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The Crater by James Fenimore Cooper

J >> James Fenimore Cooper >> The Crater




The Anne now made sail towards the Martha, which sloop was standing to
the northward, rather edging from the group, under short canvass. No
land was in sight, though its haze could be discovered all along the
eastern board, where the group was known to lie; but neither the Peak,
nor the Volcano, nor Rancocus heights could now be seen from the
vessels. About ten the governor spoke Captain Betts, to ask the news.
The Martha had seen nothing; and, shortly after, the three boats to the
northward joined, and made the same report. Nothing had been seen of the
strangers, who seemed, most unaccountably, to be suddenly lost!

This uncertainty rendered all the more reflecting portion of the
colonists exceedingly uneasy. Should the pirates get into the group by
either of its weather channels, they would not only find all the
property and vessels that had been taken in that direction, at their
mercy, but they would assail the settlements in their weakest parts,
render succour more difficult, and put themselves in a position whence
it would be easiest to approach or to avoid their foes. Any one
understanding the place, its facilities for attacking, or its defences,
would naturally endeavour to enter the group as well to windward as
possible; but Waally had never attempted anything of the sort; and, as
he knew little of the inner passages, it was not probable he had thought
of suggesting a course different from his own to his new friends. The
very circumstance that he had always approached by the same route, was
against it; for, if his sagacity had not pointed out a preferable course
for himself, it was not to be expected it would do it for others. Still,
it was not unreasonable to suppose that practised seamen might see the
advantages which the savage had overlooked, and a very serious
apprehension arose in the minds of the governor and Betts, in
particular, touching this point. All that could be done, however, was
to despatch two of the boats, with orders to enter the group by the
northern road, and proceed as far as the Reef. The third boat was left
to cruise off the Needle, in order to communicate with anything that,
should go to that place of rendezvous with a report, and, at the same
time, to keep a look-out for the pirates. With the person in charge of
this boat, was left the course to be steered by those who were to search
for the governor, as they arrived off the Needle, from time to time.

The Anne and Martha bore up, in company, as soon as these arrangements
were completed, it being the plan now to go and look for the strangers.
Once in view, the governor determined not to lose sight of the pirates,
again, but to remain so near them, as to make sure of knowing what they
were about, In such cases, a close look-out should always be kept on the
enemy, since an advantage in time is gained by so doing, as well as a
great deal of uncertainty and indecision avoided.

For seven hours the Anne and Martha stood towards Rancocus Island,
running off about two leagues from each other, thereby 'spreading a
clew,' as sailors call it, that would command the view of a good bit of
water. The tops of the mountains were soon seen, and by the end of the
time mentioned, most of the lower land became visible. Nevertheless, the
strangers did not come in sight. Greatly at a loss how to proceed, the
governor now sent the Martha down for information, with orders for her
to beat up to the Needle, as soon as she could, the Anne intending to
rendezvous there, next morning, agreeably to previous arrangements. As
the Martha went off before the wind, the Anne hauled up sharp towards
the Peak, under the impression that something might have been seen of
the strangers from the high land there. About four in the morning the
Anne went into the cove, and the governor ascended to the plain to have
an interview with Heaton. He found everything tranquil in that quarter.
Nothing had been seen of the strange squadron, since it went out of
sight, under the volcano; nor had even the Neshamony come in. The
governor's arrival was soon known, early as it was, and he had visits
from half the women on the island, to inquire after their absent
husbands. Each wife was told all the governor knew, and this short
intercourse relieved the minds of a great many.

At eight, the Anne sailed again, and at ten she had the Needle in sight,
with three boats off it, on the look-out. Here, then, were tidings at
last; but, the impatience of the governor was restrained, in order to
make out the character of a sail that had been seen coming down through
the straits, under a cloud of canvas. In a short time, this vessel was
made out to be the Abraham, and the Anne hauled up to get her news. The
two schooners spoke each other about twelve o'clock, but the Abraham had
no intelligence to impart. She had been sent, or rather carried by
Bigelow, out by the eastern passage, and had stood along the whole of
the weather-side of the group, to give notice to the whalers where to
go; and she had notified the two brigs to go in to-windward, and to
remain in Weather Bay, where all the rest of the dull crafts had been
taken for safety; and then had come to-leeward to look for the governor.
As the Abraham was barely a respectable sailer, it was not deemed
prudent to take her too near the strangers; but, she might see how
matters were situated to the eastward. By keeping on the weather-coast,
and so near the land as not to be cut off from it, she would be of
particular service; since no enemy could approach in that quarter,
without being seen; and Bigelow's familiarity with the channels would
enable him, not only to save his schooner by running in, but would put
it in his power to give notice throughout the whole group, of the
position and apparent intentions of the strangers. The Abraham,
accordingly, hauled by the wind, to beat back to her station, while the
Anne kept off for the Needle.

At the rendezvous, the governor found most of his craft waiting for him.
The Neshamony was still behind; but all the rest had executed their
orders, and were standing off and on, near the cape, ready to report.
Nothing had been seen of the strangers! It was certain they had not
approached the group, for two of the boats had just come out of it,
having left the colonists busy with the preparations for defence, but
totally undisturbed in other respects. This information gave the
governor increased uneasiness. His hope of hearing from the pirates, in
time to be ready to meet them, now depended on his reports from to
leeward. The Neshamony ought soon to be in; nor could it be long before
the Martha would return. The great source of apprehension now came from
a suspicion that some of the Kannakas might be acting as pirates, along
with Waally. For Waally himself no great distrust was felt, since he had
never been allowed to see much of the channels of the group; but it was
very different with the sea-going Kannakas, who had been employed by the
colonists. Some of these men were familiar with all the windings and
turnings of the channels, knew how much water could be taken through a
passage, and, though not absolutely safe pilots, perhaps, were men who
might enable skilful seamen to handle their vessels with tolerable
security within the islands. Should it turn out that one or two of these
fellows had undertaken to carry the strangers up to windward, and to
take them into one of the passages in that quarter of the group, they
might be down upon the different fortified points before they were
expected, and sweep all before them. It is true, this danger had been in
a measure foreseen, and persons had been sent to look out for it; but it
never had appeared so formidable to the governor, as now that he found
himself completely at fault where to look for his enemy. At length, a
prospect of fresh reports appeared. The Neshamony was seen in the
southern board, standing across from the Peak; and about the same time,
the Martha was made out in the south-western, beating up from Rancocus
Island direct. As the first had been ordered to land, and had also been
round by the volcano, the Anne hauled up for her, the governor being
impatient to get her tidings first. In half an hour, the two vessels
were alongside of each other. But the Neshamony had very little that was
new to tell! The pirates had remained on the island but a short time
after Bigelow and his companions got away, doing all the damage they
could, however, in that brief space. When they left, it was night, and
nothing very certain could be told of their movements. When last seen,
however, they were on a wind, and heading to the southward a little
westerly; which looked like beating up towards the volcano, the trades
now blowing due south-east. But the Neshamony had been quite round the
volcano, without obtaining a sight of the strangers. Thence she
proceeded to the Peak, where she arrived only a few hours after the
governor had sailed, going into the cove and finding all quiet. Of
course, the Martha could have no more to say than this, if as much; and
the governor was once more left to the pain of deep suspense. As was
expected, when Betts joined, he had nothing at all to tell. He had been
ashore at Rancocus Point, heard the complaints of the people touching
their losses, but had obtained no other tidings of the wrong-doers.
Unwilling to lose time, he staid but an hour, and had been beating back
to the rendezvous the rest of the period of his absence. Was it possible
that the strangers had gone back to Betto's group, satisfied with the
trifling injuries they had inflicted? This could hardly be; yet it was
not easy to say where else they had been. After a consultation, it was
decided that the Martha should stand over in that direction, in the hope
that she might pick up some intelligence, by meeting with fishing canoes
that often came out to a large cluster of rocks, that lay several
leagues to windward of the territories of Ooroony and Waally. Captain
Betts had taken his leave of the governor, and had actually got on board
his own vessel, in order to make sail, when, a signal was seen flying on
board one of the boats that was kept cruising well out in the straits,
intimating that strange vessels were seen to windward. This induced the
governor to recall the Martha, and the whole of the look-out vessels
stood off into the straits.

