Matilda Montgomerie Or The Prophecy Fulfilled Part 18

"Nay. I have done--I close at once my argument and my philosophy. The humor is past, and I shall no longer attempt to make the worse appear the better cause. I dare say you thought me in earnest," she added, with slight sarcasm, "but a philosophical disquisition between two lovers on the eve of parting for ever, was too novel and piquant a seduction to be resisted."

That "parting for ever" was sufficient to drive all philosophy utterly away from our hero.

"For ever, did you say, Matilda?--no, not for ever; yet, how coldly do you allude to a separation which, although I trust it will be only temporary, is to me a source of the deepest vexation. You did not manifest this indifference in the early part of our conversation this evening."

"And if there be a change," emphatically yet tenderly returned the beautiful American, "am _I_ the only one changed? Is your manner _now_ what it was _then_? Do you already forget at _what_ a moment that conversation was interrupted?"

Gerald did not forget; and again, as they leaned over the vessel's side, his arm was pa.s.sed around the waist of his companion.

The hour, the scene, the very rippling of the water--all contributed to lend a character of excitement to the feelings of the youth. Filled with tenderness and admiration for the fascinating being who reposed thus confidingly on his shoulder, he scarcely dared to move, lest in so doing he should destroy the fabric of his happiness.

"First watch there, hilloa! rouse up, and be d----d to you, it's two o'clock."

Both Gerald and Matilda, although long and silently watching the progress of the vessel, had forgotten there was any such being as a steersman to direct her.

"Good Heaven! can it be so late?" whispered the American, gliding from her lover; "if my uncle be awake, he will certainly chide me for my imprudence. Good night, dear Gerald," and drawing her cloak more closely around her shoulders, she quickly crossed the deck, and descended to the cabin.

"What the devil's this?" said the relieving steersman, as, rubbing his heavy eyes with one hand, he stooped and raised with the other something from the deck, against which he had kicked in his advance to take the helm--"why, I'm blest if it arn't the ap.r.o.n off old Sally here. Have you been fingering Sally's ap.r.o.n, Bill?"

"Not I, faith!" growled the party addressed. "I've enough to do to steer the craft, without thinking o' meddling with Sall's ap.r.o.n at this time o' night."

"I should like to know who it is that has hexposed the old gal to the night hair in this here manner," still muttered the other, holding up the object in question to his closer scrutiny; "it was only this morning I gave her a pair of bran new ap.r.o.n strings, and helped to dress her myself. If she doesn't hang fire after this, I'm a Dutchman--that's all."

"What signifies jawing, Tom Fluke? I suppose she got unkivered in the scurry after the Yankee; but bear a hand, and kiver her, unless you wish a fellow to stay here all night."

Old Sal, our hearers must know, was no other than the long twenty-four pounder formerly belonging to Gerald's gun-boat, which, now removed to his new command, lay amid-ships, and mounted on a pivot, const.i.tuted the whole battery of the schooner. The ap.r.o.n was the leaden covering protecting the touch-hole, which, having unaccountably fallen off, had encountered the heavy foot of Tom Fluke, in his advance along the deck.

The ap.r.o.n was at length replaced. Tom Fluke took the helm, and his companion departed, as he said, to have a comfortable snooze.

Gerald, who had been an amused listener of the preceding dialogue, soon followed, first inquiring into the condition of his faithful Sambo, who, on examination, was found to have been stunned by the violence of the blow he had received. This, Gerald doubted not, had been given with the view of better facilitating Desborough's escape, by throwing the schooner out of her course, and occasioning a consequent confusion among the crew, which might have the effect of distracting their attention for a time from himself.

CHAPTER XVII.

The following evening, an armed schooner was lying at anchor in the road stead of Buffalo, at the southern extremity of Lake Erie, and within a mile of the American sh.o.r.e. It was past midnight--and although the lake was calm and unbroken as the face of a mirror, a dense fog had arisen which prevented objects at the head of the vessel from being seen from the stern. Two men only were visible upon the after-deck; the one lay reclining upon an arm chest, m.u.f.fled up in a dread-nought pea jacket, the other paced up and down hurriedly, and with an air of pre-occupation. At intervals he would stop and lean over the gangway, apparently endeavoring to pierce through the fog and catch a glimpse of the adjacent sh.o.r.e, and, on these occasions, a profound sigh would burst from his chest.

"Sambo," he at length exclaimed, addressing the man in the pea-jacket for the first time. "I shall retire to my cabin, but fail not to call me an hour before daybreak. Our friends being all landed, there can be nothing further to detain us here, we will therefore make the best of our way back to Amherstburg in the morning."

"Yes, Ma.s.sa Geral," returned the negro, yawning and half raising his brawny form from his rude couch with one hand, while he rubbed his heavy eyes with the knuckles of the other.

"How is your head to-night?" inquired the officer in a kind tone.

"Berry well, Ma.s.sa Geral--but berry sleepy."

"Then sleep, Sambo; but do not fail to awaken me in time: we shall weigh anchor the very first thing in the morning, provided the fog does not continue. By the bye, you superintended the landing of the baggage--was everything sent ash.o.r.e?"

"All, Ma.s.sa Geral, I see him all pack in he wagon, for he Bubbalo town--all, except dis here I find in Miss Mungummery cabin under he pillow."

As he spoke, the negro quitted his half rec.u.mbent position, and drew from his breast a small clasped pocket book, on a steel entablature adorning the cover of which, were the initials of the young lady just named.

"How is it Sambo, that you had not spoken of this? The pocket book contains papers that may be of importance; and yet there is now no means of forwarding it unless I delay the schooner."

"I only find him hab an hour ago, Ma.s.sa Geral, when I go to make he beds and put he cabin to rights," said the old man, in a tone that showed he felt and was pained by the reproof of his young master. "Dis here too,"

producing a small ivory handled penknife, "I find same time in he Gubbanor daters' bed."

Gerald extended his hand to receive it, "A penknife in the bed of the Governor's daughters!" he repeated with surprise. Ruminating a moment he added to himself, "By heavens, it must be so--it is then as I expected.

Would that I had had this proof of their partic.i.p.ation before they quitted the schooner. Very well, Sambo, no blame can attach to you--go to sleep my good fellow, but not beyond the time I have given you."

"Tankee, Ma.s.sa Geral," and drawing the collar of his pea jacket close under his ears, the negro again extended himself at his full length upon the arm chest.

In the fulness of his indignation at the young ladies' duplicity, he now came to the resolution of staying the departure of the schooner yet a few hours, that he might have an opportunity of going ash.o.r.e himself, presenting this undoubted evidence of their guilt, and taxing them boldly with the purpose to which it had been appropriated. Perhaps there was another secret motive which induced this determination, and that was, the opportunity it would afford him of again seeing his beloved Matilda, and delivering her pocket book with his own hand.

This resolution taken, without deeming it necessary to countermand his order to Sambo, he placed the knife in a pocket in the breast of his uniform, where he had already deposited the souvenir; and having retired to his own cabin, was about to undress himself, when he fancied he could distinguish through one of the stern windows of the schooner, sounds similar to those of m.u.f.fled oars. While he yet listened breathlessly to satisfy himself whether he had not been deceived, a dark form came hurriedly, yet noiselessly, down the steps of the cabin. Gerald turned, and discovered Sambo, who now perfectly awake, indicated by his manner, he was the bearer of some alarming intelligence. His report confirmed the suspicion already entertained by himself, and at that moment he fancied he heard the same subdued sounds but multiplied in several distinct points. A vague sense of danger came over the mind of the officer, and although his crew consisted of a mere handful of men, he at once resolved to defend himself to the last, against whatever force might be led to the attack. While Sambo hastened to arouse the men, he girded his cutla.s.s and pistols around his loins, and taking down two huge blunderbusses from a beam in the ceiling of the cabin, loaded them heavily with musket b.a.l.l.s. Thus armed he sprang once more upon deck.

The alarm was soon given, and the preparation became general, but neither among the watch, who slumbered in the forecastle, nor those who had turned into their hammocks, was there the slightest indication of confusion. These latter "tumbled up," with no other addition to the shirts in which they had left their cots, than their trousers, a light state of costume to which those who were "boxed up" in their pea jackets and great coats on the forecastle, soon reduced themselves also--not but that the fog admitted of much warmer raiment, but that their activity might be unimpeded--handkerchiefed heads and tucked up sleeves, with the habiliments which we have named, being the most approved fighting dress in the navy.

Meanwhile, although nothing could be distinguished through the fog, the sounds which had originally attracted the notice of the officer and his trusty servant, increased, despite of the caution evidently used, to such a degree as to be now audible to all on board. What most excited the astonishment of the crew, and the suspicion of Gerald, was the exactness of the course taken by the advancing hosts, in which not the slightest deviation was perceptible. It was evident that they were guided by some one who had well studied the distance and bearing of the schooner from the sh.o.r.e, and as it was impossible to hope that even the fog would afford them concealment from the approaching enemy, all that was left them was to make the best defence they could. One other alternative remained it is true, and this was to cut their cable and allow themselves to drop down silently out of the course by which the boats were advancing, but as this step involved the possibility of running ash.o.r.e on the American coast, when the same danger of captivity would await them, Gerald, after an instant's consideration, rejected the idea, preferring the worthier and more chivalrous dependence on his own and crew's exertions.

From the moment of the general arming, the long gun, which we have already shown to const.i.tute the sole defence of the schooner, was brought nearer to the insh.o.r.e gangway, and being mounted on an elevation, with its formidable muzzle overtopping and projecting above the low bulwarks, could in an instant be brought to bear on whatever point it might be found advisable to vomit forth its ma.s.s of wrath, consisting of grape, cannister and chain shot. On this gun, indeed, the general expectation much depended; for the crew, composed of sixteen men only, exclusive of petty officers, could hope to make but a poor resistance, despite all the resolution they might bring into the contest, against a squadron of well-armed boats, unless some very considerable diminution in the numbers and efforts of these latter should be made by "Old Sally," before they actually came to close quarters. The weakness of the crew was in a great degree attributable to the schooner having been employed as a cartel--a fact which must moreover explain the want of caution, on this occasion, on the part of Gerald, whose reputation for vigilance, in all matters of duty, was universally acknowledged. It had not occurred to him that the instant he landed his prisoners, his vessel ceased to be a cartel, and therefore a fit subject for the enterprise of his enemies, or the probability is, that in the hour in which he had landed them, he would again have weighed anchor, and made the best of his way back to Amherstburg.

"Stand by your gun, men--steady," whispered the officer, as the noise of many oars immediately abreast, and at a distance of not more than twenty yards, announced that the main effort of their enemies was about to be made in that quarter. "Depress a little--there, you have her--now into them--fire."

Fiz-z-z-z, and a small pyramid of light rose from the breech of the gun, which sufficed, during the moment it lasted, to discover three boats filled with armed men, advancing immediately opposite, while two others could be seen diverging, apparently one towards the quarter, the other towards the bows of the devoted little vessel. The crew bent their gaze eagerly over her side to witness the havoc they expected to ensue among their enemies. To their surprise and mortification there was no report.

The advancing boats gave three deriding cheers.

"D----n my eyes, if I didn't say she would miss fire, from having her breech unkivered last night," shouted the man who held the match, and who was no other than Tom Fluke. "Quick, here--give us a picker!"

A picker was handed to him, by one who also held the powder-horn for priming.

"It's no use," he pursued, throwing away the wire and springing to the dock. "She's a spike in the touch-hole, and the devil himself wouldn't get it out now."

"A spike!--what mean you?" eagerly demanded Gerald.

"It's too true, Mr. Grantham," said the boatswain, who had flown to examine the touch-hole, "there is a great piece of steel in it, and for all the world like a woman's bodkin, or some such sort of thing."

"Ah! it all comes o' that wench that was here on deck last night,"

muttered the helmsman, who had succeeded Sambo on duty the preceding night. "I thought I see her fiddlin' about the gun when the chase was made after the Yankee, although I didn't think to say nothin' about it when you axed Tom Fluke about Sal's ap.r.o.n."

Whatever conjecture might have arisen with others, there was no time to think of, much less to discuss it--the boats were already within a few yards of the vessel.

"Steady, men--silence!" commanded Gerald, in a low tone. "Since she has failed us, we must depend upon ourselves. Down beneath the bulwarks and move not one of you until they begin to board; then let each man single his enemy and fire; the cutla.s.s must do the rest."

The order was obeyed. Each moment brought the crisis of action nearer: the rowers had discontinued their oars, but the bows of the several boats could be heard obeying the impetus already given them, and dividing the water close to the vessel.

"Now then, Sambo," whispered the officer. At that moment a torch was raised high over the head of the negro and his master. Its rays fell upon the first of the three boats, the crews of which were seen standing up with arms outstretched to grapple with the schooner. Another instant, and they would have touched. The negro dropped his light.