 | CHAPTER IX. The wing-and-wing, or, Le Feu-follet |  |
9. CHAPTER IX.
Heaves slowly, for the wandering winds are dead
That stirr'd it into foam. The lonely ship
Rolls wearily, and idly flap the sails
Against the creaking masts. The lightest sound
Is lost not on the ear, and things minute
Attract the observant eye.”
Richardson.
Thus terminated the setting-down, like many others that
Captain Cuffe had resolved to give, but which usually ended
in a return to good-nature and reason. The steward was
told to set a plate for Mr. Griffin, among the other guests,
and then the commander of the frigate followed the lieutenant
on deck. Here he found every officer in the ship, all
looking at le Feu-Follet with longing eyes, and most of them
admiring her appearance, as she lay on the mirror-like
Mediterranean, with the two light sails mentioned, just holding
her stationary.
“A regular-built snake-in-the-grass!” growled the boatswain,
Mr. Strand, who was taking a look at the lugger over
the hammock-cloths of the waist, as he stood on the heel of
a spare top-mast to do so; “I never put eyes on a scamp
that had a more d—n-my-eyes look!”
This was said in a sort of soliloquy, for Strand was not
exactly privileged to address a quarter-deck officer on such
an occasion, though several stood within hearing, and was
far too great a man to enlighten his subordinates with his
at that instant stepped into the gangway to make an examination
for himself.
“It is a snake-out-of-the-grass, rather, Strand,” observed
the captain, for he could speak to whom he pleased, without
presumption or degradation. “Had she stayed in port, now,
she would have been in the grass, and we might have
scotched her.”
“Well, your honour, we can English her, as it is; and
that'll be quite as nat'ral, and quite as much to the purpose,
as Scotching her, any day,” answered Strand, who, being
a native of London, had a magnificent sort of feeling towards
all the dependencies of the empire, and to whom the word
scotch, in that sense, was Greek, though he well understood
what it meant, “to clap a Scotchman on a rope;” “we are
likely to have a flat calm all the morning, and our boats are
in capital order; and, then, nothing will be more agreeable
to our gentlemen, than a row.”
Strand was a grey-headed seaman, and he had served
with Captain Cuffe when the latter was a midshipman, and
had even commanded the top, of which the present boatswain
had been the captain. He knew the “cut of the captain's
jib” better than any other man in the Proserpine, and often
succeeded with his suggestions, when Winchester and the
other lieutenants failed. His superior now turned round,
and looked him intently in the face, as if struck with the
notion the other thus indirectly laid before him. This movement
was noted; and, at a sign secretly given by Winchester,
the whole crew gave three hearty cheers; Strand leading off,
as soon as he caught the idea. This was the only manner
in which the crew of a man-of-war can express their
wishes to their commander; it being always tolerated, in a-navy,
to hurrah, by way of showing the courage of a ship's
company. Cuffe walked aft, in a thoughtful manner, and
descended to his cabin again; but a servant soon came up, to
say that the captain desired to see the first lieutenant.
“I do not half like this boat-service, in open day-light,
Winchester,” observed the senior, beckoning to the other to
take a chair. “The least bungling may spoil it all; and
then it's ten to one but your ship goes half-manned for a
and neutrals.”
“But, we hope, sir, there'll be no bungling in anything
that the Proserpine undertakes. Nine times in ten, an English
man-of-war succeeds, when she makes a bold dash in
boats, against one of these picaroons. This lugger is so
low in the water, too, that it will be like stepping from one
cutter into another to get upon her decks; and then, sir,
suppose, you don't doubt what Englishmen will do?”
“Ay, Winchester, once on her deck, I make no doubt
you'd carry her; but it may not be so easy as you imagine,
to get on her deck. Of all duty to a captain, this of sending
off boats is the most unpleasant. He cannot go himself,
and if anything unfortunate turns up, he never forgives himself.
Now, it's a very different thing with a fight in which
all share alike; and the good or evil comes equally on all
hands.”
“Quite true, Captain Cuffe; and yet this is the only
chance that the lieutenants have for getting ahead a little,
out of the regular course. I have heard, sir, that you were
made commander, for cutting out some coasters, in the
beginning of the war.”
“You have not been misinformed; and a devil of a risk
we all ran. Luck saved us—and that was all. One more
fire from a cursed carronade, would have given a Flemish
account of the whole party; for, once get a little under, and
you suffer like game in a batteau.” Captain Cuffe wished
to say battue; but despising foreign languages, he generally
made sad work with them, whenever he did condescend to
resort to their terms, however familiar. “This Raoul
Yvard is a devil incarnate, himself, at this boarding work;
and is said to have taken off the head of a master's mate, of
the Theseus, with one clip of his sword, when he retook that
ship's prize, in the affair of last winter—that which happened
off Alicant!”
“I'll warrant you, sir, the master's mate was some slender-necked
chap, that might better have been at home,
craning at the girls, as they come out of a church-door. I
should like to see Raoul Yvard, or any Frenchman who
was ever born, take off my head at a single clip!”
“Well, Winchester, to be frank with you, I should not.
usually wants all the head he has; and I'm not at all certain
you have any to spare. I wonder if one could not hire a
felucca, or something larger than a boat, in this place, by
means of which we could play a trick upon this fellow, and
effect our purpose quite as well as by going up to him in our
open boats, bull-dog fashion?”
“No question of it at all, sir; Griffin says there are a
dozen feluccas in port here, all afraid to budge an inch, in
consequence of this chap's being in the offing. Now one of
these trying to slip along shore might just serve as a bait for
him, and then he would be famously hooked.”
“I think I have it, Winchester. You understand; we
have not yet been seen to communicate with the town; and
luckily, our French colours have been flying all the morning.
Our head, too, is in-shore; and we shall drift so far to the
eastward, in a few minutes, as will shut in our hull, if not
our upper sails, from the lugger, where she now lies. As
soon as this is done, you shall be off, with forty picked men,
for the shore. Engage a felucca, and come out, stealing
along the rocks, as close as you can, as if distrusting us.
In due time, we will chase you, in the boats; and then you
must make for the lugger for protection, as fast as you can,
when, betwixt the two, I'll answer for it, you get this Master
Yvard, by fair means or foul.”
Winchester was delighted with the scheme; and in less
than five minutes, orders were issued for the men to be
detailed and armed. Then a conference was held, as to all
the minor arrangements; when, the ship having become shut
in from the lugger by the promontory, as expected, the boats
departed. Half-an-hour later, or just as the Proserpine, after
waring, had got near the point where the lugger would be
again open, the boats returned, and were run up. Presently
the two vessels were again in sight of each other, everything,
on board of each, remaining, apparently, in statu quo.
Thus far, certainly, the stratagem had been adroitly managed.
To add to it, the batteries now fired ten or twelve
guns at the frigate, taking very good care not to hit her;
which the Proserpine returned, under the French ensign,
having used the still greater precaution of drawing the shot.
All this was done by an arrangement between Winchester
Raoul Yvard to fancy that he was still believed to be an
Englishman, by the worthy vice-governatore, while the ship
in the offing was taken for an enemy. A light air from
the southward, which lasted from eight to nine o'clock,
allowed the frigate to get somewhat more of an offing, the
while, placing her seemingly beyond the reach of danger.
During the prevalence of the light air mentioned, Raoul
Yvard did not see fit to stir tack or sheet, as it is termed,
among seamen. Le Feu-Follet remained so stationary,
that, had she been set by compass, from any station on the
shore, her direction would not have varied a degree the
whole time. But this hour of comparative breeze sufficed to
enable Winchester to get out of the harbour with la Divina
Providenza, the felucca he had hired, and to round the promontory,
under the seeming protection of the guns by which
it was crowned; coming in view of the lugger precisely as
the latter relieved her man at the helm for ten o'clock.
There were eight or nine men visible on the felucca's deck,
all dressed in the guise of Italians, with caps and striped
shirts of cotton. Thirty-five men were concealed in the
hold.
Thus far everything was favourable to the wishes of Captain
Cuffe and his followers. The frigate was about a league
from the lugger, and half that distance from la Divina Providenza;
the latter had got fairly to sea, and was slowly
coming to a situation from which it might seem reasonable,
and a matter of course, for the Proserpine to send boats in
chase; while the manner in which she gradually drew
nearer to the lugger, was not such as to excite distrust, or
to appear, in the least, designed. The wind, too, had got to
be so light, as to favour the whole scheme.
