The Wing and Wing by J. Fenimore Cooper

J >> J. Fenimore Cooper >> The Wing and Wing

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38

"Has Lord Nelson left no discretion in the orders, sir?"

"None; unless Raoul Yvard distinctly consent to give up the lugger. In
that case, I have a letter, which authorizes me to delay the execution
until I can communicate directly with the commander-in-chief."

"How very unlucky it has been all round! Is there no possibility, sir,
of making up a case that might render this discretion available?"

"That might do among you irresponsibles, Mr. Griffin," answered Cuffe, a
little sharply; "but I would rather hang forty Frenchmen than be
Bronted by Nelson for neglect of duty"

Cuffe spoke more strongly than he intended, perhaps; but the commander
of a ship-of-war does not always stop to weigh his words, when he
condescends to discuss a point with an inferior. The reply put a check
upon Griffin's zeal, however, though the discourse did not the
less proceed.

"Well, sir," the lieutenant answered, "I'm sure we are all as anxious as
you can be, to avert this affair from our ship. 'Twas but the other day
we were boasting in the gun-room, to some of the Lapwing's officers that
were on a visit here, that the Proserpine never had an execution or a
court-martial flogging on board her, though she had now been under the
British ensign near four years, and had been seven times under fire."

"God send, Griffin, that Clinch find the admiral, and get back in time!"

"How would it do, sir, to send the vice-governatore to try the prisoner;
perhaps _he_ might persuade him to _seem_ to consent--or some such
thing, you know, sir, as might justify a delay. They say the Corsicans
are the keenest-witted fellows in all these seas; and Elba is so near to
Corsica, that one cannot fancy there is much difference between
their people."

"Aye, your veechy is a regular witch! He made out so well in his first
interview with Yvard, that no one can doubt his ability to overlay him
in another!"

"One never knows, Captain Cuffe. The Italian has more resources than
most men; and the Signor Barrofaldi is a discreet, sensible man, when he
acts with his eyes open. Le Feu-Follet has cheated others besides the
vice-governatore and the podesta."

"Aye, these d--d Jack-o'-Lanterns are never to be trusted. It would
hardly surprise me to see the Folly coming down wing-and-wing from under
the land, and passing out to sea, with a six-knot breeze, while we lay
as still as a cathedral, with not enough to turn the smoke of the
galley-fire from the perpendicular."

"She's not inside of us, Captain Cuffe; of that we may be certain. I
have been on the maintopgallant yard, with the best glass in the ship,
and have swept the whole coast, from the ruins over against us, here to
the eastward, up to the town of Salerno; there is nothing to be seen as
large as a sparanara."

"One would think, too, this Monsieur Yvard might give up to save his own
life, after all!"

"_We_ should hardly do it, I hope, Captain Cuffe?"

"I believe you are right, Griffin; one feels forced to respect the
privateersman, in spite of his trade. Who knows but something might be
got out of that Bolt? He must know as much about the lugger as
Yvard himself?"

"Quite true, sir; I was thinking of proposing something of the sort, not
a minute since. Now, that's a fellow one may take pleasure in riding
down, as one would ride down the main tack. Shall I have him sent for,
Captain Cuffe?"

The captain hesitated; for the previous experiments on Ithuel's
selfishness had failed. Still the preservation of Raoul's life, and the
capture of the lugger, were now objects of nearly equal interest with
Cuffe, and he felt disposed to neglect no plausible means of effecting
either. A sign of approbation was all the lieutenant needed; and in a
few minutes Ithuel stood again in the presence of his captain.

"Here is an opportunity for you to fetch up a good deal of leeway.
Master Bolt," commenced the captain: "and I am willing to give you a
chance to help yourself. You know where you last left the Few-Folly,
I suppose?"

"I don't know but I might, sir," answered Ithuel, rolling his eyes
around him, curious to ascertain what the other would be at. "I don't
know but I might remember, on a pinch, sir; though, to own the truth, my
memory is none of the most desperate best."

"Well, then where was it? Recollect that the life of your late friend,
Raoul Yvard, may depend on your answer."

"I want to know! Well, this Europe _is_ a curious part of the world, as
all must admit that come from Ameriky. What has Captain Rule done now,
sir, that he stands in such jeopardy?"

"You know that he is convicted as a spy; and my orders are to have him
executed, unless we can get his lugger. _Then_, indeed, we may possibly
show him a little favor; as we do not make war so much on individuals as
on nations."

