University of Virginia Library

2. CHAPTER II.

The wind died with the day; and the brig-of-war had not sailed
far from the place where she had filled away, after receiving on
board the Algerine Consul, before it fell calm. The rose-colored
glow of the western sky yet lingered on her masses of canvass,
tinging them with a delicate flush, and the dark green line of the
shores, with their irregularities caused by woods, towers or hill-tops,
was plainly visible, with here and there a light flashing off
across the water. The beautiful vessel lay half a league from the
land, motionless,

with all her sails still spread to catch the faintest zephyr that flitted
past. The glow of the west was fast fading into the gray of evening,
and stars in their splendor, and planets with their nearer and
purer light, shone from the deep heavens afar, and night and silence
asserted their empire. The Captain of the brig and his passenger
walked the starboard side of the quarter-deck together, the
former occasionally stopping to gaze over the taffrail, and to lift his
hand to the west to feel for the wind. The lieutenant of the watch
paced impatiently the larboard quarter, and at every other turn in
his walk he paused to gaze in the direction in which he expected
it to breeze up. The men of the watch were dispersed forward, or
in the waist, some leaning over the bulwarks looking to windward,
others resting on the guns, or two and two walking fore and aft
the narrow space between the windlass and the heel of the bowsprit.
There was no swell to make the brig uneasy, and not a rope
or sail moved. All was motionless, and the men who spoke together
lowered their voices as if in instinctive sympathy with the silence.

`Well this is dull work, Mr. Merley, said the young Captain of
the brig as he stopped in his silent walk, and lifted the palm of his
hand to the west; `we are likely to lay here till the next flood before
the wind breezes up.'

`The frigates doubtless have the same calm,' remarked the Consul,
`so there will be nothing lost.'

`No; they carry to sea the same wind they took off shore, and
are no doubt making eight knots at this moment, while we have
not air enough to open the folds of a lady's pocket handkerchief!
Besides, the current is drifting us toward the land, in the direction
of Norfolk Head, and we may have to drop anchor.'

`I am vexed with myself for being the cause of this annoyance
to you, Captain Sterret,' answered the Consul; but my appointment
to Algiers was so sudden that I should have been unable to
have accepted it if I had left Washington with Commodore Dale,
and not have been able to have visited Richmond before sailing.'

`It is a part of the brig's duty in the service, this delay on your
behalf, Mr. Merley, and I do not reflect upon you at all,' answered
the Captain in a frank and slightly apolegetic tone. `We sailors are
privileged to grumble in a calm, and find fault with the winds when
they don't blow to suit us. If this calm only keeps you my passenger
to the Miditerranean, I shall not regret it; and if it holds
long we shall certainly not reach Gibraltar till after the commander's
frigate.'

`I feel a light air, sir, coming from the South,' said the lieutenant
of the watch.'

`Your hand is more sensitive than mine, Hardy; I feel none.'

`By wetting your finger you will be able to feel it, as the side
from which the wind is coming will feel the coldest.'

`I do; the wind will come out from the South; and now I see
the hazes lifting there away. We shall have wind before long.—
Take in the studden sails alow and aloft, and let us have the brig
in trim for whatever a good Providence pleases to send us. I always
look for squalls from that quarter at this season.'

The brig was soon lying under her usual canvass, her royals set,
and her courses up. When at length the decks were all cleared,
and quiet once more reigned on board, the Consul's attention was
drawn to a deepening glow in the east, which he pointed out to
the Captain, saying:

`That must be a vessel on fire at sea.'

`Watch it a few moments, Mr. Merley,' said the Captain smiling.

Gradually the rich soft flush spread over the Eastern horizon,
and suddenly a crimson spot like the edge of a globe of heated iron,
rose above the verge of the sea. In a few moments, enlarging till
the whole of its deep red disk was seen, came the moon into full
sight, flinging her crimson beams far across the level water.

`How wildly beautiful is moon-rising upon the sea,' exclaimed
the Consul with delight. `At its first appearance it resembled the
light from a ship in flames beneath the horizon! See, as it ascends,
how it loses its blood-like hue and assumes its native silvery
brightness!'

