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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15422-0.txt b/15422-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d16fd2 --- /dev/null +++ b/15422-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7852 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Israel Potter, by Herman Melville + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: Israel Potter + +Author: Herman Melville + +Release Date: March 20, 2005 [eBook #15422] +[Most recently updated: June 15, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + + + + +ISRAEL POTTER + +His Fifty Years of Exile + +By Herman Melville + +1855 + + +DEDICATION + +TO +HIS HIGHNESS +THE +Bunker-Hill Monument + +Biography, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true +and brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue—one given and +received in entire disinterestedness—since neither can the biographer +hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at all avail +himself of the biographical distinction conferred. + +Israel Potter well merits the present tribute—a private of Bunker Hill, +who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still deeper +privacy under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default of any +during life, annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses and +sward. + +I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of your +Highness, because, with a change in the grammatical person, it +preserves, almost as in a reprint, Israel Potter’s autobiographical +story. Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a +little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray +paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, +but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks of +the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out of +print. From a tattered copy, rescued by the merest chance from the +rag-pickers, the present account has been drawn, which, with the +exception of some expansions, and additions of historic and personal +details, and one or two shiftings of scene, may, perhaps, be not +unfitly regarded something in the light of a dilapidated old tombstone +retouched. + +Well aware that in your Highness’ eyes the merit of the story must be +in its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, I +forbore anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and +particularly towards the end, though sorely tempted, durst not +substitute for the allotment of Providence any artistic recompense of +poetical justice; so that no one can complain of the gloom of my +closing chapters more profoundly than myself. + +Such is the work, and such, the man, that I have the honor to present +to your Highness. That the name here noted should not have appeared in +the volumes of Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; but +Israel Potter seems purposely to have waited to make his, popular +advent under the present exalted patronage, seeing that your Highness, +according to the definition above, may, in the loftiest sense, be +deemed the Great Biographer: the national commemorator of such of the +anonymous privates of June 17, 1775, who may never have received other +requital than the solid reward of your granite. + +Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on this +auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty +congratulations on the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, +wishing your Highness (though indeed your Highness be somewhat +prematurely gray) many returns of the same, and that each of its +summer’s suns may shine as brightly on your brow as each winter snow +shall lightly rest on the grave of Israel Potter. + +Your Highness’ +Most devoted and obsequious, +THE EDITOR. + + +JUNE 17th, 1854. + + + + +CONTENTS + + ISRAEL POTTER + CHAPTER I. — THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL. + CHAPTER II. — THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL. + CHAPTER III. — ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE SEA INTO THE ENEMY’S LAND. + CHAPTER IV. — FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT OF BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM. + CHAPTER V. — ISRAEL IN THE LION’S DEN. + CHAPTER VI. — ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE “DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY,” THESE DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE CHANNEL. + CHAPTER VII. — AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE PRESENCE OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED. + CHAPTER VIII. — WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER. + CHAPTER IX. — ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN QUARTER. + CHAPTER X. — ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE. + CHAPTER XI. — PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE. + CHAPTER XII. — RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE’S ABODE—HIS ADVENTURES THERE. + CHAPTER XIII. — HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING. + CHAPTER XIV. — IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL IN ONE NIGHT. + CHAPTER XV. — THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA. + CHAPTER XVI. — THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN. + CHAPTER XVII. — THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK’S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR DRAKE. + CHAPTER XVIII. — THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX. + CHAPTER XIX. — THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS. + CHAPTER XX. — THE SHUTTLE. + CHAPTER XXI. — SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES. + CHAPTER XXII. — SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL’S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE WILDERNESS. + CHAPTER XXIII. — ISRAEL IN EGYPT. + CHAPTER XXIV. — CONTINUED. + CHAPTER XXV. — IN THE CITY OF DIS. + CHAPTER XXVI. — FORTY-FIVE YEARS. + CHAPTER XXVII. — REQUIESCAT IN PACE. + + + + +ISRAEL POTTER + +Fifty Years of Exile + + + + +CHAPTER I. +THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL. + + +The traveller who at the present day is content to travel in the good +old Asiatic style, neither rushed along by a locomotive, nor dragged by +a stage-coach; who is willing to enjoy hospitalities at far-scattered +farmhouses, instead of paying his bill at an inn; who is not to be +frightened by any amount of loneliness, or to be deterred by the +roughest roads or the highest hills; such a traveller in the eastern +part of Berkshire, Massachusetts, will find ample food for poetic +reflection in the singular scenery of a country, which, owing to the +ruggedness of the soil and its lying out of the track of all public +conveyances, remains almost as unknown to the general tourist as the +interior of Bohemia. + +Travelling northward from the township of Otis, the road leads for +twenty or thirty miles towards Windsor, lengthwise upon that long +broken spur of heights which the Green Mountains of Vermont send into +Massachusetts. For nearly the whole of the distance, you have the +continual sensation of being upon some terrace in the moon. The feeling +of the plain or the valley is never yours; scarcely the feeling of the +earth. Unless by a sudden precipitation of the road you find yourself +plunging into some gorge, you pass on, and on, and on, upon the crests +or slopes of pastoral mountains, while far below, mapped out in its +beauty, the valley of the Housatonie lies endlessly along at your feet. +Often, as your horse gaining some lofty level tract, flat as a table, +trots gayly over the almost deserted and sodded road, and your admiring +eye sweeps the broad landscape beneath, you seem to be Bootes driving +in heaven. Save a potato field here and there, at long intervals, the +whole country is either in wood or pasture. Horses, cattle and sheep +are the principal inhabitants of these mountains. But all through the +year lazy columns of smoke, rising from the depths of the forest, +proclaim the presence of that half-outlaw, the charcoal-burner; while +in early spring added curls of vapor show that the maple sugar-boiler +is also at work. But as for farming as a regular vocation, there is not +much of it here. At any rate, no man by that means accumulates a +fortune from this thin and rocky soil, all whose arable parts have long +since been nearly exhausted. + +Yet during the first settlement of the country, the region was not +unproductive. Here it was that the original settlers came, acting upon +the principle well known to have regulated their choice of site, +namely, the high land in preference to the low, as less subject to the +unwholesome miasmas generated by breaking into the rich valleys and +alluvial bottoms of primeval regions. By degrees, however, they quitted +the safety of this sterile elevation, to brave the dangers of richer +though lower fields. So that, at the present day, some of those +mountain townships present an aspect of singular abandonment. Though +they have never known aught but peace and health, they, in one lesser +aspect at least, look like countries depopulated by plague and war. +Every mile or two a house is passed untenanted. The strength of the +frame-work of these ancient buildings enables them long to resist the +encroachments of decay. Spotted gray and green with the weather-stain, +their timbers seem to have lapsed back into their woodland original, +forming part now of the general picturesqueness of the natural scene. +They are of extraordinary size, compared with modern farmhouses. One +peculiar feature is the immense chimney, of light gray stone, +perforating the middle of the roof like a tower. + +On all sides are seen the tokens of ancient industry. As stone abounds +throughout these mountains, that material was, for fences, as ready to +the hand as wood, besides being much more durable. Consequently the +landscape is intersected in all directions with walls of uncommon +neatness and strength. + +The number and length of these walls is not more surprising than the +size of some of the blocks comprising them. The very Titans seemed to +have been at work. That so small an army as the first settlers must +needs have been, should have taken such wonderful pains to enclose so +ungrateful a soil; that they should have accomplished such herculean +undertakings with so slight prospect of reward; this is a consideration +which gives us a significant hint of the temper of the men of the +Revolutionary era. + +Nor could a fitter country be found for the birthplace of the devoted +patriot, Israel Potter. + +To this day the best stone-wall builders, as the best wood-choppers, +come from those solitary mountain towns; a tall, athletic, and hardy +race, unerring with the axe as the Indian with the tomahawk; at +stone-rolling, patient as Sisyphus, powerful as Samson. + +In fine clear June days, the bloom of these mountains is beyond +expression delightful. Last visiting these heights ere she vanishes, +Spring, like the sunset, flings her sweetest charms upon them. Each +tuft of upland grass is musked like a bouquet with perfume. The balmy +breeze swings to and fro like a censer. On one side the eye follows for +the space of an eagle’s flight, the serpentine mountain chains, +southwards from the great purple dome of Taconic—the St. Peter’s of +these hills—northwards to the twin summits of Saddleback, which is the +two-steepled natural cathedral of Berkshire; while low down to the west +the Housatonie winds on in her watery labyrinth, through charming +meadows basking in the reflected rays from the hill-sides. At this +season the beauty of every thing around you populates the loneliness of +your way. You would not have the country more settled if you could. +Content to drink in such loveliness at all your senses, the heart +desires no company but Nature. + +With what rapture you behold, hovering over some vast hollow of the +hills, or slowly drifting at an immense height over the far sunken +Housatonie valley, some lordly eagle, who in unshared exaltation looks +down equally upon plain and mountain. Or you behold a hawk sallying +from some crag, like a Rhenish baron of old from his pinnacled castle, +and darting down towards the river for his prey. Or perhaps, lazily +gliding about in the zenith, this ruffian fowl is suddenly beset by a +crow, who with stubborn audacity pecks at him, and, spite of all his +bravery, finally persecutes him back to his stronghold. The otherwise +dauntless bandit, soaring at his topmost height, must needs succumb to +this sable image of death. Nor are there wanting many smaller and less +famous fowl, who without contributing to the grandeur, yet greatly add +to the beauty of the scene. The yellow-bird flits like a winged jonquil +here and there; like knots of violets the blue-birds sport in clusters +upon the grass; while hurrying from the pasture to the grove, the red +robin seems an incendiary putting torch to the trees. Meanwhile the air +is vocal with their hymns, and your own soul joys in the general joy. +Like a stranger in an orchestra, you cannot help singing yourself when +all around you raise such hosannas. + +But in autumn, those gay northerners, the birds, return to their +southern plantations. The mountains are left bleak and sere. Solitude +settles down upon them in drizzling mists. The traveller is beset, at +perilous turns, by dense masses of fog. He emerges for a moment into +more penetrable air; and passing some gray, abandoned house, sees the +lofty vapors plainly eddy by its desolate door; just as from the plain +you may see it eddy by the pinnacles of distant and lonely heights. Or, +dismounting from his frightened horse, he leads him down some scowling +glen, where the road steeply dips among grim rocks, only to rise as +abruptly again; and as he warily picks his way, uneasy at the menacing +scene, he sees some ghost-like object looming through the mist at the +roadside; and wending towards it, beholds a rude white stone, uncouthly +inscribed, marking the spot where, some fifty or sixty years ago, some +farmer was upset in his wood-sled, and perished beneath the load. + +In winter this region is blocked up with snow. Inaccessible and +impassable, those wild, unfrequented roads, which in August are +overgrown with high grass, in December are drifted to the arm-pit with +the white fleece from the sky. As if an ocean rolled between man and +man, intercommunication is often suspended for weeks and weeks. + +Such, at this day, is the country which gave birth to our hero: +prophetically styled Israel by the good Puritans, his parents, since, +for more than forty years, poor Potter wandered in the wild wilderness +of the world’s extremest hardships and ills. + +How little he thought, when, as a boy, hunting after his father’s stray +cattle among these New England hills he himself like a beast should be +hunted through half of Old England, as a runaway rebel. Or, how could +he ever have dreamed, when involved in the autumnal vapors of these +mountains, that worse bewilderments awaited him three thousand miles +across the sea, wandering forlorn in the coal- foes of London. But so +it was destined to be. This little boy of the hills, born in sight of +the sparkling Housatonic, was to linger out the best part of his life a +prisoner or a pauper upon the grimy banks of the Thames. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL. + + +Imagination will easily picture the rural day of the youth of Israel. +Let us pass on to a less immature period. + +It appears that he began his wanderings very early; moreover, that ere, +on just principles throwing off the yoke off his king, Israel, on +equally excusable grounds, emancipated himself from his sire. He +continued in the enjoyment of parental love till the age of eighteen, +when, having formed an attachment for a neighbor’s daughter—for some +reason, not deemed a suitable match by his father—he was severely +reprimanded, warned to discontinue his visits, and threatened with some +disgraceful punishment in case he persisted. As the girl was not only +beautiful, but amiable—though, as will be seen, rather weak—and her +family as respectable as any, though unfortunately but poor, Israel +deemed his father’s conduct unreasonable and oppressive; particularly +as it turned out that he had taken secret means to thwart his son with +the girl’s connections, if not with the girl herself, so as to place +almost insurmountable obstacles to an eventual marriage. For it had not +been the purpose of Israel to marry at once, but at a future day, when +prudence should approve the step. So, oppressed by his father, and +bitterly disappointed in his love, the desperate boy formed the +determination to quit them both for another home and other friends. + +It was on Sunday, while the family were gone to a farmhouse church near +by, that he packed up as much of his clothing as might be contained in +a handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, he hid in a +piece of woods in the rear of the house. He then returned, and +continued in the house till about nine in the evening, when, pretending +to go to bed, he passed out of a back door, and hastened to the woods +for his bundle. + +It was a sultry night in July; and that he might travel with the more +ease on the succeeding day, he lay down at the foot of a pine tree, +reposing himself till an hour before dawn, when, upon awaking, he heard +the soft, prophetic sighing of the pine, stirred by the first breath of +the morning. Like the leaflets of that evergreen, all the fibres of his +heart trembled within him; tears fell from his eyes. But he thought of +the tyranny of his father, and what seemed to him the faithlessness of +his love; and shouldering his bundle, arose, and marched on. + +His intention was to reach the new countries to the northward and +westward, lying between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and the +Yankee settlements on the Housatonic. This was mainly to elude all +search. For the same reason, for the first ten or twelve miles, +shunning the public roads, he travelled through the woods; for he knew +that he would soon be missed and pursued. + +He reached his destination in safety; hired out to a farmer for a month +through the harvest; then crossed from the Hudson to the Connecticut. +Meeting here with an adventurer to the unknown regions lying about the +head waters of the latter river, he ascended with this man in a canoe, +paddling and pulling for many miles. Here again he hired himself out +for three months; at the end of that time to receive for his wages two +hundred acres of land lying in New Hampshire. The cheapness of the land +was not alone owing to the newness of the country, but to the perils +investing it. Not only was it a wilderness abounding with wild beasts, +but the widely-scattered inhabitants were in continual dread of being, +at some unguarded moment, destroyed or made captive by the Canadian +savages, who, ever since the French war, had improved every opportunity +to make forays across the defenceless frontier. + +His employer proving false to his contract in the matter of the land, +and there being no law in the country to force him to fulfil it, +Israel—who, however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a +pinch, seems nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his +career, a singular patience and mildness—was obliged to look round for +other means of livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the +wilderness. A party of royal surveyors were at this period surveying +the unsettled regions bordering the Connecticut river to its source. At +fifteen shillings per month, he engaged himself to this party as +assistant chain-bearer, little thinking that the day was to come when +he should clank the king’s chains in a dungeon, even as now he trailed +them a free ranger of the woods. It was midwinter; the land was +surveyed upon snow-shoes. At the close of the day, fires were kindled +with dry hemlock, a hut thrown up, and the party ate and slept. + +Paid off at last, Israel bought a gun and ammunition, and turned +hunter. Deer, beaver, etc., were plenty. In two or three months he had +many skins to show. I suppose it never entered his mind that he was +thus qualifying himself for a marksman of men. But thus were tutored +those wonderful shots who did such execution at Bunker’s Hill; these, +the hunter-soldiers, whom Putnam bade wait till the white of the +enemy’s eye was seen. + +With the result of his hunting he purchased a hundred acres of land, +further down the river, toward the more settled parts; built himself a +log hut, and in two summers, with his own hands, cleared thirty acres +for sowing. In the winter seasons he hunted and trapped. At the end of +the two years, he sold back his land—now much improved—to the original +owner, at an advance of fifty pounds. He conveyed his cash and furs to +Charlestown, on the Connecticut (sometimes called No. 4), where he +trafficked them away for Indian blankets, pigments, and other showy +articles adapted to the business of a trader among savages. It was now +winter again. Putting his goods on a hand-sled, he started towards +Canada, a peddler in the wilderness, stopping at wigwams instead of +cottages. One fancies that, had it been summer, Israel would have +travelled with a wheelbarrow, and so trundled his wares through the +primeval forests, with the same indifference as porters roll their +barrows over the flagging of streets. In this way was bred that +fearless self-reliance and independence which conducted our forefathers +to national freedom. + +This Canadian trip proved highly successful. Selling his glittering +goods at a great advance, he received in exchange valuable peltries and +furs at a corresponding reduction. Returning to Charlestown, he +disposed of his return cargo again at a very fine profit. And now, with +a light heart and a heavy purse, he resolved to visit his sweetheart +and parents, of whom, for three years, he had had no tidings. + +They were not less astonished than delighted at his reappearance; he +had been numbered with the dead. But his love still seemed strangely +coy; willing, but yet somehow mysteriously withheld. The old intrigues +were still on foot. Israel soon discovered, that though rejoiced to +welcome the return of the prodigal son—so some called him—his father +still remained inflexibly determined against the match, and still +inexplicably countermined his wooing. With a dolorous heart he mildly +yielded to what seemed his fatality; and more intrepid in facing peril +for himself, than in endangering others by maintaining his rights (for +he was now one-and-twenty), resolved once more to retreat, and quit his +blue hills for the bluer billows. + +A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded +misanthrope; a hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous +distressed. The ocean brims with natural griefs and tragedies; and into +that watery immensity of terror, man’s private grief is lost like a +drop. + +Travelling on foot to Providence, Rhode Island, Israel shipped on board +a sloop, bound with lime to the West Indies. On the tenth day out, the +vessel caught fire, from water communicating with the lime. It was +impossible to extinguish the flames. The boat was hoisted out, but +owing to long exposure to the sun, it needed continual bailing to keep +it afloat. They had only time to put in a firkin of butter and a +ten-gallon keg of water. Eight in number, the crew entrusted themselves +to the waves, in a leaky tub, many leagues from land. As the boat swept +under the burning bowsprit, Israel caught at a fragment of the +flying-jib, which sail had fallen down the stay, owing to the charring, +nigh the deck, of the rope which hoisted it. Tanned with the smoke, and +its edge blackened with the fire, this bit of canvass helped them +bravely on their way. Thanks to kind Providence, on the second day they +were picked up by a Dutch ship, bound from Eustatia to Holland. The +castaways were humanely received, and supplied with every necessary. At +the end of a week, while unsophisticated Israel was sitting in the +maintop, thinking what should befall him in Holland, and wondering what +sort of unsettled, wild country it was, and whether there was any +deer-shooting or beaver-trapping there, lo! an American brig, bound +from Piscataqua to Antigua, comes in sight. The American took them +aboard, and conveyed them safely to her port. There Israel shipped for +Porto Rico; from thence, sailed to Eustatia. + +Other rovings ensued; until at last, entering on board a Nantucket +ship, he hunted the leviathan off the Western Islands and on the coast +of Africa, for sixteen months; returning at length to Nantucket with a +brimming hold. From that island he sailed again on another whaling +voyage, extending, this time, into the great South Sea. There, promoted +to be harpooner, Israel, whose eye and arm had been so improved by +practice with his gun in the wilderness, now further intensified his +aim, by darting the whale-lance; still, unwittingly, preparing himself +for the Bunker Hill rifle. + +In this last voyage, our adventurer experienced to the extreme all the +hardships and privations of the whaleman’s life on a long voyage to +distant and barbarous waters—hardships and privations unknown at the +present day, when science has so greatly contributed, in manifold ways, +to lessen the sufferings, and add to the comforts of seafaring men. +Heartily sick of the ocean, and longing once more for the bush, Israel, +upon receiving his discharge at Nantucket at the end of the voyage, +hied straight back for his mountain home. + +But if hopes of his sweetheart winged his returning flight, such hopes +were not destined to be crowned with fruition. The dear, false girl was +another’s. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF +SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE +SEA INTO THE ENEMY’S LAND. + + +Left to idle lamentations, Israel might now have planted deep furrows +in his brow. But stifling his pain, he chose rather to plough, than be +ploughed. Farming weans man from his sorrows. That tranquil pursuit +tolerates nothing but tranquil meditations. There, too, in mother +earth, you may plant and reap; not, as in other things, plant and see +the planting torn up by the roots. But if wandering in the wilderness, +and wandering upon the waters, if felling trees, and hunting, and +shipwreck, and fighting with whales, and all his other strange +adventures, had not as yet cured poor Israel of his now hopeless +passion, events were at hand for ever to drown it. + +It was the year 1774. The difficulties long pending between the +colonies and England were arriving at their crisis. Hostilities were +certain. The Americans were preparing themselves. Companies were formed +in most of the New England towns, whose members, receiving the name of +minute-men, stood ready to march anywhere at a minute’s warning. +Israel, for the last eight months, sojourning as a laborer on a farm in +Windsor, enrolled himself in the regiment of Colonel John Patterson of +Lenox, afterwards General Patterson. + +The battle of Lexington was fought on the 18th of April, 1775; news of +it arrived in the county of Berkshire on the 20th about noon. The next +morning at sunrise, Israel swung his knapsack, shouldered his musket, +and, with Patterson’s regiment, was on the march, quickstep, towards +Boston. + +Like Putnam, Israel received the stirring tidings at the plough. But +although not less willing than Putnam to fly to battle at an instant’s +notice, yet—only half an acre of the field remaining to be finished—he +whipped up his team and finished it. Before hastening to one duty, he +would not leave a prior one undone; and ere helping to whip the +British, for a little practice’ sake, he applied the gad to his oxen. +From the field of the farmer, he rushed to that of the soldier, +mingling his blood with his sweat. While we revel in broadcloth, let us +not forget what we owe to linsey-woolsey. + +With other detachments from various quarters, Israel’s regiment +remained encamped for several days in the vicinity of Charlestown. On +the seventeenth of June, one thousand Americans, including the regiment +of Patterson, were set about fortifying Bunker’s Hill. Working all +through the night, by dawn of the following day, the redoubt was thrown +up. But every one knows all about the battle. Suffice it, that Israel +was one of those marksmen whom Putnam harangued as touching the enemy’s +eyes. Forbearing as he was with his oppressive father and unfaithful +love, and mild as he was on the farm, Israel was not the same at Bunker +Hill. Putnam had enjoined the men to aim at the officers; so Israel +aimed between the golden epaulettes, as, in the wilderness, he had +aimed between the branching antlers. With dogged disdain of their foes, +the English grenadiers marched up the hill with sullen slowness; thus +furnishing still surer aims to the muskets which bristled on the +redoubt. Modest Israel was used to aver, that considering his practice +in the woods, he could hardly be regarded as an inexperienced marksman; +hinting, that every shot which the epauletted grenadiers received from +his rifle, would, upon a different occasion, have procured him a +deerskin. And like stricken deers the English, rashly brave as they +were, fled from the opening fire. But the marksman’s ammunition was +expended; a hand-to-hand encounter ensued. Not one American musket in +twenty had a bayonet to it. So, wielding the stock right and left, the +terrible farmers, with hats and coats off, fought their way among the +furred grenadiers, knocking them right and left, as seal-hunters on the +beach knock down with their clubs the Shetland seal. In the dense crowd +and confusion, while Israel’s musket got interlocked, he saw a blade +horizontally menacing his feet from the ground. Thinking some fallen +enemy sought to strike him at the last gasp, dropping his hold on his +musket, he wrenched at the steel, but found that though a brave hand +held it, that hand was powerless for ever. It was some British +officer’s laced sword-arm, cut from the trunk in the act of fighting, +refusing to yield up its blade to the last. At that moment another +sword was aimed at Israel’s head by a living officer. In an instant the +blow was parried by kindred steel, and the assailant fell by a +brother’s weapon, wielded by alien hands. But Israel did not come off +unscathed. A cut on the right arm near the elbow, received in parrying +the officer’s blow, a long slit across the chest, a musket ball buried +in his hip, and another mangling him near the ankle of the same leg, +were the tokens of intrepidity which our Sicinius Dentatus carried from +this memorable field. Nevertheless, with his comrades he succeeded in +reaching Prospect Hill, and from thence was conveyed to the hospital at +Cambridge. The bullet was extracted, his lesser wounds were dressed, +and after much suffering from the fracture of the bone near the ankle, +several pieces of which were extracted by the surgeon, ere long, thanks +to the high health and pure blood of the farmer, Israel rejoined his +regiment when they were throwing up intrenchments on Prospect Hill. +Bunker Hill was now in possession of the foe, who in turn had fortified +it. + +On the third of July, Washington arrived from the South to take the +command. Israel witnessed his joyful reception by the huzzaing +companies. + +The British now quartered in Boston suffered greatly from the scarcity +of provisions. Washington took every precaution to prevent their +receiving a supply. Inland, all aid could easily be cut off. To guard +against their receiving any by water, from tories and other disaffected +persons, the General equipped three armed vessels to intercept all +traitorous cruisers. Among them was the brigantine Washington, of ten +guns, commanded by Captain Martiedale. Seamen were hard to be had. The +soldiers were called upon to volunteer for these vessels. Israel was +one who so did; thinking that as an experienced sailor he should not be +backward in a juncture like this, little as he fancied the new service +assigned. + +Three days out of Boston harbor, the brigantine was captured by the +enemy’s ship Foy, of twenty guns. Taken prisoner with the rest of the +crew, Israel was afterwards put on board the frigate Tartar, with +immediate sailing orders for England. Seventy-two were captives in this +vessel. Headed by Israel, these men—half way across the sea—formed a +scheme to take the ship, but were betrayed by a renegade Englishman. As +ringleader, Israel was put in irons, and so remained till the frigate +anchored at Portsmouth. There he was brought on deck; and would have +met perhaps some terrible fate, had it not come out, during the +examination, that the Englishman had been a deserter from the army of +his native country ere proving a traitor to his adopted one. Relieved +of his irons, Israel was placed in the marine hospital on shore, where +half of the prisoners took the small-pox, which swept off a third of +their number. Why talk of Jaffa? + +From the hospital the survivors were conveyed to Spithead, and thrust +on board a hulk. And here in the black bowels of the ship, sunk low in +the sunless sea, our poor Israel lay for a month, like Jonah in the +belly of the whale. + +But one bright morning, Israel is hailed from the deck. A bargeman of +the commander’s boat is sick. Known for a sailor, Israel for the nonce +is appointed to pull the absent man’s oar. + +The officers being landed, some of the crew propose, like merry +Englishmen as they are, to hie to a neighboring ale-house, and have a +cosy pot or two together. Agreed. They start, and Israel with them. As +they enter the ale-house door, our prisoner is suddenly reminded of +still more imperative calls. Unsuspected of any design, he is allowed +to leave the party for a moment. No sooner does Israel see his +companions housed, than putting speed into his feet, and letting grow +all his wings, he starts like a deer. He runs four miles (so he +afterwards affirmed) without halting. He sped towards London; wisely +deeming that once in that crowd detection would be impossible. + +Ten miles, as he computed, from where he had left the bargemen, +leisurely passing a public house of a little village on the roadside, +thinking himself now pretty safe—hark, what is this he hears?— + +“Ahoy!” + +“No ship,” says Israel, hurrying on. + +“Stop.” + +“If you will attend to your business, I will endeavor to attend to +mine,” replies Israel coolly. And next minute he lets grow his wings +again; flying, one dare say, at the rate of something less than thirty +miles an hour. + +“Stop thief!” is now the cry. Numbers rushed from the roadside houses. +After a mile’s chase, the poor panting deer is caught. + +Finding it was no use now to prevaricate, Israel boldly confesses +himself a prisoner-of-war. The officer, a good fellow as it turned out, +had him escorted back to the inn; where, observing to the landlord that +this must needs be a true-blooded Yankee, he calls for liquors to +refresh Israel after his run. Two soldiers are then appointed to guard +him for the present. This was towards evening; and up to a late hour at +night, the inn was filled with strangers crowding to see the Yankee +rebel, as they politely termed him. These honest rustics seemed to +think that Yankees were a sort of wild creatures, a species of ’possum +or kangaroo. But Israel is very affable with them. That liquor he drank +from the hand of his foe, has perhaps warmed his heart towards all the +rest of his enemies. Yet this may not be wholly so. We shall see. At +any rate, still he keeps his eye on the main chance—escape. Neither the +jokes nor the insults of the mob does he suffer to molest him. He is +cogitating a little plot to himself. + +It seems that the good officer—not more true to the king his master +than indulgent towards the prisoner which that same loyalty made—had +left orders that Israel should be supplied with whatever liquor he +wanted that night. So, calling for the can again and again, Israel +invites the two soldiers to drink and be merry. At length, a wag of the +company proposes that Israel should entertain the public with a jig, he +(the wag) having heard that the Yankees were extraordinary dancers. A +fiddle is brought in, and poor Israel takes the floor. Not a little cut +to think that these people should so unfeelingly seek to be diverted at +the expense of an unfortunate prisoner, Israel, while jigging it up and +down, still conspires away at his private plot, resolving ere long to +give the enemy a touch of certain Yankee steps, as yet undreamed of in +their simple philosophy. They would not permit any cessation of his +dancing till he had danced himself into a perfect sweat, so that the +drops fell from his lank and flaxen hair. But Israel, with much of the +gentleness of the dove, is not wholly without the wisdom of the +serpent. Pleased to see the flowing bowl, he congratulates himself that +his own state of perspiration prevents it from producing any +intoxicating effect upon him. + +Late at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs, +the prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of +the bed in which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much +gratitude for the blanket, with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches +his legs. An hour or two passes. All is quiet without. + +The important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this +chance were suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present +itself. For early, doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way +prevented, the two soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating +prison, where he would thenceforth remain confined until the close of +the war; years and years, perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old +hulk, his nerves were restrung for flight. But intrepid as he must be +to compass it, wariness too was needed. His keepers had gone to bed +pretty well under the influence of the liquor. This was favorable. But +still, they were full-grown, strong men; and Israel was handcuffed. So +Israel resolved upon strategy first; and if that failed, force +afterwards. He eagerly listened. One of the drunken soldiers muttered +in his sleep, at first lowly, then louder and louder,—“Catch ’em! +Grapple ’em! Have at ’em! Ha—long cutlasses! Take that, runaway!” + +“What’s the matter with ye, Phil?” hiccoughed the other, who was not +yet asleep. “Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain’t at Fontenoy now.” + +“He’s a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!” + +“Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming,” again hiccoughed his comrade, +violently nudging him. “This comes o’ carousing.” + +Shortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep. +But by something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier, +Israel knew that this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a +moment what was best to do. At length he determined upon trying his old +plea. Calling upon the two soldiers, he informed them that urgent +necessity required his immediate presence somewhere in the rear of the +house. + +“Come, wake up here, Phil,” roared the soldier who was awake; “the +fellow here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better +edication than to be gettin’ up on nateral necessities at this time +o’night. It ain’t nateral; its unnateral. D—-n ye, Yankee, don’t ye +know no better?” + +With many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and +clutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long, +narrow, dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner was +this unbolted by the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash, manacled +Israel, shaking off the grasp of the one behind him, butts him +sprawling back into the entry; when, dashing in the opposite direction, +he bounces the other head over heels into the garden, never using a +hand; and then, leaping over the latter’s head, darts blindly out into +the midnight. Next moment he was at the garden wall. No outlet was +discoverable in the gloom. But a fruit-tree grew close to the wall. +Springing into it desperately, handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop +of the barrier, and without pausing to see where he is, drops himself +to the ground on the other side, and once more lets grow all his wings. +Meantime, with loud outcries, the two baffled drunkards grope +deliriously about in the garden. + +After running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit, +Israel reins up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him. +After much painful labor he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again +with all speed, day broke, revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and +beautiful country, soft, neat, and serene, all colored with the fresh +early tints of the spring of 1776. + +Bless me, thought Israel, all of a tremble, I shall certainly be caught +now; I have broken into some nobleman’s park. + +But, hurrying forward again, he came to a turnpike road, and then knew +that, all comely and shaven as it was, this was simply the open country +of England; one bright, broad park, paled in with white foam of the +sea. A copse skirting the road was just bursting out into bud. Each +unrolling leaf was in very act of escaping from its prison. Israel +looked at the budding leaves, and round on the budding sod, and up at +the budding dawn of the day. He was so sad, and these sights were so +gay, that Israel sobbed like a child, while thoughts of his mountain +home rushed like a wind on his heart. But conquering this fit, he +marched on, and presently passed nigh a field, where two figures were +working. They had rosy cheeks, short, sturdy legs, showing the blue +stocking nearly to the knee, and were clad in long, coarse, white +frocks, and had on coarse, broad-brimmed straw hats. Their faces were +partly averted. + +“Please, ladies,” half roguishly says Israel, taking off his hat, “does +this road go to London?” + +At this salutation, the two figures turned in a sort of stupid +amazement, causing an almost corresponding expression in Israel, who +now perceived that they were men, and not women. He had mistaken them, +owing to their frocks, and their wearing no pantaloons, only breeches +hidden by their frocks. + +“Beg pardon, ladies, but I thought ye were something else,” said Israel +again. + +Once more the two figures stared at the stranger, and with added +boorishness of surprise. + +“Does this road go to London, gentlemen?” + +“Gentlemen—egad!” cried one of the two. + +“Egad!” echoed the second. + +Putting their hoes before them, the two frocked boors now took a good +long look at Israel, meantime scratching their heads under their +plaited straw hats. + +“Does it, gentlemen? Does it go to London? Be kind enough to tell a +poor fellow, do.” + +“Yees goin’ to Lunnun, are yees? Weel—all right—go along.” + +And without another word, having now satisfied their rustic curiosity, +the two human steers, with wonderful phlegm, applied themselves to +their hoes; supposing, no doubt, that they had given all requisite +information. + +Shortly after, Israel passed an old, dark, mossy-looking chapel, its +roof all plastered with the damp yellow dead leaves of the previous +autumn, showered there from a close cluster of venerable trees, with +great trunks, and overstretching branches. Next moment he found himself +entering a village. The silence of early morning rested upon it. But +few figures were seen. Glancing through the window of a now noiseless +public-house, Israel saw a table all in disorder, covered with empty +flagons, and tobacco-ashes, and long pipes; some of the latter broken. + +After pausing here a moment, he moved on, and observed a man over the +way standing still and watching him. Instantly Israel was reminded that +he had on the dress of an English sailor, and that it was this probably +which had arrested the stranger’s attention. Well knowing that his +peculiar dress exposed him to peril, he hurried on faster to escape the +village; resolving at the first opportunity to change his garments. Ere +long, in a secluded place about a mile from the village, he saw an old +ditcher tottering beneath the weight of a pick-axe, hoe and shovel, +going to his work; the very picture of poverty, toil and distress. His +clothes were tatters. + +Making up to this old man, Israel, after a word or two of salutation, +offered to change clothes with him. As his own clothes were prince-like +compared to the ditchers, Israel thought that however much his +proposition might excite the suspicion of the ditcher, yet +self-interest would prevent his communicating the suspicions. To be +brief, the two went behind a hedge, and presently Israel emerged, +presenting the most forlorn appearance conceivable; while the old +ditcher hobbled off in an opposite direction, correspondingly improved +in his aspect; though it was rather ludicrous than otherwise, owing to +the immense bagginess of the sailor-trowsers flapping about his lean +shanks, to say nothing of the spare voluminousness of the pea-jacket. +But Israel—how deplorable, how dismal his plight! Little did he ween +that these wretched rags he now wore, were but suitable to that long +career of destitution before him: one brief career of adventurous +wanderings; and then, forty torpid years of pauperism. The coat was all +patches. And no two patches were alike, and no one patch was the color +of the original cloth. The stringless breeches gaped wide open at the +knee; the long woollen stockings looked as if they had been set up at +some time for a target. Israel looked suddenly metamorphosed from youth +to old age; just like an old man of eighty he looked. But, indeed, +dull, dreary adversity was now in store for him; and adversity, come it +at eighteen or eighty, is the true old age of man. The dress befitted +the fate. + +From the friendly old ditcher, Israel learned the exact course he must +steer for London; distant now between seventy and eighty miles. He was +also apprised by his venerable friend, that the country was filled with +soldiers on the constant look-out for deserters whether from the navy +or army, for the capture of whom a stipulated reward was given, just as +in Massachusetts at that time for prowling bears. + +Having solemnly enjoined his old friend not to give any information, +should any one he meet inquire for such a person as Israel, our +adventurer walked briskly on, less heavy of heart, now that he felt +comparatively safe in disguise. + +Thirty miles were travelled that day. At night Israel stole into a +barn, in hopes of finding straw or hay for a bed. But it was spring; +all the hay and straw were gone. So after groping about in the dark, he +was fain to content himself with an undressed sheep-skin. Cold, hungry, +foot-sore, weary, and impatient for the morning dawn, Israel drearily +dozed out the night. + +By the first peep of day coming through the chinks of the barn, he was +up and abroad. Ere long finding himself in the suburbs of a +considerable village, the better to guard against detection he supplied +himself with a rude crutch, and feigning himself a cripple, hobbled +straight through the town, followed by a perverse-minded cur, which +kept up a continual, spiteful, suspicious bark. Israel longed to have +one good rap at him with his crutch, but thought it would hardly look +in character for a poor old cripple to be vindictive. + +A few miles further, and he came to a second village. While hobbling +through its main street, as through the former one, he was suddenly +stopped by a genuine cripple, all in tatters, too, who, with a +sympathetic air, inquired after the cause of his lameness. + +“White swelling,” says Israel. + +“That’s just my ailing,” wheezed the other; “but you’re lamer than me,” +he added with a forlorn sort of self-satisfaction, critically eyeing +Israel’s limp as once, more he stumped on his way, not liking to tarry +too long. + +“But halloo, what’s your hurry, friend?” seeing Israel fairly +departing—“where’re you going?” + +“To London,” answered Israel, turning round, heartily wishing the old +fellow any where else than present. + +“Going to limp to Lunnun, eh? Well, success to ye.” + +“As much to you, sir,” answers Israel politely. + +Nigh the opposite suburbs of this village, as good fortune would have +it, an empty baggage-wagon bound for the metropolis turned into the +main road from a side one. Immediately Israel limps most deplorably, +and begs the driver to give a poor cripple a lift. So up he climbs; but +after a time, finding the gait of the elephantine draught-horses +intolerably slow, Israel craves permission to dismount, when, throwing +away his crutch, he takes nimbly to his legs, much to the surprise of +his honest friend the driver. + +The only advantage, if any, derived from his trip in the wagon, was, +when passing through a third village—but a little distant from the +previous one—Israel, by lying down in the wagon, had wholly avoided +being seen. + +The villages surprised him by their number and proximity. Nothing like +this was to be seen at home. Well knowing that in these villages he ran +much more risk of detection than in the open country, he henceforth did +his best to avoid them, by taking a roundabout course whenever they +came in sight from a distance. This mode of travelling not only +lengthened his journey, but put unlooked-for obstacles in his +path—walls, ditches, and streams. + +Not half an hour after throwing away his crutch, he leaped a great +ditch ten feet wide, and of undiscoverable muddy depth. I wonder if the +old cripple would think me the lamer one now, thought Israel to +himself, arriving on the hither side. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT +OF BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM. + + +At nightfall, on the third day, Israel had arrived within sixteen miles +of the capital. Once more he sought refuge in a barn. This time he +found some hay, and flinging himself down procured a tolerable night’s +rest. + +Bright and early he arose refreshed, with the pleasing prospect of +reaching his destination ere noon. Encouraged to find himself now so +far from his original pursuers, Israel relaxed in his vigilance, and +about ten o’clock, while passing through the town of Staines, suddenly +encountered three soldiers. Unfortunately in exchanging clothes with +the ditcher, he could not bring himself to include his shirt in the +traffic, which shirt was a British navy shirt, a bargeman’s shirt, and +though hitherto he had crumpled the blue collar out of sight, yet, as +it appeared in the present instance, it was not thoroughly concealed. +At any rate, keenly on the look-out for deserters, and made acute by +hopes of reward for their apprehension, the soldiers spied the fatal +collar, and in an instant laid violent hands on the refugee. + +“Hey, lad!” said the foremost soldier, a corporal, “you are one of his +majesty’s seamen! come along with ye.” + +So, unable to give any satisfactory account of himself, he was made +prisoner on the spot, and soon after found himself handcuffed and +locked up in the Bound House of the place, a prison so called, +appropriated to runaways, and those convicted of minor offences. Day +passed dinnerless and supperless in this dismal durance, and night came +on. + +Israel had now been three days without food, except one two-penny loaf. +The cravings of hunger now became sharper; his spirits, hitherto arming +him with fortitude, began to forsake him. Taken captive once again upon +the very brink of reaching his goal, poor Israel was on the eve of +falling into helpless despair. But he rallied, and considering that +grief would only add to his calamity, sought with stubborn patience to +habituate himself to misery, but still hold aloof from despondency. He +roused himself, and began to bethink him how to be extricated from this +labyrinth. + +Two hours sawing across the grating of the window, ridded him of his +handcuffs. Next came the door, secured luckily with only a hasp and +padlock. Thrusting the bolt of his handcuffs through a small window in +the door, he succeeded in forcing the hasp and regaining his liberty +about three o’clock in the morning. + +Not long after sunrise, he passed nigh Brentford, some six or seven +miles from the capital. So great was his hunger that downright +starvation seemed before him. He chewed grass, and swallowed it. Upon +first escaping from the hulk, six English pennies was all the money he +had. With two of these he had bought a small loaf the day after fleeing +the inn. The other four still remained in his pocket, not having met +with a good opportunity to dispose of them for food. + +Having torn off the collar of his shirt, and flung it into a hedge, he +ventured to accost a respectable carpenter at a pale fence, about a +mile this side of Brentford, to whom his deplorable situation now +induced him to apply for work. The man did not wish himself to hire, +but said that if he (Israel) understood farming or gardening, he might +perhaps procure work from Sir John Millet, whose seat, he said, was not +remote. He added that the knight was in the habit of employing many men +at that season of the year, so he stood a fair chance. + +Revived a little by this prospect of relief, Israel starts in quest of +the gentleman’s seat, agreeably to the direction received. But he +mistook his way, and proceeding up a gravelled and beautifully +decorated walk, was terrified at catching a glimpse of a number of +soldiers thronging a garden. He made an instant retreat before being +espied in turn. No wild creature of the American wilderness could have +been more panic-struck by a firebrand, than at this period hunted +Israel was by a red coat. It afterwards appeared that this garden was +the Princess Amelia’s. + +Taking another path, ere long he came to some laborers shovelling +gravel. These proved to be men employed by Sir John. By them he was +directed towards the house, when the knight was pointed out to him, +walking bare-headed in the inclosure with several guests. Having heard +the rich men of England charged with all sorts of domineering +qualities, Israel felt no little misgiving in approaching to an +audience with so imposing a stranger. But, screwing up his courage, he +advanced; while seeing him coming all rags and tatters, the group of +gentlemen stood in some wonder awaiting what so singular a phantom +might want. + +“Mr. Millet,” said Israel, bowing towards the bare-headed gentleman. + +“Ha,—who are you, pray?” + +“A poor fellow, sir, in want of work.” + +“A wardrobe, too, I should say,” smiled one of the guests, of a very +youthful, prosperous, and dandified air. + +“Where’s your hoe?” said Sir John. + +“I have none, sir.” + +“Any money to buy one?” + +“Only four English pennies, sir.” + +“_English_ pennies. What other sort would you have?” + +“Why, China pennies to be sure,” laughed the youthful gentleman. “See +his long, yellow hair behind; he looks like a Chinaman. Some +broken-down Mandarin. Pity he’s no crown to his old hat; if he had, he +might pass it round, and make eight pennies of his four.” + +“Will you hire me, Mr. Millet,” said Israel. + +“Ha! that’s queer again,” cried the knight. + +“Hark ye, fellow,” said a brisk servant, approaching from the porch, +“this is Sir John Millet.” + +Seeming to take pity on his seeming ignorance, as well as on his +undisputable poverty, the good knight now told Israel that if he would +come the next morning he would see him supplied with a hoe, and +moreover would hire him. + +It would be hard to express the satisfaction of the wanderer at +receiving this encouraging reply. Emboldened by it, he now returns +towards a baker’s he had spied, and bravely marching in, flings down +all four pennies, and demands bread. Thinking he would not have any +more food till next morning, Israel resolved to eat only one of the +pair of two-penny loaves. But having demolished one, it so sharpened +his longing, that yielding to the irresistible temptation, he bolted +down the second loaf to keep the other company. + +After resting under a hedge, he saw the sun far descended, and so +prepared himself for another hard night. Waiting till dark, he crawled +into an old carriage-house, finding nothing there but a dismantled old +phaeton. Into this he climbed, and curling himself up like a +carriage-dog, endeavored to sleep; but, unable to endure the constraint +of such a bed, got out, and stretched himself on the bare boards of the +floor. + +No sooner was light in the east than he fastened to await the commands +of one who, his instinct told him, was destined to prove his +benefactor. On his father’s farm accustomed to rise with the lark, +Israel was surprised to discover, as he approached the house, that no +soul was astir. It was four o’clock. For a considerable time he walked +back and forth before the portal ere any one appeared. The first riser +was a man servant of the household, who informed Israel that seven +o’clock was the hour the people went to their work. Soon after he met +an hostler of the place, who gave him permission to lie on some straw +in an outhouse. There he enjoyed a sweet sleep till awakened at seven +o’clock by the sounds of activity around him. + +Supplied by the overseer of the men with a large iron fork and a hoe, +he followed the hands into the field. He was so weak he could hardly +support his tools. Unwilling to expose his debility, he yet could not +succeed in concealing it. At last, to avoid worse imputations, he +confessed the cause. His companions regarded him with compassion, and +exempted him from the severer toil. + +About noon the knight visited his workmen. Noticing that Israel made +little progress, he said to him, that though he had long arms and broad +shoulders, yet he was feigning himself to be a very weak man, or +otherwise must in reality be so. + +Hereupon one of the laborers standing by informed the gentleman how it +was with Israel, when immediately the knight put a shilling into his +hands and bade him go to a little roadside inn, which was nearer than +the house, and buy him bread and a pot of beer. Thus refreshed he +returned to the band, and toiled with them till four o’clock, when the +day’s work was over. + +Arrived at the house he there again saw his employer, who, after +attentively eyeing him without speaking, bade a meal be prepared for +him, when the maid presenting a smaller supply than her kind master +deemed necessary, she was ordered to return and bring out the entire +dish. But aware of the danger of sudden repletion of heavy food to one +in his condition, Israel, previously recruited by the frugal meal at +the inn, partook but sparingly. The repast was spread on the grass, and +being over, the good knight again looking inquisitively at Israel, +ordered a comfortable bed to be laid in the barn, and here Israel spent +a capital night. + +After breakfast, next morning, he was proceeding to go with the +laborers to their work, when his employer approaching him with a +benevolent air, bade him return to his couch, and there remain till he +had slept his fill, and was in a better state to resume his labors. + +Upon coming forth again a little after noon, he found Sir John walking +alone in the grounds. Upon discovering him, Israel would have +retreated, fearing that he might intrude; but beckoning him to advance, +the knight, as Israel drew nigh, fixed on him such a penetrating +glance, that our poor hero quaked to the core. Neither was his dread of +detection relieved by the knight’s now calling in a loud voice for one +from the house. Israel was just on the point of fleeing, when +overhearing the words of the master to the servant who now appeared, +all dread departed: + +“Bring hither some wine!” + +It presently came; by order of the knight the salver was set down on a +green bank near by, and the servant retired. + +“My poor fellow,” said Sir John, now pouring out a glass of wine, and +handing it to Israel, “I perceive that you are an American; and, if I +am not mistaken, you are an escaped prisoner of war. But no fear—drink +the wine.” + +“Mr. Millet,” exclaimed Israel aghast, the untasted wine trembling in +his hand, “Mr. Millet, I—” + +“_Mr_. Millet—there it is again. Why don’t you say _Sir John_ like the +rest?” + +“Why, sir—pardon me—but somehow, I can’t. I’ve tried; but I can’t. You +won’t betray me for that?” + +“Betray—poor fellow! Hark ye, your history is doubtless a secret which +you would not wish to divulge to a stranger; but whatever happens to +you, I pledge you my honor I will never betray you.” + +“God bless you for that, Mr. Millet.” + +“Come, come; call me by my right name. I am not Mr. Millet. _You_ have +said _Sir_ to me; and no doubt you have a thousand times said _John_ to +other people. Now can’t you couple the two? Try once. Come. Only _Sir_ +and then _John_—_Sir John_—that’s all.” + +“John—I can’t—Sir, sir!—your pardon. I didn’t mean that.” + +“My good fellow,” said the knight looking sharply upon Israel, “tell +me, are all your countrymen like you? If so, it’s no use fighting them. +To that effect, I must write to his Majesty myself. Well, I excuse you +from Sir Johnning me. But tell me the truth, are you not a seafaring +man, and lately a prisoner of war?” + +Israel frankly confessed it, and told his whole story. The knight +listened with much interest; and at its conclusion, warned Israel to +beware of the soldiers; for owing to the seats of some of the royal +family being in the neighborhood, the red-coats abounded hereabout. + +“I do not wish unnecessarily to speak against my own countrymen,” he +added, “I but plainly speak for your good. The soldiers you meet +prowling on the roads, are not fair specimens of the army. They are a +set of mean, dastardly banditti, who, to obtain their fee, would betray +their best friends. Once more, I warn you against them. But enough; +follow me now to the house, and as you tell me you have exchanged +clothes before now, you can do it again. What say you? I will give you +coat and breeches for your rags.” + +Thus generously supplied with clothes and other comforts by the good +knight, and implicitly relying upon the honor of so kind-hearted a man, +Israel cheered up, and in the course of two or three weeks had so +fattened his flanks, that he was able completely to fill Sir John’s old +buckskin breeches, which at first had hung but loosely about him. + +He was assigned to an occupation which removed him from the other +workmen. The strawberry bed was put under his sole charge. And often, +of mild, sunny afternoons, the knight, genial and gentle with dinner, +would stroll bare-headed to the pleasant strawberry bed, and have nice +little confidential chats with Israel; while Israel, charmed by the +patriarchal demeanor of this true Abrahamic gentleman, with a smile on +his lip, and tears of gratitude in his eyes, offered him, from time to +time, the plumpest berries of the bed. + +When the strawberry season was over, other parts of the grounds were +assigned him. And so six months elapsed, when, at the recommendation of +Sir John, Israel procured a good berth in the garden of the Princess +Amelia. + +So completely now had recent events metamorphosed him in all outward +things, that few suspected him of being any other than an Englishman. +Not even the knight’s domestics. But in the princess’s garden, being +obliged to work in company with many other laborers, the war was often +a topic of discussion among them. And “the d—d Yankee rebels” were not +seldom the object of scurrilous remark. Illy could the exile brook in +silence such insults upon the country for which he had bled, and for +whose honored sake he was that very instant a sufferer. More than once, +his indignation came very nigh getting the better of his prudence. He +longed for the war to end, that he might but speak a little bit of his +mind. + +Now the superintendent of the garden was a harsh, overbearing man. The +workmen with tame servility endured his worst affronts. But Israel, +bred among mountains, found it impossible to restrain himself when made +the undeserved object of pitiless epithets. Ere two months went by, he +quitted the service of the princess, and engaged himself to a farmer in +a small village not far from Brentford. But hardly had he been here +three weeks, when a rumor again got afloat that he was a Yankee +prisoner of war. Whence this report arose he could never discover. No +sooner did it reach the ears of the soldiers, than they were on the +alert. Luckily, Israel was apprised of their intentions in time. But he +was hard pushed. He was hunted after with a perseverance worthy a less +ignoble cause. He had many hairbreadth escapes. Most assuredly he would +have been captured, had it not been for the secret good offices of a +few individuals, who, perhaps, were not unfriendly to the American side +of the question, though they durst not avow it. + +Tracked one night by the soldiers to the house of one of these friends, +in whose garret he was concealed, he was obliged to force the skuttle, +and running along the roof, passed to those of adjoining houses to the +number of ten or twelve, finally succeeding in making his escape. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +ISRAEL IN THE LION’S DEN. + + +Harassed day and night, hunted from food and sleep, driven from hole to +hole like a fox in the woods, with no chance to earn an hour’s wages, +he was at last advised by one whose sincerity he could not doubt, to +apply, on the good word of Sir John Millet, for a berth as laborer in +the King’s Gardens at Kew. There, it was said, he would be entirely +safe, as no soldier durst approach those premises to molest any soul +therein employed. It struck the poor exile as curious, that the very +den of the British lion, the private grounds of the British King, +should be commended to a refugee as his securest asylum. + +His nativity carefully concealed, and being personally introduced to +the chief gardener by one who well knew him; armed, too, with a line +from Sir John, and recommended by his introducer as uncommonly expert +at horticulture; Israel was soon installed as keeper of certain less +private plants and walks of the park. + +It was here, to one of his near country retreats, that, coming from +perplexities of state—leaving far behind him the dingy old bricks of +St. James—George the Third was wont to walk up and down beneath the +long arbors formed by the interlockings of lofty trees. + +More than once, raking the gravel, Israel through intervening foliage +would catch peeps in some private but parallel walk, of that lonely +figure, not more shadowy with overhanging leaves than with the shade of +royal meditations. + +Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometimes invade the best +human heart. Seeing the monarch unguarded before him; remembering that +the war was imputed more to the self-will of the King than to the +willingness of parliament or the nation; and calling to mind all his +own sufferings growing out of that war, with all the calamities of his +country; dim impulses, such as those to which the regicide Ravaillae +yielded, would shoot balefully across the soul of the exile. But +thrusting Satan behind him, Israel vanquished all such temptations. Nor +did these ever more disturb him, after his one chance conversation with +the monarch. + +As he was one day gravelling a little by-walk, wrapped in thought, the +King turning a clump of bushes, suddenly brushed Israel’s person. + +Immediately Israel touched his hat—but did not remove it—bowed, and was +retiring; when something in his air arrested the King’s attention. + +“You ain’t an Englishman,—no Englishman—no, no.” + +Pale as death, Israel tried to answer something; but knowing not what +to say, stood frozen to the ground. + +“You are a Yankee—a Yankee,” said the King again in his rapid and +half-stammering way. + +Again Israel assayed to reply, but could not. What could he say? Could +he lie to a King? + +“Yes, yes,—you are one of that stubborn race,—that very stubborn race. +What brought you here?” + +“The fate of war, sir.” + +“May it please your Majesty,” said a low cringing voice, approaching, +“this man is in the walk against orders. There is some mistake, may it +please your Majesty. Quit the walk, blockhead,” he hissed at Israel. + +It was one of the junior gardeners who thus spoke. It seems that Israel +had mistaken his directions that morning. + +“Slink, you dog,” hissed the gardener again to Israel; then aloud to +the King, “A mistake of the man, I assure your Majesty.” + +“Go you away—away with ye, and leave him with me,” said the king. + +Waiting a moment, till the man was out of hearing, the king again +turned upon Israel. + +“Were you at Bunker Hill?—that bloody Bunker Hill—eh, eh?” + +“Yes, sir.” + +“Fought like a devil—like a very devil, I suppose?” + +“Yes, sir.” + +“Helped flog—helped flog my soldiers?” + +“Yes, sir; but very sorry to do it.” + +“Eh?—eh?—how’s that?” + +“I took it to be my sad duty, sir.” + +“Very much mistaken—very much mistaken, indeed. Why do ye sir me?—eh? +I’m your king—your king.” + +“Sir,” said Israel firmly, but with deep respect, “I have no king.” + +The king darted his eye incensedly for a moment; but without quailing, +Israel, now that all was out, still stood with mute respect before him. +The king, turning suddenly, walked rapidly away from Israel a moment, +but presently returning with a less hasty pace, said, “You are rumored +to be a spy—a spy, or something of that sort—ain’t you? But I know you +are not—no, no. You are a runaway prisoner of war, eh? You have sought +this place to be safe from pursuit, eh? eh? Is it not so?—eh? eh? eh?” + +“Sir, it is.” + +“Well, ye’re an honest rebel—rebel, yes, rebel. Hark ye, hark. Say +nothing of this talk to any one. And hark again. So long as you remain +here at Kew, I shall see that you are safe—safe.” + +“God bless your Majesty!” + +“Eh?” + +“God bless your noble Majesty?” + +“Come—come—come,” smiled the king in delight, “I thought I could +conquer ye—conquer ye.” + +“Not the king, but the king’s kindness, your Majesty.” + +“Join my army—army.” + +Sadly looking down, Israel silently shook his head. + +“You won’t? Well, gravel the walk then—gravel away. Very stubborn +race—very stubborn race, indeed—very—very—very.” + +And still growling, the magnanimous lion departed. How the monarch came +by his knowledge of so humble an exile, whether through that swift +insight into individual character said to form one of the miraculous +qualities transmitted with a crown, or whether some of the rumors +prevailing outside of the garden had come to his ear, Israel could +never determine. Very probably, though, the latter was the case, +inasmuch as some vague shadowy report of Israel not being an +Englishman, had, a little previous to his interview with the king, been +communicated to several of the inferior gardeners. Without any +impeachment of Israel’s fealty to his country, it must still be +narrated, that from this his familiar audience with George the Third, +he went away with very favorable views of that monarch. Israel now +thought that it could not be the warm heart of the king, but the cold +heads of his lords in council, that persuaded him so tyrannically to +persecute America. Yet hitherto the precise contrary of this had been +Israel’s opinion, agreeably to the popular prejudice throughout New +England. + +Thus we see what strange and powerful magic resides in a crown, and how +subtly that cheap and easy magnanimity, which in private belongs to +most kings, may operate on good-natured and unfortunate souls. Indeed, +had it not been for the peculiar disinterested fidelity of our +adventurer’s patriotism, he would have soon sported the red coat; and +perhaps under the immediate patronage of his royal friend, been +advanced in time to no mean rank in the army of Britain. Nor in that +case would we have had to follow him, as at last we shall, through +long, long years of obscure and penurious wandering. + +Continuing in the service of the king’s gardeners at Kew, until a +season came when the work of the garden required a less number of +laborers, Israel, with several others, was discharged; and the day +after, engaged himself for a few months to a farmer in the neighborhood +where he had been last employed. But hardly a week had gone by, when +the old story of his being a rebel, or a runaway prisoner, or a Yankee, +or a spy, began to be revived with added malignity. Like bloodhounds, +the soldiers were once more on the track. The houses where he harbored +were many times searched; but thanks to the fidelity of a few earnest +well-wishers, and to his own unsleeping vigilance and activity, the +hunted fox still continued to elude apprehension. To such extremities +of harassment, however, did this incessant pursuit subject him, that in +a fit of despair he was about to surrender himself, and submit to his +fate, when Providence seasonably interposed in his favor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE +OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE “DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY,” THESE +DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE CHANNEL. + + +At this period, though made the victims indeed of British oppression, +yet the colonies were not totally without friends in Britain. It was +but natural that when Parliament itself held patriotic and gifted men, +who not only recommended conciliatory measures, but likewise denounced +the war as monstrous; it was but natural that throughout the nation at +large there should be many private individuals cherishing similar +sentiments, and some who made no scruple clandestinely to act upon +them. + +Late one night while hiding in a farmer’s granary, Israel saw a man +with a lantern approaching. He was about to flee, when the man hailed +him in a well-known voice, bidding him have no fear. It was the farmer +himself. He carried a message to Israel from a gentleman of Brentford, +to the effect, that the refugee was earnestly requested to repair on +the following evening to that gentleman’s mansion. + +At first, Israel was disposed to surmise that either the farmer was +playing him false, or else his honest credulity had been imposed upon +by evil-minded persons. At any rate, he regarded the message as a +decoy, and for half an hour refused to credit its sincerity. But at +length he was induced to think a little better of it. The gentleman +giving the invitation was one Squire Woodcock, of Brentford, whose +loyalty to the king had been under suspicion; so at least the farmer +averred. This latter information was not without its effect. + +At nightfall on the following day, being disguised in strange clothes +by the farmer, Israel stole from his retreat, and after a few hours’ +walk, arrived before the ancient brick house of the Squire; who opening +the door in person, and learning who it was that stood there, at once +assured Israel in the most solemn manner, that no foul play was +intended. So the wanderer suffered himself to enter, and be conducted +to a private chamber in the rear of the mansion, where were seated two +other gentlemen, attired, in the manner of that age, in long laced +coats, with small-clothes, and shoes with silver buckles. + +“I am John Woodcock,” said the host, “and these gentlemen are Horne +Tooke and James Bridges. All three of us are friends to America. We +have heard of you for some weeks past, and inferring from your conduct, +that you must be a Yankee of the true blue stamp, we have resolved to +employ you in a way which you cannot but gladly approve; for surely, +though an exile, you are still willing to serve your country; if not as +a sailor or soldier, yet as a traveller?” + +“Tell me how I may do it?” demanded Israel, not completely at ease. + +“At that in good time,” smiled the Squire. “The point is now—do you +repose confidence in my statements?” + +Israel glanced inquiringly upon the Squire; then upon his companions; +and meeting the expressive, enthusiastic, candid countenance of Horne +Tooke—then in the first honest ardor of his political career—turned to +the Squire, and said, “Sir, I believe what you have said. Tell me now +what I am to do.” + +“Oh, there is just nothing to be done to-night,” said the Squire; “nor +for some days to come perhaps, but we wanted to have you prepared.” + +And hereupon he hinted to his guest rather vaguely of his general +intention; and that over, begged him to entertain them with some +account of his adventures since he first took up arms for his country. +To this Israel had no objections in the world, since all men love to +tell the tale of hardships endured in a righteous cause. But ere +beginning his story, the Squire refreshed him with some cold beef, laid +in a snowy napkin, and a glass of Perry, and thrice during the +narration of the adventures, pressed him with additional draughts. + +But after his second glass, Israel declined to drink more, mild as the +beverage was. For he noticed, that not only did the three gentlemen +listen with the utmost interest to his story, but likewise interrupted +him with questions and cross-questions in the most pertinacious manner. +So this led him to be on his guard, not being absolutely certain yet, +as to who they might really be, or what was their real design. But as +it turned out, Squire Woodcock and his friends only sought to satisfy +themselves thoroughly, before making their final disclosures, that the +exile was one in whom implicit confidence might be placed. + +And to this desirable conclusion they eventually came, for upon the +ending of Israel’s story, after expressing their sympathies for his +hardships, and applauding his generous patriotism in so patiently +enduring adversity, as well as singing the praises of his gallant +fellow-soldiers of Bunker Hill, they openly revealed their scheme. They +wished to know whether Israel would undertake a trip to Paris, to carry +an important message—shortly to be received for transmission through +them—to Doctor Franklin, then in that capital. + +“All your expenses shall be paid, not to speak of a compensation +besides,” said the Squire; “will you go?” + +“I must think of it,” said Israel, not yet wholly confirmed in his +mind. But once more he cast his glance on Horne Tooke, and his +irresolution was gone. + +The Squire now informed Israel that, to avoid suspicions, it would be +necessary for him to remove to another place until the hour at which he +should start for Paris. They enjoined upon him the profoundest secresy, +gave him a guinea, with a letter for a gentleman in White Waltham, a +town some miles from Brentford, which point they begged him to reach as +soon as possible, there to tarry for further instructions. + +Having informed him of thus much, Squire Woodcock asked him to hold out +his right foot. + +“What for?” said Israel. + +“Why, would you not like to have a pair of new boots against your +return?” smiled Home Tooke. + +“Oh, yes; no objection at all,” said, Israel. + +“Well, then, let the bootmaker measure you,” smiled Horne Tooke. + +“Do _you_ do it, Mr. Tooke,” said the Squire; “you measure men’s parts +better than I.” + +“Hold out your foot, my good friend,” said Horne Tooke—“there—now let’s +measure your heart.” + +“For that, measure me round the chest,” said Israel. + +“Just the man we want,” said Mr. Bridges, triumphantly. + +“Give him another glass of wine, Squire,” said Horne Tooke. + +Exchanging the farmer’s clothes for still another disguise, Israel now +set out immediately, on foot, for his destination, having received +minute directions as to his road, and arriving in White Waltham on the +following morning was very cordially received by the gentleman to whom +he carried the letter. This person, another of the active English +friends of America, possessed a particular knowledge of late events in +that land. To him Israel was indebted for much entertaining +information. After remaining some ten days at this place, word came +from Squire Woodcock, requiring Israel’s immediate return, stating the +hour at which he must arrive at the house, namely, two o’clock on the +following morning. So, after another night’s solitary trudge across the +country, the wanderer was welcomed by the same three gentlemen as +before, seated in the same room. + +“The time has now come,” said Squire Woodcock. “You must start this +morning for Paris. Take off your shoes.” + +“Am I to steal from here to Paris on my stocking-feet?” said Israel, +whose late easy good living at White Waltham had not failed to bring +out the good-natured and mirthful part of him, even as his prior +experiences had produced, for the most part, something like a contrary +result. + +“Oh, no,” smiled Horne Tooke, who always lived well, “we have +seven-league-boots for you. Don’t you remember my measuring you?” + +Hereupon going to the closet, the Squire brought out a pair of new +boots. They were fitted with false heels. Unscrewing these, the Squire +showed Israel the papers concealed beneath. They were of a fine tissuey +fibre, and contained much writing in a very small compass. The boots, +it need hardly be said, had been particularly made for the occasion. + +“Walk across the room with them,” said the Squire, when Israel had +pulled them on. + +“He’ll surely be discovered,” smiled Horne Tooke. “Hark how he creaks.” + +“Come, come, it’s too serious a matter for joking,” said the Squire. +“Now, my fine fellow, be cautious, be sober, be vigilant, and above all +things be speedy.” + +Being furnished now with all requisite directions, and a supply of +money, Israel, taking leave of Mr. Tooke and Mr. Bridges, was secretly +conducted down stairs by the Squire, and in five minutes’ time was on +his way to Charing Cross in London, where taking the post-coach for +Dover, he thence went in a packet to Calais, and in fifteen minutes +after landing, was being wheeled over French soil towards Paris. He +arrived there in safety, and freely declaring himself an American, the +peculiarly friendly relations of the two nations at that period, +procured him kindly attentions even from strangers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE +PRESENCE OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT +LEARNEDLY AND MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED. + + +Following the directions given him at the place where the diligence +stopped, Israel was crossing the Pont Neuf, to find Doctor Franklin, +when he was suddenly called to by a man standing on one side of the +bridge, just under the equestrian statue of Henry IV.—The man had a +small, shabby-looking box before him on the ground, with a box of +blacking on one side of it, and several shoe-brushes upon the other. +Holding another brush in his hand, he politely seconded his verbal +invitation by gracefully flourishing the brush in the air. + +“What do you want of me, neighbor?” said Israel, pausing in somewhat +uneasy astonishment. + +“Ah, Monsieur,” exclaimed the man, and with voluble politeness he ran +on with a long string of French, which of course was all Greek to poor +Israel. But what his language failed to convey, his gestures now made +very plain. Pointing to the wet muddy state of the bridge, splashed by +a recent rain, and then to the feet of the wayfarer, and lastly to the +brush in his hand, he appeared to be deeply regretting that a gentleman +of Israel’s otherwise imposing appearance should be seen abroad with +unpolished boots, offering at the same time to remove their blemishes. + +“Ah, Monsieur, Monsieur,” cried the man, at last running up to Israel. +And with tender violence he forced him towards the box, and lifting +this unwilling customer’s right foot thereon, was proceeding vigorously +to work, when suddenly illuminated by a dreadful suspicion, Israel, +fetching the box a terrible kick, took to his false heels and ran like +mad over the bridge. + +Incensed that his politeness should receive such an ungracious return, +the man pursued, which but confirming Israel in his suspicions he ran +all the faster, and thanks to his fleetness, soon succeeded in escaping +his pursuer. + +Arrived at last at the street and the house to which he had been +directed, in reply to his summons, the gate very strangely of itself +swung open, and much astonished at this unlooked-for sort of +enchantment, Israel entered a wide vaulted passage leading to an open +court within. While he was wondering that no soul appeared, suddenly he +was hailed from a dark little window, where sat an old man cobbling +shoes, while an old woman standing by his side was thrusting her head +into the passage, intently eyeing the stranger. They proved to be the +porter and portress, the latter of whom, upon hearing his summons, had +invisibly thrust open the gate to Israel, by means of a spring +communicating with the little apartment. + +Upon hearing the name of Doctor Franklin mentioned, the old woman, all +alacrity, hurried out of her den, and with much courtesy showed Israel +across the court, up three flights of stairs to a door in the rear of +the spacious building. There she left him while Israel knocked. + +“Come in,” said a voice. + +And immediately Israel stood in the presence of the venerable Doctor +Franklin. + +Wrapped in a rich dressing-gown, a fanciful present from an admiring +Marchesa, curiously embroidered with algebraic figures like a +conjuror’s robe, and with a skull-cap of black satin on his hive of a +head, the man of gravity was seated at a huge claw-footed old table, +round as the zodiac. It was covered with printer papers, files of +documents, rolls of manuscript, stray bits of strange models in wood +and metal, odd-looking pamphlets in various languages, and all sorts of +books, including many presentation-copies, embracing history, +mechanics, diplomacy, agriculture, political economy, metaphysics, +meteorology, and geometry. The walls had a necromantic look, hung round +with barometers of different kinds, drawings of surprising inventions, +wide maps of far countries in the New World, containing vast empty +spaces in the middle, with the word DESERT diffusely printed there, so +as to span five-and-twenty degrees of longitude with only two +syllables,—which printed word, however, bore a vigorous pen-mark, in +the Doctor’s hand, drawn straight through it, as if in summary repeal +of it; crowded topographical and trigonometrical charts of various +parts of Europe; with geometrical diagrams, and endless other +surprising hangings and upholstery of science. + +The chamber itself bore evident marks of antiquity. One part of the +rough-finished wall was sadly cracked, and covered with dust, looked +dim and dark. But the aged inmate, though wrinkled as well, looked neat +and hale. Both wall and sage were compounded of like materials,—lime +and dust; both, too, were old; but while the rude earth of the wall had +no painted lustre to shed off all fadings and tarnish, and still keep +fresh without, though with long eld its core decayed: the living lime +and dust of the sage was frescoed with defensive bloom of his soul. + +The weather was warm; like some old West India hogshead on the wharf, +the whole chamber buzzed with flies. But the sapient inmate sat still +and cool in the midst. Absorbed in some other world of his occupations +and thoughts, these insects, like daily cark and care, did not seem one +whit to annoy him. It was a goodly sight to see this serene, cool and +ripe old philosopher, who by sharp inquisition of man in the street, +and then long meditating upon him, surrounded by all those queer old +implements, charts and books, had grown at last so wondrous wise. There +he sat, quite motionless among those restless flies; and, with a sound +like the low noon murmur of foliage in the woods, turning over the +leaves of some ancient and tattered folio, with a binding dark and +shaggy as the bark of any old oak. It seemed as if supernatural lore +must needs pertain to this gravely, ruddy personage; at least far +foresight, pleasant wit, and working wisdom. Old age seemed in no wise +to have dulled him, but to have sharpened; just as old dinner-knives—so +they be of good steel—wax keen, spear-pointed, and elastic as +whale-bone with long usage. Yet though he was thus lively and vigorous +to behold, spite of his seventy-two years (his exact date at that time) +somehow, the incredible seniority of an antediluvian seemed his. Not +the years of the calendar wholly, but also the years of sapience. His +white hairs and mild brow, spoke of the future as well as the past. He +seemed to be seven score years old; that is, three score and ten of +prescience added to three score and ten of remembrance, makes just +seven score years in all. + +But when Israel stepped within the chamber, he lost the complete effect +of all this; for the sage’s back, not his face, was turned to him. + +So, intent on his errand, hurried and heated with his recent run, our +courier entered the room, inadequately impressed, for the time, by +either it or its occupant. + +“Bon jour, bon jour, monsieur,” said the man of wisdom, in a cheerful +voice, but too busy to turn round just then. + +“How do you do, Doctor Franklin?” said Israel. + +“Ah! I smell Indian corn,” said the Doctor, turning round quickly on +his chair. “A countryman; sit down, my good sir. Well, what news? +Special?” + +“Wait a minute, sir,” said Israel, stepping across the room towards a +chair. + +Now there was no carpet on the floor, which was of dark-colored wood, +set in lozenges, and slippery with wax, after the usual French style. +As Israel walked this slippery floor, his unaccustomed feet slid about +very strangely as if walking on ice, so that he came very near falling. + +“’Pears to me you have rather high heels to your boots,” said the grave +man of utility, looking sharply down through his spectacles; “don’t you +know that it’s both wasting leather and endangering your limbs, to wear +such high heels? I have thought, at my first leisure, to write a little +pamphlet against that very abuse. But pray, what are you doing now? Do +your boots pinch you, my friend, that you lift one foot from the floor +that way?” + +At this moment, Israel having seated himself, was just putting his +right foot across his left knee. + +“How foolish,” continued the wise man, “for a rational creature to wear +tight boots. Had nature intended rational creatures should do so, she +would have made the foot of solid bone, or perhaps of solid iron, +instead of bone, muscle, and flesh,—But,—I see. Hold!” + +And springing to his own slippered feet, the venerable sage hurried to +the door and shot-to the bolt. Then drawing the curtain carefully +across the window looking out across the court to various windows on +the opposite side, bade Israel proceed with his operations. + +“I was mistaken this time,” added the Doctor, smiling, as Israel +produced his documents from their curious recesses—“your high heels, +instead of being idle vanities, seem to be full of meaning.” + +“Pretty full, Doctor,” said Israel, now handing over the papers. “I had +a narrow escape with them just now.” + +“How? How’s that?” said the sage, fumbling the papers eagerly. + +“Why, crossing the stone bridge there over the _Seen_”— + +“_Seine_”—interrupted the Doctor, giving the French +pronunciation.—“Always get a new word right in the first place, my +friend, and you will never get it wrong afterwards.” + +“Well, I was crossing the bridge there, and who should hail me, but a +suspicious-looking man, who, under pretence of seeking to polish my +boots, wanted slyly to unscrew their heels, and so steal all these +precious papers I’ve brought you.” + +“My good friend,” said the man of gravity, glancing scrutinizingly upon +his guest, “have you not in your time, undergone what they call hard +times? Been set upon, and persecuted, and very illy entreated by some +of your fellow-creatures?” + +“That I have, Doctor; yes, indeed.” + +“I thought so. Sad usage has made you sadly suspicious, my honest +friend. An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst +consequence of a miserable condition, whether brought about by +innocence or guilt. And though want of suspicion more than want of +sense, sometimes leads a man into harm, yet too much suspicion is as +bad as too little sense. The man you met, my friend, most probably had +no artful intention; he knew just nothing about you or your heels; he +simply wanted to earn two sous by brushing your boots. Those +blacking-men regularly station themselves on the bridge.” + +“How sorry I am then that I knocked over his box, and then ran away. +But he didn’t catch me.” + +“How? surely, my honest friend, you—appointed to the conveyance of +important secret dispatches—did not act so imprudently as to kick over +an innocent man’s box in the public streets of the capital, to which +you had been especially sent?” + +“Yes, I did, Doctor.” + +“Never act so unwisely again. If the police had got hold of you, think +of what might have ensued.” + +“Well, it was not very wise of me, that’s a fact, Doctor. But, you see, +I thought he meant mischief.” + +“And because you only thought he _meant_ mischief, _you_ must +straightway proceed to _do_ mischief. That’s poor logic. But think over +what I have told you now, while I look over these papers.” + +In half an hour’s time, the Doctor, laying down the documents, again +turned towards Israel, and removing his spectacles very placidly, +proceeded in the kindest and most familiar manner to read him a +paternal detailed lesson upon the ill-advised act he had been guilty +of, upon the Pont Neuf; concluding by taking out his purse, and putting +three small silver coins into Israel’s hands, charging him to seek out +the man that very day, and make both apology and restitution for his +unlucky mistake. + +“All of us, my honest friend,” continued the Doctor, “are subject to +making mistakes; so that the chief art of life, is to learn how best to +remedy mistakes. Now one remedy for mistakes is honesty. So pay the man +for the damage done to his box. And now, who are you, my friend? My +correspondents here mention your name—Israel Potter—and say you are an +American, an escaped prisoner of war, but nothing further. I want to +hear your story from your own lips.” + +Israel immediately began, and related to the Doctor all his adventures +up to the present time. + +“I suppose,” said the Doctor, upon Israel’s concluding, “that you +desire to return to your friends across the sea?” + +“That I do, Doctor,” said Israel. + +“Well, I think I shall be able to procure you a passage.” + +Israel’s eyes sparkled with delight. The mild sage noticed it, and +added: “But events in these times are uncertain. At the prospect of +pleasure never be elated; but, without depression, respect the omens of +ill. So much my life has taught me, my honest friend.” + +Israel felt as though a plum-pudding had been thrust under his +nostrils, and then as rapidly withdrawn. + +“I think it is probable that in two or three days I shall want you to +return with some papers to the persons who sent you to me. In that case +you will have to come here once more, and then, my good friend, we will +see what can be done towards getting you safely home again.” + +Israel was pouring out torrents of thanks when the Doctor interrupted +him. + +“Gratitude, my friend, cannot be too much towards God, but towards man, +it should be limited. No man can possibly so serve his fellow, as to +merit unbounded gratitude. Over gratitude in the helped person, is apt +to breed vanity or arrogance in the helping one. Now in assisting you +to get home—if indeed I shall prove able to do so—I shall be simply +doing part of my official duty as agent of our common country. So you +owe me just nothing at all, but the sum of these coins I put in your +hand just now. But that, instead of repaying to me hereafter, you can, +when you get home, give to the first soldier’s widow you meet. Don’t +forget it, for it is a debt, a pecuniary liability, owing to me. It +will be about a quarter of a dollar, in the Yankee currency. A quarter +of a dollar, mind. My honest friend, in pecuniary matters always be +exact as a second-hand; never mind with whom it is, father or stranger, +peasant or king, be exact to a tick of your honor.” + +“Well, Doctor,” said Israel, “since exactness in these matters is so +necessary, let me pay back my debt in the very coins in which it was +loaned. There will be no chance of mistake then. Thanks to my Brentford +friends, I have enough to spare of my own, to settle damages with the +boot-black of the bridge. I only took the money from you, because I +thought it would not look well to push it back after being so kindly +offered.” + +“My honest friend,” said the Doctor, “I like your straightforward +dealing. I will receive back the money.” + +“No interest, Doctor, I hope,” said Israel. + +The sage looked mildly over his spectacles upon Israel and replied: “My +good friend, never permit yourself to be jocose upon pecuniary matters. +Never joke at funerals, or during business transactions. The affair +between us two, you perhaps deem very trivial, but trifles may involve +momentous principles. But no more at present. You had better go +immediately and find the boot-black. Having settled with him, return +hither, and you will find a room ready for you near this, where you +will stay during your sojourn in Paris.” + +“But I thought I would like to have a little look round the town, +before I go back to England,” said Israel. + +“Business before pleasure, my friend. You must absolutely remain in +your room, just as if you were my prisoner, until you quit Paris for +Calais. Not knowing now at what instant I shall want you to start, your +keeping to your room is indispensable. But when you come back from +Brentford again, then, if nothing happens, you will have a chance to +survey this celebrated capital ere taking ship for America. Now go +directly, and pay the boot-black. Stop, have you the exact change +ready? Don’t be taking out all your money in the open street.” + +“Doctor,” said Israel, “I am not so simple.” + +“But you knocked over the box.” + +“That, Doctor, was bravery.” + +“Bravery in a poor cause, is the height of simplicity, my friend.—Count +out your change. It must be French coin, not English, that you are to +pay the man with.—Ah, that will do—those three coins will be enough. +Put them in a pocket separate from your other cash. Now go, and hasten +to the bridge.” + +“Shall I stop to take a meal anywhere, Doctor, as I return? I saw +several cookshops as I came hither.” + +“Cafes and restaurants, they are called here, my honest friend. Tell +me, are you the possessor of a liberal fortune?” + +“Not very liberal,” said Israel. + +“I thought as much. Where little wine is drunk, it is good to dine out +occasionally at a friend’s; but where a poor man dines out at his own +charge, it is bad policy. Never dine out that way, when you can dine +in. Do not stop on the way at all, my honest friend, but come directly +back hither, and you shall dine at home, free of cost, with me.” + +“Thank you very kindly, Doctor.” + +And Israel departed for the Pont Neuf. Succeeding in his errand +thither, he returned to Dr. Franklin, and found that worthy envoy +waiting his attendance at a meal, which, according to the Doctor’s +custom, had been sent from a neighboring restaurant. There were two +covers; and without attendance the host and guest sat down. There was +only one principal dish, lamb boiled with green peas. Bread and +potatoes made up the rest. A decanter-like bottle of uncolored glass, +filled with some uncolored beverage, stood at the venerable envoy’s +elbow. + +“Let me fill your glass,” said the sage. + +“It’s white wine, ain’t it?” said Israel. + +“White wine of the very oldest brand; I drink your health in it, my +honest friend.” + +“Why, it’s plain water,” said Israel, now tasting it. + +“Plain water is a very good drink for plain men,” replied the wise man. + +“Yes,” said Israel, “but Squire Woodcock gave me perry, and the other +gentleman at White Waltham gave me port, and some other friends have +given me brandy.” + +“Very good, my honest friend; if you like perry and port and brandy, +wait till you get back to Squire Woodcock, and the gentleman at White +Waltham, and the other friends, and you shall drink perry and port and +brandy. But while you are with me, you will drink plain water.” + +“So it seems, Doctor.” + +“What do you suppose a glass of port costs?” + +“About three pence English, Doctor.” + +“That must be poor port. But how much good bread will three pence +English purchase?” + +“Three penny rolls, Doctor.” + +“How many glasses of port do you suppose a man may drink at a meal?” + +“The gentleman at White Waltham drank a bottle at a dinner.” + +“A bottle contains just thirteen glasses—that’s thirty-nine pence, +supposing it poor wine. If something of the best, which is the only +sort any sane man should drink, as being the least poisonous, it would +be quadruple that sum, which is one hundred and fifty-six pence, which +is seventy-eight two-penny loaves. Now, do you not think that for one +man to swallow down seventy-two two-penny rolls at one meal is rather +extravagant business?” + +“But he drank a bottle of wine; he did not eat seventy-two two-penny +rolls, Doctor.” + +“He drank the money worth of seventy-two loaves, which is drinking the +loaves themselves; for money is bread.” + +“But he has plenty of money to spare, Doctor.” + +“To have to spare, is to have to give away. Does the gentleman give +much away?” + +“Not that I know of, Doctor.” + +“Then he thinks he has nothing to spare; and thinking he has nothing to +spare, and yet prodigally drinking down his money as he does every day, +it seems to me that that gentleman stands self- contradicted, and +therefore is no good example for plain sensible folks like you and me +to follow. My honest friend, if you are poor, avoid wine as a costly +luxury; if you are rich, shun it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain +water. And now, my good friend, if you are through with your meal, we +will rise. There is no pastry coming. Pastry is poisoned bread. Never +eat pastry. Be a plain man, and stick to plain things. Now, my friend, +I shall have to be private until nine o’clock in the evening, when I +shall be again at your service. Meantime you may go to your room. I +have ordered the one next to this to be prepared for you. But you must +not be idle. Here is Poor Richard’s Almanac, which, in view of our late +conversation, I commend to your earnest perusal. And here, too, is a +Guide to Paris, an English one, which you can read. Study it well, so +that when you come back from England, if you should then have an +opportunity to travel about Paris, to see its wonders, you will have +all the chief places made historically familiar to you. In this world, +men must provide knowledge before it is wanted, just as our countrymen +in New England get in their winter’s fuel one season, to serve them the +next.” + +So saying, this homely sage, and household Plato, showed his humble +guest to the door, and standing in the hall, pointed out to him the one +which opened into his allotted apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER. + + +The first, both in point of time and merit, of American envoys was +famous not less for the pastoral simplicity of his manners than for the +politic grace of his mind. Viewed from a certain point, there was a +touch of primeval orientalness in Benjamin Franklin. Neither is there +wanting something like his Scriptural parallel. The history of the +patriarch Jacob is interesting not less from the unselfish devotion +which we are bound to ascribe to him, than from the deep worldly wisdom +and polished Italian tact, gleaming under an air of Arcadian +unaffectedness. The diplomatist and the shepherd are blended; a union +not without warrant; the apostolic serpent and dove. A tanned +Machiavelli in tents. + +Doubtless, too, notwithstanding his eminence as lord of the moving +manor, Jacob’s raiment was of homespun; the economic envoy’s plain coat +and hose, who has not heard of? + +Franklin all over is of a piece. He dressed his person as his periods; +neat, trim, nothing superfluous, nothing deficient. In some of his +works his style is only surpassed by the unimprovable sentences of +Hobbes of Malmsbury, the paragon of perspicuity. The mental habits of +Hobbes and Franklin in several points, especially in one of some +moment, assimilated. Indeed, making due allowance for soil and era, +history presents few trios more akin, upon the whole, than Jacob, +Hobbes, and Franklin; three labyrinth-minded, but plain-spoken +Broadbrims, at once politicians and philosophers; keen observers of the +main chance; prudent courtiers; practical magians in linsey-woolsey. + +In keeping with his general habitudes, Doctor Franklin while at the +French Court did not reside in the aristocratical faubourgs. He deemed +his worsted hose and scientific tastes more adapted in a domestic way +to the other side of the Seine, where the Latin Quarter, at once the +haunt of erudition and economy, seemed peculiarly to invite the +philosophical Poor Richard to its venerable retreats. Here, of gray, +chilly, drizzly November mornings, in the dark-stoned quadrangle of the +time-honored Sorbonne, walked the lean and slippered +metaphysician,—oblivious for the moment that his sublime thoughts and +tattered wardrobe were famous throughout Europe,—meditating on the +theme of his next lecture; at the same time, in the well-worn chambers +overhead, some clayey-visaged chemist in ragged robe-de-chambre, and +with a soiled green flap over his left eye, was hard at work stooping +over retorts and crucibles, discovering new antipathies in acids, again +risking strange explosions similar to that whereby he had already lost +the use of one optic; while in the lofty lodging-houses of the +neighboring streets, indigent young students from all parts of France, +were ironing their shabby cocked hats, or inking the whity seams of +their small-clothes, prior to a promenade with their pink-ribboned +little grisettes in the Garden of the Luxembourg. + +Long ago the haunt of rank, the Latin Quarter still retains many old +buildings whose imposing architecture singularly contrasts with the +unassuming habits of their present occupants. In some parts its general +air is dreary and dim; monastic and theurgic. In those lonely narrow +ways—long-drawn prospectives of desertion—lined with huge piles of +silent, vaulted, old iron-grated buildings of dark gray stone, one +almost expects to encounter Paracelsus or Friar Bacon turning the next +corner, with some awful vial of Black-Art elixir in his hand. + +But all the lodging-houses are not so grim. Not to speak of many of +comparatively modern erection, the others of the better class, however +stern in exterior, evince a feminine gayety of taste, more or less, in +their furnishings within. The embellishing, or softening, or screening +hand of woman is to be seen all over the interiors of this metropolis.. +Like Augustus Caesar with respect to Rome, the Frenchwoman leaves her +obvious mark on Paris. Like the hand in nature, you know it can be none +else but hers. Yet sometimes she overdoes it, as nature in the peony; +or underdoes it, as nature in the bramble; or—what is still more +frequent—is a little slatternly about it, as nature in the pig-weed. + +In this congenial vicinity of the Latin Quarter, and in an ancient +building something like those alluded to, at a point midway between the +Palais des Beaux Arts and the College of the Sorbonne, the venerable +American Envoy pitched his tent when not passing his time at his +country retreat at Passy. The frugality of his manner of life did not +lose him the good opinion even of the voluptuaries of the showiest of +capitals, whose very iron railings are not free from gilt. Franklin was +not less a lady’s man, than a man’s man, a wise man, and an old man. +Not only did he enjoy the homage of the choicest Parisian literati, but +at the age of seventy-two he was the caressed favorite of the highest +born beauties of the Court; who through blind fashion having been +originally attracted to him as a famous _savan_, were permanently +retained as his admirers by his Plato-like graciousness of good humor. +Having carefully weighed the world, Franklin could act any part in it. +By nature turned to knowledge, his mind was often grave, but never +serious. At times he had seriousness—extreme seriousness—for others, +but never for himself. Tranquillity was to him instead of it. This +philosophical levity of tranquillity, so to speak, is shown in his easy +variety of pursuits. Printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, +chemist, orator, tinker, statesman, humorist, philosopher, parlor man, +political economist, professor of housewifery, ambassador, projector, +maxim-monger, herb-doctor, wit:—Jack of all trades, master of each and +mastered by none—the type and genius of his land. Franklin was +everything but a poet. But since a soul with many qualities, forming of +itself a sort of handy index and pocket congress of all humanity, needs +the contact of just as many different men, or subjects, in order to the +exhibition of its totality; hence very little indeed of the sage’s +multifariousness will be portrayed in a simple narrative like the +present. This casual private intercourse with Israel, but served to +manifest him in his far lesser lights; thrifty, domestic, dietarian, +and, it may be, didactically waggish. There was much benevolent irony, +innocent mischievousness, in the wise man. Seeking here to depict him +in his less exalted habitudes, the narrator feels more as if he were +playing with one of the sage’s worsted hose, than reverentially +handling the honored hat which once oracularly sat upon his brow. + +So, then, in the Latin Quarter lived Doctor Franklin. And accordingly +in the Latin Quarter tarried Israel for the time. And it was into a +room of a house in this same Latin Quarter that Israel had been +directed when the sage had requested privacy for a while. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN +QUARTER. + + +Closing the door upon himself, Israel advanced to the middle of the +chamber, and looked curiously round him. + +A dark tessellated floor, but without a rug; two mahogany chairs, with +embroidered seats, rather the worse for wear; one mahogany bed, with a +gay but tarnished counterpane; a marble wash-stand, cracked, with a +china vessel of water, minus the handle. The apartment was very large; +this part of the house, which was a very extensive one, embracing the +four sides of a quadrangle, having, in a former age, been the hotel of +a nobleman. The magnitude of the chamber made its stinted furniture +look meagre enough. + +But in Israel’s eyes, the marble mantel (a comparatively recent +addition) and its appurtenances, not only redeemed the rest, but looked +quite magnificent and hospitable in the extreme. Because, in the first +place, the mantel was graced with an enormous old-fashioned square +mirror, of heavy plate glass, set fast, like a tablet, into the wall. +And in this mirror was genially reflected the following delicate +articles:—first, two boquets of flowers inserted in pretty vases of +porcelain; second, one cake of white soap; third, one cake of +rose-colored soap (both cakes very fragrant); fourth, one wax candle; +fifth, one china tinder-box; sixth, one bottle of Eau de Cologne; +seventh, one paper of loaf sugar, nicely broken into sugar-bowl size; +eighth, one silver teaspoon; ninth, one glass tumbler; tenth, one glass +decanter of cool pure water; eleventh, one sealed bottle containing a +richly hued liquid, and marked “Otard.” + +“I wonder now what O-t-a-r-d is?” soliloquised Israel, slowly spelling +the word. “I have a good mind to step in and ask Dr. Franklin. He knows +everything. Let me smell it. No, it’s sealed; smell is locked in. Those +are pretty flowers. Let’s smell them: no smell again. Ah, I see—sort of +flowers in women’s bonnets—sort of calico flowers. Beautiful soap. This +smells anyhow—regular soap-roses—a white rose and a red one. That +long-necked bottle there looks like a crane. I wonder what’s in that? +Hallo! E-a-u—d-e—C-o-l-o-g-n-e. I wonder if Dr. Franklin understands +that? It looks like his white wine. This is nice sugar. Let’s taste. +Yes, this is very nice sugar, sweet as—yes, it’s sweet as sugar; better +than maple sugar, such as they make at home. But I’m crunching it too +loud, the Doctor will hear me. But here’s a teaspoon. What’s this for? +There’s no tea, nor tea-cup; but here’s a tumbler, and here’s drinking +water. Let me see. Seems to me, putting this and that and the other +thing together, it’s a sort of alphabet that spells something. Spoon, +tumbler, water, sugar,—brandy—that’s it. O-t-a-r-d is brandy. Who put +these things here? What does it all mean? Don’t put sugar here for +show, don’t put a spoon here for ornament, nor a jug of water. There is +only one meaning to it, and that is a very polite invitation from some +invisible person to help myself, if I like, to a glass of brandy and +sugar, and if I don’t like, let it alone. That’s my reading. I have a +good mind to ask Doctor Franklin about it, though, for there’s just a +chance I may be mistaken, and these things here be some other person’s +private property, not at all meant for me to help myself from. Cologne, +what’s that—never mind. Soap: soap’s to wash with. I want to use soap, +anyway. Let me see—no, there’s no soap on the wash-stand. I see, soap +is not given gratis here in Paris, to boarders. But if you want it, +take it from the marble, and it will be charged in the bill. If you +don’t want it let it alone, and no charge. Well, that’s fair, anyway. +But then to a man who could not afford to use soap, such beautiful +cakes as these lying before his eyes all the time, would be a strong +temptation. And now that I think of it, the O-t-a-r-d looks rather +tempting too. But if I don’t like it now, I can let it alone. I’ve a +good mind to try it. But it’s sealed. I wonder now if I am right in my +understanding of this alphabet? Who knows? I’ll venture one little sip, +anyhow. Come, cork. Hark!” + +There was a rapid knock at the door. + +Clapping down the bottle, Israel said, “Come in.” + +It was the man of wisdom. + +“My honest friend,” said the Doctor, stepping with venerable briskness +into the room, “I was so busy during your visit to the Pont Neuf, that +I did not have time to see that your room was all right. I merely gave +the order, and heard that it had been fulfilled. But it just occurred +to me, that as the landladies of Paris have some curious customs which +might puzzle an entire stranger, my presence here for a moment might +explain any little obscurity. Yes, it is as I thought,” glancing +towards the mantel. + +“Oh, Doctor, that reminds me; what is O-t-a-r-d, pray?” + +“Otard is poison.” + +“Shocking.” + +“Yes, and I think I had best remove it from the room forthwith,” +replied the sage, in a business-like manner putting the bottle under +his arm; “I hope you never use Cologne, do you?” + +“What—what is that, Doctor?” + +“I see. You never heard of the senseless luxury—a wise ignorance. You +smelt flowers upon your mountains. You won’t want this, either;” and +the Cologne bottle was put under the other arm. “Candle—you’ll want +that. Soap—you want soap. Use the white cake.” + +“Is that cheaper, Doctor?” + +“Yes, but just as good as the other. You don’t ever munch sugar, do +you? It’s bad for the teeth. I’ll take the sugar.” So the paper of +sugar was likewise dropped into one of the capacious coat pockets. + +“Oh, you better take the whole furniture, Doctor Franklin. Here, I’ll +help you drag out the bedstead.” “My honest friend,” said the wise man, +pausing solemnly, with the two bottles, like swimmer’s bladders, under +his arm-pits; “my honest friend, the bedstead you will want; what I +propose to remove you will not want.” + +“Oh, I was only joking, Doctor.” + +“I knew that. It’s a bad habit, except at the proper time, and with the +proper person. The things left on the mantel were there placed by the +landlady to be used if wanted; if not, to be left untouched. To-morrow +morning, upon the chambermaid’s coming in to make your bed, all such +articles as remained obviously untouched would have been removed, the +rest would have been charged in the bill, whether you used them up +completely or not.” + +“Just as I thought. Then why not let the bottles stay, Doctor, and save +yourself all this trouble?” + +“Ah! why indeed. My honest friend, are you not my guest? It were +unhandsome in me to permit a third person superfluously to entertain +you under what, for the time being, is my own roof.” + +These words came from the wise man in the most graciously bland and +flowing tones. As he ended, he made a sort of conciliatory half bow +towards Israel. + +Charmed with his condescending affability, Israel, without another +word, suffered him to march from the room, bottles and all. Not till +the first impression of the venerable envoy’s suavity had left him, did +Israel begin to surmise the mild superiority of successful strategy +which lurked beneath this highly ingratiating air. + +“Ah,” pondered Israel, sitting gloomily before the rifled mantel, with +the empty tumbler and teaspoon in his hand, “it’s sad business to have +a Doctor Franklin lodging in the next room. I wonder if he sees to all +the boarders this way. How the O-t-a-r-d merchants must hate him, and +the pastry-cooks too. I wish I had a good pie to pass the time. I +wonder if they ever make pumpkin pies in Paris? So I’ve got to stay in +this room all the time. Somehow I’m bound to be a prisoner, one way or +another. Never mind, I’m an ambassador; that’s satisfaction. Hark! The +Doctor again.—Come in.” + +No venerable doctor, but in tripped a young French lass, bloom on her +cheek, pink ribbons in her cap, liveliness in all her air, grace in the +very tips of her elbows. The most bewitching little chambermaid in +Paris. All art, but the picture of artlessness. + +“Monsieur! pardon!” + +“Oh, I pardon ye freely,” said Israel. “Come to call on the +Ambassador?” + +“Monsieur, is de—de—” but, breaking down at the very threshold in her +English, she poured out a long ribbon of sparkling French, the purpose +of which was to convey a profusion of fine compliments to the stranger, +with many tender inquiries as to whether he was comfortably roomed, and +whether there might not be something, however trifling, wanting to his +complete accommodation. But Israel understood nothing, at the time, but +the exceeding grace, and trim, bewitching figure of the girl. + +She stood eyeing him for a few moments more, with a look of pretty +theatrical despair, and, after vaguely lingering a while, with another +shower of incomprehensible compliments and apologies, tripped like a +fairy from the chamber. Directly she was gone Israel pondered upon a +singular glance of the girl. It seemed to him that he had, by his +reception, in some way, unaccountably disappointed his beautiful +visitor. It struck him very strangely that she had entered all +sweetness and friendliness, but had retired as if slighted, with a sort +of disdainful and sarcastic levity, all the more stinging from its +apparent politeness. + +Not long had she disappeared, when a noise in the passage apprised him +that, in her hurried retreat, the girl must have stumbled against +something. The next moment he heard a chair scraping in the adjacent +apartment, and there was another knock at the door. + +It was the man of wisdom this time. + +“My honest friend, did you not have a visitor, just now?” + +“Yes, Doctor, a very pretty girl called upon me.” + +“Well, I just stopped in to tell you of another strange custom of +Paris. That girl is the chambermaid, but she does not confine herself +altogether to one vocation. You must beware of the chambermaids of +Paris, my honest friend. Shall I tell the girl, from you, that, +unwilling to give her the fatigue of going up and down so many flights +of stairs, you will for the future waive her visits of ceremony?” + +“Why, Doctor Franklin, she is a very sweet little girl.” + +“I know it, my honest friend; the sweeter the more dangerous. Arsenic +is sweeter than sugar. I know you are a very sensible young man, not to +be taken in by an artful Ammonite, and so I think I had better convey +your message to the girl forthwith.” + +So saying, the sage withdrew, leaving Israel once more gloomily seated +before the rifled mantel, whose mirror was not again to reflect the +form of the charming chambermaid. + +“Every time he comes in he robs me,” soliloquised Israel, dolefully; +“with an air all the time, too, as if he were making me presents. If he +thinks me such a very sensible young man, why not let me take care of +myself?” + +It was growing dusk, and Israel, lighting the wax candle, proceeded to +read in his Guide-book. + +“This is poor sight-seeing,” muttered he at last, “sitting here all by +myself, with no company but an empty tumbler, reading about the fine +things in Paris, and I myself a prisoner in Paris. I wish something +extraordinary would turn up now; for instance, a man come in and give +me ten thousand pounds. But here’s ‘Poor Richard;’ I am a poor fellow +myself; so let’s see what comfort he has for a comrade.” + +Opening the little pamphlet, at random, Israel’s eyes fell on the +following passages: he read them aloud— + +“‘_So what signifies waiting and hoping for better times? We may make +these times better, if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, and +he that lives upon hope will die fasting, as Poor Richard says. There +are no gains, without pains. Then help hands, for I have no lands, as +Poor Richard says._’ Oh, confound all this wisdom! It’s a sort of +insulting to talk wisdom to a man like me. It’s wisdom that’s cheap, +and it’s fortune that’s dear. That ain’t in Poor Richard; but it ought +to be,” concluded Israel, suddenly slamming down the pamphlet. + +He walked across the room, looked at the artificial flowers, and the +rose-colored soap, and again went to the table and took up the two +books. + +“So here is the ‘Way to Wealth,’ and here is the ‘Guide to Paris.’ +Wonder now whether Paris lies on the Way to Wealth? if so, I am on the +road. More likely though, it’s a parting-of-the-ways. I shouldn’t be +surprised if the Doctor meant something sly by putting these two books +in my hand. Somehow, the old gentleman has an amazing sly look—a sort +of wild slyness—about him, seems to me. His wisdom seems a sort of sly, +too. But all in honor, though. I rather think he’s one of those old +gentlemen who say a vast deal of sense, but hint a world more. Depend +upon it, he’s sly, sly, sly. Ah, what’s this Poor Richard says: ‘God +helps them that help themselves:’ Let’s consider that. Poor Richard +ain’t a Dunker, that’s certain, though he has lived in Pennsylvania. +‘God helps them that help themselves.’ I’ll just mark that saw, and +leave the pamphlet open to refer to it again—Ah!” + +At this point, the Doctor knocked, summoning Israel to his own +apartment. Here, after a cup of weak tea, and a little toast, the two +had a long, familiar talk together; during which, Israel was delighted +with the unpretending talkativeness, serene insight, and benign +amiability of the sage. But, for all this, he could hardly forgive him +for the Cologne and Otard depredations. + +Discovering that, in early life, Israel had been employed on a farm, +the man of wisdom at length turned the conversation in that direction; +among other things, mentioning to his guest a plan of his (the +Doctor’s) for yoking oxen, with a yoke to go by a spring instead of a +bolt; thus greatly facilitating the operation of hitching on the team +to the cart. Israel was very much struck with the improvement; and +thought that, if he were home, upon his mountains, he would immediately +introduce it among the farmers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE. + + +About half-past ten o’clock, as they were thus conversing, Israel’s +acquaintance, the pretty chambermaid, rapped at the door, saying, with +a titter, that a very rude gentleman in the passage of the court, +desired to see Doctor Franklin. + +“A very rude gentleman?” repeated the wise man in French, narrowly +looking at the girl; “that means, a very fine gentleman who has just +paid you some energetic compliment. But let him come up, my girl,” he +added patriarchially. + +In a few moments, a swift coquettish step was heard, followed, as if in +chase, by a sharp and manly one. The door opened. Israel was sitting so +that, accidentally, his eye pierced the crevice made by the opening of +the door, which, like a theatrical screen, stood for a moment between +Doctor Franklin and the just entering visitor. And behind that screen, +through the crack, Israel caught one momentary glimpse of a little bit +of by-play between the pretty chambermaid and the stranger. The +vivacious nymph appeared to have affectedly run from him on the +stairs—doubtless in freakish return for some liberal advances—but had +suffered herself to be overtaken at last ere too late; and on the +instant Israel caught sight of her, was with an insincere air of rosy +resentment, receiving a roguish pinch on the arm, and a still more +roguish salute on the cheek. + +The next instant both disappeared from the range of the crevice; the +girl departing whence she had come; the stranger—transiently invisible +as he advanced behind the door—entering the room. When Israel now +perceived him again, he seemed, while momentarily hidden, to have +undergone a complete transformation. + +He was a rather small, elastic, swarthy man, with an aspect as of a +disinherited Indian Chief in European clothes. An unvanquishable +enthusiasm, intensified to perfect sobriety, couched in his savage, +self-possessed eye. He was elegantly and somewhat extravagantly dressed +as a civilian; he carried himself with a rustic, barbaric jauntiness, +strangely dashed with a superinduced touch of the Parisian _salon_. His +tawny cheek, like a date, spoke of the tropic, A wonderful atmosphere +of proud friendlessness and scornful isolation invested him. Yet there +was a bit of the poet as well as the outlaw in him, too. A cool +solemnity of intrepidity sat on his lip. He looked like one who of +purpose sought out harm’s way. He looked like one who never had been, +and never would be, a subordinate. + +Israel thought to himself that seldom before had he seen such a being. +Though dressed à-la-mode, he did not seem to be altogether civilized. + +So absorbed was our adventurer by the person of the stranger, that a +few moments passed ere he began to be aware of the circumstance, that +Dr. Franklin and this new visitor having saluted as old acquaintances, +were now sitting in earnest conversation together. + +“Do as you please; but I will not bide a suitor much longer,” said the +stranger in bitterness. “Congress gave me to understand that, upon my +arrival here, I should be given immediate command of the _Indien_; and +now, for no earthly reason that I can see, you Commissioners have +presented her, fresh from the stocks at Amsterdam, to the King of +France, and not to me. What does the King of France with such a +frigate? And what can I _not_ do with her? Give me back the “Indien,” +and in less than one month, you shall hear glorious or fatal news of +Paul Jones.” + +“Come, come, Captain,” said Doctor Franklin, soothingly, “tell me now, +what would you do with her, if you had her?” + +“I would teach the British that Paul Jones, though born in Britain, is +no subject to the British King, but an untrammelled citizen and sailor +of the universe; and I would teach them, too, that if they ruthlessly +ravage the American coasts, their own coasts are vulnerable as New +Holland’s. Give me the _Indien_, and I will rain down on wicked England +like fire on Sodom.” + +These words of bravado were not spoken in the tone of a bravo, but a +prophet. Erect upon his chair, like an Iroquois, the speaker’s look was +like that of an unflickering torch. + +His air seemed slightly to disturb the old sage’s philosophic repose, +who, while not seeking to disguise his admiration of the unmistakable +spirit of the man, seemed but illy to relish his apparent measureless +boasting. + +As if both to change the subject a little, as well as put his visitor +in better mood—though indeed it might have been but covertly to play +with his enthusiasm—the man of wisdom now drew his chair confidentially +nearer to the stranger’s, and putting one hand in a very friendly, +conciliatory way upon his visitor’s knee, and rubbing it gently to and +fro there, much as a lion-tamer might soothingly manipulate the +aggravated king of beasts, said in a winning manner:—“Never mind at +present, Captain, about the ‘_Indien_’ affair. Let that sleep a moment. +See now, the Jersey privateers do us a great deal of mischief by +intercepting our supplies. It has been mentioned to me, that if you had +a small vessel—say, even your present ship, the ‘Amphitrite,’—then, by +your singular bravery, you might render great service, by following +those privateers where larger ships durst not venture their bottoms; +or, if but supported by some frigates from Brest at a proper distance, +might draw them out, so that the larger vessels could capture them.” + +“Decoy-duck to French frigates!—Very dignified office, truly!” hissed +Paul in a fiery rage. “Doctor Franklin, whatever Paul Jones does for +the cause of America, it must be done through unlimited orders: a +separate, supreme command; no leader and no counsellor but himself. +Have I not already by my services on the American coast shown that I am +well worthy all this? Why then do you seek to degrade me below my +previous level? I will mount, not sink. I live but for honor and glory. +Give me, then, something honorable and glorious to do, and something +famous to do it with. Give me the _Indien_” + +The man of wisdom slowly shook his head. “Everything is lost through +this shillyshallying timidity, called prudence,” cried Paul Jones, +starting to his feet; “to be effectual, war should be carried on like a +monsoon, one changeless determination of every particle towards the one +unalterable aim. But in vacillating councils, statesmen idle about like +the cats’-paws in calms. My God, why was I not born a Czar!” + +“A Nor’wester, rather. Come, come, Captain,” added the sage, “sit down, +we have a third person present, you see,” pointing towards Israel, who +sat rapt at the volcanic spirit of the stranger. + +Paul slightly started, and turned inquiringly upon Israel, who, equally +owing to Paul’s own earnestness of discourse and Israel’s motionless +bearing, had thus far remained undiscovered. + +“Never fear, Captain,” said the sage, “this man is true blue, a secret +courier, and an American born. He is an escaped prisoner of war.” + +“Ah, captured in a ship?” asked Paul eagerly; “what ship? None of mine! +Paul Jones never was captured.” + +“No, sir, in the brigantine Washington, out of Boston,” replied Israel; +“we were cruising to cut off supplies to the English.” + +“Did your shipmates talk much of me?” demanded Paul, with a look as of +a parading Sioux demanding homage to his gewgaws; “what did they say of +Paul Jones?” + +“I never heard the name before this evening,” said Israel. + +“What? Ah—brigantine Washington—let me see; that was before I had +outwitted the Soleby frigate, fought the Milford, and captured the +Mellish and the rest off Louisbergh. You were long before the news, my +lad,” he added, with a sort of compassionate air. + +“Our friend here gave you a rather blunt answer,” said the wise man, +sagely mischievous, and addressing Paul. + +“Yes. And I like him for it. My man, will you go a cruise with Paul +Jones? You fellows so blunt with the tongue, are apt to be sharp with +the steel. Come, my lad, return with me to Brest. I go in a few days.” + +Fired by the contagious spirit of Paul, Israel, forgetting all about +his previous desire to reach home, sparkled with response to the +summons. But Doctor Franklin interrupted him. + +“Our friend here,” said he to the Captain, “is at present engaged for +very different duty.” + +Much other conversation followed, during which Paul Jones again and +again expressed his impatience at being unemployed, and his resolution +to accept of no employ unless it gave him supreme authority; while in +answer to all this Dr. Franklin, not uninfluenced by the uncompromising +spirit of his guest, and well knowing that however unpleasant a trait +in conversation, or in the transaction of civil affairs, yet in war +this very quality was invaluable, as projectiles and combustibles, +finally assured Paul, after many complimentary remarks, that he would +immediately exert himself to the utmost to procure for him some +enterprise which should come up to his merits. + +“Thank you for your frankness,” said Paul; “frank myself, I love to +deal with a frank man. You, Doctor Franklin, are true and deep, and so +you are frank.” + +The sage sedately smiled, a queer incredulity just lurking in the +corner of his mouth. + +“But how about our little scheme for new modelling ships-of-war?” said +the Doctor, shifting the subject; “it will be a great thing for our +infant navy, if we succeed. Since our last conversation on that +subject, Captain, at odds and ends of time, I have thought over the +matter, and have begun a little skeleton of the thing here, which I +will show you. Whenever one has a new idea of anything mechanical, it +is best to clothe it with a body as soon as possible. For you can’t +improve so well on ideas as you can on bodies.” + +With that, going to a little drawer, he produced a small basket, filled +with a curious looking unfinished frame-work of wood, and several bits +of wood unattached. It looked like a nursery basket containing broken +odds and ends of playthings. + +“Now look here, Captain, though the thing is but begun at present, yet +there is enough to show that _one_ idea at least of yours is not +feasible.” + +Paul was all attention, as if having unbounded confidence in whatever +the sage might suggest, while Israel looked on quite as interested as +either, his heart swelling with the thought of being privy to the +consultations of two such men; consultations, too, having ultimate +reference to such momentous affairs as the freeing of nations. + +“If,” continued the Doctor, taking up some of the loose bits and piling +them along on one side of the top of the frame, “if the better to +shelter your crew in an engagement, you construct your rail in the +manner proposed—as thus—then, by the excessive weight of the timber, +you will too much interfere with the ship’s centre of gravity. You will +have that too high.” + +“Ballast in the hold in proportion,” said Paul. + +“Then you will sink the whole hull too low. But here, to have less +smoke in time of battle, especially on the lower decks, you proposed a +new sort of hatchway. But that won’t do. See here now, I have invented +certain ventilating pipes, they are to traverse the vessel thus”—laying +some toilette pins along—“the current of air to enter here and be +discharged there. What do you think of that? But now about the main +things—fast sailing driving little to leeward, and drawing little +water. Look now at this keel. I whittled it only night before last, +just before going to bed. Do you see now how—” + +At this crisis, a knock was heard at the door, and the chambermaid +reappeared, announcing that two gentlemen were that moment crossing the +court below to see Doctor Franklin. + +“The Duke de Chartres, and Count D’Estang,” said the Doctor; “they +appointed for last night, but did not come. Captain, this has something +indirectly to do with your affair. Through the Duke, Count D’Estang has +spoken to the King about the secret expedition, the design of which you +first threw out. Call early to-morrow, and I will inform you of the +result.” + +With his tawny hand Paul pulled out his watch, a small, richly-jewelled +lady’s watch. + +“It is so late, I will stay here to-night,” he said; “is there a +convenient room?” + +“Quick,” said the Doctor, “it might be ill-advised of you to be seen +with me just now. Our friend here will let you share his chamber. +Quick, Israel, and show the Captain thither.” + +As the door closed upon them in Israel’s apartment, Doctor Franklin’s +door closed upon the Duke and the Count. Leaving the latter to their +discussion of profound plans for the timely befriending of the American +cause, and the crippling of the power of England on the seas, let us +pass the night with Paul Jones and Israel in the neighboring room. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE. + + +“‘God helps them that help themselves.’ That’s a clincher. That’s been +my experience. But I never saw it in words before. What pamphlet is +this? ‘Poor Richard,’ hey!” + +Upon entering Israel’s room, Captain Paul, stepping towards the table +and spying the open pamphlet there, had taken it up, his eye being +immediately attracted to the passage previously marked by our +adventurer. + +“A rare old gentleman is ‘Poor Richard,’” said Israel in response to +Paul’s observations. + +“So he seems, so he seems,” answered Paul, his eye still running over +the pamphlet again; “why, ‘Poor Richard’ reads very much as Doctor +Franklin speaks.” + +“He wrote it,” said Israel. + +“Aye? Good. So it is, so it is; it’s the wise man all over. I must get +me a copy of this and wear it around my neck for a charm. And now about +our quarters for the night. I am not going to deprive you of your bed, +my man. Do you go to bed and I will doze in the chair here. It’s good +dozing in the crosstrees.” + +“Why not sleep together?” said Israel; “see, it is a big bed. Or +perhaps you don’t fancy your bed-fellow. Captain?” + +“When, before the mast, I first sailed out of Whitehaven to Norway,” +said Paul, coolly, “I had for hammock-mate a full-blooded Congo. We had +a white blanket spread in our hammock. Every time I turned in I found +the Congo’s black wool worked in with the white worsted. By the end of +the voyage the blanket was of a pepper-and-salt look, like an old man’s +turning head. So it’s not because I am notional at all, but because I +don’t care to, my lad. Turn in and go to sleep. Let the lamp burn. I’ll +see to it. There, go to sleep.” + +Complying with what seemed as much a command as a request, Israel, +though in bed, could not fall into slumber for thinking of the little +circumstance that this strange swarthy man, flaming with wild +enterprises, sat in full suit in the chair. He felt an uneasy misgiving +sensation, as if he had retired, not only without covering up the fire, +but leaving it fiercely burning with spitting fagots of hemlock. + +But his natural complaisance induced him at least to feign himself +asleep; whereupon. Paul, laying down “Poor Richard,” rose from his +chair, and, withdrawing his boots, began walking rapidly but +noiselessly to and fro, in his stockings, in the spacious room, wrapped +in Indian meditations. Israel furtively eyed him from beneath the +coverlid, and was anew struck by his aspect, now that Paul thought +himself unwatched. Stern relentless purposes, to be pursued to the +points of adverse bayonets and the muzzles of hostile cannon, were +expressed in the now rigid lines of his brow. His ruffled right hand +was clutched by his side, as if grasping a cutlass. He paced the room +as if advancing upon a fortification. Meantime a confused buzz of +discussion came from the neighboring chamber. All else was profound +midnight tranquillity. Presently, passing the large mirror over the +mantel, Paul caught a glimpse of his person. He paused, grimly +regarding it, while a dash of pleased coxcombry seemed to mingle with +the otherwise savage satisfaction expressed in his face. But the latter +predominated. Soon, rolling up his sleeve, with a queer wild smile, +Paul lifted his right arm, and stood thus for an interval, eyeing its +image in the glass. From where he lay, Israel could not see that side +of the arm presented to the mirror, but he saw its reflection, and +started at perceiving there, framed in the carved and gilded wood, +certain large intertwisted ciphers covering the whole inside of the +arm, so far as exposed, with mysterious tattooings. The design was +wholly unlike the fanciful figures of anchors, hearts, and cables, +sometimes decorating small portions of seamen’s bodies. It was a sort +of tattooing such as is seen only on thoroughbred savages—deep blue, +elaborate, labyrinthine, cabalistic. Israel remembered having beheld, +on one of his early voyages, something similar on the arm of a New +Zealand warrior, once met, fresh from battle, in his native village. He +concluded that on some similar early voyage Paul must have undergone +the manipulations of some pagan artist. Covering his arm again with his +laced coat-sleeve, Paul glanced ironically at the hand of the same arm, +now again half muffled in ruffles, and ornamented with several Parisian +rings. He then resumed his walking with a prowling air, like one +haunting an ambuscade; while a gleam of the consciousness of possessing +a character as yet un-fathomed, and hidden power to back unsuspected +projects, irradiated his cold white brow, which, owing to the shade of +his hat in equatorial climates, had been left surmounting his swarthy +face, like the snow topping the Andes. + +So at midnight, the heart of the metropolis of modern civilization was +secretly trod by this jaunty barbarian in broadcloth; a sort of +prophetical ghost, glimmering in anticipation upon the advent of those +tragic scenes of the French Revolution which levelled the exquisite +refinement of Paris with the bloodthirsty ferocity of Borneo; showing +that broaches and finger-rings, not less than nose-rings and tattooing, +are tokens of the primeval savageness which ever slumbers in human +kind, civilized or uncivilized. + +Israel slept not a wink that night. The troubled spirit of Paul paced +the chamber till morning; when, copiously bathing himself at the +wash-stand, Paul looked care-free and fresh as a daybreak hawk. After a +closeted consultation with Doctor Franklin, he left the place with a +light and dandified air, switching his gold-headed cane, and throwing a +passing arm round all the pretty chambermaids he encountered, kissing +them resoundingly, as if saluting a frigate. All barbarians are rakes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE’S ABODE—HIS +ADVENTURES THERE. + + +On the third day, as Israel was walking to and fro in his room, having +removed his courier’s boots, for fear of disturbing the Doctor, a quick +sharp rap at the door announced the American envoy. The man of wisdom +entered, with two small wads of paper in one hand, and several crackers +and a bit of cheese in the other. There was such an eloquent air of +instantaneous dispatch about him, that Israel involuntarily sprang to +his boots, and, with two vigorous jerks, hauled them on, and then +seizing his hat, like any bird, stood poised for his flight across the +channel. + +“Well done, my honest friend,” said the Doctor; “you have the papers in +your heel, I suppose.” + +“Ah,” exclaimed Israel, perceiving the mild irony; and in an instant +his boots were off again; when, without another word, the Doctor took +one boot, and Israel the other, and forthwith both parties proceeded to +secrete the documents. + +“I think I could improve the design,” said the sage, as, +notwithstanding his haste, he critically eyed the screwing apparatus of +the boot. “The vacancy should have been in the standing part of the +heel, not in the lid. It should go with a spring, too, for better +dispatch. I’ll draw up a paper on false heels one of these days, and +send it to a private reading at the Institute. But no time for it now. +My honest friend, it is now half past ten o’clock. At half past eleven +the diligence starts from the Place-du-Carrousel for Calais. Make all +haste till you arrive at Brentford. I have a little provender here for +you to eat in the diligence, as you will not have time for a regular +meal. A day-and-night courier should never be without a cracker in his +pocket. You will probably leave Brentford in a day or two after your +arrival there. Be wary, now, my good friend; heed well, that, if you +are caught with these papers on British ground, you will involve both +yourself and our Brentford friends in fatal calamities. Kick no man’s +box, never mind whose, in the way. Mind your own box. You can’t be too +cautious, but don’t be too suspicious. God bless you, my honest friend. +Go!” + +And, flinging the door open for his exit, the Doctor saw Israel dart +into the entry, vigorously spring down the stairs, and disappear with +all celerity across the court into the vaulted way. + +The man of wisdom stood mildly motionless a moment, with a look of +sagacious, humane meditation on his face, as if pondering upon the +chances of the important enterprise: one which, perhaps, might in the +sequel affect the weal or woe of nations yet to come. Then suddenly +clapping his hand to his capacious coat-pocket, dragged out a bit of +cork with some hen’s feathers, and hurrying to his room, took out his +knife, and proceeded to whittle away at a shuttlecock of an original +scientific construction, which at some prior time he had promised to +send to the young Duchess D’Abrantes that very afternoon. + +Safely reaching Calais, at night, Israel stepped almost from the +diligence into the packet, and, in a few moments, was cutting the +water. As on the diligence he took an outside and plebeian seat, so, +with the same secret motive of preserving unsuspected the character +assumed, he took a deck passage in the packet. It coming on to rain +violently, he stole down into the forecastle, dimly lit by a solitary +swinging lamp, where were two men industriously smoking, and filling +the narrow hole with soporific vapors. These induced strange drowsiness +in Israel, and he pondered how best he might indulge it, for a time, +without imperilling the precious documents in his custody. + +But this pondering in such soporific vapors had the effect of those +mathematical devices whereby restless people cipher themselves to +sleep. His languid head fell to his breast. In another moment, he +drooped half-lengthwise upon a chest, his legs outstretched before him. + +Presently he was awakened by some intermeddlement with his feet. +Starting to his elbow, he saw one of the two men in the act of slyly +slipping off his right boot, while the left one, already removed, lay +on the floor, all ready against the rascal’s retreat Had it not been +for the lesson learned on the Pont Neuf, Israel would instantly have +inferred that his secret mission was known, and the operator some +designed diplomatic knave or other, hired by the British Cabinet, thus +to lie in wait for him, fume him into slumber with tobacco, and then +rifle him of his momentous dispatches. But as it was, he recalled +Doctor Franklin’s prudent admonitions against the indulgence of +premature suspicions. + +“Sir,” said Israel very civilly, “I will thank you for that boot which +lies on the floor, and, if you please, you can let the other stay where +it is.” + +“Excuse me,” said the rascal, an accomplished, self-possessed +practitioner in his thievish art; “I thought your boots might be +pinching you, and only wished to ease you a little.” + +“Much obliged to ye for your kindness, sir,” said Israel; “but they +don’t pinch me at all. I suppose, though, you think they wouldn’t pinch +_you_ either; your foot looks rather small. Were you going to try ’em +on, just to see how they fitted?” + +“No,” said the fellow, with sanctimonious seriousness; “but with your +permission I should like to try them on, when we get to Dover. I +couldn’t try them well walking on this tipsy craft’s deck, you know.” + +“No,” answered Israel, “and the beach at Dover ain’t very smooth +either. I guess, upon second thought, you had better not try ’em on at +all. Besides, I am a simple sort of a soul—eccentric they call me—and +don’t like my boots to go out of my sight. Ha! ha!” + +“What are you laughing at?” said the fellow testily. + +“Odd idea! I was just looking at those sad old patched boots there on +your feet, and thinking to myself what leaky fire-buckets they would be +to pass up a ladder on a burning building. It would hardly be fair now +to swop my new boots for those old fire-buckets, would it?” + +“By plunko!” cried the fellow, willing now by a bold stroke to change +the subject, which was growing slightly annoying; “by plunko, I believe +we are getting nigh Dover. Let’s see.” + +And so saying, he sprang up the ladder to the deck. Upon Israel +following, he found the little craft half becalmed, rolling on short +swells almost in the exact middle of the channel. It was just before +the break of the morning; the air clear and fine; the heavens spangled +with moistly twinkling stars. The French and English coasts lay +distinctly visible in the strange starlight, the white cliffs of Dover +resembling a long gabled block of marble houses. Both shores showed a +long straight row of lamps. Israel seemed standing in the middle of the +crossing of some wide stately street in London. Presently a breeze +sprang up, and ere long our adventurer disembarked at his destined +port, and directly posted on for Brentford. + +The following afternoon, having gained unobserved admittance into the +house, according to preconcerted signals, he was sitting in Squire +Woodcock’s closet, pulling off his boots and delivering his dispatches. + +Having looked over the compressed tissuey sheets, and read a line +particularly addressed to himself, the Squire, turning round upon +Israel, congratulated him upon his successful mission, placed some +refreshment before him, and apprised him that, owing to certain +suspicious symptoms in the neighborhood, he (Israel) must now remain +concealed in the house for a day or two, till an answer should be ready +for Paris. + +It was a venerable mansion, as was somewhere previously stated, of a +wide and rambling disorderly spaciousness, built, for the most part, of +weather-stained old bricks, in the goodly style called Elizabethan. As +without, it was all dark russet bricks, so within, it was nothing but +tawny oak panels. + +“Now, my good fellow,” said the Squire, “my wife has a number of +guests, who wander from room to room, having the freedom of the house. +So I shall have to put you very snugly away, to guard against any +chance of discovery.” + +So saying, first locking the door, he touched a spring nigh the open +fire-place, whereupon one of the black sooty stone jambs of the chimney +started ajar, just like the marble gate of a tomb. Inserting one leg of +the heavy tongs in the crack, the Squire pried this cavernous gate wide +open. + +“Why, Squire Woodcock, what is the matter with your chimney?” said +Israel. + +“Quick, go in.” + +“Am I to sweep the chimney?” demanded Israel; “I didn’t engage for +that.” + +“Pooh, pooh, this is your hiding-place. Come, move in.” + +“But where does it go to, Squire Woodcock? I don’t like the looks of +it.” + +“Follow me. I’ll show you.” + +Pushing his florid corpulence into the mysterious aperture, the elderly +Squire led the way up steep stairs of stone, hardly two feet in width, +till they reached a little closet, or rather cell, built into the +massive main wall of the mansion, and ventilated and dimly lit by two +little sloping slits, ingeniously concealed without, by their forming +the sculptured mouths of two griffins cut in a great stone tablet +decorating that external part of the dwelling. A mattress lay rolled up +in one corner, with a jug of water, a flask of wine, and a wooden +trencher containing cold roast beef and bread. + +“And I am to be buried alive here?” said Israel, ruefully looking +round. + +“But your resurrection will soon be at hand,” smiled the Squire; “two +days at the furthest.” + +“Though to be sure I was a sort of prisoner in Paris, just as I seem +about to be made here,” said Israel, “yet Doctor Franklin put me in a +better jug than this, Squire Woodcock. It was set out with boquets and +a mirror, and other fine things. Besides, I could step out into the +entry whenever I wanted.” + +“Ah, but, my hero, that was in France, and this is in England. There +you were in a friendly country: here you are in the enemy’s. If you +should be discovered in my house, and your connection with me became +known, do you know that it would go very hard with me; very hard +indeed?” + +“Then, for your sake, I am willing to stay wherever you think best to +put me,” replied Israel. + +“Well, then, you say you want boquets and a mirror. If those articles +will at all help to solace your seclusion, I will bring them to you.” + +“They really would be company; the sight of my own face particularly.” + +“Stay here, then. I will be back in ten minutes.” + +In less than that time, the good old Squire returned, puffing and +panting, with a great bunch of flowers, and a small shaving-glass. + +“There,” said he, putting them down; “now keep perfectly quiet; avoid +making any undue noise, and on no account descend the stairs, till I +come for you again.” + +“But when will that be?” asked Israel. + +“I will try to come twice each day while you are here. But there is no +knowing what may happen. If I should not visit you till I come to +liberate you—on the evening of the second day, or the morning of the +third—you must not be at all surprised, my good fellow. There is plenty +of food-and water to last you. But mind, on no account descend the +stone-stairs till I come for you.” + +With that, bidding his guest adieu, he left him. + +Israel stood glancing pensively around for a time. By and by, moving +the rolled mattress under the two air-slits, he mounted, to try if +aught were visible beyond. But nothing was to be seen but a very thin +slice of blue sky peeping through the lofty foliage of a great tree +planted near the side-portal of the mansion; an ancient tree, coeval +with the ancient dwelling it guarded. + +Sitting down on the Mattress, Israel fell into a reverie. + +“Poverty and liberty, or plenty and a prison, seem to be the two horns +of the constant dilemma of my life,” thought he. “Let’s look at the +prisoner.” + +And taking up the shaving-glass, he surveyed his lineaments. + +“What a pity I didn’t think to ask for razors and soap. I want shaving +very badly. I shaved last in France. How it would pass the time here. +Had I a comb now and a razor, I might shave and curl my hair, and keep +making a continual toilet all through the two days, and look spruce as +a robin when I get out. I’ll ask the Squire for the things this very +night when he drops in. Hark! ain’t that a sort of rumbling in the +wall? I hope there ain’t any oven next door; if so, I shall be scorched +out. Here I am, just like a rat in the wainscot. I wish there was a low +window to look out of. I wonder what Doctor Franklin is doing now, and +Paul Jones? Hark! there’s a bird singing in the leaves. Bell for +dinner, that.” + +And for pastime, he applied himself to the beef and bread, and took a +draught of the wine and water. + +At last night fell. He was left in utter darkness. No Squire. + +After an anxious, sleepless night, he saw two long flecks of pale gray +light slanting into the cell from the slits, like two long spears. He +rose, rolled up his mattress, got upon the roll, and put his mouth to +one of the griffins’ months. He gave a low, just audible whistle, +directing it towards the foliage of the tree. Presently there was a +slight rustling among the leaves, then one solitary chirrup, and in +three minutes a whole chorus of melody burst upon his ear. + +“I’ve waked the first bird,” said he to himself, with a smile, “and +he’s waked all the rest. Now then for breakfast. That over, I dare say +the Squire will drop in.” + +But the breakfast was over, and the two flecks of pale light had +changed to golden beams, and the golden beams grew less and less +slanting, till they straightened themselves up out of sight altogether. +It was noon, and no Squire. + +“He’s gone a-hunting before breakfast, and got belated,” thought +Israel. + +The afternoon shadows lengthened. It was sunset; no Squire. + +“He must be very busy trying some sheep-stealer in the hall,” mused +Israel. “I hope he won’t forget all about me till to-morrow.” + +He waited and listened; and listened and waited. + +Another restless night; no sleep; morning came. The second day passed +like the first, and the night. On the third morning the flowers lay +shrunken by his side. Drops of wet oozing through the air- slits, fell +dully on the stone floor. He heard the dreary beatings of the tree’s +leaves against the mouths of the griffins, bedashing them with the +spray of the rain-storm without. At intervals a burst of thunder rolled +over his head, and lightning flashing down through the slits, lit up +the cell with a greenish glare, followed by sharp splashings and +rattlings of the redoubled rain-storm. + +“This is the morning of the third day,” murmured Israel to himself; “he +said he would at the furthest come to me on the morning of the third +day. This is it. Patience, he will be here yet. Morning lasts till +noon.” + +But, owing to the murkiness of the day, it was very hard to tell when +noon came. Israel refused to credit that noon had come and gone, till +dusk set plainly in. Dreading he knew not what, he found himself buried +in the darkness of still another night. However patient and hopeful +hitherto, fortitude now presently left him. Suddenly, as if some +contagious fever had seized him, he was afflicted with strange +enchantments of misery, undreamed of till now. + +He had eaten all the beef, but there was bread and water sufficient to +last, by economy, for two or three days to come. It was not the pang of +hunger then, but a nightmare originating in his mysterious +incarceration, which appalled him. All through the long hours of this +particular night, the sense of being masoned up in the wall, grew, and +grew, and grew upon him, till again and again he lifted himself +convulsively from the floor, as if vast blocks of stone had been laid +on him; as if he had been digging a deep well, and the stonework with +all the excavated earth had caved in upon him, where he burrowed ninety +feet beneath the clover. In the blind tomb of the midnight he stretched +his two arms sideways, and felt as if coffined at not being able to +extend them straight out, on opposite sides, for the narrowness of the +cell. He seated himself against one side of the wall, crosswise with +the cell, and pushed with his feet at the opposite wall. But still +mindful of his promise in this extremity, he uttered no cry. He mutely +raved in the darkness. The delirious sense of the absence of light was +soon added to his other delirium as to the contraction of space. The +lids of his eyes burst with impotent distension. Then he thought the +air itself was getting unbearable. He stood up at the griffin slits, +pressing his lips far into them till he moulded his lips there, to suck +the utmost of the open air possible. + +And continually, to heighten his frenzy, there recurred to him again +and again what the Squire had told him as to the origin of the cell. It +seemed that this part of the old house, or rather this wall of it, was +extremely ancient, dating far beyond the era of Elizabeth, having once +formed portion of a religious retreat belonging to the Templars. The +domestic discipline of this order was rigid and merciless in the +extreme. In a side wall of their second storey chapel, horizontal and +on a level with the floor, they had an internal vacancy left, exactly +of the shape and average size of a coffin. In this place, from time to +time, inmates convicted of contumacy were confined; but, strange to +say, not till they were penitent. A small hole, of the girth of one’s +wrist, sunk like a telescope three feet through the masonry into the +cell, served at once for ventilation, and to push through food to the +prisoner. This hole opening into the chapel also enabled the poor +solitaire, as intended, to overhear the religious services at the +altar; and, without being present, take part in the same. It was deemed +a good sign of the state of the sufferer’s soul, if from the gloomy +recesses of the wall was heard the agonized groan of his dismal +response. This was regarded in the light of a penitent wail from the +dead, because the customs of the order ordained that when any inmate +should be first incarcerated in the wall, he should be committed to it +in the presence of all the brethren, the chief reading the burial +service as the live body was sepulchred. Sometimes several weeks +elapsed ere the disentombment, the penitent being then usually found +numb and congealed in all his extremities, like one newly stricken with +paralysis. + +This coffin-cell of the Templars had been suffered to remain in the +demolition of the general edifice, to make way for the erection of the +new, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was enlarged somewhat, and +altered, and additionally ventilated, to adapt it for a place of +concealment in times of civil dissension. + +With this history ringing in his solitary brain, it may readily be +conceived what Israel’s feelings must have been. Here, in this very +darkness, centuries ago, hearts, human as his, had mildewed in despair; +limbs, robust as his own, had stiffened in immovable torpor. + +At length, after what seemed all the prophetic days and years of +Daniel, morning broke. The benevolent light entered the cell, soothing +his frenzy, as if it had been some smiling human face—nay, the Squire +himself, come at last to redeem him from thrall. Soon his dumb ravings +entirely left him, and gradually, with a sane, calm mind, he revolved +all the circumstances of his condition. + +He could not be mistaken; something fatal must have befallen his +friend. Israel remembered the Squire’s hinting that in case of the +discovery of his clandestine proceedings it would fare extremely hard +with him, Israel was forced to conclude that this same unhappy +discovery had been made; that owing to some untoward misadventure his +good friend had been carried off a State-prisoner to London; that prior +to his going the Squire had not apprised any member of his household +that he was about to leave behind him a prisoner in the wall; this +seemed evident from the circumstance that, thus far, no soul had +visited that prisoner. It could not be otherwise. Doubtless the Squire, +having no opportunity to converse in private with his relatives or +friends at the moment of his sudden arrest, had been forced to keep his +secret, for the present, for fear of involving Israel in still worse +calamities. But would he leave him to perish piecemeal in the wall? All +surmise was baffled in the unconjecturable possibilities of the case. +But some sort of action must speedily be determined upon. Israel would +not additionally endanger the Squire, but he could not in such +uncertainty consent to perish where he was. He resolved at all hazards +to escape, by stealth and noiselessly, if possible; by violence and +outcry, if indispensable. + +Gliding out of the cell, he descended the stone stairs, and stood +before the interior of the jamb. He felt an immovable iron knob, but no +more. He groped about gently for some bolt or spring. When before he +had passed through the passage with his guide, he had omitted to notice +by what precise mechanism the jamb was to be opened from within, or +whether, indeed, it could at all be opened except from without. + +He was about giving up the search in despair, after sweeping with his +two hands every spot of the wall-surface around him, when chancing to +turn his whole body a little to one side, he heard a creak, and saw a +thin lance of light. His foot had unconsciously pressed some spring +laid in the floor. The jamb was ajar. Pushing it open, he stood at +liberty, in the Squire’s closet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING. + + +He started at the funereal aspect of the room, into which, since he +last stood there, undertakers seemed to have stolen. The curtains of +the window were festooned with long weepers of crape. The four corners +of the red cloth on the round table were knotted with crape. + +Knowing nothing of these mournful customs of the country, nevertheless, +Israel’s instinct whispered him that Squire Woodcock lived no more on +this earth. At once the whole three days’ mystery was made clear. But +what was now to be done? His friend must have died very suddenly; most +probably struck down in a fit, from which he never more rose. With him +had perished all knowledge of the fact that a stranger was immured in +the mansion. If discovered then, prowling here in the inmost privacies +of a gentleman’s abode, what would befall the wanderer, already not +unsuspected in the neighborhood of some underhand guilt as a fugitive? +If he adhered to the strict truth, what could he offer in his own +defence without convicting himself of acts which, by English tribunals, +would be accounted flagitious crimes? Unless, indeed, by involving the +memory of the deceased Squire Woodcock in his own self acknowledged +proceedings, so ungenerous a charge should result in an abhorrent +refusal to credit his extraordinary tale, whether as referring to +himself or another, and so throw him open to still more grievous +suspicions? + +While wrapped in these dispiriting reveries, he heard a step not very +far off in the passage. It seemed approaching. Instantly he flew to the +jamb, which remained unclosed, and disappearing within, drew the stone +after him by the iron knob. Owing to his hurried violence the jamb +closed with a dull, dismal and singular noise. A shriek followed from +within the room. In a panic, Israel fled up the dark stairs, and near +the top, in his eagerness, stumbled and fell back to the last step with +a rolling din, which, reverberated by the arch overhead, smote through +and through the wall, dying away at last indistinctly, like low muffled +thunder among the clefts of deep hills. When raising himself instantly, +not seriously bruised by his fall, Israel instantly listened, the +echoing sounds of his descent were mingled with added shrieks from +within the room. They seemed some nervous female’s, alarmed by what +must have appeared to her supernatural, or at least unaccountable, +noises in the wall. Directly he heard other voices of alarm +undistinguishably commingled, and then they retreated together, and all +again was still. + +Recovering from his first amazement, Israel revolved these occurrences. +“No creature now in the house knows of the cell,” thought he. “Some +woman, the housekeeper, perhaps, first entered the room alone. Just as +she entered the jamb closed. The sudden report made her shriek; then, +afterwards, the noise of my fall prolonging itself, added to her +fright, while her repeated shrieks brought every soul in the house to +her, who aghast at seeing her lying in a pale faint, it may be, like a +corpse, in a room hung with crape for a man just dead, they also +shrieked out, and then with blended lamentations they bore the fainting +person away. Now this will follow; no doubt it _has_ followed ere +now:—they believe that the woman saw or heard the spirit of Squire +Woodcock. Since I seem then to understand how all these strange events +have occurred, since I seem to know that they have plain common causes, +I begin to feel cool and calm again. Let me see. Yes. I have it. By +means of the idea of the ghost prevailing among the frightened +household, by that means I will this very night make good my escape. If +I can but lay hands on some of the late Squire’s clothing, if but a +coat and hat of his, I shall be certain to succeed. It is not too early +to begin now. They will hardly come back to the room in a hurry. I will +return to it and see what I can find to serve my purpose. It is the +Squire’s private closet, hence it is not unlikely that here some at +least of his clothing will be found.” + +With these, thoughts, he cautiously sprung the iron under foot, peeped +in, and, seeing all clear, boldly re-entered the apartment. He went +straight to a high, narrow door in the opposite wall. The key was in +the lock. Opening the door, there hung several coats, small-clothes, +pairs of silk stockings, and hats of the deceased. With little +difficulty Israel selected from these the complete suit in which he had +last seen his once jovial friend. Carefully closing the door, and +carrying the suit with him, he was returning towards the chimney, when +he saw the Squire’s silver-headed cane leaning against a corner of the +wainscot. Taking this also, he stole back to his cell. + +Slipping off his own clothing, he deliberately arrayed himself in the +borrowed raiment, silk small-clothes and all, then put on the cocked +hat, grasped the silver-headed cane in his right hand, and moving his +small shaving-glass slowly up and down before him, so as by piecemeal +to take in his whole figure, felt convinced that he would well pass for +Squire Woodcock’s genuine phantom. But after the first feeling of +self-satisfaction with his anticipated success had left him, it was not +without some superstitious embarrassment that Israel felt himself +encased in a dead man’s broadcloth; nay, in the very coat in which the +deceased had no doubt fallen down in his fit. By degrees he began to +feel almost as unreal and shadowy as the shade whose part he intended +to enact. + +Waiting long and anxiously till darkness came, and then till he thought +it was fairly midnight, he stole back into the closet, and standing for +a moment uneasily in the middle of the floor, thinking over all the +risks he might run, he lingered till he felt himself resolute and calm. +Then groping for the door leading into the hall, put his hand on the +knob and turned it. But the door refused to budge. Was it locked? The +key was not in. Turning the knob once more, and holding it so, he +pressed firmly against the door. It did not move. More firmly still, +when suddenly it burst open with a loud crackling report. Being +cramped, it had stuck in the sill. Less than three seconds passed when, +as Israel was groping his way down the long wide hall towards the large +staircase at its opposite end, he heard confused hurrying noises from +the neighboring rooms, and in another instant several persons, mostly +in night-dresses, appeared at their chamber-doors, thrusting out +alarmed faces, lit by a lamp held by one of the number, a rather +elderly lady in widow’s weeds, who by her appearance seemed to have +just risen from a sleepless chair, instead of an oblivious couch. +Israel’s heart beat like a hammer; his face turned like a sheet. But +bracing himself, pulling his hat lower down over his eyes, settling his +head in the collar of his coat, he advanced along the defile of wildly +staring faces. He advanced with a slow and stately step, looked neither +to the right nor the left, but went solemnly forward on his now faintly +illuminated way, sounding his cane on the floor as he passed. The faces +in the doorways curdled his blood by their rooted looks. Glued to the +spot, they seemed incapable of motion. Each one was silent as he +advanced towards him or her, but as he left each individual, one after +another, behind, each in a frenzy shrieked out, “The Squire, the +Squire!” As he passed the lady in the widow’s weeds, she fell senseless +and crosswise before him. But forced to be immutable in his purpose, +Israel, solemnly stepping over her prostrate form, marched deliberately +on. + +In a few minutes more he had reached the main door of the mansion, and +withdrawing the chain and bolt, stood in the open air. It was a bright +moonlight night. He struck slowly across the open grounds towards the +sunken fields beyond. When-midway across the grounds, he turned towards +the mansion, and saw three of the front windows filled with white +faces, gazing in terror at the wonderful spectre. Soon descending a +slope, he disappeared from their view. + +Presently he came to hilly land in meadow, whose grass having been +lately cut, now lay dotting the slope in cocks; a sinuous line of +creamy vapor meandered through the lowlands at the base of the hill; +while beyond was a dense grove of dwarfish trees, with here and there a +tall tapering dead trunk, peeled of the bark, and overpeering the rest. +The vapor wore the semblance of a deep stream of water, imperfectly +descried; the grove looked like some closely-clustering town on its +banks, lorded over by spires of churches. + +The whole scene magically reproduced to our adventurer the aspect of +Bunker Hill, Charles River, and Boston town, on the well-remembered +night of the 16th of June. The same season; the same moon; the same +new-mown hay on the shaven sward; hay which was scraped together during +the night to help pack into the redoubt so hurriedly thrown up. + +Acted on as if by enchantment, Israel sat down on one of the cocks, and +gave himself up to reverie. But, worn out by long loss of sleep, his +reveries would have soon merged into slumber’s still wilder dreams, had +he not rallied himself, and departed on his way, fearful of forgetting +himself in an emergency like the present. It now occurred to him that, +well as his disguise had served him in escaping from the mansion of +Squire Woodcock, that disguise might fatally endanger him if he should +be discovered in it abroad. He might pass for a ghost at night, and +among the relations and immediate friends of the gentleman deceased; +but by day, and among indifferent persons, he ran no small risk of +being apprehended for an entry-thief. He bitterly lamented his omission +in not pulling on the Squire’s clothes over his own, so that he might +now have reappeared in his former guise. + +As meditating over this difficulty, he was passing along, suddenly he +saw a man in black standing right in his path, about fifty yards +distant, in a field of some growing barley or wheat. The gloomy +stranger was standing stock-still; one outstretched arm, with weird +intimation pointing towards the deceased Squire’s abode. To the +brooding soul of the now desolate Israel, so strange a sight roused a +supernatural suspicion. His conscience morbidly reproaching him for the +terrors he had bred in making his escape from the house, he seemed to +see in the fixed gesture of the stranger something more than humanly +significant. But somewhat of his intrepidity returned; he resolved to +test the apparition. Composing itself to the same deliberate +stateliness with which it had paced the hall, the phantom of Squire +Woodcock firmly, advanced its cane, and marched straight forward +towards the mysterious stranger. + +As he neared him, Israel shrunk. The dark coat-sleeve flapped on the +bony skeleton of the unknown arm. The face was lost in a sort of +ghastly blank. It was no living man. + +But mechanically continuing his course, Israel drew still nearer and +saw a scarecrow. + +Not a little relieved by the discovery, our adventurer paused, more +particularly to survey so deceptive an object, which seemed to have +been constructed on the most efficient principles; probably by some +broken down wax figure costumer. It comprised the complete wardrobe of +a scarecrow, namely: a cocked hat, bunged; tattered coat; old velveteen +breeches; and long worsted stockings, full of holes; all stuffed very +nicely with straw, and skeletoned by a frame-work of poles. There was a +great flapped pocket to the coat—which seemed to have been some +laborer’s—standing invitingly opened. Putting his hands in, Israel drew +out the lid of an old tobacco-box, the broken bowl of a pipe, two rusty +nails, and a few kernels of wheat. This reminded him of the Squire’s +pockets. Trying them, he produced a handsome handkerchief, a +spectacle-case, with a purse containing some silver and gold, amounting +to a little more than five pounds. Such is the difference between the +contents of the pockets of scarecrows and the pockets of well-to-do +squires. Ere donning his present habiliments, Israel had not omitted to +withdraw his own money from his own coat, and put it in the pocket of +his own waistcoat, which he had not exchanged. + +Looking upon the scarecrow more attentively, it struck him that, +miserable as its wardrobe was, nevertheless here was a chance for +getting rid of the unsuitable and perilous clothes of the Squire. No +other available opportunity might present itself for a time. Before he +encountered any living creature by daylight, another suit must somehow +be had. His exchange with the old ditcher, after his escape from the +inn near Portsmouth, had familiarized him with the most deplorable of +wardrobes. Well, too, he knew, and had experienced it, that for a man +desirous of avoiding notice, the more wretched the clothes, the better. +For who does not shun the scurvy wretch, Poverty, advancing in battered +hat and lamentable coat? + +Without more ado, slipping off the Squire’s raiment, he donned the +scarecrow’s, after carefully shaking out the hay, which, from many +alternate soakings and bakings in rain and sun, had become quite broken +up, and would have been almost dust, were it not for the mildew which +damped it. But sufficient of this wretched old hay remained adhesive to +the inside of the breeches and coat-sleeves, to produce the most +irritating torment. + +The grand moral question now came up, what to do with the purse. Would +it be dishonest under the circumstances to appropriate that purse? +Considering the whole matter, and not forgetting that he had not +received from the gentleman deceased the promised reward for his +services as courier, Israel concluded that he might justly use the +money for his own. To which opinion surely no charitable judge will +demur. Besides, what should he do with the purse, if not use it for his +own? It would have been insane to have returned it to the relations. +Such mysterious honesty would have but resulted in his arrest as a +rebel, or rascal. As for the Squire’s clothes, handkerchief, and +spectacle-case, they must be put out of sight with all dispatch. So, +going to a morass not remote, Israel sunk them deep down, and heaped +tufts of the rank sod upon them. Then returning to the field of corn, +sat down under the lee of a rock, about a hundred yards from where the +scarecrow had stood, thinking which way he now had best direct his +steps. But his late ramble coming after so long a deprivation of rest, +soon produced effects not so easy to be shaken off, as when reposing +upon the haycock. He felt less anxious too, since changing his apparel. +So before he was aware, he fell into deep sleep. + +When he awoke, the sun was well up in the sky. Looking around he saw a +farm-laborer with a pitchfork coming at a distance into view, whose +steps seemed bent in a direction not far from the spot where he lay. +Immediately it struck our adventurer that this man must be familiar +with the scarecrow; perhaps had himself fashioned it. Should he miss it +then, he might make immediate search, and so discover the thief so +imprudently loitering upon the very field of his operations. + +Waiting until the man momentarily disappeared in a little hollow, +Israel ran briskly to the identical spot where the scarecrow had stood, +where, standing stiffly erect, pulling the hat well over his face, and +thrusting out his arm, pointed steadfastly towards the Squire’s abode, +he awaited the event. Soon the man reappeared in sight, and marching +right on, paused not far from Israel, and gave him an one earnest look, +as if it were his daily wont to satisfy that all was right with the +scarecrow. No sooner was the man departed to a reasonable distance, +than, quitting his post, Israel struck across the fields towards +London. But he had not yet quite quitted the field when it occurred to +him to turn round and see if the man was completely out of sight, when, +to his consternation, he saw the man returning towards him, evidently +by his pace and gesture in unmixed amazement. The man must have turned +round to look before Israel had done so. Frozen to the ground, Israel +knew not what to do; but next moment it struck him that this very +motionlessness was the least hazardous plan in such a strait. Thrusting +out his arm again towards the house, once more he stood stock still, +and again awaited the event. + +It so happened that this time, in pointing towards the house, Israel +unavoidably pointed towards the advancing man. Hoping that the +strangeness of this coincidence might, by operating on the man’s +superstition, incline him to beat an immediate retreat, Israel kept +cool as he might. But the man proved to be of a braver metal than +anticipated. In passing the spot where the scarecrow had stood, and +perceiving, beyond the possibility of mistake, that by, some +unaccountable agency it had suddenly removed itself to a distance, +instead of being, terrified at this verification of his worst +apprehensions, the man pushed on for Israel, apparently resolved to +sift this mystery to the bottom. + +Seeing him now determinately coming, with pitchfork valiantly +presented, Israel, as a last means of practising on the fellow’s fears +of the supernatural, suddenly doubled up both fists, presenting them +savagely towards him at a distance of about twenty paces, at the same +time showing his teeth like a skull’s, and demoniacally rolling his +eyes. The man paused bewildered, looked all round him, looked at the +springing grain, then across at some trees, then up at the sky, and +satisfied at last by those observations that the world at large had not +undergone a miracle in the last fifteen minutes, resolutely resumed his +advance; the pitchfork, like a boarding-pike, now aimed full at the +breast of the object. Seeing all his stratagems vain, Israel now threw +himself into the original attitude of the scarecrow, and once again +stood immovable. Abating his pace by degrees almost to a mere creep, +the man at last came within three feet of him, and, pausing, gazed +amazed into Israel’s eyes. With a stern and terrible expression Israel +resolutely returned the glance, but otherwise remained like a statue, +hoping thus to stare his pursuer out of countenance. At last the man +slowly presented one prong of his fork towards Israel’s left eye. +Nearer and nearer the sharp point came, till no longer capable of +enduring such a test, Israel took to his heels with all speed, his +tattered coat-tails streaming behind him. With inveterate purpose the +man pursued. Darting blindly on, Israel, leaping a gate, suddenly found +himself in a field where some dozen laborers were at work, who +recognizing the scarecrow—an old acquaintance of theirs, as it would +seem—lifted all their hands as the astounding apparition swept by, +followed by the man with the pitchfork. Soon all joined in the chase, +but Israel proved to have better wind and bottom than any. Outstripping +the whole pack he finally shot out of their sight in an extensive park, +heavily timbered in one quarter. He never saw more of these people. + +Loitering in the wood till nightfall, he then stole out and made the +best of his way towards the house of that good natured farmer in whose +corn-loft he had received his first message from Squire Woodcock. +Rousing this man up a little before midnight, he informed him somewhat +of his recent adventures, but carefully concealed his having been +employed as a secret courier, together with his escape from Squire +Woodcock’s. All he craved at present was a meal. The meal being over, +Israel offered to buy from the farmer his best suit of clothes, and +displayed the money on the spot. + +“Where did you get so much money?” said his entertainer in a tone of +surprise; “your clothes here don’t look as if you had seen prosperous +times since you left me. Why, you look like a scarecrow.” + +“That may well be,” replied Israel, very soberly. “But what do you say? +will you sell me your suit?—here’s the cash.” + +“I don’t know about it,” said the farmer, in doubt; “let me look at the +money. Ha!—a silk purse come out of a beggars pocket!—Quit the house, +rascal, you’ve turned thief.” + +Thinking that he could not swear to his having come by his money with +absolute honesty—since indeed the case was one for the most subtle +casuist—Israel knew not what to reply. This honest confusion confirmed +the farmer, who with many abusive epithets drove him into the road, +telling him that he might thank himself that he did not arrest him on +the spot. + +In great dolor at this unhappy repulse, Israel trudged on in the +moonlight some three miles to the house of another friend, who also had +once succored him in extremity. This man proved a very sound sleeper. +Instead of succeeding in rousing him by his knocking, Israel but +succeeded in rousing his wife, a person not of the greatest amiability. +Raising the sash, and seeing so shocking a pauper before her, the woman +upbraided him with shameless impropriety in asking charity at dead of +night, in a dress so improper too. Looking down at his deplorable +velveteens, Israel discovered that his extensive travels had produced a +great rent in one loin of the rotten old breeches, through which a +whitish fragment protruded. + +Remedying this oversight as well as he might, he again implored the +woman to wake her husband. + +“That I shan’t!” said the woman, morosely. “Quit the premises, or I’ll +throw something on ye.” + +With that she brought some earthenware to the window, and would have +fulfilled her threat, had not Israel prudently retreated some paces. +Here he entreated the woman to take mercy on his plight, and since she +would not waken her husband, at least throw to him (Israel) her +husband’s breeches, and he would leave the price of them, with his own +breeches to boot, on the sill of the door. + +“You behold how sadly I need them,” said he; “for heaven’s sake +befriend me.” + +“Quit the premises!” reiterated the woman. + +“The breeches, the breeches! here is the money,” cried Israel, half +furious with anxiety. + +“Saucy cur,” cried the woman, somehow misunderstanding him; “do you +cunningly taunt me with _wearing_ the breeches’? begone!” + +Once more poor Israel decamped, and made for another friend. But here a +monstrous bull-dog, indignant that the peace of a quiet family should +be disturbed by so outrageous a tatterdemalion, flew at Israel’s +unfortunate coat, whose rotten skirts the brute tore completely off, +leaving the coat razeed to a spencer, which barely came down to the +wearer’s waist. In attempting to drive the monster away, Israel’s hat +fell off, upon which the dog pounced with the utmost fierceness, and +thrusting both paws into it, rammed out the crown and went snuffling +the wreck before him. Recovering the wretched hat, Israel again beat a +retreat, his wardrobe sorely the worse for his visits. Not only was his +coat a mere rag, but his breeches, clawed by the dog, were slashed into +yawning gaps, while his yellow hair waved over the top of the crownless +beaver, like a lonely tuft of heather on the highlands. + +In this plight the morning discovered him dubiously skirmishing on the +outskirts of a village. + +“Ah! what a true patriot gets for serving his country!” murmured +Israel. But soon thinking a little better of his case, and seeing yet +another house which had once furnished him with an asylum, he made bold +to advance to the door. Luckily he this time met the man himself, just +emerging from bed. At first the farmer did not recognize the fugitive, +but upon another look, seconded by Israel’s plaintive appeal, beckoned +him into the barn, where directly our adventurer told him all he +thought prudent to disclose of his story, ending by once more offering +to negotiate for breeches and coat. Having ere this emptied and thrown +away the purse which had played him so scurvy a trick with the first +farmer, he now produced three crown-pieces. + +“Three crown-pieces in your pocket, and no crown to your hat!” said the +farmer. + +“But I assure you, my friend,” rejoined Israel, “that a finer hat was +never worn, until that confounded bull-dog ruined it.” + +“True,” said the farmer, “I forgot that part of your story. Well, I +have a tolerable coat and breeches which I will sell you for your +money.” + +In ten minutes more Israel was equipped in a gray coat of coarse cloth, +not much improved by wear, and breeches to match. For half-a-crown more +he procured a highly respectable looking hat. + +“Now, my kind friend,” said Israel, “can you tell me where Horne Tooke +and John Bridges live?” + +Our adventurer thought it his best plan to seek out one or other of +those gentlemen, both to report proceedings and learn confirmatory +tidings concerning Squire Woodcock, touching whose fate he did not like +to inquire of others. + +“Horne Tooke? What do you want with Horne Tooke,” said the farmer. “He +was Squire Woodcock’s friend, wasn’t he? The poor Squire! Who would +have thought he’d have gone off so suddenly. But apoplexy comes like a +bullet.” + +“I was right,” thought Israel to himself. “But where does Horne Tooke +live?” he demanded again. + +“He once lived in Brentford, and wore a cassock there. But I hear he’s +sold out his living, and gone in his surplice to study law in Lunnon.” + +This was all news to Israel, who, from various amiable remarks he had +heard from Horne Tooke at the Squire’s, little dreamed he was an +ordained clergyman. Yet a good-natured English clergyman translated +Lucian; another, equally good-natured, wrote Tristam Shandy; and a +third, an ill-natured appreciator of good-natured Rabelais, died a +dean; not to speak of others. Thus ingenious and ingenuous are some of +the English clergy. + +“You can’t tell me, then, where to find Horne Tooke?” said Israel, in +perplexity. + +“You’ll find him, I suppose, in Lunnon.” + +“What street and number?” + +“Don’t know. Needle in a haystack.” + +“Where does Mr. Bridges live?” + +“Never heard of any Bridges, except Lunnon bridges, and one Molly +Bridges in Bridewell.” + +So Israel departed; better clothed, but no wiser than before. + +What to do next? He reckoned up his money, and concluded he had plenty +to carry him back to Doctor Franklin in Paris. Accordingly, taking a +turn to avoid the two nearest villages, he directed his steps towards +London, where, again taking the post-coach for Dover, he arrived on the +channel shore just in time to learn that the very coach in which he +rode brought the news to the authorities there that all intercourse +between the two nations was indefinitely suspended. The characteristic +taciturnity and formal stolidity of his fellow-travellers—all +Englishmen, mutually unacquainted with each other, and occupying +different positions in life—having prevented his sooner hearing the +tidings. + +Here was another accumulation of misfortunes. All visions but those of +eventual imprisonment or starvation vanished from before the present +realities of poor Israel Potter. The Brentford gentleman had flattered +him with the prospect of receiving something very handsome for his +services as courier. That hope was no more. Doctor Franklin had +promised him his good offices in procuring him a passage home to +America. Quite out of the question now. The sage had likewise intimated +that he might possibly see him some way remunerated for his sufferings +in his country’s cause. An idea no longer to be harbored. Then Israel +recalled the mild man of wisdom’s words—“At the prospect of pleasure +never be elated; but without depression respect the omens of ill.” But +he found it as difficult now to comply, in all respects, with the last +section of the maxim, as before he had with the first. + +While standing wrapped in afflictive reflections on the shore, gazing +towards the unattainable coast of France, a pleasant-looking cousinly +stranger, in seamen’s dress, accosted him, and, after some pleasant +conversation, very civilly invited him up a lane into a house of rather +secret entertainment. Pleased to be befriended in this his strait, +Israel yet looked inquisitively upon the man, not completely satisfied +with his good intentions. But the other, with good-humored violence, +hurried him up the lane into the inn, when, calling for some spirits, +he and Israel very affectionately drank to each other’s better health +and prosperity. + +“Take another glass,” said the stranger, affably. + +Israel, to drown his heavy-heartedness, complied. The liquor began to +take effect. + +“Ever at sea?” said the stranger, lightly. + +“Oh, yes; been a whaling.” + +“Ah!” said the other, “happy to hear that, I assure you. Jim! Bill!” +And beckoning very quietly to two brawny fellows, in a trice Israel +found himself kidnapped into the naval service of the magnanimous old +gentleman of Kew Gardens—his Royal Majesty, George III.—“Hands off!” +said Israel, fiercely, as the two men pinioned him. + +“Reglar game-cock,” said the cousinly-looking man. “I must get three +guineas for cribbing him. Pleasant voyage to ye, my friend,” and, +leaving Israel a prisoner, the crimp, buttoning his coat, sauntered +leisurely out of the inn. + +“I’m no Englishman,” roared Israel, in a foam. + +“Oh! that’s the old story,” grinned his jailers. “Come along. There’s +no Englishman in the English fleet. All foreigners. You may take their +own word for it.” + +To be short, in less than a week Israel found himself at Portsmouth, +and, ere long, a foretopman in his Majesty’s ship of the line, +“Unprincipled,” scudding before the wind down channel, in company with +the “Undaunted,” and the “Unconquerable;” all three haughty Dons bound +to the East Indian waters as reinforcements to the fleet of Sir Edward +Hughs. + +And now, we might shortly have to record our adventurer’s part in the +famous engagement off the coast of Coromandel, between Admiral +Suffrien’s fleet and the English squadron, were it not that fate +snatched him on the threshold of events, and, turning him short round +whither he had come, sent him back congenially to war against England; +instead of on her behalf. Thus repeatedly and rapidly were the fortunes +of our wanderer planted, torn up, transplanted, and dropped again, +hither and thither, according as the Supreme Disposer of sailors and +soldiers saw fit to appoint. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL +IN ONE NIGHT. + + +As running down channel at evening, Israel walked the crowded main-deck +of the seventy-four, continually brushed by a thousand hurrying +wayfarers, as if he were in some great street in London, jammed with +artisans, just returning from their day’s labor, novel and painful +emotions were his. He found himself dropped into the naval mob without +one friend; nay, among enemies, since his country’s enemies were his +own, and against the kith and kin of these very beings around him, he +himself had once lifted a fatal hand. The martial bustle of a great +man-of-war, on her first day out of port, was indescribably jarring to +his present mood. Those sounds of the human multitude disturbing the +solemn natural solitudes of the sea, mysteriously afflicted him. He +murmured against that untowardness which, after condemning him to long +sorrows on the land, now pursued him with added griefs on the deep. Why +should a patriot, leaping for the chance again to attack the oppressor, +as at Bunker Hill, now be kidnapped to fight that oppressor’s battles +on the endless drifts of the Bunker Hills of the billows? But like many +other repiners, Israel was perhaps a little premature with upbraidings +like these. + +Plying on between Scilly and Cape Clear, the Unprincipled—which vessel +somewhat outsailed her consorts—fell in, just before dusk, with a large +revenue cutter close to, and showing signals of distress. At the +moment, no other sail was in sight. + +Cursing the necessity of pausing with a strong fair wind at a juncture +like this, the officer-of-the-deck shortened sail, and hove to; hailing +the cutter, to know what was the matter. As he hailed the small craft +from the lofty poop of the bristling seventy-four, this lieutenant +seemed standing on the top of Gibraltar, talking to some lowland +peasant in a hut. The reply was, that in a sudden flaw of wind, which +came nigh capsizing them, not an hour since, the cutter had lost all +four foremost men by the violent jibing of a boom. She wanted help to +get back to port. + +“You shall have one man,” said the officer-of-the-deck, morosely. + +“Let him be a good one then, for heaven’s sake,” said he in the cutter; +“I ought to have at least two.” + +During this talk, Israel’s curiosity had prompted him to dart up the +ladder from the main-deck, and stand right in the gangway above, +looking out on the strange craft. Meantime the order had been given to +drop a boat. Thinking this a favorable chance, he stationed himself so +that he should be the foremost to spring into the boat; though crowds +of English sailors, eager as himself for the same opportunity to escape +from foreign service, clung to the chains of the as yet imperfectly +disciplined man-of-war. As the two men who had been lowered in the boat +hooked her, when afloat, along to the gangway, Israel dropped like a +comet into the stern-sheets, stumbled forward, and seized an oar. In a +moment more, all the oarsmen were in their places, and with a few +strokes the boat lay alongside the cutter. + +“Take which of them you please,” said the lieutenant in command, +addressing the officer in the revenue-cutter, and motioning with his +hand to his boat’s crew, as if they were a parcel of carcasses of +mutton, of which the first pick was offered to some customer. “Quick +and choose. Sit down, men”—to the sailors. “Oh, you are in a great +hurry to get rid of the king’s service, ain’t you? Brave chaps +indeed!—Have you chosen your man?” + +All this while the ten faces of the anxious oarsmen looked with mute +longings and appealings towards the officer of the cutter; every face +turned at the same angle, as if managed by one machine. And so they +were. One motive. + +“I take the freckled chap with the yellow hair—him,” pointing to +Israel. + +Nine of the upturned faces fell in sullen despair, and ere Israel could +spring to his feet, he felt a violent thrust in his rear from the toes +of one of the disappointed behind him. + +“Jump, dobbin!” cried the officer of the boat. + +But Israel was already on board. Another moment, and the boat and +cutter parted. Ere long, night fell, and the man-of-war and her +consorts were out of sight. + +The revenue vessel resumed her course towards the nighest port, worked +by but four men: the captain, Israel, and two officers. The cabin-boy +was kept at the helm. As the only foremast man, Israel was put to it +pretty hard. Where there is but one man to three masters, woe betide +that lonely slave. Besides, it was of itself severe work enough to +manage the vessel thus short of hands. But to make matters still worse, +the captain and his officers were ugly-tempered fellows. The one +kicked, and the others cuffed Israel. Whereupon, not sugared with his +recent experiences, and maddened by his present hap, Israel seeing +himself alone at sea, with only three men, instead of a thousand, to +contend against, plucked up a heart, knocked the captain into the lee +scuppers, and in his fury was about tumbling the first-officer, a small +wash of a fellow, plump overboard, when the captain, jumping to his +feet, seized him by his long yellow hair, vowing he would slaughter +him. Meanwhile the cutter flew foaming through the channel, as if in +demoniac glee at this uproar on her imperilled deck. While the +consternation was at its height, a dark body suddenly loomed at a +moderate distance into view, shooting right athwart the stern of the +cutter. The next moment a shot struck the water within a boat’s length. + +“Heave to, and send a boat on board!” roared a voice almost as loud as +the cannon. + +“That’s a war-ship,” cried the captain of the revenue vessel, in alarm; +“but she ain’t a countryman.” + +Meantime the officers and Israel stopped the cutter’s way. + +“Send a boat on board, or I’ll sink you,” again came roaring from the +stranger, followed by another shot, striking the water still nearer the +cutter. + +“For God’s sake, don’t cannonade us. I haven’t got the crew to man a +boat,” replied the captain of the cutter. “Who are you?” + +“Wait till I send a boat to you for that,” replied the stranger. + +“She’s an enemy of some sort, that’s plain,” said the Englishman now to +his officers; “we ain’t at open war with France; she’s some +bloodthirsty pirate or other. What d’ye say, men?” turning to his +officers; “let’s outsail her, or be shot to chips. We can beat her at +sailing, I know.” + +With that, nothing doubting that his counsel would be heartily +responded to, he ran to the braces to get the cutter before the wind, +followed by one officer, while the other, for a useless bravado, +hoisted the colors at the stern. + +But Israel stood indifferent, or rather all in a fever of conflicting +emotions. He thought he recognized the voice from the strange vessel. + +“Come, what do ye standing there, fool? Spring to the ropes here!” +cried the furious captain. + +But Israel did not stir. + +Meantime the confusion on board the stranger, owing to the hurried +lowering of her boat, with the cloudiness of the sky darkening the +misty sea, united to conceal the bold manoeuvre of the cutter. She had +almost gained full headway ere an oblique shot, directed by mere +chance, struck her stern, tearing the upcurved head of the tiller in +the hands of the cabin-boy, and killing him with the splinters. Running +to the stump, the captain huzzaed, and steered the reeling ship on. +Forced now to hoist back the boat ere giving chase, the stranger was +dropped rapidly astern. + +All this while storms of maledictions were hurled on Israel. But their +exertions at the ropes prevented his shipmates for the time from using +personal violence. While observing their efforts, Israel could not but +say to himself, “These fellows are as brave as they are brutal.” + +Soon the stranger was seen dimly wallowing along astern, crowding all +sail in chase, while now and then her bow-gun, showing its red tongue, +bellowed after them like a mad bull. Two more shots struck the cutter, +but without materially damaging her sails, or the ropes immediately +upholding them. Several of her less important stays were sundered, +however, whose loose tarry ends lashed the air like scorpions. It +seemed not improbable that, owing to her superior sailing, the keen +cutter would yet get clear. + +At this juncture Israel, running towards the captain, who still held +the splintered stump of the tiller, stood full before him, saying, “I +am an enemy, a Yankee, look to yourself.” + +“Help here, lads, help,” roared the captain, “a traitor, a traitor!” + +The words were hardly out of his mouth when his voice was silenced for +ever. With one prodigious heave of his whole physical force, Israel +smote him over the taffrail into the sea, as if the man had fallen +backwards over a teetering chair. By this time the two officers were +hurrying aft. Ere meeting them midway, Israel, quick as lightning, cast +off the two principal halyards, thus letting the large sails all in a +tumble of canvass to the deck. Next moment one of the officers was at +the helm, to prevent the cutter from capsizing by being without a +steersman in such an emergency. The other officer and Israel +interlocked. The battle was in the midst of the chaos of blowing +canvass. Caught in a rent of the sail, the officer slipped and fell +near the sharp iron edge of the hatchway. As he fell he caught Israel +by the most terrible part in which mortality can be grappled. Insane +with pain, Israel dashed his adversary’s skull against the sharp iron. +The officer’s hold relaxed, but himself stiffened. Israel made for the +helmsman, who as yet knew not the issue of the late tussle. He caught +him round the loins, bedding his fingers like grisly claws into his +flesh, and hugging him to his heart. The man’s ghost, caught like a +broken cork in a gurgling bottle’s neck, gasped with the embrace. +Loosening him suddenly, Israel hurled him from him against the +bulwarks. That instant another report was heard, followed by the savage +hail—“You down sail at last, do ye? I’m a good mind to sink ye for your +scurvy trick. Pull down that dirty rag there, astern!” + +With a loud huzza, Israel hauled down the flag with one hand, while +with the other he helped the now slowly gliding craft from falling off +before the wind. + +In a few moments a boat was alongside. As its commander stepped to the +deck he stumbled against the body of the first officer, which, owing to +the sudden slant of the cutter in coming to the wind, had rolled +against the side near the gangway. As he came aft he heard the moan of +the other officer, where he lay under the mizzen shrouds. + +“What is all this?” demanded the stranger of Israel. + +“It means that I am a Yankee impressed into the king’s service, and for +their pains I have taken the cutter.” + +Giving vent to his surprise, the officer looked narrowly at the body by +the shrouds, and said, “This man is as good as dead, but we will take +him to Captain Paul as a witness in your behalf.” + +“Captain Paul?—Paul Jones?” cried Israel. + +“The same.” + +“I thought so. I thought that was his voice hailing. It was Captain +Paul’s voice that somehow put me up to this deed.” + +“Captain Paul is the devil for putting men up to be tigers. But where +are the rest of the crew?” + +“Overboard.” + +“What?” cried the officer; “come on board the Ranger. Captain Paul will +use you for a broadside.” + +Taking the moaning man along with them, and leaving the cutter +untenanted by any living soul, the boat now left her for the enemy’s +ship. But ere they reached it the man had expired. + +Standing foremost on the deck, crowded with three hundred men, as +Israel climbed the side, he saw, by the light of battle-lanterns, a +small, smart, brigandish-looking man, wearing a Scotch bonnet, with a +gold band to it. + +“You rascal,” said this person, “why did your paltry smack give me this +chase? Where’s the rest of your gang?” + +“Captain Paul,” said Israel, “I believe I remember you. I believe I +offered you my bed in Paris some months ago. How is Poor Richard?” + +“God! Is this the courier? The Yankee courier? But how now? in an +English revenue cutter?” + +“Impressed, sir; that’s the way.” + +“But where’s the rest of them?” demanded Paul, turning to the officer. + +Thereupon the officer very briefly told Paul what Israel told him. + +“Are we to sink the cutter, sir?” said the gunner, now advancing +towards Captain Paul. “If it is to be done, now is the time. She is +close under us, astern; a few guns pointed downwards will settle her +like a shotted corpse.” + +“No. Let her drift into Penzance, an anonymous earnest of what the +whitesquall in Paul Jones intends for the future.” + +Then giving directions as to the course of the ship, with an order for +himself to be called at the first glimpse of a sail, Paul took Israel +down with him into his cabin. + +“Tell me your story now, my yellow lion. How was it all? Don’t stand, +sit right down there on the transom. I’m a democratic sort of sea-king. +Plump on the woolsack, I say, and spin the yarn. But hold; you want +some grog first.” + +As Paul handed the flagon, Israel’s eye fell upon his hand. + +“You don’t wear any rings now, Captain, I see. Left them in Paris for +safety.” + +“Aye, with a certain marchioness there,” replied Paul, with a dandyish +look of sentimental conceit, which sat strangely enough on his +otherwise grim and Fejee air. + +“I should think rings would be somewhat inconvenient at sea,” resumed +Israel. “On my first voyage to the West Indies, I wore a girl’s ring on +my middle finger here, and it wasn’t long before, what with hauling wet +ropes, and what not, it got a kind of grown down into the flesh, and +pained me very bad, let me tell you, it hugged the finger so.” + +“And did the girl grow as close to your heart, lad?” + +“Ah, Captain, girls grow themselves off quicker than we grow them on.” + +“Some experience with the countesses as well as myself, eh? But the +story; wave your yellow mane, my lion—the story.” + +So Israel went on and told the story in all particulars. + +At its conclusion Captain Paul eyed him very earnestly. His wild, +lonely heart, incapable of sympathizing with cuddled natures made +humdrum by long exemption from pain, was yet drawn towards a being, who +in desperation of friendlessness, something like his own, had so +fiercely waged battle against tyrannical odds. + +“Did you go to sea young, lad?” + +“Yes, pretty young.” + +“I went at twelve, from Whitehaven. Only so high,” raising his hand +some four feet from the deck. “I was so small, and looked so queer in +my little blue jacket, that they called me the monkey. They’ll call me +something else before long. Did you ever sail out of Whitehaven?” + +“No, Captain.” + +“If you had, you’d have heard sad stories about me. To this hour they +say there that I—bloodthirsty, coward dog that I am—flogged a sailor, +one Mungo Maxwell, to death. It’s a lie, by Heaven! I flogged him, for +he was a mutinous scamp. But he died naturally, some time afterwards, +and on board another ship. But why talk? They didn’t believe the +affidavits of others taken before London courts, triumphantly +acquitting me; how then will they credit _my_ interested words? If +slander, however much a lie, once gets hold of a man, it will stick +closer than fair fame, as black pitch sticks closer than white cream. +But let ’em slander. I will give the slanderers matter for curses. When +last I left Whitehaven, I swore never again to set foot on her pier, +except, like Caesar, at Sandwich, as a foreign invader. Spring under +me, good ship; on you I bound to my vengeance!” + +Men with poignant feelings, buried under an air of care-free self +command, are never proof to the sudden incitements of passion. Though +in the main they may control themselves, yet if they but once permit +the smallest vent, then they may bid adieu to all self-restraint, at +least for that time. Thus with Paul on the present occasion. His +sympathy with Israel had prompted this momentary ebullition. When it +was gone by, he seemed not a little to regret it. But he passed it over +lightly, saying, “You see, my fine fellow, what sort of a bloody +cannibal I am. Will you be a sailor of mine? A sailor of the Captain +who flogged poor Mungo Maxwell to death?” + +“I will be very happy, Captain Paul, to be sailor under the man who +will yet, I dare say, help flog the British nation to death.” + +“You hate ’em, do ye?” + +“Like snakes. For months they’ve hunted me as a dog,” half howled and +half wailed Israel, at the memory of all he had suffered. + +“Give me your hand, my lion; wave your wild flax again. By Heaven, you +hate so well, I love ye. You shall be my confidential man; stand sentry +at my cabin door; sleep in the cabin; steer my boat; keep by my side +whenever I land. What do you say?” + +“I say I’m glad to hear you.” + +“You are a good, brave soul. You are the first among the millions of +mankind that I ever naturally took to. Come, you are tired. There, go +into that state-room for to-night—it’s mine. You offered me your bed in +Paris.” + +“But you begged off, Captain, and so must I. Where do you sleep?” + +“Lad, I don’t sleep half a night out of three. My clothes have not been +off now for five days.” + +“Ah, Captain, you sleep so little and scheme so much, you will die +young.” + +“I know it: I want to: I mean to. Who would live a doddered old stump? +What do you think of my Scotch bonnet?” + +“It looks well on you, Captain.” + +“Do you think so? A Scotch bonnet, though, ought to look well on a +Scotchman. I’m such by birth. Is the gold band too much?” + +“I like the gold band, Captain. It looks something as I should think a +crown might on a king.” + +“Aye?” + +“You would make a better-looking king than George III.” + +“Did you ever see that old granny? Waddles about in farthingales, and +carries a peacock fan, don’t he? Did you ever see him?” + +“Was as close to him as I am to you now, Captain. In Kew Gardens it +was, where I worked gravelling the walks. I was all alone with him, +talking for some ten minutes.” + +“By Jove, what a chance! Had I but been there! What an opportunity for +kidnapping a British king, and carrying him off in a fast sailing smack +to Boston, a hostage for American freedom. But what did you? Didn’t you +try to do something to him?” + +“I had a wicked thought or two, Captain, but I got the better of it. +Besides, the king behaved handsomely towards me; yes, like a true man. +God bless him for it. But it was before that, that I got the better of +the wicked thought.” + +“Ah, meant to stick him, I suppose. Glad you didn’t. It would have been +very shabby. Never kill a king, but make him captive. He looks better +as a led horse, than a dead carcass. I propose now, this trip, falling +on the grounds of the Earl of Selkirk, a privy counsellor and +particular private friend of George III. But I won’t hurt a hair of his +head. When I get him on board here, he shall lodge in my best +state-room, which I mean to hang with damask for him. I shall drink +wine with him, and be very friendly; take him to America, and introduce +his lordship into the best circles there; only I shall have him +accompanied on his calls by a sentry or two disguised as valets. For +the Earl’s to be on sale, mind; so much ransom; that is, the nobleman, +Lord Selkirk, shall have a bodily price pinned on his coat-tail, like +any slave up at auction in Charleston. But, my lad with the yellow +mane, you very strangely draw out my secrets. And yet you don’t talk. +Your honesty is a magnet which attracts my sincerity. But I rely on +your fidelity.” + +“I shall be a vice to your plans, Captain Paul. I will receive, but I +won’t let go, unless you alone loose the screw.” + +“Well said. To bed now; you ought to. I go on deck. Good night, +ace-of-hearts.” + +“That is fitter for yourself, Captain Paul, lonely leader of the suit.” + +“Lonely? Aye, but number one cannot but be lonely, my trump.” + +“Again I give it back. Ace-of-trumps may it prove to you, Captain Paul; +may it be impossible for you ever to be taken. But for me—poor deuce, a +trey, that comes in your wake—any king or knave may take me, as before +now the knaves have.” + +“Tut, tut, lad; never be more cheery for another than for yourself. But +a fagged body fags the soul. To hammock, to hammock! while I go on deck +to clap on more sail to your cradle.” + +And they separated for that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA. + + +Next morning Israel was appointed quartermaster—a subaltern selected +from the common seamen, and whose duty mostly stations him in the stern +of the ship, where the captain walks. His business is to carry the +glass on the look-out for sails; hoist or lower the colors; and keep an +eye on the helmsman. Picked out from the crew for their superior +respectability and intelligence, as well as for their excellent +seamanship, it is not unusual to find the quartermasters of an armed +ship on peculiarly easy terms with the commissioned officers and +captain. This birth, therefore, placed Israel in official contiguity to +Paul, and without subjecting either to animadversion, made their public +intercourse on deck almost as familiar as their unrestrained converse +in the cabin. + +It was a fine cool day in the beginning of April. They were now off the +coast of Wales, whose lofty mountains, crested with snow, presented a +Norwegian aspect. The wind was fair, and blew with a strange, +bestirring power. The ship—running between Ireland and England, +northwards, towards the Irish Sea, the inmost heart of the British +waters—seemed, as she snortingly shook the spray from her bow, to be +conscious of the dare-devil defiance of the soul which conducted her on +this anomalous cruise. Sailing alone from out a naval port of France, +crowded with ships-of-the-line, Paul Jones, in his small craft, went +forth in single-armed championship against the English host. Armed with +but the sling-stones in his one shot-locker, like young David of old, +Paul bearded the British giant of Gath. It is not easy, at the present +day, to conceive the hardihood of this enterprise. It was a marching up +to the muzzle; the act of one who made no compromise with the +cannonadings of danger or death; such a scheme as only could have +inspired a heart which held at nothing all the prescribed prudence of +war, and every obligation of peace; combining in one breast the +vengeful indignation and bitter ambition of an outraged hero, with the +uncompunctuous desperation of a renegade. In one view, the Coriolanus +of the sea; in another, a cross between the gentleman and the wolf. + +As Paul stood on the elevated part of the quarter-deck, with none but +his confidential quartermaster near him, he yielded to Israel’s natural +curiosity to learn something concerning the sailing of the expedition. +Paul stood lightly, swaying his body over the sea, by holding on to the +mizzen-shrouds, an attitude not inexpressive of his easy audacity; +while near by, pacing a few steps to and fro, his long spy-glass now +under his arm, and now presented at his eye, Israel, looking the very +image of vigilant prudence, listened to the warrior’s story. It +appeared that on the night of the visit of the Duke de Chartres and +Count D’Estaing to Doctor Franklin in Paris—the same night that Captain +Paul and Israel were joint occupants of the neighboring chamber—the +final sanction of the French king to the sailing of an American +armament against England, under the direction of the Colonial +Commissioner, was made known to the latter functionary. It was a very +ticklish affair. Though swaying on the brink of avowed hostilities with +England, no verbal declaration had as yet been made by France. +Undoubtedly, this enigmatic position of things was highly advantageous +to such an enterprise as Paul’s. + +Without detailing all the steps taken through the united efforts of +Captain Paul and Doctor Franklin, suffice it that the determined rover +had now attained his wish—the unfettered command of an armed ship in +the British waters; a ship legitimately authorized to hoist the +American colors, her commander having in his cabin-locker a regular +commission as an officer of the American navy. He sailed without any +instructions. With that rare insight into rare natures which so largely +distinguished the sagacious Franklin, the sage well knew that a +prowling _brave_, like Paul Jones, was, like the prowling lion, by +nature a solitary warrior. “Let him alone,” was the wise man’s answer +to some statesman who sought to hamper Paul with a letter of +instructions. + +Much subtile casuistry has been expended upon the point, whether Paul +Jones was a knave or a hero, or a union of both. But war and warriors, +like politics and politicians, like religion and religionists, admit of +no metaphysics. + +On the second day after Israel’s arrival on board the Ranger, as he and +Paul were conversing on the deck, Israel suddenly levelling his glass +towards the Irish coast, announced a large sail bound in. The Ranger +gave chase, and soon, almost within sight of her destination—the port +of Dublin—the stranger was taken, manned, and turned round for Brest. + +The Ranger then stood over, passed the Isle of Man towards the +Cumberland shore, arriving within remote sight of Whitehaven about +sunset. At dark she was hovering off the harbor, with a party of +volunteers all ready to descend. But the wind shifted and blew fresh +with a violent sea. + +“I won’t call on old friends in foul weather,” said Captain Paul to +Israel. “We’ll saunter about a little, and leave our cards in a day or +two.” + +Next morning, in Glentinebay, on the south shore of Scotland, they fell +in with a revenue wherry. It was the practice of such craft to board +merchant vessels. The Ranger was disguised as a merchantman, presenting +a broad drab-colored belt all round her hull; under the coat of a +Quaker, concealing the intent of a Turk. It was expected that the +chartered rover would come alongside the unchartered one. But the +former took to flight, her two lug sails staggering under a heavy wind, +which the pursuing guns of the Ranger pelted with a hail-storm of shot. +The wherry escaped, spite the severe cannonade. + +Off the Mull of Galoway, the day following, Paul found himself so nigh +a large barley-freighted Scotch coaster, that, to prevent her carrying +tidings of him to land, he dispatched her with the news, stern +foremost, to Hades; sinking her, and sowing her barley in the sea +broadcast by a broadside. From her crew he learned that there was a +fleet of twenty or thirty sail at anchor in Lochryan, with an armed +brigantine. He pointed his prow thither; but at the mouth of the lock, +the wind turned against him again in hard squalls. He abandoned the +project. Shortly after, he encountered a sloop from Dublin. He sunk her +to prevent intelligence. + +Thus, seeming as much to bear the elemental commission of Nature, as +the military warrant of Congress, swarthy Paul darted hither and +thither; hovering like a thundercloud off the crowded harbors; then, +beaten off by an adverse wind, discharging his lightnings on +uncompanioned vessels, whose solitude made them a more conspicuous and +easier mark, like lonely trees on the heath. Yet all this while the +land was full of garrisons, the embayed waters full of fleets. With the +impunity of a Levanter, Paul skimmed his craft in the land-locked heart +of the supreme naval power of earth; a torpedo-eel, unknowingly +swallowed by Britain in a draught of old ocean, and making sad havoc +with her vitals. + +Seeing next a large vessel steering for the Clyde, he gave chase, +hoping to cut her off. The stranger proving a fast sailer, the pursuit +was urged on with vehemence, Paul standing, plank-proud, on the +quarter-deck, calling for pulls upon every rope, to stretch each +already half-burst sail to the uttermost. + +While thus engaged, suddenly a shadow, like that thrown by an eclipse, +was seen rapidly gaining along the deck, with a sharp defined line, +plain as a seam of the planks. It involved all before it. It was the +domineering shadow of the Juan Fernandez-like crag of Ailsa. The Ranger +was in the deep water which makes all round and close up to this great +summit of the submarine Grampians. + +The crag, more than a mile in circuit, is over a thousand feet high, +eight miles from the Ayrshire shore. There stands the cove, lonely as a +foundling, proud as Cheops. But, like the battered brains surmounting +the Giant of Gath, its haughty summit is crowned by a desolate castle, +in and out of whose arches the aerial mists eddy like purposeless +phantoms, thronging the soul of some ruinous genius, who, even in +overthrow, harbors none but lofty conceptions. + +As the Ranger shot higher under the crag, its height and bulk dwarfed +both pursuer and pursued into nutshells. The main-truck of the Ranger +was nine hundred feet below the foundations of the ruin on the crag’s +top: + +While the ship was yet under the shadow, and each seaman’s face shared +in the general eclipse, a sudden change came over Paul. He issued no +more sultanical orders. He did not look so elate as before. At length +he gave the command to discontinue the chase. Turning about, they +sailed southward. + +“Captain Paul,” said Israel, shortly afterwards, “you changed your mind +rather queerly about catching that craft. But you thought she was +drawing us too far up into the land, I suppose.” + +“Sink the craft,” cried Paul; “it was not any fear of her, nor of King +George, which made me turn on my heel; it was yon cock of the walk.” + +“Cock of the walk?” + +“Aye, cock of the walk of the sea; look—yon Crag of Ailsa.” + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN. + + +Next day, off Carrickfergus, on the Irish coast, a fishing boat, +allured by the Quaker-like look of the incognito craft, came off in +full confidence. Her men were seized, their vessel sunk. From them Paul +learned that the large ship at anchor in the road, was the ship-of-war +Drake, of twenty guns. Upon this he steered away, resolving to return +secretly, and attack her that night. + +“Surely, Captain Paul,” said Israel to his commander, as about sunset +they backed and stood in again for the land “surely, sir, you are not +going right in among them this way? Why not wait till she comes out?” + +“Because, Yellow-hair, my boy, I am engaged to marry her to-night. The +bride’s friends won’t like the match; and so, this very night, the +bride must be carried away. She has a nice tapering waist, hasn’t she, +through the glass? Ah! I will clasp her to my heart.” + +He steered straight in like a friend; under easy sail, lounging towards +the Drake, with anchor ready to drop, and grapnels to hug. But the wind +was high; the anchor was not dropped at the ordered time. The ranger +came to a stand three biscuits’ toss off the unmisgiving enemy’s +quarter, like a peaceful merchantman from the Canadas, laden with +harmless lumber. + +“I shan’t marry her just yet,” whispered Paul, seeing his plans for the +time frustrated. Gazing in audacious tranquillity upon the decks of the +enemy, and amicably answering her hail, with complete self-possession, +he commanded the cable to be slipped, and then, as if he had +accidentally parted his anchor, turned his prow on the seaward tack, +meaning to return again immediately with the same prospect of advantage +possessed at first—his plan being to crash suddenly athwart the Drake’s +bow, so as to have all her decks exposed point-blank to his musketry. +But once more the winds interposed. It came on with a storm of snow; he +was obliged to give up his project. + +Thus, without any warlike appearance, and giving no alarm, Paul, like +an invisible ghost, glided by night close to land, actually came to +anchor, for an instant, within speaking-distance of an English +ship-of-war; and yet came, anchored, answered hail, reconnoitered, +debated, decided, and retired, without exciting the least suspicion. +His purpose was chain-shot destruction. So easily may the deadliest +foe—so he be but dexterous—slide, undreamed of, into human harbors or +hearts. And not awakened conscience, but mere prudence, restrain such, +if they vanish again without doing harm. At daybreak no soul in +Carrickfergus knew that the devil, in a Scotch bonnet, had passed close +that way over night. + +Seldom has regicidal daring been more strangely coupled with +octogenarian prudence, than in many of the predatory enterprises of +Paul. It is this combination of apparent incompatibilities which ranks +him among extraordinary warriors. + +Ere daylight, the storm of the night blew over. The sun saw the Ranger +lying midway over channel at the head of the Irish Sea; England, +Scotland, and Ireland, with all their lofty cliffs, being as +simultaneously as plainly in sight beyond the grass-green waters, as +the City Hall, St. Paul’s, and the Astor House, from the triangular +Park in New York. The three kingdoms lay covered with snow, far as the +eye could reach. + +“Ah, Yellow-hair,” said Paul, with a smile, “they show the white flag, +the cravens. And, while the white flag stays blanketing yonder heights, +we’ll make for Whitehaven, my boy. I promised to drop in there a moment +ere quitting the country for good. Israel, lad, I mean to step ashore +in person, and have a personal hand in the thing. Did you ever drive +spikes?” + +“I’ve driven the spike-teeth into harrows before now,” replied Israel; +“but that was before I was a sailor.” + +“Well, then, driving spikes into harrows is a good introduction to +driving spikes into cannon. You are just the man. Put down your glass; +go to the carpenter, get a hundred spikes, put them in a bucket with a +hammer, and bring all to me.” + +As evening fell, the great promontory of St. Bee’s Head, with its +lighthouse, not far from Whitehaven, was in distant sight. But the wind +became so light that Paul could not work his ship in close enough at an +hour as early as intended. His purpose had been to make the descent and +retire ere break of day. But though this intention was frustrated, he +did not renounce his plan, for the present would be his last +opportunity. + +As the night wore on, and the ship, with a very light wind, glided +nigher and nigher the mark, Paul called upon Israel to produce his +bucket for final inspection. Thinking some of the spikes too large, he +had them filed down a little. He saw to the lanterns and combustibles. +Like Peter the Great, he went into the smallest details, while still +possessing a genius competent to plan the aggregate. But oversee as one +may, it is impossible to guard against carelessness in subordinates. +One’s sharp eyes can’t see behind one’s back. It will yet be noted that +an important omission was made in the preparations for Whitehaven. + +The town contained, at that period, a population of some six or seven +thousand inhabitants, defended by forts. + +At midnight, Paul Jones, Israel Potter, and twenty-nine others, rowed +in two boats to attack the six or seven thousand inhabitants of +Whitehaven. There was a long way to pull. This was done in perfect +silence. Not a sound was heard except the oars turning in the +row-locks. Nothing was seen except the two lighthouses of the harbor. +Through the stillness and the darkness, the two deep-laden boats swam +into the haven, like two mysterious whales from the Arctic Sea. As they +reached the outer pier, the men saw each other’s faces. The day was +dawning. The riggers and other artisans of the shipping would before +very long be astir. No matter. + +The great staple exported from Whitehaven was then, and still is, coal. +The town is surrounded by mines; the town is built on mines; the ships +moor over mines. The mines honeycomb the land in all directions, and +extend in galleries of grottoes for two miles under the sea. By the +falling in of the more ancient collieries numerous houses have been +swallowed, as if by an earthquake, and a consternation spread, like +that of Lisbon, in 1755. So insecure and treacherous was the site of +the place now about to be assailed by a desperado, nursed, like the +coal, in its vitals. + +Now, sailing on the Thames, nigh its mouth, of fair days, when the wind +is favorable for inward-bound craft, the stranger will sometimes see +processions of vessels, all of similar size and rig, stretching for +miles and miles, like a long string of horses tied two and two to a +rope and driven to market. These are colliers going to London with +coal. + +About three hundred of these vessels now lay, all crowded together, in +one dense mob, at Whitehaven. The tide was out. They lay completely +helpless, clear of water, and grounded. They were sooty in hue. Their +black yards were deeply canted, like spears, to avoid collision. The +three hundred grimy hulls lay wallowing in the mud, like a herd of +hippopotami asleep in the alluvium of the Nile. Their sailless, raking +masts, and canted yards, resembled a forest of fish-spears thrust into +those same hippopotamus hides. Partly flanking one side of the grounded +fleet was a fort, whose batteries were raised from the beach. On a +little strip of this beach, at the base of the fort, lay a number of +small rusty guns, dismounted, heaped together in disorder, as a litter +of dogs. Above them projected the mounted cannon. + +Paul landed in his own boat at the foot of this fort. He dispatched the +other boat to the north side of the haven, with orders to fire the +shipping there. Leaving two men at the beach, he then proceeded to get +possession of the fort. + +“Hold on to the bucket, and give me your shoulder,” said he to Israel. + +Using Israel for a ladder, in a trice he scaled the wall. The bucket +and the men followed. He led the way softly to the guard-house, burst +in, and bound the sentinels in their sleep. Then arranging his force, +ordered four men to spike the cannon there. + +“Now, Israel, your bucket, and follow me to the other fort.” + +The two went alone about a quarter of a mile. + +“Captain Paul,” said Israel, on the way, “can we two manage the +sentinels?” + +“There are none in the fort we go to.” + +“You know all about the place, Captain?” + +“Pretty well informed on that subject, I believe. Come along. Yes, lad, +I am tolerably well acquainted with Whitehaven. And this morning intend +that Whitehaven shall have a slight inkling of _me_. Come on. Here we +are.” + +Scaling the walls, the two involuntarily stood for an instant gazing +upon the scene. The gray light of the dawn showed the crowded houses +and thronged ships with a haggard distinctness. + +“Spike and hammer, lad;—so,—now follow me along, as I go, and give me a +spike for every cannon. I’ll tongue-tie the thunderers. Speak no more!” +and he spiked the first gun. “Be a mute,” and he spiked the second. +“Dumbfounder thee,” and he spiked the third. And so, on, and on, and +on, Israel following him with the bucket, like a footman, or some +charitable gentleman with a basket of alms. + +“There, it is done. D’ye see the fire yet, lad, from the south? I +don’t.” + +“Not a spark, Captain. But day-sparks come on in the east.” + +“Forked flames into the hounds! What are they about? Quick, let us back +to the first fort; perhaps something has happened, and they are there.” + +Sure enough, on their return from spiking the cannon, Paul and Israel +found the other boat back, the crew in confusion, their lantern having +burnt out at the very instant they wanted it. By a singular fatality +the other lantern, belonging to Paul’s boat, was likewise extinguished. +No tinder-box had been brought. They had no matches but sulphur +matches. Locofocos were not then known. + +The day came on apace. + +“Captain Paul,” said the lieutenant of the second boat, “it is madness +to stay longer. See!” and he pointed to the town, now plainly +discernible in the gray light. + +“Traitor, or coward!” howled Paul, “how came the lanterns out? Israel, +my lion, now prove your blood. Get me a light—but one spark!” + +“Has any man here a bit of pipe and tobacco in his pocket?” said +Israel. + +A sailor quickly produced an old stump of a pipe, with tobacco. + +“That will do,” and Israel hurried away towards the town. + +“What will the loon do with the pipe?” said one. “And where goes he?” +cried another. + +“Let him alone,” said Paul. + +The invader now disposed his whole force so as to retreat at an +instant’s warning. Meantime the hardy Israel, long experienced in all +sorts of shifts and emergencies, boldly ventured to procure, from some +inhabitant of Whitehaven, a spark to kindle all Whitehaven’s +habitations in flames. + +There was a lonely house standing somewhat disjointed from the town, +some poor laborer’s abode. Rapping at the door, Israel, pipe in mouth, +begged the inmates for a light for his tobacco. + +“What the devil,” roared a voice from within, “knock up a man this time +of night to light your pipe? Begone!” + +“You are lazy this morning, my friend,” replied Israel, “it is +daylight. Quick, give me a light. Don’t you know your old friend? +Shame! open the door.” + +In a moment a sleepy fellow appeared, let down the bar, and Israel, +stalking into the dim room, piloted himself straight to the fire-place, +raked away the cinders, lighted his tobacco, and vanished. + +All was done in a flash. The man, stupid with sleep, had looked on +bewildered. He reeled to the door, but, dodging behind a pile of +bricks, Israel had already hurried himself out of sight. + +“Well done, my lion,” was the hail he received from Paul, who, during +his absence, had mustered as many pipes as possible, in order to +communicate and multiply the fire. + +Both boats now pulled to a favorable point of the principal pier of the +harbor, crowded close up to a part of which lay one wing of the +colliers. + +The men began to murmur at persisting in an attempt impossible to be +concealed much longer. They were afraid to venture on board the grim +colliers, and go groping down into their hulls to fire them. It seemed +like a voluntary entrance into dungeons and death. + +“Follow me, all of you but ten by the boats,” said Paul, without +noticing their murmurs. “And now, to put an end to all future burnings +in America, by one mighty conflagration of shipping in England. Come +on, lads! Pipes and matches in the van!” + +He would have distributed the men so as simultaneously to fire +different ships at different points, were it not that the lateness of +the hour rendered such a course insanely hazardous. Stationing his +party in front of one of the windward colliers, Paul and Israel sprang +on board. + +In a twinkling they had broken open a boatswain’s locker, and, with +great bunches of oakum, fine and dry as tinder, had leaped into the +steerage. Here, while Paul made a blaze, Israel ran to collect the +tar-pots, which being presently poured on the burning matches, oakum +and wood, soon increased the flame. + +“It is not a sure thing yet,” said Paul, “we must have a barrel of +tar.” + +They searched about until they found one, knocked out the head and +bottom, and stood it like a martyr in the midst of the flames. They +then retreated up the forward hatchway, while volumes of smoke were +belched from the after one. Not till this moment did Paul hear the +cries of his men, warning him that the inhabitants were not only +actually astir, but crowds were on their way to the pier. + +As he sprang out of the smoke towards the rail of the collier, he saw +the sun risen, with thousands of the people. Individuals hurried close +to the burning vessel. Leaping to the ground, Paul, bidding his men +stand fast, ran to their front, and, advancing about thirty feet, +presented his own pistol at now tumultuous Whitehaven. + +Those who had rushed to extinguish what they had deemed but an +accidental fire, were now paralyzed into idiotic inaction, at the +defiance of the incendiary, thinking him some sudden pirate or fiend +dropped down from the moon. + +While Paul thus stood guarding the incipient conflagration, Israel, +without a weapon, dashed crazily towards the mob on the shore. + +“Come back, come back,” cried Paul. + +“Not till I start these sheep, as their own wolves many a time started +me!” + +As he rushed bare-headed like a madman, towards the crowd, the panic +spread. They fled from unarmed Israel, further than they had from the +pistol of Paul. + +The flames now catching the rigging and spiralling around the masts, +the whole ship burned at one end of the harbor, while the sun, an hour +high, burned at the other. Alarm and amazement, not sleep, now ruled +the world. It was time to retreat. + +They re-embarked without opposition, first releasing a few prisoners, +as the boats could not carry them. + +Just as Israel was leaping into the boat, he saw the man at whose house +he had procured the fire, staring like a simpleton at him. + +“That was good seed you gave me;” said Israel, “see what a yield,” +pointing to the flames. He then dropped into the boat, leaving only +Paul on the pier. + +The men cried to their commander, conjuring him not to linger. + +But Paul remained for several moments, confronting in silence the +clamors of the mob beyond, and waving his solitary hand, like a +disdainful tomahawk, towards the surrounding eminences, also covered +with the affrighted inhabitants. + +When the assailants had rowed pretty well off, the English rushed in +great numbers to their forts, but only to find their cannon no better +than so much iron in the ore. At length, however, they began to fire, +having either brought down some ship’s guns, or else mounted the rusty +old dogs lying at the foot of the first fort. + +In their eagerness they fired with no discretion. The shot fell short; +they did not the slightest damage. + +Paul’s men laughed aloud, and fired their pistols in the air. + +Not a splinter was made, not a drop of blood spilled throughout the +affair. The intentional harmlessness of the result, as to human life, +was only equalled by the desperate courage of the deed. It formed, +doubtless, one feature of the compassionate contempt of Paul towards +the town, that he took such paternal care of their lives and limbs. + +Had it been possible to have landed a few hours earlier not a ship nor +a house could have escaped. But it was the lesson, not the loss, that +told. As it was, enough damage had been done to demonstrate—as Paul had +declared to the wise man of Paris—that the disasters caused by the +wanton fires and assaults on the American coasts, could be easily +brought home to the enemy’s doors. Though, indeed, if the retaliators +were headed by Paul Jones, the satisfaction would not be equal to the +insult, being abated by the magnanimity of a chivalrous, however +unprincipled a foe. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK’S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE +SHIP-OF-WAR DRAKE. + + +The Ranger now stood over the Solway Frith for the Scottish shore, and +at noon on the same day, Paul, with twelve men, including two officers +and Israel, landed on St. Mary’s Isle, one of the seats of the Earl of +Selkirk. + +In three consecutive days this elemental warrior either entered the +harbors or landed on the shores of each of the Three Kingdoms. + +The morning was fair and clear. St. Mary’s Isle lay shimmering in the +sun. The light crust of snow had melted, revealing the tender grass and +sweet buds of spring mantling the sides of the cliffs. + +At once, upon advancing with his party towards the house, Paul augured +ill for his project from the loneliness of the spot. No being was seen. +But cocking his bonnet at a jaunty angle, he continued his way. +Stationing the men silently round about the house, fallowed by Israel, +he announced his presence at the porch. + +A gray-headed domestic at length responded. + +“Is the Earl within?” + +“He is in Edinburgh, sir.” + +“Ah—sure?—Is your lady within?” + +“Yes, sir—who shall I say it is?” + +“A gentleman who calls to pay his respects. Here, take my card.” + +And he handed the man his name, as a private gentleman, superbly +engraved at Paris, on gilded paper. + +Israel tarried in the hall while the old servant led Paul into a +parlor. + +Presently the lady appeared. + +“Charming Madame, I wish you a very good morning.” + +“Who may it be, sir, that I have the happiness to see?” said the lady, +censoriously drawing herself up at the too frank gallantry of the +stranger. + +“Madame, I sent you my card.” + +“Which leaves me equally ignorant, sir,” said the lady, coldly, +twirling the gilded pasteboard. + +“A courier dispatched to Whitehaven, charming Madame, might bring you +more particular tidings as to who has the honor of being your visitor.” + +Not comprehending what this meant, and deeply displeased, if not +vaguely alarmed, at the characteristic manner of Paul, the lady, not +entirely unembarrassed, replied, that if the gentleman came to view the +isle, he was at liberty so to do. She would retire and send him a +guide. + +“Countess of Selkirk,” said Paul, advancing a step, “I call to see the +Earl. On business of urgent importance, I call.” + +“The Earl is in Edinburgh,” uneasily responded the lady, again about to +retire. + +“Do you give me your honor as a lady that it is as you say?” + +The lady looked at him in dubious resentment. + +“Pardon, Madame, I would not lightly impugn a lady’s lightest word, but +I surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in +which case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to +seek to shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the +isle.” + +“I do not dream what you mean by all this,” said the lady with a +decided alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her +dignity, as she retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door. + +“Madame,” said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then +tenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an +expression poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face; +“it cannot be too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms, +the officer of fine feelings and genuine sensibility should be +sometimes necessitated to public actions which his own private heart +cannot approve. This hard case is mine. The Earl, Madame, you say is +absent. I believe those words. Far be it from my soul, enchantress, to +ascribe a fault to syllables which have proceeded from so faultless a +source.” + +This probably he said in reference to the lady’s mouth, which was +beautiful in the extreme. + +He bowed very lowly, while the lady eyed him with conflicting and +troubled emotions, but as yet all in darkness as to his ultimate +meaning. But her more immediate alarm had subsided, seeing now that the +sailor-like extravagance of Paul’s homage was entirely unaccompanied +with any touch of intentional disrespect. Indeed, hyperbolical as were +his phrases, his gestures and whole carriage were most heedfully +deferential. + +Paul continued: “The Earl, Madame, being absent, and he being the sole +object of my call, you cannot labor under the least apprehension, when +I now inform you, that I have the honor of being an officer in the +American Navy, who, having stopped at this isle to secure the person of +the Earl of Selkirk as a hostage for the American cause, am, by your +assurances, turned away from that intent; pleased, even in +disappointment, since that disappointment has served to prolong my +interview with the noble lady before me, as well as to leave her +domestic tranquillity unimpaired.” + +“Can you really speak true?” said the lady in undismayed wonderment. + +“Madame, through your window you will catch a little peep of the +American colonial ship-of-war, Ranger, which I have the honor to +command. With my best respects to your lord, and sincere regrets at not +finding him at home, permit me to salute your ladyship’s hand and +withdraw.” + +But feigning not to notice this Parisian proposition, and artfully +entrenching her hand, without seeming to do so, the lady, in a +conciliatory tone, begged her visitor to partake of some refreshment +ere he departed, at the same time thanking him for his great civility. +But declining these hospitalities, Paul bowed thrice and quitted the +room. + +In the hall he encountered Israel, standing all agape before a Highland +target of steel, with a claymore and foil crossed on top. + +“Looks like a pewter platter and knife and fork, Captain Paul.” + +“So they do, my lion; but come, curse it, the old cock has flown; fine +hen, though, left in the nest; no use; we must away empty-handed.” + +“Why, ain’t Mr. Selkirk in?” demanded Israel in roguish concern. + +“Mr. Selkirk? Alexander Selkirk, you mean. No, lad, he’s not on the +Isle of St. Mary’s; he’s away off, a hermit, on the Isle of Juan +Fernandez—the more’s the pity; come.” + +In the porch they encountered the two officers. Paul briefly informed +them of the circumstances, saying, nothing remained but to depart +forthwith. + +“With nothing at all for our pains?” murmured the two officers. + +“What, pray, would you have?” + +“Some pillage, to be sure—plate.” + +“Shame. I thought we were three gentlemen.” + +“So are the English officers in America; but they help themselves to +plate whenever they can get it from the private houses of the enemy.” + +“Come, now, don’t be slanderous,” said Paul; “these officers you speak +of are but one or two out of twenty, mere burglars and light-fingered +gentry, using the king’s livery but as a disguise to their nefarious +trade. The rest are men of honor.” + +“Captain Paul Jones,” responded the two, “we have not come on this +expedition in much expectation of regular pay; but we _did_ rely upon +honorable plunder.” + +“Honorable plunder! That’s something new.” + +But the officers were not to be turned aside. They were the most +efficient in the ship. Seeing them resolute, Paul, for fear of +incensing them, was at last, as a matter of policy, obliged to comply. +For himself, however, he resolved to have nothing to do with the +affair. Charging the officers not to allow the men to enter the house +on any pretence, and that no search must be made, and nothing must be +taken away, except what the lady should offer them upon making known +their demand, he beckoned to Israel and retired indignantly towards the +beach. Upon second thoughts, he dispatched Israel back, to enter the +house with the officers, as joint receiver of the plate, he being, of +course, the most reliable of the seamen. + +The lady was not a little disconcerted on receiving the officers. With +cool determination they made known their purpose. There was no escape. +The lady retired. The butler came; and soon, several silver salvers, +and other articles of value, were silently deposited in the parlor in +the presence of the officers and Israel. + +“Mister Butler,” said Israel, “let me go into the dairy and help to +carry the milk-pans.” + +But, scowling upon this rusticity, or roguishness—he knew not which—the +butler, in high dudgeon at Israel’s republican familiarity, as well as +black as a thundercloud with the general insult offered to an +illustrious household by a party of armed thieves, as he viewed them, +declined any assistance. In a quarter of an hour the officers left the +house, carrying their booty. + +At the porch they were met by a red-cheeked, spiteful-looking lass, +who, with her brave lady’s compliments, added two child’s rattles of +silver and coral to their load. + +Now, one of the officers was a Frenchman, the other a Spaniard. + +The Spaniard dashed his rattle indignantly to the ground. The Frenchman +took his very pleasantly, and kissed it, saying to the girl that he +would long preserve the coral, as a memento of her rosy cheeks. + +When the party arrived on the beach, they found Captain Paul writing +with pencil on paper held up against the smooth tableted side of the +cliff. Next moment he seemed to be making his signature. With a +reproachful glance towards the two officers, he handed the slip to +Israel, bidding him hasten immediately with it to the house and place +it in Lady Selkirk’s own hands. + +The note was as follows: + +“Madame: + +“After so courteous a reception, I am disturbed to make you no better +return than you have just experienced from the actions of certain +persons under my command.