The Pilot (34 page)

"Bless me!" exclaimed the surprised veteran, "that such an engagement
should happen within musket-shot of the abbey, and I know so little of
it! My faculties are on the wane, I fear, for the time has been when a
single discharge would rouse me from the deepest sleep."

"The bayonet is a silent weapon," returned the composed captain, with a
significant wave of his hand; "'tis the Englishman's pride, and every
experienced officer knows that one thrust from it is worth the fire of a
whole platoon."

"What, did you come to the charge!" cried the colonel; "by the Lord,
Borroughcliffe, my gallant young friend, I would have given twenty
tierces of rice, and two able-bodied negroes, to have seen the fray!"

"It would have been a pleasant spectacle to witness, sans disputation,"
returned the captain; "but victory is ours without the presence of
Achilles, this time. I have them, all that survive the affair; at least,
all that have put foot on English soil."

"Ay! and the king's cutter has brought in the schooner!" added Colonel
Howard. "Thus perish all rebellion for ever more! Where's Kit? my
kinsman, Mr. Christopher Dillon; I would ask him what the laws of the
realm next prescribe to loyal subjects. Here will be work for the jurors
of Middlesex, Captain Borroughcliffe, if not for a secretary of state's
warrant. Where is Kit, my kinsman; the ductile, the sagacious, the loyal
Christopher?"

"The Cacique 'non est,' as more than one bailiff has said of sundry
clever fellows in our regiment, when there has been a pressing occasion
for their appearance," said the soldier; "but the cornet of horse has
given me reason to believe that his provincial lordship, who repaired on
board the cutter to give intelligence of the position of the enemy,
continued there to share the dangers and honors of naval combat."

"Ay, 'tis like him!" cried the colonel, rubbing his hands with glee;
"'tis like him! he has forgotten the law and his peaceful occupations,
at the sounds of military preparation, and has carried the head of a
statesman into the fight, with the ardor and thoughtlessness of a boy."

"The Cacique is a man of discretion," observed the captain, with all his
usual dryness of manner, "and will, doubtless, recollect his obligations
to posterity and himself, though he be found entangled in the mazes of a
combat. But I marvel that he does not return, for some time has now
elapsed since the schooner struck her flag, as my own eyes have
witnessed."

"You will pardon me, gentlemen," said Griffith, advancing towards them
with uncontrollable interest; "but I have unavoidably heard part of your
discourse, and cannot think you will find it necessary to withhold the
whole truth from a disarmed captive: say you that a schooner has been
captured this morning?"

"It is assuredly true," said Borroughcliffe, with a display of nature
and delicacy in his manner that did his heart infinite credit; "but I
forbore to tell you, because I thought your own misfortunes would be
enough for one time. Mr. Griffith, this gentleman is Colonel Howard, to
whose hospitality you will be indebted for some favors before we
separate."

"Griffith!" echoed the colonel, in quick reply, "Griffith! what a sight
for my old eyes to witness!—the child of worthy, gallant, loyal Hugh
Griffith a captive, and taken in arms against his prince! Young man,
young man, what would thy honest father, what would his bosom friend, my
own poor brother Harry, have said, had it pleased God that they had
survived to witness this burning shame and lasting stigma on thy
respectable name?"

"Had my father lived, he would now have been upholding the independence
of his native land," said the young man, proudly. "I wish to respect
even the prejudices of Colonel Howard, and beg he will forbear urging a
subject on which I fear we never shall agree."

"Never, while thou art to be found in the ranks of rebellion!" cried the
colonel. "Oh! boy! boy! how I could have loved and cherished thee, if
the skill and knowledge obtained in the service of thy prince were now
devoted to the maintenance of his unalienable rights! I loved thy
father, worthy Hugh, even as I loved my own brother Harry."

"And his son should still be dear to you," interrupted Griffith, taking
the reluctant hand of the colonel into both his own.

"Ah, Edward, Edward!" continued the softened veteran, "how many of my
day-dreams have been destroyed by thy perversity! nay, I know not that
Kit, discreet and loyal as he is, could have found such a favor in my
eyes as thyself; there is a cast of thy father in that face and smile,
Ned, that might have won me to anything short of treason—and then
Cicely, provoking, tender, mutinous, kind affectionate, good Cicely,
would have been a link to unite us forever."

The youth cast a hasty glance at the deliberate Borroughcliffe, who, if
he had obeyed the impatient expression of his eye, would have followed
the party that was slowly bearing the wounded towards the abbey, before
he yielded to his feelings, and answered:

"Nay, sir; let this then be the termination of our misunderstanding—
your lovely niece shall be that link, and you shall be to me as your
friend Hugh would have been had he lived, and to Cecilia twice a
parent."

"Boy, boy," said the veteran, averting his face to conceal the working
of his muscles, "you talk idly; my word is now plighted to my kinsman
Kit, and thy scheme is impracticable."

"Nothing is impracticable, sir, to youth and enterprise, when aided by
age and experience like yours," returned Griffith; "this war must soon
terminate."

"This war!" echoed the colonel, shaking loose the grasp which Griffith
held on his arm; "ay! what of this war, young man? Is it not an accursed
attempt to deny the rights of our gracious sovereign, and to place
tyrants, reared in kennels, on the throne of princes! a scheme to
elevate the wicked at the expense of the good! a project to aid
unrighteous ambition, under the mask of sacred liberty and the popular
cry of equality! as if there could be liberty without order! or equality
of rights, where the privileges of the sovereign are not as sacred as
those of the people!"

"You judge us harshly, Colonel Howard," said Griffith.

"I judge you!" interrupted the old soldier, who, by this time, thought
the youth resembled any one rather than his friend Hugh; "it is not my
province to judge you at all; if it were!—but the time will come, the
time will come. I am a patient man, and can wait the course of things;
yes, yes, age cools the blood, and we learn to suppress the passions and
impatience of youth: but if the ministry would issue a commission of
justice for the colonies, and put the name of old George Howard in it, I
am a dog, if there should be a rebel alive in twelve months. Sir,"
turning sternly to Borroughcliffe, "in such a case, I could prove a
Roman, and hang—hang—yes, I do think, sir, I could hang my kinsman,
Mr. Christopher Dillon!"

"Spare the Cacique such unnatural elevation before his time," returned
the captain with a grave wave of the hand: "behold," pointing towards
the wood, "there is a more befitting subject for the gallows! Mr.
Griffith, yonder man calls himself your comrade?"

The eyes of Colonel Howard and Griffith followed the direction of his
finger, and the latter instantly recognized the Pilot, standing in the
skirts of the wood, with his arms folded, apparently surveying the
condition of his friends.

"That man," said Griffith, in confusion, and hesitating to utter even
the equivocal truth that suggested itself, "that man does not belong to
our ship's company."

"And yet he has been seen in
your
company," returned the
incredulous Borroughcliffe; "he was the spokesman in last night's
examination, Colonel Howard, and, doubtless, commands the rear-guard of
the rebels."

"You say true," cried the veteran; "Pompey! Caesar! present! fire!"

The blacks started at the sudden orders of their master, of whom they
stood in the deepest awe; and, presenting their muskets, they averted
their faces, and, shutting their eyes, obeyed the bloody mandate.

"Charge!" shouted the colonel, flourishing the ancient sword with which
he had armed himself, and pressing forward with all the activity that a
recent fit of the gout would allow, "charge, and exterminate the dogs
with the bayonet! push on, Pompey—dress, boys, dress."

"If your friend stands this charge," said Borroughcliffe to Griffith,
with unmoved composure, "his nerves are made of iron; such a charge
would break the Coldstreams; with Pompey in the ranks!"

"I trust in God," cried Griffith, "he will have forbearance enough to
respect the weakness of Colonel Howard!—he presents a pistol!"

"But he will not fire; the Romans deem it prudent to halt; nay, by
heaven, they countermarch to the rear. Holla! Colonel Howard, my worthy
host, fall back on your reinforcements; the wood is full of armed men;
they cannot escape us; I only wait for the horse to cut off the
retreat."

The veteran, who had advanced within a short distance of the single man
who thus deliberately awaited the attack, halted at this summons; and by
a glance of his eye, ascertained that he stood alone. Believing the
words of Borroughcliffe to be true, he slowly retired, keeping his face
manfully towards his enemy, until he gained the support of the captain.

"Recall the troops, Borroughcliffe!" he cried, "and let us charge into
the wood; they will fly before his majesty's arms like guilty
scoundrels, as they are. As for the negroes, I'll teach the black
rascals to desert their master at such a moment. They say Fear is pale,
but, damme, Borroughcliffe, if I don't believe his skin is black."

"I have seen him of all colors; blue, white, black, and particolored,"
said the captain. "I must take the command of matters on myself,
however, my excellent host; let us retire into the abbey, and trust me
to cut off the remainder of the rebels."

In this arrangement the colonel reluctantly acquiesced, and the three
followed the soldier to the dwelling, at a pace that was adapted to the
infirmities of its master. The excitement of the onset, and the current
of his ideas, had united, however, to banish every amicable thought from
the breast of the colonel, and he entered the abbey with a resolute
determination of seeing justice dealt to Griffith and his companions,
even though it should push them to the foot of the gallows.

As the gentlemen disappeared from his view, among the shrubbery of the
grounds, the Pilot replaced the weapon that was hanging from his hand,
in his bosom, and, turning with a saddened and thoughtful brow, he
slowly re-entered the wood.

—"When these prodigies
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say.
These are their reasons,—They are natural,
For, I believe they are portentous things
Unto the climate that they point upon."
Casca.

The reader will discover, by referring to the time consumed in the
foregoing events, that the Ariel, with her prize, did not anchor in the
bay already mentioned, until Griffith and his party had been for several
hours in the custody of their enemies. The supposed capture of the rebel
schooner was an incident that excited but little interest, and no
surprise, among a people who were accustomed to consider their seamen as
invincible; and Barnstable had not found it a difficult task to practise
his deception on the few rustics whom curiosity induced to venture
alongside the vessels during the short continuance of daylight. When,
however, the fogs of evening began to rise along the narrow basin, and
the curvatures of its margin were lost in the single outline of its dark
and gloomy border, the young seaman thought it time to apply himself in
earnest to his duty. The Alacrity, containing all his own crew, together
with the Ariel's wounded, was gotten silently under way; and driving
easily before the heavy air that swept from the land, she drifted from
the harbor, until the open sea lay before her, when her sails were
spread, and she continued to make the best of her way in quest of the
frigate. Barnstable had watched this movement with breathless anxiety;
for on an eminence that completely commanded the waters to some
distance, a small but rude battery had been erected for the purpose of
protecting the harbor against the depredations and insults of the
smaller vessels of the enemy; and a guard of sufficient force to manage
the two heavy guns it contained was maintained in the work at all times.
He was ignorant how far his stratagem had been successful, and it was
only when he heard the fluttering of the Alacrity's canvas, as she
opened it to the breeze, he felt that he was yet secure.

"'Twill reach the Englishmen's ears," said the boy Merry, who stood on
the forecastle of the schooner, by the side of his commander, listening
with breathless interest to the sounds; "they set a sentinel on the
point, as the sun went down, and if he is a trifle better than a dead
man, or a marine asleep, he will suspect something is wrong."

"Never!" returned Barnstable, with a long breath, that announced all his
apprehensions were removed; "he will be more likely to believe it a
mermaid fanning herself this cool evening, than to suspect the real
fact. What say you, Master Coffin? will the soldier smell the truth?"

"They're a dumb race," said the cockswain, casting his eyes over his
shoulders, to ascertain that none of their own marine guard was near
him; "now, there was our sergeant, who ought to know something, seeing
that he has been afloat these four years, maintained, dead in the face
and eyes of what every man, who has ever doubled Good Hope, knows to be
true, that there was no such vessel to be fallen in with in them seas,
as the Flying Dutchman! and then, again, when I told him that he was a
'know-nothing,' and asked him if the Dutchman was a more unlikely thing
than that there should be places where the inhabitants split the year
into two watches, and had day for six months, and night the rest of the
time, the greenhorn laughed in my face, and I do believe he would have
told me I lied, but for one thing."