Willis the Pilot : A Sequel to the Swiss Family Robinson

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  A SEA FIGHT--ANOTHER IDEA OF THE PILOT'S--THE BOUDEUSE.

  The captain of the _Hoboken_ was rather pleased than otherwise whenthe look-out reported the strange sail to show English colors. Helooked rather glum, however, half an hour afterwards, when the samevoice bawled that she was a bull-dog looking craft, schooner-rigged,and pierced for sixteen guns. The Yankee had hoped to fall in with afat West Indiaman, instead of which he had now to deal with aman-of-war, carrying, perhaps, a larger weight of metal than himself.

  The heads of the two ships were standing in towards each other, therewas no wind to speak of, but every hour lessened the distance thatseparated the antagonists.

  "Pilot," said the captain, addressing Willis, "be kind enough to letme know what you think of that craft."

  "I think," said Willis, taking the telescope, "I have had my eyes onher before. Aye, aye, just as I thought. An old tub of a Spaniardconverted into an English cruiser, and commanded by CommodoreTruncheon, I shouldn't wonder. She has caught a Tartar this time,however. Nothing of a sailer. If a breeze springs up, you may easilygive her the slip, if you like, captain."

  "Give her the slip! No, not if I can help it. My cruise hitherto hasnot been very successful, and I must send her into New York as aprize. Mr. Brill," added he, addressing the officer next in command,"prepare for action."

  In an instant all was commotion and bustle on deck. Half an hourafter, the captain, now in full uniform, took a hasty glance at theposition of his crew. A portion of the men were stationed at the guns,with lighted matches. Others were engaged in heating shot, andpreparing other instruments of destruction. Jack and Fritz, armed withmuskets, were ready to act as sharp-shooters as soon as the enemy camewithin range, and Willis was standing beside them, with his hands inhis pockets, quietly smoking his pipe.

  "What, Pilot!" exclaimed the captain in passing, "don't you intend totake part in the skirmish?"

  "I am much your debtor, captain, but I cannot do that."

  "And these young men?"

  "They are not Englishmen, and your kindness to them entitles you toclaim their assistance. I am sorry that honor and duty prevent megiving you mine."

  "No matter, captain," said Fritz, "my brother and myself will do dutyfor three."

  "Then, Pilot, you had better go below."

  "With your permission, captain, I would rather stay and look on."

  "But what is the use of exposing yourself here?"

  "It is an idea of mine, captain. But I shall remain perfectly neutralduring the engagement."

  "As you like then, Pilot, as you like," said the captain, as heresumed his place on the quarter-deck.

  At this moment a cannon ball whistled through the air.

  "Good," said Willis; "the commodore gives the signal."

  "That shot," observed Jack, "passed at no great distance from yourhead, Willis. You had better take a musket in self-defence. Besides,that ship is English, and you are a Scotchman."

  "The ship is a Spaniard by birth," replied Willis, "and it is prettywell time it was converted into firewood, for the matter of that. Butit is the flag, my boy--_that_ is neither Spanish nor English."

  "What is it, then?" inquired Fritz.

  "It is the union-jack, Master Fritz. It is the ensign of Scotland,England, and Ireland united under one bonnet; and as such, it is assacred in my eyes as if it bore the cross of St. Andrew."

  Musket balls were now rattling pretty freely amongst the shrouds. Theyoung men levelled their muskets and fired.

  Soon after, the two ships were abreast of each other, and almost atthe same instant both discharged a deadly broadside. The conflictbecame general. The crashing of the woodwork and the roaring of theguns was deafening. A thick smoke enveloped the two vessels, so thatnothing could be seen of the one from the other; still the firing andcrashing went on. The sails were torn to shreds, the deck wasencumbered with fragments of timber; men were now and then falling,either killed or wounded, and a fatigue party was constantly engagedin removing the bodies. There are people who consider such a spectaclemagnificent; but that is only because they have never witnessed itshorrors.

  Already many immortal souls had returned to their Maker; many sons hadbecome orphans, and many wives had been deprived of their husbands;but as yet there was nothing to indicate on which side victory was tobe declared. Soon, however, a cry of fire was raised, which causedgreat confusion; and another cry, announcing that the captain hadfallen, increased the disorder.

  A ball crashed through the taffrail, near where Jack and Fritz werestanding; it passed between them, but they were both severely woundedby the splinters, and were conveyed by Willis to the cockpit. Thedoctor, seeing his old friend Jack handed down the ladder, hastenedtowards him and tore out a piece of wood from the fleshy part of hisarm. He next turned to Fritz, who had received a severe flesh-wound onthe shoulder. When both wounds were bandaged, he left the care of theyoung men to Willis, who had escaped with a few scratches, which,however, were bleeding pretty freely--to these he did not pay theslightest attention.

  "How stands the contest?" inquired Fritz in a weak voice.

  "The _Hoboken_ is done for," replied Willis; "the commodore waspreparing to board when we left the deck; but it does not make muchdifference; we shall go to England instead of America, that is all."

  "God's will be done," said Fritz.

  Just then Bill Stubbs was swung down in a hammock; both his legs hadbeen shot off by a cannon ball. The surgeon could only now attend to atithe of his patients, so numerous had the wounded become. A glance atthe new comer satisfied him that he was beyond all human skill, and hedirected his attention to the cases that promised some hopes ofrecovery. Willis, seeing that his old comrade was abandoned to diealmost uncared for, staunched his wounds as well as he could, fetchedhim a panniken of water, and performed a number of other little actsof kindness and good will. This he did, less with a view of obtainingan explanation from him at a moment when no man lies, than to mitigatethe pangs of his last convulsions. For an instant the old mariner'sbody appeared re-animated with life. His eyes were fixed upon Williswith an ineffable expression of recognition and regret. Heconvulsively grasped the Pilot's hand and pressed it to his breast,and his lips parted as if to speak. Willis bent his ear to the mouthof the dying man, but all that followed was an expiring sigh. Hisearthly career was ended.

  The hardy sailor who is supposed never to shed a tear, then wiped thecorner of his eyes. Next he turned to the children of his adoption,whose pale faces indicated the amount of blood they had shed, andwhose wounds, if he could have transferred them to himself, would haveless pained his powerful muscles than they now grieved his excellentheart.

  A party of boarders from the enemy had taken possession of the ship.Willis reported himself to the officer in command, and at his request,Fritz and Jack, together with the cargo of the pinnace, were conveyedon board the victorious schooner. Shortly after the _Hoboken_ wasdespatched to Bermuda as a prize, with the prisoners, the wounded, andthe dying.

  The old tub that had gained this victory was named the _Arzobispo_,having, as Willis supposed, been captured in the Spanish Main. It wasunder the command of Commodore Truncheon, better known in the fleet bythe _soubriquet_ of Old Flyblow.

  The _Arzobispo_, though old and clumsy, was a stout-built craft; andso thick was its hide, that the broadsides of the Yankee had done thehull no damage to speak of. The superstructure, however, wascompletely shattered; the masts and rigging hung like sweeps over thesides; and, to the unpractised eye, the ship was a complete wreck. Afew days, however, sufficed to put everything to rights again so faras regards external appearance; but how this impromptu carpentry wouldstand a storm was another question.

  The commodore was on his way to Europe when he fell in with theYankee, and, notwithstanding the disabled condition of the ship, heresolved to continue his voyage. Some of the officers expostulatedwith him on the hazard of crossing the Atlantic in so shaky a trim. Heonly got red in the fa
ce, and said that he had crossed theherring-pond hundreds of times in crafts not half so seaworthy. He waslike the

  Froggy who would a wooing go, Whether his mother would let him or no.

  The consequences of this defiance of advice were fatal to Old Flyblow;for, a week or two after his victory, he was pounced upon by theFrench corvette, _Boudeuse_, which was fresh, heavily armed, and wellmanned. The commodore's jury masts were knocked to pieces by the firstbroadside, his flag went by the board, and he was completely at theenemy's mercy. Willis lent a hand this time with a good will; but itwas of no use, the wreck would not obey the helm, and the corvettehovered about, firing broadsides, and sending in discharges ofmusketry, when and where she liked. It was only when the commodore sawclearly that there was neither mast nor sail enough to yaw the ship,that he waved his cocked hat in token of surrender.

  Fritz and Jack were still confined below with their wounds, whenWillis brought them word that they would have to shift themselves andtheir cargo once more. The captain received them on board the_Boudeuse_ with marked courtesy, and informed them that he was bounddirect for Havre de Grace.

  "It seems, then," said the Pilot, "that neither America nor Englandis to be our destination after all. But never mind, there are no lackof surgeons amongst the _mounseers_."

  "If we go on this way much longer," said Jack, sighing, "we shall becarried round the world without arriving anywhere. Alas, my poormother!"