University of Virginia Library

3. CHAPTER III.

Cotton.

Things were in this state, the sheik and his guests communicating
by signs, in such a way as completely to
mystify each other; Mr. Monday drinking, Mr. Dodge conjecturing,
and parties quitting the camp and arriving every
ten minutes, when an Arab pointed eagerly with his finger
in the direction of the wreck. The head of the foremast
was slowly rising, and the look-out in the top was clinging
to the spar, which began to cant, in order to keep himself
from falling. The sheik affected to smile; but he was evidently
disturbed, and two or three messengers were sent out

into the camp. In the meanwhile, the spar began to lower,
and was soon entirely concealed beneath the bank.

It was now apparent that the Arabs thought the moment
had arrived when it was their policy to interfere. The sheik,
therefore, left his guests to be entertained by two or three
others who had joined in the potations, and making the best
assurances he could by means of signs, of his continued
amity, he left the tent. Laying aside all his arms, attended
by two or three old men like himself, he went boldly to the
plank, and descended quietly to the sands, where he found
Captain Truck busied in endeavouring to get the spar into
the water. The top was already afloat, and the stick itself
was cut round in the right position for rolling, when the foul
but grave-looking barbarians appeared among the workmen.
As the latter had been apprised of their approach, and of
the fact of their being unarmed, no one left his employment
to receive them, with the exception of Captain Truck himself.

“Bear a hand with the spar, Mr. Leach,” he said, “while
I entertain these gentlemen. It is a good sign that they
come to us without arms, and it shall never be said that we
are behind them in civility. Half an hour will settle our
affairs, when these gentry are welcome to what will be left
of the Dane.—Your servant, gentlemen; I'm glad to see
you, and beg the honour to shake hands with all of you,
from the oldest to the youngest.”

Although the Arabs understood nothing that was said,
they permitted Captain Truck to give each of them a hearty
shake of the hand, smiling and muttering their own compliments
with as much apparent good will as was manifested
by the old seaman himself.

“God help the Danes, if they have fallen into servitude
among these blackguards!” said the captain, aloud, while he
was shaking the sheik a second time most cordially by the
hand, “for a fouler set of thieves I never laid eyes on,
Leach. Mr. Monday had tried the virtue of the schnaps on
them, notwithstanding, for the odour of gin is mingled with
that of grease, about the old scoundrel.—Roll away at the
spar, boys! half-a-dozen more such heaves, and you will
have him in his native element, as the newspapers call it.—
I'm glad to see you, gentlemen; we are badly off as to

chairs, on this beach, but to such as we have you are heartily
welcome.—Mr. Leach, the Arab sheik;—Arab sheik,
Mr. Leach.—On the bank there?”

“Sir.”

“Any movement among the Arabs?”

“About thirty have just ridden back into the desert,
mounted on camels, sir; nothing more.”

“No signs of our passengers?”

“Ay, ay, sir. Here comes Mr. Dodge under full sail,
heading for the bank, as straight as he can lay his course!”

“Ha!—Is he pursued?”

The men ceased their work, and glanced aside at their
arms.

“Not at all, sir. Mr. Monday is calling after him, and
the Arabs seem to be laughing. Mr. Monday is just splicing
the main-brace with one of the rascals.”

“Let the Atlantic ocean, then, look out for itself, for Mr.
Dodge will be certain to run over it. Heave away, my
hearties, and the stick will be afloat yet before that gentleman
is fairly docked.”

The men worked with good will, but their zeal was far
less efficient than that of the editor of the Active Inquirer,
who now broke through the bushes, and plunged down the
bank with a velocity which, if continued, would have carried
him to Dodgeopolis itself within the month. The Arabs
started at this sudden apparition, but perceiving that those
around them laughed, they were disposed to take the interruption
in good part. The look-out now announced the approach
of Mr. Monday, followed by fifty Arabs; the latter,
however, being without arms, and the former without his
hat. The moment was critical, but the steadiness of Captain
Truck did not desert him. Issuing a rapid order to the
second mate, with a small party previously selected for that
duty, to stand by the arms, he urged the rest of the people
to renewed exertions. Just as this was done, Mr. Monday
appeared on the bank, with a bottle in one hand and a glass
in the other, calling aloud to Mr. Dodge to return and drink
with the Arabs.

“Do not disgrace Christianity in this unmannerly way,”
he said; “but show these gentlemen of the desert that we
know what propriety is. Captain Truck, I beg of you to

urge Mr. Dodge to return. I was about to sing the Arabs,
`God save the King,' and in a few more minutes we should
have had `Rule Britannia,' when we should have been the
best friends and companions in the world. Captain Truck,
I've the honour to drink your health.”

But Captain Truck viewed the matter differently. Both
his ambassadors were now safely back, for Mr. Monday
came down upon the beach, followed, it is true, by all the
Arabs, and the mast was afloat. He thought it better,
therefore, that Mr. Dodge should remain, and that the two
parties should be as quietly, but as speedily as possible, separated.
He ordered the hauling line to be fastened to the
mast, and as the stick was slowly going out through the surf,
he issued the order for the men to collect their implements,
take their arms, and to assemble in a body at the rocks,
where the jolly-boat still lay.

“Be quick, men, but be steady; for there are a hundred
of these rascals on the beach already, and all the last-comers
are armed. We might pick up a few more useful things
from the wreck, but the wind is coming in from the westward,
and our principal concern now will be to save what
we have got. Lead Mr. Monday along with you, Leach, for
he is so full of diplomacy and schnaps just now that he forgets
his safety. As for Mr. Dodge, I see he is stowed away
in the boat already, as snug as the ground-tier in a ship
loaded with molasses. Count the men off, sir, and see that
no one is missing.”

By this time, the state of things on the beach had undergone
material changes. The wreck was full of Arabs, some
of whom were armed and some not; while mauls, crows,
hand-spikes, purchases, coils of rigging, and marling-spikes
were scattered about on the sands, just where they had been
dropped by the seamen. A party of fifty Arabs had collected
around the rocks, where, by this time, all the mariners
were assembled, intermingling with the latter, and apparently
endeavouring to maintain the friendly relations which
had been established by Mr. Monday. As a portion of
these men were also armed, Captain Truck disliked their
proceedings; but the inferiority of his numbers, and the
disadvantage under which he was placed, compelled him to

resort to management rather than force, in order to extricate
himself.

The Arabs now crowded around and intermingled with
the seamen, thronged the ship, and lined the bank, to the
number of more than two hundred. It became evident that
their true force had been underrated, and that additions
were constantly making to it, from those who lay behind
the ridges of sand. All those who appeared last, had arms
of one kind or another, and several brought fire-arms,
which they gave to the sheik, and to those who had first
descended to the beach. Still, every face seemed amicable,
and the men were scarcely permitted to execute their orders,
from the frequent interruptions to exchange tokens of friendship.

But Captain Truck fully believed that hostilities were intended,
and although he had suffered himself in some measure
to be surprised, he set about repairing his error with
great judgment and admirable steadiness. His first step
was to extricate his own people from those who pressed
upon them, a thing that was effected by causing a few to
take a position, that might be defended, higher among the
rocks, as they afforded a good deal of cover, and which
communicated directly with the place where they had
landed; and then ordering the remainder of the men to fall
back singly. To prevent an alarm, each man was called
off by name, and in this manner the whole party had got
within the prescribed limits, before the Arabs, who were vociferating
and talking altogether, seemed to be aware of the
movement. When some of the latter attempted to follow,
they were gently repulsed by the sentinels. All this time
Captain Truck maintained the utmost cordiality towards the
sheik, keeping near him, and amongst the Arabs himself.
The work of plunder, in the meantime, had begun in earnest
in the wreck, and this he thought a favourable symptom, as
men thus employed would be less likely to make a hostile
attack. Still he knew that prisoners were of great account
among these barbarians, and that an attempt to tow the raft
off from the land, in open boats, where his people would be
exposed to every shot from the wreck, would subject them to
the greatest danger of defeat, were the former disposed to
prevent it.

