The Young Deliverers of Pleasant Cove

  CHAPTER XI.

  A STARTLING DISCLOSURE.

  By reason of the tarry of the Arthur Brown in the oven, her voyage wasso lengthened, that much uneasiness was felt respecting her at PleasantCove, and in Salem, by the parents of the captain and Ned.

  A great many consultations were held between Lion Ben, Captain Rhines,Fred Williams, John Rhines, and Charlie Bell, her owners.

  "Father," said Ben, "I'm afraid they have been taken by the English, orfoundered in a levanter. Only consider how much longer they have beengone than they were on the other trip!"

  "They say," replied Fred, "that people there are killing eachother--half of them drunk, the rest crazy; perhaps they've beenmurdered."

  Charlie Bell thought, that as affairs there were in a very unsettledstate, the people had but a scanty supply of food, and the vessel beingloaded with provision, the mob might have boarded her, and helpedthemselves.

  "I don't see any particular cause for so much concern, boys," said theold captain. "If it was peaceable times, and the Arthur Brown was aregular trader, it would be another matter, and there might be somereason for anxiety; but there are a thousand things that might delaya blockade-runner. We have heard the blockade is very strict now thatNelson is there, and we all know what he is. She may have had bad landfalls, been chased off the coast half a dozen times, had her sailsblown away, or lost some spars, and had to go to Leghorn to repair,or have been crippled by a broadside, as she came near being before.I've been there a good deal in past days, sometimes for a long time. InDecember and January they have most delightful weather, and no stormsto scatter blockaders; and then, when it gets into February, they'llcome."

  "Well, father," said Ben, "we are out of the world; can't hearanything. I wish you would start off up to Boston and see Mr. Welch;perhaps you may get some information there."

  This request being seconded by the others, the captain said, "I don'tknow but I will; I shall have to go up before long to see him on someother business, and the coaster is going up the last of the week."

  He obtained no information in Boston or Salem, but determined toremain there a while. On going through a portion of the town very muchoccupied with sailor boarding-houses, he made a short cut through"Black Dog Alley," when his progress was stopped by a crowd of sailors,all more or less under the influence of liquor. One old tar had takenit into his head to hire a truckman's horse for a ride up and down thestreet. Drunk as he was, he sat the horse well; for, as he boasted,he had been brought up among horses, and was half horse himself. Hewould not have the harness taken off the horse, which was a leader, butmounted, taking the trace-chains on his shoulder, with the rattling ofwhich he and all seemed to be delighted; and, as he was flush of money,his vest pockets being crammed with bills, besides some silver in apurse which he frequently shook in the truckman's face, exclaiming,"Rich owners, my old boy!" the latter seemed inclined to submit toall his whims. He was surrounded by an admiring crowd of shipmates,who, like himself, had just been paid off, all gloriously drunk, butgood-natured, and bent on having a merry time of it. In addition tothese was a crowd of loafers and loungers, such as are generallyabundant when sailors are paid off and liquor is plenty.

  The dress of this horseman was comical enough. He had on a pair ofTurkish trousers, an India shawl round his waist for a sash, a shirtmade of fine grass-cloth also of East India manufacture, exceedinglyfine and beautiful; on his head a Greek cap, which made his large,flushed features appear most prominent; his cue was wound with redribbon, the two ends streaming down his back, and red slippers on hisfeet. Over the beautiful shirt were the rusty trace-chains, the hooksof which chafed against the shawl at every motion of the horse.

  After shaking his purse in the truckman's face, and boasting of hisriches, he next took it into his head to beg, and, pulling off his cap,he knocked the top in, causing it to resemble a bowl.

  "Christian people, one and all," cried he, in doleful accents, holdingout the cap, "pity a poor, disenabled sailor, who's lost his legsfighting for his country, whose father and mother are frying eggs ina wooden saucepan on the rock of Gibraltar; pity him, good people, anddrop a shot in the lee locker."

  As he concluded, cheers arose from the crowd, and his shipmates flung ashower of small coin into the cap, when, whirling it around his head,the silver was scattered among the crowd, creating a universal scramble.

  The truckman now wanted his horse.

