GREAT SEA STORIES

EDITED BY

JOSEPH LEWIS FRENCH

Editor "Great Ghost Stories, " "Masterpieces of Mystery, " "The BestPsychic Stories, " etc. 

NEW YORK

BRENTANO'S

PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1921, by

BRENTANO'S

All rights reserved

CONTENTS

Spanish Bloodhounds and English Mastiffs From "Westward Ho!" By CHARLES KINGSLEY

The Club-Hauling of the _Diomede_ From "Peter Simple. " By CAPTAIN FREDERICK MARRYAT

The Cruise of the _Torch_ From "Tom Cringle's Log. " By MICHAEL SCOTT

The Merchantman and the Pirate From "Hard Cash. " By CHARLES READE

The Mutiny of the _Bounty_ From "Chamber's Miscellany. " ANONYMOUS

The Wreck of the _Royal Caroline_ From "The Red Rover. " By JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER

The Capture of the Great White Whale From "Moby Dick. " By HERMAN MELVILLE

The Corvette _Claymore_ From "Ninety-three. " By VICTOR HUGO

The Merchants' Cup From "Broken Stowage. " By DAVID W. BONE

A Storm and a Rescue From "The Wreck of the _Grosvenor_. " By W. CLARK RUSSELL

The Sailor's Wife From "An Iceland Fisherman. " By PIERRE LOTI

The Salving of the _Yan-Shan_ From "In Blue Waters. " By H. DE VERE STACKPOOLE

The Derelict _Neptune_ From "Spun Gold. " By MORGAN ROBERTSON

The Terrible Solomons From "South Sea Tales. " By JACK LONDON

El Dorado From "A Tarpaulin Muster. " By JOHN MASEFIELD

ILLUSTRATION

Song sung by labor gang. 

FOREWORD

The theme of the sea is heroic--epic. Since the first stirrings of theimagination of man the sea has enthralled him; and since the dawn ofliterature he has chronicled his wanderings upon its vast bosom. 

It is one of the curiosities of literature, a fact that old IsaacDisraeli might have delighted to linger over, that there have been nocollectors of sea-tales; that no man has ever, as in the presentinstance, dwelt upon the topic with the purpose of gathering some ofthe best work into a single volume. And yet men have written of thesea since 2500 B. C. When an unknown author set down on papyrus hisaccount of a struggle with a sea-serpent. This account, now in theBritish Museum, is the first sea-story on record. Our modernsea-stories begin properly with the chronicles of the earlynavigators--in many of which there is an unconscious art that none ofour modern masters of fiction has greatly surpassed. For delightfulreading the lover of sea stories is referred to Best's account ofFrobisher's second voyage--to Richard Chancellor's chronicle of thesame period--to Hakluyt, an immortal classic--and to Purchas'"Pilgrimage. "

But from the earliest growth of the art of fiction the sea was franklyaccepted as a stirring theme, comparatively rarely handled becausevoyages were fewer then, and the subject still largely unknown. To thegeneral reader it may seem a rather astounding fact that in "RobinsonCrusoe" we have the first classic of this period and in "Colonel Jack"another classic of much the same type. These two stories by theimmortal Defoe may be accepted as the foundation of the sea-tale inliterary art. 

A century, however, was to elapse before the sea-tale came into itsown. It was not until a generation after Defoe that Smollett, in"Roderick Random, " again stirred the theme into life. Fielding in his"Voyage to Lisbon" had given some account of a personal experience, butin the general category it must be set down as simply episodal. Foster's "Voyages, " a translation from the German published in Englandat the beginning of the third quarter of the eighteenth century, acompendium of monumental importance, continued the tradition of Hakluytand Purchas. By this time the sea-power of England had becomesupreme, --Britannia ruled the waves, and a native sea-literature wasthe result. The sea-songs of Thomas Dibdin and other writers were thefirst fruits of this newly created literary nationalism. 

Shortly after the beginning of the nineteenth century the sea-writerestablished himself with Michael Scott in "Tom Cringle's Log, " aforgotten, but ever-fresh classic. Then came Captain Marryat, who wasto the sea what Dickens and Thackeray were to land folk. America, too, contributed to this literary movement. Even before Marryat, our ownCooper had essayed the sea with a masterly hand, while in "Moby Dick, "as in his other stories, Herman Melville glorified the theme. Continental writers like Victor Hugo and the Hungarian, Maurus Jokal, who had little personal knowledge of the subject, also set their handsto tales of marine adventure. 

Such work as this has established a succession which has beencontinuous and progressive ever since. The literature of the sea ofthe past half-century is voluminous, varied and universally known, andwhether in the form of personal adventure, or in purely fictionalshape, it has grown to be an art cultivated with great care by the bestcontemporary writers. 

The noble band of singers of the sea, from the days of the Elizabethansto the sublime Swinburne, belongs to another volume. It is the sincerehope of the compiler that the present collection offers undisputableevidence that the prose tradition has been fully sustained and thereader will find in these pages living testimony to the marvelousinterest of the theme--its virility and its beauty. 

JOSEPH LEWIS FRENCH. 

GREAT SEA STORIES

SPANISH BLOODHOUNDS AND ENGLISH MASTIFFS

From "Westward Ho!" BY CHARLES KINGSLEY

When the sun leaped up the next morning, and the tropic light flashedsuddenly into the tropic day, Amyas was pacing the deck, withdisheveled hair and torn clothes, his eyes red with rage and weeping, his heart full--how can I describe it? Picture it to yourselves, youwho have ever lost a brother; and you who have not, thank God that youknow nothing of his agony. Full of impossible projects, he strode andstaggered up and down, as the ship thrashed and close-hauled throughthe rolling seas. He would go back and burn the villa. He would takeGuayra, and have the life of every man in it in return for hisbrother's. "We can do it, lads!" he shouted. "Drake took Nombre deDios, we can take La Guayra. " And every voice shouted, "Yes. "

"We will have it, Amyas, and have Frank too, yet, " cried Cary; butAmyas shook his head. He knew, and knew not why he knew, that all theports in New Spain would never restore to him that one beloved face. 

"Yes, he shall be well avenged. And look there! There is the firstcrop of our vengeance. " And he pointed toward the shore, where betweenthem and the now distant peaks of the Silla, three sails appeared, notfive miles to windward. 

"There are the Spanish bloodhounds on our heels, the same ships whichwe saw yesterday off Guayra. Back, lads, and welcome them, if theywere a dozen. "

There was a murmur of applause from all around; and if any young heartsank for a moment at the prospect of fighting three ships at once, itwas awed into silence by the cheer which rose from all the older men, and by Salvation Yeo's stentorian voice. 

"If there were a dozen, the Lord is with us, who has said, 'One of youshall chase a thousand. ' Clear away, lads, and see the glory of theLord this day. "

"Amen!" cried Cary; and the ship was kept still closer to the wind. 

Amyas had revived at the sight of battle. He no longer felt his woundsor his great sorrow as he bustled about the deck; and ere a quarter ofan hour had passed, his voice cried firmly and cheerfully as of old--

"Now, my masters, let us serve God, and then to breakfast, and afterthat clear for action. "

Jack Brimblecombe read the dally prayers, and the prayers before afight at sea, and his honest voice trembled, as, in the Prayer for allConditions of Men (In spite of Amyas's despair), he added, "andespecially for our dear brother Mr. Francis Leigh, perhaps captiveamong the idolaters;" and so they rose. 

"Now, then, " said Amyas, "to breakfast. A Frenchman fights bestfasting, a Dutchman drunk, an Englishman full, and a Spaniard when thedevil is in him, and that's always. "

"And good beef and the good cause are a match for the devil, " saidCary. "Come down, captain; you must eat too. "

Amyas shook his head, took the tiller from the steersman, and bade himgo below and fill himself. Will Cary went down, and returned in fiveminutes with a plate of bread and beef, and a great jack of ale, coaxedthem down Amyas's throat, as a nurse does with a child, and thenscuttled below again with tears hopping down his face. 

Amyas stood still steering. His face was grown seven years older inthe last night. A terrible set calm was on him. Woe to the man whocame across him that day!

"There are three of them, you see, my masters, " said he, as the crewcame on deck again. "A big ship forward, and two galleys astern ofher. The big ship may keep; she is a race ship, and if we can butrecover the wind of her, we will see whether our height is not a matchfor her length. We must give her the slip, and take the galleys first. "

"I thank the Lord, " said Yeo, "who has given so wise a heart to soyoung a general; a very David and Daniel, saving his presence, lads. Silas Staveley, smite me that boy over the head, the young monkey; whyis he not down at the powder-room door?"

And Yeo went about his gunnery, as one who knew how to do it, and hadthe most terrible mind to do it thoroughly, and the most terrible faiththat it was God's work. 

So all fell to; and though there was comparatively little to be done, the ship having been kept as far as could be in fighting order allnight, yet there was "clearing of decks, lacing of nettings, making ofbulwarks, fitting of waistcloths, arming of tops, tallowing of pikes, slinging of yards, doubling of sheets and tacks. " Amyas took charge ofthe poop, Cary of the forecastle, and Yeo, as gunner, of the main-deck, while Drew, as master, settled himself in the waist; and all was ready, and more than ready, before the great ship was within two miles of them. 

She is now within two musket-shots of the _Rose_, with the golden flagof Spain floating at her poop; and her trumpets are shouting defianceup the breeze, from a dozen brazen throats, which two or three answerlustily from the _Rose_, from whose poop flies the flag of England, andfrom her fore the arms of Leigh and Cary side by side, and over themthe ship and bridge of the good town of Bideford. And then Amyascalls--

"Now, silence trumpets, waits, play up! 'Fortune my foe!' and God andthe Queen be with us!"

Whereon (laugh not, reader, for it was the fashion of those musical, aswell as valiant days) up rose that noble old favorite of good QueenBess, from cornet and sackbut, fife and drum; while Parson Jack, whohad taken his stand with the musicians on the poop, worked away lustilyat his violin. 

"Well played, Jack; thy elbow flies like a lamb's tail, " said Amyas, forcing a jest. 

"It shall fly to a better fiddle-bow presently, sir, and I have theluck--"

"Steady, helm!" said Amyas. "What is he after now?"

The Spaniard, who had been coming upon them right down the wind under apress of sail, took in his light canvas. 

"He don't know what to make of our waiting for him so bold, " said thehelmsman. 

"He does though, and means to fight us, " cried another. "See, he ishauling up the foot of his mainsail: but he wants to keep the wind ofus. "

"Let him try, then, " quoth Amyas. "Keep her closer still. Let no onefire till we are about. Man the starboard guns; to starboard, andwait, all small arm men. Pass the order down to the gunner, and bidall fire high, and take the rigging. "

Bang went one of the Spaniard's bow guns, and the shot went wide. Thenanother and another, while the men fidgeted about, looking at thepriming of their muskets, and loosened their arrows in the sheaf. 

"Lie down, men, and sing a psalm. When I want you I'll call you. Closer still, if you can, helmsman, and we will try a short shipagainst a long one. We can sail two points nearer the wind than he. "

As Amyas had calculated, the Spaniard would gladly enough have stoodacross the _Rose's_ bows, but knowing the English readiness dare notfor fear of being raked; so her only plan, if she did not intend toshoot past her foe down to leeward, was to put her head close to thewind, and wait for her on the same tack. 

Amyas laughed to himself. "Hold on yet awhile. More ways of killing acat than choking her with cream. Drew, there, are your men ready?"

"Ay, ay, sir!" and on they went, closing fast with the Spaniard, tillwithin a pistol-shot. 

"Ready about!" and about she went like an eel, and ran upon theopposite tack right under the Spaniard's stern. The Spaniard, astonished at the quickness of the maneuver, hesitated a moment, andthen tried to get about also, as his only chance; but it was too late, and while his lumbering length was still hanging in the wind's eye, Amyas's bowsprit had all but scraped his quarter, and the _Rose_ passedslowly across his stern at ten yards' distance. 

"Now, then!" roared Amyas. "Fire, and with a will! Have at her, archers: have at her, muskets all!" and in an instant a storm of barand chain-shot, round and canister, swept the proud Don from stem tostern, while through the white cloud of smoke the musket-balls, and thestill deadlier clothyard arrows, whistled and rushed upon theirvenomous errand. Down went the steersman, and every soul who mannedthe poop. Down went the mizzen topmast, in went the stern-windows andquarter-galleries; and as the smoke cleared away, the golden flag ofSpain, which the last moment flaunted above their heads, hung trailingin the water. The ship, her tiller shot away, and her helmsman killed, staggered helplessly a moment, and then fell up into the wind. 

"Well done, men of Devon!" shouted Amyas, as cheers rent the welkin. 

"She has struck, " cried some, as the deafening hurrahs died away. 

"Not a bit, " said Amyas. "Hold on, helmsman, and leave her to patchher tackle while we settle the galleys. "

On they shot merrily, and long ere the armada could get herself torights again, were two good miles to windward, with the galleyssweeping down fast upon them. 

And two venomous-looking craft they were, as they shot through theshort chopping sea upon some forty oars apiece, stretching their longsword-fish snouts over the water, as if snuffing for their prey. Behind this long snout, a strong square forecastle was crammed withsoldiers, and the muzzles of cannon grinned out through port-holes, notonly in the sides of the forecastle, but forward in the line of thegalley's course, thus enabling her to keep up a continual fire on aship right ahead. 

The long low waist was packed full of the slaves, some five or six toeach oar, and down the center, between the two banks, the English couldsee the slave-drivers walking up and down a long gangway, whip in hand. A raised quarter-deck at the stern held more soldiers, the sunlightflashing merrily upon their armor and their gun-barrels; as theyneared, the English could hear plainly the cracks of the whips, and theyells as of wild beasts which answered them; the roll and rattle of theoars, and the loud "Ha!" of the slaves which accompanied every stroke, and the oaths and curses of the drivers; while a sickening musky smell, as of a pack of kenneled hounds, came down the wind from off those densof misery. No wonder if many a young heart shuddered as it faced, forthe first time, the horrible reality of those floating hells, thecruelties whereof had rung so often in English ears from the stories oftheir own countrymen, who had passed them, fought them, and now andthen passed years of misery on board of them. Who knew but what theremight be English among those sun-browned, half-naked masses of pantingwretches?

"Must we fire upon the slaves?" asked more than one, as the thoughtcrossed him. 

Amyas sighed. 

"Spare them all you can, in God's name: but if they try to run us down, rake them we must, and God forgive us. "

The two galleys came on abreast of each other, some forty yards apart. To out-maneuver their oars as he had done the ship's sails, Amyas knewwas impossible. To run from them was to be caught between them and theship. 

He made up his mind, as usual, to the desperate game. 

"Lay her head up in the wind, helmsman, and we will wait for them. "

They were now within musket-shot, and opened fire from their bow-guns;but, owing to the chopping sea, their aim was wild. Amyas, as usual, withheld his fire. 

The men stood at quarters with compressed lips, not knowing what was tocome next. Amyas, towering motionless on the quarter-deck, gave hisorders calmly and decisively. The men saw that he trusted himself, andtrusted him accordingly. 

The Spaniards, seeing him wait for them, gave a shout of joy--was theEnglishman mad? And the two galleys converged rapidly, intending tostrike him full, one on each bow. 

They were within forty yards--another minute, and the shock would come. The Englishman's helm went up, his yards creaked round, and gatheringway, he plunged upon the larboard galley. 

"A dozen gold nobles to him who brings down the steersman!" shoutedCary, who had his cue. 

And a flight of arrows from the forecastle rattled upon the galley'squarter-deck. 

Hit or not hit, the steersman lost his nerve, and shrank from thecoming shock. The galley's helm went up to port, and her beak slid allbut harmless along Amyas's bow; a long dull grind, and then loud crackon crack, as the _Rose_ sawed slowly through the bank of oars from stemto stern, hurling the wretched slaves in heaps upon each other; and ereher mate on the other side could swing round to strike him in his newposition, Amyas's whole broadside, great and small, had been pouredinto her at pistol-shot, answered by a yell which rent their ears andhearts. 

"Spare the slaves! Fire at the soldiers!" cried Amyas; but the workwas too hot for much discrimination; for the larboard galley, crippledbut not undaunted, swung round across his stern, and hooked herselfvenomously on to him. 

It was a move more brave than wise; for it prevented the other galleyfrom returning to the attack without exposing herself a second time tothe English broadside; and a desperate attempt of the Spaniards toboard at once through the stern-ports and up the quarter was met withsuch a demurrer of shot and steel that they found themselves in threeminutes again upon the galley's poop, accompanied, to their intensedisgust, by Amyas Leigh and twenty English swords. 

Five minutes' hard cutting, hand to hand, and the poop was clear. Thesoldiers in the forecastle had been able to give them no assistance, open as they lay to the arrows and musketry from the _Rose's_ loftystern. Amyas rushed along the central gangway, shouting in Spanish, "Freedom to the slaves! death to the masters!" clambered into theforecastle, followed close by his swarm of wasps, and set them so goodan example how to use their stings that in three minutes more there wasnot a Spaniard on board who was not dead or dying. 

"Let the slaves free!" shouted he. "Throw us a hammer down, men. Hark! there's an English voice!"

There is indeed. From amid the wreck of broken oars and writhinglimbs, a voice is shrieking in broadest Devon to the master, who islooking over the side. 

"Oh, Robert Drew! Robert Drew! Come down, and take me out of hell!"

"Who be you, in the name of the Lord?"

"Don't you mind William Prust, that Captain Hawkins left behind in theHonduras, years and years agone? There's nine of us aboard, if yourshot hasn't put 'em out of their misery. Come down, if you've aChristian heart, come down!"

Utterly forgetful of all discipline, Drew leaps down hammer in hand, and the two old comrades rush into each other's arms. 

Why make a long story of what took but five minutes to do? The ninemen (luckily none of them wounded) are freed, and helped on board, tobe hugged and kissed by old comrades and young kinsmen; while theremaining slaves, furnished with a couple of hammers, are told to freethemselves and help the English. The wretches answer by a shout; andAmyas, once more safe on board again, dashes after the other galley, which has been hovering out of reach of his guns: but there is no needto trouble himself about her; sickened with what she has got, she isstruggling right up wind, leaning over to one side, and seemingly readyto sink. 

"Are there any English on board of her?" asks Amyas, loth to lose thechance of freeing a countryman. 

"Never a one, sir, thank God. "

So they set to work to repair damages; while the liberated slaves, having shifted some of the galley's oars, pull away after theircomrade; and that with such a will that in ten minutes they have caughther up, and careless of the Spaniard's fire, boarded her en masse, withyells as of a thousand wolves. There will be fearful vengeance takenon those tyrants, unless they play the man this day. 

And in the meanwhile half the crew are clothing, feeding, questioning, caressing those nine poor fellows thus snatched from living death; andYeo, hearing the news, has rushed up on deck to welcome his oldcomrades, and--

"Is Michael Heard, my cousin, here among you?"

Yes, Michael Heard is there, white-headed rather from misery than age;and the embracings and questionings begin afresh. 

"Where is my wife, Salvation Yeo?"

"With the Lord. "

"Amen!" says the old man, with a short shudder. "I thought so much;and my two boys?"

"With the Lord. "

The old man catches Yeo by the arm. 

"How, then?" It is Yeo's turn to shudder now. 

"Killed in Panama, fighting the Spaniards; sailing with Mr. Oxeham; and'twas I led 'em into it. May God and you forgive me!"

"They couldn't die better, cousin Yeo. "

The old man covers his face with his hands for a while. 

"Well, I've been alone with the Lord these fifteen years, so I must notwhine at being alone awhile longer--'twon't be long. "

"Put this coat on your back, uncle, " says some one. 

"No; no coats for me. Naked came I into the world, and naked I go outof it this day, if I have a chance. You'm better go to your work, lads, or the big one will have the wind of us yet. "

"So she will, " said Amyas, who had overheard; but so great is thecuriosity of all hands that he has some trouble in getting the men toquarters again; indeed, they only go on condition of parting amongthemselves with them the newcomers, each to tell his sad and strangestory. How after Captain Hawkins, constrained by famine, had put themashore, they wandered in misery till the Spaniards took them; how, instead of hanging them (as they at first intended), the Dons fed andclothed them, and allotted them as servants to various gentlemen aboutMexico, where they throve, turned their hands (like true sailors) toall manner of trades, and made much money; so that all went well, untilthe fatal year 1574, when, much against the minds of many of theSpaniards themselves, that cruel and bloody Inquisition was establishedfor the first time in the Indies; and how from that moment their liveswere one long tragedy; how they were all imprisoned for a year and ahalf, racked again and again, and at last adjudged to receive publicly, on Good Friday, 1575, some three hundred, some one hundred stripes, andto serve in the galleys for six or ten years each; while as thecrowning atrocity of the Moloch sacrifice, three of them were burntalive in the market-place of Mexico. 

The history of the party was not likely to improve the good feeling ofthe crew towards the Spanish ship which was two miles to leeward ofthem, and which must be fought with, or fled from, before a quarter ofan hour was past. So, kneeling down upon the deck, as many a bravecrew in those days did in like case, they "gave God thanks devoutly forthe favor they had found, " and then with one accord, at Jack's leading, sang one and all the ninety-fourth Psalm:

 "Oh, Lord, thou dost revenge all wrong; Vengeance belongs to thee, " etc. 

And then again to quarters; for half the day's work, or more than half, still remained to be done; and hardly were the decks cleared afresh, and the damage repaired as best it could be, when she came ranging upto leeward, as closehauled as she could. 

She was, as I said, a long flushed-decked ship of full five hundredtons, more than double the size, in fact, of he Rose, though not solofty in proportion; and many a bold heart beat loud, and no shame tothem, as she began firing away merrily, determined, as all well knew, to wipe out in English blood the disgrace of her late foil. 

"Never mind, my merry masters, " said Amyas, "she has quantity and wequality. "

"That's true, " said one, "for one honest man is worth two rogues. "

"And one culverin three of their footy little ordnance, " said another. "So when you will, captain, and have at her. "

"Let her come abreast of us, and don't burn powder. We have the wind, and can do what we like with her. Serve the men out a horn of ale allround, steward, and all take your time. "

So they waited five minutes more, and then set to work quietly, afterthe fashion of English mastiffs, though, like those mastiffs, theywaxed right mad before three rounds were fired, and the white splinters(sight beloved) began to crackle and fly. 

Amyas, having, as he had said, the wind, and being able to go nearer itthan the Spaniard, kept his place at easy point-blank range for histwo-eighteen-pounder culverins, which Yeo and his mate worked withterrible effect. 

"We are lacking her through and through every shot, " said he. "Leavethe small ordnance alone yet awhile, and we shall sink her withoutthem. "

"Whing, whing, " went the Spaniard's shot, like so many humming-tops, through the rigging far above their heads; for the ill-constructedports of those days prevented the guns from hulling an enemy who was towindward, unless close alongside. 

"Blow, jolly breeze, " cried one, "and lay the Don over all thoucanst. --What the murrain is gone, aloft there?"

Alas! a crack, a flap, a rattle; and blank dismay! An unlucky shot hadcut the foremast (already wounded) in two, and all forward was a massof dangling wreck. 

"Forward, and cut away the wreck!" said Amyas, unmoved. "Small armmen, be ready. He will be aboard of us in five minutes!"

It was true. The _Rose_, unmanageable from the loss of her head-sail, lay at the mercy of the Spaniard; and the archers and musqueteers hadhardly time to range themselves to leeward, when the _Madre Dolorosa's_chains were grinding against the _Rose's_, and grapples tossed on boardfrom stem to stern. 

"Don't cut them loose!" roared Amyas. "Let them stay and see the fun!Now, dogs of Devon, show your teeth, and hurrah for God and the Queen!"

And then began a fight most fierce and fell: the Spaniards, accordingto their fashion, attempted to board: the English, amid fierce shoutsof "God and the Queen!" "God and St. George for England!" sweepingthem back by showers of arrows and musquet balls, thrusting them downwith pikes, hurling grenades and stink-pots from the tops; while theswivels on both sides poured their grape, and bar, and chain, and thegreat main-deck guns, thundering muzzle to muzzle, made both shipsquiver and recoil, as they smashed the round shot through and througheach other. 

So they roared and flashed, fast clenched to each other in that devil'swedlock, under a cloud of smoke beneath the cloudless tropic sky; whileall around, the dolphins gamboled, and the flying-fish shot on fromswell to swell, and the rainbow-hued jellies opened and shut their cupsof living crystal to the sun. 

So it raged for an hour or more, till all arms were weary, and alltongues clove to the mouth. And sick men, rotting with scurvy, scrambled up on deck, and fought with the strength of madness: and tinypowder-boys, handing up cartridges from the hold, laughed and cheeredas the shots ran past their ears; and old Salvation Yeo, a text uponhis lips, and a fury in his heart as of Joshua or Elijah in old time, worked on, calm and grim, but with the energy of a boy at play. Andnow and then an opening in the smoke showed the Spanish captain, in hissuit of black steel armor, standing cool and proud, guiding andpointing, careless of the iron hail, but too lofty a gentleman to soilhis glove with aught but a knightly sword-hilt: while Amyas and Will, after the fashion of the English gentlemen, had stripped themselvesnearly as bare as their own sailors, and were cheering, thrusting, hewing, and hauling, here, there, and everywhere, like any commonmariner, and filling them with a spirit of self-respect, fellow-feeling, and personal daring, which the discipline of theSpaniards, more perfect mechanically, but cold and tyrannous, andcrushing spiritually, never could bestow. The black-plumed Señor wasobeyed; but the golden-locked Amyas was followed, and would have beenfollowed through the jaws of hell. 

The Spaniards, ere five minutes had passed, poured en masse into the_Rose's_ waist: but only to their destruction. Between the poop andforecastle (as was then the fashion) the upper-deck beams were leftopen and unplanked, with the exception of a narrow gangway on eitherside; and off that fatal ledge the boarders, thrust on by those behind, fell headlong between the beams to the main-deck below, to beslaughtered helpless in that pit of destruction, by the double firefrom the bulkheads fore and aft; while the few who kept their footingon the gangway, after vain attempts to force the stockades on poop andforecastle, leaped overboard again amid a shower of shot and arrows. The fire of the English was as steady as it was quick. 

Thrice the Spaniards clambered on board, and thrice surged back beforethat deadly hail. The decks on both sides were very shambles; and JackBrimblecombe, who had fought as long as his conscience would allow him, found, when he turned to a more clerical occupation, enough to do incarrying poor wretches to the surgeon, without giving that spiritualconsolation which he longed to give, and they to receive. At lastthere was a lull in that wild storm. No shot was heard from theSpaniard's upper-deck. 

Amyas leaped into the mizzen rigging and looked through the smoke. Dead men he could descry through the blinding veil, rolled in heaps, laid flat; dead men and dying; but no man upon his feet. The lastvolley had swept the deck clear; one by one had dropped below to escapethat fiery shower: and alone at the helm, grinding his teeth with rage, his mustachios curling up to his very eyes, stood the Spanish captain. 

Now was the moment for a counter stroke. Amyas shouted for theboarders, and in two minutes more he was over the side, and clutchingat the Spaniard's mizzen rigging. 

What was this? The distance between him and the enemy's side waswidening. Was she sheering off? Yes--and rising, too, growing bodilyhigher every moment, as if by magic. Amyas looked up in astonishmentand saw what it was. The Spaniard was heeling fast over to leewardaway from him. Her masts were all sloping forward, swifter andswifter--the end was come, then!

"Back! in God's name back, men! She is sinking by the head!" And withmuch ado some were dragged back, some leaped back--all but old MichaelHeard. 

With hair and beard floating in the wind, the bronzed naked figure, like some weird old Indian fakir, still climbed on steadfastly up themizzen-chains of the Spaniard, hatchet in hand. 

"Come back, Michael! Leap while you may!" shouted a dozen voices. Michael turned--

"And what should I come back for, then, to go home where no one knowethme? I'll die like an Englishman this day, or I'll know the reasonwhy!" and turning, he sprang in over the bulwarks, as the huge shiprolled up more and more, like a dying whale, exposing all her longblack hulk almost down to the keel, and one of her lower-deck guns asif in defiance exploded upright into the air, hurling the ball to thevery heavens. 

In an instant it was answered from the _Rose_ by a column of smoke, andthe eighteen-pound ball crashed through the bottom of the defenselessSpaniard. 

"Who fired! Shame to fire on a sinking ship!"

"Gunner Yeo, sir, " shouted a voice from the maindeck. "He's like amadman down here. "

"Tell him if he fires again, I'll put him in irons, if he were my ownbrother. Cut away the grapples aloft, men. Don't you see how shedrags us over? Cut away, or we shall sink with her. "

They cut away, and the _Rose_, released from the strain, shook herfeathers on the wave-crest like a freed sea-gull, while all men heldtheir breaths. 

Suddenly the glorious creature righted herself, and rose again, as ifin noble shame, for one last struggle with her doom. Her bows weredeep in the water, but her after-deck still dry. Righted: but only fora moment, long enough to let her crew come pouring wildly up on deck, with cries and prayers, and rush aft to the poop, where, under the flagof Spain, stood the tall captain, his left hand on the standard-staff, his sword pointed in his right. 

"Back men!" they heard him cry, "and die like valiant mariners. "

Some of them ran to the bulwarks, and shouted "Mercy! We surrender!"and the English broke into a cheer and called to them to run heralongside. 

"Silence!" shouted Amyas. "I take no surrender from mutineers. Señor, " cried he to the captain, springing into the rigging and takingoff his hat, "for the love of God and these men, strike! and surrender_á buena guerra_. "

The Spaniard lifted his hat and bowed courteously, and answered. "Impossible, Señor. No _guerra_ is good which stains my honor. "

"God have mercy on you, then!"

"Amen!" said the Spaniard, crossing himself. 

She gave one awful lunge forward, and dived under the coming swell, hurling her crew into the eddies. Nothing but the point of her poopremained, and there stood the stern and steadfast Don, cap-à-pié in hisglistening black armor, immovable as a man of iron, while over him theflag, which claimed the empire of both worlds, flaunted its gold aloftand upwards in the glare of the tropic noon. 

"He shall not carry that flag to the devil with him; I will have ityet, if I die for it!" said Will Cary, and rushed to the side to leapoverboard, but Amyas stopped him. 

"Let him die as he lived, with honor. "

A wild figure sprang out of the mass of sailors who struggled andshrieked amid the foam, and rushed upward at the Spaniard. It wasMichael Heard. The Don, who stood above him, plunged his sword intothe old man's body: but the hatchet gleamed, nevertheless: down wentthe blade through the headpiece and through head; and as Heard sprangonward, bleeding, but alive, the steel-clad corpse rattled down thedeck into the surge. Two more strokes, struck with the fury of a dyingman, and the standard-staff was hewn through. Old Michael collectedall his strength, hurled the flag far from the sinking ship, and thenstood erect one moment and shouted, "God save Queen Bess!" and theEnglish answered with a "Hurrah!" which rent the welkin. 

Another moment and the gulf had swallowed his victim, and the poop, andhim; and nothing remained of the _Madre Dolorosa_ but a few floatingspars and struggling wretches, while a great awe fell upon all men, anda solemn silence, broken only by the cry

 "Of some strong swimmer in his agony. "

And then, suddenly collecting themselves, as men awakened from a dream, half-a-dozen desperate gallants, reckless of sharks and eddies, leapedoverboard, swam towards the flag, and towed it alongside in triumph. 

"Ah!" said Salvation Yeo, as he helped the trophy up over the side;"ah! it was not for nothing that we found poor Michael! He was alwaysa good comrade. And now, then, my masters, shall we inshore again andburn La Guayra?"

"Art thou never glutted with Spanish blood, thou old wolf?" asked WillCary. 

"Never, sir, " answered Yeo. 

"To St. Jago be it, " said Amyas, "if we can get there: but--God helpus!"

And he looked round sadly enough; while no one needed that he shouldfinish his sentence, or explain his "but. "

The fore-mast was gone, the main-yard sprung, the rigging hanging inelf-locks, the hull shot through and through in twenty places, the deckstrewn with the bodies of nine good men, besides sixteen wounded downbelow; while the pitiless sun, right above their heads, poured down aflood of fire upon a sea of glass. 

And it would have been well if faintness and weariness had been allthat was the matter; but now that the excitement was over, the collapsecame; and the men sat down listlessly and sulkily by twos and threesupon the deck, starting and wincing when they heard some poor fellowbelow cry out under the surgeon's knife; or murmuring to each otherthat all was lost. Drew tried in vain to rouse them, telling them thatall depended on rigging a jury-mast forward as soon as possible. Theyanswered only by growls; and at last broke into open reproaches. EvenWill Cary's volatile nature, which had kept him up during the fightgave way, when Yeo and the carpenter came aft, and told Amyas in a lowvoice--

"We are hit somewhere forward, below the waterline, sir. She leaks aterrible deal, and the Lord will not vouchsafe to us to lay our handson the place, for all our searching. "

"What are we to do now, Amyas, in the devil's name?" asked Cary, peevishly. 

"What are we to do, in God's name, rather, " answered Amyas in a lowvoice. "Will, Will, what did God make you a gentleman for, but to knowbetter than those poor fickle fellows forward, who blow hot and cold atevery change of weather!"

"I wish you'd come forward and speak to them, sir, " said Yeo, who hadoverheard the last words, "or we shall get nought done. "

Amyas went forward instantly. 

"Now then, my brave lads, what's the matter here, that you are allsitting on your tails like monkeys?"

"Ugh!" grunts one. "Don't you think our day's work has been longenough yet, captain?"

"You don't want us to go in to La Guayra again, sir? There are enoughof us thrown away already, I reckon, about that wench there. "

"Best sit here, and sink quietly. There's no getting home again, that's plain. "

"Why were we brought out here to be killed. "

"For shame, men!" cries Yeo, "murmuring the very minute after the Lordhas delivered you from the Egyptians. "

Now I do not wish to set Amyas up as better, thank God, than many andmany a brave and virtuous captain in her Majesty's service at this veryday: but certainly he behaved admirably under that trial. Drake hadtrained him, as he trained many another excellent officer, to be asstout in discipline and as dogged of purpose, as he himself was: but hehad trained him also to feel with and for his men, to make allowancesfor them, and to keep his temper with them, as he did this day. Amyas's conscience smote him (and his simple and pious soul took theloss of his brother as God's verdict on his conduct), because he hadset his own private affection, even his own private revenge, before thesafety of his ship's company and the good of his country. 

"Ah, " said he to himself, as he listened to his men's reproaches, "if Ihad been thinking, like a loyal soldier, of serving my queen, andcrippling the Spaniard, I should have taken that great bark three daysago, and in it the very man I sought!"

So "choking down his old man, " as Yeo used to say, he made answercheerfully--

"Pooh! pooh! brave lads! For shame, for shame! You were lionshalf-an-hour ago; you are not surely turned sheep already! Why, butyesterday evening you were grumbling because I would not run in andfight those three ships under the batteries of La Guayra, and now youthink it too much to have fought them fairly out at sea? Nothingventure, nothing win; and nobody goes birdnesting without a fall attimes. If any one wants to be safe in this life, he'd best stay athome and keep his bed; though even there who knows but the roof mightfall through on him?"

"Ah, it's all very well for you, captain, " said some grumbling younker, with a vague notion that Amyas must be better off than he because hewas a gentleman. Amyas's blood rose. 

"Yes, sirrah! Do you fancy that I have nothing to lose? I who haveadventured in this voyage all I am worth, and more; who, if I fall, must return to beggary and scorn? And if I have ventured rashly, sinfully, if you will, the lives of any of you in my own privatequarrel, am I not punished? Have I not lost----?"

His voice trembled and stopped there, but he recovered himself in amoment. 

"Pish! I can't stand here chattering. Carpenter! an ax! and help meto cast these spars loose. Get out of my way, there! lumbering thescuppers up like so many moulting fowls! Here, all old friends, lend ahand! _Pelican's_ men, stand by your captain! Did we sail round theworld for nothing?"

This last appeal struck home, and up leaped half-a-dozen of the oldPelicans, and set to work at his side manfully to rig the jury-mast. 

"Come along!" cried Cary to the malcontents; "we're raw longshorefellows, but we won't be outdone by any old sea-dog of them all. " Andsetting to work himself, he was soon followed by one and another, tillorder and work went on well enough. 

"And where are we going, when the mast's up?" shouted some saucy handfrom behind. 

"Where you daren't follow us alone by yourself, so you had better keepus company, " replied Yeo. 

"I'll tell you where we are going, lads, " said Amyas, rising from hiswork. "Like it or leave it as you will, I have no secrets from mycrew. We are going inshore there to find a harbor, and careen theship. "

There was a start and a murmur. 

"Inshore! Into the Spaniards' mouths?"

"All in the Inquisition in a week's time. "

"Better stay here, and be drowned. "

"You're right in that last, " shouts Cary. "That's the right death forblind puppies. Look you! I don't know in the least where we are, andI hardly know stem from stern aboard ship; and the captain may be rightor wrong--that's nothing to me; but this I know, that I am a soldier, and will obey orders; and where he goes, I go; and whosoever hinders memust walk up my sword to do it. "

Amyas pressed Cary's hand, and then--

"And here's my broadside next, men. I'll go nowhere, and do nothingwithout the advice of Salvation Yeo and Robert Drew; and if any man inthe ship knows better than these two, let him up, and we'll give him ahearing. Eh, _Pelicans_?"

There was a grunt of approbation from the Pelicans; and Amyas returnedto the charge. 

"We have five shots between wind and water, and one somewhere below. Can we face a gale of wind in that state, or can we not?"

Silence. 

"Can we get home with a leak in our bottom?"

Silence. 

"Come along now! Here's the wind again round with the sun, and up tothe northwest. In shore with her. "

Sulkily enough, but unable to deny the necessity, the men set to work, and the vessel's head was put toward the land; but when she began toslip through the water, the leak increased so fast that they were kepthard at work at the pumps for the rest of the afternoon. 

The current had by this time brought them abreast of the bay ofHiguerote. As they ran inward, all eyes were strained greedily to findsome opening in the mangrove belt: but none was to be seen for sometime. The lead was kept going; and every fresh heave announcedshallower water. 

"We shall have very shoal work of those mangroves, Yeo, " said Amyas; "Idoubt whether we shall do aught now, unless we find a river's mouth. "

"If the Lord thinks a river good for us, sir, he'll show us one. " Soon they went, keeping a southeast course, and at last an opening in themangrove belt was hailed with a cheer from the older hands, though themajority shrugged their shoulders, as men going open-eyed todestruction. 

Of the mouth they sent in Drew and Cary with a boat, and watchedanxiously for an hour. The boat returned with a good report of twofathoms of water over the bar, impenetrable forests for two miles up, the river sixty yards broad, and no sign of man. The river's bankswere soft and sloping mud, fit for careening. 

"Safe quarters, sir, " said Yeo, privately, "as far as Spaniards go. Ihope in God it may be as safe from fevers. "

"Beggars must not be choosers, " said Amyas. So in they went. 

They towed the ship up about half-a-mile to a point where she could notbe seen from the seaward; and there moored her to the mangrove-stems. Amyas ordered a boat out, and went up the river himself to reconnoiter. He rowed some three miles, till the river narrowed suddenly, and wasall but covered in by the interlacing boughs of mighty trees. Therewas no sign that man had been there since the making of the world. 

He dropped down the stream again, thoughtfully and sadly. How manyyears ago was it that he had passed this river's mouth? Three days. And yet how much had passed in them! Don Guzman found and lost--Rosefound and lost--a great victory gained, and yet lost--perhaps his shiplost--above all, his brother lost. 

Lost! O God, how should he find his brother?

Some strange bird out of the woods made mournful answer--"Never, never, never!"

How should he face his mother?

"Never, never, never!" walled the bird again; and Amyas smiledbitterly, and said "Never!" likewise. 

The night mist began to steam and wreath upon the foul beer-coloredstream. The loathy floor of liquid mud lay bare beneath the mangroveforest. Upon the endless web of interarching roots great purple crabswere crawling up and down. They would have supped with pleasure uponAmyas's corpse; perhaps they might sup on him after all; for a heavysickening graveyard smell made his heart sink within him, and hisstomach heave; and his weary body, and more weary soul, gave themselvesup helplessly to the depressing influence of that doleful place. Theblack bank of dingy leathern leaves above his head, the endlesslabyrinth of stems and withes (for every bough had lowered its ownliving cord, to take fresh hold of the foul soil below); the web ofroots, which stretched away inland till it was lost in the shades ofevening--all seemed one horrid complicated trap for him and his; andeven where, here and there, he passed the mouth of a lagoon, there wasno opening, no relief--nothing but the dark ring of mangroves. Wailingsadly, sad-colored mangrove-hens ran off across the mud into the drearydark. The hoarse night-raven, hid among the roots, startled thevoyagers with a sudden shout, and then all was again silent as a grave. The loathy alligators lounging in the slime lifted their horny eyelidslazily, and leered upon him as he passed with stupid savageness. Linesof tall herons stood dimly in the growing gloom, like white fantasticghosts, watching the passage of the doomed boat. All was foul, sullen, weird as witches' dream. If Amyas had seen a crew of skeletons glidedown the stream behind him, with Satan standing at the helm, he wouldscarcely have been surprised. What fitter craft could haunt thatStygian flood?

THE CLUB-HAULING OF THE DIOMEDE

From "Peter Simple, " BY CAPTAIN FREDERICK MARRYAT

We continued our cruise along the coast, until we had run down into theBay of Arcason, where we captured two or three vessels, and obligedmany more to run on shore. And here we had an instance showing howvery important it is that the captain of a man-of-war should be a goodsailor, and have his ship in such discipline as to be strictly obeyedby his ship's company. I heard the officers unanimously assert, afterthe danger was over, that nothing but the presence of mind which wasshown by Captain Savage could have saved the ship and her crew. We hadchased a convoy of vessels to the bottom of the bay: the wind was veryfresh when we hauled off, after running them on shore; and the surf onthe beach even at that time was so great, that they were certain to goto pieces before they could be got afloat again. We were obliged todouble-reef the topsails as soon as we hauled to the wind, and theweather looked very threatening. In an hour afterwards, the whole skywas covered with one black cloud, which sank so low as nearly to touchour mast-heads, and a tremendous sea, which appeared to have risen upalmost by magic, rolled in upon us, setting the vessel on a dead leeshore. As the night closed in, it blew a dreadful gale, and the shipwas nearly buried with the press of canvas which she was obliged tocarry: for had we sea-room, we should have been lying-to under stormstaysails; but we were forced to carry on at all risks, that we mightclaw off shore. The sea broke over us as we lay in the trough, deluging us with water from the forecastle, aft, to the binnacles; andvery often as the ship descended with a plunge, it was with such forcethat I really thought she would divide in half with the violence of theshock. Double breechings were rove on the guns, and they were furthersecured with tackles; and strong cleats nailed behind the trunnions;for we heeled over so much when we lurched, that the guns were whollysupported by the breechings and tackles, and had one of them brokenloose it must have burst right through the lee side of the ship, andshe must have foundered. The captain, first lieutenant, and most ofthe officers, remained on deck during the whole of the night; andreally, what with the howling of the wind, the violence of the rain, the washing of the water about the decks, the working of thechain-pumps, and the creaking and groaning of the timbers, I thoughtthat we must inevitably have been lost; and I said my prayers at leasta dozen times during the night, for I felt it impossible to go to bed. I had often wished, out of curiosity, that I might be in a gale ofwind; but I little thought it was to have been a scene of thisdescription, or anything half so dreadful. What made it more appallingwas, that we were on a lee shore, and the consultations of the captainand officers, and the eagerness with which they looked out fordaylight, told us that we had other dangers to encounter besides thestorm. At last the morning broke, and the look-out man upon thegangway called out, "Land on the lee beam!" I perceived the masterdash his feet against the hammock-rails, as if with vexation, and walkaway without saying a word, looking very grave. 

"Up there, Mr. Wilson, " said the captain to the second lieutenant, "andsee how far the land trends forward, and whether you can distinguishthe point. " The second lieutenant went up the main-rigging, andpointed with his hand to about two points before the beam. 

"Do you see two hillocks, inland?"

"Yes, sir, " replied the second lieutenant. 

"Then it is so, " observed the captain to the master, "and if we weatherit we shall have more sea-room. Keep her full, and let her go throughthe water; do you hear, quartermaster?"

"Ay, ay, sir. "

"Thus, and no nearer, my man. Ease her with a spoke or two when shesends; but be careful, or she'll take the wheel out of your hands. "

It really was a very awful sight. When the ship was in the trough ofthe sea, you could distinguish nothing but a waste of tumultuous water;but when she was borne up on the summit of the enormous waves, you thenlooked down, as it were, upon a low, sandy coast, close to you, andcovered with foam and breakers. "She behaves nobly, " observed thecaptain, stepping aft to the binnacle, and looking at the compass; "ifthe wind does not baffle us, we shall weather. " The captain hadscarcely time to make the observation, when the sails shivered andflapped like thunder. "Up with the helm; what are you about, quartermaster?"

"The wind has headed us, sir, " replied the quartermaster, coolly. 

The captain and master remained at the binnacle watching the compass;and when the sails were again full, she had broken off two points, andthe point of land was only a little on the lee-bow. 

"We must wear her round, Mr. Falcon. Hands, wear ship--ready, oh, ready. "

"She has come up again, " cried the master, who was at the binnacle. 

"Hold fast there a minute. How's her head now?"

"N. N. E. , as she was before she broke off, sir. "

"Pipe belay, " said the captain. "Falcon, " continued he, "if she breaksoff again we may have no room to wear; indeed, there is so little roomnow, that I must run the risk. Which cable was ranged last night--thebest bower?"

"Yes, sir. "

"Jump down, then, and see it double-bitted and stoppered at thirtyfathoms. See it well done--our lives may depend upon it. "

The ship continued to hold her course good; and we were within half amile of the point, and fully expected to weather it, when again the wetand heavy sails flapped in the wind, and the ship broke off two pointsas before. The officers and seamen were aghast, for the ship's headwas right on to the breakers. "Luff now, all you can, quartermaster, "cried the captain. "Send the men aft directly. My lads, there is notime for words--I am going to _club-haul_ the ship, for there is noroom to wear. The only chance you have of safety is to be cool, watchmy eye, and execute my orders with precision. Away to your stationsfor tacking ship. Hands by the best bower anchor. Mr. Wilson, attendbelow with the carpenter and his mates, ready to cut away the cable atthe moment that I give the order. Silence there, fore and aft. Quartermaster, keep her full again for stays. Mind you ease the helmdown when I tell you. " About a minute passed before the captain gaveany further orders. The ship had closed-to within a quarter-mile ofthe beach, and the waves curled and topped around us, bearing us downupon the shore, which presented one continued surface of foam, extending to within half a cable's length of our position. The captainwaved his hand in silence to the quartermaster at the wheel, and thehelm was put down. The ship turned slowly to the wind, pitching andchopping as the sails were spilling. When she had lost her way, thecaptain gave the order, "Let go the anchor. We will haul all at once, Mr. Falcon, " said the captain. Not a word was spoken; the men went tothe fore brace, which had not been manned; most of them knew, althoughI did not, that if the ship's head did not go round the other way, weshould be on shore, and among the breakers, in half a minute. Ithought at the time that the captain had said that he would haul allthe yards at once, there appeared to be doubt or dissent on thecountenance of Mr. Falcon; and I was afterwards told that he had notagreed with the captain; but he was too good an officer, and knew thatthere was no time for discussion, to make any remark: and the eventproved that the captain was right. At last the ship was head to wind, and the captain gave the signal. The yards flew round with such acreaking noise, that I thought the masts had gone over the side, andthe next moment the wind had caught the sails; and the ship, which fora moment or two had been on an even keel, careened over to her gunwalewith its force. The captain, who stood upon the weather hammock-rails, holding by the main-rigging, ordered the helm a-midships, looked fullat the sails, and then at the cable, which grew broad upon theweather-bow, and held the ship from nearing the shore. At last hecried, "Cut away the cable!" A few strokes of the axes were heard, andthen the cable flew out of the hawse-hole in a blaze of fire, from theviolence of the friction, and disappeared under a huge wave, whichstruck us on the chesstree, and deluged us with water fore and aft. But we were now on the other tack, and the ship regained her way, andwe had evidently increased our distance from the land. 

"My lads, " said the captain to the ship's company, "you have behavedwell, and I thank you; but I must tell you honestly that we have moredifficulties to get through. We have to weather a point of the bay onthis tack. Mr. Falcon, splice the main-brace, and call the watch. How's her head, quartermaster?"

"S. W. By S. Southerly, sir. "

"Very well; let her go through the water;" and the captain, beckoningto the master to follow him, went down into the cabin. As ourimmediate danger was over, I went down into the berth to see if I couldget anything for breakfast, where I found O'Brien and two or three more. 

"By the powers, it was as nate a thing as ever I saw done, " observedO'Brien: "the slightest mistake as to time or management, and at thismoment the flatfish would have been dubbing at our ugly carcasses. Peter, you're not fond of flatfish, are you, my boy? We may thankHeaven and the captain, I can tell you that, my lads; but now, where'sthe chart, Robinson? Hand me down the parallel rules and compasses, Peter; they are in the corner of the shelf. Here we are now, adevilish sight too near this infernal point. Who knows how her headis?"

"I do, O'Brien: I heard the quartermaster tell the captain S. W. By S. Southerly. "

"Let me see, " continued O'Brien, "variation 2 1/4--leeway--rather toolarge an allowance of that, I'm afraid; but, however, we'll give her 21/2 points; the _Diomede_ would blush to make any more, under anycircumstances. Here--the compass--now, we'll see;" and O'Brienadvanced the parallel rule from the compass to the spot where the shipwas placed on the chart. "Bother! you see, it's as much as she'll doto weather the other point now, on this tack, and that's what thecaptain meant when he told us we had more difficulty. I could havetaken my Bible oath that we were clear of everything, if the wind held. "

"See what the distance is, O'Brien, " said Robinson. It was measured, and proved to be thirteen miles. "Only thirteen miles; and if we doweather, we shall do very well, for the bay is deep beyond. It's arocky point, you see, just by way of variety. Well, my lads, I've apiece of comfort for you, anyhow. It's not long that you'll be kept insuspense, for by one o'clock this day you'll either be congratulatingeach other upon your good luck, or you'll be past praying for. Come, put up the chart, for I hate to look at melancholy prospects; and, steward, see what you can find in the way of comfort. " Some bread andcheese, with the remains of yesterday's boiled pork, were put on thetable, with a bottle of rum, procured at the time they "spliced themain brace, " but we were all too anxious to eat much, and one by onereturned on deck to see how the weather was, and if the wind at allfavored us. On deck the superior officers were in conversation withthe captain, who expressed the same fear that O'Brien had in our berth. The men, who knew what they had to expect, were assembled in knots, looking very grave, but at the same time not wanting in confidence. They knew that they could trust to the captain, as far as skill orcourage could avail them; and sailors are too sanguine to despair, evenat the last moment. As for myself, I felt such admiration for thecaptain, after what I had witnessed that morning, that, whenever theidea came over me, that in all probability I should be lost in a fewhours, I could not help acknowledging how much more serious it was thatsuch a man should be lost to his country. I do not intend to say thatit consoled me, but it certainly made me still more regret the chanceswith which we were threatened. 

Before twelve o'clock the rocky point which we so much dreaded was insight, broad on the lee bow; and if the low sandy coast appearedterrible, how much more did this, even at a distance. The captain eyedit for some minutes in silence, as if in calculation. 

"Mr. Falcon, " said he, at last, "we must put the mainsail on her. "

"She never can bear it, sir. "

"She _must_ bear it, " was the reply. "Send the men aft to themainsheet. See that careful men attend the bunt-lines. "

The mainsail was set, and the effect of it upon the ship wastremendous. She careened over so that her lee channels were under thewater; and when pressed by a sea, the lee side of the quarter-deck andgangway were afloat. She now reminded me of a goaded and fiery horse, mad with the stimulus applied; not rising as before, but forcingherself through whole seas, and dividing the waves, which poured in onecontinual torrent from the forecastle down upon the decks below. Fourmen were secured to the wheel--the sailors were obliged to cling toprevent being washed away--the ropes were thrown in confusion toleeward--the shot rolled out of the lockers, and every eye was fixedaloft, watching the masts, which were expected every moment to go overthe side. A heavy sea struck us on the broadside, and it was somemoments before the ship appeared to recover herself; she reeled, trembled, and stopped her way, as if it had stupefied her. The firstlieutenant looked at the captain, as if to say, "This will not do. ""It is our only chance, " answered the captain to the appeal. That theship went faster through the water, and held a better wind, wascertain; but just before we arrived at the point the gale increased inforce. "If anything starts we are lost, sir, " observed the firstlieutenant again. 

"I am perfectly well aware of it, " replied the captain, in a calm tone;"but, as I said before, and as you must now be aware, it is our onlychance. The consequence of any carelessness or neglect in the fittingand securing of the rigging will be felt now; and this danger, if weescape it, ought to remind us how much we have to answer for if weneglect our duty. The lives of a whole ship's company may besacrificed by the neglect or incompetence of an officer when in harbor. I will pay you the compliment, Falcon, to say, that I feel convincedthat the masts of the ship are as secure as knowledge and attention canmake them. "

The first lieutenant thanked the captain for his good opinion, andhoped that it would not be the last compliment which he paid him. 

"I hope not, too; but a few minutes will decide the point. "

The ship was now within two cables' lengths of the rocky point; somefew of the men I observed to clasp their hands, but most of them weresilently taking off their jackets, and kicking off their shoes, thatthey might not lose a chance of escape provided the ship struck. 

"'Twill be touch and go, indeed, Falcon, " observed the captain (for Ihad clung to the belaying pins, close to them for the last half-hourthat the mainsail had been set). "Come aft, you and I must take thehelm. We shall want _nerve_ there, and only there, now. "

The captain and first lieutenant went aft, and took the fore-spokes ofthe wheel, and O'Brien, at a sign made by the captain, laid hold of thespokes behind him. An old quartermaster kept his station at thefourth. The roaring of the seas on the rocks, with the howling of thewind, were dreadful; but the sight was more dreadful than the noise. For a few minutes I shut my eyes, but anxiety forced me to open themagain. As near as I could judge, we were not twenty yards from therocks, at the time that the ship passed abreast of them. We were inthe midst of the foam, which boiled around us; and as the ship wasdriven nearer to them, and careened with the wave, I thought that ourmain yard-arm would have touched the rock; and at this moment a gust ofwind came on, which laid the ship on her beam-ends, and checked herprogress through the water, while the accumulating noise was deafening. A few moments more the ship dragged on, another wave dashed over herand spent itself upon the rocks, while the spray was dashed back fromthem, and returned upon the decks. The main rock was within ten yardsof the counter, when another gust of wind laid us on our beam-ends, theforesail and mainsail split, and were blown clean out of thebolt-ropes--the ship righted, trembling fore and aft. I lookedastern:--the rocks were to windward on our quarter, and we were safe. I thought at the time that the ship, relieved of her courses, and againlifting over the waves, was not a bad similitude of the relief felt byus all at that moment; and, like her, we trembled as we panted with thesudden reaction, and felt the removal of the intense anxiety whichoppressed our breasts. 

The captain resigned the helm, and walked aft to look at the point, which was now broad on the weather-quarter. In a minute or two, hedesired Mr. Falcon to get new sails up and bend them, and then wentbelow to his cabin. I am sure it was to thank God for our deliverance:I did most fervently, not only then, but when I went to my hammock atnight. We were now comparatively safe--in a few hours completely so;for, strange to say, immediately after we had weathered the rocks, thegale abated, and before morning we had a reef out of the topsails. 

THE CRUISE OF THE TORCH

From "Tom Cringle's Log, " BY MICHAEL SCOTT

Heligoland light--north and by west--so many leagues--windbaffling--weather hazy--Lady Passengers on deck for the first time. 

Arrived in the Downs--ordered by signal from the guardship to proceedto Portsmouth. Arrived at Spithead--ordered to fit to receive ageneral officer, and six pieces of field artillery, and a SpanishEcclesiastic, the Canon of ------. Plenty of great guns, at anyrate--a regular park of artillery. 

Received General ------ and his wife, and aide-de-camp, and twopoodle-dogs, one white man-servant, one black ditto, and the Canon of------, and the six nine-pound field-pieces, and sailed for the Cove ofCork. 

It was blowing hard as we stood in for the Old Head of Kinsale--pilotboat breasting the foaming surge like a sea gull--_Carrol Cove_ in hertiny mainsail--pilot jumped into the main channel--bottle of rum swungby the lead line into the boat--all very clever. 

Ran in, and anchored under Spike Island. A line-of-battle ship, threefrigates, and a number of merchantmen at anchor--men-of-war lovelycraft--bands playing--a good deal of the pomp and circumstances of war. Next forenoon, Mr. Treenail, the second lieutenant, sent for me. 

"Mr. Cringle, " said he, "you have an uncle in Cork, I believe?"

I said I had. 

"I am going there on duty to-night; I daresay, if you asked the captainto let you accompany me, he would do so. " This was too good an offernot to be taken advantage of. I plucked up courage, made my bow, askedleave, and got it; and the evening found my friend the lieutenant, andmyself, after a ride of three hours, during which I, for one, had mybottom sheathing grievously rubbed, and a considerable botheration atcrossing the Ferry at Passage, safe in our inn at Cork. I soon foundout that the object of my superior officer was to gain informationamongst the crimp shops, where ten men who had run from one of the WestIndiamen, waiting at Cove for convoy, were stowed away, but I was notlet further into the secret; so I set out to pay my visit, and afterpassing a pleasant evening with my friends, Mr. And Mrs. Job Cringle, the lieutenant dropped in upon us about nine o'clock. He was heartilywelcomed; and under the plea of our being obliged to return to the shipearly next morning, we soon took leave, and returned to the inn. As Iwas turning into the public room, the door was open, and I could see itfull of blowsy-faced monsters, glimmering and jabbering, through themidst of hot brandy grog and gin twist; with poodle Benjamins, andgreatcoats, and cloaks of all sorts and sizes, steaming on their pegs, with Barcelonas and comforters, and damp travelling caps of seal-skin, and blue cloth, and tartan, arranged above the same. Nevertheless, such a society in my juvenile estimation, during my short _escapade_from the middy's berth, had its charms, and I was rolling in with atolerable swagger, when Mr. Treenail pinched my arm. 

"Mr. Cringle, come here into my room. "

From the way in which he spoke, I imagined, in my innocence, that hisroom was at my elbow; but no such thing--we had to ascend a long, andnot over-clean staircase, to the fourth floor, before we were showninto a miserable little double-bedded room. So soon as we had entered, the lieutenant shut the door. 

"Tom, " said he, "I have taken a fancy to you, and therefore I appliedfor leave to bring you with me; but I must expose you to some danger, and I will allow, not altogether in a very creditable way either. Youmust enact the spy for a short space. "

I did not like the notion, certainly, but I had little time forconsideration. 

"Here, " he continued--"here is a bundle. " He threw it on the floor. "You must rig in the clothes it contains, and make your way into thecelebrated crimp-shop in the neighborhood, and pick up all theinformation you can regarding the haunts of the pressable men at Cove, especially with regard to the ten seamen who have run from the WestIndiaman we left below. You know the Admiral has forbidden pressing atCork, so you must contrive to frighten the blue jackets down to Cove, by representing yourself as an apprentice of one of the merchantvessels, who had run from his indentures, and that you had narrowlyescaped from a press-gang this very night _here_. "

I made no scruples, but forthwith arrayed myself in the slops containedin the bundle; in a pair of shag trousers, red flannel shirt, coarseblue cloth jacket, and no waistcoat. 

"Now, " said Mr. Treenail, "stick a quid of tobacco in your cheek, andtake the cockade out of your hat; or stop, leave it, and ship thisstriped woollen night cap--so--and come along with me. "

We left the house, and walked half a mile down the _Quay_. 

Presently we arrived before a kind of low grog-shop--a bright lamp wasflaring in the breeze at the door, one of the panes of the glass of itbeing broken. 

Before I entered, Mr. Treenail took me to one side--"Tom, Tom Cringle, you must go into this crimp-shop; pass yourself off for an apprenticeof the _Guava_, bound for Trinidad, the ship that arrived just as westarted, and pick up all the knowledge you can regarding thewhereabouts of the men, for we are, as you know, cruelly ill manned, and must replenish as we best may. " I entered the house, after havingagreed to rejoin my superior officer so soon as I considered I hadobtained my object. I rapped at the inner door, in which there was asmall unglazed aperture cut, about four inches square; and I now, forthe first time, perceived that a strong glare of light was cast intothe lobby, where I stood, by a large argand with a brilliant reflector, that, like a magazine lantern, had been mortised into the bulkhead, ata height of about two feet above the door in which the spy-hole wascut. My first signal was not attended to: I rapped again, and, lookinground, I noticed Mr. Treenail flitting backwards and forwards acrossthe doorway, in the rain, his pale face and his sharp nose, with thesparkling drop at the end on't, glancing in the light of the lamp. Iheard a step within, and a very pretty face now appeared at the wicket. 

"Who are you saking here, an' please ye?"

"No one in particular, my dear; but if you don't let me in, I shall belodged in jail before five minutes be over. "

"I can't help that, young man, " said she; "but where are ye from, darling!"

"Hush--I am run from the _Guava_, now lying at the Cove. "

"Oh, " said my beauty, "come in"; and she opened the door, but stillkept it on the chain in such a way, that although, by bobbing, Icreeped and slid in beneath it, yet a common-sized man could notpossibly have squeezed himself through. The instant I entered, thedoor was once more banged to, and the next moment I was ushered intothe kitchen, a room about fourteen feet square, with a well-sandedfloor, a huge dresser on one side, and over against it a respectableshow of pewter dishes in racks against the wall. There was a longstripe of a deal table in the middle of the room--but no tablecloth--atthe bottom of which sat a large, bloated, brandy, or rather whiskyfaced savage, dressed in a shabby greatcoat of the hodden grey worn bythe Irish peasantry, dirty swandown vest, and greasy corduroy breeches, worsted stockings, and well-patched shoes; he was smoking a long pipe. Around the table sat about a dozen seamen, from whose wet jackets andtrousers the heat of the blazing fire, that roared up the chimney, sentup a smoky steam that cast a halo round a lamp which depended from theroof, and hung down within two feet of the table, stinking abominablyof coarse whale oil. They were, generally speaking, hardy, weather-beaten men, and the greater proportion half, or more than half, drunk. When I entered, I walked up to the landlord. 

