The Pirate
and lifeless corpse. Beware of filial disobedience, for such are its
fruits!"
So saying, she arose and left the apartment, where Mordaunt remained
alone to meditate at leisure upon the extraordinary communication which
he had received. He himself had been taught by his father a disbelief in
the ordinary superstitions of Zetland; and he now saw that Norna,
however ingenious in duping others, could not altogether impose on
herself. This was a strong circumstance in favour of her sanity of
intellect; but, on the other hand, her imputing to herself the guilt of
parricide seemed so wild and improbable, as, in Mordaunt's opinion, to
throw much doubt upon her other assertions.
He had leisure enough to make up his mind on these particulars, for no
one approached the solitary dwelling, of which Norna, her dwarf, and he
himself, were the sole inhabitants. The Hoy island in which it stood is
rude, bold, and lofty, consisting entirely of three hills--or rather one
huge mountain divided into three summits, with the chasms, rents, and
valleys, which descend from its summit to the sea, while its crest,
rising to great height, and shivered into rocks which seem almost
inaccessible, intercepts the mists as they drive from the Atlantic,
and, often obscured from the human eye, forms the dark and unmolested
retreat of hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey.[34]
The soil of the island is wet, mossy, cold, and unproductive, presenting
a sterile and desolate appearance, excepting where the sides of small
rivulets, or mountain ravines, are fringed with dwarf bushes of birch,
hazel, and wild currant, some of them so tall as to be denominated
trees, in that bleak and bare country.
But the view of the sea-beach, which was Mordaunt's favourite walk, when
his convalescent state began to permit him to take exercise, had charms
which compensated the wild appearance of the interior. A broad and
beautiful sound, or strait, divides this lonely and mountainous island
from Pomona, and in the centre of that sound lies, like a tablet
composed of emerald, the beautiful and verdant little island of Græmsay.
On the distant Mainland is seen the town or village of Stromness, the
excellence of whose haven is generally evinced by a considerable number
of shipping in the roadstead, and, from the bay growing narrower, and
lessening as it recedes, runs inland into Pomona, where its tide fills
the fine sheet of water called the Loch of Stennis.
On this beach Mordaunt was wont to wander for hours, with an eye not
insensible to the beauties of the view, though his thoughts were
agitated with the most embarrassing meditations on his own situation. He
was resolved to leave the island as soon as the establishment of his
health should permit him to travel; yet gratitude to Norna, of whom he
was at least the adopted, if not the real son, would not allow him to
depart without her permission, even if he could obtain means of
conveyance, of which he saw little possibility. It was only by
importunity that he extorted from his hostess a promise, that, if he
would consent to regulate his motions according to her directions, she
would herself convey him to the capital of the Orkney Islands, when the
approaching Fair of Saint Olla should take place there.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] See an explanation of this promise, Note II. of this volume.
[33] Note V.--Character of Norna.
[34] Note VI.--Birds of Prey.
CHAPTER XIV.
Hark to the insult loud, the bitter sneer,
The fierce threat answering to the brutal jeer;
Oaths fly like pistol-shots, and vengeful words
Clash with each other like conflicting swords--
The robber's quarrel by such sounds is shown,
And true men have some chance to gain their own.
_Captivity, a Poem._
When Cleveland, borne off in triumph from his assailants in Kirkwall,
found himself once more on board the pirate-vessel, his arrival was
hailed with hearty cheers by a considerable part of the crew, who rushed
to shake hands with him, and offer their congratulations on his return;
for the situation of a Buccanier Captain raised him very little above
the level of the lowest of his crew, who, in all social intercourse,
claimed the privilege of being his equal.
When his faction, for so these clamorous friends might be termed, had
expressed their own greetings, they hurried Cleveland forward to the
stern, where Goffe, their present commander, was seated on a gun,
listening in a sullen and discontented mood to the shout which announced
Cleveland's welcome. He was a man betwixt forty and fifty, rather under
the middle size, but so very strongly made, that his crew used to
compare him to a sixty-four cut down. Black-haired, bull-necked, and
beetle-browed, his clumsy strength and ferocious countenance contrasted
strongly with the manly figure and open countenance of Cleveland, in
which even the practice of his atrocious profession had not been able to
eradicate a natural grace of motion and generosity of expression. The
two piratical Captains looked upon each other for some time in silence,
while the partisans of each gathered around him. The elder part of the
crew were the principal adherents of Goffe, while the young fellows,
among whom Jack Bunce was a principal leader and agitator, were in
general attached to Cleveland.
At length Goffe broke silence.--"You are welcome aboard, Captain
Cleveland.--Smash my taffrail! I suppose you think yourself commodore
yet! but that was over, by G--, when you lost your ship, and be
d----d!"
