The Pilot (44 page)

"Look to the starboard hand of the point of rock to windward!" cried the
boy; "now you lose it—ah! now the sun falls upon it! 'tis a sail, sir,
as sure as canvas can be spread in such a gale!"

"I see what you mean," returned the other, "but it seems a gull,
skimming the sea! nay, now it rises, indeed, and shows itself like a
bellying topsail: pass up that glass, lads; here is a fellow in the
offing who may prove a friend."

Merry waited the result of the lieutenant's examination with youthful
impatience, and did not fail to ask immediately:

"Can you make it out, sir? is it the ship or the cutter?"

"Come, there seemeth yet some hope left for us, boy," returned
Barnstable, closing the glass; "'tis a ship lying-to under her
maintopsail. If one might but dare to show himself on these heights, he
would raise her hull, and make sure of her character! But I think I know
her spars, though even her topsail dips, at times, when there is nothing
to be seen but her bare poles; and they shortened by her top-
gallantmasts."

"One would swear," said Merry, laughing, as much through the excitement
produced by this intelligence, as at his conceit, "that Captain Munson
would never carry wood aloft, when he can't carry canvas. I remember,
one night, Mr. Griffith was a little vexed, and said, around the
capstan, he believed the next order would be to rig in the bowsprit, and
house lowermasts!"

"Ay, ay, Griffith is a lazy dog, and sometimes gets lost in the fogs of
his own thoughts," said Barnstable; "and I suppose old Moderate was in a
breeze. However, this looks as if he were in earnest; he must have kept
the ship away, or she would never have been where she is; I do verily
believe the old gentleman remembers that he has a few of his officers
and men on this accursed island. This is well, Merry; for should we take
the abbey, we have a place at hand in which to put our prisoners."

"We must have patience till the morning," added the boy, "for no boat
would attempt to land in such a sea."

"No boat could land! The best boat that ever floated, boy, has sunk in
these breakers! But the wind lessens, and before morning the sea will
fall. Let us on, and find a berth for our poor lads, where they can be
made more comfortable."

The two officers now descended from their elevation, and led the way
still farther up the deep and narrow dell, until, as the ground rose
gradually before them, they found themselves in a dense wood, on a level
with the adjacent country.

"Here should be a ruin at hand, if I have a true reckoning, and know my
courses and distances," said Barnstable; "I have a chart about me that
speaks of such a landmark."

The lieutenant turned away from the laughing expression of the boy's
eye, as the latter archly inquired:

"Was it made by one who knows the coast well, sir? Of was it done by
some schoolboy, to learn his maps, as the girls work samplers?"

"Come, younker, no sampler of your impudence. But look ahead; can you
see any habitation that has been deserted?"

"Ay, sir, here is a pile of stones before us, that looks as dirty and
ragged as if it was a soldier's barrack; can this be what you seek?"

"Faith, this has been a whole town in its day! we should call it a city
in America, and furnish it with a mayor, aldermen, and recorder—you
might stow old Faneuil Hall in one of its lockers."

With this sort of careless dialogue, which Barnstable engaged in, that
his men might discover no alteration in his manner, they approached the
mouldering walls that had proved so frail a protection to the party
under Griffith.

A short time was passed in examining the premises, when the wearied
seamen took possession of one of the dilapidated apartments, and
disposed themselves to seek that rest of which they had been deprived by
the momentous occurrences of the past night.

Barnstable waited until the loud breathing of the seamen assured him
that they slept, when he aroused the drowsy boy, who was fast losing his
senses in the same sort of oblivion, and motioned him to follow. Merry
arose, and they stole together from the apartment, with guarded steps,
and penetrated more deeply into the gloomy recesses of the place.

