· P REFA C E. COURAGE to dare, fortitude to endure, enterprise to accumulate, and prudence to...
Transcript of · P REFA C E. COURAGE to dare, fortitude to endure, enterprise to accumulate, and prudence to...
THE [KLE A S A NT C O VE S E R I E S .
THE
Y O UNG DE L IVE R E R S
“
P L E A S A NT C O V E .
E LIJAHSK ELLOGG,
A UTHOR OF “LION BEN OF ELM ISLAND,” “
CHARLIE DELL . THE W A IF OF ELMISLAND,” “
THE A R K OF ELM ISLAND ,” “THE BOY- FARMERS OF ELM
ISLAND,” “THE YOUNG SHIP- BUILDERS OF ELM ISLAND,"
“THE HABD- SCRABBLE OF ELM ISLAND ,” “
A RTHUR
BR OW N, THE YOUNG CA PTA IN.
”
BO STONLE E A ND S H E P A R D , PUB L I S HE R S .
NE W YOR K :
LE E , SHEPA RD A ND D ILLINGHA M,
No s . 47 AND 49 GREENE STREET.
E ntered , ac c o rd ing t o A c t o f Co ngress , in the year 1871,
By LE E AND SHEPA R D,
In the O ffi c e o f the Librarian o f Co ngre ss , at W ash ingt o n.
E lec tro typed at the Bo sto n Stereo type Fo undry,19 Spring Lane.
The Pleasant Lemme Series.
TO BE COMPLETED IN S I! VOLS .
1 . A RTHUR BROW N, THE YOUNG CA PTA IN.
2 . THE YOUNG DE LI VERER S .
(Others in Preparatio n .)
P R E F A C E .
COURAGE to dare,fortitude t o endure
,enterpris e
to accumulate,and prudence to retain
,are quali
tie s that,however valuable in themselve s
,when
in exce ss impart,
to chara cter a coloring dry,
hard,and even render it repuls ive . But if be
neath the exuberance o f young life we dete ct
the germs o f those sympathie s that,travelling
beyond the limits o f self,re cognizing the com
m o n bond that links all humanity,holds fellow
ship with the joys and sorrows o f others ; that
true nobility o f so ul, ,no t derived from without,
but existing within,and ennobling whatever it
touches,— it i s then that youth becomes most
attractive,its e ff orts win sympathy
,its example
i s contagious . With ability to accumulate,pluck
5
6 PREFA CE .
to dare,and under the influence o f the prin
c iple s referred to , these young deliverers con
se crate themselve s to a high purpose,en c o un
te r peril and fatigue to break the fetters o f the ir
humble friend,and restore him to hi s country and
friends .
C ONTENTS .
C H A P TE R I .
THE OVEN. .
C H A P TE R I I .
NED PR OPOSE S To IMPROVE THE DIVINE PLAN.
C H A P T E R I I I .
THE BOY S CONSC IOUS O F HIGHER A IMS .
C A P T E R IV.
GA BRIEL QUE SNA RD .
C H A P TE R V.
THE YANK EE BOYS’ HOLIDA Y IN PR OVENCE .
C H A P TE R V I .
THE POW ER O F A S SOC IA TION.
C H A P TE R V I I .
YANK EE INGENUITY A MONG THE PEA SANTS .
8 CONTENTS .
C H A PTE R V I I I .
THE LA ST DA Y W ITH THE PEA SANTS .
C H A P TE R I ! .
THE MISTR A L .
C H A P TE R X .
THE INFERNA L .
C H A P TE R ! I .
A STA R TLING DI SCLOSURE .
C H A P TE R ! I I .
THE NO BLE VOLUNTEERS
C H A P T E R X I I I .
CA PTA IN RHINE s AND DICK CA MERON.
C H A P T E R ! I V.
W A LTER AND HENRI LEM‘
A IRE .
C H A PT E R xv.
VA UCLIN.
C H A P T E R ! V I .
O , MA SSA , BUCK RA CA LHE R !
C H A P TE R X V I I .
DELIVERED .
THE YOUNG DELIVERERS
P L E A S A N T C O V E .
CHAPTER I .
THE OVEN .
N courte sy to those who have n o t read the preE ceding volume o f this serie s,it i s proper toO bserve that Arthur Brown
,the principal character
o f it,i s a young m an
,twenty-one years o f age
,
res cued,in c ircumstance s o f pe culiar p eril, by
Captain Rhine s,who ( in the discharge o f Obliga
Q tions incurred to the young man ’s father), together
! with others , puts him in command o f the brigan
tine “ Arthur Brown,
” named for the young man’sfather
,who peri shed at sea .
The vessel,built by Charlie Bell at Pleasant
Cove,modelled for speed
,with a numerous crew o f
able seamen,having already made a succe ssful voy
9
10 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
age to Marseille s,a blockaded port
,i s now ready
to sail again . Walter Gri"
in i s a Pleasant Cove
boy,belonging to a very athletic
,re solute family
,
—who began active life in a store,but
,finding
that mode of life ill adapted to hi s inclinations and
capacitie s,be came a sailor
,shipped in the brigan
tine before the mast,and is n ow first mate .
Ned Gate s i s a Salem boy,in his nineteenth
year,rather small o f his age
,was rescued at the
same time with Arthur Brown by Captain Rhine s
( the details o f which occurrence will be found in
the previous volume ), being a tOwnie and at school
with Arthur,was an excellent boy
,and much
beloved by him .
On the form er voyage,Walter and Ned were
before the mast together In the same watch,and
slept in the same berth,till
,o n the home passage ,
Walter was promoted ; the ir friendship still c o n
tinnes,although with fewer opportunitie s o f inter
course .
Jacque s Bern o ux i s a Frenchman,native o f
Marseille s,fi sherman by occupation
,and thoroughly
acquainted with the coast .
Jame s Peterson is a negro,born o f slave parents
in Martinique,but sold in boyhoo d to an Am eri c an
THE OVEN .
captain,re siding near Pleasant Cove
,and Obtained
freedom when slavery was abolished in New England . Although ignorant and much addicted tointemperance at particular times
,he was very
much liked ( e specially by two familie s , Captain
Rhines ’s and Edmund Griffin ’s ), and by all theb o vs
,be cause o f other sterling qualitie s . He was
posse ssed o f great personal strength,an excellent
seaman and pilot,fi rst-rate calker
,perfectly honest
,
and o f a most affectionate dispos ition . The boys
idolized him,because he taught them to wre stle
,tie
sailor knots,and
,when at le isure
,was ever ready
to make playthings for them . On stormy days,when it was known he
‘
could not work,his house
would be thronged with boys,coaxing him to make
o n e thing o r another. Lu ce,hi s wife
,was a splen
did cook,and nothing suited them better than to
be asked t o step to dinner ; victuals tasted a great
deal better there than at home . Ben,his olde st
s on,was as great a favorite with the young fry as
hi s father,—excelling in all sports that required
strength and agil ity,always good-natured
,never
pre suming,and full o f queer
,witty sayings . Ben
Peterson was ( in b o y language and e stimation) a
bully fellow.
12 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
Thu s it fell o ut that the cross-path which l ed to
his house was deeply worn by young fe et . Going to
Peterson ’s,and having a good time
,were converti
ble terms .
By the e fforts o f his young friends,he was per
suaded to abandon his cups,and taught to read and
write ; the re sult o f which was , that he immediately
began to acquire property,became a freeholder
,
and was universally re spected and beloved .
Captain Murch,o f the mast ship Casco
,coming
home sick,a new captain
,o f the name o f Aldrich
,
was put in to go the voyage . It was very difficult
to get a crew for her,as he was generally disliked .
Captain Rhines,anxious to get the ship away
,per
suad ed Peterson and another by the name o f Danforth Eaton to ship first
,in consequence o f which
a crew was Obtained .
One evening,while the ship was lying in Mar
tinique , Peterson ( then acting as cook, the cook
having gone to the hospital,si ck) was sent ashore
by the captain with letters . In the morning he
was missing. Search being made,it was evident
that he returned on board,as a fire was burning
and breakfast partly prepared ; at length hi s ker
chief was discovered o n the fender,and the dock
THE OVEN . 13
was dragged,but without finding the body . The
captain concluded that he had met with some Old
shipmate s the evening before,and was prevaile d
upon to take a friendly glass,which waked up the
o ld appetite , and the next morning he had turnedo ut early, obtained more liquor, fallen from the
gangway plank,and the '
tid e had swept the body
to sea . The crew,on the contrary
,refused tO be
li eve he drank,but thought he went ashore to get
something t o s easo n his stew,made
,in his haste
,a
misstep,and fell overboard .
Captain Rhine s and the community at largeinclined to the opinion of the crew . Hi s deathwas universally lamented ; the boys sadly misse d
the ir colored friend,and the grass grows over the
well-worn path that lead s ’
t o his dwelling .
Captain Murch re suming the command,Aldrich
L__J
went to England . Percival,the mate
,becoming
intemperate,was reduced to the pos ition ofJum pe r
around the wharve s in Boston .
There was,however
,something quite mysterious
about the disappearance of Peterson : hi s family
refused to believe he was dead,and opinions were
divided . It long ford a top ic of dispute and
di s cus sion at the winter fi re sid e s some contending
14 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE.
that a man so athletic and agile as Peterson would
have caught hold o f something,and never would
have been drowned between the ve ssel and the
wharf ; at least, he would have made an outcry ; to
which it was replied,that he might have struck hi s
head o n the wharf o r fender,and stunned himself.
In reply to this,
' it was urged that a negro ’s head
i s to b thick to be aff e cted in that manner . After awhile
,other topics o f intere s t came up
,and the
vexed subje ct was gradually dropped . Before the
arrival o f the Casco,bringing that sad news
,the
brigantine had sailed for Marseille s . Thus Walte r
and Ned went away ignorant o f the whole matter.
Walter and Ned had made their preparations for
this voyage to Marse ille s with feelings qu ite differ
ent from that blithe some,buoyant mood in which
they weighed anchor before .
The death o f Uncle Isaac,as he was fondly called
by the young people , had blighted antic ipations o f
pleasure to be derived from going into the woods
during the holidays ; and the los s o f o ne who unit
ed in hi s single person the characters o f parent,counsellor
,and most genial companion
,weighed
heavily upon their hearts . Having been called t ohis bedside
,his last words Of aff e ctionate counsel
to them were fre sh in thei r remembrance .
1 6 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT c o v
moted to a chief mate ’s berth,he
,in order to save
Ned ’s feelings,and enable him to handle it
,had a
royal buntline rove,the legs O f which
,led through
thimble s o n each lee ch,which spilled the sail
,that
i s,threw the wind o u t o f it
,gathered it up
,and
enabled him to handle it in all weathers .
Even this chafed the proud-spirited boy,be cause
he thought everybody knew what it was done for
and felt that it was a tacit acknowledgment o f in
competence .
Walter and Ned went o n board the ve ssel in Bos
ton some days before the crew came up from Pleas
ant Cove . Ned goe s aloft in the night,unreeve s
the royal buntline,takes the thimble s from the sail
,
the block from the eyes o f the rigging,and the
thimble s from the tie,and stows them all away.
“ Ned,
” said Walter,the next day
,as he was
looking over the running-rigging,preparatory to
bending sails,
“ where i s the royal buntline“ I thought
,sir
,it wouldn ’t be needed,
” replied
Ned,slightly coloring ; so I unrove and stowed it
away .
”
All right . I missed it, and thought some dockthief had stolen it .”
The shrewd course of Captain Brown,in making
THE OVEN . 7
Jacque s Bern o ux a handsome pre sent for his past
service s,and thus attaching him to his interests
,
was n o w evident . Jacque s was not merely a fi sh
erman,but also a pilot
,and thoroughly acquainted
with the coast all along the shore s of the Gulf o f
Lyons,and e specially between Toulon and Mar
seille s . Along some portions of the gulf the landis low and there are m anv lagoons
,separated by
narrow portions o f land,into w hich the sea i s
forced by storms ; but towards Toulon the shore s
are bolde r,and the land broken into many rocky
heights and promontorie s,interse cted by creeks
and coves . With every On e of these Jacque s was
thoroughly acquainted,as he had been a smuggler
before hi s marriage .
All the passage Captain Brown w as studying thecharts o f the French Coast
,and obtaining informa
tion from Jacque s in re spe ct to it .
Arthur Brown had no ordinary foe s to deal with .
Lord Hood was in command of the Me diterraneanfleet
,with orders to take all ve ssels
,of whatever
nation,attempting to enter Marseille s or Toulon
,
and under him was Nelson,in the Agamemnon
,
s ixty-four guns— a very fast ship,that is
,for an
English ship . It was merely a question of shrewd
2
18 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
ness and seamanship,as the Arthur Brown was nu
armed,and could not resist .
In order to pas s the time a t sea , Jacque s f re
quently told storie s in relation to hi s expeditions
with the smugglers,and
,among other things
,de
scribed a cove where he had often aided t o land
cargoes o f smuggled goods,and which was singu
larly adapted for concealment .
The captain li stened attentively,but
,at the con
c lusio n'
o f the sto rv merely remarked that it must
be a curiou s place .
It was the middle o f an afternoon,and the vessel
well in with the land,when they made a sail which
Jacques,after looking at it a long time with the
glass,declared to be Nelson ’s ship .
I don ’t care who she is,
” said the captain ;she ’s dead to leeward . She can ’t catch us
,and
we can dodge her in the night .”
The wind was blowing a whole sale breeze,and
fair .“ Jacque s , said the cap tain, laying his hand o n
the pilot ’s shoulder,do you remember that singu
lar cove you were telling about a fortnight ago
The oven,s ir ? ”
That’
s it . Could you take a vessel in there inthe night ?
THE OVEN . 19
Ye s,captain
,night or day .
'
I know it as well
as I know the way to mv berth .
It is‘
bright sta rlight ; the wind is fair, and
plenty o f it . Put this ve ssel in there before day
light,and I ’ll make it the best night’s work you
ever did in your life .
”
I can take you in,captain ; but remember it i s
an oven . If any'
cfi'
the fleet se e you,you are
gone ? ’
I ’ll take the ri sk .
With a spanking breeze,and every inch o f can
vas spread that would draw,the swift ve ssel sped
o n her way,and long before daybreak was under
the shadow of the land,with her studding—sails and
all her square-sails taken in .
The entrance was so narrow that two ve ssels
could not have gone in abreast while high bluff s
and o verhanging foliage made it as black as a wolf’ s
mouth . The ship ’s company held their breath .
The ve ssel se emed rushing o n to certain d estru c‘
fi o n ; but, as she ro unded a, lfigh. tdufi,the wind
was left behind, and , after running twice her length
into a calm basin,Jacque s ordered the anchor let
go, and she was brought up .
“ There, captain,” said Jacque s
,
“ I ’ve put you
20 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
into a harbor whe'
re no wind can touch yo u ,and
about half way bet w een Marse ille s and T o n lo n .
The re st i s your affair . ”
How much of this ve ssel,lying here
,could be
seen from a'
passing ship“ A ve ssel o f this size
,nothing below the top
mast-head . Beside s,men-O f -war don ’t care to come
in here . There are batterie s o n the shore a mile
from this,each way . If they thought o f looking
,
they couldn ’t se e so small a spar as thi s ve ssel ’ s
topgallant-mast without a glas s .”
The morning light revealed a most singular
place . On the starboard hand,a rugged pro m o n
tory,covered with a thick growth o f pine and fir
,
mixed with o ak and ash,rose perpendicularly from
the sea . The other,and port s ide o f the entrance
,
was formed bv a small i sland,its extremity
,like that
o f the other point,terminating in a long
,rocky
,and
wooded bluff,but of le s s height . (Perhaps some o f
o ur young readers may have noti ced,and thought
strange,that seamen never say
,Put the helm to
larboard,
”o r speak of the larboard s ide o f a vessel,
but say,Port the helm
,
” “ Hard a-port,
”o r
,
“ Hard
down .
” Po rt i s a m ilitary term borrowed from the
French , an abbreviation of “ Pe rm la tim o ne,
”
THE OVEN . 21
meaning,
“ Carry the helm to the left,
” because
soldiers,when they port arms
,carry the pie ce s to
the left . )The inner extremity o f this i sland
,where it ap
pr o ac hed the main land,“ locked by ”
(as the sea
men say) another wooded point o f the main shore ,affording between them only a shallow and tortuou s
passage for small boats . The position o f the se two
points completely intercepted the view o f the har
bor fromthe sea . It was only from the main shore
that it was poss ible t o look into it through the pas
sage between the points .
It must be evident to o ur young r eaders that tthe
captain o f the brigantine could only hope to e scape
capture,or at least the loss of ve ssel and cargo
,by
Concealment . In entering thi s oven,he had com
pletely cut himself O ff from all chance of flight,
Since,should the enemy discover him
,a man-O
’
war ’s crew might eas ily enter,and t o w the vessel
o ut or set her o n fire .
On the other hand,if undiscovered, he was in asafe harbor ; the cargo, in case of ne ce ssity, could
be landed,and transported to Marse ille s o r Toulon
by land ; and it was suffi ciently valuable to leave a
handsome profit,even if the ves sel was lost .
22 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
It i s be st . said the captain, to be on the safe
s ide,e specially if yo u have to do with Engli sh
ailo rs,commanded by Nelson
,who hate s a Yankee
as much as he doe s a Frenchman . Ifwe had to do
with Frenchmen and Spaniards,it would be anothe r
matter .”
He instantly set the crew at work to send downthe foretopgallant-mast and maintop-mast
,with the
yards . He then run a hawser to a tre e,and
,pay
ing out o n the cable,hauled the ve s sel in’ close un
der the high C liff s o n the starboard hand,
.
and,not
sati sfied even with thi s,cut branches from the
tre e s,and lashed them to the head Of the main-mast
and also o f t he foretop-mast . It was no w imp o ssi
ble to se e the ve sse l from sea ; and even a boat
pulling along shore could n o t perce ive her without
actually entering the mouth o f the oven . This
was next to imposs ible,as man-o
’-war boats
,liable
to be fired upon with sm all arm s and fi eld -pie ces,were not inclined to venture near the shore with
o ut some special Obj e ct,o r information o f some val
uable prize,which might repay them f o r the risk .
Ja cque s,having rece ived a very handsome reward
from the captain,went to Marseille s to see hi s fam
ily,and bore a message from the captain to mer
chants there , to whom he sold hi s former cargo .
2-1 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
o f a large,evergreen oak
,that stood o n the highe st
part of the bluff ; the ladder was mad e in thi s
manner : they fastened three parts Of a rope to a
large branch near the body of the tre e a studdingSail boom was placed upon the ground and lashed
to the roots of other tree s ; to this they fastened
three old bull ’s eye s,rove the rigging through
them,and set up the ir shrouds by the end taut
with a Spanish windlas s an extemporaneous ma
chine,but
’
o f considerable power,made by sailors
with two levers and a pie ce o f small rope ; they
then rattled the shrouds down (fastened small
rope s across to step on), and were provided with an
excellent method o f ascent .
They next made fast a single block to the t0 p o f
the tree,rigged a whip
,with it hoisted up pole s
and planks,laid a platform
,and railed it in with
pole s lashed to the limbs o f the tre e . It was a
project o f Ned ’s,Walter having told him about
Charlie Bell and hi s boy companions constructing
o n e somewhat Similar in the t o p Of the big maple ,on Elm Island . This
,however
,far exceeded that
,
inasmuch as they were posse ssed o f rigging and all
requ i s ite m aterials to work with .
Walter,wh o at first did not feel much intere sted
NED PROPOSES TO IMPROVE THE D IVINE PLAN . 25
in the efl“
o rt,but engaged in it to gratify Ned
,
soon became very much so in consequence o f
working on it,and preposed a great many additions
to the original conception o f Ned,which was
merely to construct a lookout,from which
,with the
excellent glas s o f the captain,they might se e a
great distance,and watch the motions o f the block
ading fleet .
Ned,
” said he,let us make some chairs to Sit
in we don ’t want to sit down flat on the platform .
’
Well,that will be nice ; but what shall we make
them O f
“ Empty bread barrels,
” repli ed Walter,who
,a
Gri ffin,inherited all the mechanical ingenuity o f
his race . Forthwith they “ roused ” the grind
stone out of the long-boat,the rusty tools from the
tool chest,ground a chisel
,draw-shave
,and plane
irons,and Walter file d the handsaw.
I
The tools in order,Ne d set to work planing some
pieces o f boards o n one side . Walter took a barrel,
and after nailing well the hoops,sawed it across
,
just above the se cond hoops,to a depth which left
sufficient wood to form the back,being careful to
stop at a joint in the stave s . He then made a cutof the same depth and height from the ground on
the other end and the other side .
26 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SANT COVE .
All that held the barrel together no w was the
bilge hoops o f each end ; the se he cut through,when the barrel dropped apart
,making two chairs
,
as far as backs and legs were concerned,but
minus the seat . He now took a flat hoop,bent it
round the inside o f the barrel to the height o f the
saw-cut,fastened the ends togethe r with a nail
,and
gave it to Ned . There,Ned
,i s the measure o f
your bottom .
”
He then by a mark which he had made along theedge o f the hoop
,proceeded to nail o n supports
for the seat ; Ned, in the mean while , putting the
piece s o f board side by side,laid the hoop o n them
,
marked out and sawed Off the pie ce s he had planed
trimmed the edge with a draw-shave,fayed in the
bottom,and nailed it
,while Walter was at work
upon another barrel ; he then nailed a pie ce o f
hoop around the t o p edge of the back to keep the
staves in place,and cut a hole for the hand to
move it by . When they had made four they hoisted
them to the platform,and sat down with the greatest
sati sfaction imaginable . The backs were rather
low,and perfe ctly straight but SO were all the chairs
of that period ; and there was not the least d anger
o f the legs of their chairs coming o u t . People in
NED PROPOSES To IMPROVE THE D IVINE PLA N . 27
those days had not time to loll ; there were not so
many inventions for the comfort of lazy folks as at
the present.
They were soon convinced that the ir labors pos
sessed a practical value,and were appreciated the
captain,finding the platform an excellent lookout
,
easy O f acce ss,the chai rs convenient
,took his
telescope up,and would sit there and smoke .
Walter,notic ing this
,made a box and fastened it to
the railing to keep the tele scope in,and prote ct it
from the weather . The crew also went up there
so they made four more chairs to accomm odate their
company . Mr . Hadlock,the se cond mate
,was very
partial to the tree .
0,Walter
,
” said Ned,as they sat conversing
after dinner,
“ I wish James Peterson was here .
”
SO do I ; he i s such a good man, and could tell
uS so many things,for he knows so much more than
Bern o ux,and i s well acquainted in this country .
”
0,i sn ’t he good
,Walter How much he did for
me when I was Sick
Do you know,Ned
,o ne O f the first things I can
remember is going down to Peterson ’s with mother
or grandsir (when he was able to walk about), and
Luce baking me turnovers,and Peterson making
28 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
playthings for me . I tell you there wasn ’t a spear
o f gras s in the path that ran acros s lots from o ur
house to James ’s . I used to eat half my meals
there ; v i ctuals tasted better th ere than anywhereelse . I tell you
,Ned
,it takes Luce to cook . I
heard L ion Ben tell fathe r that if Peterson hadrece ived an education
,there wouldn ’t be many
ahead of him .
”
“He thinks a great deal of you,Walter . D on ’t
you remember,the night yo u was going to be
land ed o n that rock right in the ocean,and left
there all alone,how he came forward and insi sted
o n going in your room ? ”
“ There ’s another I wish was here,said Walter
,
in a subdued tone,and who will not be there to
Shake hands with us when we get home from thi s
v o yagefi’
Uncle Isaac,said Ned
,his eye s filling .
Walter made no answer,and the conversation
dropped . A fter s itting a while in silence,the boys
,
saddened by the tender and touching associations
invoked,left the spot
,went o n board the ves sel
,
and set to W ork stopping a leak in the coating of
the mainmast . The n ext day a peasant b roughtalong a straw h ive o f honey to se ll . The boys
NED PROPOSES TO IMPROVE THE D IVINE PLA N . 29
bought some,and
,o n going to the tre e to eat it
,
found there the captain and se cond mate,wi th
whom they shared,as they had purchased no small
quantity .
While they Were talking and eating,wishing for
a gale Of wind— a real Gulf of Lyons gale— tos catter the fleet
,they saw a man- o
’-war get under
way,evidently for England
,convoying two supply
ship s .
The captain ascertained her name through
Jacques ; and it afterwards appeared that Nelson
wrote to his brother by the man-o ’-war that the in
habitants o f Marse ille s and Toulon were starving ;that the blockade had been so strict
,not even a
boat could get into e ither place o r o n the coast
with provis ions . While this brave seaman was
battling with the furiou s gale s, heavy seas,thun
der,lightning
,and squalls o f the Mediterranean
,
Captain Brown,Walter Grihn
,Ned Gate s
,and
Sam Hadlock were lying among the foliage o f the
o ak,eating honey and soft bread,o r watching him
through the glass,and counting the very buttons
o n his coat,as he stood back and forth along the
coast,patient
,re solute
,faithful to his weary
,har
assing task,and congratulating himself upon the
strictne s s of the blockade ;
30 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
Fo r nineteen weeks,
” write s he,my crew
have n o t had a morsel o f fre sh meat or vegeta
ble s only salt junk,hard bread
,and lime-juice .
”
During all this time,a Yankee brigant ine
,loaded
to the bends with wheat and good yellow corn
raised by Captain Rhines,Uncle Isaac
,Lion Ben
,
Charlie B ell,and their ne ighbors
,and pork
,beef
,
saltpetre,and arms bought in England o r the Brit
i sh province s,was lying
,almos t within gunshot
,in
a c ul-d e—sa c,where she could n o t e scape if d is c o v
ered,and coining money for her o
m
c ers,crew
,and
owners .
While thus eating and chatting,they were joined
by Jacques,who had returned from a visit to hi s
family .
Pilot,said the captain
,i s there any good
place near here where we can fill water ?
Ye s,captain never a better.
”
The next morning,the water-casks were put
into a boat,and Jacques piloted them to the place .
It was a lovely spot . Over the edge o f a precipice
crowned with pine s poured,in o ne broad sheet
,a
swift mountain torrent into a rocky basin,from
which the white froth floated o ff into the cove .
fl
The water was o f su i c ient depth to enable them
32 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
I don’t know about that,Ned . I think there ’s
something to be said in favor o f the tide . Jus t
call to mind what an abominable dirty hole the port
o f Marse ille s i s ; all the filth of the city pouring
into it ; no motion only in a gale o f wind , and not
much then ; all that foul stuff stewing and s immer
ing under a southern sun . If there was a tide to
make a current,bring in a fre sh supply o f water
,
and carry o ff this slime every six hours,how much
better it would be 7’
I never thought Of that,Mr . Gri II] .
There ’s another thing I should think yo u would
have thought o f,Ned
,
” said Mr . Hadlock .
What is that,s ir ?
Why,in re spe ct to cleaning, calking, o r grav
ing a ve ssel’s bottom
,repairing
,o r stopping a leak .
S ee what a fuss we had here the other day,clean
ing and putting tallow o n this ve ssel ’s bottom °
had to heave her o ut,and work and wade in the
water at that . No w,if we had been at home
,all
we need to have done would have been t o haul her
o n to the beach in Captain Rhine s ’s Cove that yo u
d e spise so much,at high water
,ground her
,and
have e ight o r ten hours to work,o n a good sand '
beach,too .
NED PROPOSES TO IMPROVE THE D IVINE PLANT 33
I gue ss,said Ned
,I should have done better
to have held my tongue .
Our readers will bear in mind that there were
no railways in those days by which vessels are
hauled o ut of the water,o r dry docks into which
they are floated at high water,and the water
pumped out ; but o u r forefathers grounded them
acros s logs or blocks,or
,if they wanted to get at
the keel,hove them down on one side
,by means o f
tackle s made fast to the mast heads,till the keel
was o ut o f water .”
“ That is not all,either
,Ned
,
” said the second
mate . If the tide didn ’t ebb,there wouldn ’t be
any clams and that would be a very serious affairindeed to the fishermen who want bait . Once it
would have caused starvation in some case s,and
might again .
”
Ho w could that be,s ir ?
I ’ll tell you,myboy . You were born and have
grown up in Salem,and don ’t
,perhaps
,realize the
value o f clams ; but I’do . I ’ve heard old Mr . Gri n ,
the mate ’s grandfather,say
,that when he was
cutting down the tree s on his place,before he
could raise anything,and met with bad luck in
hunting,he had been
,the first summer o r two, so
3
3 -1 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
put to it for food,that he had to boil bee ch leaves
the ends Of the branche s and the tops o f the
pine tree s ( that are very tender in June , when
they are growing fast), to pre serve life , and that
if it had not been for clams,he and his fam ily
mus t have starved . I ’m sure they were a great
help to us after my father died,for we were very
poor . I was young,not strong enough to do m uch
work ; bu t I could d ig clams , and my little s iste r
picked them up . I could,with them for bait
,catch
fish and lobsters,and with a little rye and Indian
bread and some bean broth,mother got along
,and
kept us all -together . Had it not been for the clamflats
,I don ’t know what we should have done .
”
I can say amen to that,
” said Willard Lancaster ;and I know that when Peterson used to drink so
bad,and brought little o r nothing home to his
family,that Luce and the children got most of
the ir living o ut of the clam flats .”
It i s not only the value o f the clams as food
said Walter “ but a good part of the fish that are
cured and exported to all parts of the world to
feed thousands,are caught with clam bait .”
“ That,indeed
,
” said the captain .
“ What vast
quantitie s O f fish are exported from Salem to the
FNED PROPOSES To IMPROVE THE D IVINE PLA N .
West Indie s and o ther place s ! and that i s bu t a
trifle compared with the whole amount .
Ye s,indeed
,si r . I didn ’t think of all the se use s
for the tide . I was thinking only how convenient
it would be to have it always high water for a few
things .“ There are many oth er things
,said Walter
that the ebb and flo w of the tide are very c o nven
ient for . Three years ago,father was build ing a
wharf in o ur cove : the logs were master great
one s ; it would have taken twenty men to place
them where we wanted them but father and I cut
the score s in the other logs to receive them,rolle d
them into the water with the oxen,then tied a rope
to them,floated them at high water to the spot
,
held them till the tide ebbed,and they settled into
the groove s just as easy as a cat would lick her ear .
“Te didn’t lift an ounce the tide lifted all those big
logs for us . D id yo u ever see the Casco, Ned ?”
“ No,s1r ; she was always away when I was
at Pleasant Cove,but I ’ve heard say she i s a
monster .”
SO she i s— seven hundred tons ; you mayjudge what her an chors must be . Well
,I can
tell yo u what they are : the be st bower is 3000,and the small bower
36 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA sANT COVE .
O,my What a junk o f i ron that must be
We rode o u t a gale of wind in Cadiz,with both
anchors ahead and all the scope out . It blew a gale,
I tell you,and the anchors were well bedded .
When we came to get under way for home,we
hove up the small anchor ; but the other we hove ,and hove
,and hove
,and couldn ’t start it. At last
the captain said,Avast heaving ; let the tide take
it o u t .
’ We waited till lo w water,hove her d own
as long as we could catch a pawl on the W indlass,
and made all fast . At length the tide began to flow,
the ship began to bury forward ; down she went, till
the water was coming into the hawse-hole s,the
cable sung,and the tar b egan
'
to stand in drop s o n
it with the strain,when all at once the anchor let
go with a surge that threw every man from hi sfeet. The tide was ve rv convenient then ; if it
had not been for it,we must have gone ashore
,got
a grappling,and grappled to the fluke o f the
anchor,o r left it . Again the tide i s very c o nven
Ient for a timepie ce ; if yo u keep the run of the
tide,you have the time o f day .
”
“ It i s about as well to take things as the Lordhas arranged them
,said the captain
,
“ and be
contented and thankful .”
NED PROPOSES TO IMPROVE THE D IVINE PLAN . 37
That,
” said Ned,
“ brings to my mind a pie ce
mother read to me once,about a man who thought
,
if the dispos ition of aff airs had been committed to
him,he could have arranged them a great deal
better than they n ow are ; that it was not at all
proper that so large and noble a thing as a pump
kin should be attached to a vine lying upon the
ground,while so insignificant a thing as an acorn
o r beech-nut grew upon a lofty tree ; but falling
asleep one day under an o ak,an acorn falling o n
his nose awoke him,when he exclaimed
,
‘Wretch
that I am Had it been a pumpkin it would havedashed my brains o ut .
’ I don ’t know as I re colle ct
it aright,but that was the amount o f it .”
“ It i s certainly better,Ned
,to be in the hands
Of a wise and good Providence,than to be le ft to
plan for ourselve s . If the di sposal of events had
been committed to you or me,we never should
have suffere d the Madras to spring aleak,and
endured what we did upon the raft ; yet it carried
us to Pleasant Cove,to Captain Rhine s and Charlie
Bell,and was the best thing that could have hap~
pened to e ither o f us . Way enough,men ; fend o ff ,
Jacques .”
38 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
CHAPTER III .
THE BOYS CONSCIOUS OF HIGHER A IMS .
HOSE luxurious boys,n o t sati sfied with eating
soft bread,lolling in their new chairs
,bath
ing and fri sking in the blue waters o f the Me diter
ranean,re solved to sleep in the Bird ’s Ne st
,as they
had christened the stru cture in the tre e . Thi s was
a plan o f Ned,who proposed taking the ir beds up
into the tre e and sleeping there .
“ Don ’t let us sleep o n that Old straw,but throw
it away and get some fre sh,
” said Walter ° though,
upon se cond thoughts,I don ’t know where we
should get it . These peasants only raise rye,and
rye straw is too hard,only fit for s tufling horse
collars . Let u s get moss and bee ch leave s,Ned the
o ld leaves that have fallen o ff will be just the thing,
only dry them .
So we will .I ’ll tell you what I ’ve been thinking o f . Won
der I didn ’t think o f it before .
”
A’
) THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Then,perhaps
,they would think
,if they didn ’t
say it, that it was rather small busine s s for a mate
O f a vessel who wanted to be master, and a young
fellow who wanted to be mate,and had run the
broadside Of a hundred gun ship,and been twice
wounded,to be Spending all the ir time building
birds ’ nests better leave that to the birds,and set
about the busine s s they were m ade f o r .
”
Come,grandfather
,replied Ned
,patting Wal
ter ’s cheek,
“ just leave ‘that alone ; thi s ne st i s not
without its use . We must have some place f o r a
lookout to watch the fleet ; and, were it not for this ,the captain would have to go the be st part o f a
mile to a hill . These chairs are a real comfort to
him,as well asto us . I ’m sure it i s o ur duty to do
anything we can for him,who is so good to u s
,and
puts us ahead . A fellow must have some fun to Oilthe wheels and make everything run smooth ; be
side s, grandp a , you will b e obliged to allow,
that if
I first thought o f making the nest, yo u have put
ten times the work in it I eve r intended d oing ;and I ’m sure the chairs were all your o wn get
ting up ; and n o w you want to get moss to fill
beds with .
”
There , you’ve said enough
,you little monkey .
THE BOYS CONSCIOUS OF H IGHER A iMs . 4 1
“ I think this nice warm climate,just like May
,
makes anybody feel lazy and shiftle'
s s . Only think,
Wal,at hom e
,n o w
,they are all covered up in
snow,i c icle s hanging from the cattle ’s nose s
,and
big roaring fire s in the hous es ; and here I saw
yesterday,right o n the s ide o f that little kn oll
,
strawberrie s in blossom .
I gues s you ’re right,Ned
,
” said Walter,stretch
ing himself ; and that i s just as o ur Jo e i s always
saying— the frost puts the grit in .
”
I gue ss so,for there don ’t se em to be much grit
in the folks here ; it seems as though the women
did half the work .
Let us ask the captain . Ned, for liberty to go
and take a look at the c o untrv then we c an get
information,and something to fill o ur beds with
beside s having a good time— pleasure and profit,
youngster .”
Where shall we sleep ; o ut doors ?”
Ye s ; take a blanket ( the weather i s warm),just to keep the dew O ff .
“ And we can carry provisions ? ”
Ye s,and
!
fireworks .
I should like that ; it would be something like
what we were going to d o at Pleasant Cove,when
42 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
uncle Isaac was hurt . I never was in the woods ;always have been either at s chool or at sea .
”
I don ’t think you ’ll find much woods . I can ’t
se e from the tre e any that I should call woods .There seems to be as much about this even as
anywhere,and I suppose that was left to shelter
and conceal the harbor . for the smugglers .”
“ I tell you,Walter
,
’twill seem real nic e,after
being penned up aboard ship,to lie down under a
tree,stretch out
,loll about
,no ‘anchor watch
,
’ don ’t
care whether school keep s o r not, even if yo u don’t
do anv more than that .”
There ’s a roll of canvas under my berth . I ’ll
ask the captain to give u s enough to make a couple
Of packs .”
Having obtained the canvas,needle s
,and twine
,
they were soon in the Bird ’s Nest,s ewing and talk
ing over their proposed tramp . They invi ted
Jacque s to make one o f the party ; but he wasabout to return and re sume his employment o f
fishing,and in the mean time keep watch O f the
Engli sh fleet,and pick up any information that was
valuable,until hi s service s should be again required
as pilot .
Walter sent Ned to the captain for liberty,which
THE BOYS CONSCIOUS OF H IGHER A IMS . 43
he not only gave c he e rfullv, but added , There’s
nothing to be d one ; yo u m ay stay as long as you
like ; only be sure , i f you see any change in th e
weather,to hu rry aboard .
Ned,delighted
,thanked the captain most enthu si
astic ally .
“ Y o u know,Ned
,
” said he,
“ you have not eu
joyed much for a boy . You ’ve never had a greatdeal of boyhood
, yo u were kept at school very
closely by your parents,then went to sea
,was cast
away . When you got over that,went right O ff
again,was wounded
,suffered a great d eal
,and
then was disappointed in re spect to the good time
you were re ckoning upon. at Pleasant Cove with
Mr . Murch and Walter . Now you are a right down
good boy,Ned
,and I hope you will enjoy yourself
,
for nobody can tell what will befall u s next .”
Having set o ut at sunrise,they travelled till
noon,and after gaining the summit o f a high hill
,
lay down beneath a tre e to re st . Their life o n
shipboard had entirely unfi tted them for walking ;the strap o f the packs cut the ir shoulders, and they
were thirsty,for the dry
,barren plains of Provence
afforded n o water : they were extremely fat igued .
A fter stretching themselve s at full length upon
44 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
the ground to re st,not caring whether school
kept or not,theywent in quest o f water, and at
last came to a place where a very little tri ckled
from a seam in the ledge,but was evaporated bV
the hot sun,nearly as fast as it ran
,barely moisten
ing the rock .
What shall we do,Walter ?
I ’ll show you .
He broke some branches from a clump o f p ine
bushes,set them against the rock
,then sat down
with Ned under them . The bushe s kept o ff the
sun,and the water
,no longer evaporating
,c o l
le c ted in a little cavity o f the rock,and they were
bountifully supplied . Opening their packs,they
began to eat with the greate st reli sh .
We ’re all right no w,VVal said Ned .
I shall be when I get this junk of beef down .
It came from Elm Island —L ion Ben ’s Old brind ledox . Only see the fat o n it l— that goe s to the right
place,Ned . I call thi s rather a poor
,mean coun
try ; the soil seems to be a hungry gravel, all burnt
up ; scarcely any wood .
”
I suppose they don ’t need a great deal,only a
little to cook with,the weather i s so warm .
”
The captain says they have cold winds in the
THE BOYS CONSCIOUS OF H IGHER A IMS . 45
spring,from the mountains
,and hail and sno w
hail enough sometimes to kill sheep and destroy
the whole crop .
”
They n o w re sumed their packs and went o n,
chatting and making their Observations in re spect
to the land and the peasants whom they saw at
work in the fields .“ Where do thes e people live ? ” asked Ned . I
don ’t se e a house,although there are plenty o f
fields,and people at work in them . Only see the
women shovelling sand and picking up rocks ! AsI live
,if there ain ’t a horse and jackass working
together ! ”
“ Look over there, said Walter ; se e those
oxen,the yoke lashed to their horns .
“ Wonder where they cut any hay ! ” said Ned ;don ’t se e any mowing-fi eld s .
”
I don ’t suppose they need much ; they have no
snow to lie,and the cattle graze all winter
“ I should think so,by the looks o f them .
O,Ned
,what kind o f a tree i s that
,with those
rough things o n the branche s ? Let’s go and see .
Why,it ’s a che stnut ! Here are some just such as
they sell in the stores .“ Why
,Walter
,didn ’t yo u ever se e a che stnut
tree before ?
46 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
No ; they don’t grow o ur way ; only walnuts
and butternuts .”
There ’s plenty o f them in Massachusetts . But
what are all the se stone walls built round the side s
o f the hills for ? and what i s that growing on them ? ”
“ Vine s ; I’ve seen those in Spain .
”
But how do they ever get any manure up
there ?“ Lug it on their backs in baskets .I guess this land must all belong to o ne man
,
for I don ’t see any divi sion fence s only once in a
while a ditch,o r a little pile o f stone s . He must
have an everlasting sight o f land,for I can ’t see
any house . What kind of a tre e is that with pale
green leaves“ An olive .
”
Is that what they make o il from,Walter ?
Ye s .”
And that o ne next to it ?A fig tree .
”
Ho w do you know ?
Jacque s showed me o ne at Marseille s,last vo y!
age,in a garden .
”
“ And the se others ?I don ’t know what they are .
48 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Look,Walter. I see the spire o f a church
,o r
something that looks like it,between those two
hills .”
“ Ye s ; I se e it . Those people seem very kind .
Let us go and have a talk with that Old man whoi s at work at the foot o f that tre e with sueli a lot
round him ; all the family, I gue ss . You Speak tohim
,Ned .
”
Walter knew that the French he had learnedfrom the exile s at Salem was quite different fromthe pato Is o f Provence
,being the language of cul
t ivated society,whereas Ned had picked his up
from Peterson,Jacque s
,and Mr . Bell
,and it was
the very dialect o f this locality,
the diale cts,in
different parts o f France,differing almost as much
as th e climate . Walter had also learned many
words from the same source as Ned .
“ I’ll speak to him ; I can talk their lingo first
rate n ow ; but let us s it down and re st a while .
I ’m real tired ; where shall we sleep to-night“ Under that high cliff
,th e o ther side o f the val
ley ; and we can drink from the brook . I see some
tree s there,and we can make o ur fire right under
them, drive a stake into some crevice , hang o ur
kettle , and have a cup o f tea.”
THE BOYS CONSCIOUS OF H IGHER A IMS . 49
Think we couldn ’t get some milk o f those folks,
Wal
I expe ct it would be goat ’s milk,if we did .
Goat ’ s milk i s first rate,I tell you . We had
two goats aboard the Madras .“ Perhaps i t i s but it always seemed to me that
it must taste just as a goat smells .”
“ O,Wal
,what a b o y yo u are ! W h o ever heard
o f tasting a smell ? ”
I don ’t care . There ’ s a mighty diff erence be
tween a c o w and a goat. A cow ’s breath is as
swe et as a rose .
4
50 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
CHAPTER IV.
GABRIEL QUESNA RD.
they lay with heads pillowed on their packs ,
Ned,
” said Walter,I wish we could imi
tate Charlie Bell,John Rhines
,and Fred Williams
in something be s ide s building a platform in a tre e
top,or getting coral and sponge to take home with
us,o r even obtaining information about the people
and country we are in .
”
I think this i s first rate,
” said Ned,sticking his
legs,which were stiff and swollen with walking
,
up In the air . “ What would you have,Wal ? I
think we ’ve both done pretty well . I made a hun
dred dollars a month clear,last voyage you
,twic e
that ; which i s more than they all did when they
started .
”
“ But we have been hired,and have only done
w hat other people laid o ut for us ; whereas they
struck o ut for themselve s,planned
,worked
,and
built a ve ssel , as you may say, o ut of nothing,
o w ned and load ed her to boot .”
GABRIEL QUESNA RD. 5 1
There were four Of them,and they had good
advisers but,when left o n that rock alone
,didn ’t
y o u get hold Of Jacque s , and wasn’t it due to you r
re solution and contrivance that the ve ssel got into
Marseille s,and made 'all she d id make
“ Ned,do you think getting money or being
smart is t o be put before everything else ?
“ I gues s I don ’t,
” said Ned,rolling over
,and
putting hi s arm round Walter . “ I think having
friends to love who love you,and to do what i s
right,i s t o be put ever so much before that .”
Is there nothing else ? ”
Y o u mean,said Ne d
,in a subdued tone
,be
ing what my mother calls pious .”
No . I never talk O f'
that ; I know nothing
abou t i t ; wish I did .
”
“ What d o yo u mean, then ?”
“ I ’ll tell yo u . I don ’t suppose it i s boasting to
say that W e have been smart,trusty
,and filled the
place s we were put in,perhaps
,as well
,in o ur way
,
as they in the irs ; but they have done other things
that we have not .
What are they
They have done good . Isaac Murch persuaded
Peterson to leave liquor alone,and taught. him to
52 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
read . Ho w Charlie,John
,and Fred helped Old
Mrs . Yelf after her husband died ! and she,with
her Old fingers,wove the royal o f the Hard-s crab
ble,and luck has fol lowed that ve ssel from the dav
she was launched . Isaac Murch said he left hi s
luck behind him when he left the Hard-s crabble
for S eth Warren has made double,in proportion to
the cost o f th e two ve ssels,in her to what he has
in the great ship . She has never lost a spar o r a
man ; and it’s my belief she never will be cast
away,bu t die a natural death in the head o f Cap
tain Rhine s ’s Cove,where the squirrels will make
nests in her cab in,and heard the ir acorns
,the rob
ins will build o n her spars,the little children have
her f o r a play-house,and the big boys to dive
from . Uncle Isaac said he knew just as well before she sailed that she would be lucky as he did
afterwards .”5 4Why 77
Because a robin built her ne st o n the gammon
knee , under the bowsprit ; and Captain Rhine s putO ff rigging her a week
,that the nest might not be
disturbed .
I never heard Of that before Walter ; but Char
lie Bell told me how much Captain Rhine s andUncle Isaac did for the wid ow Hadlo ck.
”
GA BRIEL QUESNA RD . 3
There ’s o ne thing he never told you,I ’ll war
rant : that Fred Williams was once o ne O f the
worst boys in town ; and he and John refor med
him,took all the money they had earned , an d set
him up in busine s s .”
NO,he never told me that . At home they
praise us,and call u s smart . We risked o u r l ive s
last voyage,and are ready to risk them again
,to
make m oney .
”
But Captain Rhine s,Uncle Isaac
,Lion Ben
,
o ur Joe,and Charlie Bell ri sked their live s to save
yours and the captain ’s .
”
“ Ye s ; and see what Captain Rhine s has donesince for o ur captain and hi s mother ’s fam ilv.
”
“ You know what Uncle Isaac ’s last words were,
Ned . I shall never forget them ; th ey keep coming
up .
‘What Li
now like most to think about,boys
,
ain ’t what I ’ve done for myself , but to help others .’
I ’m sure,Walter
,I feel just so ; but I don
’t
know what we can do like them . If Uncle Isaacwas alive
,he could tell u s .”
“ No r I,e ither ; but I don
’t mean to wait to do
some great thing to m ake a sound,but take hold
o f the first thing that comes up .
”
“ I ’m bound to do what yo u d o ,W al. But come,
I ’m rested ; let’s go on .
”
54 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
D e scending the hill to the valley,they beheld a
most lively scene . Men,women
,and children were
busily employed gath ering olive s,which were n o w
ripe , and looked similar to a r ipe damson . Somewere in the tree s
,shaking them from the branche s
,
others beating them Off with pole s,and still others
pi cking up and loading upon mule s and asse s ,
which stood near,with wi cker panniers acros s
their backs . They were also lead ing into the
queere st-looking carts imaginable —the wheels
solid,made o f two layers o f planks
,with a short
piece o n each side to increase the thickne ss and
th e bearing , and take the place Of a hub . To some
o f the se carts oxen were attached,yoked by the
horns ; and every time thes e wheels turned they
made a doleful scre e ching .
“ I should think,
” said Ned,
“ if they are making
Oil,they might afford enough to grease th ei r
wheels .”
“ SO should I . Look at those women,Ned
,
’
pointing to three who were bearing Off sacks o n
their Shoulders,filled with olive s . “ What a way
that i s , lading women, and letting asse s and mule s
stand still !
Gre'
at were the surpri se and delight o f the boys,
56 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
n either read nor write,he had neverthele ss thought
m uch,li stened well
,and Observed closely
,been a
constant attendant at the assemblie s o f the pe o
ple,and an actor in all the terrible s cene s o f the
fi rst years Of the revolution . Like many others o fthe more reflective and intelligent portion o f the
inhabitants o f the southerni
pro vin c es, he was sat-i s
fi ed when those abominable extortions, levied upon
the peasantry both by clergy and noble s under thename o f “ seignioral rights
,
"o r
,as it was some times
called,
“ the servitude o f the soil,
” were swept away,
joined the m ore moderate party,who th ought blood
eho ugh had been shed , and were opposed to the
savage fanati c s,who
,in the nam e o f liberty
,slew
all whom they either hated o r feared .
“ Y o u find us busy,citizens
,
” he said ; for it i s
the Olive-harvest,and we are later about it than
common ; but it i s“
now nearly time to leave work .
Y o u will go with me to my poor house,and pass
the night .”
“ We thank yo u kindly,” said Ned ; but we are
sailors , accustomed to being o ut o f doors,and all
kinds o f exposure . After be ing so long pennedup o n shipboard , we wish to stretch o ur limbs
,see
the country , and crops, h ow the people live , and
GA BRIEL QUESNA RD. 57
have made up o ur minds to sleep o n the s ide of
yonder hill,In this sweet air .”
“ It i s winter-time,and the nights are long and
77
This weath er i s summer to us . We came from
a country where the winters are severe . We have
blankets,and are used to sleeping on the soft s ide
o f a plank .
”
But your food,c itizens .
We have plenty of provision in o ur packs .
Gabriel n o t se eming at all re conciled to thi s,and
st ill urging the claims o f ho spitality,Walter told
himthey wished to go farther to se e the face o fthe country
,productions
,and manner in which the
people l ived .
“ And how can yo u se e in what fashion the people live if you don ’t go into the ir homes
,and eat
and drink with them ? ”
We couldn ’t se e the country in the house,
re
plied Walter . “ We will sleep o n the hill-side to
night,tO -morrow travel farther to please ourselve s
,
and,o n o ur return
,stop at your hou se to gratify
By that time,said Gabriel
,
“ we hope to be
more at le i sure for sociab ility and a good time .
”
58 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
I ’ve seen Olive s before,said Walter
,in Spain
,
and eaten them ; but they were green . These are
violet .”
“ That was because they were unripe . These
are ripe . I used to sell the greater part o f mine
green before the blockade .
What do you do to them when you sell them in
that way ?
Soak them te if hours in lye,afterwards a week
in cold water,then put them in brine
,with some
sweet herbs . That i s all . Some only put them inbrine .
What are you going to do with the se 9
Pre ss them f o r O il. ”
What a great tre e this i s that you are gather
ing no w said Ned .
“ Let ’s se e if w e can claspit,Walter .
Putting their arms around the tre e,they were
bare ly able to touch the tips of the ir fingers .“ I didn ’t know Olive tree s grew so large
,said
Walter . “ None of the others here are half as
large as this . How brown the bark looks andgreat furrows in it
,just like an Old willo w
,and the
leave s look like willow leave s . It i s hollow,too
,
and c overed with warts .
G A BRIEL QUESNA RD . 59
Ye s,because it i s so o ld .
How old i s it ?
God only knows ; perhaps as Old as the world .
As old as the world ? ”
Ye s,citizens
,it might have been the first o ne
made .
”
The first o ne made
Well,nobody ever knew o ne to die
,except it
was burnt,cut down
,or killed by the frost . They
can’
t bear the frost . A f ew years ago,most of the
tree s in the lo w ground were hurt bv the frost, but
this,being on higher ground
,e scaped . I don ’t
believe they ever die Of the ir own a ccord .
“ How long is it,
” asked Walter,after they are
planted,before they bear
They bear a few Olive s in ten or twelve years,
but not much o f a crop till they are twenty-five o r
thirty .
”
Don ’t they lose the ir leavesA part Of the leave s turn yello w
,as you see
“
, in
the fall,but they are never bare and in the Spring
the new one s push O ff the Old one s .”
DO they hear every year ?
No,every other they work one year for them
selve s,and o ne f o r the owner .”
60 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Do they yield much o il ?
A hundred weight Of clean Olive s make s aboutthirty o r thirty-two pounds o f Oil .”
How much o il will a big tre e , like that we have
clasped,make
This year that tre e has about o n e hundred and
forty livre s
How much Oil w ill they makeAbout. a barrel—t w enty o f your gallons .What is it worth ?
Three franc s ( s ixty cents) a gallon' but then
we raise other crops among the Olive s .“ But I suppose they are like o ur crops that we
raise in the orchards— rather light ?“ Ye s ; but the olive will grow o n poor land eu
dure the drought,and don ’t require much care .
“ What do you dre s s them with ? ”
The skins and stone s that are le ft after pre ss
ing,are as
.
good as anything .
”
How much do the other tree s average ? There
are no othersnear as large as this .”
About two gallons,take o ne year with another.
The olive s , however, come o ff after the grain harve st
and the vintage are over,when there i s not much
else to do .
”
GABRIEL QUESNA RD.
“ Taking o ut the big tree,that wouldn ’t be more
than fifteen dollars to an acre every other year,
according to the number o f tree s you ’ve go t here ,making no allowance for blight and bad years . Then
you ’ve no straw,nothing le ft but the Oil
,and that
won ’t keep a great while ; i f yo u don’t se ll i t
,
cattle can ’t eat it . I ’d f ather raise corn o n a burn,
where I can get a c rOp worth five time s as much,that I can eat
,sell
,o r that my cattle will fat o n
,
will keep,and then have a c rOp o f fodder left after
all i s d one . DO they ever fail o f a crop in the
bearing years ?“ Yes
,they sometime s blight and cast the ir
f ruit .”
“ I should call it rath er sm all bu sine s s to wait
twelve years for a tree to bear at all,then twenty
five o r thirty more for it to bear full ;' afte r all, to
bear only every other year ; som etim e s blight, and
then get Only S ix dollars from the very largest
tre e s . I shouldn ’t think they ’d be worth th e pick
ing up .
‘No t worth the picking up ! ” cried Gabrie l in
astonishment ; o lives n o t wo r th p ic king up Theybring much money to the poor man .
”
“ How much are a man ’s wages he re
-62 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
Twenty sous ( cents ) a day, a woman’s,ten
,to
work in the f ield .
Why,in America a man working o n the land in
harve st gets s ix o r nine francs,and found .
”
“ Mon D i eu s creamed Gabriel my wife,m y
children,hear that . Felix Be rtault
,my neighbor
,
he shouted to a peasant,who was a short distance
away pruning vines,but
,having heard the loud
talking and witne ssed the excited gesture s caused
by Walter ’s words,stood gaping with open mouth
,
and pruning-hook in hand .
Step this way,
” said Gabriel,and listen to
what this young citizen i s saying that in Americaa laboring man gets nine francs
,and his victuals
be side s .”
The new comer expre ssing equal surpri se,they
talked and‘
gesticulated with such fury,that Ned
whispered to Walter
DO you believe,Wal
,that a Frenchman could
talk if you tied his hands
I guess n o t ; Captain Rhines says they couldn ’t .”
What kind o f tree s are those with su ch crookedlimbs ? ” asked Ned .
Mulberrie s .The bark and body look some like a maple ;
w hat are they good for ?
64 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
them ? Why can’t yo u leave them o n the tre e s to
take care o f themselve s, and, when they have made
their house s,go and pick them O ff
Gabriel then explained to the boys that the
s ilk-worm and the mulberry tre e were both na
tives o f a warmer climate than France , where theworm could live and hatch out o f doors
,like
oth er worms ; and that, although the mulberry
tree had become acclimated,and could live and
grow o ut Of doors,and even sustain a severe win
ter,the worm couldn ’t
,and therefore they kept
them in the house,and brought the leave s to them ;
and when they came t o se e him,he would take
them over to the house o f Felix Be rtault,who
raised them,show them the cocoons and silk
,and
tell them all about it.
Our young readers must not be surpri sed that
Walter thought the worms made silk ready for
use . How should he know anything about it ? Agood many boys who read the se books may n o t
know any more ; those who do , have obtained
the ir kno w ledge by reading,and perhaps never
saw a silk-worm in all the ir live s,although they
are rai sed in Connecticut,and a f ew in Massa
c husetts but Walter had not acce ss to books that
GA BRIEL QUESNA RD. 65
treated o f such matters . Walte r now asked the
peasant to what the fragrance of the air was
owing ; to which he replie d that, o n the hills
from which the wind then blew,a great many
fragrant plants were growing wild,and also in
the fields o f his ne ighbors ; they were cultivated
f o r the purpose o f the perfumer ; but there was
not so much o f that busm e ss here as at Nismes,
Nice,and Canne s ; but still a good many plants
were cultivated and sent to those and other
place s to be sold .
“ Doe s anybody own land here,except the n o e
bility ? o r are the laboring people all tenants ? ”
We have been delivered from all that trash by
the revolution ; cut Off their heads , or they have
fled ; we’re all noble s n o w. To answer your que s
tion,citiz ens
,it used to be so in a good measure
here . A lthough the people owned land,more o r
le ss,all over France
,yet the most O f it was in the
hands o f the grand se igniors ; and that which the
common people held was so burdened with taxe s
to be paid the ari sto'
cracy,clergy
,and government
,
that it was better to be without it ; but since the
revolution,in consequence o f the confiscation of
the e state s of the seigniors and prie sts who were
5
66 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
guillotined or emigrated,all that land was thrown
into the market by the National As sembly,divided
into lots,from o ne .to ten acre s
,sold to the citizens
,
and five years allowed to pay for it in .
”
D o you o wn this land ? ” asked Walter.
IVhat,all thi s valley
Ye s .”“ Citizens
,are you mad ? NO peasant owns so
much as that .”
“ Why not A great many persons in my country Own more than thi s whole valley .
”
A great part o f th i s land,
” said Gabriel,
“ be
longed t o a grand se ignior,some small portions
being owned by citizens ; but he was guillotined,his property confiscated
,the land parcelled o ut and
sold , so that it has pass ed into the hands Of the
people . Before the revolution,
” said he,
“ the land,
at the death Of the parent,went to the olde st so n
but that law i s abolished,and it i s now equally
divid ed ; for which reason, in re spe ct to some
small propertie s,the children posse ss only a few
rods ; sometime s an olive tree, or mulberry, stand
ing in ten rods o f land ; and this i s the homestead
Of a’
wh o le family the ir farm .
”
THE YANKEE BOYS ’ HOL IDA Y IN PROVENCE . 67
CHAPTER V .
THE YANKEE BOYs’ HOL IDAY IN PROVENCE .
HE peasants now began to return to the village,
while the boys prepared to camp o ut . Wal
ter,at a hasty glance along the side o f the moun
tain,perce iving m any tree s
,took it for granted
,
without further examination,that they were fore st
tree s,and would furnish material for a fire ; but as
they approached,to hi s great chagrin
,he noticed that
they were mulberry,Olive
,and figs
,and that there
was not even a bush o r a bramble that could be
taken to feed a fire . This at once reversed the
whole train o f his ideas,and threw him into a state
o f mind entirely foreign to hi s usual cheerful,
buoyant frame,and a mood not to be pleased with
anything,which communicated itself
,though with
le ss intensity, to Ned, who, never having experi
enc ed those pe culiar emotions begotten o f the ifre ewild life in the woods
,was n o t peculiarly touched
by the disappointment .
68 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
I think it is a great way for people who live bytheir labor to be so far from th eir work . I should
think it would take half of the ir time to go and
come .
“ They don ’t know how to put things ahead with
a rush,as we do
,
” saidWalter .
How can a man think much o f his time when it ’sworth only twenty cents a day ?
It ain ’t worth that,for a sou ain ’t quite a cent .
They will work all day in a half bushel,and don
'
t
know how to take advantage o f work . I ’ve heard
the captain say that they were once little bette r
than slaves to the ari stocracy,and have been so
long used t o working at a slave jog that they keep
it up,and always want to hudd le together like a
nest o f rats .
”
While talking they had gained the decliv ity Ofthe hill
,and sat down .
Only look at that troop,Wal .
It was, indeed, a curious spe ctacle th at peasant
train, some driving asse s,othe rs mule s
,and sti ll
others oxen attached to thei r queer-looking carts
heap ed with Olive s, and all making f o r the gap
between the hills,through which the boys had
seen the church spire .
THE YA NKEE BOYS ’ HOL IDAY IN PROVENCE . 69
Spreading their blankets beneath a shelvingrock
,they rolled themselve s in them
,and began
to converse .
How sweet this air smells ! said Ned,snu ffing
the odor o f the wild thyme,lavender
,marjoram
,
absinthe,and other fragrant plants among which
they lay .
“ I don ’t think much o f it,
” said Walter,who was
not in a humor to be pleased with anything .
“ I
call it a God-forsaken country,all dried up
,no
water to drink without travelling ten mile s,and
then sucking it out o f the rocks . Here we ’ve passedtwo or three beds o f brooks all dried up ; plenty o f
water when you don ’t want it,none when you do ;
and n o t a stick of wood to build a camp fire . Thi s
smell i s not to be mentioned in the same day with
the fragrance o f good pine woods,and I know it
i sn’t half so whole some . Give me a good apple
orchard in bloom,and you may have all the se
misera ble herbs .”
I ’m sure,
” said Ned,I ’d rather have a tumbler
o f cider than “ all their sour wine ; and what is an
Olive to an apple
“ Ye s,Ned
,to the cat-heads that grow down
behind our pig-sty . They may talk about the juice
0 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
of the grape ; give me the good maple sirup , and
sap,and a country where a man can earn enough
to afford to eat m eat .”
I know it,Walter ; and where the women don
’t
have to”
shove ! dirt,hoe
,reap . and work just like
an Indian squaw. I twigged that . And then bragabout the ir politenes s
I never heard there was any po litene ss among
the Griffins ; but I wonder what my father would
say to se e mother shovelling sand,o r lugging
manure o n her back up the side of a mountain .
Guess he ’d roar some ; guess she’d have to send
into the house qui cker .“ D id you ever see such pigs ? ” said Ned who
was n ow thoroughly imbued with the fault find inghumor of his companion .
“ Guess they have to
boil the ir pork ; for I don’t believe there ’s grease
enough in it to fry itself.”
“ D id you ever se e such oxen ? They ain ’t biggerthan rats—nasty
,scraggly-looking things
,c ow
horned and cat-hammed,no ne cks o r quarters
,
every hair sti cking up straight . Don ’t believe theycould t w itch a spruce bush . I ’ll bet our Old Starand Golding (just let father speak to
’em) would
drag six such,tail foremost . They ’re welcome to
THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
he last words distinguishable were,God-forsaken
country no wood for a camp fire .
”
In the morning,as the re sult Of a consultation held
while eating,they determined first to ascend the hill
,
and afterwards t o explore the country . Here they
found a long-moss o n the rocks,which they conclud ed
would be just the thing with which t o fill the ir
beds,and re solved to take some o f it with them
when they returned .
O,Wal
,we ’ll dry some o f these fragrant plants
and m ix With the moss . ’
Ye s that will be nice .
Following a cart track through a gap in the hill s,
they came upon a highway in most excellent order ;
and bordered with tre es,and saw
,a little upon
their left,the village o f the peasants
,consi sting of
house s built of mud and stone huddled together,
many without glass,and no entrance fOr light
except the door,the roofs covered with tile s
,and
not a tree near them .
Their attention was attracted by the towers of 3.
large castle,evidently in ruins
,upon the summit o f
an eminence th at commanded th e Village . With
curiosity greatly excited,they were about to climb
the hill to View it more closely,when Ned said
,
THE YANKEE BOYs’ HOLIDAY IN PROVENCE . 73
Let us go ahead,see the country
,come back here
to night,an d camp in the ruins .”
Skirting the base of the hill upon which thecastle stood
,they came again upon the stream
that watered the vale — n o w increased in volumefi r“by a uents from the mountains
,—falling over a
cliff upon which were the remnants of a dam,and
just below it a mass of half-burned timber and large
stones,that Walter
,more familiar than Ned with
such matters,declared to be the ruins o f some
kind Of a mill . The se large circular stone s lay
embedded in a mass o f coals and brands,the
shafts burned o ut o f them,white from the action
Of fire,and every o n e split in two . It seemed
probable thi s had been accompli shed by fl inging
water upon them while red hot .
There was no water,at this time
,within several
rods o f the stone s ; but, from the appearance o f the
banks,it was evident that the stream
,s ince the
destruction o f the dam,had changed its channel
,
and had once flowed near to the stone s,to which
it had been b rought in a flum e,the remains being
still visible . After inspecting the se stone s withthe greate st curiosity
,Walter said
,
I don ’t see what they could grind with such
74 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
stones as the se ; they certainly couldn ’t grindgrain ; they couldn
’t gr ind anything ; they are
not “ picked,
” like a millstone,but as smooth as
my hand ; they could only squat . If they raised
apple s here,I should think they were made to
squat them .
”
Our young readers will bear in mind that mill
stone s are “ picked,
” or cut in sweeping furrows,
which leave sharp edges to catch and grind the
grain .
Still farther from the bank Of the stream,on
some high and level ground,were two more pairs
Of stones . These,it was evident
,had not been
enclosed in any building, as the only C inders lying
around were those re sulting from the burning Of
the shafts that had once been used to operate them .
The lower stone s were raised about two feet from
the ground,and dishing nearly ten feet in diam
eter,with hole s drilled through them
,around a
central one . Upon these lay two smaller stones,
with square hole s in their centre s,in o n e o f which
was a half-burned shaft . These were all,save o ne
upper stone,split in halve s .
Ho w did they split the se ? ” asked Ned .
“ Theyhave not been heated .
”
THE YANKEE BOYS ’ HOL IDAY IN PROVENCE. 75
With powder,
” said Walter,pointing to hole s
drilled in the stones .
Then why didn ’t they split thi s one ‘7
They tried to,but the charge blew o ut ; there
are the holes .”
“ Perhaps their powder gave o ut .
I gues s I know h o w this went .
Ho w
This stone ran on its edge round the other ;there was an upright shaft in the middle ; and that
hole in the centre was made to re ce ive a pintle,to
hold th e foot O f it,and it was turned by a horse
,o r
by hand,just like a cider mill .”
Walter began to hunt in the long grass around
the stone,and soon exclaimed
Here it i s here i s the track worn into the
ground,where somebody o r something travelled .
”
“ It was a horse o r mule,
” said Ned,holding up
a rusty shoe .
“ That is too big for the foot o f an ass .
What i s the stone trough underneath for,Wal ?
To catch whatever ran from the mill . It must
have be en liquid,for nothing else could go through
these hole s .”
“ It i s very strange,said Ned
,
“ that these peo
76 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
ple should set. to work and plant tre e s along th
highways,and n o t put so much as one tre e
,rose
bush,o r even a lilac
,around their o wn house s .”
Although not aware o f i t,they were now among
a people to whom those pe culiar fe elings which in
the mind of the Anglo-Saxon are conne cted withhome and the domestic hearth
,are unknown . Had
they been aware that these Splendid roads,orna
m en ted with magnificent tree s,and so skilfully laid
o ut as to present the most picture sque and im
posing scenery to the eye of the traveller,were
all constructed and kept in ord er by means of the
dreaded c o rve’
e compulsory labor,which signi
fi ed that the poor peasant might be taken from his
work to labor on the public roads,and
,should he
chance to Offend a capricious master,even in time
o f harvest,to leave the bread of his household to
waste in the fi eld,— they would have ceased to
wonder that the wretched pea sant,burdened with
a thousand exactions and goaded to d e spair,should
be rather disposed to b ree d over his wrongs,and
nurse the hope of vengeance,than to embelli sh a
d w elling whi ch,in the great majority o f instance s
,
u as not his o wn .
D etermining to follow the course O f the stream,
THE YANKEE BOYS ’ HOL IDA Y IN PROVENCE . 77
rather than the highway,they had proceeded but a
short distance,when they reached a spot
,where
,
divided by a mass Of rock,it enc ircled a level
i sland of about three acre s,entirely covered with a
growth o f rods as smooth and pointed as a bulrush .
They were plante d in re gular rows,with great care
,
were e ight or ten feet in height,perfe ctly straight
,
and entirely destitute o f leave s o r limbs,except that
in some instance s there was a fork at the top .
“ What can the se be ? ” asked Ned .
I don ’t know let ’s se e if we can ’t find a place
where we can wade acro s s .”
Following the stream till abreast the middle o f
the i sland,they e spied a row o f stepping-stones
,
upon which they crossed,and
,finding a peasant at
work,he informed them that they were “ osiers
,
”
anglice sallows,and were used to make hampers for
wine,cover bottle s and demijohns
,and tie vine s to
the stakes,were made into chairs and playthings for
children,and that a great many
,after be ing dive sted
Of their bark,were exported to New York .
“ Why,Walter
,
” said Ned,
“ the se are the verythings Mr . Bell made baskets of
,that he and Charlie
called sallie s . I heard him ask the captain to get
him some rods,and tell him that if he put them in
78 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
earth o r wet m ess in the vessel ’s hold, they would
grow by being stuck down,when the ve ssel go t
home .
“ Then we will get a lot for him .
They asked the peasant,who told them the rods
must be cut into pie ce s,s even or e ight inches long
,
that in two years they would yield something,and
in three a good crop Of rods .
Charlie has a splendid place to plant them o n,
said Ned,right o n a little flat by the mouth of
the brook .
“ Ye s,
” said Walter,
“ but here are willows ten
feet high . Mr . Bell carried no willows like these .
”
The peasant told him the reason that the se grew
so remarkably,was
,that in the spring and fall the
stream o verflo wed its banks,leaving a rich slime
,
which fertilized the soil,and the island
,being sur
rounded by water,was moist throughout the year
,
and that the large st he was then cutting were
used to hoop wine casks .
On the other s ide o f the little i sle was a rude
bridge , upon which they crossed to the opposite
shore . Following the course o f the stream over
heaps o f gravel mixed with stone s,brought down
by streams from the mounta ins in the spring flood s,
80 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
and where the sun shone warm and pleasantly,they
began le i surely to eat,till
,th e demands o f appetite
appeased,they stretched themselve s upon the grass .
Wonder what kind o f tree s the se are,
‘ said
Ne d ; “ guess they are w alnuts .
”
“ They look more like oaks,
” said IValter .
Well,so they are
,
” said Ned,who
,lying o n his
back,was looking up through the branches
,for I
see an acorn .
”
“ Here i s another I ’ve found o n the ground .
What a funny acorn ! The cup comes half w ayover it .
Near by them was a rude building Open at the
side s,and with thatched roof .
I ’m going to se e what i s in that building,Wal .
And going to it,he cried out Come here ; it i s half
full o f great sheets o f cork .
SO it i s,Ned ; and these are cork trees, you
may depend .
” Trying the bark with their knive s,
they found it t o be the fact .
O,my I ’m so glad we came Only think how
much we have learned tod ay ; and we’ve got the
Old castle to se e when we go back .
”
I never thought before,said Walter
,
“ that a
cork tree was an o ak,and bore acorns .”
THE YANKEE BOYs’ HOL IDAY IN PROVENCE . 8 1
Returning,they re-cros sed the island .
Ho w Old,
” asked Walter o f the peasant,must
a cork tree be,before they can take Off the
cork ? ”
“ Twenty years ; after that, they take it every
ten years,but the cork i s not o f the best quality
till the third stripping .
”
“ Don ’t it injure the tre e
N0 more than it doe s you to peel the dead skin
fromyour hands ; only the live bark beneath mustnot be injured .
”
What time of year do they peel it
July and August .
”
Ho w do they get it Off
They first pound the tre e to loosen the dead
bark from the live,then make two up and down
cuts the whole length Of the body o f the tre e,then
cross-cuts about thre e feet apart,and remove the
bark with a wedge .
”
“ That,said Walte r
,
“ is the way we peel hem
lock bark in America only we cut the tre e s down,
and don ’t beat the bark .
”
What els e do they do to it ? asked Ned .
They scorch it to close the grain,and warp it
straight,then put on rocks to keep it so till it gets
6
82 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
set ( like that you saw in the hovel), when it i s
ready to sell .
As they went o n,Walter said
,
“ I shouldn ’t think
a m an In this country would ever have courage
enough to commence farming .
”
“ VVhy not ?”
“ Because you must wait twelve »
years for an
olive tree,twenty for a cork
,and forty before the
bark is first rate . Give me New England,where
,
with nothing under heavens but his rifle and narrow
axe,a man can raise his bread on a burn the first
year,knock up a log hut, and have hi s meat for
the killing .
And wood enough for'
a camp fire,
” said Ned
laughing.
THE POWER OF ASSOCIATION . 83
CHAPTER VI .
THE POWER OF ASSOC IATION .
the boys returned by the same road,which
pre sented no n ew Obje cts to excite their
curiosity,much le ss time was consumed in m easur
ing the same distance and they ascended the emi
nenc e upon which the castle was situated, and
stood before its principal entrance long before
night.
It was o ne of the f ew Old feudal strongholds still
remaining in France that had not been suffered togo to de cay by its posse ssors . It had been the
property Of a grand seignio r (derived from hi s
ance stors), who , having built a m odern chateau
near it,with extensive stable s and other o ut-build
ings,kept the Old castle in complete repair
,till
sacked by a m o b during the reign o f terror .
It had evidently been a place o f great strength,
but occupying so much space that a large garri son
would be required to man its exterior fortifi cations .
84 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
It was beautifully s ituated upon a noble swell o f
land,falling away in natural terrace s to the stream
upon whose banks were clustered the dwellings
o f the peasants . The hand o f violence had swept
away all but the relics o f its former magnificence
and beauty . The axe had levelled the vast groves
and long avenue s o f o ak,che stnut
,bee ch
,and mas
s ive pine s,which had for ages delighted the eye
and gratified the taste,and beneath whose hoary
limbs generations had lived and d i ed,except o ne
clump of large pine s,at some distance in the re ar
o f the fortre ss .
Everything without the walls that would burnhad been consumed by fire
,while the tall chim
ney Of the chateau,and other buildings standing
amid heaps o f rubbish,the wild weeds sprIngIng
from the joints ‘Of the hearth-stones,imparted a
peculiarly de solate appearance to the scene .
Gunpowder had been freely used to Obtain an
entrance into the fortre s s,and afterwards to de
stroy it ; but such was the enormous thicknes s o f
the walls that but comparatively little impression
had been produced upon them,although single
apartments had been blown up and whole floors
had fallen , th e pillars which supported them hav
THE POWER OF ASSOCIATION . 85
ing been mined . Entire floors,supported at o ne
end by the beams,which still remained in the
walls,and a few pillars
,while the remaining por
tion lay upon heaps Of rubbish,bricks
,mortar
,frag
ments o f clothe s,domestic utensils
,carved frames
,
broken china and glass ware o f the rare st patterns
and the riche st colors,presented an inclined plane
,
up which the boys clambered to the apartments
above,passing through chambers once the abode
o f luxury,bu t from whose walls the rich tapestry
hung in tatters,exposed to sun and wind
,that
found free entrance through shattered easem ents
and demolished doors . The boys gazed with wo nder upon the relics Of a magnificence o f which they
had be fo re no conception .
The most s ingular spectacle awaited them in
the great hall o f the castle,which they n ow en
tered . Nothing remained undisfigure d here ex
cept the lofty arches of the roof,with its beauti
ful fret-work,the carving o n the capitals and some
portions O f the windows , by reason o f the ir he ight
di“
cult to reach .
The walls had been adorned with ance stral por
traits O f the former inhabitants o f the castle and
the o ld French nobility,with banners and su its o f
86 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
armor,statue s in marble and bronze , paintings and
copies o f paintings by the greate st masters ; but
they were n ow torn from their place s, pierced
with bullets,and battered with rocks and clubs ;
for,in consequence o f o ne of those caprice s which
sometimes influence the conduct Of a mob even in
the midst o f the wilde st excitement, they had ab
stained from using fire within the walls, while
they had burned everything combustible o utsid e,
although many o f the t imbers and much o f the
panel-work bore trace s o f the peasants ’ axe s, un
doubtedly cut for fi re-wood .
In the m idSt o f this spacious hall was a vast col
lection Of article s which appeared to have been
brought from all parts o f the castle and firing here
in indiscriminate confusion ; marble statue s, paint
ings,ancient armor
,antlers Of stags
,hunting im ple
ments,and flags from Old battle-fi eld s .
Walter sat down upon a marble statue o f a chief
tain in armor,from which th e left arm and shield
had been broken,and the face flattened .
Ned placed himself on a pile Of gilded frame s o f
large paintings he had thrown together,and thus
seated they surveyed at le isure the fretted roof,
and whatever o f interest and beauty had escaped
the fury of the assailants
8 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
0
large pane from o ne o f the windows, upon whi ch
was repre sented the Saviour in the‘
act Of healing
the withered hand .
“ And I thi s,
” said Walter,holding up a panel
upon which were carved Laocoon and his sonswrithing in the folds Of the snakes .
“ Look at that window,said Ned ;
“ only six
pane s o f glass left, and two thirds of the sash
gone f ’
This sight,
” said Walter,
“ reminds me o f storie s
I have heard Monsieur Vimont,my French teacher
at Salem,tell . He said the mob attacked the cha
teaux and castle s o f the noble s,murdered their pos
se sso rs,or dragged them to pri son
,except such as
we re able to save themselve s by flight .”
Walter,who sympathized with the refugee s
,and
listened to his recita l o f the terrible s cene s through
which th ey had passed,was much prejudiced in
favor Of the nobility and against their assailants.
As they followed along the walls,noticing the
shattered windows and the positions from which
the paintings and statuary had been torn,they
came to a place from which a very large painting
o f a knight templar in full armor had been thrown,
and lay defaced upon the floor . Lying upon this,
THE POWER OE ASSOCIA TION . 89'
grinding up the gilded frame,and breaking the
canvas,w as o ne o f the large stone s of the wall .
This stone had once be en hung upon mass ive
hinges,no w broken .
Through the opening it had once closed a fl ight
Of stairs was visible,constructed in the thicknes s
o f the wall by an arrangement o f the stones at the
time of building,and which led to the foundation
o f the castle .
Ned was burning with impatience to enter the
opening and see whither the stairs led ; but Walter,naturally intere sted in everything of a mechanical
nature,would not proceed till he had ascertained
the method by which an entrance was effected.
He found th e whole painting had been raised byhidden weights
,and
,by the pre ssure of a spring
adroitly concealed in the frame,was elevated suf
fi c iently to permit o f pas s ing under it,when by
the pressure o f another spring the stone was set
free and sprung outwards,affording an entrance
,
after which,by concealed mechanism
,the whole
was re stored as before . When he had mastered
the principle O f the machinery,they de scended
the stairs,from the bottom o f which a winding
passage led to a corridor from which several doors
90 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
opened into vaulted chambers dimly lighted by slits
in the walls . Some o f them appeared to have beenused as dungeons
,ring-bolts
,with chains attached
,
being secured to the walls .
A s they proceeded they came to another dooradmitting to a winding passage-way
,entirely dark
but,their curios ity being excited
,they continued
to grope their way,carefully placing o ne foot in
advance,and dragging the other after
,le st they
might stumble into some pit .
At length Ned,who led the way
,suddenly
stopped and gave back .
“ What is the matter,Ned ? What are you
stopping for ? ”
“ Walter,
” he exclaimed in a half whisper,
there’s something here , under my feet . I ’ve
put my hand o n it,and I
"
believe it ’s some d ead
man ; there’s something feels like clothe s and
buttons .“ D rag it ~ o ut to where it ’s lighter ; o r let me
,
if you don ’t like to .
”
DO you think I ’m afraid ? ”
Ned began to step backward,dragging the
Obj e ct. after him,while Walter threw open the
d oors leading to the vaults . By the glimm e ring O f
THE POWER OF ASSOCIA TION . 9 1
light thus obtained,they beheld the skeleton of a
human body,held together by the articulations O f
the joints,the clothe s
,drie d gristle
,and sinews
,
being partially mummified .
Nei ther o f the boys had ever se en the human
skeleton before,o r even so much as a bone
,and
this was to them a fearful sight th e te eth white
and prominent,the
‘eyeles s sockets,and the re
maining portion o f the skull black with de cayed
fle sh that still adhered to it (for the air was cool
and dry,ventilation being in some way provided).
The right hand had dropped O ff,the stump O f the
wrist proje cting from the sleeve,while the black
ened bones and shrivelled sinews o f the left re
mained in place .
It‘
was a boy,said Ne d “ you can see by the
clothe s .”
Poor fellow,he was about your size .
Hi s hair,
” said Ned,pointing to some brown
locks that had lodged in the breast of the coat,
“ was just the color o f yours . Think he was
murdered ?“ I expect so
,f o r it don ’t seem likely that a place
as strong as this was given up without a struggle,
unle ss it was occupied only by a family, or was
surprised .
”
9 12 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Then,perhaps
,there ’s more in there .
“ Let us try to make some kind of a torch . I
w ant to see all there i s,and to find where this
secret passage leads to that so much pains was
taken to make and conceal .”
Returning,the boys hunted over the great heap
of rubbish In the hall, and searched every nook and
corner in order to find a lamp or wax candle (which
they knew were much used in that country), butin vain .
0,if we were only at home
,s aid Walt-er
,
“ instead O f being in this wretched country, h ow
quick I could get a pie ce of pitch wood,o r strip
the bark from a birch tre e,and make a fi rst-rate
torch ; but there are no birche s here , and no Old
pines with any pitch wood in ’em .
”
“ But we shouldn ’t have any castle s there tosee
,said Ned .
At last they found an iron pot,and resolved to
build a fire in that,and carry it as a torch .
While they were breaking up piece s o f dry
w ood for that purpose,Ned exclaimed
,
“ Who knows
but olive wood will burn well. I should think
i t would be full o f o il.”
“ Perhaps it will .”
THE POWER o r ASSOCIATION . 93
They broke some branches from the tre es,and
put them in the pot with pine slivers from old
panels . Walte r took a horn full of tinder from
his pack,and
,holding it between his kne es
,with
an Old‘ file and flin t-stone struck the sparks into
the horn till he ignited the tinder su'
fi c iently to
l ight a brimstone match,and kindled his fire in the
pot,when they found that the Olive wood burned
freely,lasted longer
,and afforded a better light
,
than the pine o r o ak ; therefore they procured more
o f it
No w for something to carry it with,
” said Ned“ and here it i s
,
” pulling a long iron rod from the
pile o f miscellaneous article s that strewed the
floor .“ And here i s something to hold a supply of
Wood,
” said Walter,picking up a steel helm et and
filling It with the chips .T
W ith the kettle o f blaz ing brands between themthey proceeded to explore the pas sage .
The first obje ct that arre sted their attention
(and almost touching a door, through the grate s O f
which a fre sh cu rrent o f air,fragrant with the
scent of the earth and fi elds,was blowing) w as the
skeleton of an aged man . The skull had be en cle f t
94 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
by some sharp weapon ; long locks o f gray hair
strewed the floor,and across the breast. O f the
skeleton lav that of a d o g, the fore paws outstretched
,and the nose thrust among the clothe s
that covered the breast .“ O
,Walter
,cried 'Ned
,the tears springing to
his eyes,
“ what a sight ! ”
The saddest sight I ever saw. That dog starved
to death because he would no t leave his master .”
“ I shall always love'
a dog after this .”
They are noble creatures . D id you ever seewhat was on Tige Rhine s ’s collar ? ”
“ About hi s taking the little girl from the millpond ? ’
“ Yes ; and that i s not all he did ; he saved thelive s o f John
,Charlie Bell
,and Fred Williams , by
waking them up when they were asleep in a cave
into which the tide was flowing .
”
“ This must be that boy ’s father,said Ned .
Or his grandfather,
” replied Walter . “ He wasmurdered
,at any rate
,
” pointing to the eleven
Skull .“ See here , Wal,” holding a brand close to the
floor ;“ see the blood all drie d o n the stone s . ”
“ Poor o ld man,cut down with his hand almost
96 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
They soon encountered another similar door .
No w,Ned
,I ’m just going back to look at that
Spring .
”
By the knowledge thus Obtained,Walter was
enabled to detect a s imilar spring in thi s door,
though in a different place .
They n o w began to perce ive the light,and came
to a horizontal grate,which was unfastened
,and
reached by only two steps . Walter flung it back,
and they crawled o ut o n the ir hands and knee s
beneath an overhanging cliff ( through which the
passage was cut), and into a tangle of wild Vines
that clung to the cliffs,weeds
,bramble s
,and
shrubs, efl'
e c tually concealing the passage from
casual Observation .
“ Whoever built this ,” said Ned
,
“ knew how to
m ake secret passage s . One might pass thi s place
all his lifetime,and never suspect it .”
It didn ’t do them much good,
” said Walter .“ I ’d rather live in a country where they are not
needed . Ned, don’t you think we ought to put
this father and so n in the ground ? ”
I was thinking of that .
What can we find to dig a grave with ? ”
When I went after the crowbar,I found it
THE POWER OF ASSOCIA TION . 97
among a lot o f garden tools ; there were shovels,rake s
,and hoes
,but the handle s were all burnt
away .
”
“ No matter ; we’ll bury them in the Old garden
,
where the ground is mellow ; we can make a hole
with the bar,and throw out the loose earth with
the shovel-blade s,if they have no handle s .”
A shallow grave was soon dug in the soft mould .
“ We buried a man from the Madras,said Ned ;
he was sewed up in canvas .“ We lost the second mate when I was in the
Casco,
” said Walter ;“ he was buried ashore
,and
rt
we put the American flag on the co r‘
n for a pall .
Suppose we should wrap their bone s in the se flags
taken from the walls ; they are their country’s
flags ”
I suppose they would like it if they could know
it,and would rather lie here
,where the nightin
gale s will s ing in the summer,than in that dark
aHeyfi’
They carefully gathered the bones,wrapped
them in the tattered banners,and committed
them to the earth .
“ What shall we do with the dog,Walter ? ”
D o with him ? Bury him with them .
”
98 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
“ In the same grave ? ”
To be sure ; at their feet . He Was the bestand only friend th ey had
,and died on his mas ter ’s
breast ; he is worthy to sleep in,
marble
IVell,I feel just so but I d idn ’
t k n o w.
The sun was just sinking behind the horizon,and his last lingering rays fell
,as it were
,in bene
diction upon the boys,as
,feeling the ne ce ssity o f
instant preparation for the night,they hastened
from the spot . Admonished by the approachingt w ilight
,they went rapidly from room to room
,in
order to sele ct one suited to their piI rp o se .
“ Let us go out o f this hall,
” said Ned,
“ into
God ’s air,and get clear o f rubbi sh
,musty walls
,
and dead men ’s bones .”
Yes, into that clump o f pine s I had rather
lug the wor
o d,and be out o f doors .
It was not long before they heaped together a
great pile of oaken b eams , boards , picture-frames ,broken furniture , and panels, and, seated by the
ruddy blaze , were enjoying a hearty meal, till, full
even to repletion . they seated themselve s with
their backs against a tre e to enjoy the grateful
warmth O f the fire .
The rising moon began to silver the lofty towers
100 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
glass frames,harpsichords
,and carved work . I
wonder if any boy ever did that before .
”
“ Perhaps some soldiers have .
After this they sat some time , hand clasped inhand
,and each occupied with his own thoughts .
“ I should like to know what you are thinking
about Wal .
You see that little cove the river has eaten o ut
o f the bank“ Y o u mean where the moonlight i s shining o n
that large rock,and be side which a tre e i s grow
ing ? ”
That i s the spot . Well,the Saturday afternoon
before I was going to sea for the first time,in the
Madras,I went to the c ate c hisIng, because I knew
that I should find all the boys and girls there,and
I wanted to bid tliem good by . After that I kepto n to Charlie Bell ’s . It was a moonlight evening
,
just like this ; and after supper we went to the
head of Pleasant Cove,sat down
,and leaned o ur
backs against an o ak,just as you and I are leaning
against thi s pine . We could hear the brook that
runs through his field,behind u s
,just as we c an
hear this stream below,and the ripple Of the tide
as it crept along the beach . I felt tender that
THE POWER OF A SSOCIA TION. 10 1
night,for I loved Charli e Bell dearly. Yo u know
,
Ned,how a boy feels
,if he doe s want to go , when
the time comes .
That I d o . When he ’s thinking about going,
longing to be o ff,and hi s folks trying to put him
O f f the notion,then he ’s all stirred up
,and only
thinks about getting away ; but, when they’ve
given the ir consent,he has signed the article s
,
packed his che st, go t his prote c tion at the Cus
tom House,i s sure o f going
,and all i s s ettled
then,if he has a good home
,and any soul in him
,
it will give him the heartache to say good by .
There never was a boy more crazy to go to sea
than I was counting the days till the ve ssel was
ready . She lay in the stream,ready to s ail in the
morning . After supper the se cond mate took meand three men whom he could trust
,and went
ashore . We were ordered to be down to the
boat at nine o ’clock. It was seven when I reached
home . D idn’t those two hours go quick as I sato n the sofa in the parlor
,between father and
mother and my sisters before me . When the
bell rang for nine,and I got up to start for the
beach,I didn ’t fe el altogether so keen for going
as I did the week before .
”
102 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA S ANT c ove .
“ That was what I meant . I felt j ust so tha t
night,while Charlie and I sat together at the head
o f Plea sant Cove , beneath the oak, and he talked
to me .
”
What did he say
A great many th ings . He wanted me to loveG o d and pray to him ; he said there would be
nights at sea when the moon would be shining
o n the ocean,just as it was then upon the waters
o f that cove ; that he should look a t i t and ,think
o f me ; hoped I would look at it and think o f him
and his words and that as the same planets were
above us,so the same God was around o ur daily
paths ; that perhaps when I thought that som e
dear friend I loved much was thinking o f and
praying for me,I should feel I ought to pray for
myself .”
“ Have yo u never thought of it before to
night ? ”
Thought o f i t ? Ye s,truly . On many a bright
moonlight night,when yOu and .I have been pacing
the d eck together,have I been occupied with those
mem orie s . Y o u may think it strange,but they
w o re in my mind when the shot from that Engli shship of the line was flying round us but the moon
104 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
No,I never was brought up to . Will yo u say
the Lord ’s prayer with me,Ned ?
Shall we kneel ? ”
They knelt together between the roots o f the
pine,after which they repleni shed the fire
,rolled
themselve s in their blankets,and were soon asleep .
YANKEE INGENUITY AMONG THE PEASANTS. 105
CHAPTER VII .
YANKEE INGENUITY AMONG THE PEASANTS .
N the morning,afte r eating and still further ex
plo ring the different apartments of the castle,they bent their steps towards the village o f the
peasants .“ Would you mention to Gabriel what we found
in the se cret pas sage ? ” asked Ned .
I don’
t think I should . I expect he knows more
about’
i t than we do .
”
They found Gabriel and his neighbors all busily
engaged . Some were brui sing t he Olive s in largemortars others were treading them in tubs . There
was oil everywhere,and the odor was anything
but agreeable . Others,after placing the bruised
pulp in sacks made o f gras s or rushe s,carried them
to the se cond story of a building,and
,placing the
sacks in the middle of the floor,piled great stone s
upon them,which pre ssed the o il through hole s
b o red in the floor,and it was re ce ived in ve s se ls
106 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
beneath . In consequence o f this Slow method o f
procedure,a large portion o f the Olive s was likely
to decay before they could be pre ssed,while not
more than half the o il was extracted . As theweight of the stones did not suffic iently compre ss
the pulp,much o f it was wasted o n the floor
,and
still more was lost in being soaked up by the mul
titu d e o f different ve ssels in which the olive s were
trampled . This did n o t,however
,obtain in re spect
to those bruised in the mortars,which were stone .
Gabriel conducted the boys from o ne building to
another , and Showed them the olives,belonging to
different peasants,which were spread over the
floors,where women and little Child ren were pick
ing o u t the leaves,stone s
,and decayed ones .
Why don ’t you have a mill to grind these
olive s ? ” asked Walter,and screws to pre s s the
pulp ? A great part o f them will rot before yo u
can bruise them in this way ; bes ide s , you don’t
get half the O il,to say nothing of what i s wasted
,
or of the time lost .”
Gabriel told them that before the revolution
there were mills and pre sse s— the property of
the grand seignior - in which all the olive s o f
the peasants w ere ground and pres sed ; but they
were destroyed a t that time .
108 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
What iS ‘that
Conscripted .
”
Yes .”
What be came of his tools ?He sold them in Marse ille s to get bread for his
children .
”
“ In my country we are not tied to me chanic s
because it is a new country,and they are scarce ;
but w hen a m an wants a thing, he must set his
brains at work and make it, or do without it. Ho wdid that concern on the high ground work ?
The smaller stone,lying on top
,went round the
other,and was turned by a mule .
”
Guess I know . It was rigged just like UncleJohn Go d so e ’s mill that he ground bark with . A
stone ran edge w ays on a plank floor,and they
shoved the pie ce s of bark under the stone . Who
do the castle and the land round it belong to
new ?
“ It was confiscated and sold by the National
Assembly . Felix Be rtault o w ns the land wherethe mill stood
,and t w o other peasants
,Tonnele t and
Bernard,the castle and the re st o f the land .
”
Then it w as the ir wood we burned last night.I will pay them for it . ”
YANKEE INGENU ITY A MONG THE PE A S ANTs . 109
That i s nothing .
Look here,old friend
,
” said Walter,Slapping
Gabriel o n the shoulder I am not a m e chanic,
but all my breed of people can handle tools . I can
set that o ld aff air going again,and better than
ever it went before the upper stone i s whole,and
though the lower o ne i s gone,I can lay a wooden
platform . There ’s timber enough,and the best o f
timber,in the o ld castle
,and though not equal to a
water-mill it will be an everlasting sight better
than your mule s,and you can use them while I am
doing it,if yo u like . I can fix a pre ss
,too
,that
will get about all the oil from the ' pulp .
But,c itizen
, yo u haye no tools .
There are tools enough on board the ve ssel and
I ground them a f ewdays ago . Go among your
neighbors,and se e what they say to it .”
Gabriel was in rapture s,and ran to tell the
peasants . He soon returned,saying that every
man,woman
,and child were overjoyed, would do all
they could to aid ; that the carpenter’s apprentice
was left,and proff ered hi s service s .
“ That i s first rate,said Walte r . No w
,Ned
,
you must go to the ve s sel and get the tools . Be
sure yo u get a cros s- c u t saw,and ask the captain
1 10 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
to lend us the tackle and fall we get the anchors o n
to the bows with .
Ned was soon mounted o n a cart with Gosset
(Gabriel’s son), as Ned didn
’t know how to drive a
mule that might take a notion to step when half
way there,and they set off.
Nimble hands and plenty o f carts soon transport-ed
the o ld floor beams and o ak plank (which Walter
sele cted) to the spot . The gate posts made capital
s ills,upon which he laid hi s platform at the same
height from the ground as the bottom stone o f the
o ld mill,in order that the trough for re ce iving the
o il might go under it .
The apprentice,Raffard
,proved to be a good
workman, and Gosset also evinced a d e cide d me
c hanic al ability . Ned,too
,could use tools quite
well .
That boy, said Walter to Gabriel,only
wants instruction and practi ce to make a fi rst-rateQ
mechanic .
”
There was no lack o f i ron belts in the strong
hold, and the blacksmith made all the iron-work
necessary . An upright shaft was prepared,to be
placed in the centre of the platform,which
,sup
ported by cross-beams attached to posts set in the
1 12 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
The boys took supper at the hou se o f Gabriel ,
bu t not w ithstand ing his entreatie s to pa s s the nightwith him
,preferred their camp fire
,although thev
gladly accepted the pre sent of a pair o f chickens ,
a dozen eggs from Felix Be rtault,honey from
Tonnelet,and potatoe s from Leroux . Indeed
,the
entire community w ere ready to place the ir all atthe disposal of these young republicans
,in whose
energy,ingenuity
,and self-reliance
,th ey flattered
themselve s they beheld mirrored the future of thei r
o wn children under the Operation of the principle s
o f liberty,fraternity
,and equality they had so
re cently inaugurated . As they separated,Walte r
told Gabriel that all except Raffard,Gosset . and
Felix,had better keep at work among the Olive s
after their Old fashion,as
,the stuff be ing all o n the
spot,they were as many as could work to advantage
o n the mill,and the others could be called f o r a hard
lift . They no w set o ut for the castle .
Won ’t we have a tuck-out to-morrow morn
ing ? said Ned .
“ I gue ss there ’ s n o lack o f pe ts
and kettle s among the ruins o f the chateau . That
o ne we carried the brands in will b e first rate it ’s
all burnt o ut clean .
While Ned was making a fire,Wa lter was walk
YANKEE INGENU ITY A MONG THE PEASA NTS . 1 13
ing round among the woods on the Side o f the hill,apparently searching for something. When he re
turned,he found a blaz ing fire at the old spot
,but
Ned nowhere visible .
Ned,whe re are you ? ”
Here,Wal only c o m e he re .
Following the d i re ction o f the voice he foundNed on hi s knee s before the kitchen fireplace o f
the chateau,the c him nev of which was still stand
ing. He was surrounded by o ld pots and kettle s,
o ne o f which he was bu sily engaged in scouring .
He had also placed the wood o n the o ld andirons
re ady to light in the morning .
O,Wal
,just you se e here ’s a c rane
,pots
,and
kettle s . I'
ve found the well,and a tin pail to draw
water in,but som e bru i sed ; a pitcher, with the
nose broken o f f ; Six plate s , three of’em whole ;
four cups only o ne o f them is broken,and a
,l ittle
pie ce i s broken o ut o f the s ide o f . another ; a cou
ple of linen towels,but o ne of them i s scorched a
little . I can ’t find anyi
s o ap ; but I’ve washed
them out in lye . I ’ve found lots o f knive s,forks
,
and spoons only they are black and rusty,and the
handle s burnt O f f . Ain ’t i t great,Wal ?
8
1 14 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE.
Ye s,we are all provided for . A in ’
t vou glad
we didn’t stop with Gabriel ? ”
“ I guess I am .
”
“ Let u s get everything ready to-night , be causein the morning we Shall want to start early, and it
will take some time to get breakfast,we ’re going
to have such a famous o ne .
”
After helping Ned scour the kettle s,Walter went
to the castle,and soon returned with some cord
,
which he wound around the knive s,
“affording a
very good substitute for handle s . He then ranthem into the ground
,and rubbed them with brick
and ashes,till he made them c lean and somewhat
bright .
Let 's have a table,Wal . That will put the
touch o n .
“ Agreed .
”
Ned drove four stakes into the ground with the
crowbar, and Walter brought a large panel from
the hall,which he placed o n them .
“ I ’ll put the finishing stroke to it,
” said Ned
and , running back, he came with a pie ce o f splen
did tapestry,which he fiung over it and no w they
set the table .
There ,” said Ned,
“ who can beat that— a
116 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
beast to pull level ; and then the stone must run
true.
Next m orning,after a gloriou s breakfast, the
boys repaired to the village . YVith the aid of a
strong force,the tree was cut o u t by the roots, the
stick hewed On the spot, and transported o n the ir
shoulders to the mill . By means o f the ve ssel ’s
purchase,planks laid
,and plenty o f help
,the great
Stone was parbuckled on to the platform,and put
in place .
No w,fellow-citizens
,said Ned
,fl inging up hi s
hat,
“ hurrah for a Yankee bark-mill ! Bring on
your mule s and olive s .”
A mule was attached to the sweep,amid the
cheers o f the whole village . The mill was found
t o work excellently well,and ground the Olive s SO
fast that it required the efforts of all who had been
employed bruising them in mortars to carry the
pulp to the cham ber and pre ss i t .
New,said Walte r
,for the press . Ho w did
you use to pre ss them,Gabriel ? ”
“ There were presse s belonging to the grand
seignior, with wooden s crews ; but they were
burnt .”
I don ’t know but I could cut the thread of a
YANKEE INGENU ITY AMONG THE PEASA NTS . l l7
wooden screw,if I had time enough . However
,
that i s not here nor there . I know what I c an do
I can make a pre s s with a lever,that will give you
as much again o il as you can get by piling o n
stones,and make it right beside this mill
,where
yo u can shovel the pu lp o n to it,and save all port
age and waste .
The next day,Walter
,Ned
,and the ir fellow
workmen— who had be come quite expert in the
use o f tools laid another platform within two
fe et o f the mill,and o n a level with it
,in order
that the pulp could be easily transferred from o ne
to the other,and the oil from each run into diff erent
ends o f the same trough,and be dipped o ut be
tween them . He then cut a deep Channel around
the edge of the platform,leading to the trough
,to
conduct the Oil . After thi s he built up,with the
aid o f the peasants,two abutments o f stone , sev
eral feet above the platform,leaving in the middle
,
near the top,an opening e ighteen inche s square .
Are yo u a stone-mason ? ” asked Gabriel,in
surprise .
NO but I ’ve been used to building stone wall .
I ’ve worked o n rocks till my fingers were worn so
thin I couldn ’t take up a c up o f hot coffee .
”
1 18 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SA NT COVE .
Now with the cattle they hauled three halve s of
the millstones that had been split to the spot,and
,
with skids and the tackle,placed them o n the abut
ments,one upon the other
,composing an enormous
aggregate o f weight .
I calculate i t will take some strength to lift
those,
” said Walter,viewing his work with great
complacency .
“No w,Gabriel
,for the biggest beam
in the o ld castle ! If I was at home,I could get
o ne big enough.
”
There i s plenty of timber and large fore sts in
France,my brother
,although
,Since the revolution
,
it has been cut away in this part . Before that,the
fore sts were very strictly guarded ; but the Na
tio nal Assembly have sold a great deal . There are
great beams in the castle that grew in the olden
time .
After much labor,they obtained from beneath
o ne o f the floors an o ak beam fifty feet in length
and a foot square . One end o f thi s was placed in
the opening left in the stone-work ; at the othe r
I'Valter bu ilt what he called a gin,
” which was a
tripod o f timber,fourteen feet in height
,with a
belt at the top to fasten the tackle,and a W indlas s
between t w o o f the legs,by which the timber could
1 20 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
o ut o f the cellars o f the ari stocrats ; he can have
that . ”
It was about four O ’clock of an afternoon when
the boys arrived at thi s succe ssful termination o f
the ir philanthropic labors .“ This
,
” said Gabriel,
“ has been a great day,a
good day,o ne long to be remembered . Let us do
no more tod ay,but enjoy ourselve s with these
good C itizens ; we can soon pre ss the olive s now .
”
As they sat conversing, after supper, Waltersaid to the peasants
,
“ People in our country—when a person hasdone a foolish thing ; injured himself in trying to
to hurt another—have a fashion of saying ‘thathe has bitten o ff his nose to spite his face .
’ It
seems to me that you did a very Silly thing when
you broke the mill- stone s and burnt up the o il
and wine pre sse s o f the ari stocrats . The stones
never harmed you . D idn ’t you know that yourcrops were coming o f f
,and that you would need
all the se things yourselve s ? Why did you destroy
those beautiful avenue s and grove s ? No w that
the ari stocrats are gone,you would be right glad
to have those noble tree s yourselve s .
In the course of thei r talk,Walter related t o
YANKEE INGENUITY AMONG THE PEA SA NTS . 121
Gabriel some of the conversations he had held
with th e refugee s at Salem,and obse rved that a
great proportion of the American people,though
ready to sympathize with any nation desirous of
self-government,were struck with horror at the
crueltie s o f which they had heard,and the whole
sale massacre s perpetrated,e spe cially by the ex
e c utio n o f the king and queen .
The peasant leaped to his fe et ; his eye s shot
fire,his lips were d rawn apart
,and hi s face as
sumed an expre s sion so demoniacal as to leave
upon the minds of the boys no doubt o f the part
he had taken in the se terrible scenes .
Exec utio n of a king !”
.
he his sed between his
teeth : “ what bette r i s the blood o f a king than
that of auv other creature God has made ? ”
Controlling himself,he said more calmly
,
Young citizens,you have been deceived . You
have heard but o ne story that of the aristocrats
o f the oppre s sors . L isten n o w to that o f the o p
pre’ssed— to me,Gabriel Qu e snard , a peasant born
and bred on the soil o f France,as were all my
ance stors . I am not about to relate to you the
crueltie s practis ed in the days of my forefathers,
when a noble has been known to kill a peasant,
122 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
that he might warm his fe et by thrusting them
into his body on a cold day .
“ Horrible exclaimed both the boys in a breath .
lVas that ever done ? ”
Indeed,and it would be diffi cult to tell what
crueltie s were not practised ; neither shall I speak
o f such things as the peasants being compelled to
beat the water in the marshe s with pole s to keep
th e frogs from c reaking, when the wife of their
lord was Sick,le st they should disturb her. But
I shall tell you o f those miseri e s which are o f yes
terday, which myself, my neighbors, and children
o f your ages,have endured . Let me tell you of
the ‘Zettres d c c a chet,
’ i s sued by the king yo u
by which a person was seized .pity so much,
perhaps in the stre et,and
,without any form of
trial, hurri ed to the Bastile , while his friends could
only guess what had be come o f him . Any o ne
who had money enough could buy o ne .
“ When we levelled that accursed dungeon,we
found ci tizens who had grown gray there,un c o n
scious of crime and utterly ignorant o f what they
were accused .
In the spring the peasant i s trying to get in his
seed to raise bread for his family . He,perhaps
,
1 2-1 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
the d i strict . Ye s,and the peasant was forbidden
to weed or ho e his o w n grain, le st he should disturb the young partridge s that were devouring
his substance . Neither was he allowed to cut o r
plough under hi s own stubble,le st they Should be
deprived o f shelter . This was a right granted by
the king to prince s of the blood . All the se exac
tions cam e dire ctly from the king,whom you pity
so much . In addi tion to thiswere countle ss se ignio ral rights . There w'ere perpetual dues . A seignior could sell his land
,and still draw rent from the
very peas ant who had bought it o f him in the
Shape o f se ignioral due s . They,t o o
,had their
‘c o rv! es
,
’ and the peasant was forced to labor for
them a certain number of days in each year . On
everything that he owned must he pay due s to
them . Yes,he must pay them f or the right of
selling his o wn produce in the m arket . Though
in my time thi s cu stom o f stilling the frogs was
abolished,we were com pelled to pay a fine instead
of it. When,amid all the se impositions
,the peas
int has raised his grain,he can ’t have a hand -mill
to grind it in . He must grind in the mill of thelord , bake his bread in the oven , and pre ss hISgrapes and olive s in the pre s s of his master
,and
YANKEE INGENUITY AMONG THE PEA SA NTS . 125
pay for the privilege , and, if unmarried, was sub
je c t to conscription while from this and taxe s the
noble s were exempt,and so were thousands o f
others— petty clerks,government officers
,and all
worth over so much property . Thus all the bur
den of taxation was thrown upon the peasant be
cause he was poor,and taken from the noble be
cause he was not . To this it must be added that
the C le rgy , with their tithes , took what little was
left . Now , consider that I have omitted almost as
much as I have mentioned,and you will be able t o
se e the poor man ’s condition under the tyranny we
have destroyed . That was the ‘Servitude o f the
soil . ’ Marvel not that we were frantic,and only
thought o f de stroying everything that was an ih
strument o f oppre ss ion while we had the power.
D id you never see a dog bite the stone that hadbeen flung at him ?
Ye s,
” replied Ned .
So it was with us . We hated those mills ;those presses
,where we had been forced to work ;
th e se ovens,where we had been compelled to
yield up a portion o f o ur scanty loaf ; bread avenue s of tree s that we and o ur folks had been
forced to plant ; those roads , ad orned w ith tree s
1 26 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OE PLEA SANT COVE .
SO beautiful to others,were watere d with the tea rs
o f the oppressed, and appeared frightful to us . In
o ur delirium we thought only o f destroy ing all that
could remind us o f those dete sted tyrants and those
bitter days .”
I have understood,
” said W'
alter, that, for these
many years past,the peasants had been le s s hardly
d ealt with ; that, although the laws remained un
changed upon the statute-books,they had not been
rigid ly enforced .
”
“ That i s true,citizens
,and was the very reason
o f o ur ris ing .
”
“ That i s strange,that people should ri se just
when their condition was improving”
,
Had you fallen into a deep pit,from which yo u
could se e no pos sible way o f e s cape, yo u would re
s ign yourself to your fate ; but, did you perce ive
some proj e ction upon which you might clamber
and escape,would it not cau se yo u to strain every
nerve ‘7
To be sure .
Thus it was with us . When we were le sshardly dealt with
,we knew it was from lack of
power ; that it was not from charity,but fear.
When we felt that the clutch o f the oppres sor
128 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
vie w ed with horror,becau se we have shed much
b lood in a short time ; but they have been shedding it all the time . Which
,my brother
,carrie s
the most water to the sea, the rive r that waters
the valley,and whose stream is always full
,o r the
m ountain torrent that floods the vale in the spring,and then leave s a dry channel
‘7
The river,to be sure
,
” replied Walter .
Such is the difference between them and. us .For hundreds o f y ears there has not been a day
when the peasant ’s blood has not flowed at the
will of hi s master . We guillotine a noble,o r a
prie st ; the news fli e s over all lands . Who knows ,o r care s to know
,the misery he had infl i cted upon
the poor,and by which he had deserved a thou
sand deaths ? Our banished ari stocrats are scat
te red over Europe and America . They are learned
men,o f noble blood tell the ir story at every court
,
among all people s,and write it in books for all to
read ; while the peasant has suffered in silence ,perished in prisons by starvation
,and in the gal
leys,as unregarded as the dead leave s that strew
yonder vineyard .
”
I never thought o f all these things before said
YA NKEE INGENUITY A MONG THE PEASANTS . 129
Walter when Gabriel concluded ;‘ “ this i s indeed
a story of fearful oppre ssion .
”
“It i s a true story, c itizen . Fo r age s the blood
o f the oppre ssed has been crying from the ground,
and,at last
,vengeance has come .
”
9
130 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
CHAPTER VIII .
THE LAST DA Y WITH THE PEASANTS .
HAT night,as the boys sat around their fire ,
Ned observed “ Walter,it appears to me that
you have done the very thing yo u have been talking about so long .
”
I d on ’t understand you,Ned .
In making that mill and pre s s for the peasants,
you have certainly done some good .
”
“ If so,I am surely glad o f it ; but I thought it
was a shame for people to work after such a fashion
as they were doing,and
,s ince I have heard Gabriel
,
I wish I could do more .
”
Do you know what was running in my head allthe time he was talking
“ VVhat ? ”
That it was a ble ssed thing to live in a fre e
country . If Captain Rhine s asks me if I ’ve seenany better plac e than home , I think I shall knoww hat to say .
”
132‘ THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
seigniors,they might have everything if they
would only put in and work— might raise two
crops a year . Leroux said those potatoe s he gaveme were planted after the wheat came o ff . Now
,
we don ’t have any nicetie s at o ur house . We are
plain,rough people ; but, heavefi s ! there
’s eno ugh.
I couldn ’t help thinking o f the difference between
their dinner and ours . We have a great pewter
platter as big over as half a bushel o n the table,
with great junks o f pork and beef o n it . Fatherwill stick the great knife up to the handle into five
o r Six inches o f clear pork o r'
a junk of beef all
yellow with fat . For vegetable s,we had about a
peek o f potatoe s,cabbages
,onions
,beets
,and car
rots ho t bi scuit,tea and c o fi e e
,a great loaf o f rye
and Indian bread as much better than their black
stuff as white i s better than Indian ; and then mother
will come walking along just as careful with a
brimming pan o f milk,and say
,
‘Now,boys
,help
yourselves .“ And butter
,said Ned
,
“ good,yellow butter
,
instead o f oil .”
And then, in the fall, when we kill an ex,such
soups as are soups ; ain’t mad e of bread
,water
,
and garlics . Father ’ll take a great Shin,crack it
THE LAST DAY WITH THE PEASANTS . 133
up with the axe , and great junks o f marrow will
drop o ut o f it . That ’s the stuff in a cold day,I
tell you . Give a boy plenty of that and it will
make him stretch o u t and grow give him strength
to put the axe in . We waste more in o u r fam ily
than they eat . I ’ve looked in all the ir house s ;they don ’t have any swill-pail at the door ; eat the
swill themselve s .”
I ’ll tell you what I ’d like,W al
,and
,if I ever get
home,I mean to have mother make it— a chicken
pie,with real flaky crust
,rings all round it
,and
apple dumplings,with lots of sauce .
”
But about going back,Ned shall we start in
the morning ? ”
“ We c an’t,Wal . We want to get the mos s to
fill our beds,and the willow sets for Mr . Bell ; then,
you know,we want to go over to Felix Bertault ’s ,
and see the silkworms .
Well,get ready to-morrow
,and start bright and
early in themorning .
”
The next day they went over to the house of
Felix . He told the boys he could not Show them
the Silkworms,as it was not the time o f year at
which they were hatched . However,he showed
them the eggs,which were about as large as a
134 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEA SA NT COVE .
mustard seed,and gray . He informed them that
the worm was like a common caterpillar,three or
four inche s long,l ived upon mulberry leave s
,could
not bear the cold,and
,when spring came
,and it
was most time for the mulberry to leaf,they put
the eggs in a warm room,in the kitchen
,o r wore
them on their bodie s,and the heat hatched them .
As soon as they were hatched,they put th em o n
mulberry leave s,which must be dry and tender.
This made th em grow so fast, that in six days they
were too large for the ir skin,when it cracked
,and
they shed it,coming out with a n ew o ne ; in Six
days more,Shed that
,till they passed through five
changes,and had four new Skins .
What do they do then asked Ned .
After shedding the ir last skin,they seem kind
Of miserable for a week o r more,and then they be
gin to eat very greedily,grow
,and fill up with the
stuff they m ake th e S ilk o f .”
What kind o f stuff i s it ? ” asked Walte r .
I ’ve torn open the bag,and it looks like gum .
”
But they do something to it that makes it s ilk .
What next ? ”
We know now that they want to Spin ; so we
fasten upon the shelve s where we keep them little
136 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE.
There i s one o f the ir ne sts,” showing him a c o
coon .
There ’s a hole in one end .
Ye s that i s where the moth gnawed o ut .
”
What do yo u do with the eggs ?”
We wrap them in a cloth,and put them in a
cool,dry place but we kill all the worms that we
do not want to become moths,and lay eggs
,as soon
as they are done spinning,by baking them in a hot
o venfi ’
What for
If we didn ’t,they would become moths
,eat o ut
,
o ut the S ilk o ff,and break the thread so that it
could not be reeled .
What i s done with this rough silk that is o n the
outside“ It i s carded and spun like wool ; so are those
cocoons that the moths hatch in .
”
“ I don ’t understand h ow the worm makes the
silk all in one thread . Doe s he roll over and overlike a shaft
,and wind it round him ? ”
No ; he puts it o n , back and forth, moving hi s
head from side to Side in crooked patches,but all
one thread, because he keeps the end o f it in his
mouth, and never breaks it .
THE LAST DA Y WITH THE PEASANTS . 137
“ But if they don ’t wind it round them,what
keeps it in place ? ”
“ The gum .
”
Ho w do yo u get it o ff the cocoon ?”
Felix called hi s wife,who took ten o f the cocoons
,
and put them into warm water to loosen the gum
then she stirred them with a little broom o f straw
the threads o f the Silk stuck to the broom so She
was able to take hold o f them with her fingers ;she then joined five of the threads together
,making
two compound threads o f the ten,and put those
two through hole s in a thin pie ce o f i ron that lay
acros s the kettle,brought them together
,wound
them on a hand reel,and made a Skein o f silk
,which
she divided,giving o ne heir to Ned
,and the othe r
to Walter .
Felix told the boys that they sold the cocoons atthe mills where they reeled it, as it required ma
chinery to do it properly,and hi s wife had only
reeled that ju st to let them see h ow it could be
done .
“ Suppose the thread Should break,
” said Ned .
Then all you have to do i s to lay the end o n to
the main thread,and the gum will sti ck it.”
He said the reason his wife stood so far from the
138 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
kettle was,that the gum might cool and the threads
not sti ck togeth er . He then gave them some eggsand cocoons to take home with them .
Gabriel,
” said Walter,when they met again
,
I ’ve changed my mind sinc e I came here . I
thought at first it was the last place for a man to
live by farming ; but if ever you get a good govern
ment,under which a man can rece ive the fruits o f
his labor,and no t be beggared by imposition, I will
engage to c o m e here and get ri ch in ten years .
Ho w could yo u do that, citizen ?“ In the first place I would make every day o f
the year tell . I ’d raise two crops in a year,where
you raise o ne . I would build a m i ll to grind and
pres s the se olive s in a quarter o f the time it take s
you,and get a third more o il than yo u can get from
the pre ss I made you . I would build my house in
the midst o f my land,and no t los e a great part o f
my tim e walking back and forth, carting stuff , and
wearing o ut both cattle and carts . I would make
a cart that would run so much easier than yours,
that o ne mule would haul as much as two do in
yours . Then,in the winter
,when there was le isure
,
I would make a good read ; that would make half as
much difference more . Then,instead o f making
140 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
The boys now began to prepare for departurecolle cting moss
,lavender
,and other herb s for t heir
beds,getting willow sets from the island for Mr .
Bell,and some pie ce s o f carved panel and broken
china, o n which were beautiful de signs, from the
o ld castle .
When they returned,Gabriel said,
“ Don ’t takethe se broken things to America ; and he gave thema bowl and goblet most elaborately ornamented
,
while Raffard gave them a panel that had never beeninjured
,o n which was the figure o f a dee r with an
arrow in its flank . Leroux gave Walter a pistolinlaid with s ilver
,To nnelo t presented Ned with a
rapier ri chly ornamented indeed,all were sorry to
part with them,and anxious to give them some
thing as a token o f affection and remembrance .
Julien,Franc ois, and Beaupr! ( sons o f Bernard
and Bertault); brought from their house s pears
pre served in honey,almonds
,figs
,pickled olive s
,
and preserved quinces .
Early the next morning they took leave o f the
peasants, and set out with Gabriel for the vessel,having with them
,in the cart
,the ir pre sents and
the wine and o il contributed by the peasants forthe purchase o f the tackle from the capta in .
THE LAST DA Y WITH THE PEA SA NTS . 141
They arrived just before dinner and the captain
not only sold Gabriel the tackle,but o ff ered to buy
all the o il he and his neighbors had to dispose o f
at a much higher price than they could sell it for at
Marse ille s,and also the ir honey .
Afte r feeding his mule s and eating a heartydinner himself
,Gabriel went home in high Spirits
to carry the news to his neighbors .
142 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
CHAPTER IX .
THE MISTRA L .
they were riding along on their way to theve ssel
,the boys amused themselve s by im
agining the astonishment they would create at
home by telling all they had learned in regard to
affairs in France,and e spe cially concerning silk
worms,but were quite cre stfallen upon finding that
the capta in was as familiar with the subj e ct as
themselve s,who informed them that they had been
,
and were then,raised at home .
A t ho m e ! ” cried both the boys,in surpri se .
W here
They were raised in Vi rginia and Georgia’
when the country was first settled . I have read
about it in books in the Salem library . I read in
an old newspaper that Pre sident Stile s we re atCommencement
,in 1788
,a gown of s ilk made and
woven in Conne cticut . Two years ago my mother
had a pai r o f silk stockings sent her from North
1 44 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OP PLEA SANT COVE .
boys felt so reluctant to get into the ir berth s in the
vessel,even for a night
,that they lost no t ime in
filling their beds,and placing them in the tree ,
where they enjoyed a most delightful night ’s repose .
I declare,Ned
,
” said Walter,as he woke in the
morning,
“ if we were on wage s,instead o f share s,
and were not eating our o wn grub,I shouldn ’t care
much though we had a f ew more lazy days .”
During the forenoon they were occupied in making rough coops for some hens the captain had
engaged o f Gabriel but,being at le isure after
dinner,they hastened to the platform to talk over
the past,lay plans
,and cherish expe ctations for the
future .
About three o ’clock in the afternoon,— which
was beautiful,with a very light breeze that barely
stirred the leave s on the evergreen oak,Walter
said,How clear the Sky looks and the water in
the cove I can see the bottom from here . I can
see those sea-fowl that are diving when they are
o n the bottom .
”
“ Only hear the c rews,said Ned ;
“ what a yell
ing Look in these pine s they are black withthem . They are having a meeting just as they do
at home .
THE MISTRA L . 145
Then I guess the Sheep are having a meeting,
too . Look under the side o f that ledge of rocks .INhat a lot o f ’
em l and their heads all one way !
There ’ s o ne cloud,a real mare ’ s tail ” ( cirrus ),
creeping up in the north .
”
“ Here comes Jacque s running as hard as hecan . Look at him . He s hallooing
,and making
signals . I can ’t hear a word he says ; but it mustbe something abou t the fleet . ”
The boys,occupied with the singular conduct o f
Jacques,had ceased to take note of the sky
,or
they w ould have perceived that the cirrus cloudhad spread o u t
,covering a great extent o f sky,
while below it was anothe r,of darker hue , and,
while striving to catch Jacques ’ words,attributed
hi s S ignals to something connected with the fleet ;and so did the captain
,who
,having ob served his
motions,was hastening to the tree in order to se e
if there was any man- o’-war in sight .
But Jacque s was shouting,
“ Mistral,m i stral
with all his might . There was a Sharp flash,
followed by a terrific peal o f thunder,a rear
among the tree tops,and instantly th e air was
filled with broken limbs,leaves
,both green and
dry,torn from the tree s
,and raised from the ground
,
10
146 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
mixed with clouds o f gravel . A large pine nearby w as torn up the platform , with everything o n
i t,sent whirling in the air ; the o ak bent, groaned ,
and seemed ready to follow the pine . Walter
caught hold of a limb forming one s id e of a crotch ;
the branch split down four o r five feet,when the limb
to which he clung came in contact with another
cross limb ; the tough fibre s of the o ak,aided by
the spring of the cross limb,held o n
,and there he
hung,blown o u t like a streamer . Ned caught by a
larger branch,clasping it with hi s legs . The cap
tain ’s spy-glass,falling into the cleft o f the fork
,
stuck there ; three o f the chairs went over the
land to sea ; another lodged in the thick top o f a
pine ; the re st went acros s the cove , and were
blown up against the bank . Ned ’s blanket was
twisted round the main-topmast rigging ; Walter ’s
sailed for parts unknown . Ned ’s bed,lavender and
all,went to sea ; Walter
’s was jammed between
two rocks,o n the end o f the high blu ff .
Hail,mixed with snow
,began to fall
,and every
thing wore the garb o f winter . When the squall
struck,the capta in was half way up the tre e the
rope -ladder being on the weather-Side,the lashings
that held the bull ’s eye s to the ground were parted,
148 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
Yesterday he chased a French ship , o ut her o fffrom Marse ille s
,and she ran under the guns o f a
very heavy battery,an earth-work
,half way be
tween here and Marseille s ; and he i s watching
her .”
Can they hold On ?
No,except the Agamemnon . She i s more under
the lee . Nothing c an held against this except they
are under a lee,and stro ngly
'm o o red with anchors
well b edded . They generally lie at a single an
chor,and the topsail yards swayed up
,so as to be
ready to get under way in a moment .”
We will hold o n a while,to let the fiery edge
get o ff the wind,and give them a chance to get
o ut of the way .
In the mean time the mainsail was balance-re efed,
the scope hove in,the fore topmast and main stay
sails loosed,ready to set
,which was all the sail the
brigantine would bear,so great was the violence
o f the wind .
Jacque s now said“
to the boys,
“ Why didn ’t
you come down when I was making signs to you,
hallooing mistral enough to split my throat ?
We couldn ’t hear you .
Couldn’t you hear the c rews , and see the sheep
all huddled togethe r ?
THE MISTRAL . 149
We didn ’t know what it meant
I rather think yo u know now .
They lay thus for an hour,when
’
an orde r was
given to man the Windlass . The crew,all young
,
athleti c men,having enj oyed a long repose
,stim
u lated by the strongest motive s,self-intere st
,pride
o f seamanship,and manly emulation
,sprang like
tigers to their work,and catted ” the anchor by
hand .
“ There ’s your bed,Mr . Griffin
,
” said Ned,as
they shot by the high bluff.“ Never mind ; I
’ve had o ne good night’s sleep
in it.”
There ’s Nelson,said Jacques
,as they rounded
the first prominent headland ;“ he means to hold
o n . I had a good look at him yesterd ay with a
glass . He has sent his top hamper down ; hisyard s are pointed to the wind
,and
,I ’ve no doubt
,
two anchors ahead .
”
Nelson hate s the Yankees,said the captain .
Ho w he would grit hi s teeth if he knew who we
are l
Nelson ’s dislike for the Yankees was based uponvery solid grounds .After the War o f independence
,the United States
150 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
were prohibited by Great Britain from all trade
with her West India colonie s . Before the war
that trade had been exceedingly profitable,and
the Ameri cans were loath to relinquish it . It hadbeen no le s s so to the inhabitants o f the islands
,
custom-house o icers,and all holding 0
f
ee under
the crown,since that shrewd and persistent peo
ple,fully appreciating the importance o f the prin
c iple illustrated by the old saw of “ throwing a
sprat to catch a herring,
” had never shown them
selve s ungrateful . With a shrewd suspicion o f
this,the home government sent o u t a fleet to
look after matters in general,and enforce pro
bibit-ion .
But th e naval o"
cers,from the adm iral to his
mid shipmen, dearly loved dinner-partie s given bythe c ivil magistrate s and wealthy merchants
,and
were much influenced by them . The C h eers of
his maj esty ’s customs—governor,generals
,and
presidents of council— misse d many a box of
spermaceti candle s,and were often feelingly
reminded of the ir o ld friends by their empty
pockets . When,therefore
,a down-east brig
,dis
playing the stars and stripe s,and laden scuppers
to with lumber,spermaceti candle s
,c o dfi sh
,butte r
,
1 5 2 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
o w ned by Americans,and with American captain s
and crews .
But in 1784,when Nelson—who cared nought
for dinner-partie s,and whose ruling nature was
love of glory and duty— was sent o ut to the West
Indie s,under Admiral Hughes
,and found the Brit
i sh ports full o f the se ill i c it traders , he pounced
upon them like a falcon upon a flock o f herons .
Adhering to the words o f the statute,that all
trade to and from the Briti sh West Indi e s and
America must be in British bottom s,navigated by
Briti sh captains,three fourths o f the crew British
seamen,and owned by Engli shmen
,inhabitants o f
Great Britain or her colonie s,he seize d at once
four American vessels under Engli sh colors,with
L_
1
Engli sh registers,but with American capta ins and
crews,owned and -built in America . But the
American captains,so far from submitting
,prose
c uted him in the civil court for assault and im
prisonment,laying their damages at the enormous
sum o f four thousand pounds sterling,while Nel
son, knowing he could not obtain a fair trial in the
islands , dared not leave his ship for e ight weeks , f o r
fear o f being arre sted on a civil suit ; and, as he
continued to se ize vessels,the captains
,after his
THE MISTRAL . 153
return to England to avoid prose cution, served aw rit on his wife
,laying the damages at twenty
thousand pounds sterling .
The adm iral was disposed to wink at these pro
c e edings, and, in reply to a repre sentation from
Nelson,said it was an affair of the custom-house
officers,and ordered him not to interfere with
their decis ions .
In this dilemma he petitioned to the king,who
came to the re scue,and ordered him to be de
fended by his lawyers . The Yankees howeverwere an overmatch for him
,aided as they were
by unprincipled o h c ials .
American captains w ould clear for some of theDutch or French islands, th en go to Trinidad, putth e vessel un d er
'
Spanish colors , ship a few creole s ,to put a better face on the matter
,take some live
stock o n deck,and go to the Briti sh i slands .
The custom-house Officers,despite the e ff orts of
Nelson,would admit them
,under an Old
“
order from
th e Board of Treasury,1 763
,d e claring Briti sh ports
open to Spanish ve ssels bringing bullion and livestock
,although all the bullion they brought was a
hold full o f Yankee lumber .Our young readers will n o w perce ive why Nel
154 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
son disliked the Yankees,and how much good it
w ould have done him to have closed his jaws uponthe Arthur Brown .
”
Suppose we should run up the colors , capta in,said Walter
,and stir them up a little .
”
“ We are dead to leeward . If too much pr o
vo ked,he might slip his cable s and come d own
o n us .
No provocation,said Jacque s
,
“ could make
him leave the vessel he i s watching ; for he knows
as soon as he makes sail she i s away .
”
It was evident the brigantine had already been
the subj e ct o f close scrutiny ; for, while Ned was
bending the flag to the halyards,a flash was se en
from the stern o f the ship,followed by the report
,
and a ball sank harmles s into the water,a long dis
tance to windward ; for the guns o f that day were
of short range,compared with those o f the pre sent
time .
A S th e flag streamed o u t on the wind,shot fol
lowed Shot in quick succe ssion,atte sting the gall
ing nature o f this taunt .
Let her luff,Lancaster
,said the captain to th e
seaman at the helm .
Luff, si r .”
15 6 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
thick,and he so low in the water ; they are lying
o n the ir ears,and the cockswain is standing up
,
looking round . We must save him,or he ’s a dead
man . Hard down the helm .
”
Instantly W alter,followed by Ned and two more
o f the crew,o ne o f whom was Henry Merrithew
(the strongest man in the Ship’s company), sprang
to cut the lashings o f the boat . It was no child’ s
play to launch a boat,get clear of the ve ssel
,and
pull to windward against that wind and sea ; but
with the exception of Ned,who made up in re solu
tion and quickness o f apprehension for lack o f
strength and practice , these men had from child
hood been brought up in boats,accustomed to fi sh
ing among shoals in the edge o f the surf,and pur
suing sea-fowls amon g breaking rocks . Envelopedin spray
,they forced the boat to windward with
long,steady strokes
,while the captain
,with his eye
o n the man,pointed out the dire ction in which they
were to pull,which
,as they were back to
,was a
most. e ff ectual aid .
K eep cool,Merrithew
,said Walter
,who pulled
the afte r o ar,as he heard the crack o f a thole-pin
behind him ; “ keep cool ; if you break that ear or
thole-pin,we are dished .
THE MISTRAL . 157
Here he is,close aboard
,
” said Ned,looking over
his shoulder .
Walter,fl inging his ear o u t o f the r o w-lock into
the scull-hole,steered th e boat dire ctly for the man
,
who was clinging by the jack-stay to a royal
yard .
Ship your ear,Ned
,and stand by .
Ned caught the end o f the Spar as it came broad
side on,when it drifted alongs ide o f th e boat
,
bringing the man abreast of Merrithew,wh o caught
him by the hair and collar o f hi s coat . No twith
standing the great strength o f the seaman,he
could n o t break the death-gripe of the drowning
man . In a moment Blai sdell drew his knife acros s
the jack-stay,and he was taken on board.
“ A midshipman,by his dre ss
,and dead dead
enough,to o
,poor boy
,
” said Merrithew,as he laid
him in the stern-sheets .
There ’s life in him yet,said Walter . “ I saw
him treading water with his feet to ke ep the spar
from rolling over,while you were pulling up .
”
“ Hi s mouth i s shut,
” said Blai sdell,
“ w hichshows he knew h o w to take care of himself in th e
water . If he was d ead,his mouth would be partly
open,and hi s tongue between his te e th .
”
158 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
There ’s a big sea coming round with her be
fore it gets along ; pull , boys , pull , and don’t let him
die in the boat . The air is colder than the wate r,and taking him out of the water
'
has chilled him .
”
When the boat came alongside , and the apparent.
ly lifele ss body was conveyed to the cabin of the
brigantine,every heart was touched .
D ear little fellow He can ’t be more than eighteen ; and what a noble face said the captain
,
while they were stripping o ff hi s wet clothing,
rubbing the body,and wrapping him in blankets .
“ There ’s life,
” said he,afte r he was place d in the
captain ’s o wn berth .
“ I can just se e that he
breathes,and there ’s a faint fluttering of the
heart . ”
A S the readie s t and most en”
c a c io us means in
their power,they put bags fi lled with hot salt to
his feet and other parts o f his body . Hi s cheekswere pale
,fle sh cold
,muscle s relaxed
,and eye s
half closed .
-The crew of the man-O’-war ’s boat
,
after w itne ssing the re scue,endeavored to return ;
but they could no longer perce ive the ship,and
,as
the only course le ft them by which to ' save their
own live s,pulled for the brigantine .
A rope was thrown to them as they came under
1 60 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
The young man lay for three hours in th e cond
tion we have de scribed,breath ing regularly, but
fa intly,and manife sting no other signs o f returning
consciousness than a convulsive twitching o f the
eyelids . The captain hung over him with the
greate st anxiety,making such outward application
as he thought o f use .
In three hours more,to his great delight
,his pa
tient was able to swallow but it was not till
nine o ’clock the next morning,twelve hours after
he was taken from the water,that he could speak
,
o r reply to questions . A scertaining where he was,
and by whom re scued,he seemed greatly moved
and expre ssed the wish that he had peri shed rather
than be carried to Marseille s,
‘
and become a Frenchprisoner of war.
“ Make yourself easy,s ir
,replied the captain .
I will cut my right hand O ff before I will deliver
those who have come o n board my vessel in dis
tre ss into the hands o f the ir enemie s . I ’ll put you
and your men into an Engli sh man-o’-war .
fl ”
ic ac io us
than all the other remedie s that had been adm inis
tered . Hi s pale cheeks flushed in a moment,the
light o f youth and vigor returned to his eye s,and
,
This frank declaration proved more e
THE MISTRAL. 161
after eating,he got up
,and put o n his uniform
,
which the seamen had dried for him,and scoured
the buttons . He then went o n deck,and met the
boat ’s crew,who manife sted great pleasure at se e
ing him . He shook hands with them all,calling
each man by name .
The weather n ow began to moderate fast . The
reefs were shaken o ut,yards sent up
,and all sail
made upon the ve ssel . When,at length
,the high
lands of Marse ille s,and Planier Island, ten mile s
from the city,came into Vi ew
,and it was evident
the coast was clear o f blockaders,the brigantine
was hove to . A very stri ct watch was kept duringthe night and
,just as the sun rose
,the lookout at
the mast-head sung o u t,
“ A sail to le eward ! ”
The mate went aloft with the glas s,and reported
that it was an English man-o’-war .
“ She is beating back to her station,said th e
captain . We ’ll get o ur breakfast while she i s
working up .
The midshipman,somewhat surprised at the
coolne ss o f the captain,said
,
“ You have greatconfidence in the sailing qualitie s of your ve ssel
captain .
”
I have reason for it,Mr . Reed
,
” was the reply .
1 1
162 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Indeed,if assured this wind would hold, I should
not fear to lie here till she came nearly within gun
shot .”
After the meal was concluded, which was not atall hurried
,the man-O
’-war was near enough to be
distinguished with the naked eye .
Do you recognize that frigate,Mr . Reed ? ”
Ye s,sir . It i s the Leda, Captain Campbell .
One o f your blockading fleet ? ”
Ye s,Sir .
The frigate,with every sail se t
,new came up
fast .“ I am about as near to her as i s prudent
,
” said
the captain,and gave orders to launch the gig.
He th en Said,New
,Mr . Reed
,there i s one o f
your o wn fleet . Y o u are at liberty to depart wi th
a fair wind and a fre sh crew . Your captain,I b e
lieve,don ’t like us Yankee s but give my re spects
to him,and add whatever you think proper .”
All sail was m ade o n the brigantine,and
,by the
time the boat reached the frigate,she was nearing
the harbor o f Marse ille s .
Not w ithstand ing Nelson ’s prej udice s ( certainlyn o t groundles s), the Arthur Brown had not been aweek in Marse ille s when a flag o f truce came in
,
164 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SA NT COVE .
CHAPTER X .
THE INFERNAL .
HE midshipman,at the clos e o f hi s lette r
,
written in the mos t aff e ctionate spirit, par
tic ular reference being made to hi s re s cuers,Wal
ter,Ned
,and thei r com panions in the boat
,o n
tha t occasion,said
,
You will re colle ct,my dear sir
,that when yo u
first hove in sight,o n the day o f the gale
,it was
not so thick as afterwards,and then a person in
e ither ve ssel could,with a glass
,easily m ake o ut
the other ; but, Shortly after I fell overboard, i t
shut down thi ck o f snow . During that tim e,o ur
captain and first lufl° ( lieutenant) re cognized theArthur Brown
,knew her to be the same vessel
that was almost under the guns o f the Lo we staff
in a fog,some months ago
,and that she gave chase
to . The officers and crews o f all the Other vessels
had a good chance to look at he r,when you lay so
long under the guns of the castle,after running the
THE INFERNA L . 165
fire o f the flag-ship . Her masts rake so much,she
carries such a cloud of canvas,. and is such a beau
tiful model,that there i s no mistaking her
,although
you have altered her paint Since the last trip . The
fleet has taken scarcely any prize s,so that all are
hungry for prize-money . Every o n e o f us,from the
adm iral to the powder-monkeys,feel chagrined at
being thus bearded ; that our reputation as seamen
will suffer if yo u should again e scape us . There ’s
another motive . W e all know if we could take the
Arthur Brown,and put a f ew light guns on board
o f her,She would catch everything o n the coast
,
and fill our pockets with prize-m o nev. Add tothis
,your slapping o ur captain in the face with
your flag,the other day
,and you will perce ive ho w
matters stand between us . In short,while your
nob le treatment o f myself and shipmate s has gainedyou the re spe ct and good will o f every o n e
,and
you would experience the utmost kindnes s,should
you fall into o u r hands,believe me
,you have a
diffi cult task,and o ne which will tax your re source s
to the utmost,for the fleet are dete rmined to have
the brigantine,o r s ink her . I could not do le ss
than put those,to whom I o we my life
,o n the ir
guard . But,from what I have se en o f yourself
,
166 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
the character o f your crew,and the capaci ty o f
the brigantine,I should not be so m uch surpri sed
as my shipm ate s,Should yo u ,
by some o f those
chance s which always seem to turn up in favor of
your people,e scape us
,though it by no means befl
come s me,as a British O
“
cer,to expre s s any such
desire .
”
The ship ’s company of the brigantine being,with
the exception o f Jacque s , all Americans, most o fthem having grown up together from childhood
,
and a good part o f them shipmate s o n the last
voyage,the relation between Officers and crew
was very different from that usually existing o n
shipboard .
The communion was also more intimate from the
fact that no o ne was hired,each having a share in
the ri sk and profits o f the voyage,and that they
were bound together by a sense o f common danger,cherished a personal attachment to each other
,and
reposed perfe ct confidence in the ability o f the
captain,insomuch that Quesnard , who marked with
curious intere st the m anner in which things went
o n board the brigantine,said that he “ would vote
for a king in France if they could have a govern
ment like the government o f that ve ssel.”
1 68 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
as that youngster Says,
n o t wishing any harm to
him ho w somever,that so m ething
’ll turn up on
o ur s ide .
”
This cool preference o f greater ri sk,with th e
prospect o f greater profit,was re ce ived with a
universal murmur o f assent .“ Well
,boys
,
” said the captain,folding up the
letter,
“ I wanted to know your minds,because we
can ’ t wait here a great while for a gale o f wind to
drive the fleet from their anchors . We have sold
o ur cargo,and shall soon be short o f provisions
,
and there are none to be had here . We must
take our chance,the first suitable night
,to run
their battery, unle s s I can contrive some othe r
While the ve ssel was completing her lading,
the captain seemed quite thoughtful,and spent
the greater portion o f his time alone on a high
hill, called Vi ste , over which led the road to Paris,and commanding a good View of the fleet .
The port o f Marse ille s i s completely land-locked
being a salt water lake,o f the shape o f an egg
,half
a mile in length, and a quarter o f a mile in breadth .
The entrance into it i s not more than a hundred
yard s rin width,and defended by strong f o rtifi c a
tions .
THE INFERNAL . 169
From his situation on the hill,the captain soon
had ocular evidence of the accuracy of the state
ments contained in the letter he had rece ived . Hesaw that not only had the number of ve ssels cruising outside been reduced to two
,but they had
formed a complete cordon acros s the road,e ffe c tu
ally stopping all egre s s except by encountering
their broadside s at Short range . The increase d
number o f ve ssels also made it evident to him
that the night patrols would be doubled .
A S the young captain— after a careful scrutinyof th e disposition o f the ve ssels— sat with the
glas s lying acros s hi s knee s , an idea pre sente d
itself,which
,o n his way to dinner, he m ore fully
matured .
“ Jacque s,said he
,while eating
,
“ what was it
you were saying the other day to a countr yman o f
yours about a fi re -ship ? I can only catch a word
o r two,here and there
,of your diale ct .”
I was telling him,captain . th at there were two
condemned ve ssels lying here . o ne a private er , and
the other a Guineaman ( slaver), and the govern
ment was going to make fi re -ships o f them both .
and send them down among the blockading fleet
now that they are moored in such close order .
170 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SANT COVE .
“ Indeed,
” replied the capta in ; but, making no
further allusion to the topic , he asked,“ Ho w i s
the water along the shore,from the outlet of the
port,as you go to the westward ? ”
“ The shore i s quite bold,captain
,with a few
shoal spots,for some mile s . ”
Could you carry this ve ssel along shore,in the
night,for two mile s without getting aground ? ”
“ Ye s,captain . I can feel my way with the lead
,
o r I can carry,
you through narrow passages,be
tween islands and the main Shore,where no man
o’-war can follow .
”
The captain said no more,but
,ri sing from the
table,sought hi s merchants
,who went with him to
wait upon the authoritie s . From them he learnedthat th e private er only was to be fitted f o r a fi re
ship ; that the magazine was already made , and thepowder would be put o n board dire ctly .
Captain Brown bought the slaver for a trifle,as
she was fit only to break up f o r her iron . He also
bought some o ld sails,and then hauled her along
side his Own ve ssel . She was not far from the tennage o f the Arthur Brown and there was so muchresemblance between them
,that
,in the night
,o ne
might easily be mistaken for the oth er. They were
1 72 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
will not be likely to have a very dark night . The
guard-boats w ill probably se e them before they getvery near
,and give warning . It cannot be very
hard work to get out of the way o f a ve ssel steer
ing herself.”
I should like very well,
” said Walter,“ to have
the fleet s cattered,but have no de sire that the
young midshipman,whose life we labored so hard
to save,should be blown to pie ce s .
He won ’t be,
” said Jacque s .
Why no t he as liable as another ? ”
‘Because the Agamemnon,the ve ssel he belongs
to . i s the faste st ves sel they have , and i s most al
ways cruising .
In the hold o f the old privateer,near the foot of
the mainmast,was constructed a square room for
a magazine . in which were placed eight hundred
barrels o f powder . From thi s to the stern a fi reproof passage-way or trunk was m ade
,in which
the tram was laid,that it might not explode pre
maturely . The train was ignited by a port-fi re ,arranged to burn long enough to give those firing
the train time to e scape .
The de ck was filled with barrels of tar,dry
wood, shavings , l ive shells , pie ces o f pot-me tal,
THE INFERNAL . 173
spike s,broken glass
,and links o f chains
,to act as
m is sile s when the explosion took place , and the
guns were loaded with grape shot .
Men who had volunteered f o r the duty were to
fire the mass o f combustible s o n de ck in three
place s,and the train leading to the magazine
,all
at the same moment,whenever the approach of the
fi re -ship was discovered by the enemy . Then,the
fire being applied,and the helm lashed
,she was to
be left to make her o wn way .
The night,so anxiously expe cted
,came at last
hazy,with here and there a star just vi s ible ; the
wind moderate,but fair
,and enough of it to give
the ves sels good headway . It was half an hour past
midnight when thi s infernal contrivance glided si
lently from the harbor and passed the forts , —hav
ing the appearance o f a blockade runner,—and
steered for the centre of the Engli sh fleet,followed
by the slaver with all her sails set . She,however
,
hove to,when a short distance from the por t
,leav
ing the infernal to proceed alone .
Moments seemed lengthened to hours,as the
boys,hanging over the rail
,gazed upon the dim
ou tline s of the re ceding ve ssel . around which dark
shadows were closing fast . Although the distance
174 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
w as not great which separated them from the fi reship or the fleet
,a thin haze
,which obscured the
light o f the stars, completely obstructed the Vi ew.
With bated breath they li stened for some token
from the bosom o f that misty shroud . which they
strove in vain to penetrate .
No sound,save the occasional surge of the helm
in the le e be cket,o r the quiver o f a sail
,as th e ves
sel came up to or fell o ff from the wind,disturbed
the repose o f the night .“ W alter
,
” whispered Ne d,this s ilence i s fear
ful ; they must be almost there .
A pre s sure of hi s arm was the mute re sponse .
A few moments m ore o f su spense,when a stern
hail broke the ominous silence so suddenly that,
with a convulsive start,the boys sprang to their
feet . There was no reply . Again the summonsrose louder on the air
,instantly followed by a
shot .“ They are discovered ” said Ne d . But even
while the words were.
i s suing from his lips thre e
spiral s of bright flame,shooting up from the fi re
ship , revealed to the boys ~ —who were looking
from darkne s s towards the light— a s cene com
bining every element,both o f the sublime and
176 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
fi c er o f the leading boat ; we ’ll put o ut the ir fire
and their slow-match .
”
With an answering shout they dashed the ears
into the water again ; but the flames burst from
the port-hole s and over the rail into the ir very
faces,rendering usele ss all attempts to board
,the
very purpose for which this mass o f material had
been prepared and ignited . As,expecting explo
l
sion,they pulled rapidly away
,a volley from the
fi re-Ship killed the midshipman in charge and two
men . The stern o f that ve ssel,where stood the
four men,was as yet clear o f flame
,
‘
the wind
carrying the fire and smoke forward .
Why,in the name o f Heaven
,d on ’t. they leave ?
There ’s a boat towing astern,
” cried Ned ;“ she
must blow up soon .
”
“ Ned,those men don ’t mean to leave .
D on ’t mean to leave ! ”
No ; they know if that ve s sel i s left to steerherself
,ten to o ne if she strike s an English ship .
They ’re going to sacrifice themselve s .
Right ahead o f the infernal,as near as they
could.s w ing at the ir anchors , lay an eighty-gun
ship and a S ixty-four . It was evidently the in
tention of these desperate men to lay her between
THE INFERNA L . 1 77
them,apply the match
,and blow both themselve s
and their enemie s into eternity together . It
s eemed most probable that they would accomplish
their purpose ; the breeze was light, and scarcely
felt by the men-o f-war,whose crews had cut the
cable s and made sail,while the infernal
,by reason
o f momentum previously acquired,was coming
down fast,bearing de struction and death .
No w ensued an uproar impossible to de scribe .
Blazing C inders and Sparks from the fi re -Ship blew
o n to the main-topsail o f the e ighty,which was
tan tly in f lam e s ; but with that cool courage and
perfe ct discipline so characteristic o f British sea
men,the topmen c ut the sail from the yard
,and
passed water in buckets ; the boats’ crews were
town the ship ahead,while at the same time a
hot fire was kept up upon the fi re - ship from every
gun that could be brought to bear ; the other ships ,that were out o f her path
,also poured in whole
broadside s,in the hope o f e ither blowing up o r
s inking her before she should get near enough to
do exe cution .
That Ship i s gone for ’t,
” said Ned,as the helms
man of the infernal,see ing the two ships were
separating,and that he could hope t o d e stroy but12
178 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SA NT COVE .
o ne,altered his course
,and steered dire ct f o r the
e ighty . At this moment a well-dire cted broadsidecut o ff the foremast o f the fi re -Ship
,that
,with all
the head sails . went over the side . This brought the
ve s sel to the wind,and arre sted her progre ss
,th
man-O’-war improving the fortunate moment to
e scape .
The scene n ow grew appalling. The air was
filled with the roar o f hundreds o f cannon,while
,
as the n o w unmanageable ves sel came head to
wind,the flame s ran up the rigging of the main
mast,and swept over the place where those self
devoted men stood .
In the midst o f this horrid din,a shell exploded
o n her de ck,a flash of blue flame illumined with its
ghastly light the whole horizon,followed by an
explos ion that made every ve ssel quiver as though
racked by the throe s o f an earthquake . The blaz
ing mast shot up to the sky like a rocket,followed
by jets o f water and torrents o f flame,hearing
before them countle s s missile s,legs
,arms
,and
other portions o f the di smembered bodie s o f that
ill-fated crew,t o which succeeded a darkness made
more intense by clouds o f smoke,and a stillnes s as
of death .
180 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
being too much occupied with the ir prize t o c o n
cern themselve s about them .
Having put a good d i stance between themselvesand the boats
,they lay upon their ears to breathe .
Won ’t there be some swearing,Ned
,
” said
Walter,
“ when they come to look over thei r
prize,and find her a condemned slaver
,full o f
rocks ? ”
Ye s ; but I gue s s there will b e more when theyfind What I have written o n the companion-way .
In the afternoon,while waiting for the fi re-Ship
,
Ned had written with chalk on the slide o f the
companion-way the value o f the Arthur Brown ’scargo
,showing the man-o
’-war ’s men what a ri ch
prize they had lost,closing with some refle ctions
upon the disappointments to Which mankind are
liable,and leaving the be st re spects o f himself
and Walter.
In the mean time the Arthur Brown,without
a single sail set to attract attention,propelled by
n
m u ed sweeps,and skilfully piloted by Jacques
,
was creeping along und er the Shadow o f the land
in calm water,till
,entirely beyond the reach o f
observation,a kedge was silently lowered to the
bottom , and she waited for her boat . Upon the
THE INFERNAL . 18 1
arrival of the boys,with every inch o f canvas
spread,the swift ve ssel
,now swi fter than ever
(for she had been coppered in Marseille s a re cent
practice,and at that time scarcely known in the
Stat e s), turned her prow homeward .
Just as the sun rose above the horizon in themorning
,the lookout at the mast-head o f the
Agamemnon,sung o ut
,
“ Sail,O l
Where away ?
Right ahead,s ir .
Mr. Reed beheld through the glass the wellknown form o f th e Arthur Brown bathed in sunlight
,studding sails
,alow and aloft
,wi th the wind
o n her quarter making f o r the Straits o f Gibraltar
at a rate that defied pursuit . A smile of satisfa ction— which he walked forward to conceal
passed over the fine feature s of the midshipman,
as he took the glas s from his eye .
When,having composed hi s feature s
,he reported
to hi s superiors that he knew the vessel,and that
it was the brigantine,it was considered usele s s t o
chase her ; and long before e ight bells struck, she
had faded from their View.
1 82 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
CHAPTER XI .
A STARTL ING D ISCLOSURE .
reason o f the tarry o f the Arthur Brownin the even
,her voyage was so lengthened
,
that much uneasine s s was felt respe cting her at
Pleasant Cove,and in Salem
,by the parents o f the
captain and Ned .
A great many consultations were held betweenL ion Ben
,Captain Rhines
,Fred Williams
,John
Rhine s,and Charlie Bell
,her o wners .
Father,
” said Ben,I ’m afraid they have been
taken by the ' English, or foundered in a levanter.
Only consider h o w much longer they have been
gone than they were o n the other trip !
They say,
” replied Fred,
“ that people there are
killing each other—half o f them drunk,the rest
crazy ; perhaps they’ve been murdered .
”
Charlie Bell thought,that as affairs there were in
a very unsettled state,the people had but a scanty
supply of food,and the vessel be ing loaded with
1 84 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
captain said,I d on ’t know but I will ; I shall have
to go up before long to se e him on some other
busine ss,and the coaster i s going up the last o f
the week .
”
He obtained no information in Boston o r Salem,
but determined to remain there a while . On going
through a portion o f the town very much occupied
with sailor boarding-house s,he mad e a short c ut
through Black Dog Alley,
” when hi s progre s s was
stopped by a crowd o f sailors,all m ore o r le s s
under the influence of liquor . One o ld tar had
taken it into hi s head to hire a truckman ’s horse
for a ride up and down the s tre et . D runk as hewas
,he sat the horse well ; for, as he boasted he
had been brought up among horse s,and was half
horse himself. He wou ld not have the harness
taken o ff the horse,which was a leade r
,but
m ounted,taking the trace-chains o n hi s shoulder
,
with the rattling o f which he and all seemed to be
delighted ; and, as he was flush o f money,his ve st
pockets being crammed with bills,bes ide s some
silver in a purse which he frequently shook in the
truckm an ’s face,exclaiming
,Ri ch owners
,my o ld
boy the latter seemed incl ined t o submit to all his
whims . He w as surrounded by an admiring crowd
A STA ETLING D ISCLOSURE . 1 85
o f shipmate s,w ho
,like himself
,had just been paid
off,all gloriously drunk
,but good-natured
,and bent
o n having a merry time o f it . In addition to these
w as a crowd o f loafers and loungers,su ch as are
generally abundant when sailors are paid o f f and
liquor is plenty .
The dre s s o f this horseman w as comical enough .
He had o n a pair o f Turkish trousers,an India
Shawl round his wai st for a sash,a Shirt made o f
fine grass-cloth also o f East India manufacture,
exceedingly fine and beautiful ; o n his head a Greek
cap,which made his large
,flushed feature s appear
m ost prominent ; hi s o n e w as wound with red ribbon,the two ends streaming down his back
,and red
slippers on his feet . Over the beautiful shirt were
the rusty trace-chains,the hooks of which chafed
against the shawl at every motion o f the horse .
After Shaking his purse in the truckman ’s face,
and boasting o f his riche s,he next took it into his
head to beg,and
,pulling o ff hi s cap
,he knocked
the top in,causing it to re semble a bowl .
“ Chri stian people,one and all
,
” cried he,in dole
ful accents,holding o ut the cap
,
“ pity a poor,dis
enabled sailor,who ’s lost his legs fighting for hi s
country,whose father and moth er are frying eggs
186 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OP PLEASANT COVE .
in a wo o den saucepan on the rock o f Gibraltar ;
pity him,good people
,and drop a shot in the lee
locker . ”
As he concluded,cheers arose from the crowd
,
and hi s shipmates flung a shower o f sm all coin into
the cap,when
,whirling it around hi s head
,the
S ilver was scatte red among the crowd , creating a
universal scramble .
The truckman new wanted his horse .
Your horse ! You ’re drunk,o ld boy
,and d on ’t
know what you ’re talking about . I ’ve chartered
thi s ere horse for the vige,and the vige ain ’t up
yet . Ain ’t that so,shipmate s ?
This declaration was followed by a chee r of
assent . Captain Rhines,m eanwhile
,was m aking
strenuous efforts to get through the crowd,for he
had recognized in the sailor o n horseback D ick
Cameron,who had been a great many voyage s with
him . D ick was an e special favorite with CaptainRhines
,f o r he was a splendid seam an when at sea
and away from liquors , and the captain would
have been right glad to have met and shaken hands
with his old shipmate when sober,o r to have enter
tained him at hi s house but he d readed re cognition
by him in his pre sent state,and was striving to
188 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
peared in Calcutta ? I thought yo u was overboard,
o r knocked o n the head with a slung shot ; for I
never believed you would run away from m e .
“ Run away from yo u, cap’n ? I would run to
you as I would to my mother if She was alive,God
bles s her I got a dose o f Sheet lightning,and
,
when I waked up,I was aboard an English ship
bound to Australia . What be come o f my cloth e s ?
I had a good c histful.
I kept them aboard till I gave them all away to
sailors that had been robbed by the land-sharks .
Jest right,cap ’n
,j e st like you . No w
,ship
mate s,give me a fist . I want to go ashore
,and
shake the c ap’n’s fl ippers .”
With their aid he dismounted,and
,getting hold
of the captain ’ s hand,which he extended most cor
d ially, he continued to pour forth his prote stations
o f re spect and affe ction .
o w i s the wife,cap ’n
,and the pickaninnie s
and that le etle boy o f yours,what ’s got Bunker
Hill o n his shoulders ? Ah,shipmate s
,that ’s the
bully boy can bend a crowbar over his knee,and
mast-head a topsail alone .
”
4: They are all well . But where are you from,
D ick ?
A STARTL ING D ISCLOSURE . 189
Messina .
Have yo u spoke any American ve ssels o n the
coast ? ”
Ye s two .
What were they ? ”
West Indiamen from Antigua,bound into New
London .
”
How long have you been ashoreS ince ei ght o ’clock this morning j est long
enough t o moisten th e clay a little .
”
Here the conversation was interrupted by thetruckman attempting to lead o ff the horse
,having
rece ived his pay in advance ; but this D i ck ’s shipmate s would by no means permit . One shook his
fist in the truckman ’ s face,threatening to drive hi s
teeth down his throat ; another seized the horse bythe bridle
,while two others caught hold of his
long tail .
Catch a turn,Bill
,round that timber-head .
Bill caught a turn with the tail round a barber ’s
pole that was s et in the ground before the door o f
a grog-Shop,the barbe r occupying rooms overhead .
But the horse,not accu stomed to being thus dealt
with,began to kick and jump
,amid the Cheers and
laughter o f the crowd,till he pulled the pole over
amongst them .
190 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEA SANT c o vn.
In o rder to re store good feeling, D i ck now pro
posed to the truckman to take some b itters .I say
,D ick
,
” said Bill Matthews , i t. se ems to
me as how vou ought to treat this”ere horse .
”
So I will,shipmate s, ble s s me if I don
’t,
” said
D i ck,who had meantime been trying to persuad e
the captain to drink with him . If the cap ’n wo n'
t
drink,the horse sha ll and
,m ounting
,he intended
to ride him into the bar-room . The horse prote st
ed,and so did his owner
,but both alike Without
succe ss . D e spite his struggle s,the beast was
pushed up thre e steps,into the bar-room .
“ Mix him a good stiff glass,Tom
,
” said D i ck .
He heeds it .The bar-keeper
,nothing loath
,as he calculated to
get his pay for all the liquor poured o ut,whether
drank o r not,obeyed . The room was crammed
,
all crowding in to se e the fun and share the drink
ing,as D i ck had invite d all hands no change out
o f a dollar .
Captain Rhine s might have e s caped n ow ; but
he wi shed to make some further 1nqu 1r1e s o f D i ck.
He was interrupted by the tru ckman calling forhis horse , and the disturbance that followed ; so he
remained o n the sidewalk .
192 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Was She heavy sparred ? D id she carry apre ss o f sail ?
She was all sail ; long yards, and plenty o f
stay-sails and savealls,a whacking main-sail
,and a
ringtail at the end o f it . I noticed it,
” said D i ck,
“ and spoke of it then,what a spread she had to her
fore-rigging and long spreaders o n the cros s-tree s
to spread the topgallant and royal backstays .”
That must be the ve ssel I ’m looking for ; but if
She passed you,beating up
,why ain ’t she here ?
She went into Salem .
”
0,ho went into Salem ! Then it ’ s her . The
captain belongs in Salem ; and, as he had a headwind and tide
,he went in the re
,and will be up to
d ay .
”
Captain Rhine s had proceeded but a little wayafter leaving D i ck
,when
,just before him
,a man
was pushed o u t of the door o f a sailor boarding
house,and fell hi s wlro le length o n the Sidewalk .
He rose with di i c ulty to hi s feet as the captaincame along
,and addre ssed him by name . He was
covered with filth,hiS face brui sed and bloody
,a
battered tarpaulin o n hi s head,a beard of three
weeks ’ growth,clothed in a red Shirt
,canvas trou
sers, and barefoot . He trembled like a man with
A STA RTLINC D ISCLOSURE . 193
the fever and agil e , evidently be ing in that stateexpre ssively termed by sailors the
“ horrors ” and
could scarcely stand .
Cap ’n,
” he cried,don ’t you know me ? ”
“ N he replied,after looking at him a moment
,
“ and don ’t want t o .
”
I ’m Percival,IVilliam Percival
,that went mate
o f your Ship with Captain Aldrich .
“ Your o wn mother wouldn ’t know you,Perci
val . How came you in thi s condition ? ”
I ’ve had hard luck, cap’n been cast away ; lo st
everything but what I stood in .
”
The captain was the last man to b e imposed
upon . He had always believed that Percival andAldrich both were two precious rascals
,saw in
an instant what had reduced him to his present
state,and that the story o f shipwreck was manu
fac tured at the spur of the moment .
You ’ve cast yourself away,
” was the reply .
You might have been master o f a ship if you hadbehaved yourself, and had any principle . Don ’t li eto me . You ’ve got the shakes o n you this ble ssedminute .
That ’s so,cap ’n
,
” said the poor wretch,making
a virtue o f nece ssity but I only drank to drown
1 3
1 94 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
m i sery . O,cap ’n
,
” he cried,stretching o ut his
hand s,
‘whic h trembled like an aspen leaf, give me
a quarter,just to get a little rum to taper Off with .
”
Not a cent . You ’ve had too mu ch n ow.
”
0,cap ’n
,dear cap ’n
,do
,
” cried the miserable
wretch ° only a fourpence ha ’pp’ny, cap
’n .
”
NO .
Thre e cents,then
,just to g et o ne glas s to taper
o ff with .
”
Why don ’t yo u go and ship
No cap ’n will have me as I look now,when
men are plenty .
”
I will give yo u victuals .
I can ’t eat,nor I can ’t sle ep .
If I give you clothe s,you ’ll s ell them for rum .
The capta in was turning to leave him,when he
said,I could tell yo u something that would make
you shell out the o hink .
”
The captain,paying no attention
,kept o n
,when
he cried,I can tell you what be came of that nig
ger yo u thought so much of.”
The captain whirled o n his heel in an instant.
What nigger ?
Why,that was pilot in the Casco .
James Peterson ? ”
196 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SA NT COVE .
“
and get a night’s sle ep . I will come here to-mor
ro w at ten o ’clock and,if I have reason to think
there ’s any truth in your statements,I ’ll d o more
for you .
”
In the course of the afternoon the Arthur Browncame up with the flood tide . It was a j o yfuhm e e t
ing between Captain Rhines,Arthur Brown
,Wal
ter,Ned
,and the whole crew
,wlio
'
were all hi s
neighbors . They spent the evening talking over
the events o f the voyage,while the captain made
them acquainted with all that had taken place athome .
S eeing Captain Rhine s was next to se eing thei ro wn parents
,e specially t o Ned whose life he
,with
others,had saved . Ned got o n
-
o ne Side and Wal
ter the other,and plied him with que stions about
everybody and everything at home .
After re tiring that night,the captain strove to
re call all he had ever heard said by any o ne o f the
crew who were in the Casco at the time o f the
mysterious disappearance o f Peterson, and re c o l
le c ted that Eaton,who was a great friend to Peter
son,said there had been some diffi culty between
him and the captain o n the passage o ut . He wassorely puzzled for
,from the time he first heard Of
A STA RTLING D ISCLOSURE . 197
the occurrence,he had cherished an opinion that
somehow o r othe r Aldrich was concerned in thematter ; still he could not help feeling that there
was not the least evidence of it,and that th i s
Opinion was based more upon his prejudice against
the captain than upon anything els e ; while he had
no better opinion of Perc ival than to beli eve he
would trump up any kind o f a story,if there was
the least possibility o f its being believed,in order
to obtain money . At ten o ’clock he was at Washburn’s
,where he found Percival arrayed in a decent
suit of seaman ’s clothe s,clean
,shaved
,hi s nerve s
steadied by liquor and a night ’ s re st,and altogether
another man .
It i s even n ow a moote d question among physi
c ians whether,in delirium tremens
,to give moder
ate dose s o f liquor to “ taper O ff ” with,as it i s
called,or not ; but in those days there was but
o ne opinion and o ne mode o f practice- to give the
individual a hair of the dog that hit him,which
the captain had done .
No w,Percival
,
” sai d he,
“ I am ready to hear
what you have to say .
”
“ Y o u se e,Captain Aldri ch was down on that
nigger from the day he came aboard the ves sel.”
198 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
What f o r ?“ I ’m sure I don ’t know
,except be cau s e every
body else liked him . He was the best cook I everse e o n board a ves sel
,and the best seaman ; always
ready to lend a hand,night o r day ; knew his place,
and kept it .”
You ’ve told the truth there,Perc ival .
I intend to tell the truth all the way through .
There was a good deal o f hard feeling . The
cap ’n was overbearing . The men wouldn ’t stand
it,be cause there was no occasion f o r it . He came
near having a r o w with Eaton,but thought better
o f it,and o ne day he picked a quarrel with the
nigger.”
And h ow did he come out with that ?Out o f ’ the little end o f the horn
,as they say .
Peterson saidi
so m e pretty hard things about him
and hi s folks,which the m en said af terwards was
all true,and set o ut to fl ing him overboard . He
run aft,scared half to death .
“ I wish he had . He would have been no morein James Peterson ’s hands than a pe ck o f wheat
bran f ’
“ Well, Aldrich was a very proud man , and itgravelled him terribly to be put down by a nigger
,
0 00 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
I heard him say to Aldri ch,Cap ’n
,I ’ll give yo u
two thousand in gold for that nigger. ’ The cap ’n
laughed,but said nothing .
”
The planter was joking,said Captain Rhine s
I have had planters in Cuba and Antigua say SOto me a hundred times
,when I ’ve had Peterson
and other darkie s w ith me .
”
“ I ’ve no d oubt he was,when he first spoke ; but
it put an idea into Aldri ch ’s head,and he carried it
o u t . Fo r some days afte r that,I saw him and the
planter Henri Lemaire always with the ir heads t ogether o n the pile s o f boards
,and saw them look at
”
Peterson . Then they would be together a long time
in the cabin o f his droger ; and they had no busine s s
wi th each other,for we hauled in to the govern
ment wharf,because we sold our lumber to the
government . This set me on the lookout . I tried
to listen, but c o uldnit get a chance to hear anything. One night the cap ’n sent Peterson ashore
with letters,and he never came back . Then I
knew he h ad sold him .
”
“ But he did come back . Danforth Eaton andall the crew told me that there was a good fire in
the fireplace ; that he had got breakfast well under
way the next morning when they turned o ut,and
A STARTL ING D ISCLOSURE . 0 1
had gone ashore,as they supposed
,to get some
thing for hi s ‘lobscouse,
’ and fell overboard .
“ Peterson never made that fire,nor peeled the
potatoe s and onions,o r cut the pork and put it
in the frying-pan ; but he pounded the coffee and
chopped the beef the night before,for I saw him
do it.”
“ Who did the re st
The cap ’n did it himself .
The c ap tain“ A y . I had a tooth that grumbled
,and didn’t
sle ep well . I heard the cap ’n get o ut o f his berth,
like a cat crawling after a squirrel,and
,having my
suspic ions,I followed him
,and saw what he was up
to saw him kindle the fire,put on the tea-kettle
,
and do all the other things .”
But hi s boy,Ben
,told me that they found his
handkerchief o n the fender .”
True ; but it was a handkerchief that he wore
o n his head when he was cooking, and kept it o n
a nail before the fire and the cap ’n put it on the
fender himself. Beside s,what did he want to send
Pe terson to the Offic e with letters that were blank,
i f it was not to make an errand to get him ashore
Il l—
tile night,that he might be kidnapped ?
202 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
Blank letters P
A y . I peeked through the Skylight,and saw
him fold and direct them,and there was not a
word written in them .
The captain rose and took a turn o r two acros s
the room . He was a shrewd judge o f men,had
watched Percival closely during the conversat ion,
and was strongly inclined to believe all he said .
Hi s account o f the captain ’s relations with the
ship ’s company tallied pre cisely with what. he had
previously heard from the men,and it se emed alto
gether improbable,if not imposs ible
,that he could
have originated some of the statements .“ I have always suspe cted
,
” said the captain,s it
ting down again,
“ th at there was foul play of some
kind . I have known Ezra Aldrich from the egg,
and knew he was capable of any kind of villany
never wanted him to go in the ship,but was over
ruled by oth ers . If what you say i s true,i t c er
tainly looks like it . But how d o you know that he
was sold ? You have no proof . He might have been,
and probably was,murdered . There are plenty
of renegade Spaniards in Martinique,and French
m en,too
,that would stab a man in the back in the
nigh t for two dollars . There was E noch Freeman,
O—I THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS O F PLEASANT COVE .
N0,it wasn ’t. I ordered the boat to be o n the
beach at four it was five minute s afte r. ’
He then began to blow round deck,growl
,
curse,and find fault .
“ ‘Why ain ’t those skids got ready,
’ he roared,
to take in sugar ? The lighter will be alongs ide in
the morning .
’
They are ready,Sir .
’
The skids were over the hatchway and blocked
IVell,they ain ’t right . ’
Ye s,they are right
,s ir . I know h ow to rig
skids to take in molasse s and sugar,and how to
stow it afterwards,as well as you
,o r any other
man .
’
‘You d o — do you ? ’
Ye s,s ir
,I d o .
’
Why ain ’t those headstays set up,as I ordered
,
and chaf ing gear put on the fore stay in the wakeo f the topsail ? ’
There was not time,s ir ; the hold had to be
cleared up,and the dunnage piled up fore and af t
ready for taking in cargo .
’
Why didn'
t yo u do it yourself, then ?
I didn ’t come here to work,s ir . ’
A STA RTLING D ISCLOSURE .
What did yo u come for
To se e other folks work .
’
I now left him,and went below but he came
down into the cabin,and began upon me again .
If you come here t o se e oth er folks work,why
don ’t you do it ? Why didn ’t yo u send that foretop
sail down,and have it mended The duty o f the
ship can ’t go on,if I am ashore se eing to my
busine ss . ’
I couldn ’t bear no more,but walked straight
up to him,and
,looking him right in the eye
,said
,
‘Ho w about that nigger,Cap ’n Aldri ch ? Ho w
about those blank letters,those onions and pota
toe s I saw yo u peeling, that handkerchief you put
o n the fender ? ’ HeO
Changed countenance in a
moment,became as pale as a corpse
,staggered
,and
caught hold o f the pantry door f o r support . I said
no m ore,but went on de ck .
”
“ What did he say afte rwards . D id he ask yo uwhat yo u meant ?
“ Never a word,but was as agreeable as could
be,though he didn ’t make much talk with me but
I was afraid he would poison me didn ’t drink any
liquor all the passage for fear he might give me a
dose,and watched him as a cat would a mouse .
”
206 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
Pity you cou ldn ’t always have sailed with him .
It might have made a sober man of yo u .
”
One night,after we got in the edge of the gulf
,
he got crooking his elbow again,and began to u se
bad language to me because I shortened sail in my
watch without consulting him . I just held up my
fore-finger, and said,‘Look here
,my fine fellow : we
are in the edge of the gulf . I will hang yo u when
we get in .
’ I then told him that I knew all about
hi s selling that nigger to Lemaire,that he had
abused me in Martinique,and on the passage thus
far home,and I would have my revenge that the
moment we made land,I would tell the crew
,put
him in irons,and appear against him in court .”
“ What did he say to that ? ”
He was terribly frightened ; said he was sorryhe did it
,but he couldn ’t bear to be put down
before the crew by a nigger ; and that he never
Should have thought o f that way o f getting revenge,
if the planter hadn ’t put it into hi s head ; and wound
up by telling me that he would give me five hundred
dollars to say.no thing about it, when we go t in .
”
Then Peterson ’s al ive,and a slave to this
LemaireA y. The cap ’n said
,the moment he proposed to
208 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
CHAPTER XII .
THE NOBLE VOLUNTEERS .
A PTA INRHINES was occupied with busine s sthe remainder o f the day
,and in the even
ing went aboard o f the brigantine . The Arthurleft before the arrival o f the Casco bringing tidingso f the disappearance o f Peterson ; consequently the”
ship ’s company had not heard of it till informed by
the captain,o n the evening o f the ir arrival . It
therefore excite d no little astonishment and inter
e st when they were informed that he was sold for
a slave in Martinique . After the affair had beenthoroughly discussed in all i ts bearings
,the captain
said,
“ I am getting somewhat the worse for wear,
and when I went to Cuba o n the raft,I took leave
o f the sea,as I th ought
,forever but James Peter
son saved my life once and before a man like him
(born a slave , n o w an American citizen,and as
noble -hearted a creature as ever drew the breath
o f life) shall live and die a slave, perhaps feel the
THE NOBLE VOLUNTEERS .
lash,I ’ll ri sk the se old bone s once more
,and spend
the last dollar I’ve got in the world .
”
“ Captain Rhine s,
” cried Walte r,leaping to his
feet, yo u shan
’t go . Y o u ought not to go . I’ll
go . I,too
,loved Peterson dearly . He carrie d me
in his arms when a child . I have spent weeks at
his house . He made all my playthings,and would
do anything for our folks I ’ll go,and something
tells me I shall succe ed .
Count me in,too
,
” cried Ned .
“ I love every
body that Walter love s . Jame s was just like a
father to me when I was wounded sat up nights,
and did everything for me .
”
It i s a great undertaking for persons o f your
age,and without much experience bu t
,ever sinc e
you went from home, yo u have been put in place s
where boys ripen fast,and always shown your
selve s capable o f accomplishing whatever you un
d e rto o k . Y o u are going,too
,upon a good
,I may
say holy,errand
,and may certainly expect aid and
wisdom from aloft. Have you thought o f any plan,
Walter
No,sir ; we are only boys, and must leave the
d ire ction o f affairs with y o u ,who know every
thing .
”
'
210 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
I am a great ways from knowing everything,
said the captain,smiling . W
l
e have been talking
this matter over amongst ourselve s the bette r part.
o f an hour and a half,and I don ’t think yo u made
the offer you have without some plan in your headupon which it was built . ”
The captain made these remarks,wishing to
draw Walter out .
A S I sat li stening to your account,
” said Wal
ter,
“ it appeared t o me that,as Ned and m yself
had quite a little pile o f money for boys of our age,
we could not spend part of it in any better manner
than by using it to re store Peterson to hi s family ;that we might ship in some ve ssel
,before the mast
,
to Martinique,for lo w wage s
,to leave when we got
there . If we couldn ’t do that,work o ur passage ;
and,if no captain would take Us o n that lay
,pay
o ur passage . As we both speak French well, weshould have no di i c rilty in finding the place where
he is,if alive .
”
Ho wwould yo u get him o f f,if you found him ? ”
I suppose we must be governed by circum
stance s,when Ou the spot . ’
“ But you have probably thought o f some way,
if you should succeed in getting hold o f him,to
get him and Yourselve s home
212 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
Yo u know,s ir
,after you . took us from the raft
I was a long time at Charlie Bell ’s , very weak and
miserable could only s it in a chair,and walk
about the room .
“ Ye s .”
Well,Charlie
,in orde r to amuse me and pass
the time,told me about your going to Havana in
the Ark ; o f the venture s yo u carried for him and
others . He told me what a lot o f money was madeo n such simple things as beets , onions , carrots, and
potatoe s,that are worth next to nothing at home
that you m ade a lot o n some hens,butter
,candle s
,
and o n beef more,acc o rding to , than even o n the
lumber .
That i s all so .
I hope you and Captain Brown will excuse me,
s ir,for pre suming to plan for people who know all
about it . I was thinking that perhaps by and byWalter and I might put o ur money together
,build
part o f a vessel,and go in her
,— he master
,and I
mate and that we ought,if it i s right
,to keep o ur
money,and get all we can to put with it . No t bu t
I am willing to spend the last dollar for James,if
it i s nece ssary ; but it seems to me it wou ld be
better to make money than to spend money .
T IIE NOBLE VOLUNTEERS . 213
But how are,
you going to get James ?
I was thinking,sir
,i f we could get a fore -and
after,a sloop
,or some kind of a ves sel that we could
handle,load her with something that wouldn ’t be
so bulky as lumber,l ike those things you carried
for venture s,— so that a small ve ssel could carry
a good deal o f value,we might get Peterson clear,
and make money for ourselve s likewise .
”
Bravo,my boy ! That ’s a plan just as full o f
sense as it can be .
”
Then,you know
,s ir
,we should have the ve ssel
to get home with and bring James in .
”
To be sure you would,and make a lot o n your
return cargo . What do you think o f that plan,
Walter“ I think it i s a fi rst-rate plan
,s ir .
This little chap that you and all o f us h avebeen petting
,and calling little Ned so long
,i s
o utgrowing his teachers . He ’ll be taking thewind o ut of your sails by and by .
“ There ’s nothing lost that a good friend gets
said Walter, putting hi s arm round Ned .
“ Well said . It ’ s a princ iple I have always
acted upon .
”
“ It struck me,while Ned was Speaking
,that
214 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
if we carrie d such kind o f freight as he sugge sts,
whv not go and peddle it o u t at some o f the small
ports . What i s to hinder going to the plantation
o f this very Lemaire,and swap o ur truck for his
,
get the right s ide o f him,and that would give us a
fi rst-rate opportunity to get at Peterson .
So yo u could . Nobody but a Yankee wouldhave thought o f that ; whereas, if you should gohanging round there without any bu sines s
,
’
o u
would be suspe cted in a moment,watched
,and
perhaps shot o r stabbed .
”
“ Allow me to make a suggestion,
said Captain
Brown .
Certainly ; the more heads the better.Doe s that Lemaire own those drogers
,o r only
go in them“ Owns them Man alive
,he owns three e state s
and four or five hundred niggers . I ’ve sold himlumber
,bought sugar and coff e e o f him
,and they
say he treats his slave s well,and give s them a
chance to earn money for themselve s,and buy
their freedom .
”
Then he must have to buy a great m anv spars
for drogers ’ masts . Why not take a deck-load o f
spars and the other stuff in the hold ? Then he
216 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
in town (now Uncle Isaac Murch i s gone). He won’t
abuse an ox,ne ithe r
,nor let anybody else ; but
Joe (he’ s n o teamster at all
,nor much else ; when
he gits stuck,he take s o ff the forrard cattle ), he
can ’t m ake four oxen pull together ; he’s real cruel
,
too . I ’ve se en him stand with o ne foot o n the
tongue,and the other o n an ox ’ s back
,and beat him
w ith a stake . Wal,he got to the foot o f Merrithew’
s
H ill with a heavy load and four oxen ; the cattlewouldn ’t haul for him ; he licked his goad up
about ’em,and holle red
,and s cree ched
,and cursed .
They wouldn ’t haul ; he looked round f o r a stake ,but it was stone wall both side s of the road
,and he
had to go a good ways down,over the first little
ri se,to get o ne . Lion Ben come s to the t o p o f the
hill ; he’d heard the s cre e ching ; saw the team stand
ing there . Frank Chase told me this ; he was picking rocks in their field
,and saw the whole of it.
He said the L ion came along,went to the cattle
,
patted ’em,l ifted up the yoke s
,pulled up a last
year ’s mulle in stalk,flouri shed that over ’em a few
times, put his pretty little shoulders to the wheel,and spoke to the cattle . Frank said he didn ’t speakloud enough for him to hear ; and they went right
up the hill with it ; then Ben squats down behind
THE NOBLE VOLUNTEERS .
the log fence . Joe came back with hi s stake to
whale ’em,and there was no team there . Frank
said it was comical enough to se e h im rub hi s eye s
and stare round . Bime by he went up the hill .
There was hi s team . Frank said he looked unde rth e load
,o n the top of the load
,and everywhere .
Frank held his tongue,and Jo e alle rs thought that
the cattle started for fear of the li cking they would
get when he come back .
”
D id he ever find o ut asked IValter .
Ye s ; ! the L ion met him o n e night at the store,
and told him,before all hands
,that if ever he saw
him beat cattle with a stake,o r heard tell on ’t
,he ’d
pay hi s r e spe cts to him . I re ckon you kin gues s
what Li on Ben ’s re spects would be .
“ All the satisfaction,
” said the captain,
“ I W ishof the Villain that sold and the villa in that bought
Peterson i s,that Ben might get his mud-hooks on
them both . If the blood and brains wouldn ’t fiywhen he smashed the ir heads togeth er
,I
’
ll never
guess again . But about the frames,S ewall ? ”
Wal,th e upshot was
,the planters almost quar
i
relled to se e who should git ’em,they were so taken
with ’em,and gave him his own price . The Old
man said he wished he ’d loaded with ’em .
”
218 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
Just the things for us,S ewa said the captain .
“ I ’ve heard people speak in meeting,when I
thought they had ' better have held their tongue s,
but yo u have spoken to the purpose .
The Old cap ’n,
” continued Lancaste r,said he
might have made his jack if he had only brought
bolts,locks
,and cheap hinge s for doors
,cause
sometime s they want to lock the darkie s up ; and
also if he had brought handsome ones for the
planters ’ house s,and nails
,he might have thribbled
his money ; but that hi s wits allers come after
ward s . He seemed quite in a passion about it,
cause he hadn ’t made more,when he ’d made enough
a ’ready to sati sfy any reasonable person .
”
Thank you,S ewall ' we ’ll try and not have o ur
wits come afterwards .
The greate st di culty with me at the outset,
’
said Walter,i s,where to find a ve sse l .”
“ I ’ll settle that matter at once— charter the
Perseverance o f Ben . I can rig her so that noth
ing o f her s ize can catch her ; and a better sea
boat never swam .
0
No matte r how hard it blows ;she ’ll lay to like a duck
,go dry
,and work to wind
ward all the time .
”
She m ay do well in the bays and along shore ,but she i s o ld ,
and must be rotten .
”
220 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
next year,or a hundred years from now
,as well as
to-day . D epend upon it,my boy
,Aldri ch will get
his broth as hot as he can sup it,and
,perhaps
,a
good deal o f it as he goes along .
O,I am so glad we are going to have the Perse
ve ran c e,not only because she i s fast and a good
sea-boat,but it was her that you took us o ff the
raft with .
Ye s,my brave sailor-boy
,said the captain
,
taking Ned o n his knee (for hi s j ovial , sanguine
temperament was stirred to its depths by the safe
arrival of the brigantine,the prospect o f liberating
Peterson,and the noble sentiments and practical
ability manife sted by the boys ),“ had not the
schooner been just where I could lay my hand
upon her,you m ust have perished ; nor do I know
of another ve ssel,that
,in such a sea and wind
,
would have towed the raft clear of the breakers ;indeed
,i t was touch and go . Had the foremast
gone overboard thre e minute s before It d id, yo u
would not be sitting on my knee t o -night . I was
frightened myself,after I was safe on shore
,and the
pre ssure was taken off.”
“ A penny f o r your thoughts,Mr . Gri ffin ,
”o b
served Captain Brown,noticing that Walter was
preoccupi ed .
THE NOBLE VOLUNTEERS . 221
Out with it,my boy,
” said Captain Rhine s .I was thinking over something Sewall ’ s conver
sation put in my“ head
,not clear to me . I have not
go t it shaped as yet . But if we can get to Marti
nique with the kind o f cargo S ewall speaks o f,and
Peterson is alive,I feel sure that I know what to
do when there .
”
What i s that ? asked Captain Rhine s,pointing
to the companion-way .
It ’s daylight,
” said Ned ; we ’ve talked allnight ; it i s break o f day .
”
222 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
CHA PTER XIII .
CAPTA IN RH INES AND D ICK CAMERON.
URING the day they were occupied in discharging cargo
,were tired at night
,and
turned in early to make up their sle ep . But th e
night following the same company assembled again
in the cabin o f the Arthur .Now
,
” said Captain Rhine s,for the crew .
Ned and I are o fficers and crew,said Walter
we can handle her.”
Y o u could handle her in good weather,o r in a
gale o f wind,if it gave you time
,but yo u might
lose your masts in a sudden squall ; be sides, you
must have more than o ne in a watch . Y o u mustfl
have a lookout,and you might have a s o u e to get
Peterson . Y o u must have two men,and a b o y f o r
a cook ; o ne stout,reliable man
,. an able seaman
,
and an ordinary,o r stout
,smart boy
,e ighteen o r
nineteen . One o f yo u may b e s ick, o r washed overboard . However
,there ’s time enough for that . I
think I know where to find the able seaman .
”
224 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
“ Shiver my limbs if I know,cap ’n ; mayhap as
many times as there are yarns in the be st bower
cable .
It has done a great deal of good . Y o u are just
the same old Sixpence you were when you saile d
with me,fi fteen years ago .
”
IVell
,cap ’n
, yo u take a l ittle something when
you have a mind . Why Shouldn ’ t an o ld sailor
that nobody care s anything about,and that ’s going
to be thrown overboard when he ’s worn o ut,just
like the cook ’s h o t water and ashe s take hi s com
fort while he can ? I tell you,cap ’n
,you don ’t know
anything about it . It ain ’t so easy to get clear o f
your shipmate s . Here ’ s mayhap half a dozen,or
mayhap twenty-five o f us,been o n a long vige o r
a short vige . We come ashore ; go to a boarding
house . They treats me . Of course I must treat
them . One glass brings o n anoth er, till we are all
blind drunk .
'
“ Do n’t I know all about it ? Haven ’t I been
through it all Wasn ’t I a sailor,before the mast,
years and years
Not such a sailor as D i ck Cameron,poor, Go d
forsaken devil . When you got into port,you had
som ething ahead . You had a good home,fathe r,
CA PTA IN RH INES AND D ICK CAMERON. 225
mother,brothers and si sters
,way back in the
bush,that yo u carrie d to sea with you in your
heart . When yo u turned in,and when yo u
turned o ut,they turned in and turned o ut with
yo u . They were clos e by yo u all the while .
When yo u was at the wheel, o n the lookout,
o r walking the deck in the middle watch,they
were there . When yo u go t farther along yo u
thought o f that young wife,dutiful woman
,the
little children,the tree s yo u had planted ; and
though,m ayhap, . yo ur body was in Trieste , A n
tigua,o r Calcutta
,your heart was at home with
the wife and the little ones . Y o u could se e
the ir face s,hear the fire snap . The moment yo u
got in,and the ve ssel was made fast
,the gras s
didn ’t grow under your feet till yo u was at home .
Y o u didn ’t se e anything els e . Y o u looked right
o ver
i
everything else to that home .
”
“ That i s true,D i ck
,every word o f it .
You see . cap ’n , with all the s e shrouds, andhead-stays
,and back-stays to hold yo u up, you
could take your liquor in moderation,and stop
when yo u had enough . But here ’s o ld D ick come s
ashore . He ’ s no parents,no home ; nothing but
his shipmate s They go t o a rum mill . He ’s a
226 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
d r ankard,they are drunkards
,and you know the
re st . I drew up a strong re solution thi s time .
Before I come ashore,says I t o myself
,
‘I ’ll take
my glas s in moderation,just as my old cap ’n
,Ben
Rhines,used to
,and not make a beast o f myself. ’
But it all ended in smoke .
”
“ I don ’t take my glas s in moderation, D ick .
I ’ve knocked o ff fiung it all overboard . Ben has
done the same . We don ’t drink,nor keep it in the
h o use f’
“ That ’s a go,now ! S lipped the cable
,and let
the end run o u t the hawse -hole ? ”
“ Yes,D i ck ; and haven
’t buoyed the cable,
neither .”
“ But what was th e need o f that ? Y o u never
abused yourself with liquor . Y o u could stop at
the score .
”
“ Ben begun it . Y o u know John Strout,who
was such a great friend o f his .
Was mate o f the Leonidas ? ”
The same . !Vell,he fell overboard drunk
,after
getting hi s liquor at Ben ’ s house . Ben swore then
that he ’d never drink another drop,and he never
has . I held out a good while ; but at length I
found I was making drunkards o f the young folk
228 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
something with horse s,for my fath er carri ed the
king ’ s mail from Greenock ; and , s ince I was knee
high t o a toad,I have been used to horse s bht i t ’s
little old D i ck knows about your horned cattle .
"
“ I ’ll tell yo u what I want of you . Have youforgotten Jame s Peterson
,that used to go with
me“ I never had any shipmate o f that name that I
knows o f .”
“ Ye s, yo u had . He was ‘ a negro . I used to
hire him o f his master . He was with u s in theJame s Welch to Cadiz the time I had the big dog.
”
I don ’t mind any n igger,only Flour .”
Well,it ’s F lo ur I mean . H i s real name i s Pe
terson .
”
A y, I mind him well , and liked him well .
Y o u know the blacks are fre e here at the north
since the war .
”
“ I ’ve heard so . Then they are a mighty s ightbetter o ff than the sailors .
He went o ut o f here to Martinique , with a
great Villain , in o n e o f o ur ve ssels . I coaxed him
to go , be cause it was hard to get a crew and the
rascal has sold him t o a planter there . I am going
to have him back .
”
CAPTA IN RHINES AND D ICK CAMERON . 229
If you can get him .
I shall get him .
Why don ’t you get your government t o demandhim of the French government
,if he ’s a citizen
,
and save the expense and trouble
They have no government that amounts to any
thing . They don ’t like u s be cause we won ’t go
into a war with England o n their account . Peter
so n might die o f o ld age,and I likewise
,before
they could be go t to move in the matter . Ben
has got a ve s sel that sails like a witch ; she has
been repaire d thi s winte r past ; we are going to
put new rigging and a new suit o f sails o n her
and two o f o ur boys have volunteered to take
charge,and go after Peterson
,and get him back by
hook or by crook .
”
What do yo u want me to do
I want you to go home with me . Y o u,myself
,
and Ben will cut and make the sails,rig and load
her. You will live in my family,get all the salt
junk and bad rum o ut o f you,be amongst steady
people,away from temptation
,go o ut in the ve ssel
with the boys,and
,perhaps
,a couple more of o ur
young men no rum,no landlords
,no drunken ship
mate s . I ’ll give yo u bette r wage s than you ever
2 30 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVI
had in your life , because you shall have a share of
the profits when th e voyage is up . I’ll build you
a ve ssel ; and, as you are no navigator, you shall
coast along the shore in her,Captain Richard Cam
eron,marry some o ne o f o u r good girls
,and be a
man . Is not there a chance to be decent ? and do
as I have do ne let the liquor alone .
”
God ble s s yo u , cap II ; will you do all that for
o ld D i ckI will
,and there ’s m y hand on it .
The seaman grasped the extended hand o f hi s
benefactor,exclaiming
,I ’ll do it
,cap ’n . Don 't
think the manhood i s all so leached o ut o f nie by
rum and bad company that I can ’t rally with such
a motive as that .”
I don ’t want yo u to feel that the obligation i s
all o n one side . It i s not so . I know yo u , Ri chardCameron
,through and through ; you are a cool,
resolute,powerful, noble -hearted man . I never ex
pe c te d to meet you again but I have always said
that,in a real trying time
,you were worth any two
men I ever had . I can ’t help thinking yo u have
been sent to help me at this present time . Y o u
have had experience,and are seasoned to all cli
mate s and all kind o f hardships,and you may have
to throttle som ebody .
232 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
raise money to ransom him but it was finally con
cluded to wait till Captain Rhine s came home ,who
,no o ne doubted
,would stir at once in the
matter .
S ewall Lancaster expre ssed hi s willingness togo
,and Captain Rhine s gladly accepted him
,as he
was well acquainted in Martinique and with theirtrade and
,two days after the Arthur Brown was
d i s charged,the captain
,with the boys and seamen
started in a coaste r for Pleasant Cove .
They found everything ripe and ready for their
purpose . L i o n Ben told the boys they were welcome to the s chooner
,and refused to re ce ive a cent
o f remuneration .
The whole community rose up as o ne man to
load her . Every household contributed its supplyo f butter
,candle s
,and vegetable s .
Captain Rhine s said if they were going round tothe plantations it was no use to carry fowl
,as there
were enough there but they took a few t o sell in
S t . Pierre,as everybody was eager to contribute
something,and some who had nothing else could
furnish fowls.
Twenty-five young men,with Charlie Bell at
their head, went into hi s woods, cut down th e
CAPTA IN RH INES AND D ICK CA MERON . 233
tree s,rolle d them into th e pond
,floated them to
the saw-mill,sawed them into joist
,and framed the
small hou se s . Others contributed money to buy
locks,hinges
,and nails .
The boys were not permitted to contribute a
cent,i t being agreed o n all s ide s that whatever
was made should be divided between th e re scuersand Peterson ’s family . Captain Rhines had also
brought with him in the coaste r from Boston a
large lo t o f spermaceti candle s,which Arthur
Brown,Mr . W elch
,and the crew of the brigantine
contributed .
I trust you will not think that Captain Rhine sL ion Ben
,and the boys were idle amid all this
commotion . Y o u m ay believe thi s experienced
seaman,and the b o ys
,full o f enthusiasm
,made the
Perseverance look saucy enough . D i ck Cameronwas in the right place n ow. A S they sewed o n the
sails,he told yarns that excited as m uch laughter
as wonder ; for D i ck, as o ur readers may suspect
was a jollysoul, and, as he was in agreeable company
,had a clear conscience
,was full o f good re s
o lutio n s and new-born hope s,a happier fellow you
never saw. They grafted,hitched
,and pointed
every rope o n board o f her that admitted o f it,
234. THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OP PLEA SA NT COVE .
even to the bucket-rope,and holy- stoned the de ck
till it was white as snow . Didn ’t
'
they put the
muslin o n her— a bonnet o n her j ib f o r l ight winds,
a lug fore sail that trimmed way aft to the tille r
head,a square sail that travelled o n an up
-and
down stay,and two gaff -topsails that set from the
deck ? These were all kite s for light winds,and
could be set o r taken in very quick . I wish you
could have se en her boat . The readers o f the Elm
Island Storie s know very well that Charlie Bellwas by no means slow as re spe cted boat-building
and was a complete epitome o f progress .
Just after they began to repair the Persever
an ce,his o ld father said to him o ne day
,as they sat
before the fire,
“ Charlie, they have a new fashion of building
boats in France .
How i s that,father ? ”
Why,instead o f doing as you d o
,and
‘
getting
natural crooks for timbers,they saw them o ut o f a
white-o ak plank,o r whatever kind o f wood they
make them o f,put them into a steam-box
,and bend
them . They generally get natural crooks f o r stem,
stern-post,and floor-timbers but often they saw
them o ut o f plank,becaus e timber i s not so plenty
236 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
much longer . She was just the pre tti e st,lightest
thing imaginable ; and she would streak it with a
good breeze . After work at night,
“
the boys did
enjoy sailing in her . Pleasantly and swiftly did
the se days pas s away . They hardly ate two meals
in the same hou se ; for they were universal favor
ite s,and all wanted to have the boys at their
house s,and it was only on Sabbath days that Wal
ter spent the day at home .
Again he sat be side Charlie B ell in the Oldchurch
,and had many a pleasant talk with him ;
but Walter was obliged to tell Charlie,that
,al
though he had often thought o f that moonlight talk
by the brook,and h o w vividly
,among the crum
bling ruins o f the o ld castle,th e power o f associa
tion re called that conversation,he had complied
with his reque st no farther than to repeat the
Lord ’s Prayer with Ned then,and ever afte r when
he retired to re st .
The Perseverance'
was no w ready for sea ; as
D ick Cameron said,everything about her was ship
shape and Bristol fashion . Never did more good
wishe s and fervent prayers follow a craft than fol
lowed her, as,with a whole sale bre eze,she weighed
CAPTA IN RH INES AND D ICK CA MERON . 237
anchor,and went down the bay like a race-horse .
Reluctantly the crowd o f spectators le ft the heightsfrom which they had watched her as she faded
from Vi ew,and slowly sought their different place s
of abode .
2 38 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
CHAPTER ! IV.
WALTER AND HENRI LEMA IRE .
make a qui ck passage was the great d e s ire
o f all on board the s choone r from various mo
tives . the m ost prominent o f which was to break
the fetters o f Peterson at the earli e st opportunity ;but th ey also burned t o Show themselve s equal t o
the occasion,and justify the expe c tations formed
of them,well a w are that the attention of the whole
community,and those whom they loved b e st
,was
fixed upon them . Time was also precious,as they
could not tell how much time might be occupied in
the search and re s cue at Martinique,and it was of
the greate st importance to get away from there
before the hurri cane months .
I Vith ne w rigging and masts,new sail s
,and
plenty of them,a clean bottom
,and a wholesale
bre eze . the gallant little craft,that had been em
ployed o n so many errands of mercy,and with
whi c h so many pleasant associations were con
240 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
crati c arrangement ; for the captain and mate
worked ship,and took their tri cks at the helm
,
although D i ck and S ewall were very particular inaddre ssing them by their title s ; and, when the
captain was o n de ck,Ned was as s crupulous about
taking the weather-s ide o f the quarter-deck as
though he had been aboard the large st ship .
At daybreak o f the ninth day,they made Mount
Pelee in th e distance,and soon after s ighted the
north-western part o f Martinique,and saw ' a big
rock,and a flat point
,with a plantation o n it .
This,
” said Lancaster,i s Point Precheur
,and
the rock Pearl Rock .
”
It was not long before they made “ the white awn
ings o f the ve ssels in the harbor o f St . Pierre,the
principal commercial port o f Martinique . This
i sland belongs to France,i s about thirty-five mile s
long,and o f irregular shape
,rocky
,somewhat
mountainous,abounding in intri cate cove s and
creeks of diffi cult navigation,but affording excel
lent sheltered harbors for ve ssels both o f large and
small burdens . The soil i s fertile,and water
abundant ; the population ninety-nine thousand,o f
whom seventy-eight thousand are negroe s . It i s
subj ect to earth quake s and hurricanes at ce rtainseasons of the year .
WALTER AND HENRI LEMA IRE . 4 1
Captain Rhine s had given Walter particular dire ctions about taking care o f the ve ssel at S t .Pierre
,which is an open roadstead . The town is
built o n the side of a hill which falls off towards
the water,forming a circular beach . The shore
being bold,vessels moor head and stern
,with an
chors carrie d o ut to the south-east and north-west .
Lumber i s rafted to the eastern portion of the harbor
,where the water i s shoaler
,and merchandise
from the shore i s brought o ff in launches . Forspe cial reasons
,the boys were in n o haste t o sell
,
and went ashore to look at the place .
The town pre sented a singular appearance,being
built in such a manner upon th e d e clivity o f the
hill,that from theve ssel you saw a good part o f
'
o n e house over the roof o f the.
one in front,while
steeper hills behind seemed to overhang the house s .
The roofs Of the ir house s were covered with
tile s,which excited Walter ’s curios ity to se e h ow
they were made,as he was always intere sted in
everything o f a mechanical nature . SO he clam
bered up on to the roofs,and found the t ile s were
o f two kinds : some were shaped like a gouge,o r
half o f an earthen pot . A row o f the se were laid,
hollow side up,the length o f the roof
,and two o r
16
242 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS O E PLEA SA NT COVE .
three inche s apart,to e conomize stock ; then oth
ers laid hollow side down to cover the space be
tween the others,and dire ct the water into the
hollow o f those first laid ; and SO on, till the roof
was covered .
Multitude s o f bats find a lodgment under the
tile s covering the j oints,and come o ut as twilight
comes o n .
Other tile s were made the shape o f the letter S,
the extremity o f o ne lapping the hollow o f the
other . These tile s were made o f strong,coars e
pottery,of differen t colors
,red predom inating
,and
were laid in mortar .
The house s o f the negroe s and the poorer class
Of white s were merely four bamboo posts,stuck in
the earth,the walls formed o f wicker-work
,and
plastered with m uIl,and the roofs thatched with
cane leave s .
There had been a rain the day before,and the
water was running in streams from the hills,in
paved gutters,through the m iddle o f the streets .
The next morning pre sented a curious spectacle .
It seemed as though the entire population had
been se ized with a de sire to wash . Negro nurse s
were bringing children o f all ages and colors down
244 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
stripped from the bone s before the entrails were
removed . Then the bon e s were cut up in short
pie ce s,tied in little bunches
,and sold for a f ew
sous,o r a bit ( twelve cents ), to poor people , for
soups . A ll sorts o f coin were current there .
Walter went to the market to buy some f ruit
there were twenty-five cents in change due him
and the negro gave him a triangular pie ce o f s ilver .
What is this ? asked Walter .
Makkatena,
” replied the black ;“ he be two bit .
Upon examination,he found a Spanish dollar had
been cut into four equal parts,and
,upon inquiry
,as
c ertained that one way they procured small change
was to cut dollars,half dollars
,and quarters into
four pie ce s,which they called m akka
‘
tena .
”
“ Sewall,
” said Walter,when he returned o n
board the ve ssel,
“ the story,at first
,was
,that Pe
terson fell between the vesse l and the wharf . I
don ’t se e a wharf here .
”
They sold their lumber to the government,and
there was a breastwork belonging to them . Joe
Elwell said it was torn to pie ce s by the sea .
Nothing of that kind will stand here after the
middle of July,when the hurricane s come .
They were now surrounded by bumboat—men,
WALTER AND HENRI LEMAIRE .
115
wanting to buy vegetable s ; and the captain, who
was mu ch ashore,had several o ffers for his lumber ;
but he seemed in n o haste to sell ; thought he
should go round t o som e o f the plantations and
small village s along the coast ; didn’t. know but he
should go to Pre cheur,Case Pilote
,o r Case de
Navire might go to Port Royal,Trinity Bay
,o r
t o the plantations near Carvel (Caravelle ) ; meant
t o try the market ; guessed he had the right sort
o f things ; shouldn’t wonder at all if he went to
Guadaloupe ; rather thought he should ; guesse d
that was the be st market . In the mean time,he
retailed a few hens,som e vegetable s
,and a little
butter .
The captain was also very liberal to the blacks,
e specially to those belonging to launche s and
drogers,giving them beef and biscuit
,which
they carried o ff in the top o f the ir high-Crowned
hats . The whole ship ’s company were very socia
ble,parti cularly with the fre e negroe s . The re sult
o f this was,that the vessel was thronged with ne
groe s . One o ld black,a bumboat-man
,terribly
pock-marked,and hi s wool white with age
,was
very intimate with Nep, in consequence o f which
he got many a fritter and cup o f co ff ee,and bought
the cook ’s slush .
246 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
He also did a great many errands for the captain
,was half the time o n board the ve ssel and
often invited Nep to his house on Sundays . Hewas constantly telling about going to Point Solomon
,where he had a good many negro acquaint
an o e s ; s o Lancaster chri stened him Solomon,to
which name he answered as readily as t o his own .
Lion Ben told Walter,the day they sailed
,that
he might sell the boat,buy some cheap affair that
would answer to come home with,and divid e the
money between himself,Ned
,and the crew . Many
were the Off ers he had for this boat : he refused
them all .
Why don ’t you sell her ? asked D i ck Cameron .
I have good reasons for not doing it,
” was the
reply .
Solomon,said the captain o ne afternoon
,as the
o ld negro sat on the heel o f the bowsprit,enjoying
a cigar,
“ how o ld are yo u ?”
Golly,m assa
,dunno . How much be two hun
der ? ”I
As much again as one hundred .
D en s ’pose I be two hunder .”
“ No,you ain ’t two hundred
,o r o n e hund red .
IVhat makes you th ink you are so o ld
248 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASA NT COVE .
Ye s ; do you remember her ? ”
Ye s,massa . Bring great pile O ’ boards ; gob
erm ent buy it all . Me hab her slush . S ell manyt ings to de crew dey hab plenty o b money .
“ D id yo u know the cook ?”
He black man bery large white o n his hair.
Me buy de slush o b him .
“ What was his name ?
Dunno,massa Old man no ’member. He lose
part o b de small finger o n de right hand .
“ Just so . He was drowned . DO yo u remember
th e ir trying to find him o n the bottom
Dat man n ebbe r drowned,massa ; he libe now.
ow do yo u know that ?”
“ Sometime,when hurricane months come
,no
vessel . Me go to de house s,sell de candle s me
buy Ob de ’Merican sailors ; me go to Pierre Lallemont ’s house ; hear him tell de wife dat man no
dead ; he sold to de Frenchman o n de plantation .
”
“ What Frenchman ?Dunno
,massa ; no
’member.
Who is Pierre Lallem o nt ?
He f re e nigger ; cooper ; make much money ;hab niggers hisself . Eberyb o dy kn ow Pierre .
”
I gue ss that’s a story,Solomon
,that somebody
crew all said he was drowned . It i s likely they
knew best . ”
S ’pose so,massa .
Here ended Walter ’s questioning o f Solomon,
who certainly did not re semble hi s namesake in
wisdom . Walter told Nep to give Solomon halfa dozen bis cuit
,and send him ashore . After the
o ld man had been gone a while,he said t o Came
ro n,
“ Dick,take the cook ’s axe
,and stave in the
head of that empty water-cask that stands on end
abreast the main hatch .
”
It ’s'
a good cask,si r
,amazed at the orde r from
so prudent a man as Walter.
No matter do as I tell yo u .
Obey orders if you break owners said D ick ;and in went the head o f the cask .
Cut the upper ho ops o ff that beef-barrel .
D i ck did as he was ordered .
Take S ewall with you,go ashore
,and inquire
for a black cooper by the name o f Pierre Lallemont
,and ask him to come aboard
,and put a head
in a water-cask,cooper some barrels
,and bring the
stock to do it with . I want it. done aboard .
”
250 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
Walter gave Di ck the measure o f the head .
“ That beats all my going to sea,said D ick
,as
they pulled ashore to stave in the head o f a
good water-cask,c u t the hoops o f a new beef-bar
rel,and then send ashore for a cooper to mend ’em
as h igh wages as th e coopers charge here .
”
It ’s none o f o ur consarn We don ’t find the
water-casks or pay the Cooper .“ I guess L ion Ben wou ld think it was hi s con
sarn to let u s have the ves sel for nothing,and then
have water-casks stove up for the fun o f the thing .
There must be something the matte r with hi s head .
I hope the poor lad ain ’t go t a sun-stroke . He wassitting there a long time in the sun
,talking with
the bumboat-man .
”
I re ckon hi s head i s well enough,
” said S ewall .I wish mine had as much in it . ”
At noon the boa t came back, and , in company, ashore boat
,in which was Pierre Lallem o nt
,with
his stock and tools,rowed by a negro boy . He
was quite a contrast to Solomon,being a strong
,
tall , intelligent-looking man , pretty well bleached ,and in the prime of life . He went to work dire ctly ,wi th hi s boy
,o n the water—cask . When the j o b
was finished,Walter took him into the cab in alone
,
252 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
I know you can tell m e what became o f that
man,i f you will . I se e it in your face . No w take
the matter home to yourself . Suppose,after yo u
had worked hard,obtaining your liberty by many
long years o f hard toil,and had gone o n busine s s
to Guadaloupe,leaving wife and children behind
there been seized,and sold into slavery ; what
would yo u think Of a person o f"
your o wn color
who,having been a Slave
,and knowing from experi
ence how bitter that bondage was,would not c o n
tribute in so small a degree towards your deliver
ance as to tell your friends,your wife
,your chil
dren,where yo u was . Pierre Lallem o nt
,you are
that man .
”
Is that all you want m e to do,cap ’n
Ye s,to give such information as may enable
me to act .”
“ If I aid yo u ,and it i s known
,I am a dead
man .
”
“ I d on ’t want you to lift a finger,o r commit
yourself in any way . All the information I askvo u can give me on this spot
,where there are n o
witne sse s except the God above us ; and I neverwill breathe a word you utter . ”
Put your questions,captain .
WALTER AND HENRI LEMAIRE. 253
D id Aldri ch sell Peterson to Henri Lemaire f o rtwo thousand dollars ? ”
“ IIe Chd f ’
“ Is lua ahve ? ”
IIe iSJ’
VVhere ? ”
On Lem aire’s plantation .
Where i s that“ On the north-eastern side
,at Vauclin . He has
plantations at the northern part o f the i sland ; but
this i s hi s home place , where he live s, and where
he keeps the most slave s, and sto res the greate st
part of hi s coffee till he sells it .”
What doe s he put Peterson to d oing ? ”
Calking. He has SO many drogers,there ’s
work enough for him and others all the time .
Doe s he treat him well ?“ Ye s ; feeds him well, and hire s him holidays ;
doe s all he can to make him contented,for fear he
will get away,but locks him up every night .
Id aven% vo u o bHfin ed :Hfi Omn afi o n eno ugh ? ”
A f ew more questions . D oes he Often come toSt Pierre in hi s droger ?
Once a fortnight .”
Doe s he have any parti cular o n e f o r his o wn
u se ?”
254 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
Ye s .IS she any di fferent from the re st ?
She! has a white s treak,a red bead and L .
in her m ainsail ; the others are all black .
Here i s vour money .
”
I didn ’t give yo u th i s information for money,cap ’n . I ’ve been a slave to Henri Lemaire . If
he Should find o ut that any information had gone
from me,he ‘ would have me assas sinated . I have
put my life in your hands . ”
“ Y o u may trust in m e . I am equally in your
power . Y o u can se cure yourself and destroy me
at any moment by telling him my business here .
Have yo u any obj e ction t o inform me o f another
thing ? ”
NO,n ow that we have gone so far .
L
__J
Ho w came you by this knowledge ?
H i s overseer told me .
”
He was a very powerful man ; how did theytake him ?
“ He had to pass through a narrow alley o n his
way back to the ves sel . The overse er and four
more stretched a wire acros s it ; he couldn’t se e the
wire in the night,and fell over it . They leaped on
him while he was down,handcuffed
,gagged him
,and
WALTER AND HENRI LEMA IRE . 255
put him into a droger . It -was nothing uncommon
to se e Lem aire ’s overse er taking a runaway slave
home,and no o n e paid any attention to it . ”
When will he probably b e here again ?Tod ay i s Saturday ; next Tuesday will be his
day .
Walter did not communi cate his information to
any one,no t even to Ned . In the mean time
,they
were all very much puzzled to divine why he did
not get under way,if he was going from o ne plan
tatio n to another,and not lose any more time .
Sunday night,without giving the source of hi s
information,he told them he had ascerta ined where
Lem aire ’s plantation was ; that he would probably
be at S t.Pierre the next Tuesday
,or thereabouts
and to look sharp for a droger with a white waist,
a red bead round her,and H . L . in the m iddle cloth
o f her mainsail .
Tue sday afternoon about three o ’clock,Ned
,
whose curiosity had led him t o go to the mast
head,reported that there was a sail in sight
,
which proved t o be the droger they were expe ct
ing,followed at different distance s by several oth
ers,also belonging to Lemaire .
”
“ Mr . Gates,said the captain
,
“ let u s take the
2 56 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
boat when he gets along,and have a look at
him .
They put the sail in the boat,shipped the fancy
rudder,which had no t been used since they le ft
Pleasant Cove,and started ju st as the droger came
to anchor at. a cable ’s length from the beach .
They were pass ing the droger,o n their way to
the beach,while her negro crew were furling the
sails . The planter,wh o was seated o n deck
,sm o k
ing,hailed and invited them to come o n board .
They ‘gladly accepted an invitation which afforded
a personal intervi ew with the very man they wereso anxious t o see .
Quite contrary to their expectations , they found
Henri Lemaire,in appearance at least an affable
,
frank,pursy little Frenchm an
,o f about s ixty years
o f age,and very neatly dre ss ed . It was evidently
the boat that had attracted his attention ; for the
first que stion he asked,after the u sual salutations
had been exchanged,was
,
“ Will yo u sell that boat,captain ? ” instantly adding
,with a smile
,
“ Of
course yo u will . Your countrymen will sell anything ; f o r it was in this very harbor that o n e o f
your American captains sold all the masts he hadfor a thousand dollars
,and went home with a jury
mast .”
258 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
of the cove s and creeks,and barter with the
planters .”
What do yo u want f o r your lumber ?My ve ssel i s small to take sugar o r cotton ;
therefore prefer coffee,indigo
,clove s
,o r cocoa .
”
But that boat o f course you ’ll s ell her youare only holding Off for price .
”
“ Well,I d o n ’
t k n ow. Y o u se e you rself,if I go
calling round into the creeks,this boat i s just what
I want,and I could n o t get along without it .”
Walter then invited him t o get into her ”and take
a sail,which he did
,and they parted on the be st
Of terms .
VAUCL IN . 259
CHAPTER XV
VA UCL IN .
the crew o f the Perseverance thought their
young captain somewhat dilatory,they soon
had reason to m odify that Opinion,s ince he turned
them o ut at three o ’clock the next morning to raft
o ne o f the frame s ashore,and raise it on the beach .
A large crowd o f buyers came to look at it,and
among the first Lemaire . All were anxious to buy,
not merely the frames,but the hard w are
,some
edge-tools that were in the vessel , and, in short,the whole cargo but Lemaire outbid the re st
,and
made a bargain with Walter to go to his planta
tion at Vauclin,and there ex c hange hi s frames and
other cargo for coffee,indigo
,tortoi se-shell
,and
clove s,at certain pri ce s agreed upon between
them . Walter,for the sake of going to the spot
where Peterson wa s,would have closed with the
planter at almost any price ; but the rate s n ow
agreed upon left him a very large profit . The
260 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS o r PLEA SANT COVE .
frame o n the beach was taken d own,and put on
board o f one o f the drogers that had discharged
her cargo o f sugar,and she immediately made sail
for the plantation .
That night,when the crew o f the Perseverance
assembled in the cuddy,for
,like all pink sterns
she had her accommodations forward,and the salt
room aft,— VValter told them that in two days
,
during which time Lemaire would get throughwith his busine ss
,they were to set sail for hi s
plantation . The announcement gave rise to a mostanimated dis cus sion as to the course to be pur
sued after they arrived there . It was much nearer
morning than midnight when they turned in .
French and Spanish ve ssels are all wellmodelled,and
,in general
,sail well . The West India d rogers
,
being constantly obliged to work o ut in creeks and
cove s,and contend with head winds
,are generally
fast ve s sels ; but although, during the war o f In
d ependence,the Americans had been brought by
nece ssity to build sharp ve ssel s to prey upon Brit
i sh commerce,and escape from their men-o flwar
,
the great majority o f the American ve ssels employed in the West Ind ia trade were o f the o ld
English model,built after the fashion o f the colo
262 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
I must go ashore again . Y o u had better get you r
anchor and make sail .”
“ But I don ’t know the way .
No matter you can be j ogging along the coast.
I ’ll overtake you,and then you can follow me .
”
Very well,
” was the reply .
It was a good working breeze,the wind for a
portion Of the way nearly ahead a dire ction well
adapted to Show the weatherly qualitie s o f a ves se l .“ Make sail
,
” said Walter" “ we ’ll be j o gging.
”
With only her fore,mainsail
,and j ibs set
,the Pe r
severance soon left the harbor astern . Ho ur afte rhour passed
,and nothing was seen o f Lemaire but
as they knew the general dire ction,and that there
were no reefs o r shoals,they kept o n till they made
D iamond Rock,o n the port hand
,when they must
round the southern extremity o f the island,and
a pilot was needed . They accordingly hove to
abreast o f thi s s ingular rock,ris ing perpendicularly
between five and six hundred feet above the sea
except o n the we stern side,which i s acce ssible
,
and where are a f ew small tree s and bushes .
Lemaire was astonished,when
,after getting his
anchor,he looked in vain for the
'
Yankee schooner,
and knew not what"
to make of it,as she was hid
VA UCL IN .
den from his Vie w by the i sland . After waitntill the droger cam e up
,and passed ahead for
nearly a mile , they pu t the bonnet on the j ib , setthe gaff-topsails
,came up with and passed her
,as
D ick Cameron said,
“ hand over fist,
”
then hove to,and waited for her to come up .
I gue ss,
” said Walter,we can spare him the
gaff-topsails,the bonnet o ff the j ib
,and the flying
j ib,and then keep jogging .
”
Having thus shortened sail,they fell into the
wake o f the droger .
Lemaire was exce ssively annoyed at being beatenso outrageously by a lumber carrier
,and internally
re solved to buy the American schooner,as he had
not the least doubt but a Yankee w ould sell anything
,only give him his price ; and if she w ould
sail like that loaded,what wouldn ’t she do in a set
o f pig-iron ballast,and with copper o n her bottom
Rounding Cape Ferre,they entered the Passe
Vauclin,where the navigation was most intri cate .
Sewall Lancaster was o ne o f those who seem by
nature constituted for pilots . If he went to a place
once,he could go again . In the woods
,o r o n the
water,Sewall could find his way . Though an
uncouth,awkward being
,caring little whom he
264 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
pleased o r displeased, he was a good navigator,had been mate several voyage s
,and only went
b efore the mast in the brigantine because o f the
profits,and volunteered to go in the Perseverance
be cause he was a relative of W alter,and greatly
attached to Captain Rhine s . When Walter saw
the nature o f the navigation, he said,Sewall
,I must calculate on yo u to bring us out
again ; this i s a crooked place .
”
“ Never fear,cap ’n ; I
’ll take my landmarks,
crooked as it i s . ”
The plantation of Lemaire was o f great extent,
comprising two cove s,separated by a point of mod
e rate height,rocky at its extremity .
“ The cove o n
the southern side be ing appropriated to the houseand o
m
c e s conne cted with it,and the northerly
o ne where was a greater depth of water,was the
s ite o f the mill,the house o f the overseer
,negro
quarters,hospital
,and other buildings . Here were
a wharf, and facilitie s for repairing ve ssels, work
shop,and so on
,and here the drogers were moored .
The great wealth of this planter was evident from
the character of the buildings,which were to
a great extent of stone or timber,and the roofs
covered w ith tile s,instead of thatch and palm-leaf,
266 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OP PLEA SA NT COVE .
After supper they went ashore,and took a stroll
over the plantation,hoping th ey might get som e
inkling o f Peterson,but without making any in
quirie s, Or manife sting any undue curiosity to ex
Cite suspicion,for all felt that they were treading
o n dangerous ground . They went among slave s
employed in all sorts o f work,calkers
,coopers
,car
penters,not daring to inquire
,and
,without o b
taining any information,returned o n board .
Where do yo u suppose he can be ? said Ned .
We ’ve looked everywhere .
Perhaps they ’ve carried him to some o f his
other plantations,
” said Lancaster.No
,he ’s here
,said Walter .
Where i s he,then ?
Locked up . That was what that droger was
sent o ff in such a hurry for,that we put the
frame aboard o f,that was o n the beach
,to tell
the overse er that an American ve ssel was cominginto the creek . Lemaire i s not such a fool as notto know that a fellow as smart as Peterson would
do his be st to get aboard o f her . He will probably
be kept o ut o f s ight as long as we are here,and we
must find where he ’s confined,and get at him .
What puzzle s me,
” said D i ck,i s why so smart
VA UCL IN . 267
a nigger as you say he i s hasn ’t got a w ay before,
and got aboard some ve ssel .
That i s what puzzle s me,too
,sa id Walter.
What kind o f a ves sel do you call that,cap
tain said the planter,when he came d own in the
morning .
We call them pink-sterns .
Why don ’t yo u build larger ves sels o f the Same
model ?
“ They would draw t o o much water,and would
not carry enough .
”
What are they made f o r ?
F i shing . They will carry all the fish nece ssary,
and are excellent sea-boats .”
She sails like the Wind . Will yo u sell her ?
She doesn ’t belong to me .
“ Your captains are always allowed discretionarypowers . Your owners would not object to a roundpri ce .
”
She is owned by o ne man,who would not part
with her,as she once belonged to a dear friend o f
his .
Every e ff ort was made by Walter and his crew,
by prowling round in the night,to discover the
place o f Peterson ’s confinement .
68 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
They cultivated the acquaintance of the negroe s,
who for their long re sidence o n the e state,and sup
posed devotion to their master ’s intere sts,were pro
moted t o the o” ’
ic e of night watchmen,in hopes
something might drop from them to throw light on
the matter,while
,at
'
the same time,they dared
not commit themselve s by inquiry . The captain
also became more and more intimate with Lemaireand the overseer
,but all to no purpose
,till at
length the m atter grew serious . The ve ssel was
discharged,would soon begin to load
,and there
would be no longer any excuse for remaining .
One night,as Walter lay feverish and wakeful in
hi s berth,his mechanical turn furnished him with
an excuse for prolonging his‘stay .
Monsieur,said he the next day to Lemaire , “ I
thought you wanted a n ew hou se f o r your over
seer .
SO I do but these frames are not large enough .
Put three of them together,o ne o n top o f the
other,and the third for a porch .
”
“ That would be a great deal o f work .
“ I ’ll do it fOr yo u with my crew,if yo u will find
us,and pay us moderate wages
,cover the outside
,
lay the floors,and shingle the roofs
270 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE‘.
But the very poss ibil ity that Peterson was c o n
fined there mad e Walter ’ s heart leap to his throat.
He looked around . Below were Sewall,D i ck and
three negro assi stants . He made a signal to Ned,
and dire cted hi s attention to the place,and rece ived
a nod of intelligence .
Eve ry few moments that afternoon th e ir eyes
were fastened o n those grate s . A s the sun declined ,the rays
,falling o n the aperture s
,made them quite
confident that they saw a human figure pacing
back and forth . It seemed to Walter and Ned as
though the sun would never,never set that night .
The moment they reached the ve ssel the an
n o un c em ent was made . Walter,Ned
,and D i ck
began to devise methods to ascertain whether their
suspicions were well founded .
“ If you want to know,and can ’t se e
,said
Lan caster,w ho stood li stening in silence
,why
don ’t you take the glass ? That ’s what they have’em for .”
“ What preciou s fool s we are,said Walter
,
looking and longing all the afternoon,and couldn ’t
think of that ! ”
I Vithin a short distance of the frame they had
been at work upon,rose the high ground
,forming
VAUCLIN . 271
the point that separated the two coves . In the
evening,Walter hid the glass among some bushe s
o n the side o f the as cent,and while the re st were
at breakfast the next morning,he and Ned repaired
t o the spot .
Walter put the glas s to his eye,and was rewarded
by seeing the’
well-known feature s o f his black
friend pre ssed against the grate s .“ It ’s he
,
” whispered Walter,trembling with
suppre ssed delight,as he passed the glass to Ned .
The boys sat and looked at each other in silent
e cstasy,with hand clasped in hand for a fe w
moments,and then
,creeping stealthily from
'
the
place,by a look and ge sture conveyed the intelli
gence to their shipmate s as they joined them at the
building . Ho w to e stablish communication with
Peterson was the subj e ct that occupied the thoughts
o f Walter during the entire day .
Having made the habits of Jean a study for sometime
,he ascertained that he
,like m ost negroes
,
kept a very poor watch . An old log lay besidethe wall of the pig-yard
,several rods from Pete r
son ’s windo w ; upon this the negro would often s it,
lean his back against the wall,and get sound asleep .
During this time a good opportunity off ered t o
272 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEA SA NT COVE .
attract the attention o f Peterson,and communicate
with him ; but as it was not until late . at night that
Jean fell asleep,Peterson would be asle ep also
,and
i t would be imposs ible to arouse him within those
thick walls without making noise enough to wake
Jean likewise . They therefore de termined to do
it in the daytime,as exposing them t o the least
chance o f dete ction,there being no watch kept
then,the building not situated in any comm on
thoroughfare,and the ri sk of ob servation from any
transient passe r very little . There i s a great
d ifi b ren c e in the treatment o f slave s by different
planters,some being o f a cruel
,others of a more
mild dispos ition,and disposed not to aggravate the
hardships o f their slave s by savage treatment ; and
there are some in whose hands the institu tion
assume s somewhat o f a patriarchal character .
Lemaire was o ne of this latter class ; whether it
sprang from kindnes s of natural dispos ition or
calculation,as thinking they would last longer and
accomplish more in the end,his slave s were well
fed,lightly worked
,and seldom f logged . He kept
a strict w atch over his overseers,and the negro
d rive rs especially,and has been known
,w hen he
heard the lash too frequently,to go to the spot
,
274: THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
wholly deaf,sat half asleep on the steps ; a parcel
Of n egro children were burro w ing in the sandbeneath the walls o f the adjoining stable
,and teas
ing a turkey-cock by holding up before him a
tattered red handkerchief.
With these exceptions,no pe rson was se en around
the premise s . IVe need n o t fear that old negro,
nor these little children,said Walter
,
“ and we
never shall have a better Opportunity than at this
very time .
In the yard was a small building used for storing
the coarse cloth of which coffee-bags were made ;a cart was tipped up against it
,by clambering o n
which it was not di 1cult to reach the roof .
I will get up to the roof Of that shed,” said
Ned,
“ where I can see all around,and make a
signal
i
if any o ne i s c oming .
NO sooner had Ned gained the roof o f the shed,
than Walter placed himself dire ctly beneath the
grated window,at whi ch they had seen Peterson
the morning previous . The blacks posse ss a won
d erful ab ility for singing those songs o f labor used
by both black an d white seamen to lighten their
toil . Negroes in general pos ses s a great facilityfor remembering tunes
,and even the words o f
VA UCLIN . 273
songs . In the West Indie s you will hear negroe s
who cannot speak a word of Engli sh ( to knowwha ti t means ), s ing a song which they have caught from
white sailors,all through
,without kno w ing the
meaning of one word .
Peterson had a large stock o f the se songs,which
he had picked up in the course O f his sea life from
sailors of different nations,with whom he had
been shipmate . It had been a favorite recreation
Of !Valte r,in years past
,to sit o n Peterson ’s knee
,
and coax him to s ing those songs,while the little
fellow would clap hi s hands,j oin in the chorus
,and
applaud . most lu stily at the close,always winding
up with an entreaty for just one more . Sometimeso n a rainy Saturday afternoon
,when the weather
prevented Peterson from working,half a dozen Of
the boys would get “ round him,and
,together with
his o wn children,make the Old house ring with
the ir screams,while Luce
,Peterson ’s wife ; would
take her hands o ut Of the suds and join the merrycompany .
Walter stood some minute s leaning against the
wall,striving to recall some favorite song that had
Often served them upon those occasions . At length,
suddenly exclaiming,I have it
,
” he began in a low
tone to sing,'
276 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
IVhere have y o u b een all this d ay,B o nn ie ladd ie , Highland ladd ie ,
F r o m y o ur h ills s o f ar away ,
My b o nny Highland laddie ?
Instantly,in the same cautious tone
,came through
the grate s the succeeding stanza,
“ D o nald 5 be en t o Aberde en ,B o nn ie lass ie , Highland la ss ie ,
To see d e duk e in h is Highland green,My b o nn ie Highland lass ie .
”
Peterson,said Walter .
Here I i s . Who is you‘vValte r Walter Gri in .
Bress de Lord Who i s wid yo u ?”
L ittle Ned,
d
Sewall Lancaster,and D i ck
eron,your shipmate in the Leonidas
,and O ld Nep
tune as cook . We are here in the Perseverance,
and have come after you . Luce and the children,
Captain Rhines L ion Ben,and all o ur folks are well .”
“ Bre ss de Lord . He ’s to o good ; 0 ,bre ss de
Lord .
”
“ Here,Peterson take this ; and Walter took
from his pocke t a long pie ce o f tarred twine,with
a nail at the end of it,and fastening the string to a
piece of rattan,thrust it through the grate s .
278 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
mortar here were hogs,sucking pigs
‘
,and shote s
o f all ages . The fowls run at large . There were
ducks,geese , guinea-fowl, turkeys , and hens in
abundance . The se were all under the supervision
o f an Old negro,assi sted by several boys . Philip
was a Guinea negro,uncommonly stupid and indo
lent,although his Othee was no sine cure
,as the
other slaves stole all the fowls and pigs they could
lay their hands o n . But the depredations o f the
negroe s upon thei r m aster ’s poultry and pigs were
f ew indeed compared with those o f D i ck Cameron .
From the time D i ck was ten years o ld,and held
horse s for a baubee in th e streets o f Greenock,he
had been flung upon his own re sources,was an Old
forager,and hi s miscellaneous life was not favo ra
ble to the cultivation o f very accurate distinctions
in re spe ct to the rights o f individuals in such things
as fruit,fowl
,and other outlying property .
D i ck would have cut his right hand O ff soonerthan have cheated his landlord
,backed o u t after
S igning the ship ’s article s,o r run away after
taking his advance wage s but he would n o t hesi
tate an instant in helping himself to a pa i r o f trou
sers,o r a frock
,from any pie ce o f canvas that was
lying about decks,o r to any rope
,small line
,twine
,
VA UCLIN . 279
o r worming he wanted for be ckets to his chest,
hammock lashings,o r strings to a clothe s-bag . Em
te rtaining su ch sentiments , it was not wonderful
that,since the arrival o f the Perseverance
,tu rkeys
ducks,and guinea-fowl should disappear w ith as
t o nishing rapidity, e specially turkeys . At lengthWalter obj e cted to the proce ss by which he had .
good reason to suppose the table o f the Persever
ance was supplied ; but all the difference this made
was,that
,although he and Ned fared les s sump
tu o u sly, S ewall, D i ck, and Old Nep lived none the
worse,taking their meals at extra hours by them
selve s ; and what -they were unable to consume
there were plenty of invited guests to finish .
At length the disappearance Of some very fine
turkeys attracted th e attention Of the cook,who
told hi s master . He threatened to flog Phil if thematter wen t o n .
“ It i s the se white sailors,said the planter .
They steal them in the night . There ’s never a
ves sel comes here but the fo w l and pigs are stolen .
You must set a watch while this ve ssel i s here,
there ’s enough of y o u ,o r shut them up .
A sthe easie st method , Phil and hi s understrap
pers shut up the fo w l but every night,when Phi l
d rove them in ,some of the turkeys were missing .
280 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Y o u lazy rascal,
” said Lemaire,can ’t yo u
keep them from stealing them in broad daylight ?
They don ’t take the geese ; why don’t you keep
them from taking the turkeys as well ?
W harra fur yo u flog poor nigga, massa ? How
I help it,mas sa ? When buckra man come
,goose
he say,Sailor m an
,sailor man .
’ D en Phil he looksharp . Buckra man go ’way ; no git him . Turkey
he big fool ; go round all de day long, head one s ide ,helle rin
, Quit, quit, quit .’ IVharra poor nigga do ?
He no tell when sailor man dere,
’cause turkey
holler,
‘Quit, quit,
’ all de time .
”
A f ew days after thi s conversati on with hi s maste r
,Phil was asle ep in the sun, in the midst o f his
feathered charge,when he was aroused by a great
outcry among the turkeys . Rousing up,he heard
all the turkeys crying, Quit, quit,
” and saw D i ckrunning for dear life
,with the gobbler after him
,
his neck outs tretched,and his wings flapping.
Yah,yah ! he exclaimed
,rubbing hi s eyes ;
W harra fur you run so,buckra man ? Turkey no
b ite you .
It i s said “ a stern chase i s a long chase .
” It
proved so in thi s instance ; for the gobbler neverreturned . The simple truth was
,D i ck had bai ted
VA UCLIN . 28 1
a hook with corn,and was drag ging the Old gob
bler afte 1 him .
Ned was quite fond of going up and sitting
among the negroe s Sundays,li stening to their
queer expressions,and watching the frolic s of the
little darkie s . One Sunday morning,the re were
m any o f them in a large yard near the house,one
part of which was a garden,separated by an open
f ence o f bamboo from the pig yard On the othe r
side o f the pig-yard was a smalle r place,set apart
for hens with young chickens .
The children were playing in the dirt and among
the hogs,the olde r negroe s sitting in the sun on a
bench,in the ir holiday clothe s
,chatting and laugh
ing . In the yard was a so w,with twelve pigs al
most weaned . Ned sat next to Phil,who
,as usual
was half asle ep,and saw a pollock-line
,which was
not far from the color o f the wall,flung over
,at
tac he d to which was a hook,baited with a pie ce Of
bread . In a f ew moments a great squealing drew
the attention of all,and one o f the pigs was seen
going right up the wall as fast as he could move
his le gs,and in a moment disappeared over the
.
summ it .
Je hay,buckra man ! ” cried Phil
,in amazement
,
282 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
and,turning t o Ned
,said
,
“ E ighte en year dis niggabeen in Martinique; nebbe r see pig run Ober dat
wall ’fore dis morning .
”
It may strike some o f o ur young readers as
rather singular,since we have spoken Of a garden
,
that vegetable s should be salable in the West In
die s,where the soil and climate are so favorable to
vegetation,and even bring high pri ce s , e spe cially
in Martinique,whi ch i s we ll
’
watered . One great
reason o f this,undoubtedly
,was neglect
,since
most o f the garden vegetable s are rai sed in Mar
tiniqu e now . It must be re colle cted that m anv
vegetable s used o n the table are n o t. palatable
when grown in a hot clim ate . Peas ripen so fast
that you can only have them just for o n e picking.
It i s the same with corn,which
,instead o f being a
long time in the milk,as with us at the north
,ripens
as it grows . Potatoe s are n o t half as good as those
o f cold climate s be ets and carrots soon grow tough
and stringy,running up to seed the first year ;
cabbage s won ’t form a close head,and are no w ex
ported by tons to Cuba . Add to thi s,that so m any
fruits grow spontaneously,and attention i s all di
re c ted to sugar,co ffee
,and cotton .
284 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
that did steal ’em and the re ceiver i s as bad as
the thie f . ”
Well,I won ’t do that
,
” was the reply .
In a f ew days there would be a double-cros s holi
day,when the negroe s would be froli cking and
danc ing night and day . It was,therefore
,re solved
to make the attempt the night after the frolic,when
the negroe s,being com pletely tired o ut
,would be
sure to sleep soundly on their posts .
Lemaire was notified o f the time o f sailing,and
requested to furnish a pilot. to take the ve ssel o u t
Of the creek . Meanwhile,S ewall Lancaster
,under
pretence O f fishing,had sounded the passe
,and made
himself familiar with the channel ; and the ves sel
w as towed o ut some distance from the wharf,to a
place where she was hidden from view by a sharp
turn of the creek around a wooded point,and lay
at a single anchor .
Walter sold the boat to Lemaire for o n e hund redand fifteen dollars and another boat
,that
,for a ve s
se l ’s u se,was worth more than the o ne he sold
,
being longer,stronger
,and m ore burdensome
though Clumsy and homely . Having ascertainedw hen the ve s sel was going, the planter said to hisoverseer
,
“ O,MA SSA
,BUCKRA C A LK EE ! ” 285
The schooner i s going t w o days afte r the holiday . They have made a great deal O f the servants
,
and perhaps may take O ff some of them,o r some
may stow themselve s away . You must keep agood watch the last night they are here .
“ The watchmen,
” said th e overseer,will all be
sleepy after the holiday . I will keep watch with
my son . They might take some fowl o r pigs,if
n othing else . They ’ve got an o ld sailor on board
that would steal a man ’s boots O ff his fe et while he
S lept .”
This arrangement would have interfered most
seriously with the de signs of the boys,as it was
their intention to sail the night before the ap
pointed time,and would probably have frustrated
the entire plan . But,the day before the holiday
,
a planter from Sans -Souci rode over to Vauclin .
He had seen the frames,and wan t ed to make ar
rangements with Walter to bring him some of thesame dimensions
,and also frames for a house , sugar
mill,and o ut-buildings
,inviting Walter so cordially
to come over to his plantation the next. morning,
offering to send a horse and servant for him , that
he consented . The next morning a servant came
o n horseback,and leading anothe r horse for Walte r,
286 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
who told the crew that he should b e back in the
evening to start . Walter dearly loved to rid e o n
horseback . Edmund Griffin,his father
,o w ned a
vast deal o f land,and raised a great many colts .
The travelling in those days,in that portion of
the country where Walter was reared,being almost
exclusively o n h orseback,he had been early accus
t o m ed to horse s . Many a spanking gallop he had
enjoyed,riding a half-broken colt to pasture
,bare
back,without shoe s Or stockings
,and clinging with
hi s great toe s to the animal ’ s s ide s,with no better
bridle than a rope halter,and a half hitch over the
colt ’s nose .
With a splendid,well-bitted horse under him
,
riding through wild and beautiful scenery,and
amid a vegetation entirely n ew,he enj oyed the
most exquisite pleasure . Uneasy and perplexingthoughts would have flung their sombre shadow
over those pleasant s cenes,and marred all their
beauty,had Walte r been aware that the overseer
and hi s son,both strong
,re solute men
,armed to
the teeth,were intending to share the watch that
night,and rouse any sle eping darkie s by blows o n
the skull from the butt o f a pistol .
In blissful ignorance of impending danger,he
288 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Nep,in great alarm
,hastened back with the
tid ings,upon which D i ck Cameron instantly goe s
up to th e house,pulls O f f his hat
,and tells Le
maire that the captain has gone to Sans-Souci,to
be gone he didn ’t know h o w many days,and the
vessel wouldn ’t sail the next day ; there fo re there
was no need of the negro pilot .
After D i ck had gone,Lemaire sent f o r the over
seer,who was a Spaniard
‘
nam ed Juan Romero,
and said to him,
The vessel i s not going the day set . The cap
tain’
s gone to Sans-Souci . I ’m sorry,for I want the
calker to go to work o n the n ew droger . It ’s no
use to set those stupid creature s to work o n new
work without him ; neither do I understand it .
These Yankees make the most o f the ir time,and
he se ems as sharp as any o f th em . However,
there it i s ; she won’t go
,and you need not
watch .
”
“ I can explain it,replie d the overs eer . Mon
sie'
ur Renault has been here and wants to make acontract with him for timber . He has gone overto see about it
,what kind of a place it i s to ge t to ,
and the depth of water,because
,if he brings large
timber,he will need a bigger ve s sel
,and
,as I uh
O , MA SSA , BUCKRA CA LK EE ! ” 9
d e rstand it, he’s to bring, not only timber, but
boards , shingle s , nails , lattice s, and all the materi
als fo r the buildings .”
The next afternoon Renault sent Walter back toVauclin by water
,arriving at the ve ssel about
eight o ’clock .
It wasVery important for them to set o ut at the
earlie st moment,in order to place the greate st pos
s ible distance bet w een themselve s and the i slandbefore daybreak . SO
,at ten O ’clock in the even
ing,they went ashore
,scattered themselve s among
the different sentinels,and ' found n earlv all o f them
asleep.
During the whole Of the holiday,and for
most o f th e night,they had been engaged in frol
i cking,drinking
,and dancing fandango
,had been
kept at work during all the next day,and were
n o w so utterly exhausted that they dropped asle ep
the moment they sat down,and w ere so overcome
with drowsine s s as to stagger as they walked .
Walter and Ned went to the yard,where they
f o und Juan fast asleep . W alter gave a light tap o n
the door o f the lock-up,when it was instantly opened
and they entered . Peterson had drawn the staple .
The black "grasped - the hand s Of his young deliver
ers,and sobbed for j oy . They left immediately,
19
90 THE YOUNG’ DELIVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE .
closing the door silently after them,and sought
the beach,soon coming to a watchman fast asleep ,
with D ick standing by,ready to throttle him if he
stirred . They passed o n till they came to ano ther .
whom Lancaster was wa tching,in the same situa
tion . All were now safely passed but the last,
whom they saw at a distance,pacing along the
beach .
I’ll take care o f him,said Ned .
As they must cross his beat d ire ctly to reach theboat
,the others lay flat upon the ground
,while Ned
went whistling along .
IVhO dere crie d the sentinel .
Ned,giving hi s name
,walked dire ctly up to him,
and they entered into conversation about the holiday . Ned
,giving him a c igar
,persuaded him to
sit down o n an Old boat and smoke .
The poor darky had drawn but a f ew whiffs,
when he began to nod ; for nature was exhausted
by the sports o f the holiday,want o f sle ep
,and sub
sequent labor . He fell over upon Ned,who was
sitting beside him,and the cigar dropped from his
lips . Ned put hi s arm round the negro,and gently
laid him at full length upon the boat . In“ a f ew mo
ments he was sound asleep,and Ned ran to join his
c o m pam o n s .
292 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SANT COVE.
while Ned and Nep took the boat and towed ahead .
Matters soon began to assume a brighter complex.
ion . Cameron and Peterson were men o f vast
strength . Lancaster was also a very strong m an,
and Walter belonged to a family renowned for
strength and endurance . They had,while lying
at the plantation,taken the pre caution to clean
the ve ssel ’ s bottom,and
,as they could procure
no tallow there,gave her bottom a coat o f tar
and brimstone,which rendered it smooth
,and
added greatly to her sail ing . They were also
excited to the u tmost by the ir previous good fortune
,dread o f being overtaken
,and lesing their
hard-earned prize . No t a word was spoken . NO
sound was heard but that o f the oars,the deep
breathing Of the rowers,as they exerted them
selve s to the utmost,and at time s a slight patter
,
as the sweat dropping from nose and chin struck
the deck . But when they had cleared the pass,
were in the open sea,no signs o f daybreak
,and
the le ssening shore as sured them they were mak
ing good progre s s,the ir e fforts
,though unrem it
ting,became les s s evere . In the course o f an
other hour they had made such progre s s that the
long silence was broken by Peterson .
O, MA SSA , BUCKRA CALKER ! ” 293
“ Nebber fear, Massa Walter,” he said ;
“ keep,
you heart up ; dey no ketch us dis time we soon
come to de wind ; land air so hot he kill de wind
in shore . I tell you,you ’se hab wind enough .
”
Only give me wind,
” said Walter,I ’ll risk
their catching us . ”
The wind has go t to come O ff the water,said
D i ck ; “ if we ’ve got no wind to flee they ’ve got
none to follow ; it’s as broad as ’
tis long .
“ I take it,Peterson
,said Lancaster
,
“ that we
are somewhat nearer to the wind than it i s from us
to the land .
”
Sartin ; we n o t near so fur to go to git de seabreeze as we hab come .
What time in the morning,
” asked Walter,did
they bring your breakfast ?
About e ight o ’clock .
”
They won ’t know that you are gone till Peter
come s to bring your breakfast . The vessel was
hidden by the woods except by mere Chance some
o ne should happen to go up o n the hill o r down the
cre ek in a boat,she could not be se en .
The day n o w began to break,and by the in c reas
ing light they saw with the glass the line of blue
water ahead rolling befo re the wind,while between
294 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
them and it extended a space O f calm surface as
smooth as glas s . A j oyous shout burst from theweary
,anxious crew at the s ight .
“ Come aboard,Mr. Gates
,
” said the captain ;“ we ’ll t ow no more .
”
Ned went to o ne Of the sweeps,while Nep busied
himself in preparing breakfast . The line that sepa
rated the broken water from the calm was n ow
qu ite near . Peterson,unable to contain himself
longer,gave vent to his emotions in a favorite
negro song,to which the re st contributed a rou sing
choru s .
My name is Jo hnny Jump - ro un ’
,
A nd ebery perso n kn o c k do wn .
Cho rus . HO , h o , h igh- land-a ,R o un ’ d e c o rner Sal ly.
My breast is made o b stee l-p late ,My arms d ey made Ob c row-bars .
Ch o rus . HO , h o , &c .
A nd if y o u do n ’t be l iebe m e ,
I gib yo u leabe t o try m e .
Cho rus . HO , h o ,”&c .
Under this new impulse the ve s sel went throughthe wate r faster th an ever before
,when the song
was interrupted by the order,Make sail .
296 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Shipmate s,said Walter
,as he returned the
embrace,
“ I have be en for more than two years
try ing to do my duty and pray to my Maker ; bu t
though I have had courage for everything else,I
have not had for that . Let u s thank God f o r bringing us safely through .
Lancaster bent over the tille r,the re st
,even to
o ld Dic k,
'
knelt o n the de ck,while in a f ew broken
words Walte r gave vent to hi s emotions, and
expre ssed the common sentiment . Charlie Bell ’s
words had borne fruit,but not by the light o f the
moon o r beneath the stars in some lone midnight
watch,but in the bright glow o f the morning sun
beams . In the midst O f his crew,while his brow
was moistened with sweat,and hi s hand o ut
stretched to deliver the oppre s sed,the bles sing o f
H im whose ways are not o ur ways came .
Lemaire was at breakfast,when with eye s start
ing from thei r sockets,Peter entered the dining
hall (followed by Juan, Old Phil, and all the hou se
servants), exclaiming, O,massa
,de buckra calker
no d ere he gwine away .
”
Gone ! ” cried Lemaire,leaping from his chair.
Ye s, massa . I go wid de breakfast,de door
Open , buckra m an no dere .
The negroe s gave Peterson the name of buckra
calker to distinguish him,and o n account o f his
superiority,although there was n o t a blacker negro
o n th e e state .
Without another word Lemaire ran to a cupolao n the house-top
,which commanded a view o f the
sea . The schooner was nowhere to be seen ; not an
sail was v i s ible in the O ing.
298 THE YOUNG DELIVERERS o r PLEASANT COVE .
CHAPTER XVII .
DELIVERED .
OTW ITHSTANDING the Perseverancemight
bring a cargo that m u st be di scharged in
Boston o r Salem,it was considered a settled fact
by all at home,that she would
,when arriving on
the coast,stee r first for Pleasant Cove
,and Captain
Rhine s was expe cting her d aily . The intere st felt
there in re spe ct to her coming was not a little
increased by the return o f Ben (Peterson’s olde st
so n ) in the Casco .
Ben brought home considerable money,having
been fortunate in a “ venture .
” The first thing
he did was to clothe his mother and the thre e
younge st boys,o n e eleven
,o ne thirte en
,and the
olde st fifte en ; the next, to clapboard the hou se
which,Peterson having lately built it
,was still un
finished . While Ben ’s hands were bu sy driving
the nails,his thoughts were o n the stretch re spect
ing the be st place from which to watch for the
300 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASA NT COVE .
corn,and then you can earn something
,and watch
for the ve ssel,t o o .
”
Two mornings after this conversation Ben was
in the tree just as th e day was breaking in order
that he might make his Obs ervations before it was
time to go to hoeing . There were plenty of schoon
ers,but none Of them the scho o ner . At length he
e sp ied o ne that se emed to be ste ering in a diff erentdire ction from the re st .
Long and patiently he watched her progres s .“ She i s heading dire ctly up the bay ; a pink
stern I gue ss,and about the right size .
“ It ain ’t
her,after all
,
” he exclaimed ;“ this ve s sel i s ri gged
diff erent ; and yet how much she looks like her !”
At thi s he caught sight of L ion Ben,who was
turning the cows into the pasture .
“ Mr . Rhines,
” he cried,“ I wish you would come
up here . A pink i s coming up the bay,steering
straight for Uncle Isaac ’s Cove . She hasn ’t varieda pint this hour and a half. I could swear it was
the schooner,only she ’s rigged differently .
”
“ Ho w i s thi s o ne rigged ? ”
She ’s got two j ibs and two gaff-topsails .SO has the Perseverance .
”
Peterson was n o t aware o f the Change that had
DEL IVERED . 30 1
been made in her rig,it having been done while he
was at sea .
The moment Lion Ben put the glas s to his eyehe said
,
“ It ’s her .”
Old and young were now flocking to every place
commanding a good View o f the water . Half waybetween Elm Island and the main was a whale -boatcontaining Ben Peterson
,Lion Ben
,and all his
family,the L ion pulling two oars
,and Peterson
o ne . Doubts n ow began to be freely expre ssed bVsome o f the least sanguine
,and indignantly scouted
by others .“ That ’s the ves sel
,to be sure
,said
'
Jo e Bradish,
always a prophet o f ill omen but no knowing as
Peterson ’s in her . He might be dead w hen theygot there
,o r that planter might have sold him to
another planter o n some other i sland,or they might
not be able to get him .
”
Just shut up your clam- shell w ill you You ’realways an O ff -o x
,saidJo e Griffin
,se eing poor Luce
tremb le and the tears run down her cheeks , - as
she stood holding the two youngest children by the
hand,— at the word s o f Bradish .
“ She ’s deeploaded ; that, to my mind , shows for itself that
they ’ve sold their cargo and had good luck ; d on'
t
it captain ? ” turning to Captain Rhines .
302 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEA SA NT COVE .
I think it doe s,Joseph . Cheer up
,my giri , to
Lu ce,and hope for the best .”
But,to the disappointm ent Of all
,the wind
,that
had been moderating for some time,died away to
a flat calm,the tide turned
,and the ve ssel so aux
io u sly expe cted was obliged to anchor .
Neighbors,said L i on Ben
,what say you for
towing her up ? ”
“ That ’s the talk,Ben
,said Jo e Gri
"’
in .
Boats and boys l ” shouted Joel Ricker .Hurrah f o r a t ow e choed the crowd .
Thanks to Charlie Bell,whale-boats were plenty
enough no“ Father
,
” said Ben, yo u shall b e fleet commo
d o rei ’
It was but a short time before twelve boats andfifty men were ready . Jo e Bradish was getting
fl"
n s boat .into Jo e Gri
Y o u shan ’t go, yo u small concern, said Jo e ,
and pitched him head foremost into the water.
Jonah ’s overboard—we shall have good luck,
now .
”
I ’ll hoi st the flag,neighbors
,said the captain
,
as they were shoving o ff,
“ if they ’ve got him .
If yo u want to get Peterson home , said Dic k
304 THE YOUNG DEL IVERERS OF PLEASANT COVE .
Tears o f j oyous sympathy moistened many a
cheek when Luce flung herself into her hus
band ’s arms,while the little one s clasped his
legs .
Walter and Ned have now become accustomed
to hardship,had experience o f danger
,and incurred
re sponsibility . The next volume o f the serie s,the
Cruise o f the Casco,will exhibit the ir capab ilitie s
when thrown more entirely upon their o wn re
sources,and placed in trust o f a large intere st
under circumstance s Of deadly peril .