Authors: James Fenimore Cooper
"Sway away!" he called out; and Smudge was dangling at the yard-arm in
a few seconds.
A block of wood could not have been more motionless than the body of
this savage, after one quivering shudder of suffering had escaped
it. There it hung, like a jewel-block, and every sign of life was soon
taken away. In a quarter of an hour, a man was sent up, and, cutting
the rope, the body fell, with a sharp plunge, into the water, and
disappeared.
At a later day, the account of this affair found its way into the
newspapers at home. A few moralists endeavoured to throw some doubts
over the legality and necessity of the proceedings, pretending that
more evil than good was done to the cause of sacred justice by such
disregard of law and principles; but the feeling of trade, and the
security of ships when far from home, were motives too powerful to be
put down by the still, quiet remonstrances of reason and right. The
abuses to which such practices would be likely to lead, in cases in
which one of the parties constituted himself the law, the judge, and
the executioner, were urged in vain against the active and
ever-stimulating incentive of a love of gold. Still, I knew that
Marble wished the thing undone when it was too late, it being idle to
think of quieting the suggestions of that monitor God has implanted
within us, by the meretricious and selfish approbation of those who
judge of right and wrong by their own narrow standard of interest.
1st Lord
.—"Throca movonsas, cargo, cargo, cargo."
All
.—"Cargo, cargo, villianda par corbo, cargo."
Par
.—"O! ransome, ransome:—Do not hide mine eyes"
1st Sold
.—"Boskos Thromuldo boskos."
Par
.—"I know you are the Muskos' regiment,
And I shall lose my life for want of language.—"
All's Well That Ends Well.
The Crisis was tacked, as soon as the body of Smudge was cut down, and
she moved slowly, her crew maintaining a melancholy silence, out of
the little haven. I never witnessed stronger evidence of sadness in
the evolutions of a vessel; the slow and stately departure resembling
that of mourners leaving the grave on which they had just heard the
fall of the clod. Marble told me afterwards, he had been disposed to
anchor, and remain until the body of poor Captain Williams should
rise, as it probably would within the next forty-eight hours; but the
dread of a necessity of sacrificing more of the natives, induced him
to quit the fatal spot, without paying the last duties to our worthy
old commander. I always regretted we did not remain, for I think no
Indian would have come near us, had we continued in the harbour a
month.
It was high-noon when the ship once more issued into the broad bosom
of the Pacific. The wind was at south-east, and as we drew off from
the land, it came fresh and steady. About two, having an offing of ten
or twelve miles, orders were issued to set all the larboard
studding-sails, and we stood to the southward and westward under a
press of canvass. Every one saw in this change, a determination to
quit the coast; nor did we regret the measure, for our trade had been
quite successful, down to the moment of the seizure, but could hardly
be prosperous after what had passed. I had not been consulted in the
affair at all, but the second-mate having the watch, I was now
summoned to the cabin, and let into the secret of our future
movements. I found Marble seated at the cabin table, with Captain
Williams's writing-desk open before him, and sundry papers under
examination.
"Take a seat, Mr. Wallingford," said the new master, with a dignity
and manner suited to the occasion. "I have just been overhauling the
old man's instructions from the owners, and find I have done right in
leaving these hang-gallows rascals to themselves, and shaping our
course to the next point of destination. As it is, the ship has done
surprisingly well. There are $67,370 good Spaniards down in the run,
and that for goods which I see are invoiced at just $26,240; and when
you consider that no duties, port-charges, or commissions are to be
deducted, but that the dollars under our feet are all our own, without
any drawbacks, I call the operation a good one. Then that blundering
through the Straits, though it must never be talked of in any other
light than a bold push for a quick passage, did us a wonderful deal of
good, shoving us ahead near a month in time. It has put us so much
ahead of our calculations, indeed, that I would cruise for Frenchmen
for five or six weeks, were there the least probability that one of
the chaps was to the westward of the Horn. Such not being the fact,
however, and there still being a very long road before us, I have
thought it best to push for the next point of destination. Read that
page of the owner's idees, Mr. Wallingford, and you will get their
advice for just such a situation as that in which we find ourselves."
