Part 55 (2/2)
If there was a shade of displeasure blended with the surprise that crossed the features of the divine at this extraordinary limitation of his duties, it entirely disappeared when he considered more closely the perfect expression of simplicity with which the dying master uttered his wishes. After a long and melancholy pause, which neither Griffith or his friend felt any inclination to interrupt, the chaplain replied:
”It is not the province of man to determine on the decrees of the merciful dispensations of the Deity; and nothing that I can do, Mr.
Boltrope, will have any weight in making up the mighty and irrevocable decree. What I said to you last night, in our conversation on this very subject, must still be fresh in your memory, and there is no good reason why I should hold a different language to you now,”
”I can't say that I logg'd all that pa.s.sed,” returned the master; ”and that which I do recollect fell chiefly from myself, for the plain reason that a man remembers his own better than his neighbor's ideas. And this puts me in mind, Mr. Griffith, to tell you that one of the forty-two's from the three-decker traveled across the forecastle, and cut the best bower within a fathom of the clinch, as handily as an old woman would clip her rotten yarn with a pair of tailor's shears! If you will be so good as to order one of my mates to s.h.i.+ft the cable end-for-end, and make a new bend of it, I'll do as much for you another time.”
”Mention it not,” said Griffith; ”rest a.s.sured that everything shall be done for the security of the s.h.i.+p in your department-I will superintend the whole duty in person; and I would have you release your mind from all anxiety on the subject, to attend to your more important interests elsewhere.”
”Why,” returned Boltrope, with a little show of pertinacity, ”I have an opinion that the cleaner a man takes his hands into the other world, of the matters of duty in this the better he will be fitted to handle anything new.--Now, the parson, here, undertook to lay down the doctrine last night that it was no matter how well or how ill a man behaved himself, so that he squared his conscience by the lifts and braces of faith; which I take to be a doctrine that is not to be preached on s.h.i.+pboard; for it would play the devil with the best s.h.i.+p's company that was ever mustered.”
”Oh! no--no--dear Mr. Boltrope, you mistook me and my doctrine altogether!” exclaimed the chaplain; ”at least you mistook----”
”Perhaps, sir,” interrupted Griffith, gently, ”our honest friend will not be more fortunate now. Is there nothing earthly that hangs upon your mind, Boltrope? no wish to be remembered to any one, nor any bequest to make of your property?”
”He has a mother, I know,” said Barnstable in a low voice, ”he often spoke of her to me in the night-watches, I think she must still be living.”
The master, who distinctly heard his young s.h.i.+pmates continued for more than a minute rolling the tobacco, which he still retained, from one side of his mouth to the other, with an industry that denoted singular agitation for the man; and raising one of his broad hands, with the other he picked the worn skin from fingers which were already losing their brownish yellow hue in the fading color of death, before he answered:
”Why, yes, the old woman still keeps her grip upon life, which is more than can be said of her son David. The old man was lost the time the Susan and Dorothy was wrecked on the back of Cape Cod; you remember it, Mr. Barnstable? you were then a lad, sailing on whaling voyages from the island: well, ever since that gale, I've endeavored to make smooth water for the old woman myself, though she has had but a rough pa.s.sage of it, at the best; the voyage of life, with her, having been pretty much crossed by rugged weather and short stores.”
”And you would have us carry some message to her?” said Griffith, kindly.
”Why, as to messages,” continued the master, whose voice was rapidly growing more husky and broken, ”there never has been many compliments-- pa.s.sed between us, for the reason--that she is not more used to receive them--than I am to make them. But if any one of you will overhaul--the purser's books, and see what there is standing here--to my side of the leaf--and take a little pains to get it to the old woman--you will find her moored in the lee side of a house--ay, here it is, No. 10 Cornhill, Boston. I took care--to get her a good warm berth, seeing that a woman of eighty wants a snug anchorage--at her time of life, if ever.”
”I will do it myself, David,” cried Barnstable, struggling to conceal his emotion; ”I will call on her the instant we let go our anchor in Boston harbor; and as your credit can't be large, I will divide my own purse with her!”
The sailing-master was powerfully affected by this kind offer, the muscles of his hard, weatherbeaten face working convulsively, and it was a moment before he could trust his voice in reply.
”I know you would, d.i.c.ky, I know you would,” he at length uttered, grasping the hand of Barnstable with a portion of his former strength; ”I know you would give the old woman one of your own limbs, if it would do a service--to the mother of a messmate--which it would not--seeing that I am not the son of a--cannibal; but you are out of your own father's books, and it's too often shoal water in your pockets to help any one--more especially since you have just been spliced to a pretty young body--that will want all your spare coppers.”
”But I am master of my own fortune,” said Griffith, ”and am rich.”
”Ay, ay, I have heard it said you could build a frigate and set her afloat all a-taunt-o without thrusting your hand--into any man's purse-- but your own!”
”And I pledge you the honor of a naval officer,” continued the young sailor, ”that she shall want for nothing; not eyes the care and tenderness of a dutiful son.”
Boltrope appeared to be choking; he made an attempt to raise his exhausted frame on the couch; but fell back exhausted and dying, perhaps a little prematurely, through the powerful and unusual emotions that were struggling for Boltrope appeared to be choking; he made an attempt to raise his 'exhausted frame on the couch; but fell back exhausted and dying, perhaps a little prematurely, through the powerful and unusual emotions that were struggling for utterance. ”G.o.d forgive me my misdeeds!” he at length said, ”and chiefly for ever speaking a word against your discipline; remember the best bower--and look to the slings of the lower yards--and--and--he'll do it, d.i.c.ky, he'll do it! I'm casting off--the fasts--of life--and so G.o.d bless ye all--and give ye good weather--going large--or on a bowline!”
The tongue of the master failed him, but a look of heart felt satisfaction gleamed across his rough visage, as its muscles suddenly contracted, when the faded lineaments slowly settled into the appalling stiffness of death.
Griffith directed the body to be removed to the apartment of the master, and proceeded with a heavy heart to the upper deck. The Alacrity had been unnoticed during the arduous chase of the frigate, and, favored by daylight, and her light draught of water, she had easily effected her escape also among the mazes of the shoals. She was called down to her consort by signal, and received the necessary instructions how to steer during the approaching night. The British s.h.i.+ps were now only to be faintly discovered like white specks on the dark sea; and as it was known that a broad barrier of shallow water lay between them, the Americans no longer regarded their presence as at all dangerous.
When the necessary orders had been given, and the vessels were fully prepared, they were once more brought up to the wind, and their heads pointed in the direction of the coast of Holland. The wind, which freshened towards the decline of the day, hauled round with the sun; and when that luminary retreated from the eye, so rapid had been the progress of the mariners, it seemed to sink in the bosom of the ocean, the land having long before settled into its watery bed. All night the frigate continued to dash through the seas with a sort of sullen silence, that was soothing to the melancholy of Cecilia and Katherine, neither of whom closed an eye during that gloomy period. In addition to the scene they had witnessed, their feelings were harrowed by the knowledge that, in conformity to the necessary plans of Griffith, and in compliance with the new duties he had a.s.sumed, they were to separate in the morning for an indefinite period, and possibly forever.
With the appearance of light, the boatswain sent his rough summons through the vessel, and the crew were collected in solemn silence in her gangways to ”bury the dead.” The bodies of Boltrope, of one or two of her inferior officers, and of several common men who had died of their wounds in the night, were, with the usual formalities, committed to the deep; when the yards of the s.h.i.+p were again braced by the wind, and she glided along the trackless waste, leaving no memorial, in the midst of the ever-rolling waters, to mark the place of their sepulture.
When the sun had gained the meridian, the vessels were once more hove- to, and the preparations were made for a final separation. The body of Colonel Howard was transferred to the Alacrity, whither it was followed by Griffith and his cheerless bride, while Katherine hung fondly from the window of the s.h.i.+p, suffering her own scalding tears to mingle with the brine of the ocean. After everything was arranged, Griffith waved his hand to Barnstable, who had now succeeded to the command of the frigate, and the yards of the latter were braced sharp to the wind, when she proceeded to the dangerous experiment of forcing her way to the sh.o.r.es of America, by attempting the pa.s.s of the Straits of Dover, and running the gauntlet through the English s.h.i.+ps that crowded their own Channel; an undertaking, however, for which she had the successful example of the Alliance frigate, which had borne the stars of America along the same hazardous path but a few months previously.
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