Hurricane Hurry Part 25

The sky, however, gave no indication of any change of the sort. Grampus and Tom I saw pulling very long faces at each other, as much as to say, "It's all up with us." They were too right. On came the headmost s.h.i.+p with the Dolphin hand over hand, the flag of France flaunting proudly at her peak. A shot from one of her bow guns was a significant notice to me to heave-to. I did so with a very bad grace, and as I put down my helm, I could not help wis.h.i.+ng that France and all Frenchmen were swept away into the ocean.

"They always have been, and always will be, an unmitigated nuisance to old England!" I exclaimed, as I took a turn on the deck, while my little craft lay bobbing away slowly at our big opponent, which, having also hove-to, was lowering a boat to board us. Then I took up the bundle of letters and hove them overboard, when down they sank, probably to find a tomb in the stomach of some hungry shark.

"At all events, Messieurs c.r.a.pauds, you will not be much the wiser for what is in them," I exclaimed with a feeling of no little bitterness.

If I did not feel inclined exactly to cut my own throat, I certainly had a very strong wish to knock the fellows on the head whom I saw pulling towards me. It did not take me many minutes to pack up my own wardrobe.

My people, as is usual, put on all the clothes they possessed, one over the other, and then we all stood ready to receive our most unwelcome visitors.

Their boat was soon alongside, and a well-dressed, gentlemanly-looking officer jumped on board, and announced to me in English that I was a prize to the French frigate Chermente of thirty-two guns, Captain McNamara, an Irishman in the French service.

"It is the fortune of war," he observed. "You did your best to escape us when you found out that we were not your friends. You and your people will come on board my s.h.i.+p; the schooner may be useful to us."

I could only bow to this polite speech, and say that I was ready to attend him on board his s.h.i.+p. The French seamen, however, did not seem inclined to treat us with much ceremony, and several who came on board rummaged about in every direction to pick up whatever they could find.

With a heavy heart I left the Dolphin, and was soon transferred to the deck of the French frigate. The squadron to which I had become a prize consisted of the Dedaigneuse and Chermente, both of thirty-two guns, the Active of twenty-eight, and the Providence privateer, which with the Active they had taken the day before. I cannot say much for the discipline of the French frigate; for it appeared to me that the crew were very much inclined to be insubordinate, in consequence of which the officers had to exercise a considerable amount of severity in keeping them under necessary discipline.

It was a bitter pill I was compelled to swallow. For ten long years I had been serving my country incessantly as mids.h.i.+pman and master's mate, and now at the very moment when I felt sure that I was about to emerge from the subordinate rank of a petty officer, and to obtain my commission as a lieutenant, no longer to be subject to the midnight calls of quartermasters and the unnumbered snubs which patient mids.h.i.+pmen from their superiors take, I found all my hopes of my promotion dashed to the ground, and myself an unhappy prisoner of war.

I had, however, plenty of companions to share my misfortune; on board the two French frigates were most of the officers and crew of the Active, as well as of the privateer. Scarcely had I stepped on board than who should I see walking the deck in melancholy mood but my old friend and messmate Delisle, and by his side was Paddy O'Driscoll. How changed had soon become the light-hearted, jovial mids.h.i.+pman! The feeling of captivity was weighing heavily on his spirits. Indeed, what is there more galling to an officer than to see the s.h.i.+p to which he lately belonged in the hands of his enemies, and himself compelled to submit to any commands they may choose to issue? They both, as they turned in their walk, started at seeing me; for of course they did not know that I was on board the vessel just captured. They came forward and shook hands warmly.

"I cannot welcome you on board this craft, my dear Hurry," said Delisle, "though under other circ.u.mstances I should have been truly glad to fall in with you."

"Bad luck to the day when we fell into the power of the Frenchmen!"

exclaimed O'Driscoll. "And to think that an Irishman, or the son of an Irishman maybe, should be their captain makes matters worse. I'm ashamed of my countryman, that I am, except that to be sure he has behaved like a gentleman to us since we came on board, and so have all his officers."

"What more could we expect?" said I. "He did but his duty in capturing us: perhaps before long the tables may be turned, you know. There's a larger squadron of our s.h.i.+ps not far-off, and I don't give up all hopes that these s.h.i.+ps may fall in with them."

My two friends p.r.i.c.ked up their ears at what I told them, though I myself was very far from sanguine about the two squadrons meeting.

Should they meet I had no doubt which would prove victorious. We of course did not express our hopes to our captors, but we kept a constant look-out for the British squadron. Not a sail, however, appeared, our hopes of obtaining our freedom grew less and less, and on the 11th of the month sunk to zero when we entered the harbour of Cape Francois. We found there the French frigate Concorde and the late British frigate Minerva which she had captured. There were also several sail of French Saint Domingo s.h.i.+ps. In my hurry and annoyance on quitting the Dolphin I discovered that I had left behind me my chest of clothes. They were not of any great value, though, as I much wanted them, they were so to me. I therefore requested Captain McNamara to send for them. He at once politely complied with my wish, but the mids.h.i.+pman he sent soon returned with the unpleasant information that the chest was in the cabin, but was empty. It appeared that after the Chermente's boat had left the Dolphin, the people of the Dedaigneuse had boarded her, and plundered her of everything of value. When Captain McNamara heard of this, he instantly sent on board that s.h.i.+p, and endeavoured to recover my property; but all his trouble was in vain. The French seamen were far too knowing to give up anything they had once got possession of, and after a good deal of trouble I was finally compelled to be content with my loss, as I saw that there was no probability of recovering my property.

On the 14th my brother-officers lately belonging to the Active and I were politely informed that we were to be conducted on sh.o.r.e to give our parole that we would not attempt to make our escape. After a short consultation, we all agreed that, although to get away from the lion's jaws into which we had fallen was not altogether impossible, it was very unlikely that we should succeed, and that by not giving our parole we should be subject to a vast deal of annoyance, it was wiser at once to give it, and to wait patiently till we were exchanged. Constant confinement in a prison in the West Indies, or on board a guard-s.h.i.+p in harbour, it was suggested was very likely to release us; but it would be into another world, to which we had just then no inclination to go if we could help it. We were received on sh.o.r.e by a guard of ill-favoured blacks--"regular blackguards," as O'Driscoll observed--between whom we were conducted to the residence of his Excellency Governor D'Argu. We were kept waiting for some time in a balcony which ran round the house, subject to the inspection and remarks of a number of black and brown urchins, who made us feel some of the bitters of captivity by jeering and pointing at us, while we had not even the power to drive them away.

At length an officer came into the balcony and asked us into a large room, furnished only with mats, a few chairs, and some marble tables, on which stood some red earthenware jars, full of water, and some decanters of claret, looking very cool and pleasant. The great man was seated at a table at one end of the room. He received us, I thought, at first very grumpily. He did not understand English, but I recognised the polite officer who had boarded the Dolphin when I was captured, and who appeared to be there in the capacity of an interpreter. The governor enquired our respective ranks. I fully expected to be cla.s.sed among the mids.h.i.+pmen, and to receive my pay and treatment accordingly; but I fortunately had in my pocket the appointment given me by Sir Peter Parker as acting-lieutenant of the Camel. I bethought me of exhibiting it, and, much to my satisfaction, it was acknowledged, and I was told that I should be treated in all respects as a lieutenant, especially as I had been in command of a vessel when captured. I was surprised indeed to find a considerable sense of justice in all the proceedings of our captors at this time. Perhaps the bitter feeling they afterwards entertained for the English, when they had sustained numberless defeats, had not then sprung up. My friend, the second captain of the Chermente, having explained to us the alternative to which we should be subject if we refused to pledge our words of honour, told us that we should be at liberty to go on sh.o.r.e whenever we liked, and to walk about within a distance of a mile from the sh.o.r.e. Some of us complained of the narrowness of the circle to which we were confined. The governor looked quietly up, and remarked that we might consider ourselves fortunate that it was no narrower. The observation was interpreted for our benefit, and no further remark was made on the subject. We all went through the ceremony required of us, and then, without loss of time, were once more marched down to the boats and conveyed on board the Chermente, where all the rest of the prisoners were collected. Most of the men were sent away in a cartel. Nol Grampus parted from me with great reluctance, but when Tom Rockets was told he must go, he turned round towards me and exclaimed--

"Mr Hurry, sir, do you want to part with me? I've sailed with you since I was a boy, and, come foul weather or fair, if I have my will I'll follow you still. Just tell these mounseers that you want a servant to tend on you, and that you can't do without me, and then maybe they'll let me stay."

I tried to persuade Tom that it would be better for him to go away, but all I could say would not turn him from his purpose, and so I made his wishes known to the governor. To my surprise, he was allowed to remain in the capacity of my servant, on my pledging my word that he would not attempt to escape. I afterwards found that a considerable number of seamen were detained by the French, to be exchanged afterwards when more Frenchmen were taken prisoners. On the outbreak of the war on this station, at all events, the French had, I believe, the advantage in that respect. Afterwards, however, it was all the other way, and we English had more prisoners than we could well look after.

