The Pilot (28 page)

"Ay! I've touched the fellow's life! it must be more than two foot of
blubber that stops my iron from reaching the life of any whale that ever
sculled the ocean!"

"I believe you have saved yourself the trouble of using the bayonet you
have rigged for a lance," said his commander, who entered into the sport
with all the ardor of one whose youth had been chiefly passed in such
pursuits: "feel your line, Master Coffin; can we haul alongside of our
enemy? I like not the course he is steering, as he tows us from the
schooner."

"'Tis the creatur's way, sir," said the cockswain; "you know they need
the air in their nostrils, when they run, the same as a man; but lay
hold, boys, and let's haul up to him."

The seamen now seized the whale-line, and slowly drew their boat to
within a few feet of the tail of the fish, whose progress became
sensibly less rapid, as he grew weak with the loss of blood. In a few
minutes he stopped running, and appeared to roll uneasily on the water,
as if suffering the agony of death.

"Shall we pull in, and finish him, Tom?" cried Barnstable; "a few sets
from your bayonet would do it."

The cockswain stood examining his game with cool discretion, and replied
to this interrogatory:

"No, sir, no—he's going into his flurry; there's no occasion for
disgracing ourselves by using a soldier's weapon in taking a whale.
Starn off, sir, starn off! the creater's in his flurry!"

The warning of the prudent cockswain was promptly obeyed, and the boat
cautiously drew off to a distance, leaving to the animal a clear space,
while under its dying agonies. From a state of perfect rest, the
terrible monster threw its tail on high, as when in sport, but its blows
were trebled in rapidity and violence, till all was hid from view by a
pyramid of foam, that was deeply dyed with blood. The roarings of the
fish were like the bellowing of a herd of bulls; and to one who was
ignorant of the fact, it would have appeared as if a thousand monsters
were engaged in deadly combat behind the bloody mist that obscured the
view. Gradually, these effects subsided, and when the discolored water
again settled down to the long and regular swell of the ocean, the fish
was seen, exhausted, and yielding passively to its fate. As life
departed, the enormous black mass rolled to one side; and when the white
and glistening skin of the belly became apparent, the seamen well knew
that their victory was achieved.

"What's to be done now?" said Barnstable, as he stood and gazed with a
diminished excitement at their victim; "he will yield no food, and his
carcass will probably drift to land, and furnish our enemies with the
oil."

"If I had but that creatur in Boston Bay," said the cockswain, "it would
prove the making of me; but such is my luck forever! Pull up, at any
rate, and let me get my harpoon and line—the English shall never get
them while old Tom Coffin can blow."

"Don't speak too fast," said the strokesman of the boat; "whether he get
your iron or not, here he comes in chase!"

"What mean you, fellow?" cried Barnstable.

"Captain Barnstable can look for himself," returned the seaman, "and
tell whether I speak truth."

The young sailor turned, and saw the Alacrity bearing down before the
wind, with all her sails set, as she rounded a headland, but a short
half-league to windward of the place where the boat lay.

"Pass that glass to me," said the captain, with steady composure. "This
promises us work in one of two ways: if she be armed, it has become our
turn to run; if not, we are strong enough to carry her."

A very brief survey made the experienced officer acquainted with the
true character of the vessel in sight; and, replacing the glass with
much coolness, he said:

"That fellow shows long arms, and ten teeth, besides King George's
pennant from his topmast-head. Now, my lads, you are to pull for your
lives; for whatever may be the notions of Master Coffin on the subject
of his harpoon, I have no inclination to have my arms pinioned by John
Bull, though his majesty himself put on the irons."

The men well understood the manner and meaning of their commander; and,
throwing aside their coats, they applied themselves in earnest to their
task. For half an hour a profound silence reigned in the boat, which
made an amazing progress. But many circumstances conspired to aid the
cutter; she had a fine breeze, with smooth water, and a strong tide in
her favor; and, at the expiration of the time we have mentioned, it was
but too apparent that the distance between the pursued and the pursuers
was lessened nearly by half. Barnstable preserved his steady
countenance, but there was an expression of care gathering around his
dark brow, which indicated that he saw the increasing danger of their
situation.

"That fellow has long legs, Master Coffin," he said, in a cheerful tone;
"your whale-line must go overboard, and the fifth oar must be handled by
your delicate hands."

