Sustained honor Part 23

"Faith, I hope the captain will give the shpalpeen two dozen as did it."

"Who cut my hammock down?" roared the quarter-master.

"Cut yer hammock, indade?"

The quarter-master was in a rage and swore like a trooper. Wiping the water from his face, he roared:

"Yes, cut down my hammock! Don't you see the netting has been cut?"

"The truth ye tell, quarter-master; some haythin has surely been cutting yer netting. Now who could have done that? I hope the culprit may be found, that's all."

And the face of the quarter-master himself did not evince more savage fury than the Irishman. He was the first to report it to the lieutenant, and in his zeal actually burst in on the captain himself and told of the disaster, volunteering his services to hunt down the culprit.

"Find him!" thundered the captain, his face white with rage. "Find him, and, by the trident of Neptune, I swear I'll see his backbone!"

No one in the whole ship was as zealous as the Irishman in searching for the culprit; but he took care never to find him.

Captains of men-of-war are fond of delicacies, and the captain had a fine fat pig, which he intended for a special feast to be given for his officers. Terrence, through his zeal, became such a favorite, that he was even permitted to superintend the cooking.

The quarter-master's favorite dog, which was as fat as the pig, suddenly disappeared the day before the feast, and Terrence had a search inst.i.tuted for him without avail, and gave it out as his opinion that the dog had fallen overboard. On the same day the officers feasted on roast pig, Terrence's mess had roast pig. The officers declared that their roast pig was very tender, but that the flavor was strong and peculiar! The ship's surgeon afterward said he never saw the bones of a pig so resemble the bones of a dog. There had been but one pig aboard, and had it been known that Terrence dined on roast pig also, there might have been some grave suspicions.

Shortly after this event, there were some changes in the British navy.

Captain Snipes was supplanted in command of the _Macedonian_ by Captain Carden. Fernando, Terrence and the negro were shortly after transferred to the war-sloop _Sea Sh.e.l.l_, Captain Bones, while poor Sukey was still left aboard the _Macedonian_. Shortly after these changes Captain Snipes and Mr. Hugh St. Mark, the silent gunner, were transferred to the man-of-war _Xenophon_. Thus we see, by those interminable and inexplicable changes constantly going on in the royal navy the friends were separated. There may be some reason for those constant changes in the navy; but they are not apparent to the sagest landsman living.

Captain Conkerall had made himself so ridiculous in Baltimore, that he had been forced to quit the service in order to escape he ridicule of his fellow officers. This left Lieutenant Matson in command of the _Xenophon_ until Captain Snipes was a.s.signed to that duty.

Fernando Stevens felt some regrets in leaving the _Macedonian_. One's very sufferings may endear them to a place. But Fernando's chief regret was in leaving the friend of his childhood. Sukey and he shed manly tears as each saw the face of his friend fade from view.

Terrence soon ingratiated himself into the favor of Captain Bones, who had a weakness for punch and whist. Terrence knew how to brew the punch to the taste of the captain, and could play whist so artistically, that the captain could, by the hardest sort of playing, just win.

Terrence boasted of excellent family connection, and gave as his reason for his not having a mid-shipman's commission, that his father objected to the sea, and he had been impressed instead of entering the navy of his own accord. Bones was not as punctilious as most captains, especially when Terrence could brew such excellent punch, and Terrence soon became a favorite and came and went at pleasure in the captain's cabin. When the captain imbibed quite freely, he often hinted at a promotion for Terrence.

Fernando paid little attention to the course of the vessel. He had been in nearly all the parts of the world, and seldom asked which continent they were on, or in what waters they sailed. He was sober, silent and melancholy.

One bright August day in 1811, they were off some coast, he knew not what. All day the weather had been glorious. Toward sunset, the clouds began to gather in heavy ma.s.ses to the southeast, and a little later a heavy breeze sprang up from that direction. As darkness came on, the wind increased, blowing a strong gale, and it blew all night. As morning dawned a dense fog settled down over the vessel and completely obscured everything. Soundings were taken; but the captain, who had yielded to the seductive punch of Terrence Malone, could not determine where they were. When daylight came the sea had changed color, which proved that they were in shallow water. On heaving the lead it was ascertained that they were only in twelve fathoms water.

"Wear ship!" shouted Captain Bones in a tone of thunder. The vessel was then under such small sail that she had not headway enough to stay her.

As she answered to her helm and payed off, bringing the wind aft, high land was seen astern. Suddenly the fog lifted. At the same instant, the wind changed to the southwest, blowing harder. A cloud of canvas flew into the air, and, looking up, Fernando saw it was the jib. The vessel lost what little headway she had and drifted heavily to leeward. As the fog cleared toward the land, they looked early in that direction and to their dismay and horror, they saw heavy breakers beating so close to them, that there was no room to wear the ship round. The captain at once gave orders to clear away the anchors. A seaman went forward with an axe to cut the lashings of the one on the port side. As soon as the cable had been cut, the starboard anchor was sent adrift and thirty fathoms of cable ran out. The order was given to "hold on," and as it was obeyed the port cable broke. The sloop immediately swung around, bringing all her weight on the starboard cable, which, being unable to stand the strain, parted, and then they were left entirely to the mercy of the wind and sea.

The suspense was short. A tremendous sea came rolling toward the sloop, struck it with terrific force, lifted it high on its crest and carried it forward toward the breakers. In another instant the vessel was driven with a crash on the sandy bottom. At the same moment down came the foremast, taking with it the jib-boom and bowsprit, all disappearing into the sea. Wave after wave washed over them in quick succession. The mainmast was split, and the noise made by it, as it was beaten about by the gale was deafening. All the poor wretches on board the _Sea Sh.e.l.l_ could do was to hold on for dear life.

The captain ordered their only life-boat lowered, and, turning to the crew, he shouted, for the roaring of the wind was terrible, that he with twelve men would set out for sh.o.r.e, and after landing eight with himself and officers, would send the boat back for others. The captain had no notion that so excellent a punch brewer as Terrence should be lost, and insisted that he go with the first boatload. The others had no alternative. They were compelled to submit. The captain, his lieutenants, Terrence and a dozen sailors sprang over the side, took their places and pushed off. As the little craft rose and fell in that frightful sea, it seemed doubtful if they would reach the sh.o.r.e.

Dumb with terror, Fernando had watched the whole proceeding. He could only hold on to a sail and, by the sheer strength of his hands and arms, save himself from being carried overboard, as sea after sea swept over them. He strained his eyes until it seemed as though they would burst, to follow the movements of that boat on which their lives depended. It seemed but a mere speck on the waves. Suddenly it rose to a surprising height, and then disappeared altogether. The next moment he saw the men struggling in the water. The boat was broken into pieces and the fragments were brought out to them. Every man for himself was now the cry throughout the ship. How far they were from the sh.o.r.e no one could tell. They had to take their chances. Although a strong swimmer, Fernando knew that in such a tremendous sea he would be powerless. There was, however, but the one thing to do.

Raising his hands before him and pressing them firmly together, Fernando drew a long breath, then sprang from the sloop's rail into the water beneath. When he rose to the surface he tried to swim. It was impossible, as he had foreseen. He was like a child in the grasp of a monster. The waves tossed him up like a plaything and carried him on --he could not tell how far or where. Suddenly a great black object loomed up before him. It was a part of the wreckage. He tried to ward it off; but he might as well have tried to ward off the sloop itself, for the sea lifted him up and dashed him onward, and the great ma.s.s struck him a heavy blow over the eye--a flash of lightning gleamed, then all was darkness and a blank.

How long after he could not tell, a strange sensation came creeping slowly over him. A low murmur of voices reached his ears. He was bewildered and benumbed; but soon the truth began to dawn, and he knew that, wherever he might be, he was not dead. Powerless to move, he opened his eyes and fastened them on the objects about him. He now discovered that he was lying on a bed of straw in a large barn. How he could have gotten there was yet a mystery. To his great delight, he recognized the face of Terrence Malone bending over him.

"Well, me boy, ye're not dead yet, are ye?" "Where are we, Terrence?" he faintly inquired.

"Whist, me lad, an' I'll tell ye!" said Terrence, in an undertone.

Terrence first looked round to a.s.sure himself that there was no one within hearing and then said, "Safe on mother earth, me lad, and, what's best of all, American soil!" American soil!--the very announcement sent a thrill of hope and joy through his heart. Terrence then informed him that they had been wrecked on the coast of Maine, that most of the crew were saved, and the captain intended to march, as soon as the men were able, over the line into Canada. Terrence a.s.sured Fernando that, so far as he was concerned, he had no intention of leaving America; but the matter had to be handled carefully. They were on a thinly populated coast and Captain Bones had enough English marines to enforce his authority.

"Then how can we escape?" asked Fernando.

"Lave it all to me!" said the Irishman. As Fernando was incapable of doing anything himself, he very naturally left it all to his Irish friend. "Now I want ye to be too sick to travel for a week. By that time, I'll have the captain all right and snug enough."

Though badly bruised and stunned, Fernando had no bones broken. At any time within three days after the shipwreck he could have left the barn, but, following the advice of Terrence, he a.s.sumed a stupid state and refused to talk with any of the officers who called to see him.

Terrence became nurse to the invalid as well as the brewer of punch for the captain. Only one other person was taken into the secret plans of the Irishman, that was the negro Job.

Job was delighted.

"Gwine ter run away!" he chuckled, "yah, yah, yah, dat am glorious! I tell yer, dis chile ain't no Britisher. I tole yer dar ain't no Angler Saxun blood in dese veins."

Job was installed a.s.sistant nurse over Fernando, and when the captain asked the negro about him, the black face became sober, and Job shook his woolly head, saying:

"Dun no, ma.s.sa, spect he am gwine ter die. He am awful bad."

Captain Bones gave utterance to a burst of profanity and seriously hoped the wounded sailor would either get well or die, and be very quick about it. Fernando heard him as he lay in the barn loft and could not refrain from chuckling.

"We've got to move soon," growled the captain. "No ship will ever put into this port for us. We must march to Halifax."

"Golly! guess dis chile see himself marchin' ter Halifax," the negro murmured, when the captain had left the barn.

Captain Bones was quartered at the best fisherman's cabin in the neighborhood. It was not much of a shelter, but it was the best he could find. Captain Bones was provoked at the delay in Fernando's recovery. He knew he was an impressed American, and if he left him, he would be lost to the service, and yet he dared not much longer delay going to Halifax.

He was bargaining with a coasting schooner to take himself and crew to Halifax, when one evening Terrence came to him with a very serious face, as if the fortunes of Great Britain were in peril.

"Captain, it's bad news I have for ye," said Terrence. "The brandy is all gone, and divil a bit o' whiskey can be had for love or money." This was alarming to Captain Bones; but Terrence suggested that three miles away lived a farmer Condit, whose cellar abounded with kegs of apple jack and cider. Condit was a rabid republican and would not give a Briton a drop if he were dying for it; but, if the captain would be taken into his confidence, he had a little scheme to propose which had a trifle of risk in it, just enough to give spice to it.

His plan was nothing more than to dress in citizen's clothes, enter the cellar after night and carry away some, if not all, of the kegs of apple jack.

Captain Bones, who enjoyed a frolic, thought the plan an excellent one.

But he begged to allow the first lieutenant to become a party to the frolic. This was just as Terrence wished, for he had intended to suggest the first lieutenant himself. It was agreed that on Sat.u.r.day night next, the three, dressed in citizen's clothes, were to go to the home of the farmer, enter his cellar and secure enough apple jack and hard cider to alleviate the thirst of Captain Bones, during his stay in the neighborhood.

Farmer Condit, the day before the intended burglary, received a very mysterious letter in a very mysterious manner. It read as follows:

"Farmer Condit: Sat.u.r.day night your house is to be robbed. I am one of a band of robbers who are to rob you. I was forced to join them or be killed, and will have to go with them that night. Have a few constables ready to seize them. They will not fight; but let the man in tall, peaked, brown hat, white trousers and gray coat escape, for that is me.

If you could let me escape and seize the others, you would set at liberty a poor fellow creature, who warns you at the risk of his life.

Your friend."

On the night in question, Terrence wore a tall, peaked brown hat, with black band. He also wore white trousers and a gray coat. The three set off in a cart which Terrence hired to bring back the treasure. It was dark before they commenced their journey, for the officers did not want the men to know of the affair.

They reached the farm house of Mr. Condit and prepared to enter it and begin operations. The cart and mule were left under some trees. It was now ten o'clock, and the house was quite dark. Slowly they crept up to it, Terrence asking himself if the farmer had heeded his warning. Like many farm-house cellars, there was a trap door opening on the outside.

To this cellar door they made their way. Terrence, who was accustomed to such affairs, had provided himself with a lantern, which he was to light when they entered the cellar.