Tom Burke Of "Ours" Volume Ii Part 47

"The 'Blanche' was under orders for St. Domingo, and was in no way anxious to have our company; and before a week was over we were drafted into a small sloop of war, carrying eight guns, and called the 'Fawn,'

She was bound for England with despatches from Nelson,--one of their English admirals they 're always talking about. This little craft could sail like the wind, but she was crowded with sick and invalided men from some foreign station, and there was not a place the size of a dog-kennel on board of her that was not occupied. As for us, we were only prisoners, and you may think they were n't very particular about our comforts; and so they ranged us along under the bulwarks to leeward,--for they would n't spoil her sailing trim by suffering us to sit to windward; and there we were, drenched to the skin, and s.h.i.+vering from day to dark.

"Four days went over in this way, when, on the fifth, about eight o'clock in the morning, the lookout announced several strange sail in sight; and the same instant we perceived the officers setting the gla.s.ses to observe them. We could remark that the sight did not seem to please them much; but more we knew not, for we were not allowed to stand up nor look over the bulwarks. The lieutenant of the watch called up the commander; and when he came on deck he ordered the men to cram on more sail, and hold her head a point or so off the wind; and as soon as it was done, the rus.h.i.+ng noise at the cut.w.a.ter told the speed she was making through the sea. It was a fine day, with a fresh breeze and a nice curl from the water; and it was a handsome thing to see how the sloop bent to the gale and rose again, her canvas white as snow and steady as a board; and we soon knew, from the manner of the officers and the anxious looks they 'd give to leeward from time to time, that another vessel was in chase of the 'Fawn.' Not a man stirred on the deck save the lieutenant of the watch, who walked the quarterdeck with his gla.s.s in his hand; now lifting it to his eye, and now throwing a glance aloft to see how the sails were drawing.

"'She's gaining on us, sir,' cried the boatswain, as he went aloft, to the lieutenant. 'Shall we ease her off a little more?'

"'No, no,' said he, impatiently. 'She's coming handover-hand now. Clear the deck, and prepare for action.'

"My heart jumped to my throat as I heard the words; and waiting until the lieutenant's back was turned, I stole my eyes above the bulwark, and beheld the tall masts and taper spars of a frigate, all covered with canvas, about two miles astern of us. She was a good-sized craft, apparently of thirty-eight guns; but what I liked best about her was the broad tricolor that fluttered from her masthead. Every curl that floated on the breeze whispered liberty to my heart.

"'You know her?' said the lieutenant, laying his hand on my shoulder, before I was aware he was behind me. 'What is she?'

"'Lend me your gla.s.s, Lieutenant, and perhaps I can tell you,' said I; and with that he gave the telescope into my hand, and leaned on the bulwark beside me. 'Ha!' said I, as soon as I caught the side of her hull, 'I ought to know her well; I sailed in her for two years and a half. She's the "Creole," of thirty-eight guns, the fastest frigate in our navy; she has six carronades on her quarterdeck, and never goes to sea without three hundred and twenty men.'

"'If she had three tiers of them we 'd not flinch from her,' said a voice behind. It was the commander himself, who was now in full uniform, and wore a belt with four pistols stuck around it.

"There is no use in denying it,--the English prepared for action like brave fellows, and soon cleared the deck of everything in the way of the guns. But what use was it? In less than an hour the 'Creole' worked to windward, and opened a fire from her long guns to which the other could make no reply. There they came plumping in,--some into the hull, some splintering through the bulwarks, and some cras.h.i.+ng away through the rigging; and all the crew could do was to repair the mischief the distant cannonade was making.

"'It's a cowardly way your countrymen come into action, after all,' said the lieutenant, as he watched the shot hopping and skipping along the water to leeward. 'With four times our strength, they don't bear down and encourage us.'

"As he spoke, a shot cut the peak halyards in two, and down came the spar with a crash, carrying with it in its fall that ensign they 're so proud of. It was all we could do, prisoners as we were, not to cheer at this; but the faces around us did not encourage us to such a course, and we sat silently watching them.

