The Red Rover Part 60

"You find the superiority such as I had already given you reason to believe?" demanded Wilder, when the look of the other wandered from the paper.

"I do."

"And may I now ask your decision on the offer?"

"First, tell me what does your own heart advise? This is but the language of another."

"Captain Heidegger," said Wilder, colouring, "I will not attempt to conceal, that, had this message depended solely on myself, it might have been couched in different terms; but as one, who still deeply retains the recollection of your generosity, as a man would not willingly induce even an enemy to an act of dishonour, do I urge their acceptance. You will excuse me, if I say, that, in my recent intercourse I have had reason to believe you already perceive that neither the character you could wish to earn, nor the content that all men crave, is to be found in your present career."

"I had not thought I entertained so close a casuist in Mr Henry Wilder.

Have you more to urge, sir?"

"Nothing," returned the disappointed and grieved messenger of the "Dart."

"Yes, yes, he has," said a low but eager voice at the elbow of the Rover, which rather seemed to breathe out the syllables than dare to utter them aloud; "he has not yet delivered the half of his commission, or sadly has he forgotten the sacred trust!"

"The boy is often a dreamer," interrupted the Rover, smiling, with a wild and haggard look. "He sometimes gives form to his unmeaning thoughts, by clothing them in words."

"My thoughts are not unmeaning," continued Roderick, in a louder and far bolder strain. "If his peace or happiness be dear to you, do not yet leave him. Tell him of his high and honourable name of his youth; of that gentle and virtuous being that he once so fondly loved, and whose memory, even now, he worships. Speak to him of these, as you know how to speak; and, on my life, his ear will not be deaf, his heart cannot be callous to your words."

"The urchin is mad!"

"I am not mad; or, if maddened, it is by the crimes, the dangers, of those I love. Oh! Mr Wilder, do not leave him. Since you have been among us, he is nearer to what I know he once was, than formerly. Take away that mistaken statement of your force; threats do but harden him: As a friend admonish; but hope for nothing as a minister of vengeance. You know not the fearful nature of the man, or you would not attempt to stop a torrent.

Now--now speak to him; for, see, his eye is already growing kinder."

"It is in pity, boy, to witness how thy reason wavers."

"Had it never swerved more than at this moment Walter, another need not be called upon to speak between thee and me! My words would then have been regarded, my voice would then have been loud enough to be heard. Why are you dumb? a single happy syllable might now save him."

"Wilder, the child is frightened by this counting of guns and numbering of people. He fears the anger of your anointed master. Go; give him place in your boat, and recommend him to the mercy of your superior."

"Away, away!" cried Roderick. "I shall not, will not, cannot leave you.

Who is there left for me in this world but you?"

"Yes," continued the Rover, whose forced calmness of expression had changed to one of deep and melancholy musing; "it will indeed be better thus. See, here is much gold; you will commend him to the care of that admirable woman who already watches one scarcely less helpless, though possibly less--"

"Guilty! speak the word boldly, Walter. I have earned the epithet, and shall not shrink to hear it spoken. Look," he said, taking the ponderous bag which had been extended towards Wilder, and holding it high above his head, in scorn, "this can I cast from me; but the tie which binds me to you shall never be broken."

As he spoke, the lad approached an open window of the cabin; a splash upon the water was heard, and then a treasure, that might have furnished a competence to moderate wishes, was lost for ever to the uses of those who had created its value. The lieutenant of the "Dart" turned in haste to deprecate the anger of the Rover; but his eye could trace, in the features of the lawless chief, no other emotion than a pity which was discoverable even through his calm and unmoved smile.

"Roderick would make but a faithless treasurer," he said. "Still it is not too late to restore him to his friends. The loss of the gold can be repaired; but, should any serious calamity befall the boy, I might never regain a perfect peace of mind."

"Then keep him near yourself," murmured the lad, whose vehemence had seemingly expended itself. "Go, Mr Wilder, go; your boat is waiting; a longer stay will be without an object."

"I fear it will!" returned our adventurer, who had not ceased, during the previous dialogue, to keep his look fastened, in manly commiseration, on the countenance of the boy; "I greatly fear it will!--Since I have come the messenger of another, Captain Heidegger it is your province to supply a fitting answer to my proposition."

The Rover took him by the arm, and led him to a position whence they might look upon the outer scene. Then, pointing upward at his spars, and making his companion observe the small quant.i.ty of sail he carried, he simply said, "Sir, you are a seaman and may judge of my intentions by this sight I shall neither seek nor avoid your boasted cruiser of King George."

Chapter x.x.x.

--"Front to front, Bring thou this fiend---- Within my sword's length set him; if he 'scape, Heaven forgive him too!"--_Macbeth._

"You have brought the grateful submission of the pirate to my offers!"

exclaimed the sanguine Commander of the "Dart" to his messenger, as the foot of the latter once more touched his deck.

"I bring nothing but defiance!" was the unexpected reply.

"Did you exhibit my statement? Surely, Mr Ark so material a doc.u.ment was not forgotten!"

"Nothing was forgotten that the warmest interest in his safety could suggest, Captain Bignall. Still the chief of yonder lawless ship refuses to hearken to your conditions."

"Perhaps, sir, he imagines that the 'Dart' is defective in some of her spars," returned the hasty old seaman, compressing his lips, with a look of wounded pride; "he may hope to escape by pressing the canvas on his own light-heeled ship."

"Does that look like flight?" demanded Wilder, extending an arm towards the nearly naked spars and motionless hull of their neighbour. "The utmost I can obtain is an a.s.surance that he will not be the a.s.sailant."

"'Fore George, he is a merciful youth! and one that should be commended for his moderation! He will not run his disorderly, picarooning company under the guns of a British man-of-war, because he owes a little reverence to the flag of his master! Hark ye, Mr Ark, we will remember the circ.u.mstance when questioned at the Old Bailey. Send the people to their guns, sir, and ware the ship round, to put an end at once to this foolery, or we shall have him sending a boat aboard to examine our commissions."

"Captain Bignall," said Wilder, leading his Commander still further from the ears of their inferiors, "I may lay some little claim to merit for services done under your own eyes, and in obedience to your orders. If my former conduct may give me a t.i.tle to presume to counsel one of your great experience, suffer me to urge a short delay."

"Delay! Does Henry Ark hesitate, when the enemies of his King, nay more, the enemies of man, are daring him to his duty!"

"Sir, you mistake me. I hesitate, in order that the flag under which we sail may be free from stain, and not with any intent of avoiding the combat. Our enemy, _my_ enemy knows that he has nothing now to expect, for his past generosity, but kindness, should he become our captive. Still, Captain Bignall, I ask for time, to prepare the 'Dart' for a conflict that will try all her boasted powers, and to insure a victory that will not be bought without a price."

"But should he escape"--

"On my life he will not attempt it. I not only know the man, but how formidable are his means of resistance. A short half hour will put us in the necessary condition, and do no discredit either to our spirit or to our prudence."

The veteran yielded a reluctant consent, which was not, however, accorded without much muttering concerning the disgrace a British man-of-war incurred in not running alongside the boldest pirate that floated, and blowing him out of water, with a single match. Wilder, who was accustomed to the honest professional bravados that often formed a peculiar embellishment to the really firm and manly resolution of the seamen of that age, permitted him to make his plaints at will, while he busied himself in a manner that he knew was now of the last importance and in a duty that properly came under his more immediate inspection, in consequence of the station he occupied.

The "order for all hands to clear ship for action" was again given, and received in the cheerful temper with which mariners are wont to welcome any of the more important changes of their exciting profession. Little remained, however, to be done; for most of the previous preparations had still been left, as at the original meeting of the two vessels. Then came the beat to quarters, and the more serious and fearful-looking preparations for certain combat. After these several arrangements had been completed, the crew at their guns, the sail-trimmers at the braces, and the officers in their several batteries, the after-yards were swung, and the ship once more put in motion.

During this brief interval, the vessel of the Rover lay, at the distance of half a mile, in a state of entire rest, without betraying the smallest interest in the obvious movements of her hostile neighbour. When, however, the "Dart" was seen yielding to the breeze, and gradually increasing her velocity, until the water was gathering under her fore-foot in a little rolling wave of foam, the bows of the other fell off from the direction of the wind, the topsail was filled, and, in her turn, the hull was held in command, by giving to it the impetus of motion. The "Dart" now set again at her gaff that broad field which had been lowered during the conference, and which had floated in triumph through the hazards and struggles of a thousand combats. No answering emblem, however was exhibited from the peak of her adversary.

In this manner the two ships "gathered way," as it is expressed in nautical language, watching each other with eyes as jealous as though they had been two rival monsters of the great deep, each endeavouring to conceal from his antagonist the evolution contemplated next. The earnest, serious manner of Wilder had not failed to produce its influence on the straight-minded seaman who commanded the 'Dart;' and, by this time, he was as much disposed as his lieutenant to approach the conflict leisurely, and with proper caution.

The day had hitherto been cloudless, and a vault of purer blue never canopied a waste of water, than the arch which had swept for hours above the heads of our marine adventurers. But, as if nature frowned on their present b.l.o.o.d.y designs, a dark, threatening ma.s.s of vapour was blending the ocean with the sky, in a direction opposed to the steady currents of the air, These well-known and ominous signs did not escape the vigilance of those who manned the hostile vessels, but the danger was still deemed too remote to interrupt the higher interests of the approaching combat.

"We have a squall brewing in the west," said the experienced and wary Bignall, pointing to the frowning symptoms as he spoke; "but we can handle the pirate, and get all snug again, before it works its way up against this breeze."

Wilder a.s.sented; for, by this time, high professional pride was swelling in his bosom also, and a generous rivalry was getting the mastery of feelings that were possibly foreign to his duty, however natural they might have been in one as open to kindness as himself.

"The Rover is sending down even his lighter masts!" exclaimed the youth; "it would seem that he greatly distrusts the weather."