University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.
The Shallop.

`Thank'ee, massa Cap'n, said Buttermilk,
as he took the purse given him by
the English Captain, and after balancing
it in his hand dropping it into his pocket.

`But you do not refuse, sir!' said the
Captain, with surprise as George put
back the souleans of gold, saying,

`No, sir, I have not done this for
money!'

`But certainly you will let me pay
you something!'

`Nothing, sir. I am rewarded by
seeing your ship and those on board in
safety.'

`I will increase the reward!'

`It is more than enough, sir. You
have paid the black; that will do. I do
not know how either to charge for men's
lives, or to take gold from my enemy.
What I have done, I have done!'

`You are an extraordinary young
man!' exclaimed the Captain, in tones of
disappointment; for he felt that he owed
a debt that would always weigh upon
him unless the pilot took the gold.

`Good night, sir. I see the boat is
ready for me!' said George, going to the
gang-way.

`Good night, then. You will not very
soon be forgotten on board this ship!'
said the English Captain, shaking him
warmly by the hand.

`Massa Cap'n,' whispered Buttermilk,
lingering behind a step, as George went
over the side, `if you gib de gold to dis
child he keep 'em for massa George!'

`That; my good fellow,' cried the
Captain, placing the money in his hand,
not a little gratified to be able to force its
acceptance in this way upon the sensitive
and proud young man. `What is your
master's name?'

`Jorge Hunnywell, massa cap'n.'

`He shall never be forgotten. You
seem to be a good pilot.'

`Yes, massa,' answered Buttermilk,
busily stowing away the gold in different
parts of his apparel.

`Will you come off and pilot us out
when we sail?'

`When dat be, massa cap'n?'

`In about forty-eight hours or three
days. I will pay you fifty pounds;—the
signal for you shall be two guns.'

`I'll be dere, massa cap'n,' answered
Buttermilk emphatically.

`Milk!' called out George from the
boat, which was dancing like an egg-shell
alongside, and was with difficulty
kept by boat-hooks and pikes from being
dashed against the frigate's side.

`Comin', massa Jorge,' answered the
negro, stowing the last roleau away in
the fob of his waistband—for fob he had,
though he had never owned a watch in
his life.

The black was soon in the gig, and six
men at the oars soon sent it flying across
the space between the ship and the beach.

Although the bay was so much sheltered
that the full power of the ocean
billows did not reach it, yet a short, chop

sea was agitating it, that made the passage
somewhat perilous, The current
also, aided by the gale, set them strongly
towards the perpendicular cliffs east of
the landing.

`You will have to put out all your
strength, my men,' called out George;
`or we shall be lifted up and dashed
against the wall of rock there to leeward.
If we miss the beach we are lost.'

This address inspired them with a
strength and energy almost superhuman,
and the gig went leaping from wave to
wave as if a conscious thing, and was
striving in itself to escape the danger under
the lee.

`The storm still holds its own outside,'
said the coxswain. `The ocean beyond
the reefs roars like a volcano. That
shallop will hardly get in—do you think
it will, sir?'

`If it contains William Northrop there
is no fears for its safety,' answered
George.

`And who is he?'

`The man for whom this bay is named;
he is an old fisherman who lives on
the cliff where you saw the bonfire a little
while ago—he is the most experienced
pilot and seaman on the coast.'

`Not a better pilot than you are, sir,
I'll make oath,' responded the cozswain,
warmly. `We all owe our lives to you,
sir,. Give way strong men. We can
master the tide-set, if you lay out all you
have got.'

The men renewed teeir vigorous exertions,
and the gig bravely weathered
the cliff.

`Ha! what is that to windward of us?'
cried the coxswain, as a flash of lightning
exposed the prospect around them,
and pointing to a dark object which seemed
to be moving, like some huge fish,
swiftly along the water about two hundred
rods to the west of them.

`It is a boat,' answered George.

`Yiss,' added Buttermilk, `dat boat,
massa, and no mistake. Wait till the
lightnin' shine agen, and we tell better.'

It was some moments before there was
another flash, when both George and
Buttermilk exclaimed,

`The surf-skiff.'

`What is that?'

`The life-boat. It is putting off to the
frigate,' said George, who had made the
object out to be the boat we have seen
suspended in the entry of Northrop's cottage:
though he could not distinguish
those in it. It was moving rapidly out
from the land, with one oarsman and one
in the stern. His thoughts at once reverted
to May; and he believed that she
had embarked in it with Tom, for the
purpose of bringing him off from the ship.

`Coxswain, put back and pursue that
boat?' he cried, impressed with the idea,
and alarmed for her safety at such a
`It is some of my friends going for me.'

`It will be dangerous to turn the boat
to meet this swell, sir,' answered the
coxswain.

George hesitated, uncertain whether
he ought to run this risk, when it might
not be May after all;' `but who then
could it be?' he asked of himself; for
there were only those at the cottage; and
that it was the Surf-Skiff he was sure, as
when he caught sight of it, it was riding
half its length out of the water upon the
arch of a great wave. Another blaze of
lightning removed his doubts; for he saw
the graceful and spirited figure of May at
the helm, guiding fearlessly the flying
bark over the tumbling billows.

`Put about? Back wate, larboard
oars,' he cried quickly. `Coxswain, we
must put back and overtake that boat.
There is one in it who is dearer to me
than my own life; and who will perish
if she ventures farther out.

`It will be dangerous to bring the head
of the boat round, sir, in such a swell.

`This is not one of your fishing skiffs.'

`Try it. It must be done,' he cried
taking the helm from the coxswain's
grasp, and bringing the boat round.
`Back water on the larboard side. Pull
hard, starboard oars. Hard! for your
lives! for your lives, men!

It was too late, the result which the
coxswain had anticipated occurred. As
the gig swung round broadside to the
sea, in turning about, a monstrous wave
lifted it bodily upon its crest, and flinging
it many feet almost through the air, turned
it bottom upwards, and scattered its
crew to struggle for their lives.

Fortunately they were not far from the
beach, which they all at length succeeded
in gaining, tho' Milk from the weight
of gold about him came very near being
drowned. The boat was carried by the
waves to leeward against the cliffs and
wrecked, being stove into a hundred
pieces by the sharp rocks upon which it
was tossed. As soon as George could
recover his feet he looked eagerly over
the bay, striving, in vain, to penetrate the
darkness, in search of the Surf-Skiff.
But it was some minutes before a flash
from the sky gave him a view of it, still
riding the waves in safety, but already
far beyond the frigate, as if steering
seaward.

`What can that mean, Milk,' he said,
addressing the black.

`Can't tell, massa.'

`It was certainly the surf boat, and I
saw a female figure in it, that could have
been no other than May's.'

`Sartain. I see her by de lightning
as plain as if de sun shone,' responded
Buttermilk.

`My friends follow me to the summit
of the cliff. The black man will guide
you to a house not far from here where
you will be sheltered till the storm is
over.'

Without waiting for a reply, the young
pilot hastened up the pathway to the cottage.
He passed on the green the remains
of the bon-fire which had been
seen from the frigate; and rushed towards
the cottage. He felt confident it
could have been no other than May in the
boat; but he wished to remove all doubt.
He entered the cot, and by the light of a
lamp which hung above the door saw
that the surf-boat was gone. He called
loudly on her name; but there was no
reply. He called for the dog, but there
was no answering bark.

`It was she. She has ventured her
life for what I know not. Rash girl.
Dearest May. What madness has led
thee to this step. Just as I have found
thee, and learned that I am loved, I am
doomed to lose thee forever.'

He left the solitary cottage, and came
out upon the cliff to wait for the flashes
of lightning to reveal him the ocean. He
saw by them the dismantled frigate pitching
at her anchorage, half a mile distant,
the life-boat dancing over the waves beyond
her, and approaching the reef, and
beyond the reef a dark object tossed upon
the bosom of the tempest. What
could it be? It had no sail set as the
shallop had when last seen by him; yet
he feared that it was the sloop.

`Did you see dat, massa?' inquired
Buttermilk as he came near him, followed
by the crew of the gig. `It was de
shallop dismantled.'

`So I thought and feared. This accounts
for the launching of the life-boat.
This accounts for May's rash departure
on the wild sea this fearful night. She
saw the danger of the sloop, supposed,
or recognized, it to be her father's, and
prompted by filial duty, has ventured her
life to give him a chance for his own.'

`Yiss, dat's it, massa. Missy May hab
courage like a man, and don't fear duckin'
in salt water no more dan fish. She
good sailor.'

`She will perish. The surf is running
mountains high across the ledge. If she
attempts to reach the shallop she is lost
inevitably.'

He began to pace the cliff in despair,
at every flash of the almost constant
lightning straining his eyes after the
little boat which contained all dear to him
on earth. The men, in the meanwhile
entered the cottage, and Buttermilk taking
upon himself to act the host, found Northrop's
store of rum, and filled them cans
ail round.

The conjecture of the young man had
been the right one. May, engaged in
watching the struggles of the frigate with
the elements, aiding it with her prayers,
after she saw it pass safely into the bay,
felt sure that none other than George had
been at the helm.

Her anxiety, therefore, for his safety
was removed; and she expected soon to
see him on shore to receive her thanks
for his prompt obedience to her commands
in saving the endangered frigate of
the enemy.

`Now God be thanked!' she exclaimed;
`both the ship and George are safe.
He has done a noble act, and been the
means of saving many souls from a watery
grave. He will land as soon as the
frigate anchors.'

She saw the ship come to her moorings
and remain stationary; and was
giving thanks to Heaven in her heart for
the consummation of the ship's safety,
when Tom called her attention to a sail
in the offing.

`Impossible, brother! no sail could
stand this hurricane. It was the cap of
some larger wave than usual.'

`Wait a moment, sister May! There,
see now by the flash!'

`It is a sail!'

`I said so.'

`It seems to be that of a very small
vessel!'

`Watch out again, May, for the next
flash!'

`I see it plainly now. It is a shallop.'

`Scudding with her main-sail more
than half reefed down,' said Tom. `It is
the old man's too.

`You can't tell at this distance, and in
such a storm.'

`None but father would think o' runnin'
into the bay in such a storm. I
tell you its the old devil, May! His
shallop is the only one on the coast that
has reef-points half way up the main-sail,
and can reef so close. The sail he carries
isn't six feet above deck. It's the
old man or the devil! No other small
craft could swim in such a sea, and no
other skipper think of steering her in!'

`See the shallop is broadside to us
now, and is running between the ledges
and the cliff.'

`That shows it's the old 'un. Nobody
else but George Hunnewell and I knows
the channel like that.'

A flash of lightning now illumined the
sea and land far and wide. The shallop
was seen, but dismasted and tossing, a
wreck upon the waves. The storm was
driving her furiously upon the ledge
which the frigate had so narrowly escaped.
All this was seen in an instant—in the
brief instant of a lightning flash! But
it was enough to show the young girl the
imminent peril of the sloop.