"The moment the accident happened, twenty stout fellows were clambering up the rigging, and as many more engaged to repair the mischief. But suddenly the commander whispered something to the lieutenant; the men were called down again, and the craft was let fall off the wind, trailing the sails and the tangled rigging over her sides.

"'And the prisoners, sir?' said the lieutenant, at the close of something I could not hear.

"'Send them below,' was the short reply.

"'We cannot; the s.p.a.ce between decks is crowded to suffocation. But here she comes.' And, as he spoke, the frigate came bearing down in gallant style, her whole deck swarming with men.

"'Down, men, down!' whispered the lieutenant, and he dropped on his knee behind the bulwark, and motioned to the rest to kneel. And I now perceived that every sailor had a drawn cutla.s.s in his hand and pistols in his belt, as he lay crouching on the deck.

"The frigate was now so close, I could hear the commands of the officers on the quarterdeck, and the words 'Bas les branles'--the signal to board--pa.s.sed from mouth to mouth. The next instant, she closed on us, and showed her tall sides towering above us.

"'Now, men!' cried the commander of the 'Fawn,' 'now, forward! 'All who care to live, there's your ground,' said he, pointing to the frigate.

'Such as like to die on a British deck, remain with me.' The boarders sprang up the side of the 'Creole' before the crew could fasten the grapples. _Tonnerre de Dieu!_ what a moment it was! The fellows cheered like madmen, as they poured in to certain death; the lieutenant himself was one of the first on board, and fell back the same instant, dead upon his own deck. The struggle was a b.l.o.o.d.y but brief one; for a few minutes the English pressed our men back, and gained a footing on the quarterdeck, but a murderous fire from the tops cut them down in numbers, and they now fought, not for victory, but vengeance.

"'Now, Captain, now!' screamed a youth, in a lieutenant's uniform, but all covered with blood, and his face gashed with a cutla.s.s-wound, as he leaned over the bulwark of the 'Creole,' and waved his cap in the air.

"'I'm ready,' replied the English commander, and sprang down the main hatchway as he spoke, with a pistol in his hand. At the same instant, a fearful cry burst forth from the prisoners; for, with the instinct of despair, they guessed his desperate resolve was to blow up the vessel.

We were tied, wrist to wrist, and the rope run through the blocks at our back in such a way as to prevent our moving more than a few inches. But what will not the fear of a dreadful death do? With one unanimous effort we tore the las.h.i.+ngs in pieces, and got free. I was myself the first at liberty, and sprang towards the 'Creole.' Alas! they had divined the awful doom awaiting us, and were endeavoring to shove off at once.

Already there were some ten or twelve feet between the vessels. I rushed forward to gain the bowsprit, a vague hope of escape suggesting the effort. As I did so, my eyes caught sight of a book, which, with his hat, the captain threw from him as he hastened below. I stooped down and put it in my bosom,--why, I know not. Life, and life only, was my thought at that moment. Then, with lightning's speed, I ran along the deck, and out on the bowsprit.

"At this instant, the frigate shot ahead of us; I made a leap, the last effort of despair, and caught the fluke of the anchor; a friendly hand threw me a rope and dragged me on the deck. As I gained it, a thunderclap, louder than ten broadsides, broke forth, and the frigate fell over on one side as if sinking; while over her rigging and her masts flew spars and timbers, blazing and burning, amid a black smoke that filled the air on every side. Every man about dropped wounded or terrified on the deck, where they lay amid the falling fire of the wreck, and the terrible carnage. I wiped the blood from my eyes, for I was bleeding profusely from a splinter cut, and looked about me. The deck was a ma.s.s of dead and dying; their piercing cries and groans were maddening to hear. The frigate, however, was flying fast through the water; the 'Fawn' was gone!"

"_Tete-bleue!_ he blew her up?" said three or four in a breath.

