 | BOOK III. Lafitte |  |
1. BOOK III.
1. CHAPTER I.
“It was a rational conjecture that, on account of the difficulty of
ascending the Mississippi river, the British would seek a passage
through the pass of Barritaria. It was also feared they would form an
alliance with the Barritarian chief, to promote their object, as he was
perfectly acquainted with every inlet and entrance to the gulf, through
which a passage could be effected.”
History of the war.
Barritaria—the chief and his adherents—a strange sail—
a chase.
The third part, or natural division, of our tale,
opens in that portion of Louisiana, described in the
historical sketch of the Barritarians commencing
the second book, to which we refer the reader, and
six days later than the period with which we closed
that book.
On the seventh morning after the scenes and events
just related, nearly the whole of the fleet, consisting
of thirteen vessels, over which Lafitte held command,
composed principally of brigantines, polaccas,
small schooners of that peculiar class known
then, and now, as the “Baltimore Clipper,” two or
three gun boats and feluccas, besides many small
boats with and without masts, were anchored in the
little harbour behind the island, and under cover of
the guns of the strong hold of the smugglers, crowning
Terre.
Between these vessels and the smooth beach,
boats were constantly passing and repassing, whilst
the wild air of some popular French or Spanish song
—the loud laugh of reckless merriment, or bandied
jokes, mingled with strange and fierce oaths, floated
over the water to the shore with wonderful distinctness
in the clear morning air.
On the southern or opposite side of the island,
upon a gentle eminence commanding a prospect of
the sea to the south—while over the intercepting
trees was an uninterrupted and distant view of the
masts of the anchored fleet—in various natural attitudes,
was congregated a group apparently deeply
engaged in watching the movements of two vessels
standing towards the island.
The shape and number of sails of the approaching
objects which engrossed the attention of the observers,
indicated vessels of small and equal burden;
apparently sailing side by side, and making,
with all their canvass spread, for the western pass.
As they lessened their distance from the island,
and their low hulls rose above the sphericity of the
sea, the interest of the spectators became more intense.
Suddenly a little triangular flag was run
up to the peak of one of the vessels nearest the entrance
to the lake, and at the same instant a light
cloud of blue smoke shot suddenly from the side of
the more distant vessel, and curled upwards, wreathing
over her tall masts. This was followed by the
sharp report, deadened by the distance, of a shotted
gun.
The knoll upon which this party were assembled,
consisted of a grassy swell, dotted here and there by
a magnificent live oak, and terminating abruptly
several feet above the sea in a perpendicular precipice
of earth, formed by the encroachment of the
of that climate, acting upon the loose and impalpable
soil of those alluvial regions. Under a large and
venerable tree, which, growing near the precipice,
hung partly over it, casting a deep shadow not only
upon the summit of the cliff, but upon the beach
beneath, lay buried in deep sleep, like one who had
kept long vigils the preceding night, the athletic
form of the chief of the buccaneers, whose dress
and appearance we will employ the time occupied
by the vessels in gaining the island, to describe.
With a cheek browned by southern suns, his
manly features gave no indication of that age
which a silvery hair sprinkled here and there among
his raven locks, betrayed. An ample, dark, gray
roquelaure faced with black silken velvet, lay out-spread
by the foot of the tree, serving him both for
a couch and protection from the dampness of the
morning, which the up-risen sun was rapidly dissipating
before his warm and enlivening beams. One
arm grasping a richly inlaid belt pistol in its conscious
fingers was bent under his head, constituting
the sleeper's only pillow, while the other was buried
in his bosom. The blue collar of his seaman's
shirt was turned back from his throat and neck, exposing
them to the refreshing breeze of the sea, and
displaying a depth and strength of chest, as uncommon
in this day of physical degeneracy, as it was
the birth-right of the men of a sterner age.
Encircling his waist, was a gorgeous belt of wampun—the
gift of a Mexican Indian chief, as a token
of his gratitude to him for preserving from violation
his only child. In it glistened the handle of a dirk,
and the curled heads of a brace of serviceable pistols.
A black velvet jacket, a slouched sombrero, and
a pair of full, long pantaloons ornamented with numerous
bell-buttons, pendant from the eye by little
tread of the wearer, with low wrinkled boots, peculiar
to that period, completed the dress, and with the
addition of a sheathed sabre mounted with costly
jewels, lying by his side and within reach of his disengaged
hand, also the arms, of the handsome and
athletic sleeper.
At his feet, and comfortably stretched upon the
cloak of his master, apparently dozing, but with
eyes of watchfulness and intelligence that took notice
of every surrounding circumstance, lay a noble
dog, of that dignified and sagacious species, originally
derived from the island of Newfoundland.
Scarcely, however, and with strong struggles of self
denial, did the faithful animal, with philosophy worthy
of a stoic, resist repeated temptations to quit his
post from time to time, presented him in the shape of
certain comestibles, by a third individual of the party.
