“ like Arion
on the dolphin’s back,
I saw him hold acquaintance
with the waves,
So long as I could see.”
Tempest.
There was one curious though half-confounded
observer of all that passed in and around the Cove,
on the morning in question. This personage was
no other than the slave called Bonnie, who was the
factotum of his master, over the demesnes of the Lust
in Rust, during the time when the presence of the
Alderman was required in the city; which was, in truth,
at least four-fifths of the year. Responsibility
and confidence had produced their effect on this negro,
as on more cultivated minds. He had been used
to act in situations of care; and practice had produced
a habit of vigilance and observation, that was not
common in men of his unfortunate condition. There
is no moral truth more certain, than that men, when
once accustomed to this species of domination, as
readily submit their minds, as their bodies, to the
control of others. Thus it is, that we see entire
nations maintaining so many erroneous maxims, merely
because it has suited the interests of those who do
the thinking, to give forth these fallacies to their
followers. Fortunately, however, for the improvement
of the race and the advancement of truth, it is only
necessary to give a man an opportunity to exercise
his natural faculties, in order to make him a reflecting,
and, in some degree, an independent being. Such,
though to a very limited extent, certainly, had been
the consequence, in the instance of the slave just
mentioned.
How far Bonnie had been concerned
in the proceedings between his master and the mariners
of the brigantine, it is unnecessary to say. Little
passed at the villa, of which he was ignorant; and
as curiosity, once awakened, increases its own desire
for indulgence, could he have had his wish, little
would have passed anywhere, near him, without his knowing
something of its nature and import. He had seen,
while seemingly employed with his hoe in the garden
of the Alderman, the trio conveyed by Erasmus across
the inlet; had watched the manner in which they followed
its margin to the shade of the oak, and had seen them
enter the brigantine, as related. That this extraordinary
visit on board a vessel which was in common shrouded
by so much mystery, had given rise to much and unusual
reflection in the mind of the black, was apparent by
the manner in which he so often paused in his labor,
and stood leaning on the handle of his hoe, like one
who mused. He had never known his master so far
overstep his usual caution, as to quit the dwelling,
during the occasional visits of the free-trader; and
yet he had now gone as it were into the very jaws of
the lion, accompanied by the commander of a royal cruiser
himself. No wonder, then, that the vigilance
of the negro became still more active, and that not
even the slightest circumstance was suffered to escape
his admiring eye. During the whole time consumed
by the visit related in the preceding chapter, not
a minute had been suffered to pass, without an inquiring
look in the direction, either of the brigantine, or
of the adjacent shore.
It is scarcely necessary to say how
keen the attention of the slave became, when his master
and his companions were seen to return to the land.
They immediately ascended to the foot of the oak, and
then there was a long and apparently a serious conference
between them. During this consultation, the negro
dropped the end of his hoe, and never suffered his
gaze, for an instant, to alter its direction.
Indeed he scarcely drew breath, until the whole party
quitted the spot together, and buried themselves in
the thicket that covered the cape, taking the direction
of its outer or northern extremity, instead of retiring
by the shore of the Cove, towards the inlet.
Then Bonnie respired heavily, and began to look about
him at the other objects that properly belonged to
the interest of the scene.
The brigantine had run up her boat,
and she now lay, as when first seen, a motionless,
beautiful, and exquisitely graceful fabric, without
the smallest sign about her of an intention to move,
or indeed without exhibiting any other proof, except
in her admirable order and symmetry, that any of human
powers dwelt within her hull. The royal cruiser,
though larger and of far less aerial mould and fashion,
presented the same picture of repose. The distance
between the two was about a league; and Bonnie was
sufficiently familiar with the formation of the land
and of the position of the vessels, to be quite aware
that this inactivity on the part of those whose duty
it was to protect the rights of the Queen, proceeded
from their utter ignorance of the proximity of their
neighbor. The thicket which bounded the Cove
and the growth of oaks and pines that stretched along
the narrow sandy spit of land quite to its extremity,
sufficiently accounted for the fact. The negro,
therefore, after gazing for several minutes at the
two immovable vessels, turned his eye askance on the
earth, shook his head, and then burst into a laugh,
which was so noisy that it caused his sable partner
to thrust her vacant and circular countenance through
an open window of the scullery of the villa, to demand
the reason of a merriment that to her faithful feelings
appeared to be a little unsocial.
