"His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before;--
'Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I!'"
_Lady of the Lake_.
Our battle will be told with greater clearness, if the reader is
furnished with an outline of its order. As has been more than once
intimated already, Sir Frederick Dashwood had made all his preparations
to commence the assault from the side of the land, the object being to
prevent a retreat to the shore. Raoul had foreseen the probability of
this, and, with a special view to prevent the two vessels from being
easily boarded, he had caused both to be placed in such positions as
left low barriers of rocks between them and that quarter of the bay.
These rocks were portions that were not visible at any distance, being
just awash, as it is termed, or on a level with the surface of the
water; offering the same sort of protection against an attack in boats
that ditches afford in cases of assaults on _terrâ firmâ_. This was a
material advantage to the expected defence, and our hero showed his
discrimination in adopting it. On board the felucca, which was named the
Holy Michael, was Ithuel with fifteen men, and two twelve-pound
carronades, with a proper supply of small-arms and ammunition. The
Granite-man was the only officer, though he had with him three or four
of the lugger's best men.
Le Feu-Follet was confided to the care of Jules Pintard, her first
lieutenant, who had under his immediate orders some five-and-twenty of
the crew, to work four more of the carronades. The lugger had a part
only of her ballast in, and something like a third of her stores. The
remainder of both still lay on the adjacent rocks, in waiting for the
result of the day. She was thought, however, to be sufficiently steady
for any service that might be expected of her while moored, and might
even have carried whole sail, in light winds, with perfect safety. All
four of her guns were brought over on one side, in readiness to use in
battery in the same direction, By this arrangement the French
essentially increased their means of defence, bringing all their
artillery into use at the same time--an expedient that could not have
been adopted had they been fought in broadside.
Raoul had planted among the ruins the remaining four guns. With the aid
of a few planks, the breechings, tackles, and other appliances of a
vessel, this had been easily effected; and, on reviewing his work, he
had great confidence in the permanency of his pieces. The ruins
themselves were no great matter; at a little distance they were scarcely
perceptible; though, aided by the formation of the natural rock, and by
removing some of the stones to more favorable positions, they answered
the purpose of the seamen sufficiently well. The carronades were placed
_en barbette_; but a falling of the surface of the rock enabled the men
to cover even their heads, by stepping back a few feet. The danger would
be much the greatest to those whose duty it would be to reload.
The surgeon, Carlo Giuntotardi, and Ghita, were established in a cavity
of the rocks, perfectly protected against missiles, so long as the enemy
continued on the side next the land, and yet within fifty feet of the
battery. Here the former made the usual bloody-looking if not
bloody-minded preparations for applying tourniquets and for amputating,
all unheeded, however, by his two companions, both of whom were lost to
the scene around them in devout prayer.
Just as these several dispositions were completed, Ithuel, who ever kept
an eye to windward, called out to Raoul, and inquired if it might not
be well to run the yards up to the mast-heads, as they would be more out
of the way in their places aloft than littering the decks. There was no
possible objection to the measure, it being a dead calm, and both the
lugger and the felucca swayed their yards into their places, the sails
being bent, and hanging in the brails. This is the ordinary state of
craft of the latter rig, though not always that of luggers; and the
Granite-man, mindful that his own gear was down, in consequence of
having been lowered by her former owners previously to the capture,
bethought him of the expediency of getting everything ready for a run.
He wished the lugger to be in an equal state of preparation, it being
plain enough that two to be pursued would embarrass the English, in a
chase, twice as much as one. This was the reason of his suggestion; and
he felt happier for seeing it attended to.
On the other side, all preliminary difficulties had been disposed of.
Captain Sir Frederick Dashwood was in command, and Lieutenants
Winchester and Griffin, after a few open protestations, certain
grimaces, and divers secret curses, were fain to submit. The discussion,
however, had produced one result, not altogether unfavorable to the
Proserpines. Cuffe sent four of her boats against the enemy, while he
restricted the Terpsichore to two, including her gig, and the Ringdove
to two. Each ship sent her launch, as a matter of course, with a
twelve-pound boat-gun on its grating. Winchester was in that of the
Proserpine; Mr. Stothard, the second of the other frigate, was in the
Terpsichore's; and McBean, as of right, commanded the Ringdove's.
Griffin was in the first cutter of his own ship, and Clinch had charge
of the second. The third was headed by Strand, whose call was to have
precedence on the occasion. The other boats had subordinates from their
respective ships. All were in good heart; and, while all expected a
severe struggle for her, knowing the desperate character of their enemy,
every man in the boats felt confident that the lugger was finally to
fall into British hands. Still, a grave consideration of the possible
consequences to the actors mingled with the exultation of the more
reflecting men among the assailants.
Sir Frederick Dashwood, who ought to have felt the moral responsibility
of his command, of all the higher officers present, was the most
indifferent to consequences. Constitutionally brave, personal
considerations had little influence on him; habitually confident of
English prowess, he expected victory and credit as a matter of course;
and, favored by birth, fortune, and parliamentary interest, he gave
himself no trouble as to the possibility of a failure, certain (though
not avowing that certainty even to himself) that any little mishap would
be covered by the broad mantle of the accident that had so early raised
him to the rank he held.
In making his dispositions for the fight, however, Sir Frederick had not
disdained the counsels of men older and more experienced than himself.
Cuffe had given him much good advice, before they parted, and Winchester
and Strand had been particularly recommended to him as seamen whose
suggestions might turn out to be useful.
"I send a master's-mate named Clinch, in charge of one of our boats,
too, Dashwood," added the senior captain, as he concluded his remarks;
"who is one of the most experienced seamen in the Proserpine. He has
seen much boat-service, and has always behaved himself well. A vile
practice of drinking has kept the poor fellow under; but he is now
determined to make an effort, and I beg you will put him forward to-day,
that he may have a chance. Jack Clinch has the right sort of stuff in
him, if opportunities offer to bring it out."
"I flatter myself, Cuffe, that all hands will meet with opportunity
enough," answered Sir Frederick, in his drawling way; "for I intend to
put 'em all in together, like a thorough pack coming in at the death.
I've seen Lord Echo's harriers so close, at the end of a long chase,
that you might have covered the whole with this ship's main-course; and
I intend it shall be so with our boats to-day. By the way, Cuffe, that
would be a pretty figure for a despatch, and would make Bronte
smile--ha!--wouldn't it?"
"D--n the figure, the harriers, and the despatch, too, Dashwood; first
win the day, before you begin to write poetry about it. Bronte, as you
call Nelson, has lightning in him, as well as thunder, and there isn't
an admiral in the service who cares less for blood and private rank than
himself. The way to make him smile is to do a thing neatly and well. For
God's sake, now, be careful of the men;--we are short-handed as it is,
and can't afford such another scrape as that off Porto Ferrajo."
"Never fear for us, Cuffe; you'll never miss the men I shall expend."
Every captain had a word to say to his officers; but none other worth
recording, with the exception of what passed between Lyon and his first
lieutenant.
"Ye'll remember, Airchy, that a ship can have a reputation for economy,
as well as a man. There's several of our own countrymen about the
Admiralty just now; and next to courage and enterprise, they view the
expenditures with the keenest eyes. I've known an admiral reach a red
ribbon just on that one quality; his accounts showing cheaper ships and
cheaper squadrons than any in the sairvice. Ye'll all do your duties,
for the honor o' Scotland; but there's six or seven Leith and Glasgow
lads in the boats, that it may be as well not to let murder themselves,
out of a' need. I've put the whole of the last draft from the river
guard-ship into the boats, and with them there's no great occasion to be
tender. They're the sweepings of the Thames and Wapping; and quite half
of them would have been at Botany Bay before this, had they not been
sent here."
