail on the
Coquette that the ship would bear, and to endeavor
to keep within sight of the chase, during the hours
of darkness which must so shortly succeed. But before

the sun had fallen to the level of the water, the
hull of the Water-Witch had disappeared; and
when the day closed, no part of her airy outline
was visible, but that which was known to belong to
her upper and lighter spars. In a few minutes afterwards,
darkness covered the ocean; and the seamen
of the royal cruiser were left to pursue their
object, at random.

How far the Coquette had run during the night
does not appear, but when her commander made his
appearance on the following morning, his long and
anxious gaze met no other reward than a naked
horizon. On every side, the sea presented the same
waste of water. No object was visible, but the sea-fowl
wheeling on his wide wing, and the summits of
the irregular and green billows. Throughout that
and many succeeding days, the cruiser continued to
plow the ocean, sometimes running large, with every
thing opened to the breeze that the wide booms
would spread, and, at others, pitching and laboring
with adverse winds, as if bent on prevailing over the
obstacles which even nature presented to her progress.
The head of the worthy Alderman had got
completely turned; and though he patiently awaited
the result, before the week was ended, he knew not
even the direction in which the ship was steering.
At length he had reason to believe that the end of
their cruise approached. The efforts of the seamen
were observed to relax, and the ship was permitted
to pursue her course, under easier sail.

It was past meridian, on one of those days of moderate
exertion, that François was seen stealing from
below, and staggering from gun to gun, to a place in
the centre of the ship, where he habitually took the
air, in good weather, and where he might dispose of
his person, equally without presuming too far on the
good-nature of his superiors, and without courting

too much intimacy with the coarser herd who composed
the common crew.

“Ah!” exclaimed the valet, addressing his remark
to the midshipman who has already been mentioned
by the name of Hopper—“Voilà la terre! Quel
bonheur! I shall be so happy—le batiment be trop
agréable, mais vous savez, Monsieur Aspirant; que
je ne suis point marin—What be le nom du pays?”

“They call it, France,” returned the boy, who
understood enough of the other's language to comprehend
his meaning; “and a very good country it
is—for those that like it.”

“Ma foi, non!”—exclaimed François, recoiling a
pace, between amazement and delight.

“Call it Holland, then, if you prefer that country
most.”

“Dites-moi, Monsieur Hoppair,” continued the
valet, laying a trembling finger on the arm of the
remorseless young rogue; “est-ce la France?”

“One would think a man of your observation could
tell that for himself. Do you not see the church-tower,
with a château in the back-ground, and a
village built in a heap, by its side. Now look into
yon wood! There is a walk, straight as a ship's
wake in smooth water, and one—two—three—ay,
eleven statues, with just one nose among them all!”

“Ma foi—dere is not no wood, and no château,
and no village, and no statue, and no no nose,—mais
Monsieur, je suis agé—est-ce la France?”

“Oh, you miss nothing by having an indifferent
sight, for I shall explain it all, as we go along. You
see yonder hill-side, looking like a pattern-card, of
green and yellow stripes, or a signal-book, with the
flags of all nations, placed side by side—well, that
is—les champs; and this beautiful wood, with all the
branches trimmed till it looks like so many raw marines
at drill, is—la forêt—”

The credulity of the warm-hearted valet could

swallow no more; but, assuming a look of commiseration
and dignity, he drew back, and left the young
tyro of the sea to enjoy his joke with a companion
who just then joined him.

In the mean time, the Coquette continued to advance.
The château, and churches, and villages, of
the midshipman, soon changed into a low sandy
beach, with a back-ground of stunted pines, relieved,
here and there, by an opening, in which appeared
the comfortable habitation and numerous out-buildings
of some substantial yeoman, or occasionally embellished
by the residence of a country proprietor.
Towards noon, the crest of a hill rose from the sea;
and, just as the sun set behind the barrier of mountain,
the ship passed the sandy cape, and anchored
at the spot that she had quitted when first joined by
her commander after his visit to the brigantine. The
vessel was soon moored, the light yards were struck,
and a boat was lowered into the water. Ludlow
and the Alderman then descended the side, and proceeded
towards the mouth of the Shrewsbury. Although
it was nearly dark before they had reached
the shore, there remained light enough to enable the
former to discover an object of unusual appearance
floating in the bay, and at no great distance from the
direction of his barge. He was led by curiosity to
steer for it.

“Cruisers and Water-Witches!” muttered Myndert,
when they were near enough to perceive the
nature of the floating object. “That brazen hussy
haunts us, as if we had robbed her of gold! Let us
set foot on land, and nothing short of a deputation
from the City Council shall ever tempt me to wander
from my own abode, again!”

Ludlow shifted the helm of the boat, and resumed
his course towards the river. He required no explanation,
to tell him more of the nature of the artifice,
by which he had been duped. The nicely-balanced

tub, the upright spar, and the extinguished
lantern, with the features of the female of the malign
smile traced on its horn faces, reminded him, at once,
of the false light by which the Coquette had been
lured from her course, on the night she sailed in pursuit
of the brigantine.