The passage pointed out by Captain Marble was somewhat parenthetical,
and was simply intended to aid Captain Williams, in the event of his
not being able to accomplish the other objects of his voyage. It had a
place in the instructions, indeed, solely on account of a suggestion
of Marble's himself, the project being one of those favourite schemes
of the mate, that men sometimes maintain through thick or thin, until
they get to be ruling thoughts. On Captain Williams it had not weighed
a feather; his intention having been to proceed to the Sandwich
Islands for sandalwood, which was the course then usually pursued by
North-West traders, after quitting the coast. The parenthetical
project, however, was to touch at the last island, procure a few
divers, and proceed in quest of certain islands where it was supposed
the pearl fishery would succeed. Our ship was altogether too large,
and every way too expensive, to be risked in such an adventure, and so
I told the ex-mate without any scruple. But this fishery was a "fixed
idea," a quick road to wealth, in the new captain's mind, and finding
it in the instructions, though simply as a contingent course, he was
inclined to regard it as the great object of the voyage. Such it was
in his eyes, and such it ought to be, as he imagined, in those of the
owners.
Marble had excellent qualities in his way, but he was not fit to
command a ship. No man could stow her better, fit her better, sail her
better, take better care of her in heavy weather, or navigate her
better; and yet he wanted the judgment necessary to manage the
property that must be committed to his care, and he had no more ideas
of commercial thrift, than if he had never been employed in any of the
concerns of commerce. This was, in truth, the reason he had never
risen any higher in his profession, the mercantile instinct—one of
the liveliest and most acute to be found in natural history—forewarning
his different owners that he was already in the berth nature and art
had best qualified him to fill. It is wonderful how acute even dull
men get to be, on the subject of money!
I own my judgment, such as it was at nineteen, was opposed to the
opinion of the captain. I could see that the contingency contemplated
by the instructions had not arisen, and that we should be acting more
in conformity with the wishes of the owners, by proceeding to the
Sandwich Islands in quest of sandal-wood, and thence to China, after a
cargo of teas. Marble was not to be convinced, however, though I think
my arguments shook him a little. What might have been the result, it
is difficult to say, had not chance befriended the views of each of
us, respectively. It is proper to add, that Marble availed himself of
this opportunity to promote Talcott, who was brought into the cabin as
third-mate. I rejoiced greatly in this addition to our little circle
on the quarter-deck, Talcott being a man of education, much nearer my
own age than the two others, and united to me by unusual ties since
our common adventure in the prize. I was not only rejoiced to be able
to associate with him, but to hear him called
Mr
. Talcott.
We had a long, but mild, passage to the Sandwich Islands. This group
occupied a very different place, in the opinions of the world, in the
year 1800, from that it fills to-day. Still it had made some small
advances in civilization since the time of Cook. I am told there are
churches, taverns, billiard-tables, and stone dwellings in these
islands now, which are fast turning to the Christian religion, and
obtaining the medley of convenience, security, vice, roguery, law and
comfort, that is known as civilization. It was far different then, our
reception being by men who were but a small degree removed from
savages. Among those who first came on board us, however, was the
master of an American brig, belonging to Boston, whose vessel had got
on a reef, and bilged. He intended to remain by the wreck, but wished
to dispose of a considerable amount of sandal-wood that was still in
his vessel, and for the safety of which he was under great concern, as
the first gale of wind might scatter it to the winds of the ocean. If
he could obtain a fresh stock of goods to trade on, he proposed
remaining on the islands until another vessel belonging to the same
owners, which was expected in a few months, should arrive, on board
which vessel he intended to embark with everything he could save from
the wreck, and such wood as he could purchase in the interim. Captain
Marble rubbed his hands with delight, when he returned from a visit to
the wreck, his arrangements all completed.
