Voices; Birth-Marks; The Man and the Elephant Part 30

"These three, with Antonio, the cook, and I swam to the rock and after much labor lowered the boat and pulled ash.o.r.e. It was fitted out as required by the ship's rules, with a set of oars, a small cask of water, like the one we had found on the beach, a case of biscuits and a small sail; all securely strapped inside. By overloading, it might have kept afloat with eighteen persons. Out of a crew of ninety-two, twenty-seven of us had survived the wreck; of these two had broken legs, one a broken back and several broken or dislocated arms; and all were cut and bruised by the jagged rocks.

"It was decided that we five who brought the boat ash.o.r.e should have places in the boat as also thirteen others who should draw lots, and so all did except the man with the broken back.

"While Clark and his two companions again made search for food and water we prepared and launched the boat, tying it to a stake awaiting their return.

"Five men who had lost out in the drawing, arming themselves with heavy clubs from the wreckage, rushed out, climbed into the boat and shoved out to deep water. There they rested, saying: 'Ten more may swim out to us, one at a time, and we will let them aboard.' So again those of us on the beach drew lots, disregarding the claims of the badly crippled and the three absent men. As each lucky man drew a place he swam out and was hauled aboard. After the boat was loaded, as there was ample room for another man, we agreed to wait off sh.o.r.e until the three hunters returned and take one of them in with us.

"In a little while they came running towards the beach pursued by a troop of Arabs, camel-back and carrying long muskets and great curved knives.

"The man, Clark, seeing the boat some distance from the sh.o.r.e, loaded and pulling away, turned towards the Arabs and held up his hands in surrender. One of them, dismounting, bound his hands behind his back.

The others rode forward to the water's edge and fired a volley at us.

Two of the five men who had captured our boat were killed, the others were unhurt. Then we pulled out beyond musket range.

"The Arabs killed the crippled men; then they drank the water from the cask and divided the flour and other stores, including the clothing of the dead sailors; but as they considered the pork unfit food for a true believer, made signs to the prisoners to divide it up and carry it for their food; and each made a small bundle wrapping it in sc.r.a.ps of sail cloth. They also made signs for them to drink from the cask and after they had finished one of the camels drank the remainder. Then driving their prisoners before them they disappeared among the sand hills.

"When we were satisfied they were no longer in the vicinity, we came ash.o.r.e for a short while, then setting up the sail, sailed northward along the coast.

"Our boat seemed to be leaking, and the water in the bottom soon became discolored by the blood of the two sailors the Arabs had killed and by the dirt from our shoes. When several asked for a drink, our lieutenant, the only officer who survived and who had a.s.sumed command, examining the cask, discovered that it had been perforated by a bullet and that more than two-thirds of the water had leaked out and run into the boat.

"Telling us what had happened, he forbade anyone to drink from the cask, saying: 'We have at least a hundred mile voyage before us. One drink a day for each man is all you can have. If you are thirsty drink the water in the bottom of the boat, it is fresh.' He set the example by doing so; and more than half of us within the hour drank our fill of the dirty, blood-discolored water; and we nine who drank were the only ones who lived to reach the coast of Spain.

"The man, Clark, I am satisfied, is alive, but held as prisoner or slave by some Barbary pirate or desert chief."

This finished the sailor's narrative. Mr. Campbell and the Captain were both satisfied that he had told them the truth and realized that it was useless to pursue the investigation or unaided attempt the rescue of David Clark. The only hope lay in his escape if near the coast; if in the interior, which was very probable, only Captain Eaton, the United States minister, dealing directly with the Barbary powers could effect his rescue. There was nothing for John to do but return to New Orleans and this he did on the return trip of the vessel.

There, having told Daniel Clark what he had learned, he asked his a.s.sistance in finding a way to return to Kentucky, and was told:

"That is easy. Governor Miro is sending some papers to Colonel Portell of New Madrid, and Mr. Owen, his messenger, leaves tomorrow in a pirogue and can make room for you. The boat you came down on left three days ago, but you can soon overtake it. We will hunt up Mr. Owen. Be sure not to tell him you are unfriendly to Wilkinson."

