"As I am an honest man, he looks pale: Art thou sick, or angry?"
_Much ado about Nothing._
The approach of the strange sail was becoming rapidly more and more
visible to the naked eye. The little speck of white, which had first been
seen on the margin of the sea, resembling some gull floating on the summit
of a wave, had gradually arisen during the last half hour, until a tall
pyramid of canvas was reared on the water. As Wilder bent his look again
on this growing object, the Rover put a glass into his hands, with an
expression of feature which the other understood to say, "You may perceive
that the carelessness of your dependant has already betrayed us!" Still
the look was one rather of regret than of reproach; nor did a single
syllable of the tongue confirm the meaning language of the eye. On the
contrary, it would seem that his Commander was anxious to preserve their
recent amicable compact inviolate; for, when the young mariner attempted
an awkward explanation of the probable causes of the blunder of Fid, he
was met by a quiet gesture, which said, in a sufficiently intelligible
language, that the offence was already pardoned.
"Our neighbour keeps a good look-out, as you may see," observed the other.
"He has tacked, and is laying boldly up across our fore-foot. Well, let
him come on; we shall soon get a look at his battery, and then may we come
to our conclusion as to the nature of the intercourse we are to hold."
"If you permit the stranger to near us, it might be difficult to throw him
off the chase, should we be glad to get rid of him."
"It must be a fast-going vessel to which the 'Dolphin' cannot spare a
top-gallant-sail."
"I know not, sir. The sail in sight is swift on the wind, and it is to be
believed that she is no duller off. I have rarely known a vessel rise so
rapidly as she has done since first we made her."
The youth spoke with such earnestness, as to draw the attention of his
companion from the object he was studying to the countenance of the
speaker.
"Mr Wilder," he said quickly, and with an air of decision, "you know the
ship?"
"I'll not deny it. If my opinion be true, she will be found too heavy for
the 'Dolphin,' and a vessel that offers little inducement for us to
attempt to carry."
"Her size?"
"You heard it from the black."
"Your followers know her also?"
"It would be difficult to deceive a topman in the cut and trim of sails
among which he has passed months, nay years."
"I understand the 'new cloths' in her top-gallant-royal! Mr Wilder, your
departure from that vessel has been recent?"
"As my arrival in this."
The Rover continued silent for several minutes communing with his own
thoughts. His companion made no offer to disturb his meditations; though
the furtive glances, he often cast in the direction of the other's musing
eye, betrayed some little anxiety to learn the result of his
self-communication.
"And her guns?" at length his Commander abruptly demanded.
"She numbers four more than the 'Dolphin.'"
"The metal?"
"Is still heavier. In every particular is she a ship a size above your
own."
"Doubtless she is the property of the King?"
"She is."
"Then shall she change her masters. By heaven she shall be mine!"
Wilder shook his head, answering only with an incredulous smile.
"You doubt it," resumed the Rover. "Come hither, and look upon that deck.
Can he whom you so lately quitted muster fellows like these, to do his
biddings?"
The crew of the 'Dolphin' had been chosen, by one who thoroughly
understood the character of a seaman, from among all the different people
of the Christian world. There was not a maritime nation in Europe which
had not its representative among; that band of turbulent and desperate
spirits. Even the descendant of the aboriginal possessors of America had
been made to abandon the habits and opinions of his progenitors, to become
a wanderer on that element which had laved the shores of his native land
for ages, without exciting a wish to penetrate its mysteries in the
bosoms of his simple-minded ancestry. All had been suited, by lives of
wild adventure, on the two elements, for their present lawless pursuits
and, directed by the mind which had known how to obtain and to continue
its despotic ascendancy over their efforts, they truly formed a most
dangerous and (considering their numbers) resistless crew. Their Commander
smiled in exultation, as he watched the evident reflection with which his
companion contemplated the indifference, or fierce joy, which different
individuals among them exhibited at the appearance of an approaching
conflict. Even the rawest of their numbers, the luckless waisters and
after-guard, were apparently as confident of victory as those whose
audacity might plead the apology of uniform and often repeated success.
"Count you these for nothing?" asked the Rover, at the elbow of his
lieutenant, after allowing him time to embrace the whole of the grim band
with his eye. "See! here is a Dane, ponderous and steady as the gun at
which I shall shortly place him. You may cut him limb from limb, and yet
will he stand like a tower, until the last stone of the foundation has
been sapped. And, here, we have his neighbours, the, Swede and the Russ,
fit companions for managing the same piece; which, I'll answer, shall not
be silent, while a man of them all is left to apply a match, or handle a
sponge. Yonder is a square-built athletic mariner, from one of the Free
Towns. He prefers our liberty to that of his native city; and you shall
find that the venerable Hanseatic institutions shall give way sooner than
he be known to quit the spot I give him to defend. Here, you see a brace
of Englishmen; and, though they come from the island that I love so
little, better men at need will not be often found. Feed them, and flog
them, and I pledge myself to their swaggering, and their courage. D'ye see
that thought ful-looking, bony miscreant, that has a look of godliness in
the midst of all his villany? That fellow fish'd for herring till he got a
taste of beef, when his stomach revolted at its ancient fare; and then the
ambition of becoming rich got uppermost. He is a Scot, from one of the
lochs of the North."
"Will he fight?"
"For money--the honour of the Macs--and his religion. He is a reasoning
fellow, after all: and I like to have him on my own side in a quarrel. Ah!
yonder is the boy for a charge. I once told him to cut a rope in a hurry,
and he severed it above his head, instead of beneath his feet, taking a
flight from a lower yard into the sea, as a reward for the exploit. But,
then, he always extols his presence of mind in not drowning! Now are his
ideas in a hot ferment; and, if the truth could be known, I would wager a
handsome venture, that the sail in sight is, by some mysterious process,
magnified to six in his fertile fancy."
"He must be thinking, then, of escape."
"Far from it; he is rather plotting the means of surrounding them with the
'Dolphin.' To your true Hibernian, escape is the last idea that gives him
an uneasy moment. You see the pensive-looking, sallow mortal, at his
elbow. That is a man who will fight with a sort of sentiment. There is a
touch of chivalry in him, which might be worked into heroism if one had
but the opportunity and the inclination. As it is, he will not fail to
show a spark of the true Castilian. His companion has come from the Rock
of Lisbon; I should trust him unwillingly, did I not know that little
opportunity of taking pay from the enemy is given here. Ah! here is a lad
for a dance of a Sunday. You see him, at this moment, with foot and tongue
going together. That is a creature of contradictions. He wants for neither
wit nor good-nature, but still he might cut your throat on an occasion.
There is a strange medley of ferocity and bonhommie about the animal. I
shall put him among the boarders; for we shall not be at blows a minute
before his impatience will be for carrying every thing by a coup-de-main."
"And who is the seaman at his elbow, that apparently is occupied in
divesting his person of some superfluous garments?" demanded Wilder,
irresistibly attracted, by the manner of the Rover, to pursue the subject.
"An economical Dutchman. He calculates that it is just as wise to be
killed in an old jacket as in a new one; and has probably said as much to
his Gascon neighbour, who is, however, resolved to die decently, if die he
must. The former has happily commenced his preparations for the combat in
good season, or the enemy might defeat us before he would be in readiness.
Did it rest between these two worthies to decide this quarrel, the
mercurial Frenchman would defeat his neighbour of Holland, before the
latter believed the battle had commenced; but, should he let the happy
moment pass, rely on it, the Dutchman would give him trouble. Forget you,
Wilder, that the day has been when the countrymen of that slow-moving and
heavy-moulded fellow swept the narrow seas with a broom at their
mast-heads?"
The Rover smiled wildly as he spoke, and what he said he uttered with
bitter emphasis. To his companion however, there appeared no such grounds
of unnatural exultation, in recalling the success of a foreign enemy, and
he was content to assent to the truth of the historical fact with a simple
inclination of his head. As if he even found pain in this confession, and
would gladly be rid of the mortifying reflection altogether, he rejoined,
in some apparent haste,--
"You have overlooked the two tall seamen, who are making out the rig of
the stranger with so much gravity of observation."
"Ay, those are men that came from a land in which we both feel some
interest. The sea is not more unstable than are those rogues in their
knavery. Their minds are but half made up to piracy.--'Tis a coarse word,
Mr Wilder, but I fear we earn it. But these rascals make a reservation of
grace in the midst of all their villainy."
"They regard the stranger as if they saw reason to distrust the wisdom of
letting him approach so near."
"Ah! they are renowned calculators. I fear they have detected the four
supernumerary guns you mentioned; for their vision seems supernatural in
affairs which touch their interests. But you see there is brawn and sinew
in the fellows; and, what is better, there are heads which teach them to
turn those advantages to account."
"You think they fail in spirit?"
"Hum! It might be dangerous to try it on any point they deemed material.
They are no quarrellers about words, and seldom lose sight of certain
musty maxims, which they pretend come from a volume that I fear you and I
do not study too intently. It is not often that they strike a blow for
mere chivalry; and, were they so inclined, the rogues are too much
disposed to logic, to mistake, like your black, the 'Dolphin' for a
church. Still, if they see reason, in their puissant judgments, to engage,
mark me, the two guns they command will do better service than all the
rest of the battery. But, should they think otherwise, it would occasion
no surprise were I to receive a proposition to spare the powder for some
more profitable adventure. Honour, forsooth! the miscreants are too well
grounded in polemics to mistake the point of honour in a pursuit like
ours. But we chatter of trifles, when it is time to think of serious
things. Mr Wilder, we will now show our canvas."
The manner of the Rover changed as suddenly as his language. Losing the
air of sarcastic levity in which he had been indulging, in a mien better
suited to maintain the authority he wielded, he walked aside, while his
subordinate proceeded to issue the orders necessary to enforce his
commands. Nightingale sounded the usual summons, lifting his hoarse voice
in the cry of "All hands make sail, ahoy!"
Until now, the people of the "Dolphin" had made their observations on the
sail, that was growing so rapidly above the waters, according to their
several humours. Some had exulted in the prospect of a capture; others,
more practised in the ways of their Commander, had deemed the probability
of their coming in collision at all with the stranger a point far from
settled; while a few, more accustomed to reflection, shook their heads as
the stranger drew nigher, as if they believed he was already within a
distance that might be attended with too much hazard. Still, as they were
ignorant alike of those secret sources of information which the chief had
so frequently proved he possessed, to an extent that often seemed
miraculous, the whole were content patiently to await his decision. But,
when the cry above mentioned was heard, it was answered by an activity so
general and so cheerful, as to prove it was entirely welcome. Order now
followed order in quick succession, from the mouth of Wilder, who, in
virtue of his station, was the proper executive officer for the moment.
As both lieutenant and crew appeared animated by the same spirit, it was
not long before the naked spars of the "Dolphin" were clothed in vast
volumes of spotless snow-white canvas. Sail had fallen after sail, and
yard after yard had been raised to the summit of its mast, until the
vessel bowed before the breeze, rolling to and fro, but still held
stationary by the position of her yards. When all was in readiness to
proceed, on whichever course might be deemed necessary, Wilder ascended
again to the poop, in order to announce the fact to his superior. He found
the Rover attentively considering the stranger, whose hull had by this
time risen out of the sea, and exhibited a long, dotted, yellow line,
which the eye of every man in the ship well knew to contain the ports
whence the guns that marked her particular force were made to issue. Mrs
Wyllys, accompanied by Gertrude, stood nigh, thoughtful, as usual, but
permitting no occurrence of the slightest moment to escape her vigilance.
"We are ready to gather way on the ship," said Wilder; "we wait merely for
the course."
The Rover started, and drew closer to his subordinate before he gave an
answer. Then, looking him full and intently in the eye, he demanded,--
"You are certain that you know yon vessel, Mr Wilder?"
"Certain," was the calm reply.
"It is a royal cruiser," said the governess, with the swiftness of
thought.
"It is. I have already pronounced her to be so."
"Mr Wilder," resumed the Rover, "we will try her speed. Let the courses
fall, and fill your forward sails."
The young mariner made an acknowledgment of obedience, and proceeded to
execute the wishes of his Commander. There was an eagerness, and perhaps a
trepidation, in the voice of Wilder, as he issued the necessary orders,
that was in remarkable contrast to the deep-toned calmness which
characterized the utterance of the Rover. The unusual intonations did not
entirely escape the ears of some of the elder seamen; and looks of
peculiar meaning were exchanged among them, as they paused to catch his
words. But obedience followed these unwonted sounds, as it had been
accustomed to succeed the more imposing utterance of their own
long-dreaded chief. The head-yards were swung, the sails were distended
with the breeze, and the mass, which had so long been inert, began to
divide the waters, as it heavily overcame the state of rest in which it
had reposed. The ship soon attained its velocity; and then the contest
between the two rival vessels became one of deep and engrossing interest.
By this time the stranger was within a half league, directly under the lee
of the "Dolphin." Closer and more accurate observation had satisfied every
understanding eye in the latter ship of the force and character of their
neighbour. The rays of a bright sun fell clear upon her broadside, while
the shadow of her sails was thrown far across the waters, in a direction
opposite to their own. There were moments when the eye, aided by the
glass, could penetrate through the open ports into the interior of the
hull, catching fleeting and delusory glimpses of the movements within. A
few human forms were distinctly visible in different parts of her rigging;
but, in all other respects, the repose of high order and perfect
discipline was discernible on all about her.
When the Rover heard the sounds of the parted waters, and saw the little
jets of spray that the bows of his own gallant ship cast before her, he
signed to his lieutenant to ascend to the place which he still occupied on
the poop. For many minutes, his eye was on the strange sail, in close and
intelligent contemplation of her powers.
"Mr Wilder," he at length said, speaking like one whose doubts on some
perplexing point were finally removed, "I have seen that cruiser before."
"It is probable; she has roamed over most of the waters of the Atlantic."
"Ay, this is not the first of our meetings! a little paint has changed her
exterior, but I think I know the manner in which they have stepped her
masts."
"They are thought to rake more than is usual."
"They are thought to do it, with reason. Did you serve long aboard her?"
"Years."
"And you left her"----
"To join you."
"Tell me, Wilder, did they treat you, too, as one of an inferior order?
Ha! was your merit called 'provincial?' Did they read America in all you
did?"
"I left her, Captain Heidegger."
"Ay, they gave you reason. For once they have done me an act of kindness.
But you were in her during the equinox of March?"
Wilder made a slight bow of assent.
"I thought as much. And you fought a stranger in the gale? Winds, ocean,
and man were all at work together."
"It is true. We knew you, and thought for a time that your hour had come."
"I like your frankness. We have sought each other's lives like men, and we
shall prove the truer friends, now that amity is established between us. I
will not ask you further of that adventure, Wilder; for favour, in my
service, is not to be bought by treachery to that you have quitted. It is
sufficient that you now sail under my flag."
"What is that flag?" demanded a mild but firm voice, at his elbow.
The Rover turned suddenly, and again met the riveted, calm, and searching
eye of the governess. The gleamings of some strangely contradictory
passions crossed his features, and then his whole countenance changed to
that look of bland courtesy which he most affected when addressing his
captives.
"Here speaks a female, to remind two mariners of their duty!" he
exclaimed. "We have forgotten the civility of showing the stranger our
bunting. Let it be set, Mr Wilder, that we may omit none of the
observances of nautical etiquette."
"The ship in sight carries a naked gaft."
"No matter; we shall be foremost in courtesy, Let the colours be shown."
Wilder opened the little locker which contained the flags most in use, but
hesitated which to select, out of a dozen that lay in large rolls within
the different compartments.
"I hardly know which of these ensigns it is your pleasure to show," he
said, in a manner that appeared sufficiently like putting a question.
"Try him with the heavy-moulded Dutchman. The Commander of so noble a ship
should understand all Christian tongues."
The lieutenant made a sign to the quarter-master on duty; and, in another
minute, the flag of the United Provinces was waving at the peak of the
"Dolphin." The two officers narrowly watched its effect on the stranger,
who refused, however, to make any answering sign to the false signal they
had just exhibited.
"The stranger sees we have a hull that was never made for the shoals of
Holland. Perhaps he knows us?" said the Rover, glancing at the same time a
look of inquiry at his companion.
"I think not. Paint is too freely used in the 'Dolphin,' for even her
friends to be certain of her countenance."
"She is a coquettish ship, we will allow," returned the Rover, smiling.
"Try him with the Portuguese: Let us see if Brazil diamonds have favour in
his eyes."
The colours already set were lowered, and, in their place, the emblem of
the house of Braganza was loosened to the breeze. Still the stranger
pursued his course in sullen inattention, eating closer and closer to the
wind, as it is termed in nautical language, in order to lessen the
distance between him and his chase as much as possible.
"An ally cannot move him," said the Rover "Now let him see the taunting
drapeau blanc."
Wilder complied in silence. The flag of Portugal was hauled to the deck,
and the white field of France was given to the air. The ensign had hardly
fluttered in its elevated position, before a broad glossy blazonry, rose,
like some enormous bird taking wing from the deck of the stranger, and
opened its folds in graceful waves at his gaft. The same instant, a column
of smoke issued from his bows, and had sailed backward through his
rigging, ere the report of the gun of defiance found its way, against the
fresh breeze of the trades, to the ears of the "Dolphin's" crew.
"So much for national amity!" dryly observed the Rover. "He is mute to the
Dutchman, and to the crown of Braganza; but the very bile is stirred
within him at the sight of a table-cloth! Let him contemplate the colours
he loves so little, Mr Wilder when we are tired of showing them, our
lockers may furnish another."
It would seem, however, that the sight of the flag; which the Rover now
chose to bear, produced some such effect on his neighbour as the moleta of
the nimble banderillo is known to excite in the enraged bull. Sundry
smaller sails, which could do but little good, but which answered the
purpose of appearing to wish to quicken his speed, were instantly set
aboard the stranger; and not a brace, or a bow-line, was suffered to
escape without an additional pull. In short, he wore the air of the
courser who receives the useless blows of the jockey, when already at the
top of his speed, and when any further excitement is as fruitless as his
own additional exertions. Still there seemed but little need of such
supererogatory efforts. By this time, the two vessels were fairly trying
there powers of sailing, and with no visible advantage in favour of
either. Although the "Dolphin" was renowned for her speed, the stranger
manifested no inferiority that the keenest scrutiny might detect. The ship
of the freebooter was already bending to the breeze, and the jets of spray
before her were cast still higher and further in advance; but each impulse
of the wind was equally felt by the stranger, and her movement over the
heaving waters seemed to be as rapid and as graceful as that of her rival.
"Yon ship parts the water as a swallow cuts the air," observed the chief
of the freebooters to the youth, who still kept at his elbow, endeavouring
to conceal an uneasiness which was increasing at each instant. "Has she a
name for speed?"
"The curlew is scarcely faster. Are we not already nigh enough, for men
who cruise with commissions no better than our own pleasure?"
The Rover glanced a look of impatient suspicion at the countenance of his
companion; but its expression changed to a smile of haughty audacity, as
he answered,--
"Let him equal the eagle in his highest and swiftest flight, he shall find
us no laggards on the wing! Why this reluctance to be within a mile of a
vessel of the Crown?"
"Because I know her force, and the hopeless character of a contest with an
enemy so superior," returned Wilder, firmly. "Captain Heidegger, you
cannot fight yon ship with success; and, unless instant use be made of the
distance which still exists between us, you cannot escape her. Indeed, I
know not but it is already too late to attempt the latter."
"Such, sir, is the opinion of one who overrates the powers of his enemy,
because use, and much talking, have taught him to reverence it as
something more than human. Mr Wilder, none are so daring or so modest, as
those who have long been accustomed to place their dependence on their
own exertions. I have been nigher to a flag even, and yet you see I
continue to keep on this mortal coil."
"Hark! 'Tis a drum. The stranger is going to his guns."
The Rover listened a moment, and was able to catch the well-known beat
which calls the people of a vessel of war to quarters. First casting a
glance upward at his sails, and then throwing a general and critical look
on all and every thing which came within the influence of his command, he
calmly answered,--
"We will imitate his example, Mr Wilder. Let the order be given."
Until now, the crew of the "Dolphin" had either been occupied in such
necessary duties as had been assigned them, or were engaged in gazing with
curious eyes at the ship which so eagerly sought to draw as near as
possible to their own dangerous vessel. The low but continued hum of
voices, sounds such alone as discipline permitted, had afforded the only
evidence of the interest they took in the scene; but, the instant the
first tap on the drum was heard, each groupe severed, and every man
repaired, with bustling activity, to his well-known station. The stir
among the crew was but of a moment's continuance, and it was succeeded by
the breathing stillness which has already been noticed in our pages on a
similar occasion. The officers, however, were seen making hasty, but
strict, inquiries into the conditions of their several commands; while the
munitions of war, that were quickly drawn from their places of deposit,
announced a preparation more serious than ordinary. The Rover himself had
disappeared; but it was not long before he was again seen at his elevated
look-out accoutred for the conflict that appeared to approach, employed,
as ever, in studying the properties, the force, and the evolutions of his
advancing antagonist. Those who knew him best, however, said that the
question of combat was not yet decided in his mind; and hundreds of eager
glances were thrown in the direction of his contracting eye, as if to
penetrate the mystery in which he still chose to conceal his purpose. He
had thrown aside the sea-cap, and stood with the fair hair blowing about a
brow that seemed formed to give birth to thoughts far nobler than those
which apparently had occupied his life, while a species of leathern helmet
lay at his feet, the garniture of which was of a nature to lend an
unnatural fierceness to the countenance of its wearer. Whenever this
boarding-cap was worn, all in the ship were given to understand that the
moment of serious strife was at hand; but, as yet, that never-failing
evidence of the hostile intention of their leader was unnoticed.
In the mean time, each officer had examined into, and reported, the state
of his division; and then, by a sort of implied permission on the part of
their superiors, the death-like calm, which had hitherto reigned among the
people, was allowed to be broken by suppressed but earnest discourse; the
calculating chief permitting this departure from the usual rules of more
regular cruisers, in order to come at the temper of the crew, on which so
much of the success of his desperate enterprises so frequently depended.