“Hey! you alway’ keep
’e queer t’ing to heself, Bonnie, but!”
cried the vixen. “I’m werry glad
to see old bones like a hoe; an’ I wonner dere
ar’ time to laugh, wid ’e garden full
of weed!”
“Grach!” exclaimed the
negro, stretching out an arm in a forensic attitude;
“what a black woman know of politic! If
a hab time to talk, better cook a dinner.
Tell one t’ing, Phyllis, and that be dis;
vy ’e ship of Captain Ludlow no lif’ ‘e
anchor, an’ come take dis rogue in
’e Cove? can a tell dat much, or no? If
no, let a man, who understan’ heself, laugh
much as he like. A little fun no harm Queen Anne,
nor kill ’e Gubbenor!”
“All work and no sleep make
old bone ache, Bonnie, but!” returned the consort.
“Ten o’clock twelve o’clock t’ree
o’clock, and no bed; vell I see ’e sun
afore a black fool put ‘e head on a pillow!
An’ now a hoe go all ’e same as if he
sleep a ten hour. Masser Myn’ert got a heart,
and he no wish to kill he people wid work, or old
Phyllis war’ dead, fifty year, next winter.”
“I t’ink a wench’s
tongue nebber satisfy! What for tell a whole world,
when Bonnie go to bed? He sleep for heself, and
he no sleep for ’e neighborhood! Dere!
A man can’t t’ink of ebery t’ing,
in a minute. Here a ribbon long enough to hang
heself take him, and den remem’er,
Phyllis, dat you be ’e wife of a man who hab
care on he shoul’er.”
Bonnie then set up another laugh,
in which his partner, having quitted her scullery
to seize the gift, which in its colors resembled the
skin of a garter-snake, did not fail to join, through
mere excess of animal delight. The effect of
the gift, however, was to leave the negro to make his
observations, without any further interruption from
one who was a little too apt to disturb his solitude.
A boat was now seen to pull out from
among the bushes that lined the shore; and Bonnie
was enabled to distinguish, in its stern-sheets, the
persons of his master, Ludlow, and the Patroon.
He had been acquainted with the seizure of the Coquette’s
barge, the preceding night, and of the confinement
of the crew. Its appearance in that place, therefore,
occasioned no new surprise. But the time which
past while the men were rowing up to the sloop-of-war,
was filled with minutes of increasing interest.
The black abandoned his hoe, and took a position on
the side of the mountain, that gave him a view of
the whole bay. So long as the mysteries of the
Lust in Rust had been confined to the ordinary combinations
of a secret trade, he had been fully able to comprehend
them; but now that there apparently existed an alliance
so unnatural as one between his master and the cruiser
of the crown, he felt the necessity of double observation
and of greater thought.
A far more enlightened mind than that
of the slave, might have been excited by the expectation,
and the objects which now presented themselves, especially
if sufficiently prepared for events, by a knowledge
of the two vessels in sight. Though the wind still
hung at east, the cloud above the mouth of the Raritan
had at length begun to rise. The broad fleeces
of white vapor, that had lain the whole morning over
the continent, were rapidly uniting; and they formed
already a dark and dense mass, that floated in the
bottom of the estuary, threatening shortly to roll
over the whole of its wide waters. The air was
getting lighter, and variable; and while the wash
of the surf sounded still more audible, its roll upon
the beach was less regular than in the earlier hours
of the day. Such was the state of the two elements,
when the boat touched the side of the ship. In
a minute it was hanging by its tackles, high in the
air; and then it disappeared, in the bosom of the
dark mass.