When Mr. Owen learned that John was a friend of Mr. Clark's and an experienced river man he readily consented, saying: "It seems providential, we are short-handed, the pirogue is a large one and a good hand with a paddle quite an acquisition. I have three men but need a fourth. If you make the trip through to New Madrid I will pay you regular wages."

John was a.s.signed the seat in the stern and Mr. Owen took the one next to him. Between them he placed three small kegs, which he looked after very carefully, saying: "They contain gun powder, which is badly needed at New Madrid. It is not much of a supply but will last until the arrival of the barge which follows us." This John believed, until he had occasion to move one of the kegs to make room for his feet, then he was convinced by the weight and a jingling noise, that they contained coin.

The three men who had been hired for the journey proved to be adepts with the paddle; and hugging the sh.o.r.e to avoid the current they made good headway. On the seventh day they pa.s.sed the boat on which John had made the down trip and in due course arrived at New Madrid where the three kegs and some papers were delivered to Colonel Portell, the commandant of the fort.

After remaining several days they boarded a galiot commanded by Captain Langois and were carried to the mouth of the Ohio. There the vessel tied up, the pirogue was relaunched, the kegs placed in it and the original crew, supplemented by two Spaniards from the galiot, paddled off up the Ohio.

John felt apprehensive of the rivermen and so informed Mr. Owen. He even suggested that when night came they should conceal the three kegs in the forest and travel along the river bank until they could find a canoe, when they could return for them. It was impossible to take their own as two of the rivermen slept in it.

Mr. Owen first laughed at this suggestion; then grew suspicious of John, thinking it was his purpose to separate him from his companions and rob, possibly murder, him. When he expressed his suspicions, John became offended and refused to accompany him further, though he again warned him against the designs of his companions; at which Mr. Owen, with an oath, jumped into the canoe and ordered the men to shove off, leaving John on the bank. Calling a good-bye he wished them a successful voyage to Fort Washington, their destination; then turned into the forest and two weeks later arrived at Campbell Station.

Some months later, he learned from Daniel Clark that the three kegs had contained six thousand dollars, sent by Governor Miro to General Wilkinson, who was then stationed at Fort Washington; and that Owen had been murdered by his crew for the money. Three of them were apprehended, and though guilty were permitted to escape, for fear that at their trial it might be disclosed that the money was the pension of Wilkinson and Sebastian.

John had been four months from home. As he drew near he saw his wife standing in the doorway, looking down the road, watching for his coming.

When she saw him she held high their infant son, now almost two months old.

"* * * And how have you been?"

"As happy as were possible with you away. What do you think of the boy?

Stop kissing me and look at him."

"What a fine little fellow, a soul entrusted to our keeping. How can a woman endure to live without being a mother? See how he smiles into our faces; not that he knows us; but he looks through the gates of heaven and takes us for angels. Son, I guess your mother thinks you know me, but your only thoughts are of heaven and your stomach. In an instinctive way he likes you about; he connects you with the joy of living."

"John! John! He thinks of you. He knows his father. Look how he opens wide his eyes and smiles into your face. I do believe he approves of his father-the little darling! Oh, you little deserter; you would leave your mother for him and after what he has said. That's it; hold out your arms pleading: 'Father take me in your strong arms; I will come back to mother when I am hungry.' Oh, what a wonderful boy! Just two months old!

Just like his father!"

"Oh wonderful son, that can so astonish a mother."

The day following his return John rode over into Powell's Valley, where Robert Marshall, who was subst.i.tuting for him, was conducting a series of meetings. The people of the district liked Mr. Marshall, but told John that no one could ever fill his place.

He was also told that the people of Lincoln county, which at that time embraced nearly a fifth of Kentucky, were going to send him as delegate to the Const.i.tutional Convention, which was to a.s.semble at Danville on April 2, 1792, to draft the const.i.tution for the new state, which was to be admitted into the Union on June 1, 1792.

At first he demurred; but when not only his neighbors but delegations from distant points in the county came to see him and insisted, he consented; giving all to understand that he would only run as an anti-slavery candidate; as did also Rev. David Rice and James Crawford, two other Presbyterian preacher candidates.

They were elected in December, 1791; and when the convention a.s.sembled quickly ascertained that the only real controversy was upon the issue of slavery or no-slavery for the new state.

The const.i.tution as adopted was modeled after that of the United States, which in turn had been modeled after that of Virginia. This was quite logical as Kentucky had been settled by Virginians. Such modifications as were made in the instrument exhibit a more democratic spirit than the Virginia instrument. For the first time in the history of any state, all male citizens of age were given the right of suffrage, excepting only men convicted of felony and not pardoned. Ministers of the gospel were excluded from legislative bodies, a relict of British Conformist prejudice. No provision was made for a public school system. Slavery was recognized and approved after the bitter fight of the convention; though the opposition succeeded in placing in the const.i.tution many limiting restrictions.

The leaders who fought out this issue ably seconded by their followers were David Rice and George Nicholas. Father Rice resigned on April 14, and was succeeded by Mr. Innes, who voted as his district instructed, against slavery; though he lacked the zeal for the cause that had fired his predecessor.

Article IX of the const.i.tution dealing with slavery had been drafted by Nicholas. After many amendments, a motion was made to expunge it from the const.i.tution. A vote on the motion was taken on April 18, and the record shows that all the ministers who were members of the convention voted in the affirmative. The motion was lost by a vote of 16 yeas and 26 nays. There were some who charged that the clause in the const.i.tution providing that ministers of the gospel should be excluded from legislative bodies was due to the unanimity of their vote in opposition to slavery.

CHAPTER XVIII.-State Rights.

As the non-conformist preachers of Virginia were aggressive men, so were the early preachers of Kentucky.

In Virginia they fought for religious freedom and social liberty; in Kentucky William McKendrie, Father Rice and such men fought to preserve Kentucky to the Union and to embody in her first const.i.tution provisions to abolish slavery. Some years after she was admitted to the Union, as militant preachers they used their power of thought, speech and example to curb a strong anti-federalist sentiment that would have torn her from the Union upon the issues presented by the Genet Mission, in sympathy for France against England and Spain; in opposition to Jay's policies and the Federal alien and sedition laws. The state was strongly anti-federal; and Jefferson its political idol.

The early citizens of Kentucky, limited in resource for entertainment, organized in the large towns debating clubs or societies which held weekly meetings. Debates upon religious and political subjects were common and popular. It is said, where two or three Kentuckians are gathered together, there will a speech be made.

Reference has heretofore been made to the political club at Danville, one of this kind; but such clubs were succeeded by those of anti-federalist tendencies. In August, 1793, a club of French sympathizers, known as The Lexington Democratic Society, was organized at Lexington and others of like character at Paris and Georgetown.

There were several cogent reasons why Kentuckians should sympathize with France in the war she was then waging with England and Spain. The American colonies in return for aid in the Revolution had bound themselves to France in any defensive war she should be forced into with Great Britain. In addition resentment against the British was at fever heat, because they continued to hold the forts of the Northwest Territory despite the treaty of 1783 and the officers in charge of the forts aided and abetted the Indians to intermittently raid the settlements of Ohio and Kentucky. Again, Kentuckians desired the United States to become an ally of France; in which event it would give them the opportunity to procure by force of arms the free navigation of the Mississippi; which the Spaniards controlled and hedged about with such commercial restrictions as to create a bitter hatred in Kentucky against Spain.

When Washington by proclamation of April 22, 1793, declared this country's neutrality in the then war in which France was engaged, Citizen Edmund Charles Genet, the agent in the United States of the new French Republic, did everything in his power to excite opposition against the federal government, by organizing political clubs in communities where French sympathy was strong, and his agents were most successful in Kentucky.

Seeing the hopelessness of procuring direct aid from the United States he concentrated his efforts in an attempt to excite Kentucky and the western country into making a river attack upon New Orleans, thus hoping to force war between Spain and the United States.

In November, 1793, five of his agents came to Kentucky. They conferred with General George Rogers Clark and prevailed upon him to accept a French commission as "Major General of the armies of France and Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Legions of the Mississippi."

General Clark issued a proclamation to the effect that each person partic.i.p.ating in the planned expedition against New Orleans should receive a great boundary of land in payment for his services, or, if he preferred it, be paid one dollar a day; and that all should share in the plunder taken. His reputation was such and the scheme so enticing that many volunteered.

The Kentucky Gazette, a Lexington paper, on October 12, 1793, declared editorially: