CHAPTER XVI
IRISH LOYALTY
Captain Avery's boat pulled away toward the Noank, and he remarked as he took hold of the tiller ropes: —
"I'm glad to be rid of all that crowd. Now there'll be more room for the rest of us. We can't afford to take prisoners."
"They'll report us, sir," said one of the sailors.
"They may say we mean to sack Liverpool, for all I care," growled the captain. "I wish we had a supply of fresh provisions, though. We had no time to take in any at Brest."
The whole boat's crew agreed with him, for they had been living on salt rations during many a long week.
The skipper of the Killarney and his friends of all sorts, with their personal baggage, were scattered high and low along the beach. The hospitable commiseration they were receiving was even excessive, and there appeared to be but one opinion among the population of that edge of Ireland concerning the general wickedness of privateering. At the side of the schooner, however, as if waiting for the captain's return, was a stout yawl-boat. It had four rowers and in the stern-sheets sat a large, florid, handsome man, very well dressed.
"It's the captain of this American pirate?" he loudly inquired. "Glad to see you, sir. I'm The McGahan and my place is inshore, yonder. Have ye ony good tobacco aboord, or a drop o' claret, or an anker of old Hollands?"
"Well," said Captain Avery, staring into the broadly smiling face of the handsome Irishman, "we've no liquid, but we've loads o' prime Cuba leaf, plug, and cigars. How are you off for beef and mutton, or, it might be, a little fresh pork?"
"No pork handy, the day," responded The McGahan. "Twinty head o' bafe, though, and all the mutton ye want. It's me sorrow that I couldn't lawfully sell ye huf or horn. The customs patrol is oll along the coast, looking after smoogglers and the like, and it's loyal to the king we are. God bless him!"
"I'm glad you're law abidin'," replied the captain. "I wouldn't ask you to sell me a pound! Guert Ten Eyck, you and the men have up that choice lot from the after cabin lockers. Mr. McGahan; come aboard and make your own selections. I'm not the kind of man to evade the customs. You'd better rob me of a lot of tobacco and whatever else there is. I couldn't help myself, you know."
"That's what I'll do," said McGahan, with a comical twist of his face. "I'd like to ploonder a privateer. Hurrah for King Garge! Doon wid all rebels! – exceptin' it may be Oirish rebels, and I'm wan o' thim. Ye may sind over a party wid goons and cutlashes to rob me o' the bafe and mutton. I'm thinking there's a good catch o' fish, along shore, but the fisher folk'd niver evade the coostoms to get a little 'baccy."
His boatmen had been listening, and he had not been whispering. One of them now sang out: —
"Your Worship! Plaze tell the bloody pirates to fetch along their plug, and sthale the fish! We're oll a wake sort o' people, riddy to be ploondhered."
It was a bargain! Boats came and went, after that, and when Captain Syme himself expressed his curiosity concerning them, he was sadly informed that the American freebooters had demanded supplies.
Captain Avery did not waste any time in carrying out his part of the contract. He led an overpowering party of well-armed men to the elegant country-seat of The McGahan, two miles away. A cart which was driven along with him contained a number of small boxes and bales.
"Some of McGahan's neighbors," he explained to Guert, "are as ready to be robbed as he is. I'll not have to pay a dollar of cash. The balance o' this trade'll come the other way. If we dared stay, we could sell out our whole cargo."
Guert was getting hold of several new ideas. One was, that a great many Irishmen were about as devoted to the British government as were the people of America. Another was, that war expenses were large and that British taxes were heavy. A great part of the revenue collected came from duties upon imported goods, and these imposts were such as to practically offer bribes to all smugglers.
"I see," he said to the captain. "It was the duty on imported tea that set our war for independence a-going."
"No!" replied Captain Avery. "That was only one p'int in the 'count. We had enough else to fight for. I can tell you one thing, though. All the Irish people'd be up in arms, to-day, if they had any George Washington to lead them. They are treated badly; worse, in some things, than we were."
