Captain Canot; Or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver
had occurred beyond the ordinary routine of factory life. But, not so,
alas! my knight of the single epaulette.
"This is a pretty business, sir;" said the lieutenant, fixing a look
on me which was designed to annihilate; striding up and down the
piazza, "a _very_ pretty business, I repeat! Pray, Commodore, Consul,
Don, Senor, Mister, Monsieur, Theodore Canot, or whatever the devil
else you please to call yourself, how long do you intend to keep
British officers prisoners in your infernal slave den?"
Now it is very likely that some years before, or if I had not
contrived the plot of this little naval _contre temps_, I might have
burst forth in a beautiful rage, and given my petulant and foiled
visitor a specimen of my Spanish vocabulary, which would not have
rested pleasantly in the memory of either party. But as _he_ warmed
_I_ cooled. His rage, in fact, was a fragment of my practical satire,
and I took special delight in beholding the contortions caused by my
physic.
"Sit down, sit down, lieutenant!" returned I very composedly, "we're
about to have coffee, and you are my _guest_. Nothing, lieutenant,
ever permits me to neglect the duties of hospitality in such an
out-of-the-way and solitary place as Africa. Sit down, doctor! Calm
yourselves, gentlemen. Take example by _me_! Your Bonito is probably
playing the devil with one of Don Pedro's craft by this time; but that
don't put me out of temper, or _make me unmannerly_ to gentlemen who
honor my bamboo hut with their presence!" I laid peculiar stress, by
way of accent, on the word "unmannerly," and in a moment I saw the
field was in my hands.
"Yes, gentlemen," continued I, "I comprehend very well both your duty
and responsibility; but, now that I see you are calmer, have the
kindness to say _in what_ I am to blame? Did you not come here to
'blockade' New Sestros, with a brig and provisions for half a year?
And do I prevent your embarkation, if you can find any Krooman willing
to take you on board? Nay, did either of you apprise me, as is
customary when folks go visiting, that you designed leaving my
quarters at so early an hour as to afford me the pleasure of seeing
every thing in order for your accommodation? Come now, my good
fellows, New Sestros is _my_ flagship, as the Bonito is _yours_! No
body stirs from this beach without the wink from its Commodore; and I
shall be much surprised to hear such excellent disciplinarians dispute
the propriety of my rule. Nevertheless, as you feel anxious to be gone
on an independent cruise, you shall be furnished with a canoe
_instanter_!"
"An offer," interjected the surgeon, "which it would be d----d
nonsense to accept! Have done with your infernal sneering, Don Teodor;
strike your flag, Mr. Lieutenant; and let the darkies bring in the
breakfast!"
I have narrated this little anecdote to show that Spanish slavers
sometimes ventured to have a little fun with the British lion, and
that when we got him on his haunches, his month full of beef and his
fore paws in air, he was by no means the unamiable beast he is
described to be, when, in company with the _unicorn_, he goes
"a-fighting for the crown!"
CHAPTER LIX.
The balance of life vibrated considerably on the African coast.
Sometimes Mr. Bull's scale ascended and sometimes the Slaver's. It was
now the turn of the former to be exalted for a while by way of revenge
for my forced hospitality.
Our friends of the Bonito held on with provoking pertinacity in front
of my factory, so that I was troubled but little with company from
Cuba for several months. At last, however, it became necessary that I
should visit a neighboring colony for supplies, and I took advantage
of a Russian trader along the coast to effect my purpose. But when we
were within sight of our destination, a British cruiser brought us to
and visited the "Galopsik." As her papers were in order, and the
vessel altogether untainted, I took it for granted that Lieutenant
Hill would make a short stay and be off to his "Saracen." Yet, a
certain "slave deck," and an unusual quantity of water-casks, aroused
the officer's suspicions, so that instead of heading for our port, we
were unceremoniously favored with a prize crew, and ordered to Sierra
Leone!
I did not venture to protest against these movements, inasmuch as I
had no interest whatever in the craft, but I ventured to suggest that
"as I was only a _passenger_, there could be no objection to my
landing before the new voyage was commenced."
"By no means, sir," was the prompt reply, "_your presence is a
material fact for the condemnation of the vessel_!" Indeed, I soon
found out that I was recognized by some of the Kroomen on the cruiser,
and my unlucky reputation was a hole in the bottom of our Russian
craft!
At Sierra Leone matters became worse. The Court did not venture to
condemn the Russian, but resolved on ordering her to England; and when
I re-stated my reasonable appeal for release, I was told that I must
accompany the vessel on her visit to Great Britain.
This arbitrary decision of our captors sadly disconcerted my plans. A
voyage to England would ruin New Sestros. My _barracoons_ were alive
with blacks, but I had not a month's provisions in my stores. The
clerk, temporarily in charge, was altogether unfit to conduct a
factory during a prolonged absence,--and all my personal property, as
well as Don Pedro's, was at the hazard of his judgment during a period
of considerable difficulty.
I resolved to take "French leave."
Three men-of-war were anchored astern and on our bows. No boats were
allowed to approach us from shore; at night two marines and four
sailors paraded the deck, so that it was a thing of some peril to
dream of escape in the face of such Arguses. Yet there was no help for
it. I could not afford an Admiralty or Chancery suit in England, while
my _barracoons_ were foodless in Africa.
