The Pilot (56 page)

"I have good reason to be thankful for the change," said the humbled
priest, "if the resemblance you mention existed, while I was clad in the
usual garb of one of my calling."

"What signifies a calling?" returned Boltrope, catching his breath after
a most persevering draught: "a man's shins are his shins, let his upper
works belong to what sarvice they may. I took an early prejudyce against
knee-breeches, perhaps from a trick I've always had of figuring the
devil as wearing them. You know, parson, we seldom hear much said of a
man, without forming some sort of an idea concerning his rigging and
fashion-pieces—and so, as I had no particular reason to believe that
Satan went naked—keep full, ye lubber; now you are running into the
wind's eye, and be d—d to ye!—But as I was saying, I always took a
conceit that the devil wore knee-breeches and a cock'd hat. There's some
of our young lieutenants, who come to muster on Sundays in cock'd hats,
just like soldier-officers; but, d'ye see, I would sooner show my nose
under a nightcap than under a scraper!"

"I hear the sound of oars!" exclaimed the chaplain, who, finding this
image more distinct than even his own vivid conceptions of the great
father of evil, was quite willing to conceal his inferiority by changing
the discourse. "Is not one of our boats returning?"

"Ay, ay, 'tis likely; if it had been me, I should have been land-sick
before this—ware round, boys, and stand by to heave to on the other
tack."

The cutter, obedient to her helm, fell off before the wind; and rolling
an instant in the trough of the sea, came up again easily to her oblique
position, with her head towards the cliffs; and gradually losing her
way, as her sails were brought to counteract each other, finally became
stationary. During the performance of this evolution, a boat had hove up
out of the gloom, in the direction of the land; and by the time the
Alacrity was in a state of rest, it had approached so nigh as to admit
of hailing.

"Boat, ahoy!" murmured Boltrope, through a trumpet, which, aided by his
lungs, produced sounds not unlike the roaring of a bull.

"Ay, ay," was thrown back from a clear voice, that swept across the
water with a fullness that needed no factitious aid to render it
audible.

"Ay, there comes one of the lieutenants, with his ay, ay," said
Boltrope—"pipe the side, there, you boatswain's mate! But here's
another fellow more on our quarter! Boat ahoy!"

"Alacrity"—returned another voice, in a direction different from the
other.

"Alacrity! There goes my commission of captain of this craft, in a
whiff," returned the sailing-master. "That is as much as to say, here
comes one who will command when he gets on board. Well, well, it is Mr.
Griffith, and I can't say, notwithstanding his love of knee-buckles and
small wares, but I'm glad he's out of the hands of the English! Ay, here
they all come upon us at once! here is another fellow, that pulls like
the jolly-boat, coming up on our lee-beam, within hail—let us see if he
is asleep—boat ahoy!"

"Flag," answered a third voice from a small, light-rowing boat, which
had approached very near the cutter, in a direct line from the cliffs,
without being observed.

"Flag!" echoed Boltrope, dropping his trumpet in amazement—"that's a
big word to come out of a jolly-boat! Jack Manly himself could not have
spoken it with a fuller mouth; but I'll know who it is that carries such
a weather helm, with a Yankee man-of-war's prize! Boat ahoy! I say."

This last call was uttered in those short menacing tones, that are
intended to be understood as intimating that the party hailing is in
earnest; and it caused the men who were rowing, and who were now quite
close to the cutter, to suspend their strokes, simultaneously, as if
they dreaded that the cry would be instantly succeeded by some more
efficient means of ascertaining their character. The figure that was
seated by itself in the stern of the boat started at this second
summons, and then, as if with sudden recollection, a quiet voice
replied:

"No—no."

"'No—no,' and 'flag,' are very different answers," grumbled Boltrope;
"what know-nothing have we here?"

He was yet muttering his dissatisfaction at the ignorance of the
individual that was approaching, whoever it might be, when the jolly-
boat came slowly to their side, and the Pilot stepped from her stern-
sheets on the decks of the prize.

"Is it you, Mr. Pilot?" exclaimed the sailing-master, raising a battle-
lantern within a foot of the other's face, and looking with a sort of
stupid wonder at the proud and angry eye he encountered—"Is it you!
Well, I should have rated you for a man of more experience than to come
booming down upon a man-of-war in the dark, with such a big word in your
mouth, when every boy in the two vessels knows that we carry no swallow-
tailed bunting abroad! Flag! Why you might have got a shot, had there
been soldiers."