And here, once for all, we may take notice, that it was the gracious
custom of this commander to mix his words and oaths in nearly equal
proportions, which he was wont to call _shotting_ his discourse. As we
delight not, however, in the discharge of such artillery, we shall only
indicate by a space like this ---- the places in which these expletives
occurred; and thus, if the reader will pardon a very poor pun, we will
reduce Captain Goffe's volley of sharp-shot into an explosion of blank
cartridges. To his insinuations that he was come on board to assume the
chief command, Cleveland replied, that he neither desired, nor would
accept, any such promotion, but would only ask Captain Goffe for a cast
of the boat, to put him ashore in one of the other islands, as he had no
wish either to command Goffe, or to remain in a vessel under his orders.
"And why not under my orders, brother?" demanded Goffe, very austerely;
"-- -- -- are you too good a man, -- -- -- with your cheese-toaster and
your jib there, -- -- to serve under my orders, and be d----d to you,
where there are so many gentlemen that are elder and better seamen than
yourself?"
"I wonder which of these capital seamen it was," said Cleveland, coolly,
"that laid the ship under the fire of yon six-gun battery, that could
blow her out of the water, if they had a mind, before you could either
cut or slip? Elder and better sailors than I may like to serve under
such a lubber, but I beg to be excused for my own share, Captain--that's
all I have got to tell you."
"By G--, I think you are both mad!" said Hawkins the boatswain--"a
meeting with sword and pistol may be devilish good fun in its way, when
no better is to be had; but who the devil that had common sense, amongst
a set of gentlemen in our condition, would fall a quarrelling with each
other, to let these duck-winged, web-footed islanders have a chance of
knocking us all upon the head?"
"Well said, old Hawkins!" observed Derrick the quarter-master, who was
an officer of very considerable importance among these rovers; "I say,
if the two captains won't agree to live together quietly, and club both
heart and head to defend the vessel, why, d----n me, depose them both,
say I, and choose another in their stead!"
"Meaning yourself, I suppose, Master Quarter-Master!" said Jack Bunce;
"but that cock won't fight. He that is to command gentlemen, should be a
gentleman himself, I think; and I give my vote for Captain Cleveland, as
spirited and as gentleman-like a man as ever daffed the world aside, and
bid it pass!"
"What! _you_ call yourself a gentleman, I warrant!" retorted Derrick;
"why, ---- your eyes! a tailor would make a better out of the worst suit
of rags in your strolling wardrobe!--It is a shame for men of spirit to
have such a Jack-a-dandy scarecrow on board!"
Jack Bunce was so incensed at these base comparisons, that without more
ado, he laid his hand on his sword. The carpenter, however, and
boatswain, interfered, the former brandishing his broad axe, and
swearing he would put the skull of the first who should strike a blow
past clouting, and the latter reminding them, that, by their articles,
all quarrelling, striking, or more especially fighting, on board, was
strictly prohibited; and that, if any gentleman had a quarrel to settle,
they were to go ashore, and decide it with cutlass and pistol in
presence of two of their messmates.
"I have no quarrel with any one, -- -- --!" said Goffe, sullenly;
"Captain Cleveland has wandered about among the islands here, amusing
himself, -- -- --! and we have wasted our time and property in waiting
for him, when we might have been adding twenty or thirty thousand
dollars to the stock-purse. However, if it pleases the rest of the
gentlemen-adventurers, -- -- --! why, I shall not grumble about it."
"I propose," said the boatswain, "that there should be a general council
called in the great cabin, according to our articles, that we may
consider what course we are to hold in this matter."
A general assent followed the boatswain's proposal; for every one found
his own account in these general councils, in which each of the rovers
had a free vote. By far the greater part of the crew only valued this
franchise, as it allowed them, upon such solemn occasions, an unlimited
quantity of liquor--a right which they failed not to exercise to the
uttermost, by way of aiding their deliberations. But a few amongst the
adventurers, who united some degree of judgment with the daring and
profligate character of their profession, were wont, at such periods, to
limit themselves within the bounds of comparative sobriety, and by
these, under the apparent form of a vote of the general council, all
things of moment relating to the voyage and undertakings of the pirates
were in fact determined. The rest of the crew, when they recovered from
their intoxication, were easily persuaded that the resolution adopted
had been the legitimate effort of the combined wisdom of the whole
senate.
Upon the present occasion the debauch had proceeded until the greater
part of the crew were, as usual, displaying inebriation in all its most
brutal and disgraceful shapes--swearing empty and unmeaning
oaths--venting the most horrid imprecations in the mere gaiety of their
heart--singing songs, the ribaldry of which was only equalled by their
profaneness; and, from the middle of this earthly hell, the two
captains, together with one or two of their principal adherents, as also
the carpenter and boatswain, who always took a lead on such occasions,
had drawn together into a pandemonium, or privy council of their own, to
consider what was to be done; for, as the boatswain metaphorically
observed, they were in a narrow channel, and behoved to keep sounding
the tide-way.
When they began their consultations, the friends of Goffe remarked, to
their great displeasure, that he had not observed the wholesome rule to
which we have just alluded; but that, in endeavouring to drown his
mortification at the sudden appearance of Cleveland, and the reception
he met with from the crew, the elder Captain had not been able to do so
without overflowing his reason at the same time. His natural sullen