"Sound trumpets, ho!--weigh anchor--loosen sail--
The seaward-flying banners chide delay;
As if't were heaven that breathes this kindly gale,
Our life-like bark beneath it speeds away.--"
PINKNEY.
The stout ship Crisis had, like certain persons, done a good thing
purely by chance, Had her exploit happened in the year 1519, instead
of that of 1800, the renowned passage we had just escaped from would
have been called the Crisis Straits, a better name than the mongrel
appellation it now bears; which is neither English, nor Portuguese.
The ship had been lost, like a man in the woods, and came out nearer
home, than those in her could have at all expected. The "bloody
currents" had been at the bottom of the mistake, though this time they
did good, instead of harm. Any one who has been thoroughly lost on a
heath, or in a forest, or, even in a town, can comprehend how the head
gets turned on such occasions, and will understand the manner in which
we had mystified ourselves.
I shall remember the feelings of delight with which I looked around
me, as the ship passed out into the open ocean, to my dying day. There
lay the vast Pacific, its long, regular waves rolling in towards the
coast, in mountain-like ridges, it is true, but under a radiant sun,
and in a bright atmosphere. Everybody was cheered by the view, and
never did orders sound more pleasant in my ears, than when the captain
called out, in a cheerful voice, "to man the weather braces." This
command was given the instant it was prudent; and the ship went
foaming past the last cape with the speed of a courser. Studding-sails
were then set, and, when the sun was dipping, we had a good offing,
were driving to the northward under everything we could carry, and had
a fair prospect of an excellent run from the neighbourhood of Terra
del Fuego, and its stormy seas.
It is not my intention to dwell on our passage along the western coast
of South America. A voyage to the Pacific was a very different thing
in the year 1800, however, from what it is to-day. The power of Spain
was then completely in the ascendant, intercourse with any nation but
the mother country, being strictly prohibited. It is true, a species
of commerce, that was called the "forced trade on the Spanish Main"
existed under that code of elastic morals, which adapts the maxim of
"your purse or your life" to modern diplomacy, as well as to the
habits of the highwayman. According to divers masters in the art of
ethics now flourishing among ourselves, more especially in the
atmosphere of the journals of the commercial communities, the people
that "_can_ trade and _won't_ trade, _must be made to trade_." At the
commencement of the century, your mercantile moralists were far less
manly in the avowal of their sentiments, though their practices were
in no degree wanting in the spirit of our more modern theories. Ships
were fitted out, armed, and navigated, on this just principle, quite
as confidently and successfully as if the tongue had declared all that
the head had conceived.
Guarda-Costas were the arguments used, on the other side of this
knotty question, by the authorities of Spain; and a very insufficient
argument, on the whole, did they prove to be. It is an old saying,
that vice is twice as active as virtue; the last sleeping, while the
former is hard at work. If this be true of things in general, it is
thrice true as regards smugglers and custom-house officers. Owing to
this circumstance, and sundry other causes, it is certain that English
and American vessels found the means of plundering the inhabitants of
South America, at the period of which I am writing, without having
recourse to the no longer reputable violence of Dampier, Wood, Rogers,
or Drake. As I feel bound to deal honestly with the reader, whatever I
may have done by the Spanish laws, I shall own that we made one or two
calls, as we proceeded north, shoving ashore certain articles
purchased in London, and taking on board dollars, in return for our
civility. I do not know whether I am bound, or not, to apologize for
my own agency in these irregular transactions--regular, would be quite
as apposite a word--for, had I been disposed to murmur, it would have
done my morals no good, nor the smuggling any harm. Captain Williams
was a silent man, and it was not easy to ascertain precisely what he
_thought_ on the subject of smuggling; but, in the way of
_practice_, I never saw any reason to doubt that he was a firm
believer in the doctrine of Free Trade. As for Marble, he put me in
mind of a certain renowned editor of a well-known New York journal,
who evidently thinks that all things in heaven and earth, sun, moon,
and stars, the void above and the caverns beneath us, the universe, in
short, was created to furnish materials for newspaper paragraphs; the
worthy mate, just as confidently believing that coasts, bays, inlets,
roadsteads and havens, were all intended by nature, as means to run
goods ashore wherever the duties, or prohibitions, rendered it
inconvenient to land them in the more legal mode. Smuggling, in his
view of the matter, was rather more creditable than the regular
commerce, since it required greater cleverness.
I shall not dwell on the movements of the Crisis, for the five months
that succeeded her escape from the Straits of Magellan. Suffice it to
say, that she anchored at as many different points on the coast; that
all which came up the main-hatch, went ashore; and all that came over
the bulwarks, was passed down into the run. We were chased by
_guarda-costas_ seven times, escaping from them on each occasion,
with ease; though we had three little running fights. I observed that
Captain Williams was desirous of engaging these emissaries of the law,
as easily as possible, ordering us to fire altogether at their
spars. I have since thought that this moderation proceeded from a
species of principle that is common enough--a certain half-way code of
right and wrong--which encouraged him to smuggle, but which caused him
to shrink from taking human life. Your half-way rogues are the bane of
honesty.
After quitting the Spanish coast, altogether, we proceeded north, with
the laudable intention of converting certain quantities of
glass-beads, inferior jack-knives, frying-pans, and other homely
articles of the same nature, into valuable furs. In a word, we shaped
our course for that district which bids fair to set the mother and
daughter by the ears, one of these days, unless it shall happen to be
disposed of _à la Texas_, or, what is almost as bad, _à la
Maine_, ere long. At that time the whole north-west coast was
unoccupied by white men, and I felt no scruples about trading with the
natives who presented themselves with their skins as soon as we had
anchored, believing that they had the best right to the country and
its products. We passed months in this traffic, getting, at every
point where we stopped, something to pay us for our trouble.
We went as far north as 53°, and that is pretty much all I ever knew
of our last position. At the time, I thought we had anchored in a bay
on the main land, but I have since been inclined to think it was in
one of the many islands that line that broken coast. We got a very
secure berth, having been led to it by a native pilot who boarded us
several leagues at sea, and who knew enough English to persuade our
captain that he could take us to a point where sea-otter skins might
be had for the asking. Nor did the man deceive us, though a more
unpromising-looking guide never had charge of smuggling Christians. He
carried us into a very small bay, where we found plenty of water,
capital holding-ground, and a basin as smooth as a dock. But one
wind--that which blew from the north-west--could make any impression
on it, and the effects of even that were much broken by a small island
that lay abreast of the entrance; leaving good passages, on each side
of it, out to sea. The basin itself was rather small, it is true, but
it did well enough for a single ship. Its diameter may have been three
hundred yards, and I never saw a sheet of natural water that was so
near a circle. Into a place like this, the reader will imagine, we did
not venture without taking the proper precautions. Marble was sent in
first, to reconnoitre and sound, and it was on his report that Captain
Williams ventured to take the ship in.
At that time, ships on the North-West Coast had to use the greatest
precautions against the treachery and violence of the natives. This
rendered the size of our haven the subject of distrust; for, lying in
the middle of it, where we moored, we were barely an arrow's flight
from the shore, in every direction but that which led to the narrow
entrance. It was a most secure anchorage, as against the dangers of
the sea, but a most insecure one as against the dangers of the
savages. This we all felt, as soon as our anchors were down; but,
intending to remain only while we bartered for the skins which we had
been told were ready for the first ship that should offer, we trusted
to vigilance as our safeguard in the interval.
I never could master the uncouth sounds of the still more uncouth
savages of that distant region. The fellow who carried us in had a
name of his own, doubtless, but it was not to be pronounced by a
Christian tongue, and he got the _sobriquet_ of the Dipper from
us, owing to the manner in which he ducked at the report of our
muskets, which had been discharged by Marble merely with the intention
to renew the cartridges. We had hardly got into the little basin,
before the Dipper left us, returning in an hour, however, with a canoe
loaded to the water's edge, with beautiful skins, and accompanied by
three savages as wild-looking, seemingly as fierce, and certainly as
avaricious as he was himself. These auxiliaries, through various
little circumstances, were known among us that same afternoon, by the
several appellations of Smudge, Tin-pot, and Slit-nose. These were not
heroic names, of a certainty, but their owners had as little of the
heroic in their appearance, as usually falls to the lot of man in the
savage state. I cannot tell the designation of the tribes to which
these four worthies belonged, nor do I know any more of their history
and pursuits than the few facts which came under my own immediate
observation. I did ask some questions of the captain, with a view to
obtain a few ideas on this subject, but all he knew was, that these
people put a high value on blankets, beads, gun-powder, frying-pans,
and old hoops, and that they set a remarkably low price on sea-otter
skins, as well as on the external coverings of sundry other
animals. An application to Mr. Marble was still less successful,
being met by the pithy answer that he was "no naturalist, and knew
nothing about these critturs, or any wild beasts, in general."
Degraded as the men certainly were, however, we thought them quite
good enough to be anxious to trade with them. Commerce, like misery,
sometimes makes a man acquainted with strange bed-fellows.
I had often seen our own Indians after they had become degraded by
their intercourse with the whites and the use of rum, but never had I
beheld any beings so low in the scale of the human race, as the
North-Western savages appeared to be. They seemed to me to be the
Hottentots of our own continent. Still they were not altogether
without the means of commanding our respect. As physical men they were
both active and strong, and there were gleams of ferocity about them,
that all their avarice and art could not conceal. I could not
discover in their usages, dress, or deportment, a single trace of that
chivalrous honour which forms so great a relief to the well-established
cruelty of the warrior of our own part of the continent. Then, these
sea-otter dealers had some knowledge of the use of fire-arms, and were
too well acquainted with the ships of us civilized men to have any
superstitious dread of our power.
The Dipper, and his companions, sold us one hundred and thirty-three
sea-otter skins the very afternoon we anchored. This, of itself, was
thought to be a sufficient reward for the trouble and risk of coming
into this unknown basin. Both parties seemed pleased with the results
of the trading, and we were given to understand that, by remaining at
anchor, we might hope for six or eight times our present number of
skins. Captain Williams was greatly gratified with the success with
which he had already met, and having found that all the Dipper had
promised came true, he determined to remain a day or two, in his
present berth, in order to wait for more bargains. This resolution was
no sooner communicated to the savages than they expressed their
delight, sending off Tin-pot and Slit-nose with the intelligence,
while the Dipper and Smudge remained in the ship, apparently on terms
of perfect good-fellowship with everybody on board. The gentry of the
North-West Coast being flagrant thieves, however, all hands had orders
to keep a good look-out on our two guests, Captain Williams expressing
his intention to flog them soundly, should they be detected in any of
their usual light-fingered dexterity.
Marble and myself observed that the canoe, in which the messengers
left us, did not pull out to sea, but that it entered a small stream,
or creek, that communicated with the head of the bay. As there was no
duty on board, we asked the captain's permission to explore this spot;
and, at the same time, to make a more thorough examination of our
haven, generally. The request being granted, we got into the yawl,
with four men, all of us armed, and set out on our little
expedition. Smudge, a withered, grey-headed old Indian, with muscles
however that resembled whip-cord, was alone on deck, when this
movement took place. He watched our proceedings narrowly, and, when he
saw us descend into the boat, he very coolly slipped down the ship's
side, and took his place in the stern-sheets, with as much quiet
dignity as if he had been captain. Marble was a good deal of a ship's
martinet in such matters, and he did not more than half like the
familiarity and impudence of the procedure.
"What say you, Miles," he asked, a little sharply, "shall we take this
dried ourang-outang ashore with us, or shall we try to moisten him a
little, by throwing him overboard'!"
"Let him go, by all means, Mr. Marble. I dare say the man wishes to be
of use, and he has only a bad manner of showing it."
"Of use! He is worth no more than the carcase of a whale that has been
stripped of its blubber. I say, Miles, there would be no need of the
windlass to heave the blanket off of this fish!"
This professional witticism put Marble in good humour with himself,
and he permitted the fellow to remain. I remember the thoughts that
passed through my mind, as the yawl pulled towards the creek, on that
occasion, as well as if it had all occurred yesterday. I sat looking
at the semi-human being who was seated opposite, wondering at the
dispensation of Divine Providence which could leave one endowed with a
portion of the ineffable; nature of the Deity, in a situation so
degraded. I had seen beasts in cages that appeared to me to be quite
as intelligent, and members of the diversified family of human
caricatures, or of the baboons and monkeys, that I thought were quite
as agreeable objects to the eye. Smudge seemed to be almost without
ideas. In his bargains, he had trusted entirely to the vigilance of
the Dipper, whom we supposed to be some sort of a relation; and the
articles he received in exchange for his skins, failed to arouse in
his grim, vacant countenance, the smallest signs of pleasure. Emotion
and he, if they had been acquainted, now appeared to be utter
strangers to each other; nor was this apathy in the least like the
well-known stoicism of the American Indian; but had the air of
downright insensibility. Yet this man assuredly had a soul, a spark of
the never-dying flame that separates man from all the other beings of
earth!
The basin in which the Crisis lay was entirely fringed with
forest. The trees in most places even overhung the water, forming an
impenetrable screen to everything inland, at the season when they were
in leaf. Not a sign of a habitation of any sort was visible; and, as
we approached the shore, Marble remarked that the savages could only
resort to the place at the moments when they had induced a ship to
enter, in order to trade with them.
"No--no," added the mate, turning his head in all directions, in order
to take a complete survey of the bay; "there are no wigwams, or
papooses, hereabouts. This is only a trading-post; and luckily for us,
it is altogether without custom-house officers."
"Not without smugglers, I fancy, Mr. Marble, if contriving to get
other people's property without their knowledge, can make a
smuggler. I never saw a more thorough-looking thief than the chap we
have nick-named the Dipper. I believe he would swallow one of our
iron spoons, rather than not get it!"
"Ay, there's no mistake about him, 'Master Mile,' as Neb calls
you. But this fellow here, hasn't brains enough to tell his own
property from that of another man. I would let him into our
bread-lockers, without any dread of his knowing enough to eat. I never
saw such a vacancy in a human form; a down-east idiot would wind him
up in a trade, as handily as a pedlar sets his wooden clocks in
motion."
Such was Marble's opinion of the sagacity of Mr. Smudge; and, to own
the truth, such, in a great measure, was my own. The men laughed at
the remarks--seamen are a little apt to laugh at chief-mates' wit--and
their looks showed how thoroughly they coincided with us in
opinion. All this time, the boat had been pushing ahead, and it soon
reached the mouth of the little creek.
We found the inlet deep, but narrow and winding. Like the bay itself,
it was fringed with trees and bushes, and this in a way to render it
difficult to get a view of anything on the land; more especially as
the banks were ten or fifteen feet in height. Under the circumstances,
Marble proposed that we should land on both sides of the creek, and
follow its windings on foot, for a short distance, in order to get a
better opportunity to reconnoitre. Our dispositions were soon
made. Marble and one of the boat's crew, each armed, landed on one
side of the inlet, while Neb and myself, similarly provided, went
ashore on the other. The two remaining men were ordered to keep
abreast of us in the boat, in readiness to take us on board again, as
soon as required.
"Leave that Mr. Smudge in the boat, Miles," Marble called out across
the creek, as I was about to put foot on the ground. I made a sign to
that effect to the savage, but when I reached the level ground on the
top of the bank, I perceived the fellow was at my elbow. It was so
difficult to make such a creature understand one's wishes, without the
aid of speech, that, after a fruitless effort or two to send him back
by means of signs, I abandoned the attempt, and moved forward, so as
to keep the whole party in the desired line. Neb offered to catch the
old fellow in his arms, and to carry him down to the yawl; but I
thought it more prudent to avoid anything like violence. We proceeded,
therefore, accompanied by this escort.
There was nothing, however, to excite alarm, or awaken distrust. We
found ourselves in a virgin forest, with all its wildness, dampness,
gloomy shadows, dead and fallen trees, and unequal surface. On my side
of the creek, there was not the smallest sign of a foot-path; and
Marble soon called out to say, he was equally without any evidences of
the steps of man. I should think we proceeded quite a mile in this
manner, certain that the inlet would be a true guide on our return. At
length a call from the boat let us know there was no longer water
enough to float it, and that it could proceed no farther. Marble and
myself descended the banks at the same moment, and were taken in,
intending to return in the yawl. Smudge glided back to his old place,
with his former silence.
"I told you to leave the ourang-outang behind," Marble carelessly
observed, as he took his own seat, after assisting in getting the boat
round, with its head towards the bay. "I would rather have a
rattlesnake for a pet, than such a cub."
"It is easier said than done, sir. Master Smudge stuck to me as close
as a leech."
"The fellow seems all the better for his walk--I never saw him look
half as amiable as he does at this moment."
Of course this raised a laugh, and it induced me to look round. For
the first time, I could detect something like a human expression in
the countenance of Smudge, who seemed to experience some sensation a
little akin to satisfaction.
"I rather think he had taken it into his head we were about to desert
the coppers," I remarked, "and fancied he might lose his supper. Now,
he must see we are going back, he probably fancies he will go to bed
on a full stomach."
Marble assented to the probability of this conjecture, and the
conversation changed. It was matter of surprise to us that we had met
no traces of anything like a residence near the creek, not the
smallest sign of man having been discovered by either. It was
reasonable to expect that some traces of an encampment, at least,
would have been found. Everybody kept a vigilant look-out at the
shore as we descended the creek; but, as on the ascent, not even a
foot-print was detected.
On reaching the bay, there being still several hours of day-light, we
made its entire circuit, finding nowhere any proof of the former
presence of man. At length, Marble proposed pulling to the small
wooded island that lay a little without the entrance of the haven,
suggesting that it was possible the savages might have something like
an encampment there, the place being more convenient as a look-out
into the offing, than any point within the bay itself. In order to do
this, it was necessary to pass the ship; and we were hailed by the
captain, who wished to know the result of our examinations. As soon as
he learned our present object, he told us to come alongside, intending
to accompany us to the island in person. On getting into the boat,
which was small and a little crowded by the presence of Smudge,
Captain Williams made a sign for that personage to quit the yawl. He
might as well have intimated as much to one of the thwarts! Laughing
at the savage's stupidity, or obstinacy, we scarce knew which to term
it, the boat was shoved off, and we pulled through the entrance, two
hundred yards outside perhaps, until our keel grated against the low
rocks of this islet.
There was no difficulty in landing; and Neb, who preceded the party,
soon gave a shout, the proof that he had made some discovery. Every
man among us now looked to his arms, expecting to meet an encampment
of savages; but we were disappointed. All that the negro had
discovered were the unequivocal traces of a former bivouac; and,
judging from a few of the signs, that of no very recent
occupation. The traces were extensive, covering quite half of the
interior of the island; leaving an extensive curtain of trees and
bushes, however, so as completely to conceal the spot from any eyes
without. Most of the trees had been burnt down, as we at first
thought, in order to obtain fuel; but, farther examination satisfied
us, that it had been done as much by accident, as by design.
At first, nothing was discovered in this encampment, which had every
appearance of not having been extensively used for years, though the
traces of numerous fires, and the signs of footsteps, and a spring in
the centre, indicated the recent occupation, of which I have just
spoken. A little further scrutiny, however, brought to light certain
objects that we did not note without much wonder and concern. Marble
made the first discovery. It was impossible for seamen to mistake the
object, which was the head of a rudder, containing the tiller-hole,
and which might have belonged to a vessel of some two hundred and
fifty, or three hundred tons. This set all hands of us at work, and,
in a few minutes we found, scattered about, fragments of plank,
top-timbers, floor-timbers, and other portions of a ship, all more or
less burnt, and stripped of every particle of metal. Even the nails
had been drawn by means of perseverance and labour. Nothing was left
but the wood, which proved to be live-oak, cedar and locust, the
proofs that the unfortunate craft had been a vessel of some value. We
wanted no assurance of this, however, as none but a North-West trader
could well have got as high up the coast, and all vessels of that
class were of the best description. Then the locust, a wood unknown to
the ship-builders of Europe, gave us the nearly certain assurance that
this doomed craft had been a countryman.
At first, we were all too much occupied with our interesting discovery
to bethink us of Smudge. At length, I turned to observe its effect on
the savage. He evidently noted our proceedings; but his feelings, if
the creature had any, were so deeply buried beneath the mask of
dullness, as completely to foil my penetration. He saw us take up
fragment after fragment, examine them, heard us converse over them,
though in a language he could not understand, and saw us throw them
away, one after another, with seemingly equal indifference. At length
he brought a half-burned billet to the captain, and held it before his
eyes, as if he began to feel some interest in our proceedings. It
proved to be merely a bit of ordinary wood, a fragment of one of the
beeches of the forest that lay near an extinguished pile; and the act
satisfied us all, the fellow did not comprehend the reason of the
interest we betrayed. He clearly knew nothing of the strange vessel.
In walking around this deserted encampment, the traces of a pathway to
the shore were found. They were too obvious to be mistaken, and led us
to the water in the passage opposite to that by which the Crisis had
been carried in by the Dipper, and at a point that was not in view
from her present anchorage. Here we found a sort of landing, and many
of the heavier pieces of the wreck; such as it had not been thought
necessary to haul up to the fires, having no metal about them. Among
other things of this sort, was a portion of the keel quite thirty feet
long, the keelson bolts, keelson, and floor-timbers all attached. This
was the only instance in which we discovered any metal; and this we
found, only because the fragment was too strong and heavy to be
manageable. We looked carefully, in all directions, in the hope of
discovering something that might give us an insight into the nature of
the disaster that had evidently occurred, but, for some time without
success. At length I strolled to a little distance from the landing,
and took a seat on a flat stone, which had been placed on the living
rock that faced most of the island, evidently to form a
resting-place. My seat proved unsteady, and in endeavouring to adjust
it more to my mind, I removed the stone, and discovered that it rested
on a common log-slate. This slate was still covered with legible
writing, and I soon had the whole party around me, eager to learn the
contents. The melancholy record was in these precise words: viz.--
"The American brig Sea-Otter, John Squires, master, _coaxed_ into
this bay, June 9th, 1797, and seized by savages, on the morning of the
11th. Master, second-mate, and seven of the people killed on the
spot. Brig gutted first, then hauled up _here_, and burnt to the
water's edge for the iron. David King, first-mate, and six others,
viz., George Lunt, Henry Webster, Stephen Stimpson and John Harris,
seamen, Bill Flint, cook, and Peter Doolittle, boy, still living, but
God only knows what is to be our fate. I shall put this slate beneath
the stone I now sit on, in the hope it may one day let our friends
learn what has happened."--
We looked at each other, astounded. Both the captain and Marble
remembered to have heard that a brig in this trade, called the
Sea-Otter, was missing; and, here, by a communication that was little
short of miraculous, we were let into the secret of her disappearance.
"_Coaxed_ in--" repeated the captain, running his eye over the
writing, which had been thus singularly preserved, and that, in a
situation where one would think it might have been discovered a
thousand times.--"Yes, yes--I now begin to understand the whole
matter. If there were any wind, gentlemen, I would go to sea this very
night."
"That would be hardly worth our while, Captain Williams," the
chief-mate answered, "since we are now on our guard, and I feel pretty
certain that there are no savages in our neighbourhood. So far, the
Dipper and his friends have traded with us fairly enough, and it is
likely they have more skins to dispose of. This chap, whom the people
have christened Smudge, takes matters so coolly, that I hardly think
he knows anything about the Sea-Otter, which may have been cut off by
another gang, altogether."
There was good reason in these remarks, and they had their effect on
the captain. The latter, however, determined to put Smudge to the
proof, by showing him the slate, and otherwise bringing him under such
a cross-examination as signs alone could effect. I dare say, an
indifferent spectator would have laughed at witnessing our efforts to
confound the Indian. We made grimaces, pointed, exclaimed, hallooed,
swore, and gesticulated in vain. Smudge was as unmoved at it all, as
the fragment of keel to which he was confronted. The fellow either did
not, or would not understand us. His stupidity defied our tests; and
Marble gave the matter up in despair, declaring that "the beast knows
nothing of anything, much less of the Sea-Otter." As for the slate, he
did not seem to have the smallest notion what such a thing meant.
We returned to the ship, carrying with us the slate, and the report of
our discoveries. All hands were called, and the captain made us a
speech. It was sufficiently to the point, though it was not in the
least, of the "God-like" character. We were told how ships were lost
by the carelessness of their crews; reminded we were on the North-West
Coast, where a vessel with a few boxes of beads and bales of blankets,
to say nothing of her gunpowder, firearms, and metals, was as
valuable, as a vessel laden with gold dust would be in one of our own
ports. Vigilance, while on watch, and obedience to the orders of the
vessel, in the event of an alarm, were the principal things dwelt
on. By observing these two great requisites, we should all be safe
enough; whereas, by disregarding them, we should probably share the
fate of the people of the brig, of which we had just discovered some
of the remains.
I will confess, I passed an uncomfortable night. An unknown enemy is
always a formidable enemy; and I would rather have fought three
_guarda-costas_ at once, than lie where we did, in a bay as
smooth as a looking-glass, surrounded by forests as silent as a
desert, and in a well-armed ship, that was prepared at all points, to
meet her foes, even to her boarding-nettings.
Nothing came of it all. The Dipper and Smudge eat their supper with
the appetites of injured innocence, and slept like tops. If guilty, we
all agreed that they must be utterly destitute of consciences. As for
ourselves, we were on the alert until near morning, the very moment
when the danger would probably be the greatest, provided there were
any at all; and then weariness overcame all who were not on the
look-out, and some who were. Still, nothing happened. The sun returned
to us in due season, gilding the tree-tops with its beams; our little
bay began to bask in its glory, and with the cheerfulness that usually
accompanies such a scene, vanished most of our apprehensions for the
moment. A night of reflection had quieted our fears, and we all woke
up next morning, as indifferent to the fate of the Sea-Otter, as was
at all decent.