"Does the law about being in sight apply to the boats or to the ships,
the day, Captain Lyon?"
"To the boats, man; or who the de'il do you think would sairve in them!
It's a pitiful affair, altogether, as it has turned out; the honor being
little more than the profit, I opine; and yet 'twill never do to let old
Scotia lag astairn, in a hand-to-hand battle, Ye'll remember; we have a
name for coming to the claymore; and so do yer best, every mither's
son o' ye."
McBean grunted assent, and went about his work as methodically as if it
were a sum in algebra. The second lieutenant of the Terpsichore was a
young Irishman, with a sweet, musical voice; and, as the boats left the
ships, he was with difficulty kept in the line, straining to move ahead,
with his face on a grin, and his cheers stimulating the men to undue or
unreasonable efforts. Such is an outline of the English materials on
this occasion; both parties being now ready for the struggle. If we add
that it was already past two, and that all hands began to feel some
anxiety on the score of the wind, which might soon be expected, the
preliminary picture is sufficiently sketched.
Sir Frederick Dashwood had formed his line about a mile within the
rocks, with one launch in the centre, and one on each extremity. That in
the centre was commanded by O'Leary, his own second lieutenant; that on
the left of his force by McBean, and the one on its right by Winchester.
O'Leary was tanked by Griffin and Clinch, in the Proserpine's cutters,
while the intervals were filled by the remaining boats. The captain kept
moving about in his own gig, giving his directions, somewhat confusedly,
beyond a question; yet with a cheerfulness and indifference of air that
aided in keeping alive the general _gaité de coeur_, When all was ready,
he gave the signal to advance, pulling, for the first half mile,
chivalrously in advance of the line, with his own gig.
Raoul had noted the smallest movement of the enemy with a glass, and
with grave attention. Nothing escaped his jealous watchfulness; and he
saw that Sir Frederick had made a capital error in the outset. Had he
strengthened his centre, by putting all his carronades in the same
battery, as it might be, the chances for success would have been
doubled; but, by dividing them, he so far weakened their effect as to
render it certain no one of the three French batteries could be wholly
crippled by their fire. This, of course, left the difficult task to the
English of pushing up to their hand-to-hand work, under the
embarrassment of receiving constant discharges of grape and canister.
The few minutes that intervened between the order to advance, and the
moment when the boats got within a quarter of a mile of the rock, were
passed in a profound quiet, neither side making any noise, though Raoul
had no small difficulty in restraining the constitutional impatience of
his own men to begin. A boat presents so small an object, however, to
artillerists as little skilled as seamen generally are, who depend more
on general calculations than on the direct or scientific aim, the latter
being usually defeated by the motion of their vessels, that he was
unwilling to throw away even his canister. A Frenchman himself, however,
he could refrain no longer, and he pointed a carronade, firing it with
his own hand. This was the commencement of the strife. All the other
guns in the ruin followed, and the lugger kept time as it might be by
note. The English rose, gave three cheers, and each launch discharged
her gun. At the same instant, the two men who held the matches in the
felucca applied them briskly to the vents of their respective pieces. To
their surprise, neither exploded, and, on examination, it was discovered
that the priming had vanished. To own the truth, he of the Granite State
had slyly brushed his hand over the guns, and robbed them of this great
essential of their force. He held the priming-horns in his own hands,
and resolutely refused to allow them to pass into those of any
other person.
It was fortunate Ithuel was known to be such a determined hater of the
English, else might his life have been the forfeit of this seeming act
of treachery. But he meditated no such dereliction of duty. Perfectly
aware of the impossiblity of preventing his men from firing, did they
possess the means, this deliberate and calculating personage had
resorted to this expedient to reserve his own effort, until, in his
judgment, it might prove the most available. His men murmured, but, too
much excited to deliberate, they poured in a discharge of musketry, as
the only means of annoying the enemy then left them. Even Raoul glanced
aside, a little wondering at not hearing the felucca's carronades, but
perceiving her people busy with their fire-arms, he believed all right.
