CHAPTER TWELVE.
CAPTAIN TRACY AND NORAH AT HOME--A LETTER FROM GERALD--HIS ADVENTURES--A CRUISE OFF HISPANIOLA--ENGAGEMENT WITH A FRENCH SQUADRON--THE ENEMY PUT TO FLIGHT--DEATH OF A YOUNG MIDSHIPMAN--RETURN TO PORT ROYAL--A SECOND CRUISE, AND CAPTURE OF SEVERAL RICH MERCHANTMEN--GERALD IN COMMAND OF THE FLORA--HIS STEWARD PETER--MORE TIDINGS OF THE PIRATES--THE CHAMPION SENT WITH DESPATCHES TO THE LEEWARD ISLANDS--JOINS THE BUCKINGHAM IN ATTACKING A FORT AT MARTINICO--GENEROUS CONDUCT OF CAPTAIN TYRRELL-- PETER"S NARRATIVE--HIS CAPTURE BY PIRATES, AND ESCAPE.
Norah and her father had for many months been living an uneventful life in their pretty little cottage near Waterford. She was his constant companion; indeed, she never ventured out without him. Things had come to a pretty pa.s.s, as he observed, when a young lady couldn"t take a walk by herself without the risk of being carried off by a party of filibustering squireens, quite as bad in their way as the picarooning rascals in the West Indies and on the Spanish Main, who had often in days of yore given him so much anxiety--not that they ever had caught him, for he was too much on his guard, though he had been chased well-nigh a score of times; and he intended to be on his guard now, and, as he hoped, with the same success.
This state of things, therefore, did not much concern him, as he was glad of Norah"s society, and was always as ready to walk with her as she was with him. Their walks, indeed, seldom extended much beyond Waterford, or the often-trod road to Widow Ma.s.sey"s house. Norah never pa.s.sed many days without paying her a visit. They were now looking forward to receiving news of Owen, or indeed, as they hoped, seeing him himself, as the _Ouzel Galley_, unless detained longer than was expected, would some time since have commenced her homeward voyage. A letter had come from Gerald saying that he had just seen her on her way round to Montego Bay, and giving an account of himself and what he had seen and done up to that time. He promised to write a longer letter when he had more to say. A couple of months or more after the arrival of Gerald"s first letter another was received from him.
"Dear sister Norah," it ran, "I promised to spin you a long yarn, so here goes, and I hope that you"ll get it some day. I told you in my last that I had seen the _Ouzel Galley_ under way from Montego Bay, and I suppose Owen has long before this delivered all the messages I sent by him; and if not, I dare say he will before long, if he hasn"t forgotten them. No matter; they were not very important, so you needn"t scold him for his negligence.
"I forget if I told you that, while our ship was undergoing repairs in dock at Port Royal, Lieutenant Foley, Molly--I mean Lord Mountstephen-- with Nat Kiddle and me, and about twenty of our hands, were turned over to the _Augusta_, 60-gun ship, commanded by Captain Forrest; and immediately afterwards were ordered to proceed to sea, accompanied by two other ships under his orders, the _Edinburgh_, of sixty-four guns, Captain Langdon, and the _Dreadnought_, of sixty guns, Captain Morris Suckling. We soon found that we were to cruise off Cape Francois, on the north coast of Saint Domingo, to watch a French squadron under Commodore De Kearsaint, who was collecting a large number of merchantmen which he was to convoy from that port to Europe. The admiral had been informed that the French had only three line-of-battle ships, which, although somewhat larger than we were, he knew very well that we should thrash if we could come up with them. We gained intelligence, however, from a French despatch vessel which we captured, that the enemy"s squadron had lately been increased by four other ships, one of which, by-the-by, was a ship of ours--the _Greenwich_--of fifty guns, captured a few months ago, when commanded by Captain Roddam, off this very island. He had nothing to be ashamed of, for with his single ship he bravely faced five sail of the line and several frigates, and wasn"t taken till he had lost all chance of escaping except by going to the bottom. Thus, you see, the French had seven ships to our three, and we heard besides that they had been strongly manned by volunteers from the garrison and merchant vessels, and made sure that they should either drive us away or capture us.
"Notwithstanding the superiority of the enemy, we were not to be put to flight, but kept our ground as if no Frenchmen were in the neighbourhood. We had been for some days cruising off the cape, always near enough to keep the port in sight, so that no vessel could steal out without our knowing it, when early in the morning the _Dreadnought_, which was insh.o.r.e of us, made the signal that the enemy was in sight, and before noon we could see the whole French squadron standing out in line towards us, the wind being about north-east--if you get the chart, father will explain matters to you. We were to windward of them, keeping close together, though not so close as the Frenchmen, who seemed very anxious to be backing up each other. Our captain now made the signal for the other two captains to come on board the _Augusta_. As soon as they stepped on the quarter-deck, Captain Forrest, after shaking hands, said, "Well, gentlemen, you see the Frenchmen are come out to engage us." On which Captain Suckling quickly replied, "I think it would be a pity to disappoint them." "And what do you say?" asked our captain, turning to Captain Langdon. "I heartily agree with Captain Suckling," was the answer. "If we disable them, we shall do good service by preventing them from convoying the merchant vessels, and maybe we shall take one or two of them. Of one thing I feel very sure, that they won"t take us."
"The three captains being agreed, the other two went back to their ships, and we hoisted the signal to make all sail and to close the enemy. The _Dreadnought_ led in our line; the _Intrepide_, the French commodore"s ship, led in that of the enemy, followed by the _Greenwich_.
The wind was light, and it seemed to me that we should never get into action. Though I"ve seen a good deal of fighting on a small scale, yet this affair was likely to prove more serious than any I had yet engaged in. I was stationed on the main-deck, and the scene was very different to what I had been accustomed to on board the _Champion_ where we"ve no deck above us and can see everything that is going forward. Here, it was only by looking through a port that I could get a glimpse of the enemy"s ships, as they stood on in a long line, one closely following the other--so closely, indeed, that the leading ship had the jibboom end of the one next her in line almost over her taffrail. Molly, Kiddle, and I had charge of the guns manned by the _Champion"s_ people. We reminded them that they must show what they were made of, and maintain the honour of the little ship; they one and all answered that they would; and they looked as if they intended to keep to their word, as they stood with their shirts off, handkerchiefs bound round their heads, and belts round their waists, ready to fire as soon as the order should be given. In a line behind where we stood were the powder-boys seated on their tubs, cracking jokes, and seeming altogether to forget that we should have, in a few minutes, showers of round shot rattling about our ears. Though we used to call Mountstephen Molly, he didn"t look a bit like a Molly now, for he walked the deck as calm and composed as if nothing particular was going to happen. I asked him what o"clock it was. He said, "Twenty minutes past three." Just then the _Dreadnought_ opened her fire on the French commodore; and didn"t Captain Suckling pound him--knocking away in a few minutes several of his spars, and so wounding his rigging that he fell on board the _Greenwich_, which, as I said, was close astern of him. As the _Dreadnought_ stood on, we got up, and the word to fire was pa.s.sed along our decks; and you may be sure we quickly obeyed it, blazing away at the two French ships already foul of each other, when they drove down upon the third astern, and there all three lay, unable to get clear one of the other.
"The French had a 64 and a 44 gun ship, besides two 32-gun frigates, which were able to manoeuvre, and these, as you may suppose, did not remain quiet while the _Augusta_ and _Edinburgh_ were blazing away at the three ships, which still lay jammed together. It made the fight, however, more equal than it would otherwise have been. Their shot came on board us pretty thickly, and not a few of our men were struck down.
Among them was our first lieutenant, who raised his hand for a moment, and then fell back, dead. Soon afterwards I saw poor Mountstephen fall; I ran to help him, when I found that one of his legs had been shot away and the other fearfully injured. I ordered a couple of men to carry him below; I should have liked to go with him, poor fellow, but I couldn"t leave the deck. I had returned to my station, when I found myself suddenly splashed all over with what I thought was water, though it was rather warm.
""What, Paddy Tracy, are you wounded?" I heard Nat Kiddle sing out.
""Not that I know of," I answered; "I don"t feel like it." Then I saw what had happened--a man standing close to me had been cut right in two by a round shot, which came through the port, wounding a couple of men besides.
"Much as the enemy were knocked about, we were already in a pretty bad condition, having all our masts, sails, rigging, and boats considerably damaged, eight or ten men killed, and nearly thirty wounded. If it hadn"t been for the four ships of the enemy still able to manoeuvre, we should have taken or sunk the other three, for they couldn"t manage to get free of each other, while they could only now and then fire a few shot at us. At length, to our infinite satisfaction, we saw the masts of the 64 engaged with the _Dreadnought_ go over the side, while all the line-of-battle ships were evidently tremendously knocked about both in hull and rigging. We had been engaged for upwards of two hours, when the French commodore made a signal to one of the frigates, which, coming up, took him in tow and carried him out of action; and his example was followed by the whole of the French squadron, which made sail for Cape Francois, then to leeward of them.
"The _Edinburgh_ had been as much damaged in her masts, yards, and sails as we were, and Captain Langdon signalled that she had also several shot in her hull. The _Dreadnought_, we saw, had lost her main and mizen topmasts, while nearly all her other masts and yards were greatly injured, and she also had received many shot in her hull, besides having lost as many men as we had. This made Captain Forrest refrain from following the Frenchmen.
"I was very glad to find Mr Foley all right, for his own sake, for I like him very much--and still more for that of Miss Ferris, for it would be a terrible thing for her were he to be killed, and I hope he won"t, though we all run the risk of losing the number of our mess. As soon as I could leave my station I ran down below to see how poor Mountstephen was getting on. He was perfectly sensible, though pale as a sheet. He said he felt no pain. His first question was, "What are the enemy about?"
""They"re running," I replied.
""What, all seven of them?" he asked.
""Yes, every one," I answered.
""Hurrah!" he exclaimed, waving his hand above his head, "we"ve gained the victory."
"Scarcely were the words out of his mouth than he fell back, and before the doctor could come to him he was dead.
"When I got on deck again--and I can tell you I was very glad to breathe some fresh air, after being down in that dreadful c.o.c.kpit, full of poor fellows groaning with pain, some having their legs and arms cut off, others with their sides torn open or heads fearfully smashed--I found that the enemy were out of our reach, and that not one of our three ships was in a condition to follow them. This was very provoking, though we had fought a right gallant action, of that there can be no doubt. Captain Forrest seeing that, if we got to leeward, we should be unable to beat off, and very likely be driven on sh.o.r.e and lost, ordered a course to be steered for Jamaica, where we arrived in a couple of days. The admiral highly approved of what had been done, and Captain Forrest received orders to get his ship repaired with all despatch and return as soon as possible in search of the enemy. The hands were taken off our sloop for this purpose, and there seemed every probability of our remaining some time longer on board the _Augusta_. Still, things are not done so quickly out here as they are in the dockyards at home.
At last we got to sea and sailed for Cape Francois. On looking into that port we found that the Frenchmen had put their best legs foremost, and that Monsieur De Kearsaint, having repaired his ships, had some days before sailed with the convoy for Europe, and we should have no chance of overtaking him. We had accordingly to come back, when we again sailed with the admiral, whose flag was flying on board the _Marlborough_, for a cruise off Cape Tiberon. I should make my letter too long if I were to describe all that took place. We had not been many days on the station before we captured two French privateers, and from their crows learned that a rich convoy was preparing at Port au Prince to sail for Europe, under the protection of two large armed private ships. The admiral on this sent in his tender to ascertain if such was the fact. Her commander, who speaks French, managed to gain all the intelligence he required; he soon returned, having ascertained that the information received was correct. The admiral accordingly directed us to proceed off the island of Golave, to cruise there for two days, and, should we see anything of the convoy at the expiration of that time, to return and join him. Golave, you will understand, is in the middle of the large bay which occupies nearly the whole western coast of Saint Domingo, to the northward of Cape Tiberon.
"The afternoon of the day following our arrival, we had got well up into the bay, when we caught sight of two sloops. To prevent them from taking us for what we were, we hoisted Dutch colours and stood away from them. In the evening we sighted seven more sail steering out of the bay. On this, to deceive the enemy, we hung tarpaulins over the sides of the ship, set the sails in lubberly fashion, and, hauling our wind, stood away from the strangers till dark. We then again made sail and followed them. At ten o"clock we saw two more sail, one of which fired a gun, and the other then parted company and steered for Leogane. Soon afterwards eight more sail were seen to leeward. We had not lost sight of the ship which had fired a gun; though she might have suspected our character, she did not stand away from us. We accordingly soon ran up alongside, when Captain Forrest shouted out to him in French to strike, adding, "If you alarm the other ships, or let them discover by any means what we are, we"ll send you forthwith to the bottom."
"The French commander, fully believing that our captain would put his threat into execution, immediately gave in; and one of our lieutenants, with thirty-five men, went on board the prize with orders to proceed off Pet.i.t Guave, a small port to leeward, to prevent any of the other vessels from escaping into it. The vessel we had captured was the _Mars_, of twenty-two guns and 108 men, all of whom we had now aboard us, stowed away below lest they should be making signals to the enemy.
We stood on during the remainder of the night, and at daylight found ourselves in the midst of the convoy, which, on our hoisting our colours and showing what we were about, began firing at us; but we quickly silenced them one after the other, and in the course of a few minutes the whole struck, one small vessel alone managing to get away. There were altogether eight vessels, richly laden, each carrying from eight to ten guns. We had to take out their crews and man them from our ship.
The captain, sending for me, greatly to my satisfaction, ordered me to take charge of one of them, called the _Flora_. Tumbling into one of the boats with ten hands, I quickly pulled aboard, and found that she carried twelve guns and a crew of thirty-five men. The Frenchmen looked very glum when I told them that they were to get into the boat and go aboard our ship. I kept one of them, a black, Pierre by name, who spoke English and had been the captain"s steward. The first service he did me was to act as interpreter, and as he knew where everything was stowed, I thought he would be useful in other respects. Through him I made a polite speech to the captain, and told him that I was sorry to turn him out of his ship, but that I was obeying orders. He shrugged his shoulders, observing that it was the fortune of war, when, bowing, he followed his men over the side. I wasn"t sorry to get rid of the Frenchmen, for it would have been a hard matter to keep them in order and navigate the ship with the few hands I had.
"As soon as we had transferred the prisoners, the prizes were ordered to make sail, and together we stood out of the bay. A very pretty sight we presented as we ran on under all sail, keeping, according to orders, close to the _Augusta_. Our prizes were richly laden, and the admiral, as may be supposed, was highly pleased when we sighted him off Cape Tiberon and Captain Forrest told him what we had done, as his share of the prize would be something considerable. Mine, as a midshipman, would be a couple of hundred pounds; Mr Foley, as a lieutenant, will get two or three thousand; so you may fancy what the shares of the captain and admiral will be.
"Pierre was, I found, an excellent cook as well as steward. I now called him Peter, by-the-by, at his own request, for as he observed, "Now, ma.s.sa, I come among Englishmen I take English name, please;" and so Peter he is now always called. He was especially fond of keeping his tongue wagging; he seemed not at all sorry to have changed masters, and to have got on board a man-of-war instead of a merchantman. He said that on their voyage out, when coming through the Windward Pa.s.sage, the _Flora_ and another vessel, the _Cerf_, of smaller size, carrying only eight guns, had been attacked by a piratical craft. They fought for some time, when the _Flora_ made off, leaving the _Cerf_ to her fate-- that the pirates boarded her, and that he had seen her go down--that the pirate ship then made chase after the _Flora_, but by carrying all sail, and night coming on, she escaped. By Peter"s account, I suspect that she must be the same craft which attacked the _Ouzel Galley_. Peter says she has a crew of a hundred men and carries twenty guns. She is known to have captured several merchantmen; some she sends to the bottom, and others she takes into one of the numerous keys among the Bahamas, where they are hidden away as securely as they would be among the unknown islands of the Pacific or Indian Ocean. From various things which Peter said, I had an idea that he knew more about the pirate than he had hitherto communicated, and I determined, when I had more completely gained his confidence, to try and obtain all the information he possessed.
"The weather continued fine, and our little squadron making good way, we were all soon safely at anchor in Port Royal harbour. It was a jovial sight, let me tell you, as we sailed in with English colours above the French on board the prizes, the guns firing, the flags flying, and the people on sh.o.r.e cheering. We at once carried the prizes up to Kingston, where they were quickly sold for good round sums, for they were all richly laden. As soon as I get my prize-money, I intend to send it home to father. Tell him to do as he thinks best with it; I don"t want to spend it here, as many of our men probably will before long. The Jamaica people seldom get so good a haul as this, though prizes are being brought in almost every week. Where the money all goes to, I don"t know; it makes somebody rich, I suppose.
"I was disappointed at not seeing Mr and Miss Ferris, and so, I have no doubt, was Mr Foley, for we thought that they would be back here by this time; but they are still away on the other side of the island. I don"t think I told you that there had been a hurricane here, while we were cruising off Cape Francois, before our action with the Frenchmen.
It was not felt very severely at this end of the island, as they only got the whisk of its tail; but at the west end it did a great deal of damage, and a number of people were killed and wounded, though I am happy to say that our friends escaped any injury. The _Ouzel Galley_, I understand, had sailed, and, I hope, had got well to the eastward before it came on. I dare say that Owen Ma.s.sey will have told you all about it long before you get this. The worst news I have to give you is respecting the slaves, who are in a very rebellious state. It is rumoured that in one or two places they have attacked the whites" houses and killed several people; but this is not believed, and it is said that they know too well what a fearful punishment would overtake them were they to do anything of the sort.
"To return to my own proceedings. As soon as I had handed the _Flora_ over to the prize agent, I had to turn again into a midshipman and to go on board our own tight little sloop, which had just come out of dock and was now all ataunto, ready for sea. I got leave to take Peter with me, as he wished to enter on board a British ship of war; he was at once appointed midshipmen"s steward, and a better one we never had.
"Mr Foley was hoping that we should be sent to cruise off the north coast of the island, but instead of that we were ordered to carry despatches to Commodore Moore, who commands on the Leeward Islands station. Having delivered them, we were on our way back, when we fell in with the _Buckingham_, Captain Tyrrell. While in company with her we captured a French merchantman, and her crew being brought on board our ship, Peter heard from some of them that four privateers had run in for shelter under a strong battery in Grand Anar Bay, on the island of Martinico. He having told me, I at once gave information to our commander, who forthwith went on board the _Buckingham_ to communicate it to Captain Tyrrell, and he at once resolved to stand in and destroy the privateers and the fort. Our prisoners, who had no idea that what they had been talking about had been understood, were very much astonished at seeing us suddenly alter our course and steer in for the bay. There, sure enough, were the four privateers with springs on their cables, and their guns run out, anch.o.r.ed under a strong-looking fort, mounting ten guns at least. The _Buckingham_ ran in as close as she could venture, when she dropped her anchor, and we brought up under her stern and immediately began blazing away at the vessels, which, as well as the fort, opened fire on us. Though the privateers each mounted not less than twenty guns, they could not long stand the _Buckingham"s_ heavy shot; indeed, had we been alone we should have taken them. Still, thinking that the fort would drive us away, they held out longer than we had expected. Though we were struck several times, and a good many round shot pa.s.sed between our masts, not a man on board was. .h.i.t. We were wondering when they would give in, when, as a puff of air cleared the smoke off for a few seconds, we observed that one of them had a list to starboard. Her next broadside again concealed her from view, and in a couple of minutes, when the wind again blew away the smoke, all we could see were her masts as she slowly went to the bottom. I was expecting that the rest would share the same fate; one of them was to meet with a more terrible disaster--almost the next instant a thundering sound was heard, flames burst out of her deck, her masts shot upwards like sky-rockets, and the whole air seemed filled with fragments of wreck, which came hissing down into the water, several portions, whizzing through the air, reaching almost to where we lay. The other two, seeing the hopelessness of further resistance, after firing their broadsides, hauled down their colours. On this the _Buckingham_ made a signal to us to take possession of the two vessels. "Out boats!" was the order; and in another minute three of our boats, I having charge of one of them, were dashing through the calm water, while the _Buckingham_ continued engaging the fort, which still held out. Two or three of its guns, however, had been disabled, and its fire began to slacken. We pulled away as fast as the crews could lay their backs to the oars, fearing that the Frenchmen would set fire to the ships and deprive us of our prizes. Their boats were already in the water, and the men were tumbling into them, evidently in a hurry to make their escape. "Look out, lads; that the rascals play no tricks, and lose no time in seeing that all"s safe below!" sang out Mr Foley, as he dashed by in the gig towards the northernmost of the vessels. I was making for the one to the southward, the farthest from the fort. We were soon up to her, and as we scrambled up on one side we saw several of her crew toppling over on the other. Just then I caught sight of a man coming up the companion-hatchway; it struck me that he had been about some mischief, and leaping on him, I tumbled him down to the foot of the ladder. He had a slow-match in his hand, which, hissing and spluttering, set his clothes on fire.
""What have you been about, you rascal?" I exclaimed, though I don"t suppose he understood the question. He pointed to the door of a cabin from which smoke was issuing. I burst it open, and found a match lighted, leading to a suspicious-looking cask in the corner. I, as you may suppose, pulled it out in pretty quick time; and, throwing it into the middle of the main cabin, sang out for buckets of water. A couple were quickly handed down, and the fire was extinguished. In another moment, however, we should all have been blown into the air. The Frenchman, who proved to be the mate of the vessel, was severely burnt, but little compa.s.sion was felt for him. We secured him, and two other men, who were caught by the legs as they were leaping overboard.
"Our men had begun to fire at the boats which had shoved off, but I ordered them to desist, as the Frenchmen had hauled down their flag, and were perfectly right in trying to make their escape.
"As soon as the garrison of the fort saw that we had possession of the vessels, they opened fire at us with one of their guns. On this, Mr Foley ordered me to cut the cable of my prize, and make sail out of harm"s way, as the wind was sufficiently off sh.o.r.e to enable us to do so. He at the same time, I saw, was setting the canvas of the ship he had taken.
"The _Buckingham_ and _Champion_ having now only the fort to attend to, poured in so hot a fire on it that the gun which was annoying us was dismounted before we had been under way more than four or five minutes.
So we again brought up and turned our guns at the fort, which was gradually crumbling away before the iron shower thrown into it. As the Frenchmen still kept up a hot fire from four or five guns, which considerably annoyed the _Buckingham_, Captain Tyrrell ordered the boats away to storm the fort and put an end to the conflict. I immediately jumped into my boat, leaving the prize at anchor to take care of herself, and joined the others, which were pulling to the sh.o.r.e on that side of the fort where the chief breach had been effected, and where none of the remaining guns could reach us and out of range of musket-shot. Captain Tyrrell himself, I found, was heading the party.
We mustered altogether upwards of a hundred and fifty men, about forty of whom belonged to our ship, with Mr Foley and other officers. The marines quickly formed, flanked by our blue jackets, armed with muskets, cutla.s.ses, and pistols. The instant the last man leaped on sh.o.r.e, the order to advance was given, and up the hill we went at double quick march, in spite of a shower of musket b.a.l.l.s which came whizzing about our ears. The Frenchmen endeavoured to slew round some of their guns to fire down on us, but before the muzzles were run through the embrasures, we were climbing over the parapet in a somewhat helter-skelter fashion, and, headed by the gallant captain of the _Buckingham_, leaping down into the fort. So rapid had been our advance that the soldiers had no time to reload their pieces, and as our cutla.s.ses flashed in their faces, they hurled them at us and took to flight, endeavouring to make their way out at a gate on the land side, where, in their hurry, they got jammed together and stopped by part of the crews of the two privateers, who were coming in to their a.s.sistance. Fortunately for them, their commandant, after exchanging a few pa.s.ses with Captain Tyrrell, had been disarmed and made prisoner; and he, seeing that if followed by our men they would be cut to pieces, shouted out to them to come back and submit as he had done. Still they pushed on, and in their struggles to get out, toppled over each other till a dozen or more lay sprawling on the ground. They would there have been destroyed had not Captain Tyrrell humanely called off his people. Of the whole of our party, not a man had been killed, and a few only were wounded. The fort exhibited a woeful picture of ruin--nearly a score of men lay dead close to the guns, while we saw other corpses scattered about in different parts of the fort. The buildings which served as habitations for the garrison were shattered to pieces, the embrasures knocked into one, the guns dismounted and their carriages broken, the flagstaff shot in two-- indeed, it seemed a wonder that the Frenchmen could have held out so long.
"We could see from the ramparts a good-sized town on the banks of a river, some way from the sh.o.r.e, sheltered by groves of palms and other trees--a very attractive, pleasant-looking place. Finding themselves masters of the fort, our men gave three cheers; then the cry arose that they should go down and attack the town and pillage it. When the captain heard this, he shouted out to the men, "My fine fellows, I hear what you say, and I hope you will not longer think of doing that same.
You will agree that it is beneath us to make a number of poor people miserable by destroying their houses and such comforts of life as they possess. Remember, you are Englishmen, and should scorn to injure people who, though they are called our enemies, have not lifted even a finger against us. Let them remain in quiet; they will bless you, and wish you well."
"This considerate speech had a good effect. The men cheered, and said they had no wish to hurt the mounseers. The captain, allowing the commandant to follow his people, who had made their escape, then set us to work to demolish the fort. The guns which appeared serviceable were spiked, and then rolled down the hill into the sea, and mines were dug in different parts of the fort, in which all the powder we found in the magazine was stowed. A train was then laid to each mine, and we were ordered to march down to the boats. Captain Tyrrell, who had superintended all the operations himself, was the last to leave; he lighted the train, and then followed us. We hadn"t got many yards from the beach when a loud report was heard, and up went a part of the fort, quickly followed by the other portions, like the joints in a cracker; and when the smoke and dust cleared off, the whole spot where the fort had stood was a heap of ruins. It would take the Frenchmen a good many weeks to repair the damage, if they should ever think it worth while to make the attempt.
"The wind was so light that we were unable to get out of the bay; in the evening we saw a boat coming off to us with a flag of truce. She contained two of the princ.i.p.al inhabitants of the town, who brought with them a cargo of fowls, and vegetables, and fruit, which they begged the captain to accept as a mark of their grat.i.tude for his having spared their town. They added that another would shortly follow for the corvette. Captain Tyrrell made a suitable speech, accepting their present. The other boats soon arrived with the promised supply for us, and as we took leave in the most friendly manner of the people who brought it, no one would have supposed the sort of work we had been engaged in during the morning.
"A land breeze enabled us to get to sea that evening, when soon afterwards we parted company with the _Buckingham_, we shaping a course back to Jamaica. We were all very jolly on board, for we had plenty of provisions, and had unexpectedly come in for a nice little lump of prize-money.
"I must tell you that Peter had become a great favourite on board, and of this he himself seemed well aware, though he wisely never presumed on it. I had, as I told you, been curious to find out how he was so well acquainted with the haunts of the pirates. At last, one day, I asked him, when I happened to be alone in the berth and he had come to get something out of a locker.
""Me tell you, Ma.s.sa Tracy, for me now know berry well you my friend,"
he answered.
""You"re right, Peter," I replied, "and you may be sure that from nothing you say will you criminate yourself."
""Me only tell de truth on de honour of gentleman;" and Peter put his hand on his heart as he had seen the Frenchmen do.
""Heave ahead, Peter," I said, "or your yarn may be out short."
""Berry well, Ma.s.sa Tracy," said Peter. "It happen dis way. I was "board a French ship, _Les deux Amis_, bound from Bordeaux to Port au Prince, when just as we "bout twenty league to de eastward ob San Domingo, keeping a look-out dat no English cruiser pick us up, we see one evening, just as de sun go down, a big ship from de nor"ard standing for us. De cappen say she French--de mate say she Spanish--some ob de men say she Dutch--oders strife she English--I not know what to tink.
De cappen say, "Best make all sail and stand "way." So we did; but de bell just strike two in de fust watch, when we see her ranging up alongside. Den de cappen order de guns to be fired; but before de matches lighted, de stranger she aboard us. In a few minutes forty savage-looking fellows came springing on to our deck, pistolling some and cutting down oders of de crew. I see at once what going to happen-- if I stay on board de brig, I be killed wid de rest--so I make a leap and gain de fore-rigging ob de stranger. Running for"ard, I leap down de hatchway and stow myself away in a berth. Eben dere I hear de dreadful cries and shrieks ob de crew as dey put to death by de pirates--for such I guess be de gentry into hands whose we hab fallen.
I know by de sounds I hear as I lie quaking in de berth dat dey were removing de cargo ob de prize on board dere own ship. It was nearly daylight before dey hab taken out all de cargo dey wish to secure; den dey cast off, and directly afterwards I hear several shot fired. I know dat sooner or later I must show myself, as de watch who hab been working all night would be coming below to turn in; so I creep on deck, and make my way aft to where a man I tink must be de cappen was standing. No one stop me, for dey all too busy or too sleepy to notice me. I take off my hat and make him a polite bow, and ask in English if he want a cabin-steward, as I ready to serve him. "And if you like sea-pie, cappen, I cook one such as n.o.body can beat, let me tell you dat," I say.
"I head cook.""
""You"re an impudent rascal, whoever you are," he reply, "but perhaps, for once in a way, you speak the truth."
""Do, cappen, just try me to-morrow, or next day, or when you get de materials to put in de pie," I say.