The Wing and Wing by J. Fenimore Cooper

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

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The stranger's head was to the northward, and his motion, before a light
southerly air, could not have exceeded a knot an hour. He had no other
canvas spread than his three topsails and jib; though his courses were
hanging in the brails. His black hull was just beginning to show its
details; and along the line of light yellow that enlivened his side were
visible the dark intervals of thirteen ports; a real gun frowning in
each. Although the hammocks were not stowed, and the hammock-cloths had
that empty and undressed look which is so common to a man-of-war in the
night, it was apparent that the ship had an upper deck, with
quarter-deck and forecastle batteries; or, in other words, that she was
a frigate. As she had opened the town of Porto Ferrajo several minutes
before she was herself seen from the Feu Follet, an ensign was hanging
from the end of her gaff, though there was not sufficient air to open
its folds, in a way to let the national character of the stranger
be known.

"Peste!" exclaimed Raoul Yvard, as soon as he had gazed a minute at the
stranger in silence; "a pretty _cul de sac_ are we in, if that gentleman
should happen to be an Englishman! What say you, Etooell; can _you_ make
out anything of that ensign--your eyes are the best in the lugger?"

"It is too much for any sight to detairmine, at this distance, and that
before the sun is risen; but, by having a glass ready, we shall soon
know. Five minutes will bring us the Great Luminary, as our minister
used to call him."

Ithuel had descended from the bulwark while speaking; and he now went
aft in quest of a glass, returning to his old station, bringing two of
the instruments; one of which he handed to his commander, while he kept
the other himself. In another minute both had levelled their glasses at
the stranger, whom each surveyed attentively, for some time, in
profound silence.

"_Pardie_!" exclaimed Raoul, "that ensign is the tri-color, or my eyes
are untrue to my own country. Let me see, Etooell; what ship of
forty-two, or forty-four, has the republic on this coast?"

"Not _that_, Monsieur Yvard," answered Ithuel, with a manner so changed,
and an emphasis so marked, as at once to draw his companion's attention
from the frigate to his own countenance; "not _that_, Monsieur
Capitaing. It is not easy for a bird to forget the cage in which he was
shut up for two years; if that is not the accursed Proserpine, I have
forgotten the cut of my own jib!"

"La Proserpine!" repeated Raoul, who was familiar with his shipmate's
adventures, and did not require to be told his meaning; "if you are not
mistaken, Etooell, le Feu-Follet needs put her lantern under a shade.
This is only a forty, if I can count her ports."

"I care nothing for ports or guns; it is the Proserpine; and the only
harm I wish her is, that she were at the bottom of the ocean. The
Proserpine, thirty-six, Captain Cuffe; though Captain Flog would have
been a better name for him. Yes, the Proserpine, thirty-six, Captain
Cuffe, Heaven bless her!"

"Bah!--this vessel has forty-four guns--now I can see to count them; I
make twenty-two of a side."

"Aye, that's just her measure--a thirty-six on the list and by rate, and
forty-four by count; twenty-six long eighteens below; twelve
thirty-twos, carronades, on her quarter-deck; and four more carronades,
with two barkers, for'ard. She'd just extinguish your Jack-o'-Lantern,
Monsieur Rule, at one broadside; for what are ten twelve-pound
carronades, and seventy men, to such a frigate?"

"I am not madman enough, Etooell, to dream of fighting a frigate, or
even a heavy sloop-of-war, with the force you have just mentioned; but I
have followed the sea too long to be alarmed before I am certain oL my
danger. La Railleuse is just such a ship as that."

"Hearken to reason, Monsieur Rule," answered Ithuel earnestly; "La
Railleuse, nor no other French frigate, would show her colors to an
enemy's port; for it would be uselessly telling her errand. Now, an
English ship might show a French ensign, for _she_ always has it in her
power to change it; and then _she_ might be benefited by the cheat. The
Proserpine is French built, and has French legs, too, boots or no
boots"--here Ithuel laughed a little, involuntarily, but his face
instantly became serious again--"and I have heard she was a sister
vessel of the other. So much for size and appearance; but every shroud,
and port, and sail, about yonder craft, is registered on my back in a
way that no sponge will ever wash out."

"Sa-a-c-r-r-r-e," muttered Raoul between his teeth; "Etooell, if an
Englishman, he may very well take it into his head to come in here, and
perhaps anchor within half-a-cable's length of us! What think you of
that, _mon brave Americain?_"

"That it may very well come to pass; though one hardly sees, either,
what is to bring a cruiser into such a place as this. Every one hasn't
the curiosity of a Jack-o'-Lantern."

