The Pilot (59 page)

Griffith submitted to the stranger's will; and, after they had
deliberated further on the nature of their evolutions, he gave his
attention again to the management of the vessel. The first object which
met his eye on turning from the Pilot was Colonel Howard, pacing the
quarter-deck with a determined brow and a haughty mien, as if already in
the enjoyment of that triumph which now seemed certain.

"I fear, sir," said the young man, approaching him with respect, "that
you will soon find the deck unpleasant and dangerous; your wards
are—"

"Mention not the unworthy term!" interrupted the colonel. "What greater
pleasure can there be than to inhale the odor of loyalty that is wafted
from yonder floating tower of the king?—And danger! you know but little
of old George Howard, young man, if you think he would for thousands
miss seeing that symbol of rebellion leveled before the flag of his
majesty."

"If that be your wish, Colonel Howard," returned Griffith, biting his
lip as he looked around at the wondering seamen who were listeners, "you
will wait in vain; but I pledge you my word that when that time arrives
you shall be advised, and that your own hands shall do the ignoble
deed."

"Edward Griffith, why not this moment? This is your moment of probation
—submit to the clemency of the crown, and yield your crew to the royal
mercy! In such a case I would remember the child of my brother Harry's
friend; and believe me, my name is known to the ministry. And you,
misguided and ignorant abettors of rebellion! Cast aside your useless
weapons, or prepare to meet the vengeance of yonder powerful and
victorious servant of your prince."

"Fall back! back with ye, fellows!" cried Griffith, fiercely, to the men
who were gathering around the colonel, with looks of sullen vengeance.
"If a man of you dare approach him, he shall be cast into the sea."

The sailors retreated at the order of their commander; but the elated
veteran had continued to pace the deck for many minutes before stronger
interests diverted the angry glances of the seamen to other objects.

Notwithstanding the ship of the line was slowly sinking beneath the
distant waves, and in less than an hour from the time she had fired the
broadside, no more than one of her three tiers of guns was visible from
the deck of the frigate, she yet presented an irresistible obstacle
against retreat to the south. On the other hand, the ship first seen
drew so nigh as to render the glass no longer necessary in watching her
movements. She proved to be a frigate, though one so materially lighter
than the American as to have rendered her conquest easy, had not her two
consorts continued to press on for the scene of battle with such
rapidity. During the chase, the scene had shifted from the point
opposite to St. Ruth, to the verge of those shoals where our tale
commenced. As they approached the latter, the smallest of the English
ships drew so nigh as to render the combat unavoidable. Griffith and his
crew had not been idle in the intermediate time, but all the usual
preparations against the casualties of a sea-fight had been duly made,
when the drum once more called the men to their quarters, and the ship
was deliberately stripped of her unnecessary sails, like a prize-fighter
about to enter the arena, casting aside the encumbrances of dress. At
the instant she gave this intimation of her intention to abandon flight,
and trust the issue to the combat, the nearest English frigate also took
in her light canvas in token of her acceptance of the challenge.

"He is but a little fellow," said Griffith to the Pilot, who hovered at
his elbow with a sort of fatherly interest in the other's conduct of the
battle, "though he carries a stout heart."

"We must crush him at a blow," returned the stranger; "not a shot must
be delivered until our yards are locking."

"I see him training his twelves upon us already; we may soon expect his
fire."

"After standing the brunt of a ninety-gun ship," observed the collected
Pilot, "we shall not shrink from the broadside of a two-and-thirty."

"Stand to your guns, men!" cried Griffith, through his trumpet—"not a
shot is to be fired without the order."

This caution, so necessary to check the ardor of the seamen, was hardly
uttered, before their enemy became wrapped in sheets of fire and volumes
of smoke, as gun after gun hurled its iron missiles at their vessel in
quick succession. Ten minutes might have passed, the two vessels
sheering close to each other every foot they advanced, during which time
the crew of the American were compelled, by their commander, to suffer
the fire of their adversary, without returning a shot. This short
period, which seemed an age to the seamen, was distinguished in their
vessel by deep silence. Even the wounded and dying, who fell in every
part of the ship, stifled their groans, under the influence of the
severe discipline, which gave a character to every man, and each
movement of the vessel; and those officers who were required to speak
were heard only in the lowest tones of resolute preparation. At length
the ship slowly entered the skirts of the smoke that enveloped their
enemy; and Griffith heard the man who stood at his side whisper the word
"Now."

"Let them have it!" cried Griffith, in a voice that was heard in the
remotest parts of the ship.

The shout that burst from the seamen appeared to lift the decks of the
vessel, and the affrighted frigate trembled like an aspen with the
recoil of her own massive artillery, that shot forth a single sheet of
flame, the sailors having disregarded, in their impatience, the usual
order of firing. The effect of the broadside on the enemy was still more
dreadful; for a death-like silence succeeded to the roar of the guns,
which was only broken by the shrieks and execrations that burst from
her, like the moanings of the damned. During the few moments in which
the Americans were again loading their cannon, and the English were
recovering from their confusion, the vessel of the former moved slowly
past her antagonist, and was already doubling across her bows, when the
latter was suddenly, and, considering the inequality of their forces, it
may be added desperately, headed into her enemy. The two frigates
grappled. The sudden and furious charge made by the Englishman, as he
threw his masses of daring seamen along his bowsprit, and out of his
channels, had nearly taken Griffith by surprise; but Manual, who had
delivered his first fire with the broadside, now did good service, by
ordering his men to beat back the intruders, by a steady and continued
discharge. Even the wary Pilot lost sight of their other foes, in the
high daring of that moment, and smiles of stern pleasure were exchanged
between him and Griffith as both comprehended, at a glance, their
advantages.

"Lash his bowsprit to our mizzenmast," shouted the lieutenant, "and we
will sweep his decks as he lies!"

Twenty men sprang eagerly forward to execute the order, among the
foremost of whom were Boltrope and the stranger.

"Ay, now he's our own!" cried the busy master, "and we will take an
owner's liberties with him, and break him up—for by the eternal—"

"Peace, rude man," said the Pilot, in a voice of solemn remonstrance;
"at the next instant you may face your God; mock not his awful name!"

The master found time, before he threw himself from the spar on the deck
of the frigate again, to cast a look of amazement at his companion, who,
with a steady mien, but with an eye that lighted with a warrior's ardor,
viewed the battle that raged around him, like one who marked its
progress to control the result.

The sight of the Englishmen rushing onward with shouts and bitter
menaces warmed the blood of Colonel Howard, who pressed to the side of
the frigate, and encouraged his friends, by his gestures and voice, to
come on.

"Away with ye, old croaker!" cried the master, seizing him by the
collar; "away with ye to the hold, or I'll order you fired from a gun."

"Down with your arms, rebellious dog!" shouted the colonel, carried
beyond himself by the ardor of the fray; "down to the dust, and implore
the mercy of your injured prince!"

Invigorated by a momentary glow, the veteran grappled with his brawny
antagonist; but the issue of the short struggle was yet suspended, when
the English, driven back by the fire of the marines, and the menacing
front that Griffith with his boarders presented, retreated to the
forecastle of their own ship, and attempted to return the deadly blows
they were receiving, in their hull, from the cannon that Barnstable
directed. A solitary gun was all they could bring to bear on the
Americans; but this, loaded with cannister, was fired so near as to send
its glaring flame into the very faces of their enemies. The struggling
colonel, who was already sinking beneath the arm of his foe, felt the
rough grasp loosen from his throat at the flash, and the two combatants
sunk powerless on their knees facing each other.

"How, now, brother!" exclaimed Boltrope, with a smile of grim
fierceness; "some of that grist has gone to your mill, ha!"

No answer could, however, be given before the yielding forms of both
fell to the deck, where they lay helpless, amid the din of the battle
and the wild confusion of the eager combatants.

Notwithstanding the furious struggle they witnessed, the elements did
not cease their functions; and, urged by the breeze, and lifted
irresistibly on a wave, the American ship was forced through the water
still further across the bows of her enemy. The idle fastenings of hemp
and iron were snapped asunder like strings of tow, and Griffith saw his
own ship borne away from the Englishman at the instant that the bowsprit
of the latter was torn from its lashings, and tumbled into the sea,
followed by spar after spar, until nothing of all her proud tackling was
remaining, but the few parted and useless ropes that were left dangling
along the stumps of her lower masts. As his own stately vessel moved
from the confusion she had caused, and left the dense cloud of smoke in
which her helpless antagonist lay, the eye of the young man glanced
anxiously toward the horizon, where he now remembered he had more foes
to contend against.

"We have shaken off the thirty-two most happily!" he said to the Pilot,
who followed his motions with singular interest; "but here is another
fellow sheering in for us, who shows as many ports as ourselves, and who
appears inclined for a closer interview; besides, the hull of the ninety
is rising again, and I fear she will be down but too soon!"

"We must keep the use of our braces and sails," returned the Pilot, "and
on no account close with the other frigate; we must play a double game,
sir, and fight this new adversary with our heels as well as with our
guns."

"'Tis time then that we were busy, for he is shortening sail, and as he
nears so fast we may expect to hear from him every minute; what do you
propose, sir?"

"Let him gather in his canvas," returned the Pilot; "and when he thinks
himself snug, we can throw out a hundred men at once upon our yards, and
spread everything alow and aloft; we may then draw ahead of him by
surprise; if we can once get him in our wake, I have no fears of
dropping them all."

"A stern chase is a long chase," cried Griffith, "and the thing may do!
Clear up the decks, here, and carry down the wounded; and, as we have
our hands full, the poor fellows who have done with us must go overboard
at once."

This melancholy duty was instantly attended to, while the young seaman
who commanded the frigate returned to his duty with the absorbed air of
one who felt its high responsibility. These occupations, however, did
not prevent his hearing the sounds of Barnstable's voice calling eagerly
to young Merry. Bending his head towards the sound, Griffith beheld his
friend looking anxiously up the main hatch, with a face grimed with
smoke, his coat off, and his shirt bespattered with human blood. "Tell
me, boy," he said, "is Mr. Griffith untouched? They say that a shot came
in upon the quarter-deck that tripped up the heels of half a dozen."

Before Merry could answer, the eyes of Barnstable, which even while he
spoke was scanning the state of the vessel's rigging, encountered the
kind looks of Griffith, and from that moment perfect harmony was
restored between the friends.

"Ah! you are there, Griff, and with a whole skin, I see," cried
Barnstable, smiling with pleasure; "they have passed poor Boltrope down
into one of his own storerooms! If that fellow's bowsprit had held on
ten minutes longer, what a mark I should have made on his face and
eyes!"

"'Tis perhaps best as it is," returned Griffith; "but what have you done
with those whom we are most bound to protect?"

Barnstable made a significant gesture towards the depths of the vessel,
as he answered:

"On the cables; safe as wood, iron, and water can keep them—though
Katherine has had her head up three times to—"

A summons from the Pilot drew Griffith away; and the young officers were
compelled to forget their individual feelings, in the pressing duties of
their stations. The ship which the American frigate had now to oppose
was a vessel of near her own size and equipage; and when Griffith looked
at her again, he perceived that she had made her preparations to assert
her equality in manful fight.

Her sails had been gradually reduced to the usual quantity, and, by
certain movements on her decks the lieutenant and his constant
attendant, the Pilot, well understood that she only wanted to lessen her
distance a few hundred yards to begin the action.

"Now spread everything," whispered the stranger.

Griffith applied the trumpet to his mouth, and shouted in a voice that
was carried even to his enemy: "Let fall-out with your booms—sheet
home—hoist away of everything!"

The inspiring cry was answered by a universal bustle; fifty men flew out
on the dizzy heights of the different spars, while broad sheets of
canvas rose as suddenly along the masts as if some mighty bird were
spreading its wings. The Englishman instantly perceived his mistake, and
he answered the artifice by a roar of artillery. Griffith watched the
effects of the broadside with an absorbing interest, as the shot
whistled above his head; but when he perceived his masts untouched, and
the few unimportant ropes only that were cut, he replied to the uproar
with a burst of pleasure. A few men were, however, seen clinging with
wild frenzy to the cordage, dropping from rope to rope like wounded
birds fluttering through a tree, until they fell heavily into the ocean,
the sullen ship sweeping by them in cold indifference. At the next
instant the spars and masts of their enemy exhibited a display of men
similar to their own, when Griffith again placed the trumpet to his
mouth, and shouted aloud: