 | CHAPTER VIII. Black Ralph, or, The helmsman of Hurlgate |  |
8. CHAPTER VIII.
Horseley seemed to reflect deeply a few moments
and then said to him; `I have a plan
that will do this thing. I am an Englishman,
but my country and I for the present are at
issue. You have expressed your surprise to
see me run into this harbor so openly under
the English flag; but I have always done
bold acts without looking to the issue—trusting
for this to circumstances! These circumstances
are now at hand to guide me. Ho,
Sir Pilot! what British officer is in command
of the prize?'
`Captain Howell Peyton.'
`That is he. Lay me alongside of the frigate
for I have despatches for him. Nay, your
knowledge of the channel is not so good as
mine,' he cried, seizing the helm and putting
the schooner away from a dangerous shoal.
`You seem to know the harbor, sir,' said
Louis to Horsley.
`Yes. I have in the last seventeen years
been thrice to this port; and the last time
escaped from an English brig by adventuring
the passage of Hurl-gate. I safely passed
through it, while my pursuer run upon the
rocks and was lost. I could take it again at a
venture.'
`What is your plan in boarding the frigate?'
`I have none except that circumstances
may furnish. Pledge me your word of honor
that my character and that of my vessel shall
not be made known through you, and I will
pledge myself to restore your frigate to the
French marine.'
Louis gave the desired pledge. The schooner
was now a league from the Battery and
fleet, slowly sailing in towards the French
frigate. Horseley went below and Louis took
his stand by Frances. She told him she remembered
well her father's escape through
the Hurl-gate; that she stood beside him at
the time, and herself pointed out the dangerous
spots he should avoid; and in one instance
by suddenly seizing the helm, she saved the
schooner from being dashed upon a sharp
rock. `I believe,' she added, `I could steer
a vessel through myself without assistance,
my memory of it is so vivid.'
Horsely, in half an hour afterwards, re-appeared
done up in Admiralty package paper, with
tape and seals affixed. He handed them with
a peculiar smile to Louis, who read with surprise
the addresses to
`Captain Howel Peyton,
Royal Navy, &c. &c.
By the hands of Capt. Walter Ousely.
To be safely and speedily delivered.'
`What means this?'
`That these will get me an introduction on
board the prize.'
`And then?'
`I shall, as ever, be guided by circumstances.'
`You will assuredly be detected as an impostor.'
`No.'
`You have extraordinary confidence.'
`Confidence is success.'
The Steel Arrow, under her English flag
was laid alongside the prize, and Horsely, in
full captain's uniform, got into his boat and
went on board, accompanied by his daughter.
He was received at the gang-way with the
usual honors and introduced to Captain Peyton,
and by him conducted into his cabin.
Here he presented his forged despatches,
which were artfully directed within to Lord
Howe, a line merely being written to Capt.
Peyton, desiring him to place them in Lord
Howe's own hands. Captain Peyton immediately
ordered his gig to proceed to Howe's
flag-ship, which lay four miles distant, leaving
the soi distant Captain Walter Ousely to the
courtesy of his first lieutenant.
`Your schooner is a beautiful model,' said
Captain Peyton, as he went over the side into
his gig. `Hadn't you best anchor. She
seems to be uneasy under her topsail, and the
wind is pushing from the southwest.'
`Thank you; I shall drop anchor higher up.
I will remain here on board the prize till you
return, if you get back by sun-down, as I
should like to look through her.'
`If I should not return you will find my
state-room at your service, Captain. I hope
these despatches are of the importance you
suppose they are. It will be great news to
Howe.'
Thus speaking the English captain left his
vessel and pulled for the flag ship, obeying,
as he believed, written orders from the Admiralty.
Horseley, triumphant in the success thus
far of his stratagem, how turned to the first
lieutenant and said he should like to see the
ship and visit the prisoners.
From Captain Peyton he had learned that
there were now on board three hundred and
twenty French sailors; and also two or three
lieutenants and five midshipmen in deck-horde;
the remainder having been transferfed
to other ships. That the English force
consisted of three lieutenants and six midshipmen,
and a marine guard of thirty-five men.
Conducted by the officer, whom he ascertained
understood no French, the wily Horseley
passed from one part of the frigate to
another; now and then addressing, in a low
tone, a few words unheard to the officers and
men, the purport of which was:
`Precisely at four bells you will find the
fore and main hatches unfastened, and the
bulk-head doors open into the state rooms.
Rise and recover your frigate. Every man of
you fly to his usual post and get her under
sail. The cables shall be cut beforehand.
You will find me at the helm. Do your duty,
and I, who am a Frenchman, disguised to
save you, will pilot you safely to sea. Tell
your fellows!'
This was spoken to as many as twenty persons,
by the deep scheming and talented
Horsely, who spoke the French tongue like a
native. The lidutenant did not understand,
nor did he suspect treachery from a `British
naval captain,' as he believed Horseley to be
—a special agent of the Admiralty sent to
Howe. He was above suspicion, and so was
allowed to converse as he chose. In the
meanwhile all he promised to do he managed
with equal tack to perform.
It was half an hour after sunset! The evening
was clear and starlit. A fine eight knot
breeze blew freshly up the bay. The British
fleet lay around at anchor, their lights gleaming
over the water. Boats were pulling from
one to another or to the shore. Music was
heard floating from the deck of one; laughter
running across the water from another. Captain
Peyton had not yet returned. All on
board the Endymion was still and orderly.
The Lieutenant and `Captain Ouseley' paced
the deck together in conversation. The Steel
Arrow still rode under her back topsail a couple
of fathom to windward!
Suddenly a bell tolled from a distant ship;
theh another from a frigate on the Endymion's
beam; then rung out her own deep bell four
successive times. Hark! what deep sound is
that like the uprising of a multitude! The
ship quivers with a convulsive movement of
heaving life within her womb. Hark! the
hatches lift themselves to the astonished eyes
of the British marines, and like a flood of human
beings pour upon the decks. A volley is
discharged—shrieks and cries of battle fill the
air! A firm but brief struggle takes place,
and the French are masters of their frigate.
The voice of Horseley, who is at the head, is
heard commanding. A hundred men leap into
the rigging, and in a few minutes the ship is
clothed in canvas. Her head, no longer confined
to the anchor, swings to her course, and
in fifteen minutes from the time of the rising
of the crew, the noble vessel was steering up
East River, past the town. The Steel Arrow,
following in her wake, steered by the astonished
Louis, who followed where love led.
On hearing the volley fired by the marines,
and the noise of conflict, boats were despatch
ed to the rescue, which were recalled when it
was discovered that she was in the hands of
the French. Two frigates got underweigh in
pursuit, and a battery opened her fire upon
them.
The frigate, with the schooner in her wake,
kept gallantly on until she came in the boiling
entrance of the Hurl-gate, when a shot, from
stood at the helm, and instantly severed his
head from his body! It was a critical moment.
`Who knows the channel?' cried the French
officer, Captain Navarre.
No one answered.
The smuggler's daughter quit her father's
corse, and, without a word took his place.
There was a deep silence in the ship, broken
only by the roar of the waves around her.
Safely, cooly, and successfully did the young
heimsman pilot the proud frigate through this
perilous pass of the seas, leaving behind all
pursuers. The frigate sailed once more in
smooth water, and the sailor maiden, leaving
the helm, knelt beside her father, whom she
had loved, and wept over him.
At day-light the two vessels were abreast
New Haven light, and Louis, laying the Steel
Arrow along side the escaped frigate, went on
board, where he was welcomed by all with
joy. He told his story and that of Horseley
and his daughter. Captain Navarre said she
should be a daughter to him, and inviting her
to take the cabin, he gave up to her poor Madeline's
wardrobe, which both he and Louis
insisted she should wear. She reappeared in
her female costume, in which, unused as she
was to it, she appeared a little awkward, but
by no means ungraceful. If Louis had thought
her a handsome boy, he now thought her, notwithstanding
her grief and tears for her father,
a lovely girl. She remained on board
the Endymion three months, a passenger, and
then was married to Louis by the ships chap
lain. Henry Monteith, who had been made a
prisoner of war a few days before, and released
on parole by his friends, being his chief
groomsman.
Subsequently, on proving her title on her
return to England, Madame Frances de Fernay,
the smuggler's daughter, became heiress
of the title and Earldom of —, and also
to the estate of Sir Edward Horseley, to obtain
which her father had been guilty of so
great a series of sanguinary crimes. Henry
Monteith never married—the memory of Madeline
Navarre being too sacred in his memory
to be replaced by another. Josephine de
Fernay, finding that she had lost Louis forever,
and resolved to love no other, secluded
herself in a convent. Zebedee Beebe, being
landed at Newport, from the Steel Arrow, arrived
safely among his kindred, the Coffins,
in Nantucket, and for many years entertained
the villagers with his tales of the smugglers.
The Steel Arrow was taken back to England,
by request of Frances, whose attachment
to it was naturally very great, and it afterwards
was remodelled into a yacht, in which
she and her husband, with parties of their
friends, often took excursions upon the channel,
and even crossed to the Chateau de Fernay;
but these expeditions were more pacific
than when Ralph Horseley, or `Black Ralph,'
the smuggler, commanded her. And, as she
no longer carried at her peak the `Steel Arrow,'
she ceased longer, as formerly, to carry
terror and excite hostility wherever her green
flag was seen floating to the breeze.
| CHAPTER VIII. Black Ralph, or, The helmsman of Hurlgate | |