The Pilot (27 page)

The plain old seaman, who commanded the cutter, listened to his tale
with cautious ears; and examined into the state of the weather, and
other matters connected with his duty, with the slow and deliberate
decision of one who had never done much to acquire a confidence in
himself, and who had been but niggardly rewarded for the little he had
actually performed.

As Dillon was urgent, however, and the day seemed propitious, he at
length decided to act as he was desired, and the cutter was accordingly
gotten under way.

A crew of something less than fifty men moved with no little of their
commander's deliberation; but as the little vessel rounded the point
behind which she had been anchored, her guns were cleared, and the usual
preparations were completed for immediate and actual service.

Dillon, sorely against his will, was compelled to continue on board, in
order to point out the place where the suspecting boatmen were expected,
to be entrapped. Everything being ready, when they had gained a safe
distance from the land, the Alacrity was kept away before the wind, and
glided along the shore with a swift and easy progress that promised a
speedy execution of the business in which her commander had embarked.

"
Pol
. Very like a whale."
Shakespeare.

Notwithstanding the object of their expedition was of a public nature,
the feelings which had induced both Griffith and Barnstable to accompany
the Pilot with so much willingness, it will easily be seen, were
entirely personal. The short intercourse that he had maintained with his
associates enabled the mysterious leader of their party to understand
the characters of his two principal officers so thoroughly, as to induce
him, when he landed, with the purpose of reconnoitering to ascertain
whether the objects of his pursuit still held their determination to
assemble at the appointed hour, to choose Griffith and Manual as his
only associates, leaving Barnstable in command of his own vessel, to
await their return, and to cover their retreat. A good deal of argument,
and some little of the authority of his superior officer, was necessary
to make Barnstable quietly acquiesce in this arrangement; but as his
good sense told him that nothing should be unnecessarily hazarded, until
the moment to strike the final blow had arrived, he became gradually
more resigned; taking care, however, to caution Griffith to reconnoiter
the abbey while his companion was reconnoitering — house. It was the
strong desire of Griffith to comply with this injunction, which carried
them a little out of their proper path, and led to the consequences that
we have partly related. The evening of that day was the time when the
Pilot intended to complete his enterprise, thinking to entrap his game
while enjoying the festivities that usually succeed their sports; and an
early hour in the morning was appointed, when Barnstable should appear
at the nearest point to the abbey, to take off his countrymen, in order
that they might be as little as possible subjected to the gaze of their
enemies by daylight. If they failed to arrive at the appointed time, his
instructions were to return to his schooner, which lay snugly embayed in
a secret and retired haven, that but few ever approached, either by land
or water.

While the young cornet still continued gazing at the whale-boat (for it
was the party from the schooner that he saw), the hour expired for the
appearance of Griffith and his companions; and Barnstable reluctantly
determined to comply with the letter of his instructions, and leave them
to their own sagacity and skill to regain the Ariel. The boat had been
suffered to ride in the edge of the surf, since the appearance of the
sun; and the eyes of her crew were kept anxiously fixed on the cliffs,
though in vain, to discover the signal that was to call them to the
place of landing. After looking at his watch for the twentieth time, and
as often casting glances of uneasy dissatisfaction towards the shore,
the lieutenant exclaimed:

"A charming prospect, this, Master Coffin, but rather too much poetry in
it for your taste; I believe you relish no land that is of a harder
consistency than mud!"

"I was born on the waters, sir," returned the cockswain, from his snug
abode, where he was bestowed with his usual economy of room, "and it's
according to all things for a man to love his native soil. I'll not
deny, Captain Barnstable, but I would rather drop my anchor on a bottom
that won't broom a keel, though, at the same time, I harbor no great
malice against dry land."

"I shall never forgive it, myself, if any accident has befallen Griffith
in this excursion," rejoined the lieutenant; "his Pilot may be a better
man on the water than on terra firma, long Tom."