"Yo ho, my young un! whence and whither bound, my hearty?"

"The first don't signify much to you, " said I, "seeing I havewherewithal in my locker to pay my shot; and as to the second, of thathereafter; so, old boy, let's have some grog, and then say if you canship me with one of them colliers that are lying alongside the quay?"

"My eye, what a lot of brass that small chap has!" grumbled mine host. "Why, my lad, we shall see to-morrow morning; but you gammons so aboutthe rhino, that we must prove you a bit; so, Kate, my dear, "--to thepretty girl who had let me in--"score a pint of rum against----Why, what is your name?"

"What's that to you?" rejoined I, "let's have the drink, and don'tdoubt but the shiners shall be forthcoming. "

"Hurrah!" shouted the party, most of them now very tipsy. So the rumwas produced forthwith, and as I lighted a pipe and filled a glass ofswizzle, I struck in, "Messmates, I hope you have all shipped?"

"No, we han't, " said some of them. 

"Nor shall we be in any hurry, boy, " said others. 

"Do as you please, but I shall, as soon as I can, I know; and Irecommend all of you making yourselves scarce to-night, and keeping abright look-out. "

"Why, boy, why?"

"Simply because I have just escaped a press-gang, by bracing sharp upat the corner of the street, and shoving into this dark alley here. "

This called forth another volley of oaths and unsavoury exclamations, and all was bustle and confusion, and packing up of bundles, andsettling of reckonings. 

"Where, " said one of the seamen, --"where do you go to, my lad?"

"Why, if I can't get shipped to-night, I shall trundle down to Coveimmediately, so as to cross at Passage before daylight, and take mychance of shipping with some of the outward-bound that are to sail, ifthe wind holds, the day after to-morrow. There is to be no pressingwhen the blue Peter flies at the fore--and that was hoisted thisafternoon, I know, and the foretopsail will be loose to-morrow. 

"D--n my wig, but the small chap is right, " roared one. 

"I've a bloody great mind to go down with him, " stuttered another, after several unavailing attempts to weigh from the bench, where he hadbrought himself to anchor. 

"Hurrah!" yelled a third, as he hugged me, and nearly suffocated mewith his maudlin caresses, "I trundles wid you too, my darling, by thepiper!"

"Have with you, boy--have with you, " shouted half-a-dozen other voices, while each stuck his oaken twig through the handkerchief that held hisbundle, and shouldered it, clapping his straw or tarpaulin hat, with aslap on the crown, on one side of his head, and staggering and swayingabout under the influence of the potfen, and slapping his thigh, as hebent double, laughing like to split himself, till the water ran overhis cheeks from his drunken half-shut eyes, while jets of tobacco-juicewere squirting in all directions. 

I paid the reckoning, urging the party to proceed all the while, andindicating Pat Doolan's at the Cove as a good rendezvous; and, promising to overtake them before they reached Passage, I partedcompany at the corner of the street, and rejoined the lieutenant. 

Next morning we spent in looking about the town--Cork is a finetown--contains seventy thousand inhabitants _more_ or _less_--safe inthat--and three hundred thousand pigs, driven by herdsmen, with coarsegrey greatcoats. The pigs are not so handsome as those in England, where the legs are short, and tails curly; here the legs are long, theflanks sharp and thin, and tails long and straight. 

All classes speak with a deuced brogue, and worship graven images;arrived at Cove to a late dinner--and here follows a great deal ofnonsense of the same kind. 

By the time it was half-past ten o'clock, I was preparing to turn in, when the master at arms called down to me, --

"Mr. Cringle, you are wanted in the gunroom. "

I put on my jacket again, and immediately proceeded thither, and on myway I noticed a group of seamen, standing on the starboard gangway, dressed in pea-jackets, under which, by the light of a lantern, carriedby one of them, I could see they were all armed with pistols andcutlass. They appeared in great glee, and as they made way for me, Icould hear one fellow whisper, "There goes the little beagle. " When Ientered the gunroom, the first lieutenant, master, and purser, weresitting smoking and enjoying themselves over a glass of cold grog--thegunner taking the watch on deck--the doctor was piping anything butmellifluously on the double flagolet, while the Spanish priest, andaide-de-camp to the general, were playing at chess, and wrangling inbad French. I could hear Mr. Treenail rumbling and stumbling in hisstateroom, as he accoutred himself in a jacket similar to those of thearmed boat's crew whom I had passed, and presently he stepped into thegunroom, armed also with cutlass and pistol. 

"Mr. Cringle, get ready to go in the boat with me, and bring your armswith you. "

I now knew whereabouts I was, and that my Cork friends were the quarryat which we aimed. I did as I was ordered, and we immediately pulledon shore, where, leaving two strong fellows in charge of the boat, withinstructions to fire their pistols and shove off a couple ofboat-lengths should any suspicious circumstances indicating an attacktake place, we separated, like a pulk of Cossacks coming to the charge, but without the _hourah_, with orders to meet before Pat Doolan's door, as speedily as our legs could carry us. We had landed about a cable'slength to the right of the high precipitous bank--up which we stole instraggling parties--on which that abominable congregation of the mostfilthy huts ever pig grunted in is situated, called the Holy Ground. Pat Doolan's domocile was in a little dirty lane, about the middle ofthe village. Presently ten strapping fellows, including thelieutenant, were before the door, each man with his stretcher in hishand. It was very tempestuous, although moonlight, night, occasionallyclear, with the moonbeams at one moment sparkling brightly in the smallripples on the filthy puddles before the door, and one the gem-likewater drops that hung from the eaves of the thatched roof, and lightingup the dark statue-like figures of the men, and casting their longshadows strongly against the mud wall of the house; at another, a blackcloud, as it flew across her disk, cast everything into deep shade;while the only noise we heard was the hoarse dashing of the distantsurf, rising and falling on the fitful gusts of the breeze. We triedthe door. It was fast. 

"Surround the house, men, " said the lieutenant in a whisper. He rappedloudly. "Pat Doolan, my man, open the door, will ye?" No answer. "Ifyou don't, we shall make free to break it open, Patrick, dear. "

All this while the light of a fire, or of candles, streamed through thejoints of the door. The threat at length appeared to have the desiredeffect. A poor decrepit old man undid the bolt and let us in. "_Ohona ree_! _Ohon a ree_! What make you all this boder for--come you tohelp us to wake poor ould Kate there, and bring you the whisky wid you?"

"Old man, where is Pat Doolan?" said the lieutenant. 

"Gone to borrow whisky, to wake ould Kate, there;--the howling willbegin whenever Mother Doncannon and Misthress Conolly come over fromMiddleton, and I look for dem every minute. "

There was no vestige of any living thing in the miserable hovel, exceptthe old fellow. On two low trestles, in the middle of the floor, lay acoffin with the lid on, on the top of which was stretched the dead bodyof an old emaciated woman in her graveclothes, the quality of which wasmuch finer than one could have expected to have seen in the midst ofthe surrounding squalidness. The face of the corpse was uncovered, thehands were crossed on the breast, and there was a plate of salt on thestomach. 

An iron cresset, charged with coarse rancid oil, hung from the roof, the dull smoky red light flickering on the dead corpse, as the breezestreamed in through the door and numberless chinks in the walls, makingthe cold, rigid, sharp features appear to move, and glimmer, and gibberas it were, from the changing shades. Close to the head there was asmall door opening into an apartment of some kind, but the coffin wasplaced so near it that one could pass between the body and the door. 

"My good man, " said Treenail to the solitary mourner, "I must beg leaveto remove the body a bit, and have the goodness to open that door. "

"Door, yere honour! It's no door o' mine--and it's not opening thatsame that old Phil Carrol shall busy himself wid. "

"Carline, " said Mr. Treenail, quick and sharp, "remove the body. " Itwas done. 

"Cruel heavy the old dame is, sir, for all her wasted appearance, " saidone of the men. 

The lieutenant now ranged the press-gang against the wall fronting thedoor, and stepping into the middle of the room, drew his pistol andcocked it. "Messmates, " he sang out, as if addressing the skulkers inthe other room, "I know you are here; the house is surrounded--andunless you open that door now, by the powers, but I'll fire slap intoyou!" There was a bustle, and a rumbling tumbling noise within. "Mylads, we are now sure of our game, " sang out Treenail, with greatanimation; "sling that clumsy bench there. " He pointed to an oakenform about eight feet long and nearly three inches thick. To produce atwo-inch rope, and junk it into three lengths, and rig the batteringram, was the work of an instant. "One, two, three, "--and bang the doorflew open, and there were our men stowed away, each sitting on the topof his bag, as snug as could be, although looking very much likecondemned thieves. We bound eight of them, thrusting a stretcheracross their backs, under their arms, and lashing the fins to the sameby good stout lanyards, we were proceeding to stump our prisoners offto the boat, when, with the innate deviltry that I have inherited, Iknow not how, but the original sin of which has more than once nearlycost me my life, I said, without addressing my superior officer, or anyone else directly, "I should like now to scale my pistol through thatcoffin. If I miss, I can't hurt the old woman; and an eyelet hole inthe coffin itself will only be an act of civility to the worms. "

I looked towards my superior officer, who answered me with a knowingshake of the head. I advanced, while all was silent as death--thesharp click of the pistol lock now struck acutely on my own ear. Ipresented, when--crash--the lid of the coffin, old woman and all, wasdashed off in an instant, the corpse flying up in the air, and thenfalling heavily on the floor, rolling over and over, while a tallhandsome fellow, in his striped flannel shirt and blue trousers, withthe sweat pouring down over his face in streams, sat up in the shell. 

"All right, " said Mr. Treenail; "help him out of his berth. "

He was pinioned like the rest, and forthwith we walked them all off tothe beach. By this time there was an unusual bustle in the HolyGround, and we could hear many an anathema--curses not loud butdeep--ejaculated from many a half-opened door as we passed along. Wereached the boat, and time it was we did, for a number of stoutfellows, who had followed us in a gradually increasing crowd until theyamounted to forty at the fewest, now nearly surrounded us, and keptclosing in. As the last of us jumped into the boat, they made a rush, so that if we had not shoved off with the speed of light, I think itvery likely that we should have been overpowered. However, we reachedthe ship in safety, and the day following we weighed, and stood out tosea with our convoy. 

It was a very large fleet, nearly three hundred sail of merchantvessels--and a noble sight truly. 

A line-of-battle ship led, and two frigates and three sloops of ourclass were stationed on the outskirts of the fleet, whipping them in, as it were. We made Madeira in fourteen days, looked in, but did notanchor; superb island--magnificent mountains--white town, --and all veryfine, but nothing particular happened for three weeks. One fineevening (we had by this time progressed into the trades, and werewithin three hundred miles of Barbadoes) the sun had set bright andclear, after a most beautiful day, and we were bowling along rightbefore it, rolling like the very devil; but there was no moon, andalthough the stars sparkled brilliantly, yet it was dark, and as wewere the sternmost of the men-of-war, we had the task of whipping inthe sluggards. It was my watch on deck. A gun from the commodore, whoshowed a number of lights. "What is that, Mr. Kennedy?" said thecaptain to the old gunner. "The commodore has made the night-signalfor the sternmost ships to make more sail and close, sir. " We repeatedthe signal and stood on, hailing the dullest of the merchantmen in ourneighbourhood to make more sail, and firing a musket-shot now and thenover the more distant of them. By-and-by we saw a large West Indiamensuddenly haul her wind and stand across our bows. 

"Forward there!" sung out Mr. Splinter; "stand by to fire a shot atthat fellow from the boat gun if he does not bear up. What can he beafter? Sergeant Armstrong"--to a marine, who was standing close by himin the waist--"get a musket and fire over him. "

It was done, and the ship immediately bore up on her course again; wenow ranged alongside of him on his larboard quarter. 

"Ho, the ship, ahoy!"--"Hillo!" was the reply. "Make more sail, sir, and run into the body of the fleet, or I shall fire into you: why don'tyou, sir, keep in the wake of the commodore?" No answer. "What meantyou by hauling your wind just now, sir?"

"Yesh, yesh, " at length responded a voice from the merchantman. 

"Something wrong here, " said Mr. Splinter. "Back your maintopsail, sir, and hoist a light at the peak; I shall send a boat on board ofyou. Boatswain's mate, pipe away the crew of the jolly-boat. " We alsohove to, and were in the act of lowering down the boat, when theofficer rattled out--"Keep all fast with the boat; I can't comprehendthat chap's manoeuvres for the soul of me. He has not hove to. " Oncemore we were within pistol-shot of him. "Why don't you heave to, sir?"All silent. 

Presently we could perceive a confusion and noise of struggling onboard, and angry voices, as if people were trying to force their way upthe hatches from below; and a heavy thumping on the deck, and acreaking of the blocks, and rattling of the cordage, while the mainyardwas first braced one way, and then another, as if two parties werestriving for the mastery. At length a voice hailed distinctly--"we arecaptured by a----. " A sudden sharp cry, and a splash overboard, toldof some fearful deed. 

"We are taken by a privateer or pirate, " sung out another voice. Thiswas followed by a heavy crunching blow, as when the spike of abutcher's axe is driven through a bullock's forehead deep into thebrain. 

By this time all hands had been called, and the word had been passed toclear away two of the foremost carronades on the starboard side, and toload them with grape. 

"On board there--get below, all you of the English crew, as I shallfire with grape, " sung out the captain. 

The hint was now taken. The ship at length came to the wind--werounded to, under her lee--and an armed boat, with Mr. Treenail, andmyself, and sixteen men, with cutlasses, were sent on board. 

We jumped on deck, and at the gangway Mr. Treenail stumbled and fellover the dead body of a man, no doubt the one who had hailed last, withhis skull cloven to the eyes, and a broken cutlass-blade sticking inthe gash. We were immediately accosted by the mate, who was lasheddown to a ring-bolt close by the bits, with his hands tied at thewrists by sharp cords, so tightly that the blood was spouting frombeneath his nails. 

"We have been surprised by a privateer schooner, sir; the lieutenant ofher, and several men, are now in the cabin. "

"Where are the rest of the crew?"

"All secured in the forecastle, except the second-mate and boatswain, the men who hailed you just now; the last was knocked on the head, andthe former was stabbed and thrown overboard. "

We immediately released the men, eighteen in number, and armed themwith boarding-pikes. "What vessel is that astern of us?" said Treenailto the mate. Before he could answer, a shot from the brig fired at theprivateer showed she was broad awake. Next moment Captain Deadeyehailed. "Have you mastered the prize crew, Mr. Treenail?" "Ay, ay, sir. " "Then bear up on your course, and keep two lights hoisted atyour mizzen-peak during the night, and blue Peter at the maintopsailyardarm when the day breaks: I shall haul my wind after the suspicioussail in your wake. "

Another shot, and another, from the brig--the time between each flashand the report increasing with the distance. By this the lieutenanthas descended to the cabin, followed by his people, while the merchantcrew once more took charge of the ship, crowding sail into the body ofthe fleet. 

I followed him close, pistol and cutlass in hand, and I shall neverforget the scene that presented itself when I entered. The cabin wasthat of a vessel of five hundred tons, elegantly fitted up; the panelsfilled with crimson cloth, edged with gold mouldings, with superbdamask hangings before the stern windows and the side berths, andbrilliantly lighted up by the two large swinging-lamps hung from thedeck above, which were reflected from, and multiplied in, severalplate-glass mirrors in the panels. In the recess, which in coldweather had been occupied by the stove, now stood a splendid grandpiano, the silk in the open work above the keys corresponding with thecrimson cloth of the panels; it was open, a Leghorn bonnet with a greenveil, a parasol, and two long white gloves, as if recently pulled off, lay on it, with the very mould of the hands in them. 

The rudder case was particularly beautiful; it was a richly carved andgilded palm-tree, the stem painted white and Interlaced with goldenfretwork, like the lozenges of a pineapple, while the leaves spread upand abroad on the roof. 

The table was laid for supper, with cold meat, and wine, and aprofusion of silver things, all sparkling brightly: but it was in greatdisorder, wine spilt, and glasses broken, and dishes with meat upset, and knives, and forks, and spoons, scattered all about. She wasevidently one of those London West Indiamen, on board of which I knewthere was much splendour and great comfort. But, alas, the hand oflawless violence had been there. The captain lay across the table, with his head hanging over the side of it next to us, and unable tohelp himself, with his hands tied behind his back, and a gag in hismouth; his face purple from the blood running to his head, and thewhite of his eyes turned up, while his loud stertorous breathing buttoo clearly indicated the rupture of a vessel on the brain. 

He was a stout portly man, and although we released him on the instant, and had him bled, and threw water on his face, and did all we could forhim, he never spoke afterwards, and died in half an hour. 

Four gentlemanly-looking men were sitting at table, lashed to theirchairs, pale and trembling, while six of the most ruffian-lookingscoundrels I ever beheld stood on the opposite side of the table in arow fronting us, with the light from the lamps shining full on them. Three of them were small but very square mulattoes; one was a SouthAmerican Indian, with the square high-boned visage and long, lank, black glossy hair of his caste. These four had no clothing besidestheir trousers, and stood with their arms folded, in all the calmnessof desperate men caught in the very fact of some horrible atrocity, which they knew shut out every hope of mercy. The two others werewhite Frenchmen, tall, bushy-whiskered, sallow desperadoes, but still, wonderful to relate, with, if I may so speak, the manners of gentlemen. One of them squinted, and had a hare-lip, which gave him a horribleexpression. They were dressed in white trousers and shirts, yellowsilk sashes round their waists, and a sort of blue uniform jackets, blue Gascon caps, with the peaks, from each of which depended a largebullion tassel, hanging down on one side of their heads. The wholeparty had apparently made up their minds that resistance was vain, fortheir pistols and cutlasses, some of them bloody, had all been laid onthe table, with the butts and handles towards us, contrasting horriblywith the glittering equipage of steel, and crystal, and silver things, on the snow-white damask tablecloth. They were immediately seized andironed, to which they submitted in silence. We next released thepassengers, and were overpowered with thanks, one dancing, one crying, one laughing, and another praying. But, merciful Heaven! what anobject met our eyes! Drawing aside the curtain that concealed a sofafitted into a recess, there lay, more dead than alive, a tall and mostbeautiful girl, her head resting on her arm, her clothes disordered andtorn, blood on her bosom, and foam on her mouth, with her long darkhair loose and dishevelled, and covering the upper part of her deadlypale face, through which her wild sparkling black eyes, protruding fromtheir sockets, glanced and glared with the fire of a maniac's, whileher blue lips kept gibbering an incoherent prayer one moment, and thenext imploring mercy, as if she had still been in the hands of thosewho knew not the name; and anon, a low hysterical laugh made our veryblood freeze in our bosoms, which soon ended in a long dismal yell, asshe rolled off the couch upon the hard deck, and lay in a dead faint. 

Alas the day!--a maniac she was from that hour. She was the onlydaughter of the murdered master of the ship, and never awoke, in herunclouded reason, to the fearful consciousness of her own dishonour andher parent's death. 

The _Torch_ captured the schooner, and we left the privateer's men atBarbadoes to meet their reward, and several of the merchant sailorswere turned over to the guardship, to prove the facts in the firstinstance, and to serve his Majesty as impressed men in the second, --butscrimp measure of justice to the poor ship's crew. 

Anchored at Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes. Town seemed built of cards--blackfaces--showy dresses of the negroes--dined at Mr. C----'s--capitaldinner--little breeze-mill at the end of the room, that pumped asolution of salpetre [Transcriber's note: saltpetre?] and water into atrough of tin, perforated with small holes, below which, and exposed tothe breeze, were ranged the wine and liqueurs, all in cotton bags; thewater then flowed into a well, where the pump was stepped, and thus wasagain pumped up and kept circulating. 

Landed the artillery, the soldiers, officers, and the SpanishCanon--discharged the whole battery. 

Next morning, weighed at day-dawn, with the trade for Jamaica, and soonlost sight of the bright blue waters of Carlisle Bay, and the smilingfields and tall cocoanut trees of the beautiful island. In a weekafter we arrived off the east end of Jamaica; and that same evening, inobedience to the orders of the admiral on the windward Island station, we hove to in Bull Bay, in order to land despatches, and secure ourtithe of the crews of the merchant-vessels bound for Kingston, and theports to leeward, as they passed us. We had fallen in with a pilotcanoe of Morant Bay with four negroes on board, who requested us tohoist in their boat, and take them all on board, as the pilot schoonerto which they belonged had that morning bore up for Kingston, and leftinstructions to them to follow her in the first vessel appearingafterwards. We did so, and now, as it was getting dark, the captaincame up to Mr. Treenail. 

"Why, Mr. Treenail, I think we had better heave to for the night, andin this case I shall want you to go in the cutter to Port Royal todeliver the despatches on board the flag-ship. 

"I don't think the admiral will be at Port Royal, sir, " responded thelieutenant; "and, if I might suggest, those black chaps have offered totake me ashore here on the _Palisadoes_, a narrow spit of land, notabove one hundred yards across, that divides the harbour from theocean, and to haul the canoe across, and take me to the agent's housein Kingston, who will doubtless frank me up to the pen where theadmiral resides, and I shall thus deliver the letters, and be backagain by day-dawn. "

"Not a bad plan, " said old Deadeye; "put it in execution, and I will gobelow and get the despatches immediately. "

The canoe was once more hoisted out; the three black fellows, the pilotof the ship continuing on board, jumped into her alongside. 

"Had you not better take a couple of hands with you, Mr. Treenail?"said the skipper. 

"Why, no, sir, I don't think I shall want them; but if you will spareme Mr. Cringle I will be obliged, in case I want any help. "

We shoved off, and as the glowing sun dipped under Portland Point, asthe tongue of land that runs out about four miles to the southward, onthe western side of Port Royal harbour, is called, we arrived within ahundred yards of the _Palisadoes_. The surf, at the particular spot westeered for, did not break on the shore in a rolling curling wave, asit usually does, but smoothed away under the lee of a small sandypromontory that ran out into the sea, about half a cable's length towindward, and then slid up the smooth white sand without breaking, in adeep clear green swell, for the space of twenty yards, graduallyshoaling, the colour becoming lighter and lighter until it frothed awayin a shallow white fringe, that buzzed as it receded back into the deepgreen sea, until it was again propelled forward by the succeedingbillow. 

"I say, friend Bungo, how shall we manage? You don't mean to swamp usin a shove through that surf, do you?" said Mr. Treenail. 

"No fear, massa, if you and toder leetle man-of-war buccra only keepdem seat when we rise on de crest of de swell dere. "

We sat quiet enough. Treenail was coolness itself, and I aped him aswell as I could. The loud murmur, increasing to a roar, of the sea, was trying enough as we approached, buoyed on the last long undulation. 

"Now sit still, massa, bote. "

We sank down into the trough, and presently were hove forwards with asmooth sliding motion up on the beach--until grit, grit, we stranded onthe cream-coloured sand, high and dry. 

"Now, jomp, massa, jomp. "

We leapt with all our strength, and thereby toppled down on our noses;the sea receded, and before the next billow approached we had run thecanoe twenty yards beyond high-water mark. 

It was the work of a very few minutes to haul the canoe across thesand-bank, and to launch it once more in the placid waters of theharbour of Kingston. We pulled across towards the town, until welanded at the bottom of Hanover Street; the lights from the cabinwindows of the merchantmen glimmering as we passed, and the town onlydiscernible from a solitary sparkle here and there. But the contrastwhen we landed was very striking. We had come through the darkness ofthe night in comparative quietness; and in two hours from the time wehad left the old _Torch_, we were transferred from her orderly deck tothe bustle of a crowded town. 

One of our crew undertook to be the guide to the agent's house. Wearrived before it. It was a large mansion, and we could see lightsglimmering in the ground-floor; but it was gaily lit up aloft. Thehouse itself stood back about twenty feet from the street, from whichit was separated by an iron railing. 

We knocked at the outer gate, but no one answered. At length our blackguide found out a bell-pull, and presently the clang of a bellresounded throughout the mansion. Still no one answered. I pushedagainst the door, and found it was open, and Mr. Treenail and myselfimmediately ascended a flight of six marble steps, and stood in thelower piazza, with the hall, or vestibule, before us. We entered. Avery well-dressed brown woman, who was sitting at her work at a smalltable, along with two young girls of the same complexion, instantlyrose to receive us. 

"Beg pardon, " said Mr. Treenail, "pray, is this Mr. ------'s house?"

"Yes, sir, it is. "

"Will you have the goodness to say if he be at home?"

"Oh yes, sir, he is dere upon dinner wid company, " said the lady. 

"Well, " continued the lieutenant, "say to him, that an officer of hisMajesty's sloop _Torch_ is below, with despatches for the admiral. "

"Surely, sir, --surely, " the dark lady continued; "Follow me, sir; anddat small gentleman [Thomas Cringle, Esquire, no less!]--him willbetter follow me too. "

We left the room, and turning to the right, landed in the lower piazzaof the house, fronting the north. A large clumsy stair occupied theeastermost end, with a massive mahogany balustrade, but the wholeaffair below was very ill lighted. The brown lady preceded us; and, planting herself at the bottom of the staircase, began to shout to someone above--

"Toby!--Toby!--buccra gentlemen arrive, Toby. " But no Toby respondedto the call. 

"My dear madam, " said Treenail, "I have little time for ceremony. Prayusher us up into Mr. ------'s presence. "

"Den follow me, gentlemen, please. "

Forthwith we all ascended the dark staircase until we reached the firstlanding-place, when we heard a noise as of two negroes wrangling on thesteps above us. 

"You rascal!" sang out one, "take dat; larn you for teal mywittal!"--then a sharp crack, as if he had smote the culprit across thepate; whereupon, like a shot, a black fellow, in a handsome livery, trundled down, pursued by another servant with a large silver ladle inhis hand, with which he was belabouring the fugitive over hisflint-hard skull, right against our hostess, with the drumstick of aturkey in his hand, or rather in his mouth. 

"Top, you tief!--top, you tief!--for me piece dat, " shouted the pursuer. 

"You dam rascal!" quoth the dame. But she had no time to utter anotherword, before the fugitive pitched, with all his weight, against her;and at the very moment another servant came trundling down with a largetray full of all kinds of meats--and I especially remember that twolarge crystal stands of jellies composed part of his load--so there wewere regularly capsized, and caught all of a heap in the darklanding-place, halfway up the stair; and down the other flight tumbledour guide, with Mr. Treenail and myself, and the two blackies on thetop of her, rolling in our descent over, or rather into, another largemahogany tray which had just been carried out, with a tureen of turtlesoup in it, and a dish of roast-beef, and platefuls of land-crabs, andthe Lord knows what all besides. 

The crash reached the ear of the landlord, who was seated at the headof his table in the upper piazza, a long gallery about fifty feet longby fourteen wide, and he immediately rose and ordered his butler totake a light. When he came down to ascertain the cause of the uproar. I shall never forget the scene. 

There was, first of all, mine host, a remarkably neat personage, standing on the polished mahogany stair, three steps above his servant, who was a very well-dressed respectable elderly negro, with a candle ineach hand; and beneath him, on the landing-place, lay two trays ofviands, broken tureens of soup, fragments of dishes, and fracturedglasses, and a chaos of eatables and drinkables, and table gearscattered all about, amidst which lay scrambling my lieutenant andmyself, the brown housekeeper, and the two negro servants, all more orless covered with gravy and wine dregs. However, after a good laugh, we gathered ourselves up, and at length we were ushered on the scene. Mine host, after stifling his laughter the best way he could, again satdown at the head of his table, sparkling with crystal and wax-lights, while a superb lamp hung overhead. The company was composed chiefly ofnaval and military men, but there was also a sprinkling of civilians, or _muftees_, to use a West India expression. Most of them rose as weentered, and after they had taken a glass of wine, and had their laughat our mishap, our landlord retired to one side with Mr. Treenail, while I, poor little middy as I was, remained standing at the end ofthe room, close to the head of the stairs. The gentleman who sat atthe foot of the table had his back towards me, and was not at firstaware of my presence. But the guest at his right hand, ahappy-looking, red-faced, well-dressed man, soon drew his attentiontowards me. The party to whom I was thus indebted seemed a veryjovial-looking personage, and appeared to be well known to all hands, and indeed the life of the party, for, like Falstaff, he was not onlywitty in himself, but the cause of wit in others. 

The gentleman to whom he had pointed me out immediately rose, made hisbow, ordered a chair, and made room for me beside himself, where, themoment it was known that we were direct from home, such a volley ofquestions was fired off at me that I did not know which to answerfirst. At length, after Treenail had taken a glass or two of wine, theagent started him off to the admiral's pen in his own gig, and I wasdesired to stay where I was until he returned. 

The whole party seemed very happy, my boon ally was fun itself, and Iwas much entertained with the mess he made when any of the foreignersat table addressed him in French or Spanish. I was particularly struckwith a small, thin, dark Spaniard, who told very feelingly how thenight before, on returning home from a party to his own lodgings, onpassing through the piazza, he stumbled against something heavy thatlay in his grass-hammock, which usually hung there. He called for alight, when, to his horror, he found the body of his old and faithfulvalet lying in it, _dead_ and cold, with a knife sticking under hisfifth rib--no doubt intended for his master. The speaker was Bolivar. About midnight, Mr. Treenail returned, we shook hands with Mr. ------, and once more shoved off; and, guided by the lights shown on board the_Torch_ we were safe _home_ again by three in the morning, when weimmediately made sail, and nothing particular happened until we arrivedwithin a day's sail of New Providence. It seemed that, about a weekbefore, a large American brig, bound from Havana to Boston had beencaptured in this very channel by one of our men-of-war schooners, andcarried into Nassau; out of which port, for their own security, theauthorities had fitted a small schooner, carrying six guns andtwenty-four men. She was commanded by a very gallant fellow--there isno disputing that--and he must needs emulate the conduct of the officerwho had made the capture; for in a fine clear night, when all theofficers were below rummaging in their kits for the killing things theyshould array themselves in on the morrow, so as to smite the Fair ofNew Providence to the heart at a blow--_Whiss_--a shot flew over ourmast-head. 

"A small schooner lying to right ahead, sir, " sang out the boatswainfrom the forecastle. 

Before we could beat to quarters, another sang between our masts. Wekept steadily on our course, and as we approached our pigmy antagonist, he bore up. Presently we were alongside of him. 

"Heave to, " hailed the strange sail; "heave to, or I'll sink you. " Thedevil you will, you midge, thought I. 

The captain took the trumpet--"Schooner, ahoy"--no answer--"D--n yourblood, sir, if you don't let everything go by the run this instant, I'll fire a broadside. Strike, sir, to his Britannic Majesty's sloop_Torch_. "

The poor fellow commanding the schooner had by this time found out hismistake, and immediately came on board, where, instead of being laudedfor his gallantry, I am sorry to say he was roundly rated for his wantof discernment in mistaking his Majesty's cruiser for a Yankeemerchantman. Next forenoon we arrived at Nassau. 

In a week after we again sailed for Bermuda, having taken on board tenAmerican skippers, and several other Yankees, as prisoners of war. 

For the first three days after we cleared the Passages, we had fineweather--wind at east-south-east; but after that it came on to blowfrom the north-west, and so continued without intermission during thewhole of the passage to Bermuda. On the fourth morning after we leftNassau, we descried a sail in the south-east quarter, and immediatelymade sail in chase. We overhauled her about noon; she hove to, afterbeing fired at repeatedly; and, on boarding her, we found she was aSwede from Charleston, bound to Havre-de-Grace. All the letters wecould find on board were very unceremoniously broken open, and nothinghaving transpired that could identify the cargo as enemy's property, wewere bundling over the side, when a nautical-looking subject, who hadattracted my attention from the first, put in his oar. 

"Lieutenant, " said he, "will you allow me to put this barrel of NewYork apples into the boat as a present to Captain Deadeye, from Captain------ of the United States navy?"

Mr. Treenail bowed, and said he would; and we shoved off and got onboard again, and now there was the devil to pay, from the perplexityold Deadeye was thrown into, as to whether, here in the heat of theAmerican war, he was bound to take this American captain prisoner ornot. I was no party to the councils of my superiors, of course, butthe foreign ship was finally allowed to continue her course. 

The next day I had the forenoon watch; the weather had lulledunexpectedly nor was there much sea, and the deck was all alive, totake advantage of the fine _blink_, when the man at the mast-head sangout--"Breakers right ahead, sir. "

"Breakers!" said Mr. Splinter, in great astonishment. "Breakers!--why, the man must be mad! I say, Jenkins----"

"Breakers close under the bows, " sang out the boatswain from forward. 

"The devil!" quoth Splinter, and he ran along the gangway, and ascendedthe forecastle, while I kept close to his heels. We looked out ahead, and there we certainly did see a splashing, and boiling, and whitefoaming of the ocean, that unquestionably looked very like breakers. Gradually, this splashing and foaming appearance took a circularwhisking shape, as if the clear green sea, for a space of a hundredyards in diameter, had been stirred about by a gigantic invisible_spurtle_, until everything hissed again; and the curious part of itwas, that the agitation of the water seemed to keep ahead of us, as ifthe breeze which impelled us had also floated it onwards. At lengththe whirling circle of white foam ascended higher and higher, and thengradually contracted itself into a spinning black tube, which waveredabout for all the world like a gigantic _loch-leech_ held by the tailbetween the finger and thumb, while it was poking its vast snout aboutin the clouds in search of a spot to fasten on. 

"Is the boat-gun on the forecastle loaded?" said Captain Deadeye. 

"It is, sir. "

"Then luff a bit--that will do--fire. "

The gun was discharged, and down rushed the black wavering pillar in awatery _avalanche_, and in a minute after the dark heaving billowsrolled over the spot whereout it arose, as if no such thing had everbeen. 

This said troubling of the waters was neither more nor less than awaterspout, which again is neither more nor less than a whirlwind atsea, which gradually whisks the water round and round, and up and up, as you see straws so raised, until it reaches a certain height, when itinvariably breaks. Before this I had thought that waterspout wascreated by some next to supernatural exertion of the power of theDeity, in order to suck up water into the clouds, that they, like thewine-skins in Spain, might be filled with rain. 

The morning after, the weather was clear and beautiful, although thewind blew half a gale. Nothing particular happened until about seveno'clock in the evening. I had been invited to dine with the gunroomofficers this day, and every thing was going on smooth and comfortable, when Mr. Splinter spoke. "I say, master, don't you smell gunpowder?"

"Yes, I do, " said the little master, "or something deuced like it. "

To explain the particular comfort of our position, it may be right tomention that the magazine of a brig sloop is exactly under the gunroom. Three of the American skippers had been quartered on the gunroom mess, and they were all at table. Snuff, snuff, smelled one, and anothersniffled, --"Gunpowder, I guess, and in a state of ignition. "

"Will you not send for the gunner, sir?" said the third. Splinter didnot like it, I saw, and this quailed me. 

The captain's bell rang. "What smell of brimstone is that, steward?"

"I really can't tell, " said the man, trembling from head to foot; "Mr. Splinter has sent for the gunner, sir. "

"The devil!" said Deadeye, as he hurried on deck. We all followed. Asearch was made. 

"Some matches have caught in the magazine, " said one. 

"We shall be up and away like sky-rockets, " said another. 

Several of the American masters ran out on the jib-boom, coveting thetemporary security of being so far removed from the seat of theexpected explosion, and all was alarm and confusion, until it wasascertained that two of the boys, little sky-larking vagabonds, hadstolen some pistol cartridges, and had been making lightning, as it iscalled, by holding a lighted candle between the fingers, and puttingsome loose powder into the palm of the hand, then chucking it up intothe flame. They got a sound flogging, on a very unpoetical part oftheir corpuses, and once more the ship subsided into her usual orderlydiscipline. The northwester still continued, with a clear blue sky, without a cloud overhead by day, and a bright cold moon by night. Itblew so hard for the three succeeding days, that we could not carrymore than close-reefed topsails to it, and a reefed foresail. Indeed, towards six bells in the forenoon watch of the third day, it camethundering down with such violence, and the sea increased so much, thatwe had to hand the foretopsail. 

This was by no means an easy job. "Ease her a bit, " said the firstlieutenant, --"there--shake the wind out of her sails for a moment, until the men get the canvas in"----whirl, a poor fellow pitched offthe lee foreyardarm into the sea. "Up with the helm--heave him thebight of a rope. " We kept away, but all was confusion, until anAmerican midshipman, one of the prisoners on board, hove the bight of arope at him. The man got it under his arms, and after hauling himalong for a hundred yards at the least--and one may judge of thevelocity with which he was dragged through the water, by the fact thatit took the united strain of ten powerful men to get him in--he wasbrought safely on board, pale and blue, when we found that the runningof the rope had crushed in his broad chest, below his arms, as if ithad been a girl's waist, indenting the very muscles of it and of hisback half an inch deep. He had to be bled before he could breathe, andit was an hour before the circulation could be restored, by the jointexertions of the surgeon and gunroom steward, chafing him with spiritsand camphor, after he had been stripped and stowed away between theblankets in his hammock. 

The same afternoon we fell in with a small prize to the squadron in the_Chesapeake_, a dismantled schooner, manned by a prize crew of amidshipman and six men. She had a signal of distress, an Americanensign, with the union down, hoisted on the jury-mast, across whichthere was rigged a solitary lug-sail. It was blowing so hard that wehad some difficulty in boarding her, when we found she was a Baltimorepilot-boat-built schooner, of about 70 tons burden, laden with flour, and bound for Bermuda. But three days before, in a sudden squall, theyhad carried away both masts short by the board, and the only spar whichthey had been able to rig, was a spare topmast which they had jammedinto one of the pumps--fortunately she was as tight as a bottle--andstayed it the best way they could. The captain offered to take thelittle fellow who had charge of her, and his crew and cargo, on board, and then scuttle her; but no--all he wanted was a cask of water andsome biscuit; and having had a glass of grog, he trundled over the sideagain, and returned to his desolate command. However, he afterwardsbrought his prize safe into Bermuda. 

The weather still continued very rough, but we saw nothing until thesecond evening after this. The forenoon had been even more boisterousthan any of the preceding, and we were all fagged enough with "makesail, " and "shorten sail, " and "all hands, " the whole day through; andas the night fell, I found myself, for the fourth time, in the maintop. The men had just lain in from the maintopsail yard, when we heard thewatch called on deck, --"Starboard watch, ahoy!"--which was a cheerysound to us of the larboard, who were thus released from duty on deck, and allowed to go below. 

The men were scrambling down the weather shrouds, and I was preparingto follow them, when I jammed my left foot in the grating of the top, and capsized on my nose. I had been up nearly the whole of theprevious night, and on deck the whole of the day, and actively employedtoo, as during the greater part of it it blew a gale. I stooped downin some pain, to see what had bolted me to the grating; but I had nosooner extricated my foot, than, over-worked and over-fatigued as Iwas, I fell over in the soundest sleep that ever I have enjoyed beforeor since, the back of my neck resting on a coil of rope, so that myhead hung down within it. 

The rain all this time was beating on me, and I was drenched to theskin. I must have slept for four hours or so, when I was awakened by arough thump on the side from the stumbling foot of the captain of thetop, the word having been passed to shake a reef out of the topsails, the wind having rather suddenly gone down. It was done; and now broadawake, I determined not to be caught napping again, so I descended, andswung myself in on deck out of the main rigging, just as Mr. Treenailwas mustering the crew at eight bells. When I landed on thequarterdeck, there he stood abaft the binnacle, with the light shiningon his face, his glazed hat glancing, and the rain-drop sparkling atthe brim of it. He had noticed me the moment I descended. 

"Heyday, Master Cringle, you are surely out of your watch. Why, whatare you doing here, eh?"

I stepped up to him, and told him the truth, that, being overfatigued, I had fallen asleep in the top. 

"Well, well, boy, " said he, "never mind, go below, and turn in; if youdon't take your rest, you never will be a sailor. "

"But what do you see aloft?" glancing his eye upwards, and all the crewon deck, as I passed them, looked anxiously up also amongst therigging, as if wondering what I saw there, for I had been so chilled inmy snoose, that my neck, from resting in the cold on the coil of rope, had become stiffened and rigid to an intolerable degree; and although, when I first came on deck, I had, by a strong exertion, brought my_caput_ to its proper bearings, yet the moment I was dismissed by mysuperior officer, I for my own comfort was glad to conform to thecontraction of the muscle, whereby I once more strayed along the deck, _glowering_ up into the heavens, as if I had seen some wonderful sightthere. 

"What do you see aloft?" repeated Mr. Treenail, while the crew, greatlypuzzled, continued to follow my eyes, as they thought, and to stare upinto the rigging. 

"Why, sir, I have thereby got a stiff neck--that's all, sir. "

"Go and turn in at once, my good boy--make haste, now; tell our stewardto give you a glass of hot grog, and mind your hand that you don't getsick. "

I did as was desired, swallowed the grog, and turned in; but I couldnot have been in bed above an hour, when the drum beat to quarters, andI had once more to bundle out on the cold wet deck, where I found allexcitement. At the time I speak of, we had been beaten by theAmericans in several actions of single ships, and our disciplineimproved in proportion as we came to learn, by sad experience, that theenemy was not to be undervalued. I found that there was a ship insight, right ahead of us--apparently carrying all sail. A group ofofficers were on the forecastle with night-glasses, the whole crewbeing stationed in dark clusters round the guns at quarters. Severalof the American skippers were forward amongst us, and they were ofopinion that the chase was a man-of-war, although our own people seemedto doubt this. One of the skippers insisted that she was the _Hornet_, from the unusual shortness of her lower masts, and the immensesquareness of her yards. But the puzzle was, if it were the _Hornet_, why she did not shorten sail. Still this might be accounted for, byher either wishing to make out what we were before she engaged us, orshe might be clearing for action. At this moment a whole cloud ofstuddingsails were blown from the yards as if the booms had beencarrots; and to prove that the chase was keeping a bright look-out, sheimmediately kept away, and finally bore up dead before the wind, underthe impression, no doubt, that she would draw ahead of us, from hergear being entire, before we could rig out our light sails again. 

And so she did for a time, but at length we got within gunshot. TheAmerican masters were now ordered below, the hatches were clapped on, and the word passed to see all clear. Our shot was by this time flyingover and over her, and it was evident she was not a man-of-war. Wepeppered away--she could not even be a privateer; we were close underher lee quarter, and yet she had never fired a shot; and her largeswaggering Yankee ensign was now run up to the peak, only to be hauleddown the next moment. Hurrah! a large cotton-ship from Charlestown toBordeaux--prize to H. M. S. _Torch_!

She was taken possession of, and proved to be the _Natches_, of fourhundred tons burden, fully loaded with cotton. 

By the time we got the crew on board, and the second-lieutenant, with aprize crew of fifteen men, had taken charge, the weather began to louragain, nevertheless we took the prize in tow, and continued on ourvoyage for the next three days, without anything particular happening. It was the middle watch, and I was sound asleep, when I was startled bya violent jerking of my hammock, and a cry "that the brig was amongstthe breakers. " I ran on deck in my shirt, where I found all hands, anda scene of confusion such as I never had witnessed before. The galehad increased, yet the prize had not been cast off, and the consequencewas, that by some mismanagement or carelessness, the swag of the largeship had suddenly hove the brig in the wind, and taken the sails aback. We accordingly fetched stern way, and ran foul of the prize, and therewe were, in a heavy sea, with our stern grinding against thecotton-ship's high quarter. 

The mainboom, by the first rasp that took place after I came on deck, was broken short off, and nearly twelve feet of it hove right in overthe taffrail; the vessels then closed, and the next rub ground off theship's mizzen channel as clean as if it had been sawed away. Officersshouting, men swearing, rigging cracking, the vessels crashing andthumping together, I thought we were gone, when the first lieutenantseized his trumpet--"Silence, men; hold your tongues, you cowards, andmind the word of command!"

The effect was magical. --"Brace round the foreyard--round with it; setthe jib--that's it--fore-top-mast staysail--haul--never mind if thegale takes it out of the bolt-rope"--a thundering flap, and away itflew in truth down to leeward, like a puff of white smoke. --"Nevermind, men, the jib stands. Belay all that--down with the helm, now--don't you see she has stern way yet? Zounds! we shall be smashedto atoms if you don't mind your hands, you lubbers--main-topsail sheetslet fly--there she pays off, and has headway once more--that's it:right your helm, now--never mind his spanker-boom, the fore-stay willstand it: there--up with helm, sir--we have cleared him--hurrah!" Anda near thing it was too, but we soon had everything snug; and althoughthe gale continued without any intermission for ten days, at length weran in and anchored with our prize in Five-Fathom Hole, off theentrance to St. George's Harbour. 

It was lucky for us that we got to anchor at the time we did, for thatsame afternoon one of the most tremendous gales of wind from thewestward came on that I ever saw. Fortunately it was steady and didnot veer about, and having good ground-tackle down, we rode it out wellenough. The effect was very uncommon; the wind was howling over ourmast-heads, and amongst the cedar bushes on the cliffs above, while ondeck it was nearly calm, and there was very little swell, being aweather shore; but half a mile out at sea all was white foam, and thetumbling waves seemed to meet from north and south, leaving a space ofsmooth water under the lee of the island, shaped like the tail of acomet, tapering away, and gradually roughening and becoming morestormy, until the roaring billows once more owned allegiance to thegenius of the storm. 

There we rode, with three anchors ahead, in safety through the night;and next day, availing of a temporary lull, we ran up and anchored offthe Tanks. Three days after this, the American frigate _President_ wasbrought in by the Endymion and the rest of the squadron. 

I went on board, in common with every officer in the fleet, andcertainly I never saw a more superb vessel; her scantling was that of aseventy-four, and she appeared to have been fitted with great care. Igot a week's leave at this time, and, as I had letters to severalfamilies, I contrived to spend my time pleasantly enough. 

Bermuda, as all the world knows, is a cluster of islands in the middleof the Atlantic. There are Lord knows how many of them, but the beautyof the little straits and creeks which divide them no man can describewho has not seen them. The town of St. George's, for instance, looksas if the houses were cut out of chalk; and one evening the familywhere I was on a visit proceeded to the main island, Hamilton, toattend a ball there. We had to cross three ferries, although thedistance was not above nine miles, if so far. The 'Mudian women areunquestionably beautiful--so thought Thomas Moore, a tolerable judge, before me. By the by, touching this 'Mudian ball, it was a very gayaffair--the women pleasant and beautiful; but all the men, when theyspeak, or are spoken to, shut one eye and spit;--a lucid and succinctdescription of a community. 

The second day of my sojourn was fine--the first fine day since ourarrival--and with several young ladies of the family, I was prowlingthrough the cedar wood above St. George's, when a dark good-looking manpassed us; he was dressed in tight worsted net pantaloons and Hessianboots, and wore a blue frockcoat and two large epaulets, with richFrench bullion, and a round hat. On passing, he touched his hat withmuch grace, and in the evening I met him in society. It was CommodoreDecatur. He was very much a Frenchman in manner, or, I should rathersay, in look, for although very well bred, he, for one ingredient, byno means possessed a Frenchman's volubility; still, he was anexceedingly agreeable and very handsome man. 

The following day we spent in a pleasure cruise amongst the threehundred and sixty-five Islands, many of them not above an acre inextent--fancy an island of an acre in extent!--with a solitary house, asmall garden, a red-skinned family, a piggery, and all around cleardeep pellucid water. None of the islands, or islets, rise to any greatheight, but they all shoot precipitously out of the water, as if thewhole group had originally been one huge platform of rock, withnumberless grooves subsequently chiselled out in it by art. 

We had to wind our way amongst these manifold small channels for twohours, before we reached the gentleman's house where we had beeninvited to dine; at length, on turning a corner, with both lateen sailsdrawing beautifully, we ran bump on a shoal; there was no danger, andknowing that the 'Mudians were capital sailors, I sat still. Not soCaptain K-----, a round plump little _homo_, --"Shove her off, my boys, shove her off. " She would not move, and thereupon he, in a fever ofgallantry, jumped overboard up to the waist in full fig; and one of themen following his example, we were soon afloat. The ladies applauded, and the captain sat in his wet _breeks_ for the rest of the voyage, inall the consciousness of being considered a hero. Ducks and onions arethe grand staple of Bermuda, but there was a fearful dearth of both atthe time I speak of--a knot of young West India merchants, who, withheavy purses and large credits on England, had at this time domiciledthemselves in St. George's, to batten on the spoils of poor Jonathan, having monopolised all the good things of the place. I happened to beacquainted with one of them, and thereby had less reason to complain;but many a poor fellow, sent ashore on duty, had to put up with butLenten fare at the taverns. At length, having refitted, we sailed incompany with the Rayo frigate, with a convoy of three transports, freighted with a regiment for New Orleans, and several merchantmen forthe West Indies. 

"The still vexed Bermoothes"--I arrived at them in a gale of wind, andI sailed from them in a gale of wind. What the climate may be in thesummer I don't know; but during the time I was there it was one stormafter another. 

We sailed in the evening with the moon at full, and the wind atwest-north-west. So soon as we got from under the lee of the land thebreeze struck us, and it came on to blow like thunder, so that we wereall soon reduced to our storm staysails; and there we were, transports, merchantmen, and men-of-war, rising on the mountainous billows onemoment, and the next losing sight of everything but the water and skyin the deep trough of the sea, while the seething foam was blown overus in showers from the curling manes of the roaring waves. Butoverhead, all this while, it was as clear as a lovely winter moon couldmake it, and the stars shone brightly in the deep blue sky; there wasnot even a thin fleecy shred of cloud racking across the moon's disc. Oh, the glories of a northwester!

But the devil seize such glory! Glory, indeed! with a fleet oftransports, and a regiment of soldiers on board! Glory! why, I daresayfive hundred rank and file, at the fewest, were all cascading at oneand the same moment, --a thousand poor fellows turned outside in, likeso many pairs of old stockings. Any glory in that? But to proceed. 

Next morning the gale still continued, and when the day broke there wasthe frigate standing across our bows, rolling and pitching, as she toreher way through the boiling sea, under a close-reefed main-topsail andreefed foresail, with top-gallant-yards and royal masts, and everythingthat could be struck with safety in war-time, down on deck. There shelay, with her clear black bends, and bright white streak, and long tierof cannon on the maindeck, and the carronades on the quarterdeck andforecastle grinning through the ports in the black bulwarks, while thewhite hammocks, carefully covered by the hammock-cloths, crowned thedefences of the gallant frigate fore and aft, as she delved through thegreen surge--one minute rolling and rising on the curling white crestof a mountainous sea, amidst a hissing snowstorm of spray, with herbright copper glancing from stem to stern, and her scanty white canvasswelling aloft, and twenty feet of her keel forward occasionally hoveinto the air and clean out of the water, as if she had been a sea-birdrushing to take wing--and the next, sinking entirely out ofsight--hull, masts, and rigging--behind an intervening sea, that rosein hoarse thunder between us, threatening to overwhelm both us and her. As for the transports, the largest of the three had lost herforetopmast, and had bore up under her foresail; another was alsoscudding under a close-reefed fore-topsail; but the third orhead-quarter ship was still lying to windward, under her stormstaysails. None of the merchant vessels were to be seen, having beencompelled to bear up in the night, and to run before it under barepoles. 

At length, as the sun rose, we got before the wind, and it soonmoderated so far that we could carry reefed topsails and foresail; andaway we all bowled, with a clear, deep, cold, blue sky, and a brightsun overhead, and a stormy leaden-coloured ocean with whitishgreen-crested billows, below. The sea continued to go down, and thewind to slacken, until the afternoon, when the commodore made thesignal for the _Torch_ to send a boat's crew, the instant it could bedone with safety, on board the dismasted ship to assist in repairingdamages and in getting up a jury-foretopmast. 

The damaged ship was at this time on our weather-quarter; weaccordingly handed the fore-topsail, and presently she was alongside. We hailed her, that we intended to send a boat on board, and desiredher to heave-to, as we did, and presently she rounded to under our lee. One of the quarter-boats was manned, with three of the carpenter'screw, and six good men over and above her complement; but it was noeasy matter to get on board of her, let me tell you, after she had beenlowered, carefully watching the rolls, with four hands in. The momentshe touched the water, the tackles were cleverly unhooked, and the restof us tumbled on board, shin leather growing scarce, when we shovedoff. With great difficulty, and not without wet jackets, we, thesupernumeraries, got on board, and the boat returned to the _Torch_. The evening when we landed in the lobster-box, as Jack loves todesignate a transport, was too far advanced for us to do anythingtowards refitting that night; and the confusion and uproar andnumberless abominations of the crowded craft, were irksome to a greaterdegree than I expected, after having been accustomed to the strict andorderly discipline of a man-of-war. The following forenoon the _Torch_was ordered by signal to chase in the south-east quarter, and, haulingout from the fleet, she was soon out of sight. 

THE MERCHANTMAN AND THE PIRATE

From "Hard Cash, " BY CHARLES READE

North Latitude 23 1/2, Longitude East 113; the time March of this sameyear; the wind southerly; the port Whampoa in the Canton River. Ships atanchor reared their tall masts, here and there; and the broad stream wasenlivened and colored by junks and boats of all sizes and vivid hues, propelled on the screw principle by a great scull at the stern, withprojecting handles for the crew to work; and at times a gorgeous mandarinboat, with two great glaring eyes set in the bows, came flying, rowedwith forty paddles by an armed crew, whose shields hung on the gunwaleand flashed fire in the sunbeams; the mandarin, in conical and buttonedhat, sitting on the top of his cabin calmly smoking Paradise, aliasopium, while his gong boomed and his boat flew fourteen miles an hour, and all things scuttled out of his celestial way. And there, lookingmajestically down on all these water ants, the huge _Agra_, cynosure ofso many loving eyes and loving hearts in England, lay at her moorings;homeward bound. 

Her tea not being yet on board, the ship's hull floated high as a castle, and to the subtle, intellectual, doll-faced, bolus-eyed people, thatsculled to and fro, busy as bees, though looking forked mushrooms, shesounded like a vast musical shell: for a lusty harmony of many mellowvoices vibrated in her great cavities, and made the air ring cheerilyaround her. The vocalists were the Cyclops, to judge by the tremendousthumps that kept clean time to their sturdy tune. Yet it was but humanlabor, so heavy and so knowing, that it had called in music to help. Itwas the third mate and his gang completing his floor to receive thecoming tea chests. Yesterday he had stowed his dunnage, many hundredbundles of light flexible canes from Sumatra and Malacca; on these he hadlaid tons of rough saltpetre, in 200 lb. Gunny-bags: and was now mashingit to music, bags and all. His gang of fifteen, naked to the waist, stood in line, with huge wooden beetles, called commanders, and liftedthem high and brought them down on the nitre in cadence with truenautical power and unison, singing as follows, with ponderous bump on thelast note in each bar:--

[Illustration: Song sung by labor gang. ]

And so up to fifteen, when the stave was concluded with a shrill "Spell, oh!" and the gang relieved streaming with perspiration. When thesaltpetre was well mashed, they rolled ton waterbutts on it, till thefloor was like a billiard table. A fleet of chop boats then began toarrive, so many per day, with the tea chests. Mr. Grey proceeded to laythe first tier on his saltpetre floor, and then built the chests, tierupon tier, beginning at the sides, and leaving in the middle a lanesomewhat narrower than a tea chest. Then he applied a screw jack to thechests on both sides, and so enlarged his central aperture, and forcedthe remaining tea chests in; and behold the enormous cargo packed astight as ever shopkeeper packed a box--19, 806 chests, 60 half chests, 50quarter chests. 

While Mr. Grey was contemplating his work with singular satisfaction, asmall boat from Canton came alongside, and Mr. Tickell, midshipman, ranup the side, skipped on the quarter-deck, saluted it first, and then thefirst mate; and gave him a line from the captain, desiring him to takethe ship down to Second Bar--for her water--at the turn of the tide. 

Two hours after receipt of this order the ship swung to the ebb. Instantly Mr. Sharpe unmoored, and the _Agra_ began her famous voyage, with her head at right angles to her course; for the wind being foul, allSharpe could do was to set his topsails, driver, and jib, and keep her inthe tide way, and clear of the numerous craft, by backing or filling asthe case required; which he did with considerable dexterity, making thesails steer the helm for the nonce: he crossed the Bar at sunset, andbrought to with the best bower anchor in five fathoms and a half. Herethey began to take in their water, and on the fifth day the six-oared gigwas ordered up to Canton for the captain. The next afternoon he passedthe ship in her, going down the river, to Lin Tin, to board the Chineseadmiral for his chop, or permission to leave China. All night the _Agra_showed three lights at her mizzen peak for him, and kept a sharp lookout. But he did not come: he was having a very serious talk with the Chineseadmiral; at daybreak, however, the gig was reported in sight: Sharpe toldone of the midshipmen to call the boatswain and man the side. Soon thegig ran alongside; two of the ship's boys jumped like monkeys over thebulwarks, lighting, one on the main channels, the other on the mid-shipport, and put the side ropes assiduously in the captain's hands; hebestowed a slight paternal smile on them, the first the imps had everreceived from an officer, and went lightly up the sides. The moment hisfoot touched the deck, the boatswain gave a frightful shrill whistle; themen at the sides uncovered, the captain saluted the quarter-deck, and allthe officers saluted him, which he returned, and stepping for a moment tothe weather side of his deck, gave the loud command, "All hands heaveanchor. " He then directed Mr. Sharpe to get what sail he could on theship, the wind being now westerly, and dived into his cabin. 

The boatswain piped three shrill pipes, and "All hands up anchor" wasthrice repeated forward, followed by private admonitions, "Rouse andbitt!" "Show a leg!" etc. , and up tumbled the crew with "homeward bound"written on their tanned faces. 

(Pipe. ) "Up all hammocks!"

In ten minutes the ninety and odd hammocks were all stowed neatly in thenetting, and covered with a snowy hammock cloth; and the hands wereactive, unbitting the cable, shipping the capstan bars, etc. 

"All ready below, sir, " cried a voice. 

"Man the bars, " returned Mr. Sharpe from the quarter-deck. "Play up, fifer. Heave away!"

Out broke the merry fife with a rhythmical tune, and tramp, tramp, trampwent a hundred and twenty feet round and round, and, with brawny chestspressed tight against the capstan bars, sixty fine fellows walked theship up to her anchor, drowning the fife at intervals with their sturdysong, as pat to their feet as an echo:

 Heave with a will ye jolly boys, Heave around: We're off from Chainee, jolly boys, Homeward bound. 

"Short stay apeak, sir, " roars the boatswain from forward. 

"Unship the bars. Way aloft. Loose sails. Let fall!"

The ship being now over her anchor, and the topsails set, the capstanbars were shipped again, the men all heaved with a will, the messengergrinned, the anchor was torn out of China with a mighty heave, and thenrun up with a luff tackle and secured; the ship's head cast to port:

"Up with a jib! man the topsail halyards! all hands make sail!" Roundshe came slow and majestically; the sails filled, and the good ship boreaway for England. 

She made the Bogue forts in three or four tacks, and there she had tocome to again for another chop, China being a place as hard to get intoas Heaven, and to get out of as--Chancery. At three P. M. She was atMacao, and hove to four miles from the land, to take in her passengers. 

A gun was fired from the forecastle. No boats came off. Sharpe began tofret: for the wind, though light, had now got to the N. W. , and they werewasting it. After a while the captain came on deck, and ordered all thecarronades to be scaled. The eight heavy reports bellowed the greatship's impatience across the water, and out pulled two boats with thepassengers. While they were coming, Dodd sent and ordered the gunner toload the carronades with shot, and secure and apron them. . . . 

The _Agra_ had already shown great sailing qualities: the log was hove atsundown and gave eleven knots; so that with a good breeze abaft fewfore-and-aft-rigged pirates could overhaul her. And this wind carriedher swiftly past one nest of them at all events; the Ladrone Isles. Atnine P. M. All the lights were ordered out. Mrs. Beresford had brought anovel on board, and refused to comply; the master-at-arms insisted; shethreatened him with the vengeance of the Company, the premier, and thenobility and gentry of the British realm. The master-at-arms, finding hehad no chance in argument, doused the glim--pitiable resource of a weakdisputant--then basely fled the rhetorical consequences. 

The northerly breeze died out, and light variable winds baffled the ship. It was the 6th April ere she passed the Macclesfield Bank in latitude 16. And now they sailed for many days out of sight of land; Dodd's chestexpanded: his main anxiety at this part of the voyage lay in the statecabin; of all the perils of the sea none shakes a sailor like fire. Heset a watch day and night on that spoiled child. 

On the 1st of May they passed the great Nantuna, and got among theBornese and Malay Islands: at which the captain's glass began tosweep the horizon again: and night and day at the dizzyforetop-gallant-masthead he perched an eye. 

They crossed the line in longitude 107, with a slight breeze, but soonfell into the Dolddrums. A dead calm, and nothing to do but killtime. . . . 

After lying a week like a dead log on the calm but heaving waters came afew light puffs in the upper air and inflated the topsails only: the shipcrawled southward, the crew whistling for wind. 

At last, one afternoon, it began to rain, and after the rain came a galefrom the eastward. The watchful skipper saw it purple the water towindward, and ordered the topsails to be reefed and the lee ports closed. This last order seemed an excess of precaution; but Dodd was not yetthoroughly acquainted with his ship's qualities: and the hard cash roundhis neck made him cautious. The lee ports were closed, all but one, andthat was lowered. Mr. Grey was working a problem in his cabin, andwanted a little light and a little air, so he just dropped his port; but, not to deviate from the spirit of his captain's instructions, he fasteneda tackle to it; that he might have mechanical force to close it withshould the ship lie over. 

Down came the gale with a whoo, and made all crack. The ship lay overpretty much, and the sea poured in at Mr. Grey's port. He applied hispurchase to close it. But though his tackle gave him the force of adozen hands, he might as well have tried to move a mountain: on thecontrary, the tremendous sea rushed in and burst the port wide open. Grey, after a vain struggle with its might, shrieked for help; downtumbled the nearest hands, and hauled on the tackle in vain. Destructionwas rushing on the ship, and on them first. But meantime the captain, with a shrewd guess at the general nature of the danger he could not see, had roared out, "Slack the main sheet!" The ship righted, and the portcame flying to, and terror-stricken men breathed hard, up to their waistsin water and floating boxes. Grey barred the unlucky port, and went aft, drenched in body, and wrecked in mind, to report his own fault. He foundthe captain looking grim as death. He told him, almost crying, what hehad done, and how he had miscalculated the power of the water. 

Dodd looked and saw his distress. "Let it be a lesson sir, " said he, sternly. "How many ships have been lost by this in fair weather, and nota man saved to tell how the craft was fooled away?"

"Captain, bid me fling myself over the side, and I'll do it. "

"Humph! I'm afraid I can't afford to lose a good officer for a faulthe--will--never--repeat. "

It blew hard all night and till twelve the next day. The _Agra_ showedher weak point: she rolled abominably. A dirty night came on. At eightbells Mr. Grey touched by Dodd's clemency, and brimful of zeal, reporteda light in Mrs. Beresford's cabin. It had been put out as usual by themaster-at-arms; but the refractory one had relighted it. 

"Go and take it away, " said Dodd. 

Soon screams were heard from the cabin. "Oh! mercy! mercy! I will notbe drowned in the dark. "

Dodd, who had kept clear of her so long, went down and tried to reassureher. 

"Oh, the tempest! the tempest!" she cried. "AND TO BE DROWNED IN THEDARK!"

"Tempest? It is blowing half a gale of wind; that is all. "

"Half a gale! Ah, that is the way you always talk to us ladies. Oh, pray give me my light, and send me a clergyman!"

Dodd took pity, and let her have her light, with a midshipman to watchit. He even made her a hypocritical promise that, should there be onegrain of danger, he would lie to; but said he must not make a foul windof a fair one for a few lurches. The _Agra_ broke plenty of glass andcrockery though with her fair wind and her lee lurches. 

Wind down at noon next day, and a dead calm. 

At two P. M. The weather cleared; the sun came out high in heaven'scentre; and a balmy breeze from the west. 

At six twenty-five, the grand orb set calm and red, and the sea wasgorgeous with miles and miles of great ruby dimples: it was the firstglowing smile of southern latitude. The night stole on so soft, soclear, so balmy, all were loth to close their eyes on it: the passengerslingered long on deck, watching the Great Bear dip, and the SouthernCross rise, and overhead a whole heaven of glorious stars most of us havenever seen, and never shall see in this world. No belching smokeobscured, no plunging paddles deafened; all was musical; the soft airsighing among the sails; the phosphorescent water bubbling from theship's bows; the murmurs from little knots of men on deck subdued by thegreat calm: home seemed near, all danger far; Peace ruled the sea, thesky, the heart: the ship, making a track of white fire on the deep, glided gently yet swiftly homeward, urged by snowy sails piled up likealabaster towers against a violet sky, out of which looked a thousandeyes of holy tranquil fire. So melted the sweet night away. 

Now carmine streaks tinged the eastern sky at the water's edge: and thatwater blushed; now the streaks turned orange, and the waves below themsparkled. Thence splashes of living gold flew and settled on the ship'swhite sails, the deck, and the faces; and with no more prologue, being sonear the line, up came majestically a huge, fiery, golden sun, and setthe sea flaming liquid topaz. 

Instantly the lookout at the foretop-gallant-masthead hailed the deckbelow. 

"STRANGE SAIL! RIGHT AHEAD!"

The strange sail was reported to Captain Dodd, then dressing in hiscabin. He came soon after on deck and hailed the lookout: "Which way isshe standing?"

"Can't say, sir. Can't see her move any. "

Dodd ordered the boatswain to pipe to breakfast; and taking his deckglass went lightly up to the foretop-gallant-mast-crosstrees. Thence, through the light haze of a glorious morning, he espied a long lowschooner, lateen-rigged, lying close under Point Leat, a small islandabout nine miles distant on the weather bow; and nearly in the _Agra's_course then approaching the Straits of Gaspar, 4 Latitude S. 

"She is hove to, " said Dodd, very gravely. 

At eight o'clock, the stranger lay about two miles to windward; and stillhove to. 

By this time all eyes were turned upon her, and half a dozen glasses. Everybody, except the captain, delivered an opinion. She was a Greeklying to for water: she was a Malay coming north with canes, and short ofhands: she was a pirate watching the Straits. 

The captain leaned silent and sombre with his arms on the bulwarks, andwatched the suspected craft. 

Mr. Fullalove joined the group, and levelled a powerful glass, of his ownconstruction. His inspection was long and minute, and, while the glasswas at his eye, Sharpe asked him half in a whisper, could he make outanything?

"Wal, " said he, "the varmint looks considerably snaky. " Then, withoutmoving his glass, he let drop a word at a time, as if the facts weretrickling into his telescope at the lens, and out at the sight. "One--two--four--seven, false ports. "

There was a momentary murmur among the officers all round. But Britishsailors are undemonstrative: Colonel Kenealy, strolling the deck with acigar, saw they were watching another ship with maritime curiosity, andmaking comments; but he discerned no particular emotion nor anxiety inwhat they said, nor in the grave low tones they said it in. Perhaps abrother seaman would though. 

The next observation that trickled out of Fullalove's tube wasthis: "I judge there are too few hands on deck, and toomany--white--eyeballs--glittering at the portholes. "

"Confound it!" muttered Bayliss, uneasily; "how can you see that?"

Fullalove replied only by quietly handing his glass to Dodd. Thecaptain, thus appealed to, glued his eye to the tube. 

"Well, sir; see the false ports, and the white eyebrows?" asked Sharpe, ironically. 

"I see this is the best glass I ever looked through, " said Dodd doggedly, without interrupting his inspection. 

"I think he is a Malay pirate, " said Mr. Grey. 

Sharpe took him up very quickly, and, indeed, angrily: "Nonsense! And ifhe is, he won't venture on a craft of this size. "

"Says the whale to the swordfish, " suggested Fullalove, with a littleguttural laugh. 

The captain, with the American glass at his eye, turned half round to theman at the wheel: "Starboard!"

"Starboard it is. "

"Steer South South East. "

"Ay, ay, sir. " And the ship's course was thus altered two points. 

This order lowered Dodd fifty per cent in Mr. Sharpe's estimation. Heheld his tongue as long as he could: but at last his surprise anddissatisfaction burst out of him, "Won't that bring him out on us?"

"Very likely, sir, " replied Dodd. 

"Begging your pardon, captain, would it not be wiser to keep our course, and show the blackguard we don't fear him?"

"When we _do_? Sharpe, he has made up his mind an hour ago whether tolie still, or bite; my changing my course two points won't change hismind; but it may make him declare it; and _I_ must know what he doesintend, before I run the ship into the narrows ahead. "

"Oh, I see, " said Sharpe, half convinced. 

The alteration in the _Agra's_ course produced no movement on the part ofthe mysterious schooner. She lay to under the land still, and with onlya few hands on deck, while the _Agra_ edged away from her and entered thestraits between Long Island and Point Leat, leaving the schooner abouttwo miles and a half distant to the N. W. 

Ah! The stranger's deck swarms black with men. 

His sham ports fell as if by magic, his guns grinned through the gapslike black teeth; his huge foresail rose and filled, and out he came inchase. 

The breeze was a kiss from Heaven, the sky a vaulted sapphire, the sea amillion dimples of liquid, lucid, gold. . . . 

The way the pirate dropped the mask, showed his black teeth, and bore upin chase, was terrible: so dilates and bounds the sudden tiger on hisunwary prey. There were stout hearts among the officers of the peaceful_Agra_; but danger in a new form shakes the brave; and this was theirfirst pirate: their dismay broke out in ejaculations not loud butdeep. . . . 

"Sharpe, " said Dodd, in a tone that conveyed no suspicion of thenewcomer, "set the royals, and flying jib. --Port!"

"Port it is, " cried the man at the helm. 

"Steer due South!" And, with these words in his mouth, Dodd dived to thegun deck. 

By this time elastic Sharpe had recovered the first shock; and the orderto crowd sail on the ship galled his pride and his manhood; he muttered, indignantly, "The white feather!" This eased his mind, and he obeyedorders briskly as ever. While he and his hands were setting every ragthe ship could carry on that tack, the other officers, having unluckilyno orders to execute, stood gloomy and helpless, with their eyes glued, by a sort of sombre fascination, on that coming fate. . . . 

Realize the situation, and the strange incongruity between the senses andthe mind in these poor fellows! The day had ripened its beauty; beneatha purple heaven shone, sparkled, and laughed a blue sea, in whose wavesthe tropical sun seemed to have fused his beams; and beneath that fair, sinless, peaceful sky, wafted by a balmy breeze over those smiling, transparent, golden waves, a bloodthirsty Pirate bore down on them with acrew of human tigers; and a lady babble babble babble babble babblebabble babbled in their quivering ears. 

But now the captain came bustling on deck, eyed the loftier sails, sawthey were drawing well, appointed four midshipmen in a staff to conveyhis orders; gave Bayliss charge of the carronades, Grey of the cutlasses, and directed Mr. Tickell to break the bad news gently to Mrs. Beresford, and to take her below to the orlop deck; ordered the purser to serve outbeef, biscuit, and grog to all hands, saying, "Men can't work on an emptystomach: and fighting is hard work;" then beckoned the officers to comeround him. "Gentlemen, " said he, confidentially, "in crowding sail onthis ship I had no hope of escaping that fellow on this tack, but I was, and am, most anxious to gain the open sea, where I can square my yardsand run for it, if I see a chance. At present I shall carry on till hecomes up within range: and then, to keep the Company's canvas from beingshot to rags, I shall shorten sail; and to save ship and cargo and allour lives, I shall fight while a plank of her swims. Better to be killedin hot blood than walk the plank in cold. "

The officers cheered faintly: the captain's dogged resolution stirred uptheirs. . . . 

"Shorten sail to the taupsles and jib, get the colors ready on thehalyards, and then send the men aft. . . . "

Sail was no sooner shortened, and the crew ranged, than the captain camebriskly on deck, saluted, jumped on a carronade, and stood erect. He wasnot the man to show the crew his forebodings. 

(Pipe. ) "Silence fore and aft. "

"My men, the schooner coming up on our weather quarter is a Portuguesepirate. His character is known; he scuttles all the ships he boards, dishonors the women, and murders the crew. We cracked on to get out ofthe narrows, and now we have shortened sail to fight this blackguard, andteach him not to molest a British ship. I promise, in the Company'sname, twenty pounds prize money to every man before the mast if we beathim off or out manoeuvre him; thirty if we sink him; and forty if we towhim astern into a friendly port. Eight guns are clear below, three onthe weather side, five on the lee; for, if he knows his business, he willcome up on the lee quarter: if he doesn't, that is no fault of yours normine. The muskets are all loaded, the cutlasses ground like razors--"

"Hurrah!"

"We have got women to defend--"

"Hurrah!"

"A good ship under our feet, the God of justice overhead, British heartsin our bosoms, and British colors flying--run 'em up!--over our heads. "(The ship's colors flew up to the fore, and the Union Jack to the mizzenpeak. ) "Now lads, I mean to fight this ship while a plank of her(stamping on the deck) swims beneath my foot and--WHAT DO YOU SAY?"

The reply was a fierce "hurrah!" from a hundred throats, so loud, sodeep, so full of volume, it made the ship vibrate, and rang in thecreeping-on pirate's ears. Fierce, but cunning, he saw mischief in thoseshortened sails, and that Union Jack, the terror of his tribe, rising toa British cheer; he lowered his mainsail, and crawled up on the weatherquarter. Arrived within a cable's length, he double reefed his foresailto reduce his rate of sailing nearly to that of the ship; and the nextmoment a tongue of flame, and then a gash of smoke, issued from his leebow, and the ball flew screaming like a seagull over the _Agra's_ mizzentop. He then put his helm up, and fired his other bow-chaser, and sentthe shot hissing and skipping on the water past the ship. This prologuemade the novices wince. Bayliss wanted to reply with a carronade; butDodd forbade him sternly, saying, "If we keep him aloof we are done for. "

The pirate drew nearer, and fired both guns in succession, hulled the_Agra_ amidships, and sent an eighteen pound ball through her foresail. Most of the faces were pale on the quarter-deck; it was very trying to beshot at, and hit, and make no return. The next double discharge sent oneshot smash through the stern cabin window, and splintered the bulwarkwith another, wounding a seaman slightly. 

"LIE DOWN FORWARD!" shouted Dodd, through his trumpet. "Bayliss, givehim a shot. "

The carronade was fired with a tremendous report, but no visible effect. The pirate crept nearer, steering in and out like a snake to avoid thecarronades, and firing those two heavy guns alternately into the devotedship. He hulled the _Agra_ now nearly every shot. 

The two available carronades replied noisily, and jumped as usual; theysent one thirty-two pound shot clean through the schooner's deck andside; but that was literally all they did worth speaking of. 

"Curse them!" cried Dodd; "load them with grape! They are not to betrusted with ball. And all my eighteen-pounders dumb! The coward won'tcome alongside and give them a chance. "

At the next discharge the pirate chipped the mizzen mast, and knocked asailor into dead pieces on the forecastle. Dodd put his helm down erethe smoke cleared, and got three carronades to bear, heavily laden withgrape. Several pirates fell, dead or wounded, on the crowded deck, andsome holes appeared in the foresail; this one interchange was quite infavor of the ship. 

But the lesson made the enemy more cautious; he crept nearer, but steeredso adroitly, now right astern, now on the quarter, that the ship couldseldom bring more than one carronade to bear, while he raked her fore andaft with grape and ball. 

In this alarming situation, Dodd kept as many of the men below aspossible; but, for all he could do four were killed and seven wounded. 

Fullalove's word came too true: it was the swordfish and the whale: itwas a fight of hammer and anvil; one hit, the other made a noise. Cautious and cruel, the pirate hung on the poor hulking creature'squarters and raked her at point blank distance. He made her pass abitter time. And her captain! To see the splintering hull, the partingshrouds, the shivered gear, and hear the shrieks and groans of hiswounded; and he unable to reply in kind! The sweat of agony poured downhis face. Oh, if he could but reach the open sea, and square his yards, and make a long chase of it; perhaps fall in with aid. Wincing undereach heavy blow, he crept doggedly, patiently on, towards that onevisible hope. 

At last, when the ship was cloven with shot, and peppered with grape, thechannel opened: in five minutes more he could put her dead before thewind. 

No. The pirate, on whose side luck had been from the first, got half abroadside to bear at long musket shot, killed a midshipman by Dodd'sside, cut away two of the _Agra's_ mizzen shrouds, wounded the gaff: andcut the jib stay; down fell the powerful sail into the water, and draggedacross the ship's forefoot, stopping her way to the open sea she pantedfor, the mates groaned; the crew cheered stoutly, as British tars do inany great disaster; the pirates yelled with ferocious triumph, like thedevils they looked. 

But most human events, even calamities, have two sides. The _Agra_ beingbrought almost to a standstill, the pirate forged ahead against his will, and the combat took a new and terrible form. The elephant gun popped, and the rifle cracked, in the _Agra's_ mizzen top, and the man at thepirate's helm jumped into the air and fell dead: both Theorists claimedhim. Then the three carronades peppered him hotly; and he hurled an ironshower back with fatal effect. Then at last the long 18-pounders on thegun-deck got a word in. The old Niler was not the man to miss a vesselalongside in a quiet sea; he sent two round shot clean through him; thethird splintered his bulwark, and swept across his deck. 

"His masts! fire at his masts!" roared Dodd to Monk, through his trumpet;he then got the jib clear, and made what sail he could without taking allthe hands from the guns. 

This kept the vessels nearly alongside a few minutes, and the fight washot as fire. The pirate now for the first time hoisted his flag. It wasblack as ink. His crew yelled as it rose: the Britons, instead ofquailing, cheered with fierce derision: the pirate's wild crew of yellowMalays, black chinless Papuans, and bronzed Portuguese, served their sideguns, 12-pounders, well and with ferocious cries; the white Britons, drunk with battle now, naked to the waist, grimed with powder, andspotted like leopards with blood, their own and their mates', repliedwith loud undaunted cheers, and deadly hail of grape from thequarterdeck; while the master gunner and his mates loading with arapidity the mixed races opposed could not rival, hulled the schoonerwell between wind and water, and then fired chain shot at her masts, asordered, and began to play the mischief with her shrouds and rigging. Meantime, Fullalove and Kenealy, aided by Vespasian, who loaded, werequietly butchering the pirate crew two a minute, and hoped to settle thequestion they were fighting for; smooth-bore _v. _ rifle: but unluckilyneither fired once without killing; so "there was nothing proven. "

The pirate, bold as he was, got sick of fair fighting first; he hoistedhis mainsail and drew rapidly ahead, with a slight bearing to windward, and dismounted a carronade and stove in the ship's quarter-boat, by wayof a parting kick. 

The men hurled a contemptuous cheer after him; they thought they hadbeaten him off. But Dodd knew better. He was but retiring a little wayto make a more deadly attack than ever: he would soon wear, and cross the_Agra's_ defenceless bows, to rake her fore and aft at pistol-shotdistance; or grapple, and board the enfeebled ship two hundred strong. 

Dodd flew to the helm, and with his own hands put it hard aweather, togive the deck guns one more chance, the last, of sinking or disabling the_Destroyer_. As the ship obeyed, and a deck gun bellowed below him, hesaw a vessel running out from Long Island, and coming swiftly up on hislee quarter. 

It was a schooner. Was she coming to his aid?

Horror! A black flag floated from her foremast head. 

While Dodd's eyes were staring almost out of his head at this death-blowto hope, Monk fired again; and just then a pale face came close toDodd's, and a solemn voice whispered in his ear: "Our ammunition isnearly done!"

Dodd seized Sharpe's hand convulsively, and pointed to the pirate'sconsort coming up to finish them; and said, with the calm of a braveman's despair, "Cutlasses! and die hard!"

At that moment the master gunner fired his last gun. It sent a chainshot on board the retiring pirate, took off a Portuguese head and spun itclean into the sea ever so far to windward, and cut the schooner'sforemast so nearly through that it trembled and nodded, and presentlysnapped with a loud crack, and came down like a broken tree, with theyard and sail; the latter overlapping the deck and burying itself, blackflag and all, in the sea; and there, in one moment, lay the _Destroyer_buffeting and wriggling--like a heron on the water with its long wingbroken--an utter cripple. 

The victorious crew raised a stunning cheer. 

"Silence!" roared Dodd, with his trumpet. "All hands make sail!"

He set his courses, bent a new jib, and stood out to windward closehauled, in hopes to make a good offing, and then put his ship dead beforethe wind, which was now rising to a stiff breeze. In doing this hecrossed the crippled pirate's bows, within eighty yards; and sore was thetemptation to rake him; but his ammunition being short, and his dangerbeing imminent from the other pirate, he had the self-command to resistthe great temptation. 

He hailed the mizzen top: "Can you two hinder them from firing that gun?"

"I rather think we can, " said Fullalove, "eh, colonel?" and tapped hislong rifle. 

The ship no sooner crossed the schooner's bows than a Malay ran forwardwith a linstock. Pop went the colonel's ready carbine, and the Malayfell over dead, and the linstock flew out of his hand. A tallPortuguese, with a movement of rage, snatched it up, and darted to thegun; the Yankee rifle cracked, but a moment too late. Bang! went thepirate's bow-chaser, and crashed into the _Agra's_ side, and passednearly through her. 

"Ye missed him! Ye missed him!" cried the rival theorist, joyfully. Hewas mistaken: the smoke cleared, and there was the pirate captain leaningwounded against the mainmast with a Yankee bullet in his shoulder, andhis crew uttering yells of dismay and vengeance. They jumped, and raged, and brandished their knives and made horrid gesticulations of revenge;and the white eyeballs of the Malays and Papuans glittered fiendishly;and the wounded captain raised his sound arm and had a signal hoisted tohis consort, and she bore up in chase, and jamming her fore lateen flatas a board, lay far nearer the wind than the _Agra_ could, and sailedthree feet to her two besides. On this superiority being made clear, thesituation of the merchant vessel, though not so utterly desperate asbefore Monk fired his lucky shot, became pitiable enough. If she ranbefore the wind, the fresh pirate would cut her off: if she lay towindward, she might postpone the inevitable and fatal collision with afoe as strong as that she had only escaped by a rare piece of luck; butthis would give the crippled pirate time to refit and unite to destroyher. Add to this the failing ammunition, and the thinned crew!

Dodd cast his eyes all around the horizon for help. 

The sea was blank. 

The bright sun was hidden now; drops of rain fell, and the wind wasbeginning to sing; and the sea to rise a little. 

"Gentlemen, " said he, "let us kneel down and pray for wisdom, in thissore strait. "

He and his officers kneeled on the quarter-deck. When they rose, Doddstood rapt about a minute; his great thoughtful eye saw no more theenemy, the sea, nor anything external; it was turned inward. Hisofficers looked at him in silence. 

"Sharpe, " said he, at last, "there must be a way out of them with such abreeze as this is now; if we could but see it. "

"Ay, _if_, " groaned Sharpe. 

Dodd mused again. 

"About ship!" said he, softly, like an absent man. 

"Ay, ay, sir!"

"Steer due north!" said he, still like one whose mind was elsewhere. 

While the ship was coming about, he gave minute orders to the mates andthe gunner, to ensure co-operation in the delicate and dangerousmanoeuvres that were sure to be on hand. 

The wind was W. N. W. : he was standing north: one pirate lay on his leebeam stopping a leak between wind and water, and hacking the deck clearof his broken masts and yards. The other fresh, and thirsting for theeasy prey, came up to weather on him and hang on his quarter, piratefashion. 

When they were distant about a cable's length, the fresh pirate, to meetthe ship's change of tactics, changed his own, luffed up, and gave theship a broadside, well aimed but not destructive, the guns being loadedwith ball. 

Dodd, instead of replying immediately, put his helm hard up and ran underthe pirate's stern, while he was jammed up in the wind, and with his fiveeighteen-pounders raked him fore and aft, then paying off, gave him threecarronades crammed with grape and canister; the almost simultaneousdischarge of eight guns made the ship tremble, and enveloped her in thicksmoke; loud shrieks and groans were heard from the schooner; the smokecleared; the pirate's mainsail hung on deck, his jib-boom was cut offlike a carrot and the sail struggling; his foresail looked lace, lanes ofdead and wounded lay still or writhing on his deck and his lee scuppersran blood into the sea. Dodd squared his yards and bore away. 

The ship rushed down the wind, leaving the schooner staggered and allabroad. But not for long; the pirate wore and fired his bow chasers atthe now flying _Agra_, split one of the carronades in two, and killed aLascar, and made a hole in the foresail; this done, he hoisted hismainsail again in a trice, sent his wounded below, flung his deadoverboard, to the horror of their foes, and came after the flying ship, yawning and firing his bow chasers. The ship was silent. She had noshot to throw away. Not only did she take these blows like a coward, butall signs of life disappeared on her, except two men at the wheel, andthe captain on the main gangway. 

Dodd had ordered the crew out of the rigging, armed them with cutlasses, and laid them flat on the forecastle. He also compelled Kenealy andFullalove to come down out of harm's way, no wiser on the smooth-borequestion than they went up. 

The great patient ship ran environed by her foes; one destroyer right inher course, another in her wake, following her with yells of vengeance, and pounding away at her--but no reply. 

Suddenly the yells of the pirates on both sides ceased, and there was amoment of dead silence on the sea. 

Yet nothing fresh had happened. 

Yes, this had happened: the pirates to windward, and the pirates toleeward, of the _Agra_, had found out, at one and the same moment, thatthe merchant captain they had lashed, and bullied, and tortured, was apatient but tremendous man. It was not only to rake the fresh schoonerhe had put his ship before the wind, but also by a double, daring, master-stroke to hurl his monster ship bodily on the other. Without aforesail she could never get out of his way. Her crew had stopped theleak, and cut away and unshipped the broken foremast, and were stepping anew one, when they saw the huge ship bearing down in full sail. Nothingeasier than to slip out of her way could they get the foresail to draw;but the time was short, the deadly intention manifest, the comingdestruction swift. After that solemn silence came a storm of cries andcurses, as their seamen went to work to fit the yard and raise the sail;while their fighting men seized their matchlocks and trained the guns. They were well commanded by an heroic able villian. Astern the consortthundered; but the _Agra's_ response was a dead silence more awful thanbroadsides. 

For then was seen with what majesty the enduring Anglo-Saxon fights. 

One of the indomitable race on the gangway, one at the foremast, two atthe wheel, conned and steered the great ship down on a hundredmatchlocks, and a grinning broadside, just as they would have conned andsteered her into a British harbor. 

"Starboard!" said Dodd, in a deep calm voice, with a motion of his hand. 

"Starboard it is. "

The pirate wriggled ahead a little. The man forward made a silent signalto Dodd. 

"Port!" said Dodd, quietly. 

"Port it is. "

But at this critical moment the pirate astern sent a mischievous shot, and knocked one of the men to atoms at the helm. 

Dodd waved his hand without a word, and another man rose from the deck, and took his place in silence, and laid his unshaking hand on the wheelstained with that man's warm blood whose place he took. 

The high ship was now scarce sixty yards distant: _she seemed to know_:she reared her lofty figurehead with great awful shoots into the air. 

But now the panting pirates got their new foresail hoisted with a joyfulshout: it drew, the schooner gathered way, and their furious consortclose on the _Agra's_ heels just then scourged her deck with grape. 

"Port!" said Dodd, calmly. 

"Port it is. "

The giant prow darted at the escaping pirate. That acre of coming canvastook the wind out of the swift schooner's foresail; it flapped: oh, thenshe was doomed! . . . CRASH! the Indiaman's cut-water in thick smoke beatin the schooner's broadside: down went her masts to leeward likefishing-rods whipping the water; there was a horrible shrieking yell;wild forms leaped off on the _Agra_, and were hacked to pieces almost erethey reached the deck--a surge, a chasm in the ear, filled with aninstant rush of engulfing waves, a long, awful, grating, grinding noise, never to be forgotten in this world, all along under the ship's keel--andthe fearful majestic monster passed on over the blank she had made, witha pale crew standing silent and awestruck on her deck; a cluster of wildheads and staring eyeballs bobbing like corks in her foaming wake, solerelic of the blotted-out _Destroyer_; and a wounded man staggering on thegangway, with hands uplifted and staring eyes. 

NARRATIVE OF THE MUTINY OF THE _BOUNTY_

From "Chamber's Miscellany, " ANONYMOUS

About the year 1786, the merchants and planters interested in the WestIndia Islands became anxious to introduce an exceedingly valuable plant, the bread-fruit tree, into these possessions, and as this could best bedone by a government expedition, a request was preferred to the crownaccordingly. The ministry at the time being favorable to the proposedundertaking, a vessel, named the _Bounty_, was selected to execute thedesired object. To the command of this ship Captain W. Bligh wasappointed, Aug. 16, 1787. The burden of the _Bounty_ was nearly twohundred and fifteen tons. The establishment of men and officers for theship was as follows:--1 lieutenant to command, 1 master, 1 boatswain, 1gunner, 1 carpenter, 1 surgeon, 2 master's mates, 2 midshipmen, 2quarter-masters, 1 quarter-master's mate, 1 boatswain's mate, 1 gunner'smate, 1 carpenter's mate, 1 carpenter's crew, 1 sailmaker, 1 armourer, 1corporal, 1 clerk and steward, 23 able seamen--total, 44. The additionof two men appointed to take care of the plants, made the whole ship'screw amount to 46. The ship was stored and victualled for eighteenmonths. 

Thus prepared, the _Bounty_ set sail on the 23d of December, and whatensued will be best told in the language of Captain Bligh. 

_Monday, 27th April 1789. _--The wind being northerly in the evening, westeered to the westward, to pass to the south of Tofoa. I gavedirections for this course to be continued during the night. The masterhad the first watch, the gunner the middle watch, and Mr. Christian themorning watch. 

_Tuesday, 25th. _--Just before sunrising, while I was yet asleep, Mr. Christian, with the master-at-arms, gunner's mate, and Thomas Burkitt, seaman, came into my cabin, and seizing me, tied my hands with a cordbehind my back, threatening me with instant death if I spoke or made theleast noise. I, however, called as loud as I could, in hopes ofassistance; but they had already secured the officers who were not oftheir party, by placing sentinels at their doors. There were three menat my cabin door, besides the four within; Christian had only a cutlassin his hand, the others had muskets and bayonets. I was pulled out ofbed, and forced on deck in my shirt, suffering great pain from thetightness with which they had tied my hands. I demanded the reason ofsuch violence, but received no other answer than abuse for not holding mytongue. The master, the gunner, the surgeon, Mr. Elphinstone, master'smate, and Nelson, were kept confined below, and the fore-hatchway wasguarded by sentinels. The boatswain and carpenter, and also the clerk, Mr. Samuel, were allowed to come upon deck. The boatswain was ordered tohoist the launch out, with a threat if he did not do it instantly to takecare of himself. 

When the boat was out, Mr. Hayward and Mr. Hallett, two of themidshipmen, and Mr. Samuel, were ordered into it. I demanded what theirintention was in giving this order, and endeavored to persuade the peoplenear me not to persist in such acts of violence; but it was to no effect. Christian changed the cutlass which he had in his hand for a bayonet thatwas brought to him, and holding me with a strong grip by the cord thattied my hands, he with many oaths threatened to kill me immediately if Iwould not be quiet; the villains round me had their pieces cocked andbayonets fixed. Particular people were called on to go into the boat, and were hurried over the side, whence I concluded that with these peopleI was to be set adrift. I therefore made another effort to bring about achange, but with no other effect than to be threatened with having mybrains blown out. 

The boatswain and seamen who were to go in the boat were allowed tocollect twine, canvas, lines, sails, cordage, an eight-and-twenty-galloncask of water, and Mr. Samuel got a hundred and fifty pounds of bread, with a small quantity of rum and wine, also a quadrant and compass; buthe was forbidden, on pain of death, to touch either map, ephemeris, bookof astronomical observations, sextant, time-keeper, or any of my surveysor drawings. 

The officers were next called upon deck, and forced over the side intothe boat, while I was kept apart from every one abaft the mizzen-mast. 

Isaac Martin, one of the guard over me, I saw had an inclination toassist me, and, as he fed me with shaddock (my lips being quite parched), we explained our wishes to each other by our looks; but this beingobserved, Martin was removed from me. He then attempted to leave theship, for which purpose he got into the boat; but with many threats theyobliged him to return. The armorer, Joseph Coleman, and two of thecarpenters, M'Intosh and Norman, were also kept contrary to theirinclination; and they begged of me, after I was astern in the boat, toremember that they declared that they had no hand in the transaction. Michael Byrne, I am told, likewise wanted to leave the ship. 

It appeared to me that Christian was some time in doubt whether he shouldkeep the carpenter or his mates; at length he determined on the latter, and the carpenter was ordered into the boat. He was permitted, but notwithout some opposition, to take his tool-chest. The officers and menbeing in the boat, they only waited for me, of which the master-at-armsinformed Christian; who then said, "Come, Captain Bligh, your officersand men are now in the boat, and you must go with them; if you attempt tomake the least resistance, you will instantly be put to death:" andwithout further ceremony, with a tribe of armed ruffians about me, I wasforced over the side, where they untied my hands. Being in the boat, wewere veered astern by a rope. A few pieces of pork were thrown to us, and some clothes, also four cutlasses; and it was then that the armorerand carpenters called out to me to remember that they had no hand in thetransaction. After having undergone a great deal of ridicule, and havingbeen kept some time to make sport for these unfeeling wretches, we wereat length cast adrift in the open ocean. 

I had eighteen persons with me in the boat. There remained on board the_Bounty_ twenty-five hands, the most able men of the ship's company. Having little or no wind, we rowed pretty fast towards Tofoa, which borenortheast about ten leagues from us. While the ship was in sight, shesteered to the west-north-west; but I considered this only as a feint;for when we were sent away, "Huzza for Otaheite!" was frequently heardamong the mutineers. 

It will very naturally be asked, What could be the reason for such arevolt? In answer to which, I can only conjecture that the mutineers hadflattered themselves with the hopes of a more happy life among theOtaheitans than they could possibly enjoy in England; and this, joined tosome female connections, most probably occasioned the whole transaction. The women at Otaheite are handsome, mild and cheerful in their mannersand conversation, possessed of great sensibility, and have sufficientdelicacy to make them admired and beloved. The chiefs were so muchattached to our people, that they rather encouraged their stay among themthan otherwise, and even made them promises of large possessions. Underthese, and many other attendant circumstances equally desirable, it isnow perhaps not so much to be wondered at, though scarcely possible tohave been foreseen, that a set of sailors, most of them void ofconnections, should be led away: especially when, in addition to suchpowerful inducements, they imagined it in their power to fix themselvesin the midst of plenty, on one of the finest islands in the world, wherethey need not labor, and where the allurements of dissipation are beyondanything that can be conceived. 

FATE OF THE CASTAWAYS

My first determination was to seek a supply of breadfruit and water atTofoa, and afterwards to sail for Tongataboo, and there risk asolicitation to Poulaho, the king, to equip our boat, and grant us asupply of water and provisions, so as to enable us to reach the EastIndies. The quantity of provisions I found in the boat was a hundred andfifty pounds of bread, sixteen pieces of pork, each piece weighing twopounds, six quarts of rum, six bottles of wine, with twenty-eight gallonsof water, and four empty barrecoes. 

We got to Tofoa when it was dark, but found the shore so steep and rockythat we could not land. We were obliged, therefore, to remain all nightin the boat, keeping it on the lee-side of the island, with two oars. Next day (Wednesday, April 29) we found a cove, where we landed. Iobserved the latitude of this cove to be 19 degrees 41 minutes south. This is the northwest part of Tofoa, the north-westernmost of theFriendly Islands. As I was resolved to spare the small stock ofprovisions we had in the boat, we endeavored to procure something towardsour support on the island itself. For two days we ranged through theisland in parties, seeking for water, and anything in the shape ofprovisions, subsisting, meanwhile, on morsels of what we had brought withus. The island at first seemed uninhabited, but on Friday, May 1, one ofour exploring parties met with two men, a woman, and a child: the mencame with them to the cove, and brought two cocoanut shells of water. Iendeavored to make friends of these people, and sent them away forbread-fruit, plantains, and water. Soon after, other natives came to us;and by noon there were thirty about us, from whom we obtained a smallsupply. I was much puzzled in what manner to account to the natives forthe loss of my ship: I knew they had too much sense to be amused with astory that the ship was to join me, when she was not in sight from thehills. I was at first doubtful whether I should tell the real fact, orsay that the ship had overset and sunk, and that we only were saved: thelatter appeared to be the most proper and advantageous for us, and Iaccordingly instructed my people, that we might all agree in one story. As I expected, inquiries were made about the ship, and they seemedreadily satisfied with our account; but there did not appear the leastsymptom of joy or sorrow in their faces, although I fancied I discoveredsome marks of surprise. Some of the natives were coming and going thewhole afternoon. 

Towards evening, I had the satisfaction to find our stock of provisionssomewhat increased; but the natives did not appear to have much to spare. What they brought was in such small quantities, that I had no reason tohope we should be able to procure from them sufficient to stock us forour voyage. At night, I served a quarter of a breadfruit and a cocoanutto each person for supper; and a good fire being made, all but the watchwent to sleep. 

_Saturday, 2d. _--As there was no certainty of our being supplied withwater by the natives, I sent a party among the gullies in the mountains, with empty shells, to see what could be found. In their absence thenatives came about us, as I expected, and in greater numbers; two canoesalso came in from round the north side of the island. In one of them wasan elderly chief, called Macca-ackavow. Soon after, some of our foragingparty returned, and with them came a good-looking chief, calledEgijeefow, or Eefow. 

Their affability was of short duration, for the natives began to increasein number, and I observed some symptoms of a design against us. Soonafter, they attempted to haul the boat on shore, on which I brandished mycutlass in a threatening manner, and spoke to Eefow to desire them todesist: which they did, and everything became quiet again. My people, who had been in the mountains, now returned with about three gallons ofwater. I kept buying up the little bread-fruit that was brought to us, and likewise some spears to arm my men with, having only four cutlasses, two of which were in the boat. As we had no means of improving oursituation, I told our people I would wait till sunset, by which time, perhaps, something might happen in our favor; for if we attempted to goat present, we must fight our way through, which we could do moreadvantageously at night; and that, in the meantime, we would endeavor toget off to the boat what we had bought. The beach was lined with thenatives, and we heard nothing but the knocking of stones together, whichthey had in each hand. I knew very well this was the sign of an attack. At noon I served a cocoanut and a bread-fruit to each person for dinner, and gave some to the chiefs, with whom I continued to appear intimate andfriendly. They frequently importuned me to sit down, but I as constantlyrefused; for it occurred both to Nelson and myself that they intended toseize hold of me, if I gave them such an opportunity. Keeping, therefore, constantly on our guard, we were suffered to eat ouruncomfortable meal in some quietness. 

After dinner, we began, by little and little, to get our things into theboat, which was a troublesome business, on account of the surf. Icarefully watched the motions of the natives, who continued to increasein number; and found that, instead of their intention being to leave us, fires were made, and places fixed on for their stay during the night. Consultations were also held among them, and everything assured me weshould be attacked. I sent orders to the master that, when he saw uscoming down, he should keep the boat close to the shore, that we mightthe more readily embark. 

The sun was near setting when I gave the word, on which every person whowas on shore with me boldly took up his proportion of things and carriedthem to the boat. The chiefs asked me if I would not stay with them allnight. I said "No, I never sleep out of my boat; but in the morning wewill again trade with you, and I shall remain till the weather ismoderate, that we may go, as we have agreed, to see Poulaho, atTongataboo. " Macca-ackavow then got up and said, "You will not sleep onshore, then, Mattie?" (which directly signifies, we will kill you); andhe left me. The onset was now preparing: every one, as I have describedbefore, kept knocking stones together; and Eefow quitted me. All but twoor three things were in the boat, when we walked down the beach, everyone in a silent kind of horror. We all got into the boat, except oneman, who, while I was getting on board, quitted it, and ran up the beachto cast the stern-fast off, notwithstanding the master and others calledto him to return, while they were hauling me out of the water. 

I was no sooner in the boat than the attack began by about two hundredmen; the unfortunate poor man who had run up the beach was knocked down, and the stones flew like a shower of shot. Many Indians got hold of thestern rope, and were near hauling the boat on shore, which they wouldcertainly have effected, if I had not had a knife in my pocket, withwhich I cut the rope. We then hauled off to the grapnel, every one beingmore or less hurt. At this time I saw five of the natives about the poorman they had killed, and two of them were beating him about the head withstones in their hands. 

We had no time to reflect, for, to my surprise, they filled their canoeswith stones, and twelve men came off after us to renew the attack; whichthey did so effectually, as to nearly disable us all. We were obliged tosustain the attack without being able to return it, except with suchstones as lodged in the boat. I adopted the expedient of throwingoverboard some clothes, which, as I expected, they stopped to pick up;and as it was by this time almost dark, they gave over the attack, andreturned towards the shore, leaving us to reflect on our unhappysituation. 

The poor man killed by the natives was John Norton: this was his secondvoyage with me as a quarter-master, and his worthy character made melament his loss very much. He has left an aged parent, I am told, whomhe supported. 

We set our sails, and steered along shore by the west side of the islandof Tofoa, the wind blowing fresh from the eastward. My mind was employedin considering what was best to be done, when I was solicited by allhands to take them towards home; and when I told them that no hopes ofrelief for us remained, except what might be found at New Holland, till Icame to Timor, a distance of full twelve hundred leagues, where there wasa Dutch settlement, but in what part of the Island I knew not, they allagreed to live on one ounce of bread and a quarter of a pint of water perday. Therefore, after examining our stock of provisions, andrecommending to them, in the most solemn manner, not to depart from theirpromise, we bore away across a sea where the navigation is but littleknown, in a small boat, twenty-three feet long from stem to stern, deepladen with eighteen men. I was happy, however, to see that every oneseemed better satisfied with our situation than myself. 

Our stock of provisions consisted of about one hundred and fifty poundsof bread, twenty-eight gallons of water, twenty pounds of pork, threebottles of wine, and five quarts of rum. The difference between this andthe quantity we had on leaving the ship was principally owing to our lossin the bustle and confusion of the attack. A few cocoanuts were in theboat, and some bread-fruit, but the latter was trampled to pieces. 

_Sunday, 3d. _--At daybreak the gale increased; the sun rose very fieryand red--a sure indication of a severe gale of wind. At eight it blew aviolent storm, and the sea ran very high, so that between the seas thesail was becalmed, and when on the top of the sea, it was too much tohave set; but we could not venture to take in the sail, for we were invery imminent danger and distress, the sea curling over the stern of theboat, which obliged us to bail with all our might. A situation moredistressing has perhaps seldom been experienced. 

Our bread was in bags, and in danger of being spoiled by the wet: to bestarved to death was inevitable, if this could not be prevented. Itherefore began to examine what clothes there were in the boat, and whatother things could be spared; and having determined that only two suitsshould be kept for each person, the rest was thrown overboard, with somerope and spare sails, which lightened the boat considerably, and we hadmore room to bail the water out. 

Fortunately the carpenter had a good chest in the boat, in which wesecured the bread the first favorable moment. His tool-chest also wascleared, and the tools stowed in the bottom of the boat, so that thisbecame a second convenience. 

I served a teaspoonful of rum to each person (for we were very wet andcold), with a quarter of a bread-fruit, which was scarce eatable, fordinner. Our engagement was now strictly to be carried into execution, and I was fully determined to make our provisions last eight weeks, letthe daily proportion be ever so small. 

_Monday, 4th. _--At daylight our limbs were so benumbed, that we couldscarcely find the use of them. At this time I served a teaspoonful ofrum to each person, from which we all found great benefit. Just beforenoon, we discovered a small flat island, of a moderate height, bearingwest-south-west four or five leagues. I observed our latitude to be 18degrees 58 minutes south; our longitude was, by account, 3 degrees 4minutes west from the island of Tofoa, having made a north 72 degreeswest course, distance ninety-five miles, since yesterday noon, I dividedfive small cocoanuts for our dinner, and every one was satisfied. Duringthe rest of that day we discovered ten or twelve other islands, none ofwhich we approached. At night I served a few broken pieces of breadfruitfor supper, and performed prayers. 

_Tuesday, 5th. _--The night having been fair, we awoke after a tolerablerest, and contentedly breakfasted on a few pieces of yams that were foundin the boat. After breakfast we examined our bread, a great deal ofwhich was damaged and rotten; this, nevertheless, we were glad to keepfor use. We passed two islands in the course of the day. For dinner Iserved some of the damaged bread, and a quarter of a pint of water. 

_Wednesday, 6th. _--We still kept our course in the direction of the Northof New Holland, passing numerous islands of various sizes, at none ofwhich I ventured to land. Our allowance for the day was a quarter of apint of cocoanut milk, and the meat, which did not exceed two ounces toeach person. It was received very contentedly, but we suffered greatdrought. To our great joy we hooked a fish, but we were miserablydisappointed by its being lost in trying to get it into the boat. 

As our lodgings were very miserable, and confined for want of room, Iendeavored to remedy the latter defect by putting ourselves at watch andwatch; so that one-half always sat up while the other lay down on theboat's bottom, or upon a chest, with nothing to cover us but the heavens. Our limbs were dreadfully cramped, for we could not stretch them out; andthe nights were so cold, and we so constantly wet, that after a fewhours' sleep, we could scarcely move. 

_Thursday, 7th. _--Being very wet and cold, I served a spoonful of rum anda morsel of bread for breakfast. We still kept sailing among theislands, from one of which two large canoes put out in chase of us; butwe left them behind. Whether these canoes had any hostile intentionagainst us must remain a doubt: perhaps we might have benefited by anintercourse with them; but, in our defenceless situation, to have madethe experiment would have been risking too much. 

I imagine these to be the islands called Feejee, as their extent, direction, and distance from the Friendly Islands answer to thedescription given of them by those islanders. Heavy rain came on at fouro'clock, when every person did their utmost to catch some water, and weincreased our stock to thirty-four gallons, besides quenching our thirstfor the first time since we had been at sea; but an attendant consequencemade us pass the night very miserably, for, being extremely wet, andhaving no dry things to shift or cover us, we experienced cold shiveringsscarcely to be conceived. Most fortunately for us, the forenoon, Friday8th, turned out fair, and we stripped and dried our clothes. Theallowance I issued to-day was an ounce and a half of pork, a teaspoonfulof rum, half a pint of cocoanut milk, and an ounce of bread. The rum, though so small in quantity, was of the greatest service. A fishing-linewas generally towing from the stern of the boat, but though we saw greatnumbers of fish, we could never catch one. 

In the afternoon we cleaned out the boat, and it employed us till sunsetto get everything dry and in order. Hitherto I had issued the allowanceby guess, but I now made a pair of scales with two cocoanut shells, andhaving accidentally some pistol-balls in the boat, twenty-five of whichweighed one pound, or sixteen ounces, I adopted one ball as theproportion of weight that each person should receive of bread at thetimes I served it. I also amused all hands with describing the situationof New Guinea and New Holland, and gave them every information in mypower, that, in case any accident happened to me, those who survivedmight have some idea of what they were about, and be able to find theirway to Timor, which at present they knew nothing of more than the name, and some not even that. At night I served a quarter of a pint of waterand half an ounce of bread for supper. 

_Saturday, 9th. _--About nine in the evening the clouds began to gather, and we had a prodigious fall of rain, with severe thunder and lightning. By midnight we caught about twenty gallons of water. Being miserably wetand cold, I served to the people a teaspoonful of rum each, to enablethem to bear with their distressed situation. The weather continuedextremely bad, and the wind increased; we spent a very miserable night, without sleep, except such as could be got in the midst of rain. The daybrought no relief but its light. The sea broke over us so much, that twomen were constantly bailing; and we had no choice how to steer, beingobliged to keep before the waves, for fear of the boat filling. 

The allowance now regularly served to each person was 1-25th of a poundof bread, and a quarter of a pint of water, at eight in the morning, atnoon, and at sunset. To-day I gave about half an ounce of pork fordinner, which, though any moderate person would have considered only as amouthful, was divided into three or four. 

All Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the wetweather continued, with heavy seas and squalls. As there was no prospectof getting our clothes dried, my plan was to make every one strip, andwring them through the salt water, by which means they received a warmththat, while wet with rain, they could not have. We were constantlyshipping seas and bailing, and were very wet and cold during the night. The sight of the islands which we were always passing served only toincrease the misery of our situation. We were very little better thanstarving, with plenty in view; yet to attempt procuring any relief wasattended with so much danger, that prolonging of life, even in the midstof misery, was thought preferable, while there remained hopes of beingable to surmount our hardships. For my own part, I consider the generalrun of cloudy weather to be a blessing of Providence. Hot weather wouldhave caused us to have died with thirst, and probably being so constantlycovered with rain or sea protected us from that dreadful calamity. 

_Saturday, 16th. _--The sun breaking out through the clouds gave us hopesof drying our wet clothes; but the sunshine was of short duration. Wehad strong breezes at south-east by south, and dark gloomy weather, withstorms of thunder, lightning, and rain. The night was truly horrible, and not a star to be seen, so that our steerage was uncertain. 

_Sunday, 17th. _--At dawn of day I found every person complaining, andsome of them solicited extra allowance, which I positively refused. Oursituation was miserable; always wet, and suffering extreme cold duringthe night, without the least shelter from the weather. Being constantlyobliged to bail, to keep the boat from filling, was perhaps not to bereckoned an evil as it gave us exercise. 

The little rum we had was of great service. When our nights wereparticularly distressing, I generally served a teaspoonful or two to eachperson; and it was always joyful tidings when they heard of my intentions. 

The night was dark and dismal, the sea constantly breaking over us, andnothing but the wind and waves to direct our steerage. It was myintention, if possible, to make to New Holland, to the southwest ofEndeavor Straits, being sensible that it was necessary to preserve such asituation as would make a southerly wind a fair one; that we might rangealong the reefs till an opening should be found into smooth water, and wethe sooner be able to pick up some refreshments. 

Monday and Tuesday were terrible days, heavy rain with lightning. Wewere always bailing. On Wednesday the 20th, at dawn of day, some of mypeople seemed half dead. Our appearance was horrible, and I could lookno way but I caught the eye of some one in distress. Extreme hunger wasnow too evident; but no one suffered from thirst, nor had we muchinclination to drink--that desire, perhaps, being satisfied through theskin. The little sleep we got was in the midst of water, and weconstantly awoke with severe cramps and pains in our bones. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we were in the same distressed condition, and I began to fear that such another night or two would put an end tous. On Saturday, however, the wind moderated in the evening, and theweather looked much better, which rejoiced all hands, so that they atetheir scanty allowance with more satisfaction than for some time past. The night also was fair; but being always wet with the sea, we sufferedmuch from the cold. 

_Sunday, 24th. _--A fine morning, I had the pleasure to see produce somecheerful countenances; and the first time, for fifteen days past, weexperienced comfort from the warmth of the sun. We stripped, and hungour clothes up to dry, which were by this time become so threadbare, thatthey would not keep out either wet or cold. 

This afternoon we had many birds about us which are never seen far fromland, such as boobies and noddies. As the sea began to run fair, and weshipped but little water, I took the opportunity to examine into thestate of our bread, and found that, according to the present mode ofissuing, there was a sufficient quantity remaining for twenty-nine days'allowance, by which time I hoped we should be able to reach Timor; but asthis was very uncertain, and it was possible that, after all, we might beobliged to go to Java, I determined to proportion the allowance so as tomake our stock hold out six weeks. I was apprehensive that this would beill received, and that it would require my utmost resolution to enforceit; for small as the quantity was which I intended to take away for ourfuture good, yet it might appear to my people like robbing them of life;and some, who were less patient than their companions, I expected wouldvery ill brook it. However, on my representing the necessity of guardingagainst delays that might be occasioned in our voyage by contrary windsor other causes, and promising to enlarge upon the allowance as we goton, they cheerfully agreed to my proposal. It was accordingly settledthat every person should receive 1-25th of a pound of bread forbreakfast, and the same quantity for dinner; so that, by omitting theproportion for supper, we had forty-three days' allowance. 

_Monday, 25th. _--At noon some noddies came so near to us, that one ofthem was caught by hand. This bird was about the size of a small pigeon. I divided it, with its entrails, into eighteen portions and by awell-known method at sea, of "Who shall have this?" [1] it wasdistributed, with the allowance of bread and water for dinner, and ateup, bones and all, with salt water for sauce. I observed the latitude 13degrees 32 minutes south; longitude made 35 degrees 19 minutes west, course north 89 degrees west, distance one hundred and eight miles. 

In the evening, several boobies flying very near to us, we had the goodfortune to catch one of them. This bird is as large as a duck. Idirected the bird to be killed for supper, and the blood to be given tothree of the people who were most distressed for want of food. The body, with the entrails, beak, and feet, I divided into eighteen shares, and, with an allowance of bread, which I made a merit of granting, we made agood supper, compared with our usual fare. 

Sailing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I at length became satisfiedthat we were approaching New Holland. This was actually the case; andafter passing the reefs which bound that part of the coast, we foundourselves in smooth water. Two islands lay about four miles to the westby north, and appeared eligible for a resting-place, if for nothing more;but on our approach to the nearest island, it proved to be only a heap ofstones, and its size too inconsiderable to shelter the boat. Wetherefore proceeded to the next, which was close to it, and towards themain. We landed to examine if there were any signs of the natives beingnear us: we saw some old fireplaces, but nothing to make me apprehendthat this would be an unsafe situation for the night. Every one wasanxious to find something to eat and it was soon discovered that therewere oysters on these rocks, for the tide was out; but it was nearlydark, and only a few could be gathered. I determined, therefore, to waittill the morning, when I should know better how to proceed. 

_Friday, 29th. _--As there were no appearances to make me imagine that anyof the natives were near us, I sent out parties in search of supplies, while others of the people were putting the boat in order. The partiesreturned, highly rejoiced at having found plenty of oysters and freshwater. I had also made a fire by the help of a small magnifying glass;and, what was still more fortunate, we found among a few things which hadbeen thrown into the boat, and saved, a piece of brimstone and atinder-box, so that I secured fire for the future. 

One of the people had been so provident as to bring away with him fromthe ship a copper pot: by being in possession of this article, we wereenabled to make a proper use of the supply we now obtained; for, with amixture of bread, and a little pork, we made a stew that might have beenrelished by people of far more delicate appetites, and of which eachperson received a full pint. The general complaints of disease among uswere a dizziness in the head, great weakness of the joints, and violenttenesmus. 

The oysters which we found grew so fast to the rocks, that it was withdifficulty they could be broken off, and at length we discovered it to bethe most expeditious way to open them where they were fixed. They wereof a good size, and well tasted. To add to this happy circumstance, inthe hollow of the land there grew some wire-grass, which indicated amoist situation. On forcing a stick about three feet long into theground, we found water, and with little trouble dug a well, whichproduced as much as our necessities required. 

As the day was the anniversary of the restoration of King Charles II. , Inamed the island Restoration Island. Our short stay there, with thesupplies which it afforded us, made a visible alteration for the betterin our appearance. Next day, Saturday the 30th, at four o'clock, we werepreparing to embark, when about twenty of the natives appeared, runningand hallooing to us, on the opposite shore. They were each armed with aspear or lance, and a short weapon which they carried in their left hand. They made signs for us to come to them, but I thought it prudent to makethe best of our way. They were naked, and apparently black, and theirhair or wool bushy and short. 

_Sunday, 31st. _--Many small islands were in sight to the northeast. Welanded at one of a good height, bearing north one-half west. The shorewas rocky, but the water was smooth, and we landed without difficulty. Isent two parties out, one to the northward, and the other to thesouthward, to seek for supplies, and others I ordered to stay by theboat. On this occasion fatigue and weakness so far got the better oftheir sense of duty, that some of the people expressed their discontentat having worked harder than their companions, and declared that theywould rather be without their dinner than go in search of it. Oneperson, in particular, went so far as to tell me, with a mutinous look, that he was as good a man as myself. It was not possible for me to judgewhere this might have an end, if not stopped in time; therefore, toprevent such disputes in future, I determined either to preserve mycommand, or die in the attempt; and seizing a cutlass, I ordered him totake hold of another and defend himself, on which he called out that Iwas going to kill him, and immediately made concessions. I did not allowthis to interfere further with the harmony of the boat's crew andeverything soon became quiet. We here procured some oysters and clams, also some dog-fish caught in the holes of the rocks, and a supply ofwater. 

Leaving this island, which I named Sunday Island, we continued our coursetowards Endeavor Straits. During our voyage Nelson became very ill, butgradually recovered. Next day we landed at another island, to see whatwe could get. There were proofs that the island was occasionally visitedby natives from New Holland. Encamping on the shore, I sent out oneparty to watch for turtle, and another to try to catch birds. Aboutmidnight the bird party returned, with only twelve noddies, birds which Ihave already described to be about the size of pigeons; but if it had notbeen for the folly and obstinacy of one of the party, who separated fromthe other two, and disturbed the birds, they might have caught a greatnumber. I was so much provoked at my plans being thus defeated, that Igave this offender a good beating. This man afterwards confessed that, wandering away from his companions, he had eaten nine birds raw. Ourturtling party had no success. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we still kept our course northwest, touching at anisland or two for oysters and clams. We had now been six days on thecoast of New Holland, and but for the refreshment which our visit to itsshore afforded us, it is all but certain that we must have perished. Now, however, it became clear that we were leaving it behind, and werecommencing our adventurous voyage through the open sea to Timor. 

On Wednesday, June 3rd, at eight o'clock in the evening, we once morelaunched into the open ocean. Miserable as our situation was in everyrespect, I was secretly surprised to see that it did not appear to affectany one so strongly as myself. I encouraged every one with hopes thateight or ten days would bring us to a land of safety; and after prayingto God for a continuance of His most gracious protection, I served anallowance of water for supper, and directed our course to thewest-south-west, to counteract the southerly winds in case they shouldblow strong. For six days our voyage continued; a dreary repetition ofthose sufferings which we had experienced before reaching New Holland. In the course of the night we were constantly wet with the sea, andexposed to cold and shiverings; and in the daytime we had no addition toour scanty allowance, save a booby and a small dolphin that we caught, the former on Friday the 5th, and the latter on Monday the 8th. Many ofus were ill, and the men complained heavily. On Wednesday the 10th, after a very comfortless night, there was a visible alteration for theworse in many of the people, which gave me great apprehensions. Anextreme weakness, swelled legs, hollow and ghastly countenances, a morethan common inclination to sleep, with an apparent debility ofunderstanding, seemed to me the melancholy presages of an approachingdissolution. 

_Thursday, 11th. _--Every one received the customary allowance of breadand water, and an extra allowance of water was given to those who weremost in need. At noon I observed in latitude 9 degrees 41 minutes south;course south 77 degrees west, distance 109 miles; longitude made 13degrees 49 minutes west. I had little doubt of having now passed themeridian of the eastern part of Timor, which is laid down in 128 degreeseast. This diffused universal joy and satisfaction. 

_Friday, 12th. _--At three in the morning, with an excess of joy, wediscovered Timor bearing from west-south-west to west-north-west, and Ihauled on a wind to the north-north-east till daylight, when the landbore from south-west by south to north-east by north; our distance fromthe shore two leagues. It is not possible for me to describe thepleasure which the blessing of the sight of this land diffused among us. It appeared scarcely credible to ourselves that, in an open boat, and sopoorly provided, we should have been able to reach the coast of Timor inforty-one days after leaving Tofoa, having in that time run, by our log, a distance of 3, 618 miles and that, notwithstanding our extreme distress, no one should have perished in the voyage. 

I have already mentioned that I knew not where the Dutch settlement wassituated, but I had a faint idea that it was at the south-west part ofthe island. I therefore, after daylight, bore away along shore to thesouth-south-west, which I was the more readily induced to do, as the windwould not suffer us to go towards the north-east without great loss oftime. 

We coasted along the island in the direction in which I conceived theDutch settlement to lie, and next day, about two o'clock, I came to agrapnel in a small sandy bay, where we saw a hut, a dog, and some cattle. Here I learned that the Dutch governor resided at a place called Coupang, which was some distance to the north-east. I made signs for one of theIndians who came to the beach to go in the boat and show us the way toCoupang, intimating that I would pay him for his trouble; the man readilycomplied, and came into the boat. The Indians, who were of a dark tawnycolor, brought us a few pieces of dried turtle and some ears of Indiancorn. This last was the most welcome, for the turtle was so hard, thatit could not be eaten without being first soaked in hot water. Theyoffered to bring us some other refreshments, if I would wait; but, as thepilot was willing, I determined to push on. It was about half-past fourwhen we sailed. 

_Sunday, 14th. _--At one o'clock in the morning, after the most happy andsweet sleep that ever men enjoyed, we weighed, and continued to keep theeast shore on board, in very smooth water. The report of two cannon thatwere fired gave new life to every one; and soon after, we discovered twosquare-rigged vessels and a cutter at anchor to the eastward. After hardrowing, we came to a grapnel near daylight, off a small fort and town, which the pilot told me was Coupang. 

On landing, I was surrounded by many people, Indians and Dutch, with anEnglish sailor among them. A Dutch captain, named Spikerman, showed megreat kindness, and waited on the governor, who was ill, to know at whattime I could see him. Eleven o'clock having been appointed for theinterview, I desired my people to come on shore, which was as much assome of them could do, being scarce able to walk; they, however, werehelped to Captain Spikerman's house, and found tea, with bread andbutter, provided for their breakfast. 

The abilities of a painter, perhaps, could seldom have been displayed tomore advantage than in the delineation of the two groups of figures whichat this time presented themselves to each other. An indifferentspectator would have been at a loss which most to admire--the eyes offamine sparkling at immediate relief, or the horror of their preserversat the sight of so many spectres, whose ghastly countenances, if thecause had been unknown, would rather have excited terror than pity. Ourbodies were nothing but skin and bone, our limbs were full of sores, andwe were clothed in rags: in this condition, with tears of joy andgratitude flowing down our cheeks, the people of Timor beheld us with amixture of horror, surprise, and pity. 

The governor, Mr. William Adrian Van Este, notwithstanding extreme illhealth, became so anxious about us, that I saw him before the appointedtime. He received me with great affection, and gave me the fullestproofs that he was possessed of every feeling of a humane and good man. Though his infirmity was so great that he could not do the office of afriend himself, he said he would give such orders as I might be certainwould procure us every supply we wanted. A house should be immediatelyprepared for me, and with respect to my people, he said that I might haveroom for them either at the hospital or on board of Captain Spikerman'sship, which lay in the road. . . . 

FATE OF THE MUTINEERS--COLONY OF PITCAIRN'S ISLAND

The intelligence of the mutiny, and the sufferings of Bligh and hiscompanions, naturally excited a great sensation in England. Bligh wasimmediately promoted to the rank of commander, and Captain Edwards wasdespatched to Otaheite, in the _Pandora_ frigate, with instructions tosearch for the _Bounty_ and her mutinous crew, and bring them to England. The _Pandora_ reached Matavai Bay on the 23d of March, 1791; and evenbefore she had come to anchor, Joseph Coleman, formerly armorer of the_Bounty_, pushed off from shore in a canoe, and came on board. In thecourse of two days afterwards, the whole of the remainder of the_Bounty's_ crew (in number sixteen) then on the island surrenderedthemselves, with the exception of two, who fled to the mountains where, as it afterwards appeared, they were murdered by the natives. 

Nearly twenty years elapsed after the period of the above occurrences, and all recollection of the _Bounty_ and her wrecked crew had passedaway, when an accidental discovery, as interesting as unexpected, oncemore recalled public attention to that event. The captain of an Americanschooner having, in 1808, accidentally touched at an island up to thattime supposed to be uninhabited, called Pitcairn's Island, found acommunity speaking English, who represented themselves as the descendantsof the mutineers of the _Bounty_, of whom there was still one man, of thename of Alexander Smith, alive amongst them. Intelligence of thissingular circumstance was sent by the American captain (Folger) to SirSydney Smith at Valparaiso, and by him transmitted to the Lords of theAdmiralty. But the government was at that time perhaps too much engagedin the events of the continental war to attend to the information, norwas anything further heard of this interesting little society until 1814. In that year two British men-of-war, cruising in the Pacific, madePitcairn's Island, and on nearing the shore, saw plantations regularlyand orderly laid out. Soon afterwards they observed a few natives comingdown a steep descent, with their canoes on their shoulders, and in a fewminutes perceived one of these little vessels darting through a heavysurf, and paddling off towards the ships. But their astonishment may beimagined when, on coming alongside, they were hailed in good Englishwith, "Wont you heave us a rope now?" This being done, a young mansprang up the side with extraordinary activity, and stood on the deckbefore them. In answer to the question "Who are you?" he replied thathis name was Thursday October Christian, son of the late FletcherChristian, by an Otaheitan mother; that he was the first born on theisland, and was so named because he was born on a Thursday in October. All this sounded singular and incredible in the ears of the Britishcaptains, Sir Thomas Staines and Mr. Pipon; but they were soon satisfiedof its truth. Young Christian was at this time about twenty-four yearsold, a tall handsome youth, fully six feet high, with black hair, and anopen interesting English countenance. As he wore no clothes, except apiece of cloth round his loins, and a straw-hat ornamented with blackcock's feathers, his fine figure and well-shaped muscular limbs weredisplayed to great advantage, and attracted general admiration. His bodywas much tanned by exposure to the weather; but although his complexionwas somewhat brown, it wanted that tinge of red peculiar to the nativesof the Pacific. He spoke English correctly both in grammar andpronunciation; and his frank and ingenuous deportment excited in everyone the liveliest feelings of compassion and interest. His companion wasa fine handsome youth, of seventeen or eighteen years of age, namedGeorge Young, son of one of the _Bounty's_ midshipmen. 

The youths expressed great surprise at everything they saw, especially acow, which they supposed to be either a huge goat or a horned sow, havingnever seen any other quadrupeds. When questioned concerning the_Bounty_, they referred the captains to an old man on shore, the onlysurviving Englishman, whose name, they said, was John Adams, but whoproved to be the identical Alexander Smith before-mentioned, havingchanged his name from some caprice or other. The officers went ashorewith the youths, and were received by old Adams (as we shall now callhim), who conducted them to his house, and treated them to an elegantrepast of eggs, fowl, yams, plantains, bread-fruit, etc. They nowlearned from him an account of the fate of his companions, who, withhimself, preferred accompanying Christian in the _Bounty_ to remaining atOtaheite--which account agreed with that he afterwards gave at greaterlength to Captain Beechey in 1828. Our limits will not permit us todetail all the interesting particulars at length, as we could havewished, but they are in substance as follows:--

It was Christian's object, in order to avoid the vengeance of the Britishlaw, to proceed to some unknown and uninhabited island, and the MarquesasIslands were first fixed upon. But Christian, on reading CaptainCartaret's account of Pitcairn's Island, thought it better adapted forthe purpose, and shaped his course thither. Having landed and traversedit, they found it every way suitable to their wishes, possessing water, wood, a good soil, and some fruits. Having ascertained all this, theyreturned on board, and having landed their hogs, goats, and poultry, andgutted the ship of everything that could be useful to them, they set fireto her, and destroyed every vestige that might lead to the discovery oftheir retreat. This was on the 23d of January 1790. The island was thendivided into nine equal portions amongst them a suitable spot of neutralground being reserved for a village. The poor Otaheitans now foundthemselves reduced to the condition of mere slaves; but they patientlysubmitted, and everything went on peacefully for two years. About thattime Williams, one of the seamen, having the misfortune to lose his wife, forcibly took the wife of one of the Otaheitans, which, together withtheir continued ill-usage, so exasperated the latter that they formed aplan for murdering the whole of their oppressors. The plot, however, wasdiscovered, and revealed by the Englishmen's wives, and two of theOtaheitans were put to death. But the surviving natives soon afterwardsmatured a more successful conspiracy, and in one day murdered five of theEnglishmen, including Christian. Adams and Young were spared at theintercession of their wives, and the remaining two, M'Koy and Quintal(two desperate ruffians), escaped to the mountains, whence, however, theysoon rejoined their companions. But the further career of these twovillains was short. M'Koy, having been bred up in a Scottish distillery, succeeded in extracting a bottle of ardent spirits from the _tee root_;from which time he and Quintal were never sober, until the former becamedelirious, and committed suicide by jumping over a cliff. Quintal beinglikewise almost insane with drinking, made repeated attempts to murderAdams and Young, until they were absolutely compelled, for their ownsafety, to put him to death, which they did by felling him with a hatchet. 

Adams and Young were at length the only surviving males who had landed onthe island, and being both of a serious turn of mind and having time forreflection and repentance, they became extremely devout. Having saved aBible and prayer-book from the _Bounty_, they now performed familyworship morning and evening, and addressed themselves to training uptheir own children and those of their unfortunate companions in piety andvirtue. Young, however, was soon carried off by an asthmatic complaint, and Adams was thus left to continue his pious labors alone. At the timeCaptains Staines and Pipon visited the island, this interesting littlecolony consisted of about forty-six persons, mostly grown-up youngpeople, all living in harmony and happiness together; and not onlyprofessing, but fully understanding and practicing, the precepts andprinciples of the Christian religion. Adams had instituted the ceremonyof marriage, and he assured his visitors that not one instance ofdebauchery and immoral conduct had occurred amongst them. 

The visitors having supplied these interesting people with some tools, kettles, and other articles, took their leave. The account which theytransmitted home of this newly-discovered colony was, strange to say, aslittle attended to by government as that of Captain Folger, and nothingmore was heard of Adams and his family for nearly twelve years, when, in1825, Captain Beechey, in the _Blossom_, bound on a voyage of discoveryto Behring Strait, touched at Pitcairn's Island. On the approach of the_Blossom_, a boat came off under all sail towards the ship, containingold Adams and ten of the young men of the island. After requesting andobtaining leave to come on board, the young men sprung up the side, andshook every officer cordially by the hand. Adams, who was grown verycorpulent, followed more leisurely. He was dressed in a sailor's shirtand trousers, with a low-crowned hat, which he held in his hand in sailorfashion, while he smoothed down his bald forehead when addressed by theofficers of the _Blossom_. The little colony had now increased to aboutsixty-six, including an English sailor of the name of John Buffett, who, at his own earnest desire, had been left by a whaler. In this man thesociety luckily found an able and willing schoolmaster. He instructedthe children in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and devoutlyco-operated with old Adams in affording religious instruction to thecommunity. The officers of the _Blossom_ went ashore, and wereentertained with a sumptuous repast at young Christian's, the table beingspread with plates, knives and forks. Buffett said grace in an emphaticmanner; and so strict were they in this respect, that it was not deemedproper to touch a morsel of bread without saying grace both before andafter it. The officers slept in the house all night, their bedclothingand sheets consisting of the native cloth made of the nativemulberry-tree. The only interruption to their repose was the melody ofthe evening hymn, which was chanted together by the whole family afterthe lights were put out; and they were awakened at early dawn by the samedevotional ceremony. On Sabbath the utmost decorum was attended to, andthe day was passed in regular religious observances. 

In consequence of a representation made by Captain Beechey, the Britishgovernment sent out Captain Waldegrave in 1830, in the _Seringapatam_, with a supply of sailors' blue jackets and trousers, flannels, stockingsand shoes, women's dresses, spades, mattocks, shovels, pick-axes, trowels, rakes, etc. He found their community increased to aboutseventy-nine, all exhibiting the same unsophisticated and amiablecharacteristics as we have before described. Other two Englishmen hadsettled amongst them; one of them, called Nobbs, a low-bred, illiterateman, a self-constituted missionary, who was endeavoring to supersedeBuffett in his office of religious instruction. The patriarch Adams, itwas found, had died in March, 1829, aged sixty-five. While on hisdeathbed, he had called the heads of families together, and urged uponthem to elect a chief; which, however, they had not yet done; but thegreatest harmony still prevailed amongst them, notwithstanding Nobb'sexertions to form a party of his own. Captain Waldegrave thought thatthe island, which is about four miles square, might be able to support athousand persons, upon reaching which number they would naturallyemigrate to other Islands. 

Such is the account of this most singular colony, originating in crimeand bloodshed. Of all the repentant criminals on record, the mostinteresting, perhaps, is John Adams; nor do we know where to find a morebeautiful example of the value of early instruction than in the historyof this man, who, having run the full career of nearly all kinds of vice, was checked by an interval of leisurely reflection, and the sense of newduties awakened by the power of natural affections. 

[1] One person turns his back on the object that is to be divided;another then points separately to the portions, at each of them askingaloud, "Who shall have this?" to which the first answers by namingsomebody. This impartial method of division gives every man an equalchance of the best share. 

THE WRECK OF THE _ROYAL CAROLINE_

From "The Red Rover, " BY JAMES FENNIMORE COOPER

Our watchful adventurer captain was not blind to these sinister omens. No sooner did the peculiar atmosphere by which the mysterious image thathe so often examined was suddenly surrounded, catch his eye, than hisvoice was raised in the clear, powerful, and exciting notes of warning. 

"Stand by, " he called aloud, "to in-all-studding-sails! Down with them!"he added, scarcely giving his former words time to reach the ears of hissubordinates. "Down with every rag of them, fore and aft the ship! Manthe top-gallant clew-lines, Mr. Earing. Clew up, and clew down! In withevery thing, cheerily, men!--In!"

This was a language to which the crew of the _Caroline_ were nostrangers, and it was doubly welcome, since the meanest seaman amongstthem had long thought that his unknown commander had been heedlesslytrifling with the safety of the vessel, by the hardy manner in which hedisregarded the wild symptoms of the weather. But they undervalued thekeen-eyed vigilance of Wilder. He had certainly driven the Bristoltrader through the water at a rate she had never been known to go before;but, thus far, the facts themselves gave evidence in his favour, since noinjury was the consequence of what they deemed temerity. At the quicksudden order just given, however, the whole ship was in an uproar. Adozen seamen called to each other, from different parts of the vessel, each striving to lift his voice above the roaring ocean; and there wasevery appearance of a general and inextricable confusion; but the sameauthority which had so unexpectedly aroused them into activity, producedorder from their ill-directed though vigorous efforts. 

Wilder had spoken, to awaken the drowsy and to excite the torpid. Theinstant he found each man on the alert, he resumed his orders with acalmness that gave a direction to the powers of all, and yet with anenergy that he well knew was called for by the occasion. The enormoussheets of duck, which had looked like so many light clouds in the murkyand threatening heavens, were soon seen fluttering wildly, as theydescended from their high places, and, in a few minutes, the ship wasreduced to the action of her more secure and heavier canvas. To effectthis object, every man in the ship exerted his powers to the utmost, under the guidance of the steady but rapid mandates of their commander. Then followed a short and apprehensive pause. All eyes were turnedtowards the quarter where the ominous signs had been discovered; and eachindividual endeavored to read their import, with an intelligencecorrespondent to the degree of skill he might have acquired, during hisparticular period of service on that treacherous element which was nowhis home. 

The dim tracery of the stranger's form had been swallowed by the flood ofmisty light, which, by this time, rolled along the sea like driftingvapour, semi-pellucid, preternatural, and seemingly tangible. The oceanitself appeared admonished that a quick and violent change was nigh. Thewaves ceased to break in their former foaming and brilliant crests, andblack masses of the water lifted their surly summits against the easternhorizon, no longer shedding their own peculiar and lucid atmospherearound them. The breeze which had been so fresh, and which had evenblown with a force that nearly amounted to a gale, was lulling andbecoming uncertain, as it might be awed by the more violent power thatwas gathering along the borders of the sea, in the direction of theneighbouring continent. Each moment, the eastern puffs of air lost theirstrength, becoming more and more feeble, until, in an incredibly shortperiod, the heavy sails were heard flapping against the masts. Afrightful and ominous calm succeeded. At this instant, a gleam flashedfrom the fearful obscurity of the ocean, and a roar, like that of asudden burst of thunder, bellowed along the waters. The seamen turnedtheir startled looks on each other, standing aghast, as if a warning ofwhat was to follow had come out of the heavens themselves. But theircalm and more sagacious commander put a different construction on thesignal. His lip curled, in high professional pride, and he muttered withscorn, --

"Does he imagine that we sleep? Ay, he has got it himself, and wouldopen our eyes to what is coming? What does he conjecture we have beenabout, since the middle watch was set?"

Wilder made a swift turn or two on the quarter-deck, turning his quickglances from one quarter of the heavens to another; from the black andlulling water on which his vessel was rolling, to the sails; and from hissilent and profoundly expectant crew, to the dim lines of spars that werewaving above his head, like so many pencils tracing their curvilinear andwanton images over the murky volumes of the superincumbent clouds. 

"Lay the after-yards square!" he said, in a voice which was heard byevery man on deck, though his words were apparently spoken but littleabove his breath. The creaking of the blocks, as the spars came slowlyand heavily round to the indicated position, contributed to the imposingcharacter of the moment, sounding like notes of fearful preparation. 

"Haul up the courses!" resumed Wilder with the same eloquent calmness ofmanner. Then, taking another glance at the threatening horizon, he addedslowly but with emphasis, "Furl them--furl them both. Away aloft, andhand your courses!" he continued in a shout; "roll them up, cheerily; inwith them, boys, cheerily; in!"

The conscious seamen took their impulses from the tones of theircommander. In a moment, twenty dark forms were leaping up the rigging, with the alacrity of so many quadrupeds. In another minute, the vast andpowerful sheets of canvas were effectually rendered harmless, by securingthem in tight rolls to their respective spars. The men descended asswiftly as they had mounted to the yards; and then succeeded anotherbreathing pause. At this appalling moment, a candle would have sent itsflame perpendicularly towards the heavens. The ship, missing thesteadying power of the wind, rolled heavily in the troughs of the seas, which began to lessen at each instant, as if the startled element wasrecalling into the security of its own vast bosom that portion of itsparticles which had so lately been permitted to gambol madly over itssurface. The water washed sullenly along the side of the ship, or, asshe labouring rose from one of her frequent falls into the hollows of thewaves, it shot back into the ocean from her decks in glittering cascades. Every hue of the heavens, every sound of the element, and each dusky andanxious countenance, helped to proclaim the intense interest of themoment. In this brief interval of expectation and inactivity, the matesagain approached their commander. 

"It is an awful night, Captain Wilder!" said Earing, presuming on hisrank to be the first to speak. 

"I have known far less notice given of a shift of wind, " was the answer. 

"We have had time to gather in our kites, 'tis true, sir; but there aresigns and warnings that come with this change which the oldest seamanmust dread!"

"Yes, " continued Knighthead, in a voice that sounded hoarse and powerful, even amid the fearful accessories of that scene; "yes, it is no triflingcommission that can call people that I shall not name out upon the waterin such a night as this. It was in just such weather that I saw the_Vesuvius_ ketch go to a place so deep, that her own mortar would nothave been able to have sent a bomb into the open air, had hands and firebeen there fit to let it off!"

"Ay; and it was in such a time that the _Greenlandman_ was cast upon theOrkneys, in as flat a calm as ever lay on the sea. "

"Gentlemen, " said Wilder, with a peculiar and perhaps an ironicalemphasis on the word, "what would ye have? There is not a breath of airstirring and the ship is naked to her topsails!"

It would have been difficult for either of the two malcontents to give avery satisfactory answer to this question. Both were secretly goaded bymysterious and superstitious apprehensions, that were powerfully aided bythe more real and intelligible aspect of the night; but neither had sofar forgotten his manhood, and his professional pride, as to lay bare thefull extent of his own weakness, at a moment when he was liable to becalled upon for the exhibition of qualities of a more positive anddetermined character. The feeling that was uppermost betrayed itself inthe reply of Earing, though in an indirect and covert manner. 

"Yes, the vessel is snug enough now, " he said, "though eyesight has shownus it is no easy matter to drive a freighted ship through the water asfast as one of those flying craft aboard which no man can say who standsat the helm, by what compass she steers, or what is her draught!"

"Ay, " resumed Knighthead, "I call the _Caroline_ fast for an honesttrader. There are few square-rigged boats who do not wear the pennantsof the king, that can eat her out of the wind on a bowline, or bring herinto their wake with studding-sails set. But this is a time and an hourto make a seaman think. Look at yon hazy light, here in with the land, that is coming so fast down upon us, and then tell me whether it comesfrom the coast of America, or whether it comes from out of the strangerwho has been so long running under our lee, but who has got, or is fastgetting, the wind of us at last, while none here can say how, or why. Ihave just this much, and no more, to say: give me for consort a craftwhose captain I know, or give me none!"

"Such is your taste, Mr. Knighthead, " said Wilder, coldly; "mine may, bysome accident, be different. "

"Yes, yes, " observed the more cautious and prudent Earing, "in time ofwar, and with letters of marque aboard, a man may honestly hope the sailhe sees should have a stranger for her master; or otherwise he wouldnever fall in with an enemy. But, though an Englishman born myself, Ishould rather give the ship in that mist a clear sea, seeing that Ineither know her nation nor her cruise. Ah, Captain Wilder, this is anawful sight for the morning watch! Often and often have I seen the sunrise in the east, and no harm done; but little good can come of a daywhen the light first breaks in the west. Cheerfully would I give theowners the last month's pay, hard as it has been earned, did I but knowunder what flag the stranger sails. "

"Frenchman, Don, or Devil, yonder he comes!" cries Wilder. Then, turningtowards the attentive crew, he shouted, in a voice that was appalling byits vehemence and warning, "Let run the after-halyards! round with thefore-yard; round with it, men, with a will!"

These were cries that the startled crew but too well understood. Everynerve and muscle were exerted to execute the orders, to be in readinessfor the tempest. No man spoke; but each expended the utmost of his powerand skill in direct and manly efforts. Nor was there, in verity, amoment to lose, or a particle of human strength expended here, without asufficient object. 

The lurid and fearful-looking mist, which, for the last quarter of anhour, had been gathering in the north-west, was driving down upon themwith the speed of a race-horse. The air had already lost the damp andpeculiar feeling of an easterly breeze; and little eddies were beginningto flutter among the masts--precursors of the coming squall. Then, arushing, roaring sound was heard moaning along the ocean, whose surfacewas first dimpled, next ruffled, and finally covered with a sheet ofclear, white, and spotless foam. At the next moment, the power of thewind fell upon the inert and labouring Bristol trader. 

While the gust was approaching, Wilder had seized the slight opportunityafforded by the changeful puffs of air to get the ship as much aspossible before the wind; but the sluggish movement of the vessel metneither the wishes of his own impatience nor the exigencies of themoment. Her bows slowly and heavily fell off from the north, leaving herprecisely in a situation to receive the first shock on her broadside. Happy it was, for all who had life at risk in that defenceless vessel, that she was not fated to receive the whole weight of the tempest at ablow. The sails fluttered and trembled on their massive yards, bellyingand collapsing alternately for a minute, and then the rushing wind sweptover them in a hurricane. 

The _Caroline_ received the blast like a stout and buoyant ship as shewas, yielding to its impulse until her side lay nearly incumbent on theelement; and then, as if the fearful fabric were conscious of itsjeopardy, it seemed to lift its reclining masts again, struggling to workits way through the water. 

"Keep the helm a-weather! Jam it a-weather, for your life!" shoutedWilder, amid the roar of the gust. 

The veteran seaman at the wheel obeyed the order with steadiness, but invain did he keep his eyes on the margin of his head sail, to watch themanner in which the ship would obey its power. Twice more, in as manymoments, the giddy masts fell towards the horizon, waving as oftengracefully upward, and then they yielded to the mighty pressure of thewind, until the whole machine lay prostrate on the water. 

"Be cool!" said Wilder, seizing the bewildered Earing by the arm, as thelatter rushed madly up the steep of the deck; "it is our duty to be calm;bring hither an axe. "

Quick as the thought which gave the order, the admonished mate complied, jumping into the mizzen-channels of the ship, to execute with his ownhands the mandate that he knew must follow. 

"Shall I cut?" he demanded, with uplifted arms, and in a voice thatatoned for his momentary confusion, by its steadiness and force. 

"Hold!--Does the ship mind her helm at all?"

"Not an inch, sir. "

"Then cut, " Wilder clearly and calmly added. 

A single blow sufficed for the discharge of this important duty. Extended to the utmost powers of endurance, by the vast weight it upheld, the lanyard struck by Earing no sooner parted, than each of its fellowssnapped in succession, leaving the mast dependent on its wood for thesupport of all the ponderous and complicated hamper it upheld. Thecracking of the spar came next; and the whole fell, like a tree that hadbeen snapped at its foundation. 

"Does she fall off?" called Wilder, to the observant seaman at the wheel. 

"She yielded a little, sir; but this new squall is bringing her up again. "

"Shall I cut?" shouted Earing from the main-rigging, whither he hadleaped, like a tiger who had bounded on his prey. 

"Cut. "

A louder and more imposing crash succeeded this order, though not beforeseveral heavy blows had been struck into the massive mast itself. Asbefore, the sea received the tumbling maze of spars, rigging, and sails;the vessel surging at the same instant, from its recumbent position, androlling far and heavily to windward. 

"She rights! she rights!" exclaimed twenty voices which had been mute, ina suspense that involved life and death. 

"Keep her dead away!" added the calm but authoritative voice of the youngcommander. "Stand by to furl the fore-top-sail--let it hang a moment todrag the ship clear of the wreck--cut, cut--cheerily, men--hatchets andknives--cut _with_ all, and cut _off_ all!"

As the men now worked with the vigour of hope, the ropes that stillconfined the fallen spars to the vessel were quickly severed; and the_Caroline_, by this time dead before the gale, appeared barely to touchthe foam that covered the sea. The wind came over the waste in guststhat rumbled like distant thunder, and with a power that seemed tothreaten to lift the ship from its proper element. As a prudent andsagacious seaman had let fly the halyards, of the solitary sail thatremained, at the moment the squall approached, the loosened but loweredtopsail was now distended in a manner that threatened to drag after itthe only mast which still stood. Wilder saw the necessity of getting ridof the sail, and he also saw the utter impossibility of securing it. Calling Earing to his side, he pointed out the danger, and gave thenecessary order. 

"The spar cannot stand such shocks much longer, " he concluded; "should itgo over the bows, some fatal blow might be given to the ship at the rateshe is moving. A man or two must be sent aloft to cut the sail from theyards. "

"The stick is bending like a willow whip, " returned the mate, "and thelower mast itself is sprung. There would be great danger in trusting ahand in that top, while these wild squalls are breathing around us. "

"You may be right, " returned Wilder, with a sudden conviction of thetruth of what the other had said. "Stay you then here; if any thingbefall me, try to get the vessel into port as far north as the Capes ofVirginia, at least;--on no account attempt Hatteras, in the presentcondition of----"

"What would you do, Captain Wilder?" interrupted the mate, laying hishand on the shoulder of his commander, who had already thrown his sea-capon the deck, and was preparing to divest himself of some of his outergarments. 

"I go aloft to ease the mast of that topsail, without which we lose thespar, and possibly the ship. "

"I see that plain enough; but, shall it be said that another did the dutyof Edward Earing? It is your business to carry the vessel into the Capesof Virginia, and mine to cut the topsail adrift. If harm comes to me, why, put it in the log, with a word or two about the manner in which Iplayed my part. That is the most proper epitaph for a sailor. "

Wilder made no resistance. He resumed his watchful and reflectingattitude, with the simplicity of one who had been too long trained to thedischarge of certain obligations himself, to manifest surprise thatanother should acknowledge their imperative character. In the mean time, Earing proceeded steadily to perform what he had just promised. Passinginto the waist of the ship, he provided himself with a suitable hatchet, and then, without speaking a syllable to any of the mute but attentiveseamen, he sprang into the fore-rigging, every strand and rope-yarn ofwhich was tightened by the strain nearly to snapping. The understandingeyes of his observers comprehended his intention; and with precisely thesame pride of station as had urged him to the dangerous undertaking fouror five of the oldest mariners jumped upon the rattlings, to mount intoan air that apparently teemed with a hundred hurricanes. 

"Lie down out of that fore-rigging, " shouted Wilder, through a decktrumpet; "lie down; all, but the mate, lie down!" His words were bornepast the inattentive ears of the excited and mortified followers ofEaring, but for once they failed of their effect. Each man was tooearnestly bent on his purpose to listen to the sounds of recall. In lessthan a minute, the whole were scattered along the yards, prepared to obeythe signal of their officer. The mate cast a look about him; perceivingthat the time was comparatively favorable, he struck a blow upon thelarge rope that confined one of the lower angles of the distended andbursting sail to the yard. The effect was much the same as would beproduced by knocking away the key-stone of an ill-cemented arch. Thecanvas broke from its fastenings with a loud explosion, and, for aninstant, it was seen sailing in the air ahead of the ship, as if it weresustained on wings. The vessel rose on a sluggish wave--the lingeringremains of the former breeze--and settled heavily over the rolling surge, borne down alike by its own weight and the renewed violence of the gusts. At this critical instant, while the seamen aloft were still gazing in thedirection in which the little cloud of canvas had disappeared, a lanyardof the lower rigging parted, with a crack that reached the ears of Wilder. 

"Lie down!" he shouted wildly through his trumpet; "down by thebackstays; down for your lives; every man of you, down!"

A solitary individual profited by the warning gliding to the deck withthe velocity of the wind. But rope parted after rope, and the fatalsnapping of the wood followed. For a moment, the towering maze tottered, seeming to wave towards every quarter of the heavens; and then, yieldingto the movements of the hull, the whole fell, with a heavy crash, intothe sea. Cord, lanyard, and stay snapped like thread, as each receivedin succession the strain of the ship, leaving the naked and despoiledhull of the _Caroline_ to drive before the tempest, as if nothing hadoccurred to impede its progress. 

A mute and eloquent pause succeeded the disaster. It seemed as if theelements themselves were appeased by their work, and something like amomentary lull in the awful rushing of the winds might have been fancied. Wilder sprang to the side of the vessel, and distinctly beheld thevictims, who still clung to their frail support. He even saw Earingwaving his hand in adieu with a seaman's heart, like a man who not onlyfelt how desperate was his situation, but who knew how to meet it withresignation. Then the wreck of spars, with all who clung to it, wasswallowed up in the body of the frightful, preternatural-looking mistwhich extended on every side of them, from the ocean to the clouds. 

"Stand by, to clear away a boat!" shouted Wilder, without pausing tothink of the impossibility of one's swimming, or of effecting the leastgood, in so violent a tornado. 

But the amazed and confounded seamen who remained needed no instructionin this matter. Not a man moved, nor was the smallest symptom ofobedience given. The mariners looked wildly around them, eachendeavouring to trace in the dusky countenance of some shipmate hisopinion of the extent of the evil; but not a mouth opened among them all. 

"It is too late--it is too late!" murmured Wilder; "human skill and humanefforts could not save them!"

"Sail, ho!" Knighthead shouted in a voice that was teeming withsuperstitious awe. 

"Let him come on, " returned his young commander, bitterly; "the mischiefis ready done to his hands!"

"Should this be a true ship, it is our duty to the owners and thepassengers to speak her, if a man can make his voice heard in thistempest, " the second mate continued, pointing, through the haze, at thedim object that was certainly at hand. 

"Speak her!--passengers!" muttered Wilder, involuntarily repeating hiswords. "No; any thing is better than speaking her. Do you see thevessel that is driving down upon us so fast?" he sternly demanded of thewatchful seaman who still clung to the wheel of the _Caroline_. 

"Ay, ay, sir. "

"Give her a berth--sheer away hard to port--perhaps he may pass us in thegloom, now we are no higher than our decks. Give the ship a broad sheer, I say, sir. "

The usual laconic answer was given; and, for a few moments, the Bristoltrader was seen diverging a little from the line in which the otherapproached; but a second glance assured Wilder that the attempt wasuseless. The strange ship (every man on board felt certain it was thesame that had so long been seen hanging in the north-western horizon)came on through the mist, with a swiftness that nearly equalled thevelocity of the tempestuous winds themselves. Not a thread of canvas wasseen on board her. Each line of spars, even to the tapering and delicatetop-gallant masts, was in its place, preserving the beauty and symmetryof the whole fabric; but nowhere was the smallest fragment of a sailopened to the gale. Under her bows rolled a volume of foam that was evendiscernible amid the universal agitation of the ocean; and, as she camewithin sound, the sullen roar of the water might have been likened to thenoise of a cascade. At first, the spectators on the decks of the_Caroline_ believed they were not seen, and some of the men called madlyfor lights, in order that the disasters of the night might not terminatein an encounter. 

"Too many see us there already!" said Wilder. 

"No, no, " muttered Knighthead; "no fear but we are seen; and by sucheyes, too, as never yet looked out of mortal head!"

The seamen paused. In another instant, the long-seen and mysterious shipwas within a hundred feet of them. The very power of that wind, whichwas wont usually to raise the billows, now pressed the element, with theweight of mountains, into its bed. The sea was every where a sheet offroth, but the water did not rise above the level of the surface. Theinstant a wave lifted itself from the security of the vast depths, thefluid was borne away before the tornado in glittering spray. Along thisfrothy but comparatively motionless surface, then, the stranger camebooming with the steadiness and grandeur with which a cloud is seensailing in the hurricane. No sign of life was discovered about her. Ifmen looked out from their secret places, upon the straitened anddiscomfited wreck of the Bristol trader, it was covertly, and as darklyas the tempest before which they drove. Wilder held his breath, for themoment the stranger was nighest, in the very excess of suspense, but, ashe saw no signal of recognition, no human form, nor any intention toarrest, if possible, the furious career of the other, a smile gleamedacross his countenance, and his lips moved rapidly, as if he foundpleasure in being abandoned to his distress. The stranger drove by, likea dark vision; and, ere another minute, her form was beginning to growless distinct, in the body of spray to leeward. 

"She is going out of sight in the mist!" exclaimed Wilder, when he drewhis breath, after the fearful suspense of the few last moments. 

"Ay, in mist or clouds, " responded Knighthead, who now kept obstinatelyat his elbow, watching with the most jealous distrust, the smallestmovement of his unknown commander. 

"In the heavens, or in the sea, I care not, provided he be gone. "

"Most seamen would rejoice to sec a strange sail, from the hull of avessel shaved to the deck like this. "

"Men often court their destruction, from ignorance of their owninterests. Let him drive on, say I, and pray I! He goes four feet toour one; and I ask no better favour than that this hurricane may blowuntil the sun shall rise. "

Knighthead started, and cast an oblique glance, which resembleddenunciation, at his companion. To his superstitious mind, there wasprofanity in thus invoking the tempest, at a moment when the winds seemedalready to be pouring out their utmost wrath. 

"This is a heavy squall, I will allow, " he said, "and such a one as manymariners pass whole lives without seeing; but he knows little of the seawho thinks there is not more wind where this comes from. "

"Let it blow!" cried the other, striking his hands together a littlewildly; "I pray for wind!"

All the doubts of Knighthead, as to the character of the young strangerwho had so unaccountably got possession of the office of NicholasNichols, if any remained, were now removed. He walked forward among thesilent and thoughtful crew, with the air of a man whose opinion wassettled. Wilder, however, paid no attention to the movements of hissubordinate, but continued pacing the deck for hours; now casting hiseyes at the heavens, and now sending frequent and anxious glances aroundthe limited horizon, while the _Royal Caroline_ still continued driftingbefore the wind, a shorn and naked wreck. 

THE CAPTURE OF THE GREAT WHITE WHALE

From "Moby Dick, " BY HERMAN MELVILLE

That night, in the mid-watch, when the old man--as his wont atintervals--stepped forth from the scuttle in which he leaned, and wentto his pivot-hole, he suddenly thrust out his face fiercely, snuffingup the sea air as a sagacious ship's dog will, in drawing nigh to somebarbarous isle. He declared that a whale must be near. Soon thatpeculiar odor, sometimes to a great distance given forth by the livingsperm whale, was palpable to all the watch; nor was any marinersurprised when, after inspecting the compass, and then the dog-vane, and then ascertaining the precise bearing of the odor as nearly aspossible, Ahab rapidly ordered the ship's course to be slightlyaltered, and the sail to be shortened. 

The acute policy dictating these movements was sufficiently vindicatedat daybreak, by the sight of a long sleek on the sea directly andlengthwise ahead, smooth as oil, and resembling in the pleated waterywrinkles bordering it, the polished metallic-like marks of some swifttide-rip, at the mouth of a deep, rapid stream. 

"Man the mast-heads! Call all hands!"

Thundering with the butts of three clubbed handspikes on the forecastledeck, Daggoo roused the sleepers with such judgment claps that theyseemed to exhale from the scuttle, so instantaneously did they appearwith their clothes in their hands. 

"What d'ye see?" cried Ahab, flattening his face to the sky. 

"Nothing, nothing, sir!" was the sound hailing down in reply. 

"T'gallant sails!--stunsails! alow and aloft, and on both sides!"

All sail being set, he now cast loose the life-line, reserved forswaying him to the main royal-mast head; and in a few moments they werehoisting him thither, when, while but two-thirds of the way aloft, andwhile peering ahead through the horizontal vacancy between themain-top-sail and top-gallant-sail, he raised a gull-like cry in theair, "There she blows!--there she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! Itis Moby Dick!"

Fired by the cry which seemed simultaneously taken up by the threelook-outs, the men on deck rushed to the rigging to behold the famouswhale they had so long been pursuing. Ahab had now gained his finalperch, some feet above the other look-outs, Tashtego standing justbeneath him on the cap of the top-gallant-mast, so that the Indian'shead was almost on a level with Ahab's heel. From this height thewhale was now seen some mile or so ahead, at every roll of the searevealing his high sparkling hump, and regularly jetting his silentspout into the air. To the credulous mariners it seemed the samesilent spout they had so long ago beheld in the moon-lit Atlantic andIndian Oceans. 

"And did none of ye see it before?" cried Ahab, hailing the perched menall around him. 

"I saw him almost that same instant, sir, that Captain Ahab did, and Icried out, " said Tashtego. 

"Not the same instant; not the same--no, the doubloon is mine, Fatereserved the doubloon for me. I only; none of ye could have raised theWhite Whale first. There she blows! there she blows!--there she blows!There again--there again!" he cried, in long-drawn, lingering, methodictones, attuned to the gradual prolongings of the whale's visible jets. "He's going to sound! In stunsails! Down top-gallant-sails! Stand bythree boats. Mr. Starbuck, remember, stay on board, and keep the ship. Helm there! Luff, luff a point! So; steady, man, steady! There goflukes! No, no; only black water! All ready the boats there? Standby, stand by! Lower me, Mr. Starbuck; lower, lower, --quick, quicker!"and he slid through the air to the deck. 

"He is heading straight to leeward, sir, " cried Stubb, "right away fromus; cannot have seen the ship yet. "

"Be dumb, man! Stand by the braces! Hard down the helm!--brace up!Shiver her!--shiver her! So; well that! Boats, boats!"

Soon all the boats but Starbuck's were dropped; all the boat-sailsset--all the paddles plying; with rippling swiftness, shooting toleeward; and Ahab heading the onset. A pale, death-glimmer lit upFedallah's sunken eyes; a hideous motion gnawed his mouth. 

Like noiseless nautilus shells, their light prows sped through the sea;but only slowly they neared the foe. As they neared him, the oceangrew still more smooth; seemed drawing a carpet over its waves; seemeda noon-meadow, so serenely it spread. At length the breathless huntercame so nigh his seemingly unsuspecting prey, that his entire dazzlinghump was distinctly visible, sliding along the sea as if an isolatedthing, and continually set in a revolving ring of finest, fleecy, greenish foam. He saw the vast, involved wrinkles of the slightlyprojecting head beyond. Before it, far out on the soft Turkish-ruggedwaters, went the glistening white shadow from his broad, milkyforehead, a musical rippling playfully accompanying the shade; andbehind, the blue waters interchangeably flowed over into the movingvalley of his steady wake; and on either hand bright bubbles arose anddanced by his side. But these were broken again by the light toes ofhundreds of gay fowl softly feathering the sea, alternate with theirfitful flight; and like to some flag-staff rising from the painted hullof an argosy, the tall but shattered pole of a recent lance projectedfrom the white whale's back; and at intervals one of the cloud ofsoft-toed fowls hovering, and to and fro skimming like a canopy overthe fish, silently perched and rocked on this pole, the long tailfeathers streaming like pennons. 

A gentle joyousness--a mighty mildness of repose in swiftness, investedthe gliding whale. Not the white bull Jupiter swimming away withravished Europa clinging to his graceful horns; his lovely, leeringeyes sideways intent upon the maid; with smooth bewitching fleetness, rippling straight for the nuptial bower in Crete; not Jove, not thatgreat majesty Supreme! did surpass the glorified White Whale as he sodivinely swam. 

On each soft side--coincident with the parted swell, that but onceleaving him, then flowed so wide away--on each bright side, the whaleshed off enticings. No wonder there had been some among the hunterswho namelessly transported and allured by all this serenity, hadventured to assail it; but had fatally found that quietude but thevesture of tornadoes. Yet calm, enticing calm, oh, whale! thou glideston, to all who for the first time eye thee, no matter how many in thatsame way thou may'st have bejuggled and destroyed before. 

And thus, through the serene tranquillities of the tropical sea, amongwaves whose hand-clappings were suspended by exceeding rapture, MobyDick moved on, still withholding from sight the full terrors of hissubmerged trunk, entirely hiding the wrenched hideousness of his jaw. But soon the fore part of him slowly rose from the water; for aninstant his whole marbleized body formed a high arch, like Virginia'sNatural Bridge, and warningly waving his bannered flukes in the air, the grand god revealed himself, sounded, and went out of sight. Hoveringly, halted, and dipping on the wing, the white sea-fowlslongingly lingered over the agitated pool that he left. 

With oars apeak, and paddles down, the sheets of their sails adrift, the three boats now stilly floated, awaiting Moby Dick's reappearance. 

"An hour, " said Ahab, standing rooted in his boat's stern; and he gazedbeyond the whale's place, toward the dim blue spaces and wide wooingvacancies to leeward. It was only an instant; for again his eyesseemed whirling round in his head as he swept the watery circle. Thebreeze now freshened; the sea began to swell. 

"The birds!--the birds!" cried Tashtego. 

In long Indian file, as when herons take wing, the white birds were nowall flying towards Ahab's boat; and when within a few yards beganfluttering over the water there, wheeling round and round, with joyous, expectant cries. Their vision was keener than man's; Ahab coulddiscover no sign in the sea. But suddenly as he peered down and downinto its depths, he profoundly saw a white living spot no bigger than awhite weasel, with wonderful celerity uprising, and magnifying as itrose, till it turned, and then there were plainly revealed two longcrooked rows of white, glistening teeth, floating up from theundiscoverable bottom. It was Moby Dick's open mouth and scrolled jaw;his vast, shadowed bulk still half blending with the blue of the sea. The glittering mouth yawned beneath the boat like an open-doored marbletomb; and giving one sidelong sweep with his steering oar, Ahab whirledthe craft aside from this tremendous apparition. Then, calling uponFedallah to change places with him, went forward to the bows, andseizing Perth's harpoon, commanded his crew to grasp their oars andstand by to stern. 

Now, by reason of this timely spinning round the boat upon its axis, its bow, by anticipation, was made to face the whale's head while yetunder water. But as if perceiving this stratagem, Moby Dick, with thatmalicious intelligence ascribed to him, sidelingly transplantedhimself, at it were, in an instant, shooting his pleated headlengthwise beneath the boat. 

Through and through; through every plank and each rib, it thrilled foran instant, the whale obliquely lying on his back, in the manner of abiting shark, slowly and feelingly taking its bows full within hismouth, so that the long, narrow, scrolled lower jaw curled high up intothe open air, and one of the teeth caught in a row-lock. The bluishpearl-white of the inside of the jaw was within six inches of Ahab'shead, and reached higher than that. In this attitude the White Whalenow shook the slight cedar as a mildly cruel cat her mouse. Withunastonished eyes Fedallah gazed, and crossed his arms; but thetiger-yellow crew were tumbling over each other's heads to gain theuttermost stern. 

And now, while both elastic gunwales were springing in and out, as thewhale dallied with the doomed craft in this devilish way; and from hisbody being submerged beneath the boat, he could not be darted at fromthe bows, for the bows were almost inside of him, as it were; and whilethe other boats involuntarily paused, as before a quick crisisimpossible to withstand, then it was that monomaniac Ahab, furious withthis tantalizing vicinity of his foe, which placed him all alive andhelpless in the very jaws he hated; frenzied with all this, he seizedthe long bone with his naked hands, and wildly strove to wrench it fromits gripe. As now he thus vainly strove, the jaw slipped from him; thefrail gunwales bent in, collapsed, and snapped, as both jaws, like anenormous shears, sliding further aft, bit the craft completely intwain, and locked themselves fast again in the sea, midway between thetwo floating wrecks. These floated aside, the broken ends drooping, the crew at the stern-wreck clinging to the gunwales, and striving tohold fast to the oars to lash them across. 

At that preluding moment, ere the boat was yet snapped, Ahab, the firstto perceive the whale's intent, by the crafty upraising of his head, amovement that loosed his hold for the time; at that moment his hand hadmade one final effort to push the boat out of the bite. But onlyslipping further into the whale's mouth, and tilting over sideways asit slipped, the boat had shaken off his hold on the jaw; spilled himout of it, as he leaned to the push; and so he fell flat-faced upon thesea. 

Rippingly withdrawing from his prey, Moby Dick now lay at a littledistance, vertically thrusting his oblong white head up and down in thebillows; and at the same time slowly revolving his whole spindled body;so that when his vast wrinkled forehead rose--some twenty or more feetout of the water--the now rising swells, with all their confidentwaves, dazzlingly broke against it; vindictively tossing their shiveredspray still higher into the air. [1] So, in a gale, the but halfbaffled Channel billows only recoil from the base of the Eddy-stone, triumphantly to overleap its summit with their scud. 

But soon resuming his horizontal attitude, Moby Dick swam swiftly roundand round the wrecked crew; sideways churning the water in his vengefulwake, as if lashing himself up to still another and more deadlyassault. The sight of the splintered boat seemed to madden him, as theblood of grapes and mulberries cast before Antiochus's elephants in thebook of Maccabees. Meanwhile Ahab half smothered in the foam of thewhale's insolent tail, and too much of a cripple to swim, --though hecould still keep afloat, even in the heart of such a whirlpool as that;helpless Ahab's head was seen, like a tossed bubble which the leastchance shock might burst. From the boat's fragmentary stern, Fedallahincuriously and mildly eyed him; the clinging crew, at the otherdrifting end, could not succor him; more than enough was it to look tothemselves. For so revolvingly appalling was the White Whale's aspect, and so planetarily swift the ever-contracting circles he made, that heseemed horizontally swooping upon them. And though the other boatsunharmed, still hovered hard by; still they dared not pull into theeddy to strike, lest that should be the signal for the instantdestruction of the jeopardized castaways, Ahab and all; nor in thatcase could they themselves hope to escape. With straining eyes, then, they remained on the outer edge of the direful zone, whose centre hadnow become the old man's head. 

Meantime, from the beginning all this had been descried from the ship'smast heads; and squaring her yards, she had borne down upon the scene;and was now so nigh, that Ahab in the water hailed her:--"Sail onthe"--but that moment a breaking sea dashed on him from Moby Dick, andwhelmed him for the time. But struggling out of it again, and chancingto rise on a towering crest, he shouted, --"Sail on the whale!--Drivehim off!"

The _Pequod's_ prows were pointed; and breaking up the charmed circle, she effectually parted the whale from his victim. As he suddenly swamoff, the boats flew to the rescue. 

Dragged into Stubb's boat with blood-shot, blinded eyes, the whitebrine caking in his wrinkles; the long tension of Ahab's bodilystrength did crack, and helplessly he yielded to his body's doom: for along time, lying all crushed in the bottom of Stubb's boat, like onetrodden under foot of herds of elephants. Far inland, nameless wailscame from him, as desolate sounds from out ravines. 

But this intensity of his physical prostration did but so much the moreabbreviate it. In an instant's compass, great hearts sometimescondense to one deep pang, the sum total of those shallow pains kindlydiffused through feebler men's whole lives. And so, such hearts, though summary in each one suffering; still, if the gods decree it, intheir life-time aggregate a whole age of woe, wholly made up ofinstantaneous intensities; for even in their pointless centres, thosenoble natures contain the entire circumferences of inferior souls. 

"The harpoon, " said Ahab, half way rising, and draggingly leaning onone bended arm--"is it safe!"

"Aye, sir, for it was not darted; this is it, " said Stubb, showing it. 

"Lay it before me;--any missing men!"

"One, two, three, four, five;--there were five oars, sir, and here arefive men. "

"That's good. --Help me, man; I wish to stand. So, so, I see him!there! there! going to leeward still; what a leaping spout!--Hands offfrom me! The eternal sap runs up in Ahab's bones again! Set the sail;out oars; the helm!"

It is often the case that when a boat is stove, its crew, being pickedup by another boat, help to work that second boat; and the chase isthus continued with what is called double-banked oars. It was thusnow. But the added power of the boat did not equal the added power ofthe whale, for he seemed to have treble-banked his every fin; swimmingwith a velocity which plainly showed, that if now, under thesecircumstances, pushed on, the chase would prove an indefinitelyprolonged, if not a hopeless one; nor could any crew endure for so longa period, such an unintermitted, intense straining at the oar; a thingbarely tolerable only in some one brief vicissitude. The ship itself, then, as it sometimes happens, offered the most promising intermediatemeans of overtaking the chase. Accordingly, the boats now made forher, and were soon swayed up to their cranes--the two parts of thewrecked boat having been previously secured by her--and then hoistingeverything to her side, and stacking her canvas high up, and sidewaysoutstretching it with stun-sails, like the double-jointed wings of analbatross; the _Pequod_ bore down in the leeward wake of Moby Dick. Atthe well known, methodic intervals, the whale's glittering spout wasregularly announced from the manned mast-heads; and when he would bereported as just gone down, Ahab would take the time, and then pacingthe deck, binnacle-watch in hand, so soon as the last second of theallotted hour expired, his voice was heard. --"Whose is the doubloonnow? D'ye see him?" and if the reply was, No, sir! straightway hecommanded them to lift him to his perch. In this way the day wore on;Ahab, now aloft and motionless; anon, unrestingly pacing the planks. 

As he was thus walking, uttering no sound, except to hail the menaloft, or to bid them hoist a sail still higher, or to spread one to astill greater breadth--thus to and fro pacing, beneath his slouchedhat, at every turn he passed his own wrecked boat, which had beendropped upon the quarter-deck, and lay there reversed; broken bow toshattered stern. At last he paused before it; and as in an alreadyover-clouded sky fresh troops of clouds will sometimes sail across, soover the old man's face there now stole some such added gloom as this. 

Stubb saw him pause; and perhaps intending, not vainly, though, toevince his own unabated fortitude, and thus keep up a valiant place inhis Captain's mind, he advanced, and eyeing the wreck exclaimed--"Thethistle the ass refused; it pricked his mouth too keenly, sir; ha! ha!"

"What soulless thing is this that laughs before a wreck? Man, man! didI not know thee brave as fearless fire (and as mechanical) I couldswear thou wert a poltroon. Groan nor laugh should be heard before awreck. "

"Aye, sir, " said Starbuck drawing near, "'tis a solemn sight; an omen, and an ill one. "

"Omen? omen?--the dictionary! If the gods think to speak outright toman, they will honorably speak outright; not shake their heads, andgive an old wives' darkling hint. --Begone! Ye two are the oppositepoles of one thing; Starbuck is Stubb reversed, and Stubb is Starbuck;and ye two are all mankind; and Ahab stands alone among the millions ofthe peopled earth, nor gods nor men his neighbors! Cold, cold--Ishiver!--How now? Aloft there! D'ye see him? Sing out for everyspout, though he spout ten times a second!"

The day was nearly done; only the hem of his golden robe was rustling. Soon, it was almost dark, but the look-out men still remained unset. 

"Can't see the spout now, sir;--too dark"--cried a voice from the air. 

"How heading when last seen?"

"As before, sir, --straight to leeward. "

"Good! he will travel slower now 'tis night. Down royals andtop-gallant stun-sails, Mr. Starbuck. We must not run over him beforemorning; he's making a passage now, and may heave-to a while. Helmthere! keep her full before the wind!--Aloft! come down!--Mr. Stubb, send a fresh hand to the fore-mast head, and see it manned tillmorning. "--Then advancing towards the doubloon in the main-mast--"Men, this gold is mine, for I earned it; but I shall let it abide here tillthe White Whale is dead; and then, whosoever of ye first raises him, upon the day he shall be killed, this gold is that man's; and if onthat day I shall again raise him, then, ten times its sum shall bedivided among all of ye! Away now!--the deck is thine, sir. "

And so saying, he placed himself half way within the scuttle, andslouching his hat, stood there till dawn, except when at intervalsrousing himself to see how the night wore on. 

SECOND DAY. 

At day-break, the three mast-heads were punctually manned afresh. 

"D'ye see him?" cried Ahab, after allowing a little space for the lightto spread. 

"See nothing, sir. "

"Turn up all hands and make sail! he travels faster than I thoughtfor;--the top-gallant sails!--aye, they should have been kept on herall night. But no matter--'tis but resting for the rush. "

Here be it said, that this pertinacious pursuit of one particularwhale, continued through day into night, and through night into day, isa thing by no means unprecedented in the South sea fishery. For suchis the wonderful skill, prescience of experience, and invincibleconfidence acquired by some great natural geniuses among the Nantucketcommanders; that from the simple observation of a whale when lastdescried, they will, under certain given circumstances, prettyaccurately foretell both the direction in which he will continue toswim for a time, while out of sight, as well as his probable rate ofprogression during that period. And, in these cases, somewhat as apilot, when about losing sight of a coast, whose general trending hewell knows, and which he desires shortly to return to again, but atsome further point; like as this pilot stands by his compass, and takesthe precise bearing of the cape at present visible, in order the morecertainly to hit aright the remote, unseen headland, eventually to bevisited: so does the fisherman, at his compass, with the whale; forafter being chased, and diligently marked, through several hours ofdaylight, then, when night obscures the fish, the creature's futurewake through the darkness is almost as established to the sagaciousmind of the hunter, as the pilot's coast is to him. So that to thishunter's wondrous skill, the proverbial evanescence of a thing writ inwater, a wake, is to all desired purposes well-nigh as reliable as thesteadfast land. And as the mighty iron Leviathan of the modern railwayis so familiarly known in its every pace, that, with watches in theirhands, men time his rate, as doctors that of a baby's pulse; andlightly say of it, the up train or the down train will reach such orsuch a spot, at such or such an hour; even so, almost, there areoccasions when these Nantucketers time that other Leviathan of thedeep, according to the observed humor of his speed; and say tothemselves, so many hours hence this whale will have gone two hundredmiles, will have about reached this or that degree of latitude orlongitude. But to render this acuteness at all successful in the end, the wind and the sea must be the whaleman's allies; for of what presentavail to the becalmed or windbound mariner is the skill that assureshim he is exactly ninety-three leagues and a quarter from his port?Inferable from these statements, are many collateral subtile matterstouching the chase of whales. 

The ship tore on; leaving such a furrow in the sea as when acannon-ball, missent, becomes a ploughshare and turns up the levelfield. 

"By salt and hemp!" cried Stubb, "but this swift motion of the deckcreeps up one's legs and tingles at the heart. This ship and I are twobrave fellows!--Ha! ha! Some one take me up, and launch me, spine-wise, on the sea, --for by live-oaks! my spine's a keel. Ha, ha!we go the gait that leaves no dust behind!"

"There she blows--she blows!--she blows!--right ahead!" was now themast-head cry. 

"Aye, aye!" cried Stubb, "I knew it--ye can't escape--blow on and splityour spout, O whale! the mad fiend himself is after ye! blow yourtrump--blister your lungs!--Ahab will dam off your blood, as a millershuts his water-gate upon the stream!"

And Stubb did but speak out for well-nigh all that crew. The frenziesof the chase had by this time worked them bubblingly up, like old wineworked anew. Whatever pale fears and forebodings some of them mighthave felt before; these were not only now kept out of sight through thegrowing awe of Ahab, but they were broken up, and on all sides routed, as timid prairie hares that scatter before the bounding bison. Thehand of Fate had snatched all their souls; and by the stirring perilsof the previous day; the rack of the past night's suspense; the fixed, unfearing, blind, reckless way in which their wild craft went plungingtowards its flying mark; by all these things, their hearts were bowledalong. The wind that made great bellies of their sails, and rushed thevessel on by arms invisible as irresistible; this seemed the symbol ofthat unseen agency which so enslaved them to the race. 

They were one man, not thirty. For as the one ship that held them all;though it was put together of all contrasting things--oak, and maple, and pine wood; iron, and pitch, and hemp--yet all these ran into eachother in the one concrete hull, which shot on its way, both balancedand directed by the long central keel; even so, all the individualitiesof the crew, this man's valor, that man's fear; guilt and guiltiness, all varieties were welded into oneness, and were all directed to thatfatal goal which Ahab their one lord and keel did point to. 

The rigging lived. The mast-heads, like the tops of tall palms, wereoutspreadingly tufted with arms and legs. Clinging to a spar with onehand, some reached forth the other with impatient wavings; others, shading their eyes from the vivid sunlight, sat far out on the rockingyards; all the spars in full bearing of mortals, ready and ripe fortheir fate. Ah! how they still strove through that infinite bluenessto seek out the thing that might destroy them!

"Why sing ye not out for him, if ye see him?" cried Ahab, when, afterthe lapse of some minutes since the first cry, no more had been heard. "Sway me up, men; ye have been deceived; not Moby Dick casts one oddjet that way, and then disappears. "

It was even so; in their headlong eagerness, the men had mistaken someother thing for the whale-spout, as the event itself soon proved; forhardly had Ahab reached his perch; hardly was the rope belayed to itspin on deck, when he struck the keynote to an orchestra, that made theair vibrate as with the combined discharge of rifles. The triumphanthalloo of thirty buckskin lungs was heard, as--much nearer to the shipthan the place of the imaginary jet, less than a mile ahead--Moby Dickbodily burst into view! For not by any calm and indolent spoutings!not by the peaceable gush of that mystic fountain in his head, did theWhite Whale now reveal his vicinity; but by the far more wondrousphenomenon of breaching. Rising with his utmost velocity from thefurthest depths, the Sperm Whale thus booms his entire bulk into thepure element of air, and piling up a mountain of dazzling foam, showshis place to the distance of seven miles and more. In those moments, the torn, enraged waves he shakes off, seem his mane; in some cases, this breaching is his act of defiance. 

"There she breaches! there she breaches!" was the cry, as in hisimmeasurable bravadoes the White Whale tossed himself salmon-like toHeaven. So suddenly seen in the blue plain of the sea, and relievedagainst the still bluer margin of the sky, the spray that he raised, for the moment, intolerably glittered and glared like a glacier; andstood there gradually fading and fading away from its first sparklingintensity, to the dim mistiness of an advancing shower in a vale. 

"Aye, breach your last to the sun, Moby Dick!" cried Ahab, "thy hourand thy harpoon are at hand!--Down! down all of ye, but one man at thefore. The boats!--stand by!"

Unmindful of the tedious rope-ladders of the shrouds, the men, likeshooting stars, slid to the deck, by the isolated backstays andhalyards; while Ahab, less dartingly, but still rapidly was droppedfrom his perch. 

"Lower away, " he cried, so soon as he had reached his boat--a spareone, rigged the afternoon previous. "Mr. Starbuck, the ship isthine--keep away from the boats, but keep near them. Lower, all!"

As if to strike a quick terror into them, by this time being the firstassailant himself, Moby Dick had turned, and was now coming for thethree crews. Ahab's boat was central; and cheering his men, he toldthem he would take the whale head-and-head, --that is, pull straight upto his forehead, --a not uncommon thing; for when within a certainlimit, such a course excludes the coming onset from the whale'ssidelong vision. But ere that close limit was gained, and while yetall three boats were plain as the ship's three masts to his eye; theWhite Whale churning himself into furious speed, almost in an instantas it were, rushing among the boats with open jaws, and a lashing tail, offered appalling battle on every side; and heedless of the ironsdarted at him from every boat, seemed only intent on annihilating eachseparate plank of which those boats were made. But skillfullymanoeuvred, incessantly wheeling like trained charges in the field; theboats for a while eluded him; though, at times, but by a plank'sbreadth; while all the time, Ahab's unearthly slogan tore every othercry but his to shreds. 

But at last in his untraceable evolutions, the White Whale so crossedand recrossed, and in a thousand ways entangled the clack of the threelines now fast to him, that they foreshortened, and, of themselves, warped the devoted boats towards the planted irons in him; though nowfor a moment the whale drew aside a little, as if to rally for a moretremendous charge. Seizing that opportunity, Ahab first paid out moreline: and then was rapidly hauling and jerking in upon it again--hopingthat way to disencumber it of some snarls--when lo!--a sight moresavage than the embattled teeth of sharks!

Caught and twisted--corkscrewed in the mazes of the line, looseharpoons and lances, with all their bristling barbs and points, cameflashing and dripping up to the chocks in the bows of Ahab's boat. Only one thing could be done. Seizing the boat-knife, he criticallyreached within--through--and then, without--the rays of steel; draggedin the line beyond, passed it inboard, to the bowsman, and then, twicesundering the rope near the chocks--dropped the intercepted fagot ofsteel into the sea; and was all fast again. That instant, the WhiteWhale made a sudden rush among the remaining tangles of the otherlines; by so doing, irresistibly dragged the more involved boats ofStubb and Flack towards his flukes; dashed them together like tworolling husks on a surf-beaten beach, and then, diving down into thesea, disappeared in a boiling maelstrom, in which, for a space, theodorous cedar chips of the wrecks danced round and round, like gratednutmeg in a swiftly stirred bowl of punch. 

While the two crews were yet circling in the waters, reaching out afterthe revolving line-tubs, oars, and other floating furniture, whileaslope little Flask bobbed up and down like an empty vial, twitchinghis legs upwards to escape the dreaded jaws of sharks; and Stubb waslustily singing out for some one to ladle him up; and while the oldman's line--now parting--admitted of his pulling into the creamy poolto rescue whom he could;--in that wild simultaneousness of a thousandconcreted perils, --Ahab's yet unstricken boat seemed drawn up towardsHeaven by invisible wires, --as, arrow-like, shooting perpendicularlyfrom the sea, the White Whale dashed his broad forehead against itsbottom, and sent it, turning over and over, into the air; till it fellagain--gunwale downwards--and Ahab and his men struggled out from underit, like seals from a sea-side cave. 

The first uprising momentum of the whale--modifying its direction as hestruck the surface--involuntarily launched him along it, to a littledistance from the centre of the destruction he had made; and with hisback to it, he now lay for a moment slowly feeling with his flukes fromside to side; and whenever a stray oar, bit of plank, the least chip orcrumb of the boats touched his skin, his tall swiftly drew back, andcame sideways smiting the sea. But soon, as if satisfied that his workfor that time was done, he pushed his pleated forehead through theocean, and trailing after him the intertangled lines, continued hisleeward way at a traveller's methodic pace. 

As before, the attentive ship having descried the whole fight, againcame bearing down to the rescue, and dropping a boat, picked up thefloating mariners, tubs, oars, and whatever else could be caught at, and safely landed them on her decks. Some sprained shoulders, wrists, and ankles; livid contusions; wrenched harpoons and lances;inextricable intricacies of rope; shattered oars and planks; all thesewere there; but no fatal or even serious ill seemed to have befallenany one. As with Fedallah the day before, so Ahab was now found grimlyclinging to his boat's broken half, which afforded a comparatively easyfloat; nor did it so exhaust him as the previous day's mishap. 

But when he was helped to the deck, all eyes were fastened upon him; asinstead of standing by himself he still half-hung upon the shoulder ofStarbuck, who had thus far been the foremost to assist him. His ivoryleg had been snapped off, leaving but one short sharp splinter. 

"Aye aye, Starbuck, 'tis sweet to lean sometimes, be the leaner who hewill; and would old Ahab had leaned oftener than he has. "

"The ferrule has not stood, sir, " said the carpenter, now coming up; "Iput good work into that leg. "

"But no bones broken, sir, I hope, " said Stubb with true concern. 

"Aye! and all splintered to pieces, Stubb!--d'ye see it. --But even witha broken bone, old Ahab is untouched; and I account no living bone ofmine one jot more me, than this dead one that's lost. Nor white whale, nor man, nor fiend, can so much as graze old Ahab in his own proper andinaccessible being. Can any lead touch yonder floor, any mast scrapeyonder roof?--Aloft there! which way?"

"Dead to leeward, sir. "

"Up helm, then; pile on the sail again, ship keepers! down the rest ofthe spare boats and rig them--Mr. Starbuck away, and muster the boat'screws. "

"Let me first help thee towards the bulwarks, sir. "

"Oh, oh, oh! how this splinter gores me now! Accursed fate! that theunconquerable captain in the soul should have such a craven mate!"

"Sir?"

"My body, man, not thee. Give me something for a cane--there, thatshivered lance will do. Muster the men. Surely I have not seen himyet. By heaven it cannot be!--missing?--quick! call them all. "

The old man's hinted thought was true. Upon mustering the company, theParsee was not there. 

"The Parsee!" cried Stubb--"he must have been caught in----"

"The black vomit wrench thee!--run all of ye above, alow, cabin, forecastle--find him--not gone--not gone!"

But quickly they returned to him with the tidings that the Parsee wasnowhere to be found. 

"Aye, sir, " said Stubb--"caught among the tangles of your line--Ithought I saw him dragging under. "

"My line! my line? Gone?--gone? What means that little word?--Whatdeath-knell rings in it, that old Ahab shakes as if he were the belfry. The harpoon, too!--toss over the litter there, --d'ye see it?--theforged iron, men, the white whale's--no, no, no, --blistered fool! thishand did dart it!--'tis in the fish!--Aloft there! Keep himnailed--Quick!--all hands to the rigging of the boats--collect theoars--harpooners! the irons, the irons! hoist the royals higher--a pullon all the sheets! helm there! steady, steady for your life! I'llten-times girdle the unmeasured globe; yea and dive straight throughit, but I'll slay him yet!"

"Great God! but for one single instant show thyself, " cried Starbuck;"never, never will thou capture him, old man--In Jesus' name no more ofthis, that's worse than devil's madness. Two days chased; twice stoveto splinters; thy very leg once more snatched from under thee; thy evilshadow gone--all good angles mobbing thee with warnings:--what morewouldst thou have?--Shall we keep chasing this murdeous fish till heswamps the last man? Shall we be dragged by him to the bottom of thesea? Shall we be towed by him to the infernal world? Oh, oh, --Impietyand blasphemy to hunt him more!"

"Starbuck, of late I've felt strangely moved to thee; ever since thathour we both saw--thou know'st what, in one another's eyes. But inthis matter of the whale, be the front of thy face to me as the palm ofthis hand--a lipless, unfeatured blank. Ahab is for ever Ahab, man. This whole act's immutably decreed. 'Twas rehearsed by thee and me abillion years before this ocean rolled. Fool! I am the Fates'lieutenant; I act under orders. Look thou, underling! that thouobeyest mine. --Stand round me, men. Ye see an old man cut down to thestump; leaning on a shivered lance; propped up on a lonely foot. 'TisAhab--his body's part; but Ahab's soul's a centipede, that moves upon ahundred legs. I feel strained, half-stranded, as ropes that towdismasted frigates in a gale; and I may look so. But ere I break, ye'll hear me crack; and till ye hear that, know that Ahab's hawsertows his purpose yet. Believe ye, men, in the things called omens?Then laugh aloud, and cry encore! For ere they drown, drowning thingswill twice rise to the surface; then rise again, to sink for evermore. So with Moby Dick--two days he's floated--to-morrow will be the third. Aye, men, he'll rise once more, --but only to spout his last! D'ye feelbrave men, brave?"

"As fearless fire, " cried Stubb. 

"And as mechanical, " muttered Ahab. Then as the men went forward, hemuttered on:--"The things called omens! And yesterday I talked thesame to Starbuck there, concerning my broken boat. Oh! how valiantly Iseek to drive out of others' hearts what's clinched so fast inmine!--The Parsee--the Parsee!--gone, gone? and he was to gobefore:--but still was to be seen again ere I could perish--How'sthat?--There's a riddle now might baffle all the lawyers backed by theghosts of the whole line of judges:--like a hawk's beak it pecks mybrain. _I'll, I'll_ solve it, though!"

When dusk descended, the whale was still in sight to leeward. 

So once more the sail was shortened, and everything passed nearly as onthe previous night; only, the sound of hammers, and the hum of thegrindstone was heard till nearly daylight, as the men toiled bylanterns in the complete and careful rigging of the spare boats andsharpening their fresh weapons for the morrow. Meantime, of the brokenkeel of Ahab's wrecked craft the carpenter made him another leg; whilestill as on the night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within hisscuttle; his hid, heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on itsdial; sat due eastward for the earliest sun. 

THIRD DAY. 

The morning of the third day dawned fair and fresh, and once more thesolitary night-man at the fore-masthead was relieved by crowds of thedaylight lookouts, who dotted every mast and almost every spar. 

"D'ye see him?" cried Ahab; but the whale was not yet in sight. 

"In his infallible wake, though; but follow that wake, that's all. Helm there; steady, as thou goest, and hast been going. What a lovelyday again! were it a new-made world, and made for a summer-house to theangels, and this morning the first of its throwing open to them, afairer day could not dawn upon that world. Here's food for thought, had Ahab time to think; but Ahab never thinks; he only feels, feels, feels; _that's_ tingling enough for mortal man! to think's audacity. God only has that right and privilege. Thinking is, or ought to be, acoolness and a calmness; and our poor hearts throb, and our poor brainsbeat too much for that. And yet, I've sometimes thought my brain wasvery calm--frozen calm, this old skull cracks so, like a glass in whichthe contents turned to ice, and shiver it. And still this hair isgrowing now; this moment growing, and the heat must breed it; but no, it's like that sort of common grass that will grow anywhere, betweenthe earthly clefts of Greenland ice or in Vesuvius lava. How the wildwinds blow; they whip about me as the torn shreds of split sails lashthe tossed ship they cling to. A vile wind that has no doubt blown erethis through prison corridors and cells, and wards of hospitals, andventilated them, and now comes blowing hither as innocent as fleeces. Out upon it!--it's tainted. Were I the wind, I'd blow no more on sucha wicked, miserable world. I'd crawl somewhere to a cave, and slinkthere. And yet, 'tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind! who everconquered it? In every fight it has the last and bitterest blow. Runtilting at it, and you but run through it. Ha! a coward wind thatstrikes stark naked men, but will not stand to receive a single blow. Even Ahab is a braver thing--a nobler thing than _that_. Would now thewind but had a body; but all the things that most exasperate andoutrage mortal man, all these things are bodiless, but only bodiless asobjects, not as agents. There's a most special, a most cunning, oh, amost malicious difference! And yet, I say again, and swear it now, that there's something all glorious and gracious in the wind. Thesewarm Trade Winds, at least, that in the clear heavens blow straight on, in strong and steadfast, vigorous mildness; and veer not from theirmark, however the baser currents of the sea may turn and tack, andmightiest Mississipies of the land swift and swerve about, uncertainwhere to go at last. And by the eternal Poles! these same Trades thatso directly blow my good ship on; these Trades, or something likethem--something so unchangeable, and full as strong, blow my keeledsoul along! To it! Aloft there! What d'ye see?"

"Nothing, sir. "

"Nothing! and noon at hand! The doubloon goes a-begging! See the sun!Aye, aye, it must be so. I've oversailed him. How, got the start?Aye, he's chasing _me_ now; not I, _him_--that's bad; I might haveknown it, too. Fool! the lines--the harpoons he's towing. Aye, aye, Ihave run him by last night. About! about! Come down, all of ye, butthe regular lookouts! Man the braces!"

Steering as she had done, the wind had been somewhat on the _Pequod's_quarter, so that now being pointed in the reverse direction, the bracedship sailed hard upon the breeze as she rechurned the cream in her ownwhite wake. 

"Against the wind he now steers for the open jaw, " murmured Starbuck tohimself, as he coiled the new-hauled mainbrace upon the rail. "Godkeep us, but already my bones feel damp within me, and from the insidewet my flesh. I misdoubt me that I disobey my God in obeying him!"

"Stand by to sway me up!" cried Ahab, advancing to the hempen basket. "We should meet him soon. "

"Aye, aye, sir, " and straightway Starbuck did Ahab's bidding, and oncemore Ahab swung on high. 

A whole hour now passed; gold-beaten out to ages. Time itself now heldlong breaths with keen suspense. But at last, some three points offthe weather bow, Ahab descried the spout again, and instantly from thethree mast-heads three shrieks went up as if the tongues of fire hadvoiced it. 

"Forehead to forehead I meet thee, this third time, Moby Dick! On deckthere!--brace sharper up; crowd her into the wind's eye. He's too faroff to lower yet, Mr. Starbuck. The sails shake! Stand over thathelmsman with a top-maul! So, so; he travels fast, and I must down. But let me have one more good round look aloft here at the sea; there'stime for that. An old, old sight, and yet somehow so young; aye, andnot changed a wink since I first saw it, a boy, from the sand-hills ofNantucket! The same!--the same!--the same to Noah as to me. There's asoft shower to leeward. Such lovely leewardings! They must leadsomewhere--to something else than common land, more palmy than thepalms. Leeward! the white whale goes that way; look to windward, then;the better if the bitterer quarter. But good bye, good bye, oldmast-head! What's this?--green? aye, tiny mosses in these warpedcracks. No such green weather stains on Ahab's head! There's thedifference now between man's old age and matter's. But aye, old mast, we both grow old together; sound in our hulls, though, are we not myship? Aye, minus a leg, that's all. By heaven this dead wood has thebetter of my live flesh every way. I can't compare with it; and I'veknown some ships made of dead trees outlast the lives of men made ofthe most vital stuff of vital fathers. What's that he said? he shouldstill go before me, my pilot; and yet to be seen again? But where?Will I have eyes at the bottom of the sea, supposing I descend thoseendless stairs? and all night I've been sailing from him, wherever hedid sink to. Aye, aye, like many more thou told'st direful truth astouching thyself, O Parsee; but, Ahab, there thy shot fell short. Goodby, mast-head--keep a good eye upon the whale, the while I'm gone. We'll talk to-morrow, nay, to-night, when the white whale lies downthere, tied by head and tail. "

He gave the word! and still gazing round him, was steadily loweredthrough the cloven blue air to the deck. 

In due time the boats were lowered; but as standing in his shallop'sstern, Ahab just hovered upon the point of the descent, he waved to themate, --who held one of the tackle-ropes on deck--and bade him pause. 

"Starbuck!"

"Sir?"

"For the third time my soul's ship starts upon this voyage, Starbuck. "

"Aye, sir, thou wilt have it so. "

"Some ships sail from their ports, and ever afterwards are missing, Starbuck!"

"Truth, sir: saddest truth. "

"Some men die at ebb tide; some at low water; some at the full of theflood;--and I feel now like a billow that's all one crested comb, Starbuck. I am old;--shake hands with me, man. "

Their hands met; their eyes fastened; Starbuck's tears the glue. 

"Oh, my captain, my captain!--noble heart--go not--go not!--see, it's abrave man that weeps; how great the agony of the persuasion then!"

"Lower away!"--cried Ahab, tossing the mate's arm from him. "Stand bythe crew!"

In an instant the boat was pulling round close under the stern. 

"The sharks! the sharks!" cried a voice from the low cabin-windowthere; "O master, my master, come back!"

But Ahab heard nothing; for his own voice was high-lifted then; and theboat leaped on. 

Yet the voice spake true; for scarce had he pushed from the ship, whennumbers of sharks, seemingly rising from out the dark waters beneaththe hull, maliciously snapped at the blades of the oars, every timethey dipped in the water; and in this way accompanied the boat withtheir bites. It is a thing not uncommonly happening to the whale-boatsin those swarming seas; the sharks at times apparently following themin the same prescient way that vultures hover over the banners ofmarching regiments in the east. But these were the first sharks thathad been observed by the _Pequod_ since the White Whale had been firstdescried; and whether it was that Ahab's crew were all suchtiger-yellow barbarians, and therefore their flesh more musky to thesenses of the sharks--a matter sometimes well known to affect them, however it was, they seemed to follow that one boat without molestingthe others. 

"Heart of wrought steel!" murmured Starbuck, gazing over the side andfollowing with his eyes the receding boat--"canst thou yet ring boldlyto that sight?--lowering thy keel among ravening sharks, and followedby them, open-mouthed to the chase; and this the critical thirdday?--For when three days flow together in one continuous intensepursuit; be sure the first is the morning, the second the noon, and thethird the evening and the end of that thing--be that end what it may. Oh! my God! what is this that shoots through me, and leaves me sodeadly calm, yet expectant, --fixed at the top of a shudder! Futurethings swim before me, as in empty outlines and skeletons; all the pastis somehow grown dim. Mary, girl! thou fadest in pale glories behindme; boy! I seem to see but thy eyes grown wondrous blue. Strangestproblems of life seem clearing; but clouds sweep between--Is myjourney's end coming? My legs feel faint; like his who has footed itall day. Feel thy heart, --beats it yet?--Stir thyself, Starbuck!--stave it off--move, move! speak aloud!--Mast-head there. See ye my boy's hand on the hill?--Crazed;--aloft there!--keep thykeenest eye upon the boats:--mark well the whale!--Ho! again!--driveoff that hawk! see! he pecks--he tears the vane"--pointing to the redflag flying at the main-truck--"Ha! he soars away with it!--Where's theold man now? sees't thou that sight, oh Ahab!--shudder, shudder!"

The boats had not gone very far, when by a signal from themast-heads--a downward pointed arm, Ahab knew that the whale hadsounded; but intending to be near him at the next rising, he held onhis way a little sideways from the vessel; the becharmed crewmaintaining the profoundest silence, as the head-beat waves hammeredand hammered against the opposing bow. 

"Drive, drive in your nails, oh ye waves! to their utter-most headsdrive them in! ye but strike a thing without a lid; and no coffin andno hearse can be mine:--and hemp only can kill me! Ha! ha!"

Suddenly the waters around them slowly swelled in broad circles; thenquickly upheaved, as if sideways sliding from a submerged berg of ice, swiftly rising to the surface. A low rumbling sound was heard; asubterraneous hum; and then all held their breaths; as bedraggled withtrailing ropes, and harpoons, and lances, a vast form shot lengthwise, but obliquely from the sea. Shrouded in a thin drooping veil of mist, it hovered for a moment in the rainbowed air; and then fell swampingback into the deep. Crushed thirty feet upwards, the waters flashedfor an instant like heaps of fountains, then brokenly sank in a showerof flakes, leaving the circling surface creamed like new milk round themarble trunk of the whale. 

"Give way!" cried Ahab to the oarsmen, and the boats darted forward tothe attack; but maddened by yesterday's fresh irons that corroded inhim, Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fellfrom heaven. The wide tiers of welded tendons overspreading his broadwhite forehead, beneath the transparent skin, looked knitted together;as head on, he came churning his tail among the boats; and once moreflailed them apart; spilling out the irons and lances from the twomates' boats, and dashing in one side of the upper part of their bows, but leaving Ahab's almost without a scar. 

While Daggoo and Queequeg were stopping the strained planks; and as thewhale swimming out from them, turned, and showed one entire flank as heshot by them again; at that moment a quick cry went up. Lashed roundand round to the fish's back; pinioned in the turns upon turns inwhich, during the past night, the whale had reeled the involutions ofthe lines around him, the half torn body of the Parsee was seen; hissable raiment frayed to shreds; his distended eyes turned full upon oldAhab. 

The harpoon dropped from his hand. 

"Befooled, befooled!"--drawing in a long lean breath--"Aye, Parsee! Isee thee again. --Aye, and thou goest before; and this, this then is thehearse that thou didst promise. But I hold thee to the last letter ofthy word. Where is the second hearse? Away, mates, to the ship! thoseboats are useless now; repair them if ye can in time, and return to me;if not, Ahab is enough to die--Down, men! the first thing that butoffers to jump from this boat I stand in, that thing I harpoon. Ye arenot other men, but my arms and my legs; and so obey me. --Where's thewhale? gone down again?"

But he looked too nigh the boat; for as if bent upon escaping with thecorpse he bore, and as if the particular place of the last encounterhad been but a stage in his leeward voyage, Moby Dick was now againsteadily swimming forward; and had almost passed the ship, --which thusfar had been sailing in the contrary direction to him, though for thepresent her headway had been stopped. He seemed swimming with hisutmost velocity, and now only intent upon pursuing his own straightpath in the sea. 

"Oh! Ahab, " cried Starbuck, "not too late is it, even now, the thirdday, to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!"

Setting sail to the rising wind, the lonely boat was swiftly impelledto leeward, by both oars and canvas. And at last when Ahab was slidingby the vessel, so near as plainly to distinguish Starbuck's face as heleaned over the rail, he hailed him to turn the vessel about, andfollow him, not too swiftly, at a judicious interval. Glancingupwards, he saw Tashtego, Queequeg, and Daggoo, eagerly mounting to thethree mast-heads; while the oarsmen were rocking in the two stavedboats which had but just been hoisted to the side, and were busily atwork in repairing them. One after the other, through the portholes, ashe sped, he also caught flying glimpses of Stubb and Flack, busyingthemselves on deck among bundles of new irons and lances. As he sawall this; as he heard the hammers in the broken boats! far otherhammers seemed driving a nail into his heart. But he rallied. And nowmarking that the vane or flag was gone from the mainmast-head, heshouted to Tashtego, who had just gained that perch, to descend againfor another flag, and a hammer and nails, and so nail it to the mast. 

Whether fagged by the three days' running chase, and the resistance tohis swimming in the knotted hamper he bore; or whether it was somelatent deceitfulness and malice in him: whichever was true, the WhiteWhale's way now began to abate, as it seemed, from the boat so rapidlynearing him once more; though indeed the whale's last start had notbeen so long a one as before. And still as Ahab glided over the wavesthe unpitying sharks accompanied him; and so pertinaciously stuck tothe boat; and so continually bit at the plying oars, that the bladesbecame jagged and crunched, and left small splinters in the sea, atalmost every dip. 

"Heed them not! those teeth but give new rowlocks to your oars. Pullon! 'tis the better rest, the shark's jaw than the yielding water. "

"But at every bite, sir, the thin blades grow smaller and smaller!"

"They will last long enough! pull on!--But who can tell"--hemuttered--"whether these sharks swim to feast on the whale or onAhab?--But pull on! Aye, all alive, now--we near him. The helm! takethe helm; let me pass, "--and so saying, two of the oarsmen helped himforward to the bows of the still flying boat. 

At length as the craft was cast to one side, and ran ranging along withthe White Whale's flank, he seemed strangely oblivious of itsadvance--as the whale sometimes will--and Ahab was fairly within thesmoky mountain mist, which, thrown off from the whale's spout, curledround his great, Monadnock rump; he was even thus close to him; when, with body arched back, and both arms lengthwise high-lifted to thepoise, he darted his fierce iron, and his far fiercer curse into thehated whale. As both steel and curse sank to the socket, as if suckedinto a morass, Moby Dick sideways writhed; spasmodically rolled hisnigh flank against the bow, and, without staving a hole in it, sosuddenly canted the boat over, that had it not been for the elevatedpart of the gunwale to which he then clung, Ahab would once more havebeen tossed into the sea. As it was, three of the oarsmen--whoforeknew not the precise instant of the dart, and were thereforeunprepared for its effects--these were flung out; but so fell, that, inan instant two of them clutched the gunwale again, and rising to itslevel on a combining wave, hurled themselves bodily inboard again; thethird man helplessly dropping astern, but still afloat and swimming. 

Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the welteringsea. But when Ahab cried out to the steersman to take new turns withthe line, and hold it so; and commanded the crew to turn round on theirseats, and tow the boat up to the mark; the moment the treacherous linefelt that double strain and tug, it snapped in the empty air!

"What breaks in me? Some sinew cracks!--'tis whole again; oars! oars!Burst in upon him!"

Hearing the tremendous rush of the sea-crashing boat, the whale wheeledround to present his blank forehead at bay; but in that evolution, catching sight of the nearing black hull of the ship; seemingly seeingin it the source of all his persecutions; bethinking it--it may be--alarger and nobler foe; of a sudden, he bore down upon its advancingprow, smiting his jaws amid fiery showers of foam. 

Ahab staggered; his hand smote his forehead. "I grow blind; hands!stretch out before me that I may yet grope my way. Is't night?"

"The whale! The ship!" cried the cringing oarsmen. 

"Oars! oars! Slope downwards to thy depths, O sea, that ere it beforever too late, Ahab may slide this last, last time upon his mark! Isee: the ship! the ship! Dash on, my men! Will ye not save my ship?"

But as the oarsmen violently forced their boat through thesledge-hammering seas, the before whale-smitten bow-ends of two planksburst through, and in an instant almost, the temporarily disabled boatlay nearly level with the waves; its halfwading, splashing crew, tryinghard to stop the gap and bale out the pouring water. 

Meantime, for that one beholding instant, Tashtego's mast-head hammerremained suspended in his hand; and the red flag, half-wrapping him aswith a plaid, then streamed itself straight out from him, as his ownforward-flowing heart; while Starbuck and Stubb, standing upon thebowsprit beneath, caught sight of the down-coming monster just as soonas he. 

"The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers ofair, now hug me close! Let not Starbuck die, if die he must, in awoman's fainting fit. Up helm, I say--ye fools, the jaw! the jaw! Isthis the end of all my bursting prayers? all my life-long fidelities?Oh, Ahab, Ahab, lo, thy work. Steady! helmsman, steady. Nay, nay! Uphelm again! He turns to meet us! Oh, his unappeasable brow drives ontowards one, whose duty tells him he cannot depart. My God, stand byme now!"

"Stand not by me, but stand under me, whoever you are that will nowhelp Stubb; for Stubb, too, sticks here. I grin at thee, thou grinningwhale! Who ever helped Stubb, or kept Stubb awake, but Stubb's ownunwinking eye? And now poor Stubb goes to bed upon a mattress that isall too soft; would it were stuffed with brushwood! I grin at thee, thou grinning whale! Look ye, sun, moon, and stars! I call yeassassins of as good a fellow as ever spouted up his ghost. For allthat, I would yet ring glasses with ye, would ye but hand the cup! Oh, oh! oh, oh! thou grinning whale, but there'll be plenty of gulpingsoon! Why fly ye not, O Ahab! For me, off shoes and jacket to it; letStubb die in his drawers! A most mouldy and over-salted death, though;--cherries! cherries! cherries! Oh, Flask, for one red cherryere we die!"

"Cherries? I only wish that we were where they grow. Oh, Stubb, Ihope my poor mother's drawn my part-pay ere this; if not, few copperswill now come to her, for the voyage is up. "

From the ship's bows, nearly all the seamen now hung inactive; hammers, bits of plank, lances, and harpoons, mechanically retained in theirhands, just as they had darted from their various employments; alltheir enchanted eyes intent upon the whale, which from side to sidestrangely vibrating his predestinating head, sent a broad band ofoverspreading semicircular foam before him as he rushed. Retribution, swift vengeance, eternal malice were in his whole aspect, and spite ofall that mortal man could do, the solid white buttress of his foreheadsmote the ship's starboard bow, till men and timbers reeled. Some fellflat upon their faces. Like dislodged trucks, the heads of theharpooners aloft shook on their bull-like necks. Through the breach, they heard the waters pour, as mountain torrents down a flume. 

"The ship! The hearse!--the second hearse!" cried Ahab from the boat;"its wood could only be American!"

Diving beneath the settling ship, the whale ran quivering along itskeel; but turning under water, swiftly shot to the surface again, faroff the other bow, but within a few yards of Ahab's boat, where, for atime, he lay quiescent. 

"I turn my body from the sun. What ho, Tashtego! let me hear thyhammer. Oh! ye three unsurrendered spires of mine; thou uncrackedkeel; and only god-bullied hull; thou firm deck, and haughty helm, andPole-pointed prow, --death-glorious ship! must ye then perish, andwithout me? Am I cut off from the last fond pride of meanestshipwrecked captains? Oh, lonely death on lonely life! Oh, now I feelmy topmost greatness lies in my topmost grief. Ho, ho! from all yourfurthest bounds, pour ye now in, ye bold billows of my whole fore-gonelife, and top this one piled comber of my death! Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple withthee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my lastbreath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool!and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while stillchasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned whale! _Thus_, I giveup the spear!"

The harpoon was darted; the stricken whale flew forward; with ignitingvelocity the line ran through the groove;--ran foul. Ahab stooped toclear it; he did clear it! but the flying turn caught him round theneck, and voicelessly as Turkish mutes bowstring their victim, he wasshot out of the boat, ere the crew knew he was gone. Next instant, theheavy eye-splice in the rope's final end flew out of the stark-emptytub, knocked down an oarsmen, and smiting the sea, disappeared in itsdepths. 

For an instant, the tranced boat's crew stood still; then turned. "Theship! Great God, where is the ship?" Soon they through dim, bewildering mediums saw her sidelong fading phantom, as in the gaseous_Fata Morgana_; only the uppermost masts out of water; while fixed byinfatuation, or fidelity, or fate, to their once lofty perches, thepagan harpooners still maintained their sinking lookouts on the sea. And now, concentric circles seized the lone boat itself, and all itscrew, and each floating oar, and every lance-pole, and spinning, animate and inanimate, all round and round in one vortex, carried thesmallest chip of the _Pequod_ out of sight. 

But as the last whelmings intermixingly poured themselves over thesunken head of the Indian at the mainmast, leaving a few inches of theerect spar yet visible, together with long streaming yards of the flag, which calmly undulated, with ironical coincidings, over the destroyingbillows they almost touched;--at that instant, a red arm and a hammerhovered backwardly uplifted in the open air, in the act of nailing theflag faster and yet faster to the subsiding spar. A sky-hawk thattauntingly had followed the main-truck downwards from its natural homeamong the stars, pecking at the flag, and incommoding Tashtego there;this bird now chanced to intercept its broad fluttering wing betweenthe hammer and the wood; and simultaneously feeling that etherealthrill, the submerged savage beneath, in his death-gasp, kept hishammer frozen there; and so the bird of heaven, with arch-angelicshrieks, and his imperial beak thrust upwards, and his whole captiveform folded in the flag of Ahab, went down with his ship, which, likeSatan, would not sink to hell till she had dragged a living part ofheaven along with her, and helmeted herself with it. 

Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullenwhite surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed, and thegreat shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago. 

[1] This motion is peculiar to the sperm whale. It receives itsdesignation (pitchpoling) from its being likened to that preliminaryup-and-down poise of the whale-lance, in the exercise calledpitchpoling previously described. By this motion the whale must bestand most comprehensively view whatever objects may be encircling him. 

THE CORVETTE _CLAYMORE_

From "Ninety-three, " BY VICTOR HUGO

The corvette, instead of sailing south, in the direction of St. Catherine, headed to the north, then, veering towards the west, hadboldly entered that arm of the sea between Sark and Jersey called thePassage of the Deroute. There was then no lighthouse at any point oneither coast. It had been a clear sunset; the night was darker thansummer nights usually are; it was moonlight, but large clouds, ratherof the equinox than of the solstice overspread the sky, and, judging byappearances, the moon would not be visible until she reached thehorizon at the moment of setting. A few clouds hung low near thesurface of the sea and covered it with vapor. 

All this darkness was favorable. Gacquoil, the pilot, intended toleave Jersey on the left, Guernsey on the right, and by boldly sailingbetween Hanois and Dover, to reach some bay on the coast near St. Malo, a longer but safer route than the one through Minqulers; for the Frenchcoaster had standing orders to keep an unusually sharp lookout betweenSt. Hélier and Granville. 

If the wind were favorable, and nothing happened, by dint of settingall sail Gacquoil hoped to reach the coast of France at daybreak. 

All went well. The corvette had just passed Gros Nez. Towards nineo'clock the weather looked sullen, as the sailors express it, both windand sea rising; but the wind was favorable, and the sea was rough, yetnot heavy, the waves now and then dashing over the bow of the corvette. "The peasant" whom Lord Balcarras had called general, and whom thePrince de La Tour d'Auvergne had addressed as cousin, was a goodsailor, and paced the deck of the corvette with calm dignity. He didnot seem to notice that she rocked considerably. From time to time hetook out of his waistcoat pocket a cake of chocolate, and breaking offa piece, munched it. Though his hair was gray, his teeth were sound. 

He spoke to no one, except that from time to time he made a few conciseremarks in an undertone to the captain, who listened to himdeferentially, apparently regarding his passenger as the commander, rather than himself. Unobserved in the fog, and skilfully piloted, the_Claymore_ coasted along the steep shore to the north of Jersey, hugging the land to avoid the formidable reef of Pierres-de-Leeq, whichlies in the middle of the strait between Jersey and Sark. Gacquoil, atthe helm, sighting in turn Grève de Leeq, Gros Nez, and Plérmont, making the corvette glide in among those chains of reefs, felt his wayalong to a certain extent but with the self-confidence of one familiarwith the ways of the sea. 

The corvette had no light forward, fearing to betray its passagethrough these guarded waters. They congratulated themselves on thefog. The Grande Etape was reached; the mist was so dense that thelofty outlines of the Pinnacle were scarcely visible. They heard itstrike ten from the belfry of Saint-Ouen, --a sign that the wind wasstill aft. All was going well; the sea grew rougher, because they weredrawing near La Corbière. 

A little after ten, the Count Boisberthelot and the Chevalier de laVieuville escorted the man in the peasant garb to the door of hiscabin, which was the captain's own room. As he was about to enter, heremarked, lowering his voice:--

"You understand the importance of keeping the secret, gentlemen. Silence up to the moment of explosion. You are the only ones here whoknow my name. "

"We will carry it to the grave, " replied Boisberthelot. 

"And for my part, I would not reveal it were I face to face withdeath, " remarked the old man. 

And he entered his stateroom. 

The commander and the first officer returned on deck, and began to paceup and down side by side, talking as they walked. The theme wasevidently their passenger; and this was the substance of theconversation which the wind wafted through the darkness. Boisberthelotgrumbled half audibly to La Vieuville, --

"It remains to be seen whether or no he is a leader. "

La Vieuville replied, --

"Meanwhile he is a prince. "

"Almost. "

"A nobleman in France, but a prince in Brittany. "

"Like the Trémouilles and the Rohans. "

"With whom he is connected. "

Boisberthelot resumed, --

"In France and in the carriages of the king he is a marquis, --as I am acount, and you a chevalier. "

"The carriages are far away!" exclaimed Vieuville. "We are living inthe time of the tumbril. "

A silence ensued. 

Boisberthelot went on, --

"For lack of a French prince we take one from Brittany. "

"For lack of thrushes--No: since an eagle is not to be found, we take acrow. "

"I should prefer a vulture, " remarked Boisberthelot. 

La Vieuville replied, --

"Yes, indeed, with a beak and talons. "

"We shall see. "

"Yes, " replied Vieuville, "it is time there was a leader. I agree withTinténiac, --a leader and gunpowder! See here, commander, I know nearlyall the possible and impossible leaders, --those of yesterday, those ofto-day, and those of to-morrow. Not one of them has the head requiredfor war. In this cursed Vendée a general is needed who would be alawyer as well as a leader. He must harass the enemy, dispute everybush, ditch, and stone; he must force unlucky quarrels upon him, andtake advantage of everything; vigilant and pitiless, he must watchincessantly, slaughter freely, and make examples. Now, in this army ofpeasants there are heroes, but no captains. D'Elbée is a nonentity, Lescure an invalid; Bonchamps is merciful, --he is kind, and thatimplies folly; La Rochejaquelein is a superb sub-lieutenant; Silz is anofficer good for the open field, but not suited for a war that needs aman of expedients; Cathelineau is a simple teamster; Stofflet is acrafty game-keeper; Bérard is inefficient; Boulainvillers is absurd;Charette is horrible. I make no mention of Gaston the barber. Mordemonbleu! what is the use of opposing revolution, and what is thedifference between ourselves and the republicans, if we set barbersover the heads of noblemen! The fact is, that this beastly revolutionhas contaminated all of us. "

"It is the itch of France. "

"It is the itch of the Tiers état, " rejoined Boisberthelot. "Englandalone can help us. "

"And she will, captain, undoubtedly. "

"Meanwhile it is an ugly state of affairs. "

"Yes, --rustics everywhere. A monarchy that has Stofflet, thegame-keeper of M. De Maulevrier, for a commander has no reason to envya republic whose minister is Pache, the son of the Duke de Castries'porter. What men this Vendean war brings face to face. --on one sideSanterre the brewer; on the other Gaston the hairdresser!"

"My dear La Vieuville, I feel some respect for this Gaston. He behavedwell in his command of Guéménée. He had three hundred Blues neatlyshot after making them dig their own graves. "

"Well enough done; but I could have done quite as well as he. "

"Pardieu, to be sure; and I too. "

"The great feats of war, " said Vieuville, "require noble blood in thosewho perform them. These are matters for knights, and not forhairdressers. "

"But yet there are estimable men in this 'Third Estate, '" rejoinedVieuville. "Take that watchmaker, Joly, for instance. He was formerlya sergeant in a Flanders regiment; he becomes a Vendean chief andcommander of a coast band. He has a son, a republican; and while thefather serves in the ranks of the Whites, the son serves in those ofthe Blues. An encounter, a battle: the father captures the son andblows out his brains. "

"He did well, " said La Vieuville. 

"A royalist Brutus, " answered Boisberthelot. "Nevertheless, it isunendurable to be under the command of a Coquereau, a Jean-Jean, aMoulin, a Focart, a Bouju, a Chouppes!"

"My dear chevalier, the opposite party is quite as indignant. We arecrowded with plebeians; they have an excess of nobles. Do you thinkthe sansculottes like to be commanded by the Count de Canclaux, theViscount de Miranda, the Viscount de Beauharnais, the Count de Valence, the Marquis de Custine, and the Duke de Biron?"

"What a combination!"

"And the Duke de Chartres!"

"Son of Egalité. By the way, when will he be king?"

"Never!"

"He aspires to the throne, and his very crimes serve to promote hisinterests. "

"And his vices will injure his cause, " said Boisberthelot. 

Then, after another pause, he continued, --

"Nevertheless, he was anxious to be reconciled. He came to see theking. I was at Versailles when some one spit on his back. "

"From the top of the grand staircase?"

"Yes. "

"I am glad of it. "

"We called him Bourbon le Bourbeaux. "

"He is bald-headed; he has pimples; he is a regicide. Poh!"

And La Vieuville added:--

"I was with him at Ouessant. "

"On the _Saint Esprit_?"

"Yes. "

"Had he obeyed Admiral d'Orvillier's signal to keep to the windward, hewould have prevented the English from passing. "

"True. "

"Was he really hidden in the bottom of the hold?"

"No; but we must say so all the same. "

And La Vieuville burst out laughing. 

Boisberthelot continued:--

"Fools are plentiful. Look here, I have known this Boulainvilliers ofwhom you were speaking; I knew him well. At first the peasants werearmed with pikes; would you believe it, he took it into his head toform them into pike-men. He wanted to drill them in crossing pikes andrepelling a charge. He dreamed of transforming these barbarians intoregular soldiers. He undertook to teach them how to round in thecorners of their squares, and to mass battalions with hollow squares. He jabbered the antiquated military dialect to them; he called thechief of a squad a _cap d'escade_, --which was what corporals underLouis XIV, were called. He persisted in forming a regiment of allthose poachers. He had regular companies whose sergeants rangedthemselves in a circle every evening, and, receiving the sign andcountersign from the colonel's sergeant, repeated it in a whisper tothe lieutenant's sergeant, who repeated it to his next neighbor, who inhis turn transmitted it to the next man, and so on from ear to earuntil it reached the last man. He cashiered an officer for notstanding bareheaded to receive the watchword from the sergeant. Youmay imagine how he succeeded. This simpleton could not understand thatpeasants have to be led peasant fashion, and that it is impossible totransform rustics into soldiers. Yes, I have known Boulainvilliers. "

They walked along a few steps, each one engrossed in his own thoughts. 

Then the conversation was resumed:--

"By the way, has the report of Dampierre's death been confirmed?"

"Yes, commander. "

"Before Condé?"

"At the camp of Pamars; he was hit by a cannonball. "

Boisberthelot sighed. 

"Count Dampierre, --another of our men, who took sides with them. "

"May he prosper wherever he may be!" said Vieuville. 

"And the ladies, --where are they?"

"At Trieste. "

"Still there?"

"Yes. "

"Ah, this republic!" exclaimed La Vieuville. "What havoc from soslight a cause! To think that this revolution was the result of adeficit of only a few millions!"

"Insignificant beginnings are not always to be trusted. "

"Everything goes wrong, " replied La Vieuville. 

"Yes; La Rouarie is dead. Du Dresnay is an idiot. What wretchedleaders are all those bishops, --this Coucy, bishop of La Rochelle;Beaupoll Saint-Aulaire, bishop of Poitiers; Mercy, bishop of Luzon, alover of Madame de l'Eschasserie----"

"Whose name is Servanteau, you know, commander. Eschasserie is thename of an estate. "

"And that false bishop of Agra, who is a cure of I know not what!"

"Of Dol. His name is Guillot de Folleville. But then he is brave, andknows how to fight. "

"Priests when one needs soldiers! bishops who are no bishops at all!generals who are no generals!"

La Vieuville interrupted Boisberthelot. 

"Have you the _Moniteur_ in your stateroom, commander?"

"Yes. "

"What are they giving now in Paris?"

"'Adele and Pauline' and 'La Caverne. '"

"I should like to see that. "

"You may. We shall be in Paris in a month. "

Boisberthelot thought a moment, and then added:

"At the latest, --so Mr. Windham told Lord Hood. "

"Then, commander, I take it affairs are not going so very badly?"

"All would go well, provided that the Breton war were well managed. "

De Vieuville shook his head. 

"Commander, " he said, "are we to land the marines?"

"Certainly, if the coast is friendly, but not otherwise. In some caseswar must force the gates; in others it can slip through them. Civilwar must always keep a false key in its pocket. We will do all we can;but one must have a chief. "

And Boisberthelot added thoughtfully, --

"What do you think of the Chevalier de Dieuzie, La Vieuville?"

"Do you mean the younger?"

"Yes. "

"For a commander?"

"Yes. "

"He is only good for a pitched battle in the open field. It is onlythe peasant who knows the underbrush. "

"In that case, you may as well resign yourself to Generals Stofflet andCathelineau. "

La Vieuville mediated for a moment; then he said, --

"What we need is a prince, --a French prince, a prince of the blood, areal prince. "

"How can that be? He who says 'prince'----"

"Says 'coward. ' I know it, commander. But we need him for theimpression he would produce upon the herd. "

"My dear chevalier, the princes don't care to come. "

"We will do without them. "

Boisberthelot pressed his hand mechanically against his forehead, as ifstriving to evoke an idea. He resumed, --

"Then let us try this general. "

"He is a great nobleman. "

"Do you think he will do?"

"If he is one of the right sort, " said La Vieuville. 

"You mean relentless?" said Boisberthelot. 

The count and the chevalier looked at each other. 

"Monsieur Boisberthelot, you have defined the meaning of the word. Relentless, --yes, that's what we need. This is a war that shows nomercy. The blood-thirsty are in the ascendant. The regicides havebeheaded Louis XVI; we will quarter the regicides. Yes, the general weneed is General Relentless. In Anjou and Upper Poitou the leaders playthe magnanimous; they trifle with generosity, and they are alwaysdefeated. In the Marais and the country of Retz, where the leaders areferocious, everything goes bravely forward. It is because Charette isfierce that he stands his ground against Parrein, --hyena pitted againsthyena. "

Boisberthelot had no time to answer. Vieuville's words were suddenlycut short by a desperate cry, and at the same instant they heard anoise unlike all other sounds. This cry and the unusual sounds camefrom the interior of the vessel. 

The captain and the lieutenant rushed to the gun-deck, but were unableto enter. All the gunners came running up, beside themselves withterror. 

A frightful thing had just happened. 

One of the carronades of the battery, a twenty-four pound cannon, hadbecome loose. 

This is perhaps the most dreadful thing that can take place at sea. Nothing more terrible can happen to a man-of-war under full sail. 

A cannon that breaks loose from its fastenings is suddenly transformedinto a supernatural beast. It is a monster developed from a machine. This mass runs along on its wheels as easily as a billiard ball; itrolls with the rolling, pitches with the pitching, comes and goes, stops, seems to meditate, begins anew, darts like an arrow from one endof the ship to the other, whirls around, turns aside, evades, rears, hits out, crushes, kills, exterminates. It is a ram battering a wallat its own pleasure. Moreover, the battering-ram is iron, the wall iswood. It is matter set free; one might say that this eternal slave iswreaking its vengeance; it would seem as though the evil in what wecall inanimate objects had found vent and suddenly burst forth; it hasthe air of having lost its patience, and of taking a mysterious, dullrevenge; nothing is so inexorable as the rage of the inanimate. Themad mass leaps like a panther; it has the weight of an elephant, theagility of a mouse, the obstinacy of the axe; it takes one by surprise, like the surge of the sea; it flashes like lightning; it is deaf as thetomb; it weighs ten thousand pounds, and it bounds like a child's ball;it whirls as it advances, and the circles it describes are intersectedby right angles. And what help is there? How can it be overcome? Acalm succeeds the tempest, a cyclone passes over, a wind dies away, wereplace the broken mass, we check the leak, we extinguish the fire; butwhat is to be done with this enormous bronze beast? How can it besubdued? You can reason with a mastiff, take a bull by surprise, fascinate a snake, frighten a tiger, mollify a lion; but there is noresource with the monster known as a loosened gun. You cannot killit, --it is already dead; and yet it lives. It breathes a sinister lifebestowed on it by the Infinite. The plank beneath sways it to and fro;it is moved by the ship; the sea lifts the ship, and the wind keeps thesea in motion. This destroyer is a toy. Its terrible vitality is fedby the ship, the waves, and the wind, each lending its aid. What is tobe done with this complication? How fetter this monstrous mechanism ofshipwreck? How foresee its coming and goings, its recoils, its halts, its shocks? Any one of those blows may stave in the side of thevessel. How can one guard against these terrible gyrations? One hasto do with a projectile that reflects, that has ideas, and changes itsdirection at any moment. How can one arrest an object in its course, whose onslaught must be avoided? The dreadful cannon rushes about, advances, recedes, strikes to right and to left, flies here and there, baffles their attempts at capture, sweeps away obstacles, crushing menlike flies. 

The extreme danger of the situation comes from the unsteadiness of thedeck. How is one to cope with the caprices of an inclined plane? Theship had within its depths, so to speak, imprisoned lightningstruggling for escape; something like the rumbling of thunder during anearthquake. In an instant the crew was on its feet. It was the chiefgunner's fault, who had neglected to fasten the screw-nut of thebreeching chain, and had not thoroughly chocked the four trucks of thecarronade, which allowed play to the frame and the bottom of thegun-carriage, thereby disarranging the two platforms and parting thebreeching. The lashings were broken, so that the gun was no longerfirm on its carriage. The stationary breeching which prevents therecoil was not in use at that time. As a wave struck the ship's sidethe cannon, insufficiently secured, had receded, and having broken itschain, began to wander threateningly over the deck. In order to get anidea of this strange sliding, fancy a drop of water sliding down a paneof glass. 

When the fastening broke, the gunners were in the battery, singly andin groups, clearing the ship for action. The carronade, thrown forwardby the pitching, dashed into a group of men, killing four of them atthe first blow; then, hurled back by the rolling, it cut in two anunfortunate fifth man, and struck and dismounted one of the guns of thelarboard battery. Hence the cry of distress which had been heard. Allthe men rushed to the ladder. The gun-deck was empty in the twinklingof an eye. 

The monstrous gun was left to itself. It was its own mistress, andmistress of the ship. It could do with it whatsoever it wished. Thiscrew, accustomed to laugh in battle, now trembled. It would beimpossible to describe their terror. 

Captain Boisberthelot and Lieutenant la Vieuville, brave men thoughthey were, paused at the top of the ladder, silent, pale, andundecided, looking down on the deck. Some one pushed them aside withhis elbow, and descended. It was their passenger, the peasant, the manabout whom they were talking a moment ago. 

Having reached the bottom of the ladder he halted. 

 * * * * * *

The cannon was rolling to and fro on the deck. It might have beencalled the living chariot of the Apocalypse. A dim wavering of lightsand shadows was added to this spectacle by the marine lantern, swingingunder the deck. The outlines of the cannon were indistinguishable, byreason of the rapidity of its motion; sometimes it looked black whenthe light shone upon it, then again it would cast pale, glimmeringreflections in the darkness. 

It was still pursuing its work of destruction. It had alreadyshattered four other pieces, and made two breaches in the ship's side, fortunately above the waterline, but which would leak in case of roughweather. It rushed frantically against the timbers; the stout ridersresisted, --curved timbers have great strength; but one could hear themcrack under this tremendous assault brought to bear simultaneously onevery side, with a certain omnipresence truly appalling. 

A bullet shaken in a bottle could not produce sharper or more rapidsounds. The four wheels were passing and repassing over the deadbodies, cutting and tearing them to pieces, and the five corpses hadbecome five trunks rolling hither and thither; the heads seemed to cryout; streams of blood flowed over the deck, following the motion of theship. The ceiling, damaged in several places, had begun to give way. The whole ship was filled with a dreadful tumult. 

The captain, who had rapidly recovered his self-possession, had givenorders to throw down the hatchway all that could abate the rage andcheck the mad onslaught of this infuriated gun; mattresses, hammocks, spare sails, coils of rope, the bags of the crew, and bales of falseassignats, with which the corvette was laden, --that infamous stratagemof English origin being considered a fair trick in war. 

But what availed these rags? No one dared to go down to arrange them, and in a few moments they were reduced to lint. 

There was just sea enough to render this accident as complete aspossible. A tempest would have been welcome. It might have upset thecannon, and which its four wheels once in the air, it could easily havebeen mastered. Meanwhile the havoc increased. There were evenincisions and fractures in the masts, that stood like pillars groundedfirmly in the keel, and piercing the several decks of the vessel. Themizzen-mast was split, and even the main-mast was damaged by theconvulsive blows of the cannon. The destruction of the battery stillwent on. Ten out of the thirty pieces were useless. The fractures inthe side increased, and the corvette began to leak. 

The old passenger, who had descended to the gun-deck, looked like onecarved in stone as he stood motionless at the foot of the stairs andglanced sternly over the devastation. It would have been impossible tomove a step upon the deck. 

Each bound of the liberated carronade seemed to threaten thedestruction of the ship. But a few moments longer, and shipwreck wouldbe inevitable. 

They must either overcome this calamity or perish; some decisive actionmust be taken. But what?

What a combatant was this carronade!

Here was this mad creature to be arrested, this flash of lightning tobe seized, this thunderbolt to be crushed. Boisberthelot said toVieuville:--

"Do you believe in God, chevalier?"

"Yes and no, sometimes I do!" replied La Vieuville. 

"In a tempest?"

"Yes, and in moments like these. "

"Truly God alone can save us, " said Boisberthelot. 

All were silent, leaving the carronade to its horrible uproar. 

The waves beating the ship from without answered the blows of thecannon within, very much like a couple of hammers striking In turn. 

Suddenly in the midst of this inaccessible circus, where the escapedcannon was tossing from side to side, a man appeared, grasping an ironbar. It was the author of the catastrophe, the chief gunner, whosecriminal negligence had caused the accident, --the captain of the gun. Having brought about the evil, his intention was to repair it. Holdinga handspike in one hand, and in the other a tiller rope with theslip-noose in it, he had jumped through the hatchway to the deck below. 

Then began a terrible struggle; a titanic spectacle; a combat betweencannon and cannoneer; a contest between mind and matter; a duel betweenman and the inanimate. The man stood in one corner in an attitude ofexpectancy, leaning on the rider and holding in his hands the bar andthe rope; calm, livid, and tragic, he stood firmly on his legs, thatwere like two pillars of steel. 

He was waiting for the cannon to approach him. 

The gunner knew his piece, and he felt as though it must know him. They had lived together a long time. How often had he put his hand inits mouth. It was his domestic monster. He began to talk to it as hewould to a dog. "Come, " said he. Possibly he loved it. 

He seemed to wish for its coming, and yet its approach meant suredestruction for him. How to avoid being crushed was the question. Alllooked on in terror. 

Not a breath was drawn freely, except perhaps by the old man, whoremained on the gun-deck gazing sternly on the two combatants. 

He himself was in danger of being crushed by the piece; still he didnot move. 

Beneath them the blind sea had command of the battle. When, in the actof accepting this awful hand-to-hand struggle, the gunner approached tochallenge the cannon, it happened that the surging sea held the gunmotionless for an instant, as though stupefied. "Come on!" said theman. It seemed to listen. 

Suddenly it leaped towards him. The man dodged. Then the strugglebegan, --a contest unheard of; the fragile wrestling with theinvulnerable; the human warrior attacking the brazen beast; blind forceon the one side, soul on the other. 

All this was in the shadow. It was like an indistinct vision of amiracle. 

A soul!--strangely enough it seemed as if a soul existed within thecannon, but one consumed with hate and rage. The blind thing seemed tohave eyes. It appeared as though the monster were watching the man. There was, or at least one might have supposed it, cunning in thismass. It also chose its opportunity. It was as though a giganticinsect of iron was endowed with the will of a demon. Now and then thiscolossal grass-hopper would strike the low ceiling of the gun-deck, then falling back on its four wheels, like a tiger on all fours, rushupon the man. He--supple, agile, adroit--writhed like a serpent beforethese lightning movements. He avoided encounters; but the blows fromwhich he escaped fell with destructive force upon the vessel. A pieceof broken chain remained attached to the carronade. This bit of chainhad twisted in some incomprehensible way around the breech button. 

One end of the chain was fastened to the gun-carriage; the other endthrashed wildly around, aggravating the danger with every bound of thecannon. The screw held it as in a clenched hand, and this chain, multiplying the strokes of the battering-ram by those of the thong, made a terrible whirlwind around the gun, --a lash of iron in a fist ofbrass. This chain complicated the combat. 

Despite all this, the man fought. He even attacked the cannon attimes, crawling along by the side of the ship and clutching hishandspike and the rope; the cannon seemed to understand his movements, and fled as though suspecting a trap. The man, nothing daunted, pursued his chase. 

Such a struggle must necessarily be brief. Suddenly the cannon seemedto say to itself: Now, then, there must be an end to this. And itstopped. A crisis was felt to be at hand. The cannon, as if insuspense, seemed to meditate, or--for to all intents and purposes itwas a living creature--it really did meditate, some furious design. All at once it rushed on the gunner, who sprang aside with a laugh, crying out, "Try it again!" as the cannon passed him. The gun in itsfury smashed one of the larboard carronades; then, by the invisiblesling in which it seemed to be held, it was thrown to the starboard, towards the man, who escaped. Three carronades were crushed by itsonslaught; then, as though blind and besides itself it turned from theman, and rolled from stern to stem, splintering the latter, and causinga breach in the walls of the prow. The gunner took refuge at the footof the ladder, a short distance from the old man, who stood watching. He held his handspike in readiness. The cannon seemed aware of it, andwithout taking the trouble to turn, it rushed backward on the man, asswift as the blow of an axe. The gunner, if driven up against the sideof the ship, would be lost. 

One cry arose from the crew. 

The old passenger--who until this moment had stood motionless--sprangforward more swiftly than all those mad swirls. He had seized a baleof the false assignats, and at the risk of being crushed succeeded inthrowing it between the wheels of the carronade. This decisive andperilous manoeuvre could not have been executed with more precision andadroitness by an adept in all the exercises given in the work ofDurosel's "Manual of Naval Gunnery. "

The bale had the effect of a plug. A pebble may block a log; a branchsometimes changes the course of an avalanche. The carronade stumbled, and the gunner, availing himself of the perilous opportunity, thrusthis iron bar between the spokes of the back wheels. Pitching forward, the cannon stopped; and the man, using his bar for a lever, rocked itbackward and forward. The heavy mass upset, with the resonant sound ofa bell that crashes in its fall. The man, reeking with perspiration, threw himself upon it, and passed the slip-noose of the tiller-ropearound the neck of the defeated monster. 

The combat was ended. The man had conquered. The ant had overcome themastodon; the pygmy had imprisoned the thunderbolt. 

The soldiers and sailors applauded. 

The crew rushed forward with chains and cables, and in an instant thecannon was secured. 

Saluting the passenger, the gunner exclaimed, --

"Sir, you have saved my life!"

The old man had resumed his impassible attitude, and made no reply. 

 * * * * * *

The man had conquered; but it might be affirmed that the cannon alsohad gained a victory. Immediate shipwreck was averted; but thecorvette was still in danger. The injuries the ship had sustainedseemed irreparable. There were five breaches in the sides, one ofthem--a very large one--in the bow, and twenty carronades out of thirtylay shattered in their frames. The recaptured gun, which had beensecured by a chain, was itself disabled. The screw of thebreech-button being wrenched, it would consequently be impossible tolevel the cannon. The battery was reduced to nine guns; there was aleakage in the hold. All these damages must be repaired without lossof time, and the pumps set in operation. Now that the gun-deck hadbecome visible, it was frightful to look upon. The interior of a madelephant's cage could not have been more thoroughly devastated. However important it might be for the corvette to avoid observation, the care for its immediate safety was still more imperative. They wereobliged to light the deck with lanterns placed at intervals along thesides. 

In the meantime, while this tragic entertainment had lasted, the crew, entirely absorbed by a question of life and death, had not noticed whatwas going on outside of the ship. The fog had thickened, the weatherhad changed, the wind had driven the vessel at will; they were out oftheir course, in full sight of Jersey and Guernsey, much farther to thesouth than they ought to have been, and confronting a tumultuous sea. The big waves kissed the wounded sides of the corvette with kisses thatsavored of danger. The heaving of the sea grew threatening; the windhad risen to a gale; a squall, perhaps a tempest, was brewing. Onecould not see four oars' length before one. 

While the crew made haste with their temporary repairs on the gun-deck, stopping the leaks and setting up the cannons that had escapeduninjured, the old passenger returned to the deck. 

He stood leaning against the main-mast. 

He had taken no notice of what was going on in the ship. The Chevalierde la Vieuville had drawn up the marines on either side of themain-mast, and at a signal-whistle of the boatswain the sailors, whohad been busy in the rigging, stood up on the yards. CountBoisberthelot approached the passenger. The captain was followed by aman, who, haggard and panting, with his dress in disorder, still woreon his countenance an expression of content. 

It was the gunner who had so opportunely displayed his power as a tamerof monsters, and gained the victory over the cannon. 

The count made a military salute to the old man in the peasant garb, and said to him:--

"Here is the man, general. "

The gunner, with downcast eyes, stood erect in a military attitude. 

"General, " resumed Count Boisberthelot, "considering what this man hasdone, do you not think that his superiors have a duty to perform?"

"I think so, " replied the old man. 

"Be so good as to give your orders, " resumed Boisberthelot. 

"It is for you to give them; you are the captain. "

"But you are the general, " answered Boisberthelot. 

The old man looked at the gunner. 

"Step forward, " he said. 

The gunner advanced a step. 

Turning to Count Boisberthelot, the old man removed the cross of SaintLouis from the captain's breast, and fastened it on the jacket of thegunner. The sailors cheered, and the marines presented arms. 

Then pointing to the bewildered gunner he added:

"Now let the man be shot!"

Stupor took the place of applause. 

Then, amid a tomb-like silence, the old man, raising his voice, said:--

"The ship has been endangered by an act of carelessness, and may evenyet be lost. It is all the same whether one be at sea or face to facewith the enemy. A ship at sea is like an army in battle. The tempest, though unseen, is ever present; the sea is an ambush. Death is the fitpenalty for every fault committed when facing the enemy. There is nofault that can be retrieved. Courage must be rewarded and negligencebe punished. "

These words fell one after the other slowly and gravely, with a certainimplacable rhythm, like the strokes of the axe upon an oak-tree. Looking at the soldiers, the old man added, --

"Do your duty!"

The man on whose breast shone the cross of Saint Louis bowed his head, and at a sign of Count Boisberthelot two sailors went down to thegun-deck, and presently returned bringing the hammock-shroud, the twosailors were accompanied by the ship's chaplain, who since thedeparture had been engaged in saying prayers in the officers' quarters. A sergeant detached from the ranks twelve soldiers, whom he arranged intwo rows, six men in a row. The gunner placed himself between the twolines. The chaplain, holding a crucifix, advanced and took his placebeside the man. "March!" came from the lips of the sergeant; and theplatoon slowly moved towards the bow, followed by two sailors carryingthe shroud. 

A gloomy silence fell on the corvette. In the distance a hurricane wasblowing. A few moments later, a report echoed through the gloom; oneflash, and all was still. Then came the splash of a body falling intothe water. The old passenger, still leaning against the mainmast, hishands crossed on his breast, seemed lost in thought. Boisberthelot, pointing towards him with the forefinger of his left hand, remarked inan undertone to La Vieuville, --

"The Vendée has found a leader. "

THE MERCHANTS' CUP

From "Broken Stowage, " BY DAVID W. BONE

I

"Fatty" Reid burst into the half-deck with a whoop of exultation. "Come out, boys, " he yelled. "Come out and see what luck! The _JamesFlint_ comin' down the river, loaded and ready for sea! Who-oop! Whatprice the _Hilda_ now for the Merchants' Cup?"

"Oh, come off, " said big Jones. "Come off with your Merchants' Cup. Th' _James Flint's_ a sure thing, and she wasn't more than half-loadedwhen we were up at Crockett on Sunday!"

"Well, there she comes anyway! _James Flint_, sure enough! Grade'shouse-flag up, and the Stars and Stripes!"

We hustled on deck and looked over by the Sacramento's mouth. "Fatty"was right. A big barque was towing down beyond San Pedro. The _JamesFlint_! Nothing else in 'Frisco harbour had spars like hers; no shipwas as trim and clean as the big Yankee clipper that Bully Nathancommanded. The sails were all aloft, the boats aboard. She was readyto put to sea. 

Our cries brought the captain and mate on deck, and the sight of theoutward-bounder made old man Burke's face beam like a nor'west moon. 

"A chance for ye now, byes, " he shouted. "An open race, bedad! Ye'venothin' t' be afraid of if th' _James Flint_ goes t' sea by Saturday!"

Great was our joy at the prospect of the Yankee's sailing. The 'FriscoMerchants' Cup was to be rowed for on Saturday. It was a mile-and-halfrace for ships' boats, and three wins held the Cup for good. Twice, onprevious years, the _Hilda's_ trim gig had shot over the line--ahandsome winner. If we won again, the Cup was ours for keeps! Butthere were strong opponents to be met this time. The _James Flint_ wasthe most formidable. It was open word that Bully Nathan was keen onwinning the trophy. Every one knew that he had deliberately sought outboatmen when the whalers came in from the north. Those who had seenthe Yankee's crew at work in their snaky carvel-built boat said that noone else was in it. What chance had we boys in our clinker-builtagainst the thews and sinews of trained whalemen? It was no wonderthat we slapped our thighs at the prospect of a more open race. 

Still, even with the Yankee gone, there were others in the running. There was the _Rhondda_ that held the Cup for the year, having won whenwe were somewhere off the Horn; then the _Hedwig Rickmers_--a Bremenfour-master--which had not before competed, but whose green-painted gigwas out for practice morning and night. We felt easy about the_Rhondda_ (for had we not, time and again, shown them our stern on thelong pull from Green St. To the outer anchorage?), but the Germans weredifferent. Try as we might, we could never pull off a spurt with them. No one knew for certain what they could do, only old Schenke, theirskipper, and he held his tongue wisely. 

The _James Flint_ came around the bend, and our eager eyes followed heras she steered after the tug. She was making for the outer anchorage, where the laden ships lie in readiness for a good start off. 

"Th' wind's 'bout west outside, " said Jones. "A 'dead muzzler'!She'll not put t' sea tonight, even if she has all her 'crowd' aboard. "

"No, worse luck! mebbe she'll lie over till Saturday after all. Theysay Bully's dead set on getting th' Cup. He might hang back. . . . Some excuse--short-handed or something!" Gregson was the one for"croaking. "

"No hands?" said Fatty. "Huh! How could he be short-handed wheneverybody knows that Daly's boardin'-house is chock-full of fightin'Dutchmen? No, no! It'll be the sack for Mister Bully B. Nathan if helets a capful o' fair wind go by and his anchor down. Gracie's agents'll watch that!"

"Well! He's here for th' night, anyway. . . . There goes her mudhook!"

We watched her great anchor go hurtling from the bows and heard theroar of chain cable as she paid out and swung round to the tide. 

"Come roun', yo' boys dere! Yo' doan' want no tea, eh?" The niggercook, beating tattoo on a saucepan lid, called us back to affairs ofthe moment, and we sat down to our scanty meal in high spirits, talking--all at one time--of our chances of the Cup. 

The _Hilda_ had been three months at San Francisco, waiting for thewheat crop and a profitable charter. We had come up from Australia, and most of our crew, having little wages due to them, had desertedsoon after our arrival. Only we apprentices and the sail-makerremained, and we had work enough to set our muscles up in the heavyharbour jobs. Trimming coal and shovelling ballast may not bescientific training, but it is grand work for the back and shoulders. 

We were in good trim for rowing. The old man had given us everyopportunity, and nothing he could do was wanting to make us fit. Dayand daily we had set our stroke up by the long pull from the anchorageto the wharves, old Burke coaching and encouraging, checking andspeeding us, till we worked well together. Only last Sunday he hadtaken us out of our way, up the creek, to where we could see the flagat the _Rhondda's_ masthead. The old man said nothing, but well weknew he was thinking of how the square of blue silk, with Californianemblem worked in white, would look at his trim little _Hilda's_fore-truck! This flag accompanied the Cup, and now (if only the Yankeeand his hired whalemen were safely at sea) we had hopes of seeing it atour masthead again. 

Tea over--still excited talk went on. Some one recalled the last timewe had overhauled and passed the _Rhondda's_ gig. 

"It's all very well your bucking about beating the _Rhondda_, " saidGregson; "but don't think we're going to have it all our own way!Mebbe they were 'playing 'possum' when we came by that time!"

"Maybe, " said Jones. "There's Peters and H. Dobson in her crew. Goodmen! Both rowed in the Worcester boat that left the Conways' at thestart, three years ago. . . . And what about the _Rickmers_? . . . . No, no! It won't do to be too cocksure! . . . . Eh, Takia?"

Takia was our cox-n, a small wiry Jap. Nothing great in inches, but ademon for good steering and timing a stroke. He was serving hisapprenticeship with us and had been a year in the _Hilda_. Brutestrength was not one of his points, but none was keener or more activein the rigging than our little Jap. 

He smiled, --he always smiled, --he found it the easiest way of speakingEnglish. "Oh, yes, " he said. "Little cocksu'--good! Too muchcocksu'--no good!"

We laughed at the wisdom of the East. 

"Talk about being cocky, " said Gregson; "you should hear CaptainSchenke bragging about the way he brought the _Hedwig Rickmers_ out. Iheard 'em and the old man at it in the ship-chandler's yesterday. Hot . . . . Look here, you chaps! I don't think the old man cares somuch to win the Cup as to beat Schenke! The big 'squarehead' is alwaysramming it down Burke's throat how he brought his barque out fromLiverpool in a hundred and five days, while the _Hilda_ took ten daysmore on her last run out!"