Having reflected a few minutes on his situation, Captain
Truck issued his final orders. The jolly-boat might carry
a dozen men at need, though they would be crowded and
much exposed to fire; and he, therefore, caused eight to get
into her, and to pull out to the launch. Mr. Leach went
with this party, for the double purpose of directing its movements,
and of being separated from his commander, in
order that one of those who were of so much importance
to the packet, might at least stand a chance of being saved.
This separation also was effected without alarming the
Arabs, though Captain Truck observed that the sheik
watched the proceeding narrowly.

As soon as Mr. Leach had reached the launch, he caused
a light kedge to be put into the jolly-boat, and coils of the
lightest rigging he had were laid on the top of it, or were
made on the bows of the launch. As soon as this was
done, the boat was pulled a long distance off from the land,
paying out the ropes first from the launch, and then from
the boat itself, until no more of the latter remained. The
kedge was then dropped, and the men in the launch began
to haul in upon the ropes that were attached to it. As the
jolly-boat returned immediately, and her crew joined in
the work, the line of boats, the kedge by which they had
previously ridden having been first raised, began slowly to
recede from the shore.

Captain Truck had rightly conjectured the effect of this
movement. It was so unusual and so gradual, that the
launch and the raft were warped up to the kedge, before
the Arabs fully comprehended its nature. The boats were
now more than a quarter of a mile from the wreck, for Mr.
Leach had run out quite two hundred fathoms of small
rope, and of course, so distant as greatly to diminish the
danger from the muskets of the Arabs, though still within
reach of their range. Near an hour was passed in effecting
this point, which, as the sea and wind were both rising,
could not probably have been effected in any other manner,
half as soon, if at all.

The state of the weather, and the increasing turbulence
of the barbarians, now rendered it extremely desirable to
all on the rocks to be in their boats again. A very moderate
blow would compel them to abandon their hard-earned

advantages, and it began to be pretty evident, from the
manners of those around them, that amity could not much
longer be maintained. Even the old sheik retired, and, instead
of going to the wreck, he joined the party on the
beach, where he was seen in earnest conversation with
several other old men, all of whom gesticulated vehemently,
as they pointed towards the boats and to the party on the
rocks.

Mr. Leach now pulled in towards the bar, with both the
jolly-boats and the cutter, having only two oars each, half
his men being left in the launch. This was done that the
people might not be crowded at the critical moment, and
that, at need, there might be room to fight as well as to row;
all these precautions having been taken in consequence of
Captain Truck's previous orders. When the boats reached
the rocks, the people did not hurry into them; but a quarter
of an hour was passed in preparations, as if they were indifferent
about proceeding, and even then the jolly-boat
alone took in a portion, and pulled leisurely without the
bar. Here she lay on her oars, in order to cover the passage
of the other boats, if necessary, with her fire. The
cutter imitated this manœuvre, and the boat of the wreck
went last. Captain Truck quitted the rock after all the
others, though his embarkation was made rapidly by a
prompt and sudden movement.

Not a shot was fired, however, and, contrary to his own
most ardent hopes, the captain found himself at the launch,
with all his people unhurt, and with all the spars he had so
much desired to obtain. The forbearance of the Arabs
was a mystery to him, for he had fully expected hostilities
would commence, every moment, for the last two hours.
Nor was he yet absolutely out of danger, though there was
time to pause and look about him, and to take his succeeding
measures more deliberately. The first report was a
scarcity of both food and water. For both these essentials
the men had depended on the wreck, and, in the eagerness
to secure the foremast, and subsequently to take care of
themselves, these important requisites had been overlooked,
quite probably, too, as much from a knowledge that the
Montauk was so near, as from hurry. Still both were extremely
desirable, if not indispensable, to men who had the

prospect of many hours' hard work before them; and Captain
Truck's first impulse was to despatch a boat to the
ship for supplies. This intention was reluctantly abandoned,
however, on account of the threatening appearance
of the weather.

There was no danger of a gale, but a smart sea breeze
was beginning to set in, and the surface of the ocean was,
as usual, getting to be agitated. Changing all his plans,
therefore, the Captain turned his immediate attention to the
safety of the all-important spars.

“We can eat to-morrow, men,” he said; “but if we
lose these sticks, our chance for getting any more will
indeed be small. Take a gang on the raft, Mr. Leach,
and double all the lashings, while I see that we get an
offing. If the wind rises any more, we shall need it, and
even then be worse off than we could wish.”