`It will bring us wind, sir,' said the Captain, who looked upon
every thing in a practical manner; and we shall have it from the
eastern board instead of the south, Mr. Hardy.'

`I think so, sir; I can feel no air from the south now.'

`If we get it from the east we shall have to beat to sea. With
the wind abeam she would not be long astern of the fleet. But patience,
patience. It will blow from some quarter, and then we

must thank God and brace our yards to meet it.'

`The light reveals objects on shore with singular distinctness,'
said Mr. Merley, looking over the quarter. `Are not these villas
that show so white?'

`Yes, sir. There are many handsome country seats along this
coast, and many fine families. There, on that headland, you see
a stately dwelling. Take the glass sir! You discover that it is an
imposing mansion!'

`Yes. It is surrounded with verandahs, and has extensive ornamental
grounds.'

`It is the residence of Colonel Dudley.'

`The ex-governor under the colonial regime? I understand he
is wealthy and hospitable, and has a very interesting family.'

`Yes; but people still think he is inclined to Toryism. You
know he took no part in the war of Independence.'

`Yet he has taken active part in our politics, and I am told has a
son he intends to put into the navy. I would trust him, from what
I know of his character.

`I still have suspicions of these old colonial aristocrats. They
never can get over their attachment to royalty. Colonel Dudley
was cadet of one of the noblest English families; and he who has a
brother a lord and sons who may become noble, can have little love
for republican institutions.'

`It may be as you say. He has a very fine estate, if all that
range of fields which I sweep with my glass, appends to the mansion.'

`It is a principality in itself. Don't you feel a wind coming
from the North, Mr. Hardy?'

`It feels like it. It seems to be flirting all round the compass,
like a belle in a ball-room. It certainly does blow faintly from the
north.'

`Than we shall have it from the nor' west, with a full cheek before
midnight. How is it now, helmsman?'

`Nearly three bells, sir.'

`Heave the lead, Mr. Hardy. I think we are drifting fast landward;
and there is an ugly rock, with its head just under water
off this point, I should rather the brig should not scrape acquaintance
with!'

`Mark under water, nine;' shouted the leadsman, from the fore
chains.

`This is four fathoms shoaler than we ought to be in, with the
shore bearing as it does.'

`Quar-ter less nine!' sung again the leadsman in a loud, long
drawling, yet not unmusical voice, that sounded singularly wild
and startling upon the silence of night.

`We drift in, and unless the wind soon breezes up we shall have
to drop our anchor, or get out the boats!'

`By the mark eight!' sung the leadsmen.

`There is a strong current setting shore-ward,' said the Captain
to his lieutenant.

`It is the top of the flood, making up Norfolk harbor, sir.'

`If we shoal the water any more we must send the boats ahead
and haul off. Come, blow wind, good wind! Give us a little
breath, and I'll swear never to speak ill of you more, blow you high
or blow you low!'

`There is an object moving in the shadow of the land, I think
Captain,' said the Consul, who had still his glass directed towards
the shore, in the direction of the headland. `It is very indistinct,
but it appears to me like a small boat.'

`Some fisherman out, probably,' answered the Captain carelessly.
`I distinctly feel a wind in the north, Mr. Hardy. We shall
have it from that quarter.'

`Quarter less eight!' sung the man in the chains.'

`We shall have to send out the boats, if we shoal this way!
Order the crews of the gig and cutter aft here, to stand by to lower
their boats, Mr. Hardy. Hold on! There the breeze wakes up!'

`It stirs the water, sir.'

`I see it. It comes out of the north. Stand by your lifts and
barces, and be ready to take the benefit of the first cat's paw.'

`That is approaching, Captain, and if it is a fisherman, he is riding
on a fishes back. It looks like a man paddling himself along on
the water, with no boat beneath him!'

`Let me take a look at him, sir. It may be old Nep himself,
coming aboard to pay us a visit, or ask for a passage to the Mediterranean.'

The Captain took the glass in his hand, and after arranging the
focus to suit his eye, levelled it shore-ward at the object which had
attracted the attention of the Consul.

`It is a curious craft, and as you say, looks like a person walking
on the water. Now I can see him plainer still! It is a man
paddling himself along towards the brig, but what he is in I can't
see. I discover no boat.'

`Perhaps, sir, his boat has filled, but not sunk, and he is trying
to reach the brig,' said the lieutenant.

`It may be so,' said the Captain again levelling his glass. `Man
the third cutter and send out and pick him up.'

`Third cutters away!' cried the lieutenant.

The shrill whistle of the boatswain, was heard piping the order,
and the lads sprung aft to the fall.

`Vast there a bit,' cried the Captain' `I can see him now as he
approaches. He is paddling on a plank, and makes good headway
at that! He'll reach the brig without our help, Mr. Hardy!'

The object of general interest grew momently plainer to the eyes
of all on board, and rapidly approached the brig. He was paddling
very fast, and the quick strokes of his paddle distinctly reached
the ears of those who were watching from the brig.

`Stand by there in the gangway one of you, to throw him a
rope,' cried the Captain removing the glass from his eye. He is
quite a youth, Mr. Merley, I saw with the glass as the moon fell
full on his face and figure.'

`He must have met with some accident, and has saved himself
on a plank,' said the Consul.

`Or more likely some runascape from the shore, trying to get
out of the country in the brig,' said the Captain, `There she
breezes! Brace up Mr. Hardy. We'll soon have a piping wind
spanking down from the north. What water there in the chains?'

`Eight fathom, sir!'

`Well. Come in board! Now she feels the air aloft? See how
prettily her royal swells out like the breast of a pair of well-fed
partridges, Mr. Merley. Now her top-gallant sails stretch their
idle wings and fill out! Hark there is music! Hear that ripple
about her rudder. Give the forward braces another pull, Mr. Hardy.
That's well! A small pull men, at the weather main-brace.
Well! now her top-sails begin to make very handsome baloons, and
her jib looks as if she wanted to stretch ahead, and walk after the
frigates on her own responsibility. Dash! There breaks a wave
under her bow! The sweetest music I ever heard, Mr. Merley, is
that of a vessel getting under motion after a calm!'

`But the lad on the plank, sir,' said the Consul, who had been
watching him through the glass, while the brig was being brought
under steerage way.

`I had like to have forgotten him. I don't see him.'

`He is off the quarter here; the change in the heading of the
vessel has thrown him in this direction.'

`Yes I see him now! He is waving his hand. He finds we are
running away from him. Hark, he hails! Aye, aye, ahoy! What
in the devil can he want, half a league at sea on a plank at this
time of night, or at any time of day for that matter. Mr. Hardy
we shall have to heave the brig to for him.'

`I trust so, Captain,' said Mr. Merley, with deep interest, for
the fate of the person, manifested in his manner.

`It is a pity to lose a thimble full of this fine breeze, but it won't
do to leave the poor fellow, whatever has brought him to sea on a
plank, to the fate that will probably befal him before morning, if
this wind rises to blow stronger as it is likely to do.'

`Brig ahoy!' came clear and strong across the water, evidently
in the voice of a young man. The tone was manly and full, and
wholly divested of any thing like apprehension.

`Heave her to, Mr. Hardy, and send out the third cutter.'

`Aye, aye, sir,' cried the officer, passing the order forward.

The men sprung to obey it with alacrity, for the man was plainly
visible to every eye, and all the men as well as the officers, felt
an interest in knowing who he was. In a few seconds the boat
which was hung astern was in the water, and the men sliding down
the falls into her, were soon giving way in the direction of the young
man, whose features were now plainly visible through the glass.
The brig which had been running three and a half or four knots,
ni the meanwhile, was luffed so as to shiver her head sails and deaden
her headway, to a couple of knots.

`I like that chap's voice. It has metal in it, and rings with a
manly tone,' said the Captain, as he watched the boat as it pulled
towards him.

`What can be his motive in putting to sea on so frail a support!'
observed Mr. Merley.

`Some freak; or some rogue. If he had escaped from a wreck,
he would have put in towards land instead of paddling from it.'

`I should think so. He was close in under the land in the range
of the villa of Colonel Dudley, when he first attracted my attention.'

`He has been taken into the boat. Luff a little, helmsman!
The lads will have a long pull after us.'

`We shall lose quite as much time, sir, in holding to the wind
as in heaving to. Had'nt I better lay the maintopsail to the mast?'
asked the lieutenant.

The Captain cast a glance astern at the boat, which did not
seem to approach very perceptibly, and then over the side to mark
her rate through the water, and gave the order to heave to. In a
few minutes the cutter was along side, and the Captain after giving
a loud order to fill away, went to the gangway to see who it
was that had so strangely detained the brig.

`Come, sir, jump on deck out o' that, and report yourself,' he
called out to him. `You are a pretty fellow to bring a U. S. Brig
to, in this style. What's the name of your craft, hey?' said the
Captain half-angrily, half in good humor, looking over the side.

`I beg your pardon for delaying the vessel, sir,' replied the
young man from the boat; and then seizing the man-rope, he
lightly ascended the side ladder and sprung upon deck.

He was a youth not more than nineteen, with a tall, manly figure,
and a countenance dark but singularly handsome He was
bareheaded and without jacket or shoes; but there was about him
an air of refinement and birth, that needed none of the conventional
aids of costume to indicate his position in society. The
moon shone bright and clearly exhibited him to every eye.

`How is it that you have exposed yourself at sea in this manner,
sir!' asked the Captain, after observing him a moment in silence.

`I was in hopes to have reached the brig without giving you
any trouble: and but for the wind which set you in motion, I
should have done so.'

`But what object had you in boarding her, and in this style?'

`A love for the sea,' he said in a careless tone. `I learned you
were bound for the Medeterranean, and that there would probably
by service seen there. I would have shipped earlier could I have
done so.'

`You don't mean to say you wish to come in the brig before the
mast!'

`Yes sir, if you will permit me to do so.'

`And to sail in the brig, you put off to her on a plank.'

`Yes sir. You were becalmed, and I believed I could easily
reach her.'

`You have deserved well the berth you sought, and shall have;
for true men are worth their weight in gold these days.'

`Have you been to sea?' `No, sir.'

`Mr. Hardy, you will take this young man into your watch, and
the gunner will add him to his mess.'

`I thank you, sir,' answered the youth with an expressive tone
of voice. `I regret I should have detained the brig'

`Not at all. You are worth all the delay, or I am mistaken in
my man.'

`Come bear a hand there, and have that cutter up at the devits
in a trice,' shouted the lieutenant, as the Captain walked aft to
the quarter deck, where stood Mr. Merley.

`Consul,' said he, in the frank seaman-like way peculiar to him,
`did you notice that young man's appearance.'

`Yes, and was struck with it. He sprung upon the deck from
the gun as he came on board, and stood before you with the air of
a young Indian Chief.'

`I noticed it. His place, let me tell you, Consul, is not forward
of the capstan; and if he goes to sea long, he will not be a
great while before the mast.'

`It is my impression, from his appearance, that he belongs to
some highly respectable family, and has left home privately, from
a spirit of adventure.'

`That is mine also. I thought so when he said he wanted to
ship. But I did not let him discover my thoughts, but treated him
as if he was only fitted for the place he sought. He is evidently
bold, fearless and adventurous, and so long as he chooses to remain
in the brig he will be useful.'

`But if you believe him to be a respectable young man, ought
you suffer him to remain with the crew?' asked the Consul.

`And why not, Mr. Merley? It is no degradation to serve before
the mast. Some of the best officers in the navy came into it
over the bows. Promotion is free to talent and energy. If this
youth—be he the son of the President—has taken a liking to the
sea, preferring it to the artificial life of a city, or the atmosphere of
a drawing-room, let him follow the bent of his humor. If he is
true to himself he will make for himself a name. If half of the
young men in shops would go to sea before the mast, they would
make better members of society, and ennoble their own natures.—
The profession of a sailor is truly noble. His home is ever between
the ocean and sky. Nothing about him is low and debasing. All
is grand, vast, sublime. God's Heaven is above him, with its stars
and silence, and God's sea is beneath him, with the eternal music
of its waves. At sea men learn no vices.'

`Yet sailors are generally credited with the possession of all
vices.'

`The vices sailors have they learn on shore They get them in
port. At sea they are a gentle, submissive, steady, industrious set
of men. They reflect much. They are often religious. There is
more awe, as it touches God, in the bosom of a sailor, than in that
of most of the landsmen.'

`Have you any objection, Captain, to sending for the young
man into your cabin. I should like to ask him a few questions.'

`None at all. There he is already at work at the fall, as if he
had regularly shipped. I have taken a fancy to him.'

`He is evidently a young gentleman, and perhaps I may know
his family. In case he should prove to have eloped it would be
your duty, I think, to land him at the Cape.'

`I will see what he has to say, as soon as I can leave the deck.
The wind is settling to the north west, Mr. Hardy, and will blow
steadily all night after it once gets breezing stiff. See how fast she
is moving through the water.'

`Hold the reel!' cried the lieutenant in a loud tone.

Two of the watch came aft, and one of them taking the reel
and another the minute glass, a midshipman tossed the chip into
the water.

`Watch!' cried he, as he turned the wheel rapidly round.

`Turn!' he said; and the reel revolved with velocity as the man
held it above his head in both hands.

`Out,' cried the man inverting the sand-glass.

`Six and a half, sir,' answered the midshipman.

`That is doing bravely,' said the Captain with animation. I am
going below now, Mr. Hardy; and when you get the Cape abeam
and the wind blows steadily, set the weather lower and topmast
studdensails. Get all out of her you can! for recollect there is a
long chase ahead of us to overhaul the frigate.'

`Aye, aye, sir,' answered the lieutenant, the next moment giving
the order to set the lower studdensail.

`Now, Mr. Merley,' said the Captain, `I will go below with you
and let you question this youth. I have some curiosity to know
more of him than he has chosen to communicate of himself. Mr
Rowe,' he said to the midshipman of the watch,' send that raw
hand that came off to the brig on a plank, into my cabin.'

`You are wanted aft here, Captain of the Plank,' said the pert
little middy, going into the waist. `You need'nt bring your chest
and other toggery.'

The youth strode aft to the quarter-deck with the air of its maser,
heedless of the jest of the lad upon his scanty wardrobe.

`The Captain wants to see you below,' said the lieutenant.

The young man, bare headed, and without jacket or shoes, as he
came on board, hesitated a moment, and then descended the companion-way
into the Captain's cabin. A lighted lamp swung by
brass chains beneath the closed sky-light, and shed a bright light
upon a table in the centre, at which sat the Captain and his passenger,
the Consul. As he entered the glare fell full upon his
face. His hair was almost perfectly black, and was carelessly worn
long upon his temples and round his neck. His countenance was
decidedly intellectual. Its expression was frank and sincere, and
indicative of a generous heart. His carriage was something less
haughty than when he first stepped upon deck; but his air was
still sufficiently proud and bold. His dark eye fell upon the two
occupants of the cabin with a calm survey, and for a moment his
finely curved lip moved with an expression of impatience.

`There is your man, Mr. Merley,' said the Captain quietly, and
half-disposed to offer the proud looking young man a seat; but restraining
the impulse on reflecting upon the condition he had voluntarily
taken upon himself before the mast; for whatever claims
he might have to his courtesy, they could not now be recognized.

The result of the interview was unsatisfactory both to the Consul
and to the Captain. The young man firmly declined answering
any questions that might draw from him his name or history,
and neither threats on the part of the Captain, nor art and entreaty
on that of Mr. Merley could produce any effect upon him. They
respected his firmness while they were annoyed by it, and he was
at length dismissed from the cabin, leaving their curiosity not only
ungratified but greatly increased. This mystery, however, is not
so hidden as to evade the magic pen of the romancer, which, like
a charmed key, unlooks the secrets of heroes and heroines. The
mystery touching the young man's presence on board will, therefore,
be unravelled in the next chapter.