In less than an hour, all doubts were removed. There were the strangers,
sure enough, and what was more, there was the Abraham ahead of them,
pushing for Cape South passage, might and main; for the strangers were
on her heels, going four feet to her three. It appeared, afterwards,
that the pirates, on quitting Rancocus Island, had stood off to the
southward, until they reached to windward of the volcano, passing
however a good bit to leeward of the island, on their first stretch,
when, finding the Peak just dipping, they tacked to the northward and
westward, and stood off towards the ordinary whaling-ground of the
colony, ever which they swept in the expectation of capturing the
brigs. The pirates had no occasion for oil, which they probably would
have destroyed in pure wantonness, but they were much in want of naval
stores, cordage in particular, and the whaling gear of the two brigs
would have been very acceptable to them. While running in for the group,
after an unsuccessful search, they made the Abraham, and gave chase.
That schooner steered for the straits, in the hope of finding the
governor; but was so hard pressed by her pursuers, as to be glad to edge
in for Cape South roads, intending to enter the group, and run for the
Reef, if she could do no better.

Luckily, the discovery of the look-out boat prevented the execution of
the Abraham's project, which would have led the pirates directly up to
the capital. But, no sooner did the governor see how things were
situated, than he boldly luffed up towards the strangers, intending to
divert them from the chase of the Abraham; or, at least, to separate
them, in chase of himself. In this design he was handsomely seconded by
Betts, in the Martha, who hauled his wind in the wake of the Anne, and
carried everything that would draw, in order to keep his station. This
decision and show of spirit had its effect. The two brigs, which were
most to the southward, altered their course, and edged away for the Anne
and Martha, leaving the ship to follow the Abraham alone. The governor
was greatly rejoiced at this, for he had a notion a vessel as large as
the strange ship would hesitate about entering the narrow waters, on
account of her draught; she being much larger than any craft that had
ever been in before, as the Kannakas must know, and would not fail to
report to the pirates. The governor supposed this ship to be a vessel of
between six and seven hundred tons measurement. Her armament appeared to
be twelve guns of a side, below, and some eight or ten guns on her
quarter-deck and forecastle. This was a formidable craft in those days,
making what was called in the English service, an eight-and-twenty gun
frigate, a class of cruisers that were then found to be very useful. It
is true, that the first class modern sloop-of-war would blow one of
those little frigates out of water, being several hundred tons larger,
with armaments, crews and spars in proportion; but an eight-and-twenty
gun frigate offered a very formidable force to a community like that of
the crater, and no one knew it better than the governor.

The three strangers all sailed like witches. It was well for the Abraham
that she had a port so close under her lee, or the ship would have had
her, beyond the smallest doubt. As it was she caught it, as she rounded
the cape, as close in as she could go, the frigate letting slip at her
the whole of her starboard broadside, which cut away the schooner's
gaff, jib-stay, and main-topmast, besides killing, a Kannaka, who was in
the main-cross-trees at the time. This last occurrence turned out to be
fortunate, in the main, however, since it induced all the Kannakas to
believe that the strangers were their enemies, in particular; else why
kill one of their number, when there were just as many colonists as
Kannakas to shoot at!

As the governor expected, the ship did not venture to follow the Abraham
in. That particular passage, in fact, was utterly unknown to Waally, and
those with him, and he could not give such an account of it as would
encourage the admiral to stand on. Determined not to lose time
unnecessarily, the latter hauled short off shore, and made sail in chase
of the Anne and Martha, which, by this time, were about mid-channel,
heading across to the Peak. It was not the wish of the governor,
however, to lead the strangers any nearer to the cove than was
necessary, and, no sooner did he see the Abraham well within the
islands, her sails concealed by the trees, of which there was now a
little forest on this part of the coast, and the ship drawing well off
the land in hot pursuit of himself, than he kept away in the direction
of Rancocus Island, bringing the wind on his larboard quarter. The
strangers followed, and in half an hour they were all so far to leeward
of Cape South, as to remove any apprehension of their going in there
very soon.

Thus far, the plan of the governor had succeeded to admiration. He had
his enemies in plain sight, within a league of him, and in chase of his
two fastest craft. The best sailing of the Anne and Martha was on a
wind, and, as a matter of course, they could do better, comparatively,
in smooth water, than larger craft. No sooner, therefore, had he got his
pursuers far enough off the land, and far enough to leeward, than the
governor wore, or jibed would be the better word, running off northwest,
with the wind on his starboard quarter. This gave the strangers a little
the advantage, in one sense, though they lost it in another. It brought
them on his weather-beam; pretty well forward of it, too; but the Needle
was directly ahead of the schooner and sloop, and the governor foresaw
that his pursuers would have to keep off to double that, which he was
reasonably certain of reaching first.

Everything turned out as the governor anticipated. The pirates had near
a league of water more to pass over, before they could double the
Needle, than the Anne and the Martha had; and, though those two crafts
were obliged to haul up close to the rocks, under a distant fire from
all three of their pursuers, no harm was done, and they were soon
covered by the land, and were close-hauled in smooth water, to leeward
of the group. Twenty minutes later, the strangers came round the cape,
also, bearing up sharp, and following their chase. This was placing the
enemy just where the colonists could have wished. They were now
to-leeward of every point in the settlements, looking up towards the
roads, which opened on the western passage, or that best known to
Waally, and which he would be most likely to enter, should he attempt to
pilot the strangers in. This was getting the invaders precisely where
the governor wished them to be, if they were to attack him at all. They
could not reach the Reef in less than twenty-four hours, with their
knowledge of the channel; would have to approach it in face of the
heaviest and strongest batteries, those provided for Waally; and, if
successful in reaching the inner harbour, would enter it under the fire
of the long twelves mounted on the crater, which was, rightly enough,
deemed to be the citadel of the entire colony--unless, indeed, the Peak
might better deserve that name.




Chapter XXVIII.



"It scares the sea-birds from their nests;
They dart and wheel with deafening screams;
Now dark--and now their wings and breasts
Flash back amid disastrous gleams.
O, sin! what hast thou done on this fair earth?
The world, O man! is wailing o'er thy birth."

Dana.


It was the policy of the colonists to lead their pursuers directly up to
the Western Roads. On the small island, under which vessels were
accustomed to anchor, was a dwelling or two, and a battery of two
guns--nine-pounders. These guns were to command the anchorage. The
island lay directly in front of the mouth of the passage, making a very
beautiful harbour within it; though the water was so smooth in the
roads, and the last were so much the most convenient for getting
under-way in, that this more sheltered haven was very little used. On
the present occasion, however, all the colony craft beat up past the
island, and anchored inside of it. The crews were then landed, and they
repaired to the battery, which they found ready for service in
consequence of orders previously sent.

Here, then, was the point where hostilities would be likely to commence,
should hostilities commence at all. One of the boats was sent across to
the nearest island inland, where a messenger was landed, with directions
to carry a letter to Pennock, at the Reef. This messenger was compelled
to walk about six miles, the whole distance in a grove of young palms
and bread-fruit trees; great pains having been taken to cultivate both
of these plants throughout the group, in spots favourable to their
growth. After getting through the grove, the path came out on a
plantation, where a horse was kept for this especial object; and here
the man mounted and galloped off to the Reef, soon finding himself amid
a line of some of the most flourishing plantations in the colony.
Fortunately, however, as things then threatened, these plantations were
not on the main channel, but stood along the margin of a passage which
was deep enough to receive any craft that floated, but which was a
_cul-de-sac_, that could be entered only from the eastward. Along the
margin of the ship-channel, there was not yet soil of the right quality
for cultivation, though it was slowly forming, as the sands that lay
thick on the adjacent rocks received other substances by exposure to the
atmosphere.

The Anne and her consorts had been anchored about an hour, when the
strangers hove-to in the roads, distant about half a mile from the
battery. Here they all hoisted white flags, as if desirous of having a
parley. The governor did not well know how to act. He could not tell
whether or not it would do to trust such men; and he as little liked to
place Betts, or any other confidential friend, in their power, as he did
to place himself there. Nevertheless, prudence required that some notice
should be taken of the flag of truce; and he determined to go off a
short distance from the shore in one of his own boats, and hoist a white
flag, which would be as much as to say that he was waiting there to
receive any communication that the strangers might chose to send him.

It was not long after the governor's boat had reached her station, which
was fairly within the short range of the two guns in the battery, ere a
boat shoved off from the ship, showing the white flag, too. In a few
minutes, the two boats were within the lengths of each other's oars,
riding peacefully side by side.

On board the stranger's boat, in addition to the six men who were at the
oars, were three persons in the stern-sheets. One of these men, as was
afterwards ascertained, was the admiral himself; a second was an
interpreter, who spoke English with a foreign accent, but otherwise
perfectly well; and the third was no other than Waally! The governor
thought a fierce satisfaction was gleaming in the countenance of the
savage when they met, though the latter said nothing. The interpreter
opened the communications.

"Is any one in that boat," demanded this person, "who is empowered to
speak for the authorities ashore?"

"There is," answered the governor, who did not deem it wise,
nevertheless, exactly to proclaim his rank. "I have full powers, being
directly authorized by the chief-magistrate of this colony."

"To what nation does your colony belong?"

This was an awkward question, and one that had not been at all
anticipated, and which the governor was not fully prepared to answer.

"Before interrogatories are thus put, it might be as well for me to know
by what authority I am questioned at all," returned Mr. Woolston. "What
are the vessels which have anchored in our waters, and under what flag
do they sail?"

"A man-of-war never answers a hail, unless it comes from another
man-of-war," answered the interpreter, smiling.

"Do you, then, claim to be vessels of war?"

"If compelled to use our _force_, you will find us so. We have not come
here to answer questions, however, but to ask them. Does your colony
claim to belong to any particular nation, or not?"

"We are all natives of the United States of America, and our vessels
sail under her flag."

"The United States of America!" repeated the interpreter, with an
ill-concealed expression of contempt. "There is good picking among the
vessels of that nation, as the great European belligerents well know;
and while so many are profiting by it, _we_ may as well come in for our
share."

It may be necessary to remind a portion of our readers, that this
dialogue occurred more than forty years ago, and long before the
republic sent out its fleets and armies to conquer adjacent states;
when, indeed, it had scarce a fleet and army to protect its own coasts
and frontiers from insults and depredations. It is said that when the
late Emperor of Austria, the good and kind-hearted Francis II., was
shown the ruins of the little castle of Habsburg, which is still to be
seen crowning a low height, in the canton of Aarraw, Switzerland, he
observed, "I now see that we have not _always_ been a great family." The
governor cared very little for the fling at his native land, but he did
not relish the sneer, as it indicated the treatment likely to be
bestowed on his adopted country. Still, the case was not to be remedied
except by the use of the means already provided, should his visitors see
fit to resort to force.

A desultory conversation now ensued, in which the strangers pretty
plainly let their designs be seen. In the first place they demanded a
surrender of all the craft belonging to the colony, big and little,
together with all the naval stores. This condition complied with, the
strangers intimated that it was possible their conquests would not be
pushed much further. Of provisions, they stood in need of pork, and they
understood that the colony had hogs without number. If they would bring
down to the island a hundred fat hogs, with barrels and salt, within
twenty-four hours, it was probable, however, no further demand for
provisions would be made. They had obtained fifty barrels of very
excellent flour at Rancocus Island, and could not conveniently stow more
than that number, in addition to the demanded hundred barrels of pork.
The admiral also required that hostages should be sent on board his
ship, and that he should be provided with proper pilots, in order that
he, and a party of suitable size, might take the Anne and the Martha,
and go up to the town, which he understood lay some twenty or thirty
miles within the group. Failing of an acquiescence in these terms, war,
and war of the most ruthless character, was to be immediately
proclaimed. All attempts to obtain an announcement of any national
character, on the part of the strangers was evaded; though, from the
appearance of everything he saw, the governor could not now have the
smallest doubt that he had to do with pirates.