It far exceeded the intelligence of
Bonnie to detect, now, any further signs of preparation,
in either of the two vessels, which absorbed the whole
of his attention. They appeared to him to be alike
without motion, and equally without people. There
were, it is true, a few specks in the rigging of the
Coquette, which might be men; but the distance prevented
him from being sure of the fact; and, admitting them
to be seamen busied aloft, there were no visible consequences
of their presence, that his uninstructed eye could
trace. In a minute or two, even these scattered
specks were seen no longer; though the attentive black
thought that the mast-heads and the rigging beneath
the tops thickened, as if surrounded by more than
their usual mazes of ropes. At that moment of
suspense, the cloud over the Raritan emitted a flash,
and the sound of distant thunder rolled along the
water. This seemed to be a signal for the cruiser;
for when the eye of Bonnie, which had been directed
to the heavens, returned towards the ship, he saw
that she had opened and hoisted her three top-sails,
seemingly with as little exertion as an eagle would
have spread his wings. The ship now became uneasy;
for the wind came in puffs, and the vessel rolled
lightly, as if struggling to extricate itself from
the hold of its anchor; and then, precisely at the
moment when the shift of wind was felt, an the breeze
came from the cloud in the west, the cruiser whirled
away from its constrained position and appearing, for
a short space, restless as a steed that had broken
from its fastenings, it came up neatly to the wind,
and lay balanced by the action of its sails. There
was another minute, or two, of seeming inactivity,
after which the broad surfaces of the top-sails were
brought in parallel lines. One white sheet was
spread after another, upon the fabric; and Bonnie saw
that the Coquette, the swiftest cruiser of the crown
in those seas, was dashing out from the land, under
a cloud of canvas.
All this time, the brigantine, in
the Cove, lay quietly at her anchor. When the
wind shifted, the light hull swang with its currents,
and the image of the sea-green lady was seen offering
her dark cheek to be fanned by the breeze. But
she alone seemed to watch over the fortunes of her
followers; for no other eye could be seen, looking
out on the danger that began so seriously to threaten
them, both from the heavens, and from a more certain
and intelligible, foe.
As the wind was fresh, though unsteady,
the Coquette moved through the water with a velocity
that did no discredit to her reputation for speed.
At first, it seemed to be the intention of the royal
cruiser to round the cape, and gain an offing in the
open sea; for her head was directed northwardly; but
no sooner had she cleared the curve of the little bight
which from its shape is known by the name of the Horse-Shoe,
than she was seen shooting directly into the eye of
the wind, and falling off with the graceful and easy
motion of a ship in stays, her head looking towards
the Lust in Rust. Her design on the notorious
dealer in contraband was now too evident to admit
of doubt.
Still, the Water-Witch betrayed no
symptoms of alarm. The meaning eye of the image
seemed to study the motions of her adversary, with
all the understanding of an intelligent being; and
occasionally the brigantine turned slightly in the
varying currents of the air, as if volition directed
the movements of the little fabric. These changes
resembled the quick and slight movements of the hound,
as he lifts his head in his lair, to listen to some
distant sound, or to scent some passing taint in the
gale.
In the mean time, the approach of
the ship was so swift as to cause the negro to shake
his head, with a meaning that exceeded even his usually
important look. Every thing was propitious to
her progress; and, as the water of the Cove, during
the periods that the inlet remained open, was known
to be of a sufficient depth to admit of her entrance,
the faithful Bonnie began to anticipate a severe blow
to the future fortunes of his master. The only
hope, that one could perceive, for the escape of the
smuggler, was in the changes of the heavens.
Although the threatening cloud had
now quitted the mouth of the Raritan, and was rolling
eastward with fearful velocity, it had not yet broken.
The air had the unnatural and heated appearance which
precedes a gust; but, with the exception of a few
large drops, that fell seemingly from a clear sky,
it was as yet what is called a dry squall. The
water of the bay was occasionally dark, angry, and
green; and there were moments when it would appear
as if heavy currents of air descended to its surface,
wantonly to try their power on the sister element.
Notwithstanding these sinister omens, the Coquette
stood on her course, without lessening the wide surfaces
of her canvas, by a single inch. They who governed
her movements were no men of the lazy Levant, nor
of the mild waters of the Mediterranean, to tear their
hair, and call on saints to stand between their helplessness
and harm; but mariners trained in a boisterous sea,
and accustomed to place their first dependence on
their own good manhood, aided by the vigilance and
skill of a long and severely-exercised experience.
