 | CHAPTER XV. The free-trader, or, The cruiser of Narragansett Bay |  |
15. CHAPTER XV.
The earnest, fiery inquiry of Arling
convinced Lieutenant Welford that the
vessel he had suffered to pass him was
a fugitive from the Gaspee, and the
object of her cannonading; and for a
moment he was too deeply mortified
and angry with himself, that he did
not reply. At length he answered,
“We saw a brig in shore twenty
minutes ago, but did not discover her in
the darkness till she was three points
abaft the beam. But if she has been at
any mischief, Sir William will look
after her, for we are all awake aboard
the sloop; for we have had all sorts of
disturbances! What has happened?
We have heard a heavy firing, and are
on our way down to see what is the
cause of it! Sir William was fearful
you had got into trouble. Was it your
firing?”
“Yes, and I wish that I had sunk
the infernal Yankee skipper. It was
the Gaspee's guns you heard! So the
fellow even got up past you! Well, I
am rejoiced at it from my heart! I don't
feel half so badly as I did! It is some
comfort to have you made a fool of by
him as well as myself, Welford! Now
I have got such good company in my
bad luck as you are, I can look Sir
William in the face without flinching;
for in his eye, Welford, you are a pattern
officer.”
“Why, what has occurred? Why
do I meet you here in your boat?
Where is the Gaspee?”
“To answer your last question first,
Welford,” answered Arling, as his boat
remained stationary by the side
of the cutter, “the schooner is
aground on the head of a shoal, a mile
or two below here! and I am on my
way up to get the Bexley to stop the
brig; but, nevertheless, I am glad she
got-by you; for I shall not be blamed
so much! All will be laid now to the
cuteness of this resolute Yankee skipper,
for he has got the wind of us all tonight!”
“Did you board him, or has he returned
your fire, that you opened your
broadsides upon him?”
“It was in this way, for I shall never
forget it as long as I live. Sir William
ordered me to run out after the brig he
had seen tack and stand off just befor
run down the coast to land her cargo!”
“And no doubt she would have
done so, if you had not followed her,”
remarked Welford.
“Not she! It seems she only stood
out to run in again at night; for I had
not got down four miles before I discovered
her about a mile distant, just
forward the beam, and standing in,
under press of sail. I was not sure
that it was the same brig, but still I
resolved to bring her to. My pilot
Bunter, took me down on the west of
the shoal that divides the two channels,
and I now found I could not reach the
brig without doubling the shoal, and
making a long chase of it. So I fired
a shot across her bows to bring her to!
But she didn't mind it, and I let her
have another point blank! But she
kept on, and I then sent up a rocket to
learn exactly her position, and see if she
was really a merchant brig, for I didn't
know but what she might be of one of
our own brigs of war by her sauciness.
The rocket showed her to be a brightsided
merchant vessel, and the same, I
had no doubt, that I had been ordered
to pursue. So I hove the schooner to,
and manned my boats, and pulled across
the shoal to intercept her and board her.
But when we got within hail, the fellow
refused to come to, and threatened to
defend his brig if we attempted to
board! You know I am not the sort of
man, Welford, to take a menace of that
kind quietly. I ordered my two boats
to pull for the gangway, and we
dashed towards the brig with loud
shouts. But I had no sooner touched
her sides than the villains cut loose a
spare top-mast that they had previously
hung over the side! It came thundering
down upon us, stove my boat, and
pitched all my men into the water,
when I had got before them; for as I
grasped on the man-rope to help myself
upon her deck, it parted, no doubt half
cut through for this end, and let me
down into the water. This, no doubt,
saved my life; for if I had not fallen,
the spar would have struck me on the
head!”
“This is a most extraordinary resistance!”
exclaimed Lieutenant Welford.
“I did not believe any of the
colonist captains would dare to take
such a stand against a king's boat!
How did you escape?”
“You may well call it escape, for
we were thoroughly worsted, which
makes me so much gratified that the
brig went by you as she has! I succeeded
in getting into the other boat,
and all my men either reached her or
swam ashore! But they did not resist
so much a king's boat as the reception
of the commissioner; for when I told
them I would be satisfied to put Mr.
Riverton on board, they then replied,
showing how systematic and deliberate
was their resistance, that they had no
objection to receiving the king's boat,
and letting me come on board alone,
but they would defend their vessel with
their lives before they would receive the
officer of customs.”
“That, then, was the secret of their
resistance! The colonists seem to be
resolved on this matter! and what did
you do with Mr. Riverton?”
“That I can't say! In the excitement
of our boat's sinking and making
our escape, and getting the men to land,
I never thought of him; nor till we
got back to the schooner, (for we had to
let the brig go,) he never once entered
my mind, when all at once it occurred
to me that we had not seen him since
the boat was stove!”
“I hope he was not drowned!”
“It is possible he swam ashore!
But he had been among us so short a
time, and I thinking only of my men
and officers in the general confusion,
and they only of each other, he was
forgotten. I hope the poor man reached
the land!”
“What was the distance?”
“A cables' length!”
“He may have swam to it! But he
was fat and unwieldy, and I fear little
skilled in taking care of himself with no
ground under his feet! Sir William
will regret this much!”
“I can't help it, Welford! It was
confounded luck all round. The Yankee
has got the best of it; and he must pay
for his sport! After I got on board the
schooner in my remaining boat, I opened
my broadside upon him, resolved to
sink him, and gave chase to head him;
but the Gaspee went upon the shoal
while under full canvass, and there she
lays; while he has run up safely, and
even passed you! I am now on my
way to see Sir William, and get his
permission to board the brig, and place
the captain and his crew under arrest!”
