Miles Wallingford Part 28

"I hope so too, sir; but this chap, out here at north-west has a suspicious, lugger-like look. It may be that I see only the heads of his top-sails, but they are amazingly like luggs!"

I now took a survey of the ocean for myself. The vessel Marble distrusted, I unhesitatingly p.r.o.nounced to be a lugger; quite as likely the Polisson as any other craft. The other four vessels were all s.h.i.+ps, the five forming a complete circle, of which the Dawn was in the centre. The lugger, however, was some miles the nearest to us, while as to the strangers, if they saw each other across the diameter of the circle at all, it was as much as was possible. Under the circ.u.mstances, it struck me our wisest way was to keep steadily on our course, like honest people.

Marble was of the same opinion, and to say the truth, there was little choice in the matter, the s.h.i.+p being so completely surrounded. The worst feature of the case was our position, which would be certain to draw all the cruisers to the centre, and consequently to ourselves.

Two hours produced a material change. All five of the strangers had closed in upon us, and we were now able to form tolerably accurate notions of their characters. The two astern, one on our larboard, and one on our starboard quarter, were clearly heavy vessels and consorts, though of what nation it was not yet so easy to decide. That they were consorts was apparent by their signalling one another, and by the manner in which they were closing; as they carried studding-sails, alow and aloft, they were coming up with us fast, and in all probability would be alongside in two or three hours more.

Two of the s.h.i.+ps ahead struck me as frigates, having their broadsides exposed to us: we had raised one line of ports, but it was possible they might turn out to be two-deckers; s.h.i.+ps of war they were, beyond all question, and I fancied them English from the squareness of their upper sails. They, too, were consorts, making signals to each other, and closing fast on opposite tacks. The lugger was no longer equivocal: it was the Polisson, and she was standing directly for us, though it was ticklish business, since the remaining s.h.i.+p, a corvette, as I fancied, was already in her wake, carrying sail hard, going like a witch, and only about two leagues astern.

Monsieur Gallois had so much confidence in his heels, that he stood on, regardless of his pursuer. I thought it best to put a bold face on the matter, knowing that sufficient time might be wasted to enable the sloop of war to get near enough to prevent the privateer from again manning us.

My princ.i.p.al apprehension was, that he might carry us all off, in revenge for what had happened, and set fire to the s.h.i.+p. Against either of these steps, however, I should offer all the resistance in my power.

It was just ten o'clock when the Polisson ranged up abeam of us the second time, and we hove-to. It was evident the French recognised us, and the clamour that succeeded must have resembled that of Babel, when the people began first to converse without making themselves understood. Knowing we had no small boat, Monsieur Gallois lost no time, but lowering a yawl of his own, he came alongside of us in person. As I had commanded the three Frenchmen to remain below, he found no one on deck but Marble, Diogenes, Neb and myself.

"Parbleu, Monsieur Vallingfort!" exclaimed the privateersman, saluting me very civilly notwithstanding appearances--"_c'est bien extraordinaire_!

Vat you do vid me men--eh! Put 'em in ze zea, _comme avec le Anglais_?"

I was spared the necessity of any explanation, by the sudden appearance of my own three prisoners, who disregarded my orders, and came rus.h.i.+ng up to their proper commander, open-mouthed and filled with zeal to relate all that had pa.s.sed. The whole three broke out at once, and a scene that was sufficiently ludicrous followed. It was a continued volley of words, exclamations, oaths, and compliments to the American character, so blended, as to render it out of the question that Mons. Gallois could understand them. The latter found himself obliged to appeal to me. I gave a very frank account of the whole affair, in English; a language that my captor understood much better than he spoke.

Mons. Gallois had the rapacity of a highwayman, but it was singularly blended with French politeness. He had not always been a privateersman--a calling that implies an undue love of gold; and he was quite capable of distinguis.h.i.+ng between right and wrong, in matters in which his own pocket had no direct concern. As soon as he comprehended the affair, he began to laugh, and to cry "Bon!" I saw he was in a good humour, and not likely to resent what had happened; and I finished my history in somewhat sarcastic language, portraying Mons. Le Gros's complaisance in quitting the s.h.i.+p and in piloting her about the bay, a little drily, perhaps. There were sundry "_sacr-r-r-es_" and "_betes_" uttered the while; but all came out freely and without anger, as if Mons. Gallois thought a good joke the next thing to a good prize.