"_Mais que diable allait-il faire dans cette galere!--Bien;_ we must
take the weather as it comes; sometimes a gale, and sometimes a calm. As
he shows his own ensign so loyally, let us return the compliment, and
show ours. Hoist the ensign there aft."

"Which one, Monsieur?" demanded an old, demure-looking quartermaster,
who was charged with that duty, and who was never known to laugh; "the
captain will remember we came into port under the _drapeau_ of Monsieur
Jean Bull."

"_Bien_--hoist the drapeau of Monsieur Jean Bull again. We must brazen
it out, now we have put on the mask. Monsieur Lieutenant, clap on the
hawser, and run the lugger ahead, over her anchor, and see everything
clear for spreading our pocket-handkerchiefs. No one knows when le
Feu-Follet may have occasion to wipe her face. Ah!--now, Etooell, we
can make out his broadside fairly, he is heading more to the westward."

The two seamen levelled their glasses, and renewed their examinations.
Ithuel had a peculiarity that not only characterized the man, but which
is so common among Americans of his class as in a sense to be national.
On ordinary occasions he was talkative, and disposed to gossip; but,
whenever action and decision became necessary, he was thoughtful,
silent, and, though in a way of his own, even dignified. This last fit
was on him, and he waited for Raoul to lead the conversation. The
other, however, was disposed to be as reserved as himself, for he
quitted the knight-head, and took refuge from the splashing of the water
used in washing the decks, in his own cabin.

Two hours, though they brought the sun, with the activity and hum of the
morning, had made no great change in the relative positions of things
within and without the bay. The people of le Feu-Follet had breakfasted,
had got everything on board their little craft in its proper place, and
were moody, observant, and silent. One of the lessons that Ithuel had
succeeded in teaching his shipmates was to impress on them the necessity
of commanding their voluble propensities if they would wish to pass for
Englishmen. It is certain, more words would have been uttered in this
little lugger in one hour, had her crew been indulged to the top of
their bent, than would have been uttered in an English first-rate in
two; but the danger of using their own language, and the English
peculiarity of grumness, had been so thoroughly taught them, that her
people rather caricatured, than otherwise, _ce grand talent pour le
silence_ that was thought to distinguish their enemies. Ithuel, who had
a waggery of his own, smiled as he saw the seamen folding their arms,
throwing discontent and surliness into their countenances, and pacing
the deck singly, as if misanthropical and disdaining to converse,
whenever a boat came alongside from the shore. Several of these visitors
arrived in the course of the two hours mentioned; but the sentinel at
the gangway, who had his orders, repulsed every attempt to come on
board, pretending not to understand French when permission was asked in
that language.

Raoul had a boat's crew of four, all of whom had acquired the English,
like himself, in a prison-ship, and with these men he now prepared to
land; for, as yet, he had made little progress in the business which
brought him into his present awkward predicament, and he was not a man
to abandon an object so dear to him, lightly. Finding himself in a
dilemma, he was resolved to make an effort to reap, if possible, some
advantage from his critical situation. Accordingly, after he had taken
his coffee and given his orders, the boat's crew was called, and he left
the lugger's side. All this was done tranquilly, as if the appearance of
the stranger in the offing gave no trouble to any in le Feu-Follet.

On this occasion the boat pulled boldly into the little harbor, its
officer touching the shore at the common landing. Nor were the men in
any haste to return. They lounged about the quay, in waiting for their
captain, cheapening fruits, chatting with the women in such Italian as
they could muster, and affecting to understand the French of the old
sea-dogs that drew near them, all of whom knew more or less of that
universal language, with difficulty. That they were the objects of
suspicion, their captain had sufficiently warned them, and practice
rendered them all good actors. The time they remained in waiting for
Raoul was consequently spent in eluding attempts to induce them to
betray themselves, and in caricaturing Englishmen. Two of the four
folded their arms, endeavored to look surly, and paced the quay in
silence, refusing even to unbend to the blandishments of the gentler
sex, three or four of whom endeavored to insinuate themselves into their
confidence by offerings of fruit and flowers.

"Amico," said Annunziate, one of the prettiest girls of her class in
Porto Ferrajo, and who had been expressly employed by Vito Viti to
perform this office, "here are figs from the main land. Will you please
to eat a few, that when you go back to Inghilterra you may tell your
countrymen how we poor Elbans live?"

"Bad fig"--sputtered Jacques, Raoul's cockswain, to whom this offering
was made, and speaking in broken English; "better at 'ome. Pick up
better in ze street of Portsmout'!"