We spent a week on board the Chermente while, I suppose, our captors were considering what was to be done with us. Now I must say that, though I have no love for the French, or French manners or customs or ideas, still I should be very ungrateful if I did not acknowledge the kindness and attention we all received from Captain McNamara and his officers. O'Driscoll said it all arose from his father being an Irishman. However, as his officers were not Irishmen, I am inclined to believe that a portion of the nation are capable of great courtesy and kindness, and I am not at all disposed to utter a sweeping condemnation against them, like an old master in the service whom I once knew. My worthy messmate was taken prisoner and kept in France some eight or ten years or more. When at last he was released, and an officer was wanted for some special purpose who spoke French well, he was applied to, it being supposed that by that time he would have acquired a perfect knowledge of the language. "What!" he exclaimed, with an indignant expression, "do you suppose that I would so far forget what was due to my nation and my profession as to go and learn the humbugging ugly language of the enemies of my country? No, indeed, I did my best not to learn a word, and I am proud to say that I know as little of French now as when I was first taken prisoner." Though I may have laughed at my worthy friend's want of worldly wisdom, I could never help admiring his st.u.r.dy, uncompromising patriotism.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

ORDERED TO PROCEED TO OU TROU.--ESCAPE FROM OUR BLACK GUARDS.--KIND RECEPTION AT A COUNTRY-HOUSE.--OUR GUARDS RE-APPEAR. MEET DELISLE.-- AGAIN WELL ENTERTAINED BY A PLANTER.--ADVENTURES ON THE ROAD.--REACH OU TROU.--PUT UP IN A STABLE.--BAD TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR.

Hitherto we had been treated with kindness and attention by the officers of the French frigate, but a change in our lot was about to occur. On the 20th September we were suddenly ordered to go on sh.o.r.e, and when there we found that we were to prepare for an immediate start to a place called Ou Trou, thirty miles away in the interior. Having been marched up to the governor's house, we were told to be ready to commence our journey by three o'clock, and were then allowed to go about our business. We accordingly, feeling the necessity of fortifying the inner man, went to the first inn of which the place could boast, called the Dutch Hotel, and ordered the best dinner it could turn out. "Plenty of wine!" was the general cry, at which Mynheer von Tromp grinned furiously. We were just the customers he liked, and promised to fulfil our wishes to the utmost of his power. In the meantime we strolled about the town. There was very little to attract us in it, and our footsteps took us involuntarily to a spot whence we could obtain a good view of the ocean, which we feared that we were destined for so long a time not again to see. Alas! how many of us were destined never again to behold that ocean we loved so well! As Delisle and I sat together and looked out on the bright blue expanse spread before us, and dotted here and there with white sails glancing in the sunbeams, and observed the unfrequented sh.o.r.e and the fishermen's boats drawn up on the beach, we agreed how easy it would have been, had we not given our parole, to have made our escape, and as to danger, we settled that we would have run it willingly for the sake of escaping from our confinement. We would have put off in one of the canoes and pulled away right out to sea till we were picked up by an English cruiser or merchantman. While we were sitting admiring the scene several negroes pa.s.sed us, great, big, burly fellows, laughing and singing at the top of their voices. Each couple of them carried a burden resting on two poles. We soon suspected their errand. On reaching the beach, close to the water, they threw down their burdens and began digging away with short spades they carried at their waists. They did not cease laughing and shouting, and had soon dug a shallow hole big enough to contain a dozen people. The burdens which they had borne to the spot were quickly tumbled in. Before the operations were concluded other big, half-naked negroes arrived with more corpses, which were treated in the same unceremonious manner, and then all were speedily covered up, and the black monsters went stamping and dancing, singing all the while, carelessly over the huge grave.

"Who can they be?" I asked of Delisle; "I mean the poor fellows who lie buried down there at our feet."

My messmate spoke French, so he called one of the negroes as they pa.s.sed and made the inquiry of him. The black fellow grinned horribly.

"English seamen. Taken prisoners lately. They have the fever among them. Yellow Jack. They are dying like rotten sheep. No matter. They are all heretics, so we bury them here. They are not fit for consecrated ground. Bah!" was the answer, delivered with a broad grin, as if the speaker had uttered a good joke.

Delisle turned away and came back to me.

"Let us return to the inn," said I. "It must be dinner-time; I cannot enjoy this spot any longer."

All our party quickly a.s.sembled at the hotel, and we soon forgot the unpleasant scene we had witnessed. Mynheer had not forgotten our order to have an abundance of liquor ready, though I cannot say much for the delicacy of the viands he placed before us. I know that the bottles circulated round the table very rapidly, and that the wine was p.r.o.nounced very good. It possessed, I remember, the quality of being very strong, so that we soon forgot, thanks to its fumes, all the misfortunes which had been oppressing our spirits, and soon hilarity and fun reigned among us. While we held up our sparkling gla.s.ses, and the joke and laugh went round, no one would have supposed that we were a party of forlorn prisoners about to be marched off to a solitary abode in the midst of a half-barbarous island. Toasts and sentiments were uttered, and even songs were sung, and, for my own part, I know that I entirely forgot where I was or what I was about to do. While our revels were at their height a black officer made his appearance at the door.

"Messieurs, it is time to begin your journey. Your mules are at the door. You must mount at once and proceed."