The mate passed upon the raft, and set about securing
all the spars by additional fastenings; for the working,
occasioned by the sea, already rendered them loose, and
liable to separate. While this was in train, the two jolly-boats
took in lines and kedges, of which, luckily, they had
one that was brought from the packet, besides two found in
the wreck, and pulled off into the ocean. As soon as one
kedge was dropped, that by which the launch rode was
tripped, and the boats were hauled up to it, the other jolly-boat
proceeding on to renew the process. In this manner,
in the course of two more hours, the whole, raft and all,
were warped broad off from the land, and to windward,
quite two miles, when the water became so deep that Captain
Truck reluctantly gave the order to cease.

“I would gladly work our way into the offing in this
mode, three or four leagues,” he said, “by which means
we might make a fair wind of it. As it is, we must get all
clear, and do as well as we can. Rig the masts in the
launch, Mr. Leach, and we will see what can be done with
this dull craft we have in tow.”

While this order was in course of execution, the glass
was used to ascertain the manner in which the Arabs were
occupied. To the surprise of all in the boats, every soul
of them had disappeared. The closest scrutiny could not

detect one near the wreek, on the beach, nor even at the
spot where the tents had so lately stood.

“They are all off, by George!” cried Captain Truck,
when fully satisfied of the fact. “Camels, tents, and Arabs!
The rascals have loaded their beasts already, and most
probably have gone to hide their plunder, that they may be
back and make sure of a second haul, before any of their
precious brother vultures, up in the sands, get a scent
of the carrion. D—n the rogues; I thought at one
time they had me in a category! Well, joy be with them!
Mr. Monday, I return you my hearty thanks for the manly,
frank, and diplomatic manner in which you have discharged
the duties of your mission. Without you, we might not
have succeeded in getting the foremast. Mr. Dodge, you
have the high consolation of knowing that, throughout this
trying occasion, you have conducted yourself in a way no
other man of the party could have done.”

Mr. Monday was sleeping off the fumes of the schnaps,
but Mr. Dodge bowed to the compliment, and foresaw many
capital things for the journal, and for the columns of the
Active Inquirer. He even began to meditate a book.

Now commenced much the most laborious and critical
part of the service that Captain Truck had undertaken, if
we except the collision with the Arabs—that of towing all
the heavy spars of a large ship, in one raft, in the open sea,
near a coast, and with the wind blowing on shore. It is true
he was strong-handed, being able to put ten oars in the
launch, and four in all the other boats; but, after making
sail, and pulling steadily for an hour, it was discovered that
all their exertions would not enable them to reach the ship,
if the wind stood, before the succeeding day. The drift to
leeward, or towards the beach, was seriously great, every
heave of the sea setting them bodily down before it; and by
the time they were half a mile to the southward, they were
obliged to anchor, in order to keep clear of the breakers,
which by this time extended fully a mile from shore.

Decision was fortunately Captain Truck's leading quality.
He foresaw the length and severity of the struggle that was
before them, and the men had not been pulling ten minutes,
before he ordered Mr. Leach, who was in the cutter, to cast
off his line and to come alongside the launch.

“Pull back to the wreck, sir,” he said, “and bring off all
you can lay hands on, in the way of bread, water, and
other comforts. We shall make a night of it, I see. We
will keep a look-out for you, and if any Arabs heave in
sight on the plain, a musket will be fired; if so many as to
render a hint to abscond necessary, two muskets will be
fired, and the mainsail of the launch will be furled for two
minutes; more time than that we cannot spare you.”

Mr. Leach obeyed this order, and with great success.
Luckily the cook had left the coppers full of food, enough
to last twenty-four hours, and this had escaped the Arabs,
who were ignorant where to look for it. In addition, there
was plenty of bread and water, and “a bull of Jamaica”
had been discovered, by the instinct of one of the hands,
which served admirably to keep the people in good humour.
This timely supply had arrived just as the launch anchored,
and Mr. Truck welcomed it with all his heart; for without
it, he foresaw he should soon be obliged to abandon his
precious prize.

When the people were refreshed, the long and laborious
process of warping off the land was resumed, and, in the
course of two hours more, the raft was got fully a league
into the offing, a shoal permitting the kedges to be used
farther out this time than before. Then sail was again
made, and the oars were once more plied. But the sea still
proved their enemy, though they had struck the current
which began to set them south. Had there been no wind
and sea, the progress of the boats would now have been
comparatively easy and quick; but these two adverse
powers drove them in towards the beach so fast, that they
had scarcely made two miles from the wreck when they
were compelled a second time to anchor.

No alternative remained but to keep warping off in this
manner, and then to profit by the offing they had made as
well as they could, the result bringing them at sunset nearly
up with the headland that shut out the view of their own
vessel, from which Captain Truck now calculated that he
was distant a little less than two leagues. The wind had
freshened, and though it was not by any means so strong as
to render the sea dangerous, it increased the toil of the men
to such a degree, that he reluctantly determined to seek out

a proper anchorage, and to give his wearied people some
rest.

It was not in the power of the seamen to carry their raft
into any haven, for to the northward of the head-land, or on
the side on which they were, there was no reef, nor any bay
to afford them shelter. The coast was one continued waving
line of sand-banks, and in most places, when there was
a wind, the water broke at the distance of a mile from the
beach; the precise spot where the Dane had stranded his
vessel, having most probably been chosen for that purpose,
with a view to save the lives of the people. Under these
circumstances nothing remained but to warp off again to a
safe distance, and to secure the boats as well as they could
for the night. This was effected by eight o'clock, and Captain
Truck gave the order to let go two additional kedges,
being determined not to strike adrift in the darkness, if it
was in his power to prevent it. When this was done, the
people had their suppers, a watch was set, and the remainder
went to sleep.

As the three passengers had been exempted from the toil,
they volunteered to look out for the safety of the boats until
midnight, in order that the men might obtain as much rest
as possible; and half an hour after the crew were lost in the
deep slumber of seamen, Captain Truck and these gentlemen
were seated in the launch, holding a dialogue on the events
of the day.

“You found the Arabs conversable and ready at the cup,
Mr. Monday?” observed the captain, lighting a cigar, which
with him was a never-failing sign for a gossip. “Men that,
if they had been sent to school young, taught to dance, and
were otherwise civilized, might make reasonably good shipmates,
in this roving world of ours?”

“Upon my word, sir, I look upon the sheik as uncommon
gentlemanlike, and altogether as a good fellow. He took
his glass without any grimaces, smiled whenever he said any
thing, though I could not understand a word he said, and
answered all my remarks quite as civilly as if he spoke
English. I must say, I think Mr. Dodge manifested a want
of consideration in quitting his company with so little ceremony.
The gentleman was hurt, I'll answer for it, and he
would say as much if he could only make out to explain

himself on the subject. Sir George, I regret we had not the
honour of your company on the occasion, for I have been
told these Arabs have a proper respect for the nobility and
gentry. Mr. Dodge and myself were but poor substitutes
for a gentleman like yourself.”

The trained humility of Mr. Monday was little to the liking
of Mr. Dodge, who by the sheer force of the workings of
envy had so long been endeavouring to persuade others that
he was the equal of any and every other man—a delusion,
however, in which he could not succeed in persuading himself
to fall into—and he was not slow in exhibiting the feeling
it awakened.

“Sir George Templemore has too just a sense of the rights
of nations to make this distinction, Mr. Monday,” he said.
“If I left the Arab sheik a little abruptly, it was because I
disliked his ways; for I take it Africa is a free country, and
that no man is obliged to remain longer in a tent than it suits
his own convenience. Captain Truck knows that I was
merely running down the beach to inform him that the sheik
intended to follow, and he no doubt appreciates my motive.”

“If not, Mr. Dodge,” put in the captain, “like other patriots,
you must trust to posterity to do you justice. The joints and
sinews are so differently constructed in different men, that
one never knows exactly how to calculate on speed; but this
much I will make affidavit to, if you wish it, on reaching
home, and that is, that a better messenger could not be found
than Mr. Steadfast Dodge, for a man in a hurry. Sir
George Templemore, we have had but a few of your
opinions since you came out on this expedition, and I should
be gratified to hear your sentiments concerning the Arabs,
and any thing else that may suggest itself at the moment.”

“Oh, captain! I think the wretches odiously dirty, and
judging from appearances, I should say sadly deficient in
comforts.”

“In the way of breeches in particular; for I am inclined
to think, Sir George, you are master of more than are to
be found in their whole nation. Well, gentlemen, one must
certainly travel who wishes to see the world; but for this
sheer down here upon the coast of Africa, neither of us
might have ever known how an Arab lives, and what a nimble
wrecker he makes. For my own part, if the choice lay

between filling the office of Jemmy Ducks, on board the
Montauk, and that of sheik in this tribe, I should, as we say
in America, Mr. Dodge, leave it to the people, and do all in
my power to obtain the first situation. Sir George, I'm afraid
all these county tongues, as Mr. Dodge calls them, in the
way of wind and weather, will quite knock the buffalo hunt
on the Prairies in the head, for this fall at least.”

“I beg, Captain Truck, you will not discredit my French
in this way. I do not call a disappointment `county tongues,'
but `contra toms;' the phrase probably coming from some
person of the name of tom, who was contra, or opposed to
every one else.”

“Perfectly explained, and as clear as bilge-water. Sir
George, has Mr. Dodge mentioned to you the manner in
which these Arabs enjoy life? The gentlemen, by way of
saving dish-water, eat half-a-dozen at a time out of the same
plate. Quite republican, and altogether without pride, Mr.
Dodge, in their notions!”

“Why, sir, many of their habits struck me as being simple
and praiseworthy, during the short time I remained in
their country; and I dare say, one who had leisure to study
them might find materials for admiration. I can readily
imagine situations in which a man has no right to appropriate
a whole dish to himself.”

“No doubt, and he who wishes a thing so unreasonable
must be a great hog! What a thing is sleep! Here are
these fine fellows as much lost to their dangers and toils as
if at home, and tucked in by their careful and pious mothers.
Little did the good souls who nursed them, and sung pious
songs over their cradles, fancy the hardships they were
bringing them up to! But we never know our fates, or miserable
dogs most of us would be. Is it not so, Sir George?”

The baronet started at this appeal, which crossed the
quaint mind of the captain as a cloud darkens a sunny view,
and he muttered a hasty expression of hope that there was
now no particular reason to expect any more serious obstacles
to their reaching the ship.

“It is not an easy thing to tow a heavy raft in light boats
like these, exactly in the direction you wish it to go,” returned
the captain, gaping. “He who trusts to the winds and
waves, trusts an uncertain friend, and one who may fail him

at the very moment when there is most need of their services.
Fair as things now seem, I would give a thousand dollars
of a small stock, in which no single dollar has been lightly
earned, to see these spars safely on board the Montauk, and
snugly fitted to their proper places. Sticks, gentlemen, are
to a ship what limbs are to a man. Without them she rolls
and tumbles about as winds, currents, and seas will; while
with them she walks, and dances, and jumps Jim Crow; ay,
almost talks. The standing rigging are the bones and
gristle; the running gear the veins in which her life circulates;
and the blocks the joints.”

“And which is the heart?” asked Sir George.

“Her heart is the master. With a sufficient commander
no stout ship is ever lost, so long as she has a foot of water
beneath her false keel, or a ropeyarn left to turn to account.”

“And yet the Dane had all these.”

“All but the water. The best craft that was ever launched,
is of less use than a single camel, if laid high and dry
on the sands of Africa. These poor wretches truly! And
yet their fate might have been ours, though I thought little
of the risk while we were in the midst of the Arabs. It is
still a mystery to me why they let us escape, especially as
they so soon deserted the wreck. They were strong-handed,
too; counting all who came and went, I think not less than
several hundreds.”

The captain now became silent and thoughtful, and, as
the wind continued to rise, he began to feel uneasiness about
his ship. Once or twice he expressed a half-formed determination
to pull to her in one of the light boats, in order to
look after her safety in person, and then he abandoned it, as
he witnessed the rising of the sea, and the manner in which
the massive raft caused the cordage by which it was held to
strain. At length he too fell asleep, and we shall leave him
and his party for awhile, and return to the Montauk, to give
an account of what occurred on board that ship.