The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea Read online

  CHAPTER I

  "Sullen waves, incessant rolling, Rudely dash'd against her sides." _Song_

  A single glance at the map will make the reader acquainted with theposition of the eastern coast of the Island of Great Britain, asconnected with the shores of the opposite continent. Together they formthe boundaries of the small sea that has for ages been known to theworld as the scene of maritime exploits, and as the great avenue throughwhich commerce and war have conducted the fleets of the northern nationsof Europe. Over this sea the islanders long asserted a jurisdiction,exceeding that which reason concedes to any power on the highwayof nations, and which frequently led to conflicts that caused anexpenditure of blood and treasure, utterly disproportioned to theadvantages that can ever arise from the maintenance of a useless andabstract right. It is across the waters of this disputed ocean thatwe shall attempt to conduct our readers, selecting a period for ourincidents that has a peculiar interest for every American, not onlybecause it was the birthday of his nation, but because it was also theera when reason and common sense began to take the place of custom andfeudal practices in the management of the affairs of nations.

  Soon after the events of the revolution had involved the kingdoms ofFrance and Spain, and the republics of Holland, in our quarrel, a groupof laborers was collected in a field that lay exposed to the windsof the ocean, on the north-eastern coast of England. These men werelightening their toil, and cheering the gloom of a day in December, byuttering their crude opinions on the political aspects of the times. Thefact that England was engaged in a war with some of her dependencies onthe other side of the Atlantic had long been known to them, after themanner that faint rumors of distant and uninteresting events gain on theear; but now that nations, with whom she had been used to battle, werearmed against her in the quarrel, the din of war had disturbed the quieteven of these secluded and illiterate rustics. The principal speakers,on the occasion, were a Scotch drover, who was waiting the leisure ofthe occupant of the fields, and an Irish laborer, who had found hisway across the Channel, and thus far over the island, in quest ofemployment.

  "The Nagurs wouldn't have been a job at all for ould England, lettingalone Ireland," said the latter, "if these French and Spanishers hadn'tbeen troubling themselves in the matter. I'm sure its but little reasonI have for thanking them, if a man is to kape as sober as a praist atmass, for fear he should find himself a souldier, and he knowing nothingabout the same."

  "Hoot! mon! ye ken but little of raising an airmy in Ireland, if ye mak'a drum o' a whiskey keg," said the drover, winking to the listeners."Noo, in the north, they ca' a gathering of the folk, and follow thepipes as graciously as ye wad journey kirkward o' a Sabbath morn. I'veseen a' the names o' a Heeland raj'ment on a sma' bit paper, that yemight cover wi' a leddy's hand. They war' a' Camerons and M'Donalds,though they paraded sax hundred men! But what ha' ye gotten here! Thatchield has an ow'r liking to the land for a seafaring body; an' if thebottom o' the sea be onything like the top o't, he's in gr'at danger o'a shipwreck!"

  This unexpected change in the discourse drew all eyes on the objecttoward which the staff of the observant drover was pointed. To the utteramazement of every individual present, a small vessel was seen movingslowly round a point of land that formed one of the sides of the littlebay, to which the field the laborers were in composed the other. Therewas something very peculiar in the externals of this unusual visitor,which added in no small degree to the surprise created by her appearancein that retired place. None but the smallest vessels, and those rarely,or, at long intervals, a desperate smuggler, were ever known to ventureso close to the land, amid the sand-bars and sunken rocks with whichthat immediate coast abounded. The adventurous mariners who nowattempted this dangerous navigation in so wanton, and, apparently,so heedless a manner, were in a low black schooner, whose hull seemedutterly disproportioned to the raking masts it upheld, which, in theirturn, supported a lighter set of spars, that tapered away until theirupper extremities appeared no larger than the lazy pennant, that in vainendeavored to display its length in the light breeze.

  The short day of that high northern latitude was already drawing to aclose, and the sun was throwing his parting rays obliquely across thewaters, touching the gloomy waves here and there with streaks of palelight. The stormy winds of the German Ocean were apparently lulledto rest; and, though the incessant rolling of the surge on the shoreheightened the gloomy character of the hour and the view, the lightripple that ruffled the sleeping billows was produced by a gentleair, that blew directly from the land. Notwithstanding this favorablecircumstance, there was something threatening in the aspect of theocean, which was speaking in hollow but deep murmurs, like a volcanoon the eve of an eruption, that greatly heightened the feelings ofamazement and dread with which the peasants beheld this extraordinaryinterruption to the quiet of their little bay. With no other sailsspread to the action of the air than her heavy mainsail, and one ofthose light jibs that projected far beyond her bows, the vessel glidedover the water with a grace and facility that seemed magical to thebeholders, who turned their wondering looks from the schooner to eachother in silent amazement. At length the drover spoke in a low solemnvoice:

  "He's a bold chield that steers her! and if that bit craft has wood inher bottom, like the brigantines that ply between Lon'on and the Frithat Leith, he's in mair danger than a prudent mon could wish. Ay! he'sby the big rock that shows his head when the tide runs low, but it'sno mortal man who can steer long in the road he's journeying and notspeedily find land wi' water a-top o't."

