“ Please
you, read.”
Cymbeline.
“It is past!” said the
‘Skimmer of the Seas,’ raising himself
from the attitude of great muscular exertion, which
he had assumed in order to support the mess-chest,
and walking out along the single mast, towards the
spot whence the four seamen of Ludlow had just been
swept. “It is past! and those who are called
to the last account, have met their fate in such a
scene as none but a seaman may witness; while those
who are spared, have need of all a seaman’s
skill and resolution for that which remains!
Captain Ludlow, I do not despair; for, see, the lady
of the brigantine has still a smile for her servitors!”
Ludlow, who had followed the steady
and daring free-trader to the place where the spar
had fallen, turned and cast a look in the direction
that the other stretched his arm. Within a hundred
feet of him, he saw the image of the sea-green lady,
rocking in the agitated water, and turned towards
the raft, with its usual expression of wild and malicious
intelligence. This emblem of their fancied mistress
had been borne in front of the smugglers, when they
mounted the poop of the Coquette; and the steeled
staff on which the lantern was perched, had been struck
into a horse-bucket by the standard-bearer of the
moment, ere he entered the melee of the combat.
During the conflagration, this object had more than
once met the eye of Ludlow; and now it appeared floating
quietly by him, in a manner almost to shake even his
contempt for the ordinary superstitions of seamen.
While he hesitated in what manner he should reply
to his companion’s remark, the latter plunged
into the sea, and swam towards the light. He
was soon by the side of the raft again bearing aloft
the symbol of his brigantine. There are none so
firm in the dominion of reason, as to be entirely
superior to the secret impulses which teach us all
to believe in the hidden agency of a good or an evil
fortune. The voice of the free-trader was more
cheerful, and his step more sure and elastic, as he
crossed the stage and struck the armed end of the staff
into that part of the top-rim of the Coquette, which
floated uppermost.
“Courage!” he gaily cried.
“While this light burns, my star is not set!
Courage, lady of the land; for here is one of the deep
waters, who still looks kindly on her followers!
We are at sea, on a frail craft it is certain, but
a dull sailer may make a sure passage. Speak,
gallant Master Seadrift: thy gaiety and spirit
should revive under so goodly an omen!”
But the agent of so many pleasant
masquerades, and the instrument of so much of his
artifice, had not a fortitude equal to the buoyant
temper of the smuggler. The counterfeit bowed
his head by the side of the silent Alida, without
reply. The ‘Skimmer of the Seas’ regarded
the group, a moment, with manly interest; and then
touching the arm of Ludlow, he walked, with a balancing
step, along the spars, until they had reached a spot
where they might confer without causing unnecessary
alarm to their companions.
Although so imminent and so pressing
a danger as that of the explosion had passed, the
situation of those who had escaped was scarcely better
than that of those who had been lost. The heavens
showed a few glimmering stars in the openings of the
clouds; and now, that the first contrast of the change
had lessened, there was just enough light to render
all the features of their actual state gloomily imposing.
It has been said, that the fore-mast
of the Coquette went by the board, with most of its
hamper aloft. The sails, with such portion of
the rigging as might help to sustain it, had been
hastily cut away as related; and after its fall, until
the moment of the explosion, the common men had been
engaged, either in securing the staging, or in clearing
the wreck of those heavy ropes which, useless as fastenings,
only added to the weight of the mass. The whole
wreck lay upon the sea, with the yards crossed and
in their places, much as the spars had stood.
The large booms had been unshipped, and laid in such
a manner around the top, with the ends resting on
the lower and top-sail yards, as to form the foundation
of the staging. The smaller booms, with the mess-chest
and shot-boxes, were all that lay between the group
in the centre, and the depths of the ocean. The
upper part of the top-rim rose a few feet above the
water, and formed an important protection against
the night-breeze and the constant washing of the waves.
In this manner were the females seated, cautioned not
to trust their feet on the frail security of the booms,
and supported by the unremitting care of the Alderman.
Francois had submitted to be lashed to the top by
one of the brigantine’s seamen, while the latter,
all of the common herd who remained, encouraged by
the presence of their standard-light, began to occupy
themselves in looking to the fastenings and other
securities of the raft.
“We are in no condition for
a long or an active cruise, Captain Ludlow,”
said the Skimmer, when he and his companion were out
of hearing. “I have been at sea in all
weathers, and in every description of craft; but this
is the boldest of my experiments on the water. I
hope it may not be the last!”
“We cannot conceal from ourselves
the frightful hazards we run,” returned Ludlow,
“however much we may wish them to be a secret
to some among us.”
