University of Virginia Library

CONCLUSION.

The lieutenant of the schooner, Ellis,
was impatiently walking the deck. The
captain and his party had been gone two
hours and a half. At length the dash of
oars reached his ear, and a voice hailed,

“Ho, the schooner—where away?”

“It is the fisherman!” he cried. “Pull
this way!”

“Aye, aye!”

The next moment he saw a boat approaching,
the fog having lighted a little,
as it often does, towards midnight.

“Well, what success? Where is the
captain?”

“He is on shore. He wants you to
man both boats, take command of them,
and pull towards the south side of the
island, where there is a house filled with
rich booty. He crosses over by the land,
and will join you there! Here is his ring
in token that he sent me!”

“More booty, lads!” cried Ellis. “This
is a rich night for us! Man the boats.
How many men?”

“He told you to take all but ten, as
there may be resistance!”

“So much the better. How far is the
place?”

“Three miles to the east. You will
pull straight in for the island, and then
keeping the shores in sight, row round
until you discover a light which the captain
will hold out!”

“And you?”

“I am to remain here, to pilot the
schooner, when the tide rises, round to the
place!”

“Then we shall not have to pull back?”

“The schooner will be off there to take
you on board!”

“So much the better!”

In less than fifteen minutes the two
boats left the schooner, and were soon lost
to the eyes of Randolph in the mist and
darkness.

“Thus far is my plan successful,” he
said, as the last dip of their oars fell upon
his ear. “I have now not a dozen of the
pirates on board, and these are the least
resolute of the men. The schooner is all
but in my hands! But I must act with
discretion and coolness. The fog is not
so dense as it was, and I shall be able to
steer out of this strait into the bay. I will
try it! The wind is in the west, and
favorable. I may fall in with the Franklin
down the bay, or the gun-brig, and
then the schooner's fate is as fixed as her
captain's!”

Two mornings afterwards, the following
paragraph appeared in one of the city
papers:—

“We congratulate the public upon the
capture, at last, of the pirate schooner
`Sea-Wing,' better known as `The Cruiser
of the Mist.' After a long time defying
the efforts of a sloop-of-war and a gun-brig,
that have been cruising after her, she
was captured yesterday morning in a most
singular manner, and last evening brought
up and anchored off the battery, under the
guns of the corvette Franklin.

“It appears that she had the boldness,
on the night of the seventh, to run into
Raritan Bay, as usual under cover of a
fog, and land a party to plunder the villas
belonging to the late General Ledyard
and Colonel Oglethorpe. A son of General
Ledyard, who was out fishing in the
garb of a fisherman, having seen the
schooner, was hailed and brought on
board. He at once suspected her character,
and preserved his incognito. He pretended
to be a friend to her, and promised
to pilot her up the bay. The pirate, supposing
him to be a fisherman, gave his
schooner in charge to him. Young Ledyard
did pilot her to a position near his
father's house, and then landed with them.
He immediately privately despatched a
messenger on horseback to the Revenue
Cutter, then lying near Elizabethtown
point, and another to give information to
the Franklin. From this villa he went
also to Colonel Oglethorpe's, acting as
guide; and by a masterly stratagem
secured, in the cellar of the house, the
party of six men whom the pirate had
taken with him. He then made their
captain prisoner, and bound him with the
assistance of his brother, who chanced to
be there. Thence he returned on board
with the captain's signet, and showing it
to the lieutenant in command, he directed
him, as from the pirate himself, to proceed
with both boats, and all the men but
enough to manage the schooner, to a point
round Staten Island, where he was to
await him, and direct them to other
booty.

“The lieutenant obeyed, and left the
schooner with the men, leaving young

Ledyard on board, who had represented to
him that when the tide rose he was to
pilot the vessel round and wait for
them.

“After the departure of these boats,
leaving only ten men on board, Ledyard
gave orders to weigh anchor. The fog,
which prevails at this season, was still
dense, but being familiar with the depth
of water, he kept a man in the chains
heaving the lead. In this manner, this
resolute young man piloted the schooner,
not only out of the strait, but down the
bay until the light at Sandy Hook was
visible looming through the mist. Here
he took the bearings, by compass, of the
channel up New York Bay, and began to
steer in the direction of the town. As
the wind favored, and there was little need
of altering tack or sheet, he sent six of
the men below, saying they might sleep
until the schooner came to the point where
the captain and boats were. After they
had gone below, he sent the other four,
an old man and three boys, aft, and unperceived
by them secured the hatches,
and imprisoned the men below. He now
boldly made known to the rest his purpose
to take possession of the schooner, and
told them if they aided him they should be
pardoned for their crimes, but if they resisted
he should shoot them upon the spot.
His intrepidity had the desired effect.
They promised submission, and cheerfully
obeyed his orders.

“The morning now broke, and this bold
young man found himself still twelve
miles from town. The wind now died
away, and the tide set seaward. The
men below began loudly to demand their
release, and it required the most perfect
coolness and courage on his part to maintain
his perilous position. He was slowly
drifting down the bay with the ebb, and
the mist all around him, when the wind
again breezing up, he discovered all at
once the Franklin's royals overtopping
the fog. The sloop did not see him, and
was moving majestically by, when he
hailed, and being under steerage way,
bore towards her.

“The surprise and confusion on board
the corvette is represented to have been
intense, on discovering all at once, as if
rising from the sea, the pirate vessel close
aboard of them. All hands were called
to quarters, and preparations made for
sinking her, when the schooner lay up
alongside, and Ledyard leaped on board,
armed to the teeth. His first words, `The
schooner is your prize,' suspended the uplifted
cutlasses that were drawn to receive
him. In a few brief words he made
known what he had achieved; and the
sight of the empty deck of the schooner,
with the roars of the men confined forward,
confirmed his statement.

“The schooner was immediately taken
possession of, with all her booty taken
from General Ledyard's, and young Ledyard
volunteering to guide a party to the
point where the pirate-boats were, these
barges were captured after short resistance.
The captain and the men taken at
the villa were then brought on board the
Franklin, and the two vessels, followed by
the gun-brig `Chaser,' and the cutter
`Preble,' which were too late in at the
`death,' made sail for town.

“It is understood that Mr. Ledyard will
have a lieutenant's commission presented
him in the navy, and a present of a sword
from the Board of Commerce. His daring
and skill, and presence of mind, have rarely
been equalled in any enterprise on
record, and he deserves all the honor his
country can bestow.”

All we have to add is, that Randolph
did receive both a commission and a
sword, and took service in the navy, in
which he arrived to the highest distinction.
Arthur never wedded Olive Oglethorpe.
Reverence for his brother's love
for her made her sacred in his heart; nor
did he share the patrimony. Olive Oglethorpe
died a few years since in the convent
at Georgetown.

Thus end we our romance, which, if

not “over true,” is not the fault of the
romancer; for, if these things foregoing
never were, they might have been. Fic
tion is the register of the probable and
possible, as history is of the positive and
actual.