  "Your horse! You're drunk, old boy, and don't know what you're talkingabout. I've chartered this 'ere horse for the vige, and the vige ain'tup yet. Ain't that so, shipmates?"

  This declaration was followed by a cheer of assent. Captain Rhines,meanwhile, was making strenuous efforts to get through the crowd, forhe had recognized in the sailor on horseback Dick Cameron, who hadbeen a great many voyages with him. Dick was an especial favorite withCaptain Rhines, for he was a splendid seaman when at sea and away fromliquors, and the captain would have been right glad to have met andshaken hands with his old shipmate when sober, or to have entertainedhim at his house; but he dreaded recognition by him in his presentstate, and was striving to avoid it. Dick, however, caught sight ofhim; for he was too conspicuous, by his size and noble physique, toescape notice in a crowd.

  Dick hailed him with shout and gesture that drew the eyes of all uponhim in an instant.

  "Shipmates," he cried, "as I'm alive and a sinner, if here ain't myold cap'n, Cap'n Ben Rhines, the best man that ever sailed salt water;as knows how to carry sail, and how to take in sail; none of yourkid-glove gentry! Ah, my boys, he's sailed for it! None of your ship'scousins; a man as knows when a man does his duty, and how to keep gooddis-_cip_-line on board ship" (emphasizing the second syllable of"discipline," as seamen generally do). "No humbugging, nor calling menout of their watch or out of their names, on board his ship. God blessyou, cap'n! I thought you was dead and gone to heaven long ago. Ah,cap'n, we've sailed the salt seas together round the Hook of Holland,round Cape Horn, through the Straits of Gibraltar, and on the SpanishMain. Haven't we had some tough ones on the coast? How are you, cap'n?"

  "First rate, Dick. How are you, and where have you been all these yearssince you disappeared in Calcutta? I thought you was overboard, orknocked on the head with a slung shot; for I never believed you wouldrun away from me."

  "Run away from _you_, cap'n? I would run to you as I would to my motherif she was alive, God bless her! I got a dose of sheet lightning, and,when I waked up, I was aboard an English ship bound to Australia. Whatbecome of my clothes? I had a good chistful."

  "I kept them aboard till I gave them all away to sailors that had beenrobbed by the land-sharks."

  "Jest right, cap'n, jest like you. Now, shipmates, give me a fist. Iwant to go ashore, and shake the cap'n's flippers."

  With their aid he dismounted, and, getting hold of the captain's hand,which he extended most cordially, he continued to pour forth hisprotestations of respect and affection.

  "How is the wife, cap'n, and the pickaninnies, and that leetle boy ofyours, what's got Bunker Hill on his shoulders? Ah, shipmates, that'sthe bully boy can bend a crowbar over his knee, and mast-head a topsailalone."

  "They are all well. But where are you from, Dick?"

  "Messina."

  "Have you spoke any American vessels on the coast?"

  "Yes; two."

  "What were they?"

  "West Indiamen from Antigua, bound into New London."

  "How long have you been ashore?"

  "Since eight o'clock this morning--jest long enough to moisten the claya little."

  Here the conversation was interrupted by the truckman attempting tolead off the horse, having received his pay in advance; but thisDick's shipmates would by no means permit. One shook his fist in thetruckman's face, threatening to drive his teeth down his throat;another seized the horse by the bridle, while two others caught hold ofhis long tail.

  "Catch a turn, Bill, round that timber-head."

  Bill caught a turn with the tail round a barbe
r's pole that was set inthe ground before the door of a grog-shop, the barber occupying roomsoverhead. But the horse, not accustomed to being thus dealt with, beganto kick and jump, amid the cheers and laughter of the crowd, till hepulled the pole over amongst them.

  In order to restore good feeling, Dick now proposed to the truckman totake some bitters.

  "I say, Dick," said Bill Matthews, "it seems to me as how you ought totreat this 'ere horse."

  "So I will, shipmates, bless me if I don't," said Dick, who hadmeantime been trying to persuade the captain to drink with him. "If thecap'n _won't_ drink, the horse _shall_;" and, mounting, he intended toride him into the bar-room. The horse protested, and so did his owner,but both alike without success. Despite his struggles, the beast waspushed up three steps, into the bar-room.

  "Mix him a good stiff glass, Tom," said Dick. "He needs it."

  The bar-keeper, nothing loath, as he calculated to get his pay forall the liquor poured out, whether drank or not, obeyed. The room wascrammed, all crowding in to see the fun and share the drinking, as Dickhad invited all hands; no change out of a dollar.

  Captain Rhines might have escaped now; but he wished to make somefurther inquiries of Dick. He was interrupted by the truckman callingfor his horse, and the disturbance that followed; so he remained on thesidewalk.

  Just as they were attempting to turn the liquor down the beast'sthroat, the floor broke through with the great weight, and both horseand crowd went into the cellar. None, however, were seriously injured.Some were cut with broken glass of tumblers and bottles, some bruisedby the struggles of the horse: but, as usual, those drunkest fared thebest. Dick escaped unharmed, and the horse was not injured.

  The captain now got hold of Dick again.

  "Were those two West Indiamen all the vessels you saw or spoke?"

  "All we spoke, cap'n; but there was one went by us, beating up the bayyesterday arternoon, like as we had been lying at anchor."

  "What kind of a vessel?"

  "A brigantine; a raal sharp-shooter," said Matthews.

  "How painted?"

  "All one color, spars and all, betwixt black and a lead color. I saysto Dick (we was on the fore-topsail-yard, freshening the sarvice on thetopgallant-sheet), 'Dick,' says I, 'that's some kind of a smuggler, orslaver, or something. So handsome a clipper as that's not painted sucha color for nothing.'"

  "Was she heavy sparred? Did she carry a press of sail?"

  "She was all sail; long yards, and plenty of staysails and savealls, awhacking mainsail, and a ringtail at the end of it. I noticed it," saidDick, "and spoke of it then, what a spread she had to her fore-riggingand long spreaders on the cross-trees to spread the topgallant androyal back-stays."

  "That must be the vessel I'm looking for; but if she passed you,beating up, why ain't she here?"

  "She went into Salem."

  "O, ho! went into Salem! Then it's her. The captain belongs in Salem;and, as he had a head wind and tide, he went in there, and will be upto-day."

  Captain Rhines had proceeded but a little way after leaving Dick,when, just before him, a man was pushed out of the door of a sailorboarding-house, and fell his whole length on the sidewalk. He rosewith difficulty to his feet as the captain came along, and addressedhim by name. He was covered with filth, his face bruised and bloody, abattered tarpaulin on his head, a beard of three weeks' growth, clothedin a red shirt, canvas trousers, and barefoot. He trembled like a manwith the fever and ague, evidently being in that state expressivelytermed by sailors the "horrors," and could scarcely stand.

  "Cap'n," he cried, "don't you know me?"

  "No," he replied, after looking at him a moment, "and don't want to."

  "I'm Percival, William Percival, that went mate of your ship withCaptain Aldrich."

  "Your own mother wouldn't know you, Percival. How came you in thiscondition?"

  "I've had hard luck, cap'n: been cast away; lost everything but what Istood in."

  The captain was the last man to be imposed upon. He had always believedthat Percival and Aldrich both were two precious rascals, saw in aninstant what had reduced him to his present state, and that the storyof shipwreck was manufactured at the spur of the moment.

  "You've cast yourself away," was the reply. "You might have been masterof a ship if you had behaved yourself, and had any principle. Don't lieto me. You've got the shakes on you this blessed minute."

  "That's so, cap'n," said the poor wretch, making a virtue of necessity;"but I only drank to drown misery. O, cap'n," he cried, stretching outhis hands, which trembled like an aspen leaf, "give me a quarter, justto get a little rum to taper off with."

  "Not a cent. You've had too much now."

  "O, cap'n, dear cap'n, do," cried the miserable wretch; "only afourpence ha'pp'ny, cap'n."

  "No."

  "Three cents, then, just to get one glass to taper off with."

  "Why don't you go and ship?"

  "No cap'n will have me as I look now, when men are plenty."

  "I will give you victuals."

  "I can't eat, nor I can't sleep."

  "If I give you clothes, you'll sell them for rum."

  The captain was turning to leave him, when he said, "I could tell yousomething that would make you shell out the chink."

  The captain, paying no attention, kept on, when he cried, "I can tellyou what became of that nigger you thought so much of."