“Dat dog Léon, love stretch de lazy bone on
massa cloak, more dan eat. Here, you wooly nigger,
Léon, come get dis nice turkey wing for you
breakuss.”
Léon occasionally raised his eyes, and looked
wistfully upon the tempting morcel, then casting
them upon his master, reprovingly and negatively
shook his head.
Upon a rude hearth, not far from the sleeper,
burned a bright wood fire, over which, suspended
upon a crane resting upon two upright crotchets,
hung a large iron pot, the black cover of which was
constantly dancing above the boiling water, which,
with certain culinary instruments and preparations
around, gave sign of an intention to break, by a substantial
meal, the fast of the night.
Into this vessel, Cudjoe, as he progressed in dissecting
a wild turkey, tossed, as he sawed them
from the body, the severed portions, with which
he would provokingly tempt his fellow servant,
the philosophical Léon, from his duty.
Cudjoe, this mischievous leader into temptation,
whom we have before passingly introduced to the
reader, was a young slave about four feet high, with
a glossy black skin, ivory white teeth, two of which,
flanking his capacious jaws, projected outwards, with
the dignity of the embryo tusks of a young elephant.
His lips were of ample dimensions, and of the
brightest vermillion, the lower one hanging down,
and resting familiarly upon his short, retreating chin.
His nose, which surmounted, or rather stood in the
rear of these formidable appendages to his mouth,
was of vast dimensions, terminating in a magnificent
expansion of the nostril, and threatening to encroach
upon the province of his ears, which hung down in
enormous lappels, as if welcoming the expected
proximity.
His eyes were small, restless, and almost deficient
in that generous display of white, characteristic
of his race. One of these organs, he kept at
all times hermetrically sealed, while the other enjoyed
that obliquity of vision, which rendered it difficult
for the beholder to decide certainly as to the
particular point their owner was directing his visual
orb.
His neck, short, thick, and bull-like, was set into
broad shoulders, from which depended long arms
hanging by his side like those of the ourang-outang.
and terminating in short stunted fingers, of which
useful ornaments two and a half were wanting.
His feet were broad and flat, of equal longitude either
way from the base of his short legs, which
were placed exactly in their centre; so that he
seemed to enjoy the enviable facility of progressing
in opposite directions without the trouble of turning
his body.
His forehead, lined with innumerable fine wrinkles,
was very high and round, down to the centre of
which the reddish wool curled barrenly to a point,
displaying a physiognomical feature, which was the
mere mockery of that intellect it indicated. His voice
or rather his voices, for nature charitably making up
his deficiencies, had bestowed two upon him, in
ordinary conversation was sharp and wirey, and
pitched upon a shrill, discordant key; but when he
sung, as he often did, the soft airs of his tribe for the
amusement of his master, the melody of a syren
seemed floating around the enraptured listener.
His natural disposition was gentle and affectionate;
but when roused to revenge, he was more terrible
than the uncaged hyena. Gratitude to his
master, who captured him from a slaver, and subsequently
saved him from an imminent and revolting
death, had bound him to him with a faithfulness and
attachment nothing could diminish, and death only
terminate; while the shrewdness, activity and animal
courage of the young and deformed African,
rendered him a useful and necessary appendage to
the person of his master.
The fourth and last figure in the group was a
supernatural and decrepid old man, with a noble,
yet attenuated profile, doubled with age and infirmity,
with a sunken and watery eye, haggard features,
a long, neglected, gray beard, and a few straggling
silver hairs blowing about his aged temples.
He was clothed in coarse and squallid garments,
which he confined to his form with one hand, whilst
the other sustained a bundle of dry fuel that he had
just gathered on the skirts of the forest. From time
to time, the old man would add a stick to the fire,
and kneeling down blow feebly the expiring flames,
while at intervals, he muttered indistinctly with that
unconscious manner, characteristic of second childhood.
But the aged menial, was not only afflicted with
imbecile dotage, but the rays of intellect were faint
and flickering in his shattered brain. The light of
mind was extinguished in mental night. The cistern
was broken at the fountain. Who may read
the dark page of that old man's life and trace out
the causes which led to such effects?
Not far from the scene of the aged man's occupation,
and within ear shot of the sleeper, four or five
dark-looking men in the garb of buccaneers, reclined
upon the sward, smoking and watching in silence
the approaching vessels.
To the right of the knoll occupied by these groups,
at the distance of half a mile, rose the strong hold
of the buccaneers; while in the rear, and hidden
from a prospect of the sea, interspersed among the
trees and surrounding the fort, were several rude
huts constructed for the habitations of those of the
band, not immediately engaged in the duty of defending
the battery. Upon the walls of the fortilace,
and among the adjacent village of cots, figures
dressed in various wild and fantastic, yet sailor-like
garbs, were seen, either engaged under the trees
cooking their morning meal, burnishing their arms,
or hastening to and from the hold of their chief, as
though busy with preparations for some important
event.