Neither going nor coming did Guert hear any blessings uttered upon England. The fat oxen and the sheep were hurriedly driven to the shore. Some butchering was done at once, and some salting, but the sailors managed to convey to the schooner more live stock than there was room for. One large sheep-pen was constructed amidships, below deck, that there might be fresh mutton as long as possible. Near it were cattle-stalls, and these would soon be empty, with so large a crew of hungry eaters ready for roast beef and boiled. As for the fish they came along in abundance, and casks of sea-water were provided for their keeping. With them came fishermen and women and dozen of boys and girls, all wild with curiosity concerning the "bloody privateer."
One day more did the Noank linger at her pleasant anchorage. Thus, just as the sun was nearing the western horizon, Up-na-tan, at the beach in the small boat, with its regular crew, raised his hand.
"Whoo-oop!" sounded his war-cry of warning.
"Hark!" said Guert. "That's a bugle! British troops coming! Off we go!"
A gun from the Noank told that the lookout on board had been as alert as was the red man himself.
"Aff wid yez!" yelled a fisherwoman, running frantically toward them. "It's the Donegal Rigimint o' cavalry! They'd cut yez all down! Be aff!"
The boat was pulled swiftly away, and as it did so the head of a fine column of uniformed horsemen came trotting out to where it could be seen.
"Charge 'em! Charge 'em!" roared a rider in civilian rig at the side of their commander. "It's your duty, sir, to seize that pirate schooner! They've carried aff more'n twinty head o' fat bafe for me. You're answerable to the king if you let 'em get away!"
"All right!" replied the cavalry major, coolly. "We'll charge the schooner. You ride on board, if you will, and tell 'em we're coming."
"It's not me duty," responded the excited McGahan. "It's a poor patrol ye're kaping, whin a booccaneer can sail in and ploonder the coast."
Straight to the shore the dragoons, for such they were called, rode fearlessly onward, and the Noank fired a salute for them while she swung out flag after flag, fore and aft.
"They'll know the stars and stripes when they see it again," laughed Captain Avery. "They're fools, though, to expose themselves in that way. We might damage 'em badly, at this range."
"She's an American privateer! Can that be a fact?" exclaimed the British officer, in blank astonishment. "'Pon my soul, I couldn't believe it till I saw it! I'm sure enough, now. Why, McGahan, you are correct. My dear old boy, you couldn't help yourself."
"Of coorse I couldn't," replied the robbed Irish gentleman. "I'm glad you can belave me, at last. What do you think o' the impidence of 'em?"
"It's fine!" exclaimed the major.
That was the striking feature of it. Even in later days, it was difficult for the country people of England to realize that such American pirates as John Paul Jones, for instance, were actually attacking the British islands.
Leisurely, tauntingly, the crew of the Noank lifted their anchor. No hostile shot was fired at the gallant-looking horsemen, and the major confidently ventured out in a fishing boat until he was near enough to hail. He was a bright-eyed, daring fellow and his first remark was an oddity.
"Captain Avery, is it?" he said. "Fine schooner of yours, I'd say. I was thinking of making a dash. I might surround you, you know. But if you are going, I'll let you go."
"I wish you would," called back the captain of the Noank. "Would you like to come aboard? I'll give you a box of Cuba cigars."
"Thank you kindly," said the major. "I'll not trouble you to that extent. I'm Major Avery of the Donegal Dragoons. I didn't know there were any of the name in America. Sorry to find an Avery fighting against his king."
"Well," said the captain, "you're out a little, there. He is your king, not ours, and he is fighting us."
"All right! – or rather, it's all wrong," replied the brave major. "The king'll have his own again, before long. Your cruise'll be a short one, if you run around in these waters."
"Oh," said the captain, "they're safe enough. We can get away from the cavalry, and from the tubs, too."
"Tubs, eh? That's what you call 'em? You'll find that some of 'em are pretty large tubs."
"Good-by!" shouted back the captain. "I'm glad to find one more good-looking Avery. Come and visit at my house as soon as the war's over."
The sails of the Noank were taking the breeze. She swung away seaward, bowing to the cavalry and to the swarm of fisher folk, and these forgot their loyalty to England so far that they cheered her lustily.
"Do you know, Guert," remarked the captain, thoughtfully, "this is about the worst side of our war! It has set old neighbors against each other, and even kinfolk. Why! Old Ben Franklin himself has a son that's an out and out Tory. He is the British Tory governor of New Jersey. He and his father don't speak to each other. There's more like 'em."