"But, Signore, you need not look as if they would hurt you, or bite
you; you can eat them and, take my word for it, you will find them as
pleasant as the melons of Napoli!"

"No melon good but English melon. English melon plenty as pomme de
terres--bah!"

"Yes, Signore, as the melons of Napoli," continued Annunziate, who did
not understand a syllable of the ungracious answers she received;
"Signor Vito Viti, our podesta, ordered me to offer these figs to the
forestieri--the Inglesi, who are in the bay--"

"God-dam," returned Jacques, in a quick, sententious manner, that was
intended to get rid of the fair tormentor, and which, temporarily at
least, was not without its effect.

But, leaving the boat's crew to be badgered in this manner until relief
came, as will be hereafter related, we must follow our hero in his way
through the streets of the town. Raoul, guided by an instinct, or having
some special object before his eyes, walked swiftly up the heights,
ascending to the promontory so often mentioned. As he passed, every eye
was turned on him, for, by this time, the distrust in the place was
general; and the sudden appearance of a frigate, wearing a French
ensign, before the port, had given rise to apprehensions of a much more
serious nature than any which could possibly attend the arrival of a
craft as light as the lugger, by herself. Vito Viti had long before gone
up the street, to see the vice-governatore; and eight or ten of the
principal men of the place had been summoned to a council, including the
two senior military dignitaries of the island. The batteries, it was
known, were manned; and although it would have puzzled the acutest mind
of Elba to give a reason why the French should risk so unprofitable an
attack as one on their principal port, long ere Raoul was seen among
them such a result was not only dreaded, but in a measure anticipated
with confidence. As a matter of course, then, every eye followed his
movements as he went with bounding steps up the narrow terraces of the
steep street, and the least of his actions was subjeected to the
narrowest and most jealous scrutiny.

The heights were again thronged with spectators of all ages and classes,
and of both sexes. The mantles and flowing dresses of females prevailed
as usual; for whatever is connected with curiosity is certain to collect
an undue proportion of a sex whose imaginations are so apt to get the
start of their judgments. On a terrace in front of the palace, as it was
the custom to designate the dwelling of the governor, was the group of
magnates, all of them paying the gravest attention to the smallest
change in the direction of the ship, which had now become an object of
general solicitude and apprehension. So intent, indeed, were they in
gazing at this apprehended enemy, that Raoul stood in front of Andrea
Barrofaldi, cap in hand, and bowing his salutation, before his approach
was even anticipated. This sudden and unannounced arrival created great
surprise, and some little confusion; one or two of the group turning
away instinctively, as it might be, to conceal the flushes that mounted
to their cheeks at being so unexpectedly confronted by the very man whom
the minute before they had been strongly denouncing.

"_Bon giorno_, Signor Vice-governatore," commenced Raoul, in his gay,
easy, and courteous manner, and certainly with an air that betrayed any
feeling but those of apprehension and guilt; "we have a fine morning on
the land, here; and apparently a fine frigate of the French republic in
the offing yonder."

"We were conversing of that vessel, Signor Smees," answered Andrea, "as
you approached. What, in your judgment, c an induce a Frenchman to
appear before our town in so menacing a manner?"

"Cospetto! you might as well ask me, Signore, what induces these
republicans to do a thousand other out-of-the-way things. What has made
them behead Louis XVI? What has made them overrun half of your Italy,
conquer Egypt, and drive the Austrians back upon their Danube?"

"To say nothing of their letting Nelsoni destroy them at Aboukir," added
Vito Viti, with a grunt.

"True, Signore, or letting Nelson, my gallant countryman, annihilate
them near the mouth of the Nile. I did not consider it proper to boast
of English glory, though that case, too, may very well be included. We
have several men in ze Ving-and-Ving who were in that glorious battle,
particularly our sailing-master, Etooell Bolt, who was on board Nelson's
own ship, having been accidentally sent on service from the frigate to
which he properly belonged, and carried off expressly to share, as it
might be, in the glory of this famous battle."

"I have seen the Signore," dryly remarked Andrea Barrofaldi--"_e uno
Americano?_"

"An American!" exclaimed Raoul, starting a little in spite of his
assumed indifference of manner; "why, yes, I believe Bolt _was_ born in
America--English America, you know, Signori, and that is much the same
thing as having been born in England herself. We look upon _ze Yankes_
as but a part of our own people, and take them into our service most
cheerfully."

"So the Signor Ituello has given us reason to believe; he is seemingly a
great lover of the English nation."

Raoul was uneasy; for he was entirely ignorant of all that had passed in
the wine-house, and he thought he detected irony in the manner of the
vice-governatore.

"Certainly, Signore," he answered, however, with unmoved steadiness;
"certainly, Signore, the Americani adore Inghilterra; and well they may,
considering all that great nation has done for them. But, Signor
Vice-governatore, I have come to offer you the service of my lugger,
should this Frenchman really intend mischief. We are small, it is true,
and our guns are but light; nevertheless we may break the frigate's
cabin-windows, while you are doing him still greater injury from these
heights. I trust you will assign ze Ving-and-Ving some honorable
station, should you come to blows with the republicans."

"And what particular service would it be most agreeable to you to
undertake, Signore?" inquired the vice-governatore, with considerate
courtesy; "we are no mariners, and must leave the choice to yourself.
The colonello, here, expects some firing, and has his artillerists
already at their guns."

"The preparation of Porto Ferrajo is celebrated among the mariners of
the Mediterranean, and, should the Frenchman venture within reach of
your shot, I expect to see him unrigged faster than if he were in a
dock-yard. As for ze leetl' Ving-and-Ving, in my opinion, while the
frigate is busy with these batteries, it might be well for us to steer
along the shore on the east side of the bay until we can get outside of
her, when we shall have the beggars between two fires. That was just
what Nelson did at Aboukir, Signor Podesta, a battle you seem so much
to admire."

"That would be a manoeuvre worthy of a follower of Nelsoni, Signore,"
observed the colonel, "if the metal of your guns were heavier. With
short pieces of twelve, however, you would hardly venture within reach
of long pieces of eighteen; although the first should be manned by
Inglese, and the last by Francese?"

"One never knows. At the Nile one of our fifties laid the Orient, a
three-decker, athwart-hawse, and did her lots of injury. The vaisseau,
in fact, was blown up. Naval combats are decided on principles
altogether different from engagements on the land, Signor Colonello."

"It must be so, truly," answered the soldier; "but what means this
movement? you, as a seaman, may be able to tell us, Capitano."

This drew all eyes to the frigate again, where, indeed, were movements
that indicated some important changes. As these movements have an
intimate connection with the incidents of the tale, it will be
necessary to relate them in a manner to render them more intelligible to
the reader.

The distance of the frigate from the town might now have been five
English miles. Of current there was none; and there being no tides in
the Mediterranean, the ship would have lain perfectly stationary all the
morning, but for a very light air from the southward. Before this air,
however, she had moved to the westward about a couple of miles, until
she had got the government-house nearly abeam. At the same time she had
been obliquely drawing nearer, which was the circumstance that produced
the alarm. With the sun had risen the wind, and a few minutes before the
colonel interrupted himself in the manner related, the topsails of the
stranger had swelled, and he began to move through the water at the rate
of some four or five knots the hour. The moment her people felt that
they had complete command of their vessel, as if waiting only for that
assurance, they altered her course and made sail. Putting her helm
a-starboard, the ship came close by the wind, with her head looking
directly in for the promontory, while her tacks were hauled on board,
and her light canvas aloft was loosened and spread to the breeze. Almost
at the same instant, for everything seemed to be done at once, and as by
instinct, the French flag was lowered, another went up in its place, and
a gun was fired to leeward--a signal of amity. As this second emblem of
nationality blew out, and opened to the breeze, the glasses showed the
white field and St. George's cross of the noble old ensign of England.

An exclamation of surprise and delight escaped the spectators on the
promontory, as their doubts and apprehensions were thus dramatically
relieved. No one thought of Raoul at that happy moment, though to him
there was nothing of new interest in the affair, with the exception of
the apparent intention of the stranger to enter the bay. As le
Feu-Follet lay in plain view from the offing, he had his doubts, indeed,
whether the warlike appearance of that craft was not the true reason of
this sudden change in the frigate's course. Still, lying as he did in a
port hostile to France, there was a probability that he might yet escape
without a very critical or close examination.

"Signor Smees, I felicitate you on this visit of a countryman," cried
Andrea Barrofaldi, a pacific man by nature, and certainly no warrior,
and who felt too happy at the prospects of passing a quiet day, to feel
distrust at such a moment; "I shall do you honor in my communications
with Florence, for the spirit and willingness which you have shown in
the wish to aid us on this trying occasion."

"Signor Vice-governatore, do not trouble yourself to dwell on my poor
services," answered Raoul, scarce caring to conceal the smile that
struggled about his handsome mouth; "think rather of those of these
gallant signori, who greatly regret that an opportunity for gaining
distinction has been lost. But here are signals that must be meant for
us--I hope my stupid fellows will be able to answer them in my absence."