“This is truly a deserted sea,
to be abroad in, on a raft! Were we in the narrow
passages between the British islands and the Main,
or even in the Biscay waters, there would be hope
that some trader or roving cruiser might cross our
track; but our chance here lies much between the Frenchman
and the brigantine.”
“The enemy has doubtless seen
and heard the explosion, and, as the land is so near,
they will infer that the people are saved in the boats.
Our chance of seeing more of them is much diminished
by the accident of the fire, since there will no longer
be a motive for remaining on the coast.”
“And will your young officers
abandon their captain without a search?”
“Hope of aid from that quarter
is faint. The ship ran miles while in flames,
and, before the light returns, these spars will have
drifted leagues, with the ebbing tide, to seaward.”
“Truly, I have sailed with better
auguries!” observed the Skimmer “What
are the bearings and distance of the land?”
“It still lies to the north,
but we are fast setting east and southerly. Ere
morning we shall be abeam of Montauk, or even beyond
it; we must already be some leagues in the offing.”
“That is worse than I had imagined! but
there is hope on the flood?”
“The flood will bear us northward
again but what think you of the
heavens?”
“Unfavorable, though not desperate.
The sea-breeze will return with the sun.”
“And with it will return the
swell! How long will these ill-secured spars
hold together, when agitated by the heave of the water?
Or, how long will those with us bear up against the
wash of the sea, unsupported by nourishment?”
“You paint in gloomy colors,
Captain Ludlow,” said the free-trader, drawing
a heavy breath, in spite of all his resolution.
“My experience tells me you are right, though
my wishes would fain contradict you. Still, I
think we have the promise of a tranquil night.”
“Tranquil for a ship, or even
for a boat; but hazardous to a raft like this.
You see that this top-mast already works in the cap,
at each heave of the water, and as the wood loosens,
our security lessens.”
“Thy council is not flattering! Captain
Ludlow, you are a seaman and a man, and I shall not
attempt to trifle with your knowledge. With you,
I think the danger imminent, and almost our only hope
dependent on the good fortune of my brigantine.”
“Will those in her think it
their duty to quit their anchorage, to come in quest
of a raft whose existence is unknown to them?”
“There is hope in the vigilance
of her of the sea-green mantle! You may deem
this fanciful, or even worse, at such a moment; but
I, who have run so many gauntlets under her favor,
have faith in her fortunes. Surely, you are not
a seaman, Captain Ludlow, without a secret dependence
on some unseen and potent agency!”
“My dependence is placed in
the agency of him who is all-potent, but never visible.
If he forget us, we may indeed despair!”
“This is well, but it is not
the fortune I would express. Believe me, spite
of an education which teaches all you have said, and
of a reason that is often too clear for folly, there
is a secret reliance on hidden chances, that has been
created by a life of activity and hazard, and which,
if it should do nothing better, does not abandon me
to despair. The omen of the light and the smile
of my mistress would cheer me, spite of a thousand
philosophers!”
“You are fortunate in purchasing
consolation so cheaply;” returned the commander
of Queen Anne, who felt a latent hope in his companion’s
confidence that he would have hesitated to acknowledge.
“I see but little that we can do to aid our
chances, except it be to clear away all unnecessary
weight, and to secure the raft as much as possible
by additional lashings.”
The ‘Skimmer of the Seas’
assented to the proposal. Consulting a moment
longer, on the details of their expedients, they rejoined
the group near the top, in order to see them executed.
As the seamen on the raft were reduced to the two
people of the brigantine, Ludlow and his companion
were obliged to assist in the performance of the duty.
Much useless rigging, that added to
the pressure without aiding the buoyancy of the raft,
was cut away; and all the boom-irons were knocked
off the yards, and suffered to descend to the bottom
of the ocean. By these means a great weight was
taken from the raft, which in consequence floated
with so much additional power to sustain those who
depended on it for life. The Skimmer, accompanied
by his two silent but obedient seamen, ventured along
the attenuated and submerged spars to the extremity
of the tapering masts, and after toiling, with the
dexterity of men accustomed to deal with the complicated
machinery of a ship in the darkest nights, they succeeded
in releasing the two smaller masts with their respective
yards, and in floating them down to the body of the
wreck, or the part around the top. Here the sticks
were crossed in a manner to give great additional
strength and footing to the stage.
There was an air of hope, and a feeling
of increased security, in this employment. Even
the Alderman and Francois aided in the task, to the
extent of their knowledge and force. But when
these alterations were made, and additional lashings
had been applied to keep the top-mast and the larger
yards in their places, Ludlow, by joining those who
were around the mast-head, tacitly admitted that little
more could be done to avert the chances of the elements.
During the few hours occupied in this
important duty, Alida and her companion addressed
themselves to God, in long and fervent petitions.
With woman’s faith in that divine being who
alone could avail them, and with woman’s high
mental fortitude in moments of protracted trial, they
had both known how to control the exhibition of their
terrors, and had sought their support in the same
appeal to a power superior to all of earth. Ludlow
was therefore more than rewarded by the sound of Alida’s
voice, speaking to him cheerfully, as she thanked
him for what he had done, when he admitted that he
could now do no more.
“The rest is with Providence!”
added Alida. “All that bold and skilful
seamen can do, have ye done; and all that woman in
such a situation can do, have we done in your behalf!”
“Thou hast thought of me in
thy prayers, Alida! It is an intercession that
the stoutest needs, and which none but the fool derides.”
“And thou, Eudora! thou hast
remembered him who quiets the waters!” said a
deep voice, near the bending form of the counterfeit
Seadrift.
“I have.”
“’Tis well. There
are points to which manhood and experience may pass,
and there are those where all is left to one mightier
than the elements!”
Words like these, coming from the
lips of one of the known character of the ‘Skimmer
of the Seas,’ were not given to the winds.
Even Ludlow cast an uneasy look at the heavens, when
they came upon his ear, as if they conveyed a secret
notice of the whole extremity of the danger by which
they were environed. None answered; and a long
silence succeeded, during which some of the more fatigued
slumbered uneasily, spite of their fearful situation.
In this manner did the night pass,
in weariness and anxiety. Little was said, and
for hours scarce a limb was moved, in the group that
clustered around the mess-chest. As the signs
of day appeared, however, every faculty was keenly
awake, to catch the first signs of what they had to
hope, or the first certainty of what they had to fear.
The surface of the ocean was still
smooth, though the long swells in which the element
was heaving and setting, sufficiently indicated that
the raft had floated far from the land. This
fact was rendered sure, when the light, which soon
appeared along the eastern margin of the narrow view,
was shed gradually over the whole horizon. Nothing
was at first visible, but one gloomy and vacant waste
of water. But a cry of joy from Seadrift, whose
senses had long been practised in ocean sights, soon
drew all eyes in the direction opposite to that of
the rising sun, and it was not long before all on
the low raft had a view of the snowy surfaces of a
ship’s sails, as the glow of morning touched
the canvas.
“It is the Frenchman!”
said the free-trader. “He is charitably
looking for the wreck of his late enemy!”
“It may be so, for our fate
can be no secret to him;” was the answer of
Ludlow. “Unhappily, we had run some distance
from the anchorage, before the flames broke out.
Truly, those with whom we so lately struggled for
life, are bent on a duty of humanity.”
“Ah, yonder is his crippled
consort! to leeward many a league.
The gay bird has been too sadly stripped of its plumage,
to fly so near the wind! This is man’s
fortune! He uses his power, at one moment, to
destroy the very means that become necessary to his
safety, the next.”
“And what think you of our hopes?”
asked Alida, searching in the countenance of Ludlow
a clue to their fate. “Does the stranger
move in a direction favorable to our wishes?”
Neither Ludlow nor the Skimmer replied.
Both regarded the frigate intently, and then, as objects
became more distinct, both answered, by a common impulse,
that the ship was steering directly towards them.
The declaration excited general hope, and even the
negress was no longer restrained by her situation
from expressing her joy in vociferous exclamations
of delight.
A few minutes of active and ready
exertion succeeded. A light boom was unlashed
from the raft, and raised on its end, supporting a
little signal, made of the handkerchiefs of the party,
which fluttered in the light breeze, at the elevation
of some twenty feet above the surface of the water.
After this precaution was observed, they were obliged
to await the result in such patience as they could
assume. Minute passed after minute, and, at each
moment, the form and proportions of the ship became
more distinct, until all the mariners of the party
declared they could distinguish men on her yards.
A cannon would have readily sent its shot from the
ship to the raft, and yet no sign betrayed the consciousness
of those in the former of the proximity of the latter.
“I do not like his manner of
steering!” observed the Skimmer to the silent
and attentive Ludlow. “He yaws broadly,
as if disposed to give up the search. God grant
him the heart to continue on his course ten minutes
longer!”
“Have we no means of making
ourselves heard?” demanded the Alderman.
“Methinks the voice of a strong man might be
sent thus far across the water when life is the stake.”
The more experienced shook their heads;
but, not discouraged, the burgher raised his voice
with a power that was sustained by the imminency of
the peril. He was joined by the seamen, and even
Ludlow lent his aid, until all were hoarse with the
fruitless efforts. Men were evidently aloft, and
in some numbers, searching the ocean with their eyes,
but still no answering signal came from the vessel.
The ship continued to approach, and
the raft was less than half a mile from her bows,
when the vast fabric suddenly receded from the breeze,
showed the whole of its glittering broadside, and,
swinging its yards, betrayed by its new position that
the search in that direction was abandoned. The
instant Ludlow saw the filling-off of the frigate’s
bows, he cried
“Now, raise your voices together; this
is the final chance!”
They united in a common shout, with
the exception of the ’Skimmer of the Seas.’
The latter leaned against the top with folded arms,
listening to their impotent efforts with a melancholy
smile.
“It is well attempted,”
said the calm and extraordinary seaman when the clamor
had ceased, advancing along the raft and motioning
for all to be silent; “but it has failed.
The swinging of the yards, and the orders given in
waring ship, would prevent a stronger sound from being
audible to men so actively employed. I flatter
none with hope, but this is truly the moment for a
final effort.”
He placed his hands to his mouth,
and, disregarding words, he raised a cry so clear,
so powerful, and yet so full, that it seemed impossible
those in the vessel should not hear. Thrice did
he repeat the experiment, though it was evident that
each successive exertion was feebler than the last.
“They hear!” cried Alida.
“There is a movement in the sails!”
“’Tis the beeeze freshening;”
answered Ludlow in sadness, at her side. “Each
moment takes them away!”
The melancholy truth was too apparent
for denial, and for half an hour the retiring ship
was watched in the bitterness of disappointment.
At the end of that time, she fired a gun, spread additional
canvas on her wide booms, and stood away before the
wind, to join her consort, whose upper sails were
already dipping to the surface of the sea, in the southern
board. With this change in her movements, vanished
all expectation of succor from the cruiser of the
enemy.
Perhaps, in every situation of life,
it is necessary that hope should be first lessened
by disappointment, before the buoyancy of the human
mind will permit it to descend to the level of an
evil fortune. Until a frustrated effort teaches
him the difficulty of the attempt, he who has fallen
may hope to rise again; and it is only when an exertion
has been made with lessened means, that we learn the
value of advantages, which have perhaps been long
enjoyed, with a very undue estimate of their importance.
Until the stern of the French frigate was seen retiring
from the raft, those who were on it had not been fully
sensible of the extreme danger of their situation.
Hope had been strongly excited by the return of dawn;
for while the shadows of night lay on the ocean, their
situation resembled that of one who strove to pierce
the obscurity of the future, in order to obtain a
presage of better fortunes. With the light had
come the distant sail. As the day advanced, the
ship had approached, relinquished her search, and
disappeared, without a prospect of her return.
The stoutest heart among the group
on the raft began to sink at the gloomy fate which
now seemed inevitable.
“Here is an evil omen!”
whispered Ludlow, directing his companion’s eyes
to the dark and pointed fins of three or four sharks,
that were gliding above the surface of the water,
and in so fearful a proximity to their persons, as
to render their situation on the low spars, over which
the water was washing and retiring at each rise and
fall of the waves, doubly dangerous. “The
creature’s instinct speaks ill for our hopes!”
“There is a belief among seamen,
that these animals feel a secret impulse, which directs
them to their prey;” returned the Skimmer.
“But fortune may yet balk them. Rogerson!”
calling to one of his followers; “thy
pockets are rarely wanting in a fisherman’s
tackle. Hast thou, haply, line and hook, for
these hungry miscreants? The question is getting
narrowed to one, in which the simplest philosophy
is the wisest. When eat or to be eaten, is the
mooted point, most men will decide for the former.”
A hook of sufficient size was soon
produced, and a line was quietly provided from some
of the small cordage that still remained about the
masts. A piece of leather, torn from a spar, answered
for the bait; and the lure was thrown. Extreme
hunger seemed to engross the voracious animals, who
darted at the imaginary prey with the rapidity of lightning.
The shock was so sudden and violent, that the hapless
mariner was drawn from his slippery and precarious
footing, into the sea. The whole passed with
a frightful and alarming rapidity. A common cry
of horror was heard, and the last despairing glance
of the fallen man was witnessed. The mutilated
body floated for an instant in its blood, with the
look of agony and terror still imprinted on the conscious
countenance. At the next moment, it had become
food for the monsters of the sea.
All had passed away, but the deep
dye on the surface of the ocean. The gorged fish
disappeared; but the dark spot remained near the immovable
raft, as if placed there to warn the survivors of their
fate.
“This is horrible!” said Ludlow.