Mercury
. "I permit thee to be Sosia again."
Dryden,

We must leave the two adventurers winding their way among the broken
piles, and venturing boldly beneath the tottering arches of the ruin, to
accompany the reader, at the same hour, within the more comfortable
walls of the abbey; where, it will be remembered, Borroughcliffe was
left in a condition of very equivocal ease. As the earth had, however,
in the interval, nearly run its daily round, circumstances had
intervened to release the soldier from his confinement—and no one,
ignorant of the fact, would suppose that the gentleman who was now
seated at the hospitable board of Colonel Howard, directing, with so
much discretion, the energies of his masticators to the delicacies of
the feast, could read, in his careless air and smiling visage, that
those foragers of nature had been so recently condemned, for four long
hours, to the mortification of discussing the barren subject of his own
sword-hilt. Borroughcliffe, however, maintained not only his usual post,
but his well-earned reputation at the table, with his ordinary coolness
of demeanor; though at times there were fleeting smiles that crossed his
military aspect, which sufficiently indicated that he considered the
matter of his reflection to be of a particularly ludicrous character. In
the young man who sat by his side, dressed in the deep-blue jacket of a
seaman, with the fine white linen of his collar contrasting strongly
with the black silk handkerchief that was tied with studied negligence
around his neck, and whose easy air and manner contrasted still more
strongly with this attire, the reader will discover Griffith. The
captive paid much less devotion to the viands than his neighbor, though
he affected more attention to the business of the table than he actually
be stowed, with a sort of consciousness that it would relieve the
blushing maiden who presided. The laughing eyes of Katherine Plowden
were glittering by the side of the mild countenance of Alice Dunscombe,
and, at times, were fastened in droll interest on the rigid and upright
exterior that Captain Manual maintained, directly opposite to where she
was seated. A chair had, also, been placed for Dillon—of course it was
vacant.

"And so, Borroughcliffe," cried Colonel Howard, with a freedom of voice,
and a vivacity in his air, that announced the increasing harmony of the
repast, "the sea-dog left you nothing to chew but the cud of your
resentment!"

"That and my sword-hilt," returned the immovable recruiting officer.
"Gentlemen, I know not how your Congress rewards military achievements;
but if that worthy fellow were in my company, he should have a halberd
within a week—spurs I would not offer him, for he affects to spurn
their use."

Griffith smiled, and bowed in silence to the liberal compliment of
Borroughcliffe; but Manual took on himself the task of replying:

"Considering the drilling the man has received, the conduct has been
well enough, sir; though a well-trained soldier would not only have made
prisoners, but he would have secured them."

"I perceive, my good comrade, that your thoughts are running on the
exchange," said Borroughcliffe, good-humoredly; "we will fill, sir, and,
by permission of the ladies, drink to a speedy restoration of rights to
both parties—the status quo ante bellum!"

"With all my heart!" cried the colonel; "and Cicely and Miss Katherine
will pledge the sentiment in a woman's sip; will ye not, my fair wards?
—Mr. Griffith, I honor this proposition of yours, which will not only
liberate yourself, but restore to us my kinsman, Mr. Christopher Dillon.
Kit had imagined the thing well; ha! Borroughcliffe! 'twas ingeniously
contrived, but the fortune of war interposed itself to his success; and
yet it is a deep and inexplicable mystery to me, how Kit should have
been conveyed from the abbey with so little noise, and without raising
the alarm."

"Christopher is a man who understands the philosophy of silence, as well
as that of rhetoric," returned Borroughcliffe, "and must have learned in
his legal studies, that it is sometimes necessary to conduct matters sub
silentio. You smile at my Latin, Miss Plowden; but really, since I have
become an inhabitant of this monkish abode, my little learning is
stimulated to unwonted efforts—nay, you are pleased to be yet more
merry! I used the language, because silence is a theme in which you
ladies take but little pleasure."

Katherine, however, disregarded the slight pique that was apparent in
the soldier's manner; but, after following the train of her own thoughts
in silent enjoyment for a moment longer, she seemed to yield to their
drollery, and laughed until her dark eyes flashed with merriment.
Cecilia did not assume the severe gravity with which she sometimes
endeavored to repress, what she thought, the unseasonable mirth of her
cousin; and the wondering Griffith fancied, as he glanced his eye from
one to the other, that he could discern a suppressed smile playing among
the composed features of Alice Dunscombe. Katherine, however, soon
succeeded in repressing the paroxysm, and, with an air of infinitely
comic gravity, she replied to the remark of the soldier:

"I think I have heard of such a process in nautical affairs as towing;
but I must appeal to Mr. Griffith for the correctness of the term."