Tom arose from his seat, and proceeding forward, he cast the tub and its
contents together into the sea, when he seated himself at the bow oar,
and, bent his athletic frame with amazing vigor to the task.

"Ah! there is much of your philosophy in that stroke, long Tom," cried
his commander; "keep it up, boys; and if we gain nothing else, we shall
at least gain time for deliberation. Come, Master Coffin, what think
you! We have three resources before us, let us hear which is jour
choice; first, we can turn and fight and be sunk; secondly, we can pull
to the land, and endeavor to make good our retreat to the schooner in
that manner; and thirdly, we can head to the shore, and possibly, by
running under the guns of that fellow, get the wind of him, and keep the
air in our nostrils, after the manner of the whale. Damn the whale! but
for the tow the black rascal gave us, we should have been out of sight
of this rover!"

"If we fight," said Tom, with quite as much composure as his commander
manifested, "we shall be taken or sunk; if we land, sir, I shall be
taken for one man, as I never could make any headway on dry ground; and
if we try to get the wind of him by pulling under the cliffs, we shall
be cut off by a parcel of lubbers that I can see running along their
edges, hoping, I dare say, that they shall be able to get a skulking
shot at a boat's crew of honest seafaring men."

"You speak with as much truth as philosophy, Tom," said Barnstable, who
saw his slender hopes of success curtailed by the open appearance of the
horse and foot on the cliffs. "These Englishmen have not slept the last
night, and I fear Griffith and Manual will fare but badly. That fellow
brings a capful of wind down with him—'tis just his play, and he walks
like a race-horse. Ha! he begins to be in earnest!"

While Barnstable was speaking, a column of white smoke was seen issuing
from the bows of the cutter; and as the report of a cannon was wafted to
their ears, the shot was seen skipping from wave to wave, tossing the
water in spray, and flying to a considerable distance beyond them. The
seamen cast cursory glances in the direction of the passing ball, but it
produced no manifest effect in either their conduct or appearance. The
cockswain, who scanned its range with an eye of more practice than the
rest, observed, "That's a lively piece for its metal, and it speaks with
a good clear voice; but if they hear it aboard the Ariel, the man who
fired it will be sorry it wasn't born dumb."

"You are the prince of philosophers, Master Coffin!" cried Barnstable;
"there is some hope in that; let the Englishmen talk away, and, my life
on it, the Ariels don't believe it is thunder; hand me a musket—I'll
draw another shot."

The piece was given to Barnstable, who discharged it several times, as
if to taunt their enemies; and the scheme was completely successful.
Goaded by the insults, the cutter discharged gun after gun at the little
boat, throwing the shot frequently so near as to wet her crew with the
spray, but without injuring them in the least. The failure of these
attempts of the enemy excited the mirth of the reckless seamen, instead
of creating any alarm; and whenever a shot came nearer than common, the
cockswain would utter some such expression as:

"A ground swell, a long shot, and a small object, make a clean target;"
or, "A man must squint straight to hit a boat."

As, notwithstanding their unsuccessful gunnery, the cutter was
constantly gaining on the whale-boat, there was a prospect of a speedy
termination of the chase, when the report of a cannon was thrown back
like an echo from one of the Englishman's discharges, and Barnstable and
his companions had the pleasure of seeing the Ariel stretching slowly
out of the little bay where she had passed the night, with the smoke of
the gun of defiance curling above her taper masts.

A loud and simultaneous shout of rapture was given by the lieutenant and
all his boat's crew, at this cheering sight, while the cutter took in
all her light sails, and, as she hauled up on a wind, she fired a whole
broadside at the successful fugitives. Many stands of grape, with
several round shot, flew by the boat and fell upon the water near them,
raising a cloud of foam, but without doing any injury.

"She dies in a flurry," said Tom, casting his eyes at the little vortex
into which the boat was then entering.

"If her commander be a true man," cried Barnstable, "he'll not leave us
on so short an acquaintance. Give way, my souls! give way! I would see
more of this loquacious cruiser."

The temptation for exertion was great, and it was not disregarded by the
men; in a few minutes the whale-boat reached the schooner, when the crew
of the latter received their commander and his companions with shouts
and cheers that rang across the waters, and reached the ears of the
disappointed spectators on the verge of the cliffs.

"Thus guided on their course they bore,
Until they near'd the mainland shore;
When frequent on the hollow blast,
Wild shouts of merriment were cast."
Lord of the Isles
.

The joyful shouts and hearty cheers of the Ariel's crew continued for
some time after her commander had reached her deck. Barnstable answered
the congratulations of his officers by cordial shakes of the hand; and
after waiting for the ebullition of delight among the seamen to subside
a little, he beckoned with an air of authority for silence.

"I thank you, my lads, for your good-will," he said, when all were
gathered around him in deep attention; "they have given us a tough
chase, and if you had left us another mile to go, we had been lost. That
fellow is a king's cutter; and though his disposition to run to leeward
is a good deal mollified, yet he shows signs of fight. At any rate, he
is stripping off some of his clothes, which looks as if he were game.
Luckily for us, Captain Manual has taken all the marines ashore with
him, (though what he has done with them, or himself, is a mystery,) or
we should have had our decks lumbered with live cattle; but, as it is,
we have a good working breeze, tolerably smooth water, and a dead match!
There is a sort of national obligation on us to whip that fellow; and
therefore, without more words about the matter, let us turn to and do
it, that we may get our breakfasts."

To this specimen of marine eloquence the crew cheered as usual, the
young men burning for the combat, and the few old sailors who belonged
to the schooner shaking their heads with infinite satisfaction, and
swearing by sundry strange oaths that their captain "could talk, when
there was need of such thing, like the best dictionary that ever was
launched."

During this short harangue and the subsequent comments, the Ariel had
been kept, under a cloud of canvas, as near to the wind as she could
lie; and as this was her best sailing, she had stretched swiftly out
from the land, to a distance whence the cliffs and the soldiers, who
were spread along their summits, became plainly visible. Barnstable
turned his glass repeatedly from the cutter to the shore, as different
feelings predominated in his breast, before he again spoke.

"If Mr. Griffith is stowed away among those rocks," he at length said,
"he shall see as pretty an argument discussed, in as few words, as he
ever listened to, provided the gentlemen in yonder cutter have not
changed their minds as to the road they intend to journey—what think
you, Mr. Merry?"

"I wish with all my heart and soul, sir," returned the fearless boy,
"that Mr. Griffith was safe aboard us; it seems the country is alarmed,
and God knows what will happen if he is taken! As to the fellow to
windward, he'll find it easier to deal with the Ariel's boat than with
her mother; but he carries a broad sail; I question if he means to show
play."

"Never doubt him, boy," said Barnstable, "he is working off the shore,
like a man of sense, and besides, he has his spectacles on, trying to
make out what tribe of Yankee Indians we belong to. You'll see him come
to the wind presently, and send a few pieces of iron down this way, by
way of letting us know where to find him. Much as I like your first
lieutenant, Mr. Merry, I would rather leave him on the land this day,
than see him on my decks. I want no fighting captain to work this boat
for me! But tell the drummer, sir, to beat to quarters."

The boy, who was staggering under the weight of his melodious
instrument, had been expecting this command, and, without waiting for
the midshipman to communicate the order, he commenced that short rub-a-
dub air, that will at any time rouse a thousand men from the deepest
sleep, and cause them to fly to their means of offence with a common
soul. The crew of the Ariel had been collected in groups studying the
appearance of the enemy, cracking their jokes, and waiting only for this
usual order to repair to the guns; and at the first tap of the drum,
they spread with steadiness to the different parts of the little vessel,
where their various duties called them. The cannon were surrounded by
small parties of vigorous and athletic young men; the few marines were
drawn up in array with muskets; the officers appeared in their boarding-
caps, with pistols stuck in their belts, and naked sabres in their
hands. Barnstable paced his little quarter-deck with a firm tread,
dangling a speaking-trumpet by its lanyard on his forefinger, or
occasionally applying the glass to his eye, which, when not in use, was
placed under one arm, while his sword was resting against the foot of
the mainmast; a pair of heavy ship's pistols were thrust into his belt
also; and piles of muskets, boarding-pikes, and naked sabres were placed
on different parts of the deck. The laugh of the seamen was heard no
longer, and those who spoke uttered their thoughts only in low and
indistinct whispers.