  The little schooner, however, still held her way among the rocks andsand-pits, making such slight deviations in her course as proved her tobe under the direction of one who knew his danger, until she entered asfar into the bay as prudence could at all justify, when her canvas wasgathered into folds, seemingly without the agency of hands, and thevessel, after rolling for a few minutes on the long billows that hove infrom the ocean, swung round in the currents of the tide, and was held byher anchor.

  The peasants now began to make their conjectures more freely concerningthe character and object of their visitor; some intimating that she wasengaged in contraband trade, and others that her views were hostile, andher business war. A few dark hints were hazarded on the materiality ofher construction, for nothing of artificial formation, it was urged,would be ventured by men in such a dangerous place, at a time when eventhe most inexperienced landsman was enabled to foretell the certaingale. The Scotchman, who, to all the sagacity of his countrymen, addedno small portion of their superstition, leaned greatly to the latterconclusion, and had begun to express this sentiment warily withreverence, when the child of Erin, who appeared not to possess any verydefinite ideas on the subject interrupted him, by exclaiming:

  "Faith! there's two of them! a big and a little! sure the bogles of thesaa likes good company the same as any other Christians!"

  "Twa!" echoed the drover; "twa! ill luck bides o' some o' ye. Twa crafta sailing without hand to guide them, in sic a place as this, whar'eyesight is na guid enough to show the dangers, bodes evil to a' thatluik thereon. Hoot! she's na yearling the tither! Luik, mon! luik!she's a gallant boat, and a gr'at:" he paused, raised his pack fromthe ground, and first giving one searching look at the objects ofhis suspicions, he nodded with great sagacity to the listeners, andcontinued, as he moved slowly towards the interior of the country, "Ishould na wonder if she carried King George's commission aboot her:weel, weel, I wull journey upward to the town, and ha' a crack wi' thegood mon; for they craft have a suspeecious aspect, and the sma' bitthing wu'ld nab a mon quite easy, and the big ane wu'ld hold us a' andno feel we war' in her."

  This sagacious warning caused a general movement in the party, forthe intelligence of a hot press was among the rumors of the times. Thehusbandmen collected their implements of labor, and retired homewards;though many a curious eye was bent on the movements of the vessels fromthe distant hills, but very few of those not immediately interested inthe mysterious visito
rs ventured to approach the little rocky cliffsthat lined the bay.

  The vessel that occasioned these cautious movements was a gallant ship,whose huge hull, lofty masts, and square yards loomed in the evening'shaze, above the sea, like a distant mountain rising from the deep. Shecarried but little sail, and though she warily avoided the near approachto the land that the schooner had attempted, the similarity of theirmovements was sufficiently apparent to warrant the conjecture that theywere employed on the same duty. The frigate, for the ship belonged tothis class of vessels, floated across the entrance of the little bay,majestically in the tide, with barely enough motion through the water togovern her movements, until she arrived opposite to the place whereher consort lay, when she hove up heavily into the wind, squared theenormous yards on her mainmast, and attempted, in counteracting thepower of her sails by each other, to remain stationary; but the lightair that had at no time swelled her heavy canvas to the utmost beganto fail, and the long waves that rolled in from the ocean ceased to beruffled with the breeze from the land. The currents and the billowswere fast sweeping the frigate towards one of the points of the estuary,where the black heads of the rocks could be seen running far into thesea, and in their turn the mariners of the ship dropped an anchor to thebottom, and drew her sails in festoons to the yards. As the vessel swunground to the tide, a heavy ensign was raised to her peak, and a currentof air opening for a moment its folds, the white field and red cross,that distinguish the flag of England, were displayed to view. So mucheven the wary drover had loitered at a distance to behold; but when aboat was launched from either vessel, he quickened his steps,observing to his wondering and amused companions, that "they craft werea'thegither mair bonny to luik on than to abide wi'."

  A numerous crew manned the barge that was lowered from the frigate,which, after receiving an officer, with an attendant youth, left theship, and moved with a measured stroke of its oars directly towards thehead of the bay. As it passed at a short distance from the schooner alight whale-boat, pulled by four athletic men, shot from her side, andrather dancing over than cutting through the waves, crossed her coursewith a wonderful velocity. As the boats approached each other, the men,in obedience to signals from their officers, suspended their efforts,and for a few minutes they floated at rest, during which time there wasthe following dialogue:

  "Is the old man mad!" exclaimed the young officer in the whale-boat,when his men had ceased rowing; "does he think that the bottom of theAriel is made of iron, and that a rock can't knock a hole in it! or doeshe think she is manned with alligators, who can't be drowned!"

  A languid smile played for a moment round the handsome features of theyoung man, who was rather reclining than sitting in the stern-sheets ofthe barge, as he replied:

  "He knows your prudence too well, Captain Barnstable, to fear either thewreck of your vessel or the drowning of her crew. How near the bottomdoes your keel lie?"

  "I am afraid to sound," returned Barnstable. "I have never the heart totouch a lead-line when I see the rocks coming up to breathe like so manyporpoises."

  "You are afloat!" exclaimed the other, with a vehemence that denoted anabundance of latent fire.

  "Afloat!" echoed his friend; "ay, the little Ariel would float in air!"As he spoke, he rose in the boat, and lifting his leathern sea-cap fromhis head, stroked back the thick clusters of black locks which shadowedhis sun-burnt countenance, while he viewed his little vessel with thecomplacency of a seaman who was proud of her qualities. "But it's closework, Mr. Griffith, when a man rides to a single anchor in a place likethis, and at such a nightfall. What are the orders?"

  "I shall pull into the surf and let go a grapnel; you will take Mr.Merry into your whale-boat, and try to drive her through the breakers onthe beach."

  "Beach!" retorted Barnstable; "do you call a perpendicular rock of ahundred feet in height a beach!"

  "We shall not dispute about terms," said Griffith, smiling, "but youmust manage to get on the shore; we have seen the signal from the land,and know that the pilot, whom we have so long expected, is ready to comeoff."

  Barnstable shook his head with a grave air, as he muttered to himself,"This is droll navigation; first we run into an unfrequented bay that isfull of rocks, and sandpits, and shoals, and then we get off our pilot.But how am I to know him?"

  "Merry will give you the password, and tell you where to look for him.I would land myself, but my orders forbid it. If you meet withdifficulties, show three oar-blades in a row, and I will pull in to yourassistance. Three oars on end and a pistol will bring the fire of mymuskets, and the signal repeated from the barge will draw a shot fromthe ship."

  "I thank you, I thank you," said Barnstable, carelessly; "I believe Ican fight my own battles against all the enemies we are likely to fallin with on this coast. But the old man is surely mad, I would----"

  "You would obey his orders if he were here, and you will now please toobey mine," said Griffith, in a tone that the friendly expression of hiseye contradicted. "Pull in, and keep a lookout for a small man in a drabpea-jacket; Merry will give you the word; if he answer it, bring him offto the barge."

  The young men now nodded familiarly and kindly to each other, and theboy who was called Mr. Merry having changed his place from the bargeto the whale-boat, Barnstable threw himself into his seat, and making asignal with his hand, his men again bent to their oars. The light vesselshot away from her companion, and dashed in boldly towards the rocks;after skirting the shore for some distance in quest of a favorableplace, she was suddenly turned, and dashing over the broken waves, wasrun upon a spot where a landing could be effected in safety.

  In the mean time the barge followed these movements, at some distance,with a more measured progress, and when the whale-boat was observed tobe drawn up alongside of a rock, the promised grapnel was cast into thewater, and her crew deliberately proceeded to get their firearms in astate for immediate service. Everything appeared to be done in obedienceto strict orders that must have been previously communicated; forthe young man, who has been introduced to the reader by the name ofGriffith, seldom spoke, and then only in the pithy expressions thatare apt to fall from those who are sure of obedience. When the boat hadbrought up to her grapnel, he sunk back at his length on the cushionedseats of the barge, and drawing his hat over his eyes in a listlessmanner, he continued for many minutes apparently absorbed in thoughtsaltogether foreign to his present situation. Occasionally he rose, andwould first bend his looks in quest of his companions on the shore, andthen, turning his expressive eyes toward the ocean, the abstractedand vacant air, that so often usurped the place of animation andintelligence in his countenance, would give place to the anxious andintelligent look of a seaman gifted with an experience beyond his years.His weather beaten and hardy crew, having made their dispositions foroffence, sat in profound silence, with their hands thrust into thebosoms of their jackets, but with their eyes earnestly regarding everycloud that was gathering in the threatening atmosphere, and exchanginglooks of deep care, whenever the boat rose higher than usual on one ofthose long heavy groundswells, that were heaving in from the ocean withincreasing rapidity and magnitude.