By these individuals, the objects which had attracted
the attention of Cudjoe, the old man, and the
group of smokers had not yet been discovered.
“Who tink dem two vessel be, stannen for de
pass on de win?” asked Cudjoe, pausing a moment
in the midst of his dissecting operations, as his restless
one eye, always on the alert, caught sight of
the white sails of the two vessels, standing, with all
drawing sails set for the island.
Old Lafon fixed his bleared eye-balls in the direction
Cudjoe indicated by extending in his long arms
and shook his palsied head.
“See now, dey sail togedder like two gull on de
gulf; dey jis de same bigness.”
“No, no! the old man cannot see; two, did you
say? Then shall one destroy the other. Alas! for
two! it is an evil number,” and he talked incoherently,
mumbling the words in his toothless jaws.
The two vessels now stood in close-hauled, with
starboard tacks on board. The one to leeward however,
seemed to gain rapidly upon that to windward,
who hoisted her colours, a broad English ensign,
while a parti-coloured signal fluttered from her
main-peak.
“By St. Jone, but dat is one dam English cruiser!”
exclaimed Cudjoe as the colours were spread
to the breeze, “and sacre debble, if dat aint one
o' our own craf he chasin.”
One vessel was now evidently in pursuit of the
other. The pursuer was a large-sized English
armed brig, while the chase was a brigantine, light-armed,
but a very fast sailer, and every moment
increasing the distance between herself and pursuer.
Still she displayed no colours, when the brig fired a
gun ahead, to compel her to show them.
At the same moment, the chase run up the
Carthagenian flag, and returned the gun by a whole
broad side.
The sleeper started from his deep sleep at the
sound of the single gun, and with his sabre in his
grasp, stood upon his feet, a tall, finely-formed and
manly figure. His dark hair curled around his expansive
forehead; beneath his arched brows glowed
eyes of the deepest black, now sparkling like coals
of fire as he glanced seaward at the approaching
vessels. As the English colours of the armed brig
caught his eye, his lip, graced by handsome mustachoes
blended with his dark whiskers, curled with
more steadily upon the vessels, a proud smile lighted
up his sun-browned features.
“Here comes a timber of old England's wooden
walls, banging away at the Lady of the Gulf, as if
she had nothing better to do than to scale her guns
at my vessels.
“Ha! that tells well, my good lieutenant!” and
his eye lighted with pleasure as he saw the head of
the Englishman's bowsprit and jib-boom shot away
by the gallant broadside of the chase and fall into
the water.
The buccaneer was now too far to leeward, to
reach the pass without tacking; and before he
could execute this nautical manœuvre, the English
brig ranged upon his larboard quarter.
“Well, Monsieur Johnny,” continued the pirate
quietly watching the movement of the two vessels,
“if you fire your starboard broadside into my little
clipper, we may turn the brigantine over to Cudjoe
here for a riddling seive.
“Ha! she has grounded, and,—now the Englishman
has saved his powder;” and instead of firing
her broadside into the brigantine, as her manœuvreing
threatened, the English brig leaving the chase,
ran boldly in and came to an anchor close under
the island, and about half a mile from the cliff upon
which stood the group, who with various degrees of
interest had watched the nautical movements we
have briefly described.
“By the holy cross! but sir Englishman shows
consummate impudence, firing his spare shot into
one of my vessels, and then dropping his anchor in
the face of my battery as if he had done me good
service. Holy devil! but his coolness shall be
warmed a little with red, iron bullets, if my little battery
has not forgotten how to speak.
“Here Cudjoe, you beautiful boy, go as though
see him.”
“An who but de debble do sen me?” chuckled
Cudjoe, but very wisely to himself, as he went off
like a second Mercury, marvellously aiding his progress
up the slight ascent to the fort with his long
arms, which he alternately applied to the ground
with great dexterity and effect.
“Ha! he launches his pinnace! and it is prettily
manned withal. And there flutters a flag of truce!”
exclaimed the pirate, as he saw these indications of
pacific intentions on the part of the brig.
“Blessed visit of peace! sending out round shot
as its pioneers. Ho! my men!” he shouted. And
his boat's crew springing from their recumbent attitude
upon the grass, were upon their feet and at
his side.
“To the boat! Let us reconnoitre this mysterious
stranger, who thus saucily beards us to our
very faces,” he commanded, seizing his weapons
and casting his cloak upon the ground. Hastily
buckling his sabre around him, and placing his pistols
in his belt, he descended the cliff followed by
his oarsmen, and the next moment stood upon the
beach.
| BOOK III. Lafitte | |