Part 61 (2/2)
Halcro, internally praying for the powers of a new Timotheus, to turn his strain and check his auditor's pride, as glorious John had it, began a heart-soothing ditty with the following lines:--
”Maidens fresh as fairest rose, Listen to this lay of mine.”
”I will hear nothing of maidens or roses,” said Bunce; ”it puts me in mind what sort of a cargo we have got on board; and, by ----, I will be true to my messmate and my captain as long as I can!--And now I think on't, I'll have no more punch either--that last cup made innovation, and I am not to play Ca.s.sio to-night--and if I drink not, n.o.body else shall.”
So saying, he manfully kicked over the bucket, which, notwithstanding the repeated applications made to it, was still half full, got up from his seat, shook himself a little to rights, as he expressed it, c.o.c.ked his hat, and, walking the quarter-deck with an air of dignity, gave, by word and signal, the orders for bringing the s.h.i.+ps to anchor, which were readily obeyed by both, Goffe being then, in all probability, past any rational state of interference.
The Udaller, in the meantime, condoled with Halcro on their situation.
”It is bad enough,” said the tough old Norseman; ”for these are rank rogues--and yet, were it not for the girls, I should not fear them. That young vapouring fellow, who seems to command, is not such a born devil as he might have been.”
”He has queer humours, though,” said Halcro; ”and I wish we were loose from him. To kick down a bucket half full of the best punch ever was made, and to cut me short in the sweetest song I ever wrote,--I promise you, I do not know what he may do next--it is next door to madness.”
Meanwhile, the s.h.i.+ps being brought to anchor, the valiant Lieutenant Bunce called upon Fletcher, and, resuming his seat by his unwilling pa.s.sengers, he told them they should see what message he was about to send to the wittols of Kirkwall, as they were something concerned in it.
”It shall run in d.i.c.k's name,” he said, ”as well as in mine. I love to give the poor young fellow a little countenance now and then--don't I, d.i.c.k, you d----d stupid a.s.s?”
”Why, yes, Jack Bunce,” said d.i.c.k, ”I can't say but as you do--only you are always bullocking one about something or other, too--but, howsomdever, d'ye see”----
”Enough said--belay your jaw, d.i.c.k,” said Bunce, and proceeded to write his epistle, which, being read aloud, proved to be of the following tenor:
”For the Mayor and Aldermen of Kirkwall--Gentlemen, As, contrary to your good faith given, you have not sent us on board a hostage for the safety of our Captain, remaining on sh.o.r.e at your request, these come to tell you, we are not thus to be trifled with. We have already in our possession, a brig, with a family of distinction, its owners and pa.s.sengers; and as you deal with our Captain, so will we deal with them in every respect. And as this is the first, so a.s.sure yourselves it shall not be the last damage which we will do to your town and trade, if you do not send on board our Captain, and supply us with stores according to treaty.
”Given on board the brig Mergoose of Burgh-Westra, lying in Inganess Bay. Witness our hands, commanders of the Fortune's Favourite, and gentlemen adventurers.”
He then subscribed himself Frederick Altamont, and handed the letter to Fletcher, who read the said subscription with much difficulty; and, admiring the sound of it very much, swore he would have a new name himself, and the rather that Fletcher was the most crabbed word to spell and conster, he believed, in the whole dictionary. He subscribed himself accordingly, Timothy Tugmutton.
”Will you not add a few lines to the c.o.xcombs?” said Bunce, addressing Magnus.
”Not I,” returned the Udaller, stubborn in his ideas of right and wrong, even in so formidable an emergency. ”The Magistrates of Kirkwall know their duty, and were I they”----But here the recollection that his daughters were at the mercy of these ruffians, blanked the bold visage of Magnus Troil, and checked the defiance which was just about to issue from his lips.
”D----n me,” said Bunce, who easily conjectured what was pa.s.sing in the mind of his prisoner--”that pause would have told well on the stage--it would have brought down pit, box, and gallery, egad, as Bayes has it.”
”I will hear nothing of Bayes,” said Claud Halcro, (himself a little elevated,) ”it is an impudent satire on glorious John; but he tickled Buckingham off for it--
'In the first rank of these did Zimri stand; A man so various'”----
”Hold your peace!” said Bunce, drowning the voice of the admirer of Dryden in louder and more vehement a.s.severation, ”the Rehearsal is the best farce ever was written--and I'll make him kiss the gunner's daughter that denies it. D----n me, I was the best Prince Prettyman ever walked the boards--
'Sometimes a fisher's son, sometimes a prince.'
But let us to business.--Hark ye, old gentleman,” (to Magnus,) ”you have a sort of sulkiness about you, for which some of my profession would cut your ears out of your head, and broil them for your dinner with red pepper. I have known Goffe do so to a poor devil, for looking sour and dangerous when he saw his sloop go to Davy Jones's locker with his only son on board. But I'm a spirit of another sort; and if you or the ladies are ill used, it shall be the Kirkwall people's fault, and not mine, and that's fair; and so you had better let them know your condition, and your circ.u.mstances, and so forth,--and that's fair, too.”
Magnus, thus exhorted, took up the pen, and attempted to write; but his high spirit so struggled with his paternal anxiety, that his hand refused its office. ”I cannot help it,” he said, after one or two illegible attempts to write--”I cannot form a letter, if all our lives depended upon it.”
And he could not, with his utmost efforts, so suppress the convulsive emotions which he experienced, but that they agitated his whole frame.
The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so, in great calamities, it sometimes happens, that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier character. In the present case, Claud Halcro was fortunately able to perform the task which the deeper feelings of his friend and patron refused. He took the pen, and, in as few words as possible, explained the situation in which they were placed, and the cruel risks to which they were exposed, insinuating at the same time, as delicately as he could express it, that, to the magistrates of the country, the life and honour of its citizens should be a dearer object than even the apprehension or punishment of the guilty; taking care, however, to qualify the last expression as much as possible, for fear of giving umbrage to the pirates.
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