A hundred eyes on board that cruiser watched the advance
of the rolling cloud, or looked upon the play of light
and shade, that caused the color of the water to vary;
but it was steadily, and with an entire dependence
on the discretion of the young officer who controlled
the movements of the ship.
Ludlow himself paced the deck, with
all his usual composure, so far as might be seen by
external signs; though, in reality, his mind was agitated
by feelings that were foreign to the duties of his
station. He too had thrown occasional glances
at the approaching squall, but his eye was far oftener
riveted on the motionless brigantine, which was now
distinctly to be seen from the deck of the Coquette,
still riding at her anchor. The cry of ‘a
stranger in the cove!’ which, a few moments before,
came out of one of the tops, caused no surprise in
the commander; while the crew, wondering but obedient,
began, for the first time, to perceive the object
of their strange manoeuvres. Even the officer,
next in authority to the captain, had not presumed
to make any inquiry, though, now that the object of
their search was so evidently in view, he felt emboldened
to presume on his rank, and to venture a remark.
“It is a sweet craft!”
said the staid lieutenant, yielding to an admiration
natural to his habits, “and one that might serve
as a yacht for the Queen! This is some trifler
with the revenue, or perhaps a buccaneer from the
islands. The fellow shows no ensign!”
“Give him notice, Sir, that
he has to do with one who bears the royal commission,”
returned Ludlow, speaking from habit, and half-unconscious
of what he said. “We must teach these rovers
to respect a pennant.”
The report of the cannon startled
the absent man and caused him to remember the order.
“Was that gun shotted?”
he asked, in a tone that sounded like rebuke.
“Shotted, but pointed wide,
Sir; merely a broad hint. We are no dealers in
dumb show, in the Coquette, Captain Ludlow.”
“I would not injure the vessel,
even should it prove a buccaneer. Be careful,
that nothing strikes her, without an order.”
“Ay, ’twill be well to
take the beauty alive, Sir; so pretty a boat should
not be broken up, like an old hulk. Ha! there
goes his bunting, at last! He shows a white field can
the fellow be a Frenchman, after all?”
The lieutenant took a glass, and for
a moment applied it to his eye, with the usual steadiness.
Then he suffered the instrument to fall, and it would
seem that he endeavored to recall the different flags
that he had seen during the experience of many years.
“This joker should come from
some terra incognita;” he said.
“Here is a woman in his field, with an ugly
countenance, too, unless the glass play me false as
I live, the rogue has her counterpart for a figure-head! Will
you look at the ladies, Sir?”
Ludlow took the glass, and it was
not without curiosity that he turned it toward the
colors the hardy smuggler dared to exhibit, in presence
of a cruiser. The vessels were, by this time,
sufficiently near each other, to enable him to distinguish
the swarthy features and malign smile of the sea-green
lady, whose form was wrought in the field of the ensign,
with the same art as that which he had seen so often
displayed in other parts of the brigantine. Amazed
at the daring of the free-trader, he returned the
glass, and continued to pace the deck, in silence.
There stood near the two speakers an officer whose
head and form began to show the influence of time,
and who, from his position, had unavoidably been an
auditor of what passed. Though the eye of this
person, who was the sailing-master of the sloop, was
rarely off the threatening cloud, except to glance
along the wide show of canvas that was spread, he found
a moment to take a look at the stranger.
“A half-rigged brig, with her
fore-top-gallant-mast fidded abaft, a double martingale,
and a standing gaft;” observed the methodical
and technical mariner, as another would have recounted
the peculiarities of complexion, or of feature, in
some individual who was the subject of a personal
description. “The rogue has no need of showing
his brazen-faced trull to be known! I chased
him, for six-and-thirty hours, in the chops of St.
George’s, no later than the last season; and
the fellow ran about us, like a dolphin playing under
a ship’s fore-foot. We had him, now on our
weather bow, and now crossing our course, and, once
in a while, in our wake, as if he had been a Mother
Carey’s chicken looking for our crumbs.
He seems snug enough in that cove, to be sure, and
yet I’ll wager the pay of any month in the twelve,
that he gives us the slip. Captain Ludlow, the
brigantine under our lee, here, in Spermaceti, is
the well-known Skimmer of the Seas!”
“The Skimmer of the Seas!”
echoed twenty voices, in a manner to show the interest
created by the unexpected information.
“I’ll swear to his character
before any Admiralty Judge in England, or even in
France, should there be occasion to go into an outlandish
court but no need of an oath, when here
is a written account I took, with my own hands, having
the chase in plain view, at noon-day.” While
speaking, the sailing-master drew a tobacco-box from
his pocket, and removing a coil of pig-tail, he came
to a deposit of memorandums, that vied with the weed
itself in colors. “Now, gentlemen,”
he continued, “you shall have her build, as
justly as if the master-carpenter had laid it down
with his rule. ’Remember to bring a muff
of marten’s fur from America, for Mrs. Trysail buy
it in London, and swear’ this is not
the paper I let your boy, Mr. Luff, stow
away the last entry of tobacco for me, and the young
dog has disturbed every document I own. This is
the way the government accounts get jammed, when Parliament
wants to overhaul them. But I suppose young blood
will have its run! I let a monkey into a church
of a Saturday night myself, when a youngster, and he
made such stowage of the prayer-books, that the whole
parish was by the ears for six months; and there is
one quarrel between two old ladies, that has not been
made up to this hour. Ah! here we have it: ’Skimmer
of the Seas. Full-rigged forward, with
fore-and-aft mainsail, abaft; a gaff-top-sail; taut
in his spars, with light top-hamper; neat in his gear,
as any beauty Carries a ring-tail in light
weather; main-boom like a frigate’s top-sail-yard,
with a main-top-mast-stay-sail as big as a jib.
Low in the water, with a woman figure-head; carries
sail more like a devil than a human being, and lies
within five points, when jammed up hard on a wind.’
Here are marks by which one of Queen Anne’s maids
of honor might know the rogue; and there you see them
all, as plainly as human nature can show them in a
ship!”
“The Skimmer of the Seas!”
repeated the young officers, who had crowded round
the veteran tar, to hear this characteristic description
of the notorious free-trader.
“Skimmer or flyer, we have him
now, dead under our lee, with a sandy beach on three
of his sides, and the wind in his eye!” cried
the first-lieutenant.
“You shall have an opportunity,
Master Trysail, of correcting your account, by actual
measurement.”
The sailing-master shook his head,
like one who doubted, and again turned his eye on
the approaching cloud.
The Coquette, by this time, had run
so far as to have the entrance of the Cove open; and
she was separated from her object, only by a distance
of a few cables’-length. In obedience to
an order given by Ludlow, all the light canvas of
the ship was taken in, and the vessel was left under
her three top-sails and gib. There remained,
however, a question as to the channel; for it was
not usual for ships of the Coquette’s draught,
to be seen in that quarter of the bay, and the threatening
state of the weather rendered caution doubly necessary.
The pilot shrunk from a responsibility which did not
properly belong to his office, since the ordinary navigation
had no concern with that secluded place; and even Ludlow,
stimulated as he was by so many powerful motives,
hesitated to incur a risk which greatly exceeded his
duty. There was something so remarkable in the
apparent security of the smuggler, that it naturally
led to the belief he was certain of being protected
by some known obstacle, and it was decided to sound
before the ship was hazarded. An offer to carry
the free-trader with the boats, though plausible in
itself, and perhaps the wisest course of all, was
rejected by the commander, on an evasive plea of its
being of uncertain issue, though, in truth, because
he felt an interest in one whom he believed the brigantine
to contain, which entirely forbade the idea of making
the vessel the scene of so violent a struggle.
A yawl was therefore lowered into the water, the main-top-sail
of the ship was thrown to the mast; and Ludlow himself,
accompanied by the pilot and the master, proceeded
to ascertain the best approach to the smuggler.
A flash of lightning, with one of those thunder-claps
that are wont to be more terrific on this continent
than in the other hemisphere, warned the young mariner
of the necessity of haste, if he would regain his ship,
before the cloud, which still threatened them, should
reach the spot where she lay. The boat pulled
briskly into the Cove, both the master and the pilot
sounding on each side, as fast as the leads could be
cast from their hands and recovered.
“This will do;” said Ludlow,
when they had ascertained that they could enter.
“I would lay the ship as close as possible to
the brigantine, for I distrust her quiet. We
will go nearer.”
“A brazen witch, and one whose
saucy eye and pert figure might lead any honest mariner
into contraband, or even into a sea-robbery!”
half-whispered Trysail, perhaps afraid to trust his
voice within hearing of a creature that seemed almost
endowed with the faculties of life. “Ay,
this is the hussy! I know her by the book, and
her green jacket! But where are her people?
The vessel is as quiet as the royal vault on a coronation-day,
when the last king, and those who went before him,
commonly have the place to themselves. Here would
be a pretty occasion to throw a boat’s-crew
on her decks, and haul down yon impudent ensign, which
bears the likeness of this wicked lady, so bravely
in the air, if------”
“If what?” asked Ludlow,
struck with the plausible character of the proposal.
“Why, if one were sure of the
nature of such a minx, Sir; for to own the truth,
I would rather deal with a regularly-built Frenchman,
who showed his guns honestly, and kept such a jabbering
aboard that one might tell his bearings in the dark. The
creature spoke!”
Ludlow did not reply, for a heavy
crash of thunder succeeded the vivid glow of a flash
of lightning, and glared so suddenly across the swarthy
linéaments as to draw the involuntary exclamation
from Trysail. The intimation that came from the
cloud, was not to be disregarded. The wind, which
had so long varied, began to be heard in the rigging
of the silent brigantine; and the two elements exhibited
unequivocal evidence, in their menacing and fitful
colors of the near approach of the gust. The young
sailor, with an absorbing interest, turned his eyes
on his ship. The yards were on the caps, the
bellying canvas was fluttering far to leeward, and
twenty or thirty human forms on each spar, showed that
the nimble-fingered top-men were gathering in and
knotting the sails down to a close reef.
“Give way, men, for your lives!” cried
the excited Ludlow.
A single dash of the oars was heard,
and the yawl was already twenty feet from the mysterious
image. Then followed a desperate struggle to regain
the cruiser, ere the gust should strike her. The
sullen murmur of the wind, rushing through the rigging
of the ship, was audible some time before they reached
her side; and the struggles between the fabric and
the elements, were at moments so evident, as to cause
the young commander to fear he would be too late.
The foot of Ludlow touched the deck
of the Coquette, at the instant the weight of the
squall fell upon her sails. He no longer thought
of any interest but that of the moment; for, with
all the feelings of a seaman, his mind was now full
of his ship.
“Let run every thing!”
shouted the ready officer, in a voice that made itself
heard above the roar of the wind. “Clue
down, and hand! Away aloft, you top-men! lay
out! furl away!”
These orders were given in rapid succession,
and witout a trumpet, for the young man could, at
need, speak loud as the tempest. They were succeeded
by one of those exciting and fearful minutes that are
so familiar to mariners. Each man was intent
on his duty, while the elements worked their will
around him, as madly as if the hand by which they are
ordinarily restrained was for ever removed. The
bay was a sheet of foam, while the rushing of the
gust resembled the dull rumbling of a thousand chariots.
The ship yielded to the pressure, until the water was
seen gushing through her lee-scuppers, and her tall
line of masts inclined towards the plane of the bay,
as if the ends of the yards were about to dip into
the water. But this was no more than the first
submission to the shock. The well-moulded fabric
recovered its balance, and struggled through its element,
as if conscious that there was security only in motion.
Ludlow glanced his eye to leeward. The opening
of the Cove was favorably situated, and he caught
a glimpse of the spars of the brigantine, rocking
violently in the squall. He spoke to demand if
the anchors were clear, and then he was heard, shouting
again from his station in the weather gangway
“Hard a-weather! ”
The first efforts of the cruiser to
obey her helm, stripped as she was of canvas, were
labored and slow. But when her head began to fall
off, the driving scud was scarce swifter than her
motion. At that moment, the sluices of the cloud
opened, and a torrent of rain mingled in the uproar,
and added to the confusion. Nothing was now visible
but the lines of the falling water, and the sheet
of white foam through which the ship was glancing.
“Here is the land, Sir!”
bellowed Trysail, from a cat-head, where he stood
resembling some venerable sea-god, dripping with his
native element. “We are passing it, like
a race-horse!”
“See your bowers clear!” shouted back
the captain.
“Ready, Sir, ready ”
Ludlow motioned to the men at the
wheel, to bring the ship to the wind; and when her
way was sufficiently deadened, two ponderous anchors
dropped, at another signal, into the water. The
vast fabric was not checked without a further and
tremendous struggle. When the bows felt the restraint,
the ship swung head to wind, and fathom after fathom
of the enormous ropes were extracted, by surges so
violent as to cause the hull to quiver to its centre.
But the first lieutenant and Trysail were no novices
in their duty, and, in less than a minute, they had
secured the vessel steadily at her anchors. When
this important service was performed, officers and
crew stood looking at each other, like men who had
just made a hazardous and fearful experiment.
The view again opened, and objects on the land became
visible through the still falling rain. The change
was like that from night to day. Men who had
passed their lives on the sea drew long and relieving
breaths, conscious that the danger was happily passed.
As the more pressing interest of their own situation
abated they remembered the object of their search.
All eyes were turned in quest of the smuggler; but,
by some inexplicable means, he had disappeared.
‘The Skimmer of the Seas!’
and ‘What has become of the brigantine?’
were exclamations that the discipline of a royal cruiser
could not repress. They were repeated by a hundred
mouths, while twice as many eyes sought to find the
beautiful fabric. All looked in vain. The
spot where the Water-Witch had so lately lain, was
vacant, and no vestige of her wreck lined the shores
of the Cove. During the time the ship was handing
her sails, and preparing to enter the Cove, no one
had leisure to look for the stranger; and after the
vessel had anchored, until that moment, it was not
possible to see her length, on any side of them.
There was still a dense mass of falling water moving
seaward; but the curious and anxious eyes of Ludlow
made fruitless efforts to penetrate its secrets.
Once indeed, more than an hour after the gust had
reached his own ship, and when the ocean in the offing
was clear and calm, he thought he could distinguish,
far to seaward, the delicate tracery of a vessel’s
spars, drawn against the horizon, without any canvas
set. But a second look did not assure him of
the truth of the conjecture.
There were many extraordinary tales
related that night, on board Her Britannic Majesty’s
ship Coquette. The boatswain affirmed that, while
piping below in order to overhaul the cables, he had
heard a screaming in the air, that sounded as if a
hundred devils were mocking him, and which he told
the gunner, in confidence, he believed was no more
than the winding of a call on board the brigantine,
who had taken occasion, when other vessels were glad
to anchor, to get under way, in her own fashion.
There was also a fore-top-man named Robert Yarn, a
fellow whose faculty for story-telling equalled that
of Scheherazade, and who not only asserted, but who
confirmed the declaration by many strange oaths, that
while he lay on the lee-fore-top-sail-yard-arm, stretching
forth an arm to grasp the leech of the sail, a dark-looking
female fluttered over his head and caused her long
hair to whisk into his face, in a manner that compelled
him to shut his eyes, which gave occasion to a smart
reprimand from the reefer of the top. There was
a feeble attempt to explain this assault, by the man
who lay next to Yarn, who affected to think the hair
was no more than the end of a gasket whipping in the
wind; but his shipmate, who had pulled one of the
oars of the yawl, soon silenced this explanation,
by the virtue of his long-established reputation for
veracity. Even Trysail ventured several mysterious
conjectures concerning the fate of the brigantine,
in the gun-room; but, on returning from the duty of
sounding the inlet, whither he had been sent by his
captain, he was less communicative and more thoughtful
than usual. It appeared, indeed, from the surprise
that was manifested by every officer that heard the
report of the quarter-master, who had given the casts
of the lead on this service, that no one in the ship,
with the exception of Alderman Van Beverout, was at
all aware that there was rather more than two fathoms
of water in that secret passage.