The first discharge, in such an affair, is usually the most destructive.
On the present occasion, the firing was not without serious effects. The
English, much the most exposed, suffered in proportion. Four men were
hurt in Winchester's boat, two in Griffin's, six or eight men in the
other launches and cutters: and one of Sir Frederick's gig-men was shot
through the heart--a circumstance which induced that officer to drop
alongside of a cutter, and exchange the dead body for a living man.
On the rocks, but one man was injured. A round-shot had hit a stone,
shivered it in fragments, and struck down a valuable seaman, just as he
was advancing, with a gallant mien, to sponge one of the guns.
"Poor Josef!" said Raoul, as he witnessed the man's fall; "carry him to
the surgeon, _mes braves_."
"_Mon capitaine_, Josef is dead."
This decided the matter, and the body was laid aside, while another
stepped forward and sponged the gun. At that moment Raoul found leisure
to walk a yard or two toward the rear, in order to ascertain if the
cover of Ghita were sufficient. The girl was on her knees, lost to all
around her; though, could he have read her heart, he would have found it
divided between entreaties to the Deity and love for himself.
The lugger sustained no harm. O'Leary had overshot her, in his desire
to make his missiles reach. Not even a canister had lodged in her spars,
or torn her sails. The usual luck appeared to attend her, and the people
on board fought with renewed confidence and zeal. Not so with the
felucca, however. Here the fire of the English had been the most
destructive. The wary and calculating McBean had given his attention to
this portion of the French defences, and the consequences partook of the
sagacity and discretion of the man. A charge of canister had swept
across the felucca's decks, more than decimating Ithuel's small force;
for it actually killed one, and wounded three of his party.
But, the din once commenced, there was no leisure to pause. The fire was
kept up with animation on both sides, and men fell rapidly. The boats
cheered and pressed ahead, the water becoming covered with a wide
sheet of smoke.
In moments like this, the safest course for the assailants is to push
on. This the English did, firing and cheering at every fathom they
advanced, but suffering also. The constant discharge of the carronades,
and the total absence of wind, soon caused a body of smoke to collect in
front of the rock, while the English brought on with them another,
trailing along the water, the effect of their own fire. The two shrouds
soon united, and then there was a minute when the boats could only be
seen with indistinctness. This was Ithuel's moment. Perceiving that the
ten or twelve men who remained to him were engrossed with their muskets,
he pointed the two carronades himself, and primed them from the horns
which he had never quitted. For the felucca he felt no present concern.
Winchester and all the boats in the centre of the English line were most
in advance, the fire of the ruins urging them to the greatest exertion.
Then McBean, besides being more distant, could not cross the rock in
front of the felucca without making a circuit, and he must, as yet, be
ignorant of the existence of the impediment. Ithuel was cool and
calculating by nature, as well as by habit; but this immunity from
present risk probably increased the immediate possession of qualities so
important in battle. His carronades were loaded to their muzzles with
bags of bullets, and he beckoned to the best seaman of his party to take
one of the matches, while he used the other himself, each holding a
monkey's-tail in one hand, in readiness to train the light gun, as
circumstances required. The pieces had been depressed by Ithuel himself,
in the midst of the fray, and nothing remained but to wait the moment
for using them.
This moment was now near. The object of the English was to land on the
principal islet, and to carry the ruin by storm. In order to do this,
all the boats of their centre converged in their courses to the same
point; and the smoke being driven off by each concussion of the guns, a
dark cluster of the enemy diverged from the ragged outline of the vapor,
within fifty yards of the intended point of landing. Ithuel and his
companion were ready. Together they sighted, and together they fired.
This unexpected discharge from a quarter that had been so comparatively
silent, surprised both friends and foes, and it drove a fresh mantle of
smoke momentarily athwart the rock and the open space in its front.
A cry arose from the dense shroud of battle that differed from the
shouts of success and courage. Physical agony had extorted shrieks from
the stoutest hearts, and even the French in the ruins paused to look for
the next act of the desperate drama. Raoul seized the opportunity to
prepare for the expected hand-to-hand struggle; but it was unnecessary.
The cessation in the firing was common in both parties, and it gave the
vapor a minute in which to lift the curtain from the water.
When the late obstacle was raised high enough to admit of a view, the
result became evident. All the English boats but one had scattered, and
were pulling swiftly, in different directions, from the scene of
slaughter. By taking this course, they diverted and divided the fire of
the enemies; an expedient of which it would have been happier had they
bethought them earlier. The remaining boat was a cutter of the
Terpsichore. It had received the weight of canister from Ithuel's own
gun, and of sixteen men it had contained when it left the frigate's
side, but two escaped. These fellows had thrown themselves into the sea,
and were picked up by passing boats. The cutter itself came drifting
slowly in toward the rock, announcing the nature of its fearful cargo by
the groans and cries that arose from out its bosom. Raoul stopped the
fire, equally from humanity and policy, after a few discharges at the
retreating boats; and the first act of the battle closed.
The breathing time gave both parties a desirable opportunity for
ascertaining in what positions they were left. In the whole, the French
had lost the services of eleven men; all, with the exception of Ithuel's
four, in the ruin. The loss of the English amounted to thirty-three,
including several officers. The master's mate who had commanded the
crippled cutter lay over its stern, flat on his back, with no less than
five musket-balls through his chest. His passage into another state of
existence had been sudden as the flight of the electric spark. Of his
late companions, several were dead also; though most were still enduring
the pain of fractured bones and bruised nerves. The boat itself slowly
touched the rocks, raising fresh cries among the wounded by the agony
they endured from the shocks of rising and falling under the
ground-swell.
Raoul was too deliberate, and too much collected, not to feel his
advantage. Anxious to keep his means of further defence in the best
condition, he directed all the guns to cease, and the damages to be
repaired. Then he went with a party toward the boat that had fallen into
his hands. To encumber himself with prisoners of any sort, in his actual
situation, would have been a capital mistake, but to do this with
wounded men would have been an act of folly. The boat had tourniquets
and other similar appliances in it, and he directed some of the French
to use them on those that wanted them most. He also supplied the parched
lips of the sufferers with water; when, conceiving that his duty was
performed, he gave an order to haul the boat on one side, and to shove
it forcibly out of the line of any coming conflict.
"Halloo, Captain Rule!" called out Ithuel, "you are wrong there. Let the
boat lie where it is, and it will answer a better turn than another
breastwork. The English will scarcely fire through their own wounded."
The look that Raoul cast toward his auxiliary was fierce--even
indignant; but, disregarding the advice, he motioned for his own men to
obey the order he had already given them. Then, as if mindful of
Ithuel's importance, his late timely succor, and the necessity of not
offending him, he walked to the side of the islet nearest to the
felucca, and spoke courteously and cheerfully to him whose advice he had
just treated with indifference, if not with disdain. This was not
hypocrisy, but a prudent adaptation of his means to his circumstances.
"_Bon, brave Etooelle_," he said, "your bags of bullets were welcome
friends, and they arrived at the right moment."
"Why, Captain Rule, in the Granite country we are never wasteful of our
means. You can always wait for the white of Englishmen's eyes in these
affairs. They're spiteful devils, on the whull, and seem to be
near-sighted to a man. They came so clus' at Bunker Hill, our folks--"
"_Bon_," repeated Raoul, feeling no wish to hear a thrice-told tale gone
through again, Bunker Hill invariably placing Ithuel on a great horse in
the way of bragging; for he not only imagined that great victory a New
England triumph, as in fact it was, but he was much disposed to
encourage the opinion that it was in a great measure "granite." "_Bon_,"
interrupted Raoul--"Bunkair was good;--_mais, les Roches aux Sirens_ is
bettair. If you have more_ de ces bulles_ load _encore_.
"What think you of this, Captain Rule?" asked the other, pointing up at
a little vane that began to flutter at the head of one of his masts.
"Here is the west wind, and an opportunity offers to be off. Let us take
wit, and run!"
Raoul started, and gazed at the heavens, the vane, and the surface of
the sea; the latter beginning to show a slightly ruffled surf ace. Then
his eye wandered toward Ghita. The girl had risen from her knees, and
her eyes followed his every movement. When they met his, with a sweet,
imploring smile, she pointed upward, as if beseeching him to pay the
debt of gratitude he owed to that dread Being who had as yet borne him
unharmed through the fray. He understood her meaning, kissed his hand in
affectionate gallantry, and turned toward Ithuel, to pursue the
discourse.
"It is too soon," he said. "We are impregnable here, and the wind is
still too light. An hour hence, and we will all go together."
Ithuel grumbled; but his commander heeded it not. The judgment of the
latter had decided right. The boats were rallying within musket-shot,
indifferent to the danger, and it was evident the attack was to be
renewed. To have attempted to escape at such an instant would have been
throwing away the great advantage of the ruins, and might have
endangered all, without benefiting any one.
In point of fact, Sir Frederick Dashwood had become keenly alive to a
sense of the disgrace he was likely to incur, in the event of the ships'
getting round, and robbing him of the credit of capturing the lugger.
The usually apathetic nature of this young man was thoroughly aroused,
and, like all who are difficult to excite, he became respectable when
his energies were awakened. The boats were already collected; all the
disabled were put into one of them, and ordered off to the ships; and
with those that remained arrangements were made to renew the attempt.
It was fortunate that Cuffe had sent an expedition so strong-handed;
for notwithstanding the loss, the three launches and the cutters could
still muster double the number of the French.
This time, Sir Frederick was willing to listen to counsel. Winchester,
McBean, Griffin, and Strand united in advising that the boats should
separate, and make their assaults from different points. This would
prevent the possibility of a recurrence of so concentrated a disaster as
that which had already befallen them. To the Scotchman was assigned the
felucca; the Terpsichore's launch was to assail the lugger; while the
two cutters and the heavier boat of the Proserpine were to dash in at
the ruins. Sir Frederick still remained in his own gig, to push for the
point that might seem to require his presence.
McBean was the first to fire on this occasion. He threw a round-shot
from his carronade into the felucca, aimed by himself, and directed with
care. It fell upon one of Ithuel's carronades, broke it into a dozen
pieces, knocked down no less than three men, besides injuring others
less severely, and actually drove the gun it struck off its slide into
the felucca's hold. This was a rough commencement, and the result being
seen by all hands it greatly encouraged the assailants. Three hearty
English cheers followed, and Ithuel was so far disconcerted as to fire
the remaining gun, loaded as before with bullets, at least two minutes
too soon. The sea was thrown into a foam, but not a man in the boats was
hurt. Then the fire became general, gun after gun exploding; the
rattling of small-arms filling up the pauses. The boats came on with
steady, strong pulls of the oar, and this too with an impunity that
often happens, though difficult to be explained. Several shot fell among
the ruins, knocking the stones about, and for a minute or two all the
injury was on one side. But Pintard and Ithuel felt the security
conferred by the rocks in their front, and each endeavored to give one
effective discharge. Ithuel succeeded the best He repaid McBean in his
own coin, sending a grist of bullets into the bows of his launch, which
admonished that prudent officer of the necessity of shearing toward the
islet of the ruins. Pintard's assailant was brought up by the barrier in
front, and turned aside also. Then, in the midst of a cloud of smoke,
shouts, curses, cries, shrieks, orders, and the roar of guns, all the
English precipitated themselves in a body on the principal post, and
became the masters of the battery in the twinkling of an eye.