“A sail!” shouted the
Skimmer, whose voice and tone, breaking in on that
moment of intense horror and apprehension, sounded
like a cry from the heavens. “My gallant
brigantine!”
“God grant she come with better
fortune than those who have so lately left us!”
“God grant it, truly! If
this hope fail, there is none left. Few pass
here, and we have had sufficient proof that our top-gallants
are not so lofty as to catch every eye.”
All attention was now bestowed on
the white speck which was visible on the margin of
the ocean, and which the ‘Skimmer of the Seas’
confidently pronounced to be the Water-Witch.
None but a seaman could have felt this certainty;
for, seen from the low raft, there was little else
to be distinguished but the heads of the upper sails.
The direction too was unfavorable, as it was to leeward;
but both Ludlow and the free-trader assured their
companions, that the vessel was endeavoring to beat
in with the land.
The two hours that succeeded lingered
like days of misery. So much depended on a variety
of events, that every circumstance was noted by the
seamen of the party, with an interest bordering on
agony. A failure of the wind might compel the
vessel to remain stationary, and then both brigantine
and raft would be at the mercy of the uncertain currents
of the ocean; a change of wind might cause a change
of course, and render a meeting impossible; an increase
of the breeze might cause destruction, even before
the succor could come. In addition to these obvious
hazards, there were all the chances which were dependent
on the fact that the people of the brigantine had
every reason to believe the fate of the party was
already sealed.
Still, fortune seemed propitious;
for the breeze, though steady, was light, the intention
of the vessel was evidently to pass somewhere near
them, and the hope that their object was search, so
strong and plausible, as to exhilarate every bosom.
At the expiration of the time named,
the brigantine passed the raft to leeward, and so
near as to render the smaller objects in her rigging
distinctly visible.
“The faithful fellows are looking
for us!” exclaimed the free-trader, with strong
emotion in his voice. “They are men to scour
the coast, ere they abandon us!”
“They pass us wave the signal it
may catch their eyes!”
The little flag was unheeded, and,
after so long and so intense expectation, the party
on the raft had the pain to see the swift-moving vessel
glide past them, and drawing so far ahead as to leave
little hope of her return. The heart of even
the ‘Skimmer of the Seas’ appeared to
sink within him, at the disappointment.
“For myself, I care not;”
said the stout mariner mournfully. “Of what
consequence is it, in what sea, or on what voyage,
a seaman goes into his watery tomb? but
for thee, my hapless and playful Eudora, I could wish
another fate ha! she tacks! the
sea-green lady has an instinct for her children, after
all!”
The brigantine was in stays. In
ten or fifteen minutes more, the vessel was again
abeam of the raft, and to windward.
“If she pass us now, our chance
is gone, without a shadow of hope;” said the
Skimmer, motioning solemnly for silence. Then,
applying his hands to his mouth, he shouted, as if
despair lent a giant’s volume to his lungs
“Ho! The Water-Witch! ahoy!”
The last word issued from his lips
with the clear, audible cry, that the peculiar sound
is intended to produce. It appeared as if the
conscious little bark knew its commander’s voice;
for its course changed slightly, as if the fabric
were possessed of the consciousness and faculties of
life.
“Ho! The Water-Witch! ahoy!”
shouted the Skimmer, with a still mightier effort.
“ Hilloa!”
came down faintly on the breeze, and the direction
of the brigantine again altered.
“The Water-Witch! the
Water-Witch! ahoy!” broke out of the
lips of the mariner of the shawl, with a supernatural
force, the last cry being drawn out, till
he who uttered it sunk back exhausted with the effort.
The words were still ringing in the
ears of the breathless party on the raft, when a heavy
shout swept across the water. At the next moment
the boom of the brigantine swung off, and her narrow
bows were seen pointing towards the little beacon
of white that played above the sea. It was but
a moment, but it was a moment pregnant with a thousand
hopes and fears, before the beautiful craft was gliding
within fifty feet of the top. In less than five
minutes, the spars of the Coquette were floating on
the wide ocean, unpeopled and abandoned.
The first sensation of the ‘Skimmer
of the Seas,’ when his foot touched the deck
of his brigantine might have been one of deep and intense
gratitude. He was silent, and seemingly oppressed
at the throat. Stepping along the planks, he
cast an eye aloft, and struck his hand powerfully on
the capstan, in a manner that was divided between convulsion
and affection. Then he smiled grimly on his attentive
and obedient crew, speaking with all his wonted cheerfulness
and authority.
“Fill away the top-sail brace
up and haul aft! Trim every thing flat as boards,
boys; jam the hussy in with the coast!”