Part 1 (1/2)
The Lily and the Cross.
by James De Mille.
CHAPTER I.
A VOICE OUT OF THE DEEP.
Once upon a time there was a schooner belonging to Boston which was registered under the somewhat singular name of the ”Rev. Amos Adams.”
This was her formal t.i.tle, used on state occasions, and was, no doubt, quite as appropriate as the more pretentious one of the ”Duke of Marlborough,” or the ”Lord Warden.” As a general thing, however, people designated her in a less formal manner, using the simpler and shorter t.i.tle of the ”Parson.” Her owner and commander was a tall, lean, sinewy young man, whoso Sunday-go-to-meeting name was Zion Awake c.o.x, but who was usually referred to by an ingenious combination of the initials of these three names, and thus became Zac, and occasionally Zachariah. This was the schooner which, on a fine May morning, might have been seen ”bounding over the billows” on her way to the North Pole.
About her motion on the present occasion, it must be confessed there was not much bounding, nor much billow. Nor, again, would it have been easy for any one to see her, even if he had been brought close to her; for the simple reason that the ”Parson,” as she went on her way, carrying Zac and his fortunes, had become involved in a fog bank, in the midst of which she now lay, with little or no wind to help her out of it.
Zac was not alone on board, nor had the present voyage been undertaken on his own account, or of his own motion. There were two pa.s.sengers, one of whom had engaged the schooner for his own purposes. This one was a young fellow who called himself Claude Motier, of Randolph. His name, as well as his face, had a foreign character; yet he spoke English with the accent of an Englishman, and had been brought up in Ma.s.sachusetts, near Boston, where he and Zac had seen very much of one another, on sea and on sh.o.r.e. The other pa.s.senger was a Roman Catholic priest, whose look and accent proclaimed him to be a Frenchman. He seemed about fifty years of age, and his bronzed faced, grizzled hair, and deeply-wrinkled brow, all showed the man of action rather than the recluse. Between these two pa.s.sengers there was the widest possible difference. The one was almost a boy, the other a world-worn old man; the one full of life and vivacity, the other sombre and abstracted; yet between the two there was, however, a mysterious resemblance, which possibly may have been something more than that air of France, which they both had.
Whatever it may have been, they had been strangers to one another until the past few days, for Claude Motier had not seen the priest until after he had chartered the schooner for a voyage to Louisbourg.
The priest had then come, asking for a pa.s.sage to that port. He gave his name as the Abbe Michel, and addressed Claude in such bad English that the young man answered in French of the best sort, whereat the good priest seemed much delighted, and the two afterwards conversed with each other altogether in that language.
Besides these three, there were the s.h.i.+p's company dispersed about the vessel. This company were not very extensive, not numbering over three, in addition to Zac. These three all differed in age, in race, and in character. The aged colored man, who was at that moment was.h.i.+ng out some tins at the bows, came aboard as cook, with the understanding that he was to be man of all work. He was a slave of Zac's, but, like many domestic slaves in those days, he seemed to regard himself as part of his master's family,--in fact, a sort of respected relative. He rejoiced in the name of Jericho, which was often shortened to Jerry, though the aged African considered the shorter name as a species of familiarity which was only to be tolerated on the part of his master. The second of the s.h.i.+p's company was a short, athletic, rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed, round-faced lad, who was always singing and dancing except when he was whistling. His name was Terry, and his country Ireland. In addition to Jerry and Terry, there was a third. He was a short, dull, and somewhat doleful looking boy of about twelve, who had a crushed expression, and seemed to take gloomy views of life. The only name by which he was known to himself and others was Biler; but whether that was a Christian name, or a surname, or a nickname, cannot be said. Biler's chief trouble in life was an inordinate and insatiable appet.i.te. Nothing came amiss, and nothing was ever refused. Zac had picked the boy up three years before, and since that time he had never known him to be satisfied.
At the present moment, Terry was standing at the tiller, while Biler was at the masthead, to which he had climbed to get rid of the disappointments of the world below, in a more elevated sphere, and from his lofty perch he was gazing with a hungry eye forth into s.p.a.ce, and from time to time pulling bits of dried codfish from his pocket, and thrusting them into his mouth.
”Hy da!” suddenly shouted the aged Jericho, looking up. ”You da, Biler? You jis come down heah an' help me fotch along dese yar tings.
Ef you ain't got notin' to do, Ise precious soon find you lots ob tings. Hurry down, da; make haste; relse I'll pitch some hot water up at you. I can't be boddered wid dese yer pots an' pans any longer, cos Ise got de dinna to meditate 'bout.”
With these words Jericho stood up, regarding Biler with an appearance of grave dignity, which would have overawed even a less solemn lad than this. Biler did not refuse obedience, but thrusting a few fragments of dried codfish into his mouth, heaved a sigh, gave another dejected look at surrounding s.p.a.ce, and then slowly and mournfully descended to the lower world.
The priest was seated on a water-cask, reading his Breviary, while Zac stood not far off, looking thoughtfully over the vessel's side.
Terry was at the tiller, not because there was any steering to be done, but because he thought it would be as well for every one to be at his post in the event of a change of wind. He had whistled ”St.
Patrick's Day in the Morning,” and was about beginning another interminable strain of the same kind. Claude was lounging about, and gradually drew nearer to the meditative Zac, whom he accosted.
”Well, we don't appear to be making much progress--do we?” said he.
Zac slowly shook his head.
”No,” said he; ”I must say, I don't like this here one mite. 'Tain't quite right. Seems kin' o' unlucky.”
”Unlucky? How?”
”Wal, fust and foremost, ef it hadn't been you, you'd never a' got me to pint the Parson's nose for that French hole, Louisbourg.”
”Why not?” asked Claude, in some surprise; ”you don't suppose that there's any danger--do you?”
”Wal, it's a risky business--no doubt o' that thar. You see, my 'pinion is this, that Moosoo's my nat'ral born enemy, an' so I don't like to put myself into his power.”
”O, there's no danger,” said Claude, cheerily. ”There's peace now, you know--as yet.”
Zac shook his head.
”No,” said he, ”that ain't so. There ain't never real peace out here.
There's on'y a kin' o' partial peace in the old country. Out here, we fight, an' we've got to go on fightin', till one or the other goes down. An' as to peace, 'tain't goin' to last long, even in the old country, 'cordin' to all accounts. There's fightin' already off in Germany, or somewhars, they say.”