No one had been removed from the Russian since her seizure, nor were
we denied liberty of motion and intercourse so long as suspicion had
not ripened into legal condemnation. The captain, by birth a Spaniard,
was an old acquaintance, while the steward and boatswain were good
fellows who professed willingness to aid me in any exploit I might
devise for my liberty.
I hit upon the plan of a regular carouse; and at once decided that my
Spanish skipper was bound to keep his birthday with commendable
merriment and abundant grog. There was to be no delay; one day was as
good as another for his festival, while all that we needed, was time
enough to obtain the requisite supplies of food and fluid.
This was soon accomplished, and the "fatted pig" slaughtered for the
feast. As I never left home unprovided with gold, means were not
wanting to stock our pantry with champagne as well as brandy.
Every thing went off to a charm. We fed like gluttons and drank like
old-fashioned squires. Bumper after bumper was quaffed to the captain.
Little by little, the infection spread, as it always does, from the
wardroom to the cabin, and "goodfellowship" was the watchword of the
night. Invitations were given and accepted by our prize crew. Bull and
the Lion again relaxed under the spell of beef and brandy, so that by
sundown every lip had tasted our _eau de vie_, and watered for more.
The "first watch" found every soul on board, with the exception of our
corporal of marines, as happy as lords.
This corporal was a regular "character;" and, from the first, had been
feared as our stumbling-block. He was a perfect martinet; a prim,
precise, black-stock'd, military, Miss Nancy. He neither ate nor
drank, neither talked nor smiled, but paraded the deck with a grim air
of iron severity, as if resolved to preserve his own "discipline" if
he could not control that of any one else. I doubt very much whether
her Majesty has in her service a more dutiful loyalist than Corporal
Blunt, if that excellent functionary has not succumbed to African
malaria.
I hoped that something would occur to melt the corporal's heart during
the evening, and had prepared a little vial in my pocket, which, at
least, would have given him a stirless nap of twenty-four hours. But
nothing broke the charm of his spell-bound sobriety. There he marched,
to and fro, regular as a drum tap, hour after hour, stiff and
inexorable as a ramrod!
But who, after the fall of Corporal Blunt, shall declare that there is
a living man free from the lures of betrayal? And yet, he only
surrendered to an enemy in disguise!
"God bless me, corporal," said our prize lieutenant, "in the name of
all that's damnable, why don't you let out a reef or two from those
solemn cheeks of yours, and drink a bumper to Captain Gaspard and Don
Teodor? You ain't afraid of _cider_, are you?"
"_Cider_, captain?" said the corporal, advancing to the front and
throwing up his hand with a military salute.
"Cider and be d----d to you!" returned the lieutenant. "Cider--of
course, corporal; what other sort of pop can starving wretches like us
drink in Sary-loney?"
"Well, lieutenant," said the corporal, "if so be as how them fizzing
bottles which yonder Spanish gentleman is a-pourin' down is _only
cider_; and if cider ain't agin rules after 'eight bells;' and if you,
lieutenant, orders me to handle my glass,--I don't see what right I
have to disobey the orders of my superior!"
"Oh! blast your sermon and provisos," interjected the lieutenant,
filling a tumbler and handing it to the corporal, who drained it at a
draught. In a moment the empty glass was returned to the lieutenant,
who, instead of receiving it from the subaltern, refilled the tumbler.
"Oh, I'm sure I'm a thousand times obliged, lieutenant," said Blunt,
with his left hand to his cap, "a thousand, thousand times,
lieutenant,--but I'd rather take no more, if it's all the same to your
honor."
"But it ain't, Blunt, by any means; the rule is universal among
gentlemen on ship and ashore, that whenever a fellow's glass is
filled, he must drink it to the dregs, though he may leave a drop in
the bottom to pour out on the table in honor of his sweetheart;--so,
down with the cider! And now Blunt, my boy, that you've calked your
_first_ nail-head, I insist upon a bumper all round to that sweetheart
you were just talking of!"
"_Me_, lieutenant?"
"_You_, corporal!"
"I wasn't talking about any sweetheart, as I remembers,
lieutenant;--'pon the honor of a soldier, I haven't had no such a
thing this twenty years, since one warm summer's afternoon, when
Jane----"
"Now, corporal, you don't pretend to contradict your superior officer,
I hope. You don't intend to be the first man on this ship to show a
mutinous example!"
"Oh! God bless me, lieutenant, the thought never entered my brain!"
But the third tumbler of champagne _did_, in the apple-blossom
disguise of "_cider_;" and, in half an hour, there wasn't an odder
figure on deck than the poor corporal, whose vice-like stock steadied
his neck, though there was nothing that could make him toe the plank
which he pertinaciously insisted on promenading. Blunt the immaculate,
was undeniably drunk!
In fact,--though I say it with all possible respect for her Majesty's
naval officers, _while on duty_,--there was, by this time, hardly a
sober man on deck or in the cabin except myself and the Spanish
captain, who left me to engage the prize-officer in a game of
backgammon or dominoes. The crew was dozing about the decks, or
nodding over the taffrail, while my colleague, the boatswain, prepared
an oar on the forecastle to assist me in reaching the beach.
It was near midnight when I stripped in my state-room, leaving my
garments in the berth, and hanging my watch over its pillow. In a
small bundle I tied a flannel shirt and a pair of duck pantaloons,