  The captain whirled on his heel in an instant. "What nigger?"

  "Why, that was pilot in the Casco."

  "James Peterson?"

  "Ay."

  "I _know_ what became of him. He was drowned between the vessel and thewharf, in Martinique."

  "No, he wasn't."

  "What _did_ become of him?"

  "I can tell you what became of him if I like?"

  "I believe you lie."

  "Well, have it your own way, then."

  The captain mused a moment. He knew Aldrich and Percival well; thatthere was no principle in either of them; had never believed the storythat Peterson was in liquor, and fell overboard, but always mistrustedthere had been some foul play. His suspicions were now thoroughlyaroused, and he determined to sift the matter to the bottom.

  "Come along with me," he said.

  The seaman followed the captain to a sailor boarding-house, kept by anold acquaintance, with whom the latter had boarded when mate of a ship.

  "Mr. Washburn," said he, "I want you to oblige me by taking this manin. He's got the 'horrors.' Give him liquor enough to taper off with,clothes to make him decent, and look to me for pay."

  "I will, captain."

  He then said to Percival, "Clean yourself up, and get a night's sleep.I will come here to-morrow at ten o'clock; and, if I have reason tothink there's any truth in your statements, I'll do more for you."

  In the course of the afternoon the Arthur Brown came up with the floodtide. It was a joyful meeting between Captain Rhines, Arthur Brown,Walter, Ned, and the whole crew, who were all his neighbors. They spentthe evening talking over the events of the voyage, while the captainmade them acquainted with all that had taken place at home.

  Seeing Captain Rhines was next to seeing their own parents, especiallyto Ned, whose life he, with others, had saved. Ned got on one side andWalter the other, and plied him with questions about everybody andeverything at home.

  After retiring that night, the captain strove to recall all he had everheard said by any one of the crew who were in the Casco at the time ofthe mysterious disappearance of Peterson, and recollected that Eaton,who was a great friend to Peterson, said there had been some difficultybetween him and the captain on the passage out. He was sorely puzzled;for, from the time he first heard of the occurrence, he had cherishedan opinion that somehow or other Aldrich was concerned in the matter;still he could not help feeling that there was not the least evidenceof if, and that this opinion was based more upon his prejudice againstthe captain than upon anything else; while he had no better opinionof Percival than to belie
ve he would trump up any kind of a story,if there was the least possibility of its being believed, in orderto obtain money. At ten o'clock he was at Washburn's, where he foundPercival arrayed in a decent suit of seaman's clothes, clean, shaved,his nerves steadied by liquor and a night's rest, and altogetheranother man.

  It is even now a mooted question among physicians whether, in deliriumtremens, to give moderate doses of liquor to "taper off" with, as itis called, or not; but in those days there was but one opinion and onemode of practice--to give the individual a hair of the dog that bithim, which the captain had done.

  "Now, Percival," said he, "I am ready to hear what you have to say."

  "You see, Captain Aldrich was down on that nigger from the day he cameaboard the vessel."

  "What for?"

  "I'm sure I don't know, except because everybody else liked him. He wasthe best cook I ever see on board a vessel, and the best seaman; alwaysready to lend a hand, night or day; knew his place, and kept it."

  "You've told the truth there, Percival."

  "I intend to tell the truth all the way through. There was a good dealof hard feeling. The cap'n was overbearing. The men wouldn't stand it,because there was no occasion for it. He came near having a row withEaton, but thought better of it, and one day he picked a quarrel withthe nigger."

  "And how did he come out with that?"

  "Out of the little end of the horn, as they say. Peterson said somepretty hard things about him and his folks, which the men saidafterwards was all true, and set out to fling him overboard. He runaft, scared half to death."

  "I wish he had. He would have been no more in James Peterson's handsthan a peck of wheat bran."

  "Well, Aldrich was a very proud man, and it gravelled him terribly tobe put down by a nigger, and he was out with me, because I wouldn'ttake his part. He laid it up. I heard him swear a hundred times that hewould be square with that nigger before he left Martinique, and he wasas good as his word."

  "He murdered him?"

  "No, he sold him."

  "_Sold him!_ What do you mean by that?"

  "I mean that he sold him into slavery."