“Of course! It is singular that he
should have been so daring as to have
resisted, well knowing he could not escape
ultimately!”
“Perhaps the fellow thinks the towns-people
will protect him and his vessel
against us!”
“They would, no doubt, very willingly
do it, if they could do it safely,”
responded Lieutenant Welford; “but
the presence of the Bexley will be sufficient
to overawe them. The Free-Trader
is ours, most certainly; and
there is no question but that Sir William
will put under arrest the captain, if not
even send him to England on his trial.
For his offence is a grievous one against
the crown, and if he is not made an ex
ample of in the outset, there will be no
end to the difficulties we shall have with
the Yankee skippers that choose to follow
in his footsteps!”
“As your errand down this way is
finished,” said Arling, “turn back with
me! I want to have this matter ended
before sun-rise, or I shall be ashamed to
look at it. I have sworn that I will not
sleep till the master of that brig is in my
hands! The Gaspee will have to lay
where she is till the flood tide, for she
is driven hard on. Give way, my men!
We are drifting ourselves here three
knots!”
The order to turn back was given by
Welford, and the next moment the
three boats were pulling against the
stream in the direction of the sloop of
war, from which they were about one
mile and a half distant, the twinkling of
her stern-light being just visible.
“Sir William will probably order us
at once, as soon as we report to him, to
take possession of her,” shouted Arling
to the lieutenant; “and in that case I
now claim of you the lead in the expedition!
It is my right after I have suffered
so much!”
“You shall have it, Arling!” answered
he officer, who was his superior
in naval rank, although the former was
for the time being in command of the
schooner.
Leaving the three boats pulling with
all their strength in the direction of
the sloop of war, we now return to the
brig, which we left just entering the
harbor, and within half a mile of the
town.
The two boats had been seen by
Captain Benbow through his glass, and,
as he knew the Bexley to be at anchor
above, he suspected them to be her
boats sent down the bay to learn the
cause of the firing.
“That will be all in our favor,” said
Mr. Frankland; “for the fewer boats
the sloop of war has the better for us!
But they are probably only fishermen
rowing down to corly on their fishing
ground.”
“No, sir! They are man-of-war
boats, I can see that, and full of men;
and they are pulling at a slashing pace
down the bay. That is the reason they
don't see us; and then we are so close
under the land, that probably we are
blended with it! Mr. Coffin, send up
and have the royals furled!”
“Aye, aye, sir!”
“And then clue up the topgallant
sails! We are standing up now, Mr.
Frankland, pretty well towards the
town!”
“Yes, sir,” answered the merchant,
who was walking the deck with his
hands behind him, and maturing his plan
of conduct. “Keep as far away from
the sloop of war as you can, safely, with
the depth of water!”
“Do you wish me to steer the brig
into the dock, sir, south of your wharf?'
asked Master Finch, who was at the
helm.
Mr. Frankland deliberated a moment,
and then replied with firmness.
“Yes, Master Finch! There is no
other course if I would carry out my
resistance to the imposition of duties!”
“You won't, then, come to anchor off
the pier?” asked Captain Benbow.
“No, but run directly into the dock,
between the wharves, and lay along-side
my store-house.”
“Very well, sir! Shorten sail as
fast as you can, Mr. Coffin, for we are
running close in! Furl the topsails,
and haul up the fore-course! We will
run in with only the jib and try-sail set;
these will give us way enough!”
The brig had now got up opposite
the town, and close in with the wharves
towards which she was standing, under
just canvass enough to give her headway.
The town, with its lights in its
windows here and there, seemed perfectly
quiet, and wholly unsuspicious of
the brig's arrival; but as they drew
nearer the docks, Captain Benbow, with
his spy-glass at his eye, reported that
there was certainly a large number of
persons on the end of the pier.
“You are right,” said Mr. Frankland,
“I can see them distinctly. Be
assured they are my friends! It was
understood between myself and four or
five of my friends, that if they saw the
brig coming in they were to take possession
of the wharf, with as many
friendly persons as they saw fit to give
me aid! They were to close the gate
at the head of the wharf to keep out
enemies, but especially the deputy officers
of customs; for if one should get
his foot on board, the duties are the
king's; for we could not well throw him
overboard or hang him!”
“Good evening, Mr. Frankland! I
am really glad to find myself once more
safely back to Newport! It has been
quite a pleasant sail up!”
If the deck had opened beneath his
feet, and the ghost of one who had long
been dead had appeared before him, the
merchant could not have been more confounded
and amazed than he was, on
turning and beholding standing before
him the commissioner of customs! He
started back, and gazed upon him as
the light from the companion-way shone
full upon him, with feelings that it
would be difficult to analyse. He
could hardly believe his eyes, nor could
Captain Benbow either, to whom Mr.
Riverton was well known. But there
he was, in his proper bodily presence,
smiling and bowing, and looking quite
He was a little worse for
his immersion, his nicely powdered wig
hanging damp about his ears, and his
whole wardrobe rather forlorn and half-drowned.
“Is it possible, Mr. Riverton, that it
is you I see on board here?” at length
exclaimed the merchant.
“It is, neighbor Frankland,” responded
the commissioner. “It is my
own proper person!”
“And where, in the devil's name
did you come from?” demanded Mr.
Frankland, for the first time in his life
using an expression strongly verging
upon an oath.
| CHAPTER XV. The free-trader, or, The cruiser of Narragansett Bay | |