"You could not speak with more accuracy," returned the young sailor,
with a look that sent the conscious blood to the temples of the lady,
"though you had made marine terms your study."

"The profession requires less thought, perhaps, than you imagine, sir;
but is this towing often done, as Captain Borroughcliffe—I beg his
pardon—as the monks have it, sub silentio?"

"Spare me, fair lady," cried the captain, "and we will establish a
compact of mutual grace; you to forgive my learning, and I to suppress
my suspicions."

"Suspicions, sir, is a word that a lady must defy."

"And defiance a challenge that a soldier can never receive; so I must
submit to talk English, though the fathers of the church were my
companions. I suspect that Miss Plowden has it in her power to explain
the manner of Mr. Christopher Dillon's departure."

The lady did not reply, but a second burst of merriment succeeded, of a
liveliness and duration quite equal to the former.

"How's this?" exclaimed the colonel; "permit me to say, Miss Plowden,
your mirth is very extraordinary! I trust no disrespect has been offered
to my kinsman? Mr. Griffith, our terms are, that the exchange shall only
be made on condition that equally good treatment has been extended to
the parties!"

"If Mr. Dillon can complain of no greater evil than that of being
laughed at by Miss Plowden, sir, he has reason to call himself a happy
fellow."

"I know not, sir; God forbid that I should forget what is due to my
guests, gentlemen!—but ye have entered my dwelling as foes to my
prince."

"But not to Colonel Howard, sir."

"I know no difference, Mr. Griffith. King George or Colonel Howard—
Colonel Howard or King George. Our feelings, our fortunes, and our fate,
are as one; with the mighty odds that Providence has established between
the prince and his people! I wish no other fortune than to share, at an
humble distance, the weal or woe of my sovereign!"

"You are not called upon, dear sir, to do either, by the thoughtlessness
of us ladies," said Cecilia, rising; "but here comes one who should turn
our thoughts to a more important subject—our dress."

Politeness induced Colonel Howard, who both loved and respected his
niece, to defer his remarks to another time: and Katherine, springing
from her chair with childish eagerness, flew to the side of her cousin,
who was directing a servant that had announced the arrival of one of
those erratic venders of small articles, who supply, in remote districts
of the country, the places of more regular traders, to show the lad into
the dining-parlor. The repast was so far ended as to render this
interruption less objectionable; and as all felt the object of Cecilia
to be the restoration of harmony, the boy was ushered into the room
without further delay. The contents of his small basket, consisting
chiefly of essences, and the smaller articles of female economy, were
playfully displayed on the table by Katherine, who declared herself the
patroness of the itinerant youth, and who laughingly appealed to the
liberality of the gentlemen in behalf of her protégé.

"You perceive, my dear guardian, that the boy must be loyal; for he
offers, here, perfume, that is patronized by no less than two royal
dukes: do suffer me to place a box aside, for your especial use: you
consent; I see it in your eye. And, Captain Borroughcliffe, as you
appear to be forgetting the use of your own language, here is even a
hornbook for you! How admirably provided he seems to be. You must have
had St. Ruth in view, when you laid in your stock, child?"

"Yes, my lady," the boy replied, with a bow that was studiously awkward;
"I have often heard of the grand ladies that dwell in the old abbey, and
I have journeyed a few miles beyond my rounds, to gain their custom."

"And surely they cannot disappoint you. Miss Howard, that is a palpable
hint to your purse; and I know not that even Miss Alice can escape
contribution, in these troublesome times. Come, aid me, child; what have
you to recommend, in particular, to the favor of these ladies?"

The lad approached the basket, and rummaged its contents, for a moment,
with the appearance of deep mercenary interest; and then, without
lifting his hand from the confusion he had caused, he said, while he
exhibited something within the basket to the view of his smiling
observer: