"It is false, Mr. Talbot; she has pledged herself to me,--yes, sir, to me. I care nothing for your childish love-affairs. She is mine, if I may believe her words, as is the letter which you have basely read.
You will return it to me at once, or I shall have it taken from you by force."
"I give you the lie, sir, here and now," shrieked Talbot, laying his hand upon his sword. "It is not true, she is mine; as for the note--I keep it!"
Seymour controlled himself by a violent effort, and looked around for some of his men. Wilton and Bentley had come aft in great anxiety, and the whole crew were looking eagerly at them, attracted by the aroused voices and the pa.s.sionate att.i.tude of the two men. For a moment the chase was forgotten.
"Oh, Hilary," said Philip, addressing his friend.
"Hush, Philip, this man insults your sister. I am defending her honor."
The lad hesitated a moment; discipline was strong in his young soul.
"That is my duty--Mr. Seymour," he said.
Seymour turned swiftly upon him. "What are you doing here, Mr. Wilton?
All hands are called, are they not? Your station is on the forecastle, then, I believe," he said with deadly calm. "Oblige me by going forward at once, sir."
"Go, Philip," cried Talbot; "I can take care of this man."
"Aft here, two or three of you," continued Seymour, his usually even voice trembling a little. "Seize Lieutenant Talbot. Arrest him. Take his sword from him, and hand me the letter he has in his hand, and then confine him in his cabin."
Two or three of the seamen came running aft. Talbot whipped out his sword.
"The first man that touches me shall have this through his heart," he said fiercely. But the seamen would have made short work of him, if it had not been for the restraining hand of Bentley.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" he said.
"Out of the way, Bentley. You have changed my plans once. I will not be balked again. I am the captain of this ship, and I intend to be obeyed."
""T is well that Mr. Seymour is on his ship and surrounded by his bullies. He dare not meet me man to man, sword to sword. Would we were on sh.o.r.e! You coward!" screamed Talbot, advancing toward him, "shall I strike you?"
"You will have it then, sir," said Seymour, at last giving way. "No man so speaks to me and lives. Back, men!" and white with pa.s.sion and rage he drew his own sword and sprang forward. No less resolutely did Talbot meet him. Their blades crossed and rang against each other.
Bentley wrung his hands in dreadful indecision, not knowing what to do; he dared not lay hands upon his superior officer, yet this combat must cease. But the fierce sword-play, both men being masters of the weapon, as was the habit of gentlemen of that day, was suddenly interrupted.
CHAPTER XVIII
_Duty Wins the Game_
A booming roar came down upon them from the frigate, which had fired a broadside, which was followed presently by the whistling of shot over their heads. Great rents were seen in the canvas, pieces of running gear fell to the deck, there was a crashing, rending sound, and a part of the rail, left standing abaft the mizzen shrouds, smashed into splinters and drove inboard under the impact of a heavy shot.
One splinter struck the man at the helm in the side; he fell with a shriek, and lay white and still by the side of the wheel, which, no longer restrained by his hand, spun round madly. Another splinter hit the sword of Talbot, breaking the blade and sweeping it from his hands, and the unlucky sc.r.a.p of paper was blown into the sea. The spanker sheet was cut in two, and the boom swept out to windward, knocking one of the men overboard. There was neither time nor opportunity to pick him up, and he went to his death unheeded.
Seymour dropped his sword, every instinct of a sailor aroused, and sprang to the horse-block. The ship, left to itself, fell off rapidly before the wind. Bentley jumped to seize the helm.
"Flow the head sheets there!" cried the lieutenant; "lively! Aft here and haul in the spanker! Brail up the foresail! Down, hard down with the helm!"
There was another broadside from the heavy guns of the frigate. Talbot replied with his stern-chaser, and a cloud of splinters showed that the shot took effect, whereat the men at the gun cheered and loaded, and then crash went the mizzen topgallant mast above their heads!
"Lively, men!" shouted Seymour, "we must get on the wind again or we are lost."
"Breakers on the starboard bow!" shrieked the lookout on the forecastle suddenly. "Breakers on the port bow!" His voice ran aft in a shrill scream, fraught with terror, "Breakers ahead!"
"Down, hard down with the helm, Bentley," said Seymour, himself springing over to a.s.sist the old man at the wheel.
But Bentley raised his hand and kept the wheel steady. "Too late, sir, for that," he cried, "we are in the pa.s.s. G.o.d help us now, sir. Mr.
Seymour, look to the ship, sir, look to the ship!"
The young officer sprang back on the horse-block, his soul filled with horror. So fate had decided for him at last, and duty, not love, had won the mighty game. A third broadside pa.s.sed harmlessly over the ship, doing little damage, the rough weather making aiming uncertain.
Again the field-piece replied. Seymour never turned his head in the direction of the frigate. He could not look upon the catastrophe; besides, the exigency of the situation demanded that he give his whole mind to conning the ship through the narrow pa.s.s. Bentley himself, a.s.sisted by a young sailor, kept the helm; the oldest seamen had charge of the braces. The wreck of the mizzen topgallant mast was allowed to hang for the present.
The white water dashed about the ship in sheets of foam; they were well in the breakers now, and the most ignorant eye could see the danger.
One false movement meant disaster for the ship for whose safety Seymour had sacrificed so much. He did not make it. To his disordered fancy Katharine"s white face looked up at him from every breaking wave. He steeled his heart and gave his orders with as much ease and precision as if it had been a practice cruise. To the day of his death he could not account for his ability to do so. He made a splendid figure, standing on the horse-block, his hair flowing out in the wind, his face deadly pale; calm, cool, steady; his voice clear and even, but heard in every part of the ship. The heart of the old sailor at the helm yearned toward him, and the seamen looked at him as if he had been a demiG.o.d. He never once looked back, but from the cries of the men he could follow every motion of the frigate behind him. The frigate, the unsuspicious frigate, had followed the course of the transport exactly, and was coming down to the deadly rocks like a hurricane.
Talbot, his quarrel forgotten for the moment, ceased firing, and stood, with all of the men who could be spared from their stations, looking aft at the tremendous drama being played.
"The frigate! Look at the frigate! She "s going to strike, sir!"
cried one of the seamen, excitedly,--old Thompson, who had sailed upon her. "See, they see the breakers. Now there go the head yards. It won"t do. It"s too late. My G.o.d, she strikes, she strikes! I "ll have one more shot at her before she goes," he shrieked, taking hasty aim over the loaded field-piece and touching the priming. "Ay, and a hit too. Hurrah! hurrah! To h--l with ye, where you belong, ye--"
"Silence aft!" shouted Seymour, in a voice of thunder. "Keep fast that gun; and another cheer like that, and I put you in irons, Thompson."
The water in the front of the Mellish suddenly became darker, the breakers disappeared, the ship was in deep water again; she had the open sea before her, and was through the channel.
"We are through the pa.s.s, sir," said Bentley.
"I know it," answered Seymour, at last. "I suppose there is no use beating back around the shoal, Bentley?" he said tentatively.
"No, sir, no use; and besides in this wind we could not do it; and, sir, you know nothing will live in such a sea. Look at the Englishman now, sir."
The captain turned at last. The frigate was a hopeless wreck. All three of her masts had gone by the board; she had run full on the rocky ledge of the shoal at the mouth of the channel. The wind had risen until it blew a heavy gale; no boat, no human being, could live in such a sea. The waters rushed over her at every sweep, and she was fast breaking up before them. Night had fallen, and darkness at last enshrouded her as she faded out of view. A drop of snow fell lightly upon the cold cheek of the young sailor, and the men gazed into the night in silence, appalled by the awful catastrophe. Bentley, understanding it all, laid his hand lightly on Seymour"s arm, saying softly,--
"Better clear the wreck and get the mizzen topsail and the fore and main sail in, sir, and reef the fore and main topsails; the spars are buckling fearfully. She can"t stand much more."
"Oh, Bentley," he said with a sob, and then, mastering himself, he gave the necessary orders to clear away the wreck and take in the other sails, and close reef the topsails, in order to put the ship in proper trim for the rising storm; after which, the wind now permitting, the ship was headed for Philadelphia.
As Seymour turned to go below, he came face to face with Talbot. The two men stood gazing at each other in silence.
"We still have an account to settle, Mr. Talbot," he said sternly.
"My G.o.d," said Talbot, hesitatingly, "was n"t it awful? How small, Seymour, are our quarrels in the face of that!" pointing out into the darkness,--"such a tremendous catastrophe as that is."
Seymour looked at him curiously; the man had not yet fathomed the depth of the catastrophe to him, evidently.
"As for our quarrel," he continued in a manly, generous way, "I--perhaps I was wrong, Mr. Seymour. I know I was, but I have loved her all my life. I am sorry I spoke so, and I beg your pardon; but--won"t you tell me about the note now?"
A great pity for the young man filled Seymour"s heart in spite of his own sorrow. "I loved her too," he said quietly. "The note was sent to me from Gwynn"s Island, where they were confined. I had offered myself to her the night of the raid,--just before it, in fact,--and she accepted me. The note was mine. Where is it?"