"Luck is with us, Master Miles," he said, "and we'll be off for them
pearl fisheries next week. I have bought all the sandal-wood in the
wreck, paying in trumpery, and at prices only about double Indian
trade, and we will heave up, and carry the ship round to the wreck,
and begin to take in this afternoon. There is capital holding-ground
inside the reef, and the ship can be safely carried within a hundred
fathoms of her cargo!"
All turned out as Marble had hoped and predicted, and the Crisis was
back at her anchorage in front of the village, which is now the city
of Honolulu, within the week named. We got our supply of hogs, and
having procured four of the best divers going, we sailed in quest of
Captain Marble's Eldorado of pearls. I was less opposed to the scheme
than I had been, for we were now so much in advance of our time, that
we could afford to pass a few weeks among the islands, previously to
sailing for China. Our course was to the south-west, crossing the line
in about 170° west longitude. There was a clear sea, for more than a
fortnight, while we were near the equator, the ship making but little
progress. Glad enough was I to hear the order given to turn more to
the northward again; for the heat was oppressive, and this was
inclining towards our route to China. We had been out from Owyhee, as
it was then usual to call the island where Cook was killed—Hawaii, as
it is called to-day—we had been out from this island, about a month,
when Marble came up to me one fine, moon-light evening, in my watch,
rubbing his hands, as was his custom when in good humour, and broke
out as follows:—
"I'll tell you what, Miles," he said, "you and I have been salted down
by Providence for something more than common! Just look back at all
our adventures in the last three years, and see what they come
to. Firstly, there was shipwreck over here on the coast of
Madagascar," jerking his thumb over a shoulder in a manner that was
intended to indicate about two hundred degrees of longitude, that
being somewhat near our present distance from the place he mentioned,
in an air line; "then followed the boat business under the Isle of
Bourbon, and the affair with the privateer off Guadaloupe. Well, as if
that wern't enough, we ship together again in this vessel, and a time
we had of it with the French letter-of-marque. After that, a devil of
a passage we made of it through the Straits of Magellan. Then came the
melancholy loss of Captain Williams, and all that business; after
which we got the sandal-wood out of the wreck, which I consider the
luckiest transaction of all."
"I hope you don't set down the loss of Captain Williams among our
luck, sir!"
"Not I, but the stuff is all logged together, you know; and, in
overhauling for one idee, in such a mess, a fellow is apt to get hold
of another. As I was saying, we have been amazingly lucky, and I
expect nothing else but we shall discover an island yet!"
"Can that be of any great service to us? There are so many owners
ready to start up and claim such discoveries, that I question if it
would do us any great benefit."
"Let them start up—who cares for them; we'll have the christening,
and that's half the battle. Marble Land, Wallingford Bay, Talcott
Hills, and Cape Crisis, would look well on a chart—ha! Miles?"
"I have no objection to see it, sir."
"Land ho!" cried the look-out on the forecastle.
"There it is now, by George!" cried Marble, springing forward—"I
overhauled the chart half an hour since, and there ought to be nothing
within six hundred miles of us."
There it was, sure enough, and much nearer to us than was at all
desirable. So near, indeed, that the wash of the breakers on the reef
that so generally lies off from the low coral islands of the Pacific,
was distinctly audible from the ship. The moon gave a strong light, it
is true, and the night was soft and balmy; but the air, which was very
light, blew directly towards this reef, and then there were always
currents to apprehend. We sounded, but got no bottom.
"Ay, this is one of your coral reefs, where a man goes on the rocks
from off soundings, at a single jump," muttered Marble, ordering the
ship brought by the wind on the best tack to haul off shore. "No
notice, and a wreck. As for anchoring in such a place, a fellow might
as well run a line out to Japan; and, could an anchor find the bottom,
the cable would have some such berth as a man who slept in a hammock
filled with open razors."