Paul nodded, and resumed:--

"Ay, Comrades, and the half-dozen of her crew who stood alive on our quarterdeck cheered the explosion as if it was a victory; and one fellow, as he lay bleeding on the planks, cried out, 'See, there; look, if our gay flag is not high above yours, as it always will be! 'And that time he was right, for the spar that bore it was nigh the clouds.

"Well, to finish my story: In eight days we made Brest, and all of us who were wounded were sent on sh.o.r.e to the naval hospital. A sorry set we were; most of us disabled by splinter-wounds, and many obliged to suffer amputation. I was about again sooner than the rest, and was sent for one morning on board the admiral's s.h.i.+p, to give some account of the 'Fawn,' of which they never could hear enough; and when I came to that part where I made my escape, they all began a-laughing at my stopping to take up a book at such a moment. And one of the lieutenants said, jokingly,--

"'Well, Paul, I suppose it was the Englishman's breviary saved your life, was n't it?'

"'No, Lieutenant,' said I; 'but you 'd be mighty proud this day to have that same breviary in your possession.'

"'How so, good fellow?' said the admiral himself, old Villaret Joyeuse, who always talked like one of ourselves. 'What is this book, then, that is so precious?'

"'I 'll show it you, sir, because I 've no fear of foul play at your hands; but there's not another man of the fleet I 'd let see it,' And with that I took it out of my breast, where I always carried it, and gave it to him. Ah! if you'd seen his face,--how it flushed up as he turned over the leaves, and how his eyes sparkled with fire!

"'Paul Dupont,' said he, 'are you aware what this is?'

"'Yes, Admiral,' said I, 'as well as you are.'

"'Your fortune's made, then, my brave fellow,' said he, slapping me on the shoulder. 'The finest frigate in the English navy is a less prize than this.'

"_Mille tonnerres!_ how the others stared at me then. But I stood without minding how they looked, for I was the same Paul Dupont they laughed at a few minutes before.

"Meanwhile the admiral laid down the book on the table, and covered it with his c.o.c.ked hat; and then taking a pen he wrote some lines on a piece of paper before him.

"'Will that do, Paul?' said he, handing it towards me.

"It was just this: 'Bureau of the Marine, Brest. Pay Paul Dupont the sum of ten thousand francs, for service rendered to his Imperial Majesty, and attested in a note by me Villaret Joyeuse, Admiral of France.'

"I could scarce read the lines, Comrades, for pure pa.s.sion.

"'Ten thousand francs!' said I at last, as soon as I found breath,--'ten thousand francs!'

"'What!' cried the admiral, 'not content? Well, then, thou shalt have more; but I have rarely met one of your cloth with so mercenary a spirit.'

"'Stay, Admiral,' said I, as I saw him about to write a new order; 'we both are in an error here. You mistake me, and I you. An old admiral of the fleet ought to know his sailors better than to think that money is their highest reward; it never was so at least with Paul Dupont Let me have my book again.'

"'Come, come, Paul; I believe I understand you now,' laid he. 'Your warrant shall be made out this day.'

"'No, Admiral, it's too late,' said I. 'If that had come first, and from yourself, all well; but it looks like a bargain now, and I 'll not have promotion that way.'

"'Mort du diable!' said he, stamping with pa.s.sion. 'But they 're all the same; these Bretons are as brutal in their obstinacy as their own cattle.'

"'You say true, Admiral,' said I; 'but if they're obstinate in wrong, they're resolute in right. You are a Breton gentleman; give me back my book.'

"'Take it,' said he, flinging it at me, 'and let me never see your face again.' And with that he left the cabin, and banged the door after him in a rage.

"And so, I went my way, Comrades, back to my s.h.i.+p, and served for many a long year after, carrying that book always in my breast, and thinking to myself, 'Well, what if thou art only a boatswain, Paul; thou hast wherewithal in thy keeping to make thee a commodore any day.'"

"And what can it be, then, this book?" said the party, in a breath.

"You shall see," said Paul, solemnly; "for though I have never shown it since, nor have I ever told the story before, here it is."