The Pilot threw him a still fiercer glance, and turning away with a look
of disgust, he walked along the quarterdeck towards the stern of the
vessel, with an air of haughty silence, as if disdaining to answer.
Boltrope kept his eyes fastened on him for a moment longer, with some
appearance of scorn; but the arrival of the boat first hailed, which
proved to be the barge, immediately drew his attention to other matters.
Barnstable had been rowing about in the ocean for a long time, unable to
find the cutter; and as he had been compelled to suit his own demeanor
to those with whom he was associated, he reached the Alacrity in no very
good-humored mood. Colonel Howard and his niece had maintained during
the whole period the most rigid silence, the former from pride, and the
latter touched with her uncle's evident displeasure; and Katherine,
though secretly elated with the success of all her projects, was content
to emulate their demeanor for a short time, in order to save
appearances. Barnstable had several times addressed himself to the
latter, without receiving any other answer than such as was absolutely
necessary to prevent the lover from taking direct offence, at the same
time that she intimated by her manner her willingness to remain silent.
Accordingly, the lieutenant, after aiding the ladies to enter the
cutter, and offering to perform the same service to Colonel Howard,
which was coldly declined, turned, with that sort of irritation that is
by no means less rare in vessels of war than with poor human nature
generally, and gave vent to his spleen where he dared.

"How's this! Mr. Boltrope!" he cried, "here are boats coming alongside
with ladies in them, and you keep your gaft swayed up till the leach of
the sail is stretched like a fiddle-string—settle away your peak-
halyards, sir, settle away!"

"Ay, ay, sir," grumbled the master; "settle away that peak there; though
the craft wouldn't forge ahead a knot in a month, with all her jibs
hauled over!" He walked sulkily forward among the men, followed by the
meek divine; and added, "I should as soon have expected to see Mr.
Barnstable come off with a live ox in his boat as a petticoat! The Lord
only knows what the ship is coming to next, parson! What between cocked
hats and epaulettes, and other knee-buckle matters, she was a sort of
no-man's land before; and now, what with the women and their bandboxes,
they'll make another Noah's ark of her. I wonder they didn't all come
aboard in a coach and six, or a one-horse shay!"

It was a surprising relief to Barnstable to be able to give utterance to
his humor, for a few moments, by ordering the men to make sundry
alterations in every department of the vessel, in a quick, hurried
voice, that abundantly denoted, not only the importance of his
improvements, but the temper in which they were dictated. In his turn,
however, he was soon compelled to give way, by the arrival of Griffith
in the heavily rowing launch of the frigate, which was crowded with a
larger body of the seamen who had been employed in the expedition. In
this manner, boat after boat speedily arrived, and the whole party were
once more happily embarked in safety under their national flag.

The small cabin of the Alacrity was relinquished to Colonel Howard and
his wards, with their attendants. The boats were dropped astern, each
protected by its own keeper; and Griffith gave forth the mandate to fill
the sails and steer broad off into the ocean. For more than an hour the
cutter held her course in this direction, gliding gracefully through the
glittering waters, rising and settling heavily on the long, smooth
billows, as if conscious of the unusual burden that she was doomed to
carry; but at the end of that period her head was once more brought near
the wind, and she was again held at rest, awaiting the appearance of the
dawn, in order to discover the position of the prouder vessel on which
she was performing the humble duty of a tender. More than a hundred and
fifty living men were crowded within her narrow limits; and her decks
presented, in the gloom, as she moved along, the picture of a mass of
human heads.

As the freedom of a successful expedition was unavoidably permitted,
loud jokes, and louder merriment, broke on the silent waters from the
reckless seamen, while the exhilarating can passed from hand to hand,
strange oaths and dreadful denunciations breaking forth at times from
some of the excited crew against their enemy. At length the bustle of
re-embarking gradually subsided, and many of the crew descended to the
hold of the cutter, in quest of room to stretch their limbs, when a
clear, manly voice was heard rising above the deep in those strains that
a seaman most loves to hear. Air succeeded air, from different voices,
until even the spirit of harmony grew dull with fatigue, and verses
began to be heard where songs were expected, and fleeting lines
succeeded stanzas. The decks were soon covered with prostrate men,
seeking their natural rest under the open heavens, and perhaps dreaming,
as they yielded heavily to the rolling of the vessel, of scenes of other
times in their own hemisphere. The dark glances of Katherine were
concealed beneath her falling lids: and even Cecilia, with her head
bowed on the shoulder of her cousin, slept sweetly in innocence and
peace. Boltrope groped his way into the hold among the seamen, where,
kicking one of the most fortunate of the men from his berth, he
established himself in his place with all that cool indifference to the
other's comfort that had grown with his experience, from the time when
he was treated thus cavalierly in his own person to the present moment.
In this manner head was dropped after head on the planks, the guns, or
on whatever first offered for a pillow, until Griffith and Barnstable,
alone, were left pacing the different sides of the quarter-deck in
haughty silence.

Never did a morning watch appear so long to the two young sailors, who
were thus deprived, by resentment and pride, of that frank and friendly
communion that had for so many years sweetened the tedious hours of
their long and at times dreary service. To increase the embarrassment of
their situation, Cecilia and Katherine, suffering from the confinement
of the small and crowded cabin, sought the purer air of the deck, about
the time when the deepest sleep had settled on the senses of the wearied
mariners. They stood, leaning against the taffrail, discoursing with
each other in low and broken sentences; but a sort of instinctive
knowledge of the embarrassment which existed between their lovers caused
a guarded control over every look or gesture which might be construed
into an encouragement for one of the young men to advance at the expense
of the other. Twenty times, however, did the impatient Barnstable feel
tempted to throw off the awkward restraint, and approach his mistress;
but in each instance was he checked by the secret consciousness of
error, as well as by that habitual respect for superior rank that forms
a part of the nature of a sea-officer. On the other hand, Griffith
manifested no intention to profit by this silent concession in his
favor, but continued to pace the short quarter-deck, with strides more
hurried than ever; and was seen to throw many an impatient glance
towards that quarter of the heavens where the first signs of the
lingering day might be expected to appear. At length Katherine, with a
ready ingenuity, and perhaps with some secret coquetry, removed the
embarrassment by speaking first, taking care to address the lover of her
cousin:

"How long are we condemned to these limited lodgings, Mr. Griffith?" she
asked; "truly, there is a freedom in your nautical customs, which, to
say the least, is novel to us females, who have been accustomed to the
division of space!"

"The instant that there is light to discover the frigate, Miss Plowden,"
he answered, "you shall be transferred from a vessel of an hundred to
one of twelve hundred tons. If your situation there be less comfortable
than when within the walls of St. Ruth, you will not forget that they
who live on the ocean claim it as a merit to despise the luxuries of the
land."

"At least, sir," returned Katherine, with a sweet grace, which she well
knew how to assume on occasion, "what we shall enjoy will be sweetened
by liberty and embellished by a sailor's hospitality. To me, Cicely, the
air of this open sea is as fresh and invigorating as if it were wafted
from our own distant America!"

"If you have not the arm of a patriot, you at least possess a most loyal
imagination, Miss Plowden," said Griffith, laughing; "this soft breeze
blows in the direction of the fens of Holland, instead of the broad
plains of America.—Thank God, there come the signs of day, at last!
unless the currents have swept the ship far to the north, we shall
surely see her with the light."

This cheering intelligence drew the eyes of the fair cousins towards the
east, where their delighted looks were long fastened, while they watched
the glories of the sun rising over the water. As the morning had
advanced, a deeper gloom was spread across the ocean, and the stars were
gleaming in the heavens like balls of twinkling fire. But now a streak
of pale light showed itself along the horizon, growing brighter, and
widening at each moment, until long fleecy clouds became visible, where
nothing had been seen before but the dim base of the arch that overhung
the dark waters. This expanding light, which, in appearance, might be
compared to a silvery opening in the heavens, was soon tinged with a
pale flush, which quickened with sudden transitions into glows yet
deeper, until a belt of broad flame bounded the water, diffusing itself
more faintly towards the zenith, where it melted into the pearl-colored
sky, or played on the fantastic volumes of a few light clouds with
inconstant glimmering. While these beautiful transitions were still
before the eyes of the youthful admirers of their beauties, a voice was
heard above them, crying as if from the heavens: