Sustained honor Part 32

Fernando Stevens with over one hundred men reached Philadelphia, where he found two regiments of regulars marching to Washington. He accompanied them. The second day's march from Philadelphia, they were overtaken by two mounted men dressed in citizen's clothes, who inquired for Captain Stevens. They proved to be Sukey and Terrence.

"I've been runnin' all over creation looking for you," Sukey declared.

"How can you skip from one side o' the earth to the other as easily as a flea can cross a hammock? I went within sixty miles of Fort Erie the day after the fight,--lost you;--heard you were in New York,--went after you,--lost you; heard you were in Philadelphia,--went there,--lost you and found Terrence. We supposed you were with the soldiers and came after you."

Terrence had just returned from a cruise; and his ship _Privateer Tom_ had been so badly damaged in a gale, that it would take weeks to repair her, so he came with Sukey.

Sukey had a terrible story to tell of captivity and service on the _Macedonian_, which we reserve for the next chapter.

CHAPTER XVI.

ON WATER.

The English navy was the pride of that great nation in 1812, as it is now. When war with the United States was discussed, the idea that America without a navy, and with but few if any trained naval officers could cope with England, caused the Briton to smile; but a great surprise was in store. The first American victories were on the high seas. Tradition, discipline, ships and training seemed all of no avail.

While the English were carrying everything on land, where it was supposed they were weakest, they were losing everything on water, where thought to be strongest. Everybody was surprised. They supposed the first three or four American victories were accidents; but as success after success continued to follow the American arms at sea, they were dumfounded. England's boasted navy had lost its power.

The first naval engagement of any consequence was on August 19, 1812.

Captain Hull of the United States frigate _Const.i.tution_ captured an English frigate, _The Guerriere_, after a hard fought battle. _The Guerriere_ had made herself very obnoxious in her way of challenging American vessels. In this engagement she lost seventy-nine killed and wounded, while the _Const.i.tution_ lost but thirteen. There were ten impressed Americans on _The Guerriere_. On the 7th of September, the United States frigate _Ess.e.x_ captured the _Alert_ in a fight of eight minutes. The American sloop-of-war _Wasp_, on the 18th of October, encountered the British sloop-of-war _Frolic_, a much larger and stronger ship. The fight was terrible, and only three officers and one seaman on the _Frolic_ remained unhurt; almost a hundred were killed and wounded, while the Americans lost but ten. The _Wasp_ did not long enjoy her triumph, however. On that same evening the British man-of-war _Poicters_, Captain Beresford, captured the _Wasp_ and her prize.

The phrase "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," borne on the banner at the masthead of the _Ess.e.x_, soon became the war-cry of the American seaman.

The 25th of October, 1812, one week after the victory and loss of the gallant _Wasp_, dawned bright and clear on the English frigate _Macedonian_ sailing westward of Canary Islands. Little change had come to the _Macedonian_ since Fernando Stevens had been transferred from her to the sloop. At this time there were but three impressed Americans on the _Macedonian_, Sukey, a negro sailor called Tawney and a man named Rogers.

Notwithstanding their difference in race and social standing, Sukey and Tawney were attached to each other. Both were Americans, and both loved the star-spangled banner.

It was a holy Sabbath morning, and every sailor, according to Captain Garden's orders, was dressed in his best, when the cry of, "Sail ho!"

rang out from the masthead. It was ascertained that the stranger was an American, and the ship was cleared for action. As the _Macedonian_ bore down on the American--her men at their quarters--Sukey and Tawney, who happened to be stationed at the quarter-deck battery, respectfully accosted the captain, as he pa.s.sed them in his rapid promenade, his spygla.s.s under his arm.

"Say, look here," said Sukey, "we are not Englishmen; we don't want to be in the game. It's a bitter thing to lift a hand against the flag of that country which harbors our parents. Please release us from this contest and let us remain neutral during the fight; I tell you, I don't want to be in the game."

When a ship of any nation is running into action, there is no time for argument, small time for justice, and not much for humanity. s.n.a.t.c.hing a pistol from the belt of a boarder standing by, the captain leveled it at the heads of the sailors, and commanded them instantly to their quarters, under penalty of being shot on the spot. So, side by side with their country's foes, Sukey, Tawney and Rogers toiled at the guns, and fought out the fight to the last; with the exception of Rogers who was killed by one of his country's b.a.l.l.s.

The conflict was terrible. Sukey was stationed on the gun deck, abreast the mainmast. This part of the ship they called the slaughter-house, for men fell five and six at a time. An enemy nearly always directs his shot at this point in order to cut away the mast. The beams and carlines were spattered with blood and brains. About the hatchways it looked like a butcher's stall; bits of human flesh were sticking in the ring-bolts. A pig that ran about the deck, though unharmed, was so covered with blood, that the sailors threw it overboard, swearing it would be rank cannibalism to eat it. A goat, kept on board for her milk, had her legs shot away, and was thrown into the sea.

The sailors who were killed were, according to the usual custom, ordered to be thrown overboard as soon as they fell; for the sight of so many corpses lying around might appall the survivors at the guns. A shot entering one of the portholes cut down two-thirds of a gun's crew. The captain of the next gun, dropping his lock string, which he had just pulled, turned over the heap of bodies to see who they were; when, perceiving an old messmate, who had sailed with him in many cruises, he burst into tears, and, taking the corpse up in his arms and going with it to the side, he held it over the water a moment, gazed on the silent pale face and cried:

"Oh, G.o.d! Tom--Tom, has it come to this at last----"

"D--n your prayers! over with that thing! overboard with it and down to your gun!" roared a wounded lieutenant. The order was obeyed, and the heart-stricken sailor returned to his post.

At last, having lost her fore and maintopmasts, her mizzenmast having been shot away to the deck, and her foreyard lying in two pieces on her shattered forecastle, having been hulled in a hundred places with round shot, the _Macedonian_ was reduced to the last extremity. Captain Garden ordered his signal quarter-master to strike the flag.

Never did Sukey hear a command with greater joy. Never was a sailor so happy at being defeated. When the order was given to strike the flag, one of Captain Garden's officers, a man hated by the seamen for his tyranny, howled the most terrific remonstrances, and swore he would rather sink alongside than surrender. Had he been captain, probably he would have done so.

Sukey and Tawney were among the boat's crew which rowed Captain Garden to the enemy. As, he touched the deck, Captain Garden saluted his captor, Captain Decatur, and offered him his sword; but it was courteously declined. The victor remembered the dinner parties he and Captain Garden had enjoyed in Norfolk, previous to the breaking out of hostilities, and while both were in command of the very frigates now crippled on the sea. The _Macedonian_ had gone into Norfolk with despatches; while Decatur was in that port. Then they had laughed and joked over their wine, and a wager of a beaver hat was said to have been made between them upon the event of the hostile meeting of their ships.

This was their next meeting. Sukey and Tawney went home in the American frigate _United States_. With Sukey's return to his native country, the reader's interest in the naval operations perhaps ceases. Naval battles are the same, b.l.o.o.d.y and desperate, and the details of the fight with the _Macedonian_ are the details of all others. After briefly noticing the princ.i.p.al victories and defeats on sea, we shall take up again the characters in our story.

On November 22d, the United States brig _Vixen_ was captured by the English frigate _Southampton,_ and both were subsequently shipwrecked on December 29th, the United States frigate _Const.i.tution_, under Commodore Bainbridge, captured the British frigate _Java_, off the coast of Brazil. The American loss was 44 and the British 151. The American victories of the year of 1812 with such little loss produced much exultation in America and surprise and mortification in England.

American seamen had been the greatest sufferers at the hands of the British, and they had long burned to avenge the insults of the English Navy. They fought for patriotism, glory and vengeance.

The year 1813 was noted for the continued success of the American Navy.

On February 24th, the _Hornet_ captured the British brig _Peac.o.c.k_ on the coast of South America. On June 1st, the British frigate _Shannon_ captured the _Chesapeake_ after a terrible battle, in which the Americans lost 133 and the British half as many. Captain Lawrence of the _Chesapeake_ was mortally wounded, and his dying command, "Don't give up the ship!" has been the motto for many worthy enterprises.

In August, Captain Porter, with the American frigate _Ess.e.x_, cruising in the Pacific Ocean, captured twelve armed British whalers. In the same month, the American sloop-of-war _Argus_, cruising in the English channel, captured twenty-one British merchantmen, but on the 13th was herself captured by the British man-of-war _Pelican_ after a severe engagement. On the 3d of September, the American brig _Enterprise_ captured the British _Boxer_ off the coast of Maine. Perry's victory on Lake Erie, which occurred on the 10th of this month, has already been noticed.

The year 1814 was not a line of unbroken success, though American victories were many and brilliant. On the 28th of March, the brilliant career of the United States frigate _Ess.e.x_, in the Pacific Ocean, was terminated by her capture by two British war vessels at Valparaiso. On April 21st, the United States sloop-of-war _Frolic_ was captured by the British frigate _Orpheus_. On the 27th of the same month, the United States sloop-of-war _Peac.o.c.k_ captured the British brig-of-war _Epervier_ with $118,000 in specie on board. On June 9th, the United States sloop-of-war _Rattlesnake_ was captured by a British man-of-war.

This reverse was followed by the loss of the United States sloop _Syren_ on the 12th. On the 28th, the American sloop _Wasp_ captured the British sloop _Reindeer_, in the British channel. On the 1st of September, the _Wasp_ captured the British sloop _Avon_, and after taking three other prizes, this remarkably successful vessel mysteriously disappeared. Her fate was never known, though it is supposed she was lost at sea.

On January 15, 1815, the United States frigate _President_ was captured by four English vessels. On the 28th of February, although peace was declared, the United States frigate _Const.i.tution_ captured two British vessels of war, off the island of Madeira. In March, the United States frigate _Hornet_ captured the British brig _Penguin_, off the coast of Brazil.

The last hostile act at sea took place in the Straits of Sunda, in the East Indies, where the United States brig-of-war _Peac.o.c.k_ captured the _Nautilus_, a British sloop-of-war. The three American vessels at sea when the war closed each came home crowned with laurels. The part taken by the American privateers during the war was considerable and a detailed history of them would fill a volume larger than this. During the war there were I,750 British vessels captured, against a loss of I,683 American ships. The spirit and energy of the American seamen, under all their embarra.s.sments, gave an unmistakable indication of the future greatness of the power of the United States Navy.

On the first night after Sukey and Terrence joined Fernando, the three sat about the bivouac fire, while all save the sentries slept, talking over the past which, to Fernando, seemed like a troubled dream.

"Did either of you ever meet Captain Snipes?" asked Fernando.

"Bad luck to him, I did not," said Terrence. "It's bad it would have fared with the spalpeen if I had."

At mention of Captain Snipes, there came an expression over Sukey's face which is indescribable. His face grew pale, and his brow contracted, his teeth set, and his eyes seemed to have the glitter of steel, while he shrugged his shoulders, as if he again felt the cat-o'-nine-tails about them.

"Did he never come aboard the _Macedonian_ again?" asked Fernando.

"No."

"Did you hear of him?"

"Yes."

"Where was he?"

"He was transferred to the _Xenophon_."

"The _Xenophon_? was not Lieutenant Matson in command of that vessel?"

"For awhile."

"Was he not promoted?"

"No; it seems his affair with you got to England."

"Just in time to spoil a nate little promotion, too," put in Terrence.

"I heard all about it from the captain of the merchantman I captured. He told me when we were playing poker one night."

Fernando looked sadly into the smouldering bivouac and heaved a sigh.

Almost five years had elapsed since he had seen Morgianna, and he had not heard a word from her since he left her in the great stone house on the hill that night,--she laughing at his misery.