It was fortunate for le Feu-Follet, perhaps, that her commander was not
on board, when the stranger, the Proserpine, the very ship that Ithuel
so well knew, made her number. The mystification that was to follow was
in much better hands while conducted by the New Hampshire man than it
could possibly be in his own, Ithuel answered promptly, though what, he
did not know himself; but he took good care that the flags he showed
should become so entangled as not to be read by those in the frigate,
while they had every appearance of being hoisted fearlessly and in
good faith.

CHAPTER VI.

"Are all prepared?
They are--nay more--embarked; the latest boat
Waits but my chief--My sword and my capote."

_The Corsair._

What success attended the artifice of Ithuel it was impossible to tell,
so far as the frigate was concerned; though the appearance of mutual
intelligence between the two vessels had a very favorable tendency
toward removing suspicion from the lugger among those on shore. It
seemed so utterly improbable that a French corsair could answer the
signals of an English frigate that even Vito Viti felt compelled to
acknowledge to the vice-governatore in a whisper that, so far, the
circumstance was much in favor of the lugger's loyalty. Then the calm
exterior of Raoul counted for something, more especially as he remained
apparently an unconcerned observer of the rapid approach of the ship.

"We shall not have occasion to use your gallant offer, Signor Smees,"
said Andrea kindly, as he was about to retire into the house with one or
two of his counsellors; "but we thank you none the less. It is a
happiness to be honored with the visit of two cruisers of your great
nation on the same day, and I hope you will so far favor me as to
accompany your brother commander, when he shall do me the honor to pay
the customary visit, since it would seem to be his serious intention to
pay Porto Ferrajo the compliment of a call. Can you not guess at the
name of the frigate?"

"Now I see she is a countryman, I think I can, Signore," answered Raoul
carelessly; "I take her to be la Proserpine, a French-built ship, a
circumstance that first deceived me as to her character."

"And the noble cavaliere, her commander--you doubtless know his name and
rank?"

"Oh! perfectly; he is the son of an old admiral, under whom I was
educated, though we happen ourselves never to have met. Sir Brown is the
name and title of the gentleman."

"Ah! that is a truly English rank, and name, too, as one might say.
Often have I met that honorable appellation in Shakespeare, and other of
your eminent authors, Miltoni has a Sir Brown, if I am not
mistaken, Signore?"

"Several of them, Signor Vice-governatore," answered Raoul, without a
moment's hesitation or the smallest remorse; though he had no idea
whatever who Milton was; "Milton, Shakespeare, Cicero, and all our great
writers, often mention Signori of this family."

"Cicero!" repeated Andrea, in astonishment--"he was a Roman, and an
ancient, Capitano, and died before Inghilterra was known to the
civilized world."

Raoul perceived that he had reached too far, though he was not in
absolute danger of losing his balance. Smiling, as in consideration of
the other's provincial view of things, he rejoined, with an _aplomb_
that would have done credit to a politician, in an explanatory and
half-apologetic tone.

"Quite true, Signor Vice-governatore, as respects him you mention," he
said; "but not true as respects Sir Cicero, my illustrious compatriot.
Let me see--I do not think it is yet a century since our Cicero died. He
was born in Devonshire"--this was the county in which Raoul had been
imprisoned--"and must have died in Dublin. Si--now I remember, it _was_
in Dublin, that this virtuous and distinguished author yielded up
his breath."

To all this Andrea had nothing to say, for, half a century since, so
great was the ignorance of civilized nations as related to such things,
that one might have engrafted a Homer on the literature of England, in
particular, without much risk of having the imposition detected. Signor
Barrofaldi was not pleased to find that the barbarians were seizing on
the Italian names, it is true; but he was fain to set the circumstance
down to those very traces of barbarism which were the unavoidable fruits
of their origin. As for supposing it possible that one who spoke with
the ease and innocence of Raoul was inventing as he went along, it was
an idea he was himself much too unpractised to entertain; and the very
first thing he did on entering the palace was to make a memorandum which
might lead him, at a leisure moment, to inquire into the nature of the
writings and the general merits of Sir Cicero, the illustrious namesake
of him of Rome. As soon as this little digression terminated he entered
the palace, after again expressing the hope that "Sir Smees" would not
fail to accompany "Sir Brown," in the visit which the functionary fully
expected to receive from the latter, in the course of the next hour of
two. The company now began to disperse, and Raoul was soon left to his
own meditations, which just at that moment were anything but agreeable.

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