Part 5 (1/2)
”That Captain Ludlow would gladly take some of us out of this boat, by fair means or by foul, is a fact clear as a bright star in a cloudless night; and, well knowing a seaman's duty to his superiors, I shall leave him to his choice.”
”In which case you will shortly eat Her Majesty's bread,” pithily returned the Alderman.
”The food is unpalatable, and I reject it--and yet here is a boat, whose'
crew seem determined to make one swallow worse fare.”
The unknown mariner ceased speaking, for the situation of the periagua, was truly getting to be a little critical. At least so it seemed to the less-instructed landsmen, who were witnesses of this unexpected rencontre.
As the ferry-boat had drawn in with the island, the wind hauled more through the pa.s.s which communicates with the outer bay, and it became necessary to heave about, twice, in order to fetch to windward of the usual landing-place. The first of these manoeuvres had been executed, and as it necessarily changed their course, the pa.s.sengers saw that the cutter to which the stranger alluded was enabled to get within-sh.o.r.e of them; or nearer to the wharf, where they ought to land, than they were themselves.
Instead of suffering himself to be led off by a pursuit, that he knew might easily be rendered useless, the officer who commanded this boat cheered his men, and pulled swiftly to the point of debarkation. On the other hand, a second cutter, which had already reached the line of the periagua's course, lay on its oars, and awaited its approach. The unknown mariner manifested no intention to avoid the interview. He still held the tiller, and as effectually commanded the little vessel as if his authority were of a more regular character. The audacity and decision of his air and conduct, aided by the consummate mariner in which he worked the boat, might alone have achieved this momentary usurpation, had not the general feeling against impressment been so much in his favor.
”The devil's fangs!” grumbled the schipper. If you should keep the Milk-Maid away, we shall lose a little in distance, though I think the man-of-war's men will be puzzled to catch her, with a flowing sheet!”
”The Queen has sent a message by the gentleman,” the mariner rejoined: ”it would be unmannerly to refuse to hear it.”
”Heave-to, the periagua!” shouted the young officer, in the cutter. ”In Her Majesty's name, I command you, obey.”
”G.o.d bless the royal lady!” returned he of the foul anchors and gay shawl, while the swift ferry-boat continued to dash ahead. ”We owe her duty, and are glad to see so proper a gentleman employed in her behalf.”
By this time the boats were fifty feet asunder. No sooner was there room, than the periagua once more flew round, and commenced anew its course, das.h.i.+ng in again towards the sh.o.r.e. It was necessary, however, to venture within an oar's-length of the cutter, or to keep away,--a loss of ground to which he who controlled her movements showed no disposition to submit.
The officer arose, and, as the periagua drew near, it was evident his hand held a pistol, though he seemed reluctant to exhibit the weapon. The mariner stepped aside, in a manner to offer a full view of all in his group, as he sarcastically observed--
”Choose your object, Sir; in such a party, a man of sentiment may have a preference.”
The young man colored, as much with shame at, the degrading duty he had been commissioned to perform, as with vexation at his failure. Recovering his self-composure, however, he lifted his hat to la belle Barberie, and the periagua dashed on, in triumph. Still the leading cutter was near the sh.o.r.e, where it soon arrived, the crew lying on their oars at the end of the wharf, in evident expectation of the arrival of the ferry-boat. At this sight, the schipper shook his head, and looked up in the bold face of his pa.s.senger, in a manner to betray how much his mind misgave the result.
But the tail mariner maintained his coolness, and began to make merry allusions to the service which he had braved with so much temerity, and from which no one believed he was yet likely to escape. By the former manoeuvres, the periagua had gained a position well to windward of the wharf; and she was now steered close upon the wind, directly for the sh.o.r.e. Against the consequences of a perseverance in this course, however, the schipper saw fit to remonstrate.
”s.h.i.+pwrecks and rocky bottoms!” exclaimed the alarmed waterman. ”A Holland galliot would go to pieces, if you should run her in among those stepping-stones, with this breeze! No honest boatman loves to see a man stowed in a cruiser's hold, like a thief caged in his prison; but when it comes to breaking the nose of the Milk-Maid, it is asking too much of her owner, to stand by and look on.”
”There shall not be a dimple of her lovely countenance deranged,” answered his cool pa.s.senger. ”Now, lower away your sails, and we'll run along the sh.o.r.e, down to yon wharf. 'Twould be an ungallant act to treat the dairy-girl with so little ceremony, gentlemen, after the lively foot and quick evolutions she has shown in our behalf. The best dancer in the island could not have better played her part, though jigging under the music of a three-stringed fiddle!”
By this time the sails were lowered, and the periagua was gliding down towards the place of landing, running always at the distance of some fifty feet from the sh.o.r.e.
”Every craft has its allotted time, like a mortal,” continued the inexplicable mariner of the India-shawl. ”If she is to die a sudden death, there is your beam-end and stern-way, which takes her into the grave without funeral service, or parish prayers; your dropsy is being water-logged; gout and rheumatism kill like a broken back and loose joints; indigestion is a s.h.i.+fting cargo, with guns adrift; the gallows is a bottomry-bond, with lawyers' fees; while fire, drowning, death by religious melancholy, and suicide, are a careless gunner, sunken rocks, false lights, and a lubberly captain.”
Ere any were apprized of his intention, this singular being then sprang from the boat on the cap of a little rock, over which the waves were was.h.i.+ng, whence he bounded, from stone to stone, by vigorous efforts, till he fairly leaped to land. In another minute, he was lost to view, among the dwellings of the hamlet.
The arrival of the periagua, which immediately after reached the wharf, the disappointment of the cutter's crew, and the return of both the boats to their s.h.i.+p, succeeded as matters of course.
Chapter V.
_Oliv._ ”Did he write this?”
_Clo._ ”Ay, Madam.”
What You Will.