"_Tenez, mon ami!_" he cried, squeezing my hand, as he looked round at the corvette, now less than a league distant. "You are vat you Anglais call 'good fellow.' _J'admire votre esprit!_ You have escape _admirablement_, and I shall have _vifs regrets_ now to 'ave _opportunite_ to _cultiver votre connaissance. Mais_, I most laafs,--_mille pardons_,--you ave _non_ too moch peep's, _mais c'est impossible d'abandonner mes compatriots.

Allons, mes enfants; au canot_."

This was the signal for the French to quit us; the three men I had s.h.i.+pped taking their departure without ceremony. Mons. Gallois was the last in the boat, of course; and he found time to squeeze my hand once more, and to renew his "_vifs regrets_" at not having more leisure to cultivate my acquaintance. The corvette was already so near, as to render it necessary for the Polisson to be in motion; another time, perhaps, we might be more fortunate.

In this manner did I part from a man who had not scrupled to seize me in distress, as he would a waif on a beach. By manning me, the prize-crew would have fallen into the hands of the enemy; and, making a merit of necessity, Mons. Gallois was disposed to be civil to those whom he could not rob. Odd as it may seem, I felt the influence of this manner, to a degree that almost reconciled me to the act before committed, although the last was just as profligate and illegal as any that could well be committed. Of so much more importance, with the majority of men, is manner than matter; a very limited few alone knowing how to give to the last its just ascendency.

The Polisson was not long in gathering way, after her boat was hoisted in.

She pa.s.sed, on the crest of a wave, so near, that it was easy to distinguish the expressions of her people's faces, few of which discovered the equanimity of that of their commander's; and to hear the incessant gabbling that was kept up on board her, day and night, from "morn 'till dewy eve." M. Gallois bowed complaisantly, and he smiled as amiably as if he never had put a hand in another man's pocket; but his gla.s.s was immediately turned towards the corvette, which now began to give him some little uneasiness. Manning us, indeed, with that fellow surging ahead at the rate he was, would have been quite out of the question.

Being reduced to our old number of four, I saw no use in working ourselves to death, by filling the top-sail, with the certainty the sloop-of-war would make us round-to again. The Dawn, therefore, remained stationary, wailing the issue with philosophical patience.

"There is no use, Moses, in endeavouring to escape," I remarked; "we are not strong-handed enough to get sail on the s.h.i.+p before the fellow will be up with us."

"Ay, and there goes his bunting, and a gun," answered the mate. "The white English ensign, a sign the chap is under some admiral, or vice, or rear of the white, while, if I mistake not, the two frigates show blue flags--if so, 'tis a sign they're not consorts."

The gla.s.s confirmed this, and we were left to suppose that all three Englishmen did not belong to the same squadron. At this moment, the state of the game was as follows:--The Dawn was lying-to, with her fore-course up, main-sail furled, main-top-sail aback, and top-gallant yards on the caps, jib and spanker both set. The Polisson was flying away on the crests of the seas, close-hauled, evidently disposed to make a lee behind the two frigates to windward, which we took for, and which it is probable she _knew_ to be, French. The s.h.i.+ps to leeward were pa.s.sing; each other within hail; the one to the eastward tacking immediately after, and coming up in her consort's wake; both vessels carrying everything that would draw. The s.h.i.+ps to the southward, or the supposed Frenchmen, might then have been two leagues from us, while those to leeward were three. As for the corvette, her course seemed to lie directly between our masts. On she came, with everything beautifully trimmed, the water spouting from her hawse-holes, as she rose from a plunge, and foaming under her bows, as if made of a cloud. Her distance from us was less than a mile.

It was now that the corvette made signals to the s.h.i.+ps to windward. They were answered, but in a way to show the parties did not understand each other. She then tried her hand with the vessels to leeward, and, notwithstanding the distance, she succeeded better. I could see these two frigates, or rather the one that led, sending questions and answers to the corvette, although my best gla.s.s would hardly enable me to distinguish their ensigns. I presume that the corvette asked the names of the English vessels, communicated her own, and let the fact be known that the s.h.i.+ps to windward were enemies.

A few minutes later, our affairs, as they were connected with the sloop-of-war, came to a crisis. This s.h.i.+p now came on, close under our lee, losing a little of her way in pa.s.sing, an expedient probably thought of to give her a little more time to put her questions, and to receive the desired answers. I observed also, that she let go all her bow-lines, which seemed much to deaden her way, of which there still remained sufficient, notwithstanding, to carry her well clear of us. The following dialogue then pa.s.sed, the Englishman asking the questions, of course, that being a privilege expressly appropriated to the public vessel on occasions of this sort:

"What s.h.i.+p's that?--and whither bound?"

"Dawn, of New York, Miles Wallingford, from home to Hamburg."

"Did not the lugger board you?"

"Ay--ay--for the second time, in three days."

"What is she called?--and what is her force?"

"Le Polisson, of Brest--sixteen light guns, and about a hundred men."

"Do you know anything of the s.h.i.+ps to windward?"

"Nothing, at all; but I suppose them to be French."

"Pray, sir, why do you sup--um--um--ook--ook--"

The distance prevented my hearing more. Away went the sloop, steadying her bow-lines; the call piping belay, as each sail was trimmed to the officer of the deck's fancy. In a few more minutes, we could not distinguish even the shrill notes of that instrument. The corvette continued on in chase of the lugger, regardless of the four other vessels, though the two to windward now showed the _tri-color,_ and fired guns of defiance.

Mons. Gallois soon after tacked, evidently disposed to stand for the frigates of his country; when the sloop-of-war immediately went round, also, heading up towards these very vessels, determined to cut off the lugger, even if it were to be done by venturing within range of the shot of her protectors. It was a bold manoeuvre, and deserved success, if it were only for its spirit and daring.

I thought, however, that the frigates of the tri-color paid very little attention to the lugger. By altering their course a trifle, it would have been in their power to cover her completely from the attempts of the corvette; but, instead of doing this, they rather deviated a little the other way, as if desirous of approaching the two s.h.i.+ps to leeward, on the side that would prevent their being cut off from the land. As neither party seemed disposed to take any notice of us, we filled our top-sail, and stood out of the circle, under easy canva.s.s, believing it bad policy to have an appearance of haste. Haste, however, was a thing out of our power, it requiring time for four men to make sail.

About eleven, or half-past eleven, the four frigates were distant from each other rather more than a league--the Dawn being just then half a league from the two Frenchmen, and rather more distant from the English.

Had an action then commenced, we might have been a mile out of the line of fire. Curious to know the result, I stood on a short distance farther, and backed my top-sail, to await the issue. I was influenced to take this course, from an expectation that either party, after a conflict with an equal, would be less disposed to molest a neutral, and that I might possibly obtain a.s.sistance from the conqueror--few cruisers being found at that day, without having foreigners on board, that they would be willing to give to a vessel in distress. As for the account I meant to give to the party to whom I intended to apply, it would depend on circ.u.mstances. If the French remained on the spot, I could relate the affair with the prize-crew of the Speedy; if the English, that of the Polisson. In neither case would an untruth be told, though certain collateral facts might be, and probably would have been, suppressed.

The Frenchmen began to haul down their light sails, just as we hove-to.

This was done in a lubberly and irregular manner, as if little concert or order prevailed on board them. Marble prowled out his remarks, deeming the whole proceeding a bad omen for the _tri-color._ It is certain that the French marine, in 1803, was not a service to boast of. The English used to say, that they seldom got a French s.h.i.+p without working for her; and this was probably true, as the nation is warlike, and little disposed to submit without an effort. Still, France, at that day, could hardly be said to be maritime; and the revolutions and changes she had undergone were not likely to favour the creation of a good corps of naval officers. Brave men were far more plenty than skilful seamen; and then came the gabbling propensity, one of the worst of all human failings, to a.s.sist in producing a disorderly s.h.i.+p.

It was a pretty sight to see those four s.h.i.+ps strip for the fight; although the French canva.s.s did not come down exactly according to rule.

The English, however, were in no hurry; the two tri-color men being under their three top-sails, spankers, and jibs, with the top-gallant-sails clewed up, before John Bull reduced even a royal. The latter, it will be remembered, were to leeward, and had to close with their adversaries. In doing this, they made one stretch so far in our direction, in the hope of tacking in their enemies wakes, that I saw they would probably speak us. I confess this was more than I had bargained for; but it was now too late to run, which would probably have led to our seizure I determined, therefore, to await the result with dignity.