Cuffe would probably have been puzzled to explain the application of his
own sentiment to the case before him; but, presuming on his having to
deal with one who was neither very philosophical nor logical himself, he
was somewhat indifferent to his own mode of proceeding, so that it
effected the object. Ithuel, however, was not understood. Love for Raoul
or the lugger, or, indeed, for anything else, himself excepted, formed
no part of his character; while hatred of England had got to be
incorporated with the whole of his moral system; if such a man could be
said to have a moral system at all. He saw nothing to be gained by
serving Raoul, in particular; though this he might have done did nothing
interfere to prevent it; while he had so strong an aversion to suffering
the English to get le Feu-Follet, as to be willing even to risk his own
life to prevent it. His care, therefore, was to accomplish his purpose
with the least hazard to himself.

"And, if the lugger can be had, sir, you intend to let Captain Rule go?"
he asked, with an air of interest.

"Aye, we _may_ do that; though it will depend on the admiral. Can you
tell us where you left her, and where she probably now is?"

"Captain Rule has said the first already, sir. He told the truth about
that before the court. But, as to telling where the lugger is now, I'll
defy any man to do it! Why, sir, I've turned in at eight bells, and left
her, say ten or fifteen leagues dead to leeward of an island or a
lighthouse, perhaps; and on turning out at eight bells in the morning
found her just as far to windward of the same object. She's as
oncalculating a craft as I ever put foot aboard of."

"Indeed!" said Cuffe, ironically; "I do not wonder that her captain's in
a scrape."

"Scrape, sir! The Folly is nothing _but_ a scrape. I've tried my hand at
keeping her reck'nin'."

"You!"

"Yes, sir, I; Ithuel Bolt, that's my name at hum' or abroad, and I've
tried to keep the Folly's reck'nin', with all the advantage of
thermometer, and lead-lines, and logarithms, and such necessaries, you
know, Captain Cuffe; and _I_ never yet could place her within a hundred
miles of the spot where she was actually seen to be."

"I am not at all surprised to hear this, Bolt; but what I want at
present is to know what you think may be the precise position of the
lugger, without the aid of the thermometer and of logarithms; I've a
notion you would make out better by letting such things alone."

"Well, who knows but I might, sir! My idee of the Folly, just now, sir,
is that she is somewhere off Capri, under short canvas, waiting for
Captain Rule and I to join her, and keeping a sharp lookout after the
inimies' cruisers."

Now, this was not only precisely the position of the lugger at that very
moment, but it was what Ithuel actually believed to be her position.
Still nothing was further from this man's intention than to betray his
former messmates. He was so very cunning as to have detected how little
Cuffe was disposed to believe him; and he told the truth as the most
certain means of averting mischief from the lugger. Nor did his _ruse_
fail of its object. His whole manner had so much deceit and low cunning
about it, that neither Cuffe nor Griffin believed a word he said; and
after a little more pumping, the fellow was dismissed in disgust, with a
sharp intimation that it would be singularly for his interest to look
out how he discharged his general duties in the ship.

"This will never do, Griffin," exclaimed the captain, vexed and
disappointed. "Should anything occur to Clinch, or should the admiral
happen to be off with the king, on one of his shooting excursions, we
shall be in a most serious dilemma. Would to God we had not left the
anchorage at Capri! _Then_ might communicate with the flag with some
certainty. I shall never forgive myself if anything fatal actually
take place!"

"When one does all for the best, Captain Cuffe, his mind ought to be at
ease, and you could not possibly foresee what has happened. Might
not--one wouldn't like either--but--necessity is a hard master----"

"Out with it, Griffin--anything is better than suspense."

"Well, sir, I was just thinking that possibly this young Italian girl
might know something about the lugger, and, as she clearly loves the
Frenchman, we should get a strong purchase on her tongue by means of
her heart."

Cuffe looked intently at his lieutenant for half a minute; then he shook
his head in disapprobation.

"No, Griffin, no," he said, "to this I never can consent. As for this
quibbling, equivocating Yankee, if Yankee he be, one wouldn't feel many
scruples of delicacy; but to probe the affections of a poor innocent
girl in this way would be going too far. The heart of a young girl
should be sacred, under every circumstance."

Griffin colored, and he bit his lip. No one likes to be outdone, in the
appearance of generosity, at least; and he felt vexed that he should
have ventured on a proposition that his superior treated as unbecoming.

"Nevertheless, sir, she might think the lugger cheaply sold," he said,
with emphasis, "provided her lover's life was what she got in exchange.
It would be a very different thing were we to ask her to sell her
admirer, instead of a mere privateer."

"No matter, Griffin. We will not meddle with the private feelings of a
young female, that chance has thrown into our hands. As soon as we get
near enough in with the land, I intend to let the old man take his boat,
and carry his niece ashore. That will be getting rid of _them_, at
least, honorably and fairly. God knows what is to become of the
Frenchman."

This terminated the conference. Griffin went on deck, where duty now
called him; and Cuffe sat down to re-peruse, for the ninth or tenth
time, the instructions of the admiral.

CHAPTER XXII.

"I have no dread,
And feel the curse to have no natural fear,
Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes,
Or lurking love of something on the earth"

_Manfred_,

By this time the day had materially advanced, and there were grave
grounds for the uneasiness which Cuffe began so seriously to feel. All
three of the ships were still in the Bay of Salerno, gathering in toward
its northern shore, however; the Proserpine the deepest embayed, the
Terpsichore and the Ringdove having hauled out toward Campanella, as
soon as satisfied nothing was to be seen in-shore of them. The heights
which line the coast, from the immediate vicinity of the town of Salerno
to the headland that ends near Capri, have long been celebrated, not
only for their beauty and grandeur, but in connection with the lore of
the middle ages. As the Proserpine had never been in this bay before, or
never so near its head, her officers found some temporary relief from
the very general uneasiness that was felt on account of their prisoner,
in viewing scenery that is remarkable even in that remarkable section of
the globe. The ship had gone up abreast of Amalfi, and so close in as
to be less than a mile from the shore. This object was to communicate
with some fishermen, which had been done; the information received going
to establish the fact, that no craft resembling the lugger had been in
that part of the Bay. The vessel's head was now laid to the southward
and westward, in waiting for the zephyr, which might soon be expected.
The gallant frigate, seen from the impending rocks, looked like a light
merchantman, in all but her symmetry and warlike guise; nature being
moulded on so grand a scale all along that coast, as to render objects
of human art unusually diminutive to the eye. On the other hand, the
country-houses, churches, hermitages, convents, and villages, clustered
all along the mountain-sides, presented equally delusive forms, though
they gave an affluence to the views that left the spectator in a strange
doubt which most to admire, their wildness or their picturesque beauty.
The little air that remained was still at the southward, and as the ship
moved slowly along this scene of singular attraction, each ravine seemed
to give up a town, each shelf of rock a human habitation, and each
natural terrace a villa and a garden.

Of all men, sailors get to be the most _blases_ in the way of the
sensations produced by novelties and fine scenery. It appears to be a
part of their calling to suppress the emotions of a greenhorn; and,
generally, they look upon anything that is a little out of the ordinary
track with the coolness of those who feel it is an admission of
inferiority to betray surprise. It seldom happens with them that
anything occurs, or anything is seen, to which the last cruise, or, if
the vessel be engaged in trade, the last voyage, did not at least
furnish a parallel; usually the past event, or the more distant object,
has the advantage. He who has a sufficient store of this reserved
knowledge and experience, it will at once be seen, enjoys a great
superiority over him who has not, and is placed above the necessity of
avowing a sensation as humiliating as wonder. On the present occasion,
however, bur few held out against the novelty of the actual situation of
the ship; most on board being willing enough to allow that they had
never before been beneath cliffs that had such a union of the
magnificent, the picturesque, and the soft; though a few continued firm,
acting up to the old characters with the consistency of settled
obstinacy.

Strand, the boatswain, was one of those who, on all such occasions,
"died hard." He was the last man in the ship who ever gave up a
prejudice; and this for three several reasons: he was a cockney, and
believed himself born in the centre of human knowledge; he was a seaman,
and understood the world; he was a boatswain, and stood upon
his dignity.

As the Proserpine fanned slowly along the land, this personage took a
position between the knight-heads, on the bowsprit, where he could
overlook the scene, and at the same time hear the dialogue of the
forecastle; and both with suitable decorum. Strand was as much of a
monarch forward as Cuffe was aft; though the appearance of a lieutenant,
or of the master, now and then, a little dimmed the lustre of his reign.
Still, Strand succumbed completely to only two of the officers--the
captain and the first lieutenant; and not always to these, in what he
conceived to be purely matters of sentiment. In the way of duty, he
understood himself too well ever to hesitate about obeying an order; but
when it came to opinions, he was a man who could maintain his own, even
in the presence of Nelson.

The first captain of the forecastle was an old seaman of the name of
Catfall. At the precise moment when Strand occupied the position named,
between the knight-heads, this personage was holding a discourse with
three or four of the forecastle-men, who stood on the heel of the
bowsprit, inboard--the etiquette of the ship not permitting these
worthies to show their heads above the nettings. Each of the party had
his arms folded; each chewed tobacco; each had his hair in a queue; and
each occasionally hitched up his trousers, in a way to prove that he did
not require the aid of suspenders in keeping his nether garments in
their proper place. It may be mentioned, indeed, that the point of
division between the jacket and the trousers was marked in each by a
bellying line of a clean white shirt, that served to relieve the blue of
the dress, as a species of marine facing. As was due to his greater
experience and his rank, Catfall was the principal speaker among those
who lined the heel of the bowsprit.

"This here coast is moun_tain_ious, as one may own," observed the
captain of the forecastle; "but what I say is, that it's not _as_
moun_tain_ious as some I've seen. Now, when I went round the 'arth with
Captain Cook, we fell in with islands that were so topped off with
rocks, and the like o' that, that these here affairs alongside on 'em
wouldn't pass for anything more than a sort of jury mountains."

"There you're right, Catfall," said Strand, in a patronizing way; "as
anybody knows as has been round the Horn. I didn't sail with Captain
Cook, seeing that I was then the boatswain of the Hussar, and she
couldn't have made one of Cook's squadron, being a post-ship, and
commanded by a full-built captain; but I _was_ in them seas when a
younker, and can back Catfall's account of the matter by my largest
anchor, in the way of history. D--e, if I think these hillocks would be
called even jury mountains, in that quarter of the world. They tell me
there's several noblemen's and gentlemen's parks near Lunnun, where they
make mountains just to look at; that must be much of a muchness with
these here chaps. I never drift far from Wappin', when I'm at home, and
so I can't say I've seen these artifice hills, as they calls them,
myself; but there's one Joseph Shirk, that lives near St. Katharine's
Lane, that makes trips regularly into the neighborhood, who gives quite
a particular account of the matter."

"I dare to say it's all true, Mr. Strand," answered the captain of the
forcastle, "for I've know'd some of them travelling chaps who have seen
stranger sights than that. No, sir, I calls these mountains no great
matter; and as to the houses and villages on 'em, where you see one
here, you might say you could see two on some of the desert islands--"

A very marvellous account of Cook's Discoveries was suddenly checked by
the appearance of Cuffe on the forecastle. It was not often the captain
visited that part of the ship; but he was considered a privileged
person, let him go where he would. At his appearance, all the "old
salts" quitted the heel of the spar, tarpaulins came fairly down to a
level with the bag-reefs of the shirts, and even Strand stepped into the
nettings, leaving the place between the knight-heads clear. To this spot
Cuffe ascended with a light, steady step, for he was but six-and-twenty,
just touching his hat in return to the boatswain's bow.

A boatswain on board an English ship-of-war is a more important
personage than he is apt to be on board an American. Neither the captain
nor the first lieutenant disdains conversing with him, on occasions; and
he is sometimes seen promenading the starboard side of the quarter-deck
in deep discourse with one or the other of those high functionaries. It
has been said that Cuffe and Strand were old shipmates, the latter
having actually been boatswain of the ship in which the former first
sailed. This circumstance was constantly borne in mind by both parties,
the captain seldom coming near his inferior, in moments of relaxation,
without having something to say to him.

"Rather a remarkable coast this, Strand," he commenced, on the present
occasion, as soon as fairly placed between the knight-heads; "something
one might look for a week, in England, without finding it."

"I beg your pardon, sir, but I'm not of the same way of thinking. I was
just telling the forecastle lads, down there, that there's many a
nobleman and gentleman at home as has finder hills than these, made by
hand, in his parks and gardens, just to look at."

"The d--l you have! And what did the forecastle lads down there say to
that?"

"What could they, sir? It just showed the superiority of an Englishman
to an Italian, and that ended the matter. Don't you remember the
Injees, sir?"

"The Indies! Why, the coast between Bombay and Calcutta is as flat as a
pancake most of the distance."

"Not them Injees, sir, but t'other--the West, I mean. The islands and
mountains we passed and went into in the Rattler; your honor was only a
young gentleman then, but was too much aloft to miss the sight of
anything--and all along America, too."

As Strand was speaking he glanced complacently round, as if to intimate
to the listeners what an old friend of the captain's they enjoyed in the
person of their boatswain.

"Oh! the West Indies--you're nearer right there, Strand, and yet they
have nothing to compare to this. Why, here are mountains, alive with
habitations, that fairly come up to the sea!"

"Well, sir, as to habitations, what's these to a street in Lunnun? Begin
on the starboard hand, for instance, as you walk down Cheapside, and
count as you go; my life for it, you'll reel off more houses in half an
hour's walk than are to be found in all that there village yonder. Then
you'll remember, sir, that the starboard hand only has half, every Jack
having his Jenny. I look upon Lunnun as the finest sight in nature,
Captain Cuffe, after all I have seen in many cruises!"

"I don't know, Mr. Strand. In the way of coast, one may very well be
satisfied with this. Yonder town, now, is called Amalfi; it was once a
place of great commerce, they say."

"Of commerce, sir!--why, it's nothing but a bit of a village, or, at
most, of a borough built in a hollow. No haven, no docks, no
comfortable place even for setting up the frame of a ship on the beach.
The commerce of such a town must have been mainly carried on by means of
mules and jackasses, as one reads of in the trade of the Bible."

"Carried on as it might be, trade it once had. There does not seem to be
any hiding-place along this shore for a lugger like the Folly, after
all, Strand."

The boatswain smiled, with a knowing look, while, at the same time, the
expression of his countenance was like that of a man who did not choose
to let others into all his secrets.

"The Folly is a craft we are not likely to see again, Captain Cuffe," he
then answered, if it were only out of respect to his superior.

"Why so? The Proserpine generally takes a good look at everything she
chases."

"Aye, aye, sir; that may be true, as a rule, but I never knew a craft
found after a third look for her. Everything seems to go by thirds in
this world, sir; and I always look upon a third chase as final. Now,
sir, there are three classes of admirals, and three sets of flags; a
ship has three masts; the biggest ships are three-deckers; then there
are three planets----"

"The d--l there are! How do you make _that_ out, Strand?"

"Why, sir, there's the sun, moon, and stars; that makes just three by my
count."

"Aye, but what do you say to Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and all the rest of
them, the earth included?"

"Why, sir, they're all the rest of the stars, and not planets at all.
Then, sir, look around you, and you'll find everything going by threes.
There are three topsails, three jibs, and three topgallant sails--"

"And two courses," said the captain, gravely, to whom this theory of the
threes was new.

"Quite true, sir, in name, but your honor will recollect the spanker is
nothing but a fore-and-aft course, rigged to a mast, instead of to a
jack-yard, as it used to be."

"There are neither three captains nor three boatswains to a ship, Master
Strand."

"Certainly not, sir; that would be oppressive, and they would stand in
each other's way; still, Captain Cuffe, the thirds hold out wonderfully,
even in all these little matters. There's the three lieutenants; and
there's the boatswain, gunner, and carpenter--and--"

"Sail-maker, armorer, and captain of the mast," interrupted Cuffe,
laughing.

"Well, sir, you may make anything seem doubtful by bringing forward a
plenty of reasons; but all my experience says, a third chase never comes
to anything, unless it turns out successful; but that _after_ a third
chase, all may as well be given up."

"I fancy Lord Nelson holds a different doctrine, Strand. He tells us to
follow a Frenchman round the earth, rather than let him escape."

"No doubt, sir. Follow him round three earths, if you can keep him in
sight; but not round _four_. That is all I contend for, Captain Cuffe.
Even women, they tell me, take what is called their thirds, in a
fellow's fortin'."

"Well, well, Strand, I suppose there must be some truth in your
doctrine, or you wouldn't hold out for it so strenuously; and as for
this coast, I must give it up, for I never expect to see another like
it; much less a third."

"It's my duty to give up to your honor; but I ask permission to think a
third chase should always be the last one. That's a melancholy sight to
a man of feelin', Captain Cuffe, the object between the two
midship-guns, on the starboard side of the main-deck, sir?"

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38