It is not to be supposed that Raoul Yvard and his followers
were unobservant of what was passing. It is true, that
the latter wilfully protracted his departure, under the pretence
that it was safer to have his enemy in sight, during
the day, knowing how easy it would be to elude him, in the
dark; but, in reality, that he might prolong the pleasure of
having Ghita on board; and it is also true, that he had
passed a delightful hour, that morning, in the cabin; but,
then, his understanding eye noted the minutest fact that
emergency that might arise. Very different was the case
with Ithuel. The Proserpine was his bane; and, even while
eating his breakfast, which he took on the heel of the bowsprit,
expressly with that intent, his eye was seldom a minute
off the frigate, unless it was for the short period she was shut
in by the land. It was impossible for any one in the lugger
to say, whether her character was, or was not known in
Porto Ferrajo; but the circumstance of the blue-lights burnt
in the government-house, itself, and witnessed by Ithuel, rendered
the latter, to say the least, probable, and induced more
caution than might otherwise have been shown. Still, there
was no reason to suspect the character of the felucca; and
the confident manner in which she came down towards the
lugger, though considerably in-shore of her, gave reason to
believe that she, at least, was ignorant that le Feu-Follet
was an enemy.
“That felucca is the craft which lay near the landing,”
quietly observed Raoul, who had now come on the forecastle
with a view to converse with Ithuel; “her name is la Divina
Providenza; she is given to smuggling between Leghorn
and Corsica, and is probably bound to the latter, at
this moment. It is a bold step, too, to stand directly for
her port, under such circumstances!”
“Leghorn is a free port,” returned Ithuel; “and smuggling
is not needed.”
“Ay, free as to friends, but not free to come and go,
between enemies. No port is free, in that sense; it being
treason for a craft to communicate with the foe, unless she
happen to be le Feu-Follet,” observed Raoul, laughing;
“we are privileged, mon brave!”
“Corsica or Capraya, she'll reach neither, to-day, unless
she find more wind. I do not understand why the man
has sailed, with no more air than will serve to blow out a
pocket-handkerchief.”
“These little feluccas, like our little lugger, slip along
even when there seems to be no wind at all. Then, he may
be bound to Bastia; in which case he is wise in getting an
offing before the zephyr sets in for the afternoon. Let him
get a league or two out here, more to the northwest, and he
can make a straight wake to Bastia, after his siesta is over.”
“Ay, there go them greedy Englishmen a'rter him!”
said Ithuel; “it's as I expected; let 'em see the chance of
making a guinea, and they'll strive for it, though it be ag'in
law, or ag'in natur'. Now, what have they to do with a
Neapolitan felucca; England being a sworn friend of
Naples?”
Raoul made no reply to this, but stood watching the
movement in silence. The reader will readily enough
understand that Ithuel's remark was elicited by the appearance
of the boats, which, five in number, at that instant
pulled off from the frigate's side, and proceeded steadily
towards the felucca.
It may be necessary now to mention the relative positions
of the parties, the hour, and the precise state of the weather,
with a view to give the reader clear ideas of the events that
succeeded. Le Feu-Follet had not materially changed her
place, since her jib-sheet was first hauled over. She still
lay about a league, a little north-of-west, from the residence
of Andrea Barrofaldi, and in plain view of it; a deep bay
being south of her, and abeam. No alterations had been
made in her canvass, or her helm; most of the first being
still in the brails, and the latter down. As the head of the
frigate had been kept to the westward, for the last hour, she
had forged some distance in that direction, and was now
quite as near the lugger as was the promontory, though
near two miles off the land. Her courses were hauled up, on
account of the lightness of the air; but all her upper-sails
stood, and were carefully watched and trimmed, in order to
make the most of the cats'-paws, or rather, of the breathings
of the atmosphere, which occasionally caused the royals to
swell outward. On the whole, she might be drawing nearer
to the lugger, at the rate of about a knot in an hour. La
Divina Providenza was just out of gun-shot from the frigate,
and about a mile from the lugger, when the boats shoved off
from the former, though quite near the land, just opening
the bay so often named. The boats, of course, were pulling
in a straight line from the vessel they had just left, towards
that of which they were in pursuit.