"That's so, sir," said Guert. "Some first-rate fellows that I used to know in New York went off on the wrong side. Steve de Lancey was one of 'em. I used to take his boat whenever I wanted to, and they were all real good neighbors."
The recently appointed first mate of the Noank, taking Sam Prentice's place and responsibilities, broke up the study of civil war evils.
"Where away now, Captain?" he inquired. "Our being here'll be known wide enough."
"We won't be here, Morgan," replied the captain. "We are goin' right up St. George's Channel. We may run all the way around the islands and reach Amsterdam from the north."
"That is," said Morgan, "if we get there at all. It's just as that dragoon said: there are a good many king's cruisers hereaway. Big ones, too."
"We are safest in a crowd," replied the captain. "Our best plan is to be where they won't dream of our darin' to go."
"No doubt about that," said Morgan. "I'm agreed we're likely to pick up something worth taking if we watch, while we're making such a run as that."
"We'll go ashore, here and there, too," laughed the captain, "and show 'em the flag."
CHAPTER XVII
VERY SHARP SHOOTING
"Anneke Ten Eyck," remarked Rachel Tarns, in the kitchen of the Avery house, "I am glad for thee. Thy brave son's share of the prize-money taketh thee out of thy distresses. Thou wilt have more, if he continueth to serve our good king after this fashion. Thee may be proud of him."
"Rachel!" exclaimed Mrs. Ten Eyck, "you know I'm glad to have the money and to pay my debts with it, but I wish it didn't come from plunder. I can't help pitying all the people that have lost their ships and their property."
"I also am sorry for them," said Rachel. "Doubtless, war is a sin and an evil. I pray much for the return of peace. Thee should bear in mind, though, that both sides have sinned, and that therefore both must suffer while the war lasteth."
"Our American people are suffering terribly," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "I wish I could send something to Washington's army. I have heard say that the colonies are becoming exhausted, while England is as rich as ever."
"She may be so," said Rachel, "but I have been at a Friends' meeting, and some of the elderly men are good accountants. They had somewhat to say concerning the matter of exhaustion."
"Oh, what did they say?" asked Mrs. Avery, at the ironing-board. "Nobody can beat a lot of old Quakers at arithmetic."
"I will tell thee," said Rachel. "This was their testimony concerning this dark and dreadful year, and concerning last year also. They computed that for every American who fell in battle or died in camp, fifteen more young men became of age, ready to take his place. The army is not dying out. For every acre of land really laid waste by the British, one hundred fresh acres of newly opened farms were put under cultivation. For every ton of American shipping captured by the British, five tons of new shipping were built in American shipyards, and ten tons of English shipping were captured or destroyed by our cruisers. Our commerce, therefore, dieth not rapidly. Thee should not forget, too, that our girls who are coming of age are worth something for the future prosperity of the country. None of them are killed in battles, and nearly all of them get married soon. The elders testified, moreover, that while we have lost the right to send all of our productions to England, we have gained the right to trade with all the rest of the world. We wax richer and more numerous, they said, and the timid and the unbelieving boweth his head, and weepeth, and declareth that this is our exhaustion."
"Hurrah for the Quakers!" exclaimed Mrs. Avery. "They are right! But, Rachel, it is getting into September, and it is ever so long since we have had any news from the Noank."
"Two more prizes came," replied Rachel, "and thy son Vine came back to thee in safety."
"Yes," said his mother, "but it was only to go out with Sam Prentice in that bark, for another privateering trip to the West Indies. I don't care: I'm almost glad Vine isn't with General Schuyler's army and just about to have a battle with Burgoyne."
"It'll be a hard one," said Mrs. Ten Eyck. "They say the British have all the Six Nations with them this time."
"Anneke," said Rachel, "does thee not know the red men? I do. They will dance and shout much, and they will take the king's presents. They will do many murders, for a time, but all the British generals can never turn Indians into soldiers. They may not be depended upon."
Poor General Burgoyne, struggling desperately among the mountains and forests and swamps, was already beginning to understand the really worthless character of his vaunted Indian allies. They were skirmishers and scouts, truly, but they were not trustworthy soldiers. At the same time, their presence in his camps did more than anything else to rally against him the full power of the New York and New England patriots. Many a man whose patriotism had been lukewarm or wavering took down his rifle from its hooks and hurried away to do his best to prevent the threatened great inroad of the Iroquois.
The ports of the Southern states as well as of the Northern were sending out both public and private armed vessels, and the infant navy of the United States was growing rapidly. It was beginning, also, to establish for itself a high character for efficiency and daring. Even when its first adventurous captains could not obtain ships that suited them, they did wonders with old hulks and half-refitted merchantmen. American shipyards were largely increasing their capacities, while American sailors were proving that seamanship and courage were of more importance than mere wood and canvas.
The autumn days that came were bright and beautiful, even along the misty coasts of the British islands. There had been, previously, a succession of severe storms and a host of craft had lingered in harbor, awaiting the arrival of this fine weather. Now it was here, the seas which bordered Britain, France, the Netherlands, and, away northward, the Danish coast, the North Sea, and the Baltic, seemed to swarm with sails. These were all too numerous for one craft more to attract especial attention.
There were war-ships of all sorts and sizes, and of several nationalities. These were all supposed by each other to be in somewhat jealous and exclusive care of the welfare and conduct of their own traders. One flag only was notably absent, as yet, and there were not many seagoing Europeans, comparatively speaking, who had even so much as seen the stars and stripes. This was the bright flag of the future, nor was anybody ready to foresee that it would thereafter become of great importance in the commerce of the world.
A schooner, apparently a merchantman, going along under easy sail, was taking a course from the northward into the British Channel. There were many two-masters in the North Sea carrying the Baltic and Scandinavian trade, and this might be one of them. A sleepy British line-of-battle ship in the distance, easterly, did not care to meddle with her, flying as she did the Norway flag. She might be a lumber-boat, with her hold full of barrel heads and staves, and her deck cluttered with spare spars for the Hull builders.
A closer look at that same deck would have dismissed the spars from the supposition, and certainly no ordinary lumber business could have called for so numerous a crew.
One of these, a short and brawny man, was all the while busy with a telescope, uttering pretty loudly his readings of all he saw. No doubt he was a sailor familiar with these seas, and had been selected as a lookout for that reason. "That line-o'-battle ship won't pay us any attention, sir," he said. "We're getting well along past her. There isn't a speck o' danger in sight but one."
"What's that, Groot?" said Captain Avery, arising from his seat upon a coil of rope. "What do you see?"
"Revenue cutter, sir," replied Groot, "or I'm mistaken. She's brig-rigged. Almost dead ahead. She'll try to overhaul us, sir."
"I a'most hope she will," said the captain, testily. "We'll keep right on. We've sailed all the way 'round Scotland, and the best fun we've had was goin' ashore for fish and to scare the people. We haven't taken in a dollar's worth."
"Some o' the custom's cutters are likely craft," remarked a grizzled seaman near him. "They're apt to be pretty well armed. It wouldn't pay very well to tackle one of 'em. She might turn and tackle us."
"Well, Taber," said the captain, "we'll sheer away from her, of course, but I won't run away very far, unless that there liner gets too nigh us."
"She won't," said Groot. "She's taking in sail now. We're too small game for her to chase after."
"We'll let out every inch of our own canvas, then," suddenly shouted the captain. "I've an idea in my head. All hands prepare for action! My notion is that that feller's right there on the lookout for us. By this time every British captain has heard that we are cruisin' 'round. 'Bout ship! Cast loose that pivot-gun. We may have to try a shot with it in less'n half an hour. Taber, go to the wheel. Men! I think we're goin' to be waked up!"
His further orders went out fast, and every man on board seemed to feel as if a kind of relief had come. Day after day, most of the time in bad weather, they had beaten along the Irish coasts, and then the Scotch. The only important ships they had seen had been French or British cruisers, or else merchantmen which were altogether too near an armed protector. For fishing boats and mere coasters they had no appetite. It had, therefore, been only dull business for overcrowded, uncomfortable men, eager for adventures and prize-money.
The sails went out, and as they caught the breeze the Noank sprang gayly forward.
"That's it, sir," said Groot, lowering his glass. "She was hove to when I first sighted her. She'll cross our course next tack, and there isn't another keel anywhere near us."
"That's our luck," said the captain. "I guess we can handle any custom-house boat. I know what their armaments are, mostly. They're all good runners, but they don't count on much resistance from smugglers, and their guns are short-nosed."
If he had been on board of the brig he was speaking of at that moment, he might have changed his opinion a little. A revenue protector she was, assuredly, and she was more than a mere cutter. She was well manned, well armed. It looked, indeed, as if what might be her ordinary ship's company had been reënforced, perhaps by a detail from a man-of-war. Her commander was a regular navy lieutenant, and he was a seamanlike old fellow. The four guns each broadside that she carried were the long six-pound chasers that were then going into the new revenue service vessels, and they were good pieces for their caliber. She was a dangerous customer for the kind of antagonist she was expected to meet.
"Mr. Tracy," said a young officer on her quarter-deck to the gray lieutenant, "what do you think of her, sir?"
"My boy," replied his commander, "she's the chap we're here for. She has just the style o' foremast and tops'l that Syme told us of. That's the Yankee. I can't believe, though, that she's all he said she was. The fellow was badly scared, you know."
"We'll knock some splinters out of her, and take her in, then," laughed the young man, jauntily. "You were right, sir, in coming this way. The others missed her."
"We won't do that," said Tracy. "All hands clear away for action! We are going to take that American privateer!"
"Ay, ay, sir!" came cheerily back, and the crew sprang away in genuine British readiness for anything like a brush with an enemy.
An ugly antagonist the Arran was likely to be, and she was sure of good handling. She was speedy, too, and the two vessels were all the while nearing each other. It was to be noted, nevertheless, as Captain Avery had said, that at the same time they were getting away out of reach of the overpowerful ship of the line.
"I'm going to strike first," he remarked, "and I mean to hit hard. Ready, Up-na-tan! Williams, pull down that Norway bunting, and run up the stars and stripes! We'll fight under our own flag to-day. I'll cripple that fellow or take him. If I don't, we're bound for a British prison, instead of Amsterdam."
"That's so, sir," said Groot. "She's a pretty big bird for us, I'm thinking."
"Big or little, we'll fight her! Three cheers for the flag!" sang out the captain.
The three cheers were rousers, and the Noank gained a point by it. Lieutenant Tracy had been using his glass just then, and he angrily roared out: —
"Fletcher, my boy! If they haven't challenged us! Give 'em a broadside! Hurrah! They mean to show fight!"
Good gunners were those mariners of the Arran. Well sent was that broadside; and in a moment more Captain Avery was leaning over his port bulwark, and was making a somewhat serious examination.
"Hurrah!" he shouted in his turn. "So much for ice-fender timbers and planking. Two shot struck fair and didn't go through. Up-na-tan, let fly! Show 'em the difference!"
The Manhattan did not obey at once. He was sighting, sighting, sighting, for almost a minute, and the men at the broadside guns were following his example.
"Fire!" shouted the captain, and even then there was an irritating pause.
"Ugh!" grunted the red man, at last. "Ole chief wait and see brig bowsprit. Send shot behind it."
The long eighteen spoke out, and was instantly followed by the three sixes on that side of the Noank. It was at the very moment when Lieutenant Tracy remarked, inquiringly: —
"What? Don't they mean to answer us? You don't say they'll surrender without firing a shot? That isn't like 'em, now – "
His next utterance was much louder.
"George!" he shouted. "There goes my bowsprit! The jolly-boat's knocked into matchwood! I declare! There's a hole in the mains'l! Is anybody hurt?"
"Not a man, sir!" shouted back Fletcher, cheerfully. "We'll give it to 'em!"
The brig had been already going about, and her other broadside was as well directed as the first. It would have been bad for the Noank but for her heavy timbers and the lightness of Tracy's metal. She was hulled in three places, and there was a ragged split in her foresail. It did not prevent her going about, however, and her next trio of iron messengers were as well aimed as were the Englishman's.
"They hulled us, sir," reported the Arran's sailing-master. "No great harm. Three men hurt by splinters. The after rigging's cut a bit. We must finish that chap, sir."
"That cursed long gun o' theirs!" growled Tracy, fiercely. "Captain Syme told me, and I hardly believed him. That's what may play the mischief with us. I wish we were at broadsides with her."
That was precisely the advantage which Captain Avery did not intend to give him, right away, and the Arran, losing her bowsprit, was not by any means so difficult to keep away from or to outmanoeuvre.
Slowly, carefully, Up-na-tan had again sighted his gun and measured his distance. It was tantalizing to watch him as he doggedly refused to throw away a shot.
"Ugh! Whoo-oop!" he yelled, as his lanyard touched the priming of his gun. "Now see! Ole chief take 'em aft!"
"I wish he'd do as well for one end of her as he did for the other," muttered the captain.
"He's done it, sir!" exclaimed Guert, for he had borrowed the captain's telescope.
"That Indian's a gunner!" said Groot, with emphasis. "I never saw one to beat him. I've seen pretty good marksmen, too."
The peculiar accuracy of eye born in or acquired by the old red man was a disastrous gift for the British revenue brig. Almost too far aft did the shot hit her, but in it went, and all her rudder gear was useless in a second of time. She could no longer answer her wheel, and began to lurch about at the mercy of wind and wave.
Fierce indeed were the execrations of her helpless officers and crew. All their courage and seamanship were of no use, now. Their guns might as well have been made of wood, and their jaunty brig had become as clumsy and unmanageable as a raft. Moreover, the terrible American was speeding nearer, and only a few minutes went by before there came a loud-voiced demand for her surrender to the —
"United States armed cruiser Noank, Captain Lyme Avery."
"His Britannic Majesty's brig Arran, Lieutenant Tracy. We surrender, of course. You could sink us as we are now. All the luck's yours."
"We'll come alongside," said Avery.
"I wish I had a right to board him when he comes," growled Tracy, as his flag came down. "There'd be some satisfaction in that."
A few minutes later he had changed that opinion, for an unexpected torrent of men poured over his bulwarks from the Noank.
"'Pon my soul!" he exclaimed. "What a crew she has! They outnumber us two to one. It's no disgrace at all!"
All the British tars felt relieved in their minds after a good look at their victors. The result of the fight was not to be a discredit to them, they said, and the American sailors hailed them merrily. There had been no killing on either side, and there was no cause for bad temper. The best shots had decided the fight, and all true seamen could accept the consequences.
"Lieutenant Tracy," said Captain Avery, "we don't want your brig. We'll take out of her all that suits us, and then you can drift around till help gets to you. Or you can patch up and work your way into some port or other."
"I can manage it," said the Englishman, ruefully. "We captured a French smuggler yesterday, and now a deal o' that luck is yours instead of ours. You rebels are holding out wonderfully."
"So is England," laughed Captain Avery. "You won't give up, and we won't. I guess you'll have to, though, one o' these days."
"Never!" said Tracy, sturdily. "All the colonies'll have to come back under the king, sooner or later."
"You wait and see," said the captain.
The loyal-hearted lieutenant, however, had expressed no more than the almost undoubting faith of the great body of his countrymen. They were simply unable to believe that the Americans could succeed.
Down into the hold of the Arran had dashed the men of the Noank. Tackle had been quickly rigged at the hatches.
One of the commands given had related to a search for powder and shot, and the entire supply of the brig was now coming up, to be transferred to the schooner. It was a timely winning, for her stock had begun to run low.
"It's a good thing for us," said her captain and crew, as they secured it.
Anything and everything in the nature of arms and ammunition, furniture, cutlery, table goods, bales of woollens, and packages of silks taken from the French smuggler, more than a little tanned leather, lots of miscellaneous stuff not yet precisely known as to its character, made up the unexpectedly valuable plunder of the smuggler-capturing brig.
There was no time to transfer her cannon, and these were left behind, spiked. Her spare sails went, however, with a good yawl-boat and some extra light spars. Then the Noank cast off, and her crew gave their crestfallen British acquaintances three rounds of hearty cheers.
"Captain Avery," shouted Tracy, "you're a good fellow, but Fletcher and I hope we may meet you again, some day, with better luck to our guns."
"All right!" responded the captain. "May you command a forty-four and I another. Then the United States'll own one more prime ship that used to be the king's. Hurrah!"