"That's so, I guess, " said Jones. (Jones had the Yankee "touch. ")"Old Burke would dearly love to put a spoke in his wheel, but it'lltake some doing. They say that Schenke has got a friend down fromSacramento--gym. -instructor or something to a college up there. He'llbe training the 'Dutchy' crew like blazes. They'll give us a hot time, I'll bet!"

Gregson rose to go on deck. "Oh, well, " he said, "it won't be so badif the _James Flint_ only lifts his hook by Saturday. Here's onebloomin' _hombre_ that funks racin' a fancy whaler! . . . An' doesn'tcare who knows it, either!"

II

Thursday passed--and now Friday--still there was no sign of the windchanging, and the big Yankee barque lay quietly at anchor over by thePresidio. 

When the butcher came off from the shore with the day's stores, weeagerly questioned him about the prospects of the _James Flint's_sailing. "_Huh_! I guess yew're nat the only 'citizens' that airconcarned 'bout that!" he said. "They're talkin' 'bout nuthin' else onevery 'lime-juicer' in the Bay! . . . . An' th' _Rickmers_! Gee!Schenkie's had his eye glued ter th' long telescope ever sincedaybreak, watchin' fer th' _Flint_ heavin' up anchor!"

The butcher had varied information to give us. Now it was that BullyNathan had telegraphed to his New York owners for permission to remainin port over Sunday. Then again, Bully was on the point of beingdismissed his ship for not taking full advantage of a puff of nor'-westwind that came and went on Thursday night. 

. . . The _Flint_ was short of men! . . . The Flint had a full crewaboard! Rumours and rumours! "All sorts o' talk, " said the butcher;"but I know this fer certain--she's got all her stores aboard. Gosh!I guess--she--has! I don't like to wish nobody no harm, byes, but Ihope Bully Nathan's first chop 'll choke him, fer th' way he done meover the beef! . . . Scorch 'im!"

In the forenoon we dropped the gig and put out for practice. Old Burkeand the mate came after us in the dinghy, the old man shoutinginstruction and encouragement through his megaphone as we rowed acourse or spurted hard for a furious three minutes. Others were out onthe same ploy, and the backwaters of the Bay had each a lash of oars tostir their tideless depths. Near us the green boat of the _Rickmers_thrashed up and down in style. Time and again we drew across--"justfor a friendly spurt"--but the "Dutchies" were not giving anythingaway, and sheered off as we approached. We spent an hour or more atpractice and were rowing leisurely back to the ship when the green boatoverhauled us, then slowed to her skipper's orders. 

"How you vass, Cabtin Burke?" said Schenke, an enormous fair-headedTeuton, powerful-looking, but run sadly to fat in his elder years. "You t'ink you get a chanst now, _hein_? . . . Now de Yankee is goin'avay!" He pointed over to the Presidio, where the _Flint_ lay atanchor. We followed the line of his fat forefinger. At anchor, yes, but the anchor nearly a-weigh. Her flags were hoisted, the blue peterfluttering at the fore, and the _Active_ tug was passing a hawseraboard, getting ready to tow her out. The smoke from the tugboat'sfunnel was whirling and blowing over the low forts that guard theGolden Gates. Good luck! A fine nor'-west breeze had come that wouldlift our dreaded rival far to the south'ard on her way round Cape Horn!

Schenke saw the pleased look with which old Burke regarded the Yankee'spreparations for departure. 

"Goot bizness, eh?" he said. "You t'ink you fly de flack on de _Hilda_nex' _Sonndag_, Cabtin? Veil! Ah wish you goot look, but you dond'tgot it all de same!"

"Oh, well, Captain Schenke, we can but thry, " said the old man. "Wecan but thry, sorr! . . . Shure, she's a foine boat--that o'yours. . . . An' likely-looking lads, too!" No one could but admirethe well-set figures of the German crew as they stroked easily besideus. 

"_Schweinehunden_, " said Schenke brutally. We noticed more than onestolid face darkling as they glanced aside. Schenke had the name of a"hard case. " "_Schweinehunden_, " he said again. "Dey dond't like dehard vork, Cabtin. . . . Dey dond't like it--but ve takes der Coop, all de same! Dey pulls goot und strong, oder"--he rasped a shortsentence in rapid Low German--"Shermans dond't be beat by no durnlime-juicer, _nein_!"

Old Burke grinned. "Cocky as ever, Captain Schenke! Bedad now, sinceye had the luck of ye're last passage there's no limit to ye!"

"Luck! Luck! Alvays de luck mit you, Cabtin!"

"An' whatt ilse? . . . Sure, if I hadn't struck a bilt of calms an'had more than me share of head winds off the Horn, I'd have given ye aday or two mesilf!"

"Ho! Ho! Ho! _Das ist gut_!" The green boat rocked with Schenke'smerriment. He laughed from his feet up--every inch of him shook withemotion. "Ho! Ho! Hoo! _Das ist ganz gut_. You t'ink you beat de_Hedwig Rickmers_ too, Cabtin? You beat 'm mit dot putty leetlebarque? You beat 'm mit de _Hilda_, _nichtwahr_?"

"Well, no, " said our old man. "I don't exactly say I beat the_Rickmers_, but if I had the luck o' winds that ye had, bedad, I'dcrack th' _Hilda_ out in a hundred an' five days too!"

"Now, dot is not drue, Cabtin! _Aber ganz und gar nicht_! You knowyou haf bedder look von de vind as Ah got. Ah sail mein sheep! Ahdond't vait for de fair winds nor not'ings!"

"No, " said Burke, "but ye get 'em, all the same. Everybody knows ye'veth' divil's own luck, Schenke!"

"Und so you vas! Look now, Cabtin Burke. You t'nk you got so fast asheep as mein, eh? Veil! Ah gif you a chanst to make money. Ah betyou feefty dollars to tventig, Ah take mein sheep home quicker as youvass!"

"Done wit' ye, " said stout old 'Paddy' Burke, though well he know thebig German barque could sail round the little _Hilda_. "Fifty dollarsto twenty, Captain Schenke, an' moind y've said it!"

The green boat sheered off and forged ahead, Schenke laughing andwaving his hand derisively. When they had pulled out of earshot, theold man turned ruefully to the mate: "Five pounds clean t'rown away, mister! Foine I know the _Rickmers_ can baate us, but I wasn't goin't' let that ould 'squarehead' have it all his own way! Divil th' fear!"

We swung under the _Hilda's_ stern and hooked on to the gangway. Theold man stepped out, climbed a pace or two, then came back. 

"Look ye here, byes, " he said, "I'll give ye foive dollars a man--an' aday's 'liberty' t' spind it--if ye only baate th' 'Dutchmen. ' . . . Let th' Cup go where it will!"

III

The Bay of San Francisco is certainly one of the finest naturalharbours in the world, let Sydney and Rio and Falmouth all contest theclaim. Land-locked to every wind that blows, with only a narrowchannel open to the sea, the navies of the world could lie peacefullytogether in its sheltered waters. The coast that environs the harbourabounds in natural beauties, but of all the wooded creeks--fairstretches of undulating downs--or stately curves of winding river, nonesurpasses the little bay formed by the turn of Benita, the northernpostern of the Golden Gates. Here is the little township of Sancilito, with its pretty white houses nestling among the dark green of thedeeply wooded slopes. In the bay there is good anchorage for a limitednumber of vessels, and fortunate were they who manned the tall shipsthat lay there, swinging ebb and flood, waiting for a burthen of goldengrain. 

On Saturday the little bay was crowded by a muster of varied craft. The ships at anchor were "dressed" to the mastheads with gaily-colouredflags. Huge ferryboats passed slowly up and down, their tiers of deckscrowded with sightseers. Tug-boats and launches darted about, clearingthe course, or convoying racing boats to the starting lines. Ships'boats of all kinds were massed together close inshore: gigs andpinnaces, lean whaleboats, squat dinghys, even high-sided oceanlifeboats with their sombre broad belts of ribbed cork. A gay scene ofcolour and animation. A fine turn-out to see the fortune of theMerchants' Cup. 

At two the Regatta began. A race for longshore craft showed that theboarding-house "crimps" were as skillful at boatman's work as atinducing sailormen to desert their ships. Then two outriggers flashedby, contesting a heat for a College race. We in the _Hilda's_ gig layhandily at the starting line and soon were called out. There were nineentries for the Cup, and the judges had decided to run three heats. Wewere drawn in the first, and, together with the _Ardlea's_ and_Compton's_ gigs, went out to be inspected. The boats had to race insea-service conditions, no lightening was allowed. At the challenge ofthe judges we showed our gear. "Spare oar--right! Rowlocks--right!Sea-anchor--right! Bottom boards and stern grating--right. Painter, ten fathoms; hemp. . . . A bit short there, _Compton_! Eh? . . . Oh--all right, " said the official, and we manoeuvred into position, oursterns held in by the guard-boats. Some of the ships' captains hadengaged a steam-launch to follow the heats, and old Burke was therewith his trumpet, shouting encouragement already. 

"Air yew ready?"

A pause: then, pistol shot! We struck water and laid out! Our taskwas not difficult. The _Ardlea's_ gig was broad-bowed and heavy; theyhad no chance; but the _Compton's_ gave us a stiff pull to more thanmidway. Had they been like us, three months at boat-work, we had notpulled so easily up to the mark, but their ship was just in fromLiverpool, and they were in poor condition for a mile and a half atpressure. We won easily, and scarce had cheered the losers before thelaunch came fussing up. 

"Come aboard, Takia, " shouted old Burke. "Ye come down wit' me an' seewhat shape the German makes. He's drawn wit' th' _Rhondda_ in thisheat!"

Takia bundled aboard the launch and we hauled inshore to watch therace. There was a delay at the start. Schenke, _nichts verstehen_, ashe said, was for sending his boat away without a painter or spare gear. He was pulled up by the judges, and had to borrow. 

Now they were ready. The _Rickmers_ outside, _Rhondda_ in the middleberth, and the neat little _Slieve Donard_ inshore. At the start theRhonddas came fair away from the German boat, but even at the distancewe could see that the "Dutchmen" were well in hand. At midway the_Rhondda_ was leading by a length, still going strong, but they hadshot their bolt, and the green boat was surely pulling up. The _SlieveDonard_, after an unsteady course, had given up. Soon we could hearold Schenke roaring oaths and orders, as his launch came flying on inthe wake of the speeding boats. 

The Germans spurted. 

We yelled encouragement to the Rhonddas. "Give 'em beans, oldsons! . . . "

"_Rhondda_! _Rhondda_! . . . Shake 'er up" Gallantly the white boatstrove to keep her place, but the greens were too strong. With a rush, they took the lead and held it to the finish, though two lengths fromthe line their stroke faltered, the swing was gone, and they weredabbling feebly when the shot rang out. 

"A grand race, " said every one around. "A grand race"--but old Burkehad something to say when he steamed up to put our cox'n among us. "Byes, byes, " he said, "if there had been twinty yards more the_Rhondda_ would have won. Now d'ye moind, Takia, ye divil . . . D'yemoind! Keep th' byes in hand till I give ye th' wurrd! . . . An' whinye get th' wurrd, byes! . . . Oh, Saints! Shake her up when ye getth' wurrd!"

The third heat was closely contested. All three boats, two Liverpoolbarques and a Nova Scotiaman, came on steadily together. A clean race, rowed from start to finish, and the _Tuebrook_ winning by a shortlength. 

The afternoon was well spent when we stripped for the final, and tookup our positions on the line. How big and muscular the Germans looked!How well the green boat sat the water! With what inward quakings wenoted the clean fine lines of stem and stern! . . . Of the _Tuebrook_we had no fear. We knew they could never stand the pace the Germanswould set. Could we?

Old Burke, though in a fever of excitement when we came to the line, had little to say. "Keep the byes in hand, Takia--till ye get th'wurrd, " was all he muttered. We swung our oar-blades forward. 

"Ready?" The starter challenged us. 

Suddenly Takia yelped! We struck and lay back as the shot rang out! Astroke gained! Takia had taken the flash; the others the report!

The Jap's clever start gave us confidence and a lead. Big Jones atstroke worked us up to better the advantage. The green boat sheered alittle, then steadied and came on, keeping to us, though nearly alength astern. The _Tuebrook_ had made a bad start, but was thrashingaway pluckily in the rear. 

So we hammered at it for a third of the course, when Takia took charge. Since his famous start he had left us to take stroke as Jones pressedus, but now he saw signs of the waver that comes after the firstfurious burst--shifting grip or change of foothold. 

"'_Trok_!--'_trok_!--'_trok_!" he muttered, and steadied the pace. "'_Troke_!--'_troke_!--'_troke_!" in monotone, good for soothingtension. 

Past midway the green boat came away. The ring of the German'srowlocks rose to treble pitch. Slowly they drew up, working at topspeed. Now they were level--level! and Takia still droning"'_troke_!--'_troke_!--'_troke_!"--as if the lead was ours!

Wild outcry came from the crowd as the green boat forged ahead! Deeproars from Schenke somewhere in the rear! Now, labouring still toTakia's '_troke_!--'_troke_! we had the foam of the German's stern washat our blades! "Come away, _Hilda's_!" . . . "_Shake her up, there_!" . . . "_Hilda-h_! _Hilda-h_!"--Takia took no outward heed ofthe cries. He was staring stolidly ahead, bending to the pulse of theboat. No outward heed--but '_troke_!--'_troke_! came faster from hislips. We strained, almost holding the Germans' ensign at level withour bow pennant. 

Loud over the wild yells of the crowd we heard the voice we knew--oldBurke's bull-roar: "Let 'er rip, Taki'! Let 'er rip, bye!"

Takia's eyes gleamed as he sped us up--up--up! '_Troke_ became a yelplike a wounded dog's. He crouched, standing, in the sternsheets, andlashed us up to a furious thrash of oars! Still quicker! . . . Theeyes of him glared at each of us, as if daring us to fail! The yelpbecame a scream as we drew level--the Germans still at top speed. "_Up_! _Up_! _Up_!" yells Takia, little yellow devil with a whitefroth at his lips! "_Up_! _Up_! _Up_!" swaying unsteadily to meetthe furious urging. 

The ring of the German rowlocks deepens--deepens--we see the green bowat our blades again. Her number two falters--jars--recovers again--andpulls stubbornly on. Their "shot" is fired! They can do no more!Done!

And so are we! Takia drops the yoke ropes and leans forward on thegunwale! Oars jar together! Big Jones bends forward with his mouthwide--wide! Done!

But not before a hush--a solitary pistol shot--then roar of voices andshrilling of steamer syrens tell us that the Cup is ours!

IV

A month later there was a stir in the western seaports. No longer theships lay swinging idly at their moorings. The harvest of grain wasready for the carriers, and every day sail was spread to the free windoutside the Golden Gates, and laden ships went speeding on theirhomeward voyages. The days of boat-races and pleasant time-passingharbour jobs were gone; it was now work--work--to get the ship readyfor her burden, and, swaying the great sails aloft, to rig harness forthe power that was to bear us home. From early morning till lateevening we were kept hard at it; for Captain Burke and the mate were askeen on getting the _Hilda_ to sea after her long stay in port as theywere on jockeying us up to win the Cup. Often, when we turned to inthe morning, we would find a new shipmate ready to bear a hand with us. The old man believed in picking up a likely man when he offered. Longexperience of Pacific ports had taught him how difficult it is to get acrew at the last moment. 

So when at length the cargo was stowed, we were quite ready to go tosea, while many others--the _Hedwig Rickmers_ among them--were waitingfor men. 

On the day before sailing a number of the ship captains were gatheredtogether in the chandler's store, talking of freights and passages, andspeculating on the runs they hoped to make. Burke and Schencke werethe loudest talkers, for we were both bound to Falmouth "for orders, "and the _Rickmers_ would probably sail three days after we had gone. 

"Vat 'bout dot bett you make mit me, Cabtin?" said Schenke. "Dot isall recht, no?"

"Oh, yess, " answered the old man, but without enthusiasm. "Thatstands. "

"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Tventig dollars to feefty--dot you goes home quickeras me, no?" Schencke turned to the other men. "Vat you tinks, yenthelmen? Ah tinks Ah sbend der tventig dollars now--so sure Ahvass. "

The others laughed. "Man, man, " said Findlayson of the _Rhondda_. "You don't tell me Burke's been fool enough to take that bet. Hoo!You haven't the ghost of a chance, Burke. "

"Och, ye never know, " said the now doleful sportsman. "Ye never knowye're luck. "

"Look here, Cabtin, " said Schencke (good-humoured by the unspokentribute to his vessel's sailing powers)--"Ah gif you a chanst. Ah makede bett dis vay--look. Ve goes to Falmouth--you _und_ me, _hein_?Now, de first who comes on de shore vins de money. Dot vill gif yout'ree days' start, no?"

"That's more like it, " said the other captains. "I wish you luck, Burke, " said Findlayson. "Good luck--you'll need it too--if you are tobe home before the big German. "

So the bet was made. 

At daybreak next morning we put out to sea. The good luck that the_Rhondda_ wished us came our way from the very first. When the tugleft us we set sail to a fine fair wind, and soon were bowling along instyle. We found the nor'-east Trades with little seeking; strongTrades, too, that lifted us to the Line almost before the harbour dustwas blown from our masts and spars. There calms fell on us for a fewdays, but we drifted south in the right current, and in less than fortydays had run into the "westerlies" and were bearing away for the Horn. 

Old Burke was "cracking on" for all the _Hilda_ could carry canvas. Every morning when he came on deck the first question to the mate wouldbe: "Any ships in sight, mister?" . . . "Any ships astern, " he meant, for his first glance was always to where the big green four-mastermight be expected to heave in sight. Then, when nothing was reported, he would begin his day-long strut up and down the poop, whistling"Garryowen" and rubbing his hands. 

Nor was the joy at our good progress his alone. We in the half-deckknew of the bet, and were keen that the ship which carried theMerchants' Cup should not be overhauled by the runner-up! We had madea fetish of the trophy so hardly won. The Cup itself was safely stowedin the ship's strong chest, but the old man had let us have custody ofthe flag. Big Jones had particular charge of it; and it had been acustom while in 'Frisco to exhibit it on the Saturday nights toadmiring and envious friends from other ships. This custom wecontinued when at sea. True, there were no visitors to set us up andswear what lusty chaps we were, but we could frank one another and say, "If you hadn't done this or that, we would never have won the race. "

On a breezy Saturday evening we were busy at these rites. The _Hilda_was doing well before a steady nor'-west wind, but the weather--thoughnothing misty--was dark as a pall. Thick clouds overcast the sky, andthere seemed no dividing line between the darkling sea and the windybanks that shrouded the horizon. A dirty night was in prospect; theweather would thicken later; but that made the modest comforts of thehalf-deck seem more inviting by comparison; and we came together forour weekly "sing-song"--all but Gregson, whose turn it was to stand thelookout on the fo'c'sle-head. 

The flag was brought out and hung up--Jones standing by to see that nopipe-lights were brought near--and we ranted at "Ye Mariners ofEngland" till the mate sent word that further din would mean a"work-up" job for all of us. 

Little we thought that we mariners would soon be facing dangers asgreat as any we so glibly sang about. Even as we sang, the _Hilda_ wasspeeding on a fatal course! Across her track the almost submerged hullof a derelict lay drifting. Black night veiled the danger from thekeenest eyes. 

A frenzied order from the poop put a stunning period to our merriment. "Helm up, f'r God's sake! . . . _Up_!--_oh God_!--_Up_! _Up_!" Afurious impact dashed us to the deck. Staggering, bruised, andbleeding, we struggled to our feet. Outside the yells of fear-strickenmen mingled with hoarse orders, the crash of spars hurtling from aloftvied with the thunder of canvas, as the doomed barque swung roundbroadside to the wind and sea. 

Even in that dread moment Jones had heed of his precious flag. As weflew to the door, he tore the flag down, stuffing it in his jumper ashe joined us at the boats. 

There was no time to hoist out the life-boats--it was pinnace and gigor nothing. Already the bows were low in the water. "She goes. Shegoes!" yelled some one. "Oh, Christ! She's going!"

We bore frantically on the tackles that linked the gig, swung her out, and lowered by the run; the mate had the pinnace in the water, men wereswarming into her. As the gig struck water, the barque heeled to therail awash. We crowded in, old Burke the last to leave her, and pushedoff. Our once stately _Hilda_ reeled in a swirl of broken water, andthe deep sea took her!

Sailor work! No more than ten minutes between "Ye Mariners" and thefoundering of our barque!

We lay awhile with hearts too full for words; then the pinnace drewnear, and the mate called the men. All there but one!"Gregson!" . . . No Gregson! The bosun knew. He had seen what wasGregson lying still under the wreck of the topmost spars. 

The captain and mate conferred long together. We had no sail in thegig, but the larger boat was fully equipped. "It's the only chance, mister, " said Burke at last. "No food--no water! We can't hold outfor long. Get sail on your boat and stand an hour or two to theeast'ard. Ye may fall in with a ship; she w'was right in th' trackwhin she s-struck. We can but lie to in th' gig an' pray that a shipcomes by. "

"Aye, aye, sir. " They stepped the mast and hoisted sail. "Good-byeall: God bless ye, captain, " they said as the canvas swelled. "Keepheart!" For a time we heard their voices shouting us God-speed--thensilence came!

V

Daybreak!

Thank God the bitter night was past. Out of the east thelong-looked-for light grew on us, as we lay to sea-anchor, lurchingunsteadily in the teeth of wind and driving rain. At the first greybreak we scanned the now misty horizon. There was no sign of thepinnace; no God-sent sail in all the dreary round!

We crouched on the bottom boards of the little gig and gave way togloomy thoughts. What else could be when we were alone and adrift onthe broad Pacific, without food or water, in a tiny gig alreadyperilously deep with the burden of eight of us? What a difference tothe gay day when we manned the same little boat and set out in pride tothe contest! Here was the same spare oar that we held up to thejudges--the long oar that Jones was now swaying over the stern, keepingher head to the wind and sea! Out there in the tumbling water thesea-anchor held its place; the ten fathoms of good hemp "painter" wasstraining at the bows!

The same boat! The same gear! The same crew, but how different! Acrew of bent heads and wearied limbs! Listless-eyed, despairing! Aghastly crew, with black care riding in the heaving boat with us!

Poor old Burke had hardly spoken since his last order to the mate tosail the pinnace to the east in search of help. When anything was putto him, he would say, "Aye, aye, b'ye, " and take no further heed. Hewas utterly crushed by the disaster that had come so suddenly on theheels of his "good luck. " He sat staring stonily ahead, deaf to ourhopes and fears. 

Water we had in plenty as the day wore on. The rain-soaked clothes ofus were sufficient for the time, but soon hunger came and added aphysical pain to the torture of our doubt. Again and again we stood upon the reeling thwarts and looked wildly around the sea-line. Nopinnace--no ship--nothing! Nothing, only sea and sky, and circlingsea-birds that came to mock at our misery with their plaintive cries. 

A bitter night! A no less cruel day! Dark came on us again, chill andwindy, and the salt spray cutting at us like a whiplash. 

Boo-m-m!

Big Jones stood up in the stern-sheets, swaying unsteadily. "D'ye hearanything there? . . . Like a gun?"

A gun? Gun? . . . Nothing new! . . . We had been hearing guns, seeing sails--in our minds--all the day! All day . . . Guns . . . Andsail! Boom-m-m-m!

"Gun! Oh God . . . A gun! Capt'n, a gun, d'ye hear! Hay--Hay-H. Outoars, there! A gun!" Hoarse in excitement Jones shook the old man andcalled at his ear. "Aye, aye, b'ye. Aye, aye, " said the broken oldman, seeming without understanding. 

Jones ceased trying to rouse him, and, running out the steering oar, called on us to haul the sea-anchor aboard. We lay to our oars, listening for a further gunfire. 

Whooo-o. . . . Boom-m-m. 

A rocket! They were looking for us then! The pinnace must have beenpicked up! A cheer--what a cheer!--came brokenly from our lips; and welashed furiously at the oars, steering to where a glare in the mist hadcome with the last report. 

Roused by the thrash of our oars, the old man sat up. "Whatt now, b'ye? Whatt now?"

"Ship firin' rockets, sir, " said Jones. "Rockets . . . No mistake. "As he spoke, another coloured streamer went flaming through the easternsky. "Give way, there! We'll miss her if she's running south! Giveway, all!" The glare of the rocket put heart into our broken oldskipper. "Steady now, b'yes, " he said, with something of his oldenthusiasm. 

We laboured steadily at the oars, but our strength was gone. The seatoo, that we had thought moderate when lying to sea-anchor, came at usbroadside on and set our light boat to a furious dance. Wave crestsbroke and lashed aboard, the reeling boat was soon awash, and the sparemen had to bale frantically to keep her afloat. But terror of the shiprunning south from us nerved our wearied arms, and we kept doggedlyswinging the oars. Soon we made out the vessel's sidelight--the gleamof her starboard light, that showed that she was hauled to the wind, not running south as we had feared. They could not see on such anight, we had nothing to make a signal, but the faint green flame gaveus heart in our distress. 

The old man, himself again, was now steering, giving us Big Jones tobear at the oars. As we drew on we made out the loom of the vessel'ssails--a big ship under topsails only, and sailing slowly to the west. We pulled down wind to cross her course, shouting together as we rowed. Would they never hear? . . . Again! . . . Again!

Suddenly there came a hail from the ship, a roar of orders, rattle ofblocks and gear, the yards swung round and she layed up in the wind, while the ghostly glare of a blue light lit up the sea around. 

A crowd of men were gathered at the waist, now shouting and cheering aswe laboured painfully into the circle of vivid light. Among them a bigman (huge he looked in that uncanny glare) roared encouragement inhoarse gutturals. 

Old Schenke? The _Hedwig Rickmers_?

Aye--Schenke! But a different Schenke to the big, blustering, overbearing "Square-head" we had known in 'Frisco. Schenke as kind asa brother--a brother of the sea indeed. Big, fat, honest Schenke, passing his huge arm through that of our broken old skipper, leadinghim aft to his own bed, and silencing his faltering story by words ofcheer. "_Ach, du lieber Gott_! It is all right, no? All right, Cabtin, now you come on board. Ah know all 'bout it! . . . Ah pick deoder boat up in de morning, und dey tells me. You come af mit me, Cabtin. . . . Goot, no?"

 * * * * * *

"Ninety-six days, Schenke, and here we are at the mouth of theChannel!" Old Burke had a note of regret in the saying. "Ninety-sixdays! Sure, this ship o' yours can sail. With a bit o' luck, now, ye'll be in Falmouth under the hundred. "

"So. If de vind holds goot. Oh, de _Hedwig Rickmers_ is a goot sheep, no? But if Ah dond't get de crew of de poor lettle _Hilda_ to workmein sheep, Ah dond't t'ink ve comes home so quick as hundert days, no?'"

"God bless us, man. Shure, it's the least they cud do, now. An' youkaaping' us in food an' drink an' clothes, bedad--all the time. "

"Vat Ah do, Cabtin. Ah leaf you starfe, no?"

"Oh. Some men would have put into the Falklands and landed----"

"Und spoil a goot bassage, eh? Ach nein. More better to go on. Youknow dese men Ah get in 'Frisco is no goot. Dem "hoodlums, " theydond't know de sailorman vork. But your beoble is all recht, eh!Gott! If Ah dond't haf dem here, it is small sail ve can carry on desheep. "

"Och, now, ye just say that, Schenke, ye just say that! But it's gladI am if we're any use t' ye. "

"Hundert days to Falmouth, eh?" Schenke grinned as he said it. "Vat'bout dot bett now, Cabtin?"

"Oh that, " said Burke queerly. "You win, of course. I'm not quitebroke yet, Captain Schenke. I'll pay the twenty dollars all right. "

"No, no. De bett is not von. No? De bett vass--'who is de first onshore come, ' _Heim_? Goot. Ven de sheep comes to Falmouth ve goes onshore, you und me, together. Like dis, eh?" He seized Burke by thearm and made a motion that they two should thus step out together. 

Burke, shamefacedly, said: "Aye, aye, b'ye. "

"Ah dond't care about de bett, " continued the big German. "De bett isnoting, but, look here, Cabtin--Ah tell you Ah look to vin dotMerchants' Cup. _Gott_! Ah vass _verrickt_ ven your boys come infirst. Ach so! Und now de Cup iss at de bottom of de Pacific. " Hesighed regretfully. "_Gott_! I van't t' be de first Sherman to vindot Cup too!"

The mate of the _Rickmers_ came on the poop and said something to hiscaptain. Schenke turned to the old man in some wonderment. . . . "Vatdis is, eh? My mate tell me dot your boys is want to speak mit me. Vat it is, Cabtin? No troubles I hope?"

Burke looked as surprised as the other. "Send them up, Heinrich, " hesaid. We, the crew of the _Hilda's_ gig, filed on to the poop, lookingas hot and uncomfortable as proper sailorfolk should do when they comeon a deputation. Jones headed us, and he carried a parcel under hisarm. 

"Captain Schenke, " he said. "We are all here--the crew of the_Hilda's_ gig, that you picked up when--when--we were in a bad way. All here but poor Gregson. "

The big lad's voice broke as he spoke of his lost watchmate. "An, ifhe was here he would want t' thank ye too for the way you've done byus. I can't say any more, Captain Schenke--but we want you to take asmall present from us--the crew of the _Hilda's_ gig. " He held out theparcel. 

Only half understanding the lad's broken words, Schenke took the parceland opened it. "_Ach Gott_ _Lieber Gott_, " he said, and turned to showthe gift to old Burke. Tears stood in the big "squarehead's" eyes;stood, and rolled unchecked down his fat cheeks. Tears of pleasure!Tears of pity! Stretched between his hands was a weather-beaten flag, its white emblem stained and begrimed by sea-water!

A tattered square of blue silk--the flag of the Merchants' Cup!

A STORM AND A RESCUE

From "The Wreck of the Grosvenor" BY W. CLARK RUSSELL

All that night it blew terribly hard, and raised as wild and raging asea as ever I remember hearing or seeing described. During mywatch--that is, from midnight until four o'clock--the wind veered acouple of points, but had gone back again only to blow harder; just asthough it had stepped out of its way a trifle to catch extra breath. 

I was quite worn out by the time my turn came to go below; and thoughthe vessel was groaning like a live creature in its death agonies, andthe seas thumping against her with such shocks as kept me thinking thatshe was striking hard ground, I fell asleep as soon as my head touchedthe pillow, and never moved until routed out by Duckling four hoursafterward. 

All this time the gale had not bated a jot of its violence, and theship labored so heavily that I had the utmost difficulty in getting outof the cuddy on to the poop. When I say that the decks fore and aftwere streaming wet, I convey no notion of the truth: the main deck wassimply _afloat_, and every time the ship rolled, the water on her deckrushed in a wave against the bulwarks and shot high in the air, tomingle sometimes with fresh and heavy inroads of the sea, both fallingback upon the deck with the boom of a gun. 

I had already ascertained from Duckling that the well had been soundedand the ship found dry; and therefore, since we were tight below, itmattered little what water was shipped above, as the hatches weresecurely battened down fore and aft, and the mast-coats unwrung. Butstill she labored under the serious disadvantage of being overloaded;and the result was, her fore parts were being incessantly swept by seaswhich at times completely hid her forecastle in spray. 

Shortly after breakfast, Captain Coxon sent me forward to dispatch acouple of hands on to the jib-boom to snug the inner jib, which lookedto be rather shakily stowed. I managed to dodge the water on themain-deck by waiting until it rolled to the starboard scuppers and thencutting ahead as fast as I could; but just as I got upon theforecastle, I was saluted by a green sea which carried me off my legs, and would have swept me down on the main-deck had I not held on stoutlywith both hands to one of the fore-shrouds. The water nearly drownedme, and kept me sneezing and coughing for ten minutes afterward. Butit did me no further mischief; for I was incased in good oilskins andsou'-wester, which kept me as dry as a bone inside. 

Two ordinary seamen got upon the jib-boom, and I bade them keep a goodhold, for the ship sometimes danced her figurehead under water andburied her sprit-sail-yard; and when she sunk her stern, her flyingjib-boom stood up like the mizzenmast. I waited until this job ofsnugging the sail was finished, and then made haste to get off theforecastle, where the seas flew so continuously and heavily that had Inot kept a sharp lookout, I should several times have been knockedoverboard. 

Partly out of curiosity and partly with a wish to hearten the men, Ilooked into the forecastle before going aft. There were sliding-doorslet into the entrance on either side the windlass, but one of them waskept half open to admit air, the forescuttle above being closed. Thedarkness here was made visible by an oil lamp, --in shape resembling atin coffee-pot with a wick in the spout, --which burned black andsmokily. The deck was up to my ankles in water, which gurgled over thepile of swabs that lay at the open entrance. It took my eye somemoments to distinguish objects in the gloom; and then by degrees thestrange interior was revealed. A number of hammocks were swung againstthe upper deck and around the forecastle were two rows of bunks, oneatop the other. Here and there were sea-chests lashed to the deck; andthese, with the huge windlass, a range of chain cable, lengths of rope, odds and ends of pots and dishes, with here a pair of breeches hangingfrom a hammock, and there a row of oilskins swinging from abeam, --pretty well made up all the furniture that met my eye. 

The whole of the crew were below. Some of the men lay smoking in theirbunks, others in their hammocks with their boots over the edge; one waspatching a coat, another greasing his boots; others were seated in agroup talking; while under the lamp were a couple of men playing atcards upon a chest, three or four watching and holding on by thehammocks over their heads. 

A man, lying in his bunk with his face toward me, started up and senthis legs, incased in blanket trousers and brown woolen stockings, flying out. 

"Here's Mr. Royle, mates!" he called out. "Let's ask him the name ofthe port the captain means to touch at for proper food, for we aren'tgoin' to wait much longer. "

"Don't ask me any questions of that kind, my lads, " I replied promptly, seeing a general movement of heads in the bunks and hammocks. "I'dgive you proper victuals if I had the ordering of them; and I havespoken to Captain Coxon about you, and I am sure he will see thismatter put to rights. "

I had difficulty in making my voice heard, for the striking of the seasagainst the ship's bows filled the place with an overwhelming volume ofsound; and the hollow, deafening thunder was increased by the uproar ofthe ship's straining timbers. 

"Who the devil thinks, " said a voice from a hammock, "that we're goingto let ourselves be grinded as we was last night without proper wittlesto support us? I'd rather have signed articles for a coal-barge, withdrowned rats to eat from Gravesend to Whitstable, than shipped in thishere cursed vessel, where the bread's just fit to make savages retch!"

I had not bargained for this, but had merely meant to address themcheerily, with a few words of approval of the smart way in which theyhad worked the ship in the night. Seeing that my presence would do nogood, I turned about and left the forecastle, hearing, as I came away, one of the Dutchmen cry out:--

"Look here, Mister Rile, vill you be pleashed to ssay when we are tohov' something to eat?--for by Gott! ve vill kill te dom pigs in thelong-boat if the skipper don't mindt--so look out!"

As ill-luck would have it, Captain Coxon was at the break of the poop, and saw me come out of the forecastle. He waited until he had got mealongside of him, when he asked me what I was doing among the men. 

"I looked in to give them a good word for the work they did lastnight, " I answered. 

"And who asked you to give them a good word, as you call it?"

"I have never had to wait for orders to encourage a crew. "

"Mind what you are about, sir!" he exclaimed, in a voice tremulous withrage. "I see through your game, and I'll put a stopper upon it thatyou won't like. "

"What game, sir? Let me have your meaning. "

"An infernal mutinous game!" he roared. "Don't talk to me, sir! Iknow you! I've had my eye upon you! You'll play false if you can, andare trying to smother up your d--d rebel meanings with genteel airs!Get away, sir!" he bellowed, stamping his foot. "Get away aft! You'rea lumping useless incumbrance! But by thunder! I'll give you two forevery one you try to give me! So stand by!"

And apparently half mad with his rage, he staggered away in the verydirection in which he had told me to go, and stood near the wheel, glaring upon me with a white face, which looked indescribablymalevolent in the fur cap and ear-protectors that ornamented it. 

I was terribly vexed by this rudeness, which I was powerless to resist, and regretted my indiscretion in entering the forecastle after thepolitic resolutions I had formed. However, Captain Coxon's ferocitywas nothing new to me; truly I believed he was not quite right in hismind, and expected, as in former cases, that he would come round a bitby-and-by when his insane temper had passed. Still his insinuationswere highly dangerous, not to speak of their offensiveness. It was nojoke to be charged, even by a madman, with striving to arouse the crewto mutiny. Nevertheless I tried to console myself as best I could byreflecting that he could not prove his charges; that I need only toendure his insolence for a few weeks, and that there was always a lawto vindicate me and punish him, should his evil temper betray him intoany acts of cruelty against me. 

The gale, at times the severest that I was ever in, lasted three days;during which the ship drove something like eighty miles to thenorthwest. The sea on the afternoon of the third day was appalling:had the ship attempted to run, she would have been pooped and smotheredin a minute; but lying close, she rode fairly well, though there weremoments when I held my breath as she sunk in a hollow like a coal-mine, filled with the astounding noise of boiling water, --really believingthat the immense waves which came hurtling towards us with solid, sharp, transparent ridges, out of which the wind tore lumps of waterand flung them through the rigging of the ship, must overwhelm thevessel before she could rise to it. 

The fury of the tempest and the violence of the sea, which the boldestcould not contemplate without feeling that the ship was every moment inmore or less peril, kept the crew subdued; and they eat as best theycould the provisions, without complaint. However, it needed nothingless than a storm to keep them quiet: for on the second day a seaextinguished the galley fire, and until the gale abated no cookingcould be done; so that the men had to put up with cold water andbiscuit. Hence all hands were thrown upon the ship's bread for twodays; and the badness of it, therefore, was made even more apparentthan heretofore, when its wormy moldiness was in some degree qualifiedby the nauseousness of bad salt pork and beef and the sickly flavor ofdamaged tea. 

As I had anticipated, the captain came round a little a few hours afterhis insulting attack upon me. I think his temper frightened him whenit had reference to me. Like others of his breed, he was a bit of acur at the bottom. My character was a trifle beyond him; and he wasignorant enough to hate and fear what he could not understand. Be thisas it may, he made some rough attempts at a rude kind of politenesswhen I went below to get some grog, and condescended to say that when Ihad been to sea as long as he, I would know that the most ungratefulrascals in the world were sailors; that every crew he had sailed withhad always taken care to invent some grievance to growl over: eitherthe provisions were bad, or the work too heavy, or the shipunseaworthy; and that long ago he had made up his mind never to payattention to their complaints, since no sooner would one wrong beredressed than another would be coined and shoved under his nose. 

I took this opportunity of assuring him that I had never willinglylistened to the complaints of the men, and that I was always annoyedwhen they spoke to me about the provisions, as I had nothing whateverto do with that matter; and that so far from my wishing to stir up themen into rebellion, my conduct had been uniformly influenced by thedesire to conciliate them and represent their conditions as verytolerable, so as to repress any tendency to disaffection which theymight foment among themselves. 

To this he made no reply, and soon we parted; but all the next day hewas sullen again, and never addressed me save to give an order. 

On the evening of the third day the gale broke; the glass had risensince the morning; but until the first dogwatch the wind did not bateone iota of its violence, and the horizon still retained its stormy andthreatening aspect. The clouds then broke in the west, and the settingsun shone forth with deep crimson light upon the wilderness ofmountainous waters. The wind fell quickly, then went round to the westand blew freshly; but there was a remarkable softness and sweetness inthe feel and taste of it. 

A couple of reefs were at once shaken out of the main-topsail, and asail made. By midnight the heavy sea had subsided into a deep, long, rolling swell, still (strangely enough) coming from the south; but thefresh westerly wind held the ship steady, and for the first time fornearly a hundred hours we were able to move about the decks withcomparative comfort. Early the next morning the watch were set to washdown and clear up the decks; and when I left my cabin at eight o'clock, I found the weather bright and warm, with a blue sky shining amongheavy, white, April-looking clouds, and the ship making seven knotsunder all plain sail. The decks were dry and comfortable, and the shiphad a habitable and civilized look, by reason of the row of clotheshung by the seamen to dry on the forecastle. 

It was half past nine o'clock, and I was standing near the taffraillooking at a shoal of porpoises playing some hundreds of feet astern, when the man who was steering asked me to look in the direction towhich he pointed--that was, a little to the right of the bowsprit--andsay if there was anything to be seen there; for he had caught sight ofsomething black upon the horizon twice, but could not detect it now. 

I turned my eyes toward the quarter of the sea indicated, but coulddiscern nothing whatever; and telling him that what he had seen wasprobably a wave, which, standing higher than his fellows, willsometimes show black a long distance off, walked to the fore part ofthe poop. 

The breeze still held good; and the vessel was slipping easily throughthe water, though the southerly swell made her roll and at times shookthe wind out of the sails. The skipper had gone to lie down, --beingpretty well exhausted, I daresay; for he had kept the deck for thegreater part of three nights running. Duckling was also below. Mostof my watch were on the forecastle, sitting or lying in the sun, whichshone very warm upon the decks; the hens under the long-boat werechattering briskly, and the cocks crowing, and the pigs grunting, withthe comfort of the warmth. 

Suddenly, as the ship rose, I distinctly beheld something black outaway upon the horizon, showing just under the foot of the foresail. Itvanished instantly; but I was not satisfied, and went for the glasswhich lay upon the brackets just under the companion. I then told theman who was steering to keep her away a couple of points for a fewmoments; and resting the glass against the mizzen-royal backstay, pointed it toward the place where I had seen the black object. 

For some moments nothing but sea or sky filled the field of the glassas the ship rose and fell; but all at once there leaped into this fieldthe hull of a ship, deep as her main-chains in the water, which cameand went before my eye as the long seas lifted or dropped in theforeground. I managed to keep her sufficiently long in view toperceive that she was totally dismasted. 

"It's a wreck, " said I, turning to the man: "let her come to again andluff a point. There may be living creatures aboard of her. "

Knowing what sort of man Captain Coxon was, I do not think that Ishould have had the hardihood to luff the ship a point out of hercourse had it involved the bracing of the yards; for the songs of themen would certainly have brought him on deck, and I might have provokedsome ugly insolence. But the ship was going free, and would head morewesterly without occasioning further change than slightly slackeningthe weather-braces of the upper yards. This I did quietly; and thedismantled hull was brought right dead on end with our flying jib-boom. The men now caught sight of her, and began to stare and point; but didnot sing out, as they saw by the telescope in my hand that I perceivedher. The breeze unhappily began to slacken somewhat, owing perhaps tothe gathering heat of the sun; our pace fell off: and a full hourpassed before we brought the wreck near enough to see herpermanently, --for up to this she had been constantly vanishing underthe rise of the swell. She was now about two miles off, and I took along and steady look at her through the telescope. It was a black hullwith painted ports. The deck was flush fore and aft, and there was agood-sized house just before where the mainmast should have been. Thishouse was uninjured, though the galley was split up, and to starboardstood up in splinters like the stump of a tree struck by lightning. Noboats could be seen aboard of her. Her jib-boom was gone, and so wereall three masts, --clean cut off at the deck, as though a hand-saw haddone it; but the mizzenmast was alongside, held by the shrouds andbackstays, and the port main and fore shrouds streamed like serpentsfrom her chains into the water. I reckoned at once that she must beloaded with timber, for she never could keep afloat at that depth withany other kind of cargo in her. 

She made a most mournful and piteous object in the sunlight, sluggishlyrolling to the swell which ran in transparent volumes over her sidesand foamed around the deck-house. Once when her stern rose, I read thename _Cecilia_ in broad white letters. 

I was gazing intently, in the effort to witness some indication ofliving thing on board, when, to my mingled consternation and horror, Iwitnessed an arm projecting through the window of the deck-house andfrantically waving what resembled a white handkerchief. As none of themen called out, I judged the signal was not perceptible to the nakedeye; and in my excitement I shouted, "There's a living man on board ofher, my lads!" dropped the glass, and ran aft to call the captain. 

I met him coming up the companion ladder. The first thing he said was, "You're out of your course, " and looked up at the sails. 

"There's a wreck yonder, " I cried, pointing eagerly, "with a man onboard signaling to us. "

"Get me the glass, " he said sulkily; and I picked it up and handed itto him. 

He looked at the wreck for some moments; and addressing the man at thewheel, exclaimed, making a movement with his hand, "Keep her away!Where in the devil are you steering to?"

"Good heaven!" I ejaculated: "there's a man on board--there may beothers!"

"Damnation!" he exclaimed between his teeth: "what do you mean byinterfering with me? Keep her away!" he roared out. 

During this time we had drawn sufficiently near to the wreck to enablethe sharper-sighted among the hands to remark the signal, and they werecalling out that there was somebody flying a handkerchief aboard thehull. 

"Captain Coxon, " said I, with as firm a voice as I could command, --forI was nearly in as great a rage as he, and rendered insensible to allconsequences by his inhumanity, --"if you bear away and leave that manyonder to sink with that wreck when he can be saved with very littletrouble, you will become as much a murderer as any ruffian who stabs aman asleep. "

When I had said this, Coxon turned black in the face with passion. Hiseyes protruded, his hands and fingers worked as though he were undersome electrical process, and I saw for the first time in my life asight I had always laughed at as a bit of impossible novelistdescription, --a mouth foaming with rage. He rushed aft, just overDuckling's cabin, and stamped with all his might. 

"Now, " thought I, "they may try to murder me!" And without a word Ipulled off my coat, seized a belaying-pin, and stood ready; resolvedthat happen what might, I would give the first man who should lay hisfingers on me something to remember me by while he had breath in hisbody. 

The men, not quite understanding what was happening, but seeing that a"row" was taking place, came to the forecastle and advanced by degreesalong the main-deck. Among them I noticed the cook, muttering to oneor the other who stood near. 

Mr. Duckling, awakened by the violent clattering over his head, camerunning up the companion-way with a bewildered, sleepy look in hisface. The captain grasped him by the arm, and pointing to me, criedout with an oath that "that villain was breeding a mutiny on board, andhe believed wanted to murder him and Duckling. "

I at once answered, "Nothing of the kind! There is a man miserablyperishing on board that sinking wreck, Mr. Duckling, and he ought to besaved. My lads!" I cried, addressing the men on the main-deck, "isthere a sailor among you all who would have the heart to leave that manyonder without an effort to rescue him?"

"No, sir!" shouted one of them. "We'll save the man; and if theskipper refuses, we'll make him!"

"Luff!" I called to the man at the wheel. 

"Luff at your peril!" screamed the skipper. 

"Aft here, some hands, " I cried, "and lay the mainyard aback. Let gothe port main-braces!"

The captain came running toward me. 

"By the living God!" I cried in a fury, grasping the heavy brassbelaying-pin, "if you come within a foot of me, Captain Coxon, I'lldash your brains out!"

My attitude, my enraged face and menacing gesture, produced the desiredeffect. He stopped dead, turned a ghastly white, and looked round atDuckling. 

"What do you mean by this (etc. ) conduct, you (etc. ) mutinousscoundrels?" roared Duckling, with a volley of foul language. 

"Give him one for himself if he says too much, Mr. Royle!" sung outsome hoarse voice on the main-deck; "we'll back yer!" And then camecries of "They're a cursed pair o' murderers!" "Who run the smackdown?" "Who lets men drown?" "Who starves honest men?" This lastexclamation was followed by a roar. 

The whole of the crew were now on deck, having been aroused by ourvoices. Some of them were looking on with a grin, others with anexpression of fierce curiosity. It was at once understood that I wasmaking a stand against the captain and chief mate; and a single glanceat them assured me that by one word I could set the whole of them onfire to do my bidding, even to shedding blood. 

In the meantime, the man at the wheel had luffed until the weatherleeches were flat and the ship scarcely moving. And at this moment, that the skipper might know their meaning, a couple of hands jumped aftand let go the weather main-braces. I took care to keep my eyes onCoxon and the mate, fully prepared for any attack that one or bothmight make on me. Duckling eyed me furiously but in silence, evidentlybaffled by my resolute air and the position of the men. Then he saidsomething to the captain, who looked exhausted and white and haggardwith his useless passion. They walked over to the lee side of thepoop; and after a short conference, the captain to my surprise wentbelow, and Duckling came forward. 

"There's no objection, " he said, "to your saving the man's life, if youwant. Lower away the starboard quarter-boat, --and you go along inher, " he added to me, uttering the last words in such a thick voicethat I thought he was choking. 

"Come along, some of you!" I cried out, hastily putting on my coat; andin less than a minute I was in the boat with the rudder and thole-pinsshipped, and four hands ready to out oars as soon as we touched thewater. 

Duckling began to fumble at one end of the boat's falls. 

"Don't let him lower away!" roared out one of the men in the boat. "He'll let us go with a run. He'd like to see us drowned!"

Duckling fell back, scowling with fury; and shoving his head over asthe boat sunk quietly into the water, he discharged a volley ofexecrations at us, saying that he would shoot some of us, if he swungfor it, before he was done, and especially applying a heap of abusiveterms to me. 

The fellow pulling the bow oar laughed in his face; and another shoutedout, "We'll teach you to say your prayers yet, you ugly old sinner!"

We got away from the ship's side cleverly, and in a short time wererowing fast for the wreck. The excitement under which I labored mademe reckless of the issue of this adventure. The sight of the lonelyman upon the wreck, coupled with the unmanly, brutal intention of Coxonto leave him to his fate, had goaded me into a state of mind infuriateenough to have done and dared anything to _compel_ Coxon to save him. He might call it mutiny, but I called it humanity; and I was preparedto stand or fall by my theory. The hate the crew had for their captainand chief mate was quite strong enough to guarantee me against any foulplay on the part of Coxon; otherwise I might have prepared myself tosee the ship fill and stand away, and leave us alone on the sea withthe wreck. One of the men in the boat suggested this; but anotherimmediately answered, "They'd pitch the skipper overboard if he gavesuch an order, and glad o' the chance. There's no love for 'em amongus, I can tell you; and by ----! there'll be bloody work done aboardthe _Grosvenor_ if things aren't mended soon, as you'll see. "

They all four pulled at their oars savagely as these words were spoken;and I never saw such sullen and ferocious expressions on men's faces ascame into theirs, as they fixed their eyes as with one accord upon theship. _She_, deep as she was, looked a beautiful model on the mightysurface of the water, rolling with marvelous grace to the swell, thestrength and volume of which made me feel my littleness and weakness asit lifted the small boat with irresistible power. There was windenough to keep her sails full upon her graceful, slender masts, and thebrass-work upon her deck flashed brilliantly as she rolled from side toside. 

Strange contrast, to look from her to the broken and desolate pictureahead! My eyes were riveted upon it now with new and intense emotion, for by this time I could discern that the person who was waving to uswas a female, --woman or girl I could not yet make out, --and that herhair was like a veil of gold behind her swaying arm. 

"It's a woman!" I cried in my excitement; "it's no man at all. Pullsmartly, my lads! pull smartly, for God's sake!"

The men gave way stoutly, and the swell favoring us, we were soon closeto the wreck. The girl, as I now perceived she was, waved herhandkerchief wildly as we approached; but my attention was occupied inconsidering how we could best board the wreck without injury to theboat. She lay broadside to us, with her stern on our right, and wasnot only rolling heavily with wallowing, squelching movements, but wasswirling the heavy mizzenmast that lay alongside through the water eachtime she went over to starboard; so that it was necessary to approachher with the greatest caution to prevent our boat from being stove in. Another element of danger was the great flood of water which she tookin over her shattered bulwarks, first on this side, then on that, discharging the torrent again into the sea as she rolled. This watercame from her like a cataract, and in a second would fill and sink theboat, unless extreme care were taken to keep clear of it. 

I waved my hat to the poor girl, to let her know that we saw her andhad come to save her, and steered the boat right around the wreck, thatI might observe the most practical point for boarding her. 

She appeared to be a vessel of about seven hundred tons. The fallingof her masts had crushed her port bulwarks level with the deck, andpart of her starboard bulwarks was also smashed to pieces. Her wheelwas gone, and the heavy seas that had swept her deck had carried awaycapstans, binnacle, hatchway gratings, pumps--everything, in short, butthe deck-house and the remnants of the galley. I particularly noticeda strong iron boat's-davit twisted up like a corkscrew. She was fullof water, and lay as deep as her main-chains; but her bows stood high, and her fore-chains were out of the sea. It was miraculous to see herkeep afloat as the long swell rolled over her in a cruel, foamingsuccession of waves. 

Though these plain details impressed themselves upon my memory, I didnot seem to notice anything, in the anxiety that possessed me to rescuethe lonely creature in the deck-house. It would have been impossibleto keep a footing upon the main-deck without a life-line or somethingto hold on by; and seeing this, and forming my resolutions rapidly, Iordered the man in the bow of the boat to throw in his oar and exchangeplaces with me, and head the boat for the starboard port-chains. As weapproached I stood up with one foot planted on the gunwale ready tospring; the broken shrouds were streaming aft and alongside, so that ifI missed the jump and fell into the water there was plenty of stuff tocatch hold of. 

"Gently--'vast rowing--ready to back astern smartly!" I cried as weapproached. I waited a moment: the hull rolled toward us, and thesucceeding swell threw up our boat; the deck, though all aslant, was ona line with my feet. I sprung with all my strength, and got well uponthe deck, but fell heavily as I reached it. However, I was up again ina moment, and ran forward out of the water. 

Here was a heap of gear--stay-sail, and jib-halyards, and other ropes, some of the ends swarming overboard. I hauled in one of these ends, but found I could not clear the raffle; but looking round, I perceiveda couple of coils of line--spare stun'-sail tacks or halyards I tookthem to be--lying close against the foot of the bowsprit. Iimmediately seized the end of one of these coils, and flung it into theboat, telling them to drop clear of the wreck astern; and when theyfound they had backed as far as the length of the line permitted, Ibent on the end of the other coil, and paid that out until the boat wassome fathoms astern. I then made my end fast, and sung out to one ofthe men to get on board by the starboard mizzen-chains, and to bringthe end of the line with him. After waiting a few minutes, the boatbeing hidden, I saw the fellow come scrambling over the side with a redface, his clothes and hair streaming, he having fallen overboard. Heshook himself like a dog, and crawled with the line, on his hands andknees, a short distance forward, then hauled the line taut and made itfast. 

"Tell them to bring the boat round here, " I cried, "and lay off ontheir oars until we are ready. And you get hold of this line and workyourself up to me. "

Saying which, I advanced along the deck, clinging tightly with bothhands. It very providentially happened that the door of the deck-housefaced the forecastle within a few feet of where the remains of thegalley stood. There would be, therefore, less risk in opening it thanhad it faced beamwise: for the water, as it broke against the sides ofthe house, disparted clear of the fore and after parts; that is, thegreat bulk of it ran clear, though of course a foot's depth of it asleast surged against the door. 

I called out to the girl to open the door quickly, as it slid ingrooves like a panel, and was not to be stirred from the outside. Thepoor creature appeared mad; and I repeated my request three timeswithout inducing her to leave the window. Then, not believing that sheunderstood me, I cried out, "Are you English?"

"Yes, " she replied. "For God's sake, save us!"

"I cannot get you through that window, " I exclaimed. "Rouse yourselfand open that door, and I will save you. "

She now seemed to comprehend, and drew in her head. By this time theman out of the boat had succeeded in sliding along the rope to where Istood, though the poor devil was nearly drowned on the road; for whenabout half-way, the hull took in a lump of swell which swept him rightoff his legs, and he was swung hard a-starboard, holding on for hislife. However, he recovered himself smartly when the water was gone, and came along hand over fist, snorting and cursing in wonderful style. 

Meanwhile, though I kept a firm hold of the life-line, I took care tostand where the inroads of water were not heavy, waiting impatientlyfor the door to open. It shook in the grooves, tried by a feeble hand;then a desperate effort was made, and it slid a couple of inches. 

"That will do!" I shouted. "Now then, my lad, catch hold of me withone hand, and the line with the other. "

The fellow took a firm grip of my monkey-jacket, and I made for thedoor. The water washed up to my knees, but I soon inserted my fingersin the crevice of the door and thrust it open. 

The house was a single compartment, though I had expected to find itdivided into two. In the centre was a table that traveled onstanchions from the roof to the deck, On either side were a couple ofbunks. The girl stood near the door. In a bunk to the left of thedoor lay an old man with white hair. Prostrate on his back, on thedeck, with his arms stretched against his ears, was the corpse of aman, well dressed; and in a bunk on the right sat a sailor, who, whenhe saw me, yelled out and snapped his fingers, making horrible grimaces. 

Such, in brief, was the _coup d'oeil_ of that weird interior as it metmy eyes. 

I seized the girl by the arm. 

"You first, " said I. "Come; there is no time to be lost. "

But she shrunk back, pressing against the door with her hand to preventme from pulling her, crying in a husky voice, and looking at the oldman with the white hair, "My father first! my father first!"

"You shall all be saved, but you must obey me. Quickly now!" Iexclaimed passionately; for a heavy sea at that moment flooded theship, and a rush of water swamped the house through the open door andwashed the corpse on the deck up into a corner. 

Grasping her firmly, I lifted her off her feet, and went staggering tothe life-rope, slinging her light body over my shoulder as I went. Assisted by my man, I gained the bow of the wreck, and hailing theboat, ordered it alongside. 

"One of you, " cried I, "stand ready to receive this lady when I givethe signal. "

I then told the man who was with me to jump into the forechains, whichhe instantly did. The wreck lurched heavily to port. "Stand by, mylads!" I shouted. Over she came again, with the water swooping alongthe maindeck: The boat rose high, and the forechains were submerged tothe height of the man's knees. "Now!" I called, and lifted the girlover. She was seized by the man in the chains, and pushed toward theboat; the fellow standing in the bow of the boat caught her, and at thesame moment down sunk the boat, and the wreck rolled wearily over. Butthe girl was safe. 

"Hurrah, my lad!" I sung out. "Up with you, --there are othersremaining;" and I went sprawling along the line to the deck-house, there to encounter another rush of water, which washed as high as mythighs, and fetched me such a thump in the stomach that I thought Imust have died of suffocation. 

I was glad to find that the old man had got out of his bunk, and wasstanding at the door. 

"Is my poor girl safe, sir?" he exclaimed, with the same huskiness ofvoice that had grated so unpleasantly in the girl's tone. 

"Quite safe; come along. "

"Thanks be to Almighty God!" he ejaculated, and burst into tears. 

I seized hold of his thin cold hands, but shifted my fingers to catchhim by the coat collar, so as to exert more power over him; and handedhim along the deck, telling my companion to lay hold of the seaman andfetch him away smartly. We managed to escape the water, for the poorold gentleman bestirred himself very nimbly, and I helped him over thefore-chains; and when the boat rose, tumbled him into her withoutceremony. I saw the daughter leap toward him and clasp him in herarms; but I was soon again scrambling on to the deck, having heardcries from my man, accompanied with several loud curses, mingled withdreadful yells. 

"He's bitten me, sir!" cried by companion, hauling himself away fromthe deck-house. "He's roaring mad. "

"It can't be helped, " I answered. "We must get him out. "

He saw me pushing along the life-line, plucked up heart, and went withmyself through a sousing sea to the door. I caught a glimpse of awhite face glaring at me from the interior: in a second a figure shotout, fled with incredible speed toward the bow, and leaped into the seajust where our boat lay. 

"They'll pick him up, " I exclaimed. "Stop a second;" and I enteredthe house and stooped over the figure of the man on the deck. 

I was not familiar with death, and yet I knew it was here. I cannotdescribe the signs in his face; but such as they were, they told me thetruth. I noticed a ring upon his finger, and that his clothes weregood. His hair was black, and his features well shaped, though hisface had a half-convulsed expression, as if something frightful hadappeared to him, and he had died of the sight of it. 

"This wreck must be his coffin, " I said. "He is a corpse. We can dono more. "

We scrambled for the last time along the life-line and got into thefore-chains; but to our consternation, saw the boat rowing away fromthe wreck. However, the fit of rage and terror that possessed melasted but a moment or two; for I now saw they were giving chase to themadman, who was swimming steadily away. Two of the men rowed, and thethird hung over the bows, ready to grasp the miserable wretch. The_Grosvenor_ stood steady, about a mile off, with her mainyards backed;and just as the fellow over the boat's bows caught hold of theswimmer's hair, the ensign was run up on board the ship and dippedthree times. 

"Bring him along!" I shouted. "They'll be off without us if we don'tbear a hand. "

They nearly capsized the boat as they dragged the lunatic, streaminglike a drowned rat, out of the water; and one of the sailors tumbledhim over on his back, and knelt upon him, while he took some turns withthe boat's painter round his body, arms and legs. The boat then camealongside; and watching our opportunity, we jumped into her and shovedoff. 

I had now leisure to examine the persons whom we had saved. 

They--father and daughter, as I judged them by the girl's exclamationon the wreck--sat in the stern-sheets, their hands locked. The old manseemed nearly insensible; leaning backward with his chin on his breastand his eyes partially closed. I feared he was dying; but could do nogood until we reached the _Grosvenor_, as we had no spirits in the boat. 

The girl appeared to be about twenty years of age; very fair, her hairof golden straw color, which hung wet and streaky down her back andover her shoulders, though a portion of it was held by a comb. She wasdeadly pale, and her lips blue; and in her fine eyes was such a look ofmingled horror and rapture as she cast them around her, --first glancingat me, then at the wreck, then at the _Grosvenor_, --that the memory ofit will last me to my death. Her dress, of some dark material, wassoaked with salt water up to her hips, and she shivered and moanedincessantly, though the sun beat so warmly upon us that the thwartswere hot to the hand. 

The mad sailor lay at the bottom of the boat, looking straight into thesky. He was a horrid-looking object, with his streaming hair, pastyfeatures, and red beard, his naked shanks and feet protruding throughhis soaking, clinging trousers, which figured his shin-bones as thoughthey clothed a skeleton. Now and again he would give himself a wildtwirl and yelp out fiercely; but he was well-nigh spent with his swim, and on the whole was quiet enough. 

I said to the girl, "How long have you been in this dreadful position?"

"Since yesterday morning, " she answered, in a choking voice painful tohear, and gulping after each word. "We have not had a drop of water todrink since the night before last. He is mad with thirst, for he drankthe water on the deck;" and she pointed to the man in the bottom of theboat. 

"My God!" I cried to the men, "do you hear her? They have not drunkwater for two days! For the love of God, give way!"

They bent their backs to the oars, and the boat foamed over the longswell. The wind was astern and helped us. I did not speak again tothe poor girl; for it was cruel to make her talk, when the wordslacerated her throat as though they were pieces of burning iron. 

After twenty minutes, which seemed as many hours, we reached thevessel. The crew pressing round the gangway cheered when they saw wehad brought people from the wreck. Duckling and the skipper watched usgrimly from the poop. 

"Now then, my lads, " I cried, "up with this lady first. Some of you ondeck get water ready, as these people are dying of thirst. "

In a few minutes, both the girl and the old man were handed over thegangway. I cut the boat's painter adrift from the ringbolt so that wecould ship the madman without loosening his bonds, and he was hoistedup like a bale of goods. Then four of us got out of the boat, leavingone to drop her under the davits and hook on the falls. 

At this moment a horrible scene took place. 

The old man, tottering on the arms of two seamen, was being led intothe cuddy, followed by the girl, who walked unaided. The madman, inthe grasp of the big sailor named Johnson, stood near the gangway; andas I scrambled on deck, one of the men was holding a pannikin full ofwater to his face. The poor wretch was shrinking away from it, withhis eyes half out of their sockets; but suddenly tearing his arm with aviolent effort from the rope that bound him, he seized the pannikin andbit clean through the tin; after which, throwing back his head, heswallowed the whole draught dashed the pannikin down, his face turnedblack and he fell dead on the deck. 

The big sailor sprung aside with an oath, forced from him by histerror; and from every looker-on there broke a groan. They all shrunkaway and stood staring with blanched faces. Such a piteous sight as itwas, lying doubled up, with the rope pinioning the miserable limbs, theteeth locked, and the right arm uptossed!

"Aft here and get the quarter-boat hoisted up!" shouted Duckling, advancing on the poop; and seeing the man dead on the deck, he added, "Get a tarpaulin and cover him up, and let him lie on the fore-hatch. "

"Shall I tell the steward to serve out grog to the men who went withme?" I asked him. 

He stared at me contemptuously, and walked away without answering. 

THE SAILOR'S WIFE

From "An Iceland Fisherman, " BY PIERRE LOTI

The Icelanders were all returning now. Two ships came in the secondday, four the next, and twelve during the following week. And allthrough the country joy returned with them; and there was happiness forthe wives and mothers, and junkets in the taverns where the beautifulbarmaids of Paimpol served out drink to the fishers. 

The _Léopoldine_ was among the belated; there were yet another tenexpected. They would not be long now; and allowing a week's delay soas not to be disappointed, Gaud waited in happy, passionate joy forYann, keeping their home bright and tidy for his return. Wheneverything was in good order there was nothing left for her to do; andbesides, in her impatience, she could think of nothing else but herhusband. 

Three more ships appeared; then another five. There were only twolacking now. 

"Come, come, " they said to her cheerily, "this year the _Léopoldine_and the _Marie-Jeanne_ will be the last, to pick up all the broomsfallen overboard from the other craft. "

Gaud laughed also. She was more animated and beautiful than ever, inher great joy of expectancy. 

But the days succeeded one another without result. 

She still dressed up every day, and with a joyful look went down to theharbor to gossip with the other wives. She said that this delay wasbut natural: was it not the same event every year? These were suchsafe boats, and had such capital sailors. 

But when at home alone, at night, a nervous anxious shiver ofapprehension would run through her whole frame. 

Was it right to be frightened already? Was there even a single reasonto be so? but she began to tremble at the mere idea of grounds forbeing afraid. 

The 10th of September came. How swiftly the days flew by!

One morning--a true autumn morning, with cold mist falling over theearth in the rising sun--she sat under the porch of the chapel of theshipwrecked mariners, where the widows go to pray; with eyes fixed andglassy, and throbbing temples tightened as by an iron band. 

These sad morning mists had begun two days before; and on thisparticular day Gaud had awakened with a still more bitter uneasiness, caused by the forecast of advancing winter. Why did this day, thishour, this very moment, seem to her more painful than the preceding?Often ships are delayed a fortnight; even a month, for that matter. 

But surely there was something different about this particular morning;for she had come to-day for the first time to sit in the porch of thischapel and read the names of the dead sailors, perished in their prime. 

 IN MEMORY OF GAOS YVON Lost at Sea

 NEAR THE NORDEN-FJORD

Like a great shudder, a gust of wind rose from the sea, and at the sametime something fell like rain upon the roof above. It was only thedead leaves, though;--many were blown in at the porch; the oldwind-tossed trees of the graveyard were losing their foliage in thisrising gale, and winter was marching nearer. 

 Lost at Sea NEAR THE NORDEN-FJORD In the storm of the 4th and 5th of August, 1880

She read mechanically under the arch of the doorway; her eyes sought topierce the distance over the sea. That morning it was untraceableunder the gray mist, and a dragging drapery of clouds overhung thehorizon like a mourning veil. 

Another gust of wind, and other leaves danced in whirls. A strongergust still; as if the western storm which had strewn those dead overthe sea wished to deface the very inscriptions which kept their namesin memory with the living. 

Gaud looked with involuntary persistency at an empty space upon thewall which seemed to yawn expectant. By a terrible impression, she waspursued by the thought of a fresh slab which might soon perhaps beplaced there, --with another name which she did not even dare think ofin such a spot. 

She felt cold, and remained seated on the granite bench, her headreclining against the stone wall. 

 NEAR THE NORDEN-FJORD In the storm of the 4th and 5th of August, 1880 at the age of 23 years _Requiescat in pace_!

Then Iceland loomed up before her, with its little cemetery lighted upfrom below the sea-line by the midnight sun. Suddenly, in the sameempty space on the wall, with horrifying clearness she saw the freshslab she was thinking of; a clear white one, with a skull andcrossbones, and in a flash of foresight a name, --the worshiped name of"Yann Gaos"! Then she suddenly and fearfully drew herself up straightand stiff, with a hoarse wild cry in her throat like a mad creature. 

Outside, the gray mist of the dawn fell over the land, and the deadleaves were again blown dancingly into the porch. 

Steps on the footpath! Somebody was coming? She rose, and quicklysmoothed down her cap and composed her face. Nearer drew the steps. She assumed the air of one who might be there by chance; for above all, she did not wish to appear yet like the widow of a shipwrecked mariner. 

It happened to be Fante Floury, the wife of the second mate of the_Léopoldine_. She understood immediately what Gaud was doing there: itwas useless to dissemble with her. At first each woman stoodspeechless before the other. They were angry and almost hated eachother for having met holding a like sentiment of apprehension. 

"All the men of Tréguier and Saint-Brieuc have been back for a week, "said Fante at last, in an unfeeling, muffled, half-irritated voice. 

She carried a blessed taper in her hand, to offer up a prayer. Gauddid not wish yet to resort to that extreme resource of despairingwives. Yet silently she entered the chapel behind Fante, and theyknelt down together side by side like two sisters. 

To the _Star of the Sea_ they offered ardent imploring prayers, withtheir whole soul in them. A sound of sobbing was alone heard, as theirrapid tears swiftly fell upon the floor. They rose together, moreconfident and softened. Fante held up Gaud, who staggered; and takingher in her arms, kissed her. 

Wiping their eyes and smoothing their disheveled hair, they brushed offthe salt dust from the flag-stones which had soiled their gowns, andwent away in opposite directions without another word. 

This end of September was like another summer, only a little lesslively. The weather was so beautiful that had it not been for the deadleaves which fell upon the roads, one might have thought that June hadcome back again. Husbands and sweethearts had all returned, andeverywhere was the joy of a second springtime of love. 

At last, one day, one of the missing ships was signaled. Which one wasit?

The groups of speechless and anxious women had rapidly formed on thecliff. Gaud, pale and trembling, was there, by the side of her Yann'sfather. 

"I'm almost sure, " said the old fisher, "I'm almost sure it's them. Ared rail and a topsail that clews up, --it's very like them, anyhow. What do you make it, Gaud?"

"No, it isn't, " he went on, with sudden discouragement: "we've made amistake again; the boom isn't the same, and ours has a jigger-sail. Well, well, it isn't our boat this time, it's only the _Marie-Jeanne_. Never mind, my lass, surely they'll not be long now. "

But day followed day, and night succeeded night, with uninterruptedserenity. 

Gaud continued to dress up every day; like a poor crazed woman, alwaysin fear of being taken for the widow of a shipwrecked sailor, feelingexasperated when others looked furtively and compassionately at her, and glancing aside so that she might not meet those glances which frozeher very blood. 

She had fallen into the habit of going at the early morning right tothe end of the headland, on the high cliffs of Pors-Even; passingbehind Yann's old home, so as not to be seen by his mother or littlesisters. She went to the extreme point of the Ploubazlanec land, whichis outlined in the shape of a reindeer's horn upon the gray waters ofthe Channel, and sat there all day long at the foot of the lonely crosswhich rises high above the immense waste of the ocean. There are manyof these crosses hereabout; they are set up on the most advanced cliffsof the sea-bound land, as if to implore mercy, and to calm thatrestless mysterious power which draws men away, never to give themback, and in preference retains the bravest and noblest. 

Around this cross stretches the evergreen waste, strewn with shortrushes. At this great height the sea air was very pure; it scarcelyretained the briny odor of the weeds, but was perfumed with all theexquisite ripeness of September flowers. 

Far away, all the bays and inlets of the coast were firmly outlined, rising one above another; the land of Brittany terminated in jaggededges, which spread out far into the tranquil surface. 

Near at hand the reefs were numerous; but out beyond, nothing broke itspolished mirror, from which arose a soft caressing ripple, light andintensified from the depths of its many bays. Its horizon seemed socalm, and its depths so soft! The great blue sepulchre of many Gaoseshid its inscrutable mystery; whilst the breezes, faint as human breath, wafted to and fro the perfume of the stunted gorse, which had bloomedagain in the latest autumn sun. 

At regular hours the sea retreated, and great spaces were leftuncovered everywhere, as if the Channel was slowly drying up; then withthe same lazy slowness the waters rose again, and continued theireverlasting coming without any heed of the dead. 

At the foot of the cross Gaud remained, surrounded by these tranquilmysteries, gazing ever before her until the night fell and she couldsee no more. 

September had passed. The sorrowing wife took scarcely anynourishment, and could no longer sleep. 

She remained at home now, crouching low with her hands between herknees, her head thrown back and resting against the wall behind. Whatwas the good of getting up or going to bed now? When she wasthoroughly exhausted she threw herself, dressed, upon her bed. Otherwise she remained in the same position, chilled and benumbed; inher quiescent state, only her teeth chattered with the cold; she hadthat continual impression of a band of iron round her brows; her cheekslooked wasted; her mouth was dry, with a feverish taste, and at times apainful hoarse cry rose from her throat and was repeated in spasms, whilst her head beat backwards against the granite wall. Or else shecalled Yann by his name in a low, tender voice, as if he were quiteclose to her; whispering words of love to her. 

Sometimes she occupied her brain with thoughts of quite insignificantthings; for instance, she amused herself by watching the shadow of thechina Virgin lengthen slowly over the high woodwork of the bed, as thesun went down. And then the agonized thoughts returned more horribly;and her wailing cry broke out again as she beat her head against thewall. 

All the hours of the day passed; and all the hours of evening, and ofnight; and then the hours of the morning. When she reckoned the timehe ought to have been back, she was seized with a still greater terror;she wished to forget all dates and the very names of the days. 

Generally, there is some information concerning the wrecks off Iceland;those who return have seen the tragedy from afar, or else have foundsome wreckage or bodies, or have an indication to guess the rest. Butof the _Léopoldine_ nothing had been seen, and nothing was known. The_Marie-Jeanne_ men--the last to have seen it on the 2d of August--saidthat she was to have gone on fishing farther towards the north; andbeyond that the secret was unfathomable. 

Waiting, always waiting, and knowing nothing! When would the time comewhen she need wait no longer? She did not even know that; and now shealmost wished that it might be soon. Oh! if he were dead, let them atleast have pity enough to tell her so!

Oh to see her darling, as he was at this very moment, --that is, whatwas left of him! If only the much-implored Virgin, or some otherpower, would do her the blessing to show her by second-sight herbeloved! either living and working hard to return a rich man, or elseas a corpse surrendered by the sea, so that she might at least know acertainty. 

Sometimes she was seized with the thought of a ship appearing suddenlyupon the horizon: the _Léopoldine_ hastening home. Then she wouldsuddenly make an instinctive movement to rise, and rush to look out atthe ocean, to see whether it were true. 

But she would fall back. Alas! where was this _Léopoldine_ now? Wherecould she be? Out afar, at that awful distance of Iceland, --forsaken, crushed, and lost. 

All ended by a never-fading vision appearing to her, --an empty, sea-tossed wreck, slowly and gently rocked by the silent gray androse-streaked sea; almost with soft mockery, in the midst of the vastcalm of deadened waters. 

Two o'clock in the morning. 

It was at night especially that she kept attentive to approachingfootsteps; at the slightest rumor or unaccustomed noise her templesvibrated: by dint of being strained to outward things, they had becomefearfully sensitive. 

Two o'clock in the morning. On this night as on others, with her handsclasped and her eyes wide open in the dark, she listened to the windsweeping in never-ending tumult over the heath. 

Suddenly a man's footsteps hurried along the path! At this hour whowould pass now? She drew herself up, stirred to the very soul, herheart ceasing to beat. 

Some one stopped before the door, and came up the small stone steps. 

He!--O God!--he! Some one had knocked, --it could be no other than he!She was up now, barefooted; she, so feeble for the last few days, hadsprung up as nimbly as a kitten, with her arms outstretched to windround her darling. Of course the _Léopoldine_ had arrived at night, and anchored in Pors-Even Bay, and he had rushed home; she arranged allthis in her mind with the swiftness of lightning. She tore the fleshoff her fingers in her excitement to draw the bolt, which had stuck. 

"Eh?"

She slowly moved backward, as if crushed, her head falling on herbosom. Her beautiful insane dream was over. She could just grasp thatit was not her husband, her Yann, and that nothing of him, substantialor spiritual, had passed through the air; she felt plunged again intoher deep abyss, to the lowest depths of her terrible despair. 

Poor Fantec--for it was he--stammered many excuses: his wife was veryill, and their child was choking in its cot, suddenly attacked with amalignant sore throat; so he had run over to beg for assistance on theroad to fetch the doctor from Paimpol. 

What did all this matter to her? She had gone mad in her own distress, and could give no thoughts to the troubles of others. Huddled on abench, she remained before him with fixed glazed eyes, like a deadwoman's; without listening to him, or even answering at random orlooking at him. What to her was the speech the man was making?

He understood it all, and guessed why the door had been opened soquickly to him; and feeling pity for the pain he had unwittinglycaused, he stammered out an excuse. 

"Just so: he never ought to have disturbed her--her in particular. "

"I!" ejaculated Gaud quickly, "why should I not be disturbedparticularly, Fantec?"

Life had suddenly come back to her; for she did not wish to appear indespair before others. Besides, she pitied him now; she dressed toaccompany him, and found the strength to go and see to his little child. 

At four o'clock in the morning, when she returned to throw herself onthe bed, sleep subdued her, for she was tired out. But that moment ofexcessive joy had left an impression on her mind, which in spite of allwas permanent; she awoke soon with a shudder, rising a little andpartially recollecting--she knew not what. News had come to her abouther Yann. In the midst of her confusion of ideas, she sought rapidlyin her mind what it could be; but there was nothing save Fantec'sinterruption. 

For the second time she fell back into her terrible abyss, nothingchanged in her morbid, hopeless waiting. 

Yet in that short, hopeful moment, she had felt him so near to her thatit was as if his spirit had floated over the sea unto her, --what iscalled a foretoken (_pressigne_) in Breton land; and she listened stillmore attentively to the steps outside, trusting that some one mightcome to her to speak of him. 

Just as the day broke, Yann's father entered. He took off his cap, andpushed back his splendid white locks, which were in curls like Yann's, sat down by Gaud's bedside. 

His heart ached heavily too; for Yann, his tall, handsome Yann, was hisfirst-born, his favorite and his pride: but he did not despair yet. Hecomforted Gaud in his own blunt, affectionate way. To begin with, those who had last returned from Iceland spoke of the increasing densefogs, which might well have delayed the vessel; and then too an ideastruck him, --they might possibly have stopped at the distant FaroeIslands on their homeward course, whence letters were so long intraveling. This had happened to him once forty years ago, and his ownpoor dead and gone mother had had a mass said for his soul. The_Léopoldine_ was such a good boat, --next to new, --and her crew weresuch able-bodied seamen. 

Granny Moan stood by them shaking her head: the distress of hergranddaughter had almost given her back her own strength and reason. She tidied up the place, glancing from time to time at the fadedportrait of Sylvestre, which hung upon the granite wall with its anchoremblems and mourning-wreath of black bead-work. Ever since the sea hadrobbed her of her own last offspring, she believed no longer in safereturns; she only prayed through fear, bearing Heaven a grudge in thebottom of her heart. 

But Gaud listened eagerly to these consoling reasonings; her largesunken eyes looked with deep tenderness out upon this old sire, who somuch resembled her beloved one; merely to have him near her was like ahostage against death having taken the younger Gaos; and she feltreassured, nearer to her Yann. Her tears fell softly and silently, andshe repeated again her passionate prayers to the Star of the Sea. 

A delay out at those Islands to repair damages was a very likely event. She rose and brushed her hair, and then dressed as if she might fairlyexpect him. All then was not lost, if a seaman, his own father, didnot yet despair. And for a few days she resumed looking out for himagain. 

Autumn at last arrived, --a late autumn too, --its gloomy evenings makingall things appear dark in the old cottage; and all the land lookedsombre too. 

The very daylight seemed a sort of twilight; immeasurable clouds, passing slowly overhead, darkened the whole country at broad noon. Thewind blew constantly with the sound of a great cathedral organ at adistance, but playing profane, despairing dirges; at other times thenoise came close to the door, like the howling of wild beasts. 

She had grown pale, --aye, blanched, --and bent more than ever; as if oldage had already touched her with its featherless wing. Often did shefinger the wedding clothes of her Yann, folding them and unfolding themagain and again like some maniac, --especially one of his blue woolenjerseys which still had preserved his shape: when she threw it gentlyon the table, it fell with the shoulders and chest well defined; so sheplaced it by itself in a shelf of their wardrobe, and left it there, sothat it might forever rest unaltered. 

Every night the cold mists sank upon the land, as she gazed over thedepressing heath through her little window, and watched the thin puffsof white smoke arise from the chimneys of other cottages scattered hereand there on all sides. There the husbands had returned, likewandering birds driven home by the frost. Before their blazing hearthsthe evenings passed, cozy and warm; for the springtime of love hadbegun again in this land of North Sea fishermen. 

Still clinging to the thought of those islands where he might perhapshave lingered, she was buoyed up by a kind hope, and expected him homeany day. 

 * * * * * *

But he never returned. One August night, out off gloomy Iceland, mingled with the furious clamor of the sea, his wedding with the seawas performed. It had been his nurse; it had rocked him in hisbabyhood and had afterwards made him big and strong; then, in hissuperb manhood, it had taken him back again for itself alone. Profoundest mystery had surrounded this unhallowed union. While itwent on, dark curtains hung pall-like over it as if to conceal theceremony, and the ghoul howled in an awful, deafening voice to stiflehis cries. He, thinking of Gaud, his sole, darling wife, had battledwith giant strength against this deathly rival, until he at lastsurrendered, with a deep death-cry like the roar of a dying bull, through a mouth already filled with water; and his arms were stretchedapart and stiffened forever. 

All those he had invited in days of old were present at his wedding. All except Sylvestre, who had gone to sleep in the enchanted gardensfar, far away, at the other side of the earth. 

THE SALVING OF THE YAN-SHAN

From "In Blue Waters, " BY H. DE VERE STACKPOOLE

I

The _Heart of Ireland_ was spreading her wings to the north-westtrades, making a good seven knots, with the coast of California a vagueline on the horizon to port and all the blue Pacific before her. 

Captain Blood was aft with his mate, Billy Harman, leaning on the railand watching the foam boosting away from the stern and flowing off increamy lines on the swirl of the wake. Ginnell, owner and captain ofthe _Heart of Ireland_, shanghaied and reduced to deck hand, wasforward on the look-out, and one of the coolie crew was at the wheel. 

"I'm not given to meeting trouble half-way, " said Blood, shifting hisposition and leaning with his left arm on the rail, "but it 'pears tome Pat Ginnell is taking his set down a mighty sight too easy. He'sgot something up his sleeve. "

"So've we, " replied Harman. "What can he do? He laid out to shanghaiyou, and by gum, he did it. I don't say I didn't let him down crool, playin' into his hands and pretendin' to help and gettin' Captain Mikeas a witness, but the fac' remains he got you aboard this hooker byfoul play, shanghaied you were, and then you turns the tables on him, knocks the stuffin' out of him and turns him into a deck hand. How'she to complain? I'd start back to 'Frisco now and dare him to comeashore with his complaints. We've got his ship, well, that's hisfault. He's no legs to stand on, that's truth. 

"Leavin' aside this little bisness, he's known as a crook from Beniciaright to San Jose. The bay stinks with him and his doin's; settin'Chinese sturgeon lines, Captain Mike said he was, and all but nailed, smugglin' and playin' up to the Greeks, and worse. The Bayside'shungry to catch him an' stuff him in the penitentiary, and he hasn't nofriends. I'm no saint, I owns it, but I'm a plaster John the Baptis'to Ginnell, and I've got friends, so have you. Well, what are youbothering about?"

"Oh, I'm not bothering about the law, " said Blood, "only about him. I'm going to keep my eye open and not be put asleep by his quietways--and I'd advise you to do the same. "

"Trust me, " said Harman, "and more especial when we come to longsideswith the _Yan-Shan_. "

Now the _Yan-Shan_ had started in life somewhere early in the ninetiesas a twelve hundred ton cargo boat in the Bullmer line; she had beenchristened the _Robert Bullmer_, and her first act when the dog-shoreshad been knocked away was a bull charge down the launching slip, resulting in the bursting of a hawser, the washing over of a boat andthe drowning of two innocent spectators; her next was an attempt tobutt the Eddystone over in a fog, and, being unbreakable, she mighthave succeeded only that she was going dead slow. She drifted out ofthe Bullmer line on the wash of a law-suit owing to the ramming by herof a Cape boat in Las Palmas harbour; engaged herself in the fruittrade in the service of the Corona Capuella Syndicate, and got on tothe Swimmer rocks with a cargo of Jamaica oranges, a broken screw shaftand a blown-off cylinder cover. The ruined cargo, salvage and towsmashed the Syndicate, and the _Robert Bullmer_ found new occupationstill the See-Yup-See Company of Canton picked her up, and, rechristening, used her for conveying coffins and coolies to theAmerican seaboard. They had sent her to Valdivia on some business, andon the return from the southern port to 'Frisco she had, true to herinstincts and helped by a gale, run on San Juan, a scrap of an islandnorth of the Channel Islands of the California coast. Every soul hadbeen lost with the exception of two Chinese coolies, who, drifting on araft, had been picked up and brought to San Francisco. 

She had a general cargo and twenty thousand dollars in gold coin onboard, but the coolies had declared her to be a total wreck, said, infact, when they had last sighted her she was going to pieces. 

That was the yarn Harman heard through Clancy, with the intimation thatthe wreck was not worth two dollars, let alone the expenses of asalvage ship. 

The story had eaten into Harman's mind; he knew San Juan better thanany man in 'Frisco, and he considered that a ship once ashore therewould stick; then Ginnell turned up, and the luminous idea of inducingGinnell to shanghai Blood so that Blood might with his, Harman's, assistance shanghai Ginnell and use the _Heart of Ireland_ for thepicking of the _Yan-Shan's_ pocket, entered his mind. 

"It's just when we come alongside the _Yan-Shan_ we may find our worstbother, " said Blood. 

"Which way?" asked Harman. 

"Well, they're pretty sure to send some sort of a wrecking expeditionto try and salve some of the cargo, let alone those dollars. "

"See here, " said Harman, "I had the news from Clancy that morning, andit had only just come to 'Frisco, it wasn't an hour old; we put the capon Ginnell and were out of the Golden Gate before sundown same day. Awrecking ship would take all of two days to get her legs under her, supposing anyone bought the wreck, so we have two days' start; we'vebeen makin' seven knots and maybe a bit over, they won't make more. Sowe have two days to our good when we get there. "

"They may start a quick ship out on the job, " said Blood. 

"Well, now, there's where my knowledge comes in, " said Harman. "There's only two salvage ships at present in 'Frisco, and rotten tubsthey are. One's the _Maryland_, she's most a divin' and dredgin' ship, ain't no good for this sort of work, sea-bottom scrapin' is all she'sgood for, and little she makes at it. The other's the _Port ofAmsterdam_, owned by Gunderman. She's the ship they'd use; she's gotsteam winches and derricks 'nough to discharge the Ark, and stowageroom to hold the cargo down to the last flea, but she's no good formore than eight knots; she steams like as if she'd a drogue behind her, because why?--she's got beam engines--she's that old, she's got beamengines in her. I'm not denyin' there's somethin' to be said for them, but, there you are, there's no speed in them. "

"Well, beam engines or no beam engines, we'll have a pretty rough timeif she comes down and catches us within a cable's length of the_Yan-Shan_, " said Blood. "However, there's no use in fetching trouble;let's go and have a look at the lazaret, I want to see how we stand forgrub. "

Chop-stick Charlie was the name Blood had christened the coolie whoacted as steward and cabin hand. He called him now, and out of theopium-tinctured gloom of the fo'c'sle Charlie appeared, received hisorders and led them to the lazaret. 

None of the crew had shown the slightest emotion on seeing Blood takeover command of the schooner and Ginnell swabbing decks. The fight, that had made Blood master of the _Heart of Ireland_ and Ginnell'srevolver, had occurred in the cabin and out of sight of the coolies, but even had it been conducted in full view of them, it is doubtfulwhether they would have shown any feeling or lifted a hand in thematter. 

As long as their little privileges were regarded, as long as opiumbubbled in the evening pipe, and pork, rice and potatoes were servedout, one white skipper was the same as another to them. 

The overhaul of the stores took half an hour and was fairlysatisfactory, and, when they came, on deck, Blood, telling Charlie totake Ginnell's place as lookout, called the latter down into the cabin. 

"We want to have a word with you, " said Blood, whilst Harman took hisseat on a bunk edge opposite him. 

"It's time you knew our minds and what we intend doing with theschooner and yourself. "

"Faith, " said Ginnell, "I think it is. "

"I'm glad you agree. Well, when you shanghaied me on board this oldshark-boat of yours, there's little doubt as to what you intended doingwith me. Harman will tell you, for we've talked on the matter. "

"He'd a' worked you crool hard, fed you crool bad, and landed you aftera six months' cruise doped or drunk, with two cents in your pocket andan affidavit up his sleeve that you'd tried to fire his ship, " saidHarman. "I know the swab. "

Ginnell said nothing for a moment in answer to this soft impeachment, he was cutting himself a chew of tobacco; then at last he spoke:

"I don't want no certifikit of character from either the pair of you, "said he. "You've boned me ship and you've blacked me eye and you'venear stove me ribs in sittin' on me chest and houldin' me revolver inme face; what I wants to know is your game. Where's your profits tocome from on this job?"

"I'll tell you, " replied Blood. "There's a hooker called the_Yan-Shan_ piled on the rocks down the coast and we're going to leaveour cards on her--savvy?"

"Oh, Lord!" said Ginnell. 

"What's the matter now?" asked Harman. 

"What's the matter, d'you say?" cried Ginnell. "Why, it's the_Yan-Shan_ I was after meself. "

Blood stared at the owner of the _Heart of Ireland_ for a moment, thenhe broke into a roar of laughter. 

"You don't mean to say you bought the wreck?" he asked. 

"Not me, " replied Ginnell. "Sure, where d'you think I'd be findin' themoney to buy wrecks with? I had news that mornin' she was lyin' therederelick, and I was just slippin' down the coast to have a look at herwhen you two spoiled me lay by takin' me ship. "

It was now that Harman began to laugh. 

"Well, if that don't beat all, " said he. "And maybe, since you were sokeen on havin' a look at her, you've brought wreckin' tools with you incase they might come in handy?"

"That's as may be, " replied Ginnell. "What you have got to worry aboutisn't wreckin' tools, but how to get rid of the boodle if it's there. Twenty thousand dollars, that's the figure. "

"So you know of the dollars?" said Blood. 

"Sure, what do you take me for?" asked Ginnell. "D'you think I'd havebothered about the job only for the dollars? What's the use of generalcargo to the like of me? Now what I'm thinkin' is this, you want afence to help you to get rid of the stuff. Supposin' you find it, howare you to cart this stuff ashore and bank it? You'll be had, sure, but not if I'm at your back. Now, gents, I'm willin' to wipe out alldifferences and help in the salvin' on shares, and I'll make it easyfor you. You'll each take seven thousand and I'll take the balance, and I won't charge nuthin' for the loan you've took of the _Heart ofIreland_. It's a losin' game for me, but it's better than bein' doneout entirely. "

Blood looked at Harman and Harman looked at Blood. Then tellingGinnell that they would consider the matter, they went on deck to talkit over. 

There was truth in what Ginnell said. They would want help in gettingthe coin ashore in safety, and unless they marooned or murderedGinnell, he, if left out, would always be a witness to make trouble. Besides, though engaged on a somewhat shady business, neither Blood norHarman were scoundrels. Ginnell up to this had been paid out in hisown coin, the slate was clean, and it pleased neither of them to takeprofit from this blackguard beyond what they considered their due. 

It was just this touch of finer feeling that excluded them from thecategory of rogues and made their persons worth considering and theirdoings worth recounting. 

"We'll give him what he asks, " said Blood, when the consultation wasover, "and mind you, I don't like giving it him one little bit, not onaccount of the money but because it seems to make us partners with thatswab. I tell you this, Billy Harman, I'd give half as much again if anhonest man was dealing with us in this matter instead of Pat Ginnell. "

"And what honest man would deal with us?" asked the ingenuous Harman. "Lord! one might think the job we was on was tryin' to sell a laundry. It's safe enough, for who can say we didn't hit the wreck cruisin'round promiscuous, but it won't hold no frills in the way of Honestyand such. Down with you, and close the bargain with that chap and tiphim the wink that, though we're mugs enough to give him six thousanddollars for the loan of his old shark-boat, we're men enough to put apistol bullet in his gizzard if he tries any games with us. Down yougo. "

Blood went. 

II

Next morning, an hour after sunrise, through the blaze of lightstriking the Pacific across the far-off Californlan coast, San Juanshowed like a flake of spar on the horizon to southward. 

The sea all there is of an impossible blueness, the Pacific bluedeepened by the _Kuro Shiwo_ current, that mysterious river of the seawhich floods up the coast of Japan, crosses the Pacific towards Alaska, and sweeps down the West American seaboard to fan out and lose itselfaway down somewhere off Chile. 

Harman judged the island to be twenty miles away, and as they weremaking six and a half knots, he reckoned to hit it in three hours ifthe wind held. 

They went down and had breakfast, and after the meal Ginnell, going tothe locker where he had stowed the wrecking tools, fetched them out andlaid them on deck. There were two crow-bars and a jemmy, not tomention a flogging hammer, a rip saw, some monstrous big chisels and ashipwright's mallet. They looked like a collection of burglar'simplements from the land of Brobdingnag. 

"There you are, " said Ginnell. "You never know what you may want on ajob like this, with bulkheads, maybe, to be cut through and chestsbroke open; get a spare sail, Misther Harman, and rowl the lot up in itso's they'll be aisier for thransport. "

He was excited, and the Irish in him came out when he was like that;also, as the most knowledgeable man in the business, he was taking thelead. You never could have fancied from his cheerful manner and hisappearance of boss that Blood was the real master of the situation, orthat Blood, only a few days ago, had nearly pounded the life out ofhim, captured his revolver, and taken possession of the _Heart ofIreland_. 

The schooner carried a whale-boat, and this was now got in readinessfor lowering, with provisions and water for the landing-party, and whenthat was done the island, now only four miles distant, showed up fine, a sheer splinter of volcanic rock standing up from the sea and creamedabout with foam. 

Not a sign of a wreck was to be seen, though Ginnell's glasses werepowerful enough to show up every detail from the rock fissures to theroosting gulls. 

Gloom fell upon the party, with the exception of Harman. 

"It'll be on the other side if it's there at all, " said he. "She'dhave been coming up from the s'uthard, and if the gale was behind herit would have taken her right on to the rocks; she couldn't be on thisside, anyhow, because why?--there's nuthin' to hold her. It's a miledeep water off them cliffs, but on the other side it shoals gradualfrom tide marks to ten fathoms water, which holds for a quarter of amile--keep her as she is, you could scrape them cliffs with abattleship without danger of groundin'. "

After a minute or two, he took the wheel himself and steered her whilstthe fellows stood by the halyards ready to let go at a moment's notice. 

It was an impressive place, this north side of the island of San Juan;the heavy swell came up smacking right on to the sheer cliff wall, jetting green water and foam yards high to the snore and boom of cavesand cut outs in the rock. Gulls haunted the place. The black petrel, the Western gull and the black-footed albatross all were to be foundhere; long lines of white gulls marked the cliff edges, and far above, in the dazzling azure of the sky, a Farallone cormorant circled likethe spirit of the place, challenging the newcomers with its cry. 

Harman shifted his helm, and the _Heart of Ireland_ with main boomswinging to port came gliding past the western rocks and opening thesea to southward where, far on the horizon, lovely in the morning lightlike vast ships under press of sail, the San Lucas Islands lay remotein the morning splendour. 

Away to port the line of the Californian coast showed beyond the heaveof the sea from Point Arguello to Point Conception, and to starboardand west of the San Lucas's a dot in the sun-dazzle marked the peaks ofthe island of San Nicolas. 

Then, as the _Heart of Ireland_ came around and the full view of thesouth of San Juan burst upon them, the wreck piled on the rocks came insight, and, anchored quarter of a mile off the shore--a Chinese junk!

"Well, I'm damned, " said Harman. 

Ginnell, seizing his glasses, rushed forward and looked through them atthe wreck. 

"It's swarmin' with chows, " cried he, coming aft. "They seem to haveonly just landed, be the look of them. Keep her as she goes and beready with the anchor there forrard; we'll scupper them yet. Mr. Harman, be plazed to fetch up that linth of lead pipe you'll find onthe cabin flure be the door. Capt'in, will you see with Charlie hereto the boat while I get the anchor ready for droppin'; them coolies isall thumbs. "

He went forward, and the _Heart of Ireland_, with the wind spilling outof her mainsail, came along over the heaving blue swell, satin-smoothhere in the shelter of the island. 

Truly the _Yan-Shan_, late _Robert Bullmer_, had made a masterpiece ofher last business; she had come stem on, lifted by the piling sea, andhad hit the rocks, smashing every bow-plate from the keel to within ayard or two of the gunnel, then a wave had taken her under the sternand lifted her and flung her broadside on just as she now lay, pinnedto her position by the rock horns that had gored her side, and showinga space of her rust-red bottom to the sun. 

The water was squattering among the rocks right up to her, thephosphor-bronze propeller showed a single blade cocked crookedly at theend of the broken screw shaft; rudder there was none, the funnel wasgone, spar deck and bridge were in wrack and ruin, whilst the cowl of abent ventilator turned seaward seemed contemplating with a languid airthe beauty of the morning and the view of the far distant San LucasIslands. 

The _Heart of Ireland_ picked up a berth inside the junk, and as therasp and rattle of the anchor chain came back in faint echoes from thecliff, a gong on the junk woke to life and began to snarl and roar itswarning to the fellows on the wreck. 

"Down with the boat, " cried Ginnell. With the "linth of lead pipe, " amost formidable weapon, sticking from his pocket, he ran to help withthe falls; the whaleboat smacked the water, the crew tumbled in, and, with Ginnell in the bow, it started for the shore. 

The gong had done its work. The fellows who had been crawling likeants over the dead body of the _Yan-Shan_ came slithering down onropes, appeared running and stumbling over the rocks abaft the stern, some hauling along sacks of loot, others brandishing sticks or bits oftimber, and all shouting and clamouring with a noise like gulls whosenests are being raided. 

There was a small scrap of shingly beach off which the Chinamen's scowwas lying anchored with a stone and with a China boy for anchor watch. The whale-boat passed the scow, dashed nose end up the shelving beach, and the next moment Ginnell and his linth of lead pipe was amongst theChinamen, whilst Blood, following him, was firing his revolver overtheir heads. Harman, with a crowbar carried at the level, was aimingstraight at the belly of the biggest of the foe, when they parted rightand left, dropping everything, beaten before they were touched, andmaking for the water over the rocks. 

Swimming like rats, they made for the scow, scrambled on board her, howked up the anchor stone and shot out the oars. 

"They're off for the junk, " cried Ginnell. "Faith, that was a clanebit of work; look at thim rowin' as if the divil was after thim. "

They were, literally, and now on board the junk they were hauling theboat in, shaking out the lateen sail and dragging up the anchor asthough a hundred pair of hands were at work instead of twenty. 

Then, as the huge sail bellied gently to the wind and the junk brokethe violet breeze shadow beyond the calm of the sheltered water, avoice came over the sea, a voice like the clamour of a hundred gulls, thin, rending, fierce as the sound of tearing calico. 

"Shout away, me boys, " said Ginnell. "You've got the shout and we'vegot the boodle, and good day to ye. "

III

He turned with the others to examine the contents of the sacks droppedby the vanquished ones and lying amongst the rocks. They were oldgunny bags and they were stuffed with all sorts of rubbish andvaluables, musical instruments, bits of old metal, cabin curtains, andeven cans of bully beef--there was no sign of dollars. 

"The fools were so busy picking up everything they could find lyingabout, they hadn't time to search for the real stuff, " said Blood. "Didn't know of it. "

"Well, " said Ginnell, "stick the ould truck back in the bags with theinsthruments; we'll sort it out when we get aboard and fling therubbish over and keep what's worth keepin'. "

Helped by the coolies, they refilled the bags and left them in positionfor carrying off, and then, led by Ginnell, they made round the sternof the wreck to the port side. 

Now, on the sea side the _Yan-Shan_ presented a bad enough picture ofdesolation and destruction, but here on the land side the sight wasterrific. 

The great yellow funnel had crashed over on to the rocks and lay withlengths of the guys still adhering to it; a quarter boat with bottomhalf out had gone the way of the funnel; crabs were crawling over allsorts of raffle, broken spars, canvas from the bridge screen andwoodwork of the chart-house, whilst all forward of amidships theplates, beaten and twisted and ripped apart, showed cargo, held, or inthe act of escaping. One big packing case, free of the ship, hadresolved itself into staves round its once contents, a piano thatappeared perfectly uninjured. 

A rope ladder hung from the bulwarks amidships, and up it Ginnell went, followed by the others, reaching a roofless passage that had once beenthe part alley-way. 

Here on the slanting deck one got a full picture of the ruin that hadcome on the ship; the masts were gone, as well as the funnel; boats, ventilators--with the exception of the twisted cowl lookingseaward--bridge, chart-house, all had vanished wholly or in part, apicture made more impressive by the calm blue sky overhead and thebrilliancy of the sunlight. 

The locking bars had been removed from the cover of the fore hatch andthe hatch opened, evidently by the Chinese in search of plunder. Ginnell scarcely turned an eye on it before he made aft, followed bythe others, he reached the saloon companion-way and dived down it. 

If the confusion on deck was bad, it was worse below. The cabin doorson either side were either open or off their hinges, bunk bedding, mattresses, an open and rifled valise, some women's clothes, an emptycigar-box and a cage with a dead canary in it lay on the floor. 

The place looked as if an army of pillagers had been at work for days, and the sight struck a chill to the hearts of the beholders. 

"We're dished, " said Ginnell. "Quick, boys, if the stuff's anywhereit'll be in the old man's cabin, there's no mail room in a packet likethis. If it's not there, we're done. "

They found the captain's cabin, they found his papers tossed about, hiscash-box open and empty, and a strong box clamped to the deck by thebunk in the same condition. They found, to complete the business, anEnglish sovereign on the floor in a corner. 

Ginnell sat down on the edge of the bunk. 

"They've got the dollars, " said he. "That's why they legged it soquick and--we let them go. Twenty thousand dollars in gold coin and welet them go. Tear an' ages! Afther them!" He sprang from the bunkand dashed through the saloon, followed by the others. On deck theystrained their eyes seaward towards a brown spot on the blue far, faraway to the sou'-west. It was the junk making a soldier's wind of it, every inch of sail spread. Judging by the distance she had covered, she must have been making at least eight knots, and the Heart ofIreland under similar wind conditions was incapable of more than seven. 

"No good chasing her, " said Blood. 

"Not a happorth, " replied Ginnell. Then the quarrel began. 

"If you hadn't held us pokin' over them old sacks on the rocks therewe'd maybe have had a chance of over-haulin' her, " said Ginnell. 

"Sacks, " cried Blood, "what are you talking about; it was you who letthem go, shouting good day to them and telling them we'd got theboodle!"

"Boodle, b'g-d!" cried Ginnell. "You're a nice chap to talk aboutboodle. You did me in an' collared me boat, and now you're let downproper, and serve you right. "

Blood was about to reply in kind, when the dispute was cut short by aloud yell from the engine-room hatch. 

Harman, having satisfied himself with a glance that all was up with thejunk, had gone poking about and entered the engine-room hatchway. Henow appeared, shouting like a maniac. 

"The dollars, " he cried, "two dead Chinkies an' the dollars. "

He vanished again with a shout, they rushed to the hatch, and there, onthe steel grating leading to the ladder, curled together like two catsthat had died in battle, lay the Chinamen, Harman kneeling beside them, his hands at work on the neck of a tied sack that chinked as he shookit with the glorious rich, mellow sound that gold in bulk and gold inspecie alone can give. 

The lanyard came away, and Harman, plunging his big hand in, producedit filled with British sovereigns. 

Not one of them moved or said a word for a moment, then Ginnellsuddenly squatted down on the grating beside Harman, and, taking asovereign between finger and thumb gingerly, as though he feared itmight burn him, examined it with a laugh. Then he bit it, spun it inthe air, caught it in his left hand and brought his great right palmdown on it with a bang. 

"Hids or tails!" cried Ginnell. "Hids I win, tails you lose. " He gavea coarse laugh as he opened his palm, where the coin lay tail up. 

"Hids it is, " he cried, then he tossed it back into the bag and rose tohis feet. 

"Come on, boys, " said he, "let's bring the stuff down to the saloon andcount it. "

"Better get it aboard, " said Blood. 

Harman looked up. The grin on his face stamped by the finding of thegold was still there, and in the light coming through the hatch hisforehead showed beaded with sweat. 

"I'm with Ginnell, " said he, "let's get down to the saloon for anoverhaul. I can't wait whiles we row off to the schooner. I wants tofeel the stuff and I wants to divide it, b'g-d, right off and now. Boys, we're rich, we sure are. It's the stroke of my life, and I can'twait for no rowin' on board no schooners before we divide up. "

"Come on, then, " said Blood. 

The sack was much bigger than its contents, so there was plenty of gripfor him as he seized one corner. Then, Harman grasping it by the neck, they lugged it out and along the deck and down the saloon companionway, Ginnell following. 

The Chinese had opened nearly all the cabin port-holes for the sake oflight to assist them in their plundering, and now as Blood and Harmanplaced the sack on the slanting saloon table, the crying of gulls cameclearly and derisively from the cliffs outside, mixed with the hush ofthe sea and the boost of the swell as it broke creaming and squatteringamong the rocks. The lackadaisical ventilator cowl, which took anoccasional movement from stray puffs of air, added its voice now andthen, whining and complaining like some lost yet inconsiderable soul. 

No other sound could be heard as the three men ranged themselves, Ginnell on the starboard, and Blood and Harman on the port side of thetable. 

The swivel seats, though all aslant, were practicable, and Harman wasin the act of taking his place in the seat he had chosen when Ginnellinterposed. 

"One moment, Mr. Harman, " said the owner of the _Heart of Ireland_. "I've a word to say to you and Mr. Blood--sure, I beg your pardon--Imane Capt'in Blood. "

"Well, " said Blood, grasping a chair-back. "What have you to say?"

"Only this, " replied Ginnell with a grin. "I've got back me revolver. "

Blood clapped his hand to his pocket. It was empty. 

"I picked your pocket of it, " said Ginnell, producing the weapon, "twominits back; you fired three shots over the heads of them chows andthere's three ca'tridges left in her. I can hit a dollar at twintylong paces. Move an inch either the one or other of you, and I'll layyour brains on the table fornint you. "

They did not move, for they knew that he was in earnest. They knewthat if they moved he would begin to shoot, and if he began to shoot hewould finish the job, leave their corpses on the floor, and sail offwith the dollars and his Chinese crew in perfect safety. There were nowitnesses. 

"Now, " said Ginnell, "what the pair of you have to do is this. MistherHarman, you'll go into that cabin behind you, climb on the upper bunk, stick your head through the port-hole and shout to the coolies downbelow there with the boat to come up. It'll take two men to get themdollars on deck and down to the wather side. When you've done that, the pair of you will walk into the ould man's cabin an' say yourprayers, thanking the saints you've got off so easy, whiles I puts thebolt on you till the dollars are away. And remimber this, one word orkick from you and I shoot--the Chinamen will never tell. "

"See here, " said Harman. 

"One word!" shouted Ginnell, suddenly dropping the mask of urbanity andlevelling the pistol. 

It was as though the tiger-cat in his grimy soul had suddenly burstbonds and mastered him. His finger pressed on the trigger and the nextmoment Harman's brains, or what he had of them, might have beenliterally forenint him on the table, when suddenly, tremendous as thelast trumpet, paralysing as the inrush of a body of armed men, booingand bellowing back from the cliffs in a hundred echoes came avoice--the blast of a ship's syren. 

"Huroop, Hirrip, Hurop, Haar--Haar--Haar!"

Ginnell's arm fell. Harman, forgetting everything, turned, dashed intothe cabin behind him, climbed on the upper bunk, and stuck his headthrough the port-hole. 

Then he dashed back into the saloon. 

"It's the _Port of Amsterdam_, " cried Harman, "It's the salvage ship, she's there droppin' her anchor; we're done, we're dished--and wefoolin' like this and they crawlin' up on us. "

"And you said she'd only do eight knots!" cried Blood. 

Ginnell flung the revolver on the floor. Every trace of the recentoccurrence had vanished, and the three men thought no more of oneanother than a man thinks of petty matters in the face of dissolution. Gunderman was outside, that was enough for them. 

"Boys, " said Ginnell, "ain't there no way out with them dollars?S'pose we howk them ashore?"

"Cliffs two hundred foot high, " said Harman, "not a chanst. We'redished. "

Said Blood: "There's only one thing left. We'll walk the dollars downto the boat and row off with them. Of course we'll be stopped; still, there's the chance that Gunderman may be drunk or something. It's onechance in a hundred billion--it's the only one. "

But Gunderman was not drunk, nor were his boat party; and thecourt-martial he held on the beach in broken English and with the sackof coin beside him as chief witness would form a bright page ofliterature had one time to record it. 

Ginnell, as owner of the _Heart of Ireland_, received the whole bruntof the storm; there was no hearing for him when, true to himself, hetried to cast the onus of the business on Blood and Harman. He wastold to get out and be thankful he was not brought back to 'Frisco inirons, and he obeyed instructions, rowing off to the schooner, he andHarman and Blood, a melancholy party with the exception of Blood, whowas talking to Harman with extreme animation on the subject of beamengines. 

On deck it was Blood who gave orders for hauling up the anchor andsetting sail. He had recaptured the revolver. 

THE DERELICT _NEPTUNE_*

From "Spun Gold, " BY MORGAN ROBERTSON

*Reprinted by courtesy of Harper & Brothers. 

Across the Atlantic Ocean from the Gulf of Guinea to Cape St. Roquemoves a great body of water--the Main Equatorial Current--which can beconsidered the motive power, or mainspring, of the whole Atlanticcurrent system, as it obtains its motion directly from the ever-actingpush of the tradewinds. At Cape St. Roque this broad current splitsinto two parts, one turning north, the other south. The northern partcontracts, increases its speed, and, passing up the northern coast ofSouth America as the Guiana Current, enters through the Caribbean Seainto the Gulf of Mexico, where it circles around to the northward;then, colored a deep blue from the fine river silt of the Mississippi, and heated from its long surface exposure under a tropical sun to anaverage temperature of eighty degrees, it emerges into the FloridaChannel as the Gulf Stream. 

From here it travels northeast, following the trend of the coast line, until, off Cape Hatteras, it splits into three divisions, one of which, the westernmost, keeps on to lose its warmth and life in Baffin's Bay. Another impinges on the Hebrides, and is no more recognizable as acurrent; and the third, the eastern and largest part of the dividedstream, makes a wide sweep to the east and south, enclosing the Azoresand the deadwater called the Sargasso Sea, then, as the AfricanCurrent, runs down the coast until, just below the Canary Isles, itmerges into the Lesser Equatorial Current, which, parallel to theparent stream, and separated from it by a narrow band of backwater, travels west and filters through the West Indies, making puzzlingcombinations with the tides, and finally bearing so heavily on theyoung Gulf Stream as to give to it the sharp turn to the northwardthrough the Florida Channel. 

In the South Atlantic, the portion of the Main Equatorial Current splitoff by Cape St. Roque and directed south leaves the coast at Cape Frio, and at the latitude of the River Plate assumes a due easterlydirection, crossing the ocean as the Southern Connecting Current. Atthe Cape of Good Hope it meets the cold, northeasterly Cape HornCurrent, and with it passes up the coast of Africa to join theEquatorial Current at the starting-point in the Gulf of Guinea, thewhole constituting a circulatory system of ocean rivers, of speed valuevarying from eighteen to ninety miles a day. 

On a bright morning in November, 1894, a curious-looking craft floatedinto the branch current which, skirting Cuba, flows westward throughthe Bahama Channel. A man standing on the highest of two pointsenclosing a small bay near Cape Maisi, after a critical examinationthrough a telescope, disappeared from the rocks, and in a few moments alight boat, of the model used by whalers, emerged from the mouth of thebay, containing this man and another. In the boat also was a coil ofrope. 

The one who had inspected the craft from the rocks was a tall youngfellow, dressed in flannel shirt and trousers, the latter held in placeby a cartridge-belt, such as is used by the American cowboy. To thiswas hung a heavy revolver. On his head was a broad-brimmed corkhelmet, much soiled, and resembling in shape the Mexican sombrero. Beneath this head-gear was a mass of brown hair, which showed anon-acquaintance with barbers for, perhaps, months, and under this haira sun-tanned face, lighted by serious gray eyes. The most noticeablefeature of this face was the extreme arching of the eyebrows--anever-failing index of the highest form of courage. It was a face thatwould please. The face of the other was equally pleasing in its way. It was red, round, and jolly, with twinkling eyes, the whole borrowinga certain dignity from closely cut white hair and mustaches. The manwas about fifty, dressed and armed like the other. 

"What do you want of pistols, Boston?" he said to the younger man. "One might think this an old-fashioned, piratical cutting out. "

"Oh, I don't know, Doc. It's best to have them. That hulk may be fullof Spaniards, and the whole thing nothing but a trick to draw us out. But she looks like a derelict. I don't see how she got into thischannel, unless she drifted up past Cape Maisi from the southward, having come in with the Guiana Current. It's all rocks and shoals tothe eastward. "

The boat, under the impulse of their oars, soon passed the fringingreef and came in sight of the strange craft, which lay about a mileeast and half a mile off shore. "You see, " resumed the younger man, called Boston, "there's a back-water inside Point Mulas, and if shegets into it she may come ashore right here. "

"Where we can loot her. Nice business for a respectable practitionerlike me to be engaged in! Doctor Bryce, of Havana, consorting withFenians from Canada, exiled German socialists, Cuban horse-thieves whowould be hung in a week if they went to Texas, and a long-legged sailorman who calls himself a retired naval officer, but who looks like apirate; and all shouting for _Cuba Libre_! _Cuba Libre_! It's plunderyou want. "

"But none of us ever manufactured dynamite, " answered Boston, with agrin. "How long did they have you in Moro Castle, Doc?"

"Eight months, " snapped the doctor, his face clouding. "Eight monthsin that rathole, with the loss of my property and practice--all fordevotion to science. I was on the brink of the most important andbeneficent discovery in explosives the world ever dreamed of. Yes, sir, 'twould have made me famous and stopped all warfare. "

"The captain told me this morning that he'd heard from Marti, " saidBoston, after an interval. "Good news, he said, but that's all Ilearned. Maybe it's from Gomez. If he'll only take hold again we canchase the Spanish off the island now. Then we'll put some of yourstuff under Moro and lift it off the earth. "

In a short time, details of the craft ahead, hitherto hidden bydistance, began to show. There was no sign of life aboard; her sparswere gone, with the exception of the foremast, broken at the hounds, and she seemed to be of about a thousand tons burden, colored a mixedbrown and dingy gray, which, as they drew near, was shown as the actionof iron rust on black and lead-colored paint. Here and there wereoutlines of painted ports. Under the stump of a shattered bowspritprojected from between bluff bows a weather-worn figurehead, representing the god of the sea. Above on the bows were wooden-stockedanchors stowed inboard, and aft on the quarters were iron davits withblocks intact--but no falls. In a few of the dead-eyes in the channelscould be seen frayed rope-yarns, rotten with age, and, with the stumpof the foremast, the wooden stocks of the anchors, and the teak-woodrail, of a bleached gray color. On the round stern, as they pulledunder it, they spelled, in raised letters, flecked here and there withdiscolored gilt, the name "Neptune, of London. " Unkempt and forsaken, she had come in from the mysterious sea to tell her story. 

The climbed the channels, fastened the painter, and peered over therail. There was no one in sight, and they sprang down, findingthemselves on a deck that was soft and spongy with time and weather. 

"She's an old tub, " said Boston, scanning the gray fabric fore and aft;"one of the first iron ships built, I should think. They housed thecrew under the t'gallant forecastle. See the doors forward, there?And she has a full-decked cabin--that's old style. Hatches are allbattened down, but I doubt if this tarpaulin holds water. " He steppedon the main hatch, brought his weight on the ball of one foot, andturned around. The canvas crumbled to threads, showing the woodbeneath. "Let's go below. If there were any Spaniards here they'dhave shown themselves before this. " The cabin doors were latched butnot locked, and they opened them. 

"Hold on, " said the doctor, "this cabin may have been closed for years, and generated poisonous gases. Open that upper door, Boston. "

Boston ran up the shaky poop ladder and opened the companion-way above, which let a stream of the fresh morning air and sunshine into thecabin, then, after a moment or two, descended and joined the other, whohad entered from the main-deck. They were in an ordinary ship's cabin, surrounded by staterooms, and with the usual swinging lamp and tray;but the table, chairs, and floor were covered with fine dust. 

"Where the deuce do you get so much dust at sea?" coughed the doctor. 

"Nobody knows, Doc. Let's hunt for the manifest and the articles. This must have been the skipper's room. " They entered the largeststateroom, and Boston opened an old-fashioned desk. Among thediscolored documents it contained, he found one and handed it to thedoctor. "Articles, " he said; "look at it. " Soon he took out another. "I've got it. Now we'll find what she has in her hold, and if it'sworth bothering about. "

"Great Scott!" exclaimed the doctor; "this paper is dated 1844, fiftyyears ago. " Boston looked over his shoulder. 

"That's so; she signed her crew at Boston, too. Where has she been allthis time? Let's see this one. "

The manifest was short, and stated that her cargo was 3000 barrels oflime, 8000 kids of tallow, and 2500 carboys of acid, 1700 of which weresulphuric, the rest of nitric acid. "That cargo won't be much good tous, Doc. I'd hope to find something we could use. Let's find thelog-book, and see what happened to her. " Boston rummaged what seemedto be the first-mate's room. "Plenty of duds here, " he said; "butthey're ready to fall to pieces. Here's the log. "

He returned with the book, and, seated at the dusty table, they turnedthe yellow leaves. "First departure, Highland Light, March 10, 1844, "read Boston. "We'll look in the remarks column. "

Nothing but the ordinary incidents of a voyage were found until theyreached the date June 1st, where entry was made of the ship being"caught aback" and dismasted off the Cape of Good Hope in a suddengale. Then followed daily "remarks" of the southeasterly drift of theship, the extreme cold (which, with the continuance of the bad weather, prevented saving the wreck for jury-masts), and the fact that no sailswere sighted. 

June 6th told of her being locked in soft, slushy ice, and still beingpressed southward by the never-ending gale; June 10th said that the icewas hard, and at June 15th was the terrible entry: "Fire in the hold!"

On June 16th was entered this: "Kept hatches battened down and stoppedall air-holes, but the deck is too hot to stand on, and getting hotter. Crew insist on lowering the boats and pulling them northward over theice to open water in hopes of being picked up. Good-bye. " In theposition columns of this date the latitude was given as 62 degrees 44minutes S. And the longitude as 30 degrees 50 minutes E. There were nomore entries. 

"What tragedy docs this tell of?" said the doctor. "They left thisship in the ice fifty years ago. Who can tell if they were saved?"

"Who indeed?" said Boston. "The mate hadn't much hope. He said'Good-bye. ' But one thing is certain; we are the first to board hersince. I take it she stayed down there in the ice until she driftedaround the Pole, and thawed out where she could catch the Cape Horncurrent, which took her up to the Hope. Then she came up with theSouth African Current till she got into the Equatorial drift, thenwest, and up with the Guiana Current into the Caribbean Sea to thesouthward of us, and this morning the flood-tide brought her through. It isn't a question of winds; they're too variable. It's currents, though it may have taken her years to get here. But the surprisingpart of it is that she hasn't been boarded. Let's look in the hold andsee what the fire has done. "

When they boarded the hulk, the sky, with the exception of a filmy hazeoverhanging the eastern end of the island, was clear. Now, as theyemerged from the cabin, this haze had solidified and was coming--one ofthe black and vicious squalls of the West India seas. 

"No man can tell what wind there is in them, " remarked Boston, as heviewed it. "But it's pretty close to the water, and dropping rain. Hold on, there, Doc. Stay aboard. We couldn't pull ashore in theteeth of it. " The doctor had made a spasmodic leap to the rail. "Ifthe chains were shackled on, we might drop one of the hooks and holdher; but it's two hours work for a full crew. "

"But we're likely to be blown away, aren't we?" asked the doctor. 

"Not far. I don't think it'll last long. We'll make the boat fastastern and get out of the wet. " They did so, and entered the cabin. Soon the squall, coming with a shock like that of a solid blow, struckthe hulk broadside to and careened her. From the cabin door theywatched the nearly horizontal rain as it swished across the deck, andlistened to the screaming of the wind, which prevented allconversation. Silently they waited--one hour--two hours--then Bostonsaid: "This is getting serious. It's no squall. If it wasn't so latein the season I'd call it a hurricane. I'm going on deck. "

He climbed the companionway stairs to the poop, and shut the scuttlebehind him--for the rain was flooding the cabin--then looked around. The shore and horizon were hidden by a dense wall of gray, which seemednot a hundred feet distant. From to windward this wall was detachinggreat waves or sheets of almost solid water, which bombarded the shipin successive blows, to be then lost in the gray whirl to leeward. Overhead was the same dismal hue, marked by hurrying masses of darkercloud, and below was a sea of froth, white and flat; for no waves couldrise their heads in that wind. Drenched to the skin, he tried thewheel and found it free in its movements. In front of it was asubstantial binnacle, and within a compass, which, though sluggish, asfrom a well-worn pivot, was practically in good condition. "Blowing usabout nor'west by west, " he muttered, as he looked at it--"straight upthe coast. It's better than the beach in this weather, but may land usin Havana. " He examined he boat. It was full of water, and tailing towindward, held by its painter. Making sure that this was fast, he wentdown. 

"Doc, " he said, as he squeezed the water from his limp cork helmet andflattened it on the table, "have you any objections to being rescued bysome craft going into Havana?"

"I have--decided objections. "

"So have I; but this wind is blowing us there--sideways. Now, such ablow as this, at this time of year, will last three days at least, andI've an idea that it'll haul gradually to the south, and west towardsthe end of it. Where'll we be then? Either piled up on one of theBahama keys or interviewed by the Spaniards. Now I've been thinking ofa scheme on deck. We can't get back to camp for a while--that'ssettled. This iron hull is worth something, and if we can take it intoan American port we can claim salvage. Key West is the nearest, butFernandina is the surest. We've got a stump of a foremast and a rudderand a compass. If we can get some kind of sail up forward and bringher 'fore the wind, we can steer any course within thirty degrees ofthe wind line. "

"But I can't steer. And how long will this voyage take? What will weeat?"

"Yes, you can steer--good enough. And, of course, it depends on food, and water, too. We'd better catch some of this that's going to waste. "

In what had been the steward's storeroom they found a harness-cask withbones and dry rust in the bottom. "It's salt meat, I suppose, " saidthe doctor, "reduced to its elements. " With the handles of theirpistols they carefully hammered down the rusty hoops over the shrunkenstaves, which were well preserved by the brine they had once held, andtaking the cask on deck, cleaned it thoroughly under the scuppers--ordrain-holes--of the poop, and let it stand under the stream of water toswell and sweeten itself. 

"If we find more casks we'll catch some more, " said Boston; "but thatwill last us two weeks. Now we'll hunt for her stores. I've eatensalt-horse twenty years old, but I can't vouch for what we may findhere. " They examined all the rooms adjacent to the cabin, but foundnothing. 

"Where's the lazarette in this kind of a ship?" asked Boston. "Thecabin runs right aft to the stern. It must be below us. " He foundthat the carpet was not tacked to the floor, and, raising the afterend, discovered a hatch, or trap-door, which he lifted. Below, whentheir eyes were accustomed to the darkness, they saw boxes andbarrels--all covered with the same fine dust which filled the cabin. 

"Don't go down there, yet, Boston, " said the doctor. "It may be fullof carbonic acid gas. She's been afire, you know. Wait. " He tore astrip from some bedding in one of the rooms, and, lighting one end bymeans of a flint and steel which he carried, lowered the smoulderingrag until it rested on the pile below. It did not go out. 

"Safe enough, Boston, " he remarked. "But you go down; you're younger. "

Boston smiled and sprang down on the pile, from which he passed up abox. "Looks like tinned stuff, Doc. Open it, and I'll look over here. "

The doctor smashed the box with his foot, and found, as the other hadthought, that it contained cylindrical cans; but the labels were fadedwith age. Opening one with his jack-knife, he tasted the contents. Itwas a mixture of meat and a fluid, called by sailors "soup-and-bully, "and as fresh and sweet as though canned the day before. 

"We're all right, Boston, " he called down the hatch. "Here's as good adish as I've tasted for months. Ready cooked, too. "

Boston soon appeared. "There are some beef or pork barrels over in thewing, " he said, "and plenty of this canned stuff. I don't know whatgood the salt meat is. The barrels seem tight, but we won't need tobroach one for a while. There's a bag of coffee--gone to dust, andsome hard bread that isn't fit to eat; but this'll do. " He picked upthe open can. 

"Boston, " said the doctor, "if those barrels contain meat, we'll findit cooked--boiled in its own brine, like this. "

"Isn't it strange, " said Boston, as he tasted the contents of the can, "that this stuff should keep so long?"

"Not at all. It was cooked thoroughly by the heat, and then frozen. If your barrels haven't burst from the expansion of the brine under theheat or cold, you'll find the meat just as good. "

"But rather salty, if I'm a judge of salt-horse. Now, where's thesail-locker? We want a sail on that foremast. It must be forward. "

In the forecastle they found sailor's chests and clothing in all stagesof ruin, but none of the spare sails that ships carry. In theboatswain's locker, in one corner of the forecastle, however, theyfound some iron-strapped blocks in fairly good condition, which Bostonnoted. Then they opened the main-hatch, and discovered a mixed pile ofboxes, some showing protruding necks of large bottles, or carboys, others nothing but the circular opening. Here and there in the tangledheap were sections of canvas sails--rolled and unrolled, but all yellowand worthless. They closed the hatch and returned to the cabin, wherethey could converse. 

"They stowed their spare canvas in the 'tween-deck on top of thecargo, " said Boston; "and the carboys--"

"And the carboys burst from the heat and ruined the sails, " broke inthe doctor. "But another question is, what became of that acid?"

"If it's not in the 'tween-deck yet, it must be in the hold--leakedthrough the hatches. "

"I hope it hasn't reached the iron in the hull, Boston, my boy. Ittakes a long time for cold acids to act on iron after the firstoxidation, but in fifty years mixed nitric and sulphuric will do lotsof work. "

"No fear, Doc; it had done its work when you were in your cradle. What'll we do for canvas? We must get this craft before the wind. How'll the carpet do?" Boston lifted the edge, and tried the fabric inhis fingers. "It'll go, " he said; "we'll double it. I'll hunt for apalm-and-needle and some twine. " These articles he found in the mate'sroom. "The twine's no better than yarn, " said he, "but we'll use fourparts. "

Together they doubled the carpet diagonally, and with long stitchesjoined the edges. Then Boston sewed into each corner a thimble--aniron ring--and they had a triangular sail of about twelve feet hoist. "It hasn't been exposed to the action of the air like the ropes in thelocker forward, " said Boston, as he arose and took off the palm; "andperhaps it'll last till she pays off. Then we can steer. You get thebig pulley-blocks from the locker, Doc, and I'll get the rope from theboat. It's lucky I thought to bring it; I expected to lift things outof the hold with it. "

At the risk of his life Boston obtained the coil from the boat, whilethe doctor brought the blocks. Then, together, they rove off a tackle. With the handles of their pistols they knocked bunk-boards to piecesand saved the nails; then Boston climbed the foremast, as a painterclimbs a steeple--by nailing successive billets of wood above his headfor steps. Next he hauled up and secured the tackle to the forwardside of the mast, with which they pulled up the upper corner of theirsail, after lashing the lower corners to the windlass and fiferail. 

It stood the pressure, and the hulk paid slowly off and gatheredheadway. Boston took the wheel and steadied her at northwest bywest--dead before the wind--while the doctor, at his request, broughtthe open can of soup and lubricated the wheel-screw with the onlysubstitute for oil at their command; for the screw worked hard with therust of fifty years. 

Their improvised sail, pressed steadily on but one side, had heldtogether, but now, with the first flap as the gale caught it fromanother direction, appeared a rent; with the next flap the rag went topieces. 

"Let her go!" sang out Boston gleefully; "we can steer now. Come here, Doc, and learn to steer. "

The doctor came; and when he left that wheel, three days later, he hadlearned. For the wind had blown a continuous gale the whole of thistime, which, with the ugly sea raised as the ship left the lee of theland, necessitated the presence of both men at the helm. Onlyoccasionally was there a lull during which one of them could rush belowand return with a can of soup. During one of these lulls Boston hadexamined the boat, towing half out of water, and concluded that a shortpainter was best with a water-logged boat, had reinforced it with a fewturns of his rope from forward. In the three days they had sighted nocraft except such as their own--helpless--hove-to or scudding. 

Boston had judged rightly in regard to the wind. It had hauled slowlyto the southward, allowing him to make the course he wished--throughthe Bahama and up the Florida Channel with the wind over the stern. During the day he could guide himself by landmarks, but at night, witha darkened binnacle, he could only steer blindly on with the wind athis back. The storm centre, at first to the south of Cuba, had made awide circle, concentric with the curving course of the ship, and whenthe latter had reached the upper end of the Florida channel, hadspurted ahead and whirled out to sea across her bows. It was then thatthe undiminished gale, blowing nearly west, had caused Boston, indespair, to throw the wheel down and bring the ship into the trough ofthe sea--to drift. Then the two wet, exhausted, hollow-eyed men sleptthe sleep that none but sailors and soldiers know; and when theyawakened, twelve hours later, stiff and sore, it was to look out on acalm, starlit evening, with an eastern moon silvering the surface ofthe long, northbound rollers, and showing in sharp relief a darkhorizon, on which there was no sign of land or sail. 

They satisfied their hunger; then Boston, with a rusty iron pot fromthe galley, to which he fastened the end of his rope, dipped up some ofthe water from over the side. It was warm to the touch, and, awarethat they were in the Gulf Stream, they crawled under the musty beddingin the cabin berths and slept through the night. In the morning therewas no promise of the easterly wind that Boston hoped would come toblow them to port, and they secured their boat--reeving offdavit-tackles, and with the plug out, pulling it up, one end at a time, while the water drained out through the hole in the bottom. 

"Now, Boston, " said the doctor, "here we are, as you say, on the outeredge of the Gulf Stream, drifting out into the broad Atlantic at therate of four miles an hour. We've got to make the best of it untilsomething comes along; so you hunt through that store-room and see whatelse there is to eat, and I'll examine the cargo. I want to know wherethat acid went. "

They opened all the hatches, and while Boston descended to thelazarette, the doctor, with his trousers rolled up, climbed down thenotched steps in a stanchion. In a short time he came up with a yellowsubstance in his hand, which he washed thoroughly with fresh water inBoston's improvised draw-bucket, and placed in the sun to dry. Then hereturned to the 'tween-deck. After a while, Boston, rummaging thelazarette, heard him calling through the bulkhead, and joined him. 

"Look here, Boston, " said the doctor; "I've cleared away the muck overthis hatch. It's 'corked, ' as you sailormen call it. Help me get itup. "

They dug the compacted oakum from the seams with their knives, and byiron rings in each corner, now eaten with rust to almost the thinnessof wire, they lifted the hatch. Below was a filthy-looking layer ofwhitish substance, protruding from which were charred, half-burnedstaves. First they repeated the experiment with the smouldering rag, and finding that it burned, as before, they descended. The whitishsubstance was hard enough to bear their weight, and they looked around. Overhead, hung to the under side of the deck and extending the lengthof the hold, were wooden tanks, charred, and in some places burnedthrough. 

"She must have been built for a passenger or troop ship, " said Boston. "Those tanks would water a regiment. "

"Boston, " answered the doctor, irrelevantly, "will you climb up andbring down an oar from the boat? Carry it down--don't throw it, myboy. " Boston obliged him, and the doctor, picking his way forward, then aft, struck each tank with the oar. "Empty--all of them, " he said. 

He dug out with his knife a piece of the whitish substance under foot, and examined it closely in the light from the hatch. 

"Boston, " he said, impressively, "this ship was loaded with lime, tallow, and acids--acids above, lime and tallow down here. This stuffis neither; it is lime-soap. And, moreover, it had not been touched byacids. " The doctor's ruddy face was ashen. 

"Well?" asked Boston. 

"Lime soap is formed by the cauticizing action of lime on tallow in thepresence of water and heat. It is easy to understand this fire. Oneof those tanks leaked and dribbled down on the cargo, attacking thelime--which was stowed underneath, as all these staves we see on topare from tallow-kids. The heat generated by the slaking lime set fireto the barrels in contact, which in turn set fire to others, and theyburned until the air was exhausted, and then went out. See, they arebut partly consumed. There was intense heat in this hold, andexpansion of the water in all the tanks. Are tanks at sea filled tothe top?"

"Chock full, and a cap screwed down on the upper end of the pipes. "

"As I thought. The expanding water burst every tank in the hold, andthe cargo was deluged with water, which attacked every lime barrel inthe bottom layer, at least. Result--the bursting of those barrels fromthe ebullition of slaking lime, the melting of the tallow--which couldnot burn long in the closed-up-space--and the mixing of it in theinterstices of the lime barrels with water and lime--a boiling hotmess. What happens under such conditions?"

"Give it up, " said Boston, laconically. 

"Lime soap is formed, which rises, and the water beneath is in time alltaken up by the lime. "

"But what of it?" interrupted the other. 

"Wait. I see that this hold and the 'tween-deck are lined with wood. Is that customary in iron ships?"

"Not now. It used to be a notion that an iron skin damaged the cargo;so the first iron ships were ceiled with wood. "

"Are there any drains in the 'tween-deck to let water out, in case itgets into that deck from above--a sea, for instance?"

"Yes, always; three or four scupper-holes each side amidships. Theylead the water into the bilges, where the pumps can reach it. "

"I found up there, " continued the doctor, "a large piece of wood, badlycharred by acid for half its length, charred to a lesser degree for therest. It was oval in cross section, and the largest end was charredmost. "

"Scupper plug. I suppose they plugged the 'tween-deck scuppers to keepany water they might ship out of the bilges and away from the lime. "

"Yes, and those plugs remained in place for days, if not weeks ormonths, after the carboys burst, as indicated by the greater charringof the larger end of the plug. I burrowed under the debris, and foundthe hole which that plug fitted. It was worked loose, or knocked outof the hole by some internal movement of the broken carboys, perhaps. At any rate, it came out, after remaining in place long enough for theacids to become thoroughly mixed and for the hull to cool down. Shewas in the ice, remember. Boston, the mixed acid went down that hole, or others like it. Where is it now?"

"I suppose, " said Boston, thoughtfully, "that it soaked up into thehold, through the skin. "

"Exactly. The skin is calked with oakum, is it not?" Boston nodded. 

"That oakum would contract with the charring action, as did the oakumin the hatch, and every drop of that acid--ten thousand gallons, as Ihave figured--has filtered up into the hold, with the exception of whatremained between the frames under the skin. Have you ever studiedorganic chemistry?"

"Slightly. "

"Then you can follow me. When tallow is saponified there is formed, from the palmitin, stearin, and olein contained, with the cauticizingagent--in this case, lime--a soap. But there are two ends to everyequation, and at the bottom of this immense soap vat, held in solutionby the water, which would afterwards be taken up by the surplus lime, was the other end of this equation; and as the yield from tallow ofthis other product is about thirty per cent. , and as we start witheight thousand fifty-pound kids--four hundred thousand pounds--all ofwhich has disappeared, we know that, sticking to the skin and sides ofthe barrels down here, is--or was once--one hundred and twenty thousandpounds, or sixty tons, of the other end of the equation--glycerine!"

"Do you mean, Doc, " asked Boston, with a startled look, "that--"

"I mean, " said the doctor, emphatically, "that the first thing theacids--mixed in the 'tween-deck to just about the right proportions, mind you--would attack, on oozing through the skin, would be thisglycerine; and the certain product of this union under intensecold--this hull was frozen in the ice, remember--would benitro-glycerine; and, as the yield of the explosive is two hundred andtwenty per cent. Of the glycerine, we can be morally sure that in thebottom of this hold, each minute globule of it held firmly in a hardmatrix of sulphate or nitrate of calcium--which would be formed nextwhen the acids met the hydrates and carbonates of lime--is over onehundred and thirty tons of nitro-glycerine, all the more explosive fromnot being washed of free acids. Come up on deck. I'll show yousomething else. "

Limp and nerveless, Boston followed the doctor. This question wasbeyond his seamanship. 

The doctor brought the yellow substance--now well dried. "I foundplenty of this in the 'tween-deck, " he said; "and I should judge theyused it to pack between the carboy boxes. It was once cotton-batting. It is now, since I have washed it, a very good sample of gun-cotton. Get me a hammer--crowbar--something hard. "

Boston brought a marline-spike from the locker, and the doctor, tearingoff a small piece of the substance and placing it on the iron barrel ofa gipsy-winch, gave it a hard blow with the marline spike, which wasnearly torn from his hand by the explosion that followed. 

"We have in the 'tween-deck, " said the doctor, as he turned, "abouttwice as many pounds of this stuff as they used to pack the carboyswith; and, like the nitro-glycerine, is the more easily exploded fromthe impurities and free acids. I washed this for safe handling. Boston, we are adrift on a floating bomb that would pulverize the rockof Gibraltar!"

"But, doctor, " asked Boston, as he leaned against the rail for support, "wouldn't there be evolution of heat from the action of the acids onthe lime--enough to explode the nitro-glycerine just formed?"

"The best proof that it did not explode is the fact that this hullstill floats. The action was too slow, and it was very cold downthere. But I can't yet account for the acids left in the bilges. Whathave they been doing all these fifty years?"

Boston found a sounding-rod in the locker, which he scraped bright withhis knife, then, unlaying a strand of the rope for a line, sounded thepump-well. The rod came up dry, but with a slight discoloration on thelower end, which Boston showed to the doctor. 

"The acids have expended themselves on the iron frames and plates. Howthick are they?"

"Plates, about five-eighths of an inch; frames, like railroad iron. "

"This hull is a shell! We won't get much salvage. Get up some kind ofdistress signal, Boston. " Somehow the doctor was now the master-spirit. 

A flag was nailed to the mast, union down, to be blown to pieces withthe first breeze; then another, and another, until the flag locker wasexhausted. Next they hung out, piece after piece, all they could spareof the rotten bedding, until that too was exhausted. Then they found, in a locker of their boat, a flag of Free Cuba, which they decided notto waste, but to hang out only when a sail appeared. 

But no sail appeared, and the craft, buffeted by gales and seas, drifted eastward, while the days became weeks, and the weeks becamemonths. Twice she entered the Sargasso Sea--the graveyard ofderelicts--to be blown out by friendly gales and resume her travels. Occasional rains replenished the stock of fresh water, but the foodthey found at first, with the exception of some cans of fruit, was allthat came to light; for the salt meat was leathery, and crumbled to asalty dust on exposure to the air. After a while their stomachsrevolted at the diet of cold soup, and they ate only when hungercompelled them. 

At first they had stood watch-and-watch, but the lonely horror of thelong night vigils in the constant apprehension of instant death hadaffected them alike, and they gave it up, sleeping and watchingtogether. They had taken care of their boat and provisioned it, readyto lower and pull into the track of any craft that might approach. Butit was four months from the beginning of this strange voyage when thetwo men, gaunt and hungry--with ruined digestions and shatterednerves--saw, with joy which may be imagined, the first land and thefirst sail that gladdened their eyes after the storm in the FloridaChannel. 

A fierce gale from the southwest had been driving them, broadside on, in the trough of the sea, for the whole of the preceding day and night;and the land they now saw appeared to them a dark, ragged line of blue, early in the morning. Boston could only surmise that it was the coastof Portugal or Spain. The sail--which lay between them and the land, about three miles to leeward--proved to be the try-sail of a blackcraft, hove-to, with bows nearly towards them. 

Boston climbed the foremast with their only flag and secured it; then, from the high poop-deck, they watched the other craft, plunging andwallowing in the immense Atlantic combers, often raising her forefootinto plain view, again descending with a dive that hid the wholeforward half in a white cloud of spume. 

"If she was a steamer I'd call her a cruiser, " said Boston; "one ofEngland's black ones, with a storm-sail on her military mainmast. Shehas a ram bow, and--yes, sponsors and guns. That's what she is, withher funnels and bridge carried away. "

"Isn't she right in our track, Boston?" asked the doctor, excitedly. "Hadn't she better get out of our way?"

"She's got steam up--a full head; sec the escape-jet? She isn'thelpless. If she don't launch a boat, we'll take to ours and boardher. "

The distance lessened rapidly--the cruiser plunging up and down in thesame spot, the derelict heaving to leeward in great, swinging leaps, asthe successive seas caught her, each one leaving her half a lengthfarther on. Soon they could make out the figures of men. 

"Take us off, " screamed the doctor, waving his arms, "and get out ofour way!"

"We'll clear her, " said Boston; "see, she's started her engine. "

As they drifted down on the weather-side of the cruiser they shoutedrepeatedly words of supplication and warning. They were answered by asolid shot from a secondary gun, which flew over their heads. At thesame time, the ensign of Spain was run up on the flag-staff. 

"They're Spanish, Boston. They're firing on us. Into that boat withyou! If a shot hits our cargo, we won't know what struck us. "

They sprang into the boat, which luckily hung on the lee side, andcleared the falls--fastened and coiled in the bow and stern. Oftenduring their long voyage they had rehearsed the launching of the boatin a seaway--an operation requiring quick and concerted action. 

"Ready, Doc?" sang out Boston. "One, two, three--let go!" The fallsoverhauled with a whir, and the falling boat, striking an uprising seawith a smack, sank with it. When it raised they unhooked the tackleblocks, and pushed off with the oars just as a second shot hummed overtheir heads. 

"Pull, Boston; pull hard--straight to windward!" cried the doctor. 

The tight whaleboat shipped no water, and though they were pulling inthe teeth of a furious gale, the hulk was drifting away from them, so, in a short time, they were separated from their late home by a fullquarter-mile of angry sea. The cruiser had forged ahead in plain view, and, as they looked, took in the try-sail. 

"She's going to wear, " said Boston. "See, she's paying off. "

"I don't know what 'wearing' means, Boston, " panted the doctor, "but Iknow the Spanish nature. She's going to ram that hundred and thirtytons of nitro. Don't stop. Pull away. Hold on, there; hold on, youfools!" he shouted. "That's a torpedo; keep away from her!"

Forgetting his own injunction to "pull away, " the doctor stood up, waving his oar frantically, and Boston assisted. But if their shoutsand gestures were understood aboard the cruiser, they were ignored. She slowly turned in a wide curve and headed straight for the _Neptune_which had drifted to leeward of her. 

What was in the minds of the officers on that cruiser's deck will neverbe known. Cruisers of all nations hold roving commissions in regard toderelicts, and it is fitting and proper for one of them to gently proda "vagrant of the sea" with the steel prow and send her below totrouble no more. But it may be that the sight of the Cuban flag, floating defiantly in the gale, had something to do with the full speedat which the Spanish ship approached. When but half a length separatedthe two craft, a heavy sea lifted the bow of the cruiser high in air;then it sank, and the sharp steel ram came down like a butcher'scleaver on the side of the derelict. 

A great semicircular wall of red shut out the gray of the sea and skyto leeward, and for an instant the horrified men in the boat saw--aspeople see by a lightning flash--dark lines radiating from the centreof this red wall, and near this centre poised on end in mid-air, withdeck and sponsons still intact, a bowless, bottomless remnant of thecruiser. Then, and before the remnant sank into the vortex beneath, the spectacle went out in the darkness of unconsciousness; for areport, as of concentrated thunder, struck them down. A great wave hadleft the crater-like depression in the sea, which threw the boat onend, and with the inward rush of surrounding water rose a mighty graycone, which then subsided to a hollow, while another wave followed thefirst. Again and again this gray pillar rose and fell, each subsidencemarked by the sending forth of a wave. And long before theseconcentric waves had lost themselves in the battle with thestorm-driven combers from the ocean, the half-filled boat, with herunconscious passengers, had drifted over the spot where lay theshattered remnant, which, with the splintered fragments of wood andiron strewn on the surface and bottom of the sea for a mile around, andthe lessening cloud of dust in the air, was all that was left of thederelict _Neptune_ and one of the finest cruisers in the Spanish navy. 

A few days later, two exhausted, half-starved men pulled a whaleboat upto the steps of the wharf at Cadiz, where they told some lies and soldtheir boat. Six months after, these two men, sitting at a camp-fire ofthe Cuban army, read from a discolored newspaper, brought ashore withthe last supplies, the following:

"By cable to the 'Herald. '

"CADIZ, March 13, 1895. --Anxiety for the safety of the _Reina Regente_has grown rapidly to-day, and this evening it is feared, generally, that she went down with her four hundred and twenty souls in the stormwhich swept the southern coast on Sunday night and Monday morning. Despatches from Gibraltar say that pieces of a boat and severalsemaphore flags belonging to the cruiser came ashore at Ceuta andTarifa this afternoon. "

THE TERRIBLE SOLOMONS*

From "South Sea Tales, " BY JACK LONDON

*Reprinted by courtesy of the Macmillan Co. 

There is no gainsaying that the Solomons are a hard-bitten bunch ofislands. On the other hand, there are worse places in the world. Butto the new chum who has no constitutional understanding of men and lifein the rough, the Solomons may indeed prove terrible. 

It is true that fever and dysentery are perpetually on the walk-about, that loathsome skin diseases abound, that the air is saturated with apoison that bites into every pore, cut, or abrasion and plantsmalignant ulcers, and that many strong men who escape dying therereturn as wrecks to their own countries. It is also true that thenatives of the Solomons are a wild lot, with a hearty appetite forhuman flesh and a fad for collecting human heads. Their highestinstinct of sportsmanship is to catch a man with his back turned and tosmite him a cunning blow with a tomahawk that severs the spinal columnat the base of the brain. It is equally true that on some islands, such as Malaita, the profit and loss account of social intercourse iscalculated in homicides. Heads are a medium of exchange, and whiteheads are extremely valuable. Very often a dozen villages make ajack-pot, which they fatten moon by moon, against the time when somebrave warrior presents a white man's head, fresh and gory, and claimsthe pot. 

All the foregoing, is quite true, and yet there are white men who havelived in the Solomons a score of years and who feel homesick when theygo away from them. A man needs only to be careful--and lucky--to livea long time in the Solomons; but he must also be of the right sort. Hemust have the hall-mark of the inevitable white man stamped upon hissoul. He must be inevitable. He must have a certain grandcarelessness of odds, a certain colossal self-satisfaction, and aracial egotism that convinces him that one white is better than athousand niggers every day in the week, and that on Sunday he is ableto clean out two thousand niggers. For such are the things that havemade the white man inevitable. Oh, and one other thing--the white manwho wishes to be inevitable, must not merely despise the lesser breedsand think a lot of himself; he must also fail to be too long onimagination. He must not understand too well the instincts, customsand mental processes of the blacks, the yellows, and the browns; for itis not in such fashion that the white race has tramped its royal roadaround the world. 

Bertie Arkwright was not inevitable. He was too sensitive, too finelystrung, and he possessed too much imagination. The world was too muchwith him. He projected himself too quiveringly into his environment. Therefore, the last place in the world for him to come was theSolomons. He did not come, expecting to stay. A five-weeks' stop-overbetween steamers, he decided, would satisfy the call of the primitivehe felt thrumming the strings of his being. At least, so he told thelady tourists on the Makembo, though in different terms; and theyworshipped him as a hero, for they were lady tourists and they wouldknow only the safety of the steamer's deck as she threaded her waythrough the Solomons. 

There was another man on board, of whom the ladies took no notice. Hewas a little shriveled wisp of a man, with a withered skin the color ofmahogany. His name on the passenger list does not matter, but hisother name, Captain Malu, was a name for niggers to conjure with, andto scare naughty pickaninnies to righteousness, from New Hanover to theNew Hebrides. He had farmed savages and savagery, and from fever andhardship, the crack of Sniders and the lash of the overseers, hadwrested five millions of money in the form of beche-de-mer, sandalwood, pearl-shell and turtle-shell, ivory nuts and copra, grasslands, tradingstations, and plantations. Captain Malu's little finger, which wasbroken, had more inevitableness in it than Bertie Arkwright's wholecarcass. But then, the lady tourists had nothing by which to judgesave appearances, and Bertie certainly was a fine-looking man. 

Bertie talked with Captain Malu in the smoking-room, confiding to himhis intention of seeing life red and bleeding in the Solomons. CaptainMalu agreed that the intention was ambitious and honorable. It was notuntil several days later that he became interested in Bertie, when thatyoung adventurer insisted on showing him an automatic 44-calibrepistol. Bertie explained the mechanism and demonstrated by slipping aloaded magazine up the hollow butt. 

"It is so simple, " he said. He shot the outer barrel back along theinner one. "That loads it, and cocks it, you see. And then all I haveto do is pull the trigger, eight times, as fast as I can quiver myfinger. See that safety clutch. That's what I like about it. It issafe. It is positively fool-proof. " He slipped out the magazine. "You see how safe it is. "

As he held it in his hand, the muzzle came in line with Captain Malu'sstomach. Captain Malu's blue eyes looked at it unswervingly. 

"Would you mind pointing it in some other direction?" he asked. 

"It's perfectly safe, " Bertie assured him. "I withdrew the magazine. It's not loaded now, you know. "

"A gun is always loaded. "

"But this one isn't. "

"Turn it away just the same. "

Captain Malu's voice was flat and metallic and low, but his eyes neverleft the muzzle until the line of it was drawn past him and away fromhim. 

"I'll bet a fiver it isn't loaded, " Bertie proposed warmly. 

The other shook his head. 

"Then I'll show you. "

Bertie started to put the muzzle to his own temple with the evidentintention of pulling the trigger. 

"Just a second, " Captain Malu said quietly, reaching out his hand. "Let me look at it. "

He pointed it seaward and pulled the trigger. A heavy explosionfollowed, instantaneous with the sharp click of the mechanism thatflipped a hot and smoking cartridge sidewise along the deck. Bertie'sjaw dropped in amazement. 

"I slipped the barrel back once, didn't I?" he explained. "It wassilly of me, I must say. "

He giggled flabbily, and sat down in a steamer chair. The blood hadebbed from his face, exposing dark circles under his eyes. His handswere trembling and unable to guide the shaking cigarette to his lips. The world was too much with him, and he saw himself with drippingbrains prone upon the deck. 

"Really, " he said, ". . . Really. "

"It's a pretty weapon, " said Captain Malu, returning the automatic tohim. 

The Commissioner was on board the _Makembo_, returning from Sydney, andby his permission a stop was made at Ugi to land a missionary. And atUgi lay the ketch _Arla_, Captain Hansen, skipper. Now the _Arla_ wasone of many vessels owned by Captain Malu, and it was at his suggestionand by his invitation that Bertie went aboard the _Arla_ as guest for afour-days' recruiting cruise on the coast of Malaita. Thereafter the_Arla_ would drop him at Reminge Plantation (also owned by CaptainMalu), where Bertie could remain for a week, and then be sent over toTulgal, the seat of government, where he would become theCommissioner's guest. Captain Malu was responsible for two othersuggestions, which given, he disappears from this narrative. One wasto Captain Hansen, the other to Mr. Harriwell, manager of RemingePlantation. Both suggestions were similar in tenor, namely, to giveMr. Bertram Arkwright an insight into the rawness and redness of lifein the Solomons. Also, it is whispered that Captain Malu mentionedthat a case of Scotch would be coincidental with any particularlygorgeous insight Mr. Arkwright might receive. 

 * * * * * *

"Yes, Svartz always was too pig-headed. You see, he took four of hisboat's crew to Tulagi to be flogged--officially, you know--then startedback with them in the whale-boat. It was pretty squally, and the boatcapsized just outside. Swartz was the only one drowned. Of course itwas an accident. "

"Was it? Really?" Bertie asked, only half-interested, staring hard atthe black man at the wheel. 

Ugi had dropped astern, and the _Arla_ was sliding along through asummer sea toward the wooded ranges of Malaita. The helmsman who soattracted Bertie's eyes sported a tenpenny nail, stuck skewerwisethrough his nose. About his neck was string of pants buttons. Thrustthrough holes in his ears were a can-opener, the broken handle of atooth-brush, a clay pipe, the brass wheel of an alarm clock, andseveral Winchester rifle cartridges. On his chest, suspended fromaround his neck hung the half of a china plate. Some forty similarlyapparelled blacks lay about the deck, fifteen of which were boat'screw, the remainder being fresh labor recruits. 

"Of course it was an accident, " spoke up the _Arla's_ mate, Jacobs, aslender, dark-eyed man who looked more a professor than a sailor. "Johnny Bedlip nearly had the same kind of accident. He was bringingback several from a flogging, when they capsized him. But he knew howto swim as well as they, and two of them were drowned. He used aboat-stretcher and a revolver. Of course it was an accident. "

"Quite common, them accidents, " remarked the skipper. "You see thatman at the wheel, Mr. Arkwright? He's a man-eater. Six months ago, heand the rest of the boat's crew drowned the then captain of the _Arla_. They did it on deck, sir, right aft there by the mizzen-traveller. "

"The deck was in a shocking state, " said the mate. 

"Do I understanad--?" Bertie began. 

"Yes, just that, " said Captain Hansen. "It was accidental drowning. "

"But on deck--?"

"Just so. I don't mind telling you, in confidence, of course, thatthey used an axe. "

"This present crew of yours?"

Captain Hansen nodded. 

"The other skipper always was too careless, " explained the mate. "Hebut just turned his back, when they let him have it. "

"We haven't any show down here, " was the skipper's complaint. "Thegovernment protects a nigger against a white every time. You can'tshoot first. You've got to give the nigger first shot, or else thegovernment calls it murder and you go to Fiji. That's why there's somany drowning accidents. "

Dinner was called, and Bertie and the skipper went below, leaving themate to watch on deck. 

"Keep an eye out for that black devil, Auiki, " was the skipper'sparting caution. "I haven't liked his looks for several days. "

"Right O, " said the mate. 

Dinner was part way along, and the skipper was in the middle of hisstory of the cutting out of the _Scottish Chiefs_. 

"Yes, " he was saying, "she was the finest vessel on the coast. Butwhen she missed stays, and before ever she hit the reef, the canoesstarted for her. There were five white men, a crew of twenty SantaCruz boys and Samoans, and only the super-cargo escaped. Besides, there were sixty recruits. They were all kai-kai'd. Kaikai?--oh, Ibeg your pardon. I mean they were eaten. Then there was the _JamesEdwards_, a dandy-rigged--"

But at that moment there was a sharp oath from the mate on deck and achorus of savage cries. A revolver went off three times, and then washeard a loud splash. Captain Hansen had sprung up the companionway onthe instant, and Bertie's eyes had been fascinated by a glimpse of himdrawing his revolver as he sprung. Bertie went up more circumspectly, hesitating before he put his head above the companionway slide. Butnothing happened. The mate was shaking with excitement, his revolverin his hand. Once he startled, and half-jumped around, as if dangerthreatened his back. 

"One of the natives fell overboard, " he was saying, in a queer tensevoice. "He couldn't swim. "

"Who was it?" the skipper demanded. 

"Auiki, " was the answer. 

"But I say, you know, I heard shots, " Bertie said, in tremblingeagerness, for he scented adventure, and adventure that was happilyover with. 

The mate whirled upon him, snarling:

"It's a damned lie. There ain't been a shot fired. The nigger felloverboard. "

Captain Hansen regarded Bertie with unblinking, lack-lustre eyes. 

"I--I thought--" Bertie was beginning. 

"Shots? Did you hear any shots, Mr. Jacobs?"

"Not a shot, " replied Mr. Jacobs. 

The skipper looked at his guest triumphantly, and said:

"Evidently an accident. Let us go down, Mr. Arkwright, and finishdinner. "

Bertie slept that night in the captain's cabin, a tiny stateroom offthe main-cabin. The for'ard bulkhead was decorated with a stand ofrifles. Over the bunk were three more rifles. Under the bunk was abig drawer, which when he pulled it out, he found filled withammunition dynamite, and several boxes of detonators. He elected totake the settee on the opposite side. Lying conspicuously on the smalltable, was the _Arla's_ log. Bertie did not know that it had beenespecially prepared for the occasion by Captain Malu, and he readtherein how on September 21, two boat's crew had fallen overboard andbeen drowned. Bertie read between the lines and knew better. He readhow the _Arla's_ whale-boat had been bushwacked at Sulu and had lostthree men; of how the skipper discovered the cook stewing human fleshon the galley fire--flesh purchased by the boat's crew ashore in Fui;of how an accidental discharge of dynamite, while signalling, hadkilled another boat's crew; of night attacks; ports fled from betweenthe dawns; attacks by bushmen in mangrove swamps and by fleets ofsalt-water men in the larger passages. One item that occurred withmonotonous frequency was death by dysentery. He noticed with alarmthat two white men had so died--guests, like himself on the _Arla_. 

"I say, you know, " Bertie said next day to Captain Hansen. "I've beenglancing through your log. "

The skipper displayed quick vexation that the log had been left lyingabout. 

"And all that dysentery, you know, that's all rot, just like theaccidental drownings, " Bertie continued. "What does dysentery reallystand for?"

The skipper openly admired his guest's acumen, stiffened himself tomake indignant denial, then gracefully surrendered. 

"You see, it's like this, Mr. Arkwright. These islands have got a badenough name as it is. It's getting harder every day to sign on whitemen. Suppose a man is killed. The company has to pay through the nosefor another man to take the job. But if the man merely dies ofsickness, it's all right. The new chums don't mind disease. What theydraw the line at is being murdered. I thought the skipper of the_Arla_ had died of dysentery when I took his billet. Then it was toolate. I'd signed the contract. "

"Besides, " said Mr. Jacobs, "there's altogether too many accidentaldrownings anyway. It don't look right. It's the fault of thegovernment. A white man hasn't a chance to defend himself from theniggers. "

"Yes, look at the _Princess_ and that Yankee mate, " the skipper took upthe tale. "She carried five white men besides a government agent. Thecaptain, the agent, and the supercargo were ashore in the two boats. They were killed to the last man. The mate and bosun, with aboutfifteen of the crew--Samoans and Tongans--were on board. A crowd ofniggers came off from the shore. First thing the mate knew, the bosunand the crew were killed in the first rush. The mate grabbed threecartridge-belts and two Winchesters and skinned up to the cross-trees. He was the sole survivor, and you can't blame him for being mad. Hepumped one rifle till it got so hot he couldn't hold it, then he pumpedthe other. The deck was black with niggers. He cleaned them out. Hedropped them as they went over the rail, and he dropped them as fast asthey picked up their paddles. Then they jumped into the water andstarted to swim for it, and, being mad, he got half a dozen more. Andwhat did he get for it?"

"Seven years in Fiji, " snapped the mate. 

"The government said he wasn't justified in shooting after they'd takento the water, " the skipper explained. 

"And that's why they die of dysentery nowadays, " the mate added. 

"Just fancy, " said Bertie, as he felt a longing for the cruise to beover. 

Later on in the day he interviewed the black who had been pointed outto him as a cannibal. This fellow's name was Sumasai. He had spentthree years on a Queensland plantation. He had been to Samoa, andFiji, and Sydney; and as a boat's crew had been on recruiting schoonersthrough New Britain, New Ireland, New Guinea, and the Admiralties. Also, he was a wag, and he had taken a line on his skipper's conduct. Yes, he had eaten many men. How many? He could not remember thetally. Yes, white men, too; they were very good, unless they weresick. He had once eaten a sick one. 

"My word!" he cried, at the recollection. "Me sick plenty along him. My belly walk about too much. "

Bertie shuddered, and asked about heads. Yes, Sumasai had severalhidden ashore, in good condition, sun-dried, and smoke-cured. One wasof the captain of a schooner. It had long whiskers. He would sell itfor two quid. Black men's heads he would sell for one quid. He hadsome pickaninny heads, in poor condition, that he would let go for tenbob. 

Five minutes afterward, Bertie found himself sitting on thecompanionway-slide alongside a black with a horrible skin disease. Hesheered off, and on inquiry was told that it was leprosy. He hurriedbelow and washed himself with antiseptic soap. He took many antisepticwashes in the course of the day, for every native on board wasafflicted with malignant ulcers of one sort or another. 

As the _Arla_ drew in to an anchorage in the midst of mangrove swamps, a double row of barbed wire was stretched around above her rail. Thatlooked like business and when Bertie saw the shore canoes alongside, armed with spears, bows and arrows, and Sniders, he wished moreearnestly than ever that the cruise was over. 

That evening the natives were slow in leaving the ship at sundown. Anumber of them checked the mate when he ordered them ashore. 

"Never mind, I'll fix them, " said Captain Hansen, diving below. 

When he came back, he showed Bertie a stick of dynamite attached to afish-hook. Now it happens that a paper-wrapped bottle of chlorodynewith a piece of harmless fuse projecting can fool anybody. It fooledBertie, and it fooled the natives. When Captain Hansen lighted thefuse and hooked the fish-hook into the tail-end of a native'sloin-cloth, that native was smitten with so ardent a desire for theshore that he forgot to shed the loin-cloth. He started for'ard, thefuse sizzling and spluttering at his rear, the natives in his pathtaking headers over the barbed wire at every jump. Bertie washorror-stricken. So was Captain Hansen. He had forgotten histwenty-five recruits, on each of which he had paid thirty shillingsadvance. They went over the side along with the shore-dwelling folkand followed by him who trailed the sizzling chlorodyne bottle. 

Bertie did not see the bottle go off; but the mate opportunelydischarging a stick of real dynamite aft where it would harm nobody, Bertie would have sworn in any admiralty court to a nigger blown toflinders. 

The flight of the twenty-five recruits had actually cost the _Arla_forty pounds, and, since they had taken to the bush, there was no hopeof recovering them. The skipper and his mate proceeded to drown theirsorrow in cold tea. The cold tea was in whiskey bottles, so Bertie didnot know it was cold tea they were mopping up. All he knew was thatthe two men got very drunk and argued eloquently and at length as towhether the exploded nigger should be reported as a case of dysenteryor as an accidental drowning. When they snored off to sleep, he wasthe only white man left, and he kept a perilous watch till dawn, infear of an attack from shore and an uprising of the crew. 

Three more days the _Arla_ spent on the coast, and three more nightsthe skipper and the mate drank overfondly of cold tea, leaving Bertieto keep watch. They knew he could be depended upon, while he wasequally certain that if he lived, he would report their drunken conductto Captain Malu. Then the _Arla_ dropped anchor at Reminge Plantation, on Guadalcanar, and Bertie landed on the beach with a sigh of reliefand shook hands with the manager. Mr. Harriwell was ready for him. 

"Now you mustn't be alarmed if some of our fellows seem downcast, " Mr. Harriwell said, having drawn him aside in confidence. "There's beentalk of an outbreak, and two or three suspicious signs I'm willing toadmit, but personally I think it's all poppycock. "

"How--how many blacks have you on the plantation?" Bertie asked, with asinking heart. 

"We're working four hundred just now, " replied Mr. Harriwell, cheerfully; "but the three of us, with you, of course, and the skipperand mate of the _Arla_, can handle them all right. "

Bertie turned to meet one McTavish, the storekeeper, who scarcelyacknowledged the introduction, such was his eagerness to present hisresignation. 

"It being that I'm a married man, Mr. Harriwell, I can't very wellafford to remain on longer. Trouble is working up, as plain as thenose on your face. The niggers are going to break out, and there'll beanother Hohono horror here. "

"What's a Hohono horror?" Bertie asked, after the storekeeper had beenpersuaded to remain until the end of the month. 

"Oh, he means Hohono Plantation, on Ysabel, " said the manager. "Theniggers killed the five white men ashore, captured the schooner, killedthe captain and mate, and escaped in a body to Malaita. But I alwayssaid they were careless on Hohono. They won't catch us napping here. Come along, Mr. Arkwright, and see our view from the veranda. "

Bertie was too busy wondering how he could get away to Tulagi to theCommissioner's house, to see much of the view. He was still wondering, when a rifle exploded very near to him behind his back. At the samemoment his arm was nearly dislocated, so eagerly did Mr. Harriwell draghim indoors. 

"I say, old man, that was a close shave, " said the manager, pawing himover to see if he had been hit. "I can't tell you how sorry I am. Butit was broad daylight, and I never dreamed. "

Bertie was beginning to turn pale. 

"They got the other manager that way, " McTavish vouchsafed. "And adashed fine chap he was. Blew his brains out all over the veranda. You noticed that dark stain there between the steps and the door?"

Bertie was ripe for the cocktail which Mr. Harriwell pitched in andcompounded for him; but before he could drink it, a man in ridingtrousers and puttees entered. 

"What's the matter now?" the manager asked, after one look at thenewcomer's face. "Is the river up again?"

"River be blowed--it's the niggers. Stepped out of the cane-grass nota dozen feet away, and whopped at me. It was a Snider, and he shotfrom the hip. Now what I want to know is where'd he get the Snider?Oh, I beg your pardon. Glad to know you, Mr. Arkwright. "

"Mr. Brown is my assistant, " explained Mr. Harriwell. "And now let'shave that drink. "

"But where'd he get that Snider?" Mr. Brown insisted. "I alwaysobjected to keeping those guns on the premises?"

"They're still there, " Mr. Harriwell said, with a show of heat. 

Mr. Brown smiled incredulously. 

"Come along and see, " said the manager. 

Bertie joined the procession into the office, where Mr. Harriwellpointed triumphantly at a big packing-case in a dusty corner. 

"Well, then, where did the beggar get that Snider?" harped Mr. Brown. 

But just then McTavish lifted the packing-case. The manager startedthen tore off the lid. The case was empty. They gazed at one anotherin horrified silence. Harriwell dropped wearily. 

Then McVeigh cursed. 

"What I contended all along--the house-boys are not to be trusted. "

"It does look serious, " Harriwell admitted, "but we'll come through itall right. What the sanguinary niggers need is a shaking up. Will yougentlemen please bring your rifles to dinner, and will you, Mr. Brown, kindly prepare forty or fifty sticks of dynamite. Make the fuses goodand short. We'll give them a lesson. And now, gentlemen, dinner isserved. "

One thing that Bertie detested was rice and curry, so it happened thathe alone partook of an inviting omelet. He had quite finished hisplate, when Harriwell helped himself to the omelet. One mouthful, hetasted, then spat out vociferously. 

"That's the second time, " McTavish announced ominously. 

Harriwell was still hawking and spitting. 

"Second time, what?" Bertie quavered. 

"Poison, " was the answer. "That cook will be hanged yet. "

"That's the way the bookkeeper went out at Cape Marsh, " Brown spoke up. "Died horribly. They said on the _Jessie_ that they heard himscreaming three miles away. "

"I'll put the cook in irons, " sputtered Harriwell. "Fortunately wediscovered it in time. "

Bertie sat paralysed. There was no color in his face. He attempted tospeak, but only an inarticulate gurgle resulted. All eyed himanxiously. 

"Don't say it, don't say it, " McTavish cried in a tense voice. 

"Yes, I ate it, plenty of it, a whole plateful!" Bertie criedexplosively, like a diver suddenly regaining breath. 

The awful silence continued half a minute longer, and he read his fatein their eyes. 

"Maybe it wasn't poison after all, " said Harriwell, dismally. 

"Call in the cook, " said Brown. 

In came the cook, a grinning black boy, nose-spiked and ear-plugged. 

"Here, you, Wi-wi, what name that?" Harriwell bellowed, pointingaccusingly at the omelet. 

Wi-wi was very naturally frightened and embarrassed. 

"Him good fella kai-kai, " he murmured apologetically. 

"Make him eat it, " suggested McTavish. "That's a proper test. "

Harriwell filled a spoon with the stuff and jumped for the cook, whofled in panic. 

"That settles it, " was Brown's solemn pronouncement. "He won't eat it. "

"Mr. Brown, will you please go and put the irons on him?" Harriwellturned cheerfully to Bertie. "It's all right, old man, theCommissioner will deal with him, and if you die, depend upon it, hewill be hanged. "

"Don't think the government'll do it, " objected McTavish. 

"But gentlemen, gentlemen, " Bertie cried. "In the meantime think ofme. "

Harriwell shrugged his shoulders pityingly. 

"Sorry, old man, but it's a native poison, and there are no knownantidotes for native poisons. Try and compose yourself, and if----"

Two sharp reports of a rifle from without, interrupted the discourse, and Brown, entering, reloaded his rifle and sat down to table. 

"The cook's dead, " he said. "Fever. A rather sudden attack. "

"I was just telling Mr. Arkwright that there are no antidotes fornative poisons----"

"Except gin, " said Brown. 

Harriwell called himself an absent-minded idiot and rushed for the ginbottle. 

"Neat, man, neat, " he warned Bertie, who gulped down a tumblertwo-thirds full of the raw spirits, and coughed and choked from theangry bite of it till the tears ran down his cheeks. 

Harriwell took his pulse and temperature, made a show of looking outfor him, and doubted that the omelet had been poisoned. Brown andMcTavish also doubted; but Bertie discerned an insincere ring in theirvoices. His appetite had left him, and he took his own pulsestealthily under the table. There was no question but what it wasincreasing, but he failed to ascribe it to the gin he had taken. McTavish, rifle in hand, went out on the veranda to reconnoitre. 

"They're massing up at the cook-house, " was his report. "And they'veno end of Sniders. My idea is to sneak around on the other side andtake them in flank. Strike the first blow, you know. Will you comealong, Brown?"

Harriwell ate on steadily, while Bertie discovered that his pulse hadleaped up five beats. Nevertheless, he could not help jumping when therifles began to go off. Above the scattering of Sniders could be heardthe pumping of Brown's and McTavish's Winchesters--all against abackground of demoniacal screeching and yelling. 

"They've got them on the run, " Harriwell remarked, as voices andgunshots faded away in the distance. 

Scarcely were Brown and McTavish back at the table when the latterreconnoitred. 

"They've got dynamite, " he said. 

"Then let's charge them with dynamite, " Harriwell proposed. 

Thrusting half a dozen sticks each into their pockets and equippingthemselves with lighted cigars, they started for the door. And justthen it happened. They blamed McTavish for it afterward, and headmitted that the charge had been a trifle excessive. But at any rateit went off under the house, which lifted up corner-wise and settledback on its foundations. Half the china on the table was shattered, while the eight-day clock stopped. Yelling for vengeance, the threemen rushed out into the night, and the bombardment began. 

When they returned, there was no Bertie. He had dragged himself awayto the office, barricaded himself in, and sunk upon the floor in agin-soaked nightmare, wherein he died a thousand deaths while thevalorous fight went on around him. In the morning, sick and headachyfrom the gin, he crawled out to find the sun still in the sky and Godpresumably in heaven, for his hosts were alive and uninjured. 

Harriwell pressed him to stay on longer, but Bertie insisted on sailingimmediately on the _Arla_ for Tulagi, where, until the followingsteamer day, he stuck close by the Commissioner's house. There werelady tourists on the outgoing steamer, and Bertie was again a hero, while Captain Malu, as usual, passed unnoticed. But Captain Malu sentback from Sydney two cases of the best Scotch whiskey on the market, for he was not able to make up his mind as to whether it was CaptainHansen or Mr. Harriwell who had given Bertie Arkwright the moregorgeous insight into life in the Solomons. 

EL DORADO

From "A Tarpaulin Muster, " BY JOHN MASEFIELD

The night had fallen over the harbour before the winch began to rattle. The stars came out, calm and golden, shaking little tracks in the sea. In the tiers of ships shone the riding-lights. To the westward, wherethe Point jutted out, the great golden light of Negra winked andglimmered as it revolved. It was a beat continually, like the marchingof an army, along the line of the coast. In one of the tiers of shipsthere was a sing-song. A crew had gathered on the forecastle head, tobeat their pannikins to the stars. The words of their song floated outinto the darkness, full of a haunting beauty which thrilled andsatisfied me. There was something in the night, in the air, in thebeauty of the town, and in the sweetness of the sailors' singing, whichmade me sorry to be leaving. I should have liked to have gone ashoreagain, to the _Calle del Inca_, where the cafes and taverns stood. Ishould have liked to have seen those stately pale women, in their blackrobes, with the scarlet roses in their hair, swaying slowly on thestage to the clicking of the castenets. I should have liked to havetaken part in another wild dance among the tables of the wine shops. Iwas sorry to be leaving. 

When the winch began to clank, as the cable was hove in, I gathered upmy lead-line, and went to the leadsman's dicky, or little projectingplatform, on the starboard side. I was to be the leadsman that night, and as we should soon be moving, I made the breast-rope secure, andstood by. 

Presently the bell of the engine-room clanged, and there came a washabaft as the screws thrashed. The ship trembled, as the turbulenttrampling of the engines shook her. The bell clanged again; the waterbelow me gleamed and whitened; the dark body of the steamer, with herlines of lit ports, swept slowly across the lights in the harbour. Thetrampling of the engines steadied, and took to itself a rhythm. Wewere off. I cast an eye astern at the little town I was so sad toleave, and caught a glimpse of a path of churned water, broadeningastern of us. A voice sounded from the promenade deck behind me. "Zatlight, what you call 'eem?"

I could not answer. My orders were to keep strict silence. The pointof an umbrella took me sharply below the shoulders. "What you call'eem--zat light? Ze light zere?"

I wondered if I could swing my lead on to him; it was worth trying. Again came the umbrella; and again the bell of the engine-room clanged. 

"Are you ready there with the lead?" came the mate's voice above me. "All ready with the lead, sir. " "What have we now?" I gatheredforward and swung the lead. I could not reach the umbrella-man, evenwith my spare line. Once, twice, thrice I swung, and pitched theplummet well forward into the bow wash. 

"By the deep, eight, sir. "

Again the bell clanged; the ship seemed to tremble and stop. "Anothercast now, quickly. " "And a half, seven, sir. " As I hauled in, I againtasted the umbrella, and another question came to me: "What 'ave youdo? Why 'ave you do zat?" I swore under my breath. "Are you asleepthere leadsman?" The mate was biting his finger-ends. I sent the leadviciously into the sea. "Quarter less seven, sir. " "Another cast, smartly, now. " Rapidly I hauled in, humming an old ballad to myself. "We'll have the ship ashore, " I repeated. There was a step on the deckbehind me, and again came the voice, "Ze man, ze man zere what 'ave hedo? Why 'ave 'e go like so?" "Won't you pass further aft, sir?" saida suave voice. "You're interrup'in' the leadsman. " It was one of thequartermasters. Once again the lead flew forward. "By the mark, seven, sir. "

There was a pause; then came the voice again. "I go zees way, " saidthe quartermaster. The steps of the umbrella-man passed away aft. "Zees way, " said the quartermaster, under his breath, "zees way! Yougaw-dem Dago!" I could have hugged the fellow. 

"What now?" said the old man, leaning over from the bridge. I castagain. "And a half, eight, sir. "

"We're clear, " said the voice above me. "Speed ahead, Mr. Jenkins. "I gathered up my line. The engine-room bell clanged once more; theship seemed to leap suddenly forward. In a few seconds, even as Icoiled my line, the bow wash broadened to a roaring water. The whiteof it glimmered and boiled, and spun away from us streaked with fires. Across the stars above us the mists from the smoke-stack stretched in abroad cloud. Below me the engines trampled thunderously. Ahead therewere the lights, and the figure of the look-out, and the rush and hurryof the water. Astern, far astern already, were the port, the ships atanchor, and the winking light on the Point. A bugle abaft called thepassengers to dinner, and I watched them as they went from theircabins. A lady, in blue gown, with a shawl round her head, was talkingto a man in evening dress. "Isn't it interesting, " she remarked, "tohear them making the soundings?" The white shirt was politelynon-committal. "Aft there, two of you, " said a hard voice, "and tricethe ladder up. Smartly now. " The lady in the blue dress stopped towatch us. 

I did not see the umbrella-man again until the next day, when I passedhim on the hurricane deck. He was looking at the coast through a pairof binoculars. We were running to the north, in perfect Pacificweather, under a soft blue sky that was patrolled by little soft whiteclouds. The land lay broad to starboard, a land of yellow hills withsurf-beaten outliers of black reef. Here and there we passed villagesin the watered valleys, each with its whitewashed church and coppersmeltry. The umbrella-man was looking beyond these, at the hills. 

He was a little man, this man who had prodded me, with a long, paleface and pale eyes, a long reddish beard, and hair rather darker, bothhair and beard being sparse. He was a fidgety person, always twitchingwith his hands, and he walked with something of a strut, as though theearth belonged to him. He snapped-to the case of his binoculars asthough he had sheathed a sword. 

Later in the day, after supper, in the second dog-watch, as I satsmoking on the fore-coamings, he came up to me and spoke to me. "Youknow zees coas'?" he asked. Yes, I knew the coast. "What you zink?"he asked; "you like 'eem?" No, I didn't like 'eem. "Ah, " he said, "You 'ave been wizzin?" I asked him what he meant. "Wizzin, " herepeated, "wizzen, in ze contry. You 'ave know ze land, ze peoples?"I growled that I had been within, to Lima, and to Santiago, and that Ihad been ashore at the Chincha Islands. "Ah, " he said, with a strangequickening of interest, "you 'ave been to Lima; you like 'eem?" No, Ihad not. "I go wizzen, " he said proudly. "It is because I go; zat iswhy I ask. Zere is few 'ave gone wizzen. " An old quartermaster walkedup to us. "There's very few come back, sir, " he said. "ThemIndians----" "Ah, ze Indians, " said the little man scornfully, "zeIndians; I zeenk nozzin of ze Indians. " "Beg pardon, sir, " said theold sailor, "They're a tough crowd, them copper fellers. " "I nounderstan';" said the Frenchman. "They pickle people's heads, " saidthe old sailor, "in the sand or somethin'. They keep for ever prettynear when once they're pickled. They pickle every one's head and sell'em in Lima: I've knowed 'em get a matter of three pound for a goodhead. " "Heads?" said another sailor. "I had one myself once. I gotit at Tacna, but it wasn't properly pickled or something--it was ared-headed beggar the chap as owned it--I had to throw it away. It gottoo strong for the crowd, " he explained. "Ah zose Indians, " said theFrenchman. "I 'ave 'eard; zey tell me, zey tell me at Valparaiso. Butah, it ees a fool; it ees a fool; zere is no Indians. " "Beg pardon, sir, " said the old sailor, "but if you go up among them jokers, you'llhave to look slippy with a gun, sir, " "Ah, a gon, " he answered, "agon. I was not to be bozzered wiz a gon. I 'ave what you call'eem--peestol. " He produced a boy's derringer, which might have costabout ten dollars, Spanish dollars, in the pawnshops of Santiago. "Peestol, " murmured a sailor, gasping, as he shambled forward to laugh, "peestol, the gawdem Dago's balmy. "

During the next few days I saw the Frenchman frequently. He was awonder to us, and his plans were discussed at every meal, and in everywatch below. In the dog-watches he would come forward, with hiseternal questions: "What is wizzin? In ze contry?" We would tell him, "Indians, or highwaymen, " or "a push of highbinders;" and he wouldanswer: "It ees nozzin, it ees a fool. " Once he asked us if we hadheard of any gold being found "wizzen. " "Gold?" said one of us. "Gold? O' course there's gold, any God's quantity. Them Incas ategold; they're buried in it. " "'Ave you know zem, ze Incas?" he askedeagerly. "I seen a tomb of theirs once, " said the sailor; "it were ina cove, like the fo'c'sle yonder, and full of knittin'-needles. " "Whatis zem?" said the Frenchman. The sailor shambled below to his chest, and returned with a handful of little sticks round which some balls ofcoloured threads were bound. "Knittin'-needles, " said the sailor. "Them ain't no knittin'-needles. Writin'? How could them be writin'?Well, I heard tell once, " replied the other. "It ees zeir way ofwriting, " said the Frenchman; "I 'ave seen; zat is zeir way of writing;ze knots is zeir letters. " "Bleedin' funny letters, I call 'em, " saidthe needles-theorist. "You and your needles, " said the other. "Now, what d'ye call 'em?" The bell upon the bridge clanged. "Eight bells, "said the company; "aft to muster, boys. " The bugle at the saloon-doorannounced supper. 

We were getting pretty well to the north--Mollendo, orthereabouts--when I had my last conversation with the Frenchman. Hecame up to me one night, as I sat on the deck to leeward of the winch, keeping the first watch as snugly as I could. "You know zees coastlong?" he asked. I had not. Then came the never-ceasing, "'Ave youknow of ze Incas?" Yes, lot of general talk; and I had seen Incascurios, mostly earthware, in every port in Peru. "You 'ave seen gold?"No; there was never any gold. The Spaniards made a pretty generalaverage of any gold there was. "It ees a fool, " he answered. "I tellyou, " he went on, "it ees a fool. Zay have say zat; zey 'ave all sayzat; it ees a fool. Zere is gold. Zere is a hundred million pounds;zere is twenty tousan' million dollars; zere is El Dorado. Beyond zemountains zere is El Dorado; zere is a town of gold. Zay say zere isno gold? Zere is. I go to find ze gold; zat is what I do; I fin' zegold, I, Paul Bac. " "Alone?" I asked. "I, Paul Bac, " he answered. 

I looked at him a moment. He was a little red-haired man, slightlymade, but alert and active-looking. He knew no Spanish, no Indiandialects, and he had no comrade. I told him that I thought he didn'tknow what he was doing. "Ha!" he said. "Listen: I go to Payta; I goby train to Chito; zen I reach ze Morona River; from zere I reachMarinha. Listen: El Dorado is between ze Caqueta and ze PutumayoRivers, in ze forest. " I would have asked him how he knew, but I hadto break away to relieve the lookout. I wished the little man goodnight; I never spoke with him again. 

I thought of him all that watch, as I kept scanning the seas. I shouldbe going up and down, I thought, landing passengers through surf, orswaying bananas out of launches, or crying the sounds as we came tomoorings. He would be going on under the stars, full of unquenchablehope, stumbling on the bones of kings. He would be wading across bogs, through rivers and swamps, through unutterable and deathly places, singing some songs, and thinking of the golden city. He was a pilgrim, a poet, a person to reverence. And if he got there, if he found ElDorado--but that was absurd. I thought of him sadly, with the feelingthat he had learned how to live, and that he would die by applying hisknowledge. I wondered how he would die. He would be alone there, inthe tangle, stumbling across creepers. The poisoned blow-pipe, fromthe long, polished blow-pipe, such as I had seen in the museums. Hewould fall on his face, among the jungle. Then the silent Indian wouldhack off his head with a flint, and pickle it for the Lima markets. Hewould never get to the Caqueta. Or perhaps he would be caught in anelectric storm, an aire, as they call them, and be stricken down amongthe hills on his way to Chito. More probably he would die of hunger orthirst, as so many had died before him. I remembered a cowboy whom Ihad found under a thorn bush in the Argentine. Paul Bac would be likethat cowboy; he would run short of water, and kill his horse for theblood, and then go mad and die. 

I was in my bunk when he went ashore at Payta, but a fellow in theother watch told me how he left the ship. There was a discussion inthe forecastle that night as to the way the heads were prepared. Somesaid it was sand; some said it was the leaf of the puro bush; one ortwo held out for a mixture of pepper and nitrate. One man speculatedas to the probable price the head would fetch; and the general vote wasfor two pounds, or two pounds ten. "It wouldn't give me no pleasure, "said one of us, "to have that ginger-nob in my chest. " "Nor me, itwouldn't, " said another; "I draw the line at having a corpse on mytobacker. " "And I do, " said several. Clearly the Frenchman wasdestined for a town museum. 

It was more than a year after that I heard of the end of the El Doradohunter. I was in New York when I heard it, serving behind the bar of asaloon. One evening, as I was mixing cocktails, I heard myself hailedby a customer; and there was Billy Neeld, one of our quartermasters, just come ashore from an Atlantic Transport boat. We had a drinktogether, and yarned of old times. The names of our old shipmates werelike incantations. The breathing of them brought the past before us;the past which was so recent, yet so far away; the past which is sodear to a sailor and so depressing to a landsman. So and so was dead, and Jimmy had gone among the Islands, and Dick had pulled out for homebecause "he couldn't stick that Mr. Jenkins. " Very few of themremained on the Coast; the brothers of the Coast are a shifty crowd. 

"D'ye remember the Frenchman, " I asked, "the man who was always askingabout the Incas?" "The ginger-headed feller?" "Yes, a little fellow. ""A red-headed, ambitious little runt? I remember him, " said Billy; "heleft us at Payta, the time we fouled the launch. " "That's the man, " Isaid; "have you heard anything of him?" "Oh, he's dead all right, "said Billy. "His mother came out after him; there was a piece in theChile _Times_ about him. " "He was killed, I suppose?" "Yes, themIndians got him, somewhere in Ecuador, Tommy Hains told me. They gothis head back, though. It was being sold in the streets; his oldmother offered a reward, and the Dagoes got it back for her. He's deadall right, he is; he might ha' known as much, going alone among themIndians. Dead? I guess he is dead; none but a red-headed runt'd havebeen such a lunk as to try it. " "He was an ambitious lad, " I said. "Yes, " said Billy, "he was. Them ambitious fellers, they want theearth, and they get their blooming heads pickled; that's what they getby it. Here's happy days, young feller. "