The cockswain turned his solemn visage, with an extraordinary meaning,
towards his commander, before he replied:

"For as long a time as I have followed the waters, sir, and that has
been ever since I've drawn my rations, seeing that I was born while the
boat was crossing Nantucket shoals, I've never known a pilot come off in
greater need, than the one we fell in with, when we made that stretch of
two on the land, in the dog-watch of yesterday."

"Ay! the fellow has played his part like a man; the occasion was great,
and it seems that he was quite equal to his work."

"The frigate's people tell me, sir, that he handled the ship like a
top," continued the cockswain; "but she is a ship that is a nateral
inimy of the bottom!"

"Can you say as much for this boat, Master Coffin?" cried Barnstable:
"keep her out of the surf, or you'll have us rolling in upon the beach,
presently, like an empty water-cask; you must remember that we cannot
all wade, like yourself in two-fathom water."

The cockswain cast a cool glance at the crests of foam that were
breaking over the tops of the billows, within a few yards of where their
boat was riding, and called aloud to his men:

"Pull a stroke or two; away with her into dark water."

The drop of the oars resembled the movements of a nice machine, and the
light boat skimmed along the water like a duck that approaches to the
very brink of some imminent danger, and then avoids it, at the most
critical moment, apparently without an effort. While this necessary
movement was making, Barnstable arose, and surveyed the cliffs with keen
eyes, and then turning once more in disappointment from his search, he
said:

"Pull more from the land, and let her run down at an easy stroke to the
schooner. Keep a lookout at the cliffs, boys; it is possible that they
are stowed in some of the holes in the rocks, for it's no daylight
business they are on."

The order was promptly obeyed, and they had glided along for nearly a
mile in this manner, in the most profound silence, when suddenly the
stillness was broken by a heavy rush of air, and a dash of the water,
seemingly at no great distance from them.

"By heaven, Tom," cried Barnstable, starting, "there is the blow of a
whale!"

"Ay, ay, sir," returned the cockswain with undisturbed composure; "here
is his spout not half a mile to seaward; the easterly gale has driven
the creatur to leeward, and he begins to find himself in shoal water.
He's been sleeping, while he should have been working to windward!"

"The fellow takes it coolly, too! he's in no hurry to get an offing!"

"I rather conclude, sir," said the cockswain, rolling over his tobacco
in his mouth very composedly, while his little sunken eyes began to
twinkle with pleasure at the sight, "the gentleman has lost his
reckoning, and don't know which way to head to take himself back into
blue water."

"Tis a finback!" exclaimed the lieutenant; "he will soon make headway,
and be off."

"No, sir, 'tis a right-whale," answered Tom; "I saw his spout; he threw
up a pair of as pretty rainbows as a Christian would wish to look at.
He's a raal oil-butt, that fellow!"

Barnstable laughed, turned himself away from the tempting sight, and
tried to look at the cliffs; and then unconsciously bent his longing
eyes again on the sluggish animal, who was throwing his huge carcass, at
times, for many feet from the water, in idle gambols. The temptation for
sport, and the recollection of his early habits, at length prevailed
over his anxiety in behalf of his friends, and the young officer
inquired of his cockswain:

"Is there any whale-line in the boat, to make fast to that harpoon which
you bear about with you in fair weather or foul?"

"I never trust the boat from the schooner without part of a shot, sir,"
returned the cockswain; "there if something nateral in the sight of a
tub to my old eyes."

Barnstable looked at his watch, and again at the cliffs, when he
exclaimed, in joyous tones:

"Give strong way, my hearties! There seems nothing better to be done;
let us have a stroke of a harpoon at that impudent rascal."

The men shouted spontaneously, and the old cockswain suffered his solemn
visage to relax into a small laugh, while the whale-boat sprang forward
like a courser for the goal. During the few minutes they were pulling
towards their game, long Tom arose from his crouching attitude in the
stern-sheets, and transferred his huge form to the bows of the boat,
where he made such preparations to strike the whale as the occasion
required. The tub, containing about half of a whale-line, was placed at
the feet of Barnstabie, who had been preparing an oar to steer with in
place of the rudder, which was unshipped, in order that, if necessary,
the boat might be whirled round when not advancing.

Their approach was utterly unnoticed by the monster of the deep, who
continued to amuse himself with throwing the water in two circular
spouts high into the air, occasionally flourishing the broad flukes of
his tail with a graceful but terrific force, until the hardy seamen were
within a few hundred feet of him, when he suddenly cast his head
downward and, without an apparent effort, reared his immense body for
many feet above the water, waving his tail violently, and producing a
whizzing noise, that sounded like the rushing of winds.

The cockswain stood erect, poising his harpoon, ready for the blow; but
when he beheld the creature assume this formidable attitude, he waved
his hand to his commander, who instantly signed to his men to cease
rowing. In this situation the sportsmen rested a few moments, while the
whale, struck several blows on the water in rapid succession, the noise
of which re-echoed along the cliffs, like the hollow reports of so many
cannon. After this wanton exhibition of his terrible strength, the
monster sank again into his native element, and slowly disappeared from
the eyes of his pursuers.

"Which way did he head, Tom?" cried Barnstable, the moment the whale was
out of sight.

"Pretty much up and down, sir," returned the cockswain, whose eye was
gradually brightened with the excitement of the sport; "he'll soon run
his nose against the bottom if he stands long on that course, and will
be glad to get another snuff of pure air; send her a few fathoms to
starboard, sir, and I promise we shall not be out of his track."

The conjecture of the experienced old seaman proved true; for in a few
moments the water broke near them, and another spout was cast into the
air, when the huge animal rushed for half his length in the same
direction, and fell on the sea with a turbulence and foam equal to that
which is produced by the launching of a vessel, for the first time, into
its proper element. After this evolution the whale rolled heavily, and
seemed to rest for further efforts.

His slightest movements were closely watched by Barnstable and his
cockswain, and when he was in a state of comparative rest, the former
gave a signal to his crew to ply their oars once more. A few long and
vigorous strokes sent the boat directly up to the broadside of the
whale, with its bows pointing towards one of the fins, which was, at
times, as the animal yielded sluggishly to the action of the waves,
exposed to view. The cockswain poised his harpoon with much precision,
and then darted it from him with a violence that buried the iron in the
blubber of their foe. The instant the blow was made, long Tom shouted,
with singular earnestness:

"Starn all!"

"Stern all!" echoed Barnstable; when the obedient seamen, by united
efforts, forced the boat in a backward direction beyond the reach of any
blow from their formidable antagonist. The alarmed animal, however,
meditated no such resistance; ignorant of his own power, and of the
insignificance of his enemies, he sought refuge in flight. One moment of
stupid surprise succeeded the entrance of the iron, when he cast his
huge tail into the air, with a violence that threw the sea around him
into increased commotion, and then disappeared with the quickness of
lightning, amid a cloud of foam.

"Snub him!" shouted Barnstable; "hold on, Tom; he rises already."

"Ay, ay, sir," replied the composed cockswain, seizing the line, which
was running out of the boat with a velocity that rendered such a
manoeuvre rather hazardous, and causing it to yield more gradually round
the large loggerhead that was placed in the bows of the boat for that
purpose. Presently the line stretched forward, and rising to the surface
with tremulous vibrations, it indicated the direction in which the
animal might be expected to reappear. Barnstable had cast the bows of
the boat towards that point, before the terrified and wounded victim
rose once more to the surface, whose time was, however, no longer wasted
in his sports, but who cast the waters aside as he forced his way, with
prodigious velocity, along the surface. The boat was dragged violently
in his wake, and cut through the billows with a terrific rapidity, that
at moments appeared to bury the slight fabric in the ocean. When long
Tom beheld his victim throwing his spouts on high again, he pointed with
exultation to the jetting fluid, which was streaked with the deep red of
blood, and cried: