 | CHAPTER IX. The free-trader, or, The cruiser of Narragansett Bay |  |
9. CHAPTER IX.
Captain Benbow, who, at the report
of a boat ahead, had seized his pistols,
supposing it to be one of those he had
seen put off from the schooner, determined
to resist, at the head of his men
any attempt to board him in a hostile
manner. But no sooner did he recognise
the well-known voice of Finch,
than he replaced his pistols upon the
capstan, and said, joyfully—
“Here is the owner, thank Heaven!
Now I shall be released from the responsibility.
Stand by and catch the
boat and not let it drift past!” he called,
in a loud and eager voice, at the same
time springing to the gang-way.
The mate of the brig was already
there with the slack of the fore-topsail
brace, which he dexterously cast into
the boat as it came abreast of the forechains.
Finch, dropping his oar as
dexterously, caught it and took a turn
round the centre thwart, and holding it
for a moment till the boat came round,
then firmly secured it. Mr. Frankland
was the next moment assisted to the
deck, by the hand of the captain, who
gladly welcomed him.
“Shall I drop the boat astern, sir, to
tow,” asked the mate of the merchant.
“Yes, Mr. Coffin. I shall remain in
the brig till I see her safe in port!”
“Mr. Frankland, you have come on
board in good time, and welcome,”
said Captain Benbow, shaking the merchant
been the last ten minutes wishing to see
you, for I hardly knew how to act; for
I have been twice fired into without any
ceremony, by a schooner about a mile
here to windward, and now she is sending
a couple of boats to board me, I
fancy; for I saw them put off from her
ten minutes ago. Can you tell me what
it means? Your signal on shore, which
I obeyed, leads me to think there is
something in the wind; but deuce take
me, if I know what it is. I would have
anchored below here, near the Indian
Head, but for the guns this chap gave
me; for I had given the orders to clear
away the best-bower to anchor, when
his shot came whizzing over my main-yard,
which was the first intimation I
had of having such a warlike neighbor.
Can you tell me why you telegraphed
me, and what this schooner means?”
“It is the Gaspee revenue cruiser,
Captain Benbow. She has just left
Newport, no doubt, for the purpose of
intercepting you; for you were seen to
put back down the bay. I have news
to tell you; there is a sloop-of-war in
Newport, and there to enforce the new
revenue duties.”
“Then they are imposed, are they?”
exclaimed the captain. “The mate
guessed so; but I couldn't believe the
ministry, foolish as they are, could have
been so mad as to try to enforce these
laws. It is the worst thing they could
have done to make us hate old England
from big to little. How long is it since
they began to put the duties on?”
“But six days. No vessel has arrived
since the commissioners were put
in office, save the sloop of-war and Gaspee
schooner. You are the first merchantman;
and the Free-Trader shall
be first to try the new law. I am
glad you were so fortunate as to discov
er and make out my telegraphing; as if
you had come up much farther you
would have got under the Bixley's guns,
and would have had to keep on. But I
did not expect that you would be so
soon followed down the bay by the
cruiser. You have done right to stand
on and not anchor.”
“I thought you would bear me out
in it, Mr. Frankland, though I always
like to obey orders to the letter; but I
saw there was mischief, and so resolved
to push on for the port. Look sharp
there to the windward. I thought I
heard the noise of an oar rattling in a
row-lock. Do you see anything of the
boats, Mr. Coffin?” he asked of the
mate, who had gone into the fore-top
with the spy-glass.
“I can see them now, sir,” he answered,
in an eager tone. They are
just for'ard o' the beam, sir, and not
two cables length off.”
“I see 'em,” answered the captain
in a resolute tone.
“Which way, Captain?” asked Mr.
Frankland. “Oh, I have them, now!”
“And hear them, too. Call all the
men to to weather gang-way and give
them their pikes and pistols!” cried the
captain. “You mean we shall resist
them, Mr. Frankland?”
“Yes, if they attempt to come on
board with violence, or there should be
a king's Commissioner with them, for I
learnt just as I was leaving my home
that Mr. Riverton, the chief officer of the
revenue had gone on board the Bexley.
In that case he may have come down in
the schooner and be in the boats, for he
is very officious in his new office. If
we let a commissioner touch the deck,
the duties are the king's from that moment.
My purpose is not to let one of
them on board till the cargo is safely
out.”
“But if there is no commissioner
in the boats, shall I let them come
alongside?” asked the stout captain, as
he grasped his trumpet and leaped into
the main rigging ready to hail.
“We can't very well get possession
of the brig again, and they will keep
her till they put a custom-house officer
on board, so I think we had best, in order
to secure the cargo, to refuse to let
the boats come alongside.”
“As we are running now at full six
knot, if the boats were a little further
off, we should drop them astern; as it
is, they will just about meet us.”
“They come on very fast,” remarked
the merchant. “Can you tell if there
are many men in them?”
“They seem to be crowded. Luff a
little, helmsman! Mr. Frankland, I
can run over them, I think, if you say
the word.”
“No, that won't do. Let there be
no loss of life, if possible.”
“Steady as you are! Now I will
hail.”
But he had not got the mouth of the
trumpet to his lips before was heard the
deep, stern challenge of the officer in
command of the leading boat, which
was now distantly seen fifty yards off,
black with men, and pulling swiftly
towards the brig.
“Ho, the brig.”
“Aye, aye,” responded Captain Benbow.
Stand by, Mr. Coffin, and have
the men already to repel boarders; and
if the boat gets under the gang-way cut
away the lashings of the spar. But
wait for my orders first.”
“Why don't you heave to, you infernal
Yankee skipper. Back your top-sails
and let me come alongside.”
“I don't choose to heave to for every
thing that I meet,” responded Captain
Benbow. “What have you been firing
at me for without provocation?”
“Give way, men,” shouted the officer,
in a voice hoarse with rage. “Run
them aboard.”
“You had better keep away. You
have not told me who you are? How
do I know but what you are pirates?”
“We are from His Majesty's armed
schooner, Gaspee, that lies to windward,
and I command you, on pain of
being sunk by her guns, to heave to.”
“What do you want with me?”
“That I will let you know. Pull
hard, men. He wants to run past us.
Stand by, boarders, to spring away. We
will teach these confounded Yankees to
resist a king's officer.”
The boats which were now close upon
the brig, and every instant being
thrown sternward by her onward motion;
for the captain still crowded sail
and made a simultaneous dash for the
gang-way. The officers threatened and
encouraged the seamen, and the men
shouted and rose to their feet at every
stroke of their oars, while the two boats
ploughed through the water with a loud
roar of the water about the bows.—
Lieutenant Arling was seen standing up
in the stern of the leading boat waving
his sword, and making gestures of fierce
impatience as the boats rushed onward.
“You had best keep your distance
now,” called out Captain Benbow, in a
stern and decided tone. “It will not
do for you to attempt to board a colonial
merchant vessel as if she was a
Frenchman. We are determined to resist.
I have no wish to kill any of your
men; but as sure as there is a king in
England, I will be the death of some of
you if you touch the gang-way ladder.”
“We had best hold back, and let the
schooner's guns sink her,” said the officer
of the second boat.
“No. Board her!” shouted Arling
in a resolute voice.
“It may not be the Free-Trader,”
heard on the deck of the brig, as
the boats came up.
“This is the Free-Trader,” answered
Captain Benbow, in a firm voice;
“and you will come along side in a hostile
manner at your peril. I repeat, we
are prepared for you. Stand by to cut
away that spar.”
“Stern, all!” cried Arling, alarmed
at the firm voice of the captain, and in
the darkness unable to see what preparations
had been made for his reception.
He thought it better, therefore,
to use moderation, rather than sacrifice
his men, for whose lives he would have
to answer to his superiors.
“Stern all!” repeated the junior officer,
in command of the other boat, and
their motion was instantly checked,
while not more than thirty feet from the
brig's side.
“Do you mean I shall come on board
without resistance?” now demanded
the officer, with difficulty repressing his
rage, at the decision of the Yankee captain.
“I do not, sir. My brig is in her lawful
trade and sailing on her proper
course. The first thing I have about
my ears is a shot from your schooner
and then another; and because I do
not choose to back my topsail, you send
boats to board me, as if I were a buccanier.
Until I know whether it is
safe to let you come on board, I shall
defend my brig.”
“I wish to put a king's officer o
the customs on board.”
“I can't take him. I know no such
officer, who has any business here.—
Keep away a couple of points, helmsman.
Let us drop these boats astern.
They are too near our gang-way.”
The boats all this while were fast
falling astern, though the men kept dipping
their oars to keep them a-beam.
“You had best let me come on board
in a peaceable manner, Captain Benbow,”
called out Mr. Riverton. “The
law will sustain me and condemn you.
Lieutenant Arling says, if you will let
him put me on board he will draw off
his boats.”
“I would rather be deprived of the
honor of your company, Mr. Riverton,
than take you as passenger even for
the three or four miles up to town.—
Anything else in the world, but this.”
“Your merchant, Mr. Frankland,
would be very much incensed with you
if he knew you refused a king's officer
in this way. He will not bear you out
in this conduct.”
“Then I will bear myself out, good
Mr. Commissioner.”
“Give way, men, all. We are going
astern, while this Yankee traitor is
bandying words with us. Give way!
and board all! Come, my men, the
brig is a king's prize. Hurrah for
prize money.”
“They are coming now in earnest,
Mr. Frankland,” said Captain Benbow;
“if the wind hadn't lulled so, as it has
the last five minutes, we should have
left them a cable's length astern by this
time. They'll come to it now. Shall
we fight?”
“Let them not come on board,” answered
the merchant, quietly.
“That is enough. We are in all,
with the cook, eleven good men. We
ought to be taken and pressed, every
soul of us, if we can't prevent these two
boats' crew from coming a-board.—
Stand by, all, and keep the gang-way.
Cut down or shoot down the first man
that shows his head above the bulwarks!”
The next moment, the leading boat
brig's side, while the men in them filled
the air with shouts of
“Ho, for prize money! Down with
the Yankees.”
The resolution of the merchant,
even at this crisis, did not give way.—
He was perfectly calm. He had fortified
his mind with the consciousness
of being the defender of a principle,
the resister of oppression. If it came
to that, he was ready even, to yield his
fortune and life to the cause of the liberty
of the colonies. He felt that unless
brave men resisted the crown, the
colonies would soon become a land of
slaves. To admit the commissioner,
would be to acknowledge his right to
board his vessel; and he firmly determined,
that he would oppose to the
death his crossing the gang-way of his
vessel, and the entrance of those who
came with him.
| CHAPTER IX. The free-trader, or, The cruiser of Narragansett Bay | |