As to the time, the day had advanced as far as eleven,
which is a portion of the twenty-four hours when the Mediterranean,
in the summer months, is apt to be as smooth as
Throughout the morning, there had been some irregularity
in the currents of air; the southerly breeze, generally light,
and frequently fickle, having been even more light and
baffling than common. Still, as has been seen, there was
sufficient air to force a vessel through the water; and, had
Raoul been as diligent as the people of the two other crafts,
he might, at that moment, have been off the western end of
the island, and far out of harm's way. As it was, he had
continued watching the result, but permitting all the other
parties gradually to approach him.
It must be allowed, that the ruse of the felucca was well
planned; and it now seemed about to be admirably executed.
Had it not been for Ithuel's very positive knowledge of the
ship—his entire certainty of her being his old prison, as he
bitterly called her, it is not improbable that the lugger's crew
might have been the dupe of so much well-acted ingenuity;
and, as it was, opinions were greatly divided, Raoul, himself,
being more than half disposed to fancy that his American
ally, for once, was wrong, and that the ship in sight
was actually what she professed to be — a cruiser of the
republic.
Both Winchester, who was in la Divina Providenza, and
Griffin, who commanded the boats, played their parts in
perfection. They understood too well the character of the
wily and practised foe with whom they had to deal, to neglect
the smallest of the details of their well-concerted plan.
Instead of heading towards the lugger, as soon as the chase
commenced, the felucca appeared disposed to enter the bay,
and to find an anchorage under the protection of a small
battery that had been planted, for this express purpose, near
its head. But the distance was so great, as obviously to
render such an experiment bootless; and, after looking in
that direction a few minutes, the head of la Divina Providenza
was laid off shore, and she made every possible effort
to put herself under the cover of the lugger. All this was
done in plain view of Raoul, whose glass was constantly at
his eye, and who studied the smallest movement with jealous
distrust. Winchester, fortunately for his purpose, was a
dark-complexioned man, of moderate stature, and with bushy
whiskers, such as a man-of-war's-man is apt to cultivate, on
and white cotton trowsers, he looked the Italian as well as
could have been desired. The men in sight, too, had been
selected for their appearance, several of them being actually
foreigners, born on the shores of the Mediterranean; it being
seldom, indeed, that the crew of an English, or an American
vessel of war, does not afford a representation of half the
maritime nations of the earth. These men exhibited a proper
degree of confusion and alarm, too; running to and fro, as
soon as the chase became lively; exerting themselves, but
doing it without order and concert. At length, the wind
failing almost entirely, they got out two sweeps, and began
to pull lustily; the real, as well as the apparent desire being
to get as near as possible to the lugger.
“Peste!” exclaimed Raoul; “all this seems right —
what if the frigate should be French, after all. These men
in the boats look like my brave compatriotes!”
“They are regular John Bulls,” answered Ithuel, positively,
“and the ship is the spiteful Proserpyne,” for so
the New-Hampshire-man always called his old prison. “As
for them French hats, and the way they have of rowing,
they act it all for a take-in. Just let a six-pound shot in
among 'em, and see how they'll throw off their French airs,
and take to their English schooling.”
“I'll not do that; for we might injure a friend. What
are those fellows in the felucca about, now?”
“Why, they've got a small gun — yes, it's a twelve-pound
carronade, under the tarpaulin, for'rard of their foremast,
and they're clearin' it away for sarvice. We shall
have something doin' 'fore the end of the week!”
“Bien—it is as you say—and, voilà, they train the piece
on the boats!”
As this was said, the felucca was half concealed in smoke.
Then came the discharge of the gun. The shot was seen
skipping along the water, at a safe distance from the leading
boat, certainly, and yet sufficiently near to make it pass for
indifferent gunnery. This leading boat was the Proserpine's
launch, which carried a similar carronade on its grating,
forward, and not half-a-minute was suffered to pass, before
the fire was returned. So steady were the men, and so
nicely were all the parts of this plot calculated, that the shot
felucca, striking its mainyard about half-way between the
mast and the peak of the sail, letting the former down by the
run.
“Human natur'!” ejaculated Ithuel — “this is acting up
to the contract, dollars and cents! Captain Rule, they
shoot better in sport, than when they're in downright airnest.”
“This looks like real work,” answered Raoul. “A man
does not often shoot away the mainyard of his friend, on
purpose.”
As soon as the crews of the boats saw the end of the yard
come down, they ceased rowing, and gave three hearty
cheers, taking the signal from Griffin, who stood erect in
the stern of the launch, to give it.
“Bah!”—cried Raoul—“these are English John Bulls,
without a shadow of doubt. Who ever knew the men of
the republic shout like so many Italian fantoccini, pulled by
wires. Ah! Messieurs les Anglais, you have betrayed your
secret by your infernal throats; now look to hear us tell
the remainder of the story.”
Ithuel rubbed his hands with delight, perfectly satisfied
that Raoul could no longer be deceived, though the fire
between the felucca and the launch was kept up with spirit,
the shooting being such as might have done credit to a bonâ
fide conflict. All this time the sweeps of the felucca were
plied, the boats advancing at least two feet to the chase's
one. La Divina Providenza might now have been three
hundred yards from the lugger; and the launch, the nearest
of the pursuers, about the same distance astern of the felucca.
Ten minutes more would certainly bring the seeming combatants
alongside of each other.
Raoul ordered the sweeps of le Feu-Follet to be run out,
and manned. At the same time, her guns, twelve-pound
carronades, were cast loose, and primed. Of these she had
four of a side, while the two sixes on her forecastle were
prepared for similar service. When everything was ready,
the twelve sweeps dropped into the water, as by a common
instinct, and a powerful effort started the lugger ahead.
Her jib and jigger were both brailed at that instant. A
single minute sufficed to teach Winchester how hopeless
should the lugger endeavour to escape in this manner;
it being quite practicable for her strong crew to force her
through the water, by means of her sweeps alone, from
three to three and a half knots in the hour. But flight did
not appear to be her object; for her head was laid towards
la Divina Providenza, as if, deceived by the artifice of the
English, she intended to prevent the capture of the felucca,
and to cover a friend.
Raoul, however, understood himself far better than this
supposition would give reason to suppose. He swept the
lugger up in a line with la Divina Providenza and the boats,
in the first place, as the position in which she would be the
least likely to suffer from the fire of the latter; well knowing
that whatever shot were thrown, were purposely sent so high
as to do no mischief; and, in the second place, that he
might bring his enemies in a single range from his own guns.
In the meanwhile, the felucca and the boats not only continued
to use their carronades, but they commenced on both
sides a brisk fire of musketry; the former being now distant
only a hundred yards from le Feu-Follet, exceedingly hard
pressed by her adversaries, so far as appearances were concerned.
There being no wind at all, at this juncture, the
little there had been having been entirely killed by the concussions
of the guns, the sea was getting to be fast covered
with smoke; the felucca, in particular, showing more than
common of the wreathy canopy, over her decks, and about
her spars; for, in truth, powder was burnt in considerable
quantities, in different parts of the vessel, with this express
object. Ithuel observed, too, that in the midst of this confusion
and cloud, the crew of la Divina Providenza was increasing
in numbers, instead of diminishing by the combat,
four sweeps next being out, each manned by three men,
while near twenty more were shortly visible, running to and
fro, and shouting to each other in a language that was intended
to be Italian, but which sounded much more, in his
practised ears, like bastard English. The felucca was not
fifty yards distant, when this clamour became the loudest;
and the crisis was near. The cheers of the boats on the
other side of her, proclaimed the quick approach of Griffin
and his party; the bows of la Divina Providenza having
would carry her athwart-hawse of le Feu-Follet.
“Mes enfans,”—shouted Raoul—“soyez calmes—Fire!”
The whole of the five guns, loaded heavily with canister,
were discharged into the smoke of la Divina Providenza.
The shrieks that succeeded, sufficiently proclaimed with
what effect. A pause of solemn, wondering silence followed,
on the part of the English; and then arose a manly shout,
as if, prepared for every contingency, they were resolved to
brave the worst. The boats were next seen coming round
the bows and stern of the felucca, dashing earnestly at their
real enemy, while their two carronades returned the fire,
this time loaded and aimed with deadly intent. But it was
too late for success. As Griffin, in the launch, came out of
la Divina Providenza's smoke, he saw the lugger's sails all
opened, and filled with a dying effort of the southerly air.
So light, however, was le Feu-Follet, that a duck could
hardly have sailed away more readily from the fowler, than
this little craft shot ahead, clearing the smoke, and leaving
her pursuers an additional hundred yards behind her. As
the air seemed likely to stand long enough to place his party
in extreme jeopardy, under the fire of the French, Winchester
promptly ordered the boats to relinquish the pursuit, and
to rally around the felucca. This command was reluctantly
obeyed, when a moment was given to both sides for deliberation.
Le Feu-Follet had sustained no injury worth mentioning;
but the English had not less than a dozen men slain or hurt.
Among the latter was Winchester, himself; and as he saw
that any success which followed would fall principally to the
share of his subordinate, his wound greatly indisposed him
to pursue any further a struggle that was nearly hopeless,
as it was. Not so with Raoul Yvard, however. Perceiving
that the frigate had taken the breeze, as well as himself,
and that she was stealing along in the direction of the
combatants, he determined to take an ample revenge for the
audacity of the attempt, and then proceed on his voyage.
The lugger accordingly tacked, and passed to windward
of the felucca, delivering a close and brisk fire as she approached.
At first this fire was returned, but the opposition
soon ceased; and when le Feu-Follet ranged up past her
English had deserted her to a man, carrying off their
wounded. The boats were pulling through the smoke,
towards the bay, taking a direction opposite to that in which
the lugger's head was laid. It would have been easy for
the French to ware, and probably to have overtaken the
fugitives, sinking or capturing them to a man; but there was
a touch of high chivalry in the character of Raoul Yvard,
and he declared, that as the artifice had been ingeniously
planned, and daringly attempted, he would follow up his
success no farther. Perhaps the appearance of Ghita on
deck, imploring him to be merciful, had its influence; it is
certain that not another shot did he allow to be fired at the
enemy. Instead of pursuing her advantage, in this manner,
the lugger took in her after-sails, wore short round on her
heel, came to the wind to-leeward of the felucca, shivered all
forward, set her jigger again, and luffed up so near what
may be called the prize, that the two vessels came together
so gently as not to break an egg, as it is termed. A single
rope secured the felucca to the lugger, and Raoul, Ithuel,
and a few more, stepped on board the former.
The decks of la Divina Providenza were reeking with
blood; and grape and canister were sticking in handsful, in
different parts of the vessel. Three dead bodies were found
in her hold, but nothing having life was met with on board.
There was a tar-bucket filled at hand, and this was placed
beneath the hatch, covered with all the combustible materials
that could be laid hold of, and set on fire. So active were
the flames, at that dry season, that Raoul regretted he had
not taken the precaution to awaken them after he had removed
his own vessel; but the southerly air continuing, he
was enabled to get to a safe distance before they actually
ascended the felucca's rigging, and seized upn her sails.
Ten minutes were thus lost, and they had sufficed to carry
the boats out of gun-shot, in-shore, and to bring the frigate
very nearly down within gun-shot from the south-east. But,
hauling aft all his sheets, Raoul soon took the lugger clear
of her flaming prize; and then she stood towards the west
end of Elba, going, as usual, in so light an air, three feet to
the frigate's two. The hour, however, was not favourable
to the continuance of the breeze, and in ten more minutes it
slightest current of air over the surface of the sea. Such
flickerings of the lamp, before it burnt entirely out, were
common, and Raoul felt certain that there would be no more
wind that day, until they got the zephyr. Accordingly, he
directed all the sails to be hauled up, an awning to be spread
over the quarter-deck, and permission was given to the
people to attend to their own affairs. The frigate, too,
seemed to be aware that it was the moment for the siesta of
vessels, as well as of men; for she clewed up her royals and
top-gallant-sails, brailed her jib and spanker, hauled up her
courses, and lay on the water as motionless as if sticking on
a shoal. The two vessels were barely long-gun shot apart,
and, under ordinary circumstances, the larger might have
seen fit to attack the smaller in boats; but the lesson just
given was a sufficient pledge to the French, against the renewal
of any such attempt, and they scarcely paid their
neighbour's prowess the compliment to watch him. Half-an-hour
later, when Winchester got back to the ship, limping
with a hurt in his leg, and with his people exhausted and
mortified, it was found that the undertaking had cost the
lives of seven good men, besides the temporary suspension
of the services of fifteen more.
Captain Cuffe was aware that his enterprise had failed, as
soon as he perceived the lugger under her canvass, playing
around the felucca and the boats, held in perfect command.
But, when he discovered the latter pulling for the shore, he
was certain that they must have suffered, and he was prepared
to learn a serious loss, though not one that bore so
large a proportion to the whole numbers of the party sent
on the expedition. Winchester he considerately declined
questioning, while his wound was being dressed; but Griffin
was summoned to his cabin, as soon as the boats were
hoisted in and stowed.
“Well, Mr. Griffin, a d—d pretty scrape is this, into
which you have led me, among you, with your wish to go
boating about after luggers, and Raoul Yvards! What will
the admiral say, when he comes to hear of twenty-two men's
being laid on the shelf, and a felucca to be paid for, as a
morning's amusement?”
“Really, Captain Cuffe, we did our best; but a man might
as to stand the canister of that infernal lugger! I don't think
there was a square yard in the felucca that was not peppered.
The men never behaved better; and down to the moment
when we last cheered, I was as sure of le Feu-Follet, as I
ever was of my own promotion.”
“Ay, they needn't call her le Few-Folly any longer, the
Great-Folly being a better name. What the devil did you
cheer for at all, sir? did you ever know a Frenchman cheer,
in your life? That very cheering was the cause of your
being found out, before you had time to close. You should
have shouted vive la république, as all their craft do, when
we engage them. A regular English hurrah would split a
Frenchman's throat.”
“I believe we did make a mistake there, sir; but I never
was in an action in which we did not cheer; and when it
got to be warm—or to seem warm—I forgot myself, a little.
But, we should have had her, sir, for all that, had it not been
for one thing.”
“And what is that, pray? You know, Griffin, I must
have something plausible to tell the admiral; it will never do
to have it published in the gazette that we were thrashed by
our own hallooing.”
“I was about to say, Captain Cuffe, that had not the
lugger fired her first broadside just as she did, and had she
given us time to get out of the range of her shot, we
should have come in upon her before she could have loaded
again, and carried her, in spite of the breeze that so much
favoured her. Our having three men hurt in the launch,
made some difference, too, and set as many oars catching
crabs, at a most critical instant. Everything depends on
chance, in these matters, you know, sir, and that was our
bad luck.”
“Umph!—It will never do to tell Nelson that.—`Everything
was going well, my lord, until three of the launch's
people went to work catching crabs with their oars, which
threw the boat a-stern.'—No, no, that will never do for a
gazette. Let me see, Griffin; after all, the lugger made off
from you—you would have had her, had she not made sail,
and stood to the southward and westward on a bowline?”
“Yes, sir, she certainly did that. Had she not made sail,
“Well, then, she ran. Wind sprung up, enemy made
sail—every attempt to get alongside unsuccessful.—Brave
fellows, cheering and doing their utmost.—Not so bad an
account, after all—but, how about that d—d felucca?—
You see, she is burned to the water's edge, and will go down
in a few minutes.”
“Very true, Captain Cuffe, but not a Frenchman entered
her, while we were there—”
“Yes, I now see how it was—threw all hands into the
boats, in chase, the felucca being too unwieldy, and every
effort to get alongside unsuccessful. He's a devil of a fellow,
that Nelson & Bronte; and I had rather hear the thunder
of ten thousand tempests, than get one of his tempestuous
letters. Well, I think I understand the affair, now, and
shall speak of you all as you deserve. 'T was a gallant
thing, though it failed. You deserved success, whatever
may have caused you to lose it.”
In this Captain Cuffe was nearer right than in anything
else he uttered on the occasion.
| CHAPTER IX. The wing-and-wing, or, Le Feu-follet | |