The order was more easily given than obeyed. With regard to the matter of mounting and sticking on, that, in whatever condition a seaman is, he can generally accomplish; but the guiding a horse, mule, or donkey is a very different affair, and beyond often the power of a sober sailor, much more of a drunken one.

"Oh, bad luck to the blackguards! we are not going to have our conviviality cut short by them or any like them!" exclaimed O'Driscoll, filling up his gla.s.s with Burgundy as some of the party were about to rise from their chairs.

"Let's sit down and be merry yet awhile longer--we shall not get such liquor as this at the town where we are to take up our abode." He little knew what a true word he was speaking when he said that. His example was infectious, and, captain and all, we sat down and filled up our gla.s.ses. A toast was proposed, succeeded by a tremendous rapping on the table. Before it had ceased the door was swung open and a n.i.g.g.e.r officer marched into the room in a furious rage.

"For what you disobey orders?" he exclaimed, in very tolerable n.i.g.g.e.r-English; "you come out at once and mount, or I get the whip in among you and make you fly!"

"Ho, ho, Quasho, you've got an English tongue in your head! where did you pick that up, you rascal--you run-away slave from Jamacy, I guess-- eh, eh?" cried O'Driscoll, turning round and looking at the fellow with an expression of supreme contempt.

I fully expected to see the anger of the negro become ungovernable; instead of that, however, he prepared to back out of the room, and as far as a negro can turn pale, he did so, and seemed at once to lose all power of speech.

"You've hit the right nail on the head, O'Driscoll," observed Delisle; "however, there is no use in exciting the anger of the people, we may suffer for it in the end."

Others were of the latter opinion; and at last we all rose, and paying the landlord's somewhat extortionate demand with the best grace we could, considering the hole it made in our pocket, went out to inspect our beasts. They were tolerably strong animals, and two or three looked as if they had some go in them, at all events.

"I say, Hurry, just keep an eye on those two beasts," said O'Driscoll, pointing at two of the best mules. "No one else seems to know one brute from another."

Such was the case, for all hands, except Delisle, were more than three sheets in the wind. Poor Robson, one of the lieutenants, was one of the worst. Two negroes mounted on mules appeared to serve as our escort or guard. They were armed with long, formidable-looking pistols stuck in their belts, with hangers by their sides. Had we wished to get away, or had we known of any place to which we could fly, we should have used wondrous little ceremony in disposing of them.

"Mount, gen'men, mount!" exclaimed the black officer.

"More easily said than done, old codger," hiccoughed Robson, essaying to get across the back of a restive mule. "I should like to see your n.i.g.g.e.r grand excellency with three bottles of Burgundy under your belt attempting to do that same. However, to men of courage nothing is impossible--so here goes. Heave ahead, my hearties!" Making a spring, he threw himself on to the top of the saddle, but with an impetus so great that he toppled over completely and came down on his nose on the opposite side.

One of our black escort, seeing the catastrophe, hurried up to help the fallen officer. Robson seeing him coming, and not comprehending his intentions, tackled him at once as if he had been an enemy, and the moment he came within reach began pommelling him away most vehemently.

This naturally excited Sambo's anger, and forgetting his habitual dread of white men, he paid him back much in the same coin. The spectators meantime shouted with laughter, urging on the combatants. Drunk as he was, Robson soon, I saw, got much the best of it, and was punis.h.i.+ng the n.i.g.g.e.r most severely. The latter did not like this treatment, and was, I suspected, growing vicious. Now one rolled in the dust, now the other, but Sambo was generally the sufferer. Fearing that he might make use of a long knife I saw stuck in his belt, I made signs to Tom Rockets, who not having had the means of procuring Burgundy, was happily sober, to go in and put an end to the combat.

Poor Tom had better not have interfered, for Sambo, mistaking him for his first antagonist, began pommelling away most furiously at his head, while Robson, not comprehending the cause of his interference, attacked him on the other side.

"Who are you, you son of a sea-cook, who ventures to interfere in the quarrels of two gentlemen, I should like to know?" he hiccoughed out; "let me tell you, I don't allow such proceedings!"

"My eyes, two gentlemen!" exclaimed Tom, fairly nonplussed; "you is an officer, sir, but a rum sort of gentleman is t'other, I should think."

Tom bore his hammering for some time, when, getting a fair lick at Sambo, he sent him spinning away ten yards off with a blow of his ox-like fist. Sambo looked very much astonished, scarcely comprehending at first whence the blow had come, but it had the effect of teaching him, I suspect, for the future, to respect the arm of a British tar, and of putting an end to the combat, which, I fain must own, did not redound much to the credit of my brother-officer.

"Come, sir," quoth honest Tom, seizing him by the leg, "just let me hoist you aboard this here animal, you'll be more comfortable-like than kicking away here on the ground."