Just as the English s.h.i.+ps were coming within musket-shot of the Dawn, the French,--then distant about a mile and a half to the eastward, and half a mile south of us,--wore s.h.i.+p, and came round with their heads to the westward--or, in our direction. As this was coming nearer, instead of moving from them, the Englishmen began to start their tacks and sheets, in order to be ready. Their six royals were all flying at the same instant, as were their flying-jibs; at the next, the canva.s.s was rolled up, and out of sight. Then, the yards, themselves, came down, and all the light sails about the s.h.i.+ps vanished as a bird shuts its wings. After this the courses were hauled up snug, but the sails were not handed. By this time, the leading s.h.i.+p of these two frigates was within a cable's-length of us, just luffing up sufficiently to give our weather-quarter the necessary berth.

"By George, Miles," Marble said, as he stood at my side, watching the movements of the stranger, "that second frigate is the Speedy! I know her by the billet, and the distance of her bridle-port from her head. You never saw such a s.p.a.ce for anchors, before! Then, you may see she is a six-and-thirty, with white hammock-cloths. Who ever saw that twice, at sea?"

Marble was right! There came the Speedy, sure enough; and doubtless the eyes of Lord Harry Dermond and his officers would be on us, in a very few more minutes--the distance between the two frigates being less than two cable's-lengths. In the mean time, I had to attend to the headmost vessel.

"Can you tell me anything of the two s.h.i.+ps to the southward of us?"

demanded the stranger, through his trumpet, without any preamble.

"Nothing but what you see, sir. I _suppose_ them to be French; and _see_ that they are coming after you,"

"_After_ us!" exclaimed the English captain, in a voice loud enough, and now near enough, to be heard without the aid of the trumpet. "_After_ us, indeed! Ready about--helms a-lee--main-top-sail haul, there! Hawl, of all--"

These orders came out at brief intervals, and in a voice of thunder--producing prompt obedience. The consequence was, that this s.h.i.+p tacked directly on our weather-beam, and so near us that one might have thrown a biscuit aboard her. But she went round beautifully, scarce losing her way at all; and away she started again, looking her enemies directly in the face.

"Now's our time to fill, Miles, and draw ahead. The Speedy will think we've been spoken, and all's right. She must come here to tack into her consort's wake, and a blind man could not avoid reading our name--she would be so close. Man the lee-braces, and right the helm, Neb."

Fill we did; and what is more, we put our helm up so much, as to leave quite a cable's-length between us and the Speedy, when that s.h.i.+p got far enough ahead to tack, or at the point which we had just left. I believe we were recognised! Indeed, it is not easy to imagine otherwise; as the commonest gla.s.s would enable the dullest eyes to read our name, were other means of recognition wanting. But a sailor knows a s.h.i.+p by too many signs to be easily deceived.

The Speedy was in stays when we saw the proofs of our being known. Her head-yards were not swung, but there she lay, like one who lingers, uncertain whether to go or to remain. An officer was in her gangway, examining us with a gla.s.s; and when the s.h.i.+p fell off so much as to bring us out of the range of sight, he ran off and reappeared on the taffrail.

This was the junior lieutenant; I could plainly recognise him with my own gla.s.s. Others soon joined him, and among them was Lord Harry Dermond, himself. I fancied they even knew me, and that all their gla.s.ses were levelled directly at my face. What a moment of intense uncertainty was that! The s.h.i.+ps were not a quarter of a mile apart, though the Dawn was increasing that distance fast, and by paying broad off, the Speedy would have me under her broadside. Where was her prize crew I Not in the Dawn, or certainly Sennit would have communicated with his commander; and, if not in the s.h.i.+p, they must be in the ocean! Or, were they prisoners below and kept purposely out of sight? All these thoughts must have pa.s.sed through the minds of the English officers.

I thought we were lost, again, but Providence once more saved us. All this time the leading English frigate and the two Frenchmen were fast approaching each other. In a few minutes, they must engage, while the Speedy was left further and further astern of her consort. At this critical instant, one of the Frenchmen fired a gun of defiance. That report seemed to arouse the Speedy as from a trance. Her head-yards came furiously round, all the officers vanished from her taffrail, and down went both fore and main-tacks, and to the mast-head rose all three of her top-gallant-sails. Thus additionally impelled, the lively craft dashed ahead, and was soon in her allotted berth, or half a cable's-length astern of the Black Prince, as I afterwards heard was the name of the commanding English s.h.i.+p, on this occasion. I may as well add here, that the French Commodore's s.h.i.+p was named La Desiree, and _her_ consort Le Cerf. Mons.

Menneval was senior officer of the French, and Sir Hotham Ward of the English. I never knew the name of the other French captain; or, if I did, I have forgotten it.