The Pirate
drunken old swab Goffe, who minded nothing but splicing the main-brace."
The boat's crew were inspired with the same enthusiasm, and rowed so
hard, that, although the tide was against them, and the air or wind
failed, they soon placed Cleveland once more on the quarter-deck of the
vessel which it was his misfortune to command.
The first exercise of the Captain's power was to make known to Magnus
Troil that he was at full freedom to depart--that he was willing to make
him any compensation in his power, for the interruption of his voyage to
Kirkwall; and that Captain Cleveland was desirous, if agreeable to Mr.
Troil, to pay his respects to him on board his brig--thank him for
former favours, and apologize for the circumstances attending his
detention.
To Bunce, who, as the most civilized of the crew, Cleveland had
intrusted this message, the old plain-dealing Udaller made the following
answer: "Tell your Captain that I should be glad to think he had never
stopped any one upon the high sea, save such as have suffered as little
as I have. Say, too, that if we are to continue friends, we shall be
most so at a distance; for I like the sound of his cannon-balls as
little by sea, as he would like the whistle of a bullet by land from my
rifle-gun. Say, in a word, that I am sorry I was mistaken in him, and
that he would have done better to have reserved for the Spaniard the
usage he is bestowing on his countrymen."
"And so that is your message, old Snapcholerick?" said Bunce--"Now, stap
my vitals if I have not a mind to do your errand for you over the left
shoulder, and teach you more respect for gentlemen of fortune! But I
won't, and chiefly for the sake of your two pretty wenches, not to
mention my old friend Claud Halcro, the very visage of whom brought back
all the old days of scene-shifting and candle-snuffing. So good morrow
to you, Gaffer Seal's-cap, and all is said that need pass between us."
No sooner did the boat put off with the pirates, who left the brig, and
now returned to their own vessel, than Magnus, in order to avoid
reposing unnecessary confidence in the honour of these gentlemen of
fortune, as they called themselves, got his brig under way; and, the
wind coming favourably round, and increasing as the sun rose, he crowded
all sail for Scalpa-flow, intending there to disembark and go by land to
Kirkwall, where he expected to meet his daughters and his friend Claud
Halcro.
FOOTNOTES:
[39] A _well_, in the language of those seas, denotes one of the
whirlpools, or circular eddies, which wheel and boil with astonishing
strength, and are very dangerous. Hence the distinction, in old English,
betwixt _wells_ and _waves_, the latter signifying the direct onward
course of the tide, and the former the smooth, glassy, oily-looking
whirlpools, whose strength seems to the eye almost irresistible.
[40] Note VII.--The Standing Stones of Stennis.
CHAPTER XIX.
Now, Emma, now the last reflection make,
What thou wouldst follow, what thou must forsake
By our ill-omen'd stars and adverse Heaven,
No middle object to thy choice is given.
_Henry and Emma._
The sun was high in heaven; the boats were busily fetching off from the
shore the promised supply of provisions and water, which, as many
fishing skiffs were employed in the service, were got on board with
unexpected speed, and stowed away by the crew of the sloop, with equal
dispatch. All worked with good will; for all, save Cleveland himself,
were weary of a coast, where every moment increased their danger, and
where, which they esteemed a worse misfortune, there was no booty to be
won. Bunce and Derrick took the immediate direction of this duty, while
Cleveland, walking the deck alone, and in silence, only interfered from
time to time, to give some order which circumstances required, and then
relapsed into his own sad reflections.
There are two sorts of men whom situations of guilt, terror, and
commotion, bring forward as prominent agents. The first are spirits so
naturally moulded and fitted for deeds of horror, that they stalk forth
from their lurking-places like actual demons, to work in their native
element, as the hideous apparition of the Bearded Man came forth at
Versailles, on the memorable 5th October, 1789, the delighted
executioner of the victims delivered up to him by a bloodthirsty rabble.
But Cleveland belonged to the second class of these unfortunate beings,
who are involved in evil rather by the concurrence of external
circumstances than by natural inclination, being, indeed, one in whom
his first engaging in this lawless mode of life, as the follower of his
father, nay, perhaps, even his pursuing it as his father's avenger,
carried with it something of mitigation and apology;--one also who often
considered his guilty situation with horror, and had made repeated,
though ineffectual efforts, to escape from it.
Such thoughts of remorse were now rolling in his mind, and he may be
forgiven, if recollections of Minna mingled with and aided them. He
looked around, too, on his mates, and, profligate and hardened as he
knew them to be, he could not think of their paying the penalty of his
obstinacy. "We shall be ready to sail with the ebb tide," he said to
himself--"why should I endanger these men, by detaining them till the
hour of danger, predicted by that singular woman, shall arrive? Her
intelligence, howsoever acquired, has been always strangely accurate;
and her warning was as solemn as if a mother were to apprize an erring
son of his crimes, and of his approaching punishment. Besides, what
chance is there that I can again see Minna? She is at Kirkwall,
doubtless, and to hold my course thither would be to steer right upon
the rocks. No, I will not endanger these poor fellows--I will sail with
the ebb tide. On the desolate Hebrides, or on the north-west coast of
Ireland, I will leave the vessel, and return hither in some
disguise--yet why should I return, since it will perhaps be only to see
Minna the bride of Mordaunt? No--let the vessel sail with this ebb tide
without me. I will abide and take my fate."
His meditations were here interrupted by Jack Bunce, who, hailing him
noble Captain, said they were ready to sail when he pleased.
"When _you_ please, Bunce; for I shall leave the command with you, and
go ashore at Stromness," said Cleveland.
"You shall do no such matter, by Heaven!" answered Bunce. "The command
with me, truly! and how the devil am I to get the crew to obey _me_?
Why, even Dick Fletcher rides rusty on me now and then. You know well
enough that, without you, we shall be all at each other's throats in
half an hour; and, if you desert us, what a rope's end does it signify
whether we are destroyed by the king's cruisers, or by each other? Come,
come, noble Captain, there are black-eyed girls enough in the world, but
where will you find so tight a sea-boat as the little Favourite here,
manned as she is with a set of tearing lads,
'Fit to disturb the peace of all the world,
And rule it when 'tis wildest?'"
"You are a precious fool, Jack Bunce," said Cleveland, half angry, and,
in despite of himself, half diverted, by the false tones and exaggerated
gesture of the stage-struck pirate.
"It may be so, noble Captain," answered Bunce, "and it may be that I
have my comrades in my folly. Here are you, now, going to play All for
Love, and the World well Lost, and yet you cannot bear a harmless
bounce in blank verse--Well, I can talk prose for the matter, for I have
news enough to tell--and strange news, too--ay, and stirring news to
boot."
"Well, prithee deliver them (to speak thy own cant) like a man of this
world."
"The Stromness fishers will accept nothing for their provisions and
trouble," said Bunce--"there is a wonder for you!"
"And for what reason, I pray?" said Cleveland; "it is the first time I
have ever heard of cash being refused at a seaport."
"True--they commonly lay the charges on as thick as if they were
caulking. But here is the matter. The owner of the brig yonder, the
father of your fair Imoinda, stands paymaster, by way of thanks for the
civility with which we treated his daughters, and that we may not meet
our due, as he calls it, on these shores."
"It is like the frank-hearted old Udaller!" said Cleveland; "but is he
at Stromness? I thought he was to have crossed the island for Kirkwall."
"He did so purpose," said Bunce; "but more folks than King Duncan change
the course of their voyage. He was no sooner ashore than he was met with
by a meddling old witch of these parts, who has her finger in every
man's pie, and by her counsel he changed his purpose of going to
Kirkwall, and lies at anchor for the present in yonder white house, that
you may see with your glass up the lake yonder. I am told the old woman
clubbed also to pay for the sloop's stores. Why she should shell out the
boards I cannot conceive an idea, except that she is said to be a witch,
and may befriend us as so many devils."
"But who told you all this?" said Cleveland, without using his
spy-glass, or seeming so much interested in the news as his comrade had
expected.
"Why," replied Bunce, "I made a trip ashore this morning to the village,
and had a can with an old acquaintance, who had been sent by Master
Troil to look after matters, and I fished it all out of him, and more,
too, than I am desirous of telling you, noble Captain."
"And who is your intelligencer?" said Cleveland; "has he got no name?"
"Why, he is an old, fiddling, foppish acquaintance of mine, called
Halcro, if you must know," said Bunce.
"Halcro!" echoed Cleveland, his eyes sparkling with surprise--"Claud
Halcro?--why, he went ashore at Inganess with Minna and her
sister--Where are they?"
"Why, that is just what I did not want to tell you," replied the
confidant--"yet hang me if I can help it, for I cannot baulk a fine
situation.--That start had a fine effect--O ay, and the spy-glass is
turned on the House of Stennis _now_!--Well, yonder they are, it must be
confessed--indifferently well guarded, too. Some of the old witch's
people are come over from that mountain of an island--Hoy, as they call
it; and the old gentleman has got some fellows under arms himself. But
what of all that, noble Captain!--give you but the word, and we snap up
the wenches to-night--clap them under hatches--man the capstern by
daybreak--up topsails--and sail with the morning tide."
"You sicken me with your villainy," said Cleveland, turning away from
him.
"Umph!--villainy, and sicken you!" said Bunce--"Now, pray, what have I
said but what has been done a thousand times by gentlemen of fortune
like ourselves?"
"Mention it not again," said Cleveland; then took a turn along the deck,
in deep meditation, and, coming back to Bunce, took him by the hand, and
said, "Jack, I will see her once more."
"With all my heart," said Bunce, sullenly.
"Once more will I see her, and it may be to abjure at her feet this
cursed trade, and expiate my offences"----
"At the gallows!" said Bunce, completing the sentence--"With all my
heart!--confess and be hanged is a most reverend proverb."
"Nay--but, dear Jack!" said Cleveland.
"Dear Jack!" answered Bunce, in the same sullen tone--"a dear sight you
have been to dear Jack. But hold your own course--I have done with
caring for you for ever--I should but sicken you with my villainous
counsels."
"Now, must I soothe this silly fellow as if he were a spoiled child,"
said Cleveland, speaking at Bunce, but not to him; "and yet he has sense
enough, and bravery enough, too; and, one would think, kindness enough
to know that men don't pick their words during a gale of wind."
"Why, that's true, Clement," said Bunce, "and there is my hand upon