  "The villain! I never should have thought of that. And was you a partyto it?"

  "No."

  "Well, how was it managed?"

  "It came about after this fashion. I don't think the cap'n thoughthimself about selling him, but it was kind of flung in his way, and hejumped at it like a dolphin at a flying-fish. Perhaps you know Petersonwas a first-rate calker?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, there was a planter that lived on the other side of the island,somewhere, who had a lot of drogers that brought sugar and coffee. Oneday he was lying with his droger right under our stern, and Petersonwas on a stage, over the stem, calking. After that the planter cameon board, and I heard him say to Aldrich, 'Cap'n, I'll give you twothousand in gold for that nigger.' The cap'n laughed, but said nothing."

  "The planter was joking," said Captain Rhines; "I have had planters inCuba and Antigua say so to me a hundred times, when I've had Petersonand other darkies with me."

  "I've no doubt he was, when he first spoke; but it put an idea intoAldrich's head, and he carried it out. For some days after that, I sawhim and the planter Henri Lemaire always with their heads together onthe piles of boards, and saw them look at Peterson. Then they wouldbe together a long time in the cabin of his droger; and they had nobusiness with each other, for we hauled in to the government wharf,because we sold our lumber to the government. This set me on thelookout. I tried to listen, but couldn't get a chance to hear anything.One night the cap'n sent Peterson ashore with letters, and he nevercame back. Then I know he had sold him."

  "But he did come back. Danforth Eaton and all the crew told me thatthere was a good fire in the fireplace; that he had got breakfast wellunder way the next morning when they turned out, and had gone ashore,as they supposed, to get something for his 'lobscouse,' and felloverboard."

  "Peterson never made that fire, nor peeled the potatoes and onions, orcut the pork and put it in the frying-pan; but he pounded the coffeeand chopped the beef the night before, for I saw him do it."

  "Who did the rest?"

  "The cap'n did it himself."

  "The _captain_?"

  "Ay. I had a tooth that grumbled, and didn't sleep well. I heard thecap'n get out of his berth, like a, cat crawling after a squirrel, and,having my suspicions, I followed him, and saw what he was up to--sawhim kindle the fire, put on the tea-kettle, and do all the otherthings."

  "But his boy, Ben, told me that they found his handkerchief on thefender."

  "True; but it was a handkerchief that he wore on his head when he wascooking, and kept it on a nail before the fire, and the cap'n put it onthe fender himself. Besides, what did he want to send Peterson to theoffice with letters that were blank, if it was not to make an errand toget him ashore in the night, that he might be kidnapped?"

  "_Blank letters?_"

  "Ay. I peeked through the skylight, and saw him fold and direct them,and there was not a word written in them."

  The captain rose and took a turn or two across the room. He wasa shrewd judge of men, had watched Percival closely during theconversation, and was strongly inclined to believe all he said.

  His account of the captain's relations with the ship's company talliedprecisely with what he had previously heard from the men, and it seemedaltogether improbable, if not impossible, that he could have originatedsome of the statements.

  "I have always suspected," said the captain, sitting down again,"that there was foul play of some kind. I have known Ezra Aldrichfrom the egg, and knew he was capable of any kind of villany; neverwanted him to go in the ship, but was overruled by others. If whatyou say is true, it certainly looks like it. But how do you know thathe was sold? You have no proof. He might have been, and probably was,murdered. There are plenty of renegade Spaniards in Martinique, andFrenchmen, too, that would stab a man in in the back in the night fortwo dollars. There was Enoch Freeman, of North Yarmouth, a cooper, hada shop there for years, used to go out in the fall and come back afterit began to be hot (he went out with me a good many times), had somedifficulty with a Frenchman about coopering a cargo of sugar. He saw anigger hanging around his shop, and one of his men said to him, 'Mr.Freeman, that nigger means to kill you.' Freeman walks right up to thefellow, and says, 'What did that Frenchman offer you to kill me?' 'Twodollars.' 'Go and kill him, and I'll give you four.' The nigger wentand killed him."

  "But I know he sold him."

  "How do you know?"

  "Because he owned to me he did it."

  "How came he to be fool enough to do that?"

  "We had some difficulty in Martinique."

  "How was that?"

  "We were all discharged, and lay in the stream. The cap'n went ashorein the morning, and left orders with me to send the boat for him atfour o'clock. He came on board drunk and ugly enough. As soon as hegot his head over the rail, he sings out, 'Why wasn't that boat sentashore, as I ordered?'

  "'It was, sir.'

  "'No, it wasn't. I ordered the boat to be on the beach at four; it wasfive minutes after.'

  "He then began to blow round deck, growl, curse, and find fault.

  "'Why ain't those skids got ready,' he roared, 'to take in sugar? Thelighter will be alongside in the morning.'

  "'They are ready, sir.'

  "The skids were over the hatchway and blocked up.

  "'Well, they ain't right.'

  "'Yes, they are right, sir. I know how to rig skids to take in molassesand sugar, and how to stow it afterwards, as well as you, or any otherman.'

  "'You _do_--do you?'

  "'Yes, sir. I do.'

  "'Why ain't those head-stays set up, as I ordered, and chafing gear puton the forestay in the wake of the topsail?'

  "'There was not time, sir; the hold had to be cleared up, and thedunnage piled up fore and aft, ready for taking in cargo.'

  "'Why didn't you do it yourself, then?'

>   "'I didn't come here to work, sir.'

  "'What did you come for?'

  "'To see other folks work.'

  "I now left him, and went below; but he came down into the cabin, andbegan upon me again.

  "'If you come here to see other folks work, why don't you do it? Whydidn't you send that foretopsail down, and have it mended? The duty ofthe ship can't go on, if I am ashore seeing to my business.'

  "I couldn't bear no more, but walked straight up to him, and, lookinghim right in the eye, said, 'How about that nigger, Cap'n Aldrich? Howabout those blank letters, those onions and potatoes I saw you peeling,that handkerchief you put on the fender?' He changed countenance in amoment, became as pale as a corpse, staggered, and caught hold of thepantry door for support. I said no more, but went on deck."

  "What did he say afterwards. Did he ask you what you meant?"

  "Never a word, but was as agreeable as could be, though he didn'tmake much talk with me; but I was afraid he would poison me; didn'tdrink any liquor all the passage for fear he might give me a dose, andwatched him as a cat would a mouse."

  "Pity you couldn't always have sailed with him. It might have made asober man of you."

  "One night, after we got in the edge of the gulf, he got crooking hiselbow again, and began to use bad language to me because I shortenedsail in my watch without consulting him. I just held up my fore-finger,and said, 'Look here, my fine fellow: we are in the edge of the gulf.I will hang you when we get in.' I then told him that I knew allabout his selling that nigger to Lemaire, that he had abused me inMartinique, and on the passage thus far home, and I would have myrevenge; that the moment we made land, I would tell the crew, put himin irons, and appear against him in court."

  "What did he say to that?"

  "He was terribly frightened; said he was sorry he did it, but hecouldn't bear to be put down before the crew by a nigger; and thathe never should have thought of that way of getting revenge, if theplanter hadn't put it into his head; and wound up by telling me that hewould give me five hundred dollars to say nothing about it, when we gotin."

  "Then Peterson's alive, and a slave to this Lemaire?"

  "Ay. The cap'n said, the moment he proposed to take him up, Lemaire,was fierce for it; said that he owned a great many drogers and launchesthat carried sugar, coffee, tortoise-shell, and other truck, andhe wanted him because he saw that he was a first-rate calker, andcalculated to keep him calking all the time."

  "Did you ever get your five hundred dollars?"

  "No, sir; he put me off once or twice, and then cleared out while I wason a spree."

  The captain now believed the story of Percival, for he had heard fromthe crew that he and the captain had quarrelled, and of his comingon board drunk in Martinique, and saying and doing just as Percivalsaid he did; he knew, also, that he disappeared suddenly and left thecountry, although (through the influence of Isaac Murch) he was offeredthe command of a vessel in Wiscasset. "I think that your story seemsprobable. At any rate, I'll do this much. I'll make arrangements withthe landlord in respect to your board for two weeks from to-day (norum, mind, for you are through with the horrors), and your outfit whenyou go aboard some vessel. If I ever get hold of Peterson, or if hedies there, and I find that you have told me the truth, there will betime enough to do something more."