—actions, lady, which my profession of arms +obliges me not only to brook, but, in a measure, to countenance. From +the bottom of my heart, my dear lady, I deplore this most melancholy +necessity of my delicate position. However unhandsome the desire of +these men, some complaisance seemed due them from me, for their general +good conduct and bravery on former occasions. I had but an instant to +consider. I trust, that in unavoidably gratifying them, I have +inflicted less injury on your ladyship’s property than I have on my own +bleeding sensibilities. But my heart will not allow me to say more. +Permit me to assure you, dear lady, that when the plate is sold, I +shall, at all hazards, become the purchaser, and will be proud to +restore it to you, by such conveyance as you may hereafter see fit to +appoint. + +“From hence I go, Madame, to engage, to-morrow morning, his Majesty’s +ship, Drake, of twenty guns, now lying at Carrickfergus. I should meet +the enemy with more than wonted resolution, could I flatter myself +that, through this unhandsome conduct on the part of my officers, I lie +not under the disesteem of the sweet lady of the Isle of St. Mary’s. +But unconquerable as Mars should I be, could but dare to dream, that in +some green retreat of her charming domain, the Countess of Selkirk +offers up a charitable prayer for, my dear lady countess, one, who +coming to take a captive, himself has been captivated. + +“Your ladyship’s adoring enemy, + +“JOHN PAUL JONES.” + +How the lady received this super-ardent note, history does not relate. +But history has not omitted to record, that after the return of the +Ranger to France, through the assiduous efforts of Paul in buying up +the booty, piece by piece, from the clutches of those among whom it had +been divided, and not without a pecuniary private loss to himself, +equal to the total value of the plunder, the plate was punctually +restored, even to the silver heads of two pepper-boxes; and, not only +this, but the Earl, hearing all the particulars, magnanimously wrote +Paul a letter, expressing thanks for his politeness. In the opinion of +the noble Earl, Paul was a man of honor. It were rash to differ in +opinion with such high-born authority. + +Upon returning to the ship, she was instantly pointed over towards the +Irish coast. Next morning Carrickfergus was in sight. Paul would have +gone straight in; but Israel, reconnoitring with his glass, informed +him that a large ship, probably the Drake, was just coming out. + +“What think you, Israel, do they know who we are? Let me have the +glass.” + +“They are dropping a boat now, sir,” replied Israel, removing the glass +from his eye, and handing it to Paul. + +“So they are—so they are. They don’t know us. I’ll decoy that boat +alongside. Quick—they are coming for us—take the helm now yourself, my +lion, and keep the ship’s stern steadily presented towards the +advancing boat. Don’t let them have the least peep at our broadside.” + +The boat came on, an officer in its bow all the time eyeing the Ranger +through a glass. Presently the boat was within hail. + +“Ship ahoy! Who are you?” + +“Oh, come alongside,” answered Paul through his trumpet, in a rapid +off-hand tone, as though he were a gruff sort of friend, impatient at +being suspected for a foe. + +In a few moments the officer of the boat stepped into the Ranger’s +gangway. Cocking his bonnet gallantly, Paul advanced towards him, +making a very polite bow, saying: “Good morning, sir, good morning; +delighted to see you. That’s a pretty sword you have; pray, let me look +at it.” + +“I see,” said the officer, glancing at the ship’s armament, and turning +pale, “I am your prisoner.” + +“No—my guest,” responded Paul, winningly. “Pray, let me relieve you of +your—your—cane.” + +Thus humorously he received the officer’s delivered sword. + +“Now tell me, sir, if you please,” he continued, “what brings out his +Majesty’s ship Drake this fine morning? Going a little airing?” + +“She comes out in search of you, but when I left her side half an hour +since she did not know that the ship off the harbor was the one she +sought.” + +“You had news from Whitehaven, I suppose, last night, eh?” + +“Aye: express; saying that certain incendiaries had landed there early +that morning.” + +“What?—what sort of men were they, did you say?” said Paul, shaking his +bonnet fiercely to one side of his head, and coming close to the +officer. “Pardon me,” he added derisively, “I had forgot you are my +_guest_. Israel, see the unfortunate gentleman below, and his men +forward.” + +The Drake was now seen slowly coming out under a light air, attended by +five small pleasure-vessels, decorated with flags and streamers, and +full of gaily-dressed people, whom motives similar to those which drew +visitors to the circus, had induced to embark on their adventurous +trip. But they little dreamed how nigh the desperate enemy was. + +“Drop the captured boat astern,” said Paul; “see what effect that will +have on those merry voyagers.” + +No sooner was the empty boat descried by the pleasure-vessels than +forthwith, surmising the truth, they with all diligence turned about +and re-entered the harbor. Shortly after, alarm-smokes were seen +extending along both sides of the channel. + +“They smoke us at last, Captain Paul,” said Israel. + +“There will be more smoke yet before the day is done,” replied Paul, +gravely. + +The wind was right under the land, the tide unfavorable. The Drake +worked out very slowly. + +Meantime, like some fiery-heated duellist calling on urgent business at +frosty daybreak, and long kept waiting at the door by the dilatoriness +of his antagonist, shrinking at the idea of getting up to be cut to +pieces in the cold—the Ranger, with a better breeze, impatiently tacked +to and fro in the channel. At last, when the English vessel had fairly +weathered the point, Paul, ranging ahead, courteously led her forth, as +a beau might a belle in a ballroom, to mid-channel, and then suffered +her to come within hail. + +“She is hoisting her colors now, sir,” said Israel. + +“Give her the stars and stripes, then, my lad.” + +Joyfully running to the locker, Israel attached the flag to the +halyards. The wind freshened. He stood elevated. The bright flag blew +around him, a glorified shroud, enveloping him in its red ribbons and +spangles, like up-springing tongues, and sparkles of flame. + +As the colors rose to their final perch, and streamed in the air, Paul +eyed them exultingly. + +“I first hoisted that flag on an American ship, and was the first among +men to get it saluted. If I perish this night, the name of Paul Jones +shall live. Hark! they hail us.” + +“What ship are you?” + +“Your enemy. Come on! What wants the fellow of more prefaces and +introductions?” + +The sun was now calmly setting over the green land of Ireland. The sky +was serene, the sea smooth, the wind just sufficient to waft the two +vessels steadily and gently. After the first firing and a little +manoeuvring, the two ships glided on freely, side by side; in that mild +air Exchanging their deadly broadsides, like two friendly horsemen +walking their steeds along a plain, chatting as they go. After an hour +of this running fight, the conversation ended. The Drake struck. How +changed from the big craft of sixty short minutes before! She seemed +now, above deck, like a piece of wild western woodland into which +choppers had been. Her masts and yards prostrate, and hanging in +jack-straws; several of her sails ballooning out, as they dragged in +the sea, like great lopped tops of foliage. The black hull and +shattered stumps of masts, galled and riddled, looked as if gigantic +woodpeckers had been tapping them. + +The Drake was the larger ship; more cannon; more men. Her loss in +killed and wounded was far the greater. Her brave captain and +lieutenant were mortally wounded. + +The former died as the prize was boarded, the latter two days after. + +It was twilight, the weather still severe. No cannonade, naught that +mad man can do, molests the stoical imperturbability of Nature, when +Nature chooses to be still. This weather, holding on through the +following day, greatly facilitated the refitting of the ships. That +done, the two vessels, sailing round the north of Ireland, steered +towards Brest. They were repeatedly chased by English cruisers, but +safely reached their anchorage in the French waters. + +“A pretty fair four weeks’ yachting, gentlemen,” said Paul Jones, as +the Ranger swung to her cable, while some French officers boarded her. +“I bring two travellers with me, gentlemen,” he continued. “Allow me to +introduce you to my particular friend Israel Potter, late of North +America, and also to his Britannic Majesty’s ship Drake, late of +Carrickfergus, Ireland.” + +This cruise made loud fame for Paul, especially at the court of France, +whose king sent Paul, a sword and a medal. But poor Israel, who also +had conquered a craft, and all unaided too—what had he? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX. + + +Three months after anchoring at Brest, through Dr. Franklin’s +negotiations with the French king, backed by the bestirring ardor of +Paul, a squadron of nine vessels, of various force, were ready in the +road of Groix for another descent on the British coasts. These craft +were miscellaneously picked up, their crews a mongrel pack, the +officers mostly French, unacquainted with each other, and secretly +jealous of Paul. The expedition was full of the elements of +insubordination and failure. Much bitterness and agony resulted to a +spirit like Paul’s. But he bore up, and though in many particulars the +sequel more than warranted his misgivings, his soul still refused to +surrender. + +The career of this stubborn adventurer signally illustrates the idea +that since all human affairs are subject to organic disorder, since +they are created in and sustained by a sort of half-disciplined chaos, +hence he who in great things seeks success must never wait for smooth +water, which never was and never will be, but, with what straggling +method he can, dash with all his derangements at his object, leaving +the rest to Fortune. + +Though nominally commander of the squadron, Paul was not so in effect. +Most of his captains conceitedly claimed independent commands. One of +them in the end proved a traitor outright; few of the rest were +reliable. + +As for the ships, that commanded by Paul in person will be a good +example of the fleet. She was an old Indiaman, clumsy and crank, +smelling strongly of the savor of tea, cloves, and arrack, the cargoes +of former voyages. Even at that day she was, from her venerable +grotesqueness, what a cocked hat is, at the present age, among ordinary +beavers. Her elephantine bulk was houdahed with a castellated poop like +the leaning tower of Pisa. Poor Israel, standing on the top of this +poop, spy-glass at his eye, looked more an astronomer than a mariner, +having to do, not with the mountains of the billows, but the mountains +in the moon. Galileo on Fiesole. She was originally a single-decked +ship, that is, carried her armament on one gun-deck; but cutting ports +below, in her after part, Paul rammed out there six old +eighteen-pounders, whose rusty muzzles peered just above the +water-line, like a parcel of dirty mulattoes from a cellar-way. Her +name was the Duras, but, ere sailing, it was changed to that other +appellation, whereby this sad old hulk became afterwards immortal. +Though it is not unknown, that a compliment to Doctor Franklin was +involved in this change of titles, yet the secret history of the affair +will now for the first time be disclosed. + +It was evening in the road of Groix. After a fagging day’s work, trying +to conciliate the hostile jealousy of his officers, and provide, in the +face of endless obstacles (for he had to dance attendance on scores of +intriguing factors and brokers ashore), the requisite stores for the +fleet, Paul sat in his cabin in a half-despondent reverie, while +Israel, cross-legged at his commander’s feet, was patching up some old +signals. + +“Captain Paul, I don’t like our ship’s name.—Duras? What’s that +mean?—Duras? Being cribbed up in a ship named Duras! a sort of makes +one feel as if he were in durance vile.” + +“Gad, I never thought of that before, my lion. Duras—Durance vile. I +suppose it’s superstition, but I’ll change Come, Yellow-mane, what +shall we call her?” + +“Well, Captain Paul, don’t you like Doctor Franklin? Hasn’t he been the +prime man to get this fleet together? Let’s call her the Doctor +Franklin.” + +“Oh, no, that will too publicly declare him just at present; and Poor +Richard wants to be a little shady in this business.” + +“Poor Richard!—call her Poor Richard, then,” cried Israel, suddenly +struck by the idea. + +“’Gad, you have it,” answered Paul, springing to his feet, as all trace +of his former despondency left him;—“Poor Richard shall be the name, in +honor to the saying, that ‘God helps them that help themselves,’ as +Poor Richard says.” + +Now this was the way the craft came to be called the _Bon Homme +Richard_; for it being deemed advisable to have a French rendering of +the new title, it assumed the above form. + +A few days after, the force sailed. Ere long, they captured several +vessels; but the captains of the squadron proving refractory, events +took so deplorable a turn, that Paul, for the present, was obliged to +return to Groix. Luckily, however, at this junction a cartel arrived +from England with upwards of a hundred exchanged American seamen, who +almost to a man enlisted under the flag of Paul. + +Upon the resailing of the force, the old troubles broke out afresh. +Most of her consorts insubordinately separated from the Bon Homme +Richard. At length Paul found himself in violent storms beating off the +rugged southeastern coast of Scotland, with only two accompanying +ships. But neither the mutiny of his fleet, nor the chaos of the +elements, made him falter in his purpose. Nay, at this crisis, he +projected the most daring of all his descents. + +The Cheviot Hills were in sight. Sundry vessels had been described +bound in for the Firth of Forth, on whose south shore, well up the +Firth, stands Leith, the port of Edinburgh, distant but a mile or two +from that capital. He resolved to dash at Leith, and lay it under +contribution or in ashes. He called the captains of his two remaining +consorts on board his own ship to arrange details. Those worthies had +much of fastidious remark to make against the plan. After losing much +time in trying to bring to a conclusion their sage deliberations, Paul, +by addressing their cupidity, achieved that which all appeals to their +gallantry could not accomplish. He proclaimed the grand prize of the +Leith lottery at no less a figure than £200,000, that being named as +the ransom. Enough: the three ships enter the Firth, boldly and freely, +as if carrying Quakers to a Peace-Congress. + +Along both startled shores the panic of their approach spread like the +cholera. The three suspicious crafts had so long lain off and on, that +none doubted they were led by the audacious viking, Paul Jones. At five +o’clock, on the following morning, they were distinctly seen from the +capital of Scotland, quietly sailing up the bay. Batteries were hastily +thrown up at Leith, arms were obtained from the castle at Edinburgh, +alarm fires were kindled in all directions. Yet with such tranquillity +of effrontery did Paul conduct his ships, concealing as much as +possible their warlike character, that more than once his vessels were +mistaken for merchantmen, and hailed by passing ships as such. + +In the afternoon, Israel, at his station on the tower of Pisa, reported +a boat with five men coming off to the Richard from the coast of Fife. + +“They have hot oat-cakes for us,” said Paul; “let ’em come. To +encourage them, show them the English ensign, Israel, my lad.” + +Soon the boat was alongside. + +“Well, my good fellows, what can I do for you this afternoon?” said +Paul, leaning over the side with a patronizing air. + +“Why, captain, we come from the Laird of Crokarky, who wants some +powder and ball for his money.” + +“What would you with powder and ball, pray?” + +“Oh! haven’t you heard that that bloody pirate, Paul Jones, is +somewhere hanging round the coasts?” + +“Aye, indeed, but he won’t hurt you. He’s only going round among the +nations, with his old hat, taking up contributions. So, away with ye; +ye don’t want any powder and ball to give him. He wants contributions +of silver, not lead. Prepare yourselves with silver, I say.” + +“Nay, captain, the Laird ordered us not to return without powder and +ball. See, here is the price. It may be the taking of the bloody +pirate, if you let us have what we want.” + +“Well, pass ’em over a keg,” said Paul, laughing, but modifying his +order by a sly whisper to Israel: “Oh, put up your price, it’s a gift +to ye.” + +“But ball, captain; what’s the use of powder without ball?” roared one +of the fellows from the boat’s bow, as the keg was lowered in. “We want +ball.” + +“Bless my soul, you bawl loud enough as it is. Away with ye, with what +you have. Look to your keg, and hark ye, if ye catch that villain, Paul +Jones, give him no quarter.” + +“But, captain, here,” shouted one of the boatmen, “there’s a mistake. +This is a keg of pickles, not powder. Look,” and poking into the +bung-hole, he dragged out a green cucumber dripping with brine. “Take +this back, and give us the powder.” + +“Pooh,” said Paul, “the powder is at the bottom, pickled powder, best +way to keep it. Away with ye, now, and after that bloody embezzler, +Paul Jones.” + +This was Sunday. The ships held on. During the afternoon, a long tack +of the Richard brought her close towards the shores of Fife, near the +thriving little port of Kirkaldy. + +“There’s a great crowd on the beach. Captain Paul,” said Israel, +looking through his glass. “There seems to be an old woman standing on +a fish-barrel there, a sort of selling things at auction to the people, +but I can’t be certain yet.” + +“Let me see,” said Paul, taking the glass as they came nigher. “Sure +enough, it’s an old lady—an old quack-doctress, seems to me, in a black +gown, too. I must hail her.” + +Ordering the ship to be kept on towards the port, he shortened sail +within easy distance, so as to glide slowly by, and seizing the +trumpet, thus spoke: + +“Old lady, ahoy! What are you talking about? What’s your text?” + +“The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash +his feet in the blood of the wicked.” + +“Ah, what a lack of charity. Now hear mine:—God helpeth them that help +themselves, as Poor Richard says.” + +“Reprobate pirate, a gale shall yet come to drive thee in wrecks from +our waters.” + +“The strong wind of your hate fills my sails well. Adieu,” waving his +bonnet—“tell us the rest at Leith.” + +Next morning the ships were almost within cannon-shot of the town. The +men to be landed were in the boats. Israel had the tiller of the +foremost one, waiting for his commander to enter, when just as Paul’s +foot was on the gangway, a sudden squall struck all three ships, +dashing the boats against them, and causing indescribable confusion. +The squall ended in a violent gale. Getting his men on board with all +dispatch, Paul essayed his best to withstand the fury of the wind, but +it blew adversely, and with redoubled power. A ship at a distance went +down beneath it. The disappointed invader was obliged to turn before +the gale, and renounce his project. + +To this hour, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, it is the popular +persuasion, that the Rev. Mr. Shirrer’s (of Kirkaldy) powerful +intercession was the direct cause of the elemental repulse experienced +off the endangered harbor of Leith. + +Through the ill qualities of Paul’s associate captains: their timidity, +incapable of keeping pace with his daring; their jealousy, blind to his +superiority to rivalship; together with the general reduction of his +force, now reduced by desertion, from nine to three ships; and last of +all, the enmity of seas and winds; the invader, driven, not by a fleet, +but a gale, out of the Scottish water’s, had the mortification in +prospect of terminating a cruise, so formidable in appearance at the +onset, without one added deed to sustain the reputation gained by +former exploits. Nevertheless, he was not disheartened. He sought to +conciliate fortune, not by despondency, but by resolution. And, as if +won by his confident bearing, that fickle power suddenly went over to +him from the ranks of the enemy—suddenly as plumed Marshal Ney to the +stubborn standard of Napoleon from Elba, marching regenerated on Paris. +In a word, luck—that’s the word—shortly threw in Paul’s way the great +action of his life: the most extraordinary of all naval engagements; +the unparalleled death-lock with the Serapis. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS. + + +The battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis stands in +history as the first signal collision on the sea between the Englishman +and the American. For obstinacy, mutual hatred, and courage, it is +without precedent or subsequent in the story of ocean. The strife long +hung undetermined, but the English flag struck in the end. + +There would seem to be something singularly indicatory in this +engagement. It may involve at once a type, a parallel, and a prophecy. +Sharing the same blood with England, and yet her proved foe in two +wars—not wholly inclined at bottom to forget an old grudge—intrepid, +unprincipled, reckless, predatory, with boundless ambition, civilized +in externals but a savage at heart, America is, or may yet be, the Paul +Jones of nations. + +Regarded in this indicatory light, the battle between the Bon Homme +Richard and the Serapis—in itself so curious—may well enlist our +interest. + +Never was there a fight so snarled. The intricacy of those incidents +which defy the narrator’s extrication, is not illy figured in that +bewildering intertanglement of all the yards and anchors of the two +ships, which confounded them for the time in one chaos of devastation. + +Elsewhere than here the reader must go who seeks an elaborate version +of the fight, or, indeed, much of any regular account of it whatever. +The writer is but brought to mention the battle because he must needs +follow, in all events, the fortunes of the humble adventurer whose life +lie records. Yet this necessarily involves some general view of each +conspicuous incident in which he shares. + +Several circumstances of the place and time served to invest the fight +with a certain scenic atmosphere casting a light almost poetic over the +wild gloom of its tragic results. The battle was fought between the +hours of seven and ten at night; the height of it was under a full +harvest moon, in view of thousands of distant spectators crowning the +high cliffs of Yorkshire. + +From the Tees to the Humber, the eastern coast of Britain, for the most +part, wears a savage, melancholy, and Calabrian aspect. It is in course +of incessant decay. Every year the isle which repulses nearly all other +foes, succumbs to the Attila assaults of the deep. Here and there the +base of the cliffs is strewn with masses of rock, undermined by the +waves, and tumbled headlong below, where, sometimes, the water +completely surrounds them, showing in shattered confusion detached +rocks, pyramids, and obelisks, rising half-revealed from the surf—the +Tadmores of the wasteful desert of the sea. Nowhere is this desolation +more marked than for those fifty miles of coast between Flamborough +Head and the Spurm. + +Weathering out the gale which had driven them from Leith, Paul’s ships +for a few days were employed in giving chase to various merchantmen and +colliers; capturing some, sinking others, and putting the rest to +flight. Off the mouth of the Humber they ineffectually manoeuvred with +a view of drawing out a king’s frigate, reported to be lying at anchor +within. At another time a large fleet was encountered, under convoy of +some ships of force. But their panic caused the fleet to hug the edge +of perilous shoals very nigh the land, where, by reason of his having +no competent pilot, Paul durst not approach to molest them. The same +night he saw two strangers further out at sea, and chased them until +three in the morning, when, getting pretty nigh, he surmised that they +must needs be vessels of his own squadron, which, previous to his +entering the Firth of Forth, had separated from his command. Daylight +proved this supposition correct. Five vessels of the original squadron +were now once more in company. About noon a fleet of forty merchantmen +appeared coming round Flamborough Head, protected by two English +man-of-war, the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough. Descrying the five +cruisers sailing down, the forty sail, like forty chickens, fluttered +in a panic under the wing of the shore. Their armed protectors bravely +steered from the land, making the disposition for battle. Promptly +accepting the challenge, Paul, giving the signal to his consorts, +earnestly pressed forward. But, earnest as he was, it was seven in the +evening ere the encounter began. Meantime his comrades, heedless of his +signals, sailed independently along. Dismissing them from present +consideration, we confine ourselves, for a while, to the Richard and +the Serapis, the grand duellists of the fight. + +The Richard carried a motley, crew, to keep whom in order one hundred +and thirty-five soldiers—themselves a hybrid band—had been put on +board, commanded by French officers of inferior rank. Her armament was +similarly heterogeneous; guns of all sorts and calibres; but about +equal on the whole to those of a thirty-two-gun frigate. The spirit of +baneful intermixture pervaded this craft throughout. + +The Serapis was a frigate of fifty guns, more than half of which +individually exceeded in calibre any one gun of the Richard. She had a +crew of some three hundred and twenty trained man-of-war’s men. + +There is something in a naval engagement which radically distinguishes +it from one on the land. The ocean, at times, has what is called its +_sea_ and its _trough of the sea_; but it has neither rivers, woods, +banks, towns, nor mountains. In mild weather it is one hammered plain. +Stratagems, like those of disciplined armies—ambuscades, like those of +Indians, are impossible. All is clear, open, fluent. The very element +which sustains the combatants, yields at the stroke of a feather. One +wind and one tide at one time operate upon all who here engage. This +simplicity renders a battle between two men-of-war, with their huge +white wings, more akin to the Miltonic contests of archangels than to +_the comparatively squalid_ tussles of earth. + +As the ships neared, a hazy darkness overspread the water. The moon was +not yet risen. Objects were perceived with difficulty. Borne by a soft +moist breeze over gentle waves, they came within pistol- shot. Owing to +the obscurity, and the known neighborhood of other vessels, the Serapis +was uncertain who the Richard was. Through the dim mist each ship +loomed forth to the other vast, but indistinct, as the ghost of Morven. +Sounds of the trampling of resolute men echoed from either hull, whose +tight decks dully resounded like drum-heads in a funeral march. + +The Serapis hailed. She was answered by a broadside. For half an hour +the combatants deliberately manoeuvred, continually changing their +position, but always within shot fire. The. Serapis—the better sailer +of the two—kept critically circling the Richard, making lounging +advances now and then, and as suddenly steering off; hate causing her +to act not unlike a wheeling cock about a hen, when stirred by the +contrary passion. Meantime, though within easy speaking distance, no +further syllable was exchanged; but an incessant cannonade was kept up. + +At this point, a third party, the Scarborough, drew near, seemingly +desirous of giving assistance to her consort. But thick smoke was now +added to the night’s natural obscurity. The Scarborough imperfectly +discerned two ships, and plainly saw the common fire they made; but +which was which, she could not tell. Eager to befriend the Serapis, she +durst not fire a gun, lest she might unwittingly act the part of a foe. +As when a hawk and a crow are clawing and beaking high in the air, a +second crow flying near, will seek to join the battle, but finding no +fair chance to engage, at last flies away to the woods; just so did the +Scarborough now. Prudence dictated the step; because several chance +shot—from which of the combatants could not be known—had already struck +the Scarborough. So, unwilling uselessly to expose herself, off went +for the present this baffled and ineffectual friend. + +Not long after, an invisible hand came and set down a great yellow lamp +in the east. The hand reached up unseen from below the horizon, and set +the lamp down right on the rim of the horizon, as on a threshold; as +much as to say, Gentlemen warriors, permit me a little to light up this +rather gloomy looking subject. The lamp was the round harvest moon; the +one solitary foot-light of the scene. But scarcely did the rays from +the lamp pierce that languid haze. Objects before perceived with +difficulty, now glimmered ambiguously. Bedded in strange vapors, the +great foot-light cast a dubious, half demoniac glare across the waters, +like the phantasmagoric stream sent athwart a London flagging in a +night-rain from an apothecary’s blue and green window. Through this +sardonical mist, the face of the Man-in-the-Moon—looking right towards +the combatants, as if he were standing in a trap-door of the sea, +leaning forward leisurely with his arms complacently folded over upon +the edge of the horizon—this queer face wore a serious, apishly +self-satisfied leer, as if the Man-in-the-Moon had somehow secretly put +up the ships to their contest, and in the depths of his malignant old +soul was not unpleased to see how well his charms worked. There stood +the grinning Man-in-the-Moon, his head just dodging into view over the +rim of the sea:—Mephistopheles prompter of the stage. + +Aided now a little by the planet, one of the consorts of the Richard, +the Pallas, hovering far outside the fight, dimly discerned the +suspicious form of a lonely vessel unknown to her. She resolved to +engage it, if it proved a foe. But ere they joined, the unknown +ship—which proved to be the Scarborough—received a broadside at long +gun’s distance from another consort of the Richard the Alliance. The +shot whizzed across the broad interval like shuttlecocks across a great +hall. Presently the battledores of both batteries were at work, and +rapid compliments of shuttlecocks were very promptly exchanged. The +adverse consorts of the two main belligerents fought with all the rage +of those fiery seconds who in some desperate duels make their +principal’s quarrel their own. Diverted from the Richard and the +Serapis by this little by-play, the Man-in-the-Moon, all eager to see +what it was, somewhat raised himself from his trap-door with an added +grin on his face. By this time, off sneaked the Alliance, and down +swept the Pallas, at close quarters engaging the Scarborough; an +encounter destined in less than an hour to end in the latter ship’s +striking her flag. + +Compared to the Serapis and the Richard, the Pallas and the Scarborough +were as two pages to two knights. In their immature way they showed the +same traits as their fully developed superiors. + +The Man-in-the-Moon now raised himself still higher to obtain a better +view of affairs. + +But the Man-in-the-Moon was not the only spectator. From the high +cliffs of the shore, and especially from the great promontory of +Flamborough Head, the scene was witnessed by crowds of the islanders. +Any rustic might be pardoned his curiosity in view of the spectacle, +presented. Far in the indistinct distance fleets of frightened +merchantmen filled the lower air with their sails, as flakes of snow in +a snow-storm by night. Hovering undeterminedly, in another direction, +were several of the scattered consorts of Paul, taking no part in the +fray. Nearer, was an isolated mist, investing the Pallas and +Scarborough—a mist slowly adrift on the sea, like a floating isle, and +at intervals irradiated with sparkles of fire and resonant with the +boom of cannon. Further away, in the deeper water, was a lurid cloud, +incessantly torn in shreds of lightning, then fusing together again, +once more to be rent. As yet this lurid cloud was neither stationary +nor slowly adrift, like the first-mentioned one; but, instinct with +chaotic vitality, shifted hither and thither, foaming with fire, like a +valiant water-spout careering off the coast of Malabar. + +To get some idea of the events enacting in that cloud, it will be +necessary to enter it; to go and possess it, as a ghost may rush into a +body, or the devils into the swine, which running down the steep place +perished in the sea; just as the Richard is yet to do. + +Thus far the Serapis and the Richard had been manoeuvring and chasing +to each other like partners in a cotillion, all the time indulging in +rapid repartee. + +But finding at last that the superior managableness of the enemy’s ship +enabled him to get the better of the clumsy old Indiaman, the Richard, +in taking position, Paul, with his wonted resolution, at once sought to +neutralize this, by hugging him close. But the attempt to lay the +Richard right across the head of the Serapis ended quite otherwise, in +sending the enemy’s jib-boom just over the Richard’s great tower of +Pisa, where Israel was stationed; who, catching it eagerly, stood for +an instant holding to the slack of the sail, like one grasping a horse +by the mane prior to vaulting into the saddle. + +“Aye, hold hard, lad,” cried Paul, springing to his side with a coil of +rigging. With a few rapid turns he knitted himself to his foe. The wind +now acting on the sails of the Serapis forced her, heel and point, her +entire length, cheek by jowl, alongside the Richard. The projecting +cannon scraped; the yards interlocked; but the hulls did not touch. A +long lane of darkling water lay wedged between, like that narrow canal +in Venice which dozes between two shadowy piles, and high in air is +secretly crossed by the Bridge of Sighs. But where the six yard-arms +reciprocally arched overhead, three bridges of sighs were both seen and +heard, as the moon and wind kept rising. + +Into that Lethean canal—pond-like in its smoothness as compared with +the sea without—fell many a poor soul that night; fell, forever +forgotten. + +As some heaving rent coinciding with a disputed frontier on a volcanic +plain, that boundary abyss was the jaws of death to both sides. So +contracted was it, that in many cases the gun-rammers had to be thrust +into the opposite ports, in order to enter to muzzles of their own +cannon. It seemed more an intestine feud, than a fight between +strangers. Or, rather, it was as if the Siamese Twins, oblivious of +their fraternal bond, should rage in unnatural fight. + +Ere long, a horrible explosion was heard, drowning for the instant the +cannonade. Two of the old eighteen-pounders—before spoken of, as having +been hurriedly set up below the main deck of the Richard—burst all to +pieces, killing the sailors who worked them, and shattering all that +part of the hull, as if two exploded steam-boilers had shot out of its +opposite sides. The effect was like the fall of the walls of a house. +Little now upheld the great tower of Pisa but a few naked crow +stanchions. Thenceforth, not a few balls from the Serapis must have +passed straight through the Richard without grazing her. It was like +firing buck-shot through the ribs of a skeleton. + +But, further forward, so deadly was the broadside from the heavy +batteries of the Serapis—levelled point-blank, and right down the +throat and bowels, as it were, of the Richard—that it cleared +everything before it. The men on the Richard’s covered gun-deck ran +above, like miners from the fire-damp. Collecting on the forecastle, +they continued to fight with grenades and muskets. The soldiers also +were in the lofty tops, whence they kept up incessant volleys, +cascading their fire down as pouring lava from cliffs. + +The position of the men in the two ships was now exactly reversed. For +while the Serapis was tearing the Richard all to pieces below deck, and +had swept that covered part almost of the last man, the Richard’s crowd +of musketry had complete control of the upper deck of the Serapis, +where it was almost impossible for man to remain unless as a corpse. +Though in the beginning, the tops of the Serapis had not been +unsupplied with marksmen, yet they had long since been cleared by the +overmastering musketry of the Richard. Several, with leg or arm broken +by a ball, had been seen going dimly downward from their giddy perch, +like falling pigeons shot on the wing. + +As busy swallows about barn-eaves and ridge-poles, some of the +Richard’s marksmen, quitting their tops, now went far out on their +yard-arms, where they overhung the Serapis. From thence they dropped +hand-grenades upon her decks, like apples, which growing in one field +fall over the fence into another. Others of their band flung the same +sour fruit into the open ports of the Serapis. A hail-storm of aerial +combustion descended and slanted on the Serapis, while horizontal +thunderbolts rolled crosswise through the subterranean vaults of the +Richard. The belligerents were no longer, in the ordinary sense of +things, an English ship and an American ship. It was a co-partnership +and joint-stock combustion-company of both ships; yet divided, even in +participation. The two vessels were as two houses, through whose +party-wall doors have been cut; one family (the Guelphs) occupying the +whole lower story; another family (the Ghibelines) the whole upper +story. + +Meanwhile, determined Paul flew hither and thither like the meteoric +corposant-ball, which shiftingly dances on the tips and verges of +ships’ rigging in storms. Wherever he went, he seemed to cast a pale +light on all faces. Blacked and burnt, his Scotch bonnet was compressed +to a gun-wad on his head. His Parisian coat, with its gold-laced sleeve +laid aside, disclosed to the full the blue tattooing on his arm, which +sometimes in fierce gestures streamed in the haze of the cannonade, +cabalistically terrific as the charmed standard of Satan. Yet his +frenzied manner was less a testimony of his internal commotion than +intended to inspirit and madden his men, some of whom seeing him, in +transports of intrepidity stripped themselves to their trowsers, +exposing their naked bodies to the as naked shot The same was done on +the Serapis, where several guns were seen surrounded by their buff +crews as by fauns and satyrs. + +At the beginning of the fray, before the ships interlocked, in the +intervals of smoke which swept over the ships as mist over +mountain-tops, affording open rents here and there—the gun-deck of the +Serapis, at certain points, showed, congealed for the instant in all +attitudes of dauntlessness, a gallery of marble statues—fighting +gladiators. + +Stooping low and intent, with one braced leg thrust behind, and one arm +thrust forward, curling round towards the muzzle of the gun, there was +seen the _loader_, performing his allotted part; on the other side of +the carriage, in the same stooping posture, but with both hands holding +his long black pole, pike-wise, ready for instant use—stood the eager +_rammer and sponger_; while at the breech, crouched the wary _captain +of the gun_, his keen eye, like the watching leopard’s, burning along +the range; and behind all, tall and erect, the Egyptian symbol of +death, stood the _matchman_, immovable for the moment, his long-handled +match reversed. Up to their two long death-dealing batteries, the +trained men of the Serapis stood and toiled in mechanical magic of +discipline. They tended those rows of guns, as Lowell girls the rows of +looms in a cotton factory. The Parcae were not more methodical; Atropos +not more fatal; the automaton chess-player not more irresponsible. + +“Look, lad; I want a grenade, now, thrown down their main hatchway. I +saw long piles of cartridges there. The powder monkeys have brought +them up faster than they can be used. Take a bucket of combustibles, +and let’s hear from you presently.” + +These words were spoken by Paul to Israel. Israel did as ordered. In a +few minutes, bucket in hand, begrimed with powder, sixty feet in air, +he hung like Apollyon from the extreme tip of the yard over the fated +abyss of the hatchway. As he looked down between the eddies of smoke +into that slaughterous pit, it was like looking from the verge of a +cataract down into the yeasty pool at its base. Watching, his chance, +he dropped one grenade with such faultless precision, that, striking +its mark, an explosion rent the Serapis like a volcano. The long row of +heaped cartridges was ignited. The fire ran horizontally, like an +express on a railway. More than twenty men were instantly killed: +nearly forty wounded. This blow restored the chances of battle, before +in favor of the Serapis. + +But the drooping spirits of the English were suddenly revived, by an +event which crowned the scene by an act on the part of one of the +consorts of the Richard, the incredible atrocity of which has induced +all humane minds to impute it rather to some incomprehensible mistake +than to the malignant madness of the perpetrator. + +The cautious approach and retreat of a consort of the Serapis, the +Scarborough, before the moon rose, has already been mentioned. It is +now to be related how that, when the moon was more than an hour high, a +consort of the Richard, the Alliance, likewise approached and +retreated. This ship, commanded by a Frenchman, infamous in his own +navy, and obnoxious in the service to which he at present belonged; +this ship, foremost in insurgency to Paul hitherto, and which, for the +most part, had crept like a poltroon from the fray; the Alliance now +was at hand. Seeing her, Paul deemed the battle at an end. But to his +horror, the Alliance threw a broadside full into the stern of the +Richard, without touching the Serapis. Paul called to her, for God’s +sake to forbear destroying the Richard. The reply was, a second, a +third, a fourth broadside, striking the Richard ahead, astern, and +amidships. One of the volleys killed several men and one officer. +Meantime, like carpenters’ augers, and the sea-worm called Remora, the +guns of the Serapis were drilling away at the same doomed hull. After +performing her nameless exploit, the Alliance sailed away, and did no +more. She was like the great fire of London, breaking out on the heel +of the great Plague. By this time, the Richard had so many shot-holes +low down in her hull, that like a sieve she began to settle. + +“Do you strike?” cried the English captain. + +“I have not yet begun to fight,” howled sinking Paul. + +This summons and response were whirled on eddies of smoke and flame. +Both vessels were now on fire. The men of either knew hardly which to +do; strive to destroy the enemy, or save themselves. In the midst of +this, one hundred human beings, hitherto invisible strangers, were +suddenly added to the rest. Five score English prisoners, till now +confined in the Richard’s hold, liberated in his consternation by the +master at arms, burst up the hatchways. One of them, the captain of a +letter of marque, captured by Paul, off the Scottish coast, crawled +through a port, as a burglar through a window, from the one ship to the +other, and reported affairs to the English captain. + +While Paul and his lieutenants were confronting these prisoners, the +gunner, running up from below, and not perceiving his official +superiors, and deeming them dead, believing himself now left sole +surviving officer, ran to the tower of Pisa to haul down the colors. +But they were already shot down and trailing in the water astern, like +a sailor’s towing shirt. Seeing the gunner there, groping about in the +smoke, Israel asked what he wanted. + +At this moment the gunner, rushing to the rail, shouted “Quarter! +quarter!” to the Serapis. + +“I’ll quarter ye,” yelled Israel, smiting the gunner with the flat of +his cutlass. + +“Do you strike?” now came from the Serapis. + +“Aye, aye, aye!” involuntarily cried Israel, fetching the gunner a +shower of blows. + +“Do you strike?” again was repeated from the Serapis; whose captain, +judging from the augmented confusion on board the Richard, owing to the +escape of the prisoners, and also influenced by the report made to him +by his late guest of the port-hole, doubted not that the enemy must +needs be about surrendering. + +“Do you strike?” + +“Aye!—I strike _back_” roared Paul, for the first time now hearing the +summons. + +But judging this frantic response to come, like the others, from some +unauthorized source, the English captain directed his boarders to be +called, some of whom presently leaped on the Richard’s rail, but, +throwing out his tattooed arm at them, with a sabre at the end of it, +Paul showed them how boarders repelled boarders. The English retreated, +but not before they had been thinned out again, like spring radishes, +by the unfaltering fire from the Richard’s tops. + +An officer of the Richard, seeing the mass of prisoners delirious with +sudden liberty and fright, pricked them with his sword to the pumps, +thus keeping the ship afloat by the very blunder which had promised to +have been fatal. The vessels now blazed so in the rigging that both +parties desisted from hostilities to subdue the common foe. + +When some faint order was again restored upon the Richard her chances +of victory increased, while those of the English, driven under cover, +proportionably waned. Early in the contest, Paul, with his own hand, +had brought one of his largest guns to bear against the enemy’s +mainmast. That shot had hit. The mast now plainly tottered. +Nevertheless, it seemed as if, in this fight, neither party could be +victor. Mutual obliteration from the face of the waters seemed the only +natural sequel to hostilities like these. It is, therefore, honor to +him as a man, and not reproach to him as an officer, that, to stay such +carnage, Captain Pearson, of the Serapis, with his own hands hauled +down his colors. But just as an officer from the Richard swung himself +on board the Serapis, and accosted the English captain, the first +lieutenant of the Serapis came up from below inquiring whether the +Richard had struck, since her fire had ceased. + +So equal was the conflict that, even after the surrender, it could be, +and was, a question to one of the warriors engaged (who had not +happened to see the English flag hauled down) whether the Serapis had +struck to the Richard, or the Richard to the Serapis. Nay, while the +Richard’s officer was still amicably conversing with the English +captain, a midshipman of the Richard, in act of following his superior +on board the surrendered vessel, was run through the thigh by a pike in +the hand of an ignorant boarder of the Serapis. While, equally +ignorant, the cannons below deck were still thundering away at the +nominal conqueror from the batteries of the nominally conquered ship. + +But though the Serapis had submitted, there were two misanthropical +foes on board the Richard which would not so easily succumb—fire and +water. All night the victors were engaged in suppressing the flames. +Not until daylight were the flames got under; but though the pumps were +kept continually going, the water in the hold still gained. A few hours +after sunrise the Richard was deserted for the Serapis and the other +vessels of the squadron of Paul. About ten o’clock the Richard, gorged +with slaughter, wallowed heavily, gave a long roll, and blasted by +tornadoes of sulphur, slowly sunk, like Gomorrah, out of sight. + +The loss of life in the two ships was about equal; one-half of the +total number of those engaged being either killed or wounded. + +In view of this battle one may ask—What separates the enlightened man +from the savage? Is civilization a thing distinct, or is it an advanced +stage of barbarism? + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +THE SHUTTLE. + + +For a time back, across the otherwise blue-jean career of Israel, Paul +Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. One more brief +intermingling of it, and to the plain old homespun we return. + +The battle won, the squadron started for the Texel, where they arrived +in safety. Omitting all mention of intervening harassments, suffice it, +that after some months of inaction as to anything of a warlike nature, +Paul and Israel (both, from different motives, eager to return to +America) sailed for that country in the armed ship Ariel, Paul as +commander, Israel as quartermaster. + +Two weeks out, they encountered by night a frigate-like craft, supposed +to be an enemy. The vessels came within hail, both showing English +colors, with purposes of mutual deception, affecting to belong to the +English Navy. For an hour, through their speaking trumpets, the +captains equivocally conversed. A very reserved, adroit, hoodwinking, +statesman-like conversation, indeed. At last, professing some little +incredulity as to the truthfulness of the stranger’s statement, Paul +intimated a desire that he should put out a boat and come on board to +show his commission, to which the stranger very affably replied, that +unfortunately his boat was exceedingly leaky. With equal politeness, +Paul begged him to consider the danger attending a refusal, which +rejoinder nettled the other, who suddenly retorted that he would answer +for twenty guns, and that both himself and men were knock-down +Englishmen. Upon this, Paul said that he would allow him exactly five +minutes for a sober, second thought. That brief period passed, Paul, +hoisting the American colors, ran close under the other ship’s stern, +and engaged her. It was about eight o’clock at night that this strange +quarrel was picked in the middle of the ocean. Why cannot men be +peaceable on that great common? Or does nature in those fierce +night-brawlers, the billows, set mankind but a sorry example? + +After ten minutes’ cannonading, the stranger struck, shouting out that +half his men were killed. The Ariel’s crew hurrahed. Boarders were +called to take possession. At this juncture, the prize shifting her +position so that she headed away, and to leeward of the Ariel, thrust +her long spanker-boom diagonally over the latter’s quarter; when +Israel, who was standing close by, instinctively caught hold of it—just +as he had grasped the jib-boom of the Serapis—and, at the same moment, +hearing the call to take possession, in the valiant excitement of the +occasion, he leaped upon the spar, and made a rush for the stranger’s +deck, thinking, of course, that he would be immediately followed by the +regular boarders. But the sails of the strange ship suddenly filled; +she began to glide through the sea; her spanker-boom, not having at all +entangled itself, offering no hindrance. Israel, clinging midway along +the boom, soon found himself divided from the Ariel by a space +impossible to be leaped. Meantime, suspecting foul play, Paul set every +sail; but the stranger, having already the advantage, contrived to make +good her escape, though perseveringly chased by the cheated conqueror. + +In the confusion, no eye had observed our hero’s spring. But, as the +vessels separated more, an officer of the strange ship spying a man on +the boom, and taking him for one of his own men, demanded what he did +there. + +“Clearing the signal halyards, sir,” replied Israel, fumbling with the +cord which happened to be dangling near by. + +“Well, bear a hand and come in, or you will have a bow-chaser at you +soon,” referring to the bow guns of the Ariel. + +“Aye, aye, sir,” said Israel, and in a moment he sprang to the deck, +and soon found himself mixed in among some two hundred English sailors +of a large letter of marque. At once he perceived that the story of +half the crew being killed was a mere hoax, played off for the sake of +making an escape. Orders were continually being given to pull on this +and that rope, as the ship crowded all sail in flight. To these orders +Israel, with the rest, promptly responded, pulling at the rigging +stoutly as the best of them; though Heaven knows his heart sunk deeper +and deeper at every pull which thus helped once again to widen the gulf +between him and home. + +In intervals he considered with himself what to do. Favored by the +obscurity of the night and the number of the crew, and wearing much the +same dress as theirs, it was very easy to pass himself off for one of +them till morning. But daylight would be sure to expose him, unless +some cunning, plan could be hit upon. If discovered for what he was, +nothing short of a prison awaited him upon the ship’s arrival in port. + +It was a desperate case, only as desperate a remedy could serve. One +thing was sure, he could not hide. Some audacious parade of himself +promised the only hope. Marking that the sailors, not being of the +regular navy, wore no uniform, and perceiving that his jacket was the +only garment on him which bore any distinguishing badge, our adventurer +took it off, and privily dropped it overboard, remaining now in his +dark blue woollen shirt and blue cloth waistcoat. + +What the more inspirited Israel to the added step now contemplated, was +the circumstance that the ship was not a Frenchman’s or other +foreigner, but her crew, though enemies, spoke the same language that +he did. + +So very quietly, at last, he goes aloft into the maintop, and sitting +down on an old sail there, beside some eight or ten topmen, in an +off-handed way asks one for tobacco. + +“Give us a quid, lad,” as he settled himself in his seat. + +“Halloo,” said the strange sailor, “who be you? Get out of the top! The +fore and mizzentop men won’t let us go into their tops, and blame me if +we’ll let any of their gangs come here. So, away ye go.” + +“You’re blind, or crazy, old boy,” rejoined Israel. “I’m a topmate; +ain’t I, lads?” appealing to the rest. + +“There’s only ten maintopmen belonging to our watch; if you are one, +then there’ll be eleven,” said a second sailor. “Get out of the top!” + +“This is too bad, maties,” cried Israel, “to serve an old topmate this +way. Come, come, you are foolish. Give us a quid.” And, once more, with +the utmost sociability, he addressed the sailor next to him. + +“Look ye,” returned the other, “if you don’t make away with yourself, +you skulking spy from the mizzen, we’ll drop you to deck like a +jewel-block.” + +Seeing the party thus resolute, Israel, with some affected banter, +descended. + +The reason why he had tried the scheme—and, spite of the foregoing +failure, meant to repeat it—was this: As customary in armed ships, the +men were in companies allotted to particular places and functions. +Therefore, to escape final detection, Israel must some way get himself +recognized as belonging to some one of those bands; otherwise, as an +isolated nondescript, discovery ere long would be certain, especially +upon the next general muster. To be sure, the hope in question was a +forlorn sort of hope, but it was his sole one, and must therefore be +tried. + +Mixing in again for a while with the general watch, he at last goes on +the forecastle among the sheet-anchor-men there, at present engaged in +critically discussing the merits of the late valiant encounter, and +expressing their opinion that by daybreak the enemy in chase would be +hull-down out of sight. + +“To be sure she will,” cried Israel, joining in with the group, “old +ballyhoo that she is, to be sure. But didn’t we pepper her, lads? Give +us a chew of tobacco, one of ye. How many have we wounded, do ye know? +None killed that I’ve heard of. Wasn’t that a fine hoax we played on +’em? Ha! ha! But give us a chew.” + +In the prodigal fraternal patriotism of the moment, one of the old +worthies freely handed his plug to our adventurer, who, helping +himself, returned it, repeating the question as to the killed and +wounded. + +“Why,” said he of the plug, “Jack Jewboy told me, just now, that +there’s only seven men been carried down to the surgeon, but not a soul +killed.” + +“Good, boys, good!” cried Israel, moving up to one of the +gun-carriages, where three or four men were sitting—“slip along, chaps, +slip along, and give a watchmate a seat with ye.” + +“All full here, lad; try the next gun.” + +“Boys, clear a place here,”, said Israel, advancing, like one of the +family, to that gun. + +“Who the devil are _you_, making this row here?” demanded a +stern-looking old fellow, captain of the forecastle, “seems to me you +make considerable noise. Are you a forecastleman?” + +“If the bowsprit belongs here, so do I,” rejoined Israel, composedly. + +“Let’s look at ye, then!” and seizing a battle-lantern, before thrust +under a gun, the old veteran came close to Israel before he had time to +elude the scrutiny. + +“Take that!” said his examiner, and fetching Israel a terrible thump, +pushed him ignominiously off the forecastle as some unknown interloper +from distant parts of the ship. + +With similar perseverance of effrontery, Israel tried other quarters of +the vessel. But with equal ill success. Jealous with the spirit of +class, no social circle would receive him. As a last resort, he dived +down among the _holders_. + +A group of them sat round a lantern, in the dark bowels of the ship, +like a knot of charcoal burners in a pine forest at midnight. + +“Well, boys, what’s the good word?” said Israel, advancing very +cordially, but keeping as much as possible in the shadow. + +“The good word is,” rejoined a censorious old _holder_, “that you had +best go where you belong—on deck—and not be a skulking down here where +you _don’t_ belong. I suppose this is the way you skulked during the +fight.” + +“Oh, you’re growly to-night, shipmate,” said Israel, pleasantly—“supper +sits hard on your conscience.” + +“Get out of the hold with ye,” roared the other. “On deck, or I’ll call +the master-at-arms.” + +Once more Israel decamped. + +Sorely against his grain, as a final effort to blend himself openly +with the crew, he now went among the _waisters_: the vilest caste of an +armed ship’s company, mere dregs and settlings—sea-Pariahs, comprising +all the lazy, all the inefficient, all the unfortunate and fated, all +the melancholy, all the infirm, all the rheumatical scamps, +scapegraces, ruined prodigal sons, sooty faces, and swineherds of the +crew, not excluding those with dismal wardrobes. + +An unhappy, tattered, moping row of them sat along dolefully on the +gun-deck, like a parcel of crest-fallen buzzards, exiled from civilized +society. + +“Cheer up, lads,” said Israel, in a jovial tone, “homeward-bound, you +know. Give us a seat among ye, friends.” + +“Oh, sit on your head!” answered a sullen fellow in the corner. + +“Come, come, no growling; we’re homeward-bound. Whoop, my hearties!” + +“Workhouse bound, you mean,” grumbled another sorry chap, in a darned +shirt. + +“Oh, boys, don’t be down-hearted. Let’s keep up our spirits. Sing us a +song, one of ye, and I’ll give the chorus.” + +“Sing if ye like, but I’ll plug my ears, for one,” said still another +sulky varlet, with the toes out of his sea-boots, while all the rest +with one roar of misanthropy joined him. + +But Israel, riot to be daunted, began: + +“‘Cease, rude Boreas, cease your growling!’” + +“And you cease your squeaking, will ye?” cried a fellow in a banged +tarpaulin. “Did ye get a ball in the windpipe, that ye cough that way, +worse nor a broken-nosed old bellows? Have done with your groaning, +it’s worse nor the death-rattle.” + +“Boys, is this the way you treat a watchmate” demanded Israel +reproachfully, “trying to cheer up his friends? Shame on ye, boys. +Come, let’s be sociable. Spin us a yarn, one of ye. Meantime, rub my +back for me, another,” and very confidently he leaned against his +neighbor. + +“Lean off me, will ye?” roared his friend, shoving him away. + +“But who _is_ this ere singing, leaning, yarn-spinning chap? Who are +ye? Be you a waister, or be you not?” + +So saying, one of this peevish, sottish band staggered close up to +Israel. But there was a deck above and a deck below, and the lantern +swung in the distance. It was too dim to see with critical exactness. + +“No such singing chap belongs to our gang, that’s flat,” he +dogmatically exclaimed at last, after an ineffectual scrutiny. “Sail +out of this!” + +And with a shove once more, poor Israel was ejected. + +Blackballed out of every club, he went disheartened on deck. So long, +while light screened him at least, as he contented himself with +promiscuously circulating, all was safe; it was the endeavor to +fraternize with any one set which was sure to endanger him. At last, +wearied out, he happened to find himself on the berth deck, where the +watch below were slumbering. Some hundred and fifty hammocks were on +that deck. Seeing one empty, he leaped in, thinking luck might yet some +way befriend him. Here, at last, the sultry confinement put him fast +asleep. He was wakened by a savage whiskerando of the other watch, who, +seizing him by his waistband, dragged him most indecorously out, +furiously denouncing him for a skulker. + +Springing to his feet, Israel perceived from the crowd and tumult of +the berth deck, now all alive with men leaping into their hammocks, +instead of being full of sleepers quietly dosing therein, that the +watches were changed. Going above, he renewed in various quarters his +offers of intimacy with the fresh men there assembled; but was +successively repulsed as before. At length, just as day was breaking, +an irascible fellow whose stubborn opposition our adventurer had long +in vain sought to conciliate—this man suddenly perceiving, by the gray +morning light, that Israel had somehow an alien sort of general look, +very savagely pressed him for explicit information as to who he might +be. The answers increased his suspicion. Others began to surround the +two. Presently, quite a circle was formed. Sailors from distant parts +of the ship drew near. One, and then another, and another, declared +that they, in their quarters, too, had been molested by a vagabond +claiming fraternity, and seeking to palm himself off upon decent +society. In vain Israel protested. The truth, like the day, dawned +clearer and clearer. More and more closely he was scanned. At length +the hour for having all hands on deck arrived; when the other watch +which Israel had first tried, reascending to the deck, and hearing the +matter in discussion, they endorsed the charge of molestation and +attempted imposture through the night, on the part of some person +unknown, but who, likely enough, was the strange man now before them. +In the end, the master-at-arms appeared with his bamboo, who, summarily +collaring poor Israel, led him as a mysterious culprit to the officer +of the deck, which gentleman having heard the charge, examined him in +great perplexity, and, saying that he did not at all recognize that +countenance, requested the junior officers to contribute their +scrutiny. But those officers were equally at fault. + +“Who the deuce _are_ you?” at last said the officer-of-the-deck, in +added bewilderment. “Where did you come from? What’s your business? +Where are you stationed? What’s your name? Who are you, any way? How +did you get here? and where are you going?” + +“Sir,” replied Israel very humbly, “I am going to my regular duty, if +you will but let me. I belong to the maintop, and ought to be now +engaged in preparing the topgallant stu’n’-sail for hoisting.” + +“Belong to the maintop? Why, these men here say you have been trying to +belong to the foretop, and the mizzentop, and the forecastle, and the +hold, and the waist, and every other part of the ship. This is +extraordinary,” he added, turning upon the junior officers. + +“He must be out of his mind,” replied one of them, the sailing-master. + +“Out of his mind?” rejoined the officer-of-the-deck. “He’s out of all +reason; out of all men’s knowledge and memories! Why, no one knows him; +no one has ever seen him before; no imagination, in the wildest flight +of a morbid nightmare, has ever so much as dreamed of him. Who _are_ +you?” he again added, fierce with amazement. “What’s your name? Are you +down in the ship’s books, or at all in the records of nature?” + +“My name, sir, is Peter Perkins,” said Israel, thinking it most prudent +to conceal his real appellation. + +“Certainly, I never heard that name before. Pray, see if Peter Perkins +is down on the quarter-bills,” he added to a midshipman. “Quick, bring +the book here.” + +Having received it, he ran his fingers along the columns, and dashing +down the book, declared that no such name was there. + +“You are not down, sir. There is no Peter Perkins here. Tell me at once +who are you?” + +“It might be, sir,” said Israel, gravely, “that seeing I shipped under +the effects of liquor, I might, out of absent-mindedness like, have +given in some other person’s name instead of my own.” + +“Well, what name have you gone by among your shipmates since you’ve +been aboard?” + +“Peter Perkins, sir.” + +Upon this the officer turned to the men around, inquiring whether the +name of Peter Perkins was familiar to them as that of a shipmate. One +and all answered no. + +“This won’t do, sir,” now said the officer. “You see it won’t do. Who +are you?” + +“A poor persecuted fellow at your service, sir.” + +“_Who_ persecutes you?” + +“Every one, sir. All hands seem to be against me; none of them willing +to remember me.” + +“Tell me,” demanded the officer earnestly, “how long do you remember +yourself? Do you remember yesterday morning? You must have come into +existence by some sort of spontaneous combustion in the hold. Or were +you fired aboard from the enemy, last night, in a cartridge? Do you +remember yesterday?” + +“Oh, yes, sir.” + +“What was you doing yesterday?” + +“Well, sir, for one thing, I believe I had the honor of a little talk +with yourself.” + +“With _me_?” + +“Yes, sir; about nine o’clock in the morning—the sea being smooth and +the ship running, as I should think, about seven knots—you came up into +the maintop, where I belong, and was pleased to ask my opinion about +the best way to set a topgallant stu’n’-sail.” + +“He’s mad! He’s mad!” said the officer, with delirious conclusiveness. +“Take him away, take him away, take him away—put him somewhere, +master-at-arms. Stay, one test more. What mess do you belong to?” + +“Number 12, sir.” + +“Mr. Tidds,” to a midshipman, “send mess No. 12 to the mast.” + +Ten sailors replied to the summons, and arranged themselves before +Israel. + +“Men, does this man belong to your mess?” + +“No, sir; never saw him before this morning.” + +“What are those men’s names?” he demanded of Israel. + +“Well, sir, I am so intimate with all of them,” looking upon them with +a kindly glance, “I never call them by their real names, but by +nicknames. So, never using their real names, I have forgotten them. The +nicknames that I know, them by, are Towser, Bowser, Rowser, Snowser.” + +“Enough. Mad as a March hare. Take him away. Hold,” again added the +officer, whom some strange fascination still bound to the bootless +investigation. “What’s _my_ name, sir?” + +“Why, sir, one of my messmates here called you Lieutenant Williamson, +just now, and I never heard you called by any other name.” + +“There’s method in his madness,” thought the officer to himself. +“What’s the captain’s name?” + +“Why, sir, when we spoke the enemy, last night, I heard him say, +through his trumpet, that he was Captain Parker; and very likely he +knows his own name.” + +“I have you now. That ain’t the captain’s real name.” + +“He’s the best judge himself, sir, of what his name is, I should +think.” + +“Were it not,” said the officer, now turning gravely upon his juniors, +“were it not that such a supposition were on other grounds absurd, I +should certainly conclude that this man, in some unknown way, got on +board here from the enemy last night.” + +“How could he, sir?” asked the sailing-master. + +“Heaven knows. But our spanker-boom geared the other ship, you know, in +manoeuvring to get headway.” + +“But supposing he _could_ have got here that fashion, which is quite +impossible under all the circumstances, what motive could have induced +him voluntarily to jump among enemies?” + +“Let him answer for himself,” said the officer, turning suddenly upon +Israel, with the view of taking him off his guard, by the matter of +course assumption of the very point at issue. + +“Answer, sir. Why did you jump on board here, last night, from the +enemy?” + +“Jump on board, sir, from the enemy? Why, sir, my station at general +quarters is at gun No. 3, of the lower deck, here.” + +“He’s cracked—or else I am turned—or all the world is;—take him away!” + +“But where am I to take him, sir?” said the master-at-arms. “He don’t +seem to belong anywhere, sir. Where—where am I to take him?” + +“Take him-out of sight,” said the officer, now incensed with his own +perplexity. “Take him out of sight, I say.” + +“Come along, then, my ghost,” said the master-at-arms. And, collaring +the phantom, he led it hither and thither, not knowing exactly what to +do with it. + +Some fifteen minutes passed, when the captain coming from his cabin, +and observing the master-at-arms leading Israel about in this +indefinite style, demanded the reason of that procedure, adding that it +was against his express orders for any new and degrading punishments to +be invented for his men. + +“Come here, master-at-arms. To what end do you lead that man about?” + +“To no end in the world, sir. I keep leading him about because he has +no final destination.” + +“Mr. Officer-of-the-deck, what does this mean? Who is this strange man? +I don’t know that I remember him. Who is he? And what is signified by +his being led about?” + +Hereupon the officer-of-the-deck, throwing himself into a tragical +posture, set forth the entire mystery; much to the captain’s +astonishment, who at once indignantly turned upon the phantom. + +“You rascal—don’t try to deceive me. Who are you? and where did you +come from last?” + +“Sir, my name is Peter Perkins, and I last came from the forecastle, +where the master-at-arms last led me, before coming here.” + +“No joking, sir, no joking.” + +“Sir, I’m sure it’s too serious a business to joke about.” + +“Do you have the assurance to say, that you, as a regularly shipped +man, have been on board this vessel ever since she sailed from +Falmouth, ten months ago?” + +“Sir, anxious to secure a berth under so good a commander, I was among +the first to enlist.” + +“What ports have we touched at, sir?” said the captain, now in a little +softer tone. + +“Ports, sir, ports?” + +“Yes, sir, _ports_” + +Israel began to scratch his yellow hair. + +“What _ports_, sir?” + +“Well, sir:—Boston, for one.” + +“Right there,” whispered a midshipman. + +“What was the next port, sir?” + +“Why, sir, I was saying Boston was the _first_ port, I believe; wasn’t +it?—and”— + +“The _second_ port, sir, is what I want.” + +“Well—New York.” + +“Right again,” whispered the midshipman. + +“And what port are we bound to, now?” + +“Let me see—homeward-bound—Falmouth, sir.” + +“What sort of a place is Boston?” + +“Pretty considerable of a place, sir.” + +“Very straight streets, ain’t they?” + +“Yes, sir; cow-paths, cut by sheep-walks, and intersected with +hen-tracks.” + +“When did we fire the first gun?” + +“Well, sir, just as we were leaving Falmouth, ten months +ago—signal-gun, sir.” + +“Where did we fire the first _shotted_ gun, sir?—and what was the name +of the privateer we took upon that occasion?” + +“’Pears to me, sir, at that time I was on the sick list. Yes, sir, that +must have been the time; I had the brain fever, and lost my mind for a +while.” + +“Master-at-arms, take this man away.” + +“Where shall I take him, sir?” touching his cap. + +“Go, and air him on the forecastle.” + +So they resumed their devious wanderings. At last, they descended to +the berth-deck. It being now breakfast-time, the master-at-arms, a +good-humored man, very kindly’ introduced our hero to his mess, and +presented him with breakfast, during which he in vain endeavored, by +all sorts of subtle blandishments, to worm out his secret. + +At length Israel was set at liberty; and whenever there was any +important duty to be done, volunteered to it with such cheerful +alacrity, and approved himself so docile and excellent a seaman, that +he conciliated the approbation of all the officers, as well as the +captain; while his general sociability served, in the end, to turn in +his favor the suspicious hearts of the mariners. Perceiving his good +qualities, both as a sailor and man, the captain of the maintop applied +for his admission into that section of the ship; where, still improving +upon his former reputation, our hero did duty for the residue of the +voyage. + +One pleasant afternoon, the last of the passage, when the ship was +nearing the Lizard, within a few hours’ sail of her port, the +officer-of-the-deck, happening to glance upwards towards the maintop, +descried Israel there, leaning very leisurely over the rail, looking +mildly down where the officer stood. + +“Well, Peter Perkins, you seem to belong to the maintop, after all.” + +“I always told you so, sir,” smiled Israel benevolently down upon him, +“though, at first, you remember, sir, you would not believe it.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES. + + +At length, as the ship, gliding on past three or four vessels at anchor +in the roadstead—one, a man-of-war just furling her sails—came nigh +Falmouth town, Israel, from his perch, saw crowds in violent commotion +on the shore, while the adjacent roofs were covered with sightseers. A +large man-of-war cutter was just landing its occupants, among whom were +a corporal’s guard and three officers, besides the naval lieutenant and +boat’s crew. Some of this company having landed, and formed a sort of +lane among the mob, two trim soldiers, armed to the teeth, rose in the +stern-sheets; and between them, a martial man of Patagonian stature, +their ragged and handcuffed captive, whose defiant head overshadowed +theirs, as St. Paul’s dome its inferior steeples. Immediately the mob +raised a shout, pressing in curiosity towards the colossal stranger; so +that, drawing their swords, four of the soldiers had to force a passage +for their comrades, who followed on, conducting the giant. + +As the letter of marque drew still nigher, Israel heard the officer in +command of the party ashore shouting, “To the castle! to the castle!” +and so, surrounded by shouting throngs, the company moved on, preceded +by the three drawn swords, ever and anon flourished at the rioters, +towards a large grim pile on a cliff about a mile from the landing. +Long as they were in sight, the bulky form of the captive was seen at +times swayingly towering over the flashing bayonets and cutlasses, like +a great whale breaching amid a hostile retinue of sword-fish. Now and +then, too, with barbaric scorn, he taunted them with cramped gestures +of his manacled hands. + +When at last the vessel had gained her anchorage, opposite a distant +detached warehouse, all was still; and the work of breaking out in the +hold immediately commencing, and continuing till nightfall, absorbed +all further attention for the present. + +Next day was Sunday; and about noon Israel, with others, was allowed to +go ashore for a stroll. The town was quiet. Seeing nothing very +interesting there, he passed out, alone, into the fields alongshore, +and presently found himself climbing the cliff whereon stood the grim +pile before spoken of. + +“What place is yon?” he asked of a rustic passing. + +“Pendennis Castle.” + +As he stepped upon the short crisp sward under its walls, he started at +a violent sound from within, as of the roar of some tormented lion. +Soon the sound became articulate, and he heard the following words +bayed out with an amazing vigor: + +“Brag no more, Old England; consider you are but an island! Order back +your broken battalions! home, and repent in ashes! Long enough have +your hired tories across the sea forgotten the Lord their God, and +bowed down to Howe and Kniphausen—the Hessian!—Hands off, red-skinned +jackal! Wearing the king’s plate,[1] as I do, I have treasures of wrath +against you British.” + + [1] Meaning, probably, certain manacles. + + +Then came a clanking, as of a chain; many vengeful sounds, all +confusedly together; with strugglings. Then again the voice: + +“Ye brought me out here, from my dungeon to this green—affronting yon +Sabbath sun—to see how a rebel looks. But I show ye how a true +gentleman and Christian can conduct in adversity. Back, dogs! Respect a +gentleman and a Christian, though he _be_ in rags and smell of +bilge-water.” + +Filled with astonishment at these words, which came from over a massive +wall, enclosing what seemed an open parade-space, Israel pressed +forward, and soon came to a black archway, leading far within, +underneath, to a grassy tract, through a tower. Like two boar’s tusks, +two sentries stood on guard at either side of the open jaws of the +arch. Scrutinizing our adventurer a moment, they signed him permission +to enter. + +Arrived at the end of the arched-way, where the sun shone, Israel stood +transfixed, at the scene. + +Like some baited bull in the ring, crouched the Patagonian-looking +captive, handcuffed as before; the grass of the green trampled, and +gored up all about him, both by his own movements and those of the +people around. Except some soldiers and sailors, these seemed mostly +townspeople, collected here out of curiosity. The stranger was +outlandishly arrayed in the sorry remains of a half-Indian, +half-Canadian sort of a dress, consisting of a fawn-skin jacket—the fur +outside and hanging in ragged tufts—a half-rotten, bark-like belt of +wampum; aged breeches of sagathy; bedarned worsted stockings to the +knee; old moccasins riddled with holes, their metal tags yellow with +salt-water rust; a faded red woollen bonnet, not unlike a Russian +night-cap, or a portentous, ensanguined full- moon, all soiled, and +stuck about with bits of half-rotted straw. He seemed just broken from +the dead leases in David’s outlawed Cave of Adullam. Unshaven, beard +and hair matted, and profuse as a corn-field beaten down by hailstorms, +his whole marred aspect was that of some wild beast; but of a royal +sort, and unsubdued by the cage. + +“Aye, stare, stare! Though but last night dragged out of a ship’s hold, +like a smutty tierce; and this morning out of your littered barracks +here, like a murderer; for all that, you may well stare at Ethan +Ticonderoga Allen, the unconquered soldier, by ——! You Turks never saw +a Christian before. Stare on! I am he, who, when your Lord Howe wanted +to bribe a patriot to fall down and worship him by an offer of a +major-generalship and five thousand acres of choice land in old +Vermont—(Ha! three-times-three for glorious old Vermont, and my +Green-Mountain boys! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!) I am he, I say, who +answered your Lord Howe, ‘You, _you_ offer _our_ land? You are like the +devil in Scripture, offering all the kingdoms in the world, when the +d——d soul had not a corner-lot on earth! Stare on!’” + +“Look you, rebel, you had best heed how you talk against General Lord +Howe,” here said a thin, wasp-waisted, epauletted officer of the +castle, coming near and flourishing his sword like a schoolmaster’s +ferule. + +“General Lord Howe? Heed how I talk of that toad-hearted king’s +lick-spittle of a scarlet poltroon; the vilest wriggler in God’s +worm-hole below? I tell you, that herds of red-haired devils are +impatiently snorting to ladle Lord Howe with all his gang (you +included) into the seethingest syrups of tophet’s flames!” + +At this blast, the wasp-waisted officer was blown backwards as from +before the suddenly burst head of a steam-boiler. + +Staggering away, with a snapped spine, he muttered something about its +being beneath his dignity to bandy further words with a low-lived +rebel. + +“Come, come, Colonel Allen,” here said a mild-looking man in a sort of +clerical undress, “respect the day better than to talk thus of what +lies beyond. Were you to die this hour, or what is more probable, be +hung next week at Tower-wharf, you know not what might become, in +eternity, of yourself.” + +“Reverend Sir,” with a mocking bow, “when not better employed braiding +my beard, I have a little dabbled in your theologies. And let me tell +you, Reverend Sir,” lowering and intensifying his voice, “that as to +the world of spirits, of which you hint, though I know nothing of the +mode or manner of that world, no more than do you, yet I expect when I +shall arrive there to be treated as well as any other gentleman of my +merit. That is to say, far better than you British know how to treat an +American officer and meek-hearted Christian captured in honorable war, +by ——! Every one tells me, as you yourself just breathed, and as, +crossing the sea, every billow dinned into my ear, that I, Ethan Allen, +am to be hung like a thief. If I am, the great Jehovah and the +Continental Congress shall avenge me; while I, for my part, shall show +you, even on the tree, how a Christian gentleman can die. Meantime, +sir, if you are the clergyman you look, act out your consolatory +function, by getting an unfortunate Christian gentleman about to die, a +bowl of punch.” + +The good-natured stranger, not to have his religious courtesy appealed +to in vain, immediately dispatched his servant, who stood by, to +procure the beverage. + +At this juncture, a faint rustling sound, as of the advance of an army +with banners, was heard. Silks, scarfs, and ribbons fluttered in the +background. Presently, a bright squadron of fair ladies drew nigh, +escorted by certain outriding gallants of Falmouth. + +“Ah,” sighed a soft voice, “what a strange sash, and furred vest, and +what leopard-like teeth, and what flaxen hair, but all mildewed;—is +that he?” + +“Yea, is it, lovely charmer,” said Allen, like an Ottoman, bowing over +his broad, bovine forehead, and breathing the words out like a lute; +“it is he—Ethan Allen, the soldier; now, since ladies’ eyes visit him, +made trebly a captive.” + +“Why, he talks like a beau in a parlor, this wild, mossed American from +the woods,” sighed another fair lady to her mate; “but can this be he +we came to see? I must have a lock of his hair.” + +“It is he, adorable Delilah; and fear not, even though incited by the +foe, by clipping my locks, to dwindle my strength. Give me your sword, +man,” turning to an officer:—“Ah! I’m fettered. Clip it yourself, +lady.” + +“No, no—I am—” + +“Afraid, would you say? Afraid of the vowed friend and champion of all +ladies all round the world? Nay, nay, come hither.” + +The lady advanced; and soon, overcoming her timidity, her white hand +shone like whipped foam amid the matted waves of flaxen hair. + +“Ah, this is like clipping tangled tags of gold-lace,” cried she; “but +see, it is half straw.” + +“But the wearer is no man-of-straw, lady; were I free, and you had ten +thousand foes—horse, foot, and dragoons—how like a friend I could fight +for you! Come, you have robbed me of my hair; let me rob your dainty +hand of its price. What, afraid again?” + +“No, not that; but—” + +“I see, lady; I may do it, by your leave, but not by your word; the +wonted way of ladies. There, it is done. Sweeter that kiss, than the +bitter heart of a cherry.” + +When at length this lady left, no small talk was had by her with her +companions about someway relieving the hard lot of so knightly an +unfortunate. Whereupon a worthy, judicious gentleman, of middle- age, +in attendance, suggested a bottle of good wine every day, and clean +linen once every week. And these the gentle Englishwoman—too polite and +too good to be fastidious—did indeed actually send to Ethan Allen, so +long as he tarried a captive in her land. + +The withdrawal of this company was followed by a different scene. + +A perspiring man in top-boots, a riding-whip in his hand, and having +the air of a prosperous farmer, brushed in, like a stray bullock, among +the rest, for a peep at the giant; having just entered through the +arch, as the ladies passed out. + +“Hearing that the man who took Ticonderoga was here in Pendennis +Castle, I’ve ridden twenty-five miles to see him; and to-morrow my +brother will ride forty for the same purpose. So let me have first +look. Sir,” he continued, addressing the captive, “will you let me ask +you a few plain questions, and be free with you?” + +“Be free with me? With all my heart. I love freedom of all things. I’m +ready to die for freedom; I expect to. So be free as you please. What +is it?” + +“Then, sir, permit me to ask what is your occupation in life—in time of +peace, I mean?” + +“You talk like a tax-gatherer,” rejoined Allen, squinting diabolically +at him; “what is my occupation in life? Why, in my younger days I +studied divinity, but at present I am a conjurer by profession.” + +Hereupon everybody laughed, equally at the manner as the words, and the +nettled farmer retorted: + +“Conjurer, eh? well, you conjured wrong that time you were taken.” + +“Not so wrong, though, as you British did, that time I took +Ticonderoga, my friend.” + +At this juncture the servant came with the punch, when his master bade +him present it to the captive. + +“No!—give it me, sir, with your own hands, and pledge me as gentleman +to gentleman.” + +“I cannot pledge a state-prisoner, Colonel Allen; but I will hand you +the punch with my own hands, since you insist upon it.” + +“Spoken and done like a true gentleman, sir; I am bound to you.” + +Then receiving the bowl into his gyved hands, the iron ringing against +the china, he put it to his lips, and saying, “I hereby give the +British nation credit for half a minute’s good usage,” at one draught +emptied it to the bottom. + +“The rebel gulps it down like a swilling hog at a trough,” here scoffed +a lusty private of the guard, off duty. + +“Shame to you!” cried the giver of the bowl. + +“Nay, sir; his red coat is a standing blush to him, as it is to the +whole scarlet-blushing British army.” Then turning derisively upon the +private: “You object to my way of taking things, do ye? I fear I shall +never please ye. You objected to the way, too, in which I took +Ticonderoga, and the way in which I meant to take Montreal. Selah! But +pray, now that I look at you, are not you the hero I caught dodging +round, in his shirt, in the cattle-pen, inside the fort? It was the +break of day, you remember.” + +“Come, Yankee,” here swore the incensed private; “cease this, or I’ll +darn your old fawn-skins for ye with the flat of this sword;” for a +specimen, laying it lashwise, but not heavily, across the captive’s +back. + +Turning like a tiger, the giant, catching the steel between his teeth, +wrenched it from the private’s grasp, and striking it with his +manacles, sent it spinning like a juggler’s dagger into the air, +saying, “Lay your dirty coward’s iron on a tied gentleman again, and +these,” lifting his handcuffed fists, “shall be the beetle of mortality +to you!” + +The now furious soldier would have struck him with all his force, but +several men of the town interposed, reminding him that it were +outrageous to attack a chained captive. + +“Ah,” said Allen, “I am accustomed to that, and therefore I am +beforehand with them; and the extremity of what I say against Britain, +is not meant for you, kind friends, but for my insulters, present and +to come.” Then recognizing among the interposers the giver of the bowl, +he turned with a courteous bow, saying, “Thank you again and again, my +good sir; you may not be the worse for this; ours is an unstable world; +so that one gentleman never knows when it may be his turn to be helped +of another.” + +But the soldier still making a riot, and the commotion growing general, +a superior officer stepped up, who terminated the scene by remanding +the prisoner to his cell, dismissing the townspeople, with all +strangers, Israel among the rest, and closing the castle gates after +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL’S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE +WILDERNESS. + + +Among the episodes of the Revolutionary War, none is stranger than that +of Ethan Allen in England; the event and the man being equally +uncommon. + +Allen seems to have been a curious combination of a Hercules, a Joe +Miller, a Bayard, and a Tom Hyer; had a person like the Belgian giants; +mountain music in him like a Swiss; a heart plump as Coeur de Lion’s. +Though born in New England, he exhibited no trace of her character. He +was frank, bluff, companionable as a Pagan, convivial, a Roman, hearty +as a harvest. His spirit was essentially Western; and herein is his +peculiar Americanism; for the Western spirit is, or will yet be (for no +other is, or can be), the true American one. + +For the most part, Allen’s manner while in England was scornful and +ferocious in the last degree; however, qualified by that wild, heroic +sort of levity, which in the hour of oppression or peril seems +inseparable from a nature like his; the mode whereby such a temper best +evinces its barbaric disdain of adversity, and how cheaply and +waggishly it holds the malice, even though triumphant, of its foes! +Aside from that inevitable egotism relatively pertaining to pine trees, +spires, and giants, there were, perhaps, two special incidental reasons +for the Titanic Vermonter’s singular demeanor abroad. Taken captive +while heading a forlorn hope before Montreal, he was treated with +inexcusable cruelty and indignity; something as if he had fallen into +the hands of the Dyaks. Immediately upon his capture he would have been +deliberately suffered to have been butchered by the Indian allies in +cold blood on the spot, had he not, with desperate intrepidity, availed +himself of his enormous physical strength, by twitching a British +officer to him, and using him for a living target, whirling him round +and round against the murderous tomahawks of the savages. Shortly +afterwards, led into the town, fenced about by bayonets of the guard, +the commander of the enemy, one Colonel McCloud, flourished his cane +over the captive’s head, with brutal insults promising him a rebel’s +halter at Tyburn. During his passage to England in the same ship +wherein went passenger Colonel Guy Johnson, the implacable tory, he was +kept heavily ironed in the hold, and in all ways treated as a common +mutineer; or, it may be, rather as a lion of Asia; which, though caged, +was still too dreadful to behold without fear and trembling, and +consequent cruelty. And no wonder, at least for the fear; for on one +occasion, when chained hand and foot, he was insulted on shipboard by +an officer; with his teeth he twisted off the nail that went through +the mortise of his handcuffs, and so, having his arms at liberty, +challenged his insulter to combat. Often, as at Pendennis Castle, when +no other avengement was at hand, he would hurl on his foes such howling +tempests of anathema as fairly to shock them into retreat. Prompted by +somewhat similar motives, both on shipboard and in England, he would +often make the most vociferous allusions to Ticonderoga, and the part +he played in its capture, well knowing, that of all American names, +Ticonderoga was, at that period, by far the most famous and galling to +Englishmen. + +Parlor-men, dancing-masters, the graduates of the Albe Bellgarde, may +shrug their laced shoulders at the boisterousness of Allen in England. +True, he stood upon no punctilios with his jailers; for where modest +gentlemanhood is all on one side, it is a losing affair; as if my Lord +Chesterfield should take off his hat, and smile, and bow, to a mad +bull, in hopes of a reciprocation of politeness. When among wild +beasts, if they menace you, be a wild beast. Neither is it unlikely +that this was the view taken by Allen. For, besides the exasperating +tendency to self-assertion which such treatment as his must have bred +on a man like him, his experience must have taught him, that by +assuming the part of a jocular, reckless, and even braggart barbarian, +he would better sustain himself against bullying turnkeys than by +submissive quietude. Nor should it be forgotten, that besides the petty +details of personal malice, the enemy violated every international +usage of right and decency, in treating a distinguished prisoner of war +as if he had been a Botany-Bay convict. If, at the present day, in any +similar case between the same States, the repetition of such outrages +would be more than unlikely, it is only because it is among nations as +among individuals: imputed indigence provokes oppression and scorn; but +that same indigence being risen to opulence, receives a politic +consideration even from its former insulters. + +As the event proved, in the course Allen pursued, he was right. +Because, though at first nothing was talked of by his captors, and +nothing anticipated by himself, but his ignominious execution, or at +the least, prolonged and squalid incarceration, nevertheless, these +threats and prospects evaporated, and by his facetious scorn for scorn, +under the extremest sufferings, he finally wrung repentant usage from +his foes; and in the end, being liberated from his irons, and walking +the quarter-deck where before he had been thrust into the hold, was +carried back to America, and in due time, at New York, honorably +included in a regular exchange of prisoners. + +It was not without strange interest that Israel had been an eye-witness +of the scenes on the Castle Green. Neither was this interest abated by +the painful necessity of concealing, for the present, from his brave +countryman and fellow-mountaineer, the fact of a friend being nigh. +When at last the throng was dismissed, walking towards the town with +the rest, he heard that there were some forty or more Americans, +privates, confined on the cliff. Upon this, inventing a pretence, he +turned back, loitering around the walls for any chance glimpse of the +captives. Presently, while looking up at a grated embrasure in the +tower, he started at a voice from it familiarly hailing him: + +“Potter, is that you? In God’s name how came you here?” + +At these words, a sentry below had his eye on our astonished +adventurer. Bringing his piece to bear, he bade him stand. Next moment +Israel was under arrest. Being brought into the presence of the forty +prisoners, where they lay in litters of mouldy straw, strewn with +gnawed bones, as in a kennel, he recognized among them one Singles, now +Sergeant Singles, the man who, upon our hero’s return home from his +last Cape Horn voyage, he had found wedded to his mountain Jenny. +Instantly a rush of emotions filled him. Not as when Damon found +Pythias. But far stranger, because very different. For not only had +this Singles been an alien to Israel (so far as actual intercourse +went), but impelled to it by instinct, Israel had all but detested him, +as a successful, and perhaps insidious rival. Nor was it altogether +unlikely that Singles had reciprocated the feeling. But now, as if the +Atlantic rolled, not between two continents, but two worlds—this, and +the next—these alien souls, oblivious to hate, melted down into one. + +At such a juncture, it was hard to maintain a disguise, especially when +it involved the seeming rejection of advances like the Sergeant’s. +Still, converting his real amazement into affected surprise, Israel, in +presence of the sentries, declared to Singles that he (Singles) must +labor under some unaccountable delusion; for he (Potter) was no Yankee +rebel, thank Heaven, but a true man to his king; in short, an honest +Englishman, born in Kent, and now serving his country, and doing what +damage he might to her foes, by being first captain of a carronade on +board a letter of marque, that moment in the harbor. + +For a moment the captive stood astounded, but observing Israel more +narrowly, detecting his latent look, and bethinking him of the useless +peril he had thoughtlessly caused to a countryman, no doubt unfortunate +as himself, Singles took his cue, and pretending sullenly to apologize +for his error, put on a disappointed and crest-fallen air. +Nevertheless, it was not without much difficulty, and after many +supplemental scrutinies and inquisitions from a board of officers +before whom he was subsequently brought, that our wanderer was finally +permitted to quit the cliff. + +This luckless adventure not only nipped in the bud a little scheme he +had been revolving, for materially befriending Ethan Allen and his +comrades, but resulted in making his further stay at Falmouth perilous +in the extreme. And as if this were not enough, next day, while hanging +over the side, painting the hull, in trepidation of a visit from the +castle soldiers, rumor came to the ship that the man-of-war in the +haven purposed impressing one-third of the letter of marque’s crew; +though, indeed, the latter vessel was preparing for a second cruise. +Being on board a private armed ship, Israel had little dreamed of its +liability to the same governmental hardships with the meanest +merchantman. But the system of impressment is no respecter either of +pity or person. + +His mind was soon determined. Unlike his shipmates, braving immediate +and lonely hazard, rather than wait for a collective and ultimate one, +he cunningly dropped himself overboard the same night, and after the +narrowest risk from the muskets of the man-of-war’s sentries (whose +gangways he had to pass), succeeded in swimming to shore, where he fell +exhausted, but recovering, fled inland, doubly hunted by the thought, +that whether as an Englishman, or whether as an American, he would, if +caught, be now equally subject to enslavement. + +Shortly after the break of day, having gained many miles, he succeeded +in ridding himself of his seaman’s clothing, having found some mouldy +old rags on the banks of a stagnant pond, nigh a rickety building, +which looked like a poorhouse—clothing not improbably, as he surmised, +left there on the bank by some pauper suicide. Marvel not that he +should with avidity seize these rags; what the suicides abandon, the +living hug. + +Once more in beggar’s garb, the fugitive sped towards London, prompted +by the same instinct which impels the hunted fox to the wilderness; for +solitudes befriend the endangered wild beast, but crowds are the +security, because the true desert, of persecuted man. Among the things +of the capital, Israel for more than forty years was yet to disappear, +as one entering at dusk into a thick wood. Nor did ever the German +forest, nor Tasso’s enchanted one, contain in its depths more things of +horror than eventually were revealed in the secret clefts, gulfs, caves +and dens of London. + +But here we anticipate a page. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +ISRAEL IN EGYPT. + + +It was a gray, lowering afternoon that, worn out, half starved, and +haggard, Israel arrived within some ten or fifteen miles of London, and +saw scores and scores of forlorn men engaged in a great brickyard. + +For the most part, brickmaking is all mud and mire. Where, abroad, the +business is carried on largely, as to supply the London market, hordes +of the poorest wretches are employed, their grimy tatters naturally +adapting them to an employ where cleanliness is as much out of the +question as with a drowned man at the bottom of the lake in the Dismal +Swamp. + +Desperate with want, Israel resolved to turn brickmaker, nor did he +fear to present himself as a stranger, nothing doubting that to such a +vocation his rags would be accounted the best letters of introduction. + +To be brief, he accosted one of the many surly overseers, or +taskmasters of the yard, who, with no few pompous airs, finally engaged +him at six shillings a week, almost equivalent to a dollar and a half. +He was appointed to one of the mills for grinding up the ingredients. +This mill stood in the open air. It was of a rude, primitive, Eastern +aspect, consisting of a sort of hopper, emptying into a barrel-shaped +receptacle. In the barrel was a clumsy machine turned round at its axis +by a great bent beam, like a well-sweep, only it was horizontal; to +this beam, at its outer end, a spavined old horse was attached. The +muddy mixture was shovelled into the hopper by spavined-looking old +men, while, trudging wearily round and round, the spavined old horse +ground it all up till it slowly squashed out at the bottom of the +barrel, in a doughy compound, all ready for the moulds. Where the dough +squeezed out of the barrel a pit was sunken, so as to bring the moulder +here stationed down to a level with the trough, into which the dough +fell. Israel was assigned to this pit. Men came to him continually, +reaching down rude wooden trays, divided into compartments, each of the +size and shape of a brick. With a flat sort of big ladle, Israel +slapped the dough into the trays from the trough; then, with a bit of +smooth board, scraped the top even, and handed it up. Half buried there +in the pit, all the time handing those desolate trays, poor Israel +seemed some gravedigger, or churchyard man, tucking away dead little +innocents in their coffins on one side, and cunningly disinterring them +again to resurrectionists stationed on the other. + +Twenty of these melancholy old mills were in operation. Twenty +heartbroken old horses, rigged out deplorably in cast-off old cart +harness, incessantly tugged at twenty great shaggy beams; while from +twenty half-burst old barrels, twenty wads of mud, with a lava-like +course, gouged out into twenty old troughs, to be slapped by twenty +tattered men into the twenty-times-twenty battered old trays. + +Ere entering his pit for the first, Israel had been struck by the +dismally devil-may-care gestures of the moulders. But hardly had he +himself been a moulder three days, when his previous sedateness of +concern at his unfortunate lot, began to conform to the reckless sort +of half jolly despair expressed by the others. The truth indeed was, +that this continual, violent, helter-skelter slapping of the dough into +the moulds, begat a corresponding disposition in the moulder, who, by +heedlessly slapping that sad dough, as stuff of little worth, was +thereby taught, in his meditations, to slap, with similar heedlessness, +his own sadder fortunes, as of still less vital consideration. To these +muddy philosophers, men and bricks were equally of clay. “What +signifies who we be—dukes or ditchers?” thought the moulders; “all is +vanity and clay.” + +So slap, slap, slap, care-free and negligent, with bitter unconcern, +these dismal desperadoes flapped down the dough. If this recklessness +were vicious of them, be it so; but their vice was like that weed which +but grows on barren ground; enrich the soil, and it disappears. + +For thirteen weary weeks, lorded over by the taskmaster, Israel toiled +in his pit. Though this condemned him to a sort of earthy dungeon, or +gravedigger’s hole, while he worked, yet even when liberated to his +meals, naught of a cheery nature greeted him. The yard was encamped, +with all its endless rows of tented sheds, and kilns, and mills, upon a +wild waste moor, belted round by bogs and fens. The blank horizon, like +a rope, coiled round the whole. + +Sometimes the air was harsh and bleak; the ridged and mottled sky +looked scourged, or cramping fogs set in from sea, for leagues around, +ferreting out each rheumatic human bone, and racking it; the sciatic +limpers shivered; their aguish rags sponged up the mists. No shelter, +though it hailed. The sheds were for the bricks. Unless, indeed, +according to the phrase, each man was a “brick,” which, in sober +scripture, was the case; brick is no bad name for any son of Adam; Eden +was but a brickyard; what is a mortal but a few luckless shovelfuls of +clay, moulded in a mould, laid out on a sheet to dry, and ere long +quickened into his queer caprices by the sun? Are not men built into +communities just like bricks into a wall? Consider the great wall of +China: ponder the great populace of Pekin. As man serves bricks, so God +him, building him up by billions into edifices of his purposes. Man +attains not to the nobility of a brick, unless taken in the aggregate. +Yet is there a difference in brick, whether quick or dead; which, for +the last, we now shall see. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +CONTINUED. + + +All night long, men sat before the mouth of the kilns, feeding them +with fuel. A dull smoke—a smoke of their torments—went up from their +tops. It was curious to see the kilns under the action of the fire, +gradually changing color, like boiling lobsters. When, at last, the +fires would be extinguished, the bricks being duly baked, Israel often +took a peep into the low vaulted ways at the base, where the flaming +fagots had crackled. The bricks immediately lining the vaults would be +all burnt to useless scrolls, black as charcoal, and twisted into +shapes the most grotesque; the next tier would be a little less +withered, but hardly fit for service; and gradually, as you went higher +and higher along the successive layers of the kiln, you came to the +midmost ones, sound, square, and perfect bricks, bringing the highest +prices; from these the contents of the kiln gradually deteriorated in +the opposite direction, upward. But the topmost layers, though inferior +to the best, by no means presented the distorted look of the +furnace-bricks. The furnace-bricks were haggard, with the immediate +blistering of the fire—the midmost ones were ruddy with a genial and +tempered glow—the summit ones were pale with the languor of too +exclusive an exemption from the burden of the blaze. + +These kilns were a sort of temporary temples constructed in the yard, +each brick being set against its neighbor almost with the care taken by +the mason. But as soon as the fire was extinguished, down came the kiln +in a tumbled ruin, carted off to London, once more to be set up in +ambitious edifices, to a true brickyard philosopher, little less +transient than the kilns. + +Sometimes, lading out his dough, Israel could not but bethink him of +what seemed enigmatic in his fate. He whom love of country made a hater +of her foes—the foreigners among whom he now was thrown—he who, as +soldier and sailor, had joined to kill, burn and destroy both them and +theirs—here he was at last, serving that very people as a slave, better +succeeding in making their bricks than firing their ships. To think +that he should be thus helping, with all his strength, to extend the +walls of the Thebes of the oppressor, made him half mad. Poor Israel! +well-named—bondsman in the English Egypt. But he drowned the thought by +still more recklessly spattering with his ladle: “What signifies who we +be, or where we are, or what we do?” Slap-dash! “Kings as clowns are +codgers—who ain’t a nobody?” Splash! “All is vanity and clay.” + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +IN THE CITY OF DIS. + + +At the end of his brickmaking, our adventurer found himself with a +tolerable suit of clothes—somewhat darned—on his back, several +blood-blisters in his palms, and some verdigris coppers in his pocket. +Forthwith, to seek his fortune, he proceeded on foot to the capital, +entering, like the king, from Windsor, from the Surrey side. + +It was late on a Monday morning, in November—a Blue Monday—a Fifth of +November—Guy Fawkes’ Day!—very blue, foggy, doleful and gunpowdery, +indeed, as shortly will be seen, that Israel found himself wedged in +among the greatest everyday crowd which grimy London presents to the +curious stranger: that hereditary crowd—gulf-stream of humanity—which, +for continuous centuries, has never ceased pouring, like an endless +shoal of herring, over London Bridge. + +At the period here written of, the bridge, specifically known by that +name, was a singular and sombre pile, built by a cowled monk—Peter of +Colechurch—some five hundred years before. Its arches had long been +crowded at the sides with strange old rookeries of disproportioned and +toppling height, converting the bridge at once into the most densely +occupied ward and most jammed thoroughfare of the town, while, as the +skulls of bullocks are hung out for signs to the gateways of shambles, +so the withered heads and smoked quarters of traitors, stuck on pikes, +long crowned the Southwark entrance. + +Though these rookeries, with their grisly heraldry, had been pulled +down some twenty years prior to the present visit, still enough of +grotesque and antiquity clung to the structure at large to render it +the most striking of objects, especially to one like our hero, born in +a virgin clime, where the only antiquities are the forever youthful +heavens and the earth. + +On his route from Brentford to Paris, Israel had passed through the +capital, but only as a courier; so that now, for the first time, he had +time to linger, and loiter, and lounge—slowly absorb what he +saw—meditate himself into boundless amazement. For forty years he never +recovered from that surprise—never, till dead, had done with his +wondering. + +Hung in long, sepulchral arches of stone, the black, besmoked bridge +seemed a huge scarf of crape, festooning the river across. Similar +funeral festoons spanned it to the west, while eastward, towards the +sea, tiers and tiers of jetty colliers lay moored, side by side, fleets +of black swans. + +The Thames, which far away, among the green fields of Berks, ran clear +as a brook, here, polluted by continual vicinity to man, curdled on +between rotten wharves, one murky sheet of sewerage. Fretted by the +ill-built piers, awhile it crested and hissed, then shot balefully +through the Erebus arches, desperate as the lost souls of the harlots, +who, every night, took the same plunge. Meantime, here and there, like +awaiting hearses, the coal-scows drifted along, poled broadside, +pell-mell to the current. + +And as that tide in the water swept all craft on, so a like tide seemed +hurrying all men, all horses, all vehicles on the land. As ant-hills, +the bridge arches crawled with processions of carts, coaches, drays, +every sort of wheeled, rumbling thing, the noses of the horses behind +touching the backs of the vehicles in advance, all bespattered with +ebon mud—ebon mud that stuck like Jews’ pitch. At times the mass, +receiving some mysterious impulse far in the rear, away among the +coiled thoroughfares out of sight, would, start forward with a +spasmodic surge. It seemed as if some squadron of centaurs, on the +thither side of Phlegethon, with charge on charge, was driving +tormented humanity, with all its chattels, across. + +Whichever way the eye turned, no tree, no speck of any green thing was +seen—no more than in smithies. All laborers, of whatsoever sort, were +hued like the men in foundries. The black vistas of streets were as the +galleries in coal mines; the flagging, as flat tomb-stones, minus the +consecration of moss, and worn heavily down, by sorrowful tramping, as +the vitreous rocks in the cursed Gallipagos, over which the convict +tortoises crawl. + +As in eclipses, the sun was hidden; the air darkened; the whole dull, +dismayed aspect of things, as if some neighboring volcano, belching its +premonitory smoke, were about to whelm the great town, as Herculaneum +and Pompeii, or the Cities of the Plain. And as they had been upturned +in terror towards the mountain, all faces were more or less snowed or +spotted with soot. Nor marble, nor flesh, nor the sad spirit of man, +may in this cindery City of Dis abide white. + +As retired at length, midway, in a recess of the bridge, Israel +surveyed them, various individual aspects all but frighted him. Knowing +not who they were; never destined, it may be, to behold them again; one +after the other, they drifted by, uninvoked ghosts in Hades. Some of +the wayfarers wore a less serious look; some seemed hysterically merry; +but the mournful faces had an earnestness not seen in the others: +because man, “poor player,” succeeds better in life’s tragedy than +comedy. + +Arrived, in the end, on the Middlesex side, Israel’s heart was +prophetically heavy; foreknowing, that being of this race, felicity +could never be his lot. + +For five days he wandered and wandered. Without leaving statelier +haunts unvisited, he did not overlook those broader areas—hereditary +parks and manors of vice and misery. Not by constitution disposed to +gloom, there was a mysteriousness in those impulses which led him at +this time to rovings like these. But hereby stoic influences were at +work, to fit him at a soon-coming day for enacting a part in the last +extremities here seen; when by sickness, destitution, each busy ill of +exile, he was destined to experience a fate, uncommon even to luckless +humanity—a fate whose crowning qualities were its remoteness from +relief and its depth of obscurity—London, adversity, and the sea, three +Armageddons, which, at one and the same time, slay and secrete their +victims. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +FORTY-FIVE YEARS. + + +For the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings +in the London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural +wilderness of the outcast Hebrews under Moses. + +In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but +no pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, +two hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the +stone base, the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down. + +But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were +necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme +suffering, without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, +is its depiction without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The +gloomiest and truthfulest dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the +calamities, however extraordinary, of inferior and private persons; +least of all, the pauper’s; admonished by the fact, that to the craped +palace of the king lying in state, thousands of starers shall throng; +but few feel enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed knuckle-bone, +grins the unupholstered corpse of the beggar. + +Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder +street? What plebeian Lear or Oedipus, what Israel Potter, cowers there +by the corner they shun? From this turning point, then, we too cross +over and skim events to the end; omitting the particulars of the +starveling’s wrangling with rats for prizes in the sewers; or his +crawling into an abandoned doorless house in St. Giles’, where his +hosts were three dead men, one pendant; into another of an alley nigh +Houndsditch, where the crazy hovel, in phosphoric rottenness, fell +sparkling on him one pitchy midnight, and he received that injury, +which, excluding activity for no small part of the future, was an added +cause of his prolongation of exile, besides not leaving his faculties +unaffected by the concussion of one of the rafters on his brain. + +But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning of +his career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended him +for a time; insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being able +to buy his homeward passage so soon as the war should end. But, as +stubborn fate would have it, being run over one day at Holborn Bars, +and taken into a neighboring bakery, he was there treated with such +kindliness by a Kentish lass, the shop-girl, that in the end he thought +his debt of gratitude could only be repaid by love. In a word, the +money saved up for his ocean voyage was lavished upon a rash +embarkation in wedlock. + +Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the dilemma of +impressment or imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread +of those hardships would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, +when hostilities were no more, so was his money. Some period elapsed +ere the affairs of the two governments were put on such a footing as to +support an American consul at London. Yet, when this came to pass, he +could only embrace the facilities for a return here furnished, by +deserting a wife and child, wedded and born in the enemy’s land. + +The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with +hordes of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, or +turn highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping coaches +at times in the most public streets), would work for such a pittance as +to bring down the wages of all the laboring classes. Neither was our +adventurer the least among the sufferers. Driven out of his previous +employ—a sort of porter in a river-side warehouse—by this sudden influx +of rivals, destitute, honest men like himself, with the ingenuity of +his race, he turned his hand to the village art of chair-bottoming. An +itinerant, he paraded the streets with the cry of “Old chairs to mend!” +furnishing a curious illustration of the contradictions of human life; +that he who did little but trudge, should be giving cosy seats to all +the rest of the world. Meantime, according to another well-known +Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family increased. In all, +eleven children were born to him in certain sixpenny garrets in +Moorfields. One after the other, ten were buried. + +When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That +business being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, +bits of paper, nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. +From the gutter he slid to the sewer. The slope was smooth. In +poverty—“Facilis descensus Averni.” + +But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of +Avernus before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for +company. + +But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. In +1793 war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London of +some of its superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean +society of his friends, the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering +forlorn through the black kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about +sea prisoners in hulks, and listen to stories of the Black Hole of +Calcutta; and often would meet other pairs of poor soldiers, perfect +strangers, at the more public corners and intersections of sewers—the +Charing-Crosses below; one soldier having the other by his remainder +button, earnestly discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or +the tide; while through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty +skylights of the realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers’ carts, +with splashes of the flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city +lived. + +Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel +returned to chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden +market, at early morning, for the purchase of his flags, that he +experienced one of the strange alleviations hinted of above. That +chatting with the ruddy, aproned, hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks +yet trickled the dew of the dawn on the meadows; that being surrounded +by bales of hay, as the raker by cocks and ricks in the field; those +glimpses of garden produce, the blood-beets, with the damp earth still +tufting the roots; that mere handling of his flags, and bethinking him +of whence they must have come, the green hedges through which the wagon +that brought them had passed; that trudging home with them as a gleaner +with his sheaf of wheat;—all this was inexpressibly grateful. In want +and bitterness, pent in, perforce, between dingy walls, he had rural +returns of his boyhood’s sweeter days among them; and the hardest +stones of his solitary heart (made hard by bare endurance alone) would +feel the stir of tender but quenchless memories, like the grass of +deserted flagging, upsprouting through its closest seams. Sometimes, +when incited by some little incident, however trivial in itself, +thoughts of home would—either by gradually working and working upon +him, or else by an impetuous rush of recollection—overpower him for a +time to a sort of hallucination. + +Thus was it:—One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he +was employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the +sward in an oval enclosure within St. James’ Park, a little green but a +three-minutes’ walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked and +grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to the +public resort on whose borders it stands. It was a little oval, fenced +in with iron pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure peered +forth, as some wild captive creature of the woods from its cage. And +alien Israel there—at times staring dreamily about him—seemed like some +amazed runaway steer, or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded on the +shores of Narraganset Bay, long ago; and back to New England our exile +was called in his soul. For still working, and thinking of home; and +thinking of home, and working amid the verdant quietude of this little +oasis, one rapt thought begat another, till at last his mind settled +intensely, and yet half humorously, upon the image of Old Huckleberry, +his mother’s favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, hearing a +sudden scraping noise (some hob-shoe without, against the iron +pailing), he insanely took it to be Old Huckleberry in his stall, +hailing him (Israel) with his shod fore-foot clattering against the +planks—his customary trick when hungry—and so, down goes Israel’s hook, +and with a tuft of white clover, impulsively snatched, he hurries away +a few paces in obedience to the imaginary summons. But soon stopping +midway, and forlornly gazing round at the enclosure, he bethought him +that a far different oval, the great oval of the ocean, must be crossed +ere his crazy errand could be done; and even then, Old Huckleberry +would be found long surfeited with clover, since, doubtless, being dead +many a summer, he must be buried beneath it. And many years after, in a +far different part of the town, and in far less winsome weather too, +passing with his bundle of flags through Red-Cross street, towards +Barbican, in a fog so dense that the dimmed and massed blocks of +houses, exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy ranges on ranges of +midnight hills, he heard a confused pastoral sort of sounds—tramplings, +lowings, halloos—and was suddenly called to by a voice to head off +certain cattle, bound to Smithfield, bewildered and unruly in the fog. +Next instant he saw the white face—white as an orange-blossom—of a +black-bodied steer, in advance of the drove, gleaming ghost-like +through the vapors; and presently, forgetting his limp, with rapid +shout and gesture, he was more eager, even than the troubled farmers, +their owners, in driving the riotous cattle back into Barbican. +Monomaniac reminiscences were in him—“To the right, to the right!” he +shouted, as, arrived at the street corner, the farmers beat the drove +to the left, towards Smithfield: “To the right! you are driving them +back to the pastures—to the right! that way lies the barn-yard!” +“Barn-yard?” cried a voice; “you are dreaming, old man.” And so, +Israel, now an old man, was bewitched by the mirage of vapors; he had +dreamed himself home into the mists of the Housatonic mountains; ruddy +boy on the upland pastures again. But how different the flat, +apathetic, dead, London fog now seemed from those agile mists which, +goat-like, climbed the purple peaks, or in routed armies of phantoms, +broke down, pell-mell, dispersed in flight upon the plain, leaving the +cattle-boy loftily alone, clear-cut as a balloon against the sky. + +In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again +drifting its discharged soldiers on London, so that all kinds of labor +were overstocked. Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. +Timber-toed cripples stilted along, numerous as French peasants in +_sabots_. And, as thirty years before, on all sides, the exile had +heard the supplicatory cry, not addressed to him, “An honorable scar, +your honor, received at Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Trenton, fighting +for his most gracious Majesty, King George!” so now, in presence of the +still surviving Israel, our Wandering Jew, the amended cry was anew +taken up, by a succeeding generation of unfortunates, “An honorable +scar, your honor, received at Corunna, or at Waterloo, or at +Trafalgar!” Yet not a few of these petitioners had never been outside +of the London smoke; a sort of crafty aristocracy in their way, who, +without having endangered their own persons much if anything, reaped no +insignificant share both of the glory and profit of the bloody battles +they claimed; while some of the genuine working heroes, too brave to +beg, too cut-up to work, and too poor to live, laid down quietly in +corners and died. And here it may be noted, as a fact nationally +characteristic, that however desperately reduced at times, even to the +sewers, Israel, the American, never sunk below the mud, to actual +beggary. + +Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by the +added thousands who contended with him against starvation, +nevertheless, somehow he continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks +of the cliffs, which, though hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and +even wantonly maimed by the passing woodman, still, however cramped by +rival trees and fettered by rocks, succeed, against all odds, in +keeping the vital nerve of the tap-root alive. And even towards the +end, in his dismallest December, our veteran could still at intervals +feel a momentary warmth in his topmost boughs. In his Moorfields’ +garret, over a handful of reignited cinders (which the night before +might have warmed some lord), cinders raked up from the streets, he +would drive away dolor, by talking with his one only surviving, and now +motherless child—the spared Benjamin of his old age—of the far Canaan +beyond the sea; rehearsing to the lad those well-remembered adventures +among New England hills, and painting scenes of rustling happiness and +plenty, in which the lowliest shared. And here, shadowy as it was, was +the second alleviation hinted of above. + +To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who +had been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night +after night, as to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his +father take him there? “Some day to come, my boy,” would be the hopeful +response of an unhoping heart. And “Would God it were to-morrow!” would +be the impassioned reply. + +In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual +return. For with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his +entailed misery, by compassing for his father and himself a voyage to +the Promised Land. By his persevering efforts he succeeded at last, +against every obstacle, in gaining credit in the right quarter to his +extraordinary statements. In short, charitably stretching a technical +point, the American Consul finally saw father and son embarked in the +Thames for Boston. + +It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, +had sailed a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which +he now was bound. An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed +locks besnowed as its foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +REQUIESCAT IN PACE. + + +It happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock on +a Fourth of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the +riotous crowd near Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run +over by a patriotic triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered +banner, inscribed with gilt letters: + +“BUNKER-HILL + +1775. + +GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!” + +It was on Copps’ Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy’s +positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose +that day. Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked off +across Charles River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient +monument, at that period, was hard to see, as a struggling sprig of +corn in a chilly spring. Upon those heights, fifty years before, his +now feeble hands had wielded both ends of the musket. There too he had +received that slit upon the chest, which afterwards, in the affair with +the Serapis, being traversed by a cutlass wound, made him now the +bescarred bearer of a cross. + +For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry July +day was waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising to +return to the lodging for the present assigned them by the +ship-captain. “Nay,” replied the old man, “I shall get no fitter rest +than here by the mounds.” + +But from this true “Potter’s Field,” the boy at length drew him away; +and encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the +reassembled passengers, father and son started by stage for the country +of the Housatonie. But the exile’s presence in these old mountain +townships proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew +him, nor could recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that +more than thirty years previous, the last known survivor of his family +in that region, a bachelor, following the example of three-fourths of +his neighbors, had sold out and removed to a distant country in the +west; where exactly, none could say. + +He sought to get a glimpse of his father’s homestead. But it had been +burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, +he next went to find the site. But the roads had years before been +changed. The old road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran +straight through what had formerly been orchards. But new orchards, +planted from other suckers, and in time grafted, throve on sunny slopes +near by, where blackberries had once been picked by the bushel. At +length he came to a field waving with buckwheat. It seemed one of those +fields which himself had often reaped. But it turned out, upon inquiry, +that but three summers since a walnut grove had stood there. Then he +vaguely remembered that his father had sometimes talked of planting +such a grove, to defend the neighboring fields against the cold north +wind; yet where precisely that grove was to have been, his shattered +mind could not recall. But it seemed not unlikely that during his long +exile, the walnut grove had been planted and harvested, as well as the +annual crops preceding and succeeding it, on the very same soil. + +Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural wood, +which seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to contemplate +a strange, mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy beech. +Though wherever touched by his staff, however lightly, this pile would +crumble, yet here and there, even in powder, it preserved the exact +look, each irregularly defined line, of what it had originally +been—namely, a half-cord of stout hemlock (one of the woods least +affected by exposure to the air), in a foregoing generation chopped and +stacked up on the spot, against sledging-time, but, as sometimes +happens in such cases, by subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious +decay—type now, as it stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and +a long life still rotting in early mishap. + +“Do I dream?” mused the bewildered old man, “or what is this vision +that comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I +heaving yon elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I +cannot be so old.” + +“Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood,” said his son, and led +him forth. + +Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing +slowly, the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, +like a tumbled chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire- place, now +aridly stuck over here and there, with thin, clinging, round, +prohibitory mosses, like executors’ wafers. Just as the oxen were bid +stand, the stranger’s plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden +contact with some sunken stone at the ruin’s base. + +“There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old +hearthstone. Ah, old man,—sultry day, this.” + +“Whose house stood here, friend?” said the wanderer, touching the +half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it. + +“Don’t know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You know +’em?” + +But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious +natural bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs. + +“What are you looking at so, father?” + +“‘_Father_!’ Here,” raking with his staff, “_my_ father would sit, and +here, my mother, and here I, little infant, would totter between, even +as now, once again, on the very same spot, but in the unroofed air, I +do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend.” + +Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close. + +Few things remain. + +He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. +His scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record +of his fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print—himself out of +being—his name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak +on his native hills was blown down. + +THE END. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Israel Potter</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Herman Melville</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 20, 2005 [eBook #15422]<br /> +[Most recently updated: June 15, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER ***</div> + +<h1>ISRAEL POTTER</h1> + +<h3>His Fifty Years of Exile</h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">By Herman Melville</h2> + +<h3>1855</h3> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h3>DEDICATION</h3> + +<h3>TO<br/> +HIS HIGHNESS<br/> +THE<br/> +Bunker-Hill Monument</h3> + +<p> +Biography, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true and +brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue—one given and +received in entire disinterestedness—since neither can the biographer +hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at all avail himself +of the biographical distinction conferred. +</p> + +<p> +Israel Potter well merits the present tribute—a private of Bunker Hill, +who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still deeper privacy +under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default of any during life, +annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses and sward. +</p> + +<p> +I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of your Highness, +because, with a change in the grammatical person, it preserves, almost as in a +reprint, Israel Potter’s autobiographical story. Shortly after his return +in infirm old age to his native land, a little narrative of his adventures, +forlornly published on sleazy gray paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, +probably, not by himself, but taken down from his lips by another. But like the +crutch-marks of the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now +out of print. From a tattered copy, rescued by the merest chance from the +rag-pickers, the present account has been drawn, which, with the exception of +some expansions, and additions of historic and personal details, and one or two +shiftings of scene, may, perhaps, be not unfitly regarded something in the +light of a dilapidated old tombstone retouched. +</p> + +<p> +Well aware that in your Highness’ eyes the merit of the story must be in +its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, I forbore +anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and particularly towards the +end, though sorely tempted, durst not substitute for the allotment of +Providence any artistic recompense of poetical justice; so that no one can +complain of the gloom of my closing chapters more profoundly than myself. +</p> + +<p> +Such is the work, and such, the man, that I have the honor to present to your +Highness. That the name here noted should not have appeared in the volumes of +Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; but Israel Potter seems +purposely to have waited to make his, popular advent under the present exalted +patronage, seeing that your Highness, according to the definition above, may, +in the loftiest sense, be deemed the Great Biographer: the national +commemorator of such of the anonymous privates of June 17, 1775, who may never +have received other requital than the solid reward of your granite. +</p> + +<p> +Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on this +auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty congratulations on +the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, wishing your Highness +(though indeed your Highness be somewhat prematurely gray) many returns of the +same, and that each of its summer’s suns may shine as brightly on your +brow as each winter snow shall lightly rest on the grave of Israel Potter. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Your Highness’ <br/> +Most devoted and obsequious, <br/> +T<small>HE</small> E<small>DITOR</small>. +</p> + +<p> +J<small>UNE</small> 17th, 1854. +</p> + +<hr /> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"><b>ISRAEL POTTER</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0001">CHAPTER I. — THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0002">CHAPTER II. — THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0003">CHAPTER III. — ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE SEA INTO THE ENEMY’S LAND.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0004">CHAPTER IV. — FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT OF BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0005">CHAPTER V. — ISRAEL IN THE LION’S DEN.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0006">CHAPTER VI. — ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE “DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY,” THESE DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE CHANNEL.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0007">CHAPTER VII. — AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE PRESENCE OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0008">CHAPTER VIII. — WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0009">CHAPTER IX. — ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN QUARTER.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0010">CHAPTER X. — ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0011">CHAPTER XI. — PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0012">CHAPTER XII. — RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE’S ABODE—HIS ADVENTURES THERE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0013">CHAPTER XIII. — HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0014">CHAPTER XIV. — IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL IN ONE NIGHT.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0015">CHAPTER XV. — THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0016">CHAPTER XVI. — THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0017">CHAPTER XVII. — THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK’S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR DRAKE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0018">CHAPTER XVIII. — THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0019">CHAPTER XIX. — THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0020">CHAPTER XX. — THE SHUTTLE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0021">CHAPTER XXI. — SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0022">CHAPTER XXII. — SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL’S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE WILDERNESS.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0023">CHAPTER XXIII. — ISRAEL IN EGYPT.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0024">CHAPTER XXIV. — CONTINUED.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0025">CHAPTER XXV. — IN THE CITY OF DIS.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0026">CHAPTER XXVI. — FORTY-FIVE YEARS.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0027">CHAPTER XXVII. — REQUIESCAT IN PACE.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2H_4_0001"></a> +ISRAEL POTTER</h2> + +<h3>Fifty Years of Exile</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0001"></a> +CHAPTER I.<br/> +THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL.</h2> + +<p> +The traveller who at the present day is content to travel in the good old +Asiatic style, neither rushed along by a locomotive, nor dragged by a +stage-coach; who is willing to enjoy hospitalities at far-scattered farmhouses, +instead of paying his bill at an inn; who is not to be frightened by any amount +of loneliness, or to be deterred by the roughest roads or the highest hills; +such a traveller in the eastern part of Berkshire, Massachusetts, will find +ample food for poetic reflection in the singular scenery of a country, which, +owing to the ruggedness of the soil and its lying out of the track of all +public conveyances, remains almost as unknown to the general tourist as the +interior of Bohemia. +</p> + +<p> +Travelling northward from the township of Otis, the road leads for twenty or +thirty miles towards Windsor, lengthwise upon that long broken spur of heights +which the Green Mountains of Vermont send into Massachusetts. For nearly the +whole of the distance, you have the continual sensation of being upon some +terrace in the moon. The feeling of the plain or the valley is never yours; +scarcely the feeling of the earth. Unless by a sudden precipitation of the road +you find yourself plunging into some gorge, you pass on, and on, and on, upon +the crests or slopes of pastoral mountains, while far below, mapped out in its +beauty, the valley of the Housatonie lies endlessly along at your feet. Often, +as your horse gaining some lofty level tract, flat as a table, trots gayly over +the almost deserted and sodded road, and your admiring eye sweeps the broad +landscape beneath, you seem to be Bootes driving in heaven. Save a potato field +here and there, at long intervals, the whole country is either in wood or +pasture. Horses, cattle and sheep are the principal inhabitants of these +mountains. But all through the year lazy columns of smoke, rising from the +depths of the forest, proclaim the presence of that half-outlaw, the +charcoal-burner; while in early spring added curls of vapor show that the maple +sugar-boiler is also at work. But as for farming as a regular vocation, there +is not much of it here. At any rate, no man by that means accumulates a fortune +from this thin and rocky soil, all whose arable parts have long since been +nearly exhausted. +</p> + +<p> +Yet during the first settlement of the country, the region was not +unproductive. Here it was that the original settlers came, acting upon the +principle well known to have regulated their choice of site, namely, the high +land in preference to the low, as less subject to the unwholesome miasmas +generated by breaking into the rich valleys and alluvial bottoms of primeval +regions. By degrees, however, they quitted the safety of this sterile +elevation, to brave the dangers of richer though lower fields. So that, at the +present day, some of those mountain townships present an aspect of singular +abandonment. Though they have never known aught but peace and health, they, in +one lesser aspect at least, look like countries depopulated by plague and war. +Every mile or two a house is passed untenanted. The strength of the frame-work +of these ancient buildings enables them long to resist the encroachments of +decay. Spotted gray and green with the weather-stain, their timbers seem to +have lapsed back into their woodland original, forming part now of the general +picturesqueness of the natural scene. They are of extraordinary size, compared +with modern farmhouses. One peculiar feature is the immense chimney, of light +gray stone, perforating the middle of the roof like a tower. +</p> + +<p> +On all sides are seen the tokens of ancient industry. As stone abounds +throughout these mountains, that material was, for fences, as ready to the hand +as wood, besides being much more durable. Consequently the landscape is +intersected in all directions with walls of uncommon neatness and strength. +</p> + +<p> +The number and length of these walls is not more surprising than the size of +some of the blocks comprising them. The very Titans seemed to have been at +work. That so small an army as the first settlers must needs have been, should +have taken such wonderful pains to enclose so ungrateful a soil; that they +should have accomplished such herculean undertakings with so slight prospect of +reward; this is a consideration which gives us a significant hint of the temper +of the men of the Revolutionary era. +</p> + +<p> +Nor could a fitter country be found for the birthplace of the devoted patriot, +Israel Potter. +</p> + +<p> +To this day the best stone-wall builders, as the best wood-choppers, come from +those solitary mountain towns; a tall, athletic, and hardy race, unerring with +the axe as the Indian with the tomahawk; at stone-rolling, patient as Sisyphus, +powerful as Samson. +</p> + +<p> +In fine clear June days, the bloom of these mountains is beyond expression +delightful. Last visiting these heights ere she vanishes, Spring, like the +sunset, flings her sweetest charms upon them. Each tuft of upland grass is +musked like a bouquet with perfume. The balmy breeze swings to and fro like a +censer. On one side the eye follows for the space of an eagle’s flight, +the serpentine mountain chains, southwards from the great purple dome of +Taconic—the St. Peter’s of these hills—northwards to the twin +summits of Saddleback, which is the two-steepled natural cathedral of +Berkshire; while low down to the west the Housatonie winds on in her watery +labyrinth, through charming meadows basking in the reflected rays from the +hill-sides. At this season the beauty of every thing around you populates the +loneliness of your way. You would not have the country more settled if you +could. Content to drink in such loveliness at all your senses, the heart +desires no company but Nature. +</p> + +<p> +With what rapture you behold, hovering over some vast hollow of the hills, or +slowly drifting at an immense height over the far sunken Housatonie valley, +some lordly eagle, who in unshared exaltation looks down equally upon plain and +mountain. Or you behold a hawk sallying from some crag, like a Rhenish baron of +old from his pinnacled castle, and darting down towards the river for his prey. +Or perhaps, lazily gliding about in the zenith, this ruffian fowl is suddenly +beset by a crow, who with stubborn audacity pecks at him, and, spite of all his +bravery, finally persecutes him back to his stronghold. The otherwise dauntless +bandit, soaring at his topmost height, must needs succumb to this sable image +of death. Nor are there wanting many smaller and less famous fowl, who without +contributing to the grandeur, yet greatly add to the beauty of the scene. The +yellow-bird flits like a winged jonquil here and there; like knots of violets +the blue-birds sport in clusters upon the grass; while hurrying from the +pasture to the grove, the red robin seems an incendiary putting torch to the +trees. Meanwhile the air is vocal with their hymns, and your own soul joys in +the general joy. Like a stranger in an orchestra, you cannot help singing +yourself when all around you raise such hosannas. +</p> + +<p> +But in autumn, those gay northerners, the birds, return to their southern +plantations. The mountains are left bleak and sere. Solitude settles down upon +them in drizzling mists. The traveller is beset, at perilous turns, by dense +masses of fog. He emerges for a moment into more penetrable air; and passing +some gray, abandoned house, sees the lofty vapors plainly eddy by its desolate +door; just as from the plain you may see it eddy by the pinnacles of distant +and lonely heights. Or, dismounting from his frightened horse, he leads him +down some scowling glen, where the road steeply dips among grim rocks, only to +rise as abruptly again; and as he warily picks his way, uneasy at the menacing +scene, he sees some ghost-like object looming through the mist at the roadside; +and wending towards it, beholds a rude white stone, uncouthly inscribed, +marking the spot where, some fifty or sixty years ago, some farmer was upset in +his wood-sled, and perished beneath the load. +</p> + +<p> +In winter this region is blocked up with snow. Inaccessible and impassable, +those wild, unfrequented roads, which in August are overgrown with high grass, +in December are drifted to the arm-pit with the white fleece from the sky. As +if an ocean rolled between man and man, intercommunication is often suspended +for weeks and weeks. +</p> + +<p> +Such, at this day, is the country which gave birth to our hero: prophetically +styled Israel by the good Puritans, his parents, since, for more than forty +years, poor Potter wandered in the wild wilderness of the world’s +extremest hardships and ills. +</p> + +<p> +How little he thought, when, as a boy, hunting after his father’s stray +cattle among these New England hills he himself like a beast should be hunted +through half of Old England, as a runaway rebel. Or, how could he ever have +dreamed, when involved in the autumnal vapors of these mountains, that worse +bewilderments awaited him three thousand miles across the sea, wandering +forlorn in the coal- foes of London. But so it was destined to be. This little +boy of the hills, born in sight of the sparkling Housatonic, was to linger out +the best part of his life a prisoner or a pauper upon the grimy banks of the +Thames. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0002"></a> +CHAPTER II.<br/> +THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL.</h2> + +<p> +Imagination will easily picture the rural day of the youth of Israel. Let us +pass on to a less immature period. +</p> + +<p> +It appears that he began his wanderings very early; moreover, that ere, on just +principles throwing off the yoke off his king, Israel, on equally excusable +grounds, emancipated himself from his sire. He continued in the enjoyment of +parental love till the age of eighteen, when, having formed an attachment for a +neighbor’s daughter—for some reason, not deemed a suitable match by +his father—he was severely reprimanded, warned to discontinue his visits, +and threatened with some disgraceful punishment in case he persisted. As the +girl was not only beautiful, but amiable—though, as will be seen, rather +weak—and her family as respectable as any, though unfortunately but poor, +Israel deemed his father’s conduct unreasonable and oppressive; +particularly as it turned out that he had taken secret means to thwart his son +with the girl’s connections, if not with the girl herself, so as to place +almost insurmountable obstacles to an eventual marriage. For it had not been +the purpose of Israel to marry at once, but at a future day, when prudence +should approve the step. So, oppressed by his father, and bitterly disappointed +in his love, the desperate boy formed the determination to quit them both for +another home and other friends. +</p> + +<p> +It was on Sunday, while the family were gone to a farmhouse church near by, +that he packed up as much of his clothing as might be contained in a +handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, he hid in a piece of +woods in the rear of the house. He then returned, and continued in the house +till about nine in the evening, when, pretending to go to bed, he passed out of +a back door, and hastened to the woods for his bundle. +</p> + +<p> +It was a sultry night in July; and that he might travel with the more ease on +the succeeding day, he lay down at the foot of a pine tree, reposing himself +till an hour before dawn, when, upon awaking, he heard the soft, prophetic +sighing of the pine, stirred by the first breath of the morning. Like the +leaflets of that evergreen, all the fibres of his heart trembled within him; +tears fell from his eyes. But he thought of the tyranny of his father, and what +seemed to him the faithlessness of his love; and shouldering his bundle, arose, +and marched on. +</p> + +<p> +His intention was to reach the new countries to the northward and westward, +lying between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and the Yankee settlements +on the Housatonic. This was mainly to elude all search. For the same reason, +for the first ten or twelve miles, shunning the public roads, he travelled +through the woods; for he knew that he would soon be missed and pursued. +</p> + +<p> +He reached his destination in safety; hired out to a farmer for a month through +the harvest; then crossed from the Hudson to the Connecticut. Meeting here with +an adventurer to the unknown regions lying about the head waters of the latter +river, he ascended with this man in a canoe, paddling and pulling for many +miles. Here again he hired himself out for three months; at the end of that +time to receive for his wages two hundred acres of land lying in New Hampshire. +The cheapness of the land was not alone owing to the newness of the country, +but to the perils investing it. Not only was it a wilderness abounding with +wild beasts, but the widely-scattered inhabitants were in continual dread of +being, at some unguarded moment, destroyed or made captive by the Canadian +savages, who, ever since the French war, had improved every opportunity to make +forays across the defenceless frontier. +</p> + +<p> +His employer proving false to his contract in the matter of the land, and there +being no law in the country to force him to fulfil it, Israel—who, +however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a pinch, seems +nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his career, a singular +patience and mildness—was obliged to look round for other means of +livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the wilderness. A party of +royal surveyors were at this period surveying the unsettled regions bordering +the Connecticut river to its source. At fifteen shillings per month, he engaged +himself to this party as assistant chain-bearer, little thinking that the day +was to come when he should clank the king’s chains in a dungeon, even as +now he trailed them a free ranger of the woods. It was midwinter; the land was +surveyed upon snow-shoes. At the close of the day, fires were kindled with dry +hemlock, a hut thrown up, and the party ate and slept. +</p> + +<p> +Paid off at last, Israel bought a gun and ammunition, and turned hunter. Deer, +beaver, etc., were plenty. In two or three months he had many skins to show. I +suppose it never entered his mind that he was thus qualifying himself for a +marksman of men. But thus were tutored those wonderful shots who did such +execution at Bunker’s Hill; these, the hunter-soldiers, whom Putnam bade +wait till the white of the enemy’s eye was seen. +</p> + +<p> +With the result of his hunting he purchased a hundred acres of land, further +down the river, toward the more settled parts; built himself a log hut, and in +two summers, with his own hands, cleared thirty acres for sowing. In the winter +seasons he hunted and trapped. At the end of the two years, he sold back his +land—now much improved—to the original owner, at an advance of +fifty pounds. He conveyed his cash and furs to Charlestown, on the Connecticut +(sometimes called No. 4), where he trafficked them away for Indian blankets, +pigments, and other showy articles adapted to the business of a trader among +savages. It was now winter again. Putting his goods on a hand-sled, he started +towards Canada, a peddler in the wilderness, stopping at wigwams instead of +cottages. One fancies that, had it been summer, Israel would have travelled +with a wheelbarrow, and so trundled his wares through the primeval forests, +with the same indifference as porters roll their barrows over the flagging of +streets. In this way was bred that fearless self-reliance and independence +which conducted our forefathers to national freedom. +</p> + +<p> +This Canadian trip proved highly successful. Selling his glittering goods at a +great advance, he received in exchange valuable peltries and furs at a +corresponding reduction. Returning to Charlestown, he disposed of his return +cargo again at a very fine profit. And now, with a light heart and a heavy +purse, he resolved to visit his sweetheart and parents, of whom, for three +years, he had had no tidings. +</p> + +<p> +They were not less astonished than delighted at his reappearance; he had been +numbered with the dead. But his love still seemed strangely coy; willing, but +yet somehow mysteriously withheld. The old intrigues were still on foot. Israel +soon discovered, that though rejoiced to welcome the return of the prodigal +son—so some called him—his father still remained inflexibly +determined against the match, and still inexplicably countermined his wooing. +With a dolorous heart he mildly yielded to what seemed his fatality; and more +intrepid in facing peril for himself, than in endangering others by maintaining +his rights (for he was now one-and-twenty), resolved once more to retreat, and +quit his blue hills for the bluer billows. +</p> + +<p> +A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded misanthrope; a +hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous distressed. The ocean brims +with natural griefs and tragedies; and into that watery immensity of terror, +man’s private grief is lost like a drop. +</p> + +<p> +Travelling on foot to Providence, Rhode Island, Israel shipped on board a +sloop, bound with lime to the West Indies. On the tenth day out, the vessel +caught fire, from water communicating with the lime. It was impossible to +extinguish the flames. The boat was hoisted out, but owing to long exposure to +the sun, it needed continual bailing to keep it afloat. They had only time to +put in a firkin of butter and a ten-gallon keg of water. Eight in number, the +crew entrusted themselves to the waves, in a leaky tub, many leagues from land. +As the boat swept under the burning bowsprit, Israel caught at a fragment of +the flying-jib, which sail had fallen down the stay, owing to the charring, +nigh the deck, of the rope which hoisted it. Tanned with the smoke, and its +edge blackened with the fire, this bit of canvass helped them bravely on their +way. Thanks to kind Providence, on the second day they were picked up by a +Dutch ship, bound from Eustatia to Holland. The castaways were humanely +received, and supplied with every necessary. At the end of a week, while +unsophisticated Israel was sitting in the maintop, thinking what should befall +him in Holland, and wondering what sort of unsettled, wild country it was, and +whether there was any deer-shooting or beaver-trapping there, lo! an American +brig, bound from Piscataqua to Antigua, comes in sight. The American took them +aboard, and conveyed them safely to her port. There Israel shipped for Porto +Rico; from thence, sailed to Eustatia. +</p> + +<p> +Other rovings ensued; until at last, entering on board a Nantucket ship, he +hunted the leviathan off the Western Islands and on the coast of Africa, for +sixteen months; returning at length to Nantucket with a brimming hold. From +that island he sailed again on another whaling voyage, extending, this time, +into the great South Sea. There, promoted to be harpooner, Israel, whose eye +and arm had been so improved by practice with his gun in the wilderness, now +further intensified his aim, by darting the whale-lance; still, unwittingly, +preparing himself for the Bunker Hill rifle. +</p> + +<p> +In this last voyage, our adventurer experienced to the extreme all the +hardships and privations of the whaleman’s life on a long voyage to +distant and barbarous waters—hardships and privations unknown at the +present day, when science has so greatly contributed, in manifold ways, to +lessen the sufferings, and add to the comforts of seafaring men. Heartily sick +of the ocean, and longing once more for the bush, Israel, upon receiving his +discharge at Nantucket at the end of the voyage, hied straight back for his +mountain home. +</p> + +<p> +But if hopes of his sweetheart winged his returning flight, such hopes were not +destined to be crowned with fruition. The dear, false girl was another’s. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0003"></a> +CHAPTER III.<br/> +ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF SERVICE +THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE SEA INTO THE +ENEMY’S LAND.</h2> + +<p> +Left to idle lamentations, Israel might now have planted deep furrows in his +brow. But stifling his pain, he chose rather to plough, than be ploughed. +Farming weans man from his sorrows. That tranquil pursuit tolerates nothing but +tranquil meditations. There, too, in mother earth, you may plant and reap; not, +as in other things, plant and see the planting torn up by the roots. But if +wandering in the wilderness, and wandering upon the waters, if felling trees, +and hunting, and shipwreck, and fighting with whales, and all his other strange +adventures, had not as yet cured poor Israel of his now hopeless passion, +events were at hand for ever to drown it. +</p> + +<p> +It was the year 1774. The difficulties long pending between the colonies and +England were arriving at their crisis. Hostilities were certain. The Americans +were preparing themselves. Companies were formed in most of the New England +towns, whose members, receiving the name of minute-men, stood ready to march +anywhere at a minute’s warning. Israel, for the last eight months, +sojourning as a laborer on a farm in Windsor, enrolled himself in the regiment +of Colonel John Patterson of Lenox, afterwards General Patterson. +</p> + +<p> +The battle of Lexington was fought on the 18th of April, 1775; news of it +arrived in the county of Berkshire on the 20th about noon. The next morning at +sunrise, Israel swung his knapsack, shouldered his musket, and, with +Patterson’s regiment, was on the march, quickstep, towards Boston. +</p> + +<p> +Like Putnam, Israel received the stirring tidings at the plough. But although +not less willing than Putnam to fly to battle at an instant’s notice, +yet—only half an acre of the field remaining to be finished—he +whipped up his team and finished it. Before hastening to one duty, he would not +leave a prior one undone; and ere helping to whip the British, for a little +practice’ sake, he applied the gad to his oxen. From the field of the +farmer, he rushed to that of the soldier, mingling his blood with his sweat. +While we revel in broadcloth, let us not forget what we owe to linsey-woolsey. +</p> + +<p> +With other detachments from various quarters, Israel’s regiment remained +encamped for several days in the vicinity of Charlestown. On the seventeenth of +June, one thousand Americans, including the regiment of Patterson, were set +about fortifying Bunker’s Hill. Working all through the night, by dawn of +the following day, the redoubt was thrown up. But every one knows all about the +battle. Suffice it, that Israel was one of those marksmen whom Putnam harangued +as touching the enemy’s eyes. Forbearing as he was with his oppressive +father and unfaithful love, and mild as he was on the farm, Israel was not the +same at Bunker Hill. Putnam had enjoined the men to aim at the officers; so +Israel aimed between the golden epaulettes, as, in the wilderness, he had aimed +between the branching antlers. With dogged disdain of their foes, the English +grenadiers marched up the hill with sullen slowness; thus furnishing still +surer aims to the muskets which bristled on the redoubt. Modest Israel was used +to aver, that considering his practice in the woods, he could hardly be +regarded as an inexperienced marksman; hinting, that every shot which the +epauletted grenadiers received from his rifle, would, upon a different +occasion, have procured him a deerskin. And like stricken deers the English, +rashly brave as they were, fled from the opening fire. But the marksman’s +ammunition was expended; a hand-to-hand encounter ensued. Not one American +musket in twenty had a bayonet to it. So, wielding the stock right and left, +the terrible farmers, with hats and coats off, fought their way among the +furred grenadiers, knocking them right and left, as seal-hunters on the beach +knock down with their clubs the Shetland seal. In the dense crowd and +confusion, while Israel’s musket got interlocked, he saw a blade +horizontally menacing his feet from the ground. Thinking some fallen enemy +sought to strike him at the last gasp, dropping his hold on his musket, he +wrenched at the steel, but found that though a brave hand held it, that hand +was powerless for ever. It was some British officer’s laced sword-arm, +cut from the trunk in the act of fighting, refusing to yield up its blade to +the last. At that moment another sword was aimed at Israel’s head by a +living officer. In an instant the blow was parried by kindred steel, and the +assailant fell by a brother’s weapon, wielded by alien hands. But Israel +did not come off unscathed. A cut on the right arm near the elbow, received in +parrying the officer’s blow, a long slit across the chest, a musket ball +buried in his hip, and another mangling him near the ankle of the same leg, +were the tokens of intrepidity which our Sicinius Dentatus carried from this +memorable field. Nevertheless, with his comrades he succeeded in reaching +Prospect Hill, and from thence was conveyed to the hospital at Cambridge. The +bullet was extracted, his lesser wounds were dressed, and after much suffering +from the fracture of the bone near the ankle, several pieces of which were +extracted by the surgeon, ere long, thanks to the high health and pure blood of +the farmer, Israel rejoined his regiment when they were throwing up +intrenchments on Prospect Hill. Bunker Hill was now in possession of the foe, +who in turn had fortified it. +</p> + +<p> +On the third of July, Washington arrived from the South to take the command. +Israel witnessed his joyful reception by the huzzaing companies. +</p> + +<p> +The British now quartered in Boston suffered greatly from the scarcity of +provisions. Washington took every precaution to prevent their receiving a +supply. Inland, all aid could easily be cut off. To guard against their +receiving any by water, from tories and other disaffected persons, the General +equipped three armed vessels to intercept all traitorous cruisers. Among them +was the brigantine Washington, of ten guns, commanded by Captain Martiedale. +Seamen were hard to be had. The soldiers were called upon to volunteer for +these vessels. Israel was one who so did; thinking that as an experienced +sailor he should not be backward in a juncture like this, little as he fancied +the new service assigned. +</p> + +<p> +Three days out of Boston harbor, the brigantine was captured by the +enemy’s ship Foy, of twenty guns. Taken prisoner with the rest of the +crew, Israel was afterwards put on board the frigate Tartar, with immediate +sailing orders for England. Seventy-two were captives in this vessel. Headed by +Israel, these men—half way across the sea—formed a scheme to take +the ship, but were betrayed by a renegade Englishman. As ringleader, Israel was +put in irons, and so remained till the frigate anchored at Portsmouth. There he +was brought on deck; and would have met perhaps some terrible fate, had it not +come out, during the examination, that the Englishman had been a deserter from +the army of his native country ere proving a traitor to his adopted one. +Relieved of his irons, Israel was placed in the marine hospital on shore, where +half of the prisoners took the small-pox, which swept off a third of their +number. Why talk of Jaffa? +</p> + +<p> +From the hospital the survivors were conveyed to Spithead, and thrust on board +a hulk. And here in the black bowels of the ship, sunk low in the sunless sea, +our poor Israel lay for a month, like Jonah in the belly of the whale. +</p> + +<p> +But one bright morning, Israel is hailed from the deck. A bargeman of the +commander’s boat is sick. Known for a sailor, Israel for the nonce is +appointed to pull the absent man’s oar. +</p> + +<p> +The officers being landed, some of the crew propose, like merry Englishmen as +they are, to hie to a neighboring ale-house, and have a cosy pot or two +together. Agreed. They start, and Israel with them. As they enter the ale-house +door, our prisoner is suddenly reminded of still more imperative calls. +Unsuspected of any design, he is allowed to leave the party for a moment. No +sooner does Israel see his companions housed, than putting speed into his feet, +and letting grow all his wings, he starts like a deer. He runs four miles (so +he afterwards affirmed) without halting. He sped towards London; wisely deeming +that once in that crowd detection would be impossible. +</p> + +<p> +Ten miles, as he computed, from where he had left the bargemen, leisurely +passing a public house of a little village on the roadside, thinking himself +now pretty safe—hark, what is this he hears?— +</p> + +<p> +“Ahoy!” +</p> + +<p> +“No ship,” says Israel, hurrying on. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you will attend to your business, I will endeavor to attend to +mine,” replies Israel coolly. And next minute he lets grow his wings +again; flying, one dare say, at the rate of something less than thirty miles an +hour. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop thief!” is now the cry. Numbers rushed from the roadside +houses. After a mile’s chase, the poor panting deer is caught. +</p> + +<p> +Finding it was no use now to prevaricate, Israel boldly confesses himself a +prisoner-of-war. The officer, a good fellow as it turned out, had him escorted +back to the inn; where, observing to the landlord that this must needs be a +true-blooded Yankee, he calls for liquors to refresh Israel after his run. Two +soldiers are then appointed to guard him for the present. This was towards +evening; and up to a late hour at night, the inn was filled with strangers +crowding to see the Yankee rebel, as they politely termed him. These honest +rustics seemed to think that Yankees were a sort of wild creatures, a species +of ’possum or kangaroo. But Israel is very affable with them. That liquor +he drank from the hand of his foe, has perhaps warmed his heart towards all the +rest of his enemies. Yet this may not be wholly so. We shall see. At any rate, +still he keeps his eye on the main chance—escape. Neither the jokes nor +the insults of the mob does he suffer to molest him. He is cogitating a little +plot to himself. +</p> + +<p> +It seems that the good officer—not more true to the king his master than +indulgent towards the prisoner which that same loyalty made—had left +orders that Israel should be supplied with whatever liquor he wanted that +night. So, calling for the can again and again, Israel invites the two soldiers +to drink and be merry. At length, a wag of the company proposes that Israel +should entertain the public with a jig, he (the wag) having heard that the +Yankees were extraordinary dancers. A fiddle is brought in, and poor Israel +takes the floor. Not a little cut to think that these people should so +unfeelingly seek to be diverted at the expense of an unfortunate prisoner, +Israel, while jigging it up and down, still conspires away at his private plot, +resolving ere long to give the enemy a touch of certain Yankee steps, as yet +undreamed of in their simple philosophy. They would not permit any cessation of +his dancing till he had danced himself into a perfect sweat, so that the drops +fell from his lank and flaxen hair. But Israel, with much of the gentleness of +the dove, is not wholly without the wisdom of the serpent. Pleased to see the +flowing bowl, he congratulates himself that his own state of perspiration +prevents it from producing any intoxicating effect upon him. +</p> + +<p> +Late at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs, the +prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of the bed in +which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much gratitude for the blanket, +with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches his legs. An hour or two passes. All +is quiet without. +</p> + +<p> +The important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this chance were +suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present itself. For early, +doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way prevented, the two +soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating prison, where he would +thenceforth remain confined until the close of the war; years and years, +perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old hulk, his nerves were restrung +for flight. But intrepid as he must be to compass it, wariness too was needed. +His keepers had gone to bed pretty well under the influence of the liquor. This +was favorable. But still, they were full-grown, strong men; and Israel was +handcuffed. So Israel resolved upon strategy first; and if that failed, force +afterwards. He eagerly listened. One of the drunken soldiers muttered in his +sleep, at first lowly, then louder and louder,—“Catch ’em! +Grapple ’em! Have at ’em! Ha—long cutlasses! Take that, +runaway!” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter with ye, Phil?” hiccoughed the other, who +was not yet asleep. “Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain’t at Fontenoy +now.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming,” again hiccoughed his +comrade, violently nudging him. “This comes o’ carousing.” +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep. But by +something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier, Israel knew that +this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a moment what was best to do. +At length he determined upon trying his old plea. Calling upon the two +soldiers, he informed them that urgent necessity required his immediate +presence somewhere in the rear of the house. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, wake up here, Phil,” roared the soldier who was awake; +“the fellow here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better +edication than to be gettin’ up on nateral necessities at this time +o’night. It ain’t nateral; its unnateral. D—-n ye, Yankee, +don’t ye know no better?” +</p> + +<p> +With many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and +clutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long, narrow, +dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner was this unbolted by +the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash, manacled Israel, shaking off the +grasp of the one behind him, butts him sprawling back into the entry; when, +dashing in the opposite direction, he bounces the other head over heels into +the garden, never using a hand; and then, leaping over the latter’s head, +darts blindly out into the midnight. Next moment he was at the garden wall. No +outlet was discoverable in the gloom. But a fruit-tree grew close to the wall. +Springing into it desperately, handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop of the +barrier, and without pausing to see where he is, drops himself to the ground on +the other side, and once more lets grow all his wings. Meantime, with loud +outcries, the two baffled drunkards grope deliriously about in the garden. +</p> + +<p> +After running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit, Israel reins +up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him. After much painful labor +he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again with all speed, day broke, +revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and beautiful country, soft, neat, and +serene, all colored with the fresh early tints of the spring of 1776. +</p> + +<p> +Bless me, thought Israel, all of a tremble, I shall certainly be caught now; I +have broken into some nobleman’s park. +</p> + +<p> +But, hurrying forward again, he came to a turnpike road, and then knew that, +all comely and shaven as it was, this was simply the open country of England; +one bright, broad park, paled in with white foam of the sea. A copse skirting +the road was just bursting out into bud. Each unrolling leaf was in very act of +escaping from its prison. Israel looked at the budding leaves, and round on the +budding sod, and up at the budding dawn of the day. He was so sad, and these +sights were so gay, that Israel sobbed like a child, while thoughts of his +mountain home rushed like a wind on his heart. But conquering this fit, he +marched on, and presently passed nigh a field, where two figures were working. +They had rosy cheeks, short, sturdy legs, showing the blue stocking nearly to +the knee, and were clad in long, coarse, white frocks, and had on coarse, +broad-brimmed straw hats. Their faces were partly averted. +</p> + +<p> +“Please, ladies,” half roguishly says Israel, taking off his hat, +“does this road go to London?” +</p> + +<p> +At this salutation, the two figures turned in a sort of stupid amazement, +causing an almost corresponding expression in Israel, who now perceived that +they were men, and not women. He had mistaken them, owing to their frocks, and +their wearing no pantaloons, only breeches hidden by their frocks. +</p> + +<p> +“Beg pardon, ladies, but I thought ye were something else,” said +Israel again. +</p> + +<p> +Once more the two figures stared at the stranger, and with added boorishness of +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +“Does this road go to London, gentlemen?” +</p> + +<p> +“Gentlemen—egad!” cried one of the two. +</p> + +<p> +“Egad!” echoed the second. +</p> + +<p> +Putting their hoes before them, the two frocked boors now took a good long look +at Israel, meantime scratching their heads under their plaited straw hats. +</p> + +<p> +“Does it, gentlemen? Does it go to London? Be kind enough to tell a poor +fellow, do.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yees goin’ to Lunnun, are yees? Weel—all right—go +along.” +</p> + +<p> +And without another word, having now satisfied their rustic curiosity, the two +human steers, with wonderful phlegm, applied themselves to their hoes; +supposing, no doubt, that they had given all requisite information. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after, Israel passed an old, dark, mossy-looking chapel, its roof all +plastered with the damp yellow dead leaves of the previous autumn, showered +there from a close cluster of venerable trees, with great trunks, and +overstretching branches. Next moment he found himself entering a village. The +silence of early morning rested upon it. But few figures were seen. Glancing +through the window of a now noiseless public-house, Israel saw a table all in +disorder, covered with empty flagons, and tobacco-ashes, and long pipes; some +of the latter broken. +</p> + +<p> +After pausing here a moment, he moved on, and observed a man over the way +standing still and watching him. Instantly Israel was reminded that he had on +the dress of an English sailor, and that it was this probably which had +arrested the stranger’s attention. Well knowing that his peculiar dress +exposed him to peril, he hurried on faster to escape the village; resolving at +the first opportunity to change his garments. Ere long, in a secluded place +about a mile from the village, he saw an old ditcher tottering beneath the +weight of a pick-axe, hoe and shovel, going to his work; the very picture of +poverty, toil and distress. His clothes were tatters. +</p> + +<p> +Making up to this old man, Israel, after a word or two of salutation, offered +to change clothes with him. As his own clothes were prince-like compared to the +ditchers, Israel thought that however much his proposition might excite the +suspicion of the ditcher, yet self-interest would prevent his communicating the +suspicions. To be brief, the two went behind a hedge, and presently Israel +emerged, presenting the most forlorn appearance conceivable; while the old +ditcher hobbled off in an opposite direction, correspondingly improved in his +aspect; though it was rather ludicrous than otherwise, owing to the immense +bagginess of the sailor-trowsers flapping about his lean shanks, to say nothing +of the spare voluminousness of the pea-jacket. But Israel—how deplorable, +how dismal his plight! Little did he ween that these wretched rags he now wore, +were but suitable to that long career of destitution before him: one brief +career of adventurous wanderings; and then, forty torpid years of pauperism. +The coat was all patches. And no two patches were alike, and no one patch was +the color of the original cloth. The stringless breeches gaped wide open at the +knee; the long woollen stockings looked as if they had been set up at some time +for a target. Israel looked suddenly metamorphosed from youth to old age; just +like an old man of eighty he looked. But, indeed, dull, dreary adversity was +now in store for him; and adversity, come it at eighteen or eighty, is the true +old age of man. The dress befitted the fate. +</p> + +<p> +From the friendly old ditcher, Israel learned the exact course he must steer +for London; distant now between seventy and eighty miles. He was also apprised +by his venerable friend, that the country was filled with soldiers on the +constant look-out for deserters whether from the navy or army, for the capture +of whom a stipulated reward was given, just as in Massachusetts at that time +for prowling bears. +</p> + +<p> +Having solemnly enjoined his old friend not to give any information, should any +one he meet inquire for such a person as Israel, our adventurer walked briskly +on, less heavy of heart, now that he felt comparatively safe in disguise. +</p> + +<p> +Thirty miles were travelled that day. At night Israel stole into a barn, in +hopes of finding straw or hay for a bed. But it was spring; all the hay and +straw were gone. So after groping about in the dark, he was fain to content +himself with an undressed sheep-skin. Cold, hungry, foot-sore, weary, and +impatient for the morning dawn, Israel drearily dozed out the night. +</p> + +<p> +By the first peep of day coming through the chinks of the barn, he was up and +abroad. Ere long finding himself in the suburbs of a considerable village, the +better to guard against detection he supplied himself with a rude crutch, and +feigning himself a cripple, hobbled straight through the town, followed by a +perverse-minded cur, which kept up a continual, spiteful, suspicious bark. +Israel longed to have one good rap at him with his crutch, but thought it would +hardly look in character for a poor old cripple to be vindictive. +</p> + +<p> +A few miles further, and he came to a second village. While hobbling through +its main street, as through the former one, he was suddenly stopped by a +genuine cripple, all in tatters, too, who, with a sympathetic air, inquired +after the cause of his lameness. +</p> + +<p> +“White swelling,” says Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s just my ailing,” wheezed the other; “but +you’re lamer than me,” he added with a forlorn sort of +self-satisfaction, critically eyeing Israel’s limp as once, more he +stumped on his way, not liking to tarry too long. +</p> + +<p> +“But halloo, what’s your hurry, friend?” seeing Israel fairly +departing—“where’re you going?” +</p> + +<p> +“To London,” answered Israel, turning round, heartily wishing the +old fellow any where else than present. +</p> + +<p> +“Going to limp to Lunnun, eh? Well, success to ye.” +</p> + +<p> +“As much to you, sir,” answers Israel politely. +</p> + +<p> +Nigh the opposite suburbs of this village, as good fortune would have it, an +empty baggage-wagon bound for the metropolis turned into the main road from a +side one. Immediately Israel limps most deplorably, and begs the driver to give +a poor cripple a lift. So up he climbs; but after a time, finding the gait of +the elephantine draught-horses intolerably slow, Israel craves permission to +dismount, when, throwing away his crutch, he takes nimbly to his legs, much to +the surprise of his honest friend the driver. +</p> + +<p> +The only advantage, if any, derived from his trip in the wagon, was, when +passing through a third village—but a little distant from the previous +one—Israel, by lying down in the wagon, had wholly avoided being seen. +</p> + +<p> +The villages surprised him by their number and proximity. Nothing like this was +to be seen at home. Well knowing that in these villages he ran much more risk +of detection than in the open country, he henceforth did his best to avoid +them, by taking a roundabout course whenever they came in sight from a +distance. This mode of travelling not only lengthened his journey, but put +unlooked-for obstacles in his path—walls, ditches, and streams. +</p> + +<p> +Not half an hour after throwing away his crutch, he leaped a great ditch ten +feet wide, and of undiscoverable muddy depth. I wonder if the old cripple would +think me the lamer one now, thought Israel to himself, arriving on the hither +side. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0004"></a> +CHAPTER IV.<br/> +FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT OF +BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM.</h2> + +<p> +At nightfall, on the third day, Israel had arrived within sixteen miles of the +capital. Once more he sought refuge in a barn. This time he found some hay, and +flinging himself down procured a tolerable night’s rest. +</p> + +<p> +Bright and early he arose refreshed, with the pleasing prospect of reaching his +destination ere noon. Encouraged to find himself now so far from his original +pursuers, Israel relaxed in his vigilance, and about ten o’clock, while +passing through the town of Staines, suddenly encountered three soldiers. +Unfortunately in exchanging clothes with the ditcher, he could not bring +himself to include his shirt in the traffic, which shirt was a British navy +shirt, a bargeman’s shirt, and though hitherto he had crumpled the blue +collar out of sight, yet, as it appeared in the present instance, it was not +thoroughly concealed. At any rate, keenly on the look-out for deserters, and +made acute by hopes of reward for their apprehension, the soldiers spied the +fatal collar, and in an instant laid violent hands on the refugee. +</p> + +<p> +“Hey, lad!” said the foremost soldier, a corporal, “you are +one of his majesty’s seamen! come along with ye.” +</p> + +<p> +So, unable to give any satisfactory account of himself, he was made prisoner on +the spot, and soon after found himself handcuffed and locked up in the Bound +House of the place, a prison so called, appropriated to runaways, and those +convicted of minor offences. Day passed dinnerless and supperless in this +dismal durance, and night came on. +</p> + +<p> +Israel had now been three days without food, except one two-penny loaf. The +cravings of hunger now became sharper; his spirits, hitherto arming him with +fortitude, began to forsake him. Taken captive once again upon the very brink +of reaching his goal, poor Israel was on the eve of falling into helpless +despair. But he rallied, and considering that grief would only add to his +calamity, sought with stubborn patience to habituate himself to misery, but +still hold aloof from despondency. He roused himself, and began to bethink him +how to be extricated from this labyrinth. +</p> + +<p> +Two hours sawing across the grating of the window, ridded him of his handcuffs. +Next came the door, secured luckily with only a hasp and padlock. Thrusting the +bolt of his handcuffs through a small window in the door, he succeeded in +forcing the hasp and regaining his liberty about three o’clock in the +morning. +</p> + +<p> +Not long after sunrise, he passed nigh Brentford, some six or seven miles from +the capital. So great was his hunger that downright starvation seemed before +him. He chewed grass, and swallowed it. Upon first escaping from the hulk, six +English pennies was all the money he had. With two of these he had bought a +small loaf the day after fleeing the inn. The other four still remained in his +pocket, not having met with a good opportunity to dispose of them for food. +</p> + +<p> +Having torn off the collar of his shirt, and flung it into a hedge, he ventured +to accost a respectable carpenter at a pale fence, about a mile this side of +Brentford, to whom his deplorable situation now induced him to apply for work. +The man did not wish himself to hire, but said that if he (Israel) understood +farming or gardening, he might perhaps procure work from Sir John Millet, whose +seat, he said, was not remote. He added that the knight was in the habit of +employing many men at that season of the year, so he stood a fair chance. +</p> + +<p> +Revived a little by this prospect of relief, Israel starts in quest of the +gentleman’s seat, agreeably to the direction received. But he mistook his +way, and proceeding up a gravelled and beautifully decorated walk, was +terrified at catching a glimpse of a number of soldiers thronging a garden. He +made an instant retreat before being espied in turn. No wild creature of the +American wilderness could have been more panic-struck by a firebrand, than at +this period hunted Israel was by a red coat. It afterwards appeared that this +garden was the Princess Amelia’s. +</p> + +<p> +Taking another path, ere long he came to some laborers shovelling gravel. These +proved to be men employed by Sir John. By them he was directed towards the +house, when the knight was pointed out to him, walking bare-headed in the +inclosure with several guests. Having heard the rich men of England charged +with all sorts of domineering qualities, Israel felt no little misgiving in +approaching to an audience with so imposing a stranger. But, screwing up his +courage, he advanced; while seeing him coming all rags and tatters, the group +of gentlemen stood in some wonder awaiting what so singular a phantom might +want. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Millet,” said Israel, bowing towards the bare-headed +gentleman. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha,—who are you, pray?” +</p> + +<p> +“A poor fellow, sir, in want of work.” +</p> + +<p> +“A wardrobe, too, I should say,” smiled one of the guests, of a +very youthful, prosperous, and dandified air. +</p> + +<p> +“Where’s your hoe?” said Sir John. +</p> + +<p> +“I have none, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Any money to buy one?” +</p> + +<p> +“Only four English pennies, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>English</i> pennies. What other sort would you have?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, China pennies to be sure,” laughed the youthful gentleman. +“See his long, yellow hair behind; he looks like a Chinaman. Some +broken-down Mandarin. Pity he’s no crown to his old hat; if he had, he +might pass it round, and make eight pennies of his four.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you hire me, Mr. Millet,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Ha! that’s queer again,” cried the knight. +</p> + +<p> +“Hark ye, fellow,” said a brisk servant, approaching from the +porch, “this is Sir John Millet.” +</p> + +<p> +Seeming to take pity on his seeming ignorance, as well as on his undisputable +poverty, the good knight now told Israel that if he would come the next morning +he would see him supplied with a hoe, and moreover would hire him. +</p> + +<p> +It would be hard to express the satisfaction of the wanderer at receiving this +encouraging reply. Emboldened by it, he now returns towards a baker’s he +had spied, and bravely marching in, flings down all four pennies, and demands +bread. Thinking he would not have any more food till next morning, Israel +resolved to eat only one of the pair of two-penny loaves. But having demolished +one, it so sharpened his longing, that yielding to the irresistible temptation, +he bolted down the second loaf to keep the other company. +</p> + +<p> +After resting under a hedge, he saw the sun far descended, and so prepared +himself for another hard night. Waiting till dark, he crawled into an old +carriage-house, finding nothing there but a dismantled old phaeton. Into this +he climbed, and curling himself up like a carriage-dog, endeavored to sleep; +but, unable to endure the constraint of such a bed, got out, and stretched +himself on the bare boards of the floor. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner was light in the east than he fastened to await the commands of one +who, his instinct told him, was destined to prove his benefactor. On his +father’s farm accustomed to rise with the lark, Israel was surprised to +discover, as he approached the house, that no soul was astir. It was four +o’clock. For a considerable time he walked back and forth before the +portal ere any one appeared. The first riser was a man servant of the +household, who informed Israel that seven o’clock was the hour the people +went to their work. Soon after he met an hostler of the place, who gave him +permission to lie on some straw in an outhouse. There he enjoyed a sweet sleep +till awakened at seven o’clock by the sounds of activity around him. +</p> + +<p> +Supplied by the overseer of the men with a large iron fork and a hoe, he +followed the hands into the field. He was so weak he could hardly support his +tools. Unwilling to expose his debility, he yet could not succeed in concealing +it. At last, to avoid worse imputations, he confessed the cause. His companions +regarded him with compassion, and exempted him from the severer toil. +</p> + +<p> +About noon the knight visited his workmen. Noticing that Israel made little +progress, he said to him, that though he had long arms and broad shoulders, yet +he was feigning himself to be a very weak man, or otherwise must in reality be +so. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon one of the laborers standing by informed the gentleman how it was with +Israel, when immediately the knight put a shilling into his hands and bade him +go to a little roadside inn, which was nearer than the house, and buy him bread +and a pot of beer. Thus refreshed he returned to the band, and toiled with them +till four o’clock, when the day’s work was over. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at the house he there again saw his employer, who, after attentively +eyeing him without speaking, bade a meal be prepared for him, when the maid +presenting a smaller supply than her kind master deemed necessary, she was +ordered to return and bring out the entire dish. But aware of the danger of +sudden repletion of heavy food to one in his condition, Israel, previously +recruited by the frugal meal at the inn, partook but sparingly. The repast was +spread on the grass, and being over, the good knight again looking +inquisitively at Israel, ordered a comfortable bed to be laid in the barn, and +here Israel spent a capital night. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast, next morning, he was proceeding to go with the laborers to +their work, when his employer approaching him with a benevolent air, bade him +return to his couch, and there remain till he had slept his fill, and was in a +better state to resume his labors. +</p> + +<p> +Upon coming forth again a little after noon, he found Sir John walking alone in +the grounds. Upon discovering him, Israel would have retreated, fearing that he +might intrude; but beckoning him to advance, the knight, as Israel drew nigh, +fixed on him such a penetrating glance, that our poor hero quaked to the core. +Neither was his dread of detection relieved by the knight’s now calling +in a loud voice for one from the house. Israel was just on the point of +fleeing, when overhearing the words of the master to the servant who now +appeared, all dread departed: +</p> + +<p> +“Bring hither some wine!” +</p> + +<p> +It presently came; by order of the knight the salver was set down on a green +bank near by, and the servant retired. +</p> + +<p> +“My poor fellow,” said Sir John, now pouring out a glass of wine, +and handing it to Israel, “I perceive that you are an American; and, if I +am not mistaken, you are an escaped prisoner of war. But no fear—drink +the wine.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Millet,” exclaimed Israel aghast, the untasted wine trembling +in his hand, “Mr. Millet, I—” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mr</i>. Millet—there it is again. Why don’t you say +<i>Sir John</i> like the rest?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir—pardon me—but somehow, I can’t. I’ve +tried; but I can’t. You won’t betray me for that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Betray—poor fellow! Hark ye, your history is doubtless a secret +which you would not wish to divulge to a stranger; but whatever happens to you, +I pledge you my honor I will never betray you.” +</p> + +<p> +“God bless you for that, Mr. Millet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come; call me by my right name. I am not Mr. Millet. <i>You</i> +have said <i>Sir</i> to me; and no doubt you have a thousand times said +<i>John</i> to other people. Now can’t you couple the two? Try once. +Come. Only <i>Sir</i> and then <i>John</i>—<i>Sir +John</i>—that’s all.” +</p> + +<p> +“John—I can’t—Sir, sir!—your pardon. I +didn’t mean that.” +</p> + +<p> +“My good fellow,” said the knight looking sharply upon Israel, +“tell me, are all your countrymen like you? If so, it’s no use +fighting them. To that effect, I must write to his Majesty myself. Well, I +excuse you from Sir Johnning me. But tell me the truth, are you not a seafaring +man, and lately a prisoner of war?” +</p> + +<p> +Israel frankly confessed it, and told his whole story. The knight listened with +much interest; and at its conclusion, warned Israel to beware of the soldiers; +for owing to the seats of some of the royal family being in the neighborhood, +the red-coats abounded hereabout. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not wish unnecessarily to speak against my own countrymen,” +he added, “I but plainly speak for your good. The soldiers you meet +prowling on the roads, are not fair specimens of the army. They are a set of +mean, dastardly banditti, who, to obtain their fee, would betray their best +friends. Once more, I warn you against them. But enough; follow me now to the +house, and as you tell me you have exchanged clothes before now, you can do it +again. What say you? I will give you coat and breeches for your rags.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus generously supplied with clothes and other comforts by the good knight, +and implicitly relying upon the honor of so kind-hearted a man, Israel cheered +up, and in the course of two or three weeks had so fattened his flanks, that he +was able completely to fill Sir John’s old buckskin breeches, which at +first had hung but loosely about him. +</p> + +<p> +He was assigned to an occupation which removed him from the other workmen. The +strawberry bed was put under his sole charge. And often, of mild, sunny +afternoons, the knight, genial and gentle with dinner, would stroll bare-headed +to the pleasant strawberry bed, and have nice little confidential chats with +Israel; while Israel, charmed by the patriarchal demeanor of this true +Abrahamic gentleman, with a smile on his lip, and tears of gratitude in his +eyes, offered him, from time to time, the plumpest berries of the bed. +</p> + +<p> +When the strawberry season was over, other parts of the grounds were assigned +him. And so six months elapsed, when, at the recommendation of Sir John, Israel +procured a good berth in the garden of the Princess Amelia. +</p> + +<p> +So completely now had recent events metamorphosed him in all outward things, +that few suspected him of being any other than an Englishman. Not even the +knight’s domestics. But in the princess’s garden, being obliged to +work in company with many other laborers, the war was often a topic of +discussion among them. And “the d—d Yankee rebels” were not +seldom the object of scurrilous remark. Illy could the exile brook in silence +such insults upon the country for which he had bled, and for whose honored sake +he was that very instant a sufferer. More than once, his indignation came very +nigh getting the better of his prudence. He longed for the war to end, that he +might but speak a little bit of his mind. +</p> + +<p> +Now the superintendent of the garden was a harsh, overbearing man. The workmen +with tame servility endured his worst affronts. But Israel, bred among +mountains, found it impossible to restrain himself when made the undeserved +object of pitiless epithets. Ere two months went by, he quitted the service of +the princess, and engaged himself to a farmer in a small village not far from +Brentford. But hardly had he been here three weeks, when a rumor again got +afloat that he was a Yankee prisoner of war. Whence this report arose he could +never discover. No sooner did it reach the ears of the soldiers, than they were +on the alert. Luckily, Israel was apprised of their intentions in time. But he +was hard pushed. He was hunted after with a perseverance worthy a less ignoble +cause. He had many hairbreadth escapes. Most assuredly he would have been +captured, had it not been for the secret good offices of a few individuals, +who, perhaps, were not unfriendly to the American side of the question, though +they durst not avow it. +</p> + +<p> +Tracked one night by the soldiers to the house of one of these friends, in +whose garret he was concealed, he was obliged to force the skuttle, and running +along the roof, passed to those of adjoining houses to the number of ten or +twelve, finally succeeding in making his escape. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0005"></a> +CHAPTER V.<br/> +ISRAEL IN THE LION’S DEN.</h2> + +<p> +Harassed day and night, hunted from food and sleep, driven from hole to hole +like a fox in the woods, with no chance to earn an hour’s wages, he was +at last advised by one whose sincerity he could not doubt, to apply, on the +good word of Sir John Millet, for a berth as laborer in the King’s +Gardens at Kew. There, it was said, he would be entirely safe, as no soldier +durst approach those premises to molest any soul therein employed. It struck +the poor exile as curious, that the very den of the British lion, the private +grounds of the British King, should be commended to a refugee as his securest +asylum. +</p> + +<p> +His nativity carefully concealed, and being personally introduced to the chief +gardener by one who well knew him; armed, too, with a line from Sir John, and +recommended by his introducer as uncommonly expert at horticulture; Israel was +soon installed as keeper of certain less private plants and walks of the park. +</p> + +<p> +It was here, to one of his near country retreats, that, coming from +perplexities of state—leaving far behind him the dingy old bricks of St. +James—George the Third was wont to walk up and down beneath the long +arbors formed by the interlockings of lofty trees. +</p> + +<p> +More than once, raking the gravel, Israel through intervening foliage would +catch peeps in some private but parallel walk, of that lonely figure, not more +shadowy with overhanging leaves than with the shade of royal meditations. +</p> + +<p> +Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometimes invade the best human heart. +Seeing the monarch unguarded before him; remembering that the war was imputed +more to the self-will of the King than to the willingness of parliament or the +nation; and calling to mind all his own sufferings growing out of that war, +with all the calamities of his country; dim impulses, such as those to which +the regicide Ravaillae yielded, would shoot balefully across the soul of the +exile. But thrusting Satan behind him, Israel vanquished all such temptations. +Nor did these ever more disturb him, after his one chance conversation with the +monarch. +</p> + +<p> +As he was one day gravelling a little by-walk, wrapped in thought, the King +turning a clump of bushes, suddenly brushed Israel’s person. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately Israel touched his hat—but did not remove it—bowed, and +was retiring; when something in his air arrested the King’s attention. +</p> + +<p> +“You ain’t an Englishman,—no Englishman—no, no.” +</p> + +<p> +Pale as death, Israel tried to answer something; but knowing not what to say, +stood frozen to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a Yankee—a Yankee,” said the King again in his rapid +and half-stammering way. +</p> + +<p> +Again Israel assayed to reply, but could not. What could he say? Could he lie +to a King? +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,—you are one of that stubborn race,—that very +stubborn race. What brought you here?” +</p> + +<p> +“The fate of war, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“May it please your Majesty,” said a low cringing voice, +approaching, “this man is in the walk against orders. There is some +mistake, may it please your Majesty. Quit the walk, blockhead,” he hissed +at Israel. +</p> + +<p> +It was one of the junior gardeners who thus spoke. It seems that Israel had +mistaken his directions that morning. +</p> + +<p> +“Slink, you dog,” hissed the gardener again to Israel; then aloud +to the King, “A mistake of the man, I assure your Majesty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go you away—away with ye, and leave him with me,” said the +king. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting a moment, till the man was out of hearing, the king again turned upon +Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Were you at Bunker Hill?—that bloody Bunker Hill—eh, +eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fought like a devil—like a very devil, I suppose?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Helped flog—helped flog my soldiers?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; but very sorry to do it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Eh?—eh?—how’s that?” +</p> + +<p> +“I took it to be my sad duty, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very much mistaken—very much mistaken, indeed. Why do ye sir +me?—eh? I’m your king—your king.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” said Israel firmly, but with deep respect, “I have no +king.” +</p> + +<p> +The king darted his eye incensedly for a moment; but without quailing, Israel, +now that all was out, still stood with mute respect before him. The king, +turning suddenly, walked rapidly away from Israel a moment, but presently +returning with a less hasty pace, said, “You are rumored to be a +spy—a spy, or something of that sort—ain’t you? But I know +you are not—no, no. You are a runaway prisoner of war, eh? You have +sought this place to be safe from pursuit, eh? eh? Is it not so?—eh? eh? +eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, it is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, ye’re an honest rebel—rebel, yes, rebel. Hark ye, +hark. Say nothing of this talk to any one. And hark again. So long as you +remain here at Kew, I shall see that you are safe—safe.” +</p> + +<p> +“God bless your Majesty!” +</p> + +<p> +“Eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“God bless your noble Majesty?” +</p> + +<p> +“Come—come—come,” smiled the king in delight, “I +thought I could conquer ye—conquer ye.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not the king, but the king’s kindness, your Majesty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Join my army—army.” +</p> + +<p> +Sadly looking down, Israel silently shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“You won’t? Well, gravel the walk then—gravel away. Very +stubborn race—very stubborn race, +indeed—very—very—very.” +</p> + +<p> +And still growling, the magnanimous lion departed. How the monarch came by his +knowledge of so humble an exile, whether through that swift insight into +individual character said to form one of the miraculous qualities transmitted +with a crown, or whether some of the rumors prevailing outside of the garden +had come to his ear, Israel could never determine. Very probably, though, the +latter was the case, inasmuch as some vague shadowy report of Israel not being +an Englishman, had, a little previous to his interview with the king, been +communicated to several of the inferior gardeners. Without any impeachment of +Israel’s fealty to his country, it must still be narrated, that from this +his familiar audience with George the Third, he went away with very favorable +views of that monarch. Israel now thought that it could not be the warm heart +of the king, but the cold heads of his lords in council, that persuaded him so +tyrannically to persecute America. Yet hitherto the precise contrary of this +had been Israel’s opinion, agreeably to the popular prejudice throughout +New England. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we see what strange and powerful magic resides in a crown, and how subtly +that cheap and easy magnanimity, which in private belongs to most kings, may +operate on good-natured and unfortunate souls. Indeed, had it not been for the +peculiar disinterested fidelity of our adventurer’s patriotism, he would +have soon sported the red coat; and perhaps under the immediate patronage of +his royal friend, been advanced in time to no mean rank in the army of Britain. +Nor in that case would we have had to follow him, as at last we shall, through +long, long years of obscure and penurious wandering. +</p> + +<p> +Continuing in the service of the king’s gardeners at Kew, until a season +came when the work of the garden required a less number of laborers, Israel, +with several others, was discharged; and the day after, engaged himself for a +few months to a farmer in the neighborhood where he had been last employed. But +hardly a week had gone by, when the old story of his being a rebel, or a +runaway prisoner, or a Yankee, or a spy, began to be revived with added +malignity. Like bloodhounds, the soldiers were once more on the track. The +houses where he harbored were many times searched; but thanks to the fidelity +of a few earnest well-wishers, and to his own unsleeping vigilance and +activity, the hunted fox still continued to elude apprehension. To such +extremities of harassment, however, did this incessant pursuit subject him, +that in a fit of despair he was about to surrender himself, and submit to his +fate, when Providence seasonably interposed in his favor. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0006"></a> +CHAPTER VI.<br/> +ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE OF THEM +BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE “DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY,” THESE +DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE CHANNEL.</h2> + +<p> +At this period, though made the victims indeed of British oppression, yet the +colonies were not totally without friends in Britain. It was but natural that +when Parliament itself held patriotic and gifted men, who not only recommended +conciliatory measures, but likewise denounced the war as monstrous; it was but +natural that throughout the nation at large there should be many private +individuals cherishing similar sentiments, and some who made no scruple +clandestinely to act upon them. +</p> + +<p> +Late one night while hiding in a farmer’s granary, Israel saw a man with +a lantern approaching. He was about to flee, when the man hailed him in a +well-known voice, bidding him have no fear. It was the farmer himself. He +carried a message to Israel from a gentleman of Brentford, to the effect, that +the refugee was earnestly requested to repair on the following evening to that +gentleman’s mansion. +</p> + +<p> +At first, Israel was disposed to surmise that either the farmer was playing him +false, or else his honest credulity had been imposed upon by evil-minded +persons. At any rate, he regarded the message as a decoy, and for half an hour +refused to credit its sincerity. But at length he was induced to think a little +better of it. The gentleman giving the invitation was one Squire Woodcock, of +Brentford, whose loyalty to the king had been under suspicion; so at least the +farmer averred. This latter information was not without its effect. +</p> + +<p> +At nightfall on the following day, being disguised in strange clothes by the +farmer, Israel stole from his retreat, and after a few hours’ walk, +arrived before the ancient brick house of the Squire; who opening the door in +person, and learning who it was that stood there, at once assured Israel in the +most solemn manner, that no foul play was intended. So the wanderer suffered +himself to enter, and be conducted to a private chamber in the rear of the +mansion, where were seated two other gentlemen, attired, in the manner of that +age, in long laced coats, with small-clothes, and shoes with silver buckles. +</p> + +<p> +“I am John Woodcock,” said the host, “and these gentlemen are +Horne Tooke and James Bridges. All three of us are friends to America. We have +heard of you for some weeks past, and inferring from your conduct, that you +must be a Yankee of the true blue stamp, we have resolved to employ you in a +way which you cannot but gladly approve; for surely, though an exile, you are +still willing to serve your country; if not as a sailor or soldier, yet as a +traveller?” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me how I may do it?” demanded Israel, not completely at ease. +</p> + +<p> +“At that in good time,” smiled the Squire. “The point is +now—do you repose confidence in my statements?” +</p> + +<p> +Israel glanced inquiringly upon the Squire; then upon his companions; and +meeting the expressive, enthusiastic, candid countenance of Horne +Tooke—then in the first honest ardor of his political career—turned +to the Squire, and said, “Sir, I believe what you have said. Tell me now +what I am to do.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, there is just nothing to be done to-night,” said the Squire; +“nor for some days to come perhaps, but we wanted to have you +prepared.” +</p> + +<p> +And hereupon he hinted to his guest rather vaguely of his general intention; +and that over, begged him to entertain them with some account of his adventures +since he first took up arms for his country. To this Israel had no objections +in the world, since all men love to tell the tale of hardships endured in a +righteous cause. But ere beginning his story, the Squire refreshed him with +some cold beef, laid in a snowy napkin, and a glass of Perry, and thrice during +the narration of the adventures, pressed him with additional draughts. +</p> + +<p> +But after his second glass, Israel declined to drink more, mild as the beverage +was. For he noticed, that not only did the three gentlemen listen with the +utmost interest to his story, but likewise interrupted him with questions and +cross-questions in the most pertinacious manner. So this led him to be on his +guard, not being absolutely certain yet, as to who they might really be, or +what was their real design. But as it turned out, Squire Woodcock and his +friends only sought to satisfy themselves thoroughly, before making their final +disclosures, that the exile was one in whom implicit confidence might be +placed. +</p> + +<p> +And to this desirable conclusion they eventually came, for upon the ending of +Israel’s story, after expressing their sympathies for his hardships, and +applauding his generous patriotism in so patiently enduring adversity, as well +as singing the praises of his gallant fellow-soldiers of Bunker Hill, they +openly revealed their scheme. They wished to know whether Israel would +undertake a trip to Paris, to carry an important message—shortly to be +received for transmission through them—to Doctor Franklin, then in that +capital. +</p> + +<p> +“All your expenses shall be paid, not to speak of a compensation +besides,” said the Squire; “will you go?” +</p> + +<p> +“I must think of it,” said Israel, not yet wholly confirmed in his +mind. But once more he cast his glance on Horne Tooke, and his irresolution was +gone. +</p> + +<p> +The Squire now informed Israel that, to avoid suspicions, it would be necessary +for him to remove to another place until the hour at which he should start for +Paris. They enjoined upon him the profoundest secresy, gave him a guinea, with +a letter for a gentleman in White Waltham, a town some miles from Brentford, +which point they begged him to reach as soon as possible, there to tarry for +further instructions. +</p> + +<p> +Having informed him of thus much, Squire Woodcock asked him to hold out his +right foot. +</p> + +<p> +“What for?” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, would you not like to have a pair of new boots against your +return?” smiled Home Tooke. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes; no objection at all,” said, Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, let the bootmaker measure you,” smiled Horne Tooke. +</p> + +<p> +“Do <i>you</i> do it, Mr. Tooke,” said the Squire; “you +measure men’s parts better than I.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold out your foot, my good friend,” said Horne +Tooke—“there—now let’s measure your heart.” +</p> + +<p> +“For that, measure me round the chest,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Just the man we want,” said Mr. Bridges, triumphantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Give him another glass of wine, Squire,” said Horne Tooke. +</p> + +<p> +Exchanging the farmer’s clothes for still another disguise, Israel now +set out immediately, on foot, for his destination, having received minute +directions as to his road, and arriving in White Waltham on the following +morning was very cordially received by the gentleman to whom he carried the +letter. This person, another of the active English friends of America, +possessed a particular knowledge of late events in that land. To him Israel was +indebted for much entertaining information. After remaining some ten days at +this place, word came from Squire Woodcock, requiring Israel’s immediate +return, stating the hour at which he must arrive at the house, namely, two +o’clock on the following morning. So, after another night’s +solitary trudge across the country, the wanderer was welcomed by the same three +gentlemen as before, seated in the same room. +</p> + +<p> +“The time has now come,” said Squire Woodcock. “You must +start this morning for Paris. Take off your shoes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Am I to steal from here to Paris on my stocking-feet?” said +Israel, whose late easy good living at White Waltham had not failed to bring +out the good-natured and mirthful part of him, even as his prior experiences +had produced, for the most part, something like a contrary result. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no,” smiled Horne Tooke, who always lived well, “we have +seven-league-boots for you. Don’t you remember my measuring you?” +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon going to the closet, the Squire brought out a pair of new boots. They +were fitted with false heels. Unscrewing these, the Squire showed Israel the +papers concealed beneath. They were of a fine tissuey fibre, and contained much +writing in a very small compass. The boots, it need hardly be said, had been +particularly made for the occasion. +</p> + +<p> +“Walk across the room with them,” said the Squire, when Israel had +pulled them on. +</p> + +<p> +“He’ll surely be discovered,” smiled Horne Tooke. “Hark +how he creaks.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, it’s too serious a matter for joking,” said the +Squire. “Now, my fine fellow, be cautious, be sober, be vigilant, and +above all things be speedy.” +</p> + +<p> +Being furnished now with all requisite directions, and a supply of money, +Israel, taking leave of Mr. Tooke and Mr. Bridges, was secretly conducted down +stairs by the Squire, and in five minutes’ time was on his way to Charing +Cross in London, where taking the post-coach for Dover, he thence went in a +packet to Calais, and in fifteen minutes after landing, was being wheeled over +French soil towards Paris. He arrived there in safety, and freely declaring +himself an American, the peculiarly friendly relations of the two nations at +that period, procured him kindly attentions even from strangers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0007"></a> +CHAPTER VII.<br/> +AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE PRESENCE OF THE +RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND MULTIFARIOUSLY +EMPLOYED.</h2> + +<p> +Following the directions given him at the place where the diligence stopped, +Israel was crossing the Pont Neuf, to find Doctor Franklin, when he was +suddenly called to by a man standing on one side of the bridge, just under the +equestrian statue of Henry IV.—The man had a small, shabby-looking box +before him on the ground, with a box of blacking on one side of it, and several +shoe-brushes upon the other. Holding another brush in his hand, he politely +seconded his verbal invitation by gracefully flourishing the brush in the air. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you want of me, neighbor?” said Israel, pausing in +somewhat uneasy astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Monsieur,” exclaimed the man, and with voluble politeness he +ran on with a long string of French, which of course was all Greek to poor +Israel. But what his language failed to convey, his gestures now made very +plain. Pointing to the wet muddy state of the bridge, splashed by a recent +rain, and then to the feet of the wayfarer, and lastly to the brush in his +hand, he appeared to be deeply regretting that a gentleman of Israel’s +otherwise imposing appearance should be seen abroad with unpolished boots, +offering at the same time to remove their blemishes. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Monsieur, Monsieur,” cried the man, at last running up to +Israel. And with tender violence he forced him towards the box, and lifting +this unwilling customer’s right foot thereon, was proceeding vigorously +to work, when suddenly illuminated by a dreadful suspicion, Israel, fetching +the box a terrible kick, took to his false heels and ran like mad over the +bridge. +</p> + +<p> +Incensed that his politeness should receive such an ungracious return, the man +pursued, which but confirming Israel in his suspicions he ran all the faster, +and thanks to his fleetness, soon succeeded in escaping his pursuer. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at last at the street and the house to which he had been directed, in +reply to his summons, the gate very strangely of itself swung open, and much +astonished at this unlooked-for sort of enchantment, Israel entered a wide +vaulted passage leading to an open court within. While he was wondering that no +soul appeared, suddenly he was hailed from a dark little window, where sat an +old man cobbling shoes, while an old woman standing by his side was thrusting +her head into the passage, intently eyeing the stranger. They proved to be the +porter and portress, the latter of whom, upon hearing his summons, had +invisibly thrust open the gate to Israel, by means of a spring communicating +with the little apartment. +</p> + +<p> +Upon hearing the name of Doctor Franklin mentioned, the old woman, all +alacrity, hurried out of her den, and with much courtesy showed Israel across +the court, up three flights of stairs to a door in the rear of the spacious +building. There she left him while Israel knocked. +</p> + +<p> +“Come in,” said a voice. +</p> + +<p> +And immediately Israel stood in the presence of the venerable Doctor Franklin. +</p> + +<p> +Wrapped in a rich dressing-gown, a fanciful present from an admiring Marchesa, +curiously embroidered with algebraic figures like a conjuror’s robe, and +with a skull-cap of black satin on his hive of a head, the man of gravity was +seated at a huge claw-footed old table, round as the zodiac. It was covered +with printer papers, files of documents, rolls of manuscript, stray bits of +strange models in wood and metal, odd-looking pamphlets in various languages, +and all sorts of books, including many presentation-copies, embracing history, +mechanics, diplomacy, agriculture, political economy, metaphysics, meteorology, +and geometry. The walls had a necromantic look, hung round with barometers of +different kinds, drawings of surprising inventions, wide maps of far countries +in the New World, containing vast empty spaces in the middle, with the word +DESERT diffusely printed there, so as to span five-and-twenty degrees of +longitude with only two syllables,—which printed word, however, bore a +vigorous pen-mark, in the Doctor’s hand, drawn straight through it, as if +in summary repeal of it; crowded topographical and trigonometrical charts of +various parts of Europe; with geometrical diagrams, and endless other +surprising hangings and upholstery of science. +</p> + +<p> +The chamber itself bore evident marks of antiquity. One part of the +rough-finished wall was sadly cracked, and covered with dust, looked dim and +dark. But the aged inmate, though wrinkled as well, looked neat and hale. Both +wall and sage were compounded of like materials,—lime and dust; both, +too, were old; but while the rude earth of the wall had no painted lustre to +shed off all fadings and tarnish, and still keep fresh without, though with +long eld its core decayed: the living lime and dust of the sage was frescoed +with defensive bloom of his soul. +</p> + +<p> +The weather was warm; like some old West India hogshead on the wharf, the whole +chamber buzzed with flies. But the sapient inmate sat still and cool in the +midst. Absorbed in some other world of his occupations and thoughts, these +insects, like daily cark and care, did not seem one whit to annoy him. It was a +goodly sight to see this serene, cool and ripe old philosopher, who by sharp +inquisition of man in the street, and then long meditating upon him, surrounded +by all those queer old implements, charts and books, had grown at last so +wondrous wise. There he sat, quite motionless among those restless flies; and, +with a sound like the low noon murmur of foliage in the woods, turning over the +leaves of some ancient and tattered folio, with a binding dark and shaggy as +the bark of any old oak. It seemed as if supernatural lore must needs pertain +to this gravely, ruddy personage; at least far foresight, pleasant wit, and +working wisdom. Old age seemed in no wise to have dulled him, but to have +sharpened; just as old dinner-knives—so they be of good steel—wax +keen, spear-pointed, and elastic as whale-bone with long usage. Yet though he +was thus lively and vigorous to behold, spite of his seventy-two years (his +exact date at that time) somehow, the incredible seniority of an antediluvian +seemed his. Not the years of the calendar wholly, but also the years of +sapience. His white hairs and mild brow, spoke of the future as well as the +past. He seemed to be seven score years old; that is, three score and ten of +prescience added to three score and ten of remembrance, makes just seven score +years in all. +</p> + +<p> +But when Israel stepped within the chamber, he lost the complete effect of all +this; for the sage’s back, not his face, was turned to him. +</p> + +<p> +So, intent on his errand, hurried and heated with his recent run, our courier +entered the room, inadequately impressed, for the time, by either it or its +occupant. +</p> + +<p> +“Bon jour, bon jour, monsieur,” said the man of wisdom, in a +cheerful voice, but too busy to turn round just then. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, Doctor Franklin?” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I smell Indian corn,” said the Doctor, turning round quickly +on his chair. “A countryman; sit down, my good sir. Well, what news? +Special?” +</p> + +<p> +“Wait a minute, sir,” said Israel, stepping across the room towards +a chair. +</p> + +<p> +Now there was no carpet on the floor, which was of dark-colored wood, set in +lozenges, and slippery with wax, after the usual French style. As Israel walked +this slippery floor, his unaccustomed feet slid about very strangely as if +walking on ice, so that he came very near falling. +</p> + +<p> +“’Pears to me you have rather high heels to your boots,” said +the grave man of utility, looking sharply down through his spectacles; +“don’t you know that it’s both wasting leather and +endangering your limbs, to wear such high heels? I have thought, at my first +leisure, to write a little pamphlet against that very abuse. But pray, what are +you doing now? Do your boots pinch you, my friend, that you lift one foot from +the floor that way?” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment, Israel having seated himself, was just putting his right foot +across his left knee. +</p> + +<p> +“How foolish,” continued the wise man, “for a rational +creature to wear tight boots. Had nature intended rational creatures should do +so, she would have made the foot of solid bone, or perhaps of solid iron, +instead of bone, muscle, and flesh,—But,—I see. Hold!” +</p> + +<p> +And springing to his own slippered feet, the venerable sage hurried to the door +and shot-to the bolt. Then drawing the curtain carefully across the window +looking out across the court to various windows on the opposite side, bade +Israel proceed with his operations. +</p> + +<p> +“I was mistaken this time,” added the Doctor, smiling, as Israel +produced his documents from their curious recesses—“your high +heels, instead of being idle vanities, seem to be full of meaning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pretty full, Doctor,” said Israel, now handing over the papers. +“I had a narrow escape with them just now.” +</p> + +<p> +“How? How’s that?” said the sage, fumbling the papers +eagerly. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, crossing the stone bridge there over the <i>Seen</i>”— +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Seine</i>”—interrupted the Doctor, giving the French +pronunciation.—“Always get a new word right in the first place, my +friend, and you will never get it wrong afterwards.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I was crossing the bridge there, and who should hail me, but a +suspicious-looking man, who, under pretence of seeking to polish my boots, +wanted slyly to unscrew their heels, and so steal all these precious papers +I’ve brought you.” +</p> + +<p> +“My good friend,” said the man of gravity, glancing scrutinizingly +upon his guest, “have you not in your time, undergone what they call hard +times? Been set upon, and persecuted, and very illy entreated by some of your +fellow-creatures?” +</p> + +<p> +“That I have, Doctor; yes, indeed.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought so. Sad usage has made you sadly suspicious, my honest friend. +An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst consequence of a +miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence or guilt. And though +want of suspicion more than want of sense, sometimes leads a man into harm, yet +too much suspicion is as bad as too little sense. The man you met, my friend, +most probably had no artful intention; he knew just nothing about you or your +heels; he simply wanted to earn two sous by brushing your boots. Those +blacking-men regularly station themselves on the bridge.” +</p> + +<p> +“How sorry I am then that I knocked over his box, and then ran away. But +he didn’t catch me.” +</p> + +<p> +“How? surely, my honest friend, you—appointed to the conveyance of +important secret dispatches—did not act so imprudently as to kick over an +innocent man’s box in the public streets of the capital, to which you had +been especially sent?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I did, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never act so unwisely again. If the police had got hold of you, think of +what might have ensued.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it was not very wise of me, that’s a fact, Doctor. But, you +see, I thought he meant mischief.” +</p> + +<p> +“And because you only thought he <i>meant</i> mischief, <i>you</i> must +straightway proceed to <i>do</i> mischief. That’s poor logic. But think +over what I have told you now, while I look over these papers.” +</p> + +<p> +In half an hour’s time, the Doctor, laying down the documents, again +turned towards Israel, and removing his spectacles very placidly, proceeded in +the kindest and most familiar manner to read him a paternal detailed lesson +upon the ill-advised act he had been guilty of, upon the Pont Neuf; concluding +by taking out his purse, and putting three small silver coins into +Israel’s hands, charging him to seek out the man that very day, and make +both apology and restitution for his unlucky mistake. +</p> + +<p> +“All of us, my honest friend,” continued the Doctor, “are +subject to making mistakes; so that the chief art of life, is to learn how best +to remedy mistakes. Now one remedy for mistakes is honesty. So pay the man for +the damage done to his box. And now, who are you, my friend? My correspondents +here mention your name—Israel Potter—and say you are an American, +an escaped prisoner of war, but nothing further. I want to hear your story from +your own lips.” +</p> + +<p> +Israel immediately began, and related to the Doctor all his adventures up to +the present time. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose,” said the Doctor, upon Israel’s concluding, +“that you desire to return to your friends across the sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“That I do, Doctor,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I think I shall be able to procure you a passage.” +</p> + +<p> +Israel’s eyes sparkled with delight. The mild sage noticed it, and added: +“But events in these times are uncertain. At the prospect of pleasure +never be elated; but, without depression, respect the omens of ill. So much my +life has taught me, my honest friend.” +</p> + +<p> +Israel felt as though a plum-pudding had been thrust under his nostrils, and +then as rapidly withdrawn. +</p> + +<p> +“I think it is probable that in two or three days I shall want you to +return with some papers to the persons who sent you to me. In that case you +will have to come here once more, and then, my good friend, we will see what +can be done towards getting you safely home again.” +</p> + +<p> +Israel was pouring out torrents of thanks when the Doctor interrupted him. +</p> + +<p> +“Gratitude, my friend, cannot be too much towards God, but towards man, +it should be limited. No man can possibly so serve his fellow, as to merit +unbounded gratitude. Over gratitude in the helped person, is apt to breed +vanity or arrogance in the helping one. Now in assisting you to get +home—if indeed I shall prove able to do so—I shall be simply doing +part of my official duty as agent of our common country. So you owe me just +nothing at all, but the sum of these coins I put in your hand just now. But +that, instead of repaying to me hereafter, you can, when you get home, give to +the first soldier’s widow you meet. Don’t forget it, for it is a +debt, a pecuniary liability, owing to me. It will be about a quarter of a +dollar, in the Yankee currency. A quarter of a dollar, mind. My honest friend, +in pecuniary matters always be exact as a second-hand; never mind with whom it +is, father or stranger, peasant or king, be exact to a tick of your +honor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Doctor,” said Israel, “since exactness in these +matters is so necessary, let me pay back my debt in the very coins in which it +was loaned. There will be no chance of mistake then. Thanks to my Brentford +friends, I have enough to spare of my own, to settle damages with the +boot-black of the bridge. I only took the money from you, because I thought it +would not look well to push it back after being so kindly offered.” +</p> + +<p> +“My honest friend,” said the Doctor, “I like your +straightforward dealing. I will receive back the money.” +</p> + +<p> +“No interest, Doctor, I hope,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +The sage looked mildly over his spectacles upon Israel and replied: “My +good friend, never permit yourself to be jocose upon pecuniary matters. Never +joke at funerals, or during business transactions. The affair between us two, +you perhaps deem very trivial, but trifles may involve momentous principles. +But no more at present. You had better go immediately and find the boot-black. +Having settled with him, return hither, and you will find a room ready for you +near this, where you will stay during your sojourn in Paris.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I thought I would like to have a little look round the town, before +I go back to England,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Business before pleasure, my friend. You must absolutely remain in your +room, just as if you were my prisoner, until you quit Paris for Calais. Not +knowing now at what instant I shall want you to start, your keeping to your +room is indispensable. But when you come back from Brentford again, then, if +nothing happens, you will have a chance to survey this celebrated capital ere +taking ship for America. Now go directly, and pay the boot-black. Stop, have +you the exact change ready? Don’t be taking out all your money in the +open street.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doctor,” said Israel, “I am not so simple.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you knocked over the box.” +</p> + +<p> +“That, Doctor, was bravery.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bravery in a poor cause, is the height of simplicity, my +friend.—Count out your change. It must be French coin, not English, that +you are to pay the man with.—Ah, that will do—those three coins +will be enough. Put them in a pocket separate from your other cash. Now go, and +hasten to the bridge.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I stop to take a meal anywhere, Doctor, as I return? I saw several +cookshops as I came hither.” +</p> + +<p> +“Cafes and restaurants, they are called here, my honest friend. Tell me, +are you the possessor of a liberal fortune?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not very liberal,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“I thought as much. Where little wine is drunk, it is good to dine out +occasionally at a friend’s; but where a poor man dines out at his own +charge, it is bad policy. Never dine out that way, when you can dine in. Do not +stop on the way at all, my honest friend, but come directly back hither, and +you shall dine at home, free of cost, with me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you very kindly, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +And Israel departed for the Pont Neuf. Succeeding in his errand thither, he +returned to Dr. Franklin, and found that worthy envoy waiting his attendance at +a meal, which, according to the Doctor’s custom, had been sent from a +neighboring restaurant. There were two covers; and without attendance the host +and guest sat down. There was only one principal dish, lamb boiled with green +peas. Bread and potatoes made up the rest. A decanter-like bottle of uncolored +glass, filled with some uncolored beverage, stood at the venerable +envoy’s elbow. +</p> + +<p> +“Let me fill your glass,” said the sage. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s white wine, ain’t it?” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“White wine of the very oldest brand; I drink your health in it, my +honest friend.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, it’s plain water,” said Israel, now tasting it. +</p> + +<p> +“Plain water is a very good drink for plain men,” replied the wise +man. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Israel, “but Squire Woodcock gave me perry, and +the other gentleman at White Waltham gave me port, and some other friends have +given me brandy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good, my honest friend; if you like perry and port and brandy, wait +till you get back to Squire Woodcock, and the gentleman at White Waltham, and +the other friends, and you shall drink perry and port and brandy. But while you +are with me, you will drink plain water.” +</p> + +<p> +“So it seems, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you suppose a glass of port costs?” +</p> + +<p> +“About three pence English, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“That must be poor port. But how much good bread will three pence English +purchase?” +</p> + +<p> +“Three penny rolls, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“How many glasses of port do you suppose a man may drink at a +meal?” +</p> + +<p> +“The gentleman at White Waltham drank a bottle at a dinner.” +</p> + +<p> +“A bottle contains just thirteen glasses—that’s thirty-nine +pence, supposing it poor wine. If something of the best, which is the only sort +any sane man should drink, as being the least poisonous, it would be quadruple +that sum, which is one hundred and fifty-six pence, which is seventy-eight +two-penny loaves. Now, do you not think that for one man to swallow down +seventy-two two-penny rolls at one meal is rather extravagant business?” +</p> + +<p> +“But he drank a bottle of wine; he did not eat seventy-two two-penny +rolls, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“He drank the money worth of seventy-two loaves, which is drinking the +loaves themselves; for money is bread.” +</p> + +<p> +“But he has plenty of money to spare, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“To have to spare, is to have to give away. Does the gentleman give much +away?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not that I know of, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he thinks he has nothing to spare; and thinking he has nothing to +spare, and yet prodigally drinking down his money as he does every day, it +seems to me that that gentleman stands self- contradicted, and therefore is no +good example for plain sensible folks like you and me to follow. My honest +friend, if you are poor, avoid wine as a costly luxury; if you are rich, shun +it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain water. And now, my good friend, if you +are through with your meal, we will rise. There is no pastry coming. Pastry is +poisoned bread. Never eat pastry. Be a plain man, and stick to plain things. +Now, my friend, I shall have to be private until nine o’clock in the +evening, when I shall be again at your service. Meantime you may go to your +room. I have ordered the one next to this to be prepared for you. But you must +not be idle. Here is Poor Richard’s Almanac, which, in view of our late +conversation, I commend to your earnest perusal. And here, too, is a Guide to +Paris, an English one, which you can read. Study it well, so that when you come +back from England, if you should then have an opportunity to travel about +Paris, to see its wonders, you will have all the chief places made historically +familiar to you. In this world, men must provide knowledge before it is wanted, +just as our countrymen in New England get in their winter’s fuel one +season, to serve them the next.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, this homely sage, and household Plato, showed his humble guest to +the door, and standing in the hall, pointed out to him the one which opened +into his allotted apartment. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0008"></a> +CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER.</h2> + +<p> +The first, both in point of time and merit, of American envoys was famous not +less for the pastoral simplicity of his manners than for the politic grace of +his mind. Viewed from a certain point, there was a touch of primeval +orientalness in Benjamin Franklin. Neither is there wanting something like his +Scriptural parallel. The history of the patriarch Jacob is interesting not less +from the unselfish devotion which we are bound to ascribe to him, than from the +deep worldly wisdom and polished Italian tact, gleaming under an air of +Arcadian unaffectedness. The diplomatist and the shepherd are blended; a union +not without warrant; the apostolic serpent and dove. A tanned Machiavelli in +tents. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless, too, notwithstanding his eminence as lord of the moving manor, +Jacob’s raiment was of homespun; the economic envoy’s plain coat +and hose, who has not heard of? +</p> + +<p> +Franklin all over is of a piece. He dressed his person as his periods; neat, +trim, nothing superfluous, nothing deficient. In some of his works his style is +only surpassed by the unimprovable sentences of Hobbes of Malmsbury, the +paragon of perspicuity. The mental habits of Hobbes and Franklin in several +points, especially in one of some moment, assimilated. Indeed, making due +allowance for soil and era, history presents few trios more akin, upon the +whole, than Jacob, Hobbes, and Franklin; three labyrinth-minded, but +plain-spoken Broadbrims, at once politicians and philosophers; keen observers +of the main chance; prudent courtiers; practical magians in linsey-woolsey. +</p> + +<p> +In keeping with his general habitudes, Doctor Franklin while at the French +Court did not reside in the aristocratical faubourgs. He deemed his worsted +hose and scientific tastes more adapted in a domestic way to the other side of +the Seine, where the Latin Quarter, at once the haunt of erudition and economy, +seemed peculiarly to invite the philosophical Poor Richard to its venerable +retreats. Here, of gray, chilly, drizzly November mornings, in the dark-stoned +quadrangle of the time-honored Sorbonne, walked the lean and slippered +metaphysician,—oblivious for the moment that his sublime thoughts and +tattered wardrobe were famous throughout Europe,—meditating on the theme +of his next lecture; at the same time, in the well-worn chambers overhead, some +clayey-visaged chemist in ragged robe-de-chambre, and with a soiled green flap +over his left eye, was hard at work stooping over retorts and crucibles, +discovering new antipathies in acids, again risking strange explosions similar +to that whereby he had already lost the use of one optic; while in the lofty +lodging-houses of the neighboring streets, indigent young students from all +parts of France, were ironing their shabby cocked hats, or inking the whity +seams of their small-clothes, prior to a promenade with their pink-ribboned +little grisettes in the Garden of the Luxembourg. +</p> + +<p> +Long ago the haunt of rank, the Latin Quarter still retains many old buildings +whose imposing architecture singularly contrasts with the unassuming habits of +their present occupants. In some parts its general air is dreary and dim; +monastic and theurgic. In those lonely narrow ways—long-drawn +prospectives of desertion—lined with huge piles of silent, vaulted, old +iron-grated buildings of dark gray stone, one almost expects to encounter +Paracelsus or Friar Bacon turning the next corner, with some awful vial of +Black-Art elixir in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +But all the lodging-houses are not so grim. Not to speak of many of +comparatively modern erection, the others of the better class, however stern in +exterior, evince a feminine gayety of taste, more or less, in their furnishings +within. The embellishing, or softening, or screening hand of woman is to be +seen all over the interiors of this metropolis.. Like Augustus Caesar with +respect to Rome, the Frenchwoman leaves her obvious mark on Paris. Like the +hand in nature, you know it can be none else but hers. Yet sometimes she +overdoes it, as nature in the peony; or underdoes it, as nature in the bramble; +or—what is still more frequent—is a little slatternly about it, as +nature in the pig-weed. +</p> + +<p> +In this congenial vicinity of the Latin Quarter, and in an ancient building +something like those alluded to, at a point midway between the Palais des Beaux +Arts and the College of the Sorbonne, the venerable American Envoy pitched his +tent when not passing his time at his country retreat at Passy. The frugality +of his manner of life did not lose him the good opinion even of the +voluptuaries of the showiest of capitals, whose very iron railings are not free +from gilt. Franklin was not less a lady’s man, than a man’s man, a +wise man, and an old man. Not only did he enjoy the homage of the choicest +Parisian literati, but at the age of seventy-two he was the caressed favorite +of the highest born beauties of the Court; who through blind fashion having +been originally attracted to him as a famous <i>savan</i>, were permanently +retained as his admirers by his Plato-like graciousness of good humor. Having +carefully weighed the world, Franklin could act any part in it. By nature +turned to knowledge, his mind was often grave, but never serious. At times he +had seriousness—extreme seriousness—for others, but never for +himself. Tranquillity was to him instead of it. This philosophical levity of +tranquillity, so to speak, is shown in his easy variety of pursuits. Printer, +postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, chemist, orator, tinker, statesman, +humorist, philosopher, parlor man, political economist, professor of +housewifery, ambassador, projector, maxim-monger, herb-doctor, wit:—Jack +of all trades, master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of +his land. Franklin was everything but a poet. But since a soul with many +qualities, forming of itself a sort of handy index and pocket congress of all +humanity, needs the contact of just as many different men, or subjects, in +order to the exhibition of its totality; hence very little indeed of the +sage’s multifariousness will be portrayed in a simple narrative like the +present. This casual private intercourse with Israel, but served to manifest +him in his far lesser lights; thrifty, domestic, dietarian, and, it may be, +didactically waggish. There was much benevolent irony, innocent +mischievousness, in the wise man. Seeking here to depict him in his less +exalted habitudes, the narrator feels more as if he were playing with one of +the sage’s worsted hose, than reverentially handling the honored hat +which once oracularly sat upon his brow. +</p> + +<p> +So, then, in the Latin Quarter lived Doctor Franklin. And accordingly in the +Latin Quarter tarried Israel for the time. And it was into a room of a house in +this same Latin Quarter that Israel had been directed when the sage had +requested privacy for a while. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0009"></a> +CHAPTER IX.<br/> +ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN QUARTER.</h2> + +<p> +Closing the door upon himself, Israel advanced to the middle of the chamber, +and looked curiously round him. +</p> + +<p> +A dark tessellated floor, but without a rug; two mahogany chairs, with +embroidered seats, rather the worse for wear; one mahogany bed, with a gay but +tarnished counterpane; a marble wash-stand, cracked, with a china vessel of +water, minus the handle. The apartment was very large; this part of the house, +which was a very extensive one, embracing the four sides of a quadrangle, +having, in a former age, been the hotel of a nobleman. The magnitude of the +chamber made its stinted furniture look meagre enough. +</p> + +<p> +But in Israel’s eyes, the marble mantel (a comparatively recent addition) +and its appurtenances, not only redeemed the rest, but looked quite magnificent +and hospitable in the extreme. Because, in the first place, the mantel was +graced with an enormous old-fashioned square mirror, of heavy plate glass, set +fast, like a tablet, into the wall. And in this mirror was genially reflected +the following delicate articles:—first, two boquets of flowers inserted +in pretty vases of porcelain; second, one cake of white soap; third, one cake +of rose-colored soap (both cakes very fragrant); fourth, one wax candle; fifth, +one china tinder-box; sixth, one bottle of Eau de Cologne; seventh, one paper +of loaf sugar, nicely broken into sugar-bowl size; eighth, one silver teaspoon; +ninth, one glass tumbler; tenth, one glass decanter of cool pure water; +eleventh, one sealed bottle containing a richly hued liquid, and marked +“Otard.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder now what O-t-a-r-d is?” soliloquised Israel, slowly +spelling the word. “I have a good mind to step in and ask Dr. Franklin. +He knows everything. Let me smell it. No, it’s sealed; smell is locked +in. Those are pretty flowers. Let’s smell them: no smell again. Ah, I +see—sort of flowers in women’s bonnets—sort of calico +flowers. Beautiful soap. This smells anyhow—regular soap-roses—a +white rose and a red one. That long-necked bottle there looks like a crane. I +wonder what’s in that? Hallo! E-a-u—d-e—C-o-l-o-g-n-e. I +wonder if Dr. Franklin understands that? It looks like his white wine. This is +nice sugar. Let’s taste. Yes, this is very nice sugar, sweet +as—yes, it’s sweet as sugar; better than maple sugar, such as they +make at home. But I’m crunching it too loud, the Doctor will hear me. But +here’s a teaspoon. What’s this for? There’s no tea, nor +tea-cup; but here’s a tumbler, and here’s drinking water. Let me +see. Seems to me, putting this and that and the other thing together, +it’s a sort of alphabet that spells something. Spoon, tumbler, water, +sugar,—brandy—that’s it. O-t-a-r-d is brandy. Who put these +things here? What does it all mean? Don’t put sugar here for show, +don’t put a spoon here for ornament, nor a jug of water. There is only +one meaning to it, and that is a very polite invitation from some invisible +person to help myself, if I like, to a glass of brandy and sugar, and if I +don’t like, let it alone. That’s my reading. I have a good mind to +ask Doctor Franklin about it, though, for there’s just a chance I may be +mistaken, and these things here be some other person’s private property, +not at all meant for me to help myself from. Cologne, what’s +that—never mind. Soap: soap’s to wash with. I want to use soap, +anyway. Let me see—no, there’s no soap on the wash-stand. I see, +soap is not given gratis here in Paris, to boarders. But if you want it, take +it from the marble, and it will be charged in the bill. If you don’t want +it let it alone, and no charge. Well, that’s fair, anyway. But then to a +man who could not afford to use soap, such beautiful cakes as these lying +before his eyes all the time, would be a strong temptation. And now that I +think of it, the O-t-a-r-d looks rather tempting too. But if I don’t like +it now, I can let it alone. I’ve a good mind to try it. But it’s +sealed. I wonder now if I am right in my understanding of this alphabet? Who +knows? I’ll venture one little sip, anyhow. Come, cork. Hark!” +</p> + +<p> +There was a rapid knock at the door. +</p> + +<p> +Clapping down the bottle, Israel said, “Come in.” +</p> + +<p> +It was the man of wisdom. +</p> + +<p> +“My honest friend,” said the Doctor, stepping with venerable +briskness into the room, “I was so busy during your visit to the Pont +Neuf, that I did not have time to see that your room was all right. I merely +gave the order, and heard that it had been fulfilled. But it just occurred to +me, that as the landladies of Paris have some curious customs which might +puzzle an entire stranger, my presence here for a moment might explain any +little obscurity. Yes, it is as I thought,” glancing towards the mantel. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Doctor, that reminds me; what is O-t-a-r-d, pray?” +</p> + +<p> +“Otard is poison.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shocking.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and I think I had best remove it from the room forthwith,” +replied the sage, in a business-like manner putting the bottle under his arm; +“I hope you never use Cologne, do you?” +</p> + +<p> +“What—what is that, Doctor?” +</p> + +<p> +“I see. You never heard of the senseless luxury—a wise ignorance. +You smelt flowers upon your mountains. You won’t want this, +either;” and the Cologne bottle was put under the other arm. +“Candle—you’ll want that. Soap—you want soap. Use the +white cake.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that cheaper, Doctor?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but just as good as the other. You don’t ever munch sugar, do +you? It’s bad for the teeth. I’ll take the sugar.” So the +paper of sugar was likewise dropped into one of the capacious coat pockets. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you better take the whole furniture, Doctor Franklin. Here, +I’ll help you drag out the bedstead.” “My honest +friend,” said the wise man, pausing solemnly, with the two bottles, like +swimmer’s bladders, under his arm-pits; “my honest friend, the +bedstead you will want; what I propose to remove you will not want.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I was only joking, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“I knew that. It’s a bad habit, except at the proper time, and with +the proper person. The things left on the mantel were there placed by the +landlady to be used if wanted; if not, to be left untouched. To-morrow morning, +upon the chambermaid’s coming in to make your bed, all such articles as +remained obviously untouched would have been removed, the rest would have been +charged in the bill, whether you used them up completely or not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just as I thought. Then why not let the bottles stay, Doctor, and save +yourself all this trouble?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! why indeed. My honest friend, are you not my guest? It were +unhandsome in me to permit a third person superfluously to entertain you under +what, for the time being, is my own roof.” +</p> + +<p> +These words came from the wise man in the most graciously bland and flowing +tones. As he ended, he made a sort of conciliatory half bow towards Israel. +</p> + +<p> +Charmed with his condescending affability, Israel, without another word, +suffered him to march from the room, bottles and all. Not till the first +impression of the venerable envoy’s suavity had left him, did Israel +begin to surmise the mild superiority of successful strategy which lurked +beneath this highly ingratiating air. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” pondered Israel, sitting gloomily before the rifled mantel, +with the empty tumbler and teaspoon in his hand, “it’s sad business +to have a Doctor Franklin lodging in the next room. I wonder if he sees to all +the boarders this way. How the O-t-a-r-d merchants must hate him, and the +pastry-cooks too. I wish I had a good pie to pass the time. I wonder if they +ever make pumpkin pies in Paris? So I’ve got to stay in this room all the +time. Somehow I’m bound to be a prisoner, one way or another. Never mind, +I’m an ambassador; that’s satisfaction. Hark! The Doctor +again.—Come in.” +</p> + +<p> +No venerable doctor, but in tripped a young French lass, bloom on her cheek, +pink ribbons in her cap, liveliness in all her air, grace in the very tips of +her elbows. The most bewitching little chambermaid in Paris. All art, but the +picture of artlessness. +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur! pardon!” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I pardon ye freely,” said Israel. “Come to call on the +Ambassador?” +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur, is de—de—” but, breaking down at the very +threshold in her English, she poured out a long ribbon of sparkling French, the +purpose of which was to convey a profusion of fine compliments to the stranger, +with many tender inquiries as to whether he was comfortably roomed, and whether +there might not be something, however trifling, wanting to his complete +accommodation. But Israel understood nothing, at the time, but the exceeding +grace, and trim, bewitching figure of the girl. +</p> + +<p> +She stood eyeing him for a few moments more, with a look of pretty theatrical +despair, and, after vaguely lingering a while, with another shower of +incomprehensible compliments and apologies, tripped like a fairy from the +chamber. Directly she was gone Israel pondered upon a singular glance of the +girl. It seemed to him that he had, by his reception, in some way, +unaccountably disappointed his beautiful visitor. It struck him very strangely +that she had entered all sweetness and friendliness, but had retired as if +slighted, with a sort of disdainful and sarcastic levity, all the more stinging +from its apparent politeness. +</p> + +<p> +Not long had she disappeared, when a noise in the passage apprised him that, in +her hurried retreat, the girl must have stumbled against something. The next +moment he heard a chair scraping in the adjacent apartment, and there was +another knock at the door. +</p> + +<p> +It was the man of wisdom this time. +</p> + +<p> +“My honest friend, did you not have a visitor, just now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Doctor, a very pretty girl called upon me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I just stopped in to tell you of another strange custom of Paris. +That girl is the chambermaid, but she does not confine herself altogether to +one vocation. You must beware of the chambermaids of Paris, my honest friend. +Shall I tell the girl, from you, that, unwilling to give her the fatigue of +going up and down so many flights of stairs, you will for the future waive her +visits of ceremony?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Doctor Franklin, she is a very sweet little girl.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know it, my honest friend; the sweeter the more dangerous. Arsenic is +sweeter than sugar. I know you are a very sensible young man, not to be taken +in by an artful Ammonite, and so I think I had better convey your message to +the girl forthwith.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, the sage withdrew, leaving Israel once more gloomily seated before +the rifled mantel, whose mirror was not again to reflect the form of the +charming chambermaid. +</p> + +<p> +“Every time he comes in he robs me,” soliloquised Israel, +dolefully; “with an air all the time, too, as if he were making me +presents. If he thinks me such a very sensible young man, why not let me take +care of myself?” +</p> + +<p> +It was growing dusk, and Israel, lighting the wax candle, proceeded to read in +his Guide-book. +</p> + +<p> +“This is poor sight-seeing,” muttered he at last, “sitting +here all by myself, with no company but an empty tumbler, reading about the +fine things in Paris, and I myself a prisoner in Paris. I wish something +extraordinary would turn up now; for instance, a man come in and give me ten +thousand pounds. But here’s ‘Poor Richard;’ I am a poor +fellow myself; so let’s see what comfort he has for a comrade.” +</p> + +<p> +Opening the little pamphlet, at random, Israel’s eyes fell on the +following passages: he read them aloud— +</p> + +<p> +“‘<i>So what signifies waiting and hoping for better times? We may +make these times better, if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, and he +that lives upon hope will die fasting, as Poor Richard says. There are no +gains, without pains. Then help hands, for I have no lands, as Poor Richard +says.</i>’ Oh, confound all this wisdom! It’s a sort of insulting +to talk wisdom to a man like me. It’s wisdom that’s cheap, and +it’s fortune that’s dear. That ain’t in Poor Richard; but it +ought to be,” concluded Israel, suddenly slamming down the pamphlet. +</p> + +<p> +He walked across the room, looked at the artificial flowers, and the +rose-colored soap, and again went to the table and took up the two books. +</p> + +<p> +“So here is the ‘Way to Wealth,’ and here is the ‘Guide +to Paris.’ Wonder now whether Paris lies on the Way to Wealth? if so, I +am on the road. More likely though, it’s a parting-of-the-ways. I +shouldn’t be surprised if the Doctor meant something sly by putting these +two books in my hand. Somehow, the old gentleman has an amazing sly +look—a sort of wild slyness—about him, seems to me. His wisdom +seems a sort of sly, too. But all in honor, though. I rather think he’s +one of those old gentlemen who say a vast deal of sense, but hint a world more. +Depend upon it, he’s sly, sly, sly. Ah, what’s this Poor Richard +says: ‘God helps them that help themselves:’ Let’s consider +that. Poor Richard ain’t a Dunker, that’s certain, though he has +lived in Pennsylvania. ‘God helps them that help themselves.’ +I’ll just mark that saw, and leave the pamphlet open to refer to it +again—Ah!” +</p> + +<p> +At this point, the Doctor knocked, summoning Israel to his own apartment. Here, +after a cup of weak tea, and a little toast, the two had a long, familiar talk +together; during which, Israel was delighted with the unpretending +talkativeness, serene insight, and benign amiability of the sage. But, for all +this, he could hardly forgive him for the Cologne and Otard depredations. +</p> + +<p> +Discovering that, in early life, Israel had been employed on a farm, the man of +wisdom at length turned the conversation in that direction; among other things, +mentioning to his guest a plan of his (the Doctor’s) for yoking oxen, +with a yoke to go by a spring instead of a bolt; thus greatly facilitating the +operation of hitching on the team to the cart. Israel was very much struck with +the improvement; and thought that, if he were home, upon his mountains, he +would immediately introduce it among the farmers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0010"></a> +CHAPTER X.<br/> +ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE.</h2> + +<p> +About half-past ten o’clock, as they were thus conversing, Israel’s +acquaintance, the pretty chambermaid, rapped at the door, saying, with a +titter, that a very rude gentleman in the passage of the court, desired to see +Doctor Franklin. +</p> + +<p> +“A very rude gentleman?” repeated the wise man in French, narrowly +looking at the girl; “that means, a very fine gentleman who has just paid +you some energetic compliment. But let him come up, my girl,” he added +patriarchially. +</p> + +<p> +In a few moments, a swift coquettish step was heard, followed, as if in chase, +by a sharp and manly one. The door opened. Israel was sitting so that, +accidentally, his eye pierced the crevice made by the opening of the door, +which, like a theatrical screen, stood for a moment between Doctor Franklin and +the just entering visitor. And behind that screen, through the crack, Israel +caught one momentary glimpse of a little bit of by-play between the pretty +chambermaid and the stranger. The vivacious nymph appeared to have affectedly +run from him on the stairs—doubtless in freakish return for some liberal +advances—but had suffered herself to be overtaken at last ere too late; +and on the instant Israel caught sight of her, was with an insincere air of +rosy resentment, receiving a roguish pinch on the arm, and a still more roguish +salute on the cheek. +</p> + +<p> +The next instant both disappeared from the range of the crevice; the girl +departing whence she had come; the stranger—transiently invisible as he +advanced behind the door—entering the room. When Israel now perceived him +again, he seemed, while momentarily hidden, to have undergone a complete +transformation. +</p> + +<p> +He was a rather small, elastic, swarthy man, with an aspect as of a +disinherited Indian Chief in European clothes. An unvanquishable enthusiasm, +intensified to perfect sobriety, couched in his savage, self-possessed eye. He +was elegantly and somewhat extravagantly dressed as a civilian; he carried +himself with a rustic, barbaric jauntiness, strangely dashed with a +superinduced touch of the Parisian <i>salon</i>. His tawny cheek, like a date, +spoke of the tropic, A wonderful atmosphere of proud friendlessness and +scornful isolation invested him. Yet there was a bit of the poet as well as the +outlaw in him, too. A cool solemnity of intrepidity sat on his lip. He looked +like one who of purpose sought out harm’s way. He looked like one who +never had been, and never would be, a subordinate. +</p> + +<p> +Israel thought to himself that seldom before had he seen such a being. Though +dressed à-la-mode, he did not seem to be altogether civilized. +</p> + +<p> +So absorbed was our adventurer by the person of the stranger, that a few +moments passed ere he began to be aware of the circumstance, that Dr. Franklin +and this new visitor having saluted as old acquaintances, were now sitting in +earnest conversation together. +</p> + +<p> +“Do as you please; but I will not bide a suitor much longer,” said +the stranger in bitterness. “Congress gave me to understand that, upon my +arrival here, I should be given immediate command of the <i>Indien</i>; and +now, for no earthly reason that I can see, you Commissioners have presented +her, fresh from the stocks at Amsterdam, to the King of France, and not to me. +What does the King of France with such a frigate? And what can I <i>not</i> do +with her? Give me back the “Indien,” and in less than one month, +you shall hear glorious or fatal news of Paul Jones.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, Captain,” said Doctor Franklin, soothingly, +“tell me now, what would you do with her, if you had her?” +</p> + +<p> +“I would teach the British that Paul Jones, though born in Britain, is no +subject to the British King, but an untrammelled citizen and sailor of the +universe; and I would teach them, too, that if they ruthlessly ravage the +American coasts, their own coasts are vulnerable as New Holland’s. Give +me the <i>Indien</i>, and I will rain down on wicked England like fire on +Sodom.” +</p> + +<p> +These words of bravado were not spoken in the tone of a bravo, but a prophet. +Erect upon his chair, like an Iroquois, the speaker’s look was like that +of an unflickering torch. +</p> + +<p> +His air seemed slightly to disturb the old sage’s philosophic repose, +who, while not seeking to disguise his admiration of the unmistakable spirit of +the man, seemed but illy to relish his apparent measureless boasting. +</p> + +<p> +As if both to change the subject a little, as well as put his visitor in better +mood—though indeed it might have been but covertly to play with his +enthusiasm—the man of wisdom now drew his chair confidentially nearer to +the stranger’s, and putting one hand in a very friendly, conciliatory way +upon his visitor’s knee, and rubbing it gently to and fro there, much as +a lion-tamer might soothingly manipulate the aggravated king of beasts, said in +a winning manner:—“Never mind at present, Captain, about the +‘<i>Indien</i>’ affair. Let that sleep a moment. See now, the +Jersey privateers do us a great deal of mischief by intercepting our supplies. +It has been mentioned to me, that if you had a small vessel—say, even +your present ship, the ‘Amphitrite,’—then, by your singular +bravery, you might render great service, by following those privateers where +larger ships durst not venture their bottoms; or, if but supported by some +frigates from Brest at a proper distance, might draw them out, so that the +larger vessels could capture them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Decoy-duck to French frigates!—Very dignified office, +truly!” hissed Paul in a fiery rage. “Doctor Franklin, whatever +Paul Jones does for the cause of America, it must be done through unlimited +orders: a separate, supreme command; no leader and no counsellor but himself. +Have I not already by my services on the American coast shown that I am well +worthy all this? Why then do you seek to degrade me below my previous level? I +will mount, not sink. I live but for honor and glory. Give me, then, something +honorable and glorious to do, and something famous to do it with. Give me the +<i>Indien</i>” +</p> + +<p> +The man of wisdom slowly shook his head. “Everything is lost through this +shillyshallying timidity, called prudence,” cried Paul Jones, starting to +his feet; “to be effectual, war should be carried on like a monsoon, one +changeless determination of every particle towards the one unalterable aim. But +in vacillating councils, statesmen idle about like the cats’-paws in +calms. My God, why was I not born a Czar!” +</p> + +<p> +“A Nor’wester, rather. Come, come, Captain,” added the sage, +“sit down, we have a third person present, you see,” pointing +towards Israel, who sat rapt at the volcanic spirit of the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +Paul slightly started, and turned inquiringly upon Israel, who, equally owing +to Paul’s own earnestness of discourse and Israel’s motionless +bearing, had thus far remained undiscovered. +</p> + +<p> +“Never fear, Captain,” said the sage, “this man is true blue, +a secret courier, and an American born. He is an escaped prisoner of +war.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, captured in a ship?” asked Paul eagerly; “what ship? +None of mine! Paul Jones never was captured.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir, in the brigantine Washington, out of Boston,” replied +Israel; “we were cruising to cut off supplies to the English.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did your shipmates talk much of me?” demanded Paul, with a look as +of a parading Sioux demanding homage to his gewgaws; “what did they say +of Paul Jones?” +</p> + +<p> +“I never heard the name before this evening,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“What? Ah—brigantine Washington—let me see; that was before I +had outwitted the Soleby frigate, fought the Milford, and captured the Mellish +and the rest off Louisbergh. You were long before the news, my lad,” he +added, with a sort of compassionate air. +</p> + +<p> +“Our friend here gave you a rather blunt answer,” said the wise +man, sagely mischievous, and addressing Paul. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. And I like him for it. My man, will you go a cruise with Paul +Jones? You fellows so blunt with the tongue, are apt to be sharp with the +steel. Come, my lad, return with me to Brest. I go in a few days.” +</p> + +<p> +Fired by the contagious spirit of Paul, Israel, forgetting all about his +previous desire to reach home, sparkled with response to the summons. But +Doctor Franklin interrupted him. +</p> + +<p> +“Our friend here,” said he to the Captain, “is at present +engaged for very different duty.” +</p> + +<p> +Much other conversation followed, during which Paul Jones again and again +expressed his impatience at being unemployed, and his resolution to accept of +no employ unless it gave him supreme authority; while in answer to all this Dr. +Franklin, not uninfluenced by the uncompromising spirit of his guest, and well +knowing that however unpleasant a trait in conversation, or in the transaction +of civil affairs, yet in war this very quality was invaluable, as projectiles +and combustibles, finally assured Paul, after many complimentary remarks, that +he would immediately exert himself to the utmost to procure for him some +enterprise which should come up to his merits. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you for your frankness,” said Paul; “frank myself, I +love to deal with a frank man. You, Doctor Franklin, are true and deep, and so +you are frank.” +</p> + +<p> +The sage sedately smiled, a queer incredulity just lurking in the corner of his +mouth. +</p> + +<p> +“But how about our little scheme for new modelling ships-of-war?” +said the Doctor, shifting the subject; “it will be a great thing for our +infant navy, if we succeed. Since our last conversation on that subject, +Captain, at odds and ends of time, I have thought over the matter, and have +begun a little skeleton of the thing here, which I will show you. Whenever one +has a new idea of anything mechanical, it is best to clothe it with a body as +soon as possible. For you can’t improve so well on ideas as you can on +bodies.” +</p> + +<p> +With that, going to a little drawer, he produced a small basket, filled with a +curious looking unfinished frame-work of wood, and several bits of wood +unattached. It looked like a nursery basket containing broken odds and ends of +playthings. +</p> + +<p> +“Now look here, Captain, though the thing is but begun at present, yet +there is enough to show that <i>one</i> idea at least of yours is not +feasible.” +</p> + +<p> +Paul was all attention, as if having unbounded confidence in whatever the sage +might suggest, while Israel looked on quite as interested as either, his heart +swelling with the thought of being privy to the consultations of two such men; +consultations, too, having ultimate reference to such momentous affairs as the +freeing of nations. +</p> + +<p> +“If,” continued the Doctor, taking up some of the loose bits and +piling them along on one side of the top of the frame, “if the better to +shelter your crew in an engagement, you construct your rail in the manner +proposed—as thus—then, by the excessive weight of the timber, you +will too much interfere with the ship’s centre of gravity. You will have +that too high.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ballast in the hold in proportion,” said Paul. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you will sink the whole hull too low. But here, to have less smoke +in time of battle, especially on the lower decks, you proposed a new sort of +hatchway. But that won’t do. See here now, I have invented certain +ventilating pipes, they are to traverse the vessel thus”—laying +some toilette pins along—“the current of air to enter here and be +discharged there. What do you think of that? But now about the main +things—fast sailing driving little to leeward, and drawing little water. +Look now at this keel. I whittled it only night before last, just before going +to bed. Do you see now how—” +</p> + +<p> +At this crisis, a knock was heard at the door, and the chambermaid reappeared, +announcing that two gentlemen were that moment crossing the court below to see +Doctor Franklin. +</p> + +<p> +“The Duke de Chartres, and Count D’Estang,” said the Doctor; +“they appointed for last night, but did not come. Captain, this has +something indirectly to do with your affair. Through the Duke, Count +D’Estang has spoken to the King about the secret expedition, the design +of which you first threw out. Call early to-morrow, and I will inform you of +the result.” +</p> + +<p> +With his tawny hand Paul pulled out his watch, a small, richly-jewelled +lady’s watch. +</p> + +<p> +“It is so late, I will stay here to-night,” he said; “is +there a convenient room?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quick,” said the Doctor, “it might be ill-advised of you to +be seen with me just now. Our friend here will let you share his chamber. +Quick, Israel, and show the Captain thither.” +</p> + +<p> +As the door closed upon them in Israel’s apartment, Doctor +Franklin’s door closed upon the Duke and the Count. Leaving the latter to +their discussion of profound plans for the timely befriending of the American +cause, and the crippling of the power of England on the seas, let us pass the +night with Paul Jones and Israel in the neighboring room. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0011"></a> +CHAPTER XI.<br/> +PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE.</h2> + +<p> +“‘God helps them that help themselves.’ That’s a +clincher. That’s been my experience. But I never saw it in words before. +What pamphlet is this? ‘Poor Richard,’ hey!” +</p> + +<p> +Upon entering Israel’s room, Captain Paul, stepping towards the table and +spying the open pamphlet there, had taken it up, his eye being immediately +attracted to the passage previously marked by our adventurer. +</p> + +<p> +“A rare old gentleman is ‘Poor Richard,’” said Israel +in response to Paul’s observations. +</p> + +<p> +“So he seems, so he seems,” answered Paul, his eye still running +over the pamphlet again; “why, ‘Poor Richard’ reads very much +as Doctor Franklin speaks.” +</p> + +<p> +“He wrote it,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Aye? Good. So it is, so it is; it’s the wise man all over. I must +get me a copy of this and wear it around my neck for a charm. And now about our +quarters for the night. I am not going to deprive you of your bed, my man. Do +you go to bed and I will doze in the chair here. It’s good dozing in the +crosstrees.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not sleep together?” said Israel; “see, it is a big bed. +Or perhaps you don’t fancy your bed-fellow. Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“When, before the mast, I first sailed out of Whitehaven to +Norway,” said Paul, coolly, “I had for hammock-mate a full-blooded +Congo. We had a white blanket spread in our hammock. Every time I turned in I +found the Congo’s black wool worked in with the white worsted. By the end +of the voyage the blanket was of a pepper-and-salt look, like an old +man’s turning head. So it’s not because I am notional at all, but +because I don’t care to, my lad. Turn in and go to sleep. Let the lamp +burn. I’ll see to it. There, go to sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +Complying with what seemed as much a command as a request, Israel, though in +bed, could not fall into slumber for thinking of the little circumstance that +this strange swarthy man, flaming with wild enterprises, sat in full suit in +the chair. He felt an uneasy misgiving sensation, as if he had retired, not +only without covering up the fire, but leaving it fiercely burning with +spitting fagots of hemlock. +</p> + +<p> +But his natural complaisance induced him at least to feign himself asleep; +whereupon. Paul, laying down “Poor Richard,” rose from his chair, +and, withdrawing his boots, began walking rapidly but noiselessly to and fro, +in his stockings, in the spacious room, wrapped in Indian meditations. Israel +furtively eyed him from beneath the coverlid, and was anew struck by his +aspect, now that Paul thought himself unwatched. Stern relentless purposes, to +be pursued to the points of adverse bayonets and the muzzles of hostile cannon, +were expressed in the now rigid lines of his brow. His ruffled right hand was +clutched by his side, as if grasping a cutlass. He paced the room as if +advancing upon a fortification. Meantime a confused buzz of discussion came +from the neighboring chamber. All else was profound midnight tranquillity. +Presently, passing the large mirror over the mantel, Paul caught a glimpse of +his person. He paused, grimly regarding it, while a dash of pleased coxcombry +seemed to mingle with the otherwise savage satisfaction expressed in his face. +But the latter predominated. Soon, rolling up his sleeve, with a queer wild +smile, Paul lifted his right arm, and stood thus for an interval, eyeing its +image in the glass. From where he lay, Israel could not see that side of the +arm presented to the mirror, but he saw its reflection, and started at +perceiving there, framed in the carved and gilded wood, certain large +intertwisted ciphers covering the whole inside of the arm, so far as exposed, +with mysterious tattooings. The design was wholly unlike the fanciful figures +of anchors, hearts, and cables, sometimes decorating small portions of +seamen’s bodies. It was a sort of tattooing such as is seen only on +thoroughbred savages—deep blue, elaborate, labyrinthine, cabalistic. +Israel remembered having beheld, on one of his early voyages, something similar +on the arm of a New Zealand warrior, once met, fresh from battle, in his native +village. He concluded that on some similar early voyage Paul must have +undergone the manipulations of some pagan artist. Covering his arm again with +his laced coat-sleeve, Paul glanced ironically at the hand of the same arm, now +again half muffled in ruffles, and ornamented with several Parisian rings. He +then resumed his walking with a prowling air, like one haunting an ambuscade; +while a gleam of the consciousness of possessing a character as yet +un-fathomed, and hidden power to back unsuspected projects, irradiated his cold +white brow, which, owing to the shade of his hat in equatorial climates, had +been left surmounting his swarthy face, like the snow topping the Andes. +</p> + +<p> +So at midnight, the heart of the metropolis of modern civilization was secretly +trod by this jaunty barbarian in broadcloth; a sort of prophetical ghost, +glimmering in anticipation upon the advent of those tragic scenes of the French +Revolution which levelled the exquisite refinement of Paris with the +bloodthirsty ferocity of Borneo; showing that broaches and finger-rings, not +less than nose-rings and tattooing, are tokens of the primeval savageness which +ever slumbers in human kind, civilized or uncivilized. +</p> + +<p> +Israel slept not a wink that night. The troubled spirit of Paul paced the +chamber till morning; when, copiously bathing himself at the wash-stand, Paul +looked care-free and fresh as a daybreak hawk. After a closeted consultation +with Doctor Franklin, he left the place with a light and dandified air, +switching his gold-headed cane, and throwing a passing arm round all the pretty +chambermaids he encountered, kissing them resoundingly, as if saluting a +frigate. All barbarians are rakes. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0012"></a> +CHAPTER XII.<br/> +RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE’S ABODE—HIS +ADVENTURES THERE.</h2> + +<p> +On the third day, as Israel was walking to and fro in his room, having removed +his courier’s boots, for fear of disturbing the Doctor, a quick sharp rap +at the door announced the American envoy. The man of wisdom entered, with two +small wads of paper in one hand, and several crackers and a bit of cheese in +the other. There was such an eloquent air of instantaneous dispatch about him, +that Israel involuntarily sprang to his boots, and, with two vigorous jerks, +hauled them on, and then seizing his hat, like any bird, stood poised for his +flight across the channel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done, my honest friend,” said the Doctor; “you have the +papers in your heel, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” exclaimed Israel, perceiving the mild irony; and in an +instant his boots were off again; when, without another word, the Doctor took +one boot, and Israel the other, and forthwith both parties proceeded to secrete +the documents. +</p> + +<p> +“I think I could improve the design,” said the sage, as, +notwithstanding his haste, he critically eyed the screwing apparatus of the +boot. “The vacancy should have been in the standing part of the heel, not +in the lid. It should go with a spring, too, for better dispatch. I’ll +draw up a paper on false heels one of these days, and send it to a private +reading at the Institute. But no time for it now. My honest friend, it is now +half past ten o’clock. At half past eleven the diligence starts from the +Place-du-Carrousel for Calais. Make all haste till you arrive at Brentford. I +have a little provender here for you to eat in the diligence, as you will not +have time for a regular meal. A day-and-night courier should never be without a +cracker in his pocket. You will probably leave Brentford in a day or two after +your arrival there. Be wary, now, my good friend; heed well, that, if you are +caught with these papers on British ground, you will involve both yourself and +our Brentford friends in fatal calamities. Kick no man’s box, never mind +whose, in the way. Mind your own box. You can’t be too cautious, but +don’t be too suspicious. God bless you, my honest friend. Go!” +</p> + +<p> +And, flinging the door open for his exit, the Doctor saw Israel dart into the +entry, vigorously spring down the stairs, and disappear with all celerity +across the court into the vaulted way. +</p> + +<p> +The man of wisdom stood mildly motionless a moment, with a look of sagacious, +humane meditation on his face, as if pondering upon the chances of the +important enterprise: one which, perhaps, might in the sequel affect the weal +or woe of nations yet to come. Then suddenly clapping his hand to his capacious +coat-pocket, dragged out a bit of cork with some hen’s feathers, and +hurrying to his room, took out his knife, and proceeded to whittle away at a +shuttlecock of an original scientific construction, which at some prior time he +had promised to send to the young Duchess D’Abrantes that very afternoon. +</p> + +<p> +Safely reaching Calais, at night, Israel stepped almost from the diligence into +the packet, and, in a few moments, was cutting the water. As on the diligence +he took an outside and plebeian seat, so, with the same secret motive of +preserving unsuspected the character assumed, he took a deck passage in the +packet. It coming on to rain violently, he stole down into the forecastle, +dimly lit by a solitary swinging lamp, where were two men industriously +smoking, and filling the narrow hole with soporific vapors. These induced +strange drowsiness in Israel, and he pondered how best he might indulge it, for +a time, without imperilling the precious documents in his custody. +</p> + +<p> +But this pondering in such soporific vapors had the effect of those +mathematical devices whereby restless people cipher themselves to sleep. His +languid head fell to his breast. In another moment, he drooped half-lengthwise +upon a chest, his legs outstretched before him. +</p> + +<p> +Presently he was awakened by some intermeddlement with his feet. Starting to +his elbow, he saw one of the two men in the act of slyly slipping off his right +boot, while the left one, already removed, lay on the floor, all ready against +the rascal’s retreat Had it not been for the lesson learned on the Pont +Neuf, Israel would instantly have inferred that his secret mission was known, +and the operator some designed diplomatic knave or other, hired by the British +Cabinet, thus to lie in wait for him, fume him into slumber with tobacco, and +then rifle him of his momentous dispatches. But as it was, he recalled Doctor +Franklin’s prudent admonitions against the indulgence of premature +suspicions. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” said Israel very civilly, “I will thank you for that +boot which lies on the floor, and, if you please, you can let the other stay +where it is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excuse me,” said the rascal, an accomplished, self-possessed +practitioner in his thievish art; “I thought your boots might be pinching +you, and only wished to ease you a little.” +</p> + +<p> +“Much obliged to ye for your kindness, sir,” said Israel; +“but they don’t pinch me at all. I suppose, though, you think they +wouldn’t pinch <i>you</i> either; your foot looks rather small. Were you +going to try ’em on, just to see how they fitted?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said the fellow, with sanctimonious seriousness; “but +with your permission I should like to try them on, when we get to Dover. I +couldn’t try them well walking on this tipsy craft’s deck, you +know.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered Israel, “and the beach at Dover ain’t +very smooth either. I guess, upon second thought, you had better not try +’em on at all. Besides, I am a simple sort of a soul—eccentric they +call me—and don’t like my boots to go out of my sight. Ha! +ha!” +</p> + +<p> +“What are you laughing at?” said the fellow testily. +</p> + +<p> +“Odd idea! I was just looking at those sad old patched boots there on +your feet, and thinking to myself what leaky fire-buckets they would be to pass +up a ladder on a burning building. It would hardly be fair now to swop my new +boots for those old fire-buckets, would it?” +</p> + +<p> +“By plunko!” cried the fellow, willing now by a bold stroke to +change the subject, which was growing slightly annoying; “by plunko, I +believe we are getting nigh Dover. Let’s see.” +</p> + +<p> +And so saying, he sprang up the ladder to the deck. Upon Israel following, he +found the little craft half becalmed, rolling on short swells almost in the +exact middle of the channel. It was just before the break of the morning; the +air clear and fine; the heavens spangled with moistly twinkling stars. The +French and English coasts lay distinctly visible in the strange starlight, the +white cliffs of Dover resembling a long gabled block of marble houses. Both +shores showed a long straight row of lamps. Israel seemed standing in the +middle of the crossing of some wide stately street in London. Presently a +breeze sprang up, and ere long our adventurer disembarked at his destined port, +and directly posted on for Brentford. +</p> + +<p> +The following afternoon, having gained unobserved admittance into the house, +according to preconcerted signals, he was sitting in Squire Woodcock’s +closet, pulling off his boots and delivering his dispatches. +</p> + +<p> +Having looked over the compressed tissuey sheets, and read a line particularly +addressed to himself, the Squire, turning round upon Israel, congratulated him +upon his successful mission, placed some refreshment before him, and apprised +him that, owing to certain suspicious symptoms in the neighborhood, he (Israel) +must now remain concealed in the house for a day or two, till an answer should +be ready for Paris. +</p> + +<p> +It was a venerable mansion, as was somewhere previously stated, of a wide and +rambling disorderly spaciousness, built, for the most part, of weather-stained +old bricks, in the goodly style called Elizabethan. As without, it was all dark +russet bricks, so within, it was nothing but tawny oak panels. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, my good fellow,” said the Squire, “my wife has a number +of guests, who wander from room to room, having the freedom of the house. So I +shall have to put you very snugly away, to guard against any chance of +discovery.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, first locking the door, he touched a spring nigh the open +fire-place, whereupon one of the black sooty stone jambs of the chimney started +ajar, just like the marble gate of a tomb. Inserting one leg of the heavy tongs +in the crack, the Squire pried this cavernous gate wide open. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Squire Woodcock, what is the matter with your chimney?” said +Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Quick, go in.” +</p> + +<p> +“Am I to sweep the chimney?” demanded Israel; “I didn’t +engage for that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pooh, pooh, this is your hiding-place. Come, move in.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where does it go to, Squire Woodcock? I don’t like the looks +of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Follow me. I’ll show you.” +</p> + +<p> +Pushing his florid corpulence into the mysterious aperture, the elderly Squire +led the way up steep stairs of stone, hardly two feet in width, till they +reached a little closet, or rather cell, built into the massive main wall of +the mansion, and ventilated and dimly lit by two little sloping slits, +ingeniously concealed without, by their forming the sculptured mouths of two +griffins cut in a great stone tablet decorating that external part of the +dwelling. A mattress lay rolled up in one corner, with a jug of water, a flask +of wine, and a wooden trencher containing cold roast beef and bread. +</p> + +<p> +“And I am to be buried alive here?” said Israel, ruefully looking +round. +</p> + +<p> +“But your resurrection will soon be at hand,” smiled the Squire; +“two days at the furthest.” +</p> + +<p> +“Though to be sure I was a sort of prisoner in Paris, just as I seem +about to be made here,” said Israel, “yet Doctor Franklin put me in +a better jug than this, Squire Woodcock. It was set out with boquets and a +mirror, and other fine things. Besides, I could step out into the entry +whenever I wanted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, but, my hero, that was in France, and this is in England. There you +were in a friendly country: here you are in the enemy’s. If you should be +discovered in my house, and your connection with me became known, do you know +that it would go very hard with me; very hard indeed?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, for your sake, I am willing to stay wherever you think best to put +me,” replied Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, you say you want boquets and a mirror. If those articles +will at all help to solace your seclusion, I will bring them to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“They really would be company; the sight of my own face +particularly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stay here, then. I will be back in ten minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +In less than that time, the good old Squire returned, puffing and panting, with +a great bunch of flowers, and a small shaving-glass. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” said he, putting them down; “now keep perfectly +quiet; avoid making any undue noise, and on no account descend the stairs, till +I come for you again.” +</p> + +<p> +“But when will that be?” asked Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“I will try to come twice each day while you are here. But there is no +knowing what may happen. If I should not visit you till I come to liberate +you—on the evening of the second day, or the morning of the +third—you must not be at all surprised, my good fellow. There is plenty +of food-and water to last you. But mind, on no account descend the stone-stairs +till I come for you.” +</p> + +<p> +With that, bidding his guest adieu, he left him. +</p> + +<p> +Israel stood glancing pensively around for a time. By and by, moving the rolled +mattress under the two air-slits, he mounted, to try if aught were visible +beyond. But nothing was to be seen but a very thin slice of blue sky peeping +through the lofty foliage of a great tree planted near the side-portal of the +mansion; an ancient tree, coeval with the ancient dwelling it guarded. +</p> + +<p> +Sitting down on the Mattress, Israel fell into a reverie. +</p> + +<p> +“Poverty and liberty, or plenty and a prison, seem to be the two horns of +the constant dilemma of my life,” thought he. “Let’s look at +the prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +And taking up the shaving-glass, he surveyed his lineaments. +</p> + +<p> +“What a pity I didn’t think to ask for razors and soap. I want +shaving very badly. I shaved last in France. How it would pass the time here. +Had I a comb now and a razor, I might shave and curl my hair, and keep making a +continual toilet all through the two days, and look spruce as a robin when I +get out. I’ll ask the Squire for the things this very night when he drops +in. Hark! ain’t that a sort of rumbling in the wall? I hope there +ain’t any oven next door; if so, I shall be scorched out. Here I am, just +like a rat in the wainscot. I wish there was a low window to look out of. I +wonder what Doctor Franklin is doing now, and Paul Jones? Hark! there’s a +bird singing in the leaves. Bell for dinner, that.” +</p> + +<p> +And for pastime, he applied himself to the beef and bread, and took a draught +of the wine and water. +</p> + +<p> +At last night fell. He was left in utter darkness. No Squire. +</p> + +<p> +After an anxious, sleepless night, he saw two long flecks of pale gray light +slanting into the cell from the slits, like two long spears. He rose, rolled up +his mattress, got upon the roll, and put his mouth to one of the +griffins’ months. He gave a low, just audible whistle, directing it +towards the foliage of the tree. Presently there was a slight rustling among +the leaves, then one solitary chirrup, and in three minutes a whole chorus of +melody burst upon his ear. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve waked the first bird,” said he to himself, with a +smile, “and he’s waked all the rest. Now then for breakfast. That +over, I dare say the Squire will drop in.” +</p> + +<p> +But the breakfast was over, and the two flecks of pale light had changed to +golden beams, and the golden beams grew less and less slanting, till they +straightened themselves up out of sight altogether. It was noon, and no Squire. +</p> + +<p> +“He’s gone a-hunting before breakfast, and got belated,” +thought Israel. +</p> + +<p> +The afternoon shadows lengthened. It was sunset; no Squire. +</p> + +<p> +“He must be very busy trying some sheep-stealer in the hall,” mused +Israel. “I hope he won’t forget all about me till to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +He waited and listened; and listened and waited. +</p> + +<p> +Another restless night; no sleep; morning came. The second day passed like the +first, and the night. On the third morning the flowers lay shrunken by his +side. Drops of wet oozing through the air- slits, fell dully on the stone +floor. He heard the dreary beatings of the tree’s leaves against the +mouths of the griffins, bedashing them with the spray of the rain-storm +without. At intervals a burst of thunder rolled over his head, and lightning +flashing down through the slits, lit up the cell with a greenish glare, +followed by sharp splashings and rattlings of the redoubled rain-storm. +</p> + +<p> +“This is the morning of the third day,” murmured Israel to himself; +“he said he would at the furthest come to me on the morning of the third +day. This is it. Patience, he will be here yet. Morning lasts till noon.” +</p> + +<p> +But, owing to the murkiness of the day, it was very hard to tell when noon +came. Israel refused to credit that noon had come and gone, till dusk set +plainly in. Dreading he knew not what, he found himself buried in the darkness +of still another night. However patient and hopeful hitherto, fortitude now +presently left him. Suddenly, as if some contagious fever had seized him, he +was afflicted with strange enchantments of misery, undreamed of till now. +</p> + +<p> +He had eaten all the beef, but there was bread and water sufficient to last, by +economy, for two or three days to come. It was not the pang of hunger then, but +a nightmare originating in his mysterious incarceration, which appalled him. +All through the long hours of this particular night, the sense of being masoned +up in the wall, grew, and grew, and grew upon him, till again and again he +lifted himself convulsively from the floor, as if vast blocks of stone had been +laid on him; as if he had been digging a deep well, and the stonework with all +the excavated earth had caved in upon him, where he burrowed ninety feet +beneath the clover. In the blind tomb of the midnight he stretched his two arms +sideways, and felt as if coffined at not being able to extend them straight +out, on opposite sides, for the narrowness of the cell. He seated himself +against one side of the wall, crosswise with the cell, and pushed with his feet +at the opposite wall. But still mindful of his promise in this extremity, he +uttered no cry. He mutely raved in the darkness. The delirious sense of the +absence of light was soon added to his other delirium as to the contraction of +space. The lids of his eyes burst with impotent distension. Then he thought the +air itself was getting unbearable. He stood up at the griffin slits, pressing +his lips far into them till he moulded his lips there, to suck the utmost of +the open air possible. +</p> + +<p> +And continually, to heighten his frenzy, there recurred to him again and again +what the Squire had told him as to the origin of the cell. It seemed that this +part of the old house, or rather this wall of it, was extremely ancient, dating +far beyond the era of Elizabeth, having once formed portion of a religious +retreat belonging to the Templars. The domestic discipline of this order was +rigid and merciless in the extreme. In a side wall of their second storey +chapel, horizontal and on a level with the floor, they had an internal vacancy +left, exactly of the shape and average size of a coffin. In this place, from +time to time, inmates convicted of contumacy were confined; but, strange to +say, not till they were penitent. A small hole, of the girth of one’s +wrist, sunk like a telescope three feet through the masonry into the cell, +served at once for ventilation, and to push through food to the prisoner. This +hole opening into the chapel also enabled the poor solitaire, as intended, to +overhear the religious services at the altar; and, without being present, take +part in the same. It was deemed a good sign of the state of the +sufferer’s soul, if from the gloomy recesses of the wall was heard the +agonized groan of his dismal response. This was regarded in the light of a +penitent wail from the dead, because the customs of the order ordained that +when any inmate should be first incarcerated in the wall, he should be +committed to it in the presence of all the brethren, the chief reading the +burial service as the live body was sepulchred. Sometimes several weeks elapsed +ere the disentombment, the penitent being then usually found numb and congealed +in all his extremities, like one newly stricken with paralysis. +</p> + +<p> +This coffin-cell of the Templars had been suffered to remain in the demolition +of the general edifice, to make way for the erection of the new, in the reign +of Queen Elizabeth. It was enlarged somewhat, and altered, and additionally +ventilated, to adapt it for a place of concealment in times of civil +dissension. +</p> + +<p> +With this history ringing in his solitary brain, it may readily be conceived +what Israel’s feelings must have been. Here, in this very darkness, +centuries ago, hearts, human as his, had mildewed in despair; limbs, robust as +his own, had stiffened in immovable torpor. +</p> + +<p> +At length, after what seemed all the prophetic days and years of Daniel, +morning broke. The benevolent light entered the cell, soothing his frenzy, as +if it had been some smiling human face—nay, the Squire himself, come at +last to redeem him from thrall. Soon his dumb ravings entirely left him, and +gradually, with a sane, calm mind, he revolved all the circumstances of his +condition. +</p> + +<p> +He could not be mistaken; something fatal must have befallen his friend. Israel +remembered the Squire’s hinting that in case of the discovery of his +clandestine proceedings it would fare extremely hard with him, Israel was +forced to conclude that this same unhappy discovery had been made; that owing +to some untoward misadventure his good friend had been carried off a +State-prisoner to London; that prior to his going the Squire had not apprised +any member of his household that he was about to leave behind him a prisoner in +the wall; this seemed evident from the circumstance that, thus far, no soul had +visited that prisoner. It could not be otherwise. Doubtless the Squire, having +no opportunity to converse in private with his relatives or friends at the +moment of his sudden arrest, had been forced to keep his secret, for the +present, for fear of involving Israel in still worse calamities. But would he +leave him to perish piecemeal in the wall? All surmise was baffled in the +unconjecturable possibilities of the case. But some sort of action must +speedily be determined upon. Israel would not additionally endanger the Squire, +but he could not in such uncertainty consent to perish where he was. He +resolved at all hazards to escape, by stealth and noiselessly, if possible; by +violence and outcry, if indispensable. +</p> + +<p> +Gliding out of the cell, he descended the stone stairs, and stood before the +interior of the jamb. He felt an immovable iron knob, but no more. He groped +about gently for some bolt or spring. When before he had passed through the +passage with his guide, he had omitted to notice by what precise mechanism the +jamb was to be opened from within, or whether, indeed, it could at all be +opened except from without. +</p> + +<p> +He was about giving up the search in despair, after sweeping with his two hands +every spot of the wall-surface around him, when chancing to turn his whole body +a little to one side, he heard a creak, and saw a thin lance of light. His foot +had unconsciously pressed some spring laid in the floor. The jamb was ajar. +Pushing it open, he stood at liberty, in the Squire’s closet. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0013"></a> +CHAPTER XIII.<br/> +HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING.</h2> + +<p> +He started at the funereal aspect of the room, into which, since he last stood +there, undertakers seemed to have stolen. The curtains of the window were +festooned with long weepers of crape. The four corners of the red cloth on the +round table were knotted with crape. +</p> + +<p> +Knowing nothing of these mournful customs of the country, nevertheless, +Israel’s instinct whispered him that Squire Woodcock lived no more on +this earth. At once the whole three days’ mystery was made clear. But +what was now to be done? His friend must have died very suddenly; most probably +struck down in a fit, from which he never more rose. With him had perished all +knowledge of the fact that a stranger was immured in the mansion. If discovered +then, prowling here in the inmost privacies of a gentleman’s abode, what +would befall the wanderer, already not unsuspected in the neighborhood of some +underhand guilt as a fugitive? If he adhered to the strict truth, what could he +offer in his own defence without convicting himself of acts which, by English +tribunals, would be accounted flagitious crimes? Unless, indeed, by involving +the memory of the deceased Squire Woodcock in his own self acknowledged +proceedings, so ungenerous a charge should result in an abhorrent refusal to +credit his extraordinary tale, whether as referring to himself or another, and +so throw him open to still more grievous suspicions? +</p> + +<p> +While wrapped in these dispiriting reveries, he heard a step not very far off +in the passage. It seemed approaching. Instantly he flew to the jamb, which +remained unclosed, and disappearing within, drew the stone after him by the +iron knob. Owing to his hurried violence the jamb closed with a dull, dismal +and singular noise. A shriek followed from within the room. In a panic, Israel +fled up the dark stairs, and near the top, in his eagerness, stumbled and fell +back to the last step with a rolling din, which, reverberated by the arch +overhead, smote through and through the wall, dying away at last indistinctly, +like low muffled thunder among the clefts of deep hills. When raising himself +instantly, not seriously bruised by his fall, Israel instantly listened, the +echoing sounds of his descent were mingled with added shrieks from within the +room. They seemed some nervous female’s, alarmed by what must have +appeared to her supernatural, or at least unaccountable, noises in the wall. +Directly he heard other voices of alarm undistinguishably commingled, and then +they retreated together, and all again was still. +</p> + +<p> +Recovering from his first amazement, Israel revolved these occurrences. +“No creature now in the house knows of the cell,” thought he. +“Some woman, the housekeeper, perhaps, first entered the room alone. Just +as she entered the jamb closed. The sudden report made her shriek; then, +afterwards, the noise of my fall prolonging itself, added to her fright, while +her repeated shrieks brought every soul in the house to her, who aghast at +seeing her lying in a pale faint, it may be, like a corpse, in a room hung with +crape for a man just dead, they also shrieked out, and then with blended +lamentations they bore the fainting person away. Now this will follow; no doubt +it <i>has</i> followed ere now:—they believe that the woman saw or heard +the spirit of Squire Woodcock. Since I seem then to understand how all these +strange events have occurred, since I seem to know that they have plain common +causes, I begin to feel cool and calm again. Let me see. Yes. I have it. By +means of the idea of the ghost prevailing among the frightened household, by +that means I will this very night make good my escape. If I can but lay hands +on some of the late Squire’s clothing, if but a coat and hat of his, I +shall be certain to succeed. It is not too early to begin now. They will hardly +come back to the room in a hurry. I will return to it and see what I can find +to serve my purpose. It is the Squire’s private closet, hence it is not +unlikely that here some at least of his clothing will be found.” +</p> + +<p> +With these, thoughts, he cautiously sprung the iron under foot, peeped in, and, +seeing all clear, boldly re-entered the apartment. He went straight to a high, +narrow door in the opposite wall. The key was in the lock. Opening the door, +there hung several coats, small-clothes, pairs of silk stockings, and hats of +the deceased. With little difficulty Israel selected from these the complete +suit in which he had last seen his once jovial friend. Carefully closing the +door, and carrying the suit with him, he was returning towards the chimney, +when he saw the Squire’s silver-headed cane leaning against a corner of +the wainscot. Taking this also, he stole back to his cell. +</p> + +<p> +Slipping off his own clothing, he deliberately arrayed himself in the borrowed +raiment, silk small-clothes and all, then put on the cocked hat, grasped the +silver-headed cane in his right hand, and moving his small shaving-glass slowly +up and down before him, so as by piecemeal to take in his whole figure, felt +convinced that he would well pass for Squire Woodcock’s genuine phantom. +But after the first feeling of self-satisfaction with his anticipated success +had left him, it was not without some superstitious embarrassment that Israel +felt himself encased in a dead man’s broadcloth; nay, in the very coat in +which the deceased had no doubt fallen down in his fit. By degrees he began to +feel almost as unreal and shadowy as the shade whose part he intended to enact. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting long and anxiously till darkness came, and then till he thought it was +fairly midnight, he stole back into the closet, and standing for a moment +uneasily in the middle of the floor, thinking over all the risks he might run, +he lingered till he felt himself resolute and calm. Then groping for the door +leading into the hall, put his hand on the knob and turned it. But the door +refused to budge. Was it locked? The key was not in. Turning the knob once +more, and holding it so, he pressed firmly against the door. It did not move. +More firmly still, when suddenly it burst open with a loud crackling report. +Being cramped, it had stuck in the sill. Less than three seconds passed when, +as Israel was groping his way down the long wide hall towards the large +staircase at its opposite end, he heard confused hurrying noises from the +neighboring rooms, and in another instant several persons, mostly in +night-dresses, appeared at their chamber-doors, thrusting out alarmed faces, +lit by a lamp held by one of the number, a rather elderly lady in widow’s +weeds, who by her appearance seemed to have just risen from a sleepless chair, +instead of an oblivious couch. Israel’s heart beat like a hammer; his +face turned like a sheet. But bracing himself, pulling his hat lower down over +his eyes, settling his head in the collar of his coat, he advanced along the +defile of wildly staring faces. He advanced with a slow and stately step, +looked neither to the right nor the left, but went solemnly forward on his now +faintly illuminated way, sounding his cane on the floor as he passed. The faces +in the doorways curdled his blood by their rooted looks. Glued to the spot, +they seemed incapable of motion. Each one was silent as he advanced towards him +or her, but as he left each individual, one after another, behind, each in a +frenzy shrieked out, “The Squire, the Squire!” As he passed the +lady in the widow’s weeds, she fell senseless and crosswise before him. +But forced to be immutable in his purpose, Israel, solemnly stepping over her +prostrate form, marched deliberately on. +</p> + +<p> +In a few minutes more he had reached the main door of the mansion, and +withdrawing the chain and bolt, stood in the open air. It was a bright +moonlight night. He struck slowly across the open grounds towards the sunken +fields beyond. When-midway across the grounds, he turned towards the mansion, +and saw three of the front windows filled with white faces, gazing in terror at +the wonderful spectre. Soon descending a slope, he disappeared from their view. +</p> + +<p> +Presently he came to hilly land in meadow, whose grass having been lately cut, +now lay dotting the slope in cocks; a sinuous line of creamy vapor meandered +through the lowlands at the base of the hill; while beyond was a dense grove of +dwarfish trees, with here and there a tall tapering dead trunk, peeled of the +bark, and overpeering the rest. The vapor wore the semblance of a deep stream +of water, imperfectly descried; the grove looked like some closely-clustering +town on its banks, lorded over by spires of churches. +</p> + +<p> +The whole scene magically reproduced to our adventurer the aspect of Bunker +Hill, Charles River, and Boston town, on the well-remembered night of the 16th +of June. The same season; the same moon; the same new-mown hay on the shaven +sward; hay which was scraped together during the night to help pack into the +redoubt so hurriedly thrown up. +</p> + +<p> +Acted on as if by enchantment, Israel sat down on one of the cocks, and gave +himself up to reverie. But, worn out by long loss of sleep, his reveries would +have soon merged into slumber’s still wilder dreams, had he not rallied +himself, and departed on his way, fearful of forgetting himself in an emergency +like the present. It now occurred to him that, well as his disguise had served +him in escaping from the mansion of Squire Woodcock, that disguise might +fatally endanger him if he should be discovered in it abroad. He might pass for +a ghost at night, and among the relations and immediate friends of the +gentleman deceased; but by day, and among indifferent persons, he ran no small +risk of being apprehended for an entry-thief. He bitterly lamented his omission +in not pulling on the Squire’s clothes over his own, so that he might now +have reappeared in his former guise. +</p> + +<p> +As meditating over this difficulty, he was passing along, suddenly he saw a man +in black standing right in his path, about fifty yards distant, in a field of +some growing barley or wheat. The gloomy stranger was standing stock-still; one +outstretched arm, with weird intimation pointing towards the deceased +Squire’s abode. To the brooding soul of the now desolate Israel, so +strange a sight roused a supernatural suspicion. His conscience morbidly +reproaching him for the terrors he had bred in making his escape from the +house, he seemed to see in the fixed gesture of the stranger something more +than humanly significant. But somewhat of his intrepidity returned; he resolved +to test the apparition. Composing itself to the same deliberate stateliness +with which it had paced the hall, the phantom of Squire Woodcock firmly, +advanced its cane, and marched straight forward towards the mysterious +stranger. +</p> + +<p> +As he neared him, Israel shrunk. The dark coat-sleeve flapped on the bony +skeleton of the unknown arm. The face was lost in a sort of ghastly blank. It +was no living man. +</p> + +<p> +But mechanically continuing his course, Israel drew still nearer and saw a +scarecrow. +</p> + +<p> +Not a little relieved by the discovery, our adventurer paused, more +particularly to survey so deceptive an object, which seemed to have been +constructed on the most efficient principles; probably by some broken down wax +figure costumer. It comprised the complete wardrobe of a scarecrow, namely: a +cocked hat, bunged; tattered coat; old velveteen breeches; and long worsted +stockings, full of holes; all stuffed very nicely with straw, and skeletoned by +a frame-work of poles. There was a great flapped pocket to the coat—which +seemed to have been some laborer’s—standing invitingly opened. +Putting his hands in, Israel drew out the lid of an old tobacco-box, the broken +bowl of a pipe, two rusty nails, and a few kernels of wheat. This reminded him +of the Squire’s pockets. Trying them, he produced a handsome +handkerchief, a spectacle-case, with a purse containing some silver and gold, +amounting to a little more than five pounds. Such is the difference between the +contents of the pockets of scarecrows and the pockets of well-to-do squires. +Ere donning his present habiliments, Israel had not omitted to withdraw his own +money from his own coat, and put it in the pocket of his own waistcoat, which +he had not exchanged. +</p> + +<p> +Looking upon the scarecrow more attentively, it struck him that, miserable as +its wardrobe was, nevertheless here was a chance for getting rid of the +unsuitable and perilous clothes of the Squire. No other available opportunity +might present itself for a time. Before he encountered any living creature by +daylight, another suit must somehow be had. His exchange with the old ditcher, +after his escape from the inn near Portsmouth, had familiarized him with the +most deplorable of wardrobes. Well, too, he knew, and had experienced it, that +for a man desirous of avoiding notice, the more wretched the clothes, the +better. For who does not shun the scurvy wretch, Poverty, advancing in battered +hat and lamentable coat? +</p> + +<p> +Without more ado, slipping off the Squire’s raiment, he donned the +scarecrow’s, after carefully shaking out the hay, which, from many +alternate soakings and bakings in rain and sun, had become quite broken up, and +would have been almost dust, were it not for the mildew which damped it. But +sufficient of this wretched old hay remained adhesive to the inside of the +breeches and coat-sleeves, to produce the most irritating torment. +</p> + +<p> +The grand moral question now came up, what to do with the purse. Would it be +dishonest under the circumstances to appropriate that purse? Considering the +whole matter, and not forgetting that he had not received from the gentleman +deceased the promised reward for his services as courier, Israel concluded that +he might justly use the money for his own. To which opinion surely no +charitable judge will demur. Besides, what should he do with the purse, if not +use it for his own? It would have been insane to have returned it to the +relations. Such mysterious honesty would have but resulted in his arrest as a +rebel, or rascal. As for the Squire’s clothes, handkerchief, and +spectacle-case, they must be put out of sight with all dispatch. So, going to a +morass not remote, Israel sunk them deep down, and heaped tufts of the rank sod +upon them. Then returning to the field of corn, sat down under the lee of a +rock, about a hundred yards from where the scarecrow had stood, thinking which +way he now had best direct his steps. But his late ramble coming after so long +a deprivation of rest, soon produced effects not so easy to be shaken off, as +when reposing upon the haycock. He felt less anxious too, since changing his +apparel. So before he was aware, he fell into deep sleep. +</p> + +<p> +When he awoke, the sun was well up in the sky. Looking around he saw a +farm-laborer with a pitchfork coming at a distance into view, whose steps +seemed bent in a direction not far from the spot where he lay. Immediately it +struck our adventurer that this man must be familiar with the scarecrow; +perhaps had himself fashioned it. Should he miss it then, he might make +immediate search, and so discover the thief so imprudently loitering upon the +very field of his operations. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting until the man momentarily disappeared in a little hollow, Israel ran +briskly to the identical spot where the scarecrow had stood, where, standing +stiffly erect, pulling the hat well over his face, and thrusting out his arm, +pointed steadfastly towards the Squire’s abode, he awaited the event. +Soon the man reappeared in sight, and marching right on, paused not far from +Israel, and gave him an one earnest look, as if it were his daily wont to +satisfy that all was right with the scarecrow. No sooner was the man departed +to a reasonable distance, than, quitting his post, Israel struck across the +fields towards London. But he had not yet quite quitted the field when it +occurred to him to turn round and see if the man was completely out of sight, +when, to his consternation, he saw the man returning towards him, evidently by +his pace and gesture in unmixed amazement. The man must have turned round to +look before Israel had done so. Frozen to the ground, Israel knew not what to +do; but next moment it struck him that this very motionlessness was the least +hazardous plan in such a strait. Thrusting out his arm again towards the house, +once more he stood stock still, and again awaited the event. +</p> + +<p> +It so happened that this time, in pointing towards the house, Israel +unavoidably pointed towards the advancing man. Hoping that the strangeness of +this coincidence might, by operating on the man’s superstition, incline +him to beat an immediate retreat, Israel kept cool as he might. But the man +proved to be of a braver metal than anticipated. In passing the spot where the +scarecrow had stood, and perceiving, beyond the possibility of mistake, that +by, some unaccountable agency it had suddenly removed itself to a distance, +instead of being, terrified at this verification of his worst apprehensions, +the man pushed on for Israel, apparently resolved to sift this mystery to the +bottom. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing him now determinately coming, with pitchfork valiantly presented, +Israel, as a last means of practising on the fellow’s fears of the +supernatural, suddenly doubled up both fists, presenting them savagely towards +him at a distance of about twenty paces, at the same time showing his teeth +like a skull’s, and demoniacally rolling his eyes. The man paused +bewildered, looked all round him, looked at the springing grain, then across at +some trees, then up at the sky, and satisfied at last by those observations +that the world at large had not undergone a miracle in the last fifteen +minutes, resolutely resumed his advance; the pitchfork, like a boarding-pike, +now aimed full at the breast of the object. Seeing all his stratagems vain, +Israel now threw himself into the original attitude of the scarecrow, and once +again stood immovable. Abating his pace by degrees almost to a mere creep, the +man at last came within three feet of him, and, pausing, gazed amazed into +Israel’s eyes. With a stern and terrible expression Israel resolutely +returned the glance, but otherwise remained like a statue, hoping thus to stare +his pursuer out of countenance. At last the man slowly presented one prong of +his fork towards Israel’s left eye. Nearer and nearer the sharp point +came, till no longer capable of enduring such a test, Israel took to his heels +with all speed, his tattered coat-tails streaming behind him. With inveterate +purpose the man pursued. Darting blindly on, Israel, leaping a gate, suddenly +found himself in a field where some dozen laborers were at work, who +recognizing the scarecrow—an old acquaintance of theirs, as it would +seem—lifted all their hands as the astounding apparition swept by, +followed by the man with the pitchfork. Soon all joined in the chase, but +Israel proved to have better wind and bottom than any. Outstripping the whole +pack he finally shot out of their sight in an extensive park, heavily timbered +in one quarter. He never saw more of these people. +</p> + +<p> +Loitering in the wood till nightfall, he then stole out and made the best of +his way towards the house of that good natured farmer in whose corn-loft he had +received his first message from Squire Woodcock. Rousing this man up a little +before midnight, he informed him somewhat of his recent adventures, but +carefully concealed his having been employed as a secret courier, together with +his escape from Squire Woodcock’s. All he craved at present was a meal. +The meal being over, Israel offered to buy from the farmer his best suit of +clothes, and displayed the money on the spot. +</p> + +<p> +“Where did you get so much money?” said his entertainer in a tone +of surprise; “your clothes here don’t look as if you had seen +prosperous times since you left me. Why, you look like a scarecrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“That may well be,” replied Israel, very soberly. “But what +do you say? will you sell me your suit?—here’s the cash.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know about it,” said the farmer, in doubt; +“let me look at the money. Ha!—a silk purse come out of a beggars +pocket!—Quit the house, rascal, you’ve turned thief.” +</p> + +<p> +Thinking that he could not swear to his having come by his money with absolute +honesty—since indeed the case was one for the most subtle +casuist—Israel knew not what to reply. This honest confusion confirmed +the farmer, who with many abusive epithets drove him into the road, telling him +that he might thank himself that he did not arrest him on the spot. +</p> + +<p> +In great dolor at this unhappy repulse, Israel trudged on in the moonlight some +three miles to the house of another friend, who also had once succored him in +extremity. This man proved a very sound sleeper. Instead of succeeding in +rousing him by his knocking, Israel but succeeded in rousing his wife, a person +not of the greatest amiability. Raising the sash, and seeing so shocking a +pauper before her, the woman upbraided him with shameless impropriety in asking +charity at dead of night, in a dress so improper too. Looking down at his +deplorable velveteens, Israel discovered that his extensive travels had +produced a great rent in one loin of the rotten old breeches, through which a +whitish fragment protruded. +</p> + +<p> +Remedying this oversight as well as he might, he again implored the woman to +wake her husband. +</p> + +<p> +“That I shan’t!” said the woman, morosely. “Quit the +premises, or I’ll throw something on ye.” +</p> + +<p> +With that she brought some earthenware to the window, and would have fulfilled +her threat, had not Israel prudently retreated some paces. Here he entreated +the woman to take mercy on his plight, and since she would not waken her +husband, at least throw to him (Israel) her husband’s breeches, and he +would leave the price of them, with his own breeches to boot, on the sill of +the door. +</p> + +<p> +“You behold how sadly I need them,” said he; “for +heaven’s sake befriend me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quit the premises!” reiterated the woman. +</p> + +<p> +“The breeches, the breeches! here is the money,” cried Israel, half +furious with anxiety. +</p> + +<p> +“Saucy cur,” cried the woman, somehow misunderstanding him; +“do you cunningly taunt me with <i>wearing</i> the breeches’? +begone!” +</p> + +<p> +Once more poor Israel decamped, and made for another friend. But here a +monstrous bull-dog, indignant that the peace of a quiet family should be +disturbed by so outrageous a tatterdemalion, flew at Israel’s unfortunate +coat, whose rotten skirts the brute tore completely off, leaving the coat +razeed to a spencer, which barely came down to the wearer’s waist. In +attempting to drive the monster away, Israel’s hat fell off, upon which +the dog pounced with the utmost fierceness, and thrusting both paws into it, +rammed out the crown and went snuffling the wreck before him. Recovering the +wretched hat, Israel again beat a retreat, his wardrobe sorely the worse for +his visits. Not only was his coat a mere rag, but his breeches, clawed by the +dog, were slashed into yawning gaps, while his yellow hair waved over the top +of the crownless beaver, like a lonely tuft of heather on the highlands. +</p> + +<p> +In this plight the morning discovered him dubiously skirmishing on the +outskirts of a village. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! what a true patriot gets for serving his country!” murmured +Israel. But soon thinking a little better of his case, and seeing yet another +house which had once furnished him with an asylum, he made bold to advance to +the door. Luckily he this time met the man himself, just emerging from bed. At +first the farmer did not recognize the fugitive, but upon another look, +seconded by Israel’s plaintive appeal, beckoned him into the barn, where +directly our adventurer told him all he thought prudent to disclose of his +story, ending by once more offering to negotiate for breeches and coat. Having +ere this emptied and thrown away the purse which had played him so scurvy a +trick with the first farmer, he now produced three crown-pieces. +</p> + +<p> +“Three crown-pieces in your pocket, and no crown to your hat!” said +the farmer. +</p> + +<p> +“But I assure you, my friend,” rejoined Israel, “that a finer +hat was never worn, until that confounded bull-dog ruined it.” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” said the farmer, “I forgot that part of your story. +Well, I have a tolerable coat and breeches which I will sell you for your +money.” +</p> + +<p> +In ten minutes more Israel was equipped in a gray coat of coarse cloth, not +much improved by wear, and breeches to match. For half-a-crown more he procured +a highly respectable looking hat. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, my kind friend,” said Israel, “can you tell me where +Horne Tooke and John Bridges live?” +</p> + +<p> +Our adventurer thought it his best plan to seek out one or other of those +gentlemen, both to report proceedings and learn confirmatory tidings concerning +Squire Woodcock, touching whose fate he did not like to inquire of others. +</p> + +<p> +“Horne Tooke? What do you want with Horne Tooke,” said the farmer. +“He was Squire Woodcock’s friend, wasn’t he? The poor Squire! +Who would have thought he’d have gone off so suddenly. But apoplexy comes +like a bullet.” +</p> + +<p> +“I was right,” thought Israel to himself. “But where does +Horne Tooke live?” he demanded again. +</p> + +<p> +“He once lived in Brentford, and wore a cassock there. But I hear +he’s sold out his living, and gone in his surplice to study law in +Lunnon.” +</p> + +<p> +This was all news to Israel, who, from various amiable remarks he had heard +from Horne Tooke at the Squire’s, little dreamed he was an ordained +clergyman. Yet a good-natured English clergyman translated Lucian; another, +equally good-natured, wrote Tristam Shandy; and a third, an ill-natured +appreciator of good-natured Rabelais, died a dean; not to speak of others. Thus +ingenious and ingenuous are some of the English clergy. +</p> + +<p> +“You can’t tell me, then, where to find Horne Tooke?” said +Israel, in perplexity. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll find him, I suppose, in Lunnon.” +</p> + +<p> +“What street and number?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know. Needle in a haystack.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where does Mr. Bridges live?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never heard of any Bridges, except Lunnon bridges, and one Molly Bridges +in Bridewell.” +</p> + +<p> +So Israel departed; better clothed, but no wiser than before. +</p> + +<p> +What to do next? He reckoned up his money, and concluded he had plenty to carry +him back to Doctor Franklin in Paris. Accordingly, taking a turn to avoid the +two nearest villages, he directed his steps towards London, where, again taking +the post-coach for Dover, he arrived on the channel shore just in time to learn +that the very coach in which he rode brought the news to the authorities there +that all intercourse between the two nations was indefinitely suspended. The +characteristic taciturnity and formal stolidity of his +fellow-travellers—all Englishmen, mutually unacquainted with each other, +and occupying different positions in life—having prevented his sooner +hearing the tidings. +</p> + +<p> +Here was another accumulation of misfortunes. All visions but those of eventual +imprisonment or starvation vanished from before the present realities of poor +Israel Potter. The Brentford gentleman had flattered him with the prospect of +receiving something very handsome for his services as courier. That hope was no +more. Doctor Franklin had promised him his good offices in procuring him a +passage home to America. Quite out of the question now. The sage had likewise +intimated that he might possibly see him some way remunerated for his +sufferings in his country’s cause. An idea no longer to be harbored. Then +Israel recalled the mild man of wisdom’s words—“At the +prospect of pleasure never be elated; but without depression respect the omens +of ill.” But he found it as difficult now to comply, in all respects, +with the last section of the maxim, as before he had with the first. +</p> + +<p> +While standing wrapped in afflictive reflections on the shore, gazing towards +the unattainable coast of France, a pleasant-looking cousinly stranger, in +seamen’s dress, accosted him, and, after some pleasant conversation, very +civilly invited him up a lane into a house of rather secret entertainment. +Pleased to be befriended in this his strait, Israel yet looked inquisitively +upon the man, not completely satisfied with his good intentions. But the other, +with good-humored violence, hurried him up the lane into the inn, when, calling +for some spirits, he and Israel very affectionately drank to each other’s +better health and prosperity. +</p> + +<p> +“Take another glass,” said the stranger, affably. +</p> + +<p> +Israel, to drown his heavy-heartedness, complied. The liquor began to take +effect. +</p> + +<p> +“Ever at sea?” said the stranger, lightly. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes; been a whaling.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said the other, “happy to hear that, I assure you. Jim! +Bill!” And beckoning very quietly to two brawny fellows, in a trice +Israel found himself kidnapped into the naval service of the magnanimous old +gentleman of Kew Gardens—his Royal Majesty, George +III.—“Hands off!” said Israel, fiercely, as the two men +pinioned him. +</p> + +<p> +“Reglar game-cock,” said the cousinly-looking man. “I must +get three guineas for cribbing him. Pleasant voyage to ye, my friend,” +and, leaving Israel a prisoner, the crimp, buttoning his coat, sauntered +leisurely out of the inn. +</p> + +<p> +“I’m no Englishman,” roared Israel, in a foam. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! that’s the old story,” grinned his jailers. “Come +along. There’s no Englishman in the English fleet. All foreigners. You +may take their own word for it.” +</p> + +<p> +To be short, in less than a week Israel found himself at Portsmouth, and, ere +long, a foretopman in his Majesty’s ship of the line, +“Unprincipled,” scudding before the wind down channel, in company +with the “Undaunted,” and the “Unconquerable;” all +three haughty Dons bound to the East Indian waters as reinforcements to the +fleet of Sir Edward Hughs. +</p> + +<p> +And now, we might shortly have to record our adventurer’s part in the +famous engagement off the coast of Coromandel, between Admiral Suffrien’s +fleet and the English squadron, were it not that fate snatched him on the +threshold of events, and, turning him short round whither he had come, sent him +back congenially to war against England; instead of on her behalf. Thus +repeatedly and rapidly were the fortunes of our wanderer planted, torn up, +transplanted, and dropped again, hither and thither, according as the Supreme +Disposer of sailors and soldiers saw fit to appoint. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0014"></a> +CHAPTER XIV.<br/> +IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL IN ONE NIGHT.</h2> + +<p> +As running down channel at evening, Israel walked the crowded main-deck of the +seventy-four, continually brushed by a thousand hurrying wayfarers, as if he +were in some great street in London, jammed with artisans, just returning from +their day’s labor, novel and painful emotions were his. He found himself +dropped into the naval mob without one friend; nay, among enemies, since his +country’s enemies were his own, and against the kith and kin of these +very beings around him, he himself had once lifted a fatal hand. The martial +bustle of a great man-of-war, on her first day out of port, was indescribably +jarring to his present mood. Those sounds of the human multitude disturbing the +solemn natural solitudes of the sea, mysteriously afflicted him. He murmured +against that untowardness which, after condemning him to long sorrows on the +land, now pursued him with added griefs on the deep. Why should a patriot, +leaping for the chance again to attack the oppressor, as at Bunker Hill, now be +kidnapped to fight that oppressor’s battles on the endless drifts of the +Bunker Hills of the billows? But like many other repiners, Israel was perhaps a +little premature with upbraidings like these. +</p> + +<p> +Plying on between Scilly and Cape Clear, the Unprincipled—which vessel +somewhat outsailed her consorts—fell in, just before dusk, with a large +revenue cutter close to, and showing signals of distress. At the moment, no +other sail was in sight. +</p> + +<p> +Cursing the necessity of pausing with a strong fair wind at a juncture like +this, the officer-of-the-deck shortened sail, and hove to; hailing the cutter, +to know what was the matter. As he hailed the small craft from the lofty poop +of the bristling seventy-four, this lieutenant seemed standing on the top of +Gibraltar, talking to some lowland peasant in a hut. The reply was, that in a +sudden flaw of wind, which came nigh capsizing them, not an hour since, the +cutter had lost all four foremost men by the violent jibing of a boom. She +wanted help to get back to port. +</p> + +<p> +“You shall have one man,” said the officer-of-the-deck, morosely. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him be a good one then, for heaven’s sake,” said he in +the cutter; “I ought to have at least two.” +</p> + +<p> +During this talk, Israel’s curiosity had prompted him to dart up the +ladder from the main-deck, and stand right in the gangway above, looking out on +the strange craft. Meantime the order had been given to drop a boat. Thinking +this a favorable chance, he stationed himself so that he should be the foremost +to spring into the boat; though crowds of English sailors, eager as himself for +the same opportunity to escape from foreign service, clung to the chains of the +as yet imperfectly disciplined man-of-war. As the two men who had been lowered +in the boat hooked her, when afloat, along to the gangway, Israel dropped like +a comet into the stern-sheets, stumbled forward, and seized an oar. In a moment +more, all the oarsmen were in their places, and with a few strokes the boat lay +alongside the cutter. +</p> + +<p> +“Take which of them you please,” said the lieutenant in command, +addressing the officer in the revenue-cutter, and motioning with his hand to +his boat’s crew, as if they were a parcel of carcasses of mutton, of +which the first pick was offered to some customer. “Quick and choose. Sit +down, men”—to the sailors. “Oh, you are in a great hurry to +get rid of the king’s service, ain’t you? Brave chaps +indeed!—Have you chosen your man?” +</p> + +<p> +All this while the ten faces of the anxious oarsmen looked with mute longings +and appealings towards the officer of the cutter; every face turned at the same +angle, as if managed by one machine. And so they were. One motive. +</p> + +<p> +“I take the freckled chap with the yellow hair—him,” pointing +to Israel. +</p> + +<p> +Nine of the upturned faces fell in sullen despair, and ere Israel could spring +to his feet, he felt a violent thrust in his rear from the toes of one of the +disappointed behind him. +</p> + +<p> +“Jump, dobbin!” cried the officer of the boat. +</p> + +<p> +But Israel was already on board. Another moment, and the boat and cutter +parted. Ere long, night fell, and the man-of-war and her consorts were out of +sight. +</p> + +<p> +The revenue vessel resumed her course towards the nighest port, worked by but +four men: the captain, Israel, and two officers. The cabin-boy was kept at the +helm. As the only foremast man, Israel was put to it pretty hard. Where there +is but one man to three masters, woe betide that lonely slave. Besides, it was +of itself severe work enough to manage the vessel thus short of hands. But to +make matters still worse, the captain and his officers were ugly-tempered +fellows. The one kicked, and the others cuffed Israel. Whereupon, not sugared +with his recent experiences, and maddened by his present hap, Israel seeing +himself alone at sea, with only three men, instead of a thousand, to contend +against, plucked up a heart, knocked the captain into the lee scuppers, and in +his fury was about tumbling the first-officer, a small wash of a fellow, plump +overboard, when the captain, jumping to his feet, seized him by his long yellow +hair, vowing he would slaughter him. Meanwhile the cutter flew foaming through +the channel, as if in demoniac glee at this uproar on her imperilled deck. +While the consternation was at its height, a dark body suddenly loomed at a +moderate distance into view, shooting right athwart the stern of the cutter. +The next moment a shot struck the water within a boat’s length. +</p> + +<p> +“Heave to, and send a boat on board!” roared a voice almost as loud +as the cannon. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a war-ship,” cried the captain of the revenue vessel, +in alarm; “but she ain’t a countryman.” +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the officers and Israel stopped the cutter’s way. +</p> + +<p> +“Send a boat on board, or I’ll sink you,” again came roaring +from the stranger, followed by another shot, striking the water still nearer +the cutter. +</p> + +<p> +“For God’s sake, don’t cannonade us. I haven’t got the +crew to man a boat,” replied the captain of the cutter. “Who are +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Wait till I send a boat to you for that,” replied the stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“She’s an enemy of some sort, that’s plain,” said the +Englishman now to his officers; “we ain’t at open war with France; +she’s some bloodthirsty pirate or other. What d’ye say, men?” +turning to his officers; “let’s outsail her, or be shot to chips. +We can beat her at sailing, I know.” +</p> + +<p> +With that, nothing doubting that his counsel would be heartily responded to, he +ran to the braces to get the cutter before the wind, followed by one officer, +while the other, for a useless bravado, hoisted the colors at the stern. +</p> + +<p> +But Israel stood indifferent, or rather all in a fever of conflicting emotions. +He thought he recognized the voice from the strange vessel. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, what do ye standing there, fool? Spring to the ropes here!” +cried the furious captain. +</p> + +<p> +But Israel did not stir. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime the confusion on board the stranger, owing to the hurried lowering of +her boat, with the cloudiness of the sky darkening the misty sea, united to +conceal the bold manoeuvre of the cutter. She had almost gained full headway +ere an oblique shot, directed by mere chance, struck her stern, tearing the +upcurved head of the tiller in the hands of the cabin-boy, and killing him with +the splinters. Running to the stump, the captain huzzaed, and steered the +reeling ship on. Forced now to hoist back the boat ere giving chase, the +stranger was dropped rapidly astern. +</p> + +<p> +All this while storms of maledictions were hurled on Israel. But their +exertions at the ropes prevented his shipmates for the time from using personal +violence. While observing their efforts, Israel could not but say to himself, +“These fellows are as brave as they are brutal.” +</p> + +<p> +Soon the stranger was seen dimly wallowing along astern, crowding all sail in +chase, while now and then her bow-gun, showing its red tongue, bellowed after +them like a mad bull. Two more shots struck the cutter, but without materially +damaging her sails, or the ropes immediately upholding them. Several of her +less important stays were sundered, however, whose loose tarry ends lashed the +air like scorpions. It seemed not improbable that, owing to her superior +sailing, the keen cutter would yet get clear. +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture Israel, running towards the captain, who still held the +splintered stump of the tiller, stood full before him, saying, “I am an +enemy, a Yankee, look to yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Help here, lads, help,” roared the captain, “a traitor, a +traitor!” +</p> + +<p> +The words were hardly out of his mouth when his voice was silenced for ever. +With one prodigious heave of his whole physical force, Israel smote him over +the taffrail into the sea, as if the man had fallen backwards over a teetering +chair. By this time the two officers were hurrying aft. Ere meeting them +midway, Israel, quick as lightning, cast off the two principal halyards, thus +letting the large sails all in a tumble of canvass to the deck. Next moment one +of the officers was at the helm, to prevent the cutter from capsizing by being +without a steersman in such an emergency. The other officer and Israel +interlocked. The battle was in the midst of the chaos of blowing canvass. +Caught in a rent of the sail, the officer slipped and fell near the sharp iron +edge of the hatchway. As he fell he caught Israel by the most terrible part in +which mortality can be grappled. Insane with pain, Israel dashed his +adversary’s skull against the sharp iron. The officer’s hold +relaxed, but himself stiffened. Israel made for the helmsman, who as yet knew +not the issue of the late tussle. He caught him round the loins, bedding his +fingers like grisly claws into his flesh, and hugging him to his heart. The +man’s ghost, caught like a broken cork in a gurgling bottle’s neck, +gasped with the embrace. Loosening him suddenly, Israel hurled him from him +against the bulwarks. That instant another report was heard, followed by the +savage hail—“You down sail at last, do ye? I’m a good mind to +sink ye for your scurvy trick. Pull down that dirty rag there, astern!” +</p> + +<p> +With a loud huzza, Israel hauled down the flag with one hand, while with the +other he helped the now slowly gliding craft from falling off before the wind. +</p> + +<p> +In a few moments a boat was alongside. As its commander stepped to the deck he +stumbled against the body of the first officer, which, owing to the sudden +slant of the cutter in coming to the wind, had rolled against the side near the +gangway. As he came aft he heard the moan of the other officer, where he lay +under the mizzen shrouds. +</p> + +<p> +“What is all this?” demanded the stranger of Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“It means that I am a Yankee impressed into the king’s service, and +for their pains I have taken the cutter.” +</p> + +<p> +Giving vent to his surprise, the officer looked narrowly at the body by the +shrouds, and said, “This man is as good as dead, but we will take him to +Captain Paul as a witness in your behalf.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul?—Paul Jones?” cried Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“The same.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought so. I thought that was his voice hailing. It was Captain +Paul’s voice that somehow put me up to this deed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul is the devil for putting men up to be tigers. But where are +the rest of the crew?” +</p> + +<p> +“Overboard.” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” cried the officer; “come on board the Ranger. Captain +Paul will use you for a broadside.” +</p> + +<p> +Taking the moaning man along with them, and leaving the cutter untenanted by +any living soul, the boat now left her for the enemy’s ship. But ere they +reached it the man had expired. +</p> + +<p> +Standing foremost on the deck, crowded with three hundred men, as Israel +climbed the side, he saw, by the light of battle-lanterns, a small, smart, +brigandish-looking man, wearing a Scotch bonnet, with a gold band to it. +</p> + +<p> +“You rascal,” said this person, “why did your paltry smack +give me this chase? Where’s the rest of your gang?” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul,” said Israel, “I believe I remember you. I +believe I offered you my bed in Paris some months ago. How is Poor +Richard?” +</p> + +<p> +“God! Is this the courier? The Yankee courier? But how now? in an English +revenue cutter?” +</p> + +<p> +“Impressed, sir; that’s the way.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where’s the rest of them?” demanded Paul, turning to the +officer. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon the officer very briefly told Paul what Israel told him. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we to sink the cutter, sir?” said the gunner, now advancing +towards Captain Paul. “If it is to be done, now is the time. She is close +under us, astern; a few guns pointed downwards will settle her like a shotted +corpse.” +</p> + +<p> +“No. Let her drift into Penzance, an anonymous earnest of what the +whitesquall in Paul Jones intends for the future.” +</p> + +<p> +Then giving directions as to the course of the ship, with an order for himself +to be called at the first glimpse of a sail, Paul took Israel down with him +into his cabin. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me your story now, my yellow lion. How was it all? Don’t +stand, sit right down there on the transom. I’m a democratic sort of +sea-king. Plump on the woolsack, I say, and spin the yarn. But hold; you want +some grog first.” +</p> + +<p> +As Paul handed the flagon, Israel’s eye fell upon his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t wear any rings now, Captain, I see. Left them in Paris +for safety.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, with a certain marchioness there,” replied Paul, with a +dandyish look of sentimental conceit, which sat strangely enough on his +otherwise grim and Fejee air. +</p> + +<p> +“I should think rings would be somewhat inconvenient at sea,” +resumed Israel. “On my first voyage to the West Indies, I wore a +girl’s ring on my middle finger here, and it wasn’t long before, +what with hauling wet ropes, and what not, it got a kind of grown down into the +flesh, and pained me very bad, let me tell you, it hugged the finger so.” +</p> + +<p> +“And did the girl grow as close to your heart, lad?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Captain, girls grow themselves off quicker than we grow them +on.” +</p> + +<p> +“Some experience with the countesses as well as myself, eh? But the +story; wave your yellow mane, my lion—the story.” +</p> + +<p> +So Israel went on and told the story in all particulars. +</p> + +<p> +At its conclusion Captain Paul eyed him very earnestly. His wild, lonely heart, +incapable of sympathizing with cuddled natures made humdrum by long exemption +from pain, was yet drawn towards a being, who in desperation of friendlessness, +something like his own, had so fiercely waged battle against tyrannical odds. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you go to sea young, lad?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, pretty young.” +</p> + +<p> +“I went at twelve, from Whitehaven. Only so high,” raising his hand +some four feet from the deck. “I was so small, and looked so queer in my +little blue jacket, that they called me the monkey. They’ll call me +something else before long. Did you ever sail out of Whitehaven?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Captain.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you had, you’d have heard sad stories about me. To this hour +they say there that I—bloodthirsty, coward dog that I am—flogged a +sailor, one Mungo Maxwell, to death. It’s a lie, by Heaven! I flogged +him, for he was a mutinous scamp. But he died naturally, some time afterwards, +and on board another ship. But why talk? They didn’t believe the +affidavits of others taken before London courts, triumphantly acquitting me; +how then will they credit <i>my</i> interested words? If slander, however much +a lie, once gets hold of a man, it will stick closer than fair fame, as black +pitch sticks closer than white cream. But let ’em slander. I will give +the slanderers matter for curses. When last I left Whitehaven, I swore never +again to set foot on her pier, except, like Caesar, at Sandwich, as a foreign +invader. Spring under me, good ship; on you I bound to my vengeance!” +</p> + +<p> +Men with poignant feelings, buried under an air of care-free self command, are +never proof to the sudden incitements of passion. Though in the main they may +control themselves, yet if they but once permit the smallest vent, then they +may bid adieu to all self-restraint, at least for that time. Thus with Paul on +the present occasion. His sympathy with Israel had prompted this momentary +ebullition. When it was gone by, he seemed not a little to regret it. But he +passed it over lightly, saying, “You see, my fine fellow, what sort of a +bloody cannibal I am. Will you be a sailor of mine? A sailor of the Captain who +flogged poor Mungo Maxwell to death?” +</p> + +<p> +“I will be very happy, Captain Paul, to be sailor under the man who will +yet, I dare say, help flog the British nation to death.” +</p> + +<p> +“You hate ’em, do ye?” +</p> + +<p> +“Like snakes. For months they’ve hunted me as a dog,” half +howled and half wailed Israel, at the memory of all he had suffered. +</p> + +<p> +“Give me your hand, my lion; wave your wild flax again. By Heaven, you +hate so well, I love ye. You shall be my confidential man; stand sentry at my +cabin door; sleep in the cabin; steer my boat; keep by my side whenever I land. +What do you say?” +</p> + +<p> +“I say I’m glad to hear you.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are a good, brave soul. You are the first among the millions of +mankind that I ever naturally took to. Come, you are tired. There, go into that +state-room for to-night—it’s mine. You offered me your bed in +Paris.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you begged off, Captain, and so must I. Where do you sleep?” +</p> + +<p> +“Lad, I don’t sleep half a night out of three. My clothes have not +been off now for five days.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Captain, you sleep so little and scheme so much, you will die +young.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know it: I want to: I mean to. Who would live a doddered old stump? +What do you think of my Scotch bonnet?” +</p> + +<p> +“It looks well on you, Captain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think so? A Scotch bonnet, though, ought to look well on a +Scotchman. I’m such by birth. Is the gold band too much?” +</p> + +<p> +“I like the gold band, Captain. It looks something as I should think a +crown might on a king.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye?” +</p> + +<p> +“You would make a better-looking king than George III.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever see that old granny? Waddles about in farthingales, and +carries a peacock fan, don’t he? Did you ever see him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Was as close to him as I am to you now, Captain. In Kew Gardens it was, +where I worked gravelling the walks. I was all alone with him, talking for some +ten minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +“By Jove, what a chance! Had I but been there! What an opportunity for +kidnapping a British king, and carrying him off in a fast sailing smack to +Boston, a hostage for American freedom. But what did you? Didn’t you try +to do something to him?” +</p> + +<p> +“I had a wicked thought or two, Captain, but I got the better of it. +Besides, the king behaved handsomely towards me; yes, like a true man. God +bless him for it. But it was before that, that I got the better of the wicked +thought.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, meant to stick him, I suppose. Glad you didn’t. It would have +been very shabby. Never kill a king, but make him captive. He looks better as a +led horse, than a dead carcass. I propose now, this trip, falling on the +grounds of the Earl of Selkirk, a privy counsellor and particular private +friend of George III. But I won’t hurt a hair of his head. When I get him +on board here, he shall lodge in my best state-room, which I mean to hang with +damask for him. I shall drink wine with him, and be very friendly; take him to +America, and introduce his lordship into the best circles there; only I shall +have him accompanied on his calls by a sentry or two disguised as valets. For +the Earl’s to be on sale, mind; so much ransom; that is, the nobleman, +Lord Selkirk, shall have a bodily price pinned on his coat-tail, like any slave +up at auction in Charleston. But, my lad with the yellow mane, you very +strangely draw out my secrets. And yet you don’t talk. Your honesty is a +magnet which attracts my sincerity. But I rely on your fidelity.” +</p> + +<p> +“I shall be a vice to your plans, Captain Paul. I will receive, but I +won’t let go, unless you alone loose the screw.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well said. To bed now; you ought to. I go on deck. Good night, +ace-of-hearts.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is fitter for yourself, Captain Paul, lonely leader of the +suit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lonely? Aye, but number one cannot but be lonely, my trump.” +</p> + +<p> +“Again I give it back. Ace-of-trumps may it prove to you, Captain Paul; +may it be impossible for you ever to be taken. But for me—poor deuce, a +trey, that comes in your wake—any king or knave may take me, as before +now the knaves have.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tut, tut, lad; never be more cheery for another than for yourself. But a +fagged body fags the soul. To hammock, to hammock! while I go on deck to clap +on more sail to your cradle.” +</p> + +<p> +And they separated for that night. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0015"></a> +CHAPTER XV.<br/> +THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA.</h2> + +<p> +Next morning Israel was appointed quartermaster—a subaltern selected from +the common seamen, and whose duty mostly stations him in the stern of the ship, +where the captain walks. His business is to carry the glass on the look-out for +sails; hoist or lower the colors; and keep an eye on the helmsman. Picked out +from the crew for their superior respectability and intelligence, as well as +for their excellent seamanship, it is not unusual to find the quartermasters of +an armed ship on peculiarly easy terms with the commissioned officers and +captain. This birth, therefore, placed Israel in official contiguity to Paul, +and without subjecting either to animadversion, made their public intercourse +on deck almost as familiar as their unrestrained converse in the cabin. +</p> + +<p> +It was a fine cool day in the beginning of April. They were now off the coast +of Wales, whose lofty mountains, crested with snow, presented a Norwegian +aspect. The wind was fair, and blew with a strange, bestirring power. The +ship—running between Ireland and England, northwards, towards the Irish +Sea, the inmost heart of the British waters—seemed, as she snortingly +shook the spray from her bow, to be conscious of the dare-devil defiance of the +soul which conducted her on this anomalous cruise. Sailing alone from out a +naval port of France, crowded with ships-of-the-line, Paul Jones, in his small +craft, went forth in single-armed championship against the English host. Armed +with but the sling-stones in his one shot-locker, like young David of old, Paul +bearded the British giant of Gath. It is not easy, at the present day, to +conceive the hardihood of this enterprise. It was a marching up to the muzzle; +the act of one who made no compromise with the cannonadings of danger or death; +such a scheme as only could have inspired a heart which held at nothing all the +prescribed prudence of war, and every obligation of peace; combining in one +breast the vengeful indignation and bitter ambition of an outraged hero, with +the uncompunctuous desperation of a renegade. In one view, the Coriolanus of +the sea; in another, a cross between the gentleman and the wolf. +</p> + +<p> +As Paul stood on the elevated part of the quarter-deck, with none but his +confidential quartermaster near him, he yielded to Israel’s natural +curiosity to learn something concerning the sailing of the expedition. Paul +stood lightly, swaying his body over the sea, by holding on to the +mizzen-shrouds, an attitude not inexpressive of his easy audacity; while near +by, pacing a few steps to and fro, his long spy-glass now under his arm, and +now presented at his eye, Israel, looking the very image of vigilant prudence, +listened to the warrior’s story. It appeared that on the night of the +visit of the Duke de Chartres and Count D’Estaing to Doctor Franklin in +Paris—the same night that Captain Paul and Israel were joint occupants of +the neighboring chamber—the final sanction of the French king to the +sailing of an American armament against England, under the direction of the +Colonial Commissioner, was made known to the latter functionary. It was a very +ticklish affair. Though swaying on the brink of avowed hostilities with +England, no verbal declaration had as yet been made by France. Undoubtedly, +this enigmatic position of things was highly advantageous to such an enterprise +as Paul’s. +</p> + +<p> +Without detailing all the steps taken through the united efforts of Captain +Paul and Doctor Franklin, suffice it that the determined rover had now attained +his wish—the unfettered command of an armed ship in the British waters; a +ship legitimately authorized to hoist the American colors, her commander having +in his cabin-locker a regular commission as an officer of the American navy. He +sailed without any instructions. With that rare insight into rare natures which +so largely distinguished the sagacious Franklin, the sage well knew that a +prowling <i>brave</i>, like Paul Jones, was, like the prowling lion, by nature +a solitary warrior. “Let him alone,” was the wise man’s +answer to some statesman who sought to hamper Paul with a letter of +instructions. +</p> + +<p> +Much subtile casuistry has been expended upon the point, whether Paul Jones was +a knave or a hero, or a union of both. But war and warriors, like politics and +politicians, like religion and religionists, admit of no metaphysics. +</p> + +<p> +On the second day after Israel’s arrival on board the Ranger, as he and +Paul were conversing on the deck, Israel suddenly levelling his glass towards +the Irish coast, announced a large sail bound in. The Ranger gave chase, and +soon, almost within sight of her destination—the port of Dublin—the +stranger was taken, manned, and turned round for Brest. +</p> + +<p> +The Ranger then stood over, passed the Isle of Man towards the Cumberland +shore, arriving within remote sight of Whitehaven about sunset. At dark she was +hovering off the harbor, with a party of volunteers all ready to descend. But +the wind shifted and blew fresh with a violent sea. +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t call on old friends in foul weather,” said Captain +Paul to Israel. “We’ll saunter about a little, and leave our cards +in a day or two.” +</p> + +<p> +Next morning, in Glentinebay, on the south shore of Scotland, they fell in with +a revenue wherry. It was the practice of such craft to board merchant vessels. +The Ranger was disguised as a merchantman, presenting a broad drab-colored belt +all round her hull; under the coat of a Quaker, concealing the intent of a +Turk. It was expected that the chartered rover would come alongside the +unchartered one. But the former took to flight, her two lug sails staggering +under a heavy wind, which the pursuing guns of the Ranger pelted with a +hail-storm of shot. The wherry escaped, spite the severe cannonade. +</p> + +<p> +Off the Mull of Galoway, the day following, Paul found himself so nigh a large +barley-freighted Scotch coaster, that, to prevent her carrying tidings of him +to land, he dispatched her with the news, stern foremost, to Hades; sinking +her, and sowing her barley in the sea broadcast by a broadside. From her crew +he learned that there was a fleet of twenty or thirty sail at anchor in +Lochryan, with an armed brigantine. He pointed his prow thither; but at the +mouth of the lock, the wind turned against him again in hard squalls. He +abandoned the project. Shortly after, he encountered a sloop from Dublin. He +sunk her to prevent intelligence. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, seeming as much to bear the elemental commission of Nature, as the +military warrant of Congress, swarthy Paul darted hither and thither; hovering +like a thundercloud off the crowded harbors; then, beaten off by an adverse +wind, discharging his lightnings on uncompanioned vessels, whose solitude made +them a more conspicuous and easier mark, like lonely trees on the heath. Yet +all this while the land was full of garrisons, the embayed waters full of +fleets. With the impunity of a Levanter, Paul skimmed his craft in the +land-locked heart of the supreme naval power of earth; a torpedo-eel, +unknowingly swallowed by Britain in a draught of old ocean, and making sad +havoc with her vitals. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing next a large vessel steering for the Clyde, he gave chase, hoping to cut +her off. The stranger proving a fast sailer, the pursuit was urged on with +vehemence, Paul standing, plank-proud, on the quarter-deck, calling for pulls +upon every rope, to stretch each already half-burst sail to the uttermost. +</p> + +<p> +While thus engaged, suddenly a shadow, like that thrown by an eclipse, was seen +rapidly gaining along the deck, with a sharp defined line, plain as a seam of +the planks. It involved all before it. It was the domineering shadow of the +Juan Fernandez-like crag of Ailsa. The Ranger was in the deep water which makes +all round and close up to this great summit of the submarine Grampians. +</p> + +<p> +The crag, more than a mile in circuit, is over a thousand feet high, eight +miles from the Ayrshire shore. There stands the cove, lonely as a foundling, +proud as Cheops. But, like the battered brains surmounting the Giant of Gath, +its haughty summit is crowned by a desolate castle, in and out of whose arches +the aerial mists eddy like purposeless phantoms, thronging the soul of some +ruinous genius, who, even in overthrow, harbors none but lofty conceptions. +</p> + +<p> +As the Ranger shot higher under the crag, its height and bulk dwarfed both +pursuer and pursued into nutshells. The main-truck of the Ranger was nine +hundred feet below the foundations of the ruin on the crag’s top: +</p> + +<p> +While the ship was yet under the shadow, and each seaman’s face shared in +the general eclipse, a sudden change came over Paul. He issued no more +sultanical orders. He did not look so elate as before. At length he gave the +command to discontinue the chase. Turning about, they sailed southward. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul,” said Israel, shortly afterwards, “you changed +your mind rather queerly about catching that craft. But you thought she was +drawing us too far up into the land, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sink the craft,” cried Paul; “it was not any fear of her, +nor of King George, which made me turn on my heel; it was yon cock of the +walk.” +</p> + +<p> +“Cock of the walk?” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, cock of the walk of the sea; look—yon Crag of Ailsa.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0016"></a> +CHAPTER XVI.<br/> +THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN.</h2> + +<p> +Next day, off Carrickfergus, on the Irish coast, a fishing boat, allured by the +Quaker-like look of the incognito craft, came off in full confidence. Her men +were seized, their vessel sunk. From them Paul learned that the large ship at +anchor in the road, was the ship-of-war Drake, of twenty guns. Upon this he +steered away, resolving to return secretly, and attack her that night. +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, Captain Paul,” said Israel to his commander, as about +sunset they backed and stood in again for the land “surely, sir, you are +not going right in among them this way? Why not wait till she comes out?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, Yellow-hair, my boy, I am engaged to marry her to-night. The +bride’s friends won’t like the match; and so, this very night, the +bride must be carried away. She has a nice tapering waist, hasn’t she, +through the glass? Ah! I will clasp her to my heart.” +</p> + +<p> +He steered straight in like a friend; under easy sail, lounging towards the +Drake, with anchor ready to drop, and grapnels to hug. But the wind was high; +the anchor was not dropped at the ordered time. The ranger came to a stand +three biscuits’ toss off the unmisgiving enemy’s quarter, like a +peaceful merchantman from the Canadas, laden with harmless lumber. +</p> + +<p> +“I shan’t marry her just yet,” whispered Paul, seeing his +plans for the time frustrated. Gazing in audacious tranquillity upon the decks +of the enemy, and amicably answering her hail, with complete self-possession, +he commanded the cable to be slipped, and then, as if he had accidentally +parted his anchor, turned his prow on the seaward tack, meaning to return again +immediately with the same prospect of advantage possessed at first—his +plan being to crash suddenly athwart the Drake’s bow, so as to have all +her decks exposed point-blank to his musketry. But once more the winds +interposed. It came on with a storm of snow; he was obliged to give up his +project. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, without any warlike appearance, and giving no alarm, Paul, like an +invisible ghost, glided by night close to land, actually came to anchor, for an +instant, within speaking-distance of an English ship-of-war; and yet came, +anchored, answered hail, reconnoitered, debated, decided, and retired, without +exciting the least suspicion. His purpose was chain-shot destruction. So easily +may the deadliest foe—so he be but dexterous—slide, undreamed of, +into human harbors or hearts. And not awakened conscience, but mere prudence, +restrain such, if they vanish again without doing harm. At daybreak no soul in +Carrickfergus knew that the devil, in a Scotch bonnet, had passed close that +way over night. +</p> + +<p> +Seldom has regicidal daring been more strangely coupled with octogenarian +prudence, than in many of the predatory enterprises of Paul. It is this +combination of apparent incompatibilities which ranks him among extraordinary +warriors. +</p> + +<p> +Ere daylight, the storm of the night blew over. The sun saw the Ranger lying +midway over channel at the head of the Irish Sea; England, Scotland, and +Ireland, with all their lofty cliffs, being as simultaneously as plainly in +sight beyond the grass-green waters, as the City Hall, St. Paul’s, and +the Astor House, from the triangular Park in New York. The three kingdoms lay +covered with snow, far as the eye could reach. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Yellow-hair,” said Paul, with a smile, “they show the +white flag, the cravens. And, while the white flag stays blanketing yonder +heights, we’ll make for Whitehaven, my boy. I promised to drop in there a +moment ere quitting the country for good. Israel, lad, I mean to step ashore in +person, and have a personal hand in the thing. Did you ever drive +spikes?” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve driven the spike-teeth into harrows before now,” +replied Israel; “but that was before I was a sailor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, driving spikes into harrows is a good introduction to +driving spikes into cannon. You are just the man. Put down your glass; go to +the carpenter, get a hundred spikes, put them in a bucket with a hammer, and +bring all to me.” +</p> + +<p> +As evening fell, the great promontory of St. Bee’s Head, with its +lighthouse, not far from Whitehaven, was in distant sight. But the wind became +so light that Paul could not work his ship in close enough at an hour as early +as intended. His purpose had been to make the descent and retire ere break of +day. But though this intention was frustrated, he did not renounce his plan, +for the present would be his last opportunity. +</p> + +<p> +As the night wore on, and the ship, with a very light wind, glided nigher and +nigher the mark, Paul called upon Israel to produce his bucket for final +inspection. Thinking some of the spikes too large, he had them filed down a +little. He saw to the lanterns and combustibles. Like Peter the Great, he went +into the smallest details, while still possessing a genius competent to plan +the aggregate. But oversee as one may, it is impossible to guard against +carelessness in subordinates. One’s sharp eyes can’t see behind +one’s back. It will yet be noted that an important omission was made in +the preparations for Whitehaven. +</p> + +<p> +The town contained, at that period, a population of some six or seven thousand +inhabitants, defended by forts. +</p> + +<p> +At midnight, Paul Jones, Israel Potter, and twenty-nine others, rowed in two +boats to attack the six or seven thousand inhabitants of Whitehaven. There was +a long way to pull. This was done in perfect silence. Not a sound was heard +except the oars turning in the row-locks. Nothing was seen except the two +lighthouses of the harbor. Through the stillness and the darkness, the two +deep-laden boats swam into the haven, like two mysterious whales from the +Arctic Sea. As they reached the outer pier, the men saw each other’s +faces. The day was dawning. The riggers and other artisans of the shipping +would before very long be astir. No matter. +</p> + +<p> +The great staple exported from Whitehaven was then, and still is, coal. The +town is surrounded by mines; the town is built on mines; the ships moor over +mines. The mines honeycomb the land in all directions, and extend in galleries +of grottoes for two miles under the sea. By the falling in of the more ancient +collieries numerous houses have been swallowed, as if by an earthquake, and a +consternation spread, like that of Lisbon, in 1755. So insecure and treacherous +was the site of the place now about to be assailed by a desperado, nursed, like +the coal, in its vitals. +</p> + +<p> +Now, sailing on the Thames, nigh its mouth, of fair days, when the wind is +favorable for inward-bound craft, the stranger will sometimes see processions +of vessels, all of similar size and rig, stretching for miles and miles, like a +long string of horses tied two and two to a rope and driven to market. These +are colliers going to London with coal. +</p> + +<p> +About three hundred of these vessels now lay, all crowded together, in one +dense mob, at Whitehaven. The tide was out. They lay completely helpless, clear +of water, and grounded. They were sooty in hue. Their black yards were deeply +canted, like spears, to avoid collision. The three hundred grimy hulls lay +wallowing in the mud, like a herd of hippopotami asleep in the alluvium of the +Nile. Their sailless, raking masts, and canted yards, resembled a forest of +fish-spears thrust into those same hippopotamus hides. Partly flanking one side +of the grounded fleet was a fort, whose batteries were raised from the beach. +On a little strip of this beach, at the base of the fort, lay a number of small +rusty guns, dismounted, heaped together in disorder, as a litter of dogs. Above +them projected the mounted cannon. +</p> + +<p> +Paul landed in his own boat at the foot of this fort. He dispatched the other +boat to the north side of the haven, with orders to fire the shipping there. +Leaving two men at the beach, he then proceeded to get possession of the fort. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold on to the bucket, and give me your shoulder,” said he to +Israel. +</p> + +<p> +Using Israel for a ladder, in a trice he scaled the wall. The bucket and the +men followed. He led the way softly to the guard-house, burst in, and bound the +sentinels in their sleep. Then arranging his force, ordered four men to spike +the cannon there. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Israel, your bucket, and follow me to the other fort.” +</p> + +<p> +The two went alone about a quarter of a mile. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul,” said Israel, on the way, “can we two manage +the sentinels?” +</p> + +<p> +“There are none in the fort we go to.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know all about the place, Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“Pretty well informed on that subject, I believe. Come along. Yes, lad, I +am tolerably well acquainted with Whitehaven. And this morning intend that +Whitehaven shall have a slight inkling of <i>me</i>. Come on. Here we +are.” +</p> + +<p> +Scaling the walls, the two involuntarily stood for an instant gazing upon the +scene. The gray light of the dawn showed the crowded houses and thronged ships +with a haggard distinctness. +</p> + +<p> +“Spike and hammer, lad;—so,—now follow me along, as I go, and +give me a spike for every cannon. I’ll tongue-tie the thunderers. Speak +no more!” and he spiked the first gun. “Be a mute,” and he +spiked the second. “Dumbfounder thee,” and he spiked the third. And +so, on, and on, and on, Israel following him with the bucket, like a footman, +or some charitable gentleman with a basket of alms. +</p> + +<p> +“There, it is done. D’ye see the fire yet, lad, from the south? I +don’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a spark, Captain. But day-sparks come on in the east.” +</p> + +<p> +“Forked flames into the hounds! What are they about? Quick, let us back +to the first fort; perhaps something has happened, and they are there.” +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough, on their return from spiking the cannon, Paul and Israel found the +other boat back, the crew in confusion, their lantern having burnt out at the +very instant they wanted it. By a singular fatality the other lantern, +belonging to Paul’s boat, was likewise extinguished. No tinder-box had +been brought. They had no matches but sulphur matches. Locofocos were not then +known. +</p> + +<p> +The day came on apace. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul,” said the lieutenant of the second boat, “it +is madness to stay longer. See!” and he pointed to the town, now plainly +discernible in the gray light. +</p> + +<p> +“Traitor, or coward!” howled Paul, “how came the lanterns +out? Israel, my lion, now prove your blood. Get me a light—but one +spark!” +</p> + +<p> +“Has any man here a bit of pipe and tobacco in his pocket?” said +Israel. +</p> + +<p> +A sailor quickly produced an old stump of a pipe, with tobacco. +</p> + +<p> +“That will do,” and Israel hurried away towards the town. +</p> + +<p> +“What will the loon do with the pipe?” said one. “And where +goes he?” cried another. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him alone,” said Paul. +</p> + +<p> +The invader now disposed his whole force so as to retreat at an instant’s +warning. Meantime the hardy Israel, long experienced in all sorts of shifts and +emergencies, boldly ventured to procure, from some inhabitant of Whitehaven, a +spark to kindle all Whitehaven’s habitations in flames. +</p> + +<p> +There was a lonely house standing somewhat disjointed from the town, some poor +laborer’s abode. Rapping at the door, Israel, pipe in mouth, begged the +inmates for a light for his tobacco. +</p> + +<p> +“What the devil,” roared a voice from within, “knock up a man +this time of night to light your pipe? Begone!” +</p> + +<p> +“You are lazy this morning, my friend,” replied Israel, “it +is daylight. Quick, give me a light. Don’t you know your old friend? +Shame! open the door.” +</p> + +<p> +In a moment a sleepy fellow appeared, let down the bar, and Israel, stalking +into the dim room, piloted himself straight to the fire-place, raked away the +cinders, lighted his tobacco, and vanished. +</p> + +<p> +All was done in a flash. The man, stupid with sleep, had looked on bewildered. +He reeled to the door, but, dodging behind a pile of bricks, Israel had already +hurried himself out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +“Well done, my lion,” was the hail he received from Paul, who, +during his absence, had mustered as many pipes as possible, in order to +communicate and multiply the fire. +</p> + +<p> +Both boats now pulled to a favorable point of the principal pier of the harbor, +crowded close up to a part of which lay one wing of the colliers. +</p> + +<p> +The men began to murmur at persisting in an attempt impossible to be concealed +much longer. They were afraid to venture on board the grim colliers, and go +groping down into their hulls to fire them. It seemed like a voluntary entrance +into dungeons and death. +</p> + +<p> +“Follow me, all of you but ten by the boats,” said Paul, without +noticing their murmurs. “And now, to put an end to all future burnings in +America, by one mighty conflagration of shipping in England. Come on, lads! +Pipes and matches in the van!” +</p> + +<p> +He would have distributed the men so as simultaneously to fire different ships +at different points, were it not that the lateness of the hour rendered such a +course insanely hazardous. Stationing his party in front of one of the windward +colliers, Paul and Israel sprang on board. +</p> + +<p> +In a twinkling they had broken open a boatswain’s locker, and, with great +bunches of oakum, fine and dry as tinder, had leaped into the steerage. Here, +while Paul made a blaze, Israel ran to collect the tar-pots, which being +presently poured on the burning matches, oakum and wood, soon increased the +flame. +</p> + +<p> +“It is not a sure thing yet,” said Paul, “we must have a +barrel of tar.” +</p> + +<p> +They searched about until they found one, knocked out the head and bottom, and +stood it like a martyr in the midst of the flames. They then retreated up the +forward hatchway, while volumes of smoke were belched from the after one. Not +till this moment did Paul hear the cries of his men, warning him that the +inhabitants were not only actually astir, but crowds were on their way to the +pier. +</p> + +<p> +As he sprang out of the smoke towards the rail of the collier, he saw the sun +risen, with thousands of the people. Individuals hurried close to the burning +vessel. Leaping to the ground, Paul, bidding his men stand fast, ran to their +front, and, advancing about thirty feet, presented his own pistol at now +tumultuous Whitehaven. +</p> + +<p> +Those who had rushed to extinguish what they had deemed but an accidental fire, +were now paralyzed into idiotic inaction, at the defiance of the incendiary, +thinking him some sudden pirate or fiend dropped down from the moon. +</p> + +<p> +While Paul thus stood guarding the incipient conflagration, Israel, without a +weapon, dashed crazily towards the mob on the shore. +</p> + +<p> +“Come back, come back,” cried Paul. +</p> + +<p> +“Not till I start these sheep, as their own wolves many a time started +me!” +</p> + +<p> +As he rushed bare-headed like a madman, towards the crowd, the panic spread. +They fled from unarmed Israel, further than they had from the pistol of Paul. +</p> + +<p> +The flames now catching the rigging and spiralling around the masts, the whole +ship burned at one end of the harbor, while the sun, an hour high, burned at +the other. Alarm and amazement, not sleep, now ruled the world. It was time to +retreat. +</p> + +<p> +They re-embarked without opposition, first releasing a few prisoners, as the +boats could not carry them. +</p> + +<p> +Just as Israel was leaping into the boat, he saw the man at whose house he had +procured the fire, staring like a simpleton at him. +</p> + +<p> +“That was good seed you gave me;” said Israel, “see what a +yield,” pointing to the flames. He then dropped into the boat, leaving +only Paul on the pier. +</p> + +<p> +The men cried to their commander, conjuring him not to linger. +</p> + +<p> +But Paul remained for several moments, confronting in silence the clamors of +the mob beyond, and waving his solitary hand, like a disdainful tomahawk, +towards the surrounding eminences, also covered with the affrighted +inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +When the assailants had rowed pretty well off, the English rushed in great +numbers to their forts, but only to find their cannon no better than so much +iron in the ore. At length, however, they began to fire, having either brought +down some ship’s guns, or else mounted the rusty old dogs lying at the +foot of the first fort. +</p> + +<p> +In their eagerness they fired with no discretion. The shot fell short; they did +not the slightest damage. +</p> + +<p> +Paul’s men laughed aloud, and fired their pistols in the air. +</p> + +<p> +Not a splinter was made, not a drop of blood spilled throughout the affair. The +intentional harmlessness of the result, as to human life, was only equalled by +the desperate courage of the deed. It formed, doubtless, one feature of the +compassionate contempt of Paul towards the town, that he took such paternal +care of their lives and limbs. +</p> + +<p> +Had it been possible to have landed a few hours earlier not a ship nor a house +could have escaped. But it was the lesson, not the loss, that told. As it was, +enough damage had been done to demonstrate—as Paul had declared to the +wise man of Paris—that the disasters caused by the wanton fires and +assaults on the American coasts, could be easily brought home to the +enemy’s doors. Though, indeed, if the retaliators were headed by Paul +Jones, the satisfaction would not be equal to the insult, being abated by the +magnanimity of a chivalrous, however unprincipled a foe. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0017"></a> +CHAPTER XVII.<br/> +THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK’S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR DRAKE.</h2> + +<p> +The Ranger now stood over the Solway Frith for the Scottish shore, and at noon +on the same day, Paul, with twelve men, including two officers and Israel, +landed on St. Mary’s Isle, one of the seats of the Earl of Selkirk. +</p> + +<p> +In three consecutive days this elemental warrior either entered the harbors or +landed on the shores of each of the Three Kingdoms. +</p> + +<p> +The morning was fair and clear. St. Mary’s Isle lay shimmering in the +sun. The light crust of snow had melted, revealing the tender grass and sweet +buds of spring mantling the sides of the cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +At once, upon advancing with his party towards the house, Paul augured ill for +his project from the loneliness of the spot. No being was seen. But cocking his +bonnet at a jaunty angle, he continued his way. Stationing the men silently +round about the house, fallowed by Israel, he announced his presence at the +porch. +</p> + +<p> +A gray-headed domestic at length responded. +</p> + +<p> +“Is the Earl within?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is in Edinburgh, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah—sure?—Is your lady within?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir—who shall I say it is?” +</p> + +<p> +“A gentleman who calls to pay his respects. Here, take my card.” +</p> + +<p> +And he handed the man his name, as a private gentleman, superbly engraved at +Paris, on gilded paper. +</p> + +<p> +Israel tarried in the hall while the old servant led Paul into a parlor. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the lady appeared. +</p> + +<p> +“Charming Madame, I wish you a very good morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who may it be, sir, that I have the happiness to see?” said the +lady, censoriously drawing herself up at the too frank gallantry of the +stranger. +</p> + +<p> +“Madame, I sent you my card.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which leaves me equally ignorant, sir,” said the lady, coldly, +twirling the gilded pasteboard. +</p> + +<p> +“A courier dispatched to Whitehaven, charming Madame, might bring you +more particular tidings as to who has the honor of being your visitor.” +</p> + +<p> +Not comprehending what this meant, and deeply displeased, if not vaguely +alarmed, at the characteristic manner of Paul, the lady, not entirely +unembarrassed, replied, that if the gentleman came to view the isle, he was at +liberty so to do. She would retire and send him a guide. +</p> + +<p> +“Countess of Selkirk,” said Paul, advancing a step, “I call +to see the Earl. On business of urgent importance, I call.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Earl is in Edinburgh,” uneasily responded the lady, again +about to retire. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you give me your honor as a lady that it is as you say?” +</p> + +<p> +The lady looked at him in dubious resentment. +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon, Madame, I would not lightly impugn a lady’s lightest word, +but I surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in +which case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to seek to +shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the isle.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not dream what you mean by all this,” said the lady with a +decided alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her dignity, as +she retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Madame,” said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then +tenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an expression +poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face; “it cannot be +too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms, the officer of fine +feelings and genuine sensibility should be sometimes necessitated to public +actions which his own private heart cannot approve. This hard case is mine. The +Earl, Madame, you say is absent. I believe those words. Far be it from my soul, +enchantress, to ascribe a fault to syllables which have proceeded from so +faultless a source.” +</p> + +<p> +This probably he said in reference to the lady’s mouth, which was +beautiful in the extreme. +</p> + +<p> +He bowed very lowly, while the lady eyed him with conflicting and troubled +emotions, but as yet all in darkness as to his ultimate meaning. But her more +immediate alarm had subsided, seeing now that the sailor-like extravagance of +Paul’s homage was entirely unaccompanied with any touch of intentional +disrespect. Indeed, hyperbolical as were his phrases, his gestures and whole +carriage were most heedfully deferential. +</p> + +<p> +Paul continued: “The Earl, Madame, being absent, and he being the sole +object of my call, you cannot labor under the least apprehension, when I now +inform you, that I have the honor of being an officer in the American Navy, +who, having stopped at this isle to secure the person of the Earl of Selkirk as +a hostage for the American cause, am, by your assurances, turned away from that +intent; pleased, even in disappointment, since that disappointment has served +to prolong my interview with the noble lady before me, as well as to leave her +domestic tranquillity unimpaired.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can you really speak true?” said the lady in undismayed +wonderment. +</p> + +<p> +“Madame, through your window you will catch a little peep of the American +colonial ship-of-war, Ranger, which I have the honor to command. With my best +respects to your lord, and sincere regrets at not finding him at home, permit +me to salute your ladyship’s hand and withdraw.” +</p> + +<p> +But feigning not to notice this Parisian proposition, and artfully entrenching +her hand, without seeming to do so, the lady, in a conciliatory tone, begged +her visitor to partake of some refreshment ere he departed, at the same time +thanking him for his great civility. But declining these hospitalities, Paul +bowed thrice and quitted the room. +</p> + +<p> +In the hall he encountered Israel, standing all agape before a Highland target +of steel, with a claymore and foil crossed on top. +</p> + +<p> +“Looks like a pewter platter and knife and fork, Captain Paul.” +</p> + +<p> +“So they do, my lion; but come, curse it, the old cock has flown; fine +hen, though, left in the nest; no use; we must away empty-handed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, ain’t Mr. Selkirk in?” demanded Israel in roguish +concern. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Selkirk? Alexander Selkirk, you mean. No, lad, he’s not on the +Isle of St. Mary’s; he’s away off, a hermit, on the Isle of Juan +Fernandez—the more’s the pity; come.” +</p> + +<p> +In the porch they encountered the two officers. Paul briefly informed them of +the circumstances, saying, nothing remained but to depart forthwith. +</p> + +<p> +“With nothing at all for our pains?” murmured the two officers. +</p> + +<p> +“What, pray, would you have?” +</p> + +<p> +“Some pillage, to be sure—plate.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shame. I thought we were three gentlemen.” +</p> + +<p> +“So are the English officers in America; but they help themselves to +plate whenever they can get it from the private houses of the enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, now, don’t be slanderous,” said Paul; “these +officers you speak of are but one or two out of twenty, mere burglars and +light-fingered gentry, using the king’s livery but as a disguise to their +nefarious trade. The rest are men of honor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul Jones,” responded the two, “we have not come on +this expedition in much expectation of regular pay; but we <i>did</i> rely upon +honorable plunder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Honorable plunder! That’s something new.” +</p> + +<p> +But the officers were not to be turned aside. They were the most efficient in +the ship. Seeing them resolute, Paul, for fear of incensing them, was at last, +as a matter of policy, obliged to comply. For himself, however, he resolved to +have nothing to do with the affair. Charging the officers not to allow the men +to enter the house on any pretence, and that no search must be made, and +nothing must be taken away, except what the lady should offer them upon making +known their demand, he beckoned to Israel and retired indignantly towards the +beach. Upon second thoughts, he dispatched Israel back, to enter the house with +the officers, as joint receiver of the plate, he being, of course, the most +reliable of the seamen. +</p> + +<p> +The lady was not a little disconcerted on receiving the officers. With cool +determination they made known their purpose. There was no escape. The lady +retired. The butler came; and soon, several silver salvers, and other articles +of value, were silently deposited in the parlor in the presence of the officers +and Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Mister Butler,” said Israel, “let me go into the dairy and +help to carry the milk-pans.” +</p> + +<p> +But, scowling upon this rusticity, or roguishness—he knew not +which—the butler, in high dudgeon at Israel’s republican +familiarity, as well as black as a thundercloud with the general insult offered +to an illustrious household by a party of armed thieves, as he viewed them, +declined any assistance. In a quarter of an hour the officers left the house, +carrying their booty. +</p> + +<p> +At the porch they were met by a red-cheeked, spiteful-looking lass, who, with +her brave lady’s compliments, added two child’s rattles of silver +and coral to their load. +</p> + +<p> +Now, one of the officers was a Frenchman, the other a Spaniard. +</p> + +<p> +The Spaniard dashed his rattle indignantly to the ground. The Frenchman took +his very pleasantly, and kissed it, saying to the girl that he would long +preserve the coral, as a memento of her rosy cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +When the party arrived on the beach, they found Captain Paul writing with +pencil on paper held up against the smooth tableted side of the cliff. Next +moment he seemed to be making his signature. With a reproachful glance towards +the two officers, he handed the slip to Israel, bidding him hasten immediately +with it to the house and place it in Lady Selkirk’s own hands. +</p> + +<p> +The note was as follows: +</p> + +<p> +“Madame: +</p> + +<p> +“After so courteous a reception, I am disturbed to make you no better +return than you have just experienced from the actions of certain persons under +my command.—actions, lady, which my profession of arms obliges me not +only to brook, but, in a measure, to countenance. From the bottom of my heart, +my dear lady, I deplore this most melancholy necessity of my delicate position. +However unhandsome the desire of these men, some complaisance seemed due them +from me, for their general good conduct and bravery on former occasions. I had +but an instant to consider. I trust, that in unavoidably gratifying them, I +have inflicted less injury on your ladyship’s property than I have on my +own bleeding sensibilities. But my heart will not allow me to say more. Permit +me to assure you, dear lady, that when the plate is sold, I shall, at all +hazards, become the purchaser, and will be proud to restore it to you, by such +conveyance as you may hereafter see fit to appoint. +</p> + +<p> +“From hence I go, Madame, to engage, to-morrow morning, his +Majesty’s ship, Drake, of twenty guns, now lying at Carrickfergus. I +should meet the enemy with more than wonted resolution, could I flatter myself +that, through this unhandsome conduct on the part of my officers, I lie not +under the disesteem of the sweet lady of the Isle of St. Mary’s. But +unconquerable as Mars should I be, could but dare to dream, that in some green +retreat of her charming domain, the Countess of Selkirk offers up a charitable +prayer for, my dear lady countess, one, who coming to take a captive, himself +has been captivated. +</p> + +<p> +“Your ladyship’s adoring enemy, +</p> + +<h3>“JOHN PAUL JONES.”</h3> + +<p> +How the lady received this super-ardent note, history does not relate. But +history has not omitted to record, that after the return of the Ranger to +France, through the assiduous efforts of Paul in buying up the booty, piece by +piece, from the clutches of those among whom it had been divided, and not +without a pecuniary private loss to himself, equal to the total value of the +plunder, the plate was punctually restored, even to the silver heads of two +pepper-boxes; and, not only this, but the Earl, hearing all the particulars, +magnanimously wrote Paul a letter, expressing thanks for his politeness. In the +opinion of the noble Earl, Paul was a man of honor. It were rash to differ in +opinion with such high-born authority. +</p> + +<p> +Upon returning to the ship, she was instantly pointed over towards the Irish +coast. Next morning Carrickfergus was in sight. Paul would have gone straight +in; but Israel, reconnoitring with his glass, informed him that a large ship, +probably the Drake, was just coming out. +</p> + +<p> +“What think you, Israel, do they know who we are? Let me have the +glass.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are dropping a boat now, sir,” replied Israel, removing the +glass from his eye, and handing it to Paul. +</p> + +<p> +“So they are—so they are. They don’t know us. I’ll +decoy that boat alongside. Quick—they are coming for us—take the +helm now yourself, my lion, and keep the ship’s stern steadily presented +towards the advancing boat. Don’t let them have the least peep at our +broadside.” +</p> + +<p> +The boat came on, an officer in its bow all the time eyeing the Ranger through +a glass. Presently the boat was within hail. +</p> + +<p> +“Ship ahoy! Who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, come alongside,” answered Paul through his trumpet, in a rapid +off-hand tone, as though he were a gruff sort of friend, impatient at being +suspected for a foe. +</p> + +<p> +In a few moments the officer of the boat stepped into the Ranger’s +gangway. Cocking his bonnet gallantly, Paul advanced towards him, making a very +polite bow, saying: “Good morning, sir, good morning; delighted to see +you. That’s a pretty sword you have; pray, let me look at it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see,” said the officer, glancing at the ship’s armament, +and turning pale, “I am your prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +“No—my guest,” responded Paul, winningly. “Pray, let me +relieve you of your—your—cane.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus humorously he received the officer’s delivered sword. +</p> + +<p> +“Now tell me, sir, if you please,” he continued, “what brings +out his Majesty’s ship Drake this fine morning? Going a little +airing?” +</p> + +<p> +“She comes out in search of you, but when I left her side half an hour +since she did not know that the ship off the harbor was the one she +sought.” +</p> + +<p> +“You had news from Whitehaven, I suppose, last night, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye: express; saying that certain incendiaries had landed there early +that morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“What?—what sort of men were they, did you say?” said Paul, +shaking his bonnet fiercely to one side of his head, and coming close to the +officer. “Pardon me,” he added derisively, “I had forgot you +are my <i>guest</i>. Israel, see the unfortunate gentleman below, and his men +forward.” +</p> + +<p> +The Drake was now seen slowly coming out under a light air, attended by five +small pleasure-vessels, decorated with flags and streamers, and full of +gaily-dressed people, whom motives similar to those which drew visitors to the +circus, had induced to embark on their adventurous trip. But they little +dreamed how nigh the desperate enemy was. +</p> + +<p> +“Drop the captured boat astern,” said Paul; “see what effect +that will have on those merry voyagers.” +</p> + +<p> +No sooner was the empty boat descried by the pleasure-vessels than forthwith, +surmising the truth, they with all diligence turned about and re-entered the +harbor. Shortly after, alarm-smokes were seen extending along both sides of the +channel. +</p> + +<p> +“They smoke us at last, Captain Paul,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“There will be more smoke yet before the day is done,” replied +Paul, gravely. +</p> + +<p> +The wind was right under the land, the tide unfavorable. The Drake worked out +very slowly. +</p> + +<p> +Meantime, like some fiery-heated duellist calling on urgent business at frosty +daybreak, and long kept waiting at the door by the dilatoriness of his +antagonist, shrinking at the idea of getting up to be cut to pieces in the +cold—the Ranger, with a better breeze, impatiently tacked to and fro in +the channel. At last, when the English vessel had fairly weathered the point, +Paul, ranging ahead, courteously led her forth, as a beau might a belle in a +ballroom, to mid-channel, and then suffered her to come within hail. +</p> + +<p> +“She is hoisting her colors now, sir,” said Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Give her the stars and stripes, then, my lad.” +</p> + +<p> +Joyfully running to the locker, Israel attached the flag to the halyards. The +wind freshened. He stood elevated. The bright flag blew around him, a glorified +shroud, enveloping him in its red ribbons and spangles, like up-springing +tongues, and sparkles of flame. +</p> + +<p> +As the colors rose to their final perch, and streamed in the air, Paul eyed +them exultingly. +</p> + +<p> +“I first hoisted that flag on an American ship, and was the first among +men to get it saluted. If I perish this night, the name of Paul Jones shall +live. Hark! they hail us.” +</p> + +<p> +“What ship are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Your enemy. Come on! What wants the fellow of more prefaces and +introductions?” +</p> + +<p> +The sun was now calmly setting over the green land of Ireland. The sky was +serene, the sea smooth, the wind just sufficient to waft the two vessels +steadily and gently. After the first firing and a little manoeuvring, the two +ships glided on freely, side by side; in that mild air Exchanging their deadly +broadsides, like two friendly horsemen walking their steeds along a plain, +chatting as they go. After an hour of this running fight, the conversation +ended. The Drake struck. How changed from the big craft of sixty short minutes +before! She seemed now, above deck, like a piece of wild western woodland into +which choppers had been. Her masts and yards prostrate, and hanging in +jack-straws; several of her sails ballooning out, as they dragged in the sea, +like great lopped tops of foliage. The black hull and shattered stumps of +masts, galled and riddled, looked as if gigantic woodpeckers had been tapping +them. +</p> + +<p> +The Drake was the larger ship; more cannon; more men. Her loss in killed and +wounded was far the greater. Her brave captain and lieutenant were mortally +wounded. +</p> + +<p> +The former died as the prize was boarded, the latter two days after. +</p> + +<p> +It was twilight, the weather still severe. No cannonade, naught that mad man +can do, molests the stoical imperturbability of Nature, when Nature chooses to +be still. This weather, holding on through the following day, greatly +facilitated the refitting of the ships. That done, the two vessels, sailing +round the north of Ireland, steered towards Brest. They were repeatedly chased +by English cruisers, but safely reached their anchorage in the French waters. +</p> + +<p> +“A pretty fair four weeks’ yachting, gentlemen,” said Paul +Jones, as the Ranger swung to her cable, while some French officers boarded +her. “I bring two travellers with me, gentlemen,” he continued. +“Allow me to introduce you to my particular friend Israel Potter, late of +North America, and also to his Britannic Majesty’s ship Drake, late of +Carrickfergus, Ireland.” +</p> + +<p> +This cruise made loud fame for Paul, especially at the court of France, whose +king sent Paul, a sword and a medal. But poor Israel, who also had conquered a +craft, and all unaided too—what had he? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0018"></a> +CHAPTER XVIII.<br/> +THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX.</h2> + +<p> +Three months after anchoring at Brest, through Dr. Franklin’s +negotiations with the French king, backed by the bestirring ardor of Paul, a +squadron of nine vessels, of various force, were ready in the road of Groix for +another descent on the British coasts. These craft were miscellaneously picked +up, their crews a mongrel pack, the officers mostly French, unacquainted with +each other, and secretly jealous of Paul. The expedition was full of the +elements of insubordination and failure. Much bitterness and agony resulted to +a spirit like Paul’s. But he bore up, and though in many particulars the +sequel more than warranted his misgivings, his soul still refused to surrender. +</p> + +<p> +The career of this stubborn adventurer signally illustrates the idea that since +all human affairs are subject to organic disorder, since they are created in +and sustained by a sort of half-disciplined chaos, hence he who in great things +seeks success must never wait for smooth water, which never was and never will +be, but, with what straggling method he can, dash with all his derangements at +his object, leaving the rest to Fortune. +</p> + +<p> +Though nominally commander of the squadron, Paul was not so in effect. Most of +his captains conceitedly claimed independent commands. One of them in the end +proved a traitor outright; few of the rest were reliable. +</p> + +<p> +As for the ships, that commanded by Paul in person will be a good example of +the fleet. She was an old Indiaman, clumsy and crank, smelling strongly of the +savor of tea, cloves, and arrack, the cargoes of former voyages. Even at that +day she was, from her venerable grotesqueness, what a cocked hat is, at the +present age, among ordinary beavers. Her elephantine bulk was houdahed with a +castellated poop like the leaning tower of Pisa. Poor Israel, standing on the +top of this poop, spy-glass at his eye, looked more an astronomer than a +mariner, having to do, not with the mountains of the billows, but the mountains +in the moon. Galileo on Fiesole. She was originally a single-decked ship, that +is, carried her armament on one gun-deck; but cutting ports below, in her after +part, Paul rammed out there six old eighteen-pounders, whose rusty muzzles +peered just above the water-line, like a parcel of dirty mulattoes from a +cellar-way. Her name was the Duras, but, ere sailing, it was changed to that +other appellation, whereby this sad old hulk became afterwards immortal. Though +it is not unknown, that a compliment to Doctor Franklin was involved in this +change of titles, yet the secret history of the affair will now for the first +time be disclosed. +</p> + +<p> +It was evening in the road of Groix. After a fagging day’s work, trying +to conciliate the hostile jealousy of his officers, and provide, in the face of +endless obstacles (for he had to dance attendance on scores of intriguing +factors and brokers ashore), the requisite stores for the fleet, Paul sat in +his cabin in a half-despondent reverie, while Israel, cross-legged at his +commander’s feet, was patching up some old signals. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Paul, I don’t like our ship’s name.—Duras? +What’s that mean?—Duras? Being cribbed up in a ship named Duras! a +sort of makes one feel as if he were in durance vile.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gad, I never thought of that before, my lion. Duras—Durance vile. +I suppose it’s superstition, but I’ll change Come, Yellow-mane, +what shall we call her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Captain Paul, don’t you like Doctor Franklin? Hasn’t +he been the prime man to get this fleet together? Let’s call her the +Doctor Franklin.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, no, that will too publicly declare him just at present; and Poor +Richard wants to be a little shady in this business.” +</p> + +<p> +“Poor Richard!—call her Poor Richard, then,” cried Israel, +suddenly struck by the idea. +</p> + +<p> +“’Gad, you have it,” answered Paul, springing to his feet, as +all trace of his former despondency left him;—“Poor Richard shall +be the name, in honor to the saying, that ‘God helps them that help +themselves,’ as Poor Richard says.” +</p> + +<p> +Now this was the way the craft came to be called the <i>Bon Homme Richard</i>; +for it being deemed advisable to have a French rendering of the new title, it +assumed the above form. +</p> + +<p> +A few days after, the force sailed. Ere long, they captured several vessels; +but the captains of the squadron proving refractory, events took so deplorable +a turn, that Paul, for the present, was obliged to return to Groix. Luckily, +however, at this junction a cartel arrived from England with upwards of a +hundred exchanged American seamen, who almost to a man enlisted under the flag +of Paul. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the resailing of the force, the old troubles broke out afresh. Most of her +consorts insubordinately separated from the Bon Homme Richard. At length Paul +found himself in violent storms beating off the rugged southeastern coast of +Scotland, with only two accompanying ships. But neither the mutiny of his +fleet, nor the chaos of the elements, made him falter in his purpose. Nay, at +this crisis, he projected the most daring of all his descents. +</p> + +<p> +The Cheviot Hills were in sight. Sundry vessels had been described bound in for +the Firth of Forth, on whose south shore, well up the Firth, stands Leith, the +port of Edinburgh, distant but a mile or two from that capital. He resolved to +dash at Leith, and lay it under contribution or in ashes. He called the +captains of his two remaining consorts on board his own ship to arrange +details. Those worthies had much of fastidious remark to make against the plan. +After losing much time in trying to bring to a conclusion their sage +deliberations, Paul, by addressing their cupidity, achieved that which all +appeals to their gallantry could not accomplish. He proclaimed the grand prize +of the Leith lottery at no less a figure than £200,000, that being named as the +ransom. Enough: the three ships enter the Firth, boldly and freely, as if +carrying Quakers to a Peace-Congress. +</p> + +<p> +Along both startled shores the panic of their approach spread like the cholera. +The three suspicious crafts had so long lain off and on, that none doubted they +were led by the audacious viking, Paul Jones. At five o’clock, on the +following morning, they were distinctly seen from the capital of Scotland, +quietly sailing up the bay. Batteries were hastily thrown up at Leith, arms +were obtained from the castle at Edinburgh, alarm fires were kindled in all +directions. Yet with such tranquillity of effrontery did Paul conduct his +ships, concealing as much as possible their warlike character, that more than +once his vessels were mistaken for merchantmen, and hailed by passing ships as +such. +</p> + +<p> +In the afternoon, Israel, at his station on the tower of Pisa, reported a boat +with five men coming off to the Richard from the coast of Fife. +</p> + +<p> +“They have hot oat-cakes for us,” said Paul; “let ’em +come. To encourage them, show them the English ensign, Israel, my lad.” +</p> + +<p> +Soon the boat was alongside. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my good fellows, what can I do for you this afternoon?” said +Paul, leaning over the side with a patronizing air. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, captain, we come from the Laird of Crokarky, who wants some powder +and ball for his money.” +</p> + +<p> +“What would you with powder and ball, pray?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! haven’t you heard that that bloody pirate, Paul Jones, is +somewhere hanging round the coasts?” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, indeed, but he won’t hurt you. He’s only going round +among the nations, with his old hat, taking up contributions. So, away with ye; +ye don’t want any powder and ball to give him. He wants contributions of +silver, not lead. Prepare yourselves with silver, I say.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, captain, the Laird ordered us not to return without powder and +ball. See, here is the price. It may be the taking of the bloody pirate, if you +let us have what we want.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, pass ’em over a keg,” said Paul, laughing, but +modifying his order by a sly whisper to Israel: “Oh, put up your price, +it’s a gift to ye.” +</p> + +<p> +“But ball, captain; what’s the use of powder without ball?” +roared one of the fellows from the boat’s bow, as the keg was lowered in. +“We want ball.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bless my soul, you bawl loud enough as it is. Away with ye, with what +you have. Look to your keg, and hark ye, if ye catch that villain, Paul Jones, +give him no quarter.” +</p> + +<p> +“But, captain, here,” shouted one of the boatmen, +“there’s a mistake. This is a keg of pickles, not powder. +Look,” and poking into the bung-hole, he dragged out a green cucumber +dripping with brine. “Take this back, and give us the powder.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pooh,” said Paul, “the powder is at the bottom, pickled +powder, best way to keep it. Away with ye, now, and after that bloody +embezzler, Paul Jones.” +</p> + +<p> +This was Sunday. The ships held on. During the afternoon, a long tack of the +Richard brought her close towards the shores of Fife, near the thriving little +port of Kirkaldy. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s a great crowd on the beach. Captain Paul,” said +Israel, looking through his glass. “There seems to be an old woman +standing on a fish-barrel there, a sort of selling things at auction to the +people, but I can’t be certain yet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let me see,” said Paul, taking the glass as they came nigher. +“Sure enough, it’s an old lady—an old quack-doctress, seems +to me, in a black gown, too. I must hail her.” +</p> + +<p> +Ordering the ship to be kept on towards the port, he shortened sail within easy +distance, so as to glide slowly by, and seizing the trumpet, thus spoke: +</p> + +<p> +“Old lady, ahoy! What are you talking about? What’s your +text?” +</p> + +<p> +“The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash +his feet in the blood of the wicked.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, what a lack of charity. Now hear mine:—God helpeth them that +help themselves, as Poor Richard says.” +</p> + +<p> +“Reprobate pirate, a gale shall yet come to drive thee in wrecks from our +waters.” +</p> + +<p> +“The strong wind of your hate fills my sails well. Adieu,” waving +his bonnet—“tell us the rest at Leith.” +</p> + +<p> +Next morning the ships were almost within cannon-shot of the town. The men to +be landed were in the boats. Israel had the tiller of the foremost one, waiting +for his commander to enter, when just as Paul’s foot was on the gangway, +a sudden squall struck all three ships, dashing the boats against them, and +causing indescribable confusion. The squall ended in a violent gale. Getting +his men on board with all dispatch, Paul essayed his best to withstand the fury +of the wind, but it blew adversely, and with redoubled power. A ship at a +distance went down beneath it. The disappointed invader was obliged to turn +before the gale, and renounce his project. +</p> + +<p> +To this hour, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, it is the popular +persuasion, that the Rev. Mr. Shirrer’s (of Kirkaldy) powerful +intercession was the direct cause of the elemental repulse experienced off the +endangered harbor of Leith. +</p> + +<p> +Through the ill qualities of Paul’s associate captains: their timidity, +incapable of keeping pace with his daring; their jealousy, blind to his +superiority to rivalship; together with the general reduction of his force, now +reduced by desertion, from nine to three ships; and last of all, the enmity of +seas and winds; the invader, driven, not by a fleet, but a gale, out of the +Scottish water’s, had the mortification in prospect of terminating a +cruise, so formidable in appearance at the onset, without one added deed to +sustain the reputation gained by former exploits. Nevertheless, he was not +disheartened. He sought to conciliate fortune, not by despondency, but by +resolution. And, as if won by his confident bearing, that fickle power suddenly +went over to him from the ranks of the enemy—suddenly as plumed Marshal +Ney to the stubborn standard of Napoleon from Elba, marching regenerated on +Paris. In a word, luck—that’s the word—shortly threw in +Paul’s way the great action of his life: the most extraordinary of all +naval engagements; the unparalleled death-lock with the Serapis. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0019"></a> +CHAPTER XIX.<br/> +THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS.</h2> + +<p> +The battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis stands in history as +the first signal collision on the sea between the Englishman and the American. +For obstinacy, mutual hatred, and courage, it is without precedent or +subsequent in the story of ocean. The strife long hung undetermined, but the +English flag struck in the end. +</p> + +<p> +There would seem to be something singularly indicatory in this engagement. It +may involve at once a type, a parallel, and a prophecy. Sharing the same blood +with England, and yet her proved foe in two wars—not wholly inclined at +bottom to forget an old grudge—intrepid, unprincipled, reckless, +predatory, with boundless ambition, civilized in externals but a savage at +heart, America is, or may yet be, the Paul Jones of nations. +</p> + +<p> +Regarded in this indicatory light, the battle between the Bon Homme Richard and +the Serapis—in itself so curious—may well enlist our interest. +</p> + +<p> +Never was there a fight so snarled. The intricacy of those incidents which defy +the narrator’s extrication, is not illy figured in that bewildering +intertanglement of all the yards and anchors of the two ships, which confounded +them for the time in one chaos of devastation. +</p> + +<p> +Elsewhere than here the reader must go who seeks an elaborate version of the +fight, or, indeed, much of any regular account of it whatever. The writer is +but brought to mention the battle because he must needs follow, in all events, +the fortunes of the humble adventurer whose life lie records. Yet this +necessarily involves some general view of each conspicuous incident in which he +shares. +</p> + +<p> +Several circumstances of the place and time served to invest the fight with a +certain scenic atmosphere casting a light almost poetic over the wild gloom of +its tragic results. The battle was fought between the hours of seven and ten at +night; the height of it was under a full harvest moon, in view of thousands of +distant spectators crowning the high cliffs of Yorkshire. +</p> + +<p> +From the Tees to the Humber, the eastern coast of Britain, for the most part, +wears a savage, melancholy, and Calabrian aspect. It is in course of incessant +decay. Every year the isle which repulses nearly all other foes, succumbs to +the Attila assaults of the deep. Here and there the base of the cliffs is +strewn with masses of rock, undermined by the waves, and tumbled headlong +below, where, sometimes, the water completely surrounds them, showing in +shattered confusion detached rocks, pyramids, and obelisks, rising +half-revealed from the surf—the Tadmores of the wasteful desert of the +sea. Nowhere is this desolation more marked than for those fifty miles of coast +between Flamborough Head and the Spurm. +</p> + +<p> +Weathering out the gale which had driven them from Leith, Paul’s ships +for a few days were employed in giving chase to various merchantmen and +colliers; capturing some, sinking others, and putting the rest to flight. Off +the mouth of the Humber they ineffectually manoeuvred with a view of drawing +out a king’s frigate, reported to be lying at anchor within. At another +time a large fleet was encountered, under convoy of some ships of force. But +their panic caused the fleet to hug the edge of perilous shoals very nigh the +land, where, by reason of his having no competent pilot, Paul durst not +approach to molest them. The same night he saw two strangers further out at +sea, and chased them until three in the morning, when, getting pretty nigh, he +surmised that they must needs be vessels of his own squadron, which, previous +to his entering the Firth of Forth, had separated from his command. Daylight +proved this supposition correct. Five vessels of the original squadron were now +once more in company. About noon a fleet of forty merchantmen appeared coming +round Flamborough Head, protected by two English man-of-war, the Serapis and +Countess of Scarborough. Descrying the five cruisers sailing down, the forty +sail, like forty chickens, fluttered in a panic under the wing of the shore. +Their armed protectors bravely steered from the land, making the disposition +for battle. Promptly accepting the challenge, Paul, giving the signal to his +consorts, earnestly pressed forward. But, earnest as he was, it was seven in +the evening ere the encounter began. Meantime his comrades, heedless of his +signals, sailed independently along. Dismissing them from present +consideration, we confine ourselves, for a while, to the Richard and the +Serapis, the grand duellists of the fight. +</p> + +<p> +The Richard carried a motley, crew, to keep whom in order one hundred and +thirty-five soldiers—themselves a hybrid band—had been put on +board, commanded by French officers of inferior rank. Her armament was +similarly heterogeneous; guns of all sorts and calibres; but about equal on the +whole to those of a thirty-two-gun frigate. The spirit of baneful intermixture +pervaded this craft throughout. +</p> + +<p> +The Serapis was a frigate of fifty guns, more than half of which individually +exceeded in calibre any one gun of the Richard. She had a crew of some three +hundred and twenty trained man-of-war’s men. +</p> + +<p> +There is something in a naval engagement which radically distinguishes it from +one on the land. The ocean, at times, has what is called its <i>sea</i> and its +<i>trough of the sea</i>; but it has neither rivers, woods, banks, towns, nor +mountains. In mild weather it is one hammered plain. Stratagems, like those of +disciplined armies—ambuscades, like those of Indians, are impossible. All +is clear, open, fluent. The very element which sustains the combatants, yields +at the stroke of a feather. One wind and one tide at one time operate upon all +who here engage. This simplicity renders a battle between two men-of-war, with +their huge white wings, more akin to the Miltonic contests of archangels than +to <i>the comparatively squalid</i> tussles of earth. +</p> + +<p> +As the ships neared, a hazy darkness overspread the water. The moon was not yet +risen. Objects were perceived with difficulty. Borne by a soft moist breeze +over gentle waves, they came within pistol- shot. Owing to the obscurity, and +the known neighborhood of other vessels, the Serapis was uncertain who the +Richard was. Through the dim mist each ship loomed forth to the other vast, but +indistinct, as the ghost of Morven. Sounds of the trampling of resolute men +echoed from either hull, whose tight decks dully resounded like drum-heads in a +funeral march. +</p> + +<p> +The Serapis hailed. She was answered by a broadside. For half an hour the +combatants deliberately manoeuvred, continually changing their position, but +always within shot fire. The. Serapis—the better sailer of the +two—kept critically circling the Richard, making lounging advances now +and then, and as suddenly steering off; hate causing her to act not unlike a +wheeling cock about a hen, when stirred by the contrary passion. Meantime, +though within easy speaking distance, no further syllable was exchanged; but an +incessant cannonade was kept up. +</p> + +<p> +At this point, a third party, the Scarborough, drew near, seemingly desirous of +giving assistance to her consort. But thick smoke was now added to the +night’s natural obscurity. The Scarborough imperfectly discerned two +ships, and plainly saw the common fire they made; but which was which, she +could not tell. Eager to befriend the Serapis, she durst not fire a gun, lest +she might unwittingly act the part of a foe. As when a hawk and a crow are +clawing and beaking high in the air, a second crow flying near, will seek to +join the battle, but finding no fair chance to engage, at last flies away to +the woods; just so did the Scarborough now. Prudence dictated the step; because +several chance shot—from which of the combatants could not be +known—had already struck the Scarborough. So, unwilling uselessly to +expose herself, off went for the present this baffled and ineffectual friend. +</p> + +<p> +Not long after, an invisible hand came and set down a great yellow lamp in the +east. The hand reached up unseen from below the horizon, and set the lamp down +right on the rim of the horizon, as on a threshold; as much as to say, +Gentlemen warriors, permit me a little to light up this rather gloomy looking +subject. The lamp was the round harvest moon; the one solitary foot-light of +the scene. But scarcely did the rays from the lamp pierce that languid haze. +Objects before perceived with difficulty, now glimmered ambiguously. Bedded in +strange vapors, the great foot-light cast a dubious, half demoniac glare across +the waters, like the phantasmagoric stream sent athwart a London flagging in a +night-rain from an apothecary’s blue and green window. Through this +sardonical mist, the face of the Man-in-the-Moon—looking right towards +the combatants, as if he were standing in a trap-door of the sea, leaning +forward leisurely with his arms complacently folded over upon the edge of the +horizon—this queer face wore a serious, apishly self-satisfied leer, as +if the Man-in-the-Moon had somehow secretly put up the ships to their contest, +and in the depths of his malignant old soul was not unpleased to see how well +his charms worked. There stood the grinning Man-in-the-Moon, his head just +dodging into view over the rim of the sea:—Mephistopheles prompter of the +stage. +</p> + +<p> +Aided now a little by the planet, one of the consorts of the Richard, the +Pallas, hovering far outside the fight, dimly discerned the suspicious form of +a lonely vessel unknown to her. She resolved to engage it, if it proved a foe. +But ere they joined, the unknown ship—which proved to be the +Scarborough—received a broadside at long gun’s distance from +another consort of the Richard the Alliance. The shot whizzed across the broad +interval like shuttlecocks across a great hall. Presently the battledores of +both batteries were at work, and rapid compliments of shuttlecocks were very +promptly exchanged. The adverse consorts of the two main belligerents fought +with all the rage of those fiery seconds who in some desperate duels make their +principal’s quarrel their own. Diverted from the Richard and the Serapis +by this little by-play, the Man-in-the-Moon, all eager to see what it was, +somewhat raised himself from his trap-door with an added grin on his face. By +this time, off sneaked the Alliance, and down swept the Pallas, at close +quarters engaging the Scarborough; an encounter destined in less than an hour +to end in the latter ship’s striking her flag. +</p> + +<p> +Compared to the Serapis and the Richard, the Pallas and the Scarborough were as +two pages to two knights. In their immature way they showed the same traits as +their fully developed superiors. +</p> + +<p> +The Man-in-the-Moon now raised himself still higher to obtain a better view of +affairs. +</p> + +<p> +But the Man-in-the-Moon was not the only spectator. From the high cliffs of the +shore, and especially from the great promontory of Flamborough Head, the scene +was witnessed by crowds of the islanders. Any rustic might be pardoned his +curiosity in view of the spectacle, presented. Far in the indistinct distance +fleets of frightened merchantmen filled the lower air with their sails, as +flakes of snow in a snow-storm by night. Hovering undeterminedly, in another +direction, were several of the scattered consorts of Paul, taking no part in +the fray. Nearer, was an isolated mist, investing the Pallas and +Scarborough—a mist slowly adrift on the sea, like a floating isle, and at +intervals irradiated with sparkles of fire and resonant with the boom of +cannon. Further away, in the deeper water, was a lurid cloud, incessantly torn +in shreds of lightning, then fusing together again, once more to be rent. As +yet this lurid cloud was neither stationary nor slowly adrift, like the +first-mentioned one; but, instinct with chaotic vitality, shifted hither and +thither, foaming with fire, like a valiant water-spout careering off the coast +of Malabar. +</p> + +<p> +To get some idea of the events enacting in that cloud, it will be necessary to +enter it; to go and possess it, as a ghost may rush into a body, or the devils +into the swine, which running down the steep place perished in the sea; just as +the Richard is yet to do. +</p> + +<p> +Thus far the Serapis and the Richard had been manoeuvring and chasing to each +other like partners in a cotillion, all the time indulging in rapid repartee. +</p> + +<p> +But finding at last that the superior managableness of the enemy’s ship +enabled him to get the better of the clumsy old Indiaman, the Richard, in +taking position, Paul, with his wonted resolution, at once sought to neutralize +this, by hugging him close. But the attempt to lay the Richard right across the +head of the Serapis ended quite otherwise, in sending the enemy’s +jib-boom just over the Richard’s great tower of Pisa, where Israel was +stationed; who, catching it eagerly, stood for an instant holding to the slack +of the sail, like one grasping a horse by the mane prior to vaulting into the +saddle. +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, hold hard, lad,” cried Paul, springing to his side with a +coil of rigging. With a few rapid turns he knitted himself to his foe. The wind +now acting on the sails of the Serapis forced her, heel and point, her entire +length, cheek by jowl, alongside the Richard. The projecting cannon scraped; +the yards interlocked; but the hulls did not touch. A long lane of darkling +water lay wedged between, like that narrow canal in Venice which dozes between +two shadowy piles, and high in air is secretly crossed by the Bridge of Sighs. +But where the six yard-arms reciprocally arched overhead, three bridges of +sighs were both seen and heard, as the moon and wind kept rising. +</p> + +<p> +Into that Lethean canal—pond-like in its smoothness as compared with the +sea without—fell many a poor soul that night; fell, forever forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +As some heaving rent coinciding with a disputed frontier on a volcanic plain, +that boundary abyss was the jaws of death to both sides. So contracted was it, +that in many cases the gun-rammers had to be thrust into the opposite ports, in +order to enter to muzzles of their own cannon. It seemed more an intestine +feud, than a fight between strangers. Or, rather, it was as if the Siamese +Twins, oblivious of their fraternal bond, should rage in unnatural fight. +</p> + +<p> +Ere long, a horrible explosion was heard, drowning for the instant the +cannonade. Two of the old eighteen-pounders—before spoken of, as having +been hurriedly set up below the main deck of the Richard—burst all to +pieces, killing the sailors who worked them, and shattering all that part of +the hull, as if two exploded steam-boilers had shot out of its opposite sides. +The effect was like the fall of the walls of a house. Little now upheld the +great tower of Pisa but a few naked crow stanchions. Thenceforth, not a few +balls from the Serapis must have passed straight through the Richard without +grazing her. It was like firing buck-shot through the ribs of a skeleton. +</p> + +<p> +But, further forward, so deadly was the broadside from the heavy batteries of +the Serapis—levelled point-blank, and right down the throat and bowels, +as it were, of the Richard—that it cleared everything before it. The men +on the Richard’s covered gun-deck ran above, like miners from the +fire-damp. Collecting on the forecastle, they continued to fight with grenades +and muskets. The soldiers also were in the lofty tops, whence they kept up +incessant volleys, cascading their fire down as pouring lava from cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +The position of the men in the two ships was now exactly reversed. For while +the Serapis was tearing the Richard all to pieces below deck, and had swept +that covered part almost of the last man, the Richard’s crowd of musketry +had complete control of the upper deck of the Serapis, where it was almost +impossible for man to remain unless as a corpse. Though in the beginning, the +tops of the Serapis had not been unsupplied with marksmen, yet they had long +since been cleared by the overmastering musketry of the Richard. Several, with +leg or arm broken by a ball, had been seen going dimly downward from their +giddy perch, like falling pigeons shot on the wing. +</p> + +<p> +As busy swallows about barn-eaves and ridge-poles, some of the Richard’s +marksmen, quitting their tops, now went far out on their yard-arms, where they +overhung the Serapis. From thence they dropped hand-grenades upon her decks, +like apples, which growing in one field fall over the fence into another. +Others of their band flung the same sour fruit into the open ports of the +Serapis. A hail-storm of aerial combustion descended and slanted on the +Serapis, while horizontal thunderbolts rolled crosswise through the +subterranean vaults of the Richard. The belligerents were no longer, in the +ordinary sense of things, an English ship and an American ship. It was a +co-partnership and joint-stock combustion-company of both ships; yet divided, +even in participation. The two vessels were as two houses, through whose +party-wall doors have been cut; one family (the Guelphs) occupying the whole +lower story; another family (the Ghibelines) the whole upper story. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, determined Paul flew hither and thither like the meteoric +corposant-ball, which shiftingly dances on the tips and verges of ships’ +rigging in storms. Wherever he went, he seemed to cast a pale light on all +faces. Blacked and burnt, his Scotch bonnet was compressed to a gun-wad on his +head. His Parisian coat, with its gold-laced sleeve laid aside, disclosed to +the full the blue tattooing on his arm, which sometimes in fierce gestures +streamed in the haze of the cannonade, cabalistically terrific as the charmed +standard of Satan. Yet his frenzied manner was less a testimony of his internal +commotion than intended to inspirit and madden his men, some of whom seeing +him, in transports of intrepidity stripped themselves to their trowsers, +exposing their naked bodies to the as naked shot The same was done on the +Serapis, where several guns were seen surrounded by their buff crews as by +fauns and satyrs. +</p> + +<p> +At the beginning of the fray, before the ships interlocked, in the intervals of +smoke which swept over the ships as mist over mountain-tops, affording open +rents here and there—the gun-deck of the Serapis, at certain points, +showed, congealed for the instant in all attitudes of dauntlessness, a gallery +of marble statues—fighting gladiators. +</p> + +<p> +Stooping low and intent, with one braced leg thrust behind, and one arm thrust +forward, curling round towards the muzzle of the gun, there was seen the +<i>loader</i>, performing his allotted part; on the other side of the carriage, +in the same stooping posture, but with both hands holding his long black pole, +pike-wise, ready for instant use—stood the eager <i>rammer and +sponger</i>; while at the breech, crouched the wary <i>captain of the gun</i>, +his keen eye, like the watching leopard’s, burning along the range; and +behind all, tall and erect, the Egyptian symbol of death, stood the +<i>matchman</i>, immovable for the moment, his long-handled match reversed. Up +to their two long death-dealing batteries, the trained men of the Serapis stood +and toiled in mechanical magic of discipline. They tended those rows of guns, +as Lowell girls the rows of looms in a cotton factory. The Parcae were not more +methodical; Atropos not more fatal; the automaton chess-player not more +irresponsible. +</p> + +<p> +“Look, lad; I want a grenade, now, thrown down their main hatchway. I saw +long piles of cartridges there. The powder monkeys have brought them up faster +than they can be used. Take a bucket of combustibles, and let’s hear from +you presently.” +</p> + +<p> +These words were spoken by Paul to Israel. Israel did as ordered. In a few +minutes, bucket in hand, begrimed with powder, sixty feet in air, he hung like +Apollyon from the extreme tip of the yard over the fated abyss of the hatchway. +As he looked down between the eddies of smoke into that slaughterous pit, it +was like looking from the verge of a cataract down into the yeasty pool at its +base. Watching, his chance, he dropped one grenade with such faultless +precision, that, striking its mark, an explosion rent the Serapis like a +volcano. The long row of heaped cartridges was ignited. The fire ran +horizontally, like an express on a railway. More than twenty men were instantly +killed: nearly forty wounded. This blow restored the chances of battle, before +in favor of the Serapis. +</p> + +<p> +But the drooping spirits of the English were suddenly revived, by an event +which crowned the scene by an act on the part of one of the consorts of the +Richard, the incredible atrocity of which has induced all humane minds to +impute it rather to some incomprehensible mistake than to the malignant madness +of the perpetrator. +</p> + +<p> +The cautious approach and retreat of a consort of the Serapis, the Scarborough, +before the moon rose, has already been mentioned. It is now to be related how +that, when the moon was more than an hour high, a consort of the Richard, the +Alliance, likewise approached and retreated. This ship, commanded by a +Frenchman, infamous in his own navy, and obnoxious in the service to which he +at present belonged; this ship, foremost in insurgency to Paul hitherto, and +which, for the most part, had crept like a poltroon from the fray; the Alliance +now was at hand. Seeing her, Paul deemed the battle at an end. But to his +horror, the Alliance threw a broadside full into the stern of the Richard, +without touching the Serapis. Paul called to her, for God’s sake to +forbear destroying the Richard. The reply was, a second, a third, a fourth +broadside, striking the Richard ahead, astern, and amidships. One of the +volleys killed several men and one officer. Meantime, like carpenters’ +augers, and the sea-worm called Remora, the guns of the Serapis were drilling +away at the same doomed hull. After performing her nameless exploit, the +Alliance sailed away, and did no more. She was like the great fire of London, +breaking out on the heel of the great Plague. By this time, the Richard had so +many shot-holes low down in her hull, that like a sieve she began to settle. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you strike?” cried the English captain. +</p> + +<p> +“I have not yet begun to fight,” howled sinking Paul. +</p> + +<p> +This summons and response were whirled on eddies of smoke and flame. Both +vessels were now on fire. The men of either knew hardly which to do; strive to +destroy the enemy, or save themselves. In the midst of this, one hundred human +beings, hitherto invisible strangers, were suddenly added to the rest. Five +score English prisoners, till now confined in the Richard’s hold, +liberated in his consternation by the master at arms, burst up the hatchways. +One of them, the captain of a letter of marque, captured by Paul, off the +Scottish coast, crawled through a port, as a burglar through a window, from the +one ship to the other, and reported affairs to the English captain. +</p> + +<p> +While Paul and his lieutenants were confronting these prisoners, the gunner, +running up from below, and not perceiving his official superiors, and deeming +them dead, believing himself now left sole surviving officer, ran to the tower +of Pisa to haul down the colors. But they were already shot down and trailing +in the water astern, like a sailor’s towing shirt. Seeing the gunner +there, groping about in the smoke, Israel asked what he wanted. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the gunner, rushing to the rail, shouted “Quarter! +quarter!” to the Serapis. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll quarter ye,” yelled Israel, smiting the gunner with the +flat of his cutlass. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you strike?” now came from the Serapis. +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, aye, aye!” involuntarily cried Israel, fetching the gunner a +shower of blows. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you strike?” again was repeated from the Serapis; whose +captain, judging from the augmented confusion on board the Richard, owing to +the escape of the prisoners, and also influenced by the report made to him by +his late guest of the port-hole, doubted not that the enemy must needs be about +surrendering. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you strike?” +</p> + +<p> +“Aye!—I strike <i>back</i>” roared Paul, for the first time +now hearing the summons. +</p> + +<p> +But judging this frantic response to come, like the others, from some +unauthorized source, the English captain directed his boarders to be called, +some of whom presently leaped on the Richard’s rail, but, throwing out +his tattooed arm at them, with a sabre at the end of it, Paul showed them how +boarders repelled boarders. The English retreated, but not before they had been +thinned out again, like spring radishes, by the unfaltering fire from the +Richard’s tops. +</p> + +<p> +An officer of the Richard, seeing the mass of prisoners delirious with sudden +liberty and fright, pricked them with his sword to the pumps, thus keeping the +ship afloat by the very blunder which had promised to have been fatal. The +vessels now blazed so in the rigging that both parties desisted from +hostilities to subdue the common foe. +</p> + +<p> +When some faint order was again restored upon the Richard her chances of +victory increased, while those of the English, driven under cover, +proportionably waned. Early in the contest, Paul, with his own hand, had +brought one of his largest guns to bear against the enemy’s mainmast. +That shot had hit. The mast now plainly tottered. Nevertheless, it seemed as +if, in this fight, neither party could be victor. Mutual obliteration from the +face of the waters seemed the only natural sequel to hostilities like these. It +is, therefore, honor to him as a man, and not reproach to him as an officer, +that, to stay such carnage, Captain Pearson, of the Serapis, with his own hands +hauled down his colors. But just as an officer from the Richard swung himself +on board the Serapis, and accosted the English captain, the first lieutenant of +the Serapis came up from below inquiring whether the Richard had struck, since +her fire had ceased. +</p> + +<p> +So equal was the conflict that, even after the surrender, it could be, and was, +a question to one of the warriors engaged (who had not happened to see the +English flag hauled down) whether the Serapis had struck to the Richard, or the +Richard to the Serapis. Nay, while the Richard’s officer was still +amicably conversing with the English captain, a midshipman of the Richard, in +act of following his superior on board the surrendered vessel, was run through +the thigh by a pike in the hand of an ignorant boarder of the Serapis. While, +equally ignorant, the cannons below deck were still thundering away at the +nominal conqueror from the batteries of the nominally conquered ship. +</p> + +<p> +But though the Serapis had submitted, there were two misanthropical foes on +board the Richard which would not so easily succumb—fire and water. All +night the victors were engaged in suppressing the flames. Not until daylight +were the flames got under; but though the pumps were kept continually going, +the water in the hold still gained. A few hours after sunrise the Richard was +deserted for the Serapis and the other vessels of the squadron of Paul. About +ten o’clock the Richard, gorged with slaughter, wallowed heavily, gave a +long roll, and blasted by tornadoes of sulphur, slowly sunk, like Gomorrah, out +of sight. +</p> + +<p> +The loss of life in the two ships was about equal; one-half of the total number +of those engaged being either killed or wounded. +</p> + +<p> +In view of this battle one may ask—What separates the enlightened man +from the savage? Is civilization a thing distinct, or is it an advanced stage +of barbarism? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0020"></a> +CHAPTER XX.<br/> +THE SHUTTLE.</h2> + +<p> +For a time back, across the otherwise blue-jean career of Israel, Paul Jones +flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. One more brief intermingling of it, +and to the plain old homespun we return. +</p> + +<p> +The battle won, the squadron started for the Texel, where they arrived in +safety. Omitting all mention of intervening harassments, suffice it, that after +some months of inaction as to anything of a warlike nature, Paul and Israel +(both, from different motives, eager to return to America) sailed for that +country in the armed ship Ariel, Paul as commander, Israel as quartermaster. +</p> + +<p> +Two weeks out, they encountered by night a frigate-like craft, supposed to be +an enemy. The vessels came within hail, both showing English colors, with +purposes of mutual deception, affecting to belong to the English Navy. For an +hour, through their speaking trumpets, the captains equivocally conversed. A +very reserved, adroit, hoodwinking, statesman-like conversation, indeed. At +last, professing some little incredulity as to the truthfulness of the +stranger’s statement, Paul intimated a desire that he should put out a +boat and come on board to show his commission, to which the stranger very +affably replied, that unfortunately his boat was exceedingly leaky. With equal +politeness, Paul begged him to consider the danger attending a refusal, which +rejoinder nettled the other, who suddenly retorted that he would answer for +twenty guns, and that both himself and men were knock-down Englishmen. Upon +this, Paul said that he would allow him exactly five minutes for a sober, +second thought. That brief period passed, Paul, hoisting the American colors, +ran close under the other ship’s stern, and engaged her. It was about +eight o’clock at night that this strange quarrel was picked in the middle +of the ocean. Why cannot men be peaceable on that great common? Or does nature +in those fierce night-brawlers, the billows, set mankind but a sorry example? +</p> + +<p> +After ten minutes’ cannonading, the stranger struck, shouting out that +half his men were killed. The Ariel’s crew hurrahed. Boarders were called +to take possession. At this juncture, the prize shifting her position so that +she headed away, and to leeward of the Ariel, thrust her long spanker-boom +diagonally over the latter’s quarter; when Israel, who was standing close +by, instinctively caught hold of it—just as he had grasped the jib-boom +of the Serapis—and, at the same moment, hearing the call to take +possession, in the valiant excitement of the occasion, he leaped upon the spar, +and made a rush for the stranger’s deck, thinking, of course, that he +would be immediately followed by the regular boarders. But the sails of the +strange ship suddenly filled; she began to glide through the sea; her +spanker-boom, not having at all entangled itself, offering no hindrance. +Israel, clinging midway along the boom, soon found himself divided from the +Ariel by a space impossible to be leaped. Meantime, suspecting foul play, Paul +set every sail; but the stranger, having already the advantage, contrived to +make good her escape, though perseveringly chased by the cheated conqueror. +</p> + +<p> +In the confusion, no eye had observed our hero’s spring. But, as the +vessels separated more, an officer of the strange ship spying a man on the +boom, and taking him for one of his own men, demanded what he did there. +</p> + +<p> +“Clearing the signal halyards, sir,” replied Israel, fumbling with +the cord which happened to be dangling near by. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, bear a hand and come in, or you will have a bow-chaser at you +soon,” referring to the bow guns of the Ariel. +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, aye, sir,” said Israel, and in a moment he sprang to the +deck, and soon found himself mixed in among some two hundred English sailors of +a large letter of marque. At once he perceived that the story of half the crew +being killed was a mere hoax, played off for the sake of making an escape. +Orders were continually being given to pull on this and that rope, as the ship +crowded all sail in flight. To these orders Israel, with the rest, promptly +responded, pulling at the rigging stoutly as the best of them; though Heaven +knows his heart sunk deeper and deeper at every pull which thus helped once +again to widen the gulf between him and home. +</p> + +<p> +In intervals he considered with himself what to do. Favored by the obscurity of +the night and the number of the crew, and wearing much the same dress as +theirs, it was very easy to pass himself off for one of them till morning. But +daylight would be sure to expose him, unless some cunning, plan could be hit +upon. If discovered for what he was, nothing short of a prison awaited him upon +the ship’s arrival in port. +</p> + +<p> +It was a desperate case, only as desperate a remedy could serve. One thing was +sure, he could not hide. Some audacious parade of himself promised the only +hope. Marking that the sailors, not being of the regular navy, wore no uniform, +and perceiving that his jacket was the only garment on him which bore any +distinguishing badge, our adventurer took it off, and privily dropped it +overboard, remaining now in his dark blue woollen shirt and blue cloth +waistcoat. +</p> + +<p> +What the more inspirited Israel to the added step now contemplated, was the +circumstance that the ship was not a Frenchman’s or other foreigner, but +her crew, though enemies, spoke the same language that he did. +</p> + +<p> +So very quietly, at last, he goes aloft into the maintop, and sitting down on +an old sail there, beside some eight or ten topmen, in an off-handed way asks +one for tobacco. +</p> + +<p> +“Give us a quid, lad,” as he settled himself in his seat. +</p> + +<p> +“Halloo,” said the strange sailor, “who be you? Get out of +the top! The fore and mizzentop men won’t let us go into their tops, and +blame me if we’ll let any of their gangs come here. So, away ye +go.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re blind, or crazy, old boy,” rejoined Israel. +“I’m a topmate; ain’t I, lads?” appealing to the rest. +</p> + +<p> +“There’s only ten maintopmen belonging to our watch; if you are +one, then there’ll be eleven,” said a second sailor. “Get out +of the top!” +</p> + +<p> +“This is too bad, maties,” cried Israel, “to serve an old +topmate this way. Come, come, you are foolish. Give us a quid.” And, once +more, with the utmost sociability, he addressed the sailor next to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Look ye,” returned the other, “if you don’t make away +with yourself, you skulking spy from the mizzen, we’ll drop you to deck +like a jewel-block.” +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the party thus resolute, Israel, with some affected banter, descended. +</p> + +<p> +The reason why he had tried the scheme—and, spite of the foregoing +failure, meant to repeat it—was this: As customary in armed ships, the +men were in companies allotted to particular places and functions. Therefore, +to escape final detection, Israel must some way get himself recognized as +belonging to some one of those bands; otherwise, as an isolated nondescript, +discovery ere long would be certain, especially upon the next general muster. +To be sure, the hope in question was a forlorn sort of hope, but it was his +sole one, and must therefore be tried. +</p> + +<p> +Mixing in again for a while with the general watch, he at last goes on the +forecastle among the sheet-anchor-men there, at present engaged in critically +discussing the merits of the late valiant encounter, and expressing their +opinion that by daybreak the enemy in chase would be hull-down out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +“To be sure she will,” cried Israel, joining in with the group, +“old ballyhoo that she is, to be sure. But didn’t we pepper her, +lads? Give us a chew of tobacco, one of ye. How many have we wounded, do ye +know? None killed that I’ve heard of. Wasn’t that a fine hoax we +played on ’em? Ha! ha! But give us a chew.” +</p> + +<p> +In the prodigal fraternal patriotism of the moment, one of the old worthies +freely handed his plug to our adventurer, who, helping himself, returned it, +repeating the question as to the killed and wounded. +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” said he of the plug, “Jack Jewboy told me, just now, +that there’s only seven men been carried down to the surgeon, but not a +soul killed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good, boys, good!” cried Israel, moving up to one of the +gun-carriages, where three or four men were sitting—“slip along, +chaps, slip along, and give a watchmate a seat with ye.” +</p> + +<p> +“All full here, lad; try the next gun.” +</p> + +<p> +“Boys, clear a place here,”, said Israel, advancing, like one of +the family, to that gun. +</p> + +<p> +“Who the devil are <i>you</i>, making this row here?” demanded a +stern-looking old fellow, captain of the forecastle, “seems to me you +make considerable noise. Are you a forecastleman?” +</p> + +<p> +“If the bowsprit belongs here, so do I,” rejoined Israel, +composedly. +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s look at ye, then!” and seizing a battle-lantern, +before thrust under a gun, the old veteran came close to Israel before he had +time to elude the scrutiny. +</p> + +<p> +“Take that!” said his examiner, and fetching Israel a terrible +thump, pushed him ignominiously off the forecastle as some unknown interloper +from distant parts of the ship. +</p> + +<p> +With similar perseverance of effrontery, Israel tried other quarters of the +vessel. But with equal ill success. Jealous with the spirit of class, no social +circle would receive him. As a last resort, he dived down among the +<i>holders</i>. +</p> + +<p> +A group of them sat round a lantern, in the dark bowels of the ship, like a +knot of charcoal burners in a pine forest at midnight. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, boys, what’s the good word?” said Israel, advancing +very cordially, but keeping as much as possible in the shadow. +</p> + +<p> +“The good word is,” rejoined a censorious old <i>holder</i>, +“that you had best go where you belong—on deck—and not be a +skulking down here where you <i>don’t</i> belong. I suppose this is the +way you skulked during the fight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, you’re growly to-night, shipmate,” said Israel, +pleasantly—“supper sits hard on your conscience.” +</p> + +<p> +“Get out of the hold with ye,” roared the other. “On deck, or +I’ll call the master-at-arms.” +</p> + +<p> +Once more Israel decamped. +</p> + +<p> +Sorely against his grain, as a final effort to blend himself openly with the +crew, he now went among the <i>waisters</i>: the vilest caste of an armed +ship’s company, mere dregs and settlings—sea-Pariahs, comprising +all the lazy, all the inefficient, all the unfortunate and fated, all the +melancholy, all the infirm, all the rheumatical scamps, scapegraces, ruined +prodigal sons, sooty faces, and swineherds of the crew, not excluding those +with dismal wardrobes. +</p> + +<p> +An unhappy, tattered, moping row of them sat along dolefully on the gun-deck, +like a parcel of crest-fallen buzzards, exiled from civilized society. +</p> + +<p> +“Cheer up, lads,” said Israel, in a jovial tone, +“homeward-bound, you know. Give us a seat among ye, friends.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, sit on your head!” answered a sullen fellow in the corner. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, no growling; we’re homeward-bound. Whoop, my +hearties!” +</p> + +<p> +“Workhouse bound, you mean,” grumbled another sorry chap, in a +darned shirt. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, boys, don’t be down-hearted. Let’s keep up our spirits. +Sing us a song, one of ye, and I’ll give the chorus.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sing if ye like, but I’ll plug my ears, for one,” said still +another sulky varlet, with the toes out of his sea-boots, while all the rest +with one roar of misanthropy joined him. +</p> + +<p> +But Israel, riot to be daunted, began: +</p> + +<p> +“‘Cease, rude Boreas, cease your growling!’” +</p> + +<p> +“And you cease your squeaking, will ye?” cried a fellow in a banged +tarpaulin. “Did ye get a ball in the windpipe, that ye cough that way, +worse nor a broken-nosed old bellows? Have done with your groaning, it’s +worse nor the death-rattle.” +</p> + +<p> +“Boys, is this the way you treat a watchmate” demanded Israel +reproachfully, “trying to cheer up his friends? Shame on ye, boys. Come, +let’s be sociable. Spin us a yarn, one of ye. Meantime, rub my back for +me, another,” and very confidently he leaned against his neighbor. +</p> + +<p> +“Lean off me, will ye?” roared his friend, shoving him away. +</p> + +<p> +“But who <i>is</i> this ere singing, leaning, yarn-spinning chap? Who are +ye? Be you a waister, or be you not?” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, one of this peevish, sottish band staggered close up to Israel. But +there was a deck above and a deck below, and the lantern swung in the distance. +It was too dim to see with critical exactness. +</p> + +<p> +“No such singing chap belongs to our gang, that’s flat,” he +dogmatically exclaimed at last, after an ineffectual scrutiny. “Sail out +of this!” +</p> + +<p> +And with a shove once more, poor Israel was ejected. +</p> + +<p> +Blackballed out of every club, he went disheartened on deck. So long, while +light screened him at least, as he contented himself with promiscuously +circulating, all was safe; it was the endeavor to fraternize with any one set +which was sure to endanger him. At last, wearied out, he happened to find +himself on the berth deck, where the watch below were slumbering. Some hundred +and fifty hammocks were on that deck. Seeing one empty, he leaped in, thinking +luck might yet some way befriend him. Here, at last, the sultry confinement put +him fast asleep. He was wakened by a savage whiskerando of the other watch, +who, seizing him by his waistband, dragged him most indecorously out, furiously +denouncing him for a skulker. +</p> + +<p> +Springing to his feet, Israel perceived from the crowd and tumult of the berth +deck, now all alive with men leaping into their hammocks, instead of being full +of sleepers quietly dosing therein, that the watches were changed. Going above, +he renewed in various quarters his offers of intimacy with the fresh men there +assembled; but was successively repulsed as before. At length, just as day was +breaking, an irascible fellow whose stubborn opposition our adventurer had long +in vain sought to conciliate—this man suddenly perceiving, by the gray +morning light, that Israel had somehow an alien sort of general look, very +savagely pressed him for explicit information as to who he might be. The +answers increased his suspicion. Others began to surround the two. Presently, +quite a circle was formed. Sailors from distant parts of the ship drew near. +One, and then another, and another, declared that they, in their quarters, too, +had been molested by a vagabond claiming fraternity, and seeking to palm +himself off upon decent society. In vain Israel protested. The truth, like the +day, dawned clearer and clearer. More and more closely he was scanned. At +length the hour for having all hands on deck arrived; when the other watch +which Israel had first tried, reascending to the deck, and hearing the matter +in discussion, they endorsed the charge of molestation and attempted imposture +through the night, on the part of some person unknown, but who, likely enough, +was the strange man now before them. In the end, the master-at-arms appeared +with his bamboo, who, summarily collaring poor Israel, led him as a mysterious +culprit to the officer of the deck, which gentleman having heard the charge, +examined him in great perplexity, and, saying that he did not at all recognize +that countenance, requested the junior officers to contribute their scrutiny. +But those officers were equally at fault. +</p> + +<p> +“Who the deuce <i>are</i> you?” at last said the +officer-of-the-deck, in added bewilderment. “Where did you come from? +What’s your business? Where are you stationed? What’s your name? +Who are you, any way? How did you get here? and where are you going?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” replied Israel very humbly, “I am going to my regular +duty, if you will but let me. I belong to the maintop, and ought to be now +engaged in preparing the topgallant stu’n’-sail for +hoisting.” +</p> + +<p> +“Belong to the maintop? Why, these men here say you have been trying to +belong to the foretop, and the mizzentop, and the forecastle, and the hold, and +the waist, and every other part of the ship. This is extraordinary,” he +added, turning upon the junior officers. +</p> + +<p> +“He must be out of his mind,” replied one of them, the +sailing-master. +</p> + +<p> +“Out of his mind?” rejoined the officer-of-the-deck. +“He’s out of all reason; out of all men’s knowledge and +memories! Why, no one knows him; no one has ever seen him before; no +imagination, in the wildest flight of a morbid nightmare, has ever so much as +dreamed of him. Who <i>are</i> you?” he again added, fierce with +amazement. “What’s your name? Are you down in the ship’s +books, or at all in the records of nature?” +</p> + +<p> +“My name, sir, is Peter Perkins,” said Israel, thinking it most +prudent to conceal his real appellation. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, I never heard that name before. Pray, see if Peter Perkins is +down on the quarter-bills,” he added to a midshipman. “Quick, bring +the book here.” +</p> + +<p> +Having received it, he ran his fingers along the columns, and dashing down the +book, declared that no such name was there. +</p> + +<p> +“You are not down, sir. There is no Peter Perkins here. Tell me at once +who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“It might be, sir,” said Israel, gravely, “that seeing I +shipped under the effects of liquor, I might, out of absent-mindedness like, +have given in some other person’s name instead of my own.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what name have you gone by among your shipmates since you’ve +been aboard?” +</p> + +<p> +“Peter Perkins, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +Upon this the officer turned to the men around, inquiring whether the name of +Peter Perkins was familiar to them as that of a shipmate. One and all answered +no. +</p> + +<p> +“This won’t do, sir,” now said the officer. “You see it +won’t do. Who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“A poor persecuted fellow at your service, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Who</i> persecutes you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Every one, sir. All hands seem to be against me; none of them willing to +remember me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me,” demanded the officer earnestly, “how long do you +remember yourself? Do you remember yesterday morning? You must have come into +existence by some sort of spontaneous combustion in the hold. Or were you fired +aboard from the enemy, last night, in a cartridge? Do you remember +yesterday?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was you doing yesterday?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, for one thing, I believe I had the honor of a little talk +with yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“With <i>me</i>?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; about nine o’clock in the morning—the sea being +smooth and the ship running, as I should think, about seven knots—you +came up into the maintop, where I belong, and was pleased to ask my opinion +about the best way to set a topgallant stu’n’-sail.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s mad! He’s mad!” said the officer, with delirious +conclusiveness. “Take him away, take him away, take him away—put +him somewhere, master-at-arms. Stay, one test more. What mess do you belong +to?” +</p> + +<p> +“Number 12, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Tidds,” to a midshipman, “send mess No. 12 to the +mast.” +</p> + +<p> +Ten sailors replied to the summons, and arranged themselves before Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Men, does this man belong to your mess?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; never saw him before this morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“What are those men’s names?” he demanded of Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, I am so intimate with all of them,” looking upon them +with a kindly glance, “I never call them by their real names, but by +nicknames. So, never using their real names, I have forgotten them. The +nicknames that I know, them by, are Towser, Bowser, Rowser, Snowser.” +</p> + +<p> +“Enough. Mad as a March hare. Take him away. Hold,” again added the +officer, whom some strange fascination still bound to the bootless +investigation. “What’s <i>my</i> name, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir, one of my messmates here called you Lieutenant Williamson, +just now, and I never heard you called by any other name.” +</p> + +<p> +“There’s method in his madness,” thought the officer to +himself. “What’s the captain’s name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir, when we spoke the enemy, last night, I heard him say, through +his trumpet, that he was Captain Parker; and very likely he knows his own +name.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have you now. That ain’t the captain’s real name.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s the best judge himself, sir, of what his name is, I should +think.” +</p> + +<p> +“Were it not,” said the officer, now turning gravely upon his +juniors, “were it not that such a supposition were on other grounds +absurd, I should certainly conclude that this man, in some unknown way, got on +board here from the enemy last night.” +</p> + +<p> +“How could he, sir?” asked the sailing-master. +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven knows. But our spanker-boom geared the other ship, you know, in +manoeuvring to get headway.” +</p> + +<p> +“But supposing he <i>could</i> have got here that fashion, which is quite +impossible under all the circumstances, what motive could have induced him +voluntarily to jump among enemies?” +</p> + +<p> +“Let him answer for himself,” said the officer, turning suddenly +upon Israel, with the view of taking him off his guard, by the matter of course +assumption of the very point at issue. +</p> + +<p> +“Answer, sir. Why did you jump on board here, last night, from the +enemy?” +</p> + +<p> +“Jump on board, sir, from the enemy? Why, sir, my station at general +quarters is at gun No. 3, of the lower deck, here.” +</p> + +<p> +“He’s cracked—or else I am turned—or all the world +is;—take him away!” +</p> + +<p> +“But where am I to take him, sir?” said the master-at-arms. +“He don’t seem to belong anywhere, sir. Where—where am I to +take him?” +</p> + +<p> +“Take him-out of sight,” said the officer, now incensed with his +own perplexity. “Take him out of sight, I say.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come along, then, my ghost,” said the master-at-arms. And, +collaring the phantom, he led it hither and thither, not knowing exactly what +to do with it. +</p> + +<p> +Some fifteen minutes passed, when the captain coming from his cabin, and +observing the master-at-arms leading Israel about in this indefinite style, +demanded the reason of that procedure, adding that it was against his express +orders for any new and degrading punishments to be invented for his men. +</p> + +<p> +“Come here, master-at-arms. To what end do you lead that man +about?” +</p> + +<p> +“To no end in the world, sir. I keep leading him about because he has no +final destination.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Officer-of-the-deck, what does this mean? Who is this strange man? I +don’t know that I remember him. Who is he? And what is signified by his +being led about?” +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon the officer-of-the-deck, throwing himself into a tragical posture, set +forth the entire mystery; much to the captain’s astonishment, who at once +indignantly turned upon the phantom. +</p> + +<p> +“You rascal—don’t try to deceive me. Who are you? and where +did you come from last?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, my name is Peter Perkins, and I last came from the forecastle, +where the master-at-arms last led me, before coming here.” +</p> + +<p> +“No joking, sir, no joking.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, I’m sure it’s too serious a business to joke +about.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you have the assurance to say, that you, as a regularly shipped man, +have been on board this vessel ever since she sailed from Falmouth, ten months +ago?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sir, anxious to secure a berth under so good a commander, I was among +the first to enlist.” +</p> + +<p> +“What ports have we touched at, sir?” said the captain, now in a +little softer tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Ports, sir, ports?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir, <i>ports</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Israel began to scratch his yellow hair. +</p> + +<p> +“What <i>ports</i>, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir:—Boston, for one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right there,” whispered a midshipman. +</p> + +<p> +“What was the next port, sir?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, sir, I was saying Boston was the <i>first</i> port, I believe; +wasn’t it?—and”— +</p> + +<p> +“The <i>second</i> port, sir, is what I want.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well—New York.” +</p> + +<p> +“Right again,” whispered the midshipman. +</p> + +<p> +“And what port are we bound to, now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Let me see—homeward-bound—Falmouth, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“What sort of a place is Boston?” +</p> + +<p> +“Pretty considerable of a place, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very straight streets, ain’t they?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; cow-paths, cut by sheep-walks, and intersected with +hen-tracks.” +</p> + +<p> +“When did we fire the first gun?” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, sir, just as we were leaving Falmouth, ten months +ago—signal-gun, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where did we fire the first <i>shotted</i> gun, sir?—and what was +the name of the privateer we took upon that occasion?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Pears to me, sir, at that time I was on the sick list. Yes, sir, +that must have been the time; I had the brain fever, and lost my mind for a +while.” +</p> + +<p> +“Master-at-arms, take this man away.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where shall I take him, sir?” touching his cap. +</p> + +<p> +“Go, and air him on the forecastle.” +</p> + +<p> +So they resumed their devious wanderings. At last, they descended to the +berth-deck. It being now breakfast-time, the master-at-arms, a good-humored +man, very kindly’ introduced our hero to his mess, and presented him with +breakfast, during which he in vain endeavored, by all sorts of subtle +blandishments, to worm out his secret. +</p> + +<p> +At length Israel was set at liberty; and whenever there was any important duty +to be done, volunteered to it with such cheerful alacrity, and approved himself +so docile and excellent a seaman, that he conciliated the approbation of all +the officers, as well as the captain; while his general sociability served, in +the end, to turn in his favor the suspicious hearts of the mariners. Perceiving +his good qualities, both as a sailor and man, the captain of the maintop +applied for his admission into that section of the ship; where, still improving +upon his former reputation, our hero did duty for the residue of the voyage. +</p> + +<p> +One pleasant afternoon, the last of the passage, when the ship was nearing the +Lizard, within a few hours’ sail of her port, the officer-of-the-deck, +happening to glance upwards towards the maintop, descried Israel there, leaning +very leisurely over the rail, looking mildly down where the officer stood. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Peter Perkins, you seem to belong to the maintop, after +all.” +</p> + +<p> +“I always told you so, sir,” smiled Israel benevolently down upon +him, “though, at first, you remember, sir, you would not believe +it.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0021"></a> +CHAPTER XXI.<br/> +SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES.</h2> + +<p> +At length, as the ship, gliding on past three or four vessels at anchor in the +roadstead—one, a man-of-war just furling her sails—came nigh +Falmouth town, Israel, from his perch, saw crowds in violent commotion on the +shore, while the adjacent roofs were covered with sightseers. A large +man-of-war cutter was just landing its occupants, among whom were a +corporal’s guard and three officers, besides the naval lieutenant and +boat’s crew. Some of this company having landed, and formed a sort of +lane among the mob, two trim soldiers, armed to the teeth, rose in the +stern-sheets; and between them, a martial man of Patagonian stature, their +ragged and handcuffed captive, whose defiant head overshadowed theirs, as St. +Paul’s dome its inferior steeples. Immediately the mob raised a shout, +pressing in curiosity towards the colossal stranger; so that, drawing their +swords, four of the soldiers had to force a passage for their comrades, who +followed on, conducting the giant. +</p> + +<p> +As the letter of marque drew still nigher, Israel heard the officer in command +of the party ashore shouting, “To the castle! to the castle!” and +so, surrounded by shouting throngs, the company moved on, preceded by the three +drawn swords, ever and anon flourished at the rioters, towards a large grim +pile on a cliff about a mile from the landing. Long as they were in sight, the +bulky form of the captive was seen at times swayingly towering over the +flashing bayonets and cutlasses, like a great whale breaching amid a hostile +retinue of sword-fish. Now and then, too, with barbaric scorn, he taunted them +with cramped gestures of his manacled hands. +</p> + +<p> +When at last the vessel had gained her anchorage, opposite a distant detached +warehouse, all was still; and the work of breaking out in the hold immediately +commencing, and continuing till nightfall, absorbed all further attention for +the present. +</p> + +<p> +Next day was Sunday; and about noon Israel, with others, was allowed to go +ashore for a stroll. The town was quiet. Seeing nothing very interesting there, +he passed out, alone, into the fields alongshore, and presently found himself +climbing the cliff whereon stood the grim pile before spoken of. +</p> + +<p> +“What place is yon?” he asked of a rustic passing. +</p> + +<p> +“Pendennis Castle.” +</p> + +<p> +As he stepped upon the short crisp sward under its walls, he started at a +violent sound from within, as of the roar of some tormented lion. Soon the +sound became articulate, and he heard the following words bayed out with an +amazing vigor: +</p> + +<p> +“Brag no more, Old England; consider you are but an island! Order back +your broken battalions! home, and repent in ashes! Long enough have your hired +tories across the sea forgotten the Lord their God, and bowed down to Howe and +Kniphausen—the Hessian!—Hands off, red-skinned jackal! Wearing the +king’s plate,<a href="#fn1" name="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> as I do, I +have treasures of wrath against you British.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +Meaning, probably, certain manacles. +</p> + +<p> +Then came a clanking, as of a chain; many vengeful sounds, all confusedly +together; with strugglings. Then again the voice: +</p> + +<p> +“Ye brought me out here, from my dungeon to this green—affronting +yon Sabbath sun—to see how a rebel looks. But I show ye how a true +gentleman and Christian can conduct in adversity. Back, dogs! Respect a +gentleman and a Christian, though he <i>be</i> in rags and smell of +bilge-water.” +</p> + +<p> +Filled with astonishment at these words, which came from over a massive wall, +enclosing what seemed an open parade-space, Israel pressed forward, and soon +came to a black archway, leading far within, underneath, to a grassy tract, +through a tower. Like two boar’s tusks, two sentries stood on guard at +either side of the open jaws of the arch. Scrutinizing our adventurer a moment, +they signed him permission to enter. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at the end of the arched-way, where the sun shone, Israel stood +transfixed, at the scene. +</p> + +<p> +Like some baited bull in the ring, crouched the Patagonian-looking captive, +handcuffed as before; the grass of the green trampled, and gored up all about +him, both by his own movements and those of the people around. Except some +soldiers and sailors, these seemed mostly townspeople, collected here out of +curiosity. The stranger was outlandishly arrayed in the sorry remains of a +half-Indian, half-Canadian sort of a dress, consisting of a fawn-skin +jacket—the fur outside and hanging in ragged tufts—a half-rotten, +bark-like belt of wampum; aged breeches of sagathy; bedarned worsted stockings +to the knee; old moccasins riddled with holes, their metal tags yellow with +salt-water rust; a faded red woollen bonnet, not unlike a Russian night-cap, or +a portentous, ensanguined full- moon, all soiled, and stuck about with bits of +half-rotted straw. He seemed just broken from the dead leases in David’s +outlawed Cave of Adullam. Unshaven, beard and hair matted, and profuse as a +corn-field beaten down by hailstorms, his whole marred aspect was that of some +wild beast; but of a royal sort, and unsubdued by the cage. +</p> + +<p> +“Aye, stare, stare! Though but last night dragged out of a ship’s +hold, like a smutty tierce; and this morning out of your littered barracks +here, like a murderer; for all that, you may well stare at Ethan Ticonderoga +Allen, the unconquered soldier, by ——! You Turks never saw a +Christian before. Stare on! I am he, who, when your Lord Howe wanted to bribe a +patriot to fall down and worship him by an offer of a major-generalship and +five thousand acres of choice land in old Vermont—(Ha! three-times-three +for glorious old Vermont, and my Green-Mountain boys! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!) +I am he, I say, who answered your Lord Howe, ‘You, <i>you</i> offer +<i>our</i> land? You are like the devil in Scripture, offering all the kingdoms +in the world, when the d——d soul had not a corner-lot on earth! +Stare on!’” +</p> + +<p> +“Look you, rebel, you had best heed how you talk against General Lord +Howe,” here said a thin, wasp-waisted, epauletted officer of the castle, +coming near and flourishing his sword like a schoolmaster’s ferule. +</p> + +<p> +“General Lord Howe? Heed how I talk of that toad-hearted king’s +lick-spittle of a scarlet poltroon; the vilest wriggler in God’s +worm-hole below? I tell you, that herds of red-haired devils are impatiently +snorting to ladle Lord Howe with all his gang (you included) into the +seethingest syrups of tophet’s flames!” +</p> + +<p> +At this blast, the wasp-waisted officer was blown backwards as from before the +suddenly burst head of a steam-boiler. +</p> + +<p> +Staggering away, with a snapped spine, he muttered something about its being +beneath his dignity to bandy further words with a low-lived rebel. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, Colonel Allen,” here said a mild-looking man in a sort +of clerical undress, “respect the day better than to talk thus of what +lies beyond. Were you to die this hour, or what is more probable, be hung next +week at Tower-wharf, you know not what might become, in eternity, of +yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Reverend Sir,” with a mocking bow, “when not better employed +braiding my beard, I have a little dabbled in your theologies. And let me tell +you, Reverend Sir,” lowering and intensifying his voice, “that as +to the world of spirits, of which you hint, though I know nothing of the mode +or manner of that world, no more than do you, yet I expect when I shall arrive +there to be treated as well as any other gentleman of my merit. That is to say, +far better than you British know how to treat an American officer and +meek-hearted Christian captured in honorable war, by ——! Every one +tells me, as you yourself just breathed, and as, crossing the sea, every billow +dinned into my ear, that I, Ethan Allen, am to be hung like a thief. If I am, +the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress shall avenge me; while I, for my +part, shall show you, even on the tree, how a Christian gentleman can die. +Meantime, sir, if you are the clergyman you look, act out your consolatory +function, by getting an unfortunate Christian gentleman about to die, a bowl of +punch.” +</p> + +<p> +The good-natured stranger, not to have his religious courtesy appealed to in +vain, immediately dispatched his servant, who stood by, to procure the +beverage. +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture, a faint rustling sound, as of the advance of an army with +banners, was heard. Silks, scarfs, and ribbons fluttered in the background. +Presently, a bright squadron of fair ladies drew nigh, escorted by certain +outriding gallants of Falmouth. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” sighed a soft voice, “what a strange sash, and furred +vest, and what leopard-like teeth, and what flaxen hair, but all +mildewed;—is that he?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, is it, lovely charmer,” said Allen, like an Ottoman, bowing +over his broad, bovine forehead, and breathing the words out like a lute; +“it is he—Ethan Allen, the soldier; now, since ladies’ eyes +visit him, made trebly a captive.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, he talks like a beau in a parlor, this wild, mossed American from +the woods,” sighed another fair lady to her mate; “but can this be +he we came to see? I must have a lock of his hair.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is he, adorable Delilah; and fear not, even though incited by the +foe, by clipping my locks, to dwindle my strength. Give me your sword, +man,” turning to an officer:—“Ah! I’m fettered. Clip it +yourself, lady.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no—I am—” +</p> + +<p> +“Afraid, would you say? Afraid of the vowed friend and champion of all +ladies all round the world? Nay, nay, come hither.” +</p> + +<p> +The lady advanced; and soon, overcoming her timidity, her white hand shone like +whipped foam amid the matted waves of flaxen hair. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, this is like clipping tangled tags of gold-lace,” cried she; +“but see, it is half straw.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the wearer is no man-of-straw, lady; were I free, and you had ten +thousand foes—horse, foot, and dragoons—how like a friend I could +fight for you! Come, you have robbed me of my hair; let me rob your dainty hand +of its price. What, afraid again?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, not that; but—” +</p> + +<p> +“I see, lady; I may do it, by your leave, but not by your word; the +wonted way of ladies. There, it is done. Sweeter that kiss, than the bitter +heart of a cherry.” +</p> + +<p> +When at length this lady left, no small talk was had by her with her companions +about someway relieving the hard lot of so knightly an unfortunate. Whereupon a +worthy, judicious gentleman, of middle- age, in attendance, suggested a bottle +of good wine every day, and clean linen once every week. And these the gentle +Englishwoman—too polite and too good to be fastidious—did indeed +actually send to Ethan Allen, so long as he tarried a captive in her land. +</p> + +<p> +The withdrawal of this company was followed by a different scene. +</p> + +<p> +A perspiring man in top-boots, a riding-whip in his hand, and having the air of +a prosperous farmer, brushed in, like a stray bullock, among the rest, for a +peep at the giant; having just entered through the arch, as the ladies passed +out. +</p> + +<p> +“Hearing that the man who took Ticonderoga was here in Pendennis Castle, +I’ve ridden twenty-five miles to see him; and to-morrow my brother will +ride forty for the same purpose. So let me have first look. Sir,” he +continued, addressing the captive, “will you let me ask you a few plain +questions, and be free with you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Be free with me? With all my heart. I love freedom of all things. +I’m ready to die for freedom; I expect to. So be free as you please. What +is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, sir, permit me to ask what is your occupation in life—in +time of peace, I mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“You talk like a tax-gatherer,” rejoined Allen, squinting +diabolically at him; “what is my occupation in life? Why, in my younger +days I studied divinity, but at present I am a conjurer by profession.” +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon everybody laughed, equally at the manner as the words, and the nettled +farmer retorted: +</p> + +<p> +“Conjurer, eh? well, you conjured wrong that time you were taken.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so wrong, though, as you British did, that time I took Ticonderoga, +my friend.” +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture the servant came with the punch, when his master bade him +present it to the captive. +</p> + +<p> +“No!—give it me, sir, with your own hands, and pledge me as +gentleman to gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot pledge a state-prisoner, Colonel Allen; but I will hand you the +punch with my own hands, since you insist upon it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Spoken and done like a true gentleman, sir; I am bound to you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then receiving the bowl into his gyved hands, the iron ringing against the +china, he put it to his lips, and saying, “I hereby give the British +nation credit for half a minute’s good usage,” at one draught +emptied it to the bottom. +</p> + +<p> +“The rebel gulps it down like a swilling hog at a trough,” here +scoffed a lusty private of the guard, off duty. +</p> + +<p> +“Shame to you!” cried the giver of the bowl. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, sir; his red coat is a standing blush to him, as it is to the whole +scarlet-blushing British army.” Then turning derisively upon the private: +“You object to my way of taking things, do ye? I fear I shall never +please ye. You objected to the way, too, in which I took Ticonderoga, and the +way in which I meant to take Montreal. Selah! But pray, now that I look at you, +are not you the hero I caught dodging round, in his shirt, in the cattle-pen, +inside the fort? It was the break of day, you remember.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come, Yankee,” here swore the incensed private; “cease this, +or I’ll darn your old fawn-skins for ye with the flat of this +sword;” for a specimen, laying it lashwise, but not heavily, across the +captive’s back. +</p> + +<p> +Turning like a tiger, the giant, catching the steel between his teeth, wrenched +it from the private’s grasp, and striking it with his manacles, sent it +spinning like a juggler’s dagger into the air, saying, “Lay your +dirty coward’s iron on a tied gentleman again, and these,” lifting +his handcuffed fists, “shall be the beetle of mortality to you!” +</p> + +<p> +The now furious soldier would have struck him with all his force, but several +men of the town interposed, reminding him that it were outrageous to attack a +chained captive. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” said Allen, “I am accustomed to that, and therefore I +am beforehand with them; and the extremity of what I say against Britain, is +not meant for you, kind friends, but for my insulters, present and to +come.” Then recognizing among the interposers the giver of the bowl, he +turned with a courteous bow, saying, “Thank you again and again, my good +sir; you may not be the worse for this; ours is an unstable world; so that one +gentleman never knows when it may be his turn to be helped of another.” +</p> + +<p> +But the soldier still making a riot, and the commotion growing general, a +superior officer stepped up, who terminated the scene by remanding the prisoner +to his cell, dismissing the townspeople, with all strangers, Israel among the +rest, and closing the castle gates after them. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0022"></a> +CHAPTER XXII.<br/> +SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL’S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE WILDERNESS.</h2> + +<p> +Among the episodes of the Revolutionary War, none is stranger than that of +Ethan Allen in England; the event and the man being equally uncommon. +</p> + +<p> +Allen seems to have been a curious combination of a Hercules, a Joe Miller, a +Bayard, and a Tom Hyer; had a person like the Belgian giants; mountain music in +him like a Swiss; a heart plump as Coeur de Lion’s. Though born in New +England, he exhibited no trace of her character. He was frank, bluff, +companionable as a Pagan, convivial, a Roman, hearty as a harvest. His spirit +was essentially Western; and herein is his peculiar Americanism; for the +Western spirit is, or will yet be (for no other is, or can be), the true +American one. +</p> + +<p> +For the most part, Allen’s manner while in England was scornful and +ferocious in the last degree; however, qualified by that wild, heroic sort of +levity, which in the hour of oppression or peril seems inseparable from a +nature like his; the mode whereby such a temper best evinces its barbaric +disdain of adversity, and how cheaply and waggishly it holds the malice, even +though triumphant, of its foes! Aside from that inevitable egotism relatively +pertaining to pine trees, spires, and giants, there were, perhaps, two special +incidental reasons for the Titanic Vermonter’s singular demeanor abroad. +Taken captive while heading a forlorn hope before Montreal, he was treated with +inexcusable cruelty and indignity; something as if he had fallen into the hands +of the Dyaks. Immediately upon his capture he would have been deliberately +suffered to have been butchered by the Indian allies in cold blood on the spot, +had he not, with desperate intrepidity, availed himself of his enormous +physical strength, by twitching a British officer to him, and using him for a +living target, whirling him round and round against the murderous tomahawks of +the savages. Shortly afterwards, led into the town, fenced about by bayonets of +the guard, the commander of the enemy, one Colonel McCloud, flourished his cane +over the captive’s head, with brutal insults promising him a +rebel’s halter at Tyburn. During his passage to England in the same ship +wherein went passenger Colonel Guy Johnson, the implacable tory, he was kept +heavily ironed in the hold, and in all ways treated as a common mutineer; or, +it may be, rather as a lion of Asia; which, though caged, was still too +dreadful to behold without fear and trembling, and consequent cruelty. And no +wonder, at least for the fear; for on one occasion, when chained hand and foot, +he was insulted on shipboard by an officer; with his teeth he twisted off the +nail that went through the mortise of his handcuffs, and so, having his arms at +liberty, challenged his insulter to combat. Often, as at Pendennis Castle, when +no other avengement was at hand, he would hurl on his foes such howling +tempests of anathema as fairly to shock them into retreat. Prompted by somewhat +similar motives, both on shipboard and in England, he would often make the most +vociferous allusions to Ticonderoga, and the part he played in its capture, +well knowing, that of all American names, Ticonderoga was, at that period, by +far the most famous and galling to Englishmen. +</p> + +<p> +Parlor-men, dancing-masters, the graduates of the Albe Bellgarde, may shrug +their laced shoulders at the boisterousness of Allen in England. True, he stood +upon no punctilios with his jailers; for where modest gentlemanhood is all on +one side, it is a losing affair; as if my Lord Chesterfield should take off his +hat, and smile, and bow, to a mad bull, in hopes of a reciprocation of +politeness. When among wild beasts, if they menace you, be a wild beast. +Neither is it unlikely that this was the view taken by Allen. For, besides the +exasperating tendency to self-assertion which such treatment as his must have +bred on a man like him, his experience must have taught him, that by assuming +the part of a jocular, reckless, and even braggart barbarian, he would better +sustain himself against bullying turnkeys than by submissive quietude. Nor +should it be forgotten, that besides the petty details of personal malice, the +enemy violated every international usage of right and decency, in treating a +distinguished prisoner of war as if he had been a Botany-Bay convict. If, at +the present day, in any similar case between the same States, the repetition of +such outrages would be more than unlikely, it is only because it is among +nations as among individuals: imputed indigence provokes oppression and scorn; +but that same indigence being risen to opulence, receives a politic +consideration even from its former insulters. +</p> + +<p> +As the event proved, in the course Allen pursued, he was right. Because, though +at first nothing was talked of by his captors, and nothing anticipated by +himself, but his ignominious execution, or at the least, prolonged and squalid +incarceration, nevertheless, these threats and prospects evaporated, and by his +facetious scorn for scorn, under the extremest sufferings, he finally wrung +repentant usage from his foes; and in the end, being liberated from his irons, +and walking the quarter-deck where before he had been thrust into the hold, was +carried back to America, and in due time, at New York, honorably included in a +regular exchange of prisoners. +</p> + +<p> +It was not without strange interest that Israel had been an eye-witness of the +scenes on the Castle Green. Neither was this interest abated by the painful +necessity of concealing, for the present, from his brave countryman and +fellow-mountaineer, the fact of a friend being nigh. When at last the throng +was dismissed, walking towards the town with the rest, he heard that there were +some forty or more Americans, privates, confined on the cliff. Upon this, +inventing a pretence, he turned back, loitering around the walls for any chance +glimpse of the captives. Presently, while looking up at a grated embrasure in +the tower, he started at a voice from it familiarly hailing him: +</p> + +<p> +“Potter, is that you? In God’s name how came you here?” +</p> + +<p> +At these words, a sentry below had his eye on our astonished adventurer. +Bringing his piece to bear, he bade him stand. Next moment Israel was under +arrest. Being brought into the presence of the forty prisoners, where they lay +in litters of mouldy straw, strewn with gnawed bones, as in a kennel, he +recognized among them one Singles, now Sergeant Singles, the man who, upon our +hero’s return home from his last Cape Horn voyage, he had found wedded to +his mountain Jenny. Instantly a rush of emotions filled him. Not as when Damon +found Pythias. But far stranger, because very different. For not only had this +Singles been an alien to Israel (so far as actual intercourse went), but +impelled to it by instinct, Israel had all but detested him, as a successful, +and perhaps insidious rival. Nor was it altogether unlikely that Singles had +reciprocated the feeling. But now, as if the Atlantic rolled, not between two +continents, but two worlds—this, and the next—these alien souls, +oblivious to hate, melted down into one. +</p> + +<p> +At such a juncture, it was hard to maintain a disguise, especially when it +involved the seeming rejection of advances like the Sergeant’s. Still, +converting his real amazement into affected surprise, Israel, in presence of +the sentries, declared to Singles that he (Singles) must labor under some +unaccountable delusion; for he (Potter) was no Yankee rebel, thank Heaven, but +a true man to his king; in short, an honest Englishman, born in Kent, and now +serving his country, and doing what damage he might to her foes, by being first +captain of a carronade on board a letter of marque, that moment in the harbor. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment the captive stood astounded, but observing Israel more narrowly, +detecting his latent look, and bethinking him of the useless peril he had +thoughtlessly caused to a countryman, no doubt unfortunate as himself, Singles +took his cue, and pretending sullenly to apologize for his error, put on a +disappointed and crest-fallen air. Nevertheless, it was not without much +difficulty, and after many supplemental scrutinies and inquisitions from a +board of officers before whom he was subsequently brought, that our wanderer +was finally permitted to quit the cliff. +</p> + +<p> +This luckless adventure not only nipped in the bud a little scheme he had been +revolving, for materially befriending Ethan Allen and his comrades, but +resulted in making his further stay at Falmouth perilous in the extreme. And as +if this were not enough, next day, while hanging over the side, painting the +hull, in trepidation of a visit from the castle soldiers, rumor came to the +ship that the man-of-war in the haven purposed impressing one-third of the +letter of marque’s crew; though, indeed, the latter vessel was preparing +for a second cruise. Being on board a private armed ship, Israel had little +dreamed of its liability to the same governmental hardships with the meanest +merchantman. But the system of impressment is no respecter either of pity or +person. +</p> + +<p> +His mind was soon determined. Unlike his shipmates, braving immediate and +lonely hazard, rather than wait for a collective and ultimate one, he cunningly +dropped himself overboard the same night, and after the narrowest risk from the +muskets of the man-of-war’s sentries (whose gangways he had to pass), +succeeded in swimming to shore, where he fell exhausted, but recovering, fled +inland, doubly hunted by the thought, that whether as an Englishman, or whether +as an American, he would, if caught, be now equally subject to enslavement. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the break of day, having gained many miles, he succeeded in +ridding himself of his seaman’s clothing, having found some mouldy old +rags on the banks of a stagnant pond, nigh a rickety building, which looked +like a poorhouse—clothing not improbably, as he surmised, left there on +the bank by some pauper suicide. Marvel not that he should with avidity seize +these rags; what the suicides abandon, the living hug. +</p> + +<p> +Once more in beggar’s garb, the fugitive sped towards London, prompted by +the same instinct which impels the hunted fox to the wilderness; for solitudes +befriend the endangered wild beast, but crowds are the security, because the +true desert, of persecuted man. Among the things of the capital, Israel for +more than forty years was yet to disappear, as one entering at dusk into a +thick wood. Nor did ever the German forest, nor Tasso’s enchanted one, +contain in its depths more things of horror than eventually were revealed in +the secret clefts, gulfs, caves and dens of London. +</p> + +<p> +But here we anticipate a page. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0023"></a> +CHAPTER XXIII.<br/> +ISRAEL IN EGYPT.</h2> + +<p> +It was a gray, lowering afternoon that, worn out, half starved, and haggard, +Israel arrived within some ten or fifteen miles of London, and saw scores and +scores of forlorn men engaged in a great brickyard. +</p> + +<p> +For the most part, brickmaking is all mud and mire. Where, abroad, the business +is carried on largely, as to supply the London market, hordes of the poorest +wretches are employed, their grimy tatters naturally adapting them to an employ +where cleanliness is as much out of the question as with a drowned man at the +bottom of the lake in the Dismal Swamp. +</p> + +<p> +Desperate with want, Israel resolved to turn brickmaker, nor did he fear to +present himself as a stranger, nothing doubting that to such a vocation his +rags would be accounted the best letters of introduction. +</p> + +<p> +To be brief, he accosted one of the many surly overseers, or taskmasters of the +yard, who, with no few pompous airs, finally engaged him at six shillings a +week, almost equivalent to a dollar and a half. He was appointed to one of the +mills for grinding up the ingredients. This mill stood in the open air. It was +of a rude, primitive, Eastern aspect, consisting of a sort of hopper, emptying +into a barrel-shaped receptacle. In the barrel was a clumsy machine turned +round at its axis by a great bent beam, like a well-sweep, only it was +horizontal; to this beam, at its outer end, a spavined old horse was attached. +The muddy mixture was shovelled into the hopper by spavined-looking old men, +while, trudging wearily round and round, the spavined old horse ground it all +up till it slowly squashed out at the bottom of the barrel, in a doughy +compound, all ready for the moulds. Where the dough squeezed out of the barrel +a pit was sunken, so as to bring the moulder here stationed down to a level +with the trough, into which the dough fell. Israel was assigned to this pit. +Men came to him continually, reaching down rude wooden trays, divided into +compartments, each of the size and shape of a brick. With a flat sort of big +ladle, Israel slapped the dough into the trays from the trough; then, with a +bit of smooth board, scraped the top even, and handed it up. Half buried there +in the pit, all the time handing those desolate trays, poor Israel seemed some +gravedigger, or churchyard man, tucking away dead little innocents in their +coffins on one side, and cunningly disinterring them again to resurrectionists +stationed on the other. +</p> + +<p> +Twenty of these melancholy old mills were in operation. Twenty heartbroken old +horses, rigged out deplorably in cast-off old cart harness, incessantly tugged +at twenty great shaggy beams; while from twenty half-burst old barrels, twenty +wads of mud, with a lava-like course, gouged out into twenty old troughs, to be +slapped by twenty tattered men into the twenty-times-twenty battered old trays. +</p> + +<p> +Ere entering his pit for the first, Israel had been struck by the dismally +devil-may-care gestures of the moulders. But hardly had he himself been a +moulder three days, when his previous sedateness of concern at his unfortunate +lot, began to conform to the reckless sort of half jolly despair expressed by +the others. The truth indeed was, that this continual, violent, helter-skelter +slapping of the dough into the moulds, begat a corresponding disposition in the +moulder, who, by heedlessly slapping that sad dough, as stuff of little worth, +was thereby taught, in his meditations, to slap, with similar heedlessness, his +own sadder fortunes, as of still less vital consideration. To these muddy +philosophers, men and bricks were equally of clay. “What signifies who we +be—dukes or ditchers?” thought the moulders; “all is vanity +and clay.” +</p> + +<p> +So slap, slap, slap, care-free and negligent, with bitter unconcern, these +dismal desperadoes flapped down the dough. If this recklessness were vicious of +them, be it so; but their vice was like that weed which but grows on barren +ground; enrich the soil, and it disappears. +</p> + +<p> +For thirteen weary weeks, lorded over by the taskmaster, Israel toiled in his +pit. Though this condemned him to a sort of earthy dungeon, or +gravedigger’s hole, while he worked, yet even when liberated to his +meals, naught of a cheery nature greeted him. The yard was encamped, with all +its endless rows of tented sheds, and kilns, and mills, upon a wild waste moor, +belted round by bogs and fens. The blank horizon, like a rope, coiled round the +whole. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes the air was harsh and bleak; the ridged and mottled sky looked +scourged, or cramping fogs set in from sea, for leagues around, ferreting out +each rheumatic human bone, and racking it; the sciatic limpers shivered; their +aguish rags sponged up the mists. No shelter, though it hailed. The sheds were +for the bricks. Unless, indeed, according to the phrase, each man was a +“brick,” which, in sober scripture, was the case; brick is no bad +name for any son of Adam; Eden was but a brickyard; what is a mortal but a few +luckless shovelfuls of clay, moulded in a mould, laid out on a sheet to dry, +and ere long quickened into his queer caprices by the sun? Are not men built +into communities just like bricks into a wall? Consider the great wall of +China: ponder the great populace of Pekin. As man serves bricks, so God him, +building him up by billions into edifices of his purposes. Man attains not to +the nobility of a brick, unless taken in the aggregate. Yet is there a +difference in brick, whether quick or dead; which, for the last, we now shall +see. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0024"></a> +CHAPTER XXIV.<br/> +CONTINUED.</h2> + +<p> +All night long, men sat before the mouth of the kilns, feeding them with fuel. +A dull smoke—a smoke of their torments—went up from their tops. It +was curious to see the kilns under the action of the fire, gradually changing +color, like boiling lobsters. When, at last, the fires would be extinguished, +the bricks being duly baked, Israel often took a peep into the low vaulted ways +at the base, where the flaming fagots had crackled. The bricks immediately +lining the vaults would be all burnt to useless scrolls, black as charcoal, and +twisted into shapes the most grotesque; the next tier would be a little less +withered, but hardly fit for service; and gradually, as you went higher and +higher along the successive layers of the kiln, you came to the midmost ones, +sound, square, and perfect bricks, bringing the highest prices; from these the +contents of the kiln gradually deteriorated in the opposite direction, upward. +But the topmost layers, though inferior to the best, by no means presented the +distorted look of the furnace-bricks. The furnace-bricks were haggard, with the +immediate blistering of the fire—the midmost ones were ruddy with a +genial and tempered glow—the summit ones were pale with the languor of +too exclusive an exemption from the burden of the blaze. +</p> + +<p> +These kilns were a sort of temporary temples constructed in the yard, each +brick being set against its neighbor almost with the care taken by the mason. +But as soon as the fire was extinguished, down came the kiln in a tumbled ruin, +carted off to London, once more to be set up in ambitious edifices, to a true +brickyard philosopher, little less transient than the kilns. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes, lading out his dough, Israel could not but bethink him of what +seemed enigmatic in his fate. He whom love of country made a hater of her +foes—the foreigners among whom he now was thrown—he who, as +soldier and sailor, had joined to kill, burn and destroy both them and +theirs—here he was at last, serving that very people as a slave, better +succeeding in making their bricks than firing their ships. To think that he +should be thus helping, with all his strength, to extend the walls of the +Thebes of the oppressor, made him half mad. Poor Israel! +well-named—bondsman in the English Egypt. But he drowned the thought by +still more recklessly spattering with his ladle: “What signifies who we +be, or where we are, or what we do?” Slap-dash! “Kings as clowns +are codgers—who ain’t a nobody?” Splash! “All is vanity +and clay.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0025"></a> +CHAPTER XXV.<br/> +IN THE CITY OF DIS.</h2> + +<p> +At the end of his brickmaking, our adventurer found himself with a tolerable +suit of clothes—somewhat darned—on his back, several blood-blisters +in his palms, and some verdigris coppers in his pocket. Forthwith, to seek his +fortune, he proceeded on foot to the capital, entering, like the king, from +Windsor, from the Surrey side. +</p> + +<p> +It was late on a Monday morning, in November—a Blue Monday—a Fifth +of November—Guy Fawkes’ Day!—very blue, foggy, doleful and +gunpowdery, indeed, as shortly will be seen, that Israel found himself wedged +in among the greatest everyday crowd which grimy London presents to the curious +stranger: that hereditary crowd—gulf-stream of humanity—which, for +continuous centuries, has never ceased pouring, like an endless shoal of +herring, over London Bridge. +</p> + +<p> +At the period here written of, the bridge, specifically known by that name, was +a singular and sombre pile, built by a cowled monk—Peter of +Colechurch—some five hundred years before. Its arches had long been +crowded at the sides with strange old rookeries of disproportioned and toppling +height, converting the bridge at once into the most densely occupied ward and +most jammed thoroughfare of the town, while, as the skulls of bullocks are hung +out for signs to the gateways of shambles, so the withered heads and smoked +quarters of traitors, stuck on pikes, long crowned the Southwark entrance. +</p> + +<p> +Though these rookeries, with their grisly heraldry, had been pulled down some +twenty years prior to the present visit, still enough of grotesque and +antiquity clung to the structure at large to render it the most striking of +objects, especially to one like our hero, born in a virgin clime, where the +only antiquities are the forever youthful heavens and the earth. +</p> + +<p> +On his route from Brentford to Paris, Israel had passed through the capital, +but only as a courier; so that now, for the first time, he had time to linger, +and loiter, and lounge—slowly absorb what he saw—meditate himself +into boundless amazement. For forty years he never recovered from that +surprise—never, till dead, had done with his wondering. +</p> + +<p> +Hung in long, sepulchral arches of stone, the black, besmoked bridge seemed a +huge scarf of crape, festooning the river across. Similar funeral festoons +spanned it to the west, while eastward, towards the sea, tiers and tiers of +jetty colliers lay moored, side by side, fleets of black swans. +</p> + +<p> +The Thames, which far away, among the green fields of Berks, ran clear as a +brook, here, polluted by continual vicinity to man, curdled on between rotten +wharves, one murky sheet of sewerage. Fretted by the ill-built piers, awhile it +crested and hissed, then shot balefully through the Erebus arches, desperate as +the lost souls of the harlots, who, every night, took the same plunge. +Meantime, here and there, like awaiting hearses, the coal-scows drifted along, +poled broadside, pell-mell to the current. +</p> + +<p> +And as that tide in the water swept all craft on, so a like tide seemed +hurrying all men, all horses, all vehicles on the land. As ant-hills, the +bridge arches crawled with processions of carts, coaches, drays, every sort of +wheeled, rumbling thing, the noses of the horses behind touching the backs of +the vehicles in advance, all bespattered with ebon mud—ebon mud that +stuck like Jews’ pitch. At times the mass, receiving some mysterious +impulse far in the rear, away among the coiled thoroughfares out of sight, +would, start forward with a spasmodic surge. It seemed as if some squadron of +centaurs, on the thither side of Phlegethon, with charge on charge, was driving +tormented humanity, with all its chattels, across. +</p> + +<p> +Whichever way the eye turned, no tree, no speck of any green thing was +seen—no more than in smithies. All laborers, of whatsoever sort, were +hued like the men in foundries. The black vistas of streets were as the +galleries in coal mines; the flagging, as flat tomb-stones, minus the +consecration of moss, and worn heavily down, by sorrowful tramping, as the +vitreous rocks in the cursed Gallipagos, over which the convict tortoises +crawl. +</p> + +<p> +As in eclipses, the sun was hidden; the air darkened; the whole dull, dismayed +aspect of things, as if some neighboring volcano, belching its premonitory +smoke, were about to whelm the great town, as Herculaneum and Pompeii, or the +Cities of the Plain. And as they had been upturned in terror towards the +mountain, all faces were more or less snowed or spotted with soot. Nor marble, +nor flesh, nor the sad spirit of man, may in this cindery City of Dis abide +white. +</p> + +<p> +As retired at length, midway, in a recess of the bridge, Israel surveyed them, +various individual aspects all but frighted him. Knowing not who they were; +never destined, it may be, to behold them again; one after the other, they +drifted by, uninvoked ghosts in Hades. Some of the wayfarers wore a less +serious look; some seemed hysterically merry; but the mournful faces had an +earnestness not seen in the others: because man, “poor player,” +succeeds better in life’s tragedy than comedy. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived, in the end, on the Middlesex side, Israel’s heart was +prophetically heavy; foreknowing, that being of this race, felicity could never +be his lot. +</p> + +<p> +For five days he wandered and wandered. Without leaving statelier haunts +unvisited, he did not overlook those broader areas—hereditary parks and +manors of vice and misery. Not by constitution disposed to gloom, there was a +mysteriousness in those impulses which led him at this time to rovings like +these. But hereby stoic influences were at work, to fit him at a soon-coming +day for enacting a part in the last extremities here seen; when by sickness, +destitution, each busy ill of exile, he was destined to experience a fate, +uncommon even to luckless humanity—a fate whose crowning qualities were +its remoteness from relief and its depth of obscurity—London, adversity, +and the sea, three Armageddons, which, at one and the same time, slay and +secrete their victims. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0026"></a> +CHAPTER XXVI.<br/> +FORTY-FIVE YEARS.</h2> + +<p> +For the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings in the +London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural wilderness of the +outcast Hebrews under Moses. +</p> + +<p> +In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but no +pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, two +hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the stone base, +the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down. +</p> + +<p> +But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were +necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme suffering, +without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, is its depiction +without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The gloomiest and truthfulest +dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the calamities, however extraordinary, +of inferior and private persons; least of all, the pauper’s; admonished +by the fact, that to the craped palace of the king lying in state, thousands of +starers shall throng; but few feel enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed +knuckle-bone, grins the unupholstered corpse of the beggar. +</p> + +<p> +Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder street? +What plebeian Lear or Oedipus, what Israel Potter, cowers there by the corner +they shun? From this turning point, then, we too cross over and skim events to +the end; omitting the particulars of the starveling’s wrangling with rats +for prizes in the sewers; or his crawling into an abandoned doorless house in +St. Giles’, where his hosts were three dead men, one pendant; into +another of an alley nigh Houndsditch, where the crazy hovel, in phosphoric +rottenness, fell sparkling on him one pitchy midnight, and he received that +injury, which, excluding activity for no small part of the future, was an added +cause of his prolongation of exile, besides not leaving his faculties +unaffected by the concussion of one of the rafters on his brain. +</p> + +<p> +But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning of his +career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended him for a time; +insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being able to buy his homeward +passage so soon as the war should end. But, as stubborn fate would have it, +being run over one day at Holborn Bars, and taken into a neighboring bakery, he +was there treated with such kindliness by a Kentish lass, the shop-girl, that +in the end he thought his debt of gratitude could only be repaid by love. In a +word, the money saved up for his ocean voyage was lavished upon a rash +embarkation in wedlock. +</p> + +<p> +Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the dilemma of impressment or +imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread of those hardships +would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, when hostilities were no +more, so was his money. Some period elapsed ere the affairs of the two +governments were put on such a footing as to support an American consul at +London. Yet, when this came to pass, he could only embrace the facilities for a +return here furnished, by deserting a wife and child, wedded and born in the +enemy’s land. +</p> + +<p> +The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with hordes +of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, or turn +highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping coaches at times in +the most public streets), would work for such a pittance as to bring down the +wages of all the laboring classes. Neither was our adventurer the least among +the sufferers. Driven out of his previous employ—a sort of porter in a +river-side warehouse—by this sudden influx of rivals, destitute, honest +men like himself, with the ingenuity of his race, he turned his hand to the +village art of chair-bottoming. An itinerant, he paraded the streets with the +cry of “Old chairs to mend!” furnishing a curious illustration of +the contradictions of human life; that he who did little but trudge, should be +giving cosy seats to all the rest of the world. Meantime, according to another +well-known Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family increased. In all, +eleven children were born to him in certain sixpenny garrets in Moorfields. One +after the other, ten were buried. +</p> + +<p> +When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That business +being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, bits of paper, +nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. From the gutter he slid to +the sewer. The slope was smooth. In poverty—“Facilis descensus +Averni.” +</p> + +<p> +But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of Avernus +before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for company. +</p> + +<p> +But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. In 1793 +war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London of some of its +superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean society of his friends, +the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering forlorn through the black +kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about sea prisoners in hulks, and listen +to stories of the Black Hole of Calcutta; and often would meet other pairs of +poor soldiers, perfect strangers, at the more public corners and intersections +of sewers—the Charing-Crosses below; one soldier having the other by his +remainder button, earnestly discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or +the tide; while through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty +skylights of the realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers’ carts, with +splashes of the flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city lived. +</p> + +<p> +Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel returned to +chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden market, at early +morning, for the purchase of his flags, that he experienced one of the strange +alleviations hinted of above. That chatting with the ruddy, aproned, +hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks yet trickled the dew of the dawn on the +meadows; that being surrounded by bales of hay, as the raker by cocks and ricks +in the field; those glimpses of garden produce, the blood-beets, with the damp +earth still tufting the roots; that mere handling of his flags, and bethinking +him of whence they must have come, the green hedges through which the wagon +that brought them had passed; that trudging home with them as a gleaner with +his sheaf of wheat;—all this was inexpressibly grateful. In want and +bitterness, pent in, perforce, between dingy walls, he had rural returns of his +boyhood’s sweeter days among them; and the hardest stones of his solitary +heart (made hard by bare endurance alone) would feel the stir of tender but +quenchless memories, like the grass of deserted flagging, upsprouting through +its closest seams. Sometimes, when incited by some little incident, however +trivial in itself, thoughts of home would—either by gradually working and +working upon him, or else by an impetuous rush of recollection—overpower +him for a time to a sort of hallucination. +</p> + +<p> +Thus was it:—One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he was +employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the sward in an +oval enclosure within St. James’ Park, a little green but a +three-minutes’ walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked and +grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to the public +resort on whose borders it stands. It was a little oval, fenced in with iron +pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure peered forth, as some wild +captive creature of the woods from its cage. And alien Israel there—at +times staring dreamily about him—seemed like some amazed runaway steer, +or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded on the shores of Narraganset Bay, long +ago; and back to New England our exile was called in his soul. For still +working, and thinking of home; and thinking of home, and working amid the +verdant quietude of this little oasis, one rapt thought begat another, till at +last his mind settled intensely, and yet half humorously, upon the image of Old +Huckleberry, his mother’s favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, +hearing a sudden scraping noise (some hob-shoe without, against the iron +pailing), he insanely took it to be Old Huckleberry in his stall, hailing him +(Israel) with his shod fore-foot clattering against the planks—his +customary trick when hungry—and so, down goes Israel’s hook, and +with a tuft of white clover, impulsively snatched, he hurries away a few paces +in obedience to the imaginary summons. But soon stopping midway, and forlornly +gazing round at the enclosure, he bethought him that a far different oval, the +great oval of the ocean, must be crossed ere his crazy errand could be done; +and even then, Old Huckleberry would be found long surfeited with clover, +since, doubtless, being dead many a summer, he must be buried beneath it. And +many years after, in a far different part of the town, and in far less winsome +weather too, passing with his bundle of flags through Red-Cross street, towards +Barbican, in a fog so dense that the dimmed and massed blocks of houses, +exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy ranges on ranges of midnight hills, he +heard a confused pastoral sort of sounds—tramplings, lowings, +halloos—and was suddenly called to by a voice to head off certain cattle, +bound to Smithfield, bewildered and unruly in the fog. Next instant he saw the +white face—white as an orange-blossom—of a black-bodied steer, in +advance of the drove, gleaming ghost-like through the vapors; and presently, +forgetting his limp, with rapid shout and gesture, he was more eager, even than +the troubled farmers, their owners, in driving the riotous cattle back into +Barbican. Monomaniac reminiscences were in him—“To the right, to +the right!” he shouted, as, arrived at the street corner, the farmers +beat the drove to the left, towards Smithfield: “To the right! you are +driving them back to the pastures—to the right! that way lies the +barn-yard!” “Barn-yard?” cried a voice; “you are +dreaming, old man.” And so, Israel, now an old man, was bewitched by the +mirage of vapors; he had dreamed himself home into the mists of the Housatonic +mountains; ruddy boy on the upland pastures again. But how different the flat, +apathetic, dead, London fog now seemed from those agile mists which, goat-like, +climbed the purple peaks, or in routed armies of phantoms, broke down, +pell-mell, dispersed in flight upon the plain, leaving the cattle-boy loftily +alone, clear-cut as a balloon against the sky. +</p> + +<p> +In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again drifting its +discharged soldiers on London, so that all kinds of labor were overstocked. +Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. Timber-toed cripples stilted +along, numerous as French peasants in <i>sabots</i>. And, as thirty years +before, on all sides, the exile had heard the supplicatory cry, not addressed +to him, “An honorable scar, your honor, received at Bunker Hill, or +Saratoga, or Trenton, fighting for his most gracious Majesty, King +George!” so now, in presence of the still surviving Israel, our Wandering +Jew, the amended cry was anew taken up, by a succeeding generation of +unfortunates, “An honorable scar, your honor, received at Corunna, or at +Waterloo, or at Trafalgar!” Yet not a few of these petitioners had never +been outside of the London smoke; a sort of crafty aristocracy in their way, +who, without having endangered their own persons much if anything, reaped no +insignificant share both of the glory and profit of the bloody battles they +claimed; while some of the genuine working heroes, too brave to beg, too cut-up +to work, and too poor to live, laid down quietly in corners and died. And here +it may be noted, as a fact nationally characteristic, that however desperately +reduced at times, even to the sewers, Israel, the American, never sunk below +the mud, to actual beggary. +</p> + +<p> +Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by the added +thousands who contended with him against starvation, nevertheless, somehow he +continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks of the cliffs, which, though +hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and even wantonly maimed by the passing +woodman, still, however cramped by rival trees and fettered by rocks, succeed, +against all odds, in keeping the vital nerve of the tap-root alive. And even +towards the end, in his dismallest December, our veteran could still at +intervals feel a momentary warmth in his topmost boughs. In his +Moorfields’ garret, over a handful of reignited cinders (which the night +before might have warmed some lord), cinders raked up from the streets, he +would drive away dolor, by talking with his one only surviving, and now +motherless child—the spared Benjamin of his old age—of the far +Canaan beyond the sea; rehearsing to the lad those well-remembered adventures +among New England hills, and painting scenes of rustling happiness and plenty, +in which the lowliest shared. And here, shadowy as it was, was the second +alleviation hinted of above. +</p> + +<p> +To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who had +been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night after night, as +to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his father take him there? +“Some day to come, my boy,” would be the hopeful response of an +unhoping heart. And “Would God it were to-morrow!” would be the +impassioned reply. +</p> + +<p> +In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual return. For +with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his entailed misery, by +compassing for his father and himself a voyage to the Promised Land. By his +persevering efforts he succeeded at last, against every obstacle, in gaining +credit in the right quarter to his extraordinary statements. In short, +charitably stretching a technical point, the American Consul finally saw father +and son embarked in the Thames for Boston. +</p> + +<p> +It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, had sailed +a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which he now was bound. +An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed locks besnowed as its +foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0027"></a> +CHAPTER XXVII.<br/> +REQUIESCAT IN PACE.</h2> + +<p> +It happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock on a Fourth +of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the riotous crowd near +Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run over by a patriotic +triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered banner, inscribed with gilt +letters: +</p> + +<h3>“BUNKER-HILL</h3> + +<h3>1775.</h3> + +<h3>GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!”</h3> + +<p> +It was on Copps’ Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy’s +positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose that day. +Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked off across Charles +River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient monument, at that period, was +hard to see, as a struggling sprig of corn in a chilly spring. Upon those +heights, fifty years before, his now feeble hands had wielded both ends of the +musket. There too he had received that slit upon the chest, which afterwards, +in the affair with the Serapis, being traversed by a cutlass wound, made him +now the bescarred bearer of a cross. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry July day was +waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising to return to the +lodging for the present assigned them by the ship-captain. “Nay,” +replied the old man, “I shall get no fitter rest than here by the +mounds.” +</p> + +<p> +But from this true “Potter’s Field,” the boy at length drew +him away; and encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the +reassembled passengers, father and son started by stage for the country of the +Housatonie. But the exile’s presence in these old mountain townships +proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew him, nor could +recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that more than thirty years +previous, the last known survivor of his family in that region, a bachelor, +following the example of three-fourths of his neighbors, had sold out and +removed to a distant country in the west; where exactly, none could say. +</p> + +<p> +He sought to get a glimpse of his father’s homestead. But it had been +burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, he next +went to find the site. But the roads had years before been changed. The old +road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran straight through what had +formerly been orchards. But new orchards, planted from other suckers, and in +time grafted, throve on sunny slopes near by, where blackberries had once been +picked by the bushel. At length he came to a field waving with buckwheat. It +seemed one of those fields which himself had often reaped. But it turned out, +upon inquiry, that but three summers since a walnut grove had stood there. Then +he vaguely remembered that his father had sometimes talked of planting such a +grove, to defend the neighboring fields against the cold north wind; yet where +precisely that grove was to have been, his shattered mind could not recall. But +it seemed not unlikely that during his long exile, the walnut grove had been +planted and harvested, as well as the annual crops preceding and succeeding it, +on the very same soil. +</p> + +<p> +Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural wood, which +seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to contemplate a strange, +mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy beech. Though wherever touched +by his staff, however lightly, this pile would crumble, yet here and there, +even in powder, it preserved the exact look, each irregularly defined line, of +what it had originally been—namely, a half-cord of stout hemlock (one of +the woods least affected by exposure to the air), in a foregoing generation +chopped and stacked up on the spot, against sledging-time, but, as sometimes +happens in such cases, by subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious +decay—type now, as it stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and a +long life still rotting in early mishap. +</p> + +<p> +“Do I dream?” mused the bewildered old man, “or what is this +vision that comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I +heaving yon elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I cannot +be so old.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood,” said his son, and +led him forth. +</p> + +<p> +Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing slowly, +the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, like a tumbled +chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire- place, now aridly stuck over here +and there, with thin, clinging, round, prohibitory mosses, like +executors’ wafers. Just as the oxen were bid stand, the stranger’s +plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden contact with some sunken stone at +the ruin’s base. +</p> + +<p> +“There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old +hearthstone. Ah, old man,—sultry day, this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Whose house stood here, friend?” said the wanderer, touching the +half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You +know ’em?” +</p> + +<p> +But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious natural +bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you looking at so, father?” +</p> + +<p> +“‘<i>Father</i>!’ Here,” raking with his staff, +“<i>my</i> father would sit, and here, my mother, and here I, little +infant, would totter between, even as now, once again, on the very same spot, +but in the unroofed air, I do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend.” +</p> + +<p> +Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close. +</p> + +<p> +Few things remain. +</p> + +<p> +He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. His +scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record of his +fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print—himself out of +being—his name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak on +his native hills was blown down. +</p> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23f1b47 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #15422 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15422) diff --git a/old/15422-8.txt b/old/15422-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7650ac --- /dev/null +++ b/old/15422-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7876 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Israel Potter, by Herman Melville + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Israel Potter + +Author: Herman Melville + +Release Date: March 20, 2005 [EBook #15422] +[Last updated: October 27, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + ISRAEL POTTER + + His Fifty Years of Exile + + BY HERMAN MELVILLE + + AUTHOR OF "TYPEE," "OMOO," ETC. + + 1855 + + + + +Dedication + +TO HIS HIGHNESS THE Bunker-Hill Monument + + +Biography, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true +and brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue--one given and +received in entire disinterestedness--since neither can the biographer +hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at all avail +himself of the biographical distinction conferred. + +Israel Potter well merits the present tribute--a private of Bunker Hill, +who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still deeper +privacy under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default of any +during life, annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses and +sward. + +I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of your +Highness, because, with a change in the grammatical person, it +preserves, almost as in a reprint, Israel Potter's autobiographical +story. Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a +little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray +paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, +but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks of +the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out of +print. From a tattered copy, rescued by the merest chance from the +rag-pickers, the present account has been drawn, which, with the +exception of some expansions, and additions of historic and personal +details, and one or two shiftings of scene, may, perhaps, be not unfitly +regarded something in the light of a dilapidated old tombstone +retouched. + +Well aware that in your Highness' eyes the merit of the story must be in +its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, I +forbore anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and +particularly towards the end, though sorely tempted, durst not +substitute for the allotment of Providence any artistic recompense of +poetical justice; so that no one can complain of the gloom of my closing +chapters more profoundly than myself. + +Such is the work, and such, the man, that I have the honor to present to +your Highness. That the name here noted should not have appeared in the +volumes of Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; but +Israel Potter seems purposely to have waited to make his, popular advent +under the present exalted patronage, seeing that your Highness, +according to the definition above, may, in the loftiest sense, be deemed +the Great Biographer: the national commemorator of such of the anonymous +privates of June 17, 1775, who may never have received other requital +than the solid reward of your granite. + +Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on this +auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty +congratulations on the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, +wishing your Highness (though indeed your Highness be somewhat +prematurely gray) many returns of the same, and that each of its +summer's suns may shine as brightly on your brow as each winter snow +shall lightly rest on the grave of Israel Potter. + +Your Highness' Most devoted and obsequious, + +THE EDITOR. + +JUNE 17th, 1854. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + +I. The birthplace of Israel + +II. The youthful adventures of Israel + +III. Israel goes to the wars; and reaching Bunker Hill in time to be of +service there, soon after is forced to extend his travels across the sea +into the enemy's land + +IV. Further wanderings of the Refugee, with some account of a good +knight of Brentford who befriended him + +V. Israel in the Lion's Den + +VI. Israel makes the acquaintance of certain secret friends of America, +one of them being the famous author of the "Diversions of Purley." These +despatch him on a sly errand across the Channel + +VII. After a curious adventure upon the Pont Neuf, Israel enters the +presence of the renowned sage, Dr. Franklin, whom he finds right +learnedly and multifariously employed + +VIII. Which has something to say about Dr. Franklin and the Latin +Quarter + +IX. Israel is initiated into the mysteries of lodging-houses in the +Latin Quarter + +X. Another adventurer appears upon the scene + +XI. Paul Jones in a reverie + +XII. Recrossing the Channel, Israel returns to the Squire's abode--His +adventures there + +XIII. His escape from the house, with various adventures following + +XIV. In which Israel is sailor under two flags, and in three ships, and +all in one night + +XV. They sail as far as the Crag of Ailsa + +XVI. They look in at Carrickfergus, and descend on Whitehaven + +XVII. They call at the Earl of Selkirk's, and afterwards fight the +ship-of-war Drake + +XVIII. The Expedition that sailed from Groix + +XIX. They fight the Serapis. + +XX. The Shuttle + +XXI. Samson among the Philistines + +XXII. Something further of Ethan Allen; with Israel's flight towards the +wilderness + +XXIII. Israel in Egypt + +XXIV. Continued + +XXV. In the City of Dis + +XXVI Forty-five years + +XXVII. Requiescat in pace + + + + +ISRAEL POTTER + +Fifty Years of Exile + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL. + + +The traveller who at the present day is content to travel in the good +old Asiatic style, neither rushed along by a locomotive, nor dragged by +a stage-coach; who is willing to enjoy hospitalities at far-scattered +farmhouses, instead of paying his bill at an inn; who is not to be +frightened by any amount of loneliness, or to be deterred by the +roughest roads or the highest hills; such a traveller in the eastern +part of Berkshire, Massachusetts, will find ample food for poetic +reflection in the singular scenery of a country, which, owing to the +ruggedness of the soil and its lying out of the track of all public +conveyances, remains almost as unknown to the general tourist as the +interior of Bohemia. + +Travelling northward from the township of Otis, the road leads for +twenty or thirty miles towards Windsor, lengthwise upon that long broken +spur of heights which the Green Mountains of Vermont send into +Massachusetts. For nearly the whole of the distance, you have the +continual sensation of being upon some terrace in the moon. The feeling +of the plain or the valley is never yours; scarcely the feeling of the +earth. Unless by a sudden precipitation of the road you find yourself +plunging into some gorge, you pass on, and on, and on, upon the crests +or slopes of pastoral mountains, while far below, mapped out in its +beauty, the valley of the Housatonie lies endlessly along at your feet. +Often, as your horse gaining some lofty level tract, flat as a table, +trots gayly over the almost deserted and sodded road, and your admiring +eye sweeps the broad landscape beneath, you seem to be Bootes driving in +heaven. Save a potato field here and there, at long intervals, the whole +country is either in wood or pasture. Horses, cattle and sheep are the +principal inhabitants of these mountains. But all through the year lazy +columns of smoke, rising from the depths of the forest, proclaim the +presence of that half-outlaw, the charcoal-burner; while in early spring +added curls of vapor show that the maple sugar-boiler is also at work. +But as for farming as a regular vocation, there is not much of it here. +At any rate, no man by that means accumulates a fortune from this thin +and rocky soil, all whose arable parts have long since been nearly +exhausted. + +Yet during the first settlement of the country, the region was not +unproductive. Here it was that the original settlers came, acting upon +the principle well known to have regulated their choice of site, namely, +the high land in preference to the low, as less subject to the +unwholesome miasmas generated by breaking into the rich valleys and +alluvial bottoms of primeval regions. By degrees, however, they quitted +the safety of this sterile elevation, to brave the dangers of richer +though lower fields. So that, at the present day, some of those mountain +townships present an aspect of singular abandonment. Though they have +never known aught but peace and health, they, in one lesser aspect at +least, look like countries depopulated by plague and war. Every mile or +two a house is passed untenanted. The strength of the frame-work of +these ancient buildings enables them long to resist the encroachments of +decay. Spotted gray and green with the weather-stain, their timbers seem +to have lapsed back into their woodland original, forming part now of +the general picturesqueness of the natural scene. They are of +extraordinary size, compared with modern farmhouses. One peculiar +feature is the immense chimney, of light gray stone, perforating the +middle of the roof like a tower. + +On all sides are seen the tokens of ancient industry. As stone abounds +throughout these mountains, that material was, for fences, as ready to +the hand as wood, besides being much more durable. Consequently the +landscape is intersected in all directions with walls of uncommon +neatness and strength. + +The number and length of these walls is not more surprising than the +size of some of the blocks comprising them. The very Titans seemed to +have been at work. That so small an army as the first settlers must +needs have been, should have taken such wonderful pains to enclose so +ungrateful a soil; that they should have accomplished such herculean +undertakings with so slight prospect of reward; this is a consideration +which gives us a significant hint of the temper of the men of the +Revolutionary era. + +Nor could a fitter country be found for the birthplace of the devoted +patriot, Israel Potter. + +To this day the best stone-wall builders, as the best wood-choppers, +come from those solitary mountain towns; a tall, athletic, and hardy +race, unerring with the axe as the Indian with the tomahawk; at +stone-rolling, patient as Sisyphus, powerful as Samson. + +In fine clear June days, the bloom of these mountains is beyond +expression delightful. Last visiting these heights ere she vanishes, +Spring, like the sunset, flings her sweetest charms upon them. Each tuft +of upland grass is musked like a bouquet with perfume. The balmy breeze +swings to and fro like a censer. On one side the eye follows for the +space of an eagle's flight, the serpentine mountain chains, southwards +from the great purple dome of Taconic--the St. Peter's of these +hills--northwards to the twin summits of Saddleback, which is the +two-steepled natural cathedral of Berkshire; while low down to the west +the Housatonie winds on in her watery labyrinth, through charming +meadows basking in the reflected rays from the hill-sides. At this +season the beauty of every thing around you populates the loneliness of +your way. You would not have the country more settled if you could. +Content to drink in such loveliness at all your senses, the heart +desires no company but Nature. + +With what rapture you behold, hovering over some vast hollow of the +hills, or slowly drifting at an immense height over the far sunken +Housatonie valley, some lordly eagle, who in unshared exaltation looks +down equally upon plain and mountain. Or you behold a hawk sallying from +some crag, like a Rhenish baron of old from his pinnacled castle, and +darting down towards the river for his prey. Or perhaps, lazily gliding +about in the zenith, this ruffian fowl is suddenly beset by a crow, who +with stubborn audacity pecks at him, and, spite of all his bravery, +finally persecutes him back to his stronghold. The otherwise dauntless +bandit, soaring at his topmost height, must needs succumb to this sable +image of death. Nor are there wanting many smaller and less famous fowl, +who without contributing to the grandeur, yet greatly add to the beauty +of the scene. The yellow-bird flits like a winged jonquil here and +there; like knots of violets the blue-birds sport in clusters upon the +grass; while hurrying from the pasture to the grove, the red robin seems +an incendiary putting torch to the trees. Meanwhile the air is vocal +with their hymns, and your own soul joys in the general joy. Like a +stranger in an orchestra, you cannot help singing yourself when all +around you raise such hosannas. + +But in autumn, those gay northerners, the birds, return to their +southern plantations. The mountains are left bleak and sere. Solitude +settles down upon them in drizzling mists. The traveller is beset, at +perilous turns, by dense masses of fog. He emerges for a moment into +more penetrable air; and passing some gray, abandoned house, sees the +lofty vapors plainly eddy by its desolate door; just as from the plain +you may see it eddy by the pinnacles of distant and lonely heights. Or, +dismounting from his frightened horse, he leads him down some scowling +glen, where the road steeply dips among grim rocks, only to rise as +abruptly again; and as he warily picks his way, uneasy at the menacing +scene, he sees some ghost-like object looming through the mist at the +roadside; and wending towards it, beholds a rude white stone, uncouthly +inscribed, marking the spot where, some fifty or sixty years ago, some +farmer was upset in his wood-sled, and perished beneath the load. + +In winter this region is blocked up with snow. Inaccessible and +impassable, those wild, unfrequented roads, which in August are +overgrown with high grass, in December are drifted to the arm-pit with +the white fleece from the sky. As if an ocean rolled between man and +man, intercommunication is often suspended for weeks and weeks. + +Such, at this day, is the country which gave birth to our hero: +prophetically styled Israel by the good Puritans, his parents, since, +for more than forty years, poor Potter wandered in the wild wilderness +of the world's extremest hardships and ills. + +How little he thought, when, as a boy, hunting after his father's stray +cattle among these New England hills he himself like a beast should be +hunted through half of Old England, as a runaway rebel. Or, how could he +ever have dreamed, when involved in the autumnal vapors of these +mountains, that worse bewilderments awaited him three thousand miles +across the sea, wandering forlorn in the coal-foes of London. But so it +was destined to be. This little boy of the hills, born in sight of the +sparkling Housatonic, was to linger out the best part of his life a +prisoner or a pauper upon the grimy banks of the Thames. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL. + + +Imagination will easily picture the rural day of the youth of Israel. +Let us pass on to a less immature period. + +It appears that he began his wanderings very early; moreover, that ere, +on just principles throwing off the yoke off his king, Israel, on +equally excusable grounds, emancipated himself from his sire. He +continued in the enjoyment of parental love till the age of eighteen, +when, having formed an attachment for a neighbor's daughter--for some +reason, not deemed a suitable match by his father--he was severely +reprimanded, warned to discontinue his visits, and threatened with some +disgraceful punishment in case he persisted. As the girl was not only +beautiful, but amiable--though, as will be seen, rather weak--and her +family as respectable as any, though unfortunately but poor, Israel +deemed his father's conduct unreasonable and oppressive; particularly as +it turned out that he had taken secret means to thwart his son with the +girl's connections, if not with the girl herself, so as to place almost +insurmountable obstacles to an eventual marriage. For it had not been +the purpose of Israel to marry at once, but at a future day, when +prudence should approve the step. So, oppressed by his father, and +bitterly disappointed in his love, the desperate boy formed the +determination to quit them both for another home and other friends. + +It was on Sunday, while the family were gone to a farmhouse church near +by, that he packed up as much of his clothing as might be contained in a +handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, he hid in a +piece of woods in the rear of the house. He then returned, and continued +in the house till about nine in the evening, when, pretending to go to +bed, he passed out of a back door, and hastened to the woods for his +bundle. + +It was a sultry night in July; and that he might travel with the more +ease on the succeeding day, he lay down at the foot of a pine tree, +reposing himself till an hour before dawn, when, upon awaking, he heard +the soft, prophetic sighing of the pine, stirred by the first breath of +the morning. Like the leaflets of that evergreen, all the fibres of his +heart trembled within him; tears fell from his eyes. But he thought of +the tyranny of his father, and what seemed to him the faithlessness of +his love; and shouldering his bundle, arose, and marched on. + +His intention was to reach the new countries to the northward and +westward, lying between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and the +Yankee settlements on the Housatonic. This was mainly to elude all +search. For the same reason, for the first ten or twelve miles, +shunning the public roads, he travelled through the woods; for he knew +that he would soon be missed and pursued. + +He reached his destination in safety; hired out to a farmer for a month +through the harvest; then crossed from the Hudson to the Connecticut. +Meeting here with an adventurer to the unknown regions lying about the +head waters of the latter river, he ascended with this man in a canoe, +paddling and pulling for many miles. Here again he hired himself out for +three months; at the end of that time to receive for his wages two +hundred acres of land lying in New Hampshire. The cheapness of the land +was not alone owing to the newness of the country, but to the perils +investing it. Not only was it a wilderness abounding with wild beasts, +but the widely-scattered inhabitants were in continual dread of being, +at some unguarded moment, destroyed or made captive by the Canadian +savages, who, ever since the French war, had improved every opportunity +to make forays across the defenceless frontier. + +His employer proving false to his contract in the matter of the land, +and there being no law in the country to force him to fulfil it, +Israel--who, however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a +pinch, seems nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his +career, a singular patience and mildness--was obliged to look round for +other means of livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the +wilderness. A party of royal surveyors were at this period surveying the +unsettled regions bordering the Connecticut river to its source. At +fifteen shillings per month, he engaged himself to this party as +assistant chain-bearer, little thinking that the day was to come when he +should clank the king's chains in a dungeon, even as now he trailed them +a free ranger of the woods. It was midwinter; the land was surveyed upon +snow-shoes. At the close of the day, fires were kindled with dry +hemlock, a hut thrown up, and the party ate and slept. + +Paid off at last, Israel bought a gun and ammunition, and turned +hunter. Deer, beaver, etc., were plenty. In two or three months he had +many skins to show. I suppose it never entered his mind that he was thus +qualifying himself for a marksman of men. But thus were tutored those +wonderful shots who did such execution at Bunker's Hill; these, the +hunter-soldiers, whom Putnam bade wait till the white of the enemy's eye +was seen. + +With the result of his hunting he purchased a hundred acres of land, +further down the river, toward the more settled parts; built himself a +log hut, and in two summers, with his own hands, cleared thirty acres +for sowing. In the winter seasons he hunted and trapped. At the end of +the two years, he sold back his land--now much improved--to the original +owner, at an advance of fifty pounds. He conveyed his cash and furs to +Charlestown, on the Connecticut (sometimes called No. 4), where he +trafficked them away for Indian blankets, pigments, and other showy +articles adapted to the business of a trader among savages. It was now +winter again. Putting his goods on a hand-sled, he started towards +Canada, a peddler in the wilderness, stopping at wigwams instead of +cottages. One fancies that, had it been summer, Israel would have +travelled with a wheelbarrow, and so trundled his wares through the +primeval forests, with the same indifference as porters roll their +barrows over the flagging of streets. In this way was bred that fearless +self-reliance and independence which conducted our forefathers to +national freedom. + +This Canadian trip proved highly successful. Selling his glittering +goods at a great advance, he received in exchange valuable peltries and +furs at a corresponding reduction. Returning to Charlestown, he disposed +of his return cargo again at a very fine profit. And now, with a light +heart and a heavy purse, he resolved to visit his sweetheart and +parents, of whom, for three years, he had had no tidings. + +They were not less astonished than delighted at his reappearance; he had +been numbered with the dead. But his love still seemed strangely coy; +willing, but yet somehow mysteriously withheld. The old intrigues were +still on foot. Israel soon discovered, that though rejoiced to welcome +the return of the prodigal son--so some called him--his father still +remained inflexibly determined against the match, and still inexplicably +countermined his wooing. With a dolorous heart he mildly yielded to what +seemed his fatality; and more intrepid in facing peril for himself, than +in endangering others by maintaining his rights (for he was now +one-and-twenty), resolved once more to retreat, and quit his blue hills +for the bluer billows. + +A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded +misanthrope; a hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous +distressed. The ocean brims with natural griefs and tragedies; and into +that watery immensity of terror, man's private grief is lost like a +drop. + +Travelling on foot to Providence, Rhode Island, Israel shipped on board +a sloop, bound with lime to the West Indies. On the tenth day out, the +vessel caught fire, from water communicating with the lime. It was +impossible to extinguish the flames. The boat was hoisted out, but owing +to long exposure to the sun, it needed continual bailing to keep it +afloat. They had only time to put in a firkin of butter and a ten-gallon +keg of water. Eight in number, the crew entrusted themselves to the +waves, in a leaky tub, many leagues from land. As the boat swept under +the burning bowsprit, Israel caught at a fragment of the flying-jib, +which sail had fallen down the stay, owing to the charring, nigh the +deck, of the rope which hoisted it. Tanned with the smoke, and its edge +blackened with the fire, this bit of canvass helped them bravely on +their way. Thanks to kind Providence, on the second day they were picked +up by a Dutch ship, bound from Eustatia to Holland. The castaways were +humanely received, and supplied with every necessary. At the end of a +week, while unsophisticated Israel was sitting in the maintop, thinking +what should befall him in Holland, and wondering what sort of unsettled, +wild country it was, and whether there was any deer-shooting or +beaver-trapping there, lo! an American brig, bound from Piscataqua to +Antigua, comes in sight. The American took them aboard, and conveyed +them safely to her port. There Israel shipped for Porto Rico; from +thence, sailed to Eustatia. + +Other rovings ensued; until at last, entering on board a Nantucket ship, +he hunted the leviathan off the Western Islands and on the coast of +Africa, for sixteen months; returning at length to Nantucket with a +brimming hold. From that island he sailed again on another whaling +voyage, extending, this time, into the great South Sea. There, promoted +to be harpooner, Israel, whose eye and arm had been so improved by +practice with his gun in the wilderness, now further intensified his +aim, by darting the whale-lance; still, unwittingly, preparing himself +for the Bunker Hill rifle. + +In this last voyage, our adventurer experienced to the extreme all the +hardships and privations of the whaleman's life on a long voyage to +distant and barbarous waters--hardships and privations unknown at the +present day, when science has so greatly contributed, in manifold ways, +to lessen the sufferings, and add to the comforts of seafaring men. +Heartily sick of the ocean, and longing once more for the bush, Israel, +upon receiving his discharge at Nantucket at the end of the voyage, hied +straight back for his mountain home. + +But if hopes of his sweetheart winged his returning flight, such hopes +were not destined to be crowned with fruition. The dear, false girl was +another's. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF +SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE SEA +INTO THE ENEMY'S LAND. + + +Left to idle lamentations, Israel might now have planted deep furrows in +his brow. But stifling his pain, he chose rather to plough, than be +ploughed. Farming weans man from his sorrows. That tranquil pursuit +tolerates nothing but tranquil meditations. There, too, in mother earth, +you may plant and reap; not, as in other things, plant and see the +planting torn up by the roots. But if wandering in the wilderness, and +wandering upon the waters, if felling trees, and hunting, and shipwreck, +and fighting with whales, and all his other strange adventures, had not +as yet cured poor Israel of his now hopeless passion, events were at +hand for ever to drown it. + +It was the year 1774. The difficulties long pending between the colonies +and England were arriving at their crisis. Hostilities were certain. The +Americans were preparing themselves. Companies were formed in most of +the New England towns, whose members, receiving the name of minute-men, +stood ready to march anywhere at a minute's warning. Israel, for the +last eight months, sojourning as a laborer on a farm in Windsor, +enrolled himself in the regiment of Colonel John Patterson of Lenox, +afterwards General Patterson. + +The battle of Lexington was fought on the 18th of April, 1775; news of +it arrived in the county of Berkshire on the 20th about noon. The next +morning at sunrise, Israel swung his knapsack, shouldered his musket, +and, with Patterson's regiment, was on the march, quickstep, towards +Boston. + +Like Putnam, Israel received the stirring tidings at the plough. But +although not less willing than Putnam to fly to battle at an instant's +notice, yet--only half an acre of the field remaining to be finished--he +whipped up his team and finished it. Before hastening to one duty, he +would not leave a prior one undone; and ere helping to whip the British, +for a little practice' sake, he applied the gad to his oxen. From the +field of the farmer, he rushed to that of the soldier, mingling his +blood with his sweat. While we revel in broadcloth, let us not forget +what we owe to linsey-woolsey. + +With other detachments from various quarters, Israel's regiment remained +encamped for several days in the vicinity of Charlestown. On the +seventeenth of June, one thousand Americans, including the regiment of +Patterson, were set about fortifying Bunker's Hill. Working all through +the night, by dawn of the following day, the redoubt was thrown up. But +every one knows all about the battle. Suffice it, that Israel was one +of those marksmen whom Putnam harangued as touching the enemy's eyes. +Forbearing as he was with his oppressive father and unfaithful love, and +mild as he was on the farm, Israel was not the same at Bunker Hill. +Putnam had enjoined the men to aim at the officers; so Israel aimed +between the golden epaulettes, as, in the wilderness, he had aimed +between the branching antlers. With dogged disdain of their foes, the +English grenadiers marched up the hill with sullen slowness; thus +furnishing still surer aims to the muskets which bristled on the +redoubt. Modest Israel was used to aver, that considering his practice +in the woods, he could hardly be regarded as an inexperienced marksman; +hinting, that every shot which the epauletted grenadiers received from +his rifle, would, upon a different occasion, have procured him a +deerskin. And like stricken deers the English, rashly brave as they +were, fled from the opening fire. But the marksman's ammunition was +expended; a hand-to-hand encounter ensued. Not one American musket in +twenty had a bayonet to it. So, wielding the stock right and left, the +terrible farmers, with hats and coats off, fought their way among the +furred grenadiers, knocking them right and left, as seal-hunters on the +beach knock down with their clubs the Shetland seal. In the dense crowd +and confusion, while Israel's musket got interlocked, he saw a blade +horizontally menacing his feet from the ground. Thinking some fallen +enemy sought to strike him at the last gasp, dropping his hold on his +musket, he wrenched at the steel, but found that though a brave hand +held it, that hand was powerless for ever. It was some British +officer's laced sword-arm, cut from the trunk in the act of fighting, +refusing to yield up its blade to the last. At that moment another sword +was aimed at Israel's head by a living officer. In an instant the blow +was parried by kindred steel, and the assailant fell by a brother's +weapon, wielded by alien hands. But Israel did not come off unscathed. A +cut on the right arm near the elbow, received in parrying the officer's +blow, a long slit across the chest, a musket ball buried in his hip, and +another mangling him near the ankle of the same leg, were the tokens of +intrepidity which our Sicinius Dentatus carried from this memorable +field. Nevertheless, with his comrades he succeeded in reaching Prospect +Hill, and from thence was conveyed to the hospital at Cambridge. The +bullet was extracted, his lesser wounds were dressed, and after much +suffering from the fracture of the bone near the ankle, several pieces +of which were extracted by the surgeon, ere long, thanks to the high +health and pure blood of the farmer, Israel rejoined his regiment when +they were throwing up intrenchments on Prospect Hill. Bunker Hill was +now in possession of the foe, who in turn had fortified it. + +On the third of July, Washington arrived from the South to take the +command. Israel witnessed his joyful reception by the huzzaing +companies. + +The British now quartered in Boston suffered greatly from the scarcity +of provisions. Washington took every precaution to prevent their +receiving a supply. Inland, all aid could easily be cut off. To guard +against their receiving any by water, from tories and other disaffected +persons, the General equipped three armed vessels to intercept all +traitorous cruisers. Among them was the brigantine Washington, of ten +guns, commanded by Captain Martiedale. Seamen were hard to be had. The +soldiers were called upon to volunteer for these vessels. Israel was one +who so did; thinking that as an experienced sailor he should not be +backward in a juncture like this, little as he fancied the new service +assigned. + +Three days out of Boston harbor, the brigantine was captured by the +enemy's ship Foy, of twenty guns. Taken prisoner with the rest of the +crew, Israel was afterwards put on board the frigate Tartar, with +immediate sailing orders for England. Seventy-two were captives in this +vessel. Headed by Israel, these men--half way across the sea--formed a +scheme to take the ship, but were betrayed by a renegade Englishman. As +ringleader, Israel was put in irons, and so remained till the frigate +anchored at Portsmouth. There he was brought on deck; and would have met +perhaps some terrible fate, had it not come out, during the examination, +that the Englishman had been a deserter from the army of his native +country ere proving a traitor to his adopted one. Relieved of his irons, +Israel was placed in the marine hospital on shore, where half of the +prisoners took the small-pox, which swept off a third of their number. +Why talk of Jaffa? + +From the hospital the survivors were conveyed to Spithead, and thrust on +board a hulk. And here in the black bowels of the ship, sunk low in the +sunless sea, our poor Israel lay for a month, like Jonah in the belly +of the whale. + +But one bright morning, Israel is hailed from the deck. A bargeman of +the commander's boat is sick. Known for a sailor, Israel for the nonce +is appointed to pull the absent man's oar. + +The officers being landed, some of the crew propose, like merry +Englishmen as they are, to hie to a neighboring ale-house, and have a +cosy pot or two together. Agreed. They start, and Israel with them. As +they enter the ale-house door, our prisoner is suddenly reminded of +still more imperative calls. Unsuspected of any design, he is allowed to +leave the party for a moment. No sooner does Israel see his companions +housed, than putting speed into his feet, and letting grow all his +wings, he starts like a deer. He runs four miles (so he afterwards +affirmed) without halting. He sped towards London; wisely deeming that +once in that crowd detection would be impossible. + +Ten miles, as he computed, from where he had left the bargemen, +leisurely passing a public house of a little village on the roadside, +thinking himself now pretty safe--hark, what is this he hears?-- + +"Ahoy!" + +"No ship," says Israel, hurrying on. + +"Stop." + +"If you will attend to your business, I will endeavor to attend to +mine," replies Israel coolly. And next minute he lets grow his wings +again; flying, one dare say, at the rate of something less than thirty +miles an hour. + +"Stop thief!" is now the cry. Numbers rushed from the roadside houses. +After a mile's chase, the poor panting deer is caught. + +Finding it was no use now to prevaricate, Israel boldly confesses +himself a prisoner-of-war. The officer, a good fellow as it turned out, +had him escorted back to the inn; where, observing to the landlord that +this must needs be a true-blooded Yankee, he calls for liquors to +refresh Israel after his run. Two soldiers are then appointed to guard +him for the present. This was towards evening; and up to a late hour at +night, the inn was filled with strangers crowding to see the Yankee +rebel, as they politely termed him. These honest rustics seemed to think +that Yankees were a sort of wild creatures, a species of 'possum or +kangaroo. But Israel is very affable with them. That liquor he drank +from the hand of his foe, has perhaps warmed his heart towards all the +rest of his enemies. Yet this may not be wholly so. We shall see. At any +rate, still he keeps his eye on the main chance--escape. Neither the +jokes nor the insults of the mob does he suffer to molest him. He is +cogitating a little plot to himself. + +It seems that the good officer--not more true to the king his master +than indulgent towards the prisoner which that same loyalty made--had +left orders that Israel should be supplied with whatever liquor he +wanted that night. So, calling for the can again and again, Israel +invites the two soldiers to drink and be merry. At length, a wag of the +company proposes that Israel should entertain the public with a jig, he +(the wag) having heard that the Yankees were extraordinary dancers. A +fiddle is brought in, and poor Israel takes the floor. Not a little cut +to think that these people should so unfeelingly seek to be diverted at +the expense of an unfortunate prisoner, Israel, while jigging it up and +down, still conspires away at his private plot, resolving ere long to +give the enemy a touch of certain Yankee steps, as yet undreamed of in +their simple philosophy. They would not permit any cessation of his +dancing till he had danced himself into a perfect sweat, so that the +drops fell from his lank and flaxen hair. But Israel, with much of the +gentleness of the dove, is not wholly without the wisdom of the serpent. +Pleased to see the flowing bowl, he congratulates himself that his own +state of perspiration prevents it from producing any intoxicating effect +upon him. + +Late at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs, +the prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of +the bed in which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much +gratitude for the blanket, with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches his +legs. An hour or two passes. All is quiet without. + +The important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this +chance were suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present +itself. For early, doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way +prevented, the two soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating +prison, where he would thenceforth remain confined until the close of +the war; years and years, perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old +hulk, his nerves were restrung for flight. But intrepid as he must be to +compass it, wariness too was needed. His keepers had gone to bed pretty +well under the influence of the liquor. This was favorable. But still, +they were full-grown, strong men; and Israel was handcuffed. So Israel +resolved upon strategy first; and if that failed, force afterwards. He +eagerly listened. One of the drunken soldiers muttered in his sleep, at +first lowly, then louder and louder,--"Catch 'em! Grapple 'em! Have at +'em! Ha--long cutlasses! Take that, runaway!" + +"What's the matter with ye, Phil?" hiccoughed the other, who was not yet +asleep. "Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain't at Fontenoy now." + +"He's a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!" + +"Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming," again hiccoughed his comrade, +violently nudging him. "This comes o' carousing." + +Shortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep. +But by something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier, +Israel knew that this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a +moment what was best to do. At length he determined upon trying his old +plea. Calling upon the two soldiers, he informed them that urgent +necessity required his immediate presence somewhere in the rear of the +house. + +"Come, wake up here, Phil," roared the soldier who was awake; "the +fellow here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better +edication than to be gettin' up on nateral necessities at this time +o'night. It ain't nateral; its unnateral. D---n ye, Yankee, don't ye +know no better?" + +With many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and +clutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long, +narrow, dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner +was this unbolted by the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash, +manacled Israel, shaking off the grasp of the one behind him, butts him +sprawling back into the entry; when, dashing in the opposite direction, +he bounces the other head over heels into the garden, never using a +hand; and then, leaping over the latter's head, darts blindly out into +the midnight. Next moment he was at the garden wall. No outlet was +discoverable in the gloom. But a fruit-tree grew close to the wall. +Springing into it desperately, handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop +of the barrier, and without pausing to see where he is, drops himself to +the ground on the other side, and once more lets grow all his wings. +Meantime, with loud outcries, the two baffled drunkards grope +deliriously about in the garden. + +After running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit, +Israel reins up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him. After +much painful labor he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again with +all speed, day broke, revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and beautiful +country, soft, neat, and serene, all colored with the fresh early tints +of the spring of 1776. + +Bless me, thought Israel, all of a tremble, I shall certainly be caught +now; I have broken into some nobleman's park. + +But, hurrying forward again, he came to a turnpike road, and then knew +that, all comely and shaven as it was, this was simply the open country +of England; one bright, broad park, paled in with white foam of the +sea. A copse skirting the road was just bursting out into bud. Each +unrolling leaf was in very act of escaping from its prison. Israel +looked at the budding leaves, and round on the budding sod, and up at +the budding dawn of the day. He was so sad, and these sights were so +gay, that Israel sobbed like a child, while thoughts of his mountain +home rushed like a wind on his heart. But conquering this fit, he +marched on, and presently passed nigh a field, where two figures were +working. They had rosy cheeks, short, sturdy legs, showing the blue +stocking nearly to the knee, and were clad in long, coarse, white +frocks, and had on coarse, broad-brimmed straw hats. Their faces were +partly averted. + +"Please, ladies," half roguishly says Israel, taking off his hat, "does +this road go to London?" + +At this salutation, the two figures turned in a sort of stupid +amazement, causing an almost corresponding expression in Israel, who now +perceived that they were men, and not women. He had mistaken them, owing +to their frocks, and their wearing no pantaloons, only breeches hidden +by their frocks. + +"Beg pardon, ladies, but I thought ye were something else," said Israel +again. + +Once more the two figures stared at the stranger, and with added +boorishness of surprise. + +"Does this road go to London, gentlemen?" + +"Gentlemen--egad!" cried one of the two. + +"Egad!" echoed the second. + +Putting their hoes before them, the two frocked boors now took a good +long look at Israel, meantime scratching their heads under their plaited +straw hats. + +"Does it, gentlemen? Does it go to London? Be kind enough to tell a poor +fellow, do." + +"Yees goin' to Lunnun, are yees? Weel--all right--go along." + +And without another word, having now satisfied their rustic curiosity, +the two human steers, with wonderful phlegm, applied themselves to their +hoes; supposing, no doubt, that they had given all requisite +information. + +Shortly after, Israel passed an old, dark, mossy-looking chapel, its +roof all plastered with the damp yellow dead leaves of the previous +autumn, showered there from a close cluster of venerable trees, with +great trunks, and overstretching branches. Next moment he found himself +entering a village. The silence of early morning rested upon it. But few +figures were seen. Glancing through the window of a now noiseless +public-house, Israel saw a table all in disorder, covered with empty +flagons, and tobacco-ashes, and long pipes; some of the latter broken. + +After pausing here a moment, he moved on, and observed a man over the +way standing still and watching him. Instantly Israel was reminded that +he had on the dress of an English sailor, and that it was this probably +which had arrested the stranger's attention. Well knowing that his +peculiar dress exposed him to peril, he hurried on faster to escape the +village; resolving at the first opportunity to change his garments. Ere +long, in a secluded place about a mile from the village, he saw an old +ditcher tottering beneath the weight of a pick-axe, hoe and shovel, +going to his work; the very picture of poverty, toil and distress. His +clothes were tatters. + +Making up to this old man, Israel, after a word or two of salutation, +offered to change clothes with him. As his own clothes were prince-like +compared to the ditchers, Israel thought that however much his +proposition might excite the suspicion of the ditcher, yet self-interest +would prevent his communicating the suspicions. To be brief, the two +went behind a hedge, and presently Israel emerged, presenting the most +forlorn appearance conceivable; while the old ditcher hobbled off in an +opposite direction, correspondingly improved in his aspect; though it +was rather ludicrous than otherwise, owing to the immense bagginess of +the sailor-trowsers flapping about his lean shanks, to say nothing of +the spare voluminousness of the pea-jacket. But Israel--how deplorable, +how dismal his plight! Little did he ween that these wretched rags he +now wore, were but suitable to that long career of destitution before +him: one brief career of adventurous wanderings; and then, forty torpid +years of pauperism. The coat was all patches. And no two patches were +alike, and no one patch was the color of the original cloth. The +stringless breeches gaped wide open at the knee; the long woollen +stockings looked as if they had been set up at some time for a target. +Israel looked suddenly metamorphosed from youth to old age; just like an +old man of eighty he looked. But, indeed, dull, dreary adversity was now +in store for him; and adversity, come it at eighteen or eighty, is the +true old age of man. The dress befitted the fate. + +From the friendly old ditcher, Israel learned the exact course he must +steer for London; distant now between seventy and eighty miles. He was +also apprised by his venerable friend, that the country was filled with +soldiers on the constant look-out for deserters whether from the navy or +army, for the capture of whom a stipulated reward was given, just as in +Massachusetts at that time for prowling bears. + +Having solemnly enjoined his old friend not to give any information, +should any one he meet inquire for such a person as Israel, our +adventurer walked briskly on, less heavy of heart, now that he felt +comparatively safe in disguise. + +Thirty miles were travelled that day. At night Israel stole into a barn, +in hopes of finding straw or hay for a bed. But it was spring; all the +hay and straw were gone. So after groping about in the dark, he was fain +to content himself with an undressed sheep-skin. Cold, hungry, +foot-sore, weary, and impatient for the morning dawn, Israel drearily +dozed out the night. + +By the first peep of day coming through the chinks of the barn, he was +up and abroad. Ere long finding himself in the suburbs of a considerable +village, the better to guard against detection he supplied himself with +a rude crutch, and feigning himself a cripple, hobbled straight through +the town, followed by a perverse-minded cur, which kept up a continual, +spiteful, suspicious bark. Israel longed to have one good rap at him +with his crutch, but thought it would hardly look in character for a +poor old cripple to be vindictive. + +A few miles further, and he came to a second village. While hobbling +through its main street, as through the former one, he was suddenly +stopped by a genuine cripple, all in tatters, too, who, with a +sympathetic air, inquired after the cause of his lameness. + +"White swelling," says Israel. + +"That's just my ailing," wheezed the other; "but you're lamer than me," +he added with a forlorn sort of self-satisfaction, critically eyeing +Israel's limp as once, more he stumped on his way, not liking to tarry +too long. + +"But halloo, what's your hurry, friend?" seeing Israel fairly +departing--"where're you going?" + +"To London," answered Israel, turning round, heartily wishing the old +fellow any where else than present. + +"Going to limp to Lunnun, eh? Well, success to ye." + +"As much to you, sir," answers Israel politely. + +Nigh the opposite suburbs of this village, as good fortune would have +it, an empty baggage-wagon bound for the metropolis turned into the main +road from a side one. Immediately Israel limps most deplorably, and begs +the driver to give a poor cripple a lift. So up he climbs; but after a +time, finding the gait of the elephantine draught-horses intolerably +slow, Israel craves permission to dismount, when, throwing away his +crutch, he takes nimbly to his legs, much to the surprise of his honest +friend the driver. + +The only advantage, if any, derived from his trip in the wagon, was, +when passing through a third village--but a little distant from the +previous one--Israel, by lying down in the wagon, had wholly avoided +being seen. + +The villages surprised him by their number and proximity. Nothing like +this was to be seen at home. Well knowing that in these villages he ran +much more risk of detection than in the open country, he henceforth did +his best to avoid them, by taking a roundabout course whenever they came +in sight from a distance. This mode of travelling not only lengthened +his journey, but put unlooked-for obstacles in his path--walls, ditches, +and streams. + +Not half an hour after throwing away his crutch, he leaped a great ditch +ten feet wide, and of undiscoverable muddy depth. I wonder if the old +cripple would think me the lamer one now, thought Israel to himself, +arriving on the hither side. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT OF +BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM. + + +At nightfall, on the third day, Israel had arrived within sixteen miles +of the capital. Once more he sought refuge in a barn. This time he found +some hay, and flinging himself down procured a tolerable night's rest. + +Bright and early he arose refreshed, with the pleasing prospect of +reaching his destination ere noon. Encouraged to find himself now so far +from his original pursuers, Israel relaxed in his vigilance, and about +ten o'clock, while passing through the town of Staines, suddenly +encountered three soldiers. Unfortunately in exchanging clothes with the +ditcher, he could not bring himself to include his shirt in the traffic, +which shirt was a British navy shirt, a bargeman's shirt, and though +hitherto he had crumpled the blue collar out of sight, yet, as it +appeared in the present instance, it was not thoroughly concealed. At +any rate, keenly on the look-out for deserters, and made acute by hopes +of reward for their apprehension, the soldiers spied the fatal collar, +and in an instant laid violent hands on the refugee. + +"Hey, lad!" said the foremost soldier, a corporal, "you are one of his +majesty's seamen! come along with ye." + +So, unable to give any satisfactory account of himself, he was made +prisoner on the spot, and soon after found himself handcuffed and locked +up in the Bound House of the place, a prison so called, appropriated to +runaways, and those convicted of minor offences. Day passed dinnerless +and supperless in this dismal durance, and night came on. + +Israel had now been three days without food, except one two-penny loaf. +The cravings of hunger now became sharper; his spirits, hitherto arming +him with fortitude, began to forsake him. Taken captive once again upon +the very brink of reaching his goal, poor Israel was on the eve of +falling into helpless despair. But he rallied, and considering that +grief would only add to his calamity, sought with stubborn patience to +habituate himself to misery, but still hold aloof from despondency. He +roused himself, and began to bethink him how to be extricated from this +labyrinth. + +Two hours sawing across the grating of the window, ridded him of his +handcuffs. Next came the door, secured luckily with only a hasp and +padlock. Thrusting the bolt of his handcuffs through a small window in +the door, he succeeded in forcing the hasp and regaining his liberty +about three o'clock in the morning. + +Not long after sunrise, he passed nigh Brentford, some six or seven +miles from the capital. So great was his hunger that downright +starvation seemed before him. He chewed grass, and swallowed it. Upon +first escaping from the hulk, six English pennies was all the money he +had. With two of these he had bought a small loaf the day after fleeing +the inn. The other four still remained in his pocket, not having met +with a good opportunity to dispose of them for food. + +Having torn off the collar of his shirt, and flung it into a hedge, he +ventured to accost a respectable carpenter at a pale fence, about a mile +this side of Brentford, to whom his deplorable situation now induced him +to apply for work. The man did not wish himself to hire, but said that +if he (Israel) understood farming or gardening, he might perhaps procure +work from Sir John Millet, whose seat, he said, was not remote. He added +that the knight was in the habit of employing many men at that season of +the year, so he stood a fair chance. + +Revived a little by this prospect of relief, Israel starts in quest of +the gentleman's seat, agreeably to the direction received. But he +mistook his way, and proceeding up a gravelled and beautifully decorated +walk, was terrified at catching a glimpse of a number of soldiers +thronging a garden. He made an instant retreat before being espied in +turn. No wild creature of the American wilderness could have been more +panic-struck by a firebrand, than at this period hunted Israel was by a +red coat. It afterwards appeared that this garden was the Princess +Amelia's. + +Taking another path, ere long he came to some laborers shovelling +gravel. These proved to be men employed by Sir John. By them he was +directed towards the house, when the knight was pointed out to him, +walking bare-headed in the inclosure with several guests. Having heard +the rich men of England charged with all sorts of domineering qualities, +Israel felt no little misgiving in approaching to an audience with so +imposing a stranger. But, screwing up his courage, he advanced; while +seeing him coming all rags and tatters, the group of gentlemen stood in +some wonder awaiting what so singular a phantom might want. + +"Mr. Millet," said Israel, bowing towards the bare-headed gentleman. + +"Ha,--who are you, pray?" + +"A poor fellow, sir, in want of work." + +"A wardrobe, too, I should say," smiled one of the guests, of a very +youthful, prosperous, and dandified air. + +"Where's your hoe?" said Sir John. + +"I have none, sir." + +"Any money to buy one?" + +"Only four English pennies, sir." + +"_English_ pennies. What other sort would you have?" + +"Why, China pennies to be sure," laughed the youthful gentleman. "See +his long, yellow hair behind; he looks like a Chinaman. Some broken-down +Mandarin. Pity he's no crown to his old hat; if he had, he might pass it +round, and make eight pennies of his four." + +"Will you hire me, Mr. Millet," said Israel. + +"Ha! that's queer again," cried the knight. + +"Hark ye, fellow," said a brisk servant, approaching from the porch, +"this is Sir John Millet." + +Seeming to take pity on his seeming ignorance, as well as on his +undisputable poverty, the good knight now told Israel that if he would +come the next morning he would see him supplied with a hoe, and moreover +would hire him. + +It would be hard to express the satisfaction of the wanderer at +receiving this encouraging reply. Emboldened by it, he now returns +towards a baker's he had spied, and bravely marching in, flings down all +four pennies, and demands bread. Thinking he would not have any more +food till next morning, Israel resolved to eat only one of the pair of +two-penny loaves. But having demolished one, it so sharpened his longing, +that yielding to the irresistible temptation, he bolted down the second +loaf to keep the other company. + +After resting under a hedge, he saw the sun far descended, and so +prepared himself for another hard night. Waiting till dark, he crawled +into an old carriage-house, finding nothing there but a dismantled old +phaeton. Into this he climbed, and curling himself up like a +carriage-dog, endeavored to sleep; but, unable to endure the constraint +of such a bed, got out, and stretched himself on the bare boards of the +floor. + +No sooner was light in the east than he fastened to await the commands +of one who, his instinct told him, was destined to prove his benefactor. +On his father's farm accustomed to rise with the lark, Israel was +surprised to discover, as he approached the house, that no soul was +astir. It was four o'clock. For a considerable time he walked back and +forth before the portal ere any one appeared. The first riser was a man +servant of the household, who informed Israel that seven o'clock was the +hour the people went to their work. Soon after he met an hostler of the +place, who gave him permission to lie on some straw in an outhouse. +There he enjoyed a sweet sleep till awakened at seven o'clock by the +sounds of activity around him. + +Supplied by the overseer of the men with a large iron fork and a hoe, +he followed the hands into the field. He was so weak he could hardly +support his tools. Unwilling to expose his debility, he yet could not +succeed in concealing it. At last, to avoid worse imputations, he +confessed the cause. His companions regarded him with compassion, and +exempted him from the severer toil. + +About noon the knight visited his workmen. Noticing that Israel made +little progress, he said to him, that though he had long arms and broad +shoulders, yet he was feigning himself to be a very weak man, or +otherwise must in reality be so. + +Hereupon one of the laborers standing by informed the gentleman how it +was with Israel, when immediately the knight put a shilling into his +hands and bade him go to a little roadside inn, which was nearer than +the house, and buy him bread and a pot of beer. Thus refreshed he +returned to the band, and toiled with them till four o'clock, when the +day's work was over. + +Arrived at the house he there again saw his employer, who, after +attentively eyeing him without speaking, bade a meal be prepared for +him, when the maid presenting a smaller supply than her kind master +deemed necessary, she was ordered to return and bring out the entire +dish. But aware of the danger of sudden repletion of heavy food to one +in his condition, Israel, previously recruited by the frugal meal at the +inn, partook but sparingly. The repast was spread on the grass, and +being over, the good knight again looking inquisitively at Israel, +ordered a comfortable bed to be laid in the barn, and here Israel spent +a capital night. + +After breakfast, next morning, he was proceeding to go with the laborers +to their work, when his employer approaching him with a benevolent air, +bade him return to his couch, and there remain till he had slept his +fill, and was in a better state to resume his labors. + +Upon coming forth again a little after noon, he found Sir John walking +alone in the grounds. Upon discovering him, Israel would have retreated, +fearing that he might intrude; but beckoning him to advance, the knight, +as Israel drew nigh, fixed on him such a penetrating glance, that our +poor hero quaked to the core. Neither was his dread of detection +relieved by the knight's now calling in a loud voice for one from the +house. Israel was just on the point of fleeing, when overhearing the +words of the master to the servant who now appeared, all dread departed: + +"Bring hither some wine!" + +It presently came; by order of the knight the salver was set down on a +green bank near by, and the servant retired. + +"My poor fellow," said Sir John, now pouring out a glass of wine, and +handing it to Israel, "I perceive that you are an American; and, if I +am not mistaken, you are an escaped prisoner of war. But no fear--drink +the wine." + +"Mr. Millet," exclaimed Israel aghast, the untasted wine trembling in +his hand, "Mr. Millet, I--" + +"_Mr_. Millet--there it is again. Why don't you say _Sir John_ like the +rest?" + +"Why, sir--pardon me--but somehow, I can't. I've tried; but I can't. You +won't betray me for that?" + +"Betray--poor fellow! Hark ye, your history is doubtless a secret which +you would not wish to divulge to a stranger; but whatever happens to +you, I pledge you my honor I will never betray you." + +"God bless you for that, Mr. Millet." + +"Come, come; call me by my right name. I am not Mr. Millet. _You_ have +said _Sir_ to me; and no doubt you have a thousand times said _John_ to +other people. Now can't you couple the two? Try once. Come. Only _Sir_ +and then _John_--_Sir John_--that's all." + +"John--I can't--Sir, sir!--your pardon. I didn't mean that." + +"My good fellow," said the knight looking sharply upon Israel, "tell me, +are all your countrymen like you? If so, it's no use fighting them. To +that effect, I must write to his Majesty myself. Well, I excuse you from +Sir Johnning me. But tell me the truth, are you not a seafaring man, and +lately a prisoner of war?" + +Israel frankly confessed it, and told his whole story. The knight +listened with much interest; and at its conclusion, warned Israel to +beware of the soldiers; for owing to the seats of some of the royal +family being in the neighborhood, the red-coats abounded hereabout. + +"I do not wish unnecessarily to speak against my own countrymen," he +added, "I but plainly speak for your good. The soldiers you meet +prowling on the roads, are not fair specimens of the army. They are a +set of mean, dastardly banditti, who, to obtain their fee, would betray +their best friends. Once more, I warn you against them. But enough; +follow me now to the house, and as you tell me you have exchanged +clothes before now, you can do it again. What say you? I will give you +coat and breeches for your rags." + +Thus generously supplied with clothes and other comforts by the good +knight, and implicitly relying upon the honor of so kind-hearted a man, +Israel cheered up, and in the course of two or three weeks had so +fattened his flanks, that he was able completely to fill Sir John's old +buckskin breeches, which at first had hung but loosely about him. + +He was assigned to an occupation which removed him from the other +workmen. The strawberry bed was put under his sole charge. And often, of +mild, sunny afternoons, the knight, genial and gentle with dinner, would +stroll bare-headed to the pleasant strawberry bed, and have nice little +confidential chats with Israel; while Israel, charmed by the patriarchal +demeanor of this true Abrahamic gentleman, with a smile on his lip, and +tears of gratitude in his eyes, offered him, from time to time, the +plumpest berries of the bed. + +When the strawberry season was over, other parts of the grounds were +assigned him. And so six months elapsed, when, at the recommendation of +Sir John, Israel procured a good berth in the garden of the Princess +Amelia. + +So completely now had recent events metamorphosed him in all outward +things, that few suspected him of being any other than an Englishman. +Not even the knight's domestics. But in the princess's garden, being +obliged to work in company with many other laborers, the war was often +a topic of discussion among them. And "the d--d Yankee rebels" were not +seldom the object of scurrilous remark. Illy could the exile brook in +silence such insults upon the country for which he had bled, and for +whose honored sake he was that very instant a sufferer. More than once, +his indignation came very nigh getting the better of his prudence. He +longed for the war to end, that he might but speak a little bit of his +mind. + +Now the superintendent of the garden was a harsh, overbearing man. The +workmen with tame servility endured his worst affronts. But Israel, bred +among mountains, found it impossible to restrain himself when made the +undeserved object of pitiless epithets. Ere two months went by, he +quitted the service of the princess, and engaged himself to a farmer in +a small village not far from Brentford. But hardly had he been here +three weeks, when a rumor again got afloat that he was a Yankee prisoner +of war. Whence this report arose he could never discover. No sooner did +it reach the ears of the soldiers, than they were on the alert. Luckily, +Israel was apprised of their intentions in time. But he was hard pushed. +He was hunted after with a perseverance worthy a less ignoble cause. He +had many hairbreadth escapes. Most assuredly he would have been +captured, had it not been for the secret good offices of a few +individuals, who, perhaps, were not unfriendly to the American side of +the question, though they durst not avow it. + +Tracked one night by the soldiers to the house of one of these friends, +in whose garret he was concealed, he was obliged to force the skuttle, +and running along the roof, passed to those of adjoining houses to the +number of ten or twelve, finally succeeding in making his escape. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ISRAEL IN THE LION'S DEN. + + +Harassed day and night, hunted from food and sleep, driven from hole to +hole like a fox in the woods, with no chance to earn an hour's wages, he +was at last advised by one whose sincerity he could not doubt, to apply, +on the good word of Sir John Millet, for a berth as laborer in the +King's Gardens at Kew. There, it was said, he would be entirely safe, as +no soldier durst approach those premises to molest any soul therein +employed. It struck the poor exile as curious, that the very den of the +British lion, the private grounds of the British King, should be +commended to a refugee as his securest asylum. + +His nativity carefully concealed, and being personally introduced to the +chief gardener by one who well knew him; armed, too, with a line from +Sir John, and recommended by his introducer as uncommonly expert at +horticulture; Israel was soon installed as keeper of certain less +private plants and walks of the park. + +It was here, to one of his near country retreats, that, coming from +perplexities of state--leaving far behind him the dingy old bricks of +St. James--George the Third was wont to walk up and down beneath the +long arbors formed by the interlockings of lofty trees. + +More than once, raking the gravel, Israel through intervening foliage +would catch peeps in some private but parallel walk, of that lonely +figure, not more shadowy with overhanging leaves than with the shade of +royal meditations. + +Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometimes invade the best human +heart. Seeing the monarch unguarded before him; remembering that the war +was imputed more to the self-will of the King than to the willingness of +parliament or the nation; and calling to mind all his own sufferings +growing out of that war, with all the calamities of his country; dim +impulses, such as those to which the regicide Ravaillae yielded, would +shoot balefully across the soul of the exile. But thrusting Satan behind +him, Israel vanquished all such temptations. Nor did these ever more +disturb him, after his one chance conversation with the monarch. + +As he was one day gravelling a little by-walk, wrapped in thought, the +King turning a clump of bushes, suddenly brushed Israel's person. + +Immediately Israel touched his hat--but did not remove it--bowed, and +was retiring; when something in his air arrested the King's attention. + +"You ain't an Englishman,--no Englishman--no, no." + +Pale as death, Israel tried to answer something; but knowing not what to +say, stood frozen to the ground. + +"You are a Yankee--a Yankee," said the King again in his rapid and +half-stammering way. + +Again Israel assayed to reply, but could not. What could he say? Could +he lie to a King? + +"Yes, yes,--you are one of that stubborn race,--that very stubborn race. +What brought you here?" + +"The fate of war, sir." + +"May it please your Majesty," said a low cringing voice, approaching, +"this man is in the walk against orders. There is some mistake, may it +please your Majesty. Quit the walk, blockhead," he hissed at Israel. + +It was one of the junior gardeners who thus spoke. It seems that Israel +had mistaken his directions that morning. + +"Slink, you dog," hissed the gardener again to Israel; then aloud to the +King, "A mistake of the man, I assure your Majesty." + +"Go you away--away with ye, and leave him with me," said the king. + +Waiting a moment, till the man was out of hearing, the king again turned +upon Israel. + +"Were you at Bunker Hill?--that bloody Bunker Hill--eh, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Fought like a devil--like a very devil, I suppose?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Helped flog--helped flog my soldiers?" + +"Yes, sir; but very sorry to do it." + +"Eh?--eh?--how's that?" + +"I took it to be my sad duty, sir." + +"Very much mistaken--very much mistaken, indeed. Why do ye sir me?--eh? +I'm your king--your king." + +"Sir," said Israel firmly, but with deep respect, "I have no king." + +The king darted his eye incensedly for a moment; but without quailing, +Israel, now that all was out, still stood with mute respect before him. +The king, turning suddenly, walked rapidly away from Israel a moment, +but presently returning with a less hasty pace, said, "You are rumored +to be a spy--a spy, or something of that sort--ain't you? But I know you +are not--no, no. You are a runaway prisoner of war, eh? You have sought +this place to be safe from pursuit, eh? eh? Is it not so?--eh? eh? eh?" + +"Sir, it is." + +"Well, ye're an honest rebel--rebel, yes, rebel. Hark ye, hark. Say +nothing of this talk to any one. And hark again. So long as you remain +here at Kew, I shall see that you are safe--safe." + +"God bless your Majesty!" + +"Eh?" + +"God bless your noble Majesty?" + +"Come--come--come," smiled the king in delight, "I thought I could +conquer ye--conquer ye." + +"Not the king, but the king's kindness, your Majesty." + +"Join my army--army." + +Sadly looking down, Israel silently shook his head. + +"You won't? Well, gravel the walk then--gravel away. Very stubborn +race--very stubborn race, indeed--very--very--very." + +And still growling, the magnanimous lion departed. How the monarch came +by his knowledge of so humble an exile, whether through that swift +insight into individual character said to form one of the miraculous +qualities transmitted with a crown, or whether some of the rumors +prevailing outside of the garden had come to his ear, Israel could never +determine. Very probably, though, the latter was the case, inasmuch as +some vague shadowy report of Israel not being an Englishman, had, a +little previous to his interview with the king, been communicated to +several of the inferior gardeners. Without any impeachment of Israel's +fealty to his country, it must still be narrated, that from this his +familiar audience with George the Third, he went away with very +favorable views of that monarch. Israel now thought that it could not be +the warm heart of the king, but the cold heads of his lords in council, +that persuaded him so tyrannically to persecute America. Yet hitherto +the precise contrary of this had been Israel's opinion, agreeably to the +popular prejudice throughout New England. + +Thus we see what strange and powerful magic resides in a crown, and how +subtly that cheap and easy magnanimity, which in private belongs to most +kings, may operate on good-natured and unfortunate souls. Indeed, had it +not been for the peculiar disinterested fidelity of our adventurer's +patriotism, he would have soon sported the red coat; and perhaps under +the immediate patronage of his royal friend, been advanced in time to no +mean rank in the army of Britain. Nor in that case would we have had to +follow him, as at last we shall, through long, long years of obscure and +penurious wandering. + +Continuing in the service of the king's gardeners at Kew, until a +season came when the work of the garden required a less number of +laborers, Israel, with several others, was discharged; and the day +after, engaged himself for a few months to a farmer in the neighborhood +where he had been last employed. But hardly a week had gone by, when the +old story of his being a rebel, or a runaway prisoner, or a Yankee, or a +spy, began to be revived with added malignity. Like bloodhounds, the +soldiers were once more on the track. The houses where he harbored were +many times searched; but thanks to the fidelity of a few earnest +well-wishers, and to his own unsleeping vigilance and activity, the +hunted fox still continued to elude apprehension. To such extremities of +harassment, however, did this incessant pursuit subject him, that in a +fit of despair he was about to surrender himself, and submit to his +fate, when Providence seasonably interposed in his favor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE +OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE "DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY," THESE +DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE CHANNEL. + + +At this period, though made the victims indeed of British oppression, +yet the colonies were not totally without friends in Britain. It was but +natural that when Parliament itself held patriotic and gifted men, who +not only recommended conciliatory measures, but likewise denounced the +war as monstrous; it was but natural that throughout the nation at large +there should be many private individuals cherishing similar sentiments, +and some who made no scruple clandestinely to act upon them. + +Late one night while hiding in a farmer's granary, Israel saw a man with +a lantern approaching. He was about to flee, when the man hailed him in +a well-known voice, bidding him have no fear. It was the farmer himself. +He carried a message to Israel from a gentleman of Brentford, to the +effect, that the refugee was earnestly requested to repair on the +following evening to that gentleman's mansion. + +At first, Israel was disposed to surmise that either the farmer was +playing him false, or else his honest credulity had been imposed upon by +evil-minded persons. At any rate, he regarded the message as a decoy, +and for half an hour refused to credit its sincerity. But at length he +was induced to think a little better of it. The gentleman giving the +invitation was one Squire Woodcock, of Brentford, whose loyalty to the +king had been under suspicion; so at least the farmer averred. This +latter information was not without its effect. + +At nightfall on the following day, being disguised in strange clothes by +the farmer, Israel stole from his retreat, and after a few hours' walk, +arrived before the ancient brick house of the Squire; who opening the +door in person, and learning who it was that stood there, at once +assured Israel in the most solemn manner, that no foul play was +intended. So the wanderer suffered himself to enter, and be conducted +to a private chamber in the rear of the mansion, where were seated two +other gentlemen, attired, in the manner of that age, in long laced +coats, with small-clothes, and shoes with silver buckles. + +"I am John Woodcock," said the host, "and these gentlemen are Horne +Tooke and James Bridges. All three of us are friends to America. We have +heard of you for some weeks past, and inferring from your conduct, that +you must be a Yankee of the true blue stamp, we have resolved to employ +you in a way which you cannot but gladly approve; for surely, though an +exile, you are still willing to serve your country; if not as a sailor +or soldier, yet as a traveller?" + +"Tell me how I may do it?" demanded Israel, not completely at ease. + +"At that in good time," smiled the Squire. "The point is now--do you +repose confidence in my statements?" + +Israel glanced inquiringly upon the Squire; then upon his companions; +and meeting the expressive, enthusiastic, candid countenance of Horne +Tooke--then in the first honest ardor of his political career--turned +to the Squire, and said, "Sir, I believe what you have said. Tell me now +what I am to do." + +"Oh, there is just nothing to be done to-night," said the Squire; "nor +for some days to come perhaps, but we wanted to have you prepared." + +And hereupon he hinted to his guest rather vaguely of his general +intention; and that over, begged him to entertain them with some account +of his adventures since he first took up arms for his country. To this +Israel had no objections in the world, since all men love to tell the +tale of hardships endured in a righteous cause. But ere beginning his +story, the Squire refreshed him with some cold beef, laid in a snowy +napkin, and a glass of Perry, and thrice during the narration of the +adventures, pressed him with additional draughts. + +But after his second glass, Israel declined to drink more, mild as the +beverage was. For he noticed, that not only did the three gentlemen +listen with the utmost interest to his story, but likewise +interrupted him with questions and cross-questions in the most +pertinacious manner. So this led him to be on his guard, not being +absolutely certain yet, as to who they might really be, or what was +their real design. But as it turned out, Squire Woodcock and his friends +only sought to satisfy themselves thoroughly, before making their final +disclosures, that the exile was one in whom implicit confidence might be +placed. + +And to this desirable conclusion they eventually came, for upon the +ending of Israel's story, after expressing their sympathies for his +hardships, and applauding his generous patriotism in so patiently +enduring adversity, as well as singing the praises of his gallant +fellow-soldiers of Bunker Hill, they openly revealed their scheme. They +wished to know whether Israel would undertake a trip to Paris, to carry +an important message--shortly to be received for transmission through +them--to Doctor Franklin, then in that capital. + +"All your expenses shall be paid, not to speak of a compensation +besides," said the Squire; "will you go?" + +"I must think of it," said Israel, not yet wholly confirmed in his mind. +But once more he cast his glance on Horne Tooke, and his irresolution +was gone. + +The Squire now informed Israel that, to avoid suspicions, it would be +necessary for him to remove to another place until the hour at which he +should start for Paris. They enjoined upon him the profoundest secresy, +gave him a guinea, with a letter for a gentleman in White Waltham, a +town some miles from Brentford, which point they begged him to reach +as soon as possible, there to tarry for further instructions. + +Having informed him of thus much, Squire Woodcock asked him to hold out +his right foot. + +"What for?" said Israel. + +"Why, would you not like to have a pair of new boots against your +return?" smiled Home Tooke. + +"Oh, yes; no objection at all," said, Israel. + +"Well, then, let the bootmaker measure you," smiled Horne Tooke. + +"Do _you_ do it, Mr. Tooke," said the Squire; "you measure men's parts +better than I." + +"Hold out your foot, my good friend," said Horne Tooke--"there--now +let's measure your heart." + +"For that, measure me round the chest," said Israel. + +"Just the man we want," said Mr. Bridges, triumphantly. + +"Give him another glass of wine, Squire," said Horne Tooke. + +Exchanging the farmer's clothes for still another disguise, Israel now +set out immediately, on foot, for his destination, having received +minute directions as to his road, and arriving in White Waltham on the +following morning was very cordially received by the gentleman to whom +he carried the letter. This person, another of the active English +friends of America, possessed a particular knowledge of late events in +that land. To him Israel was indebted for much entertaining information. +After remaining some ten days at this place, word came from Squire +Woodcock, requiring Israel's immediate return, stating the hour at which +he must arrive at the house, namely, two o'clock on the following +morning. So, after another night's solitary trudge across the country, +the wanderer was welcomed by the same three gentlemen as before, seated +in the same room. + +"The time has now come," said Squire Woodcock. "You must start this +morning for Paris. Take off your shoes." + +"Am I to steal from here to Paris on my stocking-feet?" said Israel, +whose late easy good living at White Waltham had not failed to bring out +the good-natured and mirthful part of him, even as his prior experiences +had produced, for the most part, something like a contrary result. + +"Oh, no," smiled Horne Tooke, who always lived well, "we have +seven-league-boots for you. Don't you remember my measuring you?" + +Hereupon going to the closet, the Squire brought out a pair of new +boots. They were fitted with false heels. Unscrewing these, the Squire +showed Israel the papers concealed beneath. They were of a fine tissuey +fibre, and contained much writing in a very small compass. The boots, it +need hardly be said, had been particularly made for the occasion. + +"Walk across the room with them," said the Squire, when Israel had +pulled them on. + +"He'll surely be discovered," smiled Horne Tooke. "Hark how he creaks." + +"Come, come, it's too serious a matter for joking," said the Squire. +"Now, my fine fellow, be cautious, be sober, be vigilant, and above all +things be speedy." + +Being furnished now with all requisite directions, and a supply of +money, Israel, taking leave of Mr. Tooke and Mr. Bridges, was secretly +conducted down stairs by the Squire, and in five minutes' time was on +his way to Charing Cross in London, where taking the post-coach for +Dover, he thence went in a packet to Calais, and in fifteen minutes +after landing, was being wheeled over French soil towards Paris. He +arrived there in safety, and freely declaring himself an American, the +peculiarly friendly relations of the two nations at that period, +procured him kindly attentions even from strangers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE PRESENCE +OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND +MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED. + + +Following the directions given him at the place where the diligence +stopped, Israel was crossing the Pont Neuf, to find Doctor Franklin, +when he was suddenly called to by a man standing on one side of the +bridge, just under the equestrian statue of Henry IV. + +The man had a small, shabby-looking box before him on the ground, with +a box of blacking on one side of it, and several shoe-brushes upon the +other. Holding another brush in his hand, he politely seconded his +verbal invitation by gracefully flourishing the brush in the air. + +"What do you want of me, neighbor?" said Israel, pausing in somewhat +uneasy astonishment. + +"Ah, Monsieur," exclaimed the man, and with voluble politeness he ran +on with a long string of French, which of course was all Greek to poor +Israel. But what his language failed to convey, his gestures now made +very plain. Pointing to the wet muddy state of the bridge, splashed by +a recent rain, and then to the feet of the wayfarer, and lastly to the +brush in his hand, he appeared to be deeply regretting that a gentleman +of Israel's otherwise imposing appearance should be seen abroad with +unpolished boots, offering at the same time to remove their blemishes. + +"Ah, Monsieur, Monsieur," cried the man, at last running up to Israel. +And with tender violence he forced him towards the box, and lifting this +unwilling customer's right foot thereon, was proceeding vigorously to +work, when suddenly illuminated by a dreadful suspicion, Israel, +fetching the box a terrible kick, took to his false heels and ran like +mad over the bridge. + +Incensed that his politeness should receive such an ungracious return, +the man pursued, which but confirming Israel in his suspicions he ran +all the faster, and thanks to his fleetness, soon succeeded in escaping +his pursuer. + +Arrived at last at the street and the house to which he had been +directed, in reply to his summons, the gate very strangely of itself +swung open, and much astonished at this unlooked-for sort of +enchantment, Israel entered a wide vaulted passage leading to an open +court within. While he was wondering that no soul appeared, suddenly he +was hailed from a dark little window, where sat an old man cobbling +shoes, while an old woman standing by his side was thrusting her head +into the passage, intently eyeing the stranger. They proved to be the +porter and portress, the latter of whom, upon hearing his summons, had +invisibly thrust open the gate to Israel, by means of a spring +communicating with the little apartment. + +Upon hearing the name of Doctor Franklin mentioned, the old woman, all +alacrity, hurried out of her den, and with much courtesy showed Israel +across the court, up three flights of stairs to a door in the rear of +the spacious building. There she left him while Israel knocked. + +"Come in," said a voice. + +And immediately Israel stood in the presence of the venerable Doctor +Franklin. + +Wrapped in a rich dressing-gown, a fanciful present from an admiring +Marchesa, curiously embroidered with algebraic figures like a conjuror's +robe, and with a skull-cap of black satin on his hive of a head, the man +of gravity was seated at a huge claw-footed old table, round as the +zodiac. It was covered with printer papers, files of documents, rolls of +manuscript, stray bits of strange models in wood and metal, odd-looking +pamphlets in various languages, and all sorts of books, including many +presentation-copies, embracing history, mechanics, diplomacy, +agriculture, political economy, metaphysics, meteorology, and geometry. +The walls had a necromantic look, hung round with barometers of +different kinds, drawings of surprising inventions, wide maps of far +countries in the New World, containing vast empty spaces in the middle, +with the word DESERT diffusely printed there, so as to span +five-and-twenty degrees of longitude with only two syllables,--which +printed word, however, bore a vigorous pen-mark, in the Doctor's hand, +drawn straight through it, as if in summary repeal of it; crowded +topographical and trigonometrical charts of various parts of Europe; +with geometrical diagrams, and endless other surprising hangings and +upholstery of science. + +The chamber itself bore evident marks of antiquity. One part of the +rough-finished wall was sadly cracked, and covered with dust, looked dim +and dark. But the aged inmate, though wrinkled as well, looked neat and +hale. Both wall and sage were compounded of like materials,--lime and +dust; both, too, were old; but while the rude earth of the wall had no +painted lustre to shed off all fadings and tarnish, and still keep fresh +without, though with long eld its core decayed: the living lime and dust +of the sage was frescoed with defensive bloom of his soul. + +The weather was warm; like some old West India hogshead on the wharf, +the whole chamber buzzed with flies. But the sapient inmate sat still +and cool in the midst. Absorbed in some other world of his occupations +and thoughts, these insects, like daily cark and care, did not seem one +whit to annoy him. It was a goodly sight to see this serene, cool and +ripe old philosopher, who by sharp inquisition of man in the street, and +then long meditating upon him, surrounded by all those queer old +implements, charts and books, had grown at last so wondrous wise. There +he sat, quite motionless among those restless flies; and, with a sound +like the low noon murmur of foliage in the woods, turning over the +leaves of some ancient and tattered folio, with a binding dark and +shaggy as the bark of any old oak. It seemed as if supernatural lore +must needs pertain to this gravely, ruddy personage; at least far +foresight, pleasant wit, and working wisdom. Old age seemed in no wise +to have dulled him, but to have sharpened; just as old dinner-knives--so +they be of good steel--wax keen, spear-pointed, and elastic as +whale-bone with long usage. Yet though he was thus lively and vigorous +to behold, spite of his seventy-two years (his exact date at that time) +somehow, the incredible seniority of an antediluvian seemed his. Not the +years of the calendar wholly, but also the years of sapience. His white +hairs and mild brow, spoke of the future as well as the past. He seemed +to be seven score years old; that is, three score and ten of prescience +added to three score and ten of remembrance, makes just seven score +years in all. + +But when Israel stepped within the chamber, he lost the complete effect +of all this; for the sage's back, not his face, was turned to him. + +So, intent on his errand, hurried and heated with his recent run, our +courier entered the room, inadequately impressed, for the time, by +either it or its occupant. + +"Bon jour, bon jour, monsieur," said the man of wisdom, in a cheerful +voice, but too busy to turn round just then. + +"How do you do, Doctor Franklin?" said Israel. + +"Ah! I smell Indian corn," said the Doctor, turning round quickly on his +chair. "A countryman; sit down, my good sir. Well, what news? Special?" + +"Wait a minute, sir," said Israel, stepping across the room towards a +chair. + +Now there was no carpet on the floor, which was of dark-colored wood, +set in lozenges, and slippery with wax, after the usual French style. +As Israel walked this slippery floor, his unaccustomed feet slid about +very strangely as if walking on ice, so that he came very near falling. + +"'Pears to me you have rather high heels to your boots," said the grave +man of utility, looking sharply down through his spectacles; "don't you +know that it's both wasting leather and endangering your limbs, to wear +such high heels? I have thought, at my first leisure, to write a little +pamphlet against that very abuse. But pray, what are you doing now? Do +your boots pinch you, my friend, that you lift one foot from the floor +that way?" + +At this moment, Israel having seated himself, was just putting his right +foot across his left knee. + +"How foolish," continued the wise man, "for a rational creature to wear +tight boots. Had nature intended rational creatures should do so, she +would have made the foot of solid bone, or perhaps of solid iron, +instead of bone, muscle, and flesh,--But,--I see. Hold!" + +And springing to his own slippered feet, the venerable sage hurried to +the door and shot-to the bolt. Then drawing the curtain carefully across +the window looking out across the court to various windows on the +opposite side, bade Israel proceed with his operations. + +"I was mistaken this time," added the Doctor, smiling, as Israel +produced his documents from their curious recesses--"your high heels, +instead of being idle vanities, seem to be full of meaning." + +"Pretty full, Doctor," said Israel, now handing over the papers. "I had +a narrow escape with them just now." + +"How? How's that?" said the sage, fumbling the papers eagerly. + +"Why, crossing the stone bridge there over the _Seen_"-- + +"_Seine_"--interrupted the Doctor, giving the French +pronunciation.--"Always get a new word right in the first place, +my friend, and you will never get it wrong afterwards." + +"Well, I was crossing the bridge there, and who should hail me, but +a suspicious-looking man, who, under pretence of seeking to polish my +boots, wanted slyly to unscrew their heels, and so steal all these +precious papers I've brought you." + +"My good friend," said the man of gravity, glancing scrutinizingly upon +his guest, "have you not in your time, undergone what they call hard +times? Been set upon, and persecuted, and very illy entreated by some of +your fellow-creatures?" + +"That I have, Doctor; yes, indeed." + +"I thought so. Sad usage has made you sadly suspicious, my honest +friend. An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst +consequence of a miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence +or guilt. And though want of suspicion more than want of sense, +sometimes leads a man into harm, yet too much suspicion is as bad as too +little sense. The man you met, my friend, most probably had no artful +intention; he knew just nothing about you or your heels; he simply +wanted to earn two sous by brushing your boots. Those blacking-men +regularly station themselves on the bridge." + +"How sorry I am then that I knocked over his box, and then ran away. +But he didn't catch me." + +"How? surely, my honest friend, you--appointed to the conveyance of +important secret dispatches--did not act so imprudently as to kick over +an innocent man's box in the public streets of the capital, to which you +had been especially sent?" + +"Yes, I did, Doctor." + +"Never act so unwisely again. If the police had got hold of you, think +of what might have ensued." + +"Well, it was not very wise of me, that's a fact, Doctor. But, you see, +I thought he meant mischief." + +"And because you only thought he _meant_ mischief, _you_ must +straightway proceed to _do_ mischief. That's poor logic. But think over +what I have told you now, while I look over these papers." + +In half an hour's time, the Doctor, laying down the documents, again +turned towards Israel, and removing his spectacles very placidly, +proceeded in the kindest and most familiar manner to read him a paternal +detailed lesson upon the ill-advised act he had been guilty of, upon the +Pont Neuf; concluding by taking out his purse, and putting three small +silver coins into Israel's hands, charging him to seek out the man that +very day, and make both apology and restitution for his unlucky mistake. + +"All of us, my honest friend," continued the Doctor, "are subject to +making mistakes; so that the chief art of life, is to learn how best to +remedy mistakes. Now one remedy for mistakes is honesty. So pay the man +for the damage done to his box. And now, who are you, my friend? My +correspondents here mention your name--Israel Potter--and say you are an +American, an escaped prisoner of war, but nothing further. I want to +hear your story from your own lips." + +Israel immediately began, and related to the Doctor all his adventures +up to the present time. + +"I suppose," said the Doctor, upon Israel's concluding, "that you desire +to return to your friends across the sea?" + +"That I do, Doctor," said Israel. + +"Well, I think I shall be able to procure you a passage." + +Israel's eyes sparkled with delight. The mild sage noticed it, and +added: "But events in these times are uncertain. At the prospect of +pleasure never be elated; but, without depression, respect the omens of +ill. So much my life has taught me, my honest friend." + +Israel felt as though a plum-pudding had been thrust under his nostrils, +and then as rapidly withdrawn. + +"I think it is probable that in two or three days I shall want you to +return with some papers to the persons who sent you to me. In that case +you will have to come here once more, and then, my good friend, we will +see what can be done towards getting you safely home again." + +Israel was pouring out torrents of thanks when the Doctor interrupted +him. + +"Gratitude, my friend, cannot be too much towards God, but towards man, +it should be limited. No man can possibly so serve his fellow, as to +merit unbounded gratitude. Over gratitude in the helped person, is apt +to breed vanity or arrogance in the helping one. Now in assisting you +to get home--if indeed I shall prove able to do so--I shall be simply +doing part of my official duty as agent of our common country. So you +owe me just nothing at all, but the sum of these coins I put in your +hand just now. But that, instead of repaying to me hereafter, you can, +when you get home, give to the first soldier's widow you meet. Don't +forget it, for it is a debt, a pecuniary liability, owing to me. It will +be about a quarter of a dollar, in the Yankee currency. A quarter of a +dollar, mind. My honest friend, in pecuniary matters always be exact as +a second-hand; never mind with whom it is, father or stranger, peasant +or king, be exact to a tick of your honor." + +"Well, Doctor," said Israel, "since exactness in these matters is so +necessary, let me pay back my debt in the very coins in which it was +loaned. There will be no chance of mistake then. Thanks to my Brentford +friends, I have enough to spare of my own, to settle damages with the +boot-black of the bridge. I only took the money from you, because I +thought it would not look well to push it back after being so kindly +offered." + +"My honest friend," said the Doctor, "I like your straightforward +dealing. I will receive back the money." + +"No interest, Doctor, I hope," said Israel. + +The sage looked mildly over his spectacles upon Israel and replied: "My +good friend, never permit yourself to be jocose upon pecuniary matters. +Never joke at funerals, or during business transactions. The affair +between us two, you perhaps deem very trivial, but trifles may involve +momentous principles. But no more at present. You had better go +immediately and find the boot-black. Having settled with him, return +hither, and you will find a room ready for you near this, where you will +stay during your sojourn in Paris." + +"But I thought I would like to have a little look round the town, before +I go back to England," said Israel. + +"Business before pleasure, my friend. You must absolutely remain in your +room, just as if you were my prisoner, until you quit Paris for Calais. +Not knowing now at what instant I shall want you to start, your keeping +to your room is indispensable. But when you come back from Brentford +again, then, if nothing happens, you will have a chance to survey this +celebrated capital ere taking ship for America. Now go directly, and pay +the boot-black. Stop, have you the exact change ready? Don't be taking +out all your money in the open street." + +"Doctor," said Israel, "I am not so simple." + +"But you knocked over the box." + +"That, Doctor, was bravery." + +"Bravery in a poor cause, is the height of simplicity, my friend.--Count +out your change. It must be French coin, not English, that you are to +pay the man with.--Ah, that will do--those three coins will be enough. +Put them in a pocket separate from your other cash. Now go, and hasten +to the bridge." + +"Shall I stop to take a meal anywhere, Doctor, as I return? I saw +several cookshops as I came hither." + +"Cafes and restaurants, they are called here, my honest friend. Tell +me, are you the possessor of a liberal fortune?" + +"Not very liberal," said Israel. + +"I thought as much. Where little wine is drunk, it is good to dine out +occasionally at a friend's; but where a poor man dines out at his own +charge, it is bad policy. Never dine out that way, when you can dine in. +Do not stop on the way at all, my honest friend, but come directly back +hither, and you shall dine at home, free of cost, with me." + +"Thank you very kindly, Doctor." + +And Israel departed for the Pont Neuf. Succeeding in his errand thither, +he returned to Dr. Franklin, and found that worthy envoy waiting his +attendance at a meal, which, according to the Doctor's custom, had been +sent from a neighboring restaurant. There were two covers; and without +attendance the host and guest sat down. There was only one principal +dish, lamb boiled with green peas. Bread and potatoes made up the rest. +A decanter-like bottle of uncolored glass, filled with some uncolored +beverage, stood at the venerable envoy's elbow. + +"Let me fill your glass," said the sage. + +"It's white wine, ain't it?" said Israel. + +"White wine of the very oldest brand; I drink your health in it, my +honest friend." + +"Why, it's plain water," said Israel, now tasting it. + +"Plain water is a very good drink for plain men," replied the wise man. + +"Yes," said Israel, "but Squire Woodcock gave me perry, and the other +gentleman at White Waltham gave me port, and some other friends have +given me brandy." + +"Very good, my honest friend; if you like perry and port and brandy, +wait till you get back to Squire Woodcock, and the gentleman at White +Waltham, and the other friends, and you shall drink perry and port and +brandy. But while you are with me, you will drink plain water." + +"So it seems, Doctor." + +"What do you suppose a glass of port costs?" + +"About three pence English, Doctor." + +"That must be poor port. But how much good bread will three pence +English purchase?" + +"Three penny rolls, Doctor." + +"How many glasses of port do you suppose a man may drink at a meal?" + +"The gentleman at White Waltham drank a bottle at a dinner." + +"A bottle contains just thirteen glasses--that's thirty-nine pence, +supposing it poor wine. If something of the best, which is the only sort +any sane man should drink, as being the least poisonous, it would be +quadruple that sum, which is one hundred and fifty-six pence, which is +seventy-eight two-penny loaves. Now, do you not think that for one man +to swallow down seventy-two two-penny rolls at one meal is rather +extravagant business?" + +"But he drank a bottle of wine; he did not eat seventy-two two-penny +rolls, Doctor." + +"He drank the money worth of seventy-two loaves, which is drinking the +loaves themselves; for money is bread." + +"But he has plenty of money to spare, Doctor." + +"To have to spare, is to have to give away. Does the gentleman give much +away?" + +"Not that I know of, Doctor." + +"Then he thinks he has nothing to spare; and thinking he has nothing to +spare, and yet prodigally drinking down his money as he does every day, +it seems to me that that gentleman stands self-contradicted, and +therefore is no good example for plain sensible folks like you and me to +follow. My honest friend, if you are poor, avoid wine as a costly +luxury; if you are rich, shun it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain +water. And now, my good friend, if you are through with your meal, we +will rise. There is no pastry coming. Pastry is poisoned bread. Never +eat pastry. Be a plain man, and stick to plain things. Now, my friend, I +shall have to be private until nine o'clock in the evening, when I shall +be again at your service. Meantime you may go to your room. I have +ordered the one next to this to be prepared for you. But you must not be +idle. Here is Poor Richard's Almanac, which, in view of our late +conversation, I commend to your earnest perusal. And here, too, is a +Guide to Paris, an English one, which you can read. Study it well, so +that when you come back from England, if you should then have an +opportunity to travel about Paris, to see its wonders, you will have all +the chief places made historically familiar to you. In this world, men +must provide knowledge before it is wanted, just as our countrymen in +New England get in their winter's fuel one season, to serve them the +next." + +So saying, this homely sage, and household Plato, showed his humble +guest to the door, and standing in the hall, pointed out to him the one +which opened into his allotted apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER. + + +The first, both in point of time and merit, of American envoys was +famous not less for the pastoral simplicity of his manners than for the +politic grace of his mind. Viewed from a certain point, there was a +touch of primeval orientalness in Benjamin Franklin. Neither is there +wanting something like his Scriptural parallel. The history of the +patriarch Jacob is interesting not less from the unselfish devotion +which we are bound to ascribe to him, than from the deep worldly wisdom +and polished Italian tact, gleaming under an air of Arcadian +unaffectedness. The diplomatist and the shepherd are blended; a union +not without warrant; the apostolic serpent and dove. A tanned +Machiavelli in tents. + +Doubtless, too, notwithstanding his eminence as lord of the moving +manor, Jacob's raiment was of homespun; the economic envoy's plain coat +and hose, who has not heard of? + +Franklin all over is of a piece. He dressed his person as his periods; +neat, trim, nothing superfluous, nothing deficient. In some of his works +his style is only surpassed by the unimprovable sentences of Hobbes of +Malmsbury, the paragon of perspicuity. The mental habits of Hobbes and +Franklin in several points, especially in one of some moment, +assimilated. Indeed, making due allowance for soil and era, history +presents few trios more akin, upon the whole, than Jacob, Hobbes, and +Franklin; three labyrinth-minded, but plain-spoken Broadbrims, at once +politicians and philosophers; keen observers of the main chance; prudent +courtiers; practical magians in linsey-woolsey. + +In keeping with his general habitudes, Doctor Franklin while at the +French Court did not reside in the aristocratical faubourgs. He deemed +his worsted hose and scientific tastes more adapted in a domestic way to +the other side of the Seine, where the Latin Quarter, at once the haunt +of erudition and economy, seemed peculiarly to invite the philosophical +Poor Richard to its venerable retreats. Here, of gray, chilly, drizzly +November mornings, in the dark-stoned quadrangle of the time-honored +Sorbonne, walked the lean and slippered metaphysician,--oblivious for +the moment that his sublime thoughts and tattered wardrobe were famous +throughout Europe,--meditating on the theme of his next lecture; at the +same time, in the well-worn chambers overhead, some clayey-visaged +chemist in ragged robe-de-chambre, and with a soiled green flap over his +left eye, was hard at work stooping over retorts and crucibles, +discovering new antipathies in acids, again risking strange explosions +similar to that whereby he had already lost the use of one optic; while +in the lofty lodging-houses of the neighboring streets, indigent young +students from all parts of France, were ironing their shabby cocked +hats, or inking the whity seams of their small-clothes, prior to a +promenade with their pink-ribboned little grisettes in the Garden of the +Luxembourg. + +Long ago the haunt of rank, the Latin Quarter still retains many old +buildings whose imposing architecture singularly contrasts with the +unassuming habits of their present occupants. In some parts its general +air is dreary and dim; monastic and theurgic. In those lonely narrow +ways--long-drawn prospectives of desertion--lined with huge piles of +silent, vaulted, old iron-grated buildings of dark gray stone, one +almost expects to encounter Paracelsus or Friar Bacon turning the next +corner, with some awful vial of Black-Art elixir in his hand. + +But all the lodging-houses are not so grim. Not to speak of many of +comparatively modern erection, the others of the better class, however +stern in exterior, evince a feminine gayety of taste, more or less, in +their furnishings within. The embellishing, or softening, or screening +hand of woman is to be seen all over the interiors of this metropolis.. +Like Augustus Caesar with respect to Rome, the Frenchwoman leaves her +obvious mark on Paris. Like the hand in nature, you know it can be none +else but hers. Yet sometimes she overdoes it, as nature in the peony; or +underdoes it, as nature in the bramble; or--what is still more +frequent--is a little slatternly about it, as nature in the pig-weed. + +In this congenial vicinity of the Latin Quarter, and in an ancient +building something like those alluded to, at a point midway between the +Palais des Beaux Arts and the College of the Sorbonne, the venerable +American Envoy pitched his tent when not passing his time at his country +retreat at Passy. The frugality of his manner of life did not lose him +the good opinion even of the voluptuaries of the showiest of capitals, +whose very iron railings are not free from gilt. Franklin was not less a +lady's man, than a man's man, a wise man, and an old man. Not only did +he enjoy the homage of the choicest Parisian literati, but at the age of +seventy-two he was the caressed favorite of the highest born beauties of +the Court; who through blind fashion having been originally attracted to +him as a famous _savan_, were permanently retained as his admirers by +his Plato-like graciousness of good humor. Having carefully weighed the +world, Franklin could act any part in it. By nature turned to knowledge, +his mind was often grave, but never serious. At times he had +seriousness--extreme seriousness--for others, but never for himself. +Tranquillity was to him instead of it. This philosophical levity of +tranquillity, so to speak, is shown in his easy variety of pursuits. +Printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, chemist, orator, tinker, +statesman, humorist, philosopher, parlor man, political economist, +professor of housewifery, ambassador, projector, maxim-monger, +herb-doctor, wit:--Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by +none--the type and genius of his land. Franklin was everything but a +poet. But since a soul with many qualities, forming of itself a sort of +handy index and pocket congress of all humanity, needs the contact of +just as many different men, or subjects, in order to the exhibition of +its totality; hence very little indeed of the sage's multifariousness +will be portrayed in a simple narrative like the present. This casual +private intercourse with Israel, but served to manifest him in his far +lesser lights; thrifty, domestic, dietarian, and, it may be, +didactically waggish. There was much benevolent irony, innocent +mischievousness, in the wise man. Seeking here to depict him in his less +exalted habitudes, the narrator feels more as if he were playing with +one of the sage's worsted hose, than reverentially handling the honored +hat which once oracularly sat upon his brow. + +So, then, in the Latin Quarter lived Doctor Franklin. And accordingly in +the Latin Quarter tarried Israel for the time. And it was into a room of +a house in this same Latin Quarter that Israel had been directed when +the sage had requested privacy for a while. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN +QUARTER. + + +Closing the door upon himself, Israel advanced to the middle of the +chamber, and looked curiously round him. + +A dark tessellated floor, but without a rug; two mahogany chairs, with +embroidered seats, rather the worse for wear; one mahogany bed, with a +gay but tarnished counterpane; a marble wash-stand, cracked, with a +china vessel of water, minus the handle. The apartment was very large; +this part of the house, which was a very extensive one, embracing the +four sides of a quadrangle, having, in a former age, been the hotel of a +nobleman. The magnitude of the chamber made its stinted furniture look +meagre enough. + +But in Israel's eyes, the marble mantel (a comparatively recent +addition) and its appurtenances, not only redeemed the rest, but looked +quite magnificent and hospitable in the extreme. Because, in the first +place, the mantel was graced with an enormous old-fashioned square +mirror, of heavy plate glass, set fast, like a tablet, into the wall. +And in this mirror was genially reflected the following delicate +articles:--first, two boquets of flowers inserted in pretty vases of +porcelain; second, one cake of white soap; third, one cake of +rose-colored soap (both cakes very fragrant); fourth, one wax candle; +fifth, one china tinder-box; sixth, one bottle of Eau de Cologne; +seventh, one paper of loaf sugar, nicely broken into sugar-bowl size; +eighth, one silver teaspoon; ninth, one glass tumbler; tenth, one glass +decanter of cool pure water; eleventh, one sealed bottle containing a +richly hued liquid, and marked "Otard." + +"I wonder now what O-t-a-r-d is?" soliloquised Israel, slowly spelling +the word. "I have a good mind to step in and ask Dr. Franklin. He knows +everything. Let me smell it. No, it's sealed; smell is locked in. Those +are pretty flowers. Let's smell them: no smell again. Ah, I see--sort of +flowers in women's bonnets--sort of calico flowers. Beautiful soap. This +smells anyhow--regular soap-roses--a white rose and a red one. That +long-necked bottle there looks like a crane. I wonder what's in that? +Hallo! E-a-u--d-e--C-o-l-o-g-n-e. I wonder if Dr. Franklin understands +that? It looks like his white wine. This is nice sugar. Let's taste. +Yes, this is very nice sugar, sweet as--yes, it's sweet as sugar; better +than maple sugar, such as they make at home. But I'm crunching it too +loud, the Doctor will hear me. But here's a teaspoon. What's this for? +There's no tea, nor tea-cup; but here's a tumbler, and here's drinking +water. Let me see. Seems to me, putting this and that and the other +thing together, it's a sort of alphabet that spells something. Spoon, +tumbler, water, sugar,--brandy--that's it. O-t-a-r-d is brandy. Who put +these things here? What does it all mean? Don't put sugar here for show, +don't put a spoon here for ornament, nor a jug of water. There is only +one meaning to it, and that is a very polite invitation from some +invisible person to help myself, if I like, to a glass of brandy and +sugar, and if I don't like, let it alone. That's my reading. I have a +good mind to ask Doctor Franklin about it, though, for there's just a +chance I may be mistaken, and these things here be some other person's +private property, not at all meant for me to help myself from. Cologne, +what's that--never mind. Soap: soap's to wash with. I want to use soap, +anyway. Let me see--no, there's no soap on the wash-stand. I see, soap +is not given gratis here in Paris, to boarders. But if you want it, take +it from the marble, and it will be charged in the bill. If you don't +want it let it alone, and no charge. Well, that's fair, anyway. But then +to a man who could not afford to use soap, such beautiful cakes as these +lying before his eyes all the time, would be a strong temptation. And +now that I think of it, the O-t-a-r-d looks rather tempting too. But if +I don't like it now, I can let it alone. I've a good mind to try it. But +it's sealed. I wonder now if I am right in my understanding of this +alphabet? Who knows? I'll venture one little sip, anyhow. Come, cork. +Hark!" + +There was a rapid knock at the door. + +Clapping down the bottle, Israel said, "Come in." + +It was the man of wisdom. + +"My honest friend," said the Doctor, stepping with venerable briskness +into the room, "I was so busy during your visit to the Pont Neuf, that I +did not have time to see that your room was all right. I merely gave the +order, and heard that it had been fulfilled. But it just occurred to me, +that as the landladies of Paris have some curious customs which might +puzzle an entire stranger, my presence here for a moment might explain +any little obscurity. Yes, it is as I thought," glancing towards the +mantel. + +"Oh, Doctor, that reminds me; what is O-t-a-r-d, pray?" + +"Otard is poison." + +"Shocking." + +"Yes, and I think I had best remove it from the room forthwith," replied +the sage, in a business-like manner putting the bottle under his arm; "I +hope you never use Cologne, do you?" + +"What--what is that, Doctor?" + +"I see. You never heard of the senseless luxury--a wise ignorance. You +smelt flowers upon your mountains. You won't want this, either;" and the +Cologne bottle was put under the other arm. "Candle--you'll want that. +Soap--you want soap. Use the white cake." + +"Is that cheaper, Doctor?" + +"Yes, but just as good as the other. You don't ever munch sugar, do you? +It's bad for the teeth. I'll take the sugar." So the paper of sugar was +likewise dropped into one of the capacious coat pockets. + +"Oh, you better take the whole furniture, Doctor Franklin. Here, I'll +help you drag out the bedstead." "My honest friend," said the wise man, +pausing solemnly, with the two bottles, like swimmer's bladders, under +his arm-pits; "my honest friend, the bedstead you will want; what I +propose to remove you will not want." + +"Oh, I was only joking, Doctor." + +"I knew that. It's a bad habit, except at the proper time, and with the +proper person. The things left on the mantel were there placed by the +landlady to be used if wanted; if not, to be left untouched. To-morrow +morning, upon the chambermaid's coming in to make your bed, all such +articles as remained obviously untouched would have been removed, the +rest would have been charged in the bill, whether you used them up +completely or not." + +"Just as I thought. Then why not let the bottles stay, Doctor, and save +yourself all this trouble?" + +"Ah! why indeed. My honest friend, are you not my guest? It were +unhandsome in me to permit a third person superfluously to entertain you +under what, for the time being, is my own roof." + +These words came from the wise man in the most graciously bland and +flowing tones. As he ended, he made a sort of conciliatory half bow +towards Israel. + +Charmed with his condescending affability, Israel, without another word, +suffered him to march from the room, bottles and all. Not till the first +impression of the venerable envoy's suavity had left him, did Israel +begin to surmise the mild superiority of successful strategy which +lurked beneath this highly ingratiating air. + +"Ah," pondered Israel, sitting gloomily before the rifled mantel, with +the empty tumbler and teaspoon in his hand, "it's sad business to have a +Doctor Franklin lodging in the next room. I wonder if he sees to all the +boarders this way. How the O-t-a-r-d merchants must hate him, and the +pastry-cooks too. I wish I had a good pie to pass the time. I wonder if +they ever make pumpkin pies in Paris? So I've got to stay in this room +all the time. Somehow I'm bound to be a prisoner, one way or another. +Never mind, I'm an ambassador; that's satisfaction. Hark! The Doctor +again.--Come in." + +No venerable doctor, but in tripped a young French lass, bloom on her +cheek, pink ribbons in her cap, liveliness in all her air, grace in the +very tips of her elbows. The most bewitching little chambermaid in +Paris. All art, but the picture of artlessness. + +"Monsieur! pardon!" + +"Oh, I pardon ye freely," said Israel. "Come to call on the +Ambassador?" + +"Monsieur, is de--de--" but, breaking down at the very threshold in her +English, she poured out a long ribbon of sparkling French, the purpose +of which was to convey a profusion of fine compliments to the stranger, +with many tender inquiries as to whether he was comfortably roomed, and +whether there might not be something, however trifling, wanting to his +complete accommodation. But Israel understood nothing, at the time, but +the exceeding grace, and trim, bewitching figure of the girl. + +She stood eyeing him for a few moments more, with a look of pretty +theatrical despair, and, after vaguely lingering a while, with another +shower of incomprehensible compliments and apologies, tripped like a +fairy from the chamber. Directly she was gone Israel pondered upon a +singular glance of the girl. It seemed to him that he had, by his +reception, in some way, unaccountably disappointed his beautiful +visitor. It struck him very strangely that she had entered all sweetness +and friendliness, but had retired as if slighted, with a sort of +disdainful and sarcastic levity, all the more stinging from its apparent +politeness. + +Not long had she disappeared, when a noise in the passage apprised him +that, in her hurried retreat, the girl must have stumbled against +something. The next moment he heard a chair scraping in the adjacent +apartment, and there was another knock at the door. + +It was the man of wisdom this time. + +"My honest friend, did you not have a visitor, just now?" + +"Yes, Doctor, a very pretty girl called upon me." + +"Well, I just stopped in to tell you of another strange custom of Paris. +That girl is the chambermaid, but she does not confine herself +altogether to one vocation. You must beware of the chambermaids of +Paris, my honest friend. Shall I tell the girl, from you, that, +unwilling to give her the fatigue of going up and down so many flights +of stairs, you will for the future waive her visits of ceremony?" + +"Why, Doctor Franklin, she is a very sweet little girl." + +"I know it, my honest friend; the sweeter the more dangerous. Arsenic is +sweeter than sugar. I know you are a very sensible young man, not to be +taken in by an artful Ammonite, and so I think I had better convey your +message to the girl forthwith." + +So saying, the sage withdrew, leaving Israel once more gloomily seated +before the rifled mantel, whose mirror was not again to reflect the form +of the charming chambermaid. + +"Every time he comes in he robs me," soliloquised Israel, dolefully; +"with an air all the time, too, as if he were making me presents. If he +thinks me such a very sensible young man, why not let me take care of +myself?" + +It was growing dusk, and Israel, lighting the wax candle, proceeded to +read in his Guide-book. + +"This is poor sight-seeing," muttered he at last, "sitting here all by +myself, with no company but an empty tumbler, reading about the fine +things in Paris, and I myself a prisoner in Paris. I wish something +extraordinary would turn up now; for instance, a man come in and give me +ten thousand pounds. But here's 'Poor Richard;' I am a poor fellow +myself; so let's see what comfort he has for a comrade." + +Opening the little pamphlet, at random, Israel's eyes fell on the +following passages: he read them aloud-- + +"'_So what signifies waiting and hoping for better times? We may make +these times better, if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, and +he that lives upon hope will die fasting, as Poor Richard says. There +are no gains, without pains. Then help hands, for I have no lands, as +Poor Richard says._' Oh, confound all this wisdom! It's a sort of +insulting to talk wisdom to a man like me. It's wisdom that's cheap, +and it's fortune that's dear. That ain't in Poor Richard; but it ought +to be," concluded Israel, suddenly slamming down the pamphlet. + +He walked across the room, looked at the artificial flowers, and the +rose-colored soap, and again went to the table and took up the two +books. + +"So here is the 'Way to Wealth,' and here is the 'Guide to Paris.' +Wonder now whether Paris lies on the Way to Wealth? if so, I am on the +road. More likely though, it's a parting-of-the-ways. I shouldn't be +surprised if the Doctor meant something sly by putting these two books +in my hand. Somehow, the old gentleman has an amazing sly look--a sort +of wild slyness--about him, seems to me. His wisdom seems a sort of sly, +too. But all in honor, though. I rather think he's one of those old +gentlemen who say a vast deal of sense, but hint a world more. Depend +upon it, he's sly, sly, sly. Ah, what's this Poor Richard says: 'God +helps them that help themselves:' Let's consider that. Poor Richard +ain't a Dunker, that's certain, though he has lived in Pennsylvania. +'God helps them that help themselves.' I'll just mark that saw, and +leave the pamphlet open to refer to it again--Ah!" + +At this point, the Doctor knocked, summoning Israel to his own +apartment. Here, after a cup of weak tea, and a little toast, the two +had a long, familiar talk together; during which, Israel was delighted +with the unpretending talkativeness, serene insight, and benign +amiability of the sage. But, for all this, he could hardly forgive him +for the Cologne and Otard depredations. + +Discovering that, in early life, Israel had been employed on a farm, +the man of wisdom at length turned the conversation in that direction; +among other things, mentioning to his guest a plan of his (the Doctor's) +for yoking oxen, with a yoke to go by a spring instead of a bolt; thus +greatly facilitating the operation of hitching on the team to the cart. +Israel was very much struck with the improvement; and thought that, if +he were home, upon his mountains, he would immediately introduce it +among the farmers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE. + + +About half-past ten o'clock, as they were thus conversing, Israel's +acquaintance, the pretty chambermaid, rapped at the door, saying, with a +titter, that a very rude gentleman in the passage of the court, desired +to see Doctor Franklin. + +"A very rude gentleman?" repeated the wise man in French, narrowly +looking at the girl; "that means, a very fine gentleman who has just +paid you some energetic compliment. But let him come up, my girl," he +added patriarchially. + +In a few moments, a swift coquettish step was heard, followed, as if in +chase, by a sharp and manly one. The door opened. Israel was sitting so +that, accidentally, his eye pierced the crevice made by the opening of +the door, which, like a theatrical screen, stood for a moment between +Doctor Franklin and the just entering visitor. And behind that screen, +through the crack, Israel caught one momentary glimpse of a little bit +of by-play between the pretty chambermaid and the stranger. The +vivacious nymph appeared to have affectedly run from him on the +stairs--doubtless in freakish return for some liberal advances--but had +suffered herself to be overtaken at last ere too late; and on the +instant Israel caught sight of her, was with an insincere air of rosy +resentment, receiving a roguish pinch on the arm, and a still more +roguish salute on the cheek. + +The next instant both disappeared from the range of the crevice; the +girl departing whence she had come; the stranger--transiently invisible +as he advanced behind the door--entering the room. When Israel now +perceived him again, he seemed, while momentarily hidden, to have +undergone a complete transformation. + +He was a rather small, elastic, swarthy man, with an aspect as of a +disinherited Indian Chief in European clothes. An unvanquishable +enthusiasm, intensified to perfect sobriety, couched in his savage, +self-possessed eye. He was elegantly and somewhat extravagantly dressed +as a civilian; he carried himself with a rustic, barbaric jauntiness, +strangely dashed with a superinduced touch of the Parisian _salon_. His +tawny cheek, like a date, spoke of the tropic, A wonderful atmosphere of +proud friendlessness and scornful isolation invested him. Yet there was +a bit of the poet as well as the outlaw in him, too. A cool solemnity of +intrepidity sat on his lip. He looked like one who of purpose sought out +harm's way. He looked like one who never had been, and never would be, a +subordinate. + +Israel thought to himself that seldom before had he seen such a being. +Though dressed -la-mode, he did not seem to be altogether civilized. + +So absorbed was our adventurer by the person of the stranger, that a few +moments passed ere he began to be aware of the circumstance, that Dr. +Franklin and this new visitor having saluted as old acquaintances, were +now sitting in earnest conversation together. + +"Do as you please; but I will not bide a suitor much longer," said the +stranger in bitterness. "Congress gave me to understand that, upon my +arrival here, I should be given immediate command of the _Indien_; and +now, for no earthly reason that I can see, you Commissioners have +presented her, fresh from the stocks at Amsterdam, to the King of +France, and not to me. What does the King of France with such a frigate? +And what can I _not_ do with her? Give me back the "Indien," and in less +than one month, you shall hear glorious or fatal news of Paul Jones." + +"Come, come, Captain," said Doctor Franklin, soothingly, "tell me now, +what would you do with her, if you had her?" + +"I would teach the British that Paul Jones, though born in Britain, is +no subject to the British King, but an untrammelled citizen and sailor +of the universe; and I would teach them, too, that if they ruthlessly +ravage the American coasts, their own coasts are vulnerable as New +Holland's. Give me the _Indien_, and I will rain down on wicked England +like fire on Sodom." + +These words of bravado were not spoken in the tone of a bravo, but a +prophet. Erect upon his chair, like an Iroquois, the speaker's look was +like that of an unflickering torch. + +His air seemed slightly to disturb the old sage's philosophic repose, +who, while not seeking to disguise his admiration of the unmistakable +spirit of the man, seemed but illy to relish his apparent measureless +boasting. + +As if both to change the subject a little, as well as put his visitor in +better mood--though indeed it might have been but covertly to play with +his enthusiasm--the man of wisdom now drew his chair confidentially +nearer to the stranger's, and putting one hand in a very friendly, +conciliatory way upon his visitor's knee, and rubbing it gently to and +fro there, much as a lion-tamer might soothingly manipulate the +aggravated king of beasts, said in a winning manner:--"Never mind at +present, Captain, about the '_Indien_' affair. Let that sleep a moment. +See now, the Jersey privateers do us a great deal of mischief by +intercepting our supplies. It has been mentioned to me, that if you had +a small vessel--say, even your present ship, the 'Amphitrite,'--then, by +your singular bravery, you might render great service, by following +those privateers where larger ships durst not venture their bottoms; or, +if but supported by some frigates from Brest at a proper distance, might +draw them out, so that the larger vessels could capture them." + +"Decoy-duck to French frigates!--Very dignified office, truly!" hissed +Paul in a fiery rage. "Doctor Franklin, whatever Paul Jones does for the +cause of America, it must be done through unlimited orders: a separate, +supreme command; no leader and no counsellor but himself. Have I not +already by my services on the American coast shown that I am well worthy +all this? Why then do you seek to degrade me below my previous level? I +will mount, not sink. I live but for honor and glory. Give me, then, +something honorable and glorious to do, and something famous to do it +with. Give me the _Indien_" + +The man of wisdom slowly shook his head. "Everything is lost through +this shillyshallying timidity, called prudence," cried Paul Jones, +starting to his feet; "to be effectual, war should be carried on like a +monsoon, one changeless determination of every particle towards the one +unalterable aim. But in vacillating councils, statesmen idle about like +the cats'-paws in calms. My God, why was I not born a Czar!" + +"A Nor'wester, rather. Come, come, Captain," added the sage, "sit down, +we have a third person present, you see," pointing towards Israel, who +sat rapt at the volcanic spirit of the stranger. + +Paul slightly started, and turned inquiringly upon Israel, who, equally +owing to Paul's own earnestness of discourse and Israel's motionless +bearing, had thus far remained undiscovered. + +"Never fear, Captain," said the sage, "this man is true blue, a secret +courier, and an American born. He is an escaped prisoner of war." + +"Ah, captured in a ship?" asked Paul eagerly; "what ship? None of mine! +Paul Jones never was captured." + +"No, sir, in the brigantine Washington, out of Boston," replied Israel; +"we were cruising to cut off supplies to the English." + +"Did your shipmates talk much of me?" demanded Paul, with a look as of +a parading Sioux demanding homage to his gewgaws; "what did they say of +Paul Jones?" + +"I never heard the name before this evening," said Israel. + +"What? Ah--brigantine Washington--let me see; that was before I had +outwitted the Soleby frigate, fought the Milford, and captured the +Mellish and the rest off Louisbergh. You were long before the news, my +lad," he added, with a sort of compassionate air. + +"Our friend here gave you a rather blunt answer," said the wise man, +sagely mischievous, and addressing Paul. + +"Yes. And I like him for it. My man, will you go a cruise with Paul +Jones? You fellows so blunt with the tongue, are apt to be sharp with +the steel. Come, my lad, return with me to Brest. I go in a few days." + +Fired by the contagious spirit of Paul, Israel, forgetting all about his +previous desire to reach home, sparkled with response to the summons. +But Doctor Franklin interrupted him. + +"Our friend here," said he to the Captain, "is at present engaged for +very different duty." + +Much other conversation followed, during which Paul Jones again and +again expressed his impatience at being unemployed, and his resolution +to accept of no employ unless it gave him supreme authority; while in +answer to all this Dr. Franklin, not uninfluenced by the uncompromising +spirit of his guest, and well knowing that however unpleasant a trait +in conversation, or in the transaction of civil affairs, yet in war this +very quality was invaluable, as projectiles and combustibles, finally +assured Paul, after many complimentary remarks, that he would +immediately exert himself to the utmost to procure for him some +enterprise which should come up to his merits. + +"Thank you for your frankness," said Paul; "frank myself, I love to deal +with a frank man. You, Doctor Franklin, are true and deep, and so you +are frank." + +The sage sedately smiled, a queer incredulity just lurking in the corner +of his mouth. + +"But how about our little scheme for new modelling ships-of-war?" said +the Doctor, shifting the subject; "it will be a great thing for our +infant navy, if we succeed. Since our last conversation on that subject, +Captain, at odds and ends of time, I have thought over the matter, and +have begun a little skeleton of the thing here, which I will show you. +Whenever one has a new idea of anything mechanical, it is best to clothe +it with a body as soon as possible. For you can't improve so well on +ideas as you can on bodies." + +With that, going to a little drawer, he produced a small basket, filled +with a curious looking unfinished frame-work of wood, and several bits +of wood unattached. It looked like a nursery basket containing broken +odds and ends of playthings. + +"Now look here, Captain, though the thing is but begun at present, yet +there is enough to show that _one_ idea at least of yours is not +feasible." + +Paul was all attention, as if having unbounded confidence in whatever +the sage might suggest, while Israel looked on quite as interested as +either, his heart swelling with the thought of being privy to the +consultations of two such men; consultations, too, having ultimate +reference to such momentous affairs as the freeing of nations. + +"If," continued the Doctor, taking up some of the loose bits and piling +them along on one side of the top of the frame, "if the better to +shelter your crew in an engagement, you construct your rail in the +manner proposed--as thus--then, by the excessive weight of the timber, +you will too much interfere with the ship's centre of gravity. You will +have that too high." + +"Ballast in the hold in proportion," said Paul. + +"Then you will sink the whole hull too low. But here, to have less smoke +in time of battle, especially on the lower decks, you proposed a new +sort of hatchway. But that won't do. See here now, I have invented +certain ventilating pipes, they are to traverse the vessel thus"--laying +some toilette pins along--"the current of air to enter here and be +discharged there. What do you think of that? But now about the main +things--fast sailing driving little to leeward, and drawing little +water. Look now at this keel. I whittled it only night before last, just +before going to bed. Do you see now how"-- + +At this crisis, a knock was heard at the door, and the chambermaid +reappeared, announcing that two gentlemen were that moment crossing the +court below to see Doctor Franklin. + +"The Duke de Chartres, and Count D'Estang," said the Doctor; "they +appointed for last night, but did not come. Captain, this has something +indirectly to do with your affair. Through the Duke, Count D'Estang has +spoken to the King about the secret expedition, the design of which you +first threw out. Call early to-morrow, and I will inform you of the +result." + +With his tawny hand Paul pulled out his watch, a small, richly-jewelled +lady's watch. + +"It is so late, I will stay here to-night," he said; "is there a +convenient room?" + +"Quick," said the Doctor, "it might be ill-advised of you to be seen +with me just now. Our friend here will let you share his chamber. Quick, +Israel, and show the Captain thither." + +As the door closed upon them in Israel's apartment, Doctor Franklin's +door closed upon the Duke and the Count. Leaving the latter to their +discussion of profound plans for the timely befriending of the American +cause, and the crippling of the power of England on the seas, let us +pass the night with Paul Jones and Israel in the neighboring room. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE. + + +"'God helps them that help themselves.' That's a clincher. That's been +my experience. But I never saw it in words before. What pamphlet is +this? 'Poor Richard,' hey!" + +Upon entering Israel's room, Captain Paul, stepping towards the table +and spying the open pamphlet there, had taken it up, his eye being +immediately attracted to the passage previously marked by our +adventurer. + +"A rare old gentleman is 'Poor Richard,'" said Israel in response to +Paul's observations. + +"So he seems, so he seems," answered Paul, his eye still running over +the pamphlet again; "why, 'Poor Richard' reads very much as Doctor +Franklin speaks." + +"He wrote it," said Israel. + +"Aye? Good. So it is, so it is; it's the wise man all over. I must get +me a copy of this and wear it around my neck for a charm. And now about +our quarters for the night. I am not going to deprive you of your bed, +my man. Do you go to bed and I will doze in the chair here. It's good +dozing in the crosstrees." + +"Why not sleep together?" said Israel; "see, it is a big bed. Or perhaps +you don't fancy your bed-fellow. Captain?" + +"When, before the mast, I first sailed out of Whitehaven to Norway," +said Paul, coolly, "I had for hammock-mate a full-blooded Congo. We had +a white blanket spread in our hammock. Every time I turned in I found +the Congo's black wool worked in with the white worsted. By the end of +the voyage the blanket was of a pepper-and-salt look, like an old man's +turning head. So it's not because I am notional at all, but because I +don't care to, my lad. Turn in and go to sleep. Let the lamp burn. I'll +see to it. There, go to sleep." + +Complying with what seemed as much a command as a request, Israel, +though in bed, could not fall into slumber for thinking of the little +circumstance that this strange swarthy man, flaming with wild +enterprises, sat in full suit in the chair. He felt an uneasy misgiving +sensation, as if he had retired, not only without covering up the fire, +but leaving it fiercely burning with spitting fagots of hemlock. + +But his natural complaisance induced him at least to feign himself +asleep; whereupon. Paul, laying down "Poor Richard," rose from his +chair, and, withdrawing his boots, began walking rapidly but noiselessly +to and fro, in his stockings, in the spacious room, wrapped in Indian +meditations. Israel furtively eyed him from beneath the coverlid, and +was anew struck by his aspect, now that Paul thought himself unwatched. +Stern relentless purposes, to be pursued to the points of adverse +bayonets and the muzzles of hostile cannon, were expressed in the now +rigid lines of his brow. His ruffled right hand was clutched by his +side, as if grasping a cutlass. He paced the room as if advancing upon a +fortification. Meantime a confused buzz of discussion came from the +neighboring chamber. All else was profound midnight tranquillity. +Presently, passing the large mirror over the mantel, Paul caught a +glimpse of his person. He paused, grimly regarding it, while a dash of +pleased coxcombry seemed to mingle with the otherwise savage +satisfaction expressed in his face. But the latter predominated. Soon, +rolling up his sleeve, with a queer wild smile, Paul lifted his right +arm, and stood thus for an interval, eyeing its image in the glass. From +where he lay, Israel could not see that side of the arm presented to the +mirror, but he saw its reflection, and started at perceiving there, +framed in the carved and gilded wood, certain large intertwisted ciphers +covering the whole inside of the arm, so far as exposed, with mysterious +tattooings. The design was wholly unlike the fanciful figures of +anchors, hearts, and cables, sometimes decorating small portions of +seamen's bodies. It was a sort of tattooing such as is seen only on +thoroughbred savages--deep blue, elaborate, labyrinthine, cabalistic. +Israel remembered having beheld, on one of his early voyages, something +similar on the arm of a New Zealand warrior, once met, fresh from +battle, in his native village. He concluded that on some similar early +voyage Paul must have undergone the manipulations of some pagan artist. +Covering his arm again with his laced coat-sleeve, Paul glanced +ironically at the hand of the same arm, now again half muffled in +ruffles, and ornamented with several Parisian rings. He then resumed his +walking with a prowling air, like one haunting an ambuscade; while a +gleam of the consciousness of possessing a character as yet un-fathomed, +and hidden power to back unsuspected projects, irradiated his cold white +brow, which, owing to the shade of his hat in equatorial climates, had +been left surmounting his swarthy face, like the snow topping the Andes. + +So at midnight, the heart of the metropolis of modern civilization was +secretly trod by this jaunty barbarian in broadcloth; a sort of +prophetical ghost, glimmering in anticipation upon the advent of those +tragic scenes of the French Revolution which levelled the exquisite +refinement of Paris with the bloodthirsty ferocity of Borneo; showing +that broaches and finger-rings, not less than nose-rings and tattooing, +are tokens of the primeval savageness which ever slumbers in human kind, +civilized or uncivilized. + +Israel slept not a wink that night. The troubled spirit of Paul paced +the chamber till morning; when, copiously bathing himself at the +wash-stand, Paul looked care-free and fresh as a daybreak hawk. After a +closeted consultation with Doctor Franklin, he left the place with a +light and dandified air, switching his gold-headed cane, and throwing a +passing arm round all the pretty chambermaids he encountered, kissing +them resoundingly, as if saluting a frigate. All barbarians are rakes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE'S ABODE--HIS +ADVENTURES THERE. + + +On the third day, as Israel was walking to and fro in his room, having +removed his courier's boots, for fear of disturbing the Doctor, a quick +sharp rap at the door announced the American envoy. The man of wisdom +entered, with two small wads of paper in one hand, and several crackers +and a bit of cheese in the other. There was such an eloquent air of +instantaneous dispatch about him, that Israel involuntarily sprang to +his boots, and, with two vigorous jerks, hauled them on, and then +seizing his hat, like any bird, stood poised for his flight across the +channel. + +"Well done, my honest friend," said the Doctor; "you have the papers in +your heel, I suppose." + +"Ah," exclaimed Israel, perceiving the mild irony; and in an instant his +boots were off again; when, without another word, the Doctor took one +boot, and Israel the other, and forthwith both parties proceeded to +secrete the documents. + +"I think I could improve the design," said the sage, as, +notwithstanding his haste, he critically eyed the screwing apparatus of +the boot. "The vacancy should have been in the standing part of the +heel, not in the lid. It should go with a spring, too, for better +dispatch. I'll draw up a paper on false heels one of these days, and +send it to a private reading at the Institute. But no time for it now. +My honest friend, it is now half past ten o'clock. At half past eleven +the diligence starts from the Place-du-Carrousel for Calais. Make all +haste till you arrive at Brentford. I have a little provender here for +you to eat in the diligence, as you will not have time for a regular +meal. A day-and-night courier should never be without a cracker in his +pocket. You will probably leave Brentford in a day or two after your +arrival there. Be wary, now, my good friend; heed well, that, if you are +caught with these papers on British ground, you will involve both +yourself and our Brentford friends in fatal calamities. Kick no man's +box, never mind whose, in the way. Mind your own box. You can't be too +cautious, but don't be too suspicious. God bless you, my honest friend. +Go!" + +And, flinging the door open for his exit, the Doctor saw Israel dart +into the entry, vigorously spring down the stairs, and disappear with +all celerity across the court into the vaulted way. + +The man of wisdom stood mildly motionless a moment, with a look of +sagacious, humane meditation on his face, as if pondering upon the +chances of the important enterprise: one which, perhaps, might in the +sequel affect the weal or woe of nations yet to come. Then suddenly +clapping his hand to his capacious coat-pocket, dragged out a bit of +cork with some hen's feathers, and hurrying to his room, took out his +knife, and proceeded to whittle away at a shuttlecock of an original +scientific construction, which at some prior time he had promised to +send to the young Duchess D'Abrantes that very afternoon. + +Safely reaching Calais, at night, Israel stepped almost from the +diligence into the packet, and, in a few moments, was cutting the water. +As on the diligence he took an outside and plebeian seat, so, with the +same secret motive of preserving unsuspected the character assumed, he +took a deck passage in the packet. It coming on to rain violently, he +stole down into the forecastle, dimly lit by a solitary swinging lamp, +where were two men industriously smoking, and filling the narrow hole +with soporific vapors. These induced strange drowsiness in Israel, and +he pondered how best he might indulge it, for a time, without +imperilling the precious documents in his custody. + +But this pondering in such soporific vapors had the effect of those +mathematical devices whereby restless people cipher themselves to sleep. +His languid head fell to his breast. In another moment, he drooped +half-lengthwise upon a chest, his legs outstretched before him. + +Presently he was awakened by some intermeddlement with his feet. +Starting to his elbow, he saw one of the two men in the act of slyly +slipping off his right boot, while the left one, already removed, lay on +the floor, all ready against the rascal's retreat Had it not been for +the lesson learned on the Pont Neuf, Israel would instantly have +inferred that his secret mission was known, and the operator some +designed diplomatic knave or other, hired by the British Cabinet, thus +to lie in wait for him, fume him into slumber with tobacco, and then +rifle him of his momentous dispatches. But as it was, he recalled Doctor +Franklin's prudent admonitions against the indulgence of premature +suspicions. + +"Sir," said Israel very civilly, "I will thank you for that boot which +lies on the floor, and, if you please, you can let the other stay where +it is." + +"Excuse me," said the rascal, an accomplished, self-possessed +practitioner in his thievish art; "I thought your boots might be +pinching you, and only wished to ease you a little." + +"Much obliged to ye for your kindness, sir," said Israel; "but they +don't pinch me at all. I suppose, though, you think they wouldn't pinch +_you_ either; your foot looks rather small. Were you going to try 'em +on, just to see how they fitted?" + +"No," said the fellow, with sanctimonious seriousness; "but with your +permission I should like to try them on, when we get to Dover. I +couldn't try them well walking on this tipsy craft's deck, you know." + +"No," answered Israel, "and the beach at Dover ain't very smooth either. +I guess, upon second thought, you had better not try 'em on at all. +Besides, I am a simple sort of a soul--eccentric they call me--and don't +like my boots to go out of my sight. Ha! ha!" + +"What are you laughing at?" said the fellow testily. + +"Odd idea! I was just looking at those sad old patched boots there on +your feet, and thinking to myself what leaky fire-buckets they would be +to pass up a ladder on a burning building. It would hardly be fair now +to swop my new boots for those old fire-buckets, would it?" + +"By plunko!" cried the fellow, willing now by a bold stroke to change +the subject, which was growing slightly annoying; "by plunko, I believe +we are getting nigh Dover. Let's see." + +And so saying, he sprang up the ladder to the deck. Upon Israel +following, he found the little craft half becalmed, rolling on short +swells almost in the exact middle of the channel. It was just before the +break of the morning; the air clear and fine; the heavens spangled with +moistly twinkling stars. The French and English coasts lay distinctly +visible in the strange starlight, the white cliffs of Dover resembling a +long gabled block of marble houses. Both shores showed a long straight +row of lamps. Israel seemed standing in the middle of the crossing of +some wide stately street in London. Presently a breeze sprang up, and +ere long our adventurer disembarked at his destined port, and directly +posted on for Brentford. + +The following afternoon, having gained unobserved admittance into the +house, according to preconcerted signals, he was sitting in Squire +Woodcock's closet, pulling off his boots and delivering his dispatches. + +Having looked over the compressed tissuey sheets, and read a line +particularly addressed to himself, the Squire, turning round upon +Israel, congratulated him upon his successful mission, placed some +refreshment before him, and apprised him that, owing to certain +suspicious symptoms in the neighborhood, he (Israel) must now remain +concealed in the house for a day or two, till an answer should be ready +for Paris. + +It was a venerable mansion, as was somewhere previously stated, of a +wide and rambling disorderly spaciousness, built, for the most part, of +weather-stained old bricks, in the goodly style called Elizabethan. As +without, it was all dark russet bricks, so within, it was nothing but +tawny oak panels. + +"Now, my good fellow," said the Squire, "my wife has a number of +guests, who wander from room to room, having the freedom of the house. +So I shall have to put you very snugly away, to guard against any chance +of discovery." + +So saying, first locking the door, he touched a spring nigh the open +fire-place, whereupon one of the black sooty stone jambs of the chimney +started ajar, just like the marble gate of a tomb. Inserting one leg of +the heavy tongs in the crack, the Squire pried this cavernous gate wide +open. + +"Why, Squire Woodcock, what is the matter with your chimney?" said +Israel. + +"Quick, go in." + +"Am I to sweep the chimney?" demanded Israel; "I didn't engage for +that." + +"Pooh, pooh, this is your hiding-place. Come, move in." + +"But where does it go to, Squire Woodcock? I don't like the looks of +it." + +"Follow me. I'll show you." + +Pushing his florid corpulence into the mysterious aperture, the elderly +Squire led the way up steep stairs of stone, hardly two feet in width, +till they reached a little closet, or rather cell, built into the +massive main wall of the mansion, and ventilated and dimly lit by two +little sloping slits, ingeniously concealed without, by their forming +the sculptured mouths of two griffins cut in a great stone tablet +decorating that external part of the dwelling. A mattress lay rolled up +in one corner, with a jug of water, a flask of wine, and a wooden +trencher containing cold roast beef and bread. + +"And I am to be buried alive here?" said Israel, ruefully looking round. + +"But your resurrection will soon be at hand," smiled the Squire; "two +days at the furthest." + +"Though to be sure I was a sort of prisoner in Paris, just as I seem +about to be made here," said Israel, "yet Doctor Franklin put me in a +better jug than this, Squire Woodcock. It was set out with boquets and a +mirror, and other fine things. Besides, I could step out into the entry +whenever I wanted." + +"Ah, but, my hero, that was in France, and this is in England. There you +were in a friendly country: here you are in the enemy's. If you should +be discovered in my house, and your connection with me became known, do +you know that it would go very hard with me; very hard indeed?" + +"Then, for your sake, I am willing to stay wherever you think best to +put me," replied Israel. + +"Well, then, you say you want boquets and a mirror. If those articles +will at all help to solace your seclusion, I will bring them to you." + +"They really would be company; the sight of my own face particularly." + +"Stay here, then. I will be back in ten minutes." + +In less than that time, the good old Squire returned, puffing and +panting, with a great bunch of flowers, and a small shaving-glass. + +"There," said he, putting them down; "now keep perfectly quiet; avoid +making any undue noise, and on no account descend the stairs, till I +come for you again." + +"But when will that be?" asked Israel. + +"I will try to come twice each day while you are here. But there is no +knowing what may happen. If I should not visit you till I come to +liberate you--on the evening of the second day, or the morning of the +third--you must not be at all surprised, my good fellow. There is plenty +of food-and water to last you. But mind, on no account descend the +stone-stairs till I come for you." + +With that, bidding his guest adieu, he left him. + +Israel stood glancing pensively around for a time. By and by, moving the +rolled mattress under the two air-slits, he mounted, to try if aught +were visible beyond. But nothing was to be seen but a very thin slice of +blue sky peeping through the lofty foliage of a great tree planted near +the side-portal of the mansion; an ancient tree, coeval with the ancient +dwelling it guarded. + +Sitting down on the Mattress, Israel fell into a reverie. + +"Poverty and liberty, or plenty and a prison, seem to be the two horns +of the constant dilemma of my life," thought he. "Let's look at the +prisoner." + +And taking up the shaving-glass, he surveyed his lineaments. + +"What a pity I didn't think to ask for razors and soap. I want shaving +very badly. I shaved last in France. How it would pass the time here. +Had I a comb now and a razor, I might shave and curl my hair, and keep +making a continual toilet all through the two days, and look spruce as a +robin when I get out. I'll ask the Squire for the things this very night +when he drops in. Hark! ain't that a sort of rumbling in the wall? I +hope there ain't any oven next door; if so, I shall be scorched out. +Here I am, just like a rat in the wainscot. I wish there was a low +window to look out of. I wonder what Doctor Franklin is doing now, and +Paul Jones? Hark! there's a bird singing in the leaves. Bell for dinner, +that." + +And for pastime, he applied himself to the beef and bread, and took a +draught of the wine and water. + +At last night fell. He was left in utter darkness. No Squire. + +After an anxious, sleepless night, he saw two long flecks of pale gray +light slanting into the cell from the slits, like two long spears. He +rose, rolled up his mattress, got upon the roll, and put his mouth to +one of the griffins' months. He gave a low, just audible whistle, +directing it towards the foliage of the tree. Presently there was a +slight rustling among the leaves, then one solitary chirrup, and in +three minutes a whole chorus of melody burst upon his ear. + +"I've waked the first bird," said he to himself, with a smile, "and he's +waked all the rest. Now then for breakfast. That over, I dare say the +Squire will drop in." + +But the breakfast was over, and the two flecks of pale light had changed +to golden beams, and the golden beams grew less and less slanting, till +they straightened themselves up out of sight altogether. It was noon, +and no Squire. + +"He's gone a-hunting before breakfast, and got belated," thought Israel. + +The afternoon shadows lengthened. It was sunset; no Squire. + +"He must be very busy trying some sheep-stealer in the hall," mused +Israel. "I hope he won't forget all about me till to-morrow." + +He waited and listened; and listened and waited. + +Another restless night; no sleep; morning came. The second day passed +like the first, and the night. On the third morning the flowers lay +shrunken by his side. Drops of wet oozing through the air-slits, fell +dully on the stone floor. He heard the dreary beatings of the tree's +leaves against the mouths of the griffins, bedashing them with the spray +of the rain-storm without. At intervals a burst of thunder rolled over +his head, and lightning flashing down through the slits, lit up the cell +with a greenish glare, followed by sharp splashings and rattlings of the +redoubled rain-storm. + +"This is the morning of the third day," murmured Israel to himself; "he +said he would at the furthest come to me on the morning of the third +day. This is it. Patience, he will be here yet. Morning lasts till +noon." + +But, owing to the murkiness of the day, it was very hard to tell when +noon came. Israel refused to credit that noon had come and gone, till +dusk set plainly in. Dreading he knew not what, he found himself buried +in the darkness of still another night. However patient and hopeful +hitherto, fortitude now presently left him. Suddenly, as if some +contagious fever had seized him, he was afflicted with strange +enchantments of misery, undreamed of till now. + +He had eaten all the beef, but there was bread and water sufficient to +last, by economy, for two or three days to come. It was not the pang of +hunger then, but a nightmare originating in his mysterious +incarceration, which appalled him. All through the long hours of this +particular night, the sense of being masoned up in the wall, grew, and +grew, and grew upon him, till again and again he lifted himself +convulsively from the floor, as if vast blocks of stone had been laid on +him; as if he had been digging a deep well, and the stonework with all +the excavated earth had caved in upon him, where he burrowed ninety feet +beneath the clover. In the blind tomb of the midnight he stretched his +two arms sideways, and felt as if coffined at not being able to extend +them straight out, on opposite sides, for the narrowness of the cell. He +seated himself against one side of the wall, crosswise with the cell, +and pushed with his feet at the opposite wall. But still mindful of his +promise in this extremity, he uttered no cry. He mutely raved in the +darkness. The delirious sense of the absence of light was soon added to +his other delirium as to the contraction of space. The lids of his eyes +burst with impotent distension. Then he thought the air itself was +getting unbearable. He stood up at the griffin slits, pressing his lips +far into them till he moulded his lips there, to suck the utmost of the +open air possible. + +And continually, to heighten his frenzy, there recurred to him again and +again what the Squire had told him as to the origin of the cell. It +seemed that this part of the old house, or rather this wall of it, was +extremely ancient, dating far beyond the era of Elizabeth, having once +formed portion of a religious retreat belonging to the Templars. The +domestic discipline of this order was rigid and merciless in the +extreme. In a side wall of their second storey chapel, horizontal and on +a level with the floor, they had an internal vacancy left, exactly of +the shape and average size of a coffin. In this place, from time to +time, inmates convicted of contumacy were confined; but, strange to say, +not till they were penitent. A small hole, of the girth of one's wrist, +sunk like a telescope three feet through the masonry into the cell, +served at once for ventilation, and to push through food to the +prisoner. This hole opening into the chapel also enabled the poor +solitaire, as intended, to overhear the religious services at the altar; +and, without being present, take part in the same. It was deemed a good +sign of the state of the sufferer's soul, if from the gloomy recesses of +the wall was heard the agonized groan of his dismal response. This was +regarded in the light of a penitent wail from the dead, because the +customs of the order ordained that when any inmate should be first +incarcerated in the wall, he should be committed to it in the presence +of all the brethren, the chief reading the burial service as the live +body was sepulchred. Sometimes several weeks elapsed ere the +disentombment, the penitent being then usually found numb and congealed +in all his extremities, like one newly stricken with paralysis. + +This coffin-cell of the Templars had been suffered to remain in the +demolition of the general edifice, to make way for the erection of the +new, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was enlarged somewhat, and +altered, and additionally ventilated, to adapt it for a place of +concealment in times of civil dissension. + +With this history ringing in his solitary brain, it may readily be +conceived what Israel's feelings must have been. Here, in this very +darkness, centuries ago, hearts, human as his, had mildewed in despair; +limbs, robust as his own, had stiffened in immovable torpor. + +At length, after what seemed all the prophetic days and years of Daniel, +morning broke. The benevolent light entered the cell, soothing his +frenzy, as if it had been some smiling human face--nay, the Squire +himself, come at last to redeem him from thrall. Soon his dumb ravings +entirely left him, and gradually, with a sane, calm mind, he revolved +all the circumstances of his condition. + +He could not be mistaken; something fatal must have befallen his friend. +Israel remembered the Squire's hinting that in case of the discovery of +his clandestine proceedings it would fare extremely hard with him, +Israel was forced to conclude that this same unhappy discovery had been +made; that owing to some untoward misadventure his good friend had been +carried off a State-prisoner to London; that prior to his going the +Squire had not apprised any member of his household that he was about to +leave behind him a prisoner in the wall; this seemed evident from the +circumstance that, thus far, no soul had visited that prisoner. It could +not be otherwise. Doubtless the Squire, having no opportunity to +converse in private with his relatives or friends at the moment of his +sudden arrest, had been forced to keep his secret, for the present, for +fear of involving Israel in still worse calamities. But would he leave +him to perish piecemeal in the wall? All surmise was baffled in the +unconjecturable possibilities of the case. But some sort of action must +speedily be determined upon. Israel would not additionally endanger the +Squire, but he could not in such uncertainty consent to perish where he +was. He resolved at all hazards to escape, by stealth and noiselessly, +if possible; by violence and outcry, if indispensable. + +Gliding out of the cell, he descended the stone stairs, and stood before +the interior of the jamb. He felt an immovable iron knob, but no more. +He groped about gently for some bolt or spring. When before he had +passed through the passage with his guide, he had omitted to notice by +what precise mechanism the jamb was to be opened from within, or +whether, indeed, it could at all be opened except from without. + +He was about giving up the search in despair, after sweeping with his +two hands every spot of the wall-surface around him, when chancing to +turn his whole body a little to one side, he heard a creak, and saw a +thin lance of light. His foot had unconsciously pressed some spring laid +in the floor. The jamb was ajar. Pushing it open, he stood at liberty, +in the Squire's closet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING. + + +He started at the funereal aspect of the room, into which, since he last +stood there, undertakers seemed to have stolen. The curtains of the +window were festooned with long weepers of crape. The four corners of +the red cloth on the round table were knotted with crape. + +Knowing nothing of these mournful customs of the country, nevertheless, +Israel's instinct whispered him that Squire Woodcock lived no more on +this earth. At once the whole three days' mystery was made clear. But +what was now to be done? His friend must have died very suddenly; most +probably struck down in a fit, from which he never more rose. With him +had perished all knowledge of the fact that a stranger was immured in +the mansion. If discovered then, prowling here in the inmost privacies +of a gentleman's abode, what would befall the wanderer, already not +unsuspected in the neighborhood of some underhand guilt as a fugitive? +If he adhered to the strict truth, what could he offer in his own +defence without convicting himself of acts which, by English tribunals, +would be accounted flagitious crimes? Unless, indeed, by involving the +memory of the deceased Squire Woodcock in his own self acknowledged +proceedings, so ungenerous a charge should result in an abhorrent +refusal to credit his extraordinary tale, whether as referring to +himself or another, and so throw him open to still more grievous +suspicions? + +While wrapped in these dispiriting reveries, he heard a step not very +far off in the passage. It seemed approaching. Instantly he flew to the +jamb, which remained unclosed, and disappearing within, drew the stone +after him by the iron knob. Owing to his hurried violence the jamb +closed with a dull, dismal and singular noise. A shriek followed from +within the room. In a panic, Israel fled up the dark stairs, and near +the top, in his eagerness, stumbled and fell back to the last step with +a rolling din, which, reverberated by the arch overhead, smote through +and through the wall, dying away at last indistinctly, like low muffled +thunder among the clefts of deep hills. When raising himself instantly, +not seriously bruised by his fall, Israel instantly listened, the +echoing sounds of his descent were mingled with added shrieks from +within the room. They seemed some nervous female's, alarmed by what must +have appeared to her supernatural, or at least unaccountable, noises in +the wall. Directly he heard other voices of alarm undistinguishably +commingled, and then they retreated together, and all again was still. + +Recovering from his first amazement, Israel revolved these occurrences. +"No creature now in the house knows of the cell," thought he. "Some +woman, the housekeeper, perhaps, first entered the room alone. Just as +she entered the jamb closed. The sudden report made her shriek; then, +afterwards, the noise of my fall prolonging itself, added to her fright, +while her repeated shrieks brought every soul in the house to her, who +aghast at seeing her lying in a pale faint, it may be, like a corpse, in +a room hung with crape for a man just dead, they also shrieked out, and +then with blended lamentations they bore the fainting person away. Now +this will follow; no doubt it _has_ followed ere now:--they believe that +the woman saw or heard the spirit of Squire Woodcock. Since I seem then +to understand how all these strange events have occurred, since I seem +to know that they have plain common causes, I begin to feel cool and +calm again. Let me see. Yes. I have it. By means of the idea of the +ghost prevailing among the frightened household, by that means I will +this very night make good my escape. If I can but lay hands on some of +the late Squire's clothing, if but a coat and hat of his, I shall be +certain to succeed. It is not too early to begin now. They will hardly +come back to the room in a hurry. I will return to it and see what I can +find to serve my purpose. It is the Squire's private closet, hence it is +not unlikely that here some at least of his clothing will be found." + +With these, thoughts, he cautiously sprung the iron under foot, peeped +in, and, seeing all clear, boldly re-entered the apartment. He went +straight to a high, narrow door in the opposite wall. The key was in the +lock. Opening the door, there hung several coats, small-clothes, pairs +of silk stockings, and hats of the deceased. With little difficulty +Israel selected from these the complete suit in which he had last seen +his once jovial friend. Carefully closing the door, and carrying the +suit with him, he was returning towards the chimney, when he saw the +Squire's silver-headed cane leaning against a corner of the wainscot. +Taking this also, he stole back to his cell. + +Slipping off his own clothing, he deliberately arrayed himself in the +borrowed raiment, silk small-clothes and all, then put on the cocked +hat, grasped the silver-headed cane in his right hand, and moving his +small shaving-glass slowly up and down before him, so as by piecemeal to +take in his whole figure, felt convinced that he would well pass for +Squire Woodcock's genuine phantom. But after the first feeling of +self-satisfaction with his anticipated success had left him, it was not +without some superstitious embarrassment that Israel felt himself +encased in a dead man's broadcloth; nay, in the very coat in which the +deceased had no doubt fallen down in his fit. By degrees he began to +feel almost as unreal and shadowy as the shade whose part he intended to +enact. + +Waiting long and anxiously till darkness came, and then till he thought +it was fairly midnight, he stole back into the closet, and standing for +a moment uneasily in the middle of the floor, thinking over all the +risks he might run, he lingered till he felt himself resolute and calm. +Then groping for the door leading into the hall, put his hand on the +knob and turned it. But the door refused to budge. Was it locked? The +key was not in. Turning the knob once more, and holding it so, he +pressed firmly against the door. It did not move. More firmly still, +when suddenly it burst open with a loud crackling report. Being cramped, +it had stuck in the sill. Less than three seconds passed when, as Israel +was groping his way down the long wide hall towards the large staircase +at its opposite end, he heard confused hurrying noises from the +neighboring rooms, and in another instant several persons, mostly in +night-dresses, appeared at their chamber-doors, thrusting out alarmed +faces, lit by a lamp held by one of the number, a rather elderly lady in +widow's weeds, who by her appearance seemed to have just risen from a +sleepless chair, instead of an oblivious couch. Israel's heart beat like +a hammer; his face turned like a sheet. But bracing himself, pulling his +hat lower down over his eyes, settling his head in the collar of his +coat, he advanced along the defile of wildly staring faces. He advanced +with a slow and stately step, looked neither to the right nor the left, +but went solemnly forward on his now faintly illuminated way, sounding +his cane on the floor as he passed. The faces in the doorways curdled +his blood by their rooted looks. Glued to the spot, they seemed +incapable of motion. Each one was silent as he advanced towards him or +her, but as he left each individual, one after another, behind, each in +a frenzy shrieked out, "The Squire, the Squire!" As he passed the lady +in the widow's weeds, she fell senseless and crosswise before him. But +forced to be immutable in his purpose, Israel, solemnly stepping over +her prostrate form, marched deliberately on. + +In a few minutes more he had reached the main door of the mansion, and +withdrawing the chain and bolt, stood in the open air. It was a bright +moonlight night. He struck slowly across the open grounds towards the +sunken fields beyond. When-midway across the grounds, he turned towards +the mansion, and saw three of the front windows filled with white faces, +gazing in terror at the wonderful spectre. Soon descending a slope, he +disappeared from their view. + +Presently he came to hilly land in meadow, whose grass having been +lately cut, now lay dotting the slope in cocks; a sinuous line of creamy +vapor meandered through the lowlands at the base of the hill; while +beyond was a dense grove of dwarfish trees, with here and there a tall +tapering dead trunk, peeled of the bark, and overpeering the rest. The +vapor wore the semblance of a deep stream of water, imperfectly +descried; the grove looked like some closely-clustering town on its +banks, lorded over by spires of churches. + +The whole scene magically reproduced to our adventurer the aspect of +Bunker Hill, Charles River, and Boston town, on the well-remembered +night of the 16th of June. The same season; the same moon; the same +new-mown hay on the shaven sward; hay which was scraped together during +the night to help pack into the redoubt so hurriedly thrown up. + +Acted on as if by enchantment, Israel sat down on one of the cocks, and +gave himself up to reverie. But, worn out by long loss of sleep, his +reveries would have soon merged into slumber's still wilder dreams, had +he not rallied himself, and departed on his way, fearful of forgetting +himself in an emergency like the present. It now occurred to him that, +well as his disguise had served him in escaping from the mansion of +Squire Woodcock, that disguise might fatally endanger him if he should +be discovered in it abroad. He might pass for a ghost at night, and +among the relations and immediate friends of the gentleman deceased; but +by day, and among indifferent persons, he ran no small risk of being +apprehended for an entry-thief. He bitterly lamented his omission in not +pulling on the Squire's clothes over his own, so that he might now have +reappeared in his former guise. + +As meditating over this difficulty, he was passing along, suddenly he +saw a man in black standing right in his path, about fifty yards +distant, in a field of some growing barley or wheat. The gloomy stranger +was standing stock-still; one outstretched arm, with weird intimation +pointing towards the deceased Squire's abode. To the brooding soul of +the now desolate Israel, so strange a sight roused a supernatural +suspicion. His conscience morbidly reproaching him for the terrors he +had bred in making his escape from the house, he seemed to see in the +fixed gesture of the stranger something more than humanly significant. +But somewhat of his intrepidity returned; he resolved to test the +apparition. Composing itself to the same deliberate stateliness with +which it had paced the hall, the phantom of Squire Woodcock firmly, +advanced its cane, and marched straight forward towards the mysterious +stranger. + +As he neared him, Israel shrunk. The dark coat-sleeve flapped on the +bony skeleton of the unknown arm. The face was lost in a sort of ghastly +blank. It was no living man. + +But mechanically continuing his course, Israel drew still nearer and saw +a scarecrow. + +Not a little relieved by the discovery, our adventurer paused, more +particularly to survey so deceptive an object, which seemed to have been +constructed on the most efficient principles; probably by some broken +down wax figure costumer. It comprised the complete wardrobe of a +scarecrow, namely: a cocked hat, bunged; tattered coat; old velveteen +breeches; and long worsted stockings, full of holes; all stuffed very +nicely with straw, and skeletoned by a frame-work of poles. There was a +great flapped pocket to the coat--which seemed to have been some +laborer's--standing invitingly opened. Putting his hands in, Israel drew +out the lid of an old tobacco-box, the broken bowl of a pipe, two rusty +nails, and a few kernels of wheat. This reminded him of the Squire's +pockets. Trying them, he produced a handsome handkerchief, a +spectacle-case, with a purse containing some silver and gold, amounting +to a little more than five pounds. Such is the difference between the +contents of the pockets of scarecrows and the pockets of well-to-do +squires. Ere donning his present habiliments, Israel had not omitted to +withdraw his own money from his own coat, and put it in the pocket of +his own waistcoat, which he had not exchanged. + +Looking upon the scarecrow more attentively, it struck him that, +miserable as its wardrobe was, nevertheless here was a chance for +getting rid of the unsuitable and perilous clothes of the Squire. No +other available opportunity might present itself for a time. Before he +encountered any living creature by daylight, another suit must somehow +be had. His exchange with the old ditcher, after his escape from the inn +near Portsmouth, had familiarized him with the most deplorable of +wardrobes. Well, too, he knew, and had experienced it, that for a man +desirous of avoiding notice, the more wretched the clothes, the better. +For who does not shun the scurvy wretch, Poverty, advancing in battered +hat and lamentable coat? + +Without more ado, slipping off the Squire's raiment, he donned the +scarecrow's, after carefully shaking out the hay, which, from many +alternate soakings and bakings in rain and sun, had become quite broken +up, and would have been almost dust, were it not for the mildew which +damped it. But sufficient of this wretched old hay remained adhesive to +the inside of the breeches and coat-sleeves, to produce the most +irritating torment. + +The grand moral question now came up, what to do with the purse. Would +it be dishonest under the circumstances to appropriate that purse? +Considering the whole matter, and not forgetting that he had not +received from the gentleman deceased the promised reward for his +services as courier, Israel concluded that he might justly use the +money for his own. To which opinion surely no charitable judge will +demur. Besides, what should he do with the purse, if not use it for his +own? It would have been insane to have returned it to the relations. +Such mysterious honesty would have but resulted in his arrest as a +rebel, or rascal. As for the Squire's clothes, handkerchief, and +spectacle-case, they must be put out of sight with all dispatch. So, +going to a morass not remote, Israel sunk them deep down, and heaped +tufts of the rank sod upon them. Then returning to the field of corn, +sat down under the lee of a rock, about a hundred yards from where the +scarecrow had stood, thinking which way he now had best direct his +steps. But his late ramble coming after so long a deprivation of rest, +soon produced effects not so easy to be shaken off, as when reposing +upon the haycock. He felt less anxious too, since changing his apparel. +So before he was aware, he fell into deep sleep. + +When he awoke, the sun was well up in the sky. Looking around he saw a +farm-laborer with a pitchfork coming at a distance into view, whose +steps seemed bent in a direction not far from the spot where he lay. +Immediately it struck our adventurer that this man must be familiar with +the scarecrow; perhaps had himself fashioned it. Should he miss it then, +he might make immediate search, and so discover the thief so imprudently +loitering upon the very field of his operations. + +Waiting until the man momentarily disappeared in a little hollow, Israel +ran briskly to the identical spot where the scarecrow had stood, where, +standing stiffly erect, pulling the hat well over his face, and +thrusting out his arm, pointed steadfastly towards the Squire's abode, +he awaited the event. Soon the man reappeared in sight, and marching +right on, paused not far from Israel, and gave him an one earnest look, +as if it were his daily wont to satisfy that all was right with the +scarecrow. No sooner was the man departed to a reasonable distance, +than, quitting his post, Israel struck across the fields towards London. +But he had not yet quite quitted the field when it occurred to him to +turn round and see if the man was completely out of sight, when, to his +consternation, he saw the man returning towards him, evidently by his +pace and gesture in unmixed amazement. The man must have turned round to +look before Israel had done so. Frozen to the ground, Israel knew not +what to do; but next moment it struck him that this very motionlessness +was the least hazardous plan in such a strait. Thrusting out his arm +again towards the house, once more he stood stock still, and again +awaited the event. + +It so happened that this time, in pointing towards the house, Israel +unavoidably pointed towards the advancing man. Hoping that the +strangeness of this coincidence might, by operating on the man's +superstition, incline him to beat an immediate retreat, Israel kept cool +as he might. But the man proved to be of a braver metal than +anticipated. In passing the spot where the scarecrow had stood, and +perceiving, beyond the possibility of mistake, that by, some +unaccountable agency it had suddenly removed itself to a distance, +instead of being, terrified at this verification of his worst +apprehensions, the man pushed on for Israel, apparently resolved to sift +this mystery to the bottom. + +Seeing him now determinately coming, with pitchfork valiantly presented, +Israel, as a last means of practising on the fellow's fears of the +supernatural, suddenly doubled up both fists, presenting them savagely +towards him at a distance of about twenty paces, at the same time +showing his teeth like a skull's, and demoniacally rolling his eyes. The +man paused bewildered, looked all round him, looked at the springing +grain, then across at some trees, then up at the sky, and satisfied at +last by those observations that the world at large had not undergone a +miracle in the last fifteen minutes, resolutely resumed his advance; the +pitchfork, like a boarding-pike, now aimed full at the breast of the +object. Seeing all his stratagems vain, Israel now threw himself into +the original attitude of the scarecrow, and once again stood immovable. +Abating his pace by degrees almost to a mere creep, the man at last came +within three feet of him, and, pausing, gazed amazed into Israel's eyes. +With a stern and terrible expression Israel resolutely returned the +glance, but otherwise remained like a statue, hoping thus to stare his +pursuer out of countenance. At last the man slowly presented one prong +of his fork towards Israel's left eye. Nearer and nearer the sharp point +came, till no longer capable of enduring such a test, Israel took to his +heels with all speed, his tattered coat-tails streaming behind him. With +inveterate purpose the man pursued. Darting blindly on, Israel, leaping +a gate, suddenly found himself in a field where some dozen laborers +were at work, who recognizing the scarecrow--an old acquaintance of +theirs, as it would seem--lifted all their hands as the astounding +apparition swept by, followed by the man with the pitchfork. Soon all +joined in the chase, but Israel proved to have better wind and bottom +than any. Outstripping the whole pack he finally shot out of their sight +in an extensive park, heavily timbered in one quarter. He never saw more +of these people. + +Loitering in the wood till nightfall, he then stole out and made the +best of his way towards the house of that good natured farmer in whose +corn-loft he had received his first message from Squire Woodcock. +Rousing this man up a little before midnight, he informed him somewhat +of his recent adventures, but carefully concealed his having been +employed as a secret courier, together with his escape from Squire +Woodcock's. All he craved at present was a meal. The meal being over, +Israel offered to buy from the farmer his best suit of clothes, and +displayed the money on the spot. + +"Where did you get so much money?" said his entertainer in a tone of +surprise; "your clothes here don't look as if you had seen prosperous +times since you left me. Why, you look like a scarecrow." + +"That may well be," replied Israel, very soberly. "But what do you say? +will you sell me your suit?--here's the cash." + +"I don't know about it," said the farmer, in doubt; "let me look at the +money. Ha!--a silk purse come out of a beggars pocket!--Quit the house, +rascal, you've turned thief." + +Thinking that he could not swear to his having come by his money with +absolute honesty--since indeed the case was one for the most subtle +casuist--Israel knew not what to reply. This honest confusion confirmed +the farmer, who with many abusive epithets drove him into the road, +telling him that he might thank himself that he did not arrest him on +the spot. + +In great dolor at this unhappy repulse, Israel trudged on in the +moonlight some three miles to the house of another friend, who also had +once succored him in extremity. This man proved a very sound sleeper. +Instead of succeeding in rousing him by his knocking, Israel but +succeeded in rousing his wife, a person not of the greatest amiability. +Raising the sash, and seeing so shocking a pauper before her, the woman +upbraided him with shameless impropriety in asking charity at dead of +night, in a dress so improper too. Looking down at his deplorable +velveteens, Israel discovered that his extensive travels had produced a +great rent in one loin of the rotten old breeches, through which a +whitish fragment protruded. + +Remedying this oversight as well as he might, he again implored the +woman to wake her husband. + +"That I shan't!" said the woman, morosely. "Quit the premises, or I'll +throw something on ye." + +With that she brought some earthenware to the window, and would have +fulfilled her threat, had not Israel prudently retreated some paces. +Here he entreated the woman to take mercy on his plight, and since she +would not waken her husband, at least throw to him (Israel) her +husband's breeches, and he would leave the price of them, with his own +breeches to boot, on the sill of the door. + +"You behold how sadly I need them," said he; "for heaven's sake befriend +me." + +"Quit the premises!" reiterated the woman. + +"The breeches, the breeches! here is the money," cried Israel, half +furious with anxiety. + +"Saucy cur," cried the woman, somehow misunderstanding him; "do you +cunningly taunt me with _wearing_ the breeches'? begone!" + +Once more poor Israel decamped, and made for another friend. But here a +monstrous bull-dog, indignant that the peace of a quiet family should be +disturbed by so outrageous a tatterdemalion, flew at Israel's +unfortunate coat, whose rotten skirts the brute tore completely off, +leaving the coat razeed to a spencer, which barely came down to the +wearer's waist. In attempting to drive the monster away, Israel's hat +fell off, upon which the dog pounced with the utmost fierceness, and +thrusting both paws into it, rammed out the crown and went snuffling the +wreck before him. Recovering the wretched hat, Israel again beat a +retreat, his wardrobe sorely the worse for his visits. Not only was his +coat a mere rag, but his breeches, clawed by the dog, were slashed into +yawning gaps, while his yellow hair waved over the top of the crownless +beaver, like a lonely tuft of heather on the highlands. + +In this plight the morning discovered him dubiously skirmishing on the +outskirts of a village. + +"Ah! what a true patriot gets for serving his country!" murmured +Israel. But soon thinking a little better of his case, and seeing yet +another house which had once furnished him with an asylum, he made bold +to advance to the door. Luckily he this time met the man himself, just +emerging from bed. At first the farmer did not recognize the fugitive, +but upon another look, seconded by Israel's plaintive appeal, beckoned +him into the barn, where directly our adventurer told him all he thought +prudent to disclose of his story, ending by once more offering to +negotiate for breeches and coat. Having ere this emptied and thrown away +the purse which had played him so scurvy a trick with the first farmer, +he now produced three crown-pieces. + +"Three crown-pieces in your pocket, and no crown to your hat!" said the +farmer. + +"But I assure you, my friend," rejoined Israel, "that a finer hat was +never worn, until that confounded bull-dog ruined it." + +"True," said the farmer, "I forgot that part of your story. Well, I have +a tolerable coat and breeches which I will sell you for your money." + +In ten minutes more Israel was equipped in a gray coat of coarse cloth, +not much improved by wear, and breeches to match. For half-a-crown more +he procured a highly respectable looking hat. + +"Now, my kind friend," said Israel, "can you tell me where Horne Tooke +and John Bridges live?" + +Our adventurer thought it his best plan to seek out one or other of +those gentlemen, both to report proceedings and learn confirmatory +tidings concerning Squire Woodcock, touching whose fate he did not like +to inquire of others. + +"Horne Tooke? What do you want with Horne Tooke," said the farmer. "He +was Squire Woodcock's friend, wasn't he? The poor Squire! Who would have +thought he'd have gone off so suddenly. But apoplexy comes like a +bullet." + +"I was right," thought Israel to himself. "But where does Horne Tooke +live?" he demanded again. + +"He once lived in Brentford, and wore a cassock there. But I hear he's +sold out his living, and gone in his surplice to study law in Lunnon." + +This was all news to Israel, who, from various amiable remarks he had +heard from Horne Tooke at the Squire's, little dreamed he was an +ordained clergyman. Yet a good-natured English clergyman translated +Lucian; another, equally good-natured, wrote Tristam Shandy; and a +third, an ill-natured appreciator of good-natured Rabelais, died a dean; +not to speak of others. Thus ingenious and ingenuous are some of the +English clergy. + +"You can't tell me, then, where to find Horne Tooke?" said Israel, in +perplexity. + +"You'll find him, I suppose, in Lunnon." + +"What street and number?" + +"Don't know. Needle in a haystack." + +"Where does Mr. Bridges live?" + +"Never heard of any Bridges, except Lunnon bridges, and one Molly +Bridges in Bridewell." + +So Israel departed; better clothed, but no wiser than before. + +What to do next? He reckoned up his money, and concluded he had plenty +to carry him back to Doctor Franklin in Paris. Accordingly, taking a +turn to avoid the two nearest villages, he directed his steps towards +London, where, again taking the post-coach for Dover, he arrived on the +channel shore just in time to learn that the very coach in which he rode +brought the news to the authorities there that all intercourse between +the two nations was indefinitely suspended. The characteristic +taciturnity and formal stolidity of his fellow-travellers--all +Englishmen, mutually unacquainted with each other, and occupying +different positions in life--having prevented his sooner hearing the +tidings. + +Here was another accumulation of misfortunes. All visions but those of +eventual imprisonment or starvation vanished from before the present +realities of poor Israel Potter. The Brentford gentleman had flattered +him with the prospect of receiving something very handsome for his +services as courier. That hope was no more. Doctor Franklin had promised +him his good offices in procuring him a passage home to America. Quite +out of the question now. The sage had likewise intimated that he might +possibly see him some way remunerated for his sufferings in his +country's cause. An idea no longer to be harbored. Then Israel recalled +the mild man of wisdom's words--"At the prospect of pleasure never be +elated; but without depression respect the omens of ill." But he found +it as difficult now to comply, in all respects, with the last section of +the maxim, as before he had with the first. + +While standing wrapped in afflictive reflections on the shore, gazing +towards the unattainable coast of France, a pleasant-looking cousinly +stranger, in seamen's dress, accosted him, and, after some pleasant +conversation, very civilly invited him up a lane into a house of rather +secret entertainment. Pleased to be befriended in this his strait, +Israel yet looked inquisitively upon the man, not completely satisfied +with his good intentions. But the other, with good-humored violence, +hurried him up the lane into the inn, when, calling for some spirits, he +and Israel very affectionately drank to each other's better health and +prosperity. + +"Take another glass," said the stranger, affably. + +Israel, to drown his heavy-heartedness, complied. The liquor began to +take effect. + +"Ever at sea?" said the stranger, lightly. + +"Oh, yes; been a whaling." + +"Ah!" said the other, "happy to hear that, I assure you. Jim! Bill!" And +beckoning very quietly to two brawny fellows, in a trice Israel found +himself kidnapped into the naval service of the magnanimous old +gentleman of Kew Gardens--his Royal Majesty, George III. + +"Hands off!" said Israel, fiercely, as the two men pinioned him. + +"Reglar game-cock," said the cousinly-looking man. "I must get three +guineas for cribbing him. Pleasant voyage to ye, my friend," and, +leaving Israel a prisoner, the crimp, buttoning his coat, sauntered +leisurely out of the inn. + +"I'm no Englishman," roared Israel, in a foam. + +"Oh! that's the old story," grinned his jailers. "Come along. There's +no Englishman in the English fleet. All foreigners. You may take their +own word for it." + +To be short, in less than a week Israel found himself at Portsmouth, +and, ere long, a foretopman in his Majesty's ship of the line, +"Unprincipled," scudding before the wind down channel, in company with +the "Undaunted," and the "Unconquerable;" all three haughty Dons bound +to the East Indian waters as reinforcements to the fleet of Sir Edward +Hughs. + +And now, we might shortly have to record our adventurer's part in the +famous engagement off the coast of Coromandel, between Admiral +Suffrien's fleet and the English squadron, were it not that fate +snatched him on the threshold of events, and, turning him short round +whither he had come, sent him back congenially to war against England; +instead of on her behalf. Thus repeatedly and rapidly were the fortunes +of our wanderer planted, torn up, transplanted, and dropped again, +hither and thither, according as the Supreme Disposer of sailors and +soldiers saw fit to appoint. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL +IN ONE NIGHT. + + +As running down channel at evening, Israel walked the crowded main-deck +of the seventy-four, continually brushed by a thousand hurrying +wayfarers, as if he were in some great street in London, jammed with +artisans, just returning from their day's labor, novel and painful +emotions were his. He found himself dropped into the naval mob without +one friend; nay, among enemies, since his country's enemies were his +own, and against the kith and kin of these very beings around him, he +himself had once lifted a fatal hand. The martial bustle of a great +man-of-war, on her first day out of port, was indescribably jarring to +his present mood. Those sounds of the human multitude disturbing the +solemn natural solitudes of the sea, mysteriously afflicted him. He +murmured against that untowardness which, after condemning him to long +sorrows on the land, now pursued him with added griefs on the deep. Why +should a patriot, leaping for the chance again to attack the oppressor, +as at Bunker Hill, now be kidnapped to fight that oppressor's battles +on the endless drifts of the Bunker Hills of the billows? But like many +other repiners, Israel was perhaps a little premature with upbraidings +like these. + +Plying on between Scilly and Cape Clear, the Unprincipled--which vessel +somewhat outsailed her consorts--fell in, just before dusk, with a large +revenue cutter close to, and showing signals of distress. At the moment, +no other sail was in sight. + +Cursing the necessity of pausing with a strong fair wind at a juncture +like this, the officer-of-the-deck shortened sail, and hove to; hailing +the cutter, to know what was the matter. As he hailed the small craft +from the lofty poop of the bristling seventy-four, this lieutenant +seemed standing on the top of Gibraltar, talking to some lowland peasant +in a hut. The reply was, that in a sudden flaw of wind, which came nigh +capsizing them, not an hour since, the cutter had lost all four foremost +men by the violent jibing of a boom. She wanted help to get back to +port. + +"You shall have one man," said the officer-of-the-deck, morosely. + +"Let him be a good one then, for heaven's sake," said he in the cutter; +"I ought to have at least two." + +During this talk, Israel's curiosity had prompted him to dart up the +ladder from the main-deck, and stand right in the gangway above, looking +out on the strange craft. Meantime the order had been given to drop a +boat. Thinking this a favorable chance, he stationed himself so that he +should be the foremost to spring into the boat; though crowds of English +sailors, eager as himself for the same opportunity to escape from +foreign service, clung to the chains of the as yet imperfectly +disciplined man-of-war. As the two men who had been lowered in the boat +hooked her, when afloat, along to the gangway, Israel dropped like a +comet into the stern-sheets, stumbled forward, and seized an oar. In a +moment more, all the oarsmen were in their places, and with a few +strokes the boat lay alongside the cutter. + +"Take which of them you please," said the lieutenant in command, +addressing the officer in the revenue-cutter, and motioning with his +hand to his boat's crew, as if they were a parcel of carcasses of +mutton, of which the first pick was offered to some customer. "Quick and +choose. Sit down, men"--to the sailors. "Oh, you are in a great hurry to +get rid of the king's service, ain't you? Brave chaps indeed!--Have you +chosen your man?" + +All this while the ten faces of the anxious oarsmen looked with mute +longings and appealings towards the officer of the cutter; every face +turned at the same angle, as if managed by one machine. And so they +were. One motive. + +"I take the freckled chap with the yellow hair--him," pointing to +Israel. + +Nine of the upturned faces fell in sullen despair, and ere Israel could +spring to his feet, he felt a violent thrust in his rear from the toes +of one of the disappointed behind him. + +"Jump, dobbin!" cried the officer of the boat. + +But Israel was already on board. Another moment, and the boat and cutter +parted. Ere long, night fell, and the man-of-war and her consorts were +out of sight. + +The revenue vessel resumed her course towards the nighest port, worked +by but four men: the captain, Israel, and two officers. The cabin-boy +was kept at the helm. As the only foremast man, Israel was put to it +pretty hard. Where there is but one man to three masters, woe betide +that lonely slave. Besides, it was of itself severe work enough to +manage the vessel thus short of hands. But to make matters still worse, +the captain and his officers were ugly-tempered fellows. The one kicked, +and the others cuffed Israel. Whereupon, not sugared with his recent +experiences, and maddened by his present hap, Israel seeing himself +alone at sea, with only three men, instead of a thousand, to contend +against, plucked up a heart, knocked the captain into the lee scuppers, +and in his fury was about tumbling the first-officer, a small wash of a +fellow, plump overboard, when the captain, jumping to his feet, seized +him by his long yellow hair, vowing he would slaughter him. Meanwhile +the cutter flew foaming through the channel, as if in demoniac glee at +this uproar on her imperilled deck. While the consternation was at its +height, a dark body suddenly loomed at a moderate distance into view, +shooting right athwart the stern of the cutter. The next moment a shot +struck the water within a boat's length. + +"Heave to, and send a boat on board!" roared a voice almost as loud as +the cannon. + +"That's a war-ship," cried the captain of the revenue vessel, in alarm; +"but she ain't a countryman." + +Meantime the officers and Israel stopped the cutter's way. + +"Send a boat on board, or I'll sink you," again came roaring from the +stranger, followed by another shot, striking the water still nearer the +cutter. + +"For God's sake, don't cannonade us. I haven't got the crew to man a +boat," replied the captain of the cutter. "Who are you?" + +"Wait till I send a boat to you for that," replied the stranger. + +"She's an enemy of some sort, that's plain," said the Englishman now to +his officers; "we ain't at open war with France; she's some bloodthirsty +pirate or other. What d'ye say, men?" turning to his officers; "let's +outsail her, or be shot to chips. We can beat her at sailing, I know." + +With that, nothing doubting that his counsel would be heartily responded +to, he ran to the braces to get the cutter before the wind, followed by +one officer, while the other, for a useless bravado, hoisted the colors +at the stern. + +But Israel stood indifferent, or rather all in a fever of conflicting +emotions. He thought he recognized the voice from the strange vessel. + +"Come, what do ye standing there, fool? Spring to the ropes here!" cried +the furious captain. + +But Israel did not stir. + +Meantime the confusion on board the stranger, owing to the hurried +lowering of her boat, with the cloudiness of the sky darkening the misty +sea, united to conceal the bold manoeuvre of the cutter. She had almost +gained full headway ere an oblique shot, directed by mere chance, struck +her stern, tearing the upcurved head of the tiller in the hands of the +cabin-boy, and killing him with the splinters. Running to the stump, the +captain huzzaed, and steered the reeling ship on. Forced now to hoist +back the boat ere giving chase, the stranger was dropped rapidly astern. + +All this while storms of maledictions were hurled on Israel. But their +exertions at the ropes prevented his shipmates for the time from using +personal violence. While observing their efforts, Israel could not but +say to himself, "These fellows are as brave as they are brutal." + +Soon the stranger was seen dimly wallowing along astern, crowding all +sail in chase, while now and then her bow-gun, showing its red tongue, +bellowed after them like a mad bull. Two more shots struck the cutter, +but without materially damaging her sails, or the ropes immediately +upholding them. Several of her less important stays were sundered, +however, whose loose tarry ends lashed the air like scorpions. It seemed +not improbable that, owing to her superior sailing, the keen cutter +would yet get clear. + +At this juncture Israel, running towards the captain, who still held the +splintered stump of the tiller, stood full before him, saying, "I am an +enemy, a Yankee, look to yourself." + +"Help here, lads, help," roared the captain, "a traitor, a traitor!" + +The words were hardly out of his mouth when his voice was silenced for +ever. With one prodigious heave of his whole physical force, Israel +smote him over the taffrail into the sea, as if the man had fallen +backwards over a teetering chair. By this time the two officers were +hurrying aft. Ere meeting them midway, Israel, quick as lightning, cast +off the two principal halyards, thus letting the large sails all in a +tumble of canvass to the deck. Next moment one of the officers was at +the helm, to prevent the cutter from capsizing by being without a +steersman in such an emergency. The other officer and Israel +interlocked. The battle was in the midst of the chaos of blowing +canvass. Caught in a rent of the sail, the officer slipped and fell near +the sharp iron edge of the hatchway. As he fell he caught Israel by the +most terrible part in which mortality can be grappled. Insane with pain, +Israel dashed his adversary's skull against the sharp iron. The +officer's hold relaxed, but himself stiffened. Israel made for the +helmsman, who as yet knew not the issue of the late tussle. He caught +him round the loins, bedding his fingers like grisly claws into his +flesh, and hugging him to his heart. The man's ghost, caught like a +broken cork in a gurgling bottle's neck, gasped with the embrace. +Loosening him suddenly, Israel hurled him from him against the bulwarks. +That instant another report was heard, followed by the savage hail--"You +down sail at last, do ye? I'm a good mind to sink ye for your scurvy +trick. Pull down that dirty rag there, astern!" + +With a loud huzza, Israel hauled down the flag with one hand, while with +the other he helped the now slowly gliding craft from falling off before +the wind. + +In a few moments a boat was alongside. As its commander stepped to the +deck he stumbled against the body of the first officer, which, owing to +the sudden slant of the cutter in coming to the wind, had rolled against +the side near the gangway. As he came aft he heard the moan of the other +officer, where he lay under the mizzen shrouds. + +"What is all this?" demanded the stranger of Israel. + +"It means that I am a Yankee impressed into the king's service, and for +their pains I have taken the cutter." + +Giving vent to his surprise, the officer looked narrowly at the body by +the shrouds, and said, "This man is as good as dead, but we will take +him to Captain Paul as a witness in your behalf." + +"Captain Paul?--Paul Jones?" cried Israel. + +"The same." + +"I thought so. I thought that was his voice hailing. It was Captain +Paul's voice that somehow put me up to this deed." + +"Captain Paul is the devil for putting men up to be tigers. But where +are the rest of the crew?" + +"Overboard." + +"What?" cried the officer; "come on board the Ranger. Captain Paul will +use you for a broadside." + +Taking the moaning man along with them, and leaving the cutter +untenanted by any living soul, the boat now left her for the enemy's +ship. But ere they reached it the man had expired. + +Standing foremost on the deck, crowded with three hundred men, as Israel +climbed the side, he saw, by the light of battle-lanterns, a small, +smart, brigandish-looking man, wearing a Scotch bonnet, with a gold band +to it. + +"You rascal," said this person, "why did your paltry smack give me this +chase? Where's the rest of your gang?" + +"Captain Paul," said Israel, "I believe I remember you. I believe I +offered you my bed in Paris some months ago. How is Poor Richard?" + +"God! Is this the courier? The Yankee courier? But how now? in an +English revenue cutter?" + +"Impressed, sir; that's the way." + +"But where's the rest of them?" demanded Paul, turning to the officer. + +Thereupon the officer very briefly told Paul what Israel told him. + +"Are we to sink the cutter, sir?" said the gunner, now advancing towards +Captain Paul. "If it is to be done, now is the time. She is close under +us, astern; a few guns pointed downwards will settle her like a shotted +corpse." + +"No. Let her drift into Penzance, an anonymous earnest of what the +whitesquall in Paul Jones intends for the future." + +Then giving directions as to the course of the ship, with an order for +himself to be called at the first glimpse of a sail, Paul took Israel +down with him into his cabin. + +"Tell me your story now, my yellow lion. How was it all? Don't stand, +sit right down there on the transom. I'm a democratic sort of sea-king. +Plump on the woolsack, I say, and spin the yarn. But hold; you want some +grog first." + +As Paul handed the flagon, Israel's eye fell upon his hand. + +"You don't wear any rings now, Captain, I see. Left them in Paris for +safety." + +"Aye, with a certain marchioness there," replied Paul, with a dandyish +look of sentimental conceit, which sat strangely enough on his otherwise +grim and Fejee air. + +"I should think rings would be somewhat inconvenient at sea," resumed +Israel. "On my first voyage to the West Indies, I wore a girl's ring on +my middle finger here, and it wasn't long before, what with hauling wet +ropes, and what not, it got a kind of grown down into the flesh, and +pained me very bad, let me tell you, it hugged the finger so." + +"And did the girl grow as close to your heart, lad?" + +"Ah, Captain, girls grow themselves off quicker than we grow them on." + +"Some experience with the countesses as well as myself, eh? But the +story; wave your yellow mane, my lion--the story." + +So Israel went on and told the story in all particulars. + +At its conclusion Captain Paul eyed him very earnestly. His wild, lonely +heart, incapable of sympathizing with cuddled natures made humdrum by +long exemption from pain, was yet drawn towards a being, who in +desperation of friendlessness, something like his own, had so fiercely +waged battle against tyrannical odds. + +"Did you go to sea young, lad?" + +"Yes, pretty young." + +"I went at twelve, from Whitehaven. Only so high," raising his hand some +four feet from the deck. "I was so small, and looked so queer in my +little blue jacket, that they called me the monkey. They'll call me +something else before long. Did you ever sail out of Whitehaven?" + +"No, Captain." + +"If you had, you'd have heard sad stories about me. To this hour they +say there that I--bloodthirsty, coward dog that I am--flogged a sailor, +one Mungo Maxwell, to death. It's a lie, by Heaven! I flogged him, for +he was a mutinous scamp. But he died naturally, some time afterwards, +and on board another ship. But why talk? They didn't believe the +affidavits of others taken before London courts, triumphantly acquitting +me; how then will they credit _my_ interested words? If slander, however +much a lie, once gets hold of a man, it will stick closer than fair +fame, as black pitch sticks closer than white cream. But let 'em +slander. I will give the slanderers matter for curses. When last I left +Whitehaven, I swore never again to set foot on her pier, except, like +Caesar, at Sandwich, as a foreign invader. Spring under me, good ship; +on you I bound to my vengeance!" + +Men with poignant feelings, buried under an air of care-free self +command, are never proof to the sudden incitements of passion. Though +in the main they may control themselves, yet if they but once permit the +smallest vent, then they may bid adieu to all self-restraint, at least +for that time. Thus with Paul on the present occasion. His sympathy with +Israel had prompted this momentary ebullition. When it was gone by, he +seemed not a little to regret it. But he passed it over lightly, saying, +"You see, my fine fellow, what sort of a bloody cannibal I am. Will you +be a sailor of mine? A sailor of the Captain who flogged poor Mungo +Maxwell to death?" + +"I will be very happy, Captain Paul, to be sailor under the man who will +yet, I dare say, help flog the British nation to death." + +"You hate 'em, do ye?" + +"Like snakes. For months they've hunted me as a dog," half howled and +half wailed Israel, at the memory of all he had suffered. + +"Give me your hand, my lion; wave your wild flax again. By Heaven, you +hate so well, I love ye. You shall be my confidential man; stand sentry +at my cabin door; sleep in the cabin; steer my boat; keep by my side +whenever I land. What do you say?" + +"I say I'm glad to hear you." + +"You are a good, brave soul. You are the first among the millions of +mankind that I ever naturally took to. Come, you are tired. There, go +into that state-room for to-night--it's mine. You offered me your bed in +Paris." + +"But you begged off, Captain, and so must I. Where do you sleep?" + +"Lad, I don't sleep half a night out of three. My clothes have not been +off now for five days." + +"Ah, Captain, you sleep so little and scheme so much, you will die +young." + +"I know it: I want to: I mean to. Who would live a doddered old stump? +What do you think of my Scotch bonnet?" + +"It looks well on you, Captain." + +"Do you think so? A Scotch bonnet, though, ought to look well on a +Scotchman. I'm such by birth. Is the gold band too much?" + +"I like the gold band, Captain. It looks something as I should think a +crown might on a king." + +"Aye?" + +"You would make a better-looking king than George III." + +"Did you ever see that old granny? Waddles about in farthingales, and +carries a peacock fan, don't he? Did you ever see him?" + +"Was as close to him as I am to you now, Captain. In Kew Gardens it was, +where I worked gravelling the walks. I was all alone with him, talking +for some ten minutes." + +"By Jove, what a chance! Had I but been there! What an opportunity for +kidnapping a British king, and carrying him off in a fast sailing smack +to Boston, a hostage for American freedom. But what did you? Didn't you +try to do something to him?" + +"I had a wicked thought or two, Captain, but I got the better of it. +Besides, the king behaved handsomely towards me; yes, like a true man. +God bless him for it. But it was before that, that I got the better of +the wicked thought." + +"Ah, meant to stick him, I suppose. Glad you didn't. It would have been +very shabby. Never kill a king, but make him captive. He looks better as +a led horse, than a dead carcass. I propose now, this trip, falling on +the grounds of the Earl of Selkirk, a privy counsellor and particular +private friend of George III. But I won't hurt a hair of his head. When +I get him on board here, he shall lodge in my best state-room, which I +mean to hang with damask for him. I shall drink wine with him, and be +very friendly; take him to America, and introduce his lordship into the +best circles there; only I shall have him accompanied on his calls by a +sentry or two disguised as valets. For the Earl's to be on sale, mind; +so much ransom; that is, the nobleman, Lord Selkirk, shall have a bodily +price pinned on his coat-tail, like any slave up at auction in +Charleston. But, my lad with the yellow mane, you very strangely draw +out my secrets. And yet you don't talk. Your honesty is a magnet which +attracts my sincerity. But I rely on your fidelity." + +"I shall be a vice to your plans, Captain Paul. I will receive, but I +won't let go, unless you alone loose the screw." + +"Well said. To bed now; you ought to. I go on deck. Good night, +ace-of-hearts." + +"That is fitter for yourself, Captain Paul, lonely leader of the suit." + +"Lonely? Aye, but number one cannot but be lonely, my trump." + +"Again I give it back. Ace-of-trumps may it prove to you, Captain Paul; +may it be impossible for you ever to be taken. But for me--poor deuce, a +trey, that comes in your wake--any king or knave may take me, as before +now the knaves have." + +"Tut, tut, lad; never be more cheery for another than for yourself. But +a fagged body fags the soul. To hammock, to hammock! while I go on deck +to clap on more sail to your cradle." + +And they separated for that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA. + + +Next morning Israel was appointed quartermaster--a subaltern selected +from the common seamen, and whose duty mostly stations him in the stern +of the ship, where the captain walks. His business is to carry the glass +on the look-out for sails; hoist or lower the colors; and keep an eye on +the helmsman. Picked out from the crew for their superior respectability +and intelligence, as well as for their excellent seamanship, it is not +unusual to find the quartermasters of an armed ship on peculiarly easy +terms with the commissioned officers and captain. This birth, therefore, +placed Israel in official contiguity to Paul, and without subjecting +either to animadversion, made their public intercourse on deck almost as +familiar as their unrestrained converse in the cabin. + +It was a fine cool day in the beginning of April. They were now off the +coast of Wales, whose lofty mountains, crested with snow, presented a +Norwegian aspect. The wind was fair, and blew with a strange, bestirring +power. The ship--running between Ireland and England, northwards, +towards the Irish Sea, the inmost heart of the British waters--seemed, +as she snortingly shook the spray from her bow, to be conscious of the +dare-devil defiance of the soul which conducted her on this anomalous +cruise. Sailing alone from out a naval port of France, crowded with +ships-of-the-line, Paul Jones, in his small craft, went forth in +single-armed championship against the English host. Armed with but the +sling-stones in his one shot-locker, like young David of old, Paul +bearded the British giant of Gath. It is not easy, at the present day, +to conceive the hardihood of this enterprise. It was a marching up to +the muzzle; the act of one who made no compromise with the cannonadings +of danger or death; such a scheme as only could have inspired a heart +which held at nothing all the prescribed prudence of war, and every +obligation of peace; combining in one breast the vengeful indignation +and bitter ambition of an outraged hero, with the uncompunctuous +desperation of a renegade. In one view, the Coriolanus of the sea; in +another, a cross between the gentleman and the wolf. + +As Paul stood on the elevated part of the quarter-deck, with none but his +confidential quartermaster near him, he yielded to Israel's natural +curiosity to learn something concerning the sailing of the expedition. +Paul stood lightly, swaying his body over the sea, by holding on to the +mizzen-shrouds, an attitude not inexpressive of his easy audacity; while +near by, pacing a few steps to and fro, his long spy-glass now under his +arm, and now presented at his eye, Israel, looking the very image of +vigilant prudence, listened to the warrior's story. It appeared that on +the night of the visit of the Duke de Chartres and Count D'Estaing to +Doctor Franklin in Paris--the same night that Captain Paul and Israel +were joint occupants of the neighboring chamber--the final sanction of +the French king to the sailing of an American armament against England, +under the direction of the Colonial Commissioner, was made known to the +latter functionary. It was a very ticklish affair. Though swaying on the +brink of avowed hostilities with England, no verbal declaration had as +yet been made by France. Undoubtedly, this enigmatic position of things +was highly advantageous to such an enterprise as Paul's. + +Without detailing all the steps taken through the united efforts of +Captain Paul and Doctor Franklin, suffice it that the determined rover +had now attained his wish--the unfettered command of an armed ship in +the British waters; a ship legitimately authorized to hoist the American +colors, her commander having in his cabin-locker a regular commission as +an officer of the American navy. He sailed without any instructions. +With that rare insight into rare natures which so largely distinguished +the sagacious Franklin, the sage well knew that a prowling _brave_, like +Paul Jones, was, like the prowling lion, by nature a solitary warrior. +"Let him alone," was the wise man's answer to some statesman who sought +to hamper Paul with a letter of instructions. + +Much subtile casuistry has been expended upon the point, whether Paul +Jones was a knave or a hero, or a union of both. But war and warriors, +like politics and politicians, like religion and religionists, admit of +no metaphysics. + +On the second day after Israel's arrival on board the Ranger, as he and +Paul were conversing on the deck, Israel suddenly levelling his glass +towards the Irish coast, announced a large sail bound in. The Ranger +gave chase, and soon, almost within sight of her destination--the port +of Dublin--the stranger was taken, manned, and turned round for Brest. + +The Ranger then stood over, passed the Isle of Man towards the +Cumberland shore, arriving within remote sight of Whitehaven about +sunset. At dark she was hovering off the harbor, with a party of +volunteers all ready to descend. But the wind shifted and blew fresh +with a violent sea. + +"I won't call on old friends in foul weather," said Captain Paul to +Israel. "We'll saunter about a little, and leave our cards in a day or +two." + +Next morning, in Glentinebay, on the south shore of Scotland, they fell +in with a revenue wherry. It was the practice of such craft to board +merchant vessels. The Ranger was disguised as a merchantman, presenting +a broad drab-colored belt all round her hull; under the coat of a +Quaker, concealing the intent of a Turk. It was expected that the +chartered rover would come alongside the unchartered one. But the former +took to flight, her two lug sails staggering under a heavy wind, which +the pursuing guns of the Ranger pelted with a hail-storm of shot. The +wherry escaped, spite the severe cannonade. + +Off the Mull of Galoway, the day following, Paul found himself so nigh a +large barley-freighted Scotch coaster, that, to prevent her carrying +tidings of him to land, he dispatched her with the news, stern foremost, +to Hades; sinking her, and sowing her barley in the sea broadcast by a +broadside. From her crew he learned that there was a fleet of twenty or +thirty sail at anchor in Lochryan, with an armed brigantine. He pointed +his prow thither; but at the mouth of the lock, the wind turned against +him again in hard squalls. He abandoned the project. Shortly after, he +encountered a sloop from Dublin. He sunk her to prevent intelligence. + +Thus, seeming as much to bear the elemental commission of Nature, as the +military warrant of Congress, swarthy Paul darted hither and thither; +hovering like a thundercloud off the crowded harbors; then, beaten off +by an adverse wind, discharging his lightnings on uncompanioned vessels, +whose solitude made them a more conspicuous and easier mark, like lonely +trees on the heath. Yet all this while the land was full of garrisons, +the embayed waters full of fleets. With the impunity of a Levanter, Paul +skimmed his craft in the land-locked heart of the supreme naval power of +earth; a torpedo-eel, unknowingly swallowed by Britain in a draught of +old ocean, and making sad havoc with her vitals. + +Seeing next a large vessel steering for the Clyde, he gave chase, hoping +to cut her off. The stranger proving a fast sailer, the pursuit was +urged on with vehemence, Paul standing, plank-proud, on the +quarter-deck, calling for pulls upon every rope, to stretch each already +half-burst sail to the uttermost. + +While thus engaged, suddenly a shadow, like that thrown by an eclipse, +was seen rapidly gaining along the deck, with a sharp defined line, +plain as a seam of the planks. It involved all before it. It was the +domineering shadow of the Juan Fernandez-like crag of Ailsa. The Ranger +was in the deep water which makes all round and close up to this great +summit of the submarine Grampians. + +The crag, more than a mile in circuit, is over a thousand feet high, +eight miles from the Ayrshire shore. There stands the cove, lonely as a +foundling, proud as Cheops. But, like the battered brains surmounting +the Giant of Gath, its haughty summit is crowned by a desolate castle, +in and out of whose arches the aerial mists eddy like purposeless +phantoms, thronging the soul of some ruinous genius, who, even in +overthrow, harbors none but lofty conceptions. + +As the Ranger shot higher under the crag, its height and bulk dwarfed +both pursuer and pursued into nutshells. The main-truck of the Ranger +was nine hundred feet below the foundations of the ruin on the crag's +top: + +While the ship was yet under the shadow, and each seaman's face shared +in the general eclipse, a sudden change came over Paul. He issued no +more sultanical orders. He did not look so elate as before. At length he +gave the command to discontinue the chase. Turning about, they sailed +southward. + +"Captain Paul," said Israel, shortly afterwards, "you changed your mind +rather queerly about catching that craft. But you thought she was +drawing us too far up into the land, I suppose." + +"Sink the craft," cried Paul; "it was not any fear of her, nor of King +George, which made me turn on my heel; it was yon cock of the walk." + +"Cock of the walk?" + +"Aye, cock of the walk of the sea; look--yon Crag of Ailsa." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN. + + +Next day, off Carrickfergus, on the Irish coast, a fishing boat, allured +by the Quaker-like look of the incognito craft, came off in full +confidence. Her men were seized, their vessel sunk. From them Paul +learned that the large ship at anchor in the road, was the ship-of-war +Drake, of twenty guns. Upon this he steered away, resolving to return +secretly, and attack her that night. + +"Surely, Captain Paul," said Israel to his commander, as about sunset +they backed and stood in again for the land "surely, sir, you are not +going right in among them this way? Why not wait till she comes out?" + +"Because, Yellow-hair, my boy, I am engaged to marry her to-night. The +bride's friends won't like the match; and so, this very night, the bride +must be carried away. She has a nice tapering waist, hasn't she, through +the glass? Ah! I will clasp her to my heart." + +He steered straight in like a friend; under easy sail, lounging towards +the Drake, with anchor ready to drop, and grapnels to hug. But the wind +was high; the anchor was not dropped at the ordered time. The ranger +came to a stand three biscuits' toss off the unmisgiving enemy's +quarter, like a peaceful merchantman from the Canadas, laden with +harmless lumber. + +"I shan't marry her just yet," whispered Paul, seeing his plans for the +time frustrated. Gazing in audacious tranquillity upon the decks of the +enemy, and amicably answering her hail, with complete self-possession, +he commanded the cable to be slipped, and then, as if he had +accidentally parted his anchor, turned his prow on the seaward tack, +meaning to return again immediately with the same prospect of advantage +possessed at first--his plan being to crash suddenly athwart the Drake's +bow, so as to have all her decks exposed point-blank to his musketry. +But once more the winds interposed. It came on with a storm of snow; he +was obliged to give up his project. + +Thus, without any warlike appearance, and giving no alarm, Paul, like an +invisible ghost, glided by night close to land, actually came to anchor, +for an instant, within speaking-distance of an English ship-of-war; and +yet came, anchored, answered hail, reconnoitered, debated, decided, and +retired, without exciting the least suspicion. His purpose was +chain-shot destruction. So easily may the deadliest foe--so he be but +dexterous--slide, undreamed of, into human harbors or hearts. And not +awakened conscience, but mere prudence, restrain such, if they vanish +again without doing harm. At daybreak no soul in Carrickfergus knew that +the devil, in a Scotch bonnet, had passed close that way over night. + +Seldom has regicidal daring been more strangely coupled with +octogenarian prudence, than in many of the predatory enterprises of +Paul. It is this combination of apparent incompatibilities which ranks +him among extraordinary warriors. + +Ere daylight, the storm of the night blew over. The sun saw the Ranger +lying midway over channel at the head of the Irish Sea; England, +Scotland, and Ireland, with all their lofty cliffs, being as +simultaneously as plainly in sight beyond the grass-green waters, as the +City Hall, St. Paul's, and the Astor House, from the triangular Park in +New York. The three kingdoms lay covered with snow, far as the eye could +reach. + +"Ah, Yellow-hair," said Paul, with a smile, "they show the white flag, +the cravens. And, while the white flag stays blanketing yonder heights, +we'll make for Whitehaven, my boy. I promised to drop in there a moment +ere quitting the country for good. Israel, lad, I mean to step ashore in +person, and have a personal hand in the thing. Did you ever drive +spikes?" + +"I've driven the spike-teeth into harrows before now," replied Israel; +"but that was before I was a sailor." + +"Well, then, driving spikes into harrows is a good introduction to +driving spikes into cannon. You are just the man. Put down your glass; +go to the carpenter, get a hundred spikes, put them in a bucket with a +hammer, and bring all to me." + +As evening fell, the great promontory of St. Bee's Head, with its +lighthouse, not far from Whitehaven, was in distant sight. But the wind +became so light that Paul could not work his ship in close enough at an +hour as early as intended. His purpose had been to make the descent and +retire ere break of day. But though this intention was frustrated, he +did not renounce his plan, for the present would be his last +opportunity. + +As the night wore on, and the ship, with a very light wind, glided +nigher and nigher the mark, Paul called upon Israel to produce his +bucket for final inspection. Thinking some of the spikes too large, he +had them filed down a little. He saw to the lanterns and combustibles. +Like Peter the Great, he went into the smallest details, while still +possessing a genius competent to plan the aggregate. But oversee as one +may, it is impossible to guard against carelessness in subordinates. +One's sharp eyes can't see behind one's back. It will yet be noted that +an important omission was made in the preparations for Whitehaven. + +The town contained, at that period, a population of some six or seven +thousand inhabitants, defended by forts. + +At midnight, Paul Jones, Israel Potter, and twenty-nine others, rowed in +two boats to attack the six or seven thousand inhabitants of Whitehaven. +There was a long way to pull. This was done in perfect silence. Not a +sound was heard except the oars turning in the row-locks. Nothing was +seen except the two lighthouses of the harbor. Through the stillness and +the darkness, the two deep-laden boats swam into the haven, like two +mysterious whales from the Arctic Sea. As they reached the outer pier, +the men saw each other's faces. The day was dawning. The riggers and +other artisans of the shipping would before very long be astir. No +matter. + +The great staple exported from Whitehaven was then, and still is, coal. +The town is surrounded by mines; the town is built on mines; the ships +moor over mines. The mines honeycomb the land in all directions, and +extend in galleries of grottoes for two miles under the sea. By the +falling in of the more ancient collieries numerous houses have been +swallowed, as if by an earthquake, and a consternation spread, like that +of Lisbon, in 1755. So insecure and treacherous was the site of the +place now about to be assailed by a desperado, nursed, like the coal, in +its vitals. + +Now, sailing on the Thames, nigh its mouth, of fair days, when the wind +is favorable for inward-bound craft, the stranger will sometimes see +processions of vessels, all of similar size and rig, stretching for +miles and miles, like a long string of horses tied two and two to a rope +and driven to market. These are colliers going to London with coal. + +About three hundred of these vessels now lay, all crowded together, in +one dense mob, at Whitehaven. The tide was out. They lay completely +helpless, clear of water, and grounded. They were sooty in hue. Their +black yards were deeply canted, like spears, to avoid collision. The +three hundred grimy hulls lay wallowing in the mud, like a herd of +hippopotami asleep in the alluvium of the Nile. Their sailless, raking +masts, and canted yards, resembled a forest of fish-spears thrust into +those same hippopotamus hides. Partly flanking one side of the grounded +fleet was a fort, whose batteries were raised from the beach. On a +little strip of this beach, at the base of the fort, lay a number of +small rusty guns, dismounted, heaped together in disorder, as a litter +of dogs. Above them projected the mounted cannon. + +Paul landed in his own boat at the foot of this fort. He dispatched the +other boat to the north side of the haven, with orders to fire the +shipping there. Leaving two men at the beach, he then proceeded to get +possession of the fort. + +"Hold on to the bucket, and give me your shoulder," said he to Israel. + +Using Israel for a ladder, in a trice he scaled the wall. The bucket and +the men followed. He led the way softly to the guard-house, burst in, +and bound the sentinels in their sleep. Then arranging his force, +ordered four men to spike the cannon there. + +"Now, Israel, your bucket, and follow me to the other fort." + +The two went alone about a quarter of a mile. + +"Captain Paul," said Israel, on the way, "can we two manage the +sentinels?" + +"There are none in the fort we go to." + +"You know all about the place, Captain?" + +"Pretty well informed on that subject, I believe. Come along. Yes, lad, +I am tolerably well acquainted with Whitehaven. And this morning intend +that Whitehaven shall have a slight inkling of _me_. Come on. Here we +are." + +Scaling the walls, the two involuntarily stood for an instant gazing +upon the scene. The gray light of the dawn showed the crowded houses and +thronged ships with a haggard distinctness. + +"Spike and hammer, lad;--so,--now follow me along, as I go, and give me +a spike for every cannon. I'll tongue-tie the thunderers. Speak no +more!" and he spiked the first gun. "Be a mute," and he spiked the +second. "Dumbfounder thee," and he spiked the third. And so, on, and on, +and on, Israel following him with the bucket, like a footman, or some +charitable gentleman with a basket of alms. + +"There, it is done. D'ye see the fire yet, lad, from the south? I +don't." + +"Not a spark, Captain. But day-sparks come on in the east." + +"Forked flames into the hounds! What are they about? Quick, let us back +to the first fort; perhaps something has happened, and they are there." + +Sure enough, on their return from spiking the cannon, Paul and Israel +found the other boat back, the crew in confusion, their lantern having +burnt out at the very instant they wanted it. By a singular fatality the +other lantern, belonging to Paul's boat, was likewise extinguished. No +tinder-box had been brought. They had no matches but sulphur matches. +Locofocos were not then known. + +The day came on apace. + +"Captain Paul," said the lieutenant of the second boat, "it is madness +to stay longer. See!" and he pointed to the town, now plainly +discernible in the gray light. + +"Traitor, or coward!" howled Paul, "how came the lanterns out? Israel, +my lion, now prove your blood. Get me a light--but one spark!" + +"Has any man here a bit of pipe and tobacco in his pocket?" said +Israel. + +A sailor quickly produced an old stump of a pipe, with tobacco. + +"That will do," and Israel hurried away towards the town. + +"What will the loon do with the pipe?" said one. "And where goes he?" +cried another. + +"Let him alone," said Paul. + +The invader now disposed his whole force so as to retreat at an +instant's warning. Meantime the hardy Israel, long experienced in all +sorts of shifts and emergencies, boldly ventured to procure, from some +inhabitant of Whitehaven, a spark to kindle all Whitehaven's habitations +in flames. + +There was a lonely house standing somewhat disjointed from the town, +some poor laborer's abode. Rapping at the door, Israel, pipe in mouth, +begged the inmates for a light for his tobacco. + +"What the devil," roared a voice from within, "knock up a man this time +of night to light your pipe? Begone!" + +"You are lazy this morning, my friend," replied Israel, "it is daylight. +Quick, give me a light. Don't you know your old friend? Shame! open the +door." + +In a moment a sleepy fellow appeared, let down the bar, and Israel, +stalking into the dim room, piloted himself straight to the fire-place, +raked away the cinders, lighted his tobacco, and vanished. + +All was done in a flash. The man, stupid with sleep, had looked on +bewildered. He reeled to the door, but, dodging behind a pile of +bricks, Israel had already hurried himself out of sight. + +"Well done, my lion," was the hail he received from Paul, who, during +his absence, had mustered as many pipes as possible, in order to +communicate and multiply the fire. + +Both boats now pulled to a favorable point of the principal pier of the +harbor, crowded close up to a part of which lay one wing of the +colliers. + +The men began to murmur at persisting in an attempt impossible to be +concealed much longer. They were afraid to venture on board the grim +colliers, and go groping down into their hulls to fire them. It seemed +like a voluntary entrance into dungeons and death. + +"Follow me, all of you but ten by the boats," said Paul, without +noticing their murmurs. "And now, to put an end to all future burnings +in America, by one mighty conflagration of shipping in England. Come on, +lads! Pipes and matches in the van!" + +He would have distributed the men so as simultaneously to fire different +ships at different points, were it not that the lateness of the hour +rendered such a course insanely hazardous. Stationing his party in front +of one of the windward colliers, Paul and Israel sprang on board. + +In a twinkling they had broken open a boatswain's locker, and, with +great bunches of oakum, fine and dry as tinder, had leaped into the +steerage. Here, while Paul made a blaze, Israel ran to collect the +tar-pots, which being presently poured on the burning matches, oakum and +wood, soon increased the flame. + +"It is not a sure thing yet," said Paul, "we must have a barrel of +tar." + +They searched about until they found one, knocked out the head and +bottom, and stood it like a martyr in the midst of the flames. They then +retreated up the forward hatchway, while volumes of smoke were belched +from the after one. Not till this moment did Paul hear the cries of his +men, warning him that the inhabitants were not only actually astir, but +crowds were on their way to the pier. + +As he sprang out of the smoke towards the rail of the collier, he saw +the sun risen, with thousands of the people. Individuals hurried close +to the burning vessel. Leaping to the ground, Paul, bidding his men +stand fast, ran to their front, and, advancing about thirty feet, +presented his own pistol at now tumultuous Whitehaven. + +Those who had rushed to extinguish what they had deemed but an +accidental fire, were now paralyzed into idiotic inaction, at the +defiance of the incendiary, thinking him some sudden pirate or fiend +dropped down from the moon. + +While Paul thus stood guarding the incipient conflagration, Israel, +without a weapon, dashed crazily towards the mob on the shore. + +"Come back, come back," cried Paul. + +"Not till I start these sheep, as their own wolves many a time started +me!" + +As he rushed bare-headed like a madman, towards the crowd, the panic +spread. They fled from unarmed Israel, further than they had from the +pistol of Paul. + +The flames now catching the rigging and spiralling around the masts, +the whole ship burned at one end of the harbor, while the sun, an hour +high, burned at the other. Alarm and amazement, not sleep, now ruled the +world. It was time to retreat. + +They re-embarked without opposition, first releasing a few prisoners, as +the boats could not carry them. + +Just as Israel was leaping into the boat, he saw the man at whose house +he had procured the fire, staring like a simpleton at him. + +"That was good seed you gave me;" said Israel, "see what a yield," +pointing to the flames. He then dropped into the boat, leaving only Paul +on the pier. + +The men cried to their commander, conjuring him not to linger. + +But Paul remained for several moments, confronting in silence the +clamors of the mob beyond, and waving his solitary hand, like a +disdainful tomahawk, towards the surrounding eminences, also covered +with the affrighted inhabitants. + +When the assailants had rowed pretty well off, the English rushed in +great numbers to their forts, but only to find their cannon no better +than so much iron in the ore. At length, however, they began to fire, +having either brought down some ship's guns, or else mounted the rusty +old dogs lying at the foot of the first fort. + +In their eagerness they fired with no discretion. The shot fell short; +they did not the slightest damage. + +Paul's men laughed aloud, and fired their pistols in the air. + +Not a splinter was made, not a drop of blood spilled throughout the +affair. The intentional harmlessness of the result, as to human life, +was only equalled by the desperate courage of the deed. It formed, +doubtless, one feature of the compassionate contempt of Paul towards +the town, that he took such paternal care of their lives and limbs. + +Had it been possible to have landed a few hours earlier not a ship nor a +house could have escaped. But it was the lesson, not the loss, that +told. As it was, enough damage had been done to demonstrate--as Paul had +declared to the wise man of Paris--that the disasters caused by the +wanton fires and assaults on the American coasts, could be easily +brought home to the enemy's doors. Though, indeed, if the retaliators +were headed by Paul Jones, the satisfaction would not be equal to the +insult, being abated by the magnanimity of a chivalrous, however +unprincipled a foe. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK'S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR +DRAKE. + + +The Ranger now stood over the Solway Frith for the Scottish shore, and +at noon on the same day, Paul, with twelve men, including two officers +and Israel, landed on St. Mary's Isle, one of the seats of the Earl of +Selkirk. + +In three consecutive days this elemental warrior either entered the +harbors or landed on the shores of each of the Three Kingdoms. + +The morning was fair and clear. St. Mary's Isle lay shimmering in the +sun. The light crust of snow had melted, revealing the tender grass and +sweet buds of spring mantling the sides of the cliffs. + +At once, upon advancing with his party towards the house, Paul augured +ill for his project from the loneliness of the spot. No being was seen. +But cocking his bonnet at a jaunty angle, he continued his way. +Stationing the men silently round about the house, fallowed by Israel, +he announced his presence at the porch. + +A gray-headed domestic at length responded. + +"Is the Earl within?" + +"He is in Edinburgh, sir." + +"Ah--sure?--Is your lady within?" + +"Yes, sir--who shall I say it is?" + +"A gentleman who calls to pay his respects. Here, take my card." + +And he handed the man his name, as a private gentleman, superbly +engraved at Paris, on gilded paper. + +Israel tarried in the hall while the old servant led Paul into a parlor. + +Presently the lady appeared. + +"Charming Madame, I wish you a very good morning." + +"Who may it be, sir, that I have the happiness to see?" said the lady, +censoriously drawing herself up at the too frank gallantry of the +stranger. + +"Madame, I sent you my card." + +"Which leaves me equally ignorant, sir," said the lady, coldly, twirling +the gilded pasteboard. + +"A courier dispatched to Whitehaven, charming Madame, might bring you +more particular tidings as to who has the honor of being your visitor." + +Not comprehending what this meant, and deeply displeased, if not vaguely +alarmed, at the characteristic manner of Paul, the lady, not entirely +unembarrassed, replied, that if the gentleman came to view the isle, he +was at liberty so to do. She would retire and send him a guide. + +"Countess of Selkirk," said Paul, advancing a step, "I call to see the +Earl. On business of urgent importance, I call." + +"The Earl is in Edinburgh," uneasily responded the lady, again about to +retire. + +"Do you give me your honor as a lady that it is as you say?" + +The lady looked at him in dubious resentment. + +"Pardon, Madame, I would not lightly impugn a lady's lightest word, but +I surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in +which case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to +seek to shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the isle." + +"I do not dream what you mean by all this," said the lady with a decided +alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her dignity, as +she retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door. + +"Madame," said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then +tenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an +expression poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face; "it +cannot be too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms, the +officer of fine feelings and genuine sensibility should be sometimes +necessitated to public actions which his own private heart cannot +approve. This hard case is mine. The Earl, Madame, you say is absent. I +believe those words. Far be it from my soul, enchantress, to ascribe a +fault to syllables which have proceeded from so faultless a source." + +This probably he said in reference to the lady's mouth, which was +beautiful in the extreme. + +He bowed very lowly, while the lady eyed him with conflicting and +troubled emotions, but as yet all in darkness as to his ultimate +meaning. But her more immediate alarm had subsided, seeing now that the +sailor-like extravagance of Paul's homage was entirely unaccompanied +with any touch of intentional disrespect. Indeed, hyperbolical as were +his phrases, his gestures and whole carriage were most heedfully +deferential. + +Paul continued: "The Earl, Madame, being absent, and he being the sole +object of my call, you cannot labor under the least apprehension, when I +now inform you, that I have the honor of being an officer in the +American Navy, who, having stopped at this isle to secure the person of +the Earl of Selkirk as a hostage for the American cause, am, by your +assurances, turned away from that intent; pleased, even in +disappointment, since that disappointment has served to prolong my +interview with the noble lady before me, as well as to leave her +domestic tranquillity unimpaired." + +"Can you really speak true?" said the lady in undismayed wonderment. + +"Madame, through your window you will catch a little peep of the +American colonial ship-of-war, Ranger, which I have the honor to +command. With my best respects to your lord, and sincere regrets at not +finding him at home, permit me to salute your ladyship's hand and +withdraw." + +But feigning not to notice this Parisian proposition, and artfully +entrenching her hand, without seeming to do so, the lady, in a +conciliatory tone, begged her visitor to partake of some refreshment ere +he departed, at the same time thanking him for his great civility. But +declining these hospitalities, Paul bowed thrice and quitted the room. + +In the hall he encountered Israel, standing all agape before a Highland +target of steel, with a claymore and foil crossed on top. + +"Looks like a pewter platter and knife and fork, Captain Paul." + +"So they do, my lion; but come, curse it, the old cock has flown; fine +hen, though, left in the nest; no use; we must away empty-handed." + +"Why, ain't Mr. Selkirk in?" demanded Israel in roguish concern. + +"Mr. Selkirk? Alexander Selkirk, you mean. No, lad, he's not on the Isle +of St. Mary's; he's away off, a hermit, on the Isle of Juan +Fernandez--the more's the pity; come." + +In the porch they encountered the two officers. Paul briefly informed +them of the circumstances, saying, nothing remained but to depart +forthwith. + +"With nothing at all for our pains?" murmured the two officers. + +"What, pray, would you have?" + +"Some pillage, to be sure--plate." + +"Shame. I thought we were three gentlemen." + +"So are the English officers in America; but they help themselves to +plate whenever they can get it from the private houses of the enemy." + +"Come, now, don't be slanderous," said Paul; "these officers you speak +of are but one or two out of twenty, mere burglars and light-fingered +gentry, using the king's livery but as a disguise to their nefarious +trade. The rest are men of honor." + +"Captain Paul Jones," responded the two, "we have not come on this +expedition in much expectation of regular pay; but we _did_ rely upon +honorable plunder." + +"Honorable plunder! That's something new." + +But the officers were not to be turned aside. They were the most +efficient in the ship. Seeing them resolute, Paul, for fear of incensing +them, was at last, as a matter of policy, obliged to comply. For +himself, however, he resolved to have nothing to do with the affair. +Charging the officers not to allow the men to enter the house on any +pretence, and that no search must be made, and nothing must be taken +away, except what the lady should offer them upon making known their +demand, he beckoned to Israel and retired indignantly towards the beach. +Upon second thoughts, he dispatched Israel back, to enter the house with +the officers, as joint receiver of the plate, he being, of course, the +most reliable of the seamen. + +The lady was not a little disconcerted on receiving the officers. With +cool determination they made known their purpose. There was no escape. +The lady retired. The butler came; and soon, several silver salvers, and +other articles of value, were silently deposited in the parlor in the +presence of the officers and Israel. + +"Mister Butler," said Israel, "let me go into the dairy and help to +carry the milk-pans." + +But, scowling upon this rusticity, or roguishness--he knew not +which--the butler, in high dudgeon at Israel's republican familiarity, +as well as black as a thundercloud with the general insult offered to +an illustrious household by a party of armed thieves, as he viewed them, +declined any assistance. In a quarter of an hour the officers left the +house, carrying their booty. + +At the porch they were met by a red-cheeked, spiteful-looking lass, who, +with her brave lady's compliments, added two child's rattles of silver +and coral to their load. + +Now, one of the officers was a Frenchman, the other a Spaniard. + +The Spaniard dashed his rattle indignantly to the ground. The Frenchman +took his very pleasantly, and kissed it, saying to the girl that he +would long preserve the coral, as a memento of her rosy cheeks. + +When the party arrived on the beach, they found Captain Paul writing +with pencil on paper held up against the smooth tableted side of the +cliff. Next moment he seemed to be making his signature. With a +reproachful glance towards the two officers, he handed the slip to +Israel, bidding him hasten immediately with it to the house and place it +in Lady Selkirk's own hands. + +The note was as follows: + +"Madame: + +"After so courteous a reception, I am disturbed to make you no better +return than you have just experienced from the actions of certain +persons under my command.--actions, lady, which my profession of arms +obliges me not only to brook, but, in a measure, to countenance. From +the bottom of my heart, my dear lady, I deplore this most melancholy +necessity of my delicate position. However unhandsome the desire of these +men, some complaisance seemed due them from me, for their general good +conduct and bravery on former occasions. I had but an instant to +consider. I trust, that in unavoidably gratifying them, I have inflicted +less injury on your ladyship's property than I have on my own bleeding +sensibilities. But my heart will not allow me to say more. Permit me to +assure you, dear lady, that when the plate is sold, I shall, at all +hazards, become the purchaser, and will be proud to restore it to +you, by such conveyance as you may hereafter see fit to appoint. + +"From hence I go, Madame, to engage, to-morrow morning, his Majesty's +ship, Drake, of twenty guns, now lying at Carrickfergus. I should meet +the enemy with more than wonted resolution, could I flatter myself that, +through this unhandsome conduct on the part of my officers, I lie not +under the disesteem of the sweet lady of the Isle of St. Mary's. But +unconquerable as Mars should I be, could but dare to dream, that in some +green retreat of her charming domain, the Countess of Selkirk offers up a +charitable prayer for, my dear lady countess, one, who coming to take a +captive, himself has been captivated. + +"Your ladyship's adoring enemy, + +"JOHN PAUL JONES." + +How the lady received this super-ardent note, history does not relate. +But history has not omitted to record, that after the return of the +Ranger to France, through the assiduous efforts of Paul in buying up +the booty, piece by piece, from the clutches of those among whom it had +been divided, and not without a pecuniary private loss to himself, equal +to the total value of the plunder, the plate was punctually restored, +even to the silver heads of two pepper-boxes; and, not only this, but +the Earl, hearing all the particulars, magnanimously wrote Paul a +letter, expressing thanks for his politeness. In the opinion of the +noble Earl, Paul was a man of honor. It were rash to differ in opinion +with such high-born authority. + +Upon returning to the ship, she was instantly pointed over towards the +Irish coast. Next morning Carrickfergus was in sight. Paul would have +gone straight in; but Israel, reconnoitring with his glass, informed him +that a large ship, probably the Drake, was just coming out. + +"What think you, Israel, do they know who we are? Let me have the +glass." + +"They are dropping a boat now, sir," replied Israel, removing the glass +from his eye, and handing it to Paul. + +"So they are--so they are. They don't know us. I'll decoy that boat +alongside. Quick--they are coming for us--take the helm now yourself, my +lion, and keep the ship's stern steadily presented towards the advancing +boat. Don't let them have the least peep at our broadside." + +The boat came on, an officer in its bow all the time eyeing the Ranger +through a glass. Presently the boat was within hail. + +"Ship ahoy! Who are you?" + +"Oh, come alongside," answered Paul through his trumpet, in a rapid +off-hand tone, as though he were a gruff sort of friend, impatient at +being suspected for a foe. + +In a few moments the officer of the boat stepped into the Ranger's +gangway. Cocking his bonnet gallantly, Paul advanced towards him, making +a very polite bow, saying: "Good morning, sir, good morning; delighted +to see you. That's a pretty sword you have; pray, let me look at it." + +"I see," said the officer, glancing at the ship's armament, and turning +pale, "I am your prisoner." + +"No--my guest," responded Paul, winningly. "Pray, let me relieve you of +your--your--cane." + +Thus humorously he received the officer's delivered sword. + +"Now tell me, sir, if you please," he continued, "what brings out his +Majesty's ship Drake this fine morning? Going a little airing?" + +"She comes out in search of you, but when I left her side half an hour +since she did not know that the ship off the harbor was the one she +sought." + +"You had news from Whitehaven, I suppose, last night, eh?" + +"Aye: express; saying that certain incendiaries had landed there early +that morning." + +"What?--what sort of men were they, did you say?" said Paul, shaking his +bonnet fiercely to one side of his head, and coming close to the +officer. "Pardon me," he added derisively, "I had forgot you are my +_guest_. Israel, see the unfortunate gentleman below, and his men +forward." + +The Drake was now seen slowly coming out under a light air, attended by +five small pleasure-vessels, decorated with flags and streamers, and +full of gaily-dressed people, whom motives similar to those which drew +visitors to the circus, had induced to embark on their adventurous trip. +But they little dreamed how nigh the desperate enemy was. + +"Drop the captured boat astern," said Paul; "see what effect that will +have on those merry voyagers." + +No sooner was the empty boat descried by the pleasure-vessels than +forthwith, surmising the truth, they with all diligence turned about and +re-entered the harbor. Shortly after, alarm-smokes were seen extending +along both sides of the channel. + +"They smoke us at last, Captain Paul," said Israel. + +"There will be more smoke yet before the day is done," replied Paul, +gravely. + +The wind was right under the land, the tide unfavorable. The Drake +worked out very slowly. + +Meantime, like some fiery-heated duellist calling on urgent business at +frosty daybreak, and long kept waiting at the door by the dilatoriness +of his antagonist, shrinking at the idea of getting up to be cut to +pieces in the cold--the Ranger, with a better breeze, impatiently tacked +to and fro in the channel. At last, when the English vessel had fairly +weathered the point, Paul, ranging ahead, courteously led her forth, as +a beau might a belle in a ballroom, to mid-channel, and then suffered +her to come within hail. + +"She is hoisting her colors now, sir," said Israel. + +"Give her the stars and stripes, then, my lad." + +Joyfully running to the locker, Israel attached the flag to the +halyards. The wind freshened. He stood elevated. The bright flag blew +around him, a glorified shroud, enveloping him in its red ribbons and +spangles, like up-springing tongues, and sparkles of flame. + +As the colors rose to their final perch, and streamed in the air, Paul +eyed them exultingly. + +"I first hoisted that flag on an American ship, and was the first among +men to get it saluted. If I perish this night, the name of Paul Jones +shall live. Hark! they hail us." + +"What ship are you?" + +"Your enemy. Come on! What wants the fellow of more prefaces and +introductions?" + +The sun was now calmly setting over the green land of Ireland. The sky +was serene, the sea smooth, the wind just sufficient to waft the two +vessels steadily and gently. After the first firing and a little +manoeuvring, the two ships glided on freely, side by side; in that mild +air Exchanging their deadly broadsides, like two friendly horsemen +walking their steeds along a plain, chatting as they go. After an hour +of this running fight, the conversation ended. The Drake struck. How +changed from the big craft of sixty short minutes before! She seemed +now, above deck, like a piece of wild western woodland into which +choppers had been. Her masts and yards prostrate, and hanging in +jack-straws; several of her sails ballooning out, as they dragged in the +sea, like great lopped tops of foliage. The black hull and shattered +stumps of masts, galled and riddled, looked as if gigantic woodpeckers +had been tapping them. + +The Drake was the larger ship; more cannon; more men. Her loss in killed +and wounded was far the greater. Her brave captain and lieutenant were +mortally wounded. + +The former died as the prize was boarded, the latter two days after. + +It was twilight, the weather still severe. No cannonade, naught that mad +man can do, molests the stoical imperturbability of Nature, when Nature +chooses to be still. This weather, holding on through the following day, +greatly facilitated the refitting of the ships. That done, the two +vessels, sailing round the north of Ireland, steered towards Brest. They +were repeatedly chased by English cruisers, but safely reached their +anchorage in the French waters. + +"A pretty fair four weeks' yachting, gentlemen," said Paul Jones, as the +Ranger swung to her cable, while some French officers boarded her. "I +bring two travellers with me, gentlemen," he continued. "Allow me to +introduce you to my particular friend Israel Potter, late of North +America, and also to his Britannic Majesty's ship Drake, late of +Carrickfergus, Ireland." + +This cruise made loud fame for Paul, especially at the court of France, +whose king sent Paul, a sword and a medal. But poor Israel, who also had +conquered a craft, and all unaided too--what had he? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX. + + +Three months after anchoring at Brest, through Dr. Franklin's +negotiations with the French king, backed by the bestirring ardor of +Paul, a squadron of nine vessels, of various force, were ready in the +road of Groix for another descent on the British coasts. These craft +were miscellaneously picked up, their crews a mongrel pack, the officers +mostly French, unacquainted with each other, and secretly jealous of +Paul. The expedition was full of the elements of insubordination and +failure. Much bitterness and agony resulted to a spirit like Paul's. But +he bore up, and though in many particulars the sequel more than +warranted his misgivings, his soul still refused to surrender. + +The career of this stubborn adventurer signally illustrates the idea +that since all human affairs are subject to organic disorder, since they +are created in and sustained by a sort of half-disciplined chaos, hence +he who in great things seeks success must never wait for smooth water, +which never was and never will be, but, with what straggling method he +can, dash with all his derangements at his object, leaving the rest to +Fortune. + +Though nominally commander of the squadron, Paul was not so in effect. +Most of his captains conceitedly claimed independent commands. One of +them in the end proved a traitor outright; few of the rest were +reliable. + +As for the ships, that commanded by Paul in person will be a good +example of the fleet. She was an old Indiaman, clumsy and crank, +smelling strongly of the savor of tea, cloves, and arrack, the cargoes +of former voyages. Even at that day she was, from her venerable +grotesqueness, what a cocked hat is, at the present age, among ordinary +beavers. Her elephantine bulk was houdahed with a castellated poop like +the leaning tower of Pisa. Poor Israel, standing on the top of this +poop, spy-glass at his eye, looked more an astronomer than a mariner, +having to do, not with the mountains of the billows, but the mountains +in the moon. Galileo on Fiesole. She was originally a single-decked +ship, that is, carried her armament on one gun-deck; but cutting ports +below, in her after part, Paul rammed out there six old +eighteen-pounders, whose rusty muzzles peered just above the water-line, +like a parcel of dirty mulattoes from a cellar-way. Her name was the +Duras, but, ere sailing, it was changed to that other appellation, +whereby this sad old hulk became afterwards immortal. Though it is not +unknown, that a compliment to Doctor Franklin was involved in this +change of titles, yet the secret history of the affair will now for the +first time be disclosed. + +It was evening in the road of Groix. After a fagging day's work, trying +to conciliate the hostile jealousy of his officers, and provide, in the +face of endless obstacles (for he had to dance attendance on scores of +intriguing factors and brokers ashore), the requisite stores for the +fleet, Paul sat in his cabin in a half-despondent reverie, while Israel, +cross-legged at his commander's feet, was patching up some old signals. + +"Captain Paul, I don't like our ship's name.--Duras? What's that +mean?--Duras? Being cribbed up in a ship named Duras! a sort of makes +one feel as if he were in durance vile." + +"Gad, I never thought of that before, my lion. Duras--Durance vile. I +suppose it's superstition, but I'll change Come, Yellow-mane, what shall +we call her?" + +"Well, Captain Paul, don't you like Doctor Franklin? Hasn't he been the +prime man to get this fleet together? Let's call her the Doctor +Franklin." + +"Oh, no, that will too publicly declare him just at present; and Poor +Richard wants to be a little shady in this business." + +"Poor Richard!--call her Poor Richard, then," cried Israel, suddenly +struck by the idea. + +"'Gad, you have it," answered Paul, springing to his feet, as all trace +of his former despondency left him;--"Poor Richard shall be the name, in +honor to the saying, that 'God helps them that help themselves,' as Poor +Richard says." + +Now this was the way the craft came to be called the _Bon Homme +Richard_; for it being deemed advisable to have a French rendering of +the new title, it assumed the above form. + +A few days after, the force sailed. Ere long, they captured several +vessels; but the captains of the squadron proving refractory, events +took so deplorable a turn, that Paul, for the present, was obliged to +return to Groix. Luckily, however, at this junction a cartel arrived +from England with upwards of a hundred exchanged American seamen, who +almost to a man enlisted under the flag of Paul. + +Upon the resailing of the force, the old troubles broke out afresh. Most +of her consorts insubordinately separated from the Bon Homme Richard. At +length Paul found himself in violent storms beating off the rugged +southeastern coast of Scotland, with only two accompanying ships. But +neither the mutiny of his fleet, nor the chaos of the elements, made him +falter in his purpose. Nay, at this crisis, he projected the most daring +of all his descents. + +The Cheviot Hills were in sight. Sundry vessels had been described bound +in for the Firth of Forth, on whose south shore, well up the Firth, +stands Leith, the port of Edinburgh, distant but a mile or two from that +capital. He resolved to dash at Leith, and lay it under contribution or +in ashes. He called the captains of his two remaining consorts on board +his own ship to arrange details. Those worthies had much of fastidious +remark to make against the plan. After losing much time in trying to +bring to a conclusion their sage deliberations, Paul, by addressing +their cupidity, achieved that which all appeals to their gallantry +could not accomplish. He proclaimed the grand prize of the Leith lottery +at no less a figure than 200,000, that being named as the ransom. +Enough: the three ships enter the Firth, boldly and freely, as if +carrying Quakers to a Peace-Congress. + +Along both startled shores the panic of their approach spread like the +cholera. The three suspicious crafts had so long lain off and on, that +none doubted they were led by the audacious viking, Paul Jones. At five +o'clock, on the following morning, they were distinctly seen from the +capital of Scotland, quietly sailing up the bay. Batteries were hastily +thrown up at Leith, arms were obtained from the castle at Edinburgh, +alarm fires were kindled in all directions. Yet with such tranquillity +of effrontery did Paul conduct his ships, concealing as much as possible +their warlike character, that more than once his vessels were mistaken +for merchantmen, and hailed by passing ships as such. + +In the afternoon, Israel, at his station on the tower of Pisa, reported +a boat with five men coming off to the Richard from the coast of Fife. + +"They have hot oat-cakes for us," said Paul; "let 'em come. To encourage +them, show them the English ensign, Israel, my lad." + +Soon the boat was alongside. + +"Well, my good fellows, what can I do for you this afternoon?" said +Paul, leaning over the side with a patronizing air. + +"Why, captain, we come from the Laird of Crokarky, who wants some powder +and ball for his money." + +"What would you with powder and ball, pray?" + +"Oh! haven't you heard that that bloody pirate, Paul Jones, is somewhere +hanging round the coasts?" + +"Aye, indeed, but he won't hurt you. He's only going round among the +nations, with his old hat, taking up contributions. So, away with ye; ye +don't want any powder and ball to give him. He wants contributions of +silver, not lead. Prepare yourselves with silver, I say." + +"Nay, captain, the Laird ordered us not to return without powder and +ball. See, here is the price. It may be the taking of the bloody pirate, +if you let us have what we want." + +"Well, pass 'em over a keg," said Paul, laughing, but modifying his +order by a sly whisper to Israel: "Oh, put up your price, it's a gift to +ye." + +"But ball, captain; what's the use of powder without ball?" roared one +of the fellows from the boat's bow, as the keg was lowered in. "We want +ball." + +"Bless my soul, you bawl loud enough as it is. Away with ye, with what +you have. Look to your keg, and hark ye, if ye catch that villain, Paul +Jones, give him no quarter." + +"But, captain, here," shouted one of the boatmen, "there's a mistake. +This is a keg of pickles, not powder. Look," and poking into the +bung-hole, he dragged out a green cucumber dripping with brine. "Take +this back, and give us the powder." + +"Pooh," said Paul, "the powder is at the bottom, pickled powder, best +way to keep it. Away with ye, now, and after that bloody embezzler, Paul +Jones." + +This was Sunday. The ships held on. During the afternoon, a long tack +of the Richard brought her close towards the shores of Fife, near the +thriving little port of Kirkaldy. + +"There's a great crowd on the beach. Captain Paul," said Israel, looking +through his glass. "There seems to be an old woman standing on a +fish-barrel there, a sort of selling things at auction to the people, +but I can't be certain yet." + +"Let me see," said Paul, taking the glass as they came nigher. "Sure +enough, it's an old lady--an old quack-doctress, seems to me, in a black +gown, too. I must hail her." + +Ordering the ship to be kept on towards the port, he shortened sail +within easy distance, so as to glide slowly by, and seizing the trumpet, +thus spoke: + +"Old lady, ahoy! What are you talking about? What's your text?" + +"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash +his feet in the blood of the wicked." + +"Ah, what a lack of charity. Now hear mine:--God helpeth them that help +themselves, as Poor Richard says." + +"Reprobate pirate, a gale shall yet come to drive thee in wrecks from +our waters." + +"The strong wind of your hate fills my sails well. Adieu," waving his +bonnet--"tell us the rest at Leith." + +Next morning the ships were almost within cannon-shot of the town. The +men to be landed were in the boats. Israel had the tiller of the +foremost one, waiting for his commander to enter, when just as Paul's +foot was on the gangway, a sudden squall struck all three ships, dashing +the boats against them, and causing indescribable confusion. The squall +ended in a violent gale. Getting his men on board with all dispatch, +Paul essayed his best to withstand the fury of the wind, but it blew +adversely, and with redoubled power. A ship at a distance went down +beneath it. The disappointed invader was obliged to turn before the +gale, and renounce his project. + +To this hour, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, it is the popular +persuasion, that the Rev. Mr. Shirrer's (of Kirkaldy) powerful +intercession was the direct cause of the elemental repulse experienced +off the endangered harbor of Leith. + +Through the ill qualities of Paul's associate captains: their timidity, +incapable of keeping pace with his daring; their jealousy, blind to his +superiority to rivalship; together with the general reduction of his +force, now reduced by desertion, from nine to three ships; and last of +all, the enmity of seas and winds; the invader, driven, not by a fleet, +but a gale, out of the Scottish water's, had the mortification in +prospect of terminating a cruise, so formidable in appearance at the +onset, without one added deed to sustain the reputation gained by former +exploits. Nevertheless, he was not disheartened. He sought to conciliate +fortune, not by despondency, but by resolution. And, as if won by his +confident bearing, that fickle power suddenly went over to him from the +ranks of the enemy--suddenly as plumed Marshal Ney to the stubborn +standard of Napoleon from Elba, marching regenerated on Paris. In a +word, luck--that's the word--shortly threw in Paul's way the great +action of his life: the most extraordinary of all naval engagements; the +unparalleled death-lock with the Serapis. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS. + + +The battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis stands in +history as the first signal collision on the sea between the Englishman +and the American. For obstinacy, mutual hatred, and courage, it is +without precedent or subsequent in the story of ocean. The strife long +hung undetermined, but the English flag struck in the end. + +There would seem to be something singularly indicatory in this +engagement. It may involve at once a type, a parallel, and a prophecy. +Sharing the same blood with England, and yet her proved foe in two +wars--not wholly inclined at bottom to forget an old grudge--intrepid, +unprincipled, reckless, predatory, with boundless ambition, civilized in +externals but a savage at heart, America is, or may yet be, the Paul +Jones of nations. + +Regarded in this indicatory light, the battle between the Bon Homme +Richard and the Serapis--in itself so curious--may well enlist our +interest. + +Never was there a fight so snarled. The intricacy of those incidents +which defy the narrator's extrication, is not illy figured in that +bewildering intertanglement of all the yards and anchors of the two +ships, which confounded them for the time in one chaos of devastation. + +Elsewhere than here the reader must go who seeks an elaborate version of +the fight, or, indeed, much of any regular account of it whatever. The +writer is but brought to mention the battle because he must needs +follow, in all events, the fortunes of the humble adventurer whose life +lie records. Yet this necessarily involves some general view of each +conspicuous incident in which he shares. + +Several circumstances of the place and time served to invest the fight +with a certain scenic atmosphere casting a light almost poetic over the +wild gloom of its tragic results. The battle was fought between the +hours of seven and ten at night; the height of it was under a full +harvest moon, in view of thousands of distant spectators crowning the +high cliffs of Yorkshire. + +From the Tees to the Humber, the eastern coast of Britain, for the most +part, wears a savage, melancholy, and Calabrian aspect. It is in course +of incessant decay. Every year the isle which repulses nearly all other +foes, succumbs to the Attila assaults of the deep. Here and there the +base of the cliffs is strewn with masses of rock, undermined by the +waves, and tumbled headlong below, where, sometimes, the water +completely surrounds them, showing in shattered confusion detached +rocks, pyramids, and obelisks, rising half-revealed from the surf--the +Tadmores of the wasteful desert of the sea. Nowhere is this desolation +more marked than for those fifty miles of coast between Flamborough Head +and the Spurm. + +Weathering out the gale which had driven them from Leith, Paul's ships +for a few days were employed in giving chase to various merchantmen and +colliers; capturing some, sinking others, and putting the rest to +flight. Off the mouth of the Humber they ineffectually manoeuvred with a +view of drawing out a king's frigate, reported to be lying at anchor +within. At another time a large fleet was encountered, under convoy of +some ships of force. But their panic caused the fleet to hug the edge of +perilous shoals very nigh the land, where, by reason of his having no +competent pilot, Paul durst not approach to molest them. The same night +he saw two strangers further out at sea, and chased them until three in +the morning, when, getting pretty nigh, he surmised that they must needs +be vessels of his own squadron, which, previous to his entering the +Firth of Forth, had separated from his command. Daylight proved this +supposition correct. Five vessels of the original squadron were now once +more in company. About noon a fleet of forty merchantmen appeared coming +round Flamborough Head, protected by two English man-of-war, the Serapis +and Countess of Scarborough. Descrying the five cruisers sailing down, +the forty sail, like forty chickens, fluttered in a panic under the wing +of the shore. Their armed protectors bravely steered from the land, +making the disposition for battle. Promptly accepting the challenge, +Paul, giving the signal to his consorts, earnestly pressed forward. But, +earnest as he was, it was seven in the evening ere the encounter began. +Meantime his comrades, heedless of his signals, sailed independently +along. Dismissing them from present consideration, we confine ourselves, +for a while, to the Richard and the Serapis, the grand duellists of the +fight. + +The Richard carried a motley, crew, to keep whom in order one hundred +and thirty-five soldiers--themselves a hybrid band--had been put on +board, commanded by French officers of inferior rank. Her armament was +similarly heterogeneous; guns of all sorts and calibres; but about equal +on the whole to those of a thirty-two-gun frigate. The spirit of baneful +intermixture pervaded this craft throughout. + +The Serapis was a frigate of fifty guns, more than half of which +individually exceeded in calibre any one gun of the Richard. She had a +crew of some three hundred and twenty trained man-of-war's men. + +There is something in a naval engagement which radically distinguishes +it from one on the land. The ocean, at times, has what is called its +_sea_ and its _trough of the sea_; but it has neither rivers, woods, +banks, towns, nor mountains. In mild weather it is one hammered plain. +Stratagems, like those of disciplined armies--ambuscades, like those of +Indians, are impossible. All is clear, open, fluent. The very element +which sustains the combatants, yields at the stroke of a feather. One +wind and one tide at one time operate upon all who here engage. This +simplicity renders a battle between two men-of-war, with their huge +white wings, more akin to the Miltonic contests of archangels than to +_the comparatively squalid_ tussles of earth. + +As the ships neared, a hazy darkness overspread the water. The moon was +not yet risen. Objects were perceived with difficulty. Borne by a soft +moist breeze over gentle waves, they came within pistol-shot. Owing to +the obscurity, and the known neighborhood of other vessels, the Serapis +was uncertain who the Richard was. Through the dim mist each ship loomed +forth to the other vast, but indistinct, as the ghost of Morven. Sounds +of the trampling of resolute men echoed from either hull, whose tight +decks dully resounded like drum-heads in a funeral march. + +The Serapis hailed. She was answered by a broadside. For half an hour +the combatants deliberately manoeuvred, continually changing their +position, but always within shot fire. The. Serapis--the better sailer +of the two--kept critically circling the Richard, making lounging +advances now and then, and as suddenly steering off; hate causing her to +act not unlike a wheeling cock about a hen, when stirred by the contrary +passion. Meantime, though within easy speaking distance, no further +syllable was exchanged; but an incessant cannonade was kept up. + +At this point, a third party, the Scarborough, drew near, seemingly +desirous of giving assistance to her consort. But thick smoke was now +added to the night's natural obscurity. The Scarborough imperfectly +discerned two ships, and plainly saw the common fire they made; but +which was which, she could not tell. Eager to befriend the Serapis, she +durst not fire a gun, lest she might unwittingly act the part of a foe. +As when a hawk and a crow are clawing and beaking high in the air, a +second crow flying near, will seek to join the battle, but finding no +fair chance to engage, at last flies away to the woods; just so did the +Scarborough now. Prudence dictated the step; because several chance +shot--from which of the combatants could not be known--had already +struck the Scarborough. So, unwilling uselessly to expose herself, off +went for the present this baffled and ineffectual friend. + +Not long after, an invisible hand came and set down a great yellow lamp +in the east. The hand reached up unseen from below the horizon, and set +the lamp down right on the rim of the horizon, as on a threshold; as +much as to say, Gentlemen warriors, permit me a little to light up this +rather gloomy looking subject. The lamp was the round harvest moon; the +one solitary foot-light of the scene. But scarcely did the rays from the +lamp pierce that languid haze. Objects before perceived with difficulty, +now glimmered ambiguously. Bedded in strange vapors, the great +foot-light cast a dubious, half demoniac glare across the waters, like +the phantasmagoric stream sent athwart a London flagging in a night-rain +from an apothecary's blue and green window. Through this sardonical +mist, the face of the Man-in-the-Moon--looking right towards the +combatants, as if he were standing in a trap-door of the sea, leaning +forward leisurely with his arms complacently folded over upon the edge +of the horizon--this queer face wore a serious, apishly self-satisfied +leer, as if the Man-in-the-Moon had somehow secretly put up the ships +to their contest, and in the depths of his malignant old soul was not +unpleased to see how well his charms worked. There stood the grinning +Man-in-the-Moon, his head just dodging into view over the rim of the +sea:--Mephistopheles prompter of the stage. + +Aided now a little by the planet, one of the consorts of the Richard, +the Pallas, hovering far outside the fight, dimly discerned the +suspicious form of a lonely vessel unknown to her. She resolved to +engage it, if it proved a foe. But ere they joined, the unknown +ship--which proved to be the Scarborough--received a broadside at long +gun's distance from another consort of the Richard the Alliance. The +shot whizzed across the broad interval like shuttlecocks across a great +hall. Presently the battledores of both batteries were at work, and +rapid compliments of shuttlecocks were very promptly exchanged. The +adverse consorts of the two main belligerents fought with all the rage +of those fiery seconds who in some desperate duels make their +principal's quarrel their own. Diverted from the Richard and the Serapis +by this little by-play, the Man-in-the-Moon, all eager to see what it +was, somewhat raised himself from his trap-door with an added grin on +his face. By this time, off sneaked the Alliance, and down swept the +Pallas, at close quarters engaging the Scarborough; an encounter +destined in less than an hour to end in the latter ship's striking her +flag. + +Compared to the Serapis and the Richard, the Pallas and the Scarborough +were as two pages to two knights. In their immature way they showed the +same traits as their fully developed superiors. + +The Man-in-the-Moon now raised himself still higher to obtain a better +view of affairs. + +But the Man-in-the-Moon was not the only spectator. From the high cliffs +of the shore, and especially from the great promontory of Flamborough +Head, the scene was witnessed by crowds of the islanders. Any rustic +might be pardoned his curiosity in view of the spectacle, presented. Far +in the indistinct distance fleets of frightened merchantmen filled the +lower air with their sails, as flakes of snow in a snow-storm by night. +Hovering undeterminedly, in another direction, were several of the +scattered consorts of Paul, taking no part in the fray. Nearer, was an +isolated mist, investing the Pallas and Scarborough--a mist slowly +adrift on the sea, like a floating isle, and at intervals irradiated +with sparkles of fire and resonant with the boom of cannon. Further +away, in the deeper water, was a lurid cloud, incessantly torn in shreds +of lightning, then fusing together again, once more to be rent. As yet +this lurid cloud was neither stationary nor slowly adrift, like the +first-mentioned one; but, instinct with chaotic vitality, shifted hither +and thither, foaming with fire, like a valiant water-spout careering off +the coast of Malabar. + +To get some idea of the events enacting in that cloud, it will be +necessary to enter it; to go and possess it, as a ghost may rush into a +body, or the devils into the swine, which running down the steep place +perished in the sea; just as the Richard is yet to do. + +Thus far the Serapis and the Richard had been manoeuvring and chasing +to each other like partners in a cotillion, all the time indulging in +rapid repartee. + +But finding at last that the superior managableness of the enemy's ship +enabled him to get the better of the clumsy old Indiaman, the Richard, +in taking position, Paul, with his wonted resolution, at once sought to +neutralize this, by hugging him close. But the attempt to lay the +Richard right across the head of the Serapis ended quite otherwise, in +sending the enemy's jib-boom just over the Richard's great tower of +Pisa, where Israel was stationed; who, catching it eagerly, stood for an +instant holding to the slack of the sail, like one grasping a horse by +the mane prior to vaulting into the saddle. + +"Aye, hold hard, lad," cried Paul, springing to his side with a coil of +rigging. With a few rapid turns he knitted himself to his foe. The wind +now acting on the sails of the Serapis forced her, heel and point, her +entire length, cheek by jowl, alongside the Richard. The projecting +cannon scraped; the yards interlocked; but the hulls did not touch. A +long lane of darkling water lay wedged between, like that narrow canal +in Venice which dozes between two shadowy piles, and high in air is +secretly crossed by the Bridge of Sighs. But where the six yard-arms +reciprocally arched overhead, three bridges of sighs were both seen and +heard, as the moon and wind kept rising. + +Into that Lethean canal--pond-like in its smoothness as compared with +the sea without--fell many a poor soul that night; fell, forever +forgotten. + +As some heaving rent coinciding with a disputed frontier on a volcanic +plain, that boundary abyss was the jaws of death to both sides. So +contracted was it, that in many cases the gun-rammers had to be thrust +into the opposite ports, in order to enter to muzzles of their own +cannon. It seemed more an intestine feud, than a fight between +strangers. Or, rather, it was as if the Siamese Twins, oblivious of +their fraternal bond, should rage in unnatural fight. + +Ere long, a horrible explosion was heard, drowning for the instant the +cannonade. Two of the old eighteen-pounders--before spoken of, as having +been hurriedly set up below the main deck of the Richard--burst all to +pieces, killing the sailors who worked them, and shattering all that +part of the hull, as if two exploded steam-boilers had shot out of its +opposite sides. The effect was like the fall of the walls of a house. +Little now upheld the great tower of Pisa but a few naked crow +stanchions. Thenceforth, not a few balls from the Serapis must have +passed straight through the Richard without grazing her. It was like +firing buck-shot through the ribs of a skeleton. + +But, further forward, so deadly was the broadside from the heavy +batteries of the Serapis--levelled point-blank, and right down the +throat and bowels, as it were, of the Richard--that it cleared +everything before it. The men on the Richard's covered gun-deck ran +above, like miners from the fire-damp. Collecting on the forecastle, +they continued to fight with grenades and muskets. The soldiers also +were in the lofty tops, whence they kept up incessant volleys, cascading +their fire down as pouring lava from cliffs. + +The position of the men in the two ships was now exactly reversed. For +while the Serapis was tearing the Richard all to pieces below deck, and +had swept that covered part almost of the last man, the Richard's crowd +of musketry had complete control of the upper deck of the Serapis, where +it was almost impossible for man to remain unless as a corpse. Though in +the beginning, the tops of the Serapis had not been unsupplied with +marksmen, yet they had long since been cleared by the overmastering +musketry of the Richard. Several, with leg or arm broken by a ball, had +been seen going dimly downward from their giddy perch, like falling +pigeons shot on the wing. + +As busy swallows about barn-eaves and ridge-poles, some of the Richard's +marksmen, quitting their tops, now went far out on their yard-arms, +where they overhung the Serapis. From thence they dropped hand-grenades +upon her decks, like apples, which growing in one field fall over the +fence into another. Others of their band flung the same sour fruit into +the open ports of the Serapis. A hail-storm of aerial combustion +descended and slanted on the Serapis, while horizontal thunderbolts +rolled crosswise through the subterranean vaults of the Richard. The +belligerents were no longer, in the ordinary sense of things, an English +ship and an American ship. It was a co-partnership and joint-stock +combustion-company of both ships; yet divided, even in participation. +The two vessels were as two houses, through whose party-wall doors have +been cut; one family (the Guelphs) occupying the whole lower story; +another family (the Ghibelines) the whole upper story. + +Meanwhile, determined Paul flew hither and thither like the meteoric +corposant-ball, which shiftingly dances on the tips and verges of ships' +rigging in storms. Wherever he went, he seemed to cast a pale light on +all faces. Blacked and burnt, his Scotch bonnet was compressed to a +gun-wad on his head. His Parisian coat, with its gold-laced sleeve laid +aside, disclosed to the full the blue tattooing on his arm, which +sometimes in fierce gestures streamed in the haze of the cannonade, +cabalistically terrific as the charmed standard of Satan. Yet his +frenzied manner was less a testimony of his internal commotion than +intended to inspirit and madden his men, some of whom seeing him, in +transports of intrepidity stripped themselves to their trowsers, +exposing their naked bodies to the as naked shot The same was done on +the Serapis, where several guns were seen surrounded by their buff crews +as by fauns and satyrs. + +At the beginning of the fray, before the ships interlocked, in the +intervals of smoke which swept over the ships as mist over +mountain-tops, affording open rents here and there--the gun-deck of the +Serapis, at certain points, showed, congealed for the instant in all +attitudes of dauntlessness, a gallery of marble statues--fighting +gladiators. + +Stooping low and intent, with one braced leg thrust behind, and one arm +thrust forward, curling round towards the muzzle of the gun, there was +seen the _loader_, performing his allotted part; on the other side of +the carriage, in the same stooping posture, but with both hands holding +his long black pole, pike-wise, ready for instant use--stood the eager +_rammer and sponger_; while at the breech, crouched the wary _captain of +the gun_, his keen eye, like the watching leopard's, burning along the +range; and behind all, tall and erect, the Egyptian symbol of death, +stood the _matchman_, immovable for the moment, his long-handled match +reversed. Up to their two long death-dealing batteries, the trained men +of the Serapis stood and toiled in mechanical magic of discipline. They +tended those rows of guns, as Lowell girls the rows of looms in a cotton +factory. The Parcae were not more methodical; Atropos not more fatal; +the automaton chess-player not more irresponsible. + +"Look, lad; I want a grenade, now, thrown down their main hatchway. I +saw long piles of cartridges there. The powder monkeys have brought them +up faster than they can be used. Take a bucket of combustibles, and +let's hear from you presently." + +These words were spoken by Paul to Israel. Israel did as ordered. In a +few minutes, bucket in hand, begrimed with powder, sixty feet in air, he +hung like Apollyon from the extreme tip of the yard over the fated abyss +of the hatchway. As he looked down between the eddies of smoke into that +slaughterous pit, it was like looking from the verge of a cataract down +into the yeasty pool at its base. Watching, his chance, he dropped one +grenade with such faultless precision, that, striking its mark, an +explosion rent the Serapis like a volcano. The long row of heaped +cartridges was ignited. The fire ran horizontally, like an express on a +railway. More than twenty men were instantly killed: nearly forty +wounded. This blow restored the chances of battle, before in favor of +the Serapis. + +But the drooping spirits of the English were suddenly revived, by an +event which crowned the scene by an act on the part of one of the +consorts of the Richard, the incredible atrocity of which has induced +all humane minds to impute it rather to some incomprehensible mistake +than to the malignant madness of the perpetrator. + +The cautious approach and retreat of a consort of the Serapis, the +Scarborough, before the moon rose, has already been mentioned. It is now +to be related how that, when the moon was more than an hour high, a +consort of the Richard, the Alliance, likewise approached and retreated. +This ship, commanded by a Frenchman, infamous in his own navy, and +obnoxious in the service to which he at present belonged; this ship, +foremost in insurgency to Paul hitherto, and which, for the most part, +had crept like a poltroon from the fray; the Alliance now was at hand. +Seeing her, Paul deemed the battle at an end. But to his horror, the +Alliance threw a broadside full into the stern of the Richard, without +touching the Serapis. Paul called to her, for God's sake to forbear +destroying the Richard. The reply was, a second, a third, a fourth +broadside, striking the Richard ahead, astern, and amidships. One of the +volleys killed several men and one officer. Meantime, like carpenters' +augers, and the sea-worm called Remora, the guns of the Serapis were +drilling away at the same doomed hull. After performing her nameless +exploit, the Alliance sailed away, and did no more. She was like the +great fire of London, breaking out on the heel of the great Plague. By +this time, the Richard had so many shot-holes low down in her hull, that +like a sieve she began to settle. + +"Do you strike?" cried the English captain. + +"I have not yet begun to fight," howled sinking Paul. + +This summons and response were whirled on eddies of smoke and flame. +Both vessels were now on fire. The men of either knew hardly which to +do; strive to destroy the enemy, or save themselves. In the midst of +this, one hundred human beings, hitherto invisible strangers, were +suddenly added to the rest. Five score English prisoners, till now +confined in the Richard's hold, liberated in his consternation by the +master at arms, burst up the hatchways. One of them, the captain of a +letter of marque, captured by Paul, off the Scottish coast, crawled +through a port, as a burglar through a window, from the one ship to the +other, and reported affairs to the English captain. + +While Paul and his lieutenants were confronting these prisoners, the +gunner, running up from below, and not perceiving his official +superiors, and deeming them dead, believing himself now left sole +surviving officer, ran to the tower of Pisa to haul down the colors. But +they were already shot down and trailing in the water astern, like a +sailor's towing shirt. Seeing the gunner there, groping about in the +smoke, Israel asked what he wanted. + +At this moment the gunner, rushing to the rail, shouted "Quarter! +quarter!" to the Serapis. + +"I'll quarter ye," yelled Israel, smiting the gunner with the flat of +his cutlass. + +"Do you strike?" now came from the Serapis. + +"Aye, aye, aye!" involuntarily cried Israel, fetching the gunner a +shower of blows. + +"Do you strike?" again was repeated from the Serapis; whose captain, +judging from the augmented confusion on board the Richard, owing to the +escape of the prisoners, and also influenced by the report made to him +by his late guest of the port-hole, doubted not that the enemy must +needs be about surrendering. + +"Do you strike?" + +"Aye!--I strike _back_" roared Paul, for the first time now hearing the +summons. + +But judging this frantic response to come, like the others, from some +unauthorized source, the English captain directed his boarders to be +called, some of whom presently leaped on the Richard's rail, but, +throwing out his tattooed arm at them, with a sabre at the end of it, +Paul showed them how boarders repelled boarders. The English retreated, +but not before they had been thinned out again, like spring radishes, by +the unfaltering fire from the Richard's tops. + +An officer of the Richard, seeing the mass of prisoners delirious with +sudden liberty and fright, pricked them with his sword to the pumps, +thus keeping the ship afloat by the very blunder which had promised to +have been fatal. The vessels now blazed so in the rigging that both +parties desisted from hostilities to subdue the common foe. + +When some faint order was again restored upon the Richard her chances of +victory increased, while those of the English, driven under cover, +proportionably waned. Early in the contest, Paul, with his own hand, had +brought one of his largest guns to bear against the enemy's mainmast. +That shot had hit. The mast now plainly tottered. Nevertheless, it +seemed as if, in this fight, neither party could be victor. Mutual +obliteration from the face of the waters seemed the only natural sequel +to hostilities like these. It is, therefore, honor to him as a man, and +not reproach to him as an officer, that, to stay such carnage, Captain +Pearson, of the Serapis, with his own hands hauled down his colors. But +just as an officer from the Richard swung himself on board the Serapis, +and accosted the English captain, the first lieutenant of the Serapis +came up from below inquiring whether the Richard had struck, since her +fire had ceased. + +So equal was the conflict that, even after the surrender, it could be, +and was, a question to one of the warriors engaged (who had not happened +to see the English flag hauled down) whether the Serapis had struck to +the Richard, or the Richard to the Serapis. Nay, while the Richard's +officer was still amicably conversing with the English captain, a +midshipman of the Richard, in act of following his superior on board the +surrendered vessel, was run through the thigh by a pike in the hand of +an ignorant boarder of the Serapis. While, equally ignorant, the +cannons below deck were still thundering away at the nominal conqueror +from the batteries of the nominally conquered ship. + +But though the Serapis had submitted, there were two misanthropical foes +on board the Richard which would not so easily succumb--fire and water. +All night the victors were engaged in suppressing the flames. Not until +daylight were the flames got under; but though the pumps were kept +continually going, the water in the hold still gained. A few hours after +sunrise the Richard was deserted for the Serapis and the other vessels +of the squadron of Paul. About ten o'clock the Richard, gorged with +slaughter, wallowed heavily, gave a long roll, and blasted by tornadoes +of sulphur, slowly sunk, like Gomorrah, out of sight. + +The loss of life in the two ships was about equal; one-half of the total +number of those engaged being either killed or wounded. + +In view of this battle one may ask--What separates the enlightened man +from the savage? Is civilization a thing distinct, or is it an advanced +stage of barbarism? + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE SHUTTLE. + + +For a time back, across the otherwise blue-jean career of Israel, Paul +Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. One more brief +intermingling of it, and to the plain old homespun we return. + +The battle won, the squadron started for the Texel, where they arrived +in safety. Omitting all mention of intervening harassments, suffice it, +that after some months of inaction as to anything of a warlike nature, +Paul and Israel (both, from different motives, eager to return to +America) sailed for that country in the armed ship Ariel, Paul as +commander, Israel as quartermaster. + +Two weeks out, they encountered by night a frigate-like craft, supposed +to be an enemy. The vessels came within hail, both showing English +colors, with purposes of mutual deception, affecting to belong to the +English Navy. For an hour, through their speaking trumpets, the captains +equivocally conversed. A very reserved, adroit, hoodwinking, +statesman-like conversation, indeed. At last, professing some little +incredulity as to the truthfulness of the stranger's statement, Paul +intimated a desire that he should put out a boat and come on board to +show his commission, to which the stranger very affably replied, that +unfortunately his boat was exceedingly leaky. With equal politeness, +Paul begged him to consider the danger attending a refusal, which +rejoinder nettled the other, who suddenly retorted that he would answer +for twenty guns, and that both himself and men were knock-down +Englishmen. Upon this, Paul said that he would allow him exactly five +minutes for a sober, second thought. That brief period passed, Paul, +hoisting the American colors, ran close under the other ship's stern, +and engaged her. It was about eight o'clock at night that this strange +quarrel was picked in the middle of the ocean. Why cannot men be +peaceable on that great common? Or does nature in those fierce +night-brawlers, the billows, set mankind but a sorry example? + +After ten minutes' cannonading, the stranger struck, shouting out that +half his men were killed. The Ariel's crew hurrahed. Boarders were +called to take possession. At this juncture, the prize shifting her +position so that she headed away, and to leeward of the Ariel, thrust +her long spanker-boom diagonally over the latter's quarter; when Israel, +who was standing close by, instinctively caught hold of it--just as he +had grasped the jib-boom of the Serapis--and, at the same moment, +hearing the call to take possession, in the valiant excitement of the +occasion, he leaped upon the spar, and made a rush for the stranger's +deck, thinking, of course, that he would be immediately followed by the +regular boarders. But the sails of the strange ship suddenly filled; +she began to glide through the sea; her spanker-boom, not having at all +entangled itself, offering no hindrance. Israel, clinging midway along +the boom, soon found himself divided from the Ariel by a space +impossible to be leaped. Meantime, suspecting foul play, Paul set every +sail; but the stranger, having already the advantage, contrived to make +good her escape, though perseveringly chased by the cheated conqueror. + +In the confusion, no eye had observed our hero's spring. But, as the +vessels separated more, an officer of the strange ship spying a man on +the boom, and taking him for one of his own men, demanded what he did +there. + +"Clearing the signal halyards, sir," replied Israel, fumbling with the +cord which happened to be dangling near by. + +"Well, bear a hand and come in, or you will have a bow-chaser at you +soon," referring to the bow guns of the Ariel. + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Israel, and in a moment he sprang to the deck, and +soon found himself mixed in among some two hundred English sailors of a +large letter of marque. At once he perceived that the story of half the +crew being killed was a mere hoax, played off for the sake of making an +escape. Orders were continually being given to pull on this and that +rope, as the ship crowded all sail in flight. To these orders Israel, +with the rest, promptly responded, pulling at the rigging stoutly as the +best of them; though Heaven knows his heart sunk deeper and deeper at +every pull which thus helped once again to widen the gulf between him +and home. + +In intervals he considered with himself what to do. Favored by the +obscurity of the night and the number of the crew, and wearing much the +same dress as theirs, it was very easy to pass himself off for one of +them till morning. But daylight would be sure to expose him, unless some +cunning, plan could be hit upon. If discovered for what he was, nothing +short of a prison awaited him upon the ship's arrival in port. + +It was a desperate case, only as desperate a remedy could serve. One +thing was sure, he could not hide. Some audacious parade of himself +promised the only hope. Marking that the sailors, not being of the +regular navy, wore no uniform, and perceiving that his jacket was the +only garment on him which bore any distinguishing badge, our adventurer +took it off, and privily dropped it overboard, remaining now in his dark +blue woollen shirt and blue cloth waistcoat. + +What the more inspirited Israel to the added step now contemplated, was +the circumstance that the ship was not a Frenchman's or other foreigner, +but her crew, though enemies, spoke the same language that he did. + +So very quietly, at last, he goes aloft into the maintop, and sitting +down on an old sail there, beside some eight or ten topmen, in an +off-handed way asks one for tobacco. + +"Give us a quid, lad," as he settled himself in his seat. + +"Halloo," said the strange sailor, "who be you? Get out of the top! The +fore and mizzentop men won't let us go into their tops, and blame me if +we'll let any of their gangs come here. So, away ye go." + +"You're blind, or crazy, old boy," rejoined Israel. "I'm a topmate; +ain't I, lads?" appealing to the rest. + +"There's only ten maintopmen belonging to our watch; if you are one, +then there'll be eleven," said a second sailor. "Get out of the top!" + +"This is too bad, maties," cried Israel, "to serve an old topmate this +way. Come, come, you are foolish. Give us a quid." And, once more, with +the utmost sociability, he addressed the sailor next to him. + +"Look ye," returned the other, "if you don't make away with yourself, +you skulking spy from the mizzen, we'll drop you to deck like a +jewel-block." + +Seeing the party thus resolute, Israel, with some affected banter, +descended. + +The reason why he had tried the scheme--and, spite of the foregoing +failure, meant to repeat it--was this: As customary in armed ships, the +men were in companies allotted to particular places and functions. +Therefore, to escape final detection, Israel must some way get himself +recognized as belonging to some one of those bands; otherwise, as an +isolated nondescript, discovery ere long would be certain, especially +upon the next general muster. To be sure, the hope in question was a +forlorn sort of hope, but it was his sole one, and must therefore be +tried. + +Mixing in again for a while with the general watch, he at last goes on +the forecastle among the sheet-anchor-men there, at present engaged in +critically discussing the merits of the late valiant encounter, and +expressing their opinion that by daybreak the enemy in chase would be +hull-down out of sight. + +"To be sure she will," cried Israel, joining in with the group, "old +ballyhoo that she is, to be sure. But didn't we pepper her, lads? Give +us a chew of tobacco, one of ye. How many have we wounded, do ye know? +None killed that I've heard of. Wasn't that a fine hoax we played on +'em? Ha! ha! But give us a chew." + +In the prodigal fraternal patriotism of the moment, one of the old +worthies freely handed his plug to our adventurer, who, helping himself, +returned it, repeating the question as to the killed and wounded. + +"Why," said he of the plug, "Jack Jewboy told me, just now, that there's +only seven men been carried down to the surgeon, but not a soul killed." + +"Good, boys, good!" cried Israel, moving up to one of the gun-carriages, +where three or four men were sitting--"slip along, chaps, slip along, +and give a watchmate a seat with ye." + +"All full here, lad; try the next gun." + +"Boys, clear a place here,", said Israel, advancing, like one of the +family, to that gun. + +"Who the devil are _you_, making this row here?" demanded a +stern-looking old fellow, captain of the forecastle, "seems to me you +make considerable noise. Are you a forecastleman?" + +"If the bowsprit belongs here, so do I," rejoined Israel, composedly. + +"Let's look at ye, then!" and seizing a battle-lantern, before thrust +under a gun, the old veteran came close to Israel before he had time to +elude the scrutiny. + +"Take that!" said his examiner, and fetching Israel a terrible thump, +pushed him ignominiously off the forecastle as some unknown interloper +from distant parts of the ship. + +With similar perseverance of effrontery, Israel tried other quarters of +the vessel. But with equal ill success. Jealous with the spirit of +class, no social circle would receive him. As a last resort, he dived +down among the _holders_. + +A group of them sat round a lantern, in the dark bowels of the ship, +like a knot of charcoal burners in a pine forest at midnight. + +"Well, boys, what's the good word?" said Israel, advancing very +cordially, but keeping as much as possible in the shadow. + +"The good word is," rejoined a censorious old _holder_, "that you had +best go where you belong--on deck--and not be a skulking down here where +you _don't_ belong. I suppose this is the way you skulked during the +fight." + +"Oh, you're growly to-night, shipmate," said Israel, pleasantly--"supper +sits hard on your conscience." + +"Get out of the hold with ye," roared the other. "On deck, or I'll call +the master-at-arms." + +Once more Israel decamped. + +Sorely against his grain, as a final effort to blend himself openly with +the crew, he now went among the _waisters_: the vilest caste of an armed +ship's company, mere dregs and settlings--sea-Pariahs, comprising all +the lazy, all the inefficient, all the unfortunate and fated, all the +melancholy, all the infirm, all the rheumatical scamps, scapegraces, +ruined prodigal sons, sooty faces, and swineherds of the crew, not +excluding those with dismal wardrobes. + +An unhappy, tattered, moping row of them sat along dolefully on the +gun-deck, like a parcel of crest-fallen buzzards, exiled from civilized +society. + +"Cheer up, lads," said Israel, in a jovial tone, "homeward-bound, you +know. Give us a seat among ye, friends." + +"Oh, sit on your head!" answered a sullen fellow in the corner. + +"Come, come, no growling; we're homeward-bound. Whoop, my hearties!" + +"Workhouse bound, you mean," grumbled another sorry chap, in a darned +shirt. + +"Oh, boys, don't be down-hearted. Let's keep up our spirits. Sing us a +song, one of ye, and I'll give the chorus." + +"Sing if ye like, but I'll plug my ears, for one," said still another +sulky varlet, with the toes out of his sea-boots, while all the rest +with one roar of misanthropy joined him. + +But Israel, riot to be daunted, began: + +"'Cease, rude Boreas, cease your growling!'" + +"And you cease your squeaking, will ye?" cried a fellow in a banged +tarpaulin. "Did ye get a ball in the windpipe, that ye cough that way, +worse nor a broken-nosed old bellows? Have done with your groaning, it's +worse nor the death-rattle." + +"Boys, is this the way you treat a watchmate" demanded Israel +reproachfully, "trying to cheer up his friends? Shame on ye, boys. Come, +let's be sociable. Spin us a yarn, one of ye. Meantime, rub my back for +me, another," and very confidently he leaned against his neighbor. + +"Lean off me, will ye?" roared his friend, shoving him away. + +"But who _is_ this ere singing, leaning, yarn-spinning chap? Who are ye? +Be you a waister, or be you not?" + +So saying, one of this peevish, sottish band staggered close up to +Israel. But there was a deck above and a deck below, and the lantern +swung in the distance. It was too dim to see with critical exactness. + +"No such singing chap belongs to our gang, that's flat," he dogmatically +exclaimed at last, after an ineffectual scrutiny. "Sail out of this!" + +And with a shove once more, poor Israel was ejected. + +Blackballed out of every club, he went disheartened on deck. So long, +while light screened him at least, as he contented himself with +promiscuously circulating, all was safe; it was the endeavor to +fraternize with any one set which was sure to endanger him. At last, +wearied out, he happened to find himself on the berth deck, where the +watch below were slumbering. Some hundred and fifty hammocks were on +that deck. Seeing one empty, he leaped in, thinking luck might yet some +way befriend him. Here, at last, the sultry confinement put him fast +asleep. He was wakened by a savage whiskerando of the other watch, who, +seizing him by his waistband, dragged him most indecorously out, +furiously denouncing him for a skulker. + +Springing to his feet, Israel perceived from the crowd and tumult of the +berth deck, now all alive with men leaping into their hammocks, instead +of being full of sleepers quietly dosing therein, that the watches were +changed. Going above, he renewed in various quarters his offers of +intimacy with the fresh men there assembled; but was successively +repulsed as before. At length, just as day was breaking, an irascible +fellow whose stubborn opposition our adventurer had long in vain sought +to conciliate--this man suddenly perceiving, by the gray morning light, +that Israel had somehow an alien sort of general look, very savagely +pressed him for explicit information as to who he might be. The answers +increased his suspicion. Others began to surround the two. Presently, +quite a circle was formed. Sailors from distant parts of the ship drew +near. One, and then another, and another, declared that they, in their +quarters, too, had been molested by a vagabond claiming fraternity, and +seeking to palm himself off upon decent society. In vain Israel +protested. The truth, like the day, dawned clearer and clearer. More and +more closely he was scanned. At length the hour for having all hands on +deck arrived; when the other watch which Israel had first tried, +reascending to the deck, and hearing the matter in discussion, they +endorsed the charge of molestation and attempted imposture through the +night, on the part of some person unknown, but who, likely enough, was +the strange man now before them. In the end, the master-at-arms appeared +with his bamboo, who, summarily collaring poor Israel, led him as a +mysterious culprit to the officer of the deck, which gentleman having +heard the charge, examined him in great perplexity, and, saying that he +did not at all recognize that countenance, requested the junior officers +to contribute their scrutiny. But those officers were equally at fault. + +"Who the deuce _are_ you?" at last said the officer-of-the-deck, in +added bewilderment. "Where did you come from? What's your business? +Where are you stationed? What's your name? Who are you, any way? How did +you get here? and where are you going?" + +"Sir," replied Israel very humbly, "I am going to my regular duty, if +you will but let me. I belong to the maintop, and ought to be now +engaged in preparing the topgallant stu'n'-sail for hoisting." + +"Belong to the maintop? Why, these men here say you have been trying to +belong to the foretop, and the mizzentop, and the forecastle, and the +hold, and the waist, and every other part of the ship. This is +extraordinary," he added, turning upon the junior officers. + +"He must be out of his mind," replied one of them, the sailing-master. + +"Out of his mind?" rejoined the officer-of-the-deck. "He's out of all +reason; out of all men's knowledge and memories! Why, no one knows him; +no one has ever seen him before; no imagination, in the wildest flight +of a morbid nightmare, has ever so much as dreamed of him. Who _are_ +you?" he again added, fierce with amazement. "What's your name? Are you +down in the ship's books, or at all in the records of nature?" + +"My name, sir, is Peter Perkins," said Israel, thinking it most prudent +to conceal his real appellation. + +"Certainly, I never heard that name before. Pray, see if Peter Perkins +is down on the quarter-bills," he added to a midshipman. "Quick, bring +the book here." + +Having received it, he ran his fingers along the columns, and dashing +down the book, declared that no such name was there. + +"You are not down, sir. There is no Peter Perkins here. Tell me at once +who are you?" + +"It might be, sir," said Israel, gravely, "that seeing I shipped under +the effects of liquor, I might, out of absent-mindedness like, have +given in some other person's name instead of my own." + +"Well, what name have you gone by among your shipmates since you've +been aboard?" + +"Peter Perkins, sir." + +Upon this the officer turned to the men around, inquiring whether the +name of Peter Perkins was familiar to them as that of a shipmate. One +and all answered no. + +"This won't do, sir," now said the officer. "You see it won't do. Who +are you?" + +"A poor persecuted fellow at your service, sir." + +"_Who_ persecutes you?" + +"Every one, sir. All hands seem to be against me; none of them willing +to remember me." + +"Tell me," demanded the officer earnestly, "how long do you remember +yourself? Do you remember yesterday morning? You must have come into +existence by some sort of spontaneous combustion in the hold. Or were +you fired aboard from the enemy, last night, in a cartridge? Do you +remember yesterday?" + +"Oh, yes, sir." + +"What was you doing yesterday?" + +"Well, sir, for one thing, I believe I had the honor of a little talk +with yourself." + +"With _me_?" + +"Yes, sir; about nine o'clock in the morning--the sea being smooth and +the ship running, as I should think, about seven knots--you came up into +the maintop, where I belong, and was pleased to ask my opinion about the +best way to set a topgallant stu'n'-sail." + +"He's mad! He's mad!" said the officer, with delirious conclusiveness. +"Take him away, take him away, take him away--put him somewhere, +master-at-arms. Stay, one test more. What mess do you belong to?" + +"Number 12, sir." + +"Mr. Tidds," to a midshipman, "send mess No. 12 to the mast." + +Ten sailors replied to the summons, and arranged themselves before +Israel. + +"Men, does this man belong to your mess?" + +"No, sir; never saw him before this morning." + +"What are those men's names?" he demanded of Israel. + +"Well, sir, I am so intimate with all of them," looking upon them with +a kindly glance, "I never call them by their real names, but by +nicknames. So, never using their real names, I have forgotten them. The +nicknames that I know, them by, are Towser, Bowser, Rowser, Snowser." + +"Enough. Mad as a March hare. Take him away. Hold," again added the +officer, whom some strange fascination still bound to the bootless +investigation. "What's _my_ name, sir?" + +"Why, sir, one of my messmates here called you Lieutenant Williamson, +just now, and I never heard you called by any other name." + +"There's method in his madness," thought the officer to himself. "What's +the captain's name?" + +"Why, sir, when we spoke the enemy, last night, I heard him say, through +his trumpet, that he was Captain Parker; and very likely he knows his +own name." + +"I have you now. That ain't the captain's real name." + +"He's the best judge himself, sir, of what his name is, I should think." + +"Were it not," said the officer, now turning gravely upon his juniors, +"were it not that such a supposition were on other grounds absurd, I +should certainly conclude that this man, in some unknown way, got on +board here from the enemy last night." + +"How could he, sir?" asked the sailing-master. + +"Heaven knows. But our spanker-boom geared the other ship, you know, in +manoeuvring to get headway." + +"But supposing he _could_ have got here that fashion, which is quite +impossible under all the circumstances, what motive could have induced +him voluntarily to jump among enemies?" + +"Let him answer for himself," said the officer, turning suddenly upon +Israel, with the view of taking him off his guard, by the matter of +course assumption of the very point at issue. + +"Answer, sir. Why did you jump on board here, last night, from the +enemy?" + +"Jump on board, sir, from the enemy? Why, sir, my station at general +quarters is at gun No. 3, of the lower deck, here." + +"He's cracked--or else I am turned--or all the world is;--take him +away!" + +"But where am I to take him, sir?" said the master-at-arms. "He don't +seem to belong anywhere, sir. Where--where am I to take him?" + +"Take him-out of sight," said the officer, now incensed with his own +perplexity. "Take him out of sight, I say." + +"Come along, then, my ghost," said the master-at-arms. And, collaring +the phantom, he led it hither and thither, not knowing exactly what to +do with it. + +Some fifteen minutes passed, when the captain coming from his cabin, and +observing the master-at-arms leading Israel about in this indefinite +style, demanded the reason of that procedure, adding that it was against +his express orders for any new and degrading punishments to be invented +for his men. + +"Come here, master-at-arms. To what end do you lead that man about?" + +"To no end in the world, sir. I keep leading him about because he has +no final destination." + +"Mr. Officer-of-the-deck, what does this mean? Who is this strange man? +I don't know that I remember him. Who is he? And what is signified by +his being led about?" + +Hereupon the officer-of-the-deck, throwing himself into a tragical +posture, set forth the entire mystery; much to the captain's +astonishment, who at once indignantly turned upon the phantom. + +"You rascal--don't try to deceive me. Who are you? and where did you +come from last?" + +"Sir, my name is Peter Perkins, and I last came from the forecastle, +where the master-at-arms last led me, before coming here." + +"No joking, sir, no joking." + +"Sir, I'm sure it's too serious a business to joke about." + +"Do you have the assurance to say, that you, as a regularly shipped man, +have been on board this vessel ever since she sailed from Falmouth, ten +months ago?" + +"Sir, anxious to secure a berth under so good a commander, I was among +the first to enlist." + +"What ports have we touched at, sir?" said the captain, now in a little +softer tone. + +"Ports, sir, ports?" + +"Yes, sir, _ports_" + +Israel began to scratch his yellow hair. + +"What _ports_, sir?" + +"Well, sir:--Boston, for one." + +"Right there," whispered a midshipman. + +"What was the next port, sir?" + +"Why, sir, I was saying Boston was the _first_ port, I believe; wasn't +it?--and"-- + +"The _second_ port, sir, is what I want." + +"Well--New York." + +"Right again," whispered the midshipman. + +"And what port are we bound to, now?" + +"Let me see--homeward-bound--Falmouth, sir." + +"What sort of a place is Boston?" + +"Pretty considerable of a place, sir." + +"Very straight streets, ain't they?" + +"Yes, sir; cow-paths, cut by sheep-walks, and intersected with +hen-tracks." + +"When did we fire the first gun?" + +"Well, sir, just as we were leaving Falmouth, ten months +ago--signal-gun, sir." + +"Where did we fire the first _shotted_ gun, sir?--and what was the name +of the privateer we took upon that occasion?" + +"'Pears to me, sir, at that time I was on the sick list. Yes, sir, that +must have been the time; I had the brain fever, and lost my mind for a +while." + +"Master-at-arms, take this man away." + +"Where shall I take him, sir?" touching his cap. + +"Go, and air him on the forecastle." + +So they resumed their devious wanderings. At last, they descended to the +berth-deck. It being now breakfast-time, the master-at-arms, a +good-humored man, very kindly' introduced our hero to his mess, and +presented him with breakfast, during which he in vain endeavored, by +all sorts of subtle blandishments, to worm out his secret. + +At length Israel was set at liberty; and whenever there was any +important duty to be done, volunteered to it with such cheerful +alacrity, and approved himself so docile and excellent a seaman, that he +conciliated the approbation of all the officers, as well as the captain; +while his general sociability served, in the end, to turn in his favor +the suspicious hearts of the mariners. Perceiving his good qualities, +both as a sailor and man, the captain of the maintop applied for his +admission into that section of the ship; where, still improving upon his +former reputation, our hero did duty for the residue of the voyage. + +One pleasant afternoon, the last of the passage, when the ship was +nearing the Lizard, within a few hours' sail of her port, the +officer-of-the-deck, happening to glance upwards towards the maintop, +descried Israel there, leaning very leisurely over the rail, looking +mildly down where the officer stood. + +"Well, Peter Perkins, you seem to belong to the maintop, after all." + +"I always told you so, sir," smiled Israel benevolently down upon him, +"though, at first, you remember, sir, you would not believe it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES. + + +At length, as the ship, gliding on past three or four vessels at anchor +in the roadstead--one, a man-of-war just furling her sails--came nigh +Falmouth town, Israel, from his perch, saw crowds in violent commotion +on the shore, while the adjacent roofs were covered with sightseers. A +large man-of-war cutter was just landing its occupants, among whom were +a corporal's guard and three officers, besides the naval lieutenant and +boat's crew. Some of this company having landed, and formed a sort of +lane among the mob, two trim soldiers, armed to the teeth, rose in the +stern-sheets; and between them, a martial man of Patagonian stature, +their ragged and handcuffed captive, whose defiant head overshadowed +theirs, as St. Paul's dome its inferior steeples. Immediately the mob +raised a shout, pressing in curiosity towards the colossal stranger; so +that, drawing their swords, four of the soldiers had to force a passage +for their comrades, who followed on, conducting the giant. + +As the letter of marque drew still nigher, Israel heard the officer in +command of the party ashore shouting, "To the castle! to the castle!" +and so, surrounded by shouting throngs, the company moved on, preceded +by the three drawn swords, ever and anon flourished at the rioters, +towards a large grim pile on a cliff about a mile from the landing. Long +as they were in sight, the bulky form of the captive was seen at times +swayingly towering over the flashing bayonets and cutlasses, like a +great whale breaching amid a hostile retinue of sword-fish. Now and +then, too, with barbaric scorn, he taunted them with cramped gestures of +his manacled hands. + +When at last the vessel had gained her anchorage, opposite a distant +detached warehouse, all was still; and the work of breaking out in the +hold immediately commencing, and continuing till nightfall, absorbed all +further attention for the present. + +Next day was Sunday; and about noon Israel, with others, was allowed to +go ashore for a stroll. The town was quiet. Seeing nothing very +interesting there, he passed out, alone, into the fields alongshore, and +presently found himself climbing the cliff whereon stood the grim pile +before spoken of. + +"What place is yon?" he asked of a rustic passing. + +"Pendennis Castle." + +As he stepped upon the short crisp sward under its walls, he started at +a violent sound from within, as of the roar of some tormented lion. Soon +the sound became articulate, and he heard the following words bayed out +with an amazing vigor: + +"Brag no more, Old England; consider you are but an island! Order back +your broken battalions! home, and repent in ashes! Long enough have your +hired tories across the sea forgotten the Lord their God, and bowed down +to Howe and Kniphausen--the Hessian!--Hands off, red-skinned jackal! +Wearing the king's plate,[A] as I do, I have treasures of wrath against +you British." + +[Footnote A: Meaning, probably, certain manacles.] + +Then came a clanking, as of a chain; many vengeful sounds, all +confusedly together; with strugglings. Then again the voice: + +"Ye brought me out here, from my dungeon to this green--affronting yon +Sabbath sun--to see how a rebel looks. But I show ye how a true +gentleman and Christian can conduct in adversity. Back, dogs! Respect a +gentleman and a Christian, though he _be_ in rags and smell of +bilge-water." + +Filled with astonishment at these words, which came from over a massive +wall, enclosing what seemed an open parade-space, Israel pressed +forward, and soon came to a black archway, leading far within, +underneath, to a grassy tract, through a tower. Like two boar's tusks, +two sentries stood on guard at either side of the open jaws of the arch. +Scrutinizing our adventurer a moment, they signed him permission to +enter. + +Arrived at the end of the arched-way, where the sun shone, Israel stood +transfixed, at the scene. + +Like some baited bull in the ring, crouched the Patagonian-looking +captive, handcuffed as before; the grass of the green trampled, and +gored up all about him, both by his own movements and those of the +people around. Except some soldiers and sailors, these seemed mostly +townspeople, collected here out of curiosity. The stranger was +outlandishly arrayed in the sorry remains of a half-Indian, +half-Canadian sort of a dress, consisting of a fawn-skin jacket--the fur +outside and hanging in ragged tufts--a half-rotten, bark-like belt of +wampum; aged breeches of sagathy; bedarned worsted stockings to the +knee; old moccasins riddled with holes, their metal tags yellow with +salt-water rust; a faded red woollen bonnet, not unlike a Russian +night-cap, or a portentous, ensanguined full-moon, all soiled, and stuck +about with bits of half-rotted straw. He seemed just broken from the +dead leases in David's outlawed Cave of Adullam. Unshaven, beard and +hair matted, and profuse as a corn-field beaten down by hailstorms, his +whole marred aspect was that of some wild beast; but of a royal sort, +and unsubdued by the cage. + +"Aye, stare, stare! Though but last night dragged out of a ship's hold, +like a smutty tierce; and this morning out of your littered barracks +here, like a murderer; for all that, you may well stare at Ethan +Ticonderoga Allen, the unconquered soldier, by ----! You Turks never saw +a Christian before. Stare on! I am he, who, when your Lord Howe wanted +to bribe a patriot to fall down and worship him by an offer of a +major-generalship and five thousand acres of choice land in old +Vermont--(Ha! three-times-three for glorious old Vermont, and my +Green-Mountain boys! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!) I am he, I say, who +answered your Lord Howe, 'You, _you_ offer _our_ land? You are like the +devil in Scripture, offering all the kingdoms in the world, when the +d----d soul had not a corner-lot on earth! Stare on!'" + +"Look you, rebel, you had best heed how you talk against General Lord +Howe," here said a thin, wasp-waisted, epauletted officer of the castle, +coming near and flourishing his sword like a schoolmaster's ferule. + +"General Lord Howe? Heed how I talk of that toad-hearted king's +lick-spittle of a scarlet poltroon; the vilest wriggler in God's +worm-hole below? I tell you, that herds of red-haired devils are +impatiently snorting to ladle Lord Howe with all his gang (you included) +into the seethingest syrups of tophet's flames!" + +At this blast, the wasp-waisted officer was blown backwards as from +before the suddenly burst head of a steam-boiler. + +Staggering away, with a snapped spine, he muttered something about its +being beneath his dignity to bandy further words with a low-lived rebel. + +"Come, come, Colonel Allen," here said a mild-looking man in a sort of +clerical undress, "respect the day better than to talk thus of what lies +beyond. Were you to die this hour, or what is more probable, be hung +next week at Tower-wharf, you know not what might become, in eternity, +of yourself." + +"Reverend Sir," with a mocking bow, "when not better employed braiding +my beard, I have a little dabbled in your theologies. And let me tell +you, Reverend Sir," lowering and intensifying his voice, "that as to the +world of spirits, of which you hint, though I know nothing of the mode +or manner of that world, no more than do you, yet I expect when I shall +arrive there to be treated as well as any other gentleman of my merit. +That is to say, far better than you British know how to treat an +American officer and meek-hearted Christian captured in honorable war, +by ----! Every one tells me, as you yourself just breathed, and as, +crossing the sea, every billow dinned into my ear, that I, Ethan Allen, +am to be hung like a thief. If I am, the great Jehovah and the +Continental Congress shall avenge me; while I, for my part, shall show +you, even on the tree, how a Christian gentleman can die. Meantime, sir, +if you are the clergyman you look, act out your consolatory function, by +getting an unfortunate Christian gentleman about to die, a bowl of +punch." + +The good-natured stranger, not to have his religious courtesy appealed +to in vain, immediately dispatched his servant, who stood by, to procure +the beverage. + +At this juncture, a faint rustling sound, as of the advance of an army +with banners, was heard. Silks, scarfs, and ribbons fluttered in the +background. Presently, a bright squadron of fair ladies drew nigh, +escorted by certain outriding gallants of Falmouth. + +"Ah," sighed a soft voice, "what a strange sash, and furred vest, and +what leopard-like teeth, and what flaxen hair, but all mildewed;--is +that he?" + +"Yea, is it, lovely charmer," said Allen, like an Ottoman, bowing over +his broad, bovine forehead, and breathing the words out like a lute; "it +is he--Ethan Allen, the soldier; now, since ladies' eyes visit him, made +trebly a captive." + +"Why, he talks like a beau in a parlor, this wild, mossed American from +the woods," sighed another fair lady to her mate; "but can this be he we +came to see? I must have a lock of his hair." + +"It is he, adorable Delilah; and fear not, even though incited by the +foe, by clipping my locks, to dwindle my strength. Give me your sword, +man," turning to an officer:--"Ah! I'm fettered. Clip it yourself, +lady." + +"No, no--I am--" + +"Afraid, would you say? Afraid of the vowed friend and champion of all +ladies all round the world? Nay, nay, come hither." + +The lady advanced; and soon, overcoming her timidity, her white hand +shone like whipped foam amid the matted waves of flaxen hair. + +"Ah, this is like clipping tangled tags of gold-lace," cried she; "but +see, it is half straw." + +"But the wearer is no man-of-straw, lady; were I free, and you had ten +thousand foes--horse, foot, and dragoons--how like a friend I could +fight for you! Come, you have robbed me of my hair; let me rob your +dainty hand of its price. What, afraid again?" + +"No, not that; but--" + +"I see, lady; I may do it, by your leave, but not by your word; the +wonted way of ladies. There, it is done. Sweeter that kiss, than the +bitter heart of a cherry." + +When at length this lady left, no small talk was had by her with her +companions about someway relieving the hard lot of so knightly an +unfortunate. Whereupon a worthy, judicious gentleman, of middle-age, in +attendance, suggested a bottle of good wine every day, and clean linen +once every week. And these the gentle Englishwoman--too polite and too +good to be fastidious--did indeed actually send to Ethan Allen, so long +as he tarried a captive in her land. + +The withdrawal of this company was followed by a different scene. + +A perspiring man in top-boots, a riding-whip in his hand, and having the +air of a prosperous farmer, brushed in, like a stray bullock, among the +rest, for a peep at the giant; having just entered through the arch, as +the ladies passed out. + +"Hearing that the man who took Ticonderoga was here in Pendennis Castle, +I've ridden twenty-five miles to see him; and to-morrow my brother will +ride forty for the same purpose. So let me have first look. Sir," he +continued, addressing the captive, "will you let me ask you a few plain +questions, and be free with you?" + +"Be free with me? With all my heart. I love freedom of all things. I'm +ready to die for freedom; I expect to. So be free as you please. What is +it?" + +"Then, sir, permit me to ask what is your occupation in life--in time of +peace, I mean?" + +"You talk like a tax-gatherer," rejoined Allen, squinting diabolically +at him; "what is my occupation in life? Why, in my younger days I +studied divinity, but at present I am a conjurer by profession." + +Hereupon everybody laughed, equally at the manner as the words, and the +nettled farmer retorted: + +"Conjurer, eh? well, you conjured wrong that time you were taken." + +"Not so wrong, though, as you British did, that time I took Ticonderoga, +my friend." + +At this juncture the servant came with the punch, when his master bade +him present it to the captive. + +"No!--give it me, sir, with your own hands, and pledge me as gentleman +to gentleman." + +"I cannot pledge a state-prisoner, Colonel Allen; but I will hand you +the punch with my own hands, since you insist upon it." + +"Spoken and done like a true gentleman, sir; I am bound to you." + +Then receiving the bowl into his gyved hands, the iron ringing against +the china, he put it to his lips, and saying, "I hereby give the British +nation credit for half a minute's good usage," at one draught emptied it +to the bottom. + +"The rebel gulps it down like a swilling hog at a trough," here scoffed +a lusty private of the guard, off duty. + +"Shame to you!" cried the giver of the bowl. + +"Nay, sir; his red coat is a standing blush to him, as it is to the +whole scarlet-blushing British army." Then turning derisively upon the +private: "You object to my way of taking things, do ye? I fear I shall +never please ye. You objected to the way, too, in which I took +Ticonderoga, and the way in which I meant to take Montreal. Selah! But +pray, now that I look at you, are not you the hero I caught dodging +round, in his shirt, in the cattle-pen, inside the fort? It was the +break of day, you remember." + +"Come, Yankee," here swore the incensed private; "cease this, or I'll +darn your old fawn-skins for ye with the flat of this sword;" for a +specimen, laying it lashwise, but not heavily, across the captive's +back. + +Turning like a tiger, the giant, catching the steel between his teeth, +wrenched it from the private's grasp, and striking it with his manacles, +sent it spinning like a juggler's dagger into the air, saying, "Lay your +dirty coward's iron on a tied gentleman again, and these," lifting his +handcuffed fists, "shall be the beetle of mortality to you!" + +The now furious soldier would have struck him with all his force, but +several men of the town interposed, reminding him that it were +outrageous to attack a chained captive. + +"Ah," said Allen, "I am accustomed to that, and therefore I am +beforehand with them; and the extremity of what I say against Britain, +is not meant for you, kind friends, but for my insulters, present and to +come." Then recognizing among the interposers the giver of the bowl, he +turned with a courteous bow, saying, "Thank you again and again, my good +sir; you may not be the worse for this; ours is an unstable world; so +that one gentleman never knows when it may be his turn to be helped of +another." + +But the soldier still making a riot, and the commotion growing general, +a superior officer stepped up, who terminated the scene by remanding the +prisoner to his cell, dismissing the townspeople, with all strangers, +Israel among the rest, and closing the castle gates after them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL'S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE +WILDERNESS. + + +Among the episodes of the Revolutionary War, none is stranger than that +of Ethan Allen in England; the event and the man being equally uncommon. + +Allen seems to have been a curious combination of a Hercules, a Joe +Miller, a Bayard, and a Tom Hyer; had a person like the Belgian giants; +mountain music in him like a Swiss; a heart plump as Coeur de Lion's. +Though born in New England, he exhibited no trace of her character. He +was frank, bluff, companionable as a Pagan, convivial, a Roman, hearty +as a harvest. His spirit was essentially Western; and herein is his +peculiar Americanism; for the Western spirit is, or will yet be (for no +other is, or can be), the true American one. + +For the most part, Allen's manner while in England was scornful and +ferocious in the last degree; however, qualified by that wild, heroic +sort of levity, which in the hour of oppression or peril seems +inseparable from a nature like his; the mode whereby such a temper best +evinces its barbaric disdain of adversity, and how cheaply and +waggishly it holds the malice, even though triumphant, of its foes! +Aside from that inevitable egotism relatively pertaining to pine trees, +spires, and giants, there were, perhaps, two special incidental reasons +for the Titanic Vermonter's singular demeanor abroad. Taken captive +while heading a forlorn hope before Montreal, he was treated with +inexcusable cruelty and indignity; something as if he had fallen into +the hands of the Dyaks. Immediately upon his capture he would have been +deliberately suffered to have been butchered by the Indian allies in +cold blood on the spot, had he not, with desperate intrepidity, availed +himself of his enormous physical strength, by twitching a British +officer to him, and using him for a living target, whirling him round +and round against the murderous tomahawks of the savages. Shortly +afterwards, led into the town, fenced about by bayonets of the guard, +the commander of the enemy, one Colonel McCloud, flourished his cane +over the captive's head, with brutal insults promising him a rebel's +halter at Tyburn. During his passage to England in the same ship wherein +went passenger Colonel Guy Johnson, the implacable tory, he was kept +heavily ironed in the hold, and in all ways treated as a common +mutineer; or, it may be, rather as a lion of Asia; which, though caged, +was still too dreadful to behold without fear and trembling, and +consequent cruelty. And no wonder, at least for the fear; for on one +occasion, when chained hand and foot, he was insulted on shipboard by an +officer; with his teeth he twisted off the nail that went through the +mortise of his handcuffs, and so, having his arms at liberty, challenged +his insulter to combat. Often, as at Pendennis Castle, when no other +avengement was at hand, he would hurl on his foes such howling tempests +of anathema as fairly to shock them into retreat. Prompted by somewhat +similar motives, both on shipboard and in England, he would often make +the most vociferous allusions to Ticonderoga, and the part he played in +its capture, well knowing, that of all American names, Ticonderoga was, +at that period, by far the most famous and galling to Englishmen. + +Parlor-men, dancing-masters, the graduates of the Albe Bellgarde, may +shrug their laced shoulders at the boisterousness of Allen in England. +True, he stood upon no punctilios with his jailers; for where modest +gentlemanhood is all on one side, it is a losing affair; as if my Lord +Chesterfield should take off his hat, and smile, and bow, to a mad bull, +in hopes of a reciprocation of politeness. When among wild beasts, if +they menace you, be a wild beast. Neither is it unlikely that this was +the view taken by Allen. For, besides the exasperating tendency to +self-assertion which such treatment as his must have bred on a man like +him, his experience must have taught him, that by assuming the part of a +jocular, reckless, and even braggart barbarian, he would better sustain +himself against bullying turnkeys than by submissive quietude. Nor +should it be forgotten, that besides the petty details of personal +malice, the enemy violated every international usage of right and +decency, in treating a distinguished prisoner of war as if he had been a +Botany-Bay convict. If, at the present day, in any similar case between +the same States, the repetition of such outrages would be more than +unlikely, it is only because it is among nations as among individuals: +imputed indigence provokes oppression and scorn; but that same indigence +being risen to opulence, receives a politic consideration even from its +former insulters. + +As the event proved, in the course Allen pursued, he was right. Because, +though at first nothing was talked of by his captors, and nothing +anticipated by himself, but his ignominious execution, or at the least, +prolonged and squalid incarceration, nevertheless, these threats and +prospects evaporated, and by his facetious scorn for scorn, under the +extremest sufferings, he finally wrung repentant usage from his foes; +and in the end, being liberated from his irons, and walking the +quarter-deck where before he had been thrust into the hold, was carried +back to America, and in due time, at New York, honorably included in a +regular exchange of prisoners. + +It was not without strange interest that Israel had been an eye-witness +of the scenes on the Castle Green. Neither was this interest abated by +the painful necessity of concealing, for the present, from his brave +countryman and fellow-mountaineer, the fact of a friend being nigh. When +at last the throng was dismissed, walking towards the town with the +rest, he heard that there were some forty or more Americans, privates, +confined on the cliff. Upon this, inventing a pretence, he turned back, +loitering around the walls for any chance glimpse of the captives. +Presently, while looking up at a grated embrasure in the tower, he +started at a voice from it familiarly hailing him: + +"Potter, is that you? In God's name how came you here?" + +At these words, a sentry below had his eye on our astonished +adventurer. Bringing his piece to bear, he bade him stand. Next moment +Israel was under arrest. Being brought into the presence of the forty +prisoners, where they lay in litters of mouldy straw, strewn with gnawed +bones, as in a kennel, he recognized among them one Singles, now +Sergeant Singles, the man who, upon our hero's return home from his last +Cape Horn voyage, he had found wedded to his mountain Jenny. Instantly a +rush of emotions filled him. Not as when Damon found Pythias. But far +stranger, because very different. For not only had this Singles been an +alien to Israel (so far as actual intercourse went), but impelled to it +by instinct, Israel had all but detested him, as a successful, and +perhaps insidious rival. Nor was it altogether unlikely that Singles had +reciprocated the feeling. But now, as if the Atlantic rolled, not +between two continents, but two worlds--this, and the next--these alien +souls, oblivious to hate, melted down into one. + +At such a juncture, it was hard to maintain a disguise, especially when +it involved the seeming rejection of advances like the Sergeant's. +Still, converting his real amazement into affected surprise, Israel, in +presence of the sentries, declared to Singles that he (Singles) must +labor under some unaccountable delusion; for he (Potter) was no Yankee +rebel, thank Heaven, but a true man to his king; in short, an honest +Englishman, born in Kent, and now serving his country, and doing what +damage he might to her foes, by being first captain of a carronade on +board a letter of marque, that moment in the harbor. + +For a moment the captive stood astounded, but observing Israel more +narrowly, detecting his latent look, and bethinking him of the useless +peril he had thoughtlessly caused to a countryman, no doubt unfortunate +as himself, Singles took his cue, and pretending sullenly to apologize +for his error, put on a disappointed and crest-fallen air. Nevertheless, +it was not without much difficulty, and after many supplemental +scrutinies and inquisitions from a board of officers before whom he was +subsequently brought, that our wanderer was finally permitted to quit +the cliff. + +This luckless adventure not only nipped in the bud a little scheme he +had been revolving, for materially befriending Ethan Allen and his +comrades, but resulted in making his further stay at Falmouth perilous +in the extreme. And as if this were not enough, next day, while hanging +over the side, painting the hull, in trepidation of a visit from the +castle soldiers, rumor came to the ship that the man-of-war in the haven +purposed impressing one-third of the letter of marque's crew; though, +indeed, the latter vessel was preparing for a second cruise. Being on +board a private armed ship, Israel had little dreamed of its liability +to the same governmental hardships with the meanest merchantman. But the +system of impressment is no respecter either of pity or person. + +His mind was soon determined. Unlike his shipmates, braving immediate +and lonely hazard, rather than wait for a collective and ultimate one, +he cunningly dropped himself overboard the same night, and after the +narrowest risk from the muskets of the man-of-war's sentries (whose +gangways he had to pass), succeeded in swimming to shore, where he fell +exhausted, but recovering, fled inland, doubly hunted by the thought, +that whether as an Englishman, or whether as an American, he would, if +caught, be now equally subject to enslavement. + +Shortly after the break of day, having gained many miles, he succeeded +in ridding himself of his seaman's clothing, having found some mouldy +old rags on the banks of a stagnant pond, nigh a rickety building, which +looked like a poorhouse--clothing not improbably, as he surmised, left +there on the bank by some pauper suicide. Marvel not that he should with +avidity seize these rags; what the suicides abandon, the living hug. + +Once more in beggar's garb, the fugitive sped towards London, prompted +by the same instinct which impels the hunted fox to the wilderness; for +solitudes befriend the endangered wild beast, but crowds are the +security, because the true desert, of persecuted man. Among the things +of the capital, Israel for more than forty years was yet to disappear, +as one entering at dusk into a thick wood. Nor did ever the German +forest, nor Tasso's enchanted one, contain in its depths more things of +horror than eventually were revealed in the secret clefts, gulfs, caves +and dens of London. + +But here we anticipate a page. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ISRAEL IN EGYPT. + + +It was a gray, lowering afternoon that, worn out, half starved, and +haggard, Israel arrived within some ten or fifteen miles of London, and +saw scores and scores of forlorn men engaged in a great brickyard. + +For the most part, brickmaking is all mud and mire. Where, abroad, the +business is carried on largely, as to supply the London market, hordes +of the poorest wretches are employed, their grimy tatters naturally +adapting them to an employ where cleanliness is as much out of the +question as with a drowned man at the bottom of the lake in the Dismal +Swamp. + +Desperate with want, Israel resolved to turn brickmaker, nor did he fear +to present himself as a stranger, nothing doubting that to such a +vocation his rags would be accounted the best letters of introduction. + +To be brief, he accosted one of the many surly overseers, or taskmasters +of the yard, who, with no few pompous airs, finally engaged him at six +shillings a week, almost equivalent to a dollar and a half. He was +appointed to one of the mills for grinding up the ingredients. This +mill stood in the open air. It was of a rude, primitive, Eastern aspect, +consisting of a sort of hopper, emptying into a barrel-shaped +receptacle. In the barrel was a clumsy machine turned round at its axis +by a great bent beam, like a well-sweep, only it was horizontal; to this +beam, at its outer end, a spavined old horse was attached. The muddy +mixture was shovelled into the hopper by spavined-looking old men, +while, trudging wearily round and round, the spavined old horse ground +it all up till it slowly squashed out at the bottom of the barrel, in a +doughy compound, all ready for the moulds. Where the dough squeezed out +of the barrel a pit was sunken, so as to bring the moulder here +stationed down to a level with the trough, into which the dough fell. +Israel was assigned to this pit. Men came to him continually, reaching +down rude wooden trays, divided into compartments, each of the size and +shape of a brick. With a flat sort of big ladle, Israel slapped the +dough into the trays from the trough; then, with a bit of smooth board, +scraped the top even, and handed it up. Half buried there in the pit, +all the time handing those desolate trays, poor Israel seemed some +gravedigger, or churchyard man, tucking away dead little innocents in +their coffins on one side, and cunningly disinterring them again to +resurrectionists stationed on the other. + +Twenty of these melancholy old mills were in operation. Twenty +heartbroken old horses, rigged out deplorably in cast-off old cart +harness, incessantly tugged at twenty great shaggy beams; while from +twenty half-burst old barrels, twenty wads of mud, with a lava-like +course, gouged out into twenty old troughs, to be slapped by twenty +tattered men into the twenty-times-twenty battered old trays. + +Ere entering his pit for the first, Israel had been struck by the +dismally devil-may-care gestures of the moulders. But hardly had he +himself been a moulder three days, when his previous sedateness of +concern at his unfortunate lot, began to conform to the reckless sort of +half jolly despair expressed by the others. The truth indeed was, that +this continual, violent, helter-skelter slapping of the dough into the +moulds, begat a corresponding disposition in the moulder, who, by +heedlessly slapping that sad dough, as stuff of little worth, was +thereby taught, in his meditations, to slap, with similar heedlessness, +his own sadder fortunes, as of still less vital consideration. To these +muddy philosophers, men and bricks were equally of clay. "What signifies +who we be--dukes or ditchers?" thought the moulders; "all is vanity and +clay." + +So slap, slap, slap, care-free and negligent, with bitter unconcern, +these dismal desperadoes flapped down the dough. If this recklessness +were vicious of them, be it so; but their vice was like that weed which +but grows on barren ground; enrich the soil, and it disappears. + +For thirteen weary weeks, lorded over by the taskmaster, Israel toiled +in his pit. Though this condemned him to a sort of earthy dungeon, or +gravedigger's hole, while he worked, yet even when liberated to his +meals, naught of a cheery nature greeted him. The yard was encamped, +with all its endless rows of tented sheds, and kilns, and mills, upon a +wild waste moor, belted round by bogs and fens. The blank horizon, like +a rope, coiled round the whole. + +Sometimes the air was harsh and bleak; the ridged and mottled sky looked +scourged, or cramping fogs set in from sea, for leagues around, +ferreting out each rheumatic human bone, and racking it; the sciatic +limpers shivered; their aguish rags sponged up the mists. No shelter, +though it hailed. The sheds were for the bricks. Unless, indeed, +according to the phrase, each man was a "brick," which, in sober +scripture, was the case; brick is no bad name for any son of Adam; Eden +was but a brickyard; what is a mortal but a few luckless shovelfuls of +clay, moulded in a mould, laid out on a sheet to dry, and ere long +quickened into his queer caprices by the sun? Are not men built into +communities just like bricks into a wall? Consider the great wall of +China: ponder the great populace of Pekin. As man serves bricks, so God +him, building him up by billions into edifices of his purposes. Man +attains not to the nobility of a brick, unless taken in the aggregate. +Yet is there a difference in brick, whether quick or dead; which, for +the last, we now shall see. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CONTINUED. + + +All night long, men sat before the mouth of the kilns, feeding them with +fuel. A dull smoke--a smoke of their torments--went up from their tops. +It was curious to see the kilns under the action of the fire, gradually +changing color, like boiling lobsters. When, at last, the fires would be +extinguished, the bricks being duly baked, Israel often took a peep into +the low vaulted ways at the base, where the flaming fagots had crackled. +The bricks immediately lining the vaults would be all burnt to useless +scrolls, black as charcoal, and twisted into shapes the most grotesque; +the next tier would be a little less withered, but hardly fit for +service; and gradually, as you went higher and higher along the +successive layers of the kiln, you came to the midmost ones, sound, +square, and perfect bricks, bringing the highest prices; from these the +contents of the kiln gradually deteriorated in the opposite direction, +upward. But the topmost layers, though inferior to the best, by no means +presented the distorted look of the furnace-bricks. The furnace-bricks +were haggard, with the immediate blistering of the fire--the midmost +ones were ruddy with a genial and tempered glow--the summit ones were +pale with the languor of too exclusive an exemption from the burden of +the blaze. + +These kilns were a sort of temporary temples constructed in the yard, +each brick being set against its neighbor almost with the care taken by +the mason. But as soon as the fire was extinguished, down came the kiln +in a tumbled ruin, carted off to London, once more to be set up in +ambitious edifices, to a true brickyard philosopher, little less +transient than the kilns. + +Sometimes, lading out his dough, Israel could not but bethink him of +what seemed enigmatic in his fate. He whom love of country made a hater +of her foes--the foreigners among whom he now was thrown--he who, as +soldier and sailor, had joined to kill, burn and destroy both them and +theirs--here he was at last, serving that very people as a slave, better +succeeding in making their bricks than firing their ships. To think that +he should be thus helping, with all his strength, to extend the walls of +the Thebes of the oppressor, made him half mad. Poor Israel! +well-named--bondsman in the English Egypt. But he drowned the thought by +still more recklessly spattering with his ladle: "What signifies who we +be, or where we are, or what we do?" Slap-dash! "Kings as clowns are +codgers--who ain't a nobody?" Splash! "All is vanity and clay." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +IN THE CITY OF DIS. + + +At the end of his brickmaking, our adventurer found himself with a +tolerable suit of clothes--somewhat darned--on his back, several +blood-blisters in his palms, and some verdigris coppers in his pocket. +Forthwith, to seek his fortune, he proceeded on foot to the capital, +entering, like the king, from Windsor, from the Surrey side. + +It was late on a Monday morning, in November--a Blue Monday--a Fifth of +November--Guy Fawkes' Day!--very blue, foggy, doleful and gunpowdery, +indeed, as shortly will be seen, that Israel found himself wedged in +among the greatest everyday crowd which grimy London presents to the +curious stranger: that hereditary crowd--gulf-stream of humanity--which, +for continuous centuries, has never ceased pouring, like an endless +shoal of herring, over London Bridge. + +At the period here written of, the bridge, specifically known by that +name, was a singular and sombre pile, built by a cowled monk--Peter of +Colechurch--some five hundred years before. Its arches had long been +crowded at the sides with strange old rookeries of disproportioned and +toppling height, converting the bridge at once into the most densely +occupied ward and most jammed thoroughfare of the town, while, as the +skulls of bullocks are hung out for signs to the gateways of shambles, +so the withered heads and smoked quarters of traitors, stuck on pikes, +long crowned the Southwark entrance. + +Though these rookeries, with their grisly heraldry, had been pulled down +some twenty years prior to the present visit, still enough of grotesque +and antiquity clung to the structure at large to render it the most +striking of objects, especially to one like our hero, born in a virgin +clime, where the only antiquities are the forever youthful heavens and +the earth. + +On his route from Brentford to Paris, Israel had passed through the +capital, but only as a courier; so that now, for the first time, he had +time to linger, and loiter, and lounge--slowly absorb what he +saw--meditate himself into boundless amazement. For forty years he never +recovered from that surprise--never, till dead, had done with his +wondering. + +Hung in long, sepulchral arches of stone, the black, besmoked bridge +seemed a huge scarf of crape, festooning the river across. Similar +funeral festoons spanned it to the west, while eastward, towards the +sea, tiers and tiers of jetty colliers lay moored, side by side, fleets +of black swans. + +The Thames, which far away, among the green fields of Berks, ran clear +as a brook, here, polluted by continual vicinity to man, curdled on +between rotten wharves, one murky sheet of sewerage. Fretted by the +ill-built piers, awhile it crested and hissed, then shot balefully +through the Erebus arches, desperate as the lost souls of the harlots, +who, every night, took the same plunge. Meantime, here and there, like +awaiting hearses, the coal-scows drifted along, poled broadside, +pell-mell to the current. + +And as that tide in the water swept all craft on, so a like tide seemed +hurrying all men, all horses, all vehicles on the land. As ant-hills, +the bridge arches crawled with processions of carts, coaches, drays, +every sort of wheeled, rumbling thing, the noses of the horses behind +touching the backs of the vehicles in advance, all bespattered with ebon +mud--ebon mud that stuck like Jews' pitch. At times the mass, receiving +some mysterious impulse far in the rear, away among the coiled +thoroughfares out of sight, would, start forward with a spasmodic surge. +It seemed as if some squadron of centaurs, on the thither side of +Phlegethon, with charge on charge, was driving tormented humanity, with +all its chattels, across. + +Whichever way the eye turned, no tree, no speck of any green thing was +seen--no more than in smithies. All laborers, of whatsoever sort, were +hued like the men in foundries. The black vistas of streets were as the +galleries in coal mines; the flagging, as flat tomb-stones, minus the +consecration of moss, and worn heavily down, by sorrowful tramping, as +the vitreous rocks in the cursed Gallipagos, over which the convict +tortoises crawl. + +As in eclipses, the sun was hidden; the air darkened; the whole dull, +dismayed aspect of things, as if some neighboring volcano, belching its +premonitory smoke, were about to whelm the great town, as Herculaneum +and Pompeii, or the Cities of the Plain. And as they had been upturned +in terror towards the mountain, all faces were more or less snowed or +spotted with soot. Nor marble, nor flesh, nor the sad spirit of man, may +in this cindery City of Dis abide white. + +As retired at length, midway, in a recess of the bridge, Israel surveyed +them, various individual aspects all but frighted him. Knowing not who +they were; never destined, it may be, to behold them again; one after +the other, they drifted by, uninvoked ghosts in Hades. Some of the +wayfarers wore a less serious look; some seemed hysterically merry; but +the mournful faces had an earnestness not seen in the others: because +man, "poor player," succeeds better in life's tragedy than comedy. + +Arrived, in the end, on the Middlesex side, Israel's heart was +prophetically heavy; foreknowing, that being of this race, felicity +could never be his lot. + +For five days he wandered and wandered. Without leaving statelier haunts +unvisited, he did not overlook those broader areas--hereditary parks and +manors of vice and misery. Not by constitution disposed to gloom, there +was a mysteriousness in those impulses which led him at this time to +rovings like these. But hereby stoic influences were at work, to fit him +at a soon-coming day for enacting a part in the last extremities here +seen; when by sickness, destitution, each busy ill of exile, he was +destined to experience a fate, uncommon even to luckless humanity--a +fate whose crowning qualities were its remoteness from relief and its +depth of obscurity--London, adversity, and the sea, three Armageddons, +which, at one and the same time, slay and secrete their victims. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +FORTY-FIVE YEARS. + + +For the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings +in the London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural +wilderness of the outcast Hebrews under Moses. + +In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but +no pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, +two hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the +stone base, the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down. + +But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were +necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme +suffering, without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, is +its depiction without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The +gloomiest and truthfulest dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the +calamities, however extraordinary, of inferior and private persons; +least of all, the pauper's; admonished by the fact, that to the craped +palace of the king lying in state, thousands of starers shall throng; +but few feel enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed knuckle-bone, +grins the unupholstered corpse of the beggar. + +Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder +street? What plebeian Lear or Oedipus, what Israel Potter, cowers there +by the corner they shun? From this turning point, then, we too cross +over and skim events to the end; omitting the particulars of the +starveling's wrangling with rats for prizes in the sewers; or his +crawling into an abandoned doorless house in St. Giles', where his hosts +were three dead men, one pendant; into another of an alley nigh +Houndsditch, where the crazy hovel, in phosphoric rottenness, fell +sparkling on him one pitchy midnight, and he received that injury, +which, excluding activity for no small part of the future, was an added +cause of his prolongation of exile, besides not leaving his faculties +unaffected by the concussion of one of the rafters on his brain. + +But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning of +his career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended him +for a time; insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being able to +buy his homeward passage so soon as the war should end. But, as stubborn +fate would have it, being run over one day at Holborn Bars, and taken +into a neighboring bakery, he was there treated with such kindliness by +a Kentish lass, the shop-girl, that in the end he thought his debt of +gratitude could only be repaid by love. In a word, the money saved up +for his ocean voyage was lavished upon a rash embarkation in wedlock. + +Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the dilemma of +impressment or imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread +of those hardships would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, +when hostilities were no more, so was his money. Some period elapsed ere +the affairs of the two governments were put on such a footing as to +support an American consul at London. Yet, when this came to pass, he +could only embrace the facilities for a return here furnished, by +deserting a wife and child, wedded and born in the enemy's land. + +The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with +hordes of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, or +turn highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping coaches at +times in the most public streets), would work for such a pittance as to +bring down the wages of all the laboring classes. Neither was our +adventurer the least among the sufferers. Driven out of his previous +employ--a sort of porter in a river-side warehouse--by this sudden +influx of rivals, destitute, honest men like himself, with the ingenuity +of his race, he turned his hand to the village art of chair-bottoming. +An itinerant, he paraded the streets with the cry of "Old chairs to +mend!" furnishing a curious illustration of the contradictions of human +life; that he who did little but trudge, should be giving cosy seats to +all the rest of the world. Meantime, according to another well-known +Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family increased. In all, eleven +children were born to him in certain sixpenny garrets in Moorfields. One +after the other, ten were buried. + +When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That +business being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, bits +of paper, nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. From the +gutter he slid to the sewer. The slope was smooth. In poverty--"Facilis +descensus Averni." + +But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of +Avernus before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for +company. + +But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. In +1793 war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London of +some of its superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean society +of his friends, the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering forlorn +through the black kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about sea +prisoners in hulks, and listen to stories of the Black Hole of Calcutta; +and often would meet other pairs of poor soldiers, perfect strangers, at +the more public corners and intersections of sewers--the Charing-Crosses +below; one soldier having the other by his remainder button, earnestly +discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or the tide; while +through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty skylights of the +realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers' carts, with splashes of the +flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city lived. + +Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel returned +to chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden market, at +early morning, for the purchase of his flags, that he experienced one +of the strange alleviations hinted of above. That chatting with the +ruddy, aproned, hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks yet trickled the +dew of the dawn on the meadows; that being surrounded by bales of hay, +as the raker by cocks and ricks in the field; those glimpses of garden +produce, the blood-beets, with the damp earth still tufting the roots; +that mere handling of his flags, and bethinking him of whence they must +have come, the green hedges through which the wagon that brought them +had passed; that trudging home with them as a gleaner with his sheaf of +wheat;--all this was inexpressibly grateful. In want and bitterness, +pent in, perforce, between dingy walls, he had rural returns of his +boyhood's sweeter days among them; and the hardest stones of his +solitary heart (made hard by bare endurance alone) would feel the stir +of tender but quenchless memories, like the grass of deserted flagging, +upsprouting through its closest seams. Sometimes, when incited by some +little incident, however trivial in itself, thoughts of home +would--either by gradually working and working upon him, or else by an +impetuous rush of recollection--overpower him for a time to a sort of +hallucination. + +Thus was it:--One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he +was employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the +sward in an oval enclosure within St. James' Park, a little green but a +three-minutes' walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked and +grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to the +public resort on whose borders it stands. It was a little oval, fenced +in with iron pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure peered +forth, as some wild captive creature of the woods from its cage. And +alien Israel there--at times staring dreamily about him--seemed like +some amazed runaway steer, or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded on +the shores of Narraganset Bay, long ago; and back to New England our +exile was called in his soul. For still working, and thinking of home; +and thinking of home, and working amid the verdant quietude of this +little oasis, one rapt thought begat another, till at last his mind +settled intensely, and yet half humorously, upon the image of Old +Huckleberry, his mother's favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, +hearing a sudden scraping noise (some hob-shoe without, against the iron +pailing), he insanely took it to be Old Huckleberry in his stall, +hailing him (Israel) with his shod fore-foot clattering against the +planks--his customary trick when hungry--and so, down goes Israel's +hook, and with a tuft of white clover, impulsively snatched, he hurries +away a few paces in obedience to the imaginary summons. But soon +stopping midway, and forlornly gazing round at the enclosure, he +bethought him that a far different oval, the great oval of the ocean, +must be crossed ere his crazy errand could be done; and even then, Old +Huckleberry would be found long surfeited with clover, since, doubtless, +being dead many a summer, he must be buried beneath it. And many years +after, in a far different part of the town, and in far less winsome +weather too, passing with his bundle of flags through Red-Cross street, +towards Barbican, in a fog so dense that the dimmed and massed blocks +of houses, exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy ranges on ranges of +midnight hills, he heard a confused pastoral sort of sounds--tramplings, +lowings, halloos--and was suddenly called to by a voice to head off +certain cattle, bound to Smithfield, bewildered and unruly in the fog. +Next instant he saw the white face--white as an orange-blossom--of a +black-bodied steer, in advance of the drove, gleaming ghost-like through +the vapors; and presently, forgetting his limp, with rapid shout and +gesture, he was more eager, even than the troubled farmers, their +owners, in driving the riotous cattle back into Barbican. Monomaniac +reminiscences were in him--"To the right, to the right!" he shouted, as, +arrived at the street corner, the farmers beat the drove to the left, +towards Smithfield: "To the right! you are driving them back to the +pastures--to the right! that way lies the barn-yard!" "Barn-yard?" cried +a voice; "you are dreaming, old man." And so, Israel, now an old man, +was bewitched by the mirage of vapors; he had dreamed himself home into +the mists of the Housatonic mountains; ruddy boy on the upland pastures +again. But how different the flat, apathetic, dead, London fog now +seemed from those agile mists which, goat-like, climbed the purple +peaks, or in routed armies of phantoms, broke down, pell-mell, dispersed +in flight upon the plain, leaving the cattle-boy loftily alone, +clear-cut as a balloon against the sky. + +In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again drifting +its discharged soldiers on London, so that all kinds of labor were +overstocked. Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. +Timber-toed cripples stilted along, numerous as French peasants in +_sabots_. And, as thirty years before, on all sides, the exile had heard +the supplicatory cry, not addressed to him, "An honorable scar, your +honor, received at Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Trenton, fighting for +his most gracious Majesty, King George!" so now, in presence of the +still surviving Israel, our Wandering Jew, the amended cry was anew +taken up, by a succeeding generation of unfortunates, "An honorable +scar, your honor, received at Corunna, or at Waterloo, or at Trafalgar!" +Yet not a few of these petitioners had never been outside of the London +smoke; a sort of crafty aristocracy in their way, who, without having +endangered their own persons much if anything, reaped no insignificant +share both of the glory and profit of the bloody battles they claimed; +while some of the genuine working heroes, too brave to beg, too cut-up +to work, and too poor to live, laid down quietly in corners and died. +And here it may be noted, as a fact nationally characteristic, that +however desperately reduced at times, even to the sewers, Israel, the +American, never sunk below the mud, to actual beggary. + +Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by the +added thousands who contended with him against starvation, nevertheless, +somehow he continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks of the cliffs, +which, though hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and even wantonly +maimed by the passing woodman, still, however cramped by rival trees and +fettered by rocks, succeed, against all odds, in keeping the vital +nerve of the tap-root alive. And even towards the end, in his dismallest +December, our veteran could still at intervals feel a momentary warmth +in his topmost boughs. In his Moorfields' garret, over a handful of +reignited cinders (which the night before might have warmed some lord), +cinders raked up from the streets, he would drive away dolor, by talking +with his one only surviving, and now motherless child--the spared +Benjamin of his old age--of the far Canaan beyond the sea; rehearsing to +the lad those well-remembered adventures among New England hills, and +painting scenes of rustling happiness and plenty, in which the lowliest +shared. And here, shadowy as it was, was the second alleviation hinted +of above. + +To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who +had been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night +after night, as to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his +father take him there? "Some day to come, my boy," would be the hopeful +response of an unhoping heart. And "Would God it were to-morrow!" would +be the impassioned reply. + +In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual +return. For with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his +entailed misery, by compassing for his father and himself a voyage to +the Promised Land. By his persevering efforts he succeeded at last, +against every obstacle, in gaining credit in the right quarter to his +extraordinary statements. In short, charitably stretching a technical +point, the American Consul finally saw father and son embarked in the +Thames for Boston. + +It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, had +sailed a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which he +now was bound. An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed +locks besnowed as its foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +REQUIESCAT IN PACE. + + +It happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock on a +Fourth of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the riotous +crowd near Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run over by +a patriotic triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered banner, +inscribed with gilt letters: + +"BUNKER-HILL + +1775. + +GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!" + +It was on Copps' Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy's +positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose that +day. Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked off across +Charles River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient monument, at +that period, was hard to see, as a struggling sprig of corn in a chilly +spring. Upon those heights, fifty years before, his now feeble hands had +wielded both ends of the musket. There too he had received that slit +upon the chest, which afterwards, in the affair with the Serapis, being +traversed by a cutlass wound, made him now the bescarred bearer of a +cross. + +For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry July +day was waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising to +return to the lodging for the present assigned them by the ship-captain. +"Nay," replied the old man, "I shall get no fitter rest than here by the +mounds." + +But from this true "Potter's Field," the boy at length drew him away; +and encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the +reassembled passengers, father and son started by stage for the country +of the Housatonie. But the exile's presence in these old mountain +townships proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew +him, nor could recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that +more than thirty years previous, the last known survivor of his family +in that region, a bachelor, following the example of three-fourths of +his neighbors, had sold out and removed to a distant country in the +west; where exactly, none could say. + +He sought to get a glimpse of his father's homestead. But it had been +burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, +he next went to find the site. But the roads had years before been +changed. The old road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran +straight through what had formerly been orchards. But new orchards, +planted from other suckers, and in time grafted, throve on sunny slopes +near by, where blackberries had once been picked by the bushel. At +length he came to a field waving with buckwheat. It seemed one of those +fields which himself had often reaped. But it turned out, upon inquiry, +that but three summers since a walnut grove had stood there. Then he +vaguely remembered that his father had sometimes talked of planting such +a grove, to defend the neighboring fields against the cold north wind; +yet where precisely that grove was to have been, his shattered mind +could not recall. But it seemed not unlikely that during his long exile, +the walnut grove had been planted and harvested, as well as the annual +crops preceding and succeeding it, on the very same soil. + +Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural wood, +which seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to contemplate +a strange, mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy beech. +Though wherever touched by his staff, however lightly, this pile would +crumble, yet here and there, even in powder, it preserved the exact +look, each irregularly defined line, of what it had originally +been--namely, a half-cord of stout hemlock (one of the woods least +affected by exposure to the air), in a foregoing generation chopped and +stacked up on the spot, against sledging-time, but, as sometimes happens +in such cases, by subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious +decay--type now, as it stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and +a long life still rotting in early mishap. + +"Do I dream?" mused the bewildered old man, "or what is this vision +that comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I +heaving yon elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I +cannot be so old." + +"Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood," said his son, and led +him forth. + +Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing +slowly, the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, +like a tumbled chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire-place, now +aridly stuck over here and there, with thin, clinging, round, +prohibitory mosses, like executors' wafers. Just as the oxen were bid +stand, the stranger's plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden +contact with some sunken stone at the ruin's base. + +"There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old +hearthstone. Ah, old man,--sultry day, this." + +"Whose house stood here, friend?" said the wanderer, touching the +half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it. + +"Don't know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You know +'em?" + +But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious +natural bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs. + +"What are you looking at so, father?" + +"'_Father_!' Here," raking with his staff, "_my_ father would sit, and +here, my mother, and here I, little infant, would totter between, even +as now, once again, on the very same spot, but in the unroofed air, I +do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend." + +Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close. + +Few things remain. + +He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. +His scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record +of his fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print--himself out of +being--his name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak +on his native hills was blown down. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Israel Potter, by Herman Melville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + +***** This file should be named 15422-8.txt or 15422-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/2/15422/ + +Produced by Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Israel Potter + +Author: Herman Melville +Release Date: March 20, 2005 [EBook #15422] +[Last updated: Novemeber 8, 2018] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + + +Etext produced by Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + +</pre> + + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + ISRAEL POTTER + </h1> + <h3> + His Fifty Years of Exile + </h3> + <h2> + By Herman Melville + </h2> + <h3> + 1855 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + DEDICATION + </h3> + <h3> + TO HIS HIGHNESS THE Bunker-Hill Monument + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + Biography, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true and + brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue—one given and + received in entire disinterestedness—since neither can the + biographer hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at + all avail himself of the biographical distinction conferred. + </p> + <p> + Israel Potter well merits the present tribute—a private of Bunker + Hill, who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still + deeper privacy under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default of + any during life, annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses and + sward. + </p> + <p> + I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of your + Highness, because, with a change in the grammatical person, it preserves, + almost as in a reprint, Israel Potter's autobiographical story. Shortly + after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a little narrative + of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray paper, appeared + among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, but taken down from + his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks of the cripple by the + Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out of print. From a tattered + copy, rescued by the merest chance from the rag-pickers, the present + account has been drawn, which, with the exception of some expansions, and + additions of historic and personal details, and one or two shiftings of + scene, may, perhaps, be not unfitly regarded something in the light of a + dilapidated old tombstone retouched. + </p> + <p> + Well aware that in your Highness' eyes the merit of the story must be in + its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, I + forbore anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and + particularly towards the end, though sorely tempted, durst not substitute + for the allotment of Providence any artistic recompense of poetical + justice; so that no one can complain of the gloom of my closing chapters + more profoundly than myself. + </p> + <p> + Such is the work, and such, the man, that I have the honor to present to + your Highness. That the name here noted should not have appeared in the + volumes of Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; but Israel + Potter seems purposely to have waited to make his, popular advent under + the present exalted patronage, seeing that your Highness, according to the + definition above, may, in the loftiest sense, be deemed the Great + Biographer: the national commemorator of such of the anonymous privates of + June 17, 1775, who may never have received other requital than the solid + reward of your granite. + </p> + <p> + Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on this + auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty + congratulations on the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, + wishing your Highness (though indeed your Highness be somewhat prematurely + gray) many returns of the same, and that each of its summer's suns may + shine as brightly on your brow as each winter snow shall lightly rest on + the grave of Israel Potter. + </p> + <p> + Your Highness' Most devoted and obsequious, + </p> + <p> + THE EDITOR. + </p> + <p> + JUNE 17th, 1854. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>ISRAEL POTTER</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I.— THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II.— THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF + ISRAEL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III.— ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND + REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED + TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE SEA INTO THE ENEMY'S LAND. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV.— FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE + REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT OF BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED + HIM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V.— ISRAEL IN THE LION'S DEN. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI.— ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE + OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR + OF THE "DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY," THESE DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS + THE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII.— AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE + UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE PRESENCE OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. + FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII.— WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY + ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX.— ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE + MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN QUARTER. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X.— ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON + THE SCENE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI.— PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII.— RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, + ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE'S ABODE—HIS ADVENTURES THERE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII.— HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, + WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV.— IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR + UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL IN ONE NIGHT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV.— THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG + OF AILSA. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI.— THEY LOOK IN AT + CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII.— THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF + SELKIRK'S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR DRAKE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII.— THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED + FROM GROIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX.— THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX.— THE SHUTTLE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI.— SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES. + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII.— SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN + ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL'S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE WILDERNESS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII.— ISRAEL IN EGYPT. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV.— CONTINUED. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV.— IN THE CITY OF DIS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI.— FORTY-FIVE YEARS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII.— REQUIESCAT IN PACE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + ISRAEL POTTER + </h1> + <h3> + Fifty Years of Exile + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I.— THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL. + </h2> + <p> + The traveller who at the present day is content to travel in the good old + Asiatic style, neither rushed along by a locomotive, nor dragged by a + stage-coach; who is willing to enjoy hospitalities at far-scattered + farmhouses, instead of paying his bill at an inn; who is not to be + frightened by any amount of loneliness, or to be deterred by the roughest + roads or the highest hills; such a traveller in the eastern part of + Berkshire, Massachusetts, will find ample food for poetic reflection in + the singular scenery of a country, which, owing to the ruggedness of the + soil and its lying out of the track of all public conveyances, remains + almost as unknown to the general tourist as the interior of Bohemia. + </p> + <p> + Travelling northward from the township of Otis, the road leads for twenty + or thirty miles towards Windsor, lengthwise upon that long broken spur of + heights which the Green Mountains of Vermont send into Massachusetts. For + nearly the whole of the distance, you have the continual sensation of + being upon some terrace in the moon. The feeling of the plain or the + valley is never yours; scarcely the feeling of the earth. Unless by a + sudden precipitation of the road you find yourself plunging into some + gorge, you pass on, and on, and on, upon the crests or slopes of pastoral + mountains, while far below, mapped out in its beauty, the valley of the + Housatonie lies endlessly along at your feet. Often, as your horse gaining + some lofty level tract, flat as a table, trots gayly over the almost + deserted and sodded road, and your admiring eye sweeps the broad landscape + beneath, you seem to be Bootes driving in heaven. Save a potato field here + and there, at long intervals, the whole country is either in wood or + pasture. Horses, cattle and sheep are the principal inhabitants of these + mountains. But all through the year lazy columns of smoke, rising from the + depths of the forest, proclaim the presence of that half-outlaw, the + charcoal-burner; while in early spring added curls of vapor show that the + maple sugar-boiler is also at work. But as for farming as a regular + vocation, there is not much of it here. At any rate, no man by that means + accumulates a fortune from this thin and rocky soil, all whose arable + parts have long since been nearly exhausted. + </p> + <p> + Yet during the first settlement of the country, the region was not + unproductive. Here it was that the original settlers came, acting upon the + principle well known to have regulated their choice of site, namely, the + high land in preference to the low, as less subject to the unwholesome + miasmas generated by breaking into the rich valleys and alluvial bottoms + of primeval regions. By degrees, however, they quitted the safety of this + sterile elevation, to brave the dangers of richer though lower fields. So + that, at the present day, some of those mountain townships present an + aspect of singular abandonment. Though they have never known aught but + peace and health, they, in one lesser aspect at least, look like countries + depopulated by plague and war. Every mile or two a house is passed + untenanted. The strength of the frame-work of these ancient buildings + enables them long to resist the encroachments of decay. Spotted gray and + green with the weather-stain, their timbers seem to have lapsed back into + their woodland original, forming part now of the general picturesqueness + of the natural scene. They are of extraordinary size, compared with modern + farmhouses. One peculiar feature is the immense chimney, of light gray + stone, perforating the middle of the roof like a tower. + </p> + <p> + On all sides are seen the tokens of ancient industry. As stone abounds + throughout these mountains, that material was, for fences, as ready to the + hand as wood, besides being much more durable. Consequently the landscape + is intersected in all directions with walls of uncommon neatness and + strength. + </p> + <p> + The number and length of these walls is not more surprising than the size + of some of the blocks comprising them. The very Titans seemed to have been + at work. That so small an army as the first settlers must needs have been, + should have taken such wonderful pains to enclose so ungrateful a soil; + that they should have accomplished such herculean undertakings with so + slight prospect of reward; this is a consideration which gives us a + significant hint of the temper of the men of the Revolutionary era. + </p> + <p> + Nor could a fitter country be found for the birthplace of the devoted + patriot, Israel Potter. + </p> + <p> + To this day the best stone-wall builders, as the best wood-choppers, come + from those solitary mountain towns; a tall, athletic, and hardy race, + unerring with the axe as the Indian with the tomahawk; at stone-rolling, + patient as Sisyphus, powerful as Samson. + </p> + <p> + In fine clear June days, the bloom of these mountains is beyond expression + delightful. Last visiting these heights ere she vanishes, Spring, like the + sunset, flings her sweetest charms upon them. Each tuft of upland grass is + musked like a bouquet with perfume. The balmy breeze swings to and fro + like a censer. On one side the eye follows for the space of an eagle's + flight, the serpentine mountain chains, southwards from the great purple + dome of Taconic—the St. Peter's of these hills—northwards to + the twin summits of Saddleback, which is the two-steepled natural + cathedral of Berkshire; while low down to the west the Housatonie winds on + in her watery labyrinth, through charming meadows basking in the reflected + rays from the hill-sides. At this season the beauty of every thing around + you populates the loneliness of your way. You would not have the country + more settled if you could. Content to drink in such loveliness at all your + senses, the heart desires no company but Nature. + </p> + <p> + With what rapture you behold, hovering over some vast hollow of the hills, + or slowly drifting at an immense height over the far sunken Housatonie + valley, some lordly eagle, who in unshared exaltation looks down equally + upon plain and mountain. Or you behold a hawk sallying from some crag, + like a Rhenish baron of old from his pinnacled castle, and darting down + towards the river for his prey. Or perhaps, lazily gliding about in the + zenith, this ruffian fowl is suddenly beset by a crow, who with stubborn + audacity pecks at him, and, spite of all his bravery, finally persecutes + him back to his stronghold. The otherwise dauntless bandit, soaring at his + topmost height, must needs succumb to this sable image of death. Nor are + there wanting many smaller and less famous fowl, who without contributing + to the grandeur, yet greatly add to the beauty of the scene. The + yellow-bird flits like a winged jonquil here and there; like knots of + violets the blue-birds sport in clusters upon the grass; while hurrying + from the pasture to the grove, the red robin seems an incendiary putting + torch to the trees. Meanwhile the air is vocal with their hymns, and your + own soul joys in the general joy. Like a stranger in an orchestra, you + cannot help singing yourself when all around you raise such hosannas. + </p> + <p> + But in autumn, those gay northerners, the birds, return to their southern + plantations. The mountains are left bleak and sere. Solitude settles down + upon them in drizzling mists. The traveller is beset, at perilous turns, + by dense masses of fog. He emerges for a moment into more penetrable air; + and passing some gray, abandoned house, sees the lofty vapors plainly eddy + by its desolate door; just as from the plain you may see it eddy by the + pinnacles of distant and lonely heights. Or, dismounting from his + frightened horse, he leads him down some scowling glen, where the road + steeply dips among grim rocks, only to rise as abruptly again; and as he + warily picks his way, uneasy at the menacing scene, he sees some + ghost-like object looming through the mist at the roadside; and wending + towards it, beholds a rude white stone, uncouthly inscribed, marking the + spot where, some fifty or sixty years ago, some farmer was upset in his + wood-sled, and perished beneath the load. + </p> + <p> + In winter this region is blocked up with snow. Inaccessible and + impassable, those wild, unfrequented roads, which in August are overgrown + with high grass, in December are drifted to the arm-pit with the white + fleece from the sky. As if an ocean rolled between man and man, + intercommunication is often suspended for weeks and weeks. + </p> + <p> + Such, at this day, is the country which gave birth to our hero: + prophetically styled Israel by the good Puritans, his parents, since, for + more than forty years, poor Potter wandered in the wild wilderness of the + world's extremest hardships and ills. + </p> + <p> + How little he thought, when, as a boy, hunting after his father's stray + cattle among these New England hills he himself like a beast should be + hunted through half of Old England, as a runaway rebel. Or, how could he + ever have dreamed, when involved in the autumnal vapors of these + mountains, that worse bewilderments awaited him three thousand miles + across the sea, wandering forlorn in the coal- foes of London. But so it + was destined to be. This little boy of the hills, born in sight of the + sparkling Housatonic, was to linger out the best part of his life a + prisoner or a pauper upon the grimy banks of the Thames. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II.— THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL. + </h2> + <p> + Imagination will easily picture the rural day of the youth of Israel. Let + us pass on to a less immature period. + </p> + <p> + It appears that he began his wanderings very early; moreover, that ere, on + just principles throwing off the yoke off his king, Israel, on equally + excusable grounds, emancipated himself from his sire. He continued in the + enjoyment of parental love till the age of eighteen, when, having formed + an attachment for a neighbor's daughter—for some reason, not deemed + a suitable match by his father—he was severely reprimanded, warned + to discontinue his visits, and threatened with some disgraceful punishment + in case he persisted. As the girl was not only beautiful, but amiable—though, + as will be seen, rather weak—and her family as respectable as any, + though unfortunately but poor, Israel deemed his father's conduct + unreasonable and oppressive; particularly as it turned out that he had + taken secret means to thwart his son with the girl's connections, if not + with the girl herself, so as to place almost insurmountable obstacles to + an eventual marriage. For it had not been the purpose of Israel to marry + at once, but at a future day, when prudence should approve the step. So, + oppressed by his father, and bitterly disappointed in his love, the + desperate boy formed the determination to quit them both for another home + and other friends. + </p> + <p> + It was on Sunday, while the family were gone to a farmhouse church near + by, that he packed up as much of his clothing as might be contained in a + handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, he hid in a piece + of woods in the rear of the house. He then returned, and continued in the + house till about nine in the evening, when, pretending to go to bed, he + passed out of a back door, and hastened to the woods for his bundle. + </p> + <p> + It was a sultry night in July; and that he might travel with the more ease + on the succeeding day, he lay down at the foot of a pine tree, reposing + himself till an hour before dawn, when, upon awaking, he heard the soft, + prophetic sighing of the pine, stirred by the first breath of the morning. + Like the leaflets of that evergreen, all the fibres of his heart trembled + within him; tears fell from his eyes. But he thought of the tyranny of his + father, and what seemed to him the faithlessness of his love; and + shouldering his bundle, arose, and marched on. + </p> + <p> + His intention was to reach the new countries to the northward and + westward, lying between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and the + Yankee settlements on the Housatonic. This was mainly to elude all search. + For the same reason, for the first ten or twelve miles, shunning the + public roads, he travelled through the woods; for he knew that he would + soon be missed and pursued. + </p> + <p> + He reached his destination in safety; hired out to a farmer for a month + through the harvest; then crossed from the Hudson to the Connecticut. + Meeting here with an adventurer to the unknown regions lying about the + head waters of the latter river, he ascended with this man in a canoe, + paddling and pulling for many miles. Here again he hired himself out for + three months; at the end of that time to receive for his wages two hundred + acres of land lying in New Hampshire. The cheapness of the land was not + alone owing to the newness of the country, but to the perils investing it. + Not only was it a wilderness abounding with wild beasts, but the + widely-scattered inhabitants were in continual dread of being, at some + unguarded moment, destroyed or made captive by the Canadian savages, who, + ever since the French war, had improved every opportunity to make forays + across the defenceless frontier. + </p> + <p> + His employer proving false to his contract in the matter of the land, and + there being no law in the country to force him to fulfil it, Israel—who, + however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a pinch, seems + nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his career, a + singular patience and mildness—was obliged to look round for other + means of livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the + wilderness. A party of royal surveyors were at this period surveying the + unsettled regions bordering the Connecticut river to its source. At + fifteen shillings per month, he engaged himself to this party as assistant + chain-bearer, little thinking that the day was to come when he should + clank the king's chains in a dungeon, even as now he trailed them a free + ranger of the woods. It was midwinter; the land was surveyed upon + snow-shoes. At the close of the day, fires were kindled with dry hemlock, + a hut thrown up, and the party ate and slept. + </p> + <p> + Paid off at last, Israel bought a gun and ammunition, and turned hunter. + Deer, beaver, etc., were plenty. In two or three months he had many skins + to show. I suppose it never entered his mind that he was thus qualifying + himself for a marksman of men. But thus were tutored those wonderful shots + who did such execution at Bunker's Hill; these, the hunter-soldiers, whom + Putnam bade wait till the white of the enemy's eye was seen. + </p> + <p> + With the result of his hunting he purchased a hundred acres of land, + further down the river, toward the more settled parts; built himself a log + hut, and in two summers, with his own hands, cleared thirty acres for + sowing. In the winter seasons he hunted and trapped. At the end of the two + years, he sold back his land—now much improved—to the original + owner, at an advance of fifty pounds. He conveyed his cash and furs to + Charlestown, on the Connecticut (sometimes called No. 4), where he + trafficked them away for Indian blankets, pigments, and other showy + articles adapted to the business of a trader among savages. It was now + winter again. Putting his goods on a hand-sled, he started towards Canada, + a peddler in the wilderness, stopping at wigwams instead of cottages. One + fancies that, had it been summer, Israel would have travelled with a + wheelbarrow, and so trundled his wares through the primeval forests, with + the same indifference as porters roll their barrows over the flagging of + streets. In this way was bred that fearless self-reliance and independence + which conducted our forefathers to national freedom. + </p> + <p> + This Canadian trip proved highly successful. Selling his glittering goods + at a great advance, he received in exchange valuable peltries and furs at + a corresponding reduction. Returning to Charlestown, he disposed of his + return cargo again at a very fine profit. And now, with a light heart and + a heavy purse, he resolved to visit his sweetheart and parents, of whom, + for three years, he had had no tidings. + </p> + <p> + They were not less astonished than delighted at his reappearance; he had + been numbered with the dead. But his love still seemed strangely coy; + willing, but yet somehow mysteriously withheld. The old intrigues were + still on foot. Israel soon discovered, that though rejoiced to welcome the + return of the prodigal son—so some called him—his father still + remained inflexibly determined against the match, and still inexplicably + countermined his wooing. With a dolorous heart he mildly yielded to what + seemed his fatality; and more intrepid in facing peril for himself, than + in endangering others by maintaining his rights (for he was now + one-and-twenty), resolved once more to retreat, and quit his blue hills + for the bluer billows. + </p> + <p> + A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded misanthrope; + a hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous distressed. The + ocean brims with natural griefs and tragedies; and into that watery + immensity of terror, man's private grief is lost like a drop. + </p> + <p> + Travelling on foot to Providence, Rhode Island, Israel shipped on board a + sloop, bound with lime to the West Indies. On the tenth day out, the + vessel caught fire, from water communicating with the lime. It was + impossible to extinguish the flames. The boat was hoisted out, but owing + to long exposure to the sun, it needed continual bailing to keep it + afloat. They had only time to put in a firkin of butter and a ten-gallon + keg of water. Eight in number, the crew entrusted themselves to the waves, + in a leaky tub, many leagues from land. As the boat swept under the + burning bowsprit, Israel caught at a fragment of the flying-jib, which + sail had fallen down the stay, owing to the charring, nigh the deck, of + the rope which hoisted it. Tanned with the smoke, and its edge blackened + with the fire, this bit of canvass helped them bravely on their way. + Thanks to kind Providence, on the second day they were picked up by a + Dutch ship, bound from Eustatia to Holland. The castaways were humanely + received, and supplied with every necessary. At the end of a week, while + unsophisticated Israel was sitting in the maintop, thinking what should + befall him in Holland, and wondering what sort of unsettled, wild country + it was, and whether there was any deer-shooting or beaver-trapping there, + lo! an American brig, bound from Piscataqua to Antigua, comes in sight. + The American took them aboard, and conveyed them safely to her port. There + Israel shipped for Porto Rico; from thence, sailed to Eustatia. + </p> + <p> + Other rovings ensued; until at last, entering on board a Nantucket ship, + he hunted the leviathan off the Western Islands and on the coast of + Africa, for sixteen months; returning at length to Nantucket with a + brimming hold. From that island he sailed again on another whaling voyage, + extending, this time, into the great South Sea. There, promoted to be + harpooner, Israel, whose eye and arm had been so improved by practice with + his gun in the wilderness, now further intensified his aim, by darting the + whale-lance; still, unwittingly, preparing himself for the Bunker Hill + rifle. + </p> + <p> + In this last voyage, our adventurer experienced to the extreme all the + hardships and privations of the whaleman's life on a long voyage to + distant and barbarous waters—hardships and privations unknown at the + present day, when science has so greatly contributed, in manifold ways, to + lessen the sufferings, and add to the comforts of seafaring men. Heartily + sick of the ocean, and longing once more for the bush, Israel, upon + receiving his discharge at Nantucket at the end of the voyage, hied + straight back for his mountain home. + </p> + <p> + But if hopes of his sweetheart winged his returning flight, such hopes + were not destined to be crowned with fruition. The dear, false girl was + another's. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III.— ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN + TIME TO BE OF SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS + ACROSS THE SEA INTO THE ENEMY'S LAND. + </h2> + <p> + Left to idle lamentations, Israel might now have planted deep furrows in + his brow. But stifling his pain, he chose rather to plough, than be + ploughed. Farming weans man from his sorrows. That tranquil pursuit + tolerates nothing but tranquil meditations. There, too, in mother earth, + you may plant and reap; not, as in other things, plant and see the + planting torn up by the roots. But if wandering in the wilderness, and + wandering upon the waters, if felling trees, and hunting, and shipwreck, + and fighting with whales, and all his other strange adventures, had not as + yet cured poor Israel of his now hopeless passion, events were at hand for + ever to drown it. + </p> + <p> + It was the year 1774. The difficulties long pending between the colonies + and England were arriving at their crisis. Hostilities were certain. The + Americans were preparing themselves. Companies were formed in most of the + New England towns, whose members, receiving the name of minute-men, stood + ready to march anywhere at a minute's warning. Israel, for the last eight + months, sojourning as a laborer on a farm in Windsor, enrolled himself in + the regiment of Colonel John Patterson of Lenox, afterwards General + Patterson. + </p> + <p> + The battle of Lexington was fought on the 18th of April, 1775; news of it + arrived in the county of Berkshire on the 20th about noon. The next + morning at sunrise, Israel swung his knapsack, shouldered his musket, and, + with Patterson's regiment, was on the march, quickstep, towards Boston. + </p> + <p> + Like Putnam, Israel received the stirring tidings at the plough. But + although not less willing than Putnam to fly to battle at an instant's + notice, yet—only half an acre of the field remaining to be finished—he + whipped up his team and finished it. Before hastening to one duty, he + would not leave a prior one undone; and ere helping to whip the British, + for a little practice' sake, he applied the gad to his oxen. From the + field of the farmer, he rushed to that of the soldier, mingling his blood + with his sweat. While we revel in broadcloth, let us not forget what we + owe to linsey-woolsey. + </p> + <p> + With other detachments from various quarters, Israel's regiment remained + encamped for several days in the vicinity of Charlestown. On the + seventeenth of June, one thousand Americans, including the regiment of + Patterson, were set about fortifying Bunker's Hill. Working all through + the night, by dawn of the following day, the redoubt was thrown up. But + every one knows all about the battle. Suffice it, that Israel was one of + those marksmen whom Putnam harangued as touching the enemy's eyes. + Forbearing as he was with his oppressive father and unfaithful love, and + mild as he was on the farm, Israel was not the same at Bunker Hill. Putnam + had enjoined the men to aim at the officers; so Israel aimed between the + golden epaulettes, as, in the wilderness, he had aimed between the + branching antlers. With dogged disdain of their foes, the English + grenadiers marched up the hill with sullen slowness; thus furnishing still + surer aims to the muskets which bristled on the redoubt. Modest Israel was + used to aver, that considering his practice in the woods, he could hardly + be regarded as an inexperienced marksman; hinting, that every shot which + the epauletted grenadiers received from his rifle, would, upon a different + occasion, have procured him a deerskin. And like stricken deers the + English, rashly brave as they were, fled from the opening fire. But the + marksman's ammunition was expended; a hand-to-hand encounter ensued. Not + one American musket in twenty had a bayonet to it. So, wielding the stock + right and left, the terrible farmers, with hats and coats off, fought + their way among the furred grenadiers, knocking them right and left, as + seal-hunters on the beach knock down with their clubs the Shetland seal. + In the dense crowd and confusion, while Israel's musket got interlocked, + he saw a blade horizontally menacing his feet from the ground. Thinking + some fallen enemy sought to strike him at the last gasp, dropping his hold + on his musket, he wrenched at the steel, but found that though a brave + hand held it, that hand was powerless for ever. It was some British + officer's laced sword-arm, cut from the trunk in the act of fighting, + refusing to yield up its blade to the last. At that moment another sword + was aimed at Israel's head by a living officer. In an instant the blow was + parried by kindred steel, and the assailant fell by a brother's weapon, + wielded by alien hands. But Israel did not come off unscathed. A cut on + the right arm near the elbow, received in parrying the officer's blow, a + long slit across the chest, a musket ball buried in his hip, and another + mangling him near the ankle of the same leg, were the tokens of + intrepidity which our Sicinius Dentatus carried from this memorable field. + Nevertheless, with his comrades he succeeded in reaching Prospect Hill, + and from thence was conveyed to the hospital at Cambridge. The bullet was + extracted, his lesser wounds were dressed, and after much suffering from + the fracture of the bone near the ankle, several pieces of which were + extracted by the surgeon, ere long, thanks to the high health and pure + blood of the farmer, Israel rejoined his regiment when they were throwing + up intrenchments on Prospect Hill. Bunker Hill was now in possession of + the foe, who in turn had fortified it. + </p> + <p> + On the third of July, Washington arrived from the South to take the + command. Israel witnessed his joyful reception by the huzzaing companies. + </p> + <p> + The British now quartered in Boston suffered greatly from the scarcity of + provisions. Washington took every precaution to prevent their receiving a + supply. Inland, all aid could easily be cut off. To guard against their + receiving any by water, from tories and other disaffected persons, the + General equipped three armed vessels to intercept all traitorous cruisers. + Among them was the brigantine Washington, of ten guns, commanded by + Captain Martiedale. Seamen were hard to be had. The soldiers were called + upon to volunteer for these vessels. Israel was one who so did; thinking + that as an experienced sailor he should not be backward in a juncture like + this, little as he fancied the new service assigned. + </p> + <p> + Three days out of Boston harbor, the brigantine was captured by the + enemy's ship Foy, of twenty guns. Taken prisoner with the rest of the + crew, Israel was afterwards put on board the frigate Tartar, with + immediate sailing orders for England. Seventy-two were captives in this + vessel. Headed by Israel, these men—half way across the sea—formed + a scheme to take the ship, but were betrayed by a renegade Englishman. As + ringleader, Israel was put in irons, and so remained till the frigate + anchored at Portsmouth. There he was brought on deck; and would have met + perhaps some terrible fate, had it not come out, during the examination, + that the Englishman had been a deserter from the army of his native + country ere proving a traitor to his adopted one. Relieved of his irons, + Israel was placed in the marine hospital on shore, where half of the + prisoners took the small-pox, which swept off a third of their number. Why + talk of Jaffa? + </p> + <p> + From the hospital the survivors were conveyed to Spithead, and thrust on + board a hulk. And here in the black bowels of the ship, sunk low in the + sunless sea, our poor Israel lay for a month, like Jonah in the belly of + the whale. + </p> + <p> + But one bright morning, Israel is hailed from the deck. A bargeman of the + commander's boat is sick. Known for a sailor, Israel for the nonce is + appointed to pull the absent man's oar. + </p> + <p> + The officers being landed, some of the crew propose, like merry Englishmen + as they are, to hie to a neighboring ale-house, and have a cosy pot or two + together. Agreed. They start, and Israel with them. As they enter the + ale-house door, our prisoner is suddenly reminded of still more imperative + calls. Unsuspected of any design, he is allowed to leave the party for a + moment. No sooner does Israel see his companions housed, than putting + speed into his feet, and letting grow all his wings, he starts like a + deer. He runs four miles (so he afterwards affirmed) without halting. He + sped towards London; wisely deeming that once in that crowd detection + would be impossible. + </p> + <p> + Ten miles, as he computed, from where he had left the bargemen, leisurely + passing a public house of a little village on the roadside, thinking + himself now pretty safe—hark, what is this he hears?— + </p> + <p> + "Ahoy!" + </p> + <p> + "No ship," says Israel, hurrying on. + </p> + <p> + "Stop." + </p> + <p> + "If you will attend to your business, I will endeavor to attend to mine," + replies Israel coolly. And next minute he lets grow his wings again; + flying, one dare say, at the rate of something less than thirty miles an + hour. + </p> + <p> + "Stop thief!" is now the cry. Numbers rushed from the roadside houses. + After a mile's chase, the poor panting deer is caught. + </p> + <p> + Finding it was no use now to prevaricate, Israel boldly confesses himself + a prisoner-of-war. The officer, a good fellow as it turned out, had him + escorted back to the inn; where, observing to the landlord that this must + needs be a true-blooded Yankee, he calls for liquors to refresh Israel + after his run. Two soldiers are then appointed to guard him for the + present. This was towards evening; and up to a late hour at night, the inn + was filled with strangers crowding to see the Yankee rebel, as they + politely termed him. These honest rustics seemed to think that Yankees + were a sort of wild creatures, a species of 'possum or kangaroo. But + Israel is very affable with them. That liquor he drank from the hand of + his foe, has perhaps warmed his heart towards all the rest of his enemies. + Yet this may not be wholly so. We shall see. At any rate, still he keeps + his eye on the main chance—escape. Neither the jokes nor the insults + of the mob does he suffer to molest him. He is cogitating a little plot to + himself. + </p> + <p> + It seems that the good officer—not more true to the king his master + than indulgent towards the prisoner which that same loyalty made—had + left orders that Israel should be supplied with whatever liquor he wanted + that night. So, calling for the can again and again, Israel invites the + two soldiers to drink and be merry. At length, a wag of the company + proposes that Israel should entertain the public with a jig, he (the wag) + having heard that the Yankees were extraordinary dancers. A fiddle is + brought in, and poor Israel takes the floor. Not a little cut to think + that these people should so unfeelingly seek to be diverted at the expense + of an unfortunate prisoner, Israel, while jigging it up and down, still + conspires away at his private plot, resolving ere long to give the enemy a + touch of certain Yankee steps, as yet undreamed of in their simple + philosophy. They would not permit any cessation of his dancing till he had + danced himself into a perfect sweat, so that the drops fell from his lank + and flaxen hair. But Israel, with much of the gentleness of the dove, is + not wholly without the wisdom of the serpent. Pleased to see the flowing + bowl, he congratulates himself that his own state of perspiration prevents + it from producing any intoxicating effect upon him. + </p> + <p> + Late at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs, + the prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of the + bed in which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much gratitude for + the blanket, with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches his legs. An hour + or two passes. All is quiet without. + </p> + <p> + The important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this chance + were suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present itself. + For early, doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way prevented, + the two soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating prison, where he + would thenceforth remain confined until the close of the war; years and + years, perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old hulk, his nerves were + restrung for flight. But intrepid as he must be to compass it, wariness + too was needed. His keepers had gone to bed pretty well under the + influence of the liquor. This was favorable. But still, they were + full-grown, strong men; and Israel was handcuffed. So Israel resolved upon + strategy first; and if that failed, force afterwards. He eagerly listened. + One of the drunken soldiers muttered in his sleep, at first lowly, then + louder and louder,—"Catch 'em! Grapple 'em! Have at 'em! Ha—long + cutlasses! Take that, runaway!" + </p> + <p> + "What's the matter with ye, Phil?" hiccoughed the other, who was not yet + asleep. "Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain't at Fontenoy now." + </p> + <p> + "He's a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming," again hiccoughed his comrade, + violently nudging him. "This comes o' carousing." + </p> + <p> + Shortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep. But + by something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier, Israel + knew that this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a moment what + was best to do. At length he determined upon trying his old plea. Calling + upon the two soldiers, he informed them that urgent necessity required his + immediate presence somewhere in the rear of the house. + </p> + <p> + "Come, wake up here, Phil," roared the soldier who was awake; "the fellow + here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better edication than + to be gettin' up on nateral necessities at this time o'night. It ain't + nateral; its unnateral. D—-n ye, Yankee, don't ye know no better?" + </p> + <p> + With many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and + clutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long, + narrow, dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner was this + unbolted by the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash, manacled Israel, + shaking off the grasp of the one behind him, butts him sprawling back into + the entry; when, dashing in the opposite direction, he bounces the other + head over heels into the garden, never using a hand; and then, leaping + over the latter's head, darts blindly out into the midnight. Next moment + he was at the garden wall. No outlet was discoverable in the gloom. But a + fruit-tree grew close to the wall. Springing into it desperately, + handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop of the barrier, and without + pausing to see where he is, drops himself to the ground on the other side, + and once more lets grow all his wings. Meantime, with loud outcries, the + two baffled drunkards grope deliriously about in the garden. + </p> + <p> + After running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit, Israel + reins up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him. After much + painful labor he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again with all + speed, day broke, revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and beautiful country, + soft, neat, and serene, all colored with the fresh early tints of the + spring of 1776. + </p> + <p> + Bless me, thought Israel, all of a tremble, I shall certainly be caught + now; I have broken into some nobleman's park. + </p> + <p> + But, hurrying forward again, he came to a turnpike road, and then knew + that, all comely and shaven as it was, this was simply the open country of + England; one bright, broad park, paled in with white foam of the sea. A + copse skirting the road was just bursting out into bud. Each unrolling + leaf was in very act of escaping from its prison. Israel looked at the + budding leaves, and round on the budding sod, and up at the budding dawn + of the day. He was so sad, and these sights were so gay, that Israel + sobbed like a child, while thoughts of his mountain home rushed like a + wind on his heart. But conquering this fit, he marched on, and presently + passed nigh a field, where two figures were working. They had rosy cheeks, + short, sturdy legs, showing the blue stocking nearly to the knee, and were + clad in long, coarse, white frocks, and had on coarse, broad-brimmed straw + hats. Their faces were partly averted. + </p> + <p> + "Please, ladies," half roguishly says Israel, taking off his hat, "does + this road go to London?" + </p> + <p> + At this salutation, the two figures turned in a sort of stupid amazement, + causing an almost corresponding expression in Israel, who now perceived + that they were men, and not women. He had mistaken them, owing to their + frocks, and their wearing no pantaloons, only breeches hidden by their + frocks. + </p> + <p> + "Beg pardon, ladies, but I thought ye were something else," said Israel + again. + </p> + <p> + Once more the two figures stared at the stranger, and with added + boorishness of surprise. + </p> + <p> + "Does this road go to London, gentlemen?" + </p> + <p> + "Gentlemen—egad!" cried one of the two. + </p> + <p> + "Egad!" echoed the second. + </p> + <p> + Putting their hoes before them, the two frocked boors now took a good long + look at Israel, meantime scratching their heads under their plaited straw + hats. + </p> + <p> + "Does it, gentlemen? Does it go to London? Be kind enough to tell a poor + fellow, do." + </p> + <p> + "Yees goin' to Lunnun, are yees? Weel—all right—go along." + </p> + <p> + And without another word, having now satisfied their rustic curiosity, the + two human steers, with wonderful phlegm, applied themselves to their hoes; + supposing, no doubt, that they had given all requisite information. + </p> + <p> + Shortly after, Israel passed an old, dark, mossy-looking chapel, its roof + all plastered with the damp yellow dead leaves of the previous autumn, + showered there from a close cluster of venerable trees, with great trunks, + and overstretching branches. Next moment he found himself entering a + village. The silence of early morning rested upon it. But few figures were + seen. Glancing through the window of a now noiseless public-house, Israel + saw a table all in disorder, covered with empty flagons, and + tobacco-ashes, and long pipes; some of the latter broken. + </p> + <p> + After pausing here a moment, he moved on, and observed a man over the way + standing still and watching him. Instantly Israel was reminded that he had + on the dress of an English sailor, and that it was this probably which had + arrested the stranger's attention. Well knowing that his peculiar dress + exposed him to peril, he hurried on faster to escape the village; + resolving at the first opportunity to change his garments. Ere long, in a + secluded place about a mile from the village, he saw an old ditcher + tottering beneath the weight of a pick-axe, hoe and shovel, going to his + work; the very picture of poverty, toil and distress. His clothes were + tatters. + </p> + <p> + Making up to this old man, Israel, after a word or two of salutation, + offered to change clothes with him. As his own clothes were prince-like + compared to the ditchers, Israel thought that however much his proposition + might excite the suspicion of the ditcher, yet self-interest would prevent + his communicating the suspicions. To be brief, the two went behind a + hedge, and presently Israel emerged, presenting the most forlorn + appearance conceivable; while the old ditcher hobbled off in an opposite + direction, correspondingly improved in his aspect; though it was rather + ludicrous than otherwise, owing to the immense bagginess of the + sailor-trowsers flapping about his lean shanks, to say nothing of the + spare voluminousness of the pea-jacket. But Israel—how deplorable, + how dismal his plight! Little did he ween that these wretched rags he now + wore, were but suitable to that long career of destitution before him: one + brief career of adventurous wanderings; and then, forty torpid years of + pauperism. The coat was all patches. And no two patches were alike, and no + one patch was the color of the original cloth. The stringless breeches + gaped wide open at the knee; the long woollen stockings looked as if they + had been set up at some time for a target. Israel looked suddenly + metamorphosed from youth to old age; just like an old man of eighty he + looked. But, indeed, dull, dreary adversity was now in store for him; and + adversity, come it at eighteen or eighty, is the true old age of man. The + dress befitted the fate. + </p> + <p> + From the friendly old ditcher, Israel learned the exact course he must + steer for London; distant now between seventy and eighty miles. He was + also apprised by his venerable friend, that the country was filled with + soldiers on the constant look-out for deserters whether from the navy or + army, for the capture of whom a stipulated reward was given, just as in + Massachusetts at that time for prowling bears. + </p> + <p> + Having solemnly enjoined his old friend not to give any information, + should any one he meet inquire for such a person as Israel, our adventurer + walked briskly on, less heavy of heart, now that he felt comparatively + safe in disguise. + </p> + <p> + Thirty miles were travelled that day. At night Israel stole into a barn, + in hopes of finding straw or hay for a bed. But it was spring; all the hay + and straw were gone. So after groping about in the dark, he was fain to + content himself with an undressed sheep-skin. Cold, hungry, foot-sore, + weary, and impatient for the morning dawn, Israel drearily dozed out the + night. + </p> + <p> + By the first peep of day coming through the chinks of the barn, he was up + and abroad. Ere long finding himself in the suburbs of a considerable + village, the better to guard against detection he supplied himself with a + rude crutch, and feigning himself a cripple, hobbled straight through the + town, followed by a perverse-minded cur, which kept up a continual, + spiteful, suspicious bark. Israel longed to have one good rap at him with + his crutch, but thought it would hardly look in character for a poor old + cripple to be vindictive. + </p> + <p> + A few miles further, and he came to a second village. While hobbling + through its main street, as through the former one, he was suddenly + stopped by a genuine cripple, all in tatters, too, who, with a sympathetic + air, inquired after the cause of his lameness. + </p> + <p> + "White swelling," says Israel. + </p> + <p> + "That's just my ailing," wheezed the other; "but you're lamer than me," he + added with a forlorn sort of self-satisfaction, critically eyeing Israel's + limp as once, more he stumped on his way, not liking to tarry too long. + </p> + <p> + "But halloo, what's your hurry, friend?" seeing Israel fairly departing—"where're + you going?" + </p> + <p> + "To London," answered Israel, turning round, heartily wishing the old + fellow any where else than present. + </p> + <p> + "Going to limp to Lunnun, eh? Well, success to ye." + </p> + <p> + "As much to you, sir," answers Israel politely. + </p> + <p> + Nigh the opposite suburbs of this village, as good fortune would have it, + an empty baggage-wagon bound for the metropolis turned into the main road + from a side one. Immediately Israel limps most deplorably, and begs the + driver to give a poor cripple a lift. So up he climbs; but after a time, + finding the gait of the elephantine draught-horses intolerably slow, + Israel craves permission to dismount, when, throwing away his crutch, he + takes nimbly to his legs, much to the surprise of his honest friend the + driver. + </p> + <p> + The only advantage, if any, derived from his trip in the wagon, was, when + passing through a third village—but a little distant from the + previous one—Israel, by lying down in the wagon, had wholly avoided + being seen. + </p> + <p> + The villages surprised him by their number and proximity. Nothing like + this was to be seen at home. Well knowing that in these villages he ran + much more risk of detection than in the open country, he henceforth did + his best to avoid them, by taking a roundabout course whenever they came + in sight from a distance. This mode of travelling not only lengthened his + journey, but put unlooked-for obstacles in his path—walls, ditches, + and streams. + </p> + <p> + Not half an hour after throwing away his crutch, he leaped a great ditch + ten feet wide, and of undiscoverable muddy depth. I wonder if the old + cripple would think me the lamer one now, thought Israel to himself, + arriving on the hither side. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV.— FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF + A GOOD KNIGHT OF BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM. + </h2> + <p> + At nightfall, on the third day, Israel had arrived within sixteen miles of + the capital. Once more he sought refuge in a barn. This time he found some + hay, and flinging himself down procured a tolerable night's rest. + </p> + <p> + Bright and early he arose refreshed, with the pleasing prospect of + reaching his destination ere noon. Encouraged to find himself now so far + from his original pursuers, Israel relaxed in his vigilance, and about ten + o'clock, while passing through the town of Staines, suddenly encountered + three soldiers. Unfortunately in exchanging clothes with the ditcher, he + could not bring himself to include his shirt in the traffic, which shirt + was a British navy shirt, a bargeman's shirt, and though hitherto he had + crumpled the blue collar out of sight, yet, as it appeared in the present + instance, it was not thoroughly concealed. At any rate, keenly on the + look-out for deserters, and made acute by hopes of reward for their + apprehension, the soldiers spied the fatal collar, and in an instant laid + violent hands on the refugee. + </p> + <p> + "Hey, lad!" said the foremost soldier, a corporal, "you are one of his + majesty's seamen! come along with ye." + </p> + <p> + So, unable to give any satisfactory account of himself, he was made + prisoner on the spot, and soon after found himself handcuffed and locked + up in the Bound House of the place, a prison so called, appropriated to + runaways, and those convicted of minor offences. Day passed dinnerless and + supperless in this dismal durance, and night came on. + </p> + <p> + Israel had now been three days without food, except one two-penny loaf. + The cravings of hunger now became sharper; his spirits, hitherto arming + him with fortitude, began to forsake him. Taken captive once again upon + the very brink of reaching his goal, poor Israel was on the eve of falling + into helpless despair. But he rallied, and considering that grief would + only add to his calamity, sought with stubborn patience to habituate + himself to misery, but still hold aloof from despondency. He roused + himself, and began to bethink him how to be extricated from this + labyrinth. + </p> + <p> + Two hours sawing across the grating of the window, ridded him of his + handcuffs. Next came the door, secured luckily with only a hasp and + padlock. Thrusting the bolt of his handcuffs through a small window in the + door, he succeeded in forcing the hasp and regaining his liberty about + three o'clock in the morning. + </p> + <p> + Not long after sunrise, he passed nigh Brentford, some six or seven miles + from the capital. So great was his hunger that downright starvation seemed + before him. He chewed grass, and swallowed it. Upon first escaping from + the hulk, six English pennies was all the money he had. With two of these + he had bought a small loaf the day after fleeing the inn. The other four + still remained in his pocket, not having met with a good opportunity to + dispose of them for food. + </p> + <p> + Having torn off the collar of his shirt, and flung it into a hedge, he + ventured to accost a respectable carpenter at a pale fence, about a mile + this side of Brentford, to whom his deplorable situation now induced him + to apply for work. The man did not wish himself to hire, but said that if + he (Israel) understood farming or gardening, he might perhaps procure work + from Sir John Millet, whose seat, he said, was not remote. He added that + the knight was in the habit of employing many men at that season of the + year, so he stood a fair chance. + </p> + <p> + Revived a little by this prospect of relief, Israel starts in quest of the + gentleman's seat, agreeably to the direction received. But he mistook his + way, and proceeding up a gravelled and beautifully decorated walk, was + terrified at catching a glimpse of a number of soldiers thronging a + garden. He made an instant retreat before being espied in turn. No wild + creature of the American wilderness could have been more panic-struck by a + firebrand, than at this period hunted Israel was by a red coat. It + afterwards appeared that this garden was the Princess Amelia's. + </p> + <p> + Taking another path, ere long he came to some laborers shovelling gravel. + These proved to be men employed by Sir John. By them he was directed + towards the house, when the knight was pointed out to him, walking + bare-headed in the inclosure with several guests. Having heard the rich + men of England charged with all sorts of domineering qualities, Israel + felt no little misgiving in approaching to an audience with so imposing a + stranger. But, screwing up his courage, he advanced; while seeing him + coming all rags and tatters, the group of gentlemen stood in some wonder + awaiting what so singular a phantom might want. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Millet," said Israel, bowing towards the bare-headed gentleman. + </p> + <p> + "Ha,—who are you, pray?" + </p> + <p> + "A poor fellow, sir, in want of work." + </p> + <p> + "A wardrobe, too, I should say," smiled one of the guests, of a very + youthful, prosperous, and dandified air. + </p> + <p> + "Where's your hoe?" said Sir John. + </p> + <p> + "I have none, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Any money to buy one?" + </p> + <p> + "Only four English pennies, sir." + </p> + <p> + "<i>English</i> pennies. What other sort would you have?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, China pennies to be sure," laughed the youthful gentleman. "See his + long, yellow hair behind; he looks like a Chinaman. Some broken-down + Mandarin. Pity he's no crown to his old hat; if he had, he might pass it + round, and make eight pennies of his four." + </p> + <p> + "Will you hire me, Mr. Millet," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Ha! that's queer again," cried the knight. + </p> + <p> + "Hark ye, fellow," said a brisk servant, approaching from the porch, "this + is Sir John Millet." + </p> + <p> + Seeming to take pity on his seeming ignorance, as well as on his + undisputable poverty, the good knight now told Israel that if he would + come the next morning he would see him supplied with a hoe, and moreover + would hire him. + </p> + <p> + It would be hard to express the satisfaction of the wanderer at receiving + this encouraging reply. Emboldened by it, he now returns towards a baker's + he had spied, and bravely marching in, flings down all four pennies, and + demands bread. Thinking he would not have any more food till next morning, + Israel resolved to eat only one of the pair of two-penny loaves. But + having demolished one, it so sharpened his longing, that yielding to the + irresistible temptation, he bolted down the second loaf to keep the other + company. + </p> + <p> + After resting under a hedge, he saw the sun far descended, and so prepared + himself for another hard night. Waiting till dark, he crawled into an old + carriage-house, finding nothing there but a dismantled old phaeton. Into + this he climbed, and curling himself up like a carriage-dog, endeavored to + sleep; but, unable to endure the constraint of such a bed, got out, and + stretched himself on the bare boards of the floor. + </p> + <p> + No sooner was light in the east than he fastened to await the commands of + one who, his instinct told him, was destined to prove his benefactor. On + his father's farm accustomed to rise with the lark, Israel was surprised + to discover, as he approached the house, that no soul was astir. It was + four o'clock. For a considerable time he walked back and forth before the + portal ere any one appeared. The first riser was a man servant of the + household, who informed Israel that seven o'clock was the hour the people + went to their work. Soon after he met an hostler of the place, who gave + him permission to lie on some straw in an outhouse. There he enjoyed a + sweet sleep till awakened at seven o'clock by the sounds of activity + around him. + </p> + <p> + Supplied by the overseer of the men with a large iron fork and a hoe, he + followed the hands into the field. He was so weak he could hardly support + his tools. Unwilling to expose his debility, he yet could not succeed in + concealing it. At last, to avoid worse imputations, he confessed the + cause. His companions regarded him with compassion, and exempted him from + the severer toil. + </p> + <p> + About noon the knight visited his workmen. Noticing that Israel made + little progress, he said to him, that though he had long arms and broad + shoulders, yet he was feigning himself to be a very weak man, or otherwise + must in reality be so. + </p> + <p> + Hereupon one of the laborers standing by informed the gentleman how it was + with Israel, when immediately the knight put a shilling into his hands and + bade him go to a little roadside inn, which was nearer than the house, and + buy him bread and a pot of beer. Thus refreshed he returned to the band, + and toiled with them till four o'clock, when the day's work was over. + </p> + <p> + Arrived at the house he there again saw his employer, who, after + attentively eyeing him without speaking, bade a meal be prepared for him, + when the maid presenting a smaller supply than her kind master deemed + necessary, she was ordered to return and bring out the entire dish. But + aware of the danger of sudden repletion of heavy food to one in his + condition, Israel, previously recruited by the frugal meal at the inn, + partook but sparingly. The repast was spread on the grass, and being over, + the good knight again looking inquisitively at Israel, ordered a + comfortable bed to be laid in the barn, and here Israel spent a capital + night. + </p> + <p> + After breakfast, next morning, he was proceeding to go with the laborers + to their work, when his employer approaching him with a benevolent air, + bade him return to his couch, and there remain till he had slept his fill, + and was in a better state to resume his labors. + </p> + <p> + Upon coming forth again a little after noon, he found Sir John walking + alone in the grounds. Upon discovering him, Israel would have retreated, + fearing that he might intrude; but beckoning him to advance, the knight, + as Israel drew nigh, fixed on him such a penetrating glance, that our poor + hero quaked to the core. Neither was his dread of detection relieved by + the knight's now calling in a loud voice for one from the house. Israel + was just on the point of fleeing, when overhearing the words of the master + to the servant who now appeared, all dread departed: + </p> + <p> + "Bring hither some wine!" + </p> + <p> + It presently came; by order of the knight the salver was set down on a + green bank near by, and the servant retired. + </p> + <p> + "My poor fellow," said Sir John, now pouring out a glass of wine, and + handing it to Israel, "I perceive that you are an American; and, if I am + not mistaken, you are an escaped prisoner of war. But no fear—drink + the wine." + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Millet," exclaimed Israel aghast, the untasted wine trembling in his + hand, "Mr. Millet, I—" + </p> + <p> + "<i>Mr</i>. Millet—there it is again. Why don't you say <i>Sir John</i> + like the rest?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, sir—pardon me—but somehow, I can't. I've tried; but I + can't. You won't betray me for that?" + </p> + <p> + "Betray—poor fellow! Hark ye, your history is doubtless a secret + which you would not wish to divulge to a stranger; but whatever happens to + you, I pledge you my honor I will never betray you." + </p> + <p> + "God bless you for that, Mr. Millet." + </p> + <p> + "Come, come; call me by my right name. I am not Mr. Millet. <i>You</i> + have said <i>Sir</i> to me; and no doubt you have a thousand times said <i>John</i> + to other people. Now can't you couple the two? Try once. Come. Only <i>Sir</i> + and then <i>John</i>—<i>Sir John</i>—that's all." + </p> + <p> + "John—I can't—Sir, sir!—your pardon. I didn't mean + that." + </p> + <p> + "My good fellow," said the knight looking sharply upon Israel, "tell me, + are all your countrymen like you? If so, it's no use fighting them. To + that effect, I must write to his Majesty myself. Well, I excuse you from + Sir Johnning me. But tell me the truth, are you not a seafaring man, and + lately a prisoner of war?" + </p> + <p> + Israel frankly confessed it, and told his whole story. The knight listened + with much interest; and at its conclusion, warned Israel to beware of the + soldiers; for owing to the seats of some of the royal family being in the + neighborhood, the red-coats abounded hereabout. + </p> + <p> + "I do not wish unnecessarily to speak against my own countrymen," he + added, "I but plainly speak for your good. The soldiers you meet prowling + on the roads, are not fair specimens of the army. They are a set of mean, + dastardly banditti, who, to obtain their fee, would betray their best + friends. Once more, I warn you against them. But enough; follow me now to + the house, and as you tell me you have exchanged clothes before now, you + can do it again. What say you? I will give you coat and breeches for your + rags." + </p> + <p> + Thus generously supplied with clothes and other comforts by the good + knight, and implicitly relying upon the honor of so kind-hearted a man, + Israel cheered up, and in the course of two or three weeks had so fattened + his flanks, that he was able completely to fill Sir John's old buckskin + breeches, which at first had hung but loosely about him. + </p> + <p> + He was assigned to an occupation which removed him from the other workmen. + The strawberry bed was put under his sole charge. And often, of mild, + sunny afternoons, the knight, genial and gentle with dinner, would stroll + bare-headed to the pleasant strawberry bed, and have nice little + confidential chats with Israel; while Israel, charmed by the patriarchal + demeanor of this true Abrahamic gentleman, with a smile on his lip, and + tears of gratitude in his eyes, offered him, from time to time, the + plumpest berries of the bed. + </p> + <p> + When the strawberry season was over, other parts of the grounds were + assigned him. And so six months elapsed, when, at the recommendation of + Sir John, Israel procured a good berth in the garden of the Princess + Amelia. + </p> + <p> + So completely now had recent events metamorphosed him in all outward + things, that few suspected him of being any other than an Englishman. Not + even the knight's domestics. But in the princess's garden, being obliged + to work in company with many other laborers, the war was often a topic of + discussion among them. And "the d—d Yankee rebels" were not seldom + the object of scurrilous remark. Illy could the exile brook in silence + such insults upon the country for which he had bled, and for whose honored + sake he was that very instant a sufferer. More than once, his indignation + came very nigh getting the better of his prudence. He longed for the war + to end, that he might but speak a little bit of his mind. + </p> + <p> + Now the superintendent of the garden was a harsh, overbearing man. The + workmen with tame servility endured his worst affronts. But Israel, bred + among mountains, found it impossible to restrain himself when made the + undeserved object of pitiless epithets. Ere two months went by, he quitted + the service of the princess, and engaged himself to a farmer in a small + village not far from Brentford. But hardly had he been here three weeks, + when a rumor again got afloat that he was a Yankee prisoner of war. Whence + this report arose he could never discover. No sooner did it reach the ears + of the soldiers, than they were on the alert. Luckily, Israel was apprised + of their intentions in time. But he was hard pushed. He was hunted after + with a perseverance worthy a less ignoble cause. He had many hairbreadth + escapes. Most assuredly he would have been captured, had it not been for + the secret good offices of a few individuals, who, perhaps, were not + unfriendly to the American side of the question, though they durst not + avow it. + </p> + <p> + Tracked one night by the soldiers to the house of one of these friends, in + whose garret he was concealed, he was obliged to force the skuttle, and + running along the roof, passed to those of adjoining houses to the number + of ten or twelve, finally succeeding in making his escape. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V.— ISRAEL IN THE LION'S DEN. + </h2> + <p> + Harassed day and night, hunted from food and sleep, driven from hole to + hole like a fox in the woods, with no chance to earn an hour's wages, he + was at last advised by one whose sincerity he could not doubt, to apply, + on the good word of Sir John Millet, for a berth as laborer in the King's + Gardens at Kew. There, it was said, he would be entirely safe, as no + soldier durst approach those premises to molest any soul therein employed. + It struck the poor exile as curious, that the very den of the British + lion, the private grounds of the British King, should be commended to a + refugee as his securest asylum. + </p> + <p> + His nativity carefully concealed, and being personally introduced to the + chief gardener by one who well knew him; armed, too, with a line from Sir + John, and recommended by his introducer as uncommonly expert at + horticulture; Israel was soon installed as keeper of certain less private + plants and walks of the park. + </p> + <p> + It was here, to one of his near country retreats, that, coming from + perplexities of state—leaving far behind him the dingy old bricks of + St. James—George the Third was wont to walk up and down beneath the + long arbors formed by the interlockings of lofty trees. + </p> + <p> + More than once, raking the gravel, Israel through intervening foliage + would catch peeps in some private but parallel walk, of that lonely + figure, not more shadowy with overhanging leaves than with the shade of + royal meditations. + </p> + <p> + Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometimes invade the best human + heart. Seeing the monarch unguarded before him; remembering that the war + was imputed more to the self-will of the King than to the willingness of + parliament or the nation; and calling to mind all his own sufferings + growing out of that war, with all the calamities of his country; dim + impulses, such as those to which the regicide Ravaillae yielded, would + shoot balefully across the soul of the exile. But thrusting Satan behind + him, Israel vanquished all such temptations. Nor did these ever more + disturb him, after his one chance conversation with the monarch. + </p> + <p> + As he was one day gravelling a little by-walk, wrapped in thought, the + King turning a clump of bushes, suddenly brushed Israel's person. + </p> + <p> + Immediately Israel touched his hat—but did not remove it—bowed, + and was retiring; when something in his air arrested the King's attention. + </p> + <p> + "You ain't an Englishman,—no Englishman—no, no." + </p> + <p> + Pale as death, Israel tried to answer something; but knowing not what to + say, stood frozen to the ground. + </p> + <p> + "You are a Yankee—a Yankee," said the King again in his rapid and + half-stammering way. + </p> + <p> + Again Israel assayed to reply, but could not. What could he say? Could he + lie to a King? + </p> + <p> + "Yes, yes,—you are one of that stubborn race,—that very + stubborn race. What brought you here?" + </p> + <p> + "The fate of war, sir." + </p> + <p> + "May it please your Majesty," said a low cringing voice, approaching, + "this man is in the walk against orders. There is some mistake, may it + please your Majesty. Quit the walk, blockhead," he hissed at Israel. + </p> + <p> + It was one of the junior gardeners who thus spoke. It seems that Israel + had mistaken his directions that morning. + </p> + <p> + "Slink, you dog," hissed the gardener again to Israel; then aloud to the + King, "A mistake of the man, I assure your Majesty." + </p> + <p> + "Go you away—away with ye, and leave him with me," said the king. + </p> + <p> + Waiting a moment, till the man was out of hearing, the king again turned + upon Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Were you at Bunker Hill?—that bloody Bunker Hill—eh, eh?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Fought like a devil—like a very devil, I suppose?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Helped flog—helped flog my soldiers?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir; but very sorry to do it." + </p> + <p> + "Eh?—eh?—how's that?" + </p> + <p> + "I took it to be my sad duty, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Very much mistaken—very much mistaken, indeed. Why do ye sir me?—eh? + I'm your king—your king." + </p> + <p> + "Sir," said Israel firmly, but with deep respect, "I have no king." + </p> + <p> + The king darted his eye incensedly for a moment; but without quailing, + Israel, now that all was out, still stood with mute respect before him. + The king, turning suddenly, walked rapidly away from Israel a moment, but + presently returning with a less hasty pace, said, "You are rumored to be a + spy—a spy, or something of that sort—ain't you? But I know you + are not—no, no. You are a runaway prisoner of war, eh? You have + sought this place to be safe from pursuit, eh? eh? Is it not so?—eh? + eh? eh?" + </p> + <p> + "Sir, it is." + </p> + <p> + "Well, ye're an honest rebel—rebel, yes, rebel. Hark ye, hark. Say + nothing of this talk to any one. And hark again. So long as you remain + here at Kew, I shall see that you are safe—safe." + </p> + <p> + "God bless your Majesty!" + </p> + <p> + "Eh?" + </p> + <p> + "God bless your noble Majesty?" + </p> + <p> + "Come—come—come," smiled the king in delight, "I thought I + could conquer ye—conquer ye." + </p> + <p> + "Not the king, but the king's kindness, your Majesty." + </p> + <p> + "Join my army—army." + </p> + <p> + Sadly looking down, Israel silently shook his head. + </p> + <p> + "You won't? Well, gravel the walk then—gravel away. Very stubborn + race—very stubborn race, indeed—very—very—very." + </p> + <p> + And still growling, the magnanimous lion departed. How the monarch came by + his knowledge of so humble an exile, whether through that swift insight + into individual character said to form one of the miraculous qualities + transmitted with a crown, or whether some of the rumors prevailing outside + of the garden had come to his ear, Israel could never determine. Very + probably, though, the latter was the case, inasmuch as some vague shadowy + report of Israel not being an Englishman, had, a little previous to his + interview with the king, been communicated to several of the inferior + gardeners. Without any impeachment of Israel's fealty to his country, it + must still be narrated, that from this his familiar audience with George + the Third, he went away with very favorable views of that monarch. Israel + now thought that it could not be the warm heart of the king, but the cold + heads of his lords in council, that persuaded him so tyrannically to + persecute America. Yet hitherto the precise contrary of this had been + Israel's opinion, agreeably to the popular prejudice throughout New + England. + </p> + <p> + Thus we see what strange and powerful magic resides in a crown, and how + subtly that cheap and easy magnanimity, which in private belongs to most + kings, may operate on good-natured and unfortunate souls. Indeed, had it + not been for the peculiar disinterested fidelity of our adventurer's + patriotism, he would have soon sported the red coat; and perhaps under the + immediate patronage of his royal friend, been advanced in time to no mean + rank in the army of Britain. Nor in that case would we have had to follow + him, as at last we shall, through long, long years of obscure and + penurious wandering. + </p> + <p> + Continuing in the service of the king's gardeners at Kew, until a season + came when the work of the garden required a less number of laborers, + Israel, with several others, was discharged; and the day after, engaged + himself for a few months to a farmer in the neighborhood where he had been + last employed. But hardly a week had gone by, when the old story of his + being a rebel, or a runaway prisoner, or a Yankee, or a spy, began to be + revived with added malignity. Like bloodhounds, the soldiers were once + more on the track. The houses where he harbored were many times searched; + but thanks to the fidelity of a few earnest well-wishers, and to his own + unsleeping vigilance and activity, the hunted fox still continued to elude + apprehension. To such extremities of harassment, however, did this + incessant pursuit subject him, that in a fit of despair he was about to + surrender himself, and submit to his fate, when Providence seasonably + interposed in his favor. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI.— ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS + OF AMERICA, ONE OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE "DIVERSIONS OF + PURLEY," THESE DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE + </h2> + <h3> + CHANNEL. + </h3> + <p> + At this period, though made the victims indeed of British oppression, yet + the colonies were not totally without friends in Britain. It was but + natural that when Parliament itself held patriotic and gifted men, who not + only recommended conciliatory measures, but likewise denounced the war as + monstrous; it was but natural that throughout the nation at large there + should be many private individuals cherishing similar sentiments, and some + who made no scruple clandestinely to act upon them. + </p> + <p> + Late one night while hiding in a farmer's granary, Israel saw a man with a + lantern approaching. He was about to flee, when the man hailed him in a + well-known voice, bidding him have no fear. It was the farmer himself. He + carried a message to Israel from a gentleman of Brentford, to the effect, + that the refugee was earnestly requested to repair on the following + evening to that gentleman's mansion. + </p> + <p> + At first, Israel was disposed to surmise that either the farmer was + playing him false, or else his honest credulity had been imposed upon by + evil-minded persons. At any rate, he regarded the message as a decoy, and + for half an hour refused to credit its sincerity. But at length he was + induced to think a little better of it. The gentleman giving the + invitation was one Squire Woodcock, of Brentford, whose loyalty to the + king had been under suspicion; so at least the farmer averred. This latter + information was not without its effect. + </p> + <p> + At nightfall on the following day, being disguised in strange clothes by + the farmer, Israel stole from his retreat, and after a few hours' walk, + arrived before the ancient brick house of the Squire; who opening the door + in person, and learning who it was that stood there, at once assured + Israel in the most solemn manner, that no foul play was intended. So the + wanderer suffered himself to enter, and be conducted to a private chamber + in the rear of the mansion, where were seated two other gentlemen, + attired, in the manner of that age, in long laced coats, with + small-clothes, and shoes with silver buckles. + </p> + <p> + "I am John Woodcock," said the host, "and these gentlemen are Horne Tooke + and James Bridges. All three of us are friends to America. We have heard + of you for some weeks past, and inferring from your conduct, that you must + be a Yankee of the true blue stamp, we have resolved to employ you in a + way which you cannot but gladly approve; for surely, though an exile, you + are still willing to serve your country; if not as a sailor or soldier, + yet as a traveller?" + </p> + <p> + "Tell me how I may do it?" demanded Israel, not completely at ease. + </p> + <p> + "At that in good time," smiled the Squire. "The point is now—do you + repose confidence in my statements?" + </p> + <p> + Israel glanced inquiringly upon the Squire; then upon his companions; and + meeting the expressive, enthusiastic, candid countenance of Horne Tooke—then + in the first honest ardor of his political career—turned to the + Squire, and said, "Sir, I believe what you have said. Tell me now what I + am to do." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, there is just nothing to be done to-night," said the Squire; "nor for + some days to come perhaps, but we wanted to have you prepared." + </p> + <p> + And hereupon he hinted to his guest rather vaguely of his general + intention; and that over, begged him to entertain them with some account + of his adventures since he first took up arms for his country. To this + Israel had no objections in the world, since all men love to tell the tale + of hardships endured in a righteous cause. But ere beginning his story, + the Squire refreshed him with some cold beef, laid in a snowy napkin, and + a glass of Perry, and thrice during the narration of the adventures, + pressed him with additional draughts. + </p> + <p> + But after his second glass, Israel declined to drink more, mild as the + beverage was. For he noticed, that not only did the three gentlemen listen + with the utmost interest to his story, but likewise interrupted him with + questions and cross-questions in the most pertinacious manner. So this led + him to be on his guard, not being absolutely certain yet, as to who they + might really be, or what was their real design. But as it turned out, + Squire Woodcock and his friends only sought to satisfy themselves + thoroughly, before making their final disclosures, that the exile was one + in whom implicit confidence might be placed. + </p> + <p> + And to this desirable conclusion they eventually came, for upon the ending + of Israel's story, after expressing their sympathies for his hardships, + and applauding his generous patriotism in so patiently enduring adversity, + as well as singing the praises of his gallant fellow-soldiers of Bunker + Hill, they openly revealed their scheme. They wished to know whether + Israel would undertake a trip to Paris, to carry an important message—shortly + to be received for transmission through them—to Doctor Franklin, + then in that capital. + </p> + <p> + "All your expenses shall be paid, not to speak of a compensation besides," + said the Squire; "will you go?" + </p> + <p> + "I must think of it," said Israel, not yet wholly confirmed in his mind. + But once more he cast his glance on Horne Tooke, and his irresolution was + gone. + </p> + <p> + The Squire now informed Israel that, to avoid suspicions, it would be + necessary for him to remove to another place until the hour at which he + should start for Paris. They enjoined upon him the profoundest secresy, + gave him a guinea, with a letter for a gentleman in White Waltham, a town + some miles from Brentford, which point they begged him to reach as soon as + possible, there to tarry for further instructions. + </p> + <p> + Having informed him of thus much, Squire Woodcock asked him to hold out + his right foot. + </p> + <p> + "What for?" said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Why, would you not like to have a pair of new boots against your return?" + smiled Home Tooke. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes; no objection at all," said, Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Well, then, let the bootmaker measure you," smiled Horne Tooke. + </p> + <p> + "Do <i>you</i> do it, Mr. Tooke," said the Squire; "you measure men's + parts better than I." + </p> + <p> + "Hold out your foot, my good friend," said Horne Tooke—"there—now + let's measure your heart." + </p> + <p> + "For that, measure me round the chest," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Just the man we want," said Mr. Bridges, triumphantly. + </p> + <p> + "Give him another glass of wine, Squire," said Horne Tooke. + </p> + <p> + Exchanging the farmer's clothes for still another disguise, Israel now set + out immediately, on foot, for his destination, having received minute + directions as to his road, and arriving in White Waltham on the following + morning was very cordially received by the gentleman to whom he carried + the letter. This person, another of the active English friends of America, + possessed a particular knowledge of late events in that land. To him + Israel was indebted for much entertaining information. After remaining + some ten days at this place, word came from Squire Woodcock, requiring + Israel's immediate return, stating the hour at which he must arrive at the + house, namely, two o'clock on the following morning. So, after another + night's solitary trudge across the country, the wanderer was welcomed by + the same three gentlemen as before, seated in the same room. + </p> + <p> + "The time has now come," said Squire Woodcock. "You must start this + morning for Paris. Take off your shoes." + </p> + <p> + "Am I to steal from here to Paris on my stocking-feet?" said Israel, whose + late easy good living at White Waltham had not failed to bring out the + good-natured and mirthful part of him, even as his prior experiences had + produced, for the most part, something like a contrary result. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no," smiled Horne Tooke, who always lived well, "we have + seven-league-boots for you. Don't you remember my measuring you?" + </p> + <p> + Hereupon going to the closet, the Squire brought out a pair of new boots. + They were fitted with false heels. Unscrewing these, the Squire showed + Israel the papers concealed beneath. They were of a fine tissuey fibre, + and contained much writing in a very small compass. The boots, it need + hardly be said, had been particularly made for the occasion. + </p> + <p> + "Walk across the room with them," said the Squire, when Israel had pulled + them on. + </p> + <p> + "He'll surely be discovered," smiled Horne Tooke. "Hark how he creaks." + </p> + <p> + "Come, come, it's too serious a matter for joking," said the Squire. "Now, + my fine fellow, be cautious, be sober, be vigilant, and above all things + be speedy." + </p> + <p> + Being furnished now with all requisite directions, and a supply of money, + Israel, taking leave of Mr. Tooke and Mr. Bridges, was secretly conducted + down stairs by the Squire, and in five minutes' time was on his way to + Charing Cross in London, where taking the post-coach for Dover, he thence + went in a packet to Calais, and in fifteen minutes after landing, was + being wheeled over French soil towards Paris. He arrived there in safety, + and freely declaring himself an American, the peculiarly friendly + relations of the two nations at that period, procured him kindly + attentions even from strangers. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII.— AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL + ENTERS THE PRESENCE OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS + RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED. + </h2> + <p> + Following the directions given him at the place where the diligence + stopped, Israel was crossing the Pont Neuf, to find Doctor Franklin, when + he was suddenly called to by a man standing on one side of the bridge, + just under the equestrian statue of Henry IV.— The man had a small, + shabby-looking box before him on the ground, with a box of blacking on one + side of it, and several shoe-brushes upon the other. Holding another brush + in his hand, he politely seconded his verbal invitation by gracefully + flourishing the brush in the air. + </p> + <p> + "What do you want of me, neighbor?" said Israel, pausing in somewhat + uneasy astonishment. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Monsieur," exclaimed the man, and with voluble politeness he ran on + with a long string of French, which of course was all Greek to poor + Israel. But what his language failed to convey, his gestures now made very + plain. Pointing to the wet muddy state of the bridge, splashed by a recent + rain, and then to the feet of the wayfarer, and lastly to the brush in his + hand, he appeared to be deeply regretting that a gentleman of Israel's + otherwise imposing appearance should be seen abroad with unpolished boots, + offering at the same time to remove their blemishes. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Monsieur, Monsieur," cried the man, at last running up to Israel. And + with tender violence he forced him towards the box, and lifting this + unwilling customer's right foot thereon, was proceeding vigorously to + work, when suddenly illuminated by a dreadful suspicion, Israel, fetching + the box a terrible kick, took to his false heels and ran like mad over the + bridge. + </p> + <p> + Incensed that his politeness should receive such an ungracious return, the + man pursued, which but confirming Israel in his suspicions he ran all the + faster, and thanks to his fleetness, soon succeeded in escaping his + pursuer. + </p> + <p> + Arrived at last at the street and the house to which he had been directed, + in reply to his summons, the gate very strangely of itself swung open, and + much astonished at this unlooked-for sort of enchantment, Israel entered a + wide vaulted passage leading to an open court within. While he was + wondering that no soul appeared, suddenly he was hailed from a dark little + window, where sat an old man cobbling shoes, while an old woman standing + by his side was thrusting her head into the passage, intently eyeing the + stranger. They proved to be the porter and portress, the latter of whom, + upon hearing his summons, had invisibly thrust open the gate to Israel, by + means of a spring communicating with the little apartment. + </p> + <p> + Upon hearing the name of Doctor Franklin mentioned, the old woman, all + alacrity, hurried out of her den, and with much courtesy showed Israel + across the court, up three flights of stairs to a door in the rear of the + spacious building. There she left him while Israel knocked. + </p> + <p> + "Come in," said a voice. + </p> + <p> + And immediately Israel stood in the presence of the venerable Doctor + Franklin. + </p> + <p> + Wrapped in a rich dressing-gown, a fanciful present from an admiring + Marchesa, curiously embroidered with algebraic figures like a conjuror's + robe, and with a skull-cap of black satin on his hive of a head, the man + of gravity was seated at a huge claw-footed old table, round as the + zodiac. It was covered with printer papers, files of documents, rolls of + manuscript, stray bits of strange models in wood and metal, odd-looking + pamphlets in various languages, and all sorts of books, including many + presentation-copies, embracing history, mechanics, diplomacy, agriculture, + political economy, metaphysics, meteorology, and geometry. The walls had a + necromantic look, hung round with barometers of different kinds, drawings + of surprising inventions, wide maps of far countries in the New World, + containing vast empty spaces in the middle, with the word DESERT diffusely + printed there, so as to span five-and-twenty degrees of longitude with + only two syllables,—which printed word, however, bore a vigorous + pen-mark, in the Doctor's hand, drawn straight through it, as if in + summary repeal of it; crowded topographical and trigonometrical charts of + various parts of Europe; with geometrical diagrams, and endless other + surprising hangings and upholstery of science. + </p> + <p> + The chamber itself bore evident marks of antiquity. One part of the + rough-finished wall was sadly cracked, and covered with dust, looked dim + and dark. But the aged inmate, though wrinkled as well, looked neat and + hale. Both wall and sage were compounded of like materials,—lime and + dust; both, too, were old; but while the rude earth of the wall had no + painted lustre to shed off all fadings and tarnish, and still keep fresh + without, though with long eld its core decayed: the living lime and dust + of the sage was frescoed with defensive bloom of his soul. + </p> + <p> + The weather was warm; like some old West India hogshead on the wharf, the + whole chamber buzzed with flies. But the sapient inmate sat still and cool + in the midst. Absorbed in some other world of his occupations and + thoughts, these insects, like daily cark and care, did not seem one whit + to annoy him. It was a goodly sight to see this serene, cool and ripe old + philosopher, who by sharp inquisition of man in the street, and then long + meditating upon him, surrounded by all those queer old implements, charts + and books, had grown at last so wondrous wise. There he sat, quite + motionless among those restless flies; and, with a sound like the low noon + murmur of foliage in the woods, turning over the leaves of some ancient + and tattered folio, with a binding dark and shaggy as the bark of any old + oak. It seemed as if supernatural lore must needs pertain to this gravely, + ruddy personage; at least far foresight, pleasant wit, and working wisdom. + Old age seemed in no wise to have dulled him, but to have sharpened; just + as old dinner-knives—so they be of good steel—wax keen, + spear-pointed, and elastic as whale-bone with long usage. Yet though he + was thus lively and vigorous to behold, spite of his seventy-two years + (his exact date at that time) somehow, the incredible seniority of an + antediluvian seemed his. Not the years of the calendar wholly, but also + the years of sapience. His white hairs and mild brow, spoke of the future + as well as the past. He seemed to be seven score years old; that is, three + score and ten of prescience added to three score and ten of remembrance, + makes just seven score years in all. + </p> + <p> + But when Israel stepped within the chamber, he lost the complete effect of + all this; for the sage's back, not his face, was turned to him. + </p> + <p> + So, intent on his errand, hurried and heated with his recent run, our + courier entered the room, inadequately impressed, for the time, by either + it or its occupant. + </p> + <p> + "Bon jour, bon jour, monsieur," said the man of wisdom, in a cheerful + voice, but too busy to turn round just then. + </p> + <p> + "How do you do, Doctor Franklin?" said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Ah! I smell Indian corn," said the Doctor, turning round quickly on his + chair. "A countryman; sit down, my good sir. Well, what news? Special?" + </p> + <p> + "Wait a minute, sir," said Israel, stepping across the room towards a + chair. + </p> + <p> + Now there was no carpet on the floor, which was of dark-colored wood, set + in lozenges, and slippery with wax, after the usual French style. As + Israel walked this slippery floor, his unaccustomed feet slid about very + strangely as if walking on ice, so that he came very near falling. + </p> + <p> + "'Pears to me you have rather high heels to your boots," said the grave + man of utility, looking sharply down through his spectacles; "don't you + know that it's both wasting leather and endangering your limbs, to wear + such high heels? I have thought, at my first leisure, to write a little + pamphlet against that very abuse. But pray, what are you doing now? Do + your boots pinch you, my friend, that you lift one foot from the floor + that way?" + </p> + <p> + At this moment, Israel having seated himself, was just putting his right + foot across his left knee. + </p> + <p> + "How foolish," continued the wise man, "for a rational creature to wear + tight boots. Had nature intended rational creatures should do so, she + would have made the foot of solid bone, or perhaps of solid iron, instead + of bone, muscle, and flesh,—But,—I see. Hold!" + </p> + <p> + And springing to his own slippered feet, the venerable sage hurried to the + door and shot-to the bolt. Then drawing the curtain carefully across the + window looking out across the court to various windows on the opposite + side, bade Israel proceed with his operations. + </p> + <p> + "I was mistaken this time," added the Doctor, smiling, as Israel produced + his documents from their curious recesses—"your high heels, instead + of being idle vanities, seem to be full of meaning." + </p> + <p> + "Pretty full, Doctor," said Israel, now handing over the papers. "I had a + narrow escape with them just now." + </p> + <p> + "How? How's that?" said the sage, fumbling the papers eagerly. + </p> + <p> + "Why, crossing the stone bridge there over the <i>Seen</i>"— + </p> + <p> + "<i>Seine</i>"—interrupted the Doctor, giving the French + pronunciation.—"Always get a new word right in the first place, my + friend, and you will never get it wrong afterwards." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I was crossing the bridge there, and who should hail me, but a + suspicious-looking man, who, under pretence of seeking to polish my boots, + wanted slyly to unscrew their heels, and so steal all these precious + papers I've brought you." + </p> + <p> + "My good friend," said the man of gravity, glancing scrutinizingly upon + his guest, "have you not in your time, undergone what they call hard + times? Been set upon, and persecuted, and very illy entreated by some of + your fellow-creatures?" + </p> + <p> + "That I have, Doctor; yes, indeed." + </p> + <p> + "I thought so. Sad usage has made you sadly suspicious, my honest friend. + An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst consequence of a + miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence or guilt. And + though want of suspicion more than want of sense, sometimes leads a man + into harm, yet too much suspicion is as bad as too little sense. The man + you met, my friend, most probably had no artful intention; he knew just + nothing about you or your heels; he simply wanted to earn two sous by + brushing your boots. Those blacking-men regularly station themselves on + the bridge." + </p> + <p> + "How sorry I am then that I knocked over his box, and then ran away. But + he didn't catch me." + </p> + <p> + "How? surely, my honest friend, you—appointed to the conveyance of + important secret dispatches—did not act so imprudently as to kick + over an innocent man's box in the public streets of the capital, to which + you had been especially sent?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, I did, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "Never act so unwisely again. If the police had got hold of you, think of + what might have ensued." + </p> + <p> + "Well, it was not very wise of me, that's a fact, Doctor. But, you see, I + thought he meant mischief." + </p> + <p> + "And because you only thought he <i>meant</i> mischief, <i>you</i> must + straightway proceed to <i>do</i> mischief. That's poor logic. But think + over what I have told you now, while I look over these papers." + </p> + <p> + In half an hour's time, the Doctor, laying down the documents, again + turned towards Israel, and removing his spectacles very placidly, + proceeded in the kindest and most familiar manner to read him a paternal + detailed lesson upon the ill-advised act he had been guilty of, upon the + Pont Neuf; concluding by taking out his purse, and putting three small + silver coins into Israel's hands, charging him to seek out the man that + very day, and make both apology and restitution for his unlucky mistake. + </p> + <p> + "All of us, my honest friend," continued the Doctor, "are subject to + making mistakes; so that the chief art of life, is to learn how best to + remedy mistakes. Now one remedy for mistakes is honesty. So pay the man + for the damage done to his box. And now, who are you, my friend? My + correspondents here mention your name—Israel Potter—and say + you are an American, an escaped prisoner of war, but nothing further. I + want to hear your story from your own lips." + </p> + <p> + Israel immediately began, and related to the Doctor all his adventures up + to the present time. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose," said the Doctor, upon Israel's concluding, "that you desire + to return to your friends across the sea?" + </p> + <p> + "That I do, Doctor," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I think I shall be able to procure you a passage." + </p> + <p> + Israel's eyes sparkled with delight. The mild sage noticed it, and added: + "But events in these times are uncertain. At the prospect of pleasure + never be elated; but, without depression, respect the omens of ill. So + much my life has taught me, my honest friend." + </p> + <p> + Israel felt as though a plum-pudding had been thrust under his nostrils, + and then as rapidly withdrawn. + </p> + <p> + "I think it is probable that in two or three days I shall want you to + return with some papers to the persons who sent you to me. In that case + you will have to come here once more, and then, my good friend, we will + see what can be done towards getting you safely home again." + </p> + <p> + Israel was pouring out torrents of thanks when the Doctor interrupted him. + </p> + <p> + "Gratitude, my friend, cannot be too much towards God, but towards man, it + should be limited. No man can possibly so serve his fellow, as to merit + unbounded gratitude. Over gratitude in the helped person, is apt to breed + vanity or arrogance in the helping one. Now in assisting you to get home—if + indeed I shall prove able to do so—I shall be simply doing part of + my official duty as agent of our common country. So you owe me just + nothing at all, but the sum of these coins I put in your hand just now. + But that, instead of repaying to me hereafter, you can, when you get home, + give to the first soldier's widow you meet. Don't forget it, for it is a + debt, a pecuniary liability, owing to me. It will be about a quarter of a + dollar, in the Yankee currency. A quarter of a dollar, mind. My honest + friend, in pecuniary matters always be exact as a second-hand; never mind + with whom it is, father or stranger, peasant or king, be exact to a tick + of your honor." + </p> + <p> + "Well, Doctor," said Israel, "since exactness in these matters is so + necessary, let me pay back my debt in the very coins in which it was + loaned. There will be no chance of mistake then. Thanks to my Brentford + friends, I have enough to spare of my own, to settle damages with the + boot-black of the bridge. I only took the money from you, because I + thought it would not look well to push it back after being so kindly + offered." + </p> + <p> + "My honest friend," said the Doctor, "I like your straightforward dealing. + I will receive back the money." + </p> + <p> + "No interest, Doctor, I hope," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + The sage looked mildly over his spectacles upon Israel and replied: "My + good friend, never permit yourself to be jocose upon pecuniary matters. + Never joke at funerals, or during business transactions. The affair + between us two, you perhaps deem very trivial, but trifles may involve + momentous principles. But no more at present. You had better go + immediately and find the boot-black. Having settled with him, return + hither, and you will find a room ready for you near this, where you will + stay during your sojourn in Paris." + </p> + <p> + "But I thought I would like to have a little look round the town, before I + go back to England," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Business before pleasure, my friend. You must absolutely remain in your + room, just as if you were my prisoner, until you quit Paris for Calais. + Not knowing now at what instant I shall want you to start, your keeping to + your room is indispensable. But when you come back from Brentford again, + then, if nothing happens, you will have a chance to survey this celebrated + capital ere taking ship for America. Now go directly, and pay the + boot-black. Stop, have you the exact change ready? Don't be taking out all + your money in the open street." + </p> + <p> + "Doctor," said Israel, "I am not so simple." + </p> + <p> + "But you knocked over the box." + </p> + <p> + "That, Doctor, was bravery." + </p> + <p> + "Bravery in a poor cause, is the height of simplicity, my friend.—Count + out your change. It must be French coin, not English, that you are to pay + the man with.—Ah, that will do—those three coins will be + enough. Put them in a pocket separate from your other cash. Now go, and + hasten to the bridge." + </p> + <p> + "Shall I stop to take a meal anywhere, Doctor, as I return? I saw several + cookshops as I came hither." + </p> + <p> + "Cafes and restaurants, they are called here, my honest friend. Tell me, + are you the possessor of a liberal fortune?" + </p> + <p> + "Not very liberal," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "I thought as much. Where little wine is drunk, it is good to dine out + occasionally at a friend's; but where a poor man dines out at his own + charge, it is bad policy. Never dine out that way, when you can dine in. + Do not stop on the way at all, my honest friend, but come directly back + hither, and you shall dine at home, free of cost, with me." + </p> + <p> + "Thank you very kindly, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + And Israel departed for the Pont Neuf. Succeeding in his errand thither, + he returned to Dr. Franklin, and found that worthy envoy waiting his + attendance at a meal, which, according to the Doctor's custom, had been + sent from a neighboring restaurant. There were two covers; and without + attendance the host and guest sat down. There was only one principal dish, + lamb boiled with green peas. Bread and potatoes made up the rest. A + decanter-like bottle of uncolored glass, filled with some uncolored + beverage, stood at the venerable envoy's elbow. + </p> + <p> + "Let me fill your glass," said the sage. + </p> + <p> + "It's white wine, ain't it?" said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "White wine of the very oldest brand; I drink your health in it, my honest + friend." + </p> + <p> + "Why, it's plain water," said Israel, now tasting it. + </p> + <p> + "Plain water is a very good drink for plain men," replied the wise man. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," said Israel, "but Squire Woodcock gave me perry, and the other + gentleman at White Waltham gave me port, and some other friends have given + me brandy." + </p> + <p> + "Very good, my honest friend; if you like perry and port and brandy, wait + till you get back to Squire Woodcock, and the gentleman at White Waltham, + and the other friends, and you shall drink perry and port and brandy. But + while you are with me, you will drink plain water." + </p> + <p> + "So it seems, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "What do you suppose a glass of port costs?" + </p> + <p> + "About three pence English, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "That must be poor port. But how much good bread will three pence English + purchase?" + </p> + <p> + "Three penny rolls, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "How many glasses of port do you suppose a man may drink at a meal?" + </p> + <p> + "The gentleman at White Waltham drank a bottle at a dinner." + </p> + <p> + "A bottle contains just thirteen glasses—that's thirty-nine pence, + supposing it poor wine. If something of the best, which is the only sort + any sane man should drink, as being the least poisonous, it would be + quadruple that sum, which is one hundred and fifty-six pence, which is + seventy-eight two-penny loaves. Now, do you not think that for one man to + swallow down seventy-two two-penny rolls at one meal is rather extravagant + business?" + </p> + <p> + "But he drank a bottle of wine; he did not eat seventy-two two-penny + rolls, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "He drank the money worth of seventy-two loaves, which is drinking the + loaves themselves; for money is bread." + </p> + <p> + "But he has plenty of money to spare, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "To have to spare, is to have to give away. Does the gentleman give much + away?" + </p> + <p> + "Not that I know of, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "Then he thinks he has nothing to spare; and thinking he has nothing to + spare, and yet prodigally drinking down his money as he does every day, it + seems to me that that gentleman stands self- contradicted, and therefore + is no good example for plain sensible folks like you and me to follow. My + honest friend, if you are poor, avoid wine as a costly luxury; if you are + rich, shun it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain water. And now, my + good friend, if you are through with your meal, we will rise. There is no + pastry coming. Pastry is poisoned bread. Never eat pastry. Be a plain man, + and stick to plain things. Now, my friend, I shall have to be private + until nine o'clock in the evening, when I shall be again at your service. + Meantime you may go to your room. I have ordered the one next to this to + be prepared for you. But you must not be idle. Here is Poor Richard's + Almanac, which, in view of our late conversation, I commend to your + earnest perusal. And here, too, is a Guide to Paris, an English one, which + you can read. Study it well, so that when you come back from England, if + you should then have an opportunity to travel about Paris, to see its + wonders, you will have all the chief places made historically familiar to + you. In this world, men must provide knowledge before it is wanted, just + as our countrymen in New England get in their winter's fuel one season, to + serve them the next." + </p> + <p> + So saying, this homely sage, and household Plato, showed his humble guest + to the door, and standing in the hall, pointed out to him the one which + opened into his allotted apartment. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII.— WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE + LATIN QUARTER. + </h2> + <p> + The first, both in point of time and merit, of American envoys was famous + not less for the pastoral simplicity of his manners than for the politic + grace of his mind. Viewed from a certain point, there was a touch of + primeval orientalness in Benjamin Franklin. Neither is there wanting + something like his Scriptural parallel. The history of the patriarch Jacob + is interesting not less from the unselfish devotion which we are bound to + ascribe to him, than from the deep worldly wisdom and polished Italian + tact, gleaming under an air of Arcadian unaffectedness. The diplomatist + and the shepherd are blended; a union not without warrant; the apostolic + serpent and dove. A tanned Machiavelli in tents. + </p> + <p> + Doubtless, too, notwithstanding his eminence as lord of the moving manor, + Jacob's raiment was of homespun; the economic envoy's plain coat and hose, + who has not heard of? + </p> + <p> + Franklin all over is of a piece. He dressed his person as his periods; + neat, trim, nothing superfluous, nothing deficient. In some of his works + his style is only surpassed by the unimprovable sentences of Hobbes of + Malmsbury, the paragon of perspicuity. The mental habits of Hobbes and + Franklin in several points, especially in one of some moment, assimilated. + Indeed, making due allowance for soil and era, history presents few trios + more akin, upon the whole, than Jacob, Hobbes, and Franklin; three + labyrinth-minded, but plain-spoken Broadbrims, at once politicians and + philosophers; keen observers of the main chance; prudent courtiers; + practical magians in linsey-woolsey. + </p> + <p> + In keeping with his general habitudes, Doctor Franklin while at the French + Court did not reside in the aristocratical faubourgs. He deemed his + worsted hose and scientific tastes more adapted in a domestic way to the + other side of the Seine, where the Latin Quarter, at once the haunt of + erudition and economy, seemed peculiarly to invite the philosophical Poor + Richard to its venerable retreats. Here, of gray, chilly, drizzly November + mornings, in the dark-stoned quadrangle of the time-honored Sorbonne, + walked the lean and slippered metaphysician,—oblivious for the + moment that his sublime thoughts and tattered wardrobe were famous + throughout Europe,—meditating on the theme of his next lecture; at + the same time, in the well-worn chambers overhead, some clayey-visaged + chemist in ragged robe-de-chambre, and with a soiled green flap over his + left eye, was hard at work stooping over retorts and crucibles, + discovering new antipathies in acids, again risking strange explosions + similar to that whereby he had already lost the use of one optic; while in + the lofty lodging-houses of the neighboring streets, indigent young + students from all parts of France, were ironing their shabby cocked hats, + or inking the whity seams of their small-clothes, prior to a promenade + with their pink-ribboned little grisettes in the Garden of the Luxembourg. + </p> + <p> + Long ago the haunt of rank, the Latin Quarter still retains many old + buildings whose imposing architecture singularly contrasts with the + unassuming habits of their present occupants. In some parts its general + air is dreary and dim; monastic and theurgic. In those lonely narrow ways—long-drawn + prospectives of desertion—lined with huge piles of silent, vaulted, + old iron-grated buildings of dark gray stone, one almost expects to + encounter Paracelsus or Friar Bacon turning the next corner, with some + awful vial of Black-Art elixir in his hand. + </p> + <p> + But all the lodging-houses are not so grim. Not to speak of many of + comparatively modern erection, the others of the better class, however + stern in exterior, evince a feminine gayety of taste, more or less, in + their furnishings within. The embellishing, or softening, or screening + hand of woman is to be seen all over the interiors of this metropolis.. + Like Augustus Caesar with respect to Rome, the Frenchwoman leaves her + obvious mark on Paris. Like the hand in nature, you know it can be none + else but hers. Yet sometimes she overdoes it, as nature in the peony; or + underdoes it, as nature in the bramble; or—what is still more + frequent—is a little slatternly about it, as nature in the pig-weed. + </p> + <p> + In this congenial vicinity of the Latin Quarter, and in an ancient + building something like those alluded to, at a point midway between the + Palais des Beaux Arts and the College of the Sorbonne, the venerable + American Envoy pitched his tent when not passing his time at his country + retreat at Passy. The frugality of his manner of life did not lose him the + good opinion even of the voluptuaries of the showiest of capitals, whose + very iron railings are not free from gilt. Franklin was not less a lady's + man, than a man's man, a wise man, and an old man. Not only did he enjoy + the homage of the choicest Parisian literati, but at the age of + seventy-two he was the caressed favorite of the highest born beauties of + the Court; who through blind fashion having been originally attracted to + him as a famous <i>savan</i>, were permanently retained as his admirers by + his Plato-like graciousness of good humor. Having carefully weighed the + world, Franklin could act any part in it. By nature turned to knowledge, + his mind was often grave, but never serious. At times he had seriousness—extreme + seriousness—for others, but never for himself. Tranquillity was to + him instead of it. This philosophical levity of tranquillity, so to speak, + is shown in his easy variety of pursuits. Printer, postmaster, almanac + maker, essayist, chemist, orator, tinker, statesman, humorist, + philosopher, parlor man, political economist, professor of housewifery, + ambassador, projector, maxim-monger, herb-doctor, wit:—Jack of all + trades, master of each and mastered by none—the type and genius of + his land. Franklin was everything but a poet. But since a soul with many + qualities, forming of itself a sort of handy index and pocket congress of + all humanity, needs the contact of just as many different men, or + subjects, in order to the exhibition of its totality; hence very little + indeed of the sage's multifariousness will be portrayed in a simple + narrative like the present. This casual private intercourse with Israel, + but served to manifest him in his far lesser lights; thrifty, domestic, + dietarian, and, it may be, didactically waggish. There was much benevolent + irony, innocent mischievousness, in the wise man. Seeking here to depict + him in his less exalted habitudes, the narrator feels more as if he were + playing with one of the sage's worsted hose, than reverentially handling + the honored hat which once oracularly sat upon his brow. + </p> + <p> + So, then, in the Latin Quarter lived Doctor Franklin. And accordingly in + the Latin Quarter tarried Israel for the time. And it was into a room of a + house in this same Latin Quarter that Israel had been directed when the + sage had requested privacy for a while. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX.— ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF + LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN QUARTER. + </h2> + <p> + Closing the door upon himself, Israel advanced to the middle of the + chamber, and looked curiously round him. + </p> + <p> + A dark tessellated floor, but without a rug; two mahogany chairs, with + embroidered seats, rather the worse for wear; one mahogany bed, with a gay + but tarnished counterpane; a marble wash-stand, cracked, with a china + vessel of water, minus the handle. The apartment was very large; this part + of the house, which was a very extensive one, embracing the four sides of + a quadrangle, having, in a former age, been the hotel of a nobleman. The + magnitude of the chamber made its stinted furniture look meagre enough. + </p> + <p> + But in Israel's eyes, the marble mantel (a comparatively recent addition) + and its appurtenances, not only redeemed the rest, but looked quite + magnificent and hospitable in the extreme. Because, in the first place, + the mantel was graced with an enormous old-fashioned square mirror, of + heavy plate glass, set fast, like a tablet, into the wall. And in this + mirror was genially reflected the following delicate articles:—first, + two boquets of flowers inserted in pretty vases of porcelain; second, one + cake of white soap; third, one cake of rose-colored soap (both cakes very + fragrant); fourth, one wax candle; fifth, one china tinder-box; sixth, one + bottle of Eau de Cologne; seventh, one paper of loaf sugar, nicely broken + into sugar-bowl size; eighth, one silver teaspoon; ninth, one glass + tumbler; tenth, one glass decanter of cool pure water; eleventh, one + sealed bottle containing a richly hued liquid, and marked "Otard." + </p> + <p> + "I wonder now what O-t-a-r-d is?" soliloquised Israel, slowly spelling the + word. "I have a good mind to step in and ask Dr. Franklin. He knows + everything. Let me smell it. No, it's sealed; smell is locked in. Those + are pretty flowers. Let's smell them: no smell again. Ah, I see—sort + of flowers in women's bonnets—sort of calico flowers. Beautiful + soap. This smells anyhow—regular soap-roses—a white rose and a + red one. That long-necked bottle there looks like a crane. I wonder what's + in that? Hallo! E-a-u—d-e—C-o-l-o-g-n-e. I wonder if Dr. + Franklin understands that? It looks like his white wine. This is nice + sugar. Let's taste. Yes, this is very nice sugar, sweet as—yes, it's + sweet as sugar; better than maple sugar, such as they make at home. But + I'm crunching it too loud, the Doctor will hear me. But here's a teaspoon. + What's this for? There's no tea, nor tea-cup; but here's a tumbler, and + here's drinking water. Let me see. Seems to me, putting this and that and + the other thing together, it's a sort of alphabet that spells something. + Spoon, tumbler, water, sugar,—brandy—that's it. O-t-a-r-d is + brandy. Who put these things here? What does it all mean? Don't put sugar + here for show, don't put a spoon here for ornament, nor a jug of water. + There is only one meaning to it, and that is a very polite invitation from + some invisible person to help myself, if I like, to a glass of brandy and + sugar, and if I don't like, let it alone. That's my reading. I have a good + mind to ask Doctor Franklin about it, though, for there's just a chance I + may be mistaken, and these things here be some other person's private + property, not at all meant for me to help myself from. Cologne, what's + that—never mind. Soap: soap's to wash with. I want to use soap, + anyway. Let me see— no, there's no soap on the wash-stand. I see, + soap is not given gratis here in Paris, to boarders. But if you want it, + take it from the marble, and it will be charged in the bill. If you don't + want it let it alone, and no charge. Well, that's fair, anyway. But then + to a man who could not afford to use soap, such beautiful cakes as these + lying before his eyes all the time, would be a strong temptation. And now + that I think of it, the O-t-a-r-d looks rather tempting too. But if I + don't like it now, I can let it alone. I've a good mind to try it. But + it's sealed. I wonder now if I am right in my understanding of this + alphabet? Who knows? I'll venture one little sip, anyhow. Come, cork. + Hark!" + </p> + <p> + There was a rapid knock at the door. + </p> + <p> + Clapping down the bottle, Israel said, "Come in." + </p> + <p> + It was the man of wisdom. + </p> + <p> + "My honest friend," said the Doctor, stepping with venerable briskness + into the room, "I was so busy during your visit to the Pont Neuf, that I + did not have time to see that your room was all right. I merely gave the + order, and heard that it had been fulfilled. But it just occurred to me, + that as the landladies of Paris have some curious customs which might + puzzle an entire stranger, my presence here for a moment might explain any + little obscurity. Yes, it is as I thought," glancing towards the mantel. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Doctor, that reminds me; what is O-t-a-r-d, pray?" + </p> + <p> + "Otard is poison." + </p> + <p> + "Shocking." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, and I think I had best remove it from the room forthwith," replied + the sage, in a business-like manner putting the bottle under his arm; "I + hope you never use Cologne, do you?" + </p> + <p> + "What—what is that, Doctor?" + </p> + <p> + "I see. You never heard of the senseless luxury—a wise ignorance. + You smelt flowers upon your mountains. You won't want this, either;" and + the Cologne bottle was put under the other arm. "Candle— you'll want + that. Soap—you want soap. Use the white cake." + </p> + <p> + "Is that cheaper, Doctor?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, but just as good as the other. You don't ever munch sugar, do you? + It's bad for the teeth. I'll take the sugar." So the paper of sugar was + likewise dropped into one of the capacious coat pockets. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, you better take the whole furniture, Doctor Franklin. Here, I'll help + you drag out the bedstead." "My honest friend," said the wise man, pausing + solemnly, with the two bottles, like swimmer's bladders, under his + arm-pits; "my honest friend, the bedstead you will want; what I propose to + remove you will not want." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I was only joking, Doctor." + </p> + <p> + "I knew that. It's a bad habit, except at the proper time, and with the + proper person. The things left on the mantel were there placed by the + landlady to be used if wanted; if not, to be left untouched. To-morrow + morning, upon the chambermaid's coming in to make your bed, all such + articles as remained obviously untouched would have been removed, the rest + would have been charged in the bill, whether you used them up completely + or not." + </p> + <p> + "Just as I thought. Then why not let the bottles stay, Doctor, and save + yourself all this trouble?" + </p> + <p> + "Ah! why indeed. My honest friend, are you not my guest? It were + unhandsome in me to permit a third person superfluously to entertain you + under what, for the time being, is my own roof." + </p> + <p> + These words came from the wise man in the most graciously bland and + flowing tones. As he ended, he made a sort of conciliatory half bow + towards Israel. + </p> + <p> + Charmed with his condescending affability, Israel, without another word, + suffered him to march from the room, bottles and all. Not till the first + impression of the venerable envoy's suavity had left him, did Israel begin + to surmise the mild superiority of successful strategy which lurked + beneath this highly ingratiating air. + </p> + <p> + "Ah," pondered Israel, sitting gloomily before the rifled mantel, with the + empty tumbler and teaspoon in his hand, "it's sad business to have a + Doctor Franklin lodging in the next room. I wonder if he sees to all the + boarders this way. How the O-t-a-r-d merchants must hate him, and the + pastry-cooks too. I wish I had a good pie to pass the time. I wonder if + they ever make pumpkin pies in Paris? So I've got to stay in this room all + the time. Somehow I'm bound to be a prisoner, one way or another. Never + mind, I'm an ambassador; that's satisfaction. Hark! The Doctor again.—Come + in." + </p> + <p> + No venerable doctor, but in tripped a young French lass, bloom on her + cheek, pink ribbons in her cap, liveliness in all her air, grace in the + very tips of her elbows. The most bewitching little chambermaid in Paris. + All art, but the picture of artlessness. + </p> + <p> + "Monsieur! pardon!" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I pardon ye freely," said Israel. "Come to call on the Ambassador?" + </p> + <p> + "Monsieur, is de—de—" but, breaking down at the very threshold + in her English, she poured out a long ribbon of sparkling French, the + purpose of which was to convey a profusion of fine compliments to the + stranger, with many tender inquiries as to whether he was comfortably + roomed, and whether there might not be something, however trifling, + wanting to his complete accommodation. But Israel understood nothing, at + the time, but the exceeding grace, and trim, bewitching figure of the + girl. + </p> + <p> + She stood eyeing him for a few moments more, with a look of pretty + theatrical despair, and, after vaguely lingering a while, with another + shower of incomprehensible compliments and apologies, tripped like a fairy + from the chamber. Directly she was gone Israel pondered upon a singular + glance of the girl. It seemed to him that he had, by his reception, in + some way, unaccountably disappointed his beautiful visitor. It struck him + very strangely that she had entered all sweetness and friendliness, but + had retired as if slighted, with a sort of disdainful and sarcastic + levity, all the more stinging from its apparent politeness. + </p> + <p> + Not long had she disappeared, when a noise in the passage apprised him + that, in her hurried retreat, the girl must have stumbled against + something. The next moment he heard a chair scraping in the adjacent + apartment, and there was another knock at the door. + </p> + <p> + It was the man of wisdom this time. + </p> + <p> + "My honest friend, did you not have a visitor, just now?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, Doctor, a very pretty girl called upon me." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I just stopped in to tell you of another strange custom of Paris. + That girl is the chambermaid, but she does not confine herself altogether + to one vocation. You must beware of the chambermaids of Paris, my honest + friend. Shall I tell the girl, from you, that, unwilling to give her the + fatigue of going up and down so many flights of stairs, you will for the + future waive her visits of ceremony?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, Doctor Franklin, she is a very sweet little girl." + </p> + <p> + "I know it, my honest friend; the sweeter the more dangerous. Arsenic is + sweeter than sugar. I know you are a very sensible young man, not to be + taken in by an artful Ammonite, and so I think I had better convey your + message to the girl forthwith." + </p> + <p> + So saying, the sage withdrew, leaving Israel once more gloomily seated + before the rifled mantel, whose mirror was not again to reflect the form + of the charming chambermaid. + </p> + <p> + "Every time he comes in he robs me," soliloquised Israel, dolefully; "with + an air all the time, too, as if he were making me presents. If he thinks + me such a very sensible young man, why not let me take care of myself?" + </p> + <p> + It was growing dusk, and Israel, lighting the wax candle, proceeded to + read in his Guide-book. + </p> + <p> + "This is poor sight-seeing," muttered he at last, "sitting here all by + myself, with no company but an empty tumbler, reading about the fine + things in Paris, and I myself a prisoner in Paris. I wish something + extraordinary would turn up now; for instance, a man come in and give me + ten thousand pounds. But here's 'Poor Richard;' I am a poor fellow myself; + so let's see what comfort he has for a comrade." + </p> + <p> + Opening the little pamphlet, at random, Israel's eyes fell on the + following passages: he read them aloud— + </p> + <p> + "'<i>So what signifies waiting and hoping for better times? We may make + these times better, if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, and he + that lives upon hope will die fasting, as Poor Richard says. There are no + gains, without pains. Then help hands, for I have no lands, as Poor + Richard says.</i>' Oh, confound all this wisdom! It's a sort of insulting + to talk wisdom to a man like me. It's wisdom that's cheap, and it's + fortune that's dear. That ain't in Poor Richard; but it ought to be," + concluded Israel, suddenly slamming down the pamphlet. + </p> + <p> + He walked across the room, looked at the artificial flowers, and the + rose-colored soap, and again went to the table and took up the two books. + </p> + <p> + "So here is the 'Way to Wealth,' and here is the 'Guide to Paris.' Wonder + now whether Paris lies on the Way to Wealth? if so, I am on the road. More + likely though, it's a parting-of-the-ways. I shouldn't be surprised if the + Doctor meant something sly by putting these two books in my hand. Somehow, + the old gentleman has an amazing sly look—a sort of wild slyness—about + him, seems to me. His wisdom seems a sort of sly, too. But all in honor, + though. I rather think he's one of those old gentlemen who say a vast deal + of sense, but hint a world more. Depend upon it, he's sly, sly, sly. Ah, + what's this Poor Richard says: 'God helps them that help themselves:' + Let's consider that. Poor Richard ain't a Dunker, that's certain, though + he has lived in Pennsylvania. 'God helps them that help themselves.' I'll + just mark that saw, and leave the pamphlet open to refer to it again—Ah!" + </p> + <p> + At this point, the Doctor knocked, summoning Israel to his own apartment. + Here, after a cup of weak tea, and a little toast, the two had a long, + familiar talk together; during which, Israel was delighted with the + unpretending talkativeness, serene insight, and benign amiability of the + sage. But, for all this, he could hardly forgive him for the Cologne and + Otard depredations. + </p> + <p> + Discovering that, in early life, Israel had been employed on a farm, the + man of wisdom at length turned the conversation in that direction; among + other things, mentioning to his guest a plan of his (the Doctor's) for + yoking oxen, with a yoke to go by a spring instead of a bolt; thus greatly + facilitating the operation of hitching on the team to the cart. Israel was + very much struck with the improvement; and thought that, if he were home, + upon his mountains, he would immediately introduce it among the farmers. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X.— ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE. + </h2> + <p> + About half-past ten o'clock, as they were thus conversing, Israel's + acquaintance, the pretty chambermaid, rapped at the door, saying, with a + titter, that a very rude gentleman in the passage of the court, desired to + see Doctor Franklin. + </p> + <p> + "A very rude gentleman?" repeated the wise man in French, narrowly looking + at the girl; "that means, a very fine gentleman who has just paid you some + energetic compliment. But let him come up, my girl," he added + patriarchially. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments, a swift coquettish step was heard, followed, as if in + chase, by a sharp and manly one. The door opened. Israel was sitting so + that, accidentally, his eye pierced the crevice made by the opening of the + door, which, like a theatrical screen, stood for a moment between Doctor + Franklin and the just entering visitor. And behind that screen, through + the crack, Israel caught one momentary glimpse of a little bit of by-play + between the pretty chambermaid and the stranger. The vivacious nymph + appeared to have affectedly run from him on the stairs—doubtless in + freakish return for some liberal advances—but had suffered herself + to be overtaken at last ere too late; and on the instant Israel caught + sight of her, was with an insincere air of rosy resentment, receiving a + roguish pinch on the arm, and a still more roguish salute on the cheek. + </p> + <p> + The next instant both disappeared from the range of the crevice; the girl + departing whence she had come; the stranger—transiently invisible as + he advanced behind the door—entering the room. When Israel now + perceived him again, he seemed, while momentarily hidden, to have + undergone a complete transformation. + </p> + <p> + He was a rather small, elastic, swarthy man, with an aspect as of a + disinherited Indian Chief in European clothes. An unvanquishable + enthusiasm, intensified to perfect sobriety, couched in his savage, + self-possessed eye. He was elegantly and somewhat extravagantly dressed as + a civilian; he carried himself with a rustic, barbaric jauntiness, + strangely dashed with a superinduced touch of the Parisian <i>salon</i>. + His tawny cheek, like a date, spoke of the tropic, A wonderful atmosphere + of proud friendlessness and scornful isolation invested him. Yet there was + a bit of the poet as well as the outlaw in him, too. A cool solemnity of + intrepidity sat on his lip. He looked like one who of purpose sought out + harm's way. He looked like one who never had been, and never would be, a + subordinate. + </p> + <p> + Israel thought to himself that seldom before had he seen such a being. + Though dressed à-la-mode, he did not seem to be altogether civilized. + </p> + <p> + So absorbed was our adventurer by the person of the stranger, that a few + moments passed ere he began to be aware of the circumstance, that Dr. + Franklin and this new visitor having saluted as old acquaintances, were + now sitting in earnest conversation together. + </p> + <p> + "Do as you please; but I will not bide a suitor much longer," said the + stranger in bitterness. "Congress gave me to understand that, upon my + arrival here, I should be given immediate command of the <i>Indien</i>; + and now, for no earthly reason that I can see, you Commissioners have + presented her, fresh from the stocks at Amsterdam, to the King of France, + and not to me. What does the King of France with such a frigate? And what + can I <i>not</i> do with her? Give me back the "Indien," and in less than + one month, you shall hear glorious or fatal news of Paul Jones." + </p> + <p> + "Come, come, Captain," said Doctor Franklin, soothingly, "tell me now, + what would you do with her, if you had her?" + </p> + <p> + "I would teach the British that Paul Jones, though born in Britain, is no + subject to the British King, but an untrammelled citizen and sailor of the + universe; and I would teach them, too, that if they ruthlessly ravage the + American coasts, their own coasts are vulnerable as New Holland's. Give me + the <i>Indien</i>, and I will rain down on wicked England like fire on + Sodom." + </p> + <p> + These words of bravado were not spoken in the tone of a bravo, but a + prophet. Erect upon his chair, like an Iroquois, the speaker's look was + like that of an unflickering torch. + </p> + <p> + His air seemed slightly to disturb the old sage's philosophic repose, who, + while not seeking to disguise his admiration of the unmistakable spirit of + the man, seemed but illy to relish his apparent measureless boasting. + </p> + <p> + As if both to change the subject a little, as well as put his visitor in + better mood—though indeed it might have been but covertly to play + with his enthusiasm—the man of wisdom now drew his chair + confidentially nearer to the stranger's, and putting one hand in a very + friendly, conciliatory way upon his visitor's knee, and rubbing it gently + to and fro there, much as a lion-tamer might soothingly manipulate the + aggravated king of beasts, said in a winning manner:—"Never mind at + present, Captain, about the '<i>Indien</i>' affair. Let that sleep a + moment. See now, the Jersey privateers do us a great deal of mischief by + intercepting our supplies. It has been mentioned to me, that if you had a + small vessel—say, even your present ship, the 'Amphitrite,'—then, + by your singular bravery, you might render great service, by following + those privateers where larger ships durst not venture their bottoms; or, + if but supported by some frigates from Brest at a proper distance, might + draw them out, so that the larger vessels could capture them." + </p> + <p> + "Decoy-duck to French frigates!—Very dignified office, truly!" + hissed Paul in a fiery rage. "Doctor Franklin, whatever Paul Jones does + for the cause of America, it must be done through unlimited orders: a + separate, supreme command; no leader and no counsellor but himself. Have I + not already by my services on the American coast shown that I am well + worthy all this? Why then do you seek to degrade me below my previous + level? I will mount, not sink. I live but for honor and glory. Give me, + then, something honorable and glorious to do, and something famous to do + it with. Give me the <i>Indien</i>" + </p> + <p> + The man of wisdom slowly shook his head. "Everything is lost through this + shillyshallying timidity, called prudence," cried Paul Jones, starting to + his feet; "to be effectual, war should be carried on like a monsoon, one + changeless determination of every particle towards the one unalterable + aim. But in vacillating councils, statesmen idle about like the cats'-paws + in calms. My God, why was I not born a Czar!" + </p> + <p> + "A Nor'wester, rather. Come, come, Captain," added the sage, "sit down, we + have a third person present, you see," pointing towards Israel, who sat + rapt at the volcanic spirit of the stranger. + </p> + <p> + Paul slightly started, and turned inquiringly upon Israel, who, equally + owing to Paul's own earnestness of discourse and Israel's motionless + bearing, had thus far remained undiscovered. + </p> + <p> + "Never fear, Captain," said the sage, "this man is true blue, a secret + courier, and an American born. He is an escaped prisoner of war." + </p> + <p> + "Ah, captured in a ship?" asked Paul eagerly; "what ship? None of mine! + Paul Jones never was captured." + </p> + <p> + "No, sir, in the brigantine Washington, out of Boston," replied Israel; + "we were cruising to cut off supplies to the English." + </p> + <p> + "Did your shipmates talk much of me?" demanded Paul, with a look as of a + parading Sioux demanding homage to his gewgaws; "what did they say of Paul + Jones?" + </p> + <p> + "I never heard the name before this evening," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "What? Ah—brigantine Washington—let me see; that was before I + had outwitted the Soleby frigate, fought the Milford, and captured the + Mellish and the rest off Louisbergh. You were long before the news, my + lad," he added, with a sort of compassionate air. + </p> + <p> + "Our friend here gave you a rather blunt answer," said the wise man, + sagely mischievous, and addressing Paul. + </p> + <p> + "Yes. And I like him for it. My man, will you go a cruise with Paul Jones? + You fellows so blunt with the tongue, are apt to be sharp with the steel. + Come, my lad, return with me to Brest. I go in a few days." + </p> + <p> + Fired by the contagious spirit of Paul, Israel, forgetting all about his + previous desire to reach home, sparkled with response to the summons. But + Doctor Franklin interrupted him. + </p> + <p> + "Our friend here," said he to the Captain, "is at present engaged for very + different duty." + </p> + <p> + Much other conversation followed, during which Paul Jones again and again + expressed his impatience at being unemployed, and his resolution to accept + of no employ unless it gave him supreme authority; while in answer to all + this Dr. Franklin, not uninfluenced by the uncompromising spirit of his + guest, and well knowing that however unpleasant a trait in conversation, + or in the transaction of civil affairs, yet in war this very quality was + invaluable, as projectiles and combustibles, finally assured Paul, after + many complimentary remarks, that he would immediately exert himself to the + utmost to procure for him some enterprise which should come up to his + merits. + </p> + <p> + "Thank you for your frankness," said Paul; "frank myself, I love to deal + with a frank man. You, Doctor Franklin, are true and deep, and so you are + frank." + </p> + <p> + The sage sedately smiled, a queer incredulity just lurking in the corner + of his mouth. + </p> + <p> + "But how about our little scheme for new modelling ships-of-war?" said the + Doctor, shifting the subject; "it will be a great thing for our infant + navy, if we succeed. Since our last conversation on that subject, Captain, + at odds and ends of time, I have thought over the matter, and have begun a + little skeleton of the thing here, which I will show you. Whenever one has + a new idea of anything mechanical, it is best to clothe it with a body as + soon as possible. For you can't improve so well on ideas as you can on + bodies." + </p> + <p> + With that, going to a little drawer, he produced a small basket, filled + with a curious looking unfinished frame-work of wood, and several bits of + wood unattached. It looked like a nursery basket containing broken odds + and ends of playthings. + </p> + <p> + "Now look here, Captain, though the thing is but begun at present, yet + there is enough to show that <i>one</i> idea at least of yours is not + feasible." + </p> + <p> + Paul was all attention, as if having unbounded confidence in whatever the + sage might suggest, while Israel looked on quite as interested as either, + his heart swelling with the thought of being privy to the consultations of + two such men; consultations, too, having ultimate reference to such + momentous affairs as the freeing of nations. + </p> + <p> + "If," continued the Doctor, taking up some of the loose bits and piling + them along on one side of the top of the frame, "if the better to shelter + your crew in an engagement, you construct your rail in the manner proposed—as + thus—then, by the excessive weight of the timber, you will too much + interfere with the ship's centre of gravity. You will have that too high." + </p> + <p> + "Ballast in the hold in proportion," said Paul. + </p> + <p> + "Then you will sink the whole hull too low. But here, to have less smoke + in time of battle, especially on the lower decks, you proposed a new sort + of hatchway. But that won't do. See here now, I have invented certain + ventilating pipes, they are to traverse the vessel thus"—laying some + toilette pins along—"the current of air to enter here and be + discharged there. What do you think of that? But now about the main things—fast + sailing driving little to leeward, and drawing little water. Look now at + this keel. I whittled it only night before last, just before going to bed. + Do you see now how"- - + </p> + <p> + At this crisis, a knock was heard at the door, and the chambermaid + reappeared, announcing that two gentlemen were that moment crossing the + court below to see Doctor Franklin. + </p> + <p> + "The Duke de Chartres, and Count D'Estang," said the Doctor; "they + appointed for last night, but did not come. Captain, this has something + indirectly to do with your affair. Through the Duke, Count D'Estang has + spoken to the King about the secret expedition, the design of which you + first threw out. Call early to-morrow, and I will inform you of the + result." + </p> + <p> + With his tawny hand Paul pulled out his watch, a small, richly-jewelled + lady's watch. + </p> + <p> + "It is so late, I will stay here to-night," he said; "is there a + convenient room?" + </p> + <p> + "Quick," said the Doctor, "it might be ill-advised of you to be seen with + me just now. Our friend here will let you share his chamber. Quick, + Israel, and show the Captain thither." + </p> + <p> + As the door closed upon them in Israel's apartment, Doctor Franklin's door + closed upon the Duke and the Count. Leaving the latter to their discussion + of profound plans for the timely befriending of the American cause, and + the crippling of the power of England on the seas, let us pass the night + with Paul Jones and Israel in the neighboring room. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI.— PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE. + </h2> + <p> + "'God helps them that help themselves.' That's a clincher. That's been my + experience. But I never saw it in words before. What pamphlet is this? + 'Poor Richard,' hey!" + </p> + <p> + Upon entering Israel's room, Captain Paul, stepping towards the table and + spying the open pamphlet there, had taken it up, his eye being immediately + attracted to the passage previously marked by our adventurer. + </p> + <p> + "A rare old gentleman is 'Poor Richard,'" said Israel in response to + Paul's observations. + </p> + <p> + "So he seems, so he seems," answered Paul, his eye still running over the + pamphlet again; "why, 'Poor Richard' reads very much as Doctor Franklin + speaks." + </p> + <p> + "He wrote it," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Aye? Good. So it is, so it is; it's the wise man all over. I must get me + a copy of this and wear it around my neck for a charm. And now about our + quarters for the night. I am not going to deprive you of your bed, my man. + Do you go to bed and I will doze in the chair here. It's good dozing in + the crosstrees." + </p> + <p> + "Why not sleep together?" said Israel; "see, it is a big bed. Or perhaps + you don't fancy your bed-fellow. Captain?" + </p> + <p> + "When, before the mast, I first sailed out of Whitehaven to Norway," said + Paul, coolly, "I had for hammock-mate a full-blooded Congo. We had a white + blanket spread in our hammock. Every time I turned in I found the Congo's + black wool worked in with the white worsted. By the end of the voyage the + blanket was of a pepper-and-salt look, like an old man's turning head. So + it's not because I am notional at all, but because I don't care to, my + lad. Turn in and go to sleep. Let the lamp burn. I'll see to it. There, go + to sleep." + </p> + <p> + Complying with what seemed as much a command as a request, Israel, though + in bed, could not fall into slumber for thinking of the little + circumstance that this strange swarthy man, flaming with wild enterprises, + sat in full suit in the chair. He felt an uneasy misgiving sensation, as + if he had retired, not only without covering up the fire, but leaving it + fiercely burning with spitting fagots of hemlock. + </p> + <p> + But his natural complaisance induced him at least to feign himself asleep; + whereupon. Paul, laying down "Poor Richard," rose from his chair, and, + withdrawing his boots, began walking rapidly but noiselessly to and fro, + in his stockings, in the spacious room, wrapped in Indian meditations. + Israel furtively eyed him from beneath the coverlid, and was anew struck + by his aspect, now that Paul thought himself unwatched. Stern relentless + purposes, to be pursued to the points of adverse bayonets and the muzzles + of hostile cannon, were expressed in the now rigid lines of his brow. His + ruffled right hand was clutched by his side, as if grasping a cutlass. He + paced the room as if advancing upon a fortification. Meantime a confused + buzz of discussion came from the neighboring chamber. All else was + profound midnight tranquillity. Presently, passing the large mirror over + the mantel, Paul caught a glimpse of his person. He paused, grimly + regarding it, while a dash of pleased coxcombry seemed to mingle with the + otherwise savage satisfaction expressed in his face. But the latter + predominated. Soon, rolling up his sleeve, with a queer wild smile, Paul + lifted his right arm, and stood thus for an interval, eyeing its image in + the glass. From where he lay, Israel could not see that side of the arm + presented to the mirror, but he saw its reflection, and started at + perceiving there, framed in the carved and gilded wood, certain large + intertwisted ciphers covering the whole inside of the arm, so far as + exposed, with mysterious tattooings. The design was wholly unlike the + fanciful figures of anchors, hearts, and cables, sometimes decorating + small portions of seamen's bodies. It was a sort of tattooing such as is + seen only on thoroughbred savages—deep blue, elaborate, + labyrinthine, cabalistic. Israel remembered having beheld, on one of his + early voyages, something similar on the arm of a New Zealand warrior, once + met, fresh from battle, in his native village. He concluded that on some + similar early voyage Paul must have undergone the manipulations of some + pagan artist. Covering his arm again with his laced coat-sleeve, Paul + glanced ironically at the hand of the same arm, now again half muffled in + ruffles, and ornamented with several Parisian rings. He then resumed his + walking with a prowling air, like one haunting an ambuscade; while a gleam + of the consciousness of possessing a character as yet un-fathomed, and + hidden power to back unsuspected projects, irradiated his cold white brow, + which, owing to the shade of his hat in equatorial climates, had been left + surmounting his swarthy face, like the snow topping the Andes. + </p> + <p> + So at midnight, the heart of the metropolis of modern civilization was + secretly trod by this jaunty barbarian in broadcloth; a sort of + prophetical ghost, glimmering in anticipation upon the advent of those + tragic scenes of the French Revolution which levelled the exquisite + refinement of Paris with the bloodthirsty ferocity of Borneo; showing that + broaches and finger-rings, not less than nose-rings and tattooing, are + tokens of the primeval savageness which ever slumbers in human kind, + civilized or uncivilized. + </p> + <p> + Israel slept not a wink that night. The troubled spirit of Paul paced the + chamber till morning; when, copiously bathing himself at the wash-stand, + Paul looked care-free and fresh as a daybreak hawk. After a closeted + consultation with Doctor Franklin, he left the place with a light and + dandified air, switching his gold-headed cane, and throwing a passing arm + round all the pretty chambermaids he encountered, kissing them + resoundingly, as if saluting a frigate. All barbarians are rakes. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII.— RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE'S + ABODE—HIS ADVENTURES THERE. + </h2> + <p> + On the third day, as Israel was walking to and fro in his room, having + removed his courier's boots, for fear of disturbing the Doctor, a quick + sharp rap at the door announced the American envoy. The man of wisdom + entered, with two small wads of paper in one hand, and several crackers + and a bit of cheese in the other. There was such an eloquent air of + instantaneous dispatch about him, that Israel involuntarily sprang to his + boots, and, with two vigorous jerks, hauled them on, and then seizing his + hat, like any bird, stood poised for his flight across the channel. + </p> + <p> + "Well done, my honest friend," said the Doctor; "you have the papers in + your heel, I suppose." + </p> + <p> + "Ah," exclaimed Israel, perceiving the mild irony; and in an instant his + boots were off again; when, without another word, the Doctor took one + boot, and Israel the other, and forthwith both parties proceeded to + secrete the documents. + </p> + <p> + "I think I could improve the design," said the sage, as, notwithstanding + his haste, he critically eyed the screwing apparatus of the boot. "The + vacancy should have been in the standing part of the heel, not in the lid. + It should go with a spring, too, for better dispatch. I'll draw up a paper + on false heels one of these days, and send it to a private reading at the + Institute. But no time for it now. My honest friend, it is now half past + ten o'clock. At half past eleven the diligence starts from the + Place-du-Carrousel for Calais. Make all haste till you arrive at + Brentford. I have a little provender here for you to eat in the diligence, + as you will not have time for a regular meal. A day-and-night courier + should never be without a cracker in his pocket. You will probably leave + Brentford in a day or two after your arrival there. Be wary, now, my good + friend; heed well, that, if you are caught with these papers on British + ground, you will involve both yourself and our Brentford friends in fatal + calamities. Kick no man's box, never mind whose, in the way. Mind your own + box. You can't be too cautious, but don't be too suspicious. God bless + you, my honest friend. Go!" + </p> + <p> + And, flinging the door open for his exit, the Doctor saw Israel dart into + the entry, vigorously spring down the stairs, and disappear with all + celerity across the court into the vaulted way. + </p> + <p> + The man of wisdom stood mildly motionless a moment, with a look of + sagacious, humane meditation on his face, as if pondering upon the chances + of the important enterprise: one which, perhaps, might in the sequel + affect the weal or woe of nations yet to come. Then suddenly clapping his + hand to his capacious coat-pocket, dragged out a bit of cork with some + hen's feathers, and hurrying to his room, took out his knife, and + proceeded to whittle away at a shuttlecock of an original scientific + construction, which at some prior time he had promised to send to the + young Duchess D'Abrantes that very afternoon. + </p> + <p> + Safely reaching Calais, at night, Israel stepped almost from the diligence + into the packet, and, in a few moments, was cutting the water. As on the + diligence he took an outside and plebeian seat, so, with the same secret + motive of preserving unsuspected the character assumed, he took a deck + passage in the packet. It coming on to rain violently, he stole down into + the forecastle, dimly lit by a solitary swinging lamp, where were two men + industriously smoking, and filling the narrow hole with soporific vapors. + These induced strange drowsiness in Israel, and he pondered how best he + might indulge it, for a time, without imperilling the precious documents + in his custody. + </p> + <p> + But this pondering in such soporific vapors had the effect of those + mathematical devices whereby restless people cipher themselves to sleep. + His languid head fell to his breast. In another moment, he drooped + half-lengthwise upon a chest, his legs outstretched before him. + </p> + <p> + Presently he was awakened by some intermeddlement with his feet. Starting + to his elbow, he saw one of the two men in the act of slyly slipping off + his right boot, while the left one, already removed, lay on the floor, all + ready against the rascal's retreat Had it not been for the lesson learned + on the Pont Neuf, Israel would instantly have inferred that his secret + mission was known, and the operator some designed diplomatic knave or + other, hired by the British Cabinet, thus to lie in wait for him, fume him + into slumber with tobacco, and then rifle him of his momentous dispatches. + But as it was, he recalled Doctor Franklin's prudent admonitions against + the indulgence of premature suspicions. + </p> + <p> + "Sir," said Israel very civilly, "I will thank you for that boot which + lies on the floor, and, if you please, you can let the other stay where it + is." + </p> + <p> + "Excuse me," said the rascal, an accomplished, self-possessed practitioner + in his thievish art; "I thought your boots might be pinching you, and only + wished to ease you a little." + </p> + <p> + "Much obliged to ye for your kindness, sir," said Israel; "but they don't + pinch me at all. I suppose, though, you think they wouldn't pinch <i>you</i> + either; your foot looks rather small. Were you going to try 'em on, just + to see how they fitted?" + </p> + <p> + "No," said the fellow, with sanctimonious seriousness; "but with your + permission I should like to try them on, when we get to Dover. I couldn't + try them well walking on this tipsy craft's deck, you know." + </p> + <p> + "No," answered Israel, "and the beach at Dover ain't very smooth either. I + guess, upon second thought, you had better not try 'em on at all. Besides, + I am a simple sort of a soul—eccentric they call me—and don't + like my boots to go out of my sight. Ha! ha!" + </p> + <p> + "What are you laughing at?" said the fellow testily. + </p> + <p> + "Odd idea! I was just looking at those sad old patched boots there on your + feet, and thinking to myself what leaky fire-buckets they would be to pass + up a ladder on a burning building. It would hardly be fair now to swop my + new boots for those old fire-buckets, would it?" + </p> + <p> + "By plunko!" cried the fellow, willing now by a bold stroke to change the + subject, which was growing slightly annoying; "by plunko, I believe we are + getting nigh Dover. Let's see." + </p> + <p> + And so saying, he sprang up the ladder to the deck. Upon Israel following, + he found the little craft half becalmed, rolling on short swells almost in + the exact middle of the channel. It was just before the break of the + morning; the air clear and fine; the heavens spangled with moistly + twinkling stars. The French and English coasts lay distinctly visible in + the strange starlight, the white cliffs of Dover resembling a long gabled + block of marble houses. Both shores showed a long straight row of lamps. + Israel seemed standing in the middle of the crossing of some wide stately + street in London. Presently a breeze sprang up, and ere long our + adventurer disembarked at his destined port, and directly posted on for + Brentford. + </p> + <p> + The following afternoon, having gained unobserved admittance into the + house, according to preconcerted signals, he was sitting in Squire + Woodcock's closet, pulling off his boots and delivering his dispatches. + </p> + <p> + Having looked over the compressed tissuey sheets, and read a line + particularly addressed to himself, the Squire, turning round upon Israel, + congratulated him upon his successful mission, placed some refreshment + before him, and apprised him that, owing to certain suspicious symptoms in + the neighborhood, he (Israel) must now remain concealed in the house for a + day or two, till an answer should be ready for Paris. + </p> + <p> + It was a venerable mansion, as was somewhere previously stated, of a wide + and rambling disorderly spaciousness, built, for the most part, of + weather-stained old bricks, in the goodly style called Elizabethan. As + without, it was all dark russet bricks, so within, it was nothing but + tawny oak panels. + </p> + <p> + "Now, my good fellow," said the Squire, "my wife has a number of guests, + who wander from room to room, having the freedom of the house. So I shall + have to put you very snugly away, to guard against any chance of + discovery." + </p> + <p> + So saying, first locking the door, he touched a spring nigh the open + fire-place, whereupon one of the black sooty stone jambs of the chimney + started ajar, just like the marble gate of a tomb. Inserting one leg of + the heavy tongs in the crack, the Squire pried this cavernous gate wide + open. + </p> + <p> + "Why, Squire Woodcock, what is the matter with your chimney?" said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Quick, go in." + </p> + <p> + "Am I to sweep the chimney?" demanded Israel; "I didn't engage for that." + </p> + <p> + "Pooh, pooh, this is your hiding-place. Come, move in." + </p> + <p> + "But where does it go to, Squire Woodcock? I don't like the looks of it." + </p> + <p> + "Follow me. I'll show you." + </p> + <p> + Pushing his florid corpulence into the mysterious aperture, the elderly + Squire led the way up steep stairs of stone, hardly two feet in width, + till they reached a little closet, or rather cell, built into the massive + main wall of the mansion, and ventilated and dimly lit by two little + sloping slits, ingeniously concealed without, by their forming the + sculptured mouths of two griffins cut in a great stone tablet decorating + that external part of the dwelling. A mattress lay rolled up in one + corner, with a jug of water, a flask of wine, and a wooden trencher + containing cold roast beef and bread. + </p> + <p> + "And I am to be buried alive here?" said Israel, ruefully looking round. + </p> + <p> + "But your resurrection will soon be at hand," smiled the Squire; "two days + at the furthest." + </p> + <p> + "Though to be sure I was a sort of prisoner in Paris, just as I seem about + to be made here," said Israel, "yet Doctor Franklin put me in a better jug + than this, Squire Woodcock. It was set out with boquets and a mirror, and + other fine things. Besides, I could step out into the entry whenever I + wanted." + </p> + <p> + "Ah, but, my hero, that was in France, and this is in England. There you + were in a friendly country: here you are in the enemy's. If you should be + discovered in my house, and your connection with me became known, do you + know that it would go very hard with me; very hard indeed?" + </p> + <p> + "Then, for your sake, I am willing to stay wherever you think best to put + me," replied Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Well, then, you say you want boquets and a mirror. If those articles will + at all help to solace your seclusion, I will bring them to you." + </p> + <p> + "They really would be company; the sight of my own face particularly." + </p> + <p> + "Stay here, then. I will be back in ten minutes." + </p> + <p> + In less than that time, the good old Squire returned, puffing and panting, + with a great bunch of flowers, and a small shaving-glass. + </p> + <p> + "There," said he, putting them down; "now keep perfectly quiet; avoid + making any undue noise, and on no account descend the stairs, till I come + for you again." + </p> + <p> + "But when will that be?" asked Israel. + </p> + <p> + "I will try to come twice each day while you are here. But there is no + knowing what may happen. If I should not visit you till I come to liberate + you—on the evening of the second day, or the morning of the third—you + must not be at all surprised, my good fellow. There is plenty of food-and + water to last you. But mind, on no account descend the stone-stairs till I + come for you." + </p> + <p> + With that, bidding his guest adieu, he left him. + </p> + <p> + Israel stood glancing pensively around for a time. By and by, moving the + rolled mattress under the two air-slits, he mounted, to try if aught were + visible beyond. But nothing was to be seen but a very thin slice of blue + sky peeping through the lofty foliage of a great tree planted near the + side-portal of the mansion; an ancient tree, coeval with the ancient + dwelling it guarded. + </p> + <p> + Sitting down on the Mattress, Israel fell into a reverie. + </p> + <p> + "Poverty and liberty, or plenty and a prison, seem to be the two horns of + the constant dilemma of my life," thought he. "Let's look at the + prisoner." + </p> + <p> + And taking up the shaving-glass, he surveyed his lineaments. + </p> + <p> + "What a pity I didn't think to ask for razors and soap. I want shaving + very badly. I shaved last in France. How it would pass the time here. Had + I a comb now and a razor, I might shave and curl my hair, and keep making + a continual toilet all through the two days, and look spruce as a robin + when I get out. I'll ask the Squire for the things this very night when he + drops in. Hark! ain't that a sort of rumbling in the wall? I hope there + ain't any oven next door; if so, I shall be scorched out. Here I am, just + like a rat in the wainscot. I wish there was a low window to look out of. + I wonder what Doctor Franklin is doing now, and Paul Jones? Hark! there's + a bird singing in the leaves. Bell for dinner, that." + </p> + <p> + And for pastime, he applied himself to the beef and bread, and took a + draught of the wine and water. + </p> + <p> + At last night fell. He was left in utter darkness. No Squire. + </p> + <p> + After an anxious, sleepless night, he saw two long flecks of pale gray + light slanting into the cell from the slits, like two long spears. He + rose, rolled up his mattress, got upon the roll, and put his mouth to one + of the griffins' months. He gave a low, just audible whistle, directing it + towards the foliage of the tree. Presently there was a slight rustling + among the leaves, then one solitary chirrup, and in three minutes a whole + chorus of melody burst upon his ear. + </p> + <p> + "I've waked the first bird," said he to himself, with a smile, "and he's + waked all the rest. Now then for breakfast. That over, I dare say the + Squire will drop in." + </p> + <p> + But the breakfast was over, and the two flecks of pale light had changed + to golden beams, and the golden beams grew less and less slanting, till + they straightened themselves up out of sight altogether. It was noon, and + no Squire. + </p> + <p> + "He's gone a-hunting before breakfast, and got belated," thought Israel. + </p> + <p> + The afternoon shadows lengthened. It was sunset; no Squire. + </p> + <p> + "He must be very busy trying some sheep-stealer in the hall," mused + Israel. "I hope he won't forget all about me till to-morrow." + </p> + <p> + He waited and listened; and listened and waited. + </p> + <p> + Another restless night; no sleep; morning came. The second day passed like + the first, and the night. On the third morning the flowers lay shrunken by + his side. Drops of wet oozing through the air- slits, fell dully on the + stone floor. He heard the dreary beatings of the tree's leaves against the + mouths of the griffins, bedashing them with the spray of the rain-storm + without. At intervals a burst of thunder rolled over his head, and + lightning flashing down through the slits, lit up the cell with a greenish + glare, followed by sharp splashings and rattlings of the redoubled + rain-storm. + </p> + <p> + "This is the morning of the third day," murmured Israel to himself; "he + said he would at the furthest come to me on the morning of the third day. + This is it. Patience, he will be here yet. Morning lasts till noon." + </p> + <p> + But, owing to the murkiness of the day, it was very hard to tell when noon + came. Israel refused to credit that noon had come and gone, till dusk set + plainly in. Dreading he knew not what, he found himself buried in the + darkness of still another night. However patient and hopeful hitherto, + fortitude now presently left him. Suddenly, as if some contagious fever + had seized him, he was afflicted with strange enchantments of misery, + undreamed of till now. + </p> + <p> + He had eaten all the beef, but there was bread and water sufficient to + last, by economy, for two or three days to come. It was not the pang of + hunger then, but a nightmare originating in his mysterious incarceration, + which appalled him. All through the long hours of this particular night, + the sense of being masoned up in the wall, grew, and grew, and grew upon + him, till again and again he lifted himself convulsively from the floor, + as if vast blocks of stone had been laid on him; as if he had been digging + a deep well, and the stonework with all the excavated earth had caved in + upon him, where he burrowed ninety feet beneath the clover. In the blind + tomb of the midnight he stretched his two arms sideways, and felt as if + coffined at not being able to extend them straight out, on opposite sides, + for the narrowness of the cell. He seated himself against one side of the + wall, crosswise with the cell, and pushed with his feet at the opposite + wall. But still mindful of his promise in this extremity, he uttered no + cry. He mutely raved in the darkness. The delirious sense of the absence + of light was soon added to his other delirium as to the contraction of + space. The lids of his eyes burst with impotent distension. Then he + thought the air itself was getting unbearable. He stood up at the griffin + slits, pressing his lips far into them till he moulded his lips there, to + suck the utmost of the open air possible. + </p> + <p> + And continually, to heighten his frenzy, there recurred to him again and + again what the Squire had told him as to the origin of the cell. It seemed + that this part of the old house, or rather this wall of it, was extremely + ancient, dating far beyond the era of Elizabeth, having once formed + portion of a religious retreat belonging to the Templars. The domestic + discipline of this order was rigid and merciless in the extreme. In a side + wall of their second storey chapel, horizontal and on a level with the + floor, they had an internal vacancy left, exactly of the shape and average + size of a coffin. In this place, from time to time, inmates convicted of + contumacy were confined; but, strange to say, not till they were penitent. + A small hole, of the girth of one's wrist, sunk like a telescope three + feet through the masonry into the cell, served at once for ventilation, + and to push through food to the prisoner. This hole opening into the + chapel also enabled the poor solitaire, as intended, to overhear the + religious services at the altar; and, without being present, take part in + the same. It was deemed a good sign of the state of the sufferer's soul, + if from the gloomy recesses of the wall was heard the agonized groan of + his dismal response. This was regarded in the light of a penitent wail + from the dead, because the customs of the order ordained that when any + inmate should be first incarcerated in the wall, he should be committed to + it in the presence of all the brethren, the chief reading the burial + service as the live body was sepulchred. Sometimes several weeks elapsed + ere the disentombment, the penitent being then usually found numb and + congealed in all his extremities, like one newly stricken with paralysis. + </p> + <p> + This coffin-cell of the Templars had been suffered to remain in the + demolition of the general edifice, to make way for the erection of the + new, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was enlarged somewhat, and + altered, and additionally ventilated, to adapt it for a place of + concealment in times of civil dissension. + </p> + <p> + With this history ringing in his solitary brain, it may readily be + conceived what Israel's feelings must have been. Here, in this very + darkness, centuries ago, hearts, human as his, had mildewed in despair; + limbs, robust as his own, had stiffened in immovable torpor. + </p> + <p> + At length, after what seemed all the prophetic days and years of Daniel, + morning broke. The benevolent light entered the cell, soothing his frenzy, + as if it had been some smiling human face—nay, the Squire himself, + come at last to redeem him from thrall. Soon his dumb ravings entirely + left him, and gradually, with a sane, calm mind, he revolved all the + circumstances of his condition. + </p> + <p> + He could not be mistaken; something fatal must have befallen his friend. + Israel remembered the Squire's hinting that in case of the discovery of + his clandestine proceedings it would fare extremely hard with him, Israel + was forced to conclude that this same unhappy discovery had been made; + that owing to some untoward misadventure his good friend had been carried + off a State-prisoner to London; that prior to his going the Squire had not + apprised any member of his household that he was about to leave behind him + a prisoner in the wall; this seemed evident from the circumstance that, + thus far, no soul had visited that prisoner. It could not be otherwise. + Doubtless the Squire, having no opportunity to converse in private with + his relatives or friends at the moment of his sudden arrest, had been + forced to keep his secret, for the present, for fear of involving Israel + in still worse calamities. But would he leave him to perish piecemeal in + the wall? All surmise was baffled in the unconjecturable possibilities of + the case. But some sort of action must speedily be determined upon. Israel + would not additionally endanger the Squire, but he could not in such + uncertainty consent to perish where he was. He resolved at all hazards to + escape, by stealth and noiselessly, if possible; by violence and outcry, + if indispensable. + </p> + <p> + Gliding out of the cell, he descended the stone stairs, and stood before + the interior of the jamb. He felt an immovable iron knob, but no more. He + groped about gently for some bolt or spring. When before he had passed + through the passage with his guide, he had omitted to notice by what + precise mechanism the jamb was to be opened from within, or whether, + indeed, it could at all be opened except from without. + </p> + <p> + He was about giving up the search in despair, after sweeping with his two + hands every spot of the wall-surface around him, when chancing to turn his + whole body a little to one side, he heard a creak, and saw a thin lance of + light. His foot had unconsciously pressed some spring laid in the floor. + The jamb was ajar. Pushing it open, he stood at liberty, in the Squire's + closet. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII.— HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES + FOLLOWING. + </h2> + <p> + He started at the funereal aspect of the room, into which, since he last + stood there, undertakers seemed to have stolen. The curtains of the window + were festooned with long weepers of crape. The four corners of the red + cloth on the round table were knotted with crape. + </p> + <p> + Knowing nothing of these mournful customs of the country, nevertheless, + Israel's instinct whispered him that Squire Woodcock lived no more on this + earth. At once the whole three days' mystery was made clear. But what was + now to be done? His friend must have died very suddenly; most probably + struck down in a fit, from which he never more rose. With him had perished + all knowledge of the fact that a stranger was immured in the mansion. If + discovered then, prowling here in the inmost privacies of a gentleman's + abode, what would befall the wanderer, already not unsuspected in the + neighborhood of some underhand guilt as a fugitive? If he adhered to the + strict truth, what could he offer in his own defence without convicting + himself of acts which, by English tribunals, would be accounted flagitious + crimes? Unless, indeed, by involving the memory of the deceased Squire + Woodcock in his own self acknowledged proceedings, so ungenerous a charge + should result in an abhorrent refusal to credit his extraordinary tale, + whether as referring to himself or another, and so throw him open to still + more grievous suspicions? + </p> + <p> + While wrapped in these dispiriting reveries, he heard a step not very far + off in the passage. It seemed approaching. Instantly he flew to the jamb, + which remained unclosed, and disappearing within, drew the stone after him + by the iron knob. Owing to his hurried violence the jamb closed with a + dull, dismal and singular noise. A shriek followed from within the room. + In a panic, Israel fled up the dark stairs, and near the top, in his + eagerness, stumbled and fell back to the last step with a rolling din, + which, reverberated by the arch overhead, smote through and through the + wall, dying away at last indistinctly, like low muffled thunder among the + clefts of deep hills. When raising himself instantly, not seriously + bruised by his fall, Israel instantly listened, the echoing sounds of his + descent were mingled with added shrieks from within the room. They seemed + some nervous female's, alarmed by what must have appeared to her + supernatural, or at least unaccountable, noises in the wall. Directly he + heard other voices of alarm undistinguishably commingled, and then they + retreated together, and all again was still. + </p> + <p> + Recovering from his first amazement, Israel revolved these occurrences. + "No creature now in the house knows of the cell," thought he. "Some woman, + the housekeeper, perhaps, first entered the room alone. Just as she + entered the jamb closed. The sudden report made her shriek; then, + afterwards, the noise of my fall prolonging itself, added to her fright, + while her repeated shrieks brought every soul in the house to her, who + aghast at seeing her lying in a pale faint, it may be, like a corpse, in a + room hung with crape for a man just dead, they also shrieked out, and then + with blended lamentations they bore the fainting person away. Now this + will follow; no doubt it <i>has</i> followed ere now:—they believe + that the woman saw or heard the spirit of Squire Woodcock. Since I seem + then to understand how all these strange events have occurred, since I + seem to know that they have plain common causes, I begin to feel cool and + calm again. Let me see. Yes. I have it. By means of the idea of the ghost + prevailing among the frightened household, by that means I will this very + night make good my escape. If I can but lay hands on some of the late + Squire's clothing, if but a coat and hat of his, I shall be certain to + succeed. It is not too early to begin now. They will hardly come back to + the room in a hurry. I will return to it and see what I can find to serve + my purpose. It is the Squire's private closet, hence it is not unlikely + that here some at least of his clothing will be found." + </p> + <p> + With these, thoughts, he cautiously sprung the iron under foot, peeped in, + and, seeing all clear, boldly re-entered the apartment. He went straight + to a high, narrow door in the opposite wall. The key was in the lock. + Opening the door, there hung several coats, small-clothes, pairs of silk + stockings, and hats of the deceased. With little difficulty Israel + selected from these the complete suit in which he had last seen his once + jovial friend. Carefully closing the door, and carrying the suit with him, + he was returning towards the chimney, when he saw the Squire's + silver-headed cane leaning against a corner of the wainscot. Taking this + also, he stole back to his cell. + </p> + <p> + Slipping off his own clothing, he deliberately arrayed himself in the + borrowed raiment, silk small-clothes and all, then put on the cocked hat, + grasped the silver-headed cane in his right hand, and moving his small + shaving-glass slowly up and down before him, so as by piecemeal to take in + his whole figure, felt convinced that he would well pass for Squire + Woodcock's genuine phantom. But after the first feeling of + self-satisfaction with his anticipated success had left him, it was not + without some superstitious embarrassment that Israel felt himself encased + in a dead man's broadcloth; nay, in the very coat in which the deceased + had no doubt fallen down in his fit. By degrees he began to feel almost as + unreal and shadowy as the shade whose part he intended to enact. + </p> + <p> + Waiting long and anxiously till darkness came, and then till he thought it + was fairly midnight, he stole back into the closet, and standing for a + moment uneasily in the middle of the floor, thinking over all the risks he + might run, he lingered till he felt himself resolute and calm. Then + groping for the door leading into the hall, put his hand on the knob and + turned it. But the door refused to budge. Was it locked? The key was not + in. Turning the knob once more, and holding it so, he pressed firmly + against the door. It did not move. More firmly still, when suddenly it + burst open with a loud crackling report. Being cramped, it had stuck in + the sill. Less than three seconds passed when, as Israel was groping his + way down the long wide hall towards the large staircase at its opposite + end, he heard confused hurrying noises from the neighboring rooms, and in + another instant several persons, mostly in night-dresses, appeared at + their chamber-doors, thrusting out alarmed faces, lit by a lamp held by + one of the number, a rather elderly lady in widow's weeds, who by her + appearance seemed to have just risen from a sleepless chair, instead of an + oblivious couch. Israel's heart beat like a hammer; his face turned like a + sheet. But bracing himself, pulling his hat lower down over his eyes, + settling his head in the collar of his coat, he advanced along the defile + of wildly staring faces. He advanced with a slow and stately step, looked + neither to the right nor the left, but went solemnly forward on his now + faintly illuminated way, sounding his cane on the floor as he passed. The + faces in the doorways curdled his blood by their rooted looks. Glued to + the spot, they seemed incapable of motion. Each one was silent as he + advanced towards him or her, but as he left each individual, one after + another, behind, each in a frenzy shrieked out, "The Squire, the Squire!" + As he passed the lady in the widow's weeds, she fell senseless and + crosswise before him. But forced to be immutable in his purpose, Israel, + solemnly stepping over her prostrate form, marched deliberately on. + </p> + <p> + In a few minutes more he had reached the main door of the mansion, and + withdrawing the chain and bolt, stood in the open air. It was a bright + moonlight night. He struck slowly across the open grounds towards the + sunken fields beyond. When-midway across the grounds, he turned towards + the mansion, and saw three of the front windows filled with white faces, + gazing in terror at the wonderful spectre. Soon descending a slope, he + disappeared from their view. + </p> + <p> + Presently he came to hilly land in meadow, whose grass having been lately + cut, now lay dotting the slope in cocks; a sinuous line of creamy vapor + meandered through the lowlands at the base of the hill; while beyond was a + dense grove of dwarfish trees, with here and there a tall tapering dead + trunk, peeled of the bark, and overpeering the rest. The vapor wore the + semblance of a deep stream of water, imperfectly descried; the grove + looked like some closely-clustering town on its banks, lorded over by + spires of churches. + </p> + <p> + The whole scene magically reproduced to our adventurer the aspect of + Bunker Hill, Charles River, and Boston town, on the well-remembered night + of the 16th of June. The same season; the same moon; the same new-mown hay + on the shaven sward; hay which was scraped together during the night to + help pack into the redoubt so hurriedly thrown up. + </p> + <p> + Acted on as if by enchantment, Israel sat down on one of the cocks, and + gave himself up to reverie. But, worn out by long loss of sleep, his + reveries would have soon merged into slumber's still wilder dreams, had he + not rallied himself, and departed on his way, fearful of forgetting + himself in an emergency like the present. It now occurred to him that, + well as his disguise had served him in escaping from the mansion of Squire + Woodcock, that disguise might fatally endanger him if he should be + discovered in it abroad. He might pass for a ghost at night, and among the + relations and immediate friends of the gentleman deceased; but by day, and + among indifferent persons, he ran no small risk of being apprehended for + an entry-thief. He bitterly lamented his omission in not pulling on the + Squire's clothes over his own, so that he might now have reappeared in his + former guise. + </p> + <p> + As meditating over this difficulty, he was passing along, suddenly he saw + a man in black standing right in his path, about fifty yards distant, in a + field of some growing barley or wheat. The gloomy stranger was standing + stock-still; one outstretched arm, with weird intimation pointing towards + the deceased Squire's abode. To the brooding soul of the now desolate + Israel, so strange a sight roused a supernatural suspicion. His conscience + morbidly reproaching him for the terrors he had bred in making his escape + from the house, he seemed to see in the fixed gesture of the stranger + something more than humanly significant. But somewhat of his intrepidity + returned; he resolved to test the apparition. Composing itself to the same + deliberate stateliness with which it had paced the hall, the phantom of + Squire Woodcock firmly, advanced its cane, and marched straight forward + towards the mysterious stranger. + </p> + <p> + As he neared him, Israel shrunk. The dark coat-sleeve flapped on the bony + skeleton of the unknown arm. The face was lost in a sort of ghastly blank. + It was no living man. + </p> + <p> + But mechanically continuing his course, Israel drew still nearer and saw a + scarecrow. + </p> + <p> + Not a little relieved by the discovery, our adventurer paused, more + particularly to survey so deceptive an object, which seemed to have been + constructed on the most efficient principles; probably by some broken down + wax figure costumer. It comprised the complete wardrobe of a scarecrow, + namely: a cocked hat, bunged; tattered coat; old velveteen breeches; and + long worsted stockings, full of holes; all stuffed very nicely with straw, + and skeletoned by a frame-work of poles. There was a great flapped pocket + to the coat—which seemed to have been some laborer's—standing + invitingly opened. Putting his hands in, Israel drew out the lid of an old + tobacco-box, the broken bowl of a pipe, two rusty nails, and a few kernels + of wheat. This reminded him of the Squire's pockets. Trying them, he + produced a handsome handkerchief, a spectacle-case, with a purse + containing some silver and gold, amounting to a little more than five + pounds. Such is the difference between the contents of the pockets of + scarecrows and the pockets of well-to-do squires. Ere donning his present + habiliments, Israel had not omitted to withdraw his own money from his own + coat, and put it in the pocket of his own waistcoat, which he had not + exchanged. + </p> + <p> + Looking upon the scarecrow more attentively, it struck him that, miserable + as its wardrobe was, nevertheless here was a chance for getting rid of the + unsuitable and perilous clothes of the Squire. No other available + opportunity might present itself for a time. Before he encountered any + living creature by daylight, another suit must somehow be had. His + exchange with the old ditcher, after his escape from the inn near + Portsmouth, had familiarized him with the most deplorable of wardrobes. + Well, too, he knew, and had experienced it, that for a man desirous of + avoiding notice, the more wretched the clothes, the better. For who does + not shun the scurvy wretch, Poverty, advancing in battered hat and + lamentable coat? + </p> + <p> + Without more ado, slipping off the Squire's raiment, he donned the + scarecrow's, after carefully shaking out the hay, which, from many + alternate soakings and bakings in rain and sun, had become quite broken + up, and would have been almost dust, were it not for the mildew which + damped it. But sufficient of this wretched old hay remained adhesive to + the inside of the breeches and coat-sleeves, to produce the most + irritating torment. + </p> + <p> + The grand moral question now came up, what to do with the purse. Would it + be dishonest under the circumstances to appropriate that purse? + Considering the whole matter, and not forgetting that he had not received + from the gentleman deceased the promised reward for his services as + courier, Israel concluded that he might justly use the money for his own. + To which opinion surely no charitable judge will demur. Besides, what + should he do with the purse, if not use it for his own? It would have been + insane to have returned it to the relations. Such mysterious honesty would + have but resulted in his arrest as a rebel, or rascal. As for the Squire's + clothes, handkerchief, and spectacle-case, they must be put out of sight + with all dispatch. So, going to a morass not remote, Israel sunk them deep + down, and heaped tufts of the rank sod upon them. Then returning to the + field of corn, sat down under the lee of a rock, about a hundred yards + from where the scarecrow had stood, thinking which way he now had best + direct his steps. But his late ramble coming after so long a deprivation + of rest, soon produced effects not so easy to be shaken off, as when + reposing upon the haycock. He felt less anxious too, since changing his + apparel. So before he was aware, he fell into deep sleep. + </p> + <p> + When he awoke, the sun was well up in the sky. Looking around he saw a + farm-laborer with a pitchfork coming at a distance into view, whose steps + seemed bent in a direction not far from the spot where he lay. Immediately + it struck our adventurer that this man must be familiar with the + scarecrow; perhaps had himself fashioned it. Should he miss it then, he + might make immediate search, and so discover the thief so imprudently + loitering upon the very field of his operations. + </p> + <p> + Waiting until the man momentarily disappeared in a little hollow, Israel + ran briskly to the identical spot where the scarecrow had stood, where, + standing stiffly erect, pulling the hat well over his face, and thrusting + out his arm, pointed steadfastly towards the Squire's abode, he awaited + the event. Soon the man reappeared in sight, and marching right on, paused + not far from Israel, and gave him an one earnest look, as if it were his + daily wont to satisfy that all was right with the scarecrow. No sooner was + the man departed to a reasonable distance, than, quitting his post, Israel + struck across the fields towards London. But he had not yet quite quitted + the field when it occurred to him to turn round and see if the man was + completely out of sight, when, to his consternation, he saw the man + returning towards him, evidently by his pace and gesture in unmixed + amazement. The man must have turned round to look before Israel had done + so. Frozen to the ground, Israel knew not what to do; but next moment it + struck him that this very motionlessness was the least hazardous plan in + such a strait. Thrusting out his arm again towards the house, once more he + stood stock still, and again awaited the event. + </p> + <p> + It so happened that this time, in pointing towards the house, Israel + unavoidably pointed towards the advancing man. Hoping that the strangeness + of this coincidence might, by operating on the man's superstition, incline + him to beat an immediate retreat, Israel kept cool as he might. But the + man proved to be of a braver metal than anticipated. In passing the spot + where the scarecrow had stood, and perceiving, beyond the possibility of + mistake, that by, some unaccountable agency it had suddenly removed itself + to a distance, instead of being, terrified at this verification of his + worst apprehensions, the man pushed on for Israel, apparently resolved to + sift this mystery to the bottom. + </p> + <p> + Seeing him now determinately coming, with pitchfork valiantly presented, + Israel, as a last means of practising on the fellow's fears of the + supernatural, suddenly doubled up both fists, presenting them savagely + towards him at a distance of about twenty paces, at the same time showing + his teeth like a skull's, and demoniacally rolling his eyes. The man + paused bewildered, looked all round him, looked at the springing grain, + then across at some trees, then up at the sky, and satisfied at last by + those observations that the world at large had not undergone a miracle in + the last fifteen minutes, resolutely resumed his advance; the pitchfork, + like a boarding-pike, now aimed full at the breast of the object. Seeing + all his stratagems vain, Israel now threw himself into the original + attitude of the scarecrow, and once again stood immovable. Abating his + pace by degrees almost to a mere creep, the man at last came within three + feet of him, and, pausing, gazed amazed into Israel's eyes. With a stern + and terrible expression Israel resolutely returned the glance, but + otherwise remained like a statue, hoping thus to stare his pursuer out of + countenance. At last the man slowly presented one prong of his fork + towards Israel's left eye. Nearer and nearer the sharp point came, till no + longer capable of enduring such a test, Israel took to his heels with all + speed, his tattered coat-tails streaming behind him. With inveterate + purpose the man pursued. Darting blindly on, Israel, leaping a gate, + suddenly found himself in a field where some dozen laborers were at work, + who recognizing the scarecrow—an old acquaintance of theirs, as it + would seem—lifted all their hands as the astounding apparition swept + by, followed by the man with the pitchfork. Soon all joined in the chase, + but Israel proved to have better wind and bottom than any. Outstripping + the whole pack he finally shot out of their sight in an extensive park, + heavily timbered in one quarter. He never saw more of these people. + </p> + <p> + Loitering in the wood till nightfall, he then stole out and made the best + of his way towards the house of that good natured farmer in whose + corn-loft he had received his first message from Squire Woodcock. Rousing + this man up a little before midnight, he informed him somewhat of his + recent adventures, but carefully concealed his having been employed as a + secret courier, together with his escape from Squire Woodcock's. All he + craved at present was a meal. The meal being over, Israel offered to buy + from the farmer his best suit of clothes, and displayed the money on the + spot. + </p> + <p> + "Where did you get so much money?" said his entertainer in a tone of + surprise; "your clothes here don't look as if you had seen prosperous + times since you left me. Why, you look like a scarecrow." + </p> + <p> + "That may well be," replied Israel, very soberly. "But what do you say? + will you sell me your suit?—here's the cash." + </p> + <p> + "I don't know about it," said the farmer, in doubt; "let me look at the + money. Ha!—a silk purse come out of a beggars pocket!—Quit the + house, rascal, you've turned thief." + </p> + <p> + Thinking that he could not swear to his having come by his money with + absolute honesty—since indeed the case was one for the most subtle + casuist—Israel knew not what to reply. This honest confusion + confirmed the farmer, who with many abusive epithets drove him into the + road, telling him that he might thank himself that he did not arrest him + on the spot. + </p> + <p> + In great dolor at this unhappy repulse, Israel trudged on in the moonlight + some three miles to the house of another friend, who also had once + succored him in extremity. This man proved a very sound sleeper. Instead + of succeeding in rousing him by his knocking, Israel but succeeded in + rousing his wife, a person not of the greatest amiability. Raising the + sash, and seeing so shocking a pauper before her, the woman upbraided him + with shameless impropriety in asking charity at dead of night, in a dress + so improper too. Looking down at his deplorable velveteens, Israel + discovered that his extensive travels had produced a great rent in one + loin of the rotten old breeches, through which a whitish fragment + protruded. + </p> + <p> + Remedying this oversight as well as he might, he again implored the woman + to wake her husband. + </p> + <p> + "That I shan't!" said the woman, morosely. "Quit the premises, or I'll + throw something on ye." + </p> + <p> + With that she brought some earthenware to the window, and would have + fulfilled her threat, had not Israel prudently retreated some paces. Here + he entreated the woman to take mercy on his plight, and since she would + not waken her husband, at least throw to him (Israel) her husband's + breeches, and he would leave the price of them, with his own breeches to + boot, on the sill of the door. + </p> + <p> + "You behold how sadly I need them," said he; "for heaven's sake befriend + me." + </p> + <p> + "Quit the premises!" reiterated the woman. + </p> + <p> + "The breeches, the breeches! here is the money," cried Israel, half + furious with anxiety. + </p> + <p> + "Saucy cur," cried the woman, somehow misunderstanding him; "do you + cunningly taunt me with <i>wearing</i> the breeches'? begone!" + </p> + <p> + Once more poor Israel decamped, and made for another friend. But here a + monstrous bull-dog, indignant that the peace of a quiet family should be + disturbed by so outrageous a tatterdemalion, flew at Israel's unfortunate + coat, whose rotten skirts the brute tore completely off, leaving the coat + razeed to a spencer, which barely came down to the wearer's waist. In + attempting to drive the monster away, Israel's hat fell off, upon which + the dog pounced with the utmost fierceness, and thrusting both paws into + it, rammed out the crown and went snuffling the wreck before him. + Recovering the wretched hat, Israel again beat a retreat, his wardrobe + sorely the worse for his visits. Not only was his coat a mere rag, but his + breeches, clawed by the dog, were slashed into yawning gaps, while his + yellow hair waved over the top of the crownless beaver, like a lonely tuft + of heather on the highlands. + </p> + <p> + In this plight the morning discovered him dubiously skirmishing on the + outskirts of a village. + </p> + <p> + "Ah! what a true patriot gets for serving his country!" murmured Israel. + But soon thinking a little better of his case, and seeing yet another + house which had once furnished him with an asylum, he made bold to advance + to the door. Luckily he this time met the man himself, just emerging from + bed. At first the farmer did not recognize the fugitive, but upon another + look, seconded by Israel's plaintive appeal, beckoned him into the barn, + where directly our adventurer told him all he thought prudent to disclose + of his story, ending by once more offering to negotiate for breeches and + coat. Having ere this emptied and thrown away the purse which had played + him so scurvy a trick with the first farmer, he now produced three + crown-pieces. + </p> + <p> + "Three crown-pieces in your pocket, and no crown to your hat!" said the + farmer. + </p> + <p> + "But I assure you, my friend," rejoined Israel, "that a finer hat was + never worn, until that confounded bull-dog ruined it." + </p> + <p> + "True," said the farmer, "I forgot that part of your story. Well, I have a + tolerable coat and breeches which I will sell you for your money." + </p> + <p> + In ten minutes more Israel was equipped in a gray coat of coarse cloth, + not much improved by wear, and breeches to match. For half-a-crown more he + procured a highly respectable looking hat. + </p> + <p> + "Now, my kind friend," said Israel, "can you tell me where Horne Tooke and + John Bridges live?" + </p> + <p> + Our adventurer thought it his best plan to seek out one or other of those + gentlemen, both to report proceedings and learn confirmatory tidings + concerning Squire Woodcock, touching whose fate he did not like to inquire + of others. + </p> + <p> + "Horne Tooke? What do you want with Horne Tooke," said the farmer. "He was + Squire Woodcock's friend, wasn't he? The poor Squire! Who would have + thought he'd have gone off so suddenly. But apoplexy comes like a bullet." + </p> + <p> + "I was right," thought Israel to himself. "But where does Horne Tooke + live?" he demanded again. + </p> + <p> + "He once lived in Brentford, and wore a cassock there. But I hear he's + sold out his living, and gone in his surplice to study law in Lunnon." + </p> + <p> + This was all news to Israel, who, from various amiable remarks he had + heard from Horne Tooke at the Squire's, little dreamed he was an ordained + clergyman. Yet a good-natured English clergyman translated Lucian; + another, equally good-natured, wrote Tristam Shandy; and a third, an + ill-natured appreciator of good-natured Rabelais, died a dean; not to + speak of others. Thus ingenious and ingenuous are some of the English + clergy. + </p> + <p> + "You can't tell me, then, where to find Horne Tooke?" said Israel, in + perplexity. + </p> + <p> + "You'll find him, I suppose, in Lunnon." + </p> + <p> + "What street and number?" + </p> + <p> + "Don't know. Needle in a haystack." + </p> + <p> + "Where does Mr. Bridges live?" + </p> + <p> + "Never heard of any Bridges, except Lunnon bridges, and one Molly Bridges + in Bridewell." + </p> + <p> + So Israel departed; better clothed, but no wiser than before. + </p> + <p> + What to do next? He reckoned up his money, and concluded he had plenty to + carry him back to Doctor Franklin in Paris. Accordingly, taking a turn to + avoid the two nearest villages, he directed his steps towards London, + where, again taking the post-coach for Dover, he arrived on the channel + shore just in time to learn that the very coach in which he rode brought + the news to the authorities there that all intercourse between the two + nations was indefinitely suspended. The characteristic taciturnity and + formal stolidity of his fellow-travellers—all Englishmen, mutually + unacquainted with each other, and occupying different positions in life—having + prevented his sooner hearing the tidings. + </p> + <p> + Here was another accumulation of misfortunes. All visions but those of + eventual imprisonment or starvation vanished from before the present + realities of poor Israel Potter. The Brentford gentleman had flattered him + with the prospect of receiving something very handsome for his services as + courier. That hope was no more. Doctor Franklin had promised him his good + offices in procuring him a passage home to America. Quite out of the + question now. The sage had likewise intimated that he might possibly see + him some way remunerated for his sufferings in his country's cause. An + idea no longer to be harbored. Then Israel recalled the mild man of + wisdom's words—"At the prospect of pleasure never be elated; but + without depression respect the omens of ill." But he found it as difficult + now to comply, in all respects, with the last section of the maxim, as + before he had with the first. + </p> + <p> + While standing wrapped in afflictive reflections on the shore, gazing + towards the unattainable coast of France, a pleasant-looking cousinly + stranger, in seamen's dress, accosted him, and, after some pleasant + conversation, very civilly invited him up a lane into a house of rather + secret entertainment. Pleased to be befriended in this his strait, Israel + yet looked inquisitively upon the man, not completely satisfied with his + good intentions. But the other, with good-humored violence, hurried him up + the lane into the inn, when, calling for some spirits, he and Israel very + affectionately drank to each other's better health and prosperity. + </p> + <p> + "Take another glass," said the stranger, affably. + </p> + <p> + Israel, to drown his heavy-heartedness, complied. The liquor began to take + effect. + </p> + <p> + "Ever at sea?" said the stranger, lightly. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes; been a whaling." + </p> + <p> + "Ah!" said the other, "happy to hear that, I assure you. Jim! Bill!" And + beckoning very quietly to two brawny fellows, in a trice Israel found + himself kidnapped into the naval service of the magnanimous old gentleman + of Kew Gardens—his Royal Majesty, George III.— "Hands off!" + said Israel, fiercely, as the two men pinioned him. + </p> + <p> + "Reglar game-cock," said the cousinly-looking man. "I must get three + guineas for cribbing him. Pleasant voyage to ye, my friend," and, leaving + Israel a prisoner, the crimp, buttoning his coat, sauntered leisurely out + of the inn. + </p> + <p> + "I'm no Englishman," roared Israel, in a foam. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! that's the old story," grinned his jailers. "Come along. There's no + Englishman in the English fleet. All foreigners. You may take their own + word for it." + </p> + <p> + To be short, in less than a week Israel found himself at Portsmouth, and, + ere long, a foretopman in his Majesty's ship of the line, "Unprincipled," + scudding before the wind down channel, in company with the "Undaunted," + and the "Unconquerable;" all three haughty Dons bound to the East Indian + waters as reinforcements to the fleet of Sir Edward Hughs. + </p> + <p> + And now, we might shortly have to record our adventurer's part in the + famous engagement off the coast of Coromandel, between Admiral Suffrien's + fleet and the English squadron, were it not that fate snatched him on the + threshold of events, and, turning him short round whither he had come, + sent him back congenially to war against England; instead of on her + behalf. Thus repeatedly and rapidly were the fortunes of our wanderer + planted, torn up, transplanted, and dropped again, hither and thither, + according as the Supreme Disposer of sailors and soldiers saw fit to + appoint. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV.— IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN + THREE SHIPS, AND ALL IN ONE NIGHT. + </h2> + <p> + As running down channel at evening, Israel walked the crowded main-deck of + the seventy-four, continually brushed by a thousand hurrying wayfarers, as + if he were in some great street in London, jammed with artisans, just + returning from their day's labor, novel and painful emotions were his. He + found himself dropped into the naval mob without one friend; nay, among + enemies, since his country's enemies were his own, and against the kith + and kin of these very beings around him, he himself had once lifted a + fatal hand. The martial bustle of a great man-of-war, on her first day out + of port, was indescribably jarring to his present mood. Those sounds of + the human multitude disturbing the solemn natural solitudes of the sea, + mysteriously afflicted him. He murmured against that untowardness which, + after condemning him to long sorrows on the land, now pursued him with + added griefs on the deep. Why should a patriot, leaping for the chance + again to attack the oppressor, as at Bunker Hill, now be kidnapped to + fight that oppressor's battles on the endless drifts of the Bunker Hills + of the billows? But like many other repiners, Israel was perhaps a little + premature with upbraidings like these. + </p> + <p> + Plying on between Scilly and Cape Clear, the Unprincipled—which + vessel somewhat outsailed her consorts—fell in, just before dusk, + with a large revenue cutter close to, and showing signals of distress. At + the moment, no other sail was in sight. + </p> + <p> + Cursing the necessity of pausing with a strong fair wind at a juncture + like this, the officer-of-the-deck shortened sail, and hove to; hailing + the cutter, to know what was the matter. As he hailed the small craft from + the lofty poop of the bristling seventy-four, this lieutenant seemed + standing on the top of Gibraltar, talking to some lowland peasant in a + hut. The reply was, that in a sudden flaw of wind, which came nigh + capsizing them, not an hour since, the cutter had lost all four foremost + men by the violent jibing of a boom. She wanted help to get back to port. + </p> + <p> + "You shall have one man," said the officer-of-the-deck, morosely. + </p> + <p> + "Let him be a good one then, for heaven's sake," said he in the cutter; "I + ought to have at least two." + </p> + <p> + During this talk, Israel's curiosity had prompted him to dart up the + ladder from the main-deck, and stand right in the gangway above, looking + out on the strange craft. Meantime the order had been given to drop a + boat. Thinking this a favorable chance, he stationed himself so that he + should be the foremost to spring into the boat; though crowds of English + sailors, eager as himself for the same opportunity to escape from foreign + service, clung to the chains of the as yet imperfectly disciplined + man-of-war. As the two men who had been lowered in the boat hooked her, + when afloat, along to the gangway, Israel dropped like a comet into the + stern-sheets, stumbled forward, and seized an oar. In a moment more, all + the oarsmen were in their places, and with a few strokes the boat lay + alongside the cutter. + </p> + <p> + "Take which of them you please," said the lieutenant in command, + addressing the officer in the revenue-cutter, and motioning with his hand + to his boat's crew, as if they were a parcel of carcasses of mutton, of + which the first pick was offered to some customer. "Quick and choose. Sit + down, men"—to the sailors. "Oh, you are in a great hurry to get rid + of the king's service, ain't you? Brave chaps indeed!—Have you + chosen your man?" + </p> + <p> + All this while the ten faces of the anxious oarsmen looked with mute + longings and appealings towards the officer of the cutter; every face + turned at the same angle, as if managed by one machine. And so they were. + One motive. + </p> + <p> + "I take the freckled chap with the yellow hair—him," pointing to + Israel. + </p> + <p> + Nine of the upturned faces fell in sullen despair, and ere Israel could + spring to his feet, he felt a violent thrust in his rear from the toes of + one of the disappointed behind him. + </p> + <p> + "Jump, dobbin!" cried the officer of the boat. + </p> + <p> + But Israel was already on board. Another moment, and the boat and cutter + parted. Ere long, night fell, and the man-of-war and her consorts were out + of sight. + </p> + <p> + The revenue vessel resumed her course towards the nighest port, worked by + but four men: the captain, Israel, and two officers. The cabin-boy was + kept at the helm. As the only foremast man, Israel was put to it pretty + hard. Where there is but one man to three masters, woe betide that lonely + slave. Besides, it was of itself severe work enough to manage the vessel + thus short of hands. But to make matters still worse, the captain and his + officers were ugly-tempered fellows. The one kicked, and the others cuffed + Israel. Whereupon, not sugared with his recent experiences, and maddened + by his present hap, Israel seeing himself alone at sea, with only three + men, instead of a thousand, to contend against, plucked up a heart, + knocked the captain into the lee scuppers, and in his fury was about + tumbling the first-officer, a small wash of a fellow, plump overboard, + when the captain, jumping to his feet, seized him by his long yellow hair, + vowing he would slaughter him. Meanwhile the cutter flew foaming through + the channel, as if in demoniac glee at this uproar on her imperilled deck. + While the consternation was at its height, a dark body suddenly loomed at + a moderate distance into view, shooting right athwart the stern of the + cutter. The next moment a shot struck the water within a boat's length. + </p> + <p> + "Heave to, and send a boat on board!" roared a voice almost as loud as the + cannon. + </p> + <p> + "That's a war-ship," cried the captain of the revenue vessel, in alarm; + "but she ain't a countryman." + </p> + <p> + Meantime the officers and Israel stopped the cutter's way. + </p> + <p> + "Send a boat on board, or I'll sink you," again came roaring from the + stranger, followed by another shot, striking the water still nearer the + cutter. + </p> + <p> + "For God's sake, don't cannonade us. I haven't got the crew to man a + boat," replied the captain of the cutter. "Who are you?" + </p> + <p> + "Wait till I send a boat to you for that," replied the stranger. + </p> + <p> + "She's an enemy of some sort, that's plain," said the Englishman now to + his officers; "we ain't at open war with France; she's some bloodthirsty + pirate or other. What d'ye say, men?" turning to his officers; "let's + outsail her, or be shot to chips. We can beat her at sailing, I know." + </p> + <p> + With that, nothing doubting that his counsel would be heartily responded + to, he ran to the braces to get the cutter before the wind, followed by + one officer, while the other, for a useless bravado, hoisted the colors at + the stern. + </p> + <p> + But Israel stood indifferent, or rather all in a fever of conflicting + emotions. He thought he recognized the voice from the strange vessel. + </p> + <p> + "Come, what do ye standing there, fool? Spring to the ropes here!" cried + the furious captain. + </p> + <p> + But Israel did not stir. + </p> + <p> + Meantime the confusion on board the stranger, owing to the hurried + lowering of her boat, with the cloudiness of the sky darkening the misty + sea, united to conceal the bold manoeuvre of the cutter. She had almost + gained full headway ere an oblique shot, directed by mere chance, struck + her stern, tearing the upcurved head of the tiller in the hands of the + cabin-boy, and killing him with the splinters. Running to the stump, the + captain huzzaed, and steered the reeling ship on. Forced now to hoist back + the boat ere giving chase, the stranger was dropped rapidly astern. + </p> + <p> + All this while storms of maledictions were hurled on Israel. But their + exertions at the ropes prevented his shipmates for the time from using + personal violence. While observing their efforts, Israel could not but say + to himself, "These fellows are as brave as they are brutal." + </p> + <p> + Soon the stranger was seen dimly wallowing along astern, crowding all sail + in chase, while now and then her bow-gun, showing its red tongue, bellowed + after them like a mad bull. Two more shots struck the cutter, but without + materially damaging her sails, or the ropes immediately upholding them. + Several of her less important stays were sundered, however, whose loose + tarry ends lashed the air like scorpions. It seemed not improbable that, + owing to her superior sailing, the keen cutter would yet get clear. + </p> + <p> + At this juncture Israel, running towards the captain, who still held the + splintered stump of the tiller, stood full before him, saying, "I am an + enemy, a Yankee, look to yourself." + </p> + <p> + "Help here, lads, help," roared the captain, "a traitor, a traitor!" + </p> + <p> + The words were hardly out of his mouth when his voice was silenced for + ever. With one prodigious heave of his whole physical force, Israel smote + him over the taffrail into the sea, as if the man had fallen backwards + over a teetering chair. By this time the two officers were hurrying aft. + Ere meeting them midway, Israel, quick as lightning, cast off the two + principal halyards, thus letting the large sails all in a tumble of + canvass to the deck. Next moment one of the officers was at the helm, to + prevent the cutter from capsizing by being without a steersman in such an + emergency. The other officer and Israel interlocked. The battle was in the + midst of the chaos of blowing canvass. Caught in a rent of the sail, the + officer slipped and fell near the sharp iron edge of the hatchway. As he + fell he caught Israel by the most terrible part in which mortality can be + grappled. Insane with pain, Israel dashed his adversary's skull against + the sharp iron. The officer's hold relaxed, but himself stiffened. Israel + made for the helmsman, who as yet knew not the issue of the late tussle. + He caught him round the loins, bedding his fingers like grisly claws into + his flesh, and hugging him to his heart. The man's ghost, caught like a + broken cork in a gurgling bottle's neck, gasped with the embrace. + Loosening him suddenly, Israel hurled him from him against the bulwarks. + That instant another report was heard, followed by the savage hail—"You + down sail at last, do ye? I'm a good mind to sink ye for your scurvy + trick. Pull down that dirty rag there, astern!" + </p> + <p> + With a loud huzza, Israel hauled down the flag with one hand, while with + the other he helped the now slowly gliding craft from falling off before + the wind. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments a boat was alongside. As its commander stepped to the + deck he stumbled against the body of the first officer, which, owing to + the sudden slant of the cutter in coming to the wind, had rolled against + the side near the gangway. As he came aft he heard the moan of the other + officer, where he lay under the mizzen shrouds. + </p> + <p> + "What is all this?" demanded the stranger of Israel. + </p> + <p> + "It means that I am a Yankee impressed into the king's service, and for + their pains I have taken the cutter." + </p> + <p> + Giving vent to his surprise, the officer looked narrowly at the body by + the shrouds, and said, "This man is as good as dead, but we will take him + to Captain Paul as a witness in your behalf." + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul?—Paul Jones?" cried Israel. + </p> + <p> + "The same." + </p> + <p> + "I thought so. I thought that was his voice hailing. It was Captain Paul's + voice that somehow put me up to this deed." + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul is the devil for putting men up to be tigers. But where are + the rest of the crew?" + </p> + <p> + "Overboard." + </p> + <p> + "What?" cried the officer; "come on board the Ranger. Captain Paul will + use you for a broadside." + </p> + <p> + Taking the moaning man along with them, and leaving the cutter untenanted + by any living soul, the boat now left her for the enemy's ship. But ere + they reached it the man had expired. + </p> + <p> + Standing foremost on the deck, crowded with three hundred men, as Israel + climbed the side, he saw, by the light of battle-lanterns, a small, smart, + brigandish-looking man, wearing a Scotch bonnet, with a gold band to it. + </p> + <p> + "You rascal," said this person, "why did your paltry smack give me this + chase? Where's the rest of your gang?" + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul," said Israel, "I believe I remember you. I believe I + offered you my bed in Paris some months ago. How is Poor Richard?" + </p> + <p> + "God! Is this the courier? The Yankee courier? But how now? in an English + revenue cutter?" + </p> + <p> + "Impressed, sir; that's the way." + </p> + <p> + "But where's the rest of them?" demanded Paul, turning to the officer. + </p> + <p> + Thereupon the officer very briefly told Paul what Israel told him. + </p> + <p> + "Are we to sink the cutter, sir?" said the gunner, now advancing towards + Captain Paul. "If it is to be done, now is the time. She is close under + us, astern; a few guns pointed downwards will settle her like a shotted + corpse." + </p> + <p> + "No. Let her drift into Penzance, an anonymous earnest of what the + whitesquall in Paul Jones intends for the future." + </p> + <p> + Then giving directions as to the course of the ship, with an order for + himself to be called at the first glimpse of a sail, Paul took Israel down + with him into his cabin. + </p> + <p> + "Tell me your story now, my yellow lion. How was it all? Don't stand, sit + right down there on the transom. I'm a democratic sort of sea-king. Plump + on the woolsack, I say, and spin the yarn. But hold; you want some grog + first." + </p> + <p> + As Paul handed the flagon, Israel's eye fell upon his hand. + </p> + <p> + "You don't wear any rings now, Captain, I see. Left them in Paris for + safety." + </p> + <p> + "Aye, with a certain marchioness there," replied Paul, with a dandyish + look of sentimental conceit, which sat strangely enough on his otherwise + grim and Fejee air. + </p> + <p> + "I should think rings would be somewhat inconvenient at sea," resumed + Israel. "On my first voyage to the West Indies, I wore a girl's ring on my + middle finger here, and it wasn't long before, what with hauling wet + ropes, and what not, it got a kind of grown down into the flesh, and + pained me very bad, let me tell you, it hugged the finger so." + </p> + <p> + "And did the girl grow as close to your heart, lad?" + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Captain, girls grow themselves off quicker than we grow them on." + </p> + <p> + "Some experience with the countesses as well as myself, eh? But the story; + wave your yellow mane, my lion—the story." + </p> + <p> + So Israel went on and told the story in all particulars. + </p> + <p> + At its conclusion Captain Paul eyed him very earnestly. His wild, lonely + heart, incapable of sympathizing with cuddled natures made humdrum by long + exemption from pain, was yet drawn towards a being, who in desperation of + friendlessness, something like his own, had so fiercely waged battle + against tyrannical odds. + </p> + <p> + "Did you go to sea young, lad?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, pretty young." + </p> + <p> + "I went at twelve, from Whitehaven. Only so high," raising his hand some + four feet from the deck. "I was so small, and looked so queer in my little + blue jacket, that they called me the monkey. They'll call me something + else before long. Did you ever sail out of Whitehaven?" + </p> + <p> + "No, Captain." + </p> + <p> + "If you had, you'd have heard sad stories about me. To this hour they say + there that I—bloodthirsty, coward dog that I am—flogged a + sailor, one Mungo Maxwell, to death. It's a lie, by Heaven! I flogged him, + for he was a mutinous scamp. But he died naturally, some time afterwards, + and on board another ship. But why talk? They didn't believe the + affidavits of others taken before London courts, triumphantly acquitting + me; how then will they credit <i>my</i> interested words? If slander, + however much a lie, once gets hold of a man, it will stick closer than + fair fame, as black pitch sticks closer than white cream. But let 'em + slander. I will give the slanderers matter for curses. When last I left + Whitehaven, I swore never again to set foot on her pier, except, like + Caesar, at Sandwich, as a foreign invader. Spring under me, good ship; on + you I bound to my vengeance!" + </p> + <p> + Men with poignant feelings, buried under an air of care-free self command, + are never proof to the sudden incitements of passion. Though in the main + they may control themselves, yet if they but once permit the smallest + vent, then they may bid adieu to all self-restraint, at least for that + time. Thus with Paul on the present occasion. His sympathy with Israel had + prompted this momentary ebullition. When it was gone by, he seemed not a + little to regret it. But he passed it over lightly, saying, "You see, my + fine fellow, what sort of a bloody cannibal I am. Will you be a sailor of + mine? A sailor of the Captain who flogged poor Mungo Maxwell to death?" + </p> + <p> + "I will be very happy, Captain Paul, to be sailor under the man who will + yet, I dare say, help flog the British nation to death." + </p> + <p> + "You hate 'em, do ye?" + </p> + <p> + "Like snakes. For months they've hunted me as a dog," half howled and half + wailed Israel, at the memory of all he had suffered. + </p> + <p> + "Give me your hand, my lion; wave your wild flax again. By Heaven, you + hate so well, I love ye. You shall be my confidential man; stand sentry at + my cabin door; sleep in the cabin; steer my boat; keep by my side whenever + I land. What do you say?" + </p> + <p> + "I say I'm glad to hear you." + </p> + <p> + "You are a good, brave soul. You are the first among the millions of + mankind that I ever naturally took to. Come, you are tired. There, go into + that state-room for to-night—it's mine. You offered me your bed in + Paris." + </p> + <p> + "But you begged off, Captain, and so must I. Where do you sleep?" + </p> + <p> + "Lad, I don't sleep half a night out of three. My clothes have not been + off now for five days." + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Captain, you sleep so little and scheme so much, you will die young." + </p> + <p> + "I know it: I want to: I mean to. Who would live a doddered old stump? + What do you think of my Scotch bonnet?" + </p> + <p> + "It looks well on you, Captain." + </p> + <p> + "Do you think so? A Scotch bonnet, though, ought to look well on a + Scotchman. I'm such by birth. Is the gold band too much?" + </p> + <p> + "I like the gold band, Captain. It looks something as I should think a + crown might on a king." + </p> + <p> + "Aye?" + </p> + <p> + "You would make a better-looking king than George III." + </p> + <p> + "Did you ever see that old granny? Waddles about in farthingales, and + carries a peacock fan, don't he? Did you ever see him?" + </p> + <p> + "Was as close to him as I am to you now, Captain. In Kew Gardens it was, + where I worked gravelling the walks. I was all alone with him, talking for + some ten minutes." + </p> + <p> + "By Jove, what a chance! Had I but been there! What an opportunity for + kidnapping a British king, and carrying him off in a fast sailing smack to + Boston, a hostage for American freedom. But what did you? Didn't you try + to do something to him?" + </p> + <p> + "I had a wicked thought or two, Captain, but I got the better of it. + Besides, the king behaved handsomely towards me; yes, like a true man. God + bless him for it. But it was before that, that I got the better of the + wicked thought." + </p> + <p> + "Ah, meant to stick him, I suppose. Glad you didn't. It would have been + very shabby. Never kill a king, but make him captive. He looks better as a + led horse, than a dead carcass. I propose now, this trip, falling on the + grounds of the Earl of Selkirk, a privy counsellor and particular private + friend of George III. But I won't hurt a hair of his head. When I get him + on board here, he shall lodge in my best state-room, which I mean to hang + with damask for him. I shall drink wine with him, and be very friendly; + take him to America, and introduce his lordship into the best circles + there; only I shall have him accompanied on his calls by a sentry or two + disguised as valets. For the Earl's to be on sale, mind; so much ransom; + that is, the nobleman, Lord Selkirk, shall have a bodily price pinned on + his coat-tail, like any slave up at auction in Charleston. But, my lad + with the yellow mane, you very strangely draw out my secrets. And yet you + don't talk. Your honesty is a magnet which attracts my sincerity. But I + rely on your fidelity." + </p> + <p> + "I shall be a vice to your plans, Captain Paul. I will receive, but I + won't let go, unless you alone loose the screw." + </p> + <p> + "Well said. To bed now; you ought to. I go on deck. Good night, + ace-of-hearts." + </p> + <p> + "That is fitter for yourself, Captain Paul, lonely leader of the suit." + </p> + <p> + "Lonely? Aye, but number one cannot but be lonely, my trump." + </p> + <p> + "Again I give it back. Ace-of-trumps may it prove to you, Captain Paul; + may it be impossible for you ever to be taken. But for me—poor + deuce, a trey, that comes in your wake—any king or knave may take + me, as before now the knaves have." + </p> + <p> + "Tut, tut, lad; never be more cheery for another than for yourself. But a + fagged body fags the soul. To hammock, to hammock! while I go on deck to + clap on more sail to your cradle." + </p> + <p> + And they separated for that night. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV.— THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA. + </h2> + <p> + Next morning Israel was appointed quartermaster—a subaltern selected + from the common seamen, and whose duty mostly stations him in the stern of + the ship, where the captain walks. His business is to carry the glass on + the look-out for sails; hoist or lower the colors; and keep an eye on the + helmsman. Picked out from the crew for their superior respectability and + intelligence, as well as for their excellent seamanship, it is not unusual + to find the quartermasters of an armed ship on peculiarly easy terms with + the commissioned officers and captain. This birth, therefore, placed + Israel in official contiguity to Paul, and without subjecting either to + animadversion, made their public intercourse on deck almost as familiar as + their unrestrained converse in the cabin. + </p> + <p> + It was a fine cool day in the beginning of April. They were now off the + coast of Wales, whose lofty mountains, crested with snow, presented a + Norwegian aspect. The wind was fair, and blew with a strange, bestirring + power. The ship—running between Ireland and England, northwards, + towards the Irish Sea, the inmost heart of the British waters—seemed, + as she snortingly shook the spray from her bow, to be conscious of the + dare-devil defiance of the soul which conducted her on this anomalous + cruise. Sailing alone from out a naval port of France, crowded with + ships-of-the-line, Paul Jones, in his small craft, went forth in + single-armed championship against the English host. Armed with but the + sling-stones in his one shot-locker, like young David of old, Paul bearded + the British giant of Gath. It is not easy, at the present day, to conceive + the hardihood of this enterprise. It was a marching up to the muzzle; the + act of one who made no compromise with the cannonadings of danger or + death; such a scheme as only could have inspired a heart which held at + nothing all the prescribed prudence of war, and every obligation of peace; + combining in one breast the vengeful indignation and bitter ambition of an + outraged hero, with the uncompunctuous desperation of a renegade. In one + view, the Coriolanus of the sea; in another, a cross between the gentleman + and the wolf. + </p> + <p> + As Paul stood on the elevated part of the quarter-deck, with none but his + confidential quartermaster near him, he yielded to Israel's natural + curiosity to learn something concerning the sailing of the expedition. + Paul stood lightly, swaying his body over the sea, by holding on to the + mizzen-shrouds, an attitude not inexpressive of his easy audacity; while + near by, pacing a few steps to and fro, his long spy-glass now under his + arm, and now presented at his eye, Israel, looking the very image of + vigilant prudence, listened to the warrior's story. It appeared that on + the night of the visit of the Duke de Chartres and Count D'Estaing to + Doctor Franklin in Paris—the same night that Captain Paul and Israel + were joint occupants of the neighboring chamber—the final sanction + of the French king to the sailing of an American armament against England, + under the direction of the Colonial Commissioner, was made known to the + latter functionary. It was a very ticklish affair. Though swaying on the + brink of avowed hostilities with England, no verbal declaration had as yet + been made by France. Undoubtedly, this enigmatic position of things was + highly advantageous to such an enterprise as Paul's. + </p> + <p> + Without detailing all the steps taken through the united efforts of + Captain Paul and Doctor Franklin, suffice it that the determined rover had + now attained his wish—the unfettered command of an armed ship in the + British waters; a ship legitimately authorized to hoist the American + colors, her commander having in his cabin-locker a regular commission as + an officer of the American navy. He sailed without any instructions. With + that rare insight into rare natures which so largely distinguished the + sagacious Franklin, the sage well knew that a prowling <i>brave</i>, like + Paul Jones, was, like the prowling lion, by nature a solitary warrior. + "Let him alone," was the wise man's answer to some statesman who sought to + hamper Paul with a letter of instructions. + </p> + <p> + Much subtile casuistry has been expended upon the point, whether Paul + Jones was a knave or a hero, or a union of both. But war and warriors, + like politics and politicians, like religion and religionists, admit of no + metaphysics. + </p> + <p> + On the second day after Israel's arrival on board the Ranger, as he and + Paul were conversing on the deck, Israel suddenly levelling his glass + towards the Irish coast, announced a large sail bound in. The Ranger gave + chase, and soon, almost within sight of her destination—the port of + Dublin—the stranger was taken, manned, and turned round for Brest. + </p> + <p> + The Ranger then stood over, passed the Isle of Man towards the Cumberland + shore, arriving within remote sight of Whitehaven about sunset. At dark + she was hovering off the harbor, with a party of volunteers all ready to + descend. But the wind shifted and blew fresh with a violent sea. + </p> + <p> + "I won't call on old friends in foul weather," said Captain Paul to + Israel. "We'll saunter about a little, and leave our cards in a day or + two." + </p> + <p> + Next morning, in Glentinebay, on the south shore of Scotland, they fell in + with a revenue wherry. It was the practice of such craft to board merchant + vessels. The Ranger was disguised as a merchantman, presenting a broad + drab-colored belt all round her hull; under the coat of a Quaker, + concealing the intent of a Turk. It was expected that the chartered rover + would come alongside the unchartered one. But the former took to flight, + her two lug sails staggering under a heavy wind, which the pursuing guns + of the Ranger pelted with a hail-storm of shot. The wherry escaped, spite + the severe cannonade. + </p> + <p> + Off the Mull of Galoway, the day following, Paul found himself so nigh a + large barley-freighted Scotch coaster, that, to prevent her carrying + tidings of him to land, he dispatched her with the news, stern foremost, + to Hades; sinking her, and sowing her barley in the sea broadcast by a + broadside. From her crew he learned that there was a fleet of twenty or + thirty sail at anchor in Lochryan, with an armed brigantine. He pointed + his prow thither; but at the mouth of the lock, the wind turned against + him again in hard squalls. He abandoned the project. Shortly after, he + encountered a sloop from Dublin. He sunk her to prevent intelligence. + </p> + <p> + Thus, seeming as much to bear the elemental commission of Nature, as the + military warrant of Congress, swarthy Paul darted hither and thither; + hovering like a thundercloud off the crowded harbors; then, beaten off by + an adverse wind, discharging his lightnings on uncompanioned vessels, + whose solitude made them a more conspicuous and easier mark, like lonely + trees on the heath. Yet all this while the land was full of garrisons, the + embayed waters full of fleets. With the impunity of a Levanter, Paul + skimmed his craft in the land-locked heart of the supreme naval power of + earth; a torpedo-eel, unknowingly swallowed by Britain in a draught of old + ocean, and making sad havoc with her vitals. + </p> + <p> + Seeing next a large vessel steering for the Clyde, he gave chase, hoping + to cut her off. The stranger proving a fast sailer, the pursuit was urged + on with vehemence, Paul standing, plank-proud, on the quarter-deck, + calling for pulls upon every rope, to stretch each already half-burst sail + to the uttermost. + </p> + <p> + While thus engaged, suddenly a shadow, like that thrown by an eclipse, was + seen rapidly gaining along the deck, with a sharp defined line, plain as a + seam of the planks. It involved all before it. It was the domineering + shadow of the Juan Fernandez-like crag of Ailsa. The Ranger was in the + deep water which makes all round and close up to this great summit of the + submarine Grampians. + </p> + <p> + The crag, more than a mile in circuit, is over a thousand feet high, eight + miles from the Ayrshire shore. There stands the cove, lonely as a + foundling, proud as Cheops. But, like the battered brains surmounting the + Giant of Gath, its haughty summit is crowned by a desolate castle, in and + out of whose arches the aerial mists eddy like purposeless phantoms, + thronging the soul of some ruinous genius, who, even in overthrow, harbors + none but lofty conceptions. + </p> + <p> + As the Ranger shot higher under the crag, its height and bulk dwarfed both + pursuer and pursued into nutshells. The main-truck of the Ranger was nine + hundred feet below the foundations of the ruin on the crag's top: + </p> + <p> + While the ship was yet under the shadow, and each seaman's face shared in + the general eclipse, a sudden change came over Paul. He issued no more + sultanical orders. He did not look so elate as before. At length he gave + the command to discontinue the chase. Turning about, they sailed + southward. + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul," said Israel, shortly afterwards, "you changed your mind + rather queerly about catching that craft. But you thought she was drawing + us too far up into the land, I suppose." + </p> + <p> + "Sink the craft," cried Paul; "it was not any fear of her, nor of King + George, which made me turn on my heel; it was yon cock of the walk." + </p> + <p> + "Cock of the walk?" + </p> + <p> + "Aye, cock of the walk of the sea; look—yon Crag of Ailsa." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI.— THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON + WHITEHAVEN. + </h2> + <p> + Next day, off Carrickfergus, on the Irish coast, a fishing boat, allured + by the Quaker-like look of the incognito craft, came off in full + confidence. Her men were seized, their vessel sunk. From them Paul learned + that the large ship at anchor in the road, was the ship-of-war Drake, of + twenty guns. Upon this he steered away, resolving to return secretly, and + attack her that night. + </p> + <p> + "Surely, Captain Paul," said Israel to his commander, as about sunset they + backed and stood in again for the land "surely, sir, you are not going + right in among them this way? Why not wait till she comes out?" + </p> + <p> + "Because, Yellow-hair, my boy, I am engaged to marry her to-night. The + bride's friends won't like the match; and so, this very night, the bride + must be carried away. She has a nice tapering waist, hasn't she, through + the glass? Ah! I will clasp her to my heart." + </p> + <p> + He steered straight in like a friend; under easy sail, lounging towards + the Drake, with anchor ready to drop, and grapnels to hug. But the wind + was high; the anchor was not dropped at the ordered time. The ranger came + to a stand three biscuits' toss off the unmisgiving enemy's quarter, like + a peaceful merchantman from the Canadas, laden with harmless lumber. + </p> + <p> + "I shan't marry her just yet," whispered Paul, seeing his plans for the + time frustrated. Gazing in audacious tranquillity upon the decks of the + enemy, and amicably answering her hail, with complete self-possession, he + commanded the cable to be slipped, and then, as if he had accidentally + parted his anchor, turned his prow on the seaward tack, meaning to return + again immediately with the same prospect of advantage possessed at first—his + plan being to crash suddenly athwart the Drake's bow, so as to have all + her decks exposed point-blank to his musketry. But once more the winds + interposed. It came on with a storm of snow; he was obliged to give up his + project. + </p> + <p> + Thus, without any warlike appearance, and giving no alarm, Paul, like an + invisible ghost, glided by night close to land, actually came to anchor, + for an instant, within speaking-distance of an English ship-of-war; and + yet came, anchored, answered hail, reconnoitered, debated, decided, and + retired, without exciting the least suspicion. His purpose was chain-shot + destruction. So easily may the deadliest foe—so he be but dexterous—slide, + undreamed of, into human harbors or hearts. And not awakened conscience, + but mere prudence, restrain such, if they vanish again without doing harm. + At daybreak no soul in Carrickfergus knew that the devil, in a Scotch + bonnet, had passed close that way over night. + </p> + <p> + Seldom has regicidal daring been more strangely coupled with octogenarian + prudence, than in many of the predatory enterprises of Paul. It is this + combination of apparent incompatibilities which ranks him among + extraordinary warriors. + </p> + <p> + Ere daylight, the storm of the night blew over. The sun saw the Ranger + lying midway over channel at the head of the Irish Sea; England, Scotland, + and Ireland, with all their lofty cliffs, being as simultaneously as + plainly in sight beyond the grass-green waters, as the City Hall, St. + Paul's, and the Astor House, from the triangular Park in New York. The + three kingdoms lay covered with snow, far as the eye could reach. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, Yellow-hair," said Paul, with a smile, "they show the white flag, the + cravens. And, while the white flag stays blanketing yonder heights, we'll + make for Whitehaven, my boy. I promised to drop in there a moment ere + quitting the country for good. Israel, lad, I mean to step ashore in + person, and have a personal hand in the thing. Did you ever drive spikes?" + </p> + <p> + "I've driven the spike-teeth into harrows before now," replied Israel; + "but that was before I was a sailor." + </p> + <p> + "Well, then, driving spikes into harrows is a good introduction to driving + spikes into cannon. You are just the man. Put down your glass; go to the + carpenter, get a hundred spikes, put them in a bucket with a hammer, and + bring all to me." + </p> + <p> + As evening fell, the great promontory of St. Bee's Head, with its + lighthouse, not far from Whitehaven, was in distant sight. But the wind + became so light that Paul could not work his ship in close enough at an + hour as early as intended. His purpose had been to make the descent and + retire ere break of day. But though this intention was frustrated, he did + not renounce his plan, for the present would be his last opportunity. + </p> + <p> + As the night wore on, and the ship, with a very light wind, glided nigher + and nigher the mark, Paul called upon Israel to produce his bucket for + final inspection. Thinking some of the spikes too large, he had them filed + down a little. He saw to the lanterns and combustibles. Like Peter the + Great, he went into the smallest details, while still possessing a genius + competent to plan the aggregate. But oversee as one may, it is impossible + to guard against carelessness in subordinates. One's sharp eyes can't see + behind one's back. It will yet be noted that an important omission was + made in the preparations for Whitehaven. + </p> + <p> + The town contained, at that period, a population of some six or seven + thousand inhabitants, defended by forts. + </p> + <p> + At midnight, Paul Jones, Israel Potter, and twenty-nine others, rowed in + two boats to attack the six or seven thousand inhabitants of Whitehaven. + There was a long way to pull. This was done in perfect silence. Not a + sound was heard except the oars turning in the row-locks. Nothing was seen + except the two lighthouses of the harbor. Through the stillness and the + darkness, the two deep-laden boats swam into the haven, like two + mysterious whales from the Arctic Sea. As they reached the outer pier, the + men saw each other's faces. The day was dawning. The riggers and other + artisans of the shipping would before very long be astir. No matter. + </p> + <p> + The great staple exported from Whitehaven was then, and still is, coal. + The town is surrounded by mines; the town is built on mines; the ships + moor over mines. The mines honeycomb the land in all directions, and + extend in galleries of grottoes for two miles under the sea. By the + falling in of the more ancient collieries numerous houses have been + swallowed, as if by an earthquake, and a consternation spread, like that + of Lisbon, in 1755. So insecure and treacherous was the site of the place + now about to be assailed by a desperado, nursed, like the coal, in its + vitals. + </p> + <p> + Now, sailing on the Thames, nigh its mouth, of fair days, when the wind is + favorable for inward-bound craft, the stranger will sometimes see + processions of vessels, all of similar size and rig, stretching for miles + and miles, like a long string of horses tied two and two to a rope and + driven to market. These are colliers going to London with coal. + </p> + <p> + About three hundred of these vessels now lay, all crowded together, in one + dense mob, at Whitehaven. The tide was out. They lay completely helpless, + clear of water, and grounded. They were sooty in hue. Their black yards + were deeply canted, like spears, to avoid collision. The three hundred + grimy hulls lay wallowing in the mud, like a herd of hippopotami asleep in + the alluvium of the Nile. Their sailless, raking masts, and canted yards, + resembled a forest of fish-spears thrust into those same hippopotamus + hides. Partly flanking one side of the grounded fleet was a fort, whose + batteries were raised from the beach. On a little strip of this beach, at + the base of the fort, lay a number of small rusty guns, dismounted, heaped + together in disorder, as a litter of dogs. Above them projected the + mounted cannon. + </p> + <p> + Paul landed in his own boat at the foot of this fort. He dispatched the + other boat to the north side of the haven, with orders to fire the + shipping there. Leaving two men at the beach, he then proceeded to get + possession of the fort. + </p> + <p> + "Hold on to the bucket, and give me your shoulder," said he to Israel. + </p> + <p> + Using Israel for a ladder, in a trice he scaled the wall. The bucket and + the men followed. He led the way softly to the guard-house, burst in, and + bound the sentinels in their sleep. Then arranging his force, ordered four + men to spike the cannon there. + </p> + <p> + "Now, Israel, your bucket, and follow me to the other fort." + </p> + <p> + The two went alone about a quarter of a mile. + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul," said Israel, on the way, "can we two manage the + sentinels?" + </p> + <p> + "There are none in the fort we go to." + </p> + <p> + "You know all about the place, Captain?" + </p> + <p> + "Pretty well informed on that subject, I believe. Come along. Yes, lad, I + am tolerably well acquainted with Whitehaven. And this morning intend that + Whitehaven shall have a slight inkling of <i>me</i>. Come on. Here we + are." + </p> + <p> + Scaling the walls, the two involuntarily stood for an instant gazing upon + the scene. The gray light of the dawn showed the crowded houses and + thronged ships with a haggard distinctness. + </p> + <p> + "Spike and hammer, lad;—so,—now follow me along, as I go, and + give me a spike for every cannon. I'll tongue-tie the thunderers. Speak no + more!" and he spiked the first gun. "Be a mute," and he spiked the second. + "Dumbfounder thee," and he spiked the third. And so, on, and on, and on, + Israel following him with the bucket, like a footman, or some charitable + gentleman with a basket of alms. + </p> + <p> + "There, it is done. D'ye see the fire yet, lad, from the south? I don't." + </p> + <p> + "Not a spark, Captain. But day-sparks come on in the east." + </p> + <p> + "Forked flames into the hounds! What are they about? Quick, let us back to + the first fort; perhaps something has happened, and they are there." + </p> + <p> + Sure enough, on their return from spiking the cannon, Paul and Israel + found the other boat back, the crew in confusion, their lantern having + burnt out at the very instant they wanted it. By a singular fatality the + other lantern, belonging to Paul's boat, was likewise extinguished. No + tinder-box had been brought. They had no matches but sulphur matches. + Locofocos were not then known. + </p> + <p> + The day came on apace. + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul," said the lieutenant of the second boat, "it is madness to + stay longer. See!" and he pointed to the town, now plainly discernible in + the gray light. + </p> + <p> + "Traitor, or coward!" howled Paul, "how came the lanterns out? Israel, my + lion, now prove your blood. Get me a light—but one spark!" + </p> + <p> + "Has any man here a bit of pipe and tobacco in his pocket?" said Israel. + </p> + <p> + A sailor quickly produced an old stump of a pipe, with tobacco. + </p> + <p> + "That will do," and Israel hurried away towards the town. + </p> + <p> + "What will the loon do with the pipe?" said one. "And where goes he?" + cried another. + </p> + <p> + "Let him alone," said Paul. + </p> + <p> + The invader now disposed his whole force so as to retreat at an instant's + warning. Meantime the hardy Israel, long experienced in all sorts of + shifts and emergencies, boldly ventured to procure, from some inhabitant + of Whitehaven, a spark to kindle all Whitehaven's habitations in flames. + </p> + <p> + There was a lonely house standing somewhat disjointed from the town, some + poor laborer's abode. Rapping at the door, Israel, pipe in mouth, begged + the inmates for a light for his tobacco. + </p> + <p> + "What the devil," roared a voice from within, "knock up a man this time of + night to light your pipe? Begone!" + </p> + <p> + "You are lazy this morning, my friend," replied Israel, "it is daylight. + Quick, give me a light. Don't you know your old friend? Shame! open the + door." + </p> + <p> + In a moment a sleepy fellow appeared, let down the bar, and Israel, + stalking into the dim room, piloted himself straight to the fire-place, + raked away the cinders, lighted his tobacco, and vanished. + </p> + <p> + All was done in a flash. The man, stupid with sleep, had looked on + bewildered. He reeled to the door, but, dodging behind a pile of bricks, + Israel had already hurried himself out of sight. + </p> + <p> + "Well done, my lion," was the hail he received from Paul, who, during his + absence, had mustered as many pipes as possible, in order to communicate + and multiply the fire. + </p> + <p> + Both boats now pulled to a favorable point of the principal pier of the + harbor, crowded close up to a part of which lay one wing of the colliers. + </p> + <p> + The men began to murmur at persisting in an attempt impossible to be + concealed much longer. They were afraid to venture on board the grim + colliers, and go groping down into their hulls to fire them. It seemed + like a voluntary entrance into dungeons and death. + </p> + <p> + "Follow me, all of you but ten by the boats," said Paul, without noticing + their murmurs. "And now, to put an end to all future burnings in America, + by one mighty conflagration of shipping in England. Come on, lads! Pipes + and matches in the van!" + </p> + <p> + He would have distributed the men so as simultaneously to fire different + ships at different points, were it not that the lateness of the hour + rendered such a course insanely hazardous. Stationing his party in front + of one of the windward colliers, Paul and Israel sprang on board. + </p> + <p> + In a twinkling they had broken open a boatswain's locker, and, with great + bunches of oakum, fine and dry as tinder, had leaped into the steerage. + Here, while Paul made a blaze, Israel ran to collect the tar-pots, which + being presently poured on the burning matches, oakum and wood, soon + increased the flame. + </p> + <p> + "It is not a sure thing yet," said Paul, "we must have a barrel of tar." + </p> + <p> + They searched about until they found one, knocked out the head and bottom, + and stood it like a martyr in the midst of the flames. They then retreated + up the forward hatchway, while volumes of smoke were belched from the + after one. Not till this moment did Paul hear the cries of his men, + warning him that the inhabitants were not only actually astir, but crowds + were on their way to the pier. + </p> + <p> + As he sprang out of the smoke towards the rail of the collier, he saw the + sun risen, with thousands of the people. Individuals hurried close to the + burning vessel. Leaping to the ground, Paul, bidding his men stand fast, + ran to their front, and, advancing about thirty feet, presented his own + pistol at now tumultuous Whitehaven. + </p> + <p> + Those who had rushed to extinguish what they had deemed but an accidental + fire, were now paralyzed into idiotic inaction, at the defiance of the + incendiary, thinking him some sudden pirate or fiend dropped down from the + moon. + </p> + <p> + While Paul thus stood guarding the incipient conflagration, Israel, + without a weapon, dashed crazily towards the mob on the shore. + </p> + <p> + "Come back, come back," cried Paul. + </p> + <p> + "Not till I start these sheep, as their own wolves many a time started + me!" + </p> + <p> + As he rushed bare-headed like a madman, towards the crowd, the panic + spread. They fled from unarmed Israel, further than they had from the + pistol of Paul. + </p> + <p> + The flames now catching the rigging and spiralling around the masts, the + whole ship burned at one end of the harbor, while the sun, an hour high, + burned at the other. Alarm and amazement, not sleep, now ruled the world. + It was time to retreat. + </p> + <p> + They re-embarked without opposition, first releasing a few prisoners, as + the boats could not carry them. + </p> + <p> + Just as Israel was leaping into the boat, he saw the man at whose house he + had procured the fire, staring like a simpleton at him. + </p> + <p> + "That was good seed you gave me;" said Israel, "see what a yield," + pointing to the flames. He then dropped into the boat, leaving only Paul + on the pier. + </p> + <p> + The men cried to their commander, conjuring him not to linger. + </p> + <p> + But Paul remained for several moments, confronting in silence the clamors + of the mob beyond, and waving his solitary hand, like a disdainful + tomahawk, towards the surrounding eminences, also covered with the + affrighted inhabitants. + </p> + <p> + When the assailants had rowed pretty well off, the English rushed in great + numbers to their forts, but only to find their cannon no better than so + much iron in the ore. At length, however, they began to fire, having + either brought down some ship's guns, or else mounted the rusty old dogs + lying at the foot of the first fort. + </p> + <p> + In their eagerness they fired with no discretion. The shot fell short; + they did not the slightest damage. + </p> + <p> + Paul's men laughed aloud, and fired their pistols in the air. + </p> + <p> + Not a splinter was made, not a drop of blood spilled throughout the + affair. The intentional harmlessness of the result, as to human life, was + only equalled by the desperate courage of the deed. It formed, doubtless, + one feature of the compassionate contempt of Paul towards the town, that + he took such paternal care of their lives and limbs. + </p> + <p> + Had it been possible to have landed a few hours earlier not a ship nor a + house could have escaped. But it was the lesson, not the loss, that told. + As it was, enough damage had been done to demonstrate—as Paul had + declared to the wise man of Paris—that the disasters caused by the + wanton fires and assaults on the American coasts, could be easily brought + home to the enemy's doors. Though, indeed, if the retaliators were headed + by Paul Jones, the satisfaction would not be equal to the insult, being + abated by the magnanimity of a chivalrous, however unprincipled a foe. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII.— THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK'S, AND AFTERWARDS + FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR DRAKE. + </h2> + <p> + The Ranger now stood over the Solway Frith for the Scottish shore, and at + noon on the same day, Paul, with twelve men, including two officers and + Israel, landed on St. Mary's Isle, one of the seats of the Earl of + Selkirk. + </p> + <p> + In three consecutive days this elemental warrior either entered the + harbors or landed on the shores of each of the Three Kingdoms. + </p> + <p> + The morning was fair and clear. St. Mary's Isle lay shimmering in the sun. + The light crust of snow had melted, revealing the tender grass and sweet + buds of spring mantling the sides of the cliffs. + </p> + <p> + At once, upon advancing with his party towards the house, Paul augured ill + for his project from the loneliness of the spot. No being was seen. But + cocking his bonnet at a jaunty angle, he continued his way. Stationing the + men silently round about the house, fallowed by Israel, he announced his + presence at the porch. + </p> + <p> + A gray-headed domestic at length responded. + </p> + <p> + "Is the Earl within?" + </p> + <p> + "He is in Edinburgh, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Ah—sure?—Is your lady within?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir—who shall I say it is?" + </p> + <p> + "A gentleman who calls to pay his respects. Here, take my card." + </p> + <p> + And he handed the man his name, as a private gentleman, superbly engraved + at Paris, on gilded paper. + </p> + <p> + Israel tarried in the hall while the old servant led Paul into a parlor. + </p> + <p> + Presently the lady appeared. + </p> + <p> + "Charming Madame, I wish you a very good morning." + </p> + <p> + "Who may it be, sir, that I have the happiness to see?" said the lady, + censoriously drawing herself up at the too frank gallantry of the + stranger. + </p> + <p> + "Madame, I sent you my card." + </p> + <p> + "Which leaves me equally ignorant, sir," said the lady, coldly, twirling + the gilded pasteboard. + </p> + <p> + "A courier dispatched to Whitehaven, charming Madame, might bring you more + particular tidings as to who has the honor of being your visitor." + </p> + <p> + Not comprehending what this meant, and deeply displeased, if not vaguely + alarmed, at the characteristic manner of Paul, the lady, not entirely + unembarrassed, replied, that if the gentleman came to view the isle, he + was at liberty so to do. She would retire and send him a guide. + </p> + <p> + "Countess of Selkirk," said Paul, advancing a step, "I call to see the + Earl. On business of urgent importance, I call." + </p> + <p> + "The Earl is in Edinburgh," uneasily responded the lady, again about to + retire. + </p> + <p> + "Do you give me your honor as a lady that it is as you say?" + </p> + <p> + The lady looked at him in dubious resentment. + </p> + <p> + "Pardon, Madame, I would not lightly impugn a lady's lightest word, but I + surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in which + case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to seek to + shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the isle." + </p> + <p> + "I do not dream what you mean by all this," said the lady with a decided + alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her dignity, as she + retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door. + </p> + <p> + "Madame," said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then + tenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an expression + poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face; "it cannot be + too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms, the officer of + fine feelings and genuine sensibility should be sometimes necessitated to + public actions which his own private heart cannot approve. This hard case + is mine. The Earl, Madame, you say is absent. I believe those words. Far + be it from my soul, enchantress, to ascribe a fault to syllables which + have proceeded from so faultless a source." + </p> + <p> + This probably he said in reference to the lady's mouth, which was + beautiful in the extreme. + </p> + <p> + He bowed very lowly, while the lady eyed him with conflicting and troubled + emotions, but as yet all in darkness as to his ultimate meaning. But her + more immediate alarm had subsided, seeing now that the sailor-like + extravagance of Paul's homage was entirely unaccompanied with any touch of + intentional disrespect. Indeed, hyperbolical as were his phrases, his + gestures and whole carriage were most heedfully deferential. + </p> + <p> + Paul continued: "The Earl, Madame, being absent, and he being the sole + object of my call, you cannot labor under the least apprehension, when I + now inform you, that I have the honor of being an officer in the American + Navy, who, having stopped at this isle to secure the person of the Earl of + Selkirk as a hostage for the American cause, am, by your assurances, + turned away from that intent; pleased, even in disappointment, since that + disappointment has served to prolong my interview with the noble lady + before me, as well as to leave her domestic tranquillity unimpaired." + </p> + <p> + "Can you really speak true?" said the lady in undismayed wonderment. + </p> + <p> + "Madame, through your window you will catch a little peep of the American + colonial ship-of-war, Ranger, which I have the honor to command. With my + best respects to your lord, and sincere regrets at not finding him at + home, permit me to salute your ladyship's hand and withdraw." + </p> + <p> + But feigning not to notice this Parisian proposition, and artfully + entrenching her hand, without seeming to do so, the lady, in a + conciliatory tone, begged her visitor to partake of some refreshment ere + he departed, at the same time thanking him for his great civility. But + declining these hospitalities, Paul bowed thrice and quitted the room. + </p> + <p> + In the hall he encountered Israel, standing all agape before a Highland + target of steel, with a claymore and foil crossed on top. + </p> + <p> + "Looks like a pewter platter and knife and fork, Captain Paul." + </p> + <p> + "So they do, my lion; but come, curse it, the old cock has flown; fine + hen, though, left in the nest; no use; we must away empty-handed." + </p> + <p> + "Why, ain't Mr. Selkirk in?" demanded Israel in roguish concern. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Selkirk? Alexander Selkirk, you mean. No, lad, he's not on the Isle + of St. Mary's; he's away off, a hermit, on the Isle of Juan Fernandez—the + more's the pity; come." + </p> + <p> + In the porch they encountered the two officers. Paul briefly informed them + of the circumstances, saying, nothing remained but to depart forthwith. + </p> + <p> + "With nothing at all for our pains?" murmured the two officers. + </p> + <p> + "What, pray, would you have?" + </p> + <p> + "Some pillage, to be sure—plate." + </p> + <p> + "Shame. I thought we were three gentlemen." + </p> + <p> + "So are the English officers in America; but they help themselves to plate + whenever they can get it from the private houses of the enemy." + </p> + <p> + "Come, now, don't be slanderous," said Paul; "these officers you speak of + are but one or two out of twenty, mere burglars and light-fingered gentry, + using the king's livery but as a disguise to their nefarious trade. The + rest are men of honor." + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul Jones," responded the two, "we have not come on this + expedition in much expectation of regular pay; but we <i>did</i> rely upon + honorable plunder." + </p> + <p> + "Honorable plunder! That's something new." + </p> + <p> + But the officers were not to be turned aside. They were the most efficient + in the ship. Seeing them resolute, Paul, for fear of incensing them, was + at last, as a matter of policy, obliged to comply. For himself, however, + he resolved to have nothing to do with the affair. Charging the officers + not to allow the men to enter the house on any pretence, and that no + search must be made, and nothing must be taken away, except what the lady + should offer them upon making known their demand, he beckoned to Israel + and retired indignantly towards the beach. Upon second thoughts, he + dispatched Israel back, to enter the house with the officers, as joint + receiver of the plate, he being, of course, the most reliable of the + seamen. + </p> + <p> + The lady was not a little disconcerted on receiving the officers. With + cool determination they made known their purpose. There was no escape. The + lady retired. The butler came; and soon, several silver salvers, and other + articles of value, were silently deposited in the parlor in the presence + of the officers and Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Mister Butler," said Israel, "let me go into the dairy and help to carry + the milk-pans." + </p> + <p> + But, scowling upon this rusticity, or roguishness—he knew not which—the + butler, in high dudgeon at Israel's republican familiarity, as well as + black as a thundercloud with the general insult offered to an illustrious + household by a party of armed thieves, as he viewed them, declined any + assistance. In a quarter of an hour the officers left the house, carrying + their booty. + </p> + <p> + At the porch they were met by a red-cheeked, spiteful-looking lass, who, + with her brave lady's compliments, added two child's rattles of silver and + coral to their load. + </p> + <p> + Now, one of the officers was a Frenchman, the other a Spaniard. + </p> + <p> + The Spaniard dashed his rattle indignantly to the ground. The Frenchman + took his very pleasantly, and kissed it, saying to the girl that he would + long preserve the coral, as a memento of her rosy cheeks. + </p> + <p> + When the party arrived on the beach, they found Captain Paul writing with + pencil on paper held up against the smooth tableted side of the cliff. + Next moment he seemed to be making his signature. With a reproachful + glance towards the two officers, he handed the slip to Israel, bidding him + hasten immediately with it to the house and place it in Lady Selkirk's own + hands. + </p> + <p> + The note was as follows: + </p> + <p> + "Madame: + </p> + <p> + "After so courteous a reception, I am disturbed to make you no better + return than you have just experienced from the actions of certain persons + under my command.—actions, lady, which my profession of arms obliges + me not only to brook, but, in a measure, to countenance. From the bottom + of my heart, my dear lady, I deplore this most melancholy necessity of my + delicate position. However unhandsome the desire of these men, some + complaisance seemed due them from me, for their general good conduct and + bravery on former occasions. I had but an instant to consider. I trust, + that in unavoidably gratifying them, I have inflicted less injury on your + ladyship's property than I have on my own bleeding sensibilities. But my + heart will not allow me to say more. Permit me to assure you, dear lady, + that when the plate is sold, I shall, at all hazards, become the + purchaser, and will be proud to restore it to you, by such conveyance as + you may hereafter see fit to appoint. + </p> + <p> + "From hence I go, Madame, to engage, to-morrow morning, his Majesty's + ship, Drake, of twenty guns, now lying at Carrickfergus. I should meet the + enemy with more than wonted resolution, could I flatter myself that, + through this unhandsome conduct on the part of my officers, I lie not + under the disesteem of the sweet lady of the Isle of St. Mary's. But + unconquerable as Mars should I be, could but dare to dream, that in some + green retreat of her charming domain, the Countess of Selkirk offers up a + charitable prayer for, my dear lady countess, one, who coming to take a + captive, himself has been captivated. + </p> + <p> + "Your ladyship's adoring enemy, + </p> + <h3> + "JOHN PAUL JONES." + </h3> + <p> + How the lady received this super-ardent note, history does not relate. But + history has not omitted to record, that after the return of the Ranger to + France, through the assiduous efforts of Paul in buying up the booty, + piece by piece, from the clutches of those among whom it had been divided, + and not without a pecuniary private loss to himself, equal to the total + value of the plunder, the plate was punctually restored, even to the + silver heads of two pepper-boxes; and, not only this, but the Earl, + hearing all the particulars, magnanimously wrote Paul a letter, expressing + thanks for his politeness. In the opinion of the noble Earl, Paul was a + man of honor. It were rash to differ in opinion with such high-born + authority. + </p> + <p> + Upon returning to the ship, she was instantly pointed over towards the + Irish coast. Next morning Carrickfergus was in sight. Paul would have gone + straight in; but Israel, reconnoitring with his glass, informed him that a + large ship, probably the Drake, was just coming out. + </p> + <p> + "What think you, Israel, do they know who we are? Let me have the glass." + </p> + <p> + "They are dropping a boat now, sir," replied Israel, removing the glass + from his eye, and handing it to Paul. + </p> + <p> + "So they are—so they are. They don't know us. I'll decoy that boat + alongside. Quick—they are coming for us—take the helm now + yourself, my lion, and keep the ship's stern steadily presented towards + the advancing boat. Don't let them have the least peep at our broadside." + </p> + <p> + The boat came on, an officer in its bow all the time eyeing the Ranger + through a glass. Presently the boat was within hail. + </p> + <p> + "Ship ahoy! Who are you?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, come alongside," answered Paul through his trumpet, in a rapid + off-hand tone, as though he were a gruff sort of friend, impatient at + being suspected for a foe. + </p> + <p> + In a few moments the officer of the boat stepped into the Ranger's + gangway. Cocking his bonnet gallantly, Paul advanced towards him, making a + very polite bow, saying: "Good morning, sir, good morning; delighted to + see you. That's a pretty sword you have; pray, let me look at it." + </p> + <p> + "I see," said the officer, glancing at the ship's armament, and turning + pale, "I am your prisoner." + </p> + <p> + "No—my guest," responded Paul, winningly. "Pray, let me relieve you + of your—your—cane." + </p> + <p> + Thus humorously he received the officer's delivered sword. + </p> + <p> + "Now tell me, sir, if you please," he continued, "what brings out his + Majesty's ship Drake this fine morning? Going a little airing?" + </p> + <p> + "She comes out in search of you, but when I left her side half an hour + since she did not know that the ship off the harbor was the one she + sought." + </p> + <p> + "You had news from Whitehaven, I suppose, last night, eh?" + </p> + <p> + "Aye: express; saying that certain incendiaries had landed there early + that morning." + </p> + <p> + "What?—what sort of men were they, did you say?" said Paul, shaking + his bonnet fiercely to one side of his head, and coming close to the + officer. "Pardon me," he added derisively, "I had forgot you are my <i>guest</i>. + Israel, see the unfortunate gentleman below, and his men forward." + </p> + <p> + The Drake was now seen slowly coming out under a light air, attended by + five small pleasure-vessels, decorated with flags and streamers, and full + of gaily-dressed people, whom motives similar to those which drew visitors + to the circus, had induced to embark on their adventurous trip. But they + little dreamed how nigh the desperate enemy was. + </p> + <p> + "Drop the captured boat astern," said Paul; "see what effect that will + have on those merry voyagers." + </p> + <p> + No sooner was the empty boat descried by the pleasure-vessels than + forthwith, surmising the truth, they with all diligence turned about and + re-entered the harbor. Shortly after, alarm-smokes were seen extending + along both sides of the channel. + </p> + <p> + "They smoke us at last, Captain Paul," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "There will be more smoke yet before the day is done," replied Paul, + gravely. + </p> + <p> + The wind was right under the land, the tide unfavorable. The Drake worked + out very slowly. + </p> + <p> + Meantime, like some fiery-heated duellist calling on urgent business at + frosty daybreak, and long kept waiting at the door by the dilatoriness of + his antagonist, shrinking at the idea of getting up to be cut to pieces in + the cold—the Ranger, with a better breeze, impatiently tacked to and + fro in the channel. At last, when the English vessel had fairly weathered + the point, Paul, ranging ahead, courteously led her forth, as a beau might + a belle in a ballroom, to mid-channel, and then suffered her to come + within hail. + </p> + <p> + "She is hoisting her colors now, sir," said Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Give her the stars and stripes, then, my lad." + </p> + <p> + Joyfully running to the locker, Israel attached the flag to the halyards. + The wind freshened. He stood elevated. The bright flag blew around him, a + glorified shroud, enveloping him in its red ribbons and spangles, like + up-springing tongues, and sparkles of flame. + </p> + <p> + As the colors rose to their final perch, and streamed in the air, Paul + eyed them exultingly. + </p> + <p> + "I first hoisted that flag on an American ship, and was the first among + men to get it saluted. If I perish this night, the name of Paul Jones + shall live. Hark! they hail us." + </p> + <p> + "What ship are you?" + </p> + <p> + "Your enemy. Come on! What wants the fellow of more prefaces and + introductions?" + </p> + <p> + The sun was now calmly setting over the green land of Ireland. The sky was + serene, the sea smooth, the wind just sufficient to waft the two vessels + steadily and gently. After the first firing and a little manoeuvring, the + two ships glided on freely, side by side; in that mild air Exchanging + their deadly broadsides, like two friendly horsemen walking their steeds + along a plain, chatting as they go. After an hour of this running fight, + the conversation ended. The Drake struck. How changed from the big craft + of sixty short minutes before! She seemed now, above deck, like a piece of + wild western woodland into which choppers had been. Her masts and yards + prostrate, and hanging in jack-straws; several of her sails ballooning + out, as they dragged in the sea, like great lopped tops of foliage. The + black hull and shattered stumps of masts, galled and riddled, looked as if + gigantic woodpeckers had been tapping them. + </p> + <p> + The Drake was the larger ship; more cannon; more men. Her loss in killed + and wounded was far the greater. Her brave captain and lieutenant were + mortally wounded. + </p> + <p> + The former died as the prize was boarded, the latter two days after. + </p> + <p> + It was twilight, the weather still severe. No cannonade, naught that mad + man can do, molests the stoical imperturbability of Nature, when Nature + chooses to be still. This weather, holding on through the following day, + greatly facilitated the refitting of the ships. That done, the two + vessels, sailing round the north of Ireland, steered towards Brest. They + were repeatedly chased by English cruisers, but safely reached their + anchorage in the French waters. + </p> + <p> + "A pretty fair four weeks' yachting, gentlemen," said Paul Jones, as the + Ranger swung to her cable, while some French officers boarded her. "I + bring two travellers with me, gentlemen," he continued. "Allow me to + introduce you to my particular friend Israel Potter, late of North + America, and also to his Britannic Majesty's ship Drake, late of + Carrickfergus, Ireland." + </p> + <p> + This cruise made loud fame for Paul, especially at the court of France, + whose king sent Paul, a sword and a medal. But poor Israel, who also had + conquered a craft, and all unaided too—what had he? + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII.— THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX. + </h2> + <p> + Three months after anchoring at Brest, through Dr. Franklin's negotiations + with the French king, backed by the bestirring ardor of Paul, a squadron + of nine vessels, of various force, were ready in the road of Groix for + another descent on the British coasts. These craft were miscellaneously + picked up, their crews a mongrel pack, the officers mostly French, + unacquainted with each other, and secretly jealous of Paul. The expedition + was full of the elements of insubordination and failure. Much bitterness + and agony resulted to a spirit like Paul's. But he bore up, and though in + many particulars the sequel more than warranted his misgivings, his soul + still refused to surrender. + </p> + <p> + The career of this stubborn adventurer signally illustrates the idea that + since all human affairs are subject to organic disorder, since they are + created in and sustained by a sort of half-disciplined chaos, hence he who + in great things seeks success must never wait for smooth water, which + never was and never will be, but, with what straggling method he can, dash + with all his derangements at his object, leaving the rest to Fortune. + </p> + <p> + Though nominally commander of the squadron, Paul was not so in effect. + Most of his captains conceitedly claimed independent commands. One of them + in the end proved a traitor outright; few of the rest were reliable. + </p> + <p> + As for the ships, that commanded by Paul in person will be a good example + of the fleet. She was an old Indiaman, clumsy and crank, smelling strongly + of the savor of tea, cloves, and arrack, the cargoes of former voyages. + Even at that day she was, from her venerable grotesqueness, what a cocked + hat is, at the present age, among ordinary beavers. Her elephantine bulk + was houdahed with a castellated poop like the leaning tower of Pisa. Poor + Israel, standing on the top of this poop, spy-glass at his eye, looked + more an astronomer than a mariner, having to do, not with the mountains of + the billows, but the mountains in the moon. Galileo on Fiesole. She was + originally a single-decked ship, that is, carried her armament on one + gun-deck; but cutting ports below, in her after part, Paul rammed out + there six old eighteen-pounders, whose rusty muzzles peered just above the + water-line, like a parcel of dirty mulattoes from a cellar-way. Her name + was the Duras, but, ere sailing, it was changed to that other appellation, + whereby this sad old hulk became afterwards immortal. Though it is not + unknown, that a compliment to Doctor Franklin was involved in this change + of titles, yet the secret history of the affair will now for the first + time be disclosed. + </p> + <p> + It was evening in the road of Groix. After a fagging day's work, trying to + conciliate the hostile jealousy of his officers, and provide, in the face + of endless obstacles (for he had to dance attendance on scores of + intriguing factors and brokers ashore), the requisite stores for the + fleet, Paul sat in his cabin in a half-despondent reverie, while Israel, + cross-legged at his commander's feet, was patching up some old signals. + </p> + <p> + "Captain Paul, I don't like our ship's name.—Duras? What's that + mean?—Duras? Being cribbed up in a ship named Duras! a sort of makes + one feel as if he were in durance vile." + </p> + <p> + "Gad, I never thought of that before, my lion. Duras—Durance vile. I + suppose it's superstition, but I'll change Come, Yellow-mane, what shall + we call her?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, Captain Paul, don't you like Doctor Franklin? Hasn't he been the + prime man to get this fleet together? Let's call her the Doctor Franklin." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no, that will too publicly declare him just at present; and Poor + Richard wants to be a little shady in this business." + </p> + <p> + "Poor Richard!—call her Poor Richard, then," cried Israel, suddenly + struck by the idea. + </p> + <p> + "'Gad, you have it," answered Paul, springing to his feet, as all trace of + his former despondency left him;—"Poor Richard shall be the name, in + honor to the saying, that 'God helps them that help themselves,' as Poor + Richard says." + </p> + <p> + Now this was the way the craft came to be called the <i>Bon Homme Richard</i>; + for it being deemed advisable to have a French rendering of the new title, + it assumed the above form. + </p> + <p> + A few days after, the force sailed. Ere long, they captured several + vessels; but the captains of the squadron proving refractory, events took + so deplorable a turn, that Paul, for the present, was obliged to return to + Groix. Luckily, however, at this junction a cartel arrived from England + with upwards of a hundred exchanged American seamen, who almost to a man + enlisted under the flag of Paul. + </p> + <p> + Upon the resailing of the force, the old troubles broke out afresh. Most + of her consorts insubordinately separated from the Bon Homme Richard. At + length Paul found himself in violent storms beating off the rugged + southeastern coast of Scotland, with only two accompanying ships. But + neither the mutiny of his fleet, nor the chaos of the elements, made him + falter in his purpose. Nay, at this crisis, he projected the most daring + of all his descents. + </p> + <p> + The Cheviot Hills were in sight. Sundry vessels had been described bound + in for the Firth of Forth, on whose south shore, well up the Firth, stands + Leith, the port of Edinburgh, distant but a mile or two from that capital. + He resolved to dash at Leith, and lay it under contribution or in ashes. + He called the captains of his two remaining consorts on board his own ship + to arrange details. Those worthies had much of fastidious remark to make + against the plan. After losing much time in trying to bring to a + conclusion their sage deliberations, Paul, by addressing their cupidity, + achieved that which all appeals to their gallantry could not accomplish. + He proclaimed the grand prize of the Leith lottery at no less a figure + than £200,000, that being named as the ransom. Enough: the three ships + enter the Firth, boldly and freely, as if carrying Quakers to a + Peace-Congress. + </p> + <p> + Along both startled shores the panic of their approach spread like the + cholera. The three suspicious crafts had so long lain off and on, that + none doubted they were led by the audacious viking, Paul Jones. At five + o'clock, on the following morning, they were distinctly seen from the + capital of Scotland, quietly sailing up the bay. Batteries were hastily + thrown up at Leith, arms were obtained from the castle at Edinburgh, alarm + fires were kindled in all directions. Yet with such tranquillity of + effrontery did Paul conduct his ships, concealing as much as possible + their warlike character, that more than once his vessels were mistaken for + merchantmen, and hailed by passing ships as such. + </p> + <p> + In the afternoon, Israel, at his station on the tower of Pisa, reported a + boat with five men coming off to the Richard from the coast of Fife. + </p> + <p> + "They have hot oat-cakes for us," said Paul; "let 'em come. To encourage + them, show them the English ensign, Israel, my lad." + </p> + <p> + Soon the boat was alongside. + </p> + <p> + "Well, my good fellows, what can I do for you this afternoon?" said Paul, + leaning over the side with a patronizing air. + </p> + <p> + "Why, captain, we come from the Laird of Crokarky, who wants some powder + and ball for his money." + </p> + <p> + "What would you with powder and ball, pray?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh! haven't you heard that that bloody pirate, Paul Jones, is somewhere + hanging round the coasts?" + </p> + <p> + "Aye, indeed, but he won't hurt you. He's only going round among the + nations, with his old hat, taking up contributions. So, away with ye; ye + don't want any powder and ball to give him. He wants contributions of + silver, not lead. Prepare yourselves with silver, I say." + </p> + <p> + "Nay, captain, the Laird ordered us not to return without powder and ball. + See, here is the price. It may be the taking of the bloody pirate, if you + let us have what we want." + </p> + <p> + "Well, pass 'em over a keg," said Paul, laughing, but modifying his order + by a sly whisper to Israel: "Oh, put up your price, it's a gift to ye." + </p> + <p> + "But ball, captain; what's the use of powder without ball?" roared one of + the fellows from the boat's bow, as the keg was lowered in. "We want + ball." + </p> + <p> + "Bless my soul, you bawl loud enough as it is. Away with ye, with what you + have. Look to your keg, and hark ye, if ye catch that villain, Paul Jones, + give him no quarter." + </p> + <p> + "But, captain, here," shouted one of the boatmen, "there's a mistake. This + is a keg of pickles, not powder. Look," and poking into the bung-hole, he + dragged out a green cucumber dripping with brine. "Take this back, and + give us the powder." + </p> + <p> + "Pooh," said Paul, "the powder is at the bottom, pickled powder, best way + to keep it. Away with ye, now, and after that bloody embezzler, Paul + Jones." + </p> + <p> + This was Sunday. The ships held on. During the afternoon, a long tack of + the Richard brought her close towards the shores of Fife, near the + thriving little port of Kirkaldy. + </p> + <p> + "There's a great crowd on the beach. Captain Paul," said Israel, looking + through his glass. "There seems to be an old woman standing on a + fish-barrel there, a sort of selling things at auction to the people, but + I can't be certain yet." + </p> + <p> + "Let me see," said Paul, taking the glass as they came nigher. "Sure + enough, it's an old lady—an old quack-doctress, seems to me, in a + black gown, too. I must hail her." + </p> + <p> + Ordering the ship to be kept on towards the port, he shortened sail within + easy distance, so as to glide slowly by, and seizing the trumpet, thus + spoke: + </p> + <p> + "Old lady, ahoy! What are you talking about? What's your text?" + </p> + <p> + "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash + his feet in the blood of the wicked." + </p> + <p> + "Ah, what a lack of charity. Now hear mine:—God helpeth them that + help themselves, as Poor Richard says." + </p> + <p> + "Reprobate pirate, a gale shall yet come to drive thee in wrecks from our + waters." + </p> + <p> + "The strong wind of your hate fills my sails well. Adieu," waving his + bonnet—"tell us the rest at Leith." + </p> + <p> + Next morning the ships were almost within cannon-shot of the town. The men + to be landed were in the boats. Israel had the tiller of the foremost one, + waiting for his commander to enter, when just as Paul's foot was on the + gangway, a sudden squall struck all three ships, dashing the boats against + them, and causing indescribable confusion. The squall ended in a violent + gale. Getting his men on board with all dispatch, Paul essayed his best to + withstand the fury of the wind, but it blew adversely, and with redoubled + power. A ship at a distance went down beneath it. The disappointed invader + was obliged to turn before the gale, and renounce his project. + </p> + <p> + To this hour, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, it is the popular + persuasion, that the Rev. Mr. Shirrer's (of Kirkaldy) powerful + intercession was the direct cause of the elemental repulse experienced off + the endangered harbor of Leith. + </p> + <p> + Through the ill qualities of Paul's associate captains: their timidity, + incapable of keeping pace with his daring; their jealousy, blind to his + superiority to rivalship; together with the general reduction of his + force, now reduced by desertion, from nine to three ships; and last of + all, the enmity of seas and winds; the invader, driven, not by a fleet, + but a gale, out of the Scottish water's, had the mortification in prospect + of terminating a cruise, so formidable in appearance at the onset, without + one added deed to sustain the reputation gained by former exploits. + Nevertheless, he was not disheartened. He sought to conciliate fortune, + not by despondency, but by resolution. And, as if won by his confident + bearing, that fickle power suddenly went over to him from the ranks of the + enemy—suddenly as plumed Marshal Ney to the stubborn standard of + Napoleon from Elba, marching regenerated on Paris. In a word, luck—that's + the word—shortly threw in Paul's way the great action of his life: + the most extraordinary of all naval engagements; the unparalleled + death-lock with the Serapis. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX.— THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS. + </h2> + <p> + The battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis stands in history + as the first signal collision on the sea between the Englishman and the + American. For obstinacy, mutual hatred, and courage, it is without + precedent or subsequent in the story of ocean. The strife long hung + undetermined, but the English flag struck in the end. + </p> + <p> + There would seem to be something singularly indicatory in this engagement. + It may involve at once a type, a parallel, and a prophecy. Sharing the + same blood with England, and yet her proved foe in two wars—not + wholly inclined at bottom to forget an old grudge—intrepid, + unprincipled, reckless, predatory, with boundless ambition, civilized in + externals but a savage at heart, America is, or may yet be, the Paul Jones + of nations. + </p> + <p> + Regarded in this indicatory light, the battle between the Bon Homme + Richard and the Serapis—in itself so curious—may well enlist + our interest. + </p> + <p> + Never was there a fight so snarled. The intricacy of those incidents which + defy the narrator's extrication, is not illy figured in that bewildering + intertanglement of all the yards and anchors of the two ships, which + confounded them for the time in one chaos of devastation. + </p> + <p> + Elsewhere than here the reader must go who seeks an elaborate version of + the fight, or, indeed, much of any regular account of it whatever. The + writer is but brought to mention the battle because he must needs follow, + in all events, the fortunes of the humble adventurer whose life lie + records. Yet this necessarily involves some general view of each + conspicuous incident in which he shares. + </p> + <p> + Several circumstances of the place and time served to invest the fight + with a certain scenic atmosphere casting a light almost poetic over the + wild gloom of its tragic results. The battle was fought between the hours + of seven and ten at night; the height of it was under a full harvest moon, + in view of thousands of distant spectators crowning the high cliffs of + Yorkshire. + </p> + <p> + From the Tees to the Humber, the eastern coast of Britain, for the most + part, wears a savage, melancholy, and Calabrian aspect. It is in course of + incessant decay. Every year the isle which repulses nearly all other foes, + succumbs to the Attila assaults of the deep. Here and there the base of + the cliffs is strewn with masses of rock, undermined by the waves, and + tumbled headlong below, where, sometimes, the water completely surrounds + them, showing in shattered confusion detached rocks, pyramids, and + obelisks, rising half-revealed from the surf—the Tadmores of the + wasteful desert of the sea. Nowhere is this desolation more marked than + for those fifty miles of coast between Flamborough Head and the Spurm. + </p> + <p> + Weathering out the gale which had driven them from Leith, Paul's ships for + a few days were employed in giving chase to various merchantmen and + colliers; capturing some, sinking others, and putting the rest to flight. + Off the mouth of the Humber they ineffectually manoeuvred with a view of + drawing out a king's frigate, reported to be lying at anchor within. At + another time a large fleet was encountered, under convoy of some ships of + force. But their panic caused the fleet to hug the edge of perilous shoals + very nigh the land, where, by reason of his having no competent pilot, + Paul durst not approach to molest them. The same night he saw two + strangers further out at sea, and chased them until three in the morning, + when, getting pretty nigh, he surmised that they must needs be vessels of + his own squadron, which, previous to his entering the Firth of Forth, had + separated from his command. Daylight proved this supposition correct. Five + vessels of the original squadron were now once more in company. About noon + a fleet of forty merchantmen appeared coming round Flamborough Head, + protected by two English man-of-war, the Serapis and Countess of + Scarborough. Descrying the five cruisers sailing down, the forty sail, + like forty chickens, fluttered in a panic under the wing of the shore. + Their armed protectors bravely steered from the land, making the + disposition for battle. Promptly accepting the challenge, Paul, giving the + signal to his consorts, earnestly pressed forward. But, earnest as he was, + it was seven in the evening ere the encounter began. Meantime his + comrades, heedless of his signals, sailed independently along. Dismissing + them from present consideration, we confine ourselves, for a while, to the + Richard and the Serapis, the grand duellists of the fight. + </p> + <p> + The Richard carried a motley, crew, to keep whom in order one hundred and + thirty-five soldiers—themselves a hybrid band—had been put on + board, commanded by French officers of inferior rank. Her armament was + similarly heterogeneous; guns of all sorts and calibres; but about equal + on the whole to those of a thirty-two-gun frigate. The spirit of baneful + intermixture pervaded this craft throughout. + </p> + <p> + The Serapis was a frigate of fifty guns, more than half of which + individually exceeded in calibre any one gun of the Richard. She had a + crew of some three hundred and twenty trained man-of-war's men. + </p> + <p> + There is something in a naval engagement which radically distinguishes it + from one on the land. The ocean, at times, has what is called its <i>sea</i> + and its <i>trough of the sea</i>; but it has neither rivers, woods, banks, + towns, nor mountains. In mild weather it is one hammered plain. + Stratagems, like those of disciplined armies—ambuscades, like those + of Indians, are impossible. All is clear, open, fluent. The very element + which sustains the combatants, yields at the stroke of a feather. One wind + and one tide at one time operate upon all who here engage. This simplicity + renders a battle between two men-of-war, with their huge white wings, more + akin to the Miltonic contests of archangels than to <i>the comparatively + squalid</i> tussles of earth. + </p> + <p> + As the ships neared, a hazy darkness overspread the water. The moon was + not yet risen. Objects were perceived with difficulty. Borne by a soft + moist breeze over gentle waves, they came within pistol- shot. Owing to + the obscurity, and the known neighborhood of other vessels, the Serapis + was uncertain who the Richard was. Through the dim mist each ship loomed + forth to the other vast, but indistinct, as the ghost of Morven. Sounds of + the trampling of resolute men echoed from either hull, whose tight decks + dully resounded like drum-heads in a funeral march. + </p> + <p> + The Serapis hailed. She was answered by a broadside. For half an hour the + combatants deliberately manoeuvred, continually changing their position, + but always within shot fire. The. Serapis—the better sailer of the + two—kept critically circling the Richard, making lounging advances + now and then, and as suddenly steering off; hate causing her to act not + unlike a wheeling cock about a hen, when stirred by the contrary passion. + Meantime, though within easy speaking distance, no further syllable was + exchanged; but an incessant cannonade was kept up. + </p> + <p> + At this point, a third party, the Scarborough, drew near, seemingly + desirous of giving assistance to her consort. But thick smoke was now + added to the night's natural obscurity. The Scarborough imperfectly + discerned two ships, and plainly saw the common fire they made; but which + was which, she could not tell. Eager to befriend the Serapis, she durst + not fire a gun, lest she might unwittingly act the part of a foe. As when + a hawk and a crow are clawing and beaking high in the air, a second crow + flying near, will seek to join the battle, but finding no fair chance to + engage, at last flies away to the woods; just so did the Scarborough now. + Prudence dictated the step; because several chance shot—from which + of the combatants could not be known—had already struck the + Scarborough. So, unwilling uselessly to expose herself, off went for the + present this baffled and ineffectual friend. + </p> + <p> + Not long after, an invisible hand came and set down a great yellow lamp in + the east. The hand reached up unseen from below the horizon, and set the + lamp down right on the rim of the horizon, as on a threshold; as much as + to say, Gentlemen warriors, permit me a little to light up this rather + gloomy looking subject. The lamp was the round harvest moon; the one + solitary foot-light of the scene. But scarcely did the rays from the lamp + pierce that languid haze. Objects before perceived with difficulty, now + glimmered ambiguously. Bedded in strange vapors, the great foot-light cast + a dubious, half demoniac glare across the waters, like the phantasmagoric + stream sent athwart a London flagging in a night-rain from an apothecary's + blue and green window. Through this sardonical mist, the face of the + Man-in-the-Moon—looking right towards the combatants, as if he were + standing in a trap-door of the sea, leaning forward leisurely with his + arms complacently folded over upon the edge of the horizon—this + queer face wore a serious, apishly self-satisfied leer, as if the + Man-in-the-Moon had somehow secretly put up the ships to their contest, + and in the depths of his malignant old soul was not unpleased to see how + well his charms worked. There stood the grinning Man-in-the-Moon, his head + just dodging into view over the rim of the sea:—Mephistopheles + prompter of the stage. + </p> + <p> + Aided now a little by the planet, one of the consorts of the Richard, the + Pallas, hovering far outside the fight, dimly discerned the suspicious + form of a lonely vessel unknown to her. She resolved to engage it, if it + proved a foe. But ere they joined, the unknown ship—which proved to + be the Scarborough—received a broadside at long gun's distance from + another consort of the Richard the Alliance. The shot whizzed across the + broad interval like shuttlecocks across a great hall. Presently the + battledores of both batteries were at work, and rapid compliments of + shuttlecocks were very promptly exchanged. The adverse consorts of the two + main belligerents fought with all the rage of those fiery seconds who in + some desperate duels make their principal's quarrel their own. Diverted + from the Richard and the Serapis by this little by-play, the + Man-in-the-Moon, all eager to see what it was, somewhat raised himself + from his trap-door with an added grin on his face. By this time, off + sneaked the Alliance, and down swept the Pallas, at close quarters + engaging the Scarborough; an encounter destined in less than an hour to + end in the latter ship's striking her flag. + </p> + <p> + Compared to the Serapis and the Richard, the Pallas and the Scarborough + were as two pages to two knights. In their immature way they showed the + same traits as their fully developed superiors. + </p> + <p> + The Man-in-the-Moon now raised himself still higher to obtain a better + view of affairs. + </p> + <p> + But the Man-in-the-Moon was not the only spectator. From the high cliffs + of the shore, and especially from the great promontory of Flamborough + Head, the scene was witnessed by crowds of the islanders. Any rustic might + be pardoned his curiosity in view of the spectacle, presented. Far in the + indistinct distance fleets of frightened merchantmen filled the lower air + with their sails, as flakes of snow in a snow-storm by night. Hovering + undeterminedly, in another direction, were several of the scattered + consorts of Paul, taking no part in the fray. Nearer, was an isolated + mist, investing the Pallas and Scarborough—a mist slowly adrift on + the sea, like a floating isle, and at intervals irradiated with sparkles + of fire and resonant with the boom of cannon. Further away, in the deeper + water, was a lurid cloud, incessantly torn in shreds of lightning, then + fusing together again, once more to be rent. As yet this lurid cloud was + neither stationary nor slowly adrift, like the first-mentioned one; but, + instinct with chaotic vitality, shifted hither and thither, foaming with + fire, like a valiant water-spout careering off the coast of Malabar. + </p> + <p> + To get some idea of the events enacting in that cloud, it will be + necessary to enter it; to go and possess it, as a ghost may rush into a + body, or the devils into the swine, which running down the steep place + perished in the sea; just as the Richard is yet to do. + </p> + <p> + Thus far the Serapis and the Richard had been manoeuvring and chasing to + each other like partners in a cotillion, all the time indulging in rapid + repartee. + </p> + <p> + But finding at last that the superior managableness of the enemy's ship + enabled him to get the better of the clumsy old Indiaman, the Richard, in + taking position, Paul, with his wonted resolution, at once sought to + neutralize this, by hugging him close. But the attempt to lay the Richard + right across the head of the Serapis ended quite otherwise, in sending the + enemy's jib-boom just over the Richard's great tower of Pisa, where Israel + was stationed; who, catching it eagerly, stood for an instant holding to + the slack of the sail, like one grasping a horse by the mane prior to + vaulting into the saddle. + </p> + <p> + "Aye, hold hard, lad," cried Paul, springing to his side with a coil of + rigging. With a few rapid turns he knitted himself to his foe. The wind + now acting on the sails of the Serapis forced her, heel and point, her + entire length, cheek by jowl, alongside the Richard. The projecting cannon + scraped; the yards interlocked; but the hulls did not touch. A long lane + of darkling water lay wedged between, like that narrow canal in Venice + which dozes between two shadowy piles, and high in air is secretly crossed + by the Bridge of Sighs. But where the six yard-arms reciprocally arched + overhead, three bridges of sighs were both seen and heard, as the moon and + wind kept rising. + </p> + <p> + Into that Lethean canal—pond-like in its smoothness as compared with + the sea without—fell many a poor soul that night; fell, forever + forgotten. + </p> + <p> + As some heaving rent coinciding with a disputed frontier on a volcanic + plain, that boundary abyss was the jaws of death to both sides. So + contracted was it, that in many cases the gun-rammers had to be thrust + into the opposite ports, in order to enter to muzzles of their own cannon. + It seemed more an intestine feud, than a fight between strangers. Or, + rather, it was as if the Siamese Twins, oblivious of their fraternal bond, + should rage in unnatural fight. + </p> + <p> + Ere long, a horrible explosion was heard, drowning for the instant the + cannonade. Two of the old eighteen-pounders—before spoken of, as + having been hurriedly set up below the main deck of the Richard—burst + all to pieces, killing the sailors who worked them, and shattering all + that part of the hull, as if two exploded steam-boilers had shot out of + its opposite sides. The effect was like the fall of the walls of a house. + Little now upheld the great tower of Pisa but a few naked crow stanchions. + Thenceforth, not a few balls from the Serapis must have passed straight + through the Richard without grazing her. It was like firing buck-shot + through the ribs of a skeleton. + </p> + <p> + But, further forward, so deadly was the broadside from the heavy batteries + of the Serapis—levelled point-blank, and right down the throat and + bowels, as it were, of the Richard—that it cleared everything before + it. The men on the Richard's covered gun-deck ran above, like miners from + the fire-damp. Collecting on the forecastle, they continued to fight with + grenades and muskets. The soldiers also were in the lofty tops, whence + they kept up incessant volleys, cascading their fire down as pouring lava + from cliffs. + </p> + <p> + The position of the men in the two ships was now exactly reversed. For + while the Serapis was tearing the Richard all to pieces below deck, and + had swept that covered part almost of the last man, the Richard's crowd of + musketry had complete control of the upper deck of the Serapis, where it + was almost impossible for man to remain unless as a corpse. Though in the + beginning, the tops of the Serapis had not been unsupplied with marksmen, + yet they had long since been cleared by the overmastering musketry of the + Richard. Several, with leg or arm broken by a ball, had been seen going + dimly downward from their giddy perch, like falling pigeons shot on the + wing. + </p> + <p> + As busy swallows about barn-eaves and ridge-poles, some of the Richard's + marksmen, quitting their tops, now went far out on their yard-arms, where + they overhung the Serapis. From thence they dropped hand-grenades upon her + decks, like apples, which growing in one field fall over the fence into + another. Others of their band flung the same sour fruit into the open + ports of the Serapis. A hail-storm of aerial combustion descended and + slanted on the Serapis, while horizontal thunderbolts rolled crosswise + through the subterranean vaults of the Richard. The belligerents were no + longer, in the ordinary sense of things, an English ship and an American + ship. It was a co-partnership and joint-stock combustion-company of both + ships; yet divided, even in participation. The two vessels were as two + houses, through whose party-wall doors have been cut; one family (the + Guelphs) occupying the whole lower story; another family (the Ghibelines) + the whole upper story. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, determined Paul flew hither and thither like the meteoric + corposant-ball, which shiftingly dances on the tips and verges of ships' + rigging in storms. Wherever he went, he seemed to cast a pale light on all + faces. Blacked and burnt, his Scotch bonnet was compressed to a gun-wad on + his head. His Parisian coat, with its gold-laced sleeve laid aside, + disclosed to the full the blue tattooing on his arm, which sometimes in + fierce gestures streamed in the haze of the cannonade, cabalistically + terrific as the charmed standard of Satan. Yet his frenzied manner was + less a testimony of his internal commotion than intended to inspirit and + madden his men, some of whom seeing him, in transports of intrepidity + stripped themselves to their trowsers, exposing their naked bodies to the + as naked shot The same was done on the Serapis, where several guns were + seen surrounded by their buff crews as by fauns and satyrs. + </p> + <p> + At the beginning of the fray, before the ships interlocked, in the + intervals of smoke which swept over the ships as mist over mountain-tops, + affording open rents here and there—the gun-deck of the Serapis, at + certain points, showed, congealed for the instant in all attitudes of + dauntlessness, a gallery of marble statues—fighting gladiators. + </p> + <p> + Stooping low and intent, with one braced leg thrust behind, and one arm + thrust forward, curling round towards the muzzle of the gun, there was + seen the <i>loader</i>, performing his allotted part; on the other side of + the carriage, in the same stooping posture, but with both hands holding + his long black pole, pike-wise, ready for instant use—stood the + eager <i>rammer and sponger</i>; while at the breech, crouched the wary <i>captain + of the gun</i>, his keen eye, like the watching leopard's, burning along + the range; and behind all, tall and erect, the Egyptian symbol of death, + stood the <i>matchman</i>, immovable for the moment, his long-handled + match reversed. Up to their two long death-dealing batteries, the trained + men of the Serapis stood and toiled in mechanical magic of discipline. + They tended those rows of guns, as Lowell girls the rows of looms in a + cotton factory. The Parcae were not more methodical; Atropos not more + fatal; the automaton chess-player not more irresponsible. + </p> + <p> + "Look, lad; I want a grenade, now, thrown down their main hatchway. I saw + long piles of cartridges there. The powder monkeys have brought them up + faster than they can be used. Take a bucket of combustibles, and let's + hear from you presently." + </p> + <p> + These words were spoken by Paul to Israel. Israel did as ordered. In a few + minutes, bucket in hand, begrimed with powder, sixty feet in air, he hung + like Apollyon from the extreme tip of the yard over the fated abyss of the + hatchway. As he looked down between the eddies of smoke into that + slaughterous pit, it was like looking from the verge of a cataract down + into the yeasty pool at its base. Watching, his chance, he dropped one + grenade with such faultless precision, that, striking its mark, an + explosion rent the Serapis like a volcano. The long row of heaped + cartridges was ignited. The fire ran horizontally, like an express on a + railway. More than twenty men were instantly killed: nearly forty wounded. + This blow restored the chances of battle, before in favor of the Serapis. + </p> + <p> + But the drooping spirits of the English were suddenly revived, by an event + which crowned the scene by an act on the part of one of the consorts of + the Richard, the incredible atrocity of which has induced all humane minds + to impute it rather to some incomprehensible mistake than to the malignant + madness of the perpetrator. + </p> + <p> + The cautious approach and retreat of a consort of the Serapis, the + Scarborough, before the moon rose, has already been mentioned. It is now + to be related how that, when the moon was more than an hour high, a + consort of the Richard, the Alliance, likewise approached and retreated. + This ship, commanded by a Frenchman, infamous in his own navy, and + obnoxious in the service to which he at present belonged; this ship, + foremost in insurgency to Paul hitherto, and which, for the most part, had + crept like a poltroon from the fray; the Alliance now was at hand. Seeing + her, Paul deemed the battle at an end. But to his horror, the Alliance + threw a broadside full into the stern of the Richard, without touching the + Serapis. Paul called to her, for God's sake to forbear destroying the + Richard. The reply was, a second, a third, a fourth broadside, striking + the Richard ahead, astern, and amidships. One of the volleys killed + several men and one officer. Meantime, like carpenters' augers, and the + sea-worm called Remora, the guns of the Serapis were drilling away at the + same doomed hull. After performing her nameless exploit, the Alliance + sailed away, and did no more. She was like the great fire of London, + breaking out on the heel of the great Plague. By this time, the Richard + had so many shot-holes low down in her hull, that like a sieve she began + to settle. + </p> + <p> + "Do you strike?" cried the English captain. + </p> + <p> + "I have not yet begun to fight," howled sinking Paul. + </p> + <p> + This summons and response were whirled on eddies of smoke and flame. Both + vessels were now on fire. The men of either knew hardly which to do; + strive to destroy the enemy, or save themselves. In the midst of this, one + hundred human beings, hitherto invisible strangers, were suddenly added to + the rest. Five score English prisoners, till now confined in the Richard's + hold, liberated in his consternation by the master at arms, burst up the + hatchways. One of them, the captain of a letter of marque, captured by + Paul, off the Scottish coast, crawled through a port, as a burglar through + a window, from the one ship to the other, and reported affairs to the + English captain. + </p> + <p> + While Paul and his lieutenants were confronting these prisoners, the + gunner, running up from below, and not perceiving his official superiors, + and deeming them dead, believing himself now left sole surviving officer, + ran to the tower of Pisa to haul down the colors. But they were already + shot down and trailing in the water astern, like a sailor's towing shirt. + Seeing the gunner there, groping about in the smoke, Israel asked what he + wanted. + </p> + <p> + At this moment the gunner, rushing to the rail, shouted "Quarter! + quarter!" to the Serapis. + </p> + <p> + "I'll quarter ye," yelled Israel, smiting the gunner with the flat of his + cutlass. + </p> + <p> + "Do you strike?" now came from the Serapis. + </p> + <p> + "Aye, aye, aye!" involuntarily cried Israel, fetching the gunner a shower + of blows. + </p> + <p> + "Do you strike?" again was repeated from the Serapis; whose captain, + judging from the augmented confusion on board the Richard, owing to the + escape of the prisoners, and also influenced by the report made to him by + his late guest of the port-hole, doubted not that the enemy must needs be + about surrendering. + </p> + <p> + "Do you strike?" + </p> + <p> + "Aye!—I strike <i>back</i>" roared Paul, for the first time now + hearing the summons. + </p> + <p> + But judging this frantic response to come, like the others, from some + unauthorized source, the English captain directed his boarders to be + called, some of whom presently leaped on the Richard's rail, but, throwing + out his tattooed arm at them, with a sabre at the end of it, Paul showed + them how boarders repelled boarders. The English retreated, but not before + they had been thinned out again, like spring radishes, by the unfaltering + fire from the Richard's tops. + </p> + <p> + An officer of the Richard, seeing the mass of prisoners delirious with + sudden liberty and fright, pricked them with his sword to the pumps, thus + keeping the ship afloat by the very blunder which had promised to have + been fatal. The vessels now blazed so in the rigging that both parties + desisted from hostilities to subdue the common foe. + </p> + <p> + When some faint order was again restored upon the Richard her chances of + victory increased, while those of the English, driven under cover, + proportionably waned. Early in the contest, Paul, with his own hand, had + brought one of his largest guns to bear against the enemy's mainmast. That + shot had hit. The mast now plainly tottered. Nevertheless, it seemed as + if, in this fight, neither party could be victor. Mutual obliteration from + the face of the waters seemed the only natural sequel to hostilities like + these. It is, therefore, honor to him as a man, and not reproach to him as + an officer, that, to stay such carnage, Captain Pearson, of the Serapis, + with his own hands hauled down his colors. But just as an officer from the + Richard swung himself on board the Serapis, and accosted the English + captain, the first lieutenant of the Serapis came up from below inquiring + whether the Richard had struck, since her fire had ceased. + </p> + <p> + So equal was the conflict that, even after the surrender, it could be, and + was, a question to one of the warriors engaged (who had not happened to + see the English flag hauled down) whether the Serapis had struck to the + Richard, or the Richard to the Serapis. Nay, while the Richard's officer + was still amicably conversing with the English captain, a midshipman of + the Richard, in act of following his superior on board the surrendered + vessel, was run through the thigh by a pike in the hand of an ignorant + boarder of the Serapis. While, equally ignorant, the cannons below deck + were still thundering away at the nominal conqueror from the batteries of + the nominally conquered ship. + </p> + <p> + But though the Serapis had submitted, there were two misanthropical foes + on board the Richard which would not so easily succumb—fire and + water. All night the victors were engaged in suppressing the flames. Not + until daylight were the flames got under; but though the pumps were kept + continually going, the water in the hold still gained. A few hours after + sunrise the Richard was deserted for the Serapis and the other vessels of + the squadron of Paul. About ten o'clock the Richard, gorged with + slaughter, wallowed heavily, gave a long roll, and blasted by tornadoes of + sulphur, slowly sunk, like Gomorrah, out of sight. + </p> + <p> + The loss of life in the two ships was about equal; one-half of the total + number of those engaged being either killed or wounded. + </p> + <p> + In view of this battle one may ask—What separates the enlightened + man from the savage? Is civilization a thing distinct, or is it an + advanced stage of barbarism? + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX.— THE SHUTTLE. + </h2> + <p> + For a time back, across the otherwise blue-jean career of Israel, Paul + Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. One more brief + intermingling of it, and to the plain old homespun we return. + </p> + <p> + The battle won, the squadron started for the Texel, where they arrived in + safety. Omitting all mention of intervening harassments, suffice it, that + after some months of inaction as to anything of a warlike nature, Paul and + Israel (both, from different motives, eager to return to America) sailed + for that country in the armed ship Ariel, Paul as commander, Israel as + quartermaster. + </p> + <p> + Two weeks out, they encountered by night a frigate-like craft, supposed to + be an enemy. The vessels came within hail, both showing English colors, + with purposes of mutual deception, affecting to belong to the English + Navy. For an hour, through their speaking trumpets, the captains + equivocally conversed. A very reserved, adroit, hoodwinking, + statesman-like conversation, indeed. At last, professing some little + incredulity as to the truthfulness of the stranger's statement, Paul + intimated a desire that he should put out a boat and come on board to show + his commission, to which the stranger very affably replied, that + unfortunately his boat was exceedingly leaky. With equal politeness, Paul + begged him to consider the danger attending a refusal, which rejoinder + nettled the other, who suddenly retorted that he would answer for twenty + guns, and that both himself and men were knock-down Englishmen. Upon this, + Paul said that he would allow him exactly five minutes for a sober, second + thought. That brief period passed, Paul, hoisting the American colors, ran + close under the other ship's stern, and engaged her. It was about eight + o'clock at night that this strange quarrel was picked in the middle of the + ocean. Why cannot men be peaceable on that great common? Or does nature in + those fierce night-brawlers, the billows, set mankind but a sorry example? + </p> + <p> + After ten minutes' cannonading, the stranger struck, shouting out that + half his men were killed. The Ariel's crew hurrahed. Boarders were called + to take possession. At this juncture, the prize shifting her position so + that she headed away, and to leeward of the Ariel, thrust her long + spanker-boom diagonally over the latter's quarter; when Israel, who was + standing close by, instinctively caught hold of it—just as he had + grasped the jib-boom of the Serapis—and, at the same moment, hearing + the call to take possession, in the valiant excitement of the occasion, he + leaped upon the spar, and made a rush for the stranger's deck, thinking, + of course, that he would be immediately followed by the regular boarders. + But the sails of the strange ship suddenly filled; she began to glide + through the sea; her spanker-boom, not having at all entangled itself, + offering no hindrance. Israel, clinging midway along the boom, soon found + himself divided from the Ariel by a space impossible to be leaped. + Meantime, suspecting foul play, Paul set every sail; but the stranger, + having already the advantage, contrived to make good her escape, though + perseveringly chased by the cheated conqueror. + </p> + <p> + In the confusion, no eye had observed our hero's spring. But, as the + vessels separated more, an officer of the strange ship spying a man on the + boom, and taking him for one of his own men, demanded what he did there. + </p> + <p> + "Clearing the signal halyards, sir," replied Israel, fumbling with the + cord which happened to be dangling near by. + </p> + <p> + "Well, bear a hand and come in, or you will have a bow-chaser at you + soon," referring to the bow guns of the Ariel. + </p> + <p> + "Aye, aye, sir," said Israel, and in a moment he sprang to the deck, and + soon found himself mixed in among some two hundred English sailors of a + large letter of marque. At once he perceived that the story of half the + crew being killed was a mere hoax, played off for the sake of making an + escape. Orders were continually being given to pull on this and that rope, + as the ship crowded all sail in flight. To these orders Israel, with the + rest, promptly responded, pulling at the rigging stoutly as the best of + them; though Heaven knows his heart sunk deeper and deeper at every pull + which thus helped once again to widen the gulf between him and home. + </p> + <p> + In intervals he considered with himself what to do. Favored by the + obscurity of the night and the number of the crew, and wearing much the + same dress as theirs, it was very easy to pass himself off for one of them + till morning. But daylight would be sure to expose him, unless some + cunning, plan could be hit upon. If discovered for what he was, nothing + short of a prison awaited him upon the ship's arrival in port. + </p> + <p> + It was a desperate case, only as desperate a remedy could serve. One thing + was sure, he could not hide. Some audacious parade of himself promised the + only hope. Marking that the sailors, not being of the regular navy, wore + no uniform, and perceiving that his jacket was the only garment on him + which bore any distinguishing badge, our adventurer took it off, and + privily dropped it overboard, remaining now in his dark blue woollen shirt + and blue cloth waistcoat. + </p> + <p> + What the more inspirited Israel to the added step now contemplated, was + the circumstance that the ship was not a Frenchman's or other foreigner, + but her crew, though enemies, spoke the same language that he did. + </p> + <p> + So very quietly, at last, he goes aloft into the maintop, and sitting down + on an old sail there, beside some eight or ten topmen, in an off-handed + way asks one for tobacco. + </p> + <p> + "Give us a quid, lad," as he settled himself in his seat. + </p> + <p> + "Halloo," said the strange sailor, "who be you? Get out of the top! The + fore and mizzentop men won't let us go into their tops, and blame me if + we'll let any of their gangs come here. So, away ye go." + </p> + <p> + "You're blind, or crazy, old boy," rejoined Israel. "I'm a topmate; ain't + I, lads?" appealing to the rest. + </p> + <p> + "There's only ten maintopmen belonging to our watch; if you are one, then + there'll be eleven," said a second sailor. "Get out of the top!" + </p> + <p> + "This is too bad, maties," cried Israel, "to serve an old topmate this + way. Come, come, you are foolish. Give us a quid." And, once more, with + the utmost sociability, he addressed the sailor next to him. + </p> + <p> + "Look ye," returned the other, "if you don't make away with yourself, you + skulking spy from the mizzen, we'll drop you to deck like a jewel-block." + </p> + <p> + Seeing the party thus resolute, Israel, with some affected banter, + descended. + </p> + <p> + The reason why he had tried the scheme—and, spite of the foregoing + failure, meant to repeat it—was this: As customary in armed ships, + the men were in companies allotted to particular places and functions. + Therefore, to escape final detection, Israel must some way get himself + recognized as belonging to some one of those bands; otherwise, as an + isolated nondescript, discovery ere long would be certain, especially upon + the next general muster. To be sure, the hope in question was a forlorn + sort of hope, but it was his sole one, and must therefore be tried. + </p> + <p> + Mixing in again for a while with the general watch, he at last goes on the + forecastle among the sheet-anchor-men there, at present engaged in + critically discussing the merits of the late valiant encounter, and + expressing their opinion that by daybreak the enemy in chase would be + hull-down out of sight. + </p> + <p> + "To be sure she will," cried Israel, joining in with the group, "old + ballyhoo that she is, to be sure. But didn't we pepper her, lads? Give us + a chew of tobacco, one of ye. How many have we wounded, do ye know? None + killed that I've heard of. Wasn't that a fine hoax we played on 'em? Ha! + ha! But give us a chew." + </p> + <p> + In the prodigal fraternal patriotism of the moment, one of the old + worthies freely handed his plug to our adventurer, who, helping himself, + returned it, repeating the question as to the killed and wounded. + </p> + <p> + "Why," said he of the plug, "Jack Jewboy told me, just now, that there's + only seven men been carried down to the surgeon, but not a soul killed." + </p> + <p> + "Good, boys, good!" cried Israel, moving up to one of the gun-carriages, + where three or four men were sitting—"slip along, chaps, slip along, + and give a watchmate a seat with ye." + </p> + <p> + "All full here, lad; try the next gun." + </p> + <p> + "Boys, clear a place here,", said Israel, advancing, like one of the + family, to that gun. + </p> + <p> + "Who the devil are <i>you</i>, making this row here?" demanded a + stern-looking old fellow, captain of the forecastle, "seems to me you make + considerable noise. Are you a forecastleman?" + </p> + <p> + "If the bowsprit belongs here, so do I," rejoined Israel, composedly. + </p> + <p> + "Let's look at ye, then!" and seizing a battle-lantern, before thrust + under a gun, the old veteran came close to Israel before he had time to + elude the scrutiny. + </p> + <p> + "Take that!" said his examiner, and fetching Israel a terrible thump, + pushed him ignominiously off the forecastle as some unknown interloper + from distant parts of the ship. + </p> + <p> + With similar perseverance of effrontery, Israel tried other quarters of + the vessel. But with equal ill success. Jealous with the spirit of class, + no social circle would receive him. As a last resort, he dived down among + the <i>holders</i>. + </p> + <p> + A group of them sat round a lantern, in the dark bowels of the ship, like + a knot of charcoal burners in a pine forest at midnight. + </p> + <p> + "Well, boys, what's the good word?" said Israel, advancing very cordially, + but keeping as much as possible in the shadow. + </p> + <p> + "The good word is," rejoined a censorious old <i>holder</i>, "that you had + best go where you belong—on deck—and not be a skulking down + here where you <i>don't</i> belong. I suppose this is the way you skulked + during the fight." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, you're growly to-night, shipmate," said Israel, pleasantly—"supper + sits hard on your conscience." + </p> + <p> + "Get out of the hold with ye," roared the other. "On deck, or I'll call + the master-at-arms." + </p> + <p> + Once more Israel decamped. + </p> + <p> + Sorely against his grain, as a final effort to blend himself openly with + the crew, he now went among the <i>waisters</i>: the vilest caste of an + armed ship's company, mere dregs and settlings—sea-Pariahs, + comprising all the lazy, all the inefficient, all the unfortunate and + fated, all the melancholy, all the infirm, all the rheumatical scamps, + scapegraces, ruined prodigal sons, sooty faces, and swineherds of the + crew, not excluding those with dismal wardrobes. + </p> + <p> + An unhappy, tattered, moping row of them sat along dolefully on the + gun-deck, like a parcel of crest-fallen buzzards, exiled from civilized + society. + </p> + <p> + "Cheer up, lads," said Israel, in a jovial tone, "homeward-bound, you + know. Give us a seat among ye, friends." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, sit on your head!" answered a sullen fellow in the corner. + </p> + <p> + "Come, come, no growling; we're homeward-bound. Whoop, my hearties!" + </p> + <p> + "Workhouse bound, you mean," grumbled another sorry chap, in a darned + shirt. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, boys, don't be down-hearted. Let's keep up our spirits. Sing us a + song, one of ye, and I'll give the chorus." + </p> + <p> + "Sing if ye like, but I'll plug my ears, for one," said still another + sulky varlet, with the toes out of his sea-boots, while all the rest with + one roar of misanthropy joined him. + </p> + <p> + But Israel, riot to be daunted, began: + </p> + <p> + "'Cease, rude Boreas, cease your growling!'" + </p> + <p> + "And you cease your squeaking, will ye?" cried a fellow in a banged + tarpaulin. "Did ye get a ball in the windpipe, that ye cough that way, + worse nor a broken-nosed old bellows? Have done with your groaning, it's + worse nor the death-rattle." + </p> + <p> + "Boys, is this the way you treat a watchmate" demanded Israel + reproachfully, "trying to cheer up his friends? Shame on ye, boys. Come, + let's be sociable. Spin us a yarn, one of ye. Meantime, rub my back for + me, another," and very confidently he leaned against his neighbor. + </p> + <p> + "Lean off me, will ye?" roared his friend, shoving him away. + </p> + <p> + "But who <i>is</i> this ere singing, leaning, yarn-spinning chap? Who are + ye? Be you a waister, or be you not?" + </p> + <p> + So saying, one of this peevish, sottish band staggered close up to Israel. + But there was a deck above and a deck below, and the lantern swung in the + distance. It was too dim to see with critical exactness. + </p> + <p> + "No such singing chap belongs to our gang, that's flat," he dogmatically + exclaimed at last, after an ineffectual scrutiny. "Sail out of this!" + </p> + <p> + And with a shove once more, poor Israel was ejected. + </p> + <p> + Blackballed out of every club, he went disheartened on deck. So long, + while light screened him at least, as he contented himself with + promiscuously circulating, all was safe; it was the endeavor to fraternize + with any one set which was sure to endanger him. At last, wearied out, he + happened to find himself on the berth deck, where the watch below were + slumbering. Some hundred and fifty hammocks were on that deck. Seeing one + empty, he leaped in, thinking luck might yet some way befriend him. Here, + at last, the sultry confinement put him fast asleep. He was wakened by a + savage whiskerando of the other watch, who, seizing him by his waistband, + dragged him most indecorously out, furiously denouncing him for a skulker. + </p> + <p> + Springing to his feet, Israel perceived from the crowd and tumult of the + berth deck, now all alive with men leaping into their hammocks, instead of + being full of sleepers quietly dosing therein, that the watches were + changed. Going above, he renewed in various quarters his offers of + intimacy with the fresh men there assembled; but was successively repulsed + as before. At length, just as day was breaking, an irascible fellow whose + stubborn opposition our adventurer had long in vain sought to conciliate—this + man suddenly perceiving, by the gray morning light, that Israel had + somehow an alien sort of general look, very savagely pressed him for + explicit information as to who he might be. The answers increased his + suspicion. Others began to surround the two. Presently, quite a circle was + formed. Sailors from distant parts of the ship drew near. One, and then + another, and another, declared that they, in their quarters, too, had been + molested by a vagabond claiming fraternity, and seeking to palm himself + off upon decent society. In vain Israel protested. The truth, like the + day, dawned clearer and clearer. More and more closely he was scanned. At + length the hour for having all hands on deck arrived; when the other watch + which Israel had first tried, reascending to the deck, and hearing the + matter in discussion, they endorsed the charge of molestation and + attempted imposture through the night, on the part of some person unknown, + but who, likely enough, was the strange man now before them. In the end, + the master-at-arms appeared with his bamboo, who, summarily collaring poor + Israel, led him as a mysterious culprit to the officer of the deck, which + gentleman having heard the charge, examined him in great perplexity, and, + saying that he did not at all recognize that countenance, requested the + junior officers to contribute their scrutiny. But those officers were + equally at fault. + </p> + <p> + "Who the deuce <i>are</i> you?" at last said the officer-of-the-deck, in + added bewilderment. "Where did you come from? What's your business? Where + are you stationed? What's your name? Who are you, any way? How did you get + here? and where are you going?" + </p> + <p> + "Sir," replied Israel very humbly, "I am going to my regular duty, if you + will but let me. I belong to the maintop, and ought to be now engaged in + preparing the topgallant stu'n'-sail for hoisting." + </p> + <p> + "Belong to the maintop? Why, these men here say you have been trying to + belong to the foretop, and the mizzentop, and the forecastle, and the + hold, and the waist, and every other part of the ship. This is + extraordinary," he added, turning upon the junior officers. + </p> + <p> + "He must be out of his mind," replied one of them, the sailing-master. + </p> + <p> + "Out of his mind?" rejoined the officer-of-the-deck. "He's out of all + reason; out of all men's knowledge and memories! Why, no one knows him; no + one has ever seen him before; no imagination, in the wildest flight of a + morbid nightmare, has ever so much as dreamed of him. Who <i>are</i> you?" + he again added, fierce with amazement. "What's your name? Are you down in + the ship's books, or at all in the records of nature?" + </p> + <p> + "My name, sir, is Peter Perkins," said Israel, thinking it most prudent to + conceal his real appellation. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly, I never heard that name before. Pray, see if Peter Perkins is + down on the quarter-bills," he added to a midshipman. "Quick, bring the + book here." + </p> + <p> + Having received it, he ran his fingers along the columns, and dashing down + the book, declared that no such name was there. + </p> + <p> + "You are not down, sir. There is no Peter Perkins here. Tell me at once + who are you?" + </p> + <p> + "It might be, sir," said Israel, gravely, "that seeing I shipped under the + effects of liquor, I might, out of absent-mindedness like, have given in + some other person's name instead of my own." + </p> + <p> + "Well, what name have you gone by among your shipmates since you've been + aboard?" + </p> + <p> + "Peter Perkins, sir." + </p> + <p> + Upon this the officer turned to the men around, inquiring whether the name + of Peter Perkins was familiar to them as that of a shipmate. One and all + answered no. + </p> + <p> + "This won't do, sir," now said the officer. "You see it won't do. Who are + you?" + </p> + <p> + "A poor persecuted fellow at your service, sir." + </p> + <p> + "<i>Who</i> persecutes you?" + </p> + <p> + "Every one, sir. All hands seem to be against me; none of them willing to + remember me." + </p> + <p> + "Tell me," demanded the officer earnestly, "how long do you remember + yourself? Do you remember yesterday morning? You must have come into + existence by some sort of spontaneous combustion in the hold. Or were you + fired aboard from the enemy, last night, in a cartridge? Do you remember + yesterday?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, sir." + </p> + <p> + "What was you doing yesterday?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, sir, for one thing, I believe I had the honor of a little talk with + yourself." + </p> + <p> + "With <i>me</i>?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir; about nine o'clock in the morning—the sea being smooth + and the ship running, as I should think, about seven knots—you came + up into the maintop, where I belong, and was pleased to ask my opinion + about the best way to set a topgallant stu'n'-sail." + </p> + <p> + "He's mad! He's mad!" said the officer, with delirious conclusiveness. + "Take him away, take him away, take him away—put him somewhere, + master-at-arms. Stay, one test more. What mess do you belong to?" + </p> + <p> + "Number 12, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Tidds," to a midshipman, "send mess No. 12 to the mast." + </p> + <p> + Ten sailors replied to the summons, and arranged themselves before Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Men, does this man belong to your mess?" + </p> + <p> + "No, sir; never saw him before this morning." + </p> + <p> + "What are those men's names?" he demanded of Israel. + </p> + <p> + "Well, sir, I am so intimate with all of them," looking upon them with a + kindly glance, "I never call them by their real names, but by nicknames. + So, never using their real names, I have forgotten them. The nicknames + that I know, them by, are Towser, Bowser, Rowser, Snowser." + </p> + <p> + "Enough. Mad as a March hare. Take him away. Hold," again added the + officer, whom some strange fascination still bound to the bootless + investigation. "What's <i>my</i> name, sir?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, sir, one of my messmates here called you Lieutenant Williamson, just + now, and I never heard you called by any other name." + </p> + <p> + "There's method in his madness," thought the officer to himself. "What's + the captain's name?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, sir, when we spoke the enemy, last night, I heard him say, through + his trumpet, that he was Captain Parker; and very likely he knows his own + name." + </p> + <p> + "I have you now. That ain't the captain's real name." + </p> + <p> + "He's the best judge himself, sir, of what his name is, I should think." + </p> + <p> + "Were it not," said the officer, now turning gravely upon his juniors, + "were it not that such a supposition were on other grounds absurd, I + should certainly conclude that this man, in some unknown way, got on board + here from the enemy last night." + </p> + <p> + "How could he, sir?" asked the sailing-master. + </p> + <p> + "Heaven knows. But our spanker-boom geared the other ship, you know, in + manoeuvring to get headway." + </p> + <p> + "But supposing he <i>could</i> have got here that fashion, which is quite + impossible under all the circumstances, what motive could have induced him + voluntarily to jump among enemies?" + </p> + <p> + "Let him answer for himself," said the officer, turning suddenly upon + Israel, with the view of taking him off his guard, by the matter of course + assumption of the very point at issue. + </p> + <p> + "Answer, sir. Why did you jump on board here, last night, from the enemy?" + </p> + <p> + "Jump on board, sir, from the enemy? Why, sir, my station at general + quarters is at gun No. 3, of the lower deck, here." + </p> + <p> + "He's cracked—or else I am turned—or all the world is;—take + him away!" + </p> + <p> + "But where am I to take him, sir?" said the master-at-arms. "He don't seem + to belong anywhere, sir. Where—where am I to take him?" + </p> + <p> + "Take him-out of sight," said the officer, now incensed with his own + perplexity. "Take him out of sight, I say." + </p> + <p> + "Come along, then, my ghost," said the master-at-arms. And, collaring the + phantom, he led it hither and thither, not knowing exactly what to do with + it. + </p> + <p> + Some fifteen minutes passed, when the captain coming from his cabin, and + observing the master-at-arms leading Israel about in this indefinite + style, demanded the reason of that procedure, adding that it was against + his express orders for any new and degrading punishments to be invented + for his men. + </p> + <p> + "Come here, master-at-arms. To what end do you lead that man about?" + </p> + <p> + "To no end in the world, sir. I keep leading him about because he has no + final destination." + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Officer-of-the-deck, what does this mean? Who is this strange man? I + don't know that I remember him. Who is he? And what is signified by his + being led about?" + </p> + <p> + Hereupon the officer-of-the-deck, throwing himself into a tragical + posture, set forth the entire mystery; much to the captain's astonishment, + who at once indignantly turned upon the phantom. + </p> + <p> + "You rascal—don't try to deceive me. Who are you? and where did you + come from last?" + </p> + <p> + "Sir, my name is Peter Perkins, and I last came from the forecastle, where + the master-at-arms last led me, before coming here." + </p> + <p> + "No joking, sir, no joking." + </p> + <p> + "Sir, I'm sure it's too serious a business to joke about." + </p> + <p> + "Do you have the assurance to say, that you, as a regularly shipped man, + have been on board this vessel ever since she sailed from Falmouth, ten + months ago?" + </p> + <p> + "Sir, anxious to secure a berth under so good a commander, I was among the + first to enlist." + </p> + <p> + "What ports have we touched at, sir?" said the captain, now in a little + softer tone. + </p> + <p> + "Ports, sir, ports?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir, <i>ports</i>" + </p> + <p> + Israel began to scratch his yellow hair. + </p> + <p> + "What <i>ports</i>, sir?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, sir:—Boston, for one." + </p> + <p> + "Right there," whispered a midshipman. + </p> + <p> + "What was the next port, sir?" + </p> + <p> + "Why, sir, I was saying Boston was the <i>first</i> port, I believe; + wasn't it?—and"— + </p> + <p> + "The <i>second</i> port, sir, is what I want." + </p> + <p> + "Well—New York." + </p> + <p> + "Right again," whispered the midshipman. + </p> + <p> + "And what port are we bound to, now?" + </p> + <p> + "Let me see—homeward-bound—Falmouth, sir." + </p> + <p> + "What sort of a place is Boston?" + </p> + <p> + "Pretty considerable of a place, sir." + </p> + <p> + "Very straight streets, ain't they?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, sir; cow-paths, cut by sheep-walks, and intersected with + hen-tracks." + </p> + <p> + "When did we fire the first gun?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, sir, just as we were leaving Falmouth, ten months ago—signal-gun, + sir." + </p> + <p> + "Where did we fire the first <i>shotted</i> gun, sir?—and what was + the name of the privateer we took upon that occasion?" + </p> + <p> + "'Pears to me, sir, at that time I was on the sick list. Yes, sir, that + must have been the time; I had the brain fever, and lost my mind for a + while." + </p> + <p> + "Master-at-arms, take this man away." + </p> + <p> + "Where shall I take him, sir?" touching his cap. + </p> + <p> + "Go, and air him on the forecastle." + </p> + <p> + So they resumed their devious wanderings. At last, they descended to the + berth-deck. It being now breakfast-time, the master-at-arms, a + good-humored man, very kindly' introduced our hero to his mess, and + presented him with breakfast, during which he in vain endeavored, by all + sorts of subtle blandishments, to worm out his secret. + </p> + <p> + At length Israel was set at liberty; and whenever there was any important + duty to be done, volunteered to it with such cheerful alacrity, and + approved himself so docile and excellent a seaman, that he conciliated the + approbation of all the officers, as well as the captain; while his general + sociability served, in the end, to turn in his favor the suspicious hearts + of the mariners. Perceiving his good qualities, both as a sailor and man, + the captain of the maintop applied for his admission into that section of + the ship; where, still improving upon his former reputation, our hero did + duty for the residue of the voyage. + </p> + <p> + One pleasant afternoon, the last of the passage, when the ship was nearing + the Lizard, within a few hours' sail of her port, the officer-of-the-deck, + happening to glance upwards towards the maintop, descried Israel there, + leaning very leisurely over the rail, looking mildly down where the + officer stood. + </p> + <p> + "Well, Peter Perkins, you seem to belong to the maintop, after all." + </p> + <p> + "I always told you so, sir," smiled Israel benevolently down upon him, + "though, at first, you remember, sir, you would not believe it." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXI.— SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES. + </h2> + <p> + At length, as the ship, gliding on past three or four vessels at anchor in + the roadstead—one, a man-of-war just furling her sails—came + nigh Falmouth town, Israel, from his perch, saw crowds in violent + commotion on the shore, while the adjacent roofs were covered with + sightseers. A large man-of-war cutter was just landing its occupants, + among whom were a corporal's guard and three officers, besides the naval + lieutenant and boat's crew. Some of this company having landed, and formed + a sort of lane among the mob, two trim soldiers, armed to the teeth, rose + in the stern-sheets; and between them, a martial man of Patagonian + stature, their ragged and handcuffed captive, whose defiant head + overshadowed theirs, as St. Paul's dome its inferior steeples. Immediately + the mob raised a shout, pressing in curiosity towards the colossal + stranger; so that, drawing their swords, four of the soldiers had to force + a passage for their comrades, who followed on, conducting the giant. + </p> + <p> + As the letter of marque drew still nigher, Israel heard the officer in + command of the party ashore shouting, "To the castle! to the castle!" and + so, surrounded by shouting throngs, the company moved on, preceded by the + three drawn swords, ever and anon flourished at the rioters, towards a + large grim pile on a cliff about a mile from the landing. Long as they + were in sight, the bulky form of the captive was seen at times swayingly + towering over the flashing bayonets and cutlasses, like a great whale + breaching amid a hostile retinue of sword-fish. Now and then, too, with + barbaric scorn, he taunted them with cramped gestures of his manacled + hands. + </p> + <p> + When at last the vessel had gained her anchorage, opposite a distant + detached warehouse, all was still; and the work of breaking out in the + hold immediately commencing, and continuing till nightfall, absorbed all + further attention for the present. + </p> + <p> + Next day was Sunday; and about noon Israel, with others, was allowed to go + ashore for a stroll. The town was quiet. Seeing nothing very interesting + there, he passed out, alone, into the fields alongshore, and presently + found himself climbing the cliff whereon stood the grim pile before spoken + of. + </p> + <p> + "What place is yon?" he asked of a rustic passing. + </p> + <p> + "Pendennis Castle." + </p> + <p> + As he stepped upon the short crisp sward under its walls, he started at a + violent sound from within, as of the roar of some tormented lion. Soon the + sound became articulate, and he heard the following words bayed out with + an amazing vigor: + </p> + <p> + "Brag no more, Old England; consider you are but an island! Order back + your broken battalions! home, and repent in ashes! Long enough have your + hired tories across the sea forgotten the Lord their God, and bowed down + to Howe and Kniphausen—the Hessian!—Hands off, red-skinned + jackal! Wearing the king's plate,[A] as I do, I have treasures of wrath + against you British." + </p> + + <h6>A [ Meaning, probably, certain manacles.]</h6> + + + <p> + Then came a clanking, as of a chain; many vengeful sounds, all confusedly + together; with strugglings. Then again the voice: + </p> + <p> + "Ye brought me out here, from my dungeon to this green—affronting + yon Sabbath sun—to see how a rebel looks. But I show ye how a true + gentleman and Christian can conduct in adversity. Back, dogs! Respect a + gentleman and a Christian, though he <i>be</i> in rags and smell of + bilge-water." + </p> + <p> + Filled with astonishment at these words, which came from over a massive + wall, enclosing what seemed an open parade-space, Israel pressed forward, + and soon came to a black archway, leading far within, underneath, to a + grassy tract, through a tower. Like two boar's tusks, two sentries stood + on guard at either side of the open jaws of the arch. Scrutinizing our + adventurer a moment, they signed him permission to enter. + </p> + <p> + Arrived at the end of the arched-way, where the sun shone, Israel stood + transfixed, at the scene. + </p> + <p> + Like some baited bull in the ring, crouched the Patagonian-looking + captive, handcuffed as before; the grass of the green trampled, and gored + up all about him, both by his own movements and those of the people + around. Except some soldiers and sailors, these seemed mostly townspeople, + collected here out of curiosity. The stranger was outlandishly arrayed in + the sorry remains of a half-Indian, half-Canadian sort of a dress, + consisting of a fawn-skin jacket—the fur outside and hanging in + ragged tufts—a half-rotten, bark-like belt of wampum; aged breeches + of sagathy; bedarned worsted stockings to the knee; old moccasins riddled + with holes, their metal tags yellow with salt-water rust; a faded red + woollen bonnet, not unlike a Russian night-cap, or a portentous, + ensanguined full- moon, all soiled, and stuck about with bits of + half-rotted straw. He seemed just broken from the dead leases in David's + outlawed Cave of Adullam. Unshaven, beard and hair matted, and profuse as + a corn-field beaten down by hailstorms, his whole marred aspect was that + of some wild beast; but of a royal sort, and unsubdued by the cage. + </p> + <p> + "Aye, stare, stare! Though but last night dragged out of a ship's hold, + like a smutty tierce; and this morning out of your littered barracks here, + like a murderer; for all that, you may well stare at Ethan Ticonderoga + Allen, the unconquered soldier, by ——! You Turks never saw a + Christian before. Stare on! I am he, who, when your Lord Howe wanted to + bribe a patriot to fall down and worship him by an offer of a + major-generalship and five thousand acres of choice land in old Vermont—(Ha! + three-times-three for glorious old Vermont, and my Green-Mountain boys! + Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!) I am he, I say, who answered your Lord Howe, + 'You, <i>you</i> offer <i>our</i> land? You are like the devil in + Scripture, offering all the kingdoms in the world, when the d——d + soul had not a corner-lot on earth! Stare on!'" + </p> + <p> + "Look you, rebel, you had best heed how you talk against General Lord + Howe," here said a thin, wasp-waisted, epauletted officer of the castle, + coming near and flourishing his sword like a schoolmaster's ferule. + </p> + <p> + "General Lord Howe? Heed how I talk of that toad-hearted king's + lick-spittle of a scarlet poltroon; the vilest wriggler in God's worm-hole + below? I tell you, that herds of red-haired devils are impatiently + snorting to ladle Lord Howe with all his gang (you included) into the + seethingest syrups of tophet's flames!" + </p> + <p> + At this blast, the wasp-waisted officer was blown backwards as from before + the suddenly burst head of a steam-boiler. + </p> + <p> + Staggering away, with a snapped spine, he muttered something about its + being beneath his dignity to bandy further words with a low-lived rebel. + </p> + <p> + "Come, come, Colonel Allen," here said a mild-looking man in a sort of + clerical undress, "respect the day better than to talk thus of what lies + beyond. Were you to die this hour, or what is more probable, be hung next + week at Tower-wharf, you know not what might become, in eternity, of + yourself." + </p> + <p> + "Reverend Sir," with a mocking bow, "when not better employed braiding my + beard, I have a little dabbled in your theologies. And let me tell you, + Reverend Sir," lowering and intensifying his voice, "that as to the world + of spirits, of which you hint, though I know nothing of the mode or manner + of that world, no more than do you, yet I expect when I shall arrive there + to be treated as well as any other gentleman of my merit. That is to say, + far better than you British know how to treat an American officer and + meek-hearted Christian captured in honorable war, by ——! Every + one tells me, as you yourself just breathed, and as, crossing the sea, + every billow dinned into my ear, that I, Ethan Allen, am to be hung like a + thief. If I am, the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress shall + avenge me; while I, for my part, shall show you, even on the tree, how a + Christian gentleman can die. Meantime, sir, if you are the clergyman you + look, act out your consolatory function, by getting an unfortunate + Christian gentleman about to die, a bowl of punch." + </p> + <p> + The good-natured stranger, not to have his religious courtesy appealed to + in vain, immediately dispatched his servant, who stood by, to procure the + beverage. + </p> + <p> + At this juncture, a faint rustling sound, as of the advance of an army + with banners, was heard. Silks, scarfs, and ribbons fluttered in the + background. Presently, a bright squadron of fair ladies drew nigh, + escorted by certain outriding gallants of Falmouth. + </p> + <p> + "Ah," sighed a soft voice, "what a strange sash, and furred vest, and what + leopard-like teeth, and what flaxen hair, but all mildewed;—is that + he?" + </p> + <p> + "Yea, is it, lovely charmer," said Allen, like an Ottoman, bowing over his + broad, bovine forehead, and breathing the words out like a lute; "it is he—Ethan + Allen, the soldier; now, since ladies' eyes visit him, made trebly a + captive." + </p> + <p> + "Why, he talks like a beau in a parlor, this wild, mossed American from + the woods," sighed another fair lady to her mate; "but can this be he we + came to see? I must have a lock of his hair." + </p> + <p> + "It is he, adorable Delilah; and fear not, even though incited by the foe, + by clipping my locks, to dwindle my strength. Give me your sword, man," + turning to an officer:—"Ah! I'm fettered. Clip it yourself, lady." + </p> + <p> + "No, no—I am—" + </p> + <p> + "Afraid, would you say? Afraid of the vowed friend and champion of all + ladies all round the world? Nay, nay, come hither." + </p> + <p> + The lady advanced; and soon, overcoming her timidity, her white hand shone + like whipped foam amid the matted waves of flaxen hair. + </p> + <p> + "Ah, this is like clipping tangled tags of gold-lace," cried she; "but + see, it is half straw." + </p> + <p> + "But the wearer is no man-of-straw, lady; were I free, and you had ten + thousand foes—horse, foot, and dragoons—how like a friend I + could fight for you! Come, you have robbed me of my hair; let me rob your + dainty hand of its price. What, afraid again?" + </p> + <p> + "No, not that; but—" + </p> + <p> + "I see, lady; I may do it, by your leave, but not by your word; the wonted + way of ladies. There, it is done. Sweeter that kiss, than the bitter heart + of a cherry." + </p> + <p> + When at length this lady left, no small talk was had by her with her + companions about someway relieving the hard lot of so knightly an + unfortunate. Whereupon a worthy, judicious gentleman, of middle- age, in + attendance, suggested a bottle of good wine every day, and clean linen + once every week. And these the gentle Englishwoman—too polite and + too good to be fastidious—did indeed actually send to Ethan Allen, + so long as he tarried a captive in her land. + </p> + <p> + The withdrawal of this company was followed by a different scene. + </p> + <p> + A perspiring man in top-boots, a riding-whip in his hand, and having the + air of a prosperous farmer, brushed in, like a stray bullock, among the + rest, for a peep at the giant; having just entered through the arch, as + the ladies passed out. + </p> + <p> + "Hearing that the man who took Ticonderoga was here in Pendennis Castle, + I've ridden twenty-five miles to see him; and to-morrow my brother will + ride forty for the same purpose. So let me have first look. Sir," he + continued, addressing the captive, "will you let me ask you a few plain + questions, and be free with you?" + </p> + <p> + "Be free with me? With all my heart. I love freedom of all things. I'm + ready to die for freedom; I expect to. So be free as you please. What is + it?" + </p> + <p> + "Then, sir, permit me to ask what is your occupation in life—in time + of peace, I mean?" + </p> + <p> + "You talk like a tax-gatherer," rejoined Allen, squinting diabolically at + him; "what is my occupation in life? Why, in my younger days I studied + divinity, but at present I am a conjurer by profession." + </p> + <p> + Hereupon everybody laughed, equally at the manner as the words, and the + nettled farmer retorted: + </p> + <p> + "Conjurer, eh? well, you conjured wrong that time you were taken." + </p> + <p> + "Not so wrong, though, as you British did, that time I took Ticonderoga, + my friend." + </p> + <p> + At this juncture the servant came with the punch, when his master bade him + present it to the captive. + </p> + <p> + "No!—give it me, sir, with your own hands, and pledge me as + gentleman to gentleman." + </p> + <p> + "I cannot pledge a state-prisoner, Colonel Allen; but I will hand you the + punch with my own hands, since you insist upon it." + </p> + <p> + "Spoken and done like a true gentleman, sir; I am bound to you." + </p> + <p> + Then receiving the bowl into his gyved hands, the iron ringing against the + china, he put it to his lips, and saying, "I hereby give the British + nation credit for half a minute's good usage," at one draught emptied it + to the bottom. + </p> + <p> + "The rebel gulps it down like a swilling hog at a trough," here scoffed a + lusty private of the guard, off duty. + </p> + <p> + "Shame to you!" cried the giver of the bowl. + </p> + <p> + "Nay, sir; his red coat is a standing blush to him, as it is to the whole + scarlet-blushing British army." Then turning derisively upon the private: + "You object to my way of taking things, do ye? I fear I shall never please + ye. You objected to the way, too, in which I took Ticonderoga, and the way + in which I meant to take Montreal. Selah! But pray, now that I look at + you, are not you the hero I caught dodging round, in his shirt, in the + cattle-pen, inside the fort? It was the break of day, you remember." + </p> + <p> + "Come, Yankee," here swore the incensed private; "cease this, or I'll darn + your old fawn-skins for ye with the flat of this sword;" for a specimen, + laying it lashwise, but not heavily, across the captive's back. + </p> + <p> + Turning like a tiger, the giant, catching the steel between his teeth, + wrenched it from the private's grasp, and striking it with his manacles, + sent it spinning like a juggler's dagger into the air, saying, "Lay your + dirty coward's iron on a tied gentleman again, and these," lifting his + handcuffed fists, "shall be the beetle of mortality to you!" + </p> + <p> + The now furious soldier would have struck him with all his force, but + several men of the town interposed, reminding him that it were outrageous + to attack a chained captive. + </p> + <p> + "Ah," said Allen, "I am accustomed to that, and therefore I am beforehand + with them; and the extremity of what I say against Britain, is not meant + for you, kind friends, but for my insulters, present and to come." Then + recognizing among the interposers the giver of the bowl, he turned with a + courteous bow, saying, "Thank you again and again, my good sir; you may + not be the worse for this; ours is an unstable world; so that one + gentleman never knows when it may be his turn to be helped of another." + </p> + <p> + But the soldier still making a riot, and the commotion growing general, a + superior officer stepped up, who terminated the scene by remanding the + prisoner to his cell, dismissing the townspeople, with all strangers, + Israel among the rest, and closing the castle gates after them. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXII.— SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL'S + FLIGHT TOWARDS THE WILDERNESS. + </h2> + <p> + Among the episodes of the Revolutionary War, none is stranger than that of + Ethan Allen in England; the event and the man being equally uncommon. + </p> + <p> + Allen seems to have been a curious combination of a Hercules, a Joe + Miller, a Bayard, and a Tom Hyer; had a person like the Belgian giants; + mountain music in him like a Swiss; a heart plump as Coeur de Lion's. + Though born in New England, he exhibited no trace of her character. He was + frank, bluff, companionable as a Pagan, convivial, a Roman, hearty as a + harvest. His spirit was essentially Western; and herein is his peculiar + Americanism; for the Western spirit is, or will yet be (for no other is, + or can be), the true American one. + </p> + <p> + For the most part, Allen's manner while in England was scornful and + ferocious in the last degree; however, qualified by that wild, heroic sort + of levity, which in the hour of oppression or peril seems inseparable from + a nature like his; the mode whereby such a temper best evinces its + barbaric disdain of adversity, and how cheaply and waggishly it holds the + malice, even though triumphant, of its foes! Aside from that inevitable + egotism relatively pertaining to pine trees, spires, and giants, there + were, perhaps, two special incidental reasons for the Titanic Vermonter's + singular demeanor abroad. Taken captive while heading a forlorn hope + before Montreal, he was treated with inexcusable cruelty and indignity; + something as if he had fallen into the hands of the Dyaks. Immediately + upon his capture he would have been deliberately suffered to have been + butchered by the Indian allies in cold blood on the spot, had he not, with + desperate intrepidity, availed himself of his enormous physical strength, + by twitching a British officer to him, and using him for a living target, + whirling him round and round against the murderous tomahawks of the + savages. Shortly afterwards, led into the town, fenced about by bayonets + of the guard, the commander of the enemy, one Colonel McCloud, flourished + his cane over the captive's head, with brutal insults promising him a + rebel's halter at Tyburn. During his passage to England in the same ship + wherein went passenger Colonel Guy Johnson, the implacable tory, he was + kept heavily ironed in the hold, and in all ways treated as a common + mutineer; or, it may be, rather as a lion of Asia; which, though caged, + was still too dreadful to behold without fear and trembling, and + consequent cruelty. And no wonder, at least for the fear; for on one + occasion, when chained hand and foot, he was insulted on shipboard by an + officer; with his teeth he twisted off the nail that went through the + mortise of his handcuffs, and so, having his arms at liberty, challenged + his insulter to combat. Often, as at Pendennis Castle, when no other + avengement was at hand, he would hurl on his foes such howling tempests of + anathema as fairly to shock them into retreat. Prompted by somewhat + similar motives, both on shipboard and in England, he would often make the + most vociferous allusions to Ticonderoga, and the part he played in its + capture, well knowing, that of all American names, Ticonderoga was, at + that period, by far the most famous and galling to Englishmen. + </p> + <p> + Parlor-men, dancing-masters, the graduates of the Albe Bellgarde, may + shrug their laced shoulders at the boisterousness of Allen in England. + True, he stood upon no punctilios with his jailers; for where modest + gentlemanhood is all on one side, it is a losing affair; as if my Lord + Chesterfield should take off his hat, and smile, and bow, to a mad bull, + in hopes of a reciprocation of politeness. When among wild beasts, if they + menace you, be a wild beast. Neither is it unlikely that this was the view + taken by Allen. For, besides the exasperating tendency to self-assertion + which such treatment as his must have bred on a man like him, his + experience must have taught him, that by assuming the part of a jocular, + reckless, and even braggart barbarian, he would better sustain himself + against bullying turnkeys than by submissive quietude. Nor should it be + forgotten, that besides the petty details of personal malice, the enemy + violated every international usage of right and decency, in treating a + distinguished prisoner of war as if he had been a Botany-Bay convict. If, + at the present day, in any similar case between the same States, the + repetition of such outrages would be more than unlikely, it is only + because it is among nations as among individuals: imputed indigence + provokes oppression and scorn; but that same indigence being risen to + opulence, receives a politic consideration even from its former insulters. + </p> + <p> + As the event proved, in the course Allen pursued, he was right. Because, + though at first nothing was talked of by his captors, and nothing + anticipated by himself, but his ignominious execution, or at the least, + prolonged and squalid incarceration, nevertheless, these threats and + prospects evaporated, and by his facetious scorn for scorn, under the + extremest sufferings, he finally wrung repentant usage from his foes; and + in the end, being liberated from his irons, and walking the quarter-deck + where before he had been thrust into the hold, was carried back to + America, and in due time, at New York, honorably included in a regular + exchange of prisoners. + </p> + <p> + It was not without strange interest that Israel had been an eye-witness of + the scenes on the Castle Green. Neither was this interest abated by the + painful necessity of concealing, for the present, from his brave + countryman and fellow-mountaineer, the fact of a friend being nigh. When + at last the throng was dismissed, walking towards the town with the rest, + he heard that there were some forty or more Americans, privates, confined + on the cliff. Upon this, inventing a pretence, he turned back, loitering + around the walls for any chance glimpse of the captives. Presently, while + looking up at a grated embrasure in the tower, he started at a voice from + it familiarly hailing him: + </p> + <p> + "Potter, is that you? In God's name how came you here?" + </p> + <p> + At these words, a sentry below had his eye on our astonished adventurer. + Bringing his piece to bear, he bade him stand. Next moment Israel was + under arrest. Being brought into the presence of the forty prisoners, + where they lay in litters of mouldy straw, strewn with gnawed bones, as in + a kennel, he recognized among them one Singles, now Sergeant Singles, the + man who, upon our hero's return home from his last Cape Horn voyage, he + had found wedded to his mountain Jenny. Instantly a rush of emotions + filled him. Not as when Damon found Pythias. But far stranger, because + very different. For not only had this Singles been an alien to Israel (so + far as actual intercourse went), but impelled to it by instinct, Israel + had all but detested him, as a successful, and perhaps insidious rival. + Nor was it altogether unlikely that Singles had reciprocated the feeling. + But now, as if the Atlantic rolled, not between two continents, but two + worlds—this, and the next—these alien souls, oblivious to + hate, melted down into one. + </p> + <p> + At such a juncture, it was hard to maintain a disguise, especially when it + involved the seeming rejection of advances like the Sergeant's. Still, + converting his real amazement into affected surprise, Israel, in presence + of the sentries, declared to Singles that he (Singles) must labor under + some unaccountable delusion; for he (Potter) was no Yankee rebel, thank + Heaven, but a true man to his king; in short, an honest Englishman, born + in Kent, and now serving his country, and doing what damage he might to + her foes, by being first captain of a carronade on board a letter of + marque, that moment in the harbor. + </p> + <p> + For a moment the captive stood astounded, but observing Israel more + narrowly, detecting his latent look, and bethinking him of the useless + peril he had thoughtlessly caused to a countryman, no doubt unfortunate as + himself, Singles took his cue, and pretending sullenly to apologize for + his error, put on a disappointed and crest-fallen air. Nevertheless, it + was not without much difficulty, and after many supplemental scrutinies + and inquisitions from a board of officers before whom he was subsequently + brought, that our wanderer was finally permitted to quit the cliff. + </p> + <p> + This luckless adventure not only nipped in the bud a little scheme he had + been revolving, for materially befriending Ethan Allen and his comrades, + but resulted in making his further stay at Falmouth perilous in the extreme. + And as if this were not enough, next day, while hanging over the side, + painting the hull, in trepidation of a visit from the castle soldiers, + rumor came to the ship that the man-of-war in the haven purposed + impressing one-third of the letter of marque's crew; though, indeed, the + latter vessel was preparing for a second cruise. Being on board a private + armed ship, Israel had little dreamed of its liability to the same + governmental hardships with the meanest merchantman. But the system of + impressment is no respecter either of pity or person. + </p> + <p> + His mind was soon determined. Unlike his shipmates, braving immediate and + lonely hazard, rather than wait for a collective and ultimate one, he + cunningly dropped himself overboard the same night, and after the + narrowest risk from the muskets of the man-of-war's sentries (whose + gangways he had to pass), succeeded in swimming to shore, where he fell + exhausted, but recovering, fled inland, doubly hunted by the thought, that + whether as an Englishman, or whether as an American, he would, if caught, + be now equally subject to enslavement. + </p> + <p> + Shortly after the break of day, having gained many miles, he succeeded in + ridding himself of his seaman's clothing, having found some mouldy old + rags on the banks of a stagnant pond, nigh a rickety building, which + looked like a poorhouse—clothing not improbably, as he surmised, + left there on the bank by some pauper suicide. Marvel not that he should + with avidity seize these rags; what the suicides abandon, the living hug. + </p> + <p> + Once more in beggar's garb, the fugitive sped towards London, prompted by + the same instinct which impels the hunted fox to the wilderness; for + solitudes befriend the endangered wild beast, but crowds are the security, + because the true desert, of persecuted man. Among the things of the + capital, Israel for more than forty years was yet to disappear, as one + entering at dusk into a thick wood. Nor did ever the German forest, nor + Tasso's enchanted one, contain in its depths more things of horror than + eventually were revealed in the secret clefts, gulfs, caves and dens of + London. + </p> + <p> + But here we anticipate a page. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIII.— ISRAEL IN EGYPT. + </h2> + <p> + It was a gray, lowering afternoon that, worn out, half starved, and + haggard, Israel arrived within some ten or fifteen miles of London, and + saw scores and scores of forlorn men engaged in a great brickyard. + </p> + <p> + For the most part, brickmaking is all mud and mire. Where, abroad, the + business is carried on largely, as to supply the London market, hordes of + the poorest wretches are employed, their grimy tatters naturally adapting + them to an employ where cleanliness is as much out of the question as with + a drowned man at the bottom of the lake in the Dismal Swamp. + </p> + <p> + Desperate with want, Israel resolved to turn brickmaker, nor did he fear + to present himself as a stranger, nothing doubting that to such a vocation + his rags would be accounted the best letters of introduction. + </p> + <p> + To be brief, he accosted one of the many surly overseers, or taskmasters + of the yard, who, with no few pompous airs, finally engaged him at six + shillings a week, almost equivalent to a dollar and a half. He was + appointed to one of the mills for grinding up the ingredients. This mill + stood in the open air. It was of a rude, primitive, Eastern aspect, + consisting of a sort of hopper, emptying into a barrel-shaped receptacle. + In the barrel was a clumsy machine turned round at its axis by a great + bent beam, like a well-sweep, only it was horizontal; to this beam, at its + outer end, a spavined old horse was attached. The muddy mixture was + shovelled into the hopper by spavined-looking old men, while, trudging + wearily round and round, the spavined old horse ground it all up till it + slowly squashed out at the bottom of the barrel, in a doughy compound, all + ready for the moulds. Where the dough squeezed out of the barrel a pit was + sunken, so as to bring the moulder here stationed down to a level with the + trough, into which the dough fell. Israel was assigned to this pit. Men + came to him continually, reaching down rude wooden trays, divided into + compartments, each of the size and shape of a brick. With a flat sort of + big ladle, Israel slapped the dough into the trays from the trough; then, + with a bit of smooth board, scraped the top even, and handed it up. Half + buried there in the pit, all the time handing those desolate trays, poor + Israel seemed some gravedigger, or churchyard man, tucking away dead + little innocents in their coffins on one side, and cunningly disinterring + them again to resurrectionists stationed on the other. + </p> + <p> + Twenty of these melancholy old mills were in operation. Twenty heartbroken + old horses, rigged out deplorably in cast-off old cart harness, + incessantly tugged at twenty great shaggy beams; while from twenty + half-burst old barrels, twenty wads of mud, with a lava-like course, + gouged out into twenty old troughs, to be slapped by twenty tattered men + into the twenty-times-twenty battered old trays. + </p> + <p> + Ere entering his pit for the first, Israel had been struck by the dismally + devil-may-care gestures of the moulders. But hardly had he himself been a + moulder three days, when his previous sedateness of concern at his + unfortunate lot, began to conform to the reckless sort of half jolly + despair expressed by the others. The truth indeed was, that this + continual, violent, helter-skelter slapping of the dough into the moulds, + begat a corresponding disposition in the moulder, who, by heedlessly + slapping that sad dough, as stuff of little worth, was thereby taught, in + his meditations, to slap, with similar heedlessness, his own sadder + fortunes, as of still less vital consideration. To these muddy + philosophers, men and bricks were equally of clay. "What signifies who we + be—dukes or ditchers?" thought the moulders; "all is vanity and + clay." + </p> + <p> + So slap, slap, slap, care-free and negligent, with bitter unconcern, these + dismal desperadoes flapped down the dough. If this recklessness were + vicious of them, be it so; but their vice was like that weed which but + grows on barren ground; enrich the soil, and it disappears. + </p> + <p> + For thirteen weary weeks, lorded over by the taskmaster, Israel toiled in + his pit. Though this condemned him to a sort of earthy dungeon, or + gravedigger's hole, while he worked, yet even when liberated to his meals, + naught of a cheery nature greeted him. The yard was encamped, with all its + endless rows of tented sheds, and kilns, and mills, upon a wild waste + moor, belted round by bogs and fens. The blank horizon, like a rope, + coiled round the whole. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes the air was harsh and bleak; the ridged and mottled sky looked + scourged, or cramping fogs set in from sea, for leagues around, ferreting + out each rheumatic human bone, and racking it; the sciatic limpers + shivered; their aguish rags sponged up the mists. No shelter, though it + hailed. The sheds were for the bricks. Unless, indeed, according to the + phrase, each man was a "brick," which, in sober scripture, was the case; + brick is no bad name for any son of Adam; Eden was but a brickyard; what + is a mortal but a few luckless shovelfuls of clay, moulded in a mould, + laid out on a sheet to dry, and ere long quickened into his queer caprices + by the sun? Are not men built into communities just like bricks into a + wall? Consider the great wall of China: ponder the great populace of + Pekin. As man serves bricks, so God him, building him up by billions into + edifices of his purposes. Man attains not to the nobility of a brick, + unless taken in the aggregate. Yet is there a difference in brick, whether + quick or dead; which, for the last, we now shall see. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIV.— CONTINUED. + </h2> + <p> + All night long, men sat before the mouth of the kilns, feeding them with + fuel. A dull smoke—a smoke of their torments—went up from + their tops. It was curious to see the kilns under the action of the fire, + gradually changing color, like boiling lobsters. When, at last, the fires + would be extinguished, the bricks being duly baked, Israel often took a + peep into the low vaulted ways at the base, where the flaming fagots had + crackled. The bricks immediately lining the vaults would be all burnt to + useless scrolls, black as charcoal, and twisted into shapes the most + grotesque; the next tier would be a little less withered, but hardly fit + for service; and gradually, as you went higher and higher along the + successive layers of the kiln, you came to the midmost ones, sound, + square, and perfect bricks, bringing the highest prices; from these the + contents of the kiln gradually deteriorated in the opposite direction, + upward. But the topmost layers, though inferior to the best, by no means + presented the distorted look of the furnace-bricks. The furnace-bricks + were haggard, with the immediate blistering of the fire—the midmost + ones were ruddy with a genial and tempered glow—the summit ones were + pale with the languor of too exclusive an exemption from the burden of the + blaze. + </p> + <p> + These kilns were a sort of temporary temples constructed in the yard, each + brick being set against its neighbor almost with the care taken by the + mason. But as soon as the fire was extinguished, down came the kiln in a + tumbled ruin, carted off to London, once more to be set up in ambitious + edifices, to a true brickyard philosopher, little less transient than the + kilns. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes, lading out his dough, Israel could not but bethink him of what + seemed enigmatic in his fate. He whom love of country made a hater of her + foes—the foreigners among whom he now was thrown— he who, as + soldier and sailor, had joined to kill, burn and destroy both them and + theirs—here he was at last, serving that very people as a slave, + better succeeding in making their bricks than firing their ships. To think + that he should be thus helping, with all his strength, to extend the walls + of the Thebes of the oppressor, made him half mad. Poor Israel! well-named—bondsman + in the English Egypt. But he drowned the thought by still more recklessly + spattering with his ladle: "What signifies who we be, or where we are, or + what we do?" Slap-dash! "Kings as clowns are codgers—who ain't a + nobody?" Splash! "All is vanity and clay." + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXV.— IN THE CITY OF DIS. + </h2> + <p> + At the end of his brickmaking, our adventurer found himself with a + tolerable suit of clothes—somewhat darned—on his back, several + blood-blisters in his palms, and some verdigris coppers in his pocket. + Forthwith, to seek his fortune, he proceeded on foot to the capital, + entering, like the king, from Windsor, from the Surrey side. + </p> + <p> + It was late on a Monday morning, in November—a Blue Monday—a + Fifth of November—Guy Fawkes' Day!—very blue, foggy, doleful + and gunpowdery, indeed, as shortly will be seen, that Israel found himself + wedged in among the greatest everyday crowd which grimy London presents to + the curious stranger: that hereditary crowd—gulf-stream of humanity—which, + for continuous centuries, has never ceased pouring, like an endless shoal + of herring, over London Bridge. + </p> + <p> + At the period here written of, the bridge, specifically known by that + name, was a singular and sombre pile, built by a cowled monk—Peter + of Colechurch—some five hundred years before. Its arches had long + been crowded at the sides with strange old rookeries of disproportioned + and toppling height, converting the bridge at once into the most densely + occupied ward and most jammed thoroughfare of the town, while, as the + skulls of bullocks are hung out for signs to the gateways of shambles, so + the withered heads and smoked quarters of traitors, stuck on pikes, long + crowned the Southwark entrance. + </p> + <p> + Though these rookeries, with their grisly heraldry, had been pulled down + some twenty years prior to the present visit, still enough of grotesque + and antiquity clung to the structure at large to render it the most + striking of objects, especially to one like our hero, born in a virgin + clime, where the only antiquities are the forever youthful heavens and the + earth. + </p> + <p> + On his route from Brentford to Paris, Israel had passed through the + capital, but only as a courier; so that now, for the first time, he had + time to linger, and loiter, and lounge—slowly absorb what he saw—meditate + himself into boundless amazement. For forty years he never recovered from + that surprise—never, till dead, had done with his wondering. + </p> + <p> + Hung in long, sepulchral arches of stone, the black, besmoked bridge + seemed a huge scarf of crape, festooning the river across. Similar funeral + festoons spanned it to the west, while eastward, towards the sea, tiers + and tiers of jetty colliers lay moored, side by side, fleets of black + swans. + </p> + <p> + The Thames, which far away, among the green fields of Berks, ran clear as + a brook, here, polluted by continual vicinity to man, curdled on between + rotten wharves, one murky sheet of sewerage. Fretted by the ill-built + piers, awhile it crested and hissed, then shot balefully through the + Erebus arches, desperate as the lost souls of the harlots, who, every + night, took the same plunge. Meantime, here and there, like awaiting + hearses, the coal-scows drifted along, poled broadside, pell-mell to the + current. + </p> + <p> + And as that tide in the water swept all craft on, so a like tide seemed + hurrying all men, all horses, all vehicles on the land. As ant-hills, the + bridge arches crawled with processions of carts, coaches, drays, every + sort of wheeled, rumbling thing, the noses of the horses behind touching + the backs of the vehicles in advance, all bespattered with ebon mud—ebon + mud that stuck like Jews' pitch. At times the mass, receiving some + mysterious impulse far in the rear, away among the coiled thoroughfares + out of sight, would, start forward with a spasmodic surge. It seemed as if + some squadron of centaurs, on the thither side of Phlegethon, with charge + on charge, was driving tormented humanity, with all its chattels, across. + </p> + <p> + Whichever way the eye turned, no tree, no speck of any green thing was + seen—no more than in smithies. All laborers, of whatsoever sort, + were hued like the men in foundries. The black vistas of streets were as + the galleries in coal mines; the flagging, as flat tomb-stones, minus the + consecration of moss, and worn heavily down, by sorrowful tramping, as the + vitreous rocks in the cursed Gallipagos, over which the convict tortoises + crawl. + </p> + <p> + As in eclipses, the sun was hidden; the air darkened; the whole dull, + dismayed aspect of things, as if some neighboring volcano, belching its + premonitory smoke, were about to whelm the great town, as Herculaneum and + Pompeii, or the Cities of the Plain. And as they had been upturned in + terror towards the mountain, all faces were more or less snowed or spotted + with soot. Nor marble, nor flesh, nor the sad spirit of man, may in this + cindery City of Dis abide white. + </p> + <p> + As retired at length, midway, in a recess of the bridge, Israel surveyed + them, various individual aspects all but frighted him. Knowing not who + they were; never destined, it may be, to behold them again; one after the + other, they drifted by, uninvoked ghosts in Hades. Some of the wayfarers + wore a less serious look; some seemed hysterically merry; but the mournful + faces had an earnestness not seen in the others: because man, "poor + player," succeeds better in life's tragedy than comedy. + </p> + <p> + Arrived, in the end, on the Middlesex side, Israel's heart was + prophetically heavy; foreknowing, that being of this race, felicity could + never be his lot. + </p> + <p> + For five days he wandered and wandered. Without leaving statelier haunts + unvisited, he did not overlook those broader areas—hereditary parks + and manors of vice and misery. Not by constitution disposed to gloom, + there was a mysteriousness in those impulses which led him at this time to + rovings like these. But hereby stoic influences were at work, to fit him + at a soon-coming day for enacting a part in the last extremities here + seen; when by sickness, destitution, each busy ill of exile, he was + destined to experience a fate, uncommon even to luckless humanity—a + fate whose crowning qualities were its remoteness from relief and its + depth of obscurity—London, adversity, and the sea, three + Armageddons, which, at one and the same time, slay and secrete their + victims. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVI.— FORTY-FIVE YEARS. + </h2> + <p> + For the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings in + the London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural wilderness of + the outcast Hebrews under Moses. + </p> + <p> + In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but no + pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, two + hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the stone + base, the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down. + </p> + <p> + But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were + necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme + suffering, without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, is + its depiction without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The + gloomiest and truthfulest dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the + calamities, however extraordinary, of inferior and private persons; least + of all, the pauper's; admonished by the fact, that to the craped palace of + the king lying in state, thousands of starers shall throng; but few feel + enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed knuckle-bone, grins the + unupholstered corpse of the beggar. + </p> + <p> + Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder + street? What plebeian Lear or Oedipus, what Israel Potter, cowers there by + the corner they shun? From this turning point, then, we too cross over and + skim events to the end; omitting the particulars of the starveling's + wrangling with rats for prizes in the sewers; or his crawling into an + abandoned doorless house in St. Giles', where his hosts were three dead + men, one pendant; into another of an alley nigh Houndsditch, where the + crazy hovel, in phosphoric rottenness, fell sparkling on him one pitchy + midnight, and he received that injury, which, excluding activity for no + small part of the future, was an added cause of his prolongation of exile, + besides not leaving his faculties unaffected by the concussion of one of + the rafters on his brain. + </p> + <p> + But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning of his + career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended him for a + time; insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being able to buy his + homeward passage so soon as the war should end. But, as stubborn fate + would have it, being run over one day at Holborn Bars, and taken into a + neighboring bakery, he was there treated with such kindliness by a Kentish + lass, the shop-girl, that in the end he thought his debt of gratitude + could only be repaid by love. In a word, the money saved up for his ocean + voyage was lavished upon a rash embarkation in wedlock. + </p> + <p> + Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the dilemma of impressment + or imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread of those + hardships would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, when + hostilities were no more, so was his money. Some period elapsed ere the + affairs of the two governments were put on such a footing as to support an + American consul at London. Yet, when this came to pass, he could only + embrace the facilities for a return here furnished, by deserting a wife + and child, wedded and born in the enemy's land. + </p> + <p> + The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with + hordes of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, or + turn highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping coaches at + times in the most public streets), would work for such a pittance as to + bring down the wages of all the laboring classes. Neither was our + adventurer the least among the sufferers. Driven out of his previous + employ—a sort of porter in a river-side warehouse—by this + sudden influx of rivals, destitute, honest men like himself, with the + ingenuity of his race, he turned his hand to the village art of + chair-bottoming. An itinerant, he paraded the streets with the cry of "Old + chairs to mend!" furnishing a curious illustration of the contradictions + of human life; that he who did little but trudge, should be giving cosy + seats to all the rest of the world. Meantime, according to another + well-known Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family increased. In + all, eleven children were born to him in certain sixpenny garrets in + Moorfields. One after the other, ten were buried. + </p> + <p> + When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That + business being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, bits + of paper, nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. From the + gutter he slid to the sewer. The slope was smooth. In poverty—"Facilis + descensus Averni." + </p> + <p> + But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of + Avernus before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for + company. + </p> + <p> + But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. In + 1793 war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London of + some of its superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean society + of his friends, the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering forlorn + through the black kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about sea + prisoners in hulks, and listen to stories of the Black Hole of Calcutta; + and often would meet other pairs of poor soldiers, perfect strangers, at + the more public corners and intersections of sewers—the + Charing-Crosses below; one soldier having the other by his remainder + button, earnestly discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or the + tide; while through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty + skylights of the realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers' carts, with + splashes of the flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city lived. + </p> + <p> + Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel returned + to chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden market, at + early morning, for the purchase of his flags, that he experienced one of + the strange alleviations hinted of above. That chatting with the ruddy, + aproned, hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks yet trickled the dew of the + dawn on the meadows; that being surrounded by bales of hay, as the raker + by cocks and ricks in the field; those glimpses of garden produce, the + blood-beets, with the damp earth still tufting the roots; that mere + handling of his flags, and bethinking him of whence they must have come, + the green hedges through which the wagon that brought them had passed; + that trudging home with them as a gleaner with his sheaf of wheat;—all + this was inexpressibly grateful. In want and bitterness, pent in, + perforce, between dingy walls, he had rural returns of his boyhood's + sweeter days among them; and the hardest stones of his solitary heart + (made hard by bare endurance alone) would feel the stir of tender but + quenchless memories, like the grass of deserted flagging, upsprouting + through its closest seams. Sometimes, when incited by some little + incident, however trivial in itself, thoughts of home would—either + by gradually working and working upon him, or else by an impetuous rush of + recollection—overpower him for a time to a sort of hallucination. + </p> + <p> + Thus was it:—One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he + was employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the + sward in an oval enclosure within St. James' Park, a little green but a + three-minutes' walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked and + grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to the public + resort on whose borders it stands. It was a little oval, fenced in with + iron pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure peered forth, as + some wild captive creature of the woods from its cage. And alien Israel + there—at times staring dreamily about him—seemed like some + amazed runaway steer, or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded on the + shores of Narraganset Bay, long ago; and back to New England our exile was + called in his soul. For still working, and thinking of home; and thinking + of home, and working amid the verdant quietude of this little oasis, one + rapt thought begat another, till at last his mind settled intensely, and + yet half humorously, upon the image of Old Huckleberry, his mother's + favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, hearing a sudden scraping noise + (some hob-shoe without, against the iron pailing), he insanely took it to + be Old Huckleberry in his stall, hailing him (Israel) with his shod + fore-foot clattering against the planks—his customary trick when + hungry—and so, down goes Israel's hook, and with a tuft of white + clover, impulsively snatched, he hurries away a few paces in obedience to + the imaginary summons. But soon stopping midway, and forlornly gazing + round at the enclosure, he bethought him that a far different oval, the + great oval of the ocean, must be crossed ere his crazy errand could be + done; and even then, Old Huckleberry would be found long surfeited with + clover, since, doubtless, being dead many a summer, he must be buried + beneath it. And many years after, in a far different part of the town, and + in far less winsome weather too, passing with his bundle of flags through + Red-Cross street, towards Barbican, in a fog so dense that the dimmed and + massed blocks of houses, exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy ranges on + ranges of midnight hills, he heard a confused pastoral sort of sounds—tramplings, + lowings, halloos—and was suddenly called to by a voice to head off + certain cattle, bound to Smithfield, bewildered and unruly in the fog. + Next instant he saw the white face—white as an orange-blossom—of + a black-bodied steer, in advance of the drove, gleaming ghost-like through + the vapors; and presently, forgetting his limp, with rapid shout and + gesture, he was more eager, even than the troubled farmers, their owners, + in driving the riotous cattle back into Barbican. Monomaniac reminiscences + were in him—"To the right, to the right!" he shouted, as, arrived at + the street corner, the farmers beat the drove to the left, towards + Smithfield: "To the right! you are driving them back to the pastures—to + the right! that way lies the barn-yard!" "Barn-yard?" cried a voice; "you + are dreaming, old man." And so, Israel, now an old man, was bewitched by + the mirage of vapors; he had dreamed himself home into the mists of the + Housatonic mountains; ruddy boy on the upland pastures again. But how + different the flat, apathetic, dead, London fog now seemed from those + agile mists which, goat-like, climbed the purple peaks, or in routed + armies of phantoms, broke down, pell-mell, dispersed in flight upon the + plain, leaving the cattle-boy loftily alone, clear-cut as a balloon + against the sky. + </p> + <p> + In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again drifting + its discharged soldiers on London, so that all kinds of labor were + overstocked. Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. Timber-toed + cripples stilted along, numerous as French peasants in <i>sabots</i>. And, + as thirty years before, on all sides, the exile had heard the supplicatory + cry, not addressed to him, "An honorable scar, your honor, received at + Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Trenton, fighting for his most gracious + Majesty, King George!" so now, in presence of the still surviving Israel, + our Wandering Jew, the amended cry was anew taken up, by a succeeding + generation of unfortunates, "An honorable scar, your honor, received at + Corunna, or at Waterloo, or at Trafalgar!" Yet not a few of these + petitioners had never been outside of the London smoke; a sort of crafty + aristocracy in their way, who, without having endangered their own persons + much if anything, reaped no insignificant share both of the glory and + profit of the bloody battles they claimed; while some of the genuine + working heroes, too brave to beg, too cut-up to work, and too poor to + live, laid down quietly in corners and died. And here it may be noted, as + a fact nationally characteristic, that however desperately reduced at + times, even to the sewers, Israel, the American, never sunk below the mud, + to actual beggary. + </p> + <p> + Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by the added + thousands who contended with him against starvation, nevertheless, somehow + he continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks of the cliffs, which, + though hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and even wantonly maimed by + the passing woodman, still, however cramped by rival trees and fettered by + rocks, succeed, against all odds, in keeping the vital nerve of the + tap-root alive. And even towards the end, in his dismallest December, our + veteran could still at intervals feel a momentary warmth in his topmost + boughs. In his Moorfields' garret, over a handful of reignited cinders + (which the night before might have warmed some lord), cinders raked up + from the streets, he would drive away dolor, by talking with his one only + surviving, and now motherless child—the spared Benjamin of his old + age—of the far Canaan beyond the sea; rehearsing to the lad those + well-remembered adventures among New England hills, and painting scenes of + rustling happiness and plenty, in which the lowliest shared. And here, + shadowy as it was, was the second alleviation hinted of above. + </p> + <p> + To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who + had been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night after + night, as to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his father take + him there? "Some day to come, my boy," would be the hopeful response of an + unhoping heart. And "Would God it were to-morrow!" would be the + impassioned reply. + </p> + <p> + In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual + return. For with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his + entailed misery, by compassing for his father and himself a voyage to the + Promised Land. By his persevering efforts he succeeded at last, against + every obstacle, in gaining credit in the right quarter to his + extraordinary statements. In short, charitably stretching a technical + point, the American Consul finally saw father and son embarked in the + Thames for Boston. + </p> + <p> + It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, had + sailed a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which he now + was bound. An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed locks + besnowed as its foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVII.— REQUIESCAT IN PACE. + </h2> + <p> + It happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock on a + Fourth of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the riotous + crowd near Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run over by a + patriotic triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered banner, + inscribed with gilt letters: + </p> + <h3> + "BUNKER-HILL + </h3> + <h3> + 1775. + </h3> + <h3> + GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!" + </h3> + <p> + It was on Copps' Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy's + positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose that + day. Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked off across + Charles River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient monument, at that + period, was hard to see, as a struggling sprig of corn in a chilly spring. + Upon those heights, fifty years before, his now feeble hands had wielded + both ends of the musket. There too he had received that slit upon the + chest, which afterwards, in the affair with the Serapis, being traversed + by a cutlass wound, made him now the bescarred bearer of a cross. + </p> + <p> + For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry July day + was waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising to return to + the lodging for the present assigned them by the ship-captain. "Nay," + replied the old man, "I shall get no fitter rest than here by the mounds." + </p> + <p> + But from this true "Potter's Field," the boy at length drew him away; and + encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the reassembled + passengers, father and son started by stage for the country of the + Housatonie. But the exile's presence in these old mountain townships + proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew him, nor + could recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that more than + thirty years previous, the last known survivor of his family in that + region, a bachelor, following the example of three-fourths of his + neighbors, had sold out and removed to a distant country in the west; + where exactly, none could say. + </p> + <p> + He sought to get a glimpse of his father's homestead. But it had been + burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, he + next went to find the site. But the roads had years before been changed. + The old road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran straight + through what had formerly been orchards. But new orchards, planted from + other suckers, and in time grafted, throve on sunny slopes near by, where + blackberries had once been picked by the bushel. At length he came to a + field waving with buckwheat. It seemed one of those fields which himself + had often reaped. But it turned out, upon inquiry, that but three summers + since a walnut grove had stood there. Then he vaguely remembered that his + father had sometimes talked of planting such a grove, to defend the + neighboring fields against the cold north wind; yet where precisely that + grove was to have been, his shattered mind could not recall. But it seemed + not unlikely that during his long exile, the walnut grove had been planted + and harvested, as well as the annual crops preceding and succeeding it, on + the very same soil. + </p> + <p> + Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural wood, + which seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to contemplate a + strange, mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy beech. Though + wherever touched by his staff, however lightly, this pile would crumble, + yet here and there, even in powder, it preserved the exact look, each + irregularly defined line, of what it had originally been—namely, a + half-cord of stout hemlock (one of the woods least affected by exposure to + the air), in a foregoing generation chopped and stacked up on the spot, + against sledging-time, but, as sometimes happens in such cases, by + subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious decay—type now, as it + stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and a long life still rotting + in early mishap. + </p> + <p> + "Do I dream?" mused the bewildered old man, "or what is this vision that + comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I heaving yon + elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I cannot be so + old." + </p> + <p> + "Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood," said his son, and led + him forth. + </p> + <p> + Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing + slowly, the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, + like a tumbled chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire- place, now + aridly stuck over here and there, with thin, clinging, round, prohibitory + mosses, like executors' wafers. Just as the oxen were bid stand, the + stranger's plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden contact with some + sunken stone at the ruin's base. + </p> + <p> + "There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old + hearthstone. Ah, old man,—sultry day, this." + </p> + <p> + "Whose house stood here, friend?" said the wanderer, touching the + half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it. + </p> + <p> + "Don't know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You know 'em?" + </p> + <p> + But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious + natural bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs. + </p> + <p> + "What are you looking at so, father?" + </p> + <p> + "'<i>Father</i>!' Here," raking with his staff, "<i>my</i> father would + sit, and here, my mother, and here I, little infant, would totter between, + even as now, once again, on the very same spot, but in the unroofed air, I + do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend." + </p> + <p> + Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close. + </p> + <p> + Few things remain. + </p> + <p> + He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. His + scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record of his + fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print— himself out of being—his + name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak on his native + hills was blown down. + </p> + <h3> + THE END. + </h3> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + + <pre> + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Israel Potter, by Herman Melville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + +***** This file should be named 15422-h.htm or 15422-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/2/15422/ + +Etext produced by Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Israel Potter + +Author: Herman Melville + +Release Date: March 20, 2005 [EBook #15422] +[Last updated: October 27, 2014] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + + + + +Produced by Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + ISRAEL POTTER + + His Fifty Years of Exile + + BY HERMAN MELVILLE + + AUTHOR OF "TYPEE," "OMOO," ETC. + + 1855 + + + + +Dedication + +TO HIS HIGHNESS THE Bunker-Hill Monument + + +Biography, in its purer form, confined to the ended lives of the true +and brave, may be held the fairest meed of human virtue--one given and +received in entire disinterestedness--since neither can the biographer +hope for acknowledgment from the subject, nor the subject at all avail +himself of the biographical distinction conferred. + +Israel Potter well merits the present tribute--a private of Bunker Hill, +who for his faithful services was years ago promoted to a still deeper +privacy under the ground, with a posthumous pension, in default of any +during life, annually paid him by the spring in ever-new mosses and +sward. + +I am the more encouraged to lay this performance at the feet of your +Highness, because, with a change in the grammatical person, it +preserves, almost as in a reprint, Israel Potter's autobiographical +story. Shortly after his return in infirm old age to his native land, a +little narrative of his adventures, forlornly published on sleazy gray +paper, appeared among the peddlers, written, probably, not by himself, +but taken down from his lips by another. But like the crutch-marks of +the cripple by the Beautiful Gate, this blurred record is now out of +print. From a tattered copy, rescued by the merest chance from the +rag-pickers, the present account has been drawn, which, with the +exception of some expansions, and additions of historic and personal +details, and one or two shiftings of scene, may, perhaps, be not unfitly +regarded something in the light of a dilapidated old tombstone +retouched. + +Well aware that in your Highness' eyes the merit of the story must be in +its general fidelity to the main drift of the original narrative, I +forbore anywhere to mitigate the hard fortunes of my hero; and +particularly towards the end, though sorely tempted, durst not +substitute for the allotment of Providence any artistic recompense of +poetical justice; so that no one can complain of the gloom of my closing +chapters more profoundly than myself. + +Such is the work, and such, the man, that I have the honor to present to +your Highness. That the name here noted should not have appeared in the +volumes of Sparks, may or may not be a matter for astonishment; but +Israel Potter seems purposely to have waited to make his, popular advent +under the present exalted patronage, seeing that your Highness, +according to the definition above, may, in the loftiest sense, be deemed +the Great Biographer: the national commemorator of such of the anonymous +privates of June 17, 1775, who may never have received other requital +than the solid reward of your granite. + +Your Highness will pardon me, if, with the warmest ascriptions on this +auspicious occasion, I take the liberty to mingle my hearty +congratulations on the recurrence of the anniversary day we celebrate, +wishing your Highness (though indeed your Highness be somewhat +prematurely gray) many returns of the same, and that each of its +summer's suns may shine as brightly on your brow as each winter snow +shall lightly rest on the grave of Israel Potter. + +Your Highness' Most devoted and obsequious, + +THE EDITOR. + +JUNE 17th, 1854. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + +I. The birthplace of Israel + +II. The youthful adventures of Israel + +III. Israel goes to the wars; and reaching Bunker Hill in time to be of +service there, soon after is forced to extend his travels across the sea +into the enemy's land + +IV. Further wanderings of the Refugee, with some account of a good +knight of Brentford who befriended him + +V. Israel in the Lion's Den + +VI. Israel makes the acquaintance of certain secret friends of America, +one of them being the famous author of the "Diversions of Purley." These +despatch him on a sly errand across the Channel + +VII. After a curious adventure upon the Pont Neuf, Israel enters the +presence of the renowned sage, Dr. Franklin, whom he finds right +learnedly and multifariously employed + +VIII. Which has something to say about Dr. Franklin and the Latin +Quarter + +IX. Israel is initiated into the mysteries of lodging-houses in the +Latin Quarter + +X. Another adventurer appears upon the scene + +XI. Paul Jones in a reverie + +XII. Recrossing the Channel, Israel returns to the Squire's abode--His +adventures there + +XIII. His escape from the house, with various adventures following + +XIV. In which Israel is sailor under two flags, and in three ships, and +all in one night + +XV. They sail as far as the Crag of Ailsa + +XVI. They look in at Carrickfergus, and descend on Whitehaven + +XVII. They call at the Earl of Selkirk's, and afterwards fight the +ship-of-war Drake + +XVIII. The Expedition that sailed from Groix + +XIX. They fight the Serapis. + +XX. The Shuttle + +XXI. Samson among the Philistines + +XXII. Something further of Ethan Allen; with Israel's flight towards the +wilderness + +XXIII. Israel in Egypt + +XXIV. Continued + +XXV. In the City of Dis + +XXVI Forty-five years + +XXVII. Requiescat in pace + + + + +ISRAEL POTTER + +Fifty Years of Exile + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE BIRTHPLACE OF ISRAEL. + + +The traveller who at the present day is content to travel in the good +old Asiatic style, neither rushed along by a locomotive, nor dragged by +a stage-coach; who is willing to enjoy hospitalities at far-scattered +farmhouses, instead of paying his bill at an inn; who is not to be +frightened by any amount of loneliness, or to be deterred by the +roughest roads or the highest hills; such a traveller in the eastern +part of Berkshire, Massachusetts, will find ample food for poetic +reflection in the singular scenery of a country, which, owing to the +ruggedness of the soil and its lying out of the track of all public +conveyances, remains almost as unknown to the general tourist as the +interior of Bohemia. + +Travelling northward from the township of Otis, the road leads for +twenty or thirty miles towards Windsor, lengthwise upon that long broken +spur of heights which the Green Mountains of Vermont send into +Massachusetts. For nearly the whole of the distance, you have the +continual sensation of being upon some terrace in the moon. The feeling +of the plain or the valley is never yours; scarcely the feeling of the +earth. Unless by a sudden precipitation of the road you find yourself +plunging into some gorge, you pass on, and on, and on, upon the crests +or slopes of pastoral mountains, while far below, mapped out in its +beauty, the valley of the Housatonie lies endlessly along at your feet. +Often, as your horse gaining some lofty level tract, flat as a table, +trots gayly over the almost deserted and sodded road, and your admiring +eye sweeps the broad landscape beneath, you seem to be Bootes driving in +heaven. Save a potato field here and there, at long intervals, the whole +country is either in wood or pasture. Horses, cattle and sheep are the +principal inhabitants of these mountains. But all through the year lazy +columns of smoke, rising from the depths of the forest, proclaim the +presence of that half-outlaw, the charcoal-burner; while in early spring +added curls of vapor show that the maple sugar-boiler is also at work. +But as for farming as a regular vocation, there is not much of it here. +At any rate, no man by that means accumulates a fortune from this thin +and rocky soil, all whose arable parts have long since been nearly +exhausted. + +Yet during the first settlement of the country, the region was not +unproductive. Here it was that the original settlers came, acting upon +the principle well known to have regulated their choice of site, namely, +the high land in preference to the low, as less subject to the +unwholesome miasmas generated by breaking into the rich valleys and +alluvial bottoms of primeval regions. By degrees, however, they quitted +the safety of this sterile elevation, to brave the dangers of richer +though lower fields. So that, at the present day, some of those mountain +townships present an aspect of singular abandonment. Though they have +never known aught but peace and health, they, in one lesser aspect at +least, look like countries depopulated by plague and war. Every mile or +two a house is passed untenanted. The strength of the frame-work of +these ancient buildings enables them long to resist the encroachments of +decay. Spotted gray and green with the weather-stain, their timbers seem +to have lapsed back into their woodland original, forming part now of +the general picturesqueness of the natural scene. They are of +extraordinary size, compared with modern farmhouses. One peculiar +feature is the immense chimney, of light gray stone, perforating the +middle of the roof like a tower. + +On all sides are seen the tokens of ancient industry. As stone abounds +throughout these mountains, that material was, for fences, as ready to +the hand as wood, besides being much more durable. Consequently the +landscape is intersected in all directions with walls of uncommon +neatness and strength. + +The number and length of these walls is not more surprising than the +size of some of the blocks comprising them. The very Titans seemed to +have been at work. That so small an army as the first settlers must +needs have been, should have taken such wonderful pains to enclose so +ungrateful a soil; that they should have accomplished such herculean +undertakings with so slight prospect of reward; this is a consideration +which gives us a significant hint of the temper of the men of the +Revolutionary era. + +Nor could a fitter country be found for the birthplace of the devoted +patriot, Israel Potter. + +To this day the best stone-wall builders, as the best wood-choppers, +come from those solitary mountain towns; a tall, athletic, and hardy +race, unerring with the axe as the Indian with the tomahawk; at +stone-rolling, patient as Sisyphus, powerful as Samson. + +In fine clear June days, the bloom of these mountains is beyond +expression delightful. Last visiting these heights ere she vanishes, +Spring, like the sunset, flings her sweetest charms upon them. Each tuft +of upland grass is musked like a bouquet with perfume. The balmy breeze +swings to and fro like a censer. On one side the eye follows for the +space of an eagle's flight, the serpentine mountain chains, southwards +from the great purple dome of Taconic--the St. Peter's of these +hills--northwards to the twin summits of Saddleback, which is the +two-steepled natural cathedral of Berkshire; while low down to the west +the Housatonie winds on in her watery labyrinth, through charming +meadows basking in the reflected rays from the hill-sides. At this +season the beauty of every thing around you populates the loneliness of +your way. You would not have the country more settled if you could. +Content to drink in such loveliness at all your senses, the heart +desires no company but Nature. + +With what rapture you behold, hovering over some vast hollow of the +hills, or slowly drifting at an immense height over the far sunken +Housatonie valley, some lordly eagle, who in unshared exaltation looks +down equally upon plain and mountain. Or you behold a hawk sallying from +some crag, like a Rhenish baron of old from his pinnacled castle, and +darting down towards the river for his prey. Or perhaps, lazily gliding +about in the zenith, this ruffian fowl is suddenly beset by a crow, who +with stubborn audacity pecks at him, and, spite of all his bravery, +finally persecutes him back to his stronghold. The otherwise dauntless +bandit, soaring at his topmost height, must needs succumb to this sable +image of death. Nor are there wanting many smaller and less famous fowl, +who without contributing to the grandeur, yet greatly add to the beauty +of the scene. The yellow-bird flits like a winged jonquil here and +there; like knots of violets the blue-birds sport in clusters upon the +grass; while hurrying from the pasture to the grove, the red robin seems +an incendiary putting torch to the trees. Meanwhile the air is vocal +with their hymns, and your own soul joys in the general joy. Like a +stranger in an orchestra, you cannot help singing yourself when all +around you raise such hosannas. + +But in autumn, those gay northerners, the birds, return to their +southern plantations. The mountains are left bleak and sere. Solitude +settles down upon them in drizzling mists. The traveller is beset, at +perilous turns, by dense masses of fog. He emerges for a moment into +more penetrable air; and passing some gray, abandoned house, sees the +lofty vapors plainly eddy by its desolate door; just as from the plain +you may see it eddy by the pinnacles of distant and lonely heights. Or, +dismounting from his frightened horse, he leads him down some scowling +glen, where the road steeply dips among grim rocks, only to rise as +abruptly again; and as he warily picks his way, uneasy at the menacing +scene, he sees some ghost-like object looming through the mist at the +roadside; and wending towards it, beholds a rude white stone, uncouthly +inscribed, marking the spot where, some fifty or sixty years ago, some +farmer was upset in his wood-sled, and perished beneath the load. + +In winter this region is blocked up with snow. Inaccessible and +impassable, those wild, unfrequented roads, which in August are +overgrown with high grass, in December are drifted to the arm-pit with +the white fleece from the sky. As if an ocean rolled between man and +man, intercommunication is often suspended for weeks and weeks. + +Such, at this day, is the country which gave birth to our hero: +prophetically styled Israel by the good Puritans, his parents, since, +for more than forty years, poor Potter wandered in the wild wilderness +of the world's extremest hardships and ills. + +How little he thought, when, as a boy, hunting after his father's stray +cattle among these New England hills he himself like a beast should be +hunted through half of Old England, as a runaway rebel. Or, how could he +ever have dreamed, when involved in the autumnal vapors of these +mountains, that worse bewilderments awaited him three thousand miles +across the sea, wandering forlorn in the coal-foes of London. But so it +was destined to be. This little boy of the hills, born in sight of the +sparkling Housatonic, was to linger out the best part of his life a +prisoner or a pauper upon the grimy banks of the Thames. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURES OF ISRAEL. + + +Imagination will easily picture the rural day of the youth of Israel. +Let us pass on to a less immature period. + +It appears that he began his wanderings very early; moreover, that ere, +on just principles throwing off the yoke off his king, Israel, on +equally excusable grounds, emancipated himself from his sire. He +continued in the enjoyment of parental love till the age of eighteen, +when, having formed an attachment for a neighbor's daughter--for some +reason, not deemed a suitable match by his father--he was severely +reprimanded, warned to discontinue his visits, and threatened with some +disgraceful punishment in case he persisted. As the girl was not only +beautiful, but amiable--though, as will be seen, rather weak--and her +family as respectable as any, though unfortunately but poor, Israel +deemed his father's conduct unreasonable and oppressive; particularly as +it turned out that he had taken secret means to thwart his son with the +girl's connections, if not with the girl herself, so as to place almost +insurmountable obstacles to an eventual marriage. For it had not been +the purpose of Israel to marry at once, but at a future day, when +prudence should approve the step. So, oppressed by his father, and +bitterly disappointed in his love, the desperate boy formed the +determination to quit them both for another home and other friends. + +It was on Sunday, while the family were gone to a farmhouse church near +by, that he packed up as much of his clothing as might be contained in a +handkerchief, which, with a small quantity of provision, he hid in a +piece of woods in the rear of the house. He then returned, and continued +in the house till about nine in the evening, when, pretending to go to +bed, he passed out of a back door, and hastened to the woods for his +bundle. + +It was a sultry night in July; and that he might travel with the more +ease on the succeeding day, he lay down at the foot of a pine tree, +reposing himself till an hour before dawn, when, upon awaking, he heard +the soft, prophetic sighing of the pine, stirred by the first breath of +the morning. Like the leaflets of that evergreen, all the fibres of his +heart trembled within him; tears fell from his eyes. But he thought of +the tyranny of his father, and what seemed to him the faithlessness of +his love; and shouldering his bundle, arose, and marched on. + +His intention was to reach the new countries to the northward and +westward, lying between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson, and the +Yankee settlements on the Housatonic. This was mainly to elude all +search. For the same reason, for the first ten or twelve miles, +shunning the public roads, he travelled through the woods; for he knew +that he would soon be missed and pursued. + +He reached his destination in safety; hired out to a farmer for a month +through the harvest; then crossed from the Hudson to the Connecticut. +Meeting here with an adventurer to the unknown regions lying about the +head waters of the latter river, he ascended with this man in a canoe, +paddling and pulling for many miles. Here again he hired himself out for +three months; at the end of that time to receive for his wages two +hundred acres of land lying in New Hampshire. The cheapness of the land +was not alone owing to the newness of the country, but to the perils +investing it. Not only was it a wilderness abounding with wild beasts, +but the widely-scattered inhabitants were in continual dread of being, +at some unguarded moment, destroyed or made captive by the Canadian +savages, who, ever since the French war, had improved every opportunity +to make forays across the defenceless frontier. + +His employer proving false to his contract in the matter of the land, +and there being no law in the country to force him to fulfil it, +Israel--who, however brave-hearted, and even much of a dare-devil upon a +pinch, seems nevertheless to have evinced, throughout many parts of his +career, a singular patience and mildness--was obliged to look round for +other means of livelihood than clearing out a farm for himself in the +wilderness. A party of royal surveyors were at this period surveying the +unsettled regions bordering the Connecticut river to its source. At +fifteen shillings per month, he engaged himself to this party as +assistant chain-bearer, little thinking that the day was to come when he +should clank the king's chains in a dungeon, even as now he trailed them +a free ranger of the woods. It was midwinter; the land was surveyed upon +snow-shoes. At the close of the day, fires were kindled with dry +hemlock, a hut thrown up, and the party ate and slept. + +Paid off at last, Israel bought a gun and ammunition, and turned +hunter. Deer, beaver, etc., were plenty. In two or three months he had +many skins to show. I suppose it never entered his mind that he was thus +qualifying himself for a marksman of men. But thus were tutored those +wonderful shots who did such execution at Bunker's Hill; these, the +hunter-soldiers, whom Putnam bade wait till the white of the enemy's eye +was seen. + +With the result of his hunting he purchased a hundred acres of land, +further down the river, toward the more settled parts; built himself a +log hut, and in two summers, with his own hands, cleared thirty acres +for sowing. In the winter seasons he hunted and trapped. At the end of +the two years, he sold back his land--now much improved--to the original +owner, at an advance of fifty pounds. He conveyed his cash and furs to +Charlestown, on the Connecticut (sometimes called No. 4), where he +trafficked them away for Indian blankets, pigments, and other showy +articles adapted to the business of a trader among savages. It was now +winter again. Putting his goods on a hand-sled, he started towards +Canada, a peddler in the wilderness, stopping at wigwams instead of +cottages. One fancies that, had it been summer, Israel would have +travelled with a wheelbarrow, and so trundled his wares through the +primeval forests, with the same indifference as porters roll their +barrows over the flagging of streets. In this way was bred that fearless +self-reliance and independence which conducted our forefathers to +national freedom. + +This Canadian trip proved highly successful. Selling his glittering +goods at a great advance, he received in exchange valuable peltries and +furs at a corresponding reduction. Returning to Charlestown, he disposed +of his return cargo again at a very fine profit. And now, with a light +heart and a heavy purse, he resolved to visit his sweetheart and +parents, of whom, for three years, he had had no tidings. + +They were not less astonished than delighted at his reappearance; he had +been numbered with the dead. But his love still seemed strangely coy; +willing, but yet somehow mysteriously withheld. The old intrigues were +still on foot. Israel soon discovered, that though rejoiced to welcome +the return of the prodigal son--so some called him--his father still +remained inflexibly determined against the match, and still inexplicably +countermined his wooing. With a dolorous heart he mildly yielded to what +seemed his fatality; and more intrepid in facing peril for himself, than +in endangering others by maintaining his rights (for he was now +one-and-twenty), resolved once more to retreat, and quit his blue hills +for the bluer billows. + +A hermitage in the forest is the refuge of the narrow-minded +misanthrope; a hammock on the ocean is the asylum for the generous +distressed. The ocean brims with natural griefs and tragedies; and into +that watery immensity of terror, man's private grief is lost like a +drop. + +Travelling on foot to Providence, Rhode Island, Israel shipped on board +a sloop, bound with lime to the West Indies. On the tenth day out, the +vessel caught fire, from water communicating with the lime. It was +impossible to extinguish the flames. The boat was hoisted out, but owing +to long exposure to the sun, it needed continual bailing to keep it +afloat. They had only time to put in a firkin of butter and a ten-gallon +keg of water. Eight in number, the crew entrusted themselves to the +waves, in a leaky tub, many leagues from land. As the boat swept under +the burning bowsprit, Israel caught at a fragment of the flying-jib, +which sail had fallen down the stay, owing to the charring, nigh the +deck, of the rope which hoisted it. Tanned with the smoke, and its edge +blackened with the fire, this bit of canvass helped them bravely on +their way. Thanks to kind Providence, on the second day they were picked +up by a Dutch ship, bound from Eustatia to Holland. The castaways were +humanely received, and supplied with every necessary. At the end of a +week, while unsophisticated Israel was sitting in the maintop, thinking +what should befall him in Holland, and wondering what sort of unsettled, +wild country it was, and whether there was any deer-shooting or +beaver-trapping there, lo! an American brig, bound from Piscataqua to +Antigua, comes in sight. The American took them aboard, and conveyed +them safely to her port. There Israel shipped for Porto Rico; from +thence, sailed to Eustatia. + +Other rovings ensued; until at last, entering on board a Nantucket ship, +he hunted the leviathan off the Western Islands and on the coast of +Africa, for sixteen months; returning at length to Nantucket with a +brimming hold. From that island he sailed again on another whaling +voyage, extending, this time, into the great South Sea. There, promoted +to be harpooner, Israel, whose eye and arm had been so improved by +practice with his gun in the wilderness, now further intensified his +aim, by darting the whale-lance; still, unwittingly, preparing himself +for the Bunker Hill rifle. + +In this last voyage, our adventurer experienced to the extreme all the +hardships and privations of the whaleman's life on a long voyage to +distant and barbarous waters--hardships and privations unknown at the +present day, when science has so greatly contributed, in manifold ways, +to lessen the sufferings, and add to the comforts of seafaring men. +Heartily sick of the ocean, and longing once more for the bush, Israel, +upon receiving his discharge at Nantucket at the end of the voyage, hied +straight back for his mountain home. + +But if hopes of his sweetheart winged his returning flight, such hopes +were not destined to be crowned with fruition. The dear, false girl was +another's. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ISRAEL GOES TO THE WARS; AND REACHING BUNKER HILL IN TIME TO BE OF +SERVICE THERE, SOON AFTER IS FORCED TO EXTEND HIS TRAVELS ACROSS THE SEA +INTO THE ENEMY'S LAND. + + +Left to idle lamentations, Israel might now have planted deep furrows in +his brow. But stifling his pain, he chose rather to plough, than be +ploughed. Farming weans man from his sorrows. That tranquil pursuit +tolerates nothing but tranquil meditations. There, too, in mother earth, +you may plant and reap; not, as in other things, plant and see the +planting torn up by the roots. But if wandering in the wilderness, and +wandering upon the waters, if felling trees, and hunting, and shipwreck, +and fighting with whales, and all his other strange adventures, had not +as yet cured poor Israel of his now hopeless passion, events were at +hand for ever to drown it. + +It was the year 1774. The difficulties long pending between the colonies +and England were arriving at their crisis. Hostilities were certain. The +Americans were preparing themselves. Companies were formed in most of +the New England towns, whose members, receiving the name of minute-men, +stood ready to march anywhere at a minute's warning. Israel, for the +last eight months, sojourning as a laborer on a farm in Windsor, +enrolled himself in the regiment of Colonel John Patterson of Lenox, +afterwards General Patterson. + +The battle of Lexington was fought on the 18th of April, 1775; news of +it arrived in the county of Berkshire on the 20th about noon. The next +morning at sunrise, Israel swung his knapsack, shouldered his musket, +and, with Patterson's regiment, was on the march, quickstep, towards +Boston. + +Like Putnam, Israel received the stirring tidings at the plough. But +although not less willing than Putnam to fly to battle at an instant's +notice, yet--only half an acre of the field remaining to be finished--he +whipped up his team and finished it. Before hastening to one duty, he +would not leave a prior one undone; and ere helping to whip the British, +for a little practice' sake, he applied the gad to his oxen. From the +field of the farmer, he rushed to that of the soldier, mingling his +blood with his sweat. While we revel in broadcloth, let us not forget +what we owe to linsey-woolsey. + +With other detachments from various quarters, Israel's regiment remained +encamped for several days in the vicinity of Charlestown. On the +seventeenth of June, one thousand Americans, including the regiment of +Patterson, were set about fortifying Bunker's Hill. Working all through +the night, by dawn of the following day, the redoubt was thrown up. But +every one knows all about the battle. Suffice it, that Israel was one +of those marksmen whom Putnam harangued as touching the enemy's eyes. +Forbearing as he was with his oppressive father and unfaithful love, and +mild as he was on the farm, Israel was not the same at Bunker Hill. +Putnam had enjoined the men to aim at the officers; so Israel aimed +between the golden epaulettes, as, in the wilderness, he had aimed +between the branching antlers. With dogged disdain of their foes, the +English grenadiers marched up the hill with sullen slowness; thus +furnishing still surer aims to the muskets which bristled on the +redoubt. Modest Israel was used to aver, that considering his practice +in the woods, he could hardly be regarded as an inexperienced marksman; +hinting, that every shot which the epauletted grenadiers received from +his rifle, would, upon a different occasion, have procured him a +deerskin. And like stricken deers the English, rashly brave as they +were, fled from the opening fire. But the marksman's ammunition was +expended; a hand-to-hand encounter ensued. Not one American musket in +twenty had a bayonet to it. So, wielding the stock right and left, the +terrible farmers, with hats and coats off, fought their way among the +furred grenadiers, knocking them right and left, as seal-hunters on the +beach knock down with their clubs the Shetland seal. In the dense crowd +and confusion, while Israel's musket got interlocked, he saw a blade +horizontally menacing his feet from the ground. Thinking some fallen +enemy sought to strike him at the last gasp, dropping his hold on his +musket, he wrenched at the steel, but found that though a brave hand +held it, that hand was powerless for ever. It was some British +officer's laced sword-arm, cut from the trunk in the act of fighting, +refusing to yield up its blade to the last. At that moment another sword +was aimed at Israel's head by a living officer. In an instant the blow +was parried by kindred steel, and the assailant fell by a brother's +weapon, wielded by alien hands. But Israel did not come off unscathed. A +cut on the right arm near the elbow, received in parrying the officer's +blow, a long slit across the chest, a musket ball buried in his hip, and +another mangling him near the ankle of the same leg, were the tokens of +intrepidity which our Sicinius Dentatus carried from this memorable +field. Nevertheless, with his comrades he succeeded in reaching Prospect +Hill, and from thence was conveyed to the hospital at Cambridge. The +bullet was extracted, his lesser wounds were dressed, and after much +suffering from the fracture of the bone near the ankle, several pieces +of which were extracted by the surgeon, ere long, thanks to the high +health and pure blood of the farmer, Israel rejoined his regiment when +they were throwing up intrenchments on Prospect Hill. Bunker Hill was +now in possession of the foe, who in turn had fortified it. + +On the third of July, Washington arrived from the South to take the +command. Israel witnessed his joyful reception by the huzzaing +companies. + +The British now quartered in Boston suffered greatly from the scarcity +of provisions. Washington took every precaution to prevent their +receiving a supply. Inland, all aid could easily be cut off. To guard +against their receiving any by water, from tories and other disaffected +persons, the General equipped three armed vessels to intercept all +traitorous cruisers. Among them was the brigantine Washington, of ten +guns, commanded by Captain Martiedale. Seamen were hard to be had. The +soldiers were called upon to volunteer for these vessels. Israel was one +who so did; thinking that as an experienced sailor he should not be +backward in a juncture like this, little as he fancied the new service +assigned. + +Three days out of Boston harbor, the brigantine was captured by the +enemy's ship Foy, of twenty guns. Taken prisoner with the rest of the +crew, Israel was afterwards put on board the frigate Tartar, with +immediate sailing orders for England. Seventy-two were captives in this +vessel. Headed by Israel, these men--half way across the sea--formed a +scheme to take the ship, but were betrayed by a renegade Englishman. As +ringleader, Israel was put in irons, and so remained till the frigate +anchored at Portsmouth. There he was brought on deck; and would have met +perhaps some terrible fate, had it not come out, during the examination, +that the Englishman had been a deserter from the army of his native +country ere proving a traitor to his adopted one. Relieved of his irons, +Israel was placed in the marine hospital on shore, where half of the +prisoners took the small-pox, which swept off a third of their number. +Why talk of Jaffa? + +From the hospital the survivors were conveyed to Spithead, and thrust on +board a hulk. And here in the black bowels of the ship, sunk low in the +sunless sea, our poor Israel lay for a month, like Jonah in the belly +of the whale. + +But one bright morning, Israel is hailed from the deck. A bargeman of +the commander's boat is sick. Known for a sailor, Israel for the nonce +is appointed to pull the absent man's oar. + +The officers being landed, some of the crew propose, like merry +Englishmen as they are, to hie to a neighboring ale-house, and have a +cosy pot or two together. Agreed. They start, and Israel with them. As +they enter the ale-house door, our prisoner is suddenly reminded of +still more imperative calls. Unsuspected of any design, he is allowed to +leave the party for a moment. No sooner does Israel see his companions +housed, than putting speed into his feet, and letting grow all his +wings, he starts like a deer. He runs four miles (so he afterwards +affirmed) without halting. He sped towards London; wisely deeming that +once in that crowd detection would be impossible. + +Ten miles, as he computed, from where he had left the bargemen, +leisurely passing a public house of a little village on the roadside, +thinking himself now pretty safe--hark, what is this he hears?-- + +"Ahoy!" + +"No ship," says Israel, hurrying on. + +"Stop." + +"If you will attend to your business, I will endeavor to attend to +mine," replies Israel coolly. And next minute he lets grow his wings +again; flying, one dare say, at the rate of something less than thirty +miles an hour. + +"Stop thief!" is now the cry. Numbers rushed from the roadside houses. +After a mile's chase, the poor panting deer is caught. + +Finding it was no use now to prevaricate, Israel boldly confesses +himself a prisoner-of-war. The officer, a good fellow as it turned out, +had him escorted back to the inn; where, observing to the landlord that +this must needs be a true-blooded Yankee, he calls for liquors to +refresh Israel after his run. Two soldiers are then appointed to guard +him for the present. This was towards evening; and up to a late hour at +night, the inn was filled with strangers crowding to see the Yankee +rebel, as they politely termed him. These honest rustics seemed to think +that Yankees were a sort of wild creatures, a species of 'possum or +kangaroo. But Israel is very affable with them. That liquor he drank +from the hand of his foe, has perhaps warmed his heart towards all the +rest of his enemies. Yet this may not be wholly so. We shall see. At any +rate, still he keeps his eye on the main chance--escape. Neither the +jokes nor the insults of the mob does he suffer to molest him. He is +cogitating a little plot to himself. + +It seems that the good officer--not more true to the king his master +than indulgent towards the prisoner which that same loyalty made--had +left orders that Israel should be supplied with whatever liquor he +wanted that night. So, calling for the can again and again, Israel +invites the two soldiers to drink and be merry. At length, a wag of the +company proposes that Israel should entertain the public with a jig, he +(the wag) having heard that the Yankees were extraordinary dancers. A +fiddle is brought in, and poor Israel takes the floor. Not a little cut +to think that these people should so unfeelingly seek to be diverted at +the expense of an unfortunate prisoner, Israel, while jigging it up and +down, still conspires away at his private plot, resolving ere long to +give the enemy a touch of certain Yankee steps, as yet undreamed of in +their simple philosophy. They would not permit any cessation of his +dancing till he had danced himself into a perfect sweat, so that the +drops fell from his lank and flaxen hair. But Israel, with much of the +gentleness of the dove, is not wholly without the wisdom of the serpent. +Pleased to see the flowing bowl, he congratulates himself that his own +state of perspiration prevents it from producing any intoxicating effect +upon him. + +Late at night the company break up. Furnished with a pair of handcuffs, +the prisoner is laid on a blanket spread upon the floor at the side of +the bed in which his two keepers are to repose. Expressing much +gratitude for the blanket, with apparent unconcern, Israel stretches his +legs. An hour or two passes. All is quiet without. + +The important moment had now arrived. Certain it was, that if this +chance were suffered to pass unimproved, a second would hardly present +itself. For early, doubtless, on the following morning, if not some way +prevented, the two soldiers would convey Israel back to his floating +prison, where he would thenceforth remain confined until the close of +the war; years and years, perhaps. When he thought of that horrible old +hulk, his nerves were restrung for flight. But intrepid as he must be to +compass it, wariness too was needed. His keepers had gone to bed pretty +well under the influence of the liquor. This was favorable. But still, +they were full-grown, strong men; and Israel was handcuffed. So Israel +resolved upon strategy first; and if that failed, force afterwards. He +eagerly listened. One of the drunken soldiers muttered in his sleep, at +first lowly, then louder and louder,--"Catch 'em! Grapple 'em! Have at +'em! Ha--long cutlasses! Take that, runaway!" + +"What's the matter with ye, Phil?" hiccoughed the other, who was not yet +asleep. "Keep quiet, will ye? Ye ain't at Fontenoy now." + +"He's a runaway prisoner, I say. Catch him, catch him!" + +"Oh, stush with your drunken dreaming," again hiccoughed his comrade, +violently nudging him. "This comes o' carousing." + +Shortly after, the dreamer with loud snores fell back into dead sleep. +But by something in the sound of the breathing of the other soldier, +Israel knew that this man remained uneasily awake. He deliberated a +moment what was best to do. At length he determined upon trying his old +plea. Calling upon the two soldiers, he informed them that urgent +necessity required his immediate presence somewhere in the rear of the +house. + +"Come, wake up here, Phil," roared the soldier who was awake; "the +fellow here says he must step out; cuss these Yankees; no better +edication than to be gettin' up on nateral necessities at this time +o'night. It ain't nateral; its unnateral. D---n ye, Yankee, don't ye +know no better?" + +With many more denunciations, the two now staggered to their feet, and +clutching hold of Israel, escorted him down stairs, and through a long, +narrow, dark entry; rearward, till they came to a door. No sooner +was this unbolted by the foremost guard, than, quick as a flash, +manacled Israel, shaking off the grasp of the one behind him, butts him +sprawling back into the entry; when, dashing in the opposite direction, +he bounces the other head over heels into the garden, never using a +hand; and then, leaping over the latter's head, darts blindly out into +the midnight. Next moment he was at the garden wall. No outlet was +discoverable in the gloom. But a fruit-tree grew close to the wall. +Springing into it desperately, handcuffed as he was, Israel leaps atop +of the barrier, and without pausing to see where he is, drops himself to +the ground on the other side, and once more lets grow all his wings. +Meantime, with loud outcries, the two baffled drunkards grope +deliriously about in the garden. + +After running two or three miles, and hearing no sound of pursuit, +Israel reins up to rid himself of the handcuffs, which impede him. After +much painful labor he succeeds in the attempt. Pressing on again with +all speed, day broke, revealing a trim-looking, hedged, and beautiful +country, soft, neat, and serene, all colored with the fresh early tints +of the spring of 1776. + +Bless me, thought Israel, all of a tremble, I shall certainly be caught +now; I have broken into some nobleman's park. + +But, hurrying forward again, he came to a turnpike road, and then knew +that, all comely and shaven as it was, this was simply the open country +of England; one bright, broad park, paled in with white foam of the +sea. A copse skirting the road was just bursting out into bud. Each +unrolling leaf was in very act of escaping from its prison. Israel +looked at the budding leaves, and round on the budding sod, and up at +the budding dawn of the day. He was so sad, and these sights were so +gay, that Israel sobbed like a child, while thoughts of his mountain +home rushed like a wind on his heart. But conquering this fit, he +marched on, and presently passed nigh a field, where two figures were +working. They had rosy cheeks, short, sturdy legs, showing the blue +stocking nearly to the knee, and were clad in long, coarse, white +frocks, and had on coarse, broad-brimmed straw hats. Their faces were +partly averted. + +"Please, ladies," half roguishly says Israel, taking off his hat, "does +this road go to London?" + +At this salutation, the two figures turned in a sort of stupid +amazement, causing an almost corresponding expression in Israel, who now +perceived that they were men, and not women. He had mistaken them, owing +to their frocks, and their wearing no pantaloons, only breeches hidden +by their frocks. + +"Beg pardon, ladies, but I thought ye were something else," said Israel +again. + +Once more the two figures stared at the stranger, and with added +boorishness of surprise. + +"Does this road go to London, gentlemen?" + +"Gentlemen--egad!" cried one of the two. + +"Egad!" echoed the second. + +Putting their hoes before them, the two frocked boors now took a good +long look at Israel, meantime scratching their heads under their plaited +straw hats. + +"Does it, gentlemen? Does it go to London? Be kind enough to tell a poor +fellow, do." + +"Yees goin' to Lunnun, are yees? Weel--all right--go along." + +And without another word, having now satisfied their rustic curiosity, +the two human steers, with wonderful phlegm, applied themselves to their +hoes; supposing, no doubt, that they had given all requisite +information. + +Shortly after, Israel passed an old, dark, mossy-looking chapel, its +roof all plastered with the damp yellow dead leaves of the previous +autumn, showered there from a close cluster of venerable trees, with +great trunks, and overstretching branches. Next moment he found himself +entering a village. The silence of early morning rested upon it. But few +figures were seen. Glancing through the window of a now noiseless +public-house, Israel saw a table all in disorder, covered with empty +flagons, and tobacco-ashes, and long pipes; some of the latter broken. + +After pausing here a moment, he moved on, and observed a man over the +way standing still and watching him. Instantly Israel was reminded that +he had on the dress of an English sailor, and that it was this probably +which had arrested the stranger's attention. Well knowing that his +peculiar dress exposed him to peril, he hurried on faster to escape the +village; resolving at the first opportunity to change his garments. Ere +long, in a secluded place about a mile from the village, he saw an old +ditcher tottering beneath the weight of a pick-axe, hoe and shovel, +going to his work; the very picture of poverty, toil and distress. His +clothes were tatters. + +Making up to this old man, Israel, after a word or two of salutation, +offered to change clothes with him. As his own clothes were prince-like +compared to the ditchers, Israel thought that however much his +proposition might excite the suspicion of the ditcher, yet self-interest +would prevent his communicating the suspicions. To be brief, the two +went behind a hedge, and presently Israel emerged, presenting the most +forlorn appearance conceivable; while the old ditcher hobbled off in an +opposite direction, correspondingly improved in his aspect; though it +was rather ludicrous than otherwise, owing to the immense bagginess of +the sailor-trowsers flapping about his lean shanks, to say nothing of +the spare voluminousness of the pea-jacket. But Israel--how deplorable, +how dismal his plight! Little did he ween that these wretched rags he +now wore, were but suitable to that long career of destitution before +him: one brief career of adventurous wanderings; and then, forty torpid +years of pauperism. The coat was all patches. And no two patches were +alike, and no one patch was the color of the original cloth. The +stringless breeches gaped wide open at the knee; the long woollen +stockings looked as if they had been set up at some time for a target. +Israel looked suddenly metamorphosed from youth to old age; just like an +old man of eighty he looked. But, indeed, dull, dreary adversity was now +in store for him; and adversity, come it at eighteen or eighty, is the +true old age of man. The dress befitted the fate. + +From the friendly old ditcher, Israel learned the exact course he must +steer for London; distant now between seventy and eighty miles. He was +also apprised by his venerable friend, that the country was filled with +soldiers on the constant look-out for deserters whether from the navy or +army, for the capture of whom a stipulated reward was given, just as in +Massachusetts at that time for prowling bears. + +Having solemnly enjoined his old friend not to give any information, +should any one he meet inquire for such a person as Israel, our +adventurer walked briskly on, less heavy of heart, now that he felt +comparatively safe in disguise. + +Thirty miles were travelled that day. At night Israel stole into a barn, +in hopes of finding straw or hay for a bed. But it was spring; all the +hay and straw were gone. So after groping about in the dark, he was fain +to content himself with an undressed sheep-skin. Cold, hungry, +foot-sore, weary, and impatient for the morning dawn, Israel drearily +dozed out the night. + +By the first peep of day coming through the chinks of the barn, he was +up and abroad. Ere long finding himself in the suburbs of a considerable +village, the better to guard against detection he supplied himself with +a rude crutch, and feigning himself a cripple, hobbled straight through +the town, followed by a perverse-minded cur, which kept up a continual, +spiteful, suspicious bark. Israel longed to have one good rap at him +with his crutch, but thought it would hardly look in character for a +poor old cripple to be vindictive. + +A few miles further, and he came to a second village. While hobbling +through its main street, as through the former one, he was suddenly +stopped by a genuine cripple, all in tatters, too, who, with a +sympathetic air, inquired after the cause of his lameness. + +"White swelling," says Israel. + +"That's just my ailing," wheezed the other; "but you're lamer than me," +he added with a forlorn sort of self-satisfaction, critically eyeing +Israel's limp as once, more he stumped on his way, not liking to tarry +too long. + +"But halloo, what's your hurry, friend?" seeing Israel fairly +departing--"where're you going?" + +"To London," answered Israel, turning round, heartily wishing the old +fellow any where else than present. + +"Going to limp to Lunnun, eh? Well, success to ye." + +"As much to you, sir," answers Israel politely. + +Nigh the opposite suburbs of this village, as good fortune would have +it, an empty baggage-wagon bound for the metropolis turned into the main +road from a side one. Immediately Israel limps most deplorably, and begs +the driver to give a poor cripple a lift. So up he climbs; but after a +time, finding the gait of the elephantine draught-horses intolerably +slow, Israel craves permission to dismount, when, throwing away his +crutch, he takes nimbly to his legs, much to the surprise of his honest +friend the driver. + +The only advantage, if any, derived from his trip in the wagon, was, +when passing through a third village--but a little distant from the +previous one--Israel, by lying down in the wagon, had wholly avoided +being seen. + +The villages surprised him by their number and proximity. Nothing like +this was to be seen at home. Well knowing that in these villages he ran +much more risk of detection than in the open country, he henceforth did +his best to avoid them, by taking a roundabout course whenever they came +in sight from a distance. This mode of travelling not only lengthened +his journey, but put unlooked-for obstacles in his path--walls, ditches, +and streams. + +Not half an hour after throwing away his crutch, he leaped a great ditch +ten feet wide, and of undiscoverable muddy depth. I wonder if the old +cripple would think me the lamer one now, thought Israel to himself, +arriving on the hither side. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FURTHER WANDERINGS OF THE REFUGEE, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF A GOOD KNIGHT OF +BRENTFORD WHO BEFRIENDED HIM. + + +At nightfall, on the third day, Israel had arrived within sixteen miles +of the capital. Once more he sought refuge in a barn. This time he found +some hay, and flinging himself down procured a tolerable night's rest. + +Bright and early he arose refreshed, with the pleasing prospect of +reaching his destination ere noon. Encouraged to find himself now so far +from his original pursuers, Israel relaxed in his vigilance, and about +ten o'clock, while passing through the town of Staines, suddenly +encountered three soldiers. Unfortunately in exchanging clothes with the +ditcher, he could not bring himself to include his shirt in the traffic, +which shirt was a British navy shirt, a bargeman's shirt, and though +hitherto he had crumpled the blue collar out of sight, yet, as it +appeared in the present instance, it was not thoroughly concealed. At +any rate, keenly on the look-out for deserters, and made acute by hopes +of reward for their apprehension, the soldiers spied the fatal collar, +and in an instant laid violent hands on the refugee. + +"Hey, lad!" said the foremost soldier, a corporal, "you are one of his +majesty's seamen! come along with ye." + +So, unable to give any satisfactory account of himself, he was made +prisoner on the spot, and soon after found himself handcuffed and locked +up in the Bound House of the place, a prison so called, appropriated to +runaways, and those convicted of minor offences. Day passed dinnerless +and supperless in this dismal durance, and night came on. + +Israel had now been three days without food, except one two-penny loaf. +The cravings of hunger now became sharper; his spirits, hitherto arming +him with fortitude, began to forsake him. Taken captive once again upon +the very brink of reaching his goal, poor Israel was on the eve of +falling into helpless despair. But he rallied, and considering that +grief would only add to his calamity, sought with stubborn patience to +habituate himself to misery, but still hold aloof from despondency. He +roused himself, and began to bethink him how to be extricated from this +labyrinth. + +Two hours sawing across the grating of the window, ridded him of his +handcuffs. Next came the door, secured luckily with only a hasp and +padlock. Thrusting the bolt of his handcuffs through a small window in +the door, he succeeded in forcing the hasp and regaining his liberty +about three o'clock in the morning. + +Not long after sunrise, he passed nigh Brentford, some six or seven +miles from the capital. So great was his hunger that downright +starvation seemed before him. He chewed grass, and swallowed it. Upon +first escaping from the hulk, six English pennies was all the money he +had. With two of these he had bought a small loaf the day after fleeing +the inn. The other four still remained in his pocket, not having met +with a good opportunity to dispose of them for food. + +Having torn off the collar of his shirt, and flung it into a hedge, he +ventured to accost a respectable carpenter at a pale fence, about a mile +this side of Brentford, to whom his deplorable situation now induced him +to apply for work. The man did not wish himself to hire, but said that +if he (Israel) understood farming or gardening, he might perhaps procure +work from Sir John Millet, whose seat, he said, was not remote. He added +that the knight was in the habit of employing many men at that season of +the year, so he stood a fair chance. + +Revived a little by this prospect of relief, Israel starts in quest of +the gentleman's seat, agreeably to the direction received. But he +mistook his way, and proceeding up a gravelled and beautifully decorated +walk, was terrified at catching a glimpse of a number of soldiers +thronging a garden. He made an instant retreat before being espied in +turn. No wild creature of the American wilderness could have been more +panic-struck by a firebrand, than at this period hunted Israel was by a +red coat. It afterwards appeared that this garden was the Princess +Amelia's. + +Taking another path, ere long he came to some laborers shovelling +gravel. These proved to be men employed by Sir John. By them he was +directed towards the house, when the knight was pointed out to him, +walking bare-headed in the inclosure with several guests. Having heard +the rich men of England charged with all sorts of domineering qualities, +Israel felt no little misgiving in approaching to an audience with so +imposing a stranger. But, screwing up his courage, he advanced; while +seeing him coming all rags and tatters, the group of gentlemen stood in +some wonder awaiting what so singular a phantom might want. + +"Mr. Millet," said Israel, bowing towards the bare-headed gentleman. + +"Ha,--who are you, pray?" + +"A poor fellow, sir, in want of work." + +"A wardrobe, too, I should say," smiled one of the guests, of a very +youthful, prosperous, and dandified air. + +"Where's your hoe?" said Sir John. + +"I have none, sir." + +"Any money to buy one?" + +"Only four English pennies, sir." + +"_English_ pennies. What other sort would you have?" + +"Why, China pennies to be sure," laughed the youthful gentleman. "See +his long, yellow hair behind; he looks like a Chinaman. Some broken-down +Mandarin. Pity he's no crown to his old hat; if he had, he might pass it +round, and make eight pennies of his four." + +"Will you hire me, Mr. Millet," said Israel. + +"Ha! that's queer again," cried the knight. + +"Hark ye, fellow," said a brisk servant, approaching from the porch, +"this is Sir John Millet." + +Seeming to take pity on his seeming ignorance, as well as on his +undisputable poverty, the good knight now told Israel that if he would +come the next morning he would see him supplied with a hoe, and moreover +would hire him. + +It would be hard to express the satisfaction of the wanderer at +receiving this encouraging reply. Emboldened by it, he now returns +towards a baker's he had spied, and bravely marching in, flings down all +four pennies, and demands bread. Thinking he would not have any more +food till next morning, Israel resolved to eat only one of the pair of +two-penny loaves. But having demolished one, it so sharpened his longing, +that yielding to the irresistible temptation, he bolted down the second +loaf to keep the other company. + +After resting under a hedge, he saw the sun far descended, and so +prepared himself for another hard night. Waiting till dark, he crawled +into an old carriage-house, finding nothing there but a dismantled old +phaeton. Into this he climbed, and curling himself up like a +carriage-dog, endeavored to sleep; but, unable to endure the constraint +of such a bed, got out, and stretched himself on the bare boards of the +floor. + +No sooner was light in the east than he fastened to await the commands +of one who, his instinct told him, was destined to prove his benefactor. +On his father's farm accustomed to rise with the lark, Israel was +surprised to discover, as he approached the house, that no soul was +astir. It was four o'clock. For a considerable time he walked back and +forth before the portal ere any one appeared. The first riser was a man +servant of the household, who informed Israel that seven o'clock was the +hour the people went to their work. Soon after he met an hostler of the +place, who gave him permission to lie on some straw in an outhouse. +There he enjoyed a sweet sleep till awakened at seven o'clock by the +sounds of activity around him. + +Supplied by the overseer of the men with a large iron fork and a hoe, +he followed the hands into the field. He was so weak he could hardly +support his tools. Unwilling to expose his debility, he yet could not +succeed in concealing it. At last, to avoid worse imputations, he +confessed the cause. His companions regarded him with compassion, and +exempted him from the severer toil. + +About noon the knight visited his workmen. Noticing that Israel made +little progress, he said to him, that though he had long arms and broad +shoulders, yet he was feigning himself to be a very weak man, or +otherwise must in reality be so. + +Hereupon one of the laborers standing by informed the gentleman how it +was with Israel, when immediately the knight put a shilling into his +hands and bade him go to a little roadside inn, which was nearer than +the house, and buy him bread and a pot of beer. Thus refreshed he +returned to the band, and toiled with them till four o'clock, when the +day's work was over. + +Arrived at the house he there again saw his employer, who, after +attentively eyeing him without speaking, bade a meal be prepared for +him, when the maid presenting a smaller supply than her kind master +deemed necessary, she was ordered to return and bring out the entire +dish. But aware of the danger of sudden repletion of heavy food to one +in his condition, Israel, previously recruited by the frugal meal at the +inn, partook but sparingly. The repast was spread on the grass, and +being over, the good knight again looking inquisitively at Israel, +ordered a comfortable bed to be laid in the barn, and here Israel spent +a capital night. + +After breakfast, next morning, he was proceeding to go with the laborers +to their work, when his employer approaching him with a benevolent air, +bade him return to his couch, and there remain till he had slept his +fill, and was in a better state to resume his labors. + +Upon coming forth again a little after noon, he found Sir John walking +alone in the grounds. Upon discovering him, Israel would have retreated, +fearing that he might intrude; but beckoning him to advance, the knight, +as Israel drew nigh, fixed on him such a penetrating glance, that our +poor hero quaked to the core. Neither was his dread of detection +relieved by the knight's now calling in a loud voice for one from the +house. Israel was just on the point of fleeing, when overhearing the +words of the master to the servant who now appeared, all dread departed: + +"Bring hither some wine!" + +It presently came; by order of the knight the salver was set down on a +green bank near by, and the servant retired. + +"My poor fellow," said Sir John, now pouring out a glass of wine, and +handing it to Israel, "I perceive that you are an American; and, if I +am not mistaken, you are an escaped prisoner of war. But no fear--drink +the wine." + +"Mr. Millet," exclaimed Israel aghast, the untasted wine trembling in +his hand, "Mr. Millet, I--" + +"_Mr_. Millet--there it is again. Why don't you say _Sir John_ like the +rest?" + +"Why, sir--pardon me--but somehow, I can't. I've tried; but I can't. You +won't betray me for that?" + +"Betray--poor fellow! Hark ye, your history is doubtless a secret which +you would not wish to divulge to a stranger; but whatever happens to +you, I pledge you my honor I will never betray you." + +"God bless you for that, Mr. Millet." + +"Come, come; call me by my right name. I am not Mr. Millet. _You_ have +said _Sir_ to me; and no doubt you have a thousand times said _John_ to +other people. Now can't you couple the two? Try once. Come. Only _Sir_ +and then _John_--_Sir John_--that's all." + +"John--I can't--Sir, sir!--your pardon. I didn't mean that." + +"My good fellow," said the knight looking sharply upon Israel, "tell me, +are all your countrymen like you? If so, it's no use fighting them. To +that effect, I must write to his Majesty myself. Well, I excuse you from +Sir Johnning me. But tell me the truth, are you not a seafaring man, and +lately a prisoner of war?" + +Israel frankly confessed it, and told his whole story. The knight +listened with much interest; and at its conclusion, warned Israel to +beware of the soldiers; for owing to the seats of some of the royal +family being in the neighborhood, the red-coats abounded hereabout. + +"I do not wish unnecessarily to speak against my own countrymen," he +added, "I but plainly speak for your good. The soldiers you meet +prowling on the roads, are not fair specimens of the army. They are a +set of mean, dastardly banditti, who, to obtain their fee, would betray +their best friends. Once more, I warn you against them. But enough; +follow me now to the house, and as you tell me you have exchanged +clothes before now, you can do it again. What say you? I will give you +coat and breeches for your rags." + +Thus generously supplied with clothes and other comforts by the good +knight, and implicitly relying upon the honor of so kind-hearted a man, +Israel cheered up, and in the course of two or three weeks had so +fattened his flanks, that he was able completely to fill Sir John's old +buckskin breeches, which at first had hung but loosely about him. + +He was assigned to an occupation which removed him from the other +workmen. The strawberry bed was put under his sole charge. And often, of +mild, sunny afternoons, the knight, genial and gentle with dinner, would +stroll bare-headed to the pleasant strawberry bed, and have nice little +confidential chats with Israel; while Israel, charmed by the patriarchal +demeanor of this true Abrahamic gentleman, with a smile on his lip, and +tears of gratitude in his eyes, offered him, from time to time, the +plumpest berries of the bed. + +When the strawberry season was over, other parts of the grounds were +assigned him. And so six months elapsed, when, at the recommendation of +Sir John, Israel procured a good berth in the garden of the Princess +Amelia. + +So completely now had recent events metamorphosed him in all outward +things, that few suspected him of being any other than an Englishman. +Not even the knight's domestics. But in the princess's garden, being +obliged to work in company with many other laborers, the war was often +a topic of discussion among them. And "the d--d Yankee rebels" were not +seldom the object of scurrilous remark. Illy could the exile brook in +silence such insults upon the country for which he had bled, and for +whose honored sake he was that very instant a sufferer. More than once, +his indignation came very nigh getting the better of his prudence. He +longed for the war to end, that he might but speak a little bit of his +mind. + +Now the superintendent of the garden was a harsh, overbearing man. The +workmen with tame servility endured his worst affronts. But Israel, bred +among mountains, found it impossible to restrain himself when made the +undeserved object of pitiless epithets. Ere two months went by, he +quitted the service of the princess, and engaged himself to a farmer in +a small village not far from Brentford. But hardly had he been here +three weeks, when a rumor again got afloat that he was a Yankee prisoner +of war. Whence this report arose he could never discover. No sooner did +it reach the ears of the soldiers, than they were on the alert. Luckily, +Israel was apprised of their intentions in time. But he was hard pushed. +He was hunted after with a perseverance worthy a less ignoble cause. He +had many hairbreadth escapes. Most assuredly he would have been +captured, had it not been for the secret good offices of a few +individuals, who, perhaps, were not unfriendly to the American side of +the question, though they durst not avow it. + +Tracked one night by the soldiers to the house of one of these friends, +in whose garret he was concealed, he was obliged to force the skuttle, +and running along the roof, passed to those of adjoining houses to the +number of ten or twelve, finally succeeding in making his escape. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ISRAEL IN THE LION'S DEN. + + +Harassed day and night, hunted from food and sleep, driven from hole to +hole like a fox in the woods, with no chance to earn an hour's wages, he +was at last advised by one whose sincerity he could not doubt, to apply, +on the good word of Sir John Millet, for a berth as laborer in the +King's Gardens at Kew. There, it was said, he would be entirely safe, as +no soldier durst approach those premises to molest any soul therein +employed. It struck the poor exile as curious, that the very den of the +British lion, the private grounds of the British King, should be +commended to a refugee as his securest asylum. + +His nativity carefully concealed, and being personally introduced to the +chief gardener by one who well knew him; armed, too, with a line from +Sir John, and recommended by his introducer as uncommonly expert at +horticulture; Israel was soon installed as keeper of certain less +private plants and walks of the park. + +It was here, to one of his near country retreats, that, coming from +perplexities of state--leaving far behind him the dingy old bricks of +St. James--George the Third was wont to walk up and down beneath the +long arbors formed by the interlockings of lofty trees. + +More than once, raking the gravel, Israel through intervening foliage +would catch peeps in some private but parallel walk, of that lonely +figure, not more shadowy with overhanging leaves than with the shade of +royal meditations. + +Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometimes invade the best human +heart. Seeing the monarch unguarded before him; remembering that the war +was imputed more to the self-will of the King than to the willingness of +parliament or the nation; and calling to mind all his own sufferings +growing out of that war, with all the calamities of his country; dim +impulses, such as those to which the regicide Ravaillae yielded, would +shoot balefully across the soul of the exile. But thrusting Satan behind +him, Israel vanquished all such temptations. Nor did these ever more +disturb him, after his one chance conversation with the monarch. + +As he was one day gravelling a little by-walk, wrapped in thought, the +King turning a clump of bushes, suddenly brushed Israel's person. + +Immediately Israel touched his hat--but did not remove it--bowed, and +was retiring; when something in his air arrested the King's attention. + +"You ain't an Englishman,--no Englishman--no, no." + +Pale as death, Israel tried to answer something; but knowing not what to +say, stood frozen to the ground. + +"You are a Yankee--a Yankee," said the King again in his rapid and +half-stammering way. + +Again Israel assayed to reply, but could not. What could he say? Could +he lie to a King? + +"Yes, yes,--you are one of that stubborn race,--that very stubborn race. +What brought you here?" + +"The fate of war, sir." + +"May it please your Majesty," said a low cringing voice, approaching, +"this man is in the walk against orders. There is some mistake, may it +please your Majesty. Quit the walk, blockhead," he hissed at Israel. + +It was one of the junior gardeners who thus spoke. It seems that Israel +had mistaken his directions that morning. + +"Slink, you dog," hissed the gardener again to Israel; then aloud to the +King, "A mistake of the man, I assure your Majesty." + +"Go you away--away with ye, and leave him with me," said the king. + +Waiting a moment, till the man was out of hearing, the king again turned +upon Israel. + +"Were you at Bunker Hill?--that bloody Bunker Hill--eh, eh?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Fought like a devil--like a very devil, I suppose?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Helped flog--helped flog my soldiers?" + +"Yes, sir; but very sorry to do it." + +"Eh?--eh?--how's that?" + +"I took it to be my sad duty, sir." + +"Very much mistaken--very much mistaken, indeed. Why do ye sir me?--eh? +I'm your king--your king." + +"Sir," said Israel firmly, but with deep respect, "I have no king." + +The king darted his eye incensedly for a moment; but without quailing, +Israel, now that all was out, still stood with mute respect before him. +The king, turning suddenly, walked rapidly away from Israel a moment, +but presently returning with a less hasty pace, said, "You are rumored +to be a spy--a spy, or something of that sort--ain't you? But I know you +are not--no, no. You are a runaway prisoner of war, eh? You have sought +this place to be safe from pursuit, eh? eh? Is it not so?--eh? eh? eh?" + +"Sir, it is." + +"Well, ye're an honest rebel--rebel, yes, rebel. Hark ye, hark. Say +nothing of this talk to any one. And hark again. So long as you remain +here at Kew, I shall see that you are safe--safe." + +"God bless your Majesty!" + +"Eh?" + +"God bless your noble Majesty?" + +"Come--come--come," smiled the king in delight, "I thought I could +conquer ye--conquer ye." + +"Not the king, but the king's kindness, your Majesty." + +"Join my army--army." + +Sadly looking down, Israel silently shook his head. + +"You won't? Well, gravel the walk then--gravel away. Very stubborn +race--very stubborn race, indeed--very--very--very." + +And still growling, the magnanimous lion departed. How the monarch came +by his knowledge of so humble an exile, whether through that swift +insight into individual character said to form one of the miraculous +qualities transmitted with a crown, or whether some of the rumors +prevailing outside of the garden had come to his ear, Israel could never +determine. Very probably, though, the latter was the case, inasmuch as +some vague shadowy report of Israel not being an Englishman, had, a +little previous to his interview with the king, been communicated to +several of the inferior gardeners. Without any impeachment of Israel's +fealty to his country, it must still be narrated, that from this his +familiar audience with George the Third, he went away with very +favorable views of that monarch. Israel now thought that it could not be +the warm heart of the king, but the cold heads of his lords in council, +that persuaded him so tyrannically to persecute America. Yet hitherto +the precise contrary of this had been Israel's opinion, agreeably to the +popular prejudice throughout New England. + +Thus we see what strange and powerful magic resides in a crown, and how +subtly that cheap and easy magnanimity, which in private belongs to most +kings, may operate on good-natured and unfortunate souls. Indeed, had it +not been for the peculiar disinterested fidelity of our adventurer's +patriotism, he would have soon sported the red coat; and perhaps under +the immediate patronage of his royal friend, been advanced in time to no +mean rank in the army of Britain. Nor in that case would we have had to +follow him, as at last we shall, through long, long years of obscure and +penurious wandering. + +Continuing in the service of the king's gardeners at Kew, until a +season came when the work of the garden required a less number of +laborers, Israel, with several others, was discharged; and the day +after, engaged himself for a few months to a farmer in the neighborhood +where he had been last employed. But hardly a week had gone by, when the +old story of his being a rebel, or a runaway prisoner, or a Yankee, or a +spy, began to be revived with added malignity. Like bloodhounds, the +soldiers were once more on the track. The houses where he harbored were +many times searched; but thanks to the fidelity of a few earnest +well-wishers, and to his own unsleeping vigilance and activity, the +hunted fox still continued to elude apprehension. To such extremities of +harassment, however, did this incessant pursuit subject him, that in a +fit of despair he was about to surrender himself, and submit to his +fate, when Providence seasonably interposed in his favor. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ISRAEL MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF CERTAIN SECRET FRIENDS OF AMERICA, ONE +OF THEM BEING THE FAMOUS AUTHOR OF THE "DIVERSIONS OF PURLEY," THESE +DESPATCH HIM ON A SLY ERRAND ACROSS THE CHANNEL. + + +At this period, though made the victims indeed of British oppression, +yet the colonies were not totally without friends in Britain. It was but +natural that when Parliament itself held patriotic and gifted men, who +not only recommended conciliatory measures, but likewise denounced the +war as monstrous; it was but natural that throughout the nation at large +there should be many private individuals cherishing similar sentiments, +and some who made no scruple clandestinely to act upon them. + +Late one night while hiding in a farmer's granary, Israel saw a man with +a lantern approaching. He was about to flee, when the man hailed him in +a well-known voice, bidding him have no fear. It was the farmer himself. +He carried a message to Israel from a gentleman of Brentford, to the +effect, that the refugee was earnestly requested to repair on the +following evening to that gentleman's mansion. + +At first, Israel was disposed to surmise that either the farmer was +playing him false, or else his honest credulity had been imposed upon by +evil-minded persons. At any rate, he regarded the message as a decoy, +and for half an hour refused to credit its sincerity. But at length he +was induced to think a little better of it. The gentleman giving the +invitation was one Squire Woodcock, of Brentford, whose loyalty to the +king had been under suspicion; so at least the farmer averred. This +latter information was not without its effect. + +At nightfall on the following day, being disguised in strange clothes by +the farmer, Israel stole from his retreat, and after a few hours' walk, +arrived before the ancient brick house of the Squire; who opening the +door in person, and learning who it was that stood there, at once +assured Israel in the most solemn manner, that no foul play was +intended. So the wanderer suffered himself to enter, and be conducted +to a private chamber in the rear of the mansion, where were seated two +other gentlemen, attired, in the manner of that age, in long laced +coats, with small-clothes, and shoes with silver buckles. + +"I am John Woodcock," said the host, "and these gentlemen are Horne +Tooke and James Bridges. All three of us are friends to America. We have +heard of you for some weeks past, and inferring from your conduct, that +you must be a Yankee of the true blue stamp, we have resolved to employ +you in a way which you cannot but gladly approve; for surely, though an +exile, you are still willing to serve your country; if not as a sailor +or soldier, yet as a traveller?" + +"Tell me how I may do it?" demanded Israel, not completely at ease. + +"At that in good time," smiled the Squire. "The point is now--do you +repose confidence in my statements?" + +Israel glanced inquiringly upon the Squire; then upon his companions; +and meeting the expressive, enthusiastic, candid countenance of Horne +Tooke--then in the first honest ardor of his political career--turned +to the Squire, and said, "Sir, I believe what you have said. Tell me now +what I am to do." + +"Oh, there is just nothing to be done to-night," said the Squire; "nor +for some days to come perhaps, but we wanted to have you prepared." + +And hereupon he hinted to his guest rather vaguely of his general +intention; and that over, begged him to entertain them with some account +of his adventures since he first took up arms for his country. To this +Israel had no objections in the world, since all men love to tell the +tale of hardships endured in a righteous cause. But ere beginning his +story, the Squire refreshed him with some cold beef, laid in a snowy +napkin, and a glass of Perry, and thrice during the narration of the +adventures, pressed him with additional draughts. + +But after his second glass, Israel declined to drink more, mild as the +beverage was. For he noticed, that not only did the three gentlemen +listen with the utmost interest to his story, but likewise +interrupted him with questions and cross-questions in the most +pertinacious manner. So this led him to be on his guard, not being +absolutely certain yet, as to who they might really be, or what was +their real design. But as it turned out, Squire Woodcock and his friends +only sought to satisfy themselves thoroughly, before making their final +disclosures, that the exile was one in whom implicit confidence might be +placed. + +And to this desirable conclusion they eventually came, for upon the +ending of Israel's story, after expressing their sympathies for his +hardships, and applauding his generous patriotism in so patiently +enduring adversity, as well as singing the praises of his gallant +fellow-soldiers of Bunker Hill, they openly revealed their scheme. They +wished to know whether Israel would undertake a trip to Paris, to carry +an important message--shortly to be received for transmission through +them--to Doctor Franklin, then in that capital. + +"All your expenses shall be paid, not to speak of a compensation +besides," said the Squire; "will you go?" + +"I must think of it," said Israel, not yet wholly confirmed in his mind. +But once more he cast his glance on Horne Tooke, and his irresolution +was gone. + +The Squire now informed Israel that, to avoid suspicions, it would be +necessary for him to remove to another place until the hour at which he +should start for Paris. They enjoined upon him the profoundest secresy, +gave him a guinea, with a letter for a gentleman in White Waltham, a +town some miles from Brentford, which point they begged him to reach +as soon as possible, there to tarry for further instructions. + +Having informed him of thus much, Squire Woodcock asked him to hold out +his right foot. + +"What for?" said Israel. + +"Why, would you not like to have a pair of new boots against your +return?" smiled Home Tooke. + +"Oh, yes; no objection at all," said, Israel. + +"Well, then, let the bootmaker measure you," smiled Horne Tooke. + +"Do _you_ do it, Mr. Tooke," said the Squire; "you measure men's parts +better than I." + +"Hold out your foot, my good friend," said Horne Tooke--"there--now +let's measure your heart." + +"For that, measure me round the chest," said Israel. + +"Just the man we want," said Mr. Bridges, triumphantly. + +"Give him another glass of wine, Squire," said Horne Tooke. + +Exchanging the farmer's clothes for still another disguise, Israel now +set out immediately, on foot, for his destination, having received +minute directions as to his road, and arriving in White Waltham on the +following morning was very cordially received by the gentleman to whom +he carried the letter. This person, another of the active English +friends of America, possessed a particular knowledge of late events in +that land. To him Israel was indebted for much entertaining information. +After remaining some ten days at this place, word came from Squire +Woodcock, requiring Israel's immediate return, stating the hour at which +he must arrive at the house, namely, two o'clock on the following +morning. So, after another night's solitary trudge across the country, +the wanderer was welcomed by the same three gentlemen as before, seated +in the same room. + +"The time has now come," said Squire Woodcock. "You must start this +morning for Paris. Take off your shoes." + +"Am I to steal from here to Paris on my stocking-feet?" said Israel, +whose late easy good living at White Waltham had not failed to bring out +the good-natured and mirthful part of him, even as his prior experiences +had produced, for the most part, something like a contrary result. + +"Oh, no," smiled Horne Tooke, who always lived well, "we have +seven-league-boots for you. Don't you remember my measuring you?" + +Hereupon going to the closet, the Squire brought out a pair of new +boots. They were fitted with false heels. Unscrewing these, the Squire +showed Israel the papers concealed beneath. They were of a fine tissuey +fibre, and contained much writing in a very small compass. The boots, it +need hardly be said, had been particularly made for the occasion. + +"Walk across the room with them," said the Squire, when Israel had +pulled them on. + +"He'll surely be discovered," smiled Horne Tooke. "Hark how he creaks." + +"Come, come, it's too serious a matter for joking," said the Squire. +"Now, my fine fellow, be cautious, be sober, be vigilant, and above all +things be speedy." + +Being furnished now with all requisite directions, and a supply of +money, Israel, taking leave of Mr. Tooke and Mr. Bridges, was secretly +conducted down stairs by the Squire, and in five minutes' time was on +his way to Charing Cross in London, where taking the post-coach for +Dover, he thence went in a packet to Calais, and in fifteen minutes +after landing, was being wheeled over French soil towards Paris. He +arrived there in safety, and freely declaring himself an American, the +peculiarly friendly relations of the two nations at that period, +procured him kindly attentions even from strangers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AFTER A CURIOUS ADVENTURE UPON THE PONT NEUF, ISRAEL ENTERS THE PRESENCE +OF THE RENOWNED SAGE, DR. FRANKLIN, WHOM HE FINDS RIGHT LEARNEDLY AND +MULTIFARIOUSLY EMPLOYED. + + +Following the directions given him at the place where the diligence +stopped, Israel was crossing the Pont Neuf, to find Doctor Franklin, +when he was suddenly called to by a man standing on one side of the +bridge, just under the equestrian statue of Henry IV. + +The man had a small, shabby-looking box before him on the ground, with +a box of blacking on one side of it, and several shoe-brushes upon the +other. Holding another brush in his hand, he politely seconded his +verbal invitation by gracefully flourishing the brush in the air. + +"What do you want of me, neighbor?" said Israel, pausing in somewhat +uneasy astonishment. + +"Ah, Monsieur," exclaimed the man, and with voluble politeness he ran +on with a long string of French, which of course was all Greek to poor +Israel. But what his language failed to convey, his gestures now made +very plain. Pointing to the wet muddy state of the bridge, splashed by +a recent rain, and then to the feet of the wayfarer, and lastly to the +brush in his hand, he appeared to be deeply regretting that a gentleman +of Israel's otherwise imposing appearance should be seen abroad with +unpolished boots, offering at the same time to remove their blemishes. + +"Ah, Monsieur, Monsieur," cried the man, at last running up to Israel. +And with tender violence he forced him towards the box, and lifting this +unwilling customer's right foot thereon, was proceeding vigorously to +work, when suddenly illuminated by a dreadful suspicion, Israel, +fetching the box a terrible kick, took to his false heels and ran like +mad over the bridge. + +Incensed that his politeness should receive such an ungracious return, +the man pursued, which but confirming Israel in his suspicions he ran +all the faster, and thanks to his fleetness, soon succeeded in escaping +his pursuer. + +Arrived at last at the street and the house to which he had been +directed, in reply to his summons, the gate very strangely of itself +swung open, and much astonished at this unlooked-for sort of +enchantment, Israel entered a wide vaulted passage leading to an open +court within. While he was wondering that no soul appeared, suddenly he +was hailed from a dark little window, where sat an old man cobbling +shoes, while an old woman standing by his side was thrusting her head +into the passage, intently eyeing the stranger. They proved to be the +porter and portress, the latter of whom, upon hearing his summons, had +invisibly thrust open the gate to Israel, by means of a spring +communicating with the little apartment. + +Upon hearing the name of Doctor Franklin mentioned, the old woman, all +alacrity, hurried out of her den, and with much courtesy showed Israel +across the court, up three flights of stairs to a door in the rear of +the spacious building. There she left him while Israel knocked. + +"Come in," said a voice. + +And immediately Israel stood in the presence of the venerable Doctor +Franklin. + +Wrapped in a rich dressing-gown, a fanciful present from an admiring +Marchesa, curiously embroidered with algebraic figures like a conjuror's +robe, and with a skull-cap of black satin on his hive of a head, the man +of gravity was seated at a huge claw-footed old table, round as the +zodiac. It was covered with printer papers, files of documents, rolls of +manuscript, stray bits of strange models in wood and metal, odd-looking +pamphlets in various languages, and all sorts of books, including many +presentation-copies, embracing history, mechanics, diplomacy, +agriculture, political economy, metaphysics, meteorology, and geometry. +The walls had a necromantic look, hung round with barometers of +different kinds, drawings of surprising inventions, wide maps of far +countries in the New World, containing vast empty spaces in the middle, +with the word DESERT diffusely printed there, so as to span +five-and-twenty degrees of longitude with only two syllables,--which +printed word, however, bore a vigorous pen-mark, in the Doctor's hand, +drawn straight through it, as if in summary repeal of it; crowded +topographical and trigonometrical charts of various parts of Europe; +with geometrical diagrams, and endless other surprising hangings and +upholstery of science. + +The chamber itself bore evident marks of antiquity. One part of the +rough-finished wall was sadly cracked, and covered with dust, looked dim +and dark. But the aged inmate, though wrinkled as well, looked neat and +hale. Both wall and sage were compounded of like materials,--lime and +dust; both, too, were old; but while the rude earth of the wall had no +painted lustre to shed off all fadings and tarnish, and still keep fresh +without, though with long eld its core decayed: the living lime and dust +of the sage was frescoed with defensive bloom of his soul. + +The weather was warm; like some old West India hogshead on the wharf, +the whole chamber buzzed with flies. But the sapient inmate sat still +and cool in the midst. Absorbed in some other world of his occupations +and thoughts, these insects, like daily cark and care, did not seem one +whit to annoy him. It was a goodly sight to see this serene, cool and +ripe old philosopher, who by sharp inquisition of man in the street, and +then long meditating upon him, surrounded by all those queer old +implements, charts and books, had grown at last so wondrous wise. There +he sat, quite motionless among those restless flies; and, with a sound +like the low noon murmur of foliage in the woods, turning over the +leaves of some ancient and tattered folio, with a binding dark and +shaggy as the bark of any old oak. It seemed as if supernatural lore +must needs pertain to this gravely, ruddy personage; at least far +foresight, pleasant wit, and working wisdom. Old age seemed in no wise +to have dulled him, but to have sharpened; just as old dinner-knives--so +they be of good steel--wax keen, spear-pointed, and elastic as +whale-bone with long usage. Yet though he was thus lively and vigorous +to behold, spite of his seventy-two years (his exact date at that time) +somehow, the incredible seniority of an antediluvian seemed his. Not the +years of the calendar wholly, but also the years of sapience. His white +hairs and mild brow, spoke of the future as well as the past. He seemed +to be seven score years old; that is, three score and ten of prescience +added to three score and ten of remembrance, makes just seven score +years in all. + +But when Israel stepped within the chamber, he lost the complete effect +of all this; for the sage's back, not his face, was turned to him. + +So, intent on his errand, hurried and heated with his recent run, our +courier entered the room, inadequately impressed, for the time, by +either it or its occupant. + +"Bon jour, bon jour, monsieur," said the man of wisdom, in a cheerful +voice, but too busy to turn round just then. + +"How do you do, Doctor Franklin?" said Israel. + +"Ah! I smell Indian corn," said the Doctor, turning round quickly on his +chair. "A countryman; sit down, my good sir. Well, what news? Special?" + +"Wait a minute, sir," said Israel, stepping across the room towards a +chair. + +Now there was no carpet on the floor, which was of dark-colored wood, +set in lozenges, and slippery with wax, after the usual French style. +As Israel walked this slippery floor, his unaccustomed feet slid about +very strangely as if walking on ice, so that he came very near falling. + +"'Pears to me you have rather high heels to your boots," said the grave +man of utility, looking sharply down through his spectacles; "don't you +know that it's both wasting leather and endangering your limbs, to wear +such high heels? I have thought, at my first leisure, to write a little +pamphlet against that very abuse. But pray, what are you doing now? Do +your boots pinch you, my friend, that you lift one foot from the floor +that way?" + +At this moment, Israel having seated himself, was just putting his right +foot across his left knee. + +"How foolish," continued the wise man, "for a rational creature to wear +tight boots. Had nature intended rational creatures should do so, she +would have made the foot of solid bone, or perhaps of solid iron, +instead of bone, muscle, and flesh,--But,--I see. Hold!" + +And springing to his own slippered feet, the venerable sage hurried to +the door and shot-to the bolt. Then drawing the curtain carefully across +the window looking out across the court to various windows on the +opposite side, bade Israel proceed with his operations. + +"I was mistaken this time," added the Doctor, smiling, as Israel +produced his documents from their curious recesses--"your high heels, +instead of being idle vanities, seem to be full of meaning." + +"Pretty full, Doctor," said Israel, now handing over the papers. "I had +a narrow escape with them just now." + +"How? How's that?" said the sage, fumbling the papers eagerly. + +"Why, crossing the stone bridge there over the _Seen_"-- + +"_Seine_"--interrupted the Doctor, giving the French +pronunciation.--"Always get a new word right in the first place, +my friend, and you will never get it wrong afterwards." + +"Well, I was crossing the bridge there, and who should hail me, but +a suspicious-looking man, who, under pretence of seeking to polish my +boots, wanted slyly to unscrew their heels, and so steal all these +precious papers I've brought you." + +"My good friend," said the man of gravity, glancing scrutinizingly upon +his guest, "have you not in your time, undergone what they call hard +times? Been set upon, and persecuted, and very illy entreated by some of +your fellow-creatures?" + +"That I have, Doctor; yes, indeed." + +"I thought so. Sad usage has made you sadly suspicious, my honest +friend. An indiscriminate distrust of human nature is the worst +consequence of a miserable condition, whether brought about by innocence +or guilt. And though want of suspicion more than want of sense, +sometimes leads a man into harm, yet too much suspicion is as bad as too +little sense. The man you met, my friend, most probably had no artful +intention; he knew just nothing about you or your heels; he simply +wanted to earn two sous by brushing your boots. Those blacking-men +regularly station themselves on the bridge." + +"How sorry I am then that I knocked over his box, and then ran away. +But he didn't catch me." + +"How? surely, my honest friend, you--appointed to the conveyance of +important secret dispatches--did not act so imprudently as to kick over +an innocent man's box in the public streets of the capital, to which you +had been especially sent?" + +"Yes, I did, Doctor." + +"Never act so unwisely again. If the police had got hold of you, think +of what might have ensued." + +"Well, it was not very wise of me, that's a fact, Doctor. But, you see, +I thought he meant mischief." + +"And because you only thought he _meant_ mischief, _you_ must +straightway proceed to _do_ mischief. That's poor logic. But think over +what I have told you now, while I look over these papers." + +In half an hour's time, the Doctor, laying down the documents, again +turned towards Israel, and removing his spectacles very placidly, +proceeded in the kindest and most familiar manner to read him a paternal +detailed lesson upon the ill-advised act he had been guilty of, upon the +Pont Neuf; concluding by taking out his purse, and putting three small +silver coins into Israel's hands, charging him to seek out the man that +very day, and make both apology and restitution for his unlucky mistake. + +"All of us, my honest friend," continued the Doctor, "are subject to +making mistakes; so that the chief art of life, is to learn how best to +remedy mistakes. Now one remedy for mistakes is honesty. So pay the man +for the damage done to his box. And now, who are you, my friend? My +correspondents here mention your name--Israel Potter--and say you are an +American, an escaped prisoner of war, but nothing further. I want to +hear your story from your own lips." + +Israel immediately began, and related to the Doctor all his adventures +up to the present time. + +"I suppose," said the Doctor, upon Israel's concluding, "that you desire +to return to your friends across the sea?" + +"That I do, Doctor," said Israel. + +"Well, I think I shall be able to procure you a passage." + +Israel's eyes sparkled with delight. The mild sage noticed it, and +added: "But events in these times are uncertain. At the prospect of +pleasure never be elated; but, without depression, respect the omens of +ill. So much my life has taught me, my honest friend." + +Israel felt as though a plum-pudding had been thrust under his nostrils, +and then as rapidly withdrawn. + +"I think it is probable that in two or three days I shall want you to +return with some papers to the persons who sent you to me. In that case +you will have to come here once more, and then, my good friend, we will +see what can be done towards getting you safely home again." + +Israel was pouring out torrents of thanks when the Doctor interrupted +him. + +"Gratitude, my friend, cannot be too much towards God, but towards man, +it should be limited. No man can possibly so serve his fellow, as to +merit unbounded gratitude. Over gratitude in the helped person, is apt +to breed vanity or arrogance in the helping one. Now in assisting you +to get home--if indeed I shall prove able to do so--I shall be simply +doing part of my official duty as agent of our common country. So you +owe me just nothing at all, but the sum of these coins I put in your +hand just now. But that, instead of repaying to me hereafter, you can, +when you get home, give to the first soldier's widow you meet. Don't +forget it, for it is a debt, a pecuniary liability, owing to me. It will +be about a quarter of a dollar, in the Yankee currency. A quarter of a +dollar, mind. My honest friend, in pecuniary matters always be exact as +a second-hand; never mind with whom it is, father or stranger, peasant +or king, be exact to a tick of your honor." + +"Well, Doctor," said Israel, "since exactness in these matters is so +necessary, let me pay back my debt in the very coins in which it was +loaned. There will be no chance of mistake then. Thanks to my Brentford +friends, I have enough to spare of my own, to settle damages with the +boot-black of the bridge. I only took the money from you, because I +thought it would not look well to push it back after being so kindly +offered." + +"My honest friend," said the Doctor, "I like your straightforward +dealing. I will receive back the money." + +"No interest, Doctor, I hope," said Israel. + +The sage looked mildly over his spectacles upon Israel and replied: "My +good friend, never permit yourself to be jocose upon pecuniary matters. +Never joke at funerals, or during business transactions. The affair +between us two, you perhaps deem very trivial, but trifles may involve +momentous principles. But no more at present. You had better go +immediately and find the boot-black. Having settled with him, return +hither, and you will find a room ready for you near this, where you will +stay during your sojourn in Paris." + +"But I thought I would like to have a little look round the town, before +I go back to England," said Israel. + +"Business before pleasure, my friend. You must absolutely remain in your +room, just as if you were my prisoner, until you quit Paris for Calais. +Not knowing now at what instant I shall want you to start, your keeping +to your room is indispensable. But when you come back from Brentford +again, then, if nothing happens, you will have a chance to survey this +celebrated capital ere taking ship for America. Now go directly, and pay +the boot-black. Stop, have you the exact change ready? Don't be taking +out all your money in the open street." + +"Doctor," said Israel, "I am not so simple." + +"But you knocked over the box." + +"That, Doctor, was bravery." + +"Bravery in a poor cause, is the height of simplicity, my friend.--Count +out your change. It must be French coin, not English, that you are to +pay the man with.--Ah, that will do--those three coins will be enough. +Put them in a pocket separate from your other cash. Now go, and hasten +to the bridge." + +"Shall I stop to take a meal anywhere, Doctor, as I return? I saw +several cookshops as I came hither." + +"Cafes and restaurants, they are called here, my honest friend. Tell +me, are you the possessor of a liberal fortune?" + +"Not very liberal," said Israel. + +"I thought as much. Where little wine is drunk, it is good to dine out +occasionally at a friend's; but where a poor man dines out at his own +charge, it is bad policy. Never dine out that way, when you can dine in. +Do not stop on the way at all, my honest friend, but come directly back +hither, and you shall dine at home, free of cost, with me." + +"Thank you very kindly, Doctor." + +And Israel departed for the Pont Neuf. Succeeding in his errand thither, +he returned to Dr. Franklin, and found that worthy envoy waiting his +attendance at a meal, which, according to the Doctor's custom, had been +sent from a neighboring restaurant. There were two covers; and without +attendance the host and guest sat down. There was only one principal +dish, lamb boiled with green peas. Bread and potatoes made up the rest. +A decanter-like bottle of uncolored glass, filled with some uncolored +beverage, stood at the venerable envoy's elbow. + +"Let me fill your glass," said the sage. + +"It's white wine, ain't it?" said Israel. + +"White wine of the very oldest brand; I drink your health in it, my +honest friend." + +"Why, it's plain water," said Israel, now tasting it. + +"Plain water is a very good drink for plain men," replied the wise man. + +"Yes," said Israel, "but Squire Woodcock gave me perry, and the other +gentleman at White Waltham gave me port, and some other friends have +given me brandy." + +"Very good, my honest friend; if you like perry and port and brandy, +wait till you get back to Squire Woodcock, and the gentleman at White +Waltham, and the other friends, and you shall drink perry and port and +brandy. But while you are with me, you will drink plain water." + +"So it seems, Doctor." + +"What do you suppose a glass of port costs?" + +"About three pence English, Doctor." + +"That must be poor port. But how much good bread will three pence +English purchase?" + +"Three penny rolls, Doctor." + +"How many glasses of port do you suppose a man may drink at a meal?" + +"The gentleman at White Waltham drank a bottle at a dinner." + +"A bottle contains just thirteen glasses--that's thirty-nine pence, +supposing it poor wine. If something of the best, which is the only sort +any sane man should drink, as being the least poisonous, it would be +quadruple that sum, which is one hundred and fifty-six pence, which is +seventy-eight two-penny loaves. Now, do you not think that for one man +to swallow down seventy-two two-penny rolls at one meal is rather +extravagant business?" + +"But he drank a bottle of wine; he did not eat seventy-two two-penny +rolls, Doctor." + +"He drank the money worth of seventy-two loaves, which is drinking the +loaves themselves; for money is bread." + +"But he has plenty of money to spare, Doctor." + +"To have to spare, is to have to give away. Does the gentleman give much +away?" + +"Not that I know of, Doctor." + +"Then he thinks he has nothing to spare; and thinking he has nothing to +spare, and yet prodigally drinking down his money as he does every day, +it seems to me that that gentleman stands self-contradicted, and +therefore is no good example for plain sensible folks like you and me to +follow. My honest friend, if you are poor, avoid wine as a costly +luxury; if you are rich, shun it as a fatal indulgence. Stick to plain +water. And now, my good friend, if you are through with your meal, we +will rise. There is no pastry coming. Pastry is poisoned bread. Never +eat pastry. Be a plain man, and stick to plain things. Now, my friend, I +shall have to be private until nine o'clock in the evening, when I shall +be again at your service. Meantime you may go to your room. I have +ordered the one next to this to be prepared for you. But you must not be +idle. Here is Poor Richard's Almanac, which, in view of our late +conversation, I commend to your earnest perusal. And here, too, is a +Guide to Paris, an English one, which you can read. Study it well, so +that when you come back from England, if you should then have an +opportunity to travel about Paris, to see its wonders, you will have all +the chief places made historically familiar to you. In this world, men +must provide knowledge before it is wanted, just as our countrymen in +New England get in their winter's fuel one season, to serve them the +next." + +So saying, this homely sage, and household Plato, showed his humble +guest to the door, and standing in the hall, pointed out to him the one +which opened into his allotted apartment. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHICH HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN AND THE LATIN QUARTER. + + +The first, both in point of time and merit, of American envoys was +famous not less for the pastoral simplicity of his manners than for the +politic grace of his mind. Viewed from a certain point, there was a +touch of primeval orientalness in Benjamin Franklin. Neither is there +wanting something like his Scriptural parallel. The history of the +patriarch Jacob is interesting not less from the unselfish devotion +which we are bound to ascribe to him, than from the deep worldly wisdom +and polished Italian tact, gleaming under an air of Arcadian +unaffectedness. The diplomatist and the shepherd are blended; a union +not without warrant; the apostolic serpent and dove. A tanned +Machiavelli in tents. + +Doubtless, too, notwithstanding his eminence as lord of the moving +manor, Jacob's raiment was of homespun; the economic envoy's plain coat +and hose, who has not heard of? + +Franklin all over is of a piece. He dressed his person as his periods; +neat, trim, nothing superfluous, nothing deficient. In some of his works +his style is only surpassed by the unimprovable sentences of Hobbes of +Malmsbury, the paragon of perspicuity. The mental habits of Hobbes and +Franklin in several points, especially in one of some moment, +assimilated. Indeed, making due allowance for soil and era, history +presents few trios more akin, upon the whole, than Jacob, Hobbes, and +Franklin; three labyrinth-minded, but plain-spoken Broadbrims, at once +politicians and philosophers; keen observers of the main chance; prudent +courtiers; practical magians in linsey-woolsey. + +In keeping with his general habitudes, Doctor Franklin while at the +French Court did not reside in the aristocratical faubourgs. He deemed +his worsted hose and scientific tastes more adapted in a domestic way to +the other side of the Seine, where the Latin Quarter, at once the haunt +of erudition and economy, seemed peculiarly to invite the philosophical +Poor Richard to its venerable retreats. Here, of gray, chilly, drizzly +November mornings, in the dark-stoned quadrangle of the time-honored +Sorbonne, walked the lean and slippered metaphysician,--oblivious for +the moment that his sublime thoughts and tattered wardrobe were famous +throughout Europe,--meditating on the theme of his next lecture; at the +same time, in the well-worn chambers overhead, some clayey-visaged +chemist in ragged robe-de-chambre, and with a soiled green flap over his +left eye, was hard at work stooping over retorts and crucibles, +discovering new antipathies in acids, again risking strange explosions +similar to that whereby he had already lost the use of one optic; while +in the lofty lodging-houses of the neighboring streets, indigent young +students from all parts of France, were ironing their shabby cocked +hats, or inking the whity seams of their small-clothes, prior to a +promenade with their pink-ribboned little grisettes in the Garden of the +Luxembourg. + +Long ago the haunt of rank, the Latin Quarter still retains many old +buildings whose imposing architecture singularly contrasts with the +unassuming habits of their present occupants. In some parts its general +air is dreary and dim; monastic and theurgic. In those lonely narrow +ways--long-drawn prospectives of desertion--lined with huge piles of +silent, vaulted, old iron-grated buildings of dark gray stone, one +almost expects to encounter Paracelsus or Friar Bacon turning the next +corner, with some awful vial of Black-Art elixir in his hand. + +But all the lodging-houses are not so grim. Not to speak of many of +comparatively modern erection, the others of the better class, however +stern in exterior, evince a feminine gayety of taste, more or less, in +their furnishings within. The embellishing, or softening, or screening +hand of woman is to be seen all over the interiors of this metropolis.. +Like Augustus Caesar with respect to Rome, the Frenchwoman leaves her +obvious mark on Paris. Like the hand in nature, you know it can be none +else but hers. Yet sometimes she overdoes it, as nature in the peony; or +underdoes it, as nature in the bramble; or--what is still more +frequent--is a little slatternly about it, as nature in the pig-weed. + +In this congenial vicinity of the Latin Quarter, and in an ancient +building something like those alluded to, at a point midway between the +Palais des Beaux Arts and the College of the Sorbonne, the venerable +American Envoy pitched his tent when not passing his time at his country +retreat at Passy. The frugality of his manner of life did not lose him +the good opinion even of the voluptuaries of the showiest of capitals, +whose very iron railings are not free from gilt. Franklin was not less a +lady's man, than a man's man, a wise man, and an old man. Not only did +he enjoy the homage of the choicest Parisian literati, but at the age of +seventy-two he was the caressed favorite of the highest born beauties of +the Court; who through blind fashion having been originally attracted to +him as a famous _savan_, were permanently retained as his admirers by +his Plato-like graciousness of good humor. Having carefully weighed the +world, Franklin could act any part in it. By nature turned to knowledge, +his mind was often grave, but never serious. At times he had +seriousness--extreme seriousness--for others, but never for himself. +Tranquillity was to him instead of it. This philosophical levity of +tranquillity, so to speak, is shown in his easy variety of pursuits. +Printer, postmaster, almanac maker, essayist, chemist, orator, tinker, +statesman, humorist, philosopher, parlor man, political economist, +professor of housewifery, ambassador, projector, maxim-monger, +herb-doctor, wit:--Jack of all trades, master of each and mastered by +none--the type and genius of his land. Franklin was everything but a +poet. But since a soul with many qualities, forming of itself a sort of +handy index and pocket congress of all humanity, needs the contact of +just as many different men, or subjects, in order to the exhibition of +its totality; hence very little indeed of the sage's multifariousness +will be portrayed in a simple narrative like the present. This casual +private intercourse with Israel, but served to manifest him in his far +lesser lights; thrifty, domestic, dietarian, and, it may be, +didactically waggish. There was much benevolent irony, innocent +mischievousness, in the wise man. Seeking here to depict him in his less +exalted habitudes, the narrator feels more as if he were playing with +one of the sage's worsted hose, than reverentially handling the honored +hat which once oracularly sat upon his brow. + +So, then, in the Latin Quarter lived Doctor Franklin. And accordingly in +the Latin Quarter tarried Israel for the time. And it was into a room of +a house in this same Latin Quarter that Israel had been directed when +the sage had requested privacy for a while. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ISRAEL IS INITIATED INTO THE MYSTERIES OF LODGING-HOUSES IN THE LATIN +QUARTER. + + +Closing the door upon himself, Israel advanced to the middle of the +chamber, and looked curiously round him. + +A dark tessellated floor, but without a rug; two mahogany chairs, with +embroidered seats, rather the worse for wear; one mahogany bed, with a +gay but tarnished counterpane; a marble wash-stand, cracked, with a +china vessel of water, minus the handle. The apartment was very large; +this part of the house, which was a very extensive one, embracing the +four sides of a quadrangle, having, in a former age, been the hotel of a +nobleman. The magnitude of the chamber made its stinted furniture look +meagre enough. + +But in Israel's eyes, the marble mantel (a comparatively recent +addition) and its appurtenances, not only redeemed the rest, but looked +quite magnificent and hospitable in the extreme. Because, in the first +place, the mantel was graced with an enormous old-fashioned square +mirror, of heavy plate glass, set fast, like a tablet, into the wall. +And in this mirror was genially reflected the following delicate +articles:--first, two boquets of flowers inserted in pretty vases of +porcelain; second, one cake of white soap; third, one cake of +rose-colored soap (both cakes very fragrant); fourth, one wax candle; +fifth, one china tinder-box; sixth, one bottle of Eau de Cologne; +seventh, one paper of loaf sugar, nicely broken into sugar-bowl size; +eighth, one silver teaspoon; ninth, one glass tumbler; tenth, one glass +decanter of cool pure water; eleventh, one sealed bottle containing a +richly hued liquid, and marked "Otard." + +"I wonder now what O-t-a-r-d is?" soliloquised Israel, slowly spelling +the word. "I have a good mind to step in and ask Dr. Franklin. He knows +everything. Let me smell it. No, it's sealed; smell is locked in. Those +are pretty flowers. Let's smell them: no smell again. Ah, I see--sort of +flowers in women's bonnets--sort of calico flowers. Beautiful soap. This +smells anyhow--regular soap-roses--a white rose and a red one. That +long-necked bottle there looks like a crane. I wonder what's in that? +Hallo! E-a-u--d-e--C-o-l-o-g-n-e. I wonder if Dr. Franklin understands +that? It looks like his white wine. This is nice sugar. Let's taste. +Yes, this is very nice sugar, sweet as--yes, it's sweet as sugar; better +than maple sugar, such as they make at home. But I'm crunching it too +loud, the Doctor will hear me. But here's a teaspoon. What's this for? +There's no tea, nor tea-cup; but here's a tumbler, and here's drinking +water. Let me see. Seems to me, putting this and that and the other +thing together, it's a sort of alphabet that spells something. Spoon, +tumbler, water, sugar,--brandy--that's it. O-t-a-r-d is brandy. Who put +these things here? What does it all mean? Don't put sugar here for show, +don't put a spoon here for ornament, nor a jug of water. There is only +one meaning to it, and that is a very polite invitation from some +invisible person to help myself, if I like, to a glass of brandy and +sugar, and if I don't like, let it alone. That's my reading. I have a +good mind to ask Doctor Franklin about it, though, for there's just a +chance I may be mistaken, and these things here be some other person's +private property, not at all meant for me to help myself from. Cologne, +what's that--never mind. Soap: soap's to wash with. I want to use soap, +anyway. Let me see--no, there's no soap on the wash-stand. I see, soap +is not given gratis here in Paris, to boarders. But if you want it, take +it from the marble, and it will be charged in the bill. If you don't +want it let it alone, and no charge. Well, that's fair, anyway. But then +to a man who could not afford to use soap, such beautiful cakes as these +lying before his eyes all the time, would be a strong temptation. And +now that I think of it, the O-t-a-r-d looks rather tempting too. But if +I don't like it now, I can let it alone. I've a good mind to try it. But +it's sealed. I wonder now if I am right in my understanding of this +alphabet? Who knows? I'll venture one little sip, anyhow. Come, cork. +Hark!" + +There was a rapid knock at the door. + +Clapping down the bottle, Israel said, "Come in." + +It was the man of wisdom. + +"My honest friend," said the Doctor, stepping with venerable briskness +into the room, "I was so busy during your visit to the Pont Neuf, that I +did not have time to see that your room was all right. I merely gave the +order, and heard that it had been fulfilled. But it just occurred to me, +that as the landladies of Paris have some curious customs which might +puzzle an entire stranger, my presence here for a moment might explain +any little obscurity. Yes, it is as I thought," glancing towards the +mantel. + +"Oh, Doctor, that reminds me; what is O-t-a-r-d, pray?" + +"Otard is poison." + +"Shocking." + +"Yes, and I think I had best remove it from the room forthwith," replied +the sage, in a business-like manner putting the bottle under his arm; "I +hope you never use Cologne, do you?" + +"What--what is that, Doctor?" + +"I see. You never heard of the senseless luxury--a wise ignorance. You +smelt flowers upon your mountains. You won't want this, either;" and the +Cologne bottle was put under the other arm. "Candle--you'll want that. +Soap--you want soap. Use the white cake." + +"Is that cheaper, Doctor?" + +"Yes, but just as good as the other. You don't ever munch sugar, do you? +It's bad for the teeth. I'll take the sugar." So the paper of sugar was +likewise dropped into one of the capacious coat pockets. + +"Oh, you better take the whole furniture, Doctor Franklin. Here, I'll +help you drag out the bedstead." "My honest friend," said the wise man, +pausing solemnly, with the two bottles, like swimmer's bladders, under +his arm-pits; "my honest friend, the bedstead you will want; what I +propose to remove you will not want." + +"Oh, I was only joking, Doctor." + +"I knew that. It's a bad habit, except at the proper time, and with the +proper person. The things left on the mantel were there placed by the +landlady to be used if wanted; if not, to be left untouched. To-morrow +morning, upon the chambermaid's coming in to make your bed, all such +articles as remained obviously untouched would have been removed, the +rest would have been charged in the bill, whether you used them up +completely or not." + +"Just as I thought. Then why not let the bottles stay, Doctor, and save +yourself all this trouble?" + +"Ah! why indeed. My honest friend, are you not my guest? It were +unhandsome in me to permit a third person superfluously to entertain you +under what, for the time being, is my own roof." + +These words came from the wise man in the most graciously bland and +flowing tones. As he ended, he made a sort of conciliatory half bow +towards Israel. + +Charmed with his condescending affability, Israel, without another word, +suffered him to march from the room, bottles and all. Not till the first +impression of the venerable envoy's suavity had left him, did Israel +begin to surmise the mild superiority of successful strategy which +lurked beneath this highly ingratiating air. + +"Ah," pondered Israel, sitting gloomily before the rifled mantel, with +the empty tumbler and teaspoon in his hand, "it's sad business to have a +Doctor Franklin lodging in the next room. I wonder if he sees to all the +boarders this way. How the O-t-a-r-d merchants must hate him, and the +pastry-cooks too. I wish I had a good pie to pass the time. I wonder if +they ever make pumpkin pies in Paris? So I've got to stay in this room +all the time. Somehow I'm bound to be a prisoner, one way or another. +Never mind, I'm an ambassador; that's satisfaction. Hark! The Doctor +again.--Come in." + +No venerable doctor, but in tripped a young French lass, bloom on her +cheek, pink ribbons in her cap, liveliness in all her air, grace in the +very tips of her elbows. The most bewitching little chambermaid in +Paris. All art, but the picture of artlessness. + +"Monsieur! pardon!" + +"Oh, I pardon ye freely," said Israel. "Come to call on the +Ambassador?" + +"Monsieur, is de--de--" but, breaking down at the very threshold in her +English, she poured out a long ribbon of sparkling French, the purpose +of which was to convey a profusion of fine compliments to the stranger, +with many tender inquiries as to whether he was comfortably roomed, and +whether there might not be something, however trifling, wanting to his +complete accommodation. But Israel understood nothing, at the time, but +the exceeding grace, and trim, bewitching figure of the girl. + +She stood eyeing him for a few moments more, with a look of pretty +theatrical despair, and, after vaguely lingering a while, with another +shower of incomprehensible compliments and apologies, tripped like a +fairy from the chamber. Directly she was gone Israel pondered upon a +singular glance of the girl. It seemed to him that he had, by his +reception, in some way, unaccountably disappointed his beautiful +visitor. It struck him very strangely that she had entered all sweetness +and friendliness, but had retired as if slighted, with a sort of +disdainful and sarcastic levity, all the more stinging from its apparent +politeness. + +Not long had she disappeared, when a noise in the passage apprised him +that, in her hurried retreat, the girl must have stumbled against +something. The next moment he heard a chair scraping in the adjacent +apartment, and there was another knock at the door. + +It was the man of wisdom this time. + +"My honest friend, did you not have a visitor, just now?" + +"Yes, Doctor, a very pretty girl called upon me." + +"Well, I just stopped in to tell you of another strange custom of Paris. +That girl is the chambermaid, but she does not confine herself +altogether to one vocation. You must beware of the chambermaids of +Paris, my honest friend. Shall I tell the girl, from you, that, +unwilling to give her the fatigue of going up and down so many flights +of stairs, you will for the future waive her visits of ceremony?" + +"Why, Doctor Franklin, she is a very sweet little girl." + +"I know it, my honest friend; the sweeter the more dangerous. Arsenic is +sweeter than sugar. I know you are a very sensible young man, not to be +taken in by an artful Ammonite, and so I think I had better convey your +message to the girl forthwith." + +So saying, the sage withdrew, leaving Israel once more gloomily seated +before the rifled mantel, whose mirror was not again to reflect the form +of the charming chambermaid. + +"Every time he comes in he robs me," soliloquised Israel, dolefully; +"with an air all the time, too, as if he were making me presents. If he +thinks me such a very sensible young man, why not let me take care of +myself?" + +It was growing dusk, and Israel, lighting the wax candle, proceeded to +read in his Guide-book. + +"This is poor sight-seeing," muttered he at last, "sitting here all by +myself, with no company but an empty tumbler, reading about the fine +things in Paris, and I myself a prisoner in Paris. I wish something +extraordinary would turn up now; for instance, a man come in and give me +ten thousand pounds. But here's 'Poor Richard;' I am a poor fellow +myself; so let's see what comfort he has for a comrade." + +Opening the little pamphlet, at random, Israel's eyes fell on the +following passages: he read them aloud-- + +"'_So what signifies waiting and hoping for better times? We may make +these times better, if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, and +he that lives upon hope will die fasting, as Poor Richard says. There +are no gains, without pains. Then help hands, for I have no lands, as +Poor Richard says._' Oh, confound all this wisdom! It's a sort of +insulting to talk wisdom to a man like me. It's wisdom that's cheap, +and it's fortune that's dear. That ain't in Poor Richard; but it ought +to be," concluded Israel, suddenly slamming down the pamphlet. + +He walked across the room, looked at the artificial flowers, and the +rose-colored soap, and again went to the table and took up the two +books. + +"So here is the 'Way to Wealth,' and here is the 'Guide to Paris.' +Wonder now whether Paris lies on the Way to Wealth? if so, I am on the +road. More likely though, it's a parting-of-the-ways. I shouldn't be +surprised if the Doctor meant something sly by putting these two books +in my hand. Somehow, the old gentleman has an amazing sly look--a sort +of wild slyness--about him, seems to me. His wisdom seems a sort of sly, +too. But all in honor, though. I rather think he's one of those old +gentlemen who say a vast deal of sense, but hint a world more. Depend +upon it, he's sly, sly, sly. Ah, what's this Poor Richard says: 'God +helps them that help themselves:' Let's consider that. Poor Richard +ain't a Dunker, that's certain, though he has lived in Pennsylvania. +'God helps them that help themselves.' I'll just mark that saw, and +leave the pamphlet open to refer to it again--Ah!" + +At this point, the Doctor knocked, summoning Israel to his own +apartment. Here, after a cup of weak tea, and a little toast, the two +had a long, familiar talk together; during which, Israel was delighted +with the unpretending talkativeness, serene insight, and benign +amiability of the sage. But, for all this, he could hardly forgive him +for the Cologne and Otard depredations. + +Discovering that, in early life, Israel had been employed on a farm, +the man of wisdom at length turned the conversation in that direction; +among other things, mentioning to his guest a plan of his (the Doctor's) +for yoking oxen, with a yoke to go by a spring instead of a bolt; thus +greatly facilitating the operation of hitching on the team to the cart. +Israel was very much struck with the improvement; and thought that, if +he were home, upon his mountains, he would immediately introduce it +among the farmers. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ANOTHER ADVENTURER APPEARS UPON THE SCENE. + + +About half-past ten o'clock, as they were thus conversing, Israel's +acquaintance, the pretty chambermaid, rapped at the door, saying, with a +titter, that a very rude gentleman in the passage of the court, desired +to see Doctor Franklin. + +"A very rude gentleman?" repeated the wise man in French, narrowly +looking at the girl; "that means, a very fine gentleman who has just +paid you some energetic compliment. But let him come up, my girl," he +added patriarchially. + +In a few moments, a swift coquettish step was heard, followed, as if in +chase, by a sharp and manly one. The door opened. Israel was sitting so +that, accidentally, his eye pierced the crevice made by the opening of +the door, which, like a theatrical screen, stood for a moment between +Doctor Franklin and the just entering visitor. And behind that screen, +through the crack, Israel caught one momentary glimpse of a little bit +of by-play between the pretty chambermaid and the stranger. The +vivacious nymph appeared to have affectedly run from him on the +stairs--doubtless in freakish return for some liberal advances--but had +suffered herself to be overtaken at last ere too late; and on the +instant Israel caught sight of her, was with an insincere air of rosy +resentment, receiving a roguish pinch on the arm, and a still more +roguish salute on the cheek. + +The next instant both disappeared from the range of the crevice; the +girl departing whence she had come; the stranger--transiently invisible +as he advanced behind the door--entering the room. When Israel now +perceived him again, he seemed, while momentarily hidden, to have +undergone a complete transformation. + +He was a rather small, elastic, swarthy man, with an aspect as of a +disinherited Indian Chief in European clothes. An unvanquishable +enthusiasm, intensified to perfect sobriety, couched in his savage, +self-possessed eye. He was elegantly and somewhat extravagantly dressed +as a civilian; he carried himself with a rustic, barbaric jauntiness, +strangely dashed with a superinduced touch of the Parisian _salon_. His +tawny cheek, like a date, spoke of the tropic, A wonderful atmosphere of +proud friendlessness and scornful isolation invested him. Yet there was +a bit of the poet as well as the outlaw in him, too. A cool solemnity of +intrepidity sat on his lip. He looked like one who of purpose sought out +harm's way. He looked like one who never had been, and never would be, a +subordinate. + +Israel thought to himself that seldom before had he seen such a being. +Though dressed a-la-mode, he did not seem to be altogether civilized. + +So absorbed was our adventurer by the person of the stranger, that a few +moments passed ere he began to be aware of the circumstance, that Dr. +Franklin and this new visitor having saluted as old acquaintances, were +now sitting in earnest conversation together. + +"Do as you please; but I will not bide a suitor much longer," said the +stranger in bitterness. "Congress gave me to understand that, upon my +arrival here, I should be given immediate command of the _Indien_; and +now, for no earthly reason that I can see, you Commissioners have +presented her, fresh from the stocks at Amsterdam, to the King of +France, and not to me. What does the King of France with such a frigate? +And what can I _not_ do with her? Give me back the "Indien," and in less +than one month, you shall hear glorious or fatal news of Paul Jones." + +"Come, come, Captain," said Doctor Franklin, soothingly, "tell me now, +what would you do with her, if you had her?" + +"I would teach the British that Paul Jones, though born in Britain, is +no subject to the British King, but an untrammelled citizen and sailor +of the universe; and I would teach them, too, that if they ruthlessly +ravage the American coasts, their own coasts are vulnerable as New +Holland's. Give me the _Indien_, and I will rain down on wicked England +like fire on Sodom." + +These words of bravado were not spoken in the tone of a bravo, but a +prophet. Erect upon his chair, like an Iroquois, the speaker's look was +like that of an unflickering torch. + +His air seemed slightly to disturb the old sage's philosophic repose, +who, while not seeking to disguise his admiration of the unmistakable +spirit of the man, seemed but illy to relish his apparent measureless +boasting. + +As if both to change the subject a little, as well as put his visitor in +better mood--though indeed it might have been but covertly to play with +his enthusiasm--the man of wisdom now drew his chair confidentially +nearer to the stranger's, and putting one hand in a very friendly, +conciliatory way upon his visitor's knee, and rubbing it gently to and +fro there, much as a lion-tamer might soothingly manipulate the +aggravated king of beasts, said in a winning manner:--"Never mind at +present, Captain, about the '_Indien_' affair. Let that sleep a moment. +See now, the Jersey privateers do us a great deal of mischief by +intercepting our supplies. It has been mentioned to me, that if you had +a small vessel--say, even your present ship, the 'Amphitrite,'--then, by +your singular bravery, you might render great service, by following +those privateers where larger ships durst not venture their bottoms; or, +if but supported by some frigates from Brest at a proper distance, might +draw them out, so that the larger vessels could capture them." + +"Decoy-duck to French frigates!--Very dignified office, truly!" hissed +Paul in a fiery rage. "Doctor Franklin, whatever Paul Jones does for the +cause of America, it must be done through unlimited orders: a separate, +supreme command; no leader and no counsellor but himself. Have I not +already by my services on the American coast shown that I am well worthy +all this? Why then do you seek to degrade me below my previous level? I +will mount, not sink. I live but for honor and glory. Give me, then, +something honorable and glorious to do, and something famous to do it +with. Give me the _Indien_" + +The man of wisdom slowly shook his head. "Everything is lost through +this shillyshallying timidity, called prudence," cried Paul Jones, +starting to his feet; "to be effectual, war should be carried on like a +monsoon, one changeless determination of every particle towards the one +unalterable aim. But in vacillating councils, statesmen idle about like +the cats'-paws in calms. My God, why was I not born a Czar!" + +"A Nor'wester, rather. Come, come, Captain," added the sage, "sit down, +we have a third person present, you see," pointing towards Israel, who +sat rapt at the volcanic spirit of the stranger. + +Paul slightly started, and turned inquiringly upon Israel, who, equally +owing to Paul's own earnestness of discourse and Israel's motionless +bearing, had thus far remained undiscovered. + +"Never fear, Captain," said the sage, "this man is true blue, a secret +courier, and an American born. He is an escaped prisoner of war." + +"Ah, captured in a ship?" asked Paul eagerly; "what ship? None of mine! +Paul Jones never was captured." + +"No, sir, in the brigantine Washington, out of Boston," replied Israel; +"we were cruising to cut off supplies to the English." + +"Did your shipmates talk much of me?" demanded Paul, with a look as of +a parading Sioux demanding homage to his gewgaws; "what did they say of +Paul Jones?" + +"I never heard the name before this evening," said Israel. + +"What? Ah--brigantine Washington--let me see; that was before I had +outwitted the Soleby frigate, fought the Milford, and captured the +Mellish and the rest off Louisbergh. You were long before the news, my +lad," he added, with a sort of compassionate air. + +"Our friend here gave you a rather blunt answer," said the wise man, +sagely mischievous, and addressing Paul. + +"Yes. And I like him for it. My man, will you go a cruise with Paul +Jones? You fellows so blunt with the tongue, are apt to be sharp with +the steel. Come, my lad, return with me to Brest. I go in a few days." + +Fired by the contagious spirit of Paul, Israel, forgetting all about his +previous desire to reach home, sparkled with response to the summons. +But Doctor Franklin interrupted him. + +"Our friend here," said he to the Captain, "is at present engaged for +very different duty." + +Much other conversation followed, during which Paul Jones again and +again expressed his impatience at being unemployed, and his resolution +to accept of no employ unless it gave him supreme authority; while in +answer to all this Dr. Franklin, not uninfluenced by the uncompromising +spirit of his guest, and well knowing that however unpleasant a trait +in conversation, or in the transaction of civil affairs, yet in war this +very quality was invaluable, as projectiles and combustibles, finally +assured Paul, after many complimentary remarks, that he would +immediately exert himself to the utmost to procure for him some +enterprise which should come up to his merits. + +"Thank you for your frankness," said Paul; "frank myself, I love to deal +with a frank man. You, Doctor Franklin, are true and deep, and so you +are frank." + +The sage sedately smiled, a queer incredulity just lurking in the corner +of his mouth. + +"But how about our little scheme for new modelling ships-of-war?" said +the Doctor, shifting the subject; "it will be a great thing for our +infant navy, if we succeed. Since our last conversation on that subject, +Captain, at odds and ends of time, I have thought over the matter, and +have begun a little skeleton of the thing here, which I will show you. +Whenever one has a new idea of anything mechanical, it is best to clothe +it with a body as soon as possible. For you can't improve so well on +ideas as you can on bodies." + +With that, going to a little drawer, he produced a small basket, filled +with a curious looking unfinished frame-work of wood, and several bits +of wood unattached. It looked like a nursery basket containing broken +odds and ends of playthings. + +"Now look here, Captain, though the thing is but begun at present, yet +there is enough to show that _one_ idea at least of yours is not +feasible." + +Paul was all attention, as if having unbounded confidence in whatever +the sage might suggest, while Israel looked on quite as interested as +either, his heart swelling with the thought of being privy to the +consultations of two such men; consultations, too, having ultimate +reference to such momentous affairs as the freeing of nations. + +"If," continued the Doctor, taking up some of the loose bits and piling +them along on one side of the top of the frame, "if the better to +shelter your crew in an engagement, you construct your rail in the +manner proposed--as thus--then, by the excessive weight of the timber, +you will too much interfere with the ship's centre of gravity. You will +have that too high." + +"Ballast in the hold in proportion," said Paul. + +"Then you will sink the whole hull too low. But here, to have less smoke +in time of battle, especially on the lower decks, you proposed a new +sort of hatchway. But that won't do. See here now, I have invented +certain ventilating pipes, they are to traverse the vessel thus"--laying +some toilette pins along--"the current of air to enter here and be +discharged there. What do you think of that? But now about the main +things--fast sailing driving little to leeward, and drawing little +water. Look now at this keel. I whittled it only night before last, just +before going to bed. Do you see now how"-- + +At this crisis, a knock was heard at the door, and the chambermaid +reappeared, announcing that two gentlemen were that moment crossing the +court below to see Doctor Franklin. + +"The Duke de Chartres, and Count D'Estang," said the Doctor; "they +appointed for last night, but did not come. Captain, this has something +indirectly to do with your affair. Through the Duke, Count D'Estang has +spoken to the King about the secret expedition, the design of which you +first threw out. Call early to-morrow, and I will inform you of the +result." + +With his tawny hand Paul pulled out his watch, a small, richly-jewelled +lady's watch. + +"It is so late, I will stay here to-night," he said; "is there a +convenient room?" + +"Quick," said the Doctor, "it might be ill-advised of you to be seen +with me just now. Our friend here will let you share his chamber. Quick, +Israel, and show the Captain thither." + +As the door closed upon them in Israel's apartment, Doctor Franklin's +door closed upon the Duke and the Count. Leaving the latter to their +discussion of profound plans for the timely befriending of the American +cause, and the crippling of the power of England on the seas, let us +pass the night with Paul Jones and Israel in the neighboring room. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +PAUL JONES IN A REVERIE. + + +"'God helps them that help themselves.' That's a clincher. That's been +my experience. But I never saw it in words before. What pamphlet is +this? 'Poor Richard,' hey!" + +Upon entering Israel's room, Captain Paul, stepping towards the table +and spying the open pamphlet there, had taken it up, his eye being +immediately attracted to the passage previously marked by our +adventurer. + +"A rare old gentleman is 'Poor Richard,'" said Israel in response to +Paul's observations. + +"So he seems, so he seems," answered Paul, his eye still running over +the pamphlet again; "why, 'Poor Richard' reads very much as Doctor +Franklin speaks." + +"He wrote it," said Israel. + +"Aye? Good. So it is, so it is; it's the wise man all over. I must get +me a copy of this and wear it around my neck for a charm. And now about +our quarters for the night. I am not going to deprive you of your bed, +my man. Do you go to bed and I will doze in the chair here. It's good +dozing in the crosstrees." + +"Why not sleep together?" said Israel; "see, it is a big bed. Or perhaps +you don't fancy your bed-fellow. Captain?" + +"When, before the mast, I first sailed out of Whitehaven to Norway," +said Paul, coolly, "I had for hammock-mate a full-blooded Congo. We had +a white blanket spread in our hammock. Every time I turned in I found +the Congo's black wool worked in with the white worsted. By the end of +the voyage the blanket was of a pepper-and-salt look, like an old man's +turning head. So it's not because I am notional at all, but because I +don't care to, my lad. Turn in and go to sleep. Let the lamp burn. I'll +see to it. There, go to sleep." + +Complying with what seemed as much a command as a request, Israel, +though in bed, could not fall into slumber for thinking of the little +circumstance that this strange swarthy man, flaming with wild +enterprises, sat in full suit in the chair. He felt an uneasy misgiving +sensation, as if he had retired, not only without covering up the fire, +but leaving it fiercely burning with spitting fagots of hemlock. + +But his natural complaisance induced him at least to feign himself +asleep; whereupon. Paul, laying down "Poor Richard," rose from his +chair, and, withdrawing his boots, began walking rapidly but noiselessly +to and fro, in his stockings, in the spacious room, wrapped in Indian +meditations. Israel furtively eyed him from beneath the coverlid, and +was anew struck by his aspect, now that Paul thought himself unwatched. +Stern relentless purposes, to be pursued to the points of adverse +bayonets and the muzzles of hostile cannon, were expressed in the now +rigid lines of his brow. His ruffled right hand was clutched by his +side, as if grasping a cutlass. He paced the room as if advancing upon a +fortification. Meantime a confused buzz of discussion came from the +neighboring chamber. All else was profound midnight tranquillity. +Presently, passing the large mirror over the mantel, Paul caught a +glimpse of his person. He paused, grimly regarding it, while a dash of +pleased coxcombry seemed to mingle with the otherwise savage +satisfaction expressed in his face. But the latter predominated. Soon, +rolling up his sleeve, with a queer wild smile, Paul lifted his right +arm, and stood thus for an interval, eyeing its image in the glass. From +where he lay, Israel could not see that side of the arm presented to the +mirror, but he saw its reflection, and started at perceiving there, +framed in the carved and gilded wood, certain large intertwisted ciphers +covering the whole inside of the arm, so far as exposed, with mysterious +tattooings. The design was wholly unlike the fanciful figures of +anchors, hearts, and cables, sometimes decorating small portions of +seamen's bodies. It was a sort of tattooing such as is seen only on +thoroughbred savages--deep blue, elaborate, labyrinthine, cabalistic. +Israel remembered having beheld, on one of his early voyages, something +similar on the arm of a New Zealand warrior, once met, fresh from +battle, in his native village. He concluded that on some similar early +voyage Paul must have undergone the manipulations of some pagan artist. +Covering his arm again with his laced coat-sleeve, Paul glanced +ironically at the hand of the same arm, now again half muffled in +ruffles, and ornamented with several Parisian rings. He then resumed his +walking with a prowling air, like one haunting an ambuscade; while a +gleam of the consciousness of possessing a character as yet un-fathomed, +and hidden power to back unsuspected projects, irradiated his cold white +brow, which, owing to the shade of his hat in equatorial climates, had +been left surmounting his swarthy face, like the snow topping the Andes. + +So at midnight, the heart of the metropolis of modern civilization was +secretly trod by this jaunty barbarian in broadcloth; a sort of +prophetical ghost, glimmering in anticipation upon the advent of those +tragic scenes of the French Revolution which levelled the exquisite +refinement of Paris with the bloodthirsty ferocity of Borneo; showing +that broaches and finger-rings, not less than nose-rings and tattooing, +are tokens of the primeval savageness which ever slumbers in human kind, +civilized or uncivilized. + +Israel slept not a wink that night. The troubled spirit of Paul paced +the chamber till morning; when, copiously bathing himself at the +wash-stand, Paul looked care-free and fresh as a daybreak hawk. After a +closeted consultation with Doctor Franklin, he left the place with a +light and dandified air, switching his gold-headed cane, and throwing a +passing arm round all the pretty chambermaids he encountered, kissing +them resoundingly, as if saluting a frigate. All barbarians are rakes. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +RECROSSING THE CHANNEL, ISRAEL RETURNS TO THE SQUIRE'S ABODE--HIS +ADVENTURES THERE. + + +On the third day, as Israel was walking to and fro in his room, having +removed his courier's boots, for fear of disturbing the Doctor, a quick +sharp rap at the door announced the American envoy. The man of wisdom +entered, with two small wads of paper in one hand, and several crackers +and a bit of cheese in the other. There was such an eloquent air of +instantaneous dispatch about him, that Israel involuntarily sprang to +his boots, and, with two vigorous jerks, hauled them on, and then +seizing his hat, like any bird, stood poised for his flight across the +channel. + +"Well done, my honest friend," said the Doctor; "you have the papers in +your heel, I suppose." + +"Ah," exclaimed Israel, perceiving the mild irony; and in an instant his +boots were off again; when, without another word, the Doctor took one +boot, and Israel the other, and forthwith both parties proceeded to +secrete the documents. + +"I think I could improve the design," said the sage, as, +notwithstanding his haste, he critically eyed the screwing apparatus of +the boot. "The vacancy should have been in the standing part of the +heel, not in the lid. It should go with a spring, too, for better +dispatch. I'll draw up a paper on false heels one of these days, and +send it to a private reading at the Institute. But no time for it now. +My honest friend, it is now half past ten o'clock. At half past eleven +the diligence starts from the Place-du-Carrousel for Calais. Make all +haste till you arrive at Brentford. I have a little provender here for +you to eat in the diligence, as you will not have time for a regular +meal. A day-and-night courier should never be without a cracker in his +pocket. You will probably leave Brentford in a day or two after your +arrival there. Be wary, now, my good friend; heed well, that, if you are +caught with these papers on British ground, you will involve both +yourself and our Brentford friends in fatal calamities. Kick no man's +box, never mind whose, in the way. Mind your own box. You can't be too +cautious, but don't be too suspicious. God bless you, my honest friend. +Go!" + +And, flinging the door open for his exit, the Doctor saw Israel dart +into the entry, vigorously spring down the stairs, and disappear with +all celerity across the court into the vaulted way. + +The man of wisdom stood mildly motionless a moment, with a look of +sagacious, humane meditation on his face, as if pondering upon the +chances of the important enterprise: one which, perhaps, might in the +sequel affect the weal or woe of nations yet to come. Then suddenly +clapping his hand to his capacious coat-pocket, dragged out a bit of +cork with some hen's feathers, and hurrying to his room, took out his +knife, and proceeded to whittle away at a shuttlecock of an original +scientific construction, which at some prior time he had promised to +send to the young Duchess D'Abrantes that very afternoon. + +Safely reaching Calais, at night, Israel stepped almost from the +diligence into the packet, and, in a few moments, was cutting the water. +As on the diligence he took an outside and plebeian seat, so, with the +same secret motive of preserving unsuspected the character assumed, he +took a deck passage in the packet. It coming on to rain violently, he +stole down into the forecastle, dimly lit by a solitary swinging lamp, +where were two men industriously smoking, and filling the narrow hole +with soporific vapors. These induced strange drowsiness in Israel, and +he pondered how best he might indulge it, for a time, without +imperilling the precious documents in his custody. + +But this pondering in such soporific vapors had the effect of those +mathematical devices whereby restless people cipher themselves to sleep. +His languid head fell to his breast. In another moment, he drooped +half-lengthwise upon a chest, his legs outstretched before him. + +Presently he was awakened by some intermeddlement with his feet. +Starting to his elbow, he saw one of the two men in the act of slyly +slipping off his right boot, while the left one, already removed, lay on +the floor, all ready against the rascal's retreat Had it not been for +the lesson learned on the Pont Neuf, Israel would instantly have +inferred that his secret mission was known, and the operator some +designed diplomatic knave or other, hired by the British Cabinet, thus +to lie in wait for him, fume him into slumber with tobacco, and then +rifle him of his momentous dispatches. But as it was, he recalled Doctor +Franklin's prudent admonitions against the indulgence of premature +suspicions. + +"Sir," said Israel very civilly, "I will thank you for that boot which +lies on the floor, and, if you please, you can let the other stay where +it is." + +"Excuse me," said the rascal, an accomplished, self-possessed +practitioner in his thievish art; "I thought your boots might be +pinching you, and only wished to ease you a little." + +"Much obliged to ye for your kindness, sir," said Israel; "but they +don't pinch me at all. I suppose, though, you think they wouldn't pinch +_you_ either; your foot looks rather small. Were you going to try 'em +on, just to see how they fitted?" + +"No," said the fellow, with sanctimonious seriousness; "but with your +permission I should like to try them on, when we get to Dover. I +couldn't try them well walking on this tipsy craft's deck, you know." + +"No," answered Israel, "and the beach at Dover ain't very smooth either. +I guess, upon second thought, you had better not try 'em on at all. +Besides, I am a simple sort of a soul--eccentric they call me--and don't +like my boots to go out of my sight. Ha! ha!" + +"What are you laughing at?" said the fellow testily. + +"Odd idea! I was just looking at those sad old patched boots there on +your feet, and thinking to myself what leaky fire-buckets they would be +to pass up a ladder on a burning building. It would hardly be fair now +to swop my new boots for those old fire-buckets, would it?" + +"By plunko!" cried the fellow, willing now by a bold stroke to change +the subject, which was growing slightly annoying; "by plunko, I believe +we are getting nigh Dover. Let's see." + +And so saying, he sprang up the ladder to the deck. Upon Israel +following, he found the little craft half becalmed, rolling on short +swells almost in the exact middle of the channel. It was just before the +break of the morning; the air clear and fine; the heavens spangled with +moistly twinkling stars. The French and English coasts lay distinctly +visible in the strange starlight, the white cliffs of Dover resembling a +long gabled block of marble houses. Both shores showed a long straight +row of lamps. Israel seemed standing in the middle of the crossing of +some wide stately street in London. Presently a breeze sprang up, and +ere long our adventurer disembarked at his destined port, and directly +posted on for Brentford. + +The following afternoon, having gained unobserved admittance into the +house, according to preconcerted signals, he was sitting in Squire +Woodcock's closet, pulling off his boots and delivering his dispatches. + +Having looked over the compressed tissuey sheets, and read a line +particularly addressed to himself, the Squire, turning round upon +Israel, congratulated him upon his successful mission, placed some +refreshment before him, and apprised him that, owing to certain +suspicious symptoms in the neighborhood, he (Israel) must now remain +concealed in the house for a day or two, till an answer should be ready +for Paris. + +It was a venerable mansion, as was somewhere previously stated, of a +wide and rambling disorderly spaciousness, built, for the most part, of +weather-stained old bricks, in the goodly style called Elizabethan. As +without, it was all dark russet bricks, so within, it was nothing but +tawny oak panels. + +"Now, my good fellow," said the Squire, "my wife has a number of +guests, who wander from room to room, having the freedom of the house. +So I shall have to put you very snugly away, to guard against any chance +of discovery." + +So saying, first locking the door, he touched a spring nigh the open +fire-place, whereupon one of the black sooty stone jambs of the chimney +started ajar, just like the marble gate of a tomb. Inserting one leg of +the heavy tongs in the crack, the Squire pried this cavernous gate wide +open. + +"Why, Squire Woodcock, what is the matter with your chimney?" said +Israel. + +"Quick, go in." + +"Am I to sweep the chimney?" demanded Israel; "I didn't engage for +that." + +"Pooh, pooh, this is your hiding-place. Come, move in." + +"But where does it go to, Squire Woodcock? I don't like the looks of +it." + +"Follow me. I'll show you." + +Pushing his florid corpulence into the mysterious aperture, the elderly +Squire led the way up steep stairs of stone, hardly two feet in width, +till they reached a little closet, or rather cell, built into the +massive main wall of the mansion, and ventilated and dimly lit by two +little sloping slits, ingeniously concealed without, by their forming +the sculptured mouths of two griffins cut in a great stone tablet +decorating that external part of the dwelling. A mattress lay rolled up +in one corner, with a jug of water, a flask of wine, and a wooden +trencher containing cold roast beef and bread. + +"And I am to be buried alive here?" said Israel, ruefully looking round. + +"But your resurrection will soon be at hand," smiled the Squire; "two +days at the furthest." + +"Though to be sure I was a sort of prisoner in Paris, just as I seem +about to be made here," said Israel, "yet Doctor Franklin put me in a +better jug than this, Squire Woodcock. It was set out with boquets and a +mirror, and other fine things. Besides, I could step out into the entry +whenever I wanted." + +"Ah, but, my hero, that was in France, and this is in England. There you +were in a friendly country: here you are in the enemy's. If you should +be discovered in my house, and your connection with me became known, do +you know that it would go very hard with me; very hard indeed?" + +"Then, for your sake, I am willing to stay wherever you think best to +put me," replied Israel. + +"Well, then, you say you want boquets and a mirror. If those articles +will at all help to solace your seclusion, I will bring them to you." + +"They really would be company; the sight of my own face particularly." + +"Stay here, then. I will be back in ten minutes." + +In less than that time, the good old Squire returned, puffing and +panting, with a great bunch of flowers, and a small shaving-glass. + +"There," said he, putting them down; "now keep perfectly quiet; avoid +making any undue noise, and on no account descend the stairs, till I +come for you again." + +"But when will that be?" asked Israel. + +"I will try to come twice each day while you are here. But there is no +knowing what may happen. If I should not visit you till I come to +liberate you--on the evening of the second day, or the morning of the +third--you must not be at all surprised, my good fellow. There is plenty +of food-and water to last you. But mind, on no account descend the +stone-stairs till I come for you." + +With that, bidding his guest adieu, he left him. + +Israel stood glancing pensively around for a time. By and by, moving the +rolled mattress under the two air-slits, he mounted, to try if aught +were visible beyond. But nothing was to be seen but a very thin slice of +blue sky peeping through the lofty foliage of a great tree planted near +the side-portal of the mansion; an ancient tree, coeval with the ancient +dwelling it guarded. + +Sitting down on the Mattress, Israel fell into a reverie. + +"Poverty and liberty, or plenty and a prison, seem to be the two horns +of the constant dilemma of my life," thought he. "Let's look at the +prisoner." + +And taking up the shaving-glass, he surveyed his lineaments. + +"What a pity I didn't think to ask for razors and soap. I want shaving +very badly. I shaved last in France. How it would pass the time here. +Had I a comb now and a razor, I might shave and curl my hair, and keep +making a continual toilet all through the two days, and look spruce as a +robin when I get out. I'll ask the Squire for the things this very night +when he drops in. Hark! ain't that a sort of rumbling in the wall? I +hope there ain't any oven next door; if so, I shall be scorched out. +Here I am, just like a rat in the wainscot. I wish there was a low +window to look out of. I wonder what Doctor Franklin is doing now, and +Paul Jones? Hark! there's a bird singing in the leaves. Bell for dinner, +that." + +And for pastime, he applied himself to the beef and bread, and took a +draught of the wine and water. + +At last night fell. He was left in utter darkness. No Squire. + +After an anxious, sleepless night, he saw two long flecks of pale gray +light slanting into the cell from the slits, like two long spears. He +rose, rolled up his mattress, got upon the roll, and put his mouth to +one of the griffins' months. He gave a low, just audible whistle, +directing it towards the foliage of the tree. Presently there was a +slight rustling among the leaves, then one solitary chirrup, and in +three minutes a whole chorus of melody burst upon his ear. + +"I've waked the first bird," said he to himself, with a smile, "and he's +waked all the rest. Now then for breakfast. That over, I dare say the +Squire will drop in." + +But the breakfast was over, and the two flecks of pale light had changed +to golden beams, and the golden beams grew less and less slanting, till +they straightened themselves up out of sight altogether. It was noon, +and no Squire. + +"He's gone a-hunting before breakfast, and got belated," thought Israel. + +The afternoon shadows lengthened. It was sunset; no Squire. + +"He must be very busy trying some sheep-stealer in the hall," mused +Israel. "I hope he won't forget all about me till to-morrow." + +He waited and listened; and listened and waited. + +Another restless night; no sleep; morning came. The second day passed +like the first, and the night. On the third morning the flowers lay +shrunken by his side. Drops of wet oozing through the air-slits, fell +dully on the stone floor. He heard the dreary beatings of the tree's +leaves against the mouths of the griffins, bedashing them with the spray +of the rain-storm without. At intervals a burst of thunder rolled over +his head, and lightning flashing down through the slits, lit up the cell +with a greenish glare, followed by sharp splashings and rattlings of the +redoubled rain-storm. + +"This is the morning of the third day," murmured Israel to himself; "he +said he would at the furthest come to me on the morning of the third +day. This is it. Patience, he will be here yet. Morning lasts till +noon." + +But, owing to the murkiness of the day, it was very hard to tell when +noon came. Israel refused to credit that noon had come and gone, till +dusk set plainly in. Dreading he knew not what, he found himself buried +in the darkness of still another night. However patient and hopeful +hitherto, fortitude now presently left him. Suddenly, as if some +contagious fever had seized him, he was afflicted with strange +enchantments of misery, undreamed of till now. + +He had eaten all the beef, but there was bread and water sufficient to +last, by economy, for two or three days to come. It was not the pang of +hunger then, but a nightmare originating in his mysterious +incarceration, which appalled him. All through the long hours of this +particular night, the sense of being masoned up in the wall, grew, and +grew, and grew upon him, till again and again he lifted himself +convulsively from the floor, as if vast blocks of stone had been laid on +him; as if he had been digging a deep well, and the stonework with all +the excavated earth had caved in upon him, where he burrowed ninety feet +beneath the clover. In the blind tomb of the midnight he stretched his +two arms sideways, and felt as if coffined at not being able to extend +them straight out, on opposite sides, for the narrowness of the cell. He +seated himself against one side of the wall, crosswise with the cell, +and pushed with his feet at the opposite wall. But still mindful of his +promise in this extremity, he uttered no cry. He mutely raved in the +darkness. The delirious sense of the absence of light was soon added to +his other delirium as to the contraction of space. The lids of his eyes +burst with impotent distension. Then he thought the air itself was +getting unbearable. He stood up at the griffin slits, pressing his lips +far into them till he moulded his lips there, to suck the utmost of the +open air possible. + +And continually, to heighten his frenzy, there recurred to him again and +again what the Squire had told him as to the origin of the cell. It +seemed that this part of the old house, or rather this wall of it, was +extremely ancient, dating far beyond the era of Elizabeth, having once +formed portion of a religious retreat belonging to the Templars. The +domestic discipline of this order was rigid and merciless in the +extreme. In a side wall of their second storey chapel, horizontal and on +a level with the floor, they had an internal vacancy left, exactly of +the shape and average size of a coffin. In this place, from time to +time, inmates convicted of contumacy were confined; but, strange to say, +not till they were penitent. A small hole, of the girth of one's wrist, +sunk like a telescope three feet through the masonry into the cell, +served at once for ventilation, and to push through food to the +prisoner. This hole opening into the chapel also enabled the poor +solitaire, as intended, to overhear the religious services at the altar; +and, without being present, take part in the same. It was deemed a good +sign of the state of the sufferer's soul, if from the gloomy recesses of +the wall was heard the agonized groan of his dismal response. This was +regarded in the light of a penitent wail from the dead, because the +customs of the order ordained that when any inmate should be first +incarcerated in the wall, he should be committed to it in the presence +of all the brethren, the chief reading the burial service as the live +body was sepulchred. Sometimes several weeks elapsed ere the +disentombment, the penitent being then usually found numb and congealed +in all his extremities, like one newly stricken with paralysis. + +This coffin-cell of the Templars had been suffered to remain in the +demolition of the general edifice, to make way for the erection of the +new, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was enlarged somewhat, and +altered, and additionally ventilated, to adapt it for a place of +concealment in times of civil dissension. + +With this history ringing in his solitary brain, it may readily be +conceived what Israel's feelings must have been. Here, in this very +darkness, centuries ago, hearts, human as his, had mildewed in despair; +limbs, robust as his own, had stiffened in immovable torpor. + +At length, after what seemed all the prophetic days and years of Daniel, +morning broke. The benevolent light entered the cell, soothing his +frenzy, as if it had been some smiling human face--nay, the Squire +himself, come at last to redeem him from thrall. Soon his dumb ravings +entirely left him, and gradually, with a sane, calm mind, he revolved +all the circumstances of his condition. + +He could not be mistaken; something fatal must have befallen his friend. +Israel remembered the Squire's hinting that in case of the discovery of +his clandestine proceedings it would fare extremely hard with him, +Israel was forced to conclude that this same unhappy discovery had been +made; that owing to some untoward misadventure his good friend had been +carried off a State-prisoner to London; that prior to his going the +Squire had not apprised any member of his household that he was about to +leave behind him a prisoner in the wall; this seemed evident from the +circumstance that, thus far, no soul had visited that prisoner. It could +not be otherwise. Doubtless the Squire, having no opportunity to +converse in private with his relatives or friends at the moment of his +sudden arrest, had been forced to keep his secret, for the present, for +fear of involving Israel in still worse calamities. But would he leave +him to perish piecemeal in the wall? All surmise was baffled in the +unconjecturable possibilities of the case. But some sort of action must +speedily be determined upon. Israel would not additionally endanger the +Squire, but he could not in such uncertainty consent to perish where he +was. He resolved at all hazards to escape, by stealth and noiselessly, +if possible; by violence and outcry, if indispensable. + +Gliding out of the cell, he descended the stone stairs, and stood before +the interior of the jamb. He felt an immovable iron knob, but no more. +He groped about gently for some bolt or spring. When before he had +passed through the passage with his guide, he had omitted to notice by +what precise mechanism the jamb was to be opened from within, or +whether, indeed, it could at all be opened except from without. + +He was about giving up the search in despair, after sweeping with his +two hands every spot of the wall-surface around him, when chancing to +turn his whole body a little to one side, he heard a creak, and saw a +thin lance of light. His foot had unconsciously pressed some spring laid +in the floor. The jamb was ajar. Pushing it open, he stood at liberty, +in the Squire's closet. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +HIS ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE, WITH VARIOUS ADVENTURES FOLLOWING. + + +He started at the funereal aspect of the room, into which, since he last +stood there, undertakers seemed to have stolen. The curtains of the +window were festooned with long weepers of crape. The four corners of +the red cloth on the round table were knotted with crape. + +Knowing nothing of these mournful customs of the country, nevertheless, +Israel's instinct whispered him that Squire Woodcock lived no more on +this earth. At once the whole three days' mystery was made clear. But +what was now to be done? His friend must have died very suddenly; most +probably struck down in a fit, from which he never more rose. With him +had perished all knowledge of the fact that a stranger was immured in +the mansion. If discovered then, prowling here in the inmost privacies +of a gentleman's abode, what would befall the wanderer, already not +unsuspected in the neighborhood of some underhand guilt as a fugitive? +If he adhered to the strict truth, what could he offer in his own +defence without convicting himself of acts which, by English tribunals, +would be accounted flagitious crimes? Unless, indeed, by involving the +memory of the deceased Squire Woodcock in his own self acknowledged +proceedings, so ungenerous a charge should result in an abhorrent +refusal to credit his extraordinary tale, whether as referring to +himself or another, and so throw him open to still more grievous +suspicions? + +While wrapped in these dispiriting reveries, he heard a step not very +far off in the passage. It seemed approaching. Instantly he flew to the +jamb, which remained unclosed, and disappearing within, drew the stone +after him by the iron knob. Owing to his hurried violence the jamb +closed with a dull, dismal and singular noise. A shriek followed from +within the room. In a panic, Israel fled up the dark stairs, and near +the top, in his eagerness, stumbled and fell back to the last step with +a rolling din, which, reverberated by the arch overhead, smote through +and through the wall, dying away at last indistinctly, like low muffled +thunder among the clefts of deep hills. When raising himself instantly, +not seriously bruised by his fall, Israel instantly listened, the +echoing sounds of his descent were mingled with added shrieks from +within the room. They seemed some nervous female's, alarmed by what must +have appeared to her supernatural, or at least unaccountable, noises in +the wall. Directly he heard other voices of alarm undistinguishably +commingled, and then they retreated together, and all again was still. + +Recovering from his first amazement, Israel revolved these occurrences. +"No creature now in the house knows of the cell," thought he. "Some +woman, the housekeeper, perhaps, first entered the room alone. Just as +she entered the jamb closed. The sudden report made her shriek; then, +afterwards, the noise of my fall prolonging itself, added to her fright, +while her repeated shrieks brought every soul in the house to her, who +aghast at seeing her lying in a pale faint, it may be, like a corpse, in +a room hung with crape for a man just dead, they also shrieked out, and +then with blended lamentations they bore the fainting person away. Now +this will follow; no doubt it _has_ followed ere now:--they believe that +the woman saw or heard the spirit of Squire Woodcock. Since I seem then +to understand how all these strange events have occurred, since I seem +to know that they have plain common causes, I begin to feel cool and +calm again. Let me see. Yes. I have it. By means of the idea of the +ghost prevailing among the frightened household, by that means I will +this very night make good my escape. If I can but lay hands on some of +the late Squire's clothing, if but a coat and hat of his, I shall be +certain to succeed. It is not too early to begin now. They will hardly +come back to the room in a hurry. I will return to it and see what I can +find to serve my purpose. It is the Squire's private closet, hence it is +not unlikely that here some at least of his clothing will be found." + +With these, thoughts, he cautiously sprung the iron under foot, peeped +in, and, seeing all clear, boldly re-entered the apartment. He went +straight to a high, narrow door in the opposite wall. The key was in the +lock. Opening the door, there hung several coats, small-clothes, pairs +of silk stockings, and hats of the deceased. With little difficulty +Israel selected from these the complete suit in which he had last seen +his once jovial friend. Carefully closing the door, and carrying the +suit with him, he was returning towards the chimney, when he saw the +Squire's silver-headed cane leaning against a corner of the wainscot. +Taking this also, he stole back to his cell. + +Slipping off his own clothing, he deliberately arrayed himself in the +borrowed raiment, silk small-clothes and all, then put on the cocked +hat, grasped the silver-headed cane in his right hand, and moving his +small shaving-glass slowly up and down before him, so as by piecemeal to +take in his whole figure, felt convinced that he would well pass for +Squire Woodcock's genuine phantom. But after the first feeling of +self-satisfaction with his anticipated success had left him, it was not +without some superstitious embarrassment that Israel felt himself +encased in a dead man's broadcloth; nay, in the very coat in which the +deceased had no doubt fallen down in his fit. By degrees he began to +feel almost as unreal and shadowy as the shade whose part he intended to +enact. + +Waiting long and anxiously till darkness came, and then till he thought +it was fairly midnight, he stole back into the closet, and standing for +a moment uneasily in the middle of the floor, thinking over all the +risks he might run, he lingered till he felt himself resolute and calm. +Then groping for the door leading into the hall, put his hand on the +knob and turned it. But the door refused to budge. Was it locked? The +key was not in. Turning the knob once more, and holding it so, he +pressed firmly against the door. It did not move. More firmly still, +when suddenly it burst open with a loud crackling report. Being cramped, +it had stuck in the sill. Less than three seconds passed when, as Israel +was groping his way down the long wide hall towards the large staircase +at its opposite end, he heard confused hurrying noises from the +neighboring rooms, and in another instant several persons, mostly in +night-dresses, appeared at their chamber-doors, thrusting out alarmed +faces, lit by a lamp held by one of the number, a rather elderly lady in +widow's weeds, who by her appearance seemed to have just risen from a +sleepless chair, instead of an oblivious couch. Israel's heart beat like +a hammer; his face turned like a sheet. But bracing himself, pulling his +hat lower down over his eyes, settling his head in the collar of his +coat, he advanced along the defile of wildly staring faces. He advanced +with a slow and stately step, looked neither to the right nor the left, +but went solemnly forward on his now faintly illuminated way, sounding +his cane on the floor as he passed. The faces in the doorways curdled +his blood by their rooted looks. Glued to the spot, they seemed +incapable of motion. Each one was silent as he advanced towards him or +her, but as he left each individual, one after another, behind, each in +a frenzy shrieked out, "The Squire, the Squire!" As he passed the lady +in the widow's weeds, she fell senseless and crosswise before him. But +forced to be immutable in his purpose, Israel, solemnly stepping over +her prostrate form, marched deliberately on. + +In a few minutes more he had reached the main door of the mansion, and +withdrawing the chain and bolt, stood in the open air. It was a bright +moonlight night. He struck slowly across the open grounds towards the +sunken fields beyond. When-midway across the grounds, he turned towards +the mansion, and saw three of the front windows filled with white faces, +gazing in terror at the wonderful spectre. Soon descending a slope, he +disappeared from their view. + +Presently he came to hilly land in meadow, whose grass having been +lately cut, now lay dotting the slope in cocks; a sinuous line of creamy +vapor meandered through the lowlands at the base of the hill; while +beyond was a dense grove of dwarfish trees, with here and there a tall +tapering dead trunk, peeled of the bark, and overpeering the rest. The +vapor wore the semblance of a deep stream of water, imperfectly +descried; the grove looked like some closely-clustering town on its +banks, lorded over by spires of churches. + +The whole scene magically reproduced to our adventurer the aspect of +Bunker Hill, Charles River, and Boston town, on the well-remembered +night of the 16th of June. The same season; the same moon; the same +new-mown hay on the shaven sward; hay which was scraped together during +the night to help pack into the redoubt so hurriedly thrown up. + +Acted on as if by enchantment, Israel sat down on one of the cocks, and +gave himself up to reverie. But, worn out by long loss of sleep, his +reveries would have soon merged into slumber's still wilder dreams, had +he not rallied himself, and departed on his way, fearful of forgetting +himself in an emergency like the present. It now occurred to him that, +well as his disguise had served him in escaping from the mansion of +Squire Woodcock, that disguise might fatally endanger him if he should +be discovered in it abroad. He might pass for a ghost at night, and +among the relations and immediate friends of the gentleman deceased; but +by day, and among indifferent persons, he ran no small risk of being +apprehended for an entry-thief. He bitterly lamented his omission in not +pulling on the Squire's clothes over his own, so that he might now have +reappeared in his former guise. + +As meditating over this difficulty, he was passing along, suddenly he +saw a man in black standing right in his path, about fifty yards +distant, in a field of some growing barley or wheat. The gloomy stranger +was standing stock-still; one outstretched arm, with weird intimation +pointing towards the deceased Squire's abode. To the brooding soul of +the now desolate Israel, so strange a sight roused a supernatural +suspicion. His conscience morbidly reproaching him for the terrors he +had bred in making his escape from the house, he seemed to see in the +fixed gesture of the stranger something more than humanly significant. +But somewhat of his intrepidity returned; he resolved to test the +apparition. Composing itself to the same deliberate stateliness with +which it had paced the hall, the phantom of Squire Woodcock firmly, +advanced its cane, and marched straight forward towards the mysterious +stranger. + +As he neared him, Israel shrunk. The dark coat-sleeve flapped on the +bony skeleton of the unknown arm. The face was lost in a sort of ghastly +blank. It was no living man. + +But mechanically continuing his course, Israel drew still nearer and saw +a scarecrow. + +Not a little relieved by the discovery, our adventurer paused, more +particularly to survey so deceptive an object, which seemed to have been +constructed on the most efficient principles; probably by some broken +down wax figure costumer. It comprised the complete wardrobe of a +scarecrow, namely: a cocked hat, bunged; tattered coat; old velveteen +breeches; and long worsted stockings, full of holes; all stuffed very +nicely with straw, and skeletoned by a frame-work of poles. There was a +great flapped pocket to the coat--which seemed to have been some +laborer's--standing invitingly opened. Putting his hands in, Israel drew +out the lid of an old tobacco-box, the broken bowl of a pipe, two rusty +nails, and a few kernels of wheat. This reminded him of the Squire's +pockets. Trying them, he produced a handsome handkerchief, a +spectacle-case, with a purse containing some silver and gold, amounting +to a little more than five pounds. Such is the difference between the +contents of the pockets of scarecrows and the pockets of well-to-do +squires. Ere donning his present habiliments, Israel had not omitted to +withdraw his own money from his own coat, and put it in the pocket of +his own waistcoat, which he had not exchanged. + +Looking upon the scarecrow more attentively, it struck him that, +miserable as its wardrobe was, nevertheless here was a chance for +getting rid of the unsuitable and perilous clothes of the Squire. No +other available opportunity might present itself for a time. Before he +encountered any living creature by daylight, another suit must somehow +be had. His exchange with the old ditcher, after his escape from the inn +near Portsmouth, had familiarized him with the most deplorable of +wardrobes. Well, too, he knew, and had experienced it, that for a man +desirous of avoiding notice, the more wretched the clothes, the better. +For who does not shun the scurvy wretch, Poverty, advancing in battered +hat and lamentable coat? + +Without more ado, slipping off the Squire's raiment, he donned the +scarecrow's, after carefully shaking out the hay, which, from many +alternate soakings and bakings in rain and sun, had become quite broken +up, and would have been almost dust, were it not for the mildew which +damped it. But sufficient of this wretched old hay remained adhesive to +the inside of the breeches and coat-sleeves, to produce the most +irritating torment. + +The grand moral question now came up, what to do with the purse. Would +it be dishonest under the circumstances to appropriate that purse? +Considering the whole matter, and not forgetting that he had not +received from the gentleman deceased the promised reward for his +services as courier, Israel concluded that he might justly use the +money for his own. To which opinion surely no charitable judge will +demur. Besides, what should he do with the purse, if not use it for his +own? It would have been insane to have returned it to the relations. +Such mysterious honesty would have but resulted in his arrest as a +rebel, or rascal. As for the Squire's clothes, handkerchief, and +spectacle-case, they must be put out of sight with all dispatch. So, +going to a morass not remote, Israel sunk them deep down, and heaped +tufts of the rank sod upon them. Then returning to the field of corn, +sat down under the lee of a rock, about a hundred yards from where the +scarecrow had stood, thinking which way he now had best direct his +steps. But his late ramble coming after so long a deprivation of rest, +soon produced effects not so easy to be shaken off, as when reposing +upon the haycock. He felt less anxious too, since changing his apparel. +So before he was aware, he fell into deep sleep. + +When he awoke, the sun was well up in the sky. Looking around he saw a +farm-laborer with a pitchfork coming at a distance into view, whose +steps seemed bent in a direction not far from the spot where he lay. +Immediately it struck our adventurer that this man must be familiar with +the scarecrow; perhaps had himself fashioned it. Should he miss it then, +he might make immediate search, and so discover the thief so imprudently +loitering upon the very field of his operations. + +Waiting until the man momentarily disappeared in a little hollow, Israel +ran briskly to the identical spot where the scarecrow had stood, where, +standing stiffly erect, pulling the hat well over his face, and +thrusting out his arm, pointed steadfastly towards the Squire's abode, +he awaited the event. Soon the man reappeared in sight, and marching +right on, paused not far from Israel, and gave him an one earnest look, +as if it were his daily wont to satisfy that all was right with the +scarecrow. No sooner was the man departed to a reasonable distance, +than, quitting his post, Israel struck across the fields towards London. +But he had not yet quite quitted the field when it occurred to him to +turn round and see if the man was completely out of sight, when, to his +consternation, he saw the man returning towards him, evidently by his +pace and gesture in unmixed amazement. The man must have turned round to +look before Israel had done so. Frozen to the ground, Israel knew not +what to do; but next moment it struck him that this very motionlessness +was the least hazardous plan in such a strait. Thrusting out his arm +again towards the house, once more he stood stock still, and again +awaited the event. + +It so happened that this time, in pointing towards the house, Israel +unavoidably pointed towards the advancing man. Hoping that the +strangeness of this coincidence might, by operating on the man's +superstition, incline him to beat an immediate retreat, Israel kept cool +as he might. But the man proved to be of a braver metal than +anticipated. In passing the spot where the scarecrow had stood, and +perceiving, beyond the possibility of mistake, that by, some +unaccountable agency it had suddenly removed itself to a distance, +instead of being, terrified at this verification of his worst +apprehensions, the man pushed on for Israel, apparently resolved to sift +this mystery to the bottom. + +Seeing him now determinately coming, with pitchfork valiantly presented, +Israel, as a last means of practising on the fellow's fears of the +supernatural, suddenly doubled up both fists, presenting them savagely +towards him at a distance of about twenty paces, at the same time +showing his teeth like a skull's, and demoniacally rolling his eyes. The +man paused bewildered, looked all round him, looked at the springing +grain, then across at some trees, then up at the sky, and satisfied at +last by those observations that the world at large had not undergone a +miracle in the last fifteen minutes, resolutely resumed his advance; the +pitchfork, like a boarding-pike, now aimed full at the breast of the +object. Seeing all his stratagems vain, Israel now threw himself into +the original attitude of the scarecrow, and once again stood immovable. +Abating his pace by degrees almost to a mere creep, the man at last came +within three feet of him, and, pausing, gazed amazed into Israel's eyes. +With a stern and terrible expression Israel resolutely returned the +glance, but otherwise remained like a statue, hoping thus to stare his +pursuer out of countenance. At last the man slowly presented one prong +of his fork towards Israel's left eye. Nearer and nearer the sharp point +came, till no longer capable of enduring such a test, Israel took to his +heels with all speed, his tattered coat-tails streaming behind him. With +inveterate purpose the man pursued. Darting blindly on, Israel, leaping +a gate, suddenly found himself in a field where some dozen laborers +were at work, who recognizing the scarecrow--an old acquaintance of +theirs, as it would seem--lifted all their hands as the astounding +apparition swept by, followed by the man with the pitchfork. Soon all +joined in the chase, but Israel proved to have better wind and bottom +than any. Outstripping the whole pack he finally shot out of their sight +in an extensive park, heavily timbered in one quarter. He never saw more +of these people. + +Loitering in the wood till nightfall, he then stole out and made the +best of his way towards the house of that good natured farmer in whose +corn-loft he had received his first message from Squire Woodcock. +Rousing this man up a little before midnight, he informed him somewhat +of his recent adventures, but carefully concealed his having been +employed as a secret courier, together with his escape from Squire +Woodcock's. All he craved at present was a meal. The meal being over, +Israel offered to buy from the farmer his best suit of clothes, and +displayed the money on the spot. + +"Where did you get so much money?" said his entertainer in a tone of +surprise; "your clothes here don't look as if you had seen prosperous +times since you left me. Why, you look like a scarecrow." + +"That may well be," replied Israel, very soberly. "But what do you say? +will you sell me your suit?--here's the cash." + +"I don't know about it," said the farmer, in doubt; "let me look at the +money. Ha!--a silk purse come out of a beggars pocket!--Quit the house, +rascal, you've turned thief." + +Thinking that he could not swear to his having come by his money with +absolute honesty--since indeed the case was one for the most subtle +casuist--Israel knew not what to reply. This honest confusion confirmed +the farmer, who with many abusive epithets drove him into the road, +telling him that he might thank himself that he did not arrest him on +the spot. + +In great dolor at this unhappy repulse, Israel trudged on in the +moonlight some three miles to the house of another friend, who also had +once succored him in extremity. This man proved a very sound sleeper. +Instead of succeeding in rousing him by his knocking, Israel but +succeeded in rousing his wife, a person not of the greatest amiability. +Raising the sash, and seeing so shocking a pauper before her, the woman +upbraided him with shameless impropriety in asking charity at dead of +night, in a dress so improper too. Looking down at his deplorable +velveteens, Israel discovered that his extensive travels had produced a +great rent in one loin of the rotten old breeches, through which a +whitish fragment protruded. + +Remedying this oversight as well as he might, he again implored the +woman to wake her husband. + +"That I shan't!" said the woman, morosely. "Quit the premises, or I'll +throw something on ye." + +With that she brought some earthenware to the window, and would have +fulfilled her threat, had not Israel prudently retreated some paces. +Here he entreated the woman to take mercy on his plight, and since she +would not waken her husband, at least throw to him (Israel) her +husband's breeches, and he would leave the price of them, with his own +breeches to boot, on the sill of the door. + +"You behold how sadly I need them," said he; "for heaven's sake befriend +me." + +"Quit the premises!" reiterated the woman. + +"The breeches, the breeches! here is the money," cried Israel, half +furious with anxiety. + +"Saucy cur," cried the woman, somehow misunderstanding him; "do you +cunningly taunt me with _wearing_ the breeches'? begone!" + +Once more poor Israel decamped, and made for another friend. But here a +monstrous bull-dog, indignant that the peace of a quiet family should be +disturbed by so outrageous a tatterdemalion, flew at Israel's +unfortunate coat, whose rotten skirts the brute tore completely off, +leaving the coat razeed to a spencer, which barely came down to the +wearer's waist. In attempting to drive the monster away, Israel's hat +fell off, upon which the dog pounced with the utmost fierceness, and +thrusting both paws into it, rammed out the crown and went snuffling the +wreck before him. Recovering the wretched hat, Israel again beat a +retreat, his wardrobe sorely the worse for his visits. Not only was his +coat a mere rag, but his breeches, clawed by the dog, were slashed into +yawning gaps, while his yellow hair waved over the top of the crownless +beaver, like a lonely tuft of heather on the highlands. + +In this plight the morning discovered him dubiously skirmishing on the +outskirts of a village. + +"Ah! what a true patriot gets for serving his country!" murmured +Israel. But soon thinking a little better of his case, and seeing yet +another house which had once furnished him with an asylum, he made bold +to advance to the door. Luckily he this time met the man himself, just +emerging from bed. At first the farmer did not recognize the fugitive, +but upon another look, seconded by Israel's plaintive appeal, beckoned +him into the barn, where directly our adventurer told him all he thought +prudent to disclose of his story, ending by once more offering to +negotiate for breeches and coat. Having ere this emptied and thrown away +the purse which had played him so scurvy a trick with the first farmer, +he now produced three crown-pieces. + +"Three crown-pieces in your pocket, and no crown to your hat!" said the +farmer. + +"But I assure you, my friend," rejoined Israel, "that a finer hat was +never worn, until that confounded bull-dog ruined it." + +"True," said the farmer, "I forgot that part of your story. Well, I have +a tolerable coat and breeches which I will sell you for your money." + +In ten minutes more Israel was equipped in a gray coat of coarse cloth, +not much improved by wear, and breeches to match. For half-a-crown more +he procured a highly respectable looking hat. + +"Now, my kind friend," said Israel, "can you tell me where Horne Tooke +and John Bridges live?" + +Our adventurer thought it his best plan to seek out one or other of +those gentlemen, both to report proceedings and learn confirmatory +tidings concerning Squire Woodcock, touching whose fate he did not like +to inquire of others. + +"Horne Tooke? What do you want with Horne Tooke," said the farmer. "He +was Squire Woodcock's friend, wasn't he? The poor Squire! Who would have +thought he'd have gone off so suddenly. But apoplexy comes like a +bullet." + +"I was right," thought Israel to himself. "But where does Horne Tooke +live?" he demanded again. + +"He once lived in Brentford, and wore a cassock there. But I hear he's +sold out his living, and gone in his surplice to study law in Lunnon." + +This was all news to Israel, who, from various amiable remarks he had +heard from Horne Tooke at the Squire's, little dreamed he was an +ordained clergyman. Yet a good-natured English clergyman translated +Lucian; another, equally good-natured, wrote Tristam Shandy; and a +third, an ill-natured appreciator of good-natured Rabelais, died a dean; +not to speak of others. Thus ingenious and ingenuous are some of the +English clergy. + +"You can't tell me, then, where to find Horne Tooke?" said Israel, in +perplexity. + +"You'll find him, I suppose, in Lunnon." + +"What street and number?" + +"Don't know. Needle in a haystack." + +"Where does Mr. Bridges live?" + +"Never heard of any Bridges, except Lunnon bridges, and one Molly +Bridges in Bridewell." + +So Israel departed; better clothed, but no wiser than before. + +What to do next? He reckoned up his money, and concluded he had plenty +to carry him back to Doctor Franklin in Paris. Accordingly, taking a +turn to avoid the two nearest villages, he directed his steps towards +London, where, again taking the post-coach for Dover, he arrived on the +channel shore just in time to learn that the very coach in which he rode +brought the news to the authorities there that all intercourse between +the two nations was indefinitely suspended. The characteristic +taciturnity and formal stolidity of his fellow-travellers--all +Englishmen, mutually unacquainted with each other, and occupying +different positions in life--having prevented his sooner hearing the +tidings. + +Here was another accumulation of misfortunes. All visions but those of +eventual imprisonment or starvation vanished from before the present +realities of poor Israel Potter. The Brentford gentleman had flattered +him with the prospect of receiving something very handsome for his +services as courier. That hope was no more. Doctor Franklin had promised +him his good offices in procuring him a passage home to America. Quite +out of the question now. The sage had likewise intimated that he might +possibly see him some way remunerated for his sufferings in his +country's cause. An idea no longer to be harbored. Then Israel recalled +the mild man of wisdom's words--"At the prospect of pleasure never be +elated; but without depression respect the omens of ill." But he found +it as difficult now to comply, in all respects, with the last section of +the maxim, as before he had with the first. + +While standing wrapped in afflictive reflections on the shore, gazing +towards the unattainable coast of France, a pleasant-looking cousinly +stranger, in seamen's dress, accosted him, and, after some pleasant +conversation, very civilly invited him up a lane into a house of rather +secret entertainment. Pleased to be befriended in this his strait, +Israel yet looked inquisitively upon the man, not completely satisfied +with his good intentions. But the other, with good-humored violence, +hurried him up the lane into the inn, when, calling for some spirits, he +and Israel very affectionately drank to each other's better health and +prosperity. + +"Take another glass," said the stranger, affably. + +Israel, to drown his heavy-heartedness, complied. The liquor began to +take effect. + +"Ever at sea?" said the stranger, lightly. + +"Oh, yes; been a whaling." + +"Ah!" said the other, "happy to hear that, I assure you. Jim! Bill!" And +beckoning very quietly to two brawny fellows, in a trice Israel found +himself kidnapped into the naval service of the magnanimous old +gentleman of Kew Gardens--his Royal Majesty, George III. + +"Hands off!" said Israel, fiercely, as the two men pinioned him. + +"Reglar game-cock," said the cousinly-looking man. "I must get three +guineas for cribbing him. Pleasant voyage to ye, my friend," and, +leaving Israel a prisoner, the crimp, buttoning his coat, sauntered +leisurely out of the inn. + +"I'm no Englishman," roared Israel, in a foam. + +"Oh! that's the old story," grinned his jailers. "Come along. There's +no Englishman in the English fleet. All foreigners. You may take their +own word for it." + +To be short, in less than a week Israel found himself at Portsmouth, +and, ere long, a foretopman in his Majesty's ship of the line, +"Unprincipled," scudding before the wind down channel, in company with +the "Undaunted," and the "Unconquerable;" all three haughty Dons bound +to the East Indian waters as reinforcements to the fleet of Sir Edward +Hughs. + +And now, we might shortly have to record our adventurer's part in the +famous engagement off the coast of Coromandel, between Admiral +Suffrien's fleet and the English squadron, were it not that fate +snatched him on the threshold of events, and, turning him short round +whither he had come, sent him back congenially to war against England; +instead of on her behalf. Thus repeatedly and rapidly were the fortunes +of our wanderer planted, torn up, transplanted, and dropped again, +hither and thither, according as the Supreme Disposer of sailors and +soldiers saw fit to appoint. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +IN WHICH ISRAEL IS SAILOR UNDER TWO FLAGS, AND IN THREE SHIPS, AND ALL +IN ONE NIGHT. + + +As running down channel at evening, Israel walked the crowded main-deck +of the seventy-four, continually brushed by a thousand hurrying +wayfarers, as if he were in some great street in London, jammed with +artisans, just returning from their day's labor, novel and painful +emotions were his. He found himself dropped into the naval mob without +one friend; nay, among enemies, since his country's enemies were his +own, and against the kith and kin of these very beings around him, he +himself had once lifted a fatal hand. The martial bustle of a great +man-of-war, on her first day out of port, was indescribably jarring to +his present mood. Those sounds of the human multitude disturbing the +solemn natural solitudes of the sea, mysteriously afflicted him. He +murmured against that untowardness which, after condemning him to long +sorrows on the land, now pursued him with added griefs on the deep. Why +should a patriot, leaping for the chance again to attack the oppressor, +as at Bunker Hill, now be kidnapped to fight that oppressor's battles +on the endless drifts of the Bunker Hills of the billows? But like many +other repiners, Israel was perhaps a little premature with upbraidings +like these. + +Plying on between Scilly and Cape Clear, the Unprincipled--which vessel +somewhat outsailed her consorts--fell in, just before dusk, with a large +revenue cutter close to, and showing signals of distress. At the moment, +no other sail was in sight. + +Cursing the necessity of pausing with a strong fair wind at a juncture +like this, the officer-of-the-deck shortened sail, and hove to; hailing +the cutter, to know what was the matter. As he hailed the small craft +from the lofty poop of the bristling seventy-four, this lieutenant +seemed standing on the top of Gibraltar, talking to some lowland peasant +in a hut. The reply was, that in a sudden flaw of wind, which came nigh +capsizing them, not an hour since, the cutter had lost all four foremost +men by the violent jibing of a boom. She wanted help to get back to +port. + +"You shall have one man," said the officer-of-the-deck, morosely. + +"Let him be a good one then, for heaven's sake," said he in the cutter; +"I ought to have at least two." + +During this talk, Israel's curiosity had prompted him to dart up the +ladder from the main-deck, and stand right in the gangway above, looking +out on the strange craft. Meantime the order had been given to drop a +boat. Thinking this a favorable chance, he stationed himself so that he +should be the foremost to spring into the boat; though crowds of English +sailors, eager as himself for the same opportunity to escape from +foreign service, clung to the chains of the as yet imperfectly +disciplined man-of-war. As the two men who had been lowered in the boat +hooked her, when afloat, along to the gangway, Israel dropped like a +comet into the stern-sheets, stumbled forward, and seized an oar. In a +moment more, all the oarsmen were in their places, and with a few +strokes the boat lay alongside the cutter. + +"Take which of them you please," said the lieutenant in command, +addressing the officer in the revenue-cutter, and motioning with his +hand to his boat's crew, as if they were a parcel of carcasses of +mutton, of which the first pick was offered to some customer. "Quick and +choose. Sit down, men"--to the sailors. "Oh, you are in a great hurry to +get rid of the king's service, ain't you? Brave chaps indeed!--Have you +chosen your man?" + +All this while the ten faces of the anxious oarsmen looked with mute +longings and appealings towards the officer of the cutter; every face +turned at the same angle, as if managed by one machine. And so they +were. One motive. + +"I take the freckled chap with the yellow hair--him," pointing to +Israel. + +Nine of the upturned faces fell in sullen despair, and ere Israel could +spring to his feet, he felt a violent thrust in his rear from the toes +of one of the disappointed behind him. + +"Jump, dobbin!" cried the officer of the boat. + +But Israel was already on board. Another moment, and the boat and cutter +parted. Ere long, night fell, and the man-of-war and her consorts were +out of sight. + +The revenue vessel resumed her course towards the nighest port, worked +by but four men: the captain, Israel, and two officers. The cabin-boy +was kept at the helm. As the only foremast man, Israel was put to it +pretty hard. Where there is but one man to three masters, woe betide +that lonely slave. Besides, it was of itself severe work enough to +manage the vessel thus short of hands. But to make matters still worse, +the captain and his officers were ugly-tempered fellows. The one kicked, +and the others cuffed Israel. Whereupon, not sugared with his recent +experiences, and maddened by his present hap, Israel seeing himself +alone at sea, with only three men, instead of a thousand, to contend +against, plucked up a heart, knocked the captain into the lee scuppers, +and in his fury was about tumbling the first-officer, a small wash of a +fellow, plump overboard, when the captain, jumping to his feet, seized +him by his long yellow hair, vowing he would slaughter him. Meanwhile +the cutter flew foaming through the channel, as if in demoniac glee at +this uproar on her imperilled deck. While the consternation was at its +height, a dark body suddenly loomed at a moderate distance into view, +shooting right athwart the stern of the cutter. The next moment a shot +struck the water within a boat's length. + +"Heave to, and send a boat on board!" roared a voice almost as loud as +the cannon. + +"That's a war-ship," cried the captain of the revenue vessel, in alarm; +"but she ain't a countryman." + +Meantime the officers and Israel stopped the cutter's way. + +"Send a boat on board, or I'll sink you," again came roaring from the +stranger, followed by another shot, striking the water still nearer the +cutter. + +"For God's sake, don't cannonade us. I haven't got the crew to man a +boat," replied the captain of the cutter. "Who are you?" + +"Wait till I send a boat to you for that," replied the stranger. + +"She's an enemy of some sort, that's plain," said the Englishman now to +his officers; "we ain't at open war with France; she's some bloodthirsty +pirate or other. What d'ye say, men?" turning to his officers; "let's +outsail her, or be shot to chips. We can beat her at sailing, I know." + +With that, nothing doubting that his counsel would be heartily responded +to, he ran to the braces to get the cutter before the wind, followed by +one officer, while the other, for a useless bravado, hoisted the colors +at the stern. + +But Israel stood indifferent, or rather all in a fever of conflicting +emotions. He thought he recognized the voice from the strange vessel. + +"Come, what do ye standing there, fool? Spring to the ropes here!" cried +the furious captain. + +But Israel did not stir. + +Meantime the confusion on board the stranger, owing to the hurried +lowering of her boat, with the cloudiness of the sky darkening the misty +sea, united to conceal the bold manoeuvre of the cutter. She had almost +gained full headway ere an oblique shot, directed by mere chance, struck +her stern, tearing the upcurved head of the tiller in the hands of the +cabin-boy, and killing him with the splinters. Running to the stump, the +captain huzzaed, and steered the reeling ship on. Forced now to hoist +back the boat ere giving chase, the stranger was dropped rapidly astern. + +All this while storms of maledictions were hurled on Israel. But their +exertions at the ropes prevented his shipmates for the time from using +personal violence. While observing their efforts, Israel could not but +say to himself, "These fellows are as brave as they are brutal." + +Soon the stranger was seen dimly wallowing along astern, crowding all +sail in chase, while now and then her bow-gun, showing its red tongue, +bellowed after them like a mad bull. Two more shots struck the cutter, +but without materially damaging her sails, or the ropes immediately +upholding them. Several of her less important stays were sundered, +however, whose loose tarry ends lashed the air like scorpions. It seemed +not improbable that, owing to her superior sailing, the keen cutter +would yet get clear. + +At this juncture Israel, running towards the captain, who still held the +splintered stump of the tiller, stood full before him, saying, "I am an +enemy, a Yankee, look to yourself." + +"Help here, lads, help," roared the captain, "a traitor, a traitor!" + +The words were hardly out of his mouth when his voice was silenced for +ever. With one prodigious heave of his whole physical force, Israel +smote him over the taffrail into the sea, as if the man had fallen +backwards over a teetering chair. By this time the two officers were +hurrying aft. Ere meeting them midway, Israel, quick as lightning, cast +off the two principal halyards, thus letting the large sails all in a +tumble of canvass to the deck. Next moment one of the officers was at +the helm, to prevent the cutter from capsizing by being without a +steersman in such an emergency. The other officer and Israel +interlocked. The battle was in the midst of the chaos of blowing +canvass. Caught in a rent of the sail, the officer slipped and fell near +the sharp iron edge of the hatchway. As he fell he caught Israel by the +most terrible part in which mortality can be grappled. Insane with pain, +Israel dashed his adversary's skull against the sharp iron. The +officer's hold relaxed, but himself stiffened. Israel made for the +helmsman, who as yet knew not the issue of the late tussle. He caught +him round the loins, bedding his fingers like grisly claws into his +flesh, and hugging him to his heart. The man's ghost, caught like a +broken cork in a gurgling bottle's neck, gasped with the embrace. +Loosening him suddenly, Israel hurled him from him against the bulwarks. +That instant another report was heard, followed by the savage hail--"You +down sail at last, do ye? I'm a good mind to sink ye for your scurvy +trick. Pull down that dirty rag there, astern!" + +With a loud huzza, Israel hauled down the flag with one hand, while with +the other he helped the now slowly gliding craft from falling off before +the wind. + +In a few moments a boat was alongside. As its commander stepped to the +deck he stumbled against the body of the first officer, which, owing to +the sudden slant of the cutter in coming to the wind, had rolled against +the side near the gangway. As he came aft he heard the moan of the other +officer, where he lay under the mizzen shrouds. + +"What is all this?" demanded the stranger of Israel. + +"It means that I am a Yankee impressed into the king's service, and for +their pains I have taken the cutter." + +Giving vent to his surprise, the officer looked narrowly at the body by +the shrouds, and said, "This man is as good as dead, but we will take +him to Captain Paul as a witness in your behalf." + +"Captain Paul?--Paul Jones?" cried Israel. + +"The same." + +"I thought so. I thought that was his voice hailing. It was Captain +Paul's voice that somehow put me up to this deed." + +"Captain Paul is the devil for putting men up to be tigers. But where +are the rest of the crew?" + +"Overboard." + +"What?" cried the officer; "come on board the Ranger. Captain Paul will +use you for a broadside." + +Taking the moaning man along with them, and leaving the cutter +untenanted by any living soul, the boat now left her for the enemy's +ship. But ere they reached it the man had expired. + +Standing foremost on the deck, crowded with three hundred men, as Israel +climbed the side, he saw, by the light of battle-lanterns, a small, +smart, brigandish-looking man, wearing a Scotch bonnet, with a gold band +to it. + +"You rascal," said this person, "why did your paltry smack give me this +chase? Where's the rest of your gang?" + +"Captain Paul," said Israel, "I believe I remember you. I believe I +offered you my bed in Paris some months ago. How is Poor Richard?" + +"God! Is this the courier? The Yankee courier? But how now? in an +English revenue cutter?" + +"Impressed, sir; that's the way." + +"But where's the rest of them?" demanded Paul, turning to the officer. + +Thereupon the officer very briefly told Paul what Israel told him. + +"Are we to sink the cutter, sir?" said the gunner, now advancing towards +Captain Paul. "If it is to be done, now is the time. She is close under +us, astern; a few guns pointed downwards will settle her like a shotted +corpse." + +"No. Let her drift into Penzance, an anonymous earnest of what the +whitesquall in Paul Jones intends for the future." + +Then giving directions as to the course of the ship, with an order for +himself to be called at the first glimpse of a sail, Paul took Israel +down with him into his cabin. + +"Tell me your story now, my yellow lion. How was it all? Don't stand, +sit right down there on the transom. I'm a democratic sort of sea-king. +Plump on the woolsack, I say, and spin the yarn. But hold; you want some +grog first." + +As Paul handed the flagon, Israel's eye fell upon his hand. + +"You don't wear any rings now, Captain, I see. Left them in Paris for +safety." + +"Aye, with a certain marchioness there," replied Paul, with a dandyish +look of sentimental conceit, which sat strangely enough on his otherwise +grim and Fejee air. + +"I should think rings would be somewhat inconvenient at sea," resumed +Israel. "On my first voyage to the West Indies, I wore a girl's ring on +my middle finger here, and it wasn't long before, what with hauling wet +ropes, and what not, it got a kind of grown down into the flesh, and +pained me very bad, let me tell you, it hugged the finger so." + +"And did the girl grow as close to your heart, lad?" + +"Ah, Captain, girls grow themselves off quicker than we grow them on." + +"Some experience with the countesses as well as myself, eh? But the +story; wave your yellow mane, my lion--the story." + +So Israel went on and told the story in all particulars. + +At its conclusion Captain Paul eyed him very earnestly. His wild, lonely +heart, incapable of sympathizing with cuddled natures made humdrum by +long exemption from pain, was yet drawn towards a being, who in +desperation of friendlessness, something like his own, had so fiercely +waged battle against tyrannical odds. + +"Did you go to sea young, lad?" + +"Yes, pretty young." + +"I went at twelve, from Whitehaven. Only so high," raising his hand some +four feet from the deck. "I was so small, and looked so queer in my +little blue jacket, that they called me the monkey. They'll call me +something else before long. Did you ever sail out of Whitehaven?" + +"No, Captain." + +"If you had, you'd have heard sad stories about me. To this hour they +say there that I--bloodthirsty, coward dog that I am--flogged a sailor, +one Mungo Maxwell, to death. It's a lie, by Heaven! I flogged him, for +he was a mutinous scamp. But he died naturally, some time afterwards, +and on board another ship. But why talk? They didn't believe the +affidavits of others taken before London courts, triumphantly acquitting +me; how then will they credit _my_ interested words? If slander, however +much a lie, once gets hold of a man, it will stick closer than fair +fame, as black pitch sticks closer than white cream. But let 'em +slander. I will give the slanderers matter for curses. When last I left +Whitehaven, I swore never again to set foot on her pier, except, like +Caesar, at Sandwich, as a foreign invader. Spring under me, good ship; +on you I bound to my vengeance!" + +Men with poignant feelings, buried under an air of care-free self +command, are never proof to the sudden incitements of passion. Though +in the main they may control themselves, yet if they but once permit the +smallest vent, then they may bid adieu to all self-restraint, at least +for that time. Thus with Paul on the present occasion. His sympathy with +Israel had prompted this momentary ebullition. When it was gone by, he +seemed not a little to regret it. But he passed it over lightly, saying, +"You see, my fine fellow, what sort of a bloody cannibal I am. Will you +be a sailor of mine? A sailor of the Captain who flogged poor Mungo +Maxwell to death?" + +"I will be very happy, Captain Paul, to be sailor under the man who will +yet, I dare say, help flog the British nation to death." + +"You hate 'em, do ye?" + +"Like snakes. For months they've hunted me as a dog," half howled and +half wailed Israel, at the memory of all he had suffered. + +"Give me your hand, my lion; wave your wild flax again. By Heaven, you +hate so well, I love ye. You shall be my confidential man; stand sentry +at my cabin door; sleep in the cabin; steer my boat; keep by my side +whenever I land. What do you say?" + +"I say I'm glad to hear you." + +"You are a good, brave soul. You are the first among the millions of +mankind that I ever naturally took to. Come, you are tired. There, go +into that state-room for to-night--it's mine. You offered me your bed in +Paris." + +"But you begged off, Captain, and so must I. Where do you sleep?" + +"Lad, I don't sleep half a night out of three. My clothes have not been +off now for five days." + +"Ah, Captain, you sleep so little and scheme so much, you will die +young." + +"I know it: I want to: I mean to. Who would live a doddered old stump? +What do you think of my Scotch bonnet?" + +"It looks well on you, Captain." + +"Do you think so? A Scotch bonnet, though, ought to look well on a +Scotchman. I'm such by birth. Is the gold band too much?" + +"I like the gold band, Captain. It looks something as I should think a +crown might on a king." + +"Aye?" + +"You would make a better-looking king than George III." + +"Did you ever see that old granny? Waddles about in farthingales, and +carries a peacock fan, don't he? Did you ever see him?" + +"Was as close to him as I am to you now, Captain. In Kew Gardens it was, +where I worked gravelling the walks. I was all alone with him, talking +for some ten minutes." + +"By Jove, what a chance! Had I but been there! What an opportunity for +kidnapping a British king, and carrying him off in a fast sailing smack +to Boston, a hostage for American freedom. But what did you? Didn't you +try to do something to him?" + +"I had a wicked thought or two, Captain, but I got the better of it. +Besides, the king behaved handsomely towards me; yes, like a true man. +God bless him for it. But it was before that, that I got the better of +the wicked thought." + +"Ah, meant to stick him, I suppose. Glad you didn't. It would have been +very shabby. Never kill a king, but make him captive. He looks better as +a led horse, than a dead carcass. I propose now, this trip, falling on +the grounds of the Earl of Selkirk, a privy counsellor and particular +private friend of George III. But I won't hurt a hair of his head. When +I get him on board here, he shall lodge in my best state-room, which I +mean to hang with damask for him. I shall drink wine with him, and be +very friendly; take him to America, and introduce his lordship into the +best circles there; only I shall have him accompanied on his calls by a +sentry or two disguised as valets. For the Earl's to be on sale, mind; +so much ransom; that is, the nobleman, Lord Selkirk, shall have a bodily +price pinned on his coat-tail, like any slave up at auction in +Charleston. But, my lad with the yellow mane, you very strangely draw +out my secrets. And yet you don't talk. Your honesty is a magnet which +attracts my sincerity. But I rely on your fidelity." + +"I shall be a vice to your plans, Captain Paul. I will receive, but I +won't let go, unless you alone loose the screw." + +"Well said. To bed now; you ought to. I go on deck. Good night, +ace-of-hearts." + +"That is fitter for yourself, Captain Paul, lonely leader of the suit." + +"Lonely? Aye, but number one cannot but be lonely, my trump." + +"Again I give it back. Ace-of-trumps may it prove to you, Captain Paul; +may it be impossible for you ever to be taken. But for me--poor deuce, a +trey, that comes in your wake--any king or knave may take me, as before +now the knaves have." + +"Tut, tut, lad; never be more cheery for another than for yourself. But +a fagged body fags the soul. To hammock, to hammock! while I go on deck +to clap on more sail to your cradle." + +And they separated for that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THEY SAIL AS FAR AS THE CRAG OF AILSA. + + +Next morning Israel was appointed quartermaster--a subaltern selected +from the common seamen, and whose duty mostly stations him in the stern +of the ship, where the captain walks. His business is to carry the glass +on the look-out for sails; hoist or lower the colors; and keep an eye on +the helmsman. Picked out from the crew for their superior respectability +and intelligence, as well as for their excellent seamanship, it is not +unusual to find the quartermasters of an armed ship on peculiarly easy +terms with the commissioned officers and captain. This birth, therefore, +placed Israel in official contiguity to Paul, and without subjecting +either to animadversion, made their public intercourse on deck almost as +familiar as their unrestrained converse in the cabin. + +It was a fine cool day in the beginning of April. They were now off the +coast of Wales, whose lofty mountains, crested with snow, presented a +Norwegian aspect. The wind was fair, and blew with a strange, bestirring +power. The ship--running between Ireland and England, northwards, +towards the Irish Sea, the inmost heart of the British waters--seemed, +as she snortingly shook the spray from her bow, to be conscious of the +dare-devil defiance of the soul which conducted her on this anomalous +cruise. Sailing alone from out a naval port of France, crowded with +ships-of-the-line, Paul Jones, in his small craft, went forth in +single-armed championship against the English host. Armed with but the +sling-stones in his one shot-locker, like young David of old, Paul +bearded the British giant of Gath. It is not easy, at the present day, +to conceive the hardihood of this enterprise. It was a marching up to +the muzzle; the act of one who made no compromise with the cannonadings +of danger or death; such a scheme as only could have inspired a heart +which held at nothing all the prescribed prudence of war, and every +obligation of peace; combining in one breast the vengeful indignation +and bitter ambition of an outraged hero, with the uncompunctuous +desperation of a renegade. In one view, the Coriolanus of the sea; in +another, a cross between the gentleman and the wolf. + +As Paul stood on the elevated part of the quarter-deck, with none but his +confidential quartermaster near him, he yielded to Israel's natural +curiosity to learn something concerning the sailing of the expedition. +Paul stood lightly, swaying his body over the sea, by holding on to the +mizzen-shrouds, an attitude not inexpressive of his easy audacity; while +near by, pacing a few steps to and fro, his long spy-glass now under his +arm, and now presented at his eye, Israel, looking the very image of +vigilant prudence, listened to the warrior's story. It appeared that on +the night of the visit of the Duke de Chartres and Count D'Estaing to +Doctor Franklin in Paris--the same night that Captain Paul and Israel +were joint occupants of the neighboring chamber--the final sanction of +the French king to the sailing of an American armament against England, +under the direction of the Colonial Commissioner, was made known to the +latter functionary. It was a very ticklish affair. Though swaying on the +brink of avowed hostilities with England, no verbal declaration had as +yet been made by France. Undoubtedly, this enigmatic position of things +was highly advantageous to such an enterprise as Paul's. + +Without detailing all the steps taken through the united efforts of +Captain Paul and Doctor Franklin, suffice it that the determined rover +had now attained his wish--the unfettered command of an armed ship in +the British waters; a ship legitimately authorized to hoist the American +colors, her commander having in his cabin-locker a regular commission as +an officer of the American navy. He sailed without any instructions. +With that rare insight into rare natures which so largely distinguished +the sagacious Franklin, the sage well knew that a prowling _brave_, like +Paul Jones, was, like the prowling lion, by nature a solitary warrior. +"Let him alone," was the wise man's answer to some statesman who sought +to hamper Paul with a letter of instructions. + +Much subtile casuistry has been expended upon the point, whether Paul +Jones was a knave or a hero, or a union of both. But war and warriors, +like politics and politicians, like religion and religionists, admit of +no metaphysics. + +On the second day after Israel's arrival on board the Ranger, as he and +Paul were conversing on the deck, Israel suddenly levelling his glass +towards the Irish coast, announced a large sail bound in. The Ranger +gave chase, and soon, almost within sight of her destination--the port +of Dublin--the stranger was taken, manned, and turned round for Brest. + +The Ranger then stood over, passed the Isle of Man towards the +Cumberland shore, arriving within remote sight of Whitehaven about +sunset. At dark she was hovering off the harbor, with a party of +volunteers all ready to descend. But the wind shifted and blew fresh +with a violent sea. + +"I won't call on old friends in foul weather," said Captain Paul to +Israel. "We'll saunter about a little, and leave our cards in a day or +two." + +Next morning, in Glentinebay, on the south shore of Scotland, they fell +in with a revenue wherry. It was the practice of such craft to board +merchant vessels. The Ranger was disguised as a merchantman, presenting +a broad drab-colored belt all round her hull; under the coat of a +Quaker, concealing the intent of a Turk. It was expected that the +chartered rover would come alongside the unchartered one. But the former +took to flight, her two lug sails staggering under a heavy wind, which +the pursuing guns of the Ranger pelted with a hail-storm of shot. The +wherry escaped, spite the severe cannonade. + +Off the Mull of Galoway, the day following, Paul found himself so nigh a +large barley-freighted Scotch coaster, that, to prevent her carrying +tidings of him to land, he dispatched her with the news, stern foremost, +to Hades; sinking her, and sowing her barley in the sea broadcast by a +broadside. From her crew he learned that there was a fleet of twenty or +thirty sail at anchor in Lochryan, with an armed brigantine. He pointed +his prow thither; but at the mouth of the lock, the wind turned against +him again in hard squalls. He abandoned the project. Shortly after, he +encountered a sloop from Dublin. He sunk her to prevent intelligence. + +Thus, seeming as much to bear the elemental commission of Nature, as the +military warrant of Congress, swarthy Paul darted hither and thither; +hovering like a thundercloud off the crowded harbors; then, beaten off +by an adverse wind, discharging his lightnings on uncompanioned vessels, +whose solitude made them a more conspicuous and easier mark, like lonely +trees on the heath. Yet all this while the land was full of garrisons, +the embayed waters full of fleets. With the impunity of a Levanter, Paul +skimmed his craft in the land-locked heart of the supreme naval power of +earth; a torpedo-eel, unknowingly swallowed by Britain in a draught of +old ocean, and making sad havoc with her vitals. + +Seeing next a large vessel steering for the Clyde, he gave chase, hoping +to cut her off. The stranger proving a fast sailer, the pursuit was +urged on with vehemence, Paul standing, plank-proud, on the +quarter-deck, calling for pulls upon every rope, to stretch each already +half-burst sail to the uttermost. + +While thus engaged, suddenly a shadow, like that thrown by an eclipse, +was seen rapidly gaining along the deck, with a sharp defined line, +plain as a seam of the planks. It involved all before it. It was the +domineering shadow of the Juan Fernandez-like crag of Ailsa. The Ranger +was in the deep water which makes all round and close up to this great +summit of the submarine Grampians. + +The crag, more than a mile in circuit, is over a thousand feet high, +eight miles from the Ayrshire shore. There stands the cove, lonely as a +foundling, proud as Cheops. But, like the battered brains surmounting +the Giant of Gath, its haughty summit is crowned by a desolate castle, +in and out of whose arches the aerial mists eddy like purposeless +phantoms, thronging the soul of some ruinous genius, who, even in +overthrow, harbors none but lofty conceptions. + +As the Ranger shot higher under the crag, its height and bulk dwarfed +both pursuer and pursued into nutshells. The main-truck of the Ranger +was nine hundred feet below the foundations of the ruin on the crag's +top: + +While the ship was yet under the shadow, and each seaman's face shared +in the general eclipse, a sudden change came over Paul. He issued no +more sultanical orders. He did not look so elate as before. At length he +gave the command to discontinue the chase. Turning about, they sailed +southward. + +"Captain Paul," said Israel, shortly afterwards, "you changed your mind +rather queerly about catching that craft. But you thought she was +drawing us too far up into the land, I suppose." + +"Sink the craft," cried Paul; "it was not any fear of her, nor of King +George, which made me turn on my heel; it was yon cock of the walk." + +"Cock of the walk?" + +"Aye, cock of the walk of the sea; look--yon Crag of Ailsa." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THEY LOOK IN AT CARRICKFERGUS, AND DESCEND ON WHITEHAVEN. + + +Next day, off Carrickfergus, on the Irish coast, a fishing boat, allured +by the Quaker-like look of the incognito craft, came off in full +confidence. Her men were seized, their vessel sunk. From them Paul +learned that the large ship at anchor in the road, was the ship-of-war +Drake, of twenty guns. Upon this he steered away, resolving to return +secretly, and attack her that night. + +"Surely, Captain Paul," said Israel to his commander, as about sunset +they backed and stood in again for the land "surely, sir, you are not +going right in among them this way? Why not wait till she comes out?" + +"Because, Yellow-hair, my boy, I am engaged to marry her to-night. The +bride's friends won't like the match; and so, this very night, the bride +must be carried away. She has a nice tapering waist, hasn't she, through +the glass? Ah! I will clasp her to my heart." + +He steered straight in like a friend; under easy sail, lounging towards +the Drake, with anchor ready to drop, and grapnels to hug. But the wind +was high; the anchor was not dropped at the ordered time. The ranger +came to a stand three biscuits' toss off the unmisgiving enemy's +quarter, like a peaceful merchantman from the Canadas, laden with +harmless lumber. + +"I shan't marry her just yet," whispered Paul, seeing his plans for the +time frustrated. Gazing in audacious tranquillity upon the decks of the +enemy, and amicably answering her hail, with complete self-possession, +he commanded the cable to be slipped, and then, as if he had +accidentally parted his anchor, turned his prow on the seaward tack, +meaning to return again immediately with the same prospect of advantage +possessed at first--his plan being to crash suddenly athwart the Drake's +bow, so as to have all her decks exposed point-blank to his musketry. +But once more the winds interposed. It came on with a storm of snow; he +was obliged to give up his project. + +Thus, without any warlike appearance, and giving no alarm, Paul, like an +invisible ghost, glided by night close to land, actually came to anchor, +for an instant, within speaking-distance of an English ship-of-war; and +yet came, anchored, answered hail, reconnoitered, debated, decided, and +retired, without exciting the least suspicion. His purpose was +chain-shot destruction. So easily may the deadliest foe--so he be but +dexterous--slide, undreamed of, into human harbors or hearts. And not +awakened conscience, but mere prudence, restrain such, if they vanish +again without doing harm. At daybreak no soul in Carrickfergus knew that +the devil, in a Scotch bonnet, had passed close that way over night. + +Seldom has regicidal daring been more strangely coupled with +octogenarian prudence, than in many of the predatory enterprises of +Paul. It is this combination of apparent incompatibilities which ranks +him among extraordinary warriors. + +Ere daylight, the storm of the night blew over. The sun saw the Ranger +lying midway over channel at the head of the Irish Sea; England, +Scotland, and Ireland, with all their lofty cliffs, being as +simultaneously as plainly in sight beyond the grass-green waters, as the +City Hall, St. Paul's, and the Astor House, from the triangular Park in +New York. The three kingdoms lay covered with snow, far as the eye could +reach. + +"Ah, Yellow-hair," said Paul, with a smile, "they show the white flag, +the cravens. And, while the white flag stays blanketing yonder heights, +we'll make for Whitehaven, my boy. I promised to drop in there a moment +ere quitting the country for good. Israel, lad, I mean to step ashore in +person, and have a personal hand in the thing. Did you ever drive +spikes?" + +"I've driven the spike-teeth into harrows before now," replied Israel; +"but that was before I was a sailor." + +"Well, then, driving spikes into harrows is a good introduction to +driving spikes into cannon. You are just the man. Put down your glass; +go to the carpenter, get a hundred spikes, put them in a bucket with a +hammer, and bring all to me." + +As evening fell, the great promontory of St. Bee's Head, with its +lighthouse, not far from Whitehaven, was in distant sight. But the wind +became so light that Paul could not work his ship in close enough at an +hour as early as intended. His purpose had been to make the descent and +retire ere break of day. But though this intention was frustrated, he +did not renounce his plan, for the present would be his last +opportunity. + +As the night wore on, and the ship, with a very light wind, glided +nigher and nigher the mark, Paul called upon Israel to produce his +bucket for final inspection. Thinking some of the spikes too large, he +had them filed down a little. He saw to the lanterns and combustibles. +Like Peter the Great, he went into the smallest details, while still +possessing a genius competent to plan the aggregate. But oversee as one +may, it is impossible to guard against carelessness in subordinates. +One's sharp eyes can't see behind one's back. It will yet be noted that +an important omission was made in the preparations for Whitehaven. + +The town contained, at that period, a population of some six or seven +thousand inhabitants, defended by forts. + +At midnight, Paul Jones, Israel Potter, and twenty-nine others, rowed in +two boats to attack the six or seven thousand inhabitants of Whitehaven. +There was a long way to pull. This was done in perfect silence. Not a +sound was heard except the oars turning in the row-locks. Nothing was +seen except the two lighthouses of the harbor. Through the stillness and +the darkness, the two deep-laden boats swam into the haven, like two +mysterious whales from the Arctic Sea. As they reached the outer pier, +the men saw each other's faces. The day was dawning. The riggers and +other artisans of the shipping would before very long be astir. No +matter. + +The great staple exported from Whitehaven was then, and still is, coal. +The town is surrounded by mines; the town is built on mines; the ships +moor over mines. The mines honeycomb the land in all directions, and +extend in galleries of grottoes for two miles under the sea. By the +falling in of the more ancient collieries numerous houses have been +swallowed, as if by an earthquake, and a consternation spread, like that +of Lisbon, in 1755. So insecure and treacherous was the site of the +place now about to be assailed by a desperado, nursed, like the coal, in +its vitals. + +Now, sailing on the Thames, nigh its mouth, of fair days, when the wind +is favorable for inward-bound craft, the stranger will sometimes see +processions of vessels, all of similar size and rig, stretching for +miles and miles, like a long string of horses tied two and two to a rope +and driven to market. These are colliers going to London with coal. + +About three hundred of these vessels now lay, all crowded together, in +one dense mob, at Whitehaven. The tide was out. They lay completely +helpless, clear of water, and grounded. They were sooty in hue. Their +black yards were deeply canted, like spears, to avoid collision. The +three hundred grimy hulls lay wallowing in the mud, like a herd of +hippopotami asleep in the alluvium of the Nile. Their sailless, raking +masts, and canted yards, resembled a forest of fish-spears thrust into +those same hippopotamus hides. Partly flanking one side of the grounded +fleet was a fort, whose batteries were raised from the beach. On a +little strip of this beach, at the base of the fort, lay a number of +small rusty guns, dismounted, heaped together in disorder, as a litter +of dogs. Above them projected the mounted cannon. + +Paul landed in his own boat at the foot of this fort. He dispatched the +other boat to the north side of the haven, with orders to fire the +shipping there. Leaving two men at the beach, he then proceeded to get +possession of the fort. + +"Hold on to the bucket, and give me your shoulder," said he to Israel. + +Using Israel for a ladder, in a trice he scaled the wall. The bucket and +the men followed. He led the way softly to the guard-house, burst in, +and bound the sentinels in their sleep. Then arranging his force, +ordered four men to spike the cannon there. + +"Now, Israel, your bucket, and follow me to the other fort." + +The two went alone about a quarter of a mile. + +"Captain Paul," said Israel, on the way, "can we two manage the +sentinels?" + +"There are none in the fort we go to." + +"You know all about the place, Captain?" + +"Pretty well informed on that subject, I believe. Come along. Yes, lad, +I am tolerably well acquainted with Whitehaven. And this morning intend +that Whitehaven shall have a slight inkling of _me_. Come on. Here we +are." + +Scaling the walls, the two involuntarily stood for an instant gazing +upon the scene. The gray light of the dawn showed the crowded houses and +thronged ships with a haggard distinctness. + +"Spike and hammer, lad;--so,--now follow me along, as I go, and give me +a spike for every cannon. I'll tongue-tie the thunderers. Speak no +more!" and he spiked the first gun. "Be a mute," and he spiked the +second. "Dumbfounder thee," and he spiked the third. And so, on, and on, +and on, Israel following him with the bucket, like a footman, or some +charitable gentleman with a basket of alms. + +"There, it is done. D'ye see the fire yet, lad, from the south? I +don't." + +"Not a spark, Captain. But day-sparks come on in the east." + +"Forked flames into the hounds! What are they about? Quick, let us back +to the first fort; perhaps something has happened, and they are there." + +Sure enough, on their return from spiking the cannon, Paul and Israel +found the other boat back, the crew in confusion, their lantern having +burnt out at the very instant they wanted it. By a singular fatality the +other lantern, belonging to Paul's boat, was likewise extinguished. No +tinder-box had been brought. They had no matches but sulphur matches. +Locofocos were not then known. + +The day came on apace. + +"Captain Paul," said the lieutenant of the second boat, "it is madness +to stay longer. See!" and he pointed to the town, now plainly +discernible in the gray light. + +"Traitor, or coward!" howled Paul, "how came the lanterns out? Israel, +my lion, now prove your blood. Get me a light--but one spark!" + +"Has any man here a bit of pipe and tobacco in his pocket?" said +Israel. + +A sailor quickly produced an old stump of a pipe, with tobacco. + +"That will do," and Israel hurried away towards the town. + +"What will the loon do with the pipe?" said one. "And where goes he?" +cried another. + +"Let him alone," said Paul. + +The invader now disposed his whole force so as to retreat at an +instant's warning. Meantime the hardy Israel, long experienced in all +sorts of shifts and emergencies, boldly ventured to procure, from some +inhabitant of Whitehaven, a spark to kindle all Whitehaven's habitations +in flames. + +There was a lonely house standing somewhat disjointed from the town, +some poor laborer's abode. Rapping at the door, Israel, pipe in mouth, +begged the inmates for a light for his tobacco. + +"What the devil," roared a voice from within, "knock up a man this time +of night to light your pipe? Begone!" + +"You are lazy this morning, my friend," replied Israel, "it is daylight. +Quick, give me a light. Don't you know your old friend? Shame! open the +door." + +In a moment a sleepy fellow appeared, let down the bar, and Israel, +stalking into the dim room, piloted himself straight to the fire-place, +raked away the cinders, lighted his tobacco, and vanished. + +All was done in a flash. The man, stupid with sleep, had looked on +bewildered. He reeled to the door, but, dodging behind a pile of +bricks, Israel had already hurried himself out of sight. + +"Well done, my lion," was the hail he received from Paul, who, during +his absence, had mustered as many pipes as possible, in order to +communicate and multiply the fire. + +Both boats now pulled to a favorable point of the principal pier of the +harbor, crowded close up to a part of which lay one wing of the +colliers. + +The men began to murmur at persisting in an attempt impossible to be +concealed much longer. They were afraid to venture on board the grim +colliers, and go groping down into their hulls to fire them. It seemed +like a voluntary entrance into dungeons and death. + +"Follow me, all of you but ten by the boats," said Paul, without +noticing their murmurs. "And now, to put an end to all future burnings +in America, by one mighty conflagration of shipping in England. Come on, +lads! Pipes and matches in the van!" + +He would have distributed the men so as simultaneously to fire different +ships at different points, were it not that the lateness of the hour +rendered such a course insanely hazardous. Stationing his party in front +of one of the windward colliers, Paul and Israel sprang on board. + +In a twinkling they had broken open a boatswain's locker, and, with +great bunches of oakum, fine and dry as tinder, had leaped into the +steerage. Here, while Paul made a blaze, Israel ran to collect the +tar-pots, which being presently poured on the burning matches, oakum and +wood, soon increased the flame. + +"It is not a sure thing yet," said Paul, "we must have a barrel of +tar." + +They searched about until they found one, knocked out the head and +bottom, and stood it like a martyr in the midst of the flames. They then +retreated up the forward hatchway, while volumes of smoke were belched +from the after one. Not till this moment did Paul hear the cries of his +men, warning him that the inhabitants were not only actually astir, but +crowds were on their way to the pier. + +As he sprang out of the smoke towards the rail of the collier, he saw +the sun risen, with thousands of the people. Individuals hurried close +to the burning vessel. Leaping to the ground, Paul, bidding his men +stand fast, ran to their front, and, advancing about thirty feet, +presented his own pistol at now tumultuous Whitehaven. + +Those who had rushed to extinguish what they had deemed but an +accidental fire, were now paralyzed into idiotic inaction, at the +defiance of the incendiary, thinking him some sudden pirate or fiend +dropped down from the moon. + +While Paul thus stood guarding the incipient conflagration, Israel, +without a weapon, dashed crazily towards the mob on the shore. + +"Come back, come back," cried Paul. + +"Not till I start these sheep, as their own wolves many a time started +me!" + +As he rushed bare-headed like a madman, towards the crowd, the panic +spread. They fled from unarmed Israel, further than they had from the +pistol of Paul. + +The flames now catching the rigging and spiralling around the masts, +the whole ship burned at one end of the harbor, while the sun, an hour +high, burned at the other. Alarm and amazement, not sleep, now ruled the +world. It was time to retreat. + +They re-embarked without opposition, first releasing a few prisoners, as +the boats could not carry them. + +Just as Israel was leaping into the boat, he saw the man at whose house +he had procured the fire, staring like a simpleton at him. + +"That was good seed you gave me;" said Israel, "see what a yield," +pointing to the flames. He then dropped into the boat, leaving only Paul +on the pier. + +The men cried to their commander, conjuring him not to linger. + +But Paul remained for several moments, confronting in silence the +clamors of the mob beyond, and waving his solitary hand, like a +disdainful tomahawk, towards the surrounding eminences, also covered +with the affrighted inhabitants. + +When the assailants had rowed pretty well off, the English rushed in +great numbers to their forts, but only to find their cannon no better +than so much iron in the ore. At length, however, they began to fire, +having either brought down some ship's guns, or else mounted the rusty +old dogs lying at the foot of the first fort. + +In their eagerness they fired with no discretion. The shot fell short; +they did not the slightest damage. + +Paul's men laughed aloud, and fired their pistols in the air. + +Not a splinter was made, not a drop of blood spilled throughout the +affair. The intentional harmlessness of the result, as to human life, +was only equalled by the desperate courage of the deed. It formed, +doubtless, one feature of the compassionate contempt of Paul towards +the town, that he took such paternal care of their lives and limbs. + +Had it been possible to have landed a few hours earlier not a ship nor a +house could have escaped. But it was the lesson, not the loss, that +told. As it was, enough damage had been done to demonstrate--as Paul had +declared to the wise man of Paris--that the disasters caused by the +wanton fires and assaults on the American coasts, could be easily +brought home to the enemy's doors. Though, indeed, if the retaliators +were headed by Paul Jones, the satisfaction would not be equal to the +insult, being abated by the magnanimity of a chivalrous, however +unprincipled a foe. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THEY CALL AT THE EARL OF SELKIRK'S, AND AFTERWARDS FIGHT THE SHIP-OF-WAR +DRAKE. + + +The Ranger now stood over the Solway Frith for the Scottish shore, and +at noon on the same day, Paul, with twelve men, including two officers +and Israel, landed on St. Mary's Isle, one of the seats of the Earl of +Selkirk. + +In three consecutive days this elemental warrior either entered the +harbors or landed on the shores of each of the Three Kingdoms. + +The morning was fair and clear. St. Mary's Isle lay shimmering in the +sun. The light crust of snow had melted, revealing the tender grass and +sweet buds of spring mantling the sides of the cliffs. + +At once, upon advancing with his party towards the house, Paul augured +ill for his project from the loneliness of the spot. No being was seen. +But cocking his bonnet at a jaunty angle, he continued his way. +Stationing the men silently round about the house, fallowed by Israel, +he announced his presence at the porch. + +A gray-headed domestic at length responded. + +"Is the Earl within?" + +"He is in Edinburgh, sir." + +"Ah--sure?--Is your lady within?" + +"Yes, sir--who shall I say it is?" + +"A gentleman who calls to pay his respects. Here, take my card." + +And he handed the man his name, as a private gentleman, superbly +engraved at Paris, on gilded paper. + +Israel tarried in the hall while the old servant led Paul into a parlor. + +Presently the lady appeared. + +"Charming Madame, I wish you a very good morning." + +"Who may it be, sir, that I have the happiness to see?" said the lady, +censoriously drawing herself up at the too frank gallantry of the +stranger. + +"Madame, I sent you my card." + +"Which leaves me equally ignorant, sir," said the lady, coldly, twirling +the gilded pasteboard. + +"A courier dispatched to Whitehaven, charming Madame, might bring you +more particular tidings as to who has the honor of being your visitor." + +Not comprehending what this meant, and deeply displeased, if not vaguely +alarmed, at the characteristic manner of Paul, the lady, not entirely +unembarrassed, replied, that if the gentleman came to view the isle, he +was at liberty so to do. She would retire and send him a guide. + +"Countess of Selkirk," said Paul, advancing a step, "I call to see the +Earl. On business of urgent importance, I call." + +"The Earl is in Edinburgh," uneasily responded the lady, again about to +retire. + +"Do you give me your honor as a lady that it is as you say?" + +The lady looked at him in dubious resentment. + +"Pardon, Madame, I would not lightly impugn a lady's lightest word, but +I surmised that, possibly, you might suspect the object of my call, in +which case it would be the most excusable thing in the world for you to +seek to shelter from my knowledge the presence of the Earl on the isle." + +"I do not dream what you mean by all this," said the lady with a decided +alarm, yet even in her panic courageously maintaining her dignity, as +she retired, rather than retreated, nearer the door. + +"Madame," said Paul, hereupon waving his hand imploringly, and then +tenderly playing with his bonnet with the golden band, while an +expression poetically sad and sentimental stole over his tawny face; "it +cannot be too poignantly lamented that, in the profession of arms, the +officer of fine feelings and genuine sensibility should be sometimes +necessitated to public actions which his own private heart cannot +approve. This hard case is mine. The Earl, Madame, you say is absent. I +believe those words. Far be it from my soul, enchantress, to ascribe a +fault to syllables which have proceeded from so faultless a source." + +This probably he said in reference to the lady's mouth, which was +beautiful in the extreme. + +He bowed very lowly, while the lady eyed him with conflicting and +troubled emotions, but as yet all in darkness as to his ultimate +meaning. But her more immediate alarm had subsided, seeing now that the +sailor-like extravagance of Paul's homage was entirely unaccompanied +with any touch of intentional disrespect. Indeed, hyperbolical as were +his phrases, his gestures and whole carriage were most heedfully +deferential. + +Paul continued: "The Earl, Madame, being absent, and he being the sole +object of my call, you cannot labor under the least apprehension, when I +now inform you, that I have the honor of being an officer in the +American Navy, who, having stopped at this isle to secure the person of +the Earl of Selkirk as a hostage for the American cause, am, by your +assurances, turned away from that intent; pleased, even in +disappointment, since that disappointment has served to prolong my +interview with the noble lady before me, as well as to leave her +domestic tranquillity unimpaired." + +"Can you really speak true?" said the lady in undismayed wonderment. + +"Madame, through your window you will catch a little peep of the +American colonial ship-of-war, Ranger, which I have the honor to +command. With my best respects to your lord, and sincere regrets at not +finding him at home, permit me to salute your ladyship's hand and +withdraw." + +But feigning not to notice this Parisian proposition, and artfully +entrenching her hand, without seeming to do so, the lady, in a +conciliatory tone, begged her visitor to partake of some refreshment ere +he departed, at the same time thanking him for his great civility. But +declining these hospitalities, Paul bowed thrice and quitted the room. + +In the hall he encountered Israel, standing all agape before a Highland +target of steel, with a claymore and foil crossed on top. + +"Looks like a pewter platter and knife and fork, Captain Paul." + +"So they do, my lion; but come, curse it, the old cock has flown; fine +hen, though, left in the nest; no use; we must away empty-handed." + +"Why, ain't Mr. Selkirk in?" demanded Israel in roguish concern. + +"Mr. Selkirk? Alexander Selkirk, you mean. No, lad, he's not on the Isle +of St. Mary's; he's away off, a hermit, on the Isle of Juan +Fernandez--the more's the pity; come." + +In the porch they encountered the two officers. Paul briefly informed +them of the circumstances, saying, nothing remained but to depart +forthwith. + +"With nothing at all for our pains?" murmured the two officers. + +"What, pray, would you have?" + +"Some pillage, to be sure--plate." + +"Shame. I thought we were three gentlemen." + +"So are the English officers in America; but they help themselves to +plate whenever they can get it from the private houses of the enemy." + +"Come, now, don't be slanderous," said Paul; "these officers you speak +of are but one or two out of twenty, mere burglars and light-fingered +gentry, using the king's livery but as a disguise to their nefarious +trade. The rest are men of honor." + +"Captain Paul Jones," responded the two, "we have not come on this +expedition in much expectation of regular pay; but we _did_ rely upon +honorable plunder." + +"Honorable plunder! That's something new." + +But the officers were not to be turned aside. They were the most +efficient in the ship. Seeing them resolute, Paul, for fear of incensing +them, was at last, as a matter of policy, obliged to comply. For +himself, however, he resolved to have nothing to do with the affair. +Charging the officers not to allow the men to enter the house on any +pretence, and that no search must be made, and nothing must be taken +away, except what the lady should offer them upon making known their +demand, he beckoned to Israel and retired indignantly towards the beach. +Upon second thoughts, he dispatched Israel back, to enter the house with +the officers, as joint receiver of the plate, he being, of course, the +most reliable of the seamen. + +The lady was not a little disconcerted on receiving the officers. With +cool determination they made known their purpose. There was no escape. +The lady retired. The butler came; and soon, several silver salvers, and +other articles of value, were silently deposited in the parlor in the +presence of the officers and Israel. + +"Mister Butler," said Israel, "let me go into the dairy and help to +carry the milk-pans." + +But, scowling upon this rusticity, or roguishness--he knew not +which--the butler, in high dudgeon at Israel's republican familiarity, +as well as black as a thundercloud with the general insult offered to +an illustrious household by a party of armed thieves, as he viewed them, +declined any assistance. In a quarter of an hour the officers left the +house, carrying their booty. + +At the porch they were met by a red-cheeked, spiteful-looking lass, who, +with her brave lady's compliments, added two child's rattles of silver +and coral to their load. + +Now, one of the officers was a Frenchman, the other a Spaniard. + +The Spaniard dashed his rattle indignantly to the ground. The Frenchman +took his very pleasantly, and kissed it, saying to the girl that he +would long preserve the coral, as a memento of her rosy cheeks. + +When the party arrived on the beach, they found Captain Paul writing +with pencil on paper held up against the smooth tableted side of the +cliff. Next moment he seemed to be making his signature. With a +reproachful glance towards the two officers, he handed the slip to +Israel, bidding him hasten immediately with it to the house and place it +in Lady Selkirk's own hands. + +The note was as follows: + +"Madame: + +"After so courteous a reception, I am disturbed to make you no better +return than you have just experienced from the actions of certain +persons under my command.--actions, lady, which my profession of arms +obliges me not only to brook, but, in a measure, to countenance. From +the bottom of my heart, my dear lady, I deplore this most melancholy +necessity of my delicate position. However unhandsome the desire of these +men, some complaisance seemed due them from me, for their general good +conduct and bravery on former occasions. I had but an instant to +consider. I trust, that in unavoidably gratifying them, I have inflicted +less injury on your ladyship's property than I have on my own bleeding +sensibilities. But my heart will not allow me to say more. Permit me to +assure you, dear lady, that when the plate is sold, I shall, at all +hazards, become the purchaser, and will be proud to restore it to +you, by such conveyance as you may hereafter see fit to appoint. + +"From hence I go, Madame, to engage, to-morrow morning, his Majesty's +ship, Drake, of twenty guns, now lying at Carrickfergus. I should meet +the enemy with more than wonted resolution, could I flatter myself that, +through this unhandsome conduct on the part of my officers, I lie not +under the disesteem of the sweet lady of the Isle of St. Mary's. But +unconquerable as Mars should I be, could but dare to dream, that in some +green retreat of her charming domain, the Countess of Selkirk offers up a +charitable prayer for, my dear lady countess, one, who coming to take a +captive, himself has been captivated. + +"Your ladyship's adoring enemy, + +"JOHN PAUL JONES." + +How the lady received this super-ardent note, history does not relate. +But history has not omitted to record, that after the return of the +Ranger to France, through the assiduous efforts of Paul in buying up +the booty, piece by piece, from the clutches of those among whom it had +been divided, and not without a pecuniary private loss to himself, equal +to the total value of the plunder, the plate was punctually restored, +even to the silver heads of two pepper-boxes; and, not only this, but +the Earl, hearing all the particulars, magnanimously wrote Paul a +letter, expressing thanks for his politeness. In the opinion of the +noble Earl, Paul was a man of honor. It were rash to differ in opinion +with such high-born authority. + +Upon returning to the ship, she was instantly pointed over towards the +Irish coast. Next morning Carrickfergus was in sight. Paul would have +gone straight in; but Israel, reconnoitring with his glass, informed him +that a large ship, probably the Drake, was just coming out. + +"What think you, Israel, do they know who we are? Let me have the +glass." + +"They are dropping a boat now, sir," replied Israel, removing the glass +from his eye, and handing it to Paul. + +"So they are--so they are. They don't know us. I'll decoy that boat +alongside. Quick--they are coming for us--take the helm now yourself, my +lion, and keep the ship's stern steadily presented towards the advancing +boat. Don't let them have the least peep at our broadside." + +The boat came on, an officer in its bow all the time eyeing the Ranger +through a glass. Presently the boat was within hail. + +"Ship ahoy! Who are you?" + +"Oh, come alongside," answered Paul through his trumpet, in a rapid +off-hand tone, as though he were a gruff sort of friend, impatient at +being suspected for a foe. + +In a few moments the officer of the boat stepped into the Ranger's +gangway. Cocking his bonnet gallantly, Paul advanced towards him, making +a very polite bow, saying: "Good morning, sir, good morning; delighted +to see you. That's a pretty sword you have; pray, let me look at it." + +"I see," said the officer, glancing at the ship's armament, and turning +pale, "I am your prisoner." + +"No--my guest," responded Paul, winningly. "Pray, let me relieve you of +your--your--cane." + +Thus humorously he received the officer's delivered sword. + +"Now tell me, sir, if you please," he continued, "what brings out his +Majesty's ship Drake this fine morning? Going a little airing?" + +"She comes out in search of you, but when I left her side half an hour +since she did not know that the ship off the harbor was the one she +sought." + +"You had news from Whitehaven, I suppose, last night, eh?" + +"Aye: express; saying that certain incendiaries had landed there early +that morning." + +"What?--what sort of men were they, did you say?" said Paul, shaking his +bonnet fiercely to one side of his head, and coming close to the +officer. "Pardon me," he added derisively, "I had forgot you are my +_guest_. Israel, see the unfortunate gentleman below, and his men +forward." + +The Drake was now seen slowly coming out under a light air, attended by +five small pleasure-vessels, decorated with flags and streamers, and +full of gaily-dressed people, whom motives similar to those which drew +visitors to the circus, had induced to embark on their adventurous trip. +But they little dreamed how nigh the desperate enemy was. + +"Drop the captured boat astern," said Paul; "see what effect that will +have on those merry voyagers." + +No sooner was the empty boat descried by the pleasure-vessels than +forthwith, surmising the truth, they with all diligence turned about and +re-entered the harbor. Shortly after, alarm-smokes were seen extending +along both sides of the channel. + +"They smoke us at last, Captain Paul," said Israel. + +"There will be more smoke yet before the day is done," replied Paul, +gravely. + +The wind was right under the land, the tide unfavorable. The Drake +worked out very slowly. + +Meantime, like some fiery-heated duellist calling on urgent business at +frosty daybreak, and long kept waiting at the door by the dilatoriness +of his antagonist, shrinking at the idea of getting up to be cut to +pieces in the cold--the Ranger, with a better breeze, impatiently tacked +to and fro in the channel. At last, when the English vessel had fairly +weathered the point, Paul, ranging ahead, courteously led her forth, as +a beau might a belle in a ballroom, to mid-channel, and then suffered +her to come within hail. + +"She is hoisting her colors now, sir," said Israel. + +"Give her the stars and stripes, then, my lad." + +Joyfully running to the locker, Israel attached the flag to the +halyards. The wind freshened. He stood elevated. The bright flag blew +around him, a glorified shroud, enveloping him in its red ribbons and +spangles, like up-springing tongues, and sparkles of flame. + +As the colors rose to their final perch, and streamed in the air, Paul +eyed them exultingly. + +"I first hoisted that flag on an American ship, and was the first among +men to get it saluted. If I perish this night, the name of Paul Jones +shall live. Hark! they hail us." + +"What ship are you?" + +"Your enemy. Come on! What wants the fellow of more prefaces and +introductions?" + +The sun was now calmly setting over the green land of Ireland. The sky +was serene, the sea smooth, the wind just sufficient to waft the two +vessels steadily and gently. After the first firing and a little +manoeuvring, the two ships glided on freely, side by side; in that mild +air Exchanging their deadly broadsides, like two friendly horsemen +walking their steeds along a plain, chatting as they go. After an hour +of this running fight, the conversation ended. The Drake struck. How +changed from the big craft of sixty short minutes before! She seemed +now, above deck, like a piece of wild western woodland into which +choppers had been. Her masts and yards prostrate, and hanging in +jack-straws; several of her sails ballooning out, as they dragged in the +sea, like great lopped tops of foliage. The black hull and shattered +stumps of masts, galled and riddled, looked as if gigantic woodpeckers +had been tapping them. + +The Drake was the larger ship; more cannon; more men. Her loss in killed +and wounded was far the greater. Her brave captain and lieutenant were +mortally wounded. + +The former died as the prize was boarded, the latter two days after. + +It was twilight, the weather still severe. No cannonade, naught that mad +man can do, molests the stoical imperturbability of Nature, when Nature +chooses to be still. This weather, holding on through the following day, +greatly facilitated the refitting of the ships. That done, the two +vessels, sailing round the north of Ireland, steered towards Brest. They +were repeatedly chased by English cruisers, but safely reached their +anchorage in the French waters. + +"A pretty fair four weeks' yachting, gentlemen," said Paul Jones, as the +Ranger swung to her cable, while some French officers boarded her. "I +bring two travellers with me, gentlemen," he continued. "Allow me to +introduce you to my particular friend Israel Potter, late of North +America, and also to his Britannic Majesty's ship Drake, late of +Carrickfergus, Ireland." + +This cruise made loud fame for Paul, especially at the court of France, +whose king sent Paul, a sword and a medal. But poor Israel, who also had +conquered a craft, and all unaided too--what had he? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE EXPEDITION THAT SAILED FROM GROIX. + + +Three months after anchoring at Brest, through Dr. Franklin's +negotiations with the French king, backed by the bestirring ardor of +Paul, a squadron of nine vessels, of various force, were ready in the +road of Groix for another descent on the British coasts. These craft +were miscellaneously picked up, their crews a mongrel pack, the officers +mostly French, unacquainted with each other, and secretly jealous of +Paul. The expedition was full of the elements of insubordination and +failure. Much bitterness and agony resulted to a spirit like Paul's. But +he bore up, and though in many particulars the sequel more than +warranted his misgivings, his soul still refused to surrender. + +The career of this stubborn adventurer signally illustrates the idea +that since all human affairs are subject to organic disorder, since they +are created in and sustained by a sort of half-disciplined chaos, hence +he who in great things seeks success must never wait for smooth water, +which never was and never will be, but, with what straggling method he +can, dash with all his derangements at his object, leaving the rest to +Fortune. + +Though nominally commander of the squadron, Paul was not so in effect. +Most of his captains conceitedly claimed independent commands. One of +them in the end proved a traitor outright; few of the rest were +reliable. + +As for the ships, that commanded by Paul in person will be a good +example of the fleet. She was an old Indiaman, clumsy and crank, +smelling strongly of the savor of tea, cloves, and arrack, the cargoes +of former voyages. Even at that day she was, from her venerable +grotesqueness, what a cocked hat is, at the present age, among ordinary +beavers. Her elephantine bulk was houdahed with a castellated poop like +the leaning tower of Pisa. Poor Israel, standing on the top of this +poop, spy-glass at his eye, looked more an astronomer than a mariner, +having to do, not with the mountains of the billows, but the mountains +in the moon. Galileo on Fiesole. She was originally a single-decked +ship, that is, carried her armament on one gun-deck; but cutting ports +below, in her after part, Paul rammed out there six old +eighteen-pounders, whose rusty muzzles peered just above the water-line, +like a parcel of dirty mulattoes from a cellar-way. Her name was the +Duras, but, ere sailing, it was changed to that other appellation, +whereby this sad old hulk became afterwards immortal. Though it is not +unknown, that a compliment to Doctor Franklin was involved in this +change of titles, yet the secret history of the affair will now for the +first time be disclosed. + +It was evening in the road of Groix. After a fagging day's work, trying +to conciliate the hostile jealousy of his officers, and provide, in the +face of endless obstacles (for he had to dance attendance on scores of +intriguing factors and brokers ashore), the requisite stores for the +fleet, Paul sat in his cabin in a half-despondent reverie, while Israel, +cross-legged at his commander's feet, was patching up some old signals. + +"Captain Paul, I don't like our ship's name.--Duras? What's that +mean?--Duras? Being cribbed up in a ship named Duras! a sort of makes +one feel as if he were in durance vile." + +"Gad, I never thought of that before, my lion. Duras--Durance vile. I +suppose it's superstition, but I'll change Come, Yellow-mane, what shall +we call her?" + +"Well, Captain Paul, don't you like Doctor Franklin? Hasn't he been the +prime man to get this fleet together? Let's call her the Doctor +Franklin." + +"Oh, no, that will too publicly declare him just at present; and Poor +Richard wants to be a little shady in this business." + +"Poor Richard!--call her Poor Richard, then," cried Israel, suddenly +struck by the idea. + +"'Gad, you have it," answered Paul, springing to his feet, as all trace +of his former despondency left him;--"Poor Richard shall be the name, in +honor to the saying, that 'God helps them that help themselves,' as Poor +Richard says." + +Now this was the way the craft came to be called the _Bon Homme +Richard_; for it being deemed advisable to have a French rendering of +the new title, it assumed the above form. + +A few days after, the force sailed. Ere long, they captured several +vessels; but the captains of the squadron proving refractory, events +took so deplorable a turn, that Paul, for the present, was obliged to +return to Groix. Luckily, however, at this junction a cartel arrived +from England with upwards of a hundred exchanged American seamen, who +almost to a man enlisted under the flag of Paul. + +Upon the resailing of the force, the old troubles broke out afresh. Most +of her consorts insubordinately separated from the Bon Homme Richard. At +length Paul found himself in violent storms beating off the rugged +southeastern coast of Scotland, with only two accompanying ships. But +neither the mutiny of his fleet, nor the chaos of the elements, made him +falter in his purpose. Nay, at this crisis, he projected the most daring +of all his descents. + +The Cheviot Hills were in sight. Sundry vessels had been described bound +in for the Firth of Forth, on whose south shore, well up the Firth, +stands Leith, the port of Edinburgh, distant but a mile or two from that +capital. He resolved to dash at Leith, and lay it under contribution or +in ashes. He called the captains of his two remaining consorts on board +his own ship to arrange details. Those worthies had much of fastidious +remark to make against the plan. After losing much time in trying to +bring to a conclusion their sage deliberations, Paul, by addressing +their cupidity, achieved that which all appeals to their gallantry +could not accomplish. He proclaimed the grand prize of the Leith lottery +at no less a figure than L200,000, that being named as the ransom. +Enough: the three ships enter the Firth, boldly and freely, as if +carrying Quakers to a Peace-Congress. + +Along both startled shores the panic of their approach spread like the +cholera. The three suspicious crafts had so long lain off and on, that +none doubted they were led by the audacious viking, Paul Jones. At five +o'clock, on the following morning, they were distinctly seen from the +capital of Scotland, quietly sailing up the bay. Batteries were hastily +thrown up at Leith, arms were obtained from the castle at Edinburgh, +alarm fires were kindled in all directions. Yet with such tranquillity +of effrontery did Paul conduct his ships, concealing as much as possible +their warlike character, that more than once his vessels were mistaken +for merchantmen, and hailed by passing ships as such. + +In the afternoon, Israel, at his station on the tower of Pisa, reported +a boat with five men coming off to the Richard from the coast of Fife. + +"They have hot oat-cakes for us," said Paul; "let 'em come. To encourage +them, show them the English ensign, Israel, my lad." + +Soon the boat was alongside. + +"Well, my good fellows, what can I do for you this afternoon?" said +Paul, leaning over the side with a patronizing air. + +"Why, captain, we come from the Laird of Crokarky, who wants some powder +and ball for his money." + +"What would you with powder and ball, pray?" + +"Oh! haven't you heard that that bloody pirate, Paul Jones, is somewhere +hanging round the coasts?" + +"Aye, indeed, but he won't hurt you. He's only going round among the +nations, with his old hat, taking up contributions. So, away with ye; ye +don't want any powder and ball to give him. He wants contributions of +silver, not lead. Prepare yourselves with silver, I say." + +"Nay, captain, the Laird ordered us not to return without powder and +ball. See, here is the price. It may be the taking of the bloody pirate, +if you let us have what we want." + +"Well, pass 'em over a keg," said Paul, laughing, but modifying his +order by a sly whisper to Israel: "Oh, put up your price, it's a gift to +ye." + +"But ball, captain; what's the use of powder without ball?" roared one +of the fellows from the boat's bow, as the keg was lowered in. "We want +ball." + +"Bless my soul, you bawl loud enough as it is. Away with ye, with what +you have. Look to your keg, and hark ye, if ye catch that villain, Paul +Jones, give him no quarter." + +"But, captain, here," shouted one of the boatmen, "there's a mistake. +This is a keg of pickles, not powder. Look," and poking into the +bung-hole, he dragged out a green cucumber dripping with brine. "Take +this back, and give us the powder." + +"Pooh," said Paul, "the powder is at the bottom, pickled powder, best +way to keep it. Away with ye, now, and after that bloody embezzler, Paul +Jones." + +This was Sunday. The ships held on. During the afternoon, a long tack +of the Richard brought her close towards the shores of Fife, near the +thriving little port of Kirkaldy. + +"There's a great crowd on the beach. Captain Paul," said Israel, looking +through his glass. "There seems to be an old woman standing on a +fish-barrel there, a sort of selling things at auction to the people, +but I can't be certain yet." + +"Let me see," said Paul, taking the glass as they came nigher. "Sure +enough, it's an old lady--an old quack-doctress, seems to me, in a black +gown, too. I must hail her." + +Ordering the ship to be kept on towards the port, he shortened sail +within easy distance, so as to glide slowly by, and seizing the trumpet, +thus spoke: + +"Old lady, ahoy! What are you talking about? What's your text?" + +"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance. He shall wash +his feet in the blood of the wicked." + +"Ah, what a lack of charity. Now hear mine:--God helpeth them that help +themselves, as Poor Richard says." + +"Reprobate pirate, a gale shall yet come to drive thee in wrecks from +our waters." + +"The strong wind of your hate fills my sails well. Adieu," waving his +bonnet--"tell us the rest at Leith." + +Next morning the ships were almost within cannon-shot of the town. The +men to be landed were in the boats. Israel had the tiller of the +foremost one, waiting for his commander to enter, when just as Paul's +foot was on the gangway, a sudden squall struck all three ships, dashing +the boats against them, and causing indescribable confusion. The squall +ended in a violent gale. Getting his men on board with all dispatch, +Paul essayed his best to withstand the fury of the wind, but it blew +adversely, and with redoubled power. A ship at a distance went down +beneath it. The disappointed invader was obliged to turn before the +gale, and renounce his project. + +To this hour, on the shores of the Firth of Forth, it is the popular +persuasion, that the Rev. Mr. Shirrer's (of Kirkaldy) powerful +intercession was the direct cause of the elemental repulse experienced +off the endangered harbor of Leith. + +Through the ill qualities of Paul's associate captains: their timidity, +incapable of keeping pace with his daring; their jealousy, blind to his +superiority to rivalship; together with the general reduction of his +force, now reduced by desertion, from nine to three ships; and last of +all, the enmity of seas and winds; the invader, driven, not by a fleet, +but a gale, out of the Scottish water's, had the mortification in +prospect of terminating a cruise, so formidable in appearance at the +onset, without one added deed to sustain the reputation gained by former +exploits. Nevertheless, he was not disheartened. He sought to conciliate +fortune, not by despondency, but by resolution. And, as if won by his +confident bearing, that fickle power suddenly went over to him from the +ranks of the enemy--suddenly as plumed Marshal Ney to the stubborn +standard of Napoleon from Elba, marching regenerated on Paris. In a +word, luck--that's the word--shortly threw in Paul's way the great +action of his life: the most extraordinary of all naval engagements; the +unparalleled death-lock with the Serapis. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THEY FIGHT THE SERAPIS. + + +The battle between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis stands in +history as the first signal collision on the sea between the Englishman +and the American. For obstinacy, mutual hatred, and courage, it is +without precedent or subsequent in the story of ocean. The strife long +hung undetermined, but the English flag struck in the end. + +There would seem to be something singularly indicatory in this +engagement. It may involve at once a type, a parallel, and a prophecy. +Sharing the same blood with England, and yet her proved foe in two +wars--not wholly inclined at bottom to forget an old grudge--intrepid, +unprincipled, reckless, predatory, with boundless ambition, civilized in +externals but a savage at heart, America is, or may yet be, the Paul +Jones of nations. + +Regarded in this indicatory light, the battle between the Bon Homme +Richard and the Serapis--in itself so curious--may well enlist our +interest. + +Never was there a fight so snarled. The intricacy of those incidents +which defy the narrator's extrication, is not illy figured in that +bewildering intertanglement of all the yards and anchors of the two +ships, which confounded them for the time in one chaos of devastation. + +Elsewhere than here the reader must go who seeks an elaborate version of +the fight, or, indeed, much of any regular account of it whatever. The +writer is but brought to mention the battle because he must needs +follow, in all events, the fortunes of the humble adventurer whose life +lie records. Yet this necessarily involves some general view of each +conspicuous incident in which he shares. + +Several circumstances of the place and time served to invest the fight +with a certain scenic atmosphere casting a light almost poetic over the +wild gloom of its tragic results. The battle was fought between the +hours of seven and ten at night; the height of it was under a full +harvest moon, in view of thousands of distant spectators crowning the +high cliffs of Yorkshire. + +From the Tees to the Humber, the eastern coast of Britain, for the most +part, wears a savage, melancholy, and Calabrian aspect. It is in course +of incessant decay. Every year the isle which repulses nearly all other +foes, succumbs to the Attila assaults of the deep. Here and there the +base of the cliffs is strewn with masses of rock, undermined by the +waves, and tumbled headlong below, where, sometimes, the water +completely surrounds them, showing in shattered confusion detached +rocks, pyramids, and obelisks, rising half-revealed from the surf--the +Tadmores of the wasteful desert of the sea. Nowhere is this desolation +more marked than for those fifty miles of coast between Flamborough Head +and the Spurm. + +Weathering out the gale which had driven them from Leith, Paul's ships +for a few days were employed in giving chase to various merchantmen and +colliers; capturing some, sinking others, and putting the rest to +flight. Off the mouth of the Humber they ineffectually manoeuvred with a +view of drawing out a king's frigate, reported to be lying at anchor +within. At another time a large fleet was encountered, under convoy of +some ships of force. But their panic caused the fleet to hug the edge of +perilous shoals very nigh the land, where, by reason of his having no +competent pilot, Paul durst not approach to molest them. The same night +he saw two strangers further out at sea, and chased them until three in +the morning, when, getting pretty nigh, he surmised that they must needs +be vessels of his own squadron, which, previous to his entering the +Firth of Forth, had separated from his command. Daylight proved this +supposition correct. Five vessels of the original squadron were now once +more in company. About noon a fleet of forty merchantmen appeared coming +round Flamborough Head, protected by two English man-of-war, the Serapis +and Countess of Scarborough. Descrying the five cruisers sailing down, +the forty sail, like forty chickens, fluttered in a panic under the wing +of the shore. Their armed protectors bravely steered from the land, +making the disposition for battle. Promptly accepting the challenge, +Paul, giving the signal to his consorts, earnestly pressed forward. But, +earnest as he was, it was seven in the evening ere the encounter began. +Meantime his comrades, heedless of his signals, sailed independently +along. Dismissing them from present consideration, we confine ourselves, +for a while, to the Richard and the Serapis, the grand duellists of the +fight. + +The Richard carried a motley, crew, to keep whom in order one hundred +and thirty-five soldiers--themselves a hybrid band--had been put on +board, commanded by French officers of inferior rank. Her armament was +similarly heterogeneous; guns of all sorts and calibres; but about equal +on the whole to those of a thirty-two-gun frigate. The spirit of baneful +intermixture pervaded this craft throughout. + +The Serapis was a frigate of fifty guns, more than half of which +individually exceeded in calibre any one gun of the Richard. She had a +crew of some three hundred and twenty trained man-of-war's men. + +There is something in a naval engagement which radically distinguishes +it from one on the land. The ocean, at times, has what is called its +_sea_ and its _trough of the sea_; but it has neither rivers, woods, +banks, towns, nor mountains. In mild weather it is one hammered plain. +Stratagems, like those of disciplined armies--ambuscades, like those of +Indians, are impossible. All is clear, open, fluent. The very element +which sustains the combatants, yields at the stroke of a feather. One +wind and one tide at one time operate upon all who here engage. This +simplicity renders a battle between two men-of-war, with their huge +white wings, more akin to the Miltonic contests of archangels than to +_the comparatively squalid_ tussles of earth. + +As the ships neared, a hazy darkness overspread the water. The moon was +not yet risen. Objects were perceived with difficulty. Borne by a soft +moist breeze over gentle waves, they came within pistol-shot. Owing to +the obscurity, and the known neighborhood of other vessels, the Serapis +was uncertain who the Richard was. Through the dim mist each ship loomed +forth to the other vast, but indistinct, as the ghost of Morven. Sounds +of the trampling of resolute men echoed from either hull, whose tight +decks dully resounded like drum-heads in a funeral march. + +The Serapis hailed. She was answered by a broadside. For half an hour +the combatants deliberately manoeuvred, continually changing their +position, but always within shot fire. The. Serapis--the better sailer +of the two--kept critically circling the Richard, making lounging +advances now and then, and as suddenly steering off; hate causing her to +act not unlike a wheeling cock about a hen, when stirred by the contrary +passion. Meantime, though within easy speaking distance, no further +syllable was exchanged; but an incessant cannonade was kept up. + +At this point, a third party, the Scarborough, drew near, seemingly +desirous of giving assistance to her consort. But thick smoke was now +added to the night's natural obscurity. The Scarborough imperfectly +discerned two ships, and plainly saw the common fire they made; but +which was which, she could not tell. Eager to befriend the Serapis, she +durst not fire a gun, lest she might unwittingly act the part of a foe. +As when a hawk and a crow are clawing and beaking high in the air, a +second crow flying near, will seek to join the battle, but finding no +fair chance to engage, at last flies away to the woods; just so did the +Scarborough now. Prudence dictated the step; because several chance +shot--from which of the combatants could not be known--had already +struck the Scarborough. So, unwilling uselessly to expose herself, off +went for the present this baffled and ineffectual friend. + +Not long after, an invisible hand came and set down a great yellow lamp +in the east. The hand reached up unseen from below the horizon, and set +the lamp down right on the rim of the horizon, as on a threshold; as +much as to say, Gentlemen warriors, permit me a little to light up this +rather gloomy looking subject. The lamp was the round harvest moon; the +one solitary foot-light of the scene. But scarcely did the rays from the +lamp pierce that languid haze. Objects before perceived with difficulty, +now glimmered ambiguously. Bedded in strange vapors, the great +foot-light cast a dubious, half demoniac glare across the waters, like +the phantasmagoric stream sent athwart a London flagging in a night-rain +from an apothecary's blue and green window. Through this sardonical +mist, the face of the Man-in-the-Moon--looking right towards the +combatants, as if he were standing in a trap-door of the sea, leaning +forward leisurely with his arms complacently folded over upon the edge +of the horizon--this queer face wore a serious, apishly self-satisfied +leer, as if the Man-in-the-Moon had somehow secretly put up the ships +to their contest, and in the depths of his malignant old soul was not +unpleased to see how well his charms worked. There stood the grinning +Man-in-the-Moon, his head just dodging into view over the rim of the +sea:--Mephistopheles prompter of the stage. + +Aided now a little by the planet, one of the consorts of the Richard, +the Pallas, hovering far outside the fight, dimly discerned the +suspicious form of a lonely vessel unknown to her. She resolved to +engage it, if it proved a foe. But ere they joined, the unknown +ship--which proved to be the Scarborough--received a broadside at long +gun's distance from another consort of the Richard the Alliance. The +shot whizzed across the broad interval like shuttlecocks across a great +hall. Presently the battledores of both batteries were at work, and +rapid compliments of shuttlecocks were very promptly exchanged. The +adverse consorts of the two main belligerents fought with all the rage +of those fiery seconds who in some desperate duels make their +principal's quarrel their own. Diverted from the Richard and the Serapis +by this little by-play, the Man-in-the-Moon, all eager to see what it +was, somewhat raised himself from his trap-door with an added grin on +his face. By this time, off sneaked the Alliance, and down swept the +Pallas, at close quarters engaging the Scarborough; an encounter +destined in less than an hour to end in the latter ship's striking her +flag. + +Compared to the Serapis and the Richard, the Pallas and the Scarborough +were as two pages to two knights. In their immature way they showed the +same traits as their fully developed superiors. + +The Man-in-the-Moon now raised himself still higher to obtain a better +view of affairs. + +But the Man-in-the-Moon was not the only spectator. From the high cliffs +of the shore, and especially from the great promontory of Flamborough +Head, the scene was witnessed by crowds of the islanders. Any rustic +might be pardoned his curiosity in view of the spectacle, presented. Far +in the indistinct distance fleets of frightened merchantmen filled the +lower air with their sails, as flakes of snow in a snow-storm by night. +Hovering undeterminedly, in another direction, were several of the +scattered consorts of Paul, taking no part in the fray. Nearer, was an +isolated mist, investing the Pallas and Scarborough--a mist slowly +adrift on the sea, like a floating isle, and at intervals irradiated +with sparkles of fire and resonant with the boom of cannon. Further +away, in the deeper water, was a lurid cloud, incessantly torn in shreds +of lightning, then fusing together again, once more to be rent. As yet +this lurid cloud was neither stationary nor slowly adrift, like the +first-mentioned one; but, instinct with chaotic vitality, shifted hither +and thither, foaming with fire, like a valiant water-spout careering off +the coast of Malabar. + +To get some idea of the events enacting in that cloud, it will be +necessary to enter it; to go and possess it, as a ghost may rush into a +body, or the devils into the swine, which running down the steep place +perished in the sea; just as the Richard is yet to do. + +Thus far the Serapis and the Richard had been manoeuvring and chasing +to each other like partners in a cotillion, all the time indulging in +rapid repartee. + +But finding at last that the superior managableness of the enemy's ship +enabled him to get the better of the clumsy old Indiaman, the Richard, +in taking position, Paul, with his wonted resolution, at once sought to +neutralize this, by hugging him close. But the attempt to lay the +Richard right across the head of the Serapis ended quite otherwise, in +sending the enemy's jib-boom just over the Richard's great tower of +Pisa, where Israel was stationed; who, catching it eagerly, stood for an +instant holding to the slack of the sail, like one grasping a horse by +the mane prior to vaulting into the saddle. + +"Aye, hold hard, lad," cried Paul, springing to his side with a coil of +rigging. With a few rapid turns he knitted himself to his foe. The wind +now acting on the sails of the Serapis forced her, heel and point, her +entire length, cheek by jowl, alongside the Richard. The projecting +cannon scraped; the yards interlocked; but the hulls did not touch. A +long lane of darkling water lay wedged between, like that narrow canal +in Venice which dozes between two shadowy piles, and high in air is +secretly crossed by the Bridge of Sighs. But where the six yard-arms +reciprocally arched overhead, three bridges of sighs were both seen and +heard, as the moon and wind kept rising. + +Into that Lethean canal--pond-like in its smoothness as compared with +the sea without--fell many a poor soul that night; fell, forever +forgotten. + +As some heaving rent coinciding with a disputed frontier on a volcanic +plain, that boundary abyss was the jaws of death to both sides. So +contracted was it, that in many cases the gun-rammers had to be thrust +into the opposite ports, in order to enter to muzzles of their own +cannon. It seemed more an intestine feud, than a fight between +strangers. Or, rather, it was as if the Siamese Twins, oblivious of +their fraternal bond, should rage in unnatural fight. + +Ere long, a horrible explosion was heard, drowning for the instant the +cannonade. Two of the old eighteen-pounders--before spoken of, as having +been hurriedly set up below the main deck of the Richard--burst all to +pieces, killing the sailors who worked them, and shattering all that +part of the hull, as if two exploded steam-boilers had shot out of its +opposite sides. The effect was like the fall of the walls of a house. +Little now upheld the great tower of Pisa but a few naked crow +stanchions. Thenceforth, not a few balls from the Serapis must have +passed straight through the Richard without grazing her. It was like +firing buck-shot through the ribs of a skeleton. + +But, further forward, so deadly was the broadside from the heavy +batteries of the Serapis--levelled point-blank, and right down the +throat and bowels, as it were, of the Richard--that it cleared +everything before it. The men on the Richard's covered gun-deck ran +above, like miners from the fire-damp. Collecting on the forecastle, +they continued to fight with grenades and muskets. The soldiers also +were in the lofty tops, whence they kept up incessant volleys, cascading +their fire down as pouring lava from cliffs. + +The position of the men in the two ships was now exactly reversed. For +while the Serapis was tearing the Richard all to pieces below deck, and +had swept that covered part almost of the last man, the Richard's crowd +of musketry had complete control of the upper deck of the Serapis, where +it was almost impossible for man to remain unless as a corpse. Though in +the beginning, the tops of the Serapis had not been unsupplied with +marksmen, yet they had long since been cleared by the overmastering +musketry of the Richard. Several, with leg or arm broken by a ball, had +been seen going dimly downward from their giddy perch, like falling +pigeons shot on the wing. + +As busy swallows about barn-eaves and ridge-poles, some of the Richard's +marksmen, quitting their tops, now went far out on their yard-arms, +where they overhung the Serapis. From thence they dropped hand-grenades +upon her decks, like apples, which growing in one field fall over the +fence into another. Others of their band flung the same sour fruit into +the open ports of the Serapis. A hail-storm of aerial combustion +descended and slanted on the Serapis, while horizontal thunderbolts +rolled crosswise through the subterranean vaults of the Richard. The +belligerents were no longer, in the ordinary sense of things, an English +ship and an American ship. It was a co-partnership and joint-stock +combustion-company of both ships; yet divided, even in participation. +The two vessels were as two houses, through whose party-wall doors have +been cut; one family (the Guelphs) occupying the whole lower story; +another family (the Ghibelines) the whole upper story. + +Meanwhile, determined Paul flew hither and thither like the meteoric +corposant-ball, which shiftingly dances on the tips and verges of ships' +rigging in storms. Wherever he went, he seemed to cast a pale light on +all faces. Blacked and burnt, his Scotch bonnet was compressed to a +gun-wad on his head. His Parisian coat, with its gold-laced sleeve laid +aside, disclosed to the full the blue tattooing on his arm, which +sometimes in fierce gestures streamed in the haze of the cannonade, +cabalistically terrific as the charmed standard of Satan. Yet his +frenzied manner was less a testimony of his internal commotion than +intended to inspirit and madden his men, some of whom seeing him, in +transports of intrepidity stripped themselves to their trowsers, +exposing their naked bodies to the as naked shot The same was done on +the Serapis, where several guns were seen surrounded by their buff crews +as by fauns and satyrs. + +At the beginning of the fray, before the ships interlocked, in the +intervals of smoke which swept over the ships as mist over +mountain-tops, affording open rents here and there--the gun-deck of the +Serapis, at certain points, showed, congealed for the instant in all +attitudes of dauntlessness, a gallery of marble statues--fighting +gladiators. + +Stooping low and intent, with one braced leg thrust behind, and one arm +thrust forward, curling round towards the muzzle of the gun, there was +seen the _loader_, performing his allotted part; on the other side of +the carriage, in the same stooping posture, but with both hands holding +his long black pole, pike-wise, ready for instant use--stood the eager +_rammer and sponger_; while at the breech, crouched the wary _captain of +the gun_, his keen eye, like the watching leopard's, burning along the +range; and behind all, tall and erect, the Egyptian symbol of death, +stood the _matchman_, immovable for the moment, his long-handled match +reversed. Up to their two long death-dealing batteries, the trained men +of the Serapis stood and toiled in mechanical magic of discipline. They +tended those rows of guns, as Lowell girls the rows of looms in a cotton +factory. The Parcae were not more methodical; Atropos not more fatal; +the automaton chess-player not more irresponsible. + +"Look, lad; I want a grenade, now, thrown down their main hatchway. I +saw long piles of cartridges there. The powder monkeys have brought them +up faster than they can be used. Take a bucket of combustibles, and +let's hear from you presently." + +These words were spoken by Paul to Israel. Israel did as ordered. In a +few minutes, bucket in hand, begrimed with powder, sixty feet in air, he +hung like Apollyon from the extreme tip of the yard over the fated abyss +of the hatchway. As he looked down between the eddies of smoke into that +slaughterous pit, it was like looking from the verge of a cataract down +into the yeasty pool at its base. Watching, his chance, he dropped one +grenade with such faultless precision, that, striking its mark, an +explosion rent the Serapis like a volcano. The long row of heaped +cartridges was ignited. The fire ran horizontally, like an express on a +railway. More than twenty men were instantly killed: nearly forty +wounded. This blow restored the chances of battle, before in favor of +the Serapis. + +But the drooping spirits of the English were suddenly revived, by an +event which crowned the scene by an act on the part of one of the +consorts of the Richard, the incredible atrocity of which has induced +all humane minds to impute it rather to some incomprehensible mistake +than to the malignant madness of the perpetrator. + +The cautious approach and retreat of a consort of the Serapis, the +Scarborough, before the moon rose, has already been mentioned. It is now +to be related how that, when the moon was more than an hour high, a +consort of the Richard, the Alliance, likewise approached and retreated. +This ship, commanded by a Frenchman, infamous in his own navy, and +obnoxious in the service to which he at present belonged; this ship, +foremost in insurgency to Paul hitherto, and which, for the most part, +had crept like a poltroon from the fray; the Alliance now was at hand. +Seeing her, Paul deemed the battle at an end. But to his horror, the +Alliance threw a broadside full into the stern of the Richard, without +touching the Serapis. Paul called to her, for God's sake to forbear +destroying the Richard. The reply was, a second, a third, a fourth +broadside, striking the Richard ahead, astern, and amidships. One of the +volleys killed several men and one officer. Meantime, like carpenters' +augers, and the sea-worm called Remora, the guns of the Serapis were +drilling away at the same doomed hull. After performing her nameless +exploit, the Alliance sailed away, and did no more. She was like the +great fire of London, breaking out on the heel of the great Plague. By +this time, the Richard had so many shot-holes low down in her hull, that +like a sieve she began to settle. + +"Do you strike?" cried the English captain. + +"I have not yet begun to fight," howled sinking Paul. + +This summons and response were whirled on eddies of smoke and flame. +Both vessels were now on fire. The men of either knew hardly which to +do; strive to destroy the enemy, or save themselves. In the midst of +this, one hundred human beings, hitherto invisible strangers, were +suddenly added to the rest. Five score English prisoners, till now +confined in the Richard's hold, liberated in his consternation by the +master at arms, burst up the hatchways. One of them, the captain of a +letter of marque, captured by Paul, off the Scottish coast, crawled +through a port, as a burglar through a window, from the one ship to the +other, and reported affairs to the English captain. + +While Paul and his lieutenants were confronting these prisoners, the +gunner, running up from below, and not perceiving his official +superiors, and deeming them dead, believing himself now left sole +surviving officer, ran to the tower of Pisa to haul down the colors. But +they were already shot down and trailing in the water astern, like a +sailor's towing shirt. Seeing the gunner there, groping about in the +smoke, Israel asked what he wanted. + +At this moment the gunner, rushing to the rail, shouted "Quarter! +quarter!" to the Serapis. + +"I'll quarter ye," yelled Israel, smiting the gunner with the flat of +his cutlass. + +"Do you strike?" now came from the Serapis. + +"Aye, aye, aye!" involuntarily cried Israel, fetching the gunner a +shower of blows. + +"Do you strike?" again was repeated from the Serapis; whose captain, +judging from the augmented confusion on board the Richard, owing to the +escape of the prisoners, and also influenced by the report made to him +by his late guest of the port-hole, doubted not that the enemy must +needs be about surrendering. + +"Do you strike?" + +"Aye!--I strike _back_" roared Paul, for the first time now hearing the +summons. + +But judging this frantic response to come, like the others, from some +unauthorized source, the English captain directed his boarders to be +called, some of whom presently leaped on the Richard's rail, but, +throwing out his tattooed arm at them, with a sabre at the end of it, +Paul showed them how boarders repelled boarders. The English retreated, +but not before they had been thinned out again, like spring radishes, by +the unfaltering fire from the Richard's tops. + +An officer of the Richard, seeing the mass of prisoners delirious with +sudden liberty and fright, pricked them with his sword to the pumps, +thus keeping the ship afloat by the very blunder which had promised to +have been fatal. The vessels now blazed so in the rigging that both +parties desisted from hostilities to subdue the common foe. + +When some faint order was again restored upon the Richard her chances of +victory increased, while those of the English, driven under cover, +proportionably waned. Early in the contest, Paul, with his own hand, had +brought one of his largest guns to bear against the enemy's mainmast. +That shot had hit. The mast now plainly tottered. Nevertheless, it +seemed as if, in this fight, neither party could be victor. Mutual +obliteration from the face of the waters seemed the only natural sequel +to hostilities like these. It is, therefore, honor to him as a man, and +not reproach to him as an officer, that, to stay such carnage, Captain +Pearson, of the Serapis, with his own hands hauled down his colors. But +just as an officer from the Richard swung himself on board the Serapis, +and accosted the English captain, the first lieutenant of the Serapis +came up from below inquiring whether the Richard had struck, since her +fire had ceased. + +So equal was the conflict that, even after the surrender, it could be, +and was, a question to one of the warriors engaged (who had not happened +to see the English flag hauled down) whether the Serapis had struck to +the Richard, or the Richard to the Serapis. Nay, while the Richard's +officer was still amicably conversing with the English captain, a +midshipman of the Richard, in act of following his superior on board the +surrendered vessel, was run through the thigh by a pike in the hand of +an ignorant boarder of the Serapis. While, equally ignorant, the +cannons below deck were still thundering away at the nominal conqueror +from the batteries of the nominally conquered ship. + +But though the Serapis had submitted, there were two misanthropical foes +on board the Richard which would not so easily succumb--fire and water. +All night the victors were engaged in suppressing the flames. Not until +daylight were the flames got under; but though the pumps were kept +continually going, the water in the hold still gained. A few hours after +sunrise the Richard was deserted for the Serapis and the other vessels +of the squadron of Paul. About ten o'clock the Richard, gorged with +slaughter, wallowed heavily, gave a long roll, and blasted by tornadoes +of sulphur, slowly sunk, like Gomorrah, out of sight. + +The loss of life in the two ships was about equal; one-half of the total +number of those engaged being either killed or wounded. + +In view of this battle one may ask--What separates the enlightened man +from the savage? Is civilization a thing distinct, or is it an advanced +stage of barbarism? + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE SHUTTLE. + + +For a time back, across the otherwise blue-jean career of Israel, Paul +Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. One more brief +intermingling of it, and to the plain old homespun we return. + +The battle won, the squadron started for the Texel, where they arrived +in safety. Omitting all mention of intervening harassments, suffice it, +that after some months of inaction as to anything of a warlike nature, +Paul and Israel (both, from different motives, eager to return to +America) sailed for that country in the armed ship Ariel, Paul as +commander, Israel as quartermaster. + +Two weeks out, they encountered by night a frigate-like craft, supposed +to be an enemy. The vessels came within hail, both showing English +colors, with purposes of mutual deception, affecting to belong to the +English Navy. For an hour, through their speaking trumpets, the captains +equivocally conversed. A very reserved, adroit, hoodwinking, +statesman-like conversation, indeed. At last, professing some little +incredulity as to the truthfulness of the stranger's statement, Paul +intimated a desire that he should put out a boat and come on board to +show his commission, to which the stranger very affably replied, that +unfortunately his boat was exceedingly leaky. With equal politeness, +Paul begged him to consider the danger attending a refusal, which +rejoinder nettled the other, who suddenly retorted that he would answer +for twenty guns, and that both himself and men were knock-down +Englishmen. Upon this, Paul said that he would allow him exactly five +minutes for a sober, second thought. That brief period passed, Paul, +hoisting the American colors, ran close under the other ship's stern, +and engaged her. It was about eight o'clock at night that this strange +quarrel was picked in the middle of the ocean. Why cannot men be +peaceable on that great common? Or does nature in those fierce +night-brawlers, the billows, set mankind but a sorry example? + +After ten minutes' cannonading, the stranger struck, shouting out that +half his men were killed. The Ariel's crew hurrahed. Boarders were +called to take possession. At this juncture, the prize shifting her +position so that she headed away, and to leeward of the Ariel, thrust +her long spanker-boom diagonally over the latter's quarter; when Israel, +who was standing close by, instinctively caught hold of it--just as he +had grasped the jib-boom of the Serapis--and, at the same moment, +hearing the call to take possession, in the valiant excitement of the +occasion, he leaped upon the spar, and made a rush for the stranger's +deck, thinking, of course, that he would be immediately followed by the +regular boarders. But the sails of the strange ship suddenly filled; +she began to glide through the sea; her spanker-boom, not having at all +entangled itself, offering no hindrance. Israel, clinging midway along +the boom, soon found himself divided from the Ariel by a space +impossible to be leaped. Meantime, suspecting foul play, Paul set every +sail; but the stranger, having already the advantage, contrived to make +good her escape, though perseveringly chased by the cheated conqueror. + +In the confusion, no eye had observed our hero's spring. But, as the +vessels separated more, an officer of the strange ship spying a man on +the boom, and taking him for one of his own men, demanded what he did +there. + +"Clearing the signal halyards, sir," replied Israel, fumbling with the +cord which happened to be dangling near by. + +"Well, bear a hand and come in, or you will have a bow-chaser at you +soon," referring to the bow guns of the Ariel. + +"Aye, aye, sir," said Israel, and in a moment he sprang to the deck, and +soon found himself mixed in among some two hundred English sailors of a +large letter of marque. At once he perceived that the story of half the +crew being killed was a mere hoax, played off for the sake of making an +escape. Orders were continually being given to pull on this and that +rope, as the ship crowded all sail in flight. To these orders Israel, +with the rest, promptly responded, pulling at the rigging stoutly as the +best of them; though Heaven knows his heart sunk deeper and deeper at +every pull which thus helped once again to widen the gulf between him +and home. + +In intervals he considered with himself what to do. Favored by the +obscurity of the night and the number of the crew, and wearing much the +same dress as theirs, it was very easy to pass himself off for one of +them till morning. But daylight would be sure to expose him, unless some +cunning, plan could be hit upon. If discovered for what he was, nothing +short of a prison awaited him upon the ship's arrival in port. + +It was a desperate case, only as desperate a remedy could serve. One +thing was sure, he could not hide. Some audacious parade of himself +promised the only hope. Marking that the sailors, not being of the +regular navy, wore no uniform, and perceiving that his jacket was the +only garment on him which bore any distinguishing badge, our adventurer +took it off, and privily dropped it overboard, remaining now in his dark +blue woollen shirt and blue cloth waistcoat. + +What the more inspirited Israel to the added step now contemplated, was +the circumstance that the ship was not a Frenchman's or other foreigner, +but her crew, though enemies, spoke the same language that he did. + +So very quietly, at last, he goes aloft into the maintop, and sitting +down on an old sail there, beside some eight or ten topmen, in an +off-handed way asks one for tobacco. + +"Give us a quid, lad," as he settled himself in his seat. + +"Halloo," said the strange sailor, "who be you? Get out of the top! The +fore and mizzentop men won't let us go into their tops, and blame me if +we'll let any of their gangs come here. So, away ye go." + +"You're blind, or crazy, old boy," rejoined Israel. "I'm a topmate; +ain't I, lads?" appealing to the rest. + +"There's only ten maintopmen belonging to our watch; if you are one, +then there'll be eleven," said a second sailor. "Get out of the top!" + +"This is too bad, maties," cried Israel, "to serve an old topmate this +way. Come, come, you are foolish. Give us a quid." And, once more, with +the utmost sociability, he addressed the sailor next to him. + +"Look ye," returned the other, "if you don't make away with yourself, +you skulking spy from the mizzen, we'll drop you to deck like a +jewel-block." + +Seeing the party thus resolute, Israel, with some affected banter, +descended. + +The reason why he had tried the scheme--and, spite of the foregoing +failure, meant to repeat it--was this: As customary in armed ships, the +men were in companies allotted to particular places and functions. +Therefore, to escape final detection, Israel must some way get himself +recognized as belonging to some one of those bands; otherwise, as an +isolated nondescript, discovery ere long would be certain, especially +upon the next general muster. To be sure, the hope in question was a +forlorn sort of hope, but it was his sole one, and must therefore be +tried. + +Mixing in again for a while with the general watch, he at last goes on +the forecastle among the sheet-anchor-men there, at present engaged in +critically discussing the merits of the late valiant encounter, and +expressing their opinion that by daybreak the enemy in chase would be +hull-down out of sight. + +"To be sure she will," cried Israel, joining in with the group, "old +ballyhoo that she is, to be sure. But didn't we pepper her, lads? Give +us a chew of tobacco, one of ye. How many have we wounded, do ye know? +None killed that I've heard of. Wasn't that a fine hoax we played on +'em? Ha! ha! But give us a chew." + +In the prodigal fraternal patriotism of the moment, one of the old +worthies freely handed his plug to our adventurer, who, helping himself, +returned it, repeating the question as to the killed and wounded. + +"Why," said he of the plug, "Jack Jewboy told me, just now, that there's +only seven men been carried down to the surgeon, but not a soul killed." + +"Good, boys, good!" cried Israel, moving up to one of the gun-carriages, +where three or four men were sitting--"slip along, chaps, slip along, +and give a watchmate a seat with ye." + +"All full here, lad; try the next gun." + +"Boys, clear a place here,", said Israel, advancing, like one of the +family, to that gun. + +"Who the devil are _you_, making this row here?" demanded a +stern-looking old fellow, captain of the forecastle, "seems to me you +make considerable noise. Are you a forecastleman?" + +"If the bowsprit belongs here, so do I," rejoined Israel, composedly. + +"Let's look at ye, then!" and seizing a battle-lantern, before thrust +under a gun, the old veteran came close to Israel before he had time to +elude the scrutiny. + +"Take that!" said his examiner, and fetching Israel a terrible thump, +pushed him ignominiously off the forecastle as some unknown interloper +from distant parts of the ship. + +With similar perseverance of effrontery, Israel tried other quarters of +the vessel. But with equal ill success. Jealous with the spirit of +class, no social circle would receive him. As a last resort, he dived +down among the _holders_. + +A group of them sat round a lantern, in the dark bowels of the ship, +like a knot of charcoal burners in a pine forest at midnight. + +"Well, boys, what's the good word?" said Israel, advancing very +cordially, but keeping as much as possible in the shadow. + +"The good word is," rejoined a censorious old _holder_, "that you had +best go where you belong--on deck--and not be a skulking down here where +you _don't_ belong. I suppose this is the way you skulked during the +fight." + +"Oh, you're growly to-night, shipmate," said Israel, pleasantly--"supper +sits hard on your conscience." + +"Get out of the hold with ye," roared the other. "On deck, or I'll call +the master-at-arms." + +Once more Israel decamped. + +Sorely against his grain, as a final effort to blend himself openly with +the crew, he now went among the _waisters_: the vilest caste of an armed +ship's company, mere dregs and settlings--sea-Pariahs, comprising all +the lazy, all the inefficient, all the unfortunate and fated, all the +melancholy, all the infirm, all the rheumatical scamps, scapegraces, +ruined prodigal sons, sooty faces, and swineherds of the crew, not +excluding those with dismal wardrobes. + +An unhappy, tattered, moping row of them sat along dolefully on the +gun-deck, like a parcel of crest-fallen buzzards, exiled from civilized +society. + +"Cheer up, lads," said Israel, in a jovial tone, "homeward-bound, you +know. Give us a seat among ye, friends." + +"Oh, sit on your head!" answered a sullen fellow in the corner. + +"Come, come, no growling; we're homeward-bound. Whoop, my hearties!" + +"Workhouse bound, you mean," grumbled another sorry chap, in a darned +shirt. + +"Oh, boys, don't be down-hearted. Let's keep up our spirits. Sing us a +song, one of ye, and I'll give the chorus." + +"Sing if ye like, but I'll plug my ears, for one," said still another +sulky varlet, with the toes out of his sea-boots, while all the rest +with one roar of misanthropy joined him. + +But Israel, riot to be daunted, began: + +"'Cease, rude Boreas, cease your growling!'" + +"And you cease your squeaking, will ye?" cried a fellow in a banged +tarpaulin. "Did ye get a ball in the windpipe, that ye cough that way, +worse nor a broken-nosed old bellows? Have done with your groaning, it's +worse nor the death-rattle." + +"Boys, is this the way you treat a watchmate" demanded Israel +reproachfully, "trying to cheer up his friends? Shame on ye, boys. Come, +let's be sociable. Spin us a yarn, one of ye. Meantime, rub my back for +me, another," and very confidently he leaned against his neighbor. + +"Lean off me, will ye?" roared his friend, shoving him away. + +"But who _is_ this ere singing, leaning, yarn-spinning chap? Who are ye? +Be you a waister, or be you not?" + +So saying, one of this peevish, sottish band staggered close up to +Israel. But there was a deck above and a deck below, and the lantern +swung in the distance. It was too dim to see with critical exactness. + +"No such singing chap belongs to our gang, that's flat," he dogmatically +exclaimed at last, after an ineffectual scrutiny. "Sail out of this!" + +And with a shove once more, poor Israel was ejected. + +Blackballed out of every club, he went disheartened on deck. So long, +while light screened him at least, as he contented himself with +promiscuously circulating, all was safe; it was the endeavor to +fraternize with any one set which was sure to endanger him. At last, +wearied out, he happened to find himself on the berth deck, where the +watch below were slumbering. Some hundred and fifty hammocks were on +that deck. Seeing one empty, he leaped in, thinking luck might yet some +way befriend him. Here, at last, the sultry confinement put him fast +asleep. He was wakened by a savage whiskerando of the other watch, who, +seizing him by his waistband, dragged him most indecorously out, +furiously denouncing him for a skulker. + +Springing to his feet, Israel perceived from the crowd and tumult of the +berth deck, now all alive with men leaping into their hammocks, instead +of being full of sleepers quietly dosing therein, that the watches were +changed. Going above, he renewed in various quarters his offers of +intimacy with the fresh men there assembled; but was successively +repulsed as before. At length, just as day was breaking, an irascible +fellow whose stubborn opposition our adventurer had long in vain sought +to conciliate--this man suddenly perceiving, by the gray morning light, +that Israel had somehow an alien sort of general look, very savagely +pressed him for explicit information as to who he might be. The answers +increased his suspicion. Others began to surround the two. Presently, +quite a circle was formed. Sailors from distant parts of the ship drew +near. One, and then another, and another, declared that they, in their +quarters, too, had been molested by a vagabond claiming fraternity, and +seeking to palm himself off upon decent society. In vain Israel +protested. The truth, like the day, dawned clearer and clearer. More and +more closely he was scanned. At length the hour for having all hands on +deck arrived; when the other watch which Israel had first tried, +reascending to the deck, and hearing the matter in discussion, they +endorsed the charge of molestation and attempted imposture through the +night, on the part of some person unknown, but who, likely enough, was +the strange man now before them. In the end, the master-at-arms appeared +with his bamboo, who, summarily collaring poor Israel, led him as a +mysterious culprit to the officer of the deck, which gentleman having +heard the charge, examined him in great perplexity, and, saying that he +did not at all recognize that countenance, requested the junior officers +to contribute their scrutiny. But those officers were equally at fault. + +"Who the deuce _are_ you?" at last said the officer-of-the-deck, in +added bewilderment. "Where did you come from? What's your business? +Where are you stationed? What's your name? Who are you, any way? How did +you get here? and where are you going?" + +"Sir," replied Israel very humbly, "I am going to my regular duty, if +you will but let me. I belong to the maintop, and ought to be now +engaged in preparing the topgallant stu'n'-sail for hoisting." + +"Belong to the maintop? Why, these men here say you have been trying to +belong to the foretop, and the mizzentop, and the forecastle, and the +hold, and the waist, and every other part of the ship. This is +extraordinary," he added, turning upon the junior officers. + +"He must be out of his mind," replied one of them, the sailing-master. + +"Out of his mind?" rejoined the officer-of-the-deck. "He's out of all +reason; out of all men's knowledge and memories! Why, no one knows him; +no one has ever seen him before; no imagination, in the wildest flight +of a morbid nightmare, has ever so much as dreamed of him. Who _are_ +you?" he again added, fierce with amazement. "What's your name? Are you +down in the ship's books, or at all in the records of nature?" + +"My name, sir, is Peter Perkins," said Israel, thinking it most prudent +to conceal his real appellation. + +"Certainly, I never heard that name before. Pray, see if Peter Perkins +is down on the quarter-bills," he added to a midshipman. "Quick, bring +the book here." + +Having received it, he ran his fingers along the columns, and dashing +down the book, declared that no such name was there. + +"You are not down, sir. There is no Peter Perkins here. Tell me at once +who are you?" + +"It might be, sir," said Israel, gravely, "that seeing I shipped under +the effects of liquor, I might, out of absent-mindedness like, have +given in some other person's name instead of my own." + +"Well, what name have you gone by among your shipmates since you've +been aboard?" + +"Peter Perkins, sir." + +Upon this the officer turned to the men around, inquiring whether the +name of Peter Perkins was familiar to them as that of a shipmate. One +and all answered no. + +"This won't do, sir," now said the officer. "You see it won't do. Who +are you?" + +"A poor persecuted fellow at your service, sir." + +"_Who_ persecutes you?" + +"Every one, sir. All hands seem to be against me; none of them willing +to remember me." + +"Tell me," demanded the officer earnestly, "how long do you remember +yourself? Do you remember yesterday morning? You must have come into +existence by some sort of spontaneous combustion in the hold. Or were +you fired aboard from the enemy, last night, in a cartridge? Do you +remember yesterday?" + +"Oh, yes, sir." + +"What was you doing yesterday?" + +"Well, sir, for one thing, I believe I had the honor of a little talk +with yourself." + +"With _me_?" + +"Yes, sir; about nine o'clock in the morning--the sea being smooth and +the ship running, as I should think, about seven knots--you came up into +the maintop, where I belong, and was pleased to ask my opinion about the +best way to set a topgallant stu'n'-sail." + +"He's mad! He's mad!" said the officer, with delirious conclusiveness. +"Take him away, take him away, take him away--put him somewhere, +master-at-arms. Stay, one test more. What mess do you belong to?" + +"Number 12, sir." + +"Mr. Tidds," to a midshipman, "send mess No. 12 to the mast." + +Ten sailors replied to the summons, and arranged themselves before +Israel. + +"Men, does this man belong to your mess?" + +"No, sir; never saw him before this morning." + +"What are those men's names?" he demanded of Israel. + +"Well, sir, I am so intimate with all of them," looking upon them with +a kindly glance, "I never call them by their real names, but by +nicknames. So, never using their real names, I have forgotten them. The +nicknames that I know, them by, are Towser, Bowser, Rowser, Snowser." + +"Enough. Mad as a March hare. Take him away. Hold," again added the +officer, whom some strange fascination still bound to the bootless +investigation. "What's _my_ name, sir?" + +"Why, sir, one of my messmates here called you Lieutenant Williamson, +just now, and I never heard you called by any other name." + +"There's method in his madness," thought the officer to himself. "What's +the captain's name?" + +"Why, sir, when we spoke the enemy, last night, I heard him say, through +his trumpet, that he was Captain Parker; and very likely he knows his +own name." + +"I have you now. That ain't the captain's real name." + +"He's the best judge himself, sir, of what his name is, I should think." + +"Were it not," said the officer, now turning gravely upon his juniors, +"were it not that such a supposition were on other grounds absurd, I +should certainly conclude that this man, in some unknown way, got on +board here from the enemy last night." + +"How could he, sir?" asked the sailing-master. + +"Heaven knows. But our spanker-boom geared the other ship, you know, in +manoeuvring to get headway." + +"But supposing he _could_ have got here that fashion, which is quite +impossible under all the circumstances, what motive could have induced +him voluntarily to jump among enemies?" + +"Let him answer for himself," said the officer, turning suddenly upon +Israel, with the view of taking him off his guard, by the matter of +course assumption of the very point at issue. + +"Answer, sir. Why did you jump on board here, last night, from the +enemy?" + +"Jump on board, sir, from the enemy? Why, sir, my station at general +quarters is at gun No. 3, of the lower deck, here." + +"He's cracked--or else I am turned--or all the world is;--take him +away!" + +"But where am I to take him, sir?" said the master-at-arms. "He don't +seem to belong anywhere, sir. Where--where am I to take him?" + +"Take him-out of sight," said the officer, now incensed with his own +perplexity. "Take him out of sight, I say." + +"Come along, then, my ghost," said the master-at-arms. And, collaring +the phantom, he led it hither and thither, not knowing exactly what to +do with it. + +Some fifteen minutes passed, when the captain coming from his cabin, and +observing the master-at-arms leading Israel about in this indefinite +style, demanded the reason of that procedure, adding that it was against +his express orders for any new and degrading punishments to be invented +for his men. + +"Come here, master-at-arms. To what end do you lead that man about?" + +"To no end in the world, sir. I keep leading him about because he has +no final destination." + +"Mr. Officer-of-the-deck, what does this mean? Who is this strange man? +I don't know that I remember him. Who is he? And what is signified by +his being led about?" + +Hereupon the officer-of-the-deck, throwing himself into a tragical +posture, set forth the entire mystery; much to the captain's +astonishment, who at once indignantly turned upon the phantom. + +"You rascal--don't try to deceive me. Who are you? and where did you +come from last?" + +"Sir, my name is Peter Perkins, and I last came from the forecastle, +where the master-at-arms last led me, before coming here." + +"No joking, sir, no joking." + +"Sir, I'm sure it's too serious a business to joke about." + +"Do you have the assurance to say, that you, as a regularly shipped man, +have been on board this vessel ever since she sailed from Falmouth, ten +months ago?" + +"Sir, anxious to secure a berth under so good a commander, I was among +the first to enlist." + +"What ports have we touched at, sir?" said the captain, now in a little +softer tone. + +"Ports, sir, ports?" + +"Yes, sir, _ports_" + +Israel began to scratch his yellow hair. + +"What _ports_, sir?" + +"Well, sir:--Boston, for one." + +"Right there," whispered a midshipman. + +"What was the next port, sir?" + +"Why, sir, I was saying Boston was the _first_ port, I believe; wasn't +it?--and"-- + +"The _second_ port, sir, is what I want." + +"Well--New York." + +"Right again," whispered the midshipman. + +"And what port are we bound to, now?" + +"Let me see--homeward-bound--Falmouth, sir." + +"What sort of a place is Boston?" + +"Pretty considerable of a place, sir." + +"Very straight streets, ain't they?" + +"Yes, sir; cow-paths, cut by sheep-walks, and intersected with +hen-tracks." + +"When did we fire the first gun?" + +"Well, sir, just as we were leaving Falmouth, ten months +ago--signal-gun, sir." + +"Where did we fire the first _shotted_ gun, sir?--and what was the name +of the privateer we took upon that occasion?" + +"'Pears to me, sir, at that time I was on the sick list. Yes, sir, that +must have been the time; I had the brain fever, and lost my mind for a +while." + +"Master-at-arms, take this man away." + +"Where shall I take him, sir?" touching his cap. + +"Go, and air him on the forecastle." + +So they resumed their devious wanderings. At last, they descended to the +berth-deck. It being now breakfast-time, the master-at-arms, a +good-humored man, very kindly' introduced our hero to his mess, and +presented him with breakfast, during which he in vain endeavored, by +all sorts of subtle blandishments, to worm out his secret. + +At length Israel was set at liberty; and whenever there was any +important duty to be done, volunteered to it with such cheerful +alacrity, and approved himself so docile and excellent a seaman, that he +conciliated the approbation of all the officers, as well as the captain; +while his general sociability served, in the end, to turn in his favor +the suspicious hearts of the mariners. Perceiving his good qualities, +both as a sailor and man, the captain of the maintop applied for his +admission into that section of the ship; where, still improving upon his +former reputation, our hero did duty for the residue of the voyage. + +One pleasant afternoon, the last of the passage, when the ship was +nearing the Lizard, within a few hours' sail of her port, the +officer-of-the-deck, happening to glance upwards towards the maintop, +descried Israel there, leaning very leisurely over the rail, looking +mildly down where the officer stood. + +"Well, Peter Perkins, you seem to belong to the maintop, after all." + +"I always told you so, sir," smiled Israel benevolently down upon him, +"though, at first, you remember, sir, you would not believe it." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +SAMSON AMONG THE PHILISTINES. + + +At length, as the ship, gliding on past three or four vessels at anchor +in the roadstead--one, a man-of-war just furling her sails--came nigh +Falmouth town, Israel, from his perch, saw crowds in violent commotion +on the shore, while the adjacent roofs were covered with sightseers. A +large man-of-war cutter was just landing its occupants, among whom were +a corporal's guard and three officers, besides the naval lieutenant and +boat's crew. Some of this company having landed, and formed a sort of +lane among the mob, two trim soldiers, armed to the teeth, rose in the +stern-sheets; and between them, a martial man of Patagonian stature, +their ragged and handcuffed captive, whose defiant head overshadowed +theirs, as St. Paul's dome its inferior steeples. Immediately the mob +raised a shout, pressing in curiosity towards the colossal stranger; so +that, drawing their swords, four of the soldiers had to force a passage +for their comrades, who followed on, conducting the giant. + +As the letter of marque drew still nigher, Israel heard the officer in +command of the party ashore shouting, "To the castle! to the castle!" +and so, surrounded by shouting throngs, the company moved on, preceded +by the three drawn swords, ever and anon flourished at the rioters, +towards a large grim pile on a cliff about a mile from the landing. Long +as they were in sight, the bulky form of the captive was seen at times +swayingly towering over the flashing bayonets and cutlasses, like a +great whale breaching amid a hostile retinue of sword-fish. Now and +then, too, with barbaric scorn, he taunted them with cramped gestures of +his manacled hands. + +When at last the vessel had gained her anchorage, opposite a distant +detached warehouse, all was still; and the work of breaking out in the +hold immediately commencing, and continuing till nightfall, absorbed all +further attention for the present. + +Next day was Sunday; and about noon Israel, with others, was allowed to +go ashore for a stroll. The town was quiet. Seeing nothing very +interesting there, he passed out, alone, into the fields alongshore, and +presently found himself climbing the cliff whereon stood the grim pile +before spoken of. + +"What place is yon?" he asked of a rustic passing. + +"Pendennis Castle." + +As he stepped upon the short crisp sward under its walls, he started at +a violent sound from within, as of the roar of some tormented lion. Soon +the sound became articulate, and he heard the following words bayed out +with an amazing vigor: + +"Brag no more, Old England; consider you are but an island! Order back +your broken battalions! home, and repent in ashes! Long enough have your +hired tories across the sea forgotten the Lord their God, and bowed down +to Howe and Kniphausen--the Hessian!--Hands off, red-skinned jackal! +Wearing the king's plate,[A] as I do, I have treasures of wrath against +you British." + +[Footnote A: Meaning, probably, certain manacles.] + +Then came a clanking, as of a chain; many vengeful sounds, all +confusedly together; with strugglings. Then again the voice: + +"Ye brought me out here, from my dungeon to this green--affronting yon +Sabbath sun--to see how a rebel looks. But I show ye how a true +gentleman and Christian can conduct in adversity. Back, dogs! Respect a +gentleman and a Christian, though he _be_ in rags and smell of +bilge-water." + +Filled with astonishment at these words, which came from over a massive +wall, enclosing what seemed an open parade-space, Israel pressed +forward, and soon came to a black archway, leading far within, +underneath, to a grassy tract, through a tower. Like two boar's tusks, +two sentries stood on guard at either side of the open jaws of the arch. +Scrutinizing our adventurer a moment, they signed him permission to +enter. + +Arrived at the end of the arched-way, where the sun shone, Israel stood +transfixed, at the scene. + +Like some baited bull in the ring, crouched the Patagonian-looking +captive, handcuffed as before; the grass of the green trampled, and +gored up all about him, both by his own movements and those of the +people around. Except some soldiers and sailors, these seemed mostly +townspeople, collected here out of curiosity. The stranger was +outlandishly arrayed in the sorry remains of a half-Indian, +half-Canadian sort of a dress, consisting of a fawn-skin jacket--the fur +outside and hanging in ragged tufts--a half-rotten, bark-like belt of +wampum; aged breeches of sagathy; bedarned worsted stockings to the +knee; old moccasins riddled with holes, their metal tags yellow with +salt-water rust; a faded red woollen bonnet, not unlike a Russian +night-cap, or a portentous, ensanguined full-moon, all soiled, and stuck +about with bits of half-rotted straw. He seemed just broken from the +dead leases in David's outlawed Cave of Adullam. Unshaven, beard and +hair matted, and profuse as a corn-field beaten down by hailstorms, his +whole marred aspect was that of some wild beast; but of a royal sort, +and unsubdued by the cage. + +"Aye, stare, stare! Though but last night dragged out of a ship's hold, +like a smutty tierce; and this morning out of your littered barracks +here, like a murderer; for all that, you may well stare at Ethan +Ticonderoga Allen, the unconquered soldier, by ----! You Turks never saw +a Christian before. Stare on! I am he, who, when your Lord Howe wanted +to bribe a patriot to fall down and worship him by an offer of a +major-generalship and five thousand acres of choice land in old +Vermont--(Ha! three-times-three for glorious old Vermont, and my +Green-Mountain boys! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!) I am he, I say, who +answered your Lord Howe, 'You, _you_ offer _our_ land? You are like the +devil in Scripture, offering all the kingdoms in the world, when the +d----d soul had not a corner-lot on earth! Stare on!'" + +"Look you, rebel, you had best heed how you talk against General Lord +Howe," here said a thin, wasp-waisted, epauletted officer of the castle, +coming near and flourishing his sword like a schoolmaster's ferule. + +"General Lord Howe? Heed how I talk of that toad-hearted king's +lick-spittle of a scarlet poltroon; the vilest wriggler in God's +worm-hole below? I tell you, that herds of red-haired devils are +impatiently snorting to ladle Lord Howe with all his gang (you included) +into the seethingest syrups of tophet's flames!" + +At this blast, the wasp-waisted officer was blown backwards as from +before the suddenly burst head of a steam-boiler. + +Staggering away, with a snapped spine, he muttered something about its +being beneath his dignity to bandy further words with a low-lived rebel. + +"Come, come, Colonel Allen," here said a mild-looking man in a sort of +clerical undress, "respect the day better than to talk thus of what lies +beyond. Were you to die this hour, or what is more probable, be hung +next week at Tower-wharf, you know not what might become, in eternity, +of yourself." + +"Reverend Sir," with a mocking bow, "when not better employed braiding +my beard, I have a little dabbled in your theologies. And let me tell +you, Reverend Sir," lowering and intensifying his voice, "that as to the +world of spirits, of which you hint, though I know nothing of the mode +or manner of that world, no more than do you, yet I expect when I shall +arrive there to be treated as well as any other gentleman of my merit. +That is to say, far better than you British know how to treat an +American officer and meek-hearted Christian captured in honorable war, +by ----! Every one tells me, as you yourself just breathed, and as, +crossing the sea, every billow dinned into my ear, that I, Ethan Allen, +am to be hung like a thief. If I am, the great Jehovah and the +Continental Congress shall avenge me; while I, for my part, shall show +you, even on the tree, how a Christian gentleman can die. Meantime, sir, +if you are the clergyman you look, act out your consolatory function, by +getting an unfortunate Christian gentleman about to die, a bowl of +punch." + +The good-natured stranger, not to have his religious courtesy appealed +to in vain, immediately dispatched his servant, who stood by, to procure +the beverage. + +At this juncture, a faint rustling sound, as of the advance of an army +with banners, was heard. Silks, scarfs, and ribbons fluttered in the +background. Presently, a bright squadron of fair ladies drew nigh, +escorted by certain outriding gallants of Falmouth. + +"Ah," sighed a soft voice, "what a strange sash, and furred vest, and +what leopard-like teeth, and what flaxen hair, but all mildewed;--is +that he?" + +"Yea, is it, lovely charmer," said Allen, like an Ottoman, bowing over +his broad, bovine forehead, and breathing the words out like a lute; "it +is he--Ethan Allen, the soldier; now, since ladies' eyes visit him, made +trebly a captive." + +"Why, he talks like a beau in a parlor, this wild, mossed American from +the woods," sighed another fair lady to her mate; "but can this be he we +came to see? I must have a lock of his hair." + +"It is he, adorable Delilah; and fear not, even though incited by the +foe, by clipping my locks, to dwindle my strength. Give me your sword, +man," turning to an officer:--"Ah! I'm fettered. Clip it yourself, +lady." + +"No, no--I am--" + +"Afraid, would you say? Afraid of the vowed friend and champion of all +ladies all round the world? Nay, nay, come hither." + +The lady advanced; and soon, overcoming her timidity, her white hand +shone like whipped foam amid the matted waves of flaxen hair. + +"Ah, this is like clipping tangled tags of gold-lace," cried she; "but +see, it is half straw." + +"But the wearer is no man-of-straw, lady; were I free, and you had ten +thousand foes--horse, foot, and dragoons--how like a friend I could +fight for you! Come, you have robbed me of my hair; let me rob your +dainty hand of its price. What, afraid again?" + +"No, not that; but--" + +"I see, lady; I may do it, by your leave, but not by your word; the +wonted way of ladies. There, it is done. Sweeter that kiss, than the +bitter heart of a cherry." + +When at length this lady left, no small talk was had by her with her +companions about someway relieving the hard lot of so knightly an +unfortunate. Whereupon a worthy, judicious gentleman, of middle-age, in +attendance, suggested a bottle of good wine every day, and clean linen +once every week. And these the gentle Englishwoman--too polite and too +good to be fastidious--did indeed actually send to Ethan Allen, so long +as he tarried a captive in her land. + +The withdrawal of this company was followed by a different scene. + +A perspiring man in top-boots, a riding-whip in his hand, and having the +air of a prosperous farmer, brushed in, like a stray bullock, among the +rest, for a peep at the giant; having just entered through the arch, as +the ladies passed out. + +"Hearing that the man who took Ticonderoga was here in Pendennis Castle, +I've ridden twenty-five miles to see him; and to-morrow my brother will +ride forty for the same purpose. So let me have first look. Sir," he +continued, addressing the captive, "will you let me ask you a few plain +questions, and be free with you?" + +"Be free with me? With all my heart. I love freedom of all things. I'm +ready to die for freedom; I expect to. So be free as you please. What is +it?" + +"Then, sir, permit me to ask what is your occupation in life--in time of +peace, I mean?" + +"You talk like a tax-gatherer," rejoined Allen, squinting diabolically +at him; "what is my occupation in life? Why, in my younger days I +studied divinity, but at present I am a conjurer by profession." + +Hereupon everybody laughed, equally at the manner as the words, and the +nettled farmer retorted: + +"Conjurer, eh? well, you conjured wrong that time you were taken." + +"Not so wrong, though, as you British did, that time I took Ticonderoga, +my friend." + +At this juncture the servant came with the punch, when his master bade +him present it to the captive. + +"No!--give it me, sir, with your own hands, and pledge me as gentleman +to gentleman." + +"I cannot pledge a state-prisoner, Colonel Allen; but I will hand you +the punch with my own hands, since you insist upon it." + +"Spoken and done like a true gentleman, sir; I am bound to you." + +Then receiving the bowl into his gyved hands, the iron ringing against +the china, he put it to his lips, and saying, "I hereby give the British +nation credit for half a minute's good usage," at one draught emptied it +to the bottom. + +"The rebel gulps it down like a swilling hog at a trough," here scoffed +a lusty private of the guard, off duty. + +"Shame to you!" cried the giver of the bowl. + +"Nay, sir; his red coat is a standing blush to him, as it is to the +whole scarlet-blushing British army." Then turning derisively upon the +private: "You object to my way of taking things, do ye? I fear I shall +never please ye. You objected to the way, too, in which I took +Ticonderoga, and the way in which I meant to take Montreal. Selah! But +pray, now that I look at you, are not you the hero I caught dodging +round, in his shirt, in the cattle-pen, inside the fort? It was the +break of day, you remember." + +"Come, Yankee," here swore the incensed private; "cease this, or I'll +darn your old fawn-skins for ye with the flat of this sword;" for a +specimen, laying it lashwise, but not heavily, across the captive's +back. + +Turning like a tiger, the giant, catching the steel between his teeth, +wrenched it from the private's grasp, and striking it with his manacles, +sent it spinning like a juggler's dagger into the air, saying, "Lay your +dirty coward's iron on a tied gentleman again, and these," lifting his +handcuffed fists, "shall be the beetle of mortality to you!" + +The now furious soldier would have struck him with all his force, but +several men of the town interposed, reminding him that it were +outrageous to attack a chained captive. + +"Ah," said Allen, "I am accustomed to that, and therefore I am +beforehand with them; and the extremity of what I say against Britain, +is not meant for you, kind friends, but for my insulters, present and to +come." Then recognizing among the interposers the giver of the bowl, he +turned with a courteous bow, saying, "Thank you again and again, my good +sir; you may not be the worse for this; ours is an unstable world; so +that one gentleman never knows when it may be his turn to be helped of +another." + +But the soldier still making a riot, and the commotion growing general, +a superior officer stepped up, who terminated the scene by remanding the +prisoner to his cell, dismissing the townspeople, with all strangers, +Israel among the rest, and closing the castle gates after them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +SOMETHING FURTHER OF ETHAN ALLEN; WITH ISRAEL'S FLIGHT TOWARDS THE +WILDERNESS. + + +Among the episodes of the Revolutionary War, none is stranger than that +of Ethan Allen in England; the event and the man being equally uncommon. + +Allen seems to have been a curious combination of a Hercules, a Joe +Miller, a Bayard, and a Tom Hyer; had a person like the Belgian giants; +mountain music in him like a Swiss; a heart plump as Coeur de Lion's. +Though born in New England, he exhibited no trace of her character. He +was frank, bluff, companionable as a Pagan, convivial, a Roman, hearty +as a harvest. His spirit was essentially Western; and herein is his +peculiar Americanism; for the Western spirit is, or will yet be (for no +other is, or can be), the true American one. + +For the most part, Allen's manner while in England was scornful and +ferocious in the last degree; however, qualified by that wild, heroic +sort of levity, which in the hour of oppression or peril seems +inseparable from a nature like his; the mode whereby such a temper best +evinces its barbaric disdain of adversity, and how cheaply and +waggishly it holds the malice, even though triumphant, of its foes! +Aside from that inevitable egotism relatively pertaining to pine trees, +spires, and giants, there were, perhaps, two special incidental reasons +for the Titanic Vermonter's singular demeanor abroad. Taken captive +while heading a forlorn hope before Montreal, he was treated with +inexcusable cruelty and indignity; something as if he had fallen into +the hands of the Dyaks. Immediately upon his capture he would have been +deliberately suffered to have been butchered by the Indian allies in +cold blood on the spot, had he not, with desperate intrepidity, availed +himself of his enormous physical strength, by twitching a British +officer to him, and using him for a living target, whirling him round +and round against the murderous tomahawks of the savages. Shortly +afterwards, led into the town, fenced about by bayonets of the guard, +the commander of the enemy, one Colonel McCloud, flourished his cane +over the captive's head, with brutal insults promising him a rebel's +halter at Tyburn. During his passage to England in the same ship wherein +went passenger Colonel Guy Johnson, the implacable tory, he was kept +heavily ironed in the hold, and in all ways treated as a common +mutineer; or, it may be, rather as a lion of Asia; which, though caged, +was still too dreadful to behold without fear and trembling, and +consequent cruelty. And no wonder, at least for the fear; for on one +occasion, when chained hand and foot, he was insulted on shipboard by an +officer; with his teeth he twisted off the nail that went through the +mortise of his handcuffs, and so, having his arms at liberty, challenged +his insulter to combat. Often, as at Pendennis Castle, when no other +avengement was at hand, he would hurl on his foes such howling tempests +of anathema as fairly to shock them into retreat. Prompted by somewhat +similar motives, both on shipboard and in England, he would often make +the most vociferous allusions to Ticonderoga, and the part he played in +its capture, well knowing, that of all American names, Ticonderoga was, +at that period, by far the most famous and galling to Englishmen. + +Parlor-men, dancing-masters, the graduates of the Albe Bellgarde, may +shrug their laced shoulders at the boisterousness of Allen in England. +True, he stood upon no punctilios with his jailers; for where modest +gentlemanhood is all on one side, it is a losing affair; as if my Lord +Chesterfield should take off his hat, and smile, and bow, to a mad bull, +in hopes of a reciprocation of politeness. When among wild beasts, if +they menace you, be a wild beast. Neither is it unlikely that this was +the view taken by Allen. For, besides the exasperating tendency to +self-assertion which such treatment as his must have bred on a man like +him, his experience must have taught him, that by assuming the part of a +jocular, reckless, and even braggart barbarian, he would better sustain +himself against bullying turnkeys than by submissive quietude. Nor +should it be forgotten, that besides the petty details of personal +malice, the enemy violated every international usage of right and +decency, in treating a distinguished prisoner of war as if he had been a +Botany-Bay convict. If, at the present day, in any similar case between +the same States, the repetition of such outrages would be more than +unlikely, it is only because it is among nations as among individuals: +imputed indigence provokes oppression and scorn; but that same indigence +being risen to opulence, receives a politic consideration even from its +former insulters. + +As the event proved, in the course Allen pursued, he was right. Because, +though at first nothing was talked of by his captors, and nothing +anticipated by himself, but his ignominious execution, or at the least, +prolonged and squalid incarceration, nevertheless, these threats and +prospects evaporated, and by his facetious scorn for scorn, under the +extremest sufferings, he finally wrung repentant usage from his foes; +and in the end, being liberated from his irons, and walking the +quarter-deck where before he had been thrust into the hold, was carried +back to America, and in due time, at New York, honorably included in a +regular exchange of prisoners. + +It was not without strange interest that Israel had been an eye-witness +of the scenes on the Castle Green. Neither was this interest abated by +the painful necessity of concealing, for the present, from his brave +countryman and fellow-mountaineer, the fact of a friend being nigh. When +at last the throng was dismissed, walking towards the town with the +rest, he heard that there were some forty or more Americans, privates, +confined on the cliff. Upon this, inventing a pretence, he turned back, +loitering around the walls for any chance glimpse of the captives. +Presently, while looking up at a grated embrasure in the tower, he +started at a voice from it familiarly hailing him: + +"Potter, is that you? In God's name how came you here?" + +At these words, a sentry below had his eye on our astonished +adventurer. Bringing his piece to bear, he bade him stand. Next moment +Israel was under arrest. Being brought into the presence of the forty +prisoners, where they lay in litters of mouldy straw, strewn with gnawed +bones, as in a kennel, he recognized among them one Singles, now +Sergeant Singles, the man who, upon our hero's return home from his last +Cape Horn voyage, he had found wedded to his mountain Jenny. Instantly a +rush of emotions filled him. Not as when Damon found Pythias. But far +stranger, because very different. For not only had this Singles been an +alien to Israel (so far as actual intercourse went), but impelled to it +by instinct, Israel had all but detested him, as a successful, and +perhaps insidious rival. Nor was it altogether unlikely that Singles had +reciprocated the feeling. But now, as if the Atlantic rolled, not +between two continents, but two worlds--this, and the next--these alien +souls, oblivious to hate, melted down into one. + +At such a juncture, it was hard to maintain a disguise, especially when +it involved the seeming rejection of advances like the Sergeant's. +Still, converting his real amazement into affected surprise, Israel, in +presence of the sentries, declared to Singles that he (Singles) must +labor under some unaccountable delusion; for he (Potter) was no Yankee +rebel, thank Heaven, but a true man to his king; in short, an honest +Englishman, born in Kent, and now serving his country, and doing what +damage he might to her foes, by being first captain of a carronade on +board a letter of marque, that moment in the harbor. + +For a moment the captive stood astounded, but observing Israel more +narrowly, detecting his latent look, and bethinking him of the useless +peril he had thoughtlessly caused to a countryman, no doubt unfortunate +as himself, Singles took his cue, and pretending sullenly to apologize +for his error, put on a disappointed and crest-fallen air. Nevertheless, +it was not without much difficulty, and after many supplemental +scrutinies and inquisitions from a board of officers before whom he was +subsequently brought, that our wanderer was finally permitted to quit +the cliff. + +This luckless adventure not only nipped in the bud a little scheme he +had been revolving, for materially befriending Ethan Allen and his +comrades, but resulted in making his further stay at Falmouth perilous +in the extreme. And as if this were not enough, next day, while hanging +over the side, painting the hull, in trepidation of a visit from the +castle soldiers, rumor came to the ship that the man-of-war in the haven +purposed impressing one-third of the letter of marque's crew; though, +indeed, the latter vessel was preparing for a second cruise. Being on +board a private armed ship, Israel had little dreamed of its liability +to the same governmental hardships with the meanest merchantman. But the +system of impressment is no respecter either of pity or person. + +His mind was soon determined. Unlike his shipmates, braving immediate +and lonely hazard, rather than wait for a collective and ultimate one, +he cunningly dropped himself overboard the same night, and after the +narrowest risk from the muskets of the man-of-war's sentries (whose +gangways he had to pass), succeeded in swimming to shore, where he fell +exhausted, but recovering, fled inland, doubly hunted by the thought, +that whether as an Englishman, or whether as an American, he would, if +caught, be now equally subject to enslavement. + +Shortly after the break of day, having gained many miles, he succeeded +in ridding himself of his seaman's clothing, having found some mouldy +old rags on the banks of a stagnant pond, nigh a rickety building, which +looked like a poorhouse--clothing not improbably, as he surmised, left +there on the bank by some pauper suicide. Marvel not that he should with +avidity seize these rags; what the suicides abandon, the living hug. + +Once more in beggar's garb, the fugitive sped towards London, prompted +by the same instinct which impels the hunted fox to the wilderness; for +solitudes befriend the endangered wild beast, but crowds are the +security, because the true desert, of persecuted man. Among the things +of the capital, Israel for more than forty years was yet to disappear, +as one entering at dusk into a thick wood. Nor did ever the German +forest, nor Tasso's enchanted one, contain in its depths more things of +horror than eventually were revealed in the secret clefts, gulfs, caves +and dens of London. + +But here we anticipate a page. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ISRAEL IN EGYPT. + + +It was a gray, lowering afternoon that, worn out, half starved, and +haggard, Israel arrived within some ten or fifteen miles of London, and +saw scores and scores of forlorn men engaged in a great brickyard. + +For the most part, brickmaking is all mud and mire. Where, abroad, the +business is carried on largely, as to supply the London market, hordes +of the poorest wretches are employed, their grimy tatters naturally +adapting them to an employ where cleanliness is as much out of the +question as with a drowned man at the bottom of the lake in the Dismal +Swamp. + +Desperate with want, Israel resolved to turn brickmaker, nor did he fear +to present himself as a stranger, nothing doubting that to such a +vocation his rags would be accounted the best letters of introduction. + +To be brief, he accosted one of the many surly overseers, or taskmasters +of the yard, who, with no few pompous airs, finally engaged him at six +shillings a week, almost equivalent to a dollar and a half. He was +appointed to one of the mills for grinding up the ingredients. This +mill stood in the open air. It was of a rude, primitive, Eastern aspect, +consisting of a sort of hopper, emptying into a barrel-shaped +receptacle. In the barrel was a clumsy machine turned round at its axis +by a great bent beam, like a well-sweep, only it was horizontal; to this +beam, at its outer end, a spavined old horse was attached. The muddy +mixture was shovelled into the hopper by spavined-looking old men, +while, trudging wearily round and round, the spavined old horse ground +it all up till it slowly squashed out at the bottom of the barrel, in a +doughy compound, all ready for the moulds. Where the dough squeezed out +of the barrel a pit was sunken, so as to bring the moulder here +stationed down to a level with the trough, into which the dough fell. +Israel was assigned to this pit. Men came to him continually, reaching +down rude wooden trays, divided into compartments, each of the size and +shape of a brick. With a flat sort of big ladle, Israel slapped the +dough into the trays from the trough; then, with a bit of smooth board, +scraped the top even, and handed it up. Half buried there in the pit, +all the time handing those desolate trays, poor Israel seemed some +gravedigger, or churchyard man, tucking away dead little innocents in +their coffins on one side, and cunningly disinterring them again to +resurrectionists stationed on the other. + +Twenty of these melancholy old mills were in operation. Twenty +heartbroken old horses, rigged out deplorably in cast-off old cart +harness, incessantly tugged at twenty great shaggy beams; while from +twenty half-burst old barrels, twenty wads of mud, with a lava-like +course, gouged out into twenty old troughs, to be slapped by twenty +tattered men into the twenty-times-twenty battered old trays. + +Ere entering his pit for the first, Israel had been struck by the +dismally devil-may-care gestures of the moulders. But hardly had he +himself been a moulder three days, when his previous sedateness of +concern at his unfortunate lot, began to conform to the reckless sort of +half jolly despair expressed by the others. The truth indeed was, that +this continual, violent, helter-skelter slapping of the dough into the +moulds, begat a corresponding disposition in the moulder, who, by +heedlessly slapping that sad dough, as stuff of little worth, was +thereby taught, in his meditations, to slap, with similar heedlessness, +his own sadder fortunes, as of still less vital consideration. To these +muddy philosophers, men and bricks were equally of clay. "What signifies +who we be--dukes or ditchers?" thought the moulders; "all is vanity and +clay." + +So slap, slap, slap, care-free and negligent, with bitter unconcern, +these dismal desperadoes flapped down the dough. If this recklessness +were vicious of them, be it so; but their vice was like that weed which +but grows on barren ground; enrich the soil, and it disappears. + +For thirteen weary weeks, lorded over by the taskmaster, Israel toiled +in his pit. Though this condemned him to a sort of earthy dungeon, or +gravedigger's hole, while he worked, yet even when liberated to his +meals, naught of a cheery nature greeted him. The yard was encamped, +with all its endless rows of tented sheds, and kilns, and mills, upon a +wild waste moor, belted round by bogs and fens. The blank horizon, like +a rope, coiled round the whole. + +Sometimes the air was harsh and bleak; the ridged and mottled sky looked +scourged, or cramping fogs set in from sea, for leagues around, +ferreting out each rheumatic human bone, and racking it; the sciatic +limpers shivered; their aguish rags sponged up the mists. No shelter, +though it hailed. The sheds were for the bricks. Unless, indeed, +according to the phrase, each man was a "brick," which, in sober +scripture, was the case; brick is no bad name for any son of Adam; Eden +was but a brickyard; what is a mortal but a few luckless shovelfuls of +clay, moulded in a mould, laid out on a sheet to dry, and ere long +quickened into his queer caprices by the sun? Are not men built into +communities just like bricks into a wall? Consider the great wall of +China: ponder the great populace of Pekin. As man serves bricks, so God +him, building him up by billions into edifices of his purposes. Man +attains not to the nobility of a brick, unless taken in the aggregate. +Yet is there a difference in brick, whether quick or dead; which, for +the last, we now shall see. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CONTINUED. + + +All night long, men sat before the mouth of the kilns, feeding them with +fuel. A dull smoke--a smoke of their torments--went up from their tops. +It was curious to see the kilns under the action of the fire, gradually +changing color, like boiling lobsters. When, at last, the fires would be +extinguished, the bricks being duly baked, Israel often took a peep into +the low vaulted ways at the base, where the flaming fagots had crackled. +The bricks immediately lining the vaults would be all burnt to useless +scrolls, black as charcoal, and twisted into shapes the most grotesque; +the next tier would be a little less withered, but hardly fit for +service; and gradually, as you went higher and higher along the +successive layers of the kiln, you came to the midmost ones, sound, +square, and perfect bricks, bringing the highest prices; from these the +contents of the kiln gradually deteriorated in the opposite direction, +upward. But the topmost layers, though inferior to the best, by no means +presented the distorted look of the furnace-bricks. The furnace-bricks +were haggard, with the immediate blistering of the fire--the midmost +ones were ruddy with a genial and tempered glow--the summit ones were +pale with the languor of too exclusive an exemption from the burden of +the blaze. + +These kilns were a sort of temporary temples constructed in the yard, +each brick being set against its neighbor almost with the care taken by +the mason. But as soon as the fire was extinguished, down came the kiln +in a tumbled ruin, carted off to London, once more to be set up in +ambitious edifices, to a true brickyard philosopher, little less +transient than the kilns. + +Sometimes, lading out his dough, Israel could not but bethink him of +what seemed enigmatic in his fate. He whom love of country made a hater +of her foes--the foreigners among whom he now was thrown--he who, as +soldier and sailor, had joined to kill, burn and destroy both them and +theirs--here he was at last, serving that very people as a slave, better +succeeding in making their bricks than firing their ships. To think that +he should be thus helping, with all his strength, to extend the walls of +the Thebes of the oppressor, made him half mad. Poor Israel! +well-named--bondsman in the English Egypt. But he drowned the thought by +still more recklessly spattering with his ladle: "What signifies who we +be, or where we are, or what we do?" Slap-dash! "Kings as clowns are +codgers--who ain't a nobody?" Splash! "All is vanity and clay." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +IN THE CITY OF DIS. + + +At the end of his brickmaking, our adventurer found himself with a +tolerable suit of clothes--somewhat darned--on his back, several +blood-blisters in his palms, and some verdigris coppers in his pocket. +Forthwith, to seek his fortune, he proceeded on foot to the capital, +entering, like the king, from Windsor, from the Surrey side. + +It was late on a Monday morning, in November--a Blue Monday--a Fifth of +November--Guy Fawkes' Day!--very blue, foggy, doleful and gunpowdery, +indeed, as shortly will be seen, that Israel found himself wedged in +among the greatest everyday crowd which grimy London presents to the +curious stranger: that hereditary crowd--gulf-stream of humanity--which, +for continuous centuries, has never ceased pouring, like an endless +shoal of herring, over London Bridge. + +At the period here written of, the bridge, specifically known by that +name, was a singular and sombre pile, built by a cowled monk--Peter of +Colechurch--some five hundred years before. Its arches had long been +crowded at the sides with strange old rookeries of disproportioned and +toppling height, converting the bridge at once into the most densely +occupied ward and most jammed thoroughfare of the town, while, as the +skulls of bullocks are hung out for signs to the gateways of shambles, +so the withered heads and smoked quarters of traitors, stuck on pikes, +long crowned the Southwark entrance. + +Though these rookeries, with their grisly heraldry, had been pulled down +some twenty years prior to the present visit, still enough of grotesque +and antiquity clung to the structure at large to render it the most +striking of objects, especially to one like our hero, born in a virgin +clime, where the only antiquities are the forever youthful heavens and +the earth. + +On his route from Brentford to Paris, Israel had passed through the +capital, but only as a courier; so that now, for the first time, he had +time to linger, and loiter, and lounge--slowly absorb what he +saw--meditate himself into boundless amazement. For forty years he never +recovered from that surprise--never, till dead, had done with his +wondering. + +Hung in long, sepulchral arches of stone, the black, besmoked bridge +seemed a huge scarf of crape, festooning the river across. Similar +funeral festoons spanned it to the west, while eastward, towards the +sea, tiers and tiers of jetty colliers lay moored, side by side, fleets +of black swans. + +The Thames, which far away, among the green fields of Berks, ran clear +as a brook, here, polluted by continual vicinity to man, curdled on +between rotten wharves, one murky sheet of sewerage. Fretted by the +ill-built piers, awhile it crested and hissed, then shot balefully +through the Erebus arches, desperate as the lost souls of the harlots, +who, every night, took the same plunge. Meantime, here and there, like +awaiting hearses, the coal-scows drifted along, poled broadside, +pell-mell to the current. + +And as that tide in the water swept all craft on, so a like tide seemed +hurrying all men, all horses, all vehicles on the land. As ant-hills, +the bridge arches crawled with processions of carts, coaches, drays, +every sort of wheeled, rumbling thing, the noses of the horses behind +touching the backs of the vehicles in advance, all bespattered with ebon +mud--ebon mud that stuck like Jews' pitch. At times the mass, receiving +some mysterious impulse far in the rear, away among the coiled +thoroughfares out of sight, would, start forward with a spasmodic surge. +It seemed as if some squadron of centaurs, on the thither side of +Phlegethon, with charge on charge, was driving tormented humanity, with +all its chattels, across. + +Whichever way the eye turned, no tree, no speck of any green thing was +seen--no more than in smithies. All laborers, of whatsoever sort, were +hued like the men in foundries. The black vistas of streets were as the +galleries in coal mines; the flagging, as flat tomb-stones, minus the +consecration of moss, and worn heavily down, by sorrowful tramping, as +the vitreous rocks in the cursed Gallipagos, over which the convict +tortoises crawl. + +As in eclipses, the sun was hidden; the air darkened; the whole dull, +dismayed aspect of things, as if some neighboring volcano, belching its +premonitory smoke, were about to whelm the great town, as Herculaneum +and Pompeii, or the Cities of the Plain. And as they had been upturned +in terror towards the mountain, all faces were more or less snowed or +spotted with soot. Nor marble, nor flesh, nor the sad spirit of man, may +in this cindery City of Dis abide white. + +As retired at length, midway, in a recess of the bridge, Israel surveyed +them, various individual aspects all but frighted him. Knowing not who +they were; never destined, it may be, to behold them again; one after +the other, they drifted by, uninvoked ghosts in Hades. Some of the +wayfarers wore a less serious look; some seemed hysterically merry; but +the mournful faces had an earnestness not seen in the others: because +man, "poor player," succeeds better in life's tragedy than comedy. + +Arrived, in the end, on the Middlesex side, Israel's heart was +prophetically heavy; foreknowing, that being of this race, felicity +could never be his lot. + +For five days he wandered and wandered. Without leaving statelier haunts +unvisited, he did not overlook those broader areas--hereditary parks and +manors of vice and misery. Not by constitution disposed to gloom, there +was a mysteriousness in those impulses which led him at this time to +rovings like these. But hereby stoic influences were at work, to fit him +at a soon-coming day for enacting a part in the last extremities here +seen; when by sickness, destitution, each busy ill of exile, he was +destined to experience a fate, uncommon even to luckless humanity--a +fate whose crowning qualities were its remoteness from relief and its +depth of obscurity--London, adversity, and the sea, three Armageddons, +which, at one and the same time, slay and secrete their victims. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +FORTY-FIVE YEARS. + + +For the most part, what befell Israel during his forty years wanderings +in the London deserts, surpassed the forty years in the natural +wilderness of the outcast Hebrews under Moses. + +In that London fog, went before him the ever-present cloud by day, but +no pillar of fire by the night, except the cold column of the monument, +two hundred feet beneath the mocking gilt flames on whose top, at the +stone base, the shiverer, of midnight, often laid down. + +But these experiences, both from their intensity and his solitude, were +necessarily squalid. Best not enlarge upon them. For just as extreme +suffering, without hope, is intolerable to the victim, so, to others, is +its depiction without some corresponding delusive mitigation. The +gloomiest and truthfulest dramatist seldom chooses for his theme the +calamities, however extraordinary, of inferior and private persons; +least of all, the pauper's; admonished by the fact, that to the craped +palace of the king lying in state, thousands of starers shall throng; +but few feel enticed to the shanty, where, like a pealed knuckle-bone, +grins the unupholstered corpse of the beggar. + +Why at one given stone in the flagging does man after man cross yonder +street? What plebeian Lear or Oedipus, what Israel Potter, cowers there +by the corner they shun? From this turning point, then, we too cross +over and skim events to the end; omitting the particulars of the +starveling's wrangling with rats for prizes in the sewers; or his +crawling into an abandoned doorless house in St. Giles', where his hosts +were three dead men, one pendant; into another of an alley nigh +Houndsditch, where the crazy hovel, in phosphoric rottenness, fell +sparkling on him one pitchy midnight, and he received that injury, +which, excluding activity for no small part of the future, was an added +cause of his prolongation of exile, besides not leaving his faculties +unaffected by the concussion of one of the rafters on his brain. + +But these were some of the incidents not belonging to the beginning of +his career. On the contrary, a sort of humble prosperity attended him +for a time; insomuch that once he was not without hopes of being able to +buy his homeward passage so soon as the war should end. But, as stubborn +fate would have it, being run over one day at Holborn Bars, and taken +into a neighboring bakery, he was there treated with such kindliness by +a Kentish lass, the shop-girl, that in the end he thought his debt of +gratitude could only be repaid by love. In a word, the money saved up +for his ocean voyage was lavished upon a rash embarkation in wedlock. + +Originally he had fled to the capital to avoid the dilemma of +impressment or imprisonment. In the absence of other motives, the dread +of those hardships would have fixed him there till the peace. But now, +when hostilities were no more, so was his money. Some period elapsed ere +the affairs of the two governments were put on such a footing as to +support an American consul at London. Yet, when this came to pass, he +could only embrace the facilities for a return here furnished, by +deserting a wife and child, wedded and born in the enemy's land. + +The peace immediately filled England, and more especially London, with +hordes of disbanded soldiers; thousands of whom, rather than starve, or +turn highwaymen (which no few of their comrades did, stopping coaches at +times in the most public streets), would work for such a pittance as to +bring down the wages of all the laboring classes. Neither was our +adventurer the least among the sufferers. Driven out of his previous +employ--a sort of porter in a river-side warehouse--by this sudden +influx of rivals, destitute, honest men like himself, with the ingenuity +of his race, he turned his hand to the village art of chair-bottoming. +An itinerant, he paraded the streets with the cry of "Old chairs to +mend!" furnishing a curious illustration of the contradictions of human +life; that he who did little but trudge, should be giving cosy seats to +all the rest of the world. Meantime, according to another well-known +Malthusian enigma in human affairs, his family increased. In all, eleven +children were born to him in certain sixpenny garrets in Moorfields. One +after the other, ten were buried. + +When chair-bottoming would fail, resort was had to match-making. That +business being overdone in turn, next came the cutting of old rags, bits +of paper, nails, and broken glass. Nor was this the last step. From the +gutter he slid to the sewer. The slope was smooth. In poverty--"Facilis +descensus Averni." + +But many a poor soldier had sloped down there into the boggy canal of +Avernus before him. Nay, he had three corporals and a sergeant for +company. + +But his lot was relieved by two strange things, presently to appear. In +1793 war again broke out, the great French war. This lighted London of +some of its superfluous hordes, and lost Israel the subterranean society +of his friends, the corporals and sergeant, with whom wandering forlorn +through the black kingdoms of mud, he used to spin yarns about sea +prisoners in hulks, and listen to stories of the Black Hole of Calcutta; +and often would meet other pairs of poor soldiers, perfect strangers, at +the more public corners and intersections of sewers--the Charing-Crosses +below; one soldier having the other by his remainder button, earnestly +discussing the sad prospects of a rise in bread, or the tide; while +through the grating of the gutters overhead, the rusty skylights of the +realm, came the hoarse rumblings of bakers' carts, with splashes of the +flood whereby these unsuspected gnomes of the city lived. + +Encouraged by the exodus of the lost tribes of soldiers, Israel returned +to chair-bottoming. And it was in frequenting Covent-Garden market, at +early morning, for the purchase of his flags, that he experienced one +of the strange alleviations hinted of above. That chatting with the +ruddy, aproned, hucksterwomen, on whose moist cheeks yet trickled the +dew of the dawn on the meadows; that being surrounded by bales of hay, +as the raker by cocks and ricks in the field; those glimpses of garden +produce, the blood-beets, with the damp earth still tufting the roots; +that mere handling of his flags, and bethinking him of whence they must +have come, the green hedges through which the wagon that brought them +had passed; that trudging home with them as a gleaner with his sheaf of +wheat;--all this was inexpressibly grateful. In want and bitterness, +pent in, perforce, between dingy walls, he had rural returns of his +boyhood's sweeter days among them; and the hardest stones of his +solitary heart (made hard by bare endurance alone) would feel the stir +of tender but quenchless memories, like the grass of deserted flagging, +upsprouting through its closest seams. Sometimes, when incited by some +little incident, however trivial in itself, thoughts of home +would--either by gradually working and working upon him, or else by an +impetuous rush of recollection--overpower him for a time to a sort of +hallucination. + +Thus was it:--One fair half-day in the July of 1800, by good luck, he +was employed, partly out of charity, by one of the keepers, to trim the +sward in an oval enclosure within St. James' Park, a little green but a +three-minutes' walk along the gravelled way from the brick-besmoked and +grimy Old Brewery of the palace which gives its ancient name to the +public resort on whose borders it stands. It was a little oval, fenced +in with iron pailings, between whose bars the imprisoned verdure peered +forth, as some wild captive creature of the woods from its cage. And +alien Israel there--at times staring dreamily about him--seemed like +some amazed runaway steer, or trespassing Pequod Indian, impounded on +the shores of Narraganset Bay, long ago; and back to New England our +exile was called in his soul. For still working, and thinking of home; +and thinking of home, and working amid the verdant quietude of this +little oasis, one rapt thought begat another, till at last his mind +settled intensely, and yet half humorously, upon the image of Old +Huckleberry, his mother's favorite old pillion horse; and, ere long, +hearing a sudden scraping noise (some hob-shoe without, against the iron +pailing), he insanely took it to be Old Huckleberry in his stall, +hailing him (Israel) with his shod fore-foot clattering against the +planks--his customary trick when hungry--and so, down goes Israel's +hook, and with a tuft of white clover, impulsively snatched, he hurries +away a few paces in obedience to the imaginary summons. But soon +stopping midway, and forlornly gazing round at the enclosure, he +bethought him that a far different oval, the great oval of the ocean, +must be crossed ere his crazy errand could be done; and even then, Old +Huckleberry would be found long surfeited with clover, since, doubtless, +being dead many a summer, he must be buried beneath it. And many years +after, in a far different part of the town, and in far less winsome +weather too, passing with his bundle of flags through Red-Cross street, +towards Barbican, in a fog so dense that the dimmed and massed blocks +of houses, exaggerated by the loom, seemed shadowy ranges on ranges of +midnight hills, he heard a confused pastoral sort of sounds--tramplings, +lowings, halloos--and was suddenly called to by a voice to head off +certain cattle, bound to Smithfield, bewildered and unruly in the fog. +Next instant he saw the white face--white as an orange-blossom--of a +black-bodied steer, in advance of the drove, gleaming ghost-like through +the vapors; and presently, forgetting his limp, with rapid shout and +gesture, he was more eager, even than the troubled farmers, their +owners, in driving the riotous cattle back into Barbican. Monomaniac +reminiscences were in him--"To the right, to the right!" he shouted, as, +arrived at the street corner, the farmers beat the drove to the left, +towards Smithfield: "To the right! you are driving them back to the +pastures--to the right! that way lies the barn-yard!" "Barn-yard?" cried +a voice; "you are dreaming, old man." And so, Israel, now an old man, +was bewitched by the mirage of vapors; he had dreamed himself home into +the mists of the Housatonic mountains; ruddy boy on the upland pastures +again. But how different the flat, apathetic, dead, London fog now +seemed from those agile mists which, goat-like, climbed the purple +peaks, or in routed armies of phantoms, broke down, pell-mell, dispersed +in flight upon the plain, leaving the cattle-boy loftily alone, +clear-cut as a balloon against the sky. + +In 1817 he once more endured extremity; this second peace again drifting +its discharged soldiers on London, so that all kinds of labor were +overstocked. Beggars, too, lighted on the walks like locusts. +Timber-toed cripples stilted along, numerous as French peasants in +_sabots_. And, as thirty years before, on all sides, the exile had heard +the supplicatory cry, not addressed to him, "An honorable scar, your +honor, received at Bunker Hill, or Saratoga, or Trenton, fighting for +his most gracious Majesty, King George!" so now, in presence of the +still surviving Israel, our Wandering Jew, the amended cry was anew +taken up, by a succeeding generation of unfortunates, "An honorable +scar, your honor, received at Corunna, or at Waterloo, or at Trafalgar!" +Yet not a few of these petitioners had never been outside of the London +smoke; a sort of crafty aristocracy in their way, who, without having +endangered their own persons much if anything, reaped no insignificant +share both of the glory and profit of the bloody battles they claimed; +while some of the genuine working heroes, too brave to beg, too cut-up +to work, and too poor to live, laid down quietly in corners and died. +And here it may be noted, as a fact nationally characteristic, that +however desperately reduced at times, even to the sewers, Israel, the +American, never sunk below the mud, to actual beggary. + +Though henceforth elbowed out of many a chance threepenny job by the +added thousands who contended with him against starvation, nevertheless, +somehow he continued to subsist, as those tough old oaks of the cliffs, +which, though hacked at by hail-stones of tempests, and even wantonly +maimed by the passing woodman, still, however cramped by rival trees and +fettered by rocks, succeed, against all odds, in keeping the vital +nerve of the tap-root alive. And even towards the end, in his dismallest +December, our veteran could still at intervals feel a momentary warmth +in his topmost boughs. In his Moorfields' garret, over a handful of +reignited cinders (which the night before might have warmed some lord), +cinders raked up from the streets, he would drive away dolor, by talking +with his one only surviving, and now motherless child--the spared +Benjamin of his old age--of the far Canaan beyond the sea; rehearsing to +the lad those well-remembered adventures among New England hills, and +painting scenes of rustling happiness and plenty, in which the lowliest +shared. And here, shadowy as it was, was the second alleviation hinted +of above. + +To these tales of the Fortunate Isles of the Free, recounted by one who +had been there, the poor enslaved boy of Moorfields listened, night +after night, as to the stories of Sinbad the Sailor. When would his +father take him there? "Some day to come, my boy," would be the hopeful +response of an unhoping heart. And "Would God it were to-morrow!" would +be the impassioned reply. + +In these talks Israel unconsciously sowed the seeds of his eventual +return. For with added years, the boy felt added longing to escape his +entailed misery, by compassing for his father and himself a voyage to +the Promised Land. By his persevering efforts he succeeded at last, +against every obstacle, in gaining credit in the right quarter to his +extraordinary statements. In short, charitably stretching a technical +point, the American Consul finally saw father and son embarked in the +Thames for Boston. + +It was the year 1826; half a century since Israel, in early manhood, had +sailed a prisoner in the Tartar frigate from the same port to which he +now was bound. An octogenarian as he recrossed the brine, he showed +locks besnowed as its foam. White-haired old Ocean seemed as a brother. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +REQUIESCAT IN PACE. + + +It happened that the ship, gaining her port, was moored to the dock on a +Fourth of July; and half an hour after landing, hustled by the riotous +crowd near Faneuil Hall, the old man narrowly escaped being run over by +a patriotic triumphal car in the procession, flying a broidered banner, +inscribed with gilt letters: + +"BUNKER-HILL + +1775. + +GLORY TO THE HEROES THAT FOUGHT!" + +It was on Copps' Hill, within the city bounds, one of the enemy's +positions during the fight, that our wanderer found his best repose that +day. Sitting down here on a mound in the graveyard, he looked off across +Charles River towards the battle-ground, whose incipient monument, at +that period, was hard to see, as a struggling sprig of corn in a chilly +spring. Upon those heights, fifty years before, his now feeble hands had +wielded both ends of the musket. There too he had received that slit +upon the chest, which afterwards, in the affair with the Serapis, being +traversed by a cutlass wound, made him now the bescarred bearer of a +cross. + +For a long time he sat mute, gazing blankly about him. The sultry July +day was waning. His son sought to cheer him a little ere rising to +return to the lodging for the present assigned them by the ship-captain. +"Nay," replied the old man, "I shall get no fitter rest than here by the +mounds." + +But from this true "Potter's Field," the boy at length drew him away; +and encouraged next morning by a voluntary purse made up among the +reassembled passengers, father and son started by stage for the country +of the Housatonie. But the exile's presence in these old mountain +townships proved less a return than a resurrection. At first, none knew +him, nor could recall having heard of him. Ere long it was found, that +more than thirty years previous, the last known survivor of his family +in that region, a bachelor, following the example of three-fourths of +his neighbors, had sold out and removed to a distant country in the +west; where exactly, none could say. + +He sought to get a glimpse of his father's homestead. But it had been +burnt down long ago. Accompanied by his son, dim-eyed and dim-hearted, +he next went to find the site. But the roads had years before been +changed. The old road was now browsed over by sheep; the new one ran +straight through what had formerly been orchards. But new orchards, +planted from other suckers, and in time grafted, throve on sunny slopes +near by, where blackberries had once been picked by the bushel. At +length he came to a field waving with buckwheat. It seemed one of those +fields which himself had often reaped. But it turned out, upon inquiry, +that but three summers since a walnut grove had stood there. Then he +vaguely remembered that his father had sometimes talked of planting such +a grove, to defend the neighboring fields against the cold north wind; +yet where precisely that grove was to have been, his shattered mind +could not recall. But it seemed not unlikely that during his long exile, +the walnut grove had been planted and harvested, as well as the annual +crops preceding and succeeding it, on the very same soil. + +Ere long, on the mountain side, he passed into an ancient natural wood, +which seemed some way familiar, and midway in it, paused to contemplate +a strange, mouldy pile, resting at one end against a sturdy beech. +Though wherever touched by his staff, however lightly, this pile would +crumble, yet here and there, even in powder, it preserved the exact +look, each irregularly defined line, of what it had originally +been--namely, a half-cord of stout hemlock (one of the woods least +affected by exposure to the air), in a foregoing generation chopped and +stacked up on the spot, against sledging-time, but, as sometimes happens +in such cases, by subsequent oversight, abandoned to oblivious +decay--type now, as it stood there, of forever arrested intentions, and +a long life still rotting in early mishap. + +"Do I dream?" mused the bewildered old man, "or what is this vision +that comes to me of a cold, cloudy morning, long, long ago, and I +heaving yon elbowed log against the beech, then a sapling? Nay, nay, I +cannot be so old." + +"Come away, father, from this dismal, damp wood," said his son, and led +him forth. + +Blindly ranging to and fro, they next saw a man ploughing. Advancing +slowly, the wanderer met him by a little heap of ruinous burnt masonry, +like a tumbled chimney, what seemed the jams of the fire-place, now +aridly stuck over here and there, with thin, clinging, round, +prohibitory mosses, like executors' wafers. Just as the oxen were bid +stand, the stranger's plough was hitched over sideways, by sudden +contact with some sunken stone at the ruin's base. + +"There, this is the twentieth year my plough has struck this old +hearthstone. Ah, old man,--sultry day, this." + +"Whose house stood here, friend?" said the wanderer, touching the +half-buried hearth with his staff, where a fresh furrow overlapped it. + +"Don't know; forget the name; gone West, though, I believe. You know +'em?" + +But the wanderer made no response; his eye was now fixed on a curious +natural bend or wave in one of the bemossed stone jambs. + +"What are you looking at so, father?" + +"'_Father_!' Here," raking with his staff, "_my_ father would sit, and +here, my mother, and here I, little infant, would totter between, even +as now, once again, on the very same spot, but in the unroofed air, I +do. The ends meet. Plough away, friend." + +Best followed now is this life, by hurrying, like itself, to a close. + +Few things remain. + +He was repulsed in efforts after a pension by certain caprices of law. +His scars proved his only medals. He dictated a little book, the record +of his fortunes. But long ago it faded out of print--himself out of +being--his name out of memory. He died the same day that the oldest oak +on his native hills was blown down. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Israel Potter, by Herman Melville + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISRAEL POTTER *** + +***** This file should be named 15422.txt or 15422.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/4/2/15422/ + +Produced by Dave Maddock, Mary Meehan and the PG Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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